Indian Air Force Concludes Sukhoi Su30 Training Programme for Malaysian Pilots

IAF's Sukhoi-30 MKI (photo : Militaryphotos)
Kuala Lumpur, (ANI): The Indian Air Force (IAF)’s two-year-plus stint in training their Malaysian counterparts to operate the Russian-made Sukhoi Su30-MKM Flankers came to an end on Sunday.
The 53-member IAF team of air and technical crew, led by Group Captain K.V.R. Raju, had been working with the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) since March 2008.

“The RMAF’s 11th Squadron is now capable of operating on their own after achieving the required standards,” The New Straits Times quoted Raju, as saying.

“My team and I are proud to have been a part of the efforts of imparting invaluable operational experience to them via the best possible training programme available,” he added.

The IAF has been operating the Sukhoi Su30 for the past 12 years, while Malaysia acquired the jets in 2007. (ANI)

(Thaindian)

Hari Ini 2 Sukhoi Rakitan Tim Rusia Uji Run Up

Kedatangan 2 Su-27 SKM (all photos : TNI-AU)

MAKASSAR, TRIBUN-TIMUR.COM - Tewasnya tiga teknisi dan anggota tim warranty Jet Syukhoi Rusia jenis SU-27 SKM, tidak menghambat proses perakitan pesawat tempur baru tersebut.

Perakitan kini mencapai tahap akhir akhir. Hari ini, Selasa (14/9/2010), direncanakan dua buah pesawat Sukhoi SU-27 SKM yang baru saja didatangkan pada 10 September lalu di Makassar akan menjalani tes run-up.

"Total ada 12 orang, masih ada delapan orang, dan banyak yang lain," ujar Kepala Dispen TNI AU Marsma Bambang Samoedro, Selasa (14/9/2010), seperti dilansir Kompas.com. Ia menargetkan apabila tes hari ini berlangsung lancar, pesawat tersebut akan siap diterbangkan esok hari, Rabu (15/9/2010).


Bahkan hari ini, pihaknya akan tetap tes run-up dengan mesin dihidupkan dan dicek sistemnya apakah berjalan baik seluruhnya.

Kedatangan dua pesawat Sukhoi ini merupakan bagian dari pemesanan tiga buah unit peswat Sukhoi dari Rusia untuk melengkapi alat utama sistem persenjataan (alutsista) Lanud Sultan Hassanudin Makassar. Satu pesawat lagi akan menyusul tiba pada bulan ini dan melengkapi koleksi pesawat Sukhoi TNI AU menjadi 10 unit.

Alexander, Victor, dan Voronin merupakan bagian dari 12 orang tersebut yang bertugas mengawasi perakitan pesawat Sukhoi hingga layak beroperasi.(*)

(Tribun Timur)

Russia plans to restore its weather satellite network by 2030

At least six Meteor-type satellites will be necessary to provide sufficient data for independent weather forecasting.

00:40 15/09/2010

© Photo Alexander Samuylov

Related News

• Weather forecasters as oracles
• Moscow sets 20th record-breaking temperature for summer
• 2010 global temps warmest on record - scientists
• Arctic research may be threatened by global cooling - scientist

Russia will fully rebuild its network of weather forecasting and monitoring satellites by 2030 under a state program for the development of meteorology, the government said in a statement on Tuesday.
At present, Russia has only one weather satellite, the Meteor-M type, in orbit and mostly uses meteorological data from U.S. and European weather agencies.
"The work on rebuilding the national space-based weather monitoring network is a priority task because Russia is lagging behind the developed countries in this area, which makes it difficult to ensure a fair exchange of meteorological data [between Russia and foreign countries]," the statement said.
According to Russian experts, at least six Meteor-type satellites will be necessary to provide sufficient data for independent weather forecasting.
In addition, Russia is planning to launch a separate satellite network to monitor climatic changes and survey energy resources in the Arctic region.
The Arktika (Arctic) satellite grouping, which is worth around 70 billion rubles ($2.5 billion), will comprise at least two sun-synchronous orbit satellites and two high-elliptic orbit satellites.
"The future decisions on the development of the national space-based weather monitoring network will be made in line with the prospects and achievements in the technology of monitoring devices, in satellite engineering and in communications," the government said.


RIA NOVOSTI
MOSCOW, September 15 (RIA Novosti)

T-90 MAIN BATTLE TANK

Designed by Uralvagonzavod in Nizhny Tagil, Russia, in late 1980s - early 1990s as a modernized version of the T-72 tank

Russian aircraft carrier readies for training mission

The Admiral Kuznetsov is expected to be docked at Sevmash shipyards in 2012 for full-scale modernization, which will continue for at least five years.

