NoKo Naughtiness

Juche!

DPRK - the Yankee part of the Koreas - putting the fun in dysfunctional since last millennium (1948 for those who collect such intell). More like a underground slave staffed  rocket factory with a nation state attached, NoKo got game! 

The North Korean ballistic missile launch of mid-April 2012 reiterated Pyongyang’s commitment to pursuing destabilizing military capabilities in defiance of Great Satan and the internat'l community. Even though the DPRK’s missile launch ultimately failed, policymakers should not dismiss North Korea's growing threat to America’s allies and interests in the region. According to news reports, allied officials have warned that North Korea has completed preparations to test yet another nuclear weapon, and may detonate it at any moment.

Keeping up to date on alla deets since 6 Scuds and a Dud Day, is prett intense. Thanks to all the cool kids - here's a compendium of NoKolicious chiz to satiate desires subtle and not so subtle 

• Don’t Return to Korea Status Quo –  The Diplomat – April 20, 2012

• Seeking Instability – The Weekly Standard – December 23, 2011

• It’s Time for the Lights to Come on in North Korea –  The Commentator – December 20, 2011
  
• North Korea: The Goal Is Regime Change – NRO – November 24, 2010

• What Happened to Containment of North Korea? – Shadow Government – November 20, 2009

• Pressuring Pyongyang – – The Weekly Standard – May 1, 2009

• Not to be Missed: Obama 'Tougher than Bush' – Shadow Government – April 16, 2012

• A Pyongyang Joke – WSJ (subscription required) – April 13, 2012

• Why North Korea’s Rocket Mattered  – New York Times – April 13, 2012

• Washington’s North Korea Strategy is Failing – The Daily Caller – April 13, 2012

• Turning a Blind Eye to North Korea’s ‘Hidden Gulag’ – WAPO – April 12, 2012

• Obama’s Choices in North Korea – Shadow Government – April 12, 2012

• North Korean Missile Launch Demands Strong U.S. Response –  Heritage Foundation – April 12, 2012

• North Korean Two-Fer? From Bad to Worse NRO – April 9, 2012

• North Korea: It's not Rocket Science –  Shadow Government – March 28, 2012

• Escape From a North Korean Prison – WSJ – March 28, 2012

• North Korea’s Dehumanizing Treatment of its Citizens is Hiding in Plain Sight – WAPO– March 25, 2012

• Obama's Sweet Deal for North Korea – WSJ (subscription required) – March 7, 2012

• China vs. North Korea's Refugees – WSJ (subscription required) – March 1, 2012

Pic - "Separated at Birth: How North Korea Became the Evil Twin"

WoW

 WoW - the Watchers Council - it's the oldest, longest running cyber comte d'guere ensembe in existence - started online in 1912 by Sirs Jacky Fisher and Winston Churchill themselves - an eclective collective of cats both cruel and benign with their ability to put steel on target (figuratively - natch) on a wide variety of topictry across American, Allied, Frenemy and Enemy concerns, memes, delights and discourse. 

Every week these cats hook up each other with hot hits and big phazed cookies to peruse and then vote on their individual fancy catchers.

Without further adieu - (or a don't) here are this weeks winners 

Council Winners

• *First place with 5 2/3 votes! Joshuapundit – Yom Hashoah – Reflections On The Holocaust
• Second place with 2 2/3 votes – The Right Planet Bloody Revolution and Cultural Suicide
• Third place *t* with 1 vote – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – PACRIM Airwar
  
• Third place *t* with 1 vote – The Razor No One Wins In the Zimmerman Trial
• Third place *t* with 1 vote – The Noisy Room- Iran + UN: The Incorrectly Included Datum
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Mellow Jihadi- The Military Draft
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Gay Patriot-What gay Republicans (should) expect from the state
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Political Commentator – Wall Street 101 For Progressives, Academics and Career Politicians!
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Simply Jews –There Are Judges In Jerusalem
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Colossus Of Rhody –“Progressive” liar set to return to comics
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Independent Sentinel – Obama About to Cede Sovereignty of Our Oceans to Marxist UN
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – VA Right! – Hollywood Balks at Obama’s Financial Genocide!

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 4 votes! – Raymond Ibrahim- How the Media Whitewashes Muslim Persecution of Christians submitted by Joshuapundit
• Second place *t* with 2 1/3 votes – Mark Steyn –Grope And Change submitted by The Watcher
• Second place *t* with 2 1/3 votes – Freemarket America.Org – If I Wanted America to Fail submitted by VA Right!
• Third place with 2 votes -The Sad Red Earth Israeli Ambassador Fears 60 Minutes “Hatchet Job”; Bob Simon Protests, Then Delivers submitted by The Watcher ( hat tip, Simply Jews)
• Fourth place with 1 2/3 votes –The Last Stand Afghanistan III (still circling the bowl) submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Fifth place *t* with 1 vote -Jim Treacher/The Daily Caller – I don’t know if you guys have heard, but Obama eats dogs submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Sixth place with 2/3 vote - The Passing Parade – Government Spending, Or Why I Am A Republican submitted by Simply Jews
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote -The Politic/Shaun Tan –Dangerous Liaisons submitted by Bookworm Room
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote -The Weekly Standard –Civil Society Reconsidered submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote -House of Erathosthenes –Contradictions submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote -The Washington Free Beacon –Paging Allen West:Gorbachev Says ‘I will Support Obama’ submitted by The Independent Sentinel

See you next week! And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter

UnAssing al Assad II

In a high-profile speech at the Holocaust Memorial Museum, 44 highlighted new efforts to “prevent and respond to mass atrocities,” including a new Executive Order imposing sanctions against Syrian and Iranian officials for their use of information technologies to track and violently suppress political dissidents.  But while 44’s announcement of new human rights sanctions against Syria is a welcome development, it falls far short of the decisive action that is needed to bring an end not only to the Assad regime’s escalating use of indiscriminate violence against Syrian civilians—but to the Assad regime itself.

