Aw Shit! Israel enters the fray. Kills Hezbollah, Syrian Soldiers in airstrikes in Syria.

Thanks to Maurice for the link!

via Times of Israel

A report by Al-Souria Net, a pro-opposition outlet, said eight Hezbollah fighters and five Syrian soldiers were killed in the raids, which hit the border region between Lebanon and Syria.
“After several hours of reconnaissance flights above the area, Israeli planes suddenly launched two raids on a joint Assad forces and Hezbollah position,” Al-Souria Net reported. “This was immediately followed by a third raid.. The Israeli planes resumed their attack with a fourth air raid after several minutes, targeting a Hezbollah position in western Qalamoun.”
The report said there were “dozens” injured in the airstrikes, four of them critically. The wounded were transferred to local hospitals for treatment

Here.

Wow.  I don't understand the Israeli's on this one.  I would imagine that they'd sit this one out...but they aren't.

Like Russians, Israelis usually have a plan.

The only obvious thing here is that the US and EU are impotent.  Events are moving faster than Western govts can react.  Its almost like we're dial up and they're broadband.

How much longer can this be contained before it turns into a regional war between all the powers there?  When do they stop hitting proxies and go after the real players?

S-400 to be deployed in Syria. WTF were the Turks thinking?

via Sputnik

Russia will deploy S-400 defense missile systems to Hmeymim airbase in Syria, Russian Defense Ministry Sergey Shoygu said Thursday.

That's it.   Nothing else from Sputnik.

WTF were the Turks thinking?  Now the Russians are moving to have a completely integrated air defense complex over Syria.  They've moved warships and are upping the ante with the S-400.

The interesting thing?  If the S-400 is everything the Russians say that it is (and the boys at Air Power Australia are convinced that it is) then they can cover all of Syria, most of Iraq and parts of Turkey.

Robert sent me this vid...



What's the plan?  I have no idea.  I do know that airstrikes resumed against the Turkmen (the reason why this whole drama started) and I expect even more over the next few days.

You're gonna watch football during Thanksgiving.  I'm gonna be watching Syria.

Do stupid stuff and sometimes tragic shit happens.

Hat Tip to the "Unwanted" Blog for the link!

via Daily Mail.

A teenage Austrian girl who fled to Syria along with her friend is believed to have been beaten to death after being caught trying to flee the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa.
Samra Kesinovic, 17, and her friend Sabina Selimovic became 'poster girls' for ISIS after they arrived in Syria in April 2014.
A number of Austrian newspapers have reported that Samra has been beaten to death for attempting to leave Raqqa, although official government sources are refusing to comment on individual cases.

Here.

I can't even comprehend the thinking of these girls.  What would make someone want to run to ISIS and become sex slaves?

I'm not surprised by the barbarity of ISIS...not anymore.  I am surprised that common sense seems to be such a rare commodity these days.  The good news from this?  This girls suffering is over.  The bad?  Her friend is probably being passed around like a piece of meat.

Do stupid stuff and sometimes tragic shit happens.

New Shepard Space Vehicle flies into space and lands back on earth vertically!

Amazon beats Space X.

via Engadet.com

Blue Origin, the private space firm owned by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, has just dropped a huge gauntlet in the race to develop a reusable rocket. It just launched its New Shepardspace vehicle (video, below), consisting of a BE-3 rocket and crew capsule, to the edge of space at a suborbital altitude of 100.5 kilometers (62 miles). The capsule then separated and touched down beneath a parachute, but more importantly, the BE-3 rocket also started its own descent. After the rockets fired at nearly 5,000 feet, it made a a controlled vertical landing at a gentle 4.4 mph.

Here.

Its one thing to talk about private industry outperforming the govt.  Its another to see the race between corporations and then to witness how they're leaping past govt efforts.

NASA needs to up its game.  Right now its being lapped by private industry and as soon as rare minerals are found on the moon or asteroids or even other planets then you'll see that agency die.

Once space is fully monetized, govt will forever be behind private corporations.  The military applications are scary.  What happens when Blue Origin or Space X militarizes their projects to protect themselves from Chinese, Russian or even US efforts to control their property, tax their products and/or take their gear?  Right now its a corporate/govt partnership.  What happens when that partnership becomes burdensome to the corporations?  Is this how the rise of corporate governance happens?

What happens when the burden of govt interference forces corporations to abandon them in order to deliver shareholder returns?

BAE wins ACV downselect! UPDATE! SAIC is also selected!

via Press Release.

