[DAWN] The Wildlife director general constituted on Tuesday an inquiry committee to probe into giraffe’s death at the Lahore Zoo. The committee will submit its report in three days. The giraffe is dead but no one's surprised, are they?
The giraffe was found dead in the zoo early on Monday by a zoo keeper. The zoo officials said the animal had died of heart attack. "When you come right down to it, everyone ultimately dies of heart failure."
DG Khalid Ayaz Khan recently visited various places in Punjab having wildlife offices and facilities and warned of a strict action against carelessness in duties. ... and then the giraffe turns up dead...
Mr Khan told Dawn on Tuesday he would check if vets at the zoo were doing their job properly and blood sampling of animals was being carried out regularly. Giraffes have long necks, but they can't make a sound.
He said he would ensure proper medical facilities at all wildlife centers. He hoped a new pair of giraffes would arrive at the zoo before June. The authorities had imported three giraffes in 2007, after a gap of 13 years. But that doesn't mean they can't type...
None of the wild parks or zoos in Pakistan has any giraffe now. When this male giraffe, popularly known as Sunny, was alive, an order had been placed for a female giraffe by the Zoo Management Committee, Naeem Bhatti, deputy director of the Punjab Wildlife Department headquarters, told Dawn. It doesn't mean there's not an envelope labeled "To Be Opened in the Event of My Death" left with the zookeeper.
He said the order for a giraffe pair had to be placed again. A pair of giraffes cost around Rs10 million, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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This probe was launched from the highest levels.
Even the head of the highest court in the land has to report for jury duty.
John Roberts, the chief justice of the US Supreme Court, showed up for jury duty Wednesday in a Maryland county court in the Washington suburbs, Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg told AFP.
But after responding to several questions aimed at vetting potential jurors for a civil case, he was not selected. Must have figured out he was singlehandedly responsible for Obamacare.
Roberts, who has presided over the US Supreme Court for the past decade, certainly will have his share of important cases to decide in the coming weeks.
In late April, the court will hear potentially game-changing cases on gay marriage and the constitutionality of lethal injection.
In 2005, the 60-year-old Roberts was nominated to the Supreme Court by then-president George W. Bush.
While Roberts's confirmation was still pending, the sitting chief justice died, Bush changed the nomination, propelling Roberts to the top spot.
His vote is often crucial because the court's eight other justices are evenly divided among conservatives and liberals.
What is it that makes that popping sound when you crack your knuckles? If you think it's vacuum cavities forming in the synovial fluid of the joint, give yourself a gold star: a team of researchers led by the University of Alberta Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine have confirmed that that is precisely what it is.
How? By pulling the fingers of a test subject inside an MRI machine.
"We call it the 'pull my finger study' -- and actually pulled on someone's finger and filmed what happens in the MRI," said lead author of the study published in PLOS One, Professor Greg Kawchuk of the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine. "When you do that, you can actually see very clearly what is happening inside the joints."
The theory of bubbles in the joint was first floated in 1947: UK researchers JB Roston and R Wheeler Haines hypothesised that cracking the knuckles caused bubbles to form in the synovial fluid; this, they believed, caused the sound. In 1971, however, another study came along that proposed that it was not the formation, but the collapse of the bubble that produced the audible effect -- in other words, that it was the bursting of the bubble that made a noise.
Other hypothetical sources of the knuckle-cracking noise included stretching ligaments, or the adhesions in the joints snapping -- but the bubble idea has always been the strongest, since X-rays taken directly after cracking a joint show a gas bubble inside that joint. But whether or not it was the formation or collapse of the bubble had still been something of a mystery.
The idea for the study came from Nanaimo chiropractor Jerome Fryer, who approached Professor Kawchuk with a theory. Rather than beat around the bush, they decided to take a direct look using magnetic resonance imaging -- with champion knuckle-cracker Fryer as the guinea pig.
"Fryer is so gifted at it, it was like having the Wayne Gretzky of knuckle cracking on our team," Professor Kawchuk said.
Fryer's fingers were inserted, one at a time, into a tube attached to a cable; this tube slowly pulled on each finger until the knuckle cracked. And, in each instance, it was absolutely the formation of the bubble in the synovial fluid that was associated with the popping sound, occurring within 310 milliseconds.
"It's a little bit like forming a vacuum," Professor Kawchuk explained. "As the joint surfaces suddenly separate, there is no more fluid available to fill the increasing joint volume, so a cavity is created and that event is what's associated with the sound."
