April 29, 2009
Justice delayed
God bless Joanna Lumley. This is a start.
The vote is not legally binding, but opposition leaders insisted that ministers must now abandon new rules on admitting Gurkhas and their families introduced last week.
Live in England despite an order for deportation, run down a little girl and leave her to die and you shall walk free. Fight and die for the Queen and look at how you are rewarded.
I can see China from my house
The United States government may have decided Red China is not a major military threat - preferring instead to prepare for small-scale conflicts with non-state actors - and Australia's intelligence services agree.
The Australian military has decided otherwise: Conventional warfare it is.
As revealed in The Weekend Australian, these senior officials argued that the rise of China posed the greatest strategic danger to Australia and that this issue should be the driver of defence planning. The new white paper is expected to foreshadow a substantial boost in naval power, including plans for new frigates, air warfare destroyers and 12 new generation submarines to replace the Collins Class fleet from 2025.
The government of Vietnam appears to have reached a similar conclusion.
Note to skeptics in the American defense establishment: These choices do not only reflect a pessimist's assessment of China's intentions, they reflect a realist's assessment of American capability and American will. As Pax Americana recedes, nations will look to their own defenses or look forward to a new Chinese hegemony.
Time to offer the Indians a 25-year lease on Cam Ranh Bay.
Dār al-ḥarb
What happens when a progressive love for diversity hostile monocultures collides with a progressive insistence we are protected from the consequences of our own choices.
“I’m not getting any support from our top management. They don’t listen to our requests for a secure working environment,” Persson told the Sydsvenskan newspaper.
Jihadis 1 : Nanny state safety regulations 0
In related news: Swedish men "not as masculine as they used to be".
Moronic convergence, cont.
For those of you who thought progressives would be the first to suggest an absurd Swine Flu conspiracy theory; tough luck, the Umma got there first. You have to admit it was a fifty/fifty proposition given the level of science education we are talking about in both communities.
Darth Jackson
Embedding has been disabled for Britain's Got Talent so you shall have to click through for Darth Jackson action (worth it for the correct pronunciation of "Birmingham"). Consider the following a place-holder video.
April 28, 2009
The secret of the Nile Clumps
Google Maps has made it simpler to enjoy a little remembered tribute to Nelson's victory at the Battle of the Nile.
Hogwartsy
In case anyone missed the news of Lily Cole's address to the FACE Ethical Fashion Show at the Cambridge Student Union.
Featured: Legs.
Castillo del Lago
Portofino inspired stripes aside, a view of the Hollywood reservoir places the Castillo del Lago high on the list of Flea fantasy real estate purchases. Though I expect it is a bit of a hike to the corner store for milk and the like.
West Indian Girl - Get Up
Vague hat tip to Agent Bedhead Trent Reznor.
April 27, 2009
Good night, sweet prince
One hundred days of Hope and Change cut tragically short by Mother Nature. What might this second Camelot have accomplished? Now we must rely on President Biden for the legacy of this latter day Kennedy/Lincoln/Mahdi.
The President's health advisers were already concerned about his visit south of the border after learning the contagious virus first struck in Mexico City on April 13 - three days before Mr Obama flew in to meet government officials. Their alarm grew after learning that Felipe Solis, director of the National Anthropology Museum, had died from pneumonia.
With no disrespect meant to the family of Felipe Solis. Or the Mahdi.
Excepting his extraordinary angry white guy powers
It is no coincidence DC's only interesting superhero has no superpowers. Do you have what it takes?
Yet is it true that a mere mortal could train to become Batman?
Follow the link for some thoughts on the subject.
Heather Dale: Mordred's Lullaby
With a grateful tip of the hat to Mike Campbell.
April 26, 2009
St. Vincent: Jesus Saves, I Spend
I suspect if I did approach her fictional shrink for answers, I'd be asked to take a seat and wait in line. First there's her mother, maternal anxiety sharpened by the ambivalent relationship metaphors that pepper the 26-year-old's songs. "My mum often asks, 'Are you OK?' and I go, 'Yeah, I'm just fine,'" she says, though lines such as "I'm spending all my days in the garden-grey pallor of lines across your face" are probably not the best way of allaying parental concern.
Many women are cruel to themselves
Kelly Brook, who is famous for something or other, does not need to go on a diet.
We realized the universe is a symphony and the laws of physics are harmonies on a superstring
- J.R.R. Tolkien, Silmarillion, p. 15
April 25, 2009
Taliban Studies
The Taliban - slow learners, but picking up on Frankfurt School critical thinking as they go along - know who to blame for their problems: white women. This has been a sad week for women serving in Canada's armed forces.
