Weird! Russia backs off demands that it gas be paid for in roubles...

 via Reuters

Russia will not immediately demand that buyers pay for its gas exports in roubles, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, promising a gradual shift and saying Russia should work on an idea to widen the list of its exports requiring rouble payment.

President Vladimir Putin issued an order last week for Russian gas, which accounts for 40% of European needs, to paid for in roubles instead of dollars or euros.

Earlier on Wednesday, Russia's top lawmaker Vyacheslav Volodin said the European Union would have to pay in roubles if it wanted Russian gas and said oil, grain, metals, fertiliser, coal and timber exports could be priced the same way. read more

The government, the central bank and Gazprom (GAZP.MM) are due to present proposals for the switch by Thursday.

Asked whether the payments should be in roubles starting from Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "Absolutely no."

"As we discussed before, payments and delivery is a time consuming process ... This does not mean that a tomorrow's delivery should be paid (in roubles). From a technological point of view, this is a more prolonged process," he said.

Here 

First a weird war.

Russian forces held back by protesters?  That's some strange shit!  Russian forces abandoning vehicles, surrendering en masse and basically not fighting as combined arms teams? Strange shit!

Now?

Now the West has basically sought to cripple the Russian economy, the Russians have a way to bring at least Europe to its knees and get a little payback and again the Russians do some strange shit!

I don't get it.

Maybe I'm twisted but I would seek to extract every ounce of pain from a country that tried to put my own in a hurt locker.

The restraint has been impressive (Mariupol has been bombed hard but I still believe even there they're holding back...Kyiv had hardly been hit...relatively speaking).

The only answer is that Russia still views themselves as part of the European community.

Obviously they still feel kinship there so they're not going for the throat punch followed with thumbs in the eye.

Europe dodged a bullet.

Sidenote.  Turkey, a country that the EU has shunned is hosting peace talks, and Russia itself is keeping the EU afloat even while NATO is pushing exercises up against its border, even though intel hasn't stated ONCE that the Russians were gonna make a move into Eastern Europe.  WEIRD SHIT!

This war is just plain strange.  I don't get it at all. Is this the real future?  Half hearted affairs?  Peer combat being limited to just the battlefield and not a full effort across societies and govts?

I am stunned by all this.  Remember the warnings of cyber attacks?  The only cyber attacks that have happened have been against the Russian govt, not them, but our citizens!  Supposedly Russian sponsored cyber criminals turned off the gas on the east coast a few years ago.  During war, savage sanctions and seizures of assets, Russia does nothing...I've been waiting for a massive outage on the east and west coast due to cyber activity but NOTHING!

The Russian reaction has been SOFT as hell.  I would have thought the response would have been MUCH MORE vicious than its been.

I've got to be missing something.

U.S Marines with 1/12 learn foraging during Spartan Fury 22.1

 

MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII- U.S. Marines with 1st Battalion, 12th Marines, 3rd Marine Division experimented Twenty-First Century Foraging concepts during Spartan Fury 22.1 at Pohakuloa Training Area, Hawaii, March 2022.

Twenty-First Century Foraging concepts enable commanders to extend and enhance operational rations for a period without needing outside logistics support. “It is imperative that the Marine Corps logistics functions continue to adapt to force design and the future warfighting concepts. That includes reducing our logistical footprint,” said Lt. Col Richard Neikirk, commanding officer of 1st Battalion, 12th Marines.

During the exercise, individual Marines procured dry goods and fresh produce from local suppliers utilizing cash 1105 funds. The Marines were able to find and purchase eggs, sausage, bacon, chicken, rice, and canned vegetables. The food was brought back to the training area where the Marines experimented with various field cooking methods.

The Marines used lightweight, expeditionary, non-organic food service equipment such as individual cooking stoves, volcano grills, and the Expeditionary Food Service Trailer that is currently being developed by the Fort Lee Instructor staff. This equipment is designed to be sustainable for long durations in austere environments and will be employed by the lowest level of any unit and in any environment.