Solving a decades-old mystery was far from the team's only focus, though -- as fun as that was. The team believes studying joint cracking could help them better understand joint health -- such as the contradiction between the amount of force required to crack a joint (enough to cause damage to hard surfaces) and the fact that it doesn't appear to do long-term harm.
One thing they found, for instance, was a flash of white in the MRI just before the joint popped -- something no one had ever documented before. Professor Kawchuk believes it was water suddenly being drawn into the joint, and plans to use more advanced MRI to study what happens in the joint just before and after the pop.
"It may be that we can use this new discovery to see when joint problems begin long before symptoms start, which would give patients and clinicians the possibility of addressing joint problems before they begin," he said.
The 1971 team may have missed the mark on the cause of the sound, but they did get at least one thing correct.
"The data fail to support evidence that knuckle cracking leads to degenerative changes in the metacarpal phalangeal joints in old age," the study concludes. "The chief morbid consequence of knuckle cracking would appear to be its annoying effect on the observer."
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter may be ridiculously expensive, horribly late, and perhaps not all it was cracked up to be. But according to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, it has one truly distinguishing feature: It's probably the last manned fighter aircraft the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps will ever buy.
In remarks made at a conference held just outside Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, according to U.S. Naval Institute News, Mabus said, "As good as it is, and as much as we need it and look forward to having it in the fleet for many years, the F-35 should be, and almost certainly will be, the last manned strike fighter aircraft the Department of the Navy will ever buy or fly."
Mabus indicated the military is increasingly moving toward drones. "Unmanned systems, particularly autonomous ones, have to be the new normal in ever-increasing areas," Mabus said.
The disappointing F-35 has cost the federal government some $400 billion to date -- about $170 billion more than was forecast. It has failed to meet multiple performance standards specified by the different branches of the U.S. military. A highly critical report from the Department of Defense's Director of Operational Test and Evaluation last month included a laundry list of problems, including engine fires and computer malfunctions.
The delayed deployment of the F-35 has left the 187 F-22s currently in the U.S. military's inventory as the only currently available fifth generation jet fighters in the world.
The F-22 provides the U.S. military with air superiority over practically every other fighter plane on the planet. However, the F-22, itself a problematic piece of equipment that Congress stopped funding in 2009, is operationally inferior to the Russian T-50, which is reportedly going into regular production as soon as next year.
If Mabus is correct, and the move away from manned combat aircraft is imminent, the effect on the military contracting industry will likely be enormous. The U.S. has spent more on the F-35 alone than the entire GDP of all but about 30 countries in the world.
Drone production will undoubtedly take up a lot of the slack. However, without the necessity of carrying and protecting a human pilot, drones will be cheaper to produce and, at least potentially, less profitable for the companies that produce aircraft for the U.S. military. Riiiiiiight.
Mabus had at least a little good news for the defense industry on Wednesday. The Navy, he said, is creating a new senior position for an official who will be in charge of coordinating its unmanned combat capabilities.
No word on how much money the new department will have to spend.
[Daily Caller] The Rev. Al Sharpton, whose head already resembles a deflated balloon collapsing into an Italian suit, apparently thinks he still needs to lose a few pounds. That's the only plausible explanation for the following.
Loretta Lynch is still waiting to be confirmed as attorney general, and her allies are hoping a hunger strike will do the trick.
The advocacy group founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton, along with female civil-rights leaders, are launching the hunger strike -- where groups of fasters will alternate days abstaining from food until Lynch is confirmed to replace Eric Holder at the Justice Department.
'Alternating days'...symbolic half-measures. Hands in the air, 'don't eat, don't eat, don't eat!'
[Iran Press TV] A US government watchdog has warned that modern aircraft with internet accessibility could be remotely taken over and brought down by hackers using the plane's passenger Wi-Fi network. I'd have to see that one to believe it...
The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a new report on Tuesday that identified the danger of several emerging cyber security weaknesses that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) must address as the air traffic control. If the WiFi leg bone's connect to the aircraft's connection to the ATC system it's hideously poor design--the two should be firewalled off from each other.
"Modern aircraft are increasingly connected to the internet. This interconnectedness can potentially provide unauthorized remote access to aircraft avionics systems," the report said.
"Internet connectivity in the cabin should be considered a direct link between the aircraft and the outside world, which includes potential malicious actors," it added.
According to the report, it is theoretically possible for someone with just a laptop to hijack the aircraft, put a virus into flight control computer or even to take over the warning systems or navigation systems.
