Eagle Guardian: The War of 2010

[raunchel]

These are some very interesting updates and by now, it should be clear all over the world that NATO now is winning. Not just because of the territory they're liberating and the victories in the field, but also the incredibly important psychological step of crossing the prewar border the other way around. This really is one of the decisive moments for the Russian regime because they have clearly failed their gamble and are now facing a military machine that's much stronger than they are (especially once the western economies get more mobilised. By PPP, Germany alone is stronger than Russia. Which isn't even counting the impossible powerhouse that is the USA or all of the other allies involved here). And the longer the war lasts, the greater the difference in capabilities will become.

This leaves Putin with three options. He can just keep fighting, following the common belief that the West is weak in spirit and can't stomach casualties (counterexample: every time they fought for vital interests and not minor colonial scuffles). Failing that, he can sue for some kind of peace. This has the big disadvantage of acknowledgement of the war being lost and probably, harsh terms. Also on a personal level. Furthermore, it will mean an almost certain coup or uprising that can easily end up with him and his friends very dead. Fleeing isn't much of an option because there isn't any country that would be willing to take him un against the combined pressure of a united West. The final option is the nuclear one. Make threats and de-escalation strikes to scare NATO into backing down. The problem of this strategy is very obvious, but it is one of the few things that could see Putin and his clique keep their heads. Furthermore, Russian nuclear capabilities have been degraded, and given time, the Americans might very well invest quite a lot in developing a true first strike capability while Russia is an economic basketcase because of all the sanctions added to a lot of destruction and losses.

[hussar01]

A nuclear peace will see Russia isolated like not even in the Cold War. And with the fracking revolution going on in the US, Europe will turn to the US for its energy needs. Russia was once described as a mafia state with Putin as the top don. A mafia state that sells only two items, energy (Oil and Natural Gas) and weapons. Well, a nuclear peace will see it isolated from the energy market and no matter what else happens, who will buys weapons from a failed country with weapons systems that failed to beat their opponents.

[James G]

May 12, 2019 18:47:56 GMT hussar01 said:

Great update. The Georgia force would be great if they can advance but their purpose is to prevent the movement of these forces to the west and north and in this they are succeeding. When Russia looses, one gets the feeling that Gerogia will get all that and the breakaway provinces back anyway.
Cannot wait to see how Putin plans revenge. I am getting a vibe Putin will want to start lobbing nukes, and this might be a trigger for a palace coup?
As to the previous POW lists, don't forget the Croatians
Cannot also waite to see how Kaliningrad plays out. The Polish name is Królewiec. It will be Królewiec again. It would be fun if Polish combat engineers or MP's start planting signs using the name Królewiec to guide forces.

There was more hope for what happened, to see territory gained and a defeated enemy, but this is a front that Moscow didn't want to see opened up.
If Poland was to want Kaliningrad, would they want too all the Russians (and Belorussians too I believe) who live there as citizens? If not, they'd have to chuck them out: shades of 1945 there.

[James G]

May 12, 2019 18:57:16 GMT raunchel said:

These are some very interesting updates and by now, it should be clear all over the world that NATO now is winning. Not just because of the territory they're liberating and the victories in the field, but also the incredibly important psychological step of crossing the prewar border the other way around. This really is one of the decisive moments for the Russian regime because they have clearly failed their gamble and are now facing a military machine that's much stronger than they are (especially once the western economies get more mobilised. By PPP, Germany alone is stronger than Russia. Which isn't even counting the impossible powerhouse that is the USA or all of the other allies involved here). And the longer the war lasts, the greater the difference in capabilities will become.

This leaves Putin with three options. He can just keep fighting, following the common belief that the West is weak in spirit and can't stomach casualties (counterexample: every time they fought for vital interests and not minor colonial scuffles). Failing that, he can sue for some kind of peace. This has the big disadvantage of acknowledgement of the war being lost and probably, harsh terms. Also on a personal level. Furthermore, it will mean an almost certain coup or uprising that can easily end up with him and his friends very dead. Fleeing isn't much of an option because there isn't any country that would be willing to take him un against the combined pressure of a united West. The final option is the nuclear one. Make threats and de-escalation strikes to scare NATO into backing down. The problem of this strategy is very obvious, but it is one of the few things that could see Putin and his clique keep their heads. Furthermore, Russian nuclear capabilities have been degraded, and given time, the Americans might very well invest quite a lot in developing a true first strike capability while Russia is an economic basketcase because of all the sanctions added to a lot of destruction and losses.

The war was supposed to be long over by now. Moscow was supposed to be reaping the regards of victory and beginning to pick off European countries for trade deals, military cooperation, sticking a finger to the Americans etc. Things have gone the wrong way.
The strength of the West combined, if it has to, is quite something.

Putin will either make his own decisions on his terms of someone else will. However, it goes down, it won't be pretty. Russia will, regardless, still want to dictate terms... hich will kind of be a big problem for them.
You're probably correct about nuclear strength post-war too, which is rather concerning for everyone.

May 12, 2019 19:04:49 GMT hussar01 said:

A nuclear peace will see Russia isolated like not even in the Cold War. And with the fracking revolution going on in the US, Europe will turn to the US for its energy needs. Russia was once described as a mafia state with Putin as the top don. A mafia state that sells only two items, energy (Oil and Natural Gas) and weapons. Well, a nuclear peace will see it isolated from the energy market and no matter what else happens, who will buys weapons from a failed country with weapons systems that failed to beat their opponents.

With regards to military gear, should Russia be able to produce much, they won't be able to use the excuse "well it was only money models" like they did when Iraq's shiny Soviet gear got blown up. They've sent up their best against the West and, while getting some major licks in, their fancy tech is failing overall. Bad news.

[hussar01]

If Poland takes over, much of the Russians will leave voluntarily. The current population is ~450,000. Poland is 40,000,000. That is 1%. Many of the jobs are ited to the Russian state, with the Russian state gone, many will leave on their own accord. There are ways to do soft cleansing that will pretty much take care of that for Poland. That is not a problem for Poland to do. Polish banks will "finance" Polish business to open up shop. And these Polish business will import Polish workers and with the Russian goverment jobs gone and Polish workers coming in, this will be nothing like 1945. More like Croatia in 1995 where the Serbs left rather then live in Croatia. The same thing will happen in Kalilingrad.

[forcon]

One Hundred and Fifty Three

Debates continued in the capitals of Europe as the fighting went on. While there were disputes between many, both at the level of individual and at that of party, over how far NATO should go in its counteroffensive, and whether or not Russian territory should be seized. There plenty of people who saw the coming attack into Kaliningrad as an unnecessary risk, one which might lead to nuclear escalation, whereas others strongly believed it to be a military necessity. Further disputes took place regarding potential war crimes trials and how far those would go, with the general belief being that President Putin would be impossible to catch, while Belarusian President Lukashenko would be an easier target.

