The goal of Biden and his gang are to remain in power at any cost whatsoever.
Apparently, American Jews will continue to vote for Biden and the Democrats and will continue to pour money into their campaigns regardless of what the administration does to Israel.
(I find it inexplicable that Steven Spielberg, who produced Schindler's List, is formulating strategy for the Biden campaign.)
However, American Muslims will not vote for Biden if he continues to support Israel thereby costing him Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, etc. and the election.
Given the situation who can blame Biden for throwing Israel under the bus? He has nothing to lose and an election to win.
Jews in America, like Blacks, have historically been a solid, dependable voting bloc for the Democrats. This election hopefully will be the first time there is a significant defection from the previous automatic Dem votes from those blocs.
Not all American Jews are necessarily for Israeli policy as I am sure is also true of many Israelis. Some just don't want parades of gun toting Nazi's walking down their street any more in front of their kids.
After Biden's setback in the Michigan primary, Senator Schumer gave a speech denouncing Netanyahu and demanding he go.
That was the same senator who blasted the Russians for supposedly interfering in American politics.
It was at that point the violent anti-Semitic protests erupted on college campuses. It's as if Schumer gave the go ahead that it was OK to throw Israel under the bus if it was for a good cause like reelecting Biden.
Schumer miscalculated. The BLM ANTIFA Frankenstein monster turned on its creator just like in the novel.
The Israelis have some ability to produce their own bombs. The company I work for built some casting cores for penetration bombs several years ago. Owner of the company went to Israel soon after. Would have thought he'd want us to join the IDF after he got back!
CDR, you lay out a depressingly predictive (and accurate) road map of future history.
As the younger generation(s) have assumed and will continue to increasingly assume the roles of power and influence in the U.S., Israel (and anyone else who depends on the U.S. as an ally) must prepare for how their oppressor / oppressed scorecard reads. Israel has a box score already (not good), Europe / NATO better be paying attention especially with how Islam stands in the oppression game.
For us here in the U.S., we actually mirror the Israeli ruinous strategic choices with regards to their industrial base and ability to manufacture defense munitions and hardware within their own borders. We're not alone in doing such stupid things. Germany (and Europe writ large) was buying cheap gas from Russia, shutting down nuclear energy and building expensive wind turbines even after the invasion of UKR. Please note the Marxist influence of the Greens in their government (and ours). Greens and watermelons...Green on the outside, Red (Marxist / Communist / Socialist (Communist lite) on the inside. Common thread throughout: Socialists, or the product of their takeover of education in western society. Not sure we've got enough altitude left to pull out of the cultural dive we're in....
Ally? You called us an ally? We suck at that. We never fail to knife in the back people who depend on us to keep our word. (Long list... Vietnamese, Cambodians, Kurds, Iraqis, Afgans, soon to be Ukrainians), but we are the best friend our money can buy. (Yes, you read that right and that makes no sense that we pay people to be their ally, because nothing we do makes sense anymore.)
Nope I’m talking the end of the western Roman Empire.. Check your math. We are possessed of the Goths, Visigoths, the Vandals, pick your barbarian invader and your Cesar.
"Under the spell of Barak’s U.S. dependence doctrine, Israel gutted its domestic military production capabilities. Nearly everything that it had produced domestically—from uniforms to rifles to bullets, to artillery and tank shells—was shut down. Thousands of military industry workers lost their jobs. Knowledge was lost. The contracts moved to the United States. Even projects developed jointly by Israeli engineers financed by America were transferred to the United States for production. So it happened that Israel’s Iron Dome missiles are solely produced in the United States."
This was news to me, thanks for the history lesson. I had read a few posts by Glick where she strongly told Israel that it had to start manufacturing all weapons and related ordnance in-house and minimize its dependence on any country. Glick also talked about not being able to depend on America or any other country to the extent it did. Depending on Single Source Supply, or any version of Supply on Demand invites disaster, and Israel doesn't have much flexibility in their needs- existentially, they need it when they need it.
If any country can get out of the hole they dug, I believe that Israel can.
Great article! I have been following the Israeli-Hamas war daily and learned much that I wasn't previously aware of regarding Israel pre-war actions. What folly to replicate US actions. Great to hear they will manufacture their own munitions soon. Also great analysis on current administration plans for future Palestinian state run by terrorists. That issue more than any other will dictate my vote in November. I'm frankly appalled by that US position. We better not provide one red cent for Gaza reconstruction
If the current administration is still in power you can take it to the bank that our hard-earned tax dollars will go help rebuild the terrorists homes. We already donated $320M for a worthless pier to provide food that can't be distributed due to theft and corruption.
