LEGAL WOES OF FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES: While accurate, the AFP summary still reflects the allegations that interest European media. Still, the allegations tagging Francois Fillon are troublesome and they’ve hurt him. The European Parliament charges against Le Pen are debatable and she’s contesting them in the political arena.

RELATED: An election update that reports Hamon is “campaigning on a hard-left economic platform…” That’s for sure. (Corrected!)

AMERICAN OFFICIAL ABDUCTED IN CONGO:

An American UN official has been kidnapped by militia while travelling through the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Michael Sharp, 34, was among a team riding through the central African country by motorcycle on Sunday when they were abducted by the Kamwina Nsapu militia group, according to officials.

Fellow UN official Zaida Catalan, of Swedish nationality, and four Congolese were also taken near the near the village of Ngombe in the Kasai Central province.

‘The ambush took place in a bush where there is neither the police nor the army,’ said Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, deputy prime minister in charge of the Interior, according to Jeune Afrique.

The Democratic Republic of Congo isn’t democratic and it isn’t a republic. It is a very dangerous place.

BACKGROUND: StrategyPage’s latest Congo update, titled “My Way Or Else.”

RADICAL COMMUNIST MASS MURDERER FACES ANOTHER DOSE OF JUSTICE: Carlos “The Jackal.”

Once the world’s most-wanted fugitive, the political extremist known as Carlos the Jackal appeared in a French court Monday for a deadly 1974 attack against a Paris shopping arcade, a trial that victims’ families awaited for decades.

The Venezuelan-born Ilich Ramirez Sanchez is accused of throwing a hand grenade from a mezzanine restaurant onto a shopping area in the French capital’s Latin Quarter. Two people were killed and 34 injured at the trendy Drugstore Publicis.

Known worldwide as Carlos, the 67-year-old is already serving a life sentence in France for a series of murders and attacks he has been convicted of perpetrating or organizing in the country on behalf of the Palestinian cause or communist revolution in the 1970s and ’80s.

MORE:

Asked to state his profession before the court, he called himself a “professional revolutionary,” and said “I’m doing fine” in prison – after more than 20 years behind bars.

If convicted of first-degree murders in the trial, which lasts through March 31, he could get a third life sentence.

Professional revolutionary? Was Soros paying him way back then?

MORE–and very good:

Prosecutor Remi Crosson du Cormier argued that the trial remains relevant today. “Democracy has two principal enemies – totalitarianism, and terrorism,” he said, suggesting that Carlos is among “those who threaten democracy by their actions.”

Damn straight.

Yeah, Carlos is doing time. But the jerk should have been put to death.

Alas. But. He escaped the noose. See, at one time –when Marxism was the future– Carlos had a minor league Che Guevera cult following among people who claimed they were very smart and knew the future.

I hope we eventually jack a lot of these leftists who think they got away with it because they had the leftist media behind them. Bill Ayers, for example. What would Ayers be? Ah — here’s a stab at it. Rich Kid Pretend Revolutionary Murdering Fellow Americans.

DIPLOMATIC MILITARY DEALS: Germany buys the Norwegian ship killer.

MATTIS STILL SOLE TRUMP APPOINTEE IN PENTAGON: At least as of yesterday. And according to the AP as published in the Tulsa World.

When the Obama administration closed shop in January, only one of its top-tier Pentagon political appointees stayed in place — Robert Work, the deputy defense secretary. He agreed to remain until his successor is sworn in. So far no nominee for deputy has been announced, let alone confirmed by the Senate.

MORE:

There are few visible signs that the absence of Trump appointments in the Pentagon has affected its management of the counter-Islamic State campaign or military operations in Afghanistan. But the president has ordered a number of major policy reviews that require senior-level Pentagon attention, including counter-IS strategy, nuclear and missile defense plans and a blueprint for building up and improving the combat-readiness of the military.

THE HUNT FOR JOSEPH KONY CONTINUES: Green Berets continue to support operations to capture the commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

Kony is still thought to be hiding in Kafia Kingi, known as “K2” by the U.S. military, moving into uninhabited parts of CAR when pursuit comes too close. In K2, seasonal markets buy and sell the spoils of poaching, funneling them to international smugglers. Much of it ends up on the black market in Asia.