But also a proud week.
Given that the circumference of the planet is only about 25,000 miles, it is not clear what route Mr. Khan believes Western forces are taking to get to Pakistan.
That last bit is a bit snarky for the New York Times. Hate speechy, even. They must have forgotten whose side they are on.
Sin of omission
The corsairs carry out their evil work because our Westphalian game of pretend gives them sanctuary. For example, we pretend there is a place called Somalia with borders and sovereignty. We pretend sending food and money ennobles us instead of impoverishing them. We pretend Christian charity will be greeted with thanks instead of rape and ransom.
There is another thing our game of pretend is wrong about. It leads us to a sin of omission.
There is only one reason those white washed mansions are still standing. We allow them to.
Back off, get your own sandwich
You know your culture has degenerated into a necropolis when your high priests can think of nothing but to eat their own flesh.
Here's how Bloody-Disgusting described Predators: "In the reboot, a team of commandoes face down a mysterious race of vicious monsters."
Edgy.
Тутси и КГБ: Горький шоколад
You may say Russian imperialism is a problem. I say it is an excuse to post East European pop music.
April 24, 2009
Second order effects
As tensions escalate, Yankee Sailor offers an outline for a Russian invasion of Georgia and an alternate "hasty plan" for the defense of Georgia. Both make for interesting reading (and both links via AoSHQ).
Also interesting is a comment on "second order effects" of a Russian occupation of Georgia left by Subotai Bahadur (if such is his real name) at the second post. The (old) European establishment may have something to gain by Russian aggression.
The next thing to ponder is what the second order effects will be.
a) the effects on any dependent allies of the United States.
b) the effects on NATO.
c) the effects on the EU, given that Western Europe is dependent on Russian energy already.
d) an especial emphasis on the effects on the “near abroad”. How far are the former Warsaw Pact countries going to go in yielding sovereignty out of fear of Russia and knowing that there will be absolutely no help from the West. e) economic effects. The EU has never been happy with the free market ways of the Eastern Europeans, viewing their work ethic and belief in less socialism and more capitalism a threat to the hegemony of the EU. Many in the EU would be glad to be rid of the competition. Further, since so much of the European banks’ problems are related to real estate deals in Eastern Europe, their loss to the West could be used to allow a ‘write down’ combined with government bailouts that would mitigate the EU’s problems.
Rules of engagement
Several days ago, I posted an email claiming to reveal the effects of President Obama's rules of engagement regarding pirates holding an American hostage at sea. Now Information Dissemination offers an analysis of the email, describing it as largely accurate but biased; an "anti-Obama propaganda piece", in fact.
1. The Navy does not get involved in action at sea very often, and when something does happen, it would appear that people want to talk about (and will give an opinionated slant as part of unofficial accounting). There is going to be a lot of chaff in these early reports, and people need to be skeptical of early reports, particularly when they are completely absent credibility.
2. There is a tendency to attach a political view to any military event in the current hyper partisan environment, but the truth is, anyone who has been around military folks conducting their business knows hyper partisanship is never present. That isn't to say that military folks don't have a political opinion, only that you never see it influence their work. It just isn't part of the professional environment.
The way I see it is that this is to miss the point. It may be mistaken to attach a political view to the actions of the military. It surely is not a mistake to attach a political view to the President's foolish rules of engagement.
Again
Because nothing - not even a second Holocaust, apparently - could be worse than Iran's religious dictatorship being able to say "we refused the opportunity for constructive dialogue." Such is the perverse morality of the West's progressive dictatorships.
"The stature and importance of such an ancient and extraordinary civilization means that as a nation, Iran should command respect and be accorded its proper place in the world's affairs"
The slobbering lickspittle.
April 23, 2009
St. George's Day
Writing for The Australian, Hal Colebatch argues Britain is evolving into "the first modern soft totalitarian state." There is stiff competition in our civilization's race for the bottom, but even Canadian soft power/multi culti/bilingual-newthink is left in the dust by what was once England.
My Mum saw it first. She said the country was unrecognizable in its hysteria over the death of Diana. I was wrong. She was right.
Nikolai Bukharin claimed one of the Bolshevik Revolution's principal tasks was "to alter people's actual psychology". Britain is not Bolshevik, but a campaign to alter people's psychology and create a new Homo britannicus is under way without even a fig leaf of disguise.
