Tweet ‘n Retweet were sittin’ on a fence; Tweet fell off…who was left? Set cher irony meters to zero, and commence…vroooom. And remember: this ain’t the DoD: Libya, Iraq, tra la la…
A Strategic Turning Point for the Defense Department
Let me now describe the strategic assessment that drove our budget decisions.
First of all, it’s evident that America is still today the world’s foremost leader, partner, and underwriter of stability and security in every region across the globe, as we have been since the end of World War II. As we fulfill this enduring role, it’s also evident that we’re entering a new strategic era.
Context is important here. A few years ago, following over a decade when we were focused on large-scale counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and
Afghanistan, DoD began embarking on a major strategy shift to sustain our lead in full-spectrum warfighting. While the basic elements of our resulting defense strategy remain valid, it’s also been abundantly clear to me over the last year
that the world has not stood still since then the emergence of ISIL, and the resurgence of Russia, being just the most prominent examples.
Why isn’t Roosia Red?
“It was worth it!”
“Outlining NATO’s response to Russia’s aggressive actions in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, Mr. Stoltenberg noted that the Alliance is strengthening its collective defence, and increasing both its presence in the east and its ability to rapidly reinforce. He stressed that, two years after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, it is important that economic sanctions continue. The Secretary General added that being firm in defending Allies, and keeping channels of political dialogue open must go hand-in-hand. “There is no contradiction between strong defence and political dialogue,” said Mr. Stoltenberg.”
davidly
Greyson Smythe
LeMoyne
juliania2
ohiobarbarian
stephenadavis1
wendyedavis
café babylon 
This one popped up today. Natalie Nougayrède, Guardian Opinion: Putin’s long game has been revealed, and the omens are bad for Europe
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/18/putin-long-game-omens-europe-russia
What is the bug-a-boo hiding under the bed? Putin envisions a single security and economic architecture that includes Russia. That’s it. Instead of Merkel running the show, the fear is of Putin running the show.
Meanwhile my proposed security architecture of four years ago had the US and Russia both being members of NATO. And Russia also being a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (Pepe Escobar mentions the SCO as a US Asia-Pacific rival in his latest). In fact it was a set of interlocked regional security agreements with no one power dominating any one of them. As close to a self-stabilizing global balance-of-power arrangement as one could make. I suppose in homage to Mackinder half of the security alliances would have to be land-focused and half ocean-focused. NATO – ocean; SCO-land; some yet-to-be Pacific Rim alliance-ocean; Organization of American States – land; Mercosul – land.
No one except some esoteric think tanks focus on how to architect an global military build-down by all military states. Framing the practical argument that undoes the notion that de-militarization is not practical because of moral hazard theory.
Thanks for covering this once again. Keeping Europe in fear seems to be the key to keeping Europe in NATO.
i do indeed remember your proposal about russia into nato, but not the SCO. you were the first to school me/us, iirc, about nato having outlived its cold war ‘usefulness’ needing to disband. and of course you saw they were creating their own ‘security and protection’ missions with the help of the usual suspects, dark armies, cia, ‘democracy’ ngo’s and such.
‘land and sea’: yes, and it caused me to think of the glorious (then) new Africom sea-basing capabilities. what i loved most about them was that since troops could base on boats, they never had to harsh the ‘host nations’ mellows by (ahem) asking for permission to be there.
i’ll look for pepe’s piece. oddly, the piece he wrote on brazil, briics, the weakest link…seemed to have changed in his next column on the same subject. well, it’s all so complex, so much corruption on all sides…i’ll leave it alone. but the Empire has chosen its side, and it ain’t lula or dilma.
OAS seems to be in pretty bad favor in the leftist regimes that are going down, so i dunno. i’ve seen ALBA suggested instead, but i know little about it. and i will say you know more about nato than anyone i’ve ever known, amigo.
here’ a fer instance on the oas: ‘Venezuela Slams OAS’ Freedom of Expression Rapporteur as Biased’
http://www.wrongkindofgreen.org/2016/02/01/fundacion-pachamama-is-dead-long-live-alba-part-viii-final-segment/
i Xed the alba; it seems to be a different sort of alliance.
i never did find escobar’s piece you’ve mentioned, not even at al jazeera, and only found his (almost) conflicting pieces at RT.
i’ve been losing the fight with medicaid/medicare waiver issues today on behalf of mr. wd’s 98-yr-old father. siblings as well: arrrgh. i’m knackered.
night all.
the rooskies are always about to reveal The Doomsday Device at the next Party Congress. You know how Premier Kissoff loves surprises.
