Padalka breaks spaceflight endurance record

Link –Padalka breaks spaceflight endurance record

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Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka waves to family and friends before launching to the International Space Station on March 27. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Veteran Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, more than three months into his fifth trip into orbit, has passed countryman Sergey Krikalev’s mark of 803 days of cumulative time in space.

That is equivalent to more than 12,000 laps around Earth at the speeds of the International Space Station and Russia’s space station Mir, the two massive orbiting outposts Padalka has crewed in his cosmonaut career.

Padalka, who turned 57 last week, passed Krikalev’s spaceflight record of 803 days, 9 hours and 39 minutes Monday, Moscow time. Padalka is currently commander of the space station’s Expedition 44 crew, and he will have logged 878 days in orbit by the time he returns to Earth in September.

He doesn’t plan to stop there.

Padalka told interviewers before launching in March that he hopes to pass 1,000 days in space on his next mission.

Selected as a cosmonaut in 1989, Padalka first flew in space aboard the Mir space station in 1998 and 1999, spending 198 days there as commander. Before his current mission, Padalka lived on the International Space Station during three stints in 2004, 2009 and 2012, leading the Expedition 9, Expedition 19 and Expedition 32 crews.

Padalka is now part of a record-setting mission on the space station. Besides his passage of Krikalev’s spaceflight endurance mark, two other members of the Expedition 44 mission — NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko — are on a nearly year-long residency on the complex.

Kelly will become the most-experienced U.S. astronaut by the end of the flight, establishing new records for cumulative time in space by an American and the longest single spaceflight by a NASA crew member. Scientists will study how Kelly and Kornienko respond to prolonged exposure to microgravity to help prepare for future voyages into the solar system.

Krikalev, now deputy head of the Russian Central Research Institute of Machine Building, told Russian media he planned to congratulate Padalka on his achievement. The former cosmonaut is a veteran of six spaceflights, including a 311-day rotation on Mir in 1991 and 1992. Krikalev was also the first Russian to fly on the space shuttle in 1994 and was a member of the International Space Station’s first crew in 2000.

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Merkel, Hollande urge Ukraine leader to give rebels self-rule

Merkel, Hollande urge Ukraine leader to give rebels self-rule | GlobalPost

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Agence France-Presse on Jul 10, 2015

German Chancellor Angel Merkel and French President Francois Hollande took the rare step Friday of pressing Ukraine’s Western-backed leader to ensure partial self-rule for the pro-Russian separatist east.

The blunt message from two of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s most important allies marked another sign of European impatience with fighting that still engulfs the ex-Soviet nation five months after the signing of a broad truce.

The 13-point agreement reached in the Belarussian capital Minsk controversially guarantees three years of autonomy to militia-run districts of Ukraine’s industrial provinces of Lugansk and Donetsk.

The mostly Russian-speaking regions — dotted with war-shattered steel mills and coal mines that once fuelled Ukraine’s economy — want their special status spelled out in constitutional amendments that would be enormously difficult to overturn.

But Poroshenko’s draft changes so far only make passing reference to an existing piece of legislation that gives insurgency leaders temporary self-administration rights.

The rebels fear the law could be easily watered-down or even revoked — a decision that would cheer Ukraine’s nationalist forces and outrage Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The European Union’s dire state of relations with Russia have been of particular concern to Merkel as she tries to return calm to the continent’s jittery markets and bring more stability to the 28-nation bloc’s eastern front.

Poroshenko said Merkel and Hollande — both present at the Minsk agreement’s signing in February — had “recommended that the president of Ukraine continue with (his) constitutional reforms”.

The two “especially stressed that the draft constitution of Ukraine reflects special self-rule for certain districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions”.

Hollande’s office confirmed that the French leader and Merkel placed “particular emphasis on the special status of certain areas in the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in the draft constitution”.

The German statement carried a similar message. None of the sides mentioned who had initiated the conference call.

– Terror and sabotage –

More than 6,500 people have died and 1.4 million have been left homeless since the conflict erupted in the wake of the February 2014 ouster of a Russian-backed leader and his replacement by a strongly pro-Western leadership.

The Minsk deal managed to contain some of the clashes but daily exchanges of fire still flare.
A Ukrainian military spokesman accused the insurgents Friday of “once again resorting to the use of heavy weapons, sabotage and reconnaissance groups”.

Poroshenko also somewhat unexpectedly warned citizens Friday of the mounting threat of “terror” facing peaceful cities now under full Ukrainian control.

The 49-year-old former chocolate magnate said his efforts to stamp out the uprising had drained security resources and left swathes of Ukraine open to attacks from criminals and those allied to rebel fighters.
“The terrorist threat level has significantly risen outside the zone where we are conducting our anti-terrorist operation,” Poroshenko said.

Ukraine refers to the insurgents as “terrorists” — a label that infuriates Russia.

Moscow denies either instigating the uprising or providing the militias with heavy weapons and tacit support from Russian troops.