The Government is pushing ahead with legislation that will criminalise politically incorrect jokes, with a maximum punishment of up to seven years' prison. The House of Lords tried to insert a free-speech amendment, but Justice Secretary Jack Straw knocked it out. It was Straw who previously called for a redefinition of Englishness and suggested the "global baggage of empire" was linked to soccer violence by "racist and xenophobic white males". He claimed the English "propensity for violence" was used to subjugate Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and that the English as a race were "potentially very aggressive".
Jack Straw is right about that last bit. Let us pray the English remember it too. It truly is far better to face the bullets than to be killed at home by a bomb.
In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act: The day Blighty fell apart (via the Steynian 348).
Well, you see, these were people who were standing in the way of Tony's efforts to save the cute little furry woodland creatures from the nasty upper-class English who wanted to shoot them. But really, it was a message sent out to the bastions of traditional British culture. "It's over people. The Britain you knew is no more and this is what will happen to you if you try to bring it back."
If I chance to talk a little wild, forgive me
Defending the proposition that computer games constitute a literary genre, Quin Parker argues video games are - amongst other things - a form of interactive literature. Scott Esposito (whence the link) elaborates.
Parker:
Nobody's suggesting that people need degrees to write "thank you Mario, but our princess is in another castle". The truth is, games have become enormously complex compared to the days when all you did was jump on mushrooms, collect gold, and blow things up. Different demographics of people are playing computer games, and they don't just demand realistic graphics that push technological boundaries, they want whole worlds and coherent stories.
If anything, Parker is understating the case. Writing for video games is indeed about creating whole worlds and coherent stories, a proposition that goes well beyond a cut scene as the next level loads.
Follow the link for John Crace's counter-argument; he likes to blow things up.
April 22, 2009
The dragon. A mythological creature? No. It exists -- inside us.
Former Japanese Finance Minister, Shoichi Nakagawa is still on someone's payroll. The government needed someone reliable to float the mother of all balloons; a nuclear armed Japan.
Let us be gracious and assume the Japanese would take a couple days to piece together and deploy their arsenal. They have been sufficiently courteous to pretend they do not have one.
The Japanese are making a simple calculation: How reliable is President Bambi in the face of, for example, the real world? We have our answer.
"Earth-sized planet discovered in galaxy outside our solar system"
Science reporting at the Daily Mail. I wonder how many parsecs past light speed we would have to travel to get there quickly?
Psalm 83
One of the most awe inspiring things I have ever seen. Godspeed Israel.
This visit was a testament to the world that the saying "never again" is not just a slogan.
DJ David: Sexy Thing
With a shout out to the cabal who keep sending me Lady GaGa videos.
April 21, 2009
Fatwa
Now that fat has been blamed for global farting warming, expect all that self-esteem nonsense to be sent down the Memory Hole. Two legs good and all that.
April 20, 2009
Luton takes to the Streets
The shape of things to come. Via.
The entire country is behind us.
The next Protest will be held on Sunday 3rd May! Be there!
If I need to buy a TV, I'll definitely buy a Japanese TV. A Chinese TV might explode.
While I am tempted to poke fun at Jackie Chan - call him a racist for his views about the Chinese - the fact is he is saying nothing about China and the Chinese that Canada's ersatz elites believe about Canada and Canadians. Anyway, that thing about interesting times.
Chan's comments drew applause from a predominantly Chinese audience of business leaders in China's southern island province of Hainan. The 55-year-old Hong Kong actor was participating in a panel at the annual Boao Forum when he was asked to discuss censorship and restrictions on filmmakers in China. He expanded his comments to include society.
"I'm not sure if it's good to have freedom or not," Chan said. "I'm really confused now. If you're too free, you're like the way Hong Kong is now. It's very chaotic. Taiwan is also chaotic." Chan added: "I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we're not being controlled, we'll just do what we want."
Piquant
The Indian Ministry of Defence has eliminated the French Rafale from a $10b competition to produce 126 fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force; something to do with a "failure to meet qualitative requirements of the contract.
My ass. That will teach you to French.*
* See how I used French as a verb there? A verb is a "doing word".
It will have five pillars
Not content with removing a symbol of Christ from his recent address at Georgetown University, Barack Hussein Obama relied on the symbols he knows best to convey Christ's parables.
The house that Barack wants to build is architecturally grand. It will have five pillars, he announced. The first is that Wall Street will have new rules to reward "drive and innovation, not reckless risk-taking". The last is that "new savings in the federal budget… will bring down the debt for future generations". Sandwiched between these pillars are the other three. Each of these involves "new investments" – education, renewable energy, and health care. This, said Mr Obama, would be the "new foundation".
