A Second Hand Conjecture

Cross-posted on The Conjecturer.

Defense

• Air Force planes are being used to scour for IEDs. This is related to the Inside the Air Force piece I mentioned a few months ago, about the use of “show of force” operations to hopefully dissuade insurgents. Only, it seems now AF Gen. Keyes, who didn’t buy the F-22 for Iraq, remember, finds this a terrible use of time and fuel. This is probably because pods can’t detect what ground-based sensors can’t detect: deeply buried, or small shaped charges (rather, they still can’t tell the difference between a cell phone and a cell phone activated detonator). But it’s not that much of a surprise the Air Force is being graded on its fulfillment of task orders rather than its effectiveness—that’s kind of how the DoD works.
• Are we in such dire straits that we have to offer early bird sales for the JSF? Can it not actually stand on its own against the EuroFighter?
• Here’s an interesting look at the activities of CJTIF-HOA’s work in Djibouti. There is hope their model of security through development might be adopted by AFRICOM—you know, by turning the DoD into USAID. They need to be careful, however—aside from the problems of militarizing aid, watering down the military, and having soldiers in charge of humanitarian projects, there are the inescapable problems of misplaced or poorly-administered aid causing panic and riots instead of fostering calm. A big job? Why, yes.
• I really can’t say it any better: “isn’t it kinda screwed up that the Pentagon is spending hundreds of billions of dollars on “network-centric warfare” — the idea that speedy information flow may be the most crucial advantage in combat — while its head honcho is wasting his time writing off notes in long-hand?” That right—Defense Secretary Bob Gates doesn’t “do email.”
• I share Doug Bandow’s skepticism of the new surge-in-a-surge: yes, it’s great to see us killing a few dozen insurgents in a tiny part of Iraq. But how does this dissuade the other three dozen insurgent groups, when they’re not only not interdependent but quite aware of U.S. manpower limitations? Clear Hold Build is a great strategy in a California-sized country of 22 million… if you have 500,000 troops committed to it. Otherwise, you’re forced into allowing unguarded regions to serve as safe havens for the many insurgent militias. Exactly what is happening (and yes, despite all the conservative angst against the term, very much like a whack-a-mole).

Around the World

• Anyone who discusses the Soviet Union with me will know that despite my deep fascination with it I deplored its existence. However, Soviet engineers were probably the most creative on the planet. They also had a strange, almost gothic-industrial style, very sinister and sci-fi, and that appealed to me for some unknown reason. Anyway, one of their weirdest inventions—the ekranoplans, a gigantic (double a 747) air transport designed to skim just above the water and fly at 250 mph—can be found, explored in depth, here. The dissolution of the USSR and attendant military spending crush has made strange creations like this a thing of the past… and that inspires an ounce of regret.
• Seven questions with the husband of Haleh Esfandiari, imprisoned in Iran for the last 44 days.
• Russia’s Gas Games continue: BP is on the verge of ceding its Russian gas project to Gazprom.
• I love Almaty, Kazakhstan—it’s kind of like a more exotic version of Denver, only closer to the mountains and with more ethnic diversity and double the population. According to the latest Mercer COL survey, it is now more expensive than Los Angeles or my home of Washington, DC. Considering how ludicrously expensive DC is, I find that stunning, though I suspect the methodology.
• Here are some amusingly incorrect Russian Army advertisements, using American and Nazi equipment and landscapes.
• A take a look at corruption and Iran in Afghanistan.
• Sometimes I wonder if blogging’s implicit incentives for snark impacts “professional” blogs, like Passport. A puzzling look at an Australian naval buildup includes throwaway lines like “ever heard of the North Korean navy? Me neither,” and an attempt to draw a connection between China’s January ASAT test and naval forces. Of course, China has entirely unclear naval intentions, given the strange state of their sub fleet and continued inability to field a blue water navy. And anyone who glibly says they’ve never heard of the North Korean navy probably never heard of the USS Pueblo incident (in which a U.S. naval ship was boarded and its crew detained for months), nor are they likely aware of the decades of skirmishes between the South and North Korean fleets—as recently as 2003. These incidents happen regularly, and often produce casualties, and the North’s belligerence over “naval skirmishes” is more or less constant. So really, that Passport author was either ignorant (unlikely) or trying way too hard to be cute (more likely). Either way, what’s the point? Just be professional.

Back at Home

• Isn’t it great to know that the DMCA has given corporations the right to write the laws which govern then? I certainly think it is.
• Aren’t you glad we live in a system where the Vice President exempts himself from disclosure rules by saying he is not a part of the Executive Branch?
• Did we win while they lost? If we is “the 75% of the country against the war” and they are “the Victory Caucus” then the answer is yes.
• Christians hate your booze.
• I’m sure this survey says something interesting: every single institution in American life is less trusted than a year ago—save Big Business and HMOs, which were already pretty hated anyway.
• Bush’s biggest crime isn’t wearing Crocs with socks; it is wearing Crocs at all. It should also be noted that Crocs originated in Boulder, where their ubiquity among the hippies and freshman was exceedingly painful. More here.

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