Peter Riva's Blog, page 5

Pentagon: Are They Nuts?

In 1961, Dwight D. Eisenhower, President, said this: “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex… Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”

In AvWeek & Space Technology magazine, October 13, 014, three news items caught my attention. Two have the potential, indeed likelihood, of upsetting the balance of spending and military influence in the USA. The third, well, the third is just plain stupid and greedy.

First, a strategic bomber, a Long Range Strategic Bomber (LRS-B) is in planning. Citing the “sadly reduced” numbers of B-2 bombers built (from 132 to “only 21” aircraft costing $72 billion in 1988 dollars), the Pentagon is pressing ahead for a new bomber, a program spearheaded by US Strategic Command vice chief Lt. Gen. James Kowalski who is on record as saying that the public was receiving the right amount of information on these plans. That is to say, nothing. Budget? Classified. Rumors? Development of prototype around $50 billion. Cost if they get Congressional approval? Somewhere north of $9 billion per plane over 10 year’s operational use. Planes expected to be considered “desperately needed?” As many as they can get their hands on. Certainly more than the paltry B-2 fulfillment of only 21 planes. If they were to get, say, 100 LRS-Bs, that’s only about a trillion.

Second, the Air Force and the Navy have decided that the F-35 fighter – you know the one, the plane they promised would serve all three branches perfectly, combining all the capabilities they needed – well, apparently the F-35 is no longer the cat’s meow. According to Col. Tom Coglitore, who is the chief of Air Combat Command Air Superiority Core Function Team, the answer is a brand new fighter called the F-X which is currently in development. What? You thought they would not lie about the F-35? What? You thought they would not be able to find hidden cash to build prototypes and plan on new expensive programs? What? You thought Congress was keeping a watchful eye? And I’ll bet you believe in Tooth Fairies as well.

Anyway, apparently the $300 billion development of the F-35 ($300 billion which does not include real costs, just building the basic planes) “does not always fit all the Pentagon’s needs. “ So a next generation fighter needed to be developed, called the F-X. And when did they decide this? In 2008! “That’s when we started identifying what our requirements might be,” Col. Coglitore said. Included in their research are directed energy weapons, artificial intelligence and a host of stealth upgrades. None of these will come cheaply. And those budgets are top secret.

The Pentagon boys need their toys. So much for the balance Eisenhower – a military man, a strong Republican – said was in the best interests of the country. “Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry… now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions… We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations… The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government…. we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.”

And the third item, one of stupidity: Jet Blue is a profitable airline, attracting a devoted customer base. Last year they made a net profit of $128 million. Wall Street wants more. So they have canned the CEO Dave Barger and installed a British Airways’ departed director, Robin Hayes, who promptly agreed with Wall Street to change the seats on each plane from 150 to 180. His task? “To focus less on passengers and more on profits.” Good job boys (especially the Scrooge boys at Cowen & Co who advised Jet Blue’s sitting board of Wall Street money junkies) – Way to go, way to ruin an airline.

Close the Borders? Wrong Response.

There is a lesson to be learned here. Every medical (not to mention Wall Street airline investor) opinion is that closing the borders to stem Ebola would actually make the epidemic worse. The 15 people a day coming in and out of the USA from west Africa are, for the most part, involved in the eradication or containment of the epidemic. Stem their travel and you curtail the medical effective remedies. Couple that with the economic issues for West Africa if they become airline isolated and the poverty levels and therefore lack of funds for medical supervision dwindle and fast. The epidemic will get worse.

Of course, there is another lesson to be learned here: Shutting the borders is at best a panic stopgap measure that does not work. The real issue is to stem the tide of any problem where it occurs. Hello? Immigration anyone? The difficulty Americans have understanding the immigration issue is based on a largely false assumption that people want to come here to take what Americans have. Traditionally people have stated, mostly in hindsight, that they immigrated here for the economic benefits only found on arrival, not necessarily any benefits they identified before they left except for one: To escape the horrors of home.

