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Date 31.05.2015
UN envoy deplores Syrian barrel bombing
Air raids by Syrian government forces using barrel bombs over the weekend have been condemned by a UN envoy. A Britain-based observatory says 84 civilians, including children, were among those killed.
UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said the repeated use of the crude improvised weapons by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad was "totally unacceptable" and "must stop."
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday that 84 civilians were killed when Assad regime helicopters dropped the bombs on Saturday on Shaar, a neighborhood in the northern city of Aleppo.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said the regime was intensifying such bombings in the belief that "it can compensate for territorial losses."
In May, Assad's forces lost territory in the northeastern province of Idlib and around the ancient city of Palmyra. Last Thursday, "Islamic State" (IS) rebels led by the al-Nusra Front overran government positions in Idlib province.
Despite the losses, Syrian premier Wael al-Halqi on Sunday vowed that Assad's army would "liberate every foot of Syrian territory" from the jihadists.
Fighting unrelenting
Aerial raids continued Sunday, with three civilians reportedly killed in a barrel bomb attack on al-Bab, a town controlled by the IS.
At least 43 IS fighters were killed in airstrikes, involving missiles and barrel bombs, on the town of al-Shadadi in the northeastern province of al-Hassakeh, the observatory said.
It said air raids in the Damascus, Deir Ezzor and Daraa provinces also claimed civilian lives.
Syria's state news agency said eight civilians were killed in the Al-Aathamiyeh neighborhood of Aleppo, when "terrorists fired rockets" on Sunday.
Blast at clinic
Syrian state media also said 27 people, mostly children, were killed on Sunday when a fuel tank exploded inside a clinic in Qamishli, a predominantly Kurdish town in northeastern Syria near the border with Turkey.
Kurdish official Juan Mohammed told the Associated Press that the clinic was packed with children brought in for polio vaccinations.
Control of Qamishli is divided between Kurdish forces and regime troops loyal to Assad. Until Sunday, the town had been relatively spared from violence.
IS captured Humvees en masse
Across the border in Iraq, where two weeks ago IS forces captured Ramadi, Iraqi government forces were reported on Sunday to have retaken an area to the west of the city.
And, in an admission on Iraqiya state television, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said 2,300 Humvee armored vehicles were lost when the IS group overran the northern city of Mosul in June last year.
"In the collapse of Mosul, we lost a lot of weapons," he said.
"We lost 2,300 Humvees in Mosul alone," Abadi said, referring to the expensive military all-terrain vehicles provided by the United States.
Since Mosul's fall, IS has used the captured Humvees in subsequent fighting.
ipj/cmk (AFP, AP, dpa)
Date 31.05.2015
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Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
01062015
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là ĐỒNG LÕA với TỘI ÁC
THE NATIONAL INTEREST
3 Lethal Russian Weapons of War China Needs to Buy
China's defense industry has come a long way, but it could still use a little help from its friend.
Kyle Mizokami
May 31, 2015
Times have changed. Russia, China’s exclusive arms supplier for more than twenty years, is now rumored to be interested in Chinese arms. The visitation of a Chinese naval task force to the Black Sea, including a modern Type 054A frigate, has sparked rumors Russia may buy a batch of the frigates to stave off a ship shortfall.
Such a sale, even if it does come off, may turn out to be a fluke of history. For all of China’s extensive efforts to build an all-encompassing domestic arms industry, there are still blind spots in her weapons production capabilities.
Mother Russia’s industry and design bureaus still crank out plenty of weapons China desires. From tanks to submarines, Russia is still a leader in weapons technology… and still the only one that will sell to China.
The sale of Russian weapons to China has always been a win-win for the two countries. China receives some of the newest and most advanced weapons systems in the world, without the cost and hassle of research and development. Russia in turn gets much-needed hard currency. As long as Russia has something to sell, this relationship won’t change any time soon.
(Recommended: Russia's Mighty T-14 Armata Tank: Should America Be Worried?)
Here’s three weapons China should purchase from Russia.
