Desecration.

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Here without a whole lot of comment a series of images monuments of various nations to include war memorials desecrated by graffiti and downright vandalism. This is not hardly just an American phenomenon and the world is a worse off place for it!!

Click on all images to see an enlarged view:

"Place de la République, Paris. The Place de la République: . . . contains a monument which includes a statue of the personification of France, Marianne . . .  Marianne is surrounded with three statues personifying liberty, equality, and fraternity, the values of the French Republic. These statues also evoke the three medieval theological virtues. Also at the base is a lion guarding a depiction of a ballot box."

Place de la République, Paris. Place a memorial dedicated to the French Revolution and not to war dead, but nonetheless of great significance to the French nation that undeniable.

English war memorial, Kensington.

Etaples, near Boulogne on the Channel coast  British war memorial. Thanks to the Guardian.

Vietnam War memorial in the Venice area of Los Angeles

Evil! Evil! Stop!

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Six.

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Cap the Knife!!

As extracted from "The Reader's Companion to Military History" and the article by Michael L. Handal:

The Weinberger Doctrine. Casper Weinberger. Secretary of Defense during the administration of President Reagan.

"The Weinberger Doctrine was a list of points governing when the United States could commit troops in military engagements. ... The Weinberger doctrine: The United States should not commit forces to combat unless the vital national interests of the United States or its allies are involved."

The Six Criteria of the Weinberger Doctrine From Vietnam to Bosnia.

1. "Vital U.S. interests involved."
2. "Commitment to victory."
3. "Clearly defined political and military objectives."
4. "Continual reassessment of troop/objective ratio and of costs."
5. "U.S. government mobilized people opinion before action."
6. "Intervention/war was last resort."

As to American wars [or interventions] from Vietnam onward to include: *Vietnam * Grenada * Lebanon * Central America * Panama * Gulf War I * Somalia *Bosnia.

Vietnam NO to all six criteria military invention nonetheless occurring. The outcome a loss.

Gulf War I a YES to all but criteria # 6, troop intervention still a YES the outcome a win.

As for Afghanistan and Gulf War II, the Iraqi counter-insurgency and the intervention against the Islamic State the devoted reader to the blog can draw his own conclusions.

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Suvorov.

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Conclusion Military Olympics Russian style!

 Tank driving! Armor off-road driving skills + gunnery.

Links of interest event past and present:

1. "Suvorov Onslaught | Tank Nut Stan"

"The People's Liberation Army of China brought four Type-96 tanks for the Tank Biathlon, four infantry combat vehicles for the Suvorov Onslaught competition, 120mm self-propelled mortar-howitzer PLL-05 systems to participate in the Masters of Artillery fire contest and Russian-made Su-30MKK ..."

2. "Suvorov onslaught - Ministry of Defence"

"'Suvorov onslaught' — motorized rifle units will show off-road driving skills and overcoming obstacles on their vehicles, firing accuracy on different type targets and teamwork."

3. "Russia: Drone captures armour pushed to its limits at ..."

"Drone footage captured the challenges faced by the crews participating in the 'Suvorov Onslaught 2015' competition during the International Army Games-2015, ..."

Suvorov that great Russian general officer from the time of Napoleon and the black-powder era of warfare. Alexander would not have understood the Suvorov Onslaught?

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Elbruz.

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Military Olympics Russian style continued!

Skyrunning. Mt. Elbruz!

TROOPS LADEN WITH GEAR AS A UNIT AND IN COMPETITION WITH OTHER TEAMS MAKE AN ASCENT OF MT. ELBRUZ. HIGHEST POINT IN ALL OF EUROPE!

Links of interest past and present:

1. "Power, precision and persistence: Stunning images from ..."

"As well as established favorites, such as Aviadarts - in which hypersonic planes compete to hit ground targets - and Ring of Elbrus, which forces teams of soldiers in full uniforms to ascend to the 5,642-meter summit of Russia's tallest mountain, for the first time ever there has been a drone piloting competition."

Skyrunning World War Two combat style. German mountain troops make an ascent of Mt. Elbruz. Hoist the Nazi flag. Actual [?] wartime footage courtesy of You Tube. Considered a stunt by A. Hitler not worthy of respect.

2. "Elbrus Race - Wikipedia"

"The Elbrus Race (or RedFox Elbrus Race), is an international skyrunning competition held for the first time in 2008. It runs every year in Mount Elbrus, ..."

3. "Climb Mount Elbrus with Alpenglow Expeditions - Alpenglow"

"Climb mount Elbrus with Alpenglow Expeditions, led by our most experienced western guides. One of the 7 summits, Elbrus is perfect for beginners. Join us!"

YOU TOO CAN CLIMB OR RUN MT. ELBRUZ! PERFECT FOR BEGINNERS? GOOD LUCK AND COUNT ME OUT!

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Aviadarts.

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Military Olympics. Russian style, past and present.

Aviadarts that military combat aviation portion of the competition.

Some links of interest:

1. "Aviadarts - Главная"

"'Aviadarts' — pilots, best from RF Air Force units and formations, as well as pilots of foreign armies will show mastership in low altitude piloting and using their aircraft combat capabilities.

2. "Russia Brings Together Some of the World's Best Fighter Pilots"

"Chinese and Russian fighter pilots have been testing their skills in an unprecedented series of maneuvers in southeast Russia. Some observers have billed the Aviadarts exercise as a Russian Top Gun—a…"

3. "#aviadarts hashtag on Twitter"

"On 9 Aug 2017 @CGTNOfficial tweeted: '3rd-round #Aviadarts competition of 2017..' - read what others are saying and join the conversation."

4. "It's a Knockout: Russia hosts Aviadarts competition for ..."

"The international military aviation competition Aviadarts-2015 has opened in Russia as part of the Army Games, dubbed the 'world's first military Olympics.'"

5. "Su-57s destroy mock targets at Aviadarts army contest (VIDEO ..."

"A pair of cutting-edge Russian Su-57 fighter jets have taken part in the Aviadarts-2018 army competition, launching a mock attack on ground targets and destroying them.The modern jets are currently undergoing extensive testing."

Close-air-support? Hit the target? Who is best. Precision-guided weaponry of the Paveway version are allowed?

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Olympiad.

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As if this was not to be expected.

Here begins a series of blog entries the topic of which is the international military games as hosted by the Russians and recently concluded . An Olympics of sorts.

Russians # 1.

Thanks to the Russian media outlet Russian Times [RT].

"‘Best not mess with these guys’: Russia wins international army games, challenges NATO (VIDEOS)"

"Russia beat China and 30 other states in the biggest International Army Games yet, which wrapped up after 28 different disciplines were contested across seven countries."

International military sport those various competitors however from among those nations as had been nominally or otherwise part of the Soviet bloc.

More to follow.

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Hoax.

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A cruel hoax? Nothing to the story at all? Gold worth BILLIONS of dollars [$USD] as reported found to be nothing more than an elaborate scheme?

From Freeper:

"The Russian 'Treasure Ship' Was Likely a Fraud Meant to Boost a Cryptocurrency Scam"

"A South Korean company’s claimed to find $100 billion in treasure or more. A South Korean company that announced it had found more than a hundred billion dollars in gold treasure in a Russian warship is under investigation for possible fraud. The gold apparently does not exist and the company allegedly planned to use news of the treasure to boost a new cryptocurrency"

See previous blog entry, hoax as now exposed! Embedded You Tube video also as noted no longer available.

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