Month: August 2015

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The Iranian-Russian-Chinese axis

It is increasingly evident that a substantial and growing military relationship between Russia, China and Iran exists.

Russia and China have held an extensive number of significant joint training exercises in both the Pacific and Mediterranean Oceans, and both continue to engage in weapons deals with Iran, a continuation of the policy in which Moscow has aided Iran’s nuclear program and provides anti-aircraft technology to protect sensitive sites.

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According to the International Business Times, “Russia and China will continue to make weapons deals with Iran under U.N. procedures… Russia currently has a deal in place from April to supply Iran with the S-300 missile defense system. It’s yet to be seen how it will be completed given that Iran is now banned from buying missile technology for eight years. The deal was said to be a gesture of good will for Iran’s co-operation in the negotiations.”

Iran’s possession of the S-300 system substantially strengthens the ability of Iran to violate the already weak restrictions of the recently concluded nuclear arms deal, since it will now have the means to protect violative atomic test sites from air strikes seeking to destroy them.

The Jerusalem Post has reported on a deal, originally revealed in the Taiwanese press in which China will provide Iran with 24 J-10 fighter jets in exchange for Chinese access to the Islamic Republic’s largest oil field for the next 20 years.

The Washington Free Beacon has revealed that Russian and Iran naval forces conducted joint war games  in northern Iran, “in another combined show of force meant to display the two nations’ control of nearby waterways. An Iranian destroyer and team of Russian warships staged a series of war drills and engaged in joint training exercises, according to reports in Iran’s state-controlled press.” IB Times http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/russia-iran-stage-naval-war-games-showcase-combined-strength-1515122 notes that “The joint naval exercise shows increased military ties between Russia and Iran after the two countries signed multiple arms agreements in recent months.”

The Jerusalem Post has also monitored Iranian semi-official outlets which have reported that Iran, Russia, China and Syria are to conduct joint military exercises in Syria next month. Chinese and Russian warships as well as Russian nuclear submarines are to be involved.

According to the report, “China had gained Egyptian approval to allow 12 Chinese ships carrying military equipment to pass through the Suez Canal, and that these vessels would reach the Syrian ports of Tartous and Latakia in two weeks’ time.”  No official sources from Syria, Russia, China or Iran had confirmed the war games would take place, and Russia has denied involvement.

Qassem Soleimari, the Iranian Quds force commander, recently met with Russian officials in Moscow, Fox News reports, citing intelligence sources. Soleimari is designated as a terrorist and is responsible for leading actions resulted in the deaths of numerous U.S. soldiers in Iraq. His Quds force also operates in Latin America.

According to the Middle East Forum “China’s new Middle East strategy is inimical to U.S. nonproliferation goals. Beijing may pledge to adhere to U.S. counter-proliferation policy, but its willingness to cultivate relations with Middle Eastern states, on the back of sales of both conventional weapons and materials applicable to weapons of mass destruction programs, indicates that its promises are insincere.”

Defense News notes that there is an indication of competition between Russia and China in their relationship with Iran. Both seek to sell their indigenous weapons systems to Tehran, particularly anti-aircraft missiles. To pursue that and other goals, it is expected that China’s President Xi will visit Iran in the near future. China has had a long-term relationship with Tehran’s government since the Islamic extremist takeover.

Despite the friendly rivalry, the three nations together serve as the most significant joint threat to the United States, Europe, and aligned nations across the globe to ever have emerged. Their combined massive geography, population, economic power, and scientific sophistication along  with their strategic location and the contiguous land mass of the three produce a threat far greater than that endured during the Cold War, or even the German-Japanese alliance of World War Two.

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U.S. economy deeply troubled

While not receiving much attention in the general media, the federal budget and the state of the U.S. economy are deeply troubled.

Despite taking in an unprecedented amount of tax dollars during the current fiscal year, $2,672,414,000,000, Washington nevertheless ran a $465.5B Deficit. The national debt now stands at $18,112,975,000,000. 

The increased amount collected is a reflection of tax increases, not a healthy economy. In 2012, the top individual income tax rate was increased 4.6%, while some deductions and exemptions were phased out. Obamacare also brought in an additional 3.8% on dividends, capital gains, royalties and capital gains.  American corporate tax rates are the highest of any developed nation.

In a troubling letter, Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew wrote  to Congressional leaders:

“I am writing to notify you, as required under 5 U.S.C. § 8348(1)(2), of my determination that, by reason of the statutory debt limit, I will continue to be unable to fully invest the portion of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund (CSRDF) not immediately required to pay beneficiaries. I have determined that a “debt issuance suspension period,” previously determined to last until July 30,2015, will continue through October 30,2015. As a result, the Treasury Department will continue to suspend additional investments of amounts credited to, and redeem an additional portion of the investments held by, the CSRDF, as authorized by law. By law, the CSRDF will be made whole once the debt limit is increased. Federal retirees and employees will be unaffected by these actions. I respectfully urge Congress to protect the full faith and credit of the United States by acting to increase the statutory debt limit as soon as possible.”

