Monday, February 28, 2011

Biscuits From Pancake Mix

ABANDON ABANDONED

God begins the process of making us surrender our fall from our high horse. It literally happened to Paul. He rode on the road to Damascus, full of confidence itself, when a blinding light came from heaven. Paul was thrown to the ground, trembling. Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" (Acts 9:4)

Paul knew that something was missing in his life. He knew God, but had not received a direct revelation. Now, while he is kneeling, he hear these words from heaven: "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting" (9:5) These words have changed the world of Paul. The scriptures say: "Trembling and seized with fear, he said: Lord, what wilt thou I do? "(9:6). Paul's conversion was a theatrical work of the Holy Spirit.

Paul was led by the Holy Spirit to give up his life. He asked: "Lord, what wilt thou have me do?" And her heart cried, "Jesus, how can I serve you? How do I know you and please you? Nothing else matters. Everything I did in the flesh is like mud. You're everything to me now. "

Paul had no ambition, no other force that pulls it forward" to gain Christ. " (Philippians 3:8). Under current standards of success, Paul is a total failure. He did not build any buildings, it did not create corporations or associations, the methods he used were criticized by other leaders. In fact, the message he preached offended many of his listeners. Several times he has even been stoned for his announcement. His subject? The cross.

When we stand before God at the trial, we will not be judged according to our ministries, what we have accomplished or the number of people who will be converted by us. There will be only one measure of our success so far: our hearts were they totally abandoned to God? Do we set aside our own will and our own agendas, to make his own? Have we succumbed to pressure and followed the crowd, or have we sought itself to be led? Have we run seminar seminar in order to find purpose in our lives or do we find the fullness in him?

I have only one ambition: to learn better and better to say only what the Father sends me. Nothing I do or say to myself no value. I want to be able to proclaim: "I know my Father is with me because I'm only his will."

Where Can I Buy Bulk Chicken Wings

John J. Culbertson, 13 Cent Killers. The 5th Marine Snipers in Vietnam, Presidio Press, 2003, 272 p. DUNSTAN

Here's another book on the Vietnam War, read in the wake of last year. It is always with the 1st Marine Division , but especially here with snipers the 5th Marine Regiment , one of the units of the division. The author, John J. Culbertson, himself a former sniper the 5th Marines paints a portrait of the killers enough cleaner to 13 cents (the average price of a bullet during the war Vietnam).

is a primary source, and as always with this kind of evidence, there are good and bad sides. Good, what are the descriptions of the creation of a true "sniper school " in the USMC in the area of the I. Corps tactics. The integration of teams of snipers working in pairs did, indeed, not without its difficulties, the Marines not seeing very well at first the usefulness of the snipers. Now they will prove invaluable to counter ambushes, snipers eliminate the dreaded Vietcong or to protect U.S. facilities, especially at night, against the attacks of fire, another elite corps of the enemy. Culbertson's testimony provides a look "inside " on the history of these sniper in the USMC plunged into the Vietnam War.

Unfortunately, the story of Culbertson is marked by a kind of "perpetual diatribe " the average soldier during the Vietnam War: in short, American politicians, and President Johnson in the first chief, are accused of all misfortunes that can happen to soldiers on the ground, not to mention that in addition, they make money on the backs of Marines them who are killed in combat. Culbertson seems to have developed a special grudge against the company Bell Helicopter , partly owned by President Johnson (!). Other heaviness of the story: a kind of complacency creeping fills many lines: the Marines are the best snipers of Marines are the best of the best, and snipers the 5th Marines are the best the best of the best ... I caricature, but it is not very from the truth. Which is a shame, what this kind of talk takes the place of pages that could have been more devoted to weapons or tactics used by the unit.

Once one has in mind these few caveats, the book presents itself as a source, read as such. It does not replace the work of the historian, but it provides the material, in this case both on the USMC snipers on their representations of troops in Vietnam.

How Soon Does Metformin Work Pcos

Simon, 1st Marine Division in Vietnam, Spearhead, Zenith Press, 2008, 128 p. Raphael

The 1st Marine Division , which is the base camp Pendleton in California, is the oldest and largest unit of this type of USMC, the Marine Corps U.S.. Even today, it comprises 19 000 men and is involved in several theaters of operations. It's nickname is "The Old Breed." It includes 1st, 5th and 7th Marines (infantry) and 11th Marines ( artillery). The 1st Marines was trained in Cuba in 1911. The 5th Marines was created in Veracruz, Mexico, in 1914. He took part in engagements in France during the First World War, including the Battle of Belleau Wood in June 1918 when the Germans nicknamed the Marines " dogs of the devil" because of their ferocity in the attacks. The 7th Marines consists in Philadelphia in 1917 and the 11th Marines in 1918 at Quantico. The 1st Marine Division is created about it until 1 February 1941 aboard the battleship USS Texas . After the attack on Pearl Harbor and the entry into the war United States, the division will be illustrated in some of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific: Guadalcanal, Peleliu and Okinawa particular. After 1945, the division suffered budget cuts common to the entire American army after the war ended. However, the remaining troops are engaged in the Korean War: September 15, 1950, the 1st Marine Division participates Inchon landing planned by MacArthur, who will temporarily turn the tide of the conflict. Division releases Seoul and headed north and the Yalu River which marks the border with China, under the command of General boiling Oliver P. Smith . The Chinese launched a massive attack on UN forces November 27, 1950: The 1st Marine Division , cornered in the Chosin Reservoir , managed to retrieve it, not without losses, but by inflicting as much if not more to his opponent. The division remains online until the war ended in 1953.





The Korean War has allowed Marines to test the new doctrine of "vertical envelopment " the enemy through the use of helicopters, but this test was limited by the mountainous character of Korean territory. The next conflict will be found in which committed the 1st Marine Division will be an opportunity to realize this doctrinal thinking.