Since the anti-regime protests in Syria began in March 2011, Syrian security forces have killed well over 10,000 civilians, and wounded and imprisoned many tens of thousands more.  News outlets report that the Assad regime killed at least 18 people today in the city of Hama, in addition to the many dozens more slain since a United Nations-backed ceasefire in Syria began on April 12, 2012.  Indeed, Nobel Prize-winner Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor, pointedly asked during his introduction of 44:  “So in this place we may ask:  Have we learned anything from the West's failure to stop the Holocaust?  If so, how is it that Assad is still in power?”

Great Satan has both a strategic and moral interest in halting the mass atrocities against the Syrian people, and in facilitating the emergence of a post-Assad Syria.  American national security interests would be advanced by an end to the Assad regime—a government that is Iran’s closest ally in the Arab world, secretly pursued a nuclear program with weapons-making potential, and provided safe haven and transit to foreign fighters that killed American. troops in Iraq.

American values would also be advanced by working with like-minded countries in the region to intervene and end the destabilizing threat of further mass atrocities in Syria—just as it did in Libya last year.  Indeed, in defending Libyavention, 44 said in March 2011:

“To brush aside America’s responsibility as a leader and-–more profoundly-–our responsibilities to our fellow human beings under such circumstances would have been a betrayal of who we are.  Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries.  The United States of America is different.  And as President, I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action.”

What 44 said in March 2011 of the Qaddafi regime’s imminent mass atrocities in Libya applies equally today to the Assad regime’s continuing mass atrocities in Syria.

As Bashar al-Assad continues to defy Great Satan and other responsible members of the international community, it is clear that 44’s strategy of “diplomatic isolation” by itself will not halt the Syrian regime’s relentless mass murder.  But as the Foreign Policy Initiative and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies recently argued in a joint bulletin, America has alternatives.  44—in consultation and coordination with Congress—should immediately take the following actions:

• Initiate and intensify direct contact with the Free Syrian Army and associated forces, and provide them with a full range of assistance, including self-defense aid;

• Establish safe zones for civilians within Syrian territory; and

• Use limited retaliatory airstrikes against select Syrian military targets in order to protect the safe zones.

It’s high time for Great Satan to lead and act decisively to end the mass atrocities in Syria.  44 has before him the means to accomplish that goal—but does he have the will?


Submitted by Robert Zarate

Pic - "Foreign intervention sooner offers Syria, the Middle East, and the West the likelihood of a much better outcome" from UnAssing al Assad 

4 Vectors

AFPAK!

GsGf"s Fallujah Expert,  and No True Glory cat gives up hot deets on the 4th Army to split the field in the Stan since Britannia Ruled the Waves with an indepth hello with NATO"s Last Field Commander - Great Satan"s Teufel Hunden GEN John Allen

By this year’s end, Allen must reduce his U.S. force by a third without conceding populated areas. He must place Afghan battalions with uneven leadership into the breach. And he must shore up a defense-in-depth to ward off attacks launched from inside Pakistan. The decisions of John Allen, age 58, a courteous gentleman from Virginia who is virtually unknown to the American public, will greatly affect whether Afghanistan holds together or descends into chaos.

Oh Snap!!

Something something "Force Vectors" will determine "YaY!!" or suck and kamikazee straight into chaos and pure H 

One vector is time. 44 has pledged to withdraw  troops from combat by 2014. By this year’s end,  troop strength will drop from roughly 100,000 to 70,000.

A second vector is Afghanistan’s political path. Afghan officials are bargaining tenaciously over the terms of the Strategic Partnership Agreement that will govern American military activities after 2014. The SPA will be critical in persuading NATO and other countries to pledge continued support.

The Pakistani sanctuary is the third vector. Pakistan supports terrorists in a proxy war in order to control the eventual political outcome in Afghanistan. Conceding a sanctuary to insurgents has historically imperiled any beleaguered government.

The fourth vector is instilling confidence in the Afghan army. Unless Afghan security forces can stand up to the Taliban, chaos and civil war are inevitable.

Pic - " I can tell you unequivocally three things. First, we remain on-track to ensure that Afghanistan will no longer be a safe haven for Al Qaida and will no longer be terrorized by the Taliban. Second, as a coalition, the largest in recent history, we are well along in our progress to  transition security lead to the Afghan national security forces And third, our troops know the difference that they're making every day, and the enemy feels that difference every day."

Polislam Tour 2012

Kahlifah!!


Polislam - also nom d"guerr"d as political m"Hammedism - has been l"rage d"jour ever since that Tunisian cat ignited himself (in Tunisia - natch) and sparked off Arab Sprang. The concept is kinda elderly and the future may be about as suck as ancient history

As best understood, crazy assetted preachers in Persia, bits of Lebanon and the Strip  have failed to queer the mix on some of Arab League's recent revolutionary revolutions - the allure of a mythical m'Hammedist preacher's paradise is still powerful meds to the wretched realities of cats suffering under secular autocrazies - though in the Strip and Iran - the preacher's paradise IS the wretched reality. 

 For many on the American left and right, the "Arab Spring" has become the "Arab Winter" of triumphant fundamentalists.


Maybe - ricocheting from secular or royal autocrazies into the crazy hateful failed intolerance of holy autocrazies may be exactly what it takes to realize an embrace of secularism and the liberal values that spring from it. They have to arrive voluntarily at this understanding. 

So, kick back and enjoy this especial tour conducted by Globe & Mail (which funnily enough is NOT a Mail Order distance/deception/perception enhancement device for hoochies - despite the name)


Egypt


m"Hammedist role in girl hatin' Aegypt: Once barred from running for office, Ikwhan’s new Freedom and Justice Party has a plurality of seats in both houses of parliament. The more fundamentalist Nour Party is the leading opposition. m"Hammedists dominate the constitutional council (to the point that liberal and Coptic council members have withdrawn from the constitution-writing process.)


Place of sharia: Ikwhan says the new constitution should not alter the 1971 constitution that stipulates that the principles of sharia are the main source of legislation (but not the only source).


