Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[hack]

Jon... maybe it's time you and I head to Washington DC and knock some heads together. :-)

Honestly I think that's about all it would take. If you two jerks would only get off your lazy asses and get over here, the whole entire problem could be solved quickly and efficiently.

[hack]

The GAO reports that the US military (not counting Iraq and Afg) maintains slightly over 800 military facilities beyond the US borders.

Does this include or not include things contracted out to Halliburton, KBR, Blackwater or whatever it's called this week, etc?

[Wild Hoss]

The GAO reports that the US military (not counting Iraq and Afg) maintains slightly over 800 military facilities beyond the US borders. You don't think we could project military power with a mere 500? That's where real savings can be reached.

Speakin' my language my man. This "defense" paradigm is so firmly entrenched that even scaling back from what is ridiculous overkill is not on the table for consideration, and we fight political battles over pennies on the dollar. Its ingrained in our culture and beliefs, and sold to us every time we spent obscene amounts of money to fly an obscenely-priced stealth bomber over a football game. Military-Industrial advertising, at taxpayer expense.

[hack]

I was so astonished to hear that DOD PAYS to do those flyovers. The cherry on top of that utterly ridiculous cake.

IMO if you upended the defense contracting industry so many things would become easier as a result. Money could be redirected to where it's more needed. Policy in the ME could actually change. The DOJ would finally be free to put Urban Meyer and Mike Dantonio behind bars where they belong.

[entropy]

Our military bases and design is still stuck in a post WWII mindset. Other countries have recovered and can play a role in keeping global peace. Plus, our current threats are not country specific but associations of radical ideas and beliefs. You have to have a global community working on stopping organizations without borders.

I'm pro strong military, but as Hoss said.. we are spending way too much and it's overkill.

[Wild Hoss]

I'm pro strong military, but as Hoss said.. we are spending way too much and it's overkill.

LOL

[entropy]

?

[Ghengis Jon]

Does this include or not include things contracted out to Halliburton, KBR, Blackwater or whatever it's called this week, etc?

Not included. Only gov't facilities. Not sure if it counts 99 year leases on property owned by US companies.

[hack]

I think that's true entropy but I think in other ways it's a very depressingly modern (and corrupt) approach when you factor in the outsourcing to defense contractors of traditionally military activities. In particular the no-bid contracts.

[Wild Hoss]

Sorry, I meant to come back an edit this.

I just found it funny that you opened with an unsolicited reaffirmation of your belief in a strong defense....an example of what I was talking about. Its instinctual for people our age.

[entropy]

yea... sad, but I can't help but feel like one has to do that..

Twitter has made this feeling worse.

[hack]

I think we should support the troops and cut the DOD's budget, support the troops and take a shit on Saudi, and support the troops and support the troops.

[entropy]

Heh


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[hodgkal]

An interesting and possibly positive dynamic is evolving in the ME that could change the trajectory of American FP. With the beheading of that Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia and the violent reaction in Tehran, long term alliances are now being challenged.

We can thank GWB and his senseless invasion of Iraq for this potential realignment. We have now enabled the so-called Shiite Crescent to establish across the ME, which in turn frightens the Saudis and the Gulf oil kingdoms.

The backward, hatred-spewing Wahhabis of SA and their sponsorship of fundamentalist madrassas across the ME that we have passively supported have done more damage to western interests than most have acknowledged, and that movement of fundamentalism is supported by the Saudi royal family as a way to keep protest down and allow the opulent lifestyle of the privileged few. And the only reason we have assumed they are natural allies is because of oil. That is all changing now.

Iran is potentially an “ally” in this realignment in that it forms a “balance” against these regressive Sunni regimes. That is not
to say Iran is our best friend, but it serves as a balancer.

Our knee jerk hatred of Iran by our political establishment, largely controlled by the financial elite and the Zionist lobbies, seems about to come under further scrutiny as it has enabled the excesses of these Sunni oil oligopolies. The Iran nuclear agreement has hastened this potential realignment although the power establishment in this country has not fully reconciled and seems still determined to reverse it. That is where Hillary comes in and this worries me.

Our troubled history with Iran goes back to the Eisenhower era and the first “regime change” we engineered to oust the democratically elected leader of Iran (Mossadegh) in 1953, and then installed the hated Shah. And that was to get control of Iranian oil. No wonder they hated us and finally threw us out in the revolution of 1979. So those who don’t understand this ME history “are bound to repeat it”

Actually Iran has a lot more in common with the west. The “Green” uprising in 2009 revealed an under-appreciated natural attraction to western lifestyle and values among the general population, esp. the educated in the larger cities. It was violently suppressed by the clerics with the installation of the “unelected” Ahmadinejad, but this has not stopped the drift toward modernization that the Ayatolla Khamenei has recently permitted with the election of Rouhani.

So where do we go from here? A lot depends on who occupies the White House next year. But I think in the broad picture the ME is headed for some major changes and they may not be all bad if we play our cards right.

[Mike]

Iran has always seemed like the lesser of two evils in that conflict, IMO. They have a very young population that is more open to Western culture/ideals than the Sunnis. There is a way forward there but good luck trying to convince congress of that.