The Exhibit A Of A Severe Delusion.

Thanks to one of my patrons. He directed me to this piece of such a severe coping that one has to ask the question--if this dude teaches at West Point, especially air defense, I have to ask the question--what exactly does he teach? 

The May 4 interception of a Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missile by one of Ukraine’s Patriot air defense systems in Kyiv has caused a significant stir in the international missile defense community. The ensuing saturation attack against Kyiv on May 16, which according to Russian sources was specifically aimed at knocking out a Patriot system, has only further underscored the significance of advanced missile defense systems in today’s evolving security landscape. This dramatic first-ever engagement between modern Western air defense systems and the hypersonic weapons specifically designed to defeat them was marked by contrails streaking the skies over Ukraine, literally and figurately underlining the significance of this latest technological revolution.

I have news for this Captain Peter Mitchell--there was NO intercept of any Kinzhal on May 4. No US AD system is capable of that, what it was--it was Ukie BS spread by imbeciles at Bloomberg. The rest of the piece by this guy is one of the most fascinating exercise in confabulation I ever read. This also explains why the US gets its ass handed to it in war, after war, after war. Next thing you know, Captain Mitchell will be "teaching" that Patriot PAC3 in Saudi Arabia shot down all garage-made drones by Houthis. But then again, Mitchell, obviously, doesn't know the history of modern conflicts and that is fine. Judging by what people who teach at West Point describe, there are serious problems there with military history, modern technology and with studying strategy. I am on record--there will be many in US political top and military who will continue to cope to a complete cognitive dissonance and a completely confabulated version of the warfare. 

As per Air Defense, Mitchell better learn about academic abyss between 4 academic years at West Point, after a joke of US public education STEM exams, and 6 academic years Russia's dedicated Air Defense military academies. One fine example of this is Lieutenant-General Konashenkov, who graduated at that time Soviet Zhitomir Academy of Radio-Electronics of Air Defense. And then Zhukov Air and Space Defense Academy (2 year War College) of Air and Space Defense. Meanwhile, one can quote me--in terms of Air Defense the US is not even in the same league. As Larry Johnson stated clearly in 2018 when commenting on "performance" of NATO stand-off weapons:  

Do not believe a word you have heard from the Pentagon and the White House about the "success" of the cruise missile strikes on Friday last. A fraud is being perpetrated on the American people and the world at large.

The second issue concerns the imagined success of the U.S. TLAM strike. Before General Mattis (retired) approached the podium Friday night, he knew full well that a significant number of the inbound missiles had been shot down inside Syria. That is why Mattis closed his press conference with the following comment: Based on recent experience, we fully expect a significant disinformation campaign over the coming days by those who have aligned themselves with the Assad regime. Give the old boy his due. He was inoculating the ridiculous operation against legitimate criticism by simply being able to point out that any information contrary to what the Pentagon said was "propaganda." Of course, the enlisted and officers that staff the CAOC know differently. The Russians and Syrians were not lying when they claimed to have downed more than 70 of the U.S., UK and French missiles. I understand the reluctance of the U.S. military leaders to admit the truth about this debacle. It would undermine the confidence of the American people is our supposedly invincible weapon systems and would embarrass and enrage the man child that inhabits the White House. Better to tell him lies and let him believe the fantasy. 

 A friend of mine who has expertise in these matters wrote me: Any air defense engineer with a security clearance that isn't lying through his teeth will admit that Russia's air defense technology surpassed us in the 1950's and we've never been able to catch up. The systems thy have in place surrounding Moscow make our Patriot 3's look like fucking nerf guns.Finally there is the matter of the Russians as a second rate military masquerading as a world power. Another friend who has spoken with military commanders in the CENTCOM AOR told me: All of the knowledgeable aircraft commanders are usually scared shitless about the prospect of a legitimate air-to-air skirmish with a SU-30 or any Russian air superiority fighter. But that is not what blowhards, like retired General Jack Keane, believe:General Keane is confusing restraint with weakness and incompetence. That is a dangerous and potentially deadly error to make.

America's AD record is dismal and no amount of BS from 404 can hide anymore the fact that the US lost the arms race in this field. Well, not this alone. 

Larry Makes Some Very Good Points.

Larry Johnson wrote an excellent review. Here is one excerpt. 

First, from the last year of WW II until now the US has always fought with air superiority and never faced a comparable air force. Russia changes that calculus. Not only does it have a robust combat air capability that rivals anything the United States or NATO can put in the air, the Russians have the largest interconnected air defense system in the world. Five systems that are all data linked according to Karber. And this was the status quo from four years ago. Russian has made additional significant technological gains on this front.