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Profit Confidential.com http://www.profitconfidential.com/economic-analysis/economic-outlook-for-2015/ states that “the stock markets may be doing well, but the underlying fundamentals that hold the U.S. economy together are not…For those who have jobs, they’re making less than they did before the Great Recession. Wages for workers at every pay level, save for the bottom 10%, declined from the second half of 2013 through to the second half of 2014. And there’s no indication wages will increase.For 70% of the workforce, inflation-adjusted hourly wages are still lower than they were in 2007. Over the same period, inflation (CPI) has risen 15%.”

Writing in Counterpunch former Wall Street Journal editor Paul Craig Roberts writes:

“Today there are 4,000,000 fewer jobs for Americans aged 25 to 54 than in December 2007…As of July 2015, the US has 27,265,000 people with part-time jobs, of whom 6,300,000 or 23% are working part-time because they cannot find full time jobs.  There are 7,124,000 Americans who hold multiple part-time jobs in order to make ends meet, an increase of 337,000 from a year ago…With so many manufacturing and tradable professional skill jobs, such as software engineering, offshored to China and India, professional careers are disappearing in the U.S…Clearly, this is not an economy that has a future…

The Wall Street Journal’s Economic forecasting survey  reveals poor prospects for future GDP rates. The Actual 2015 second quarter growth rate is 2.3%; the third quarter projection is 2.7%, and the 4th quarter, 2.8%. That will shrink, according to the projection, to 2.6% in the first quarter of 2016, and may rise slightly to 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. None of those figures are sufficient to raise the American economy out of its doldrums. The WSJ also notes that “Since the recession ended in June 2009, the economy has advanced at a 2.2% annual pace through the end of last year. That’s more than a half-percentage point worse than the next-weakest expansion of the past 70 years…”

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China’s new canal challenges U.S. security in Latin America

The dramatic transformation of Latin America from a relatively nonthreatening geographical region to one that presents a clear danger, harboring the U.S.’s most significant rivals, continues at a worrisome pace. China’s involvement in the Panama Canal, and its construction of its own canal across Nicaragua, is a prime example.

Strategically, the ability to travel through the Western Hemisphere, bypassing the need for the lengthy and dangerous passage at the extreme southern end of South America provides an enormous advantage to whichever nation controls the canal allowing this to occur. The Panama Canal has been a vital asset to the United States, allowing mobility for its fleet.  Its importance is understood by other nations as well, particularly China.

The Menges Project  reports that “Currently the Panama Ports Company, a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., has exclusive and extensive rights to control both ends of the Panama Canal. Hutchison Whampoa is a Chinese company owned by Hong Kong billionaire, Li Ka-Shing, who has strong ties with Beijing. Considering Li’s close ties with the Chinese government, it is highly plausible that Hutchison Whampoa has the potential to act as Beijing’s political agent and that their possession of the ports at either end of the Panama Canal constitutes a serious U.S. national security issue.”

Richard A. Delgaudio, who authored a book on the issue, notes that “..the takeover of the Panama Canal by Red China is a serious security threat to the United States.”

Beijing has even larger goals. Initial work on a larger canal, dug through Nicaragua, was begun in December. The $70 billion dollar project will take 14 years to reach completion in 2029. It will serve China’s navy well. Beijing’s rapidly growing fleet will outnumber America’s navy by 2020.
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According to a report in The World, “Two years ago Nicaragua put its sovereignty in hock by giving a concession of up to 100 years for a canal that could cost $40 billion-50 billion to Wang Jing, a Chinese telecoms magnate. …The next step will be a port a few miles inland big enough to process 500-metre-long ships with five times the container-carrying capacity of those that currently traverse the Panama Canal.”

Reviewing the project, the Diplomat notes: “As for the geopolitical implications, there has been much speculation about China’s intentions with the canal. China has active in Central America for years (even decades). It has been selling arms to Western Hemisphere states, while pursuing other initiatives to build military and economic relations… Clearly, this is a challenge to traditional U.S. pre-eminence in the Western Hemisphere…

“The canal may attract Chinese military vessels looking to protect Chinese commercial interests. China has recently published plans to grow its navy by 351 warships, surpassing the U.S. Navy in sheer numbers at least by 2020. Whether it plans to deploy its ships to waters around China or use them to expand its presence elsewhere, like Central America, is unclear. Still, combined with its infrastructure investment, traditional assumptions of U.S. primacy are facing their greatest challenge in decades – even in a region traditionally considered its backyard.”

Environmental objections to the Nicaraguan Canal project have also been raised. According to Matthew Shaer’s study reported in the Smithsonian  “A New canal through Central America could have devastating consequences. The ramifications of the proposed route have environmentalists worried, and for good reason…The new canal and its infrastructure, from roads to pipelines to power plants, will destroy or alter nearly one million acres of rainforest and wetlands. And that doesn’t include Lake Nicaragua, a beloved 3,191-square-mile inland reservoir that provides most Nicaraguans with drinking water.”

