Arno Witte

Moscow supports Orban because he sabotages the European Union, blocks sanctions and money for Ukraine. Ergo, he who supports Orban, helps Moscow. It really is that simple.

@scottiebateman Oh that’s weird! Why was that?

@Afmwitte Actually there’s a quirk there. The Pan Am aircraft bears the name of the one first delivered. But it was switched due to another issue.

Two aircraft. One runway. 583 lives lost. Today marks the anniversary of the Tenerife air disaster, still the deadliest accident in aviation history. It wasn’t a single mistake. It was a chain. Fog. Pressure. Assumptions. Two highly professional crews, both believing they understood the situation… and a breakdown in communication that left no margin for recovery. That’s the uncomfortable truth about aviation, and about life more broadly. Catastrophe rarely arrives in one moment. It builds, quietly, step by step, until there’s no space left to correct it. While researching JUMBO, I had the privilege of speaking with Dorothy, a flight attendant on the Pan Am aircraft that day. She survived. And what stayed with me wasn’t just the sequence of events, it was the human side. The confusion. The disbelief. The seconds where everything changed. And the resilience required to carry that experience forward. We often talk about Tenerife in terms of procedures and lessons learned, CRM, communication, decision-making under pressure. And those lessons reshaped aviation forever. But behind all of that are people. Lives interrupted. Stories that didn’t get to finish. It remains one of the most important reminders in aviation: Clarity matters. Humility matters. And good judgement is everything. If you want to understand not just the history of the 747, but the human stories that shaped modern aviation, my book JUMBO explores moments like this in depth. Available now at all good bookstores. #Tenerife #AviationHistory #JumboBook #Boeing747 #CRM #HumanFactors #AvGeek #DecisionMaking #NeverForget

@jmbfn @scottiebateman 27 March 1977

@scottiebateman When? 🙄

@scottiebateman @speedbird020 One of the Dutch people in the KLM aircraft was on her way to Tenerife. So when the aircraft was diverted to Tenerife (because there was an incident at Gran Canaria), she was allowed to get out. It saved her life.

@TurtleIsland78 @scottiebateman The way aircraft were cleared for takeoff was more informal at the time. This disaster changed all that

@scottiebateman The cocky Dutch captain told the FO to take off when they hadn’t been cleared for take off,even after take off roll the FO questions the captain if they have take off clearance to which the captain replied sure we do,the captain took a chance and 583 people paid for it.

@PhillipsPOBrien It will surely result in less votes for Orban. Vance and Netanyahu are mostly hated in Europe

Netanyahu and Trump being both strong backers of Orban and thus opponents of democracy (and Ukraine) in Europe is a terrible position for the US and Israel to be in.

@RembrandtsRoom Ik was er zaterdag en ik vond de drukte toen wel meevallen

Het bloesempark in Amstelveen gisteren. Dit is toch niet leuk meer! 😕

"We must attack Narva to destroy NATO and break Europe's will." Russian state TV is making no secret of Putin's plans. They're now openly claiming that Russia is planning to attack the town of Narva on the Russian-Estonian border. Russian state propaganda convinces Russians that Europe won't respond and this attack will help them win. The Russians said exactly the same thing before their invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Back then, we didn't believe it was serious. Now, there's no doubt that Putin will attack Europe.

Dear President @realdonaldtrump this is what our failing right leader @GeertWilders is doing, desperately seeking attention ratting out our prime minister and perfectly willing to hurt our national interests. Please don’t trust him, he is the biggest loser of the last elections, a fake nationalist like yourself, with no friends left. Sad and pathetic! Thank for your attention to this matter.

@KyivIndependent All along the Volga river. I was there in 1990. Tolyatti may sound very un-Russian and it is. It was the name of the Italian prime minister who made it possible for FIAT to start a serious car industry there. So that’s why Lada cars look Italian.

⚡️Drones target Russia's Saratov, Samara oblasts in overnight attacks. The attacks targeted the cities of Saratov, Engels, and Tolyatti which host key Russian military and industrial assets. kyivindependent.com/drones-target-…

@s8470 @OnDisasters That’s why the US government needs $ 200 billion more for its military

“America is winning. Our warriors are executing brilliantly. And the era of “you can’t win without boots on the ground in a full-scale invasion” is being retired—right here, right now.”

@WillemdePrater Zou oud al! Mijn zus is daar getrouwd. Geweldig om daar in die drukke winkelstraat in een bruidsstoet met je auto te rijden 😂

Het Alkmaarse stadhuis was de plek waar het stadsbestuur in 1572 besloot om zich aan te sluiten bij de Opstand. 2/2

Cornelis Springer schilderde voornamelijk dorps- en stadsgezichten zoals dit schilderij uit 1871, waarop het stadhuis van Alkmaar en de Grote Sint Laurenskerk te zien zijn. 1/2

@klaasm67 DAFscheid…

Dutch army past - Dutch army future.

