"James Blunt prevented WWIII" Topic

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and The Daily Mash Opinion

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Pat

I could have lived with WWIII if Blunt got blown away …

The way I heard it Wesley Clark was prepared to deploy Celine Dion in theater as the ultimate deterrent, until shown video of the previous four Russian Eurovision entries.

whoever decides to war game this make sure to give the ruskie player extra points for killing James Blunt plz

I never heard the song. Is it that bad? Then again, maybe we could send Justin Bieber to North Korea.

If everyone stopped for a few blunts more often they'd be a lot less war……

Yur beeeYUTifUL

Yur beeeeYUTifUL

Yur beeeeYUTifUL ….

If you want more then youtube it yourself….I'm not risking hearing it again

Yes, a very amusing story, but I suppose someone had to be at the front of the column.

He told a funny anecdote about the problems of target indication in a multi-national force on Grame Norton last week as well.

Targeting Graham Norton cannot be that hard surely?

Pat

Oooooooo…..you are Soooooooooooooooo outragouuuuuus (gurgling laugh, gurgling laugh, gurgling laugh, clap hands together, nod to audience)

both he and the General who backed him up should be hanged.

…. was it really that silly? Instead of a nasty bloodbath the Russians ended up asking to share Pristina airfield when they ran out of supplies.
And you have to admit that they moved quickly and efficiently to seize it while Nato was plodding along through its bureaucracy. Yes the Tom's would have liked a fight – everyone was frustrated that there was no enemy to vent their anger on, but that would have been the wrong battle at the wrong time and probably cost at least a few hundred lives for no very good reason… except to assuage the fact that the Russians got there first.

That's a nice, composed observation Ravenscraft – aside from stopping him singing, what's your reasoning?

That is enough reason.

In Soviet Russia, WWIII prevents James Blunt.

All the best,

John.

The real military blunder was any General who put a cavalry officer in front of a column with the Toms behind him!

Despite my warlike tendancies, considering the ruskies were allied(sortof), it was maybe a good idea not to kill them all and lose a few brits in the process. General Mike Jackson had James Blunt the column so he could moonwalk on the way their!

"both he and the General who backed him up should be hanged."

LOL. Good luck trying to hang Sir Mike 'Darth Vader' Jackson.

Don't you think that winning via the indirect approach is more elegant than a frontal assault?

"The real military blunder was any General who put a cavalry officer in front of a column with the Toms behind him!"

I think traditionally that is where the cavalry get deployed. IIRC Captain Blunt was in Scimitars rather than riding a horse….

….and probably still just as useless!

Another example of General Clark's grip on reality by the sounds of things.
I was deployed to the Balkans CAOC during the conflict embedded along side a lot of USAF/USMC Aviators and his directive to target woods for bombing if the Int cells believed them to being used to hide enemy equipment brought a comment of oh good, going after suspected truck parks again sans Vietnam from the US dominated (in manning not doctrine)Targeting Cell.
I remember the Russians taking the airfield and while a problem for us, it was pretty much regarded a ballsy move and respected as such.

I wonder what the situation would have been if reversed. Would the Russians fire on British troops had they secured the airfield first?

Thanks James. I would've hated WWIII.

but slightly less than your "music"

In Soviet Russia, WWIII prevents James Blunt.

If only that were true!!

And if we do want to send Justin Bieber to North Korea, I'll pay for the air fare! (provided it's one way only!)

As it is, this does sound like a bit of a non-story. I doubt that Blunt was solely responsible for not following the order. I suspect that a large number of the officers there at the time refused the order.

Overall it sounds like the right move, purely because they wanted the site intact and any assault probably wouldn't negated the reason for doing it in the first place.

The simple fact is, if we send Bieber to North Korea, some other annoying boy band singer will just fill his place. He might even be much more annoying than Bieber. Bieber may be an annoying boy band singer, but he's an annoying boy band singer we know how to deal with.

As it is, this does sound like a bit of a non-story

Media interpetation. A commander questioned the order, which was then countermanded.

"The soldiers directly behind me were from the Parachute Regiment, so they're obviously game for the fight"

One does wonder what might have occured, had a cavalry unit NOT been in the middle. ;-)

"And after a couple of days the Russians there said: 'Hang on we have no food and no water. Can we share the airfield with you?'.

Seems a better option to me, from all sides concerned :-)

It appears the answer to that question depends on whether you believe James Blunt and General Jackson or Ravenscroft Cybernetics and General Clark.

That's a nice, composed observation Ravenscraft – aside from stopping him singing, what's your reasoning?

Is not doing what the yanks tell us a capital offence now?

Apparently, when asked why he went into Kosovo with a guitar strapped to the outside of his vehicle, he replied "because they wouldn't let me bring it inside and strap a soldier to the outside instead". Other than that song getting a bit annoying (although I've not actually heard it for a couple of years now), he seems like a decent bloke.

