J-20

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From only yesterday, from several sources, the latest fragmentary for the time being dope on a "stealth" fighter plane being developed by China. A threat to American dominance of the airspace in time of war? A prototype merely seen taxiing on the runway and nothing more yet?

This is the J-20!

1. "China's J-20 Stealth Fighter Meant to Counter F-22, F-35, U.S. Navy Says"

"A Chinese J-20 stealth fighter prepares for a taxiing test at an airfield in Chengdu . . . China’s new stealth fighter likely was designed 'to counter' the U.S. F-22 and F-35 jets, according to U.S. Navy intelligence analysts.

"Photos of the J-20 aircraft have appeared on the Internet. Aviation Week & Space Technology reported Jan. 3 that the aircraft was in runway tests as a prelude to a first test flight."

2. "J-20 stealth fighter photos: Did China leak them intentionally?"

"J-20 stealth fighter photos have appeared on Chinese websites, suggesting that the leaks of images of what could be China's first stealth fighter jet are a calculated moved by the traditionally secretive People's Liberation Army."

Chinese aviation technology - - however, has a glaring problem as of yet NOT solved. High performance indigenous jet engine designs is lacking. "Imported" Russian technology currently the propulsion system of choice.

"China's aviation industry — both military and civilian — has made rapid progress in recent years but still relies heavily on imported technology. Propulsion technology has been a particular problem, with Russian engines still employed on China's homemade J-10 fighter jets and the J-11"

3. From the Chicago Tribune today, this article: "China's might on U.S. radar".

"A 2009 study by the RAND Corp. asserts that,

based on current trends, the U.S. would lose

a military conflict with China over Taiwan by 2020.

A war game by an Australian think tank confirmed

that finding, assessing that the volume of Chinese planes

would overwhelm U.S. forces, according to

Aviation Week magazine."

All the J-20 can do right now is taxi. And "teething" problems are as always a difficulty with such advanced technology. That American F-22 is a land-based aircraft also, NOT carrier based. The F-35 will be by 2020 deployed with the fleet, but in what numbers? Don't be running to the toilet yet!

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Saudi.

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Arms deal!

Thanks to the Voice of America through the blog Jungle Trader for this info:

"Saudi Arabian media are reporting that a massive arms deal with the United States — the largest-ever single U.S. arms sale — is on track and in the final stages of negotiations."

"Saudi authorities said this week that the deal to buy up to $60 billion worth of advanced military aircraft will also include additional F-15 fighter jets."

. . . .

"The Obama administration sees the deal as part of a broader policy aimed at supporting Arab allies against the rise of Iran as a regional power. The administration said it approved the sale after considering Saudi Arabia's defense needs and determining that it would not upset the current balance of power in the region."

The many supporters of President Obama will find this as a big disappointment? "Change" did include large-scale sale of weaponry to foreign nations.

The Saudi government is "shaky" and not as stable as we would like? This remains to be seen. The current King is elderly and in ill-health!

And the capacity of the Saudi to absorb, maintain, and potentially use in combat A LOT more very advanced weaponry is lacking? That remains to be seen!

This is reminiscent [is it?] of those days prior to the overthrow of the Shah in Iran? Everything on the surface seems to be so good but underneath there is a ferment and a rumbling of discontent? The very rich Middle Eastern nation, awash with money, spending in a profligate manner on Amriki armaments does not always sit well with the locals?

Such a deal is good news for American arms producers - - YES, that is easily granted, but at what consequence I am not sure?

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Fence.

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"It was built because since Indian Independence

over 20 million Bangladeshis have crossed into

India illegally causing demographic change,

resource constraint and communal tension."

[India is predominantly Hindu and Bangladesh

is predominantly Muslim!]

It has been completed.

The 4,000 kilometer [2,500 miles] barrier, a double-fence, between India and Bangladesh. A significant deterrent to the movement of illegal migrants, a means for India to protect their border, their territory, their sovereignty.

"The Indo-Bangladeshi barrier or Indo-Bangladeshi border fencing is a 4,000-kilometer fence that India is presently constructing to seal off the Indian-Bangladeshi international border in order to prevent illegal immigration and the smuggling of weapons and narcotics."