02:30 15/09/2010

© RIA Novosti. Oleg Lastochkin

Russia's only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, has left a dry dock after scheduled repairs and is getting ready for a training mission in the Barents Sea, the Northern Fleet said in a statement. "The Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier will sail to the Barents Sea at the end of September on a training mission relevant to its main purpose," the statement said.
The warship was assigned to the Northern Fleet in January 1991. It is capable of carrying 26 Su-33 Flanker-D and MiG-29K Fulcrum-D carrier-based fighter jets, and 24 anti-submarine helicopters.
The upcoming mission will most likely involve a comprehensive program of naval pilot training to further develop the skills acquired by pilots at the Nitka Naval Pilot Training Center in Ukraine.
The Admiral Kuznetsov is expected to be docked at Sevmash shipyards in 2012 for full-scale modernization, which will continue for at least five years.
Russia is aiming to finish drafting plans for a new nuclear-powered aircraft carrier for its Navy by 2012 and build at least three of the ships for its Northern and Pacific fleets.
MURMANSK, September 15 (RIA Novosti)

RIA NOVOSTI

Isi Surat Terbuka Ipar Tony Blair kepada Blair

Dear Tony,
Congratulations on your political memoir becoming an instant bestseller. I'm in Iran and have the only copy in the country. I can tell you, it's so fiercely fought over, it's worth its weight in WMD's. Note to Random House; have 'A Journey' translated into Farsi and Arabic ASAP, it'll fly off the shelves in this part of the world.
Tony, yesterday I went to Al Quds day protest in Tehran. You may have heard of it? It's the rally where Iranians gather to protest against Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine, including the Holy city of Jerusalem (al-Quds).
I'm being sarcastic by asking if you've heard of Al Quds day, because I know you have. It is your very worst nightmare right? After all Tehran is the place where politics and Islam intertwine.
Personally I've never understood this fear of 'political Islam' it seems to me that religious people should always be educated on world events rather than kept in ignorance. Like say, Midwest Christian Zionists in the US. The kind of folk who can't find their home city on a map of their state but are certain they hate Islam even if they're not sure whether it's a type of curry or a foreign make of veh-ic-ule.
Anyway, yesterday, I stood in the midst of more than one million Iranian Muslims all chanting in unison 'Marg Bar Isre-hell!' and 'Marg Bar Am-ri-ca!' You know what that means Tony I'm sure; 'Down with Israel, down with America'. The men, women and children around me withstood a day of no water and no food (it's called Ramadan, Tony, it's a fast). Coping with hunger and thirst in the hundred degrees heat, as if it were nothing. They can withstand deprivation in the Muslim world. Here in Iran they feel proud to suffer in order to express solidarity with the people of Palestine. It's kind of like the way you express solidarity with America only without illegal chemical weapons and a million civilian deaths.
Some mothers at the rally wept, not out of hatred for 'the West' but out of empathy for the mothers of Rafah, Khan Younis, Nablus and Jenin. Do you recognise these place names Tony, as Middle East peace envoy you really should. Israel has massacred children in all of these cities in recent years. Didn't you know?
Today when the streets of London reverberate with cries of 'Allahuakbar!' and 'Down Down Israel.' Christians and Jews will join the thunderous cries of 'Down Down Israel, marching shoulder to shoulder with the 'political' Muslims you say you fear so much.
Perhaps you believe that I am in danger in Iran, especially on a day like Al Quds. Well here again Tony, you've been fed and have consumed in its entirety, a massive lie. The lie that says when Muslims express an opinion in groups, in public, it is always spurred on by hatred of 'us' infidels. As if all protests that are led by Muslim communities are a kind of long held grudge against the Crusades.
Perhaps they should be more, not less angry here than they are Tony. Because having read the postscript to your bestseller its clear you are on a modern Crusade.
