On the face of it, the cancellation (or at least the deferral) of the upcoming Austere Challenge war games scheduled for Israel in the coming months is a bit of a mystery.
One explanation popping up on American news sites is that the US doesn't want to further escalate tensions at this delicate time.
This seems dubious at best. The reason this is a delicate time is that we've been ratcheting up the antagonism any chance we get. We've created the "tensions" as a matter of policy. Why would we stop now?
Another explanation floating around is that budget considerations are responsible. Again, highly unlikely. From a big-picture perspective operation Austere Challenge isn't even a drop in the bucket.
The think tank here at Falling Downs has a better theory.
It's obvious to anyone who follows these matters that the more extreme right-wingers in both the American and Israeli political worlds are gung-ho for military action. Listen to the GOP presidential candidates try to outdo one another in making dire threats against Iran.
It is also well known that the senior professional ranks in the US military are against such an adventure. These are not people taken in by the revisionist twaddle being peddled by the mainstream media about our "achievements" in Iraq and Afghanistan.
These are people who know that Iraq and Afghanistan have been disasters, and that we are in no way shape or form ready for any military engagement with Iran that will not be an exponentially greater disaster.
While there are plenty of rational secular people in the IDF and in the Israeli security apparatus in general who share that view, there are sound reasons for the Americans to have doubts about their Israeli allies.
The IDF is year by year becoming a less secular and more religious institution. Not only is it becoming more religious, it is becoming more politicized.
Austere Challenge was cancelled because the US military at the highest levels does not want to risk having a significant troop presence in Israel. If Israel initiates a unilateral attack on Iran while thousands of American soldiers are in the country, the resulting Iranian counterattack would by definition draw us into war with Iran.
That's a chance the top brass, unlike the war cheer-leaders in the media and at the think tanks and in the GOP leadership race, aren't willing to take.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Political propaganda has no place in professional sport
It was hockey night in Kandahar this evening.
Before the Leafs- Rangers match we were treated to a parade of Canadian Forces folks doing camera takes with the loved ones they had left behind when they embarked on their duty to defend us from the towel-headed evil-doers over in Afghanistan.
Do they even know that as they are taking their bows at the Air Canada Centre the big dogs at NATO/ISTAF are negotiating a peace agreement with the very Taliban they've been fighting for ten years?
I love hockey. I used to play the game, at a very minor level. I have watched Hockey Night in Canada since the early 60's.
I am disgusted with how the people who run the game today are happy to sell out to political interests.
Hockey Night in Canada is a sure-fire audience. It consistently has among the highest ratings in Canadian television. That is just too juicy a market for our politicians to resist.
Almost 160 Canadians made the ultimate sacrifice in our Afghan adventure. Thousands suffered life-altering injuries. We are now negotiating "peace" with the very people we went over there to remove from power.
Sorry folks, that's a war we lost.
Which doesn't slow down the politicians who want to wring a few votes out of it.
Before the Leafs- Rangers match we were treated to a parade of Canadian Forces folks doing camera takes with the loved ones they had left behind when they embarked on their duty to defend us from the towel-headed evil-doers over in Afghanistan.
Do they even know that as they are taking their bows at the Air Canada Centre the big dogs at NATO/ISTAF are negotiating a peace agreement with the very Taliban they've been fighting for ten years?
I love hockey. I used to play the game, at a very minor level. I have watched Hockey Night in Canada since the early 60's.
I am disgusted with how the people who run the game today are happy to sell out to political interests.
Hockey Night in Canada is a sure-fire audience. It consistently has among the highest ratings in Canadian television. That is just too juicy a market for our politicians to resist.
Almost 160 Canadians made the ultimate sacrifice in our Afghan adventure. Thousands suffered life-altering injuries. We are now negotiating "peace" with the very people we went over there to remove from power.
Sorry folks, that's a war we lost.
Which doesn't slow down the politicians who want to wring a few votes out of it.
