Tag: Military Action

Putin Has A Plan

Let me say at the onset this story sounds a bit hinkey to me.

It appears some think that Putin is use ‘waves of kids’ thrown at the Ukraine military…..which made me think of the news in the 1980s with the Iraq-Iran War when Iran used kids armed with the Koran to walk in front of their troops looking for mines….Iran lost a whole generation of males because of this stupidity.

Putin’s Plan?

Former senior army officials accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of deploying waves of untrained kids to the front lines in an effort to outmatch the West.

British generals have weighed in on the ongoing war in Ukraine, drawing parallels to the style of warfare seen in the battles of Verdun and the Somme during World War I. Speaking to the Sun Online, they accused the Russian leader of relying on sheer numbers to overpower the well-trained and better-armed Ukrainian forces.

The British veterans further asserted that Putin’s primary strategy was to prolong the war, leveraging manpower as their only significant resource, with the hope that Western nations would eventually lose interest, thus facilitating a forced settlement.

General Sir Richard Shirreff claimed that Russia was deploying troops in successive waves, while General Sir Richard Barrons agreed, stating that these waves were deliberately sent to be decimated by Ukrainian fire.

The generals also expressed their suspicion that Putin’s approach aimed to demonstrate a greater level of resilience compared to Ukraine and its allies.

In support of their claims, Ukraine has reported over 200,000 killed enemy soldiers to date. If these figures hold true, it would mean that the Russian Army has suffered casualties at a rate of one soldier every three minutes since Putin initiated his “Special Military Operation” in February of last year, per The Sun.

While the veteran generals appeared skeptical of the exact figure, they do acknowledge that Russia has incurred significant losses in its attempts to seize control of Ukraine.

“What the Russians have consistently demonstrated is their lack of concern for their own people and the number of casualties,” stated General Shirreff.

He further added, “Putin believes that the Ukrainian people will eventually lose their will to fight, and the West will perceive it as a stalemate, ultimately forcing a settlement.”

(knewz.com)

Maybe my UK visitors have more info on this story….if they would like to update us we will be appreciative.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

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Those Beautiful Balloons

Well the country and world has lost its collective mind over balloons.

The US has shot down several in the last week….the big one was the Chinese model and now we know(?) what it was all about….

The US has finished its efforts to recover the remnants of the large balloon that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina, and analysis of the debris so far reinforces conclusions that it was a Chinese spy balloon, US officials said Friday. Officials said Navy, Coast Guard, and FBI personnel collected all of the balloon debris off the ocean floor, which included equipment from the payload that could reveal what information it collected. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said that a significant amount of debris was recovered and that it included “electronics and optics” from the payload, the AP reports. He declined to say what, if anything, the US has learned from the wreckage so far.

That is what is great about this country…the transparency….

Then there are the few other balloons that were shot down….

President Biden on Thursday acknowledged that the three unidentified objects he ordered the US military to shoot down were likely harmless weather balloons.

“The intelligence community’s current assessment is that these three objects were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation, or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research,” Biden said.

Following the panic caused by the Chinese balloon that floated over the United States, US fighter jets shot down unidentified objects on February 10, 11, and 12 using heat-seeking AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles, which are worth over $400,000 apiece.

Biden said the military was still working to collect the debris. “Our military and the Canadian military are seeking to recover the debris so we can learn more about these three objects,” he said.

According to a report from Aviation Week, at least one of the objects may have been a hobby balloon reported missing by a club in Illinois that launches small balloons with tracking devices that are capable of traveling the globe at high altitudes.

The club, the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade (NIBBB), said its balloon was last reported off the coast of Alaska on February 10, and tracking data projected that it would be floating over Canada’s Yukon Territory on February 11, the same day a US F-22 shot down an object in the area.

The balloon they launched is known as a “pico balloon,” a small silver-coated party-style balloon that carries a transmitter. A Pentagon memo described the object that was shot down over Canada as a “small, metallic balloon with a tethered payload below it.”

Rocky Mountain Ham Radio, another group that launches hobby balloons, describes the pico balloons as “a 3-foot mylar foil party balloon, filled partially with ultra-pure helium, and carrying a 13-gram solar-powered APRS transmitter. The balloon is intended to travel for long distances (not to achieve heights) and is not intended to be recovered. These balloons have literally circumnavigated the globe — even multiple times — before finally descending.”

