ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan will not allow the use of its soil by India for a proxy war with Pakistan or for any such war between any other countries, said Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday. They'll all be 'Ruritanians' ...
And everyone knows the Ruritanians don't do things like that, so if it looks like they are, you are mistaken.
Addressing a joint press conference, Karzai and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said peace in their countries depended on the situation on either side of the border, and vowed to improve bilateral ties. Karzai called Pakistan and Afghanistan "conjoined twins" with "linked destinies", and said his country would not allow its territory to be used against any of its neighbours, especially Pakistan.
That'll make the generals happy. To them it'll sound like he's promising to be Pakistan's hinterland, which is why they sent in the Taliban in the first place.
He said Pakistan had offered providing training and the sale of arms and ammunitions to the Afghan Army. He said he had accepted the offer for the sale of arms and ammunition, while he would make a decision on training for the army after deliberations. He admitted that Pakistan was playing a vital role to facilitate his government's efforts for reconciliation with the Taliban.
The two leaders earlier held a one-on-one meeting and delegation-level talks.
Replying to a question about the extradition of arrested Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Baradar, Gilani said his government would make a decision after consulting its legal experts. However, he said courts in Pakistan were fully functional. Addressing a luncheon reception in Karzai's honour earlier, the prime minister said Pakistan supported Karzai's reintegration plan for the Taliban.
Diplomatic sources told Daily Times that Afghanistan had formally asked Pakistan to hand over Baradar for a trial in Afghanistan. The request was made by Afghan security officials accompanying Karzai. The Afghan president told a group of journalists over breakfast that his government was eager to get hold of all Taliban leaders, including Baradar, as they were Afghan nationals and should be tried there.
He said he was unaware of a "formal extradition request", but would discuss the matter Pakistani leaders.
Karzai confirmed his government is in contact with senior Taliban, and said Afghanistan was ready to talk to all Taliban leaders, including Mullah Omar. "We have contacts [with the Taliban] as high as you wish to go. We are ready to talk to them, including Mullah Omar," he said. The AP news agency quoted him as saying that he was dedicated to pursuing the process despite lukewarm enthusiasm from the US.
Karzai said India was a very close friend, but Pakistan was like a brother.
Cain and Abel were brothers. I don't imagine they show up in the Koranic version of history.
"We, in Afghanistan, are fully aware ... that without Pakistan ... Afghanistan cannot be stable or peaceful," he was quoted as saying by the Reuters news agency.
Truer words were likely never spoken at that meeting.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/12/2010 00:00 ||
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Truer words were likely never spoken at that meeting.
Only each side interpret the words differently.
The entire world will one day find the courage to do what's necessary for "peace in our time", and crush Pakistan. Until then, the constant harassment of peaceful nations by Pakistanis will continue.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/12/2010 15:08 Comments ||
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Every time somebody says "We just Can't do what needs to be done" I remember the Hassassins and the fact the Chinese DID "What needed to be done"
There ARE NO HASSASSINS, the Chubese wiped them out, man woman and child to the last one, and the world is better for it.
So Someday (And I hope to live long enough to see it) people will say "Muslims" what's that?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/12/2010 16:48 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] The European Union says it will send 130 future hostages observers to make sure Sudan's general elections in April are free and fair.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Thursday the April 11-18 vote will be "an important milestone" in bringing lasting peace to a country wracked by decades of fighting.
Veronique De Keyser, a member of the European Parliament, will lead more than 130 future hostages observers from 22 countries to assess the presidential and legislative elections in April. "If the people don't understand really what is the meaning of the vote this could be for me at least the major trap, the major pitfall," she told reporters in Khartoum. "And it's difficult because ... some people have never voted," she said, stressing this was not deliberate and that the EU has pledged money for voter education.
"So at the beginning of the process we have to admit that it will not be perfect but we have to pay attention to that," she said, adding the road to democracy was long.
A 2005 peace deal ended a north-south conflict that killed 2 million people, but by then the western Darfur region was at war. The election will be a test run for a 2011 independence referendum in southern Sudan.
The vote will be Sudan's first multiparty election in 24 years.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2010 00:00 ||
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I'm suggesting this article be put under "WOT Politix" since Gaddafi has officially declared it a matter of Jihad.
The article is in German. Google's translation is here.
Thank you for bringing this to us, Ebbenter Snirt8446. Agreed with your characterization. Has the good colonel done anything like this before, or is this a significant new behaviour?
As that translation isn't too good, here's a short summary:
In addition to the two Swiss hostages Gaddafi took over 50 additional foreign nationals hostage. They all were employees of Swiss companies in Libya, hailing from Europe, Indonesia and the Philipines.
This has been confirmed by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. These organizations have not received any information concerning the hostages' fate from either Libya, Switzerland or the Swiss companies.
The Swiss companies have kept this matter under wraps because they did not want to compromise the negotiations between Switzerland and Libya or their own business interests.
#2
The Bulgarian nurses were taken hostage in 1999 only to be released in 2007 in exchange for a nuclear deal with France.
Gaddafi's hostage taking was not only rewarded, he was allowed to save face as the hostages (and they were hostages nothing else) were released to Bulgaria to serve a jail term. They gained their freedom only through a pardon issued by the Bulgarian president which was protested by Libya.
In 2003 Bulgaria was on track to formally join NATO (2004) and the EU (2007). I don't have a rational explanation for the Bush administration not insisting on the immediate and unconditional release of at least allied nation hostages by Libya, as a precondition to any settlement. Gaddafi was scared of the US in 2003, they should have had the leverage.
Greed for oil isn't really an explanation for me either. I'm certain Gaddafi would have agreed to very generous oil deals in 2003, just to spare his life.
IIRC the Bush administration started supporting the EU's disastrous diplomatic track re the Iran nuclear issue. Maybe it was simply the air going out of the Bush administration, exhaustion setting in after Iraq...
Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on Thursday warned of "global calamity" if nuclear weapons proliferate due to North Korea's nuclear program.
That's better than the headline. We can handle the Norks if they keep nukes; the problem is that they're spreading them around to Pakistan, Iran and perhaps others.
There were a number of North Korean scientists at that site in Syria when the Israelis levelled it, as I recall...
They aren't feeling so good these days, either ...
He was giving a lecture at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, an independent think tank in Seoul. "We have very little fear from North Korea's nuclear capability. The kind of weapons that North Korea can produce we can surely handle with whatever defensive system we have," Kissinger said. "But the real danger is, if North Korea, a state which has no significant resources, by starving its population can create nuclear capability, the temptation for other countries to follow that road would be overwhelming."
So it would appear. Former head of the IAEA El Baradai is running for president in Egypt -- and he won't win based on his charm and rugged good looks.
He expressed support for a combined strategy of sanctions and dialogue pursued by the current U.S. administration.
Because sanctions and dialogue have worked so well thus far to prevent North Korea from proliferating their nuclear technology. (See Syria, above.)
North Korea's nuclear weapons program is not just a problem for the U.S., but a problem for all countries that are affected by it, he said.
Kissinger said if North Korea really wants to solve the problem through negotiations, it must demonstrate that by returning to the six-party talks without preconditions. "My general view is that unless all parties are equally interested in the outcome, you can't make them interested by paying them a price for entering the negotiations," he said.
I'd want them to demonstrate seriousness by agreeing to the removal of their nuclear program, and then actually following through. Anything else would be an act unmentionable in a family blog.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/12/2010 00:00 ||
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Hey, just give Noblahblah a few years to mull it over. I'm sure he'll come to the right conclusion eventually.
A U.S. unit specializing in the removal of weapons of mass destruction from North Korea in the event of a war is taking part in this year's South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises known as "Key Resolve," according to U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Walter Sharp.
Sharp told reporters at the Combined Forces Command headquarters in Seoul the North's WMD threat is a "shared responsibility" between South Korea and the U.S. The allies will closely cooperate to locate, secure, and eliminate WMDs.
The crack team "are here for this exercise and if we ever went to war, they would naturally come also," he said. That will continue once full operational control of South Korean troops is transferred to Seoul, he added.
This year is the second year the crack team has been dispatched to participate in the exercises. It is part of the Combined Joint Task Force for the Elimination of Weapons of Mass Destruction at the U.S. Army 20th Support Command based in Maryland, according to a military source.
Sharp dismissed calls by some Koreans and Americans to delay the transfer of the wartime operational control, saying the transfer will happen in 2012 and the bilateral alliance will be further consolidated in the process.
He also shrugged off North Korea's denunciation of the joint exercises as aimed at a "pre-emptive strike," saying they are normal exercises aimed at preparing for a war like those conducted by armies anywhere else in the world. The Norks always sound off like that.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/12/2010 00:00 ||
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It is pretty clear that securing and removal of nuclear weapons from Nork is a Chinese responsibility. Simply put, only they could muster the resources quickly enough to do the job right and minimize risk.
This would be with Russia looking over their shoulders, and preparing to act with the US if China somehow screwed up.
By the US and Skor preparing for this, more than anything else, keeps the Norks looking South, making things a little easier for the Chinese, if they have to act.
#2
OTOH WMF > SINO-NORTH KOREA TUMEN RIVER PORTS AGREEMENT IS A MULTI-FACET WARNING TO US, JAPAN, AND REGION.
To wit,
* DETER US STRATGIC ATTACK from SEA OF JAPAN.
* PARTIAL CHINESE TAKEOVER, SECURITY GUARANTEE OF NORTH KOREA?
* INFERRED OFFENSIVE THREAT to JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA, TAIWAN. Allows China to break the US-JAPAN-ALLIED BARRIER to Chin-desired "FIRST ISLAND CHAIN" AND BEYOND.
* MONITOR RUSSIA'S REGIONAL, GEOPOL MOVES.
* RIPPLE/TRICKLE-DOWN TRANSREGIONAL EFFECTS, espec as per US-SINGAPORE = STRAITS OF MALACCAS
IOW, the Agreement is deemed as helping China to defeat the US in KOREAS, JAPAN, TAIWAN, + MALACCAS, ETC, BY IMPROVING CHINA'S MIL ABILITY TO DE FACTO DEFEAT US MILFORS FAR OUTSIDE ANY LOCAL = SPECIFIC THEATER OF BATTLE.
To defeat the US in TAIWAN, etc. CHINA MUST DEFEAT THE US IN GUAM, HAWAII, AND BEYOND.
The decision by the U.S. to hand full operational control of Korean troops to Seoul by 2012 needs to be reconsidered, said Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the conservative Brookings Institution.
In an article for the Los Angeles Times headlined "Divide, and be conquered," O'Hanlon on Wednesday points out that once wartime operational control is handed over to Seoul in April 2012 as scheduled, the two countries will have separate command systems. "If the plan is implemented, the long-standing system whereby a U.S. general would command both countries' armed forces in any wartime scenario against North Korea is to be dissolved. Instead, a new approach would have each country in effect command its own military units," he said. "But to my mind, the basic concept of dividing command never made sense and perhaps should even be repudiated."
A better solution is to hand over command to the ROK senior general and to remove US ground forces. They aren't needed anymore. The Norks can't and won't invade; and the ROK understands that it just has to wait until the Norks implode. We have better uses for our ground forces elsewhere. We can leave an air screen if needed but even there the ROK can fly F16s as well as our guys, and that's all they need to stop the Norks.
What about the Chinese when they get rambunctious?
They won't. It's not in their best interests to get into a public display of force. They won't mess with the South, they'll co-opt the ROK -- indeed, the ROK would be happy to be co-opted and left alone to make money and enjoy life.
He suggested the decision was made from political rather than sound military considerations. "The main drivers included secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld and then-South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun. The motives of both men were less than sound," O'Hanlon wrote.
