HammerMore on Evo Morales and his destroyed Chinese MANPADS
We were talking aboiuut this above…
[]s Hammer
Bolivia’s Morales Vows Tough Punishment Over Missile Destruction
VoA
Thu, 19 Jan 2006, 10:19Incoming Bolivian President Evo Morales is pledging to launch an
investigation into allegations that military officials worked with the
United States to destroy shoulder-fired missiles owned by the Bolivian
army.Mr. Morales Wednesday described the move as treason, saying disarming a
country and its armed forces is a crime. He previously filed a legal
complaint against outgoing President Eduardo Rodriguez over the order.President Rodriguez says he authorized the missiles’ destruction, but
not their transfer to the United States. The president Tuesday fired
Army chief General Marcelo Antezana over the matter and Defense
Minister Gonzalo Mendez resigned.Washington has previously denied charges of a secret, U.S.-led
operation to remove the missiles from Bolivia. The United States said
Wednesday it complied in good faith with a Bolivian government request
for assistance in disposing of outdated arms.
HammerBecasue external actions don’t have the same effect on re-election campaigns.
And you have definitive evidence which states that Musharraf wasn’t notified?
I get it. Because you don’t like the DEA, you will unilaterally decide to exclude every other US agency, or the government itself.
Tell that to Mexico. You’d think they have no concept of borders, especially given Vincente Fox’s dismay at the prospect of an actual fence between the US and Mexico. If borders mean that much, then respect border control initiatives.
About Musharraf: the Pakistani Foreign Minister was just (one hour ago or so…) on CNN declaring just that. That there was no prior notification or request to use live ammunition in this case… He also said that Pakistani political parties were throwing a fit over this event…
On the “DEA”: it was just an example, You may just as well substitute the law-enforcement organization of your choice in its place… The US government’s argument for not advising the Pakistani intelligence agencies is that:
a) there was no time for proper authorizations to flow up and down the chain of command… and
b) that there are “known simpatizers” of the Taliban and Al Qaeda inside Pakistani agencies and information communities.
thus my comments…
The immigration issue is a totally separate subject, the immigrants still make their way into the US because many american entrepreneurs are all too ready to hire their hourly work at sub market wages. So illegal immigration is not really a “problem” for everybody in North America. It’s just another case of “demand and supply” in the world’s largest economy. The US businesses needs them so the come over, simple.
regards,
Hammer
HammerAgree..Pratt & Whitney PT 6s if i’m not wrong
Canadian built though!
[]s FS
CASA 295
Engines 2 x Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127G of 2,645 SHP each one
Propellers: Hamilton Standard 568F-5, (six bladed)
EMB314
1 x PWC PT6A-68/3
Propellers: Hartzell 5-blade
HammerYou make a very good point, but now you’re getting into domestic policy whereas I was looking at it from a foreign policy standpoint. If you want to debate an effective overall solution to the drug problem, start a new thread and I’d be more than willing to look at the entire problem and a complete solution.
But whenever politicians can opt for a Foreign Policy vs. Domestic Policy agenda the external one is always the more “digestible” proposition. Why’s that?
Because the foreign nationals who have to deal with the risk of policy execution errors (a family home is blown up instead of a guerrilla/terrorist stronghold…) have absolutely no say in an administration re-election capaign later on… If the government (any countries government for that matter!) in an internal “narcotics war” bust the opposition is very likely to use this screwup against it. This is where “individual’s privacy concerns” “Human rights” and other personal issues come to raise the political cost of an internal policy strategy versus an external one.
This week’s bombing of a house in Pakistan brings a lot of creepy possibilities… The US ISN’T at war with Pakistan, by the way, this country is the US’ greatest partner in the region (outside of the still invaded Iraq). Nonetheless a US drone invaded the country’s airspace and sprayed a private home with air to ground missiles, based only on “reliable intelligence”… The Paksitani congress is furious! Rightfully so, and just because of such unilateral moves the US while winning the “battle” may end up losing the “war on terror”… You CANNOT shoot missiles inside another country you are not at war with without this country’s knoledge AND explicit aproval!
