May 27, 2014

Ukraine: A military-industrial complex to die for

http://atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/CEN-01-270514.html



Ukraine: A military-industrial complex to die for
By Gregory J Moore
May 27, '14

It seems that one of the most important dimensions of Russia's fixation on Ukraine is one little discussed in the mainstream media. That dimension, namely the importance to Moscow of Ukraine's surprisingly well developed military industrial complex, is a key reason Russian President Vladimir Putin won't let go of Ukraine. Moreover, the bulk of Ukraine's military industrial complex is in Ukraine's south and east, which adds clarity to Russia's focus on those parts of Ukraine.

Readers may remember the apocalyptic Hollywood thriller, 2012, and the Russian tycoon who owned an enormous jet loaded with exotic sports cars, boasting of the plane, "It's Russian". Well, the truth is, it wasn't Russian. It was Ukrainian. It was an Antonov AN225, the world's largest airplane. Antonov, based near Kiev, also designed and manufactures a medium-size transport plane, the AN70, a series of gliders like the AN15, a regional jet (the AN148), and a series of advanced jet engines. In fact, the Russian president's office owns two AN148-100Es.

Ukraine is also home to Motor-Sich, a firm that designs and manufactures aircraft and helicopter engines, as well as turbine engines for pumps for gas, oil and other applications including power-generation. Basically all of Russia's military helicopters use engines made by Motor-Sich. The firm also makes the engines for Russia's Yak 160 fighter/trainer. Russian military analyst Vladimir Voronov says Russia has an ambitious plan to add 1,000 attack helicopters to its armed forces, but this would be almost impossible without Motor Sich's provision of engines.

Ukraine also boasts an advanced space rocket and missile design and production industry, one of the few nations in the world that has a mature space rocket production complex. Located in south-eastern Ukraine's Dnepropetrovsk, it produced many of the rockets in the early Soviet space program, as well as parts for many missiles and rockets such as Russia's famous Soyuz, and components for the International Space Station. It also designed, manufactured and today still services Russia's main intercontinental ballistic missile, the deadly SS18.

May 27, 2014

Cold War heats up in Asia

http://atimes.com/atimes/World/WOR-01-270514.html



Cold War heats up in Asia
By Peter Lee
May 27, '14

The People's Republic of China decided to defy the "pivot to Asia" by parking its HYSY 981 drilling platform-protected by a flotilla of various vessels perhaps not including PLAN ships- in waters that Vietnam considers part of its economic exclusion zone (EEZ).

Vietnam has been displeased, to put it mildly. It has reached out to the Philippines, indicating that it may support Manila's legal challenge to the nine-dash-line, which Beijing uses to stake its geopolitical claims in the South China Sea, or perhaps institute a legal case of its own.

A Vietnamese deputy prime minister is also visiting Washington at US Secretary of State John Kerry's invitation, apparently to provide optics for an expected US congressional resolution condemning PRC activities in the South China Sea. The visit also raises the specter (for the PRC) of a US return to Cam Ranh Bay, the massive US-built naval base on the southish Vietnamese coast.

Many Western observers believe that the PRC has blundered into the pivot's clever trap, and its aggressive moves are simply driving its neighbors into the welcoming arms of the United States, enabling a more forward military presence for the US around China's borders, and justifying US claims to a central role in the region as security guarantor.

May 27, 2014

Did a Karzai-Obama Rift Mar the President’s visit to Afghanistan?

http://www.juancole.com/2014/05/karzai-presidents-afghanistan.html

Did a Karzai-Obama Rift Mar the President’s visit to Afghanistan?
By Juan Cole | May. 27, 2014

President Obama made a surprise trip to Afghanistan on Monday, for Memorial Day. But while the main impetus for his trip was to honor US troops for their service there, he appears to have also tried to arrange a meeting with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai. He issued an invitation for Karzai to join him at Bagram Air Base, but Karzai declined. I haven’t been able to find any sources I trust that confirm that Karzai was offended by being summoned to Bagram.

Obama wanted to meet with Karzai because the latter refuses to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement, which would lend a legal framework to the presence of a small contingent of US troops after Dec. 31. Without the BSA, US troops engaged in fighting with the Taliban could be charged with war crimes, since the UN Security Council will cease issuing permissions for international use of force in Afghanistan.

Presidential candidate and Karzai’s likely successor, Abdallah Abdallah, has said that he will sign the BSA the minute he is sworn in.

Tolo news in Afghanistan in Dari Persian noted: “Prior to this, the US foreign secretary and the security national advisor of Obama had come to Afghanistan and held talks about the security pact. However, the talks did not apparently have the desirable results.” (h/t BBC Monitoring)


--

(animated gif here. Vietnam fades to Afghanistan fades to Vietnam.....)

We have lost over 2320 military personnel and 52 weeks times $2 billion a week times 52 weeks times 13 years. Declare Victory and leave.

May 27, 2014

Non-Hydro Renewables Pass Hydropower In United States

http://cleantechnica.com/2014/05/26/non-hydro-renewables-pass-hydropower-united-states/

Non-Hydro Renewables Pass Hydropower In United States
Roy L Hales



The Sun Day Campaign has just released a press release proclaiming the fact non-hydro renewables outproduced hydropower for the first time in March 2014. Also, for the first time, wind contributed 5% of the nation’s electricity.



