[looks at Judge Smails, who's wearing the same hat]
Al Czervik: Oh, it looks good on you though.
Al Czervik: Oh, this your wife, huh? A lovely lady. Hey baby, you must've been something before electricity.
Al Czervik: You're a lot of woman, you know that? Yeah, wanna make 14 dollars the hard way?
Al Czervik: What're we, waiting for these guys? Hey Whitey, where's your hat?
Judge Smails: Do you mind, sir. I'm trying to tee off.
Al Czervik: I'll bet you a hundred bucks you slice it into the woods.
Judge Smails: Gambling is illegal at Bushwood sir, and I never slice.
[Swings club, slices ball into woods]
Judge Smails: *Damn*.
Al Czervik: OK, you can owe me.
Judge Smails: I owe you nothing.
Al Czervik: [tees off] Fore!
[his ball hits Judge Smails in the crotch]
Al Czervik: I should have yelled, "Two!"
Al Czervik: [drops his bow anchor on Judge Smails' sailboat, sinking it] Hey, you scratched my anchor!
Man I miss Rodney D. Hope you had a great weekend.
HYPERLINKS MAY REQUIRE AN EMAIL:
USA
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AFRICA
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ASIA
India's Aircraft Carrier Unveiled 08/12/13
NEW DELHI -- India has launched its first home-built aircraft carrier, marking another milestone in its efforts to bolster its maritime presence.
Defense Minister A.K. Antony said Monday that India needed a strong navy to defend itself, and that India will press ahead with developing its maritime capabilities.
India joins the U.S., Russia, France and Britain in building its own carrier. The carrier was launched at the Kochi shipyard in southern Kerala state, but it still needs to be outfitted and extensive trials held before it is inducted into the Indian navy in 2018.
India has steadily built up its naval capabilities in recent years, spurred by its rivalry with neighboring China.
On Saturday, India activated an atomic reactor for its indigenously built nuclear submarine.
Reactor Powered Up On First 'Made in India' Nuclear Sub August 11, 2013
A Russian Akula-class sub in Brest harbor, western France, in 2004. The INS Arihant is said to be based on this Cold War design.
India has activated the reactor aboard the INS Arihant, believed to be the first nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine designed and built outside the Cold War "nuclear club."
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called the event a "giant stride in ... our indigenous technological capabilities."
It's the first nuclear-powered submarine built in India and the first such vessel constructed by a country other than the United States, U.K., France, Russia or China.
Reports of the vessel suggest its design is based on Russia's Akula-class submarines, which came into operation toward the end of the Cold War. India has leased one from Moscow and plans to operate others. However, unlike the Akula, which is an attack submarine, Arihant is designed to be the first in a class of Indian boats that carry ballistic missiles.
The BBC says:
"Nuclear [ballistic missile] submarines will add a third dimension to India's defence capability, as it has previously only been able to launch ballistic missiles from the air and from land. ...
"The fact that this submarine, the nuclear reactor that powers it, and the ballistic missiles that it will fire are all manufactured locally in India — though there may have been some assistance from Russia — is a significant technological achievement."
Naval-technology.com adds:
"The Indian Navy has a fleet of 16 diesel-electric submarines leased from Russia and Germany. However, the disadvantage with diesel electric submarines is that they cannot stay under water for an extended period.
"Conventional diesel-electric submarines have to ascend to the surface each day to eject carbon dioxide produced by the generator. Nuclear-powered submarines, on the other hand, can stay under water for long durations without being detected."
The website says the cost of building the Arihant is estimated at $2.9 billion.
Indian-built Arihant nuclear submarine activated
The move means the submarine can now undergo sea trials.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hailed the "giant stride in... our indigenous technological capabilities".
Experts say is the first ballistic missile submarine known to have been built outside the five recognised nuclear powers.
Last year, India rejoined those countries - the US, UK, France, Russia and China - in being an operator of nuclear-powered submarines when it formally commissioned a Russian-built submarine into its navy.
Nuclear submarines will add a third dimension to India's defence capability, as it has previously only been able to launch ballistic missiles from the air and from land.
Assuming its sea trials are completed successfully, India's new nuclear-powered submarine could be operational within the next two years, the BBC's Jonathan Marcus reports.
