I’m still exhausted. So this is going to be as brief as I can make it. I apologize in advance for my exceedingly exhaustion driven short temper.
Odesa once again came under Russian attack overnight. Fortunately it was just drones and not cruise missiles.
Overnight, our air defenders shot down 14 of 16 russia’s Shahed drones launched to strike the Odesa region.
📹: Commander of Ukraine's Air Force pic.twitter.com/IImIlf1zm8
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 17, 2024
The Biden administration has decided to give known security risk, drug addict, neo-NAZI, racist eugencist, insider threat, and overall anti-American oligarch Elon Musk a contract to do geo-spatial intelligence.
Reuters has the details:
WASHINGTON, March 16 (Reuters) – SpaceX is building a network of hundreds of spy satellites under a classified contract with a U.S. intelligence agency, five sources familiar with the program said, demonstrating deepening ties between billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s space company and national security agencies.
The network is being built by SpaceX’s Starshield business unit under a $1.8 billion contract signed in 2021 with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), an intelligence agency that manages spy satellites, the sources said.
The plans show the extent of SpaceX’s involvement in U.S. intelligence and military projects and illustrate a deeper Pentagon investment into vast, low-Earth orbiting satellite systems aimed at supporting ground forces.
If successful, the sources said the program would significantly advance the ability of the U.S. government and military to quickly spot potential targets almost anywhere on the globe.
The contract signals growing trust by the intelligence establishment of a company whose owner has clashed with the Biden administration and sparked controversy, opens new tab over the use of Starlink satellite connectivity in the Ukraine war, the sources said.
The Wall Street Journal reported, opens new tab in February the existence of a $1.8 billion classified Starshield contract with an unknown intelligence agency without detailing the purposes of the program.
Reuters reporting discloses for the first time that the SpaceX contract is for a powerful new spy system with hundreds of satellites bearing Earth-imaging capabilities that can operate as a swarm in low orbits, and that the spy agency that Musk’s company is working with is the NRO.
Reuters was unable to determine when the new network of satellites would come online and could not establish what other companies are part of the program with their own contracts.
SpaceX, the world’s largest satellite operator, did not respond to several requests for comment about the contract, its role in it and details on satellite launches. The Pentagon referred a request for comment to the NRO and SpaceX.
In a statement the NRO acknowledged its mission to develop a sophisticated satellite system and its partnerships with other government agencies, companies, research institutions and nations, but declined to comment on Reuters’ findings about the extent of SpaceX’s involvement in the effort.
“The National Reconnaissance Office is developing the most capable, diverse, and resilient space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance system the world has ever seen,” a spokesperson said.
The satellites can track targets on the ground and share that data with U.S. intelligence and military officials, the sources said. In principle, that would enable the U.S. government to quickly capture continuous imagery of activities on the ground nearly anywhere on the globe, aiding intelligence and military operations, they added.
Roughly a dozen prototypes have been launched since 2020, among other satellites on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets, three of the sources said.
Much more at the link!
Why is the Biden administration doing something this stupid? Here’s why:
“Even though Musk is not technically a diplomat or statesman, I felt it was important to treat him as such, given the influence he had on this issue,” Kahl told me.
Biden’s senior national security appointments: the gifts that keep on giving to dictators, tyrants, authoritarians, oligarchs, and kleptocrats. During the Obama administration these idiots allowed Theil a contract for Palantir that gave Palantir control of all the intelligence that was loaded into the system. So Theil and his companies own all of that, not the US government. The learning curve is flat.
More analysis on this after the jump.
Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.
Right now, it is the Ukrainian defense in this war that is determining whether Putin will succeed in expanding the zone of ruins in Europe and the world – address by the President of Ukraine
17 March 2024 – 19:59
Dear Ukrainians!
A summary of this day and week.
