Archive for April, 2014

Russia and the United States Negotiate the Future of Ukraine

Russia and the United States Negotiate the Future of Ukraine is republished with permission of Stratfor.”

By George Friedman

During the Cold War, U.S. secretaries of state and Soviet foreign ministers routinely negotiated the outcome of crises and the fate of countries. It has been a long time since such talks have occurred, but last week a feeling of deja vu overcame me. Americans and Russians negotiated over everyone’s head to find a way to defuse the crisis in Ukraine and, in the course of that, shape its fate.

During the talks, U.S. President Barack Obama made it clear that Washington has no intention of expanding NATO into either Ukraine or Georgia. The Russians have stated that they have no intention of any further military operations in Ukraine. Conversations between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry have been extensive and ongoing. For different reasons, neither side wants the crisis to continue, and each has a different read on the situation. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Results of Microstamping

From the NRA

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Ukraine and International Borders

From The National Interest:

The unfolding events in Ukraine threaten international peace and security in a manner that goes beyond the immediate crisis. Russia’s increasingly brazen violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity threatens to undermine the widely accepted principle that international borders are not subject to further revision, a principle that has contributed significantly to a global decline in interstate war in recent decades.

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Malcolm Gladwell on the Tragedy of The Branch Davidians

From The New Yorker:

Outside the Mount Carmel complex, the F.B.I. assembled what has been called probably the largest military force ever gathered against a civilian suspect in American history: ten Bradley tanks, two Abrams tanks, four combat-engineering vehicles, six hundred and sixty-eight agents in addition to six U.S. Customs officers, fifteen U.S. Army personnel, thirteen members of the Texas National Guard, thirty-one Texas Rangers, a hundred and thirty-one officers from the Texas Department of Public Safety, seventeen from the McLennan County sheriff’s office, and eighteen Waco police, for a total of eight hundred and ninety-nine people. Their task, as they saw it, was to peel away the pretense—Koresh’s posturing, his lies, his grandiosity—and compel him to take specific steps toward a resolution.

Here is Gladwell discussing his piece and what got him interested in what happened in Waco:

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The History of Black Hills Ammunition

From Small Arms Defense:

Trying to bridge match grade accuracy and ability to produce military reliability is very difficult.  Loading any precision round is difficult in mass production.  But there is one company out there that has done it, and that is Black Hills Ammunition owned by Jeff Hoffman and his wife Kristi, who is a co-owner and an integral, indispensable part of Black Hills Ammunition.

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“Arms” Means More Than Just Guns

There is now an effort to loosen knife laws.

From The Atlantic:

The similarity to the gun lobby isn’t accidental. The most influential organization dedicated to knife rights is patterned after the National Rifle Association, although it doesn’t nearly have that group’s legislative firepower. But the movement is also a recognition that, as gun advocates score victory after victory at the state level (the Georgia Legislature this week passed a bill that would allow guns to be carried in bars, schools, churches, and airports), the political environment has never been better for loosening similar restrictions on knives.

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Which Amendment Comes First?

The question is in regards to states disclosing information about gun licensees.

From The Volokh Conspiracy:

There is no First Amendment right to access government records. There’s a First Amendment right to speak about what you’ve found in a record that was released to you, but not a First Amendment right to access the record in the first place. (Courts have recognized one significant exception this principle — a First Amendment right of access to documents filed in criminal prosecutions or civil lawsuits. But that exception is limited, and not applicable to ordinary government records.)

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Vertx A-Range Bag

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Closing The Generational Gap

From American Handgunner:

We had a great time! They were smart and eager to learn, but their only “training” had come from — choke, gag — TV, movies and the internet. We went over safety, basic marksmanship, cleaning and maintenance, ammo tips, lots of fun shooting and just getting to know them. Now, not everyone who looks like them is like them, but if you see illustrated kids at a range, chances are good they resemble this bunch.

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