Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Missing plane coverage an endless stream of speculation

(My new American Thinker)

 Like most of you, I feel horrible for the families of the passengers in that Malaysian plane. 

 One of them is from our area,  Mr Phillip Wood.  He apparently visited his family a couple of weeks before the tragedy.  Mr Wood is a father and son.  We send our sympathies to his family.

 The interest in the story is natural because so many of us fly.  We understand the vulnerabilities of air travel.  In fact, a friend's daughter had taken that same flight two days earlier.

 However, the story has gotten out of control - a perfect storm of news outlets that want more and more "breaking news" segments.

 My problem with the coverage is that we are just watching speculation.  There is very little information.  We don't really know what happened in the cockpit or whether it was a mechanical problem.

 Nobody really knows.  So why so much speculation about this or that?  

 My friend Bill Katz, editor of Urgent Agenda, and former newsman, got it right this weekend:
"It was pointed out last night that the section of the Indian Ocean being searched is, even in normal times, a vast junkyard.  There's always debris there.  Unless the searchers can put eyeballs on some of the objects "sighted" by satellite we'll never know if these were chunks of the missing airliner, or stuff that has fallen off ships or dumped as refuse. 
It won't be many days before the battery power runs out on the pingers that sound when a plane goes down.  The search authorities hope they can home in on these pingers before the power goes out.  So far, no luck."
So let's cut back on "the 24/7 speculative stuff" and update audiences when something tangible is known.   Frankly, I fear that it maybe a while before we have a clue of what happened in that 777. 

 P. S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.
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Get Putin's attention by reviving the missile defense in Poland

(My new American Thinker post)
President Obama is in Europe and finding confused allies.  Don't expect to see thousands at a rally as we saw in the summer of 2008.

 He does have one big card to play.  Of course, it would call on him to reverse a decision from 2009, or the days of the "reset" with Russia.

 Rebeccah Heinrichs, an expert on nuclear deterrence and missile defense got it right yesterday:
"In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, several public figures, most notably former Vice President Dick Cheney and Senator Ted Cruz, have called to resurrect a plan to build missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic that President Obama canceled in 2009.
They’re on to something.  
The proposed missile defense sites would have protected the U.S. and Europe from Iranian missiles. They were comprised of 10 large interceptors (think bullets) that were to be placed in Poland – too close, too big and too few to affect the Russian arsenal.
Accompanying radar in the Czech Republic would have helped those interceptors “see” a long-range missile launched from Iran and would then shoot at it.  
Our allies mostly wanted the site for reasons unrelated to Iran. Poland, fearful of Russian attack and outright invasion, wanted American troops operating an American system on Polish soil. More importantly, it wanted the U.S. to fulfill its commitment to make this happen even though Russia would object.  
The U.S. had an ultimatum – and by canceling plans to build that missile site, President Obama chose appeasing Moscow over standing with Poland. And in that one decision, the stage was set – not for Russia “reset” but for Russia to undermine the U.S. in several other global challenges, ranging from blocking effective international action in Iran and Syria to invading a sovereign nation – and, if it is not stopped, possibly even members of NATO.  
In other words, Putin won that hand, and several subsequent ones, in this complex poker game that affects global stability.  
As pleasant as it sounds to turn away and live our lives oblivious to what may go on across spans of ocean, it simply isn’t the way the world works."
That's right.  It's time for President Obama to "reverse" himself and put the missiles in Poland and elsewhere. 

 He doesn't have to admit the mistake of "the reset" or confirm that he is reversing the 2009 decision.  He can simply do it, rally the Europeans and stand up to Putin with strength.  It's about time! 

 P. S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.
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Can NATO do anything anymore?

The Ukraine crisis has put NATO on center stage.    Can NATO put together enough soldiers, air power or any other kind of "power" to fight anybody?

 The answer is "doubtful" because the West has cut back its defenses, as reported today by The Wall Street Journal:

 "The combined GDP of NATO's 28 member states tops $30 trillion. 

 Yet with few exceptions, most notably Poland, NATO defense expenditures have declined since the end of the Cold War. 

 The nearby table shows the relative defense spending in 2013 for some key NATO countries as a share of GDP. 

 Only four members—the U.S., U.K., Greece and Estonia—spent at least 2% of GDP on defense.   At 1.9%, France last year fell short of the 2% that is supposed to be the technical requirement for membership. 
Mr. Rasmussen's Denmark spent 1.4% of its GDP on defense, Angela Merkel's Germany 1.3%, Italy 1.2%, and Spain 0.9%. 
This is what a country spends if it thinks its main security threat is Belgium.
And the trend is down, as a majority of NATO members reduced defense spending in 2013. 
Among the more drastic defense cutters last year were Canada (7.6%), Slovenia (8.7%), Italy (10.3%), Hungary (11.9%) and Spain (11.9%)."
This is something that President Putin knows quite well.  The West has no weapons or will to fight!  

 Maybe it's time for the US to remind the Europeans that NATO was created for mutual defense NOT to have the US do it all alone.
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Speaking Spanish to do business in Mexico


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