First of all, I would like to express gratitude to our warriors. It’s time to recognize the combat units that have proven themselves the most. Kupyansk direction – the 57th separate motorized infantry brigade named after Kish Ataman Kost Hordiienko. Lyman direction – the 1st operational brigade of the National Guard named after Hetman Petro Doroshenko “Bureviy”. Pokrovsk direction – the 55th separate artillery brigade “Zaporizhzhia Sich”. Orikhiv direction – the 118th separate mechanized brigade. And Prydniprovsky direction – the 35th separate marine brigade named after Rear Admiral Mykhailo Ostrohradsky and the 123rd separate territorial defense brigade. I thank all of you, warriors, for your strength and for the effective destruction of the occupier. I am proud of each of our warriors who achieve results for their unit, for their brothers-in-arms, for the whole of Ukraine.
I would also like to recognize all our friends in the world who have helped us this week, provided us with new support packages, and adopted new decisions for the sake of Ukrainian strength. The United States – thank you for the aid package. It is very important that stability is restored in providing support for our defense. Right now, it is our defense in this war that is determining whether Putin will succeed in expanding the zone of ruins in Europe and the world. Stopping him now is in everyone’s best interest. Denmark – thank you for another, already the 16th, package of defense assistance, for the artillery we need. Germany – thank you for your weekly steps to support our country and people. I am grateful to all the countries that joined the Czech initiative to purchase shells for Ukraine. I would also like to acknowledge Greece for its clear understanding of the threats facing everyone in Europe. Canada – I am grateful for joining our drone coalition. This is a weapon that has proven to be extremely effective. And in such difficult war conditions, the short range of our army’s capabilities is an obvious short-sightedness of some partners. I would also like to recognize French leadership in Europe today – we appreciate the way President Macron is developing a strategic perspective for Europe, a perspective of real, lasting security that is only possible through Putin’s defeat in this war.
One more thing.
These days, the Russian dictator is simulating another election. Everyone in the world understands that this figure, as has often happened in history, has simply become addicted to power and is doing everything he can to rule forever. There is no evil he will not commit to prolong his personal power. And there is no one in the world who is safe from this. I am grateful to every state, every leader, and all international organizations that have called and will continue to call a spade a spade. Everything Russia does in the occupied territory of Ukraine is a crime. There must be a just retribution for everything the Russian murderers have done in this war and for the sake of Putin’s lifelong power. He is afraid of only one thing – justice. There is no legitimacy in this imitation of elections and there cannot be. This figure must end up in the dock in The Hague – that is what we must ensure. Everyone in the world who values life and integrity.
Thank you to everyone who is with Ukraine and in Ukraine! Glory to everyone who fights and works for our country and people!
Glory to Ukraine!
Unique video of the combat mission of the pilot "Bdzholyar" (Beekeeper).
The myth of the "Ghost of Kyiv" is about the successful operations of this pilot and his brothers-in-arms in the first days of the russian full-scale invasion.📹: Centre Air Command pic.twitter.com/qys6UVMDNC
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 17, 2024
Lord, guard and guide the ones who fly
Through the great spaces in the sky.
Be with them always in the air,
In darkening storms or sunlight fair.
Romania steps up:
It will be 17% larger than Ramstein. Romania builds the largest base in NATO Europe, $2.5 billion project, an unsinkable carrier at the Black Sea. Two! sister base is built in the middle of a mountain plateau, that will be the control centre of S-E Europe.https://t.co/RfI1Vx7suY pic.twitter.com/eW6HmvSsM3
— Dacian Draco🇷🇴🇪🇺 (@RealDacianDraco) March 17, 2024
Latvia has begun a criminal investigation against an EU parliamentarian for being a Russian asset:
HELSINKI (AP) — Latvia´s state security service has started criminal proceedings against an European Parliament lawmaker and a citizen of the Baltic country who is suspected of cooperating with Russian intelligence and security services, according to Latvian media reports Saturday.
Latvian media outlets reported that the security service, known by the abbreviation VDD, has been investigating the activities of Tatjana Ždanoka, 73, and her alleged Russia ties over the past several weeks since reports were published in January by Russian, Nordic and Baltic news sites saying that she has been an agent for the Russian Federal Security Service, or FSB, since at least 2004.