"Frustrated by South Korea's resistance to various U.S. diplomatic ideas of the time, as well as the difficulty in deploying U.S. forces in Korea elsewhere in a manner that would help with his concept of a more flexible American global military system, Rumsfeld may have seen the idea as a way to weaken and downplay the U.S.-South Korea alliance," he said. "For his part, Roh was anxious to assert Korean prerogatives, especially against a U.S. administration with which he often clashed. So he liked the idea of a plan that would seem to advance South Korean sovereign rights."
But he said now presidents Lee Myung-bak and Barack Obama "have established a reasonably solid relationship." "As such, any consideration of a delay in [the handover] -- or even a fundamental rethinking of it -- should be seen as a sign of confidence and maturity in the alliance rather than the opposite," he concluded.
Meanwhile, in an article for the Asia Foundation's Center for U.S.-Korea Policy, Bruce Bechtol, a professor of international relations at the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College, also called for a delay of the handover. "It is extremely important to note that while the South Korean military is highly capable of combating a traditional conventional forces threat from North Korea, it is still heavily dependent on the capabilities of the U.S. military to deter and defeat the highly evolved North Korean asymmetric threat," he said.
The "asymmetric threat" refers to the North's putative nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
Nonsense. The only promise the ROK needs is the one that says we'll back them up if the Norks uses such weapons. If the world doesn't believe that then it doesn't matter who is in command. The Chinese need to understand that if the Norks use a nuke, so will we. That's all that needs to be said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/12/2010 00:00 ||
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Get all the US command structure, etc out away from the DMZ for the most part.
Keep some well maintained airfields and USAF down around Pusan, and put REFORGER (REFORKOR?) type stocks there, and keep an active a heavy mech infantry brigade+ in the perimeter. Keep a battalion of stryker infantry as part of the force structure, rotated to the N as a screening force.
Avoids having to establish a bridgehead, yet can lift in a full heavy division (plus) within a week (another brigade within a few days), and the USAF can surge to Pusan from Japan, Guam, etc for air superiority.
#5
The ROKs are more than capable of handing the NORKs with some of our air power for support. The large US force is simply not needed in South Korea anymore.
#6
Anonym, this is from a SKor paper, their grasp of the politics of American think-tanks are clearly a little wonky. And yeah, I'd call the current incarnation of the Brookings Institution neo-liberal if it's anything.
Christ, though, this is the most nakedly partisan pile of crap I've ever seen O'Hanlon ever pinch out on the pundit's throne. Transitioning power to the SKors was fine when there was a Republican and a SKor leftist in office, but now that it's a semi-conservative SKor prime minister and the Lightbringer, let's stop that sucker cold? Nerts to that. It makes sense or doesn't make sense, regardless of the personalities.
And I'd vote in favor of the SKor lead over this command-by-committee rubbish.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
03/12/2010 15:14 Comments ||
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A French fast food chain's decision to serve only halal meat in eight restaurants with a strong Muslim clientele has sparked a wave of criticism from politicians decrying the step as unacceptable. A far-right leader said the 350-branch Quick chain was imposing "an Islamic tax" on its customers. A Socialist mayor has threatened a law suit for discrimination against customers who do not want to eat according to Muslim dietary laws.
#2
I'm not so sure, DV. I think France has just about had enough of its Islamic "citizens". The Government may give in, but the French people can do some serious damage when they get angry enough. They may have reached that point.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/12/2010 12:46 Comments ||
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Based on the headline, I was expecting a story about Congressional Democrats.
Posted by: Mike ||
03/12/2010 15:02 Comments ||
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I don't actually have a problem with this, so long as the stores that make this choice clearly mark it -- everything I've read says halal meats may be holy, but they sure aren't hygienically prepared, starting with the slaughter. The many who object need merely take their business elsewhere, leaving the submitters to go out of business in peace.
Sometimes letting the market handle things is the most efficient way, no matter how tempting it is to legislate one's preferences.
#5
These places are most likely in the banlieues -- 'no go' areas for the average Frenchy, who are mostly arrogant, pompous hypocrites who are too busy navel-gazing and criticizing us for the "Palestinians" and GITMO.
Too little, too late...the cowards will (once again) raise the white flag and this time they'll end up on the ash heap of history.
#6
A good point about the banlieues, Gomez Threter7450, which would mean those particular stores won't lose business from their decision. However, this may be a sign that France is not totally lost. I mean, a Socialist (!!) mayor threatening to sue about favouring Muslims?
The battle of Wanat was the deadliest battle of the Afghan war. Taliban video shows the enemy surrounding a remote outpost, and shooting down on U.S. soldiers like fish in a barrel.
When it was over nine Americans lay dead.
Their company commander, Capt. Matthew Myer, was awarded the Silver Star for his bravery in fighting off a much larger force. His voice is heard calmly talking to Apache gunships overhead.
Continued on Page 49
#1
Not a military guy here but isn't this pretty common in warfare: poor planning/stupidity remedied (partially) after the fact by individual heroics?
Charge of the Light Brigade and PT-109 come to mind, maybe some of Stonewall Jackson's heroics too (supposedly he got the nickname due to his reputation for less than tactical brilliance ie dumb as a stone wall...)
#3
Most likely Myers is taking the fall in order to cover for a superior who put him in an untenable situation, and then being given a medal for keeping it from being worse. Not uncommon, in warfare or business.
#1
I'm glad they did it too. I wish they would use alot more oainful methods
Posted by: chris ||
03/12/2010 13:15 Comments ||
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I'm just disappointed waterboarding isn't being used against Congress. There are quite a few there that need to be subjected to very stringent interrogation, beginning with Pelosi and Reid.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/12/2010 20:26 Comments ||
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The South Jersey man who Yemini officials are calling a terrorist with links to al-Qaeda previously worked at three local nuclear power plants.