“For more than a decade, renewable energy sources – led by wind and solar – have been rapidly expanding their share of the nation’s electrical generation,” said Ken Bossong, Executive Director of the SUN DAY Campaign. “The most recent data affirm that the trend is continuing unabated.”

He pointed out that “Hydropower accounted for 6.13% of net U.S. electrical generation for the period, followed by wind (4.82%), biomass (1.46%), geothermal (0.39%), and solar (0.29%).”

~snip~



Coal is still king. The EIA predicts coal production will grow 4.4% to 1,028 million short tons (MMst) in 2014, driven by higher consumption. Most of this will be lost through the implementation of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards and a number of coal plants are expected to retire by March 2015. Renewable energy is expected to make up the difference.

May 26, 2014

Take Care Of Your Veterans

--

Things haven't changed all that much except the current adventures are on the National Credit Card, and not on War Bonds.

May 26, 2014

TAFTA - Monsanto's Backdoor to GMOs

http://www.opednews.com/articles/TAFTA--Monsanto-s-Backdoo-by-Dennis-Kaiser-Bilderberger_Food_Gmo-Labeling_Monsanto-140525-658.html



TAFTA - Monsanto's Backdoor to GMOs
By Dennis Kaiser
OpEdNews Op Eds 5/25/2014 at 11:44:42

Once again mega corporations, this time Monsanto, will show the masses that only the "corporate person" matters in the New World Order.

Today, May 24, 2014, thousands, if not millions of people will take to their respective streets throughout the world in the "March Against Monsanto" and their Genetically Modified foods (GMO). People from six continents and over 50 countries, including 400 United States cities and 47 states, will voice their concerns about the impacts of GMOs on human health and the environment.

Presently the EU requires GMO seed approvals that are based on the precautionary principle -- that in the face of uncertainty about a product's safety for consumers or the environment, policies must seek to avoid exposure to risk. Governments have long relied on this principle to shield their populations from uncertain risks from new or emerging products. The U.S. drug-safety system is based on the precautionary principle. Thus, drugs must be proved safe before they are permitted on the U.S. market.

~snip~

However, U.S. and EU negotiators are now proposing TAFTA rules that could undermine both precautionary principle-based approvals for GMO seeds and cultivation and GMO labeling. U.S. negotiators (there have been over 600 corporate attorneys negotiating TAFTA and the TPP) have stated that TAFTA should "seek to eliminate or reduce non-tariff barriers such as sanitary and phytosanitary restrictions that are not based on science." This means that instead of agribusinesses being required to prove that a GMO seed does not pose a threat before it can be sold, limits on GMO seeds or cultivation would only be permitted under TAFTA rules if governments can show there is scientific evidence of a specific threat to human, animal, or plant life. This would completely strip the sovereign rights of EU nations as it would directly undermine the current rights of EU states to ban cultivation of GMOs.

May 26, 2014

The War on America's Military Veterans, Waged with SWAT Teams, Surveillance and Neglect

http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-War-on-America-s-Milit-by-John-Whitehead-Censorship_Government_Military_SWAT-Teams-140525-411.html

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."--John F. Kennedy

The War on America's Military Veterans, Waged with SWAT Teams, Surveillance and Neglect
By John Whitehead
OpEdNews Op Eds 5/25/2014 at 11:14:16

Just in time for Memorial Day, we're once again being treated to a generous serving of praise and grandstanding by politicians and corporations eager to go on record as being supportive of our veterans. Patriotic platitudes aside, however, America has done a deplorable job of caring for her veterans. We erect monuments for those who die while serving in the military, yet for those who return home, there's little honor to be found.

~snip~

Indeed, Raub's case, a prime example of the government's war on veterans, exposes the seedy underbelly of a governmental system that is targeting Americans--especially military veterans--for expressing their discontent over America's rapid transition to a police state.

A federal judge actually dismissed Raub's lawsuit challenging the government's "Operation Vigilant Eagle" campaign and its increasing view of veterans as potential domestic terrorists as "far-fetched." Yet what may sound far-fetched to the courts is a grim reality to Americans who are daily being targeted for daring to exercise their constitutional rights to speak their minds, criticize the government, and defend themselves and their families against over-reaching government surveillance and heavy-handed police tactics.

It's ironic, isn't it, that we raise our young people to believe that it is their patriotic duty to defend freedom abroad by serving in the military, then when they return home, bruised and battle-scarred and suddenly serious about defending their freedoms at home, we treat them like terrorists. Then again, perhaps it's not so much ironic as it is tragic and pathetic--a sad tribute, indeed, to those willing to put their lives on the line.

