by Adam the Akrodude » Tue Oct 20, 2015 9:35 am
I'm a great fan of amphibians - always look so cool with that "boat" fuselage. How could anyone lot love the Catalina as a example! Yes the Be-200 does look a very capable aircraft and one any country with a big coast line could use. Australia will never buy Russkie though - rightfully or wrongly it will never happen. Any idea what sort of sea state (wave size) they can land in? Still think civilian commercial operations for aerial fire tankers is the go here now. These US air tanker assets seem readily available, they have the experience, the infrastructure, etc to successfully conduct these operations worldwide. Perhaps there may have been a opportunity for the RAAF to become involved in the past, but it's my guess that being outside of it's core M.O, they'd just not be that keen to take it on as it would mean less money for other programs & operations - there is just a finite amount in the kitty. A "WIF" of a Be-200 in RAAF markings would be pretty cool - up for the challenge?
Massive thread drift alert - WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP!
Well, what's going on over in the giant sandpit I think is a extension of the Holy War - we've got this mess for a very long time to come. The US administration totally blew it by pulling out of Iraq too soon leaving a vacuum to develop and massively underestimating the growth of ISIS. Obama blew it big time and now we're all paying for it. The UN appears pretty useless but of interest I saw a small headline that "Blue Helmets" will protect historic sites - I'm guessing in Iraq first. Yes and the number 1 question is should have the US "Coalition" gone into Iraq in the first place? Well, hindsight is crystal clear but I bet a lot of world leaders perhaps wish not now! Easy to win the war, but winning the peace appears very elusive. At least the US has decided to remain in Afghanistan for the time being - appear to be learning from their mistakes? Will Afghanistan ever be sorted - doubt it too.
Disagree regarding Australian involvement in the Malayan emergency and "Confrontation" with Indonesia particularly in East Malaysia (Sarawak, Saba). Something had to be done regarding the Chinese communist uprising in Malaya and this was successfully carried out - almost textbook handling of a insurgent uprising. Sure there may have been mistakes and errors made, but this uprising was squashed. Indonesian incursions into parts of Borneo not part of Indonesia had to be stopped. Sukarno had to be taught a lesson - he was getting a bit too big for his shoe size! I once had a boss who in his early career was a "stoker" in the navy on DDG's (he worked done in the engine room and on the boiler/turbine). Anyhoo, he recalled many many times their vessel steaming right over the top of small Indonesian gun running boats in the Malacca Strait. Indonesia was sending arms to the Malayan communists at the time. Any small boat that refused to stop got rammed and was sunk. Bet that didn't make the 6:30PM news at the time!
Vietnam, well another bloody mess and once again hindsight is crystal clear. US fearful of the "Domino Effect". I blame the French for that stinking mess of that 30 year war. From what I've read, Ol' Ho was a nationalist first, communist second. He admired USA and had some schooling there. He worked with US intelligence during WW2 and was lead to believe that the US would support Vietnam's wish to become independent. After WW2, De Gaulle heavily lobbied Churchill to support France's wish to hold onto Vietnam. Churchill lobbied Truman and France got back Vietnam - the rest is very sad history. USA has massively naïve and just never understood the Vietnamese people and how the country ticked. Training all those militia who eventually turned over to the Viet Cong - opp's! The massive failure of "strategic hamlets" - opp's! Supporting the very corrupt Southern leaders - opp's! Using B-52's to bomb the Trail making matchsticks and killing monkeys - opp's. Never letting the military have a free hand (particularly the USAF during Rolling Thunder) and micro-managing from Washington (the Johnson/McNamara fiasco) - opp's! It was endless stuff up after stuff up. Many of the same mistakes were repeated post Iraq invasion in 2003 - learnt how to win the war quickly but massive failure to keep the peace. There is a great movie called "The Quiet American" which to me very much sums up how the Americans operated in S.E.Asia in the 60's. It was a book by Graham Green I think. Lot's of "dash and cash" by the Americans without ever truly understanding the issues and core problems. How many billions has been spent on Afghanistan and Iraq and what are the outcomes?
Vietnam was a black hole that USA was sucked into - just as Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria now is. The "terrorism" factor makes this current conflict a 1000 times more complex. It's a mess that will be around as my kids become adults I think - who knows maybe even their kids. I have no faith in any quick solutions or resolutions over there. I agree with limited involvement over there to attempt to sort out this mess (SAS plus the RAAF involvement), as the bad guys over there are truly evil. A big effort needs to go into stopping young people being caught up in this evilness here now. Something desperately needs to be done to break down cultural and religious barriers.
It will be fascinating to see what develops with Russian intervention in Syria - the Russkies do not muck around! Will it make things worse or better over there - hmmm? The world now knows there is something much worse than Assad's regime. It's a very interesting development and I'm hoping the Russkies, USA + NATO - not forgetting Australia's small involvement all can work together to resolve this giant mess! There need to be peace keepers in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. When will the UN grow some actual balls???????
Great discussion Ross! Kind of discussion where you need a couple of beers and tasty snacks whilst trying to resolve the problems of this planet!
Cheers
Adam