* Airbus wants to grow in the US through helicopter and space programs. They seem to rule out short-term large acquisitions. Reuters | National Defense.
Ukraine
* The quote of the day comes from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk:
“Germany’s dependence on Russian gas may effectively decrease Europe’s sovereignty. I have no doubts about that.”
* Competing for the quote of the day is Dmitry Rogozin, a Russian deputy Prime Minister heading the Military-Industrial Commission, who posted on his Twitter and Facebook streams [both in Russian] that he hoped that after explicit threats from the US and NATO, nobody would doubt Russia’s military should be rearmed. This why the “wow, just wow” phrase was invented.
* India’s authorities are reportedly reviewing claims made by anonymous hackers that, in retaliation for the events in Ukraine, they had published confidential communications between Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation and India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
Rebels, Narcos Competing with Nation States for Commodities
* Ibrahim Jathran, the man tasked in 2012 by the Libyan government to secure its oil stopped answering to them months ago. He’s been operating his own militia which blockaded 3 ports for months. Now the government is threatening to strike an oil tanker docked in the Sidra port that Jathran hopes to use to independently export oil. He’s arguing that the central government is powerless, corrupt and ineffective.
* Jathran is not the only illicit non-state actor trying to operate a port and smuggle bulky commodities under a government’s nose. Mexican authorities recently seized almost 120,000 tonnes of iron ore in the Mexican port of Lázaro Cárdenas, as the Knights Templar drug cartel had been busy diversifying their income streams.
Sleeves Up!
* US Marines are back to sleeves up during the summer as of yesterday, after Gen. Amos reverted a universally-hated policy decision he made in 2011.
Aerial Surveillance
* Today’s video shows the US Army operating their RQ-7B Shadow UAVs in Afghanistan:
