http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=All-terrain Sat, 18 May 2013 11:27:36 -0400 Liveleak http://edge.liveleak.com/80281E/u/u/ll2/logo.gif http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=All-terrain Wed, 08 May 2013 23:34:12 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=052_1368070342 fukzionists http://www.military-today.com/artillery/jobaria.jpg The Jobaria ( monster ) is the most powerful 122-mm artillery rocket system ever built. This multiple launch rocket system has been developed in by United Arab Emirates in cooperation with Roketsan of Turkey to meet the UAE requirement. However final assembly of this system takes place in the UAE. The main goal was to put one battery of rocket launchers on one vehicle. This new multiple launch rocket system was first revealed in 2013 during IDEX exhibition held in Abu Dhabi. United Arab Emirates have received an undisclosed number of these artillery systems already. The Jobaria MLRS consists of Oshkosh 6x6 heavy equipment transporter, towing a 10-wheel semi-trailer with 4 power rocket launchers. Each launcher has three pods with 20 rockets each. This rocket system carries a total of 240 122-mm rockets. A single Jobaria system replaces a full battery of rocket launchers mounted on 6 trucks with a crew of 30 men. Rockets have a maximum range of 37 km. A full salvo covers an area of 4 km^2. Rockets are stored and launched from pods for rapid reloading and interchangeability of various calibers. Some sources claim that Jobaria is also capable of launching a total of 240 107-mm rockets, with a maximum range of about 11 km. Alternatively it can launch 16 TR-300 300-mm rockets with a maximum range of up to 100 km. This artillery system is operated by a crew of three. Crew members are seated inside and operate from protected cab. It's armor provides protection from small arms fire and artillery shell splinters. The cab also has NBC protection system. This artillery system is aimed and launches all it's rockets without crew leaving the vehicle. The truck for this rocket system is supplied by Oshkosh. Vehicle is fitted with a central tyre inflation system. The trailer with rocket launchers is manufactured in the UAE. The Jobaria is fitted with auxiliary power unit. It allows this rocket system can operate with the truck engine turned off. It seems though that this new MLRS has limited mobility over desert terrain. It is most suited for operation from hard surface roads. This new multiple launch rocket system is supported by a dedicated resupply vehicle, which carries a full set of reloads and is fitted with two cranes. Each crane replenishes two rocket launchers. Reloading takes about 30 minutes. There is also a lighter Mini Jobaria, based on the Nimr 6x6 vehicle. It carries two pods with a total of 107-mm rockets. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=052_1368070342 fukzionists 240 122mm rockets fired at once weapons, gns, rockets, tanks, artillery Thu, 02 May 2013 23:13:39 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=bb2_1367547432 Baron_Kaz China is too big for its shoes, we all know that. For a 3rd world country with barely a fraction of its lands and people being urbanized, China assumes too much power with its sheer bluster. It is not uncommon, Hitler in the 1930's was not leading a super powerful Germany, when it made the pacifist League of Nations and a weak willed European council of states accede to his demands. And it was through these concessions that he built up Nazi Germany to what it is. We pride ourselves in not learning lessons from the past, whereas it seems the enemy always uses tried and tested techniques to built it self up. A strong assertive China is not in the interests of any nation in the world. Not the Western Allies or the Russians or the regional super power India or the Asian economic power houses. A strong China is not even good for the Chinese, who are being ground to the dust by the communist boots. Support for N. Korea, Iran, and every rogue nation in the world, slyly building up "ring of pearls" extending from Laos, Burma, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran to control what is arguably the most vital shipping routes connecting the far east to Europe, China is following a policy that is clearly expansionist. And what did Hitler do in the beginning ... he did not openly march in to warfare to garner resources. He utilized age old territorial and ethnic claims to bolster himself, Studetenland is case and point. Similarly China is doing that on a much larger scale. China has territorial dispute with every single neighbor. And it claims territories based on mystical propagandist rhetoric which seems to be the hall mark of totalitarian regimes. The only exception being Tajikistan, which ceded more than 1% of its national land mass to China, or roughly 1000 Sq. Kms. Now this was AFTER China signed MoUs (Memoranda of Understanding) with its Central Asian neighbors arising from the dissolution of the Soviet Union, viz. Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan in 1991. China re-evaluated its greed for land, and in this case the pressure worked with Tajikistan, leading to a 2001 agreement and finally a 2011 hand over of the land mass to China. China has lately taken to very aggressive posturing with its neighbors in the recent few years. Senkaku Islands in Japan, South China Sea islands controlled by Vietnam, Phillipines, etc and most recently South Tibet controlled by India. In the cases of Senkaku Island and South China sea, there was aggressive posturing and rhetoric, without any active military action. However in the case of India, China has moved forward and established military bases deep within Indian territory, 20 Kms actually. But given the rugged mountainous terrain, the Chinese bases with the advantage of height control over 750 Kms of Indian territory and the vital Karakorum pass - the life line of that region, which connects the 3 hostile neighbors, India, Pakistan and China. While Vietnam, Philippines and Japan have a sense of national pride, India, although technically the most militarily powerful, given its weak and corrupt government, has actually done nothing to reclaim its lost lands other than hold "Flag waving exercises" which actually is Indian Soldiers waving white flags at the enemy and hollering to get their attention. Its not a joke, but a true statement. Controlling / containing China is not hard. Let us consider the liabilities China has at this time: 1) A very large population, with a skewed distribution of wealth and education. The southern port cities are wallowing in wealth, while the hinterlands are still agricultural and backward. 2) An economy bereft of imagination, just mindless manufacturing. The largest human migration actually happens during the Chinese Lunar new year, when Chinese factory workers take a break for 1 month from their sweat shops to go to their villages in the north. If these workers come back and have no jobs, they pose the most significant threat to China, since they will be in the southern cities, they have been exposed to the "good life" and "reality" and are semi - weaned off the communist propaganda teat. And they have the ability to rouse the hitherto placated hinterlands, which remained completely silent during the 1989 Beijing uprising aka the "Tinanmen square protests". 3) A skewed and unhealthy male to female sex ratio, due to the one family, one child policy, which led to mass abortion of female babies. 4) Dangerous allies - North Korea, Iran, which instead of bolstering China's reputation and economy, actually subtract from it. 5) A very huge thirst for energy, which cannot be sustained from within. 