Threat Axis

(this subject is near and dear to a close friend’s heart (and trigger finger) so I thought I would explain what it actually is for readers who aren’t familiar with it)

From Wikipedia;

Canister shot (or case-shot) was a kind of anti-personnel ammunition used in cannons. It was similar to grapeshot in which the canister round’s effect is similar to that of a giant shotgun shell. Canister shot has been used since the advent of gunpowder-firing artillery in Western armies; however, canister (or case) shot saw particularly frequent use on land and at sea in the various wars of the 18th and 19th century.

….

The canister round is also known as a case (hence the alternative name of case shot sometimes used for canister shot) and is still used today in modern artillery, particularly in the main armament of tanks. The effect is to turn a large-calibre gun on an armoured fighting vehicle into a giant shotgun. This can be used against enemy infantry even when in proximity to friendly armoured vehicles. The most recent use has been in the 120mm main gun on the American M1 Abrams tank.

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Technorati tags: Russia Georgia War Conflict

In follow-up to my post yesterday, I’m amazed at the news that came out overnight.  You’ve really gotta love the irony here.

The BBC reported last night that Russia has now formally recognized the independence of the two Georgian provinces.  And the opinion of the masses seems to agree with the Russians’ move.

But, shockingly, our own country, the United States, is quoted as saying that this recognition is "regrettable."  And the opinion of other countries’ governmental leaders seems to agree with the US government’s opinion.

All of this over what to this writer’s eyes seems to be nothing more than a desire for a people to achieve independence from a parent state… a parent state that itself recently won independence from its parent state… all the while being condemned by a "superpower" that itself celebrates its own independence on an annual basis!

But don’t take my word for it.  You can read an excellent writeup by the BBC giving a much more unbiased opinion on the situation in Georgia here.

At what point, I’d like to know, did we become mindless pawns of our countries’ governments?  At what point did we give up all attempts at rational thought and just let our political masters run over us unchecked? We have a situation where our "leaders" are saying one thing… and almost all of the "people" are saying another, much more obvious thing… this is so obvious as to be blinding.  It makes me wonder just what the agendas really are here.

Technorati tags: Russia Georgia War Conflict

Ahh, Russia.  How we love to hate you!  We love to hate you so much, and have hated you for so long, that it’s become a habit… an addiction.  In fact, it’s become quite pathetic.

Though the concept of being a patriot, or a revolutionary, is, tragically, long-since dead in the industrialized world, almost everyone still identifies in one form or another with their country of birth, or citizenship, or residence.  Whether we live in a democracy or dictatorship, there is a predisposition to love and trust our own country – or, more to the point, our own country’s government – and at the same time to hate and mistrust other countries – and in that direction, it’s not the government we end up hating, but the actual people of the country in question. This is why we, in America, for example, think we’re so great (because we listen to our endless-motion propaganda machines) while the rest of the world hates us (because our government has made choices that – although “we the people” didn’t make them – we are blamed for.)

So let’s take a hard look in the mirror before we go arbitrarily handing out condemnation worldwide.

In 2001, we were brutally attacked… by terrorists.  Not by a country, even though we were happy to go invade Iraq in retribution.  Not by a religion, even though we’re happy to blame Muslims worldwide in disgust.  And when that attack came, we all cried out for war.  We all cried out for revenge.  Conveniently, most Americans have forgotten this fact.  They have forgotten their anger of that day, and how they directed their anger at evil Iraq and evil Islam, and demanded retribution for the twin towers.  Now, they’ve found a new focus:  The excitement of blaming the mideast has worn off, to be replaced with the pain of the loss of our troops there, so now they’ve found a new drug:  let’s blame George Bush!  The new axis of evil!  Never mind the fact that there were less than 5 “abstainers” out of all the senators and all the representatives who “voted” for war.  Never mind that those people were just doing what their constituents wanted. Oh no – it couldn’t be us!  We couldn’t be the problem!  In such danger of having to face the truth, we turn instead to our scapegoat:  the President of the United States!  Because we all know that everything is his fault.  The war, the attacks, high taxes, smoking, acid rain:  It’s gotta be Bush’s fault!

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Blue Burn

Originally uploaded by F/Depth Photography

For those of you who have burned out watching the Olympics – and don’t want to look at the mess that is the former Soviet republic of Georgian today – take a look at this wonderful picture of an Indian Air Force SU-30 that was taking part in the annual Red Flag exercises at Nellis AFB (LV NV).

Aviation Week’s Area blog has an interesting article about the restrictions that the Indian pilots were under during the exercise. And the probable ESM snooping that was going on to evaluate all of the capabilities of this front line fighter.

Rounding out the International participation in Red Flag – were Rafale’s from the French Air Force – and F-15′s from South Korea.

_Z6R9275b

Originally uploaded by Lockheed Martin

Even though some think that the Navy won’t even accept the LCS prototypes into the Fleetinitial Builder’s Trials.

Lockheed is getting w/ the modern age – and has posted a set of publicity photos from the Trials – out on Flickr

BTW – the Israeli’s are interested in buying a variant of the LCS to upgrade their navy. But have already realized that the US designed LCS – doesn’t have nearly enough weapons.