That pier will be used to move the poor and oppressed Gazans to their new digs in Detroit. Actually they have a better argument for asylum in the U.S. than most of the current crowd at our southern border. I hope that Majorkas recalls his Jewish heritage and objects to admitting this horde of vandals into our country.
Glad to see our army wrestling with the pier that only the Seabees could get right.
What I find striking, and very disquieting, is that the young people of today tend to profound stupidity. They have no grasp of history, or science, or engineering. They seem to inhabit a fantasy world where all you have to do is want something hard enough, and someone will provide it for you. It's Magical Thinking.
They seem to think that being kind to someone who has stated many times that they want you and yours dead, will make them change their minds, when the actual solution is to go Full Curtiss LeMay on them.
We are in great danger, and I fear we may have expend rivers of blood to destroy the threat.
Nope. About ten years ago, I went to a talk with a couple of conservative friends - and a friend of theirs, and the latter was one of the Board of Regents for the State of Missouri - they were in charge of the university and community college systems. At dinner thereafter, the conversation drifted over to the topic of the Left taking over higher education. I made a comment to the effect that since these were tax-funded institutions, that leftward shift could be stopped - and the Board of Regents guy said that it was "inevitable". I said to him "Is the Board made up of leftists?" and he answered that it was people like him - conservatives - but they thought there was nothing they could do - even though they were in charge and *could* do things about it, if they had the will to do so. And I really got pissed at the guy, maybe I called him a coward, maybe not. The subject got changed. To this date, I still wonder if the guy suffered from a failure of the willpower to enforce the values he was put there to enforce - or whether it was deliberate, the snatching of defeat from the jaws of victory, as so many so-called conservatives seem to enjoy doing. It's like a child deliberately breaking his toys in order to cry and moan over it, except they have willingly acquiesced in the breaking of our society. At that point I figured that nothing short of revolt would change things, to get rid of deadwood like this.
social pressure. same reason CEOs go woke and take their business with them.
In this case, he was appointed. He owes his perks, like sports seat to somebody and the State legislature has the power of the purse if they used it. Look at Florida...
Then why did we hand Iran gobs of money to fund Hamas last year? Few are asking that question. Iran is flush with money to fund its terror operations now. Thanks to us and our half-witted behavior in every sector of economics, oil production, finance and foreign policy.
The reason they have no grasp of history, is that it is no longer taught in school. The problem began when Universities made all teachers get Education degrees. I was educated in government schools in the 50's and 60's. All my teachers were specialist in their field of study, and educators by choice. My Physics teacher was a physicist, my Science teachers were all scientist, and I had the good fortune of learning Trig from a WWI vet who was an artillery officer because he knew Trig.
Today teachers are indoctrinated into theories and methods of teaching, then they teach the subjects they are assigned to in school.
Education Departments in Universities should all be shut down.
I'm a teacher working in a high intellectual ability school ("academically selective") and it's true "They have no grasp of history, or science, or engineering". It's one of the things driving me toward resignation.
The author is "Caroline Glick." The topic of the article is what she consider's two "failed doctrines." As such, my post is about Caroline Glick's Failed Doctrines.
Concur with Bill. At a minimum, putting the title of CG's article in italics or quotes would have improved clarity: "Caroline Glick's 'Failed Doctrines'".
But the " 's " shows possession or origination. I had to read the beginning four times to figure it out. It cut deeply into my leisure breakfast of coffee and crayons.
I'm glad I stuck with it, though.
Anybody with a cursory knowledge of the lead up to Pearl Harbor should foam at the mouth over outsourcing existential hardware and materials. Japan lacked iron and oil. We didn't, so they depended on us for their defense industry. That is, until FDR cut off their utilities to spank them out of China and they in turn sank our boats.
What progressives have done with modern America is an order of magnitude worse; Japan didn't possess the resources but we did and gave away our manufacturing from sheer greed. We destroyed our petro-industry from sheer stupidity.
Having squandered our natural wealth, we should brace ourselves. Winter is coming.
To take Sal's article from yesterday and today's article a broad truth emerges. In some respects a soldier of WWI would not really be out of place in WWII or even today. The differences are in degree and not kind. Artillery, tanks, aircraft, boots on the ground, naval force; none have lost their relevance. You need them all, you need to know how to use them all. And, you need lots and lots of them as you will grind through lots and lots of them.
