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Every year or so some area of the world gives birth to a, "D@man, I should have seen that one coming!" event. The Arab Spring and its bastard child in the Islamic State are just the most recent.
What should be in everyone's "Top-5" things to keep an eye on? Well, the centuries old enmity between Vietnam and China is one place.
Yes, yes ... I have considered the source - but as the old Cold Warriors will tell you; don't laugh too hard at Pravda, read it and ponder.
"In addition to peaceful measures, ‘fists’ should also be prepared for sovereignty protection,” Rear Admiral Do Xuan Cong, former Commander of the Vietnam People's Navy, has said.
...
The Rear Admiral made assertion in an interview with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper published by the daily on Monday, January 19, on which 41 years ago China used force to illegally occupy Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago in the East Vietnam Sea.
“When another person disregards reason and law and attacks and violates our sacred sovereignty, we have to take action, in which ‘fists’ should be prepared, as we cannot keep struggling verbally all the time,” Rear Admiral Cong said.
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“Justice is on our side and we love peace, so our international friends and the world community will certainly support us. The case of China’s illegal deployment of the Haiyang Shiyou 981 drilling rig proved the important role of international support for Vietnam,” he said, referring to international pressure on Beijing before it withdrew the rig from the Vietnamese waters.
...
By mentioning “a few extremist actions,” the former commander was touching again on riots that broke out in some Vietnamese localities following the positioning of the Haiyang Shiyou 981 in the Vietnamese seas.
“But once China disregards law, moral principles and sentimental attachment, and actively causes conflicts, we will have no other choice than to confront such conflicts…,” Rear Admiral Cong insisted.
China and Vietnam fought a short, nasty, and brutal war in '79, and as China has walked on the stage this century, she has yet to have her "Splendid Little War."
Wars have started for less.
Ungh. Why can't people just behave themselves?
Hat tip SJS.
I haven't pinged on the German-American Bund recently. My bad. Here's one of their latest tweets for those who haven't figured out who they are yet.
Interesting observations from a German reporter embedded ... yes, embedded with the Islamic State.
Heck, let's go back to Mod-Trotsky; "You may not be interested in fighting radical Islam, but it is interesting in fighting you."
ISIS is 'much stronger and much more dangerous' than anyone in the West realizes, a journalist who spent ten days embedded with the group in Iraq and Syria has warned.
Jürgen Todenhöfer, 74, said that the West has 'no concept of the threat it faces' from the Islamic State and has underestimated the risk posed by ISIS 'dramatically'.
The German reporter spent most of his time in Mosul in northern Iraq, but he also traveled to the ISIS-controlled territories of Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor in Syria.
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Todenhöfer went on to say that ISIS have plans for mass genocide, with the aim or eradicating all atheists and religions that are not 'people of the book' or who do not subscribe to their particular brand of Islam.
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Speaking on RTL's Nachtjournal program after his return to Germany last week, Todenhöfer said that he constantly heard the view that ISIS want to 'conquer the world'.
'This is the largest religious cleansing strategy that has ever been planned in human history,' the journalist added.
As they have stated elsewhere, they plan to continue to expand. Like all expansionist religious movements with a martial aspect - they will until defeated.
As you can see by the map, they are succeeding - and what we have been doing is not working in the broader conflict. What we need right now is a Kissinger with the ear of the President, but it seems that instead we have Biden-actual - someone wrong about almost all national security related events in the last 30+ years. It shows.
First thing we need to do it to stop going after Assad directly or indirectly. He is the only one who is protecting Shi'ite, Druse, Alawite, Christians and other religious minorities in Syria. We don't have to support him, just stop working with the Islamic State fighting him. He is a SOB, but he is not the worst option for Syria.
Let the Russians help Assad, we don't have to. That will squeeze IS from one side. We should redouble our efforts with the Kurds and the Iraqi governments on the other. Let's work with the Russians and coordinate our "proxy work." We can work to turn Syria in to Switzerland later.
We do not need to see a 2015 expansion like we saw in 2014.
... the South to Yankees and other foreigners.
So, though imperfect, I'll let Rich Hall a shot to ed'u'mu'cate 'ya on why you don't know nut'n.
I'm going to build off a theme from last week's FbF with el-Sisi - moral courage and forthright defense of natural law's first freedom from those who actually are putting their lives in danger by doing so.
The last week has seen a sickening parade of morale and physical cowardice in the defense of essential liberty. Afraid of what may happen if they stood with the French, politicians and much of the press instead hid behind "responsible speech" - which is their way of cowering in the face of threats against the very freedom they need to exist. That is the true Islamophobia - a twisted partonizing attitude that you cannot risk offending even in the slightest the tender feelings of a Muslim because, well, they just can't take it like everyone else and might become dangerous. A phobia of the followers of Islam: Islamophobia.
Heck, even last night I was reminded why I used think I was of the left. It used to be that there was a very libertarian streak on the left, but in the last 30 years they have been swamped by the Stalinists. One of the last of the traditional libertarian leftists I have found myself in rough alignment with is Bill Maher of all people.
Well, this week I am bringing in another man of the left who has it right. He gets extra points because he is Dutch. He speaks with the directness of a Dutchman, gets the enlightenment, and - more than most - he has stepped in to the field of fire to defend the flag.
The Salamander freedom fighter of the week is Ahmed Aboutaleb, member of the Labour Party, de Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA), and mayor of Rotterdam.
This is how you defend freedom as a political leader.