This agression in Crimea will not stand man. we are talking about drawing a line in the sand! across this line you do not…!
anyway, to ask the obvious, where is any of this…red-baiting up for discussion in this farce of a travesty of a macabre of a burlesque of an election?
not on the radar of any of the DOD’s media spokespoodles, which category includes all the prezzie electoral candidates. that’s fer shur. . .
ha, which R general turned kinda anti-war was on trnn noting that as far as he knew, FP wasn’t at least on the dem candidates radar…wilkerson, mebbe? of course,, the Rs according to headlines are all ‘kill zem all!’
i was intrigued by the #nuland hashtag on twitter, and found thru a russia today link tweeted, this internal link. long, but it looks worth reading. if so, it’s rather alarming, although for this storify by tweet, the hubris and irony of the material in the tweeted linkks was so so so strong, so crazy, such agitprop, all i could do was laugh.
‘Breedlove’s Bellicosity: Berlin Alarmed by Aggressive NATO Stance on Ukraine’, By SPIEGEL Staff (viperia nuland’s, as well) i think that’s what her detractors call her on twitter; rather suit her, yes?
per the wiki, Jeanne Shaheen started out as a high school teach in Ol’ Miss. surely she would make a student go rewrite such a vapid, meaningless statement as “we need to enhance security by being strong.”
or maybe not. maybe that’s why she became a politician. instead of correcting such inflated banalities, she could just blow more hot air into them.
not sure what to make of the der spiegel piece. show us some pix breedlove of the cossack hordes! i don’t think putin would bang his shoe on his desk cuz i don’t think he’d ever stop snoring thru breedlove’s powerpoint slides.
“i love russia!” thanks victoria.
ha, i’d almost said it was a tautology, but she really hadn’t said ‘our security’. that came from an essay on africom’s twit thang, something like: ‘why the US needs africom’, written by the man who’d suggested bush create the africa desk of nato. his essay had some weird thinking that the whole reason for africom is to DEcrease its own footprint in africa. wot? now nick turse would find that super-duper-hilarious.
banalities of the hot hot air kind: superb, jason.
but of course breedlove is on his way out the revolving door, first stop foxxx news, then defense contractor boards.
on this SACEUR facebook page, some brave man was tellin’ him:
Disa Sadi: General Breedlove, please do not bring your wars to Europe. We do not need your help with Russia. We do not want war with Russia and it’s not Russia who caused the refugee crisis in Europe. Everybody knows that. Please let us live in peace! If you want to help us, take 1Mil refugees and help them in USA.
scarpia, scaramanga, scarapotti….”to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of the women”, from arnold’s “life philosophy in 16 words” in the original conan the american, i mean barbarian. never mind. probably not succinct enough for NATO’s motto. maybe Yale can offer Breedlove an honorary faculty position like they did Tony Blair. Or CUNY did Petraeus.
nah, they make a point of calling him ‘Scap’, yanno, like a frat brother. now his resumé on da wiki is extensive, even heading the failed wars. oh, wait: not failed, just ‘ongoing’, right?
i expect you’re right about the honorary degrees, but those don’t spell $$$, methinks. now i will say that in that photo he doesn’t look as outright a nutbar as breedlove, but the fire may just smolder below the surface. there’s some movie character breedlove resembles a hella lot, but i’m not gettin’ it.
head of Africom: scary biscuits. ;-)
The Kirbster’s a self admitted history washout from “mutual” alma mater, USF (Ach!), a REAR admiral and PNACi Goebbler for both Pentagon and State!
