Book Review--Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews

Quite the bummer this one...

Covered with praise from numerous publications (USA Today, Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, NYT, etc.) and coming from someone within the US Intelligence community (Matthews has years of experience working in the clandestine service of the CIA) I had high hopes.

I should have realized that given Matthews was given a 7 figure advance on the book and its two sequels before a word was put down and a movie deal signed shortly thereafter for Jennifer Lawrence to star in a film trilogy based on these books that this was no serious effort but instead a pre-packaged media driven vehicle to create a new "Hunger Games" (same director even) or "Twilight" series with only pretensions of seriousness.

 Further hints of the lack of real work here comes up early on when the female protagonist, written purposefully for Jennifer Lawerence to play, is detailed to have a heretofore unknown version of synesthesia that gives her the superpower like ability to determine the character and truthfulness of another person via the colors she sees surrounding them like an aura.  Over and over and over "this person is surrounded in yellow...this one is colored in blue...this one in red..."  blah, blah, blah.  Profoundly tiring and hackneyed one comes to view the female character as one of little real talent or intelligence but merely imbued with genetic abnormality that makes her good at her particular job.

And what is her job?  Well, to even sell the film series more...she's a "Sparrow" a Russian agent trained to seduce foreign individuals with their physical wares...Insert eyeroll here...This serves only for the author to engage in his puerile sexual fixations and set up Jennifer Lawrence to parade around on film in skimpy outfits.

For those hoping to hear of true tradecraft I suppose there are nuggets here and there--the Russians using a "dust" of a kind that can then be scanned for on the personages of their own people to see if they have been in contact with other spies, etc....but mostly?  Its stuff like "He left his hotel...he didn't want to be followed....so he walked around in a random pattern for hours looking for followers..."  Great...real groundbreaking stuff.

If you want to read a trashy novel to prepare yourself to watch a trashy movie and think that you are being progressive because Putin makes multiple appearances in the novel as the ultimate bad guy string puller...this is all you...Roundfile this otherwise...

The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer

Haven't posted anything here in a while but wanted to for this book.

This work recounts the author's time in the German army during WWII.  Involved in the initial stages of Germany's retreat in the East all the way to the end of the war, the author experienced the worst of what the conflict had to offer and describes it in full detail.

The blood, the cold, the depravity, the cowardice, the heroism, the anger, hatred, frustration, disillusionment, starvation, mutilation...its all here.  Sajer doesn't shy away from his own failings and the work comes across as a beautifully honest recount of his service.  Which isn't to say the book should be taken as a pure academic recap of the German effort of WWII in the East.  It isn't.  It has inaccuracies as others have pointed out.  That's not the overall point and Sajer has been one to say so.

Its more of an emotional synopsis of his experience and the reader comes away with the feeling that no one should have survived what he went through and certainly no one sane could have.

This work is not one to delve into the issues behind Germany's efforts, there is really little mention of Hitler and zero mention of the Holocaust or other well known events of the war and its evils.  If you are looking for that or for Sajer to fall on his knees and beg forgiveness for having fought on the losing side, this is not your book.

If you are looking for an epically honest depiction of the German grunt's viewpoint of how it felt to be driven backwards by the unstoppable masses of Russian soldiers over a period of years through the worst of living conditions, then this is more appropriate.

I have not read a more vivid description of the obscene nature of ground warfare anywhere.  Nowhere else have I felt it better shown the indifferent nature of combatants as to their superiors motives or overarching goals, rather these are purely men fighting for the man next to them and merely in the hope of living to see another day.  Politics and preaching are absent here...as you come to realize, they are in all trenches.

Massive Nissan GT-R Wreck in Russia...

This was evidently at a big dragrace event in Russia called the Russia Cup. The GT-R won the race, beating out an Audi of some sort but after the finish line the GT-R continued to accelerate and only stopped upon impacting a concrete barrior at the end of the runway. The GT-R reportedly crossed the line at some 200 mph so its impact was likely above that. Perhaps that is the reason the front airbags did not deploy--though that hardly would have saved the driver in this case.

Syrian Rebels Take Out Russian Helicopter with Russian Missile

There should be a bit of irony here.  The Syrian rebels (likely to be of the extreme Islamic variety given their use of social media and apparent sophistication) here are using a  relatively modern Russian anti-tank guided missile to shoot down/blow up a Syrian government helicopter of the Russian variety.

