U.S. Capabilities Are Showing Signs of Rot

exceptione

Gift link: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/03/military-failures-... _________________ EDIT, new link: https://web.archive.org/web/20260306120140/https://www.theat... I guess the gift link has reached its limit.

crikeykangaroo

It's important to mention the morals of the US which seem to have already rotten. Carpet bombing a country to "free" them. Let's not kid ourselves, this is all because of Israel.

petesergeant

As someone living in a city currently under an Iranian barrage ... come on man, this is a fuckin' reach. The amount of drivel commentary being generated from this war so far is shameful. Also: I hadn't quite realized just how dead-internet Twitter had become. The amount of simply untrue comments, misattributed photos, etc. I mean it's always been bad, but the noise is just absolutely overwhelming now.

manyaoman

https://archive.fo/ZFThP

cyberax

It seems to be a rather weak article. I think everyone in the US military was expecting that a certain number of drones/rockets are going to make it through. But they're not going to present a serious threat to the overall military capabilities. Look at Ukraine, it's getting pummeled by literally thousands of drones. For years. Yet it's still fighting. No, a more serious question is what the US is going to do if the air bombing campaign fails to effect a regime change.

pu_pe

I would add the Ukraine war as indicative of this as well. It exposed the fact that American supplies are severely constrained by their supply chain (apparently some AA equipment is going to be redirected from Ukraine to the Middle East now), and that the US/Western military did not have an answer to modern drone warfare.

manyaoman

If the US isn't even competent at war anymore, what's left?

yomismoaqui

The decline of the USA empire is clearer, day by day. I'm starting to watch videos from today's China and comparing with 30 years ago its like night and day, sons have a much better life than their parents. The typical evolution from parents that worked on the fields to sons working with computers or selling things on Douyin. You see new cars, new buildings, from the outside you feel like this country is "going up". Compare this to the USA now and 30 years ago. The disillusionment, the social strife, electing a president like Trump that makes George W. Bush seem like a good pick, people than can leaving the country for greener pastures... Sons have worse opportunities than their parents. If you just compare the gradient of China and USA you will see it clear.

Teever

It's fascinating what things get flagged on HN.

Henchman21

Do we just automatically flag anything true now?