Red Storm Rising- Part II

                The Bloomberg News story began, “Thousands of Muslims vented their anger in unison, shouting ‘Allahu akbar’ as their leader condemned supporters of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo after militants murdered five of its cartoonists.” This protest against caricatures of the prophet Mohammed and the policies of the U.S. and its allies was organized by the state and televised live across the country, but it wasn’t in Iran or Pakistan or Yemen.

                It was in Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is now attempting to turn Muslim anger to his- and Russia’s- advantage by pushing for a united front against the United States. “The protest was an attempt to meld Muslim opinions with Russian-wide views about the Western world” in order to unite the population around Putin one Middle East analyst said.

 Yet Ramzan Kadyrov, a Putin loyalist, has said that the U.S. secretly controls ISIL. Say again?

Fomenting Islamic terror as a weapon against the U.S. and the West is new for Russia.

And now Russia is threatening to cut off natural gas supplies to Ukraine and Europe, an action it has taken in past disputes with rivals, even as it categorically denies using energy as a weapon.

 It has come to this: Boris Nemtsov, a Russian opposition leader and sharp critic of President Vladimir Putin, was shot dead last week near the Kremlin. One day before a protest against Putin’s rule. Nemtsov’s lawyer said the politician had received threats on social networks recently and had informed the police about them, but authorities didn’t take any steps to protect him.

What an amazing series of coincidences! One opposition activist said Nemtsov was working on a report presenting evidence that he believed proved Russia’s direct involvement in the separatist rebellion that “erupted” in Ukraine this past year, something that the Russian government has vehemently denied. He has no doubt that Nemtsov’s murder was politically motivated.

An “atmosphere of hatred toward alternative thinkers” has clearly formed since the annexation of Crimea last year, stated a Russian political analyst. (Sadly, an atmosphere of hatred toward “alternative thinkers,” i.e. conservatives, has clearly formed over the years in the United States, as well, especially on college campuses and as illustrated by the mainstream media).

 The Russian authorities were not backing off in the wake of Nemtsov’s death, either, according to the Bloomberg piece. The national Internet watchdog briefly blocked the blog of Alexei Navalny, the leader of a younger generation of Kremlin critics. Just hours after the Nemtsov assassination, investigators showed up at Navalny’s apartment in Moscow, searched his files and confiscated his hard drive. Navalny is in jail serving a 15-day sentence for distributing fliers promoting the rally.

Russia’s state-run television networks, meanwhile, spew violent rhetoric, with anchors bragging about the nation’s military prowess. And “Investigators” say that one of the possibilities they are considering is that the opposition movement itself arranged for Nemtsov to be murdered, in order to create a martyr that it could rally around.

“Investigators” were also forcing Nemtsov’s long-time girlfriend, Ukrainian citizen Anna Duritskaya, to remain in Moscow against her will. She was under heavy guard and will not be allowed to return home any time soon, according to her lawyer.

It’s okay, Anna, the Russians will be bringing Ukraine home to you.

                                     **************************************

And I wonder when I’ll be home again and the morning answers “Never”

And the evening sighs, and the steely Russian skies go on… forever

(last lines from Al Stewart’s song, “Roads to Moscow,” published by Dick James Music, BMI; 1974 Arista Records, Inc.)

                

Red Storm Rising

                Russian tanks, aircraft, and missiles are rolling off assembly lines at rates not seen in decades. Russian war games involving tens of thousands of troops are breaking out all over. Russian jets roar through European skies with impunity. Though most economic sectors in the world’s largest country are facing a ten percent cut in their budgets this year, military spending for 2015 will rise by a staggering 33%! Russian President Vladimir Putin is clearly ready for a possible showdown with the West over Ukraine. The new Russian military doctrine, endorsed by Putin this past December, actually specifically names NATO as a top threat to the Motherland.

