Agiel

The F-35 is still a very capable stealth BVR fighter, the big problem that remains is reining in the final flyaway cost so it has the export potential and "bang-for-your-buck" the F-16 had (the F-35 is supposed to be to the F-16 what the F/A-22 is to the F-15). When it does enter full production, it will move the 5th-generation fighter goalposts because virtually every non-NATO aligned air force still lacks a proper response to 4th generation jets with the AIM-120B/C AMRAAM.

Out of the blue I remembered this one FedEx commercial, then looked high and lo before finally finding it. Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rf6E72_6gY&feature=youtu.be

Soviet tanks were small, which did make them harder to hit and gave them good power to weight ratios. At the cost of that, the composite armour was generally inferior to NATO tanks (many pre-T-72B models and derivatives still use cast steel armour) and the turret elevation and depression was far more limited than their western counterparts, which made them even less suitable for both urban operations and fighting in a defensive hull-down position. Western tanks are also far less susceptible to catastrophic explosions and ammunition cook-offs, unlike the later Soviet tanks that used an auto-loader (hence the nickname given to T-72s, "Jack in the Boxes"), something that is also exhibited in that image you gave.

I don't know about the worst nurses. What I do know is that I'd let the ladies from the Bundeswehr's tank corps take care of me. Especially one who could load those sabot rounds into that 120mm Rheinmetall L55 gun like nothing. Reeeowww... mein frauleins.

"Looks like you watch Fox TV to much." Le Monde, Associated Press, and Reuters actually. Way more credible than Pravda.

Actually look up Operation Rimon 20. It was *Soviet* flyers in MiG-21s (in the 70s, still a very competitive fighter when the MiG-23 and MiG-25 had barely entered into service).

I do hope he goes full pelt mage so he can laugh his ass off when he has to jump through the hoops to hop onto a train (if he doesn't already know about it). And hopefully he doesn't get to a point where he can't use the train period before he manages to get the Teleport spell.

July 30, 1970, the War of Attrition - Operation Rimon 20: "Elite" Soviet pilots flying MiG-21s, then the backbone of Warsaw Pact air power are trounced by Israelis flying F-4E Phantom IIs and Mirage IIICs, losing five Fishbeds to no losses on the Israeli side. August 1996, the First Chechen War - Battle of Grozny: Advancing into the town without infantry support (as you have said before, tantamount to suicide in urban warfare), Russian armour gets slaughtered in the dozens by Chechen rebels, including several of what was then considered among the cream of the crop of Russian armour, the T-80BV. September 2004, Beslan, North Ossetia: In a show of, to put it mildly, disproportionate application of force in resolving a hostage crisis involving women and children, Russian armed forces resort to using tanks and thermobaric weapons to neutralise the hostage takers. Tragically (and rather predictably) 385 hostages lose their life and a further 783 are injured. Entebbe, Lufthansa Flight 181, and the Iranian Embassy in London this ain't. I can own up to the West's share of military blunders since the Cold War began (MacArthur's idiotic decision to push to the Yalu river despite ample warning from the PRC, LeMay's single-minded focus on strategic bombing which would stagnate Air Force doctrine until Chuck Horner and the AirLand Battle concept came into the picture). However, I won't stand for it if someone thinks his country's armed forces is above something as concrete as human fallibility.

It's relatively inaccurate to refer to North Korea as a communist state; the Juche philosophy coined by Kim Il Sung that has supplanted Communism as the country's leading ideology is as far from orthodox Marxism as can possibly be imagined, and the reality is that the current political state of country more closely resembles Korean-branded Nationalist Socialism (one of the lines fed to its populace to instill fear of "American aggression" is that black American troops stationed in South Korea are "liasoning" with their South Korean brethren and breeding "half-breed mongrels", even pregnant Korean women with their children sired by Chinese fathers are given abortions, if this isn't propagating the idea of a "master race", I don't know what does). Their current constitution at best has token references to Marx and Lenin and many won't hesitate to attribute their writings to the "Dear Leader" himself (who mind you, is still the President of North Korea despite being dead for almost two decades; as Christopher Hitchens said, a "thanotocracy, or a "necrocracy"). As for their economic state they also have themselves to blame. Juche, no matter what school of economic thought you abide by, is equivalent to economic suicide (remember the saying: "No man is an island"?). Rather hypocritically, they relied highly upon Soviet and Chinese investments during the Cold War, and with the collapse, those funds dried up and having built a dependency on their former allies their indigenously-built infrastructure was ill-prepared for the long agony of the nineties. As for their military, well, 25% of their GDP spent on defense doesn't count for much when the ROK's military budget alone is equivalent to the North's entire GDP.

Would like to see this. Here's what think of when I think of a melee capable mage: Eldar Farseer. Screenshot courtesy of Warhammer 40000 - Dawn of War II: Retribution.

The problem is that North Korea's conventional power is still enough for them to ostensibly hold the world economy hostage. While the KPA hasn't a hope or a prayer of pushing the combined forces of the US and the ROK back down to the Pusan perimeter like they did in '53 without Chinese help (the Chinese are more liable to oust Kim Jong-un themselves before letting that happen), the North Koreans have enough tube and rocket artillery pieces lined up on their side of the DMZ to devastate Seoul, one of the main economic hubs of the world. It's an attitude of "If we can't have it, no one can" which is downright reckless and monomaniacal, not to mention childish, that makes their antics worthy of more attention from the world.

