Tag Archives: Cuban Missile Crisis

Chilled Yet???

Posted on by under Global Issues, History, Political commentary

Back in February, Russia’s dictator aka ‘President’ Vladimir Putin apparently thought he could launch an attack on neighboring Ukraine and that the Ukrainians were so weak or so stupid that they would simply lie down and turn over their country to him.  Well, he had another think coming!  Ukrainian President Zelenskyy stood firm and the Ukrainian people basically gave Putin the middle finger.  Despite their losses, they continue to stand firm today and with only help in military hardware resources, not human resources, from other nations, Ukraine has made Putin’s life significantly harder, has turned the tides just a bit.  Where Putin expected an easy victory 7 months ago, he is now facing the very real possibility of defeat.

However, if you thought Putin would back off, leave well enough alone and go home to lick his wounds, you’ll need to rethink that.  For starters, he has mobilized some 300,000 ‘military reservists’.  If you are a male between the ages of 18 and 65 years of age, you are now forbidden to leave the country.  Most other people are trying their best to get the hell out, and all flights out of Russia are filled to capacity through at least Friday.

Given that most Russians are not in favour of the war against Ukraine … most have family members living in Ukraine … there have been anti-war protests in a number of cities across Russia.  Just in the last few days, over 1,200 such protestors were arrested for no crime more serious than simply disagreeing with Putin’s goal of destroying another nation.

Last night, Putin gave a rare address to his nation … although it seemed to be intended for others, such as leaders of western nations.  In his speech, he warned that …

“NATO is conducting reconnaissance across the south of Russia. Washington, London and Brussels are directly pushing Kyiv to move military action to our country. They are openly saying that Russia should be defeated on the battlefield by any means.

Nuclear blackmail has also been used. We are talking not only about the shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant – encouraged by the West – which threatens to cause a nuclear catastrophe but also about statements from senior representatives of NATO countries about the possibility and permissibility of using weapons of mass destruction against Russia: nuclear weapons.

I would like to remind those who make such statements about Russia that our country also possesses various means of destruction, and in some cases, they are more modern than those of NATO countries. When the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we, of course, will use all the means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people.

This is not a bluff. And those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the weathervane can turn and point towards them.”

Foolish talk?  Sure.  But a cornered rat is a dangerous creature.  Vladimir Putin is a calculating madman who would see the world destroyed rather than admit he lost (does that remind you of anyone closer to home?)  U.S. President Biden responded while giving a speech to the United Nations General Assembly last night …

“This war is about extinguishing Ukraine’s right to exist as a state, plain and simple, and [Ukrainians’] right to exist as a people. Wherever you are, wherever you live, whatever you believe, that should make your blood run cold.

The United States wants this war to end on just terms, on terms we’re all signed up for – that you cannot seize a nation’s territory by force. The only country standing in the way of that is Russia. But no one threatened Russia and no one other than Russia sought conflict.”

Most of you are old enough to remember the Cold War between the USSR and the U.S. that began in 1947 and did not end until 1991 when the Soviet Union was dissolved.  I well remember air raid drills in school when we were made to crouch under our desks and put our hands over our heads … as if that was actually going to protect us in the event of a nuclear bomb!  Frankly, I never want to return to those days, but … it damn sure sounds to me as if that is where we are heading.  In the words of Roger Cohen, a New York Times bureau chief who has observed international affairs for more than 30 years …

“Perhaps not since the Cuban missile crisis six decades ago have American and Russian leaders confronted each other so explicitly and sharply on the danger of nuclear war.”

What is the solution?  IS there a solution?  Wiser heads than mine will have to answer that question.  Let us hope there are some who can.

Wise Words

Posted on by under Political commentary, Re-blogs, Social commentary

Many of us, this writer included, have chafed at the invisible bonds of stay-at-home orders, lockdowns, and the rest. Many of us finally accepted that this was the only way to save lives and we’ve made our peace with it, though still we sometimes whine. Our friend Hugh shared a piece today that made me sit back, take a deep breath, and think, put our troubles of today into an entirely new perspective. Is the glass half-full, or half-empty? Each of us will have our own take on that. Please read this short piece … and realize that what we are going through today is NOT the end of the world, and that this, too, shall pass. Thanks Hugh! We all needed this, I think!

hughcurtler

I have no idea who wrote the following piece, but it strikes me as worthy of wider dissemination than it has had so far. My son sent it to me the other day and said, simply, “it was written by a co-worker.” It strikes me as particularly important given the fact that we are all feeling fed-up with the coronavirus and all that it entails. We simply cannot wait until things go “back to normal” — refusing to admit to ourselves that there may be no return to normal and that the “new normal” will be like nothing we have ever experienced.

In any event, we wallow in self-pity since few of us has ever had to deny ourselves much of what we want. This is, after all, the “Age of Entitlement” not only in the schools but in the homes as well. We buy on plastic and run up…

View original post 515 more words

President Reagan’s Daughter Speaks …

Posted on by under Global Issues, Political commentary

This morning I came across this OpEd by Patti Davis, daughter of former President Ronald Reagan.  Her words ring true, her thoughts are those most of us have been having for the past two years.  I thought the piece worth sharing with you …

A child occupies the White House — and the world knows it

Patti-DavisBy Patti Davis
December 17 at 3:34 PM
Patti Davis is the author, most recently, of the novel “The Earth Breaks in Colors” and the daughter of Ronald and Nancy Reagan.

Lately, I’ve been looking at home movies and photographs of my childhood years; I’m working on a documentary about my family’s life before politics claimed us. A time before the world moved in. There is something transformative about looking back at your parents when they were younger than you are now and seeing yourself as a small child gazing up at them, reaching for their hands. It resonates in some deep part of us — they were the first adults we knew, and we relied on them to lead us into a big unfamiliar world. We didn’t know that generations whispered behind us. We didn’t know the pull of ancestry or the fears and doubts that may have trailed our parents throughout their lives. We only knew we were supposed to hold their hands and trust them to keep us from falling.Patty Davis, Ronald ReaganThere is an inherently parental role to being president of the United States. The person holding that office is supposed to know more than we do about dangers facing the country and the world, and is entrusted with making the appropriate decisions to keep us safe and secure. The president is supposed to keep us from falling. What happens when the president is the biggest child in the room — any room? It upends the natural order of things as surely as if a child’s parents started throwing tantrums and talking like a second-grader.

I’m not sure the country has fully comprehended the damage being done by a president who misbehaves so frequently, it’s a news story when he doesn’t. Globally, the United States has lost its power, its aura of seriousness and decisiveness that once made autocrats hesitate before crossing us. Now we are a country that can’t seem to stand up to a ruler who orders the murder and dismemberment of a dissident who was a legal U.S. resident or call out Russia’s intrusion into America’s democratic process. Children know how to scream and sulk; they don’t know how to take control and restore order. They don’t know how to plot out a responsible position and then act on it. A child occupies the White House, and the world knows it.

A friend’s young son thought it was really funny when the president called someone “Horseface.” He giggled when he saw the president on TV telling a reporter that her question was “stupid” and that all her questions are stupid. Nine-year-olds should be able to look up to the president of the United States, not feel that the president is one of them.

Immaturity in adults has serious consequences. My friend, the author Marianne Williamson, once said, “Adults who behave like children do adult damage.” We’re starting to see some of that damage, most recently at the southern border. This president has slammed shut America’s door as loudly as a petulant child slams his bedroom door and shouts, “Go away.” The result is that thousands of migrants are living in squalid conditions just beyond the U.S. border, trying to keep babies from getting sick. This is adult damage, and there will be more.JFKWhat will happen if the country faces serious danger? I was 10 years old in 1962 when President John F. Kennedy addressed the nation about the Cuban missile crisis. I remember sitting on the floor in my parents’ bedroom watching him on television. I remember asking my father if we would go to war. He replied, “I hope not. But the president is doing the right thing.” Kennedy’s somber confidence did make me a little less afraid. At the end of the speech, he said: “The cost of freedom is always high — but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose is the path of surrender or submission. Our goal is not the victory of might but the vindication of right.”