6) A relatively weak naval force. Chinese Navy is a joke, their only naval asset worth even considering is their anti ship missile. But they are modernizing at a furious pace. 7) A very centralized command and control structure, which is dependent on propaganda and rhetoric. The question which is most intriguing, why is China going out of its way to antagonize its neighbors with its land claims? Just like North Korea's recent tantrums, it is mostly meant for domestic consumption. It is a true and tested tactic, if you want to placate your own masses and divert their attention, create a bogeyman foreign enemy to unite them under your banner. Given the afore mentioned 7 points and the world economic slow down of 2008, and a recent change in Chinese leadership, the new Communist party boss is in the process of establishing his authority over the masses. It is of little surprise thus, that the latest debacle with India is happening as I write this, barely 17 days prior to a high level visit by none less than the Chinese Premier himself to New Delhi on May 20th, 2013. Most likely these debacles will slowly peter out, but with each incursion and with each claim, China is flexing its theoretical muscle while we watch with bated breath, waiting for them to make the move. Like in any sport, or any debate, one should NEVER leave the opening move and thus control to the opponent. And statecraft is not a blind rush to address leaks where it happens, but rather a careful assessment of SWOT : Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat with due consideration of strategic benefits vs tactical gains. The solution for India vis a vis the Chinese land grab in Southern Tibet lies not in the Himalayan mountains, wherein sheer logistics would make it too expensive a proposal to adequately address the issue. While China has for years worked to build its infrastructure in the mountains, India has barely started and the Indian army is honestly not a match for the People' Red Army. Or for Japan, where in the control of a tiny island very close to its own shores is under threat. The key to this problem lies in the South China sea. China is in desperate need of oil, and energy. And it needs to unload its mass of cheaply manufactured goods to the Western Nations. And some how both these factors coincide at the same patch of waters, which we know as the South China sea. Rich in oil reserves and a vital naval route for cargo ships, it is central to China in terms of importance. India has its national oil company, the ONGC - Videsh (Oil & Natural Gas Corporation - International) already exploring these waters, and it has the strongest Naval fleet in Asia, next only to Russia - which maintains its Vladivostok fleet, but is hampered due to economic constrains and since it is not a all year port given its northern location. If India agrees on a "Protection" deal with the South China Sea claimants, viz. Phillipines, Vietnam, et al, and positions its blue water navy in these waters, it effectively catches China with its shorts and curlies. Same applies to the USA, which however does not enjoy the good will that India does, with Vietnam in particular. A joint, India, US and Japanese collaboration in the South China sea, with maritime Patrols would contribute to greater control over China, compared to any bull shit defense and military build up. We have to remember, that when we press down on an over inflated water balloon, although we might apply pressure at one point, the effects of the pressure are transmitted to the other side, and ultimately leads to the breakage at the weakest point. This is strategy. Controlling the South China sea, not only controls the potential Oil and Natural gas resource which China craves and indeed needs to sustain its very existence, but it controls the shipping routes from the middle east which supplies the energy to China. A bit of that pressure will be eased with the building of the pipeline from Iran through Pakistan in to China. So the time to act is now. Also, given the dependence of "Off loading" cheap manufactured goods, China needs these water ways. If the factories remain shut for more than a month, there will be a revolution. The people in China are in a precarious state. And there is only so much control you can exercise with cults of personality and rhetoric. If the Northern workers, without wives (given the skewed sex ratio) are idle, and with their new education and knowledge are denied their meager earnings, they will rise. And they will rise in the nerve centers of the south. And they will instigate their brethren in the hinterlands. And, the educated "intelligentsia" in the south, will support this revolution, since like the Czech and Slovak republics, wherein the Czechs saw the Slovaks as a drain on their earnings, the Southerners will want to keep their money and assume the role of employers, rather than benefit providers to the communist teat. Also, with greater exposure to Western media, they know what they are missing. But these ideas can work in the immediate present. Please do note, the oil pipeline from Iran to China, and the massive modernization drive of the People's Naval forces, will render this idea unusable in the next few years. As with Hitler, we think in retrospect, that he should have been stopped in Munich (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeasement). Let us not make that mistake and let another monster grow, before it gets too big for the good of the world. Signed: Kaz. Los Angeles, May 2, 2013. PS: Please donate to help me create more original content. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=bb2_1367547432 Baron_Kaz Containing China - Militarily & Economically. China Fri, 26 Apr 2013 21:02:37 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=80e_1367024134 USMC5816 North Korea's military, founded 81 years ago Thursday, is older than the country itself. It began as an anti-Japanese militia and is now the heart of the nation's "military first" policy. Late leader Kim Jong Il elevated the military's role during his 17-year rule; South Korea estimates he boosted troop levels to 1.2 million soldiers. The military's new supreme commander, Kim Jong Un, gave the Korean People's Army a sharpened focus this year by instructing troops to build a "nuclear arms force." Yet the army is believed to be running on outdated equipment and short supplies. The secretive army divulges few details about its operations, but here is an assessment from foreign experts of its strengths and weaknesses:ARTILLERY: North Korea provided a chilling reminder of what its artillery is capable of when it showered a front-line South Korean island with shells, killing four people in November 2010 and underscoring the threat that its artillery troops pose at the disputed sea border. South Korea says North Korea has more than 13,000 artillery guns, and its long-range batteries are capable of hitting the capital Seoul, a city of more than 10 million people just 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the border. "North Korea's greatest advantage is that its artillery could initially deliver a heavy bombardment on the South Korean capital," Mark Fitzpatrick, a former U.S. State Department official now with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said in an email. South Korea's defense minister estimates that 70 percent of North Korean artillery batteries along the border could be "neutralized" in five days if war broke out. But Sohn Yong-woo, a professor at the Graduate School of National Defense Strategy of Hannam University in South Korea, said that would be too late to prevent millions of civilian casualties and avert a disastrous blow to Asia's fourth-largest economy. SPECIAL FORCES: Experts believe