Eerie II.

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Conclusion! The eyes have it.

One more from the Internet web site CNet images of abandoned military bases with my commentary.

"Eyeing the past"

During World War II, the US operated a base on Baltra in the Galapagos Islands. In 2015, you could still find one of the hundreds of buildings, ultimately redecorated by locals.

"The US Baltra Military Base During WWII"

"The Galapagos Islands were sought after by the United States since 1911, three years before the Panama Canal made the archipelago a refueling stop for ships from North America."

"The Ecuadorian government declined to lease the islands, but the advent of WWII and Pearl Harbor brought a deal between the two nations after a visit from President Roosevelt."

"In 1942, US military personal arrived from Panama, including the commanders and engineers who built the canal. The forces built their base on Baltra, quadrupling the population of the small island by the end of the year."

Never knew a U.S. military installation in the Galapagos ever existed!

1911 the object was to use such a base as a coaling station? American naval vessels at that time [before the opening of the Panama Canal] sailing from the Pacific ocean to the Atlantic or in the reverse direction the only route around Cape Horn at the bottom of South America. A laborious and time-consuming voyage, even dangerous. Refueling mandated, once at least and more likely probably twice.

World War Two the mission of the base was to protect southern approaches to the Panama Canal from attack? Very-long-range [VLR] patrol warplanes of the maritime B-24 variety based on Baltra? Japanese submarines able to launch combat warplanes to bomb the canal a possible. Read here, and here concerning VLR and the I-400 class of Japanese submarine.

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Eerie I.

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As seen at the Internet web site CNet some images of abandoned military bases and sites. My commentary added.

"Eerie photos of abandoned military sites"

"Former atomic weapons site". Salton Sea.

"A bullet-riddled structure sits near an abandoned airstrip on the former Salton Sea Test Base, once an atomic weapons testing site in 2005 near Salton City, California."

"Salton Sea Test Base"

"Dummy Atomic Bombs - Drone Airplane Tests"

MISSION OF THE SALTON SEA BASE AN ATOMIC DIMENSION EXISTING IN TWO TIME-FRAMES. 1. WORLD WAR 2 AND THE COLD WAR.

A. World War Two.

"In 1944-45 a series of classified B-29 practice flights were made from Wendover, Utah to the Salton Sea. At the sea, the crew dropped dummy atomic bombs onto a floating white raft and other targets."

B-29 bomber flying from Utah to California and dropping a single bomb the dummy analog version of the first atomic weapon as used at Hiroshima. Practice.

B. Cold War.

"The Atomic Energy Commission and its contractor Sandia Corporation acquired the base from the Navy in 1946. It was renamed the Salton Sea Test Base and used as a highly sophisticated bombing range whose drops were scrutinized and perfected using equipment reportedly recovered from Germany after World War II. Apparently the bombing tests included delivery from diverse devices, even from space capsule parachutes. Drone planes and Nike missiles were also tested there."

SALTON SEA BASE BOMBS DROPPED WITHOUT LIVE ATOMIC WARHEADS! NO DETONATION!

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Cocktails.

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Potent indeed!

"cocktail - - n 3. any combination of diverse elements, esp one considered potent"

With a wedge of lemon on the side please!

From the Internet web site Strategy Page and as extracted from the book review by Professor Al Nofi:

"Cocktails from Hell: Five Complex Wars Shaping the 21st Century"

CAULDRONS OF CRISIS THEY ARE CALLED. WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS! HOT-SPOTS!

"Five Cauldrons of Crisis"

"Defense analyst, historian, and novelist Bay [Col. Austin Bay], a U.S. Army veteran whose service includes a tour in Iraq, looks at five very complex, dynamic crises – essentially wars of varying degrees of violence – that will be influencing the world for decades to come."

The five cases are:

   * The generations long North Korean Crisis
   * China’s intervention in the South China Sea
   * Russia’s aggressive moves in the Caucasus, Black Sea, and elsewhere
   * Iranian intervention in Yemen
   * The internal conflicts of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

BUT I MIGHT ADD HARDLY CONFINED TO THESE "FIVE CASES". DYNAMIC ALWAYS EXISTING THAT CREATES NEW CIRCUMSTANCES AND CONDITIONS WHERE CRISIS AND A RESULTANT WAR "INFLUENCE THE WORLD".

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PD-50.

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Egg-on-face, Russian style.

"have egg on face - - To be suffering embarrassment as a result of some public failure or faux pas."

From the Russian media outlet Russian Times [RT].

"Russia’s largest floating dock sinks, while nation’s sole aircraft carrier still inside"

"Four workers were injured and one is missing as Russia’s largest floating dock quickly went underwater. Its tower crane fell 15 meters, crashing on the country’s only aircraft carrier and piercing a hole in its hull."

Kuznetsov to the bottom! But only indirectly so!

This is the type of  event if having occurred during the Cold War would have classified by the Soviets as a state secret TOP SECRET and known only to a few. In the old Soviet Union planes did not fall out of the sky, ships did not sink, trains die not collide, cars did not run into one another. Those sorts of things only occurred in capitalist nations such as the USA.

