StormWarning’s Counterterrorism

A real life parable on “wealth redistribution.”

Does it work? Experiment!

In a local restaurant my server had on a ‘Obama 08′ tie, again I laughed as he had given away his political preference–just imagine the coincidence.

When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and explained to him that I was exploring the Obama redistribution of wealth concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him that I was going to redistribute his tip to someone who I deemed more in need–the homeless guy outside.

The server angrily stormed from my sight.

I went outside, gave the homeless guy $10 and told him to thank the server inside as I’ve decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy was grateful.

At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment I realized the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn even though the actual recipient deserved money more.

I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept than in practical application.

No Tags Sphere: Related Content

No Comments »

A sure sign of defeat is when the opposition resorts to desperate measures to discredit…or draws on extraordinary and actually very vague satire to make a point.  With respect to the person who pointed me to this, I will not refer to any post but only to what appears to be a serious paper that infers that Obama uses hypnotic suggestion in his speeches.

I am speechless. If I wasn’t speechless, I’d be…

ROFL Sphere: Related Content

No Comments »

Many in the blogosphere crowd will be surprised by the answer to this question. But even the question and answer is raising the eyebrows of some people like Evan Kohlmann who know alot more about the al Qaeda mentality thant (I hate freakin’ typos!) almost everyone out there (including myself, of course).

In a commentary posted Monday on the extremist Web site al-Hesbah, which is closely linked to the terrorist group. It said the Arizona Republican would continue the “failing march of his predecessor,” President Bush.

The post apparently draws the conclusion that al Qaeda has successfully lured the U.S. into a trap that had “exhausted its resources and bankrupted its economy,” and goes on to suggest that a terrorist strike might swing the election to McCain and guarantee an expansion of U.S. military commitments in the Islamic world.

In Kohlmann’s post on Counterterrorism Blog, he points out that Randy Scheunemann and Jim Woolsey, McCain advisors quickly spoke to minimize the entry on al-Hesbah as a “blog entry.” Clearly, al-Hesbah is not just another blog site, nor is the propaganda in this particular post meaningless blog-blather.  Six months ago, on April 3, 2006, Al-Qaida’s Organization in Saudi Arabia issued an official communique regarding their relationship with Al-Hesbah: “We can only say good things about our brothers from the Al-Hesbah network…The brothers from Al-Hesbah have provided a superb service to the jihad and the mujahideen and everyone credits them for this.”

Of greatest importance to me and clearly supporting my views all along is Kohlmann’s conclusion that should be read and understood by each and every one of the blog-bursting citizen journalists who have exercised their freedom of speech to express their views to their minions who agree with them, even if the information posted there on their blogs has no real factual value (I’m not going to blockquote this section because it would de-emphasize the type face and I want it to be read):

“There is, of course, a degree of well-deserved irony in John McCain having to defend himself against charges of being a “terrorist enabler”. The McCain campaign has been unforgivably slow to condemn the vocal minority of their supporters at recent campaign rallies who have shouted out “Terrorist!” and “Kill him!” in response to hearing the name of Senator Barack Obama. The fact is, Al-Qaida’s real interest in the current American election cycle has nothing to do with choosing one candidate over the other — clearly, Al-Qaida doesn’t like either candidate. Rather, what Al-Qaida is hoping to witness this political season are internal recriminations, name-calling, racism, xenophobia, disunity, and America tearing at its own social fabric. The motivation is obviously not in crowning the victor, but in prolonging the game. Those foolish individuals who have shown up at political rallies carrying tasteless signs and threatening violence against their own fellow Americans are Al-Qaida’s real allies in this race. They are the ones who are responsible for providing a limitless bounty of propaganda fodder for our global adversaries — and there should be no tolerance in either campaign for such despicable behavior.”

Each every one of the amateurs should read that paragraph carefully, fully and then re-read it. In the search for what you believe is the truth, you have given al Qaeda and its followers, exactly what they wanted.

Is there an attack on the horizon? I don’t know and if I had that information, I wouldn’t be blogging. But contrary to the knee jerk reaction of Randy Scheunemann and Jim Woolsey from the McCain campaign, in my opinion, the meaningless “musings and bravado” has come from many of the conservative blogs that couldn’t focus on issues, and instead spent their time on name calling.

[This may be the best place for me to "get off the bus."]

Al Hesbah, Randy Scheunemann and Jim Woolsey Sphere: Related Content

6 Comments »

This is borrowed from Debbie Schlussel’s website (why I haven’t been reading this lady’s writing more in the past, I cannot know, but will correct in the future). This piece, a bit off color in some places (its Howard Stern on satellite radio afterall) shows you just how illiterate and ill-informed the electorate is, and why this Nation is at the brink of great troubles, especially re: foreign policy, but also in general (IMO).