The food was able to feed the battery for three days with two cooked meals a day. The warm meals were a welcomed change from the self-contained, individual field rations that are typically consumed in the field. By cooking and procuring food, the battery proved that it could sustain itself without outside support for a duration of time. Limiting the need for outside logistics support enhances a unit’s ability to be adaptable, mobile, and lethal.

The experimentation allowed the Food Service Specialist accompanied by the Marines in the battery to exercise foraging concepts in a CONUS training environment. “This trial period allowed the Fort Lee Instructor staff to gain real life data and procedural analysis,” said Capt. Norman Bunch, operations officer at Marine Detachment Fort Lee.

The data collected during Spartan Fury 22.1 will be used to develop future training and readiness standards as well as the future periods of instruction for Entry Level, Non-Commissioned Officer, and Staff Non-Commissioned Officer Courses.

Wow.

Just beautiful.

The Chinese will have spies everywhere and when they catch wind of this I can see them ensuring that a unique supply of food is available for Marines to purchase off the local economy.

How can Berger have forgotten stories about broken glass in cokes from Vietnam or food bazars used to lure and target Marines in the Middle East?

China has infiltrated every country in the Pacific.  I forgot the term they use for it but students are used to gather tech secrets, businesses are used to corner markets and soon they'll reach merchants to sicken Marines.

This is another idea that sounds good but is full of risk.

Ya know what would work better?  Put the entire Corps on the Keto diet.  Once they're fully adapted they can go with just one meal a day.

If the Corps isn't made up of assaulters anymore and more of a hide and don't be found force then endurance is more important than strength.

On a Keto diet they can get one meal a day and be good.  Either that or just plain harden up and deal with the hunger pangs that come from one MRE a day.

Trying to shop on the local economy is full of risk that I think is unacceptable.

Tues Funny (for a jacked up world)

 

About the Chris Rock/Will Smith "issue"

Most Americans blame Chris Rock over viral Will Smith slap: poll https://t.co/Ra3wsM3IIR pic.twitter.com/AjkVW0raDb

— New York Post (@nypost) March 29, 2022

I missed the show but all I did was hear about it the next day. I decided to comment it on it today.

For once I'm with the masses.

Chris Rock has a right to say whatever he wants.  He's a comedian so "poking at people" is what he does.

But!

He also has to have the courage to face the consequences of his speech.

Ya know what I've learned?  That every man at any moment is going thru drama that you have no idea about.  The world situation has probably wrecked the stability of more people than MOST would want to admit (just talking the covid lockdowns and now the inflation monster gobbling us all).

Rock took a swipe at Smith's wife.

He mocked her looks.  We all know the story about their "open" marriage...they put that on the table...but Rock went after her looks!

Maybe we're built different in my neck of the woods but a quick survey I conducted had the guys I associate with saying that if that happened in public anywhere, whoever did the deed would be looking at an ass whooping.

Sorry Rock got bitch slapped but he kinda had it coming.

Berger gambled and lost it all...Light Amphibious Warship is delayed and more amphibious ships are being retired.

 Thanks to George for the link!

via Defense News.

The U.S. Navy wants to buy one last San Antonio-class amphibious ship and then end the production line, the service announced in its fiscal 2023 budget request.

-----

 Under the Navy’s proposal, it would buy just three of the 13 Flight IIs and then end the program, shrinking the amphibious fleet dramatically as the Whidbey Island-class dock landing ships hit the end of their service lives and are decommissioned.

The Navy and Marine Corps are conducting an amphibious warship requirements study expected to wrap up very shortly. Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl, the deputy commandant of the Marine Corps for combat development and integration, said in January he worried the study’s final result would be based on budget limitations rather than actual need.

-----

 The fleet has 32 amphibious ships today, in line with what Heckl said the Marines need. Marine Corps leadership has said dropping to 28 could mean delays in arrival times in a crisis.

The decision to stop the LPD production line could drop the service to 24, at the very low end of an estimate released by the Biden administration last spring. It’s unclear if a number that low would add risk to arrival times or force a more fundamental rethinking of the ARG/MEU construct in place today.