What, the Irish Potato Famine immigrants were actually only trying to get a leg up with the American dream? Nonsense. They sought America for the shelter from the turmoil, starvation and disease they found at home. Want to really stem the tide of Potato Famine victims? Help them overcome the famine and potato blight at home. Once that was done, presto, immigration from Ireland fell off dramatically. Why would the real Irish want to leave the Emerald Isle? They did not. They HAD to.

Want to stem the tide of Ebola from reaching America? Conquer it there, stem the disease, find the reason and stop that too. It is not a war (swat teams for the CDC? American knee-jerk reaction to always fight a war). It is an epidemic that threatens the global economy, our population’s health and wellbeing. Solution: Stop Ebola where it is, not pretend you can seal the border and stop the problem for the American homeland. When United Airlines (one example) lays off 25,000 workers because they have lost business across the Atlantic air corridor, you will pay for that here in unemployment and recession – pay much more dearly than sending medicine, doctors and expertise to stop Ebola in West Africa.

Want to stop the immigration problem? It is exactly like fighting Ebola - stop the reason for desperate immigrants where the problems are, not pretend you can seal the 8,996 mile long border and stop the problem for the American homeland. Yes, 8,996 miles. With one soldier for every 2 miles, that’s 4,498 soldiers at $850,000 per year (salary, benefits and support costs; Pentagon figure), plus on average one Humvee for every 5 men, plus one helicopter for every 100 men… heck, that is already past $3 billion per year. Secure the border? Way, way to expensive.

If there is a major problem causing an epidemic of any kind, it is always more cost effective – not to say humane – to tackle the problem where it starts, contain it there, eradicate the cause, restore health to that region and thereby secure the real safety and security for the homeland.

Outsourcing the Military?

The next logical step to an all-volunteer USA Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and Marines is surely not asking anyone to volunteer at all, but hire them. That’s why half the TV military service ads you see are recruiting “for your nation” and already the other half are about the benefits and opportunities for your career as a hiree.

Serving in the military is not about civilian careers, it is about serving your country in time of need. To paint the military part of the stepping-stones to a successful middle-class life in America is to hide the gantlet our soldiers and Marines have had to endure in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Lebanon and so on. They face life and death situations. No, not “will I be able to pay my mortgage” situations which most of us consider as risks of a happy life as we want it, but actual life and death or, some would say what is worse, a lifetime of disability.

And part of the problem with the military seeking to slide down the Madison Ave. trail of false promises is that the public’s perception of military service – and a lifetime of dedication we should all have for those who return home wounded – changes from “sacrifice” to “they’re out getting an education and opportunities on our dollar.” If a few of them die or get maimed, well, that’s their own damn fault, right?

Wrong. And so the perception advertising is presenting is wrong too.

And there’s a next step as well: if the so-called volunteer recruitment falls off, then there’s always a come-one, come-all mercenary force in planning by our military leaders. Think that’s unlikely (and hate that O’Reilly has been touting this)? Currently, the USA already has a mercenary force in Africa. It is called AMISOM and is run by the United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM or just plain AFRICOM). Where is AFRICOM? Our Kelley Barracks, in Stuttgart, Germany.

How many mercenaries do they have under their command? Defense publications put it between 12,000 and 15,000, each paid by your tax dollar at roughly $1,000 a month (in real buying terms that would be $3,500 a month in the US) with a family bonus of $4,000 if they died in the service. The rumor coming out of Germany and the Pentagon, is that AFRICOM is very successful and as it does not pile up the disabled in the good ‘ol USA, that’s an advantage as well.

From freely join up, to conscription, to volunteer, to outsourcing – the trend in the military is to bypass patriotism and service at a civilian level and instead manage a growing business. The problem with that is that businesses sometimes create their own opportunities just to keep expanding.

Immigration - It Just Won't Go Away

We think we are the only country with illegal immigration problems. Of

course, anyone stopping to think for a moment knows this not to be true, but

the influx of “illegals,” especially little kids being sent desperately and

perilously into the country does create media firestorms. And yet, out

situation is going on is at least one hundred - yes 100 - countries around

the world.

