The futility of America's efforts in Afghanistan [Battle Land]

Orbitz travel website now steering Apple users towards more expensive hotels [WSJ]

Patent trolling costs economy $29 billion a year - Bessen & Meurer [SSRN]

In the end strategy matters more than firepower

All-American bushwhacker

From the comments section of a blog post at The Small Wars Journal in re General William Westmoreland's Viet Nam strategy:

"[General Vo Nguyen] Giap ... saw the strategically ridiculous position in which the American military had been placed by President Johnson. Giap's military strategy was simple. He knew the US forces could tactically defeat his forces in head to head battles every day of the year due to the overwhelming fire power we could bring to bear, so he predicated his strategy on fighting battles, causing casualties among our troops and air crews, loosing the battle, accepting his losses large or small, and sending replacements into the South to repeat the process over and over again. As he said, we would run out of patience for that war long before he ran out of men." [emphasis added]

Looks like the Taliban are following the same course.

One side's "terror campaign" versus the other side's "targeted killings" by drone

It's just a matter of perspective. An indigenous, diffuse, low-tech band of resistance fighters versus a well organized, high-tech, global superpower are obviously not  an even match. Both have different abilities and strengths and weaknesses. So don't expect them to fight the same way. Mark Thompson at The Battleland blog at Time.com puts it like this:

"...[Killing] Taliban and other foes with unmanned drones has been labeled cowardly by those targeted. And what’s murder to one side can seem a justifiable combat action by the other. That’s what tends to happen when a superpower fights a primitive society."

Indeed it does.

With "allies" like these

Time.com's Battleland blog which covers military affairs says that in the last two years at least 58 allied troops have been killed by their Afghan army and police allies. These killings were not so-called "friendly fire" mishaps either but deliberate killings. Sheesh. And don't get me started on America's lying, perfidious "allies" in the Pakistan military and intelligence agencies. America needs to get the hell out of that quagmire.

Two out of three Iraq and Afghanistan vets think wars not worth the sacrifice

According a poll from Pew. US policy makers please note.

80 year old British service rifle still fit for and in service in Afghanistan

But unfortunately in the hands of Britain's enemies now. An insurgent sniper killed by the Royal Army recently was found to have been armed with an old World War I era British-made Lee-Enfield rifle and pocket full of .303 ammo for it  manufactured in the 1940's . I was just thinking that if you don't own an AR or Mini-14 rifle that you aren't armed well enough to defend your homestead properly. I'll have reconsider that view.
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How to defeat America on the battefield

A pair of retired generals Robert H. Scales and Paul van Riper have written a really good op-ed in the Washington Post in re the awarding of the CMH to an Army NCO who actually lived to receive it. Along the way they make the point that the strategy to defeat America on the battlefield has already been written. And our enemies have read it and are using it at this very moment. 

First, make the Americans fight on your terms at a place and time of your choosing.

"...no small unit in such peril should ever cede the high ground to the enemy, particularly when unmanned vehicles are capable of monitoring constantly overhead and transmitting clear pictures of the surrounding terrain."

Second, spend all your money on whiz-bang wonder weapons, shady civilian war contractors, and corrupt indigenous governments rather than basic issue combat kit (e.g., the issue infantry rifle, state-of-the-art body armor, etc.).

"Army and Marine Corps infantry squads were outgunned at the tactical level in Vietnam by the North Vietnamese Army's superior AK-47 assault rifles. We would like a Beltway guru to explain why Sgt. Giunta had to fight with the same rifle we used so long ago."

Third, kill as many Americans as possible. People back home don't like their men coming home disfigured or dead from overseas battlefields in places they don't especially care about. 

Fourth, read the writings of PAVN General Vo Nguyen Giap. He explains it all in detail. To wit: With a correct strategy you may lose battles but you will win the war. Following an incorrect strategy you may win battles but you will ultimately lose the war.

The deadly cat & mouse games between US forces and guerillas in Afghanistan

The Afghans want the US out and they demonstrate this opinion with armed violence and the US Army kills them for it. The Long War Journal presents an interesting story here about a typical US Army sniper team that spots and shoots guerrillas planting roadside bombs. This cat and mouse game costs America many casualties and billions of dollars not to mention it's pissing off the people who live there.  And this deadly little game has been going on for a decade now. And some say it'll go on forever. (Long War Journal, Washington Post)

Taliban facing its own "uprising"

In areas of Afghanistan that the Taliban control the local non-Talib tribes are ginning up their own anti-government uprising. What makes this an interesting occurrence is that where this is happening the Taliban is the government. So says the NY Times so these reports are somewhat suspect barring independent confirmation and it may just be the usual tit_for_tat kinda stuff that tribal cultures are  known for. But it's a development worth keeping an eye on. (Long War Journal, NY Times)

The Afpak war is gonna end just like Vietnam did

What started out as a punitive expedition to punish the Taliban and kill Osama bin-Laden a decade ago is now a debacle that will haunt us for decades.