Some language is a bit harsh to the ears of some more sensitive readers, and for that, you have my apologies in advance.

If this radio interview represents how even a small segment of the population will make its decision in the next election, we are all doomed. If this radio interview represents how even a small segment of the population will make its decision in the next election, we should seriously consider IQ testing as a pre-qualification for voting. If the people interviewed in this audio are in any way involved in the selection of the next President, G-d Help Us All.

It is also very important (recognizing that this is solely my opinion) that if people had focused more attention on Obama’s lack of experience, what I consider to be his horrible judgment in foreign policy and diplomacy, and a general insensitivity to World issues (including his ridiculous comment in yesterday’s debate in which he made a statement about “invading a country that had nothing to do with Sept. 11th”), instead of worrying about Rev. Wright, and spending “time and time and time” trying to prove that Obama was a Muslim or Michelle Obama said “whitey” or any one of the other byte vacuums…and if John McCain hadn’t allowed himself to get painted into the corner to be blamed for the financial mess that is President Bush’s alone (and his Adminstration), we might not be facing the next four years with a Democrat in the White House, and an ill-prepared semi-Senator as President.

No Tags Sphere: Related Content

No Comments »

I am an American - “Ich bin New Yorker.”

Each day, every day, I remember the moments of September 11th.  Even though I am no longer living there,  to paraphrase JFK, "Ich bin New Yorker."  Perhaps on September 11, 2001 at 8:48am, we were all at once New Yorkers, or all a unified group of Americans.

Our resolve as a country, however, has waned.  It is not that we as a citizenry forget…it is that the message has been blended with the War in Iraq.  We are at war and it is a War on Global Islamic Fundamentalist Jihadism.  Its not politically correct perhaps, but it is what it is.

Today, we will each in our ways remember that morning.  I will, as I do each year now, remember, and I will relate my stories of what I saw and how I felt.  And I will, whether in public or simply to myself, sing "America the Beautiful" or "God Bless America" (I sound nothing like Kate Smith)…and I will shed tears for those who perished, and shed even more tears for the permanent and perpetual changes to our lives that began at that moment.

Some of what I have written in retrospect about this day, September 11th.

Written September 12, 2001:
Amazing how far and how much my "non-combative" spirit of the 60’s and 70’s has turned more conservative. No doubt, for me, and others like me, yesterday was unlike any day we have ever experienced. As a post-war baby-boomer, there are nothing but newsreels to show us Pearl Harbor. Yesterday interrupted me from leaving for work, stopped me in my tracks, made me quiet, caused tears, and created anger. And then, fear of what might have happened to people that I knew. Right now, I suppose that I am lucky, if that is the word, that no one in my immediate family, or that of my ex-wife, or even friends of my daughter were not directly involved. But this afternoon, I spoke to a friend of mine in WDC who was resigned to having lost dozens of long-time friends and associates who were in the section of the Pentagon that was obliterated. And he reminded me that this particular section was the one in which he and I had met for a series of meetings two years ago. And the realization, however distant two years makes it, that I had walked the halls of that building where now, there is nothing but rubble. And then there is a "near-miss" story told to me by a friend whose youngest daughter passed away in March from complications from a digestive disorder. His oldest daughter works for a fashion designer in Manhattan and was supposed to go to Los Angeles yesterday morning on the flight that crashed after leaving Newark Airport. Because her dad, my friend was coming east to be with his father-in-law who is sick, she decided to stay. She assigned her assistant to go in her place. As luck would have it, the assistant didn’t want to leave that early, so she rescheduled to a later flight.

She was at the airport when word came of the crashes.

In principal, believe in peace. But there is no principal in my opinion in this situation.

Retribution and retaliation. Strong and final. I make no apologies for my feelings.

Written September 13, 2001:
I am an American, who has cried and trembled at the sights on TV.

I am an American, with compassion, yet anger.

I am an American, who once fought against fighting.

Yet tonight, I am an American, who wants nothing less than retaliation and full retribution.

I am an American, despite what others once thought when it was clear that I disagreed with some of the more American fundamentalist views. 

Somehow, some believe that this is the time for reconciliation with friends of old. This is a free country, with freedom of speech and freedom of movement, but some of us do not have that choice, since we were selectively excluded from that exclusive "club of patriots" and have no desire to change what is, or return to
what was (of course, in truth, I speak only for myself). This is a time of great stress and emotion. I have cried spontaneously since Tuesday morning, and my anger has grown about what has happened. It doesn’t change what was or happened.

