25 December 2012. Sergei Yolkin’s World. Be Ready to Have a Festive New Year’s Mood!

Be Ready to Have a Festive New Year’s Mood!

Sergei Yolkin

2012

******

Firstly, the fact that the Defence Minister is again using military rank, as in the Soviet days, means that the so-called “Serdyukov reform” is a dead duck. It means that Russia’s no longer following the Western style of having a “civilian” Defence Minister… it’s gone back to the practise of tsarist and Soviet days of having a general at the head of the Minobrony. It also hints at trouble within the siloviki. On another level, Yolkin’s poking fun at “enforced gaiety”. You can’t order folks to be happy, and that’s that…

______________________________

Army General Sergei Shoigu, the Defence Minister, gave instructions to the Voronezh Military Air Force Engineering University to foster a holiday spirit in the student dormitories, and, once again, drew attention to the fact that the cadets and soldiers should be able to take a shower whenever they want to, rather than once a week on a so-called “bath day”.

25 December 2012

Sergei Yolkin

RIA-Novosti

http://ria.ru/caricature/20121225/916195571.html

 

15 June 2012. A Point to Ponder… Why Does America Bully Small States?

______________________________

The last time that the USA faced a peer force was in the Korean War of 1950-53, where the conflict ended in a stalemate between the USA on one side, and the VVS (USSR) and the PLA (PRC) on the other. The PLA soldiers proved themselves the best infantry in the conflict (the Americans could only counter them with massive firepower from artillery and air strikes). The fighter regiments were led by VOV heroes such as Ivan Kozhedub (the leading ace in the Anti-Hitler Coalition in WWII)  and Aleksandr Pokryshkin; they flew the MiG-15… that is, they had better aircraft than the USAF did (the MiG wasn’t known as the “Sabre Killer” for nothing) and were led by more experienced leaders than the Americans had. No wonder that they won local air superiority over North Korea (they were forbidden to fly below the 38th Parallel). Since then, the USA has scrupulously avoided any opponent that might come close to it in power, as the PLA and the VVS gave the USA a real run for its money and bloodied its nose badly (in fact, the USA changed the armament on its fighters as it found out that MiGs could open fire outside of the range of the outmoded equipment on American planes). Would I be unkind in stating that the leading Sov aces outscored the leading American aces (the USAF racked up victories against the PLAAF and KPAAF that was balanced by the VVS knocking down the USAF)?

The USA provoked Russia through its proxy war in South Ossetia in ’08. I translated the news dispatches then (they’re posted on this site), and the posts told the story of an unprovoked surprise attack that started with a rocket bombardment of sleeping civilians at 22.00. The USA smiled at this… GWB smiled at this… Condi Rice smiled at this… the Republican Party smiled at this. This is  a pattern, kids… so, mark that ballot for Barack Obama on 6 November. He ain’t perfect, but he’s kept us out of that sort of mess. The next time the GOP provokes the Russians, they might not be so lucky. God do preserve us all.

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Friday 15 June 2012

Albany NY