But it offers the separatists strong diplomatic backing at both the United Nations and the periodic Minsk truce talks.

Putin said Friday that Ukrainian peace efforts were “stalling” because of Poroshenko’s refusal to hold direct talks with the self-declared leaders of Lugansk and Donetsk.

“Yet I still tend to think that (the truce) is more likely to succeed than fail,” Putin said on the sidelines of a BRICS emerging nations summit in the Russian city of Ufa.

zak/ccr

This Week – Michigan from Space and Soyuz Landing

A view of Michigan from the ISS

Veteran cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, European Space Agency flight engineer Samantha Cristoforetti and NASA astronaut Terry Virts, the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft landed Thursday.

Pictures from Soyuz landing

Expedition 43 Soyuz TMA-15M Landing

Crew in Kazakhstan

Expedition 43 Soyuz TMA-15M Landing

Did America Win Or Lose the Iraq War?

The article “Why Has America Stopped Winning Wars” is thought provoking but has misleading analysis of Korea and Vietnam wars.  Also, it does not offer much guidance concerning how to approach current middle east problems.

Concerning the Korean War, The author’s observation is  “The martial dusk began with the Korean War, which deteriorated into a grim stalemate at a cost of nearly 37,000 American lives.”  I believe his assessment is invalid for the following three reasons:

1 – While the UN Forces did not secure surrender of Communist China or North Korea as was the case of “unconditional victory of WWII, the outcome was similar to that achieved in WWI over Germany in 1918 where victory was measured by an agreement to stop fighting and to adjust borders.

2 -The Korean War ended with the agreement to restore the 38th parallel as border.  This was the dividing line agreed to by the Soviet Union and USA at the end of WWII.

3 – The lasting failure in Korea is the lack of a final political settlement that normalizes the existence of the two Koreas.  This could have been done years ago when North Korea stopped being strategically important to Red China and USSR/Russia.  This lack of a final agreement is a failure of international diplomacy – not winning on the battlefield.

Concerning the Vietnam War, the author’s observation is “Meanwhile, in Vietnam, the United States faced outright military defeat for the first time in its history—and, most shockingly, against North Vietnam, a “raggedy-ass little fourth-rate country,” as Lyndon Johnson put it.”

The author’s statement is false that the United States Army, Marines and Saigon forces faced outright defeat before and after the Tet fighting.  The possibility of defeat only became real when the United States abandoned South Vietnam and forced them to fight alone against a well armed and supplied North Vietnamese Army.  Chicom and Soviet backing of Hanoi never waned. The last straw was the acceptance of war fighting sanctuaries in Laos and Cambodia by American political leadership.   A conventional military attack by twenty-one NVA divisions from sanctuaries and the DMZ lead to the defeat of the Saigon government.

The ultimate cause of failure of America’s Vietnam War was the no-win strategy of the Johnson administration’s efforts lead by McNamara, some in the press, Clark Clifford, Robert Kennedy, left wing democrats, and antiwar activists like John Kerry. 

Much has been made of Westmoreland’s war of attrition.  This was only an element of his war fighting plan.  He saw cutting the Ho Chi Minh Trail along highway nine from Khe Sanh through Laos as the essential step.

Historian John Prados in his book – The Blood Road: The Ho Chi Minh Trail and the Vietnam War reports that General Le Trong Tan, a senior commander in the NVA during the war, was asked in later years what he would have done to win the war if he had been an American general. He replied: “If they [the Americans] had been wise they should at a certain point in time have cut a specific section of the Trail and taken over that area. Then we would have been stuck. We would never have been able to fight and win as we did.”

McNamara and his followers did everything they could to distort, dissemble and deny a full policy debate on Westmoreland’s plan.  Marine Corps operations at Khe Sanh and sweeps into the DMZ ordered by Westmoreland were the intended precursors to Laotian operations.

Bottom line is US policy makers, not war fighters,  made eventual military defeat of the Saigon government the eventual outcome.

Concerning urgency of settlement of fighting, the author’s observation is – “Concluding the fighting has particular urgency in a war without victory.  As former navy lieutenant John Kerry remarked during congressional testimony on Vietnam in 1971, “How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?” 

 I believe that using any statements made by representatives of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to be wrong and propaganda.  The tactics and actions of the VVAW have been discredited.  Their only legacy was to launch Kerry’s political career and his election to Congress.

Concerning the author’s question – “Why does the United States struggle in war? How can it resolve a failing conflict? Can America return to victory?  Today, these are critical questions…. “

This is the heart of the article.  My thoughts are as follows:

1 – The article doesn’t touch this subject but the reality is America  has been and still is an isolationist nation.  So the most important question is for the American people is why should we expend blood and treasure in engaging in a fight?  When the governments propaganda doesn’t match reality there will be a problem for sure.

