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The United Nations said on Friday that Russia cannot send troops to the Golan Heights peacekeeping force, after President Vladimir Putin said he was ready to bolster the force, AFP reported. Putin offered troops after Austria decided to withdraw its 377 soldiers from the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) between Syria and Israel because of growing spillover from the Syria conflict. However, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said later on Friday that Russia was banned from taking part in the force because it is one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council. "We appreciate the consideration that Russia has...

NORFOLK, Va.— A top general says federal budget cuts that will ground one-third of the U.S. Air Force´s active-duty force of combat planes including fighters and bombers means "accepting the risk that combat airpower may not be ready to respond immediately to new contingencies as they occur."Gen. Mike Hostage, commander of Air Combat Command at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia, issued the warning Tuesday as the Pentagon braces for more effects of the automatic spending cuts triggered by the lack of a budget agreement in Washington. Hostage said that only the units preparing to deploy to major operations,

According to internal documents obtained by Air Force Times, beginning on Apr. 9, 2013, the U.S. Air Force will begin grounding front line combat units as a consequence of sequestration and the need to deal with budget cuts. Seventeen squadrons belonging to the various U.S. Air Force commands are going to be affected by the stand down order. The grounding is aimed to save the 44,000 flying hours (worth 591 million USD) through September. The funded 241,496 flying hours will be distributed to those squadrons that will remain combat ready or are expected to keep a reduced readiness level called...

This isn't merely a failure of nerve, it's a failure of intelligence and a failure to keep operational secrets. The White House had a "playbook," agreed to by O, Hagel, and John Kerry, on how to rattle its saber at North Korea during the next crisis without rattling it so much that NK would get spooked and do something rash. E.g., first comes some B-52 flights over South Korea, then the B-2s make a cameo, then the F-22s, and so forth. Problem one: Kim's gone further in his bellicosity than U.S. analysts expected and now they’re unsure if they know...

The 2009 cyberattack by the U.S. and Israel that crippled Iran’s nuclear program by sabotaging industrial equipment constituted “an act of force” and was likely illegal under international law, according to a manual commissioned by NATO’s cyber defense center in Estonia. “Acts that kill or injure persons or destroy or damage objects are unambiguously uses of force,” according to “The Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare.” Michael N. Schmitt, the manual’s lead author, told The Washington Times that “according to the U.N. charter, the use of force is prohibited, except in self-defense.” Under the charter, states...

Quietly and without much notice, the Air Force has reversed its policy of publishing statistics on drone strikes in Afghanistan as the debate about drone warfare hits a fever pitch in Washington. In addition, it has erased previously published drone strike statistics from its website. Since October, the Air Force had been providing monthly updates on drone strikes -- or in its words "weapons releases from remotely piloted aircraft (RPA)." But today, Air Force Times reporters Brian Everstine and Aaron Mehta discovered something was amiss: The statistics published for February "contained empty space where the box of RPA statistics had...

Our government threatens to fine job creators in a bad economy. Our government threatens to fine a company that’s raised wages four years running. Our government threatens to fine a family for running its business according to its beliefs. It’s not right. I know people will say we ought to follow the rules; that it’s the same for everybody. But that’s not true. The government has exempted thousands of companies from this mandate, for reasons of convenience or cost. But it won’t exempt them for reasons of religious belief. So, Hobby Lobby and my family are forced to make a...

Why wait for the supply to dry up over time when you could just force gun owners to surrender or destroy their weapons immediately? Missouri Democrats think it’s a good idea: Democrats in the state House have proposed a bill that would force gun owners to either surrender or destroy weapons including semi-automatic rifles with detachable magazines and semi-automatic pistols with a fixed magazine that can shoot more than 10 rounds before being reloaded. Ammunition-feeding devices that can hold more than 10 rounds also would be banned. Owners also could send their weapons to another state instead of surrendering or...