Here

Berger failed.  Badly.  To be frank, he jeopardized the Marine Corps because of his false belief that his plan would save it.

No way could the Marine Corps become the lead service in the sea battle!

The Navy has old pros and would not tolerate the Marines becoming the lead dawg in that fight.

So where are we now?

The Navy is slow.  Painfully slow.  But you can bet your last dollar that they will gobble up every ounce of every shipbuilding dollar to put shooters in the water.

It's gonna be either subs, frigates or destroyers.  They'll wait a bit on replenishment ships and even longer to get the light amphibious warship in the water.

Meanwhile the Marines, that the Commandant tried to turn into a joint force sensor, is left on the beach looking dazed and confused.

Amphibious assault?  After all the work to keep it viable he threw it away.  I contend that an airborne assault is more hazardous but the Army is still doing it.  Not for airborne sake but for assault and force in readiness sake.

Berger forgot that.

You wonder why the Marines are having recruiting woes?

It's because no one knows what the Marines are anymore!

Its hard to sell "join the Marines and be in logistics"!  Refuel joint and allied aircraft!  Become a sensor for the joint force!

It's easy to sell "be one of the few, the proud, the Marines!" Be part of the force that is "ready when the nation is least ready"!

He threw that all away and now the Navy is pouncing to gobble up budget.

The weird thing is that even trying to pivot back to becoming a force in readiness, assault force...to becoming Marines instead of Missile Marines is gonna be super difficult.  Even more difficult now than even 6 months ago.

The budget is gonna get ravaged by inflation, social spending, increased costs because of all of the above, a pay raise to the troops and finally increased operating costs across the board.

The ground side has been ravaged for funding.  The wing remains but how do you crawl out from underneath the expensive as fuck F-35B, MV-22C, CH-53K and other systems they have?

I can predict that they'll go after the AH-1Z and UH-1Y claiming they no longer are viable but the truth is that its the lowest hanging fruit on the air side.

The real savings could come from chopping a bunch of generals, and colonels.  For a force as small as the Marines are we have WAAAAAAAAAAY too many.

It's all probably immaterial.

Berger crushed the Corps and the accountants will come to crush Berger's dream. 

Say goodbye to hopes of lower gas prices..Saudi Oil Refineries hit hard by Houthis

 Thanks to Alexander Timokhin for the pics!

I find it amazing.

We live in an interconnected world (thanks globalism) but so many Americans can't see beyond their own towns much less shores that they're left dazed and confused when events happen halfway around the world that will affect their lives.

Take the hit on the Saudi Oil Refinery.

This has implications for both Europe and America.

You can pretty much cancel thoughts of lower prices in the near future quite honestly the early predictions of 150 dollar a barrel oil is probably gonna be looked back at fondly.

Additionally many have ignored the warning signs of a looming global recession.

You can stick a pin in that too.

Did you know that a major Chinese city is facing another lockdown because of covid?

via Wired

THE SUPPLY CHAIN is in chaos—and it’s getting worse. Air freight warehouses at Shanghai Pudong Airport are log-jammed as a result of strict Covid testing protocols imposed on China’s biggest city following a local outbreak. At the city’s port, Shanghai-Ningbo, more than 120 container vessels are stuck on hold. In Shenzhen, a major manufacturing hub in the country’s south, trucking costs have shot up 300 percent due to a backlog of orders and a shortage of drivers following the introduction of similar Covid restrictions. Major ports the world over, which used to operate like clockwork, are now beset by delays, with container ships queuing for days in some of the worst congestion ever recorded. The list goes on.

More than a million containers due to travel to Europe from China by train—on a route that goes through Russia—must now make their journey by sea as sanctions bite. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also severed key supply lines for nickel, aluminum, wheat, and sunflower oil, causing commodity prices to skyrocket. Countries in the Middle East and Africa that rely on produce from Ukraine are likely to experience serious food shortages in the coming weeks and months. Some European automotive production lines have cut their output due to a shortage of wiring normally sourced from factories in Ukraine. If the pandemic, which triggered a surge in purchasing of goods, caused the global supply chain to buckle, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s continuing zero-Covid policy risk breaking it completely.