Simon Dunstan after this presentation of the unit history, traces the career of the 1st Marine Division Vietnam. It landed in Vietnam in the second half of 1965: the 7th Marines is involved in the first major battle row of the war against the Vietcong , Operation Starlite (August 18).








The 1st Marine Division , like other units engaged in the USMC in Vietnam, is in the area I body tactic is to say the northern part of the country on the border with North Vietnam (the South Vietnamese had divided the country into four zones of different tactics, from I to IV north to south). In 1966, the entire 1st Marine division (17,000 men) participated in the fighting. The Marines put forward initially in accordance with the history of their body, a doctrine of pacification of the population, namely to protect the villages and inhabitants of the coastal plains where their bases before going to face opponent in the interior. General Westmoreland , the chief U.S. commander in Vietnam, is in a completely different strategy: Pressed by the political power to achieve results, he wants to initiate training Vietcong and North Vietnamese in major battles for eliminate more possible enemy soldiers. This is what will soon become the doctrine "search and destroy" . However, throughout the year 1966, the Marines face along the border of the regular units of the North Vietnamese army that infiltrate the south by the Ho Chi Minh trail in clashes rather conventional. This does not prevent them from developing the system CAP (Combined Action Platoons ) , self-advocacy groups collecting Marines and South Vietnamese forces local. At the top of the program, 2500 Marines assigned to it.







However, in the southern part of the I. Corps Tactical Zone where the 1st Marine Division , General Westmoreland ordered the Marines conducting operations more conventional for the year 1967. Accordingly, the "Great War " U.S. faces the proven expertise of Vietcong and North Vietnamese ambushes, entrenched positions are difficult to eliminate enemy contact to prevent the use weapons and support, etc.. The end of the year 1967 ends in a stalemate for the Americans: the strategy of protracted guerrilla benefit the North Vietnamese, who are preparing to launch the Tet Offensive in attracting the north, the maximum units Marines on the fortified camp of Khe Sanh , they pretend to want to attack with force. Westmoreland wants to crush the battlegroup North Vietnamese in a sort of " Dien Bien Phu in reverse . In fact, when the offensive fires 20 January 1968, is the clash between American firepower and the power of the human mass North Vietnamese. However, the real battle fires throughout South Vietnam with the Tet offensive of January 30, 1968. To the north, the North Vietnamese easily took the city of Hue, the Marines will have to recapture one of the bloodiest urban battles in the history of the USMC (147 dead, 875 injured in less a month of combat).







The "Great War " Westmoreland has occurred: the Vietcong wiped out in terms military. However, the general is fired and the Americans have not won the war. Quite the contrary, President Nixon and the new commander in chief, Abrams, will engage the "peace with honor": the beginning of negotiations, Vietnamization and gradual withdrawal of U.S. forces, emphasis on pacification, however, advocated in 1965 by Marines. The North Vietnamese won the war of public opinion they held until the Americans no longer support the war effort. The Marines know so the same problems as other units in the last years of conflict: racial problems, drug use, " fragging" (grenade attacks against the officers or NCOs). The last units of the division left Vietnam in 1971. The Vietnam War was the longest in the history of the USMC: nearly 13 000 men were killed in combat (or 30% of U.S. casualties) and nearly 90,000 were injured. The Marines guarding the U.S. embassy in Saigon will be the last to leave when the city fell into the hands of the Communists in April 1975 the bodies of the last killed will never be recovered. An output image of the disaster that is the conflict for the United States.

The Marines had a publishing arm that reflected their experience of " little war": the Small Wars Manual, published in 1940. The theory of peace they have experienced in other conflicts was to protect civilian populations surrounding the bases in the coastal plains, before pursuing insurgents or other adversaries in the interior. Marine Generals Krulak as Viktor also advocated massive bombings on strategic infrastructure North Vietnam (Red River dykes, railways with China, Hanoi) and the mining of Haiphong harbor where came the Soviet equipment. But "graduated response " Washington, fearing an escalation with China, was limited to the operation Rolling Thunder, a complete ineffectiveness. In the I Corps Tactical Zone, the Marines faced an opponent who had two sanctuaries nearby: Laos and the DMZ. It is indeed strange that Marines found themselves in this area: light infantry force trained to amphibious operations, they were placed in the area where we waited for the invasion of South Vietnam by the North's regular army. Would not it have been wiser to place Marines in the Mekong Delta, where their expertise would have been amphibious used? Interservice rivalry is playing here, because since the end of the Second World War, U.S. Army, already in Korea, had denied the doctrine of amphibious warfare carried by the Marines the benefit of his own doctrine of war conventional. The Marines ultimately remain a tool for showing worldwide, serving the president and U.S. interests.

Finally, the book by Simon Dunstan is not without qualities or faults either. Among the first: an abundant iconography and quality, interesting reflections on the role of Marines in the conflict, theme boxes, annexes well supplied. Among the latter: a text can be a bit short, about an unbalanced since focused mostly on the early years of the conflict, as quite often in books on the Vietnam War. The bibliography is perhaps a little short. Nevertheless, it is a good summary that allows the subject to clear.

Kate Moss Minnetonka 2010

Porteils, South Africa. The long road to democracy, Illico, Paris, Infolio, 2010, 181 p.

Collection Illico , as its name implies, is as an introduction to specific topics for non-specialists. I had occasion to read in the same collection, volumes devoted to Césaire and SS, which were pretty good bill. It is also the case with this volume dedicated to contemporary political history of South Africa , host of the FIFA World Cup in 2010, which is probably not a coincidence in terms of publishing: it is likely that many are in fact people are interested in history. The book is written by Raphael Portella, lecturer in political science at the University of Burgundy.

