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Ravi Rikhye

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Mike Hwang

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Dale Atkins

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Ravi Rikhye

Concise World Armies 2009

Ravi Rikhye

Editors

Adrian J. English
Richard M. Bennett
Larry J. Smith

Contributors

Mandeep Bajwa
Michael Borovicka
Keith Jacobs
Constantine Pehlivanov

Available July 15, 2009

~925 pages

$75 E-book/$150 printed

Progress 06/30/2009

South Asia, Central Asia, Mideast and Iran, West Africa, North Africa, Central Africa , East Africa, Southern Africa, Caribbean Central America, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Scandinavia & Baltics; Australasia & Oceania; Southeastern Europe, South America, North America (total 834 pages) are ready.

North America ready on July 2, 2009.

Western Europe, Central Europe, and Russia ready July 15 (book complete)

Purchasers of CWA 2008 get free E-book

 

Somalia Piracy

March, 2009

Off Somali Coast
 European TF Atalanta

HQ Northwood, London

  • Greece

  • UK

  • France

  • Spain

  • Italy

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Norway (frigate to join in August 2009)

 

Independent command

Japan (2 destroyers)

PLAN (2 destroyers)

 

 

Support by US 5th Fleet

CTF 150

CTF 151

CTF 152

Primarily oriented toward operations in Afghanistan/Iraq but steps in whenever possible

Ideas for US Energy Independence

Energy Facts

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100+ pages of Vietnam era TOEs 

 

America Goes To War Resources 2001-2004

 

Concise World Armies 2009

E-Book $75; hard copy $150

 

 South Asia (56 pages), Central Asia (14 pages) and Mideast, Iran, (82 pages), North Africa (20 pages), West Africa  (46 pages), Central Africa  (20 pages), East Africa (32 pages),  Southern Africa (20 pages) Caribbean (39 pages), Central America (21 pages), East Asia (87 pages), Southeast Asia (44 pages); Baltics and Scandinavia (30 pages); Australasia & Oceania (41 pages); Southeastern Europe (40 pages); South America (105 pages); North America (127 pages) are ready (11 point type, pages are 537 x 697 points).

 

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Analysis

Swat, Pakistan North West Frontier Province

[February 13, 2009]

 

WE BRING YOU THE WORLD ©
PUBLISHED ON AN AD HOC BASIS

 

Long War Journal on new US Afghanistan Strategy

 

Starved for real military/strategic news? Visit Mathew Wilson's www.1913intel.com

For general news about US deployments/operations, visit www.globalsecurity.org

For solid reporting from Iraq from the US military's view, read Bill Roggio at www.longwarjournal.com  

 

0230 GMT July 4, 2009

 

  • Helmand Province, Afghanistan Just to show the Americans are serious about new tactics in Afghanistan: Marines got into a firefight and one was killed; and no, they did not call in the B-1s and what not. They thought about it, decided they didn't know if civilians were around, and went about their business. Well done.

  • As far as we can understand what's going on: (a) the Marines helped the Afghan battalion secure a district on the Pakistan border - when we say "secure" you have to understand we mean that government forces showed up for the first time in many years and as yet the Taliban have not put up serious opposition. (b) the Marines have taken two other districts along the Helmand River Valley, which is the focus of their thrust; 1/5 and 2/8 Marines are mentioned; one battalion is having an easy time of it, the other is facing some opposition. The Brigade CO calls it a "hell of a fight" or something like that; the worlds "some opposition" are ours and more accurate. Hue City was a "hell of a fight", nothing involving the Taliban can remotely approach more than a heated skirmish. (c) The British have seized a canal's 15 crossings to aid the US drive - we haven't seen a map so can't tell where, what, how, why. The British troops are from 1 Welsh Guards, who lost their CO to an IED just as the op began, the Light Dragoons, and 2 Royal Tank Regiment.

  • We are both amazed and disturbed that neither major American nor major British media seems to be paying much attention to this operation. Its known several journalists are with the troops; we can hope only perhaps they haven't been allowed to file their stories for security reasons.

