Clark Griswold

Just watched - per usual with Vice it was excellent. Watching the video and seeing the emphasis on inculcating the youth, the IS reminded me of the Nazis during the 30's on their ascent to power and transformation of Germany. I think it was Shirer in "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" that said at some point WWII was unavoidable as a generation of Germans had been raised to believe that it was their right and destiny to dominate the world. Seeing the effort to indoctrinate the youth of their captured territory reminded me of that thought. Past some point, and it may already be passed as Islamic supremacy has already been pushed by the Saudis thru the Wahhabist movement, Frontline report on this here, that a greater conflict will have to be fought as a generation of young men, who have just enough education to fight and have been taught that God wants them to fight the infidels wherever they are but especially in the ME, are turned loose against the world. What exactly that conflict looks like is anyone's guess but what I think it would require no civilian leader today would ever order.

Pilot's false arm falls off as he lands passenger plane

The Bear is awake. Russia Brings Together Some of the World’s Best Fighter Pilots

As LBJ said: "He may be a son of a bitch but he's our son of a bitch" Assad was not exactly our guy but we could do business with him: John and Teresa enjoying dinner with the Assads in 2009. Keeping a lid on Islamic Fascism is job 1 and somewhere down the list is encouraging democracy / human rights in the Middle East. I don't want those people to have to live under dictatorships but what is bubbling under the surface is worse.

You got me - fixed.

Left frets over Iraq mission creep Sweet Jesus, these people are scared of their own shadows. There's only been a couple of kinetic strikes and humanitarian aid drops to desperate people dying on a mountain top and already the trite line of "mission creep" is hauled out. Need to add this to my COA: 6. Revocation of citizenship and permanent expulsion for any citizen or legal resident found to have participated in hostile military action with terrorist organizations in Syria / Iraq / Afghanistan etc... or to have aided any person engaged in such activities. Made an explicit priority with aggressive coordinated international police & intelligence action. Western-born jihadists rally to ISIS's fight in Iraq and Syria The West faces a choice: fight its enemies or slowly commit suicide by inaction and implicit surrender of its culture.

Yeah, it is a bridge quite far but the Free Syrian Army & associated anti-regime groups fighting Al-Assad have either joined the IS or are no longer operational or viable. The West could adopt a neutral stance, let the Russians & Iranians continue their diplomatic relations and support, We help the Iraqis & Kurds defeat the IS and at the conclusion of hostilities very quietly accept Al-Assad's government.

Probably. Like Libya, once the Iraqi Army & Kurdish Peshmerga have CAS, AI, & ISR the tide can turn. Just a hope but a good ass-whoopin' from the US & Allies on the IS from the air would probably give them a shot in the arm. Possible COA: 1. Isolate the IS with saturated ISR and AI over Western Iraq to cut off their resupply. All of Western Irag is a no-fly or no-drive zone. 2. Lean hard on the Saudis and Qataris to cut the funding to them. No money equals no capabilities. 3. Provide CAS, AI & ISR to give the Iraqi Army & Kurds the confidence to take the fight to them. Cut off any comms via social media, cellular, LMRs; use our EA assets to make it hard as hell for them to coordinate ops. 4. Support Al-Asad in Syria. Like it or not, he is an enemy of IS and my enemy's enemy is my friend. Recognize his government as the legitimate gov. of Syria, sucks but he is infinitely better than IS. 5. Look the other way when our allies do things we would find distasteful. Not a Machiavellian but this is not a situation to worry about whether or not they (allied Arab states) follow to the letter the Geneva Convention.

Yep - I am sure some are not bad except for breaking our immigration laws and illegally crossing our border but when you see multiple reports like these: Exclusive: Border Patrol Warns MS-13 Using Nogales Processing Center as Recruitment Hub Violent gang taking advantage of immigration crisis, using border as recruiting hub something has got to change. Keeping up the mantra: Fences & barriers where necessary, Guardsmen patrolling with more CBP agents, ICE agents investigating illegal employment and reforming immigration policy and procedures.

Russian bombers penetrated U.S. airspace at least 16 times in past 10 days Not in sovereign airspace but into the NW ADIZ, still provacative. Time to push another button besides Reset with Russia.

LEAKED CBP REPORT SHOWS ENTIRE WORLD EXPLOITING OPEN US BORDER Information slowly filtering out on the sovereignty and security crisis.

Follow up post. Link to the wiki on the CBP Office of Air and Marine. CBP already has quite the ISR and Rotary wing support capability, what is needed is the NG mission to be the mortar between the bricks.

Can't agree with you here partner, if you don't have a physical security system to stop unfettered crossing at any point an illegal immigrant chooses along a 2000 mile border, no amount of ISR or QRFs will ever be enough. There is some intel to be collected but the situation is really not complicated, massive amounts of people gather into small and medium sized groups and begin to sneak across the border, usually they make it to residential areas or sparse/difficult terrain and then blend in or break out when LE or CBP catches them and some get away. A triple layer fence, patrol roads, surveillance and lighting systems at the border and along the highways coming from the border for a few miles are necessary if we are actually interested in stopping people who we have no idea are coming into our country without our permission. Sometimes they even gather into large aggressive groups and pretty much have nothing but mayhem on the brain too... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIqUkIWWCLI This is not really a law enforcement issue anymore but a national security and sovereignty issue now but Democrats want new voters and Republicans want cheap labor so America gets a DP job.

