Tag Archives: military

Well, Duh

18 Friday Dec 2020

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One does not share sensitive military intel with enemy combatants.

Axios’ Jonathan Swan reports a bombshell potential major disruption in a key part of the presidential transition before President-Elect Joe Biden is sworn in on January 20: the Pentagon has without warning or explanation halted Biden’s intelligence transition briefings.

Reports Swan: “Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller ordered a Pentagon-wide halt to cooperation with the transition of President-elect Biden, shocking officials across the Defense Department, senior administration officials tell Axios.”

Biden’s team has so far maintained that it’s unaware of the directive while Pentagon officials are said to be stunned and in the dark: “Administration officials left open the possibility cooperation would resume after a holiday pause,” the breaking Axios report notes. “The officials were unsure what prompted Miller’s action, or whether President Trump approved.”

I suppose they could go ahead and restart Biden’s briefings at GITMO.

Embedded Ideas

25 Sunday Oct 2020

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It’s too bad that no one thought to mention any of the following tripe to Abe Lincoln and his successors. An oath to fiction:

Milley too feels strongly about the necessity of keeping the U.S. military out of politics and the election.

“We don’t swear an oath of allegiance to an individual, a king, a queen, a president or anything else,” he said in an interview with NPR. “We don’t swear an oath of allegiance to a country, for that matter. We don’t swear an oath of allegiance to a flag, a tribe, a religion or any of that. We swear an oath to an idea, or a set of ideas and values, that are embedded in our Constitution.”

As a result of these comments, Banks is optimistic that the worst case election scenario in the event of disputed election results might just be lawsuits in certain states where the outcomes are murky.

“A really important limitation in the event that there is martial law is that it’s highly unlikely to be tolerated in a situation where our civilian institutions are working,” Banks noted. “Martial law requires a complete meltdown. It requires the inability of our civilian institutions to manage government. It’s hard to imagine that.”

Tolerated? Odds are it will be demanded. And done.

The Cost of Imperial Overreach

19 Monday Oct 2020

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Dr, Roberts observes a few things: the dangers of appointing industry stooges, and the inanity of US military policy and spending.

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper is a former Raytheon lobbyist and another example of President Trump’s penchant for frustrating his own policies by appointing to power people who oppose his policies. Why does Trump think he can expect a representative of the military/security complex to help him wind down Washington’s hegemonic policeman of the world routine?

Esper is out making speeches that the military/security complex needs 5% real increase annually in order to counter Russia and China—https://news.antiwar.com/2020/10/16/esper-calls-for-more-military-spending-to-face-china-and-russia/ . It is Washington that is aggressive toward Russia and China, not the other way around. The military/security complex desperately needs foreign enemies in order to maximize its budget and power. Russiagate’s purpose was to prevent Trump from removing a valuable “enemy” by normalizing relations with Russia.

The US defense budget could be cut in half and still be larger than the combined defense budgets of Russia and China. China spends about half as much of its economy on defense as the US. If Russia and China intended aggression against the US, wouldn’t you expect to see much higher spending on military?

If anything, the military budget – while there’s still time – needs to be cut, radically. That and a draining of the old swamp would go a long way. Second term projects?

(More) Tyranny Approaches At Warp Speed

15 Friday May 2020

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With mothers being beaten and arrested for not wearing fear masks one can only assume how things will go when the Imperial stormtroopers come to forcibly vaccinate the nation.

The president said that distributing the vaccine would be a “massive job” and that he would move quickly to get it distributed.

“Unless you’re mobilized and ready, you’re not going to be able to do it for a long time. So we’re starting now,” he said.

President Trump predicted a vaccine would become available by the end of 2020, and manufacturers are already mobilizing the production of millions of doses of potential vaccine candidates while they are tested.

The president has also set an “Operation Warp Speed “task force goal of getting 100 million vaccine doses available in the fall, with 300 million doses by January.

Plandemic, indeed. Of course, this is all okay because Orange Man is a Republican. Plus, all of you who worship the “heroes” will have something else to thank them for. I’m thinking this may be THE line. Will they cross it? (I guess they will).

