Spain's Worst Post-Franco Era Political Crisis, Xi-Biden Summit and Expectations, US Armed Forces in Disarray, Lebanon Nearing Failed State Status, Twitter Legend Dril
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The synagogue had been unearthed in 1965. Now, Does anyone know about the Temple of Solomon, which I believe is the first temple, Has it actually been found?
And also this sagacious link with remarks about the question of war crimes vis a vis Israel and Hamas:
Uhhh, I quit reading this as it became obvious the tweeter was assuming facts that are in question. Assuming that whatever Israel says is true, which is like believing your local used car dealer has only your interests at heart.
In passing, it's worth acknowledging that a wounded enemy soldier is worth more than a dead one -- the first takes another one or two to care for him (or transport him to medical care), while the second is... dead (and dead-weight gets left for others to deal with).
The whole thing with traditional military U.S. families not having their sons enlist is unnerving. You don't want a military aligned with one part of the country. It reminds me of how Borisav Jović bragged to the BBC about how he and Milošević rigged the JNA in Bosnia to include only Bosnian Serb soldiers, allowing them to go on a rampage against Muslims, whose dumbass leadership anticipated nothing going wrong. (Segment starts at 9:25 here https://youtu.be/hY7BwM952ZY?si=jI924ETY4ptb8r_M)
The fact that the recruitment ads are now targeting good-old-boys suggests the military leadership is more stupid than devious, though.
The USG will just start recruiting directly from the third world with promises of permanent residency ->citizenship. Illegals already in the country can go through this path. How much of a stretch would it be to start doing this outside the country as well. Added benefit is that these third world recruits will be completely loyal to USG, not the United States, the country, or Americans, the people, etc. Normie BBQ conservatives will completely support this move with tears of pride when USG makes slick ads showing some third world recruit saluting the American flag.
When the costs of your mistakes are paid for by others there is no incentive to learn.
And in practically all institutions those who point out problems become the problem...it is very career-limiting to notice the errors of your superiors...or their mentors in the generation preceding them.
Thanks for featuring Mr. Locklin. He seems to have that knack for dry wit and actual information as well. This is a personal favorite combination for writers.
You mention that the Spanish Left play to win while the Right appeals to principles. The Right can't seem to bring itself to grasp at power because it seems afraid to wield it and doesn't know or doesn't have a framework for what power is for.
How can the Right ever bring itself to a coherent view of the what the end use of power should be? I thought some folks in VOX had one where it came to immigration - this equation doesn't seem that hard to me to solve. Is it because the Right lacks allies, or are they really just that clueless? Or do their cherished principles actually mean nothing and they're just full of crap?
Rod Dreher wrote a few years ago some reflections on how power was used under Franco and it seemed like a completely appropriate use of state power in that it seemed to make life better and happier for ordinary people on the streets. Now, if you were a leftist revolutionary, maybe you found yourself in a world of hurt. For ordinary people though, they enjoyed peace and quiet as they went about living, doing business, etc.
This then is to me the mission of the Right: To make the world better for the typical man, woman, and child. To restrain violence, maintain law and order, and to suppress the hotter passions of the day. Allow for liberal commerce at the local level and to ensure that national trade doesn't damage domestic concerns. To be watchful and careful stewards of the national purse.
Goldman's an ardent Israeli nationalist first and foremost. Which is totally fine. But his views towards American power are only in support of his primary directive. He's recently written a piece favorably comparing Chinese and Jews as historically oppressed ,and those minorities most exposed to ethnic hatred in America. So there's that and his wikipedia-level knowledge of China.
War with China not going to happen. The rivalry will be intense but as you say there is no need for war.
The relationship deteriorated after Xi realised that the US had no intention of fixing the financial system after the crisis of 2008. China stopped buying more treasury-bills and began the Belt and Road initiative (which must have been on the drawing board for a while before that) to redirect its trade surpluses.
IMO the great danger is that if the US were successful in its strategy of wearing down Beijing and thereby somehow fostering regime change, the resulting chaos would be catastrophic. The US obviously wants Yeltsin style mischief in China. Most of the world, including Australia, needs stability and continuity in China.
Long-run Washington needs to repair relations with Beijing and Moscow simultaneously and stop trying to play these two off against each other.