Okay, let us discount war regions that produce influxes of illegal

immigrants relabeled refugees. So that takes out all the dozens of countries

surrounding Syria, Iraq, Gaza, Libya, Bosnia, Ukraine, Georgia, Congo,

Nigeria, Burma… heck the list is too long and deep. These refugees may not

actually be trying to immigrate as much as simply survive ‘til they can go

back home (what’s left of it), but when you see how many have stayed in

Lebanon, some for over thirty years (a generation) you begin to see that

“refugees” come in many different guises.

However, let us compare America’s problem with illegal immigration with

another similarly westernized nation, hmm… let us pick Germany. Yes,

Germany.

Most of the refugees trying to get into Germany come from Syria, Eritrea,

Somalia, Afghanistan and Nigeria. Oh, and Libya. Some made it to Italy or

Croatia or Spain or Greece by boat, much like the Cuban refugees here. Some

paid their version of ‘coyotes’ to smuggle them, often in the back of

heavily laden trucks or hollowed out tankers, people packed inside.

Sometimes the tragedy of an overturned boat killing hundreds makes the news,

but mostly, there is a steady stream of “illegals” desperate to reach

Germany - a country that has adopted a tolerant judicial system to

investigate claims of the need for political asylum.

A little town called Rosenheim, population sixty thousand, has a pretty

steady influx of around 30 a day or 10,000 a year in that one tiny town

alone. These are the ones that lived or managed to get that far into central

Europe - 280 miles from the nearest coastline and some 1,500 miles from

Syria, 2,100 from Eritrea or Somalia, 3,000 from Afghanistan and 3,800 from

Nigeria. Oh, and let’s not forget Libya 1,500 miles away, most of it open

ocean.

In fact, like America with the traditional smuggling routes from Central

America into the US, Germany and the EU have identified regular smuggling

routes. There’s one called The Balkan Route which runs all the way to

Afghanistan and another called the Brenner Route which runs through Austria

and Italy into the sea and hence Africa. Then there’s the Gibraltar Route,

the Malta Route, and the Istanbul Express.

So serious are things getting in Europe that estimates are that 165,000

people have landed in 2014 just crossing the Mediterranean Sea. And the

estimate for the last two years is that 23,000 have lost their lives trying.

Citizens traveling in Italy complain that train stations are full of poor

“non-Italian illegals” desperate to take trains, any trains, going north to

get into the heart of Europe. To complicate matters, once inside Europe

(much like the US), identification is mostly not needed and these immigrants

and refugees flee to relatives or safe houses. One German politician likened

the situation to the Underground Railway during our Civil War with

well-meaning people helping to save lives even as they break the law and

shelter these illegals.

And the cost? About $15 million a month to deal with arrivals and untold

tens of millions every month to police the waters and trafficking routes.

But, more importantly, there’s a long cost: The loss of desperate lives who

failed to be rescued, were rejected from a place of safety, this will have

consequences far into the future for all of Europe. Just as it will here.

"Freedom Fighters"

“"Freedom Fighters"”

