March 1, 1918 - Commodore Bennett wants a correspondent at the front

And then at the two-month mark in London, almost a go-ahead for France from the Commodore!

Don Martin diary entry for Friday, March 1, 1918:

Quite a busy day. Lingwood woke me at 9:30 to read a couple of telegrams from the Commodore – one to see Mr. Whitehead of the Whitehead Aircraft Co, which I did this afternoon – his factory is in Richmond – and another, more important (to me) either to recommend someone to go to the front unless I think it preferable to go myself – providing I can get some ”good” man to replace me while I’m away. Wired tonight I think it all right to go myself and to leave the London office as it is. Am anxious to know what the Commodore will say. Whitehead told me most interesting story how the Commodore lent him $1000 years ago at Monte Carlo when he, Whitehead, had lost everything. A good new story to put in the Commodore’s obituary, unless he lives forever. Worked at the office until midnight. Then to the hotel. Irving Cobb has left some things for me to keep till he gets back from the front.

Weather clear, windy + very cold.

Don Martin again hand-wrote a short letter to Dorothy, “just a line before I go to bed”, mostly reacting to her letter writing and doings.

Comments

‘New war with Israel at any moment’, ‘still digging through rubble’

The news about Iran has taken an ominous tone in the last couple days. Here is some reporting and commentary. Newsweek on August 18, 2025, reported that Yahya Rahim Safavi, senior military adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said ‘ We are not in a ceasefire; we are in a stage of war. No protocol, regulation, or agreement has been written between us and the U.S. or Israel. A new war with Israel could break out at any moment .’ Yonah Jeremy Bob commented in The Jerusalem Post on August 19, 2025, that ‘ Khamenei can either “drink from the poisoned chalice” of diplomatic concessions … or face more airstrikes, possibly next time some targeting him directly ’. Bob also noted that ‘ right now Iran is still digging through rubbl e’. The U.S. attacked Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan on June 22. Two months of digging. No surprise that there has been no public news about that.

Assessing possible outcomes of the snapback mechanism

The initiation by the E3 of the 30-day snapback mechanism in the UN Security Council makes everything more difficult and there is great uncertainty about the outcome. Will it be peaceful with a new nuclear deal with Iran, negotiated by the U.S., endorsed by the UNSC and verified by IAEA, or will Iran withdraw from NPT with further military action by Israel and the U.S.? To perhaps shed a little light on what the outcome will be, here is my analysis of how the players - Iran, U.S. and E3 - may be assessing the acceptability of the range of outcomes. Four levels of acceptability were used: 1 Fully acceptable; 2 Less acceptable; 3 Just acceptable; and 4 Not acceptable. Four near term 30-day outcomes are listed, and two optimistic outcomes with an interim U.S.-Iran agreement reached within a 6-month extension. For the 30-day near term, the best outcome would b...

More on MOABs

MOAB is a 30,000-pound steel-alloy, precision-guided bomb designed to destroy subterranean targets. Its proper name is GBU-57, also known as “bunker buster” or Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP). MOP development dates to at least 2002. In 2007, the Air Force said it could penetrate up to 200 feet. The latest version, known as GBU-57E/B, has been in the operational inventory since 2016. In January 2018, the 4th upgrade was completed. Upgrades continue, especially improving the fuse. The number available for operational use is not public; the initial order to Boeing was for 20. In February 2018, more were ordered. Some have been used in tests. The small number of B-2 Spirit stealth bombers are the only aircraft that can deploy MOAB. There are no public reports of MOAB being used in combat. ( But it was reported that one was deployed in Afghanistan .) Much of the impetus for the MOP program was provided by Iran’s push to bury its nuclear enrichment infrastructure deep und...

Search This Blog