Francis P.
Author: Michael
(PHOTO © 2023 PLANET LABS INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRINTED BY PERMISSION)
There has been quite the buzz this Sunday on social media about a supposed attack on a Russian A-50 Mainstay airborne early warning and control aircraft that is forward deployed to Machulishchy Air Base south of Minsk, in Belarus. We cannot confirm that this attack actually happened or the nature of the damage, if any, to the A-50 — the type has been a staple at the base throughout the war.
Dr. Henry Walton Jones, Jr., nicknamed “Indiana,” is probably one of the most memorable characters to ever appear in theaters, anywhere in the world. The kind of archaeology practiced by Dr. Jones may come as a surprise to any real-life archaeologists when they begin their work, but Indy worked in a different time, fighting Nazis, grave robbers, and bandits of all kinds.
By day, he’s a mild-mannered professor, Dr. Jones wears a tweed blazer with leather patches, eyeglasses, and probably a sweater of some kind.
Image by northstarmoving.com
Ninety-nine red balloons
Floating in the summer sky
Panic bells, it’s red alert!
There’s something here from somewhere else!
The war machine springs to life
Opens up one eager eye
Focusing it on the sky
When ninety-nine red balloons go by
German Band: Nena, “99 Luftballoons”
By now most people in America know that China launched a “red” balloon and successfully navigated it across America and over some of our most sensitive installations.
On Saturday, the USS Springfield, a fast attack submarine, arrived at the navy station in Busan, South Korea, in what appears to be a show of force geared towards the North.
“The Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine USS Springfield (SSN 761) arrived in the port of Busan on February 23,” the fleet said on social media.
Los Angeles-class submarines make routine calls in South Korea as part of the US Navy’s forward submarine force in the Indo-Pacific. The length of the submarine’s stay has not been disclosed.
Swedish company Saab has received a contract worth around SEK8bn ($761m) from a ‘western country’ to deliver defence systems.
Under the order, Saab will provide Saab’s Carl-Gustaf multipurpose shoulder-launched weapon, the RBS 70 NG short-range air defence system and the Giraffe 1X radar. Saab’s deliveries will take place from 2023 to 2026.
The latest order was placed with circumstances concerning the customer and national security interests, with no further information regarding the orders or the customer being provided.
The confiscated narcotics. (photo courtesy U.S. Coast Guard).
The U.S. Coast Guard made a major drug bust on Saturday, seizing more than 1,500 kilograms of narcotics from a fishing boat moving through the Arabian Sea. The USCG John Scheuerman was on a routine patrol in the sea when it encountered the vessel.
The fishing ship, sailing with a crew of four, was carrying 1,350 kilograms of hashish, 276 kilograms of methamphetamine and 23 kilograms of amphetamine pills, which the Coast Guard said had a street value of $20 million. It’s unclear how they came to that estimation.
On Friday, two German activists placed a rusted-out Soviet tank outside the embassy, shocking the visiting Russian diplomats. This act of kindness occurred on the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The destroyed T-72 1B tank stands at a crossroads near the embassy on the city’s famous Unter den Linden boulevard. It is the culmination of months of work, including a protracted legal battle, by organizers Enno Lenze and Wieland Giebel.
In June 2022, Lenze asked the Ukrainian authorities for help, which responded almost instantly.
As Western nations pledge tens of billions of dollars worth of new weapons to support Ukraine’s war effort and its plans to capture Russian-held territories, U.S. and particularly European sources have claimed that the Russian Military could receive assistance from China in the form of lethal weapons transfers.
In North Korea, everything happens for a reason. North Korean propaganda is carefully controlled by those closest to the current leader and his plans for the near future, whatever those plans may be. In terms of who rules North Korea, it can often mean the sudden appearance of a new successor.
State-run media has been highlighting a new member of the Kim family, Kim Ju Ae, a school-aged girl who is seen sitting between her father, Kim Jong-Un, and members of North Korea’s senior military leadership.