Dear Principal or Headmaster, I am sure you are as grieved and upset as I am over recent events. I would like to know (I am writing to all of my children's schools): Do you have a policy regarding the use of force, including all necessary and legal force, to defend the children who attend your school in the event of danger? If so, what is it? If not, why not, and what is being done to develop such a policy? Sincerely,

Vanessa Dobos is a gunner on board a USAF AC-130 gunship.  The blue-eyed blonde has seen action in Iraq and Afganistan, and enjoys long walks on the beach, men who aren't afraid to cry, and puppies. Vanessa's dislikes include feed-tray stoppages, tracer flareout of her NVGs and premature fixed-wing strikes scattering her high-value targets... The 19 year old former Ohio high school cheerleader is in-fact the Air Force's first female aerial gunner ever: Raised in the small town of Valley View, Ohio, her interstest in the military was sparked by her father. Described by Dobos as 'a history buff', her dad talked...

...they also asked a retired Army general for comment.He said all these terrorists know is to fear power and force. The best was to control them, he offered, was to tell the country in no uncertain terms that if it killed 4 of our people, we would respond by killing 400 of theirs. This brought shock and dismay from mainstream media commentators across both the electronic and print news services. But, I agree with the general. I have seen it in action. Some 43 years ago I commanded a small television and radio station in Tuy Hoa, Vietnam.

Rocker Jon Bon Jovi hitched a ride aboard Air Force One on Monday, zipping up to New York City to perform at a gala fundraiser for President Barack Obama — one of three campaign events to scoop up cash for the Democrat's reelection.

As Navy SEALs bask in the limelight for daring missions, some in the Army are wondering whether the other half of the nation’s counter-terrorism covert warriors - Delta Force - is being upstaged and left in the shadows. Adm. William H. McRaven, a SEAL who commanded the Joint Special Operations Command when SEAL Team 6 killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last year, favors his guys over Delta, some say. “All I’ve heard and observed is that he is obviously pro-SEAL and that explains why Delta has been sidelined,” said a retired ArmyGreen Beret who still conducts special operations as...

The unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent because another 522,000 adults quit looking for work and are no longer counted. In the weakest recovery since the Great Depression more than four-fifths of the reduction in unemployment has been accomplished by a dropping adult labor force participation rate—essentially, persuading adults they don’t need a job, or the job they could find is not worth having. In the first quarter, growth slowed to 2.2 percent and was largely sustained by consumers taking on more debt, and additions to business inventory. Gains in manufacturing production have not instigated stronger improvements in employment largely...

Under the guise of granting higher wages and healthcare benefits to daycare providers and personal care attendants, Connecticut’s Democratic-led state House has passed a bill that will force these workers to collectively bargain with the state. However, the director of the Connecticut chapter of Americans for Prosperity (AFP)said on Friday that the measure, proposed as an amendment to another bill, will force daycare providers to unionize with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). According to JR Romano of AFP in Connecticut, the bill is “a direct assault on female business owners.” State Sen. Edith Prague (D- Working Families Party) and...

WASHINGTON – A senior defense official announced a planned series of changes to U.S. force posture in Europe on Thursday that would reduce the number of U.S. troops on the continent by more than 11,000 by 2017. Families of affected troops are being notified Thursday, the officials said. INACTIVATED 170th Infantry Brigade: The unit’s 3,850 soldiers, currently redeploying to Baumholder, Germany, from Afghanistan, will begin moving with their families this summer, the Pentagon said. 172nd Separate Infantry Brigade: 3,850 soldiers, currently in Afghanistan, will redeploy this summer to Germany. Soldiers and their families will begin to move in summer 2013....

The Air Force is preparing to trim hundreds of aircraft from its aging fleet in order to meet an Obama administration austerity order. The move will strike many Air Force supporters as ironic. Because just as the fleet is set to shrink, Defense Secretary ...

Matt Pirrello wasn’t about to let a simple drill get the better of him. So what if he had lost a leg?He had been doing “about-faces” — pivoting clockwise 180 degrees while standing at attention — since he joined the Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps in 2009. Now, the once-simple act of raising his right foot, placing it about half a shoe length behind his left heel and then rotating, threw him. “The movement depends on having a knee and foot that bend in ways my prosthetic leg can’t,” said Pirrello, who lost his right leg in a training...

Stryker, the Kalamazoo-based maker of artificial hips and knees, will cut 5% of its global workforce by the end of next year to reduce costs in the face of new fees on device makers required by the U.S. health care law.