South Africa, an area equivalent to twice and half of France, has about 49 million people who speak 11 languages in what is often since 1994 called the "rainbow nation sky". Country varied climates, raising important tourism, South Africa has also built because of its terrain and its physical characteristics. The country is now South Africa has been occupied by man from 10,000 years before our era: the story does not begin with European settlement of 1652, contrary to what was long called the apartheid regime. The Khoisan (the name given to the first indigenous) are divided into two groups: the Hottentots, semi-nomadic pastoralists, and nomads and Bushmen hunter-gatherers. The latter group has relationships with the Bantu group, which migrates from Central Africa to South Africa to the fourth-fifth century AD. AD. The Bantu are classified by their language and geographic location by European missionaries in the nineteenth century, which will help facilitate the apartheid regime. The Europeans came in 1652, with Afrikaners (Dutch settlers), followed by French Huguenots and Germans, then by the British between 1795 and 1806, when Cape Town became a Crown Colony. Also born in South Africa the group of mixed race, derived relations between whites and Khoisan and the Indians, Asian workers "imported "in the nineteenth century. Multiethnic character of South African society has long been denied by the Europeans, for purposes of political domination. In 2009, however, blacks constitute 80% of the population, whites 9%, mestizo 8% and Indians make up the remaining 2.5%. This population is concentrated in the eastern provinces, and 30% live in four large cities: Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, which concentrate the economic activity. South Africa has still, in 2010, faces a number of challenges. The social challenge is greatest: the rising standard of living has not followed the end of apartheid, due to a legacy of the past, but also because of attachment to liberal globalization. The policy challenge is less pressing: the presidential elections of April 2009 which have appointed Jacob Zuma has shown that democracy moves gradually in the minds of South Africa. The sporting challenge of World Cup Football 2010 was then of great importance for the country. In his book, the author proposes to study the political dynamics of South Africa: elective process, organization of government, relations between political and socio-economic distribution of social power. This involves the historical perspective of the conditions of the birth of democracy in South Africa to study its contemporary manifestations. This process is embodied in three figures: Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma at last.

In his book, Raphael Porteille stresses history weighs on the socio-economic and political actors, also limited in their action because of the integration of South Africa Globalisation of the economy. Jacob Zuma should not settle for managing the misery it must initiate a genuine social change, lest the country fall back into chaos. 2010, the World Cup soccer, also marked the 20th anniversary of the liberation of Nelson Mandela. The political challenge has been identified, the physical challenge last year has been as well. Remains the major sticking point: the social challenge of the nation " rainbow sky " which, if left on entrenched positions, will face a struggle for domination and exploitation. Social transformation must accompany political change, and social power should be better distributed. This is the challenge of a country born "of are scars of the past" ...

In short, an excellent job of summarizing the political history of South Africa, but it's not a synthetic history of South Africa. Schedules can be found still in a short bibliography, a chronology indicative, some maps and general information on the country.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Lost My Immunization Records



"Cancel". What this term call to you? Literally means surrender "to leave something to another person." It also means "give up something that is granted." This may affect our properties, our goals and even our lives.

Today, Christians hear a lot about the act of abandoning his life. What does this mean? Abandoning his life is to make Jesus life he has given us. Is relinquishing control, rights, power, to the direction of our lives, all the things we do and say. It is left entirely in his hands our lives and make our lives as it pleases him.

Jesus himself lived a life abandoned "because I came down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me." (John 6:38) "I seek not my glory "(8:50). Christ never did anything himself. He did nothing and said nothing without having been instructed by the Father. "I do nothing of myself, but, according to what the Father taught me, I say these things ... because I always do things that please him. "(8:28-29)

The total abandonment to the Father of Jesus is an example of how we should live. You could say: "Jesus was God made man. His life was left to God even before he came to Earth. "But the act of abandoning his life is imposed on anyone, including Jesus.

"The Father loves me because I give my life to resume. Nobody robs me, but I give myself, I have power to lay it down and I have power to resume it. "(John 10:17-18)

Jesus told us thus:" Do you there mistaken. Dropping my life is all in my power. It's my choice to give my life. And I'm not doing it because a man told me to do. Nobody takes away my life. My father gave me the right and privilege to give. It also gave me the choice to avoid this section and the cross. But I chose to do it for love of him and in a total abandonment. "

Heavenly Father has given us all the same right, the privilege of choosing to give up our lives. Nobody is forced to give up his life to God. Our Lord does not require us to sacrifice our will, nor to give him our lives. He freely offers us the Promised Land, flowing with milk and honey, but we can choose not to enter.

In truth, we can have a measure of Christ as large as we wish. We can choose to be in it more or less deeply; choose to live or not fully by word and by his directions.

Full Head Versus Half Head Highlights

The Ogaden War (1977-1978): a regional conflict overshadowed by the Cold War (third)


This article follows one published in No. 32 of Battlefields early 2010 and that posted on this blog July 2010, dedicated to the air component of the Ogaden War . I decomposed into three parts for easy reading.





The Ogaden War was primarily a border dispute between Somalia's Siad Barre General Colonel Mengistu of Ethiopia, entered into a revolution in 1974. It stems from old problems concerning the delimitation of boundaries at the time of decolonization. It is also caused by an opportunity Siad Barre's capture, that of chaos and disorganization supposed Ethiopia, shaken by a revolution, and must allow the Somalis to regain the province of Ogaden. It marks above a dramatic reversal of the position of the USSR, which had hitherto supported the regime of Somalia, and Ethiopia will now support assaulted by her neighbor. The Red Army takes advantage of a conflict that has largely initiated by deliveries of arms to both sides, to test new equipment and new military tactics on the battlefield. If the Ogaden war fits in perfectly with the overall size of the cold war, the fact remains that its consequences will be especially important for the two African states concerned.







Initially, a border dispute ...