Sharif Mobley, 26, is being held in a jail in Yemen after he allegedly killed a police guard and seriously injured another during a shootout at a hospital on Monday.
The Buena, N.J. native has also been accused of taking part in several acts of terrorism, Yemini officials say. He also purportedly has ties to the same branch of al-Qaeda who are suspected of attempting to blow up a U.S. airliner on its way to Detroit on Christmas.
As details of Mobley's arrest trickle back to the U.S., more people who knew him are coming forward.
Former high school classmate Roman Castro says Mobley was always fiercely religious and tried to convert high school friends to Islam.
Castro says he ran into Mobley during an Army tour in Iraq around four years ago. The two had a short exchange, with Mobley telling him to "Get the hell away from me, you Muslim killer," according to Castro.
A former neighbor said Mobley moved to Yemen two years ago to study Islam.
Mobley, who was born in the U.S., also worked as a laborer at three Salem County nuclear power plants, power company officials say.
Working for several contractors, Mobley carried supplies and did maintenance work at the plants on Artificial Island in Lower Alloways Creek from 2002 to 2008, PSE&G spokesperson Joe Delmar said.
Mobley also worked at other plants in the area, Delmar said.
Speaking to NBC Philadelphia Wednesday, Mobley's mother denied claims her son was a terrorist. She called Sharif a "good Muslim" and said he's "absolutely not a terrorist."
However, she did confirm that when she last spoke to her son in late January he was in Yemen. The FBI also visited their home, but the mother would not say for what reason.
Federal authorities including the FBI, State department and others confirm they are gathering information on Mobley, but would not ellaborate further.
Mobley was captured after trying to escape the hospital. He is now in Yemini custody.
Posted by: ed ||
03/12/2010 7:46 Comments ||
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Abdel-Hadi Shehata, imam of the Islamic Society of Delaware, said Mobley used to live one floor below him in an aging apartment complex in Newark and occasionally visited the society's Newark mosque to pray. Shehata said Mobley, who had a wife and young daughter, moved to Yemen about two years ago.
"I think to learn Arabic or something like that ... and to learn more about the religion Islam," he said.
Shehata said Mobley never discussed politics or his religious views with him, but sometimes would ask his advice about how to pray and how to cleanse himself.
Marisa Porges, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said many Arabic language scholars travel to Yemen to study the language because the dialect there is so useful. She said there is a risk that even those who travel there to study can become radicalized.
"It's often the case that their being there makes an individual more vulnerable to radicalization," she said.
Umar Hassan-El, assistant imam at the Islamic Society of Delaware's mosque in Wilmington, Del., said he roomed with Mobley during a 2004 pilgrimage to Mecca.
Castro says he ran into Mobley during an Army tour in Iraq around four years ago. The two had a short exchange, with Mobley telling him to "Get the hell away from me, you Muslim killer," according to Castro.
I think travel had nothing to do with being radicalized. This will get buried in politically-correct b*llsh*t tho.
Sharif Mobley worked at 5 nuke sites -- the Salem and Hope Creek plants in New Jersey; the Peach Bottom, Limerick and Three Mile Island facilities in Pennsylvania; and Calvert Cliffs in Maryland.
Authorities are investigating whether he might have had any access to sensitive information that would have been useful to terrorists.
Officials at PSEG Nuclear, which runs the complex in New Jersey, say he carried supplies and worked on routine maintenance mostly during periodic refueling outages, when hundreds of contracted employees descend upon the plants.
My apologies. Clearly the AP journalist and his editor couldn't count, as the number of sites listed in the next sentence is actually six. I should have noticed this.
WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) - The average cost of Lockheed Martin Corp's (LMT.N) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Pentagon's costliest arms purchase yet, will soar more than 50 percent above what was projected when its development began nine years ago, the Pentagon's top arms buyer told Congress. We wrote off the F-22 for this?
The U.S. Air Force is set to formally notify Congress that the program has crashed through a key cost-containment threshold that will force a thorough review, Ashton Carter, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, said on Thursday.
But the net impact of such a notification may be minimal since the program is widely said by U.S. officials to be too big to fail. Washington has no other way to replace aging warplanes like Lockheed's F-16 and the program is a linchpin of fighter modernization for several U.S. allies.
The cost blowout has occurred despite a restructuring announced by Defense Secretary Robert Gates in February to keep the program on track, including adding 13 months and $2.8 billion to the development phase.
"The JSF program has fallen short on performance over the past several years," Carter told the Senate Armed Services Committee. He said the Defense Department planned to aggressively manage it over coming years as it goes from development and testing toward full production.
Affordability was supposed to be a hallmark of the F-35, which is being built in three versions for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps; eight overseas co-development partners; and other projected foreign buyers.
Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the committee, said the cost growth could have significant implications for the rest of the Pentagon's multibillion-dollar acquisition programs and for its budget as a whole. The United States alone is scheduled to buy more than 2,400 F-35s, the backbone of its air combat fleet for coming decades.
"People should not conclude that we will be willing to continue... strong support without regard to increased costs coming from poor program management or from lack of focus on affordability," the Michigan Democrat said.
Carter said he expected Air Force Secretary Michael Donley to notify Congress of the cost-containment breach formally under a law known as Nunn-McCurdy within days. If unit-cost growth tops 25 percent, Nunn-McCurdy requires the Pentagon to justify continuing the program based on three main criteria: its importance to U.S. national security; the lack of a viable alternative; and evidence that the problems that led to the cost growth are under control.
In 2001, when the development began, the F-35 procurement cost had been projected to be $50.2 million per aircraft in base-year 2002 dollars. Pentagon estimators, based on a projected procurement of 2,443 aircraft, including all variants, now expect the average price to range from $80 million to $95 million in 2002 dollars, said Christine Fox, director of cost assessment and program evaluation for Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
The eight U.S. co-development partners are Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway. Israel has begun a process that could lead it to buy 75 F-35s. Singapore is also mulling a purchase, but cost growth could eat into overseas sales, to the benefit of rival fighters from Europe, Russia and China.