Armata class of heavy combat vehicles
For perhaps the first time in history, China has secure land borders. Large ground forces, backed up by air and naval forces, effectively deter virtually every other state in the world from picking a fight with the People’s Liberation Army.
(Recommended: Europe's 4 Deadliest Military Powers)
Ironically, this has meant the PLA — compared to the other armed services — has benefitted the least from Chinese research and development. China’s main battle tank, the Type 99, is still a derivative of the old Soviet T-72 main battle tank, with a design that stretches back to the mid-1980s.
The adoption of the Armata family of heavy combat vehicles would transform the PLA. The T-14 Armata main battle tank is a clean break from the T-72/80/90 series of main battle tanks, using a new, longer hull. Incorporating a 125-millimeter main gun and remotely operated 7.62-millimeter machine gun, the unmanned turret is controlled by a three man crew. Active and passive protection systems, as well as a new modular armor system, incorporates the latest Russian technology.
(Recommended: The Russian Army's Secret Weapon)
The T-14 Armata hull is expected to serve as a platform for a family of combat vehicles. The T-15 heavy infantry fighting vehicle would allow the PLA to transport infantry in high threat environments against the latest anti-armor weapons. Recovery vehicle and bridge layer versions are likely also in the works.
It’s important for China to have the latest tanks and armored fighting vehicles, but in the grand scheme of things they may not be important enough for China to develop them all on their own. Importing a new Russian design would allow Chinese research institutes and industry to focus on other, more important work.
S-400 “Triumf” Surface to Air Missile System
The S-400 “Triumf” surface to air missile system is one of the most advanced and capable SAMs in the world. An upgrade of the older S-300 SAM, the S-400 has quickly gained a reputation of being a one-system solution for rapid destruction of virtually any flying threat, from low-flying cruise missiles to tactical ballistic missiles.
The S-400 uses different variants of the same missile to engage different targets. The 40N6 missile provides the system’s namesake, capable of reaching out and destroying aircraft at ranges of up to 400 kilometers. The 9M96E2 missile is capable of engaging targets flying at altitudes from 5 meters to 30 kilometers at ranges of 120 kilometers, making it ideal for engaging cruise missiles. The 77N6N1 missile is capable of engaging ballistic missiles.
In April, China negotiated a deal for a regiment of S-400s for $3 billion. Each regiment consists of 36 transporter-erector-launcher vehicles, divided into six battalions.
The most likely deployment for PLA S-400s is against Taiwan, where the system will be able to detect and engage high altitude targets above the island nation. Other possibilities for deployment include Zhejiang, opposite Japan and the Senkaku Islands, Tibet and Xinjiang opposite India, Guangxi opposite Vietnam, and Yunnan opposite Burma.
In each case, the long range of the S-400 means the system could threaten adversaries over their own airspace — indeed, the S-400 could reach out and engage targets over New Delhi, Calcutta, Hanoi and Seoul.
Obviously, a single regiment will be unable to fulfill all of China’s needs. The addition of several more regiments, perhaps built under license in China, would go a long way toward improving China’s air defenses.
Yasen-class nuclear attack submarine
China’s nuclear attack submarine program has not gone off so well.
The first generation Han class nuclear attack submarines began construction in the mid-1970s. The class suffered from a number of unfortunate problems including noise and an unsafe nuclear propulsion system.
The second generation, the Shang class, had an extended development period but still failed to generate a submarine China is willing to produce in large numbers. A third generation, the Type 095 class, is currently under development.
An alternative to building the third generation would be to simply buy and license Russia’s new Yasen nuclear attack submarines. The Yasen class has a submerged displacement of 13,500 tons, length of 119 meters, speed of 31 knots, and can dive to 600 meters. Its 533 mm torpedo tubes can fire standard homing torpedoes and the P-800 Oniks and Klub missiles. It is the first Russian submarine to feature a spherical bow sonar array.
New strategic concerns would drive the sale. The introduction of new combat systems in the United States will increase China’s desire to fortify the Second Island Chain—stretching from the Japanese Island of Honshu to the Mariana Islands and Palau. India’s development of a sea-based nuclear deterrent, centered around the Arihant-class ballistic missile submarines, will necessitate an ability on China’s part to put those submarines at risk.
