Who cares? Nobody else plays by the rules, it’s time we took the gloves off and brought equality to the playing field.

At this stage, the gloves isn’t the problem. The U.S. already has plenty of ways to kill people. Problem is, first you got to figure out which people are terrorists and which people aren’t. That’s not a problem that’s going to be solved by shooting lasers at people.

Shipment of Venezuelan crude to China is a bigger problem. It would require either a very large fleet of small, uneconomical PANAMAX sized tankers or a pipeline across Columbia.

This is from an op-ed in Petroleum, so I can’t vouch for the source, but it indicates that Chavez wants to diversify his customer base:

The recent gas pipeline agreement between Venezuela and Colombia is the latest step in an effort by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to better integrate South America. The pipeline deal was signed by Chavez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on November 24, 2005. The agreement puts onto paper the decision to construct a two-way gas pipeline between Colombia and Venezuela.

The pipeline agreement is the beginning of a larger project that will bring crude oil from Venezuela to the Pacific Ocean, where it will then be transported to Asia.

….

In the past, Chavez sparked concern in the United States when he announced that he would like to see more of Venezuela’s oil exports go to China. Venezuela, for instance, increased 2005 oil exports to China by five times the 2004 amount, amounting to 70,000 barrels of oil per day; Chavez has stated that he wants this number to hit 300,000 barrels per day by the end of 2006. Currently, about 50 percent of Venezuela’s oil exports go to the United States.

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:rTg2FvDCt1QJ:www.petroleumworld.com/Lag120505.htm+venezuelan+oil+exports&hl=en&client=firefox-a

Rumors in press have come up with the name “Kestrel”, which doesn’t make much sense given that a kestrel is a small falcon and the EH101 is a fairly big helicopter. Maybe they went with it for the kestrel’s awesome hovering ability. And they do have them in England and Europe, which makes them appropriate for an imported design.

I would have liked to have seen “Kingfisher.” Or maybe the “Marsh Tit”.

well the point is, sure there is no way we could beat off the US, but we’re gonna give them a bloddy knuckle so they could think twice before attacking

The force imbalance indicates that the Canadians would have a tough time getting equipment into the air, let alone rapping knuckles. More likely to do damage with commando missions across the border. Who in the states can tell the difference between Canadians and Americans any more? We have enough regional accents that the canucks could just say they’re from upstate New York without anyone noticing anything strange.

So how many Skyhawk variants will be left flying in the RSAF until 2007?

Don’t the Turks license build the F-16? AFAIK that includes the engines and at least a subset of the avionics. That should make the country more sanctions proof than most other customers for US hardware.

True, they did license build F-16s, but I think the engines for those airplanes were made in the U.S. So they’d probably in a better position than someplace like Thailand, but it would probably still be a pain in the butt.

I don’t think Rumsfield’s recent remarks will make Turkey go toward EU, instead i think its to make Turkey feel responsible for Iraqi complications (not that you have to accept that)

Neither do the Turks.

And I wouldn’t say that the eurofighter doesn’t come with any strings attached, but the Euros don’t seem as interested in maintaining hegemony and their foreign policy seems somewhat more consistent over the long term. Imagine being a government who’s supported by the U.S. in one year, then condemned as the worst threat to world peace since Hitler in the next. The embargo follows and you’re soon left with a lot of worthless iron.

Both the U.S. and EU are capable of such behavior, but if I was in another country and had to choose between them on the risk of capricious decisions I’d pick the EU every time.

Turkey ordered the A400 and flies aircraft from Eurocopter. American influence is strong, but the way Rummy’s been talking about them lately and the EU thing, a purchase of eurofighters doesn’t seem out of the question.

Part of the problem with waiting on JSF is that you have to rely on the U.S. congress and Air Force continuing with the program over the next few years, and to succeed in keeping costs contained. Eurofighter is the bird in the hand.