Left does not mean, "things I don't like." I took this post to the ANTIFA meeting; they ran it through the Soros database. The result was clear. Zorost is not one of us leftists.
This "blood and soil" patriotism Zorost is spouting, “Blut und Boden” in the original German, is ethnonationalism, the opposite of universalist liberal democracy. To be a liberal is to follow in the footsteps of John Locke, and Adam Smith, to recognize the value of the individual, and understand that society is better off when the sovereign is swinging at the end of a rope, rather than sitting on a throne. This Zorost fellow, he’s team far-right; he loves his sovereign. He’s kin to a truncheon-wielding ICE agent; ready to crack heads when he hears a Spanish accent.
Love, Tom
P.S. I will concede that the far right, and the far left, are twins; peas in a pod; equally ignorant.
"One can imagine that the Ancient Egyptians did the same thing, rounded up the traitorous scheming destructive Jews in their midst and set them to the physical labor of making building materials, while living in a closely watched segregated community of their own out of necessity. A thousand years later Jews in Babylon describe it in writing as Egypt made them slaves, simply because they finally had to do honest work for a change."
The modern world began when rotten King Charlie lost his head after being tried, and convicted by a jury of his peers. The death of Charles was the end of the divine right of kings, and the beginning of the age of individual freedom and liberty. I don't mind seeing kings hang, but, chopping off their heads is better.
Was, then, the American Revolution effected, was the American Confederacy formed, was the precious blood of thousands spilt, and the hard-earned substance of millions lavished, not that the people of America should enjoy peace, liberty, and safety, but that the government of the individual States, that particular municipal establishments, might enjoy a certain extent of power, and be arrayed with certain dignities and attributes of sovereignty? We have heard of the impious doctrine in the Old World, that the people were made for kings, not kings for the people. Is the same doctrine to be revived in the New, in another shape that the solid happiness of the people is to be sacrificed to the views of political institutions of a different form?
Zorost appears to be troll with little or no value to add to any discussion, from the left or the right.
We can maintain our largely civil (and sometimes otherwise), but always considered disagreements, while attempting to ignore or at best expel the trolls.
We have to get you into the circle theory. Political ideology is best expressed as a circle, not a line. You are correct, the far right are anarchists, but, so to are the far left. As the conservatives move farther to the right, they meet the liberals moving left.
There's another point on the circle, where conservatives appreciate the liberal values of individual freedom and liberty, and liberals respect, tradition, established institutions, social stability, and gradual, organic change over radical revolution. That's where I'd like to live.
The Constitution gives the Congress the powers to maintain a navy and raise an army. The founders knew that hulls in the water mattered more than boots on the ground.
Except until Mahan, the real strategic question was a mobile coast defense vs static. Even after Mahan we had the Endicott board. "Maintaining" a navy is an expensive proposition.
One might propose that some eastern and northern European nations, notably Sweden, Finland, Poland, Ukraine, Norway, Denmark, have longer-term been aware of defense preparedness, Ukraine much more so after they were invaded. One might also propose that the latest American air force aircraft are having their own issues with price and range.
Sal, you wound me, I was hired by the Naval War College in 2020 to be the key historian on the faculty--The Fleet Admiral Ernest J King visiting professor of maritime history. But this is the exception that proves the rule I guess. The guy who hired me, Jeff Harley was hounded out of his job as Naval War College President by the "good old boys" faculty and staff, but they could not come up with a good reason not to honor Jeff's hiring decision. The guy who convinced Jeff to hire me was also punished, but not fired, just sidelined and made fun of. Jeff, by the way, was completely exonerated, as so often happens, by the INstpector General investigation of his alleged "abuses." I only worked for NWC for a year, and the COVID year at that. In ever once had a conversation with the interim President, Rear Admiral Chatfield. They did offer me a longer term job, but I decided I could do more with the Army than the Navy, so I returned to the Command and Staff College in Kansas at Fort Leavenworth as a mark one mod zero military historian teaching operational history. Best wishes, your Shellback Friend, John T. Kuehn, Ph.D.
Agree with a lot of what Kaplan had to say, but wish he would have acknowledged that when well-resourced and properly used the USN does great things, like swatting away cruise missiles and drones, conducting ongoing air strikes in Iran when Air Force advance bases get bombed or the Air Force just cannot sustain the OPTEMPO, and other missions. Even with being too small and poorly resourced for deployment of 1/3 of its total ships, the USN still does some amazing things. Just wish Kaplan would have acknowledged that in his wider critique.