For the sake of clarity let’s turn this event around: lets supose Mexico has a very powerful military force to face of with the many drug cartels that make a living out of smuggling coke into the US… Now let’s also supose the Mexican intelligence discovers that a major cartel meeting is taking place in San Diego on a house overlooking the ocean. Not trusting the notoriously corrupt DEA agents in the US they launch a Predator/Hellfire attack against the house only to learn later that the tip was flawed. Oh, by the way a number of american citizens is vaporized in this “innocent mistake”… What would the US Government, Congress, Media and people think about this case? I rest my case!
Borders exist still, individual countries are still sovereign and there is such thing as international laws governing the interaction between nations. Even wars have laws on what can and what cannot be done by the conflicting armies. If the US does’t start paying attention to these soon they’ll find themselves alone, isolated, standing against the whole world. That would be an absurd waste of time, money and effort.
I sincerely hope the US people notice these alarming trends and start giving their rulers some sort of limits, to the best interest of the planet. We are not in the Kindergarten recess anymore, being the strongest kid doesn’t mean you have the right to do whatever you feel like doing…
Regards.
Comments?
Hammer
HammerActually, there are links there – Spanish and Italian are quite close languages, and from experience Italian buddies could chat up hot Spanish girls while I was clueless (they didn’t “know” Spanish, they were able to get by as its similar enough) 😮
Latin (the language) was spread with the Roman Empire through Gaul (France) and Spain, so I guess thats the origin of the similarities. I also guess that is where the term Latino comes from :confused:
Google is my friend: 🙂
There are several Latin derived languages, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian. All of them have a common origin in the roman language. The term Latin America is used as a couterpoint to Anglo-America basicaly the US, and most of Canada (excluding Quebec) Some islands in the Caribean also qualify as Anglos, such as Trinidad & Tobado and Jamaica…
“Latino” is used only in the US as a way to bundle up immigrants coming from spamish speaking countries in the Americas. Even if in Chile and Argentina they are “perfectly” white or “caucasian” or if in Bolivia Indian peoples make up for the largest slice of the population… Brazilians tend to be annoyed at being called “hispanic” since we at most would be Luso-americans (Luso= Portuguese) but that is too complicated for the average US immigration bureaucrat…
Regards,
Hammer
HammerLet’s not forget the hundreds (thousands?) of Stingers the US Government gave away to terrorist organizations during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan… Someone has to punish these iresponsible governments that VOLUNTARILY give out terrible weapons to islamic radicals… I believe the US has been the ONLY government to give out for free MANPADS to terrorists… All the other cases are pretty much hearsay… :dev2:
[]s
Hammer
– So is Venezuela actively discriminating against its own citizens (especially the vunerable)? Strange for a socialist government 😉
– “narco-terrorist supporting regime”, some evidence of this please (especially the terrorist bit).
As for the MANPADS, its alright for us to have them, but not anyone else? Hardly fair.
After bein “liberated” Afghans quickly returned to the post of leading exporters/growers of poppies, used for Opium production, that was sharply cut down under the Taliban…
😉
HammerIn my humble opinion…
On Venezuela:
a) Venezuela has every right to purchase modern fighter aircraft to replace their VF-5, Mirage 50s and F-16As. It has less than 100 fighters purchased in the 70s and 80s to be replaced…
b) Since new US fighters are pretty much out of the table, Russian and European (Mirage 2000, Rafale, Su-30 our MiG-29) I´m excluding the SAAB Gripen due to it´s large US component percentage. Also despite Germany’s, Italy’s and Spain’s interests I don’t know if the British would be able to accept the sale of the Eurofighter to Chavez in the face of strong US political opposition…
c) With only 24 Flanker type fighters I think it’s very unlikely that Chaves would ever split its “silver bullet” force putting some of them in Cuba, where they would be exposed to US sneak attacks. Holding them back inside the Venezuelan hinterland makes much more sense. Moving the fighters away from the coast makes monitoring and surveying operational activities slightly harder for an enemy.
d) One gross shortcoming in the current FAV inventory is the lack of modern AWACS or “Comand and Control” aircraft such as the Brazilian built R-99A with the Ericson Erieye radar. Such an aircraft might be more useful than a small purchase of 4+ gen fighter aircraft, once this would multiply considerably the capabilities of the numerous older Mirage 50 and F-5 aircraft. I’m pretty sure the US would opose an R-99A/B purchase from Venezuela immediately. Much more than the Super Tucano and AMX in discussion.
