Cross-posted on The Conjecturer.
Defense:
- Ever wanted to know what a budget “free fall” looks like? here.
- The increased use of biometrics in Iraq is, like all things, a double-edged sword: it’s great to be able to identify certain militants, but it’s unclear it will be comprehensive enough to weed them out of the population without angering the locals into rebelling again. Still, this seems like a reasonable way of getting around the depressing “they all look alike” complaints I hear from OIF vets back here.
- The Army is withdrawing 20 helicopters (a mixture of Chinooks and Blackhawks) from Afghanistan. This is enough to put a serious dent in ISAF and NATO operations. How pathetic! Not only are the other countries involved just not interested in using their own equipment to do the job (except for Spain, which is sending two Cougars), but our equipment is so spare we can’t afford to rotate out combat vehicles. Seriously, this is pathetic, and further evidence that Afghanistan is so critically underfunded we might as well pack up and go home.
- Meanwhile, David Axe shares my desire to travel into dangerous areas for reporting. Only, instead of just looking at combat, I would want to embed with locals, in Taliban territory—get their stories, their opinions, and their perceptions out there.
- Yes, Britain joins the illustrious list of countries using military service as a vehicle for getting bizzay (it’s better than “Army of One”), but what fascinates me is, they have an option where you can text the MoD for information about signing up. That’s crazy.
- JEIDDO has managed to reduce the number of casualties per IED blast, but the number of blasts has increased so much the same number of people are wounded and killed. Again: you don’t “solve” IEDs, you change the reasons why people would want to use them.
Around the World
- What? The French shouldn’t use their crackberries because the NSA might hear them? You know they can listen through windowpanes (possibly from orbit), and view computer monitors through walls, right?
- Sierra Leone might finally start seeing some justice.
- Bride-napping, popularized by Borat’s attempt at Pamela Anderson’s honor, has become a hot topic in Kyrgyzstan.
- Meanwhile, ol’ Uncle Berdi is making waves with his low-key visit to Tehran.
- A more in depth look at the failed states index, and what it might mean about Central Asia.
- If my Russian were better, I’d so volunteer for the ESA space lab thingy.
Back at Home
- I’d also work for the Smithsonian, if I could retire in luxury after resigning in disgrace.
- Medical Marijuana can go somewhere that isn’t New England, thank you very much.
- I think they were saying, “Boo-urns.”
- Did you know Iraq and the housing bubble are the same?
- Supposing I ever go on another cruise, I now know how to properly smuggle booze. Or, I could do what I normally do, and make my grandma pay for it.