                Russia is reviving Soviet-era airfields and opening new military bases in the Arctic. It has plans to send strategic bombers on regular patrols as far as the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. NATO said it intercepted Russian aircraft more than 400 times last year, triple the intercepts of the previous year. Since annexing the Crimean Peninsula, Russia has deployed scores of combat jets there, including nuclear-capable long-range bombers. The Russian navy finally conducted a series of successful test launches of a new submarine-based intercontinental ballistic missile, and has already equipped two submarines with it. A third will be commissioned next year, with five more to follow. The Russian army, for their part, is set to receive a new tank this year. It will surpass all Western tanks in that it will have a remotely controlled cannon.

                Moreover, last year the Russian armed forces received a record number of 38 new nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles. This year they will get another 50, effectively fulfilling their goal of replacing their Soviet-built missiles.

                In an effort to spread fear in the region, this past September Russian operatives crossed into Estonia and captured an Estonian internal security officer at gunpoint and dragged him into Russia. They have not released him.

                On February 21^st, thousands of Russians gathered for a protest near Red Square. Many carried banners that said “Die, America!” and “USA, Stop the War!” The first is something we’ve seen in the past only in places such as Iran. The second…is a bit of a puzzler. I mean, Boris, WTF?

                A 65-year-old retired female teacher at the protest stated  that another Maidan “will never win in Russia. I will bring the ammunition myself!” (Maidan is the Ukrainian word for “square” and is usually used to refer to Independence Square, where  Ukraine’s own pro-European protests took place a year ago). In the past year anti-American sentiment has spiked in Russia, to levels not seen since at least the early 1990’s. According to a poll conducted last month by the “independent” Levada Center, 81% of Russians feel negatively about the United States. The number of Russians who described the U.S. as an outright “enemy” leapt from 4% in January of 2014 to 42% in February of 2015!

                There is more “change you can believe in.” Ironic.

                The Russian defense minister stated recently, “The task set by the President not to allow anyone to get a military advantage over Russia will be fulfilled no matter what.”

                Meanwhile, the West frets about how many genders there may be and if they should all use one bathroom. It tries everything it can to not hurt the feelings of Muslims, even those attached to groups known to sponsor terror.

                Obama polishes his golf clubs when not insulting the Israeli Prime Minister.

                Historically, the West never learns from history.

                If it doesn’t get serious soon, it may succumb to it.

      

Heil, Putin!

                 In recent days the actions, intentions and long-term goals of the Russian Bear have become crystal clear.  She intends to be who she was, intends to become the U.S.S.R. 2.0.

                The tragedy is that this time there is no one- and no nation- willing to challenge her. The Biblical prophecies are rapidly coming true before our very eyes. Europe is weak and self-serving, unwilling to do the hard work either domestically or abroad. The United States has become a paper tiger, unwilling to challenge- or even hold accountable- any of our former or potential enemies. According to some reports, however, it may have challenged Israel… for challenging Iran’s nuclear program! Israel, the tiny speck adrift in the giant Middle East Sea of Hate, may have to stand alone against evil. Or let itself be “wiped off the face of the Earth.”

                Less than two weeks ago, Ukrainian soldiers were routed by Pro-Russian rebels (and, almost certainly, some Russian troops) in the town of Debaltseve, suffering more than 13 dead and hundreds missing, captured or wounded. Afterwards, the rebels (and Russians?) grabbed a bloodied blue and yellow Ukrainian flag and ground it into the frozen earth with their boots, laughing and hugging and posing for pictures. This is also how Russia historically treats cease-fires, such as the one that was in place this time when the rebels attacked Debaltseve.

                And this is what Russia already did to Georgia and plans to do to the rest of Ukraine. And Estonia. And Latvia…Lithuania…and whatever other nearby country N.A.T.O. will let them have. Sound familiar?

                It should.

   Heil, Putin!

    ******************************************************************************

(The war in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 5,600 people and forced over a million to flee their homes since fighting began in April, one month after Russia “annexed” the Crimean Peninsula).

                   

Hackers Remorse?

                From the New York Times-

                “The State Department on Sunday became the fourth (U.S.) government agency to announce a breach of its computer systems in recent weeks, after an infiltration forced the agency to temporarily shut down its classified e-mail system and public websites. This breach follows a similar one on the unclassified computer systems of the White House last month, which also resulted in a temporary shutdown of its communications systems. There have been similar breaches at the U.S. Postal Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

                “The breach at the White House was believed to be the work of hackers in Russia, while the breaches at NOAA and the Postal Service were believed to be the work of hackers inside China.”

