Saturday, a.m.

Off to a kiddo football game in a bit, so this will be abbreviated. Hie yourself over to Adventures of Chester and have a look at his post from this morning on "Combination Warfare." I am working through an article that's somewhat related, and will post on it later in the weekend if I get someplace with it.

Something is most definitely up in Baghdad, where a curfew is in effect through Sunday. Wretchard's discussion at Belmont Club is the most interesting, and contains some good links.

Also, visit Weekly Standard and have a look at William Kristol's "Who's Really in Denial ?" about Leftie attitudes to the war. Finally, do look at Vanity Fair's "Pox Americana," Michael's Wolff's discussion of British attitudes towards America and his lament that America is no longer "cool" in the eyes of the Euro "procedural peoples" and, implicitly, in the view of our own cultural elites.

Trailer Park Temptress. . .

Esquire says that Scarlett Johansson, star of The Black Dahlia, is the “Sexiest Woman Alive,” the AP reports.

The Esquire cover will apparently feature Ms. Johansson wearing a bra and a white Calvin Klein mini-dress. The photo spread inside apparently portrays Ms. Johannson as an "enigmatic trailer-park temptress." The issue comes out on 18 October, and no doubt I shall hurry down to my local book emporium and secure a copy. Simply, mind you, for the articles and the deep intrinsic intellectual value. Calvin Klein mini-dresses, and trailer-park temptresses won’t enter my mind at all.

Honest.

Hmmmm, somehow I don’t think that “enigmatic trailer-park temptress” line would get me very far, but I do like it. Still, if I used that description on SWMBO, I’d probably need some serious dental work.

Calling All Shrinkheads

Ever have one of those days when you can't get a song out of your head ? I'm in that boat today -- but it's two songs. One is the Washington Redskins fight song "Hail to the Redskins." I'm not a Skins fan, but they've got a great song. If you want to read an interesting story, check out the Wikipedia biography of the author of the original lyrics, Corinne Griffith, here.

The other song is Mary Chapin Carpenter's Passionate Kisses, which is pretty much a girl song. Heard it on the radio and now I can't shake that one either. No clue why, in either case. Go figure.

Hiding, or Testing ?

According to the Daily Telegraph, (via Drudge Report), the Chinese are using lasers to disable American spy satellites passing over China. An act of war, certainly, but what we might do about it is less clear.

What is it that the Chinese don't want us to see ? Or is concealment the real point ? Maybe the Chinese are just testing: seeing how Uncle Sam responds to some sand kicked in his eyes. The reported reaction is not encouraging: the Telegraph article says the administration is trying to keep this quiet, for fear of "damag...[ing] attempts to co-opt China in diplomatic offensives against North Korea and Iran." Translation: nobody knows what to do.

In general, we are far too exposed in Asia. Our position on Taiwan is unclear, most of all to us. The continued exposure of our troops in Korea is pointless unless we want to protect China from the re-militarization of Japan.

Iran, Iraq and terrorism are, in general, swilling way too much US diplomatic and military bandwidth. There are bigger issues coming down the turnpike, and the absence of an overall US grand strategy for securing and protecting its position is becoming an acute problem. Other strategic issues: East Asia; Latin America; immigration; and, the degree to which our population is not socialized to tolerate power politics -- cannot be put off forever.

A Few Shorts

El Jefe is busy with work and other matters, and the next blog projects are not quite ready for prime-time. In the meantime...

The Nation sees the recent deployment of the Nimitz class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) Strike Group as a straw in the wind indicating a US attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. Possible, but I doubt it.

Look up Jacques Dhervillez's piece "A Warning to Islamofascist Terrorists" from back on 31 August. I had not seen this article till recently, but it summarizes my own thinking almost perfectly as to the "martyrdom" our enemies seem determined to bring on themselves. A similar theme appears in Thomas Lifson's "The Dark View of Islam and the American Street" (which led me to the Dhervillez essay). Read the whole thing, but here's (for me), the money quote:

. . .Gradually, more and more Americans are beginning to entertain the concept that drastic measures may well be necessary to ensure our survival. It is only a half-thought position, outside of the circle of passionate advocates who write on the web or occasionally break into media notice on talk radio or a cable news channel. But it is part of a growning acceptance that we might need to go a bit Roman . . .