e) The Super Tucano ban makes a lot of sense if the “thinking” heads at the Pentagon are evaluating how to replay the “Contra” strategy now in Venezuela instead of Nicaragua
f) The ironic part is that the more pressure the US puts on Venezuela and Iran the more expensive oil gets the more money these countries make out of it allowing them more free cash to beef up their own defences against the US menace. Mr. Putin also thanks the US foreign policy for the cash incentive to rebuild his Air Force and Missile Forces, this period of high oil prices being the greatest boom in this segment since the colapse of the former USSR. Good for them and for the investors in oil company shares, bad for the american consumer.
On Bolivia:
a) Evo was elected as a protest against “traditional white politicians” of the country. A large segment of the country’s population, the indians and poor people seem to have woken up and voted against the Bolivian political establishment, voted for the outsider…
b) Almost ten years after the discovery of huge gas reserves almost no benefit from this huge wealth has trickled down to the most needed ones, the benefits and dollars being totally soaked up before any major revolution in vital areas such as education, health services and social security is achieved. This is a great reason to vot for the “outsider”.
c) The country’s military are totaly devastated in terms of equipement for example: the best “fighters” in the FAB inventory are a handful of the world’s last operational Canadair T-33 Silver Stars in the whole world. Suddenly the US intervenes and “convinces” the current outgoing Defence Minister to destroy the only real defensive asset in the country: their Chinese MANPADS, effectively leaving the country vulnerable to any external aerial attack… To me there is only one word for this: TREASON! Try switching Bolivia for your country and imagine what you would think about your Defence minister single handedly destroying wour country’s defence… I can understand Evo’s lack of enthusiasm for US foreign policies…
And SOC
I’m all for an actual, for real war on drugs myself.
Me too! Why not start bombing Miami and New York City with PGMs launched from Predator drones, there is where most of the drugs getting into the US gets processed on it’s way to the customer….
Forgive me but I had to be a tad incisive here because if you really want to get to the drugs just follow the addicts and chase the dirty money in the hands of DEA and police officers all over the US… It’s a great start and real cheap, you don’t even have to go all the way to South America…
Sorry if this last comment sounded rude, but this is a very delicate subject, The last thing I want to see is US Air Force, Army and Navy on a losely-defined and open-ended “Drug War” in my country or on its neighbors.
Regards
Hammer
HammerThe Dodsworth was retired because it was in the poorest state of the four ships and there was simply no money to bring her back to shape. Fortunately she had just been decommisioned when the Rademaker was accidently sprayed with gunfire by the ARA Sarandi in a Fraterno Execise, so many of the destroyed components where removed immediately from de Dodsworth to repair the Rademaker.
Regards
Hammer.
HammerThere is plenty of T.22 text and dozens of images in the current issue of http://www.basemilitar.com.br , check it out! 🙂
I hope you enjoy it!
Regards
[]s FS
Hammer
more pics! The mighty USS Ross.
😎
HammerDon’t worry Merlock, he’s just sad because the Netherlands doesn’t have it’s own Aircraft Carriers, since the late 60s? 😀
I’m kidding, the A-4KU are definetely not war machines per se, they are in reality some sort of very fast moving “school benches”. the real naval fighters are to be chosen in som 5 years time.
Regards
Hammer
HammerI believe the Osprey V-22 tiltrotor may be the preferred platform for any mid-sized Aircraft Carrier……
Regards
Hammer.
HammerYeah Saturn, we do use the Fotex (Shouldn’t it be “Photex” in English?) and Passex standard naval exercise names in Brazil. I wonder what other standard exercises there are…
Best Regards
Hammer
HammerSteve, that ship reminds me of the Maeresk S ship proposal
Care to elaborate Ja? 🙂
Regards, Hammer
HammerSomething like this Maritime Prepositioning ship proposal? http://peoships.crane.navy.mil/pms325/futureships/MPF(F)/MPF.htm
Amazing! It seems that I must actualy know something about ships after all… 😉
Thanks guys for the wonderful info!
Regards,
Hammer
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