The Horn of Africa in which this conflict takes place does not have a precise definition: it is more a metaphor than a political reality. It includes Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Djibouti, which are sometimes added to other neighboring nations. These territories are a sort of bridge between the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa, whose geopolitical influence should not be underestimated. The Horn of Africa is indeed on the side of the oil producing countries of the Arabian peninsula: it controls the straits of Bab El Manded and part of the Gulf of Aden by number of tankers which pass 1.

Map of the Horn of Africa today.
The Ogaden in its regional context.

Russia has long been interested in this region. The first contacts, especially with the Ethiopian kingdom, are taken from the late Middle Ages. In the nineteenth century, to counter British control over Egypt and the Suez Canal, Czarist Russia, also believes the economic potential of Ethiopia, will ships weapons and military advisors, who contribute in part to victory Menelik II 2 on Italy at Adowa in 1896. In 1887 also, Ethiopia annexed the province of Harar, evacuated by the Egyptians and those of the Haud and Ogaden, populated by Somalis and a British protectorate. A new treaty is signed between the borders Ethiopia, Italy and Great Britain in 1897, but without consulting the Somali people in the affected provinces, which has implications on subsequent events.
The Battle of Adowa (March 1, 1896).


Russian-Ethiopian ties are stretched after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, particularly because a number of White Russians found refuge in Ethiopia. It was not until the 30s for trade relations are restored, the Soviet Union also negotiating with the French Somaliland and the Italian colony of Eritrea. In 1935 the USSR condemned the Italian invasion of Ethiopia from Mussolini to the League of Nations, but in front of the inefficiency of the institution responsible for guaranteeing peace, she prefers to protect its trade with the fascist regime. During the Second World War, the image of the Soviet Union in Ethiopia will greatly improve by the German aggression, the dissolution of the Comintern in April 1943 and finally on 4 September of that year, the rehabilitation of the Orthodox Church by Stalin 3 . Diplomatic relations were established between Ethiopia and the USSR 4.


Emperor Haile Selassie then violently opposed to the British after the defeat of the Italians consumed in 1941. They remain in effect control of the Ogaden and Haud, and the tracks leading from the Ethiopian town of Dire Dawa to the French Somaliland. The borders with Somaliland are redefined, but the British did not reconnaisssent Ethiopian borders with their land while the Treaty of 1897 leaves in limbo the border between Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland. The British installed a military administration in the Italian colonies regained (Somalia, Eritrea), where they allow the development of a nationalist political agitation. In 1944, however they are a gesture in handing back to Ethiopia on railway Franco-Ethiopian and removing their garrisons in the country.
The liberation of Ethiopia in 1941.





... transformed by the challenges of the Cold War (1945-1960)





Ethiopia, increasingly suspicious of British intentions , then turns, in 1944-1945, to the United States. The first concession for oil exploration is thus given to an American company, Sinclair . The United States considers Ethiopia as a bulwark against communism in this part of Africa. Under their pressure, the United Kingdom evacuated the Ogaden in 1948, causing riots in British Somaliland where the Somali Youth League, formed in 1947, promotes the formation of a "Greater Somalia " incorporating the Ogaden. Similarly, the United Nations decided in 1950 that Eritrea will be an autonomous unit federated within the kingdom of Ethiopia. To thank the Americans, Haile Selassie in 1951 sent a battalion of his Guard combat in Korea in May 1953, an agreement grants Americans the installation of a radio communications center Kagnew, near Asmara, Eritrea 5. In exchange, the United States is committed to form three divisions Ethiopian of 6000 men. Shortly after, in 1954, the British withdrew from the last territories they controlled, the Haud and Reserve Area.

Entry Base Kagnew.


The USSR did not so much involved in the Horn of Africa, and believes that Ethiopia is now in the Western camp, because of its relationship with the United States. However, with the death of Stalin in 1953 and the Bandung Conference in April 1955, supported by the Emperor of Ethiopia, the Soviets begin to revise their views. Haile Selassie in fact militates in favor of Pan-Africanism which is expressed at the conference of African States in Accra in 1958. Moreover, he is not sorry to expand its relations with the Soviet Union to pressure the United States, especially since the shake disorders since its reincorporation Ogaden to Ethiopia in 1954. Furthermore, it sets its policy towards Eritrea: after suspending the constitution and dissolved the Assembly, he brutally suppressed a general strike organized by trade unions in 1958. Haile Selassie is so obsessed by fear of "encirclement Muslim " of Ethiopia, and considers that the U.S. did little to protect. Therefore, in June 1959, he became the first African head of state to visit USSR. The effect is immediate: the following year, the United States by a secret agreement, undertakes to provide military assistance to train and equip the Ethiopian army of 40 000 men.



The birth of Somalia: the escalation of tensions (1960-1969)




On 1 July 1960 marks a date important in the history of the Horn of Africa: the birth of Somalia meeting of the former British Somaliland and the Italian colony of Somalia. However, this state does not match the aspirations of local nationalism as more than a million Somalis are outside its borders, French Somaliland, northern Kenya and the Ethiopian province of Ogaden. From the outset, Somalia refused to recognize its borders, which means for example, the national flag, adopted by a white five-pointed star, each point representing a segment of Somalia divided by colonial powers .