One thing I will always find amusing about the neoliberal regime is they always expect to have people and resources to enact their bidding no matter what happens. Now they are scrambling to rebuild industrial bases and sucker people they hate to fight for them. Hint, things really don't work well that way in the real world. Speaking of which, most militaristic powers in human history always made sure to either adopt or a least respect the traditions and cultures of the groups who did most of their fighting and especially those who have families traditions of military service. Outright letting them know that their country's leadership hates them seems like a bad idea.
Nico- Scott Locklin is entertaining, he sounds like he’d be fun at college parties or a trip to a Brothel, that wasn’t serious analysis of the Military, American or otherwise.
He sounds like he’s getting his analysis from The Saker on Russia, on America too.
What has he done besides “consulting” and how’d that go?
Gee, that’s a lot of consulting...
... ah huh.
Now-We have a Civil Rights/Leftist Neoliberal government and of course anything that government touches now is dysfunctional, because the civilian leadership are dysfunctional and old as Hell.
However There’s actually a lot of serious people left in America- it would be an awful mistake to encourage China or Russia to misstep.
Having said that, we seem to be coming back from the brink with Russia and I don’t believe conflict with China is inevitable. I do believe people are yelling “yellow peril”, I also see the factories coming back- which is very good and worth war “talk”, not war but war talk.
You're right. He definitely has a blind spot when it comes to US "inferiority". If "muh China/Russia" are so much more superior in aerospace tech, then please explain why both countries national carriers fly Boeing/Airbus carriers. The Chinese spent 15 years trying to build their own long haul passenger jet - the Comac 919 - and its still dependent on Western tech. IOW its not remotely Chinese.
Well the Chinese tis written by Luttwak can’t keep a team together long enough to get it done, the Russians a different story. The drones are a different story, as there’s a mass market.
I’m not after China, I’m after US manufacturing being rebuilt.
I suspect few pale males are after China, we have crazy cluster B’s in our faces, China is far away.
Being fun at parties makes Locklin sound more appealing than most defence analysts. And being good at brothels helps too. In Australia we had a scandal a few years back. A young defence intelligence analyst fell in love with a prostitute and tried to use her as an intermediary for the sale of classified material to foreign governments. It did not end well.
Well I’m not fun at parties these days. I served a couple of decades, and deployed several times. Civilian I’m a network engineer and employed 19 years the same company, 2-3 jobs before that.
I don’t “consult.” I do.
I commit. I finish.
I can be plenty sarcastic.
I learned it’s not helpful.
Perhaps it takes time, or experience.
We the Americans and American military quite have plenty of working equipment, the last couple of years in the military we do seem to be losing people pretty fast, but overturning the Republic may just have some effects.
Here’s someone who’s dug into the DOD problems. It’s bureaucracy. To an extent the Soviets could never afford.
China isn’t all that, and we really did teach them everything they know, and got stuck around steel, concrete, and chips too large to be competitive. Not too much luck on jet engines either.
Russia a different matter, we have quite wronged them. A formidable enemy we don’t want.
This doesn’t mean our stuff sucks, or that their stuff is great.
Now full of criticism and it seems energy, perhaps kindly pitch in at one of the efforts above?
more than 70% of the world's lawyers are American, including most politicians. No clue about how to get manufacturing or anything else practical accomplished. You can fuhgeddaboutit!
The problem is a Soviet level inefficient bureaucracy. Its not 5 years to get ammo- it’s 6 years to get to contract. Never mind production. Beware/ they CAN waive it all and move fast.
As far as the general demoralization and internal moral and leadership collapse- YES.
As noted by many:
1. Constant wars that are either tossed away success, or delusional overreach (make the Afghans or Iraqi into White Liberals) and deployment treadmills until you quit, die, retire or crack up - divorce and other problems await.
BY THE WAY- the same people kept deploying and the same people who didn’t - they stayed home and advanced their careers. YES. They went to service schools, war doesn’t count for career progression.
= A nightmare of leadership internally.
2. You can’t de-Establish the Constitution with American Troops doing the absolute unthinkable and swearing in a President- but it was done.