"like swatting away cruise missiles and drones, conducting ongoing air strikes in Iran when Air Force advance bases get bombed or the Air Force just cannot sustain the OPTEMPO"
The USN got lucky. In the next fight, it might well be cut off from the land based air support...and land based infrastructure...it can't operate without.
Things got a bit dicey as it was Laz. Nobody has to officially say the obvious, nor is it in anyway not apparent.
And before you tout the 'new' MQ-25, let's just admit it cant substitute for the USAF tanker support for the short legged CVW's.
Besides, the USN doesn't have...and will not have for many years, if ever... the UNREP capability to sustain fuel flow to the CVN's to make up the difference anyway.
And that brings up another point.
If the USN was actually serious about "Ships and the Sea", then it wouldn't pawn off the essential UNREP mission to MARAD.
And keep the "Enterprise" just barely effective in the best of times.
I'm amazed we have an armed force, which consumes 1/3 of the defense budget (or more if you include the DoD pass-throughs in the AF and Navy budgets), which is mostly focused on defending other peoples' borders and yet no serious discussion occurs to rebalance the military budget to bolster our strengths as an aerospace and naval power.
Ah, yes. Sylvanus Thayer, a Dartmouth man, valedictorian, Class of 1807, just a few years before me. He went straight from Hanover, NH to West Point. Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering is named for old man Thayer.
What is so incredibly irresponsible is the Navy's bungling of the uniform. The uniforms of the Navy Department were the best looking uniforms of any organization in the entire world. Your picture shows everything wrong with the Navy of today.
This is a formal picture in an academic setting. This is a situation which calls for a coat and tie. Look at what the civilians are wearing. Notice that neither of them look like they are dressed for a hog hunt in Marianna. (Brother on the left did say, "why should I tie my tie with these guys in work boots.)"
What should a Naval Officer were to a situation where civilian men are expected to wear suits? The perfect coat and tie for a naval officer, is Service Dress Blue, a natty double breasted suit; perfect for every occasion where a man should wear a suit.
You know what they don't look like? Competent mariners. Would you hand the line to any of these goobers if they came clomping down the Newport pier dressed for a turkey hunt? There's a word for how these folks look. The word is, "lubberly."
Oh please.
You should find another blog if you want or spout far left and jihadist propaganda.
This blog is for serious and knowledgeable people with an interest in maritime affairs.
You are not pro American.
You gave yourself away when you said “real Americans.” Who is not a “real American”?
We know who you mean.
You fool no one.
Begone, troll.
Slither back to Tucker.
It’s amazing how quickly people Iike you descend into obscenities when you are unable to fool people.
BTW, do you starch your white pointy hood?
As I was won't advised, "don't feed the trolls." Zoroft is apparently not here to add value
*once advised
Zorost doesn't add anything.
Peter, my brother;
Left does not mean, "things I don't like." I took this post to the ANTIFA meeting; they ran it through the Soros database. The result was clear. Zorost is not one of us leftists.
This "blood and soil" patriotism Zorost is spouting, “Blut und Boden” in the original German, is ethnonationalism, the opposite of universalist liberal democracy. To be a liberal is to follow in the footsteps of John Locke, and Adam Smith, to recognize the value of the individual, and understand that society is better off when the sovereign is swinging at the end of a rope, rather than sitting on a throne. This Zorost fellow, he’s team far-right; he loves his sovereign. He’s kin to a truncheon-wielding ICE agent; ready to crack heads when he hears a Spanish accent.
Love, Tom
P.S. I will concede that the far right, and the far left, are twins; peas in a pod; equally ignorant.
Zorost said;
"One can imagine that the Ancient Egyptians did the same thing, rounded up the traitorous scheming destructive Jews in their midst and set them to the physical labor of making building materials, while living in a closely watched segregated community of their own out of necessity. A thousand years later Jews in Babylon describe it in writing as Egypt made them slaves, simply because they finally had to do honest work for a change."
He works for ICE?
I wonder if the Jews can sue the Egyptians for reparations or at least get a lien on the pyramids.
Tom,
You were doing well until you channeled your inner Robespierre and started salivating at the thought of hanging monarchs.
