* The status of the 18 crewmen trapped in INS Sindhurakshak is still not confirmed for sure, but Indian authorities have little hope that there are any survivors following the submarine’s explosion yesterday. An unnamed Russian official told the Interfax news agency that the possibility of a terror plot could not be excluded, as the explosion of the Russian-manufactured sub happened just before India’s independence day. Speculation no doubt…
* But then India and Pakistan commemorated their respective independences by shooting at each other with several wounded on each side of the Line of Control (LoC) separating them in Kashmir.
* Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister finds NATO’s withdrawal of Afghanistan “too hasty.”
* Use of the Russian airport in Ulyanovsk by NATO logistics out of Afghanistan was supposed to start a year ago, but it turns out the Russians priced themselves out of the market.
* The US Army’s CONUS Replacement Center (CRC) operations at Fort Benning, GA are now closed and moved to Fort Bliss, TX.
* The US Navy’s Office of Naval Research (ONR) thinks tactical generators using fuel cells are now at a stage where they could be fielded soon.
* The Washington DC-based CSIS think tank provides an overview of the rising extremism in North Africa and the Sahara in the video below. Following a model first developed by the IRA, cigarette smuggling is a big source of funding for these groups.