Five pillars. Got it.
Fun fact: al Qaeda means Foundation. The man obviously thinks the American electorate is completely ignorant of the threat they face. But then, his new office proves him right.
Adam Lambert: Dust in the Wind
"Even though he is so young you know he has experienced every emotion he portrays. Love, loss..."
April 19, 2009
Defer not thy well-doing; be not like St. George, who is always a horseback, and never rides on
"Petty" regulations that will prevent town councils from flying the flag of England this St. George's Day are anything but. These regulations have no other purpose but to prevent the expression of English nationalism. This is going to get ugly.
If the building has just a single pole, the Union Flag is supposed to be flown. But on St Andrew’s Day, the Scottish Saltire can be flown alone on a single flagpole in Scotland – and Welsh government buildings with only one pole can fly the Welsh Dragon on St David’s Day.
Read the following accurate account
The real story of Obama and the hostages. Much as I had suspected. RTWT.
1. BHO wouldn't authorize the DEVGRU/NSWC SEAL teams to the scene for 36 hours going against OSC (on scene commander) recommendation.
2. Once they arrived, BHO imposed restrictions on their ROE that they couldn't do anything unless the hostage's life was in "imminent" danger
3. The first time the hostage jumped, the SEALS had the raggies all sighted in, but could not fire due to ROE restriction
4. When the navy RIB came under fire as it approached with supplies, no fire was returned due to ROE restrictions. As the raggies were shooting at the RIB, they were exposed and the SEALS had them all dialed in.
5. BHO specifically denied two rescue plans developed by the Bainbridge CPN and SEAL teams
6. Bainbridge CPN and SEAL team CDR finally decide they have the OpArea and OSC authority to solely determine risk to hostage. 4 hours later, 3 dead raggies
7. BHO immediately claims credit for his "daring and decisive" behaviour. As usual with him, it's BS.
April 18, 2009
Contrary to popular opinion
So what is the over/under on our elites figuring out anthropogenic climate change is utter nonsense at some point in the next decade. Recent trends indicate an increase in global stupiding.
Australia Antarctic Division glaciology program head Ian Allison said sea ice losses in west Antarctica over the past 30 years had been more than offset by increases in the Ross Sea region, just one sector of east Antarctica.
April 17, 2009
Times like these, dark times
The fifth trailer for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
The Battle for Britain
Two RAF Tornado squadrons are to be shut down as a cost saving measure. This will leave eight aircraft to defend British airspace, British sovereignty and by extension British civilization, such as remains.
"The left" cried conspiracy on the day a Saudi commando raid resulted in the massacre 3000 American and allied citizens. Well, there is a conspiracy at work here: A plan to gut the economy, the technological base and especially the defense of the West; ultimately, the existence of the West itself. Fortunately, the Enemy cannot build aircraft - only steal them - so in the short term we can call this a wash. Unfortunately, the West has other adversaries who excel at building fighter planes. They are watching.
The basis of all criticism
Ihe problem is not that Christopher Hitchens is an atheist. The problem is an ignorant - and annoying - apologia for Christianity.
It is guys like this who make Catholics think Protestants are intellectually retarded. No quality control.
April 16, 2009
Airtrax
The Sidewinders omni directional drive system is the greatest innovation in lift-truck design in 100 years. Now to scale this up for a next generation main battle tank...
The Copper Standard
As industrial and construction activity falters world wide, person-hole covers of Toronto are no longer vanishing into the aetheric plane we call China but the Chinese are still buying copper and much else besides.
"China has woken up. The West is a black hole with all this money being printed. The Chinese are buying raw materials because it is a much better way to use their $1.9 trillion of reserves. They get ten times the impact, and can cover their infrastructure for 50 years. The next industrial revolution is going to be led by hybrid cars, and that needs copper. You can see the subtle way that China is moving into 30 or 40 countries with resources," he said.
The SRB has also been accumulating aluminium, zinc, nickel, and rarer metals such as titanium, indium (thin-film technology), rhodium (catalytic converters) and praseodymium (glass).
Stop trying to get rid of those pennies. Your pocket change might be worth something.
Sick making
Veterans groups are right to be outraged at a Department of Homeland Security report suggesting returning veterans pose a threat as potential recruits for "right wing extremists". This from a President whose only known friends and associates are domestic terrorists.
