Beatings will continue until morale improves.
Bullet Points:
** Why is the UK heading for an economic collapse? 55% of British households receive more in benefits than they pay in taxes. They’re about to run out of other people’s money. The USA will not bail them out.
** (h/t Claudio) Where does Vietnam stand? (Radio Free Asia) Vietnam has reached an agreement with the United States to buy F-16 fighter jets, a defense website said, citing industry representatives and a former U.S. government official. Hanoi will acquire at least 24 of the Lockheed Martin single-engine fighters, which, combined with other U.S. military ware, could add up to the biggest ever defense deal between two countries, 19FortyFive said Saturday. Hanoi is likely to opt for the F-16 V model, which Lockheed describes as the most advanced fourth-generation fighter, according to the site. The U.S. is also considering selling Lockheed Martin’s Hercules C-130 military transport plane to Vietnam, according to Reuters news agency. The U.S. lifted a longstanding arms embargo on its former enemy, Vietnam, in 2016. Will the Vietnamese cut China loose?
**Happy Birthday, Jules – I hope all your dreams come true.
** Meeting recently in Abu Dhabi, UAE President HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and US Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, committed to enhancing ties between the two nations around key sectors, including energy, infrastructure, trade, and investment. The UAE is a significant investor in the US and has already announced deals that will help unlock and scale new energy sources, power the energy demands of AI data centers, and create economic growth.
** Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responds to fake news smear campaign against him: “Why would it surprise anybody if those very same people keep leaking? To the very same reporters, whatever information they think they can have. To try to sabotage the agenda of the President or the Secretary. So once a leaker, always a leaker.”They’re terrified of him. That’s why they attack him.
** Boating with EdB.
** Innovation and productivity are essential for global manufacturing competitiveness. Since costs are higher in the United States than in China, a globally competitive U.S. manufacturing sector needs to be even more automated. That means any increase in manufacturing’s share of the U.S. economy is unlikely to be matched by a corresponding increase in manufacturing’s share of employment. Increased U.S. manufacturing could improve innovation and national security. Still, it is not the most effective vehicle for job growth, and it is unlikely to “bring back” jobs lost during the “China shock” of the 2000s.
** The latest trigger for Trump’s ire against Zelensky appears to be the Ukrainian President’s firm rejection of any peace deal that included Ukraine having to concede Crimea – illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 – as legal Russian territory. ‘Ukraine does not legally recognise the occupation of Crimea. There’s nothing to talk about,’ Zelensky said last night.
A Smaller State Department
The Trump administration has initiated an aggressive shake-up at the State Department, which will close 132 agency offices, including those established to promote human rights, advance democracy abroad, counter extremism, and prevent war crimes.
The plans to reorganize the leading foreign policy agency in the United States are outlined in internal documents obtained by The Free Press. They show how the State Department plans to eliminate or restructure hundreds of offices in Washington, D.C. This revelation comes after reports in recent weeks of a rumored overhaul at the agency. The State Department is reducing the number of its offices from 734 to 602, a 17 percent decrease.
Separately, undersecretaries at the State Department are being instructed, within 30 days, to present plans to reduce their U.S. personnel in individual departments by 15 percent, according to a senior State Department official. These include six top offices employing thousands of people. The reorganization comes as the Trump administration seeks to reduce the size and scope of the federal government drastically.
Note
No one was holding Rachel Marin’s hand when a person who didn’t belong here, bashed her skull with a rock and mercilessly raped her.
MS-13/Democrat Party Partnership for Politics
START
The START Treaty, a nuclear arms reduction agreement, will expire next February, ending limits on U.S. and Russian long-range nuclear forces. Negotiations on a new treaty have not begun and may take years. In the meantime, nuclear risks may be contained if the United States and Russia do not undermine the New START limits. Hardline rule in Russia and the nuclear buildup in China, however, could impede restraint.
Obama negotiated New START, a successor to President Ronald Reagan’s 1994 START I Treaty. START I cut long-range, or strategic, nuclear arsenals by 30–40 percent. New START reduced the number of accountable deployed strategic arms by another three-quarters. In 2021, Pedo Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin extended New START until next February.
After its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, however, Russia suspended participation in New START. Moscow no longer exchanges data, provides notifications, or allows onsite inspections, thereby weakening verification and confidence.
Other considerations might slow the conclusion of a new treaty.
