French assault ship TONNERRE L1014 and frigate SURCOUF F711 arrived at Sasebo, Japan 9 May for a visit. The ships left Toulon in mid-February for an Exercise La Perouse cruise to the Pacific region https://t.co/sDUBHx5he1
— Chris Cavas (@CavasShips) May 9, 2021
Search and Rescue!
— 1st MAW Marines (@1stMAW_Marines) May 9, 2021
The exercise allowed U.S. and Japanese forces to quickly and effectively conduct search and rescue operations while strengthening the partnership between #Marines and JASDF personnel.
#FreeAndOpenIndoPacific pic.twitter.com/yNq72YBeXJ
Important positive move by the USMC. Looking toward the future and training for the fight they think is most likely, rather than for all the fights. https://t.co/XzU0BFzfU3
— Blake Herzinger (@BDHerzinger) May 8, 2021
Think tanks cheer.
Pundits cheer.
Meanwhile China is already beyond the Marine Corps maginot line. The modern day littoral (defense) regiments will face the same fate that the defense battalions faced in WW2. They'll be bypassed when possible, ignored when convenient and blasted back to the stone age when they present a problem/tactical challenge.
Stealth, command/control and a small degree of mobility will not allow these units to survive in a peer conflict.
They will at best be a sideshow and at worst a horribly demoralizing factor. Can you imagine the national psyche when the Chinese are showing American Marines receiving medical aid, kept prisoner and the dead buried?
On a side note there is ONLY ONE way this plan works.
If the US initiates conflict then this could possibly work...but only for a short time (8 years max before the concept is undoubtedly abandoned). I'm sure the Chinese are already working on ways to nullify this new formation.
As many know for over a year now, including US intelligence....
— Guido (@envirosec) May 9, 2021
BREAKING REPORT: Chinese Military Scientists Discussed Weaponizing SARS Coronaviruses In Document Obtained By U.S. Government.#ChinaLiedPeopleDied #Biowarfarehttps://t.co/FbBQEkxELx
Follow the link and read the story.
The Australian is real careful in how they word this thing but the pieces are coming together.
Covid-induced black fungus cases on rise in Maha, Gujarat: How deadly is it? https://t.co/6EOOj8P6za via @timesofindia
— Ravi Ratna (@medical91) May 9, 2021
Wow.
This is crazy. I don't know this science but will this thing mutate into a killer virus in India?
A heavily-armed SWAT team just took down a Christian pastor heading home from church. Police say he’s charged with “inciting” people to go to church. This is the second pastor jailed this year. We’re crowdfunding his lawyers at https://t.co/bMwAj1iNfP pic.twitter.com/RZ913cQns3
— Ezra Levant 🍁 (@ezralevant) May 8, 2021
When we all get back to "normal" there will be a reckoning for how some governors handled the covid situation.
The same for some nations (the USA included).
But Canada? Never thought I'd put them on the list of nations that would have to deal with bad policy from this thing but I was wrong.
Terrible look.
The funny thing? Even during the pandemic people in certain jobs (I know I'm in one) still had to go to work. Fast food shops were open (considered essential) as well as certain BIG CHAIN stores.
Said all that to say that during a lockdown when people suffered mental health issues it would probably be a good thing to allow people of faith to attend church (and even those that were seeking).
Check yourself Canada ... this is a terrible look.
During a meeting with Tajikistan's Emomali Rahmon, Putin said that Tajikistan has a "well-founded concern" with the situation in Afghanistan and said that Russia supports them. He also said Russia is strengthening its 201st Military Base in Tajikistan.https://t.co/xeOJrvV8bH pic.twitter.com/TVqYVL4EKh
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) May 8, 2021
#Philippines town residents evacuated after around 200 Islamist fighters captured a local market, reportedly in order to score a meal
— RT (@RT_com) May 9, 2021
Details: https://t.co/Bvwle5AA9S pic.twitter.com/T5Q9wUnqYp
🚩 The upcoming #Victory Parade of #May9 is not only a powerful tribute to the #RedArmy & Allied heroes of #WWII.
— Russia 🇷🇺 (@Russia) May 7, 2021
It's also a showcase of historical & modern military hardware: tanks et al galore - 1⃣9⃣1⃣ units incl. 10x legendary T-34 tanks.
Check out detailed infographics 👇 pic.twitter.com/FzePQ1SXmN
This by @roderick_s_lee is (as usual) very informative on #PLAN developing their far seas capabilities: "The PLA Navy’s #ZHANLAN Training Series: Supporting Offensive Strike on the High Seas". https://t.co/pxboPjpNbe pic.twitter.com/51ktLtEYBO
— Alex Luck (@AlexLuck9) May 8, 2021
Follow the link and read the article but this part stood out to me...
The Department of Defense (DOD) already acknowledges in its China Military Power Report that the PLA is “developing power projection capabilities and concepts of operation in order to conduct offensive operations within the second island chain, in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and in some cases, globally.” [25] ZHANLAN-2020A demonstrates that the PLA is probably closer to operationalizing those capabilities and concepts than some DOD officials are comfortable with acknowledging. The evidence from ZHANLAN and other training evolutions suggests that the PLA Navy is making significant progress in joint operations, damage control, logistics, and intelligence—to the extent that they may soon be able to operate on the doorstep of U.S. Navy port facilities in wartime.
If China becomes a global competitor and is able to operate effectively in 2nd and 3rd island chain (not to mention moves in Africa, S. America and the Caribbean) then all bets are off.
The terrible thing is that we can't spend our way out of this mess. Unless we radically change our NAVY and our INDUSTRY then we're behind the power curve and can't catch up.
Tinkering at the edges with the Marine Corps force structure will not save the Navy from the problem they're facing.
