PrairiePundit

 Daily Mail: Military personnel could find laboratory grown meat in their ration packs as  Pentagon  bosses scratch around for ways to reduce their impact on  climate change . Bioengineering company BioMADE came up with the idea after receiving $500 million in Defense department funding to reduce its carbon footprint. But their plan to roll out 'cell based meat' has left a nasty taste in the mouth of veterans who have accused Pentagon bosses of treating front line soldiers like 'lab rats'. ... We have come a long way from the C Rations I used to eat in Vietnam.  It does not sound like an improvement to me. See also: Bidenflation’s Hunger Games: Soaring Food Prices Leave Americans Struggling Foodflation matters  

  Joe Cunningham: ... Recently, Xi was embarrassed to find that missiles were  filled with water rather than fuel , with officials pocketing the money meant to make the missiles fly. US intelligence indicates that President Xi Jinping’s sweeping military purge came after it emerged that widespread corruption undermined his efforts to modernize the armed forces and raised questions about China’s ability to fight a war, according to people familiar with the assessments. The corruption inside China’s Rocket Force and throughout the nation’s defense industrial base is so extensive that US officials now believe Xi is less likely to contemplate major military action in the coming years than would otherwise have been the case, according to the people, who asked not to be named discussing intelligence. The rapid growth of China's military appears to have led to plenty of self-interested bureaucrats taking advantage and enriching themselves. Along with the water-filled missiles, there ...

  DC Daily Journal: ... Most recently, the Biden administration decided that they wouldn’t be giving any pay increases to keep up with inflation for junior members of the U.S. military, citing the inability of the U.S. to afford it. Meanwhile, the Biden administration continues to send billions of dollars to Ukraine to fight a proxy war that has been waged for two years now. ... ... Biden has been a reckless spender from day one with the exception of the troops who have been hurt by the inflation that Biden induced. 

 DC Daily Journal: ... According to a new Pentagon Inspector General report released Thursday, the U.S. military failed to track more than $1 billion in weaponry transferred to Ukraine that they were mandated to track between February and June of last year. The announcement comes as Congress prepares to discuss sustaining aid to the war-torn country as the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion approaches. The Inspector General’s study examined the Defense Department’s “enhanced end-use monitoring” (EEUM) program, which is required for certain types of smaller armaments that are more likely to be intercepted and redirected to the black market. “These EEUM-designated defense articles included Javelin missiles, Javelin [launch units], Stinger missiles, Stinger gripstocks and lethal miniature aerial missile system Switchblades,” the report said. While the U.S. has provided more than $45 billion in military aid to Ukraine since 2021, the report only analyzed EEUM-designated weaponry g...

 Federalist: It may be only Wednesday, but that hasn’t stopped the U.S. military from racking up one of its worst weeks yet under President Joe Biden. In the span of two days, numerous stories have emerged reaffirming that the Biden Pentagon’s top priorities aren’t winning wars or taking care of personnel but injecting leftist politics into the service and funding endless overseas conflicts. From requesting U.S. taxpayer funding for neo-Marxist programs to shipping more aid to Ukraine, the revelations (sadly) represent a continuation of the military’s “reimagining” under Biden’s presidency. Forcing Soldiers to Pay for Equipment Left in Afghanistan On Monday, the X account known as “Libs of Tiktok” posted a viral video from an alleged U.S. Army soldier with the last name “Michael,” who in his  now-unavailable  post lamented the current state of the U.S. armed forces. While describing his experiences leaving the service after four years on active duty, Michael claimed the m...

 Yahoo News: Plant in Moscow Oblast that suffered from explosion participated in development of next generation bomber ...  "As evidenced by the public procurement website, the company not only continues to supply optics to Russian security forces, but since 2019 has been involved in the development of the Russian strategic bomber-missile carrier of the new generation, Poslannik (Messenger)."  Details: State contracts of the plant ceased to be published almost immediately after the start of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, i.e. in March 2022, but previously concluded contracts are still available. Among them is "the implementation of an integral part of the development work on the topic of the cipher: Poslannik-1OEP/L". The term of the contract is 2027, and the cost of work amounts to RUB 69 million [approx. US$710,424 - ed.].  ... See, also:  Damaged plant near Moscow was developing next-generation bomber aircraft – report ... Poslannik is a strategi...

 The Hill: Top House Republicans say the Pentagon’s budget will be on the table as Republicans seek to negotiate spending cuts in exchange for raising the federal debt ceiling — and have placed a bullseye on “wokeness” in the military. Exactly what that means remains somewhat unclear, but House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and others in his caucus have pointed to programs including efforts to diversify the military, identify alternative fuels and other environmental initiatives. “We’re going to cut money that’s being spent on wokeism, we’re going to cut legacy programs, we’re going to cut a lot of waste,” Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, told The Hill on Wednesday. When asked specifically what programs they will push to cut, Rogers said to stay tuned to subcommittee hearings. In his bid to become Speaker, McCarthy agreed with conservative lawmakers to cap all new discretionary spending at fiscal 2022 levels, which would amount to a...