  • NWFP Pakistan Government says an Mi-17 crashed, killing 26 soldiers including three officers; bad weather, low level flight over the mountains; overload; technical problems are being blamed.

  • Meanwhile locals and local security officials say 41 were killed and the helicopter was shot down.

  • Commentators are saying since the Mi-17 has a capacity of 24 troops it seems it was overloaded. Yes and no. First, Pakistani soldiers do not weigh 200-lbs each and do not carry 100-lbs of gear. Second, helicopters in combat zones routinely carry more troops than they should and they don't necessarily crash because of that.

  • What the learned commentators should be looking at - assuming it was not shot down - is that this is the hot season in Pakistan, its the mountains, and hot-and-high is the worst thing for helicopters.

  • Governor Palin resigns and the rumors are she plans to run for a Senate seat in 2010, get national exposure and experience, and then run for Prez in 2012. Lot of back and forth on if this is a wise strategy. Meanwhile, McCain camp is blasting her for doing exactly as she pleases and not listening to the handlers. No political experts we, but we think that would be a plus. Perhaps Senator McCain would have lost anyway, but we think his giving into his handlers could not have helped.

  • Talking of Prez elections, we don't understand why people are still going round and round about the Iran election has to have been stolen because how can you hand-count 30-million or so ballots in 2 hours.

  • Actually, you can. First, it wasn't two hours. It was more like eight, which means counting started well before voting was over. Not kosher by westerner standards, we agree. But the results were announced after polls closed.

  • Second, we're told there were 14,000 polling stations. That means 2000+ votes per station. One thing they're not short of in Iran is people. If you have a few dozen or few score people counting 2000+ ballots, you can get through very fast.

  • Last, this has been said a gazillion times: this was not like a US election with ballots running into several pages and scores of offices/propositions on the ballots. This was simply a presidential election.

  • If you want to complain about the election, go back to first causes: the candidates are cleared by the theocrats, the government controls the media, etc etc You can't have a fair election to begin with.

  • The reason President Obama is not making a hue and cry is that several intel agencies have told him - once you get past the setup was not fair to begin with - the Unshaven One won by a large margin.

  • Westerners think just because they see a lot of people demonstrating in Teheran the voting has to be rigged. Please. Did the demonstrators look like rank-and-file Iranians? They did not. They looked like the educated middle class, particularly the younger lot.

  • Of course they want a change: almost anything a western youngster would consider freedom is barred to them.

  • But: can westerners understand this? What we consider freedom conservative Muslims consider the devil's own work. They are NOT going to vote for a social liberal. That is why the Basij did not revolt: they come from the poorer sections and they hate the western-oriented lot. You can go into all kinds of psychological analysis, and we'd be happy to, but that's irrelevant.

  • By the way, anyone remember that well before the election the Unshaven One was spreading government money left, right, center, and as election approached, he began spreading money in all three dimensions? That's one reason the Iran economy is in miserable shape, Unshaven One is doing a Hugo

  • Where was he spreading the wealth? Among the poor. Who loves him? The poor.

  • And by the way, do you think American elections at the state and national level are fair? Of course they're not. In America elections are about money, scads of it. Yes, just because you have a few million to spend for a Senate seat doesn't mean you're going to win. But how many Americans broke into the Senate on - say - a bus driver's salary? True that the lower down you go the less money matters. But even for stuff like county school boards you have to have a few tens of thousands, or at least a few thousands.

  • And also by the way: you want a foreigner's jaw to drop at one particular aspect of American elections? Tell him how we vote for our judges and sheriffs. We take it for granted here, and yes, there are good points to the concept. But you honestly have no idea how weirdly obscene foreigners consider this.

  • So: by all means lets blow Iran back into the Pleistocene before it gets the bomb. But lets do it because our national security requires it. And frankly, our national security does not require us to do anything about an election in Iran which after it was fixed - we had nothing to say about the way it was set up, we said that was the Iranians' business - was fair.

