I know you don't like blog postings, but EU Referendum has a lot of good [defense integration] stuff:
In terms of strategic alliances, it is a given that one of our most steadfast allies is Australia, tied by bonds of blood and Empire, having fought alongside us in two World Wars.
However, as the UK turns more and more to the inwards-looking EU, with its "European defence identity", and its European Rapid Reaction Force â a European Army in all but name â things out in the big wide world are changing. And one of those changes is the forging of a strategic alliance between the United States and Australia, leaving to UK out in the cold.
We saw some of this during the Tsunami disaster earlier this year, when Australia and the US were two of the main players in the immediate relief effort, with the UK nowhere to be seen.
Now, in a move that is being seen as the latest chapter in the deepening strategic partnership between the Royal Australian Navy and its US counterpart, the Australian government has ordered an upgraded version of the US Navy's Arleigh Burke-class anti-aircraft destroyer to become the Australian Navy's new front-line warship for the 21st Century....
#1
Yes we have a good long standing alliance with Britian.
Yes we have a good long standing alliance with Ozzyland.
The post frames suppositions about Brit & Aus that are nonsense. IMO
Posted by: Red Dog ||
08/19/2005 0:53 Comments ||
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#2
There is something to the seemingly inrxorable move by the MoD to equip its forces with European instead of US hardware. The European gear is by design more or less incompatible with the US. By so doing, the MoD is walking away from the alliance with the US. So equipped, their troops would just be in the way on the battlefield and moving towards the same military irrelevance and impotence that characterizes Germany and France.
#4
I think the tsunami relief 'evidence' is better explained by the fact that it happened right next door to Australia and in a neighborhood the US drives through every day on its way to 'work'.
#5
"I think the tsunami relief 'evidence' is better explained by the fact that it happened right next door to Australia and in a neighborhood the US drives through every day on its way to 'work'."
Um... lots of places are closer than we are....where were they in the relief effort? We "drive through" the other side of the world regularly? How is this possible? Perhaps a blue water navy has something to do with it?
Another q- Could the UK pull off the Falklands war again? Perhaps and perhaps not. But I do know that no EU "military" force will ever fight for anything, ever.
Posted by: Mark E. ||
08/19/2005 16:43 Comments ||
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My son died in Iraq--and it was not in vain.
BY RONALD R. GRIFFIN
I lost a son in Iraq and Cindy Sheehan does not speak for me.
I grieve with Mrs. Sheehan, for all too well I know the full measure of the agony she is forever going to endure. I honor her son for his service and sacrifice. However, I abhor all that she represents and those who would cast her as the symbol for parents of our fallen soldiers.
The fallen heroes, until now, have enjoyed virtually no individuality. They have been treated as a monolith, a mere number. Now Mrs. Sheehan, with adept public relations tactics, has succeeded in elevating herself above the rest of us. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida declared that Mrs. Sheehan is now the symbol for all parents who have lost children in Iraq. Sorry, senator. Not for me.
Maureen Dowd of the New York Times portrays Mrs. Sheehan as a distraught mom standing heroically outside the guarded gates of the most powerful and inhumane man on earth, President Bush. Ms. Dowd is so moved by Mrs. Sheehan's plight that she bestowed upon her and all grieving parents the title of "absolute moral authority." That characterization epitomizes the arrogance and condescension of anyone who would presume to understand and speak for all of us. How can we all possess "absolute moral authority" when we hold so many different perspectives?
I don't want that title. I haven't earned that title.
Although we all walk the same sad road of sorrow and agony, we walk it as individuals with all the refreshing uniqueness of our own thoughts shaped in large measure by the life and death of our own fallen hero. Over the past few days I have reached out to other parents and loved ones of fallen heroes in an attempt to find out their reactions to all the attention Mrs. Sheehan has attracted. What emerges from those conversations is an empathy for Mrs. Sheehan's suffering but a fundamental disagreement with her politics.