The fight to end this trade is intertwined with the fight against the LRA…

Here’s some background from 2012.

PT BOAT RESURRECTION: PT-305 revives and thrives. Cool.

JIHADI MERGER:

Just so you’ll know:

Three jihadist groups operating in the Sahel region of Africa have merged to form one single organisation, Mauritania’s private news agency ANI said Thursday, citing a video distributed by the Islamists.

Among the groups joining the merger south of the Sahara are Mali’s Al Qaeda-linked Ansar Dine and Al-Murabitoun, led by Algerian extremist Mokhtar Belmokhtar.

The new movement will operate under the name the Group to Support Islam and Muslims, and will be led by Ansar Dine’s Iyag Ag Ghaly, ANI said, adding that it had received the video Wednesday.

The Macina Brigades group, active in central Mali, has also joined the merger.

F-22 RAPTORS OVER AUSTRALIA: Another fine USAF photo with cool planes and beautiful scenery. The photo was taken March 2.

FINDING CHANDRAYAAN-1: It was in orbit around the Moon — somewhere.

The search team:

…JPL’s team used NASA’s 70-meter (230-foot) antenna at NASA’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California to send out a powerful beam of microwaves directed toward the moon. Then the radar echoes bounced back from lunar orbit were received by the 100-meter (330-foot) Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia.

The satellite:

…the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft is very small, a cube about five feet (1.5 meters) on each side—about half the size of a smart car. Although the interplanetary radar has been used to observe small asteroids several million miles from Earth, researchers were not certain that an object of this smaller size as far away as the moon could be detected, even with the world’s most powerful radars. Chandrayaan-1 proved the perfect target for demonstrating the capability of this technique.

SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT REMOVED FROM OFFICE: The election to select her replacement will take place within the next 60 days.

ULTRA-LIB TEXAS DEMOCRAT TRIES TO GET SERIOUS FELONIES DISMISSED: But Texas State Representative Dawnna Dukes could still be in a lot of trouble — if the state of Texas is genuinely interested in punishing hideous crime.

When Dukes was indicted on Jan. 17, 1017, the three-year statute of limitations had run out on these charges.

MORE:

Oswalt said Dukes signed a waiver to the statute of limitations last September with this understanding. While there are emails between attorneys stating all this, there wasn’t a formal agreement.

A means of creating legal gray area and political limbo to let the alleged crook slip justice? Inquiring minds want to know. This is a fair question.

In January, Dukes didn’t resign from office and instead was sworn in for her 12th term. One week later, she was indicted on 13 counts of tampering with a government document, a felony offense punishable by up to two years in jail and a $10,000 fine.

Dukes was also charged with two counts of abuse of official capacity by a public servant: a misdemeanor offense punishable by up to one year in prison and a fine of $4,000.

Judge Urrutia canceled a hearing on the lesser charges, scheduled for Thursday, and announced he would make a ruling on or before Dukes’ next hearing date on April 19. He also said Dukes would not have to be present for that pre-trial hearing.

Stay tuned.

TAIWAN MODERNIZES ITS AIR FORCE:

Because of Chinese political and economic pressure, Taiwan is using a lot of locally manufactured components to upgrade its F-16s. But some tech can only be obtained from the United States and most of the requested items have been made available along with technical assistance from the American manufacturers. The Taiwanese upgrade center will turn out 24 upgraded aircraft a year.

Meanwhile Taiwan has completed upgrades of its own locally manufactured jet fighter. In 2011 Taiwan rolled out the first of its upgraded IDF (F-CK) jet fighters. The improvements include better electronics, largely from the United States and the ability to carry four, instead of two, radar guided air-to-air missiles.

Beijing’s belligerence in the South China Sea and East China Sea has led South Korea, Japan, Taiwan (Republic of China) and the U.S. to modernize their forces and/or change their military force posture. These nations are technically adversaries. Vietnam is a pugnacious adversary. Singapore, Indonesia and Australia are also “adjusting” their defense policies.

INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW: How come Trump hasn’t fired IRS Commissioner Koskinen?

House Republicans aren’t giving up their quest to show Koskinen the door.

“President Trump should fire Commissioner Koskinen and replace him with someone that will bring integrity and competence to the IRS,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., told Fox News on Tuesday.