I am who I am, and what I am. I make no apologies for that.

Written June 24, 2005
"Everything Changed on September 11, 2001"

The morning of September 11, 2001, we all became one, we all came together, the Members of the House of Representatives and the Senate stood on the steps of the Capitol Building and sang God Bless America. That morning, every one of us felt the emotions and feelings of being attacked. Every one of us, not just Democrats and Republicans, not just “Liberals” and “Conservatives,” but all of us as Americans.

During those days and nights that followed, we all knew the meaning of this is my country, land that I love!  Every one of us, not just Democrats and
Republicans, not just “Liberals” and “Conservatives,” but all of us as Americans.

So lets all do me a favor! Okay??? (Tongue planted in cheek, and no obligation, for sure!)

Don’t tell me how to think, just because you happen to disagree with me. Just what makes you think that you are right, and I am wrong? We are all Americans, or have you forgotten that?

Don’t tell me that I am any less patriotic than you are, just because you believe one thing and I believe another. Do you understand that “love of country” permits the questioning of authority and the decisions made by the Government? Ever hear the phrase, “my country right or wrong?” If I choose, I can disagree with the position of our Government, and it does not mean that I am any less patriotic than those who agree with our Government. We simply disagree. But we are all Americans, or have you forgotten that?

If you served in the military, you have my admiration and respect. But don’t flaunt that service in my face and imply that somehow you are a “better American” than I or that your service to our country was somehow qualitatively better than mine. Because if you don’t know what I am doing, and you don’t understand the qualitative benefits that I am striving to offer our country, than you just shouldn’t do it. We are all Americans, you and I, or have you forgotten that?

Don’t tell me how (or if) I should pray to the Higher Being, because each and everyone of us has the right to freedom of religion granted to us by our Founding Fathers. If I believe that the Higher Being is actually beneath the soil and not in the Heavens above, who are you to question my belief or to belittle what I believe. It is my right as an American to believe whatever it is that I believe. And yet, we are all Americans, or have you forgotten that?

Don’t do it! Don’t tell me how I should feel, or try to make me feel any less of an American because you have a different point of view, and you somehow feel compelled to try to either convert me to your position, or belittle me for holding my opinions. Don’t do it! It makes you less of an American than I. Don’t do it! If you feel so strongly about your views, then fine, I am happy for you. But that doesn’t give you the right to belittle, denigrate or otherwise ridicule a position that disagrees with yours.

As an American, you have the Freedom of Speech and you have the Freedom of Religion, but neither gives you the freedom to minimize, denigrate belittle or otherwise disrespect whatever it is that I believe, think or feel. You don’t have the right to tell me how to pray to the Higher Being. You don’t have the right to belittle me, just because you disagree with me.

Many here served in the military. Still, others, including me, serve our country in different ways. There is no telling how many lives my efforts will save if we are successful in our current campaign. And it will be done in anonymity. And yet, I am an American, just like you.

No Tags Sphere: Related Content

5 Comments »

Indeed, a fitting, yet incomplete, dedication of a cross made from the steel of the World Trade Center arrived at the Shanksville Fire Hall this weekend as part of a commemoration of the crash of Flight 93 near Shanksville Pa. The roar of 1,000 motorcycles escorted the steel beam from Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field to the site.

See the special Iron and Steel, New York City to Shanksville website here.

While this is not part of the “official” memorial that is slated to be completed on the 10th anniversary of the attacks, the 2-ton, 14-foot high cross sits on a concrete base shaped like the Pentagon at the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Co., just a few miles from where the plane crashed into a field. The cross made a 311-mile journey from Brooklyn on Saturday, accompanied by hundreds of motorcyclists, many of them current or retired New York firefighters.

The entire ceremony and day brought tears to many eyes.

As 12-year-old Matthew Barndt of Somerset sang a tribute to the fallen New York City firefighters, emotions welled at Sunday’s dedication of a cross forged from steel from the World Trade Center.

The cross, etched with the numbers “9-11-01” and emblazoned with a bronze plaque reading “Never Forget,” was placed on a hill beside the Shanksville fire hall.

CLICK FOR AN AUDIO SLIDESHOW OF SATURDAY’S EVENT

Sadly, I fear, that many of “us” have forgotten that day, have forgotten the feelings that were created that morning, and have allowed unnecessary emotions to create “clouds.”