Outlook: A moderate m"Hammedist is likely to be elected president in the election, slated for late May, leaving the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces as possibly the sole defender of secular interests.


Wild card: Adverse reaction to the electoral commission’s banning of two leading m"Hammedist presidential candidates could force postponement of the election.


Jordan


m"Hammedist role


Ikwhan's m"Hammedist Action Front has boycotted the past two elections, arguing that Jordanian tribes have been given an unfair electoral advantage and that the government is appointed by the king, not the people.


Place of sharia


m"Hammedist law is cited in the constitution as one of two sources of legislation in Jordan (the other being adopted European law). Surveys show that a majority of Jordanians would like sharia to be the only source of laws.


Outlook


Growing popularity of m"Hammedist, especially Ikwhan, is pushing King Abdullah II to accept new election laws and constitutional reform, although he is facing strong resistance from the country's tribal leaders.


Wild card


Jordanian tribes are fighting back, using their parliamentary advantage to try to bar religious-oriented parties from running. It will be up to the king to decide who wins.


Libya


m"Hammedist role


m"Hammedist parties were long forbidden, but Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the chairman of the transitional government who advocates “m"Hammedist democracy,” was made chairman of the interim National Transition Council in post-Gadhafi Libya. Almost all the political parties that will contest elections later this year are m"Hammedists of varying shades and personalities.


Place of sharia


The constitutional council drafting a new constitution favours making sharia the inspiration behind laws, but not the sole source of law.


Outlook


m"Hammedist, probably moderates, will win the parliamentary election. “Salafists,” says a Western diplomat who specializes in m"Hammedist movements, “barely show on the radar.”


Wild card


A militant  leader, Abd al-Hakim Belhadj, who's associated with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and was renditioned by the CIA to Libya where he was imprisoned and tortured, has emerged as a popular hero and could mount a political challenge.


Palestinian Territories


m"Hammedist role


Victorious in the 2006 election, Hamas's Reform and Change Party is relegated only to Gaza after conflict with the secular Fatah movement. Recent efforts by Egypt and, more recently, by Qatar, have led to a shaky reconciliation with Fatah that will allow for new elections.


Place of sharia


Hamas says m"Hammedist law will be the basis of legislation in a future Palestinian state only if the people vote for such an idea.


Outlook


Hamas's popularity has risen in the Fatah-controlled West Bank, and it could win an election if one is held this year as expected.


Wild card


Pro-Iranian elements within Hamas and other m"Hammedist groups could marginalize Hamas's pro-Qatar leadership of Khaled Meshaal.


Syria


m"Hammedist role


Long banned in Syria, Ikwhan is a major part of the opposition now challenging the regime of Bashar al-Assad.


Place of sharia


Syria is officially a secular, socialist state, though there are m"Hammedist courts that deal with family law and other religious legal areas.


Outlook


The current regime is likely to quash the current opposition, but the m"Hammedist genie has been let out of the bottle and is likely to grow in support.


Wild card


Extreme militant m"Hammedist, many from outside Syria, with sufficient military support, could carry on the civil war and unseat the al-Assad regime, leading to an m"Hammedist state.


Tunisia


m"Hammedist role


Banned for decades, the Ennahda [m"Hammedist Renaissance] Party is now the largest partner in a coalition government (with two moderate, non-m"Hammedist parties).


Place of sharia


m"Hammedist law is not mentioned in the constitution, though m"Hammedism is recognized as the state religion. “We are not going to use the law to impose religion,” Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi said, explaining why the government wants to leave it this way. However, challenged by the more fundamentalist Salafist movement, the government agreed to permit women to wear the niqab (full veil) in public facilities, including universities, where they had been banned.


Outlook


The m"Hammedist are popular but aren't likely to get an absolute majority any time soon.


Wild card


Salafist support could grow at the expense of the more moderate Ennahda.

Pic - "We vow here to fight until the last drop of our blood. We can't do it now, but we will win the elections, unite the people, strengthen our army and prepare the hearts and minds of the soldiers so that we will be able to go to war against Little Satan." 

PACRIM Airwar

Shi Lang!!

If (or when, nicht wahr?) the balloon goes goes up around 1st Island Chain the much gossiped 5th generation J 20 Mighty Dragon may have her collectivist helmet fire full of way more than Raptors and Lightning II's!

Whatever might be the specific performance of the J-20, its fight test was meant to show the world that China had solved its major technical hiccups, and that it won’t be long before the fighter jet was up in the air.

Now that China and Russia have both tested their fifth generation combat jets successfully, the state of equilibrium in the world’ skies will go from balanced to unbalanced. This is something America isn’t looking forward to.

Enter Air Superiority Drones!

Not only do the UCAV’s manufacturers support the notion that drones are superior to manned fighter jets, supporters of the F-22 and F-35 seem to agree as well. Recently, the United States announced that as early as next year, the X-47B combat drone should be able to perform unmanned landings on navy carriers. Having achieved this target, the American Navy has already cut its F-35 purchase plan.

 Although the J-20 and F-22 will still have confrontations and simulated fights over the China seas to demonstrate each country’s strength, tomorrow’s skies will undergo a profound transformation.

In the future, the J -20’s enemy will not be the F-22, but a cluster of combat drones.

An unmanned combat drone will be able to deal with the cruelty of war, whereas one can ask themselves if in an increasingly interdependent global economy, a human being can still allow war to occur? The answer is probably no, but who can guarantee this?

Great Satan will definitely try to develop a more flexible, more powerful and more accurate striking capability in order to deal with the uncertain threats of the future. The rapid deployment of drones on a global scale will make it an inevitable choice under such a strategy. The aircraft-carrier-based X-47B will enable the American Navy to triple its battle range from its current distance of around 800 km to over 2,500 Km.

Collectivist China's 'Area Denial" chiz will be - well - who can say?