The missile appears to be a Kornet which first came into production in the mid 90's and has been used by Iraq against American tanks in the early '00s, damaging a few but not destroying any and also against the Israeli's by Hezbollah (targets have included Isreali tanks and a child laden schoolbus).  Russia has supplied Syria with these anti-tank missiles for years and they appear to have now fallen into the hands of the Syrian rebels/ISIS.

The helicopter here appears to be an MI-2 which is more of a transport helicopter than an attack platform (though it can be outfitted with various short range offensive weaponry).  Supposedly Syria had about 20 of these at one point--make that 19 now...Produced in Poland beginning in the late 60's/70's and designed in Russia these helicopters serve in secondary regimes around the world.  Though the Kornet missile is not specifically designed to take down helicopters, given the static position this one was in during its landing and apparently unpressured position the attackers were located in, made this takedown easy.

Nissans at the Baja Russia Northern Forest Rally...

So now we're into the '14 racing season proper...stage rallies, Baja events, rally-raids, etc.

This past weekend was one of the more unique events on the annual schedule.  The Baja Russia Northern Forest Rally has been going on for a number of years and is part of the FIA's calendar of cross-country raids and Baja rallies.  Held in the typically deep snow of NorthWestern Russia, nearly on the border of Finland--closer to Helsinki than to Moscow, it runs a tight course through icy forest trails.

The best finish for a Nissan this weekend was the eighth place finish (of 41) of Dmitriy Ievlev and the PEC team Nissan Navara T1.1

Four Nissans entered the event and three finished in the aforementioned 8th, 12th and 24th positions.  Of note here is that this event drew some efforts from fairly far away including Reinaldo Varela of Brazil with an Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux, Yazeed Al Rajhi who traded in his Robby Gordon Hummer for the weekend for another Overdrive Hilux and a couple of Italian teams.  In terms of vehicles there were a few oddities like FJ Cruisers, a Jeep Cherokee, a Ford Raptor and a Dakar spec Mini.

So we have a Dakar spec Mini as well as Toyotas and a BMW all out getting some early mileage in on the vehicles and their drivers...

Book Review: The First War of Physics--The Secret History of the Atom Bomb 1939-1949

Been a bit since I've posted anything--holiday season and all so we'll start off slow.

The above titled book by Jim Baggot is no lightweight coming in at nearly 600 pages. Baggot has generally kept the scope of his writing to Physics related topics such as the Higgs Boson, Quantum Theory and other modern topics.  TFWOP reaches back some 70+ years to cover the creation of the first atomic and hydrogen bombs.

The scientists that take part in this story read like a laundry list of Nobel Prize winners including Einstein, Fermi, Bohr, Teller, Heisenberg, Feynman, Oppenheimer, etc., etc. and the book covers them all in one respect or another.  If you are looking for an in depth examination of the Manhattan Project or of the Russian intelligence program that stole many of the US developed "secrets" or of the military history behind the use of these weapons, or a detailed scientific treatise on the physics behind the bombs--that's not what this work is.

What Baggot achieves here is a broad overview of the worldwide effort towards the development and use of atomic weapons during this period.  You get the Germans who were off to an early start but fell behind for numerous (and readily debatable) reasons, you get the Russians playing catch-up with the Americans via their communist sympathizers in the States and England, you get England who had a well developed program but without the necessary resources and you get the US who is the beneficiary of massive industrial scale, and a combination of its own scientists and the flight of brilliant European theoreticians due to Hitler's policies.

In essence you get a primer on all four of the major atomic efforts at this time and a look at why each one succeeded or failed and their influence, either direct or indirect on one another.  There is enough here to satisfy the "spy enthusiast" involving secret missions of sabotage and assassination as well as the amateur physics buff with "lensing" discussions, stories behind the discovery of the various elements and their isotopes and the trial and error development of how to achieve a supercritical mass.

I feel vastly more knowledgeable about the events that went on to largely shape our modern world over the following half century or more than I was before reading this book.  Most impressive to me is that all of the work attributed to these scientists was done wholly without the benefit of modern computing power.  All theories, formulas, calculations, experiments, monitoring, and measurements were done with what we would view as archaic devices and methods, doing things by hand that we would task to an electronic device today.  That they were able to develop these devices in such an environment is astonishing--and this book should leave the reader with the appropriate sense of awe over just what the force of the human mind can accomplish.

Have Your Own Juke-R Built

Of course you have to get the vehicle from St. Petersburg...but it evidently is cheaper than buying it directly from Nissan at $600,000.  The company that builds the vehicle smartly bought the Juke-R website and has been marketing it across the globe.

This weekend in fact one of their first vehicles will be competing against Mr. Ken Block at the Gymkhana GRiD event in Madrid this weekend.  The Russian, custom built Juke-R contains the same drivetrain as the factory Juke-R and also comes with a roll cage and other upgrades.  What the Russian company offers that the factory version does not--upgraded engine tuning options.  At a mere 700 HP the Juke-R nicely outruns a Bugatti Veyron but versions up to over 1000 HP are available.

Explore buying your own Juke-R here:  http://www.juke-r.com/

More on the impetus and Russian company behind the the non-factory Juke-R:  http://jalopnik.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-russian-juke-r-gy-1456883008?utm_campaign=socialflow_jalopnik_facebook&utm_source=jalopnik_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

Where Old ICBMs Go to Die...

This was the first launch for Orbital Sciences Corporation's Minotaur V rocket.  Launched from Wallops Island off the coast of Virginia it was visible over much of the east coast.  Like many of Orbital's rockets it is derived older military rockets of both US and Russian design.

The Minotaur V is a derivative of the Peacekeeper ICBM and uses many of the ICBM's parts in these current rockets--recycling at its finest.  The Minotaur V can put almost 1,000 pounds into Lunar orbit and looks to have done so successfully with the LADEE NASA probe.  It is on its way to the moon (arrival date scheduled for 10/6) to study the Lunar atmosphere (really??) and dust conditions on the surface (again....really??)  Ahhh...leave it to NASA to spend billions looking for answers to questions that don't need answering...Regardless...nicely done by all parties involved.

The Russians Should Have Called SpaceX...

So this was a Russian Proton-M rocket the other day.  The Proton-M has been in use since '01 and has had a number of failures--particularly in the past few years--a number of which have been spectacular disasters such as this one.

On board this rocket were three Russian GPS satellites as part of the program Russia is trying to develop to compete against the US constructed standard.  Later this year a Russian addition to the ISS is supposed to go up on one of these things...I wouldn't bet on it reaching there...

US Recalling F-22s from the UAE...

Today Iran reportedly launched a rocket into space carrying a monkey which, again, reportedly, returned to Earth safely.  Now I'm not sure I believe the poor monkey returned safely, it doesn't surprise me Iran might be looking to rachet things up a bit similar to North Korea.

A year ago we deployed an unknown number of F-22s to the United Arab Emerites (F-22s to the UAE). 

Today, six F-22s passed through Pease Airbase here in NH (photo at left is their overflight of the NH area) on their way back to Holloman AFB in New Mexico along with their accompanying seven support tankers and aircraft (F22s come through Pease...).  Holloman's current 21 F-22s are scheduled to transfer to Tyndall AFB in Florida next year but for now it is home to the 49th fighter wing.

If this was merely a shuffle of airplanes with "reserve" F-22s coming in to replace these that were on their way home, wouldn't you keep the support aircraft in place in the UAE?  We've frequently seen A-10 squadrons heading back and forth to Afghanistan via the Westfield, MA and they aren't typically accompanied by their support staff--because that support staff is still needed for the ongoing operations in Afghanistan with replacement aircraft already in place or on their way.

Not so here.  Instead it appears you have a wholesale removal of the F-22 squadron from the UAE, replacement unknown.  If I was Iran, or Russia, or China, I'd be sending my satellites for a quick scan of the UAE base where these were stationed to see if there is ANY presence left (blow up ballon F-22s don't count).