Even looks identical to the master:
US’ burning Bush, halfascist kakistocracy epitomized!
zounds, i had no idea, bruce. he just looked like any other dweeb-turned-bully to me.
but this news from lugansk ain’t gonna go over too well with the western world: ‘Ukrainian pilot Savchenko guilty of Russian journalists’ murder, illegal border crossing – court’
once again i need to apologize for saying i’ll have to respond tomorrow. what with my early rising, fraught RL and other obligations…i just live a different schedule than y’all. even reading the comments has been a treat, but about all i know right now is that jupiter in the east by northeast is magnificent even with an almost full moon; the coyotes close to the house are singing strange songs…and i swear arcturus must be a binary star. (also in the east by farther northeast.
goddam nato, goddam africom (maybe next; my unions and strikes and la la piece is going rather slowly). a song before sleep? crikey..here’s what i’m seeing…
who was it at fdl who so often said: “it didn’t have to be this way”? i’m ashamed to have forgotten…
Back in the post anti-Raygun ATC strike and union-organizing for DEM national convention delegates in Jax, FL; I remember Ray Stevens’ opening act (well before he took his hard-right turn) with this cover of The KING (Elvis): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWZYGexJqJY
synchronicity, my stars. i’ve been slogging through a lot of links i’ve collected on worker power, unions, direct v. indirect actions, militant unionism, yada, yada…and just finished a section on the Patco strike as a serious deterrent not just to strikes, but to unions that ever even mention them.
yep, capital won, and is winning, and the old paradigm when big unions constrained militancy well enough for pay rises and benefits is over. the question is, of course, strategies to turn it around, and of course…the will to, or not. guess i have my doubts, as the NLRB just gave a big middle finger to the ilwu, grrrrr.
thanks for the tune. Jax, eh?
OT: The election follies are going to be WWE quality between Trump and Clinton. Lambert Strether has been using the term “kayfabe” for as long as Trump has been a candidate. I believe that term means “kabuki with broken chairs”.
Lambert Strether has this very interesting article. Don’t look at it from a conventional electoral campaign perspective or a conventional left criticism. Ask how movemental politics could undo the intent of this maneuver and the victory of the duopoly. Realize that replaying 1968 or 2012 is what the fails to transform the narrative; there’s been enough analysis already of how Trump already sucker-punches conventional protest and escalation (it ends with guys with guns). It seems that Clinton also seeks to jiu-jitsu activists and protesters. Co-option is too polite for the nastiness that is coming. Strether’s article:
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/03/the-democrat-establishment-plan-for-a-three-front-anti-trump-republican-splitting-anti-left-campaign.html
So how exactly does this Donnybrook unwind by December 2016? Alternative parties are allowable scenarios so long as there is a path to something other than legislative and judicial obstruction. How does a stronger left come out yet another attempt to make sure that the eagle is a one-winged bird.
OT 2: Anticipating the kayfabe.
Another wren is Corey Robin in this article “We’re still in Nixonland”:
http://coreyrobin.com/2016/03/19/were-still-in-nixonland-20-theses-about-the-state-of-politics-today/
Kayfabe is the term for the WWF’s er…managed reality in the ‘sport’ (or: ‘don’t believe your lyin’ eyes!’ when it ws admitted back in the day. i was very glad to see that hulk hogan won such a huge award in his lawsuit against Gawker’s illegal pryin’ eyes, though. but tut, tut: even throwing in ‘movemental politics’ isn’t enough to get me to read lambert’s lunker of a piece over yonder. (dude needs and editor, no?) ;-)
okay, i scanned wren Robin’s, and had to laugh at the Rs being the party of mammon. eeep.i read it, then on a long quest on cuba. was it he who’d pointed out that 1968 in chicago actually won votes for the law-and-order Rs? the comments were interesting, as well, i remember. so many under cuban news/articles are stunningly idiotic.
C-U-in-c.u.b.a. soon!
in my haste i’d forgotten to say: “not even for you will i be rick-rolled into reading it”. (i sincerely loathe the prez electoral circus), and i do like your definition, but lambert’s changed terminology at least gives ‘kabuki’ a rest. in the same i way, i keep hoping another term than ‘orwellian’ is coined and catches on, yanno? we’re sooooo past that by now, gawd and gawdess save us.
one note: i do see that there is worthiness that some peeps show up outside (that man whose hair defies gravity’s) events with signs that are movemental, such as ‘fight for $15’, etc.. the media exposure he gets is nothing to be sneezed at…