Lithuania’s government had largely been captured in Vilnius when that city had been surrounded. However, some figures, mainly members of parliament along with a few junior cabinet members, had made their way out of the country safely. There had been no organised NATO effort to extract them as had been done with the Latvian government, but enough individuals had made it out either by sea, air, or through the Suwalki Gap right before that strip of land had fallen into Russian hands. This government-in-exile was particularly virulent in its hatred towards Moscow; there were daily calls for rebellion in the occupied homeland, calls that would soon be answered.
Early in the morning, Vilnius was rocked by three explosions. A police station within the Lithuanian capital, currently being used by Russian troops as an occupation headquarters, was blown to smithereens by a smuggled explosive device, which killed ninety-four Russian soldiers.

Similarly, a Russian barracks outside the airport underwent an attack. This was not by a bomb, but rather by a force of nearly fifty men and women on the ground. Amongst them were twelve Green Berets, who had formed the civilians into an organised resistance group. Rocket-propelled grenades were fired into several guard posts and then the resistance fighters and American Special Forces had charged into the barracks room and slaughtered dozens of sleeping enemy personnel before withdrawing.

As dawn broke, resistance personnel, supported by US Army Special Forces and British SAS, struck numerous Russian checkpoints throughout Vilnius with hasty yet effective ambushes. Over three hundred Russian soldiers died during that morning, as attack after attack was mounted throughout the Lithuanian capital.

Many additional civilians took to the streets, armed with Molotov Cocktails and other makeshift weapons, not directly fighting the Russians, but occupying sites of historical importance and vowing to defend them to the death.
The Vilnius uprising was in full swing. Could those within the city capture it and hold it until NATO ground forces arrived?

Behind the British 3rd Mechanised Division came many other NATO units. They had reached the Suwalki Gap now, and liberated the Polish town of Suwalki itself; the task ahead of them was to cross the border into Lithuania and race for the Daugava River. The Germans, with their 1st Panzer Division, and the Americans with their 4th Mechanized Infantry, were the most powerful units to be following behind the British-led 3rd Division, but Croats, Belgians, Spaniards, and Portuguese were beside them in significant numbers. All of them had seen combat and yet more fighting was soon to come as they pushed through the gap into Lithuania.

That operation in itself would not be launched until midnight, however. Throughout the day, NATO units under Lt.-General Shirreff’s command recuperated and prepared for the assault. Reconnaissance units went in ahead of the ground forces. The Brigade Reconnaissance Force belonging to the British Army’s 19th Light Brigade crossed the border into Lithuania and began scouting out pathways for not just the brigade, or even the division, to cross into Lithuania, but for the entire corps.

Similarly, to the north, Polish and Dutch formations prepared to make entry into Kaliningrad. Resistance here was expected to be moderate. The Russians’ main frontline formations in the enclave had been formed into a division pre-war and that division had been beaten up very badly indeed while fighting the Polish 16th Mechanised Division, but enough forces remained in place to cause significant losses, and NATO intelligence showed that naval and air force personnel stationed in supporting roles in Kaliningrad were being forced into ad hoc rifle battalions in the expectation of a NATO invasion.

Meanwhile, in Latvia, the 82nd Airborne Division and its newly-formed counterpart, the British 6th Airmobile Division were holding out. Pressure had been kept up on those two divisions, with the British, along with their Canadian and Belgian allies, in the south at Daugavpils, and the Americans further north along the banks of the river to prevent a Russian withdrawal through Latvia. Both divisions had been able to successfully offset their precarious, bordering on dire, situation.

While the presence of enemy armour had put those light infantry units that were first on the ground into a very vulnerable position, the arrival by air of numerous (if relatively small) heavy units such as the US 170th Brigade and the Canadian 1st Mechanised Brigade Group had made the situation more tenable. With the British Army in position to hold off Belarusian armoured attacks from across the border further south and the Americans continuing to skirmish with Russian paratroopers in their own positions, one of the key worries for the XVIII Airborne Corps was the effective insurgency going on around them, both outside of Allied lines and within the airhead.

This was being mounted largely by Russian ‘volunteers’, including many Cossacks, Tartars, and others. Mortars and small-arms were used by these militia units in coherence with attack helicopters and mechanised infantry from the official Russian Army. Casualties continued to mount, but by now the airport outside Daugavpils was fully functional and, under heavy jamming protection, transport aircraft of the US Air Force, RAF, and the Royal Canadian Air Force were all flying in reinforcements, equipment, and ammunition, as well as evacuating casualties.

The airhead was beginning to look as though it would hold.

[James G]

One Hundred and Fifty–Four

Benghazi, Libya’s second city across in the eastern half of the country, had been subjected to air attacks by NATO aircraft during Gaddafi’s conflict with the Coalition. There had been bombings of military bases outside the city while within, the military compound of Katiba had been flattened by repeated strikes by the Armee de l’Air. As the French had done with the Bab al-Azizia inside Tripoli, they had struck here at a centre of regime power – physical but also symbolic – right in the middle of the city. Blowing up the fortified Katiba where troops were garrisoned had been seen, heard and felt by those in Benghazi. The repeated attacks came against a backdrop of other violence in the city.

With Libya at war, the country was under immense strain away from the actual conflict that it had already decisively lost. Libya wasn’t exporting oil and wasn’t importing food. There was no money and there was nothing to eat. When the people complained, the regime cracked down. Protests were met with gunfire. A cycle of violence had started with this and wouldn’t cease. In Benghazi, the numbers of the dead from the regime violence against civilians was in the hundreds. The people of city kept on coming out to protest and demand no longer just food but an end to the regime too now. When they did, they were shot at. Places such as one of the city’s central squares, Maydan al Shajara, but also the road outside the mansion which was the home of the city’s mayor would run with blood. Huma Ben Amer was the mayor of Benghazi. She was infamous throughout Libya and had been given the name ‘Huma the Executioner’ after an incident back in 1984 when she impressed Gaddafi by graphically assisting in a hanging of a regime opponent on live television when just an ordinary citizen. Being the ‘right sort’ of character for his revolutionary regime, she had been richly rewarded: Benghazi was her fiefdom to enrich herself from but also oppress. Huma the Executioner had been living up to her apt sobriquet since the war had brought protests. Those who wanted to openly protest were shot down but there too were other actions taken on her orders throughout Benghazi including public executions. Any sign of opposition to the regime – from teenagers with graffiti against the regime to complaints about the lack of electricity leading to people refusing to pay their bills – were met with more violence. The protesters had moved against her opulent home and she had brought in soldiers with machine guns who had then afterwards bayonetted those who survived the fusillade of fire.

