From BBC on this Day:

The mission became popularly known as the Dambusters raid, and was immortalized in a 1954 war film. It was one of the most famous air operations of World War II. Casualties for the raid were high.

Eight of the original 19 Lancaster bombers were damaged or shot down, and of the 133 aircrew, 53 were killed and three captured. On the ground, too, almost 1,300 people were killed, including 749 Ukrainian prisoners of war based in a camp just below the Eder dam.

The Möhne and Eder reservoirs poured about 330 million tons of water into the western Ruhr valley. The flood waters spread for about 50 miles (80km) from the source. The spectacular, daring nature of the raid was a significant boost to British morale. But militarily, it was a failure. The squadron failed to breach the Sorpe dam; and the disruption to the German war production was minimal. Water supply in the Ruhr valley was back to original levels six weeks later.

The aircrew, however, became famous as war heroes, and the leader of the raid, Wing Commander Guy Gibson, was awarded the Victoria Cross. He died less than 18 months later, shot down at the age of 26 in September 1944.

Actually many air raids hardly stopped German war production and many raids hit only the prisoners, because they usually were unable to hide in shelters. But the loss of material and airmen for the Americans and British was incredible.

As a finale note - the Dambuster theme from the movie, which is part of the British war culture:

More? documentary about the development of the special bomb and Wikipedia entry

Just watching and controlling all these Non-Americans …

The US has over 700 military installations worldwide. In contrast to that India opened it’s FIRST foreign military base in 2006 in lovely Tajikistan (do you know where that is?). China has not a single foreign military base. And on a funny side note the even lovelier country of Kyrgyzstan has a Russian and an American military base.

Not many countries can afford to keep military bases in other nations - and not many nations are willing to have foreign soldiers in their soil. (List of military bases by country)

Many American bases go way back to WWII like those big ones in Japan, Britain and Germany, but also to the cold war like in Turkey, Korea or Spain. Russia has closed down most of it’s bases since the end of the Soviet Union - most of the remaining ones are based in former parts of the Communist Empire. Britain and France have kept some bases in some former Colonies.

But nobody spends as much money, influence and hardware as the USA. Read this excellent article Chalmers Johnson on garrisoning the planet to get some deeper insights.

Comrades: We already rule Wal-Mart and Africa! And America can’t finance any war without us. There is no need for a stinking war …

Faced with such a staggering difference in the balance of power and obsession with keeping the upper hand - is anyone surprised that the US is accused of Imperialism? During the Cold War it made sense for NATO to keep a huge network of bases around the world, but this war is over.

And neither Bin Laden nor China or Russia will be contained by military force.

For terrorists military bases are excellent advertising for American Imperialism and they also make yummy targets to blow up. China understands that going to war is stupid and is way too busy to build up it’s already huge industrial and financial muscles - that is why the US is lending money from the Communists to finance it’s war in Iraq. And finally Russia - who also no longer needs a huge military presence anyway, because it can use it’s energy reserves as much more effective weapon.

Got some change for me Dude? I need to buy some bullets … this whole war thing is pretty expensive you know.

Imperial overstretch can destroy great Nations (here are two great essays related to that: part 1 and part 2). The American infrastructure, social fabric, educational system and manufacturing base is already showing serious signs of underdevelopment. And it’s mighty military has huge recruitment and moral problems.

The military industrial complex is destroying it’s own base. But the rich and mighty can always move on to another country and new wars to fight.

More? No-Bases.org

There are not many guns and rifles a normal person will know by name (unless you are a gun nut anyway). The Magnum .44 is something everybody knows - and the famous Winchester Rifle, which appear in any old western movie.

But capitalism is able to bring down even well armed icons. The company Winchester that produces the gun has moved abroad and no longer wants to manufacture this gun (BBC article here). It’s simply not profitable.

I wish that would happen to all guns and riffles!

More? Winchester Rifle @ Wikipedia and the movie Winchester 73

While the US Americans have a hard time finding second class recruits, Canada’s armed forces get almost more applications they can handle.

