Ludlum, right? Author of crappy thrillers, who invented the standard operating procedure of titling your book The (enter random name) (enter intriguingly sinister plot item). I present something similar. What might finally push the Blair over the edge? I theorise that it’s The Edinburgh Gambit. According to Tom Green Ribbon Griffin, the Liberals in Scotland…
Read More Robert Ludlum, eat your heart outThis is very bad news indeed, especially if it turns out to have been shot down. The Nimrod MR-2 fleet has been increasingly in demand in the last few years for very different roles to its primary mission, patrolling the North Atlantic looking for submarines and the shipwrecked, as the Army has become aware of…
Read More Very bad newsFor a start, which second world war army are you? You scored as Finland. Your army is the army of Finland. You prefer to defeat your enemy by your wit rather than superior weapons. Enemy will have a hard time against your small but effective force. Finland 88% Poland 88% British and the Commonwealth 69%…
Read More Stupid web things of the dayRemember this post regarding the US military’s gigantic floating X-band radar installation? Well, it turned out that the 282 foot long, 50,000 tonne beast that is meant to be a key part of the ballistic missile defence scheme wasn’t in position during the North Korean missile scare because it was in need of dockyard attention…
Read More Even more giant floating radarApparently if Iran gets a nuclear weapon, A nuclear Iran is likely to give or lend nuclear weapons to terrorists, resulting in an undeterrable nuclear strike against an American city or cities. And the answer to this dread scenario? Why, a credible threat of force. Eh? Employing a credible threat of force is only useful…
Read More More DeterrenceJ-Ro on airpower. RPVs and CPVs (computer piloted vehicles) Oh My! J-Ro on airpower. More on the limits of airpower
Read More Slightly confused?I’ve never taken the West Lothian question very seriously (how many men have we lost because of it?), and I usually don’t engage with it. But there is something I’d like to fork over about the semi-federal nature of Britain. One may recall that, not so long ago, Dave from PR and other Tories were…
Read More The West Yorkshire QuestionIt’s late, but this snark attack on Niall Ferguson must not be missed. Click through and read Rob Farley’s review of Colossus, too. After suffering through some of his earlier writing, I’ve always imagined Niall Ferguson sneaking into the Imperial War Museum in the dark of night. Certain that the coast is clear, he rips…
Read More Niall FergusonNow it’s all over, what was all the shooting about? To answer that question, we’d first need to know something of each side’s aims. Hezbollah’s were reasonably clear, at least as far as the decision to take the two soldiers prisoner went: put pressure on the Israelis to release their remaining Lebanese prisoners, and not…
Read More A war for neuroticsI sincerely hope this is a final situation map. Sorry about the last one going missing.
Read More Let’s hope it’s the last one