News that Ukraine has shot down some balloons….jumping on the media bandwagon.

Hopefully this bit of paranoia will subside…..but not to worry we will find another.

I am sure there is another diversion waiting on the horizon to drive the imagination of the media and the public.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Are The Tanks Rolling?

The news shot across the media….the US and its allies will be sending tanks to the Ukrainian forces in their on-going conflict with the forces of Russia.

The US announced on January 25 that it will send thirty-one M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. The tanks may take months or even years to arrive and may never see the battlefield. But that may never have been the intent.

The M1 Abrams is the main battle tank of the US military and is one of the most powerful and sophisticated tanks in the world. But, for Ukraine, that is both the advantage and the problem.

According to military analyst Daniel Davis, “it could take a year or more for all these Abrams to make it to Ukraine, so any expectations that these tanks will have an immediate impact on the fighting needs to be tempered.”

In his comments announcing the decision, Biden said that delivering the tanks to Ukraine will “take time” without further specification.

Reporting ahead of the Biden administration’s announcement, the Associated Press said that “it could take months for the tanks to be delivered.” Other reporting by the AP added that “it could take months or years for the tanks to be delivered.” The longer estimate seems to be based on US intentions to purchase new tanks through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative package, which provides longer-range funding for weapons, rather than sending tanks from US stockpiles.

US Is Sending Tanks to Ukraine. But Why?

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Tuesday that Ukraine expects to receive between 120 and 140 Western-made tanks in the “first wave” of deliveries.

“The tank coalition now has 12 members. I can note that in the first wave of contributions, the Ukrainian armed forces will receive between 120 and 140 Western-model tanks,” Kuleba said. “These are Leopard 2, Challenger 2, M1 Abrams.”

Tanks may not be the answer that Kyiv thinks it will be…..

It seems to be a case of little provision for so much supposed effect. The debates, the squabbles, the to-and-fro about supplying Ukraine with tanks from Western arsenals has served to confirm one thing: this is an ever-broadening war between the West against Russia with Ukraine an experimental proxy convinced it will win through. Efforts to limit the deepening conflict continue to be seen as the quailing sentiments of appeasers, the wobbly types who find democracy a less than lovable thing.

So far, promises have been made to ship the US M1A2 Abrams, Germany’s Leopard 2 and the UK’s Challenger. Others have alluded to doing the same thing – including France regarding its Leclerc tanks – but tardiness fills the ranks, and logistics will make the provision of such weapons a long affair. Re-export licenses will have to be issued, notably regarding the Leopard 2; training Ukrainian tank crews will also need to be undertaken.

All in all, the picture is not as rosy as those in Kyiv think, despite the confident assessment from Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Andriy Melnyk that his country’s defence forces would have access to “at least a hundred tanks” within three months.

Ukraine’s Tank Problem

How will this end?

Thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Up, Up And Away My Beautiful Balloon

For at least a week the eyes of America and the media has been on the “Chinese’ balloon floating over the US….now the country can rest quietly the damn thing has been shot down.

US Air Force fighter jet on Saturday shot down a balloon launched by China that was suspected of spying as it floated over several states and inflamed tension between the nations. The balloon came down in the Atlantic Ocean, off the South Carolina coast, the AP reports. Recovery efforts began immediately. President Biden afterward praised the US forces involved. “I ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down on Wednesday as soon as possible,” he said. Military leaders decided the operation would pose the least danger to people on the ground if the balloon was shot down “when it got over water within our 12-mile limit,” Biden said, per the New York Times.

F-22 fighter jets from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia were deployed, per CNN, and fired a single AIM-9X missile at 2:39pm ET when the balloon was about 6 nautical miles from Myrtle Beach. The FAA had imposed ground stops and closed airspace over parts of the Carolinas earlier in the afternoon, saying the move was to “support the Department of Defense in a national security effort,” per the Washington Post. The Coast Guard also had told sea traffic to leave the area, anticipating debris would be scattered over a large area. The military tried to time the operation so that crews could reach the debris, projected to fall in US territorial waters, before it sinks.

Calling the operation “a lawful action” in a statement, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said China was using the balloon “to surveil strategic sites.” The balloon, which was floating at an altitude of 60,000 feet, had been spotted Saturday over Charlotte and South Carolina’s Greenville County. Jeffrey Billie of Pawleys Island, South Carolina, saw the balloon come down, per the Times. “It was two fighter jets dancing with this thing going around and around it,” he said. Next, a third jet appeared and fired the missile as the balloon moved over the water. “Then, of course, the round big white ball that we saw—all of a sudden it looked like a shriveled Kleenex,” he said. Another Chinese balloon is over Latin America, Pentagon officials said.

