Clark Griswold

A beautiful Thud... the way to start the new year in this thread:

Ditto as to @jice 's post

New year and all so restart the discussion... Any unseen movements, RUMINT, hearsay, etc... for Light Attack?

Bob did Christmas right Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

True, I'm ok with shifting money as required or appropriate but I want at least the cost of this laid bare and the positive appetite suppression effect of actually seeing the monetary cost in what this costs you to pay for what was done. That IMO would bring this back to the national political conversation as it seems to have been swept away of late. Possibly but as @FLEA said very well, the other IOPs appear to be better at getting what you want for your national interests. I guess part of what animates me on this is the Excessive Adventures / Forever Wars are not really done for the interests of the United States but for the nebulous "Free World" / "International Community" / etc... If the burden was shared equally by all those who seemingly comprise and benefit from being in those, the need for a dissuading financial feedback mechanism in the US tax code would probably not be necessary but it is not so here I am ranting for it on BO. Delta Hotel - we have to get smart with this but unfortunately I think the scourge of Intersectionalism / Woke / White Guilt is going to prevent us from using some of the other IOPs of the DIME model.

No offense taken and I agree we are probably past V1 in terms of a reckoning with our national debt, likely the printing presses will be running overtime and I don't doubt "they" will inflate the dollar to mitigate the problem anyway... In reference to the COVID / Pork Relief package of 6 hours to pass or we crash, this government by hostage taking can not last.

Had an idea and looking for discussion on it. So a draft of the "best and brightest" is a no go and would never return to the USA unless the barbarians were at the gates, even then I think many would shirk it so if not their kids then their money... instead of a draft used to pull all of the socio-economic strata of America together to cause the connected, priviledged, wealthy and powerful to be cautious on the use of military forces (really conventional boots on mainly what I'm saying but applicable to other uses of Military Force to some degree) why not by law state all military operations outside of the CONUS (routine and contingency) be assed on personal income taxes as a fee based on whichever highest marginal tax rate you paid or ideally applied to passive income taxation? Funds collected in arrears but would pay for what we do and not pass on to generations who had no say in whether a 20+ year military operation on the other side of the planet was a good idea or not. All military operations except for training are paid for and not put on the National Credit Card with the Bank of China / KSA / etc... and the financial costs are made apparent to all every year. Thoughts?

Why be efficient and effective if the pay is the same? - Every shoe clerk ever Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So this weekend's safety briefing is on wolverines and staying the hell away from them...

Possibly but the probability of a successful NK integrated with SK to become a greater force for a better Asia is better than even methinks and worth the cost to the countries with the means and perhaps the will to fund and support a reunification if the opportunity presented itself. Just my feeling / hunch as I have not been to NK nor met anyone from NK but I suspect that the culture and level of development there is much more amenable to development and change than our most recent attempts. Just a guess as I am sure 70+ years of maniacal communist brainwashing and brutality has not help set the table for development but if the mission was led by SK and NK interested in reconciliation, I think it could work after a lot of money and 20+ years of work. There's just no way I can think of to convince the regime to change as they are maddeningly resilient and have no need to change. They appear outwardly stable for now and in control, if they were teetering or China wanted change then maybe they could be convinced to relinquish power in exchange for amnesty and assurance of a place somewhat commensurate with their previous position in NK but that's not where we are at. Same for Iran, as we apply pressure and try to topple the regime causing the problems. We (the West et al) have to have a champion to offer them that hails from their culture to offer as a viable alternative to the regimes we oppose.

The people of NK get some information on the outside world via the slightly porous or accessible border with China, either by work release, approved trade, slipping thru and back or bribing the right guard at the right time. Another way I learned and was surprised by was the means information (entertainment mostly) is getting into NK, USB drives. TVs with USB ports are fairly common and they are getting some information on the outside world, I think a sizeable part of them know the rest of the world is nothing like what their state tells them it is but they can't do anything about it as the pure brutality and patronage of the NK system is self-perpetuating, so many people have done so much evil shit to their own countrymen either by choice or force that they are now afraid to see the regime fall for what will happen to them after it goes. The enablers and enforcers of the regime know they have the tiger by the tail and I doubt anytime soon they are going to let him go, I would love to be wrong but doubt it, especially with China having no interest in a united, free and democratic Korea on its border. Video on this interesting effort to destabilize the regime: Yup, I've heard this too. Wiki article says 1 Trillion USD https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_reunification#:~:text=In the event of Korean,of economic collapse or stagnation. https://fsi-live.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/Korean_Reunification.pdf

Pretty good vaporware light attack jet : https://rodrigoavella.artstation.com/projects/YebgAX

But what a way to go Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yup but I would not mind a few AirPower demos nearby to remind them that the stick is at the ready IDK, how do you undercut a regime that needs/wants an external enemy to rally its population to ignore their oppression/horrible management? Iran, Venezuela, NK, etc will never stop being a-holes as they need to be hated and in conflict with the rest of the world to keep the regime in power. Mow the grass as they say Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I wish that would do it but it only temporarily treats a symptom while not curing the disease, don't get me wrong, if required or appropriate a major strike (conventional) even unilaterally is ok but we have to defeat the enemy not just his weapon or project. The enemy is the theocratic aggressive repressive government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, their nuclear program (among other things) is just sone of their weapons, it can be destroyed but like the Hydra, unless you kill the whole monster the cranium you cut off will just grow back. Isolate their economy, deter their military, engage their para-military forces abroad, support their dissidents, aid defectors, show the inhuman brutality of their system and have consequences for those that fund, trade and enable the regime. No one gets to have Iranian oil cake and eat it too, you trade with them you get no deterrence assistance from us.

