Re: The World News Thread

[PolosElite23]

What? Noooo!  

Pez is sad....

[Kiskaloo]

Scientists have discovered the first venomous crustacean.

It lives in Australia, of course. 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24625424

[Awinnell]

Nelson Mandela has passed away, he leaves a great legacy behind ,God bless him, I would say rest in peace but his family was arguing over his proposed burial site before he passed away !

[Kiskaloo]

One of the benefits of being the only SuperPower is that you don't need to be subtle.




The logo for the latest intelligence satellite.



As for the 2012 mission patches, the three dragons one for the previous mission (NROL-38) was cool.

[Alfisti]

One of the benefits of being the only SuperPower is that you don't need to be subtle.




The logo for the latest intelligence satellite.

Someone was just having Bond Villain fantasies when they came up with that weren't they?

Other people do have those right...

Right?

[Thescarredman]

The scariest part of that is, I don't know if that's a joke ... and I'm scared to ask.

[Kiskaloo]

The scariest part of that is, I don't know if that's a joke ... and I'm scared to ask.

It's not a joke. NROL-39 / USA-247 is a Topaz series radar imaging satellite.

[Alfisti]

The scariest part of that is, I don't know if that's a joke ... and I'm scared to ask.

It's not a joke. NROL-39 / USA-247 is a Topaz series radar imaging satellite.

All I can say is that someone had better be playing the Space March for the launch.

[Kiskaloo]

The scariest part of that is, I don't know if that's a joke ... and I'm scared to ask.

It's not a joke. NROL-39 / USA-247 is a Topaz series radar imaging satellite.

All I can say is that someone had better be playing the Space March for the launch.

I just think it's cool we've named our latest generation of reconnaissance satellites after the title of Alfred Hitchcock's great spy film.  

[Officer_Charon]

The aircraft my father worked rader on, the U-2, was known affectionately as the Dragon Lady. The motto for that one was "In God We Trust, All Others, the Dragon Monitors."

The mission patches were all draconic-themed, too. *grins*

[Kiskaloo]

John Stewart on The Daily Show was discussing the latest shenanigans by the National Security Agency last night and he commented on the logo for NROL-39 / USA-247, which he noted was "one terrified schoolgirl away from being a very popular comic in Tokyo".

Spoiler:

[Officer_Charon]

*falls out of car laughing*

[Alfisti]

What Charon said... but substitute "office chair" for "car".

[Kiskaloo]

I never knew why NORAD (the NORth american Air Defense command) tracks Santa Claus each Christmas Eve, but now I do.

[MP5]

Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov, inventor of the AK-47 assault rifle, passes away at 94 years old: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/rifle-designer-mikhail-kalashnikov-dead-at-94/2013/12/23/083aa774-6bf1-11e3-a5d0-6f31cd74f760_story.html

In the hours since the news of his passing, the military-themed satire site The Duffel Blog has seen fit to create the following article: http://www.duffelblog.com/2013/12/mikhail-kalashnikov-dead/

[PolosElite23]

Oh F*ck

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/01/will-japan-abandon-pacifism/283298/ 

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/us-pacific-chief-warns-japan-china-tension-21638904

Well that's not good...

[Kiskaloo]

In support of the Seattle Seahawks upcoming appearance at the Super Bowl and as a thank you to the fans who routinely set off earthquakes at Century Link Field due to the loudness of their cheering, Boeing today rolled out a 747-8 freighter in a special "12th Man" livery:

[Kiskaloo]

The "Seahawks 747" is about to depart Boeing Field under the call sign "Boeing 12" where she will follow a track that will spell out the number "12" over Eastern Washington State.

[Vett]

Apparently the members of the EU lose to corruption the equivalent of the cost of running the European Union political apparatus.

More interestingly, Italy is a reasonable (for Italy) way down the list of corrupt countries: The Mafia etc. must be slacking.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26014387

[Awinnell]

Apparently the members of the EU lose to corruption the equivalent of the cost of running the European Union political apparatus.

