Satchel

Many negative foreign views on the U.S. are based on foreign policies as exercised by the administration in charge. Recent developments certainly don't give much of a motive to endorse the actions of this adminstration. Dismissed as plain anti-americanism by those who are the actual target of critique, it appeals to domestic morale to gather a broad front to bolster their shady cause.

The Bundeswehr is a reflection of the german society with it´s still present conscription, and our economy will have a budget deficit of an estimated 126 Billion EUR by 2006. This of coarse also affects the Bundeswehr and the ongoing reform, savings in form of a new proposed bill would authorise the federal states to decide about the method, extend, dynamic sampling and retirement pay capability of the current special- und vacation bonus soldiers are receiving. With that fundamental change the rationale of uniform payment throughout the german army considering the above points, would be no longer given. The federal states could pay the soldiers as they see fit, according to the current situation of their very own cash box. If you put the puzzle together, you will be able to understand why soldiers are worried about the situation.

The point is gas in this form has never been used in a hostage rescue operation worldwide, for a reason obviously, therefore no experience existed if it would work in such a situation at all, thus putting everyone at unnecessary risks, especially as a theatre hall is no surgery room or other comparable small containment, and people of lots of different constitutions were present. If you ever underwent a surgery, you sure remember that the narcotic gets custom tailored to your physis, they do not use to little nor too much, it´s a science in itself. In the theatre however the gas needed to affect everyone and-fast, the 300 pound terrorist as well as the 100 pound women carrying the bomb, fast enough that terrorists do not become suspicous and put on their gasmasks or detonate the bombs....that´s like you are stating, i´m sure gonna make it through that 70° curve with 160 mp/h, although you never did it before and drive a car for the first time, the risks are simply not calculable anymore.

The exact circumsstances aren´t entirely clear on what purpose russian forces stormed the building, there is more than 1 version. The Russian authorities version; the terrorists were beginning executing hostages, triggering the assault on the theatre and the (deadly) gas employment, this however becomes more and more questionable. This is the other version. Saturday, 0530 local time: Shots and several explosions roar from the theatre. In the auditorium dramatic scenes take place. According to statements of several witnesses a small boy tears itself crying from his mother "Mami, I do not know, what I am to do" - with these words he throws a bottle after the terrorists and runs away. The chechen terrorist opens  fire, hitting instead of the boy a man deadly into the head and hurt a young woman. The Russian authorities affirm later, the chechen terrorists  began executing the hostages, and an immediate assault of the security forces would have been forced that way. The boss of the moscow health authority however, Andrej Selzowski, and the outcome of the "HRT" action disprove the russian authorities version and prove that the terrorist group can´t have begun with executing the hostages, as only 2 died of gunshot wounds; the man who was hit instead of a little boy and a women. 0540 local time: Georgi Wassiliew, composer and producer of the musical "northeast" and used by the terrorists as a contact man between them and the russian safety forces, is brought according to own data into the technique area in the upper floor of the theatre. Wassiliew said to the British daily paper "The Guardian" the terrorists, would have discovered that a monitoring camera had recorded their storm on the stage of the theatre at Wednesday evening. Now they wanted to admire themselves with their action, by watching the video recording of it. Soldiers of the Russian Alfa special force secretly listened in to terorrist conversations, and found that the 18 hooded female terrorists who had the bombs attached on their body only are allowed to detonate the bombs on direct order of the head of the group. The Russians monitored each movement of the terrorists at the same time by mini cameras. Russian special forces scent their chance as part of the group left to the technical area of the theatre to watch the video taken of them during their assault earlier, so most of the terrorists were in an area faraway from the fixed explosive devices, which are installed in the auditorium. 0620 local time: The special-purpose forces discharge gas into the technique area, ventilation shafts and visitor range of the theatre. As the gas began to show intoxication effect and there was hardly any movement inside, Elite soldiers make entry through the roof into the building and began shooting on already dazed terrorists. At the same time soldiers, who waited more than one day long in drains under the theatre, head into the auditorium and killed the incapacitated female suicide bombers by purposeful shots into temple and neck. 0630 local time: The frontal attack of the Russian troops begins. Security forces storm the theatre entrance hall, look for covering behind concrete columns and exchange violent shootings with the terrorists that didn´t got incapacitated by the gas in the main area. Shortly afterwards explosions and flashbangs rock the theatre, several hostages run disorientated all over the place. In the theatre panic breaks out, a policemen said the units did not co-ordinate their procedure with one another. Some terrorists opened fire, awake rebels pick up their weapons and throw themselves on the police units, which block the entrance. In the hall terrorists are shooting down the balcony, but they obviously cause no damage. 0710 local time: Some terrorists are taken into custody. Numerous hostages lie liveless on the plaster before the theatre. Minutes later the action is explained officially for terminated. 117 hostages and 50 Chechnian rebels are dead. What we have is the outcome of the action and methods used, and that wasn´t acceptable in terms of a hostage rescue operation, as a HRT unit doesn´t purposely inflict death/injury on the hostages it´s supposed to rescue or exposes them to unnecessary risks, that´s just paradox especially concerning this particular circumsstances and magnitude of a hostage situation. As we know all hostage fatalities except 2 were not because of violence emitting from the chechen terrorist group, but victims of the course of action taken by the HRT/CT units, which decided what methods were to be employed. The unwarrantable employment of chemical warfare/ narcotics agent caused the bulk of deaths. It´s the first time gas agent had been in this sort in such a operation, and the result is anything but acceptable. The german hospital in munich that treats the 2 german gas victims doesn´t get information on the gas used, so they cannot treat the patients properly. According to Duma-representative Grigorij Jawlinski The majority of bedfast patients in russian intensive care units are displaying a yellow-ish skin color, which could indicate a severe liver damage as a result of the gas attack. The best solution to this situation would have been on a political basis instead of amateurish frontal attacks, russians, more precisely Putin, failed in this regard.