Ann and Dale Hampton lost their only child, Capt. Kimberly Hampton, on Jan. 2, 2004, while she was flying her Kiowa helicopter. She was a member of the 82nd Airborne and the company commander. She had already served in Afghanistan before being deployed to Iraq. Ann Hampton wrote, "My grief sometimes seems unbearable, but I cannot add the additional baggage of anger. Mrs. Sheehan has every right to protest . . . but I cannot do that. I would be protesting the very thing that Kimberly believed in and died for."
Marine Capt. Benjamin Sammis was Stacey Sammis's husband. Ben died on April 4, 2003, while flying his Super Cobra helicopter. Listen to Stacey and she will tell you that she is just beginning to understand the enormousness of the character of soldiers who knowingly put their lives at risk to defend our country. She will tell you that one of her deepest regrets is that the world did not have the honor of experiencing for a much longer time this outstanding Marine she so deeply loved.
Speak to Joan Curtin, whose son, Cpl. Michael Curtin, was an infantryman with the 2-7th 3rd ID, and her words are passionately ambivalent. She says she has no room for bitterness. She has a life to lead and a family to nurture. She spoke of that part of her that never heals, for that is where Michael resides. She can go on, always knowing there will be that pain.
Karen Long is the mother of Spc. Zachariah Long, who died with my son Kyle on May 30, 2003. Zack and Kyle were inseparable friends as only soldiers can be, and Karen and I have become inseparable friends since their deaths. Karen's view is that what Mrs. Sheehan is doing she has every right to do, but she is dishonoring all soldiers, including Karen's son, Zack. Karen cannot comprehend why Mrs. Sheehan cannot seem to come to grips with the idea that her own son, Casey, was a soldier like Zack who had a mission to complete. Karen will tell you over and over again that Zack is not here and no one, but no one will dishonor her son.
My wife, Robin, has a different take on Mrs. Sheehan. She told me, "I don't care what she says or does. She is no more important than any other mother."
By all accounts Spc. Casey Sheehan, Mrs. Sheehan's son, was a soldier by choice and by the strength of his character. I did not have the honor of knowing him, but I have read that he attended community college for three years and then chose to join the Army. In August 2003, five months into Operation Iraqi Freedom and after three years of service, Casey Sheehan re-enlisted in the Army with the full knowledge there was a war going on, and with the high probability he would be assigned to a combat area. Mrs. Sheehan frequently speaks of her son in religious terms, even saying that she thought that some day Casey would be a priest. Like so many of the individuals who have given their lives in service to our country, Casey was a very special young man. How do you decry that which someone has chosen to do with his life? How does a mother dishonor the sacrifice of her own son?
Mrs. Sheehan has become the poster child for all the negativity surrounding the war in Iraq. In a way it heartens me to have all this attention paid to her, because that means others in her position now have the chance to be heard. Give equal time to other loved ones of fallen heroes. Feel the intensity of their love, their pride and the sorrow.
To many loved ones, there are few if any "what ifs." They, like their fallen heroes before them, live in the world as it is and not what it was or could have been. Think of the sacrifices that have brought us to this day. We as a country made a collective decision. We must now live up to our decision and not deviate until the mission is complete.
Thirty-five years ago, a president faced a similar dilemma in Vietnam. He gave in and we got "peace with honor." To this day, I am still searching for that honor. Today, those who defend our freedom every day do so as volunteers with a clear and certain purpose. Today, they have in their commander in chief someone who will not allow us to sink into self-pity. I will not allow him to. The amazing part about talking to the people left behind is that I did not want them to stop. After speaking to so many I have come away with the certainty of their conviction that in a large measure it's because of the deeds and sacrifices of their fallen heroes that this is a better and safer world we now live in.
Those who lost their lives believed in the mission. To honor their memory, and because it's right, we must believe in the mission, too.
We refuse to allow Cindy Sheehan to speak for all of us. Instead, we ask you to learn the individual stories. They are glorious. Honor their memories.
Honor their service. Never dishonor them by giving in. They never did. Mr. Griffin is the father of Spc. Kyle Andrew Griffin, a recipient of the Army Commendation Medal, Army Meritorious Service Medal and the Bronze Star, who was killed in a truck accident on a road between Mosul and Tikrit on May 30, 2003.
