Wild Thing’s comment……..
LOL This is so perfect for what has been going on in Chicago and also with but I am a Kennedy..Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg.
……Thank you RAC for sending this to me.
RAC has a website that is awesome. 336th Assault Helicopter Company
13th Combat Aviation Battalion – 1st Aviation Brigade – Soc Trang, Republic of Vietnam
As if Things Weren’t Bad Enough, Russian Professor Predicts End of U.S.
In Moscow, Igor Panarin’s Forecasts Are All the Rage; America ‘Disintegrates’ in 2010
The Wall Street Journal
by Igor Panarin
MOSCOW
For a decade, Russian academic Igor Panarin has been predicting the U.S. will fall apart in 2010. For most of that time, he admits, few took his argument — that an economic and moral collapse will trigger a civil war and the eventual breakup of the U.S. — very seriously. Now he’s found an eager audience: Russian state media.
In recent weeks, he’s been interviewed as much as twice a day about his predictions. “It’s a record,” says Prof. Panarin. “But I think the attention is going to grow even stronger.”
Prof. Panarin, 50 years old, is not a fringe figure. A former KGB analyst, he is dean of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s academy for future diplomats. He is invited to Kremlin receptions, lectures students, publishes books, and appears in the media as an expert on U.S.-Russia relations.
But it’s his bleak forecast for the U.S. that is music to the ears of the Kremlin, which in recent years has blamed Washington for everything from instability in the Middle East to the global financial crisis. Mr. Panarin’s views also fit neatly with the Kremlin’s narrative that Russia is returning to its rightful place on the world stage after the weakness of the 1990s, when many feared that the country would go economically and politically bankrupt and break into separate territories.
A polite and cheerful man with a buzz cut, Mr. Panarin insists he does not dislike Americans. But he warns that the outlook for them is dire.
“There’s a 55-45% chance right now that disintegration will occur,” he says. “One could rejoice in that process,” he adds, poker-faced. “But if we’re talking reasonably, it’s not the best scenario — for Russia.” Though Russia would become more powerful on the global stage, he says, its economy would suffer because it currently depends heavily on the dollar and on trade with the U.S.
Mr. Panarin posits, in brief, that mass immigration, economic decline, and moral degradation will trigger a civil war next fall and the collapse of the dollar. Around the end of June 2010, or early July, he says, the U.S. will break into six pieces — with Alaska reverting to Russian control.
In addition to increasing coverage in state media, which are tightly controlled by the Kremlin, Mr. Panarin’s ideas are now being widely discussed among local experts. He presented his theory at a recent roundtable discussion at the Foreign Ministry. The country’s top international relations school has hosted him as a keynote speaker. During an appearance on the state TV channel Rossiya, the station cut between his comments and TV footage of lines at soup kitchens and crowds of homeless people in the U.S. The professor has also been featured on the Kremlin’s English-language propaganda channel, Russia Today.
Mr. Panarin’s apocalyptic vision “reflects a very pronounced degree of anti-Americanism in Russia today,” says Vladimir Pozner, a prominent TV journalist in Russia. “It’s much stronger than it was in the Soviet Union.”
Mr. Pozner and other Russian commentators and experts on the U.S. dismiss Mr. Panarin’s predictions. “Crazy ideas are not usually discussed by serious people,” says Sergei Rogov, director of the government-run Institute for U.S. and Canadian Studies, who thinks Mr. Panarin’s theories don’t hold water.
Mr. Panarin’s résumé includes many years in the Soviet KGB, an experience shared by other top Russian officials. His office, in downtown Moscow, shows his national pride, with pennants on the wall bearing the emblem of the FSB, the KGB’s successor agency. It is also full of statuettes of eagles; a double-headed eagle was the symbol of czarist Russia.
The professor says he began his career in the KGB in 1976. In post-Soviet Russia, he got a doctorate in political science, studied U.S. economics, and worked for FAPSI, then the Russian equivalent of the U.S. National Security Agency. He says he did strategy forecasts for then-President Boris Yeltsin, adding that the details are “classified.”
