They shall not grow old

As usual, Andrew Cusack celebrates magnanimity better than anyone else.

magnanimity: The quality of being magnanimous; greatness of mind; elevation or dignity of soul; that quality or combination of qualities, in character, which enables one to encounter danger and trouble with tranquility and firmness, to disdain injustice, meanness and revenge, and to act and sacrifice for noble objects.

Some people really need to lay off the vodka

General Anatoly Nogovitsin (the lean graying guy with all the microphones), apparently speaking for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, threatened yesterday to wipe out Poland with a nuclear attack.

Seems like a return to the old Cold War days but with everything happening much faster than it used to.

A cynical thought

Did we sell Georgia to Russia in exchange for a free hand in Iran?

Strategic considerations

Here's an overview of what Russia's up to in Georgia.

How far to help Georgia?

We've flown Georgia's 2,000 troops back to Georgia from Iraq, which seemed to tick off Vlad Putin. If no one provides further help to Georgia, what next? Does Russia gin up some pretext to reannex Ukraine & Belarus or gobble up the oil-producing little statelets in the Caucasus? Are the independent countries on Russia's borders not really independent at all? How much does this situation parallel that of mid-1930s Europe when Hitler was snatching up places left and right? If Putin continues, when do we tell him No?

One difference between then and now is that most of Europe's energy is supplied by Russia or through Russian-controlled sources. Hitler didn't have that much leverage over Europe in the 30s.

Milblogs

Here are some sources for responsible, intelligent commentary on Russia v. Georgia:

• Mudville Gazette
• Danger Room
• cdr salamander
• The Long War Journal
• Small Wars Journal

And here are some partisan blogs that have sprung up in the last few days:

• Russia and Georgia at War - pro-Georgian
• State Minister for Reintegration - Georgian government office?
• Embassy of Georgia in Estonia
• Website and blog of Temuri Yakobashvili, Georgian State Minister for Reintegration

And here's a decent and heavily-sourced overview from wikipedia, though the quality declines toward the end of the article.

Update: are American troops still in Georgia? A training exercise called Immediate Response 2008 started July 15 and was scheduled to continue for for "the next several weeks". 300 National Guardsmen from our Georgia are among the Americans participating in the exercise.

Ah - it ended July 31, and as of yesterday there were still 127 American military trainers in Georgia, including about 35 civilians.

I wonder...

...how many people think Russians are bombing Atlanta, Georgia?

The 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment

Photos of WW2 paratroopers, many killed in action, all very young. Lileks and readers of this blog may know the young feller in the 3rd row, 3rd column as Commodore Matt Decker.

"Kirk riding the Constellation into the sparkly maw of Hell’s cornucopia, waiting for the beamout." Ah, Lileks.

In our image?

It's not everyday that the best, most lethal and most humane army in the history of mankind gets to pass along its lessons and help teach another army the art of civilized warfare.

The Taliban Kent Tekulve

Heh. Check out his fancy sidearm grenade throw! I used to try to pitch sidearm like Kent Tekulve (whom I watched close-up at a Cardinals-Pirates game way back when) but it hurt like heck. Obviously this prancing jihadi is made of sterner stuff.

Watch this

"Freedom Never Cries": Watch this cool video and John Ondrasik's charity will raise money for Operation Homefront, which supports troops' families.

The next media attack?

From Michael Yon via Glenn Reynolds:

GREAT COUNTERINSURGENCY, KID — don't get cocky: "I had the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving with General Petraeus. Very interesting series of helicopter flights to several bases. Bottom line is that progress is clear and real, but there are tough days ahead and al Qaeda, for instance, is far from dead. The mood is of cautious optimism, with a concern that some of the very positive media lately might set expectations too high. (That’s right: many military leaders are concerned that the media lately might be too positive.)"

Now I see what the news outlets are up to. They'll start reporting the good news from Iraq and paint it as a paradise so any al-Quaeda breakouts that come along will make it seem worse than ever. When some Mohammad al-Asshat with a bomb blows up himself and the local dogcatcher, journalists will be able to report about the flagging surge, grim milestones, resurgent violence and whatnot just in time for the early primaries.

Frank Buckles

Frank Buckles (thank God for wikipedia) is the last surviving American veteran of World War 1 - here's an excellent article by Richard Rubin in yesterday's NYT.

Two of my many great-uncles, John K Bragg and Osa Bragg, went to France in 1918. Uncle Osa kept a box of memorabilia from his tour through France and Germany that was given to me after he died. It's upstairs high atop a closet shelf to keep the kids away from it - I really need to get the material scanned and on the web, perhaps with the help of our two oldest.

The mighty do fall

The old Soviet aircraft carrier Kiev is now an attraction at a Chinese theme park. Isn't their space shuttle Buran parked in a playground somewhere? google... no, the static test model is in Gorky Park; the Buran that flew was crushed when its hanger collapsed a few years ago.

Heh - here's what Soviet websites would have looked like if the Commies had made it another ten years to the internet age (link to buran.ru).

"Dante would have been terrified"

Paul Tibbets died yesterday at his home in Columbus, Ohio. Here's his obituary in his home-town newspaper, and here's a lot more background at acepilots.com. Studs Terkel interviewed him in 2002.

Tex Hill and Robin Olds

Two great American aviators died recently: David Lee "Tex" Hill and Robin Olds. Here's a half-hour of story-telling from General Hill, and another from General Olds.

Submission or war, your choice

Well, I made my way through "A Common Word", the letter from Muslims to Christians that's been in the news lately. What I get out of it is that they're "inviting" us to deny the Trinity or face open warfare. To quote General McAuliffe, "NUTS!" - the Trinity is worth fighting for.¹

Speaking of the Trinity, this site seems to be less than helpful. The Trinity isn't an arithmetic problem². Frank Sheed explained it best in his Theology and Sanity.

Footnotes:

1.: A nominee for the 2008 Understatement of the Year Award.

2.: "So you see, one and three are the same - it's a matter of faith!"

On the life and death of Mark Daily

Christopher Hitchens has taken a few knocks lately in the Catholic blogosphere; here's another side of him in his latest essay for Vanity Fair, A Death in the Family. From VF's blurb:

As America struggles with losses in Iraq, one in particular has given Christopher Hitchens pause: a young soldier named Mark Daily, killed in Mosul, who cited the V.F. columnist as an inspiration to sign up.

That beautiful sound

It's strange that the instruments of war should be so beautiful. Here's a video of an airshow this year in Blenheim, New Zealand, that featured seven Fokker Dr I triplanes, a Fokker D VII, a SE5a, a Sopwith Camel, and a Nieuport. You can find details of the planes here.

Google Maps & YouTube test

Here's the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in France; the Meuse-Argonne offensive began today in 1918.

View Larger Map

And here's a video of the cemetery and memorial: