HMM: Russia to Arm Nuclear Subs With New Supersonic Cruise Missile.

The Russian Navy will arm its upgraded Project 949A Oscar II-class nuclear-powered guided missile submarines (SSGN) with 3M-54 Kalibr cruise missiles, Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov said on March 6.

Two Project 949A SSGNs are currently being retrofitted as part of a life extension program at the Zvezda shipyard in the Russian Far East, which is supposed to expand the subs’ service life by 15 to 20 years.

“The Zvezda shipyard is carrying out profound modernization of Project 949A nuclear submarines, including the replacement of armament with the Kalibr missile complex and also the replacement of navigation, life support, and other systems,” Borisov told TASS news agency this week.

Project 949A subs, built between 1985 and 1999, are primarily designed to attack U.S. carrier strike groups and coastal targets in the event of a conflict. They are the largest cruise missile subs currently in service in Russia. The Russian Navy is currently operating two Project 949A subs in its Northern Fleet and five with the Pacific Fleet.

The Oscar II-class boats probably never stood much chance at getting close enough to launch cruise missiles at targets here in the U.S., but their ability to put up a lot of missiles almost all at once would play hell with our surface ships’ air defenses.

THE MORE YOU KNOW… Trump’s New Immigration Order Creates Database of Honor Killings.

DAVEED GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: The Coming Islamic Culture War.

As LGBT and religion-critical communities in Muslim countries become increasingly assertive, they are likely to trigger a backlash from conservative religious forces. Indeed, the backlash has already begun, sometimes violently, at both the state and the sub-state level.

Even as Islamist groups have launched reporting campaigns to shut down atheist Facebook accounts, governments have arrested atheists who are vocal online. In 2015, Egyptian courts sentenced a 21-year-old student to three years in prison after he declared on Facebook that he was an atheist. Saudi Arabia has imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi since 2012 on charges of insulting Islam online, occasionally dragging him out of jail for a public lashing. And across the MENA region, governments have similarly targeted members of the LGBT community who are active online. On dating apps, Egyptian police have used catfishing—a tactic in which individuals use false personas to establish online relationships—to identify and arrest gay men.

In the most extreme cases, members of these marginalized groups have been the victims of targeted sub-state violence. Since 2013, Islamist militants in Bangladesh, some of whom are linked to al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, have carried out a series of assassinations targeting atheist bloggers. And in April 2016, a jihadist faction pledging allegiance to the Islamic State claimed responsibility for killing the editor of Bangladesh’s only LGBT magazine.

It is not entirely clear how the Internet-enabled rise of marginalized communities—such as the LGBT or religion-critical ones—will reshape Muslim-majority societies. In the short term, the rise of these social movements may provide a boon to jihadist groups, who often cast themselves as the only force capable of protecting the faith against Western and secular values. But over the long term, these marginalized groups may fundamentally challenge religious conservatives’ grip on power.

Two things are clear, and not just from reading this piece. One is that much of the Islamic world is in desperate need of reform. The other is that if reform comes, it will be halting — except where it comes suddenly and radically — and that the reaction will be violent.

STAY DOWN: Kim Jong Nam’s son appears for first time since his father’s murder.

In a 40-second video posted online by a group called Cheollima Civil Defense, Kim Han Sol identifies himself and shows his passport to the camera. The image of the passport has been blacked out.

“I’m currently with my mother and my sister,” he says. “We hope this gets better soon.”

It’s not clear where Kim Han Sol is in the video or when it was shot, though he says his father was killed “a few days ago.”

Kim Han Sol’s identity was verified to CNN by a South Korean National Intelligence Service spokesman.
No one from Kim Jong Nam’s immediate family has been heard from since his murder in Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur International Airport on February 13.

In a statement, Cheollima Civil Defense said it had responded to an emergency request by Kim Jong Nam’s family for “extraction and protection” last month.

The group thanked the governments of the Netherlands, China, the US and a fourth, unnamed country for “emergency humanitarian assistance” in protecting Kim’s family, and singled out the Dutch Ambassador to South Korea, A. J. A. Embrechts for credit.

Good luck to Kim Han Sol and his family.

SEEN ON TWITTER:

IS IT EVER NOT PROJECTION WITH THESE PEOPLE? Hate Crime Hoax: Michigan Snowflake Scratched Own Face with ‘Safe Space’ Safety Pin.

NEW YORKERS TO HILLARY CLINTON: No thanks.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton didn’t perform well in the latest poll in the New York City mayor’s race, according to a new Rasmussen poll released Tuesday.

Fifty-eight percent of likely voters in the city don’t want Clinton to run again, compared to just 23 percent of voters who wanted the former presidential candidate to run. Nineteen percent of voters hadn’t yet made up their mind.

Might America finally be done with the Clintons?

POWER BROKER: Putin sends a clear message to Turkey on Syria. “Russia is openly working with the Kurds to obstruct Erdogan’s buffer-zone, reminding him that the Kremlin, rather than Ankarra, is calling the shots in war-torn country.”

The Turks struck back by proxy, attacking a Russian position in the deserts of the ancient city of Palmyra, killing four Russian soldiers, and letting their allies in the countryside of Aleppo fire rockets at the city, debunking all claims by Russian and Syrian media that the city had been “freed completely” from rebel presence.

They were sending a message to Putin that they remain strongly entrenched in the city’s suburbs and can attack at will, if Moscow continues to hamper the expansion of the Turkish buffer zone.

Taking the confrontation to new heights, the Russians hammered out an agreement with the Manbij Military Council, a branch of the SDF, whereby the Kurdish militia would hand over control of several villages west of Manbij to the Syrian Army. They called it the “transferred defence of the frontline,” to halt “Turkey’s invasion plan”, referring to the Turks as “gangs” in their official communiqué, and to the Syrian troops as “state forces,” driving Erdogan extremely mad.

Erdogan had spoken on the telephone with President Donald Trump, asking for US cover to prevent Kurdish advances on Al Raqqa or continued US presence in Manbij. Not only did Trump refuse to commit, but provided the SDF, at their request, with anti-tank weapons, mine detectors and other military equipment.

Erdogan doesn’t seem to have any friends left, which shouldn’t shock anybody.

MEGAN MCARDLE: The Republican Plan Is Even Worse Than Obamacare.

It will not, for example, make the looming possibility of a “death spiral” in the individual market any less possible, and indeed may make it more likely. Passing this bill would certainly ensure that Republicans will 100 percent own any ensuing death spiral, and will have little luck whining that it was gonna death spiral anyway, because Obamacare. In other words, even if we leave aside any policy effects, this bill will be a disaster for the long-term political fortunes of the Republican Party.

It’s tempting to blame short-sighted Republican leadership, so focused on getting a point on the board that they’re not considering whether the sacrifices they need to get that point might end up costing them the game. But it’s not even clear that this scores any short-term political points.

Heritage Action, Freedomworks and Americans for Prosperity — three of the biggest groups that Republicans will need to help them whip their right flank into voting for this thing — have all come out hard against it. Avik Roy and Michael Cannon, two of the leading opponents of Obamacare in the policy community, have both panned it. You’re not exactly seeing enthusiastic cheers from the journalists who opposed Affordable Care Act, of which I am one. See? This is me, emphatically not cheering. If such a thing is possible, I am actively failing to cheer.

And:

That’s if the House Republicans can pass this. And frankly I doubt they can. Twenty-four hours ago, I was beginning to think that Republicans were going to ram something dumb through just to be able to say they’d done something. I don’t think they could get this through with the world’s largest battering ram and a million Visigoths to man it.

Ouch.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: 13 Lesser Known Tom Petty Classics You Should Add to Your Playlist.

A couple of these were new to me, and I’ve been a fan for a long time.

CHANGE: Study suggests that legal cannabis sales could take away 7.1% of revenues from the beer industry.

VIDEO: DNC Chair Admits the Democrat Party Is in ‘Crisis’ Mode.

KURT SCHLICHTER: You Can Tell What Leftists Are Doing By What They Accuse Conservatives Of Doing.

It’s Kurt, so read the whole thing.

TEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION: Summary of House Republicans’ Latest Obamacare Legislation.

• This plan fails to repeal most of the costly mandates and insurance regulations driving up premiums and deductibles

• This plan replaces Obamacare’s subsidy scheme with a new costly federal entitlement in the form of a refundable tax credit

• This plan leaves significant portions of the flawed and costly Medicaid expansion intact by delaying the freeze on Medicaid enrollment, maintaining the expansion of the program to the able-bodied, and providing a pathway for non-expansion states to accept enhanced federal dollars.

Other than that, what did you think of the bill, Mrs. Lincoln?

SUGAR DADDY: George Soros gave $246M to partners of Women’s March.

ISRAEL PULSE: Is Putin Bibi’s new ‘bestie’?

GOOD QUESTION: Why Is Cory Gardner Trying To Save Obamacare?. “The senator owes his political career to the unpopularity of the law. He’s voted for repeal more than 40 times. So what’s changed?”

More:

“We are concerned that any poorly implemented or poorly timed change in the current funding structure in Medicaid could result in a reduction in access to life-saving health care services,” states the letter signed by Rob Portman of Ohio, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Cory Gardner of Colorado.

Well, that sounds serious.

Now, if these four lawmakers decide to oppose the GOP’s Obamacare replacement, it will likely be doomed. Right now, the GOP plan allots states a set amount of federal funding for each person eligible for Medicaid, with any additional costs falling on the states. Leadership is going to have a hard enough time selling this weak bill to the conservative faction of the party.

Which bring me to Gardner. I’ve followed Gardner’s political career from the beginning. As one of the first congressional candidates who fused Tea Party idealism with competent messaging, he was palatable for many unaffiliated voters in Colorado. It would be a strange twist of fate for a politician who owes much of his political career to the unpopularity of Obamacare to play such a big part in obstructing repeal.