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Flawed candidates, flawed parties

What does it say about the legal, cultural and political environment of America in the 21st century when the two leading candidates for the highest office in the land have at times openly ignored the law, and when one has zero experience in governance, and the other has a stunning record of total failure and duplicity during her time as part of a presidential administration?

While irrelevant issues have always had far too great an influence in presidential politics, the United States has apparently entered into an era where the race for the White House has a distinct resemblance to a Kardashian-like reality TV show.

Journalists seek access, so many have failed to openly confront either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump on their obvious and significant shortcomings as a potential Commander in Chief.

Clinton has a record of ethical questionability and scandals extending back to her earliest days in government. Recently, her tenure as Secretary of State was marked by the “reset” with Russia, one of the most significant failures in American diplomacy. Her blatant mismanagement and subsequent cover-up of the Benghazi attack are still under investigation, as is her apparent carelessness with state secrets evident in her use of a personal email server for official communications, including those considered top secret. Indeed, the Obama-Clinton record in Middle Eastern affairs as a whole is a study in amateurism, if not worse, in foreign affairs.

The worse may be yet to come, as questions about her approval of the sale of uranium to Moscow and another serious allegation of influence peddling have yet to be fully explored.

Ms. Clinton is apparently aware of the threat to her campaign from all of these issues, as she has vigorously avoided frank meetings with the media, and her allies in the Democratic National Committee do their best to delay debates with other party candidates.

Leading the GOP pack, Donald Trump scored high marks with fellow Republicans by discussing problems with China and illegal immigration that the party leadership, to its discredit, has failed to adequately address. But serious questions about his intentions remain unanswered. Why did he consult with Clinton before entering the race? He has bragged about his ties to the Clintons, and his current claim to allegiance to the GOP is belied by his extensive past contributions to Democrats.

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The two campaigns say a great deal about the parties they operate within.

Republican voters have become increasingly enraged about their party leaders’ failure to stand up for the principles the GOP purports to stand for. Even after gaining control of both houses of Congress, Republicans have failed to exercise power in any meaningful way. A key constituency within the GOP, the Tea Party, complains that organizational chiefs have been more confrontational with them than with the White House.

That anger has become incendiary, leading another presidential hopeful, Ted Cruz, to white-hot criticisms of Senate leader Mitch McConnell. Despite Cruz’s revolt, Trump has been the beneficiary of the growing split between the party faithful and GOP leadership.

Ms. Clinton’s belief that she can avoid a great deal of the expected contact with the press, and Democrat leadership’s failure to distance itself from her history of misdeeds and policy failures, points to a party with a lackluster bullpen of candidates and a hidebound adherence to dogmas that have only worsened the challenges America faces at home and abroad. The fact that Bernie Sanders, a curmudgeonly old-school socialist who is not even a registered Democrat is closing in on Ms. Clinton describes much about the state of the party.

Beyond all the descriptions (or criticisms) of character and career histories, the two candidates have gained popularity based on their message. For disgruntled Republicans, the lack of attention by party leaders to illegal immigration and the rise of China, issues Trump has concentrated on, have driven many to support him. Hillary Clinton’s role as a standard bearer for various victimization groups, her hard-left positions, and her connection to the original (Bill) Clinton administration loom large.

As the campaign progresses, it remains to be seen whether the flaws in both candidates overcome their roles as symbols for the causes and issues they headline.

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Russia, NATO return to Cold War

As Russia continues its expanded military flights along the borders of European nations, and moves forward with its extensive military buildup (including the stationing of intermediate range nuclear missiles, part of the Kremlin’s 10 to 1 advantage in tactical nuclear weaponry, within reach of European targets) the tension between Moscow and NATO has returned to Cold War levels. That tension reached a fever pitch following the invasion of Ukraine.

According to the U.S. State Department’s “2015 Report on Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments:”

“…in 2014, the Russian Federation continued to be in violation of its obligations under the INF Treaty not to possess, produce, or flight-test a ground-launched cruise missile (GLCM) with a range capability of 500 km to 5,500 km, or to possess or produce launchers of such missiles.

According to the Russian news source, Pravada, Mikhail Alexandrov, a leading expert of military-political studies, has asserted that “NATO’s objective is to suppress the Russians…In general, NATO’s activities are anti-Russian in their nature. “They hate the Russian and want to crush them. This is the essence of the current policy of NATO…Russia must be tough and strong in defending its interests on the international arena. If Russia makes concessions to the West, everyone will realize that Russia is weak an can therefore be destroyed.

Recently, that view of NATO was essentially repeated in a statement to RT news (another Russian news  source) by the Russian Foreign Ministry,  which alleged that NATO was seeking “dominance in Europe.”

