CONNECTICUT ON ICE: From the photo vault — the Seawolf-class fast-attack submarine USS Connecticut breaks through Arctic ice and the crew takes a stroll.

AMERICA OFFERS TO HELP THE IRANIAN PEOPLE COMBAT THE CORONAVIRUS EPIDEMIC: The link goes to U.S. State Department website and a press statement made by SecState Mike Pompeo.

Extended quote:

The United States stands with the people of Iran during the public health crisis caused by the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The U.S. Government is prepared to assist the Iranian people in their response efforts. This offer of support to the Iranian people, which has been formally conveyed to Iran through the Government of Switzerland, underscores our ongoing commitment to address health crises and prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

The United States calls on Iran to cooperate fully and transparently with international aid and health organizations. We will continue to work closely with countries in the region to help address unmet needs in response to the virus.

Persons interested in providing support to the Iranian people should note that certain donations to Iran intended to relieve human suffering, including the donation of medicine, are exempt from U.S. sanctions…

The statement delivers a diplomatic three-fer. (1) It’s noble and generous –the right action to take in a humanitarian crisis. (2) Sanctions exemptions demonstrate by deed that the U.S. opposes “Death to America” ayatollahs, not the Iranian people. (3) It challenges the Iranian dictatorship to behave with “transparency.” If the ayatollah regime fails to do so, it is responsible for increasing the epidemic risk the Iranian people confront.

UPDATE: The BBC reports that Iran has rejected the U.S. offer.

A telling quote:

A member of the Tehran City Council told Ilna news agency that “the number of infected patients may rise to 10,000 or 15,000” in the coming weeks.

The head of the World Health Organization’s emergencies programme, Dr Michael Ryan, said on Thursday that the apparent high mortality rate in Iran indicated its outbreak might be more widespread than realized.

Stay tuned.

SANDS OF IWO JIMA, FEBRUARY 1945: An ambulance jeep struggles in the sand.

RELATED: Remembering Iwo Jima — Feb. 19, 1945 to March 27, 1945.

A HERO OF THE REAL RESISTANCE: Powerline’s Scott Johnson stays on the Ilhan Omar case with A Message from Abdi Nur.

From Powerline:

“My name is Abdihakin Osman Nur and I live in Minneapolis Minnesota. I am an American citizen. I am the person who spoke to the media and said that Ilhan Omar married her brother and made legal papers for him to stay in America. I confirmed that the marriage was fraudulent and that I was personally aware since I was a close friend and neighbor to both Ahmed Hirsi and Ilhan Omar. It is also an open secret in the Minnesota Somali community but everyone is afraid of problems from supporters of Ilhan Omar, at least one of whom has a felony criminal record.”

More:

“I would like to inform the public and the government of the USA. If anything were to happen to me and my safety that Ilhan Omar and her team will be responsible. I also ask for the support of the American people in case I’m set up or something happens to me because I have talked.”

Read the entire post. Be proud that there are brave Americans like Mr. Nur.

FROM THE PHOTO VAULT: The last UN forces tank retreats across the Han River as the UN forces evacuate Seoul. Photo taken January 4, 1951.

AFTER 400,000 DEAD, SOUTH SUDAN SEEKS PEACE: The country’s six-year long internal war may finally be ending.

THE NAVY’S “COMMON UNMANNED SURFACE VEHICLE” MANEUVERS AT NAVAL STATION NORFOLK: Take a look at the “developmental” CUSV. The photo caption says the boat is maneuvering autonomously in the Elizabeth River.

RELATED: Background on “third generation” unmanned vessels.

VIPERS ON DECK: Two USMC AH-1Z Viper helicopters prepare to take off from the flight deck of the amphibious transport dock ship USS Green Bay. Photo taken February 19 somewhere in the Gulf of Thailand.

SMALL BOAT RAID DRILL: Preparing for a small boat raiding exercise, U.S. Marines and members of Japan’s Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade deploy in combat rubber raiding craft.

DESERT STREAK: The USAF Thunderbirds practice a low level maneuver at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada.