To put this force into the field you need industrial infrastructure. And some very basic and unglamorous infrastructure. Starting with steel production; a particular advantage we had over all of the combatants in WWII. And, in general heavy industry that can be readily converted into war production. Something America had in WWII, that only China seems to possess today.
Finally the lessons. One of which was unconditional surrender, a lesson learned in WWI and applied in WWII. And, not done since. We also learned that institutions like the League of Nations (and now, the UN) are worthless and the only truly effective international organization was NATO. That actually kept the peace for the past 75 years until someone or someones were caught asleep at the switch circa 2022. As an aside, there were proposals, following WWI, of military alliances with France and England; but, Woody Wilson stubbornly stuck to his League of Nations.
Along the way, there were many innovations, sometimes crucial. But always against the backdrop of lots and lots of troops, artillery, aircraft, tanks, armoured vehicles, logistical transport. Do we have the capability of bringing the forces that we did on Normandy on June 6, 1944. And the capabilities starting with North Africa in 1942, that made that day, D-day, the success that it was?
Couldn't help but notice that in Hamas' latest delirious demand, the first issue listed was the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza border with Egypt so that Hamas and apparently Egypt can reopen all those tunnels that were the main transport of weapons to Hamas.
Oh gosh, this is fun. More lessons! Okay here are my lessons from this debacle:
1. Same as the other question on Ukraine, which I forgot to mention: A war never ends when you keep pouring money on the fire. In this case, it will go on forever since we are funding both sides. (Yes, we are.) And this is a double-edged lesson because it will reap its rewards back home as well, when we aren't using that national treasure to defend our own borders or build our own infrastructure and we are leaving our children and grandchildren with a monstrous bill for financing endless horror abroad that they can never pay.
2. Pay close attention when the world's most vaunted intel agency claims it was caught flat-footed and never heard chatter or plans and had no clue its usually insanely watched border was about to be breached by people living right over it whom they regard as their enemy. They swore (SWORE, I TELL YA!) they had no idea it was coming and had moved a musical festival at the last minute to that very border, and sent all their soldiers who usually stand around armed on every street corner home for the holiday, even though the holiday was an anniversary of being attacked by their enemies. Go figure. And so no one was able to arrive for hours to stop the carnage. Gosh. What a failure. And they didn't even shit-can the leader that day.
3. Try not to stare open mouthed in horror as the world's biggest official victim blows, plows, and smashes an entire civilization into literal rubble, killing non-combatants right and left, and ensuring there will be no peace far into the next millennium. Mind you, as the Gaza residents wave the bloodied bodies of their infants at the camera in screaming tears, no other group has been allowed such official suffering victim status: not 30 million Ukrainians in the Holodomor, not the Armenians at the hands of the Turks, not any group that has been slaughtered at the hands of its neighbors or its enemy within. (Though the Armenians keep trying every year to get recognition, and every year the same entities turn down their plea for recognition. Go figure.)
Fun lessons. One thing we've learned though. We learn nothing from such lessons.
The thing I've never been able to figure out about the Ukraine War is why they still have an active Gazprom natural gas pipeline running through their country, from Sumy (near Kharkiv) to the Polish border. That pipeline pumps billions into the Russian's treasury and funds the war. Also, there's this: .Those US "economic sanctions" aren't all they're cracked up to be - see https://www.newsweek.com/putin-selling-us-nearly-billion-dollars-nuclear-fuel-1799788 "Because of this, Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation—Russia's collection of nuclear suppliers—provides a quarter of the U.S.'s nuclear fuel, and the United States continues to pay for the resource, spending a collective $1 billion last year, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. The nuclear fuel-for-money exchange is a spin-off of the 1993 Megatons to Megawatts Program that reduced Russian possession of nuclear fuel by converting 500 metric tons of weapons-grade uranium to 15,000 tons of low-enriched uranium, which was then sold to the U.S. for use as nuclear fuel. The program reduced Russian weapons capacity by more than 20,000 nuclear warheads and supplied the United States with much-needed fuel that could provide a cheaper, cleaner form of energy. Nuclear fuel is experiencing a revival as the world battles the effects and increased concerns of climate change. Nuclear energy is zero-emissions and is the second largest source of low-carbon electricity in the world behind hydropower, according to a website by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy. In March, the U.S.'s first nuclear reactor in seven years started nuclear reactions in Georgia. CNBC reported that including the new reactor, there are 93 reactors throughout the United States providing a fifth of the nation's energy. A quarter of the nuclear resources needed to power that energy is sourced from Rosatom."
