If the MiG-25 was a “multi-mode” aircraft, you’d be able ot use the same jet for both intercept and reconnaissance. You can’t. Just like the Blackbird, different variants existed for different missions.

Aesthetically appealing:
-Old-style VF-84 F-14As. None of the subdued paint scheme crapola. They looked seriously MEAN.
-The Lockheed A-12. Slimmer and sleeker than the SR-71.
-The YF-23A, ’nuff said.
-The black Rafale C. Eurocanards do not have to look pedestrian, derivative, nor boring.
-Yes, the F-117A. The angular geometric lines are oddly very interesting.
-Damn near anything made in Russia. Except the MiG-27/23BN, sorry. But for the most part Russian aircraft look either menacing (a fully loaded FLANKER), nearly otherworldly (the Su-47), or just plain ready to obliterate something (the Tu-22M3). Even something like the Il-76 looks all business, and in a good way.
-The A-10. Yes, the A-10. Like Russian aircraft, it looks like it is unhappy unless it is obliterating something.

Look away immediately:
-Anything Airbus. Can’t look at one and not think to myself “let’s see you make and sell them on your own Euro”. Nothing to do with appearance, but it makes the aircraft totally uninteresting, what can I say.
-The X-32. No explanation needed.
-The A-7. They killed the sleek lines of the F-8, nice job!
-The Tornado IDS series. The shorter nose and shorter fuselage make the tail look even more ludicrous.

Best looking of all? Duh, it’s gotta be the XB-70! If they painted this thing black it’d be a massive landslide.

Worst looking of all? The twin-seat Yak-38. Yes, something looks worse than the X-32.

I heard they got Red Alert 3 in the works.

True true. Windows and XBox 360.

Frank Klepacki’s classic Hell March theme from the Red Alert series would make the perfect background music for this.

True again. You’ve inspired me to add Hell March to my Zune, I got a free 4-disc soundtrack to the C&C games when I bought Red Alert 2 😀

The scenario that played out in real life is almost an exact copy of the background of the Xbox 360 game Chrome Hounds, with only the names of the countries changed (Tarakia = Georgia, Morskoj = Russia). Except in the game, the tanks are replaced by walking mechs, e.g. Battletech meets the Georgian War.

Chromehounds, by the way, is a great game. Log on, and I will destroy you all!

Russia is becoming an increasingly important supplier to Europe and China

This whole mess might result in a redistribution of Russian exports, trending more towards China perhaps…

To under estimate NATO would be very dangerous for any adversary……..

Only if NATO chooses to care. Ask the Georgian military (what’s left of it) about that.

Now, regardless about the other consequences, such as more NATO members, Russia refusing to sell oil to Europe, or anything else we can think up, I wonder if their use of SS-21s with apparent success will lead to more support in Europe and NATO for the missile defense project? It’s overkill for an SRBM like an SS-21, but it is an interesting thought to ponder.

You did not read anything about XB-70 unstarts? Its odd because there are many sources. Here is one:
http://www.transterrestrial.com/archives/2008/02/a_kludge_1.html

This problem was never solved in XB-70.
In fact, every a/c with mixed compression engines has this problem.

You’re using a comment somebody left on a website as your factual basis for that argument? Are you serious?

Try this:

http://www.labiker.org/xb70.html

Far more troubling, however, were problems in the new, automatic AICS system, which would inexplicably recycle during supersonic flight, causing an “unstart,” where the shockwave from the forward fuselage, rather than being deflected past the inlet and under the wing, instead fell directly into the inlet. Not only did this change in inlet airflow cause a brief flameout on the engines, but it also caused a sharp roll in the direction of the GOOD engine set. For pilots, this is fairly odd behavior caused by the shape of the XB-70’s wing, combined with the lowered tips (and on Ship One, accentuated by the lack of dihedral), which as the aircraft yawed to the “dead” side, caused a roll away into the “good” side. So, during an unstart (described by Fitz Fulton as “being T-boned by a locomotive and thrown off a cliff”), the pilot would have to apply rudder into the direction of the roll, which is a bit unnatural.

The problem was the new Automatic Inlet Control System (AICS) introduced on AV2, not the J93 engine. The AICS had a weird habit early on of recycling and resetting its position in midflight, causing an unstart. Not fun at all, but not a fault of the engine either as you keep claiming.

What makes you say they are/were gone?

If the link was from like 1994, I’d agree with you 90%, right now, I’m skeptical.

First off, the S-200 is not easy to hide due to the massive nature of the fixed site. You can pick an S-200 site out of even the lowest-resolution imagery available in Google Earth. The S-200 site in Georgia shows significant signs of being overgrown by vegetation with a number of the facilities being in serious disrepair with caved in roofs and the like.

Secondly, the link states that all of the systems mentioned need to be refurbished, and that was back in 2004. There are eight SAM sites in Georgia (not counting mobile systems like the Buk or Tor, obviously), and only two of them, S-125 sites, were active as of 2006. The S-200 complex was imaged in November of 2006 for comparison, indicating that sometime between 2004 and 2006 the missile system was removed from service.

Given the effectiveness of the SA-11 demonstrated so far, they’d seem to be better off with an improved air defense network. Far less lifecycle operating costs that way compared to getting a combat aircraft. Would the Ukraine be willing to part with one or two batteries of refurbished S-300PTs maybe? Or perhaps a Western system like PAC-2/3 is the way to go? The problem is that the Russians have the best SAMs around, but as you said the prospects of a Georgian sale are not very good right about now.

http://www.janes.com/extract/jmr2004/jmr01140.html

Georgia is known to have operated the system. So its feasible, Ukraine aside, or not.

Find a link that’s not four years old! Currently Georgia does not operate either the S-75 or S-200. There are some S-125s still around, and the Buk/Tor systems. But the 75s and 200s have been gone for a while. The state of disrepair that most of the S-75 and S-200 sites are in does back this up as well. Were Georgia to reintegrate an S-200 battery, since they do have a prepared site available, they’d need components from somewhere as theirs were taken out of service due to obsolescence (suggesting an early version). Ukraine, given the nature of the political situation, is a potential source.