My own view of our prospects (or rather, the plans of our enemies and the degree to which the Left will permit us to deal with them in the first instance) -- is similarly bleak, which makes me tend to agree with Mr. Lifson. But "going a bit Roman" is going to be a very bad thing indeed.

Have a look at Niall Ferguson's 11 September 2006 article "The Next War of the World" which is available on Real Clear Politics. Professor Ferguson discusses the political, economic and social causes of the first two world wars, and shows how much of the same tinder is lying all round the Middle East. Most anything by Professor Ferguson is worth reading, including his excellent book on the First World War: The Pity of War: Explaining World War I. I disagree with many of his conclusions, but it is still a fine book.

I am presently reading Jeffrey Record’s “External Assistance: Enabler of Insurgent Success” in the Autumn 2006 issue of Parameters, the US Army War College Quarterly. Chock full of good stuff, and I hope to have some comments on it soon.

Doing Society a Favor

Mr. Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the so-called "Emir" of Al Qaeda in Iraq has stated, according to CBS News, in an Internet audiotape that 4,000 foreign dupes who journeyed to Iraq to play at being rebel terrorists have been killed by Coalition and Iraqi forces.

Splendid news: hopefully Mr. al-Masri and as many of his friends as possible can join the 4,000 in unmarked graves soon.

Some Good Advice

There is a species of Leftie on whom the word "Vietnam" works like Kryptonite to Superman. The name "Henry Kissinger" has a similar pleasant effect: guaranteed to make your favorite former peace-marcher go ga-ga like the proverbial cartoon elephant seeing the mouse.

Bob Woodward is a card-carrying member of this crowd: and still thinks it's 1972. He's told Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes that Nixo-er, excuse me, Bush The Misleader is receving advice from Darth Vader himself -- yes, Henry Kissinger! The Satanic Manipulator, the real Lord Voldemort, or whoever the Harry Potter villian is. Why, send for the smelling-salts, because the Prince of Darkness Mit Der Deutche Accent is even visiting Dictator Bush right in the White House ! No doubt Dr. K's position papers arrive in the mail in plain brown envelopes.

This is the best news I've heard in months.

Inhale and Have a Kaffee Klatch

Slick Willie Clinton to Chris Wallace:

"I got closer to killing him [Mr. Osama Bin Laden] than anybody has gotten since. And if I were still President, we'd have 20,000 more troops [in Afghanistan] trying to kill him."

Where do you begin with a whopper like that one ? The mind just boggles.

"Closer to killing him ?" How ? Sccording to the 9/11 Commission, Clinton refused to approve CIA or military plans to kill Bin Laden.

As for the rest of that statement, even a cursory review of President Clinton's attitudes and actions towards the military, and war generally, shows you have to be inhaling what Slick says he didn't if you really believe that, were he in charge, even one US soldier would have invaded Afghanistan, ever. If Monica's "Big He" had been running the show in the fall of 2001, the relevant lawyers and diplomats would still be studying the whole problem; and we'd still be seeking overflight rights from the Taliban to maybe let us look for Osama on alternate Tuesdays in odd-numbered months if the UN said it was okay.

Clinton never did anything about any military problem other than talk, refuse to ask, and never tell.

Busy, Busy Mr. Armitage

Richard Armitage telling the Pakistanis the US would bomb them back to the Stone Age ? Must have been between phone calls to the reporter types about the Valerie Plame affair.

Maybe Mr. Armitage really thought he was offering Pakistan something it wanted. By all accounts, lots of people in that part of the world would be perfectly happy to live in the Stone Age, or, more accurately, the Stoning Age.

The Prez says it ain’t so…

Dayum ! You gotta wonder though. El Jefe's keen instincts for conspiracy sense deeper, unseen and occult forces at work. Was the gossipy Deputy Secretary of State really plotting to send Ms. Plame’s ever-intrepid hubby: that nice public-spirited Ambassador Joe Wilson -- the modern Indiana Jones - to Pakistan; and then bomb Pakistan back to the aforesaid Stone Age ? All, of course, to cover the tracks of Team Bush, already eye-deep in the plot to make Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. . .