Presidents Reagan and Bush were wrong. It is a surrender of sovereignty and explicit decay in the rule of law. No matter how well intentioned (supposedly) politicians and pundits say they are when speaking of the ultimate good intentions of most illegal immigrants (big supposition on their part) they are merely spouting sophistry on the road to being just another country where the rule of law is replaced by the rule of men, mobs or trends.

1 - by direct involvement I think we mean boots on the ground or NATO iron in the air. if we give them financial aid and they purchase what they need, SAAB, Dassault Systems, Elbit Systems etc could supply without directly involving the US. 2 - we've got some successes under our belt: US aid to the Mujahideen to eject the Soviets from Afghanistan minus the blowback from no follow thru plan following the Soviet exit, the success of Plan Columbia in thwarting the cartels from turning that country into a failed narco state, and reaching into the past look at Europe & Korea post hostilities - they took some time but they came around I'm a pilot in the ANG but have a about 10 years AD time and have been fortunate to have flown several airplanes. I am interested in geopolitics / history - if I was not doing what I am doing now I think FAO would be a pretty good gig

It Looked Like an Easy Target — But These Robbers Probably Didn’t Know a Champion MMA Fighter Worked Inside

Because it gives the West an alternative to direct involvement to prevent / reverse Russian gains & efforts in causing the break up of Ukraine. There is a risk of escalation but the risk of a Russian victory ala a successful pro-Russian separatist victory in eastern Ukraine is worse. Giving them systems and training to effectively counter the aid the Russians are giving these yokels is a good move. We have been on the sidelines in terms of supporting movements that are carrying the water for us in parts of the world based on worrying too much about escalation, our enemies like Russia, Iran, China, etc... don't have such concerns and as such we have to help out our friends or possible friends even if it might ratchet things up. It's old school but the Domino Theory was right, you have to stop the spread of your enemy before his momentum carries the day. First it was Crimea, next it will be eastern Ukraine, then it will be reoccupation of the Baltics... like it or not we live in interesting times requiring the application of smart force from all the Instruments of Power: Military, Economic, Diplomatic, Informational, etc... our enemies haven't gotten the memo from Kerry that "You just don't in the 21st century behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped up pre-text," Kerry told the CBS program "Face the Nation." It amazes me how naive this administration is to believe that you can have a debate with authoritarian regimes, dictators and fanatical theocratic terrorist movements about human rights, peace negotiations, and rule of law based classic liberal values. These people respect force and decisive action, they interpret anything else as dithering weakness, no wonder democracy is getting it's ass kicked lately...

Why not? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Time to even things up UAF needs some EA & SEAD-DEAD https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/07/23/ukraine-rebels-separatists-fighter-jet-shot-down/13034005/ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Move Counter Move Jerusalem - Israeli Engineers Test Hi-tech Tunnel Detection System Tested On Hamas Tunnel Network No doubt that it is a problem but just because a problem is difficult doesn't mean the solution is to give up.

Interior checkpoints and specifically workplace enforcement have to happen if you're serious about enforcing immigration & employment but not just against the illegal aliens - you have to arrest and prosecute the employers and smugglers. At least one politician is starting to do something: Perry sending National Guard to border https://www.cnn.com/2014/07/21/politics/perry-national-guard-border/index.html Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yup and the Fembots

Don't forget the army of Terminators shoulder to shoulder across the whole border Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Agree on needing an executive interested in enforcing the border and laws but have to part company on needing more resources. CBP is undermanned and under resourced and especially ICE. A physical border security system is also necessary in strategic areas, basically the adjoining urban areas with the highways for the first 10 miles or so coming from the POE into the US being fenced to restrict bailouts of car loads of illegals when the CBP or HP stops a carry vehicle. Once the illegals actually make it on to US soil it is so easy to just starburst out and blend into the residential or agricultural areas that are right on or near the border making apprehension after arrival tough and never 100%, some of the group will get away. In another thread I used a highly accurate bar napkin calculation to guess that it would take 0.4% of the DoD budget to fund a sizeable NG mission to assist CBP. That is affordable and appropriate, we keep 28,500 guys in South Korea to defend the 15th largest economy in the world, we can afford 10,000 guys on our borders.

Here's yet another reason to secure the border EXCLUSIVE: RELEASED ALIEN FROM BORDER CRISIS ARRESTED FOR ALLEGED MURDER, KIDNAPPING IN TEXAS https://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/07/16/Exclusive-Released-Alien-from-Border-Crisis-Arrested-For-Alleged-Murder-Kidnapping-in-Texas Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk