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Rapid Fire August 22, 2013: New Accusations of Chemical Attacks in Syria

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* Syrian rebels accuse the government of having killed hundreds of civilians using chemical weapons near Damascus. Claims of chemical weapon use last year were muddled by attribution uncertainty. Russia continues to staunchly support Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which will get in the way of any effort to ramp up international involvement via the United Nations. * The US Navy will reduce a net 35 flag officers (O-7 to O-9) within 4 years, some of them among their acquisition leadership. * The Special Measures Agreement (SMA) setting cost sharing between the US and South Korea expires at the end of the year. The two countries have started a 3rd round of negotiation for the next SMA, with a reported $89M gap to bridge. * In recent years Russian strategic bombers have flown close to Alaska, Sweden, or the Netherlands, but usually they don’t enter the “targeted” countries’ airspace. Earlier today, Japan claims that 2 Russian bombers did so near its Kyushu southern island. The Russians, of course, answered that they stayed over neutral waters. * The Indian rupee and Brazilian real are at their lowest against the US dollar in years (as well as against the Euro), following large sell-offs in […]

* Syrian rebels accuse the government of having killed hundreds of civilians using chemical weapons near Damascus. Claims of chemical weapon use last year were muddled by attribution uncertainty. Russia continues to staunchly support Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which will get in the way of any effort to ramp up international involvement via the United Nations.

* The US Navy will reduce a net 35 flag officers (O-7 to O-9) within 4 years, some of them among their acquisition leadership.

* The Special Measures Agreement (SMA) setting cost sharing between the US and South Korea expires at the end of the year. The two countries have started a 3rd round of negotiation for the next SMA, with a reported $89M gap to bridge.

* In recent years Russian strategic bombers have flown close to Alaska, Sweden, or the Netherlands, but usually they don’t enter the “targeted” countries’ airspace. Earlier today, Japan claims that 2 Russian bombers did so near its Kyushu southern island. The Russians, of course, answered that they stayed over neutral waters.

* The Indian rupee and Brazilian real are at their lowest against the US dollar in years (as well as against the Euro), following large sell-offs in recent weeks. This makes Western products 20+% more expensive than just a couple of years ago, in the export markets targeted by many defense manufacturers as their way out of the demand slump they’re facing at home.

* India’s media just picked up a 3-week old quote from USAF Gen. Herbert Carlisle, Commander Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), apparently raising [PDF] the prospect of a US presence in India that may not prove palatable to some in the electorate – provided the Indians are not reading more into this than the general intended:

“So as I envision it, as I talk about expanded engagement, a lot of our rebalance is a rotational presence through the Pacific. And obviously we’ll maintain our capability in Northeast Asia. In a lot of ways we’ll increasingly move south and west with the rotational presence. Darwin, Tindal, [Pilbara], Changi East in Singapore, Carat in Thailand, Trivandrum in India [emphasis DID – this city has retaken its original name of Thiruvananthapuram].”

* State surveillance stats, from Russia with tough love.

* From a surgeon, talking about the US Army Medical Center’s IDEO brace/ prosthetic device: “over the last two years, this limb-salvage device has saved me from doing at least 100 amputations.”

* The Russian exoskeleton in the video below is similarly relying on mechanical force to amplify the strength of the soldier wearing it:

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