"The barrier is just under three meters high with the aim of stopping the infiltration of terrorists and preventing smuggling and large-scale illegal immigration from Bangladesh into neighbouring Indian states"

Again, a double-fence, about three meters high [I had originally read or thought the fences were four meters high], with razor wire abundantly spread in the gap between the fences. Portions of the fence either lit at night or even electrified!!

Almost a total "stop" to persons a-foot, attempting to illegally cross from Bangladesh into India. [the traffic is one-way only?] Persons, illegal migrants, terrorists, gangs of criminals, etc.

AND assiduously patrolled by the units and troops of the Border Security Force [BSF]. A para-military organization dedicated to protecting the borders of India from unwanted intrusion. That fence barrier guarded by men armed with assault rifles, border defense taken quite seriously by the government of New Delhi!

"Border Security Force"

"The Border Security Force (BSF) is a border patrol agency of the Government of India . . . it is a component of the paramilitary forces of India (PMF) and its primary role is to guard India's international borders during peacetime and also prevent transnational crime . . . It is one of the many law enforcement agencies of India."

"a strength of 240,000 personnel in 186 battalions, including women battalions, it is one of the world's largest border patrol forces."

See this YouTube video of the barrier: "Tripura Bangladesh border fence India". Please note that those camouflaged troops of the BSF appear to be carrying clone versions of the AK?

The British Admiral Parry just a few years ago was of the opinion that Bangladesh was the ONE nation in the world most susceptible to a total breakdown, precipitating a slow but sure collapse of the world order as we know it. A teeming population, endemic poverty, Islamic fundamentalism, crop land inundated by rising sea level, etc. The central government of India has taken proper note and has taken measures in advance of a "crack-up", if and when such an event does occur?

This fencing, this barrier is another man-made wonder of the earth? Visible from the moon with the unaided eye, that sort of stuff? Maybe so!

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Kyrgyz.

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"unconquerable" or "undefeatable"

Here with some miscellany regarding the Kyrgyz people, the land, etc. Historic and otherwise.

1. The Battle of Talas - - 751 A.D. Often described as a "high-water mark" of history. The expansionist Chinese Tang dynasty, seeking dominion over central Asia, military force and outposts, vassal states reaching as far west as modern Kyrgyzstan, south of Lake Balkash, defeated in combat against the parvenu [upstart] Arabic/Islamic Abbasid Caliphate! "Thus and no further" for the Tang!

"The Battle of Talas . . . in 751 AD was a conflict between the Arab Abbasid Caliphate and the Chinese Tang Dynasty for control of the Syr Darya [and dominion, control or influence over all of Central Asian as a consequence] . . . Out of 10,000 Tang troops, only 2,000 managed to return from Talas to their territory in Central Asia."

NOT necessarily to be thought of as Chinese troops alone in combat against an Islamic army. The Chinese force consisting of Tang "regulars" numbering only a third [1/3] of those combatants available to the Chinese general in command.

Talas also not only the single one effort of the Muslim to eject the Chinese from central Asia:

"Prior to the battle, there were other indirect encounters between the combatants. The first occurred in 715 . . . The second encounter occurred in 717"

On both occasion, the Chinese victorious, their dominion over central Asia for the time being secure, at least until Talas. IN THE MANY CENTURIES SINCE TALAS, THE CHINESE HAVE NEVER VENTURED AS FAR WEST AS THEY DID DURING THE TANG! A point beyond which Chinese rule and dominion being too far west has been determined?

2. Manas. The great epic poem of the Kyrgyz people. The theme of the epic being war and heroism of Manas. The very existence of the Kyrgyz people as a consequence of Manas and his battlefield valor.

"Manas . . . is a traditional epic poem claimed by the Kyrgyz people dating to the 18th century, though it is possibly much older. The epic tells the story of Manas, his descendants and his followers. Battles against Kitay and Qalmaq enemies form a central theme in the epic"

The chanting of the poem by "bards" a popular form of entertainment in Kyrgyzystan.

Such is the length of Manas that a "bard" [Manaschis] chanting the poem for eight hours a day would take six months to complete the entire epic. And these "bards" are men so highly trained they can recite with word-for-word perfection between them an absolute!!

