Althouse: "The attack was heralded by... the mechanical buzz of a 'paramotor,' a motorised paraglider that can carry one or two armed soldiers strapped to a caged propeller and suspended beneath a parachute."

October 8, 2025

"The attack was heralded by... the mechanical buzz of a 'paramotor,' a motorised paraglider that can carry one or two armed soldiers strapped to a caged propeller and suspended beneath a parachute."

From "Myanmar junta ‘kills 40’ at village festival in paraglider bombing/The attack on protesters in the centre of the country, where a pro-democracy militia holds much territory, came during a Buddhist celebration" (London Times).

33 comments:

Peachy said...: "by the country’s junta "

What is that? Is that media speak for - Islam? or what?; 10/8/25, 11:30 AM
PM said...: The bad guys in the opening of a Bond movie.; 10/8/25, 11:31 AM
Ampersand said...: The last paraglider military assault was October 7. 2023 in Israel. Add to the tactic a suicide bomber component, and you have a real problem.; 10/8/25, 11:36 AM
MadTownGuy said...: Is nothing sacred?; 10/8/25, 11:36 AM
Iman said...: Death from above…
Are we having fun yet?…
Burma Shave; 10/8/25, 11:39 AM
Jaq said...: “Pro democracy” is usually code for a US backed color revolution in order to install a more compliant regime.

I have not followed this story, but it is on China’s border, so of course we need to control it. So it’s probably all about narrative.; 10/8/25, 11:40 AM
Jaq said...: Sometimes we even do color revolutions to install pro-democracy regimes because an election went the wrong way and the next election is a couple of years away. Sometimes civil war breaks out.; 10/8/25, 11:42 AM
narciso said...: No they are a proxy of the pla; 10/8/25, 11:43 AM
Tom T. said...: "Is that media speak for - Islam? or what?"

Myanmar's military government is strongly anti-Islam.; 10/8/25, 11:45 AM
amr said...: Peachy, the Junta is the Military Government that overthrew the democratically-elected government in 2021. (The Military claims the elections were not fair. I have no idea who to believe.)

The few Muslims in Myanmar are generally powerless and persecuted. The Rohingya ethnic group that's primarily Muslim are not citizens of Myanmar and have been heavily persecuted (by the military but before the coup? ... I don't understand much of what's been going on there).; 10/8/25, 11:46 AM
rhhardin said...: Our heavier democrats won't be able to copy it.; 10/8/25, 11:47 AM
Yancey Ward said...: The military aligned party in Burma used to be mostly communist/socialists. I really don't know what the ideology of the junta is these days. Does anyone? I do know the military government is fighing Han Chinese insurgents who apparently have support of the Chinese government but I don't know what all of it means. Burma is a mess.; 10/8/25, 11:53 AM
Curious George said...: I had next door neighbors that were from Myanmar. They sought and were granted asylum here and have become American citizens. Very nice and hard working people. They love America. They are Buddhists.; 10/8/25, 12:01 PM
Robert Marshall said...: In September, the Guardian (not my usual source!) published an article that asserted that the Myanmar (Burma) regime was doing business with Chinese organized crime, including building slave-labor camps (something the Chinese hold the lead in) used by the crime syndicates for operating "scam centers" that prey on folks with more money than sense. I suppose than any popular unrest that threatened their scam--center interests would provoke the harshest response, including an indirect compliment directed toward Hamas (imitation being the highest form of flattery). Guardian link: https://archive.ph/Jmgtb; 10/8/25, 12:08 PM
Jaq said...: It is beginning to sound like they are gearing us up for a war with China. I think that the more you listen to the news at a time like this, the less you know.; 10/8/25, 12:26 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I had a cousin die, falling straight down, flying one of those contraptions.; 10/8/25, 12:30 PM
Iman said...: Arrest made in Palisades Fire disaster.; 10/8/25, 12:32 PM
Kakistocracy said...: Wondrous country. It’s a real shame. The elite has decamped to Bangkok. Everyone has given up.; 10/8/25, 12:35 PM
gilbar said...: i've lost track..
when hamas used these machines to rape and murder Jews..
it was either considered "Great!" or "fiction"

this time, they are being used against Buddhists..
So; are they BAD now? Please let me know, i'm trying to keep up
https://nypost.com/2023/10/07/hamas-terrorists-paraglide-into-israeli-territory/; 10/8/25, 12:36 PM
Narr said...: A military junta that's anti-Islam?

That's the best kind.; 10/8/25, 12:38 PM
john mosby said...: Yeah, I have no idea who's right/wrong anymore in Burma either.

But I do have a grudging respect for the junta for finally doing what all people of common sense ask when they see Hamas, Sadr-ites, Iranians, etc., massed in the open whooping and hollering their chants.

Maybe with this technique becoming common against innocents, we'll finally use it against real bad guys? CC, JSM; 10/8/25, 12:48 PM
bagoh20 said...: This only works against unarmed targets. One guy with an AR-15, and enough ammo, and none of them would reach the ground alive.; 10/8/25, 1:39 PM
Paul said...: One can easily get a balloon (helium) and make a 'bomber' out of it. Japanese did that in WW2 against the USA... Yes fire bombs delivered by balloon on the West Coast. It is nothing new folks.... V1 German buzz bombs were just rockets with crude guidance systems.; 10/8/25, 1:49 PM
Leon said...: This seems like the sort of attack that doesn't work more than once or twice before people with flare guns light your wing on fire while you're still a lethal distance above the ground. If you survive the crash I bet there's welcoming mob with something to communicate when you land/bounce.; 10/8/25, 2:26 PM
rhhardin said...: Shooter on Columbus OH ring interstate I270. Naturally the police shut down the interstate instead of just informing everybody and letting them take their chances, which would actually make capturing the shooter easier too. Traffic trapped for hours.; 10/8/25, 3:39 PM
TeaBagHag said...: Attack on peaceful, pro democracy protesters that results in mass deaths?
Sounds like a MAGAt wet dream.; 10/8/25, 4:10 PM
John Scott said...: Paramotor; 10/8/25, 5:15 PM
boatbuilder said...: https://www.wgbh.org/news/local/2025-10-08/judge-sets-10k-bail-for-pro-palestinian-protester-accused-of-breaking-bpd-officers-nose

Pro-Palestinian protests specifically scheduled for October 7.

These are very sick people.; 10/8/25, 6:34 PM
n.n said...: Bombs over Burma.; 10/8/25, 7:09 PM
n.n said...: Paramour... hurting the ones you loathe.; 10/8/25, 7:12 PM
FullMoon said...: Levi Stadium Santa Clara
"It has a seating capacity of 68,500, expandable to approximately 75,000 to host major events like the Super Bowl"; 10/8/25, 7:32 PM
Achilles said...: Yancey Ward said...

The military aligned party in Burma used to be mostly communist/socialists. I really don't know what the ideology of the junta is these days. Does anyone? I do know the military government is fighing Han Chinese insurgents who apparently have support of the Chinese government but I don't know what all of it means. Burma is a mess.

There is a noticeable pattern here.

According to Grok the State Administration Council is the military leadership. The political wing is the Union Solidarity Development Party. They are backed by Russia/China.

Then there are the Western backed "Democracy" advocates.

Finally there are a bunch of well armed ethnic armies.

It looks like The United States has driven China and Russia together completely and we are having proxy wars all over the world.

This is not going to end well.; 10/8/25, 8:01 PM
BUMBLE BEE said...: Some WWII Japanese firebomb balloons made as far as Michigan.; 10/8/25, 8:13 PM