Currents

Buy one for the kids…

H/T PaulM

 

Bullet Points:

** Geopolitical strategy – US v China through subduing Iran. Iran isn’t just another Middle East state. It’s a cornerstone of China’s geopolitical and economic strategy. Beijing and Tehran have a 25-year Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which gives China energy security, regional influence, and a foothold in West Asia that complements its global ambitions, while offering Iran relief from Western sanctions. Losing Iran stalls China’s broader trade, energy, and strategic calculus, which is why this war matters far beyond the battlefield.

Around 90% of Iran’s oil exports go to China. Why? It’s cheap, and it can be settled in RMB, bypassing the U.S. dollar system entirely. Iran gets yuan, then spends most of it buying Chinese machinery, electronics, and industrial goods. The money flows right back to Beijing. Much of that Iranian crude even enters China labeled as “Malaysian blended oil.” On paper, it’s Malaysia. In reality, it’s Iran. To dodge U.S. sanctions, China keeps its major banks away from the deals. Instead, transactions are routed through smaller institutions like Kunlun Bank — controlled by CNPC and based in Xinjiang. It’s a sanctions workaround, a currency experiment, and a geopolitical lifeline all rolled into one.

** May the force be with you.

** “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” – Edmund Burke

Two days ago, good men and women did something that struck at evil. You don’t have to agree with it. You don’t have to like it. But you have to agree that was what it was. If you don’t, then reread Burke’s quote and decide which side of the equation you stand on.

In many situations, the alternatives of action and inaction are both choices with “negative” aspects. What has to be weighed are the risks, the costs, and the benefits associated with each option. With the theocratic Iranian regime, the rulers’ intentions have always been clear and unwavering. The acquisition of nuclear weapons is of paramount importance to their national security in their eyes. They will never give up that goal. It is an article of faith in a regime ruled by faith. Their immutable basic hostility, not just to the U.S. but to the West and Western values, is one of the critical foundations of their theocracy. That will not change – ever. The basic question is whether confronting this menace will cost us more now ( in lives and destruction) or more if we put off the inevitable until after they have secured nuclear weapons? The indisputable conclusion of that calculation should be sadly apparent to anyone with foresight and rational clarity.

** Canada – after Alberta leaves.

** At the State of the Union Address. Caveman v Raghead…

** Work BBQ: Why would you serve vegetables at a BBQ? I am fond of coleslaw and potato salad, and the baked beans with extra bacon can’t be denied, so yes, I do want some vegetables, so long as they’re not good for me.

** Ramirez reflects on his experiences in Mexico then and now. He summarizes with this:  Cartel violence plagues Baja California. There is fighting between the Tijuana, Sinaloa, and Jalisco New Generation Cartels. El Mencho was the co-founder and leader of the JNGC. The elimination of El Mencho will result in more violence and cartels and cartel members jockeying to replace him. The predawn raid to capture “El Mencho was a step in the right direction. But systemic corruption, the cultural glorification of drugs, consumption and demand, and poverty and economic factors will sustain these cartels. EL Mencho was also a former police officer. In a study by Transparency International, a global agency that tracks governmental and institutional corruption, Mexico scores 27 out of 100, “where 0 is ‘highly corrupt’ and 100 is very clean.” Mexico ranked 141 out of 182 nations.

Those of us who lived the same experiences – including me – can relate to the place the way it was with some nostalgia. It’s never going back to the way it was. Then again, things seldom do.

** Ben discusses the first day of the Iran War.

** Parent-teacher conferences in the American South.

 

Books

Bloody Mexico (part 1)

In dystopian México, the absence of a just and moral government has created a vacuum in which evil runs virtually unchecked. Society festers where an underground empire rules a land in self-destruct mode. Rampant corruption at all levels thrives in an environment where many compromise their principles and their virtue for narco-money.

Retired CIA Case Officer Gary Granger is headed back to Bloody México, where he will find improbable love and will risk everything.

Santiago Iglesias-Aznar is planning to take the narco war to the United States to suit his own ends, and he doesn’t care how many people will die in the process.

Lance Parkyn left the US Marine Corps, and now he teaches people to hit the targets they’re aiming at. The law of unintended consequences is about to take over his life.

***

From the Author

Bloody Mexico: A Novel of Cartel Wars is a work of plausible fiction, set in modern Mexico. One can only hope that things never take the turn for the worse that is played out in the novel’s scenario, but I’ve learned in my work in Mexico that you can never take anything for granted.

From the Inside Flap

In dystopian México, the absence of a just and moral government has created a vacuum in which evil runs virtually unchecked. Society festers where an underground empire rules a land in self-destruct mode. Rampant corruption at all levels thrives in an environment where many compromise their principles and their virtue for narco-money. Recent violence as a result of the cartel wars may have topped 100,000 dead–but nobody really knows the numbers, and the Méxican government hides the death toll for the sake of ‘national credibility’. There are states in México where the narcos rule, and the government’s efforts to restore the rule of constituted law have been repeatedly thwarted.