The Soviet battleship Novorossiysk having spontaneously exploded while in port, docked, sunk, a mystery never solved

AND A STATE SECRET FOR THIRTY-FIVE YEARS AFTERWARD.

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Super.

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From Harry at Sharkhunters some info regarding the American submarine force as envisioned for the future.

Virginia class submarine [replacing the Los Angeles class] already a done deal and already at-sea and on patrol.

Columbia class construction of which on-order, to commence in a few years. [replacing the Ohio class missile-firing ballistic missile boats]

Consider also the future of the American submarine force. None of this I was aware of.

"SUPER SUBMARINES – The US Navy plans to develop two new classes of submarine, according to Congressional analysis of the sea service’s shipbuilding plan for 2019. The cost of designing and building five of the new ‘Large Payload Submarine’ cruise missile submarines and 30 of the new SSN(X) attack submarines could set the American tax payers back some $200 Billion by 2048."

Details courtesy this article as seen at the Internet web site The National Interest"

"The Navy's New Submarine Plan Is In. Take a Look."

"Designing and building five of the new Large Payload Submarine cruise-missile subs and 30 of the new SSN(X) attack submarines could set back U.S. taxpayers $200 billion by 2048."

With regard to the "Large Payload Submarine cruise-missile subs" mission of which is to fire a stupendous barrage of cruise-missiles. Four current Ohio class submarines already having a capability. Newer submarines as on-the-drawing-board their design specifically for such a dedicated mission.

"[Large Payload Submarine] based on the Columbia-class hull with its missile tube section reconfigured to perform whatever missions the Navy might want"

Furthermore the SSN(X) submarine an attack boat more suited to wage undersea-warfare, submarine versus submarine, conventional torpedo attack in the ancient and venerable manner.

"the next-generation attack submarine should be faster, stealthier and able to carry more torpedoes than the Virginia class"

Thank you for the input Harry. Note also no diesel/electric boat or Air-independent-propulsion.

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Gamekeeper.

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War! What is it good for?

Good for the birds? At least during war-time in England it has been.

We have to be perfectly clear what we are talking about here.

Shooting of ground-dwelling game birds in England a popular sport. Was one hundred years ago and is now.

Introduced species such as pheasant released in vast numbers on a yearly basis. A prey in-the-sights-of during season by zealous shot-gun wielding hunting enthusiasts. Native grouse also a popular target for the wild-game crowd. Oddball species such as the woodcock also a popular bird highly prized for the table.

Large landed estates of the English upper-class gentry and specified game preserves during peace time employing a small army of game keepers. The game keeper their mission to ward off out-of-season poachers AND SHOOT RAPTORS.

Raptors those birds-of-prey their quarry to include the game birds so highly prized by the hunting set.

Raptors [eagles, falcons, harriers, hawks] shot on sight, no warning given. Raptors seen as A PEST TO BE ELIMINATED.

Indeed, prior to the Great War [WW1] some species of raptors in England having gone extinct in the wild, such large  numbers of the birds shot dead, again, ON-SIGHT no mercy ever given or thought to conservation or preservation. Game birds YES, raptors NEVER!

From the book "The Meaning of Birds" by Barnes. "War is often good for wildlife. Humans concentrate more on killing each other than on killing birds. So the two world ware were good news for British birds of prey. There were fewer gamekeepers on the ground because many were called up, and the whole country had other priorities - - and better uses for ammunition than sport."

Makes sense. Game keepers either volunteering or conscripted for the military their numbers greatly reduced on the "landed estates" and "game preserves", raptors for a period of years allowed to increase and multiply their kind. Human decimation of various species radically reduced. A more sound, sustainable and healthy environment the result.

Thank you war?

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Gyrfalcon.

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The gryfalcon. The most prized of all the raptors. From the standpoint of the falconer the acme of perfection.

Place this blog entry in the miscellany category, a curiosity and oddity, but not so excessively so. Thanks to the tip from a recent edition of the National Geographic magazine.

Horse racing generally acknowledged as the "Sport of Kings" but consider falconry a close second!

From the time of the Crusades birds as carried with royalty, a symbol of power and wealth. Valued by the Crusader AND THE SARACEN BOTH [Muslims during that period of the Crusades referred to as Saracens].

A gyrfalcon [jer-falcon] belonging to King Philip I of Spain when having gotten loose and captured by the Saracens, the famous Islamic warrior Saladin REFUSING a ransom of a princely sum literally so to be paid for the return of the falcon.

"They were used in the Crusades and were political pawns in wars. Saladin refused to return the 'white gyrfalcon owned by King Philip I [?] of Spain [?]' when it got loose during the Siege of Acre."

One-thousand ducats as offered for the return of the gyrfalcon that amount again refused by Saladin.

By my calculations that amount of one-thousand ducats worth about $160,000 USD as current value!!

All that for one bird! The Saracen and Saladin in particular taking I might assume their perspective the desertion an omen of good, more than anything else retaining the bird as a symbol of good fortune!

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