A Dangerous New Dance by China, India

choi

(1) Simon Denyer, China, India Perform Dangerous New Dance of Encircler, Counter-encircler. Washington Post, Nov 27, 2011.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wo ... QAMdFrzN_story.html

Quote:

"a new strategic contest in which each country has been increasingly active in what would once have been seen as the other’s 'back yard.'

"'India’s "Look East" policy, which originated in the 1990s, essentially had an economic logic, but now it has been given a geopolitical logic, in order to counter-encircle the encircler,' [John] Garver[, a professor of international relations at the Georgia Institute of Technology] said. Privately and now more publicly, the United States has been urging India on, declaring, in Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s words, its support for New Delhi’s efforts to turn 'Look East' into 'Act East.'

" In a piece last year for the Asian Security journal [6: 238-261 (2010)], Garver and Fei-Ling Wang argued that the United States, Japan and India 'are playing a high-risk game' by appearing to join together to contain China. 'Germany’s road to war in 1914 and Japan’s road in 1941 were to a significant degree predicated on a sense of being encircled by a coalition of hostile powers. Both were determined to break out of that encirclement,' they wrote.

Note: dissonance (n):
1a : lack of agreement * * *
2: a mingling of discordant sounds; especially : a clashing or unresolved musical interval or chord"
www.m-w.com

(2) WJ Hennigan, Idea of Civilians Using Drone Aircraft May Soon Fly with FAA. Los Angeles Times, Nov 27, 2011.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-drones-for-profit-20111127,0,6584711.story

My comment: Please view the photo and read paragraphs related to a drone "Qube."

(3) Devorah Lauter, French Fear Being Indebted to China; In France, many on both sides of the political spectrum worry that they will surrender some of their sovereignty if China helps fund a European bailout. Los Angeles Times, Nov 27, 2011.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nati ... is-chinese-20111127,0,1180909.story

Note:
(a) The word "deborah" means "bee" in Hebrew. "Devora(h)" is modern Hebrew form of "Debora(h)" in English. Of course, Deborah is the Hebrew name of two women in Old Testament (Genesis 35: 8 and Judges 4-5).
(b) The French surname Peltier is a variant of another surname Pelletier, meaning fur trader (French pellet, diminutive of pel ‘skin’, ‘hide') The cognate in the present-day English is "pelt."
(c) The arrondissement and boulangerie are French nouns.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/arrondissement

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/boulangerie
(d) The given names Sacha (in French) and Sasha (in English) is from a Russian pet form of Alexander and Alexandra. Though it can be male or female name, but its ending with "a" encourages its use in females in English-speaking world.
(e) extraterrestrial (n; First Known Use 1950): "an extraterrestrial being"

extraterrestrial (adj: First Known Use 1848):
"originating, existing, or occurring outside the earth or its atmosphere <extraterrestrial life>"

All ENGLISH definitions are from www.m-w.com.

The 1982 film ET is acronym of this word.

(3) The Star Wars Look; Infantry. Strategy Page, Nov 27, 2011
http://strategypage.com/htmw/htinf/articles/20111127.aspx
("A popular (but unofficial) accessory for the current combat helmet is an attachment that provides full face protection. This comprises a ballistic (fragment proof) transparent visor and a continuous mouth-cheek protector below that. This BATLSKIN device provides better protection to the face (where 30 percent of wounds occur these days)")

BATLSKIN, by Revision. Undated.
http://www.revisionmilitary.com
(b) ACH stands for Advanced Combat Helmet, and PASGT, Personal Armor System for Ground Troops (PASGT) helmet. Without face mask or jaw protection, both ACH and PASGT look like a german helmet used in World War II.
http://operationhelmet.org/helmets.html

(4) Sharper Night Vision. Strategy Page, Nov 27, 2011.
http://strategypage.com/htmw/htecm/articles/20111127.aspx

Quote:

"The main improvement with SENVG [Spiral Enhanced Night Vision Goggles] is a much sharper, true-color image. * * * The ENVG were particularly useful spotting for hidden (in the brush) enemy gunmen at night.

"What made the ENVG so popular was that it combines the older light enhancement technology goggles, with a thermal (heat sensing) night sight. * * * It was five years ago that field testing of the original ENVG (the AN/PAS13) took place. This device worked with the current AN/PVS-14 night vision goggles (which provide night vision by enhancing available light), but added the capability to use thermal imaging (seeing differences in heat).

Note:
(a) AN/PVS-14
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AN/PVS-14
(Designer & Manufacturer  ITT Corp)
(b) Enhanced Night Vision Goggles Preview. YouTube.com, uploaded by aetutsplus on Jun 12, 2011.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvYxkxxhBgw

This is NOT AN/PVS-14, arther, the person who created the video clip wants to tell people how to make the goggle with off-the-shelf parts.
(c) Enhanced Night Vision Goggle (ENVG) - PM Soldier Sensors and Lasers. YouTube.com, uploaded by USArmyPEOSoldier on May 27, 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGXbgWqpiUw&NR=1

This is a long video clip (4 min 14 sec), so skip to see how humans, tanks and bullets in discharge (all hot) stand out from background.


(5) K-Max Goes Over The Mountain. Strategy Page, Nov 27, 2011.
http://strategypage.com/htmw/htairmo/articles/20111127.aspx

Note:
(a) Built to Lift; K-Max. Kaman, undated.
http://www.kamanaero.com/helicopters/kmax.html
("One of the most attractive features of the K-Max is the amount of automation in the aircraft. The flight control software can be programmed where to take, and drop, a cargo, and then return and land automatically. The operator can intervene at any time")

To view video clips, one can not click the screen. Rather, one has to move the cursor to the bottom of the screen, then a gray bar appears. To its left is a forward arrow; click that arrow.

The Strategy Page is about UAV. It is unclear if the Kaman video clips are manned or unmanned. English Wikipedia has a page for K-max, which is manned, with one crew and initial flight 1991.
(b) Kaman Aircraft
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaman_Aircraft
(headquarters in Bloomfield, Connecticut; founded in 1945 by Charles Kaman)

(6) Cheap Competition For The F-16. Strategy Page, Nov 25, 2011
http://strategypage.com/htmw/htairfo/articles/20111125.aspx
("Pakistan is offering the JF-17 for a low price ($25 million in the cheapest configuration) and touts the fact that this is a third the price of an F-16. But this is comparing apples and oranges")

(7) China Rearms Bangladesh On The Cheap. Strategy Page, Nov 25, 2011
http://strategypage.com/htmw/htlead/articles/20111125.aspx
("China will deliver 16 F-7BGI jet fighters next year. Bangladesh already has 40 older F-7s (a clone of the Russian MiG-21), plus ten MiG-29s, which form the core of their air combat force")

Note: F-7 is export version of Chengdu J-7. Wikipedia

(8) It Worked For The Romans. Strategy Page, Nov 27, 2011.
http://strategypage.com/htmw/htmoral/articles/20111123.aspx

Quote:

"air force found that more than half the troops living in barracks were not eating at the air force run dining facilities. Things were not much better in the army.

"All this is because higher pay for the troops has led to some unexpected behavior. One of these changes was that more and more unmarried troops (who comprise about half the force) don't eat at the 'dining facility' (formerly known as the Mess Hall). While the official chow has been getting better, the troops prefer fast food, restaurants, or using a microwave back at the barracks [which are furnished with] microwaves, and even small refrigerators.

"Letting the troops feed themselves is cheaper than running the dining facilities, and is a return to a policy that existed for thousands of years, until about a century ago, when the military took over the 'food service' task. Now the troops are back to 'foraging and preparing' their own meals. Hey, it worked for the Romans.