This is not a Presidency; this is a sick joke.
April 15, 2009
Of everything that stands, the end
Let's face facts: It was a boring show and given the choice between death by hot robots and death by an orc knife brandished by some 7th century dimwit I choose Summer Glau. Now at least she and Lena Headey can get on to their next projects. I can think of, like, fully half a dozen high concept shows off the top of my head (hat tip to Agent Bedhead).
Hoping takesies backsies are allowed on this one: Just watched the season finale and it rocked hardcore. More, please.
Caveat emptor
Speaking of dimwits in the service of a Dark Ages rape manual (and the modestly dressed women who love them), now is the time to trick out your old sewing machines on eBay. The Saudis are buying.*
Note how the BBC is hedging its bets on Red Mercury. Just "asking questions" again, I expect.
* And by "Saudis are buying" I mean "we are buying". There isn't a red cent they spend on anything that did not come out of our pockets. Including nineteen one way airplane tickets.
Basement Jaxx: Hey you
With a shout out to the Netherlands. Enjoy your 1920s while it lasts. Soon you will be partying like it is 999.
Great track though. In all seriousness, if you are not willing to fight for it you did not deserve it in the first place. More's the pity so many died to give it to you.
April 14, 2009
Ronettes: Be My Baby
Related: Phil Spector's Wall Of Sound.
April 13, 2009
Paradoxically, Lisa? Or predictably.
Our moral and intellectual betters have belatedly noticed the French are... how to put this?... French. Not to worry. Give them a generation and they shalll have produced a brilliant hybrid culture combining French manners and Arab restraint.
It is only now America has stopped swaggering that its more erudite, socially acceptable commentators have begun to engage in vitriolic condemnation of European selfishness and irresponsibility in the face of international danger: what is emerging is, in effect, a mirror image of the anti-Americanism which has become commonplace among European intellectuals. And paradoxically, it is precisely the change in presidential tone and approach which has made this possible.
It felt a little bit like Dr. Strangelove
Last month, the Pentagon Warfare Analysis Laboratory hosted a two day, "first-of-its-kind" war game simulating economic attacks on the United States. Would you like to play a game?
There were five teams: The United States, Russia, China, East Asia and “all others.” They were overseen by a “White Cell” group that functioned as referees, who decided the impact of the moves made by each team as they struggled for economic dominance.
At the end of the two days, the Chinese team emerged as the victors of the overall game – largely because the Russian and American teams had made so many moves against each other that they damaged their own standing to the benefit of the Chinese.
In South Central, Sandy Brown, heads down to the laundry mat to get the scoop on the Spanish Novelas
Not Easter related but I think Flea-readers will enjoy Sandy Brown regardless.
April 12, 2009
A challenger appears
President Barack Obama's half-brother Samson Obama has been refused entry to the United Kingdom. INB4 complaints Samson Obama's free speech rights have been violated.
He was questioned by police about the alleged assault – which he denied – but during the investigation he used a false name and he later received a police caution. When he applied for another visa, hoping to visit Britain last week, he was refused.
The Telegraph offers biographical details about America's new President we somehow missed during his run for office.
April 11, 2009
It's not racist if "the left" says it
Saudi Arabia is far more ethnically diverse than most Westerners realize.
It ain't sexist if "the left" says it neither. Also, full points to the New York Times for not bothering to read their own copy (can't say that I blame them). This is the very next sentence. Bandar bin Sultan was born in 1949, btw.
Whereas being a concubine is a lifestyle choice.
It's the biology, stupid
Ed Morrissey* explains a problem faced by a totalitarian government committed to population reduction in light of a deep seated Chinese cultural preference for boys over girls.
In a way, it’s an echo of what we see in large societies with plural marriages. It has the same effect; when older men take on multiple wives, it denies many younger men the opportunity to marry and procreate, which gives them less investment in building a community. In those cases, it feeds either wars or radical behavior, as the men have to compete to have any chance at all for marriage and for stability, and some simply choose to opt out entirely.
The good news is we may finally have something for which to thank "the left"; they are the ones who came up with the population bomb/latter-day-eugenics scare in the first place. If only we could convince China to adopt our latest stupid intellectual fad - anthropogenic climate change - we will have convinced the Chinese to destroy themselves rather than our having to resort to pesky force of arms. Now to check if von Clausewitz had anything to say about weaponized credulity as war by other means.
* Who still double spaces between sentences; the man never wrote for a newspaper, bless.