Did Mr. Armitage make the threats to the Pakistani intelligence boss while on a Grassy Knoll in Dallas ? Near the School Book Depository, right after a meeting of the Trilateral Commission and the Bosses of Big Oil ?

Conspiracy theorists and inquiring minds world wide wanna know. And no doubt they will: surely this will soon be an Oliver Stone movie, with screenplay by Noam Chomsky and Moonbat Chavez.

Defiance Without Consequences

Moonbat Chavez, throwing himself into his Leftist Dictator role, told the United Dictators General Assembly that Bush is a “devil” who acts as if he is the “owner of the world.” Little Hugo appealed to the “people of the United States and the world to halt this threat, which is like a sword hanging over our head.” America, the little man tells us, engages in the “…domination, exploitation and pillage of peoples of the world.”

Yeah, I admit it, I wasn’t sure if I was reading the words uttered by Little Hugo at the Whorehouse on Turtle Bay or somebody’s vaporings in an all-night session of the U-Cal Berkeley Faculty Senate.

Hard to believe that anybody could top Mad Jad’s denunciations of the US and Israel yesterday, but I do believe that Little Hugo managed it. Get a load of Mad Jad: standing there in his cheap dime-store suit as the proud representative of a country that stones people to death for violations of Sharia; the so-called president of the so-called “Islamic Republic” which is, he solemnly tells us “the manifestation of democracy in the region.” (emphasis supplied).

The simple fact that Mad Jad and Moonbat can stand in New York and engage in their jejune little caperings puts the lie to all their rantings. Suppose -- just pretend for a minute -- that Bush really was a devil, and the United States really was a “sword hanging over our head” engaged in the “. . . domination, exploitation and pillage of peoples of the world ?”

If Devil Bush was really the Star Wars Devil-Emperor Bush, what do you imagine the odds would be that Moonbat Chavez and our favorite Stop and Go clerk would make it home to their respective Banana Republics ? How bout it Little Hugo ? Would you make Caracas tomorrow, or would you instead be in a cell in, oh, Guantanamo maybe, joined perhaps by the Berkeley faculty Senate ? Hey Mad Jad, it’s a long way to Tehran....and Devil Bush could, if he wanted, fix it so you got disappeared and arrange your replacement with a more obedient pet who'd be shipping your oil gratis to us.

If Bush was the Devil you claim: that is, like 98 percent of the other heads of state on this planet, those would have been the last speeches of two clowns -- if they had been made at all. If Bush were a Devil, anything whatever uttered anytime by anybody in the BS-UN General Assembly or anyplace else would read like it was written by Karl Rove or vetted by US State Department minders.

You wanna play that way Hugo, Mad Jad, that's fine. You and all your claque, both foreign and domestic are welcome in New York, a city your jokes of countries could never build, to tease the Doberman through the bars, to poke at him, and eat his food. Go ahead, insult your hosts (that is to say, your betters), and accept the plaudits of your loon admirers, all the while secure in the knowledge that iron bars in the form of lawyers and TV cameras separate your chewable hides from the Doberman.

So, Baby Hugo, and Gas Station Clerk Mad Jad: have your fun for now, while the bars are in place. Enjoy your trip to the Big City. Give the precious lefties here and all the low morons in your own laughable universities their little frisson of Speaking Truth to Power without consequences. One fine day soon, though, that cage door is going to open, and then there will be a conversation you and your little friends won’t much care for. À bientôt.

Coup in Thailand

Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason?

Why if it prosper, none dare call it treason.

Publius Ovidius Naso ("Ovid") (43 BC-17AD)

El Jefe is, of course, very interested in the apparent coup d’etat in Thailand. With Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in New York at the United Dictators General Assembly, the armed forces and police have lined up against a dubiously popular government. The Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Ministers are apparently under arrest. Although the army has struck at the King of Thailand’s government, the coup-plotters have naturally declared their complete loyalty to the king.

No doubt the coup-makers will find their loyalty to the Crown amply and rightly recognized if they are successful: if not, the treason trial will be interesting. For would-be saviors of the State, the alternatives of a pretty medal, with offices and honors -- or an ignominious flight and maybe a traitor’s death are simply possibilities that go with the job description.