Shanksville, World Trade Center Sphere: Related Content

4 Comments »

Of all of the reasons to not vote for the Obama-Biden ticket (*), the one that should mean the least, in fact not even be on the radar screen is the hooey about his birth certificate. For this, I “borrow” from AJ Strata who writes in The Cult Of The COLB Crashes Into Reality:

There will always be some dupes who won’t let go (some people still don’t think we went to the moon). No wonder America has lost respect for bloggers and conservatives and politics ‘as usual’. This is a huge waste of time for anyone who really opposes Obama for President. It is akin to believing their is a hidden magical wand somewhere that will make Obama just disappear, if the right heroine or hero can just find it. Pathetic.

I’ve got very good reasons for my infrequent posting recently. Most of all is that I’ve much more important uses of my time because of business. But the reality, too, is that there are way too many people who simply don’t get it. What is “it?”

The naming of Joe Biden as his running mate does not in any way compensate for Obama’s wet behind the ears approach to foreign policy. Yes, Joe Biden is a long standing Senate expert on foreign policy. But, I would have been alot happier if it was a Biden-Obama ticket (*). Then again, many of the same people who can’t let go of the birth certificate issue (certificate of live birth), will never let go of Biden plagiarism. Do you know who the best candidate not running is? More after someone guesses.

PS: AJ is right…The birth certificate story should be dead. Wanna bet one or more of the “well known” conservative blogs pick up on it again?

certificate of live birth, Obama Sphere: Related Content

8 Comments »

Not only should we have seen it coming, but its all about the oil.  OK, sure, Putin wants to flex the Russian bear’s muscles, but its oil, its economics, and its another instance of shortsightedness in World affairs.

First, the missed signals and the opportunity to have acted sooner (rather than the later…in this case, the “cow/bear is out of the barn”). Anne Applebaum from the Washington Post once again and very pointedly describes the core issue in A Threat Explodes In Georgia.

Russia, by contrast, is an unpredictable power, which makes responding to Moscow more difficult. In fact, Russian politics have become so utterly opaque that it is not easy to say why this particular “frozen” conflict has escalated right now.

Most importantly (read the whole article please) is this:

In any case, the time to deal with this conflict is not now but was two, or even four, years ago. For a very long time it has been clear that there was a security vacuum in the Caucasus; that this vacuum was dangerous; that war was likely; that Georgia, an eager ally of the United States, would not emerge well from a confrontation; and that a successful invasion of Georgia, a country with U.S. troops on its soil, would reflect badly on the West. Cowardice, weakness, lack of ideas and, above all, the distraction of other events prevented any deeper engagement. And now it may be too late.

This is the very same Anne Applebaum whom I quoted in a previous post on June 9, 2007:

Cold War? What Cold War? - Just what is happening in Russia these days, and why is it that Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, clearly a very intelligent and qualified person, can actually state “I have a difficult time explaining that speech. It doesn’t accord with either the world as we see it nor with the character of our interactions with the Russians.” Something just doesn’t make sense, and I believe that it goes beyond the subtlety of Anne Applebaum’s article in the Washington Post, Our Strange Devotion to the Kremlin.

Now, about the motivations and “its the oil stupid!” As I observed the other day in Uncle Vlad, etc.:

Cold war with missiles aimed at each other? Probably or maybe not. Nuclear diplomacy? Watch and see, There is a reason for Putin and Ahmadinejad playing with eachother sub-rosa. But its more likely about the oil (”stupid”) and about Putin seeing the economic power of the European Union. I suspect that he literally sees a reforming of the Soviet Union as a means to the end of economic power, as well as a re-emergence of Russia as a World power.

In an event likely to be related to the Russian invasion of Ossetia, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline was struck by PKK (Kurdish Workers Party):

The BTC pipeline was hit by an explosion on Turkish territory on Aug. 5, two days before the conflict began over the South Ossetia region and the oil flow had halted. Turkish officials and the operator company, BP, had said the line was not affected by the conflict between Georgia and Russia.

AND (IMPORTANTLY)

An adviser to the Russian parliament also claimed the closed pipeline would not be opened again and declared the line is “dead”.

“The world and countries in the region have seen that not NATO, but Russia is the only one who could secure the energy routes,” Alexander Dugin, international politics advisor to the Russia’s Duma, told Turkish Cumhuriyet daily.

“In this context, regarding Turkey’s energy politics, it should be said that the BTC is not running at the moment and it will not run again.”

Have you any doubts? Consider this. I don’t work for the gov’t or any analyst group (although I do write “real” articles elsewhere). Why is it so clear (and has been for quite some time) to me that Russia through Putin’s aspirations was about to re-assert itself, when the Administration, even as recently as this week, can say that the times of the Cold War are over? Don’t believe this? Here:

“The cold war is over,” President Bush declared Friday, but a new era of enmity between the United States and Russia has emerged nevertheless. It may not be as tense as the nuclear standoff with the Soviet Union, for now, but it could become as strained.