3. The military is 80% generational and they lost the warrior core. Parents told their children NO. And far from just White Parents (the military may be one of the more mixed race marriages groups in America).
4. Nothing here in the military that’s not happening in dozens of USA cities (same people same families).
5. Yes, vilifying whites who are the combat arms core, 80% of Afghanistan casualties and 73% of Iraq casualties at long last worked its Dark Magic. This doesn’t mean we hate our Dusky hued Brothers in Arms, we just left. Why fight for people who hate you as their core organizing and animating principle?
6. The notion of a Draft is absurd, and if they tried to draft veterans children.... well... uh BOOM.
7. Underneath all that the warrior caste and millions of veterans and military remain, and the country’s tech skills remain, and the damaged but not destroyed industrial capacity is very rapidly being rebuilt. That it doesn’t translate into munitions rapidly is due to a fatally congested geroncratic government that is dying.
8. IF a leader came by whatever means- with leadership anything can be done. Hopefully this will be pointed at Space or internally.
9. Please understand if a Leader stood up who could summon the veterans and the people we could reset very fast.
10. As far as the obese kids etc and all the kids suck etc...
it’s called exercise, and the kids don’t suck as much as the adults think they do.
Worse for whom? The NGOs and aid crowd are a scourge...a highly effective weapon of mass-demoralisation at home or abroad. The trouble with the Raj is that it was too male and too pale. The last thing you want to do is to lose your advantage by way of being patriarchal or white. The latest iteration of authoritarianism is perfectly adapted for modern conditions. Morally unimpeachable forces of disruption. They make a desert and call it progress.
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Yes. He will damage Trump (if Trump manages to make it through the nomination process) more than any Dem contender as it stands now.
Haven't had a chance to read the commentary, but I wanted to share this article with our gracious interlocutor, Niccolo, and the house:
"IDF soldiers pray in ancient 6th century Gaza synagogue for first time in decades..."
https://www.jpost.com/judaism/article-772218
The synagogue had been unearthed in 1965. Now, Does anyone know about the Temple of Solomon, which I believe is the first temple, Has it actually been found?
And also this sagacious link with remarks about the question of war crimes vis a vis Israel and Hamas:
https://twitter.com/CptAllenHistory/status/1723037202458857836
Thoughts on that? What do you take exception with?
Lemme get to you on this tomorrow. I'm spent atm. Thanks.
Uhhh, I quit reading this as it became obvious the tweeter was assuming facts that are in question. Assuming that whatever Israel says is true, which is like believing your local used car dealer has only your interests at heart.
Edit: Changed from 'control of judiciary' to 'control of constitutional court'
Thanks! Got in early this time.
Only one thing -
to those not too --> for those not too
word up...you got in really, really early this time, calby
Soviet general during cold war about US weapons: 'superior is the enemy of good enough'.
Currently US is spend huge funds on superior that are not realized.
F-35 is highly profitable disarmament, optimized like the F-105, but given too many jobs as to make it impossible to satisfy all customers, if any.
Good enough in sufficient numbers with competent users and logistics is what US provided in WW II!
US military spends too much on contracts!
The list of what suffers is too long to recount.
We seem to have forgotten the ancient maxim: "If it hurts, it works."
In passing, it's worth acknowledging that a wounded enemy soldier is worth more than a dead one -- the first takes another one or two to care for him (or transport him to medical care), while the second is... dead (and dead-weight gets left for others to deal with).
That depends on the army...
The whole thing with traditional military U.S. families not having their sons enlist is unnerving. You don't want a military aligned with one part of the country. It reminds me of how Borisav Jović bragged to the BBC about how he and Milošević rigged the JNA in Bosnia to include only Bosnian Serb soldiers, allowing them to go on a rampage against Muslims, whose dumbass leadership anticipated nothing going wrong. (Segment starts at 9:25 here https://youtu.be/hY7BwM952ZY?si=jI924ETY4ptb8r_M)
The fact that the recruitment ads are now targeting good-old-boys suggests the military leadership is more stupid than devious, though.
The USG will just start recruiting directly from the third world with promises of permanent residency ->citizenship. Illegals already in the country can go through this path. How much of a stretch would it be to start doing this outside the country as well. Added benefit is that these third world recruits will be completely loyal to USG, not the United States, the country, or Americans, the people, etc. Normie BBQ conservatives will completely support this move with tears of pride when USG makes slick ads showing some third world recruit saluting the American flag.