Can we put this to bed?

But not before I share something I read on Twitter…..

The Halfway Post
 
@HalfwayPost
 
BREAKING: 6 local conservatives in South Carolina have accidentally shot themselves in gun accidents while attempting to shoot down the Chinese balloon.
Is this a valid story?  Is this satire?
 
I suspect it is satire but knowing the idiots and their guns it has a ring of accuracy.
 
If so I cannot laugh enough on this Sunday.
 
I do not follow this site so I cannot say the accuracy of the report….but….still damn funny.
 
Can we now put this diversion to bed now?
 
I Read, I Write, You Know
 
“lego ergo scribo”

Is The Tank Dead?

But now most Americans are rivaling in the images of twisted metal and burnt out hulks of Russian tanks destroyed on the streets of Ukrainian cities.

Those images beg the next question….are tanks all that effective or needed for that matter?

Now that the question has been asked……let’s move on to an answer (of sorts)…..

Is the value of the tank in modern warfare zilch? That’s the lesson many observers are taking from a flood of images depicting Russian tanks mired in the mud, their turrets blown off, having been ambushed and destroyed by Ukrainian forces armed with cheap anti-tank weapons. These images are often pointed to alongside feeds from Turkish-produced drones destroying tanks, seemingly with ease. After the recent Nagorno-Karabakh war, in which Russian-produced tanks were destroyed by the same model of drones, this is heady stuff for those ready to proclaim the death of the tank.

We already see comparisons of armor advocates to the battleship admirals before World War II, who refused to see the importance of carrier aviation, or Maj. Gen. John Herr, the last U.S. Army chief of cavalry, who continued to insist on the relevance of the horse on the battlefield even after the Nazi blitzkriegs against Poland and France.

…

Are the headlines coming from the Russo-Ukrainian War the final obituary for the tank as a viable instrument of war correct or — as with the Chicago Daily Tribune banner declaring Truman’s loss to Dewey in the 1948 presidential election — premature? Is the tank the horse cavalry of the 21st century? Or is it a useful supporting system, like the battleship in World War II? Or is it still, with adaptation, the weapon of choice for ground combat?

As with every other move in the never-ending wrestling match between offense and defense, unmanned systems and top-attack weapons pose heretofore unencountered challenges that must be met, or you will have to conduct a Monty Python reassessment of your military: And now for something completely different.

Before the rush to the funeral, however, the first question that must be addressed before one buries the tank is this: Is there a continued role for mobile, protected lethality on the battlefields of the future? If the answer is yes, or even maybe, then the next act in the ongoing drama of how to protect the tank is to enable it to do what only it can do. And, given the events of the day, this question must be addressed objectively and urgently.

The Tank Is Dead: Long Live the Javelin, the Switchblade, the … ?

Is it time to re-think the usefulness of a tank in modern warfare?

I say it should be given some major thought since the anti-tank weapons have been getting better and better….is the cost of a tank worth the advantages?

Turn The Page!

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“lego ergo scribo”

Failed Attacks

History time again!

There have been some valiant but disastrous attacks in history…..and this is a breakdown of some of those failed attempts….

On July 3, 1863, the Army of the Potomac fought a defensive battle against the Army of Northern Virginia at the Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg. On the last day of battle, Confederate Major General George Pickett was one of three Confederate generals to lead the final assault on Union lines, lending his name to the battle, a battle that has become synonymous with futility. Here we list 5 of the most valiant, and yet most futile fatal attacks in military history, with no significance to the order listed.

5 Valiant but Failed Attacks

I agree with most of them….but Battle of the Emus?

I would have included the first attack in the Kasserine Pass, Tunisia…..