For the moment, it looks as if the coup is working: Prime Minister, or maybe, ex-Prime Minister, Thanksin apparently had some warning: having sufficient time to proclaim a state of emergency via government-controlled television stations, before the coup was properly underway. No doubt the television stations have received or are receiving, new instructions, which they will surely hasten to obey, as long as the givers look like winners.

The US State Department spokesman says the situation is unclear and that the Thai people are expected “to resolve their political differences in a peaceful manner and in accord with the principles of democracy and the rule of law” blah, blah, blah. On balance, that’s as good a US reaction as the coup-makers can expect: if the streets remain quiet; the rest of the army, police and bureaucracy falls into line, and the king keeps a low profile – the lawyers, (or enough of them) can be relied on to do as they're told and paper matters over later. Looks like Washington thinks the coup will work, or does not object if it does.

Black Airplanes

If you're interested, as is El Jefe in spiffy airplanes, secret bases and stuff guaranteed to cause Chinese, Russian or Iranian generals to sleep poorly at night, have a look at Bill Sweetman's Popular Science article on the interesting aircraft out at Area 51, here. Mr. Sweetman is often uncommonly well informed, and has written some interesting books, many of which inhabit El Jefe's bookshelves.

Jefe and the Submarine

Sort of turbo-busy this week. In lieu of a real post, here is a pic of some random fellow who might be El Jefe at last week's commissioning ceremonies for USS Texas (SSN-775), with submarine in background. More details on this to follow, when I can be bothered to finish writing them down...

David Cameron's Speech

Faithful reader Louie Louie asks what El Jefe thinks of UK Conservative Party leader, and shadow Prime Minister David Cameron's rhetorical attack Monday to the Prime-Minister Tony Blair's "slavish" relationship with the United States, and in particular with the Bush administration.

Mr. Cameron's speech has spent the last day riding around in my bag, joined now by a Times report on Washington reaction; plus the Guardian and Daily Telegraph leaders on same...and I hope to get to it in more detail this evening.

Based solely on what I've heard: I am not inclined to get as worked up about it as some people: Mr. Cameron has a radically different set of political calculations facing him than do Washington politicians. It makes good sense for Mr. Cameron to be rhetorically a bit anti-US, or more specifically, anti-Bush at present, although I question his taste in airing such views on 9/11. Although the fall of Tony Blair is imminent, and the electoral defeat of Labour a possibility whenever Blair’s successor (probably Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown) gets round to calling an election, a Conservative victory is by no means a given. In any case, there does not HAVE to be an election till 2010, so the possibility of a Cameron government, for the present, is more apparent than real unless Labor undergoes a total meltdown. Current projections (formulated prior to the news that Mr. Blair would be leaving Downing Street), put the Conservatives about 40 seats short of a majority in the House of Commons, so a Tory government might be a tad harder to come by than some imagine. A hung parliament is a real possibility.

In any case, Mr. Cameron has to differentiate himself radically from Blair so that people will look at him; he has a larger Arab bloc of votes to deal with; there is a strain of anti-Americanism in the Tory back-benches to take into account; and, he has perhaps made the calculation that the American movers and shakers with whom he, at some point, may have the power to deal with are perhaps going to be more left than the present lot. Finally, the Iraq war is deeply unpopular in Britain, much more so than in the United States. For all of these reasons, it is entirely predictable that the Tory leader should be running around making speeches saying, in effect, that he is not a Bush lap-dog.

Britain is a US ally because it is in their national interest so to be, and vice versa. All that talk about the "special relationship" is a lot of eyewash for diplomatic dinners and state visits. Finally, Britain has, fundamentally, not decided yet whether it is going to subsume itself within the EU or remain on its fringes. Until it does, Britain’s attitude to Uncle Sam will remain somewhat equivocal.

Far more interesting than Mr. Cameron's attitude towards the United States is the matter of Gordon Brown's feelings on the subject, since he is, quite likely in short order, the next Prime Minister. Mr. Brown's positions on any number of issues are almost certainly not going to be to our liking.

Careful What You Ask For...