"Weren't the Russians there as part of the peacekeeping force or were they directly opposing the NATO operation"?

Yes, austensibly, just like they were invited into Afghanistan to help the local government there about 30 years ago.

A shame the general didn't slip the Russkies a fiver to save the world from the catterwalling.

Perhaps it's not too late. I hear they have special tips for their umbrellas that…… well, you know……

"Weren't the Russians there as part of the peacekeeping force or were they directly opposing the NATO operation"?

Yes

So, an either/or question, and the answer is "Yes". While logically correct, that's not entirely clear.

I wonder if the British officers get kinks in their arms from patting themselves so hard on the back for being so clever.

General Mike Jackson started this self-serving drivel about single-handedly preventing WWIII, but General Wesley Clark tells a different story in his memoir.

I don't know who was right, but I know (I served in Macedonia and Kosovo at the time) that Mike Jackson finished a bottle of whiskey a day, and the senior officers of his staff had a much-hated duty roster of who had to drink with the General each evening, to drag his sorry off to bed after he finished his bottle and passed out.

"Weren't the Russians there as part of the peacekeeping force or were they directly opposing the NATO operation"?

The Russians were there as part of the peacekeeping operation in *Bosnia*, and they worked out this clever deal with the Serbs, where once the Serbs realized they were going to have to give up Pristina Airport, they tipped off the Russians, who very rapidly deployed a BTR battalion+ from Bosnia to Pristina, in 36 hours. Which was clever and sneaky, but ultimately pointless, since the Russians couldn't (and didn't) hold the airfield. They did make a point about pan-Slavic cooperation, and the deployment of that BTR battalion was about the only thing the Russians ever did for Serbia during Slobo Milosevic's glorious reign, despite all their assurances.

So the Russians were there (in the Balkans) as part of a (different) peacekeeping operation in Bosnia, but their goal was to insert themselves (to the advantage of the Serbs) in another peacekeeping operation. I doubt very much it would have started WWIII, since all the Russians had for a couple hundred miles in any direction was this TF, organized around an airborne battalion, equipped with BTR's. Nonetheless, it would make a neat skirmish scenario. They didn't "directly oppose" the NATO operation, i.e., by threatening force, more by sitting on the airfield and claiming it by eminent domain.

"The real military blunder was any General who put a cavalry officer in front of a column with the Toms behind him!"

I think traditionally that is where the cavalry get deployed. IIRC Captain Blunt was in Scimitars rather than riding a horse….

I thought this was the perfect role for a donkey wallopers rupert, up the front, ready to go, with paras behind "encouraging" them forward (with grand support of course).

After what Justin Bieber did with Queen's "Somebody to love" even a one way trip to North Korea looks like a lenient punishment for that punk!

Sounds like Clark should thank Jackson for saving his career.

This Blunt fellow, I always thought I'd picked the wrong resettlement course when I left the Service – I get a poxy management course, and he gets the 'How to become a Pop Star' Course – Screwed up again, Sparks! DOH!

As for Gen Jacko, well any Para General who gets a facelift paid for out of the public purse goes right to the bottom of my Christmas card list.

A lot of army mates have refused to buy his memoirs because of the way he sucked up to the MOD when he was in charge saying the Army was fine, its was definately NOT falling apart or imploding, honest Guv.

The minute he leave he starts dripping for Britain about how badly the Army is doing and it wasn['t his fault, he was just the bloke in charge…

Not too impressed with the Whisky drinking either, none of my Flag Officers ever needed an SO3 to help them get through a bottle…They managed fine all by themselves – Whoops…

Aside from letting the Russians support Serb genocide – all Blunt and Jackson did was make it clear that Western Europe will roll over for Neo-Soviet Russia anytime and anywhere. Russia calls the shots in Europe now.

Errr, not to get into Blue Fez-land, but that's a really debatable point.

So… the Yanks here think starting WW3 over a couple of hundred Russians with no logisitics would be a good idea?

Guys, read the papers. The Cold War ended decades ago.

Number 6 – what kind of fantasy world do you live in?

IIRC Her Majesty's Government have corroborated the story…

If it was traditional for singers to serve as cannon fodder, Justin Beiber can be at the head of the column.

Let's see him sing 'Baby' with shrapnel wounds in girly voicebox.

Justin Beiber prevented war with North Korea.

He promised not to go.

"Aside from letting the Russians support Serb genocide"
there wasn't any genocide in Kosovo! It has been stated (grudgingly) by the UN that only a few thousand (mostly Kosovo militia) actually died--The rest of the population ran away…And since independance more Serb Kosovans have been persecuted by Albanians…

Errr, not to get into Blue Fez-land, but that's a really debatable point.

hahaha yea, the Russians weren't exactly at their 'neo-soviet', or whatever silly emotive thing you want to call it, peak at this stage.

Justin Beiber prevented war with North Korea.

He promised not to go.

BS! Sending Bieber to NK and disappearing him would bring about world peace and prosperity.