Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Quite shocked

Blind spots! I've blind spots too :( I thought I knew all there is to know about military aviation (and its history) but Martin van Creveld's book 'The Age of Airpower' (2011) showed me that I have blind spots too.

My three blind spots:
1. Since World War II the countries with nuclear weapons only fight with countries that don't have nukes. All their wars are low scale and are never a real threat of the homeland. And the glory and power of military aviation in Yugoslavia, Irak and Libya? Low scale wars against non-nuclear dwarfs. 
2. When it comes to deciding what is and is not a threat, airpower is often of no use at all. We need (wo)man on the ground who determine who is an enemy and who is not.
3. Military degeneration. The combination of very high quality, small numbers, growing cost and slowing down of technological innovation is a typical sign of military degeneration of jets. Just like the development of ancient Greek warships (centuries BC), full suits of armoured knights (around 1525) and floating steel warships (around 1939). Their tasks are to be overtaken by other "systems": satellites, SSBMs, ICBMs, (cruise) missiles and UAVs.

It's getting colder and colder in my country. The first fields of corn is harvested. It's fall again.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Access

Admission is free. Only for visitors by prior arrangement by snail- or e-mail. Weeks in advance! I love moguls like these. Good that the treasures of Palacio de Liria - the private home of Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba and her family - in Madrid (Spain) are hidden behind walls and weeks. 
For me moguls like this are Chinese Gardens. Remember the blog I wrote on this? It changes our way of breathing. It changes our way of breathing ... once in a while. 

Not directly accessible! How is/ will this be handled by the present generation, our kids? Too much trouble? Waste of energy? Old-fashioned? Not 24/7 proof? Off-line?

I will write an e-mail and after reserving my tickets, I'll book an airplane and hotel. Just the two of us - what else?