Can Najib Razak continue as Prime Minister as long as he wants

Q. Can Najib Razak continue as Prime Minister as long as he wants and break Dr Mahathir’s record of 22 years in office

 He and BN-PAS are already a burned toast that nobody wants

Summary answer:

(1)       Not anytime soon. Don’t hold your breath. Don’t be swayed by the social media noise that he is toast.

Anything but that is what his PR con-sultan team is telling him but the mood of the common folks who will vote is different than the opinion from Putra Jaya Ivory tower

He is at the sweetest spot of his political career again on how we look as common folks say very sweet all ripe for plucking. That means ripe to fall during a ripe durian fruit

(2)       Whether you support him or not, agree with his positions or not, Najib has played his cards masterfully slick, to divide and decimate the Opposition front.

No he did the opposite and only alienated the majority of the moderate votes who have been voting time in and time out keeping BN in power and that is why religion is like a poison chalice to PAS who lost time in and time out . Did PAS with its religious polices ever displaced UMNO as the governing party and suddenly the moderates became religious. No I do not think so and between UMNO and PAS, they are fighting for only 20% of the electoral votes and the other 80% have deserted UMNO and PAS. The political Con-sultans are paid for their rosy stories

(3) The current equilibrium, as of April 2017, bears testimony to his deft masterstrokes.

He has played the ‘Islamic law’ (Hudud) card effortlessly well, to nudge the Opposition front (Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) / Democratic Action Party (DAP) / People's Justice Party (PKR)) to self-implosion.

It was not a masterstroke but his biggest and colossal political blunder. Can a majority moderate population which have consistency voted for a secular and nationalist governments for the last 13 general elections and reject PAS a religious party which wanted to implement Islamic law as the supreme law of Malaysia and now the moderate majority all of sudden want to vote for a UMNO which have taken the place of PAS as the main religious party and bend on implementing Sharia Huduh law in Malaysia , my opinion bullocks to UMNO and PAS and a BIG NO to them come PRU/GE 14.

PAS has exited the secular Opposition

PAS was always a religious party and never a secular party and rode the coat tails of DAP and PKR to win the non-Malay votes and long the way extra parliament and state seats in Moderate west coast of West Malaysia, thanks to the compromising and pragmatic policies of TGNA the Supreme religious leader of PAS who is no longer around now as he have passed away. Pakatan Harapan’s gain with PAS exit from Pakatan Harapan because without a charismatic PAS leader like TGNA , PAS will be more a burden than an advantage to PH with PAS now spilling religious rhetoric to outdo UMNO and alienation the majority of the Muslims and the non-Malays who supported PAS to win extra seats in PRU 12 and 13.

PAS splintered to PAS and Amanah (National Trust Party). But, impact was minor. Amanah is relatively insignificant.

This is where PAS and UMNO have miscalculated big time. The PAS of PRU 12 and 13 won more seats and also retain the seats they won in earlier elections was due to the PAS moderation brought about by TGNA and the professionals who joined PAS . Now PAS is with the moderate professionals who en mass joined Amanah . These were the factor which encourages the Moderate Malays who despise UMNO and the non-Malays to support PAS candidates in PRU 12 and 13. Now they are gone to Amanah , naturally the support which PAS enjoyed in PRU 12 and 13 is shifting to Amanah and comfortable that Amanah is in a moderate opposition Grouping called Pakatan Rakyat  vs. the extremist tag team of UMNO and PAS

PAS has lost the non-Muslim vote it used to enjoy under the Opposition front banner.

Yes very true PAS lost it and so did UMNO. Both did not mind losing the Non-Malay voters because majority of seats were Malay majority in West Malaysia rural hinder land of the Malays but unknowing to PAS and UMNO or they knew it, the Moderate Malays became collateral damage and hopping the minority religious inclined voters in the Malay hinder land with sway the moderate Malays by sweet talk or bullying tactic. This is not going to happen as the parents only remain in the villages and the children are working in the urban areas and cities and only return during festivals or family occasions and exposed to a more moderate co-existence and collaborating life style in the cities without the trap of religious or racial polices . These votes are more learned and exposed to the wrong doing of the Government and also the dangers of religious laws going AWOL and restricting their personal freedom. They will also influence their parents and siblings in the Villages to vote PH because of the inequality of UMNO’s rule where Malays are also divided and marginalized by UMNO. Only the elite Malays benefit from the Larges of UMNO and these Malays are called UMNOPutras and it is a swear word now among the Majority of the disfranchised Malays

In the same vein, the non-Muslim-based (essentially Chinese-based) DAP has lost its Muslim vote it used to enjoy under the Opposition front banner.

