June 2, 2016 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

Video: "What Would Happen If Humans Disappeared?"--Mind Warehouse. This appears to be made using clips from the Life After People television series by National Geographic.

• "SOCOM Chooses .300 Norma Magnum for ASR"--The Firearms Blog.
• "France floods: Louvre to close as Seine rises further"--BBC.
• "Russian troops preparing offensive to create land corridor to Crimea – NSDC"--UA Position. "Russia is now preparing an offensive in order to create a land corridor through mainland Ukraine to the Russian-occupied Crimea, according to Deputy Secretary of National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Mykhailo Koval ...." 
• "The 'death ray' that can knock out drones from six miles away: UAV-freezing gun will soon be trialled by airports across the US"--Daily Mail. From the description, it is a system that integrates radar for tracking with directional radio jamming to block the signals of whomever is controlling the drone.
• "US military eyes 'extremist Islamic movement' in Latin America"--The Hill. The article indicates:

The top U.S. military commander in Latin America said he and his regional counterparts are growing more concerned about radical Islamic extremists using the region as a pathway into the U.S. 

"Radicalization is occurring," said Adm. Kurt Tidd, commander of U.S. Southern Command, at a roundtable with reporters on Wednesday. 

"We just have to recognize that this theater is a very attractive target and is an attractive pathway that we have to pay attention to," he said. 

Tidd ... said the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has attracted between 100 and 150 recruits from Latin America, and a "small number" have attempted to return to the region. 

"Or -- and the one that I find much more worrisome -- if they can't get there, they've been told to engage in lone wolf attacks where they're located," he said. "Those are the ones that have most of our regional security partners concerned because they're so difficult to detect."  

• "Police arrest three Syrian men and foil ISIS plot to carry out suicide bomb attack in Dusseldorf"--Daily Mail. "It said in a statement that the plan called for two suicide attackers to blow themselves up in central Duesseldorf and then for further attackers to kill as many people as possible with firearms and explosives." A fourth suspect was arrested in France.
• "Arson destroys empty Austrian refugee centre"--The Local (h/t Vox Popoli). According to the article, the center was to receive 48 refugees two weeks from now. The village in which it was located only has a population of just over 2,000. From the article: "'We have no indications at all that people in the village were at all unhappy,' Red Cross spokesman Stefan Neubauer told AFP." As Vox Day notes, rather than heed the warning, officials plan on rebuilding the center.
• "Rule America? Liberal elites ruined Britain as a hyperpower. Could America meet the same fate?"--American Spectator.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the British Empire was an unopposed hyperpower (much as the United States has been since 1989). As historian Colin Cross observes: "In terms of influence it was the only world power." The British people and their leaders accepted this fact. In the early 1930s, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin pronounced that "the British Empire stands firm, as a great force for good." Historian William Manchester argues that "most of the crown's subjects, abroad as well as at home, felt comfortable with imperialism."

But after the conclusion of the first World War, Britain's imperial psyche began to fracture. "After the survivors of the Western front came home," Manchester writes, "Britons wanted nothing more to do with war; most of them hoped never again to lay their eyes on an Englishman in uniform, and they were losing their taste for Empire." Winston Churchill despaired of this change. "The shadow of victory is disillusion," he noted. "The reaction from extreme effort is prostration. The aftermath even of successful war is long and bitter."

A deep desire to avoid conflict, even at the price of letting the Empire dissolve, permeated British society. In 1931, the House of Commons passed the Statute of Westminster, the first step toward independence for Britain's dominions. In 1932, a poll found that 10.4 million Britons supported England's unilateral disarmament, while only 870,000 opposed it. Historian Alistair Horne observes that, after World War I, it took just about 10 years for the "urge for national grandeur" to be replaced by "a deep longing simply to be left in peace."

Why did it all crumble? Several interrelated reasons - among them the grisly fact that England had lost virtually an entire generation of future leaders in the trenches of Europe. But another important cause was the waning of confidence on the part of liberal British elites, whose pacifism evolved into anti-patriotism.

• "NYT: Venezuelan Socialism Has Pretty Much Shut Down All Aspects Of Socioeconomic Life"--Town Hall. From the article:

Venezuela’s tryst with socialism continues to make its citizens suffer under lack of electricity, food, and medical supplies. The government, which provides essential services, is only working two-day workweeks. Inflation has soared through the stratosphere, only to be accompanied by widespread hunger. People have resorted to looting. There are reports of dogs, cats, and pigeons being hunted for food, while others tear through garbage cans looking for whatever they can find to eat. Under-stocked supermarkets have become tragic spectacles, as Venezuelans rush to get whatever they can find once the doors open. As for medical supplies, they’re scarce—with hospitals lacking basic items, like gloves and soap. Access to medicine is also a nightmare, impacting 200,000 Venezuelans living with chronic illnesses. In one tragic case, an eight-year-old-boy with Hodgkin’s lymphoma recently passed away since he couldn’t obtain the drugs he needed to survive.

The New York Times noted that, as the government slowly begins to shutdown, the crisis is beginning to kill off every aspect of socioeconomic life. Schools are now closed on Fridays to help with the energy shortage, and law and order has all but collapsed. Even the Venezuela’s like-minded allies concerning left wing economics have noted that current President Nicolas Maduro has pretty much lost his marbles ....

• "Police chief 'stabs stepson in the chest with a power drill and fires warning shot in his own home after family argument turns violent'"--Daily Mail. But remember, only police can be trusted with guns.
• "Indus Valley civilization could be older than Egypt and Mesopotamia"--International Business Times. (Warning: Video starts automatically). The article states:

The Indus Valley civilization is considered one of the oldest in the world and now archaeologists believe that it might be even older than earlier estimated. According to new research, the Bronze-Age civilization which spreads across parts of Pakistan and India, may be 8000 years old – 2500 years older than previously dated.

A team of researchers from prestigious Indian institutes including IIT Kharagpur, Institute of Archaeology, Deccan College Pune, Physical Research Laboratory and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) used carbon dating techniques on animal remains and pottery fragments from the Bhirrana site in India and came to the conclusion that earlier dating may have been incorrect.