Clare Raqqa.

This is coolbert:

GOOD NEWS CONTINUES!

Islamic State combatants in their most crucial strongholds defenses have been breached. The bad guys taking a beating and on the losing end.

If these reports are so, we can expect big things in the next several weeks?

THE HANDWRITING IS ON THE WALL. THE DAY OF RECKONING FOR THE CALIPH AND HIS MINIONS IS AT HAND?

1. "SDF commander: Raqqa city is mainly under SDF control"

"SDF commander Clara Raqqa announced that the greater proportion of the city is under their control."

AND YES HER NAME IS CLARE RAQQA!

Since the start of Raqqa operation, SDF forces have liberated 14 of the 23 neighbourhoods from ISIS gangs, and control 65 percent [65 %] of the city, SDF commander Clara Raqqa said.

SDF THAT COALITION OF KURDISH AND ARAB FORCES OPPOSED TO ISIL. HAVING AT THEIR DISPOSAL HEAVY AMERICAN FIREPOWER ON-CALL!

2. "Syrian forces break ISIS' siege of Deir Ezzor"

THE YEARS LONG SIEGE OF DEIR EZZOR HAS BEEN LIFTED? OVERLAND RELIEF MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

From CNN and the article by Hilary Clarke and Tamara Qiblawi, CNN

"(CNN)Syrian regime forces have broken a three-year ISIS siege of the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, Syria's official news agency SANA reported."

"Quoting a reporter on the ground, SANA said 'advancing forces coming from the western front met guards of Regiment 137 on Tuesday afternoon, and thus, broke the siege imposed by ISIS terrorists on the city.'"

See previous blog entries the topic of which was Deir Ezzor:

http://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2017/06/munitions.html

http://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2017/01/deir-ezzor.html

http://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2017/01/dire.html

http://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2017/02/backfire.html

http://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2017/02/endgame.html

coolbert.

Frustrated.

This is coolbert:

From the Times of England and the article by Didi Tang The Chinese People's Liberation Army [PLA] having  a hard time finding suitable recruits.

Image of Mao courtesy of Getty!

"Young Chinese ‘too fat and frustrated to join the army’"

"The People’s Liberation Army [PLA] blames overeating and masturbation for the poor fitness levels seen among potential recruits"

THAT LEAN AND MEAN FIGHTING SOLDIER OF THE PLA NOW A THING OF THE PAST? WHAT WOULD MAO SAY?

"An increasing number of Chinese men and women who try to join the biggest military in the world are failing fitness tests because they are fat and masturbate too much, state media proclaimed yesterday."

Young Chinese men failing basic fitness test to qualify for military service reasons to include:

* Excessive us of smart phones.
* Excessive masturbation.
* Consumption of water with higher mineral content [?].

Again, as to all of this Mao would say what?

coolbert.

Hyunmoo II.

This is coolbert:

I  am wrong and without hesitation admit so. 

That most recent tests of South Korean [ROK] short-range ballistic-missiles [SRBM] NOT the Hyunmoon "knockoff" copy of the American Cold War era Nike Hercules.

This Hyunmoo as just test fired with success  by the ROK an apparently totally indigenous advanced SRBM design designated Hyunmoo II. NHK-A [Hyunmoo II].

Capability of NHK-A now further enhanced through mutual agreement warhead size [bang stuff] increased!!

Thanks to the English Telegraph for some insight into this matter!

"The 'Frankenmissile': How South Korea plans to destroy the North's underground military base"

"According to the Korea Herald, military sources in Seoul revealed the plan the day after South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his US counterpart Donald Trump agreed to scrap an imposed 500kg limit on the warheads fitting onto the South’s missiles."

. . . .

"South Korea already has the capability of firing ballistic missiles with a range of up to 800km, allowing it to hit anywhere within the pariah regime to its north. But its deterrence capability has until now been curbed by a restrictions on the payload of its missiles."

A Hyunmoon II being fired during the recent military exercises. I had originally thought this was actually a launch of a Russian SRBM Iskander missile. But I was wrong.

Read more about the Hyunmoo II here.

And see from this You Tube video those launches of the Hyunmoo II. Very impressive.

coolbert.

China 1950.

This is coolbert:

Ominous but not without precedent! 1950 deja vu all over again.

Don't cross that line!!

"China will prevent US first strike against North Korean regime – govt daily"

"China will prevent the US and South Korea from carrying out strikes on North Korea and trying to overthrow the leadership there, but will remain neutral if Pyongyang launches missiles at American targets first, the state-run Global Times said."