The end game goes like this: The US leaves, the puppet government collapses and the Taliban wave their flag over the smoldering rubble of the American embassy. All that blood and money squandered and lost. Americans elites just won't learn to mind their own fucking business.

Sign of the times: Americans are getting tired of perpetual war

So says historian and retired Army colonel Andrew Bacevich (TomDispatch.com/)
I sure hope so.

Why America is losing in Afghanistan

Motivation. The Taliban, AQ et al have it in spades. American soldiers are brave and tough as they are don't have it to the same degree. Not at all. "This is not to denigrate", says Pat Buchanan, "the brave Afghan soldiers who have bled and died. But the Taliban have not needed U.S. training, U.S. arms, U.S. air and fire support or U.S. paychecks to go into battle. All the suicide bombers who give up their lives are — Taliban."

Weblog

 Thousands without power in Pittsburgh area due to copper thieves (CBS TV Pittsburgh)
"According to First Energy, someone broke into a substation on Route 19 between Cranberry [PA] and Zelienople [PA] and stole all the copper ground wires."

What ever Obama says tonight the US is better off getting the hell out of Afghanistan (Tony Karon, Global Spin/Time)
"As Henry Kissinger famously noted, in an insurgency of this type, the guerrilla army wins by not losing; the conventional army loses by not winning."

Big News! Women don't want to marry you if you're unemployed (Life Inc.com/)

Weblog

A photo essay of the improvised weapons of the Libyan rebels (Alan Taylor, The Atlantic)
I give those guys credit. They are quite brave to be hammering, welding and otherwise monkeying around with live weapons and ammo salvaged from the battlefield. Some of their improvisations (e.g., an aircraft missile launcher mounted on a pick-up truck bed) are quite ingenious if insanely dangerous.

US bases in Afghanistan for decades? (T.P.M. Barnett, Battleland blog)
"We reached success when the Iraqis started demanding we leave. That is what success looks like - not pretty, not perfect, actually kind of awkward. The Afghans want us to stay - after a decade of trying. That is failure staring you in the face."

NATO: An alliance who's time has passed (Ted Galen Carpenter, Daily Caller)

"Washington needs to ask what the purpose is of having allies. This country should not be simply a security partner collector — acquiring allies for the sake of having allies. The NATO “partners” now seem to fit that description."

Review: McMillan DiamondBlade Knife (Dave Petzal, The Gun Nuts blog)
Petzal says it's the best knife he's ever seen. Costs around five hundred bucks not counting tax and shipping. For that price it had better be. Me, I just can't see it. An Opinel knife with a old school style carbon blade is a better value in my opinion. It costs less than fifty bucks (price includes tax, shipping and handling) although it'll rust if you don't take care of it. But if you happen to lose it out in the woods or it gets dropped into the river or whatever you can cheaply replace it.

weblog - June 09, 2011

The food crisis of 2011 (Addison Wiggin, Forbes)
All it's gonna take (says Wiggin) is one big crop failure somewhere and they'll be food riots or worse.  People aren't gonna sit still and watch their children starve. As the saying goes "no society is more than three meals away from revolution."

Mid-Michigan farmers playing catch-up after massive rains in May (Lisa Allmendinger, annarbor.com)
As one farmer put it: Things were better for farmers when, "they didn’t depend on just corn or soybeans to pay the bills. Instead, they planted other crops and had sheep, pigs, chickens and horses." But you have to nowadays. They don't call 'em "cash crops" for nothing, eh?

A grunt's view of the Afghan war: "Afghanistan is a waste of our time." (Chuck Spinney, Battleland blog)
Let's GTF out of there before we lose any more killed and wounded. Who has the most credibility here? The Washington think-tankers or the grunts on the front lines? Do you have to ask?

weblog

A real estate mogul who is obsessed with Beat Generation writers. - Ann Arbor Observer

He's decided to largely ditch his real estate business and open an online bookstore that specializes in 1950's era Beatnik stuff.

