Pardon My French, Yet Again!

So, they finally figured it out what it takes to stay relevant in the real world. 

Boeing suspends its dividend, holds up buybacks and stops paying CEO and chairman amid pandemic. 

About fvcking time. The only legitimate "buyback" is known as "stock options" which are granted to people working at the company. Obviously, clowns populating a spin machine, aka US media, immediately jumped on the fact of Nikki Hailey leaving Boeing's board of directors and started to speculate that this is the move designed to get Nikki into the WH as VP or, maybe, even as POTUS. I understand that only qualifications pundits have are those of sorting out different varieties of shit, but Hailey, being incompetent idiot and being considered as a viable candidacy for any top two posts in US political hierarchy is a sign of times, the end of times that is. As if we don't have enough problems in hoarding enough booze to survive, in adequate mental state, upcoming presidential debates between current orange genius and senile imbecile Biden, who seems to be positioned to finally qualify the DNC and Democratic Party as an ultimate freak show.  

Speaking of the "geniuses" and the reasons why Russia, as an example, sees no value in talking to Trump. As Daniel Larison points out:

The division in the administration is between the hard-liners in the administration that want to attack the Iranian military directly and the U.S. military that doesn’t want to jeopardize the relationship with Iraq any further. According to the report, the Secretary of State, National Security Advisor, and the acting Director of National Intelligence all urged a larger attack earlier this month. It was only the Defense Secretary and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs that argued against this. They prevailed in the debate because they said that they did not have evidence that the latest rocket attack on was directed by Iran. 

As I wrote previously, last vestiges of the geopolitical competence in the United States are concentrated primarily around armed forces professionals--it is understandable, since they have to plan based on more-or-less realistic data. Yeah, let's call it "more-or-less". The main hawk in Trump Administration today is Richard Grenell, a run-of-the-mill mediocrity who passes under the title of "diplomat" in the US and who is now Director of National Intelligence and is known for creating a shitstorm in Germany, while being an ambassador there, and, in general the guy who is utterly unqualified for either diplomat or "intelligence" positions probably even in the Kingdom of Lesotho (nothing personal against this fine country). But that is the story of the American geopolitical "thought" in the last, well, many years.  

Obviously, the main question remains--how Grenell sees (hint, he cannot--he has degree in Public Administration) this "larger attack" on Iran. Pompeo, another geopolitical "thinker" and insane hawk, who graduated West Point in 1986, at least should have some clue on how modern battlefield is shaped and what happens in it--I think--but there is no guarantee that fat Mike actually remembers any of it. So, here we have a bunch of chickenhawks with dubious religious indoctrination (like Pompeo) trying to kill as many US servicemen in the ME as humanly possible by mounting a "larger attack" on Iran. What can possibly go wrong, right? But even Pompeo, I think, is not well versed in the realities of modern warfare against such state actor as Iran and should be periodically reminded that the United States doesn't have a viable object (bases, HQs, industrial plant) and troop level (brigade, regiment, company) Air Defense capable to stop Iranian cruise and ballistic missiles. So, no surprise then, that it is namely, for all its major flaws, US military which pushes against these insane ideas. I would suggest to Mike Pompeo and Grenell to concentrate on the only thing that are good at--imposing sanctions. As I said many times--more sanctions on Russia, please. I mean it.