"We've had hackers get into the Pentagon, so getting into an airplane computer system I would think is probably quite easy at this point," said pilot John Barton.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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These guys would be particularly vulnerable to a certain well-placed April Fool's Day joke . . . .
#2
The flight controls almost certainly don't use TCP/IP, and the odds the airlines were dumb enough to connect the customer-facing WiFi to anything except power AND not have hired guns test their security are close to nil.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
04/16/2015 8:31 Comments ||
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Someone has been watching too much T.V.
Between this stupid assertion, the White House being hacked, and clintons email server, I wonder if anything is secured anymore.
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Dozens of inmates have beat feet from jail in Sudan's western Darfur region following festivities with prison guards, police said Wednesday.
One inmate was killed and four coppers injured in festivities that erupted on Tuesday in the main prison in Zalingei, capital of Central Darfur State, according to a police statement.
"Rioting erupted in Zalingei prison. Prisoners have attacked police in the prison, seizing some guns and firing in all directions," the statement read.
"As a result, one prisoner was killed and four copperswere maimed and taken to hospital, some of them at death's door," it added.
About 27 inmates have since been recaptured by the security forces. Others, however, remain on the lam, according to the police.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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[AA.TR] Malawian President Peter Mutharika has signed into law a much-awaited bill that will make 18 the minimum age for marriage.
"I am excited and happy that the president has assented to the bill," Patricia Kaliati, minister for gender, children, disability and social welfare, told The Anadolu Agency by phone on Wednesday.
"I welcome this development; my ministry worked hard to have it [the bill] passed in parliament," said a jovial-sounding Kaliati.
"It is a statement that we are committed to ending child marriages in Malawi," she asserted.
The Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Bill was ratified by parliament on Feb 12.
The new legislation raises the minimum age for marriage from 14 to 18, effectively banning child marriages.
"We will continue the fight to end early marriages so our girls can go to school," Kaliati told AA.
"The new law will also help the courts hand out stiff penalties to offenders," she added.
Malawi reportedly ranks eighth in the world in terms of child marriages, with some girls as young as nine being married off because their parents are too poor to care for them or pay for their education.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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Hat tip to President Mutharika, bringing sanity and the hint of civilization to one of, if not the poorest nations in Africa.
[ELUNIVERSAL] A project of constituencies prepared by technicians of the National Electoral Council (CNE) reduces the amount of deputies to be elected in areas where voters have a historic trend to support opposition candidates, while it increases the number of parliamentarians to be elected in constituencies where voters usually cast their ballots for pro-government candidates.
The project was disclosed by electoral technicians of ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). It cuts, for instance, the number of deputies chosen in constituency N 2 in Miranda state, list deputies in the Capital District, and the parliamentarians in constituency N 1 in Nueva Esparta state.
According to the proposal, the total number of deputies to be chosen in the upcoming parliament vote could increase from 165 to 167.
There are still two steps to be accomplished before the project is passed: First, the National Assembly has to certify the Population Index of the National Statistics Institute (INE) on which the modifications are based; second, the majority of the CNE directors have to approve the changes in the electoral constituencies.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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[ELUNIVERSAL] "Let's make this April 13 a day for economy matters," Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro suggested late Monday, and requested the local working class to monitor the private sector, which he blamed for serious shortages of staples throughout Venezuela.
From Los Próceres promenade (southwest Caracas), in an act to commemorate the events (a failed coup) occurred back on April 11-13, 2012, Maduro stressed: "No more meetings (with the private sector). We have summoned them; we have talked; they wear a lamb face and go like wolves to stab people (in the back). Let's pull our socks up, let's act with an iron fist, and let's radicalize the revolution."
In reference to staples supply in the country, Maduro said "all the powers of the State" should tackle the problem. "If you cannot keep your economic activity up, go away. If someone is found involved in any conspiracy, he will go to jail."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
I wonder who they will use as a scapegoat after they finish off all the private sector.
For a map, click here. You can enlarge the map, if you open it separately.
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
As fighting in Donetsk continues to heat up, a small civil war within the civil war in Lugansk has been going on since last month, according to Ukrainian Russian language news accounts.
Tsnsor.net reported Wednesday that the popular leader of Cossacks in Lugansk and others was liquidated by Russian security services and by rebel forces in Lugansk.