Thus, clashes between the new government and Ethiopia are growing. In January 1961, after an attempted coup in Addis Ababa, clashes take place at the border éthiopo-Somali Ethiopians whose emerging victorious. In December, an attempted coup took place this time in Somalia, probably strongly supported by neighboring Ethiopia. Somalia realizes she will need to support their claims, a professional army, it remains to develop and train. She turned to the Western camp, but in January 1961, the Kennedy administration rejects the request for military aid from $ 9 million made by Mogadischio. The USSR then proposed to replace the Americans diplomatic relations were established in September 1960. An agreement was signed with the Somali Prime Minister Ali Shermarke, Moscow, June 2, 1961. Between 1961 and 1963, Somalis are in fact the Soviet map to try to obtain Western military assistance. But in November 1963, they finally accept a Soviet proposal more attractive to them than are the American proposals, West German and Italian in particular: education and training of an army from 2 to 10,000 men, delivery more modern equipment (T-34 tanks and MiG fighter planes-15), Somali officer training in the USSR (there will be 600 in 1966), establishing a Soviet military mission Mogadischio (250 military advisors in 1966) 6.


The T-34/85 during the Ogaden War. The Soviet Union engaged in Somalia when she joined the regime of Siad Barre, then it will also deliver to Ethiopia in 1977. The venerable shielded who led the Soviet offensive in 1944-1945 returned to service until well into the Cold War ...




The Soviet strategy of simultaneous implementation in Ethiopia and Somalia is beginning to experience some failures. Ethiopia does not need to brandish the threat of the USSR, since the United States responded to its needs, and even offer to supply a squadron of 12 F-5 fighters. Furthermore, Ethiopia is one of the most prominent states of the Organization of African Unity, a new institution based in Addis Ababa in May 1963. As for Somalia, it continues to negotiate with the West while opening new relations with the PRC, which is no longer on good terms with the USSR. In February 1964 a new armed incident between Ethiopians and Somalis in the Ogaden border, where the first out winners again 7. Renewed fighting between the nomadic Somali and Ethiopian troops between 1964 and 1966. Somalia is also following closely the referendum result in French Somaliland, March 19, 1967, where the population chooses to continue the association with France, a result that Mogadischio immediately denounced as electoral fraud.
A trio of Ethiopian F-5 seen in the U.S. prior to delivery to Addis Ababa.



USSR indirectly supports the main guerrilla movement was born in Eritrea in 1961: the Front for the Liberation of Eritrea (ELF). Syria feeds the movement of arms and ammunition: between 1964 and 1967, guerrillas from a few hundreds of men ill-equipped to 2000 fighters equipped with modern weapons (AK-47s, mortars and rocket launchers Chinese). GQ organization is located in Damascus: Syria supports Baathist, in fact, an Arab liberation movement fighting a pro-Israeli. But the Soviet Union agrees, because on the one hand, the weapons come mainly from Czechoslovakia, and, secondly, Moscow wants to fend off the support to the movement by China, the enemy of the socialist camp. Haile Selassie denounced publicly the assistance provided by the Soviets in the Eritrean rebellion in 1966. At this point, it is certain that the USSR values its relationship with the greater Somalia, preferred to Ethiopia.




On late 60s, however, the position of the USSR in the Cold War itself has changed. Having achieved some parity with the United States in the field of nuclear weapons, the Soviets tend to want to assert their presence in what is commonly called then the "Third World" 8 through political and military, without necessarily encouraging, at the outset, a system of socialist inspiration. Thus the USSR militarily supported the Sudan since 1968 (delivery of tanks T-34 and T-54, MiG-21), and even more after the military coup of General Numeiry in May 1969. The Sudanese army, thanks to Soviet deliveries, from 30 to 50,000 men. The Soviet Union also moved to South Yemen, where the British withdrew in November 1967 to make way for the Democratic People's Republic of Yemen (PDRY). This even though the Soviets are withdrawing in North Yemen, where they supported the republican regime against monarchists, alongside Egyptians directly employed on site, and also withdrew at the end of 1967 9. Moreover, the Soviet Navy began to regularly send a number of its buildings cruise in the Indian Ocean. The USSR thus seeks to counter the threat of a U.S. nuclear strike from the ocean, and the acquisition by the United States in December 1966, the base of Diego Garcia 10.




The Soviets, however, involved less in the Horn of Africa. Employed to reconstruct the Egyptian military aircraft destroyed in 1967 during the Six Day War while leading the War of Attrition 11, drawn through the openings in the Sudan or Yemen, the Soviet Union reduced its aid FLE and deliveries weapons to Somalia for fear of an escalation into a regional conflict. Result: the ELF loses ground against Ethiopia launched a major offensive in September 1967, while in the Ogaden Somali guerrillas also recede. Somalia while trying to negotiate with Ethiopia on the issue of the Ogaden, while restoring diplomatic ties with the United Kingdom in 1967, alarming the USSR. The Soviets then relaunch the arms shipments to the ELF, which won several successes against the Ethiopian army in 1969 while beginning a policy of bombings and hijackings around the world to know its cause.





The arrival in power of Siad Barre: an opportunity seized by the USSR (1969-1974)





While the position of the USSR the Horn of Africa is the lowest, 15 October 1969, Somali President Ali Shermarke is assassinated by his bodyguards. Before the political authorities could intervene, a Supreme Revolutionary Council was created by the army led by General Mohammed Siad Barre, commander of the Somali forces. Prime Minister Egal was arrested, and many politicians, while the constitution was suspended, parliament dissolved, all political parties outlawed. The country is renamed Democratic Republic of Somalia. Siad Barre then began a dramatic shift within the country: it expels military advisers and members of the U.S. embassy in December 1969 and nationalized in May 1970 a large part of the economy (banks, oil companies, etc. ). The coup was welcomed as a boon by the Soviets, who welcomed the Somali revolution while saving her from the presence of a portion of their fleet to Mogadischio, a first tenative coup. End of 1970, there are already more than 900 Soviet advisers in Somalia. If the USSR did not directly organized the military coup, she was careful not to interfere: it must be said that Somalia was suffering from defects of an electoral system too complex, while negotiations Ethiopia with the Somali military deprived of their raison d'etre-the irredentism and national recovery of the provinces inhabited by Somalis in neighboring countries.
dictator Siad Barre (left), who took power in Somalia in 1969, shakes hands with Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie (right).



