Sunday, July 20, 2014

Guns of August


There are some pretty belligerent words getting tossed around on the TV in the next room.
.

21 comments:

Ian Argent said...

I've been thinking that, sadly

greg said...

My wife and I were watching some of this yesterday morning to distract us from our 'free' hotel breakfast, and I observed that there DID seem to be an awful lot of name calling going on in the statements being read off.

RabidAlien said...

No kidding. Soon as I saw the map marking the location of the crash, I thought "this is going to be used as an excuse to start something..."

(second thought was, "WTF does everybody have against airliners from Malaysia?")

Ish said...

My first thoughts on hearing about the possibility of it having been shot down was "How do you say 'Lusitania' in Russian?"

staghounds said...

You first, Mr. President/Senator/Talking Head.

Tam said...

staghounds,

"You first, Mr. President/Senator/Talking Head."

I thought that was one of the few upsides of global thermonuclear warfare? ;)

Bubblehead Les. said...

Considering how many of the NATO countries get their Oil and Natural Gas from Russia, and some of their Politicians get Cash from the Russian Mafia/Gooberment for their Votes, and since it takes a Unanimous Vote in NATO by ALL the member nations to use Military Force, I doubt much is going to happen.

Remember, half of the EU Parliament's Favorite Golden Oldie is "99 Red Balloons."

Kristophr said...

Someone should point out to Ofucktard that most of his voter base lives squarely under the crosshairs.

Unfortunately a lot of folks who didn't vote for him also live there.

Kristophr said...

Ish: Yup. I wonder if Malaysian sold Lusitania tickets as well.

A lot of people dead because of a BUK crewman had an itchy trigger finger, and an airline that thought the July 8 NOTAM against flying over eastern Ukraine was a mere suggestion.

RandyGC said...

Kristophr; or some un/half-trained rebel that wanted to know what the "Autonomous Setting" did.

Tam said...

Kristophr,

That was an FAA NOTAM. I don't see a Stars 'n' Stripes painted on the wreckage anyplace.

(And thank Shiva it was not a NATO-flagged aircraft.)

I bet you're one of those people who always interjects "Well, the Germans published a notice in the New York Times warning about the unrestricted submarine warfare zone!" :p

Old NFO said...

+1 on Ish... between the similarities there and with KAL 007... it DOES give one pause. Actually the NOTAM was for an area about 10nm from where the shoot down occurred, and they were 1000 feet higher than the 'danger' zone which was surf-FL320. Also they were under Eurocontrol, I believe actually being controlled by the Kiev sector. Interesting to put it mildly.

Joel said...

I thought that was one of the few upsides of global thermonuclear warfare? ;)

Not if they can help it. There seem to be a whole bunch of really deep, really plush bunkers designed specifically to keep the glowing masses from enjoying that upside.

That way, while you're counting your remaining hairs and puking up your liver, you can at least take heart from the continuity of government.

So if they decide a crashed jet is a good enough reason to kick off WWIII, concerns for their own safety won't deter them.

Anonymous said...

archdukes are kinda rare these days, but how many regular passengers= one archduke?



weredragon

Tam said...

"archdukes are kinda rare these days, but how many regular passengers= one archduke?"

For us? Historically? 128.

Kristophr said...

The FAA NOTAM was copied from the international NOTAM.

Kristophr said...

Yes, just to get my barbaric aspie on, the Imperial government did publish a notice.

Earlier, U-boat skippers had stopped surfacing and ordering evacs of merchant vessels after the British started using Q-Ships ( as I'm sure you already knew ).

Downing a passenger plane is bone stupid and barbaric, but flying over a warzone in a civilian aircraft is even more bone stupid. The ATC tracks for that day showed everyone else passing over the Black Sea.

Kristophr said...

I'd put it at 1 = 1, personally. But then I'm a 'Merican.

Kristophr said...

Dammit.

The UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) had rescinded their July 8 NOTAM shortly before the plane flew.

Idiots ...

Anonymous said...

No, there were no dukes but the plane was transporting a shipment of IRS hard drives to a disaster recovery firm. Sadly, we will never know what was on them.

- wodun

Goober said...

...the Russian Mafia/Gooberment for their Votes,...

HEY! We here at Goobertopia have no connections whatsoever with teh Russian Mafia.

It's not that we don't WANT to, it's just that they won't return our phone calls...