War. War never changes. (Except when it does)

[zaratustra]

I'm very curious as to how bombing would damage North Korea measurably. Because the two major military assets NK has are: a quarter of the population is in the army, and nukes.

[Mothra]

THAAD Missile System Will Be Online Within Days In South Korea, Admiral Says:

President Trump and Defense Secretary James Mattis have said all options are on the table to counter what Harris called "the reckless North Korean regime" in his testimony today before the House Armed Services Committee. But Harris also stated, "We want to bring Kim Jong Un to his senses, not to his knees."

Hours before the admiral spoke to members of Congress, parts of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system began the trip to their deployment site in a rural part of South Korea.

China has opposed the deployment, saying the system's radar could provide a new way to spy on its military and that THAAD missiles could undercut China's nuclear deterrent. The country has also warned of an arms race between defensive and offensive weapons on the Korean Peninsula.

The U.S. says the THAAD system is not an offensive weapon — a point that Admiral Harris reiterated on Capitol Hill today.

"This system is a defensive system that will help protect South Korea from ballistic missile attacks from North Korea," Harris told the House committee during Wednesday's public hearing. "It is a purely defensive system," he added, saying that the THAAD components are "aimed north" — not at China to the west.

(@Thad)

[Mongrel]

USAToday: Wild boars kill 3 ISIL assholes

[Yoji]

KPCC mentioned something about NATO on the way to work, something about the requirement that member nations spend at least 2% GDP on defense. Not sure, was too tired and not listening closely.

But I did suddenly wonder about something. You know all those crazy firearms that come out of places like Belgium's Fabrique Nationale? I suddenly wondered if those were actually made for some defense purpose, or just serve as money-sinks to help meet that 2% threshold. Like, sure, the F2000 is a fine killing machine, absolutely rich with fancy features. Ambidexterous, small form factor, lightweight, select-fire, dust-resistant, all that great stuff.

But there's gotta be more ordinary weapons that work about 80% as well. It just seems crazy to develop such weird sci-fi guns when the world is being threatened by ex-shepherds wielding old Soviet guns. But it doesn't look so crazy if you're developing something just to spend money and meet a goal.

I dunno, maybe I'm reading too much into things and seeing things that aren't there. Also, does this tin foil hat make my head look fat?

[zaratustra]

But what would be the point of making ten million Default Rifles if most of them would go unused or go to central american narcos

[Mongrel]

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[Mongrel]

[Yoji]

So, what are we fighting that merits the development of a rapid-fire naval railgun? Are the Tyranids invading and I just didn't hear about it because Trump said stupid shit at the BSA Jamboree?

[Mongrel]

Oh hey, in other news, the US just flew a bunch of bombers over North Korea.

[Yoji]

...huh. B-1 Lancers? Elegant aircraft, but I thought they were mothballed over insufficient bells and whistles or something.

A tiny part of me actually looks forward to this new bully approach to dealing with North Korea. Like, sure, go ahead and just try to use force on that pudgy lunatic. I double-dog dare you. Surely, the only reason the stalemate has festered for so long is because the past twelve presidents who dealt with it were massive pussies. And surely, there is no problem on earth that can't be solved by bombing it enough; that's why Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria have long since become lands of milk and honey.

[Spooky Skeleton]

The B-1 was only ever cancelled back in the 70s because it was thought that cruise missles serve pretty much the same purpose as a big bomber. But attitudes about that changed by the 80s and they started making them again. I think the Stealth Bomber was meant to replace it but they ended up just keeping them around because you don't need a stealth bomber all the time and I'm pretty sure the Lancer is a better aircraft over all in a conventional sense.

(I wish I could find a picture of the comic panels from Area-88 where Saki has that Lancer with the angel of death painted on the tail, piloted by his harem of sexy cliche arab women pilots)

[Mongrel]

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

[Mongrel]

UH

Let's hope this headline won't be corrected in a few minutes by replacing "towards" with "at".

EDIT: It hit the sea, but was close enough (it actually overflew Japan) that the Japanese government actually told people to get to shelter:

There was about a minute between the first and second update where I was like... hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[Yoji]

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

Maybe I'm getting hung up on the wrong details, but isn't "Blackwater" kind of an ominous and evil thing to call yourself? That, and someone on Wonkette pointed out that "blackwater" is also RV lingo for sewage stored on board.

[Spooky Skeleton]

Mercenary groups usually try to have intimidating names, it's not a new thing. You do understand that their advertised service is to kill people right?

[Mongrel]

Interesting and grim side story about North Korea, via the Guardian: North Korean drought is predicted to lead to widespread famine and North Korea is already unable to keep it's military fed, leaving the rank and file military in poor physical condition, and much of the civilian population at grave danger of starving to death.

It's a truism that almost all revolutions fail unless they receive some support from the military. But if even the army is being starved...

[Mongrel]

NYT Op Ed by none other than Shinzo Abe: Abe thinks further talks with NK will be pointless, reaffirms an "ironclad" solidarity with the US, and that he supports the US assertion that "all options are on the table"

[Da_Beerman]

Abe and Trump are blustering their ways into support for their nations military (and soon onto NK propaganda TV). Meanwhile SK's president Moon jae-in is t keeping diplomacy on the table along with sanctions.

No one in Korea really expects NK to use the nukes (they'd be stranded at this point since China isn't keen on war) but I'm not sure if Moon expects them to give them up to lift sanctions. NK survived a famine once in the 90s and I'm sure they'd do it again.

[Thad]

Mark Bowden at the Atlantic had an article in July called How to Deal With North Korea, subtitled "There are no good options. But some are worse than others."

He argues -- persuasively, to me at least -- that our best bad option is to let Kim keep doing what he's doing, accept a nuclear NK, and bet that Kim's only pretending to be a delusional child who thinks he's God.

I think that's likely. Kim's behavior is consistent with self-preservation; he saw what happened to Saddam and Qaddafi when they disarmed and he's got no interest in that outcome. Building nukes as a deterrent is consistent with self-preservation; launching a first strike against the US, Japan, or SK is, to put it mildly, not.

[Mongrel]

Uh.

Attempted coup in Saudi Arabia... lots of Princes being arrested.

Saudi Arabia announced the arrest on Saturday night of the prominent billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, plus at least 10 other princes, four ministers and tens of former ministers.

Also

Yemen also fired a missile at Riyadh during the chaos, which the Saudis shot down