 

0230 GMT July 3, 2009

 

  • Helmand Province, Afghanistan We'd thought we'd leave the start of the Southern Afghanistan summer offensive to the Long War journal, but as of 0200 today they had not updated.

  • The offensive began with 4000 Marines, 650 Afghan Army troops, and around 500 British troops. Its intent is to clear the main river valley in the province of the Taliban, who are lying low despite heated rhetoric. This is only sensible; surely the Taliban must be fed up of losing every single fixed engagement against US/NATO.

  • We are delighted the operation has begun, but we are a bit taken aback by the wildly optimistic objectives set. These involve allowing the Afghan Government to "out down roots" before the August 20 presidential election. Folks, that's seven weeks from now; Taliban has been in control of Helmand for near 20 years with the exception of a brief period after the US invasion; and can we have a little patience before expecting the locals will trust the foreigners to stay? We feel 2-3 years will be required to put down any roots.

  • And this brings us back to the key point. US sensibly understands it is not going to win this war on its own, that's is the Afghans' war. But the effort to increase Afghan security forces is still woefully underfunded and the very serious lack of trainers continues.

  • Afghanistan should have contributed at least two brigades (4000 troops) to this operation - US/NATO has been building their army for going on eight years now. If all you get is a battalion plus of Afghan troops, instead of claiming success we should be firmly admitting to massive failure.

  • The truth is, the Americans ALWAYS want to go to it alone, and they are ALWAYS looking for a fight, bless them. Fighting is in the US's DNA. Its really no fun to be training the natives when you can have so much fun mounting offensive operations with all the Bang Bam Bah, and its even more fun when you know the bad guys are not in a position to inflict any meaningful casualties on you.

  • With a Marine Expeditionary Brigade now available, US should first clear and hold a reasonably-easy-to defend area, and then settle down to training the Afghans. This is not going to work if the Marines, after two months, start getting restless again and longingly eyeing more Helmand districts or even other provinces. If the MEB now sits down to train a couple of Afghan divisions within two years, and then moves on to clear more areas, they will have assured long-term success.

  • The Taliban live in Helmand, the Americans do not. That alone should get the US to understand that  that clearing out area after area with a minimum of hold is folly.

  • We are happy to say that from what we hear, a great many American military commanders understand this. But you can understand what you want, changing your DNA is not easy. The Marines haven't had a good fight since Fallujah, and even then their total casualties weren't notably more than a regimental single night operation against a tough NVA battalion or two. Helmand is going to be all pink blankies and bunny slippers compared to Fallujah, which in its turn was not much of a fight from the Corps's viewpoint. We are going to be very, very surprised if the MEB is not already planning a major fall operation, and a winter operation too.

  • Anyway, let's see what the Army now does: we bet its not far behind with its showy operation.

 

0230 GMT July 2, 2009

 

  • NWFP Pakistan Army rejects North Waziristan Agency's Taliban rejection of the peace plan, and says the agreement is intact. Pakistan will react only if its troops are attacked.

  • Meanwhile, when asked what's this flummery regarding North Wazoo, the Pakistan's are drawing a very firm line in the cesspool. Their position can be summarized as: "Do you think we're nuts to take on North Wazoo? South Wazoo is going to be hard enough. Thanks but no thanks."

  • Can't say we're surprised - actually we are surprised, that Pakistan decided to attack in South Wazoo, though for some weeks now it's been doing its best not to start any real fighting. Again, please understand we are not criticizing Pakistan - from its viewpoint taking on the frontier Taliban is cutting off its sword arm in the West. We understand.

  • All we're saying is that from the US point of view, none of this is helpful; and we're going to go back to saying what we've said ad nauseum: stop trying to force Pakistan to do what you should yourself do. Its not going to work, and unless the sun is going to start rising in the north, you can be pretty sure that in 2010 the Taliban will back in Swat and Buner and Dir and Shangla and etc - they haven't really left, truthfully, they're laying low.

