The Presidents Phantom Fleet

That was one of the dumbest headlines I have seen on Drudge in some time.

The claim that many of the 288-ship US naval fleet would be deployed to waters off Mumbai was "absolutely absurd," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters on Thursday.

He specifically says:

"I will take the liberty this time of dismissing as absolutely absurd this notion that somehow we were deploying 10 percent of the Navy -- some 34 ships and an aircraft carrier -- in support of the president's trip to Asia," Morrell said.

"That's just comical. Nothing close to that is being done," he said.

I guess the only question we could ask is whether there will be 34 Indian Navy warships at the Western Naval Command HQ in Mumbai during the Presidents visit. The Indian Navy is growing very rapidly, but even on that point my guess is the answer remains - not likely.

I am very unimpressed with the way the media is following the President on this important trip to Asia so far. $200 million a day? 34 ship armada escort? It is getting pretty ridiculous that so far - these are the big stories that lead into the trip.

If you want to read some interesting stuff, I recommend following the folks at places like CNAS - who have been focused on India lately.