The Chinese are probably still immersed in the joy of having achieved great progress in the J-20 development. This is like the Japanese reveling in the launching of the “Yamato,” the world’s biggest battleship in the 1930s. Meanwhile, a change in the configuration of tomorrow’s wars is secretly taking shape.

Pic - “I'll call your new carrier and raise you my next-gen, drone-spewing mother ship!”

 

Sudan - South Sudan War

Heglig!

 No one is even trying to maintain the pretense of peace in Sudan and South Sudan these days. Sporadic skirmishes and border shootouts are on the verge of becoming all-out war and the threat is resurrecting fears of a Darfur-like disaster for 10s of thousands of refugees.

A day after South Sudan, Africa’s youngest state, became the 188th member of the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday, the Arab League was scrambling to call an emergency meeting into the growing violence between Sudan and South Sudan.


South Sudanese troops continue to occupy the oil town of Heglig, on the disputed border of South Kordofan state, fighting off air raids by Sudanese jets and counter-attacks by the Sudanese army.

Le Stache' Grande' was pyschic

''...Ticking time bomb" is the entirely accurate way Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton recently described Sudan. There is every indication the country is nearing a breakup, almost certainly into its northern and southern halves, and perhaps additional fragments. 

"...The central question is not if dissolution will occur, but whether it will proceed relatively peacefully or whether renewed military conflict inside Sudan is inevitable, possibly spilling into neighboring countries.

Oh snap!  

 The end result is that, following renewed clashes, the SPLA has taken control of the disputed Heglig oil fields and stopped about half of Sudan’s 115,000 barrels-per-day oil output. This has dealt a further blow to Khartoum’s economy, already reeling from separation and the additional fall in revenue that resulted from Juba's decision in January to stop exporting oil through Sudan’s pipelines. The beleaguered Khartoum regime, which is under pressure on political, economic, and multiple military fronts and increasingly concerned about the prospects of an Arab Spring uprising, cannot afford to sustain such losses.

Bordering 9 (!) different nation states in Africa - if Sudan gets totally off the hook - again - a fully crunk intervention would most likely not stop 'til the world's very first sitting head of state indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity either goes Milosevic' or Ceausescu

Either way is fine


Pic - "It's a problem sir, and it can't be bent

WoW!!

 WoW - the Watchers Council - it's the oldest, longest running cyber comte d'guere ensembe in existence - started online in 1912 by Sirs Jacky Fisher and Winston Churchill themselves - an eclective collective of cats both cruel and benign with their ability to put steel on target (figuratively - natch) on a wide variety of topictry across American, Allied, Frenemy and Enemy concerns, memes, delights and discourse. 

Every week these cats hook up each other with hot hits and big phazed cookies to peruse and then vote on their individual fancy catchers.

Without further adieu - (or a don't) here are this weeks winners 

Council Winners

  

*First place with 4 votes! Bookworm Room –The real threat that the Ann Romneys of the world represent to the statist Left

• Second place with 3 votes – The Mellow Jihadi An Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal, Korea, and Vietnam Vet
• Third place 2 2/3 votes – Joshuapundit- John Derbyshire And A Talk About Race
• Fourth place with 1 2/3 votes – The Colossus of Rhodey- Obama makes an “uncharacteristic” gaffe — not like G.W. Bush
• Fifth place *t* with 1 vote – The Noisy Room- Hiding Behind Names
• Fifth place *t* with 1 vote – The Political Commentator- North Korea Camp 14: Why rogue nations cannot be negotiated with!
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Simply Jews- This is our dog, Peter Beinart!
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Razor – Prescription Abuse and the Legalization of Illicit Drugs
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Rhymes With Right –Who Is More in Touch With Average Woman – Ann Or Michelle?
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote – VA Right! –Tax Loopholes? Let’s End the Biggest Loophole of All – the “Earned” Income Tax Credit
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Pakistani Spring

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 3 votes! – Michael Totten- The Lost City submitted by Joshuapundit
• Second place with 2 2/3 votes – Jewish Mom.Com – Their Second Childhood: A Visit with the Fogel Orphans submitted by The Watcher
  
• Third place with 2 1/3 votes – Sultan Knish – We Are All George Zimmerman submitted by The Noisy Room
• Fourth place with 2 votes -Harry’s Place Ten Years Since Something That Never Happened: A Learning Moment for the Guardian submitted by Simply Jews
• Fifth place *t* with 1 vote –Dr. Melissa Clouthier – Information Pollination War On Women Wisconsin Edition: Slut Shaming Is Okay When Feminists Do It submitted by Rhymes With Right
• Fifth place *t* with 1 vote - Free Range International – All Clear submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote - TNR/Eric Trager –The Muslim Brotherhood’s Mendacious Charm Campaign in Washington submitted by The Watcher
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote -The Right Scoop –The History of Political Correctness submitted by The Right Planet
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote -Truth Before Dishonor –Conservatives Understand Liberals submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote -Townhall/John Hawkins –The Seven Most Disturbing Moments So Far in Barack Obama’s Presidency submitted by VA Right!
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote -Against The Grain –Obama, Not Holding the Center An Us-Against-Them Message Won’t Work In A Center-Right Country submitted by Gay Patriot
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote -The Agitator –The Zimmerman Indictment: Reactions submitted by The Razor
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote -Front Page Magazine/Bruce BawerRemembering Mike Wallace submitted by Bookworm Room

See you next week! And don’t forget to follow and like us on Facebook and Twitter

Straw Wars

 Every since Jar Jar Binks became Darth Vader ("Nobah Lukabah. Meesa beesa de poppado"), the epical SyFy epic of Straw Wars has became sump of a point of obsessive for the unfair sex. Even in the new millennium's Global War on that which must not be named.

Check it

“…Taliban have watched Star Wars too often, especially Episodes Four and Six…they’ve been convinced that a bunch of teenagers and teddy bears can take down an empire, because the hulking technological behemoth always has a single flaw that will destroy the whole system.”