The regime of Siad Barre also immediately raise the tension on the border with Ethiopia. Clashes had taken place in the summer of 1969, in the months preceding the coup. In 1970 appears to light a new organization, which exists in reality for several years: the Front for the Liberation of Western Somalia (WSLF), supported by Mogadischio. These events are not without concern Ethiopia, which faces the increased activity of the ELF in Eritrea: a district governor and the commander of the 2nd Division Ethiopian were killed in 1970. In December, Eritrea was placed under martial law, while the army multiplies the destructive air raids on the province. However, the first divisions are emerging within the ELF, with two moves that break off this year. Moreover, the Emperor, recognizing China as the sole Popular Chinese State December 2, 1971, removes one source of supply for the guerrillas. On paper, at this point, the Ethiopian armed forces still have the edge over their counterparts in Somalia: First they have the numerical superiority (3 cons 1, even if 15 to 20 000 Ethiopian soldiers have committed in Eritrea), and one of the best equipped air forces and the best trained in sub-Saharan Africa, unparalleled Somali side. Ethiopia, however, can no longer rely as much on American support, while the U.S. is bogged down in Vietnam and delegate, with Kissinger, the responsibility to defend itself against communism to local actors. The reuse of the "Soviet card " with the visit of the Emperor in Moscow in 1970, does not cause reaction on the American side: and more so that Ethiopia has become less attractive since the acquisition of the base of Diego Garcia and the development of satellite communications technologies, which remove the usefulness of the database communications Kagnew 12.




comparison between military forces of Ethiopia and Somalia, 1969-1970




Ethiopia
Somalia
Total enrollment
41 000
10 000
Tanks
Approximately 50 (M-41 and M-24 U.S.).
Approximately 150 (Soviet T-34).
Armoured
Approximately 40 (plus a few reconnaissance vehicles).
Approximately 60 (including Soviet BTR-152, plus some reconnaissance vehicles).
Combat Ships
12 (a training ship, 5 patrol 2 torpedo boats, four landing ships).
6 patrol.
Appliances combat
43 (6 Canberra B-2, 12 F-86F, 8 SAAB-17, 8 F-5A, 6 T-28 and 3 T-33).
18 (MiG-15 and MiG-17).
Other Devices
57 (6 C-47, 2 C-54, 3 Doves, 1 Il-14, 15 SAAB 19 Safir, 8 T-28, Alouette 3 helicopters).
At least 27 (20 Yak-11, 6 MiG-15/17 UTI, C-45, C-47 and an An-24 transport).



Source: Robert G. Patman, The Soviet Union In The Horn of Africa. The diplomacy of intervention and disengagement , Soviet and East European Studies 71, Cambridge University Press, 1990.


Between 1971 and 1974, the Soviet Union is increasingly involved in more sides of the young Somali regime. Deliveries of weapons including accelerating the shipment of tanks and MiG-54 T, and many other heavy equipment. The Soviets get an important naval base at Berbera and access to airfields in Somalia. In 1974, the year of signing an important treaty of friendship and cooperation between the two countries, there are 1,600 Soviet military advisers in Somalia. At that time, the USSR lost the ties she had with the Sudan Numeiry (1971), even as President Sadat in Egypt expelled Soviet military advisers (1972). In 1972, the USSR chose therefore to strengthen the military potential of Somalia: it sends MiG-15 and MiG-17, Il-28 bombers, the Yak drive, Antonov transport tanks T-34 and T-54 , vehicles, armored troop carriers, the torpedo boats P-5 and quantities of artillery equipment. With these deliveries Soviet military potential Somali increases by half. The USSR also built a first-class naval station at Berbera: a floating pier with three sections, a pipeline linking the port to a military airfield, one floating repair shop fed from Vladivostok, a communication station, long range a handling facility missiles, track 5000 m long to take off bombers Tu-95 Bear or Il-38 May for anti-submarine on the Indian Ocean.

profi A color of a MiG-15UTI (Training) in Somalia, in 1969.



Barre strengthens cooperation with the USSR is modeled more closely on the socialist model. This does not to say that Somalia is becoming a Soviet satellite simple: on the contrary, the general-dictator is also in respect of national applications and claims on the Ogaden-traditional, for example-not necessarily supported by the USSR. But are emerging in 1972 the Pioneers of Victory, an organization inspired Soviet Komsomol, the National Security Service, headed by the political police in-law of Siad Barre, Colonel Ahmed Suleiman Abdulle is formed with the help of KGB advisers to the GDR. Meanwhile, Siad Barre sought to obtain the maximum foreign support in its struggle for territorial reconquest of Ethiopia. He takes up the cause of the Arab countries during the Yom Kippur War in 1973 and strengthens military ties with Egypt. Relations with Ethiopia remain quite cordial until 1972, Siad Barre cutting food even during a time WSLF. But at the end of that year, an American oil company claims to have found substantial natural gas resources in the Bale, a part of the province of Ogaden. Tensions resumed at the border at a time when Somalia began to catch up on the Ethiopian military. In 1973, Somalis line up more than 17 000 men as they had only 12 000 in 1970. Ethiopian forces they stagnated around 45,000 men. More importantly, in terms of hardware, many Somalis have acquired Soviet fighters, MiG-15, MiG-17 and MiG-19, without consideration for the Ethiopian side.




