ROME BUILT WALLS: A review of “Hadrian’s Wall: Archaeology and History at the Limit of Rome’s Empire.” As usual, Dr. Nofi’s review is a brief history class.

NAVY AIR DEFENSE HOT SHOT: The guided-missile destroyer USS The Sullivans (DDG 68) launches a Standard Missile 2 (SM-2) from a vertical launch cell.

PARARESCUE OVER WATER: An HH-60G Pae Hawk hoists a USAF pararescueman from the sea in a demonstration off Miami Beach. Photo taken May 26.

CHINOOK OVER AFGHANISTAN: CH-47 on a mission. Check out the tough terrain below.

RAPTOR VAPOR: An F-22 in high speed maneuvers. The pilot and plane belong to the F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team.

SNAPSHOTS FROM THE FRONT: Dr. A. A. Nofi reviews Jon Cooksey’s The Vest Pocket Kodak and the First World War. As usual, the review is a history lesson unto itself.

OLD TIMERS ON THE FLIGHT LINE: B-17s Aluminum Overcast and Yankee Lady show up for the Memphis Belle. Photo taken at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, on May 17.

SUPER SEA STALLION GETS READY TO LIFT: Somewhere in the Fifth Fleet area of operations.

CAMOUFLAGED IN SILK: China’s Belt and Road Initiative — more imperialism with Chinese Communist characteristics. My latest Creators Syndicate column.

CHINA’S BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE, CAMOUFLAGED IN SILK.

SECONDARY PRESSURE POINT FROM TRUMP’S NEW MAXIMUM PRESSURE SANCTIONS: Europeans use “nuclear deal” leverage to press Iran to withdraw support of Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

To shield Iran from new US sanctions, the European powers have been pressing Tehran to be less aggressive in the region, including in the civil war in Yemen.

“The Iranians have given indications that they are now willing to offer their services to liaise with Al Houthis to move forward,” said a European official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Here’s background on applying “maximum pressure” to Iran.

UPDATE: Link fixed. Sorry.

COMMEMORATING THE BATTLE OF BELLEAU WOOD: Marines commemorate the 100th anniversary of their WWI victory. Photo taken May 27 in Belleau, France. The battle began June 2, 1918 and “was the first major offensive by American forces on the Western Front.”

LIVE FIRE STINGER: A Marine fires a Stinger missile at Yuma Proving Grounds, Arizona.

CROSSING THE IMJIN: 1st Cavalry Division Abrams tanks and Bradley infantry fighting vehicles cross the Imjin River in South Korea. Fine photo for Memorial Day.

THUNDERBOLTS OVER MIAMI: A-10 Thunderbolt IIs in formation over Miami Beach. The photo was taken May 26. The aircraft were participating in a Memorial Day weekend air show.

PRESSURE STARTS TO MOUNT ON IRAN: From the Wall Street Journal (scroll down for story).

Iran’s widening influence in the Middle East — already under pressure from the U.S. — also faces growing resistance from within its close regional allies, Syria and Iraq.

In Iraq, discontent among the country’s Shiite Muslim community with Iranian influence was reflected in cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s victory in this month’s election. Mr. Sadr, himself a Shiite, is a fierce nationalist whose supporters sometimes chant slogans criticizing Iran, the region’s top Shiite power.
Syrians in the largely secular capital, Damascus, have meanwhile accused Iran of stoking religious tensions. And Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s other main foreign partner, Russia, has showed impatience with Iran’s growing military presence in Syria, which Israel has moved to contain with airstrikes.

The pushback poses another challenge for Tehran as it tries to defend its gains in the region and avoid international isolation following President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the landmark 2015 nuclear accord.

Earlier this month the Israeli Air pushed back, unambiguously. Meanwhile, the Trump Administration starts to apply maximum pressure.

JUMPING ALL AMERICAN WEEK: Army paratroopers jump in the 82nd Airborne Division Airborne Review at Fort Bragg, N.C., May 24, 2018. A great photo.

