Blood & Treasure

over the horizon

This is interesting:

The next big project the Air Force is considering is the Long Range Strike Bomber, a successor to the B-1 and B-2 whose specifications include an ability to do bombing runs deep into China. (A step so wildly reckless that the U.S. didn’t consider it even when fighting Chinese troops during the Korean War.) By the time the plane’s full costs and capabilities become apparent, Chuck Spinney wrote last summer, the airplane, “like the F-35 today, will be unstoppable.” That is because even now its supporters are building the plane’s “social safety net by spreading the subcontracts around the country, or perhaps like the F-35, around the world.”

I suppose that theoretically this embeds the prospect of an eventual US-China war.

But not so fast! If we're working on the F-35 principle here, in that the aim is to have the plane perpectually under development in order to ensure that the money keeps flowing, then what we have is a project to ensure that the US never has a bomber capable flying deep strike missiles into China, thereby delaying the prospect of apocalyptic US-China conflict indefinitely.

Indeed, it's possible that the perpetual development cycle of this theoretical long range bomber becomes so essential to China's own great power strategy that it ends up covertly subsidising the plane. In fact, if the US is smart enough it could end up offloading the whole cost to the PRC. In this scenario, China then bankrupts itself and the USA prevails peacefully in a 21st century version of the Cold War arms race. Fiendish occidental cunning, there.

may all your operations be special

Here's a Christmas card dropped to the Danish resistance by SOE in 1944, courtesy of the psywar twitterfeed. Have a good one folks, and see you on the other side.

white, blue and plastic

And now for something completely different. If you're a fan of industrial subcultures, and, moreover, industrial subcultures based around logistics, you'll love this long deep dive into the world of palletts.

As a bonus, it contains this immortal line:

“You’re too old, Bob. You’re finished,” one of them allegedly told Moore, according to a court filing. “You will never work in this supply chain again.”

Speaking as a man who has worked a pump truck or two in his time, I find that poignant.

the end of occupy and a case of 'pre-crime' in Beijing

The occupation of Hong Kong seems pretty much over.

Meanwhile, in Beijing :

But that was all before late September, when a young woman, whom the two sources separately identified as Ling Lisha, made copies in a commercial photocopy shop of materials that touched on the Occupy Central movement in Hong Kong. Her purpose was to inform and educate others, the sources said.

...But what Ms. Ling apparently did not know — or remember — was that many commercial photocopy shops in Beijing are linked by computer to the police, who can scan their business for just such activities, especially in times of political tension, said the two sources. Spotting the Occupy Central content, they said, the police pounced.

This has resulted in a wave of detentions among a group of people doing grassroots education work, who were already under some pressure from the authorities, basically just for being involved in civil society activities without official approval.

I suspect the software that notified the cops that someone was copying material about Occupy Central might be the same keyword recognition stuff used to block or flag up material online for the censors, presumably when the details of the fapiao were entered. The interesting thing here is that having established control of online information flows, the authorities are now backfilling to prevent dissemination of information by more traditional means, removing the option to go offline.

Anyway, a few years back stuff like this would have just gone below the radar, even though China has been building this kind of capacity for years now. The system was basically geared to detecting opposition, not disrupting horizontal communication between individuals. These days you have a seamless infirmation management system that flags up the reproduction of forbidden material and makes a target of people whose independent civic activity already brought them under suspicion. They are now being held while the cops select a charge to apply to them. 

“We wanted to do something for our society. But we didn’t anticipate this danger and fear. And we still don’t choose it. I feel like I’ve been ‘oppositioned,’ ” she said, meaning cast as an opposition force she is not.

Being 'oppositioned' . A 'crime' for the age of Xi. Well, no doubt there are targets to meet these days. And it's more than a cop's job is worth if he is thought to be just going through the motions.

a White House winterval

With themes like, "Joy to All", "Shine, Give, Share" and "Simple Gifts", the holiday customs celebrated by the Obama family in the White House have centered around reflecting on our many blessings as Americans, rejoicing in the pleasure of spending time with family and friends, and renewing commitments to one another and to the causes that we believe in. One of the First Lady's most cherished traditions are the trees that honor the service of our armed forces, which have pride of place in the East Landing and the Blue Room each year. And visitors during the holiday season have been enchanted by the representations of the First Dog, Bo Obama, who has been recreated using pipe cleaners, trash bags, buttons, pompoms and even chocolate.

giant steel towers

Still not blogging, but if you like theWar on Christmas and the Christmas Truce, you'll love the Christmas Cold War:

The Christmas tower had long been seen as a tool of South Korean psychological warfare by the North Korean regime which accused South Korea of using the steel Christmas tower (which resembled a Christmas tree) as a tool of religious propaganda.

As a result of its skepticism toward the tower, North Korea over the years repeatedly threatened to destroy the tower with an artillery strike. This week, the South Korean Defense Ministry confirmed that it would allow a Christian group, the Christian Council of Korea, to build a similar 30-foot tower shaped like a Christmas tree to replace the old one that was scrapped in October.

Giant Steel Christmas Towers pointing northwards across the DMZ. Both pre- and post- Ballardian.