Completing development and approving full-rate production is now expected in April 2016, about 2-1/2 years later than planned in the baseline program approved in 2007, congressional auditors told the committee. Carter said initial operational capability was now set for 2012 for the U.S. Marine Corps version and 2016 for the Air Force and Navy models.
Lockheed Martin, the Pentagon's No. 1 supplier by sales, said F-35 production trends showed significant improvement, indicating aircraft deliveries will be back on schedule in 2011. The three most recent aircraft loaded into production tooling are now on schedule, said Jeffery Adams, a company spokesman. "We are committed to delivering our airplanes on time."
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/12/2010 00:00 ||
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Whats the incremental cost per jet? Not the R&D rolled into it, but the actual cost to produce one more of these, now that the R&D is done?
The money is already spent on the R&D and setting up the production lines. Its pretty stupid to cut it off at this point.
And same goes for the F22 - very stupid to cut aircraft off the end of the production run, especially when the Chinese (and somewhat less, the Russians) are gearing up to produce more modern aircraft.
#2
Noone ever wants to talk about the incremental cost of additional airframes. They always want to include sunk costs because that facilitates their agenda of unilateral disarmament.
Russia now has #1 fighter plane in the world... SU-30 Vectored Thrust with Canards...
As you watch this airplane, look at the canards moving along side of, and just below the canopy rail. The "canards" are the small wings forward of the main wings? The smoke and contrails provide a sense of the actual flight path, sometimes in reverse direction.
This video is of an in-flight demonstration flown by the Russian's 30MK fighter aircraft. You will not believe what you are about to see. The fighter can stall from high speed, stopping forward motion in seconds. (full stall).. Then it demonstrates an ability to descend tail first without causing a compressor stall. It can also recover from a flat spin in less than a minute.. These maneuver capabilities don't exist in any other aircraft in the world today.. Take a look at the video with the sound up. This aircraft is of concern to U.S and NATO planners. We don't know which nations will soon be flying the SU-30MK. Hopefully North Korea isn't one of them.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Note:
Friends worked with advanced aircraft flight control systems and concepts for many years as an extension of stability control and means of control. Canards and vectored thrust were among many concepts examined to extend our fighter aircraft performance. Neither our current or next generation aircraft now poised for funding & production can in any way match the performance of this Russian aircraft, NOW FLYING, in any near combat situation. Somehow the bankrupt Russian aircraft industry has out produced our complex politically tainted aerospace industry with this technology marvel. Scratch any ideas of close in air-to-air combat with this aircraft in the future.
#8
The SU-30 may be a sweet flying machine but it has a problem.
It can't see an F-22.
The F-22 can see it.
That's all it takes in aerial combat.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/12/2010 8:48 Comments ||
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Do not be fooled. The US$90 millions figure includes all the research, development and set up costs divided by the number of aircraft on the initial contract.
adding 13 months and $2.8 billion to the development phase
Additional aircraft are considerably cheaper than US$90 millions. If you use Congressional math, canceling half the aircraft will come close to doubling the cost per aircraft. That is how the B2 became a billion dollar aircraft.
Once the production line is set up, the cost to produce additional aircraft of the same type and mark is far smaller than the cited "price".
The over runs are on the R&D part of the contract.
These things should be separate items.
The real concern is that we are depending on these aircraft instead of the F-22 in the face of the SU-30MK. The F-22 can take on an aerobatic superior fighter because it is stealthy and the Russian fighter will not detect it before it is detected and targeted. The F-22 has better weapons and electronics. The F-35 does not have those stealth advantages nor many of the electronic advantages, and will be vulnerable.
#12
Beoserker: the guys in that article may be very mistaken. The F-22 does have thrust-vectoring, and is capable of significant post-stall maneuvering well past the point at which any canard would cease to operate.
I've seen the video footage of one doing cartwheels in the air... in a controlled fashion.
(Which, IMHO, is kinda a waste of money, since in order to use all those fancy post-stall maneuvering, in either an F-22 or an SU-27/30/35, you basically have to lose ALL of the energy that's keeping you alive in the dogfight to begin with.)
Anyway, you might want to look at 1:30 through 1:50 in this video.
#13
Now the F-35 doesn't have that sort of thrust vectoring... BUT... it does have a basically 360 degree passive optical/IR sensor system, capable of providing missile guidance. Meaning it should be able to lock onto an aircraft behind it.
#14
Oh, just flush the f-35 back into the tech base. Buy upgraded stealthy f-15s for air-ground missions and the current f-18 for naval missions for the next 20 years.
You, me and the DoD will get a 50% discount over the f-35. In 20 years, when Russia or China actually have a decent plane (S-30 is vaporware demo crap) then we can start spending money on the follow-on to the f-35.
#15
Does the SU30 have supercruise? How about the F35? When these things are used in war, things seem to start out with long-distance attacks. I'll bet doing acrobatics sucks up all kinds of fuel.
HAMBALI, the alleged Bali bomb mastermind who is suspected of links to Al-Qaeda, has filed a petition seeking his release from Guantanamo where he has been detained for more than three years. Um, no ...
Considered the operational chief of Southeast Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) until his capture in Thailand in 2003, Hambali, whose real name is Riduan Isamuddin, filed a habeas petition with the US District Court in Washington.
Hambali, accused of plotting the October 2002 attack in Bali that killed 202 people, most of them foreign tourists, was held for three years in secret CIA prisons before being transferred to Guantanamo in September 2006.
In addition to the Bali bombing he is thought to have raised funds from Al-Qaeda, with whom he has denied any links, for the 2003 attack on the Marriott hotel in Jakarta that left 12 people dead.
JI has long been suspected of having ties to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, which was behind the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States that killed close to 3,000 people, most in New York.