The ex-KGB cohort in Russia’s Kremlin may resist transparency. START I defined a new, intrusive verification system. However, if, as some suggest, a new treaty is to encompass hard-to-detect non-strategic (tactical) nuclear arms, even more intrusive verification may be necessary. Furthermore, Russia may oppose ceding some of its significant advantage in tactical nuclear weapons.
Second, if, as some urge, China joins the talks on a new treaty, this may be a barrier. At present, China shows no interest in negotiations. As its nuclear buildup (PDF) continues and if parity with Russia and the United States is achieved, China could become more open to arms control.
Third, the United States might seek an expanded nuclear force to deter the combined forces of Russia and China. In 2023, a congressional commission (PDF) identified an “urgent” need for the United States to rebuild its nuclear infrastructure and modernize U.S. nuclear forces.
A fourth potential obstacle is that Russia might attempt to link arms control to other issues, such as Western support for Ukraine. This would be a nonstarter. With luck, the Ukraine conflict can be resolved without outside interference or linkage.
In sum, a new treaty is unlikely to be ready when New START expires. What might the United States do in the interim?
In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan faced a similar question. Even though he had called the unratified SALT II Treaty negotiated by President Jimmy Carter “fatally flawed,” Reagan pledged that the United States “would not undercut” its limits. He conditioned this on the USSR’s “exercising equal restraint” and “actively pursuing” arms cuts in the Geneva talks. To keep the United States within SALT II limits, Reagan agreed to dismantle two older Poseidon ballistic missile submarines.
Why did Reagan pursue restraint? He may have thought that many Americans, influenced by “nuclear freeze” protests, would view restraint as stabilizing. He might also have calculated that restraint would help sustain political support for modernizing the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
Some current circumstances, however, differ from those in the Reagan era.
In the mid-1980s, prospects for arms control improved significantly when a liberalizing Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, assumed power. He and Reagan reached the historic Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, eliminating a whole class of nuclear arms. Today’s Kremlin leader, President Vladimir Putin, seems to revel in spouting irresponsible nuclear threats.
A second difference is that SALT II verification was largely unilateral, relying on satellite monitoring of missile silos, bombers, and submarines. New START also limits less visible warheads, making onsite inspection valuable. On the other hand, remote monitoring is now far more advanced.
Looking to the expiration of New START, the United States could pursue an interim regime of mutual restraint with Russia. As in the 1980s, this could reassure the public and allies. If, however, risks of verification, noncompliance, and China’s buildup were to weaken the regime, the United States could take steps to mitigate risks. The United States might add nuclear warheads to some U.S. missiles or bombers. Or it might bolster the ongoing atomic modernization program, which includes Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines, land-based Sentinel missiles, and stealthy B-21 bombers.
Decades of nuclear arms control have improved strategic stability and reduced the risk of nuclear conflict. Continued mutual restraint might help sustain these gains if risks can be managed.
Identify the Aircraft
1
2
Hint: Not a successful design. The vibration from the pulse jets damaged the airframe, despite the use of rubber mounts and varying positioning. (The V1 only needed to stay intact for a single one-way trip!)
3
Identify the Armor
4
5
PARTING SHOT
End
Identify the Aircraft:
1. Fieseler Fi 167
2. Messerschmitt Me 328
3. Chengdu J-20 Fagin
Identify the Armor:
4. Renault FT
5. T-55 with gill armor. Need coffee to research the purpose of the frame around the barrel.
And here is where I geek rhapsodically. How do you tell the differences between the Renault FT and the US built variant with just one look? The front wheel on the French version is wood edged in metal. The US version is all metal. That’s the easiest clue.
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A lot of them, sold as surplus in the US and in Canada, were made into log skidders by the removal of the turret. Very useful for pulling logs out of forests where the ground was soggy or loose.
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Wouldn’t mind having one. Looks like fun. Less complex and easier to get into than a M3 Stuart (but not the M5 Stuart) due to the weird lack of space for the driver due to the way the forward armor on the M3 restricting space.)
1 is German Fieseler Fi 167
2 German Messerschmitt Me 328
3 is F-35C
4 French Renault FT Char Mitrailleuse (with first-pattern turret)
RCC, reconsider #3.
Off topic
ANZAC Day tomorrow with dawn service in about 6 hours time. The first landing at Gallipoli in Turkey was at 04.28 am. Which is when the service starts.
