NOW THAT I THINK ABOUT IT

Just why did we fight in North Africa?

It seems a no brainer to not fight there but yet we, the British and the Germans fought like hell there.

Why?

THE MARKET SQUARE

 Been there done that. Our town squares are little tiny things and there is no great mass of people moving through them at any given time. I wish I had seen this sort of thing at the square or the mall but so far I've missed out on sudden elegance, It takes a city. I had coffee in Amsterdam and watched the parade before picking up the coffee and joining them.

WENT SAILING

 The winds were fair out of north haven and we went for a sail in Maine. It was a sturdy crew of 2 and the landlubbers. We managed between us to put the lee rail under water a time or two.  Brave words were spoken.....in a half whisper.

I myself was happy to share the little facts of boatage one of which is, when the top of the mast actually hits the water the whole tipping over thing comes to an end and  is done  although it is a nice dramatic end. Lubbers unimpressed.

Still, fun was had by all.

All sailors are aware, that to end the dramatic tipping one merely needs to let the sheets fly.

DRAT

They just ruined youtube with mandatory 30 second commercials. Oh well. I also don't go to Baltimore or Philly anymore. Like I ever did. I'm quite sure I can live without youtube.

EXTERNAL OFFICE OF NET ASSESSMENT

 As I think about it as I read the days news about Europe and the hole their climbing down, I wonder if any of those countries ever bothered to develop and field an External Office of Net Assessment whose sole purpose was to assess the ability of the US military and its leadership to actually follow through on their guarantees of NATO reinforcement. Any rational nation/state would obviously assess and sum up the capabilities of its enemies but it takes a step beyond to also assess, realistically, one's allies capabilities. Those of us who know watched NATO shoot its entire wad at Libya and then run to the US for replenishment of munitions because they not only had no more, they had no capability to even make more. And so they fell in our estimation as 'allies'. There is both a qualitative and quantitative difference between war allies and client states. We in the United States seem to be entirely saddled with  client states these days.  OTOH, the ROK really don't need us but our airpower and seapower will make the victory over the DPRK more swift but then the ROK are welded to the DPRK in maintaining the exact status quo.

 The first time I went to the ROK it was as a Naval War Plans Officer. I did my thing for 2 months and returned to CONUS back in '95. At that time the Aum Sham Rikyo were deploying home made nerve gas on the Japanese subways and the youths in the ROK were rioting vigorously for reunification. As I returned to the ROK over the next 20 years I saw the dramatic decline of youth rioting and youth in favor of reunification with the north. In fact, they have learned to dread it after the fall of the Berlin Wall. They know their GDP and income will be destroyed for decades as they attempt to assimilate the fallen people of the the  DPRK  and build them up to 'Western Standard' world citizens, if it can be done at all. For those that don't know, the people of the ROK are FIERCLY competitive. Reunification will be a disaster for about 50 years. Whole generations now will need to die off now that the fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters of citizens living in the ROK die off and the ties with relatives in the north dwindle away to nothing.The current generations pay lip service alone to reunification but none want it.

We began with our putative allies in Europe who have ELECTED to go to war with Russia. It almost defies belief. I'm sure Putin has moved Russian industry to full rate production of the Kalibre and other long range missiles and it would only take a single hit on Westminster Palace at Question Time to reveal the United Kingdom as an almost complete paper tiger. Same thing in Paris, Brussels, Strasbourg and even Turtle Bay. 

WE have sent our HIMARS and artillery rockets to Ukraine along with 66 billion dollars and now we hear the USAF is interested in sending Ukraine some A-10s because they've been trying to destroy them for over 20 years now. A-10s are a dead letter in an environment teaming with Javelins and superior air defense systems that can drop a fly at 200 miles. Nevertheless, the Air Force sees a chance to finally divest themselves of the single mission tank busters.

So, here we are at the dawn of the 21st century with essentially harmless European allies who were quick to send what little remained of their arms and weapons to Ukraine who have done everything in their power to invite the wrath of Russia and we kicked out 80.000 Army National Guardsmen for refusing to take the killer vaccine and cannot meet recruitment goals for the Army as it  wages war only on white supremacy and extremism.