NATO has responded with the following fact sheet:

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Myth 2: NATO has tried to isolate or marginalise Russia Fact: Since the early 1990s, the Alliance has consistently worked to build a cooperative relationship with Russia on areas of mutual interest. NATO began reaching out, offering dialogue in place of confrontation, at the London NATO Summit of July 1990 (declaration here). In the following years, the Alliance promoted dialogue and cooperation by creating new fora, the Partnership for Peace (PfP) and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), open to the whole of Europe, including Russia (PfP founding documents here and here). In 1997 NATO and Russia signed the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security, creating the NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council. In 2002 they upgraded that relationship, creating the NATO-Russia Council (NRC). They reaffirmed their commitment to the Founding Act at NATO-Russia summits in Rome in 2002 and in Lisbon in 2010 (The Founding Act can be read here, the Rome Declaration which established the NRC here, the Lisbon NRC Summit Declaration here.) Since the foundation of the NRC, NATO and Russia have worked together on issues ranging from counter-narcotics and counter-terrorism to submarine rescue and civil emergency planning. We set out to build a unique relationship with Russia, one built not just on mutual interests but also on cooperation and the shared objective for a Europe whole free and at peace. No other partner has been offered a comparable relationship, nor a similar comprehensive institutional framework.

Myth 3: NATO missile defence targets Russia and the Iran agreement proves it Fact: NATO’s missile defence system is not designed or directed against Russia. It does not pose a threat to Russia’s strategic deterrent. As already explained by NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow, geography and physics make it impossible for the NATO system to shoot down Russian intercontinental missiles from NATO sites in Romania or Poland.  Their capabilities are too limited, their planned numbers May 2015 North Atlantic Treaty Organization Fact Sheet too few, and their locations too far south or too close to Russia to do so. Russian officials have confirmed that the planned NATO shield will not, in fact, undermine Russia’s deterrent. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s missile defence envoy, said on January 26, 2015, that “neither the current, nor even the projected” missile defence system “could stop or cast doubt on Russia’s strategic missile potential.” Finally, the Russian claim that the framework agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme obviates the need for NATO missile defence is wrong on two counts. The Iranian agreement does not cover the proliferation of ballistic-missile technology which is an issue completely different from nuclear questions. Furthermore, NATO has repeatedly made clear that missile defence is not about any one country, but about the threat posed by proliferation more generally. In fact, over 30 countries have obtained, or are trying to obtain, ballistic missile technology. The Iran framework agreement does not change those facts.

Myth 4: NATO exercises are a provocation which threatens Russia Fact: Every nation has the right to conduct exercises, as long as they do so within their international obligations, including notifying the actual numbers and providing observation opportunities when required. In order to promote mutual trust and transparency, OSCE members are bound by the Vienna Document to inform one another in advance of exercises which include more than 9,000 troops, unless the exercises are snap tests of readiness. NATO and Allies have consistently stood by the terms and the spirit of the Vienna Document. Those exercises which crossed the notification threshold were announced well in advance. This is why Russia could send observers to the UK-led Exercise Joint Warrior in April 2015. Russia, on the other hand, has repeatedly called snap exercises including tens of thousands of troops, with some of them taking place close to NATO territory. This practice of calling massive exercises without warning is a breach of the spirit of the Vienna Document, raising tension and undermining trust. This is especially the case because Russia’s military takeover of Crimea was masked by exactly such a snap exercise. It is therefore Russia’s exercises, not NATO’s, which are a threat to stability.

Myth 5: NATO leaders promised at the time of German reunification that the Alliance would not expand to the East Fact: No such promise was ever made, and Russia has never produced any evidence to back up its claim. Every formal decision which NATO takes is adopted by consensus and recorded in writing. There is no written record of any such decision having been taken by the Alliance: therefore, no such promise can have been made. Moreover, at the time of the alleged promise, the Warsaw Pact still existed. Its members did not agree on its dissolution until 1991. Therefore, it is not plausible to suggest that the idea of their accession to NATO was on the agenda in 1989. This was confirmed by former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev himself. This is what Mr Gorbachev said on 15 October 2014 in an interview with Rossiiskaya Gazeta and Russia Beyond The Headlines: “The topic of ‘NATO expansion’ was not discussed at all, and it wasn’t brought up in those years. I say this with full responsibility…”

Moscow’s moves have forced Sweden (which has found Russian subs in its waters) and Finland to consider joining NATO, according to Germany’s DW news  “The Crimean crisis has rekindled discussions in Sweden and Finland of whether to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which would protect the two countries in Europe’s north from potential Russian aggression. This comes after Sweden’s Deputy Prime Minister Jan Björklund had publicly called for a “doctrinal shift” in the country’s defence policy, reportedly saying he wanted Sweden to “set the wheels in motion” to join NATO.”

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U.S. economy, unemployment rate continues to underperform

While the media and the Bureau of Labor Statistics  continue to cite the “U-3” statistic to indicate the unemployment rate (currently 5.3%) the more accurate and realistic number is the BLS’s U-6 number, currently at 10.4%.

Of that percentage, an increasingly worrisome subset—those who have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more—increased from 2,121,000 in June to 2,180,000 in July. A seriously troubling indicator of an economy that continues to be in ill health is the record 93,770,000 Americans not participating in the workforce, a 38 year low point.