A Facebook post on the page of the Ukrainian run Donetsk Regional Administration quoted Colonel Valentin Fedichev, the deputy commander of the Ukrainian command in southeastern Ukraine, as saying that Ataman Kozitsyn "no longer exists," and that several other Cossack commanders loyal to Ataman Kozitsyn have been eliminated by forces loyal to Lugansk president Igor Plotnitsky, Kozitsyn's chief rival, Colonel Pavel Dremov, and by Russian "security services", which can only mean either Russian FSB or GRU Spetsnaz forces.
Said Colonel Valentin Fedicheva: "... the Cossacks, who sincerely believed in the creation of an independent Cossack republic - killed or arrested by Russian security services." He further characterized the military campaign against other Cossacks by Dremov as a "cleansing" of Cossack units.
Ataman Kozitsyn has long antagonized both Plotnitsky and Plotnitsky's Russian backing by pushing for a separate Cossack republic, and by maintaining a military force of soldiers loyal to him, dubbed the Grand Don Army of the Cossacks.
Since last summer, his forces directly engaged by fire forces loyal to Plotnitsky several times in response to policies maintained by Plotnitsky, to include trading with Ukraine.
A separate news account in tsnsor.net said that pro Russian Cossack units have been fighting with forces loyal to Kozitsyn and his Grand Don Army of the Cossacks, according to data supplied by another Ukrainian military officer, Colonel Aleksandr Motuzyanik.
Plotnitsky has a long history with Kozitsyn's Cossacks by his statements late last year, saying that the end result for Lugansk should be a republic in the Russian federation.
Kozitsyn was last heard from in a news article in nagg.in.ua, March 24th, when he was quoted as saying his Cossacks were engaged in agricultural work.
Plotnitsky's decision to kill a popular military commander, Aleksandr Bednov last January 1st, did not set well with several Lugansk commanders, to include Alexei Mozgovoi, commander of the Lugansk Ghost Brigade, which is posted in Alchevsk in western Lugansk.
Plotnitsky has been pushing since the start of the year to combine forces posted in Lugansk under a single command, to include logistics, but news emerging from rebel media suggests that Mozgovoi, one of the commanders who have publicly antagonized Plotnitsky, has not received the same consideration as Don cossacks loyal to Plotnitsky have received.
It was reported in rebel media Wednesday that Dremov's Cossack unit received its battle flag April 11th as the 6th Cossack Motorized Cavalry Regiment with the honorific Matvei Platov, a Cossack commander of some note during the Napoleonic wars in the 19th century.
In Slavic military circles, a unit battle flag is considered to be a defining characteristic of a unit, so much so, whole divisions have been disbanded for having lost their banner in battle.
According to the post, Mozgovoi's brigade to date has not received either a battle flag or an honorific.
Also, pro Russian Cossack units are currently receiving pay, whereas Mozgovoi's units are forced to rely on personal resources, donations from abroad and support from locals in Alchevsk.
Last month, Mozgovoi was attacked by a remotely detonated directional mine near Alchevsk, one of six top field commanders who were attacked by a roadside bomb or by small arms attack that month. Of those six field commanders, two were killed.
Plotnitsky was fingered by an investigator just after the incident as possibly being responsible for the attack.
Mozgovoi had severely criticized rebel commanders in the Debaltsevo, salient operation which ended in February, characterizing the operation as a Pyrrhic victory, instead of the great victory claimed by rebel media.
In a translated video just before the conclusion of the Debaltsevo operation, Mozgovoi also directly addressed Plotnitsky, saying to the camera(paraphrasing, from memory), "Do you think you matter now?"
That remark as well as his revelation about rebel casualties in the Debaltsevo operation was the clearest indication of how deeply the Russian Federation is influencing events in southeastern Ukraine, and how much relations between Plotnitsky and his commanders have deteriorated.
One other top Cossack leader, mayor of Pervomaysk, Evgeny Ishchenko, was killed along with three others in January, is it said, by a Ukrainian special forces team. However, it has been hinted that Plotnitsky was the author of that attack as well.
Ishchenko was said to be a close friend of Colonel Dremov.
Ataman Kozitsyn disappeared from rebel news for a few weeks before emerging just before the conclusion of the Debaltsevo operation. His units were involved in mopping up operations on the eastern side of the Debaltsevo pocket.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on Twitter. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraina by clicking here.
#2
Sounds like we just had a 'night of the long knives' type event at Lugansk. I did like the line about "donations from abroad and support from locals in Alchevsk". Yeah. Just like the teamsters, huh?
Posted by: ed in texas ||
04/16/2015 8:31 Comments ||
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I defy you to find a Teamsters local that relies on donations and local support for its per diem.
