Several months ago I wrote a piece about Sergeant Jason Arellano and his wife Lindsey. Jason has returned to civilian life and has become an internet entrepreneur. Lindsey recently gave birth to their first son and all three are doing well. Please check out his site: RESOLUTION is for those who have answered and who continue to answer the call. We are freedom’s answer to fear. For when negotiations end, we do not bargain with terror. We Locate, Close With, and Destroy those who try to take away our way of life. Resolution is for those who Preserve Order, Protect [...]
AP Continues to drool over “brazen” Pirates
I had to create a new category to highlight press reports talking up the barbarian, terrorist, pirates that are plaguing shipping lanes. Here is the latest: Somali pirates transform villages into boomtowns MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somalia’s increasingly brazen pirates are building sprawling stone houses, cruising in luxury cars, marrying beautiful women — even hiring caterers to prepare Western-style food for their hostages. Piracy: The American/Somali Dream. Huge houses, pimped rides, gorgeous women: these await you if you join the Somali pirate brigands today! There is a way to stop piracy, and it quickly came to light early on in [...]
Media Coverage?
Usually media coverage of air strikes targeting terrorist HVTs in Afghanistan have a headline that reads: “US AIRSTRIKES KILL 18 CIVILIANS.” Now, we are getting some.. nuance that lays bare the actual tactics that have been used by the Taliban for quite a while: “US official: Taliban sought wedding party deaths” KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Taliban fighters held a wedding party captive and fired on U.S. forces in an attack designed to draw U.S. airstrikes on civilians and stoke anti-American sentiment, a U.S. official said Friday citing “firsthand” reports. The official declined to give further details of the reported events [...]
So What's Going on Abroad Today?
Just a reminder, it remains a dangerous world out there: Gaza: Rocket Fire and Israeli Strike Disrupt Cease-Fire Hamas fired dozens of rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip on Wednesday after Israeli forces killed at least five Palestinian militants in an eruption of violence that disrupted a four-month-old truce The Arab Israeli conflict seems as intractable as ever, which does not bode well for the region. If conflict erupts, it will likely pull the whole region into war. Rwanda: Fighting Exposes Congolese Soldiers Currently, the media is awash with stories of recent fighting in eastern Congo. Quite often, the [...]
Breaking News from 1962
Russia-Cuba ties worry U.S. WASHINGTON — Amid rising tensions over Georgia, U.S. officials are increasingly concerned that Russia is moving to rebuild one of the most dangerous features of the old Soviet Union’s security structure — its alliance with Cuba. Moscow has been signaling that it wants to restore a long relationship with Havana that included not only economic ties, but also military and intelligence cooperation. The relationship brought the world to the brink of nuclear war during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, when Russia secretly installed nuclear missiles on the island. An interesting story on today of all [...]
Soldiers, UN retreat as rebels advance in Congo
What a headline by Michelle Faul, Associated Press Writer! KILIMANYOKA, Congo — Rebels advanced toward Congo’s eastern provincial capital of 600,000 people Tuesday, sending tens of thousands of terrified civilians into a makeshift shelter as Congolese troops and U.N. tanks retreated. … In Kibati, a few miles from the front line, young men lobbed rocks Tuesday at three U.N. tanks also heading away from the battlefield. The U.N. has 17,000 U.N. peacekeepers in Congo — the biggest mission in the world. “What are they doing? They are supposed to protect us,” said Jean-Paul Maombi, a 31-year-old nurse from Kibumba. Indeed, [...]
Join the Air Guard!
…and go to Antarctica! I can see the recruiting ad already: STRATTON AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, N.Y. , Oct. 15, 2008 – The 109th Airlift Wing is preparing to begin its 20th year of Operation Deep Freeze, supporting the National Science Foundation in Antarctica. Two ski-equipped LC-130 Hercules transports will take off Oct. 27, followed by two more LC-130s and a C-5 Galaxy from the 105th Airlift Wing at Stewart Air National Guard Base, N.Y., on Oct. 28. The aircraft will carry maintenance equipment, such as engines and propellers. Crews will spend a few days in New Zealand setting up [...]
In Defense of Piracy
…Not by me, but by the Chicago Tribune, giving us the pirate IO message with a whopper of a news story with this title: Off the lawless coast of Somalia, questions of who is pirating who Off the lawless coast of Somalia, pirates say they are merely patriots protecting their shores, the Tribune’s Paul Salopek writes Of Course! Patriots (“Somali” Patriots, if we can even call that a “country” anymore) are merely modern minutemen, ready at a moments notice to take up their AKs to repel foreign infiltrators from their shores! We need to understand the root causes of this… [...]
Happy Columbus Day!
I picked this book up at an airport a year or so ago, and I figured this would be a great day to plug it. The story of Columbus seems to have lost much of its factual accuracy -this book describes shipwrecks, hurricanes, mutinies, hostile natives, and feuding imperial navies on the high seas. So while most folks enjoy the day off, give some thoughts to the great explorer whose legacy is a 3-day weekend in October. The Last Voyage of Columbus: Being the Epic Tale of the Great Captain’s Fourth Expedition, Including Accounts of Mutiny, Shipwreck, and Discovery by [...]
The Press: Taliban's Air Defense
How do you stop America’s complete ownership of Afghan air space? Shoot down US air support with psyop! Sayeth Air Force MG Charles Dunlap: The Taliban are keenly aware that if they can cause enough casualties or, ideally, take American or NATO prisoners as they swarm over the often sparsely manned positions, they will achieve a tremendous victory on the battlefield of public opinion. What is frustrating them? Modern U.S. and coalition airpower. Relentless aerial surveillance and highly precise bombing turn Taliban efforts to overrun the detachments into crushing defeats. And the Taliban have virtually no weapons to stop our [...]
