Archive for the ‘International’ Category

From Australian Defence Media Operations:

Precautionary suspension of Black Hawk flying operations

Army has temporarily suspended flying operations for the Black Hawk helicopters upon identifying a number of fractured bolts during a routine maintenance check.

Acting Director General Aviation, Colonel Stephen Evans said the suspension, which commenced on 19 January, was to ensure safety and is consistent with Army Operational Airworthiness procedures.

“The precautionary suspension will remain in place to allow an investigation into the cause of the fracture to be completed,” Colonel Evans said.

Three Army Black Hawks are assigned to Joint Task Force 631 in Timor Leste. Emergency aero-medical evacuations for International Stabilisation Force personnel in Timor Leste remain authorised during the temporary suspension.

The Navy Seahawk helicopters differ significantly to the Black Hawk in the affected area, and Seahawk flying operations have not been suspended.

UPDATE (24 Jan 2012): The suspension has been lifted:

The engineering investigation indicated that the defective bolts were confined to a single manufacturer’s batch and were not a fleet wide issue. The defective batch of bolts has been quarantined from use.

Not looking good:

Cargo Ship MV Rena on 09 Jan 2012.

The ship ran aground off the coast of New Zealand in October. They unloaded many of the containers, but a storm this past weekend finished her off.

A full gallery of photos is on Yahoo.

What a mess.

Close Up Photos of China’s Carrier

While we’ve written about the new weapon systems the Chinese are installing aboard her, notice these pics show some early 1960s-vintage RBU-6000 Soviet-designed anti-submarine rocket launchers. Nothing like some 50-year-old weaponry to outfit your “new” carrier. Although, another picture shows a more modern rolling airframe missile launcher.

The Shi Lang recently returned from another short trial cruise.

Meanwhile, Murdoc didn’t know that the Chinese had actually turned another ex-Russian carrier into an actual hotel. Well, the Kiev, which was more of a missile cruiser hybrid which could operate a helos and Yak-38s.

US aircraft carrier filmed by Iran in Strait of Hormuz standoff

They’re all giddy about this, apparently:

An Iranian surveillance plane has recorded video and photographed a US aircraft carrier during Iran’s ongoing navy drill near a strategic waterway in the Persian Gulf, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The commander of Iran’s navy said the reconnaissance mission was proof that his fleet had “control over the moves by foreign forces” but it was unclear what intelligence could be derived from the grainy video, which was played triumphantly on state television.

“Control over the moves by foreign forces” by taping some video? They apparently define “control” differently than we do.

Here is the video. Decide if they’ve got control over the movement of the USS John Stennis:

I didn’t translate the news report, but it probably said the ship was fleeing for its life.

Peggy Noonan:

Our movie culture has descended into immaturity, deep and inhuman violence, a pervasive and flattened sexuality. It is an embarrassment.

In Iraq this year I asked an Iraqi military officer doing joint training at an American base what was the big thing he’d come to believe about Americans in the years they’d been there. He thought. “You are a better people than your movies say.” He had judged us by our exports. He had seen the low slag heap of our culture and assumed it was a true expression of who we are.

And so he’d assumed we were disgusting.

Hollywood: Movies by people who hate America most of the time. Except when Americans go to the movies or buy Blu-Rays.

Via Instapundit.

From a regular commenter here on MO:

I’ve been working with Chinese (mainland and Taiwanese) for close to 20 years now. I currently have a team of engineers in both mainland China and in Taiwan under my chain of command. I’ve spent months one-on-one with many of them as they have come here to the US for training, and I talk with them almost every day.

One thing I can say is that while they have a gazillion folks with engineering degrees, they have very few decent engineers. Good technicians, for sure. But give them a new problem, and nothing ever happens. I think this is more cultural than genetic, because there are quite a few decent engineers in Taiwan, who come form the same gene pool. They just have 40 more years of experience with capitalism under their belts, and they understand the importance of making a decision.

But the biggest problem with China, IMO, is the massive amounts of corruption. I mean, they make something like the Chicago political machine look like amateurs, and the US defense complex look like a bastion of honesty and logic. It’s horrible, and it permeates every aspect of life. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is easier to take out a Chinese aircraft carrier by dropping a duffle bag of 20 dollar bills on it instead of a 500 lb bomb.

Working with the younger Chinese (25-30 year olds) is pleasant. Some of them certainly “get it”. And once they open up, the first thing they complain about is the corruption, and the second is censorship. Third is pollution.

They will spend hours on the internet here, just reading stuff they can’t get access to over there. And as a general rule, they don’t trust their own military or even their police. Again, too much corruption. And they all know what really happened in Tiananmen square.

And while I am training them to take over my job (no, it’s not really that bad), I also derive great pleasure in exposing them to all sorts of political concepts and reading material. Everything from the Federalist Papers, to Bill Ayers, to Glenn Beck. They eat it all up. And I send them back home with a couple dozen copies of the US Constitution and a $5 bill to get them through customs. Yeah, it took me a couple years to learn that trick….

So all in all, I don’t spend a whole lot of time worrying about what the Chinese military might do to us. Too many of their citizens have already taken a bite from the capitalist apple, and they like the taste.

China’s Carrier Seen From an Airliner

Photo of China’s starter carrier.

Iranian Press TV accused of making up stories about U.S. drone strikes in Somalia

The channel, which is based in Tehran and broadcasts around-the-clock in English, claims that more the 1,370 people have been killed in 56 drone strikes since September – an average of 24 deaths per attack.

But an analysis of their reports by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism found no evidence to back up the claims.

How much you want to bet this number shows up on some anti-war or Occupier sign in the near future?