On August 29th, getting nowhere with protesting, a dedicated group of regime opponents blew her up. They got her when she was in her armoured car as part of a well-defended convoy. A trio of volunteers using vehicles of their own to crash into the convoy with explosives rigged to them and their cars. Huma the Executioner was dead but so too were many others. From Tripoli, among many of his verbal tirades against the West in recent weeks, Gaddafi had said that attacks against Libya would only ‘embolden terrorists’ and had had specially mentioned Al Qaeda. This wasn’t an Al Qaeda attack but it had all of the hallmarks of one. Gaddafi was correct in what he had said too on matters such as terror groups: all across Libya, they were organising, arming and getting ready to commit attacks similar to the one undertaken in Benghazi by local radicals. Of course, he had other things to say as well. There was bravado concerning how Libya was winning the war along with promises to flood Europe with ‘African refugees’. This second matter was something serious and a threat which could be carried out. He was sure this would break the will of Italy especially to carry on the fight: for many years now, Berlusconi’s government had been having dealings with Gaddafi that made sure that wouldn’t happen. The response to this across Europe was the opposite of what Gaddafi intended though. It only hardened resolve to see the end of his regime… and also go in there and stop that flood from occurring.

After the slaying of Huma the Executioner, that Sunday saw immense trouble take place throughout the city which she had ruled over with an iron fist beforehand. It had been the signal that brought Benghazi out in full revolt. The first shots of the revolution had now been fired, it would be claimed, despite what others would say about those occurring sometime previously. Regardless, Benghazi was alive with revolt. Officials fled and so too did many military officers. Conscript soldiers who had before been firing on civilian protesters, rebelled against the regime. They killed many of their own superiors though the quick-thinking ones made daring escapes out of the city. Things happened very fast. Regime control over Benghazi collapsed pretty quickly. Inside there, several groups would vie for control. The regime had been effective at cracking down on opposition leaders but others remained alive. They were talking and seeking to organise taking over. Big personalities and different priorities were involved in this though. There was too the presence of radicals in Benghazi who would broke no compromise with anyone when it came to sharing the power that they wanted for themselves.

From afar, NATO and the Coalition were watching Benghazi.

At the urging of President Sarkozy, plans were underway to make a landing inside Libya and this would be done in conjunction with Egypt entering the Coalition – the Americans had brokered that deal – while invading Libya too. The situation inside Benghazi was important in all of this because it was the gateway to eastern Libya. The idea was to land here and take control of much of the Cyrenaica region by doing so. Regime control was known to be weak with military forces blown apart. There were access points through the international airport plus also military airfields: further airheads were elsewhere. The French intended to take the lead and land here alongside the Italians and Spanish with Portugal and especially the United States providing assistance afterwards. In distant flank support of the Benghazi landings, the French were too aiming to land at Sirte while the Egyptians would pour across the border going both along the coast to Tobruk but also across the desert to reach Benghazi as well. Doing this was still some time away. The forces assigned were ready but the logistics still needed sorting and there was too the task of gaining further intelligence. Concerns had been expressed about arriving in a dangerous situation where it wasn’t just the Libyan regime as an opponent but others too. Seeing the violence break out so strong, there was now some worry on that latter note. Who were these people who had committed such a lethal terror attack against Benghazi’s mayor? How would they respond to NATO troops arriving in the city?

The operation wasn’t put on hold nor delayed but further attention as being paid to the situation on the ground. Maybe it should have been delayed though and there were some who cautioned that it should be. Politics were pushing for the invasion to get started and intelligence officials came under pressure to deliver the ‘right’ conclusions to match political expectations. This shouldn’t have been done but it was happening nonetheless.


In Lebanon, Israeli forces remained fighting Hezbollah where they met them. They weren’t marching on Beirut nor heading for the Beqaa Valley but instead staying inside the southern half of that nation and fighting against this lone opponent. Lebanese security forces had fled, joining countless civilians in getting away, while Hezbollah stayed where they were. There was increasingly Iranian assistance to them coming from afar despite Israeli efforts to stop that using air strikes far afield while also undertaking commando actions. Airheads for landing supplies of weapons and bringing in volunteers across Lebanon and Syria to join this fight were hit and the Americans kept Iraqi airspace closed but it was through Turkey that Iran had access to support Hezbollah. The Israeli Government was unable to close that Turkish route though carried on doing what it could closer to the frontlines. Hezbollah was losing fighters by the thousands but they kept on fighting. They could no longer fire rockets into northern Israel and had been pushed deep into the Lebanese countryside under the barrage of combined arms warfare yet on they fought. Israeli casualties were far lower than those Hezbollah (and also Lebanese civilians caught in crossfire) had taken. However, they continued to mount with deaths and injuries occurring. The Israeli Defence Forces, the army especially, was a volunteer-based force but still morale sunk. It went down even further when it came to those missing. Hezbollah spent a lot of effort in taking Israeli captives – taking losses of their own aplenty just to snatch people – and then getting them away from the battlefield. Israeli special forces rescued some, taking losses while doing so, and thus stopped the disappearances of them. However, many more vanished. They could have been anywhere: Lebanon, Syria or Iran.

The fighting in Lebanon went on and on with no end in sight to it.

Israel was becoming open to the idea of seeing an ending to the war in Syria. They’d won there, their objectives had been fulfilled. Syria’s air and missile forces had been smashed apart while Russian forces in the country had been all but wiped out with no reinforcement possible. Russia couldn’t help its own gutted forces in-country let alone the Syrian regime. What Netanyahu in Tel Aviv had wanted to see done had been achieved. Hezbollah was a different enemy, one to be destroyed, but bringing down the regime of Assad wasn’t desired. ‘Helping’ Israel understand this had been the recent mission of the Biden Administration. Kerry and Warner had both been active on this matter with the latter, the secretary of state, currently in Israel. Mark Warner spoke of the fears of the United States should the Assad regime come down as well as telling the Israelis that there was no American wish for their own troops to remain fighting inside Syria for much longer. The bigger war with Russia continued and while Israel wouldn’t be abandoned, America wouldn’t be involved in a never-ending war on-the-ground in Syria when all objectives had been met here. Netanyahu wasn’t one to be pushed about by Washington yet he was in agreement. Israel had access to the same information that the Americans had when it came to the internal pressures that Assad was under. There had been protests in many parts of Syria, Damascus especially, over access to food and medicines. The people were hungry and getting desperate. Regime efforts to turn their rage towards the hated ‘Zionists and American Imperialists’ had only been partially-successful. None of this had been helped when protesters had been shot. There was too the long, open Syrian-Iraqi border. In the skies, the US Air Force could close that but over it at ground level across were going fighters for the two wars raging. There were people moving both ways – to the fighting in each country including Syrian nationals going to each – but the movement into Syria worried Tel Aviv and Washington.

No one wanted to see a civil war in Syria though this was for their own purposes, not the people who lived there.

