2012 In Review: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

     It seems like just yesterday I was writing 2011 In Review, but here we are on the cusp of a new year. Thus, it's time we look back at The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
     The Good: The Navy's P-8 program made good progress, the F-35C made it's first cat shot, and the UCAS-N was put aboard the Truman for shipboard tests, and CVN-80 will be named the Enterprise. In the Air Force, the  F-35A made good progress, and their new bunker buster became operational. The Philippines began arming up finally by purchasing 12 KF-50s, and 2 Italian frigates (not much but a start). Iran's nuclear program came under cyber attack, and at one point the program's computers began blasting "Thunderstruck" (gotta love those Jews). Israel destroyed Hamas in Gaza by killing their brass and destroying their stocks of rockets. Israel was also rumored to be monitoring Iran's nuclear program by inserting spec ops people via "Jedi Rides".
     The Bad: Iran made a lot of progress with their nuclear program, and is a helluva lot closer to building a nuke than 12 months ago. China unveiled the J-31, and more recently the Y-20. China also put the Varyag to sea for several more sea trials, and launched the lead ships of the Type 056 corvettes and the Type 052D DDG. Russia is reported to have sold China the Su-35 (again), 4 Lada-class SSKs, and is rumored to be shipping SS-26s to Syria. Syria continues to fall apart with Assad now using his Scuds and rumored to have begun using chemical weapons. Hamas and other terrorists are now rumored to have MANPADS in their possession from Libya.
     The Ugly: Harry Waxman, 'nuff said.
     This just scratches the surface of 2012, a lot more did happen, some good, a lot bad. 2013 looks to be a lot worse with sequestration, China throwing it's weight around in Asia, the mideast getting even more grouchy than usual, and a truck load of crap about to hit the fan here at home. Get ready for a rough ride, and may God have mercy on us.