According to news agency LETA, the Latvian security service decided to start a criminal process against Ždanoka on Feb. 22. The security service couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Ždanoka has denied all the allegations against her.
The European Parliament said late January that it had opened an investigation into news reports that a Latvian member of the assembly — Ždanoka — has been working as a Russian agent for several years. The European Union’s legislative body, based in Strasbourg, France, said it was taking the allegations very seriously.
Following a joint investigation, the independent Russian investigative journalism site The Insider, its Latvian equivalent Re:Baltica, news portal Delfi Estonia, and Swedish newspaper Expressen published on Jan. 29 a number of emails that they said were leaked and showed Ždanoka’s interactions with her handler.
Expressen claimed that Ždanoka has been spreading propaganda about alleged violations of the rights of Russians living in Baltic countries and arguing for a pro-Kremlin policy, among other things. She has also refused to condemn Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the paper said.
More at the link.
Here is Brian Weeden’s take on what the new contract with StarLink means. Weeden is a specialist on space policy.
1 This is some of the first details we’ve seen publicly on Starshield, a few comments https://t.co/VNrW8XCTyo
— brianweeden (@brianweeden) March 16, 2024
3 That makes total sense, given the push for proliferated constellations to enhance resilience & SpaceX demonstrated capability to build and launch such constellations
— brianweeden (@brianweeden) March 16, 2024
5 Either way, it will feed reinforce the Russian/Chinese concerns about US commercial space being a threat and target in a future conflict
— brianweeden (@brianweeden) March 16, 2024
Would you look at that.
I made a map of Russian refineries. Those marked red has had a "drone incident" or fire this year. pic.twitter.com/TrcEQdW8uE
— Def Mon (@DefMon3) March 17, 2024
At least six large Russian oil refineries damaged or disabled due to Ukrainian drone attacks over the past the last week.
This already affects Russian gas prices and Russian oil exports that directly finance Russia’s war in Ukriane.
It's a new front of resistance no one ever…
— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) March 17, 2024
“Replacing American support for Ukraine would cost the other Nato states about €65 per citizen per year. We could choose to let Ukraine win.”
The west can still save Ukraine via @FT
https://t.co/BpN9BsSL7W— Matti Maasikas (@MattiMaasikas) March 17, 2024
From The Financial Times:
I left my meeting with a senior French officer feeling that the west is so weak it scarcely exists any more. “The West”, a longtime object of obsession for anti-westerners from Egypt’s President Nasser to Vladimir Putin, has shrivelled to a small rump of countries squabbling with each other. At times they seem willing to let Ukraine lose its war.
I share the emotional impulse to keep intoning that Ukraine will win. But Panglossian war propaganda is becoming counterproductive. We need to see a possible defeat coming so that we can turn the wheel and avoid it. We can if we want to.
I met the officer days after Emmanuel Macron suggested that Nato troops could be sent to Ukraine. As usual with France’s attempts to lead, most of its so-called allies responded by saying, in essence: “Shut up, France.”
The officer thought Macron had spoken in desperation, compelled by French pessimism about Ukraine. Westerners have grown used to the war as a background rumble that never seems to change. One day, this could stop being true. Russian troops have a firepower advantage of perhaps five-to-one over Ukrainians.
Western countries are weak firstly because they lack allies. Non-aligned states in Asia, Africa and the Gulf never cared much about Ukraine’s struggle. They have been further alienated by western double standards over Israel’s killing of 30,000 Palestinians. If western countries support human rights in Ukraine but not in Palestine, then they don’t support human rights.
Meanwhile, the US seems to be abandoning “The West” like a sinking ship leaving the rats. This goes beyond Donald Trump’s plan, as relayed by his chum Viktor Orbán, to “not give a single penny” to Ukraine if he becomes president again. Even if Trump loses and Republicans win just one chamber of Congress, they can keep blocking aid to Ukraine.
