Thursday, December 05, 2019

This vid of a Chinese SF Soldier working out is weird...he's either a mini- Super Sayan or its fake as hell...

Your Thurs Public Service Announcement!


Inspirational isn't it?  But if Martin Luther King Jr can't convince you then perhaps...


Bruce Lee can.  Too small can't read?  "It's not the daily increase but the daily decrease.  Hack away at the unessential."

Still not buying it?  Let's see what Jocko says...


Wow.

Still not getting it.  Well let's break it down donkey style....


Now do you get it?  Get your ass to the gym to get your mind and body on the right track.  Crush your goals.  Shed the idiocy, the unnecessary and unwanted from your life.

Go fucking win!

If you don't get it after all that then I can't help ya!

Aerial View of Australian M1 Abrams Conducting Gunnery Qualification Shoot...

France bears watching...HUGE nationwide protests...



2019 will go down in the history books as the year of protests in France.  I don't think I can remember a week going by where we didn't hear about some type of civil unrest in that country.

No wonder Macron is so vocal on the issue of NATO.

He needs the distraction.

I don't know what's going on inside the country (ie..they dynamics/reasons behind the various protests) but its obvious that the French people ARE NOT happy with their govt.

Between the Trump election, BREXIT and the French Protests could we finally be seeing a Western revolt against what many think is the status quo?

Boxer bridgelayer module




Ok.  In light of Drummond beating the drum on various Boxer variants I do believe its time to start sounding my own trumpet on different versions of the ACV.

What should be first?  An IFV, Direct Fire or 120mm Mortar Carrier?  Personally leaning toward a good 120mm Mortar Carrier...we're gonna need that firepower.

Thurs Funny...Don't sync up your FitBit with your girl!

Great image of official delivery of K9 and K10 to Norway.


Why Trump vs. Warren in 2020 Would Prove America Is in Decline ( a perfect example of the intersection between media/political/bureaucratic elitism!)

via National Interest.
The steady adoption of a primary system to select party nominees in the 1970s and 1980s was something that weakened the leverage of party bosses in so-called smoke-filled rooms and played to the most partisan emotions of each major party. For decades the bosses had selected safe, moderate candidates: not always inspiring but usually responsible. It was the bosses who essentially gave us Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, and so on. Eisenhower was scouted by the bosses of the Republican party while he was still in uniform. The system we have today might never have selected him. Though an exceptional analyst, organization man, and war hero, Ike wasn’t especially charismatic. Neither was he an especially compelling speaker or photogenic.

Smoke-filled rooms may sound squalid, but they fulfilled the spirit of the Founders of the American Revolution, specifically James Madison, who preferred a republic; not a democracy. In a republic, the masses rule only indirectly, through an elite that they can change every few years. Democracy means more direct rule, given to rage and passions, nowadays amplified by social media. Here is where the filter of the party bosses and the discipline of the print-and-typewriter age – which encouraged complex, analytical thinking from media organs dedicated to centrist objectivity – conveniently merged to guide us through the Cold War and keep us a republic.

Now think of our post–Cold War presidents chosen under different circumstances: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump. Compare them against Truman’s shepherding of the Marshall Plan; of Eisenhower’s avoidance of a hot war with China and the Soviet Union, despite much of the advice he was getting; of Kennedy’s handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis; of Johnson’s Civil Rights Bill; of the elder Bush’s elegant restraint in the face of Soviet collapse and respect for limits in the case of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, and you’ll see what I mean. Of course, President Lyndon Johnson’s tragic decisions on Vietnam were an exception – and I’ll get to that.

Had the party bosses been in charge of the 2016 nominating process, and were the print-and-typewriter age still regnant, Governor Jeb Bush would likely be president, having narrowly defeated Senator Hillary Clinton, a candidate with more negatives than himself. He would have surrounded himself with first-rate foreign policy advisers from the Republican establishment: Richard Haass, Robert Zoellick, Meghan O’Sullivan, and so forth. He would have governed more like his father than his brother. Things would be so dull. So low energy! Yet, America, its alliances, and its posture in the world would be infinitely sturdier and wiser. Trump is where direct, mass democracy and the wonders of the digital-video age have led us. And these same factors may yet offer a Democratic opponent who threatens an economic and social upheaval to match Trump’s upheaval in manners and decency. The Founders would be horrified of how we have in spirit, stopped being a republic and have become a democracy. Someone like Jeb Bush was meant to govern the former.
Here 

Do you see what this guy is selling?

He has actually written an article that worships at the feet of the elite.  Be it political, media or even the bureaucracy!

I'm stunned.

A call for the "elite" to moderate (actually control) the American electoral process?

My theory?

The US is no longer a democracy (if it ever was) nor is it a republic.  It is now a hybrid system drifting between being a bureaucracy, oligarchy, and plutocracy (based on this webpage).

Which all leads me to this.

The impeachment is all about one thing.  The bureaucracy/oligarchy/plutocracy all striking back at a President they don't like (I'm not fond of but I see no better options at the moment).  Nazi filled Ukraine is not worth all this anguish.

