quote:

Originally posted by ScreamingCockatoo:
Iran is claiming to have taken 2 ships now.
And have fired on several others.
Why are those attack boats not flaming oil slicks yet?
Surely we have helicopters that can intercept them.

If DJ Trump's history has shown us anything it's the old adage of:

"When ye fucketh around, ye is about to findeth out!"

Just give it a second, the Iranian Military is about to get their asses handed to them.

Buff needs to lay some carpet along the coast by the straight

Perhaps I am over-reacting, but turning parts of Iran where the real military operates into a radioactive glassine pit appeals to me.

Hegseth just fired the Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, wonder if the Daily Mail report of 34 ships slipping thru the blockade has anything to do with it.

Daily Mail

Hung Cao is now the acting Secretary of the Navy.

Link

“New acting Navy secretary ran unsuccessful bids for Congress

Taking over as acting secretary is Cao, who ran a failed U.S. Senate bid in Virginia to try to unseat Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine in 2024. He had Trump's endorsement in the crowded Republican primary and gave a speech at the 2024 Republican National Convention.

Cao's biography includes fleeing Vietnam with his family as a child in the 1970s. In a campaign video for his Senate bid, he compared Vietnam's communist regime during the Cold War to the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden.

During his one debate with Kaine, Cao criticized COVID-19 vaccine mandates for service members as well as the military's diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

"When you're using a drag queen to recruit for the Navy, that's not the people we want," Cao said from the debate stage. "What we need is alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their own guts, eat them and ask for seconds. Those are the young men and women that are going to win wars."

Trump and Hegseth have railed against DEI in the military, banning the efforts and firing people accused of supporting such programs.

When he ran for Congress in Virginia in 2022, Cao expressed opposition to aid for Ukraine during a debate against his Democratic opponent.

"My heart goes out to the Ukrainian people. ... But right now we're borrowing $55 billion from China to pay for the war in Ukraine. Not only that, we're depleting our national strategic reserves," Cao said.

Cao graduated from the prestigious Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia, before attending the U.S. Naval Academy.

He was commissioned as a special operations officer and went on to serve with SEAL teams and special forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia before retiring at the rank of captain, according to his Senate campaign biography.

Cao also earned a master's degree in physics and had fellowships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.

Since becoming Navy undersecretary, Cao has championed returning to duty service members that refused a Biden-era mandate to take the COVID-19 vaccine.”

^^^ Our kinda guy!

quote:

Originally posted by braillediver:
Rest assured the Ukraine is there to help- Themselves.

What a shock. Who would have thought that a country might help another country, but also be acting in its own self interest at the same time.

The Gulf states have welcomed the help being offered by Ukraine. Why wouldn't they. The Ukrainians have basically a stalemate with the vastly superior Russian troop numbers. The Russians have been trying to conquer Ukraine for four years. What do they have to show for it? One million dead Russians, the disdain of most of Europe, and two more countries that have joined NATO, fearing a Russian invasion.

And yes, the Ukrainians are also acting in their own self interest. Several of the Gulf states are planning joint drone and missile manufacturing deals with Ukraine.


The Russians are not our friends is an understatement. They are responsible directly and indirectly for the deaths of a lot of Americans.

^^^^^
Good post Fed.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
I don't understand the BBC'S use of "redundancies". It seems Iran is experiencing a lack of redundancies:

The Brits use the same words to have a very different meaning. When they say “I bought a rubber.” they mean they bought an eraser.

Where Billy the American might come home and say, “I was laid off.”, Fred the Brit would come home and say, “I was made redundant.” or “The boss said I was surplus to requirements.”

Where we might say “massive layoffs”, they might say “massive redundancies,” except I don’t remember ever hearing the word massive in the two years I worked over there.

very old joke-

"How can you tell an Iranian is lying?

Their lips ar moving!"

Sorry...

^^^^ It's called Taqiyya.

There are several forms of lying to non-believers that are permitted under certain circumstances, the best known being taqiyya (the Shia name). These circumstances are typically those that advance the cause of Islam - in some cases by gaining the trust of non-believers in order to draw out their vulnerability and defeat them.

Quran (3:28) - This verse instructs believers not to take those outside the faith as friends, unless it is to "guard themselves" against danger, meaning that there are times when a Muslim may appear friendly to non-Muslims, even though they should not feel friendly.

Worth listening to, and VDH goes into a sarcastic digression about the Dems calling President Trump 'fascist' and his actions against Iran 'fascistic' - a nice, smooth ass-kicking, but beyond that Hanson's observations are, as usual, spot-on.

BTW- ma'am, turn off autofocus on your camera and focus it manually. You're sitting in a chair, for God's sake.

Spain has prevented the USA from using joint airfields for the Iran war and, the country’s President has been against us in Gaza as well.

Does any member of our group know how much money would be lost to Spain if the USA pulled all troops and other Americans with our government?

Spain virtue signaling. As if Spanish history began last month….

Negotiations are cancelled

https://x.com/nicksortor/statu...066672242680112?s=20

OK Light'em up already! Stop playing their games! All military forces used bridges first. Then all of them, their grid, it will start the people to actually do something about their government, with no work, no food and no power

quote:

Originally posted by fischtown7:
Hegseth just fired the Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, wonder if the Daily Mail report of 34 ships slipping thru the blockade has anything to do with it.

SECNAV has nothing to do with operations, Phelan's removal was because of the embarrassing state of ship maintenance and shipbuilding. In his defense he was handed a bad situation as the Navy and the larger Pentagon has worked to underfund and allow things to deteriorate over the last 20-years. Its speculated that DJT wanted Phelan to be much aggressive when dealing with private shipyards and the growing delays that is affecting readiness, problem is there are very few shipyards remaining in the US and their place within the US economy is microscopic & insignificant compared to prior generations. This is a bigger national strategic economic situation that was allowed to happen over many years & administrations.

As for ships slipping past USN blockade....this is what happens when Big Navy minimizes & takes an unserious position around the need for smaller surface craft that can be produced in large numbers, such as a frigate who's latest iteration was cancelled because of USN's mishandling of the entire project.

quote:

Originally posted by tleddy:
Spain has prevented the USA from using joint airfields for the Iran war and, the country’s President has been against us in Gaza as well.

Does any member of our group know how much money would be lost to Spain if the USA pulled all troops and other Americans with our government?

There's two major bases in Spain, Rota for a squadron of six destroyers home ported there and nearby Moron Air Base which is a major base for logistics and at one time based several thousand Marines; both are run by Spanish military with the US as a major tenant. Should the US pull-out, its estimated the region would loose €250m annually and close to 10,000 jobs lost, I believe that's a pretty conservative estimate, as those bases has a lot of dependents who's impact goes well beyond just those in uniform & their hardware.

I think the better strategy is to seek a suspension of Spain from NATO, separate the country from the other members and emphasize their lack of commitment and investment to their membership contrasted against the other members who have made the necssary investments towards their membership. Spain like Germany, thinks their contribution of land for bases and waterfront for ships is good enough to satisfy their membership requirements in exchange for defense protection and a handful of joint-officer billets to be 'in the club'. Sorry, your geographic good-fortune doesn't excuse the necessary investments needed to be a member. Given the anger Spaniards are expressing about the current government's soft attitudes towards illegal migration and the demonizing of those who oppose them, I believe president Sanchez and his cabal of communists are not long.

Trump is playing 3D chess while the Iranians are playing checkers

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
Trump is playing 3D chess while the Iranians are playing checkers

A novel observation.