"Manas is the classic centerpiece of Kyrgyz literature, and parts of it are often recited at Kyrgyz festivities by specialists in the epic"

"Manaschi . . . Manaschis tell the tale in a melodic chant unaccompanied by musical instruments."

3. Kyrgyz. The very name of the people has a special significance. During the time of Manas, the forty clans of the Kyrgyz people only united through warfare, conflict.

"'Kyrgyz', is believed to have been derived from the Turkic word for 'forty', in reference to the forty clans of Manas, a legendary hero who united forty regional clans against the Uyghers."

"The 40-ray sun on the flag of Kyrgyzstan is a reference to those same forty tribes"

Forty as a number having a special universally understood significance, normally suggestive of the end of an era, the beginning of a new era. What was before is gone, something new has replaced it:

* It rained for forty days and forty nights.
* The Hebrews spent forty years in the wilderness.
* JESUS spent forty days in solitude and fasting.
* Forty acolytes fought and died at the side of Gobind Singh [last guru of the Sikhs].

And: * The forty clans of the Kyrgyz people became united because of Manas!

4. The Ferghana valley. A valley with rich soil [until the Soviet era], noted for agriculture and stock breeding from times of antiquity, surrounded by arid desert land, having water and irrigation available. A land OF PLENTY in an area of relative desolation, Ferghana coveted from the time of yore by a myriad host of tribes, nations and peoples. A land only NOW recovering from the excesses of Soviet times?

Among those domesticated animals found in Ferghana the "Celestial" horses so highly prized by the Chinese. The Nisean breed as used by the ancient Parthian cataphracts.

"During the 8th century CE, Ferghana was the location of fierce rivalry between the Tang Dynasty of China and the expansion of Muslim power, leading to the Battle of Talas in 751"

Good luck Kyrgyz people. A proud people with a proud tradition living in hard and unforgiving part of the world. A small nation deserving a big chance. Let us hope!

coolbert.

Disappearance.

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Here are three persons, each having a military and quasi-military background, each also distinguishing themselves during the Second World War [WW2], either famous or infamous or a combination of both, and each DISAPPEARING UNDER STRANGE CIRCUMSTANCES POST-WAR, BODIES IN ALLS CASES NOT RECOVERED!

1. Henri Dericourt. French military pilot, volunteer for the British Special Operations Executive [SOE], resistance fighter, and collaborator [?], a turncoat traitor [?]!




Fought with the French resistance, working with British SOE, and all the while a collaborator with the German [?], betraying English agents?

"When France surrendered to Nazi Germany in June 1940, Déricourt went back to civil aviation but in August 1942 he escaped to Britain. After being checked out at the Royal Patriotic School's vetting process, he joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE)."

Acquitted post-war, his guilt NEVER being established without question. Something mysterious about the entire "affair"!

A man who DISAPPEARED DURING A PLANE CRASH IN LAOS, 1962. Body not recovered [BNR]!

"Henri Déricourt was reported to have been killed in an air crash while flying over Laos on 20th November, 1962. His body was never found and some writers have claimed that his death was faked in order to allow him to begin a new life under another name."

2. James Thompson. American "Silk King" of Thailand. American soldier and later a member of the OSS, the forerunner to the CIA. A military man and agent of a secret service who served first in North Africa and then Asia during WW2.

Described and the man who, post-war, "revitalized" the Thai silk industry. Became the best know foreign expatriate living in Thailand and perhaps in all of Southeast Asia. Another man who disappeared under very strange circumstances. Walked away from a resort in Malaysia and was NEVER seen again. Body not recovered [BNR].

"James (Jim) Harrison Wilson Thompson was an American businessman who helped . . . revitalize the Thai silk industry in the 1950s and 1960s. A former U.S. military intelligence officer, Thompson mysteriously disappeared from Malaysia's Cameron Highlands while going for a walk on Easter Sunday, March 26, 1967."

An extensive and even to some degree currently on-going search was made after the disappearance of Thompson. All no no avail. It was as if the man has left the planet and gone "somewhere". A disappearance, as you might imagine, accompanied by a whole lot of speculation.

3. Masonobu Tsuji. Japanese army officer from the era of WW2. Prominent to a degree, and always controversial. For a field grade officer, always operated at the top echelon for some reason and was a major figure both during the war and post-war as well!