The French long dreamt of Europe running its own military affairs without the US butting in. Now the dream is coming true, and it’s terrifying. Europeans cannot even agree whether this is an existential war for them (as eastern Europeans believe), a war of choice (as western countries seem to think) or a war to ignore (Olaf Scholz of Germany’s view).
Western powers have often labelled wars existential — in Algeria, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq — only to abandon them after realising they were, in fact, wars of choice. European pacifists hope Ukraine’s war will remain similarly self-contained. Perhaps Putin might stop once he’s swallowed the country. After all, western domino theories proved wrong about Vietnam, too. So uncommitted are western states to arming Ukraine that they are treating it as a public-spending programme of choice, one you can ditch when money gets tight, like the UK’s HS2 train line.
Putin has another military advantage over us: his willingness to sacrifice his people. Russia might have suffered more casualties taking the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka than all western European deaths in combat put together in the past 50 years. The French officer told me apologetically: “We’re an old continent, no longer used to making war.”
This is a backhanded tribute to the success of European societies. Much though western Europeans like to whine, their region may be the safest and most liveable in history. It’s the apotheosis of the humanistic project. But Putin suspects we treasure life too much to defend it.
If he wins, that wouldn’t mean a new Iron Curtain descending across Europe. It would be more like a portable cotton curtain, blown around by Russia’s will. “The West” could shrink to a thin line stretching from Britain to (if we’re lucky) Poland.
Happily, we can change course. Russia has a poorly trained army and a Canada-sized economy. “This should be feasible, easily,” says Steven Everts of the EU Institute for Security Studies. Victory would require western countries to send non-combat troops such as de-miners, trainers and vehicle engineers. Countries would need to follow Denmark in giving every shell in their cupboards to Ukraine. Germany would have to send Taurus missiles. Replacing American support for Ukraine would cost the other Nato states about €65 per citizen per year. We could choose to let Ukraine win.
More at the link.
Kupar is correct, we could choose to let Ukraine win, but that is not the US’s strategy or policy, nor is it the strategy and policy of many of the EU’s member states. The US’s strategy and policy is to do enough to keep Ukraine from losing without doing anything to upset Putin so that he won’t escalate. It is a policy and strategy of fear, created by fools who have, once again, failed to recognize the moment for what it is or meet it.
Let’s check in with the Russian legions fighting on behalf of Ukraine.
Budanov: the Free Russian Army is not planning to stop any time soon, as we can see, they have solid resources. pic.twitter.com/fpj18Uo4mJ
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated) March 17, 2024
Disturbing footage shows a Russian tank demolishing civilian houses in Russian Kozinka village to stop advancing Free Russian forces. pic.twitter.com/i1BSmGHuLa
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated) March 16, 2024
As they say in the Ranger Regiment: “That’s a technique!”