I think it might be time to read the real Prophet again. Robert Heinlein really nailed it with the crazy years and just as I turn and run in unfamiliar places when I hear banjo music (and who doesn't who watched the movie Deliverance), I also scan the papers for mention of Nemiah Scudder and no, that is very definitely not President Trump.

Recommended reading,

If This Goes On

Coventry.

THE VERY SECOND

 It's interesting, the very second one begins the lift out of the claw footed tub at this point, doubt enters the mind. Make no mistake, doubt of self is the mind killer. Unless one is determined it can end in quite the splash.

SUMMER READING

 I found this to be a wonderful read. If you feel like the world has taken a sudden turn you might enjoy this book by Gordon Dickson.

We went out last night and took in Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris. For those who really liked reading Paul Gallico, this was a wonderful picture. It is not action/adventure. It harkens back to another time.

 I still follow the news, a bit, in written form. NATO, US and the EU seem to have all gone mad. If somebody set out to destroy the world economy they could not possibly choose a more destructive and hellbent form than we are all  now embarked on.

 I have to admit I'm still amused by the war profiteers of this age. They make no bones about going all in on gold and precious metals and declaring that they keep them at home where they're safe but still shout aloud about the utter wrongness of the Court on all the Second Amendment stuff. Like the  farmers and hoarders who smugly announce that they'll be OK because they raise their own food or stowed away tons of it without any mention of what drives necessity to insane lengths.

I think in the second month of my blog I offered my readers a picture of my little pilot. Much older now and really wants to fly/pilot. Really needs, as I did at nearly that age, to have a good friend who is building multi-engine time for an ATR. You really need to fly to figure out if that really is your calling. I didn't fly at night and only in VFR conditions. I decided early that I didn't want to fly at night or under IFR conditions.

As we camped out in our nice house in New Harbor Maine I was continuously struck by the number of light aircraft I saw flying seaward in single engine planes at sunset. I'll take any sailing vessel or powered vessel offshore at any time day or night and even come back after dark if it has radar. Not an aircraft. They are way more unforgiving.

 

POLITICS AND WAR

 Democratic politicians are letting the mask slip as they continue to preen self righteously about republican violence while calling for their lunatics to attack and try to kill republican law makers and Supreme Court justices.

THE LONG LOST

Sorry for the lack of posting. There is a lot to write. I don't usually refer to the staff weenie of LANTCOM but it will scare you to scroll through the reality matrix he presents and I agree with it. The times are coming to a head. The leader of the West is senile, demented, stupid as always and we are in the hands of people we never voted for who are now determining policy in an orgy of free-style backstabbing in the White House.

Metroparkcentralis was once the sixth richest and most important city in the United States. Fortunately, we have fallen off the grid in the last 100 years. Unfortunately, after delivering one I love to the aiport today I realize that I am only about 6 miles from the Industrial Valley of what remains and it might still be the target of a Russian MIRV. I think it's safe to say that one of the things one can count upon is that Russian missiles work more often than not and MIRVs have a nasty way of engendering widespread destruction.

Still, we had a very nice trip to Maine as we do every year. I have to admit, it will be an engineer from here who works out how to fold space and time so that one can entirely avoid the whole boring I-90 between here and Utica.

LIFE IN THE WAY

On vacation.

THE MUSIC

I'm kind of surrounded by speakers. The stereos are elsewhere. They're not plugged in. Haven't been for ages.I listen to the music on headphone until I tire of it. I have something like 5 wireless speakders and they never get turned on. I had five walkmans and dvd walkmans and for some reason, the music stopped one day. It happened in college. It's trying to come back. I welecome it. I greatly missed it over the last 40 years.

IT TALKS WAR, IT NO LONGER EXISTS

We are speaking of war against Russia. A little bit crazy. I hear the music and so I'll find another world to be at peace in.