I have a feeling that the Euros told Ukraine that if they shut that pipeline down the spigots of their money and weapons get turned off. The stuff from the US might take a long time to get there too. Multiple inspections and all that.
Other than the full attack plan the IDF managed to obtain from Hamas two weeks before the attack they had no idea there was any attack planned. But it is all Netanyahu’s fault, the Generals are completely blameless.
"As Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Brick, (retired) who served as the IDF ombudsman for 10 years, has documented, operating under the spell of Barak’s doctrine, the IDF shut down multiple reserve divisions. It cut its artillery forces by 50%. Armored brigades were shut down. The reserve force was reduced by 80% between 2003 and 2017. The non-commissioned officer corps was gutted. The bulk of the IDF budget and nearly all the U.S. military aid were diverted to the Air Force—the strategic arm of the “small, technological and lethal” IDF."
That paragraph sounds similar to the USMC Force Design 2030. I was just a grunt putting bombs and bullets together for our B-52's and other A/C, no experience in combat arms, but I think that Berger has set the groundwork for the Corps to fail.
"Even if it wanted to, today it is hard-pressed to repeat the 1973 airlift in real time."
Hard pressed? No, we couldn't. Period . Dot. We don't have the same airlift capabilities and maintenance capabilities to keep a fraction of the airlift functioning for the duration. Let alone the naval support which is relevant to those here. There was a string U.S. naval forces strung across the Med in support. Then there was the whole six days of dawdling by the Administration (Boy! Sounds familiar). Per yesterday's comment by Gary Foster on a Taiwan airlift, now imagine maintaining something similar against the PLA.
For a nice summary of Operation Nickel Grass (1973 airlift), start on page 16 of this 1989 AIr Power Journal.
Some of the stuff they did move, including after the war, was from the prepositioned stocks in Europe. The Israelis reports that a good portion of it didn't work/needed repairs. Parts rusted, seals crumbling, etc. Most of the vehicle stocks were stored in open parking lots and inspected once a year if that. It led to storing under cover, regular checkups including running up the engines.
I live in a suburb of Asheville. I am appalled by what happened at the West Asheville Public Library. Even more appalling is how woke and intolerant Asheville has become even with a Jewish mayor (Esther Manheimer). It used to be a place where mountaineers, rednecks, hippies, gays, Yankees, retirees, liberals, and conservatives would coexist in peace in a live and let live sort of way. No more.
Great analysis.
I must disagree with Caroline Glick on one point.
The goal of Biden and his gang are to remain in power at any cost whatsoever.
Apparently, American Jews will continue to vote for Biden and the Democrats and will continue to pour money into their campaigns regardless of what the administration does to Israel.
(I find it inexplicable that Steven Spielberg, who produced Schindler's List, is formulating strategy for the Biden campaign.)
However, American Muslims will not vote for Biden if he continues to support Israel thereby costing him Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, etc. and the election.
Given the situation who can blame Biden for throwing Israel under the bus? He has nothing to lose and an election to win.
Jews in America, like Blacks, have historically been a solid, dependable voting bloc for the Democrats. This election hopefully will be the first time there is a significant defection from the previous automatic Dem votes from those blocs.
I call this the “our turn to be the Nazis” theory.
If by "our turn to be..." refers to the Democrats, then yes.
Not yes.
No.
What I meant was, to be as explicit as possible:
"Jews who support Trump, or the Fascist Republican Party, are subscribing to the "our turn to be the Nazis" theory.
It is clearly a thing. It is disgusting, and a shanda.
Let us hope so, but I am not optimistic.
God forbid.
Not all American Jews are necessarily for Israeli policy as I am sure is also true of many Israelis. Some just don't want parades of gun toting Nazi's walking down their street any more in front of their kids.
Iran and its proxies don't have an issue with this or that Israeli policy.
They have an issue with the very existence of Israel something that Biden and his gang don't really care about.
From what I see the threat to American Jews on college campuses comes from the radical left which has made common cause with the jihadists.
"gun toting Nazi's walking down their street"
Let's keep the Feds out of this.
I bet you are one.
"American Jews will continue to vote for Biden and the Democrats"
That's only because Republicans haven't focused on the Jewish vote like they have courting the black & hispanic vote.
/s
I would like to add one other point.
After Biden's setback in the Michigan primary, Senator Schumer gave a speech denouncing Netanyahu and demanding he go.
