Obama’s eye-opening order to Pentagon: Make combat weapons safer, not more lethal

Wartime U.S. presidents have taken keen personal interest in picking the most lethal gun for the military.

But in President Obama’s first foray into small-arms procurement for the armed forces, his Jan. 4 executive order on gun control directs the Pentagon to find ways to make not so much more lethal firearms, but safer ones.

His direct order has brought a few snickers among retired combatants who argue that the commander in chief is issuing his directive at a time of more pressing small-arms priorities. The military, critics say, fields a flawed personal rifle and has spent more than a decade selecting a new off-the-shelf pistol, with no winner yet.

Tactical advantage: Russian military shows off impressive new gear — Tanks-to-troops modernization

While America was still high from Top Gun and a false sense of superiority, Russia was hard at work on gaining military advantage. This is one of many indicators that Russia has been up to something for the longest time, 2008 in this case.

If you’d like to see how early we’ve gone downhill, and it hasn’t been since the Obama administration, then it would be worth your while to view expert analyst JR Nyquist’s conclusions in 2001 on Sino-Soviet war preparations against the United States, while the United States suicides itself into the hands of hostile nations.

The world over is going back into a dangerous war cycle and America is going into war unprepared.

Elite Russian troops are displaying a new arsenal of body armor, individual weapons, armor-piercing ammunition and collar radios — a menu of essential gear that gives them a big tactical advantage against a lesser-equipped Ukrainian army.

If President Vladimir Putin orders an invasion, the new-generation body armor, in particular, would provide exceptional protection against small arms if Russian troops go street by street to capture Kiev and other cities.

“What we saw and what was dangled in front of the West was a clear indication that Putin is on a roll,” retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Robert Scales said. “It just seems to me from watching the films that their arrows are pointing up and ours are sadly pointing down.”

Weapons specialists such as Gen. Scales have been studying images of Spetsnaz, Russia’s ubiquitous special forces, and airborne troops since they conquered the Crimea region and mobilized to strike eastern Ukraine.

What they see are the fruits of a modernization plan begun in 2008, not just in tanks and vehicles but all the way down to the individual warrior. Russia now has the world’s third-highest defense budget, at over $70 billion.