Bring it, says Boko Haram
We can’t lose, we have face-towels.
Peace talks in Nigeria are heavy going.
Boko Haram is fast becoming one of Herald’s favourite gifts-that-keep-on-giving since rejecting a government amnesty offer. The response boiled down to “we are the ones who should be offering amnesty to you – or not offering it, as the case may be.”
There’s nothing like confidence, Herald always says. This sounds a lot like a war to the bitter end.
Herald wonders how long before OEF-Nigeria ramps up…
First steps towards ADF abuse prosecutions
Justice Roberts-Smith has your number, abusers…
First steps towards ADF abuse prosecutions
…or that’s the official spin coming through that favourite all-is-well mouthpiece, The Australian today. Let’s hope it’s correct. The report says appropriate cases will go to state police for investigation. Herald can only hope the guilty bastards are sweating now.
To those who abused our warrior brothers and sisters in your care: you deserve everything you get. Say hello to Bubba and Speedy for me when you meet them at shower time.
Facing a posting to HQ Joint Operations Command
Facing a posting to HQ Joint Operations Command
Many of us have faced this pain 🙂
Remember the Name
We all need a little Monday kick-start sometimes…here’s yours.
10 percent luck, 20 percent skill…
The flamethrower tank for the 21st century
Sure, it’s cold now. But not for long.
The flamethrower tank for the 21st century
The article is about the first live-fire exercise for a Russian battalion equipped with the new Burning Sun system. It’s a 24-tube 220 mm direct-fire rocket launcher, armed with thermobaric warheads. The rocket box is carried by a turretless T-72 hull.
Herald had thought the shoulder-launched 90 mm RPO thermobaric weapon frightening enough. Trust the Russians to bring in an upgrade to warm the heart of Zhukov himself…
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Please kind sir, whack Iran for me – Israel
So what if Iran gets the bomb?
Please kind sir, whack Iran for me – Israel
A senior Israeli Government minister publicly called for a Western coalition offensive against Iran within a few weeks, unless the Persian state stops enriching uranium. Mmm, sure, why not?
Much as Herald dislikes the Iranians, it’s hard to justify this. Suppose Iran develops nuclear weapons. Does that mean they will be tempted to use them against their Jewish neighbours? Why? What possible good what that get them? What would be worth the inevitable nuclear retribution that would follow within hours if not minutes?
Herald has never really understood why it is legitimate for some states to have these weapons, but not anyone else. Apparently it was morally okay for two of the most oppressive, violent regimes in history – the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China – to hold these weapons. And the Russians today are looking uncomfortably like the Soviets of yesterday.
Yet we get upset when somebody else – admittedly bad, but hardly on the USSR or PRC scale of evil – wants the same power. Or India, or Israel, or South Africa, or anyone else.
Herald just cannot see what all the fuss is about. Israel has the bomb, and apparently that’s okay. Why are they the only ones in the Middle East allowed to have it? The Iranians are nasty enough, but not suicidal or insane. They’re no more likely to nuke the neighbours than North Korea is.
China is watching you…
I’m watching you, Mike Wazowkski, always watching…
The PRC is keen to advertise its airborne early warning and control capability at the moment. Perhaps they’d like both the Koreans and any other possible visitors to know there is no sneaking into Chinese airspace as things get tense over the Peninsula.
So today’s People’s Daily has this piece about a successful 24 hour endurance exercise conducted by elements of the PLA Air Force. AEW&C aircraft maintained continuous coverage during the exercise period.
The exercise validated what the PLAAF is calling “all-time all-territory early warning combat
capabilities“.
So no “navigation errors” or “accidental” transgressions, people. They’re watching.
Sectarian madness in Egypt
The sign says we have to destroy everything.
Mob violence has left five dead and at least eight wounded near Cairo. Chrisitan and Muslim crowds began fighting, with some shooting. Shops were smashed and an apartment torched.
The cause of all this? Some kids graffitied a wall. Not with religious symbols, btw. With a message including a backwards swastika (not in its Nazi context).
After that there was no choice but to riot. It must have seemed like the thing to do at the time.
These people, on both sides, show all the mature judgment Herald remembers his young soldiers displaying on a Friday night out, with none of the social graces.
Flowers for Kim (or Algernon?)
Its the Day of the Sun again!
Flowers for Kim (or Algernon?)
No, Algernon was more charming. One of those stories that stays with you.
This one probably won’t, though. It’s good for a moment’s amusement only.
To quote Rodong Sinmun, “
The dear respected Kim Jong Un received a floral basket and a congratulatory letter from Mansour Chavoshi, Iranian ambassador to the DPRK, on the occasion of the birth anniversary of President Kim Il Sung (the Day of the Sun).
The ambassador handed them over to an official concerned on April 3.”
There you go. The Day of the Sun, greeted with flowers. We don’t always get along with the Iranians, but they do understand the social graces. 🙂 Did any of the rest of you rude lot send Kim flowers? No wonder he’s upset!
Why they’re the enemy: Islamists oppressing women in Egypt
How can anyone believe a god wants you to wear a stupid mask?
Why they’re the enemy: Islamists oppressing women in Egypt
The Japan Times article above is not pleasant reading. With the dust hardly settled from its Arab Spring revolution, Egypt has become no country for women. This is a tale of forced marriage, poverty, domestic slavery, rape and chatteldom.
Herald of War has no time for theocrats of any persuasion, but these damned Islamists seem to be world leaders in their sick field.
No, the previous dictatorship was not preferable. But what is it with these people that they fight simply to replace one tyrant with another? What about casting the tyrant down and having no one in his place, as Gandalf said?
Revenge for Bali - the massive new tale
Herald of War 