Open Thread - 14 August 2020

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Comments

[Serge]

After a week of what is considered heavy fighting for this theater, IS Central African Wilayat seized the port town of Cabo Delgado in northern Mozambique. Area happens to be sitting on an Exxon gas field worth 60$billion, project backed by many govs including the UK which has reportedly dumped 1$billion into the project. Interestingly the Russian Wagner group has been fighting IS hard here on behalf of the Mozambique government for the past 1.5 years. This branch of IS, split between groups of ex-ADF ugandans exiles based in the Congo and these muslim anti-government groups in Mozambique, is the newest IS wilayat declared in April 2019, and the most low tech of the bunch.

[Adrestia]

next week the IDFAF Will start expertises in Germany for the first time in its history. 6 F16I (the Israëli modified F16) and 2 G550 Aew-ew supporter bv Israëli tankers tot the flights in and out. Also at very short notice (within a week)

Also a lot of security measures on the ground inclusief new fences that prevent ground views.

The way the tankers operatie is not the usual on similar exercises. Couldn't help thinking about training for a long range raid. Iran seemed a logical target.

Could be coincidence.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics_F-16_Fighting_Falcon_variants#F-16I_Sufa
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAI_EL/W-2085

[J]

Colonel,

The thing that really stuck out in Nagel and Yingling's letter to Milley, is that it wreaked with how they feel they're now so impotent and so starved for attention, and hey guys we're still here . Of course notwithstanding the lack of any credibility in their 'rantings against POTUS'.

Both are attention starved individuals and bat-sh*t crazy.

[turcopolier]

Deap

They are simple minded and want war.

[Barbara Ann]

The White Revolution appears to be gaining a head of steam in Belarus. It will be very interesting to see the Kremlin's response. After 2014 I assume exactly such a scenario has both been envisaged and planned for. Lukashenko himself seems all out of friends - entirely thanks to his own efforts.

[FakeBot]

Jim, how about putting some whiskey in the jar-o? A little Allman Brothers maybe. You know Elvis never hurt anybody.

[JoeC100]

This appears to be a small bit of good bipartisan news from Congress:
https://asiatimes.com/2020/08/air-america-vets-may-finally-get-their-fair-due/
Now perhaps action could finally be taken to acknowledge and compensate the South Vietnamese we sent into North Vietnam who were mostly captured.

[simp]

US Fails to renew UN Arms embargo against Iran in embarrassing defeat.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/un-fails-to-approve-iran-arms-embargo-extension_3462610.html

"Washington and the Dominican Republic were the only yes votes, according to Reuters.."

[rjj]

1. REMINDER: Today is the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Admonition to Tyler: μηδὲν ἄγαν - 'Nothing in excess' also applies to both decorum and moderation. Gravitas gets ya down.

2. is Crabill's still the go-to place for LOCALLY raised and processed meats. Most of the posts in the links below are 5-10 years old. Things have changed. Would appreciate updated recommendations.

https://turcopolier.typepad.com/.services/blog/6a00d8341c72e153ef00d83451d3f569e2/search?filter.q=Crabill%27s

https://turcopolier.typepad.com/.services/blog/6a00d8341c72e153ef00d83451d3f569e2/search?filter.q=country+ham

[turcopolier]

rjj

Are you still up in Maine? I sold my house in the Valley and haven't been to Crabill's for years.

[The Beaver]

Colonel

What will Bibi, the Zionists like Feltman or the SoS do ?
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/lebanon-braces-rafik-hariri-killing-verdict

It is going to be a 6 hour long verdict !

[wtofd]

Finishing Windrow's The Last Valley and the VM sappers just reached the airstrip. Ugh. Cannot recommend this book too strongly. Really magnificent. The French bungled airdrops are heartbreaking.

[Fred]

rjj,

finished up the last of the Crabill's sausage I had frozen earlier in the year. Sadly the China plague over-reacation has caused me to miss out on traveling to VA this year. (Paris too for that matter). They were still going strong 18 months ago, I suspect they are still as good as ever.

[turcopolier]

wtofd

Yes, the ultimate VN book.

[rjj]

Been rusticating in down home country for a while. First stopped by bad winter weather then the virus. Intend/hope to return when auspices [or the reliability of expert opinion (this may take a while)] improve.

[Fred]

Looks like there are some financial problems North of the border.
https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/liberals-to-prorogue-parliament-until-fall

What would be the benefit of proroguing parliament, other than Justin remaining as Prime Minister?

[Keith Harbaugh]

Not sure if this is worth noting.
Your call, Colonel.

https://theintercept.com/2020/08/26/cia-national-intelligence-official-suicide/

"Anthony Schinella, 52, the National Intelligence Officer for Military Issues, shot himself on June 14 in the front yard of his Arlington home.
...
As NIO for Military Issues, Schinella was the highest-ranking military affairs analyst in the U.S. intelligence community..."

[turcopolier]

Keith Harbaugh

Why do they have an NIO for that?

[Keith Harbaugh]

To your question, I have no idea.

To the general readership, if any of you have Scotch warriors in your ancestry, here is a video towards that heritage:

https://youtu.be/L_OHaipe9KU

[turcopolier]

Keith Harbaugh

That would be me among others.

[Keith Harbaugh]

Schinella's wife, Sara Corcoran, describes in great detail the events immediately prior to Schinella's suicide:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8679747/Wife-senior-spy-killed-claims-intended-afterlife.html

It is particularly interesting how the US MSM have totally ignored this story.
Google "schinella suicide" to see this.
OTOH, the UK media is all over it.
One may wonder why the discrepancy.

For Tony's truly outstanding contributions to society, it is hard to imagine a more laudatory writeup than:

https://www.everlycommunity.com/tributes/Tony-Schinella

His wife, Sara Cocoran, was a prominent and prolific contributor to the media.
An example, dealing with her experience with men of Brett Kavanaugh's generation and social class, is:

https://dailycaller.com/2018/09/17/kavanaugh-party-days-roost/

[Keith Harbaugh]

Colonel: While issues involving the U.S. Navy are surely not central to this blog,
even so I think the following article raises some high-level issues involving the USN worth mentioning.
A sample from the article:

"While the “Fat Leonard” scandal is a symptom of various cultural ills plaguing parts of the U.S. Navy, the Navy’s problems with ship handling—as well as recent fire prevention and disease response missteps—manifested more than a decade ago, years before the “Fat Leonard” investigation exploded into public view.
...
Years before “Fat Leonard” was arrested, concern over naval ship-handling was on full display. As early as 2006, Captain Stuart Landersman (USN, Ret.), in a scathing professional article, noted how ship handling went from a critical competency, “essential to a career officer’s reputation, professionalism and promotion,” to where it was no longer included in Fitness Reports and Counseling Records."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/craighooper/2020/09/04/as-investigators-id-big-problems-us-navy-blames-fat-leonard/

P.S. I have no idea how blame should be divided among the possibilities.
Just want to front some of those possibilities.