Didn't the Germans announce a similar plan a while ago? Anyhow, I just don't see that US care makers are going to start building gas guzzlers. They surely know that they won't be able to export any of them, and States like California won't allow them either.
It seems to me that things like this combined with the building of the 'New Silk Road' will 'clean our clocks' and make a total end run around our practice of domination through sea power. My thoughts are that the Chinese naval activities in the South China Sea are nothing but diversionary tactics to keep us off balance and make us believe that our naval power will continue to be of primary importance in the years to come.
Thanks for posting the video!!! I posted it about a year or so ago, I believe on Veteran's Day, along with a photo of my company's position, just south of the DMZ in RVN, showing a lot of mud and a rainbow. I thought it represented the quagmire we had gotten ourselves into, and the fact that we never learned, despite the rainbow.
While I appreciate the apparent candor of General Flynn, I somehow stumble over his assertion that “When 9/11 occurred, all the emotions took over, and our response was, ‘Where did those bastards come from? Let’s go kill them. Let’s go get them.’ Instead of asking why they attacked us, we asked where they came from...”
When 9/11 occurred I was a retired Marine with 26 years service, twenty of them as an infantry officer. As I think of my contemporaries, the highly qualified ones, the highly decorated, intelligent and dedicated ones, I strongly doubt that they would have thought and reacted that way. They would not have invaded Afghanistan, and certainly not Iraq. So my question is, what in the world happened. Where were the ones with the brains and the experience?
Did our promotion system fail us, did the 'best and the brightest' get sidelined and the 'yes-men' promoted instead? Probably! We need to admit that we are no longer nurturing our best leaders, either in the military or in politics, but the ones who are the most egotistical, self serving and incompetent ones.
Come on - comparing Tikrit with Stalingrad is a bit far fetched. The ISIS forces are vastly outnumbered - it sure sounds to me that the Iraqis just don't want to fight, and that is one more reason why we should have nothing to do with this mess.
Well - I think it is time we admitted to ourselves and everybody else that with the Syrian Army we have our 'boots on the ground' we have been looking for. I think we would be much better served by dealing with Assad, and thus having some leverage over his behavior, than continuing on the path on which we are now. Oh, and let's throw in Iran as a country with which we need to be engaging.
"In the past, American higher education has always been associated with upward mobility.."
I have always thought that pronouncements to that effect were a scam. If 'everybody' has a college degree it becomes meaningless. Especially now, when high schools across the country have done away with vocational training, and a lot of 'hands on' instruction from geometry to art. I think we would be much better served if we developed strong and sensible vocational programs with meaningful apprenticeships as countries such as Germany have. But then looking to Europe and other foreign countries for positive examples of doing things seems to be beneath us....
It has certainly been a long time since I commanded US Marines in combat, so I may be 'out of date.' However this looks pretty confusing to me. There seems to be no concerted effort by the troops involved to maneuver forward to take or eliminate the position they are attacking - just a bunch of uncoordinated running around and expanding a lot of ammo.
Didn't Paul receive the largest share of the military vote in the run-up to the election? My fear is that if he manages to run as a Republican and get the rest of his platform a bit 'under control' but continues to oppose our military involvement in everything and everywhere he would probably win!
Didn't the Germans announce a similar plan a while ago? Anyhow, I just don't see that US care makers are going to start building gas guzzlers. They surely know that they won't be able to export any of them, and States like California won't allow them either.
I agree that it would be nice if..... However, I also think that thinking that any of those changes in policy might come about borders on idiocy.
It seems to me that things like this combined with the building of the 'New Silk Road' will 'clean our clocks' and make a total end run around our practice of domination through sea power. My thoughts are that the Chinese naval activities in the South China Sea are nothing but diversionary tactics to keep us off balance and make us believe that our naval power will continue to be of primary importance in the years to come.
Thanks for posting the video!!! I posted it about a year or so ago, I believe on Veteran's Day, along with a photo of my company's position, just south of the DMZ in RVN, showing a lot of mud and a rainbow. I thought it represented the quagmire we had gotten ourselves into, and the fact that we never learned, despite the rainbow.
While I appreciate the apparent candor of General Flynn, I somehow stumble over his assertion that “When 9/11 occurred, all the emotions took over, and our response was, ‘Where did those bastards come from? Let’s go kill them. Let’s go get them.’ Instead of asking why they attacked us, we asked where they came from...”
When 9/11 occurred I was a retired Marine with 26 years service, twenty of them as an infantry officer. As I think of my contemporaries, the highly qualified ones, the highly decorated, intelligent and dedicated ones, I strongly doubt that they would have thought and reacted that way. They would not have invaded Afghanistan, and certainly not Iraq. So my question is, what in the world happened. Where were the ones with the brains and the experience?
Did our promotion system fail us, did the 'best and the brightest' get sidelined and the 'yes-men' promoted instead? Probably! We need to admit that we are no longer nurturing our best leaders, either in the military or in politics, but the ones who are the most egotistical, self serving and incompetent ones.
Come on - comparing Tikrit with Stalingrad is a bit far fetched. The ISIS forces are vastly outnumbered - it sure sounds to me that the Iraqis just don't want to fight, and that is one more reason why we should have nothing to do with this mess.
Rather than write a couple of paragraphs, I'll just recommend "The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914."
Well - I think it is time we admitted to ourselves and everybody else that with the Syrian Army we have our 'boots on the ground' we have been looking for. I think we would be much better served by dealing with Assad, and thus having some leverage over his behavior, than continuing on the path on which we are now. Oh, and let's throw in Iran as a country with which we need to be engaging.
"In the past, American higher education has always been associated with upward mobility.."
I have always thought that pronouncements to that effect were a scam. If 'everybody' has a college degree it becomes meaningless. Especially now, when high schools across the country have done away with vocational training, and a lot of 'hands on' instruction from geometry to art. I think we would be much better served if we developed strong and sensible vocational programs with meaningful apprenticeships as countries such as Germany have. But then looking to Europe and other foreign countries for positive examples of doing things seems to be beneath us....
It has certainly been a long time since I commanded US Marines in combat, so I may be 'out of date.' However this looks pretty confusing to me. There seems to be no concerted effort by the troops involved to maneuver forward to take or eliminate the position they are attacking - just a bunch of uncoordinated running around and expanding a lot of ammo.
One of the things that is already happening and of which the media is taking scant notice is the salter-water intrusion into the aquifer.
Don't smile, just wait for the next Supreme Court decision!
Didn't Paul receive the largest share of the military vote in the run-up to the election? My fear is that if he manages to run as a Republican and get the rest of his platform a bit 'under control' but continues to oppose our military involvement in everything and everywhere he would probably win!