At the same time, the USSR began to realize the weakness of the imperial regime in Ethiopia. In 1970, a devastating drought destroys crops in Tigray and Wollo, then spread to the entire country. The famine that killed following several hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian farmers. In addition, the rebellion in Eritrea intensifies, the two main movements, the ELF and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Eritrea (EPLF), fight, but are also harsh blows to the Ethiopian army, supported yet by Israeli military advisers specializing in the insurgency-cons. Syria and Iraq maintain the FFL while Libya's Colonel Gaddafi supported the EPLF. Before his difficulties, the Emperor flew to Washington in May 1973 to request additional military assistance the United States. But the Nixon administration concedes that some additional F-5, M-60 tanks, patrol boats, and not the air-ground missiles requested by Haile Selassie. The Americans close also based Kagnew in October 1973, reducing its military aid and leave a Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) of 107 men, to provide instruction at the center of parachute Dabre Zeit as well as Harar Military Academy. The Emperor then close again to the USSR, which begins to think that Ethiopia is ripe for revolution, looking strangely like elsewhere in Tsarist Russia in 1917 in its configuration socioeconomic 13 .



1 Robert G. Patman, The Soviet Union In The Horn of Africa. The diplomacy of intervention and disengagement, Soviet and East European Studies 71, Cambridge University Press, 1990, p.25.


2 Menelik II heads the kingdom of Ethiopia from 1889 to 1913.


3 The majority of Ethiopians follow the Orthodox religion. Christianity was introduced to Ethiopia at the end of antiquity.


4 Robert G. Patman, The Soviet Union In The Horn of Africa. The diplomacy of intervention and disengagement, Soviet and East European Studies 71, Cambridge University Press, 1990, p.33.


5 An American website is dedicated to station Kagnew: http://www.kagnewstation.com/


6 Robert G. Patman, The Soviet Union In The Horn of Africa. The diplomacy of intervention and disengagement, Soviet and East European Studies 71, Cambridge University Press, 1990, p.49.


7 It also considers these clashes, in some sources as the first war in the Ogaden.


8 A term coined in 1952 by French demographer Alfred Sauvy inspired by the Third State of the French Revolution. The word means, so the less developed states of the planet that do not belong to the Western camp, or the socialist camp.


9 See my article on Historicoblog (3) : "The misfortunes of Arabia Felix-The war in North Yemen, 1962-1970: the" Vietnam Egyptian "- (2 / 3), http://historicoblog3.blogspot.com/2010/11/les-malheurs-de-larabie-heureuse-la.html


10 Robert G. Patman, The Soviet Union In The Horn of Africa. The diplomacy of intervention and disengagement, Soviet and East European Studies 71, Cambridge University Press, 1990, p.82-85.


11 name given to the period following the Six Day War (1967-1970), who sees Egypt supported by the USSR to face Israel in a limited way.


12 Robert G. Patman, The Soviet Union In The Horn of Africa. The diplomacy of intervention and disengagement, Soviet and East European Studies 71, Cambridge University Press, 1990, p.107-108.


13 Robert G. Patman, The Soviet Union In The Horn of Africa. The diplomacy of intervention and disengagement, Soviet and East European Studies 71, Cambridge University Press, 1990, p.136-143.

How To Make A Wedding Special For A Friend

Peter C. SMITH, Massacre at Tobruk. The British Assault on Rommel, 1942, Stackpole, 2008, 235 p. Bernard

This book is prefaced by Lieutenant Colonel Unwin, a veteran of Operation Agreement, described here. Captured in the sinking of the destroyer Sikh , he remained a prisoner of the Germans. The operation Agreement is an attack both land and amphibious mounted by the British in September 1942 against the port of Tobruk, occupied by the Germans and Italians Rommel, who then plays a key role in fueling the Afrikakorps .


The operation is very complex because other diversionary raids are conducted on land cons Benghazi, oasis Jalo and Barce : it involves specialized units such as the Special Air Service (SAS) the LRDG (LRDG), and perhaps the most misunderstood of all the Special Interrogation Group (SIG) , A group of anti-Nazi Germans or Jews recruited primarily by the British in Palestine, and a mission undercover posing as German soldiers. Of course, the Royal Navy and its airborne component, the Royal Marines, will be stakeholders in the operation. The purpose of the attack was to destroy airfields, port facilities, fuel tanks and even ships Tobruk and on other targets.









If the attack on Barce by the LRDG was a success, with the LRDG SAS conveyed on Benghazi were discovered too soon and had to abandon the planned assault. The attack against Tobruk was a total failure: warned of an impending attack by sea, for lack of sufficiently well-kept secret, the Germans had reinforced the garrison. Moreover, the landing of British commandos burst in the worst conditions, in the wrong places on the coast and under enemy fire. The Royal Navy lost a cruiser, two destroyers and several torpedo boats fast under the blows of the Coast Artillery or Luftwaffe ; more than 750 men are knocked out, many of whom are trapped. This process has inspired a disastrous epic in 1967
Tobruk Commando Hell , including and Rock Hudson George Peppard . French film A Taxi for Tobruk (1961) fits him so soon after these events.






The book by Peter C. Smith is fairly comprehensive and includes many photos incorporated in the narrative, which is a good initiative, however badly the legends differ from the text. It lacks cons of cards in sufficient numbers and text in parallel, to monitor the progress of operations: it is a pity, because we are constantly looking for places on some maps present. Stackpole has reissued the book was originally published in 1987: a bibliography of this new edition would have asked to be updated as new titles are from Anglo-Saxon published on the subject.

Difference Between A Bunny And A Rabbit

BLANDRE, Jehovah's Witnesses, Collection Son of Abraham, 198 p. An article cited by

It was after having written some time ago on this blog an article on the history of the movement of Jehovah's Witnesses , who had also attracted a lot of very fast reactions from members of this organization that I 'had had the desire to acquire a comprehensive overview on the subject. However difficult to find a book fair on the issue, both Jehovah's Witnesses are controversial, in one way or another. The work of Bernard Blandre stands out. Professor of history, specializing in Jehovah's Witnesses, it examines uncompromising and unbiased hostile this organization which has done much about her in France, especially in the late 90s.