- democracy Republicans who were, in turn, mainly pro-communist. General

Rosetta and the Rubber Ducky

Comet 67p/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, now renamed the Rubber Ducky because, well, it looks kind of like that, is one of perhaps a trillion comets waiting to circle our sun and, perhaps fade away, evaporating or becoming just another piece of rock sitting around in space waiting to collide with planets as asteroids. According to the European Space Agency (ESA), “The Kuiper belt, out beyond Pluto, is a flared disc of comets that supplies most of the short-period comets (those that orbit the Sun in less than a century).” Whereas, “The Oort cloud (named after Jan H. Oort) is much larger and supplies the long-period comets. It encloses the Solar System, with an outer edge that reaches almost a quarter of the way to the nearest star.”
A little more than ten years ago the ESA launched a mission, Rosetta, to the Rubber Ducky. Oh, it was a long shot, a very long shot - 2.8 million miles away and ten years to get there. And a month ago they arrived and secured Rosetta in a stable orbit around Rubber Ducky, at a distance of 100 miles.
Since then they have been inching closer and closer, getting better and
better images. What they are finding is going to change science, planetary science and most of the sciences of life as we know it. And what’s more, between now and November, Rosetta is going to release a little landing craft called Philae to settle on Rubber Ducky and conduct experiments.
And all that data and imagery are transmitted back to Earth. Just to give
you an idea of how far away this is, the transmission has a travel time, a
delay, of 20 minutes.
You see, ever since it was suspected that comets carried water and could
therefore contain the building blocks of life as we know it, we’ve been trying to see exactly what was up there. A few years back the Japanese sent a satellite chasing a comet and managed to pass through the Comets “tail” as it heated up coming closer to the sun. They collected particles and brought them back to Earth. An amazing feat. Contents? Largely kept secret, they were to confirm the presence of a few “right-handed” amino acids and water.
It seems life, as we know it, is a matter of balance; left and right handed
amino acids are critical, producing the “soup” from which life can emerge.
On Mars, our polar probe relayed that it too had found amino acids. That
report, thought to be fundamental to understanding the possibility of life
on another planet in our own solar system, was first sent to President
Bush’s desk. And only his desk. So far it is publically unknown which amino acids were found there.
Now, if Philae can safely leave Rosetta and then descend and land safely on Rubber Ducky, she can start sending data on a full inventory of organic and other chemicals in the comet. What is she looking for? If Philae and Rosetta send confirmation they’ve found the so-called elusive “left-handed” amino acids - these are the building blocks, what the ESA calls the “brick” with which our house of life was built whereas the “right-handed” amino acids are the mortar - well, the whole history of life on Earth can be re-written. In addition, astrobiologists believe that if Rosetta finds “right-handed” amino acids as well, then that would mean Rubber Ducky will be carrying all the blocks necessary for life to begin, the complete package; life to begin once it finds a suitable home.
It is worth noting that in our brief 3,000 year history of recording such
things, perhaps eight comet tails have passed over Earth. Each has added to the water volume of our oceans, thereby depositing their “bricks” here. Makes one think, doesn’t it? How about 12 thousand or more comets since the Earth was formed? That’s quite a few deposits that were made by Rubber Ducky’s relatives and not one snake in sight.

Out here, it’s still summer.

Out here, it’s still summer.

My Message for 9/11 Week

ISIS is the successor to Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn-later
commonly known as Al-Qaeda in Iraq, now renamed (to avoid a Muslim hatred of any mention of an Egyptian god of antiquity; Isis) as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the head of ISIL was trained and armed by our
government (by the CIA and FBI incredibly) during the Bush and Clinton
administrations to learn counter-insurgency techniques. Why did we train
him? To thwart Russia’s operations in the Caucus’ regions. It was part of
our clandestine, Congressionally approved (the ever-secret “Intelligence
Committee”) attempt to show solidarity with the “freedom fighters” in
Chechnya which is partly in Georgia, part of the Soviet Union at the time,
now ex-USSR. We trained this religious zealot and violent man, he prevailed, so he’s now heading a “terrorist” army undoing all that we “accomplished” in Iraq and even threatens the United States. Good job boys in the various administrations, the CIA and Congress’ Intelligence Committee.

Oh, and in case you think that’s all in the past or a single goof… we had
this evil person under lock and key in Kabul, but he was released in an
Afghani, pseudo-American government sanctioned, prisoner deal to “broker peace talks” with the Taliban as we reduce forces there. Yeah right, peace talks.

Also, it is worth remembering that the “freedom fighters” in Afghanistan
that we armed from 1979 -1989 with surface to air missiles, arms, gave
logistics support to, helped train and recruit Pashtun supporters in
Pakistan - all to thwart Russia’s attempt to destroy Afghanistan’s
“religious terrorists” that the Intelligence Committee and the
Administration and the CIA saw as a terrorist threat to Russia and in the
Caucuses. That’s right; we armed them to destabilize the Soviet Union.

Oh, by the way, these “freedom fighters?” They are the Taliban, who hate us and are still a “terrorist organization” according to the State Dept.

I remember in late 1969 when a pro-Communist leaning King Idris was deposed by a rogue Colonel in the Libyan army, one Muammar Gaddafi. Gee, I wonder if we had anything to do with that? Yup, the CIA armed him and provided all the landing craft so he could attack and capture the capital. A bloody coup that we paid for, for more than 42 years. And you can trace that stupid Intelligence Committee decision all the way to forward in time to Benghazi. Hey, boys and girls in Congress, careful who you throw stones at.