Kasserine Pass, a 2-mile-wide gap in Tunisia’s Dorsal Mountains, which was defended by American troops. His first strike was repulsed, but with tank reinforcements, Rommel broke through on February 20, inflicting devastating casualties on the U.S. forces. The Americans withdrew from their position, leaving behind most of their equipment. More than 1,000 American soldiers were killed by Rommel’s offensive, and hundreds were taken prisoner. The United States had finally tasted defeat in battle.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/kasserine-pass-americas-most-humiliating-defeat-world-war-ii-19574

The Americans regrouped an the second attempt was successful and broke the back of the Afrika Corps…

Then I would also include the Tet Offensive in South Vietnam…January 1968

The Tet Offensive was a coordinated series of North Vietnamese attacks on more than 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam. The offensive was an attempt to foment rebellion among the South Vietnamese population and encourage the United States to scale back its involvement in the Vietnam War. Though U.S. and South Vietnamese forces managed to hold off the attacks, news coverage of the massive offensive shocked the American public and eroded support for the war effort. Despite heavy casualties, North Vietnam achieved a strategic victory with the Tet Offensive, as the attacks marked a turning point in the Vietnam War and the beginning of the slow, painful American withdrawal from the region.

https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/tet-offensive

Finally the Battle of Hattin…..where the Crusaders decided to attack the forces of Saladin and the crusaders took it in the butt and in turn their decision lost the Middle East to Saladin….

The Battle of Hattin was fought July 4, 1187, during the Crusades. In 1187, after a series of disputes, the Ayyubid armies of Saladin commenced moving against the Crusader states including the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Meeting the Crusader army west of Tiberias on July 3, Saladin engaged in a running battle as it moved towards the town. Surrounded during the night, the Crusaders, who were short on water, were unable to break out. In the resulting fight, the bulk of their army was destroyed or captured. Saladin’s victory opened the way for the recapture of Jerusalem later that year.

https://www.thoughtco.com/the-crusades-battle-of-hattin-2360712

Just a couple of thoughts off the top of my head…..

Do you have any thoughts of this or something to add?

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The Insurrection Act

A up and coming word of the year, ‘insurrection’ and the last guy to hold the White House considered invoking the Act……

As protesters near the White House demonstrated against the killing of George Floyd last summer, aides were preparing a proclamation allowing President Trump to put active-duty US troops on the streets of the capital. The document was drafted after an angry Trump told the attorney general and military leaders he wanted to deploy troops in the city on June 1, the New York Times reports. They dissuaded the president, but aides decided to have the proclamation at hand, should Trump change his mind. The Insurrection Act of 1807 gives the president the power to dispatch military and National Guard troops anywhere in the country, per the Hill, in the event of insurrection or civil unrest. That was the day that protesters were forcibly removed from Lafayette Park, across from the White House, and Trump held up a Bible outside St. John’s Church, per CNN.

The former president told the Times he did not want to send in active-duty troops. “It’s absolutely not true, and if it was true, I would have done it,” Trump said. But officials said the president brought the notion up again over the next few weeks during demonstrations in other cities. Trump was especially irate at being embarrassed in the eyes of other nations. “We look weak,” he told Attorney General William Barr, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Nonetheless, all three resisted using the Insurrection Act, officials said. White House aides also brought up the possibility of a federal takeover of the District of Columbia’s police force.

The Insurrection Act?

Not sure what this is all about and want more information….then click here….

Click to access STATUTE-2-Pg443a.pdf

Sounds like a consideration for the next batch of in-bred morons that want to destroy this republic….

Turn The Page!

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“lego ergo scribo”

AUMF In The Crosshairs

AUMF?

Authorization for the Use of Military Force.

You know that piece of crap that allows the US to attack and destroy anybody that we see fit.

In case you bare still confused then here is the Act in 60 words….

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/107/sjres23/text

(Another link that will go unused)

All I can say right now about this attempt…..it is about damn time!

Well after many years of my bitching and moaning it looks like there is a chance that the repel of this manure could be in the making.

The House has voted to end this abortion…… House voted to repeal the 2002 authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) that was used for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The bill passed in a vote of 268 to 161, with 49 Republicans voting in favor of the repeal and only one Democrat voting against it.

Now it is time for the Senate is tackling the AUMF…..

In 2002, Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden were among the 29 Democratic senators who voted to authorize the use of military force in Iraq. Almost 20 years later, they support repealing the authorization. Schumer said Wednesday that he supports repealing the measure and the Senate will hold a vote on it this year, Politico reports. “The Iraq War has been over for nearly a decade,” the Senate majority leader said. “The authorization passed in 2002 is no longer necessary in 2021.” The House is expected to pass a bill to revoke the authorization Thursday, reports CNBC. President Biden has said he supports the House bill, which was sponsored by Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee.