Indeed.

On the other hand, maybe the current bill needs to crash and burn before the GOP will get serious about genuine reform.

UPDATE: Another question from David Harsanyi. “The GOP Repeal Plan Sucks. But Is It Better Than Nothing?”

RON RADOSH: Is Trump Responsible for Some of His Recent Troubles?

YOU WON’T MISTAKE THIS HYBRID FOR A PRIUS: Super sexy, super sedan: AMG GT Concept debuts with 800 horsepower.

The Mercedes-AMG performance brand pulled the wraps off of an obscenely beautiful concept grand tourer at the 2017 Geneva Auto Show. The Mercedes-AMG GT Concept is a low-slung, fastback sedan with a design that echoes AMG’s GT supercar and an electrifying hypercar powertrain.

The long sedan features a low-slung, coupe-like profile with a fastback rear end that hides a lifting tailgate, a configuration that’s sure to put it squarely in the Audi RS7 and Porsche Panamera’s crosshairs — or, considering the specs, put them in the AMG’s sights.

The exterior aesthetic marries a bold Panamericana grille at the GT Concept’s front end with a rear end inspired by the Mercedes-AMG GT coupe production model. Between the two ends is a slim midsection with a very S-Class-esque pillarless window graphic.

Comparisons to Porsche’s unfortunate Panamera don’t do justice to the GT’s looks.

GEORGE FRIEDMAN: China’s Economy Continues to Decline.

China’s economic miracle, like that of Japan before it, is over. Its resurrection simply isn’t working, which shouldn’t surprise anyone. Sustained double-digit economic growth is possible when you begin with a wrecked economy. In Japan’s case, the country was recovering from World War II. China was recovering from Mao Zedong’s policies. Simply by getting back to work an economy will surge. If the damage from which the economy is recovering is great enough, that surge can last a generation.

But extrapolating growth rates by a society that is merely fixing the obvious results of national catastrophes is irrational. The more mature an economy, the more the damage has been repaired and the harder it is to sustain extraordinary growth rates. The idea that China was going to economically dominate the world was as dubious as the idea in the 1980s that Japan would. Japan, however, could have dominated if its growth rate would have continued. But since that was impossible, the fantasy evaporates – and with it, the overheated expectations of the world.

China’s dilemma, like Japan’s, is that it built much of its growth on exports. Both China and Japan were poor countries, and demand for goods was low. They jump-started their economies by taking advantage of low wages to sell products they could produce themselves to advanced economies.

There’s also an upper-limit to double-digit growth when that growth is based on selling to countries with low single-digit growth. Eventually something like balance is achieved, and we seem to have reached that point with China over the last few years.

Beijing’s goal has been to transition from export-driven growth to domestic consumer-driven growth, but the corruption inherent to China’s crony-capitalist/officially-communist system is a serious impediment. Grave doubts about China’s political/economic future drive Chinese to sock their money away (under the mattress or, whenever possible, overseas) rather than spend freely it like Westerners do.

To escape this trap, China must either move into high-margin industries by through technological innovation (for which autocracies have little aptitude), or transition to a more transparent, multiparty democracy (which the Chinese Communist Party won’t allow).

It’s a nasty trap, but it’s one of Beijing’s own making.

PETER SUDERMAN: The GOP’s Obamacare Repeal Bill Is Here. Is This Just Obamacare Lite?

Unlike Obamacare, which bases its credits on income, the GOP bills we’ve seen so far are based on age. That creates another set of political headaches, because it means that wealthier folks get tax credits, and because it means that older people would get less help than under Obamacare, in hopes of creating a scheme that lures more young and health people into the system.

The bill released tonight attempts to mitigate these problems by capping the refundable credit so that households earning more than $150,000 would be reduced, and individuals making more than $215,000 would get nothing at all. But that still leaves a credit that is refundable for most people, and adds a bit of additional administrative work: Under Obamacare, judging an individual’s employment and income has proven more than a little difficult, and the same would continue to be true here.

So Republicans would be replacing one set of insurance subsidies with another set of insurance subsidies, while killing the individual mandate but leaving many of the law’s insurance regulations intact (with a penalty for insurance gaps). There’s a reason that legislators like Michigan Rep. Justin Amash are already referring to it as “Obamacare 2.0.”

The brewing conservative/libertarian consensus seems to be that the GOP bill would modestly improve on some of ObamaCare’s faults, but does nothing to address the underlying (and government-created) maladies which add so much to health care’s expense.

IT NEVER IS: Middlebury Student Says Riot Was Not Rioters’ Fault.

The student’s professors should be happy to know that they’ve been learning as they were taught.

KREMLIN STOOGE: Dem Super-Lobbyist Podesta Got $170K to End US Sanctions On Russian Bank.

FLYING BOMB TRUCKS: Pentagon Arsenal Plane to Fly With F-35, F-22.

WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: Google’s artificial intelligence can diagnose cancer faster than human doctors.