The Iranian Valiye-Faqih or "Jurisprudent Guardian" -- (or, as we say here in Texas -- the Supreme Dictator), Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told the Iraqi Prime Minister today that Iraq would be calmer if US forces would just leave.

Yeah, that's rich, isn't it ? Like the German Fuhrer telling the French Head of State what's best for France. Wait a minute, that happened: back in World War II, when what was left of France was effectively a German puppet, sort of the same arrangement the Iranians are today looking for Iraq to embrace.

You've got to remember, though, that good old Ali Shah, as he's affectionately known here -- knows what he's talking about, when he implicitly promises to deliver an end to the daily mass murder of civilians if Iraq goes down on all-fours and assumes the position. Iranian intelligence and military authorities are busily supplying the rebels in Iraq with tons of munitions. As an aside, wouldn't it be nice if Ali Shah and Mad Jad could be reminded that smuggling and gun-running can go both ways ?

Maybe Prime Minister al-Maliki should have pointed out that the easiest way for US forces to leave Iraq would be simply to move them into Iran. . .

Food for thought, eh Ali ?

A Royal Birth...

And unto Britney ! in the city of El Lay, and to K-Fed, there was born a Boy. (Hat tip, T). And the Agents; the Gossip Columnists; the Cable Networks; the Tattoo artists; the has-been politico and actor commentators; the Bloggers and the Tabloids all said in chorus that it was Good. And there was rejoicing throughout the Land…particularly among the stockholders of Britney’s ! record labels.

Tilt...

All kinds of stuff to write about: the commissioning of USS Texas; the proper response to 9/11; the impending North Korean nuclear test. . .but busy, and suffering from mild writer's block. Will catch up with matters soon enough. . .

Rumblings in Damascus

The reports out of Damascus this morning about an attack on the US embassy there are most interesting.

Syria is a proper police state, as it has to be to keep Bashar al-Assad and his minority Alawite government in power. The Syrian police organizations, in particular the Political Security Directorate (Idarat al-Amn al-Siyasi) are supposed to keep tabs on all organized political activity -- which certainly covers terrorism. If the Syrian chekists are up to their job: there should be no political or social formulation in the country not penetrated by police spies and informants -- if there is, Boy Assad needs to purge his police, yesterday, because they are the only thing keeping him in the Presidential Palace, and out of a ditch someplace.

So the embassy attack raises some interesting questions. Did the Syrian authorities know of the attack in advance ? Of course they did -- if the police are on top of their jobs. . .which tells us that Boy Assad either has a death wish, or is certain that we will not respond.

If the Syrian government did not know of the attack before it happened -- then it tells is that the secret police is inept, or co-opted by persons who are not loyal to the regime.

US intelligence is probably even now pouring over the communications intelligence out of Damascus: which should indicate if Boy Assad is the villain here, or soon to be cashing in his burial policy.

UPDATE: Reports that the Syrian police fought off the attack make the incompetence possibility look stronger. A Chinese diplomat was wounded, which makes the business look even worse from the government's perspective. China is generally friendly to the Syrian regime. Police states shouldn't be in the position of relying on last lines of defense like the diplomatic quarter guards and the paramilitary police. Underground groups should be infiltrated and stopped beforehand. Why wasn't this bunch ?

Unterseebooten Trip

Off to the commissioning of brand-spanking-new attack submarine USS Texas (SSN 775) in the morning, down at Galveston. My friend John C. got me a ticket, for which I'm seriously in his debt. Will report on this later, and hopefully have some good pictures, assuming El Jefe (1) remembers the camera; and, (2) avoids camera operator error.

Tallyho, and everybody have a good weekend.

Busy, Brooding

Trying to catch up on work-related projects this week after Labor Day. . .and brooding about some things. But this too shall pass.

Thought Reform

AP reports this morning that Iranian "president" Mahmoud "Mad Jad" Ahmadinejad wants to purge liberal and secular teachers from Iran's universities. Mad Jad denounced the secularism of the last 150 years, and he wants the students to march back to God, calling on them to return to, as AP put it, "1980's style radicalism."

Educationally this seems rather stupid: Mad Jad says he wants nuclear energy and Israel wiped off the map; privately he has wet dreams about building nukes. I wonder just how it is Mad Jad plans to pursue such policies while persecuting the eggheads who make such an agenda possible ?

