Category: Foreign Affairs

Is NORAD really doing its job?

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is a United States and Canada bi-national organization charged with the missions of aerospace warning, aerospace control and maritime warning for North America. Aerospace warning includes the detection, validation, and warning of attack against North America whether by aircraft, missiles, or space vehicles, through mutual support arrangements with other commands.

So how did a Chinese balloon the size of three buses end up flying from Alaska to Canada and then across the United States? Is NORAD really doing its job? There were many uninhabited places that the balloon could be shot down in Alaska and the North West Territories of Canada. So arguing that they did not want harm coming to populations does not hold water.

The Sunday morning news shows had guests that gave politically motivated commentaries. Of course the Democrats defended the actions of the Administration and GOP guests attacked. No surprise. Sadly no one provided real answers.

Update on February 6, 2023 is horrifying.

“Every day as a NORAD commander, it’s my responsibility to detect threats to North America. I will tell you that we did not detect those threats,” Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of US Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command said when asked about the three other balloons.

“And that’s a domain awareness gap that we have to figure out, but I don’t want to go into further detail.”

“Armageddon”

Is the world on the verge of an “Armageddon?” It appears that President believes we are or at least fears that it could happen. And it is on his mind. No one in the Whitehouse or in his administration has contradicted his words.

President Joe Biden’s stark warning Thursday night that the world faces the highest prospect of nuclear war in 60 years was not based on any new intelligence about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions or changes in Russia’s nuclear posture, multiple US officials told CNN.

One senior administration official said Biden was speaking “frankly” in his remarks at a Democratic fundraiser in New York, reflecting heightened concern based on Putin’s recent nuclear threats.

Biden’s nuclear warning not based on new intelligence but opens a window into real worries inside the White House.

The situation today is reminiscent of the 13-day showdown in 1962 that followed the U.S. discovery of the Soviet Union’s secret deployment of nuclear weapons to Cuba is regarded by experts as the closest the world has ever come to nuclear annihilation.

What is needed is a mediator that both Ukraine and Russia respects. Both countries will have to find a compromise. Is that likely?

In Hiroshima, the black rain started to fall 20 minutes after the bomb exploded. It covered an area about 20 kilometers (12 mi) across around ground zero, covering the countryside with a thick liquid that could douse anyone it touched with up to 100 times more radiation than stepping into the blast center.

The city around the survivors was burning and tearing up the oxygen around them, and they were already dying of thirst. Struggling through the flames, they’d become so desperate for water that many opened up their mouths and tried to drink the strange liquid falling from the sky.

There was enough radiation in that liquid, though, to make changes in a person’s blood. It was strong enough that the aftereffects of the rain can still linger today in the places it landed back then. We have every reason to believe that it’ll happen again if another bomb falls.

The British Soap Opera

The British soap opera was on full display today. If no one was watching none of this would be happening. But the soap opera has great TV ratings.

https://cdn.cnn.com/…/220917131038-01-queen…

Prince William, Prince Harry and Queen Elizabeth II’s other grandchildren held a vigil at her lying in state on Saturday, as the royal family prepares to bid farewell to the late monarch at her state funeral.

The brothers stood watch for 15 minutes over the Queen’s coffin in Westminster Hall, where it has been displayed to the public since Wednesday.

They were joined by Princess Anne’s children Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips, Prince Andrew’s daughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, and Lady Louise and Viscount Severn, who are the children of Prince Edward. The Earl and Countess of Wessex were present to support their children as Louise and James are comparatively younger than their cousins, a royal source told CNN.

Queen Elizabeth II – A Wasted Life

Queen Elizabeth II arrives for a state banquet in her honor in Berlin during a royal visit to Germany in June 2015.

Queen Elizabeth II, who has died age 96 after the longest reign in British history, will be mourned around the globe as one of the last monarchs born to a classic age of European royalty, when kings and queens wielded genuine political power.

A wasted life. She could have and should have done things to make the world a better place. She did none of that.

We can only hope that King Charles III, with all his power, does more than sit on the throne.

Queen Elizabeth II was the central character in the world’s longest running soap opera

Queen Elizabeth was crowned when Great Britain was a world power. Today the UK is no longer considered a consequential power in the world. What did the queen do to stop the end of GB’s declining power? Nothing. What did the queen stand for in all her years? Nothing. MARY MCNAMARA is correct. This is a soap opera.

For Americans, Queen Elizabeth II was the central character in the world's longest running soap opera

LATIMES.COM

For Americans, Queen Elizabeth II was the central character in the world’s longest running soap opera

Queen Elizabeth II Failed to Sustain the Empire

If I was English I would not be celebrating the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. On her watch the British Empire deteriorated to a nation where some of its remaining parts are contemplating withdrawing from the UK.

Above is a map of the British Empire as it was on 6 February 1952, the day Queen Elizabeth II began her reign. Colonies, protectorates and mandates are shown in dark red, while dominions are shown in pink. The United Kingdom itself is shown in light red.

The British Empire does not exist today. However, the Commonwealth is a free association of sovereign states comprising the United Kingdom and many of its former dependencies that acknowledge the British monarch as the association’s symbolic head. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are the primary remaining Commonwealth nations. Other countries that are part of the Commonwealth are The Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, St Lucia, Tuvalia, St Christopher and Nevis. Gibraltar and The Falkland Islands are a self-governing British Overseas Territories.

So exactly what are the British honoring with the death of the queen? She had no authority and did nothing to help sustain the UK.

Israel Laws are NOT Apartheid

Israeli laws are designed to assure Israel will remain a Jewish state.  Non-Jews are free to go anywhere they wish and live where ever they want.  Intermarriage between Jews and others is permitted.  Intermarriage has always been considered unacceptable as best displayed in the play “Fiddler on the Roof”. European Jews viewed anyone marrying a non-Jews the equivalent to a death.

During most of the 20th century, South Africa was ruled by a system called Apartheid, an Afrikaans word meaning ‘apartness,’ which was based on a system of racial segregation.

An Israeli human rights group has put up billboards in the occupied West Bank with a stark message for President Joe Biden, saying “this is apartheid.”

Israel was created as a Jewish State. The country was created as a homeland for Jews.  Jews have experienced discrimination and in some instances faced death in almost every country in the world.

The Holocaust (6 million Jews were killed) was the seed for creating Israel.  Jewish Israelis have arranged their nations laws to protect their rule over their country.

There is no other way to write this or say this reality.  Israel will always be a Jewish state. If that fact changes, Israel’s purpose to exist will end.

Biden, “We will not fight WW3 in Ukraine”

Those were not Joe Biden’s exact words.  He said we will not send American troops into Ukraine to confront Russia.  Along with NATO nations also not sending troops to Ukraine the message to Vladimir Putin was clear. Go ahead and decimate Ukraine if you must and Western Europe and other democracies will only send help and lecture Russia about its bad behavior.

Just in case the USA or any members of NATO are contemplating getting involved Putin put his nuclear weapons group on alert and now has followed up with a test of an ICBM.

My question in when do we confront Russia?  Will that be in Alsace-Lorraine, at the White Cliffs of Dover, or at the Atlantic City Board Walk?

Rather than FDR’s Lend-Lease program to aid the UK in March 1941 imagine the United States entered the war against Hitler. Perhaps that would have saved lives not only in the UK but all of Europe. The UK confronted Hitler in September 1939 while the United States sat on its hands. What would have happened if the United States had entered the war in early 1940?

It appears we did not learn anything about handling dictators who dream of conquering their neighbors. We have been told that the United States has the most powerful military in the world. When do we deploy that force?