  • Meantime, if you need to grind your teeth in frustration, read Bill Roggio in yesterday's www.longwarjournal.org - he's detailed all the Taliban Pakistan is NOT going to fight, which makes very clear it's after the Mesud because he was ready to march on Islamabad, but those Taliban that have not attacked Pakistan, Pakistan is not going to touch.

  • A New Idea To Make Money While catching up on the daily news, if there's any big story about women's fashions, the Editor always takes a minute to check what's going on. In his salad days he wanted to be a women's designer, because, after all, where else could one get real close to women? This lasted only till the day a lady fashionita friend (they hadn't invented the English word fashionata back then) explained things gently to Editor, shattering his life forever. She asked: "Have you ever wondered why so many gay men work in women's fashion?"

  • Editor in those days did very little wondering, he was always energetically chasing some lady or the other. When he got the answer from his friend, and his plans for design school ended, he nonetheless kept up his interest in the field.

  • So today Editor comes across the Not So Little Bikini that's supposed to be the fashion rage in England, and a bright neon light bulb appears on top of his head.

  • One of the designs, selling for ~80 American for the bottom, looks exactly like Editor's boxers with the lower 8 inches cut off.

  • So: Boxer's wholesale cost is approximately $1.50 landed. Add the cost of the snipping (overseas) and you get $2. (If you need to ask why less material costs more money for the item, you clearly know nothing about the fashion/production world). Wholesale the finished product for 20 American, give half to the name designer, subtract full overheads and cost, and you should have $5 left.

  • Now is this a genius idea or what? If you don't hear from the Editor for a few days, he's busy trying to line up a name designer who wont want half a mil up front.

  • Pipe dreams? Well, US thinks it's going to win the GWOT with 43 Army brigades that are as anemic as bikini models. So what's wrong with thinking Editor can line up a name designer without advance cash? We allow the Americans their fantasies; they should allow Editor his.

  • Air France 447 For the latest: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6612165.ece As for the Yemen Airbus, ignore that as irrelevant. First it was a 310 and long in the tooth. Second, Air France was not flying it. Third, it was banned from French air space in 2007. We need say no more.

  • Also read http://timescorrespondents.typepad.com/charles_bremner/2009/07/fantasy-and-facts-over-airbus-disasters.html

 

0230 GMT July 1, 2009

 

  • NWFP Pakistan security officials say 27 soldiers were killed in the ambush in North Waziristan, not 16 as the Government says, Government has expressed outrage at the ambush because, says the Government, it was not conducting operations in the district.

  • This we find quite peculiar. Is it the Government's position that Taliban must retaliate only at points the Government is conducting operations? Surely Government is aware that if and when it cleared South Waziristan the US would force it to go for North Waziristan?

  • The bad news - which many of us were waiting for - is that the North Waziristan Taliban has called off its peace agreement with the Government and says it will fight. The local chiefs are said to be recalling fighters from Afghanistan.

  • It appears that the other Taliban (non Mesud) seemed to think the Government had a right to strike back in Buner and Dir because they were not covered by the peace agreement and Mesud broke the agreement by entering those districts. The other Taliban seem almost to have regarded Swat as regrettable, but understandable because of the Mesud's perfidy. But they are not going to sit back and watch South Waziristan fall to the Government.

  • Tribal politics anywhere can drive outsiders to a lunatic state, but Afghan/Pakistan frontier politics are amazingly complex because there are scores, perhaps even some hundreds, of ethnic groups and sub-groups.

  • This will ease NATO/US's position for the summer offensive now getting underway, but will make things much harder for Pakistan.

  • The Nation says utilities have been restored in parts of Shangla District, which the Taliban entered in small numbers (less than 100) after the took Buner - Shangla is to the East of Buner. Here's the thing: we had no idea utilities were down in Shangla to begin with. This information is contained in an update on the fight between the Government and the Taliban, so we assume the later were responsible for the disruptions. The newspaper, of course, paints a picture of unremitting government victories big and small. Only time will tell if this is correct, because media - including Pakistan media - are not allowed in the war zone. So the bulk of the information comes from the Government.

