Russia has evidently opted to proceed with sales of the SS-NX-26/Yakhont ASCM to the Syrians. The intent was voiced by Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov over the weekend. “The contract,” he told journalists in Vladivostok, “is in progress.” The minister added his country was also bent on carrying through on promises to deliver several Bastion…
perâ‹…specâ‹…tive (per-spek-tiv)-noun: A technique of depicting volumes and spatial relationships on a flat surface. The state of one’s ideas, the facts known to one, etc., in having a meaningful interrelationship; the faculty of seeing all the relevant data in a meaningful relationship. Perspective requires context. These days we see and hear a great deal about…
It began in 2001. Crude, homemade and unguided. Indiscriminate as to objective or target – not meant to do anything but inspire terror. It has a name – صاروخ القسام‎ á¹¢ÄrÅ«kh al-QassÄm; Comprised of a  simple steel rocket filled with explosives, powered by a homebrew mixture of sugar and potassium nitrate (fertilizer) with warheads made…
The term tipping point describes a point at which a slow gradual change becomes irreversible and then proceeds with gathering pace. It is derived from the metaphor of a rigid solid object being tilted to a point where it begins to topple. Couple of observations from the region… Iran to launch 1st domestic satellite soon…
“War Is The Unfolding of Miscalculations” That quote, attributed to author Barbara Tuchman, is generally ascribed to the events that ran up to the First World War. However, it, along with other illuminating principles such as the Rule of Unintended Consequences find a wider, and sadly, more common range of applications including those events presently…
(h/t ArmsControlWonk) —– —– In a curious action, the 1974 National Intelligence Assessment on foreign nation’s nuclear arms development programs was released by the Bush Administration on the eve of his trip to Israel and the Gulf States. The NIA contains some rather stunning wording – in prticular, the assessment by CIA that: We believe…
Unlike most sales, arms sales have a wider impact beyond the primary parties (buyer/seller) and indeed, the recent announcement of the long sought sale of an improved S300 system to Iran by Russia has a wider circle of interested parties and corresponding impact beyond those two. First, though, we begin with the buyer. Iran – Filling…
(Picture from globalaircraft.org) Reports at the Paris Airshow this week that something was afoot between Russia and Syria over sales of MiG-31’s (and thereby updating Syria’s aging fleet of MiG-25’s) has generated a certain amount of heat over allegations that Iran is secretly funding the deal. More below the fold:
History – IAF in Lebanon War (1982)…Here’s one from the historical archives during the last dust-up in the region. For fellow Hawkeyes, what primary rule do you see the IAF crew violating?-SJS
Writing in today’s Washington Post, Charles Krauthammer posits: There is crisis and there is opportunity. Amid the general wringing of hands over the seemingly endless and escalating Israel-Hezbollah fighting, everyone asks: Where will it end? The answer, blindingly clear, begins with understanding that this crisis represents a rare, perhaps irreproducible, opportunity. The opportunity? Well, the…
