US military/diplomatic failure is getting tiresome. Latest news? Taliban capture a city....

Thanks to William for the link...

via CBS News.

Afghanistan says the Taliban have captured the northern city of Kunduz, the first time the insurgents have seized a major urban area since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.
Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi tells The Associated Press that "Kunduz city has collapsed into the hands of the Taliban."
Murad Ali Murad, deputy cheif of staff of the Afghan Army, said the Taliban who attacked Kunduz were led by foreign fighters, reports CBS News' Ahmed Mukhtar. He said security forces retreated from Kunduz city to prevent civilians casualties.
Murad said these foreign fighters were bolstered by al Qaeda and others, adding that the Taliban are taking shelter in residential areas inside peoples' houses.
The insurgents launched a massive assault on the city early Monday, seizing a courthouse, a hospital and other government buildings.
The international medical charity Doctors Without Borders says it has treated more than 100 wounded people.
The fall of Kunduz marks a major setback for Afghan government forces, who have struggled to combat the Taliban with limited aid from the U.S. and NATO, which shifted to a training and support role at the end of last year.

This is getting beyond old.

Some of the idiots out there think that I report these failures with glee.  Nothing could be further from the truth, but the truth is what you need if you're going to fix things.

The truth is we have a SecDef, a SecNav and a DoD...along with supposed Naval Service advocacy blogs that are more concerned with women in combat than they are with combat effectiveness.

You won't read about the total collapse of US diplomatic and military policy in the Middle East on their pages.

No.

All you get is cheerleading to further weaken the US military.

Personally I'm getting a bit fed up.  Read about the Taliban capture of an Afghan city here. Unless we fix ourselves you're seeing the decline of the US. 

Sidenote:  Why hasn't the CENTCOM Commander been fired or forced to resign?  This type of failure is unacceptable.

UK Infantry get a new laser light module for their rifles...

Wow.  Appears a bit bulky and heavy.  Looks can be deceiving though.  I had hoped that we would begin to see some innovation in gun tech from overseas but it looks like the US market...civilian market at that...will continue to lead the way.

Britain's way forward. A flexible military posture?

via EuropeanGeoStrategy

However, with a current strength of nineteen Escorts, and just HMS Ocean and the Dock Assault ships HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark, it is now usually just six escorts and a single capital ship. In simple terms, in fifteen years the RN’s on call fully worked up and deployable strength has been cut by 50%. This was all done on the altars of peace, networking and financial hardship; unfortunately peace has not broken out, networking does not allow a ship (or any piece of equipment) to be in more than one place at any time and the financial hardship, while real, is starting to ease. The RAF has not fared much better. In fact, for a nation which has been involved in conflicts as continually as Britain has been (1968 was the last year Britain was not at war), the real surprise is not how little is spent on the armed forces but the fact that the armed forces still manage to deliver all that they do.
So with these few tanks, limited warship numbers and generally underfunded forces, how can Britain best contribute to NATO? The answer lies in how those forces are used.

Interesting.

The author of this piece is Alexander Clark of Naval History Blog.  Quite honestly its the most reasonable plan I've seen set forward on how the UK can continue to be a major player on the world's stage while acknowledging current budgets.

As critical as I am of Marine Corps leadership they're doing the same.

Let's hope that the USAF and Army get the memo.  Hope.  Hope that you can jerry rig some type of deal out of a divided Congress is not a plan.  Neither is whining for more money.

Plan for the worst, tell policy makers what they get with the budget they provide and be done with it.

That's what Alexander and HQMC is doing.  We need to extend that to the entire DoD.

Sputnik's sets the agenda for the week...Russia/Assad win...we lose Europe

How do you set the agenda for the week?  You do your best to set the tone on late Sunday or early Monday to establish the agenda for the first part of the week.  Sputnik has primed the pump with a series of stories that should knock our diplomatic team to their knees.

First...

"In this critical situation we have no other choice but admit that it is necessary to conduct negotiations with [Syrian President Bashar] Assad. [German Vice Chancellor] Sigmar Gabriel pointed out another uncomfortable truth: we need Russia back," the journalist added.
Earlier on Friday, Sigmar Gabriel called for mending relations with Russia and cooperating with the Kremlin in the Syrian conflict, saying that the West can't ask for cooperation while anti-Russia sanctions are in place.
"Gabriel said the West cannot maintain sanctions and ask for cooperation. He is right," Remme stressed.

