DOGE Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, The View From State

Please read The Inside Story of DOGE's State Department Reforms by Peter Van Buren. 

PSCs and LES have been the hardest hit by The Trumpening 2 up to this point, but just wait for the RIFs and FAM revisions! 

His bottom line from this excellent article:

Everything is in flux at present and no one should make any decisions based on this or any other article. But what is clear is that this time Trump means business. Unlike the small-scale RIF which took place at State during the Clinton administration, this time it’s for real, a seemingly determined effort to downsize the State Department both at home and abroad while at the same time likely increasing the authority of political appointees. It is both a paradigm shift and a power shift away from a more-or-less independent State Department (and other agencies) toward a concentration of power higher in the executive branch.

The Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration is bound to take most of the hit, but there will probably be some effect on every office that isn't doing public safety, law enforcement, or immigration enforcement. 

If you aren't in one of those functional areas, brace for impact. 

Is the 'Coalition of the Willing' Willing to Be Killed In Nasty Ways?

NATO Plans Switch From Sexy to Sensible - They are “trying to re-dimension what they were doing to something that could be more sensible… with the situation on the ground and the U.S administration as it is, it's not very sexy." https://t.co/TqdxKgmrje

— TSB (@TweetingTSB) March 27, 2025

And who can blame them? From the link above: 

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in late February that the U.K. would be "ready and willing" to deploy British troops in Ukraine as part of a potential peace deal.

Brave, Brave, Sir Starmer is - as we say over here - letting his mouth write a check that his body can't cash. 

When the happy songs of his minstrels run up against the disparity in UK versus Russian military capability, who'll be happy then?

 

Can This Odd Couple Share a Presidential Ticket Without Driving Each Other Crazy?

A May Day-Decembrist ticket! (Obscure reference maybe, but it amuses me.) https://t.co/hHos0h5ihI

— TSB (@TweetingTSB) March 22, 2025

Well, the Decembrist part is definitely obscure, as well as not really the best historical fit for Comrade 'honeymoon in the USSR' Sanders, but you get the idea.

Is this just the ticket to revive the political fortunes of the Democratic Party, which are currently at a historically low 29 percent favorability rating? 

I wouldn't care to speculate about that except to note that young men are probably going to remain alienated from the AOC-and-Bernie appeal. 

Is NATO Eager For WWIII? Most Unlikely.

 

In today's peace settlement in Ukraine news we read an implied threat that our EU peacekeepers might just go into world-ender mode the first chance they get:

An anonymous Western official offered another option, saying the [French and UK] forces could launch direct, immediate strikes on Russian targets if a cease-fire is violated.

Wow. French and UK troops going toe-to-toe with the Rooskies? All the way up to nuclear combat? That's a hell of a prospect. 

The last time UK and other NATO troops engaged in a standoff with Russian forces was in 1999 during the Kosovo War in what has become known as the Incident at Pristina Airport:

The following morning, Sunday 13 June, [U.S. General] Clark arrived at [UK General] Jackson's HQ in Skopje. It was pointed out to Clark that the isolated Russians could not be reinforced by air and that, in light of how vital Russian support had been to get a peace agreement, antagonising them would only be counterproductive. Clark refused to accept this and continued to order that the runway be blocked, claiming to be supported by the NATO Secretary-General. 

When again directly ordered to block the runway, Jackson suggested that British tanks and armoured cars would be more suitable, in the knowledge that this would almost certainly be vetoed by the British government. Clark agreed. Jackson was ready to resign rather than follow Clark's order. The British Ministry of Defence authorised British force commander Richard Dannatt to use 4 Armoured Brigade to isolate the airfield but not to block the runways. Clark's orders were not carried out, and the United States instead requested neighbouring states not to allow Russia to use their airspace to ferry in reinforcements. Russia was forced to call off the reinforcements after Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania refused requests by Russia to use their airspace.

“I’m not going to start World War Three for you,” Newsweek reported Jackson as telling Clark. And okay, probably discretion was the better part of valor that day. 

Does anyone believe that the present day UK and French Generals are any more eager for nuclear combat than Jackson was in 1999?

Only in Zelensky's wet dreams.