I save a lot of stories in tabs on my browser that I plan on blogging on later and then, well, they become overcome by events. So I thought I’d start throwing a few of them up here with a short blurb so readers can discuss them, hit the link and read about them in depth or, if they prefer, just flat ignore them: Harvard to allow ROTC back on campus: The Reserve Officer Training Corps' four-decade exile from Harvard University campus ends Friday with an agreement that was spurred by a congressional vote allowing gays to serve openly in the military. Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus are scheduled to sign an agreement Friday that will establish the Naval ROTC's formal presence on campus for the first time since the Vietnam War era, the university announced Thursday. Headline I’d prefer: “ROTC says “screw you” Harvard – you punished us for 40 year for something Congress did.” Russia to spend $650 billion on upgrading military: Russia will spend $650 billion to equip its dilapidated military with 600 new warplanes, 100 ships and 1,000 helicopters by 2020, Defense Ministry officials were quoted as saying Thursday. The ambitious weapons procurement program also envisages eight new nuclear submarines and two Mistral aircraft carriers in addition to the two that Russia is buying from France, Russian news agencies quoted First Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin as saying. […] Chief among the aviation procurements are the modern Su-34 and Su-35 fighters and Mi-26 transport helicopter and Mi-8 gunship helicopter, Popovkin said. Navy orders include 20 submarines, of which eight are to be armed with the Bulava nuclear missile -- which has experienced years of glitch-stricken tests -- 35 corvettes and 15 frigates, Popovkin said. The Mistral, which could carry up to 16 helicopters and dozens of armored vehicles, would allow Russia to land hundreds of troops quickly on foreign soil. Popovkin said Russia would build two Mistrals domestically on top of the two it had ordered from France. The carriers will all feature Russian-only weaponry, he said. Several hundred modern mobile S-400 and S-500 air defense missile systems also are on order. But hey, remember, Sec. of Def. Gates told the cadets at West Point that the probability of a high-intensity war anytime soon just isn’t very likely. Oh, and remember, Russia is our friend. Speaking of friends, China is increasing its military spending by 12.7%. But don’t worry: China’s military spending will rise 12.7 percent in 2011 to about $91.5 billion, a parliamentary spokesman said on Friday, resuming a long string of double-digit annual increases after an unexpected slowdown in 2010. The resumption of rapid growth follows a year in which China’s neighbors have expressed concern about the military’s increasingly muscular behavior in waters off its Pacific coast and along the tense border with India. But the spokesman, Li Zhaoxing, repeated China’s longstanding position that the military is a defensive force and “will not pose a threat to any country.” That’s right … because the Chinese don’t regard Taiwan as another “country”. Pirates? Not really. An evolution has apparently taken place and we’re fighting (ok, playing footsie) with well financed organized criminal gangs who’ve moved in and taken over the enterprise: Pirates once were believed to be disgruntled and financially motivated Somali fishermen angry that international trawlers were illegally fishing Somalia's waters. Now criminal gangs dominate the piracy trade, and have begun systematically torturing hostages, including locking them in freezers. "What we're seeing is that because of the business model the pirates have adopted is so lucrative that you're now getting organized criminal gangs involved as opposed to fishermen who just decided to have a go at piracy," said Wing Commander Paddy O'Kennedy, spokesman for the European Union's anti-piracy force. "Criminal gangs are more violent than your average fisherman who's turned to piracy," O'Kennedy said. They now hold 30 ships and over 600 hostages. And after the recent American yacht incident, per one of their spokesmen, they’ve said they will order the captains of hijacked ships to tell navies not to approach them or the hostages will be killed. Meanwhile we’re still dithering over the legal ramifications of what to do with the 15 responsible for killing the 4 Americans on the yacht. Meanwhile in Germany: German authorities are pursuing substantial evidence that the perpetrator of Wednesday's attack at Frankfurt Airport, which killed two American airmen, had links with Islamist groups in Germany. There is concern that additional attacks may be in the works. Yah think? Until next time.
Read the complete post at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Blackfive/~3/AjW-elzuSX0/wandering-through-the-inter-tubes.html
Posted
Mar 04 2011, 02:58 AM
by
BLACKFIVE