Day: April 19, 2016

The Big Apple Is The Place To Be

Good God!  My internet is slower than my ex-wife!

Many people have said that they are disappointed in me because I have offered up anything on the NY primary taking place today……so I bow to my friends and readers…..

Things to watch tonight……..

Tuesday is primary day in New York, the biggest prize until California votes on June 7, and all five remaining campaigns went into overdrive Monday. Polls suggest big wins lie ahead for front-runners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump—but there’s still plenty of room for surprises, and in this year’s races, every delegate counts. A roundup of coverage:

  • This is the first competitive GOP presidential primary in the state in 40 years, and the first in 24 years for Democrats, Politico reports in a look at how merely winning may not be enough for Clinton and Trump. To get all 95 delegates up for grabs, Trump needs at least 50% of the vote in every congressional district.
  • FiveThirtyEight takes a district-by-district look at the GOP primary and finds that Trump’s weakest spots could be Brooklyn, where Russian Jews favor Ted Cruz, and Manhattan, where a “ridiculously” well-educated group of voters could hand John Kasich a victory.
  • Politico has a list of districts to watch in both races, noting that around half of the state’s Democratic votes will be cast in New York City, but only around 15% of Republican ones.
  • The Washington Post reports on Monday’s “flurry of retail politicking” in New York City, with Clinton drinking “bubble tea” at Kung Fu Tea in Flushing while Trump rolled out a “diversity coalition” at Trump Tower.
  • Sanders, meanwhile, slammed both Clinton and corporate greed at an outdoor rally in Long Island City Monday night, the Hill reports. “It is an enormously important primary because there are a lot of delegates at stake,” he said. “Tomorrow, New York state can help take this country a giant step forward toward the political revolution.” The AP notes that if he fails to defy the polls and defeat Clinton, he faces “increasingly limited opportunities to change the trajectory of the race.”
  • Vox reports on a factor likely to hurt both Trump, who tends to benefit from high turnout, and Sanders, the choice of many independents: New York ranks a dismal 48th out of 50 states in voter turnout—and Tuesday’s primaries are closed. The deadline to register party affiliation was in October, which means two of Trump’s own children can’t vote for him.

There you have it…….now I feel like I need a shower and clean myself up.

And Yet More News From The Battlefront

I know today is the big day…the New York Primary and that all eyes will be on the Big Apple….I wish I could muster a little enthusiasm but sadly it eludes me about now…..

I like to keep my readers focused when I can…..our many wars is a point that needs a lot more focus…..and that is why I am here…..

“I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity”  Eisenhower

I recently reported about the troops increases that have gone under the MSM radar…..more troops for Syria and Iraq…..and it appears that my reports were just the tip of the poison spear……

Over the weekend, US officials reiterated that the Obama Administration has designs on dramatic escalation of the ground wars in Iraq and Syria, with near-term plans to send as many as 200 more ground troops into northeastern Syria to “train” the Kurds.

There are also plans for a significant escalation in Iraq, though the timing of this is less certain because of the ongoing political row over Prime Minister Hayder Abadi’s cabinet. The US and Iraq made a deal to cap ground troops in Iraq at 3,870, and the US is believed to be “closer to 5,000” at this point, with more coming all the time.

A “dramatic escalation”?  Those words would weigh over on the American mindset.  But will it?

After reporting that more troops were headed to the Middle East……it has been dismissed as “advisers”……and that is a lie!

The US will deploy more than 200 additional troops to Iraq—upping the number from 3,870 to 4,087—and send Apache helicopters for the first time into the fight against ISIS in Iraq, the first major increase in US forces in nearly a year. The uptick in US forces—and the decision to put them closer to the front lines—is designed to help Iraqi forces retake the key northern city of Mosul, and help retake Raqqa, the extremist’s group self-proclaimed capital in Syria, the AP reports. Last June the Obama administration announced hundreds of troops would be deployed to help the Iraqis retake Ramadi—a goal accomplished at the end of the year. Of the extra troops, most will be Army special forces, who’ve been used throughout the anti-ISIS campaign to advise and assist the Iraqis. The remainder will include some trainers, security forces for advisers, and maintenance teams for the Apaches.

The advise-and-assist teams—made up of some dozen troops, each accompanied by security forces—will embed with Iraqi brigades and battalion, likely putting them closer to the front lines. The proximity to the battlefront will allow the US teams to provide more tactical combat advice as Iraqis move toward Mosul, still under ISIS control. Until now, US advisers have worked with the Iraqis at the headquarters level, well back from the front lines. A senior defense official told reporters that while Iraqi leaders have been reluctant to have a large number of US troops in Iraq, they also need certain capabilities that only more American or coalition forces can provide. Iraqi leaders back the addition of more US troops if their work is coordinated with Iraqis and directed toward retaking Mosul. Anonymous US officials have said that the number of special operations forces in Syria would be increased at some point, but Defense Secretary Ash Carter, speaking to US troops in Baghdad, didn’t mention that.