More interestingly, Italy is a reasonable (for Italy) way down the list of corrupt countries: The Mafia etc. must be slacking.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26014387

Not really a surprise on that list, Eastern Europe and Spain hitting the top the UK and Sweden the bottom, I guess the difference is that in the UK and Sweden the corruptions more tax fraud and fraudulent expenses claims by politicians and not outright bribery on a daily basis for the general population !

[Professor Voodoo]

As a life-long Ford guy I've always considered Corvettes rivals, but this doesn't make anybody happy...



Link to the story

[Il Direttore]

I saw that on G+ actually. Was really depressing. Especially since they're historic models...

Do you think they'll roll out some replacements with the original blueprints? Seems unlikely, but you can hope...

[Professor Voodoo]

Do you think they'll roll out some replacements with the original blueprints? Seems unlikely, but you can hope...

I doubt they're 100% ruined.  If anyone can get them restored properly it's the National Corvette Museum.

[Il Direttore]

That's a good point! The sinkhole looked pretty bad from the photo, so I made a bad assumption.

[Awinnell]

the biggest problem will be the recovery, the holes still getting bigger !

[Il Direttore]

So obviously we all know about Ukraine. 

If you haven't found your own site for on-the-dot updates, I've been recced this one by an acquaintance: 
http://www.interpretermag.com/

You'll want to search "Ukraine Liveblog" to get the latest daily page, then hit refresh to get updates. 

It's... it's getting pretty tense guys. I mean: 

Today, Redditors have been identifying various weapons seen by Russian soldiers. One note is that the AK-74M is spotted among many of the soldiers, and it is a weapon used by very few militaries (of course, this does not exclude its use my mercenaries). Another weapon used by Russian special forces, the GM-94 Grenade Launcher, is rare among mercenaries because it is so expensive. Other weapons spotted have been custom-outfitted with expensive equipment consistent with what the Russian military uses.
Here is their conclusion: “Conclusion: at the very least, these irregulars are armed by the Russian Federation. More likely, they are VDV / spetsnaz troops -indicated by a degree of weapon customization (optics, rail systems, etc) not usually seen among conscript troops, even special forces units.”

Like, this is really really not shaping up well.

[Kiskaloo]

Putin may have read Tom Clancy's latest novel, but at worse, I expect Russia to annex the Crimea since they already occupy it with their ground forces and the Black Sea Fleet is based in Sevastopol and the Ukraine government would not be in a position to stop them.

[Awinnell]

Ukraine government would not be in a position to stop them.

given that the top half is radioactive why would the even want to?

[Vett]

I can't say I'm surprised by any of this, given that this is almost literally the exact same plan Russia has been following since, well, the last Crimean war in the 1850s but...

Russia has given Ukraine troops in the Crimea until 03:00 GMT to surrender.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26424738

[Professor Voodoo]

Ukraine government would not be in a position to stop them.

given that the top half is radioactive why would the even want to?

Putin sincerity believes that radiation will give him superpowers.

[Il Direttore]

This happened. 




http://www.interpretermag.com/ukraine-liveblog-day-14-could-a-cold-war-turn-hot-today/

Can anybody with more experience/knowledge give some sort of analysis?

Edit: 
Latest update says that apparently it's all clear, most of the troops on watch but chilling out (relatively speaking). Still, new missile batteries have also been sighted on Russian APCs.

[Vett]

According to the BBC, warning shots have now been fired by the Russians occupying the Crimean Airbase.

[Il Direttore]

The US is apparently deploying F-16s and Troops to Poland.

This is not concerning at all.

[Kiskaloo]

Since this is playing out like Clancy's latest novel, on the plus side we already know we'll win.  

[Awinnell]

The parliament of the Crimea has put forward a referendum whether or not to become part of Russia, they go to the vote in 10 days time, I'm guessing a yes majority myself !

