Shock Action

"Fire and fire only is hopeless if the enemy ever makes contact. Weapons of shock are the crusher and pincers which are held in the hands of the assailant. Shock weapons are the military instruments par excellence. They are not only employed by courageous fighters anxious to close with the enemy, deliver him a blow, and win a decision, but they are truly the deadly. They win battles. (H. Turney-High, Primitive War: Its Practice and Concepts, 12).

Great Video

I have been talking lately about the Marines in Helmand province primarily around Sangin. The BBC has placed an excellent show about this area out on you-tube (Thanks HPS for the tip). This action involves clearing a 900 meter stretch of road known as bomb alley.

Also just for the fun of it a Marine ambush of the Taliban for a change

Egypt

I have been watching this and wondering how our State Department and Executive could be getting this so wrong. It is like they are wanting to cause a power vacuum in there that the Muslim Brotherhood can step right into. There is enough literature out that shows exactly what the Brotherhood believes in that I do not need to add to it however keep in mind this group gave us al-Qaeda and HAMAS and fuel militant Islam throughout the world.

Yes I am all for democracy wherever it can take root however there is nothing at all to be said for letting the Egyptians be able to vote one time and then having it taken away or become meaningless. The Egyptian woman you see going around without head scarves...if the MB takes over that is gone, violence against the Christian Copts will increase, and our best ally in the area Israel will face enemies on all directions.

I am really beginning to wonder where our leaders heads are.

Pakistan's Nuclear Weapons and other stuff

In a move to cause regional issues Pakistan is moving forward with an arms race of one to build new nuclear weapons. From the New York Times "American assessments, suggest that the number of deployed weapons now ranges from the mid-90s to more than 110. When Mr. Obama came to office, his aides were told that the arsenal “was in the mid-to-high 70s,” according to one official who had been briefed at the time, though estimates ranged from 60 to 90." Pakistan already far exceeds the weapons needed to blast India into a nuclear wasteland, so why the build up and why now? Does the Pakistan military view the U.S. as unable and unwilling to say enough is enough? These weapons do not help Pakistan in its war against their own insurgency, India is unlikely to come pouring across the border and ignite its own very large Muslim population.

This theory has no basis in fact and is just that a theory but one way to infuse a lot of cash is to be building these weapons on contract for another country say Iran or N. Korea or selling them on the open market.

As the Chinese curse goes "may you live in interesting times." Combine this with the leaderless revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, and Jordan and the world is in for some interesting times.

A word on the protests rocking northern Africa and Jordan there is only one group organized enough to fill the power vacuum left by regimes falling. These are the Muslim groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliated organizations. Already Mohammed el Baradei is negotiating with the Muslim Brotherhood for a coalition government. The Brotherhood member has already asked the Egyptian people to prepare for war against Israel. If the Brotherhood does come to power in Egypt Israel will be surrounded all it would take then is for Iran to say go and Hezbollah and Hamas will launch attacks followed possibly or in conjunction with an Egyptian military the US has been arming and training for over 20 years.