Wishy Washy, Pishy Poshy

In school, we had one teacher who always used to say, "You've got to call a spade a spade."

Another used to tell us, "Never hesitate, act decisively, do what you need to do."

These people were inspirational!

But these days when it comes to national and homeland security, what's the world looking like:

- WISHY WASHY--We can't speak directly and say who the enemy even is.

AND

- PISHY POSHY--We won't act decisively in defending the nation and moreover, we acknowledge that there isn't even a strategy.

It's like what happened? ;-)

(Source Graphic: Andy Blumenthal)

Wishy Washy, Pishy Poshy

When Terror Strikes--We Do What?

Bret Stephens in the Wall Street Journal today writes compellingly about how tolerance for terror (or what he calls tolerance for intolerance) is allowing it to happen. 

For example, Jews are getting knifed, stoned, and intentionally run over almost daily in the Holy Land and not a peep from anyone, except to blame it on settlements, even though this extreme barbaric violence was happening long before there ever was a single settlement. 

It has become okay to use violence--even terrible sickening and brutal violence against civilians--and as much of it as one can muster--if you have a perceived gripe. Shall we talk burning victims alive, running over live bound victims with tanks, throwing gays off of the roofs of buildings, beheadings and crucifixions, serial killings and mass graves, abducting young girls as sex slaves, use of chemical weapons and indiscriminate bombings and shootings, and more. 

So what do we do?

- We tolerate the intolerable by excusing absolute insufferable violence against innocent men, women, and children, because some are feeling upset or aggrieved--so we show maybe misplaced compassion, where we should be expressing outrage at inhumane acts of murder and barbarism.

- We negotiate to try and appease the terrorists, but they couldn't care less about deals when blood is the only thing that will quench their thirst for Jihad, power, and a new Caliphate.

- We use bold but empty phrases to placate the public and victim's families--such as we are at war or we will be merciless and we will destroy them. and then we perform another single bombing run and drop 20 in retaliation (on perhaps empty buildings as the enemy claims) after the U.S. has already run 6,000 bombing runs previously. 

- We are afraid to name the enemy, with democratic candidates at Saturday's night debate even refusing to use the term "radical Islamists"

- We are afraid to fight the good and necessary fight--after the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, some are "war weary," or perhaps pacifists to an out of bounds extreme--where we are willing to risk another major attack on U.S. soil rather than appropriately defend ourselves and bring the fight to the enemy. 

WAKE UP USA, EU, NATO, AND UN. 

This problem is not going away--it is not "contained"--the war is not won--far from it. ;-)

(Source Graphic: Andy Blumenthal)

When Terror Strikes--We Do What?

Is He A Man Or A Mouse?

Often at home, we'd look at what's going on in the world, the sad state of affairs, when people act bad, and the lack of leadership, and my dad would say, "When there's no man, you be the man."

He was right!!!

These days, the question has morphed into, "Is he a man or a mouse?"

We are so chasing our tails out there.

Today after 4 1/2 years of civil war in Syria--hundreds of thousands dead, 14 million displaced, chemical weapons and barrel bombs dropped on civilians, crossed red lines and empty vows of "No boots on the ground"--and now we sending up to 50 special forces as a token force to "advise and assist" in Syria after the recent $500 million military training program for "4 or 5" moderate rebels in Iraq was a total bust!

Of course, we're going to Syria not to actually engage the enemy, but more to dare Russia whose deployed there with planes, tanks, ships, artillery, and Spetsnaz special forces to hit us. 

Similarly, after Russia's incursion into Ukraine and annexation of Crimea, we conduct a training exercise with 3,000 troops in the Baltics and put together a NATO rapid reaction force in Europe and call it day, as if that will deter the "Great Bear."

Oh, and don't forget that we sent a single battle ship within 12 nautical miles of the South China Sea artificial islands--again, daring them to try something. 

Well what if one of these days Russia or China actually took up the dare?

Already this week, Russia flew two fighter jets within a mile of the Ronald Reagan Aircraft Carrier--endangering the 6,000 personnel and all those valuable Navy assets. What did we do? We had 4 fighters escort them away--after what couldn't been a significant attack on our Navy.

If we did that to Russia, what do you think they would've done--our fighters would've been shot down so fast, we wouldn't have known what hit us--like when they did the Blitzkrieg into Ukraine and recently into Syria--we're taken off guard again and again. 

Also recently, Russia maneuvered a military satellite between two of U.S. Intelsat satellites, 50 of which are used by our military for communications and drone missions. Moreover, Russian subs and ships are hovering around major global data cable lines posing a threat to the backbone of the Internet.

How about with Iran--we make a deal easing sanctions on them and releasing hundreds of billions of dollars--and what do they do? Conduct long-range ballistic missile test, convict a Washington Post reporter, arrest a U.S. business executive, and continue to threatens America and Israel. 

When we are afraid and our enemies are not--when they act with impunity--we are more mouse than man. 

We may get some cheese, but the mouse is dead rodent meat unless it gets with it.