[Guest]

No surprise there

[Il Direttore]

Welp. 

Confirmed reports of Russian attack on Ukrainian Air Force Base. Yayyyy.

http://www.interpretermag.com/ukraine-liveblog-day-18-moscow-and-washington-are-far-apart-on-crimea/

[Kiskaloo]

A Malaysian Airlines 777-200ER with 239 passengers and crew aboard "disappeared" within two hours of departing Kuala Lumpur for Beijing. Based on the radar tracks available online, it may have gone down either approaching the coast or over southern Vietnam.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26492748

[Kurosaka "Ery" Erika]

A Malaysian Airlines 777-200ER with 239 passengers and crew aboard "disappeared" within two hours of departing Kuala Lumpur for Beijing. Based on the radar tracks available online, it may have gone down either approaching the coast or over southern Vietnam.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26492748

and it passed 4 days after it's mysterious disappearance

(Although eyewitness account saying the plane was flying very low before the plane disappeared from radar)

and everyone in my country are praying so that the plane could be found. I mean, this incident united most of us Malaysian into one, hoping that the plane could be found.

[Il Direttore]

[sarcasm]Good news everyone! [/sarcasm]

Russia is mobilizing huge amounts of tanks, artillery, etc. onto the Ukrainian border!

Hooray! This can't end badly at all!

[Kiskaloo]

Not going to happen, IMO.

It's one thing to annex the Crimea. It's an entirely different kettle o' fish to invade the rest of the Ukraine.

IMO, this is Russia's way of telling the government in Kiev that the Crimea is now Russian territory and to just accept it and move on.

Which is what I expect Kiev to do.

I then expect them to soon send a delegation to Brussels about joining NATO.

[Il Direttore]

True, I don't advocate The Interpreter's POV about invasion here. I'm just saying that this is going to end in tears for at least one of the interested parties, if not multiple, and that said ending-in-tears will also include plenty of shouting and/or bloodshed from someone, though not necessarily a military force.

[Awinnell]

True, I don't advocate The Interpreter's POV about invasion here. I'm just saying that this is going to end in tears for at least one of the interested parties, if not multiple, and that said ending-in-tears will also include plenty of shouting and/or bloodshed from someone, though not necessarily a military force.

I bet we will see an increase of Chechen style terrorist attacks, either actually by them, as a result of major military supplies finding their way to them, or attacks made to look like they were carried out by the Chechens

[Vett]

I'm always impressed by thriller writers who know their stuff well enough to be prescient. Yu's not there yet, nor really a thriller writer, but...

Venice Votes on Independence

[PolosElite23]

So, concerning Malaysia Air Flight MH370, I stumbled upon an article on my FB feed that I thought I'd share.

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2014/03/mh370-electrical-fire/

[Il Direttore]

Oh, from the New York Times, Ukraine is pulling their military forces out of the Crimea.

[Kiskaloo]

So, concerning Malaysia Air Flight MH370, I stumbled upon an article on my FB feed that I thought I'd share.

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2014/03/mh370-electrical-fire/

This theory is disproved by what we do know happened (that the plane continued westbound into the Indian Ocean).

]Il DirettoreOh, from the New York Times, Ukraine is pulling their military forces out of the Crimea.

The bulk of the population wanted to be part of Russia, so they might as well let it go,

On the plus side, that means what remains of the Ukraine doesn't want to be part of Russia and does want to be part of the EU, so those ties can now go forward (which is something Putin didn't want to happen, ironically).

[Kiskaloo]

Russia completed their annexation of the Crimea today and the Ukraine signed a political and trade deal with the European Union.

So Putin gets the Crimea, but he loses the rest of the Ukraine (he was against the political and trade deal).

[Kiskaloo]

Based on new modeling of the satellite data, it has been concluded that MH370 went down in the southern Indian Ocean west of Australia.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26716572

[Awinnell]

I lolled at this

A British sniper serving in Afghanistan killed six members of the Taliban with a single bullet.


