Wednesday NatSec Roundup

Not a bad speaker either, for a Spartan.

• The Canadian fighter procurement saga continues, with the Eurofighter out and Saab considering bailing as well. That would leave only the F-35 and the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet as competitors. The problem for the Trudeau government is that there is no way on god’s green earth (or the blue sky above) that the F-35 is going to lose that competition, which is politically problematic given that all of this could have been predicted several years ago.
• Good piece on the history of the trans-national coalition to convince Americans that we need to strike Iran, and soon. Iran is always, as we know, six months from acquiring a nuclear bomb. This is extremely important unless Iran signs an agreement that puts it 10 years away from having a bomb, which would obviously be the worst agreement of all time.
• Speaking of which, interesting interview on the politics of the Iran-China oil relationship.
• Speaking even more of which, some good stuff on what it meant when Trump tweeted the picture of the Iranian missile launch site. Most of the discussion of “left of launch” efforts to disrupt ballistic missile programs have focused on North Korea. Whether those efforts have been suspended and shifted to Iran is something that remains unclear.
• This, about the domination of a refugee camp by a group of committed members of ISIS, is just plain horrific.
• Finally, this is the greatest twitter feed of all time.