Kaakko 19 (vid)

National Security Establishment Member calls for abandoning base in Turkey...

via Breaking Defense.
Over the last several years, it has become increasingly apparent that Turkey has operated against U.S. interests in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean. It hindered American military operations against ISIS in Syria, set back progress in the long-running Cypriot peace negotiations in 2014 and 2017, and – despite repeated warnings – purchased and received Russia’s S-400 air defense system, which represents a grave threat to NATO and U.S. security. In response to the latter, Washington suspended Turkey from the F-35 partner program.

When asked about growing concerns about the safety of these nuclear weapons in light of deteriorating U.S.-Turkey ties, former Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James noted that – hypothetically – if such weapons did require relocation, removing them from Incirlik would be a “complicated operation [that] would require negotiations with the [new host] nation.”

Nevertheless, the United States should prioritize moving these weapons to a more stable and secure European facility, such as Aviano Air Base, Italy. There is simply no longer a strategic necessity for maintaining a nuclear arsenal in Turkey as the United States has other nuclear forces available for deterring Russia.

Second, Washington should relocate the 39th Air Wing and its various support functions; Cyprus and Greece are excellent alternatives. For the former, its Akrotiri Air Base is already home to the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force and it has runways and facilities akin to Incirlik; moreover, it is still near the Middle Eastern theatre but has the added advantage of being located on European soil.

Choosing Cyprus would send Turkey a clear message that the United States is no longer prepared to tolerate Turkey’s illegal oil exploration and naval harassment within the Cypriot exclusive economic zone.
Here 

About time.  No.  This is LONG PAST DUE!!!!

One thing annoys.  Relocating our nukes from Turkey to another host nation is hardly a show stopper. 

Get them out now, send them to the US and then conduct negotiations at our leisure.

Let's get real.

If the nuclear genie is ever uncorked then a few hundred tactical nukes will make no difference to our response.  Quite honestly we could probably fly them from the United States and drop them by B-52, B-1 or B-2 before we get host nation approval to get them into the fight anyway...assuming it would make a difference that is.

Turkey has abandoned us long ago.  We should follow their lead and return the favor.  As a parting gesture we should sink their economy thru sanctions that will chill the souls of every economics professor in that country.

Will they run to China?  Maybe.  But at the end of the day China needs us more than they need Turkey.  We should dare them to break the sanctions and if they do then they get more of the same.

Patty cake playing should be over.  Time to get medieval on this clown.

Open Comment Post. 5 Dec 2019...

If you decide to stand apart from the madness that is modern society then this picture should sing to you.  The analogy?  You're on a wall surrounded by zombies.  Looking down on them isn't part of the script.  Standing apart from them is.  Not out of fear but because herds are occupied by prey animals and act out of instinct not reason. Be reasonable.  Stand apart.

EAGLE V 6×6 reconnaissance vehicle, selected by the Swiss Army.


via Army Recognition.
General Dynamics European Land Systems-Mowag announced today, Dec. 5, that it signed a contract with Armasuisse on November 18th, 2019, for the delivery of 100 protected Eagle 6x6 reconnaissance vehicles for the Swiss Army. The Eagle 6x6 was selected after an international competition conducted by Armasuisse, the Swiss federal office for defence procurement. This first order of the Eagle 6x6 is a milestone for the latest development of the Eagle vehicle family.

The 100 Eagle V 6x6 vehicles will be the vehicle platform of the tactical reconnaissance system "TASYS." TASYS will be used to gather intelligence for the Swiss Armed Forces including support of civil authorities. It consists of an Eagle V 6x6 carrier vehicle, a multi-sensor system mounted on a telescopic mast, and a data processing system. For self-protection, the highly-mobile Eagle V 6x6 TASYS is armoured and equipped with a remotely controlled weapon station. The vehicle offers sufficient payload reserves to allow for future improvements, such as the integration of additional sensors. The Eagle V 6x6 TASYS starts production in 2020 and will be fielded between 2023 and 2025.

Besides the Swiss Army, the Eagle V 4x4 is also extensively used by both Denmark and Germany, where it is very popular with the troops. The further development of the Eagle V 4x4 into the Eagle V 6x6 was inspired by the operational experience and the need for a vehicle with increased useful volume, more payload, very compact exterior dimensions, as well as constant high mobility and maximized protection. "We are very proud that the Swiss Army is the first customer to introduce the Eagle V 6x6," says Oliver Dürr, Vice-President Wheeled Vehicles and Managing Director of General Dynamics European Land Systems-Mowag.
That is one BIG recon vehicle.

Bringing this full circle isn't it ironic that the USMC is apparently attempting to go light while almost EVERY OTHER FORCE ON THE PLANET is going heavy?

Either the USMC is right and everyone else is wrong...or too much faith is being placed on aviation in the Corps.

I imagine it will take the next war to learn the answer.  But what if the Marine Corps is wrong?  It'll be an extremely painful lesson...a lesson filled with blood.