The Eternal ‘Dark Winter’ in America

08 Wednesday Apr 2020

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Snow in April?? Where’s “global warming” when we need it?

READ THIS from Unz.

The Dark Winter exercise began with a briefing on the geopolitical context of the exercise, which included intelligence suggesting that China had intentionally introduced Foot and Mouth disease in Taiwan for economic and political advantage; that Al-Qaeda was seeking to purchase biological pathogens once weaponized by the Soviet Union; and that Saddam Hussein of Iraq had recruited former biowarfare specialists from the Soviet Union and was importing materials to create biological weapons. It further notes that a majority of Americans had opposed a planned deployment of U.S. soldiers to the Middle East, which was also opposed by Iraq, China and Russia. The script also asserts that the soldiers were being deployed to counter and potentially engage the Iraqi military. Later, as the exercise unfolds, many of those Americans once skeptical about this troop deployment soon begin calling for “revenge.”

Amid this backdrop, news suddenly breaks that smallpox, a disease long eradicated in the U.S. and globally, appears to have broken out in the state of Oklahoma. The participants in Dark Winter, representing the National Security Council, quickly deduce that smallpox has been deliberately introduced and that this is the result of a “bioterrorist attack on the United States.” The assumption is made that the attack is “related to decisions we may make to deploy troops to the Mid-East.”

Not unlike what is unfolding currently with the Covid-19 crisis, in Dark Winter, there is no means of rapid diagnosis for smallpox, no treatments available and no surge capacity in the healthcare system. The outbreak quickly spreads to numerous other U.S. states and throughout the world. Hospitals in the U.S. soon face “desperate situations” as “tens of thousands of ill or anxious persons seek care.” This is compounded by “grossly inadequate supplies” and “insufficient isolation rooms,” among other complications.

Why, again, and how can anyone trust anything Washington says?

Is TBI TMI?

25 Saturday Jan 2020

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No straight story ever emerges from Washington, at least as told or retold by the government. Pentagon says no injuries 11 injuries 34 injuries related to the Iranian missile strike in Iraq.

The Pentagon said on Friday that 34 service members had been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury following missile strikes by Iran on a base in Iraq earlier this month, a number higher than the military had previously announced.

President Donald Trump and other top officials initially said Iran’s attack had not killed or injured any U.S. service members.

Last week the U.S. military said 11 U.S. troops had been treated for concussion symptoms after the attack on the Ain al-Asad air base in western Iraq and this week said additional troops had been moved out of Iraq for potential injuries.

Still no word on the hardware lost. Or, any rational explanation for why our troops were there in the first place.

Traumatic Brain Injury: Believe Nothing from DC

18 Saturday Jan 2020

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Putting aside the semantics of “American” v. “US” troops, we have yet another lie alteration to the ever-shifting narrative out of Iraq, in re the Iranian missile strike.

Nearly a dozen American troops were injured in the Iranian missile attack on two bases in Iraq last week, Defense Department officials said, after initially stating that there were no casualties in the strikes.

Eleven individuals are being screened for traumatic brain injuries following the attacks on two bases in Iraq that house American troops. Iran fired a dozen rockets total at Erbil in northern Iraq and the sprawling Al Asad air base in the west in retaliation for the American killing of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani days before. Pentagon officials at the time said there were no casualties.

How should the U.S. respond, if at all, to American soldiers being injured after an Iranian attack? Join the conversation below.

But late Thursday, U.S. Central Command acknowledged that there were injuries and the 11 service members suffered concussions during the attack.

“While no U.S. service members were killed in the Jan. 8 Iranian attack on Al Asad Air base, several were treated for concussion symptoms from the blast and are still being assessed,” according to Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla. “As a standard procedure, all personnel in the vicinity of a blast are screened for traumatic brain injury, and if deemed appropriate, are transported to a higher level of care.”