Kyle Mizokami is a writer based in San Francisco who has appeared in The Diplomat, Foreign Policy, War is Boring and The Daily Beast. In 2009 he cofounded the defense and security blog Japan Security Watch.
Image: Admiralty Shipyards
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Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
01062015
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là ĐỒNG LÕA với TỘI ÁC
FINANCE REVIEW
May 28 2015 at 12:50 PM
Updated May 28 2015 at 2:20 PM
China's 'egregious claims' Australia's worst threat since Cold War: ASPI
Chinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in the waters around Mischief Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands. Reuters
by John Kerin
Australia is facing the greatest threat to peace and security since the Cold War amid China's egregious claim over the South China Sea and the break out of medieval barbarism in the Middle East, according to one of the Australia's foremost defence analysts.
Releasing his annual budget outlook which warned the government would have to plug for steady increases over the next 10 years to reach its goal of boosting spending to 2 per cent of GDP, Australian Strategic Policy Institute analyst Mark Thomson said "not at least since the Cold War has it been so easy to paint a disturbing picture of the global strategic landscape".
"After two decades of strong economic growth, China is testing the limits of its neighbours forebearance, including through an egregious claim to almost all of the South China Sea," Dr Thomson says in the annual Cost of Defence budget analysis.
"It's a claim [China] is asserting through brinkmanship rather than diplomacy.
"If only the United States was the omnipotent power it once was...over the past five years China's real defence spending has increased by 48 per cent while US defence spending has fallen by almost 18 per cent," Dr Thomson says.
Though the United States is still estimated to outspend China by 3 times on defence - the true extent of Chinese defence spending is unknown.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimated the US spent $610 billion on defence in 2014 whereas China is estimated to have spent $216 billion in 2014.
"With such an outlook you would think it would be easy to make the case for robust defence spending [but just as there are dark clouds on the strategic horizon, dark clouds are gathering on the economic horizon," Dr Thomson says citing stunted growth in the US, Eurozone and Japan and pressure on the Australian budget.
China also this week unveiled a defence white paper which made clear its intention to project naval power in to the Pacific.
Dr Thomson said the dissent of Syria and Iraq in to medieval barbarism, the potential for a nuclear breakout in the Middle East over Iran's nuclear ambitions, Russia's militarism and the North Korean nuclear threat all added to heady mix of threats to peace and prosperity.
Dr Thomson's warning come after reports on Thursday that China is moving weaponry on to some of the disputed islands in the South China Sea.
The US has ramped up its response to China's bid to secure its territorial claims by building on islands in the South China Sea including expanding US Air Force surveillance flights.
Australia has also become involved in the bitter dispute after it was revealed last week Canberra was involved in negotiations with Washington to rotate supersonic B1 bombers through Australian airbases - a move which prompted a rebuke from Beijing.
Australian Defence Department secretary Dennis Richardson on Wednesday warned China's rapid and extensive reclamation of areas in the South China Sea was of considerable concern if it was being done for military reasons.
"We[Australia] are concerned about the unprecedented pace and scale of China's land reclamation activities in the South China Sea over the last couple of years," Mr Richardson said.
Dr Thomson said Australia's defence spending would grow bu $2 billion in 2015-16 to $32.1 billion.
As a share of GDP he said defence spending would rise to 1.93 per cent of GDP but it included a large chunk for compensating defence for foreign exchange fluctuations with the cost of overseas weaponry being more expensive and the additional cost of operations in the Afghanistan and Iraq.
Dr Thomson urged the Abbott government if it wanted to achieve the 2 per cent target by 2023-24 to boost spending in manageable increments of around 4.5 per cent every year lest it exceed the capacity of defence and industry to deliver on projects and new weaponry.
Dr Thomson said the defence community was eagerly awaiting the release of the government's 20 year vision for defence in the form of the Defence White Paper later this year.
He said only then could final judgements be made about the threats to Australia, future funding and direction for the force.
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Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
01062015
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là ĐỒNG LÕA với TỘI ÁC
