Posted in Russia on Aug 23rd, 2007
In response to my blog article on the 17th, ‘Here We Go Again‘, Tedders made a good point. Russian military technology lags far behind that of the US. In a direct confrontation, Russia can’t really win.
But, Russia isn’t stupid; they know that they don’t have to be able to win. They just need to be able to make any confrontation too painful for the US to get involved.
Those few Tupolev bombers that venture out over the Atlantic and Pacific aren’t a threat to the existence of the US. Their missile payloads could wipe out a few major cities, but not much more than that.
In response to my blog article on the 17th, ‘Here We Go Again‘, Tedders made a good point. Russian military technology lags far behind that of the US. In a direct confrontation, Russia can’t really win.
But, Russia isn’t stupid; they know that they don’t have to be able to win. They just need to be able to make any confrontation too painful for the US to get involved.
Those few Tupolev bombers that venture out over the Atlantic and Pacific aren’t a threat to the existence of the US. Their missile payloads could wipe out a few major cities, but not much more than that.
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Posted in Personal Notes on Aug 21st, 2007
There are weeks when you should never get out of bed, and I think that I’ve just had a string of them.
(Cue the mournful violin player!)
I have had nothing but trouble from my new connection to the Internet from the day that it was installed. In fact, as of this moment, that connection has ceased to exist, and my ISP is sending out an engineer to figure out what’s wrong.
That is why I’m shivering here in a local library, tippy-tapping this message to y’all. The library has a half-way decent Wifi connection to the Internet, but it comes with an over-enthusiastic air conditioner.
There are weeks when you should never get out of bed, and I think that I’ve just had a string of them.
(Cue the mournful violin player!)
I have had nothing but trouble from my new connection to the Internet from the day that it was installed. In fact, as of this moment, that connection has ceased to exist, and my ISP is sending out an engineer to figure out what’s wrong.
That is why I’m shivering here in a local library, tippy-tapping this message to y’all. The library has a half-way decent Wifi connection to the Internet, but it comes with an over-enthusiastic air conditioner.
Read Full Post »
Posted in Iran, Russia, Turkey, War fighting on Aug 17th, 2007
The Associated Press is reporting that nuclear bombers of the Russian Air Force have been ordered into the air again. It has been 15 years since Russia had nuclear bombers on an active nuclear patrol.
Why the change now?
What threat has arisen that would cause Russia to take this expensive step?
With the price of aviation fuel at such high levels, those bombers are going to be expensive to fly. And, that’s not adding in the cost of maintenance of the planes and the nuclear missiles in those planes.
The Associated Press is reporting that nuclear bombers of the Russian Air Force have been ordered into the air again. It has been 15 years since Russia had nuclear bombers on an active nuclear patrol.
Why the change now?
What threat has arisen that would cause Russia to take this expensive step?
With the price of aviation fuel at such high levels, those bombers are going to be expensive to fly. And, that’s not adding in the cost of maintenance of the planes and the nuclear missiles in those planes.
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Posted in America, Hitler, Iran, Nazi Germany on Aug 16th, 2007
Most people do not know that Hitler’s Germany could not have developed into a threat without outside help. Bankers and investors lined up to give loans and make investments. Even while Hitler was demonstrating his evil intentions, they loaned and invested.
Without that support, Hitler would have been just one more ineffectual crackpot.
This century’s version of Hitler is as much a threat as Hitler ever was, and guess what… we’re doing it again.Â
That’s right. We’re giving him loans and making investments. Here’s a quote from the Washington Post:
----------------
This is a preview of
Funding a Modern Hitler
.
Read the full post (149 words, estimated 36 secs reading time)Most people do not know that Hitler’s Germany could not have developed into a threat without outside help. Bankers and investors lined up to give loans and make investments. Even while Hitler was demonstrating his evil intentions, they loaned and invested.
Without that support, Hitler would have been just one more ineffectual crackpot.
This century’s version of Hitler is as much a threat as Hitler ever was, and guess what… we’re doing it again.Â
That’s right. We’re giving him loans and making investments. Here’s a quote from the Washington Post:
----------------
This is a preview of
Funding a Modern Hitler
.
Read the full post (149 words, estimated 36 secs reading time)Read Full Post »
Posted in America, Democracy, Society, Terrorism on Aug 14th, 2007
Magda raised an important point yesterday, and it’s one that I need to talk about.
In democracies, fear is a double-edged sword. It’s an easy weapon to use on your enemies, but it’s also a weapon that routinely turns on you. A population that is afraid will demand that you do something to make them safe, and they’ll throw you out of power if you don’t. And, if they find out that the fear was unwarranted, they’ll throw you out of power. However, there is another, more important aspect to ‘fear in a democracy’.
Magda raised an important point yesterday, and it’s one that I need to talk about.
In democracies, fear is a double-edged sword. It’s an easy weapon to use on your enemies, but it’s also a weapon that routinely turns on you. A population that is afraid will demand that you do something to make them safe, and they’ll throw you out of power if you don’t. And, if they find out that the fear was unwarranted, they’ll throw you out of power. However, there is another, more important aspect to ‘fear in a democracy’.
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