Dazed and confused at JP Morgan?
It's sackcloth and ashes time at JP Morgan.
The bank announced quarterly results on Friday, setting off a wave of wailing and gnashing of teeth in the business media.
It's bad. Really bad. So bad shares dropped 4% at the opening. Quarterly profits down almost a quarter. Oh my God! Another bailout is just around the corner...
Once you get over your shock, or your glee, depending on your perspective, and actually read one of the stories about this catastrophe, another picture quickly emerges.
Seems that the millions they're paying Tony Blair to intercede with Jehova on their behalf is money well spent.
Here's a quick analysis of the story as reported at Businessweek.com.
The headline has you reaching for the Kleenex; JP Morgans profit falls 23% in 4thQ.
Then in the very first paragraph they hint that a big part of that drop is due to a "large" set-aside to fight litigation arising from "poorly-written" mortgages. Note that this is not money set aside to compensate victims of fraudulent lending practices. No, that would be admitting responsibility.
This is money that will compensate teams of $1000 per hour lawyers to fight anyone who makes a claim for compensation due to fraudulent lending practices, or in weasle-speak, "poorly-written" mortgages.
In the fourth paragraph we're told how big a "large sum" is; $528 million. Yup, that is indeed a good chunk of change to have all those lawyers tie up potential litigants in the court system for the next hundred years.
A few more paragraphs along we learn that another $567 million in "losses" aren't really losses either but just a bit of accounting razzle-dazzle.
It is only in the final paragraph of the story that we get what should have been the headline; that 2011 was the most profitable year in JP Morgan's history.
I suppose in these trying times it would be unseemly to brag about it.
The bank announced quarterly results on Friday, setting off a wave of wailing and gnashing of teeth in the business media.
It's bad. Really bad. So bad shares dropped 4% at the opening. Quarterly profits down almost a quarter. Oh my God! Another bailout is just around the corner...
Once you get over your shock, or your glee, depending on your perspective, and actually read one of the stories about this catastrophe, another picture quickly emerges.
Seems that the millions they're paying Tony Blair to intercede with Jehova on their behalf is money well spent.
Here's a quick analysis of the story as reported at Businessweek.com.
The headline has you reaching for the Kleenex; JP Morgans profit falls 23% in 4thQ.
Then in the very first paragraph they hint that a big part of that drop is due to a "large" set-aside to fight litigation arising from "poorly-written" mortgages. Note that this is not money set aside to compensate victims of fraudulent lending practices. No, that would be admitting responsibility.
This is money that will compensate teams of $1000 per hour lawyers to fight anyone who makes a claim for compensation due to fraudulent lending practices, or in weasle-speak, "poorly-written" mortgages.
In the fourth paragraph we're told how big a "large sum" is; $528 million. Yup, that is indeed a good chunk of change to have all those lawyers tie up potential litigants in the court system for the next hundred years.
A few more paragraphs along we learn that another $567 million in "losses" aren't really losses either but just a bit of accounting razzle-dazzle.
It is only in the final paragraph of the story that we get what should have been the headline; that 2011 was the most profitable year in JP Morgan's history.
I suppose in these trying times it would be unseemly to brag about it.
Why does US Navy ship Russian ammo?
Curious about just how many bullets you'd get in a 60 ton shipment, (see previous story) I did a little rooting around on the internet, and found this:
PERFORMANCE ORIENTED PACKAGING TESTING
OF
PPP-B-621 WOOD BOX FOR
7.62 X 39MM AK47 BALL CARTRIDGE
FOR PACKING GROUP II SOLID HAZARDOUS MATERIAL
That's the title of an eight page test report authored by Kerry J. Libbert, Mechanical Engineer, at the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Crane, Indiana, in August of 1993.
Very informative document.
