Ukrainian Rebel Leader calls for cease fire?!

Thanks for the link Joe.

What tank is this?  If I didn't know better I'd think it was an IS3!

via Yahoo

"We're afraid of the Ukrainian army, which is firing on the city, and of the rebels of the Donetsk People's Republic, who are robbing and killing civilians," said Dmitry Andronov, a 47-year-old resident.
Zakharchenko's statement that the city was surrounded came hours after the rebels' top commander said Ukrainian forces had seized a key town, Krasnyi Luch, effectively cutting Donetsk and nearby territory off from the rest of the rebel-held east.

Read the entire story by following the link.

Israel attacks Hamas locations in Gaza and the UN yells war crimes from the roof tops, the US SecState says that its intolerable, and moralist in Europe talk about the humanitarian crisis.

Meanwhile....in Europe the Ukrainian govt is shelling a city, cutting off its inhabitants and no one says a thing.  

This is far from over.  Remember the R2P doctrine?  The Ukrainian govt can legally be called into question for shelling civilians AND starving a city.

I hope they aren't celebrating in Kiev.  They've given the Russians the perfect, legal excuse to send an armored column with food and water to rescue the inhabitants of that city.

Poland launches "Operation Raven" in response to Ukrainian crisis...

Major thanks to Jonathan for the link.

via Defense Aerospace.

The Polish Defence ministry has said that it is considering bids from 10 manufacturers of modern combat-ready helicopters, in an accelerated procedure after the outbreak of civil war in eastern Ukraine.
Although not naming the companies, the Defence ministry has said in a statement that the bidding process involves “foreign and domestic companies offering both ready-made helicopters and components for assembly”.
The ministry's 'Operation Raven' is aimed at replacing Poland's ageing Mi-24 fleet of helicopters.
American-made Apache AH-64E aircraft, the European Eurocopter / Airbus Tiger helicopter or the British-Italian Agusta AW129 Mongoose are thought to be among the top runners in the bidding process.

I've always been a fan of the AW129 and wondered why it doesn't get more orders.  Having said that they will buy AH-64Es...no amount of European bribery will change that. 

F/A-18 strike against ISIS targets (video)

ARABIAN GULF (Aug. 8, 2014) Two U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets assigned to Carrier Air Wing 8 embarked on USS George H. W. Bush (CVN 77) struck Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant targets near Erbil, Iraq. The F/A-18s dropped 500 pound laser-guided bombs against ISIL artillery targets. Bush is operating in the Arabian Gulf on a scheduled deployment to U.S. 5th Fleet. The president has authorized U.S. Central Command to conduct military operations in support of humanitarian aid deliveries and targeted airstrikes in Iraq to protect U.S. personnel and interests, in response to activities conducted by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorists.(U.S. Navy video/Released)

NOTE:  Do you see those secondary explosions?  This truck must have been filled with ammo!  

Three proposed uniform changes

Read about it here...

The last time the Marine Corps did one of these surveys, it was about whether or not to stop rolling sleeves.  Marines wanted to continue rolling sleeves, Amos said no--we're going Army---and it took 3 years for the decision to finally reflect Marine Corps tradition.

One thing that has me curious.  Why are uniforms designed to provide concealment suddenly turned into a seasonal item?  If you're stationed at 29 Palms does it ever make sense to wear tropical camo?  If you're in Okinawa during the Summer does it make sense to wear desert?

It has begun. The US is launching airstrikes at ISIS.

Read the story here.

My take?  This won't improve his standing with the American people.  Ask yourself a basic political question.  Do they believe that seeing US forces in combat will instill a rally around the flag moment?

You bet your ass they do!  The problem?  The American people are tired of the issues in the Middle East, Africa and now Europe.  They definitely don't want to get dragged into another Tar Baby situation with the idiots that inhabit those lands.

No one is fooled.

These are civil wars and by definition are not our business.

This will end badly for Obama.  Once again he has miscalculated.

You want to fight ISIS in Iraq?

American foreign policy is on crack.

Why do I say that?

Simple.  Look at the map above.  The red area is the land that ISIS now controls.  We stood by and watched while this group spread like cancer through the region and now...when they trap and threaten to kill an obscure people that I've never heard of...now they decide that its time to act?

Way too little.  Much too late.

Lets have some plain talk.  The Middle East is experiencing a regional war that has hybrid aspects.  The administration has been paralyzed by analysis and when they finally decide to act they chose badly.

Sometimes you have to let a fire burn itself out...attempts at controlling it are futile and will only get firefighters killed or injured.  Its past time to let the Middle East burn.

The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) is the biggest threat to the US military.

Chaos is the default position of mankind.  If we head toward the sound of it everywhere we hear it then we will be too winded to fight when it really counts....

