 |  | | Red Flashes From Syria |
 SIX months after the Syrian
uprising began it seems clear
that peaceful protests aimed at
overthrowing the regime and
ousting President Bashar al-
Assad have failed. With no prospect of
meaningful national dialogue in sight,
the conflict now appears to be shifting
into a new, infinitely more hazardous
phase: the weaponisation of the revolution.
Syria is moving inexorably from
Arab spring to an ever darker, dangerous
winter of discontent.
The inability of unarmed civilian
demonstrators to bring down Assad, or
at least bring him to the negotiating
table, has several causes. One is the
lack of a unified, well-led opposition
with clear objectives... |
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| |  | | THE LOST DECADE &
FUTURE OF AMERICA |  IF you want a big swig of
despair, listen to the people
who know something about
the global economy. Roger
Altman, a former deputy
Treasury secretary, is arguing that
America and Europe are on the
verge of a disastrous double-dip
recession. Various economists say
it will be at least another three
years before we see serious job
growth. Others say European
banks are teetering - if not now,
then early next year.
Walter Russell Mead, who teaches
foreign policy at Bard College,
recently laid out some worst-case
scenarios on his blog: "It is about
whether the international financial
system will survive the next six
months in the form we now... |
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Qatar gets C-130J Super Hercules from Lockheed
ASIF IQBAL DOHA QATAR has joined the list of select countries whose armed forces posess Lockheed Martin’s C-130J Super Hercules. Tagged as the as the world’s most advanced tactical airlifter, Lockheed Martin on Wednesday, formally delivered four C-130J Super Hercules airlifters to Qatar.
“The Qatar Emiri Air Force’s new Super Hercules are the longer fuselage or ‘stretched’ variant of the C-130J. The aircraft will be used for humanitarian relief and military missions.
The new airlift fleet will be ferried to Qatar in October,” Lockheed Martin said in a statement.
The C-130J Super Hercules is designed and developed for air-to-air refueling, special operations, disaster relief and humanitarian missions It has has a unique mix of agility and performance to consistently operate at very high tempo operations efficiently and reliably.
It is the only airlifter with the range and flexibility for emerging theaters and evolving concepts of operation. This tactical transport aircraft has already proven itself in many kinds of missions, many in the harshest operating conditions possible. Commenting on the delivery of the equipment to Qatar, Lockheed Martin vice president for C-130 programmes Lorraine Martin said, “It is a historic day for both the Qatar Armed Forces and Lockheed Martin as we welcome Qatar into the global C- 130 family. This acquisition of a fleet of C-130Js provides Qatar with a highly flexible airlift capability. As the first C-130J operator in the Middle-East, Qatar takes a unique place in C- 130 history.” This is Qatar’s first experience with C-130s and Lockheed Martin is providing a complete solution package. “The package includes the four aircraft; aircrew and maintenance training; spares; ground support and test equipment; and a team of technical specialists based in Qatar during an initial support period. Headquartered in Bethesda, Lockheed Martin is a global security company whose 2010 sales from continuing operations were $45.8 billion.
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