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Ricochet's editorial staff

| February 2, 2016

10 COMMENTS

So reports The New York Times:

President Obama plans to substantially increase the deployment of heavy weapons, armored vehicles and other equipment to NATO countries in Central and Eastern Europe, a move that administration officials said was aimed at deterring Russia from further aggression in the region.

EMP Inaction – Confirmation Bias or Denial?

By civil westman

Inactive

civil westman

An overachiever, I have degrees in medicine and law with a commercial pilot's license; yet I feel bereft of substantial knowledge or real wisdom. Anhedonic and obsessed with the meaning of it all.

| January 29, 2016

88 COMMENTS

We all awaken each morning in the sure knowledge that the sun will rise and, just as surely, night will follow day, with good reason. With almost similar certainty, we believe that when we flip a switch the light will come on; that the computer will boot up, the network and internet will work, that we can communicate, globally, at will.

At the same time, we live with a virtual drumbeat, a pervasive refrain, which tells us the myriad ways government purports to be protecting us. Many of those risks are minimal; “protections” come at great cost and penalties for non-compliance are draconian. Hillary and Bernie are currently competing with each other as to whom can provide more government benefits and protections and who will better soak the rich to pay for them (of course, they know there aren’t enough of “the rich” to do so). The federal budget for 2016 is $3.8 trillion.

Meanwhile, I just reread the “Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack.” If you decide to peruse it, I recommend daytime reading. It will keep you up at night. In contrast to de minimis risks from which we are putatively protected, the omniscient elites in Washington have enacted virtually none of the Commission’s urgent recommendations from 2004.

From the Editors’ Desk: Full Speed Ahead

By Ricochet Editors' Desk

Ricochet's editorial staff

| January 28, 2016

15 COMMENTS

The admiral in charge of Navy intelligence has not been allowed to see military secrets for years, reports the Washington Post:

For more than two years, the Navy’s intelligence chief has been stuck with a major handicap: He’s not allowed to know any secrets.

Is a Second Libya War a Good Idea?

By Claire Berlinski, Ed.

Since earning her doctorate in international relations from Oxford University, Claire Berlinski has lived and worked in Britain, Thailand, Laos, Turkey and now France as a journalist, academic, editor, translator and freelance writer. She is the author of Menace in Europe: Why the Continent's Crisis is America's, Too and There is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters. She has also written two spy novels. Her writing has been published in publications including the Wall Street Journal, Th… [more]

| January 28, 2016

52 COMMENTS

I happen to think it might be. So in one way, I welcome this news:

The US is considering a new campaign of military action in Libya against ISIS, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, amid worries that the jihadist group could seize control of a larger slice of territory in the country.

From the Editors’ Desk

By Ricochet Editors' Desk

Ricochet's editorial staff

| January 26, 2016

18 COMMENTS

You’ll be hearing more from the Editors’ Desk in weeks to come, because we’ve found that often we run across a news item — be it breaking, critical, interesting, or just weird — about which we haven’t much to add. We figured we may as well just post them: After all, whatever the subject, there’s always someone on Ricochet who does have something to add, isn’t there?

From Stars and Stripes: Slew of military helicopter deaths raises question of whether budget cuts endanger troops.

We Will Never Destroy ISIS without a Full-Blown Declaration of War

By Larry Kudlow

Contributor

Larry Kudlow

| January 22, 2016

15 COMMENTS

The speed of the news cycle and the media obsession with the presidential horseraces have crowded out a crucial development in the war on ISIS and related Islamic jihadist groups.

House Speaker Paul Ryan has been sounding out colleagues for a new Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). The current AUMF, which was written in 2001 and targeted groups connected to 9/11, has not been renewed. Believe it or not.

Bravo for Paul Ryan’s statesmanship. But a new AUMF must be accompanied by a clear US declaration of war against ISIS. We will never destroy them without a full-blown war declaration.

Can America Be The World’s Maine Game Warden?

By GrannyDude

GrannyDude

| January 22, 2016

58 COMMENTS

Recently, one of my esteemed fellow Ricophiles said the following: “Our armed forces should be the most efficient in the world at killing people and breaking things.”

Though I probably wouldn’t use such hair-raising terms, I agree. Sometimes, the only thing that can make a very bad situation marginally better is a whole lot of lethal force, energetically applied.

However, the reality is that our armed forces are already being used for other things … namely, humanitarian response in the aftermath of natural disasters. We should have our troops do more of this, more deliberately, and with a whole lot more fanfare.

Seven Questions for the Next Commander-in-Chief

By Claire Berlinski, Ed.

| January 22, 2016

85 COMMENTS

I just came across this item in the Huffington Post, suggesting that the target audience is left-leaning, but I think these questions should be asked — and asked often — of anyone running for the office of Commander-in-Chief. I don’t think I’ve heard any of the candidates offer any kind of specific response to these questions, alone or together, so I thought I’d reproduce them here. Maybe a Ricochet member will get a chance to ask them at a campaign event.