The U.S. Marine Corps has awarded BAE Systems’ team a contract worth $103.7 million for the Engineering, Manufacturing, and Development (EMD) phase of the Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) 1.1 program. The company, along with teammate IVECO Defence Vehicles, will deliver a solution that will be built from the ground up to be an amphibious vehicle and will provide significant capability improvements to satisfy the Marine Corps’ current and future needs.
“We are proud to continue our long history of providing the Marine Corps with superior amphibious capabilities,” said Deepak Bazaz, director of new and amphibious vehicles at BAE Systems. “Our vehicle was designed to be fully amphibious with exceptional ground mobility and protection. Our ACV solution will provide the Marine Corps with a mature, cost-effective solution with significant growth capacity.”
The award is one of two EMD contracts issued. During this phase, BAE Systems will produce 16 prototypes that will be tested by the Marine Corps beginning in the third quarter of 2016. Work on the vehicles will take place at BAE Systems’ facilities in Quantico, Virginia; San Jose, California; and York, Pennsylvania.
BAE Systems’ ACV 1.1 solution is an advanced 8x8 open ocean-capable vehicle that is based on a platform developed by Iveco Defence Vehicles. It is equipped with a new 6-cylinder, 700HP power pack, which provides a significant power increase over the current Assault Amphibious Vehicle. The vehicle performs best in class mobility in all terrains and has a suspended interior seat structure for 13 embarked Marines, blast mitigating positions for a crew of three, and improved survivability and force protection over currently fielded systems. The team has conducted extensive risk mitigation testing and evaluation for swim, land mobility, and survivability capabilities that have proven the solution’s capabilities.

Wow.

Still trying to figure out who the other company is...stand by...much more to come.

Oh and to the guys and gals at BAE.  Well done! 

Note:  Thank God for readers like Ogden.  He informed me that SAIC is the other selectee.  That means that the USMC downselected toward the two best swimmers.  What does that mean?  In my opinion ACV 1.1 and 1.2 have combined.  Oh and to prevent a protest let me add that this is because of the performance of these vehicles, not because of faulty contracting.  So what's left to do?  Just get it done!  

This is why the Turks shot down the Russian fighter...this war is a quagmire....

Thanks to Julian for the link!

via Daily Sabah

government has called for a U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss attacks on Turkmens in neighboring Syria days after Ankara summoned the Russian ambassador to protest the heavy airstrikes on Turkmen regions in the war-torn country where DAESH has no presence.

About 1,700 people have fled the mountainous area near the Turkish border as a result of fighting in the last three days. Russian jets hit the area in support of ground operations by Syrian government forces. Sources on the ground report that in addition to some 3,000 regime troops, some 4,000 members of the Shiite Liwaa Zulfiqar militia, around 1,000 militants from the Marxist Alawite group Syrian Resistance, led by Turkish-born Mihraç Ural, are participating in the military operations.

Here.

God!  I wanted to clean up my language on this blog but FUCK!  This thing is a goddamn quagmire.

Thanks to Julian's link we get a better picture of Turkish actions.  The Russians were pounding the hell outta Turkmens in Syria that are participating in action against Assad and Turkey responded by aiding them.  Personally I wouldn't doubt that they're as twisted as ISIS but this makes things a bit clearer.

Still.

The Turks have lost their fucking minds.  This was stupid.  They're playing an extremely dangerous double game that will see them sitting on the ground gasping for air from the gaping chest wound that Russia will deliver.

Many think this is going to lead to nothing.  I disagree.  World Wars have started over less.  Do I think WW3 is starting?  Not yet, but I do think that we've seen the opening shot of a major regional war going from cold to hot.

UPDATE: s300v4 put this pic up.  Long story short?  The Russians are doubling down and blowing the fuck out of the Turkmen.

Rebels admit war crime...shot at pilot parachuting from downed aircraft...

Just heard on the news that rebels are claiming that they shot at the pilot as he parachuted from his downed aircraft killing him.

That's a war crime boys and girls.  Paratroopers are fair game when they're in the sky...pilots?  Nope.

So now we have these sketchy ass rebels committing war crimes and bragging about it?

This is a mess and now the Turks are calling in NATO.  We need better friends...the Turks are NOT worth the trouble.

NOTE:  Dima found the vid of the rebels shooting at aircrew in distress.

How will the Russians respond? I'm betting by aiding the Kurds...

So now that I've chewed on the Turks shoot down of a Russian jet the next question becomes how will they respond.

Personally I'm betting some type of aid to the Kurds.  What are the Turks scared of most?  A Kurdish state.

