Sorry there Bashar old chap; seems it was all a misunderstanding. We feel bad about the 190,000 dead in that little shit-storm we've been stirring for three years, but no hard feelings...
UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond went out of his way today to deny that Britain would in any way support, cooperate with or otherwise be in league with the guy they've spent three years demonizing.
Such an outspoken denial can only mean it's true.
Meanwhile, The Independent reports that's already happening.
And if you watched the hysterically over-the-top Chuck and Martin show yesterday you got the impression they were priming us for some big news. (By the way, does anyone besides me get the impression that Chuck may not be one of the sharper tools in the shed? His script writers kept the sentences short and the words shorter, and still the man struggled.)
So maybe when Obama gets tired of golf or there's a rainy day, he'll inform the nation, and the Free World, that it's official.
"I stand before you this evening to inform you that America faces a new challenge, and to help us meet this new challenge, we embrace an old foe. It is my great privilege to introduce our new ally in the War on Terror, Bashar al-Assad."
Showing posts with label Chuck Hagel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chuck Hagel. Show all posts
Friday, August 22, 2014
Monday, February 24, 2014
What the Pentagon budget cuts really mean
Chuck Hagel's proposed budget cuts at the Pentagon have unleashed a carnival of hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing.
Relax. It's all window dressing.
First of all, Hagel isn't actually pitching hard numbers. He's proposing very modest reductions of troop numbers and the mothballing of some hardware that is reaching the outer margins of its useful life anyway.
The very idea of large standing armies is so 19th century. In the modern era, if the US government needs boots on the ground, the company formerly known as Blackwater or one of its many rivals can provide them quickly and cost-effectively. You'll also notice that quick-reaction special forces numbers are scheduled to go up rather than down, for those special occasions where "America's strategic interests" just can't be farmed out to the private sector or local proxies.
For routine invasions and occupations, "local proxies" like the armed forces of Kenya or Uganda or Ethiopia are a much more cost-effective way of pacifying restless locals than sending the US Army into some African backwater that happens to sit astride vast mineral or oil wealth.
What Hagel is really signalling is this; American military spending going forward will be much more focussed on buying the latest hardware. Not necessarily last-century hardware like ships and planes and tanks, but new-age "intelligent" hardware, that special niche of technology where Silicon valley meets the Valley of Death.
So rather than mourn lost Pentagon funding, patriotic investors need to do their homework and sniff out those high-tech start-ups whose products can thrive in that niche.
There's a new high-tech boom on the horizon!
Relax. It's all window dressing.
First of all, Hagel isn't actually pitching hard numbers. He's proposing very modest reductions of troop numbers and the mothballing of some hardware that is reaching the outer margins of its useful life anyway.
The very idea of large standing armies is so 19th century. In the modern era, if the US government needs boots on the ground, the company formerly known as Blackwater or one of its many rivals can provide them quickly and cost-effectively. You'll also notice that quick-reaction special forces numbers are scheduled to go up rather than down, for those special occasions where "America's strategic interests" just can't be farmed out to the private sector or local proxies.
For routine invasions and occupations, "local proxies" like the armed forces of Kenya or Uganda or Ethiopia are a much more cost-effective way of pacifying restless locals than sending the US Army into some African backwater that happens to sit astride vast mineral or oil wealth.
What Hagel is really signalling is this; American military spending going forward will be much more focussed on buying the latest hardware. Not necessarily last-century hardware like ships and planes and tanks, but new-age "intelligent" hardware, that special niche of technology where Silicon valley meets the Valley of Death.
So rather than mourn lost Pentagon funding, patriotic investors need to do their homework and sniff out those high-tech start-ups whose products can thrive in that niche.
There's a new high-tech boom on the horizon!
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Hagel confirmation; symbolic unhitching of American foreign policy from AIPAC warmongers
In confirming Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense the Obama administration has taken a giant step forward in freeing America from Likud authorship of its foreign policy.
There can be no question that this is long over-due.
For a generation the American public has been lulled into the belief that the war-mongers of Likud speak for Israel.
They don't and they never have.
But thanks to AIPAC, most Americans have been under the impression that they do.
The Hagel confirmation is a stunning rebuke of the AIPAC lobby.
There can be no question that this is long over-due.
For a generation the American public has been lulled into the belief that the war-mongers of Likud speak for Israel.
They don't and they never have.
But thanks to AIPAC, most Americans have been under the impression that they do.
The Hagel confirmation is a stunning rebuke of the AIPAC lobby.
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