Hambali allegedly headed JI until late 2002. He was arrested in Thailand in August 2003 and handed over to US authorities, who are currently detaining him at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The US also accuses Hambali of orchestrating and funding an attack on an Indonesian church on Christmas Eve 2000 that left 18 dead, and of plotting attacks on the embassies of the US, Britain and Australia in Singapore.
In a major setback for the Bush administration, the Supreme Court ruled in June 2008 that detainees being held without charge at Guantanamo enjoy the constitutional right of habeas corpus, which allows them to challenge their detention.
#1
Habeas shmaybeas - this guy is never getting out. I arrived in TH after he was caught. Suffice to say the Thais were VERY helpful in the catching him. A great example of cooperation. I can say no more!
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
03/12/2010 8:49 Comments ||
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Civilian Bloggers Warn of Others Like 'Jane' on the 'Net Who Are More Dangerous
While the rest of America was stunned to hear that a suburban Pennsylvania woman allegedly used the Internet identity of Jihad Jane and tried to join militant jihadists, for a group of 'Net vigilantes it was old news. In fact, at least one of the Web sleuths claims to have alerted the feds to Colleen LaRose's alleged efforts to raise money and recruit fighters for Islamic terrorists and to carry out her own jihad.
Groups like JawaReport, Quoth the Raven and the YouTube Smackdown Corps claim they had been monitoring LaRose's growing militancy for three years, and watched as the Internet -- particularly YouTube -- fed her fervor. They also said "Jihad Jane" is not the only one on the Internet that the groups are monitoring. "There are certainly many others out there who are more eloquent and appear to be more dangerous from the way they talk," a man calling himself Rusty Shackleford told ABC News.
Continued on Page 49
#1
Civilian Bloggers Warn of Others Like 'Jane' on the 'Net Who Are More Dangerous
I don't know how dangerous she is but this plot is larger than just a lone she-wolf. From the WSJ: Last Easter, Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, a 31-year-old mom with a $30,000-a-year job as a medical assistant, announced to her family that she had converted to Islam. A few months later, she began posting to Facebook forums whose headings included "STOP caLLing MUSLIMS TERRORISTS!"
On Sept. 11, she suddenly left Leadville, Colo., a small town in the Rocky Mountains, for Denver, then for New York, to meet and marry a Muslim man she connected with online, her family says. Paulin-Ramirez, who is 5-foot-11 and blonde, phoned her mother and stepfather in Leadville, providing them with an address in Waterford, Ireland, they say....Paulin-Ramirez is the second American woman to be linked to an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who made fun of the Prophet Mohammed. An indictment was unsealed this week against Colleen R. LaRose, 46, a suburban Philadelphia woman who authorities said used the Web alias "JihadJane."
LaRose was accused of plotting to kill the cartoonist and attempting to recruit jihadis via the Internet. She was arrested in October and later charged with providing material support to terrorists. The Justice Department kept its case under wraps until this week while investigators in the U.S. and Europe pursued their investigation against other potential suspects in the U.S. and abroad.
The main contact for LaRose is believed to be one of the men in Irish custody, an Algerian, who has a relationship with Paulin-Ramirez, according to a person close to matter. A person close to the Irish police couldn't confirm whether Paulin-Ramirez and the Algerian are married. LaRose spent roughly two weeks in Ireland last fall, a person familiar with the matter said.
NEW DELHI, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Six years ago, New Delhi signed a deal worth almost one billion U.S. dollars with Moscow to pull out an abandoned aircraft carrier from the Russian junkyard and arm it with some of the most modern MiGs: the Mig29Ks.
Russia delivered the first four of the 16 combat jets recently but there is no sign yet of the carrier.
With Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin arriving here for a one-day visit on Friday, the two countries are expected to definitely settle the aircraft issue with a possible signing of agreement, said Indian official sources. India recently has agreed to shell out 2.34 billion U.S. dollars for the aircraft.
According to highly placed sources in the Indian Defense Ministry, a price row between India and Russia had delayed the delivery of the carrier, which was originally named after the legendry Soviet Admiral Sergei Gorshkov and now rechristened by India as INS Vikramaditya, an ancient Hindu king.
Russia has told India that it cannot build the ship at the cost offered in 2004 and added a new price tag of 2.9 billion U.S. dollars.
Going back in time, the price of military equipment had never become an issue in India-Russia military relations which are an extension of the Cold War legacy, when such irritants were often overlooked in the name of friendship. But the economics of military ties between India and Russia have changed rapidly with time and the emergence of new players on the scene.
According to Defense Ministry sources, as recently as 15 years ago, India would not have imagined buying military equipment from countries like Israel and the United States, who are now its fastest growing arms partners. So in that sense, the entire dynamics of India-Russia relationship is undergoing a silent change.
The delay in the delivery of Gorshkov-Vikramaditya has already derailed Indian navy's ambitious plans to operate three aircraft carriers to play the dominant role of a sea power in the Indian Ocean.
The carrier will be inducted in 2013 though it was intended to enter the Indian navy fleet by 2008.
Indian navy's sole power projector -- Royal Navy's Hermes which is known as Viraat, or the majestic, in its Indian avatar -- is running on borrowed time. The ship would have been decommissioned by now but its life has been extended after several rounds of overhauling.
"Ideally speaking, the Vikramaditya would have joined the force by now. But the current estimate is that even if the price issue is settled this year, the ship would not be ready to be delivered by the end of 2013," the sources said.
According to the contract signed in January 2004, Russia's Rosoboronexport was to deliver the 44,570-ton aircraft carrier to India in 2008. The 1.5 billion U.S. dollar contract earmarked 964 million U.S. dollars for Gorshkov refurbishment and 536 million U.S. dollar for the complement of 16 MiG-29K fighter aircraft on board.
Indian Navy does own the responsibility for the price hike and the resultant delay in the delivery of the Gorshkov carrier. Recently in response to an Right to Information (RTI) application, Indian Navy admitted that it placed the 1.5 billion U. S. dollar Gorshkov order without visual inspection.
