Majestik Møøse

Unfortunately there are no backwater AORs when you’re dealing with China.

Can’t figure out why someone that has Ferrari money would spend it on that. Same with that Lamborghini Urus. Looks like a Lexus, but with Italian reliability.

The difference is that the Chinese spy balloon was visible to civilians on the ground across America. It was first seen by a Billings radio DJ before the military said anything.

I would be astounded - and honestly proud - if there were an organized plan that unified the efforts of NORTHCOM, the NSC, and the intelligence agencies. The more you deal with the Big IC, the more you realize that not only are the disparate agencies independent, they’re fiercely competitive with each other over budgets and opinions. At all echelons - sometimes down to the individual - people work to do what they see is the right way while actively notching around any guidance contrary to their worldview.

What do you mean by this?

When do you choose that over a high key?

Turn back like a 90/270?

Meaning he wasn’t liked?

Because they understand that military action and economic investment are tied together. I suppose it’s easier to arrange when the same guy is in charge of both. For some reason America has tended to use economic power and military power as two separate forces ever since the 60s. The places where we have wielded both at once tend to get better. If we go in without security - or worse provide security with no reason - we leave it a boondoggle. If we’re willing to set up factories and farms with wages that make the average Haitian dream of working there, then any military action to support that makes complete sense. Unfortunately that’s usually derided as “colonialism” because money is involved. So instead, we go in with only the military and some band-aid pallets of food in an attempt to convince the locals to believe in an idea, which will never work.

You’ve both proven that you are mature enough to realize you’re on the same team and fighting is not the answer. The rest of us are not that mature and only ask that if you do end up fighting, please post a video.

Dude, no. If other agencies and departments are at work, let them continue. Military involvement? Absolutely not. There is no end state, let the people sort it out.

Military action is always tied to economics. Or at least it should be from a realism perspective. When we don’t tie them together as part of a combined objective, we fail. Our security action in Afghanistan had no synced economic effort, so no one (including us) had any financial incentive to see it through. Postwar Germany and Japan were successful because of massive economic investment tied to a permanent security presence. In a sort of reverse case, massive economic investment that isn’t backed up by military security will eventually fail, like when Iraq rolled into Kuwait uncontested. At that point, a military action by an outsider is needed to restore the previous situation, because our Allies didn’t want Kuwait’s oil to be controlled by Saddam. Nor did they want Saddam to conquer them also, which seemed like a legitimate threat in 1990. In Ukraine’s case, our European Allies don’t want Ukraine’s resources to be controlled by Russia, and a Russian expansion also seemed like a legitimate threat in 2021.

When the Russians started buying back munitions from former customers because they have none left of their own, that was the end of their ability to win a war.

There’s something to this. A unique combination of extreme comfortability and safety brought on by untold global wealth, combined with a brewing discontent due to lack of shared purpose.

“Stillwater Regional Airport has briefed the offices of Sen. James Lankford, Sen. Jim Inhofe, the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission and the Federal Aviation Administration.” Not too far out of the realm of possibility. Trying to get some of that $1.7T spending bill that just passed? The airport has big growth aspirations and is planning to build a commercial terminal in 2024. Personally I’m rooting for the C-17 crew to show up guns blazing with facts.