Saturday Morning Reading Room: It's All Crap

There is a lot of crap going on in the world.  That stuff is lower down.  I'm deliberately leading with pro-cycling.

*** 

It's the Queen stage if the #Dauphine today. This is what the riders have in store for them. #Ouch pic.twitter.com/a5CW8llifh
— Team Sky (@TeamSky) June 14, 2014

Every year after the Tour de France I tell myself, this is the year I'm gonna follow pro-cycling all year long.  And every year it's not.

The Dauphine and the Tour de Suisse are two of the tune-up races for the Tour itself, so I guess it's time to start paying attention.  Today's stage of the Dauphine looks fantastic!

***

What is behind the struggle for #Iraq? A look back at the roots of region's tensions http://t.co/IhFQuXK08Q pic.twitter.com/SSw2np4xfH
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) June 14, 2014

“The past is never dead. It's not even past.”
  ― William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun

***

#saturday #SHOUTOUT @whit_geo pic.twitter.com/uZeAs87lkV
— Heather R (@willow30000) June 14, 2014

***

Best Reads of the Week! June 6 -13 (Dyvers)

My article, "D&D Homebrew: Cavalry Subclasses" got picked up as a Best Read.

"So often in this hobby the mounted combat class is treated like a forgotten holdover from the days when we involved ourselves in war games rather than role-playing games, which is a pity. Luckily for us Dan Head remembers how much fun these classes could be..."

***

Obama Finds He Can’t Put Iraq War Behind Him (NY Times)

"In a high-profile speech to Army cadets last month, President Obama tried to move beyond America’s tumultuous adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan with a new doctrine all but forswearing the use of military power except in the most dire of circumstances.

Barely two weeks later, Mr. Obama has already found himself in those circumstances and seems on the verge of ordering the American military to intervene once more in Iraq..."

I wanna like the president, but his foreign policy has been a confused mess since Hilary Clinton left State.  It wasn't great even before that, but since she left, it's been one disaster after another.  I voted for John Kerry, but wow, he is terrible.

Am I the only one who feels like we're about to intervene on behalf of the Iranians?  No I am not.

If Iraqi government asks for help, Iran will certainly help them, President Rouhani tells BBC http://t.co/iqrs8fl49h
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) June 14, 2014 

So the Iran-backed Iraqi govt wants US help against Sunni militants once supported by the Iran-backed Syrian govt against US forces in Iraq
— Karim Sadjadpour (@ksadjadpour) June 13, 2014

 ***

Russia Sent Tanks to Separatists in Ukraine, U.S. Says (NY Times)
"The State De­part­ment said Fri­day that Rus­sia had sent tanks and oth­er heavy weapons to sep­a­ratists in Ukraine, sup­port­ing ac­cu­sa­tions Thurs­day by the Ukrain­ian gov­ern­ment.

A con­voy of three T-64 tanks, sev­eral BM-21 mul­ti­ple rock­et launch­ers and other mil­i­tary ve­hi­cles crossed the bor­der..."

I thought the war was over, but it looks like Putin is still pursuing his political objectives through the use of other means.  It's clever.  He withdraws his troops and then sends exactly enough armament to keep the chaos going without sending enough to give the separatists an actual advantage.  He's playing a long game.  I'm getting curious to see what his end-state is.  I guess in an ideal world, he'd force the Ukranians to ask him for help.

Also: you have to be brave as shit to fight in a T-64.  Those things are ancient, and the Russians have never been known for their emphasis on crew survivability.