There is little indication that the situation is improving, since the U.S. economy continues to grow below levels necessary to improve the jobs picture. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)  reports that “Real gross domestic product — the value of the production of goods and services in the United States, adjusted for price changes — increased at an annual rate of 2.3 percent in the second quarter of 2015, according to the “advance” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.  In the first quarter, real GDP increased 0.6 percent (revised).

The BEA also announced on August 5  bad news in U.S. export numbers:

“[The] goods and services deficit was $43.8 billion in June, up $2.9 billion from $40.9 billion in May, revised. June exports were $188.6 billion, $0.1 billion less than May exports. June imports were $232.4 billion, $2.8 billion more than May imports.

“The June increase in the goods and services deficit reflected an increase in the goods deficit of $2.9 billion to $63.5 billion and a decrease in the services surplus of less than $0.1 billion to $19.7 billion.

“Year-to-date, the goods and services deficit increased $1.6 billion, or 0.6 percent, from the same period in 2014. Exports decreased $33.4 billion or 2.9 percent. Imports decreased $31.8 billion or 2.2 percent.

“Goods and Services Three-Month Moving Averages:

“The average goods and services deficit decreased $2.2 billion to $41.8 billion for the three months ending in June.

* Average exports of goods and services increased $0.2 billion to $189.1 billion in June.

* Average imports of goods and services decreased $2.1 billion to $230.9 billion in June.

Year-over-year, the average goods and services deficit decreased $1.1 billion from the three months ending in June 2014.

* Average exports of goods and services decreased $6.8 billion from June 2014.

* Average imports of goods and services decreased $7.9 billion from June 2014.”

The jobs crisis is particularly acute for recent graduates, reports the Economic Policy Institute , even using the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ less accurate U3:

  • “For young college graduates, the unemployment rate is currently 7.2 percent (compared with 5.5 percent in 2007), and the underemployment rate is 14.9 percent (compared with 9.6 percent in 2007).
  • “For young high school graduates, the unemployment rate is 19.5 percent (compared with 15.9 percent in 2007), and the underemployment rate is 37.0 percent (compared with 26.8 percent in 2007).

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  • “The high share of unemployed and underemployed young college graduates and the share of employed young college graduates working in jobs that do not require a college degree underscore that the current unemployment crisis among young workers did notarise because today’s young adults lack the right education or skills. Rather, it stems from weak demand for goods and services, which makes it unnecessary for employers to significantly ramp up hiring.

EPI also reports:

  • “Wages of young college and high school graduates are performing poorly—and are substantially lower today than in 2000. The real (inflation-adjusted) wages of young high school graduates are 5.5 percent lower today than in 2000, and the wages of young college graduates are 2.5 percent lower.
  • “The cost of higher education has grown far more rapidly than median family income, leaving students with little choice but to take out loans which, upon graduating into a labor market with limited job opportunities, they may not have the funds to repay.
    • “From the 1983–1984 enrollment year to the 2013–2014 enrollment year, the inflation-adjusted cost of a four-year education, including tuition, fees, and room and board, increased 125.7 percent for private school and 129.0 percent for public school (according to the College Board).
    • “Between 2004 and 2014, there was a 92 percent increase in the number of student loan borrowers and a 74 percent increase in average student loan balances (according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York).
  • “Due to young college graduates’ limited job opportunities, stagnating wages, and the rising cost of higher education, college is becoming an increasingly difficult investment.”

The burden of severe levels of tuition-related debt makes the unemployment problem for college grads particularly troubling.

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New EPA plan not based on solid science

On August 3, The Environmental Protection Agency released its new Clean Power Plan, aimed at reducing carbon pollution from power plants. The central reason for the plan is to limit global warming, a concept considered “settled science” by its advocates, including the Obama Administration.

Far-ranging policies that will cost Americans a great deal have already been adopted in response to the global warming theory. Further, much of the policy action has been adopted by regulation, not legislation which would have allowed for far greater public debate and review.

The problem, of course, is that the theory of man-made global warming is neither settled science nor particularly accurate, given the numerous issues its proponents have completely failed to address.

31,072 American scientists, including 9,029 with PH.D’s, have signed a petition opposing the views of those who claim human factors have altered the climate. Even some advocates of global warming have objected to governmental intervention. Professor Richard Lindzen of MIT, quoted in infowars.com,  notes that the changes due to global warming are too small to account for.  He stated that in the January 2014 article that “Global warming, climate change, all these things are just a dream come true for politicians. The opportunities for taxation, for policies, for control, for crony capitalism are just immense, you can see their eyes bulge.”