. . . .

"Beijing should make it clear that 'if North Korea launches missiles that threaten US soil first and the US retaliates, China will stay neutral,' the Global Times wrote."

"But if the US and its ally South Korea take on Pyongyang and try to 'overthrow the North Korean regime and change the political pattern of the Korean Peninsula, China will prevent them from doing so,' the paper stressed"

A defensive war as fought by the American and South Korean military in response to an attack by the North Korea is OK from the Chinese perspective. A preemptive strike by American and South Korea not OK!

See from this wiki entry that situation as existed in 1950 that led to Chinese intervention in the Korean War.

President Xi has spoken!!

coolbert.

AI WW3.

This is coolbert:

AI = Artificial Intelligence.

Within the context of discussion of preemptive war as a solution to the Korean problem, consider the recent pronouncements of Elon Musk. As I have said before, when Elon speaks, we all need to listen.

"Elon Musk says AI could lead to third world war"

"Elon Musk has said again that artificial intelligence could be humanity’s greatest existential threat, this time by starting a third world war."

. . . .

"Hashing out his thoughts in public, Musk clarified that he was not just concerned about the prospect of a world leader starting the war, but also of an overcautious AI deciding 'that a [preemptive] strike is [the] most probable path to victory'”.

See previous blog entries the topic of which in part or in whole that analysis of Elon Musk and the threat AI represents to the human species:

http://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2014/08/elon-musk.html

http://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2015/12/musk_16.html

http://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2017/07/bci.html

coolbert.

Minerals.

This is coolbert:

"There were two separate (Afghan) airborne surveys during 2006. Ours was in a P-3, a naval aircraft, a research-configured P-3, and our was at sort of 20,000 to 30,000 feet. The second aircraft, equipped with different sensors, was flown at about 50,000 feet. That was the WB-57".- - Dr. John Brozena, the Chief Scientist of US Naval Research Laboratory.

From the German Voice [DW] thanks to the tip from D.E. this item.

"Did Afghan minerals change Trump's mind about Afghanistan?"

"Going against his election promise, Donald Trump decided to keep US troops in Afghanistan for an indefinite period of time. To what extent is this policy change a result of Trump's interest in Afghan mineral wealth?"

AFGHAN NOW HAVING BEEN DETERMINED TO HAVE ENORMOUS POTENTIAL, MINING AND MINERAL PRODUCTION ON A MASSIVE SCALE!!

Aerial reconnaissance and mapping as able to determine mineral deposits in measure carried out by WB-57 Canberra high-flying NASA aircraft. For a period of sixty years now Canberra performing yeoman duty and doing so in exemplary fashion!

See also from the Internet additional discussion of this topic:

https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-minerals-mapped/24651540.html

http://www.riazhaq.com/2010/06/finding-pakistans-mineral-wealth-from.html

War as a means of acquiring mineral resources [oil in this case] to include The Chaco War not always bearing fruit as they say. Devoted readers to the blog will have to read for themselves that war for possession of  the Gran Chaco and the results.

coolbert.

Live-fire.

This is coolbert:

Hyunmoo! Short-range ballistic missile [SRBM]

If North Korean can do it, so can the South [ROK]!

"South Korea Launches Multiple Ballistic Missiles"

"The South Korean military has reportedly conducted live-fire drills in response to recent provocations from North Korea. Officials say multiple ballistic missiles struck ‘designated targets’ in the East Sea."

As has been the subject of previous blog entries, The South Koreans [ROK] do indeed have their own organic ballistic missile capability. Nuclear weapons NO. At least at this point.

Hyunmoo a knock-off copy of the American Nike-Hercules anti-aircraft missile [SAM] from the earliest decades of the Cold War.

"knock-off - - an unlicensed copy of something, especially fashion clothing, intended to be sold at a lower price than the original." [Not necessarily only an article of clothing, could be most anything.]

Allows for the South Korean to have a limited retaliatory capability in case of North Korean missile attack on the ROK

See from the archives those blog entries the topic of which was the Hyunmoo ROK ballistic missile:

http://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2012/10/hyunmoo.html

http://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2016/11/90.html

http://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2016/11/atomics-rok.html

That American Nike-Hercules at some launch sites [SAM] during the Cold War era were armed with atomic warheads. That degree to which the Hyunmoo can hit a target much greater than was the accuracy of a Nike-Hercules from fifty years ago? Reliability of the missiles themselves I would imagine the South Korean has resolved that problem.

coolbert.