The War on Terror (mostly the mission in Afghanistan) and many PR events in Canada have been spun into a very brave and positive image. Young Canadians love it and flock to the military.

But the weak Canadian politicians dislike the popularity of the military - something new and weird to the highly democratic and peace loving Canadians. But it’s also a world wide campaign - mostly via the web: Combat Camera and their own YouTube channel.

Canada and it’s dedication to help out in Afghanistan could be a new role model for most western humanitarian war efforts. Countries like Germany still have an awkward relationship with their military forces, America’s PR with embedded journalists has worked during the beginnings of the Afghanistan and Iraq war, but later was mostly despised as pure propaganda.

Democratic countries need to communicate and discuss their military endeavors. It needs to be more than ‘Support our troops’ stickers, but good financing and a good understanding of the voter why industrial nations still need well equipped and trained armed forces.

For the Canadian Military their own good PR lead to better financing and therefore combat readiness for their current missions - which is a good thing. But it should never lead to an unhealthy relationship like the military-industrial-complex in the US.

No battle plan survives any contact with politicians. 

Appeasing public opinion, winning a battle and winning the war are three very different things. Usually all three are lost while trying to win all three objectives.

Not to speak of the hearts & minds of the natives you try to liberate …

We are marching for new gimmicks!

Telegraph: Vladimir Putin rearms his Cold War military

Tsar Putin’s strong man rhetoric is a necessity of Russia tough internal politics. Showing strength and determination is important for a country that has lost it’s strength and social integrity.

So Putin’s plan to massively update the Russian armed forces makes perfect sense: since the fall of the Soviet Union the formerly huge Army, Navy and Airforce is in total disarray. Many ships, tanks, atomic subs and airplanes are no more than scrap metal and often a health hazards for soldiers and civilians alike. In the darkest days after the fall of the Soviet empire soldiers went for months without pay - the troops moral and integrity totally wrecked.

From the Telegraph article.

Russia desperately needs modernization and a moral boost. So the oil money from the recent years is used to buy new military hardware, upgrade the infrastructure and show strength - internally and externally.

I need new legs!

Compared to the US budget the Russian military spending is a joke. Plus the US has military bases all around Russia. Many former satellite states - which have been like buffer zones - have broken away. Many of them are now in bed with America and some are even host to US military bases. So no surprise the Russians feel the extra need to boost their own military power.

More? Wikipedia for Russian Armed Forces

I do hate sailing, but I do love a good ‘naval’ movie! Most of these are centered around the British Navy - and I have a weak spot for the period of British Empire anyway.

Most of the old movies tend to be charmingly naive and adventures (like Horatio Hornblower or the Sea Hawk), but only Master and Commander is both ‘modern’ (read: realistic) and exciting at the same time. And it helps a lot that no phoney love story is woven into the plot … it’s rather bloody, but full of friendship and the terrible truth about the moments of horror of war at sea.

More? Official Trailer

*update*

Boy oh boy, one time I do not check an entry via Wikipedia and I am in trouble. Jolene and Edosan gave me a proper lashing for my failure!

The movie is based on a HUGE series of novels by the great writer Patrick O’Brian - who has been working on navel novels for over 35 years now. Here is a NPR radio special about the author. There is obviously a huge maritime fan base out there - I was completely ignorant about …

Click image for a bigger bang.

Atomic explosions are amazing - I can watch them over and over again. The Universe at work …

An excellent movie about America’s lust for weapons and power. Watch the trailer online or simply the whole movie.

This movie makes an excellent addition to the ‘Fog of War‘, but not so intellectual and focus on a single person (Robert McNamara) - and it gives you a much better oversight how it all developed.

Watch this animation sponsored by American scientists to explain why any mini-nukes are pretty useless against the Iranian research facilities. Sometimes firepower doesn’t solve everything.

