Day: May 31, 2018

Closing Thought–31May18

The one country that gets our aid without question is Israel and those funds were to be spent on American made equipment so Israel gets out taxpayers funds and spent in American to enrich the M-IC……but it seems that Israel wants to change this program…..

As the record-large 10-year US military aid package to Israel is set to go into effect, Israeli MPs are lobbying the Trump government to make substantial changes. In particular, they object to the made-in-USA rules.

The $38 billion aid package is to be spent on US-made equipment. This has been a common way to make foreign aid politically safe, as it means that money is ultimately going to US arms makers who have a lot of influence.

Israeli officials, however, see this US armament as a problem for their economy. The Israeli Knesset Finance Committee is estimating that 22,000 Israeli jobs would be lost if the US doesn’t just send Israel the money straightaway and let them spending on Israeli-made arms.

Yet this was the agreement all along, back to when President Obama got the Israeli government to finally, grudgingly agree to accept $38 billion worth of equipment. While President Trump has suggested the aid couple end up being even bigger, as part of a desire to throw more arms at Israel, the desire to keep growing US weapons exports means he’s probably not going to be eager to send Israel the cash instead.

(antiwar.com)

I do not like the idea of my tax dollars being sent to the thugs in Israel…but since I have no say in where the money goes I’ll just say “Screw Israel”…..you do not like the way things are done then we will keep our cash and they can go f*ck themselves….put that in your matza ball and shove it!

Peace Out…..chuq

Now You See It, Now You Don’t

Back in the 1990’s the US built an airplane that was virtually invisible on radar….our stealth technology…..it was held as the grand achievement in warfare tech……basically it was a flying wing.

But in reality the low profile of such an aircraft is what made it almost invisible……but years before the US had built a flying wing, the YB-49.

….we tend to associate the flying wing design of aircraft with stealthy planes like the B-2 and the upcoming B-21 bomber. But the world’s first jet-powered flying wing emerged 70 years ago, and it was not designed to be stealthy but instead to conquer the problem of drag.

The Northrop YB-49 “Flying Wing” bomber prototype flew flight tests with the Air Force for several years before a fatal crash and basic problems with the aircraft led to its cancellation in 1949. A documentary from the late 1940s shows the optimism around the fresh design as the Northrop aviation company tried to explain the new YB-49 bomber to the masses.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a20874478/yb-49-northrop-first-flying-wing-jet/

The year was 1949 and it was a marvel according to some in the day…..but this idea was NOT an American idea.

Ever heard of the HO-229?

Probably not for it was conceived by those bastards of the day, the Nazis and the Horton Brothers.

Some historians claim that if the Nazis had put this into production sooner it could have well made all the difference in the outcome of WW2….in Germany’s favor.

America’s flying wing was not the first of such aircraft. In fact, one such plane nearly darkened the skies over Washington at the end of WWII with a nuclear present from the Fuhrer.

The head of the German Luftwaffe, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, was a notorious stickler, often demanding exceedingly stringent performance standards from the aircraft under his command. In 1943, he unveiled his most ambitious requirement set to date, quickly dubbed the “1000/1000/1000 rule”. It dictated than any future aircraft purchased by the German air force must be capable of hauling a 1000 kg load over a distance of 1000 km at a speed of 1000 km/h. And given the state of jet engine technology at the time, that requirement eliminated just about every aircraft currently in development.

https://gizmodo.com/the-first-flying-wing-jet-could-have-won-wwii-for-the-n-1649401748

After the war, the latest scientific improvements prompted the idea of planning an airframe that could sidestep radar. It was found that a jet-powered, flying wing design, just like the Horten Ho 229 will have a little radar cross-area to traditional contemporary twin-motor aircraft. This is because the wings were merged into the fuselage and there were no extensive propeller disks or vertical and horizontal tail surfaces to give a locatable radar signature.

Reimar Horten said he blended charcoal dust with the wood paste to soak up electromagnetic waves (radar), which he accepted could shield the aircraft from identification by British early warning ground-based radar that worked at 20 to 30 MHz (the top end of the HF band), which is called Chain Home radar.

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/military-vehicle-news/the-only-surviving-horten-ho-229-hitlers-stealth-fighter.html

The Nazis were great innovators and it they had a leader that was more anchored in reality then we all might be speaking German to this day.

Fascinating stuff…..history is so much more informative than anything else these days…..but then it takes commonsense to appreciate this stuff and that is sadly lacking in today’s American society.

ISIS: The Rest Of The Story

There is a name that we seldom hear any more…..ISIS.  You would think that the lack of information would signal the demise of this barbarous group, right?  You would be mistaken.

While ISIS may be dying slowly in Iraq and Syria that does not mean the this group is dying out completely……not at all…..

Since ISIS has slipped from the headlines maybe now would be a good time for a refresher course…..

Bottom Line: The Islamic State, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), has experienced significant territorial losses in its former self-declared caliphate that once spanned large swaths of eastern Syria and western Iraq. However, the group remains a potent international threat as it increasingly adopts conventional insurgent tactics, increases its focus on executing terrorist attacks in the West and doubles down on supporting affiliate organizations across the globe as well as lone wolf actors pursuing inspired attacks in their home countries.

Background: ISIS is the third reincarnation of al-Qaida in Iraq, a group that was originally formed in the aftermath of the Iraq War in 2004 and later changed its name to the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) in 2006.

https://www.thecipherbrief.com/threat-report-2018-isis-spotlight#.Wvnnf6psq-0

Before ISIS there was al-Qaeda (AQ)……with ISIS getting most of the press for the last several years ….has AQ disbanded?  Has AQ decided to play nice?

What happened to AQ after the death of Osama?

And I have found an answer to your questions……

In the past five years, only one attack in a Western country — the Kouachi brothers’ attack against Charlie Hebdo in January 2015 — can be connected to al-Qaeda. Why did the once infamous and feared group halt its terror campaign in the West? Part of the explanation is that al-Qaeda has indeed suffered from targeted killings of senior operatives, making it harder for the group to plan and execute international attacks, and that regional events in the Middle East have enhanced the attractiveness of a local focus as opposed to conducting attacks in the West. Equally important to understand al-Qaeda’s changing priorities, however, is the rise of the Islamic State as a competing jihadi outfit and its ensuing terror campaign in the West. Intra-jihadi dynamics affect rival jihadi groups’ priorities for attacks. I outlined this argument in a recent article, Jihadi Competition and Political Preferences, which contends that intra-jihadi competition has played an important role in the changing enemy hierarchies of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State since 2014. Now, with the decline of the Islamic State, will al-Qaeda once again focus on launching attacks in (and not just against) the West?

https://warontherocks.com/2018/04/with-islamic-state-in-decline-whats-al-qaedas-next-move/

As you can see if you have read these reports…..these groups may be out of mind but they are not gone……

Do not let our attention be diverted…..please.