FROM THE EARTH-SHATTERING KABOOM DEPARTMENT: Volcano Near Iceland’s Grindavik Erupts After Series of Earthquakes.
Archive for 2023
December 19, 2023
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Elon Musk Is Making All the Right Enemies. “If it’s the World vs. Elon Musk, I’m taking Musk every time. Just thought I’d get that out of the way up front.”
PHILIP ZELIKOW: The Atrophy of American Statecraft.
The world has entered a period of high crisis. Wars rage in Europe and the Middle East, and the threat of war looms in East Asia. In Russia, China, and North Korea, the United States faces three hostile states with nuclear weapons and, in Iran, another on the verge of acquiring them. Beyond the headlines, states are failing in Africa, Latin America, and Southwest Asia, and enormous migrations are in motion. Having just weathered a pandemic that was the costliest crisis since 1945, the United States must now contend with other urgent transnational challenges, such as managing energy transition amid a deteriorating climate, the rapid development of artificial intelligence, and a global capitalist system under more pressure than it has been for decades. Unpacked, each one of these issues has its own set of complex problems that few understand. And on almost every issue, whether they like the Americans or resent them, people in the world look to the U.S. government for help, if only in organizing the work.
The Americans cannot meet this demand. Their supply of effective policies is limited. The United States does not have the breadth and depth of competence—capabilities and know-how—in its contemporary government. The problem has existed for decades, as has been depressingly evident from time to time. What is new is the context.
It’s an interesting article with some good points but I think Zelikow missed the big one. The elites who manage America’s statecraft don’t like America very much or understand her at all, so it should come as no surprise that they consistently fail to promote or protect her interests.
BOB GRABOYES: Antisemitism, 20% Allies, and Colonel Nicholson: An Open Letter to My Right-of-Center Friends.. “Whenever possible, treat someone who disagrees with you 80 percent of the time as a 20 percent ally—not as an 80 percent enemy.”
CDR SALAMANDER: A New Combined Task Force Builds in the Red Sea …”Prosperity Guardian” … bleh.
Piracy from the southern end of the Red Sea to the Horn of Africa has ramped up significantly over the last couple of weeks, especially over the weekend.
There are a lot of solid updates on the late-breaking tactical developments that I won’t be replicating here. If you are on Twitter/X, there are a few of our favorite accounts that are doing a great job tracking this aspect of this challenge and you really should be following; Sal Mercogliano, John Konrad, Charlie B., and numerous others. I especially like primary source information from industry, and the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) is invaluable in this regard. Their alerts are clicking off faster than you can track over at X/Ttitter or their webpage.
Let’s just spend some time today doing a back-of-the-cocktail napkin review of the larger things in play, but before we do this – let’s set the table on what is causing the recent spot of bother.
Iran’s proxy in the area, the “Houthi” (officially known as Ansar Allah, AKA “Supporters of God”) is a Shia Islamist rebellion organization that evolved from the Saada Governorate of Yemen in the 1990s. They have been a pest off the part of the coast of the Red Sea they control for years, with some success – but generally were not an impediment to trade on the high seas.
After the attacks from Gaza on October 7th, the Houthi decided to support their fellow Iranian proxy Hamas by starting to attack Israel with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and long-range drones. History may reveal their actual goals, but they are from just doing some supporting fires to trying to force a wider war in the area. If they can humiliate Big Satan or Little Satan along the way, all the better.
That is where the USN got involved, indirectly getting involved in the conflict by intercepting what could be heading towards Israel. That quickly progressed to going after Israeli-related shipping passing by their shores, and now it is open season.
The crews of our Arleigh Burke destroyers are doing simply a superb job and the Royal Navy and French Navy have joined the efforts.
The attacks have reached the point that it is starting to impact Suez traffic and international trade – not to mention the physical danger to shipping and the merchant mariners of dozens of nations who transit the Red Sea.
How about Operation Hangman.
PRIORITIES: Italy’s Meloni Cuts The Baloney. “Despite the Russo-Ukrainian War and the growing recession, unlimited Islamic immigration into traditionally Christian European countries is the hot-button topic European elites have been desperate to avoid talking about, and the one in which governing elite groupthink seems farthest away from the actual will of the people.”
That’s changing but not fast enough or in enough countries — then again, who had predicted Italy as the first country in Western Europe to start straightening out its politics?
WELL, THE U.N.: Revealed: Why ‘UN Women’ took 55 Days to Condemn Hamas Rapes.
LOL, “DEMAND.” Protesters Demand Charges Be Dropped Against Those Arrested for Shutting Down the Bay Bridge. They’re lucky angry commuters didn’t chuck ’em over the side.
CAN YOU BLAME THEM? Major Law Firm Pulls Out of Recruiting at Harvard. “This was good to see and we certainly need more employers to follow in Jay Edelson’s footsteps. Not only the administration at Harvard but the students themselves need to understand that actions carry consequences. You can’t simply spend a few years attending an endless Jew-hating party and then expect to be handed a seven-figure job upon graduation.”
I think an awful lot of employers are also doing this unofficially, and just tossing resumes of students whose interests and activities show telltale signs of wokeness.
#CommissionEarned
Strength has many facets….
Lost in thought, Ayar’s mind was on his invention that would allow premature griffin cubs to survive. He had no inkling he would rescue a creature that he suspected might be rational. Who would put one of their own out to die like that?
Rhys Callahan wanted to avoid a point of known pirate activity. Then he flew directly into one, and his ship was shot out of the sky. He managed a terrifying crash-landing on the nearest planet only to find himself among regressed humans who thought he was a god. When they realized he wasn’t, they became angry. Then they chained him to an upthrust boulder as a sacrifice to their local deity.
Neither Ayar nor Rhys ever expected to meet one another. But now that they have, maybe together they can fight for both their kinds. First, though, they need to learn how to communicate – and hope that neither of them is killed before they can get their enterprise off the ground!
COLONIALISM, STRAIGHT UP: ‘Conquered’: Minnesota’s New Flag Bears a Strong Resemblance to THIS Flag.
THE ELITES ARE INSANE, BUT THE COUNTRY IS ALL RIGHT: 8 Pop Culture Miracles That Give Us Hope for 2024.
TRUST ME, WE ALREADY KNOW. WE SAW IT IN 2020: Tulsi Gabbard warns AmFest crowd that Democrat elites are ‘willing to do anything’ to hold onto power in 2024.
THEY PRETEND TO GASLIGHT US; WE HOLD MIDDLE FINGERS ALOFT: Poor, Unloved Dirty Joe .
CONSIDERING HOW MANY NEW-HOMELESS WE’RE IMPORTING I’M SURPRISED IT’S ONLY THAT: California Homeless Population Up 6% in 2023.