Russia’s military offensive into Georgia has shattered, perhaps irrevocably, the strategy of three successive presidential administrations to coax Russia into alliance with the West and integration into its institutions.

Cold War over? Think again! But, President Bush at his Crawford Ranch and elsewhere has said of Putin, “I call him Vladimir.”

Its so plain and simple…as written in the NY Post article, Raping Georgia:

The Kremlin is determined to break Georgia’s will - and keep the feisty republic out of NATO.

Russia, you see, still believes it’s entitled to all of its former empire. And, tragically, “Old Europe” is back: Yesterday, Germany and other nervous European states bought the Russian line that Georgia is the aggressor. Wouldn’t want to anger Moscow…

While we see Russian tanks and aggression, it is, ultimately, about oil and economics, and about Uncle Vladimir re-asserting the power and influence of the once (and future) “mighty Russian bear” as a pseudo-Super Power. Other material available in Right Truth’s discussion of Russia’s invasion of Georgia, here.

Baku Tbilisi Ceyhan oil pipeline, U.S. State Dept. Sphere: Related Content

3 Comments »

Reality to many is that the World has returned to great instability, although there some among “us” who have known all along that GWOT was intertwined with Global Politics. The question I have is why “we” (our government) are suprised by any of this!

So, what have we got? Long past, I wrote about Uncle Vlad’s desire to re-establish some semblance of the old Soviet Union. Certainly not with the trappings of Soviet Communism. It doesn’t matter, well maybe it does. A Russian form of capitalism, or the oligarchic structure could offer more complex issues for an insensitive U.S. government. What was it, just a few months ago when “all seeing and all knowing” Condoleeza Rice said, “I have a difficult time explaining that speech. It doesn’t accord with either the world as we see it nor with the character of our interactions with the Russians.” That was February 21, 2007 for whoever is watching and listening. WTF?

And back on January 1, 2008 I wrote:

At one point, we were all worried about the misplaced Russian nuclear material and the possibilty that it could be used as the “dirt” in a “dirty bomb.” In the year 2007, we also witnessed a mystery of the radiation poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko…while Putin was “implicated” by Litvinenko’s dying words, no proof emerged. And yet, Vladimir Putin has now emerged as the new Russian bear. Earlier in 2007 I wrote of the coming of the new or second Cold War…it is here! With Russian supplying HEU to Iran for its soon to be activated reactor, Russia is once again emerging as a World power…doubt that? Watch as 2008 brings a new Russian-US confrontation. Finally, one cannot look at Russia and the futur without considering the Chechyn situation…brewing for more than a decade now. Muslim uprising in Chechnya is always a possibility. Given Russia’s new Bear, however, I have to believe that an uprising will result in significant bloodshed.

My Xmas Eve statement was this, Iranian Reactor to Open in 2008:

I believe that we (the Bush Administration) continue to underestimate the renewed power and intentions of Vladimir Putin. Yet, according to one publication, The BulletinOnline, this helps the cause of non-proliferation. The thinking here is that if Russia supplies the HEU to Iran and removes the material, then Iran will not continue its own development, and the uses of the fuel will be more controlled. The question is whether anyone wants to trust Russia and Vladimir and Ahmadinejad.

- AND -

One must ask the serious question is we are watching as this is happening, and what we are planning to do. These deals are being couched as economic and trade…not offensive. Clearly, the Russian bear is revived, and the situation bears watching in 2008 as one of the critical International and National security issues. The question is whether anyone wants to trust Russia and Vladimir.

In October 2007, I wrote, Observing the Game(s) of International Chess and Bluffing

Its time to look at the big picture again and comment on a few of the intriguing chess moves being played out on the World’s stages: Russia and Iran, Turkey-Iraq, China and Tibet. There is alot of stuff going on in the World these days and “All the World’s a Stage.” The answer to the real question lies in figuring out who is bluffing and who isn’t.

