A few years ago we had a president who seemed to get along with the leaders of Russia and China. At least we weren't talking about shooting wars. Whatever happened to that guy? Can we get him back?
It looks to me like the Russians are behaving as though a larger war would give them a free hand to restore their Imperial status. This will not end well, unless a captain gets reprimanded.
This has the potential to have been a manufactured incident. Small, old, Turkish owned bulk carrier registered in Palau, intercepted soon after leaving Turkish waters in the busy Bosporus sea lanes on the way from a Greek port to a destination it keeps changing.
The Russians inspect the ship for contraband and let it proceed on its way, thus establishing.a precedent and obtaining a useful sound bite. "See, Russian Navy not bad people. We not here to starve people. Not here to burn food, sink ships. We here to defend innocent lives".
We will see if the ship is able to get to its destination, load up, and what happens then.
okay, CDR, I'll bite.........re: Palau. (and vast reach of Pacific islands in general). Most readers here know my own horse that I plug; fine. A bit about that..... years ago, the Federated States of Micronesia expressed interest in developing airships as an addition or alternative to using marine vessels for inter-island transport. They recognized then, that there could be immense advantages in doing so.
Those advantages have only increased with time; the time that is running out on peace in the Pacific.
A simple suggestion then......that the Navy begin to seriously consider using modern, amphibious, rigid-hulled AIRSHIPS. With all the concerns over getting more ships into the fleet vis a vis the "west of Wake" hazards we are looking at...........getting more "ships", that have hulls OUT OF THE WATER would seem to be a fine fit.
Perhaps a kerfluffle out of Palau would be a nice foot-in-the-door politically to do the above.
Ahh, Palau. Truly a tropical garden spot. Years ago we used to fly the EOD teams and the Seabees to Palau. The EOD guys were still cleaning up Japanese ordnance from WWII since it had been a major re-supply point, and the week before a Palau fisherman was blown to bits hauling in a Japanese mine. The Seabees would build roads, post office, schools, clinics and the people LOVED to see them getting off the plane. We had a cocktail party one afternoon at a government official's residence and one of the EOD guys was walking the grounds and came back for a conversation with his LT that went something like "Hey LT, no alarm but we gotta UXO over in the garden by the trellis, looks like a couple of Type 00's HE. No alarm?? So we aviators grabbed our drinks and headed for the door.
I'm betting that not 5% of the elitist idiots in the WH could find Palau on a globe. We need to get our foot firmly wedged in that door.
After the 1st Gulf War in 1991 our ship got assigned with two French ships to the Red Sea to interdict, board and inspect every ship bound for Jordan up through the Gulf of Aqaba. We were looking for possible contraband bound for Iraq, which might have made them more troublesome to our occupying force. Did every merchant ship captain squeal like a stuck pig about it? Yes they did. Our Captain was a relative of The General Patton, a stern, no-nonsense guy. He was the one on the Bridge-to-Bridge VHF telling the merchant captains how it was going to be. He was as polite as he needed to be until it was time for the gloves to come off. In my estimation, he was more polite than the French. Were we ready to fire a shot across their bow to bend them to our will? Yes, we were. Were we ready to fire a 5" BL&P through their rudder post? Yes we were. Did we have the right to do that? Do the Russians or Ukrainians (co-belligerents) have that right in the Black Sea. "International law, mumble-mumble, force majeure, mumble-mumble..." I don't know. Not my forte. But if you think some third party is supplying your foe, I'd say, "If we and the French did it, they should be able to do it too." Our XO, a good man, picked the tallest & beefiest men, trained them into making the scariest scowls, dressed them in all black, body armor, helmets, armed them with shotguns, M-14's & side arms and told them to take no guff off anyone in their way. We bullied our way through the whole process and at the time I was proud of our men and myself for my part in it as CICO. No. I am not taking sides.
The most frightening part is that if I were running a foreign nation, I'm not sure I would want the United States as an ally. American foreign policy is bipolar, suffering massive swings depending on the party in power...and in the case of at least one party, the amount of bribe money paid.
I'm old enough to remember a time when the corruption, at least, stopped at the water's edge.
"Sounds like Palau needs some strong friends. Right now, they are still leaning our way. If I were the PRC, I would see this as an opportunity - absent any actions or even words by the USA - to show Palau who is perhaps a better friend to have on the world stage."
I don't think the current administration is capable of seeing that far in advance or in strategic terms, within any dimension. After all, seeing how they handled closing the shop in Afghanistan and the bumbling meetings Blinkin has had with the CCP, the betting man will wager they sit on their hands and not recognize the issues.
A few years ago we had a president who seemed to get along with the leaders of Russia and China. At least we weren't talking about shooting wars. Whatever happened to that guy? Can we get him back?
It looks to me like the Russians are behaving as though a larger war would give them a free hand to restore their Imperial status. This will not end well, unless a captain gets reprimanded.
This has the potential to have been a manufactured incident. Small, old, Turkish owned bulk carrier registered in Palau, intercepted soon after leaving Turkish waters in the busy Bosporus sea lanes on the way from a Greek port to a destination it keeps changing.
The Russians inspect the ship for contraband and let it proceed on its way, thus establishing.a precedent and obtaining a useful sound bite. "See, Russian Navy not bad people. We not here to starve people. Not here to burn food, sink ships. We here to defend innocent lives".