OK, House GOP, go ahead and impeach Koskinen. Remember, the IRS recently “found” 6,924 new documents related to the targeting of conservative organizations. Judicial Watch has kept up the pressure. The House can exert political pressure. Koskinen would be the opening round. The IRS targeted conservatives — it sure looks like Obama politicized the agency. Did Obama politicize other alphabet agencies (like NSA and CIA) and use them to target Trump? Fair question.

THE MANHOFF ARCHIVES: Radio Free Europe posts imagery of every day life in Josef Stalin’s Soviet Union –taken by a U.S. Army attache.

Major Martin Manhoff spent more than two years in the Soviet Union in the early 1950s, serving as assistant army attaché at the U.S. Embassy, which was located just off Red Square at the beginning of his time in Moscow.

He took full advantage of his post, using his gifted photographic eye to capture hundreds of images of everyday life in Moscow and across the U.S.S.R.

When he left the country in 1954 amid accusations of espionage, Major Manhoff took with him reels of 16 millimeter film and hundreds of color slides and negatives he shot during his travels – including of one of the Soviet Union’s pivotal events, Josef Stalin’s funeral.

The intro has some great film. Part 1 is Stalin’s funeral. At least three more installments are scheduled. The film and commentary are worth your time.

ISLAMIC STATE COMMANDER ABANDONS FIGHTERS, GOES INTO HIDING: Hey, they’re rats and blustering cowards.

US and Iraqi officials believe the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has left operational commanders behind with diehard followers to fight the battle of Mosul, and is now hiding out in the desert, focusing mainly on his own survival.

KIM JONG UN’S PARANOID SPRING: My latest Creators Syndicate column (bumped).

RELATED: China weighs in.

The government openly asked North Korea to stop its nuclear and ballistic missile tests and implied that if North Korea complied China would persuade the United States and South Korea to halt their military preparations to deal with a North Korean attack. North Korea was apparently not impressed.

AYAAN HIRSI ALI WEIGHS IN ON “DAY WITHOUT A WOMAN” PROTESTS:

The problems being protested against Wednesday—inequality, vulnerability to discrimination, sexual harassment, and job insecurity—are all too real for many disadvantaged women, but the legal protections for them are in place here in the United States. Women who are unfairly treated at work or discriminated against can stand up, speak out, protest in the streets, and take legal action. Not so for many women in other parts of the world for whom the hashtag #daywithoutawoman is all too apt.

Around the world women are subjected to “honor violence” and lack legal protections and access to health and social services. According to Amnesty International’s recent annual report, throughout the Middle East and North Africa, women and girls are denied equal status with men in law and are subject to gender-based violence, including sexual violence and killings perpetrated in the name of “honor.”

I highlighted the phrase “honor violence.” As Stephen Green noted earlier, Trump’s new immigration order creates a data base of honor killings. An “honor killing” isn’t honorable, it’s just murder, and the victims are women.

PARANOID KIM’S PARANOID SPRING

EARTH’S IMPACT CRATERS: Statistical studies indicate space bombards us at random. There is no consistent pattern to asteroid strikes. Like, Earth has no specific bulls-eye. Rumors that Nemesis –the Sun’s troubling, allegedly asteroid-guiding companion– stalks us are just that. Rumors. Nemesis does not exist, except in the fevered imaginations of sci-fi buffs.

THE HIGH EXPLOSIVE GUIDED MORTAR ROUND: It appears the military will finally field the long-anticipated “pinpoint accurate” 120 mm mortar round.

The U.S. Army plans to issue contracts this year for development of a next-generation laser-guided 120mm mortar system.

The new precision high explosive guided mortar, which will replace the current system, eliminates the need to typically fire several rounds to adjust fire for accurate strikes and also incorporate threat counter-measures and enhanced mobility.