April 10, 2009
Let The Right One In
The BBC somewhat belatedly discovers Let The Right One In, a remarkable film including what is perhaps the most convincing vampire ever to feature on the silver screen and soon to be released in the UK. Think J-horror meets Guillermo del Toro in the snow. Not that there is a lot of snow per se, just a lingering feeling of irritation that the shuddering bilingual edifice that is the Canadian film industry cannot produce something as simple and moving as this.
The pair's fledgling relationship is central to the film, which is part arty Euro horror, part coming of age romance. It has picked up a slew of film awards and is already being held up as a masterpiece of the genre.
Which it is. Not to worry, there will soon be a piece of crap Hollywood remake.
Smart People with Good Ideas
The Armorer and friends consider Barack Obama's decision not to visit US war graves at Normandy. It would not do to offend the Germans... Or, I might add, the President's evil constituency at home. The hard core stupid that is the American Ivy League regard Normandy tributes and all such sentiment as empty ritual at best or, at worst, a symbolic enactment of American imperial power.
As to the dead, their sacrifice is the same whether or not we have wit remaining to thank them for it. We will get what we deserve either way.
Or we could just take the oil for ourselves and for the continuance of civilization
Alan Reynolds argues Barack Obama is wrong to blame the United States for the economic downtown. Absolutely. And I would add Obama is wrong to blame the United States no matter the near sexual thrill he and his friends must take from the spectacle of an American President on bended knee before a jumped up cartoon villain satrap.
In 1983, economist James Hamilton of the University of California at San Diego showed that "all but one of the US recessions since World War Two have been preceded, typically with a lag of around three-fourths of a year, by a dramatic increase in the price of crude petroleum." The years 1946 to 2007 saw 10 dramatic spikes in the price of oil -- each of which was soon followed by recession.
Taking a wasps' nest is more effective than catching the wasps one by one
Between 1820 and 1870 the Royal Navy seized almost 1,600 ships and freed 150,000 slaves. In these more enlightened times, "the left" would accuse the Royal Navy* of war crimes for doing just the same thing.
Because "the left" supports jihad, supports slavery and is against the rule of law. Because "the left" is evil.
The British attorney general, in a gem of delicate legal advice, declared the following year that he "cannot take it upon himself to advise... that the instructions to Her Majesty's naval officers are such as can with perfect legality be carried into execution... [He] is of the opinion that the blockading of rivers, landing and destroying buildings and carrying off of persons held in slavery... cannot be considered as sanctioned by the law of nations."
Denman, a hero of the anti-slave trade campaign, was eventually vindicated and the Royal Navy carried on with its anti-slavery operations.
* For the purposes of this hypothetical, I am assuming the existence of a Royal Navy.
April 09, 2009
Imaginary rights
Peter Hitchens relates an introduction to Jeremy Bentham and the ghastly French Declaration of the Rights of Man, the "founding scripture of several gory tyrannies." Not the least of which is Canada under its new constitution; a document which derives its authority from God only to deny Him at its human rights commissions.
Money, Ideology, Compromise, or Ego
Camille Paglia is displeased with her candidate's first few months in the White House; we all know how little executive experience Barack Obama has had.
Nah, I think I will double down instead. Barack Obama is an agent in place for the security services of the communist dictatorship in Cuba. You may laugh. But I am right.
For the Israelis, the war lasted for 34 days. We tend to forget that for Hezbollah, it is infinite.
Counter-insurgency and conventional warfare camps fight it out for the future of the United States military. Their battleground is the contested legacy of Israel's 2006 ground war with Hezbollah - and the world press - in southern Lebanon.
U.S. military experts were stunned by the destruction that Hezbollah forces, using sophisticated antitank guided missiles, were able to wreak on Israeli armor columns. Unlike the guerrilla forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, who employed mostly hit-and-run tactics, the Hezbollah fighters held their ground against Israeli forces in battles that stretched as long as 12 hours. They were able to eavesdrop on Israeli communications and even struck an Israeli ship with a cruise missile.
Clockwork Couture
A bit tired of steampunk if I'm honest but this Dress Me Up Clockwork Couture has re-piqued my interest. Arguably not safe for work in 1878 (with a grateful tip of the hat to Mr. Taylor).
April 08, 2009
Most people don't care. Most people won't fight.
It is official: Moonbats are against sheepdogs.
A point of existential importance: This is exactly why the left opposes the military, the police and parental discipline.
We've strayed into a zone with a high magical index
Terry Pratchett was on hand to unveil a Discworld inspired housing development. Sadly, inspiration was limited to street names but slow and steady wins the race.