 Asia Times: The Ukraine war has revealed many serious weaknesses in Russian warfighting equipment. The staggering loss of tanks and armor, the failure of the Russian air force to enforce air superiority over a comparatively tiny Ukrainian adversary and the sinking of the Moskva flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet illustrate the Russian military’s many war failures. While some of the disaster can be attributed to poor command and poor training including a lack of troop motivation, in many cases the equipment has simply not measured up. Why? The answer tracks with modern Russian history. During the Soviet period, Russian weaponry was built robustly, even if it lacked the bells and whistles of American and other Western armaments. Even during World War II, Russia churned out fighter aircraft such as the Yak-3 , the Lavochkin LA-7 and the Ilyushin-2 Stormovik . Russian products included the world’s most successful tank, the T-34 , the first modern battle tank with sloped armor. ...

Michael Gerson: Declining national influence is a choice, and America seems to be making it. What foreign policy practitioners politely call the “churn” of events is beginning to look more like chaos. Egypt teeters between the establishment of a democracy and the restoration of the caliphate. Syria melts away as an organized state and perhaps as a geographic fact. Iran is on the verge of building the Shiite bomb and igniting a sectarian nuclear arms race (and you thought a purely ideological nuclear arms race was scary). North Korea continues its bold experiment in proliferation and abnormal psychology. And beneath it all, some large trends: In the Middle East and North Africa, a combination of economic stagnation, a youth bulge and a sense of historical grievance — all the preconditions for radicalism and terrorism. In Asia, the rapid reversal of 250 years of Western economic and technological predominance, which is raising questions about America’s future military predominance...

Image via Wikipedia Bill Gertz: China’s “troubling” military buildup coincides with new efforts by Beijing to block the Navy from international waters near its coasts and field new missiles, submarines and cyberweapons, the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific told Congress on Tuesday. NavyAdm. Robert F. Willard said during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee that China’s intentions behind its decades-long buildup remain hidden and are undermining stability in the Asia-Pacific region. The four-star admiral said the arms buildup is understandable because of China’s economic rise, but “the scope and pace of its modernization without clarity on China’s ultimate goals remains troubling.” “For example, China continues to accelerate its offensive air and missile developments without corresponding public clarification about how these forces will be utilized,” he said. Chinese officials, in meetings with their U.S. counterparts, have refused to explain the pace or go...

Image via Wikipedia Telegraph: The commanding officers of all three Para battalions received letters telling them they were “in the zone for possible redundancy”. One officer heard the news only hours after returning from a patrol fighting the Taliban. A similar letter was sent to the officer in line to become the next head of Britain’s Special Forces. He fought with the SAS in Afghanistan and Iraq. The three Para commanders are completing six-month tours in Afghanistan, where one has been shot by insurgents. Another is likely to be decorated for leadership in combat. The prospect of sacking the Army’s most experienced combat commanders led to warnings that military morale would suffer and intensified the Coalition’s political embarrassment over defence cuts. More than 3,500 Armed Forces personnel will be made redundant in September. Ministers had promised that no one serving in Afghanistan at the time would be sacked, but hundreds of personnel currently on the front line are...

Reuters: A looming government shutdown would be felt thousands of miles away by U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and there could be a high political cost for the lawmakers who let it happen. Soldiers will not get their paychecks for the duration of the shutdown, leaving their families at home struggling to pay the bills. Some relatives are already furious. "Thanks for sending my husband to war and not paying him in return," the wife of one soldier exclaimed on a website, fearing delayed pay in the case of a shutdown. The sharp reaction among military families underscores the political dangers for Republicans and Democrats if they fail to reach agreement on funding the government for the remainder of fiscal 2011 by midnight on Friday. ... This is a problem for Democrats. The Republicans in the House have already funded the troops for the rest of the year and Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has rounded up 60 votes to continue funding them which is enough to defe...

Image via Wikipedia Red States: Over at Big Government, Mike Flynn has a fascinating post on what Barack Obama is doing to our soldiers. In the past, American soldiers were classified as essential personnel. Therefore, should the government shut down our soldiers would keep getting paid. But Barack Obama has decided to hold our American soldiers hostage to a government shutdown. The Commander-in-Chief has, via the Secretary of the Department of Defense, proposed classifying our men and women in harm’s way as “non-essential.” That means, should the government shut down, they will not be paid. As Mike Flynn notes, during the previous two government shutdowns during the Reagan and Clinton Administrations, soldiers were treated as essential. Barack Obama is not following suit. It is important to note that the “non-essential” classification is a draft recommendation, but it is a huge departure from prior shutdowns and comes directly from the Office of the Secretary of Defense. W...