guerrilla warfare would be the North's most viable strategy in the event of conflict, since its conventional army suffers from aging equipment and a shortage of firepower. Seoul estimates North Korea has about 200,000 special forces, and Pyongyang has used them before. In 1968, 31 North Korean commandos stormed Seoul's presidential Blue House in a failed assassination attempt against then-President Park Chung-hee. That same year, more than 120 North Korean commandos sneaked into eastern South Korea and killed some 20 South Korean civilians, soldiers and police officers. In 1996, 26 North Korean agents infiltrated South Korea's northeastern mountains after their submarine broke down, sparking a manhunt that left all but two of them dead, along with 13 South Korean soldiers and civilians. "The special forces' goal is to discourage both the United States and South Korea from fighting with North Korea at the earliest stage of war by putting major infrastructure, such as nuclear plants, and their citizens at risk," said Kim Yeon-su, a professor at Korea National Defense University in Seoul. "The North's special forces are a key component of its asymmetric capabilities along with nuclear bombs, missiles and artillery. Their job is to create as many battlefronts as possible to put their enemies in disarray." ON LAND, BY SEA AND IN THE AIR: In March 2010, 46 South Korean sailors died in a Yellow Sea attack on their warship that Seoul blamed on a North Korean submarine. Pyongyang denies involvement. Separately, since 1999, North and South Korean navies have fought three bloody skirmishes near their disputed western maritime border. Experts say those battles show while the South has an edge in naval firepower and technology, the North relies on the element of surprise. North Korea has 70 submarines while South Korea has 10, according to Seoul's Defense Ministry. The most menacing threats from the North's navy are small submarines that would deposit commando raiders along the South Korean coast, said John Pike, head of the Globalsecurity.org think tank. North Korea also has 820 warplanes, more than South Korea, though Seoul is backed up by American air power. The South says most of the North's aircraft are obsolete. North Korea also suffers chronic fuel shortages that have forced its air force to cut sorties, experts say. "North Korea would not be able to prosecute a full-fledged war for very long," Fitzpatrick said. "Its biggest problem is that North Korea would quickly lose control of the skies because of the vastly superior (South Korean) and U.S. air forces. The reported number of North Korean aircraft is meaningless, because many of them cannot fly, and North Korean pilots have little training in the air." The U.S. stations 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea and has recently flown nuclear-capable stealth B-2 bombers and F-22 fighter jets during joint drills in a show of force aimed at deterring North Korea. Logistics and supplies are another issue. Heavy equipment deployed by naval and air forces requires extensive repairs, especially on rugged terrain like the Korean Peninsula. South Korea's Defense Ministry estimates North Korea's wartime resources, mostly stored underground, would last only two to three months. "North Korea's only chance of winning any war depends on how quickly it can end one," Sohn said. North Korea could try to compensate for its lack of effective equipment with sheer manpower. North Korea, a country of about 25 million, has an estimated 7.7 million reserves. MISSILES AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS: North Korea says it needs to develop nuclear weapons as a deterrent against U.S. aggression. It has conducted three underground nuclear tests since 2006, the most recent in February. Pyongyang is believed to have enough weaponized plutonium for four to eight nuclear bombs, according to Siegfried Hecker, a nuclear expert with Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation. He doubts Pyongyang has mastered the technology to tip a missile with a nuclear warhead. "I don't believe North Korea has the capacity to attack the United States with nuclear weapons mounted on missiles and won't for many years," he said on the website of Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies this month. Bruce Bennett, a Rand Corp. expert, said earlier this month that it's very unlikely the North has a nuclear missile capable of hitting the U.S. but said there is a "reasonable chance" that Pyongyang has short-range nuclear missile capability. CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS: North Korea denies it runs any chemical and biological weapons programs. South Korea claims that Pyongyang has up to 5,000 tons of chemical weapons. The IISS says that although the figures are "highly speculative," the North probably does possess chemical and biological arms programs. "Whatever the actual status of North Korea's chemical and biological capabilities, the perception that it has, or likely has, chemical and biological weapons contributes to Pyongyang's interest in creating uncertainties in Washington, Seoul and Tokyo and raises the stakes to deter or intimidate potential enemies," it said on its website. North Korea is not a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention, but it has acceded to the non-binding Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. Semper Fidelis http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=80e_1367024134 USMC5816 A Look at North Korea's Military Capabilities War, Weapons, North, Kores Thu, 25 Apr 2013 20:51:04 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e82_1366936975 USMC5816 NOTE: The article is basically about Marine Corps MOS 5811 & 5816 The Special Weapons and Tactics teams from the Palm Springs, Desert Hot Springs, Indio and Cathedral City police departments joined up with the Combat Center Provost Marshal Office's Special Reaction Team. The Lower Desert teams make up a consolidated group called Desert Regional SWAT. The teams went to Range 111 for a live-fire experience they couldn't duplicate outside the Combat Center. "Live-fire isn't something we typically get to do," said Palm Springs Police Department Sgt. Bryan Anderson, team leader, Desert Regional SWAT. This iteration of training isn't the first time Desert Regional SWAT has trained with the guys from SRT. The group from the Combat Center has gone to several locations to train with area SWAT. The team looks to train with them on a monthly basis. "We've usually trained with simulation rounds, and we've trained in Camp Pendleton," said Andrerson. "But, this is the best training that we've had." The visiting police officers weren't the only ones who benefited from the day's events. SRT learned new SWAT techniques and shared ideas with their local counterparts. "We gain a lot from the SWAT guys just being here," said Marine Sgt. Matthew McCaskill, commander, Combat Center SRT. "They have a lot more experience out there with hostages and barricade situations." A Desert Regional SWAT sniper also came along to test out SRT's sniper range. "It's a pretty nice range out here," said PSPD Sgt. Frank Browning, sniper. "The range has drop-down targets, so I know right away if I hit it or not." The teams practiced breaching drills at one of the Military Operations on Urban Terrain towns. The unfamiliar location kept the Desert Regional SWAT team on their toes. "It's good for the SWAT teams to practice in a place they haven't before," said Kennith Charles, SRT member. "It gives them something like what they would get in the real world. It's something different so they have to adapt to the situation." Desert Regional SWAT ended the day with a debrief about how their