The Left Coaster's military corespondent brings us up to date on US military moves in the direction of Iran. If the US has a strategy here, it seems about as subtle as poking a beehive with a stick.
Recent Bluessky Posts- We are not saying we don't know. Many brave people on the ground are bearing witness and putting bodies on the line. From far away we applaud them. And organize for the midterms, I guess... January 19, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- No one takes any official action in response to this criminal assault? Law has collapsed, at least for now. January 19, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- Literally first 3 items on my feed today: 1. Trump wants to invade Greenland because Norwegians (sic) won't give him the Peace Prize; 2. Trump plans to send soldiers, national guard, FBI to MN; 3. Trump invites Russia & Belarus to join Gaza management committee. Happy MLK Day. January 19, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- Jotwell Conlaw: Lorianne Updike Schulzke, Adding Color to the Founding, JOTWELL (January 19, 2026) (reviewing James G. Basker & Nicole Seary, eds., Black Writers of the Founding Era: A Library of America Anthology (2023)), conlaw.jotwell.com/adding-color.... January 19, 2026 Jotwell
- There ought to be 500 members of the House ready to vote impeachment for this threat to invade a treaty ally and start a world war out of personal pique. There are not even three Republicans ready to save the world. Now what? www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026... January 19, 2026 Michael Froomkin
a new SAT question.
Iraq is to Viet Nam as _ _ _ _ is to Cambodia.
You know that the “Viet Cong” were using Cambodia as a base of operations, right?
Sue Ann,
A real SAT question would have multiple Answers to select from, let me help you with that part:
a. Iran
b. Afghanistan
c. Kuwait
d. Syria
e. Jordan
Let me also help you with the Correct Answer: e. Jordan.
Jordan is a country with a population roughly a fifth the size of Iraq, just like Cambodia is a country with a population that’s roughly a sixth the size of Vietnam.
Iran is a country with a population that’s about two and a half times the size of Iraq’s. It also has mandatory conscription. Its pool of military-age men and women is larger than Iraq’s total population. Mandatory conscription means that a good number of them have received military training, never mind the Iran-Iraq war veterans. Also keep in mind that Iran is the country that supplies Hezbollah with military training and weapons. Hezbollah fought off Israel’s last incursion, and Israel’s military is very much like a small version of ours.
On the other side of the equation, note that our military doctrine would call for us to have instituted mandatory conscription about three years ago, because our volunteer military is supposed to be able to fight two wars at the same time, though only for sufficiently long to mobilize the civilian population into the war effort. But notice that we haven’t done that.
Doctrinally or otherwise, we are not prepared to fight a third war. We certainly could start it with a naval operation, but we’re barely maintaining our current land-based war efforts as it is, and Iran is right across the border of both of those wars.
It would likely end disastrously for us.