In September 1998, he attended a conference in Linz, Austria, devoted to information warfare, the use of data to get an edge over a rival. It was there, in front of 400 fellow delegates, that he first presented his theory about the collapse of the U.S. in 2010.
“When I pushed the button on my computer and the map of the United States disintegrated, hundreds of people cried out in surprise,” he remembers. He says most in the audience were skeptical. “They didn’t believe me.”
At the end of the presentation, he says many delegates asked him to autograph copies of the map showing a dismembered U.S.
He based the forecast on classified data supplied to him by FAPSI analysts, he says. He predicts that economic, financial and demographic trends will provoke a political and social crisis in the U.S. When the going gets tough, he says, wealthier states will withhold funds from the federal government and effectively secede from the union. Social unrest up to and including a civil war will follow. The U.S. will then split along ethnic lines, and foreign powers will move in.
California will form the nucleus of what he calls “The Californian Republic,” and will be part of China or under Chinese influence. Texas will be the heart of “The Texas Republic,” a cluster of states that will go to Mexico or fall under Mexican influence. Washington, D.C., and New York will be part of an “Atlantic America” that may join the European Union. Canada will grab a group of Northern states Prof. Panarin calls “The Central North American Republic.” Hawaii, he suggests, will be a protectorate of Japan or China, and Alaska will be subsumed into Russia.
“It would be reasonable for Russia to lay claim to Alaska; it was part of the Russian Empire for a long time.” A framed satellite image of the Bering Strait that separates Alaska from Russia like a thread hangs from his office wall. “It’s not there for no reason,” he says with a sly grin.
Interest in his forecast revived this fall when he published an article in Izvestia, one of Russia’s biggest national dailies. In it, he reiterated his theory, called U.S. foreign debt “a pyramid scheme,” and predicted China and Russia would usurp Washington’s role as a global financial regulator.
Americans hope President-elect Barack Obama “can work miracles,” he wrote. “But when spring comes, it will be clear that there are no miracles.”
The article prompted a question about the White House’s reaction to Prof. Panarin’s forecast at a December news conference. “I’ll have to decline to comment,” spokeswoman Dana Perino said amid much laughter.
For Prof. Panarin, Ms. Perino’s response was significant. “The way the answer was phrased was an indication that my views are being listened to very carefully,” he says.
Wild Thing’s comment………
First I have to say this jerk has a HUGE ego…..look at his reaction about Dana Perino.
The article prompted a question about the White House’s reaction to Prof. Panarin’s forecast at a December news conference. “I’ll have to decline to comment,” spokeswoman Dana Perino said amid much laughter.
“”The way the answer was phrased was an indication that my views are being listened to very carefully,” he says.”
Then we need to take into account this……
“Now he’s found an eager audience: Russian state media.”
Well of course Russia and Putin must love to hear someone tell them the USA will end.
This is a mythical scenario, one I mostly disagree with. Also my memo to him would be Comrade Professor, the first step is admitting you have a problem. Prof. Panarin’s division of the USA is wishful thinking on his part, IMO.
Where I will agree, but not because he wrote it, many of you on here have said this as well that it could happen…..
As far as the civil war and the breakup and the economic collapse, he is probably right on the mark.
BUT the part about Alaska back to Russia……..NO WAY…….maybe when we see Putin in Red Square in tights and a tutu dancing to the sugar plum fairies. LOL
He gives California and the other coastal states to China, WTF? I see no plausible scenario for that to happen. Then he splits the Southern states in half, which is again nonsense, that block of states would obviously act as a unit. Then he takes the block of midwestern states and puts them as “part of or under the influence of Canada” – I know he’s only an academic, but doesn’t he realize that particular subset of states has more people than the entirety of Canada?
Sounds like the professors in Russia are about as smart as the ones here. The leftists in our nation have been predicting the fall of the U.S. for some time too. They have been working on it for years, pushing their Progressive communist agenda and now with B. Hussein Obama the NON Constitutional elected Messiah.
