Call Me Number 511

I may be the last man in America to start reading the Steven Den Beste blog (as evidenced by the 510 acknowledgements he makes to blogs who’ve already linked to him), but in case there’s anyone out there not yet clued in, this man is an informational and analytical powerhouse. I don’t know his background and I’m not about to start looking, as I prefer to think I’m reading the writings of a motivated genius iconoclast rather than have confirmation he’s yet another college professor with oceans of free time on his hands which are not used up by his tenured, scholarly duties.

A recent Den Beste post dealt with the ability of the United States to fight wars against Iraq and North Korea simultaneously. In his analysis he comments on everything from the status and readiness of various US tactical forces to specific equipment needs in each theater to the capabilities and likely participation of potential allies in the fight:

"In the Iraqi theater, we will probably end up using 4 carrier battle groups to supply air power, and in addition we will fly heavy bombers from Diego Garcia. Air tankers will fly from several bases in the area (I'm not exactly sure where but I suspect Oman will be a prime base for this kind of thing). JSTARS and AWACS will also fly from bases further from Iraq. We'll have fighters and fighter-bombers based in Qatar, and if the Saudis cave at the last minute (which is looking increasingly likely, because though they despise the idea of war, they hate being on the losing side and angering the US even more) then we'd also use airfields there. There are also fighters and fighter-bombers at Incirlik, and based in Kuwait. And there will also be some flights from Germany, though at this point I think our planners would be idiots to rely on those given that Germany has become a distinctly unreliable ally given to stab us in the back any time their leaders see minor advantage in doing so. Like Saudi Arabia, we'll take advantage of that resource if it actually is available when the cards are laid down on the table, but I have no doubt that our planning doesn't require either place."

Most vexing, given the rapid and regular rate at which he posts masterpieces such as this, he apparently knocks these out in the time it takes for me to properly craft a sentence explaining why Mike Farrel’s moustache looks cheesy.