Sounds like Mad Jad is listening to his advisors from VEVAK (the secret police) and the Pasdaran (Revolutionary Guard), which makes a good deal of sense given his own background. The Universities have always been a source of trouble for Iranian regimes: they caused trouble in the Constitutional Revolution of 1906; student protests were important in throwing out Mohammad Reza Shah in 1979; they aided in radicalizing the Islamic Revolution in the early 1980's. . .students and universities are generally an honest secret policeman's nightmare.

From the perspective of somebody who wishes the Islamic regime ill, this sounds like good news. Surely Mad Jad would not tamper with the universities, risking unrest, and interfering with the development of national assets -- educated students -- absent cruel necessity. The possibililty of trouble for Mad Jad's return to the radical Khomeiniist path from the students must worry the Mullah leaders more than they let on.

Finally, from another perspective, El Jefe, who sometimes finds nutjob wackos very tedious (think Ward Churchill or Noam Chomsky). . .confesses that he, in his weaker moments, finds a certain amount of. . .sympathy. . .with Mad Jad's desire to rid himself of "liberal" professors, (although Mad Jad's particular bête noires are different than El Jefe's). But only a certain amount: such persons have their place. A country without education or good universities (including wackos) is poor indeed.

Back In Town

Back in Cuidad El Jefe after a Labor Day trip to the country Schloss, someplace near New Ulm, Texas. Didn't do much but hang out, ride the four-wheeler, and work around the plantation, except for a brief expedition to retrieve the Heir from an extended sleepover near Wimberley.

V-J Day, Sedantag

Good morning ! Hope everybody has a great holiday weekend. Posting is apt to be light to non-existant this weekend, although I will have an opportunity to put in some work on a couple of still half-baked projects.

For the historically-minded, today is V-J Day, "Victory over Japan" day: the anniversary of Japan's formal surrender in Tokyo Bay, on board battleship USS Missouri. If you are fortunate enough to visit Hawaii, you may tour Missouri, unfortunately out of commission (the battleships were highly useful) and now preserved as a memorial.

V-J Day is relatively well-known, but I'm going to be unconventional, and note the anniversary of another surrender. Today is Sedantag ("Sedan Day"), one of the great patriotic holidays of the German Second Reich, commerating the surrender of Emperor Napoléon III and 90,000 surrounded French troops to the Royal Prussian armies at Sedan, France. His army surrounded and defeated on the 1st, the Emperor had no alternative but to put up the white flag.

The French request for a cease-fire was surely one of the more dramatic scenes of the 19th Century, that proceeded in the full view of much of both armies. One witness was US General Philip Sheridan, of Civil War fame (burner of the Shenandoah Valley) -- guest of King Wilhelm of Prussia, and traveling with the Prussian armies as a military observer.

In any case, at sunset on the 1st, after a long day in which the French had tried to fight their way out of the Prussian encirclement: the Prussians noticed white flags flying from the city fortifications. The firing slowly died away, and, eventually, out from the town rode the designated parlementaire under a white flag: a full general and officer of the Imperial suite, bearing to Prussian headquarters on the heights of Frénois what Michael Howard called "...not the least of the title-deeds of the Second German Reich." The Emperor's letter to King Wilhelm read:

Monsieur Mon Frere,

As I am unable to find death at the head of my troops, it remains only to place my sword into the hands of your Majesty. I am your Majesty's good brother.

Napoléon

The French troops piled arms and formally surrendered the next morning, 2nd September 1870. I cannot imagine what it would emotionally cost a man, bearing that name, and that sort of responsibility, to write that note. The Emperor had indeed tried hard to die on the 1st of September, when it became apparent that all was lost. Napoléon III, in many ways a more sympathetic man than his far greater uncle, was condemned to live three years more.

The Germans made the anniversary a holiday, commerating their great victory annually until the fall of the Kaiserreich. The memory of Sedan, humiliating for France, was perhaps dangerous for Germany: the Germans became convinced that Sedan could always be repeated, with disastrous results in 1914. Still, for France, Sedan is a place of singularly ill-omen: it was the site of yet another French military disaster in 1940.