Next...

London is ready to cooperate with Moscow in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIL) jihadist militant organization, UK Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesperson said on Sunday.
“We are clear ISIL [IS] poses a threat as much to Russia as it does to Europe and other countries around the world and therefore we should be able to find a way forward to work together,” the spokesperson told journalists.

Finally this...

“The US and (as of Friday) the UK, having spent years demanding Assad’s instant departure, now concede that he might stay on in an 'interim' capacity, Brenton said.
He added, "the US Defense Secretary, after a year of refusing contact with his Russian [counterpart], opened such contact last week in order to “deconflict” the two countries’ actions on the ground. Whatever the obfuscations around tomorrow’s meeting, Syria will be a key part of the agenda. The reality is simple", Brenton explains.
“As Putin says (and on this is to be believed), Russia’s overriding aim is to block the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, which is a direct domestic threat to [Russia] in the Caucasus and elsewhere.”
“They have seen the West bungle this, notably by the chaos left behind in Iraq and Libya. The West’s support for a moderate opposition in Syria is a delusion (didn’t the responsible US general tell Congress a few days ago that that opposition had “four or five” US-trained soldiers in the field?).”The only choice in Syria, he says, is between “the nasty (Assad) and the nasty and dangerous (Islamic State).”
The Russian president is bolstering the faltering Assad to prevent IS inheriting Syria. And the West, which is as threatened by IS as Russia, should join him.

If (and its a huge IF...everyone has an agenda) these reports are true then the US has lost Europe.  This info is spot on.  Various European news sites are reporting the same....almost word for word.  

The State Dept has lost Europe on the Assad issue.  Russia has carried the day.   

Forgotten History via Gruntworks...

Sunday's too cool pic...via TacBlog...

Think Defence and the Arab canal!

Read it here.

The fallout from the failed policy in the Middle East is about to totally TRANSFORM the region in ways that no one could possibly have predicted even a year ago.

Could this proposed pipeline be a secondary reason for the push into Yemen (if this is accurate)?

Have we ever seen a massive regional war between Arab sects using modern weaponry?  I know a re-run of the Iran-Iraq war (with different players) is how most visualize a new regional war but imagine that conflict with sectarian violence inside the warring nations happening at the same time.

The best example of what I'm talking about is of the US trying to fight WW2 with a civil war raging inside it at the same time.

This could become a very interesting century.

Almasirah TV is doing work.

Thanks to NO for the link!



I don't know a thing about Almasirah TV but they appear to be the only people that are roaming around trying to cover the war in Yemen.  They have a huge following on YouTube with over 10 million subscribers.

It would be so helpful if we had an Arab speaker (and one who spoke whatever dialect this is).  Anyone have any ideas?

Hot sauce made with giant ants and termites? I think I'd try this!

via Sploid...

Hot sauce is one of those universal truths that different cultures from all over the world have realized is so completely awesome. Everybody has their own preference and people use different peppers and make their hot sauce at varying levels of spice and heat but all hot sauce is good. Even this hot sauce made with giant ants and termites, I’m sure.
National Geographic shows how kumache, a hot sauce in Kumarakapay in Venezuela, is made. It’s a pretty involved process that requires boiling down yuca, throwing in peppers and mixing in red ants and termites (that you have to hunt down in the fields).

This sounds...fascinating...I think I'd try it...

Houthi's with captured LeClerc

Thanks to Olgert for the link!

Pic via Asian Defense Blog

I might be waaaaaay off base but I am amazed at how pristine the captured vehicles look.  On this LeClerc the RPG cage is bent but that could be the result of poor driving.  It doesn't look an explosion.

Saudi Arabia and the rest of the GCC really need to either fix this ricky tick quick or just leave.  Fixing it is risky because the enemy always gets a vote and the Houthi/Iranians are proving themselves to be MUCH more tactically proficient than SA/GCC.  Leaving will cause embarrassment but save what's left of their forces.

This wouldn't be the first war that ended badly because pride over rode military necessity.