Indonesia Marine Corps' mechanized forces at RIMPAC 2014.

 

It was a classic helicopter ambush.

via War is Boring.

The operation kicked off according to plan. The CV-22s—which can fly like regular planes and land like helicopters—arrived on schedule at the United Nations compound in Bor, where the evacuees were sheltering.
The pilots from the 8th Special Operations Squadron then flew around the immediate area to check for any hostile fighters. The tiltrotors were about to land when someone attacked.
“The barrage of gunfire and RPGs from the ground hit the formation 119 times,” the 1st Special Operations Wing news report explains. In the end, all three Ospreys suffered severe damaged. Gunfire and shrapnel hit four special operators aboard the planes.
Three of the wounded troops were “in critical condition” and apparently could have died as the planes rushed to Entebbe airport in neighboring Uganda.

Read the whole story but lets call this what it is...a classic helicopter ambush.

The enemy either had info or reacted to hearing the incoming aircraft, and then lit them up with RPGs and rifle fire.

For all the talk about the V-22 being inherently superior to helicopters I'm just not seeing it.  The Osprey is particularly vulnerable in the landing zone, both during infil/exfil.  It isn't particularly maneuverable when it enters its landing phase and that is a HUGE weakness...oh and these CV-22s got hit with RPGs and small arms...what happens when they run against SAMs and large caliber anti-air guns? 

Almost a Battalion of Kiev troops desert?

Thanks for the link Dwi...

via ITASS-TASS

ROSTOV-ON-DON, August 04. /ITAR-TASS/. More than 400 Ukrainian military have crossed into Russia overnight to Monday asking for asylum, spokesman for the Russian Border Department for the Rostov Region Vassily Malayev told ITAR-TASS on Monday.
“At night, 438 Ukrainian military asked Russian border guards for asylum. Upon the decision of the Russian Border Service, the regional border department opened a humanitarian corridor letting those asking for asylum into Russia,” Malayev said, adding that there were 164 Ukrainian border guards among them.

Can you hide the fact that almost a Battalion of men deserted?  Can you spin it?

This war has headed into a propaganda/spin/lie phase.

Who knows what the actual truth is?

The world is burning news. Azerbaijan shelling Armenia...ISIS captures dam...

Thanks Dima for the link!

via RU.OXA.AZ

URGENT: Azerbaijan began shelling the positions of Armenians of rocket launchers
Enemy carries heavy losses.
The Azerbaijani army is shooting at Armenian fighting positions of small arms and artillery: grenade launchers, mortars, anti-aircraft installations, thermobaric grenades.
As the Oxu.Az citing Haqqin.Az , stated in an emergency statement from the Ministry of Defense.
According to the enemy suffers great losses.

According to the statement, in recent days the situation on the contact line of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan escalated dramatically. Azerbaijani armed forces do not stop trying to penetrate the Armenian positions.
Also frequent shelling of border settlements. Day by day the number of losses of the parties.
Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Armenia calls on Azerbaijan to stabilize the situation.

We're looking at the most global instability I've ever seen in my lifetime.  The world is literally spinning out of control.

All it will take is one global shock (made easier due to the trade system setup) and this entire tinderbox will go up in flames.

I'm moving up my prediction.  I think we're going to see a major regional war in 1 to 5 years (versus my previous 5-10) unless something drastic happens to change current conditions.

UPDATE:  Thanks to Requiem for this news...via ZeroHedge.

With the world's attention focused on the ongoing death and destruction in Gaza most have forgotten that just two months ago a vicious Al-Qaeda spinoff, after taking over the north of Iraq and a third of Syria's territory including its oil production facilities, proclaimed the creation of an Islamic State caliphate a few hundred kilometers north of Baghdad. The reason why the ISIS story fell off the front pages is that while the jihadists were consolidating their power in the caliphate region, it was believed that they have no chance of advancing onto Baghdad and the energy-rich Iraq regions south of Baghdad (and thus have little impact on the price of Brent). And yet there was one major "weakest link" - recall that a month ago we reported that "Baghdad May Lose Its Drinking Water As ISIS Approaches Dam", an outcome which would put Iraq's capital, and its 8 million residents, at the mercy of ISIS.
According to Al Arabia it is this "weakest link" that is now in play after ISIS took over Iraq's biggest dam unopposed by Kurdish fighters, who also lost three towns and an oilfield on Sunday to the Sunni militant group, witnesses said cited by Reuters.