Narcotics are not just a Méxican or an American problem. Worldwide, people spend more money on narcotics than they do on food. The wars between entrepreneurs who would be king for control of the drug trade are as vicious as they are unrelenting. The Méxican cartels make billions of dollars by moving cocaine that was grown in Peru and Brazil and refined in Colombia through México and into the world’s largest consumer of everything, the United States of America.

The unstable and unsustainable situation in México, caused in great part by the narcotics cartels, is quickly becoming an issue of American national security, as the border is not destroyed with a bang, but by intentional neglect. This is only a novel. It’s just a flight of imagination. Keep telling yourself that. It will help you sleep at night.

From the Back Cover

When Assistant United States Attorney Jose Melendez Rab announced that the government rested its case against the Sinaloa Federation narcotics cartel, he didn’t know that within 48 hours, he’d be hanging with a cord around his neck from the El Fuerte highway overpass in Los Mochis.—

As Judge Hoang Thoai Nguyen, sitting on the federal bench in the Southern District of Indiana prepared to sentence Leopoldo (El Buitre) Caro-Madrid, a cartel kingpin, he didn’t know that his son has been gunned down, bleeding his last on a filthy warehouse floor a few miles away.—The Sinaloa Drug Cartel has declared WAR!—The Sinaloa Federation narcotics cartel is taking the war to the United States Government, and nobody can figure out why, since it’s clearly against their best interests. The cartel earns billions of dollars by smuggling narcotics into the United States. Why are they trying to kill the goose that laid the golden egg?

(available in paperback and digital formats)

 

The Old Whore (part 2)

In the peculiar culture of the Central Intelligence Agency, “old whores” are people who will do whatever it takes to get the job done, irrespective of the cost.

Here is the second volume in Larry B. Lambert’s magnificent cycle of novels that includes Bloody Mexico and The Old Whore.  As a whole, this series is a genuine masterpiece of modern, all-too-real dramatic fiction, espionage, intrigue, romance, and adventure. The story transports us to modern Mexico, where the absence of a just and moral government has created a vacuum in which evil runs virtually unchecked.

Already heralded as a classic, Larry B. Lambert’s stunning series provides a glimpse of what may be, as Mexican society festers and an underground empire rules a land in self-destruct mode.  The cult of Holy Death threatens to unleash unthinkable horror through their ‘Dead Saints’ thirst for blood. An American intelligence failure requires a cover-up. Argentine and Macedonian hit squads miss the mark. A murder in Paraguay sends a bereaved widow on a quest for justice, and retired CIA case officer Gary Granger is called on to manage a deniable solution to the American President’s problem.

(only available in a digital format)

 

Why Now?

Timely and timeless – some things never change (that much). These were written in 2010 and 2011, respectively. It’s fiction, based on real experiences, and you might enjoy that, given what’s going on in 2026, fifteen years later. Yes, of course, I’m dragging the sack to sell books that I’ve written, but I wrote them to be enjoyed and also to convey a message.

Admin update

An old boss of mine told me that there is a Netflix project underway to do a film based on an old case of mine. I’ll let you know how that all pans out. I hope they don’t cast Morgan Freeman playing me. And if it’s Russell Crowe, he needs to lose a few pounds and shave.

***

How Does Chinese Military Hardware Stack Up?

When I was in Iraq in 2025, speaking to their national command authority, they commented that Chinese military hardware is junk and doesn’t work. They said that the only hardware worth buying was US equipment. The question was the extent to which the US would trust them enough to sell them what they wanted, given Iraq’s relationship to Iran.

BREAKING: US Air Power Dominates: Chinese HQ-9B Systems Obliterated in Hours – On February 28, 2026, the United States—alongside Israel—unleashed Operation Epic Fury, a decisive joint strike campaign that shattered Iran’s defenses and eliminated key regime figures, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Among the most striking early successes: all three Chinese-supplied HQ-9B surface-to-air missile systems, touted as advanced air defenses, were destroyed within the first hour—or even minutes—of U.S. operations. These systems, recently delivered from Beijing, failed to detect, track, or intercept American and Israeli aircraft and missiles. This marks yet another humiliation for Chinese military exports. Previously exposed as ineffective in Pakistan (Operation Sindoor) and Venezuela.

***

The Current Iranian Navy List  (scratch)

• IRIS Jamaran (F76): A Moudge-class frigate/corvette reported struck and sinking at a pier in Chah Bahar.
• IRIS Sahand (F74): An Alvand-class frigate seen ablaze in satellite imagery at Konarak.
• Kilo-Class Submarines: U.S. Central Command confirmed strikes on Iranian submarines, though specific hull names remain unconfirmed.
• IRIS Sabalan (F73) & IRIS Zagros (H313): These frigates were noted as present at Bandar Abbas during the strikes, with the naval headquarters there “largely destroyed.”

 

Identify the Aircraft

1 & 2

 

3

 

4

 

5

The Army is divesting itself of its Alpha and Lima model Blackhawks. The Air Force could have taken 50 of those in the best shape and made them work. But being the USAF, they wanted something new and went in a different direction. It’s a strong hint.

 

Parting Shot

How much do you like Mountain Dew?

 

End