If you do, please share what you learn, because I genuinely don’t know how any of the candidates would answer. The seriousness and sobriety of a candidate’s answers to these questions would be very important to me in deciding for whom to vote:

Tom Meyer, Common Citizen

Have You Been Listening to Serial Season 2?

By Tom Meyer, Common Citizen

Contributor

Conservative libertarian, former Ricochet East Coast/Morning Editor. I post on Twitter @tomdmeyer

| January 20, 2016

45 COMMENTS

Last year, NPR’s Serial podcast explored the case of Adnan Syed, a Baltimore high school student convicted of first degree murder following the 1999 disappearance and death of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. The series was so successful that it not only spawned countless parodies, but also a new subgenera of podcasts riffing off of host Sarah Koenig’s earnest-but-oh-so-NPR style. Many people wondered how they’d follow-up this year: would season two cover another murder, or would they apply the same treatment to an entirely different subject, as they intimated numerous times?

Last month, we found out: Koenig and crew are spending this season investigating the story of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the US Army soldier who left his post in Afghanistan in 2009 and spent five years as a prisoner of the Taliban and the Haqqani Network before being released in exchange for a number of Taliban members in 2014. That exchange was immediately controversial and became more so as the circumstances of Bergdahl’s capture began to trickle out, as well as the costs of the attempts to rescue him (six soldiers died during operations to find him). Indeed, since the series premiered, the US Army has launched a court-martial against Bergdahl, charging him with desertion and endangering his fellow troops. More recently, his case has been cited by some of the Republican presidential candidates — including Donald Trump, who’s referred to him as “a dirty, rotten traitor” since at least August — as a textbook example of the Obama Administration’s fecklessness and America’s decline in general.

So far, the backbone of the season has been a series of interviews with Bergdahl conducted by author Mark Boal, in which Bergdahl details his motivations, actions, and experiences. That such interviews exist at all is rather amazing, but the show weaves them together with a great many other material, including interviews with some of the soldiers from his unit (who almost universally have contempt for him), other Westerners held by the same Jihadi networks, and even some members of the Taliban. The podcast’s website has a host of other information and media, as well.

Beyond Top Secret and into Parody

By Claire Berlinski, Ed.

| January 20, 2016

35 COMMENTS

post Whatever’s going on, it’s now seems to be a battle among our intelligence agencies. Here’s how Fox is reporting it, with my emphasis in bold:

Hillary Clinton’s emails on her unsecured, homebrew server contained intelligence from the U.S. government’s most secretive and highly classified programs, according to an unclassified letter from a top inspector general to senior lawmakers.
Fox News exclusively obtained the unclassified letter, sent Jan. 14 from Intelligence Community Inspector General I. Charles McCullough III. It laid out the findings of a recent comprehensive review by intelligence agencies that identified “several dozen” additional classified emails — including specific intelligence known as “special access programs” (SAP). …

Iranian Capture of Navy Boats — a SEAL’s Analysis

By Del Mar Dave

Del Mar Dave

Focused on my blended family, investment banking, flying, working out and craft beer – in that order.

| January 17, 2016

49 COMMENTS

A close and many-decades friend was in Class 29 of the SEALs and served three tours in Vietnam. He forwarded this from a good friend of his:

“I rarely pull out my dusty old trident, but in this case, here goes. I was a Navy SEAL officer in the 1980s, and this kind of operation (transiting small boats in foreign waters) was our bread and butter. Today, these boats both not only had radar, but multiple GPS devices, including chart plotters that place your boat’s icon right on the chart. The claim by Iran that the USN boats “strayed into Iranian waters” is complete [expletive].
For an open-water transit between nations, the course is studied and planned in advance by the leaders of the Riverine Squadron, with specific attention given to staying wide and clear of any hostile nation’s claimed territorial waters. The boats are given a complete mechanical check before departure, and they have sufficient fuel to accomplish their mission plus extra. If, for some unexplainable and rare circumstance one boat broke down, the other would tow it, that’s why two boats go on these trips and not one! It’s called “self-rescue” and it’s SOP.

“13 Hours” – The Film. The Honor. The Disgrace.

By Brian Watt

Brian Watt

Brian Watt is a humorist, writer, designer, and marketing professional.

| January 16, 2016

47 COMMENTS

I have just seen the film 13 Hours, directed by Michael Bay. I’m still reading the book and I’m about halfway through it. The film in a word is outstanding and should be seen by everyone. Watching Americans being attacked at our consulate and CIA outpost in Benghazi and killed while jets sat idle in Italy and Croatia while repeated calls for help were ignored at the highest levels is of course an indictment of our gutless wonder of a president.

Iranian Animation Shows Massive Missile Attack on Saudi Arabia

By Jon Gabriel, Ed.

King

Jon Gabriel, Ed.

Jon Gabriel (a.k.a., @ExJon on Twitter) is the Editor-in-Chief of Ricochet. He is a political writer and marketing consultant, contributing articles to The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, and USA Today among others. Until 2012, he served as Director of Marketing for the free-market Goldwater Institute, where he converted policy initiatives into compelling stories. In the private sector, Jon led marketing efforts for Cold Stone Creamery, Honeywell, and several technology companies. In his… [more]

| January 14, 2016

15 COMMENTS

A group in Iran has uploaded an animation showing the destruction of Riyadh, oil fields, and military installations across Saudi Arabia. Originally posted on the Internet over the weekend, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) translated the video created by Fatemh a’Zahra. The animation group claimed it is in response “to the hallucinations and empty threats of the Saud clan” and that “the arm of vengeance of the Islamic world will emerge from the sleeve of the Yemenis.”

