cm_kruger

The Daily Beast has published two interviews with a defector from ISIS. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/11/15/confessions-of-an-isis-spy.html http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/11/16/how-isis-picks-its-suicide-bombers.html

Bernard Fall in 1965: http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/navy/art5-w98.htm

Iran is gonna hit the Saudis hard economically once they bring their plants back on line. IIRC they've been indicating they're planning to hit pre-sanction production levels by 2017 or something to that effect.

ISIS is apparently using ponchos lined with aluminum foil to try and hide from the electric eyes. https://twitter.com/kovandire/status/666323990303137792

Well that's what I get for drinking before dinner. But I'd say that it's pretty untruthful/dumb to say that air superiority has no direct benefit to infantry when the army hasn't operated under contested skies since WWII, to the point of reducing medium/close range air defenses to Stinger missiles and hoping that the Air Force and Patriot batteries do their job.

Skip to 7 minutes for a army guy saying that air superiority has no tangible benefit.

As I see it, the "need" for light tanks is largely political, the 82nd and 101st (and CAV to some extent) want their own tanks that aren't controlled by the guys in real tanks, rather than any actual need for a light tank. I mean look at it realistically, "airmobile armor" for the US is deploying M1 Abrams units to a neighboring state via C-5 Galaxy. The idea that we're going to be dropping tanks out of C-130s is about as likely to happen as the Marines conducting a opposed amphibious landing. Otherwise (IMO) light tanks don't really offer anything over a IFV with the standard auto-cannon and missile combo. There are exceptions obviously, lower cost, terrain, and potential threats only having older/lighter equipment.

I seem to vaguely recall that the "Thunderbolt" version with a 120mm gun was the one they were testing with the hybrid-electric drive and the improved electronics.

Pierre Sprey logic: I made some music that was used in a Kanye West song. I am responsible for Kanye West's success.

Push it? You were the one who was posting the stuff first. Al-Masdar is interesting. Very pro-regime, almost no information on who runs/funds it or where they're operating from. Near as I can find it's run by the son of a Syrian blogger from Michigan who has called for attacks against US military ships deployed to the Mediterranean. Yes I'm sure you'll be able to vote out a regime lead by the guy who's father came to power via coups that installed a political party created by Arab nationalists cribbing from Germany in the 30s and 40s. I'm sure it'll be just like when the Kurds voted on independence in the 80s and 90s and totally weren't gassed by Saddam. Afghanistan? One seems to recall that Soviet involvement started when the "moderate communists" overthrew the secular government, killed anybody who didn't support them, and murdered the US ambassador. (Or the ambassador was murdered by the Soviet "advisers" commanding the rescue, if you're inclined to conspiracy theories.) For Libya, unless you're pushing the bizarre Trotskyist/neo-liberal story about about poor, innocent Gadaffi being a victim of western imperialism, you'd know the current civil war started last year after the western backed government tried to coup the Muslim Brotherhood. But the moderates in Syria? Most of them have been shot by Assad and ISIS by now. Congrats on that. Mass graves have been found near Sinjar. http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-iraq-sinjar-graves-20151115-story.html Apparently there's also a lot of arson going on, though it's unclear if they're collaborators getting dealt with, or if the Kurds are just burning houses to clear them of IEDs.

The photo appears to be from sometime in 2012. According to this article from 2011 a blackmarket FAMAS was only $3,700 in Lebanon. One needs to always take the "moderate islamists" stuff with a spoon of salt, as Assad needs to destroy any opposition so that the world is forced to pick between him and ISIS. Note how pro-regime and Russian media almost never refers to specific organizations, instead preferring "terrorists" or "Islamists". Or how the Syrian military has collaborated with ISIS against the rebels/Kurds.

Armored Commander is a roguelike based on the 1987 solo boardgame "Patton's Best" by Avalon Hill, where you played the crew of a M4 Sherman during the breakout from Normandy. http://www.armouredcommander.com/

Mohammed Emwazi aka Jihadi John (the guy from the beheading videos), was likely killed yesterday by a US drone strike in Syria. http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/nov/13/us-air-strike-targets-mohammed-emwazi-uk-terrorist-known-as-jihadi-john

Kurdish forces launched a big push on Sinjar today. So far they've apparently severed the highway from Syria to Mosul and have liberated half the city.

ICBM basing options (1980)