Read the whole thing by following the link to Larry's blog.  Netcentricity rules in this case. Both main Russian combat helis Ka-52 and Mi-28 have data links to ground units which designate targets. This is apart from having links between each-other.

There Is Nothing "Disturbing" Here, Mr. Davis.

Daniel Davis writes about US Vice-President Mike Pence's Memorial Day address in next terms:

Memorial Day. It was designed to be a somber remembrance of the pain and loss suffered by those made the ultimate sacrifice for the security of the nation. Now, however, it seems it’s becoming more a celebration of combat.On Saturday, Vice President Mike Pence told the graduating class of the U.S. Military Academy that the world is “a dangerous place” and that future combat isn’t a possibility, but a near-sure deal. “It is a virtual certainty that you will fight on a battlefield for America at some point in your life,” he said. “It will happen.” With all due respect to the Vice President, I find these statements and underlying mentality disturbing.  The Commander in Chief’s number one priority is to keep our citizens safe—but his sacred duty to the men and women who wear the uniform is to consider their lives as the most precious commodity our country produces. 

Well, yes, Lieutenant Colonel, you assess Mike Pence's, indeed, disturbing mentality as a military professional and, which shines through your writings, an American patriot. But you miss the point. From Mike Pence point of view--there is nothing disturbing about what he states. In fact, what he states is a normal, fully organic and natural thing for people like Mike Pence. Let us open his biography, it speaks volumes.

Pence graduated from Columbus North High School in 1977. He earned a BA degree in history from Hanover College in 1981, and a JD degree from the Indiana University's Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis in 1986. While at Hanover, Pence joined the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, where he became the chapter president. After graduating from Hanover, Pence was an admissions counselor at the college from 1981 to 1983. In his childhood and early adulthood, Pence was a Roman Catholic and a Democrat. He volunteered for the Bartholomew County Democratic Party in 1976 and voted for Jimmy Carter in the 1980 presidential election, and has stated that he was originally inspired to get involved in politics by people such as John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. While in college, Pence became an evangelical, born-again Christian, to the great disappointment of his mother. His political views also started shifting to the right during this time in his life, something which Pence attributes to the "common-sense conservatism of Ronald Reagan" that he began to identify with.After graduating from law school in 1986, Pence was an attorney in private practice. He ran unsuccessfully for a congressional seat in 1988 and in 1990. In 1991, he became the president of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation, a self-described free-market think tank and a member of the State Policy Network, a position he held until 1993.

This is a biography of a colorless lawyer who slowly migrated from Roman Catholicism to "born-again" allegedly "Christianity", which is a euphemism for being a Christian Zionist and a neocon--a precise strata of American society who, together with a number Israeli and Gulfies' influence groups, make sure that US is Israel's (and sometimes Saudi's) stooge and fights wars on behalf of those in the Middle East. As we can see, Mike Pence doesn't know (as doesn't his President) shit from shinola in anything war related. This is NORMAL for D.C. bureaucracies, and especially those parts which are vehemently pro-Israel. In this case, Pence, must make sure that his son is sent to combat zone together with West Point's graduates and takes part in those promised battles. Fact is, it would have been really good to send Mike Pence himself to spend couple months at some FOB in Afghanistan and experience all pleasures of said combat. After all, he is second in the chain of command of the United States and should have his leadership qualities honed in real conditions, before sending someone's sons and daughters to die for Israel or Saudis. No? Well, too bad. It is such a pity that most militarily aggressive nation since 1993 is continuously led by pathetic mediocrities who are good only for private law practice or real estate business and who never served a day in uniform. 

I can totally understand Lt. Colonel Davis' plea, but it is in vain, as will be any attempt in trying to find any qualities which make a real man (not just a dick-bearer) in Donald Trump, Mike Pence or, for that matter, Bill Clinton or Barak Obama. US political top today is a combination of perverts, imbeciles and cowards who wouldn't last a day when and if faced with military realities. So, I get it:

You want to honor the memory of those who have sacrificed so much for this nation on Memorial Day? The best way to honor those who have fallen is to make sure their sacrifices prevent future generations from having to fight. A good first step towards that goal would be to stop boasting about how much combat our current generation of troops will see and start looking for non-lethal ways to foster and maintain peace.  

But it will fall on deaf ears. Normal for these people is evil covered by the fig leaf of their perverted "faith"--it is the world of upside down being normal.