Why would you do this now given Iran's posturing, Syria's crumbling and Isreal's doubling down on a conservative government?  Who knows?!?!  If I did, I wouldn't be sitting here working at a bank.  If I had to guess, the original, April 12th deployment was a quid pro quo with Isreal in an attempt to show them that we had their back and would bring forces to the table for their defense in exchange for more time/lack of action on their part.  Their removal would signal to me the end of this relationship, meaning either Iran no longer represents a threat (unlikely), Isreal is unconcerned with Iran's developments (equally unlikely) or the US wants to get out of being drawn into any sort of Isreal/Iran conflict with its world class fighters sitting on the ground as Isreali/Iranian fighters fly overhead.  Look for a significant development in the Isreal/Iran conflict in relatively short order (1-2 months).

Silk Way Rally 2011: Cars preview

The third edition of Silk Way Rally is just around the corner so why don’t we take a look at who’s who at this year’s starting list and what chances do Nissan crews have.

ASO already published the third version within last two weeks but none of them will tell you who will be driving what. Based on known information, a bit of web-digging and Google translating and mostly thanks to my vast knowledge of rally-raid I was able to discover mysteries of entries.

Once Volkswagen has cancelled their Dakar program, another Germany team, that of X-Raid, is ready to take the honors. Stéphane Peterhansel will be driving brand new Mini All4 Racing once again. He won Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge with this car, no one can expect anything less than another victory also in a Russia. X-Raid will also plant three BMW X3 CC’s for Leonid Novitskiy, Krzysztof Hołowczyc (yes, who used to drive Nissan before) and Alexander Mironenko.

The only real threat for X-Raid pilots is Boris Gadasin with his powerful G-Force Proto. Last year he was closest to Volkswagens until he crashed pretty heavily. Unless all these drivers made some mistake or became a victim of mechanical failure, all other crews are condemned to fight for the fifth place at the best. Hungarian Balázs Szalay with Chevy powered Opel Antara could be one of them, as well as Bogdan Novitskiy with another G-Force Proto. Then there are plenty of 2WD buggies lead by last year’s class winner Matthias Kahle. Ronan Chabot and Stéphane Henrard will be his main contenders alongside Christian Lavieille.

Yes, that’s another Nissan down. Lavieille was quite good with Dessoude prepared Proto 05, now he will tackle demanding rally behind the wheel of a new BMW-powered buggy. Yet still as a part of a Dessoude Team. Now let’s stay a while with Nissan cars, shall we? Team Dessoude’s Fréderic Chavigny is the defender of T2 class victory from yesteryear. Once again he will start with Nissan Pathfinder. Hardbody Pickup derived Proto 05 will be in hands of Chinese Jihong Zhou, but hardly we can expect him to be in forefront.

Belgian Team Overdrive originally announced two cars to start on SWR 2011, but in most recent starting list there is only Roman Briskindov. He started on ADDC 2011 with G-Force Proto and was pretty fast, yet he ended upside down and in hospital. Rally driver Aleksander Zheludov will start with Nissan Frontier, probably some older evolution purchased from Overdrive. He might be able to make a top 10 result. Then there are four T1 class Nissan Springbok cars by SARL Sodicars team, one of Dakar legends Etienne Smulevici will drive one of them.

For the first time ever a Slovak crew will start on Silk Way Rally. Juraj Ulrich and his wife Danka will take their faithful Nissan Navara Doublecab D40 for its hardest test so far. As usually they will race in T2 class. Probably in the same class will be racing also three Patrols from Turkmenistan and some other Russian Pathfinder and French Patrol.

Now just brief mention on some others. Former biker Thierry Magnaldi will take his chance with single-seater Polaris RZR in T3 class in which he will fight against two Dutch buggies. Loris Calubini doesn’t give up and tries to finish some rally with his tiny Fiat PanDakar 4x4. Let’s see how this attempt ends. Two Czech-built Hummer H3 cars (Toyota powered) will start too, as well as two Mercedes G-Klasse based Lensson CC prototypes from Germany. The only female crew is that of Elena Golubkina and Elena Pravdina with Mitsubishi Pajero.

SWR 2011 cars entries

Baja Karelia (May, 21. - 23.)

The penultimate race of Russian CCR championship was held in Republic of Karelia close to Finnish borders. Winner of previous round Alexander Mironenko won a short prologue but gaps between the main contenders were in seconds. Two seconds behind were Boris Gadasin and Alexander Zheludov.

