I think there is an opportunity for a quick, dramatic fall. Just look at how quick the Iraqi cities fell to ISIS. Once started, it may happen so quick there will be nothing we can do to stop it.

What? They want some say in the body of water named after their people - THAT’S INTOLERABLE! The Persian Gulf belongs to Pakistan! AIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIAAAAHHHH!!!

Can you imagine how fast the House of Saud would flee for the borders if there was a lightning fast incursion by Houthis driving Iranian supplied armed technicals... basically playing by the ISIS playbook? If Iran could break through to resupply and re-enforce Shia forces there it could be like another unleashed…

That’s not an Su-34... They are building an A-wing Fighter! Is MiG building the X-wing or the Y wing?

HAHA - You’re not getting me to climb up that ladder alone... I know there is a facehugger up their waiting!

Well, that’s not generally what’s done on the international arms market for the big ticket items. For things like planes, tanks, and missiles, the export market has stripped down versions of the originals. Planes lack the latest radar/ECM packages, tanks don’t have the latest armor package, missiles have only the…

Well, to be fair Iran could only buy the export variant with a much more limited range. Now that they have the long range version, they may be able to reverse engineer the upgrades to make them into longer ranged weapons. Just throwing that out there as a possible outcome.

You know what I am willing to give Putin/Russia complete credit for? Stopping the US military from directly attacking Syrian forces during the Chemical weapons deal. Russia jumped in on the Kerry aside of “unless they give up all their chemical weapons” and got Syria to give up all their chemical weapons. What -…

Oh yes, I agree that Bashir is no Ayatollah nor is he a Salafist cleric. What he is: A man born into a power mad family that set firmly the tools of torture and intimidation into this poor doctors hands... and he grasped them. Firmly. Power, Wealth, Subversion... these are the tools of despots and dictators.

No, I’m agreeing with what you posted earlier - that there are some Sunni’s that help run the country - but the ruling core is Alawite, which is a branch of Shia. Iran is helping a Shia dictator, not a Sunni defense minister.

What is this - an airplane for ants?

While the government is secular, it is historically based around and led by the Alawites. The Sunni’s who are there have thrown their lots in with them so they can have a cut of the pie too. The vast majority of the lands that are ISIS/rebel held: Sunni. The areas in Iraq that are ISIS held: Sunni.

Yes, military worship is weird, uh, “Sniper”

Meanwhile, Iran has announced that it will be putting ground troops into Syria to fight alongside Assad’s fledgling army. These will include Iranian, Hezbollah, and Iraqi Shiite militia fighters, with Russia providing air cover for the force. Such a step is a massive escalation in what is becoming a much larger…

It’s odd seeing a target rectical on screen, and the explosion no where near it. That’s just weird. It’s telling the enemy that the safest spot to be on is where the Russians are aiming at.

I think what everyone gets wrong here is that the Israelis don’t have to worry about Russian S-3/4/500 missile systems or the point defense systems surrounding them. There is only one target in Syrian that can be hit and the whole Russian tent will fold up and go home: Assad.

We could carpet bomb Germany, because the entire nation was our enemy. We could carpet bomb Japan for the same reason. As we could North Viet Nam.

Dude, thank you for that insight: You are absolutely correct: Obama is a genius!

Actually, I think that IS the proper way to refer to them, since they hate it AND they are douchbags. Fuck Them. I prefer to call them by my official title “Allah disrespecting father fu&*ers who are easily killed by women... or DAESH in my acronym.

One thing I did gain an appreciation for with the F-35 from your interview was it’s ease of access for working on things. Could you explain that for me a little? I wonder if that aspect comes from modular design, or from bigger/more access panels, or something else?