So why hasn't there been any effort to stage a ground war against ISIS yet? These airstrikes are clearly ineffective.
Last I checked, the "War on Terror" against AL Qaeda wasn't particularly effective either. Nor was it very popular in America, which resulted in pressure to pull out before proper social and physical infrastructure was in place.
because if there's nobody capable of filling the power vacuum, ground strikes are going to be ineffective as well. Part of the problem is that the region is simply very unstable. Putting troops on the ground won't do much to help that. Or well, it temporarily helps as Iraq showed
Turkey shoots down Russian jet. http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/24/middleeast/warplane-crashes-near-syria-turkey-border/index.html
Eh, I dunno. Countries generally should adhere to the borders of other nations, including airspace. Whether Russia was attacking an ISIS target or not is irrelevant, if Turkey didn't want Russian fighters in Turkish airspace, the Russian pilot should have complied, or at the very least he should have replied to the warning. I've never piloted a fighter jet, but I'd assume being told that you will be shot down is enough reason to redirect your course.
On principle, I think most people would agree that they really should've respected the airspace. But it really seems as if Turkey was looking for a reason to provoke Russia. I'm assuming that they really dislike the Russian presence there. Personally, I hope that NATO tells Turkey to put on their man pants and give the Russians some room to operate. I really doubt that Russia was threatening Turkey in any substantial way. (And if Russia really did violate Turkey's airspace, then Russia should put on their man pants and own up to it.)
Yeah, they kind of do. Turkey and the rest of NATO are pretty much attempting two things in Syria: getting rid of ISIS, and removing the leader, Bashar Al-Assad, because Assad has been completely ignoring the influence of the U.S. However, other countries (Russia included) are supportive of Assad's reign. Conflict of interest, etc.
Oh boy, who's ready for some FEAR MONGERIIIIIIIIIIING??? http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/24/opinions/ghitis-russia-jet-shot-down/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/24/opinions/miller-ten-tips-surviving-age-of-terror/index.html
Russia has a history of violating air space. There have been almost regular sightings of russian planes entering foreign airspace without permission or response. In this case, Russia had repeatedly (well according to Turkey) violated the air space, repeatedly warned them and now they decided to act on it. People seem to think this causes Turkey to become the next Crimea (not necessarily on this site, but i've seen plenty such reactions ) but Turkey is a Nato member and Russia is a Nato member so technically any war is going to be very difficult. Seems far more likely to me that Russia will do it's usual thing and pretend it's mostly OK, while stabbing people in the back in the dark.
successful rocket vtol (not the first ever to my knowledge) http://motherboard.vice.com/read/yo...ed-a-reusable-rocket?utm_source=motherboardfb
Though impressive, it's only a bit bigger than SpaceX' Grasshopper rocket. What SpaceX is trying to do is several steps harder than this. I already saw a few articles claiming it "beat spaceX to it" but the goal of a Falcon 9 (or similar sized rocket) taking off and landing would be a far greater achievement still. But yea, it's cool that we keep seeing progress.
"You don't realize how offensive this cover is." No, I think that's the point, because somebody is clearly very angry that we can't even go a week, and yet today nothing will change within US policies.
explains the syrian conflict supremely well in only under 2mins. sorry that it's in french dunno what the subtitles are worth:
If he gets elected, and actually goes through with his bullshit, do any of you have a place I could move to?
I'd love to offer part of my room up but I'm moving out of france if the french trump gets elected president.
Wendelstein 7x had its first test today and successfully generated and maintained helium plasma! http://www.ipp.mpg.de/3984226/12_15 Nuclear fusion, here we come!
That's pretty cool (har-har)! Though it doesn't seem to mean much. Are they actually fusing anything? (Also, why does it look so stupid?)