There had already been contact made through backchannels with the Assad regime that Israeli diplomats & intelligence officials had using Jordanian and Saudi intermediaries. These were used again. An approach was made, one which the United States was fully onboard with… and the rest of the Coalition was only partly aware of. Israel was willing to cease the fighting and talk about conditions of a withdrawal. The opening terms were considered by Netanyahu to be generous. The Syrians were expected to be difficult but were thought to be willing to come around in the end. They had to understand the bad situation they were in. They had to be willing to talk, surely?

Whether Assad was willing to or not, it didn’t matter. Things had gone too far. Syria was at breaking point and the regime had run out of time. What had happened in Libya was going to be repeated, though on a far bigger scale. If Israel, the United States and the Coalition thought that they were going to walk away from Syria unscathed, they were dead wrong.

[forcon]

One Hundred and Forty Seven

Following the attempted uprising by the Taliban that had rocked Kabul, the Afghan capital, earlier during the war, NATO and Coalition forces had briefly returned their focus to fighting that long-lasting insurgency. A feeling of victory over Russian forces in the region existed amongst certain Central Command officers following the initial skirmishes along the Afghan-Tajikistan border, which had been followed up with raids by B-52 strategic bombers.

Allied officers had in some cases simply wanted to believe that victory had been achieved over their foes. The 10th Mountain Division, along with Britain’s 4th Mechanised Brigade and several US Marine Corps units, were still positioned along the Afghan border with Moscow’s erstwhile ally, Tajikistan.

The two Russian divisions stationed there, the 7th Guards Air Assault Division & the 201st Motorised Rifle Division, had fought along the border and pushed briefly into several mountain areas of Afghanistan before being pushed back. Those B-52 strikes from Diego Garcia were almost impossible to resist, with Tajikistan’s air defence network almost non-existent even before the Coalition had mounted its first strikes there. It looked, briefly, as though victory had been achieved.

Now, as NATO forces launched their offensives in Poland, Norway, and the Pacific, fighting re-erupted in Central Asia in a spectacular fashion.

The 7th Guards Division, restocked and reinvigorated by air, launched a sudden offensive across the Panj River, moving by helicopter and amphibious BMD fighting vehicles. Almost immediately, Navy SEAL teams positioned in the area caught glimpses of the moving Russian troops. Airstrikes were called in straight away; AV-8B Harrier strike planes of the US Marine Corps came in first, along with Cobra gunships and Army AH-64Ds as well.

More capable F-16s came later, and so too did B-52s from Diego Garcia; those heavy bombers traversed Pakistani airspace, with Islamabad in the full knowledge that their interception would not be tolerated by the US Air Force. While this was seen by many as a display of arrogance, it did allow for strategic air support to arrive within hours of the initial Russian border crossings.

British troops, those belonging to the 4th Mechanised Brigade, moved northwards and were the first to engage the 7th Guards Division on the ground.

Their limited number of tanks were superbly effective against Russian BMD-3s, although the Warrior fighting vehicles and Land Rover vehicles also utilised by the 4th Brigade were largely ineffective against missile-armed BMD fighting vehicles. Tank shells and guided anti-tank missiles screamed across the Afghan mountains, bringing full-scale ‘peer level’ combat to Afghanistan in a way that had not yet been seen throughout the Coalition occupation of that country.

US Marine Corps personnel with their 3rd Regiment quickly moved in by helicopter and assaulted the western flanks of the 7th Division’s advance. Their Huey and Sea Knight helicopters came them superior mobility to the Russians, who had only a few Hind and Hip aircraft, most of which were ruthlessly hunted down and eliminated by the Harrier’s armed with Sidewinder missiles.

The sudden attack by the 3rd Marine Regiment broke the Russian advance up as it neared Kunduz.

The paratroopers suddenly found themselves scrambling to defend their flanks as American troops attacked from the west and British soldiers, much more heavily armed, counterattacked from Kunduz and moved the frontlines northwards, away from the Russians’ objectives.

F-16s then bombed the two main bridges over the Panj that the Russians had used; that was nothing compared to what was coming.

Those B-52s from Diego Garcia again attacked Tajikistan. Armed, like the bombers that had struck in Poland, with various different munitions, primarily Mark-82 cluster bombs, they struck not the 7th Division, but rather the 201st Motorised Division. Already understrength after the previous Coalition air attacks into Tajikistan, the 201st Division came under a truly relentless pummelling as it waited on the northern side of the Panj to exploit the potential successes of the air assault troops.

This time, the 21st Division ceased to exist as a fighting formation. Navy SEALs and German KSK personnel had crossed the border into Tajikistan in several swiftly-authorised helicopter deployments, and hidden in the mountains, they were able to guide in the airstrikes and then report on the damage suffered below, which turned out to be far more extensive than anybody could have anticipated.

Thousands of bombs rained down on the Russian troops, obliterating virtually all of their T-72s, BTRs & BMPs, as well as trucks and command vehicles.

One lucky shot by an undiscovered SA-8 battery managed to shoot down a lumbering and vulnerable B-52, but that single aircraft loss was more than worthy of the damage that had been inflicted.

[crackpot]

Arc Light! Beware the BUFF!

[James G]

May 16, 2019 10:36:49 GMT crackpot said:

Arc Light! Beware the BUFF!

Just be careful that one doesn't crash into your hill. 

[James G]

One Hundred and Fifty–Six

In the years following the war, many films would be released by Hollywood studios which touched upon subjects of the Third World War. One of those was the production Precision. This was meant to be a summer blockbuster, an action film that would rake in loads of money and maybe even awards too. It was a big budget flop. Production issues including the first director leaving midway through filming, distribution issues, a high-profile lawsuit and a personal scandal involving the lead male star on the opening weekend all hurt. Precision was something soon forgotten by many yet a cautionary tale for others about how not to make a war film.