My most memorable playthrough of of Arcanum was my third (the first was blind, the second trying to get the most optimal of outcomes with all the knowledge I had from beforehand) where I roleplayed as a haughty walking techbane elf pure mage who was quite racist, though not one from any genuine malice or spite but because of her upbringing (you know the type, the one that constantly defends him or herself saying: "Don't get me wrong. I've got plenty of orc friends and they're all very pleasant!"). Basically, Princess Clara from Drawn Together. Needless to say, she got herself in her fair share of scuffles due to that mouth of hers.

I have a family friend who used to be a trainer for Merkava tank crews before she moved to the US. Some days when my parents were too busy, they could sometimes count on her to pick me up from school. One day she was driving her son and I home when some news came on the radio about the Gaza pullout (it was 2005) and she asked me how I felt about it. Now I grew up in a family that was quite critical of Israel's policies (my grandmother lived during the Japanese occupation of China, so she sympathised with the Palestinians), but my parents also raised me with enough sense to be sensitive. So in response, I gave the usual hamfisted answer: "Well, I think it's kind of sad they the settlers have to leave their homes." Her answer to that surprised me: "Well they have to leave. That land doesn't belong to Israel." These days, I take comfort that lot of Israelis are as likely to criticise the policies of their government as the rest of the western world, and that there are people doing good work for "Breaking the Silence" and B'tselem.

Is it possible the maybe-Fallout: Lost Angels would be a prequel to New Vegas, maybe taking place in the interim between Fallout 1 and 2? From what I remember, the Boneyard should be pretty deep in NCR territory, so one would imagine that it wouldn't make as interesting of a setting as the Wild West of the Mojave (unless it involves mutated South Central gang-banger ghouls rising from the depths).

I find it absolutely fascinating that there is a Russian version of an American icon, "Married... with Children" which against all expectations for a sitcom adapted for a foreign market has been received fairly well. For those that do not know, I give you "Счастливы вместе," or, "Happy Together." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBSeHEndees

Betrayal at Krondor, which my uncle had managed to beat and gave to me during one of the times I visited him. I also have him to thank for introducing me to TIE Fighter, Jane's F-15, and Fallout 2 (the first one I played).

Tried out Dragon Age 2 and got super pissed off by the obviously rushed development and equally blatant console pandering that I looked to Steam and joy of joys, found NWN2 available. Even with the super clunky UI it was enough to keep me warm through a dearth of mechanically involving CRPGs.

Ah yes, I remember the days when I kept dropping hints to my parents about having Rogue Spear for Christmas, with my cousin doing the same with his. And I shall forever hold fond memories of Raven Shield. This past year the tech club at my university hosted a "LAN Party" and I was fortunate enough to find someone else there who happened to have SWAT 4 as well, though while I was content with the pepper-spray paintball gun, he was relatively trigger happy with the M4A1 loaded with FMJ rounds to the point that Darryl F. Gates would be proud.

Jane's USAF was a good midpoint between the low-medium fidelity survey sims (the estimable Fighter's Anthology) and the license's more intensive ones (the excellent F-15, F/A-18, and the Longbow series). I suppose its closest modern analogue would be the Strike Fighters 2 series and Flaming Cliffs 3 that plugs into DCS: World. Nowhere near as intensive as A-10C (no 50-step cold start procedure), but the flight model, radar fidelity, and missile behaviours are pretty top notch nonetheless.

So finally caved and shelved out $136 dollars for a Steel Beasts Pro: Personal Edition license and upgrade, since after playing DCS: A-10C, Black Shark 2, Dangerous Waters, and ArmA 2, there was still a Leopard 2-sized hole in my simming experience Some of you may remember about 10-15 years ago that PC gaming was as much , Enemy Engaged: Comanche vs. Hokum, and Operation Flashpoint as it was Quake, Baldur's Gate, and Total Annihilation. Hopefully with the release of 3rd party modules for DCS: World and those people buying ArmA 3 (if only for DayZ) will revive interest in the genre.

You don't bat a thousand with torture either, far from it, in fact. The fact that officials are tight-lipped as to what useful information was gleaned from waterboarding compared to high-profile successes that did not involve torture like this case (http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/05/the-ploy/305773/) is telling as well.

Anyone who believes that torture is necessary to extract actionable intelligence has not read of Hanns Scharff: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanns_Scharff And the hilarious thing is, he did a lecture for the CIA on interrogation.

Now this is a lesson in doublespeak: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/01/2013131101929493601.html When a UN inquiry says that Israeli settlement of occupied land must cease immidiately, Israel boycotts the decision by not showing up, becoming the first country ever to do so in the UN. The practice of land grabbing/ ethnic cleansing/ transfer of civilian population is clearly and without a shadow of a doubt forbidden by international law, and the settlements are also illegal in Israel. Now how could the Israelis possibly be so upset, and how could their GOVERNMENT announce the construction of additional settlements? Sometimes I'm baffled the UN hasn't thought of sending peacekeeping troops to the West Bank to protect the rights of the people living there. Mostly due to the fact that the US does not hesitate to use its veto power to block something that sounds that "belligerent." No doubt due to the machinations of AIPAC and other Israeli lobbyists, and the American news media suppressing a lot of "anti-Israeli" news and bending American public opinion such that any opinion that criticises Israel for illegal settlements or disproportionate use of force is tantamount to "anti-semitism."

These days, composite armour being what it is, firing a LAW or an RPG at a main battle tank is only going to result in making the crew spill their coffee. There was a report that a Challenger 2 in Iraq had took more than 70 RPG rounds, with only the commander's optics suffering any significant damage.

I suppose it's no coincidence that I've been reading Operation Shylock by the venerable Philip Roth lately. Highly recommend it. Hardest I've laughed reading a book since Confederacy of Dunces.