BBC News: article, international reactions and images

President Pervez Musharraf has stepped on the brakes and clamped down on the country. Pakistan has seen a lot of political turmoil in it’s short history - today’s situation is nothing new.

Will we see a peaceful solution? Hardly. Will we see more bombs and violence from militants and fundamentalists? Certainly. Some countries are on a hard and long road to Democracy. Let’s hope that the Islamists don’t take over the country, it’s nuclear weapons and huge military.

The pilot of the Enola Gay - who dropped the first atom bomb - has died (BBC News article). The old warriors of Warld War II are slowly vanishing from society, living memory becomes history.

Tibbet was always very public about his big mission.

More? Interview video (YouTube) and another interview (Guardian.uk)

The ‘invention’ - the AK-47

The original German Sturmgewehr

Usually I am don’t give a peep about nationalistic sentiments - but it just drives me nuts, when history gets abused. Mr Kalashnikov recently bragged about his invention and how much American soldiers loved his AK-47. Well, I am no weapons expert, but you can read about the AK-47 reliability in any recent war reports. The American M-16 never seems so popular - since it has hardly improved since it was introduced 30 years ago.

BUT … the AK47 is a perfect of the German Sturmgewehr 44, which was introduced in the last battles at the eastern front and deeply impressed the Soviets. No surprise they endorsed further developments of these fast firing attack weapons and even adapted their infantry doctrines to reflect this.

AP: Iran says it’s safe from US attack

Yeah, right. I think this must be a generational problem in Iran. All current political and military leaders have fought through the Iran-Iraq war, which was mostly a bloody ground war - almost all WWI style. This old (revolutionary) guard still clings onto their belief that they can hold their own against a US ground attack.

But the US won’t commit any ground troops. Like with Serbia it will bomb Iran back to the stone age. Sure - Iran has many missile defenses (bought from China and Russia). But the US has many missiles and bunker buster that thirst for war.

The US Army is certainly very busy and overstretched at the moment with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - but the US Airforce and the Navy felt a bit left out of loop and want some of the action too. This would be their chance to shine and show that all these supergimmicks they have bought in recent years are quite nice too.

The Iranian defense budget (2005 = 6 billion Dollar) is a joke compared to the American. Check out also the lists of Weapon systems of the Iranian Navy, Army and Airforce. Most stuff is actually American made and was bought by the Shah an totally outdated.

Some newer stuff is from Russia - but hardly in huge numbers or very sophisticated. It’s navy is hardly larger or as powerful as an American carrier group.

And the Americans have had a lot of practice the recent years …

Another excellent documentation from the PBS Frontline crew! It’s about the current Iran and USA situation - and how the current Shrub administration once again missed the chance for diplomacy.

You can watch the whole show online.

See also BBC News Iran vs USA timeline for some background.

BBC News: NATO plans more Afghan resources

On one side I am really pissed off that NATO has to clean up America’s act in Afghanistan - since most resources have been sent to Iraq. But I think it’s worth the risk to TRY to make Afghanistan a normal country after several decades of war - even by using force to secure the country against the Taliban.

But I have to say that NATO has to try harder - look at some of the troop contributions stated in the BBC article. Austria just three (3!!!) fucking soldiers? Switzerland (not part of NATO) has two - wow! I am sure the Taliban are really scared of your mighty army knifes?

Germany has been unwilling so far to engage in any serious combat - they have focused mostly on rebuilding. The brunt of the fighting has been done by Canadians, Dutch and Americans (click links for some YouTube war porn).

Again and again in recent years the Muslim world exploded. Once again pride is more important then sanity. Once again people say ‘we have to respect religion’. Once again flags are burned and artists are threatened. Once again the west doesn’t ‘respect’ Islam.

I am sick and tired of this - and I guess this is also a growing feeling here in Europe from what I have read in European news and blogs.

