Am sorry but your arguement fails logically within the historical time frame, if the Qu'ran really preached a religion of hate and oppression, then the entire Mediterranean would now be speaking Arabic. I suggest you watch this and learn about the faith you vehemently criticize.

Islam, followed by more than a billion people today, is the world's fastest growing religion and will soon be the world's largest. The 1.2 billion Muslims make up approximately one quarter of the world's population, and the Muslim population of the United States now outnumbers that of Episcopalians. The most populous Muslim countries are Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India. The number of Muslims in Indonesia alone (175 million) exceeds the combined total in Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran, the traditional heartlands of Islam. There are also substantial Muslim populations in Europe and North America, whether converts or immigrants who began arriving in large numbers in the 1950s and 1960s. In keeping with tradition, the two main branches of Islam today are Sunni and Shiite.

Beginning in the 1970s and 1980s Islam remerged as a potent political force, associated with both reform and revolution. Given the large number of adherents, it is no surprise that Muslims incorporate a broad and diverse spectrum of positions in regard to liberalism and democracy. Some are secularists who want to disengage religion from politics. Others are reformers, who reinterpret Islamic traditions in support of elective forms of government. Still there are others who reject democracy entirely.

@silvercord: Yes! As soon as this started, I struggled to place the tune ... thank you for reminding me that I know it ("Mediterranean Sundance") from "Friday Night in San Francisco" ... the highlight of a roundly amazing album.

Paco De Lucia, Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin play a version of this (Mediterranean Sundance) that absolutely smokes. It can be found on the album "Passion, Grace and Fire," as well as "Friday Night in San Francisco."

Both great albums!

Go for 50, chog!

In the front were 8 engines, each capable of 10 ton lifting capability, most of the power was mostly needed for the initial take off. 2 similar engines in the back were located in the keel, enough to keep the tail up.

The Caspian Sea Monster trails started in 1966, at Caspian Sea. The first flight lasted 55 minutes, with a height of 4 meters off the water and a speed of 400-450 km/h. While the flight looks smooth, there were problems, the body of the plane was built for flying and started to weaving like a snake under pressure. The solution was simplicity itself, to strengthen the body of the plane with metal sheets 20mm thick. But the Caspian Sea Monster did its assigned part convincing officials and earning Alexis a contract to develop more Ekranoplans called the A-90 Orlyonok.

The Orlyonok, launched in 1977, combined everything that has been learnt from the Caspian Sea Monster trails. The Orlyonok showed good results, with liftoff off the water at low speed, high lifting capability, and high speed in flight made this apparatus unique in its use and application.

"This is a marine transport Ekranoplan, capable of transferring 140 marines, or 2 APCs with troops. For load up, these locks are unlocked and the entire front side opens like a large gate."

Orlyonok could take up to a maximum up to 200 troops or 2 water based tanks, it could take off from 2 meter wave seas, and in several hours carry the troops a distance over 1500 KM. The speed of the Ekranoplan was 450 Km/H, no mines or bombs would pose it threat, it offered excellent maneuverability and control. Its low flying height of 2 m and high speed meant it was invisible to radar.

*The following part talks about how difficult it was to control for new pilots, once crashing it and tearing off the entire wings off. Once the engines failed catastrophically, but the pilots managed to make it glide to a stop into the coast*

5 Orlyonoks were built, one for static display, and 4 for flights. 2 were lost, in one of them a pilot died, leading the project to stop for a while.

One last derivative of the Caspian Sea Monster (KM ) was the armed Lun, work started on it in early 70s. The Lun-class was 8 M longer and 3 M higher then the KM. It was armed with 6 3M80 Mosquit rockets, capable of destroying any modern battleship. In 1971, the Lun passed firing exercises for it's weapons with flying colors.

"The Ekranoplan Lun-class was the killer of the seas, for this it has 6 rockets, in its time it performed marvelously. But it was not really accepted and 14 years later still awaits its fate in this dry dock"

The Lun was the best (most practical) of the Ekranoplan that Alexis had completed before his death; it could fly in Level 6 to 7 storms the original Caspian Sea Monster could only fly in Level 3 storms. The speed and armaments of the Lun transport, made it 3 times cheaper then the conventional battleship. However it was not built for the replacement of the battleship, but for support of sea based forces in enclosed seas such as the Baltic, Black or the Mediterranean seas.

"In 1993 they showed the flight of this plane, the one right behind me, to American delegates and after that the flights were basically stopped."

It was a strange occurrence, the Americans always wanted to see the Ekranoplan. They saw it, were marveled and left. And the Ekranoplan faded into obscurity. The USSR collapsed, and not one new version of the plane has been developed. The hard character of its developer, the difficulties in its constructions and the catastrophes of the trails while no military technology came without its difficulties, the Ekranoplan has had far worse fate. What is the fate of this Russian wonder? Seeing as NATO is experimenting with similar technologies, maybe it's not long before in Russia they will remember the work of Rastislav Evegniy Alexisy.