The White House said in a statement that the US “has no ongoing military activities that rely solely on the 2002 AUMF as a domestic legal basis” and revoking the law would have “minimal impact” on operations. Schumer said Wednesday that revoking the authorization would not mean the US is turning its back on Iraq, but it would prevent future presidents “reaching back into the legal dustbin to use it as a justification for military adventurism,” the AP reports. He cited the Trump administration’s Jan. 2020 strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassim Soleimani in Baghdad as an example. Some lawmakers say it’s also time to consider replacing the 2001 authorization of military force against terrorists with a more targeted resolution, CNN reports. Lee was the only House lawmaker to vote against the 2001 bill, which was passed three days after the 9/11 attacks.

This repeal could cease some of the willy-nilly use of force around the world by the US….

Not to worry….this repeal will not stop US intervention…..they always can invoke the UN charter….President Joe Biden also has other tools that allow him to take “defensive” actions, including Article II of the Constitution and Article 51 of the United Nations Charter 

Will this lessen our involvement in situations we need to avoid…..probably not…if the M-IC wants an invasion then they will most likely get their money maker of an invasion.

Personally I think this is nothing more than a fart in a hurricane.

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Please Pull The Plug On Israel

NOTE: I am not anti Jewish this post is about actions of the Israeli government and some of the right radical citizens.

Since 1967 I have had an extreme dislike for the state of Israel….it began with the murderous attack on the naval vessel USS Liberty that killed many of its crew and it continued with the barbarous treatment of the Palestinian people……they treat minorities like shit.

I do not understand the moronic loyalty of the US and some of its people to a state that has one of the worse civil rights records in the world. and our government that seems to kiss ass whenever Israel is around.

Then there all the lies that Israel has spread about Iran seemingly to lather up the US into some sort of military action directed at the country.

Now Israel is threatening (as it seemingly does every year) to attack Iran….

According to a report from the Israel Hayom, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) is drawing up plans for an attack on Iran’s nuclear program.

The report said IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi asked the military for three proposals to hit the nuclear program. The Hayom did not elaborate on the proposals but did say one of them included a military strike.

The Hayom said the military option would require Israel to invest more money into its military and quoted Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz. “It is clear that Israel needs to have a military option on the table. It requires resources and investment, and I am working to make that happen,” he said.

The Israelis say they are responding to increased uranium enrichment recently announced by Iran.

Iran said they are increasing uranium enrichment to 20 percent to make fuel rods for the Tehran Research Reactor, a facility that was built by the US in the 1960s. Despite sensationalist headlines in Western media, the increased enrichment has a civilian purpose and does not indicate the Iranians are racing towards a bomb.

Iran’s parliament passed a law calling for increased enrichment after the November assassination of scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who killed in an apparent Israeli plot. So it was Israeli aggression that ultimately led to the increased enrichment that Israel is now making threats over.

The Hayom report came a day after a minister from Israel’s Likud party threatened to attack Iran if the Biden administration returns to the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA.

(antiwar.com)

Seriously?

Now they want to dictate our foreign policy?

Who do they think they are?

Any debt the world felt they owed to Israel has been paid in full by ten-fold….it is time to stop treating them with kid gloves and time for then start behaving like a civilized nation.

Time has come for the US to cut the apron strings and take control of that situation.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Are We Ready For War?

With tempers moldering in the Middle East yet again….there is an important question that needs asking….are we truly ready for a protracted war?

I have written about this topic……https://lobotero.com/2011/01/12/military-must-be-ready-for-the-next-war/

After the most recent airstrike by the US and the war of words between Iran and the US….the president has said we are ready for war…..

“The United States just spent Two Trillion Dollars on Military Equipment,” he tweeted on Jan. 5. “If Iran attacks an American Base, or any American, we will be sending some of that brand new beautiful equipment their way.”

Besides being wrong (the military has not spent that much), he repeated a mistake that military leaders have made for years: emphasizing weapons over the fitness of the men and women charged with firing them.

Over the past 18 months, ProPublica has dug into military accidents in recent years that, all told, call into question just how prepared the American military is to fight America’s battles.

If forced to fight in the Persian Gulf or the Korean Peninsula, the Navy and Marine Corps are likely to play crucial roles in holding strategic command of the sea and defending against ballistic missiles.

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-says-u-s-is-ready-for-war-not-all-his-troops-are-so-sure

Further Reading:

Defense Strategy for a Post-Trump World

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”