We will have about 500 people for breakfast at local RSL club afterwards.
My family has been lucky in all the wars Australia has fought in. They all came home though about 60% were wounded at least once. My grandfather three times in WW1 in France.
I thank them for their service.
May your family’s lucky streak continue.
After seeing the movie many moons ago I had never heard of Gallipoli. Major h/t for your family’s service and this remembrance.
Was lucky enough to be in Darwin on ANZAC Day on a port call returning from yet another mid east deployment . The people were great , many took sailors into their homes, I never bought a drink or beer or meal , they wouldn’t allow it . Almost got hit with a flying pool ball by a drunk aborigine , and had my first beans on toast after asking for the “biggest breakfast Ya got” . We left one young Sailor there who had fallin in love with a girl and Australia and just flat out wasn’t leaving , I never saw him again. The only bad thing was our mooring had drastic tides , we had to post a mooring line watch for 24 hours a day to slack off and heave in on the lines , easy enough to do with 3 or four guys . Great place , I think I marched in a parade , or tried to hammered .
Warning: Aussie beer is far more potent than American (dog piss) beer.
They used to make a 9% beer in Darwin. Sold in 1/2 gallon bottles. Challenging visiting Americans that they could not drink one bottle of beer was a common bet.
The do gooders ruined it and it’s only 6% now.
Australian beer is good, I prefer the Bundaburg Overproof rum.
Aussie Domestic Fosters – flown into the Australian Consulate in Los Angeles. The Military Attaches used to invite friends over for a genuine brew.
Victoria Bitter was my favorite , Emu Stout my second ,
+1 for the Emu stout
Victoria Bitter or XXXX (Four X is a Queensland beer). When in Sydney, Resch’s. Strangely, whilst Fosters is popular overseas, in Australia not so much (unless you are a Victorian). As Wandering Neurons says, Bundaberg Overproof Rum is not bad either. Good in a brew on a cold, wet, night.
ANZAC Day here, in Sydney, as I post this. Have not long returned from the Dawn Service at The Cenotaph in Martin Place. There was a very good turnout of people, including many young people. A little bit on the damp side though, as there was some rain. Will not be going back into town for the march though. I am not big on marches. In years past, when I was home, I used to meet the man I called Major Hough in my book and we would have lunch, a few beers, and chat. Occasionally we would be joined by one of his Second World War mates. He, along with them, is gone now. Having fought a different war to my contemporaries, with whom I have little in common, other than we were in the same country, I will spend the day at home with my thoughts and memories.
Like your family, mine has been relatively lucky in war too. On my fathers side, going back to the Boer War, everyone returned home from all of Australia’s wars we have fought in, albeit some bore wounds. Likewise, on my mothers side, also going back to the Boer War, everyone returned home, again with some bearing wounds, with the exception of one of her cousins who flew with the RAF Bomber Command during the Second World War. He had nearly completed his second tour, flying night bombing missions over Germany, when he, and his crew, disappeared. Neither they, nor their Lancaster, have ever been found.
Hopefully my little grandson, who turns eight this year, will never have to go to war. I would not wish the experience on him. If it comes to pass, that he does go, then I am sure he will serve as well as his forebears.
Hope you have a good rest of the day.
Rained up here in rural Qld very heavy just after we packed up things at local memorial park.
Only had half our usual numbers for breakfast.
Coincidentally I ended up at the Vietnam Veterans Association headquarters on the Gold Coast fixing some electronics in their building earlier this week. Meet a couple of nice guys while I was there.
Thank you. Hope you have a good day too.
Manufacturing innovation means we can do well with fewer people. Immigration can be lowered. Especially the avivek kind.
MS13 – democrats now promise a gang in every neighborhood.
Yes, we can make do with fewer people.
So with young men starting to move away from supporting the Democratic Party nanny state, will the stop taking SSRIs and the meds that kill their sex drive? Will they start smoking again? I am thinking about tobacco stocks. Tom
I am thinking the men look like lesbians because of SSRI meds . In my experience they were chemical castration. Tom
They don’t know the difference between men and women because they’ve been buggering boys all their lives.