                My Take-

                This hasn’t been properly addressed by the media, let alone the U.S. government. The only proper response to this and so many other recent aggressions by Russia and China is, “Eff you! If you don’t cease and desist these actions we will cease and desist them for you, and possibly also you while we’re at it. Clear? We simply won’t countenance international vandalism of our nation’s important IT networks. Hack that, a--holes.”

                               

Days of Freedom Past

                The overt persecution of conservatives and their ideas continues unabated. Activists in Wisconsin attacking Scott Walker, the preposterous indictment of Texas governor Rick Perry, the attempts to ban conservative groups’ advertisements in several states, the IRS harrassment and many other leftist/progressive actions vividly illustrate their desire to stamp out the first amendment. There is, clearly, a deep and growing animus among the left towards the Constitution of the United States of America. In fact, under the spurious ruse of campaign-finance reform  Democrats are now pushing a ‘constitutional amendment’ that would give the congress the power to censor everything from books and movies to newspapers and television commercials!

                They propose to create a federal sensor to suppress criticism of the government, elected officials, and office seekers.  Is that chilling enough? Putin shouldn’t antagonize the U.S. at this juncture. It’s needless. We are becoming Russia. Wait a few more years, V.P., and we might just join you in complete intolerance of dissent and a desire to annex less powerful nations. (Maybe we can divvy up Poland).

                 Don’t believe it?  Rochester Institute of Technology professor Lawrence Torcello is on record as saying that we should “jail those who don’t believe in global warming.” Jail those who don’t believe. Should we jail those who don’t believe in the tooth fairy as well? Should we jail those who don’t believe in Christianity? Jail those who don’t believe that marriage should be between one man and one woman? Jail those who do?

                In fairness, it should be pointed out that this is not the most outlandish statement of leftist intolerance I’ve come across…even on the subject of global warming/cooling/climate change/ lack of change/ change in the rate of change/lack of change in the rate of change.  There is a professor- of “Systematic Musicology” no less- at the University of Graz in Austria who wrote that climate change “deniers” should be executed.

                Global warming is the biggest “science-based” fraud since eugenics. And if the Austrian professor of “Systematic Musicology” has his way, it will share at least one of its “remedies”.

                When the United States Constitution (that musty but fungible old ‘living document’ in statists eyes) and its Amendments/ Bill of Rights are destroyed, and the last 47 people on Earth who understand the  concept of Natural Law expire… global freedom expires with them.

                Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Cuba? The Axis of Evil.

                Switzerland, Sweden, Costa Rica, Ireland, Jordan? Nice countries all, but not going to foster and protect freedom around the globe.

                As radio host, author and commentator Dennis Prager has so astutely observed, the future of the world will be decided between three ideologies…secular humanism or progressive/leftist beliefs, Islam and Shariah, and (founding) “American” beliefs/values. In a tragic and almost indescribable irony, Americans are rapidly giving up (or are no longer being taught so don’t even recognize)  their own founding values. Leftists do not tolerate “American” values, but do, incredibly, tolerate Islamic beliefs that are virtually antithetical to their own ( the stoning of homosexuals, keeping women veiled and barefoot and pregnant, not allowing them to work or drive, etc.). And Islamist extremists don’t tolerate “American” or secular beliefs, and in fact will exterminate them whenever possible.

                Unless something changes, there is only one way this scenario can play out.

                Radical Islamists and Intolerant, hypocritical, politically-correct , brutal statist thugs will always win unless people who believe in real freedom are willing- always and forever- to be called every nasty name in the book,  to be shouted down and to be harassed and even jailed or killed.

                To sacrifice their lives, fortune and sacred honor.

                To begin the world anew. Once more.

 

               

 

 

Cooling Planet, Heated Rhetoric?