That was the same senator who blasted the Russians for supposedly interfering in American politics.
It was at that point the violent anti-Semitic protests erupted on college campuses. It's as if Schumer gave the go ahead that it was OK to throw Israel under the bus if it was for a good cause like reelecting Biden.
Schumer miscalculated. The BLM ANTIFA Frankenstein monster turned on its creator just like in the novel.
The Israelis have some ability to produce their own bombs. The company I work for built some casting cores for penetration bombs several years ago. Owner of the company went to Israel soon after. Would have thought he'd want us to join the IDF after he got back!
CDR, you lay out a depressingly predictive (and accurate) road map of future history.
As the younger generation(s) have assumed and will continue to increasingly assume the roles of power and influence in the U.S., Israel (and anyone else who depends on the U.S. as an ally) must prepare for how their oppressor / oppressed scorecard reads. Israel has a box score already (not good), Europe / NATO better be paying attention especially with how Islam stands in the oppression game.
For us here in the U.S., we actually mirror the Israeli ruinous strategic choices with regards to their industrial base and ability to manufacture defense munitions and hardware within their own borders. We're not alone in doing such stupid things. Germany (and Europe writ large) was buying cheap gas from Russia, shutting down nuclear energy and building expensive wind turbines even after the invasion of UKR. Please note the Marxist influence of the Greens in their government (and ours). Greens and watermelons...Green on the outside, Red (Marxist / Communist / Socialist (Communist lite) on the inside. Common thread throughout: Socialists, or the product of their takeover of education in western society. Not sure we've got enough altitude left to pull out of the cultural dive we're in....
Ally? You called us an ally? We suck at that. We never fail to knife in the back people who depend on us to keep our word. (Long list... Vietnamese, Cambodians, Kurds, Iraqis, Afgans, soon to be Ukrainians), but we are the best friend our money can buy. (Yes, you read that right and that makes no sense that we pay people to be their ally, because nothing we do makes sense anymore.)
The old reds are the new greens.
That's how we referred to the Greens, as the Watermelon Party - Green on the outside, Red on the inside...
Both are religions without a god.
The parallels to the Roman Empire circa 470 AD are striking.
Check your math, this is 193 AD.
Nope I’m talking the end of the western Roman Empire.. Check your math. We are possessed of the Goths, Visigoths, the Vandals, pick your barbarian invader and your Cesar.
"Under the spell of Barak’s U.S. dependence doctrine, Israel gutted its domestic military production capabilities. Nearly everything that it had produced domestically—from uniforms to rifles to bullets, to artillery and tank shells—was shut down. Thousands of military industry workers lost their jobs. Knowledge was lost. The contracts moved to the United States. Even projects developed jointly by Israeli engineers financed by America were transferred to the United States for production. So it happened that Israel’s Iron Dome missiles are solely produced in the United States."
This was news to me, thanks for the history lesson. I had read a few posts by Glick where she strongly told Israel that it had to start manufacturing all weapons and related ordnance in-house and minimize its dependence on any country. Glick also talked about not being able to depend on America or any other country to the extent it did. Depending on Single Source Supply, or any version of Supply on Demand invites disaster, and Israel doesn't have much flexibility in their needs- existentially, they need it when they need it.
If any country can get out of the hole they dug, I believe that Israel can.
incentives galore to start filling in the hole
It was a bit news to me as well. But I agree with your last sentence, as well.
Great article! I have been following the Israeli-Hamas war daily and learned much that I wasn't previously aware of regarding Israel pre-war actions. What folly to replicate US actions. Great to hear they will manufacture their own munitions soon. Also great analysis on current administration plans for future Palestinian state run by terrorists. That issue more than any other will dictate my vote in November. I'm frankly appalled by that US position. We better not provide one red cent for Gaza reconstruction
What nation would want to rebuild a nation full of people who danced for joy on 911 and 107?
If the current administration is still in power you can take it to the bank that our hard-earned tax dollars will go help rebuild the terrorists homes. We already donated $320M for a worthless pier to provide food that can't be distributed due to theft and corruption.
Less 10% for the Big Guy and his rotten son.
That pier will be used to move the poor and oppressed Gazans to their new digs in Detroit. Actually they have a better argument for asylum in the U.S. than most of the current crowd at our southern border. I hope that Majorkas recalls his Jewish heritage and objects to admitting this horde of vandals into our country.
Glad to see our army wrestling with the pier that only the Seabees could get right.
If their Muslim brethren don't want them, neither do we.
The melting pot is rancid.