@MennoSwart @HeWaarIsdePHGOV @DefensieMin @pauwendewit @Defensie @EATC_ @DassaultFalcon @MicHighClub @VVD @VlbEindhoven @kon_marine Hah subtiel verschil !

@Afmwitte @HeWaarIsdePHGOV @DefensieMin @pauwendewit @Defensie @EATC_ @DassaultFalcon @MicHighClub @VVD @VlbEindhoven @kon_marine Het was naar Paphos, niet Paris. Naar Cyprus lukt niet met de trein

Dure bak voor Dilan! Gulf van de KLuRu in de West en geen kist beschikbaar bij transportclub EATC dus huurde het team van @DefensieMin voor 65.000 euro een Falcon 900LX voor een retourtje Paris. Dilan moest weer snel terug voor @pauwendewit 1/2 #yourtaxdollarsatwork @Defensie

Beste @MinIenW Vinden jullie het zelf ook niet raar om mij nu een rekening te sturen en dat ik ook nog eens € 9 extra moet betalen bovenop dat bedragje van € 1,57

Trump last night: „We are helping NATO with Ukraine, so NATO should help the US to keep the Strait of Hormuz open.“ This is a lie. Trump suspended all help to Ukraine with his inauguration. Not a single cent is going to Ukraine. European countries are buying US weapons. This is not helping, this purchasing. When I buy my goods in a store, then the store is not „helping“, it is making business. Trump threatened allies around the globe with invasion and denigrated them at every step, including fallen soldiers in Afghanistan. Putin on the other hand got a pass, received a warm welcome in Alaska and even got sanctions lifted. Those are the facts.

@MatthewPHoh If only a 1000 men are fighting forces, that would mean a unit like John Frost had to attack and hold Arnhem Bridge in September 1944. They could manage that during only four days.

Sending the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) from Okinawa to the Arabian Sea, 2 weeks AFTER beginning the war, says several things to me: -US leaders and planners didn’t think this war would last this long. Lots of other evidence for this, but not having a MEU available when the US traditionally has a MEU in both the Mediterranean Sea and Persian Gulf/Arabian Sea shows astonishing US hubris, incompetence and fantastical thinking. -that out of 10 MEUs the US Marine Corps fields, the only available MEU is the only one that is dedicated to East Asia, shows how over extended the US military is. This should deepen discussion on the doubtfulness of the US military to sustain a campaign of intense magnitude against Iran, i.e. fight a real and total war.  The only other MEU at sea, afloat since August, was originally assigned to the Mediterranean but was sent to the Caribbean to take part in the Maduro kidnapping, where it still is. Not that that MEU could have sailed past the Houthis who control the Red Sea anyway…  -moving the 31st MEU from Asia, like the air defense systems being moved out of South Korea, demonstrates that the fear mongering over China these last decades is, at best, non-urgent, but more likely exaggerated and insincere. As every subject nation within the American empire should be realizing these last several years, their concerns and interests are far from the interests and concerns of Washington DC. In the hierarchy of US vassal states there is a large gap between Israel and everyone else. -there are 175,000 Marines, 300 ships in the Navy and $1 trillion defense budget, but in the largest military campaign since President Obama escalated the war in Afghanistan 17 years ago the US is unable to have 2000 Marines on 3 ships in the region. -commentators on X, social media and cable news who are talking about this MEU as being able to take and hold ground simply don’t know what they are talking about. It’s possible for the MEU to take oil platforms or seize small and isolated islands and strips of land, but forced entry, a kin to the battle of Tarawa, is simply something the modern MEU cannot do. The MEU is very good for things like reinforcing or evacuating an embassy, reinforcing friendly forces already present someplace, supporting commando missions and raids, or boarding or seizing ships. I think this last mission may be one of its missions as the US tries to block Iranian oil shipments that are leaving the Gulf. -of the 2000 Marines on a MEU, less than half are fighting forces, the rest are logistics personnel or support the helicopter and F-35 detachment. With regards to the F-35s that are aboard, there are normally only 6 planes and they are limited with the amount of ordinance they can carry as well as fuel, because of the nature of taking off from a smaller flight deck. These 6 F-35s stationed on the MEU don’t really add too much to the overall air capability of the US and Israel already present. -I don’t see any way that the MEU can go through the Straits of Hormuz and assault Kharq Island as I’ve heard on cable news today. An air assault with Marines from the MEU would only put a couple hundred marines on Kharq Island and very far from any replenishment, support, reinforcement, medevac, etc. That’s not saying the US military wouldn’t do something so reckless and stupid…