training went and the role the new location had in what they learned. General consensus from the police officers was that they enjoyed the day and are eager to train here again. "We really appreciate what the Marines do here," Anderson said. "It's an honor to train here beside them." Stealthily skirting an unkempt road past parallel barriers of overgrown brush, six armored enforcers creep toward a decrepit building. Though the shadowy structure is abandoned, the Special Reaction Team Marines' focused eyes and deliberate movement indicate they're treating this clearing mission as seriously as a live one. Screaming commands as they kicked in doors and ripped open closets, Beyond their regular duties as military policemen, the squad-sized element of SRT members stands ready to respond to high-risk situations that arise on base. With the event nearing, team leader John Supple, a prior enlisted Force Reconnaissance Marine, said the team was working to increase their speed and better their teamwork in case they're tasked with responding to an incident at BayFest. During concerts on base by alternative rockers Filter and the popular Black Eyed Peas, SRT members functioned in this role by pulling unruly concertgoers out of the crowd. "Keeping our mindset fresh and consistent is very important, especially in a environment," Supple, from Fulton, N.Y., said. "It's too easy to get complacent when you're doing this, so we rehearse, rehearse, rehearse." Though the SRT is rarely called upon for operations like room clearing, Supple said training in this tight environment is invaluable to building their most important asset - communication. "If you don't communicate, you might as well be on your own," Supple said. "Otherwise, it's just a bunch of individuals moving around inside the house, and you end up with friendly fire." Before putting boots on the ground, Supple briefed the SRT members on the assignment, drawing out a map to allow them a better visual of the situation. While acknowledging the importance of an operation order, he reminded his team that the circumstances could change when they moved through the door. "We can never completely train for what is going to happen inside a house," Sgt. Christopher Smith, an SRT member from Almont, Mich., said. "We train with a lot of different scenarios so when that unthinkable scenario comes up, we'll be able to go through it." Dividing into groups of two, SRT members rehearsed their movement in the dilapidated barracks, moving room-to-room down the building's long hallway until it was completely cleared. After several practice runs, they tackled the mission in full gear, receiving reminders from their team leader on how to increase their mission effectiveness. "Our world is a three-dimensional world, so don't get caught sweeping only here," Supple said, sweeping his hand chest-level. Though room clearing operations help build the SRT members' skills as communicators and operators, Supple said endless rehearsals often become monotonous. Instead of simply repeating movements indoors, the entry team performed observational drills outside, using scopes to spot foreign objects among the trees. "If we can look through branches and spot something outside, how much more observant are we going to be indoors?" Supple said. "By mixing the training up, we're clearing out the cobwebs." For SRT members, successful missions hinge on their communication, but their ability to interact is rooted within a unified purpose - pride in their unique specialty. "The cohesion that we have together is different from the cohesion of ," Mazurek said. "Today is my day off, but it's no problem to come in because this is what we all want to do. We sweat, shoot and train hard - nobody minds to work." Semper Fidelis http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e82_1366936975 USMC5816 Marine Corps S.W.A.T. Training USMC, Marine, SRT, Police, SWAT Mon, 22 Apr 2013 04:44:21 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=045_1366619850 GungHo2 Boston terror focuses Hagel ME trip on Syria & al Qaeda - instead of IranDEBKAfile Exclusive Report April 21, 2013, 11:24 PM (GMT+02:00) Tags: Boston Chuck Hagel Syria Al Qaeda Barack Obama Vladmir Putin Intelligence Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in Israel Before landing in Israel for his first visit as Defense Secretary Sunday, April 21, Chuck Hagel told reporters that the $10 billion arms sales to three US allies are "a very clear signal to Iran that military action remains an option to stop it from going nuclear." He carried this message to Jerusalem and on to his next stops in Riyadh and the United Arab Emirates. They are the only three Middle East Nations capable of military action against Iran, separately or together, say DEBKAfile's military sources. In his comment, Hagel did not mention US military involvement in such military action above and beyond the sale of arms. At the same time, shortly before boarding his plane for the Middle East, our Washington sources report that the defense secretary's mission in the region suddenly shifted onto unforeseen terrain as a result of the bombing attacks on the Boston Marathon of April 15, which left three dead and 180 injured. He saw Iran giving way to more pressing concerns centering on Syria and al Qaeda. There is a certain symbolism in that Israeli physicians at the Beth Israeli Deaconess Medical Center are attending the seriously injured victims of those explosions - as well as the surviving bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, while at home, Israeli medics are treating wounded Syrian combatants, some of them al Qaeda adherents, at a field hospital on the Golan. At a different level, the United Sates, Israel and Saudi Arabia, while fully alive to the threat of a nuclear Iran, have been jerked into awareness of the burgeoning presence of al Qaeda in Syria, Sinai and Iraq and the menace they pose to Israel, Lebanon and Jordan. All this has come together in the power plays around the Syrian civil war. For more than two years, Russian President Vladimir Putin has maintained that sympathy is not his motive for propping up Bashar Assad's regime in Damascus, but the certainty that his fall will release a swarm of al Qaeda jihadists on Damascus and other Syrian towns. From there, they will spread out through the southern Russian Caucasus and then leap on Moscow and other key Russian cities. By aiding Assad, Moscow is therefore protecting Russia, says Putin, echoing the argument US President George W. Bush put forward when he defended the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 as necessary to protect American cities from terror. President Barack Obama, for his part, has placed the onus of his counterterrorism strategy on decapitating al Qaeda in the belief that without their commanders, the jihadist rank and file will give up and go home. This strategy was smashed by the Boston bombing. Notwithstanding the high profile liquidations and the CIA drone operations, a major American city stood at the mercy of Islamist terrorists - with possibly more to come. As an army of law enforcement officers from across America descended five days later on the Watertown backyard and the boat in which Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was cowering, President Obama phoned President Putin and thanked him for his "cooperation in the investigation into the Boston Marathon bombings." This conversation stemmed from the Russian intelligence request to the FBI in 2011 to look into the older Tsarnaev brother, Tamerlan's ties with Muslim terrorist groups in the Caucasus, who at that time decided to pledge allegiance to al Qaeda . In the face of the US agency's indifference to its alert, Russian intelligence