Moscow:
Moscow, Special Military Operation zone, 17 March: multiple drones intercepted/crashed at the Domodedovo International Airport, resulting in some damage a warehouse. pic.twitter.com/siW2eA5bpv
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated) March 17, 2024
/2. In Moscow, from the side of Domodedovo airfield, there is an oil refinery. Possibly it was supposed to be the intended target. pic.twitter.com/lcwucD5PZe
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) March 17, 2024
/4. The location of one of the downed drones. https://t.co/K6etP9AFbW pic.twitter.com/GLlNwHOh02
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) March 17, 2024
More on the attack on the refinery in Krasnodar Krai, Russia:
Night of 17 March: major drone attack against Slavyansk-na-Kubani oil refinery in Krasnodar Oblast, Russia. Multiple drones hit the facility unobstructed. pic.twitter.com/mXu6E4uCU3
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated) March 17, 2024
/2. The Slavyansk ECO refinery. With the capacity of 4 million tons of oil per year was attacked by drones. pic.twitter.com/7szy0CZBi1
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) March 17, 2024
/4. Additional video of the fire on the territory of Slavyansk ECO oil refinery pic.twitter.com/i5t5ZDd59l
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) March 17, 2024
Russian occupied/aligned Transnistria:
Moment of the strike on Mi-8T in Tiraspol. https://t.co/gA0dnSVJZt pic.twitter.com/Uhp4DcnBbh
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) March 17, 2024
/2. The destroyed helicopter is a Mi-8T (04 Yellow) pic.twitter.com/xuUraZaLZd
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) March 17, 2024
/4. Additional footages of the burning Mi-8 pic.twitter.com/yf07dPa0XN
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) March 17, 2024
/6. Official Moldova statement regarding the incident:
“…following the examination of the video images and the exchange of information, we communicate that the incident in question is an attempt to cause fear and panic in the region. The military equipment in the pictures has… pic.twitter.com/HsiFFTAIVb
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) March 17, 2024
/6. Official Moldova statement regarding the incident:
“…following the examination of the video images and the exchange of information, we communicate that the incident in question is an attempt to cause fear and panic in the region. The military equipment in the pictures has not worked for several years.
The authorities in Chisinau, in contact with the Ukrainian side, do not confirm any attack on the Transnistrian region.”
https://gov.md/ro/content/comentariul-biroului-politici-de-reintegrare
You’ll notice the first tweet is missing. I can view it on Twitter, but I can’t embed it here because once again Musk’s crew have screwed with the code to prevent some pro-Ukrainian tweets containing videos of damage to Russian military equipment from being shared. This is a regular occurrence.
That’s enough for tonight.
Your daily Patron!
88%! Some says this nose cheers up precisely 88% of people on this social media. And that's just after asking one person. Maybe it'll reach a whole 150%. Who knows? pic.twitter.com/kHcRSBSLlv
— Patron (@PatronDsns) March 17, 2024
Open thread!
John Cole
Cacti when you inevitably comment on this post is there a reason you are not answering any emails I send you?
Carlo Graziani
Weeden’s take on the new contract between NRO and SpaceX seems mostly on the mark. I don’t really understand this concern, though
In my opinion, the chance of such commingling is zero, to many significant digits. The NRO has been operating its own fleets of satellites—procured from private industry—under its own direct control for many decades. They are one of the most security-obsessed agancies in the US Government, due to the sensitivity of the intelligence that they generate, and it is simply unimaginable to me that they would have signed a procurement contract giving SpaceX any control whatever over spacecraft operations or downlink. NRO is just buying a cheap swarm of high-performing reconsats, from the only vendor capable of delivering on such a contract.
And that last part is worth underlining: irrespective of the Musk-stink, SpaceX is an extraordinary company that has transformed the economics of launch from the crippling bloat of the cost-plus contract era, when, if there had beef free gold floating in low-Earth orbit, you could not have made a profit retrieving it because of payload costs. ULA, ArianeEspace etc. are pathetic also-rans by comparison. The only real competition to SpaceX on payload cost would be Russian launch services, due to the heritage-borne reliability of their launch fleet, and, well, obviously that’s not an option. If NRO wants this fleet, there really is only one way to get it at a reasonable cost, because SpaceX really has outclassed all its competition.
Reportedly, the company accomplished this feat by walling Musk off from engineering operations, wrapping him in a management coccoon that turned him into a highly-visible spokesman for the company, while minimizing the impact of his addled decision-making on company success.
Jay
@Carlo Graziani:
The concern is that it’s another Palantir “deal”.
Carlo Graziani
@Jay: Yeah, I get it. I just don’t believe that NRO would make such a deal under any circumstances.
Jay
@Carlo Graziani:
amongst others, Palantir customers include the DOD, the USN, Homeland Security, etc.
all Govt Orgs that one would think would be “security” aware enough not let a private company owned by a security risk to own all the data.
Adam L Silverman
@John Cole: He doesn’t comment on my posts. He knows if I see him I’ll ban him again.