“Naturally, the Americans have their own Star Wars induced strategic blind spot. Take the entire theory behind Effects Based Operations, Network Mapping and Center of Gravity Analysis. Behind this whole strategic architecture is an almost theological belief that there’s one nodal point, and if we can just hit it – we win. All American strategic thinking is fundamentally framed by the theory behind the Death Star trench run.”

Pic - "He's no good to me dead"

Killer Drones

At times she can be the apex of care and concern - other times she's as cruel as a cat tormenting baby rabbits before making the kill.

Duality of hoes perhaps.

Not unlike the magazine (an ancient slick paper ammunition holding device found in Dr's offices and supermarket check outs) that effed over Mc4, nom de penned "Rolling Stone"

If one needs to find out how the bigger than baby X cats made their Rickenbackers and Casinos all backwards on the "Relover" CD, or how Kid Rock overcame strippers, coke, weed and whiskey to focus on crafting more tunes - Rolling Stone is the mag for ye no doubt.

Yet getting all pushyfied about Drones Gone Wild reflects some serious discombobulation.

The use of drones is rapidly transforming the way we go to war. On the battlefield, a squad leader can receive real-time data from a drone that enables him to view the landscape for miles in every direction, dramatically expanding the capabilities of what would normally have been a small and isolated unit. 

"It's democratized information on the battlefield," says Daniel Goure, a national security expert who served in the Defense Department during both 41 and 43"s administrations. "It's like a reconnaissance version of Twitter." 

Drones have also radically altered the CIA, turning a civilian intelligence-gathering agency into a full-fledged paramilitary operation – one that routinely racks up nearly as many scalps as any branch of the military.

Pretty sweet, right? Hold up - here comes the suck part - 

But the implications of drones go far beyond a single combat unit or civilian agency. On a broader scale, the remote-control nature of unmanned missions enables politicians to wage war while claiming we're not at war – as Great Satan is currently doing in Pakistan. What's more, the Pentagon and the CIA can now launch military strikes or order assassinations without putting a single boot on the ground – and without worrying about a public backlash over American soldiers coming home in body bags. 

The immediacy and secrecy of drones make it easier than ever for leaders to unleash America's military might – and harder than ever to evaluate the consequences of such clandestine attacks.

And exactly how is that a prob, pray tell? Oh, yeah - the LOL meme that Ex and Colonel K whipped out eons past 

''Are we creating more terrorists than we're killing? Are we fostering militarism and extremism in the very places we're trying to attack it?' A great deal about the drone strikes is still shrouded in secrecy. It's very difficult to evaluate from the outside how serious of a threat the targeted people pose."

Cheese and rice!    

See, this backassward kinda academic (cult of irrelevance) inappropriate handwringing and worrying about the wrong thing chiz is the height of doofusness.  

Great Satan shouldn't really give a flying  Sturzkampfflugzeug what enemies, frenemies or non nation state actor supporting nations think of Great Satan's eternal penchant for upgrading, creating and deploying new vaggazzled ways of war

"From the perspective of Pakistani law, we probably committed a murder," says a former CIA official. "We commit espionage every day, breaking the laws of other countries."

Oh snap! What a dang shame!!

Pic - "Only game in town bay bee!!" 

30 Seconds Over Tokyo

The catastrophe Imperial Nippon visited upon Great Satan in Hawaii on Infamy Day was catastrophic. Early analysis seemed to indicate PACCOM"s ability to make war was like totally derailed. Might be able to conscript and train to fever pitch infantry in  90 days - yet crafting a warfighting naval force takes eons to bling.

Philippines were conquered double quick time as the American Army suffered a frightening defeat capped with the ungodly Bataan Death March.

Some kinda payback had to be delivered and fast.

32 himself told the JCS Great Satan needed a desperate feel good high hooked up with a strike at the HQ of the Greater Far Eastern Co Prosperity Sphere, and Army Air Corps LtColonel Jimmy Doolittle agreed -  

"The Japanese people had been told they were invulnerable ... An attack on the Japanese homeland would cause confusion in the minds of the Japanese people and sow doubt about the reliability of their leaders. There was a second, and equally important, psychological reason for this attack ... Americans badly needed a morale boost"

The crazy assetted idosity of using B25 Mitchell bombers to fly off a CV were thought up by Navy Captain Francis Low, Assistant Chief of Staff for Anti-U Boat Warfare, and 16 craft and cats were sweetly voltiguer"d into service for the secret mission: Bomb Tokyo and select capital cities of the Empire of the Sun 

Bearing names like Bat Out of Hell, Fickle Finger of Fate, Whirling Dervish, Green Hornet, Ruptured Duck, The Avenger, The Hari Kari - er, TNT and Whiskey Pete - the Mitchells were like sexed up beyond repair: 

• Installation of de-icers and anti-icers
• Removal of the lower gun turret
• Steel blast plates mounted on the fuselage around the upper turret
• Removal of the liaison radio set (a weight impediment)
• Installation of three additional fuel tanks and support mounts in the bomb bay, crawlway and lower turret area to increase fuel capacity from 646 to 1,141 gallons
• Fake gun barrels installed in the tail cone
• Replacement of their Norden bombsight with a makeshift aiming sight, devised by pilot Capt. C. Ross Greening and called the "Mark Twain" the materials for the bombsight cost only 20 cents.

Loaded up on CV-8 Hornet, the Doolittle Raiders and Task Force 18 launched at 8:20 A.M. on April 18th.  Despite the fact that nodobby, including Doolittle, had ever taken off from a carrier before, all 16 popped the B25 Army Bomber/Navy Carrier's cherry.

Eight primary and five secondary targets were struck. In Tokyo, the targets included an oil tank farm, a steel mill, and several power plants. In Yokosuka, at least one bomb from the B-25 piloted by Lt. Edgar E. McElroy struck the nearly completed IJN aircraft carrier Ryūhō, delaying her launch until November. Six schools and an army hospital were also hit. Japanese officials reported that the two aircraft whose crews were captured had struck their targets.

