Archive for the ‘Defense’ Category

Posted on June 16, 2011 - by Venik

NATO Says It Won’t Attack Russia

You have to agree that it would look rather strange if you were to approach some random person on the street and tell him that you you will not punch him in the face. From time to time NATO leadership likes to reassure Russia of the Alliance’s friendly intentions. But in the past couple of [...]

Posted on February 3, 2011 - by Venik

Baltic Pirates – the Mystery Revealed

Some of you may still remember the strange hijacking on the Russian cargo vessel “Arctic Sea” in the Baltic in late July of 2009. The ship was boarded by masked men wearing police-like uniforms and armed with automatic weapons. The captain and the crew were forced to sail the ship to Africa. Inexplicably, the 4.4-ton [...]

Posted on December 1, 2010 - by Venik

NATO, Russia, and Romania

In the recent interview for Romania Libera, Basescu announced that Romania will absorb its poor neighbor Moldova within twenty five years. According to Basescu, this “reunification” is a done deal and would have happened earlier if it wasn’t for the interference from the evil Russians. Acquiring Moldova’s territories is a key aspect of the Greater Romania concept.

Posted on August 30, 2010 - by Venik

Global Moron Alert

Here’s my scientific study* on the density of morons in various almost randomly-selected countries. We deal with morons on a daily basis. Some of us would swear we are surrounded by morons. But how many morons are there? I decided to try to answer this question and arrived at some unexpected results. Wikipedia defines “moron” [...]

Posted on July 27, 2010 - by Venik

The Biggest Secret

While the US Army is revving up its investigation of Bradley Manning, those of us with a gift for diagonal reading are sure to be very busy for the next couple of weeks. However, I think it is safe to say that the Afghan war’s two biggest “secrets” have been sufficiently exposed. And they are [...]

Posted on May 29, 2010 - by Venik

Yak-130 Crashes in Russia

A Yak-130 advanced trainer jet crashed earlier today at the Lipetsk combat flight training center of the Russian AF. Both pilots ejected and were treated for minor injuries. There was no damage on the ground. The aircraft went out of control on takeoff during a routine training mission. This is first crash of an in-service [...]

Posted on February 18, 2010 - by Venik

Mistral for Russia

France’s decision to sell four Mistral-class helicopter carriers to Russia was met with heavy criticism in the US, Georgia and the Baltic States. Interestingly enough, Russia’s decision to buy the four vessels for more than $2 billion was met with a lot of criticism within Russia as well. This is really the first time in [...]

Posted on February 9, 2010 - by Venik

Sukhoi T-50 Production and Procurement Details

The PAKFA (Russian abbreviation for the Prospective Frontal Aviation Complex) fighter project is currently scheduled to enter production at the end of 2014. The single-seat model is expected to enter service with the Russian AF in 2015. The dual-seat model for the Indian AF is expected to enter service two years after that. The two-seater [...]

Posted on February 6, 2010 - by Venik

Sukhoi Stealth Fighter’s First Flight

As many of you already know, last week the Sukhoi T-50 stealth fighter prototype – Russia’s long-awaited answer to Lockheed-Martin’s F-22 – completed it’s maiden 47-minute flight from the manufacturer’s test airfield in the Russian Far East. The single-seat aircraft features low-observable geometry, two widely-separated engines with 3-D thrust-vectoring nozzles,  internal weapons bays, all-movable angled [...]

Posted on September 16, 2009 - by Venik

UN Finds Israeli War Crimes

The report by the UN fact finding mission on the Gaza conflict released on September 15 brings to light numerous war crimes committed by Tzahal against Palestinian civilians. A few quotes from the UN report: The mission concluded that actions amounting to war crimes and possibly, in some respects, crimes against humanity, were committed by [...]

Posted on August 9, 2009 - by Venik

Russians in Afghanistan

AP’s recent “Safety of Russian planes in Afghanistan questioned” by Catrina Stewart is exactly why female journalists should stick to writing about Gucci purses, chihuahuas, and SUVs. After some, no doubt, extensive research on the subject of military transport aviation, this broad came to the conclusion that the reason NATO keeps hiring Russian cargo aircraft [...]

Posted on July 15, 2009 - by Venik

Talking to Taliban

Coalition losses in Afghanistan continue mounting. Most casualties are sustained when troops are at their bases or on routine patrol missions. Recent reports suggest that the coalition is short on operational helicopters. Available fleets of attack helicopters and ground attack planes are stretched thin providing cover to supply convoys and ground patrols. The overall situation [...]

Posted on April 30, 2009 - by Venik

Photos: Second World War, Panzertruppen

A small gallery of German tank forces during the Second World War. Includes some rarely-seen color photos of Panzertruppen commanders. “The mainstay of the Panzerwaffe was the Panzer division. These consisted of a panzer brigade (two tank regiments) and two motorized or mechanized infantry regiments. All forces of a Panzer division were mobile. Support elements [...]

Posted on April 30, 2009 - by Venik

Photos: African-Americans in WWII

A small gallery of photos showing African-American soldiers during the Second World War. About 125,000 blacks served in US combat units overseas during the war. “Many soldiers of color served their country with distinction during World War II. There were 125,000 African Americans who were overseas in World War II. Famous segregated units, such as [...]