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- Small tidbit in the story about Galliano fiasco at the Met: Met has a titular board of about *100* members, most of whom are treated under the mushroom principle--not consulted about much and not even invited to the Met Gala! I guess their main job is to write checks. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/02/s... September 3, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- Jotwell Crim: Alma Magaña, Counseling at the Edge of Decisional Autonomy, JOTWELL (September 3, 2026) (reviewing Marisol Orihuela, The Lawyer's Quandary: Client-Centered Lawyering in the Treatment Paradigm, 102 N.C. L. Rev. 1655 (2024)), crim.jotwell.com/counseling-a.... September 3, 2026 Jotwell
- A powerful message by three distinguished former Coast Guard officers with several decades of experience. On the one year anniversary of U.S. boat strikes. America’s War on Drug Smugglers at Sea Is Unlawful—and It Is Failing Must Read www.justsecurity.org/155570/ameri... September 3, 2026 Ryan Goodman
- Is this why they need the shock gloves? To zap the interfering election judges and poll watchers? September 3, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- After all, your implicit premise is Congress used to work somewhat better and modulo Unitary Exec & Chadha, it's still more or less the same Constitution. September 3, 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.