TANK LIVE FIRE IN GEORGIA: The country, not the state.

RELATED: Ten years ago Putin launched a tsar-war against Georgia. Two columns I wrote at the time provide historical background, there first dated August 13, 2008 and the second dated August 26, 2008.

From the second column:

Personalizing Russia 2008 as Vladimir Putin strikes me as a stretch. Putin runs an oligarchy, not a totalitarian dictatorship, but Putin is clearly at the nucleus of the oligarchy, with ex-KGB pals, friendly billionaires and useful mafiya in close orbits. But dub the pals and billionaires “new royalty,”and Putin might be an emerging “pop Tsar” — a savvy 21st century autocrat leveraging Russian nationalist demands. Orchestrating a domestically popular military ventures fits this frame.

But recall in 2008 the Obama-Clinton Democrats and their media cronies blamed George W. Bush for lousy U.S.-Russia relations. And in 2009 Obama and Hillary “reset” U.S.-Russia relations. How? From September 22, 2009: by giving Putin a “sphere of influence” and cashing in missile defenses in Eastern Europe.

Seizing Crimea in 2014 — on Obama’s watch– was initially a “domestically popular” military venture in Russia.

Obama, Clinton, Clapper, Brennan, Lynch, Comey, McCabe, The Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN — they want you to forget this sorry history.

TRACKING EARTH’S MINI-MOONS: There could be many minis in orbit.

YEMEN’S LITTLE WARS AND OPPORTUNISTIC ARRANGEMENTS.

EXERCISE WITH A CHILEAN SUBMARINE: A Chilean diesel-electric submarine conducts operations in the Pacific with the U.S. Navy’s Third Fleet. In typical DESI exercises (Diesel Electric Submarine Initiative), USN anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft play “cat and mouse” with diesel-electric subs from friendly South American nations. The South Americans portray “potential adversaries” who deploy diesel-electric subs — like Iran, Russia and China.

WALL OF WATER IN THE PACIFIC: Courtesy of U.S. Navy Carrier Air Wing 2.

IN THE HOOVER INSTITUTION’S STRATEGIKA MAGAZINE’S LATEST ISSUE: Erdogan’s Turkey and NATO.

BLACKHORSE ARMOR PREPARES TO ATTACK: “Opposing Force” 11th Cavalry prepares to attack at Fort Irwin.

SUBMARINE SWIM IN THE PACIFIC: Literally.

AGGRESSORS OVER NEVADA: F-16s from the USAF’s 64th Aggressors Squadron fly over the Nevada Test and Training Range during Red Flag 18-3.

NIGHT SKY OVER HAWAII, WITH AN OCCASIONAL FLASH OF HIGH EXPLOSIVE: Aussies, Kiwis and Marines pause during a field exercise, and watch.

RAPTOR IN BLACK AND WHITE.

COMBAT ENGINEER BRIDGING OPERATION: To combat a California fire. A good action photo of the California Army National Guard in action.

MIKE PENCE’S CYBERSECURITY SPEECH — ANNOTATED: Long article but worth the read.

B-52 PACIFIC OCEAN PATROL: OK, two B-52s and a lot of blue.

CHINESE MILITARY VETERANS COMPLAIN:

Grievances over military pensions and perceived poor treatment of veterans have been a long-running issue, and have at times led to organized protests.

More than 1,000 veterans also demonstrated outside Defence Ministry headquarters in Beijing in 2016, and reports of protests in parts of the country surface every few months.

Demobilized soldiers who protested have included some who fought against Vietnam in 1979 — China’s last major foreign military engagement — and complained about problems with their pensions.

Until now the protests have received little notice.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Meanwhile, back in Somalia. My latest Creators Syndicate column.

NAVY REFUELING TEST: An F/A-18 refuels an F-35C. The F-35C is the U.S. Navy carrier version of the F-35 Lightning II.

MEANWHILE, BACK IN SOMALIA…

WING COMMANDER’S LAST FLIGHT: “Fini flight” in an F-22 Raptor.

BUFF LANDING IN TWILIGHT.

ALASKAN SKY FILLED WITH PARATROOPERS.

CHINA’S IMPERIALIST VENTURES IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA.

SPIRIT IN THE SKY: A very visual photo of a B-2 stealth bomber passing overhead.

NAFTA NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE: Mexico’s chief negotiator, Jesus Seade, says a new deal is “inevitable.”

“What I see … to be a very feasible expectation is that we’ll be concluding the negotiation in the next two months if possible, or in the next few months a bit further down the road,” Seade told Mexican radio.

More from Mr. Seade:

“President Trump has a very personal style. He likes to appear chaotic. But the last thing he is is chaotic,” he said. “I think he’s a very intelligent man.”

Seade once served as deputy director-general of the World Trade Organization.

F-35 TRANSFER TO TURKEY COULD BE HELD BACK BY HOUSE AND SENATE:

Transfers to Turkey of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 would be barred temporarily under a compromise defense policy measure agreed to on Monday, according to House and Senate aides.

Turkish receipt of the fighter jets would be held back until the Pentagon submitted an assessment within 90 days of the measure’s enactment on U.S.-Turkish relations, the impact of Turkey’s planned acquisition of Russia’s advanced S-400 missile defense system and the ramifications for the U.S. industrial base if Turkey is dropped from the international F-35 program.

Given Erdogan’s behavior, this is the right move.

VERY RELATED: Thoughts from last week on Turkey’s decision to buy Russian-made S-400 missiles.