U.S. FORCES JAPAN TOP DOG COMPETITION: A “decoy” Navy petty officer gives Air Force military work dog Benjo a human target (a well-protected human target).

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: My latest Creators Syndicate column, Israeli Air Force bombs send Iran an unambiguous message. (bumped)

RELATED: Iran’s corrupt and brittle regime faces maximum pressure.

UNMANNED NAVY COAST WATCHER: A USN petty officer aboard a Mark VI patrol boat launches an unmanned aerial vehicle –somewhere in the Pacific.

MORE EVIDENCE RUSSIA SHOT DOWN FLIGHT MH-17 OVER UKRAINE: The attack occurred in July 17, 2014.

The missile that downed a Malaysia Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine in 2014 belonged to a Russian brigade, international investigators say.

For the first time, the Dutch-led team said the missile had come from a unit based in western Russia.

All 298 people on board the Boeing 777 died when it broke apart in mid-air flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

It was hit by a missile fired from rebel-held territory in Ukraine. Russia says none of its weapons was used.

But on Thursday Wilbert Paulissen, a Dutch official from the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), told reporters: “All the vehicles in a convoy carrying the missile were part of the Russian armed forces.”

He restated the JIT’s conclusion that the plane had been destroyed by a Russian-made Buk missile, adding that it had been supplied by the country’s 53rd anti-aircraft brigade in Kursk.

Everyone knew this was what happened. Forensic analysis in the immediate aftermath of the incident proved it was a Buk surface to air missile, but the Kremlin first said a Ukrainian aircraft downed the commercial jet then claimed the missile came from Ukrainian sources. Now investigators have traced the missile that shot down MH-17 to Russian military stocks.

Here’s what StrategyPage reported on July 23, 2014:

The Ukraine situation got a lot worse a week ago when pro-Russian rebels shot down a Malaysian airliner that was passing through. The official Russian line is that the destruction of the Malaysian airliner was all a CIA plot to discredit Russia and justify NATO expansion. Russia claims a Ukrainian fighter shot down the airliner, which may be why the rebels kept international investigators away from the crash site for so long. Russian aviation experts know that when the wreckage is carefully examined parts of the missile that brought down the airliner will probably be found and identified. Photos of the wreckage already show damage characteristic of what a BUK (SA-11) missile warhead would inflict. The missile has a 70 kg (154 kg) warhead and a proximity fuze that detonates the warhead close to the target and sprays the target with a unique form of metal fragments.

Like I said, the evidence was there, despite the Kremlin agitprop cover story. The StrategyPage report has more background.

ISRAELI AIR FORCE BOMBS SEND AN UNAMBIGUOUS MESSAGE TO IRAN: My latest Creators Syndicate column. (bumped)

Tehran can no longer kill Israelis using proxy fighters; terrorists and criminal syndicates then deny responsibility and avoid reprisals.

Think of it as additional pressure on the ayatollah regime. Iranian special forces no longer have the privilege of “gray zone” deniability on the Israeli border.

VERY RELATED: Iran’s brittle regime confronts maximum pressure.

MOGADISHU, MINNESOTA: Powerline’s Scott Johnson is your tour guide.

ISRAELI BOMBS SEND AN UNAMBIGUOUS MESSAGE TO IRAN: “Tehran can no longer kill Israelis using proxy fighters; terrorists and criminal syndicates then deny responsibility and avoid reprisals.”

It’s additional pressure on the ayatollah regime. No more “gray zone” deniability on the Israeli border.

VERY RELATED: Iran’s brittle regime confronts maximum pressure.

RIDING INTO A FINNISH SUNSET: A USMC M1A1 tank in Finland drills with Finnish military forces. The tank crew is participating in “a low-light live-fire exercise.” Yes, the Finns saw Russia invade Crimea, and they remain alarmed.