Featured Image: Oswego NY harbor lighthouse in winter. For reference, the breakwall that the wave is breaking over is 15′ tall.
Putin’s war in Ukraine is now in week 97. It started as a 3 week special military operation. Of late, mainly because of the bezdorizhzhia, or time of roadlessness, there has been little movement on the front lines. Ukraine is waging deep battle far behind the front lines and shaping the battlefield for winter. The Russians are continuing their terror missile and drone attacks on civilian targets. Of note is the fact that of 10 Kinzhal ‘hypersonic’ missiles fired at Ukraine on New Years Day, all 10 were intercepted by the US/Western supplied PAC3 Patriot ADA system.
I know some of you out there disagree with me on the Ukraine situation, but the simple fact is all of the foot dragging by the collective west is dragging us closer and closer to WWIII. And no, that is not hyperbole. Xi, the Ayatollahs, Kim in NK and to a lesser degree Putin all see the lack of resolve in Ukraine as weakness. Weakness they can and will exploit.
South Korea ordered the evacuation of a pair of islands near the maritime border with the North. The evacuation of Yeonpyeong-do and Baeknyeong-do was ordered in response to North Korea firing some 200 artillery rounds into the maritime buffer zone near one of the islands.
The blue line, the Northern Limit line was established as part of the 1953 armistice. In 1999, the North unilaterally claimed the waters between the blue and red lines on the map. This week’s events were set into motion by a North Korean ship crossing the Northern Limit Line on Monday and being turned back by South Korean troops firing warning shots. North Korea later said it conducted firing drills as a “natural response” to military actions by South Korea’s “military gangsters” in recent days. It also threatened an “unprecedented strong response” if Seoul continued to make provocative moves.
Huh, didn’t I just mention Kim above? While artillery exchanges are not unknown in that particular area, what’s different this time is the stated posture of the Norks regarding the ROKs. In remarks to a major party meeting last week, Kim Jung Un said Pyongyang was changing its policy towards the South, which it now sees as an enemy state. Although, I wouldn’t be surprised if the change is a response to the lack-of-response by the ROK and US regarding the dozens of ballistic missile tests this year.
Indian navy commandos responded to a distress call in the Arabian Sea today. The MV Lila Norfolk, a 170000 DWT Liberian flagged bulker, was boarded by pirates off the Somali coast. The crew retreated to the ‘citadel’ and called for help. The commandos were from the Indian naval warship INS Chennai. They boarded and ‘sanitized’ the vessel after flying over from the Chennai.
I’m guessing the Indian response was mainly because Indian nationals made up the bulk of the crew of the Lila Norfolk. Then again, it might be that Modi understands that if trade gets choked off in the Red/Suez it’s going to tank the Indian economy. Either way, the goddamned Indians have had a better response than the US so far.
Abu Taqwa Al Si’adi, the commander of Harakat Hezbollah al Nujaba, a powerful Iranian-backed militia based in Iraq and Syria was killed in an airstrike yesterday. Si’adi also served as the deputy director of operations for the Popular Mobilization Forces in what is known as the Baghdad Belts, or the regions surrounding Baghdad.
Thursday’s strike marked just the seventh by the U.S. against the Iranian-backed militias, which have launched 115 attack on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The first six U.S. attacks targeted weapons storage facilities, safe houses or vehicles involved in attacks. This was the first to target a commander of the militias.
The U.S. military did not officially confirm the strike, however an anonymous official told The Wall Street Journal that the target “had American blood on his hands.”
Oh no, anyway. . .
The keyword for this administration seems to be ‘proportionality’, at least in the Middle East. I would think that means there should have been 115 airstrikes not 7.
A B1B Lancer out of Ellsworth AFB crashed yesterday. All four crew members ejected safely. The statement from the public affairs office for the 28th Bomb Wing, the main unit at Ellsworth, reads:
“An Air Force B-1B Lancer assigned to Ellsworth Air Force Base crashed at approximately 5:50 p.m. today while attempting to land on the installation. At the time of the accident, it was on a training mission. There were four aircrew on board. All four ejected safely.
A board of officers will investigate the accident.
Additional details will be provided as they become available. For questions regarding this incident, contact the 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs Office at (605) 385-5056, or by e-mail at 28bw.public.affairs@us.af.mil.“
The Bone has suffered from a number of class A mishaps recently and the entire fleet was grounded in 2019 due to an ejection system issue.
Look, all aircraft are one minor failure away from succumbing to gravity. The more complex the airframe is, the more likely it is that something will go wrong. That said, given that a pretty good portion of the B1 fleet is sitting at the boneyard at Davis-Monthan for financial reasons, I think there might be some maintenance issues.
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