ILHAN OMAR’S REIGN OF ERROR: Powerline’s Scott Johnson titled his post “Reign of Terror,” and she certainly tried to terrorize Somalis in Minnesota. According to the post she succeeded — up to a point. Three people –Preya Samsundar, David Steinberg, and Scott– stayed on the case. Now the Daily Mail is scorching Omar internationally and one of Scott’s Minnesota Somali sources has emerged in public. Abdi Nur is a brave man.

Scott provides this quote:

“…She (Omar)lied through her teeth to elderly people who stood in line for hours to vote for their dreams which they saw in her…[T]his country is ours and we Love America. It is our job to defend it and I will do everything to protect it from someone who despises our country. We are united in all faiths and colors to continue to live together…”

Mr. Nur is a genuine resistance fighter. Read the whole thing.

CORONAVIRUS EPIDEMIC TESTS THE WORLD’S ECONOMIC VIGOR: The epidemic’s economic effects are broad — information technology, travel, auto manufacturing, even mining. The virus has put another crimp in Iranian oil exports.

FORCE RECON ON SKIS: Marines in Force Reconnaissance Company 2nd Marine Division move on skis during the Norwegian Military’s Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) course in Norway, Feb. 17, 2020.

CORONAVIRUS EPIDEMIC TESTS THE WORLD’S ECONOMIC VIGOR:

In the last three weeks, a spate of corporate and governmental announcements shows the U.S. and Chinese economies remain entwined.

For example, Apple warned investors that the coronavirus epidemic will prevent it from meeting first-quarter profit expectations. Domestic Chinese demand for Apple products has declined sharply. The epidemic has also disrupted iPhone production in China. Apple remains a blue chip company, but it faces demand and supply chain problems.

The epidemic has also disrupted the world’s largest mobile phone industry trade show, the Mobile World Congress. On Feb. 12, the MWC decided to cancel its annual Barcelona conference. Fear the disease may spread is one reason, but travel restrictions from East Asia would have reduced attendance.

The virus even bugs the oil business, “with Iran a definite loser.” Read the entire essay.

EAGLE WITH A RISING SUN ON VALENTINE’S DAY: Scrambled symbols? No, another photo from Exercise Cope North 2020 held at Anderson Air Force Base, Guam. A Koku Jieitai (Japan Air Self-Defense Force) F-15MJ Eagle flies over the Pacific and the photographer gets a great shot of the plane’s red disc “Rising Sun” nationality symbols (roundels). Photo take Feb. 14, 2020. This post from late 2019 has some background on the Japanese F-15 and its recent upgrades. The post also discusses Japan’s decision to buy F-35As.

RELATED: The Rising Sun flag (sun with rays) occasionally stirs controversy in South Korea. Scroll down through this post for a historical sketch.

Japanese atrocities during World War II are also still an issue in China and throughout East Asia but South Korea is a special case as it is a democracy with a free press and politicians and editors always have, and often use, the option to revive one of the many Japanese “crimes against humanity” and the Korean people.

Historical context for the “news.”

CONCUSSION CONFUSION: StrategyPage’s editor, James F. Dunnigan, looks at the January 8, 2020 Iranian ballistic missile strike on three American bases in Iraq and the subsequent concussion injury controversy.

Scroll down for this:

By 2011 the U.S. military felt they had new concussion damage detection tools that military doctors could state how badly a concussion victim was hurt. This was still not an exact science but it was much more precise than in the past. With this new information, the military established guidelines for which concussion victims were eligible for a Purple Heart and which were not. In reality, most combat troops had long since adopted their own criteria and many would refuse Purple Hearts for light wounds or combat injuries. That said, even combat veterans recognized that some concussion injuries could be as debilitating as losing a limb, eyesight or the disfigurement of severe burns.

The post includes a long discussion of PTSD (and its prior names, like shock and combat fatigue), what the U.S. Army and Marines have learned about PTSD since 2001, and what the military and medical community are doing about it.

UPDATE: Date corrected. Thanks.