#3
I caught it. Rich Marata has been a whining little "quagmire boy" who can't offer a damn solution. Handel tore him up
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/19/2005 18:48 Comments ||
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#4
Someone should create a photo album book. It should show pictures of the men and women who died, along with their biography, a peacetime picture, and any selected thoughts they expressed to their families of what they accomplished while they were over there. On the opposing page, it should have a picture of their parents, along with their thoughts and feelings, and what they would say to their son or daughter as a goodbye and epitaph to their life.
It would be a book both heartfelt and cruel, and would be the final, definitive statement on the lives of these people and the purpose their deaths served. A statement far more telling than any spin placed on events by outsiders after the fact.
#5
If memory serves, George Noory's guest on COASTTOCOASTAM said that the plans for "American Hiroshima" called for SEVEN NUCLEAR DEVICES, OF UP TO TEN KILOTONS EACH, TO BE DETONATED IN SEVEN AMERICAN CITIES. Noory's guest also said that many in INTEL, ours and International, knew Saddam's WMDS had been secretly trasferred and hidden in neighboring countries, i.e. mostly in SYRIA and LEBANON, and that both Russia and China, espec China, are heavily involved in wilful Nuclear Proliferation, International Terror, and now the nuclearization of Radic Islamist groups, both for profit and anti-US agendas. He labeled China's CCP as "Thugs" whom as a class are denying true democracy, freedom, and development to the Chinese people. AS PER "AMERICAN HIROSHIMA", GOTTA WONDER HOW CINDY WOULD FEEL IFF A PC TERROR NUKE/WMD WENT OFF NEAR HER PLACE - WILL SHE GIVE HER SON A SHIELD AND SEND HER SON OFF TO FIGHT, TELLING HIM TO COME/MARCH BACK WITH THE SHIELD IN VICTORY, OR ON IT IN DEATH OR DEFEAT, OR DOES SHE PREFER TO BECOME ONE OF 72 HAREM CONCUBINES TO SERVE AND DO ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING AT HER MASTER'S LEISURE! And iff she refuses to serve in a harem, Amerikan Cindy of the USSA/USR, or the Global Islamiist/Jihadist State, can rest assured she will be lawfully and rightfully shot beind her head by an AK47 vv "honor killing" after her 5-15 minute, out-of-courtroom = whats an attorney, "trial"???
It is evident from the 9/11 drama that, it was the use of Global Hawk Technology which resulted in this tragic loss of human lives, and the property (minus those Jews who did not turn up at WTC). Muslims do not possess this know how. If Osama possessed this capability while being away more than 4000 miles away in the most desolate area like Afghanistan, then, it is marvelously incredible, a feat. But one cannot simply believe it.
Posted by: john ||
08/19/2005 17:46 ||
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I dunno. We've heard the rumors before than Bob was going to step down, to retire, that he was going to be replaced by General This or Politician That. Never happened. I have my doubts that it will this time.
Not that it shouldn't, of course. Bob's regime is probably the worst in the world at the moment. It hasn't really been that long since Rhodesia was the Breadbasket of Africa, and the black population, with the exception of the ZANU-PF thugs, was actually better off under white tyranny than under black tyranny. But the damage is already done, and it will take years to repair, if the country doesn't turn into Somalia.
I'm still not getting my hopes up. I think it's entirely possible that Bob will die in office, surrounded by his grieving cronies, and that another Bob will take over when he's gone.
Tyranny often ends in a whimper, not a conflagration. So it seems in today's Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe's immensely corrupt regime has destroyed a once prosperous African country, leaving behind only the stench of decay. No velvet revolution has been possible, but political and financial bankruptcy has finally pushed the dictator's back to the wall. This week in Zimbabwe, inflation was more than 300 percent. Gasoline continued to be obtainable only rarely, and on the black market. Corn, the country's staple food, is scarce, and so is wheat, so long lines form whenever there are rumors of bread. Everything else, from margarine to matches, is outrageously expensive or unobtainable. Store shelves are bare, and hunger is common despite supplies of emergency relief packs from the World Food Program. This misery is a result of Mugabe's misguided attempt to alter land ownership from white to black without providing seeds, fertilizer and knowledge.
