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 Contributing Writer 
	January 18, 2012 Yesterday, I carried a story on a crash between a French Air Force Mirage and a Royal Saudi Air Force F-15. 
 The story confirmed that the Saudi pilot and the two French pilots were safe. Little additional information was available. Today, I am able to report that the two-seat Mirage was in fact either a French Air Force Mirage 2000-D or a 2000-N. 
 
	Missiles carried by a French 
	Air Force 
 
	Both aircraft, in their later variants are 
	virtually identical and are used for the long-range nuclear strike role by 
	the French Air Force. 
 
	There are hundreds of allied fighter-bombers 
	available in the Middle East that can hit targets in Iran and Syria. Why 
	bring in the specialized long-range nuclear capable Mirages? 
 A massive war armada is sitting just south of the Strait of Hormuz, it consists of three US Navy super-carrier battle groups: 
 
	Each battle group generally has four or five 
	Aegis air defense cruisers and destroyers, and usually one to three other 
	destroyers and/or frigates, plus a large support ship and one or two 
	hunter-killer nuclear submarines. 
 
	These include the
	
	USS Makin Island with its USMC Harriers and 
	various Marine attack and assault helicopters. The Makin Island has the 
	capability to off load Marine amphibious assault crafts and its battle group 
	is accompanied by the USS New Orleans and the USS Pearl Harbor, both very 
	powerful assault ships capable of launching large numbers of Marine 
	amphibious crafts. 
 
	The British Royal Navy has added to its local 
	fleet its most powerful warship the Type 45 Air Defense Destroyer the HMS 
	Daring. The combination of the French carrier and the US super-carriers 
	means that fully one-third of all the nuclear powered aircraft carriers on 
	Earth are now assembled near the Strait of Hormuz! 
 To make this point crystal clear, the Russian Strategic Missile Forces have suddenly begun a 'High Alert Drill' according to RiaNovosti this "drill" involves the latest and most dangerous nuclear-armed Russian ICBMs: 
 While the world's attention is on the GOP Presidential race and the Eurozone crisis, war clouds are gathering in the Middle East and the entire planet is at risk. 
 
	A risk that is greater than that it faced almost 
	half a century ago with the Cuban Missile Crisis. 
 
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