The line ‘Based on a true story’ was used in the production and release of the film. That was stretching things quite a bit! Precision centred upon an attack by Russian commandos in the Panama Canal and the successful effort made by US Navy SEALs to stop them from blocking this wartime strategic waterway. This happened. One of those SEALs, who won the Medal of Honor for his actions yet then inflamed the wrath of the Pentagon (helping to bring about to that lawsuit from others involved in what happened in Panama) when writing a best-selling book about it all, was involved in the making of the film. Despite his presence, not much of the truth of the events were depicted in the screenplay. There was no cooperation from the Pentagon and neither the Panamanian authorities too. The studio didn’t have access to still-secret information post-war and that could have excused some of the film but that former SEAL’s presence didn’t nor some of the other glaring inadequacies with the production. Precision moved the Spetsnaz strike to the opening of the war rather than three plus weeks in. It made out that things were closer than they really were, that the Russians nearly achieved all that they intended to as well. In typical Hollywood fashion, only at the last moment were they stopped. That wasn’t what happened. Because it was a film meant for entertainment – ‘based on a true story’ notwithstanding – it told a different story for dramatic effect. The male lead in the film was one of those SEALs (based on that former US Navy officer who was being sued) who was there but there was a female lead in the form of a stunningly attractive naval intelligence officer: she was fictional. Their relationship, the love story, was just made up. No one like her on-the-ground in Panama was shouting warnings that only the heroic male lead would listen to nor did her daring actions at the last minute save the day. If there had been someone like her present in Panama when the real events happened, she wouldn’t have spent most of her time on the beach in a swimsuit (a shot of that, with a CGI-enhanced cleavage was on the movie promotional poster) nor would the SEAL have had the plentiful time off duty to romance her nor share the many secrets he did. As to the film’s lead baddie, he was an archetypal villain by Hollywood standards. Played by a Scandinavian actor, with a Russian accent mocked by reviewers, he spent much of his time in Panama either at cocktail parties, running across rooftops being chased by the hero and then ogling & leering at the female lead when he took her prisoner before her rescue and her subsequently doing what she did to save the day and get her man. None of the Spetsnaz in Panama had any time for any of that silliness. In the gunfights – among the many explosions – the Russians couldn’t shoot straight despite firing masses of bullets from assault rifles which never needed a new magazine while the Americans always shot true. All of the Russians died in the end of the film, including the baddie right at the end – after he’d told his captive his plan too – while the Americans only had one man shot and he survived too, saved by the male heroic lead among all of his other feats. In reality, as done elsewhere, the Spetsnaz used poison-tipped bullets that took the lives of anyone shot and they could shoot straight too. Eight Americans were killed in Panama along with a whole load of other people as well… none mentioned in the abomination which was Precision. At the end, the male & female leads shared a kiss and then the credits rolled to give a happy ending.

Precision was a terrible film. It was laughable too, not in a good way. There was a wartime Spetsnaz attack in Panama though which a team of SEALs did halt. That film also missed out important bits such as how the Russians got to the Panama Canal, how the Americans discovered that planned attack and also what happened afterwards.

*

The Russian commando team came up to Panama from Peru. The Peruvian government had no idea that the Spetsnaz team had staged out of their country. In Lima, like capitals across Latin America, neutrality in the global conflict elsewhere was sought. Even regimes such as Castro’s in Cuba and Chavez’s in Venezuela did all that they could to stay out. They all feared war coming to their shores – public bravado from some aside, especially in the ‘pink tide’ countries – after watching what was happening with Russia. American aircraft had put bombs into the heart of Moscow and smashed the Russian armed forces to pieces. Only a fool would fight the United States unless they had no other choice. There were non-state actors who had a presence in Latin America though, the multi-national drug cartels. For hefty sums of cash as well as access to weaponry, with the added addition of immense stupidity, a couple of the cartel leaders had got involved with the GRU and the SVR. Peru might not be a nation which would spring to mind when thinking of the international drug trade, but it was an important country for that business. The cartels had a presence there and Russia’s intelligence agencies had been making use of their facilities and smuggling routes.

A private aircraft had taken the Spetsnaz to Panama. They’d met there with in-country contacts and been issued with weapons. Their commander was briefed by his GRU superior on the final details of their mission. He was told the truth: things had gotten far more complicated than originally foreseen. The chances of success had been lowered significantly. Nonetheless, the orders still stood. A ship transiting the Panama Canal was to be hijacked and used to block this international waterway for the passage of other ships. In addition, using the cover of that attack, explosives would be employed to then do serious damage to the infrastructure of the canal. Improvised blockships can be a challenge for military engineers to clear yet can be dealt with: Russia was aiming to do more than that.

The final go-order came through and the Russian commandos went into action… and the Americans had their SEALs waiting for them.

The United States’ government agencies had their own wartime contacts with the drug cartels. Things not done in peacetime due to political reasons were now being done in wartime. The Russians had been shown to have made use of them already and therefore the danger that these non-state actors posed classified them as a security threat of the highest order. Those who were willing to work with the United States wouldn’t be targeted for destruction like those who refused to. Organisations such as the CIA, the DIA, the FBI and the NSA used information from the DEA and ICE – so many acronyms! – to establish contact with leaders and senior people in several of the cartels to find out who was working for the Russians and who wasn’t. Information flowed in when the cartels received assurances and also fully understood that the gloves had come off when it came to how the Americans were prepared to act. In a flurry, they were selling each other out. There were many in the DEA and ICE who were left rather unhappy at some of the things that happened and issued dire warnings for the future, but for now at least half of the main drug cartels were working for the United States. Of course, there was much duplicity here – on both sides – but information was flowing. The Peru connection was identified and while late and with little concrete information, those Spetsnaz were identified as having made it to Panama. Their exact location wasn’t known and nor was what they were going to do but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that they posed a threat to the Panama Canal. It was being used by American and Coalition shipping to support the global conflict. Why wouldn’t Russia want to put a dent into that movement of goods that was helping to defeat them? Taken from Task Force Hunter, the combined grouping of special forces & intelligence operatives who’d taken down Obama’s killers but been only partially active since, were SEALs who were flown down to Panama. Both Nunn and Warner had much contact with their opposite numbers down in that small country while Biden personally spoke with President Martinelli. Panama’s leader agreed that the canal needed defending against an attack, one which the Americans told him was imminent, and while there was a lot of back-and-forth due to politics, Panama would cooperate with the United States to stop an attack. This shipping route was the lifeblood of Panama and to see it blocked would damage Panama’s economy (perhaps fatally) as much as it would hurt America’s warfighting capability.

Knowing it likely that the Russians were soon to attack the canal by taking over a ship was one thing; knowing which ship, exactly where and exactly when was something else. Contacts were leaned on heavily by the US Intelligence Community in Panama, Mexico and elsewhere but that information didn’t come until the very last moment. With hours to spare, thanks to a man in Panama who gave his life to get that information to the United States, the SEALs were tipped off.

It was the SS Ocean Goliath that the Russians were to attack as it approached the Gatun Locks after transiting west-to-east through the Panama Canal as part of a convoy of ships laden with military stores. The SEALs were covertly dispatched to the ship as well as the area around those lock gates at the Atlantic side of the canal. When the attack came, the Russians used speedboats while attempting to board the Ocean Goliath. They had a good plan and it should have worked. After taking the ship, they would have killed every crew member aboard then rammed the targeted lock gates while turning the ship sideways before opening the seacocks. Armed men laden with satchel charges were then meant to get off and start blowing up key parts of the infrastructure surrounding the gates’ operation rather than those huge structures themselves. But the Spetsnaz couldn’t get aboard the Ocean Goliath. Snipers aboard spotted them using night-scopes and opened fire. A pair of helicopters turned up and from them mini-guns as well as aloft snipers also fired on the Russians. The two speedboats were sunk and the Russians took terrible losses. They kept on trying, unaware of how many of their men were dead, but failed. So much for how that post-war movie depicted things!