#2
During the Balkans war the Clinton admin ignored the emergence of the Islamist movement in Turkey. Funding for the Bosnian Muslims was led in part by Sudanese charities, which in turn were supported by Turkish Islamists including Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then Istanbul mayor and leader of that city's arm of the Islamist-dominated Refah (Welfare Party). Founded in the early nineteen eighties, the Refah was led by Necmettin Erbakan, a close friend of leading Muslim Brothers. Both Erbakan and Erdogan were reported to be members of the inner circle that operated out of the Popular Arab and Islamic Conference ("The Terrorist Internationale") located in Khartoum. Much to our detriment, subsequent US administrations have continuously ignored Turkey's increasing Islamist (and Muslim Brotherhood) bent.
The revised version of the US maritime strategy (A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower - CS-21R), released last month, has been generating excitement in maritime circles. The new document updates concepts and strategies in the original 2007 document (CS-21) to make them more relevant in the current maritime environment. It is especially valuable for clearly identifying Chinese assertiveness as a threat, for making existing strategy more relevant, and for providing specific ways to guide operational thinking in strategic scenarios.
From an Asian perspective, the document's release is timely. Not only has the US been expanding the scope of its operations with Asian littoral states, regional maritime forces have been grappling with a complex set of challenges. To its credit, the new maritime strategy attempts to comprehensively address the entire spectrum of nautical issues, pulling together diverse strands such as nationalistic posturing in the Asia-Pacific, nontraditional security challenges in the broader maritime littorals, new technologies complicating security responses, and even fiscal prudence as a key consideration in planning future maritime operations.
Like its predecessor, the new document underscores maritime cooperation as the foundational principle of effective maritime security. However, departing from the earlier version's articulation of the concept as a kind of doctrinal "end" in itself, CS-21R presents maritime cooperation and transnational partnerships as a strategic imperative in achieving long-term security objectives. This difference, although marginal, is instructive because it implies a greater keenness on the part of the US Navy (USN) to engage and involve partner-navies in its maritime endeavors. Consequently, the new document advocates a more purposeful engagement with allies and partners to achieve greater synergy in security operations.
The most noticeable aspect of the CS-21R is its clear acknowledgement of China as a key challenge. Unlike its predecessor, the new document candidly recognizes China's maritime expansion and territorial claims as a source of regional unrest. But it stops short of recognizing China's A2/AD challenge, desisting from making the all-important link, even as it pronounces "all-domain access" as a strategic prerequisite to all its global endeavors. Yet, it raises the possibility of nautical strife arising from the military resurgence of another Asia-Pacific power, Russia. Since traditional challenges are only likely to grow, the document projects "forward presence" as the bedrock of the USN's future security undertakings. The authors explain the need for a joint force to gain and sustain security operations, even as they emphasize flexibility, adaptability, scalability and integration in the sea services.
The CS-21R makes clear that while the United States is exporting more energy than it imports, it remains tied to the global economy. Since the latter remains wholly dependent on the uninterrupted supply of oil and gas from the Middle East and Central Asia, the USN would continue to play an important role in securing oil-flows by forward deploying in key theatres. Oddly, however, the emphasis on forward operations isn't borne out by the dim prospects of future growth in naval force levels. According to the authors, the USN's current budget submission provides for just about 300 ships, of which 120 will be forward deployed by 2020. This is a marginal rise from current force levels - leading to some doubts whether the Navy will at all be able to sustain forward presence in critical areas of operations.
The new maritime strategy, however, offers some pointers in terms of operational imperatives and trends. The emphasis on cyber warfare, electro-magnetic spectrum operations, battle-space awareness and cross-domain synergy is a useful illustration of the evolving needs of contemporary naval engagement. It is also a reminder that even as navies learn to operate in a climate of financial hardship, they must utilize available means innovatively to effectively tackle nontraditional and regular challenges simultaneously.
Equally interesting, from an Asian perspective, is the introduction of the term "Indo-Asia-Pacific" - an integrated region where the "US Rebalance" is meant to play out. While the document announces a new policy aimed at positioning approximately 60 percent of Navy ships and aircraft in the said region, it does not make a case for distributing resources equally in the Western Pacific and broader Indian Ocean. With increased assets in Japan, Guam, Singapore, and Australia, it is clear the thrust of the Navy's operational focus continues to be in the Pacific theatre.