                NASA consultant and climatologist John L. Casey is warning that the Earth is cooling, and cooling fast. In the new book, “Dark Winter: How the Sun is Causing a 30-Year Cold Spell”, he warns that the Earth is rapidly growing colder due to diminished solar activity. The former space shuttle engineer says trends indicate we could soon see temperatures similar to those seen in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s when the sun went into a “solar minimum”- a phase of significantly diminished solar activity such as solar flares and sunspots. He further states that this cold period has already begun, and that the frigid temperatures and food shortages that inevitably result could potentially lead to riots and chaos.

                He told Newsmax magazine, “All you have to do is trust natural cycles, and follow the facts; and that leads you to the inevitable conclusion that the sun controls the climate, and that a new cold era has begun.” He claims that the planet’s oceans have been cooling for over a decade and that, since 2007, the atmospheric temperature has fallen as well.

                “If you look at the 100-year global temperature chart, you look at the steep drop off we’ve had since 2007, it’s the steepest drop in global temperatures in the last hundred years.”

                Isn’t this at odds with the conventional wisdom? Casey suggests that climate-change theorists have wedded themselves to the wrong theory, that global temperatures respond to the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and that any scientist suggesting otherwise is immediately branded a heritic. Yet Russian astrophysicist Habibullo Abdussamatov has actually argued that a mini ice age has begun. While Casey isn’t willing to go that far, he states that the real driver of global climate is solar activity, in particular sunspots. He says that these historically correspond to shifts in global temperature with a greater than 90% accuracy.

                The greenhouse- gas warming theorists are demonstrably wrong on two counts. First, as Casey says, “the greenhouse-gas theory, and the global climate models that they produced, never permitted a pause. As long as C02 levels were going up, the only thing that could happen was global temperatures could go up. That has not happened. Number 2, there could be absolutely no cooling, much less a pause. And yet we’ve been cooling for 11 years now.”

                “There is no human on Earth, much less here in the U.S.,” Casey warns, “who has experienced the depth and duration of cold we’re about to experience.”

                Casey first developed these and other theories pertaining to the topic in 2007. So far, all of his predictions have come true.

                He even speculates (see Habibullo Abdussamatov) that one of the reasons Vladimir Putin is so eager to retake the Ukraine is to "re-secure" what was the primary source of wheat for the Soviet Union during cold weather in the Cold War era.

                He further claims that we are going to experience the worst crop damage in human recorded history, and that the U.S. might at some point have to cut off food exports in order to feed her own people. And, since almost 50% of corn is now going to ethanol fuel, he believes future historians will look back on using food for fuel as one of the worst decisions human beings ever made.

                A Clinton administration global warming report of some years ago relied on two vastly different, indeed mutually- and comically- exclusive, greenhouse-gas simulation models. One predicted a catastrophic drought that would kill off all of the trees in the American Southeast. The other forecasted significantly increased rainfall and forest expansion in the Southeast.

                 Tragically, we are likely preparing for the wrong calamity.

                "Climate change" is, at best, an inexact science. Despite the feverish rhetoric of the left, let's hope that cooler heads prevail. Cooler temperatures likely will.

               

 

               

               

          

               

               

Russia: The Return of the Evil Empire

                The Russian foreign minister issued a blistering attack on the West and NATO on  Saturday, accusing them of being unable to change their Cold War “genetic code” and also stating that the United States must abandon its claims to “eternal uniqueness”.

                Who is the party delivering this verbal attack? Who is invading their neighbors? Who can’t shake their “Cold War” mentality? That would be Russia.

                Sergey Lapdog’s (Lavrov’s?) assault (perpetrated at the U.N. in New York City) was the more ridiculous given that the U.S. has already abandoned its claim to “eternal uniqueness” under “Dear Leader” Barrack Obama. Remember Obama’s comment to  Vlad the Impaler a few years ago when he thought he was “off mike”? “I’ll have more, uh, flexibility, after the elections…”. He really wanted to be Putin’s Pal. Yet now Putin trots out Sergey to foam at the mouth in front of the United Nations.

                The United States’ claim to uniqueness was based on the concept of Natural Law. And it was unique…and led to utterly unique results. Putin has to share his belief in Natural Lawlessness with North Korea, Iran and many others. No uniqueness there.

                And it appears Russia’s leadership certainly hasn’t abandoned its claims to “eternal Evil Empire” status.