In addition, 700,000 presumed opponents of Mugabe's government were driven out of their shantytown houses and sent to rural areas without any means of support or shelter. This exercise in "cleansing" urban areas, condemned by the United Nations as pernicious and cruel, had no real purpose except as a flexing of power. It represented a final straw of contempt for his own people, and a finger in the eye of South Africa and the African Union.
Mugabe, 81, has finally run out of options. Zimbabwe's treasury is bare. The scraps of foreign exchange on which the tattered country had been relying for derisory amounts of imported fuel, power and essential goods are now gone. No one - not even China, Malaysia and Libya, Mugabe's usual patrons of last resort - will lend the required $1 billion or so for which Zimbabwe has recently been begging. Given a permanent cold shoulder by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, Mugabe has had nowhere else to turn but to South Africa, his indulgent neighbor. South Africa has watched with horror as Mugabe systematically cultivated internal chaos. Thabo Mbeki, South Africa's president, nevertheless perversely refused to condemn Mugabe's outrages, persistently promising President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair that "quiet diplomacy" would turn Mugabe around.
It never did. But this month Mugabe finally had to go hat in hand to Mbeki, asking for hundreds of millions, if not the full $1 billion. In exchange for such a cash infusion, South Africa has demanded that Mugabe negotiate in good faith with Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, an opposition political party that European, American and some African observers believe actually won the rigged elections of 2000, 2002 and 2005.
"Never!" was Mugabe's initial petulant reaction. South Africa threatened to withhold its bailout. It also unleashed a regional diplomatic firestorm. President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, chairman of the African Union, told Mugabe that he had to think again - that his time of tyranny was at an end. Obasanjo dispatched Joaquim Chissano, former president of Mozambique, to make sure Mugabe understood what he had to do. Chissano was instructed to moderate discussions between Tsvangirai and Mugabe that would lead to Zimbabwe's political and economic reconstruction, and possibly to properly supervised new elections. The soft landing that is being forged would send Mugabe to comfortable exile, possibly in Namibia. Some kind of transitional coalition between the opposition and Mugabe's henchmen would begin the long, hard process of restoring sanity to the country's economy. It would also dismantle the baleful apparatus of tyranny and create a political climate conducive to wholesale reform.
Fortunately, Zimbabwe has the human resource base on which to rebuild upon an eroded foundation. But ousting odious levels of corruption will be difficult. Dealing with the thievery of Mugabe's gang will be complicated. A truth commission-like process will be necessary, and so will selective prosecutions. Zimbabwe is exhausted. Now that Mbeki and Obasanjo have at last acted, after years of smugly accepting unnecessary suffering in Zimbabwe, there is a fair chance that the battered nation's vital signs can be resuscitated.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
He's a die-hard Stalinist so do like Kruschev is suppose to have done to Beria. Mbeki should do it himself commie to commie.
#5
A co-worker of mine grew up in Harare. He says it became rumored about 10 years ago that Bob contracted syphillis, that's why he's more and more nuts.
#6
This misery is a result of Mugabe's misguided attempt to alter land ownership from white to black without providing seeds, fertilizer and knowledge.
Did you get that? Property theft was not the cause of misery, just poorly executed property theft. That theft was also "misguided"!!
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.
Tyranny often ends in a whimper, not a conflagration. So it seems in today's Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe's immensely corrupt regime has destroyed a once prosperous African country, leaving behind only the stench of decay. No velvet revolution has been possible, but political and financial bankruptcy has finally pushed the dictator's back to the wall. This week in Zimbabwe, inflation was more than 300 percent. Gasoline continued to be obtainable only rarely, and on the black market. Corn, the country's staple food, is scarce, and so is wheat, so long lines form whenever there are rumors of bread. Everything else, from margarine to matches, is outrageously expensive or unobtainable. Store shelves are bare, and hunger is common despite supplies of emergency relief packs from the World Food Program. This misery is a result of Mugabe's misguided attempt to alter land ownership from white to black without providing seeds, fertilizer and knowledge. 