On a minor side-bar: I also had and continue to have a lot of "fun" with those of the left (or clueless) who have some kind of verbal tic that makes them want to want to call opposition to a radical religious sect a kind of "racism" and/or look at Arabs, Berbers, Turks, etc., as a "race" different than other whites/caucasians. As a result, if you have issues with them, it must be somehow based on "race."
More hogwash. Unless you want to take a pre-mid 20th century view of race more in line with the KKK and the Nazi party, no - they are not a race or races. I'll stick with the US govt directive if I must, they are white. Look at Mayor Aboutaleb again. Dude is as "white" as I am.
Of course, I know why they are throwing around race. Simply, that is the cultural bully's tool to shut people up. Well, to those people I say, "rot op."
I feel sorry for Bob Work today. He spent a lot of personal capital exclaiming, "We don't need frigates."
Then this happened ...
U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus on Thursday said the Navy would rename the modified Littoral Combat Ships it plans to build as frigates, given their enhanced capabilities.
"One of the requirements of the Small Surface Combatant Task Force was to have a ship with frigate-like capabilities. Well, if it’s like a frigate, why don’t we call it a frigate?" Mabus told the annual conference of the Surface Navy Association.
Mabus said the new designation would apply primarily to the next 20 such ships to be built but 32 LCS that have already been built or ordered would also be reclassified if and when they are retrofitted with additional weapons.
OK. It could be worse, I guess.
Let's see, the last FF we had was the KNOX (though when we took off the MK-13 launchers, the OHP effectively became FF), maybe we'll do a comparison later.
This makes my day; I'll be laughing at random moments for hours.
Oh, and if you are serious - you need to start with FF-1098.
Sometimes it seems that over the last two decades we have been making every effort to make the CVN more and more vulnerable and its airwing less robust and flexible. Many of the reasons are the same as why the British Army kept the bolt action Lee-Enfield as their primary infantry weapon more than a decade longer than it should have been.
Add a long fat tail, no armor, with only one ear and blind in one eye ... and good googly moogly, what have we done to long range strike?
At least in the knife fights in DC, unquestionably, there is no slack in light attack.
As we saw in the carrier debate last weekend, here, and many other places - over the course of the last quarter century we have thrown away one of the most effective aspects of TACAIR - its legs.
Gone are the long legs of the F-14 and A-6 - replaced by a deck full of light strike fighters with no organic tanking (sorry, buddy tanking does not count).
At the same time, we have a smaller airwing and possible opponents at sea are forcing our CVN to operate further from shore.
Everyone knows this challenge ... but we still keep making the move to shorter range, less capable assets on our most important force projection asset. Penny stupid and pound stupid.
Here we go. Take it away Sam;
The Navy is will almost certainly select the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor to replace the Northrop Grumman C-2A Greyhound as its next carrier onboard delivery (COD) aircraft, according to a Jan. 5 memo signed by Department of the Navy leadership.
The memorandum of understanding (MOU) — signed by Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Jonathan Greenert, Marine Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford and Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus — will have the Navy buy four V-22s starting in Fiscal Year 2018 to 2020, according to the document first reported by Breaking Defense.
“The Navy is responsible for modifying these V-22s into an HV-22 configuration for the COD mission,” reads the document.
From David Axe's SEP13 article;
But the V-22 has less range and less payload than the C-2: Northrop’s prop plane can haul five tons of stuff 1,500 miles, but the V-22's range with the same load could be as little as 50 miles, according to Navy statistics and Bell and Boeing’s own literature. That’s in part because the V-22 has just over a third the internal space of a C-2 and in the case of bulkier supplies would likely need to haul them slung by a rope suspended from the fuselage—a huge source of drag.
War is Boring attempted to reach two different Boeing spokespeople for comment, but received no reply.
Extending the tiltrotor’s flying distance would require the constant attention of Air Force aerial tankers, which can cost up to $10,000 per hour to operate. The V-22 is also slightly slower than the C-2, can’t fly as high because it’s unpressurized and costs more: $68 million for a new V-22 compared to an estimated $50 million for a new C-2.
Some of those familiar with the aircraft are already looking at the operational issues that will come with the shoehorning of the V-22 in to the COD role. They have poor reliability, and are so temperamental that the marines who work on her call her the "princess." What will happen after we start riding them hard like we do the C-2s and start chewing up their less than reliable and very expensive prop-boxes.
Via some C-2 Bubbas - here is something that we know a CV-22 will not be able to do that we rely on being SOP today;
Up to about 6,000# load, C-2A cruised at 275-280 ktas between FL190 and FL250 and hit ~290 ktas when we were hauling the chili at 4,000# or less. Above that it dropped off quick and was 255-260 => 8,000#.
Stealing from my own stuff SEPCOR, face it; the Navy painted itself in a corner. This was almost pre-ordained when they CANX the Common
Support Aircraft. It was killed by the worst possible habits of a parochial and blinkered leadership. If you don't like this, yell at Clark, Mullen and Roughead. CSA was slowrolled until it was too late.
A good HV-22 now will be a better CSA that may never show up I'll grant you that, but really. We should ignore the paid lobbyists and those still in uniform who wish to soon be one - and think this through.
All is not lost. There is hope;
The Navy did not comment on the MOU directly to USNI News and said the final decision would emerge until the budget submission in February.
“The Navy continues to consider acquisition strategies and options to recapitalize the carrier onboard delivery, or COD, capability by 2026,” read the statement provided to USNI News.
“Our recommended way ahead will be submitted as part of the normal budget process.”
Ummmm ... yea. In the end, we'll wind up with a HV-22 and Sailors and aircrew will do the best they can with what their Navy has given them.
We could have done better, but then again - those making the decisions are not the ones who will live or die by them.