[SKIP]

Putin is not bluffing.  He goes to Iran in spite of the assassination threat?  I’ve been making the point for quite some time now that Putin is tired of the U.S. being the only Superpower…he is reasserting the Russian Bear…and frankly, in his plans of installing his own man as his replacement, and leaving the path open for his own return, possibly even laying the groundwork for another “long term” Russian leader (read that “dictator”).  I have made it very clear that I believe we are the verge of a new Cold War.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, arrives at Mehrabad International airport in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2007. Putin arrived in Tehran on Tuesday for a historic visit to hold talks on Iran’s nuclear program and attend a Caspian sea summit. The visit, the first by a Kremlin leader since World War II, is taking place despite warnings of a possible assassination plot and amid hopes that a round of personal diplomacy could help offer a solution to an international standoff on Iran’s nuclear program.(AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian) (Hasan Sarbakhshian - AP)

FOLLOW THESE POSTS TO SEE:
Cold War - Perception versus Reality (UPDATED - I started writing this post a few days ago before “my day job” created its own furor. One man’s perception is another’s reality. It is thus difficult for me to accept a blanket statement by President Bush that “the cold war is over” considering the continuing rhetoric spewed by Vladimir Putin. Saying that “we don’t believe in a zero sum world,” President Bush was on his way to the G8 meeting where he would have a meeting with Vladimir (because George calls him Vladimir.

Cold War? What Cold War? - Just what is happening in Russia these days, and why is it that Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, clearly a very intelligent and qualified person, can actually state “I have a difficult time explaining that speech. It doesn’t accord with either the world as we see it nor with the character of our interactions with the Russians.” Something just doesn’t make sense, and I believe that it goes beyond the subtlety of Anne Applebaum’s article in the Washington Post, Our Strange Devotion to the Kremlin.

The Second Coming - Cold War II - Not unnoticed in some circles was the bombast of Vladimir Putin’s speech last week denouncing the U.S. as “overstepping its boundaries” worldwide. The question being posed, dear readers, is whether this White House understands the implications of Putin’s outspokenness…

DEAR READERS, I am but an observer and interpreter, I am not an analyst in the true sense of the word. But someone needs to be asking the very obvious WTF questions of those who are!

We are seeing a re-emergence of the old Soviet model. Instead of communsim, we have their form of capitalism, along with Putin’s interpretation of old KGB tactics. Implications?

- Russian influence on peaceful settlement of any Mideast conflict
- geopolitical control or influence by U.S. vewrsus Russia in Central Asia is in play
- will NATO continue its role in Afghanistan (withdrawal could further destabilize region)
- what role will Russia have in that region?
- a reinstatement of a cold war like mentality between middle Europe (land locked) versus ocean states

Cold war with missiles aimed at each other? Probably or maybe not. Nuclear diplomacy? Watch and see, There is a reason for Putin and Ahmadinejad playing with eachother sub-rosa.  But its more likely about the oil (”stupid”) and about Putin seeing the economic power of the European Union.  I suspect that he literally sees a reforming of the Soviet Union as a means to the end of economic power, as well as a re-emergence of Russia as a World power.

And what of “cousin Pervez?” He is likely to be impeached or otherwise removed from his position as President. This instability shouldn’t be tolerable, but somehow…

Ahmadinejad, Musharraf, Putin Sphere: Related Content

1 Comment »

Despite all of the “security” and worries over terror threats at the Beijing Olympics, relatives of the US Men’s Volleyball coach were attacked by a knife wielding Chinese man who fatally stabbed the husband and wounded the wife and Chinese guide at a tourist site in downtown Beijing.

The attacker then jumped to his death from the second story of the Drum Tower, an ancient structure in the heart of Beijing which was used to tell time in the Imperial era.

The dramatic killing cast a shadow over the first full day of Olympic competition. The attack occurred despite an overwhelming security presence in the city, and marred the Chinese government’s efforts to showcase the country as open and welcoming to foreigners.

The victims are Todd and Barbara Bachman, the parents of former U.S. women’s volleyball player Elisabeth “Wiz” Bachman, according to a member of the team’s delegation who asked not to be identified because no official statements were being given. The Bachmans are from Minnesota. Wiz Bachman, a member of the 2004 Olympic team, is married to Hugh McCutcheon, the coach of the men’s team.

The attacker’s National ID card (China has them) identified the attacker as Tang Yongming, a 47-year-old man from the eastern city of Hangzhou in Zhejiang province.

Although Beijing is a city of 17 million, its streets are generally safe and few residents fear walking alone even in the middle of the night.

It is illegal for private Chinese citizens to own guns.

Still, there are regular reports of violent incidents throughout the country by people who lash out in frustration over government corruption or injustice. For example, a man who was angry over a rough police interrogation in Shanghai recently walked into the station and stabbed and killed six police officers and wounded four others.

Attacks against tourists are rare, but the U.S. embassy has warned they are on the rise.

Just random violence? Or is it an example of things to come? The Chinese government can hardly afford to have street violence mar their Olympics.

