Agiel

Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/11/the-kabul-ki-dance/302610/

It does seem totally insipid to the core that Netanyahu is exploiting this opportunity to be condescending towards its greatest political and military patron just for the sake of votes, all of it made worse by the fact that the information given to him by Mossad, among the world's most terrifyingly effective foreign intelligence groups, flies in the face of everything Nethanyahu has been saying about Iran's nuclear program, and that's before we even talk about the delivery platform. Back in the Iran-Iraq War and the Second Gulf War, Iraq had to stretch the technical limits of his modified Scud missiles to hit targets in Tehran and Israel, but the result was a missile that had a CEP that could be measured in counties and only capable of carrying an extremely modest payload. Nuclear warhead and associated triggering mechanisms or chemical payload with associated proximity fuse? Hogwash. So it's unlikely any foreseeable Iranian missile could ever have any meaningful strategic effect on Israel before an Aegis BMD destroyer off Israel's coast, THAAD (the US Army-manned complex in the Negev Desert is the only foreign military presence in Israel), or Israel's own Patriot missiles ever had the chance to swat them out of the sky. Israel, like most foreign policy, tends to be one of those things that transcend political boundaries in the US. For instance, George H. W. Bush had threatened to withhold loans to Israel unless serious effort on he part of Israel was made towards rapprochement to the PLO and curtailing settlements, a policy that was reversed once Bill Clinton took office. It would seem that Obama isn't going to let this black-eye affect his current dealings with Iran, but what I fear is what Israel will demand in return: Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/01/warming-to-iran/383512/ I absolutely *DO NOT* object to the latter two, especially as it pertains to actual existential threats to Israel, but if it undermines the first, then forget it.

Do they usually wander around at sea with no escort ? At risk of getting all of this moved to the Modern Wars thread: Since the Russian Navy only has the one aircraft carrier (and calling it a big deck carrier is a bit... generous) and there are very, very few countries willing to host Russian air defence fighters on their territory, it usually does whenever its traversing open ocean.

For those who want to head into the "Danger Zone", F-14A/B/A+ is on its way to Digital Combat Simulator: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=140017

I've heard naval aviators lovingly call oversized surface combatants like the Kirov-class battlecruisers "Navy Crosses waiting to happen".

World War II IJN Battleship "Musashi" found. I think we know the next logical step:

I get the feeling. In the run-up to its release there was a lot of hoopla raised about the individual modules on capital ships, as well as the fact that the Mothership was upgradeable with new armament and such throughout the campaign (to say nothing of the hugely ambitious new direction Relic had initially planned for the sequel, which involved bases and defenses being built on the huge derelict space debris you saw in the skyboxes). The former was rather underwhelming and the latter seemed to have been cut. Nonetheless, though I can't say it was the revelatory experience the first Homeworld was (it still boggles the mind how a rookie studio had so thoroughly knocked it out of the park), I immensely enjoyed it and I hope Gearbox takes the feedback to heart and really makes this remaster shine (as well as the Homeworld 2: Complex guys).

Reminds me of the "Your World" Kickstarter that was around a while back. Maybe we all should pitch in $1. That way if it ends up getting funded we can get in on a good 'ol class-action lawsuit against the guy.

The toy I dreamed of getting as a kid (I eventually had to settle with the regular action figure that had limbs that articulated very poorly, and the skin browned with time).

Some tweets I've found in some defence watcher circles:

What can I say? The fun for me starts at 500 knots and 9 Gs

Honestly how into this I will get will be entirely dependent if it takes off with my friends since my life barely has room for one and a half F2P games as it is without me spending obscene amounts of cash, which I've largely been able to avoid ("obscene amounts of cash" being defined by any more than what I paid for a 3-month subscription period for an MMO of yore in that same time period). Hell, I already put down a season's gaming allowance on this as it is.

Fascinating piece you might be interested in from Pavel Podvig, perhaps one of the great Jedi Masters of strategic arms and strategy, in light of the recent "Bear Runs" into Europe:

Apparently Gearbox brought over the ridiculous dynamic difficulty of Homeworld 2 (one of the biggest gripes of the game; it would in some missions pit your maximum of two battlecruisers against the AI's 10!) to Homeworld 1. Hoping that that gets remedied in due course before I go too deep into Homeworld 1. It would also appear for some mystical reason that Gearbox hasn't put in the "auto-gather" remaining resources on map upon completion of all mission objectives into Homeworld 1 Remastered. Also somewhat disappointed there wasn't an option for the voice acting of Jennifer Graveness for Karan in Homeworld 2 (it was apparently entirely redone by Heidi Ernst; though I liked the work both had done for the character, options would have been nice).

It occurred to me that the tutorial used for Homeworld 1 Remastered is the one from Homeworld 2, which may lead to some confusion to new players or for those whose memory fails them. Homeworld 1 Remastered has strike craft controllable as individual units rather than wings and that they had limited fuel. Some players may be in for a rude surprise when they're sending an Alpha Strike package at a distant enemy fleet formation, only for it to turn back at the last moment to replenish.

Playing Homeworld: Remastered right now. The original is easily my favourite game of all time (if not necessarily my top strategy game; that goes to another Relic joint, Company of Heroes). Gearbox has done a great job improving the look of a game (of which the original still holds up reasonably well), though I'm somewhat disappointed in them not bringing in the squad system for strike craft that was in Homeworld 2.

I'm more partial to the "Love and Krieg" stories, to be honest.

Sort of why the A2/AD dilemma and the "AirSea Battle" concept has taken primacy in today's military: http://youtu.be/5Pu_PKpEhqU I don't think the US should have them either, for both moral and practical reasons (practical ones being that nuclear weapons are sure destructive, but everything they do *is* destructive, and by that very nature are extremely inflexible weapons). General Chuck Horner, lead planner of Operation Desert Storm agrees:

Mesa encourages you to be 'Murkin'. Couldn't resist with a cowgirl-themed suit.

For the second book, my cat definitely thinks it's the latter. If I leave a room he's in I have to have either a spray bottle with water or a rolled up newspaper to ward him away from attacking my leg.

I keep visiting the DA: I Nexus in the hope that someone finally made something worthwhile. So far the only thing that seems to be worth downloading amongst the sheer amount of "PJ retexture" mods is a cheatengine app that helps eliminate the RNG of getting armour blueprints.

I suspect Hollande hopes the recent truce gives him the excuse to complete the Mistral-carrier delivery, even if it doesn't hold. A Russian military watcher (meaning, someone who is both actually Russian and is an enthusiast of military affairs) confided in me he half hoped the Russian navy never got the Mistral. Reasons being two-fold: 1. Lack of BVR-capable, fixed wing complement means against a peer or near-peer adversary makes it, what US naval aviators like to call "a Navy Cross waiting to happen". 2. The Russian Navy had plans of constructing their own license built versions of the vessel upon delivery. If the Mistral never comes, then the funds and rather limited dry-dock space would (hopefully) go towards the proposed "Leader-class" destroyers, which would be among the first surface combatants of that tonnage to be produced since the Cold War and would actually be useful against the aforementioned peer or near-pear adversary.

I think it best not to argue with the man with General Buck Turgidson as his avatar