Look, I get it, the Caucuses, the Levant (think Lawrence of Arabia) and the other oil-rich or oil-pipeline regions of the “…stans” (Azerbaijan,
Dagestan, Afghanistan, etc.) and the Arab world are important to American industry and the capitalist economy we promote towards peace. And there is no question in my mind that there are evil people out there that we need to protect against. But it is called the Defense Department, not the war department (since the end of WWII). It is the Central Intelligence Agency, not the “train and arm your future enemies” agency. It is the Administration, not the “play fast and loose with American future enemies.” And, most of all, it is the (oxymoronic) Intelligence Committee in Congress, not the “make secret committee decisions in favor of oil companies, and damn the future consequences” gathering of myopic fools. The cost of the expedient decisions they have traditionally taken will always result in American and innocent lives lost.

Is that the government and future we really want?

Making Religion Conform

Date: Aug. 8, 2014

All over the world, religions, religious doctrine, and religious freedom has

become the rallying cry - pro and against - for “subversives,” “insurgents,”

and even status quo governments. Somehow, the Middle Ages have come back to

haunt us. Many in America do not know of the Muslim expansion that even

captured Spain (711 AD), or the real causes of attacks of and on the

Crusaders, or indeed the horrors of the 1490s Spanish Inquisition (aside

from the Monty Python spoof) or the 1520s English Reformation. It all seems

so long ago and, surely, modern times couldn’t possibly see a repeat, could

it?

Since the death of a most moderate voice, Egyptian Sunni premier leader

Sheikh Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, the Muslim world has pivoted right, far

right. As we all know, the Sunni factions in Iraq are now aligned with the

Syrian rebels and, without a calming religious voice, became the ISIS force

and are hell bent in reclaiming Iraq from the Shia factions, previously

liberated with US help, who threw all the Sunnis from power. Religious

freedom, promised as part of the US liberation efforts has been a joke since

Shia factions had decades of grudges to enact and were openly mistrustful of

any Sunni members of government. Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (who

took over from Ayatollah Khomeini, who himself had permanently poisoned any

Shia-Sunni goodwill when he said all Sunni origins were false and original

leaders should have been put to death) is hardly likely to stand by and

watch the world’s 84% Sunnis push the 16% Shias aside either. It is going to

escalate.

Meanwhile, in Nigeria the 60 million Sunnis are battling with the 6 million

Shia there, but they are both united in the butchery and enslavement of any

Christians (65 million approximately) or “modern ideas” women.

Egypt, meanwhile, is perhaps still the most important Muslim country

(insofar as influence is concerned) and there the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood

is outlawed and jailed, including 16 clerics. Not one moderate Muslim

cleric, Sunni or Shia, is speaking out, not one. Everyone knows religious

retribution has a long shelf-life. The Christian example they have to follow

is perfect proof. How many “non-believers” have we in America starved,

enslaved, tortured or killed in the name of “our” religion, “our God?” What,

you thought the KKK was over and done with?

So let’s turn to the world’s two most populous countries and see if they are

handling religious freedom any better… India and China.

Hindu Nationalists (as they also like their political party to be called)

have a serious hate issue with Christianity. They have burned or tortured

thousands of people in the past 10 years, many of them children -boys and

girls. Currently, they have turned their hate especially towards women.

After the rape murder by four known young Hindu Nationalists in June the

Hindu Nationalist party (who control that state in India) obstructed the

police, the judiciary and, in the end, no one went to jail. Regularly

burning churches for the past decades, especially during Sunday services,

was not violent enough, they want to ratchet it up.

China has a different problem. Driven by commerce and business interests,

they certainly do not want to be seen as riot-clubbing Christian gathering

faithful (they have), nor do they want the disruption organized religion can

bring to the social construct Communism has evolved into there. In short,

you can pray in private, but otherwise don’t ask, don’t tell. Christians in

far western China have had serious clashes with Muslim communities there,

but they were all stepped on hard, authoritarian hard. However China is

coming up with a middle way forward which does, nonetheless, kill religious

freedom.