Sir Terry said: 'I think it's a lovely idea, even though it makes my head spin to think of the books becoming a little closer to reality.And they are nice names, even though I say it myself. Personally, I'd pay good money to live somewhere called Treacle Mine Road.'
Agreed. Though I would prefer to live on Diagon Alley.
Jesus H. Galactica
I am very nearly loathe to mention Tricia Helfer was in Playboy in 2007.
April 07, 2009
Planet of the Dead
Dr. Who meets Pitch Black with the hottest Who companion ever.
A perennial problem
Writing for Armed Forces Journal, professor of operations at the Naval War College Joint Military Operations Department, Milan Vego argues a shortfall of nuclear-powered attack submarines can be mitigated with conventional submarines. Vego offers an outline - and alarming - history of the USN submarine order of battle from its high point under President Reagan to today's skeleton force.
More tellingly, Vego criticizes the Navy's current approach to determining the size of its submarine force: The USN is buying what it can afford rather than buying what it needs to protect the United States. Its projections reflect budgetary rather than military reality.
Praeparet bellum
Israeli Military Industry (IMI) has signed a "whopping" $240-million agreement to build five artillery munition factories in India over a period of three years. Aside from being newsworthy in itself, the linked article offers an interesting observation about military procurement after the credit crunch.
This could be a problem. It is not as though an Obama administration needs excuses to cut long term weapons development and procurement.
April 06, 2009
The Two Christians
Belatedly reading about this year's London College of Fashion MA show. While I could do without "sustainability" (a fad rather than fashion), I am all about The Two Christians, Rohan Kale's exceptional rethink of menswear, tribute to Christian Dior and Christian Lacroix and a fine ensemble for the fashion forward Time Lord.
RK: Oh there are plenty! I admire the work of Sir Paul Smith, Ozwald Boetang and Hedi Slimane to name a few. London is a fantastic place to be a menswear designer today. There is a lot of talent around and you keep seeing innovative menswear everywhere.
Their dead theory
Talking points and, God help us, facts for the first warmenist to spout off at you about the Wilkins Ice Shelf. From the linked comments, not the linked article, mind you. It would be too much to expect the press to know what they are talking about.
This was not MLK's dream
Old Europe seems to be less susceptible to the charms of America's new President than an American public infatuated with its own sense of destiny even as a Novus ordo seclorum collapses into a New Medievalism. But then half the American electorate still thinks the colour of a man's skin is more important than the content of his character - let alone his resume - are will cheerfully call you a racist if you disagree.
"Few people would have predicted that an American President would one day be permitted to speak to an audience like this in Prague. And few would have imagined that the Czech Republic would become a free nation, a member of NATO, and a leader of a united Europe. Those ideas would have been dismissed as dreams". (Not by Ronald Reagan they wouldn't have been, when most of Obama's Democrat friends thought the then US President's robust approach to the Cold War made him a loony on the loose).
Oddly enough, Saturday Night Live appears to be ahead of the curve.
April 05, 2009
I cannot believe I am watching this
No reason to suffer on my own. Plus you can help me imagine inventive assassination sequences for Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson as these two mouth breathing morons continue to rape the legacy of Dune. Plus I am now desperate for lunch at the Google cafeteria.
A couple asides about the new Paramount adaptation of Dune also feature but nothing to write home about.
Panda hype
The explanation, such as it is. More panda fashion at the link.
Not a popularity contest
Somehow, somewhere, I can here the sound of a penny dropping. President Obama can bow to whatever despots he like - be it some Arab satrap or the court of European opinion - but it will not matter a damn to those who are opposed to democracy, opposed to capitalism and opposed to freedom of conscience and expression. What might help is a President who unashamedly believes in those things and refuses to apologize for them to an ungrateful world.
Secret Identity
The fetish art of Superman's co-creator Joe Shuster. As Kathy says, If these pictures aren't safe for work, you shouldn't have listened to your guidance counsellor.
April 04, 2009
The differential of history
Niall Ferguson: Most people who read War and Peace don't read the coda at the end on determinism and contingency in history.
The second method is to consider the actions of some one man- a king or a commander- as equivalent to the sum of many individual wills; whereas the sum of individual wills is never expressed by the activity of a single historic personage.
Historical science in its endeavor to draw nearer to truth continually takes smaller and smaller units for examination. But however small the units it takes, we feel that to take any unit disconnected from others, or to assume a beginning of any phenomenon, or to say that the will of many men is expressed by the actions of any one historic personage, is in itself false.