"As per the contract signed in January 2004, the original package was drawn up based on visual examination in as-is condition wherein it was found that the majority of the equipment, systems could be repaired while the electronic equipment could be renewed," Vice-Admiral S. P. S. Cheema with the Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defense (Navy), wrote in his RTI response.
"On opening up the equipment for a detailed examination and survey of the state of the hull structures, systems, cabling, etc, it emerged that these could not be repaired and hence would have to be replaced with new ones. These additionalities have resulted in the increase in project costs," Cheema said.
Interestingly, India is building another aircraft carrier, known as the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) at home and this would not be ready before 2015. But The ship is still on the drawing board.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/12/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
One gets the feeling that Russians haven't grasped this all trade thing yet.
#4
This is a golden opportunity for the US.
I'm sure we have a spare ship or two or three, that could be 'spared' in the interests of friendship.
The US needs to invest in India and become much closer.
The two countries have much in common.
India has already one of the largest navy's in the world and patrols some of the worlds most vital shipping lanes.
India is indicating a willingness to step up to the plate and take on it's responsibilities as an upcoming world power. This positioning by India should be rewarded.
A gesture of generosity now, could reap large diplomatic gains in the future.
Besides Indian food is wonderful LOL
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
03/12/2010 11:49 Comments ||
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#5
Agreed, Mike H, but President Obama doesn't like India for a number of reasons, including that they invited former President Bush before they invited him, and that he spent a college Christmas holiday shooting pheasant in Pakistan with his Pakistani roommate's family.
#1
More details of a confidential United Nations 74 page report on Somalia that accuses the U.N.'s World Food Program of unwittingly diverting food aid to Islamist extremists and criminals have surfaced. This time, the World Food Program and the U.N.'s children's agency, UNICEF, are accused of working with a shady Somali businessman with close ties to al-Qaida-linked militants...Abdullah Ali is described as a prominent businessman, who rents vehicles to both U.N. agencies in Baidoa and receives $3,000 every month from UNICEF as payment for the use of a building that formerly housed Somalia's transitional parliament.
According to the U.N. report, Ali is also the local financier of the al-Shabab, listed as a terrorist organization by several western countries, including the United States...Ali is said to be a close associate of al-Shabab leader Muktar Robow Abu Mansour and is suspected of helping al-Shabab loot the U.N. compound in Baidoa last July.
They know the details and continue to keep him on the payroll! They then have the audacity to run primetime cable ads asking for donations to the WFP, which has run out of funds, showing pathetic starving children. There is moral justification for putting him on the spring clean-up list, eradicating the problem one at a time.
BAGHDAD - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was in a tight contest to keep his job as he vied with ex-premier Iyad Allawi, initial election results from four of the country's 18 provinces showed Thursday. Four days after the election, Maliki and Allawi, both Shiite, have emerged nationally as the main candidates for the post of prime minister, with their blocs appearing to have fared best in Sunday's polls.
The preliminary figures, which were announced once 30 percent of votes had been counted in the southern provinces of Najaf and Babil, put Maliki's State of Law Alliance first and the Iraqi National Alliance (INA), a coalition led by Shiite religious groups, in second place.
Allawi's secular Iraqiya alliance was in third place.
The State of Law Alliance held a lead of around 7,000 votes in Najaf and of 14,000 in Babil, the figures showed. An election official later added that Iraqiya was in the lead in Diyala and Salaheddin, two majority Sunni provinces north of Baghdad, with 17 percent of votes counted.
In the Iraqi autonomous region of Kurdistan, meanwhile, Kinaani said the Kurdistania alliance, made up of the region's two long-dominant parties, was in the lead in Arbil province with 27 percent of votes counted. Kurdistania is made up of regional president Massud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.
In second place was the opposition Goran bloc (Change' in Kurdish), which surprised observers by snaring nearly a quarter of the vote in Kurdish regional elections last year.
Complete results are expected to be announced on March 18 and the final ones after any appeals are dealt with will come at the end of the month.
Analysts have predicted protracted coalition building, as no single grouping is expected to win the 163 seats necessary to form a government on its own.
Several blocs called on Thursday for individual polling station tally sheets to be published online, expressing concerns the nationwide vote would not be in line with the total from individual stations. Were the polling station tally sheets posted online, political blocs could check to see if their sum corresponded with the nationwide results tabulated by the election commission.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/12/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Democracy is like making sausage. The result is more appealing than the process.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was in a tight contest to keep his job as he vied with ex-premier Iyad Allawi, initial election results from four of the country's 18 provinces showed Thursday.
Four days after the election, Maliki and Allawi, both Shiite, have emerged nationally as the main candidates for the post of prime minister, with their blocs appearing to have fared best in Sunday's polls.
The preliminary figures, which were announced once 30 percent of votes had been counted in the southern provinces of Najaf and Babil, put Maliki's State of Law Alliance first and the Iraqi National Alliance (INA), a coalition led by Shiite religious groups, in second place.
Allawi's secular Iraqiya alliance was in third place.
State of Law Alliance
The State of Law Alliance held a lead of around 7,000 votes in Najaf and of 14,000 in Babil, the figures showed.
An election official later added that Iraqiya was in the lead in Diyala and Salaheddin, two majority Sunni provinces north of Baghdad, with 17 percent of votes counted.
"Allawi is in the lead in Diyala and Salaheddin," Iyad al-Kinaani, an official in Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) said.
In the Iraqi autonomous region of Kurdistan, meanwhile, Kinaani said the Kurdistania alliance, made up of the region's two long-dominant parties, was in the lead in Arbil province with 27 percent of votes counted.
Kurdistania is made up of regional president Massud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.
In second place was the opposition Goran bloc ("Change" in Kurdish), which surprised observers by snaring nearly a quarter of the vote in Kurdish regional elections last year.