Speaking ill of the dead - Detroit Free Press (slide show)

Ex-Redwing Bob Probert's funeral was just as garish and tacky as his life was.

The Last Good Country - Detroit Metro-Times

Ernest Hemingway's time in nothern Michigan as a young man. (book review)

LAPD show the Marines how to take on the Taliban - LA Times

hly-paid and tenured faculty for on-line classes?

The End of Free- The Atlantic

Free internet stuff that is. See, vulture capitalists just wanna get paid. Fuck 'em.

Noam Chomsky's inner conservatism - Taki's Magazine

Interesting read, but the author's conclusions are kinda of a stretch. Argued past the evidence.

weblog

Public employee unions starting to lose "public support" - SF Chronicle (Peter Scheer)
When did the gold-plated bureaucracy ever have it?
For Michigan "progressives" it's come to this: Bernero versus Dillion for governor - MLive
Sheesh. A populist rabble-rouser whose main talent is giving fiery speeches and debate performances but who has accomplished little versus a corporation friendly state capitalist who talks a good game but also has accomplished little.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal the Army's Afghanistan theatre commander disses Obama - Wired News
Italian archeologists think they have found Caravaggio's bones - Seattle Times (via American Scientist)
"The purpose of immigration is make our country better, not help the immigrants out" -iSteve blog
A straight up explanation of Canada's immigration policy. More Chinese and Indians and fewer Latinos and Caribbeans is what it amounts to.
How Bonnaroo went from Harmless Hippie Fest to Corporate Scam - Taki's Magazine
"When I saw Rage Against the Machine play at Lollapalooza back in 1996, their backdrop was an inverted American flag tagged with “666.” It was an ominous warning that a predatory hegemony loomed on the horizon. A decade later, bands played Lollapalooza on the “Bud Light Stage,” the “MySpace Stage,” and the “PlayStation Stage.” Of course, Rage Against the Machine played the “AT&T Stage” in 2008. Is that why they call it a revolutionary act?"
L.A. Medical-Marijuana Outlets Defy City - LA Weekly
Heroic resistence to L.A.'s oppressive drug laws or reluctance to give up a lucrative gig? Hmm...

Sign of the times...

A lot of those-in-the-know just love the Long War Journal website. It does have some good article links about the US military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. But they also have this stupid running list (updated continually) of Al-Qaeda, Taliban, and other Islamist paramilitary commanders that are killed, wounded or captured. And which is both morbid and idiotic to my mind. The constant lists of "senior commanders killed by a drone strike in Waziristan" is likely about some purported local big-frog-in-a-small-pond that the US has iced at the cost of millions of dollars and often with serious collateral damage resulting. And for all the boasting, bragging and strutting, is soon replaced in their hierarchy rather quickly by the next in line. Just as it is when a USMC or Army NCO or officer is killed, wounded or captured by them. And it's just poor form.

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"You know things have taken a weird turn when liberals start sounding like members of the American Legion" - C4SS (Kevin Carson)

When so-called "progressives" are defining the terms then any criticism of the state and its ruling class constitutes sedition. Well so be it then.

Things that keep you an immature punk instead of a grown man - Ch. 1 - The Art of Manliness

Video games: "Whereas men once fought as soldiers, they now pretend to be ones. Where men used to play baseball and football, they now control avatars who play for them. Where men used to play an instrument, they now press buttons on a plastic toy. Where we once created, we now consume."

It's Obama's war now - boing boing

Take a gander at this poster for a concert in NYC. The tide has turned. It's his war now after more than a year in office.

weblog

A very interesting vlog on trans-humanism and the human future. - Bloggingheads.tv

Mike Treder & Massimo Pigiucci discuss.

Women like men who rock climb - Outside online

And men like women who do yoga and cook. Guitar Hero playing Cheetos eaters did not make the cut for the top ten. Go figure?

Isn't It Time To Euthanize Harry Reid's Wife? - Reihl World View (Dan Reihl)
"I'm not sure I quite understand this, given that cost is so important as a burden to taxpayers when it comes to health care. If Democrats want so badly to abort babies because of it, why are we bothering with someone who has a broken neck and back at 69? It sounds to me like she's pretty well used up and has probably been living off the taxpayers for plenty of years to begin with. Aren't we at least going to get a vote on it?"

Man Versus Afghanistan - The Atlantic (Robert D. Kaplan)

General McChrystal explains it all. Or tries to.

Why do people hate bankers? - SF Chronicle

Let me count the ways.