May 26, 2014

A Memorial Day Truth

http://www.opednews.com/articles/A-Memorial-Day-Truth-by-Walter-Brasch-Congress-Republican-GOP_Memorial-Day_Peace_War_Republican-140526-387.html



A Memorial Day Truth
By Walter Brasch
OpEdNews Op Eds 5/26/2014 at 06:31:43

The nation's politicians are going to Memorial Day rallies. There will be speeches and music. American flags and bunting will drape the stages. The politicians will tell us about the "ultimate sacrifices" American servicemen and women made. They will tell us how wonderful America is, how we are the best country in the world, how we defend freedom and remember those who put their lives on the line to do so. The crowds, whether a few or thousands, will applaud vigorously.

~snip~

Here's what the politicians also won't say. They won't tell us that 41 Republican senators blocked legislation this past year to provide necessary funding for veterans health. They won't tell us that during the first years of the Iraq War, the quality of American-based hospitals had deteriorated to the point that it took a major newspaper series to expose what had happened and, finally, with politicians forced to look at despicable conditions, and shamed by their ignorance, there were some measures to improve the care for wounded soldiers after their lives were saved by courageous battlefield medics.

They won't tell us that members of Congress blocked significant increases in the foodstamp program or that governors and legislatures have not done what they should to care for the homeless. After all, the impoverished and homeless don't contribute to political campaigns. Of course, the politicians won't tell us that one-fourth of all adult homeless are veterans.

They won't tell us about veterans who came home from war, and then lost their jobs or homes during the Great Recession that followed the fraud and greed committed by the bankers and industrial giants who were able to become rich because government did little to protect the people.

May 26, 2014

Memorial Day: For Vets, Too Many Delays and Not Enough Parades

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/michael-winship/56080/memorial-day-for-vets-too-many-delays-and-not-enough-parades

Memorial Day: For Vets, Too Many Delays and Not Enough Parades
by Michael Winship | May 25, 2014 - 8:33am

~snip~

All of these memories make this Memorial Day weekend even more poignant as news continues to break of abuses and preventable deaths in the veterans medical system — allegations that data was manipulated to cover up long waits for diagnosis and treatment. Just one recent example: delays for 52 patients at a VA hospital in Columbia, South Carolina, suffering from colon cancer.

President Obama says he will not stand for it. And to be fair, problems go back decades. “Looking for a lone villain in the VA debacle… is a fool’s errand,” write Jordain Carney and Stacy Kaper at National Journal. The “sheen of shame over the VA’s failures spreads across time and party affiliation. It stains the legacies of presidents as far back as John F. Kennedy and condemns past Congresses whose poor oversight allowed the problem to fester. The VA itself is also not without fault, as bureaucracy and intransigence let the department deteriorate to the point the problem became nearly impossible to fix.”

That’s putting it mildly. An enormous surge in claims, as Iraq and Afghanistan vets enter the system, has complicated the problem, as has expanded coverage under Obama for PTSD patients and Vietnam-era victims of Agent Orange. Once veterans get into the system properly, they highly rate the care they receive. The New York Times quotes Phillip Longman, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation: “Overwhelmingly, the failures of the V.A. in recent years have not been about the quality of health care for those who get covered. Instead, they’ve mostly been about the excessive waiting times, and excessive red tape that vets must go through to establish eligibility.”

So let the hearings, inspections and investigations proceed. Fire those at fault, including Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki if culpable. Modernize and streamline an antiquated system to get rid of massive paper files that create all the confusion and that excessive red tape. Reach the stated goal of eliminating all the delays by the end of 2015.

--

In spite of all the problems reported at the VA, the care we receive up heah in Boston is magnificent (this camper's opinion).

Here's a thumbsup for all of the women and men of the Veterans Administration who do their best on a daily basis:

May 26, 2014

Stress Test: The Indictment of Timothy Geithner

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/dean-baker/56081/stress-test-the-indictment-of-timothy-geithner

Stress Test: The Indictment of Timothy Geithner
by Dean Baker | May 25, 2014 - 8:46am

At one point in his autobiography, Timothy Geithner proudly recounts responding to a question from Damon Silvers, a lawyer with the AFL-CIO who was at the time a member of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Silvers had referred to Geithner's background in banking. As Geithner relates the story, he corrected Silvers by pointing out that he had never worked in banking, never worked in investment banking, but rather had spent his whole career in public service.

Anyone reading this book will forgive Silvers for his confusion. Even if a bank had never officially employed Geithner, his attitudes and concerns clearly reflect those of the financial industry. This comes through in matters big and small.

On the small side, Geithner tells us that Jamie Dimon, the CEO of J.P. Morgan, offered to have his staff draft the financial reform bill. He adds that Dimon later expressed his irritation to President Obama because Geithner would not take him up on this offer, explaining that Dimon apparently did not recognize that having the staff of the country's largest bank draft financial reform legislation was not the message the administration wanted to send the public. Apart from the messaging issue, Geithner doesn't seem to see a problem with having the largest firm in the industry deciding how it will be regulated.

In the same vein Geithner tells us that Robert Rubin didn't like the Volcker Rule. This is a surprise? The Volcker Rule was designed to be a substitute for Glass-Steagall, which Rubin helped repeal as Treasury Secretary. Rubin then went on to personally profit to the tune of more than $100 million as a top executive of Citigroup, the firm that benefitted the most directly from the repeal.