Faced with such murderous defensive fire, the few remaining Spetsnaz eventually abandoned the mission and attempted to flee. The Americans pursued them: it had been agreed that Panamanian security forces would stay out of this though there were conditions attached there. The United States couldn’t do what it wanted inside Panama. Martinelli, a populist, wouldn’t accept that not with the complicated history when it came to America and Panama. Still, the SEALs hunted down those who fled. The killed some more though gained some captives as well. In doing so, they took their own casualties too. One SEAL had been shot when aboard the Ocean Goliath (as in the movie) but seven more were killed when an RPG exploded on contact with the tail rotor of one of the stealthy – and secretive – Black Hawks used in that pursuit, bringing it down into a fiery crash.

Recriminations would come for this despite the successful blunting of that attempted attack. Those across Latin America who had and continued to aid Russia would be on the receiving end of them. It wouldn’t be pretty.

[lordroel]

May 16, 2019 18:31:22 GMT James G said:

One Hundred and Fifty–Six

In the years following the war, many films would be released by Hollywood studios which touched upon subjects of the Third World War. One of those was the production Precision. This was meant to be a summer blockbuster, an action film that would rake in loads of money and maybe even awards too. It was a big budget flop. Production issues including the first director leaving midway through filming, distribution issues, a high-profile lawsuit and a personal scandal involving the lead male star on the opening weekend all hurt. Precision was something soon forgotten by many yet a cautionary tale for others about how not to make a war film.

The line ‘Based on a true story’ was used in the production and release of the film. That was stretching things quite a bit! Precision centred upon an attack by Russian commandos in the Panama Canal and the successful effort made by US Navy SEALs to stop them from blocking this wartime strategic waterway. This happened. One of those SEALs, who won the Medal of Honor for his actions yet then inflamed the wrath of the Pentagon (helping to bring about to that lawsuit from others involved in what happened in Panama) when writing a best-selling book about it all, was involved in the making of the film. Despite his presence, not much of the truth of the events were depicted in the screenplay. There was no cooperation from the Pentagon and neither the Panamanian authorities too. The studio didn’t have access to still-secret information post-war and that could have excused some of the film but that former SEAL’s presence didn’t nor some of the other glaring inadequacies with the production. Precision moved the Spetsnaz strike to the opening of the war rather than three plus weeks in. It made out that things were closer than they really were, that the Russians nearly achieved all that they intended to as well. In typical Hollywood fashion, only at the last moment were they stopped. That wasn’t what happened. Because it was a film meant for entertainment – ‘based on a true story’ notwithstanding – it told a different story for dramatic effect. The male lead in the film was one of those SEALs (based on that former US Navy officer who was being sued) who was there but there was a female lead in the form of a stunningly attractive naval intelligence officer: she was fictional. Their relationship, the love story, was just made up. No one like her on-the-ground in Panama was shouting warnings that only the heroic male lead would listen to nor did her daring actions at the last minute save the day. If there had been someone like her present in Panama when the real events happened, she wouldn’t have spent most of her time on the beach in a swimsuit (a shot of that, with a CGI-enhanced cleavage was on the movie promotional poster) nor would the SEAL have had the plentiful time off duty to romance her nor share the many secrets he did. As to the film’s lead baddie, he was an archetypal villain by Hollywood standards. Played by a Scandinavian actor, with a Russian accent mocked by reviewers, he spent much of his time in Panama either at cocktail parties, running across rooftops being chased by the hero and then ogling & leering at the female lead when he took her prisoner before her rescue and her subsequently doing what she did to save the day and get her man. None of the Spetsnaz in Panama had any time for any of that silliness. In the gunfights – among the many explosions – the Russians couldn’t shoot straight despite firing masses of bullets from assault rifles which never needed a new magazine while the Americans always shot true. All of the Russians died in the end of the film, including the baddie right at the end – after he’d told his captive his plan too – while the Americans only had one man shot and he survived too, saved by the male heroic lead among all of his other feats. In reality, as done elsewhere, the Spetsnaz used poison-tipped bullets that took the lives of anyone shot and they could shoot straight too. Eight Americans were killed in Panama along with a whole load of other people as well… none mentioned in the abomination which was Precision. At the end, the male & female leads shared a kiss and then the credits rolled to give a happy ending.

Precision was a terrible film. It was laughable too, not in a good way. There was a wartime Spetsnaz attack in Panama though which a team of SEALs did halt. That film also missed out important bits such as how the Russians got to the Panama Canal, how the Americans discovered that planned attack and also what happened afterwards.

*

The Russian commando team came up to Panama from Peru. The Peruvian government had no idea that the Spetsnaz team had staged out of their country. In Lima, like capitals across Latin America, neutrality in the global conflict elsewhere was sought. Even regimes such as Castro’s in Cuba and Chavez’s in Venezuela did all that they could to stay out. They all feared war coming to their shores – public bravado from some aside, especially in the ‘pink tide’ countries – after watching what was happening with Russia. American aircraft had put bombs into the heart of Moscow and smashed the Russian armed forces to pieces. Only a fool would fight the United States unless they had no other choice. There were non-state actors who had a presence in Latin America though, the multi-national drug cartels. For hefty sums of cash as well as access to weaponry, with the added addition of immense stupidity, a couple of the cartel leaders had got involved with the GRU and the SVR. Peru might not be a nation which would spring to mind when thinking of the international drug trade, but it was an important country for that business. The cartels had a presence there and Russia’s intelligence agencies had been making use of their facilities and smuggling routes.

A private aircraft had taken the Spetsnaz to Panama. They’d met there with in-country contacts and been issued with weapons. Their commander was briefed by his GRU superior on the final details of their mission. He was told the truth: things had gotten far more complicated than originally foreseen. The chances of success had been lowered significantly. Nonetheless, the orders still stood. A ship transiting the Panama Canal was to be hijacked and used to block this international waterway for the passage of other ships. In addition, using the cover of that attack, explosives would be employed to then do serious damage to the infrastructure of the canal. Improvised blockships can be a challenge for military engineers to clear yet can be dealt with: Russia was aiming to do more than that.

The final go-order came through and the Russian commandos went into action… and the Americans had their SEALs waiting for them.