A friend of mine who works in janitorial at a university (honest work, excellent tuition break, decent benefits) reports that a number of the anxious and neurotic young male students put under his supervision have no idea *how* to formulate and execute a plan, much less to do the work they’re hired for. He spends as much time teaching them how to think as how to clean and maintain the grounds… but once they know how to come up with and follow through on a plan, and get the reward of accomplishing it and seeing the results of their hard work, they are significantly less neurotic.
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After that, he starts teaching them about budgeting and formulating long-range goals, from thinking past next week, past the end of the month, past the end of the semester…. and then the major conceptual leap that is very hard for them, past graduation, into a working world that schooling has not prepared them to even conceptualize. Once they have goals and plans, it’s not just their politics, but their entire worldview and what they are looking for in partners (measuring against mother of their future children instead of Saturday night) starts changing.
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Doing the L-rd’s work, he is.
❤️
Scary that the janitor seems to be the smartest one at the university.
I don’t find that the least bit surprising in many departments in universities. The grievance studies majors have stunningly stupid professors.
Speaking as someone who’s spent most of his adult life in or around academia (including both Harvard and MIT, not to mention public ivies), I’m not surprised either.
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And it’s not just the “Studies” departments. Medicine and STEM are full of astonishingly naive bad takes as well. I could go on for hours with examples. And we’re not talking “Francis was a really good pope, I’m so sorry he died” (this was yesterday with two very good friends of mine, BTW) type stuff. I’m talking about a literally world famous professor of Mathematics and Statistics (a guy who is really good with both hardcore quantitative real world stuff and also big hair theorem-proof math most people don’t/can’t understand) sincerely arguing that Socialism is the most rational and equitable economic system. This from a man who lives in a $2M (in 2012 dollars, the last time I looked it up) house, whose wife is head legal counsel for a Fortune 100 corporation, and whose hobby is collecting Bordeaux wines.
99 out of 100 people believe Socialism is the most rational and equitable economic system. This decision is not made rationally, it’s merely how the political firmware they inherited from great ape troops is coded to behave. Math guy has allocated his brain capacity to math stuff, he doesn’t have any space left to patch firmware broken by enormous population density.
Dems going full Scanners, promoting evil doing just to be contrarian (aka. full court mental): Listened to Watters last night, he played the Democrat El Salvador Vacation promo…if it wasn’t a travesty it would be even funnier, especially after he played some clips of Rep. Crockett, who is the new crazy.
***
Russia-Ukraine: I’m with Rubio walking out of the convo…don’t care at this point…not our circus, not our monkeys. Been going like this: PDJT has discussions, P & Z agree, P then does something because he can’t help himself, Z…who makes money off dead soldiers (or some such nonsense) retaliates, and Trump gets angry. Rinse and repeat. At some point these two idiots need to work it out. Don’t like it, but what else can Trump and Crew do?
***
MSM Morphing into Lesbians: At least now they will “be seen”. Heard this bit on Dana Loesch: “Tina Kotek (yeah, her real name, Loesch kept saying Kotex), Oregon governor (and yes, dare to look her up…as expected) said in a statement this is “Lesbian Visibility Week”.
.
Loesch: “So let me get this straight, Lesbians are INVISIBLE fifty-one weeks out of the year? Who knew. If that’s the case, and they are only “visible” one week out of the year…Hegseth should hire them all and make them a special DOD Strike Team…the enemy won’t ever see them coming.”
-hahahaha
It would be interesting to take apart a Chengdu J20… just for comparison to our F22 or F35 … to see if by some magic the Chinese simply dumbed into a similar aircraft or more likely … they had our drawings.
*
Happy birthday to Jules. Hope you get lots of art supplies as presents.
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Might be better off putting the political resources into stopping China from growing its nuclear arsenal rather than worrying about the Russians.
Al, it’s still the world of the ‘not quite right’ in my experience. Oh, don’t get me wrong, their little unimaginitive brains work diligently to make exact copies, but then, when things don’t go well, they declare, “it’s good enough.” I’ve seen that in my travels in the Worker’s Paradise.
CCP stole terabytes of info on F-22 and F-35 before the security organizations came in and beat them over the head. Unclassified and even some “other than unclassified” teleported out of our custody and control. But the crown jewels – lot more protected.
You can make it look like a duck and quack like a duck, but it still isn’t a duck till you make it fly and float.