However, just by looking at how he would split States up tells me he knows very little about the United States and the people who live here.
I say it is time for the American Spirit to rise again.
……Thank you RAC for sending this to me.
RAC has a website that is awesome. 336th Assault Helicopter Company
13th Combat Aviation Battalion – 1st Aviation Brigade – Soc Trang, Republic of Vietnam
IAF destroys rocket launching pad purposely located in residential area.
Underground missle launching pad purposely located in a residential area.
A missle that was ready for launch misfires following IAF attack.
VIDEO HERE
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And also this…….
The Israel Air Force used a new bunker-buster missile that it received recently from the United States in strikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday.
The GPS-guided GBU-39 is said to be one of the most accurate bombs in the world.
The GBU-39 in action……..
Wild Thing’s comment…….
Prayers for the IDF and their Air Force, it sure feels good to see them strick back.
Obama bristles as the bubble closes in on him
politico
HONOLULU
The media glare, the constant security appendage and the sheer production that has become a morning jog or a hankering for an ice cream cone – it’s been closing in on Barack Obama for some time.
Now the president-elect appears increasingly conscious of the confines of his new position, bristling at the routine demands of press coverage and beginning to chafe at boundaries that are only going to get smaller.
Obama even took the unusual step Friday morning of leaving behind the pool of reporters assigned to follow him, taking his daughters to a nearby water park without them. It was a breach of longstanding protocol between presidents (or presidents-elect) and the media, that a gaggle of reporters representing television, print and wire services is with his motorcade at all times.
Then when reporters finally caught up with Obama at Koko Marina Paradise Deli and he acknowledged them for one of few times since arriving in Hawaii last Saturday, he sounded resigned.
After ordering a tuna melt on 12-grain bread, Obama approached reporters and placed his hand on the shoulder of pool reporter Philip Rucker of The Washington Post, who was scribbling away in his notebook.
“You don’t really need to write all that down,” Obama said.
All presidents and would-be presidents struggle with “the bubble” – the security detail and the always-there reporters that impose barriers to any spontaneous interaction with the outside world.
But Obama seems to be struggling particularly hard, particularly early.
Soon Obama likely will be forced to give up the BlackBerry he often kept attached to his hip during the campaign.
“There’s still some things we’re not adjusted to,” Obama said in a “60 Minutes” interview after the election. “You know, the small routines of life that keep you connected, I think some of those are being lost.”
Bill Clinton grew frustrated that he couldn’t go out any time he wanted, and once went Christmas shopping without the pool. After he became president, George W. Bush stopped sending e-mails to his daughters because he didn’t want the personal notes to become public one day.
“OK, guys, come on,” Obama said last Sunday, looking toward photographers clicking away as he warmed up before a round of golf. “How many shots do you need?”
It’s been a progression. And Obama’s frustration shows in waves.
On Halloween, Obama grew testy with a Polish media crew as he took his daughter Sasha to a party at his campaign treasurer Marty Nesbitt’s Chicago home.
“All right guys. That’s enough. You’ve got a shot. Leave us alone. Come on guys. Get back on the bus,” Obama said before breaking into a trot with Sasha still holding his hand.
The day before Thanksgiving, a sixth grader at a Chicago school asked Obama about his new life.
“You don’t have a lot of privacy,” Obama told some 200 children, adding that going to Walgreen’s and riding a bicycle are now far more involved than before.
Those close to the Obamas have spoken to the media less and less since the election. Calls and e-mails to close friends and associates of the Obamas were not returned.
“My husband and I have been asked not to speak with the press about the Obamas,” one of them wrote in an e-mail. “They would prefer that we stay out of the papers for now.”
Wild Thing’s comment……….
It goes with the territory. Don’t like it…don’t run for office. Politicians use the press to get elected, then think they can scorn the press once they’re elected…sorry it doesn’t work that way, the press is part and parcel of the job.