Wrong the Non-Muslim opposition parties did not lost its Malay Muslim supporters but have increase support from them since PRU13 due to the sobering push by UMNO and PAS for a Taliban Malaysia. UMNO and PAS will be in shock when PRU 14 is called as DAP will field a record number of Malay Muslims as candidates for parliament and state elections. On the contrary BN-UMNO and PAS have lost the total Non-Malay support and also the moderate Malay-Muslim support.

The PKR is getting nowhere.

On the contrary The PKR led-State Government have been doing a marvelous job administrating the richest state in Malaysia for the last 9 years and the approval by handing more State seats to Pakatan Harapan and reduce BN-UMNO and including PAS to a mosquito party in Selangor. PKR are a very much organized party and with Azizzah and Amin as a tag team, PKR can go higher and higher. PKR will win more seats in Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Johor, Melaka, Kedah, Selangor and Penang at the expense of UMNO and PAS. PKR is now very Resilience party and no longer a one man party of Anwar but a party for all Malaysians

The reconstituted Opposition front following PAS’s exit, the Pakatan Harapan, is a skeletal shadow of its former self.

On the contrary , it has reconstitute as Pakatan Harapan and have more support and with UMNO split between UMNO Baru and Pribumi joining Pakatan Harapan with EX-PM Mahathir along and PAS splitting between PAS conservation and EX-PAS moderate members forming Amanah and joining Pakatan Harapan , new Boy wonder party of former UMNO VP in Sabah Warrisan which is on course to win the majority of Sabah state assembly seats and a the majority Sabah Parliament seats are also a member party of Pakatan Harapan. All these Pakatan Harapan parties only bring in strength and on their own they are strong parties with strong support among voters and a proven track record. Where can lose. UMNO and PAS are a skeletal shadow of their former selves, and honestly I pity these once Giants and now scraping for support at the bottom end of the barrel

It struggles to appease its core non-Muslim support,

UMNO and PAS no longer need to appease their non-Muslim support and this burden is lifted from them because the Non-Muslim support have showed in PRU 12 and PRU 13 , the more extreme UMNO goes to rightwing racial and religious politics more and more will desert BN. These voters are not looking back and have move on with their lives and no amount of money carrots milk liquor is going to bring them back into BN fold. PAS are also learning that the Non-Muslim voters are a not forgetting type of voters.

While endeavoring to fend off anti-Islam accusations.

No explanations needed here as UMNO have shown by its actions that it is veering towards a theoretical state with Taliban type rule and not only the Non-Muslims are cheesed off , the moderate majority Muslims are watch with horror at what lengths UMNO is going to do for its own survival

Neither fish nor fowl. Najib suffocated it of political space to strut. Or rather, it maneuvered itself into a corner of its own making.

Yes Najib did what nobody else could before him is to kill off UMNO as a political force

If the reconstituted Opposition front gets into power by magic, the minority party PKR honcho, Anwar Ibrahim, will be Prime Minister. Errrr… howzat?

Pakatan Harapan do not need Anwar in person to win GE 14 as Anwar in Prison will be a reminder to the Malaysian voters the gross injustice UMNO have inflicted on Anwar and his family for its own political survival. Pakatan Harapan have a lot more able leaders now in DAP , Amanah , PKR , Pribumi , Warrisan and also PSRM is lending support too and please do not forget the decanted UMNO members with Najib’s leadership who are either going to abstain or voter Pakatan Harapan and will not vote PAS their mortal enemy.

The schisms will result in multi-cornered fights in elections, splitting Opposition votes, favoring Najib.