For thousands of years, far beyond the birth of modern industry and pollution-causing activities, the planet has alternately warmed and cooled, a result largely of solar activity.  The warming described by advocates of radical measures inspired by man-made global warming advocates warming is not consistent with prior periods of naturally occurring change. Dr. Zbigniew Jaworowski A world-renowned atmospheric scientist and mountaineer who has excavated ice out of 17 glaciers on 6 continents in his 50-year career, wrote in a 21st Century Tech article:

“Since the 1980s, many climatologists have claimed that human activity has caused the near-surface air temperature to rise faster and higher than ever before in history. … Just a few years earlier, these very same climatologists had professed that industrial pollution would bring about a new Ice Age. In 1971, the spiritual leader of the global warming prophets, Dr. Stephen H. Schneider from the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, claimed that this pollution would soon reduce the global temperature by 3.5°C.1 His remarks were followed by more official statements from the National Science Board of the U.S. National Science Foundation, ”. . .[T]he the present time of high temperatures should be drawing to an end . . . leading into the next glacial age.” In 1974, the board observed, “During the last 20 to 30 years, world temperature has fallen, irregularly at first but more sharply over the last decade.”2No matter what happens, catastrophic warming or catastrophic cooling, somehow the blame always falls upon “sinful” human beings and their civilization— which is allegedly hostile and alien to the planet…

“In fact, the recent climate developments are not something unusual; they reflect a natural course of planetary events. From time immemorial, alternate warm and cold cycles have followed each other, with a periodicity ranging from tens of millions to several years. The cycles were most probably dependent on the extraterrestrial changes occurring in the Sun and in the Sun’s neighborhood.”

Dr. Philip Lloyd, a physicist researching climate change, has found that the variation in temperature over the past century is within the planet’s natural variability over the past 8,000 years. Lloyd formerly was a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. His conclusions are the result of ice-core based data.

The data employed to foster the manmade change theory has been shown to be seriously flawed. When “change” advocates generally cite records only a few hundred years old, they ignore extremely relevant information. From the 10th to the 14th centuries, the planet’s temperature was warmer  than that of our time. This period was followed by an era now known as “the Little Ice Age.”  Changes continued, not tied to human activity, and continue still.

As climate change advocates pursued significant alterations in the U.S. economy, some scientists began to notice an interesting phenomenon. The planet Mars appears to be experiencing climate changes similar to Earth. Clearly, human activity could not be a factor there.
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Peter Ferrara, writing in Forbes,  noted:

“The increase in global temperatures since the late 19th century just reflects the end of the Little Ice Age. The global temperature trends since then have followed not rising CO2 trends but the ocean temperature cycles of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). Every 20 to 30 years, the much colder water near the bottom of the oceans cycles up to the top, where it has a slight cooling effect on global temperatures until the sun warms that water. That warmed water then contributes to slightly warmer global temperatures, until the next churning cycle.

“Those ocean temperature cycles, and the continued recovery from the Little Ice Age, are primarily why global temperatures rose from 1915 until 1945, when CO2 emissions were much lower than in recent years. The change to a cold ocean temperature cycle, primarily the PDO, is the main reason that global temperatures declined from 1945 until the late 1970s, despite the soaring CO2 emissions during that time from the postwar industrialization spreading across the globe.”

“The 20 to 30 year ocean temperature cycles turned back to warm from the late 1970s until the late 1990s, which is the primary reason that global temperatures warmed during this period. But that warming ended 15 years ago, and global temperatures have stopped increasing since then, if not actually cooled, even though global CO2 emissions have soared over this period. As The Economistmagazine reported in March, “The world added roughly 100 billion tonnes of carbon to the atmosphere between 2000 and 2010. That is about a quarter of all the CO2 put there by humanity since 1750.” Yet, still no warming during that time. That is because the CO2 greenhouse effect is weak and marginal compared to natural causes of global temperature changes.”

Alan Caruba, who passed away on June 16, 2015, wrote in Heartland  has also noted that some of the extremist scenarios portrayed by the global change advocates, (many of whom have built careers and personal fortunes from the concept) are thoroughly incorrect. Even if the scenario of warming did occur, the increase in C02, which they maintain would be the cause, would actually increase, not decrease vegetation throughout the planet.

As serious as the ignored data has been the intentional falsifying of key science studies. The most well-known case, popularly known as “Climategate,” came to the public’s attention when leaked emails from the University of East Anglia revealed that results of studies were tailored to ignore actual results in favor of propping up the beliefs of global warming theory advocates. The U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA have fabricated computer modeling of the atmosphere, perhaps in response to political pressure, also to better serve the wishes of climate change advocates.

Professor Don J. Easterbrook, professor emeritus of geology at Western Washington University, writing in Global Research concludes:

“Global warming (i.e, the warming since 1977) is over. The minute increase of anthropogenic CO2 in the atmosphere (0.008%) was not the cause of the warming—it was a continuation of natural cycles that occurred over the past 500 years.

The PDO cool mode has replaced the warm mode in the Pacific Ocean, virtually assuring us of about 30 years of global cooling, perhaps much deeper than the global cooling from about 1945 to 1977. Just how much cooler the global climate will be during this cool cycle is uncertain. Recent solar changes suggest that it could be fairly severe, perhaps more like the 1880 to 1915 cool cycle than the more moderate 1945-1977 cool cycle. A more drastic cooling, similar to that during the Dalton and Maunder minimums, could plunge the Earth into another Little Ice Age, but only time will tell if that is likely.”