Honestly what the hell can we or anyone else do to keep them from developing a nuke while the mullahs still run the country and the world trades with them and pretends that they will adhere to the agreement and/or is not clandestinely working on a bomb and the means to deliver it Unless we resurrect Lemay and Harris and bomb the whole place to the Stone Age or the world gets on the same page of the book of realism vs the book of willful blindness they are going to have a bomb or the means to breakout in the next 5 years The Onion summed this up perfectly: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theonion.com/iranian-team-openly-working-on-bomb-in-negotiating-room-1819577235/amp Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Crusader and Hornet love child...

It is a growing tyranny rebranded in some ways. NR had a good article on what I believe is the growing threat: Davos Great Reset: The Culmination of Corporatism | National Review A collusion of economic, government, media and cultural interests not particularly interested in the maddening inefficiency of representative democracy with minority rights. I see your point as to private property and businesses having mask or vax policies, the current corollary of no firearms allowed in restaurant/store X doesn't drive me nuts as to some degree we are allowed to discriminate in our society and professional interactions but like pornography vs. art, you know the difference when you see it. When the government or private institutions/establishments have intruded too far onto the personal freedom & autonomy of the individual citizen. It's a free market only if choices are different or there is an alternative, with the coordination and monopolizing of the last 20 or so years you really can't say it is a truly free market. You can choose not to participate but that is not really different than being banned from the desired or essential service for the person who doesn't ascribe to policy or choice X. Freedom is not the anti-thesis of smartly, fairly administered societies but it is getting to be viewed that way I fear.

They'll use the nudge rather than the shove. Oh you want to fly, let me see your vax passport; well we can't let you into the gov building without a current and up to date vax passport; every fast food joint will have signs: No Shirt No Shoes No Vax - No Service; etc..... Public lists of those without vaccine compliance because you know it's a matter of public safety / shaming / intimidation. The enemies of liberty and personal choices learned the wrong things in high school from the required readings of 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, etc.. The slow moving tyranny of a python tightening its coils vice a sudden strike.

It sounds good but in reality I suspect it is more of the same from the globalist swamp- sell out your working and middle class by committing to one sided trade deals, deterrence for allies capable but unwilling to put skin in the game and sign on to agreements that others ignore or will never actually meet to win virtue points with the Davos crowd. No thanks. America First is not America Alone. It is a lot of things but mainly it is non-privileged, screwed over for the last 40 years Americans standing up for their interests in a world of aggressive competitors, fickle allies and remorseless players where the elites of their own country use their future as bargaining chips as they are cajoled and fellated by the conniving elites of other nations, particularly China, to sell them out to the false god of globalism. Angry rant complete. As to troops in Afghanistan and the authors of the article to include Mattis, it is face saving at it’s worst. Does anyone with an IQ above 75 think that Afghanistan will be anything different in 10 or 20 years with the mission as proposed continuing to whenever? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So you’ve got a background similar to FLEA’s and have an informed opinion from working directly with the Germans (assuming staff/hq experience); myself I only have experience with them at a squadron level (training). I see no effort on their part commensurate with their resources/capabilities and status as a large beneficiary of the Liberal International Order to rise to the part of actively defending and preserving it Why do you think they don’t deserve this criticism? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Burn Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So we have to call the Western Europeans on their bluff, if they wish to kowtow to Russia and trust Iran then that's their choice. It's Western Europe that's the problem, they put their interests above collective security (and collective economic interests of Europe IMHO) while expecting the status quo to be maintained, just end it. Whatever comes next will be their problem not ours. We will still shape security in Central/Eastern Europe as they would participate in separate non-NATO security and economic pacts. Just my two cents, a new security organization from Finland to Greece encompassing the countries of Central Europe is a better and more manageable security/deterrence plan for Europe for us. NATO just lacks the outward threat that made it possible to keep it focused, honest and burden at least better shared as during the Cold War; a new security organization with nations truly under threat from Russia, smaller and more culturally cognizant of the actual threats they face is closer that aforementioned more effective version IMHO. All members actually fear Russia (or Turkey), smaller capabilities and economies so they are more likely to defer to the US so it will be easier to lead and we charter the organization to be singly focused on in area defensive kinetic operations and actively defending against non-kinetic cyber, informational and economic aggressions. Not holding breath for this to happen as I think the incoming administration likes bigger multilateral organizations, not a swipe at them but a guess.

With "friends" like these: https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/11/21/merkels-germany-tells-trump-not-to-bring-troops-home-from-afghanistan/ From the article: Conservative German MP Roderich Kiesewetter said that the United States is “morally obligated” to rebuild the Afghani military and civil society, saying in September: “A hasty and rash withdrawal would only lead to the collapse of social structures and the return of organized violence of all kinds.” The Germans do not appear to be considering filling the gap left by a potential American withdrawal with their own forces, however. They have the capability, money but apparently not the will for this mission they claim to care so much for. Given the size of our footprint and their resources, even modestly growing their armed forces to just cover this mission or make it their focus is feasible. If NATO is so interested in this, just do it without us. Add this as one more thing to do POTUS, offer to transfer intel, bases and missions to them to continue the Afghanistan Project, do it publicly and hold their feet to the fire. The American and European MSM will either bury it or spin it as bullying but who cares at this point.