  • US Senate The Minnesota Supreme Court has given the contested Senate seat to the Democratic candidate, 8 months after the election that the Republican candidate lost by a handful of votes.

  • This gives the Democrats a theoretical filibuster proof majority in the Senate, but our foreign readers at least need to be reminded that in many respects labels such as Democratic and Republican mean much less in the US than equivalent party labels in parliamentary countries. Both sides  have wide divergences in views within their own parties. So for example on the health insurance bill there are Democrats who cannot be counted on to vote for it; likewise, some liberal Republicans may vote "aye". So its hard to tell in advance what will happen on any particular bill.

 

0230 GMT June 30, 2009

 

  • Swat Operation Almost Over says Pakistan, only a few more days are required to clean out the last resistance. Seeing as the Taliban (Baitullah Mesud) forces are almost completely intact, we'd be wary of claiming victories. Nonetheless, since Baitullah is under pressure in South Waziristan, it may take him time to restart operations in Swat.

  • Meanwhile, Pakistan says it lost 16 soldiers in an ambush in South Waziristan; Taliban says it killed between 50-60 soldiers traveling in a convey. Pakistanis says 10 militants died.

  • Honduras We forgot to add the disposed president had till January 2010 to go in his term, so technically this is a coup, however much the courts, national assembly, and people did not want the president to run a referendum.

  • The ex-prez says he would have been overthrown earlier had the US not been working to persuade the Army to leave him alone. Our man Hugo has immediately jumped into the act, supporting the former president. Which puts Hugo on the same side as the US. We wonder if that is not bothering him a teensy little bit?

  • India, democracy, and infrastructure We'd mentioned how its hard to get major projects done in India because it's a democracy and everyone is entitled to their rights. A new 5.6-km 8-lane freeway bridge connecting two parts of Bombay has just opened. The project was proposed in 2000, and held up for four years by local protests, including fisher-people who said their lives would be disrupted. So the project has taken twice as long as it should have.

  • It will carry 125,000 vehicles a day, greatly reducing congestion in Bombay, a mega city of 18-million people that grows by the day.

  • But consider this: estimates are the bridge will carry 250 new vehicles a day, meaning in less than 18-months the traffic will double. We don't know what the vehicle capacity estimates are, but it seems to us Bombay had better get down to building a second 8-lane bridge right away.

  • Bombay Metro Phase I of 68-km of rapid transit lines (elevated and subway) is underway for 2011 completion; two more phases adding 84-km are in planning for 2021 completion.

  • Bernie Madoff Fraud They got this gentleman to jail very quickly, given the $65-billion size of the fraud. 150 years. Apparently the judge got hundreds of letters asking for a long jail sentence; and not one asking for leniency. Of course, he did plead guilty - we still think to stop too much investigation into his wife and sons. But his sentencing will stop nothing, the Feds will now be able to proceed more slowly and carefully against the rest of the family.

  • Boeing vs Airbus Last year we had much fun putting down Airbus because of the delays on its 380 program that were helping Boeing. In all fairness, now Boeing is in serious trouble with its Dreamliner because it keeps getting delayed, and people are dropping Boeing for Airbus. The latter is racking up sales at a remarkable rate, seeing as we're in a global recession.

  • In 2006 and 2007,  after many years of taking a beating from Airbus, Boeing pulled ahead. In 2008, Airbus was out front, 777 orders vs 662 for Boeing

 

0230 GMT June 29, 2009

 

  • Honduras How times have changed that one actually takes notice of a Latin American coup; once certainly the Editor would not have bothered to read about the event, as coups were so common.

  • This is not your typical military coup. The deposed president is term-limited to four years. He wanted to stage a referendum on extending his rule, a la Senor Hugo. The court said no way. He asked the Army for help. Army arrested him in his pajamas and sent him into exile. Now the Speaker of the legislature - who we assume is next in line - has taken over and declared a two-day curfew.

  • No one seems to be hurt, and we presume the next election will go through as it is supposed to do.