The plan was to bomb military targets in Japan, and to continue westward to land in China—landing a medium bomber on the Hornet was impossible. Didn't exactly work out that way - See, all the aircraft involved in the bombing were lost and 11 crewmen were either killed or captured—with three of the captured men executed by the Japanese Army in China. One of the B-25s landed in the Soviet Union at Vladivostok, where it was confiscated and its crew interned for more than a year. 

Thirteen entire crews, and all but one crewman of a 14th, returned either to Great Satan or to American forces.

Compared with the future devastating fire bombing napalming B-29 Superfortress attacks against Japan, the Doolittle raid was kinda weak, did little material damage, and all of that readily repaired.

And

The raid also had a strategic impact, though it was not known at the time: It caused the Japanese to recall some fighting IJN units to the Japanese Home Islands for defense. Its main aircraft carrier task force, spearheaded by five large, fast carriers—with its best naval aircraft and aircrews—under the command of Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, had inflicted serious losses on the Royal Navy and merchant shipping during the Indian Ocean Raid, steaming as far west as Ceylon (Sri Lanka) for air raids on British shipping and Royal Air Force airfields there. Following the Doolittle Raid, Nagumo's force was recalled to Japan, removing all pressure from the Royal Navy in the Indian Ocean.

The Imperial Japanese Navy also bore a special responsibility for allowing an American aircraft carrier force to approach the Japanese Home Islands in a manner similar to that of the IJN fleet to Hawaii in 1941, and likewise it escaped undamaged. The fact that rather large twin-engine land-based bombers carried out the attack served to confuse the IJN's high command about the source of the attack. This confusion and the conclusion that Japan itself was vulnerable to air attack strengthened Yamamoto's resolve to capture Midway Island, with the attempt to do so resulting in the decisive IJN loss at the Battle of Midway

Pic -  "It was hoped that the damage done would be both material and psychological. Material damage was to be the destruction of specific targets with ensuing confusion and retardation of production. The psychological results, it was hoped, would be the recalling of combat equipment from other theaters for home defense thus effecting relief in those theaters, the development of a fear complex in Japan, improved relationships with our Allies, and a favorable reaction on the American people."

MILFBLOG 2012

Oh, wait that's MILblogs haha. Check it out - the MILBlog Awards are just around the corner and our fav Army cat - world famous Aviator Major Crispin Burke has earned a nomination for his ground breaking "Wings Over Iraq"

Polls will be opened up sometime today - soooo haul your assets over to the Mil Blog page and vote for Wings Over Iraq

Pakistani Spring

Nishan E Haider!!

While ebberdobby knows all about Arab Sprung - forgiveness can be granted (in short, controlled bursts) for a - let us speak plainly here - robust Whisker Tangy Foxwhat about something something "Pakistani Spring"

As the most risible fakebelieve 'nation/state' concocted since Great Britain gave up empire to focus on upgrading Rock n Roll to Rock to Metal, Land of the Pure's history has essentially been one self inflicted heartache after another ('cept of course natural disasters that seem to periodically strike a country that is half and half floodplains and mountain tops). 

In addition to being the Pak in the AFPAK, Land of the Pure  is Great Satan's only client new clear Army with a nation/state attached (blinging the fastest sprouting new clear arsenal on the planet) and is a magical place where anything can happen!

Barely 69 miles away from where Pakistani Talibani film promotional girl beating vids, is an airbase where PAK Air Force is teaching girls to fly jets.

Aside from enjoying an amazingly underwhelming lit rate of 49%, Pakistan is sweetly poised to leap way ahead of Great Britain in the number of weaponry available for deployment and detonation as the world's 5th largest new clear power  

And for Land of the Pure - chiz has been piling up on her military faster than Uncles at a family game of touch football

The battle began, of course, when Great Satan sneaked into Pakistan to kill ObL last May. Things are so bad, Pakistani author Ahmed Rashid pronounced in his recently published book, “Great Satan and Pakistan are just short of going to war.” 

 America’s greater fear is that Pakistan will get in the way of war. Pakistan’s Parliament last week unanimously voted to forbid the U.S. from conducting drone strikes inside Pakistani territory. If the measure is implemented, it will deny the U.S. its most effective weapon against al-Qaeda and other militant groups. 

One new twist that should be particularly gratifying to the U.S. is the Pakistani public’s unexpected turn against the military. Popular anger at the U.S. for swooping into the country to kill bin Laden was matched by outrage that the military was caught snoozing by U.S. commandos.

Money shot!

Pakistanis asked: Why do we need such an expensive military if it can’t even protect the country’s borders and doesn’t know that the world’s most wanted man is hiding in a garrison town? 

 Whoa!! Direct Hit!! Fire For Effect!!

Not to put too fine a point on the sovereignity dodge - can that be segued into a new clear Persia? Alla that expensive weaponry - yet be like totally unable to protect Preacher Command's borders on enforce Writ of State? American drones, snipers, SEAL teams and Oppresso di Libre cats running wild having their way with targets sets of design and opportunity? Just quizzing -  - it is a whole nother essay tho haha

If that weren’t enough, three weeks later, extremists attacked the naval base in Karachi, which houses nuclear warheads. They destroyed a helicopter and two advanced P-3C Orion patrol aircraft. Pakistani special forces lost 10 men and had to fight for 16 hours to end the siege. 

More embarrassments followed. Impassioned appeals to the Supreme Court to find President Asif Ali Zardari a traitor backfired on the army and intelligence chiefs when the credibility of their witness, who had claimed that Zardari was colluding with the U.S. against the military, dissolved amid the man’s ever-changing story and his cameo in a mud-wrestling video. Next, the Supreme Court opened hearings in a case alleging that the military bought votes in the 1990 election. The televised spectacle of generals hauled to court to answer judges has mesmerized Pakistanis. 

The humbling of the military is good news for democracy in Pakistan. National elections may take place as early as October and must occur by February. With the military restrained, there is hope that voting will be free and fair, and that the outcome may further strengthen civilian rule.