Also, you can do better than truncheon-wielding. How about jackboots?
It’s rough men like the guys at ICE who make it possible for old men like me to sleep safely at night. Now, I am channeling my inner Kipling.
The modern world began when rotten King Charlie lost his head after being tried, and convicted by a jury of his peers. The death of Charles was the end of the divine right of kings, and the beginning of the age of individual freedom and liberty. I don't mind seeing kings hang, but, chopping off their heads is better.
Typical leftist bloodlust.
Nothing more dangerous than a utopian with a machine gun.
Was, then, the American Revolution effected, was the American Confederacy formed, was the precious blood of thousands spilt, and the hard-earned substance of millions lavished, not that the people of America should enjoy peace, liberty, and safety, but that the government of the individual States, that particular municipal establishments, might enjoy a certain extent of power, and be arrayed with certain dignities and attributes of sovereignty? We have heard of the impious doctrine in the Old World, that the people were made for kings, not kings for the people. Is the same doctrine to be revived in the New, in another shape that the solid happiness of the people is to be sacrificed to the views of political institutions of a different form?
Zorost appears to be troll with little or no value to add to any discussion, from the left or the right.
We can maintain our largely civil (and sometimes otherwise), but always considered disagreements, while attempting to ignore or at best expel the trolls.
Zorost is not far right. The far right are anarchists, not statists.
We have to get you into the circle theory. Political ideology is best expressed as a circle, not a line. You are correct, the far right are anarchists, but, so to are the far left. As the conservatives move farther to the right, they meet the liberals moving left.
There's another point on the circle, where conservatives appreciate the liberal values of individual freedom and liberty, and liberals respect, tradition, established institutions, social stability, and gradual, organic change over radical revolution. That's where I'd like to live.
The Constitution gives the Congress the powers to maintain a navy and raise an army. The founders knew that hulls in the water mattered more than boots on the ground.
Hamilton said it best in Federalist #11
Except until Mahan, the real strategic question was a mobile coast defense vs static. Even after Mahan we had the Endicott board. "Maintaining" a navy is an expensive proposition.
It is but necessary.
Only if you are an island nation, engaged in free enterprise; or a Asian land power, dependant on trade to feed your people.
One might propose that some eastern and northern European nations, notably Sweden, Finland, Poland, Ukraine, Norway, Denmark, have longer-term been aware of defense preparedness, Ukraine much more so after they were invaded. One might also propose that the latest American air force aircraft are having their own issues with price and range.
Sal, you wound me, I was hired by the Naval War College in 2020 to be the key historian on the faculty--The Fleet Admiral Ernest J King visiting professor of maritime history. But this is the exception that proves the rule I guess. The guy who hired me, Jeff Harley was hounded out of his job as Naval War College President by the "good old boys" faculty and staff, but they could not come up with a good reason not to honor Jeff's hiring decision. The guy who convinced Jeff to hire me was also punished, but not fired, just sidelined and made fun of. Jeff, by the way, was completely exonerated, as so often happens, by the INstpector General investigation of his alleged "abuses." I only worked for NWC for a year, and the COVID year at that. In ever once had a conversation with the interim President, Rear Admiral Chatfield. They did offer me a longer term job, but I decided I could do more with the Army than the Navy, so I returned to the Command and Staff College in Kansas at Fort Leavenworth as a mark one mod zero military historian teaching operational history. Best wishes, your Shellback Friend, John T. Kuehn, Ph.D.
Present company, excluded, of course
Well heck now my reading list just got longer after John T. Kuehn Amazon search. Thanks CDR & JTK!
That's the problem with reading lists---the more you read, the longer they get.
Thanks for your support. I wish some of my books were cheaper. I need to get the Japan one republished at lower cost.
I have never allowed the price of a book stop me from purchasing a book. Yes the Japan book is the one that really interests me.
For decades, https://www.alibris.com has allowed me to purchase many books that would otherwise have remained on the "wish list".
I might rephrase the description of the Davos crowd.
"Never before have so many been so *arrogantly* wrong about things so important"
You are just so mean.
Next you will be bashing Greta and her invincible armada.
now, now; let's leave the climate goblin out of it.
It's all the same people...