placed the two brothers under close surveillance - certainly dogging Tamerlan's footsteps during the six months he spent visiting Dagestan and Chechnya last year - and presumably also in America. Upon his return, he was not placed on the FBI watch list. The Russian agency was therefore in exclusive possession of the very intelligence the FBI sought for identifying the terrorists who perpetrated the bombings in Boston and their associates, whether inside or outside America. The Russian president's "cooperation" with the US inquiry was therefore invaluable. According to DEBKAfile's counterterrorism and military sources, Putin's quid pro quo for this assistance is not yet known, but it will certainly relate to the Syrian conflict rather than the Iranian issue. Damascus, as well as Tehran and al Qaeda, have been intently watching the US-Russian trade-off in the wake of the Boston event in order to calculate which way to jump and how it will serve their objectives. The al Qaeda menace may therefore find itself challenged more strongly than before by the Iran-Syria-Hizballah lineup - joined most recently by the Shiite-led Iraqi government, which has begun sending Shiite fighters to the Syrian front. Large-scale US arms sales to its Middle East allies certainly have their place in the front ranged against a nuclear Iran - although the deal Hagel is carrying will take years to materialize. But current events coming in rapid succession have put the Iranian issue on a back burner and Syria at the top of Chuck Hagel's talks in Jerusalem. Monday he sits down with Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon and Tuesday, with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=045_1366619850 GungHo2 Boston terror focuses Hagel ME trip on Syria & al Qaeda - instead of Iran Israel,Sakr,Hariri,Lebanon,Syria,Jihadist, Fascist Salafist Army,prophet,SAA,FSA,Allah,Arab,sex,Bashar,Assad,BBC,media lies,jazeera,arabiya,Aleppo,terrorist,Islam,Pedophilia Fri, 19 Apr 2013 20:27:14 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=336_1366416194 GraveMatter- I posted this in response to an earlier video claiming it had been shot down by enemy fire. I found that hard to believe since it only flew once here in the US. This photo from August 2012 shows the only flight of the Long Range Multi-Intelligence Vehicle, a ginormous spy blimp that the Army has now deflated. Photo: U.S. Army And so ends the U.S. military's dream of mega-blimps strapped with powerful surveillance gear. The Army confirms to Danger Room that it's killed the last of those lighter-than-air ships. Say goodbye to the Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle, or LEMV. Built by Northrop Grumman, it's a dimpled blimp as long as a football field; seven stories high; and carries a price tag of over half a billion dollars. The plan was to use the blimp over Afghanistan, where its gondola could haul seven tons of cargo including advanced camera gear able to see dozens of square miles of terrain with crystal-clear resolution at a single blink. It would stay 20,000 feet above the warzone for weeks at a time, something beyond the capabilities of any spy plane, manned or piloted. Trials over Afghanistan were slated for early this year. Not anymore. A report citing anonymous sources said LEMV quietly met the Army budget axe last week. The Army confirmed it, on the record, to Danger Room late on Thursday. "Due to technical and performance challenges, and the limitations imposed by constrained resources, the Army has determined to discontinue the LEMV development effort," Army spokesman Dov Schwartz emails. That came as news to the branch of the Army actually testing the blimp. "The Department of the Army has not notified the Army Space and Missile Defense Command of any programmatic changes to the LEMV program," spokesman John Cummings told Danger Room earlier Thursday. "LEMV continues to be a technology demonstration at SMDC." Northrop Grumman was surprised by word of the cancellation; it has yet to comment. The LEMV has been in trouble for awhile. A technical analysis in 2011 questioned whether the blimp could actually stay aloft for the 21 days Northrop hyped, and figured it was closer to 10. Although the ship was supposed to head to Afghanistan this year, its only flight has been its maiden August test voyage over New Jersey, which was months late. The Army, once a vocal LEMV booster, began backing away from the blimp in October. And as the LEMV goes, so too went the military's dreams of giant spy blimps for the foreseeable future. Last year, the Air Force abruptly canceled its contract for the Blue Devil, a blimp seven times larger than the Goodyear Blimp and LEMV's main rival. It was a massive reversal: More than just a lighter-than-air vehicle for spy gear, it was to host 12 different sensors and a supercomputer that made Blue Devil capable of acting as a quarterback coordinating other aerial spy gear. Only the avionics arrived late to the party, and technical challenges mounted. Not even the backing of the Air Force's former intelligence chief, whose company built the thing, could spare Blue Devil: As my colleague David Axe reported, the Air Force office running the Blue Devil added requirements in a bureaucratic shanking. The Air Force likes planes, not blimps. With Blue Devil dead, all that remains of the mega-blimps is the LEMV. Here's the justification for the mega-blimps. They give the U.S. military a middleweight spy tool, between the heavyweight spy satellites orbiting Earth and the welterweight spy planes taking pictures thousands of feet over a given swath of territory. Each has their functions: Satellites pick up huge, wide views and spy planes, manned and unmanned, provide hours' worth of imagery. For something in between - say, weeks' worth of so-called "pattern of life" data, send in something lighter than air, higher and more persistent than a plane, below a satellite, and carrying a ginormous amount of sensors, cameras and data processors. Lots of people in Congress never bought it. As the budget for spy blimps ticked upward and the Army and Air Force fought over who controlled the mega-airships, the Senate Armed Services Committee in 2011 questioned why two competing airframes were necessary. By the time the two top Senate appropriators the most important legislators in the chamber threw their weight behind the Blue Devil, the Air Force had all but decided blimps were a non-starter. The LEMV cancellation means an entire model of aerial surveillance is stillborn. The future of military blimps will be miniaturized: U.S. bases in Afghanistan often use tethered aerostats strapped with cameras above their fortifications to enhance their ability to spot insurgent threats beyond what the eye can see. But with the U.S. packing up from Afghanistan, the smaller blimps have also lost their rationale. The sound you hear is a lot of military hot air escaping. http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/02/spy-blimp-deflates/ By Spencer Ackerman 02.14.13 5:00 PM http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=336_1366416194 GraveMatter- Army Kills The Military's Last Remaining Giant Spy Blimp Giant, US, Spy, Blimp, shot, down, lies, propaganda Thu, 18 Apr 2013 14:24:21 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=dc9_1366308800 Setright SyrianPerspectiveBlogs Sorry about yesterday. I became so busy I could not finish the post. Here we go: Dr. Assad sat for an interview yesterday on Syrian television and made it clear that the army was going to finish the job completely. We support him. A major push has started as of Tuesday and the intensity of the fighting is unprecedented. The 100,000 or more volunteers for the National Defense Force along