And ….so it begins! (again)

Back in the 1990’s the USA took its forces out of the Philippines…all army, navy and air force….all gone….now that China is flexing its muscle in the South China Sea the US is returning to the island nation……

US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter today announced the US will be escalating its “regular rotations” of troops and warplanes into the Philippines, though despite a growing number of troops in the country at any given time, he insisted this was not an increased “permanent footprint.”

300 Air Force commandos, along with a number of additional US combat aircraft are heading to the Philippines this go around, with an eye on escalating tensions with China over maritime claims in the South China Sea.

Despite officials making no secret that the deployments directly target China, Carter insists they aren’t meant to provoke any sort of conflict with China, and that his policy is to “tamp down” tensions with them.

Oh goody…a further expansion on a limited amount of troops…..that should work out good, huh?

The big news over that last year…..even tough the media tries hard not to notice it….is the war between Saudis and the Yemen Houthi rebels…..the country is bombed into the dark ages….but wait it may not be over……

Already involved in the Saudi war in Yemen, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Obama Administration are in talks to launch a completely separate conflict in Yemen, this time focused against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

Details are still scant, and US officials declined to offer specifics because of “operational security,” but the UAE has apparently sought US air support and logistics help for the offensive, knowing the administration is eager to go after AQAP.

Cool….yet more action for our troops.  BTW, what does “backing” actually mean?

Finally, in my last report I told my readers that the Taleban had issued its warning of a massive Spring offensive….and……..

Armed militants in Afghanistan staged a coordinated assault on a key government security agency in Kabul Tuesday morning, killing at least 28 people. The Taliban has claimed responsibility. The attack appears to have targeted an agency similar to the US Secret Service, providing personal protection for high-ranking government officials, the AP reports. Kabul Police Chief Gen. Abdul Rahman Rahimi told reporters that another 327 people were wounded in the assault, which began with a powerful suicide car bomb attack on the agency compound gates. A group of armed militants then entered the compound and waged a prolonged battle with government security forces, which officials say has now ended.

Dozens of civilian apartment buildings, houses, and shops, as well as several government buildings, were damaged by the car bomb blast. Taliban insurgents have stepped up their attacks since announcing the start of their spring offensive last week, though the Guardian notes that the winter was unusually violent, with multiple attacks in the capital and elsewhere. President Ashraf Ghani issued a statement condemning the latest attack, saying it “clearly shows the enemy’s defeat in face-to-face battle with Afghan security forces.” (The Taliban claimed to have just missed John Kerry with a rocket attack during his recent visit to Kabul.)

Afghanistan is America’s forgotten war….but if you would like an inside look at what we cab expect from the Taleban this Spring then I offer…….

Source: Afghanistan Partial Threat Assessment: April 12, 2016 | Institute for the Study of War

Finally….in the category of…..Ya Think?

A bipartisan pair of lawmakers are worried that President Obama’s recent decision to deploy 217 more forces to Iraq is mission creep.

“Yesterday’s announcement that the U.S. will deploy more than 200 additional troops to Iraq to assist in the fight against ISIL is textbook mission creep,” Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said Tuesday.

Lee was Congress’ lone dissenter in granting then-President George W. Bush authority to go to war in Afghanistan.

Source: Lawmakers see ISIS war ‘mission creep’ | TheHill

Sorry to say……none of our wars are looking like a success in any stretch of the imagination……

 

War: Symmetry Is Not Everything

The war brow beating continues…….

Inkwell Institute

Subject:  Armed Conflict/Military Action

A lovely word….”symmetry”….it means to be pleasingly equal…..but this is not about architecture or paintings or some math equation….nope….this paper will focus on armed conflict….war if you will…..

Since antiquity there has been a belief that an army must equal or have an advantage over the opponent…..during the Cold War it was painfully obvious of this belief…..we called it the Arms Race…..where the US and the USSR spent billions upon billions to keep step with each other in the weapons department….with the fall of the Soviet Union that tactic was NO longer needed for the US was the dominant power in the world and we could relax the race for bigger and better weapons of destruction….since they would NO longer be needed as a deterrent to the Soviets…..

Source: Strategy, Military Tactics and Weapons: Asymmetric War and the New Geopolitics | Global Research – Centre for Research on Globalization

The days of a D-Day style invasion and the Blitzkrieg are gone…..history has shown us that an invasion is two things…..lots of destruction and allows extremists to gain a much needed foothold.