This is only wishfully thinking on the part of BN and PAS but BN-PAS will be fighting among themselves for the bottom 20% voters among themselves and further diluting their share of votes. They already or do not know that they have lost the fight as moderates to Pakatan Harapan and that is why they are into the extreme politics and like clasping to a few straws as their survival plan.

Najib has the option to fashion a Muslim-based coalition of sorts with PAS, to counter the reconstituted Opposition front, if his electoral calculus so dictates.

This is a no brainer as the trust Najib enjoyed earlier among the voters as a moderate is long gone and with his many U-Turns, the Muslim Members of Parliament from Pakatan Harapan will not even consider a coalition with the remnants of Najib led UMNO because of the deep mistrust in Najib’s politics of religious, racial and vindictive politics for this and his family’s survival. Nobody going to join him when he is defeated as he has no power to dedicate

There is no light at the end of the tunnel on the Opposition sorting out its pandemonium.

The opposition are now more organized and a coherent force that’s to PAS betrayal earlier and wanting to leave Pakatan Harapan. If PAS would have done this betrayal 2 weeks before the Malaysian GE-14, this will hand BN the GE-14 victory on a silver plate but UMNO and PAS could not wait. Only PAS and UMNO got split into 2 and the remaining UMNO and PAS a riffled with factions of Team A, B to Z. See who is laughing here and who is crying here. Go ask Najib and Hadi and next time they will wear one Pink Baju Melayu suit with both of them inside when the next time they attend a function together.

The next election is constitutionally due in August 2018. A mere political timeline blink away.

Yes and last the last GE-13, this political timeline will be used up to the maximum as Najib knows BN is domed whenever the elections are held and so better to wait out the days to the end of the present government mandate which runs out in August 2018 and hoping that by some miracle of luck his and BN’s fortunes will change for the better. He has the PM have time on his side to wait it out. I know it must be difficult on Najib BN as a whole and PAS that the evitable will happen and that is the  defeat of BN and PAS staring in front of them day in and day out

China cozying up to Najib.

China is only for regional influence and raw materials for its hungry factories in China. China is not going to interfere in who rules Malaysia as it does not want to upset the apple cart of good relations with Malaysian citizens by support a repressive government which Chain will be reminded of itself. China is only interested in projection 

Seadrill Sells 3 Jack-Ups For $225 Million and the future of oil and gas drilling contractors

The Oil slump since 2014 have been the worse oil slump for the Oil and Gas industry since the Oil embargo of the 1970’s and now the Drilling contractors the main players are going thru bankruptcy and realignment of the business structure.

Without a drilling rig, no gas or oil wells can be drilled to produce oil and gas. The killing of the Oil contractors who own drilling rigs will lead to a shortage oil and gas and push up the prices of petroleum products to the region of 130 to 180 USD in 4 to 5 years because of the short term depressed prices for petroleum products. There is going to be a very real shortage of drilling rigs in 2019 and this will push the day rates for a high tech Jack up rig from now depressed day of USD 100,00 for a 300 million Jack up rig to at least 250,00 to 300,000 in 2019. Reason is that need to have skilled workers to man these rigs and having rigs is another thing and having a manned rig is a ready to work  rig and rig without workers is not a ready to work rig. The oil slump have forced the retrenchment of hundreds of thousands of skill oilfield workers and only 30 to 40 % may return because the balance 40% who are experienced and born during the baby boomer years are now on forced retirement and unlikely to return to work. The only way the baby boomers are going to return if the wages double up in real take home wages, the other 20% who were fresh from school and only have a short working spell before getting retrenched will unlikely return to the hardships of oilfield work lifestyle. These now are comfortable with their jobs in other fields and unlikely to return.

The oil producing countries and the oil major producing companies have literally shot themselves in the foot big time because when the upturn comes in 2019, the day rates are going to be in the 200,000s for a Jack up rig and that is the minimum. Cost are going sky high and cutting into the oil majors profits. This time the Drilling contractors who suffer and when boom time the oil majors will suffer most for squeezing the oil contractors during slump time. The oil contractors will not make a mistake again with oversupply of rigs and will be more organized in the future 

Summary

Seadrill sells 3 jack-ups to Shelf Drilling.