with the militias and paramilitary units have the effect of a "surge" releasing combat forces to take care of the rats once and for all. IDLIB: This province now dominates the news with bold new military action by the SAA. Wadi Dhaif and Haamidiyya: The military bases are safely in the hands of the SAA and tons of supplies and hundreds of reinforcements have taken up position in and around these bases. Aircraft continue to pound the remnant rat populations who persist in firing sporadically at our troops. The highways are not contested as reported in the propaganda of the West and the Right-Wing Maronite Yellow Press of Lebanon. According to Wael, armor is pouring into the area. The body count around these bases is in excess of 500 dead rats. Saraaqeb: Elements of our 4th mechanized armored division are seen now in the area of this city. A major push is coming and the FSA and its Al-Qaeda allies do not have the power to stop it. The SAA destroyed 2 nests of rats south of the city and confiscated whole boxes of ammunition and assault rifles from Croatia. Thank you, Saudi Arabia. Nairab : Same boring story of rodents trying to enter a Youth Camp. No such luck. Here are the dead bodies which could be counted in fighting Tuesday: Mufeed Al-Shabah Ahmad Mudawwar Sa'dallah Bunni 4 bodies were of foreign vermin. Ma'rratmasreen: A warehouse filled with IEDs, mortars and 4-wheel-drive cars was destroyed. The SAA killed 13 rats all of whom had no papers and appeared foreign. Sarmeen: SAA destroyed 3 flatbeds with mounted Doschkas. 8 rats killed. No survivors. Abdul-Fattaah Al-Adham Fathi Baddoor Muhammad Dalaati The other 5 had no papers. Fayloon Road: A nest of foreign apes was put to the torch. The explosion was so loud it could be heard for miles. Wael reports that about a ton of military-grade TNT was in the warehouse. LATAKIA: Huge battles between almost exclusively foreign rats and SAA/Militia in the following towns: Rubay'at: At the border with Turkey, SAA confirmed 18 rodents taken down. No names because of the terrain. 'Utayra: 6 flatbeds with heavy machine gun cannons destroyed. The bodies were of mostly foreign rats: "Abu-Yahya Al-Afghaani" (id pending. Believed to be Libyan but fought in Afghanistan) Usaama Al-Mulla Ahmad Al-Mulla The other 23 dead carcasses were no carrying valid identification. All foreign. Al-Murayj: 11 terrorist filth killed. All believed to be Libyan or Tunisian. Mazra'at Al-Reesh: A convoy of flatbeds and vans annihilated by SAA. All 31 rats not identifiable. MI intercept of communications indicate these rodents were from North Africa. Bayt 'Awwaan: Jabhat Al-Nusra collapsed in this town. 16 rats killed. These were the only Syrians: 'Ali "Al-Maas" Baaroodi Subhi Zahreddeen Waa'el Kaaghizkaar Khaan Al-Jawz: Rats surrounded and put to death. Simple as that. No prisoners. Jabhat Al-Nusra . All 11 were foreigners. No id. Jubb Al-Ahmar: 6 downed vermin: Ayman Rahhaal "Abu-Qawsara" (Libyan rodent with no papers. Identified by warbler) Milhim Fuqaraa Sameer Nawfal The remaining 2 are under investigation. Believed to be North African. Zawbak: Skirmish leads to 4 dead rats and 12 prisoners taken. We will have details about these foreigners who appear to be Tunisian. Ghammam : 4 vehicles with heavy machine gun cannons destroyed. All 14 carcasses were bearded and known to be Jabhat Al-Nusra. Dughmashliyya: 3 dead terrorists. Wael says a pack is being pursued into the countryside. ALEPPO: SYRIAN HIGH COMMAND HAS DENIED ANY CEASE FIRE WITH RATS. According to the MoD, on occasion a cease fire will take hold in a quarter to allow bodies to be removed or to provide access for humanitarian organizations. Otherwise, the battles in Aleppo are gaining in intensity: Maslamiyya Road near the Al-Kindi Hospital and the carpet factory, a pick-up truck with weapons and rats was destroyed by militia: Abdul-Ra'oof Al-'Abed Hussayn Muhammad Salqeeni Baheej Wuraydaani Mannagh: Near the airport, a huge number of rats went down with fighting continuing. No numbers. Kafr Antoon: 3 killed by helicopter gunship. Security identified the killers as non-Syrian. Kafr Khaasher : 7 killed. Only one Syrian: Jalaal Ibraaheem Abdul-Mun'em 'Ain Diqna : 2 killed. No id. Mar'anaaz : 5 killed and 2 prisoners. The carcasses have been identified as 2 Chechens and 3 Libyans. DAMASCUS: They are getting farther and farther away from Obama's dream. At Jawbar, now a clean-up operation, near the soap factory, the SAA killed the following snipers: Mahmoud Hussayn Muwaffaq Al-'Ajooz 'Adra: Now in mop-up mode, at the Hayy Al-Sughayriyya , Jabhat Al-Nusra mollusks were swept up. No identification except this one: Hamdu Al-'Ali Al-'Utayba : SAA encircled a rat pack completely and slowly destroyed it. Of the 12 rats, only one could be identified. There were Jordanians in the group according to Monzer. Muhammad Al-Qallaa' Yabrood: 2 packs of rats fought over spoils and wound up killing one another to the tune of 7. This all happened at the Amal Hospital. One wounded rat was taken prisoner: Ahmad Huqooq HOMS: Scene of massive battles as FSA rodent army pressured to move in to Syria. Yesterday, Wael reports an unusually high number of rodent leaders arrested. They are being interrogated and Wael says that some are actually deserting the FSA and asking for amnesty. Mmmm? We'll see about that. Taldo: 3 killed, 1 wounded. 5 prisoners. Al-Tayyiba: A truck led the SAA to a nest of rats belonging to Jabhat Al-Nusra . The only identifiable carcasses out of the 14 were those of: Abdul-Naafe' Kulayb 'Ubaydaat Jameel Ahmad Al-Zareef Mu'aaz Al-Dabbaagh Taldahab: 2 killed. Al-Rastan: Near the Shari'ah High School, "large number" killed, but no details. Al-Qusayr: More rats from Lebanon killed. The field around this battle is strewn with over 40 carcasses which cannot be removed. I have no more details about fighting in these areas: Al-Dhab'ah, 'Ibil, Al-Buwaidha East, West Al-Dumayna, Bayt Rabee'ah, Waadi Al-Saayeh, Al-Khaalidiyya and Baab Hood. LONDON, U.K. - GHASSAN SHITTO OF THE NACOSROF, THE PRIME MINISTER OF POOP, ALMOST ARRESTED AT HEATHROW!! After a rousing visit to Northern Syria where he was almost killed 3 times, Ghassan Shitto arrived at Heathrow yesterday and was asked to queue up like everyone else for passport inspection. He would have none of that. According to some Islamist rag in London, Mr. Shitto showed pique and blustered out that he was the "PRIME MINISTER OF THE SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC". The customs officers at Heathrow were not impressed and probably couldn't find Syria on the map. They asked to see his diplomatic passport. What they got instead was his American passport. He didn't have a Syrian one. Well, poor Shitto was told that if he didn't stand in line he would be arrested. He took a position behind some tourists. How dare you!! I am the Prime Minister of Poop!". And so he was processed like any ordinary traitor. Syrian officers stroll down a street in Idlib and discuss how best to exterminate rats. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=dc9_1366308800 Setright News From The Battlefront 18/04/2013 World News, Middle East, Syria, Al-Qaeda,News Fri, 08 Mar 2013 18:12:12 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=88d_1362784184 Panzerknacker2 Hummer from the east. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=88d_1362784184 Panzerknacker2 Wolf Wolf vehicle 4x4 all terrain military Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:34:41 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=68d_1364573960 UtahSkyBum Mar 28, 2013 After four years intensive R&D, design and build, Micromagic Systems is proud to unveil Mantis - the largest, all-terrain hexapod robot in the world. This 2.2-litre Turbo Diesel-powered, British designed and built walking machine can be piloted or remote WiFi-controlled, stands 2.8 metres high with a five meter working envelope and weighing in at just under two tonnes. http://www.mantisrobot.com http://www.micromagicsystems.com I'm not exactly sure what the hell anyone would use one of these for, it moves at a snail's pace, but still a pretty cool bit of engineering... http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=68d_1364573960 UtahSkyBum Mantis - Two Tonne Turbo Diesel Hexapod Walking Machine Mantis, Hexapod Robot, Walker, Matt Denton Mon, 04 Mar 2013 18:32:11 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=030_1362439756 Spy Files Obama DHS Purchases 2,700 Light-Armored Tanks to Go With Their 1.6 Billion Bullet Stockpile Posted by Jim Hoft on Sunday, March 3, 2013, 9:55 PM This is getting a little creepy. According to one estimate, since last year the Department of Homeland Security has stockpiled more than 1.6 billion bullets, mainly .40 caliber and 9mm. DHS also purchased 2,700 Mine Resistant Armor Protected Vehicles (MRAP). Modern Survival Blog reported: The Department of Homeland Security (through the U.S. Army Forces Command) recently retrofitted 2,717 of these 'Mine Resistant Protected' vehicles for service on the streets of the United States. Although I've seen and read several online blurbs about this vehicle of late, I decided to dig slightly deeper and discover more about the vehicle itself. The new DHS sanctioned 'Street Sweeper' (my own slang due to the gun ports) is built by Navistar Defense (NavistarDefense.com), a division within the Navistar organization. Under the Navistar umbrella are several other companies including International Trucks, IC Bus (they make school buses), Monaco RV (recreational vehicles), WorkHorse (they make chassis), MaxxForce (diesel engines), and Navistar Financial (the money arm of the company). DHS even released a video on their newly purchased MRAPs. Via Pat Dollard : DHS-HSI Homeland Security Investigations El Paso SRT MRAP Armored Vehicle http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0pS9aw5pcJo Published on May 13, 2012 The MRAP featured in this video is was in Albuquerque, New Mexico for Law Enforcement Day which was held at a local area Target Store. This MRAP is stationed in El Paso, Texas at The Homeland Security Investigations Office. MRAP is a Mine Resistant Armor Protected Vehicle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRAP Homeland Security Investigations has 26 Special Agent in Charge (SAC) principal field offices throughout the United States. The SAC offices are responsible for the administration and management of all investigative and enforcement activities within the geographic boundaries of the office. The SACs develop, coordinate, and implement enforcement strategies to ensure conformance with national policies and procedures and to support national intelligence programs. SACs coordinate law enforcement activities with the highest level of Federal, state, and local governments, as well as intelligence organizations and international law enforcement entities. In addition, SACs supervise all administrative responsibilities assigned to the office and ensure a responsive Internal Controls Program is developed. To efficiently manage their designated geographic regions, SAC offices maintain various subordinate field offices throughout their areas of responsibility, which support the enforcement mission. These subordinate field offices, Deputy Special Agents in Charge (DSAC), Assistant Special Agents in Charge (ASAC), Resident Agents in Charge (RAC) and Resident Agents (RA), are responsible for managing enforcement activities within the geographic boundaries of the office http://www.ice.gov/contact/inv MRAP From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation , search For other uses, see MRAP (disambiguation) . MRAP An MRAP Cougar HE being tested in January 2007, with landmines being detonated around it. Type Armored personnel carrier (wheeled) Service history In service 2007-present Used by United States Armed Forces International Security Assistance Force Wars Iraq, Afghanistan Production history Manufacturer various Specifications Weight 14+ tons Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected ( MRAP ; pron.: /' http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=030_1362439756 Spy Files Obama DHS Purchases 2,700 Light-Armored Tanks to Go With Their 1.6 Billion Bullet Stockpile Armored Personnel Carriers, MRAP, DHS, Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected, martial law preparations, SHTF, economic collapse Sun, 31 Mar 2013 16:25:32 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=73f_1364760613 anglosaxonwarlord They call it "planet Mars." French soldiers have been marching in the Tegharghar mountains of northern Mali for weeks. The valley of Terz has been bombarded by French Mirage planes over the last month; the hunt is now conducted on foot. But the sound of jets is constantly echoing over our head and through the valley. Nearly 2,000 French soldiers are deployed all over the rocky desert, with as many troops from Chad in support. They are searching for jihadist fighters and their hide-outs in the mountains - part of the Adrar des Ifoghas near the Algerian border. "The terrain is treacherous and unforgiving. The foreign legionnaires who we were embedded with looked exhausted; their noses and lips were sunburnt, they were caked in dust and hadn't showered in days. Each soldier carries more than 50kg (8 stone) and under their boots, the rocks are as jagged and as sharp as glass. It is relentless; it is unremitting. There is no respite here, and at 60C, the dark stones become as hot as burning coals. Cave caches The French have been advancing through the western entrance of the mountain range while the Chadians entered the eastern point. Both the French and the Chadians engaged in the fiercest fighting last month, inflicting heavy casualties on the insurgents, including one of the most violent al-Qaeda field commanders, Abou Zeid. The Chadians then formed a buffer force leaving time for the French to search valley after valley, hill after hill. "We first used heavy artillery, jets and helicopters to downsize the enemy from a reasonable distance," Col Benoit Desmeulles, Commanding Officer at the Foreign Legion, said. "We then started to clear all the caves in the valleys, which was down to man-to-man fighting. "We clear caves with grenades before entering them." Caches are being found every day, full of weapons, ammunition and food supplies. After climbing yet another rocky crest, the unit we were following found explosive belts ready for use, mortars and 100kg of nitrate for the manufacture of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). De-mining engineers immediately destroyed it all in a controlled explosion. Melting away In the valley of Ametetai, where the French believe al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb had built its Malian "sanctuary", soldiers uncovered construction trucks that jihadi fighters used to dig trenches and underground caches. They also found passports and medical supplies. "We broke al-Qaeda's neck," said Gen Bernard Barrera who commands the French intervention from the nearby town of Tessalit. "Most of their positions were located around the rare wells so they could be self-sufficient," he said. The militants had cultivated their own vegetable gardens, stocked bags of rice and drums of oil. Gen Barrera explained that soldiers had now searched nearly all corners of this area. But how can one secure such a vast region, such a hostile desert where al-Qaeda and their allies have been operating for years? The French want