Adam L Silverman
I’m still exhausted and my allergies are killing me. I’m going to go get cleaned up and go to bed. Everyone is, always, most welcome.
Catch everyone on the flip.
Jay
@John Cole:
@Adam L Silverman:
He’s posted over on the Sunday Night Open Thread of your’s, John.
wjca
One option to keep tucked away, against the time that Musk misused his company’s position: eminent domain. Might be well to exercise a little deterrence by mentioning that possibility to him.
TBone
@wjca: good idea.
ColoradoGuy
I wonder if the NRO is going to salt the data stream with very subtle errors to see if there are leaks to unfriendly countries.
YY_Sima Qian
@Carlo Graziani: Given how eager Congress & Administration is to force TikTok‘s divestiture from Bytedance due to potential concerns (never mind the fact that 3 US based VCs own 60% of Bytedance, its owner & CEO owns 20%, & 20% owned by employees that include its US based employees), it is quite striking how oblivious they are to the threat (both existing & potential) that Musk owning Twitter & SpaceX represents, or all of the social & MSM owned by right wing reactionary billionaires w/ ties to foreign states. That owners & corporate officers of such key defense contractors such as Oracle & Palantir are known to be assets of Israeli intelligence is apparently no big deal.
BTW, the PRC’s civil-military fusion effort is the cause of huge consternation across Administrations, on Capitol Hill, & in DC think tanks, but the PRC was inspired & models its effort on the hugely successful US experience. Now, in response to the PRC effort, the US is re-doubling down on civil-military fusion (though not name as such), creating a wave of VC investment (including formation of a new cohort of natsec focused VCs) into mil-tech to get at a chance to feed at the trough, attracting more than its share of charlatans in the process.
Bill Arnold
@Jay:
As Carlo says, the NRO is one of the most secretive of the known secret USA government agencies.
The details of the project have not yet been made public, but for instance, SpaceX could be entirely a launch service putting secret-from-them mostly-black-box payloads into specific orbits. in that scenario, the placement/insertion of satellites into specific orbits might involve temporary control of some sort of thrusters.
Fun factoid; the Hubble space telescope was done by the contractor (Perkin-Elmer) with the most extensive experience with space telescopes. The Hubble looked up, though; not down.
YY_Sima Qian
Fascinating article from the WSJ:
My WAG is that Czechia is able to secure potential deals from the likes of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, & possibly even Vietnam, India & Venezuela.
Bill Arnold
@ColoradoGuy:
That presumes that the encrypted data stream, including all metadata, is encrypted with keys that SpaceX knows.
Gin & Tonic
@YY_Sima Qian: The original WSJ headline read “A small ex-Soviet satellite state…” That being Czechia. The Soviet Union broke up 35 years ago. I guess the headline was written by Rip van Winkle.
ronno2018
thank you again for these posts, it is mostly the only way I follow news on the war (well Jake Broe youtube and Denys Davydov).
Gvg
I think it’s time for Musk to lose control of SpaceX. The twitter purchase cost may make this more possible. If I were in the US defense administration, I would be gaming out how to make that happen and who to get put in charge instead. I think the main administrator of Space is a woman, but I forget the details and could be wrong. Regardless someone over there does actually know how to do things, and it’s clearly not Musk. When a company gets to a certain size and success, they usually need a different type of CEO than the founder.
Jay
@Bill Arnold:
That assumes, (and we know what that means), that unlike Palantir, SpaceX doesn’t own all the data or any of it.
Carlo Graziani
@Bill Arnold: Or, for that matter, that SpaceX will have any control whatever over uplink, downlink, or spacecraft ops.
Again, NRO is its own military-run space operations shop. They have their own chains of ground stations, trained personnel, and (in all likelihood, although I’ve never seen this reported) relay spacecraft. Inserting SpaceX ops into their process would make zero sense, complicating cross-platform operations and degrading their security model. They have a culture that is totally comfortable operating spacecraft with complete autonomy and control, and a SpaceX ops component would be as welcome to them as a skunk at a picnic. Even if some delusional Congressbeing had attempted to mandate such a thing, I feel sure that they would have resorted to the time-honored Washington practice of an insider leak to kill the idea.