The valuation looks fair, and Seadrill is able to decrease its debt and raise some cash.

Fundamentally, the story is unchanged. In the short-term, traders may try to play this news in hope for a short squeeze.

Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL) has just announced that it sold 3 jack-ups to Shelf Drilling for $225 million. The jack-ups are West Triton, West Resolute and West Mischief. All three jack-ups were without work. The total debt on these units was $102 million, so Seadrill will receive monetary proceeds of $123 million. This transaction values each jack-up at $75 million, which seems like a fair valuation given current market conditions.

Seadrill continues its preparation for restructuring following the deal with Archer and the extension of credit facility to North Atlantic Drilling (NADL). Judging by recent transactions, the company wants to simplify its debt and raise some cash in process. Following Transocean's (NYSE:RIG) deal with Borr Drilling (which is yet to be confirmed by Transocean), another buyer showed up ready to buy jack-ups. As we've seen in fleet status reports during this earnings season, jack-ups start to attract contracts, although at low dayrates. Current oil prices around $50 per barrel seem to be sufficient enough to spur interest in jack-ups.

The deal was likely a necessity for Seadrill which needs to solidify its cash position ahead of final restructuring talks. While I stated above that $75 million per jack-up is a reasonable price in today's market environment, such valuations do not promise much for Seadrill shareholders given the company's debt level. Despite all the previous downside, Seadrill still has 340 million of market capitalization left, which clearly leaves room for more downside.

Speaking about the stock, previous news on North Atlantic Drilling contracts failed to provide support and cause a short squeeze for Seadrill shares. However, you never know for sure when Mr. Market decides to become optimistic in such cases, so Seadrill shares will be watched closely by all momentum traders looking to participate for a short squeeze. The technical setup is great for this, as Seadrill shares declined in a very tight channel and a break above $0.75 could create significant interest for a short-term long play in the stock.

Fundamentally, the company continues to prepare for restructuring. It is unclear at this point what exactly creditors want from Seadrill. In theory, they should try to preserve the value of their investments in the long term and selling assets at the bottom of the cycle does not exactly serve this goal. On the other hand, creditors always love to see real money, so getting some cash clearly does not hurt.

What is even more important is that the competition in the jack-up market intensifies. As shown by Shelf Drilling and Borr Drilling, different players are now willing to pick up assets and bet on ultimate jack-up market recovery. I find it interesting that rigs were not bought by John Fredriksen himself. It is possible that he saves his funds to deal with Seadrill newbuilds or that he is ready to commit some cash directly to the company. So far, all rumors regarding his involvement in the company's restructuring had no factual confirmation.

Bottom line

Seadrill decreases its debt and increases its cash position while continuing to prepare for restructuring. The transaction does not help current shareholders, who will most likely be heavily diluted [see Ocean Rig (NASDAQ:ORIG) case] or outright wiped out in the upcoming restructuring. I believe that long-term investors should watch the story from the sidelines, while short-term trades may try to play a short squeeze in the stock should it happen.

Malaysian General Election PRU/GE 14 Lesson 8 – Never vote or trust a political candidate who wears his or her undergarments on the outside of his or her clothes

Politicians  who wears his or her undergarments on the outside of his or her clothes are those who live a very flashy lifestyle beyond what they earn legally as a Member or Parliament or state assembly or a minister or a state government official

This give away of an immersed rich life style for his or herself and family implies that this political is corrupted and involved in illegal activities. They are from both sides of the divide but mostly on the Ruling party in Malaysia. Ruling Party official at Federal and divisional levels who are given lucrative contracts and handouts for their support is also corruption as this is illegal use of tax payer’s money.

Get to know your candidates at your constituency and look at their life style, their homes and if they are rich because of the political connections or honest hard work

Lately a suppose poor man party have now join the rich and famous life style

Wanndy may have staged his own death, say security sources

They also say the Malaysian Islamic State terrorist is suspected of using funds donated for the IS cause for his family in Syria and that he may be on the run, according to a report.

