They actually admire USA long time ago. From USA warship forcing Japan port to open up that moment in 1854. Japan already see US as their Idol.. During the Meiji modenisation,they try to do everything from fashion,culture just like USA.
When the news of Japan Pearl Harbour strike reaches the mass of Japan in 1941. Many ordinary Japanese were acutually very sad. Cos they worshipped the American alot and the fact they need to face American in War sadden many of them… So the fact,American nuke them cement their mentally. Japan is no way to match American in anytime and NEVER…..

That is a very ignorant statement. the Tokugawa and Meiji saw what was happening in China, Philippines, etc which is why they expelled European missionaries and limited trade to Dejima only to the Dutch and Chinese because they were willing not to engage in religious activities.

It was both the Perry’s opening of ports, and Europes success in entering China that led Japan to westernize.. meaning they adopted not only American, but European in general like stated above. It wasn’t just Japan that jumped on the westernization band wagon. Thailand started it, even China itself attempted it (although much later). One could easily argue that as far late as the mid 20th century, China was the most intent on being “Westernized” as Mao and other early CCP demonized early Chinese tradition, heavily promoting Communist ideals.. a “Western” philosophy.

After WWII, the Japanese people weren’t exactly in the best shape either. Japan’s trade was always tied with its neighbors (Korea, China, etc), and now they couldn’t trade with them anymore. The government put so much of its resources into the war that its own country was falling apart. There was famine everywhere, and for the next 10 years, the Japanese were struggling to survive because of idiotic allocation of resources by the former Imperial government, and their decision to go into too many wars.

While American troops there give problems to Japanese, during that time, alot of people were relieved. Their fundings help rebuild the country, the Japanese people weren’t forced to go into war, and they brought in food.

you know, I hope not all people believe Iran is a repressive regime. Ahmadinejad was elected by popular vote, as was his successor, Khatami, etc. Only the Ayatollahs (Supreme Leader) are elected by a council.

People there express different political views, even before this incident, Khatami’s era (who was much more liberal) saw pro Khatami factions and anti Khatami factions go at it. You don’t really have such a thing in say Syria or Saudi Arabia.

There’s much more media and travel freedom there than in other regimes in the region. there are shopping malls, free ways (with cars, unlike N.Korea), western fast food, etc. You can check out some pictures here
http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=226146

I really like that subdued-grey camo scheme. Fits the FLANKER very well I think, certainly more attractive than, say, the PLAAF’s Su-27SK scheme. Reminds me of Indonesia’s FLANKER paintjob.

Say what you want about Chavez/motivations/politics/etc, but any serious enthusiast should be excited at the prospect of new photos of brand new FLANKERs flying around in a foreign air arm. The major plus side to Venezuela buying FLANKERs is that we’ll be able to see a good deal of images I believe, given that they aren’t scarcely used or hard to find like Ethiopian or Angolan birds. Chavez, dude, forget Russia…talk to Beijing about some J-10s so we can get a serious (uncensored) look at that one next!

hmm i don’t really care for the white radome and fin tips.. shoulda made it light grey or dark grey like the Indonesian one

Were you to realistically rate the four aircraft you mentioned, in my professional opinion, you’d have Rafale, Su-30MKI, EF-2000, Gripen, and Su-30MKK, in that order. With the F-22A and F-35 far out in front, obviously.

surprised you would put the Rafale on top, there was another thread where many felt the limited size of the Rafale and Typhoon resulted in limited growth potential, an area where the Su-30 series excels in and thus superior aerodynamically

I like Borat, but Bruno more so
like this youtube clip
http://youtube.com/watch?v=gyGQoPWY0ng

I hope not too many Americans view Borat as an accurate representative of Kazakhstan. The place is the most developed country in Central Asia, is much more liberal on gays and jews than other areas in the region, and historically gave women more rights than their neighbors in the south and east. that and the people look very Asian versus the semitic features of Cohen.

Here’s a thought. If island control is a primary mission for any carrier, why not try and license the Yak-141 or Yak-43? You can build more decks, make them smaller, and still be effective in your assigned mission. Training then becomes FAR easier, as V/STOL-qualified pilots would have a far easier time making the transition to ocean-going operations than training CTOL naval aviators from scratch would be.

I like the idea of bringing back the Yak 141 (my favorite STVOL aircraft)..but don’t you think it’s design is starting to be long in the tooth by now? especially by the time the Chinese build it? say 2010-15

good job scramble! 🙂