The part of this story that makes me say what the fuck is that the Kurds lost three towns and an oilfield.

We will see heavy fighting in Iraq.  Its almost a given....what I didn't see happening is that the Kurds would lose ground to these thugs.

Change is chaos.  We're seeing change in the world so why are we surprised that its chaotic? 

Have you ever heard of the IDF's Hannibal Directive?

Thanks to TheBronze for the info.

via Wikipedia.

The purpose of the Hannibal directive is to prevent the abduction of Israeli soldiers by enemy forces even if thereby risking their life. Israeli soldiers are ordered to stop an abduction by force and to use any means available to this end. The controversial logic behind the order seems to be that a dead soldier is preferable to a captive. The Israeli daily Haaretz published the following formulation in 2003:

"During an abduction, the major mission is to rescue our soldiers from the abductors even at the price of harming or wounding our soldiers. Light-arms fire is to be used in order to bring the abductors to the ground or to stop them. If the vehicle or the abductors do not stop, single-shot (sniper) fire should be aimed at them, deliberately, in order to hit the abductors, even if this means hitting our soldiers. In any event, everything will be done to stop the vehicle and not allow it to escape." [3]

The order is considered top secret and its existence has often been denied by Israeli military authorities. The exact wording of the directive is not known and it has apparently been updated several times over the years.[citation needed]

I would pay good money to read the real directive.  It does make sense though and if you watched the videos put out by those animals in ISIS then you can understand why I consider this the most humane thing a soldier can do for their brother.

Spare me the moralization and just re-watch those vids.  Seeing a video emerge of an Israeli soldier getting his throat slit would topple a govt.

Israel PM tells US ‘not to ever second-guess me again’

via The Guardian.

Following the quick collapse of the ceasefire in Gaza, the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, told the White House not to force a truce with Palestinian militants.
Sources familiar with conversations between Netanyahu and senior US officials, including the secretary of state, John Kerry, say the Israeli leader advised the Obama administration “not to ever second-guess me again” on the matter. The officials also said Netanyahu said he should be “trusted” on the issue and about the unwillingness of Hamas to enter into and follow through on ceasefire talks.
The Obama administration on Friday condemned “outrageous” violations of an internationally brokered Gaza ceasefire by Palestinian militants and called the apparent capture of an Israeli soldier a “barbaric” action.
The strong reaction came as top Israeli officials questioned the effort to forge the truce, accusing the US and the United Nations of being naive in assuming Hamas would adhere to its terms. The officials also blamed the Gulf state of Qatar for not forcing the militants to comply.

Naive?  Never second guess him again?

Do you remember the news report I linked to earlier this week that described President Obama as saying that the Israeli's weren't in a position to pick there mediators?

I'm more convinced than ever that report was spot on.

The bad thing for the US?  Our leadership around the world is now officially mud.  We aren't trusted and I believe many think we can't be counted on.  Worse for the administration is that they're probably viewed as being rank amateurs on the world stage.

The irony is delicious...and stunning.

How do you go from being a Noble Prize winner to a laughing stock in less than a few years?  We're seeing it happen right before our eyes.

Kidnapped IDF officer declared killed in combat.

via IDF Facebook Page.

A special IDF committee has concluded that Lt. Hadar Goldin was killed in combat in Gaza on Friday. May his memory be a blessing.

This is cryptic as hell.

Was he killed in the ambush?  Was he kidnapped and later killed by his Hamas kidnappers?  I don't know but the Israeli people will probably be asking the same questions.  More to come.