That’s not happening either,
What’s happening is plummeting enlistment/ re-enlistment .
Afghanistan has shown exactly how the us can't manage an army composed of soldiers of a different country/ethnicity/religion
USG is not very good at learning from its own mistakes.
When the costs of your mistakes are paid for by others there is no incentive to learn.
And in practically all institutions those who point out problems become the problem...it is very career-limiting to notice the errors of your superiors...or their mentors in the generation preceding them.
Didn’t Lincoln do this with the Irish in the war of northern aggression?
The Irish fought on both sides.
yes, so did black people, but didn't Lincoln import a bunch of Irish to toss in front of cannons as needed manpower?
It would be an error to think they’re from one part of the country, the families come from all over the country.
Thanks for featuring Mr. Locklin. He seems to have that knack for dry wit and actual information as well. This is a personal favorite combination for writers.
Bookmarked!
An acerbic polymath, what's not to like?
Need some moar of my Whiteness...
So does the Army LMAO
You mention that the Spanish Left play to win while the Right appeals to principles. The Right can't seem to bring itself to grasp at power because it seems afraid to wield it and doesn't know or doesn't have a framework for what power is for.
How can the Right ever bring itself to a coherent view of the what the end use of power should be? I thought some folks in VOX had one where it came to immigration - this equation doesn't seem that hard to me to solve. Is it because the Right lacks allies, or are they really just that clueless? Or do their cherished principles actually mean nothing and they're just full of crap?
Rod Dreher wrote a few years ago some reflections on how power was used under Franco and it seemed like a completely appropriate use of state power in that it seemed to make life better and happier for ordinary people on the streets. Now, if you were a leftist revolutionary, maybe you found yourself in a world of hurt. For ordinary people though, they enjoyed peace and quiet as they went about living, doing business, etc.
This then is to me the mission of the Right: To make the world better for the typical man, woman, and child. To restrain violence, maintain law and order, and to suppress the hotter passions of the day. Allow for liberal commerce at the local level and to ensure that national trade doesn't damage domestic concerns. To be watchful and careful stewards of the national purse.
Why is this so hard in Spain, and elsewhere?
The mission of the real life Right is to contain and betray the people who trust them.
They are well paid to do so.
People might be mean to them on the internet if they do that. Say they're like Hitler!
Whereas when lefties do it everyone thinks they were only trying to help, just got a bit zealous about it, bless them.
Ask Puigdemont if he’s available to be governor of any US state except California... including NY, asking for some friends
I don’t care if China gets Chips as long as the US gets Chip factories.
Having said that: I don’t trust Goldman/Spengler on China nor USA.
If We can both manufacture Chips - excellent.
There’s absolutely no reason to go to war with China.
Nor do I agree it’s certain.
Goldman's an ardent Israeli nationalist first and foremost. Which is totally fine. But his views towards American power are only in support of his primary directive. He's recently written a piece favorably comparing Chinese and Jews as historically oppressed ,and those minorities most exposed to ethnic hatred in America. So there's that and his wikipedia-level knowledge of China.
Goldman should go fight for Israel. No excuses. 61 year old generals - retired- grabbed guns and fought all day October 7.
It’s unwholesome to only advocate for Sparta and not fight.
I think it’s most unhealthy for young men not to face danger, or even older men, especially if your people are in danger.
That’s a sad fate, much sadder than death (death is inevitable).
That’s like being a barren woman who loves kids.
He can quite go to a kibbutz or other community and join the self defense force if he can’t do IDF.
This isn’t going away.
Israel can and will crush Gaza.
The problem being we’re imploding, and without us 🇺🇸 no real long term peace.
War with China not going to happen. The rivalry will be intense but as you say there is no need for war.
The relationship deteriorated after Xi realised that the US had no intention of fixing the financial system after the crisis of 2008. China stopped buying more treasury-bills and began the Belt and Road initiative (which must have been on the drawing board for a while before that) to redirect its trade surpluses.