Thank you for the update on SALT (or whatever its current equivalent is called); it also, in effect, requires that I reduce my military industrialization (it takes years to catch up)
I could never see the point to any treaty that requires I tie both hands behind my back
Russia today is not the USSR of years ago and Vladimir Vladimirovich controls a landmass about twice that of the US with frictional irritations East, South, and West
VV may be getting more nervous about some of his neighbors: Turkey, Iran, China to name a couple – or three
In my highly myopic view (since early childhood) of current international political conditions, it might be more to Russia/VV’s advantage to forge firm economic/(military?) ties with the US – I wonder …
The US was always much better in qualitative terms. So, START/SALT worked to our advantage when comparing absolute numbers. The Russians countered by building much larger warheads in the hopes of getting them in the vicinity of the target. Their military products have improved, as I understand it, but so have ours. During the Yeltsin years, we bought ALL of their secrets. Putin remains angry about that, but it does not alter the facts. They sent their best equipment to Ukraine, lost it in combat, and we bought it from the Ukrainians and took it apart.
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The difference between the Chinese, Russians, and the US is that people like Elon Musk can rise from nothing to become the wealthiest man in the world, creating remarkable things and elevating humanity in the process, in the US. That the American Communist Party fears Musk so much is a testament to him and those like him who think it up and do it.
not only totally off-topic, but way out there:
children living in metropolitan areas, not just, but mostly white, appear to be getting sicker more readily; as if their immune systems are functioning poorly; these children, not allowed a dog as a pet, do not have daily contact with dog feces.
humans have been living with canines (and stepping in their excrement) since time immemorial; (admission: I, too, have found this a mild to moderate annoyance)
I wonder if there’s any connection between those who have a major concern about stepping in dog shite (and, thereby, carrying it into the house) and what I see as an apparent reduction in the resistance to various other disease vectors
My grandchildren (10 child sample) all seem to be healthy and doing well. They play sports, and that might have something to do with it.
‘Ukraine does not legally recognise the occupation of Crimea. There’s nothing to talk about,’ Zelensky said last night.
—
A reply from over the transom:
Crimeans to the Occupant of the Presidency of Ukraine!
Thou art a [not Turk]ish imp, the damned devil’s brother and friend, and a secretary to Lucifer himself. What the devil kind of president art thou that molests a piano with your naked dick? The devil shits, and your conscript army eats. Thou son of a bitch wilt not ever make subjects of Christian sons; we have no fear of you, by land and by sea we will battle with thee, fuck thy mother. Thou art the WEF scullion, Kolomoiskiy’s tool, brewer of Jerusalem, cock-sucker of Davos, swineherd of Greater and Lesser Finance Capital, Armenian pig, BlackRockian villain, catamite of Europa, piano-fucker of Kiev, and fool of all the world and underworld, a fool before our God, a grandson of the Serpent, and the crick in our dick. Pig’s snout, mare’s arse, slaughterhouse cur, unchristened brow, screw thine own mother! So the Crimeans declare, you lowlife. Thou wilt not even be herding Christian pigs. Now we shall conclude, for we don’t know the date and don’t have a calendar; the moon’s in the sky, the year in the book, the day’s the same over here as it is over there; for this kiss our ass!
I don’t believe you’ve missed any, Mike: your ability with the invective is incomparable
It’s heavily cribbed from the (in)famous “Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks”. But you probably knew that; either road, thanks!
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correspondence_between_the_Ottoman_sultan_and_the_Cossacks
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“Crimeans voted 95% to remain with Russia”
I thought Crimea being administratively placed under Ukraine was a Soviet-era decision anyway. It’s not as if there is some sort of prior (pre-commie) legitimate reason for the partitioning. But I could be wrong.
X2 B…Wow…it’s Mike_C hammer time.
The Crimeans voted 95% to remain with Russia before the Russians retook Crimea. I’m not on anyone’s side – but it was democratic.
Cliche. No plan survives first contact with the enemy.
Should follow up with the better plan will withstand the set backs. Seems the radical left had a plan to thwart PDJT, and it wasn’t a good plan. Now they are reduced to lawfare and stamping their feet. Maryland man didn’t receive ‘due process’, yada, yada yada. His plan is working, with set backs along the way, but his public support is higher than most expected.
Another cliche. He is an asshole, but he is our asshole.
X2
X3
X4
Happy Birthday to Jules!
The UK’s seriously behind the 8 Ball. It’ll be a thing when the mandarins wake up to reality.