Fullerton police officers charged in death of Kelly Thomas have made their first court appearance. Cpl. Jay Cicinelli pleaded not guilty today to charges of involuntary manslaughter and use of excessive force. He was released on $25,000 bail and is due back in court November 4. Arraignment for Fullerton Officer Manuel Ramos was continued until Monday. He's being held on $1 million bail. Thomas' father asked that bail not be reduced based on the "horrific way my son was murdered." Both officers have been ordered by the court not to be in possession of firearms.

The way gravity effects quantum particles proves that it cannot be an emergent phenomenon, says physicist. One of the most exciting ideas in modern physics is that gravity is not a traditional force, like electromagnetic or nuclear forces. Instead, it is an emergent phenomenon that merely looks like a traditional force. This approach has been championed by Erik Verlinde at the University of Amsterdam who put forward the idea in 2010. He suggested that gravity is merely a manifestation of entropy in the Universe, which always increases according to the second law of thermodynamics. This causes matter distribute itself in...

Israeli Border Police and Civil Administration authorities Thursday demolished the nascent Ga'on Yarden settlement in the Binyamin region of Samaria, saying several of the buildings were built without obtaining the necessary permits. It was the second demolition carried out in one day. Five people were arrested Thursday afternoon in connection with clashes during the violent demolition at Alei Ayin this morning. During the Alei Ayin demolition 6 police officers and five residents were injured, and a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the Binyamin Police commander's car, setting it ablaze. It is not known who threw the Molotov cocktail. "Violent demolition...

The top prosecutor in Dakota County doesn't like it. Neither do St. Paul police or Minnesota police organizations. Not to mention gun-control groups. But Republicans, backed by gun-rights groups, apparently do. And so, a bill that would give Minnesotans more flexibility in using deadly force to defend themselves and their properties cleared its first legislative hurdle Thursday. The Republican-controlled House Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy and Finance Committee voted 10-7 to send the measure to another committee. "It's a common-sense bill,'' said its chief sponsor, state Rep. Tony Cornish, R-Good Thunder. The measure would expand state laws on use...

After joyously toppling a dictator, protesters trusted the army to hold power until elections—but a vicious show of force this week has soured their faith. Ursula Lindsey reports from Cairo. The warm relations between Egyptians protesters and their army are over. Military police and, reportedly, masked special forces violently broke up protests in downtown Cairo late Friday night. The attack—and ongoing reports of "disappearances" and abuse—has soured the once hopeful relations between the military and pro-democracy forces here. The film director Ahmad Abdalla was in a group of several hundred protesters standing and chanting in front of the Egyptian parliament...

Is it constitutional for Congress make you buy broccoli for your own good, ask three professors of health law at Boston University in the New England Journal of Medicine for December 22nd. The ringing answer that they give to this question is “We don’t know.” They have decided to sit on the fence until others, in the shape of the Supreme Court, decide for them. The Affordable Care Act enjoins millions of citizens to buy private health insurance. The authors say that it is difficult to decide whether refusal to buy such coverage counts as an activity that bears on...

By Marlene Romero’s count, her son has had just one effective teacher in his five years at McKinley Elementary School here. Most of the time, she said, he has merely shuffled through classrooms, struggling in math without ever getting extra help. So when an organizer came knocking at her door promising that if she signed a petition, her son’s school could radically improve, Ms. Romero immediately pledged her support. Now, she is one of more than 250 parents in Compton who are using a new state law to force the failing school to be taken over by a charter school...

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — An unmanned Air Force space plane that spent seven months in orbit is set to return to Earth. The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle is scheduled to land at Vandenberg Air Force Base northwest of Los Angeles sometime between Friday and Monday, depending on the weather and other factors. The Air Force Space Command said in a statement Tuesday the base has begun preparations for the landing. The X-37B resembles a small space shuttle. Since it launched in April, space enthusiasts have speculated about its ultimate purpose.

Energy Department Says It Has ‘Mandate’ to Force ‘Market Transformation’ for Household Appliances Assistant Secretary of Energy Cathy Zoi said Thursday that the U.S. Department of Energy has a “mandate” to issue regulations that will determine what household appliances are available to Americans in the future. as a “mandate” to issue regulations to determine what household appliances are available to Americans in the future. Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the recently reestablished Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB), Zoi pointed to four tactics the Obama administration intended use to advance the “deployment of clean energy.” The first three were...