The United States’ government agencies had their own wartime contacts with the drug cartels. Things not done in peacetime due to political reasons were now being done in wartime. The Russians had been shown to have made use of them already and therefore the danger that these non-state actors posed classified them as a security threat of the highest order. Those who were willing to work with the United States wouldn’t be targeted for destruction like those who refused to. Organisations such as the CIA, the DIA, the FBI and the NSA used information from the DEA and ICE – so many acronyms! – to establish contact with leaders and senior people in several of the cartels to find out who was working for the Russians and who wasn’t. Information flowed in when the cartels received assurances and also fully understood that the gloves had come off when it came to how the Americans were prepared to act. In a flurry, they were selling each other out. There were many in the DEA and ICE who were left rather unhappy at some of the things that happened and issued dire warnings for the future, but for now at least half of the main drug cartels were working for the United States. Of course, there was much duplicity here – on both sides – but information was flowing. The Peru connection was identified and while late and with little concrete information, those Spetsnaz were identified as having made it to Panama. Their exact location wasn’t known and nor was what they were going to do but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that they posed a threat to the Panama Canal. It was being used by American and Coalition shipping to support the global conflict. Why wouldn’t Russia want to put a dent into that movement of goods that was helping to defeat them? Taken from Task Force Hunter, the combined grouping of special forces & intelligence operatives who’d taken down Obama’s killers but been only partially active since, were SEALs who were flown down to Panama. Both Nunn and Warner had much contact with their opposite numbers down in that small country while Biden personally spoke with President Martinelli. Panama’s leader agreed that the canal needed defending against an attack, one which the Americans told him was imminent, and while there was a lot of back-and-forth due to politics, Panama would cooperate with the United States to stop an attack. This shipping route was the lifeblood of Panama and to see it blocked would damage Panama’s economy (perhaps fatally) as much as it would hurt America’s warfighting capability.

Knowing it likely that the Russians were soon to attack the canal by taking over a ship was one thing; knowing which ship, exactly where and exactly when was something else. Contacts were leaned on heavily by the US Intelligence Community in Panama, Mexico and elsewhere but that information didn’t come until the very last moment. With hours to spare, thanks to a man in Panama who gave his life to get that information to the United States, the SEALs were tipped off.

It was the SS Ocean Goliath that the Russians were to attack as it approached the Gatun Locks after transiting west-to-east through the Panama Canal as part of a convoy of ships laden with military stores. The SEALs were covertly dispatched to the ship as well as the area around those lock gates at the Atlantic side of the canal. When the attack came, the Russians used speedboats while attempting to board the Ocean Goliath. They had a good plan and it should have worked. After taking the ship, they would have killed every crew member aboard then rammed the targeted lock gates while turning the ship sideways before opening the seacocks. Armed men laden with satchel charges were then meant to get off and start blowing up key parts of the infrastructure surrounding the gates’ operation rather than those huge structures themselves. But the Spetsnaz couldn’t get aboard the Ocean Goliath. Snipers aboard spotted them using night-scopes and opened fire. A pair of helicopters turned up and from them mini-guns as well as aloft snipers also fired on the Russians. The two speedboats were sunk and the Russians took terrible losses. They kept on trying, unaware of how many of their men were dead, but failed. So much for how that post-war movie depicted things!

Faced with such murderous defensive fire, the few remaining Spetsnaz eventually abandoned the mission and attempted to flee. The Americans pursued them: it had been agreed that Panamanian security forces would stay out of this though there were conditions attached there. The United States couldn’t do what it wanted inside Panama. Martinelli, a populist, wouldn’t accept that not with the complicated history when it came to America and Panama. Still, the SEALs hunted down those who fled. The killed some more though gained some captives as well. In doing so, they took their own casualties too. One SEAL had been shot when aboard the Ocean Goliath (as in the movie) but seven more were killed when an RPG exploded on contact with the tail rotor of one of the stealthy – and secretive – Black Hawks used in that pursuit, bringing it down into a fiery crash.

Recriminations would come for this despite the successful blunting of that attempted attack. Those across Latin America who had and continued to aid Russia would be on the receiving end of them. It wouldn’t be pretty.

Good update James G,

[James G]

May 16, 2019 19:14:51 GMT lordroel said:

May 16, 2019 18:31:22 GMT James G said:

One Hundred and Fifty–Six

In the years following the war, many films would be released by Hollywood studios which touched upon subjects of the Third World War. One of those was the production Precision. This was meant to be a summer blockbuster, an action film that would rake in loads of money and maybe even awards too. It was a big budget flop. Production issues including the first director leaving midway through filming, distribution issues, a high-profile lawsuit and a personal scandal involving the lead male star on the opening weekend all hurt. Precision was something soon forgotten by many yet a cautionary tale for others about how not to make a war film.

The line ‘Based on a true story’ was used in the production and release of the film. That was stretching things quite a bit! Precision centred upon an attack by Russian commandos in the Panama Canal and the successful effort made by US Navy SEALs to stop them from blocking this wartime strategic waterway. This happened. One of those SEALs, who won the Medal of Honor for his actions yet then inflamed the wrath of the Pentagon (helping to bring about to that lawsuit from others involved in what happened in Panama) when writing a best-selling book about it all, was involved in the making of the film. Despite his presence, not much of the truth of the events were depicted in the screenplay. There was no cooperation from the Pentagon and neither the Panamanian authorities too. The studio didn’t have access to still-secret information post-war and that could have excused some of the film but that former SEAL’s presence didn’t nor some of the other glaring inadequacies with the production. Precision moved the Spetsnaz strike to the opening of the war rather than three plus weeks in. It made out that things were closer than they really were, that the Russians nearly achieved all that they intended to as well. In typical Hollywood fashion, only at the last moment were they stopped. That wasn’t what happened. Because it was a film meant for entertainment – ‘based on a true story’ notwithstanding – it told a different story for dramatic effect. The male lead in the film was one of those SEALs (based on that former US Navy officer who was being sued) who was there but there was a female lead in the form of a stunningly attractive naval intelligence officer: she was fictional. Their relationship, the love story, was just made up. No one like her on-the-ground in Panama was shouting warnings that only the heroic male lead would listen to nor did her daring actions at the last minute save the day. If there had been someone like her present in Panama when the real events happened, she wouldn’t have spent most of her time on the beach in a swimsuit (a shot of that, with a CGI-enhanced cleavage was on the movie promotional poster) nor would the SEAL have had the plentiful time off duty to romance her nor share the many secrets he did. As to the film’s lead baddie, he was an archetypal villain by Hollywood standards. Played by a Scandinavian actor, with a Russian accent mocked by reviewers, he spent much of his time in Panama either at cocktail parties, running across rooftops being chased by the hero and then ogling & leering at the female lead when he took her prisoner before her rescue and her subsequently doing what she did to save the day and get her man. None of the Spetsnaz in Panama had any time for any of that silliness. In the gunfights – among the many explosions – the Russians couldn’t shoot straight despite firing masses of bullets from assault rifles which never needed a new magazine while the Americans always shot true. All of the Russians died in the end of the film, including the baddie right at the end – after he’d told his captive his plan too – while the Americans only had one man shot and he survived too, saved by the male heroic lead among all of his other feats. In reality, as done elsewhere, the Spetsnaz used poison-tipped bullets that took the lives of anyone shot and they could shoot straight too. Eight Americans were killed in Panama along with a whole load of other people as well… none mentioned in the abomination which was Precision. At the end, the male & female leads shared a kiss and then the credits rolled to give a happy ending.