  • We hope the Army permitted the deposed President to take his teddy bears with him.

  • Lebanon The majority party and Amal, which is supporting the majority party (earlier they supported Hezbollah when the latter seized Beirut for a few days to show their power) have been discussing formation of the new cabinet. Somehow armed militias of both sides started mixing it up in a firefight that lasted two hours and saw 1 bystander killed and two others wounded. Lebanese Army has rolled out and told the warring factions to lay off each other.

  • This may mean nothing, but it may also be - as we are quite ignorant of internal Lebanese politics - that this is a lead-up to something more serious. Lebanon for decades has been living on the edge; the smallest things can flare up.

  • Pakistan Bill Roggio of www.longwarjournal.org quotes a story from Dawn of Karachi saying government forces have leveled the bazaar in Jandola, a stronghold of the Bhittai tribe, and destroyed 700 shops.

  • Normally this is done when a tribe has given offense and failed to discipline its own, though these days no one can say what's right and what's wrong in NWFP.

  • What baffled us is Mr. Roggio says the Bhittai Taliban are government allies in the fight against the Mesud - the bad fellow who's been staging suicide attacks all over the place and the one who started the current fracas by walking into Buner and so on.

  • We asked Mr. Roggio his opinion of what's going on, and he is as baffled why Pakistan Government would inflict so severe a punishment on an ally. Given the way retail businesses work in South Asia, and given Pakistan's joint family system, 10, 20, or even 30 people could depend on a single business, and this is going to financially ruin thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people - who will no longer be allies of the government. Mr. Roggio said it made no sense. It could either be the Government is being stupid, and that it is all the time, or someone is trying to sabotage the Bhittai Taliban - Pakistan Government alliance.

 

0230 GMT June 28, 2009

 

  • Iran Times London quotes Iranian sources as saying there likely will be a massive purge when the reelected president takes office in August. We knew he isn't a forgive and forget type, but had failed to make the connection since we were caught up, like everyone else, in the protests. Makes sense, though. When a dictatorial regime is secure, it loosens up. When it is under threat, it tightens up. The protests, justified or not, put the regime under threat. So there will be blood; hopefully not a lot of it, hopefully we've moved past the Shah's times and Khomeni's time, when execution was usually the way of deal with dissents - or presumed dissidents.

  • Pakistan Seems the government has got another tame Taliban commander to come out against the Mesud character. The first commander was murdered some days ago. Prima facie, any fighting between the scumbag factions is welcome. But we expect at some point there is going to be a fatwa ordering the internecine disputes to stop. Taliban have their differences of opinion; but we haven't seen anything so far to suggest their are suicidal.

  • Meanwhile, Bill Roggio of Long War Journal reports fighting in South Waziristan continues, and has reached Orakzai.

  • Also meanwhile, the first suicide bombing ever in Pakistan Kashmir took place the other day, the bomber and two soldiers were killed. This is just one more thing adding to the general sense of doom and gloom in Pakistan - and with the Editor.

  • Biofuels Version 2 Scientific American says ethanol is just about on its deathbed, but the second-generation biofuels like switchgrass are coming along nicely. No one is claiming they are a short-term fix for anything; a lot of research needs still to be done, and there is the problem of transport from production points to retail outlets, but the second-gen materials promise fuel at $1-gallon and could replace 3.5-billion barrels a year of crude. That would create a whole new setup in the matter of US national security and international trade.

  • Talking science we heard a new thought the other day: the US Space Shuttle effectively killed both the moon program and the Mars program. Had we stuck to rockets (to which we have returned as readers know, now that the Shuttle is to be retired) we'd have reached Mars by now. There seems to be a lot of truth to this thesis, except for one thing. The Shuttle had a very serious military component to it, because now not only could you deliver massive satellites to orbit, you could fix them in space. One day when everything is declassified perhaps we'll be able to discuss the Shuttle vs rocket thing better.