to cordon off this mountain range leaving no escape. But the jihadis are determined; they know this rugged terrain better than anyone and although there is little doubt they have been severely hit, it is also no wonder that some of them are still there, hiding or trying to flee. "We even found razors with freshly cut hair," Gen Barrera said. "This shows that they want to shave their beards and melt into the population." Fresh risks There is very little human presence over hundreds of square kilometres. Camels and tiny nomad settlements can be seen from the attack helicopter we boarded. "One night we had a visual for two motorcycles but it was extremely difficult to tell whether the two men riding them were jihadis or civilians," Tiger helicopter pilot Lt Cedric explained. "We didn't engage them." French helicopters fly low to surprise the gunmen they have spotted and avoid ground-to-air missiles. End Quote Cpl Philippe Foreign Legion paratrooper However, the risk is huge: at 10 metres above the ground, they are vulnerable to lighter firearms. A pilot was killed on the first day of this military campaign when he came under fire from AK47s. This is a war that must be fought rock after rock and France insists African forces must now take over. To the French on the frontline, it feels like a lonely fight. France also worries about the plight of seven of its nationals who are believed to be held hostage somewhere here; the search for them continues. "The hostages are our main concern," Gen Barrera confessed. But this is the concern of French special forces and we won't be told anything else. French commanders are convinced that they have cut off the militants' routes of supply and trafficking. But "this is their backyard", Cpl Philippe, a paratrooper from the Foreign Legion told me. "We're only here to liberate Mali. "There are a million ways to get in and there are million ways to get back," he warned. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=73f_1364760613 anglosaxonwarlord French Foreign Legion hunting islamist terrorists Fighting on" Mars" Mali foreign legion,mali,terrorists,hunting,france, Sun, 17 Mar 2013 03:02:10 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fcb_1363502271 JfromLA Iran faces political population bomb: a young, growing and urbanized population that wants food - cheap and traditional. Iran's population has doubled in the last 40 years, hitting 75 million people today. Half of all Iranians are under 35 years of age, and 71 percent live in cities. Immediately to the north, lies help: the fallow grazing lands of Armenia. Fewer and fewer Armenian men want to make a living as shepherds, tending sheep on scenic, but lonely mountain slopes. Armenia's agriculture ministry says that 70 percent of the nation's pastures are now without livestock - about 800,000 hectares. Here's the deal: Iran's Ambassador Mohammad Reisi offers to rent thousands of hectares of mountain pastures to provide grazing land for Iranian sheep. With the grazing leases, he has estimated that Armenia could increase its livestock fivefold. Within a decade, he says, Armenia could be exporting 2-3 million sheep a year to Iran. Sounds good to me. Not too many people are lining up to invest in Armenia, a small, landlocked nation, with poor relations with two of its four neighbors. Closed Borders To the east, Armenia's borders with Azerbaijan are closed. On some stretches, soldiers of Christian Armenia and Muslim Azerbaijan face each other across trenches, poised on hair trigger alerts. About once a week, a military sniper on one side kills a soldier from the other side. To the west, Armenia's land borders are closed with Turkey, a legacy of bitter feelings over Ottoman Turkey's campaign against ethnic Armenians in 1915. So the Iranian offer sounds like a win-win for Armenia. How na"ive, Hasmik Evoyan, told me one morning in Yerevan. Evoyan, an environmentalist, walked me through the geopolitics of sheep. She showed me why many Armenians see putting lamb dishes on Iranian dinner tables could be lose-lose for Armenia. The sheep would largely graze in Armenia's southernmost province, Syunik. Long and as narrow as 30 kilometers wide in some places, Syunik is Armenia's lifeline to Iran. But it is strategically vulnerable, sandwiched between two territories of Azerbaijan. Lifeline to Iran Although Syunik is Armenia's second largest province, it is also one of its least populated. With 15 percent of Armenia's land area, Syunik has less than 5 percent of Armenia's people. The population dropped in the late 1980s, after ethnic fighting forced an Azeri minority to flee to Azerbaijan and northern Iran. Without a large local population to draw on, the Iranian sheep project would mean importing Iranian shepherds, and possibly their families. Depending on the age of slaughter - for lamb or mutton - an annual export of 2.5 million sheep could mean an Iranian flock of 5 million sheep in southern Armenia. Given the region's steep terrain, it would be hard for one shepherd to watch more than 500 sheep. So, back of the envelope calculations point to as many as 10,000 Iranian shepherds. Where would the shepherds come from? The memorandum of understanding was signed between Syunik and the neighboring Iranian province, a place with a name that sounds ominous to many Armenians - Eastern Atrapatakan, or Eastern Azerbaijan. With a population 20 times that of Syunik, Eastern Atrapatakan is keystone of the northern Iran's Azeri minority - about 17 million people. So, the Iranian sheep deal could come with as many 10,000 ethnic Azeri shepherds, their families, and their watchdogs. Then, there is another wrinkle. Over the last 20 years, the withdrawal of Armenian shepherds from the mountain pastures has allowed the nation's wolf population to surge. Armenian authorities now pay a $275 bounty for each wolf shot. So, it stands to reason that Iranian shepherds would carry rifles to protect their flocks from wolves and other predators. Men with Rifles So, in a nutshell, Armenians say, the Iranian sheep deal could mean infiltrating into a strategic area several thousand ethnic Azeri men, all armed with rifles. "With the sheep, a couple of thousand people may come to Armenia, and may live in places that are strategically important for Armenia," said Evoyan, of the Armenia's PreParliament opposition group. "It's not only about the employment. As I said, it's about the non-formal, informal migration of other nationalities to Armenia that is not strategically right choice for Armenia." On Feb. 14, four days before Armenia's hotly contested presidential election, Evoyan and others protested the sheep deal in front of Armenia's National Assembly building in Yerevan. I arrived in Armenia's capital the next day. But Gohar Abrahamyan, a reporter for Armenia Now news website, covered the protest. She got environmentalist Silva Adamyan to say out loud what many Armenians are thinking quietly. "I remember how the Azerbaijanis were quietly taking control of Syunik during the Soviet years," Adamyan told Armenia Now. "We have liberated it. And now, we want to give it to them again? Can't we really understand that it is the same Azeris - citizens of Iran - who would be coming back to Syunik, bring their families, and so the blood shed for those lands would turn out to be for nothing?" In Armenia's presidential election, Serzh Sargsyan, the incumbent was re-elected. But the opposition performed strongly and has been continuing with street protests. By all indications, the Iranian sheep project will die a bureaucratic death, buried in the Ministry of Agriculture. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fcb_1363502271 JfromLA Azeri wolves in Iranian sheep's clothing? Armenian, iranian, azeri