85 Islamic courts dispensing 'justice' across the UK.

Thanks to William for the link!

via Daily Mail.

Written by Machteld Zee, a Dutch academic, the controversial, 200-page Choosing Sharia carries a detailed description of events that Zee claims took place over three days in 2013, when she was allowed to observe goings-on in two of Britain’s busiest Sharia courts, or councils.
Around 85 such tribunals, usually attached to mosques, are believed to operate in the UK, according to research by the think-tank Civitas.
They are designed to help religious Muslims settle financial, family and marital disputes according to the principles of their faith, as laid down in the 7th century.
To supporters, including many on the Left, such courts provide a unique and valuable service to the Muslim community by helping its members stay true to Sharia law, a legal system derived from the Koran and the rulings of Islamic scholars, known as fatwas.
In keeping with the principles of multiculturalism, critics of Sharia courts therefore almost invariably find themselves accused of Islamophobia.

Looks like all the tinfoil hat people were right.  Assimilation always happens.  Whether its new arrivals adopting the customs and culture of the country they move to...or the new arrivals forcing their customs and culture upon those that were there first.

If you're not alarmed by this story ..... You should be.

Side note:  To all my Brit readers.  Don't make excuses.  Don't try and rationalize this away.  This is filthy and disgusting.  Sorry for being a traditionalist but even if you have some bat shit crazy females that are trying to get women into the infantry, I still don't think you have a right to hit a woman.  Walk away, hell run, but don't put your hands on a girl! This is incompatible with decency!  Striking a woman and its ok?  Polygamy?  And only God himself knows what else!  This is not normal folks, and I would hope that it wouldn't be allowed in the British legal system....oh wait...these courts are part of your system aren't they (whether you admit it or not, they're presiding over residents of your nation which means they're sanctioned).

Turkish Main Battle Tank Altay (vid)

Many thanks to Mustafa for the link!



Wow.  This might turn out to be a very nice tank.

Defence Technology Review/Dec 2015 Edition - highlights include the General Dynamics LAV 6.0

Read it here.

The big surprise in this issue?  General Dynamics and the LAV 6.0.  I totally misread where they were going with this vehicle.  Not only is it a major upgrade for the Canadians but its being shopped as the flagship vehicle for the company. To my eyes it looks like a blending of the LAV High Tech Demonstrator with an Up Armored, double hulled legacy LAV III/Stryker.

Now they're taking that same vehicle and tailoring it to Australian requirements. 



I wonder why General Dynamics didn't take this same ride and make it float for the USMC Amphibious Combat Vehicle contest?

Assad's brother on MSNBC Morning Joe...quick & dirty rundown...

I might not have this right, but I was listening to Assad's brother on MSNBC's Morning Joe talk show (ya gotta get intel on the enemy...oh and trust me...if you're a gun guy you better take a valium, they'll have you punching walls!) and he basically confirmed what alot of people are saying here.

He talked about Syria being one of the most diverse states in the Middle East and that Christians, Muslims and other faiths lived and worked together in peace before the Arab Spring.

Additionally he said that there is no hope for a real peace.  He blamed the US administration for brokering a ceasefire, but excluding the Kurds (that explains the rebels getting bused out of Homs)...he talked about how the Turks shot down a Russian plane and now they have S-400 missiles, more fighters and subs launching missiles.

In short he said that the best that could be hoped for is a lull in fighting, but that his brother would remain in power.

You guys are gonna hate me, but I could EASILY live with that.  Let's get with Russia, and bomb ISIS back to the stone age.  Set up a joint no-fly zone over Kurdish territory in concert with the Russians/Syria, and somehow figure out what we're gonna do with a misbehaving Iraq and a resurgent Iran.

No boots on the ground needed.  The "rebels" fighting Assad would be left on a short limb (being actual and factual...I don't trust those guys and believe we're on their to do list) and the Russians/Syrians can deal with them how they see fit.  We can destroy  ISIS in a couple of months with airpower alone.  They're a division sized force operating in the open desert.  For some reason, we don't want to.

Saudi Arabia is getting smashed in Yemen...what do we call an insurgent force that uses ballistic missiles?

