6/05/2011
Um, Mr. President? NATO? Anyone?
Wasn't the intervention in Libya supposed to be about saving civilian lives? So why aren't we intervening in Syria? I mean, the Syrian government is actually shooting civilian protesters, unlike the Libyans, who were only endangering them in the crossfire while fighting armed rebels. Quite honestly, they were probably within the Laws of Land Warfare, too.
You know what I think? I think there were two elements to The One's decision-making on this: first, the Europeans were going to go in with or without us, and he didn't want to look like a wimp, even though the Euros were protecting their own interests (oil supply, and avoiding a wave of refugees) whereas we had no interests at play.
Second, I think The One figured that Quadaffy would cave when faced with the awesome might of the USAF, and he could score an easy foreign policy victory. Instead, Quadaffy didn't cave, and now we're stuck backing one side in a stalemated civil war. Instead of looking like a strong, competant statesman, The One looks like a Newb who's in over his head. Which is exactly what he is.
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Sargeant Major of the Marines Has A Hissy Fit
Over the possibility of the Army using MARPAT.
“The main concern for the Marine Corps when it comes to other services testing our patterns is that they don’t exactly mimic them,” said Kent, who is scheduled to retire June 9. “The MARPAT design is proprietary, and it’s important those designs are reserved for Marines. We just need to make sure each of our designs is unique to each service.”
Really, Sar' Major? I know you've been around long enough to remember when everyone wore woodland BDUs or DCUs. Ya'll still had your 8-corner hats and rolled your sleeves. I don't remember it causing any problems.
And BTW, if it's proprietary, the rights are owned by the US taxpayer. Who also employs the Army. Oh yeah, and the pattern was developed by the Army's Natick Labs. With Army money.
And finally, unless I got close enough to see national flag patches or the color of web gear and body armor, I usually couldn't tell US Marines from Canadian troops in Afghanistan. So what was it you were saying about being unique?
I suggest you shut up and color, before you further embarrass the Corps.
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China Accuses US of Launching 'Internet War'
From Foxnews.com:
BEIJING – The Chinese military accused the U.S. on Friday of launching a global "Internet war" to bring down Arab and other governments, redirecting the spotlight away from allegations of major online attacks on Western targets originating in China.
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Writing in the Communist Party-controlled China Youth Daily newspaper, the scholars did not mention Google's claims, but said recent computer attacks and incidents employing the Internet to promote regime change in Arab nations appeared to have originated with the U.S. government.
"Of late, an Internet tornado has swept across the world ... massively impacting and shocking the globe. Behind all this lies the shadow of America," said the article, signed by Ye Zheng and Zhao Baoxian, identified as scholars with the Academy of Military Sciences.
"Faced with this warmup for an Internet war, every nation and military can't be passive but is making preparations to fight the Internet war," it said.
So, the Red Chinese are accusing the US of using the free flow of information as a weapon. Of course, free information is immensely dangerous to totalitarian regimes, and I'd like to think our government is competent enough to actually use it as a weapon to advance the cause of liberty around the world. But personally, I think they're giving the folks at Foggy Bottom and Langely more credit than they deserve.
China needs to "express to the world its principled stance of maintaining an 'Internet border' and protecting its 'Internet sovereignty,' unite all advanced forces to dive into the raging torrent of the age of peaceful use of the Internet, and return to the Internet world a healthy, orderly environment," the article said.
And, thank you very much for letting us know that you regard this as a threat. Not we know where to concentrate our efforts.
Remember, the Internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. Information wants to be free, and will find a way to be so.
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