Ruminations – 15apr16

George Rebane

Even former Obama SecTreas Larry Summers attributes the bad economy to giving rise to populists Bernie and Donald. This is in contrast to the big National Lie continually repeated from the WH press room.  Regarding the election, Summers said, “I think the prospect of Donald Trump being President would be the gravest threat to our prosperity, our security, and our freedom in my adult lifetime.  That's the thing I would worry most about.”

In the aggregate millennials as a ‘generation’ are not too bright – that finding by Pew Research was reported here some time ago. The informed reader recalls that according to pundits of the progressive persuasion, millennials are society’s designated saviors.  Now Pew has come out with a follow-on finding that may explain away their manifest deficits (e.g. favoring socialism over capitalism).  It turns out that, in addition to having been educated in union schools, “most millennials get their news from Facebook”.  Nuff said.

One of the more onerous items (there are so many) in Obama’s oeuvre is Dodd-Frank. This 2010 law has been much celebrated by grassroots liberals as the legislative tool that finally reined in the runaway greedy banks.  These information-resistant folks will never acknowledge the damage that the law has done to the banking industry and its ongoing drag on the country’s economy.  Finally, things have gotten so bad that both sides now recognize that the travesty needs to be repealed or rewritten.  The headline today reads “Regulators admit the law hasn’t worked while judges question abuses.”  The 14apr16 WSJ reports –

A federal judge has knocked down a major decision from Mr. Obama’s Financial Stability Oversight Council. Also, a federal appeals court panel is questioning the constitutionality of Mr. Obama’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Russia’s air force staged simulated attacks on one our Navy’s ships in the Baltic Sea. Pairs of Su-24s buzzed the USS Donald Cook in international waters, one coming within 30 ft during a high speed pass.  Putin is again playing Obama for the fool as the world watches.  We don’t know many more details beyond the revealing videos.  However, if those jets appeared on our radars closing in at low altitude and high speed, and they were painting us with their targeting (vs search) radar, then Rebane Doctrine would have called for their being warned and then engaged were they to continue closing.  Our President would then put in a call to Vladimir, telling the thug that any Russian warplane that approaches any of our naval vessels in attack configuration will be committing an act of war and dealt with accordingly.

Comments

[Russ]

Remember this story from 2014?

On 10 April 2014, the USS Donald Cook entered the waters of the Black Sea and on 12 April a Russian Su-24 tactical bomber flew over the vessel triggering an incident that, according to several media reports, completely demoralized its crew, so much so that the Pentagon issued a protest [1].

The USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) is a 4th generation guided missile destroyer whose key weapons are Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of up to 2,500 kilometers, and capable of carrying nuclear explosives. This ship carries 56 Tomahawk missiles in standard mode, and 96 missiles in attack mode.

The US destroyer is equipped with the most recent Aegis Combat System. It is an integrated naval weapons systems which can link together the missile defense systems of all vessels embedded within the same network, so as to ensure the detection, tracking and destruction of hundreds of targets at the same time. In addition, the USS Donald Cook is equipped with 4 large radars, whose power is comparable to that of several stations. For protection, it carries more than fifty anti-aircraft missiles of various types.

Meanwhile, the Russian Su-24 that buzzed the USS Donald Cook carried neither bombs nor missiles but only a basket mounted under the fuselage, which, according to the Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta [2], contained a Russian electronic warfare device called Khibiny.

As the Russian jet approached the US vessel, the electronic device disabled all radars, control circuits, systems, information transmission, etc. on board the US destroyer. In other words, the all-powerful Aegis system, now hooked up - or about to be - with the defense systems installed on NATO’s most modern ships was shut down, as turning off the TV set with the remote control.

The Russian Su-24 then simulated a missile attack against the USS Donald Cook, which was left literally deaf and blind. As if carrying out a training exercise, the Russian aircraft - unarmed - repeated the same maneuver 12 times before flying away.

After that, the 4th generation destroyer immediately set sail towards a port in Romania.

Since that incident, which the Atlanticist media have carefully covered up despite the widespread reactions sparked among defense industry experts, no US ship has ever approached Russian territorial waters again.

