PRINCE POTEMKIN WOULD APPROVE: Jim Dunnigan analyzes Russian aircraft carrier operations off Syria. He has numbers, including accident rates. War isn’t funny. Aircraft accidents aren’t funny. But if U.S. Navy carrier sailors want to snicker, as the world’s best they’ve earned the right.

RELATED: India’s having issues with its carrier aircraft. This analysis gets into the weeds, but it also involves Russian aircraft that don’t perform. It also mentions one of India’s major military problems: corruption in its procurement bureaucracy.