Guarding the Guardians of Freedom
By Master Sgt. Jeff Loftin
379th Air Expeditionary Wing
SOUTHWEST ASIA
Carrying the largest payload of any aircraft in the theater, the B-1s of the 34th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron patiently guard the guardians of freedom from high above Iraq and Afghanistan.
The squadron, which once took part in the famed Doolittle Raids on Tokyo, is now responsible for close air support, non-traditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and armed over watch for troops supporting Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom and Joint Task Force Horn of Africa.
“We provide the kinetic firepower for any of the three operations in the theater,” said Lt. Col. Kevin Kennedy, 34 EBS commander. “Right now we’re primarily focused on OEF in Afghanistan. We provide a great deal of the firepower there.”
The unit was one of the first to deploy to Afghanistan for OEF after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Now, in addition to the ability to lower the boom on the bad guys there, the aircraft of the 34 EBS feature Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods. The pod allows aircrews to detect and analyze targets on the ground through real-time imagery.
“Before we didn’t have the television or infrared capability on the jet,” said the colonel. “Now we have that technology. We can look at something on the ground with our targeting pod and the [joint terminal air controller] on the ground can also see it.”
The unit’s B-1s can also loiter for long periods over the AOR because of their fuel capacity, two pilots and two weapons systems officers on the aircrews.
“We have the ability to fly for a long period of time and the speed to move through the country fairly quickly,” said Col. Kennedy.
The unit uses these capabilities on a daily basis. On a typical mission crews will fly for 12 hours, most of which is spent conducting armed over watch of troops on the ground or looking at requested areas of interest.
“If there happens to be a troops in contact situation, we’ll check in with the JTAC who will bring us up to speed and if we need to deliver weapons we’ll do that,” said the colonel.
Col. Kennedy recalled one mission while here where the unit supported a convoy several times that had come under fire and had disabled vehicles.
“We got there and were able to help them find the enemy who was engaging them,” he said. “The ground commander made the target decision, ‘Yes, I want to target them.’ We engaged them, dropped weapons on them and assessed how well we did. From that first engagement there was a follow-on engagement where the enemy went to get some additional weapons such as a recoilless rifle and moved to another location where a [rocket propelled grenade] team was trying to set up to take action against the Coalition convoys. That is the mission that stands out to me personally. It was our longest mission for which I have records.”
One of the biggest challenges for 34 EBS aircrews is staying alert through the long sorties, according to Col. Kennedy.
“You have to be ready to execute at almost any minute,” he said. “There are no rest periods while we’re up there.”
Because of the long missions, many of the unit’s aircrew members have logged a large number of combat hours in the AOR. Capt. Jess Hamilton, the unit’s chief of weapons and tactics, recently went over 1,000 combat hours in the aircraft.
“Doing the close air support mission is pretty rewarding for me,” said the Sullivan, Ind., native. “There are guys on the ground getting shot at and you come in and handle that problem for them. Being an instructor pilot and the weapons officer for the squadron is also pretty rewarding. Teaching the new guys how we do business with close air support and then watching them go get the mission done is probably the most interesting part of my job.”
Capt. Hamilton also had the distinction of dropping the first bomb from a B-1 equipped with the Sniper pod during a mission, Aug. 4. The 34 EBS is the first to use the pod on a B-1 in combat, which Colonel Kennedy called the biggest success of this rotation.
“I was out here last year and things have changed completely because of the sniper pod,” said Staff Sgt. Joshua Schenewerk, non-commissioned officer in charge of intelligence for the 34 EBS, who also debriefed the crew after the first drop. “I was really proud to be a part of it because I knew that was a big capability we brought on line in six months. We got it in theater to the guys who need it – those on the ground.”
Sgt. Schenewerk said the most interesting part of his job now is debriefing crew members after each mission.
“We sit down and watch the video and hear them talking to the guys on the ground,” he said. “You can hear the gunfire coming in or going out. You can hear the guys needing support. That, to me, is by far the most interesting part of my job. Getting to see how things on the ground are actually going, not reading what is in the newspaper but actually witnessing it first-hand via the pod and the debrief.”