VIDEO HERE.

Interplanetary adventurers must contend with deadly solar radiation – but the moon's magnetic memories may hold the key to safe space flightBORED on their six-month journey to Mars? Not a bit of it. Whenever the astronauts look out of the window, they find themselves mesmerised by the glowing, shimmering sphere of plasma that surrounds their spacecraft. Hard to believe that the modest electromagnet at the heart of their ship can produce something so beautiful. Not that the magnet's raison d'être is aesthetic, of course. Its main function is to keep the astronauts from a slow, horrible death by radiation sickness....

As Yoda has said repeatedly, the Federation of the Obamocracy is a case of the Dark Side, interfering with the Constitutional Right to Bear Arms on our experimental gun platforms.. And This Interference MUST be met with the full force of patriot ridicule. So be it. May the farce, errr..FORCE be with you patriots and may the DARK SIDE go pizmo on Nov.2nd!

Maggots falling from an overhead bin from a spoiled container of meat forced a US Airways flight to return to the gate so the bin could be cleaned. Passenger Donna Adamo said she noticed a couple of flies on the Monday flight when she got to her seat but didn't think much of it. Then, as the plane was taxiing, she heard a passenger behind her causing a commotion and refusing to take her seat. "Then I heard the word 'maggot' and that kind of got everybody creeped out," she said. "All of a sudden, I felt somebody flick the...

Pressured by an aging population and the need to rein in budget deficits, Canada's provinces are taking tough measures to curb healthcare costs, a trend that could erode the principles of the popular state-funded system. British Columbia is replacing block grants to hospitals with fee-for-procedure payments and Quebec has a new flat health tax and a proposal for payments on each medical visit -- an idea that critics say is an illegal user fee. In some ways the Canadian debate is the mirror image of discussions going on in the United States. Healthcare in Canada is delivered through a publicly...

WASHINGTON, May 26, 2010 – As the Afghan army rapidly approaches a 171,000-troop level this year, the force’s top-ranking uniformed leader is tackling growing pains with help from an U.S. Army advisor. For the past year, Army Col. George T. “Tom” Donovan, a member of NATO’s training effort in Afghanistan, has been working closely with Gen. Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, chief of the Afghan army’s general staff. Donovan described Mohammadi as a “charismatic and decisive leader,” during a May 21 “DoD Live” bloggers roundtable. Donovan said he and the Afghan general are working together to improve the army’s organization, citing personnel...

(CNSNews.com) – The White House and congressional Democratic leaders reached an agreement Monday night on a so-called “compromise” that could force a vote within days on a bill to end the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy on homosexuality, but which outraged conservatives say would delay implementation until at least December – after the congressional elections.

If that last sentence surprises you, then you're not aware of the fact that the Obama administration is planning to force us to register our homes, just like our cars, and get them inspected by an authorized agent of the DOE in order to get an "Inspection Label" for the home.

  Courtesy UK Ministry of Defence The beginnings of a robust and dedicated Afghan helicopter force is beginning to take shape, thanks in part to the contribution of British military experience and expertise.The Kandahar Air Wing of the Afghanistan National Air Corps has come on leaps and bounds since its arrival in October 2009.Now with 572 personnel established on the wing, including experienced pilots, trainee pilots, engineers, logistics and admin staff, mission planning is becoming a reality.The Air Wing currently operate four Mi-17 transport helicopters but are planning to have 14 by 2011.Two Afghan Mi17s could recently be seen...

The high-profile F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program will be delayed by two years and will be significantly over cost, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said on Tuesday. “We think it is probable that there will be a Nunn-McCurdy breach,” Donley said at a breakfast with defense reporters. The so-called Nunn-McCurdy law requires the military services or the Pentagon leadership to tell Congress when the price tag of a program increases significantly. The Pentagon then must certify to Congress that the program is still worth pursuing.

It's been a long wait—in some ways, more than 50 years—but in April 2010, the U.S. Air Force is scheduled to launch an Atlas V booster from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying the newest U.S. spacecraft, the unmanned X-37, to orbit. The X-37 embodies the Air Force's desire for an operational spaceplane, a wish that dates to the 1950s, the era of the rocket-powered X-15 and X-20. In other ways, though, the X-37 will be picking up where another U.S. spaceplane, NASA's space shuttle, leaves off.