Didn't it sink already?
"We better not provide one red cent for Gaza reconstruction"
---------
Thanks! Best laugh I have had all week!
What I find striking, and very disquieting, is that the young people of today tend to profound stupidity. They have no grasp of history, or science, or engineering. They seem to inhabit a fantasy world where all you have to do is want something hard enough, and someone will provide it for you. It's Magical Thinking.
They seem to think that being kind to someone who has stated many times that they want you and yours dead, will make them change their minds, when the actual solution is to go Full Curtiss LeMay on them.
We are in great danger, and I fear we may have expend rivers of blood to destroy the threat.
thank the NEA, AFT and the burrowing within our universities of all those 60's radicals
Nope. About ten years ago, I went to a talk with a couple of conservative friends - and a friend of theirs, and the latter was one of the Board of Regents for the State of Missouri - they were in charge of the university and community college systems. At dinner thereafter, the conversation drifted over to the topic of the Left taking over higher education. I made a comment to the effect that since these were tax-funded institutions, that leftward shift could be stopped - and the Board of Regents guy said that it was "inevitable". I said to him "Is the Board made up of leftists?" and he answered that it was people like him - conservatives - but they thought there was nothing they could do - even though they were in charge and *could* do things about it, if they had the will to do so. And I really got pissed at the guy, maybe I called him a coward, maybe not. The subject got changed. To this date, I still wonder if the guy suffered from a failure of the willpower to enforce the values he was put there to enforce - or whether it was deliberate, the snatching of defeat from the jaws of victory, as so many so-called conservatives seem to enjoy doing. It's like a child deliberately breaking his toys in order to cry and moan over it, except they have willingly acquiesced in the breaking of our society. At that point I figured that nothing short of revolt would change things, to get rid of deadwood like this.
social pressure. same reason CEOs go woke and take their business with them.
In this case, he was appointed. He owes his perks, like sports seat to somebody and the State legislature has the power of the purse if they used it. Look at Florida...
They (young people) are not stupid. They know exactly what they've been taught. It is us who are ignorant of the content and ends of that instruction.
Then why did we hand Iran gobs of money to fund Hamas last year? Few are asking that question. Iran is flush with money to fund its terror operations now. Thanks to us and our half-witted behavior in every sector of economics, oil production, finance and foreign policy.
Sanctions ain't working,🤔.
I just assumed it was because Jarrett and Sullivan view a strong Iran as critical to their goals.
The reason they have no grasp of history, is that it is no longer taught in school. The problem began when Universities made all teachers get Education degrees. I was educated in government schools in the 50's and 60's. All my teachers were specialist in their field of study, and educators by choice. My Physics teacher was a physicist, my Science teachers were all scientist, and I had the good fortune of learning Trig from a WWI vet who was an artillery officer because he knew Trig.
Today teachers are indoctrinated into theories and methods of teaching, then they teach the subjects they are assigned to in school.
Education Departments in Universities should all be shut down.
Dave Peterson
P J O’Rourke once wrote that anyone who ever slept with an elementary education major in college doesn’t have to ask, “What’s wrong with our schools?”
Hahahahaha
You think that is an accident? Like it wasn't planned?
The Left marched through the institutions one by one.
I'm a teacher working in a high intellectual ability school ("academically selective") and it's true "They have no grasp of history, or science, or engineering". It's one of the things driving me toward resignation.
That has to be very frustrating.
"...the United States has demanded...." That is purely reprehensible.
and, foreknown, predicted some 2,500 years ago or so.
You'd think that Israel would get a clue...
Either the headline — "Caroline Glick's Failed Doctrines" — is 180° misleading, or I need a second cup of coffee.
agree. I have liked her stuff and your chosen title almost made me ignore your (CDR S) posting
The author is "Caroline Glick." The topic of the article is what she consider's two "failed doctrines." As such, my post is about Caroline Glick's Failed Doctrines.
Dummies like me read it as this person's doctrines are failures. Like Tony Blinken--not that he could actually come up with a doctrine.
Maybe something like "Caroline Glick's Observations on Two Failed Doctrines" would be less ambiguous?
Concur with Bill. At a minimum, putting the title of CG's article in italics or quotes would have improved clarity: "Caroline Glick's 'Failed Doctrines'".
I like your suggestion. I shall make it flesh.
How about “Caroline Glick on failed doctrines”
But the " 's " shows possession or origination. I had to read the beginning four times to figure it out. It cut deeply into my leisure breakfast of coffee and crayons.