Successful missions also encourage others who contribute to the unit’s ability to guard the guardians of freedom.
“It’s always fun to hear the crew members’ stories when they get back,” said Airman 1st Class Justin Monroe, a Richwood, Ohio, native who ensures crewmembers are current and qualified in all areas before each mission. “I feel I put a lot in toward helping with the war effort. I help put these guys in the air, and they drop the bombs.”
About 300 people in several units at this Southwest Asian base contribute directly to the many successes the 34 EBS has had here. Some of its key partners include the 34th Aircraft Maintenance Unit (which deployed with the 34 EBS from Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D.), the 379th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron, and the Combined Air and Space Operations Center. Each Airman knows that it takes teamwork to put bombs on target.
“This is what I signed up to do,” said Sgt. Schenewerk. “I signed up after Sept. 11 to fight terrorism.”
The Winston, Ore., native, said he loved supporting those guarding coalition ground forces.
“Being intelligence we’re not the tip of the spear, but we’re close enough to it that we get to feel some of the effects while they’re out there employing that spear,” he said. “We are doing what we’re supposed to be doing and taking the fight to the enemy.”
Wild Thing’s comment………..
I thought this video was excellent and wanted to show it to you.
Prayers for our country, we face trying times ahead.
Actor/Host R. Lee Ermey accepts $10,000 Toys for Tots donation at Naval Air Station North Island
NAVY.mil
NAVAL AIR STATION NORTH ISLAND, Calif. (NNS) — The Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program in Southern California got a big boost today, when R. Lee Ermey, retired Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant and motion picture star visited Naval Air Station North Island Dec. 22.
The History Channel host of ‘Mail Call’ accepted a contribution valued at more than $10,000 from the Fleet Readiness Center Southwest (FRCSW) Superintendent’s Association.
Navy Capt. Mike Kelly, commanding officer FRCSW, presented Ermey a check for $9,500 and an assortment of toys during a brief ceremony at the NAS.
Ermey said the donated money would be used by the wives of Marines from the 4th Tank Battalion at Camp Pendleton to purchase toys “at cost” from Wal-Mart stores.
“I’ve seen this program grow for years, and it’s a wonderful thing when we can get enough toys to give the young kids who have less; a couple of toys each instead of just one,” Ermey said.
“We need to show attention to these kids who don’t really have a lot. They feel as though nobody cares about them. We need to reach out to these young people and let them know that we do care about them, and are concerned about their well-being and happiness. They deserve to have a Christmas as much as anyone else does,” Ermey said.
Ermey has been an official Toys for Tots spokesperson for the past 29 years.
Wild Thing’s comment…………
God bless those who donated and thanks to R.Lee Emery too and to all our Marines and ALL our troops.
You can go here and listen to the intro………http://www.rleeermey.com/….or you can drop and give me 50.
heh heh
Now you know I just had to say it that way. hahahaha
I am really sorry, I have been trying to do a few posts for today and I am just too sick. We have a wonderful Christmas, and had gone to one of our nephews and his wife for Christmas dinner. If they were Democrats I would think they poisoned me. haha I keep trying to sit here but I am too sick to my stomach to be able to. I did the Pepto thing but so far it is not working.
It is now 2:00 in the morning and it is the normal time I work on the posts for the day, but instead of working on posts I am going to go to bed and see if I can get rid of this flu bug or whatever it is.
I am so glad I did the other post, the one above yesterday. It was all ready to be posted.
Have a great day everyone. Thank you and I really am sorry.
Martina McBride – O Holy Night (Acapella))
Martina McBride – The Christmas Song
Elvis Presley is in the building!!!
Joined here by Martina McBride using special effects to include her in the orignal clip from the ’68 Comeback Special. Thanks to Sony/BMG
****** Merry Christmas Everybody *******
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Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah everyone.
Love and hugs,
Wild Thing
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