=========
What lessons could Obama have learned from the 2014 incident, that could be applied to the current incident?

In the intelligence collection business, it is a standard tactic to stimulate the target radar defenses with a fake attack, while a stand-off collection platform records all the electronic activity, looking for weakness in the defense systems. In the 1970s the Air Force used the SR-71 to stimulate the Soviet radar network while stand-off aircraft scooped up the electronic intelligence. The Soviet's could be using the same tactics on the USS Cook? According to the news report, the USS Cook has been the target of numerous simulated attacks since it entered the Black Sea in 2014. The question is what useful intelligence did the US Navy collect during these recurring incidents? Seems like a good opportunity to me?

[George Rebane]

Russ 646am - Good points. I'm sure that both sides tried to collect as much sigint as possible during these high speed passes. It would be interesting to know the source of these Su-24s. Did they come through the Gulf of Finland or up from Kaliningrad, and at what range did we first detect them?

[jon smith]

According to a second person report in the Navy Times there was no radar painting coming from the jets and they were visibly unarmed.

http://www.navytimes.com/story/military/2016/04/13/why-navy-didnt-shoot-down-russian-jets/83000858/

[George Rebane]

jons 842am - Yes, I read that too. The "visibly unarmed" simply means that they did indeed make those simulated attack passes to gather sigint as witnessed by the pods each aircraft carried. Such maneuvers are SOP - if you're going to fly through someone's defensive perimeter, at least record with what and how they are looking at you. Re taking comfort in their lack of visible weapons means little since in a real attack they would launch stand-off weapons from out of visual range. It is clear that they did the fly-bys for both sigint and political purposes. The videos now shown worldwide are a Putting propaganda coup.

[Jon]

Its "Father Knows Best" yet again with the further insults directed against Millenials. Oh yes, a real good strategy to win over their hearts to the Far Right! LOL.

..perhaps they've seen the really bad side of right wing capitalism and are sick of being ripped off by the 1%..

Best of luck in this election and beyond!

[George Rebane]

Jon 1057am - You are clearly from the 'zero sum' clan of collectivists. Do you and yours have more details on how America's 1% are "ripping off" the millennials? Phrased another way - which of their activities/behaviors take money out of the millennials' pockets to line their own?

BTW, you should really contest Pew Research re their findings on millennials; I'm just a messenger trying to make sense of their deficits.

[Todd Juvinall]

This explains "jon" and his mental state.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/apr/15/cannabis-scientists-call-for-action-amid-mental-health-concerns

[Jon]

George, check out Bernie Sanders homepage for voluminous details on your inquiry about the accumulation of wealtb in this country. Not to mention the millions of internet links explaining the millennial point of view.
Thanks.

[Gregory]

I think "Jon" needs to be slapped silly by his "valet".

[George Rebane]

Jon 1241pm - Like you, Bernie doesn't answer my 1118pm in "voluminous detail" or in any other way. Is my question too difficult for the liberal mind?
https://berniesanders.com/issues/income-and-wealth-inequality/

[Gregory]

The "Jon" pretending to be the voice of Millennials is very reminiscent of the FUE, isn't it.

One hard working Millennial barista I know was ranting about how the people were paying taxes that go into the pockets of the corporations... but could provide no details. A Bernie voter for sure.

[Walt]

Great call Gregory,,, "The "Jon" pretending to be the voice of Millennials"
They have a new title. generation "WUSS". The "voice" matches the description.
And when the 15 an hour kicks in, someone will be wondering why he/she/it, isn't working.
2 out of every 3 are going to get canned. What will be the quick fix? Pass a law that says employers can't fire people. Right out of Atlas shrugged.

[Bill Tozer]

Altas Shrugged? I thought that was straight out of France or Greece.

https://www.facebook.com/PatriotPost/photos/a.82108390913.80726.51560645913/10153666393205914/?type=3&theater

[Don Bessee]

WEALTB? Must be tagging the butane hash oil tonight there the 'jon'. ;-)