We will see if the ship is able to get to its destination, load up, and what happens then.
another reason to hate the Russians...as for the appeaser of dictators? Hey, Pete, it is a free country, vote for that guy again if you want. Not me.
Screwing with Turkish ships in the Black Sea, regardless of their flag, might backfire on Putin.
more specifically, dictators of the other two would-be superpowers.
okay, CDR, I'll bite.........re: Palau. (and vast reach of Pacific islands in general). Most readers here know my own horse that I plug; fine. A bit about that..... years ago, the Federated States of Micronesia expressed interest in developing airships as an addition or alternative to using marine vessels for inter-island transport. They recognized then, that there could be immense advantages in doing so.
Those advantages have only increased with time; the time that is running out on peace in the Pacific.
A simple suggestion then......that the Navy begin to seriously consider using modern, amphibious, rigid-hulled AIRSHIPS. With all the concerns over getting more ships into the fleet vis a vis the "west of Wake" hazards we are looking at...........getting more "ships", that have hulls OUT OF THE WATER would seem to be a fine fit.
Perhaps a kerfluffle out of Palau would be a nice foot-in-the-door politically to do the above.
Give and take, back and forth, all that happens is the pile of dead grows in the battle arena.
Escalation and escalation.
What's next? Armed Merchant ships fighting their way into ports, NATO warships somehow getting there and escorting ships in Ala Persian gulf?
Unrestricted Submarine warfare and convoys.
Perhaps.
One thing is clear, this keeps getting larger and crazier as time goes on.
Call a cease fire, take this to a world court somewhere non biased and do it without death.
But if you two clowns want to fight, do it on your dime.
Ahh, Palau. Truly a tropical garden spot. Years ago we used to fly the EOD teams and the Seabees to Palau. The EOD guys were still cleaning up Japanese ordnance from WWII since it had been a major re-supply point, and the week before a Palau fisherman was blown to bits hauling in a Japanese mine. The Seabees would build roads, post office, schools, clinics and the people LOVED to see them getting off the plane. We had a cocktail party one afternoon at a government official's residence and one of the EOD guys was walking the grounds and came back for a conversation with his LT that went something like "Hey LT, no alarm but we gotta UXO over in the garden by the trellis, looks like a couple of Type 00's HE. No alarm?? So we aviators grabbed our drinks and headed for the door.
I'm betting that not 5% of the elitist idiots in the WH could find Palau on a globe. We need to get our foot firmly wedged in that door.
No sweat! Jake Sullivan is on the job, with the able assistance of SecDef Austin and the Afghanistan withdrawal coordinator.
After the 1st Gulf War in 1991 our ship got assigned with two French ships to the Red Sea to interdict, board and inspect every ship bound for Jordan up through the Gulf of Aqaba. We were looking for possible contraband bound for Iraq, which might have made them more troublesome to our occupying force. Did every merchant ship captain squeal like a stuck pig about it? Yes they did. Our Captain was a relative of The General Patton, a stern, no-nonsense guy. He was the one on the Bridge-to-Bridge VHF telling the merchant captains how it was going to be. He was as polite as he needed to be until it was time for the gloves to come off. In my estimation, he was more polite than the French. Were we ready to fire a shot across their bow to bend them to our will? Yes, we were. Were we ready to fire a 5" BL&P through their rudder post? Yes we were. Did we have the right to do that? Do the Russians or Ukrainians (co-belligerents) have that right in the Black Sea. "International law, mumble-mumble, force majeure, mumble-mumble..." I don't know. Not my forte. But if you think some third party is supplying your foe, I'd say, "If we and the French did it, they should be able to do it too." Our XO, a good man, picked the tallest & beefiest men, trained them into making the scariest scowls, dressed them in all black, body armor, helmets, armed them with shotguns, M-14's & side arms and told them to take no guff off anyone in their way. We bullied our way through the whole process and at the time I was proud of our men and myself for my part in it as CICO. No. I am not taking sides.
The most frightening part is that if I were running a foreign nation, I'm not sure I would want the United States as an ally. American foreign policy is bipolar, suffering massive swings depending on the party in power...and in the case of at least one party, the amount of bribe money paid.
I'm old enough to remember a time when the corruption, at least, stopped at the water's edge.
"Sounds like Palau needs some strong friends. Right now, they are still leaning our way. If I were the PRC, I would see this as an opportunity - absent any actions or even words by the USA - to show Palau who is perhaps a better friend to have on the world stage."
I don't think the current administration is capable of seeing that far in advance or in strategic terms, within any dimension. After all, seeing how they handled closing the shop in Afghanistan and the bumbling meetings Blinkin has had with the CCP, the betting man will wager they sit on their hands and not recognize the issues.
I do not care, did you read the last part?
Let me refresh,
"If These two Clowns still want to fight do it on their own dime."
In other words, Kill each other till you both are sated on blood shed, dead bodies rotting, wounded wailing and crying and debris and ruins.
Just don't bum our money and ammo to do it.
If only we had a NCA with three functioning neurons between them
https://i.imgflip.com/7vvsk4.jpg
Palau? Palau doesn’t even have its own military. We defend them.
Just thought of some second-order effects if things got heated and shots were fired over a Palau-flagged vessel...