Who would speak to the nation like that if global turmoil turned into a crisis that threatens America’s future?

Text dividers

 

Another Russian Hack …

Posted on by under Global Issues, Political commentary, Social commentary

A year or so ago, I read a novel by William Forstchen titled One Second After.  If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it … especially if you sleep too well at night and need something to keep you awake in the wee hours.  The premise of the novel is that an EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) has occurred somewhere over the heartland of the U.S., shutting down power grids and plunging the nation into darkness and chaos.  It was a disturbing book, especially so when one considers that the technology exists for that very thing to happen.

Yesterday, after President Obama announced sanctions against the Russian government, the municipally run Burlington electric department found, in a laptop not connected to grid systems, malware code used by the Russian campaign linked to cyber-attacks on the Democratic National Committee and other political organizations. This discovery underscores the vulnerability of our electrical grids and the fact that Russian government hackers have the capability of penetrating those grids.

Many may think, on reading about this latest discovery, that it would be horrible to be without electricity for a “few days”.  I remember a week in September 2008, when after a wind storm our electricity was out for several days, and like most humans, I bitched, whined and complained, but all in all it wasn’t the end of the world.  Temperatures were moderate, we had plenty of food that did not require cooking, and looking back, it was rather an adventure.  But what the compromise of an entire electrical grid, or multiple grids, would bring is something altogether different.

If hackers were to knock out 100 strategically chosen generators in the Northeast, for example, the damaged power grid would quickly overload, causing a cascade of secondary outages across multiple states. While some areas could recover quickly, others might be without power for weeks. Imagine, if you can:  Stores are closed. Cell service is failing. Broadband Internet is gone. Hospitals are operating on generators, but rapidly running out of fuel. Garbage is rotting in the streets, and clean water is scarce as people boil water stored in bathtubs to stop the spread of bacteria. And escape? There is none, because planes can’t fly, trains can’t run, and gas stations can’t pump fuel.

I am not an alarmist, and I think there are good reasons that neither Russia nor China, both of whom have proven the capability of such hacking, will refrain from using their capabilities to create what would amount to global chaos.  However, it disturbs me to realize that the capability exists and could be used.  I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis.  The nuclear missiles placed in Cuba by the Soviet Union were the same type of latent threat that malware code is in a laptop in Vermont.

In December 2015, Russian hackers successfully shut down a power grid in the Ukraine. In this case, the attackers used a kind of malware that wiped files off computer systems, shutting them down and resulting in the blackout, according to cyber-intelligence expert John Hultquist. At least one of the power systems was also infected with a type of malware known as BlackEnergy. A similar combination was used against some Ukrainian media organizations during local elections in 2014.

My purpose is not to be an alarmist, but I do have concerns:

  • Despite our best efforts over the years to counter cyber-espionage, hackers have nonetheless been able to penetrate electrical grids, government agencies, and other systems..
  • The incoming president has consistently denied any belief that the Russian government was behind the hacking of the DNC earlier this year, and has praised Vladimir Putin excessively. Would the Trump regime be likely to scale back efforts to counter cyber-espionage? Who knows, as there is no predictability to the man with small hands.
  • I believe we may be entering a period of a second Cold War, but one more dangerous to the planet than the one from the 1950s – 1960s, if for no other reason than our nation will lack the intelligent and cautious leadership we had back then. At the helm of the U.S. will be an under-educated, inexperienced, and unstable man.
  • If our security experts are aware that Russia and China have penetrated systems including electrical grids, then we must ask the question, “who else?” Terrorist organizations have become increasingly tech-savvy in the past two decades, and cyber-terrorism of this nature has far greater potential than anything that has thus far been unleashed by terrorists.

Again, I am not trying to be an alarmist, and really do not believe that our lives are doomed.  But I think it is prudent for us, as citizens, to be aware of the potential and do our jobs in electing those who are likely to take the necessary steps to keep not only the U.S., but the world safe.  Welcome to 2017.

champagne