The September unemployment stats for Michigan came out this week and they are high — as expected. Mlive.com highlighted the statistics on a municipal level, showing the five cities with the highest jobless rates are all over 25 percent. The cities of Highland Park and Pontiac, which leaned heavily on auto-related employment, had the highest unemployment with 35.2 percent of residents reportedly jobless. Both cities have declared bankruptcy in the recent past. Highland Park recently emerged from state receivership and Pontiac just slipped under state control last year. While the overall state’s unemployment rate is the highest in the nation...

The New York State Health Commissioner's new mandate that all health care workers be vaccinated against both the seasonal and the swine flu this fall could qualify as the major public health blunder of the year, because it is likely to backfire. Flu has been rightly characterized as a "slippery disease" that can mutate quickly and unpredictably, which means that planning for flu epidemics must be flexible and should be reviewed regularly as evidence of disease spread and severity accumulates. We are already experiencing the beginning of a second wave of swine flu, the 2009 H1N1 influenza. Effective response will...

Here's a whole lot of information on the American Police Force Dossier: American Police Force

Barack Obama got to play peacemaker during his staged meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas. In a throwback to Bill Clinton's famous photo op on the White House Lawn with Yasir Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin, Obama stood between the men, holding their arms as the two shook hands.

BAGRAM, Afghanistan — Military commanders with the NATO mission in Afghanistan told President Barack Obama's chief envoy to the region this weekend that they did not have enough troops to do their job, pushed past their limit by Taliban rebels who operated across borders. The commanders emphasized problems in southern Afghanistan, where Taliban insurgents continue to bombard towns and villages with rockets despite a new influx of U.S. troops, and in eastern Afghanistan, where the father-and-son-led Haqqani network of militants has become the main source of attacks against U.S. soldiers and their Afghan allies.

WASHINGTON, July 1, 2009 – It would be easy to confuse Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan with the NATO International Security Assistance Force there. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal commands both organizations. The biggest difference, officials say, is the mission. Operation Enduring Freedom was the U.S.-led operation that toppled the Taliban in 2001. American and coalition servicemembers worked with the Afghan Northern Alliance soon after the terror attack in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. Part of Operation Enduring Freedom retains that mission: to find and kill or capture terrorists. Since 2001, servicemembers assigned to Operation Enduring Freedom also have...

BRUSSELS, Belgium, June 11, 2009 – With NATO defense ministers having agreed to reduce the alliance’s military presence in Kosovo from 14,000 to 10,000 troops by the year’s end, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today urged that the reduction take place as an organized process. On the first day of an alliance defense ministers conference here, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer announced the force reduction today, noting that Army Gen. Bantz J. Craddock, NATO’s supreme allied commander for Europe, has proposed moving toward a deterrent presence in Kosovo that will require fewer troops in the country. Gates said...

Want to join the Air Force? Look at the picture above. How about now? Still no? Well damn, the Air Force is gonna be pissed -- this was supposed to be a powerful recruitment tool. The Challenger Vapor features radar-absorbing stealth-black paint, not unlike what is used to mask stealth bombers. The Vapor is set to run almost silently, thanks to "stealth exhaust" - whatever that means. Reminds us of when KITT used to go "Silent Mode" on Knight Rider. You need biometric verification to enter the cockpit via gull wing doors. The driver can view night/thermal vision projections on...

A TRUE American hero has been freed. Three pirates are dead. A fourth pirate is in custody. Our Navy shone. Now the hard work starts. This weekend's success won't be enough to keep our merchant mariners and cargo ships safe. Somali pirate gangs have already threatened retaliation against third-party captives. (We'll see what they do.) And all Somalis believe that the United States lacks strength of will and staying power. They remember President Bill Clinton's cowardly retreat from Mogadishu. They'll expect a replay from President Obama. Some pirates may avoid US-flagged ships. Others will go out hunting for them --...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force on Monday endorsed the Pentagon in its plan to end production of Lockheed Martin Corp's top-of-the-line F-22 fighter jets after having pushed to buy more for years. "This is the time to make the transition from F-22 to F-35 production," Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and General Norton Schwartz, the service's top uniformed officer, wrote in an opinion piece in the Washington Post.