Bachman, Beijing Olympics Sphere: Related Content

No Comments »

No doubt the conspiracy theorists will claim that the “hell demon” that floated ashore at Montauk Point on L.I. is the product of the Dept. of Agriculture lab at Plum Island (well, DHS Lab), but that’s bull! Its a chupacabra. Must have gotten caught in the current.

The close proximity of the Plum Island facility and the site of the Montauk Monster’s discovery had fueled speculation that the Monster of Montauk is property of the USDA and may have been an experiment gone wrong or a byproduct of improper disposal.

Meadow muffins!

Its a freakin’ Chupacabra! While the NY’er science community tries to figure out what it is, and while the anti-NBAF conspiracists try to prove that it is some type of mutation caused by the Plum Island facility research, and still others claim that the photo was photoshopped, all they need to do is ask a Texan about the Chupacabra. Go prove that it isn’t!

Chupacabra Sphere: Related Content

No Comments »

Using a spectrometer, Rice Univ. professor W.J. Llope has tested 25 commercially available types of granite from Houston-area dealers. He found countertops that could expose homeowners to 100 millirems of radiation in just a few months — the annual exposure limit set by the Department of Energy for visitors to nuclear labs.

While the typical response from the industry group representing the purveyors of granite kitchen countertops (Marble Industry of America) was that it was junk science. Dr. Llope’s information on this subject can be found here. His CV is here.

However, the Environmental Protection Agency has released a statement indicating that the granite countertops are safe.

For now, I’ll be happy with my upgraded formica, or maybe some Sylstone. But here’s a reassuring thought.

Jim Martinez, spokesman for the Marble Institute of America, said his group is putting together a board of experts to come up with a procedure for testing radiation levels in granite.

“We want to establish scientific standards and protocol that would allow consistent testing in a logical way,” he said.

Somehow, I just don’t think that this guy is as crazy as the Marble Institute of America wants to make him out to be. Certainly not with this list of publications.

EPA, Llope, Marble Industry of America, millirems Sphere: Related Content

3 Comments »

The overly simplistic outlooks expressed by “the many” who see our victory vs al Qaeda in Iraq in a vacuum, without noting the “ebb and flow” of a morphing terrorism reveals an implausible blindness to the realities of the GWOT. While celebrating the handover of more provinces in Iraq to the post-Provisional government, lost is the view that al Qaeda and the like see none of the West’s boundaries pencil drawn on maps.

Yes, even as MSNBC declares that al Qaeda is less relevant to the outcome in Iraq, stating that while they haven’t been eliminated entirely, they are less of a threat, what of related areas of conflict, and what happens after the surge? And yes, as you will read in Amy Proctor’s article, Kuwait has opened diplomatic relations with Iraq. Yes, that is significant. And still, I have that nagging “yeah, but” feeling.

Even as it is noted that insurgents in Iraq are “giving up the fight,” the reports of al Qaeda redeploying their forces to Afghanistan, reopening that front in the GWOT, and worse, importing foreign fighters from Turkey, Central Asia, Chechnya and the Middle East, we cannot consider the victory in the now relative skirmish in Iraq to be a sign that we can allow our guard to go down. In fact, with the fresh influx of al Qaeda/Taliban troops to Afghanistan, I fear that we shall once again turn our attention to the once “won” war in Afghanistan.

There are at least two issues which are ignored by those who believe that victory in Iraq is more significant than it is…victory in Iraq which I believe can truly only be declared after the post-Provisional government there is stable and is able to not only provide security, but also reliable services to their people, cannot be determined in simple terms of turning over control to the Iraqis, or even by troop withdrawals by the U.S. The first, is the continuing instability in the north of Iraq where the Turks and Kurds continue to battle. Even without al Qaeda in Iraq, the region remains dangerously unstable.

The second, and probably more significant, issue is that al Qaeda is not a government, or maybe even not an organization. It is a system, and a very adaptable one at that. So, as with the ebb and flow of the sands on an ocean beach, moving ever so slowly with the tides, shifting from one place to the next, often seeing a particular beach grow by ten yards, while two others shrink in size, al Qaeda, a system and methodology of terrorism based on the jihad, continues to morph. Thus, the influence of foreign fighters must be considered.

The Small Wars Journal posted an interesting “interim” report titled, “Beyond Iraq and Afghanistan.”

The data demonstrates that Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen produce the most foreign fighters per Muslim, each averaging from four to eight times as many fighters as the average rate for the twenty countries analyzed. The second tier of foreign fighter producers consists of Kuwait, Syria, Tunisia, and Jordan. While all second tier countries produced less than half as many fighters as the top tier producers, they still produced more than the twenty-country average.