I'm glad I stuck with it, though.
Anybody with a cursory knowledge of the lead up to Pearl Harbor should foam at the mouth over outsourcing existential hardware and materials. Japan lacked iron and oil. We didn't, so they depended on us for their defense industry. That is, until FDR cut off their utilities to spank them out of China and they in turn sank our boats.
What progressives have done with modern America is an order of magnitude worse; Japan didn't possess the resources but we did and gave away our manufacturing from sheer greed. We destroyed our petro-industry from sheer stupidity.
Having squandered our natural wealth, we should brace ourselves. Winter is coming.
To take Sal's article from yesterday and today's article a broad truth emerges. In some respects a soldier of WWI would not really be out of place in WWII or even today. The differences are in degree and not kind. Artillery, tanks, aircraft, boots on the ground, naval force; none have lost their relevance. You need them all, you need to know how to use them all. And, you need lots and lots of them as you will grind through lots and lots of them.
To put this force into the field you need industrial infrastructure. And some very basic and unglamorous infrastructure. Starting with steel production; a particular advantage we had over all of the combatants in WWII. And, in general heavy industry that can be readily converted into war production. Something America had in WWII, that only China seems to possess today.
Finally the lessons. One of which was unconditional surrender, a lesson learned in WWI and applied in WWII. And, not done since. We also learned that institutions like the League of Nations (and now, the UN) are worthless and the only truly effective international organization was NATO. That actually kept the peace for the past 75 years until someone or someones were caught asleep at the switch circa 2022. As an aside, there were proposals, following WWI, of military alliances with France and England; but, Woody Wilson stubbornly stuck to his League of Nations.
Along the way, there were many innovations, sometimes crucial. But always against the backdrop of lots and lots of troops, artillery, aircraft, tanks, armoured vehicles, logistical transport. Do we have the capability of bringing the forces that we did on Normandy on June 6, 1944. And the capabilities starting with North Africa in 1942, that made that day, D-day, the success that it was?
NATO kept the peace until 1989. After that it morphed into a disguise for US hegemony.
אם אתה רוצה שלום התכונן למלחמה
Si vis pacem, para bellum
here's another good read
https://carolineglick.com/egypt-must-pay-a-price-for-its-sponsorship-of-hamas/
Couldn't help but notice that in Hamas' latest delirious demand, the first issue listed was the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza border with Egypt so that Hamas and apparently Egypt can reopen all those tunnels that were the main transport of weapons to Hamas.
Oh gosh, this is fun. More lessons! Okay here are my lessons from this debacle:
1. Same as the other question on Ukraine, which I forgot to mention: A war never ends when you keep pouring money on the fire. In this case, it will go on forever since we are funding both sides. (Yes, we are.) And this is a double-edged lesson because it will reap its rewards back home as well, when we aren't using that national treasure to defend our own borders or build our own infrastructure and we are leaving our children and grandchildren with a monstrous bill for financing endless horror abroad that they can never pay.
2. Pay close attention when the world's most vaunted intel agency claims it was caught flat-footed and never heard chatter or plans and had no clue its usually insanely watched border was about to be breached by people living right over it whom they regard as their enemy. They swore (SWORE, I TELL YA!) they had no idea it was coming and had moved a musical festival at the last minute to that very border, and sent all their soldiers who usually stand around armed on every street corner home for the holiday, even though the holiday was an anniversary of being attacked by their enemies. Go figure. And so no one was able to arrive for hours to stop the carnage. Gosh. What a failure. And they didn't even shit-can the leader that day.
3. Try not to stare open mouthed in horror as the world's biggest official victim blows, plows, and smashes an entire civilization into literal rubble, killing non-combatants right and left, and ensuring there will be no peace far into the next millennium. Mind you, as the Gaza residents wave the bloodied bodies of their infants at the camera in screaming tears, no other group has been allowed such official suffering victim status: not 30 million Ukrainians in the Holodomor, not the Armenians at the hands of the Turks, not any group that has been slaughtered at the hands of its neighbors or its enemy within. (Though the Armenians keep trying every year to get recognition, and every year the same entities turn down their plea for recognition. Go figure.)
Fun lessons. One thing we've learned though. We learn nothing from such lessons.