Sure we Europeans have a long and troubled past with the middle east - because of religion and later colonialism. France and Britain have retreated from the region and the Arabs got to run their own countries. But the cold war and oil once again drew in other superpowers and foreigners. The current trouble spots Iran (read about operation Ajax) and Iraq (more about the troubled history) are a result of foreign intervention, especially by the US. It is a big historic joke that the US tries to bring democracy to a region where it’s oil interests kept totalitarian regimes in power for so long.

Another great success of American foreign policy

Overall Europe continued to trade and support these tyrants and bad regimes as well. Nobody protested against Saddam as long as he was in power, nobody really cared in Europe. But we continued to allow exiles into the EU. Especially London and Paris were full of middle east exiles and rich visiting Sheiks as well. Ayatollah Khomeini planned and executed the Iranian revolution from France. Many other radical islamists went to Europe and stayed underground - because their home countries prosecuted for various reason. Over time many Muslim communities sprang up all over Europe: Turks, Kurds, Iranians, Iraqis and many more. Many of them could live here while their home countries were at war. They were allowed to run businesses, build Koran schools and mosques.

Riots of the underprivileged people are nothing new.

Sure there are a lot ’second class citizen’ ghettos in Spain, France, Britain and Germany. But poverty not only hits illegal immigrants, but also second generation Muslims and so called native citizens. The french riots last year showed that integration isn’t perfect, but poverty and lack of jobs is a problem for almost everyone in Europe and not just a ‘tactic’ against Muslims.

Modern Europe was always interested to see the middle east grow and get on it’s feet. Sure, there was always a certain amount of guilt, because of the colonial past. We also tried to forget about the terrible crusades and the long history of wars between Muslims and Christian Europe. Nobody here in Europe would seriously consider to recapture Jerusalem or Istanbul - instead many hope that Turkey will join the EU one day. The EU has supported many peace initiatives, supported for example the Palestinians although they blew up the Olympic Games here in Munich. Europe was always more interested in long term talks, understanding and trade. We called this soft power in contrast to hard military invention - or in current terms old European ‘weaselism’ against the new American century.

European tourism to the middle east before the Age of Enlightenment

But still there is religion and huge amount of anger against Europe or any infidel in the Muslim world. It doesn’t matter if we sent help to Iran or Pakistan after earthquakes or pay for the Palestinian elections (so radical Hamas can win them in a democratic way). For the radicals and uneducated masses any reason is good enough to burn flags (never though I see a Danish flag on fire) and threaten Europe with bombs again.

The attacks in Spain and London are certainly ‘understandable’, because these countries supported the war on Iraq - which a huge amount of Europeans despised and tried to stop. But any ‘understanding’ stopped with murders like against Theo van Gogh or the bombing of tourists.

The current Holy Anger against some old cartoons from Denmark show how Europe and the Middle East have really progressed. Europe has left behind religions fanaticism and developed stable democratic societies - we are currently trying to transcend the nation state. Yes, Europe has progressed better and more since the middle ages then the Middle East.

House of Saud - power, sand and oil - but no democracy in sight.

Yes, you can call me an European cultural snob any day - I would be proud to wear that title! I prefer the rule of law over tribal loyalty. I prefer equal rights over woman in bee keeper suits. I prefer democratic elections over Kings, Sheiks, Mullahs, Royal Families and old hereditary or religious traditions. I prefer a freedom of press and disgusting jokes over Fatwas against Artists and Newspaper Editors - or raging protests against a simple beauty contest (yep, that was in Nigeria - but still the same frame of mind). Give me a corrupt Silvio Berlusconi over a President Ahmadinejad or terror leader like Yassir Arafat.

A ‘mature’ society must be able to cope with different ideas, even insults and threats in a civilized manner. That includes any nation. Burning the Danish flag because one of it’s newspaper published a stupid cartoon is rather strange. Threatening to bomb and kill people over a stupid joke is simply daft.

Kemal Atatürk showed the world that a modern country and Islam can exist side by side.