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The neglected Coast Guard

Even as the U.S. Coast Guard celebrates its 225th birthday, it endures the debilitating effects of budgetary neglect, with many vessels over half a century old.

The Coast Guard, which is now a part of the Department of Homeland Security, traces its history to Aug. 4, 1790, when President George Washington approved  a law authorizing construction of 10 revenue cutters.

The organization’s $8.1 billion dollar budget is inadequate to its worldwide mission, which has become far more difficult as aggressive actions by foreign powers strain its resources to the limit. Those actions range from Russia’s militarization of the Arctic and countering the increasing amount of cyber attacks against the U. S., responsibilities which are in addition to the service’s duties to rescue those in distress at sea and stopping the importation of illegal drugs. The Coast Guard is the only entity charged with both military duties as well as civilian law enforcement.

Retired Rear Admiral Terry McKnight, writing for the United States Naval Institute  has called the Coast Guard the “Forgotten Fleet.”

“No other service does more with less than the Coast Guard… For a service that has some of the most demanding missions to support our national security, the current departmental funding falls well short of the requirement… Even though the Coast Guard has taken on more requirements in the post Sept. 11, 2001 era the consequences of sequestration have started to directly affect some of the basic mission requirements. Like the Navy, the Coast Guard’s fleet, will see a major reduction in the next few years and, if the trend is allowed to continue, this could jeopardize our national security. If the Coast Guard does not see an increase in its shipbuilding account, the fleet of high and medium endurance cutters will suffer a major decrease in the next ten years…”

Speaking to the National Press Club last week, Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Paul Zukunft noted that his service played a key role in countering the cyber assault on defense personnel. He also pointed out that the Coast Guard, due its limited resources, is only capable of responding to 10% of the information it obtains regarding drug smuggling.
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However, it is the extraordinary expansion of Russian military activity in the Arctic that poses the greatest challenge to the Coast Guard. Ukrainian sources detailed Moscow’s new and ongoing activities in that region:

“Russia has announced it is deploying new radar stations and fighter aircraft on islands in the Arctic Ocean as Russia increases its presence on the frozen continent amid a simmering territorial dispute over the energy-rich region. Moscow announced back in 2008 that it would use the Arctic zone as a “strategic resource base“ for the development of Russia in the 21st century. Russia’s territorial claims encompass an area of roughly 1.2m sqkm which Moscow hopes would secure the rights to billions of tons of oil and gas. But Denmark, Canada and the US all dispute this and also each claim huge swathes of the vast continent, which is predicted to become ice-free in the coming decades.

Ukraine Today  reported in July that “The Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet has started forming a new air force and air defence system to protect the country’s interests in the Arctic.

A major portion of Russia’s increased presence is its fleet of icebreakers.  A 2013 study by the U.S. Naval Institute  noted that Russia had 37 icebreakers, plus four under construction. The U.S. totals was five, plus one under construction.

In his recent address to the National Press Club Admiral Zukunft stated that While the Coast Guard had seven ice breakers in 1977 when he entered the service, it currently has only two, “and only one of them, the 39-year-old Polar Star, is a “heavy” breaker capable of cracking through ice that is 21 feet thick. Russia, which he said is “militarizing the Arctic,” has some 20, with more under construction.”

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The ignored persecution of Christians

Information from nonpartisan organizations such as Amnesty International and Freedom House demonstrate that Christians across the globe are facing unprecedented levels of persecution. You wouldn’t, however, know that from listening to the United Nations or the White House.

Earlier this month, Knights of Columbus CEO announced “a new campaign to expose the crimes against humanity that are being committed… “It is time for a season of truth about what is happening to Christians and other minorities.”

According to Open Doors USA “While the year 2014 will go down in history for having the highest level of global persecution of Christians in the modern era, current conditions suggest the worst is yet to come. The Middle East Remains Most Violent While Africa Sees Largest Increase in Persecution of Christians… Topping the 2015 list for the 13th consecutive year is North Korea. Africa saw the most rapid growth of persecution, while the Middle East saw targeted attacks, resulting in a mass exodus of Christians… Approximately 100 million Christians are persecuted worldwide, making them one of the most persecuted religious groups in the world. Islamic extremism is the main source of persecution in 40 of the 50 countries on the 2015 World Watch List. While persecution can take many forms, Christians throughout the world risk imprisonment, torture, rape and even death as result of their faith.”