 

 

0230 GMT June 27, 2009

 

  • Iran's Supreme Leader wants death for those who challenged the recent election because, he says, questioning the election were waging war against God. Looks like there must be serious trouble among the theocrats because the old boy, as head theocrat, seems to be losing his grip on reality. This is not a good development.

  • Aside from which, Mr. Supreme Leader, since when did God need man to protect Him from man?

  • Russians and Vodka From London Times, quoting the British medical magazine The Lancet "three quarters of deaths among men and half of deaths among women aged 15-54 were attributable to alcohol abuse. The mortality rate in Russia in this age group was five times higher for men and three times higher for women than in Western Europe."

  • And "Professor David Zaridze, who led the international research team, calculated that alcohol had killed three million Russians since Mikhail Gorbachev tried and failed to restrict sales in 1987. He added: “This loss is similar to that of a war.”

  • Times London adds Russian Vodka is 176 proof versus 80 proof for "normal" vodka. Good grief.

 

0230 GMT June 26, 2009

 

No news today

 

  • NATO preparing for summer offensive in Helmand and Kandahar Provinces says Reuters. Reinforcements have been coming in for some months now. NATO says incidents in Zabul and Urugan Provinces, also in the south of Afghanistan, are down, but no figures were provided.

  • India is scrambling to add 14-GW of power generating capacity by end fiscal year 2009-10. China is expected to add 80-GW in 2009. This is the "price" you pay for operating in a democracy. In India the biggest problems have to do with the bureaucracy, which moves at its own speed, and the acquisition of land. Indian peasants are fully cognizant of their rights; they do not give up their land without legal fights and demonstrations that can stall projects for years. In China the order simply comes from the top and the peasants are picked up and thrown somewhere else.

  • Somalia US has sent some weapons to the government this year, and is leading an effort to stop arms from reaching the jihadis. Fat lot of good it has done. For all the calls to action to help Somalia, no one has come forward with troops. Somalia needs to be put in the "going, going, gone" column in the GWOT, or as Mrs. Clinton so delicately calls, "Overseas contingency operations".

  • Iran Can someone explain to us why American commentators have attacked President Obama left, right, center on his refusal to get involved in the Iran crisis, but no one seems to mind the US supports wholeheartedly another great dictatorship, Egypt, not to speak of that beacon of democracy Saudi Arabia? US has to get out of the hypocrisy business. By all means support democracy in Iran. Now lets see sanctions against Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

  • US has disinvited Iranian diplomats from overseas 4th of July festivities. The Iranians must be so broken up.

  • India and the Fat Brigade We should have mentioned, in all fairness, when we criticized Americans for not keeping healthy, that obesity/diabetes is rising fastest of all in India as income levels shoot upward.

  • When Editor left US for overseas in 1970, he weighed in at 125-pounds. When he returned, in his late 40s, in 1990, he weighed 135-pounds. As we approach 2010, Editor weighs 184-pounds. Now, a good deal of that is he has bulked up thanks to years of weights at the gym as he pursues his futile effort to get a date. But truthfully, despite his going to gym every day, he gets nowhere near the exercise he did in India, and he stuck to traditional Indian food which is high in protein and short on carbos and fat.

  • Incidentally, Editor is going blind as well as everything else. He was quite taken by a lady at the gym, and carefully determined (a) she was single; (b) was 40+ and thus older than his oldest kid; and (c) liked men. And she was extraordinarily fit. So he got the kids at the desk to introduce him to her, and at the first meeting  he saw she is six inches taller than he is. When you are gasping and panting and drooling over an attractive female AND you are on the weight machines, somehow you don't really get a good idea of how tall people are.

  • So it's like Pinky and the Brain all over again: "Brain, what are we doing this weekend?" "What we do every weekend, Pinky: homework and Orbat.com."

  • Speaking of which, Concise World Armies 2009 is 70% ready. You won't learn much new, if anything, about the west, as that is well-covered by people like Jane's. Everywhere else in the world, you'll learn a great deal.