As he explains in his introduction, since their "founding father " Rutherford, Jehovah's Witnesses are considered to be the only religion approved by God. For them, all other churches are manifestations of the Devil, the "Babylons " in power. And yet! Jehovah's Witnesses are themselves from a religious family: they are a branch of the movement Bible Students , itself derived from the Adventism running inspired by the preaching of William Miller , a Baptist which only part of the long tradition of millenarian Christianity. We can also easily connect to Witnesses Protestantism as they swear by the Bible, even if they deny that Christ is God: they are monotheistic almost to the point of denying the Trinity. Bernard Blandre at the time, wants to write this book Collection The Sons of Abraham because of the fairly visible presence of Jehovah's Witnesses in everyday life, be it by the door to door . But they are quite hostile in general, questions or arrival of the researchers. According to the author, Jehovah's Witnesses have indeed evolved from mysticism original Bible Students to a very narrow framework of the individual in a true propaganda machine , facing the imminent arrival of the Kingdom of God on Earth. For Blandre, Jehovah's Witnesses are among the best examples of sects, in the scientific sense of the word (definition based on the work of sociology by Max Weber and Ernst Troeltsh: contractual group, which focuses on the intensity life of its members, who refuses all ties with society, rejected other churches and society, in a posture which is sometimes protest in return persecution).

The book is divided into three parts of about fifty pages each. In the first part, Bernard Blandre traces the history of the organization , the genesis of the movement, its formation and consolidation until 1991. The second part is a anthology of key reference texts of Jehovah's Witnesses from William Miller to the contemporary records of the organization. The third part offers no analysis u Witnesses Jehovah's themes: sacred art, spiritual, sociological profile, organization. The set is complemented by an extensive bibliography and annexes provided very (diagrams showing the origins of Jehovah's Witnesses from Adventism, the Bible Students; maps on the distribution of Witnesses in the world statistics Jehovah's Witnesses and its evolution throughout the country; booklet iconographic end of the book with the main figures of the movement, and illustrations drawn from the Jehovah's Witness pamphlets to explain their meaning shelled).

The only flaw of this book is that date unfortunately of 1991 and that 20 years later, he must be somewhat outdated in terms of statistics and trends very immediate movement Witnesses Jehovah. Nevertheless, the first two parts of the book (history and anthology), as annexes remain largely valid. An excellent book begins, therefore, to learn more about these strange characters.

A reading record a little more detailed here .

Swallowing Tooth Mousse

Rue89

The hearing of the blog expands somewhat: The World According quoting my article on the Mai Mai in Kivu in September 2010, behold news website Rue89 (very good also) refers my article on Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb , published both here and on the geostrategic Alliance in January, in a post on the Libya released this week.

This confirms that the balance I drew up at the end of 2010 statistics: the are articles on topics bring more visibility . The period from January to February end was marked by a low activity independent of my will. Today will be posted the first part of a big article about one of my favorite subjects, other items will probably follow shortly. A new page appeared on the homepage , which lists the book reports that I have done for the site Clionautes .

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Homemade School Spirit Items

LIFE GOD TAKES PLEASURE IN YOU

The Holy Spirit gave David a revelation that is the key to all rescues. David could say: "The reason that God delivered me from all my enemies, my pain and powers of hell, is that I am precious! My God takes pleasure in me! "And he took me out to sea, he delivered me, because he took pleasure in me. "(Psalms 18:19). Do you need deliverance? Of sin, temptation or trial? On the problem is psychological, spiritual, emotional or physical? The key to your victory is in this verse. God takes pleasure in you. You are precious to him!

In the Song of Solomon, the Lord said to his bride: "You're so beautiful, and you're good, my love, your delights! "(Song of Songs 7:6) Three of the Hebrew words used in this verse are synonyms:" beautiful "means" precious, "" nice "means" pleasant "and" delight. " These words describe the thoughts of Jesus to his fiancee when he sees it. He looks at her and said: "Since you are beautiful, sweet and charming. You are precious to me, O my love. "In turn, the bride replied:" I am my beloved, and his desire is towards me. "(7:10). The meaning here is: "it haunts me with delight. I chased him because I am precious. "These same thoughts are found throughout the Psalms. "The joy of the Lord is with them that fear in those who hope in His goodness" (Psalms 147:11). "For the LORD takes pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation" (149:4).

I can try to convince you that God takes pleasure in you by telling you this: "You are precious to the Lord. But you might think: "Well done, but it is only a nice thought. "No, the truth is much more than a nice thought. This is the key issue of all the battles that are raging in your soul. This is the secret to enter the rest that God promised you got. Yours until you firmly these things until they become a foundation of truth in your heart, you will not be able to cope with life's trials.

Isaiah had a revelation of delight that God has in us. He prophesied: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I call thee by thy name: thou art mine! If you cross the waters, I will be with you, And the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; If you walk into the fire, you do not burn And the flame kindle upon thee not. "(Isaiah 43:1-2)

Isaiah was not speaking of a river or a fire in the literal sense. He spoke of what people go through, mentally and spiritually. Israel was in captivity at the time. Rivers were their hardships, their lights were temptations, their rivers were their difficulties. Everything that Satan tried to destroy and overwhelm the people of God. Isaiah's words were a message of pure grace for Israel. The people were in captivity because of their own stupidity and folly. But God sent a prophet to the broken heart that told them: "God wants me to tell you that you belong. "

At the moment, perhaps you're among your own rough waters. You may feel overwhelmed by a test or a temptation that threatens to consume you. You have to understand through biblical examples that God does not always calm the raging waters. It does not always contain the waves and it still does not extinguish the fires. But he promises that "I will walk with you through all these things. This test or circumstance does not destroy you. It does not consume you. Then walk. You will come across with me with you. "