IMO the great danger is that if the US were successful in its strategy of wearing down Beijing and thereby somehow fostering regime change, the resulting chaos would be catastrophic. The US obviously wants Yeltsin style mischief in China. Most of the world, including Australia, needs stability and continuity in China.
Long-run Washington needs to repair relations with Beijing and Moscow simultaneously and stop trying to play these two off against each other.
China is also essential to the whole climate grift
One thing I will always find amusing about the neoliberal regime is they always expect to have people and resources to enact their bidding no matter what happens. Now they are scrambling to rebuild industrial bases and sucker people they hate to fight for them. Hint, things really don't work well that way in the real world. Speaking of which, most militaristic powers in human history always made sure to either adopt or a least respect the traditions and cultures of the groups who did most of their fighting and especially those who have families traditions of military service. Outright letting them know that their country's leadership hates them seems like a bad idea.
Nico- Scott Locklin is entertaining, he sounds like he’d be fun at college parties or a trip to a Brothel, that wasn’t serious analysis of the Military, American or otherwise.
He sounds like he’s getting his analysis from The Saker on Russia, on America too.
What has he done besides “consulting” and how’d that go?
Gee, that’s a lot of consulting...
... ah huh.
Now-We have a Civil Rights/Leftist Neoliberal government and of course anything that government touches now is dysfunctional, because the civilian leadership are dysfunctional and old as Hell.
However There’s actually a lot of serious people left in America- it would be an awful mistake to encourage China or Russia to misstep.
Having said that, we seem to be coming back from the brink with Russia and I don’t believe conflict with China is inevitable. I do believe people are yelling “yellow peril”, I also see the factories coming back- which is very good and worth war “talk”, not war but war talk.
You're right. He definitely has a blind spot when it comes to US "inferiority". If "muh China/Russia" are so much more superior in aerospace tech, then please explain why both countries national carriers fly Boeing/Airbus carriers. The Chinese spent 15 years trying to build their own long haul passenger jet - the Comac 919 - and its still dependent on Western tech. IOW its not remotely Chinese.
Well the Chinese tis written by Luttwak can’t keep a team together long enough to get it done, the Russians a different story. The drones are a different story, as there’s a mass market.
I’m not after China, I’m after US manufacturing being rebuilt.
I suspect few pale males are after China, we have crazy cluster B’s in our faces, China is far away.
I literally said the US air force was the best in the world and you knobs are buttmad about it.
Being fun at parties makes Locklin sound more appealing than most defence analysts. And being good at brothels helps too. In Australia we had a scandal a few years back. A young defence intelligence analyst fell in love with a prostitute and tried to use her as an intermediary for the sale of classified material to foreign governments. It did not end well.
No Happy Ending?
Alas, no. A six-month gaol sentence for the intelligence analyst. The young lady got off (I think) and returned to her home-town.
The laws have all been changed since, loopholes closed. The new defence agreement with the US requires compliance with US standards.
This poor man.
Here’s US Standards.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-says-prostitution-ring-counted-politicians-tech-execs-lawyers-clients-2023-11-08/
This doesn’t count not so mysterious trips to Dubai.
I do prop trading, former experimental physics, two decent exits from companies I consulted for. What do you do?
"Actually a lot of serious people left" doesn't matter if your nukes don't work and you can't make steel and ammo.
Well I’m not fun at parties these days. I served a couple of decades, and deployed several times. Civilian I’m a network engineer and employed 19 years the same company, 2-3 jobs before that.
I don’t “consult.” I do.
I commit. I finish.
I can be plenty sarcastic.
I learned it’s not helpful.
Perhaps it takes time, or experience.
We the Americans and American military quite have plenty of working equipment, the last couple of years in the military we do seem to be losing people pretty fast, but overturning the Republic may just have some effects.
Here’s someone who’s dug into the DOD problems. It’s bureaucracy. To an extent the Soviets could never afford.
https://acquisitiontalk.com/
Here’s some people who’ve also achieved , and they’re serious about helping the country.
https://a16z.com/american-dynamism-50/
We quite still make steel, we need to and will make more-
https://reshorenow.org/companies-reshoring/
US Steel is building a plant in Alabama by the way..
https://www.madeinalabama.com/2020/10/u-s-steel-starts-up-advanced-electric-arc-furnace-facility-in-alabama/
China isn’t all that, and we really did teach them everything they know, and got stuck around steel, concrete, and chips too large to be competitive. Not too much luck on jet engines either.