This aid could come in the form of a "no fly zone" over their territory, more military assistance...the list is really endless.

Regardless.  The Turks need to be reeled  in before they start WW3.  This vid is more appropriate than ever...You can't have this many forces operating this close together and think that shit won't turn real and nasty...THIS BUSINESS WILL GET OUT OF CONTROL, IT WILL GET OUT OF CONTROL AND WE'LL BE LUCKY TO LIVE THRU IT!

Sidenote:  Hate me if you like, but I gotta call it like I see it.  The Turks are amateurs and amateurs will get you killed.  Incursions across borders, both on land and in the air happen all the time.  Don't believe me?  Talk to some of the carrier boys...talk to some of the boys in the 2nd Armored Cav during cold war days.  You don't start shooting wars over navigation errors or a little "big boy play".  Let me go one step further and start some hate.  I'm on Russia's side with this one.  I repeat.  The Turks have lost their fucking minds.

WTF. The Turks have lost their fucking minds!

I wake up, look at the news and Turkey has shot down a Russian Jet?

They've lost their fucking minds.

More to come...oh and I predicted this but wow.  Still think I wear a tinfoil hat?

NOTE:  MSNBC is barely covering this news.  They're focused on politics.  The same applies to Fox.  No one seems to consider this news that could change the course of nations.  Is this really no big deal?

NOTE 1:  The Turkish military websites are just reporting this news...no chest thumping.  I wonder if they sense that a line was crossed against a country that doesn't play?  You can screw with the US but Russia?

NOTE 2:  I wonder if the Russians will declare a "no fly zone" above the Kurds?  That would annoy and scare the shit out of Turkey.

Something is screwy with the UK's F-35 numbers...

Image taken from Think Defence Blog (full story on the SDSR here).

Check this out from Think Defence...

No details of timings, numbers per squadron, basing (rumour is Conningsby nd Lossiemouth for Typhoon), training, or where the air and ground and air crews are coming from.
‘We will maintain our plan’ is not an order.
By 2023, the UK is planned to have 42 F-35B’s in service, remember, this is a JOINT Combat Aircraft, not just for carrier strike. This translates into two squadrons (809 NAS and 617 SQN) plus the OCU.

Yeah.  He's absolutely right.  But what has me spinning is the infographic that TD has from the SDSR.  Two squadrons of F-35s.  Then they talk about buying 138 over the life of the program.

The Brits are being cheeky as hell.  First we find out that the first 18 or so planes  will be maintenance and training platforms and now this?

Something screwy is going on with the numbers here.  My opinion of the program continues and this attempt at positive news from our Brit brothers doesn't change the trajectory of things at all.  

The F-35 is in a flat spin headed out to sea....The Brits are reaching for the ejection handle...they just don't want the front seater to know it yet...

Breaking! State Dept issues worldwide travel alert!

Fox News is saying that several terrorist groups are planning attacks against Westerners.

In addition to ISIS at least five other groups were named.

My take?  

We're at war folks...whether you like or not...whether you're ready or not.

Russian troops led an offensive in Syria?

via Washington Beacon.

Jerusalem—Russia has sent ground forces into battle for the first time in Syria,according to Kuwait daily, al-Rai.
The troops drove rebel forces from strategic positions, said the newspaper, which is close to the Damascus regime. It did not say when the troops went into action and there was no mention of casualties. The Russians are not known to have sizable forces in Syria but a small number of tanks have been seen.
Until now, Russia has confined itself to strikes by aircraft and cruise missiles against rebel forces and the Islamic State in Syria.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week in a meeting with military officials that they must prepare for the next stage of the battle.
“Our objectives are being fulfilled and fulfilled well,” he said, according to the RIA Novosti news agency. “But for now that is not enough to cleanse Syria of rebels and terrorists and to protect Russians from possible terrorist attacks. The military campaign has not achieved enough and a next phase is needed.”

Here.

Everyone forgets the 800 pound gorilla in the room when it comes to Russia/US relations.

Putin can't stand Obama and vice versa.

With every move that Obama makes, Putin counters.  It makes sense tactically and diplomatically.  It shows that Russia is willing to put "skin in the game" when it comes to supporting allies.

But I also get the sense that Putin also likes the idea of tweaking Obama....I can't explain it but I feel like he gets enjoyment from humiliating him.

This went from being interesting to fascinating.  Forget popcorn.  Put some burgers on the grill and roll the lazy-boy outside.  We're about to see a show.