Precision was a terrible film. It was laughable too, not in a good way. There was a wartime Spetsnaz attack in Panama though which a team of SEALs did halt. That film also missed out important bits such as how the Russians got to the Panama Canal, how the Americans discovered that planned attack and also what happened afterwards.

*

The Russian commando team came up to Panama from Peru. The Peruvian government had no idea that the Spetsnaz team had staged out of their country. In Lima, like capitals across Latin America, neutrality in the global conflict elsewhere was sought. Even regimes such as Castro’s in Cuba and Chavez’s in Venezuela did all that they could to stay out. They all feared war coming to their shores – public bravado from some aside, especially in the ‘pink tide’ countries – after watching what was happening with Russia. American aircraft had put bombs into the heart of Moscow and smashed the Russian armed forces to pieces. Only a fool would fight the United States unless they had no other choice. There were non-state actors who had a presence in Latin America though, the multi-national drug cartels. For hefty sums of cash as well as access to weaponry, with the added addition of immense stupidity, a couple of the cartel leaders had got involved with the GRU and the SVR. Peru might not be a nation which would spring to mind when thinking of the international drug trade, but it was an important country for that business. The cartels had a presence there and Russia’s intelligence agencies had been making use of their facilities and smuggling routes.

A private aircraft had taken the Spetsnaz to Panama. They’d met there with in-country contacts and been issued with weapons. Their commander was briefed by his GRU superior on the final details of their mission. He was told the truth: things had gotten far more complicated than originally foreseen. The chances of success had been lowered significantly. Nonetheless, the orders still stood. A ship transiting the Panama Canal was to be hijacked and used to block this international waterway for the passage of other ships. In addition, using the cover of that attack, explosives would be employed to then do serious damage to the infrastructure of the canal. Improvised blockships can be a challenge for military engineers to clear yet can be dealt with: Russia was aiming to do more than that.

The final go-order came through and the Russian commandos went into action… and the Americans had their SEALs waiting for them.

The United States’ government agencies had their own wartime contacts with the drug cartels. Things not done in peacetime due to political reasons were now being done in wartime. The Russians had been shown to have made use of them already and therefore the danger that these non-state actors posed classified them as a security threat of the highest order. Those who were willing to work with the United States wouldn’t be targeted for destruction like those who refused to. Organisations such as the CIA, the DIA, the FBI and the NSA used information from the DEA and ICE – so many acronyms! – to establish contact with leaders and senior people in several of the cartels to find out who was working for the Russians and who wasn’t. Information flowed in when the cartels received assurances and also fully understood that the gloves had come off when it came to how the Americans were prepared to act. In a flurry, they were selling each other out. There were many in the DEA and ICE who were left rather unhappy at some of the things that happened and issued dire warnings for the future, but for now at least half of the main drug cartels were working for the United States. Of course, there was much duplicity here – on both sides – but information was flowing. The Peru connection was identified and while late and with little concrete information, those Spetsnaz were identified as having made it to Panama. Their exact location wasn’t known and nor was what they were going to do but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that they posed a threat to the Panama Canal. It was being used by American and Coalition shipping to support the global conflict. Why wouldn’t Russia want to put a dent into that movement of goods that was helping to defeat them? Taken from Task Force Hunter, the combined grouping of special forces & intelligence operatives who’d taken down Obama’s killers but been only partially active since, were SEALs who were flown down to Panama. Both Nunn and Warner had much contact with their opposite numbers down in that small country while Biden personally spoke with President Martinelli. Panama’s leader agreed that the canal needed defending against an attack, one which the Americans told him was imminent, and while there was a lot of back-and-forth due to politics, Panama would cooperate with the United States to stop an attack. This shipping route was the lifeblood of Panama and to see it blocked would damage Panama’s economy (perhaps fatally) as much as it would hurt America’s warfighting capability.

Knowing it likely that the Russians were soon to attack the canal by taking over a ship was one thing; knowing which ship, exactly where and exactly when was something else. Contacts were leaned on heavily by the US Intelligence Community in Panama, Mexico and elsewhere but that information didn’t come until the very last moment. With hours to spare, thanks to a man in Panama who gave his life to get that information to the United States, the SEALs were tipped off.

It was the SS Ocean Goliath that the Russians were to attack as it approached the Gatun Locks after transiting west-to-east through the Panama Canal as part of a convoy of ships laden with military stores. The SEALs were covertly dispatched to the ship as well as the area around those lock gates at the Atlantic side of the canal. When the attack came, the Russians used speedboats while attempting to board the Ocean Goliath. They had a good plan and it should have worked. After taking the ship, they would have killed every crew member aboard then rammed the targeted lock gates while turning the ship sideways before opening the seacocks. Armed men laden with satchel charges were then meant to get off and start blowing up key parts of the infrastructure surrounding the gates’ operation rather than those huge structures themselves. But the Spetsnaz couldn’t get aboard the Ocean Goliath. Snipers aboard spotted them using night-scopes and opened fire. A pair of helicopters turned up and from them mini-guns as well as aloft snipers also fired on the Russians. The two speedboats were sunk and the Russians took terrible losses. They kept on trying, unaware of how many of their men were dead, but failed. So much for how that post-war movie depicted things!

Faced with such murderous defensive fire, the few remaining Spetsnaz eventually abandoned the mission and attempted to flee. The Americans pursued them: it had been agreed that Panamanian security forces would stay out of this though there were conditions attached there. The United States couldn’t do what it wanted inside Panama. Martinelli, a populist, wouldn’t accept that not with the complicated history when it came to America and Panama. Still, the SEALs hunted down those who fled. The killed some more though gained some captives as well. In doing so, they took their own casualties too. One SEAL had been shot when aboard the Ocean Goliath (as in the movie) but seven more were killed when an RPG exploded on contact with the tail rotor of one of the stealthy – and secretive – Black Hawks used in that pursuit, bringing it down into a fiery crash.

Recriminations would come for this despite the successful blunting of that attempted attack. Those across Latin America who had and continued to aid Russia would be on the receiving end of them. It wouldn’t be pretty.

Good update James G ,

Thank you. I wanted to do something different, with the start of the update, and the idea of post-war pop culture has been mentioned before so I ran with it.

[crackpot]

It’s a relief knowing that if there are resources to throw at gratuitous Hollywood romps then we all aren’t radioactive

[Brky2020]

Is it worth the time for us to cast the main characters in the film?