Operation successfull, patient dead... guess that describes best what happened. 116 (63 Men and 53 women) died because of the substance beeing influxed through the ventilation shafts, another 150 are in intensive care unit, 45 of them in critical condition. Out of the about 800 hostages, 646 are in medical care. There are currently 3 major speculations about the kind of agent deployed; BZ or one of it´s relatives. BZ is a banned chemical warfare incapacitating agent because of it´s wildly unpredictable results, which could explain why russian authorities deny information on the agent used. It basically enters the body by inhalation and interferes with mental processes that control bodily functions, it blocks cholinergic nerve transmission in the central and peripheral nervous system. The main effects of exposure are believed to be: dilated pupils, flushed faces, dry mouth, rapid heart beat (tachycardia), increase in skin and body temperature, spasms, weakness, dizziness, disorientation, visual hallucinations, confusions, loss of time sense, loss of coordination and stupor. According to interfax one of the victims described, as with influxes of the gas one of the chechen terrorists tried to get to the stage to put on a gas mask. The gas attack however produced spasm-like movements on the terrorist, so that he was unable to put the mask and collapsed. To me this sounds like symptons of a chemical warfare agent deployment, as we learned them in the military, then again we don´t know how reliable such reports of victims are. The second theory is Laughing gas or other similar medical anesthesia agents. It can lead to puking, or at too high of a dosis to collapse of the cardiovascular system, as the respiration phase and bloodcirculation gets interfered. The third is LSD or other related Hallucinogens. In effective doses, LSD is not lethal, nor does it have color, odor, or taste. It is capable of rendering whole groups of people, including military forces, indifferent to their surroundings and situations, interfering with planning and judgement, and even creating apprehension, uncontrollable confusion and terror. Of all substances now known to affect the mind, such as mescaline, harmine and others, LSD is by far the most potent. Very minute quantities (upwards of 30 millionths of a gram) create serious mental confusion and sensual disturbances, or render the mind temporarily susceptible to many types of influences. Administration of the drug produces in an individual such mental characteristics of schizophrenia as visual or auditory hallucinations and physiological reactions of dizziness, nausea, dilation of the pupils, and lachrymation. Data, although still very limited, are available which indicate its usefulness in eliciting true and accurate statements from subjects under its influence during interrogation. The basic material from which LSD is prepared is ergot and the ex-Soviet Bloc has an abundant supply of it. I can imagine alot of people suffocated on their own puke, they were in extremly bad physical condition after holding out for 57 hours without nutrition, beeing subject to constant psychological terror, having to defecate virtually near them, together with about 700 other hostages...i do not even want to think about the situation they were in. These people must have been so weak that most likely many would have died already because of CS gas.

WW2 was much more "handicraft" and up close warfare than it is nowadays. It was more about individual or crew skill, not about "artificial intelligence" of a specific weapon system, that just requires a push of a button to end any resistance with pinpoint accuracy beyond visual range. Also today we rather face many low intensity warfare spots around the world, especially in third world countries, that are better described with a series of skirmishes or small scale battles, rather than a full blown war between capable nations (in a military, not political or ideological sense) as we envision it from the 2nd WW. It was way more material and personal intensive than what we have today, with many frontlines and tactical as strategic constellations. Today we have the electronic battlefield, combat is heavily computer aided, even for the regular infantryman, long range, devastating and precise as never before in history. A modern NATO army doesn´t go out without knowing exactly what force composition and strength it will fight against, the when, where and what is preprogrammed and gathered via information provided by satellites and other means of advanced reconnaissance. It´s much more difficult to surprise an army with a swift maneuver or hide intentions (or your combat assets), than it was 60 years ago. The goal for the future is to destroy the enemy main body element long before something like a forward line of own troops is reached by them, and a quasi frontline established, that means high tech warfare beyond visual range for the most part. That´s why it is rather boring for me to fly i.e. an F22 than for example a ME-109, Yak-9 or P-47. Just take a look at Boeings latest effort, the bird of prey, wonder where it will all go to and look like in 20 years from now: Bah!