Protesting has become an industry.
https://nypost.com/2026/05/06/us-news/inside-nycs-upwardly-mobile-gen-z-agitator-groups-and-how-they-target-ice-enforcement/
Agree with a lot of what Kaplan had to say, but wish he would have acknowledged that when well-resourced and properly used the USN does great things, like swatting away cruise missiles and drones, conducting ongoing air strikes in Iran when Air Force advance bases get bombed or the Air Force just cannot sustain the OPTEMPO, and other missions. Even with being too small and poorly resourced for deployment of 1/3 of its total ships, the USN still does some amazing things. Just wish Kaplan would have acknowledged that in his wider critique.
Let’s give a shout out to MSC.
UNREP makes its possible for the Navy to operate worldwide thereby making America a truly global power.
"like swatting away cruise missiles and drones, conducting ongoing air strikes in Iran when Air Force advance bases get bombed or the Air Force just cannot sustain the OPTEMPO"
The USN got lucky. In the next fight, it might well be cut off from the land based air support...and land based infrastructure...it can't operate without.
Things got a bit dicey as it was Laz. Nobody has to officially say the obvious, nor is it in anyway not apparent.
And before you tout the 'new' MQ-25, let's just admit it cant substitute for the USAF tanker support for the short legged CVW's.
Besides, the USN doesn't have...and will not have for many years, if ever... the UNREP capability to sustain fuel flow to the CVN's to make up the difference anyway.
And that brings up another point.
If the USN was actually serious about "Ships and the Sea", then it wouldn't pawn off the essential UNREP mission to MARAD.
And keep the "Enterprise" just barely effective in the best of times.
And we have only faced 2nd and 3rd tier opponents. China will not be as kind to us.
"(as only when you are sick of saying something will people finally start to listen)"
lordy. couldn't make up my mind whether to cry or laugh at that one, Sir!; as I sit at the keyboard and write yet another book about..........
One of the worst things W did was to replace General Pace with Admiral Mullen as CJCS and that’s saying a lot.
I'm amazed we have an armed force, which consumes 1/3 of the defense budget (or more if you include the DoD pass-throughs in the AF and Navy budgets), which is mostly focused on defending other peoples' borders and yet no serious discussion occurs to rebalance the military budget to bolster our strengths as an aerospace and naval power.
Excellent essay! Thank you, Sal.
Ah, yes. Sylvanus Thayer, a Dartmouth man, valedictorian, Class of 1807, just a few years before me. He went straight from Hanover, NH to West Point. Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering is named for old man Thayer.
The "1000 caveat navy" was never going to compensate for our own seablindness and shortsightedness.
Mullen got a DDG named after him for running shotgun when club rainbow wanted full access to the military. It was his reward.
Bravo Zulu, Cdr Sal.
I'll add Kaplan's words along with the following from George Washington to my advocacy toolkit. -- Bill
"To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace."
— George Washington, 1790
Si vis pacem, para bellum. A weak, idle army invites attack; as does a Navy welded to the pier.
"A world united by democracies that uphold a certain standard of human rights"
Pursuing this with an evangelical zeal for over 20 years has been the cause of our current woes.
Not really. Tyrannies were fine as long as they jumped through the hoops the regime liked.
"...we should all try to fold that into our conversations with people who don’t have a grasp of this simple, but powerful, concept."
Yes. The scoffs continue, but before this can ever be successful, the USN leadership needs to dress -and act- like they are actually in a NAVY.
https://media.defense.gov/2024/Jul/17/2003505189/1300/700/0/240716-N-ES994-2009.JPG
The average American taxpayer can't tell.
What is so incredibly irresponsible is the Navy's bungling of the uniform. The uniforms of the Navy Department were the best looking uniforms of any organization in the entire world. Your picture shows everything wrong with the Navy of today.
This is a formal picture in an academic setting. This is a situation which calls for a coat and tie. Look at what the civilians are wearing. Notice that neither of them look like they are dressed for a hog hunt in Marianna. (Brother on the left did say, "why should I tie my tie with these guys in work boots.)"
What should a Naval Officer were to a situation where civilian men are expected to wear suits? The perfect coat and tie for a naval officer, is Service Dress Blue, a natty double breasted suit; perfect for every occasion where a man should wear a suit.
You know what they don't look like? Competent mariners. Would you hand the line to any of these goobers if they came clomping down the Newport pier dressed for a turkey hunt? There's a word for how these folks look. The word is, "lubberly."
The Marines remain the only Service who takes dress protocol and uniforms seriously.