In the Long War Journal, Bill Roggio discusses that the attack at the Nuristan base on July 13th in Afghniastan was a complicated operation in which 200-500 Taliban took over an adjacent village before attacking. Here is a long but key quote:

The assault on the Wanat outpost was conducted by an alliance of extremist groups operating in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to reports. A senior Afghan defense official told Al Jazeera that “various anti-government factions including Taliban, al-Qaeda and the Hezb-i-Islami faction were involved” in the strike.

Tamim Nuristani, who served as governor of Nuristan before President Hamid Karzai relieve him of his post for criticizing a US airstrike that is thought to have killed Afghan civilians, said Taliban and Pakistani groups banded together for the attack. “The (attackers) were not only from Nuristan but from other districts,” Nuristani said.

“They are not only Taliban. They were (Pakistan-based) Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hezb-i-Islami, Taliban and those people who are dissatisfied with the (Karzai) government after these recent incidents,” Nuristani said, intimating the attack was revenge for the US airstrike. “They all came together for this one.”

And then Roggio discusses the mounting of U.S. troops on the border with Pakistan, returing fire of the Taliban fighters. Another quote, discussing the border:

Tensions along the ill-defined, rugged border have escalated since the Pakistani government initiated its latest round of peace accords with the Taliban and allied extremists in the tribal areas and settled districts in the Northwest Frontier Province.

Some people’s mistaken belief that the defeat of al Qaeda in Iraq is more than a minor victory in the much longer war against Islamic extremism is naive in my opinion. Further, to not see the defeat of al Qaeda in Iraq as much more than pushing the bully to another part of the playground is a dangerous outlook.

It must not be forgotten that al Qaeda will morph and shift and change as is required to adapt in the various skirmishes. Doug Farah discussed “The Morphing War Against Al Qaeda in Iraq” last February.

The point is that, while there seems to be little doubt that the al Qaeda-linked groups in Iraq are hurt, the next iteration of the groups may make them even harder to get at.

Perhaps celebrate the “victory” in Iraq (when it is actually time to do so). But do not try to convince me, or others who know more than I, that the defeat of al Qaeda in Iraq will do nothing much more than shift their attention and their resources to other fields of battle that are softer and more vulnerable.

al Qaeda, morphing, State Department Sphere: Related Content

2 Comments »

Considering the US Navy exercise (Exercise Stake Net Protects Persian Gulf) it should come as no surprise that the Iranians test fired missiles.  The situation in the Gulf is unquestionably tense and dangerous…the real question is what happens next (”who blinks”).

One day after threatening to strike Tel Aviv and United States interests if attacked, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were reported on Wednesday to have test-fired nine missiles, including one which Tehran claims has the range to reach Israel.

Everyone, STAND-DOWN! Stand-down, especially those who desire the “end-game” scenario to play out. It is not “the” time!

end game scenario, Exercise Stake Net, missile test fire, Persian Gulf, Straits of Hormuz Sphere: Related Content

4 Comments »

Startling disclosure in an intercepted email from an imprisoned Ghanaian. The man is in prison for smuggling East Africans into the US, supposedly for economic reasons (Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan). Officials are concerned that terrorists could use the same channels.

In the 12 months that ended last Sept. 30, U.S. officials caught 372 East Africans trying to get into the country, the assessment said. This is the most from these countries since the Homeland Security Department was formed in 2003. And 159 people from the same countries have been caught trying to enter since Oct. 1 - including 138 from Eritrea, far more than any other country in the Horn of Africa.

Apparently one illegal channel is closed, another is opened.

Mohammed Kamel Ibrahim, a 26-year-old Ghana citizen living in Mexico known as “Silk the Shocker,” wrote in an Oct. 24, 2006, e-mail to an associate that he would have no problem smuggling somebody into the United States.

“I will pay my immigration friend 2 days before he comes so that he can be waiting for him immediately he gets out of the flight. that way there is no questioning,” Ibrahim wrote in the same e-mail.

Its not just Mexicans. Preferred routes include:

East Africa ===> Johannesburg, South Africa ===> Sao Paulo, Brazil
East Africa ===> flew from Abu Dhabi, Dubai, or Rome to Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela

The smugglers have access to fake and real Belizean, Bolivian, Chilean, Mexican, Peruvian and South African visas.

Its not just Mexicans, now is it? Technology may be one way to help stop or slow this. However, Janice Kephart, former counsel to the Sept. 11 Commission said, “They do what they need to based on what their end goal is.”

East Africa, human smuggling, other than Mexicans Sphere: Related Content

2 Comments »