#1
Such a hideously wrong and full-of-holes article. NR should be ashamed.
The guy makes the most stupid argument: We cant use carriers because they are too valuable - the Chinese have ICBM that target them, and tis expensive to build BMD defenses against these allegedly effective weapons (there do remain doubts about just how accurate the Chinese ICBM terminal guidance against a carrier is short of nuclear warbheads).
This numbskull then says we should instead build 7 "missile laden destroyers", or a hile pile of vastly less capable brown water patrol craft...
Excuse me, what makes those any less vulnerable to the same things that threaten the carriers? DUH! So we lose capability, and we do nothing to reduce vulnerability other than multiplying lesser valued targets for the Chinese.
He complains that the Navy is getting smaller due to building expensive ships... No, its that the Navy budget, in real dollars, is shrinking, while entitlements grow. THAT is the issue which needs to be fixed - crippling our Navy is not the proper fix.
#2
One other problem - he bellyaches about "putting 5000 sailors at risk". Well excuse the hell out of me - there were many multiples of that in Marines and Soldiers who actually are on the front lines and at far more risk. This guy pisses me off. Typical think-tank jackassery from some beltway weasel that was formerly military and trading on that for political influence.
The author needs to our had no expiration on it, and stop being a sell-out bitch for those who would disarm us.
#5
The US Navy has had one mission, "permissive" combat environments or not, and that is keep the sea lanes open for commerce.
Does the author really think that that mission efficacy would improve by changing the tools for that mission to cruise missiles or an aircraft with longer legs?
It's not just about force projections; it is also about keeping the sea lanes of commerce open. Is there any Navy or any foreign military entity of any kind that would take that mission willingly and fulfill it as well as the US Navy has since the end of WWII?
#6
When I was a yute I remember fighting the "lots of cheap planes" against a few great ones. (I think the great one at the time was the F-15). I was on the side of the "many cheap" ones.
As I grew up and observed the world I realized that given all of our values, particularly a commitment to the troops, great is better even if fewer.
This sounds like the same argument. Mr. Spook basically says it all.
#7
I like the idea of old oil tankers with UCAV's and a few crew parked like derelicts in ship parking areas (like the tanker one around Indonesia) around the world. A tanker deck would be an ideal landing/takeoff deck for the UCAV's. Fuel not a problem. Actual UCAVs stored below deck or in cages that look like shipping containers.
#10
1,000 -- or 10,000 unmanned submersible drone ships. Armed with everything from machine guns to rocket propelled grenades to cruise missiles. Ideal for both reconnaissance and force projection, for dealing with everything from Somali pirates to China. Small, cheap (well, cheap compared to anything with human beings on board), expendable, with 0 troop risk.
#13
The problems lie in the body politic in Washington and its unwillingness to make hard decisions about our economy as well as confront our enemies. Every war since WWII has had the problem of political leadership in D.C.
[DAWN] The voters in NA-246 have spoken, and spoken decisively. As the unofficial numbers began to pour in from the 213 polling stations in the constituency, it soon became clear that the MQM's Kunwar Naveed Jamil would win hands down in what is considered to be his party's bastion. While his victory was expected, the huge margin by which he outpolled his main rivals was not.
According to official results, there were 95,644 votes cast in his favour compared to 24,821 for the Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... 's Imran Ismail and 9,056 for Rashid Naseem, the Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... candidate.
Significantly, in this by-election, perceived as perhaps the most free and fair that Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... has seen in a long time, the MQM's share of valid votes, 74pc, was around the same in NA-246 during the last elections, a figure that was then allegedly boosted by ballot stuffing.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2015 00:00 ||
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[11122 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[DAWN] The news is that the high and mighty heading the 200-million strong Islamic Theocratic Republic of Pakistain have just returned from the world's petro-capital, Riyadh.
The prime minister, chief of army staff, minister for defence, foreign secretary, and an assemblage of high officials went hoping that their contrite expressions could somehow soothe an irritated septuagenarian monarch and his angry princes. There is no indication of success.
They should not worry. Sending Pak troops to kill and be killed in an overseas civil war is wrong, and no quantity of free oil or bales of cash can make it right.
Paks have no desire to fight an enemy whose name (Houthis) they have heard now for the first time. Worn out by an internal Taliban insurgency that has claimed upwards of 50,000 lives, and wracked by a series of targeted liquidations and bombings of imambargahs, the country is in no mood for a potentially disastrous overseas adventure. Parliament's decision to stay neutral accurately captures the public mood.
How far can Saudi anger go? We should not be too worried. Kicking out Pak workers is not an option for the kingdom and will not happen. Nationals of all Gulf countries are hopelessly poor in skill and work habits, and they are in no hurry to change. Without an adequate supply of hardworking and underpaid servants, every petro-country would grind to a halt.
A second reason also sharply limits the strength of Saudi reaction. Pakistain is the only country that can, at short notice, potentially provide the kingdom with nuclear weapons, or with a nuclear umbrella. Of course, Pakistain would be wise in not even considering such a possibility. But the fact is that there are no other nuclear vendors in town -- and the Saudis know it.
Pakistain also stands squarely in the middle of all avenues that could lead to an eventual indigenous Saudi nuclear weapons capability, which the kingdom so strongly desires.
In March, it quietly signed an agreement with South Korea for importing two nuclear reactors. According to the World Nuclear Association, the kingdom plans to construct 16 nuclear power reactors over the next 20 years at a cost of more than $80 billion, with the first reactor on line in 2022.
So far it has not agreed to US demands, and insists (unlike the UAE) on having a full nuclear fuel cycle. This leaves open the possibility of reprocessing weapon-grade plutonium from nuclear wastes, which only Paks can secretly help in doing.
For the very first time, to their great astonishment, GCC Arabs are seeing Pakistain reject their diktat. Floating on an ocean of oil, they are used to having their every wish instantly obeyed. The UAE minister of state for foreign affairs, Dr Anwar Mohammad Gargash, was seething with exasperation: Pakistain had dared to choose neutrality in an "existential confrontation" with Iran and would "pay the price".
Pakistain's 'disobedience' might have been more forgivable had it not come at this particular moment, when the Saudis are already in a state of fury over the action of their long-time ally, the United States. A preliminary Iran-US nuclear deal, which the kingdom has long feared and opposed, has already been signed. Although staunch anti-Iran and pro-Israel Republicans in the US Congress plan to strain every nerve to block it, President B.O. will likely succeed in pushing through the final version at the end of June. The Saudi nightmare is that an Iran-US rapprochement will accept Iran as a threshold nuclear state, and end US-imposed sanctions. Iran would then appear as the victor, giving a big blow to the Saudi-led coalition (of Sunni-majority states), of which Israel is an honorary member.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2015 00:00 ||
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[11122 views]
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#1
Note to bystanders and observers: When investing at any level in Pakistan, unless you're making an outright purchase, expect a 15 cent return on your dollar invested.
(You can expect that if the need to provide Saud with nukes ever arrives, Pak will do the math and decide it's not practical.)
Posted by: ed in texas ||
04/25/2015 9:50 Comments ||
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#2
the Saudi-led coalition (of Sunni-majority states), of which Israel is an honorary member.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