The 'conflict' between Palestine and Israel is according to you all about religion and has nothing at all to do with the ethnic cleansing of the Arab population, nor the degradation of those who remain beneath the boots of their Israeli occupiers. You say that Arabs have and always will see 'Jews' as enemies. For God's sake Tony do your history. And if you're going to run a 'Faith Foundation' then better gen up on Islam 101 don't you think? Did your pals in Tel Aviv forget to tell you how many thousands of Jews lived in Historic Palestine in harmony with their Arab neighbours before 1948? Do you really not know that even today tens of thousand of Jews reside contentedly in Iran?
I've sat with Muslim families, those whose children have been burned by Israeli/US phosphorous bombs. Those who are still suffering hunger due to the Israel siege of Gaza. Those who have lived through the early days of sanctions against Iran when they needed food vouchers just to live. And every single Muslim in these suffering families has the same message; 'We don't hate anyone for their race or their religion. We cannot hate Jews they are in our holy book it is against the teachings of the Koran.' But Tony let me ask you this. Why should any people, Muslim or otherwise, be expected to put up with this kind of constant threats from you and your bosses in Tel Aviv and Washington? Do you have any understanding of what it is like to live in Gaza? Under siege, attacked with chemical weapons, your children's schools razed to the ground by Israeli missiles, your hospitals shelled, your electricity limited, your water undrinkable?
Actually Tony I think you are a sympathetic person. I actually think that you do feel twinges of pain at the hardships suffered by millions in the Middle East as a direct result of your support for Israel. Then you put that feeling to one side, because on a fundamental level - you think 'they' deserve it don't you?
In your book you say you knew full well how many Beirut homes were flattened, how many civilians died in Lebanon in 2006. Yet you dismiss Lebanese rage about Israeli occupation of 'Shebas Farm' as being an irrelevance, about a 'tiny' amount of land. You cannot see it as part of the constant pressure on Lebanese society as a whole by their heavily armed aggressive Israeli neighbour. You see it as: 'Israel is attacked. Israel strikes back.' As if Israel lives in placid peace, being kindly to all around it in between these massacres.
As other world leaders came out to demand Israel immediately cease its 2006 bombing raids on Lebanese cities, you stayed silent.
'If I had condemned Israel' you say in your book 'I would have been more than dishonest. It would have undermined my world view.'
Your world view is that Muslims, are mad, bad, dangerous to know. A contagion to be contained. Your final chapter is a must read here in the Middle East Tony, congratulations! For it lays out the 'them' and 'us' agenda of your friends in Washington and Tel Aviv.
In the final chapter you say; 'we need a religious counter attack' against Islam. And by 'Islam' you mean the Al Quds rallies, the Palestinian intifada (based on an anti Apartheid struggle Tony, NOT religious bigotry), against every Arab who fails to put their arms in the air as the F16 missiles rain on their homes and refugee camps and sing a rousing chorus of 'Imagine all the people...'
When you say 'extremism' must be 'controlled and beaten' you mean that you and your kind of morally bankrupt (but filthy rich) world leader wants control over the rising solidarity spreading through the Ummah and being joined by activist of all creeds on the streets of Paris, London, Bradford, Rome.
'Not only extremism must be defeated' you have written but 'the narrative' ' has to be assailed.'
Iran is indeed the place where Islamic tradition meets political action.
They are highly aware of the history of this region, the wrongs perpetrated by Israel against Palestine and the political machinations of the US and the UK governments to isolate them. All things considered and nice as the people have been during my stay. I wouldn't recommend coming over on a book tour though...
Lauren Booth is a British broadcaster, journalist and human rights activist. She has written for the New Statesman, the Mail on Sunday, the Sunday Times and the Daily Mail. She is a vocal opponent of the war in Iraq and a supporter of the Stop the War Coalition. Booth is the sister-in-law of former British prime minister Tony Blair. Presently, Booth presents 'Remember Palestine' on Press TV. (Press Tv)