Organizers prepared just one special stage which was run four times. It wasn’t easy as tracks were narrow with many stones and dust didn’t make it easier. Mironenko was the first on track and also the first to change the punctured tyre. Zheludov had an advantage because he already knew Karelia’s tracks from rally. But Gadasin was faster and therefore first after Saturday. Mironenko returned to top 3 overtaking Ilya Kuznetsov.

Before the Sunday’s stage rain soaked the terrain but without consequences for competitors. Zheludov tried to defeat Gadasin but failed to reach his goal. Gadasin maintained the lead and won his first race on home soil this year. Mironenko finished third. Kuznetsov started the last special with 11 second advantage on Bogdan Novitskiy but finished with 45 second loss. Sixth overall was Alexander Olejnikov winner of T2 class. He was chased by a bunch of Land Cruisers they just haven’t found the way how to catch him.

Overall classification:
1. Boris Gadasin / Vladimir Demyanenko  G-Force Proto  3:39:06
2. Alexander Zheludov / Andrey Rudnickiy  Mitsubishi L200  + 01:46
3. Alexander Mironenko / Sergey Lebedev  Nissan Frontier  + 10:37
4. Bogdan Novickiy / Vitali Yevtekhov  G-Force Proto  + 18:00
5. Ilya Kuznetsov / Andrej Neshin  Mitsubishi L200  + 18:45
6. Alexander Oleynikov / Alexej Kuzmich  Nissan Patrol  + 28:46

The Khazar Steppe (April, 23. - 25.)

The second race of Russian CCR championship took place in April in Astrakhan region which is known for its plain and vast steppes. Although four crews of last year’s top 5 were missing there were enough candidates for the first place. Among them were leader of FIA Baja Cup Bogdan Novitskiy with team colleague Boris Gadasin (both G-Force Proto) and national championship leader Alexander Zheludov (Mitsubishi L200).

Novitskiy fulfilled the expectations and won the prologue ahead of Zheludov and Alexander Mironenko (Nissan Frontier). Gadasin was significantly delayed by stone that hit and damaged the brakes. He eliminated most of his loss on Saturday’s navigationally difficult stage. This one’s was, for a change, cruel to Novitskiy - he spent 20 minutes repairing the accelerate rod. His first position was suddenly Mironenko’s first place.

Fourth place in general rankings belonged to Alexander Olejnikov (Nissan Patrol), the fastest one of T2 cars. He was followed by another T2 Patrol driven by Alexei Yashkov. The extraordinary status Kamaz trucks have nowadays was proved once again on this rally. Young gun Eduard Nikolaev, guided by six time Dakar winner Vladimir Chagin, was sixth overall after Saturday leaving 25 other rivals behind.

Sunday was the day of Gadasin’s brutal attack. He was fast, much faster than Mironenko. He was virtual leader already before the last section when mechanical malfunction stopped him. Skilled rally driver Zheludov is fast but still has some bad rally habits. Like sitting comfortably in a car while his co-driver is digging the car out of sand trap they are stuck in… Nevertheless he withdrew few kilometers later. And as Novitskiy failed to complete the race as well Mironenko was left on top alone.

After more than 200 kilometers Mironenko celebrated his win ahead of Ilya Kuznetsov (Mitsubishi L200) and Roman Briskindov (Mitsubishi Pajero). Eduard Nikolaev improved his position by two places and finished fourth overall. Vladimir Frolov took T2 winning position (Mitsubishi Pajero), Nissans grabbed third and fourth thanks to Olejnikov and Igor Sadovskiy.

Overall classification:
1. Alexander Mironenko / Sergey Lebedev  Nissan Frontier  6:10:02
2. Ilya Kuznetsov / Andrej Neshin  Mitsubishi Pajero  + 27:21
3. Roman Briskindov / Alexej Alexandrov  Mitsubishi Pajero  + 33:00
4. Eduard Nikolaev / Vyatcheslav Kizukaev / Vladimir Chagin  Kamaz 4326  + 40:36
5. Yuri Borovikov / Vladimir Rogozhin  VAZ 2123  + 56:53
6. Vladimir Frolov / Yevgeni Kalatchev  Mitsubishi Pajero  + 57:53