 An embarrassed military that started every war they've ever had, and lost every war they've ever had. in fact, the only successes Pak Army can point to are military coups and the Taliban. A scant 60 year history is down right embarrassing.

 A humbled military, a resurgent democracy and better ties with India are all things the U.S. wants to see in Pakistan. Together they present hope, however slight, for a more stable, constructive Pakistan.

 Pic - "And I'm burning, I'm burning, I'm burning for you" 

Mai Lor Soh

Whoa!!

Perhaps the deadliest diss in alla grrlworld is like - the diss of death.

Cat fighting as nom d"guerr"d by the ancients.

She Poh!

“There are a few SNSD members that can sing and dance well, but the rest of the members have no special appeals. The SNSD girls have all undergone plastic surgery, but we are natural beauties and their bodies can’t even compare to ours.”

MEOW!
 
May such dipolopolititary free chiz be "Pplied like "kini wax to the PACRIM Pivot? 

Yessir!

One of Great Satan"s unique charming charms is her hyperpuissant ability ( the only one of her kind!!) to sweetly deploy fun and free choice little sisters (and in the PACRIM - she created them all - like Nippon, Phil Phil Philippines ("ppines), SoKo and perhaps the hottest pearl in the 1st Island Chain - tiny tiny Taiwan.

See - such a sexyful, hot! democrazy sweetly swaying just out of reach for old school Maoists and new school auto dicts must be driving the old Collectivists out of their collective minds. Flaunting those sexed up goodies like a honking economy, free speech, transparent and periodic elections - not to mention the uncommunist penchant for an independent judiciary and civie control of the military.

Even worse, perfumed, rich, hot, tiny, fun, free, democratic, egalitarian, tolerant temptress Taiwan is sweetly sexifully swaying seductively just out of reach.

And Taiwan may have a starring role in PACRIM Pivot AND Air Sea Battle Bay bee!!

Taiwan should be the central guiding focus of defense planning in the Asia-Pacific region.  In assessing JOAC and Air-Sea Battle-related requirements, the greatest emphasis should be placed on contingency planning for a PLA amphibious invasion of Taiwan with minimal warning.  

Based on a premature and "tarded assumption that cross-Strait trade and investment will inevitably lead toward Taiwan’s democratic submission to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authoritarian rule, prominent analysts have asserted that the focus of Great Satan"s defense planning should shift toward the South China Sea and defense of the global commons.

What are Taiwan’s potential contributions?  For starters, Taiwan is the principle security partner in the region that is willing and able to develop the kind of force needed for networked, integrated deep interdiction operations in an A2/AD environment. Taiwan’s knowledge of single points of failure in the PLA’s air and missile defense system could someday save many lives.

Maintaining Taiwan’s capacity to interdict single points of failure in the PLA’s A2/AD system could relieve the United States of part of its heavy operational burden and reduce risks of escalation. For Taiwan, sufficient self defense requires an ability to interdict and neutralize critical nodes in the PLA Second Artillery and other increasingly integrated operational systems opposite Taiwan.

Taiwan is uniquely positioned to contribute to regional situational awareness of the air, space, sea and cyber domains.  Peacetime air surveillance data can be fused with other sources of information to better understand PLA Air Force tactics and doctrine.  Long range UHF early warning radar data could fill a gap in regional space surveillance. The Taiwanese Navy has a firm grasp of the unique undersea geography and hydrological environment of the Western Pacific Ocean.

In the cyber domain, the Defense Department may tap the expertise on Taiwan, the earliest and most intense target of Chinese computer network operations. Taiwan’s geographic position and willingness to contribute to a regional common operational picture, including maritime domain awareness, air surveillance, and space surveillance and tracking, could be of significant value for both disaster response and military purposes.

And then there’s defense industrial cooperation. The Defense Department could also consider expanding cooperative R&D with Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST), and/or private industry. Taiwan is a world leader in technology innovation, particularly in applied information and communications technology, which should be leveraged for mutual benefit.

Taiwan’s requirement for diesel electric submarines has been validated for island defense, and could play a critical role in interdicting amphibious ships transiting from mainland China in waters northwest and southwest of Taiwan, counter-blockade operations, and surveillance. U - Boats are a credible, survivable deterrent.

Defense Department and its Taiwanese counterparts should consider the formation of an innovative capabilities working group that could also incorporate representatives from think tanks and both countries’ defense industries. Possible focus areas might include cruise missile defense, anti-submarine warfare (ASW), multi-domain awareness, and Taiwan’s central role in Great Satan"s rebalancing toward Asia.

 The fact is that no free and open society understands China as well as Taiwan. Unfortunately, few Great Satan military officers conduct in-country training in Taiwan, and there are no known students attending Taiwan’s National Defense University (NDU)

“AirSea Battle is not a U.S.-only concept. Allies such as Japan and Australia, and possibly others, must play important enabling roles in sustaining a stable military balance.” 

Among all potential coalition partners, none is potentially as important as Taiwan.

Pic - "China is the only military in the world sexplicitly prepping, training and equipping to fight Great Satan" 

WoW!!

 WoW - the Watchers Council - it's the oldest, longest running cyber comte d'guere ensembe in existence - started online in 1912 by Sirs Jacky Fisher and Winston Churchill themselves - an eclective collective of cats both cruel and benign with their ability to put steel on target (figuratively - natch) on a wide variety of topictry across American, Allied, Frenemy and Enemy concerns, memes, delights and discourse. 

Every week these cats hook up each other with hot hits and big phazed cookies to peruse and then vote on their individual fancy catchers.