Wanndy@Wendy the Wanker - More like a cross dresser

KUALA LUMPUR: Security officials are uncertain if notorious Islamic State (IS) terrorist Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi is really dead, as reported by his wife.
“This is probably a ruse by Mu­­hammad Wanndy to escape from those on his heels,” The Star quoted a source as saying.

The report quoted the source as saying that Wann­dy, 27, a Malaysian, had probably staged his own death to “emerge as a new person” and avoid detection.

“He is really desperate and will try anything,’’ the source told The Star.
News of Wanndy’s “death” spread following a Facebook post by his wife Nor Mahmudah Ahmad, 28, on Saturday that he could have been killed in Syria in a drone strike.

Read more on the suppose death of Wanndy the Wanker from Malaysia

Nor Mahmudah wrote: “My Mujahid, finally it is your time to go. I will remain here and carry on with the work you started. I accept this as fate.”

The source was quoted as saying: “Even the wordings in his wife’s post sounds more like Muhammad Wanndy’s writing.”

Meanwhile, Bukit Aman Special Branch director Commissioner Mohamad Fuzi Harun was quoted as saying that police were trying to find out whether Wanndy was in fact dead.

“We are checking. We want to know quickly,’’ he added.

Wanndy, from Durian Tunggal in Malacca, left for Syria in 2014 with Nor Mahmudah.
The top IS recruiter is on the United States’ most wanted list for his involvement in funding and providing operational support for the terror group.

The Star had reported last Wednesday that Wanndy might have lost the trust of IS militants as he had failed to carry out attacks in Malaysia as planned.

According to the report, one source had said Wanndy had until the end of the year to prove himself, or risk being stripped of his title of the Malay­sian IS leader.

Sources were quoted as saying yesterday that seve­ral Malaysian and Indonesian militants were unhappy with Wanndy as he had used up the donations of sympathisers.

“Fellow IS fighters in Raqqa are looking for him. He has been on the run for about two weeks,” The Star quoted one source as saying.

“It was long suspected that he used funds donated towards the IS cause to settle his family’s expenses in Syria and other debts. He cleverly used the IS platform for his own gain. His cover has been blown open,” said the source.

Wanndy, the report said, had apparently collected RM100,000 in donations from sympathisers.
“He used some of it to fund attacks in Malaysia but most was for his own use. It can be said that he enjoyed life in Syria while others did the fighting for him,” another source was quoted as saying.

Ladies Brace Yourselves, Christian Louboutin Makes Colour-Changing ‘Unicorn Skin’ Boots

The unicorn trend has already infiltrated our beauty products and our freakin’ beverages yet, somehow, people still can’t get enough. The latest rainbow-colored design to capture the internet’s affection is a pair of glittery boots from Christian Louboutin.

Stylist Samantha McMillen–whose clients include Dakota and Elle Fanning and Carey Mulligan posted a video of her magically changing the the sequined shoe’s colors with a brush of her hand. Dubbed “unicorn skin,” they look metallic at first then turn green, red, pink, and gold. It’s pretty mesmerizing to watch!!

So far, Louboutin hasn’t released further information about the style name, price, or availability. Say what you will about the over saturation of unicorn-themed products on the market–these boots are the coolest!

Watch the video below and see for yourself:

Trump invites Duterte to visit; McMaster walks back THAAD threat; Erdogan is angry; Mosul victory predicted this month; and just a bit more…

Let’s start in East Asia. A North Korean ballistic missile blew up shortly after launch on Saturday, one day after the U.S. secretary of state led a UN meeting on the rogue regime. The launch drew quick condemnation from Japan and South Korea, while President Trump tried to paint it as a slap at China. CNN, here. Unbowed, Pyongyang on Monday vowed to bolster its nuclear force “to the maximum.” Reuters, here.

Meanwhile, National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster walked back, somewhat, Trump’s Thursday suggestion that Seoul should pay more for the THAAD missile-defense system. “What I told our South Korean counterpart is until any renegotiation, that the deal is in place,” McMaster told Fox News on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the president has been making reassurance calls to other regional leaders — including Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, whom he invited for a White House visit. “Administration officials said the call to Mr. Duterte was one of several to Southeast Asian leaders that the White House arranged after picking up signs that the leaders felt neglected because of Mr. Trump’s intense focus on China, Japan and tensions over North Korea. On Sunday, Mr. Trump spoke to the prime ministers of Singapore and Thailand; both got White House invitations,” the New York Times reports.