While Europeans demonstrate against wars in the Middle East and against Terrorism - the people in the Arab world seem more to protest for war and revenge - and support even terrorism. Still many Muslims dream about recreating the old Caliphate. But dreaming such dreams of old empires and conquest are out of date. Hitlers ‘Lebensraum’ idea didn’t work, neither did the communist dream of a united workers planet.

I am sure there are many people in the Middle East and Muslims who only want peace and do not support radical ideas - but it’s about time these people start to show us that they are in control and support a peaceful global society.

Muslims have to give up their conspiracy theories about Europe (and to a certain degree America) and start building their own stable societies and economies. Most of all they have to take responsibility and don’t hide behind your religion to build a better world for everyone. Once Damascus and Baghdad were on top of the world and leading centers of wisdom and enlightenment, highly tolerant and global trade powers. My dear Muslims, if you want that to happen again, then start to teach your kids, build up your economies and use your brains instead of guns and explosives.

*repost from 2006*

I love the irony: a flying human carries the birds who symbolize peace, but are now both used to fly for the great european war. Life is … weird!

The world media and it’s viewers hardly seem able to follow more then five events at a time. The war in Chechnya is still on, freedom fighters or terrorists (depending on where you stand) still try to kick Russia out of their country.

The suffering is still on, but unless the Chechnyan Rebells stage another bloody incident hardly anyone will notice.

Mr Putin stop this war!

I think every politician should do some body bag practice before sending troops to their death.

After a few female soldiers have been killed in Iraq the US discusses if and how woman can be protected from combat - because they are not supposed to fight at the frontline.

Although it may sound cynical: but woman should have the right to die for their country - and they will anyway, since modern warfare no longer works in the old terms of an ‘unsafe’ frontline here and a ’safe’ support area back there.

The Soviet army had no problems sending woman to fight, neither does Israel.

So Mr Bush is threatening war again - against another ‘evil’ country. Iran is producing weapons of mass destruction and supporting terrorists. Deja vu anyone?

Yes, Iran is run by a theocratic upper class that suppresses democracy, woman’s rights and free speech. Yes, Iran’s economy is down on it’s knees - if it weren’t for all the oil money (thanks for the high prices to the Iraq war) the country would be unable to sustain itself. Yes, Iran supports terrorists and is working on nuclear weapons. But so many countries push ahead their strategic interests, allies and defences.

But NONE of these facts gives ANY other country right to invade it or threaten it with a military attack to take out some of it’s ‘evil’ assets.

Let’s look back in history: the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was supported both by the British and Americans and he supplanted a democratically elected president. It was the bad regime of the Shah that caused the people to raise up and kick his butt! Instead of supporting the people’s revolution the Americans fought it (more details here).

Once the mullahs were in charge the Americans supported their enemies like Saddam Hussein. During the VERY bloody Iraq vs Iran war the US supplied arms and military intelligence. The Iranians didn’t loose the war, because the used massive amounts of suicide bombers (mostly teenagers).

Anyone surprised that the people of Iran consider the US of A their biggest enemy?!

But the people of Iran suffered under the Shah and now under the followers of Ayatollah Khomeini. Maybe some day there will be a another revolution and maybe the people of Iran will get it right this time and find the right balance that suits their culture and needs.

But the Iranians should change their society - not someone else.

Wikipedia: Iran

Sandhurst is the modern extension of old British military traditions: transforming young people into Cadets and Officers. But Sandhurst is not just a British affair - it trains soldiers from many different nations. Plus it offers many academic courses outside the military curriculum. Very civilized.

More? Wikipedia

BBC News: Can the World stop Genocide?

A short essay over at the BBC about the mechanics or Politics in face of Genocide and Mass Murder. Interesting and frustrating at the same time.

The UN was founded to stop and prevent wars.

BBC News: Russia urges US missile ‘freeze’ 

How many times can you ignore requests from allies and enemies alike? Europe doesn’t want the missile shield - although it will be ‘protected’ by it. Russia is against it, because it’s installed right at it’s front door. And the people who live close to the suggested bases hate it already.

It’s simply stubborn US military politics.