The thing I've never been able to figure out about the Ukraine War is why they still have an active Gazprom natural gas pipeline running through their country, from Sumy (near Kharkiv) to the Polish border. That pipeline pumps billions into the Russian's treasury and funds the war. Also, there's this: .Those US "economic sanctions" aren't all they're cracked up to be - see https://www.newsweek.com/putin-selling-us-nearly-billion-dollars-nuclear-fuel-1799788 "Because of this, Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation—Russia's collection of nuclear suppliers—provides a quarter of the U.S.'s nuclear fuel, and the United States continues to pay for the resource, spending a collective $1 billion last year, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. The nuclear fuel-for-money exchange is a spin-off of the 1993 Megatons to Megawatts Program that reduced Russian possession of nuclear fuel by converting 500 metric tons of weapons-grade uranium to 15,000 tons of low-enriched uranium, which was then sold to the U.S. for use as nuclear fuel. The program reduced Russian weapons capacity by more than 20,000 nuclear warheads and supplied the United States with much-needed fuel that could provide a cheaper, cleaner form of energy. Nuclear fuel is experiencing a revival as the world battles the effects and increased concerns of climate change. Nuclear energy is zero-emissions and is the second largest source of low-carbon electricity in the world behind hydropower, according to a website by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy. In March, the U.S.'s first nuclear reactor in seven years started nuclear reactions in Georgia. CNBC reported that including the new reactor, there are 93 reactors throughout the United States providing a fifth of the nation's energy. A quarter of the nuclear resources needed to power that energy is sourced from Rosatom."
I have a feeling that the Euros told Ukraine that if they shut that pipeline down the spigots of their money and weapons get turned off. The stuff from the US might take a long time to get there too. Multiple inspections and all that.
Shutting off Russian gas causes economic hardship, which causes political upheaval. See AfD & Germany.
How will the Big Guy his 10% if they cut it off?
How much of 'donation' did Putin make to Hillary Clinton to approve Russia buying much of US and Canadian uranium industry?
https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/109694/documents/HHRG-116-II06-20190625-SD004.pdf
Other than the full attack plan the IDF managed to obtain from Hamas two weeks before the attack they had no idea there was any attack planned. But it is all Netanyahu’s fault, the Generals are completely blameless.
From Glicks https://carolineglick.com/rising-from-the-ruins-of-a-generation-of-failed-doctrines/
"As Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Brick, (retired) who served as the IDF ombudsman for 10 years, has documented, operating under the spell of Barak’s doctrine, the IDF shut down multiple reserve divisions. It cut its artillery forces by 50%. Armored brigades were shut down. The reserve force was reduced by 80% between 2003 and 2017. The non-commissioned officer corps was gutted. The bulk of the IDF budget and nearly all the U.S. military aid were diverted to the Air Force—the strategic arm of the “small, technological and lethal” IDF."
That paragraph sounds similar to the USMC Force Design 2030. I was just a grunt putting bombs and bullets together for our B-52's and other A/C, no experience in combat arms, but I think that Berger has set the groundwork for the Corps to fail.
Sure looks like more Wake Islands to me.
"Even if it wanted to, today it is hard-pressed to repeat the 1973 airlift in real time."
Hard pressed? No, we couldn't. Period . Dot. We don't have the same airlift capabilities and maintenance capabilities to keep a fraction of the airlift functioning for the duration. Let alone the naval support which is relevant to those here. There was a string U.S. naval forces strung across the Med in support. Then there was the whole six days of dawdling by the Administration (Boy! Sounds familiar). Per yesterday's comment by Gary Foster on a Taiwan airlift, now imagine maintaining something similar against the PLA.
For a nice summary of Operation Nickel Grass (1973 airlift), start on page 16 of this 1989 AIr Power Journal.
https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/ASPJ/journals/Volume-03_Issue-1-4/1989_Vol3_No1.pdf
That's just the transportation part. Finding stuff to airlift is the other "mission impossible" task which needs to be admitted and corrected.
Some of the stuff they did move, including after the war, was from the prepositioned stocks in Europe. The Israelis reports that a good portion of it didn't work/needed repairs. Parts rusted, seals crumbling, etc. Most of the vehicle stocks were stored in open parking lots and inspected once a year if that. It led to storing under cover, regular checkups including running up the engines.
I live in a suburb of Asheville. I am appalled by what happened at the West Asheville Public Library. Even more appalling is how woke and intolerant Asheville has become even with a Jewish mayor (Esther Manheimer). It used to be a place where mountaineers, rednecks, hippies, gays, Yankees, retirees, liberals, and conservatives would coexist in peace in a live and let live sort of way. No more.
Yep. They kept the place weird, but in a very bad way.
Modern day brown shirts