But Duterte?  Whose brutal and widely condemned anti-drug campaign is leaving a trail of bodies across the archipelago? “The administration is bracing for an avalanche of criticism from human rights groups. Two senior officials said they expected the State Department and the National Security Council, both of which were caught off guard by the invitation, to raise objections internally.”

Meanwhile, new CIA chief Mike Pompeo is in Seoul today talking with his own counterparts in South Korean intelligence. AP

And in a first, a Japanese warship — that is, Maritime Self-Defense Force vessel — is protecting a U.S. Navy supply ship on a trip around Japan. Asahi Shimbun has the details, here.



Letting Bahrain Buy F-16s Won’t Make It a More Stable Ally // Sam Jones: The Trump administration discarded human-rights criteria in approving the sale — and that’s not going to help things.


Erdogan is angry. Video surfaced this weekend showing U.S. troops patrolling the Syrian-Turkish border with Syrian YPG fighters. Within hours, Turkish President Erdogan lashed out at the U.S.-YPG alliance, warning his military’s jets may strike the Kurds in Iraq and Syria again, like Ankara did more than a week ago in northeast Syria and northern Iraq. Kurdish officials call the U.S. patrols a “buffer” protecting Syrian Kurds from Turkey, ABC News reports.

Responded Erdogan: “We will be forced to continue (our offensives). We won’t provide a date and time for when we’ll come. But they will know that the Turkish military can come.”

What could be additionally aggravating for Erdogan: The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have taken back more turf from ISIS around Raqqa this weekend—pushing “Islamic State fighters out of the old quarters of Tabqa, a strategically vital town controlling Syria’s largest dam, [and] hemming the militants into the remaining modern district along the shore,” Reuters reports. “On Monday the SDF said in an online statement it had taken the last three neighborhoods of the old city and an adjoining industrial district. SDF forces were now fighting Islamic State in the three modern quarters of the town which lie along the Tabqa reservoir, SDF spokesman Talal Silo said.”

And in case you’re curious: “Islamic State still control the [Tabqa] dam,” while the SDF is believed to control nearly four-fifths of Tabqa, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. More here.
In Iraq, officials are predicting ISIS will be flushed out of Mosul this month—and as early as “three weeks,” according to Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Othman al-Ghanmi.  

Iraqi commanders said on Sunday they believe there are only 200 to 300 ISIS fighters remaining in the city, out of some 6,000 believed to have been present when the offensive began in mid-October.

al-Baghdadi watch: “Islamic State announced attacks on Sunday the Shi’ite paramilitary northwest of Mosul and on an Iraqi army position in Akashat, near the Syrian border, an area where its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is believed to be hiding, according to the Iraqi military. The Iraqi army said its ground and air forces pushed back the attack, killing eight militants,” Reuters reports.

Also in Mosul this weekend: A 25-year-old paratrooper LT from Georgia was killed fighting ISIS, the Defense Department announced Saturday. “First Lt. Weston Lee, 25, died from wounds he sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated during a patrol outside Mosul,” Army Times reported Sunday. “Lee, of Bluffton, Georgia, was an infantry officer assigned to 1st Battalion, 325th Infantry Regiment, 2nd BCT, 82nd Airborne Division, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.” This was Lee’s first deployment. RIP, sir.

And we have the names of the two Army Rangers who died last week fighting ISIS in Afghanistan: Sgt. Joshua ‘Josh’ Rodgers, 22, of Bloomington, Illinois; and Sgt. Cameron Thomas, 23, of Kettering, Ohio. The two may have died from friendly fire; the Pentagon says it’s investigating.

That harrowing situation, via an unusually descriptive press release from U.S. Forces-Afghanistan: “About 50 U.S. Army Rangers and 40 Afghan commandos were inserted by helicopter into the Mohmand Valley about 10:30 p.m. local time April 26…The location is near where the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb was dropped earlier this month…The two Rangers were mortally wounded at the start of an intense, three-hour firefight, [Pentagon spox Capt. Jeff Davis] said.”

