Warfare in the 21st Century

Russia has shot down a Georgian unmanned recognisance drone over the Georgian side of the Georgian/Russian boarder. Which isn't necessarily interesting unless you are surprised that Russia would do such a thing despite signs for months now that they want to be see as a strong global military power again.

Anyway the BBC has some News Footage On The Incident which shows the attack from start to finish from the perspective of the drone and a radar station.

This is interesting because the Georgian military has two different records of the same attack and thus know precisely what happened. I see this as significant because when The Bomb Was Dropped On Hiroshima the reason why communications with Hiroshima was cutoff was only discovered three hours after the attack, and the real truth of what happened was only learned sixteen hours after the attack, in a WhiteHouse press release. So this is why I feel the incident in Georgia has some historical significance and is a sign of things to come.

City Under Siege, The Berlin Blockade and Airlift 1948-1949

After WWII was over and the world entered The Cold War Berlin was split between Allied East, Soviet west and the surrounding country was also controlled by the Soviets. The Allies where supplying Berlin with needed supplies by a canal, a highway, a railway line and three air corridors. The soviets wanting to takeover east Berlin, closed off the ground access so only the air corridors remained. What happened next between June 24 1948 and May 12 1949 is one of those overlooked periods in history where people came together and achieved the impossible. In this case, to supply east Berlin's 12,000 ton daily requirement of food and fuel, every day by air transport alone.

So that is what Michael D. Haydock's Book City Under Siege is about and you can read an excellent cut-down version of events from start to finish on American Heritage.com. Which I found fascinating, especially since I never heard of this before.

[via Kim Pallister]