Is Russia about to become an ally of Afghanistan????

Thanks to MiloMonkey for the link!

via Indian Punchline.

Without doubt, the sudden appearance of the Afghan First Vice-President Rashid Dostum in Russia can be seen against this backdrop of gathering storms. Dostum travelled to Moscow on an official visit last week and from there he proceeded to Chechnya to meet the local strongman Ramzan Kadyrov in Grozny on October 5. The reports mention him as having held talks in Moscow with “top Russian security officials, pleading for heavy weapons and helicopter gunships” for the Afghan armed forces. Dostum’s spokesman Sultan Faizy said, “The Russian side is committed to support and help Afghanistan in terms of helping its air and military forces. We’re lacking air support, weapons, ammunition”.
Unsurprisingly, Dostum’s discussions with Kadyrov focused on the plans by the Islamic State to make Afghanistan a bridgehead. Dostum was quoted as saying, “Both Ramzan Kadyrov and I have been waging the struggle with international terrorism. In this field we can make a substantive coalition. We can learn from each other. We don’t have concrete projects of cooperation yet, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any in the future”. Indeed, Moscow has put Dostum in touch with Kadyrov who is a tough battle-hardened veteran of a brutal war against the radical Islamist groups operating in North Caucasus.
Of course, Dostum himself was originally trained in the Soviet Military Academy in Moscow in the eighties to fight the Afghan Mujahideen. But in later years, he showed the willingness to work for other countries such as Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Turkey and the United States. However, presumably, his links with the Russian intelligence never quite dried up and in the current circumstances – in particular, Taliban’s attack on his power base of Jowzjan recently and an abortive attempt to kill him – there would have been a congruence of interests between him and his Russian hosts.

Just plain wow.

The Middle East is unraveling, Afghanistan is on the edge and our military/intel professionals seem to be unaware.

This is ominous.

Is it tinfoil hatish to say that it appears we're marching toward a major regional if not multi-region war? 

Mainstream Media is finally talking about the possible collapse of the Saudi regime...

via Yahoo...

As if there weren’t already enough problems to worry about in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia might be headed for trouble. From plummeting oil prices to foreign-policy missteps to growing tensions with Iran, a confluence of recent events is mounting to pose some serious challenges for the Saudi regime. If not properly managed, these events could eventually coalesce into a perfect storm that significantly increases the risk of instability within the kingdom, with untold consequences for global oil markets and security in the Middle East.

THIS IS A MUST READ!

They're finally catching up and its being talked about in the clear.  That's an indication that someone, somewhere in govt is floating this as a warning.

What isn't being talked about are the implications of a Saudi collapse.  We'd surely see a partitioning of the country with large swaths of it falling under Iranian control.  We'd see a bloodbath that would make a Hollywood horror director blush.  We'd see billions of dollars worth of high tech Western military gear scatter to the four winds....

We'd see anarchy in the Middle East for the next 20 years (at least).

How can the Iranians do it but we can't?

via Wikipedia...

The United States Army Special Forces, known as the Green Berets because of their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force tasked with five primary missions: unconventional warfare (the original and most important mission of Special Forces), foreign internal defense, special reconnaissance, direct action, and counter-terrorism. The first two emphasize language, cultural, and training skills in working with foreign troops.

Training indigenous forces was once the hallmark of US Army Special Forces.  After Rummy's meddlings though they've become raid monkeys just like the rest of SOCOM.

So be it.

But we have to ask.  How can the Iranians take the Houthi rebels, invest much less money and equipment, but achieve better results over a MUCH shorter period of time than we have?

If the Iranians can do it then why can't we?

Something is fundamentally wrong with our military if the only answer to the troubles in Afghanistan is that "its going to take a long time".

If you don't believe me, then simply watch what the Persians are doing and wonder what the difference is.  Is it the quality of their people?  I don't think so.  Do they have better methods?  Again.  No.  Better equipment?  No.

Could it be that they have better leadership with a well defined definition of what victory looks like?  If that's the answer then we need to ask ourselves one other question.  Why would we sacrifice lives, life long injuries (both mental and physical) as well as treasure .... to a goal that wasn't properly sketched out?

Yeah.  Its really simple.  We need a revival of military professionalism.  

Houthis sink a Saudi Warship?