If you have to politically oversee churches, why not take a leaf from Henry

VIII’s rule book and make the religion a state affair? So in Tibet, they

annexed all Buddhist religion and “harmonized” it. Now they are turning to

Christianity; Wang Zuoan, Beijing government minister for religious affairs,

states that China supports the spread of personal Christianity within the

country. However, the organized “construction of Chinese Christian theology

should adapt to China’s national condition.” With up to 40 million active

Christians in China, and most of China’s trading done with Christian

populated nations, China is being what they term as “helpful and practical”

when it comes to organized religion. Next on their radar are Sunni factions

on their Western borders.

Hands Up! Enough Already!

Violence in America is growing. There are social reasons, there are economic

reasons and, increasingly, there are cultural reasons developing cracks in

the very fabric of American life. Part of the cultural reasoning is the

militarization of police forces. Poorly trained, often ex-military (where

they are trained to shoot first), and certainly over-equipped, police forces

across America have become a fifth column in many regions, dividing the

nation’s trust and communities.

Dealing with violence or potential violence is hardly an easy job. But like

most professionals, training is the key to success. It is like calculators

for kids in middle school. It is easier to make children proficient in math

tests using calculators than to actually teach them how to do math using

only pencil and paper. Go ahead, take out a pencil and paper and determine

the square root of 289. You can guess, you can do it by trial and error -

oops, with a calculator it took under two seconds. Police training for

violence is now exactly like that. Carry a bigger gun, travel in a .50

caliber-proof armored truck (hand me down from the war in Iraq), have mace

at the ready even for peaceful demonstrators, wear military surplus Kevlar

body armor and especially a combat helmet - all these are like calculators.

It makes the job quick, efficient, safer.

Safer? For whom? Not for the public’s camaraderie with police forces, not

for that trust of the public to fight crime, and certainly not for the need

of children to want to befriend the local police. What kid would want to hug

a police officer dressed in combat gear, visor down, finger on sub-machine

gun trigger? Once the police become a standing army in your neighborhood,

your trust in them diminishes in direct relation to their visible dress

code, heavy equipment mistrust of you, the citizen. Seeing cops on the

street in full military gear, with high-powered sniper rifles and machine

guns could hardly be called comforting. And comforting is the first emotion

towards open trust and collaboration. We should be able to openly trust our

police; they must be our friends, neighbors, like the fireman you need in an

emergency.

What many police need is training, hands-on training, on how to deal with

violence before they have to resort to sanctioned manslaughter or crowd

control with tanks, guns and tear-gas. Take away their “tools” and make

police officers undergo violence management training.

Where? Try the Taconic DDSO. Staff there are trained to deal with mentally

challenged often-violent patients. These staff often need to talk violent

people down; they needed to learn how to restrain them without bruising the

patients or themselves. The campus police carry no weapons there. And yet,

ask this question: “How many times has someone been shot, gassed or beaten

up by police at Taconic DDSO in the past ten years” Remember, their patients

are, in large number, extremely violent unstable individuals. The patients

are not all drugged up, but they are managed, treated as humans in need of

help, watched for early signs of a flare up. In short, the staff there have

no calculators to do their homework. They do the math, they do their real

job, protecting themselves and their patients.

The real job of the police is to be that part of society whose job it is to

protect themselves and protect citizens from harm. All citizens. Not shoot

someone with their hands up, or a mentally unstable woman defending her home

when six heavily armed men crash through her front door. Okay she had a

hammer, okay maybe that kid was a suspect for a store robbery. Shoot them

dead? Why? And how about that man with a knife in St. Louis? Where’s the

training to wound, or (if they were as well trained as Taconic DDSO staff)

talk them down and safeguard all concerned? I get it, it is easier, faster,

to shoot him dead, 12 bullets making a final end to any supposed threat.

Perhaps it is time to take away some of the police forces’ toys. Then you

might see the real, good, capable, officers who we all know are there, to

protect and serve as part of the community, retake control of the police

forces everywhere; leading those divisions to a more harmonious

relationship with their communities and thereby re-strengthening American

communities.