I Wish, I Really Do ...

... that Roger and David with Nick could do the same--I know it is impossible. But Deep Purple did. 

John Lord was smiling down from heaven. The only young kid there is Pacey--he is merely 78 years old)) Seeing Ian and Ritchie hugging and Ian's "I see you in the bar"--gratifying beyond description. Never thought I would see Deep Purple's legendary lineup in 2026. Paicey? I am tired listening to praises of Bonham--Paicey is 78 years young and his drumming ... boy!

She Is The First ...

 ... serial. A flag-ship for Aeroflot where she is going.  

Some people may not even grasp the scale of accomplishment, but it is massive--from engines, to electronics, to avionics, to materials, all of it is domestic, all Russian-made. 18 new ships are coming. 

Meanwhile ...

Yep. "Russian cannot fly formation"(c)

Yes, Putin Will ...

 ... "follow through", you bunch of media cretins and whores. 

Nima and Me ...

 ... live at noon PDT.

Total Eclipse ...

 ... of the sun today was seen not only in Europe and Asia. That's not true, Americans have been able to observe it also. 

Very impressive) 

Not Again!

Please. This constant reference to the Gulf War 1.0 is nauseating. It is Al Bandy's four touchdowns in the game for his Polk High school. 

It is not just strategy, however important it is, it is a combination of many factors, including foundational ones, the cultural DNA of the US confabulated military history turned into mythology based primarily on a very cautious choice of weak enemies. Here is a reminder from Atkinson about US major hero, who was nothing more than an average army commander. 

The creeping arrogance, the hubris, which would cost the American Army so dearly in Vietnam. Summing up the achievements of his troops in crushing the German counterattack of December 1944, Patton with pardonable pride claims to have “moved farther and faster and engaged more divisions in less time than any other army in the history of the United States—possibly in the history of the world... No country can stand against such an Army.” These memoirs are valuable not least in showing, however unwittingly, that a disastrous presumption of invincibility took root in the ranks of officers who led the American military after World War II. 

Nothing changed since then, period. In fact, things got worse, much worse. Especially in educational level of the US officer corps and very low level of operational planning and execution. The problem is manifold and it is vertical in nature--from lowest tactical level way up to the political top and, in the end, technological obsolescence of the US military, especially when compared to Russia. But Mearsheimer knows very little about it. 

Here Is Commander Of ...

... Russia's Pacific Fleet, Victor Liina (Estonian, BTW) reports to Supreme Commander, President Vladimir Putin (in Russian) that ...

... Pacific Fleet is ready to start raiding commercial marine traffic of unfriendly states in the Pacific. And who are those unfriendly states? Right. We all know who they are. Do barely afloat Royal Navy or Marine Nationale, not to speak of other Eurochihuahuas, want to meet Russian Navy on the high seas, not to speak about littorals of many countries which are constantly monitored by all kinds of ISR means. E.g. Liana. Russia didn't start it, she is finishing it. Just to explain--a single pr. 885M (Yasen-M) SSGN can sink all of surface fleet of Marine Nationale, including its only aircraft carrier, in a single go. Of course Russian Pacific Fleet has about 8 active nuclear attack subs--all carriers of such things as Kalibrs, Zircons and Onyxes. Plus another 6 (six) pr. 636 SSKs, also Kalibr carriers, and another older Kilo-class SSK. I omit here, of course, five state-of-the-art strategic missile subs, but they are not part of this equation. Calculations are very simple here--and I didn't even mention Pacific Fleet's surface component. 

Marshal Shaposhnikov or ...

These are 3M22 Zircon carriers. So, you get my drift, right? Let the hunt begin. The green light was given.