History Repeats Itself

History gives us many examples of new weapons defeating “tried and true” technology. The Greeks utilized its armored phalanx to overcome unarmored Persian warriors. Likewise the Romans used the Legion to outmaneuver the phalanx on the battlefield and establish their own culture. In due course the horse was adopted by who Romans considered barbarians, the Germans, who gave us the modern world. In a case of history repeating itself, the Germans nearly conquered Europe again, by use of modern cavalry, the tank, along with aircraft and submarines. Luckily, the West and Russia could produce more of these weapons, and turned them against their would-be conquerors.
Newer armaments are now dominating the battlefield, including satellites, precision munitions, and cruise missiles. So far they have only been used against barely industrialized countries in the Third World. With arms proliferation an ongoing problem, it may be interesting to see what happens when the new technology is better understood by our enemies and used against us.

Unsinkable Warships

During the Iran/Iraq War of the 1980’s, huge oil tankers sustained hits from cruise missiles and continued sailing. When the cruiser USS Princeton was nearly sunk in a mine field, she managed to limp away, sheltered in the wake of one of these supertankers. The secret is being heavily compartmentalized, and filled with liquid, thus are virtually unsinkable. A system of “water protection’ for warships was first used in Royal Navy monitors during the 1st World War. Later, the battleships Nelson and Rodney shipped 2000 tons of sea water in its hull to boost its 14 inch armor belt. Some designs of the Arsenal Ship of the 1990's included flooding the hull to give it a lower profile, but could have also helped defend it from mines and torpedoes.
Such a warship would be vast in size like the tanker, and perform various missions: a cruise missile carrier, carry V/STOL aircraft or unmanned planes, while performing sealift and amphibious missions. In place of crude oil, seawater would be loaded for buoyancy and added protection.

Claiming Defeat in Victory

The wildly successful elections in Iraq are a victory of the first magnitude in the War on Terror. It is comparable to other turning points of history: The Magna Charta, The American Revolution, and The Emancipation Proclamation. It is also the Turn of the Tide for the war, and the beginning of the end for tyranny in the Middle East. It we are not careful, all could still be lost. In the midst of victory, liberals are claiming defeat, and pressuring President Bush to cut and run, by calling for an early troop withdrawal. Such a move would be disastrous, and give the impression of exhaustion and weakness. It is reminiscent of the retreat from Vietnam during the Nixon Administration, yet it wasn’t Republicans who led us into that dreadful conflict. They have also tried to blame Americans for the problems in the Middle East, instead of placing fault where it belongs, on the terrorists. It was radical Islam who started this war, while our troops are finishing it, if they are allowed to continue. If victory in the elections are judged, America is winning, and gloriously so, not merely hanging on.

The Reagan Revolution Redux

The world of freedom and democracy that Ronald Reagan conceived, often derided as the New World Order, is springing up from the post-Cold War era. This is not to deride the efforts of three great presidents: Bush, Clinton, and Bush who defeated dictators, routed terrorists, and liberated nations in the past decade. But these are building on the foundation laid by Ronald Wilson Reagan; the man responsible for the demise of the evil empire, the Soviet Union, who in the past had checkmated America’s every move in the fight for freedom.