I could be wrong about this, of course. But in that case I would also be totally shocked.
YY_Sima Qian
@Gin & Tonic: It is abundantly clear that a lot of the Boomers that run politics, policy & media have not updated their mental maps of the world for decades, evidence across myriad of spheres.
wjca
Although most of us have updated recently enough that we no longer refer to East Pakistan and West Pakistan. :-)
AlaskaReader
Thanks Adam
YY_Sima Qian
@wjca: That’s really good school!
Chris
@YY_Sima Qian:
The entire Dubya era war on terror, and especially the “Axis of Evil” thing, was already blatantly about a bunch of Reagan/HW has-beens trying to relive their greatest hits – the bad guys from Desert Storm, the big terrorist bogeyman of the eighties, and the world’s last communist state.
YY_Sima Qian
@Chris: For the GWB crew, toppling the Taliban in Afghanistan post-9/11 was too “easy”, did not satiate their bloodthirst. They were also self-identified bullies (unvarnished primacists) looking for an opportunity to put the fear into any & all potential challengers to US dominance. Well, their utter arrogance & incompetence fatally undermined the US’ unipolar moment.
wjca
TIFG’s crew has led to some reconsideration of “utter” in this case. Although “massive” still works.
bjacques
That Patron pic is so cute!
Boop snoot to learn more…
Traveller
@YY_Sima Qian: Well, if one squints a certain way, the Global War on Terror, specifically running through Iraq, could be seen as a resounding success…if in fact one of the underlying goals, much like the British/French after WWI, was to prevent any pan-Levant Sunni Arabic state arising.
Of course Saddam Hussein was no Gamal Abdel Nasser, but then Nasser wasn’t successful with any Pan-Arabic unity state either.
So at one level the Iraqi War can be seen as a colossal failure, a boondoggle to make contractors rich, who’s only achievement can be seen as killing a million Arabs and sowing chaos across the Middle East.
Unless Chaos was as useful as turning Iraq into a US Client State. If not one, the other will do just as well…
I am no saying this is true as in a planned effect, but this does seem to be true as the current facts on the ground. Best Wishes, Traveller
Chris Johnson
@wjca: Indeed. I’m just wondering what resources they’ve got to compel a private citizen oligarch to not be actively a traitor.
I feel certain there are places where this is being seriously discussed, and information/evaluations being openly talked about. If this stuff is this obvious to US, the ‘deep state’ can’t be total fools about it and I don’t think they are being fools about it.
So the question is, how can they compel loyalty to the United States and prohibit having all that stuff wrested from their grasp and handed to, say, Russia at the whim of a billionaire on Ketamine?
Fair question. If you’re not on Ketamine, I daresay there are good and workable answers to be had.
Frank Wilhoit
“Why is the Biden administration doing something this stupid?”
Without disputing the transcendent silliness of the quote from Colin Kahl, or your analysis of the broader situation, is it not also because the public-sector capabilities have been hollowed out to the point where they have no option?
Paul in KY
@Traveller: Likud Israel thinks it was a success.
Paul in KY
@Chris Johnson: There are laws that can send you to prison for a long time. Thinking about the POSes that sold sub propeller technology back in the day.
He should be reminded of that as Romans being given a triumph were reminded of their mortality.
grubert
@ronno2018: Same here.. Thank you Adam for the posts.
Maybe not many comments, but I read every one.
Jake Broe is def first go-to.. for a tiny bit of “fun,” Artur Rehi is good. Denys is very detailed.. sometimes a bit much but it’s all good.
watched a few vids by the guy who did “vatniksoup.” His website is quite useful.. had no idea of how far it went.
grubert
@YY_Sima Qian: – well put. agree.