This is not a game of cat and mouse--but the lives of hundreds of millions that hang in the geopolitical balance--and there is no mousey hole to hide in. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Is He A Man Or A Mouse?

A Blooper With Our Blimps

Oops, so this is one for the books...

The multi-billion dollar Raytheon-built military JLENS surveillance blimps are pictured above.

They are supposed to sense and alert us to a possible devastating surprise cruise missile attack on the U.S. eastern seaboard.

However, one of them lost its tethering and went sailing into the skies and had to itself be tracked by NORAD and two scrambled F-16 fighter jets. 

What was designed to surveil instead needed surveillance. 

The JLENS crashed landed in Amish country, Pennsylvania and took out the power to 20,000 people.

We need a strong, capable, and ready military!

If we are trying to improve our posturing with the Russians, Chinese, and Iranians--this is not the way to put our best blimp forward. ;-)

(Source photo: here with attribution to Bill Dickinson)

A Blooper With Our Blimps

A Volcano Of Our Own Making

So I saw this cool volcano making kit in the store. 

Kids typically do this cool experiment where they make a mock volcano erupt and the hot lava spills out in all directions and makes a big stinkin' mess. 

But when I saw this volcano game kit, I couldn't help connect this with all the real-world mess going on today with the endless and increasingly savage terrorism we are witnessing from brutal acts of terror to full blown religious civil wars, Arab Spring, and building of Caliphates across the region. 

Now we have religiously-inspired murders and maimings of millions of people with countless more displaced and refugees streaming across Europe. 

The problem here though is that this is caused by crazy adults, and not playful and learning children. 

Most recently today, I watched a video of ISIS killing a bound prisoner (see starting in video link at 1:55) by rolling over him with a tank {extremely brutal and gory}.

The unbelievable savagery is taking place with knifings, shootings, stonings, suicide bombings, beheadings, burnings, crucifixions, abductions, enslavement, gang rape, and more.

This is the Middle East today erupting and the adults are playing politics, personal and religious biases, and sick gamesmanship with millions of people's lives.

Unfortunately, what happens over there tends to come here in the West...and this eruption is a doing of our own head-in-the-sand making. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

A Volcano Of Our Own Making

Living In The Dark Ages--Of Hate, Violence, and Endless Excuses

Despite the enlightenment of everything technology has to offer, we are as a global society, in many senses, living back in the Dark Ages again.

Unbelievable terror and killings have become routine and yet we have become deaf and desensitized to it. 

- Using chemical weapons...what red line? 

- Dropping barrel bombs...heck, at least it's not more chemical weapons. 

- Besieging of cities...how about a short truce to let in some much needed humanitarian aid?

- Beheadings on YouTube...already so cliche. 

- Burning people alive in cages or crucifying them...grotesque, but what were they doing there anyway? 

- Stoning women for being victims of rape or simply for some trumped up charges...sluts, they must've deserved it!

- Mass abductions, selling, enslavement, and gang rape of women and children...nice photo op for Bring Our Daughters Home.

- Raining missiles down on cities and digging terror tunnels under borders...well their aim isn't so good and the tunnels took them a lot of hard work.

- Bombing and shooting up pizzerias, cafes, clubs, hotels, stores, buses, weddings, funerals, and houses of worship...what can you do--it's a cycle of violence!

- Hacking off limbs, axing and stabbing attacks... of course, a legitimate airing of grievances.

- Flying airplanes into skyscrapers...it was a plot for the Crusaders to invade our lands.

- Building nukes and other weapons of mass destruction along with ballistic missiles, drones, and suitcase bombs to deliver the payload...well, you can't put the knowledge back in the bottle!

More excuses from the political peanut gallery:

Are we just war-weary, being lazy, fearful, hiding out and putting our heads in the sand for a while, focused on other pressing domestic issues, pivoting east, in need of a better strategy, rooting for and helping the other (wrong/evil) side, a little delusional as to our own national and homeland security here, or perhaps, have some seriously gone off the (rational) deep end? 

Appeasement, disengagement, and withdrawal...vice leadership.

How do we explain this type of insane, immoral world to our children and is this really the type of sick and treacherous world we want to leave to them?

Oh yes, it's so comfortable and cushy where we are--there is nothing for us to worry about--or is there? ;-)

(Source Photo: Facebook)

Living In The Dark Ages--Of Hate, Violence, and Endless Excuses

Please Tell Us Your Diabolical Intentions

So Russia is escalating in Syria (from devastating air strikes to sea-launched cruise missiles, and now a possible land offensive) and even considering expanding into Iraq. 

Our initial reaction...

"We believe this is a fundamental mistake."  --Maybe a mistake for us, but not for Russia who is wielding their mighty bear claws and showing a decisive victory!  

Upon further reflection...

"We are not prepared to cooperate on strategy."  -- Is this perhaps because we don't have one, and Russia apparently does. 