They have a lot of traumatic brain injuries in DC. A LOT. This had to be expected. So why hide it for a week? The Fateh-110’s carry 1,400-pound high explosive warheads. That means a hefty concussive blast, especially when multiple rounds hit in close proximity (and with much greater precision than the rated 3 meters).

Any bets on what the next change shall be?

Stark McRaven Mad

19 Saturday Oct 2019

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Neocon Clown Admiral Bill McRaven lays it down.

If our promises are meaningless, how will our allies ever trust us? If we can’t have faith in our nation’s principles, why would the men and women of this nation join the military? And if they don’t join, who will protect us? If we are not the champions of the good and the right, then who will follow us? And if no one follows us — where will the world end up?

President Trump seems to believe that these qualities are unimportant or show weakness. He is wrong. These are the virtues that have sustained this nation for the past 243 years. If we hope to continue to lead the world and inspire a new generation of young men and women to our cause, then we must embrace these values now more than ever.

And if this president doesn’t understand their importance, if this president doesn’t demonstrate the leadership that America needs, both domestically and abroad, then it is time for a new person in the Oval Office — Republican, Democrat or independent — the sooner, the better. The fate of our Republic depends upon it.

Yes! The fate of an entity that died horribly 158 years ago depends on flitting about the world, siding here and there with assorted primitives. But, that ship has sailed, Admiral.

The Fading Empire Fades

30 Monday Sep 2019

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As it has for some time. A great article on the subject, the first of two.

Insurgents have repeatedly battled US forces to a standoff or worse. Two major powers have weapons that can stymie or destroy significant parts of America’s conventional offensive capabilities, that can be used offensively with devastating effect, and for which the US has no defensive countermeasures.

This set of facts is plainly incompatible with the control the US establishment believes it can and should exercise around the world. Russia and China appear to have no such hegemonic aspirations, concentrating their efforts in their own backyards and letting the US waste its blood and treasure on imperialistic adventures. The US’s unipolar moment began fading in 1949 when the Soviet Union detonated its own atomic bomb, but repeated encounters with reality have done little to shake the illusion of control. Economic, financial, and political developments at home render the illusion delusional.

This week’s TPC column will cover some of these issues, from the perspective of my special interview guest. He says that the US shouldn’t be so keen even on relying on that nuclear threat – which it so happens is also fading. Coming soon!

Air Superiority in 3, 2, 12, uh … 19…

17 Tuesday Sep 2019

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We’re only five years away from a new, totally awesome, very real, and not a complete crock of kleptocratic hot air, sixth-generation starfighter with laser cannons, proton torpedos, USB chargers, and live Twitter-streaming AI. So, says the Air Force!

The U.S. Air Force is preparing to radically alter the acquisition strategy for its next generation of fighter jets, with a new plan that could require industry to design, develop and produce a new fighter in five years or less.

On Oct. 1, the service will officially reshape its next-generation fighter program, known as Next Generation Air Dominance, or NGAD, Will Roper, the Air Force’s acquisition executive, said during an exclusive interview with Defense News.

Under a new office headed by a yet-unnamed program manager, the NGAD program will adopt a rapid approach to developing small batches of fighters with multiple companies, much like the Century Series of aircraft built in the 1950s, Roper said.

“Based on what industry thinks they can do and what my team will tell me, we will need to set a cadence of how fast we think we build a new airplane from scratch. Right now, my estimate is five years. I may be wrong,” he said. “I’m hoping we can get faster than that — I think that will be insufficient in the long term [to meet future threats] — but five years is so much better than where we are now with normal acquisition.”

Now, don’t go and remind them that they announced this back in 2008, putting them over six years behind schedule already. And, best not to mention that some things have changed (just a little) in ‘Murica since the 1950s.

I’m sure it will be just fine. After so many years and hundreds of billion$, they’ll launch something that can fly for ten or twelve miles, very slowly, at an altitude of 10 or 12 feet, only on a clear Thursday in February, before crashing into an apartment complex. My biggest worry is that I may bump into one while cruising chicks in my flying car! That, I still expect to have by 2021 2033, 2055 never.

In echelon we carry on…