Something to Remember: 2.4 million Views on Wikinut.com

Something to Remember

self

Yesterday my secretary came to me and told me that she had checked and I had crossed a viewership of 2.4 million on Wikinut. Frankly, I am delighted and happy. There are no payments now, fine, but this achievement is by itself a source of great satisfaction. I have loved 3 things in my life in no particular order, women, cars and writing. The first two dovetail into the last and has led to my novel" Romance of the Frontier".

I started writing on Wikinut a few years back and slowly but surely the views from a trickle grew up. Now even when I write seldom on this site, yet I still garner over 1200 views a day. This is again a source of great satisfaction. Wikinut is a fine site and one sincerely hopes it does not pack up. I think it could, however, take a learning lesson from some new sites like Blastingnews.com

Fond memories

me and my Skoda

One of the big plus points in wikinut has been the comradery with other writers and the moderators. One man who is missing who wrote prodigiously earlier is V Paulose. I wonder where he is? Steve Kinsmen is another whose name along with Carolina must be mentioned.
With close to 1400 articles covering a wide variety of topics, gives me the chance express myself. There has hardly been a moderation and I am thankful that an article on the painter Coubert with his painting was published on this site. It's been a great innings all through. Though my activity is reduced on the site, yet the site still beckons and shows that it has some intrinsic value.

Last Word

Self and my SUV

Life moves on and Khalil Gibran wrote" the moving finger writes and life goes on, never to come back" is so very true. The years with Wikinut is something that will be a part of my life. It is a great pleasure to interact with the writers, many of who are still writing on this site. But does wish that the writing site thinks ahead and tunes up. It cant go on and v become moribund. It has a great base and maybe a bright spark may still come. I want to think that it will happen.

Tags

EX Soldiers rely on Courts and it has no meaning

What makes people think that the courts will give relief for sure? what if they don't? this is a real possibility and cannot be ruled out. Having observed at close quarters the working of the government in Singapore( where I am based) and Burma, Thailand  I find that the only way the armed forces can assert is if they are part of the political decision-making process. This is so in these nations and unless that happens( part of the decision-making process) in India the services will remain forever second class.

No amount of letters even by the Chiefs can have any meaning and I think they are just trashed by the government. No point in blaming the IAS lobby and I have a few friends there who tell me the fault is with your top brass that just doesn't exert. 

The fault is square with the political leadership and it started from the time of Nehru and Cariappa must take the blame. It has continued. If Burma and Thailand countries with a pacifist religion can have the armed forces as part of the political mainstream, why not India? Courts are just what they are Courts. They do not bring any revolutionary change and only uphold the established order till a revolution throws them out. This is history

SU-22 is a State of Art Bomber from Russia * 59

One of the older era Russian bombers was the Tupolev -22 or as known by its NATO codename the Backfire. This was first flown in 1969 and is still in service. The Russian aircraft designer Andre Tupolev  was tasked by Josef Stalin as far back as in

1952 to produce a strike bomber that could penetrate the USAF defenses and land a counterpunch. The TU-22 then appeared. It is a plane with a speed of 2350 km/hr. and has a range of 6000 km. It is more than capable of penetrating enemy defenses and can strike at the US if it flies via the North Pole. The aircraft is now upgraded and is still in service as the Backfire.

The backfire is the pride of the Russian air force and the fact remains there is no plane in the arsenal of the west that matches this plane. 

The Russian still believe in the concept of the Strategic bomber and the Backfire is precisely that a long-range strategic bomber that can fly low and strike the enemy. The world has seen the power of the Backfire in the bombings going on in Syria. Earlier the planes were taking off from Russian airfields but now these planes now have operated from the Iranian base of Hamden and bombed the opponents of Assad in Syria with lethal effect. No other country has any similar long-range bomber, not even the USAF or Chinese Air Force.

The backfire is a force multiplier and the west is wary of this plane.  It is equipped with ECM and ECCM and does not need a fighter escort as it flies at Mach 2.5 and can launch its laser-guided missiles from afar. The Russians have over 50 of these planes and they form the backbone of the Russian strategic  air force.