Minion \u2018Retired Spook\u2019 is skeptical that Confucius\u2019s plans for pushing back against Russian imperialism will gain any traction. He explains:<\/p>\n
At the risk of sounding disagreeable and cranky (which I am, but I hate to sound like it) please allow me to comment on your proposals vis-\u00e0-vis Vlad the Impaler 2.0.<\/p>\n
First, we don\u2019t have anyone in Europe who will back us on anything, especially if it will cost them money. If I were doing it, I would immediately declare null and void all Russian non-diplomatic passports, and give the holders thereof 3 working days to hit the bricks for home. Then PNG all the diplomats. But under the current regime, that\u2019s about as likely to happen as finding a pig that can whistle.<\/p>\n
Second, tackling their petroleum business is a great idea, but one that should have been started 5 or 6 years ago. If we start it now, the impact will be minimal, and the foothold on the Crimean pennisula will be set in stone. It\u2019s gonna take a lot to convince Vlad to give up the naval base at Sevastapol. And since \u0413\u0410\u0417\u041f\u0420\u041e\u041c provides most of the oil and natural gas to the rest of Ukraine, it\u2019s gonna squeeze (or freeze) the very people we\u2019re trying to help.<\/p>\n
Third, other than the Brits, there are no NATO allies who have the wherewithal, either financially or politically, to do anything more effective than emotional hand-wringing. The missiles that should be going back should never have left, and if we had a real commander-in-chief, and a professional state department we wouldn\u2019t be jumping through hoops trying to figure out how to get them back in place BEFORE they\u2019re needed.<\/p>\n
Fourth, from your mouth to G-d\u2019s ears, but don\u2019t bet the mortgage payment on it. The way the current crop of liberals, losers, RINOs, crooks, and morons (is that repetitious, or just redundant?) are running things, we\u2019re going to have a 3rd World military in about 10 years. The A-10 is going away because there are no big-buck programs needed to keep it flying, which means there are no big-buck \u201cbonus\u201d (read \u201ckickback\u201d) incentives being spread around. After all, you can\u2019t expect an O-3 to retire on a mere $8K a month, can you?<\/p>\n
(Let me digress here for a moment. I was an intel geek for an A-10 squadron back during Sandbox 1, and learned a few things about Warthogs and the people that keep them in the air. First, A-10 pilots are actually misplaced jarheads Marines, who don\u2019t have visions of glorious aerial combat. They want to kill people and break stuff, in job lots, at spitting distance range. And doing it in front of an appreciative audience of grunts and other ground pounders just adds to the fun! The pilots and ground crews say horrible things about the aircraft, things like It\u2019s the only plane that records bird strikes from the rear, Or The airspeed indicator is a sundial. How about It doesn\u2019t fly, it\u2019s so ugly that it repels the ground. Pilots and crew dogs say that stuff. Nobody else does, or at least not more than once. But because the A-10 community is all about anti-armor and CAS, the Air Force contingent of zipper-suited sun gods won\u2019t go to bat for them. There\u2019s the Fighter Mafia, and the Bomber Mafia, and if you ain\u2019t one of them, you ain\u2019t shit.)<\/p>\n
Fifth, well, that\u2019s being done all right, just not the way you have in mind. The military is being (or has already been) purged of officers that want to do the right thing. Most of what we have left, at least at flag rank, are the ones who want to do the politically-correct thing. We\u2019re almost at the point of anyone who would ally with us is really not someone you\u2019d want as an ally. And given what we\u2019ve done to allies in the past, I\u2019m not surprised.<\/p>\n
Sixth, anyone who actually believed that whole \u201creset\u201d thing should probably not be allowed outdoors without a keeper, and not allowed sharp objects at the dinner table. Expecting the Russians to do something simply because it\u2019s the right thing to do has us back to the whistling pig. Not gonna happen. The Russian government will do whatever it can to expand\/improve it\u2019s position in the world, and if that means using treaties for toilet paper, oh well.<\/p>\n
Seventh, if we\u2019re gonna ditch the A-10 in favor of something like the F-35, which costs exponentially more, but doesn\u2019t do the same job, or at least not as well, I\u2019d rather see the A-10s go to the Marines instead of somewhere overseas. As for the other aircraft in question, I\u2019d like to point out that C-130s and B-52s are still mission-capable, even though some of the aircraft are older than the combined ages of the front-end crews.<\/p>\n
I must agree, I think Vlad\u2019s won this one. I can\u2019t see the Ukrainians mounting the type of campaign the Afghanis did in 1979. (For one thing, they\u2019ve got more to lose than the Muj did.) But I don\u2019t see the Western world doing much to stop the Russian (or Chinese, or North Korean) programs of expansion, because western liberals have so little regard for reality and have a hard time envisioning a solution that does not involve green energy and kumbaya.<\/p>\n
I really need a drink!<\/p>\n
Best wishes,<\/p>\n
Retired Spook<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Well, as one of God\u2019s own pessimists, far be it from the \u0152c. Vol. to dispute this type of criticism. The original post was designed as \u201cwhat we should do.\u201d Spook (Ret.) offers us \u201cwhat we will do.\u201d And one does suspect it will largely be a whole lot of nothing.<\/p>\n
So, to our friends in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, let us just say, Lai Jums veicas, s\u00e9km\u00e9s, <\/i>and edu!<\/i> Which is to say, good freaking luck.<\/p>\n
Now Confucius needs a drink\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Minion \u2018Retired Spook\u2019 is skeptical that Confucius\u2019s plans for pushing back against Russian imperialism will gain any traction. He explains: At the risk of sounding disagreeable and cranky (which I am, but I hate to sound like it) please allow …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-99","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSitzkrieg II: Electric Boogaloo - The Gormogons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gormogons.com\/index.php\/2014\/03\/sitzkrieg-ii-electric-boogaloo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sitzkrieg II: Electric Boogaloo - The Gormogons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Minion \u2018Retired Spook\u2019 is skeptical that Confucius\u2019s plans for pushing back against Russian imperialism will gain any traction. 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