It needs no critical exertion to reduce utterly to dust any deductions drawn from history. It is merely necessary to select some larger or smaller unit as the subject of observation- as criticism has every right to do, seeing that whatever unit history observes must always be arbitrarily selected. Only by taking infinitesimally small units for observation (the differential of history, that is, the individual tendencies of men) and attaining to the art of integrating them (that is, finding the sum of these infinitesimals) can we hope to arrive at the laws of history.
- From War and Peace
Magic Missile
Strategy Page argues alarm at the news of a Chinese anti-ship ballistic missile is unwarranted (hat tip to Mr. Salmon). Though I suspect the Chinese are more than capable of emulating a '70s era American missile guidance system so your mileage may vary.
...
The Chinese have long been rumored to have a system like this, but there have been no tests. If the Chinese do succeed in creating a "carrier killer" version of the DF-21, the U.S. Navy can modify its Aegis anti-missile system to protect carriers against such attacks. There are also electronic warfare options, to blind the DF-21 radar. Another problem the Chinese will have is getting a general idea of where the target carrier is before they launch the DF-21. This is not impossible, but can be difficult.
Related: "Just 18 Navy ships have the ability to destroy a ballistic missile hurtling through the air at thousands of miles per hour."
Paul Roland: The Great Edwardian Air-Raid
We don't live alone ......We are responsible for each other. And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish.
- J.B. Priestley
April 03, 2009
Elle talks American Idol
The first in a continuing series: "People whose life skills will not help them in the coming Caliphate. Who vote Democrat."
They're not wrong about Anoop's eyebrows, btw.
Canadian soldiers are dying for this
Afghanistan's two houses of parliament have passed a law limiting the rights of Shia women. The new law explicitly permits rape in marriage.
London street by street
Public school peasants with pitchforks notwithstanding, I quite like being able to move around London in panoramic street view.
April 02, 2009
It's rude, damaging, unfair and pernicious to say that women's history isn't important and interesting
So claims someone or other in light of David Starkey stating the obvious. And promoting his new television series.
Dr Starkey, 54, said: 'One of the great problems has been that Henry, in a sense, has been absorbed by his wives. Which is bizarre. But it's what you expect from feminised history, the fact that so many of the writers who write about this are women and so much of their audience is a female audience. Unhappy marriages are big box-office.
...
And he added: 'If you are to do a proper history of Europe before the last five minutes, it is a history of white males because they were the power players, and to pretend anything else is to falsify.'
He doesn't enjoy The Tudors either.
A growing social problem
Faced with a straightened economy and mounting job losses, Japan is paying unemployed foreigners of Japanese ancestry to go home. The magic number to trigger this sort of reaction from the Japanese?
"The program is to respond to a growing social problem," said ministry official Hiroshi Yamashita
Nine thousand in a country of 130 million. It is difficult to imagine what they must make of Canada's thinking on the subject.
April 01, 2009
Kill system
That a report translated by naval affairs blog Information Dissemination has got the attention of the U.S. Naval Institute suggests said report is cause for alarm. The Peoples Liberation Army Navy is said to have developed an operational anti-ship ballistic missile "kill system" intended to knock out United States aircraft carriers. If so, so much for American grand strategy and - by extension - Pax Americana.
Because the missile employs a complex guidance system, low radar signature and a maneuverability that makes its flight path unpredictable, the odds that it can evade tracking systems to reach its target are increased. It is estimated that the missile can travel at mach 10 and reach its maximum range of 2000km in less than 12 minutes.
...
If operational as is believed, the system marks the first time a ballistic missile has been successfully developed to attack vessels at sea. Ships currently have no defense against a ballistic missile attack.
Lest this ruin anyone's breakfast, I hasten to remind everyone of China's proven anti-satellite capability. That should put a damper on your first cup of coffee as well.
Interesting fact for our intelligence services: There are many Arab Christians too
Watching old Bond films, I remember what it was like to be enthusiastic about the West. Now I learn of a CIA recruitment drive with the same enthusiasm I reserve for... actually, metaphors fail me here. The walls are left unguarded, the gate is open and barbarians may come and go as they please.
"In order to accomplish our vital intelligence mission we want to market our employment opportunities to speakers of Arabic, Russian, Korean, Pashtu and Urdu," George Little, a CIA spokesman, told The Times.
So naturally they advertise in The Economist and The Washington Post; there is a dweeb quota to fill.