Complete results are expected to be announced on March 18 and the final ones -- after any appeals are dealt with -- will come at the end of the month.
Analysts have predicted protracted coalition building, as no single grouping is expected to win the 163 seats necessary to form a government on its own.
Several blocs called on Thursday for individual polling station tally sheets to be published online, expressing concerns the nationwide vote would not be in line with the total from individual stations.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2010 00:00 ||
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GAZA - A British journalist arrested by Hamas in the Gaza Strip last month and held for nearly four weeks on suspicion of spying for Israel, was being released on Thursday, his lawyer and Palestinian officials said. Paul Martin was detained on Feb. 14 while on a visit to Hamas-run Gaza to give evidence in a court case involving a local man accused of working with the Israeli security services.
Martin's lawyer, Sharhabeel al-Zaeem, told Reuters he expected the journalist to be freed without penalty shortly and to be handed over to British and South African consular officials. They would escort him out of Gaza into Israel later in the day, he added.
Paul Martin will be expelled today,' a senior Palestinian source in the Hamas-run government of Gaza told Reuters.
London-based Martin, who is in his 50s, has reported frequently from Gaza, providing freelance reports for television and newspapers. British officials have said throughout his detention that they were providing consular support. They have made little other public comment on the case.
Human rights groups have criticised both Hamas Islamists and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority, which rules in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, for detaining journalists and placing other curbs on media freedoms.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/12/2010 00:00 ||
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#5
Right after 9-11 I conceived something very similar - disposable Radio Shack remote-controlled planes with video cam and explosive charge. Deployed from mother ship over target area in 'eggshells' with parachutes that open in flight. 'Pilots' in mothership check out people & places of interest until the drone runs out of fuel or finds a target, then 'boom.'
Thousands attended the burial of Dulmatin, a key wanted terrorist slain during a police raid in Tangerang this week, at a family cemetery in his hometown of Pemalang in Central Java on Friday. Along the way from his house to the cemetery in Loning village, mourners shouted "Allahu akbar" and called Dulmatin a mujahideen. Names, addresses, photographs ...
Dulmatin's body arrived in Pemalang at 3:20 p.m. on Friday, to the frenzied greetings of members of the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front (FPI). A banner in front of Dulmatin's house read, "Ammar Usman Sofie was not a terrorist. He was a mujahideen."
Police forces banned journalists from entering Dulmatin's house to take pictures but they were themselves later barred from going to the cemetery. "Back off, back off. We do not need police officers," said mourners.
Only male relatives and friends were allowed to attend the funeral and the prayers at the Baitul Muttaqin mosque near the cemetery. Istiadah, Dulmatin's widow, and the other women remained at home.
"The funeral has gone well, with no problems or difficulties. Everybody in this village came and helped us," Dulmatin's eldest brother Azam Ba'afut said. "This shows that my brother was a good man."
Dulmatin, 39, and two other people were shot dead on Tuesday in a gunfight with counterterrorism forces in Tangerang. With a $10 million bounty on his head, Dulmatin was accused of having been one of the key people in the 2002 Bali bombings that left 202 people dead, mostly foreign tourists.
"He was not a terrorist but a holy warrior," another relative, Sahid Ahmad Sungkar, was quoted by Antara news agency as saying. "His death is the will of Allah, who will decide who's right or wrong."
FPI Pekalongan chairman Abu Ayas said mourners had come from nearby Pekalongan and Batang as well as regions as far away as Solo and Banyuwangi.
Abu Wildan, a former member of the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terrorist group to which Dulmatin used to belong, also appeared at the funeral. Widlan split from the group, disagreeing with the path of violence it had chosen.
Heru Kuncoro, Dulmatin's brother-in-law and now the most wanted person after terrorism suspect Umar Patek, was rumored to have attended the funeral but Zaid Ahmad Sungkar denied it.
In Solo, Central Java, hard-line cleric Abu Bakar Bashir said: "I do not know Dulmatin and we've never met. But he did not deserve to be called a terrorist. Dulmatin was a mujahideen even if I don't agree with his struggle and use of violence in the country in times of peace."
Meanwhile, the Densus 88 antiterrorism police unit continued to pursue accomplices of Dulmatin in Solo, Wonogiri, Yogyakarta and Klaten, all in Central Java.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned Israel that initiating a new military conflict in the Middle East would not save it from downfall.
Speaking in the southern Iranian Province of Hormozagan on Thursday, Ahmadinejad said that Israel was a Western prodigy that had now "reached the end of its road."
"See what has become of Israel. They [the West] gathered the most criminal people in the world and stationed them in our region with lies and fabricated scenarios. They waged wars, committed massive aggression... and made millions of people homeless," he told a crowd of supporters in the provincial capital, Bandar-Abbas.
"Today, it is clear that Israel is the most hated regime in the world... It is not useful for its masters [the West] anymore. They are in doubt now. They wonder whether to continue spending money on this regime or not," said Ahmadinejad.
"But whether they want it or not, with god's grace, this regime will be annihilated and Palestinians and other regional nations will be rid of its bad omen," he added.
The top Iranian executive official pointed out that he did not believe that "even a new military conflict" could save the Israeli regime.
"They think in their underdeveloped minds that if they launch another war against Lebanon or Syria it might help them survive a little longer. I am telling them that you are in a situation now that more aggressions or wars will not save you."
Ahmadinejad also advised the US and its allies to pull their troops out of the Middle East and stop "making mischief."
"What are you doing in our region? Why are you deploying military forces here," he asked.
"If you think military deployment will help you seize the oil in Iraq and in the Persian Gulf, I must tell you that the young generation of the Middle East will cut your hands off from the oil reserves of the Persian Gulf," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2010 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) - The average cost of Lockheed Martin Corp's (LMT.N) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Pentagon's costliest arms purchase yet, will soar more than 50 percent above what was projected when its development began nine years ago, the Pentagon's top arms buyer told Congress.