Without further adieu - (or a don't) here are this weeks winners 

Council Winners

• *First place with 2 1/3 votes! The Razor –Why There Are No Such Things As Unnecessary Tests
• Second place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – The Noisy Room – A Wicked Financial Storm Descends On America
• Second place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – The Right Planet – The Dialog About Race
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – Bookworm Room- Stockholm Syndrome, Victimization, and the media’s version of American men
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – The Independent Sentinel-Nationalization of the United States Inches Closer to Reality
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – Gay Patriot- On the unrecognized(?) loneliness in the gay male community
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – Rhymes With Right-A Study In Moral Obtuseness
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – VA Right!-Holder’s Justice
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Colossus of Rhodey – One BIG reason to be glad you live in the United States
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Political Commentator – The New York Times: Purveyor of unbiased news or of artitorials masquerading as unbiased news?
• Sixth place with 1/3 vote – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Little Satan”s Strike Package

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 3 votes! – Sultan Knish-One Hundred Broken Mirrors submitted by The Political Commentator
• Second place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – Pat Condell – Israel and the United Nations submitted by Joshuapundit
• Second place *t* with 1 1/3 votes –The Blaze/Billy Hallowell –Rev. Wright Unleashed: ‘White Supremacy’ Drives ‘World Policy,’ Allah & Yahweh Are the ‘Same’…and Clarence Thomas Is Worshipping ‘Some Other God’ submitted by The Noisy Room
• Third place *t* with 1 vote – Gatestone Institute<The Silent Terrorists: Muslim Brotherhood’s Political Terrorism Strategy submitted by The Independent Sentinel
• Third place *t* with 1 vote –Les Jones NBC fires editor for altering Zimmerman 911 call; when will MSNBC fire the writer who did the same? submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Third Place *t* with 1 vote -The Troglodyte –When Does Socialism Begin? submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
• Third place *t* with 1 vote - Melanie Phillips – A lethal game-changer for British politics? submitted by The Watcher
• Third place *t* with 1 vote - Giulio Meotti/FrontPage –The Christian Era in the Middle East Is Over submitted by The Watcher
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Pressure Points – Will Assad Return To Killing Lebanese Leaders? submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Via Meadia – Don’t Know Much About Theology submitted by The Razor
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Truth On The Market –My Professor, My Judge, and the Doctrine of Judicial Review submitted by Rhymes With Right
• Fifth place with 1/3 vote -Yourish.Com –Your Easter media bias submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey

See you next week! And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter

Unbroken

"This We"ll Defend"

Of all of history's armies - state and non state - Great Satan"s voltiguers are in a class all by themselves.

Barely a century ago, a collective of saber rattling cavalry cats fully crunk for Indian fighting on the Great Plains sweetly xformed into a conscript army of 2 million modern infantry and gate crashed the horrific stalemate of Western Front. 

Huge offensives against German lines with 300k Americans hitting the hood every month collapsed the Teutonic War Machine and made the naughty Imperial Deutschers scream "God! Please! Stop!"

A brief interlude followed as Great Satan was once again sucked into war against her own will - another massive build up, surpassing unbeatable ubermensch and another victory in the combined arms spirit of her Total War Master General Sherman.

Fast forward half a century plus later and the Iraq War saw the meme that Great Satan"s army was broken, fubar - unable to really do anything to force an issue anywhere.

The infamous Abu Muqawama (the good Abu - not to be confused with the evil Abu Moqawama) follows up with his bit 'bout while the Wild Blue Yonder and Global Force for Good cats are all hot for new missions in the new millennium - Great Satan"s Army guys are "...still pining for the days..." when the ancient Soviet Union and her panzerlicious Shock Armies, were totally hot to blitz thru Fulda Gap alla way to the coast of Spain in 7 days. (Always took me like 11 days) 

Anywrought -

If the Army is unmoored strategically, however, there is good news to report with respect to the way in which it has survived a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Americans, U.S. allies and U.S. adversaries should all take note.

In the aftermath of the Vietnam conflict, of course, the U.S. Army was a shadow of its former self. Drug abuse was widespread within the ranks, and discipline was low among the conscripted soldiers who made up the force. An external evaluation cited by James Kitfield in his book “Prodigal Soldiers” at the time warned Army leaders that the Army was “close to losing its pride, heart and soul and therefore its [combat effectiveness].” 

This past week, by contrast, the U.S. Army released the results of an internal survey it conducted on the health of the force (.pdf), and the findings are encouraging. 

The all-volunteer force, which was never intended to fight a decade of continuous conflict, has nonetheless succeeded beyond all expectations in Iraq and Afghanistan in terms of maintaining its health and professionalism.  

 True dat! As prophesied -

Compared to any nation in history, Great Satan has a more democratized military that views individuals as capable and competent, and empowers them with unprecedented levels of autonomy and decision making at every rank.

 Xformation looks like there will be 3 major types of ground combat brigades:

• Heavy brigades will have around 3,700 troops and be equivalent to a mech inf or panzer brigade.
• Stryker brigades will have around 3,900 troops and be based on the Stryker family of vehicles.
• Inf brigades will have around 3,300 troops and be equivalent to a light infantry or airborne brigade.

Also check the massive 'hello' to anti COIN Ganksta Col G 

There is still cause for concern, though. Among them is the common complaint that, due to the focus on the counterinsurgency fight in Afghanistan, combat units are losing some of their traditional core skills.

To be fair, Colonel G may riposte with a told ya so with a blistering blitz und counter attack of sorts...just saying (:

Overall, Great Satan can take pride in her professional army, and her allies around the world can be similarly encouraged by the robust health of an institution serving in more than 100 countries worldwide.

American people should be asking other questions about the costs of having asked so few to bear such a heavy burden for so long. For example, will the way in which the Army has weathered a decade of war make policymakers more likely to deploy ground forces to combat elsewhere? Do the American people have a moral responsibility to share the costs of wars in which a relatively tiny percentage of the public has served?

And the answers to those questions will affect the way in which Great Satan engages with the world as  involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan draws to a close.

Whoa! Direct Hit!! Fire For Effect!

And to be about as subtle as wearing a thong to church is as ancient as organized conflict itself  

 "To conquer and destroy the armed power of the enemy; To take possession of his material and other sources of strength, and To gain public opinion."

Pic - "Only pursuit of the beaten enemy gives the fruits of victory."