Thanks to Eric @ Eric Palmer Blog!

via Press TV

Yemeni forces have managed to kill over 80 Saudi-led troops, including 42 Blackwater mercenaries, in a ballistic missile attack in the western Bab-el-Mandeb area.
The Yemeni army, backed by popular committees loyal to the Houthi Ansarullah movement, targeted a Saudi military headquarters in the Yemen’s southwestern province of Ta’izz with a Tochka ballistic missile on Sunday night, Yemen's Arabic-language al-Masirah news website reported.
Twenty-three Saudi, nine Emirati, and seven Moroccan forces, including a number of commanders, were also killed in the attack. Other reports said the attack left nearly 150 casualties among the Saudi-led forces.
The surface-to-surface missile also destroyed two Patriot missile systems, three Apache helicopters, more than 50 military vehicles, all belonging to the US Blackwater Worldwide security services company. The report added that two Saudi warships were damaged while fleeing the incoming Katyusha rockets that were fired spontaneously due to the missile impact.
Elsewhere, a Yemeni ballistic missile, named Qaher 1, hit a regional airport in the Saudi region of Jizan. There were no immediate reports of possible casualties and the extent of damage inflicted.
Meanwhile, a Yemeni army spokesman said the forces killed some 20 Sudanese mercenaries in an attack on Yemen’s southwestern province of Lahij.
Yemenis carry out these attacks in retaliation for Saudi strikes, launched with the aim of undermining Houthi Ansarullah movement and bringing back to power the country’s fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.

The headline is that 80 Saudi troops including 42 mercenaries were killed....they're missing the bigger issue.   Insurgents, rebels, whatever you want to call them are lobbing ballistic missiles like float riders in a Mardi Gras parade tossing beads.

This is new (at least to me...I don't recall rebel forces being this well equipped/powerful).  We're seeing insurgents stand up to nation state military forces and winning.

Company Landing Teams dropping into this type of combat is craziness.  Even a MEU would be hard pressed.  Take it a step further though.  How would even the 82nd Airborne if fully deployed deal with a foe having this type of firepower?

All of the assumptions being made to deal with a more volatile world are inadequate.

Forward based troops to prevent events from spiraling?  Bogus.  If that was the case then the Middle East should be calm and Africa wouldn't be about to implode.  Looking at the Pacific, with the array of forces we have there, China should be contained...the reality is they're anything but.

Its time to get a handle on concepts/policy.  Put the Combatant Commanders back in a cage (the idea that they can request forces and disrupt rotation/dwell time is stupid in a handbag...they're tasking our units to exhaustion).  Lastly we need to reconstitute our Rapid Deployment Force packages.  The world has gone from messy, to dangerous and is now chaotic.

Independence Day: Resurgence | Official Trailer

The RIP Raccoon in Toronto, Canada...

Note:  I don't quite know what to make of this.  A dead critter in a city gets a memorial?  I'm almost hoping this is tongue in cheek but I really get the impression that some are really serious about this!

The most insane ad I've ever seen...Squatty Potty?

I dare you to go buy some soft serve now!

MV-22 on HMS Ocean arriving in HM Naval Base, Gibraltor.

Thanks to Robert for the link!

The MV-22 just doesn't fit...Jackie Childs understands what I'm sayin'!  Don't get your panties into a twist...its a joke, maybe not a good one but I thought it was funny.

Russians fire warning shots at Turk fishing boat...

via Newser.com

NEWSER) – A Russian destroyer fired warning shots at a Turkish fishing boat Sunday in the latest tensions between the two nations, reports Reuters. Russia's Defense Ministry says its warship, the Smetlivy, was just trying to avoid a collision with the unnamed vessel after repeated attempts to warn it over the radio and with what the AP calls "visual signals and flares" failed; the fishing boat changed course quickly after the Smetlivy opened fire, but the two ships came within about 600 yards of each other. Moscow has summoned the Turkish military attache in the incident, which took place in the Aegean Sea, about 14 miles off the Greek island of Lemnos, notes Sky News.

I just don't know anymore.

It seems like a little hard work, a little good faith and a little compromise could clear up all the nonsense regarding the fight against ISIS, the Turks acting stupidly and the made up refugee crisis.

But no one seems to actually want to solve this problem.  Everyone is playing an angle.

No more handwringing at SNAFU! over the slow motion disaster that is the Middle East.  It's morbid but the only thing we can do is watch in awe....we're in awe of the stupidity and gamesmanship that's going on.  The wannabe "masters of the universe" and the "smartest guys in the room" are anything but.