"Masanobu Tsuji . . . was a tactician of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second World War and later a politician."

Please see my previous Military Thoughts blog entry on Tsuji. From way back when!

"In April 1961, he traveled to Laos and was never heard from again. Presumably a casualty of the Laotian Civil War, he was declared dead on July 20, 1968."

Tsuji while traveling in Laos [circa 1961], disappearing again under mysterious circumstances, body not recovered [BNR]!

Tsuji was reputed to be a spymaster and had established a "number" of networks in Southeast Asia post-war?

In all three cases, IT IS strange that persons of such prominence, controversial or otherwise, just disappear and not a trace is ever found? There may be just totally reasonable explanations for all three of these men going "missing", the elaborations of which are never made clear!

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Foot & Mouth.

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Thanks both to CNN cable and Internet these headlines capture my attention immediately.

There is a context here that must be considered? The war of words and the "war" [cold and then sometimes hot] that has recently manifested itself between North [DPRK] and South Korea [ROK]!

A message is being sent from the north to the south? Beware! Watch yourself-see-what-we-can-do-if-we-so-desire!

This is all speculation on my part, but consider the context of the tension, most recently escalating in an alarming manner, on the Korean peninsula.

"Report: Foot-and-mouth disease spreading in South Korea"

"Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- South Korean officials confirmed seven additional cases of foot-and-mouth disease Sunday despite nationwide quarantine efforts, the Yonhap News Agency reported."

"Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly communicable disease that affects cattle, swine, sheep, goats, deer and other animals"

"Investigators detected the latest outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the country on November 28 on a pig farm in the southern city of Andong. The disease has since spread to areas around Seoul in the northern part of the country."

There is an innocent explanation for all this? This not a "cold war" type of bacteriological warfare being waged sub rosa by the North against the South?

"sub ro·sa   - – noun confidentially; secretly; privately."

I am being overly paranoid here? Perhaps there is good reason for my thinking that way? Perhaps too others have speculated in the same manner as I have? And have GOOD reason for doing so!

For some time my own intuitive observation was that the WEST NILE VIRUS was somehow spread to the Western Hemisphere by terrorists or by a foreign power hostile to the United States. Prior to 1999 there WAS NO INSTANCE EVER of the West Nile Virus in the U.S. And then somehow, out of nowhere, the disease manifested itself, by whatever means unspecified. NOW is a hemisphere problem and ALWAYS will be. HOW is that so? NO one seems to know.

Take it for what it is worth! Your guess is as good as mine.

coolbert.

Negotiate!

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Here thanks to YNet, some comments regarding the captured and possibly still alive Israeli airman, Ron Arad. The capture of Arad now occurring thirty years ago or so. Arad believed to have taken prisoner by Iranian Revolutionary Guards or affiliates thereof, the status of the man [Arad] never conclusively established. DEAD? ALIVE? No one seems to know for sure?

ONLY TODAY, Dan Halutz, former Israeli Chief of Staff [CoS], commenting on Arad. This is the man that would know the truth, if anyone would know.

"Halutz: Ron Arad's release could have been bought"

"Former IDF chief of staff claims national considerations prevented Israel from paying money to release kidnapped navigator"

Those national considerations I would have to assume being the aversion to pay ransom money for a military man taken prisoner. The setting of a precedent was considered to be unwise. A decision the ramifications for Arad that have become catastrophic [I am assuming the man is still alive]!

"Former IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, who has recently joined the Kadima party, said Saturday that navigator Ron Arad's release could have been bought with money but that it was decided against it 'for national reasons.'"

This pronouncement of Halutz, taken by itself, only confirms that Arad was known to have been captured, was alive, and those persons holding the airman captive were known for who they were. AND BARGAINING COULD HAVE BEEN DONE BUT WAS NOT!

These comments of Halutz are also most interesting when taken in the context of the purported suicide of the kidnapped Iranian Revolutionary Guards general officer [retired?] Asgari! Allegedly died by his own hand in an Israeli prison only just a few days ago?

Halutz too now has political ambitions. The IDF has been merely a stepping stone for those senior Israeli commander who are no longer on active duty but still see a major role in the society [Israel] for themselves.

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