The supply chain is too complex, interconnected, and fragile to be made completely immune to shocks, especially ones as seismic as a global pandemic or a major war. But a new reality is forcing companies to adopt new strategies to keep goods moving. In this reality, backlogs and breakdowns are the new normal, which makes getting ahead of disruptions as early as possible more important than ever.

“We used to occasionally have black swan events,” says Richard Wilding, professor of supply chain strategy at Cranfield University in the UK, referring to rare and hard-to-predict occurrences that have major impacts. ​“The problem at the moment is we have a whole flock of black swans coming at us.” 

Story here 

Buckle up boys and girls.

You wanted interesting times? 

You're about to get your wish.

Navy Electronic Attack aircraft head to Europe

Six @USNavy EA-18G Growler aircraft from @NASWhidbeyIslan arrived at Spangdahlem AB yesterday to enhance @NATO's collective defense posture within the European theater.
Read more here: https://t.co/is1gjG0c0Y@HQUSAFEAFAF @usairforce @NATO_AIRCOM pic.twitter.com/xjVYT8x8JQ

— Spangdahlem Air Base (@Spangdahlem_AB) March 29, 2022

J-35....

Leaked Series of J-35 Maiden Flight till Now🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/CXdkw6QVvT

— David Wang (@Nickatgreat1220) March 29, 2022

The show stopper for Force Design 2030 is the LAW. It won't appear till after Berger leaves office.

 via Defense News

The big-ticket items ― ships and missiles ― are critical to the Corps’ future war-fighting vision. All see funding increases, but not exactly at the level or timing that Marine leaders have wanted.

For example, the light amphibious warship, which Marine leaders have been pushing to be procured by 2023, will have to wait until at least 2025, according to the new budget.

Here. 

Well its a done deal.

Berger will have left the Marine Corps in worse shape than when he found it.

That is leadership failure.

To be blunt he brought this on himself.  He did not sell his plan to the masses that he leads, instead he tried to ram it thru. 

He's failed and now what do we see?  Amphibs are being retired and their replacement isn't here yet.

Capability continues to be lost and the transition is years away. Read this part again.

...the light amphibious warship, which Marine leaders have been pushing to be procured by 2023, will have to wait until at least 2025...

If you assume perfect procurement (which I don't) then you can bet that 2025 is a pipe dream.

With the pressure to get other ships into service (ya know the things that are required to win a war at sea) you can bet that the Navy will be pushing for its new Frigate as fast as possible.

Pretty piss poor planning to develop a plan that has a single point of failure.

Sidenote.  Do you realize that we've now had a string of 3 failed Commandant's in a row?  Amos?  Trash.  Neller?  I don't know what the fuck Neller is known for except for bowing his head when a female congress critter was talking shit to him. Berger?  I can't even call it.  Let's hope the next one is better.  We need a General Gray in the worst way.

Max effort sometimes results in a bit of weirdness (reality check)

This is crazy. She’s pissing herself doing deadlifts 😳 pic.twitter.com/xOHQYChTkB

— Toxic King 🧟 (@EasyWorkMaddi) March 28, 2022

Pretty disgusting huh?

Well not really.  If you've ever been to a sporting event where max effort is called for then you'll see all kinds of weirdness.

Ever been to a high level track meet?  Ever been behind the scenes?  Ya know what happens?  Everyone of the competitors is doing a couple of things...warming up, hydrating, stretching...and taking a shit.

So yeah.  

It's pretty damn disgusting but that person is putting out max effort (and I hope cleaning up her mess afterwards).

All this brings me to the point of this thing.

Organizations rarely put out max effort.  Individuals either.  It requires a push that is uncomfortable, disturbing to see and at times messy as hell.

I dare say that 99.9% of us have never truly put out max effort, the visuals of doing so would be too embarrassing.