To be sure, the CS-21R's framers devote renewed attention to regions that were neglected in the previous version. But it doesn't appear entirely plausible. For instance, the reappearance of Europe and Middle East as theatres of strategic attention - though well-reasoned, as a contingency occasioned by the USN's need to operate in the Mediterranean, the Levant and Northwest Asia - seems like an exercise in box-checking. It is unclear how the US intends to provide security around the Eurasian landmass while forward deploying a majority of its operational assets in the Pacific.
The document's exposition of naval power projection as a form of "smart power" is noteworthy, particularly the notion that classical naval capabilities can be used in benign missions such as HADR (as demonstrated by the USN during the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the 2011 tsunami in Japan, and the 2013 typhoon in the Philippines). It is also noteworthy that the document expands the US Coast Guard (USCG) role in maritime security. Underlining the USCG's stellar contribution in building partner-state capacity for maritime governance, the authors announce the coast guard as the lead agency responsible for security in the Western hemisphere. The raised profile of the USCG also raises the possibility that the service could support conventional maritime operations in the Eastern Pacific during a conflict with China.
Ironically, the only noticeable gray-area in CS-21R - apart from the issue of squaring budgets with resources - involves China. The PLA-Navy is growing in size and will soon be the largest presence in the Asia-Pacific region. From a strategy of area-denial the Chinese navy might soon move to one of area-dominance (worryingly not just in the Pacific but also in the Indian Ocean). That means that the US will need to counter China's A2/AD strategy in its near-waters and be prepared to defeat PLAN forces in the far-seas. With its existing force levels in the region, however, it seems unlikely the USN will have the capability for both sea-control and active war-fighting.
Nowhere is this more relevant than in the South China Sea, where the US and its allies are involved in a power struggle with China. Washington realizes its limitations, which is why the "Air-Sea Battle" concept has been recently recast as the "Joint Concept for Access and Maneuver," presumably in a bid to make it seem less confrontational to China. In fact, the USN has not only toned down rhetoric on countering China's A2/AD complex, it has also been building a closer relationship with the PLAN. Not surprisingly, the new maritime strategy highlights Beijing's efforts to be a responsible maritime player, extolling its support for Somalia counter-piracy operations, the PLAN's HADR missions, and participation in multinational naval exercises, and the signing of the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES) that has served to reduce suspicion in maritime Asia.
For Asian analysts, there is much to be gleaned from CS-21R. Its characterization of the emerging maritime dynamic in the Asia-Pacific is apt and holds revealing lessons for other navies. But it is Washington's willingness to articulate a strategy that identifies Chinese assertiveness as a threat that is most refreshing, especially since earlier documents sought to tip-toe around the contentious subject. In fact, now that the US has clearly called out the China threat, other Asia-Pacific powers might be encouraged to follow suit in the revision of their own maritime strategies.
In the pursuit of the objectives laid out in the new maritime strategy, the Indian navy (IN) is likely to be a key partner. But New Delhi is aware that Washington's dependence on regional states is growing. There will be a stronger demand by the USN for high-end collaboration with the Indian navy. So far, India has parried US efforts to link IN-USN cooperation to larger issues of global balance of power. But increasingly, there is a sense that India is expected to not just shoulder a larger proportion of the security workload in the Indian Ocean, but also partner with the US in limiting China's freedom of action in the broader Indo-Pacific. The message in the new maritime strategy is clear: "load-sharing" is now the animating ideology of the USN's concept of collaborative operations and it applies to both irregular and traditional forms of security.
The CS-21R is a credible attempt to refine an existing strategy to make it more relevant to the times. It gives practitioners concrete tangibles to guide operational thinking in strategic scenarios. But it honestly acknowledges that the US isn't the sole arbiter of maritime security in the global commons.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[DAWN] The Wildlife director general constituted on Tuesday an inquiry committee to probe into giraffe’s death at the Lahore Zoo. The committee will submit its report in three days.
What is it that makes that popping sound when you crack your knuckles? If you think it's vacuum cavities forming in the synovial fluid of the joint, give yourself a gold star: a team of researchers led by the University of Alberta Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine have confirmed that that is precisely what it is.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter may be ridiculously expensive, horribly late, and perhaps not all it was cracked up to be. But according to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, it has one truly distinguishing feature: It's probably the last manned fighter aircraft the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps will ever buy.
[Iran Press TV] A US government watchdog has warned that modern aircraft with internet accessibility could be remotely taken over and brought down by hackers using the plane's passenger Wi-Fi network.