IRIB

Di Balik Seruan Pembakaran Al-Quran

Terry Jones

700 tahun lalu, bangsa Mongolia melakukan pembakaran kitab-kitab berharga di masa itu. Pembakaran itu terjadi pada abad pertengahan masehi. Sama sekali tidak terlintas di benak kita bahwa pembakaran semacam itu terulang kembali di masa sekarang ini. Belum lama ini, pendeta kontroversial, Terry Jones, menyerukan pembakaran Al-Quran. Tidak disangka, pembakaran Al-Quran itu terjadi pada abad 21 di Barat yang mengklaim sebagai pihak yang unggul dalam peradaban. Dengan demikian, praktik pembakaran bangsa Mongolia yang pernah terjadi ratusan abad lalu kembali dilakukan oleh Barat pada era yang disebut moderen ini. Washington Tidak Serius
Bukan hal yang penting bahwa apakah Terry Jones, pendeta gereja di AS menangguhkan rencana pembakaran Al-Quran atau tidak? Akan tetapi upaya itu berhasil memprovokasi kalangan ekstrim di AS yang akhirnya melakukan penyobekan Al-Quran dekat kawasan bekas gedung kembar WTC yang menjadi saksi Peristiwa 11 September. Sekelompok orang lainnya juga berani melakukan penyobekan Al-Quran depan Gedung Putih. Penyobekan Al-Quran itu dilakukan di depan turis-turis yang tengah berjalan-jalan di sekitar Gedung Putih. Selain itu, acara pembakaran Alquran juga terjadi di dua gereja negara bagian Tennesse.
Aksi penyobekan dan penistaan Al-Quran itu tentunya membuktikan bahwa Barat bukan pendukung kebebasan berpikir dan berpendapat. Slogan itu hanya sebatas wacana semata. Sebelumnya, Presiden AS. Barack Obama di hadapan ratusan juta warga AS dan dunia menjelakan penghormatan pada Al-Quran dan ajaran-ajaran mulia kitab suci itu. Dikatakannya, "Islam bukan penyebab Peristiwa 11 September. Pelaku serangan itu adalah segelintir kelompok teroris yang menyimpang dari agama ini."
Pernyataan Obama itu hanya sebatas ucapan saja. Ketika terjadi aksi penyobekan dan penistaan al-Quran yang tentunya melukai ummat Islam di dunia, Obama tidak menindak para pelaku itu. Sejak Peristiwa 11 September 2001, para pejabat AS terus melakukan kebijakan radikal dan terhadap ummat Islam. Status muslim cukup dijadikan alasan untuk diperiksa secara ketat saat tiba di bandara AS. Bahkan pihak-pihak keamanan di bandara mengambil sidik jari setiap muslim yang turun di bandara AS. Bagi mereka, memeluk agama Islam itu sama halnya dengan melakukan tindakan kriminal. Para imigran muslim akan menghadapi kesulitan untuk mendapat surat izin tinggal di AS. Adapun para imigran yang non muslim akan dipermudah. Kebijakan luar negeri AS kian memperjelas wajah asli Washington yang bersikap sentimen terhadap dunia Islam. Irak, Afghanistan dan Pakistan yang semuanya adalah negara Islam dijadikan sasaran serangan dengan alasan sarang teroris.
Semua itu ditambah dengan film-film Hollywood yang berupaya menggambarkan Islam sebagai agama teroris. Dalam film-film produksi Hollywood digambarkan bahwa para teroris melakukan shalat dan membaca kitab suci Al-Quran. Imej yang berusaha mengindentikkan Islam dengan teroris, terus dibangun dan dipublikasikan, sehingga warga AS dan dunia kian berburuk sangka pada Islam. Meski terorisme itu dikendalikan kelompok Al-Qaedah, tapi propaganda media berupaya mengesankan bahwa terorisme itu identik dengan Islam, bukan kelompok Al-Qaedah.
Taliban yang juga kelompok terdekat dengan Al-Qaedah, menjadi alat AS untuk mengendalikan Afghanistan. Kelompok ini mempunyai hubungan kuat dengan AS dan mitra-mitranya di Arab. Kelompok ini dikoordinasi dengan melibatkan para jenderal Pakistan. Taliban mendapat dukungan dana yang tidak sedikit dari AS dan sejumlah negara Arab. Padahal Taliban dapat dikatakan sebagai minoritas, tapi AS berupaya mengkoordinasi kekuatan minoritas ini untuk menjaga kepentingannya di Afghanistan. Dengan cara itu, AS dapat menempatkan pasukannya di Afghanistan dan mengeruk sumber-sumber kekayaan alam di negara ini.
Para pejabat AS ketika memojokkan Islam dan mengesankan agama ini sebagai ancaman teroris, mengabaikan dampak-dampak sosial dan budayanya. Pada dasarnya, pembakaran Al-Quran itu adalah dampak dari propaganda miring selama 9 tahun. Dalam berbagai propaganda miring, Islam selalu dikesankan dengan terorisme. Propaganda miring yang dimulai dari Peristiwa 11 September dan agresi ke Afghanistan dan Irak dengan alasan memerangi terorisme, secara perlahan-lahan berubah menjadi konflik antar-agama.
Genderang Perang