This is delicate situation, for both, russia and chechnya. It´s a tough decision for Putin on how to act, especially with all the media coverage and the world looking upon him. If he decides to desperately storm the building in a attempt of an hostage rescue operation against all odds, because that´s what it is; about 50 terrorists armed to the teeth including rocket propelled grenades, a very large group of hostages held inside, an unknown number of explosive charges placed inside the theatre and wired human bombs....a HRT/CT nightmare, it´s more than likely this will become a huge bloodbath, that would be very harmful to russia´s political image if Putin decides to go with the prybar methods russian SF´s are known for, and fails with that. If he would succeed with that (against my belief), it will be a short triumph, as the chechnya question remains, and there are no isurances something like this isn´t bound to happen anytime soon again. As the suspected leader of the terrorist group is the nephew of the self proclaimed chechen "field commander" Arbi Barajew, who in ´99 kidnapped 4 british and australian engineers, and cut their heads off putting them on a country road near Grosny, because the engineers companys weren´t willing to pay the ransom this barajew character was demanding, doesn´t make me very confident either of solving this situation unbloody. If Putin doesn´t act to meet the terrorists demands it will likely result in a bloodbath. But how can he act to solve the situation unbloody for the hostages and at the same time show no weakness and keep his face? Where did the chechen terrorists come from and what can be done to prevent anything like this happening again in the future,  because as long as the conflict rages and the nature of it, these things can be expected to happen. Solve it the old style soviet way, by deporting all chechen seperatists, or give off chechnya? it´s Putins call. One thing we can be sure about, if it ends in a catastrophic way for the hostages, the results for Chechnya will also be very negative to speak it midly.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Col. Kurtz @ Sep. 13 2002,04:58)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Money...... Why right books about it and do interviews? Money......... Or maybe he has other reasons.<span id='postcolor'> The signing of prominent, and media approved law enforcement and military "professionals" is marketing strategy, rather than on the purpose of technical advising. It´s obvious the name and wrapping makes the quick buck, rather than actual content, it´s buisness, just as with trademarks. The SAS "Buisness man" lends his name and appearance to the game, is mentioned in advertisement campaigns, the manual, guaranteeing for realism and all that blah... thats how it works.

Depends on your interests, if you prefer spots far from any major industrial region i can recommend the area of Mangfallgebirge and Tegernsee/Schliersee area near munich, germany. Garmisch Partenkirchen and the Karwendel mountains is also a very nice spot to visit, especially if you do hiking or mountainbiking. There are lots of other nice places in germany; Stanberger See, Schwarzwald, Eiffel, Thüringer Wald, Wendelstein (Chiemsee), Römerpfad (Gardasee)...............

Wasn´t there some time ago a similar incendent that lead to the death of a young asian that played to long on a comp in a i-net cafe, Taiwan or something? I´d say give them a job, girlfriend or other hobbys that get them away from the comp once in a while, cause that is just sick.

Medieval: Total War, for it´s perfect "armchair General" feeling and brilliant strategy system. The last game that got me as deeply involved was OFP. Games i´m looking forward too and that havn´t been released yet; SWAT: Urban Justice Steel Beasts II Raven Shield Lock On: Modern Air Combat Combat Flight Simulator 3 Falcon V