First this, via Wikipedia...

 The Responsibility to Protect (R2P or RtoP) is an emerging norm that sovereignty is not a right, but that states must protect their populations from mass atrocity crimes—namely genocide,crimes against humanity, war crimes and ethnic cleansing.^[1][2][3] 

Understand that your current Ambassador to the UN, and National Security Advisor are both proponents of R2P.

Now check out this news, via the Wall Street Journal...

President Barack Obama authorized targeted airstrikes and emergency assistance missions in northern Iraq, saying Thursday the U.S. must act to protect American personnel and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in the face of advances by violent Islamist militants.

Excuse me but the world has been, is and apparently always will be chaotic with people being threatened, killed, raped, tortured and displaced....with states not acting to protect their populations.

Why act to protect an obscure people but ignoring the slaughter of Christians in the same land?

Why the lie about protecting US personnel?

Why the rush to involve ourselves in another tribal conflict between warring religious factions?

Once again American blood and treasure is being used up in a fruitless conflict with poorly defined goals, to save people that quite honestly just aren't worth the effort.  It is past time to take the training wheels off the entire world and to tell them that we have our own problems.  Help yourselves or die.

The R2P concept is tailor made for continuous war...its PNAC just dressed up and refined to appeal to progressives.

Blast from the past. US Marine Tanks, Guadalcanal, circa 1942

"Grinding through the sands of Guadalcanal, U.S. Marine tanks rumble through palm trees toward the front lines to assist ground forces turn back counter-attacking Japanese."

From the collection of Clifton B. Cates (COLL/3157), United States Marine Corps Archives & Special Collections

OFFICIAL USMC PHOTOGRAPH

IDF's Nahal Brigade in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge (pics).

Exercise Pitch Black 2014 Pics.

Thanks to Kristoffer General for the pics and the Pitch Black vid!

Note:  I still wonder why we're not seeing fully integrated exercises in Australia.  I'm talking USMC, US Army, USAF, USN, Australian Army, RAAF, RAN,Singapore AF, etc..

Exercise Pitch Black 2014 begins

Chinese Amphibious Mobile Assault Gun Vehicle water-ops.

All pics via ECNS.cn

This well deck look as narrow as the old LST's...

25nm minimum launch distance? Not according to the CNO!

Consider this a follow up to LtCol Hall's article.  Below is a tidbit from it that has me punching walls....

From the late 1980s through the expeditionary fighting vehicle’s cancellation in 2011, the Marine Corps sought to replace the AAV family of vehicles with a high water speed, self-deploying tracked amphibian capable of launching from 25 nautical miles (nm) over the horizon. This launch distance was established to protect amphibious ships from burgeoning enemy coastal defenses. This changed, however, in January 2011 during congressional testimony before the House Armed Services Committee when the Chief of Naval Operations declared that improvements in integrated naval fire support and ship defenses would facilitate the launch of self-deploying tracked amphibian vehicles from a distance as close as 12 nm.3 This “new” launch distance was reiterated in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Defense Appropriations in 2012.4

What exactly are we being sold by HQMC?  The CNO has laid the 25nm launch distance lie to waste.

Were we being steered to an aviation centric Marine Corps because of the bias of the Commandant instead of operational necessity?  

Ship-to-Objective Commuters The continuing search for an Amphibious vehicle capability. By LtCol H.F. Hall. MUST READ!

  Ship-to-Objective Commuters The continuing search for an Amphibious vehicle capability.  By LtCol Howard F....

US defense secretary: Growing threat that Russia will invade Ukraine

via Westernjournalism.com

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel recently said that he agreed with Poland’s foreign minister about a heightened risk of invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
To quote Hagel:I think it’s a reality, of course it is. When you see the build-up of Russian troops and the sophistication of those troops, the training of those troops, the heavy military equipment that’s being put along that border, of course it’s a reality, it’s a threat, it’s a possibility – absolutely.
Hagel went on to say that “the longer that Russia perpetuates and instigates this tension and the possibility of escalating their activity, it’s going to get worse. And we have to be prepared for that.”
Donald Tusk, the Prime Minister of Poland, had warned that “the threat of a direct intervention (by Russia into Ukraine) is certainly greater than it was even a few days ago. ”
On Wednesday, NATO warned that the number of “combat-ready” Russian troops near the Ukrainian border had gone from 12,000 to 20,000.

Absolutely awesome.

Pass the popcorn.  Italy just went back into recession, Germany is hurting because it does so much business with Russia and the sanctions are hurting them both....the rest of the EU/US are all teetering on the brink....and Ukraine is getting ready to hook and jab with the Russian Bear.

American Mercenary believes that a global economy is here to stay. 