Three Martini Lunch

Three Martini Lunch 1/13/16

January 13, 2016

1 COMMENTS

Hosted by Greg Corombos, Jim Geraghty

Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review cheer most of Nikki Haley’s Republican response to the State of the Union, especially her personal story and the contrast she paints between the visions of Republicans and Democrats. They also slam President Obama for telling everyone to calm down about ISIS since they can’t destroy our entire nation. And they shake their heads as Obama contends the arrest of one man for the Benghazi attacks shows he will do whatever it takes to bring terrorists to justice.

Iran Detains 10 US Navy Sailors

By Ricochet Editors' Desk

Ricochet's editorial staff

| January 12, 2016

33 COMMENTS

160112-riverine-patrol-boat-arabian-gulf-yh-5p_34fc9d277d58c0dc942de49441e55e31.nbcnews-ux-600-480 — Riverine Command Boat (RCB) 802, assigned to Combined Task Group (CTG) 56.7, conducts patrol operations in the Arabian Gulf in Oct. 2015. Two small riverine vessels of this type were detained on Iran’s Farsi Island. MC2 Torrey W. Lee / U.S. Navy

Just in time for Obama’s final State of the Union:

Member Post

By Man With the Axe

Man With the Axe

| January 3, 2016

46 COMMENTS

Why can’t we deal with climate change over the decades, centuries even, as the planet warms, glaciers and ice shelves melt, and other weather changes occur? Because if we don’t undo the industrial revolution right now we are doomed. The world will come to an end. All coastal cities will be underwater. Killer storms will happen […]

This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.

On Military Service

By Spin

Inactive

Spin

Spin is a member of Ricochet.

| December 31, 2015

43 COMMENTS

“Color Guard at Fort Belvoir” by US Army Corps of Engineers, via Shutterstock.

Last night, I went on a short adventure that got me to thinking about my time in the military. We were having dinner with friends when we learned that their son, in his 20s, was stuck out on a dirt road somewhere and needed help. They had contacted another friend, Mick, who lived nearby, and we also ventured out to help. When we arrived, Mick was on the scene, but he was surprised to see me. I said “I can’t let a Navy man have all the fun!” Later that evening, I was thinking about the ribbing that guys give each other when they’ve served in different branches. But I also thought about the bonds that exist almost immediately between most men, once they learn that each other served.

Would You Support a Military Coup?

By Claire Berlinski, Ed.

| December 28, 2015

156 COMMENTS

I’d like to know more about the methodology used in this poll. Apparently, 43 percent of Republicans can envision themselves supporting a military coup:

“Sample 1,000 Adult Interviews Conducted September 2 – 3, 2015,” says YouGov, but offers no further methodological clues.

Carpet Bombing: A Brief History

By ToryWarWriter

Thatcher

ToryWarWriter

Im a Canadian politician (riding president), history writer (magazines about war) with the Conservatives in Canada (OPC and Con parties).

| December 24, 2015

87 COMMENTS

Ted Cruz locked onto the phrase “carpet bombing” on the campaign trail and repeated it in the most recent Republican debate. He presumably means heavy, concentrated, tactical airstrikes such as those used in the First Gulf War. In popular imagination, these were also decisive in the Second Gulf War, the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, the 1995 NATO bombing campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the 1999 campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In other words, he probably means a massive concentration of tactical airstrikes against all C3 targets (command, control, communication) and against enemy logistics and operational forces.

It’s true that the air rate of sorties (one craft, one mission) against ISIS has been very low compared to those campaigns. It seems that Cruz envisions using air power alone to destroy ISIS by accelerating the tempo of strikes. For some reason, he’s confused the phrase “carpet bombing” with this idea. Perhaps he saw it on a documentary somewhere.

Globalization and the Elite Chasm

By Claire Berlinski, Ed.

| December 23, 2015

102 COMMENTS

I read with great interest David Frum’s piece on the Great Republican Revolt, Jon’s reply to it, and all of your comments. I’m very frustrated by my inability to find good polling data — as opposed to impressionistic and obviously partisan sketches — about who Trump’s supporters really are and what their political preferences really are. I don’t know whether it’s true, as Frum suggests, that there’s an important equivalence between between them European populist parties, as Frum believes:

You hear from people like them in many other democratic countries too. Across Europe, populist parties are delivering a message that combines defense of the welfare state with skepticism about immigration; that denounces the corruption of parliamentary democracy and also the risks of global capitalism. Some of these parties have a leftish flavor, like Italy’s Five Star Movement. Some are rooted to the right of center, like the U.K. Independence Party. Some descend from neofascists, like France’s National Front. Others trace their DNA to Communist parties, like Slovakia’s governing Direction–Social Democracy.