Russian Method . . .

No Airshow here. The grandkids of the gang that dug 'em out of Berlin can still play hardball.


The video shows Russian Navy commandos on a Somalian pirate ship shortly after the pirates had captured a Russian oil tanker. The Euro Union navy that patrols these waters would not interfere because they feared there could be casualties.... So what are they there for?

All explanations are in Russian with a single exception of when a wounded pirate says something in English and the Russian soldier says, "This is not a fishing boat." All conversations between the commandos are in Russian. If you don't understand Russian, the pictures speak for themselves.

The soldiers first freed their compatriots and the tanker. Then the Russian Navy Commandos moved the pirates back to their own (pirate) ship, searched the pirate ship for weapons and explosives, and then they left the ship and exploded it with all the remaining pirates hand-cuffed to it.

The commandos sank the pirate ship along with the pirates and without any court proceedings, lawyers etc. by using the anti-piracy laws of the 18th and 19th centuries where the captain of the rescuing ship has the right to decide what to do with the pirates. In those days they were usually hung.

I would think from now on, Russian ships will not be targets for Somalia pirates.

Declare an operational pause,

Give everyone a 30 leave and wait for summer to cool. Then come back and start over.

Last week a French Foreign Legion unit stationed at Carpaigne near the southern French port of Marseille was conducting a live-fire exercise and let loose a few tracer rounds into a forested area around the camp. The problem was, the forest fire hazard level was "extreme".

French soldiers have been branded "imbeciles" for firing shells into parched woodland - and sparking a massive forest blaze that threatened up to 1000 homes.

The Foreign Legion unit started one of the worst fires in recent years when it blasted tracer ammunition into tinder dry trees at their base near Marseille.

At about the same time, the Russian Navy was preparing to celebrate Navy Day in the Russian Pacific port of Vladivostok. Things didn't go quite as well as hoped.

A missile fired from a military vessel during a Navy Day parade rehearsal has hit an apartment block in the Far Eastern city of Vladivistok, Russia.

News agencies said the missile hit a nine-storey block of flats in Leonova Street, but that noone was injured. Other reports said the missile fell a meter short of the building, leaving a wide crater on the ground and breaking the windows of the ground floor apartments.

In the profession of arms, shit happens. Usually because someone executed a really stupid idea.

Just in case the world wasn't complicated enough...

Let's start the Cold War with Russia all over again.

Via Cernig this report on the prospect of the Russian navy re-establishing a permanent presence in the Mediterranean.

"The Mediterranean Sea is very important strategically for the Black Sea fleet," head of the navy Admiral Vladimir Masorin said yesterday.

"I propose that, with the involvement of the Northern and Baltic fleets, the Russian Navy should restore its permanent presence there."

Buoyed by huge oil revenues and with President Putin showing increasing assertiveness, Russia has been boosting military spending.

At the same time, it has been using diplomacy to broaden Moscow's sphere of influence, especially in the Middle East, and a Russian force would further this cause.

However, it would mean sharing Mediterranean waters with the US Sixth Fleet - whose home base is in Italy - and this could further exacerbate recent tensions between the two.

Well, that's just deja vu all over again. The raison d'etre of NATO is starting to rise on its hind legs.

"It has been the dream of our admirals for a long time to restore our naval greatness and keep the task force we had under the Soviet Union," said military expert Pavel Felgenhauer.

Old habits die hard.

It has not been revealed where the fleet would be based, but the most likely option would be reviving the Tartus base.

"We still maintain a naval station in Syria but that has been mostly standing empty because, after the break-up of the Soviet Union, the naval task force was withdrawn," said Mr Felgenhauer.

Actually, the Russians have been accused of rebuilding their old Soviet-era port facilities in Tartus. Last year Moscow vehemently denied that accusation.

But they have also been busy building facilities at Latakia, Syria, according to the late Russian reporter Ivan Safronov. Late? Oh yeah. He "fell" from a fifth floor window of his apartment building in March after exposing a litany of serious problems within the Russian military and security service. The Kremlin didn't really like him all that much.

A part of the motivation to develop bases in the Mediterranean is the fact that the base they lease from the Ukraine, in Sevastapol, has a limited life-span. The Ukraine has insisted that Russia abide by the bilateral agreement which would see the Russian navy evicted in 2017.

Now, before you jam that paper bag over your mouth, keep in mind the Russian fleet isn't really very big - at the moment. When the Soviet Union collapsed, so too did the Soviet navy. In terms of surface ships, the Russian navy has fewer major surface combatants than the British. But that's changing.

Russia, as its wealth from oil production increases, has expanded its defence spending and has embarked on new ship-building programs. It has also started to refit and re-commission ships which have been laid-up.

Being positioned in the Mediterranean will, no matter what anyone in the Pentagon says, upset the balance of power in the region. The renewed chuminess with Syria will undoubtedly cause the Israelis to go into short fits. Further, based on Russian domestic requirements, being permanently in the Med makes little or no sense unless Putin has a desire to revive Russian influence in the Middle East.

Putin may feel his hand is being forced on this one. His admirals have long been advising that George W. Bush's imperial adventure in Iraq and his sabre-rattling over Iran are cause for concern. The US has embarked on a course of military conquest and the Russian admirals have been pressing to at least meet the US 6th Fleet (Mediterranean) head on.

Is George W. Bush concerned? That's doubtful. He'll be out of office before he's able to figure out what's going on. It will be up to the next president to revive this little document.