Russian alliance
When it is eventually deployed, the Arihant will be able to carry a crew of about 100 sailors on board.
It will be able to stay under water for long periods and thereby increase its chances of remaining undetected.
By contrast, India's ageing conventional diesel-powered submarines need to surface frequently to recharge their batteries.
Last year India leased the Russian-built nuclear-powered submarine the INS Chakra for the next 10 years at a cost of about $1bn (£630m).
India had previously operated a Soviet nuclear submarine until 1991.
India and Russia are long-time allies, and Russia supplies 70% of India's military hardware.
Russia is also expected to help India train the Arihant's crew. The crew of the Chakra underwent their training in a secretive programme in St Petersburg...
EUROPE
UK's nuclear weapons being dismantled under disarmament obligations
Quietly, slowly and without any fuss, Britain is dismantling its nuclear weapons. Three Trident warheads a year are being moved from the Clyde to the home counties to be taken to pieces, according to evidence seen by the Guardian.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has revealed that it is overseeing a programme "to disassemble Trident warheads" at Burghfield in Berkshire, in a way that will prevent them from being put back together. This fulfils a government promise to cut the number of the nation's nuclear weapons from 225 to 180 by the mid 2020s.
The latest monitoring of nuclear bomb convoys by activists suggests that in 2012 five warheads were sent by road to Burghfield from the royal naval armaments depot at Coulport on Loch Long near Glasgow. Two were refurbished and returned north, they said, while three stayed at Burghfield to be dismantled.
Ministers announced in June 2011 that Britain's stockpile of nuclear weapons was being reduced by 45 to "no more than 180" over about 15 years to comply with international disarmament obligations. Until now it's not been clear what was happening to the warheads, with critics suspicious that they could just be disarmed and stored ready to be rearmed if necessary....
MEXICO/LATIN AMERICA
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AFGHANISTAN
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CHINA
China: Cargo Ship To Transit Northeast Passage August 12, 2013
A cargo ship that departed northeastern China's Dalian port on Aug. 8 is attempting China's first-ever commercial transit of the Northeast Passage, north of Russia, the Financial Times reported Aug. 11. The 19,000-ton ship, operated by state-owned Cosco Group, is bound for Rotterdam. The Arctic is expected to become more important in coming decades as natural resources and transport routes become more accessible. China was granted observer status in the Arctic Council in May
IRAN
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IRAQ
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ISRAEL
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RUSSIA
Russia: Few Options to Redress Ethnic Tensions
SYRIA
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MIDDLE EAST GENERAL
War splits Syria into 3 distinct regions
Rebels have firmer grip on northern provinces while government is in tight control of central areas
Beirut: More than two years into Syria’s civil war, the once highly-centralised authoritarian state has effectively split into three distinct parts, each boasting its own flags, security agencies and judicial system.
In each area, religious, ideological and turf power struggles are under way and battle lines tend to ebb and flow, making it impossible to predict exactly what Syria could look like once the combatants lay down their arms.
But the longer the bloody conflict drags on, analysts says, the more difficult it will be to piece together a coherent Syrian state from the wreckage. “There is no doubt that as a distinct single entity, Syria has ceased to exist,” said
Charles Lister, an analyst at IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Centre. “Considering the sheer scale of its territorial losses in some areas of the country, Syria no longer functions as a single all-encompassing unitarily-governed state.”
The geographic dividing lines that have emerged over the past two years and effectively cleft the nation in three remain fluid, but the general outlines can be traced on a map. The regime holds a firm grip on a corridor running from the southern border with Jordan, through the capital Damascus and up to the Mediterranean coast, where a large portion of the population belongs to President Bashar Al Assad’s Alawite sect.
The rebels, who are primarily drawn from Syria’s Sunni majority, control a chunk of territory that spans parts of Idlib and Aleppo provinces in the north and stretches along the Euphrates river to the porous Iraqi border in the east.
Tucked into the far northeastern corner, meanwhile, Syria’s Kurdish minority enjoys semi-autonomy. Those contours provide the big picture view. The view from the ground, however, is slightly muddied.
MISC
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Except where noted courtesy STRATFOR.COM
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