Russia a different matter, we have quite wronged them. A formidable enemy we don’t want.
This doesn’t mean our stuff sucks, or that their stuff is great.
Now full of criticism and it seems energy, perhaps kindly pitch in at one of the efforts above?
Or perhaps tone down the snark.
Here is something on the barriers to reshoring:
https://www.lynalden.com/reshoring/
more than 70% of the world's lawyers are American, including most politicians. No clue about how to get manufacturing or anything else practical accomplished. You can fuhgeddaboutit!
I did some business years ago in Romania. All the best lawyers in the sector I was involved in were Americans brought in from Virginia.
Locklin ... meh. HL Meneken indeed.
Here’s a serious military acquisition source:
https://acquisitiontalk.com
The problem is a Soviet level inefficient bureaucracy. Its not 5 years to get ammo- it’s 6 years to get to contract. Never mind production. Beware/ they CAN waive it all and move fast.
As far as the general demoralization and internal moral and leadership collapse- YES.
As noted by many:
1. Constant wars that are either tossed away success, or delusional overreach (make the Afghans or Iraqi into White Liberals) and deployment treadmills until you quit, die, retire or crack up - divorce and other problems await.
BY THE WAY- the same people kept deploying and the same people who didn’t - they stayed home and advanced their careers. YES. They went to service schools, war doesn’t count for career progression.
= A nightmare of leadership internally.
2. You can’t de-Establish the Constitution with American Troops doing the absolute unthinkable and swearing in a President- but it was done.
3. The military is 80% generational and they lost the warrior core. Parents told their children NO. And far from just White Parents (the military may be one of the more mixed race marriages groups in America).
4. Nothing here in the military that’s not happening in dozens of USA cities (same people same families).
5. Yes, vilifying whites who are the combat arms core, 80% of Afghanistan casualties and 73% of Iraq casualties at long last worked its Dark Magic. This doesn’t mean we hate our Dusky hued Brothers in Arms, we just left. Why fight for people who hate you as their core organizing and animating principle?
6. The notion of a Draft is absurd, and if they tried to draft veterans children.... well... uh BOOM.
7. Underneath all that the warrior caste and millions of veterans and military remain, and the country’s tech skills remain, and the damaged but not destroyed industrial capacity is very rapidly being rebuilt. That it doesn’t translate into munitions rapidly is due to a fatally congested geroncratic government that is dying.
8. IF a leader came by whatever means- with leadership anything can be done. Hopefully this will be pointed at Space or internally.
9. Please understand if a Leader stood up who could summon the veterans and the people we could reset very fast.
10. As far as the obese kids etc and all the kids suck etc...
it’s called exercise, and the kids don’t suck as much as the adults think they do.
Lebanon, Any country, any Dem American inner city-
Aid foreign or domestic has led to the actual neocolonialism.
Including of your own citizens.
Helen Dale and Lorenzo Warby on their substacks have written very well and extensively on our foreign and domestic neocolonialist governments.
Karen in a Pith Helmet is... actually worse. Can we have the Raj back?
I noticed that San Francisco doesn’t have a homeless/drug addicts problem when Xi comes to town... perhaps he can come more often?
Worse for whom? The NGOs and aid crowd are a scourge...a highly effective weapon of mass-demoralisation at home or abroad. The trouble with the Raj is that it was too male and too pale. The last thing you want to do is to lose your advantage by way of being patriarchal or white. The latest iteration of authoritarianism is perfectly adapted for modern conditions. Morally unimpeachable forces of disruption. They make a desert and call it progress.
Good SCR !
Glad you enjoyed it.
Can’t you tell? 🤣
SL is flippant and shallow sorry.
What we have all over America far beyond the military is talent being crippled, cropped, stifled, strangled or corrupted.
And the chief executioners name is Karen, from K-12 to PhD to the Pentagon through DC and every school district your enemy has a name; Karen.
You may have even married her.
Too bad.
It’s just that women are mediocre at best in reality and so they choke the life out of us all.
We are only guilty of letting them do it...