Recently “asymmetrical” warfare has a new name….”Hybrid Warfare”…..I guess it is easier to remember than the “A” word.

I also read an excellent piece  written on the site “War On The Rocks”…….

In trying to separate hybrid warfare from the classical bins of conventional or irregular war, I prefer to use Frank Hoffman’s definition, “a tailored mix of conventional weapons, irregular tactics, terrorism, and criminal behavior in the same time and battlespace to obtain [a group’s] political objectives.” There are other definitions out there, but you will find they are not being applied correctly to analysis of Russian tactics. Unfortunately, what Russian hybrid warfare is, and how it works, varies dramatically depending on what article, report, or PowerPoint brief you are reading. The more we have talked about it, the less we understand it as a useful concept or framework for looking at Russian actions.

Source: Russian Hybrid Warfare and Other Dark Arts

The days of massive assaults like Normandy are long gone…..time for the military to consider a new way of fighting, if fight they must, their numerous wars……so far all their efforts are dismal failure…..and a colossal waste of time, resources and cash.

War is changing…..either adapt or die!

Words About War Matter

Today for some reason I seem to be fixated on the subject of war…..a fascinating subject not from the point of view of some Rambo BS but what it takes for people to accept the obscenity of war.

It is election time so chest thumping is at a premium…..especially from those that think going to war will solve all problems……

I realize that many do not want to think about the consequences of any of our massive amount of interventionism……but they should.

Sorry but I do not believe that going to war is the answer to every problem we face internationally…..it is the easy answer but not the most prudent one.

Originally posted at TomDispatch. At the moment, there are a maximum of 3,870 U.S. military personnel (or 7,740 actual boots on the ground) in Iraq supporting the war against the Islamic State. That’s the “official cap” imposed by the Obama administration, because everyone knows that the president and his top officials are eager to end […]

Source: Words About War Matter – Antiwar.com Original by — Antiwar.com

Please think about this situation before you cast your vote……remember these people are not “boots on the ground”….they are someone’s husbands, wives, brothers, sisters and children……they deserve more consideration that some blind emotional response to every situation……or every mindless slogan.

Duping Progressives into Wars

I have always been a progressive……and NO that is NOT the same thing as a liberal.  Only a small minded toad would equate the two together.  In that time I have NEVER supported a war of any kind because of some lofty ideal like “A humanitarian crisis”……but that is me….unfortunately there are many that will side with war on the hint of a something that smacks of humanitarian and the powers that be have used that situation as a pretense to do many things from regime change to passing off overstocked water….

Americans spend too much time believing the propaganda that the government feeds them an progressives are no different…..the government will use whatever they must to justify war in the minds of the people……even a humanitarian cause.

The online advocacy group, Avaaz, has pulled progressives into support of U.S. “humanitarian” wars in Libya and Syria by promoting sweet-sounding ideas like “no-fly zones,” as John Hanrahan explains.

A recent two-part series in The New York Times laid out in detail the pivotal role that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton played in President Obama’s decision to join in France and Britain’s 2011 military campaign against long-time Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The Times articles make the case that Clinton bears a heavy part of the responsibility for the tragic, increasingly chaotic aftermath of that campaign in which Gaddafi was ousted and killed.

As The Times summaries of the articles put it, Gaddafi’s fall “seemed to vindicate Hillary Clinton. Then militias refused to disarm, neighbors fanned a civil war, and the Islamic State found refuge,” leaving Libya “a failed state and a terrorist haven.

Source: Duping Progressives into Wars – Consortiumnews

Americans need to ask question when the government is Hell bent on war……it might just save lives in the end.

Clinton’s Reliably Bad Foreign Policy

In this election I have found NOTHING in the foreign polities of the candidates that would fill me with optimism…..none more so than the foreign policy of Hillary Clinton.

I read this article and found it speaks to truth…well as truthful as can be expected from a conservative site….

It is fair to say that Clinton can be expected to conduct a thoroughly conventional foreign policy that will satisfy many people in Washington. That doesn’t mean that her foreign policy will actually be “solid” or “dependable” except in the sense that we can rely on it to be reliably misguided. One of the more remarkable things about the 2016 election is the extent to which Clinton has been allowed to get away with having such a lousy record on foreign policy. This should be a much bigger problem for a former Secretary of State than it has been for her. She has the distinction of having supported every U.S. military intervention of the last twenty-five years, which may make her the most consistently hawkish Democratic nominee since Lyndon Johnson.

Source: Clinton’s Reliably Bad Foreign Policy | The American Conservative

In my opinion……if Clinton wins she will NOT change a thing in our foreign policy field……we will be up to our butts in conflicts and war…..if that is what you want for this country then Clinton is your candidate.