COLD WEATHER OPS: A USAF crew chief prepares a C-17 for a flight in a snow storm. Here’s a photo of a C-17 in better weather, as well as aircraft data. The C-17, unfortunately, is no longer in production. It’s quite a plane.

SNOW VIPER ON NORTHERN VIPER: Marines from 1st Marine Air Wing refuel an AH-1Z Viper attack helicopter at a Forward Arming and Refueling Point (FARP) during Exercise Northern Viper. Photo taken January 25 in the Yausubetsu Training Area, Hokkaido, Japan. Here’s a background post on the AH-1Z (published in 2011).

From the 2011 post:

Basically, the AH-1Z is created by remanufacturing older AH-1T/W attack helicopters into AH-1Z models. This produces a helicopter with a 10,000 hours (in the air) airframe, new engines, new electronics and an updated and much more effective gunship. There have been some problems with the fire control system (which is, when it works, similar to what the latest AH-64s have), that caused some delays. However, the marines were able to catch up, and the AH-1Z kept to its scheduled entry into service this year.

The AH-1W was an upgrade of the Vietnam-era AH-1 Cobra.

UPDATE: Link problem fixed.

JAPANESE SOLDIERS STORM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BEACH: But this is 2020, not early 1942. That noted, the photo does indeed show a Japan Ground Self-Defense Force assault amphibious vehicle landing on a California beach –the beach at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. The AAV is assigned to Japan’s Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, which is participating in Exercise Iron Fist 2020. Iron Fist is an allied naval and marine exercise. The photo was taken Feb. 12. Here’s some background (from 2014) on Japan’s decision to form a “real” marine brigade and on Japan’s decision to acquire the U.S. AAV7 amphibious assault vehicle.

NEWS FOR SUBMARINE FANS:

A French firm (Naval Group, formerly DCNS) has successfully tested what it calls FC2G (Fuel Cell 2nd Generation) AIP (Air Independent Propulsion) system for 18 days in a mock-up of the complete system in an 8 meter long circular structure identical to the space it would occupy in a submarine. The FC2G performed efficiently for three weeks. This test will be repeated several times as preparations are made to install FC2G in a submarine. The FC2G is safer, more efficient and easier to operate than earlier fuel cell AIP systems, including the widely used DCNS first-generation AIP.

AIP is one reason non-nuclear subs will be around for a long time. Read the entire post.

EXERCISE COPE NORTH: Royal Australian air force, Japan Air Self-Defense Force and U.S. military aircraft prepare for Exercise Cope North 20 at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. Photo taken February 12. Now here’s the Saturday pop quiz. Can you name the large, imperialist Communist, corona virus-plagued country on the East Asian littoral this allied exercise and other similar exercises are meant to deter?

FIX THE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE COURT AND PUNISH THE CROOKS WHO ABUSED IT: My latest Creators Syndicate column. I cover the FISC’s purpose, the saga of its abuse by Obama Administration operatives (with Carter Page’s false incrimination as the premier example), and some possible repairs to the warrant application process.

Here’s the bet:

I wager [federal prosecutor John] Durham will expose crony government at its worst — dirty government officials, bureaucrats and agents who are politically exploiting and criminally manipulating the U.S. national security structure to harm their political opponents.

We shall see.

BLACK HAWKS IN ROTTERDAM: 1st Infantry Division Black Hawk helicopters prepare to redeploy after a nine-month deployment in Europe.

THE GREAT RECKONING BEGINS: Fix the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and Punish the Crooks Who Abused It.

A sample:

In the past, the public expected responsible reporters to scrutinize government operations. In the FISC saga, contemporary mainstream media served as a PR tool for crooked cops and spies. So-called elite press outfits like The New York Times and The Washington Post unquestioningly touted intelligence leaks that have proven to be false.

Though mainstream media outlets take scant notice, angry calls to disband the court have not faded. The decibels will increase when federal prosecutor John Durham’s investigation into the origins of the Russia collusion hoax becomes headline news.

And there’s so much more.

DOUBLE FARVEL: The USN’s Blue Angels perform the Double Farvel maneuver while practicing at El Centro, California. This is an amazing aerial stunt.