Thanks to Spook for the link!

via PressTV

Yemeni army soldiers backed by allied popular committees loyal to Ansarullah fighters have launched a missile attack against a Saudi warship and managed to destroy it.
The warship was wrecked off the southwestern coast of Yemen on Wednesday, in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, Yemen's Saba news agency reported, adding that other Saudi battleships fled the area following the attack.
According to the report, the sunken ship had repeatedly fired rockets on residential areas in the southwestern province of Ta'izz, inflicting casualties and destruction there.

Here. 

But wait.  NO found this vid....



The only question left to ask (because it's obvious that the Iranians and the Houthis have thoroughly kicked Saudi/GCC ass) is when do they decide to save their forces for the rapidly approaching direct warfare with Iran?

AH-1Z baring its fangs (the vid).....by Sgt. Daniel D. Kujanpaa

Boehner's hand picked guy quit. The presidential election will be decided in weeks...

via AOL...

“Everything hinges on John Boehner,” said Mackenzie Eaglen, a pro-defense Republican with the American Enterprise Institute (and a member of the Breaking Defense board of contributors).
“Here’s the bottom line: it’s now or never,” she said. “If Boehner can do it, there will be abudget deal [to adjust the Budget Control Act spending caps]. If this is not cleaned up before his successor takes office, there will be a year-long CR” — a Continuing Resolution — and, probably, a government shutdown.

And then this...

Ultimately, the outcome depends on Boehner, a Democratic Hill staffer said, echoing the Republican Eaglen. “If one assumes Speaker Boehner wants to make some kind of debt ceiling/short-term budget deal before he leaves, this delay might actually help,” the staffer said. “He would need Democratic support to pass it, but that is possible depending on what is in any such agreement….. On the other hand, if he is not going to try to make a deal before departing, this delay increases the chances of a debt ceiling fail of some kind and/or a government shutdown in December.”
Democratic votes are fine, said Eaglen. “Any government spending deal that is not a long-term CR was never going to pass with Freedom Caucus support anyway — not last month when they had to get through the short-term CR, and not in December when this CR expires,” she said. “Like the Medicare ‘doc fix,’ a budget deal is going to pass with Democratic support, period.”
“Knowing the pragmatist that Speaker Boehner has always been, and the desire by [Senate Majority Leader] McConnell to keep his own Senate majority and win back the White House,” she went on, “the chaos in the house GOP may actually increase the likelihood that these two will seek to cut a deal with Obama as quickly as possible and let Boehner fall on the sword.”

I AM AMAZED at the stupidity of these analyst.

Boehner was pushed out because he cut too many deals and refused to fight.  Now they believe that Boehner could cut one last deal and it not have any long lasting repercussions?  That's just insane.

This is gonna get good.  Boehner isn't in a strong position and in my estimation the chances of a Continuing Resolution just went from 50-50 to about an 85% probability.

But lets play devil's advocate.  If Boehner does the unthinkable then I guarantee Republicans will stay home and the Dems will win the presidency. The problem then?  Dems will slash the defense budget long term, instead of the short term pain being applied by conservatives to right the ship.

F-35 News. USAF deploys war plan to deal with "negative" blogs!

Major Hat Tip to Soldier Systems for finding this!  Just plain wow!

What should concern everyone is that the USAF public information office has actually set about to change public opinion.  The weird thing (at least to me) is that they encourage "monitoring", "fact fixing" etc....kinda disturbing in my opinion.

Amphibious Mechanized Raid....Photos by Lance Cpl. Robert Gonzales

BAE's Light Tank (another pic!)

Another tease from BAE's Twitter Feed.

Everyone's consensus view is that this is the M8.  I'm not so sure.  I got word that they offered to radically modernize the AAV for the USMC but they turned it down.  The point is, this might be based on the M8 but I'm seeing some design differences that point to this being "modernized".  How much?  I'm not sure but its different.

Cdr Salamander has a must read on the Russian Cruise Missile Strike.

Cdr Salamander takes apart the Russian Cruise Missile Strike and its the best analysis of the event that I've read so far.

In short.  The Russians are pros and we can't complain because they're doing exactly what we have.  Read it here.

Sidenote:  Small rant.  How the fuck can the Russians build a small ship that would literally RIP an LCS in half, probably put a Burke class at risk and do it so cheaply that they can mass produce them....BUT WE CAN'T?  Its enough to make you want to punch walls....and yeah...Cdr Salamander gives a good primer on the small Russian warships that I had no idea existed.