The Gatestone Institute  accuses the U.S. State Department of not taking the issue seriously. The organization quotes several key observers and examples:

  • “This is an administration which never seems to find a good enough excuse to help Christians, but always finds an excuse to apologize for terrorists … I hope that as it gets attention that Secretary Kerry will reverse it. If he doesn’t, Congress has to investigate, and the person who made this decision ought to be fired” — Newt Gingrich, former Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives.
  • “The U.S. insists that Muslims are the primary victims of Boko Haram… The question remains — why is the U.S. downplaying or denying the attacks against Christians?” — Emmanuel Ogebe, Nigerian human rights lawyer, Washington D.C.
  • During the height of one of the most brutal months of Muslim persecution of Christians, the U.S. State Department exposed its double standards against persecuted Christian minorities.
  • Sister Diana, an influential Iraqi Christian leader, who was scheduled to visit the U.S. to advocate for persecuted Christians in the Mideast, was denied a visa by the U.S. State Department even though she had visited the U.S. before, most recently in 2012. She was to be one of a delegation of religious leaders from Iraq — including Sunni, Shia and Yazidi, among others — to visit Washington, D.C., to describe the situation of their people. Every religious leader from this delegation to Washington D.C. was granted a visa — except for the only Christian representative, Sister Diana. The State Department eventually granted Sister Diana a visa. This is not the first time the U.S. State Department has not granted a visa to a Christian leader coming from a Muslim region. Last year, after the United States Institute for Peace brought together the governors of Nigeria’s mostly Muslim northern states for a conference in the U.S., the State Department blocked the visa of the region’s only Christian governor, Jonah David Jang.

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Pope Francis has stated “I tell you that today there are more martyrs than in the early times of the Church”, Pope Francis said. “Many of our brothers and sisters who bear witness to Jesus are persecuted for it. They are condemned for having a Bible. They cannot wear the sign of the Cross”.

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Why, and how, America changed

America traditionally has been a nation of great goals. Why does it currently appear in so substantial a decline?

It fought the mightiest empire on the planet to become a free country. It forged a unique constitution that provided more freedom than had ever existed in any land before. It fought one of the bloodiest wars in history at the time to rid itself of slavery. It opened an entire continent for settlement. It established an economy that provided unparalleled prosperity for the greatest number of its citizens than had ever been accomplished by any nation. It led the world in patents and inventions. Its culture tantalized and enriched the entire world. It put men on the moon. It defeated, without war, the Soviet nuclear superpower.

Since it was a nation comprised of humans, not demi-gods, it wasn’t perfect; nothing established by humans ever can be. But throughout its history, it sought to remedy its faults, and has done so in most areas.

Currently, however, it is difficult to discern what goals, dreams, hopes and ambitions exist for the American Republic. The language of many of its leaders dwells almost exclusively on criticizing their own country. Its Chief Executive seeks to reduce and withdraw American influence across the globe. Its military is decimated. It can no longer put humans in space. Its economy is weakened, mired in almost unimaginably large federal debt—and those dollars have purchased almost nothing. Indeed, the portion of that debt attributable to one program, President Obama’s “Stimulus” program, was a stunning $831 billion, and nothing significant or lasting was accomplished by it. The nation is mired in social welfare programs that produce no path out of poverty, but an ever increasing spiral of dependency and demands for more unearned benefits. The “can-do” spirit of the past was replaced with a “give me more!” concept.

In today’s America, President Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” and President Reagan’s belief that America’s best days are yet to come seem like the faintest of relics from a distant past.

What changed, and how did that change occur?

Much can be traced back to the turmoil of the 1960’s and 1970’s. A decade of assassinations, an unpopular war, a president resigning in disgrace, substantial drug problems, and the too-long delayed movement to finally end racial bias produced a crop of people who saw only the flaws in America, to the exclusion of its merits.  When these individuals failed to advance a nihilistic and anti-capitalist domestic agenda and pacifist foreign policy at the ballot box, they began, in the words of left wing extremists, the “long march through the institutions.”

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That approach was combined with a tactic originated by Richard Cloward and Frances Piven. These individuals also realized that a direct approach through violence or elections would not work. They added to the “Long March” idea a strategy that sought to overwhelm the U.S. government by popularizing demands for utterly unaffordable increases in benefits.

Rudi Dutschke, Richard Cloward and Frances Piven were the strategists, but it was Saul Alinsky who was the tactician who advanced their cause. Alinsky’s book, “Rules for Radicals,” was the basic training manual for the practical implementation of the Dutschke-Cloward/Piven strategy. Among Alinsky’s fans is no less a luminary than Hillary Clinton.

This insidious movement took decades to mature, and was substantially delayed by the extraordinary successes of the Reagan Administration, which brought into sharp focus the failings of their guiding Marxist principles by producing a strong economy in the U.S. and brought down the Soviet Union abroad.

The election of Barack Obama came after generations had been taught by Dutschke-Cloward/Piven strategy disciples, and influenced by a media also predisposed to its tenets.  Breitbart,  citing a National Review study, describes the relationship to the current President:

“Obama’s mentors from his Chicago days studied at a school Alinsky founded, and they taught their students the philosophy and methods of one of the first ‘community organizers.’” That same column cites a photo that was on Obama’s presidential campaign website: a photo that showed “Obama in a classroom teaching students Alinskian methods.”

America’s decline is not a result of inevitable or overwhelming forces. It is the product of an intentional, carefully established strategy to “fundamentally transform,” as President Obama has stated, the very nature of the nation. This concept mandates the replacement of the original goals of individual rights and an optimistic and ambitious worldview by a collectivist, extremely powerful federal governmental structure at home that feels far more comfortable with similarly autocratic regimes abroad.