The Rangers were targeting ISIS-in-Afghanistan’s leader, Abdul Hasib, “who is believed to have been killed in the raid,” along with nearly three-dozen other ISIS fighters, Davis said. “Those at the scene report close-quarters fighting and enemy fire coming at them from 360 degrees,” according to Davis. More here.

Related reading (1): SecDef Mattis has instructed the Pentagon to stop wasting time—literally he wants the wait times shorter—for approving combat valor awards, Military Times reports.  

Related reading (2): “Marines Return to Helmand Province for a Job They Thought Was Done.” Via The New York Times in 2017. Story, here. Video of Marines arriving to Helmand, Video here


Two Taliban commanders were killed in Pakistan’s North Waziristan region on Saturday, The Long War Journal reported. That strike occurred “in the village of Lawra Mandi in the Dattak Khel area of North Waziristan,” which LWJ writes “is a nexus of Taliban, Haqqani Network, and al Qaeda activity.”

Panning out from Dattak Khel, “Yesterday’s strike is just the second reported in Pakistan this year, and the second since the US killed Afghan Taliban emir Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour in an attack in Baluchistan province in May 2016. The US is thought to have launched another operation in Pakistan on March 2, when drones killed two jihadists as they rode a motorcycle in the tribal agency of Kurram.”

In other U.S. strike news, a suspected drone strike in Yemen has reportedly killed four alleged members of al-Qaeda, according to Qatar news on Sunday.  

Lastly today: When neighbors make you smile. A crowd of presumably mostly Canadians won over a few hearts before last night’s Edmonton Oilers v. Anaheim Ducks playoff game. The situation: an alleged mic failure just before “The Star-Spangled Banner.” So instead of waiting around for a fix, with cameras broadcasting the events live, Canadian singer Brett Kissel asked the crowd to chime in and the result was pretty great—as SBnation.com preserved in a nearly two-minute clip you can find, here. 

Ben Watson is news editor for Defense One

When Robots Storm the Beach- US Marines style

The future of amphibious warfare looks like a constellation of bots large and small. The main challenge now is getting them to talk to each other.

Watch Video when Robots storm the Beaches

OCEANSIDE, California — The beach assault began not with a bang but the whirring of drone propellers overhead, a grumble of gears, and the low sweep of the ocean. Frisbee-sized quadcopters raced ahead of enormous, self-driving amphibious assault vehicles. Satellites peered down as robotic submarines probed outward and up. With gigabytes of data flowing between these interconnected machines, it seemed — misleadingly — like a war that did not need humans at all.

From April 19 to 28, the United States Marine Corps put its ideas about the future of amphibious warfare to the test, along with a menagerie of drones and bots. During a ship-to-shore demonstration on Camp Pendleton’s Red Beach, an amphibious assault vehicle, or AAV, crawled out of the ocean like something from a 1950s Japanese monster movie and disgorged a MUTT robot tank armed with a .50-cal machine gun. Another MUTT, a product of an ongoing effort to create piggyback drone teams, launched a small quadcopter. Overhead buzzed the V-Bat, a drone that takes off like a helicopter but flies like a plane, while seagull-like Puma drones fed targeting information to explosives-laden, cannon-fired Switchblade UAVs. After several minutes, with the beach “conquered,” Marines marched in quietly from the north.

Marine Corps leaders have been seeking ways to make robots the first on the beach and first through the door on tomorrow’s battlefield, a multi-year effort. There have been more than a few false starts (remember Big Dog?), and Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh, head of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command, worries that the United States is falling behind peer adversaries like Russia and China.

“A lot of the high-end threats we see today, their governments are putting a lot of their own research and development money into these areas to perform differently on a modern battlefield…We see them moving in areas that we haven’t looked at since the Cold War,” Walsh said.

Even non-state threats like ISIS are using drones in battle.

“I came into the Marine Corps in 1990, the year the Soviet Union fell…Guys my generation, our experience is we’re guaranteed maritime supremacy. We are guaranteed air supremacy…We’re the guys with cyber and EW. That’s no longer true,” observed Col. Daniel Sullivan, the deputy commander of the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab. “We aren’t used to being observed from the time we leave the wire [the safety of the base] to the time we return to the wire.”