Seruan pembakaran Al-Quran oleh seorang pendeta asal AS, Terry Jones sama halnya dengan penabuhan genderang anti-Islam. Meski pembakaran Al-Quran itu ditunda, tapi seruan itu membuka pintu bagi para penista nilai-nilai agama. Jones telah menyulut api yang akan berdampak pada sikap-sikap radikalisme.
Masyarakat dunia khawatir bahwa genderang anti-Islam ini sengaja ditabuh sebagai kebijakan AS untuk menguasai wilayah strategis di dunia. Apalagi Barat saat ini membutuhkan langkah cepat untuk menangani kondisi ekonominya yang kian terpuruk. Kali ini, agama menjadi sasaran kebijakan radikal Washington. Jika kondisi ini terus berlanjut, perang salib versi baru yang melibatkan masjid dan gereja akan kembali digelar.
Para pejabat AS ketika menyikapi seruan pembakaran Al-Quran, hanya mengeluarkan pernyataan sebatas verbal tanpa ditindak lanjuti dengan menindak para provokator. Bahkan pemerintah AS tidak mengerahkan polisi untuk mengantisipasi pembakaran Al-Quran yang rencana sebelumnya akan dilakukan di pada tanggal 11 September di area bekas WTC. Pejabat AS semestinya tidak hanya bersikap mengeluarkan statemen pada tingkat verbal, tapi juga harus menindak para povokator.
Pada faktanya, ummat Islam sangat menghormati kitab-kitab suci dan agama lainnya, bahkan mereka tidak menyamakan Yahudi dan kitab suci Taurat dengan ajaran Zionis Israel yang keji dan radikal. Ini menunjukkan bahwa ummat Islam sendiri malah bersikap ingin menyelamatkan kitab suci dan agama lain yang disalahgunakan oleh kelompok tertentu. Dalam menentang Zionis Israel, ummat Islam tidak pernah menghina Taurat dan Yahudi yang diklaim sebagai pedoman Zionis Israel. Muncul sebuah pertanyaan; Bila ummat Islam dalam mengecam Zionis Israel, menghina agama Yahudi dan Taurat, apakah para pemimpin Barat akan bersikap diam dan tidak bertindak apapun?
Para pejabat AS dalam menentang upaya pembakaran Al-Quran yang diserukan pendeta kontroversial, Terry Jones, menilainya sebagai langkah yang malah akan membahayakan para serdadu AS yang ditempatkan di Irak dan Afghanistan. Dengan ungkapan lain, apa yang dikhawatirkan AS adalah dampak yang akan merugikan negara ini. Washington sama sekali tidak menganggap penting penghormatan pada agama lain dan nilai-nilainya. Bagi Washington, perasaan ummat Islam tidaklah penting. Gedung Putih sepertinya lupa bahwa jutaan warga muslim AS dapat mengacaukan stabilitas Negeri Paman Sam.
Sikap Rahbar
Sementara itu, Pemimpin Tertinggi Revolusi Islam Iran atau Rahbar, Ayatullah al-Udzma Sayid Ali Khamenei menyebut organisasi Zionis yang berpengaruh di pemerintah Amerika Serikat (AS) sebagai dalang utama penistaan Kitab Suci al-Qur'an.
Menyusul aksi penistaan al-Qur'an di AS, Rahbar dalam pesannya kepada seluruh umat Islam dunia menyebutkan bahwa Israel sebagai dalang yang mengorganisir aksi ini. Djelaskannya, "Pemerintah AS untuk menguatkan klaimnya bahwa mereka tidak terlibat dalam aksi ini. Untuk itu, Washington harus menindak tegas pelaku pelecehan al-Qur'an."
Beliau menambahkan, aksi pelecehan terhadap al-Qur'an berjalan dengan pengamanan polisi dan digelar oleh organisasi yang sejak semula mengagendakan Islamophobia dalam sistem kerjanya. Dalam pesannya Rahbar menandaskan, aksi ini adalah lanjutan dari serangkaian aksi anti Islam yang dimulai dari pengkhianatan Salman Rushdi, karikaturis Denmark dan produksi film anti Islam di Hollywood.
Ayatullah Khamenei menegaskan, tak diragukan lagi arsitek utama penistaan al-Qur'an ini adalah Zionis yang mengakar kuat di tubuh pemerintah AS, Inggris dan sejumlah negara Eropa, mengingat aksi ini digelar bersamaan dengan arogansi di Pakistan, Afghanistan, Irak, Lebanon dan Palestina.
Menurut Rahbar, kebencian utama kaum arogan dunia saat ini adalah Islam dan al-Qur'an. Iran menjadi musuh mereka karena Tehran dengan berani menentang arogansi mereka. Ditegaskannya, "Bohong jika mereka menyatakan tidak memusuhi Islam dan ummatnya." Dalam pesan ini ditekankan bahwa akar utama kebencian mereka terhadap Islam adalah pengaruh Islam yang kian besar di Barat.
Rahbar menyebut konflik antara Islam dan Kristen adalah harapan dan ambisi musuh. Beliau menjelaskan, peristiwa terakhir tidak berkaitan dengan Gereja dan umat Kristen. Gerakan sejumlah pendeta tolol tidak seharusnya dicatat atas nama umat Kristen. Rahbar menjelaskan, "Kita umat Islam tidak akan melakukan tindakan serupa terhadap kesucian agama lain karena ajaran al-Qur'an menentang hal ini."

IRIB