Right, but an explanation and links to reference material had become necessary in regards to my questions and statements on the "fix tank behaviour" items in the bugfix list, and in regards to the reference to Bf1942 that had been made by another poster. Summarized it´s still on the patch (although i did made some slight advertisement for Steel Beasts...granted ). But hey, as Flashpoint it´s a reference game.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (PRiME @ Oct. 09 2002,01:41)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">(Tank Halt! that causes virtually an immediate stop and some short skidding dependend on the underground, the rear part going airborne the nose downward. In general inertia and translational kinetic energy would be a great feature for tracked vehicles driving characteristics, resulting in nodding up/down while the hydraulic bumpers, shock absorbers, torsion bars / springs are working when accelerating, braking, driving above rough terrain or shooting ...possible? <span id='postcolor'> Satchel are you thinking about BF1942? I dunno if tanks respond in this manner in real life!.<span id='postcolor'> Thats how tanks behave, during my military time i had to make the driving license for tracked vehicles, as my post required it. The driving school was on the Leopard 1 and M113 trainer vehicles and simulators that time, the vehicle i served on later was the M577 TOC (take a look at my signature). During the driving course you learn the difference between 2 important maneuvers- i don´t know the correct english designation for it so i use the german terms; "Panzer anhalten" and "Panzer Halt!", the latter i´ve done thankfully only once during the driving school, and it´s brutal if it´s done after picking up some speed, a bruise or worse guaranteed to everyone not ready for this maneuver. So i do know a little about how such vehicles handle and behave on the road as well as in the terrain , and Flashpoint is a far from portraying this reasonable, infact it´s unrealistic on that matter. Just a piece of advice, if you are driving a car and a tank is driving in front of you for whatever reason, keep the distance to the tank above the braking distance you would require from your current speed to the current location of the tank, if a tank stops, it stops, almost instantly if the driver goes fully into the brakes. If you are driving directly behind it, there is a good chance you will land under the tank if it brakes violently, even if you drive a sports car with outstanding braking performance. If you like simulations, especially tanks, then check out Steel Beasts to get you an idea how a modern MBT behaves, it´s the closest in tank driving and shooting seen yet on a home PC, although the graphics are not quite up to date (no 3D accelleration). Edit: You can download a demo for Steel Beasts right here: http://www.esimgames.net/downloads/SBDemo1-195.zip (20MB) Don´t be discouraged by the graphics, it´s the best tank available on the market, sounds, attention to simulation detail and physics make up for that lack more than enough. As for BF1942, i don´t like it, but they got the tracked vehicle driving characteristics quite good for WW2 tanks, compared to their real life counterparts as seen in the  german "Wochenschau" (nazi germany propaganda films during 2nd WW, that were shown a while ago on Arte television).

- Fixed: Tanks no longer slide aside when standing on the hills. - Fixed: Tanks jumping after getting in, especially on the hill. - Fixed: Tank braking singnificantly faster. This is a thing many people looked forward to, great these issues have been finally adressed. Does the fix also extend to Tanks driving down slopes under playercontrol, as in some instances it is impossible to slow the vehicle down, even if not touching the gas and stepping on the brakes the whole time down, has this also been adressed, so you can stop finally at reasonable distance even on the steepest slopes? Some missions taking part on mountainous terrain are almost unplayble because of "unstoppable" tanks, that somehow tend to end up jumping down a cliff into the water, or into a forest when "rolling" down slopes. Tracked vehicles such as MBT´s can produce a stopping distance that is almost instant from top speed on appropriate terrain when using Emergency brakes, resulting almost in a headstand. It´s only used in extreme situations, as it´s likely to result in injuries to the crew and eventually damage to the vehicle- imagine your body beeing abruptly brought from 40-70 km/h to 0 Km/h within only a few meters. Wonder if it would be possible to implement 2 hotkeys for the brake, one for normal braking when stepping fully into the regular brake within "safe" parameters (say 35m braking distance from full speed ~ 70 Km/h) and an Emergency brake (Tank Halt! that causes virtually an immediate stop and some short skidding dependend on the underground, the rear part going airborne the nose downward. In general inertia and translational kinetic energy would be a great feature for tracked vehicles driving characteristics, resulting in nodding up/down while the hydraulic bumpers, shock absorbers, torsion bars / springs are working when accelerating, braking, driving above rough terrain or shooting ...possible?

"Why is the UN afraid to take a stand here?" Because the immediate- and long term consequences are incalculable after Hussein and his regime would be removed, not only for Iraq itself, but the whole region. Plain and simple put the Bush administration is after Hussein and his Regime, justified with a stalking-horse called WOMD. I start getting the feeling that a new resolution would be wholly in favour of the Bush administration if it would enable them to attack Iraq as soon as Hussein or one of his minions just let go of a fart- confrontation seems unavoidable, even if weapon inspections would be satisfactory for Mr. Blix and his team. Don´t get me wrong, i´m certainly not the one who would like to invite Hussein for a cup of tee, but i´m also aware that military action could bring factors that are not covered, or not thought out well enough yet, with eventually grave consequences for stabilization in the region. What bothers me personally the most however is the way the law of nations is kicked with feet in such a drastic way by THE civilized western country that pretends to hold these ideals high, a preemptive war however puts us back in the timeline, and raises concerns about things to come. An preemptive war on Iraq will unquestionably serve as a role model for future conflicts, with law, ethic and moral taking a backseat. Shoot first, ask questions later....or better don´t ask.