In the mid-1990s I attended an informal briefing at an Army weapons lab that addressed “smart 120 mm mortar rounds.” The update was on background. One thing that wasn’t classified was that the lab was trying to increase 120 mm mortar accuracy and there were tweaks that improved accuracy. “Improving precision” was the way the briefer put it. I mentioned this in a couple of speeches I gave in the late 1990s that addressed military modernization issues. I’ve fired mortars, 81 mm and 4.2”. The Four-Deuce dates me. Both mortars are fine weapons. They are usually classified as infantry heavy weapons (though tank battalions had a 4.2″ platoon). These mortars are also area weapons, not pinpoint. Area for a Four Deuce meant you were kinda sorta firing into a four to eight-acre target. (OK, critics, 20 acres. I’m trying to communicate a general idea here to good folks who haven’t done it.)

The lab wanted to achieve pinpoint accuracy for 120 mm mortars. Put a round at range into a meter-wide hole.

The Pentagon is soliciting contract bids for laser guided munitions. A laser guided munition was mentioned in the briefing. A 120 mm round is big enough to carry explosives and sophisticated sensors. Yes, 24 years ago. It’s no secret a laser-guided round was being developed. But getting this “stuff” to work when soldiers and marines need it is hard to do if you want to do it right.

Here’s a photo of a USMC 81 mm mortar crew firing a round. It isn’t a 120 mm but it serves to illustrate the basic procedure. Good photo, too.

UPDATE: Looks like it is a 60 mm mortar. A commenter says that DOD will correct the error. Is there anything Instapundit can’t do?

OLD AND NEW: Superb USAF publicity photo, on par with the Bomber Trifecta. It was snapped on February 17.
An “A-10C Thunderbolt II and a F-35 Lightning II fly in formation with a P-47 Thunderbolt and a P-38 Lightning.” The formation is banking. A beautiful photo.

NATION STATES REASSERTING THEMSELVES: That’s how Marine Le Pen sees it.

Excerpted from a CNN interview with the French presidential candidate:

And now, nations are forcing themselves back into the debate. Nations with borders we control, with people that we listen to, with real economies, not Wall Street economies, but rather factories and farmers.

HOOLIGAN VIOLENCE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT: This is a Instapundit Two-fer, the Associated Press and Russia, two suspect sources in one!

A Russian pol is proposing that “Soccer hooliganism” be made a spectator sport. And the AP –ever in search of click bait — is reporting it. I’d say “you can’t make this stuff up” but of course you could manufacture it. In fact, cable tv more or less treats hooligan violence as a sport, at least when Red Fascists beat up conservatives.

A Russian lawmaker has proposed an unorthodox solution to the country’s problems with soccer hooliganism ahead of next year’s World Cup – legalize it and make it a spectator sport.

The Rooski dude’s raison d’etre for staging gang fights as a sport:

Organized groups of Russian fans, many with martial arts training, fought English fans on the streets of Marseille during last year’s European Championship.

Better Than Snopes and The Washington Post Fact Check: This is sensationalist spout-off that approaches fake news.

Like, who in the heck is dumb enough to square off with British football rowdies?…Oh, wait…Russian football rowdies…

Actually, the Russian politico could be a cable tv producer. He wants to stage a “draka,” the Russian word for fight.

“…20 fighters on each side, unarmed, in an arena.”

Hold it. I’m being too hard on this guy. If he’d ginned up this concept six months ago Obama would’ve wiretapped him. By exhibiting showmanship of this caliber ole Barack would’ve been convinced he got the idea from Trump.

This is what Hollywood calls blockbuster concept. We all know what’ll happen. The Russians will stack their rowdies with Spetsnaz and the Brits will stack their rowdies with Special Air Service (SAS) commandos. War would once again become a contest of tribal champions. Stay tuned!

RELATED: The SAS recruits a dozen Gurkas. This gives the Brits a “draka” edge, in my opinion.

PUERTO RICO’S DEBT CRISIS HASN’T GONE AWAY: It just disappeared from the headlines because it’s such an inconvenient topic.

This article takes a lefty point of view. See, it’s the “colonial” U.S. government. No, not quite. It’s the Detroit and Illinois problem — governments that spend money they don’t have. But the article does recognize the debt threat.

The commonwealth’s debt position is clearly unsustainable, and its economy will be able to recover only if it gets a fresh start. But, unlike US municipalities, Puerto Rico is not protected by the US bankruptcy code. It is well known that decentralized bargaining processes for debt restructuring often lead to disastrous outcomes, with the relief obtained being insufficient to restore debt sustainability.