Found out that the standard wooden crate that the US Navy uses to ship AK-47 ammo weighs 81.5 pounds and holds a thousand rounds - in fifty boxes of 20 cartridges each. That would give you about 25 boxes per ton, and a million and a half rounds in that 60 ton shipment the Russians just delivered to Syria.
Assuming of course that when the Russians are shipping AK-47 bullets they're using the same packaging as the US Navy!
PERFORMANCE ORIENTED PACKAGING TESTING
OF
PPP-B-621 WOOD BOX FOR
7.62 X 39MM AK47 BALL CARTRIDGE
FOR PACKING GROUP II SOLID HAZARDOUS MATERIAL
That's the title of an eight page test report authored by Kerry J. Libbert, Mechanical Engineer, at the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Crane, Indiana, in August of 1993.
Very informative document.
Found out that the standard wooden crate that the US Navy uses to ship AK-47 ammo weighs 81.5 pounds and holds a thousand rounds - in fifty boxes of 20 cartridges each. That would give you about 25 boxes per ton, and a million and a half rounds in that 60 ton shipment the Russians just delivered to Syria.
Assuming of course that when the Russians are shipping AK-47 bullets they're using the same packaging as the US Navy!
Ruskies pull a fast one, sneak 60 tons of ammo into Syria
With friends like Nikolia Patrushev, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should be able to hold off his enemies, at least for the time being.
My morning paper tells me that Patrushev is the head of the Russian Security Council, and he's quoted as having inside info that NATO is plotting a "Gaddafi Solution" to the problem of this latest Arab dictator trying to prevent Spring from blossoming in his land.
So Patrushev authorized the shipment of 60 tons of ammo to the evil dictator, which would have gone undetected had not the cargo vessel Chariot been forced into port in Cyprus due to stormy weather.
There a great hoo-ha ensued when the Cypriots discovered the ammo, the shipment of which is a violation of the EU arms embargo of Syria, which Cyprus is obliged to honor but Russia is not.
This left the Cypriots with a dilemma. Do they piss off their EU cohorts? Or do they curie favor with Europe and piss off the Russians instead?
After a day or two of head-scratching, a brilliant cover-our-asses compromise was hatched up. The Cypriots released the shipment after having the Russian captain sign a pledge that he would deliver the 60 tons of munitions to Turkey instead.
The captain had of course been crossing the fingers of his other hand even while signing the pledge, so he immediately changed course for Syria the moment he was over the horizon.
So the news media got a great story and al-Assad got 60 tons of ammo, which by my calculation works out to about 1,500,000 rounds.
Not nearly as newsworthy was the visit to the same Syrian port only a few days earlier by three Russian warships.
No word on how many rounds they dropped off.
My morning paper tells me that Patrushev is the head of the Russian Security Council, and he's quoted as having inside info that NATO is plotting a "Gaddafi Solution" to the problem of this latest Arab dictator trying to prevent Spring from blossoming in his land.
So Patrushev authorized the shipment of 60 tons of ammo to the evil dictator, which would have gone undetected had not the cargo vessel Chariot been forced into port in Cyprus due to stormy weather.
There a great hoo-ha ensued when the Cypriots discovered the ammo, the shipment of which is a violation of the EU arms embargo of Syria, which Cyprus is obliged to honor but Russia is not.
This left the Cypriots with a dilemma. Do they piss off their EU cohorts? Or do they curie favor with Europe and piss off the Russians instead?
After a day or two of head-scratching, a brilliant cover-our-asses compromise was hatched up. The Cypriots released the shipment after having the Russian captain sign a pledge that he would deliver the 60 tons of munitions to Turkey instead.
The captain had of course been crossing the fingers of his other hand even while signing the pledge, so he immediately changed course for Syria the moment he was over the horizon.
So the news media got a great story and al-Assad got 60 tons of ammo, which by my calculation works out to about 1,500,000 rounds.
Not nearly as newsworthy was the visit to the same Syrian port only a few days earlier by three Russian warships.
No word on how many rounds they dropped off.
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