"Syria is not going to turn into a proxy war between the Russia and the United States." -- Okay, so the alternative is to capitulate and give the Middle East over to Russia, like with Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. And what then will we let over to the Russians, Chinese, and Iranians next (because there's no reason for them to stop there)? 

"One of the profound difficulties dealing with Russia in Syria or elsewhere is how opaque Putin's intentions are and how the Russia system lies about what they are up to." -- Gee whiz, we can't figure out what Russia is up to as they slam Assad's opposition (that we are supporting) into smithereens? We're expecting the competition to tell us their strategy, and why should they do that? 

This last one is perhaps the most bizarre as we all implicitly understand that an adversary is not going to divulge their strategy, and moreover are using misinformation and deception to throw us off balance and advance their objectives. 

It is time for us to bring sanity back to the military equation here.

Immediately...

- Establish a no fly zone over Syria. 

- Put our own base on the ground or military assets into sharp play. 

- Issue a cease and desist ultimatum and mean it. 

The time for losing is over, and the time for winning must begin. 

We can pretend that we can look the other way and simply avoid a conflict, but all we are doing is bringing ever more devastating confrontation that much closer as we lose ground, credibility, and allies (who fear the commitment and iron hand of Russia far more than our own wavering and dubious one)--and we deceive ourselves far more than our adversaries could ever deceive us. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Please Tell Us Your Diabolical Intentions

Russia Seems To Have A Strategy, Why Don't We?

Russia upends the U.S. and NATO once again, now carrying out a third day of a devastating bombing campaign that shows no sign of letting up in Syria. 

Russia is leapfrogging us to pursue their goals of keeping dictator Bashar Al Assad, tightening up on a renewed cozy relationship with Iran and Iraq--in what is the prime oil basin of the world--and reestablishing their place on the world stage as a superpower (apparently, Crimea wasn't the end, but just the beginning), and at the same time killing U.S.-backed Syrian rebels. 

But what about our efforts...

Well, we've had "dismal results" after dilly dallying around in Syria for the better part of its 4 1/2 year civil war that's killed over 250,000 people and created 5 million refuges streaming across the Middle East and Europe, and we keep having to "rethink" our strategy there. 

At the same time, as to our war to defeat the terrorist ISIS caliphate--who vows to smuggle nukes into America and plans a "religious cleansing" of hundreds of millions--uh, they continue to grow!

What about our more than 10 year investment in Iraq--where we spent over $2 trillion and in which almost 37,000 of our service members were either killed or wounded?  --Iraq is now cooperating with...Russia!

How about Iran--for whom we went to the mat with a controversial deal to relieve their sanctions and provide them hundreds of billions of dollars to funnel into their economy as well as global terror? --Iran is allying themselves with Russia (and Hezbollah), deepening their foray into Syria, and continue their threats to annihilate Israel and chants of death to America!

Then to hear yesterday that not only don't we have a strategy as has been the reframe for months, but that we are not going to play chess or get into a proxy war in the Middle East with Russia...well gee, the world game of strategy and brinksmanship is not going to stop for us. 

Just because we don't have a (good) strategy and don't want to play global chess anymore doesn't mean Russia, Iran, China, and others aren't going to forge ahead with their dangerous strategies and gains. 

We are a wealthy, mighty, and innovative nation--surely, we have a strategy in this country of over 319,000,000 people, somewhere. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Russia Seems To Have A Strategy, Why Don't We?

Russia Outwits Us Again x 4

You can't build the world from the backseat. 

Either we're in it or we're not. 

Instead, Russia has jumped into the driver's seat, and we're not coming out looking too good on the world stage. 

- In 2013 they took in and continue to shelter Edward Snowden, the former CIA employee who ran to Hong Kong after allegedly leaking oodles of NSA classified information.

- In 2014, Russia conducted a blitzkrieg and took Crimea from sovereign Ukraine (giving it a strategic port in the Black Sea), and are conducting a separatist war in the eastern part of the country. 

- In 2015, Russia enters the Syrian crisis and allies themselves with dictator, Bashar Al Assad (who has used chemical weapons on his own people), as well as with Iran and Iraq.

- Additionally, Russia is taking the lead role in the oil and mineral rich Arctic bolstering their presence and militarizing, including building new ice-breakers (while our Coast Guard has only one operational). 

Some people have said mockingly, "Well what should we do, start a war with Russia?"

And the answer is an unequivocal, no. 

But I assume they don't want to start a war with the U.S. either. 

Rather, this is the Cold War Part II, where we are fighting by proxy in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Arctic.

If we want the world to be modeled on freedom, human rights, and democracy then we need to be able to stand up for those things that are important to us.

Yes, we have to care about what's going on here at home too, but we don't live in a bubble, although surrounded by oceans on the east and west coast, we can sometimes easily feel that way. 

It's a big world--and it takes tremendous leadership to bring it along a good and noble path.

The leadership role will not stay vacant for long...it can be us if we want it, or else you might as well flip a coin on either Russia or China. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Russia Outwits Us Again x 4