I believe its a house of cards waiting to fall.

Ukraine is probably the focal point for a great many people's futures....for better or worse.

Breaking! CDC has moved to a Level 1 alert.

The CDC (according to FoxNews) has moved to a Level 1 alert (their highest) and the news reader stated that the CDC calls this an "all hands on deck" moment.

Interesting isn't it?

More to come I'm sure.

Meanwhile in Australia....Crocs eat sharks...

via Daily Telegraph.au

NOTE:  I like the outdoors but Australia is 1000% fucked up!  I don't see how ELP can take it!  Crocs eat sharks, Dingoes eat babies, and spiders eat birds!

MARSOC is renamed Marine Raiders.

via MARSOC press release

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. -- During World War II, four Marine Raider battalions and two Raider regiments were formed and saw action in the Pacific Theater between 1942 and 1944. Formed to conduct amphibious raids and guerrilla operations behind enemy lines, the Raider battalions were the United States’ first special operations units.

The Raiders went on to participate in campaigns across the Pacific Ocean and earned more than 700 decorations, including seven Medals of Honor, before disbandment approximately two years later.
Though the units’ existence was short-lived, they left a lasting impression. The Marine Raider battalions were the inspiration for what would become modern day special operations.
But when U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command was established in 2003, the unit did not officially carry-on the moniker.

Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James F. Amos made official the title in a proclamation he released Wednesday, which calls for “the official continuation of our Corps’ special operations heritage from the Raiders of World War II to our modern day Marines.”
“United States Marines take great pride in our special operations and irregular warfare heritage…From this point forward, the Marines of MARSOC will be officially aligned with the Marine Raiders of World War II and are charged with maintaining the high standards and traditions that accompany such distinction,” as stated in the proclamation read during the unit’s change-of-command ceremony held at Stone Bay aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C.
While MARSOC is adopting the name Marine Raiders, the command’s official title will remain MARSOC. However, Major Subordinate Elements of the unit will reflag with the Raider name. For example, subordinate commands will reflag as Marine Raider Regiment, Marine Raider Support Group, Marine Raider battalions, etc.

Window dressing.

Legacy building.

It means nothing.  What you should know is that the WW2 veterans of the Marine Raiders offered up the idea that MARSOC should and could use the name but HQMC refused.

Now this.  I'm unimpressed.

Note:  Doubt me on the fact that Amos initially refused to allow MARSOC to use the name Raiders?  Check out these articles here, and here.

IDF claims victory. But is it?

via Jerusalemonline..

Uri Shechter, deputy Nahal brigade commander on reserve duty, wrote an open letter to his soldiers at the end of Operation Protective Edge. "This is what victory looks like", Shechter wrote. "It is a positive thing that the soldiers and commanders sense that they could’ve gone further, or else we would be in a problem. Not everyone who writes a fiery Facebook post understands that".
Uri Shechter, deputy Nahal brigade commander on reserve duty, wrote an open letter to his soldiers explaining why Israel is the one that gained absolute victory in Operation Protective Edge. "It is important for me to say to the entire nation of Israel that we have won big time", Shecter wrote. "Hamas is squashed, the most it can do is take its head out of the pit in which it is hiding for one second and mark a V with its hand, until it gets the missile".
In opposition to other soldiers who have expressed frustration from the fact that IDF withdrew from Gaza, Shechter defended the decision. "Some of the soldiers and commanders feel as we haven’t completed the mission, and they would like to kill more and more terrorists", Shechter explained. "This is how soldiers and commanders should always feel; it is excellent that this is how they feel. If they had ended the operation feeling satisfied, it would’ve been a problem. I also don’t accept the words saying that IDF retreated.

I wonder.

Are we seeing continuous war in the modern age because civilian leaders don't have the moral courage to finish what they start?

Hamas is not crushed.

There will be another round to this fighting.

A bit about the Ebola cases...

I've been alarmed by the US govt allowing US citizens into the country with Ebola.  I wrote the CDC with these simple questions...

My readers suggest that the CDC was the authority that ordered that the two US citizens that contracted the disease be brought into the country. Is this true? Did you have to seek permission from the President? What are the safeguards in a worst case scenario situation? Is it true that upon death, people that have contracted the disease are incinerated?

Sharon Hoskins with CDC public relations wrote back and said this...

Hi Solomon: The State Department has oversight for evacuations (including medical) of U.S. citizens.

Plain talk.

That's bullshit on a biscuit.

I don't know why the mainstream media isn't attempting to run down the facts on this issue but I'm beginning to wonder what is exactly going on here.  The citizens of this country has a right to know the decision making process behind this issue of public safety.  I ask again.  Why isn't the mainstream media trying to get answers to these questions.