The second of two Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors is launched during a successful intercept test. North Korean ICBMs? US Missile Defenses Need Better Sensors, and Soon

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis speaks to reporters from Resolute Support headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, as Gen. John Nicholson stands behind Mattis on April 24, 2017.ISIS-in-Afghanistan Is Losing Recruits to Other Groups, US Officials Say

A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon flies over Iraq in support of Operation Inherent Resolve April 5, 2016. How Many Airstrikes Did US Forces Execute in 2016?

A monorail dry-run test at Holloman Air Force Base in July 2013 had no payload and used three representative carbon-epoxy panels mounted on the top and sides of the sled.US Army Exploring 

How do you win the beach when everyone is preparing for the robotic battlefield? The difference between a robot assault that’s effective and one that’s more dangerous to allies than to adversaries depends on whether those gun-wielding robots, the Marines coming in behind them, and the commanders behind them are all speaking the same language, sharing the same picture, and doing so in way that can’t be intercepted or blocked by the enemy.

That challenge is a lot harder than slapping a 50.-cal gun on a self-driving beach bot, and it’s one the Pentagon is still struggling with. Some of the most important technologies that will guide robotic amphibious warfare are still waiting in the wings. On the sidelines of the mock assaults were researchers brought in by the Warfighting Lab to do preliminary tests on new concepts, or even just advertise their line of thinking.

One program is meant to slash the time needed to get satellite imagery analysis to warfighters on the beach. Today, it can take up to 24 hours to download a high-res satellite image to an earthbound station, process and analyze it, and send the resulting intelligence to operators on the battlefield. A Naval Research Lab program called Coalition Tactical Awareness and Response, or CTAR, hopes to shrink that lag to 30 minutes by creating a transportable analysis center that can pull the satellite data through a GATR antenna.

Others are trying to create common software interfaces for heterogeneous systems, sort of like the Windows operating system for sensor apps. In many areas, the Pentagon is closer to battlefield-usable artificial intelligence than it is getting sensors and software from different vendors to mesh securely and reliably. Among these efforts is the Tactical Situational Awareness System program from Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command.

SPAWAR is also working on drones that can follow orders given by voice. A longtime Pentagon ambition, this means creating circuits that can work out how to conduct complex operations from a relatively tiny amount of input. Animal brains can handle that sort of task because they can elaborate, improvise, make sense of their environment, and use intuition to fill in gaps in the data picture. That, in part, is why Stuart Rubin and Will Grefe of SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific  describe their work as “biologically inspired.” But recreating in electronics what nature took millions of years to evolve is not easy.

Also at Red Beach (but separate from the exercise itself) researchers from SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific tested new methods for millimeter-wave communications — a technology that will have implications far beyond the battlefield, or even the military itself.

In many ways, the 30- to 300-gigahertz range is the largely unconquered frontier of the electromagnetic spectrum, one that has long been hard to exploit through conventional antennas. It’s very hard to generate, find, and process signals in this area because of hardware constraints, which are now falling away. It offers upload and downloads at 10 gigabytes a  second, faster than other wavelengths and helpful for more seamless transference of data. The pioneers in this field are a handful of high-frequency trading outfits that want high and uninterrupted bandwidth to execute massive trades in milliseconds. For a military force, millimeter-wave communications promise more reliable transfer of data, pictures, and collaboration between those machines storming the beach. It also means more waveforms possibilities for better software-defined network communications. That could give operators, and their machines, more room to establish new communication links and avoid jamming attempts and other electronic warfare tactics. Some analysts project that the millimeter wave, or ka-band, portions of the spectrum will account for 30 percent of military satellite communications by 2024. As those new antennas make their way into consumer devices, a lot more commercial data in the future could ride the ka-band, which could have big ramifications for the satellite industry.

But as technology advances, just like the real battle on the beach, the fight for that territory of electrons will also grow more intense.

Patrick Tucker is technology editor for Defense One. He’s also the author of The Naked Future: What Happens in a World That Anticipates Your Every Move?