2 – The author made an excellent point – It’s a time when the ultimate price of conflict is usually far higher than Americans would have accepted at the start.  The real bottom line is often political leadership engages in self delusion.  In the middle east wars, political expectations never have matched realities.

3 – Another excellent point – After World War II, Washington constructed the most expensive military machine that ever existed and endured seven decades of martial frustration.  In my view, the problem with having such vast military potential is for political leadership and generals that in many or most cases deployment of advanced weapons systems against low-tech combatants is not  an effective substitute for USA Soldiers, Marines and holding territory.

4- The author raises the issue of perseverance in war fighting – “For a global hegemon like the United States, each war is just one of many competing security commitments around the world. For the enemy, however, the conflict is a life-and-death contest that occupies its entire attention. It’s limited war for Americans, and total war for those fighting Americans. The United States has more power; its foes have more willpower.”

Will power to stay the course in war, will always be a problem for America because we are a free political system..  To minimize the will power problem, substantial concurrence such as provided by a declaration of War is needed before engagement in foreign military operations.

5 – The author as conclusion raises the very important question – “It’s time to reckon with the hard truths of conflict. As the black banner of ISIS rises above Ramadi and Palmyra, is the next chapter being written in America’s age of unwinnable conflicts?” 

It sure does appear that ISIS is a growing threat to the west and even Russia.  My observation is that the occupation of Germany after WWII is a good model to pursue in dealing with ISIS.   Define occupation zones in Syria and Iraq involving Europe, Russia and USA.  Conduct joint military occupation tribunals to root out those engaged in atrocities.  Occupation zones should use local governing authority and martial law to deal with violence.  Coalition military muscle to maintain order against organized threats.  Gaining stability in the region is a benefit to Saudi.  They should pay a substantial part of the bills along with taking of local oil revenues.

Escalation In Ukraine

Some members of the European Union (EU) have held the view that the EU should take bigger steps to force Russia to withdraw its peacekeepers from Transnistria.

Transnistria.is an eastern region of Moldova, mostly Slavic people, that borders on Ukraine.  When the Soviet Union broke up ethnic fighting started in 1992.  For more than twenty years, Russia has had 1,200 troops serving as peacekeepers.

Ukraine decided to block Russian peacekeepers from passing through its territory on June 8.  This sudden decision creates yet another potential source of enlarged war.

Map of Moldova and Transdniestria Region

Stratfor Warns: S-300 in Ukraine’s Odessa Might Cause All Out War

Stratfor predicted Kiev’s decision to deploy S-300 air defense systems in the Odessa Region puts Russian aircraft, flying in and out of Transnistria, in danger of getting shot down. This, in turn, increases the chances of a military confrontation between Russia and the West, US global intelligence company

Moldova, Ukraine Wage Hybrid War Against Transnistria

According to the foreign minister, Ukraine and Moldova are waging a hybrid war against her country. Although there is no direct military threat yet, both Kiev and Chisinau started an economic blockade, information warfare and other methods of isolation.

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NATO/USA actions being considered

Newspaper report claims US poised to send heavy weaponry to Eastern Europe

A report in the New York Times claims the US is planning to transfer heavy military equipment to the Baltic states and East European nations.

If true it would be the first time since the Cold War that the US has stationed weapons in the new NATO countries that were once allied with Moscow.

The article quotes unnamed officials claiming the Pentagon is poised to send tanks, armored vehicles and other heavy weaponry sufficient for a force of around 5000 troops.

The paper says the countries would include the three Baltic states as well as Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and possibly Hungary.

An official is quoted as saying the move is to reassure US NATO allies who are uneasy about Russian intervention in Ukraine, as well as to deter further aggression.

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Russian/Separatists actions

June 12, 2015

KIEV (Reuters) – Two of Ukraine’s largest steel plants are in a critical situation and may have to cut production, owner Metinvest said on Friday, after fighting in the separatist east severed gas supplies to the port city of Mariupol and two other towns.

Mariupol, a southeastern government-controlled city on the Sea of Azov, lies close to the frontline with rebel territories. Metinvest’s Ilyich and Azov Steel plants employ 10 percent of Mariupol’s population.

The interior ministry accused rebels on Friday of shelling the pipeline, causing damage which gas transport monopoly Ukrtransgaz said had left three towns, including Mariupol, without gas supplies for up to two days

Mlitary pressure and disruptions to Mariupol commerence, live, and transportation will most likely be a response

June 4, 2016

A series of separatist offenses throughout the east of the country has rattled the Minsk II accords and promises another bloody summer in the country, Michael Weiss writes for The Daily Beast. 

The majority of the shelling hit the towns of Marinka and Krasnogorovka to the west of Donetsk. However, one of the most ominous targets of the separatist offensive was the targeting of Ukrainian troops in Beryozovoye along the Donetsk-Mariupol highway as well as separatist incursions further south towards Mariupol. 

These combined offensives, according to Weiss, could play into a larger tactical strategy on the part of Russia to surround Mariupol.