Image via Wikipedia NY Times: The United States would derive no meaningful military benefit from increased use of alternative fuels to power its jets, ships and other weapons systems , according to a government-commissioned study by the RAND Corporation scheduled for release Tuesday. The report also argued that most alternative-fuel technologies were unproven, too expensive or too far from commercial scale to meet the military’s needs over the next decade. In particular, the report argued that the Defense Department was spending too much time and money exploring experimental biofuels derived from sources like algae or the flowering plant camelina, and that more focus should be placed on energy efficiency as a way of combating greenhouse gas emissions . The report urged Congress to reconsider the military’s budget for alternative-fuel projects. But if such fuels are to be pursued, the report concluded, the most economic, environmentally sound and near-term candidate would be ...

Image by Getty Images via @daylife NY Times: The White House has ordered the Pentagon to squeeze almost all growth from its spending over the next five years, which will require eventually shrinking the Army and Marine Corps and seeking controversial increases in the fees paid by for retired, working-age veterans for their health insurance, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Thursday. The reductions of up to 47,000 troops from the Army and Marine Corps forces — roughly 6 percent shrinkage — would be the first since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, reversing the trend ever since. They will be made easier by the withdrawal under way from Iraq, and will only begin in 2015 — just as Afghan forces are to take over the security mission there according to agreements with NATO . But Mr. Gates said the cuts in Pentagon spending were hardly a peace dividend, and were forced by a global economic recession and domestic pressures to find ways to throttle back federal spending. In...

Independent on Sunday: British soldiers in Afghanistan are "horribly over-extended" and being killed for "no good reason", a senior military figure admitted last night. He said talks are now under way with US commanders that would pave the way for Britain to begin scaling down its commitment to the war, bringing about a change of emphasis in its deployment. Britain's 10,000-strong force is suffering "appalling" casualty rates and is set to be given a break from the worst of the fighting, according to the source. "The Americans know the Brits have been giving more than they can afford, and agree that they should be kept out of harm's way as far as possible. But McChrystal [the American commander of international forces in Afghanistan] is keen to have the input of some ground troops and special forces," the source said. "Essentially, the Americans know we are broke and we are getting blokes killed for no good reason. W...

More proof that anyone can be elected in this country. I wonder why he never thought this would be a problem for Manhattan Island, i.e. New York City?

McClatchy: With her husband deployed in Iraq with a Stryker brigade from Washington state's Joint Base Lewis-McChord, 20-year-old Lauren Silva isn't your typical college student . But when it comes to finding money for tuition, books and other expenses, she's not so different. Silva has scrambled to apply for scholarships and loans to pay for classes at the University of Washington-Tacoma , where she's a junior studying social work. She thought part of her financial problems were solved when she learned of a Defense Department program that pays military spouses $6,000 to help them with their education. Yet just as Silva prepared to apply earlier this year, the military abruptly shut the program down. The Pentagon was overwhelmed by the number of applicants, which had grown from an average of about 10,000 a month to 70,000 in January alone as the nation's economy continued to sputter. Money for the Military Spouse Car...

Bill Gertz: Recent statements by Chinese military officials are raising concerns among U.S. analysts that the communist government in Beijing is shifting its oft-stated "peaceful rise" policy toward an aggressive, anti-U.S. posture. The most recent sign appeared with the publication of a government-approved book by Senior Col. Liu Mingfu that urges China to "sprint" toward becoming the world's most powerful state. "Although this book is one of many by a senior colonel, it certainly challenges the thesis of many U.S. China-watchers that the People's Liberation Army's rapid military growth is not designed to challenge the United States as a global power or the U.S. military," said Larry M. Wortzel, a China affairs specialist who until recently was co-chairman of the congressional U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. A Reuters report on Col. Liu's book, "The China Dream," appeared Tuesday in the Communist Party newspa...

Bill Gertz and Sara Carter: The Pentagon is reorienting U.S. military forces toward battling insurgents and terrorists, and on Monday released its new four-year strategy and a $708 billion defense budget request to support it. Despite the cancellation of numerous weapons projects, the defense spending request to Congress grew by 3.4 percent from 2010, with $159.3 billion to be allocated for U.S. military missions in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. That war funding adds on to a base Pentagon budget of $548.9 billion. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said the new strategy and budget reflect an effort to "enhance our ability to fight the wars we are in today, while at the same time providing a hedge against current and future risks and contingencies." "We have, in a sober and clear-eyed way, assessed risk, set priorities, made trade-offs, and identified requirements based on plausible, real-world threats, scenarios and potential adversaries," Mr. Gates told reporters...