The 20-year-old Lance Corporal in the Coldstream Guards fired at the trigger of a suicide bomber, whose device then exploded, the Daily Telegraph reports.


The incident took place in southern Afghanistan in December.


It has only now been made public.


Paying tribute to the unnamed soldier, Lt Col Richard Slack said the sniper likely prevented a major attack by the Taliban. A second suicide vest containing 20kg of explosives was found nearby.


Describing the incident, Lt Col Slack recalled: "The [bomber] was wearing a vest. He was identified by the sniper moving down a tree line and coming up over a ditch. He had a shawl on. It rose up and the sniper saw he had a machine gun.


"They were in contact and he was moving to a firing position. The sniper engaged him and the guy exploded. There was a pause on the radio and the sniper said: 'I think I've just shot a suicide bomber'. The rest of them were killed in the blast."

[Thescarredman]

I've sometimes wondered what might happen if, say, the CIA managed to place in the hands of the Taliban a quantity of doctored explosive that, instead of exploding, just burns like hell. Imagine recruitment might go down after the first couple times a fellow hits the button and becomes a screaming human torch.

[Kurosaka "Ery" Erika]

I lolled at this

A British sniper serving in Afghanistan killed six members of the Taliban with a single bullet.


The 20-year-old Lance Corporal in the Coldstream Guards fired at the trigger of a suicide bomber, whose device then exploded, the Daily Telegraph reports.


The incident took place in southern Afghanistan in December.


It has only now been made public.


Paying tribute to the unnamed soldier, Lt Col Richard Slack said the sniper likely prevented a major attack by the Taliban. A second suicide vest containing 20kg of explosives was found nearby.


Describing the incident, Lt Col Slack recalled: "The [bomber] was wearing a vest. He was identified by the sniper moving down a tree line and coming up over a ditch. He had a shawl on. It rose up and the sniper saw he had a machine gun.


"They were in contact and he was moving to a firing position. The sniper engaged him and the guy exploded. There was a pause on the radio and the sniper said: 'I think I've just shot a suicide bomber'. The rest of them were killed in the blast."

British Marksman at their best... not only they set the furthest kill-shot, they also set this kind of extraordinaire

[Vett]

Venetian separatists are at it again:

Italy Police Seize Makeshift Tank

[Awinnell]

to bring this thread full circle,

A soldier shot dead three colleagues and injured 16 others at the US Army's Fort Hood base in Texas before killing himself, the military says.
US media named the suspect as Ivan Lopez, 34, although his identity has not been officially confirmed.
The gunman had served in Iraq and had mental health problems, officials said.
President Barack Obama said he was "heartbroken" over the attack. A gun rampage at the same base in 2009 left 13 soldiers dead and 32 wounded.
Maj Nidal Hasan was sentenced to death for that attack.

[Guest]

A close friend of mine was shot yesterday there. Just came back from deployment. What kind of repayment is that. Serve 3 tours in Afghanistan, then come back to get shot by your own people.

Luckily, he's quite alright. You know them tankers. You can't kill em no matter how hard you try.

[Kiskaloo]

Tomorrow, we will remember the heroism of thousands who stormed the beaches of Normandy, France to liberate a continent from state institutionalized oppression.

Today, I remember a single man who stood up to another form of state institutionalized oppression.


(I was a post-graduate student at Peking University and guest of the Chinese Government during the pro-Democracy demonstrations at Tinananmen Square, though I was returned to the US two days before the troops were sent in.)

[Il Direttore]

Holy crap. 

Guest of the CCP? What was THAT like?

[Kiskaloo]

Holy crap. 

Guest of the CCP? What was THAT like?

For the most part, it was pretty amazing.

[Il Direttore]

Holy crap. 

Guest of the CCP? What was THAT like?

For the most part, it was pretty amazing.

Elaborate?

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