Antonov

The thing is, we're supposed to be an ally there to defend them, not an occupying force there whether they like it or not. You're certainly free to say that you don't care what the locals think - that we have the big guns and they don't, so their opinion doesn't matter. Maybe you're right. Or maybe not. But as a long-term strategy, I can't help but think that plan has some flaws in it. No, I think the Okinawans are looking at the fact that we seem to be having problems keeping our servicemen from raping their women and beating up their children, and thinking that they'd rather not have t

Two serious criminal incidents by servicemembers in Okinawa within two weeks, at a time when the public in Okinawa is already worked up with anti-base sentiment, is a grave and important matter. The Okinawans are uncomfortable and mistrustful enough of the US military as it is, and you'd be surprised how much having American soldiers raping their women and beating their children doesn't help. Piled onto this, the USAF academy incident is troubling. This isn't a bunch of Marine recruits getting into a donnybrook at an off-base roadhouse on a Saturday night. Air Force Academy cadets are suppos

Pardon me, but I said nothing of the sort. There have been some very serious discipline breaches in the US military over the past couple of weeks. There's nothing anti-military about pointing them out, or about saying that they're a bad thing. Supporting something - the military, your political party, your favorite sports team - doesn't mean never pointing out its problems or never criticizing it when you think it's gone wrong. In fact, it's usually your closest friends and most trusted colleagues that you rely on to tell you when you've got a problem that you need to do something about.

Yeah, well, it looks like the cadets actually are the well-behaved ones. Certainly compared to the airman from Kadena who just broke curfew, got drunk, broke into a civilian apartment, and beat up a 12-year-old boy before managing to stumble out of a window and fall three stories: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/03/world/asia/us-airman-is-suspected-of-punching-japanese-boy-police-say.html Two weeks after an alleged sexual assault on Okinawa involving two American sailors... not good.

Culdrose, primarily a helicopter base that is home to Sea Kings and Merlins, faces off against the Noble False Widow: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2226340/Royal-Navy-airbase-alert-warehouse-invaded-Britains-venomous-spiders.html

Huh? Houston gets more hurricanes than New York. Ohio gets tornadoes. Why Seattle? The Shuttle wasn't built by Boeing and didn't run Windows. It's hardly ridiculous to keep a Space Shuttle at an air museum smack dab in the middle of the nation's most populous city.

Ouch. Literally: http://militarytimes.com/news/2012/10/air-force-23-cadets-injured-academy-brawl-103112w/ Sounds like some discipline is needed.

From today's Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9647722/China-makes-first-test-flight-of-new-stealth-fighter-jet.html

My Halloween eve tradition for years has been to watch this amazing piece of television: If TV gets better than this, I don't know how.

So my reaction to Cloud Atlas was basically the opposite of my reaction to Prometheus: Prometheus was a flawed movie that many people hated, but that I, while acknowledging its flaws, on balance liked. Cloud Atlas has some good aspects to it, and is a movie that many love, but that I, while acknowledging the flashes of brilliance in it, on balance just couldn't bring myself to like.

Today: The PAK-FA: http://englishrussia.com/2012/10/25/new-jet-fighter-of-the-russian-air-forces/

Today: An-24 goes mud-runnin'. A little scary: http://englishrussia.com/2012/10/23/extreme-takeoff-of-an-24/

Today: Pictures from the Soviet War in Afghanistan. The Mi-8 at Bamiyan is a particularly striking picture: http://englishrussia.com/2012/10/22/soviet-war-in-afghanistan/

Today: Spotlight on the Kamov Ka-26: http://englishrussia.com/2012/10/22/soviet-helicopter-ka-26/

EDIT: Sold kits removed

An agreement on the excavation of the planes has apparently been signed: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/myanmar-excavate-world-war-ii-fighter-planes

Skymark is Japanese.

Pit Road? Who are they? Also, around how big would this kit be?

Now that the Hase 1/200 787 is out, what do you think the chances of an A380 are? What about when Skymark gets theirs in a couple of years?

Today: Odessa in WWII, and today: http://englishrussia.com/2012/10/15/when-two-epochs-are-connected/

They tried that 60 years ago. It didn't go well, and they remember that. Chinese history consists mostly of centuries of boring, competent, authoritarian rule punctuated by brief periods of violence, chaos, and terror. They just had one of those. Things may be quiet for a while.

Tell me more about this kit. Is it resin? How can one buy it?

That's one good looking Fagot.

Today: A photographer rushes up to the gates of Khodynka to catch a demolition crew scrapping a bunch of aircraft parked within: http://englishrussia.com/2012/10/11/flying-vehicles-being-demolished-right-now/