 

 

 

0230 GMT June 25, 2009

 

  • US Leaves Sadr City and will leave all Iraq cities by June 30 as scheduled despite an uptick in violence. US is absolutely right to stick to its deadline. There has to come a parent has to let go, even if the child is going to make mistakes. In this case the child wants the US out, and it is surely of age.

  • Good job, USA, and good luck, Iraq.

  • Iran Same old same old, the demonstrators are down to a few hundreds because the security forces are making it impossible for them to congregate.

  • Bush I's national security advisor says US has agents in Iran, obviously, but he has no idea if they are aiding the demonstrators and in any case its an Iranian affair, US does not control Iran. Fair enough, but is any point served by Mr. Brent Scowcroft's statements? This will give the Iranians yet another excuse to repress demonstrators and to arrest more people, including Iranian born foreign nationals and foreigners.

  • Germany To Invest Half-Trillion Dollars in Sahara Solar power schemes, This is over several decades, and intended to supply 15% of Europe's electricity needs.

  • A Nevada project is getting about 150 KW/acre; a million acres would give 150-Gigawatts, about 15% of US electricity production.

  • Somali Legislators Flee 288 legislators of the 550 member parliament are abroad, only 50 on official business. So its bye bye Parliament, it doesn't have a quorum so it can't meet.

  • Get ready for Al Qaeda to get a new country: US chased AQ out of Iraq, and out of Afghanistan, and is stalemated getting them out of Pakistan. Meantime the scum has taken over another country altogether except in name, which it may well do in coming weeks.

  • US banks back to their old ways says a European bank regulator testifying in the US Congress. He says they are hiring traders galore - which means a return to massive speculation and bonuses. He says Citibank, which the US Government forced to keep bailout money, is planning to raise salaries 50% because it cannot give bonuses while keeping government money.

  • For once we are going to agree with reader Flymike, at least partly. The Government is planning more and more regulation. We have no idea if this is going to work; American companies seem to be geniuses at working around regulations or bribing Congresspeople to change them. So we are going to call for greater individual responsibility: you, reader, have been through the greatest meltdown of wealth since the Great Depression. You should understand that when it comes to big money, Government is NOT on the side of the little person, but of the banks. If you're going to trust the banks again after what happened in 2008, all we can say is, good luck with that.

  • Please note that even as the world economy is struggling to reverse the GDP fall, and with the recovery so anemic that the patient is still in a coma, but the price of oil has doubled. Market forces? What market forces? When economists used to talk about market forces, they had no clue that one day a few people would control resources to vast that they, and not competition, determine the way the markets work.

  • Also, just to slow people who are thinking recovery down a bit: there are apparently a million homes in default but on which the banks have not yet foreclosed. The second shoe hasn't dropped.

  • Oh yes, we read the Baby Boomers are mending their bad old ways and are starting to save, if for no other reason then the leading edge of the Boom is reaching retirement. This will slow the country's economic growth for up to 14 years. Then the first of the Boomer Echo generation, which is said to be larger than the Boomer generation will arrive to save the day by spending, spending, spending. But what if the Echo doesn't spend, spend, spend? What if it has learned something and saves, saves, saves?

  • Then, unless America comes up with ways to grow without everyone being in perpetual debt, we are up the creek with a paddle and without a boat.

  • "Why are Americans so fat?" asked a friend who just visited Washington. We were in Virginia, where truthfully, the Editor at least did not see that many fat people and said so. But the question remains: what's the sense of health care reform if we are going to TV, videogame, drug, drink, smoke, and eat ourselves to death? Editor firmly believes everyone has a right to health care. But does that mean we have the right to abuse our bodies and then expect top notch care from a universal system?

  • The same friend wanted to know how America could produce helicopters (the Presidential fleet replacement, now cancelled), at half-a-billion smackers each. He's in the defense business, and knows a bit about what aircraft cost. Well, truthfully, Editor had no answer to this question. He pointed out even with the Russians sneakily tripling the cost of a Su-30 for India from $32-million to $82-million, what US was proposing to spend on one helicopter would buy six Su-30s, which is a top of the line fighter.