http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.a2e736d334e760c3afc9d72bbc9a211c.bb1&show_article=1
China could undermine US military power in Pacific: Gates
Sep 16 01:33 PM US/Eastern
China's increasingly advanced weaponry could undermine US military power in the Pacific, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday.
Echoing US intelligence guidelines released on Tuesday that warned of Beijing's military modernization, Gates said US naval carriers and air bases in the Pacific faced new threats from China.
"In fact, when considering the military-modernization programs of countries like China, we should be concerned less with their potential ability to challenge the US symmetrically -- fighter to fighter or ship to ship -- and more with their ability to disrupt our freedom of movement and narrow our strategic options," Gates said in a speech to the Air Force Association.
"Investments in cyber and anti-satellite warfare, anti-air and anti-ship weaponry, and ballistic missiles could threaten America's primary way to project power and help allies in the Pacific -- in particular our forward air bases and carrier strike groups," Gates said in National Harbor, Maryland.
The new threats meant long-range military aircraft would take on greater importance as the latest weaponry would "degrade the effectiveness of short-range fighters and put more of a premium on being able to strike from over the horizon -- whatever form that capability might take," he said.
Defense analysts have warned that the US military will soon lose its dominance on the high seas, in space and in cyberspace as China and other emerging powers obtain sophisticated weaponry and missiles.
The United States released its 2009 National Intelligence Strategy document Tuesday, in which China's "natural resource-focused diplomacy and military modernization" were cited as factors making it a "global challenge."
The intelligence guidelines for the next four years also elevated the importance of the cyber domain, singling out China as "very aggressive in the cyberworld."
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Friday, June 11, 2010
Is Obama Hostile to England because of Kenya Colonial Past?
Most of us recall the ridiculously cheesy diplomatic gifts that Obama gave to the Queen of England and to the Prime Minister. England gave some deeply historic and meaningful gifts. Obama gave the Queen some movie DVD's which don't work on European TV's. We saw this as Obama's incompetence.
Obama bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia (guardian of the two most holy sites in Islam) but did not bow to the Queen of England. Obama's explanation that the bow was 'protocol' fails to explain why the protocol applies only to Muslim Kings, not to the English Queen. (Of course, the President of the U.S. should not bow to anyone.)
But could it have been an intentional insult? Commentators in England are arguign that Obama's slights and insults to Obama are part of Obama's Kenyan roots. Kenya was an English colony. Some Kenyans, especially the radical Left, may view England engatively from England's administration of Kenya.
One English commentator is proposing a BOYCOTT of the USA over Obama. He points to Obama's change of US policy over England's claim to the Falkland Islands as a completely unnecessary, gratuitious slap at England.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/alexsingleton/100029555/why-barack-obama-has-made-me-boycott-america/
As another commentator added:
http://inthisdimension.com/2010/06/04/london-daily-telegraph-on-obama/
One of the most poorly kept secrets in Washington is President Obama’s animosity toward Great Britain, presumably because of what he regards as its sins while ruling Kenya (1895-1963).
One of Barack Hussein Obama’s first acts as president was to return to Britain a bust of Winston Churchill that had graced the Oval Office since 9/11. He followed this up by denying Prime Minister Gordon Brown, on his first state visit, the usual joint press conference with flags.
The president was “too tired” to grant the leader of America’s closest ally a proper welcome, his aides told British journalists.
Mr. Obama followed this up with cheesy gifts for Mr. Brown and the Queen. Columnist Ian Martin described his behavior as “rudeness personified.” There was more rudeness in store for Mr. Brown at the opening session of the United Nations in September. “The prime minister was forced to dash through the kitchens of the UN in New York to secure five minutes of face time with President Obama after five requests for a sit down meeting were rejected by the White House,” said London Telegraph columnist David Hughes. Mr. Obama’s “churlishness is unforgivable,” Mr. Hughes said.
The administration went beyond snubs and slights last week when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsed the demand of Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, a Hugo Chavez ally, for mediation of Argentina’s specious claim to the Falkland Islands, a British dependency since 1833. The people who live in the Falklands, who speak English, want nothing to do with Argentina. When, in 1982, an earlier Argentine dictatorship tried to seize the Falklands by force, the British — with strong support from President Ronald Reagan — expelled them.
“It is truly shocking that Barack Obama has decided to disregard our shared history,” wrote Telegraph columnist Toby Young. “Does Britain’s friendship really mean so little to him?” One could ask, does the friendship of anyone in the entire world mean anything to him?
“I recently asked several senior administration officials, separately, to name a foreign leader with whom Barack Obama has forged a strong personal relationship during his first year in office,” wrote Jackson Diehl, deputy editorial page editor of the Washington Post, on Monday. “A lot of hemming and hawing ensued.” One official named French President Nicolas Sarkozy, but his contempt for Mr. Obama is an open secret. Another named German Chancellor Angela Merkel. But, said Mr. Diehl, “Merkel too has been conspicuously cool toward Obama.”
Obama bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia (guardian of the two most holy sites in Islam) but did not bow to the Queen of England. Obama's explanation that the bow was 'protocol' fails to explain why the protocol applies only to Muslim Kings, not to the English Queen. (Of course, the President of the U.S. should not bow to anyone.)
But could it have been an intentional insult? Commentators in England are arguign that Obama's slights and insults to Obama are part of Obama's Kenyan roots. Kenya was an English colony. Some Kenyans, especially the radical Left, may view England engatively from England's administration of Kenya.
One English commentator is proposing a BOYCOTT of the USA over Obama. He points to Obama's change of US policy over England's claim to the Falkland Islands as a completely unnecessary, gratuitious slap at England.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/alexsingleton/100029555/why-barack-obama-has-made-me-boycott-america/
As another commentator added:
http://inthisdimension.com/2010/06/04/london-daily-telegraph-on-obama/
One of the most poorly kept secrets in Washington is President Obama’s animosity toward Great Britain, presumably because of what he regards as its sins while ruling Kenya (1895-1963).
One of Barack Hussein Obama’s first acts as president was to return to Britain a bust of Winston Churchill that had graced the Oval Office since 9/11. He followed this up by denying Prime Minister Gordon Brown, on his first state visit, the usual joint press conference with flags.
The president was “too tired” to grant the leader of America’s closest ally a proper welcome, his aides told British journalists.
Mr. Obama followed this up with cheesy gifts for Mr. Brown and the Queen. Columnist Ian Martin described his behavior as “rudeness personified.” There was more rudeness in store for Mr. Brown at the opening session of the United Nations in September. “The prime minister was forced to dash through the kitchens of the UN in New York to secure five minutes of face time with President Obama after five requests for a sit down meeting were rejected by the White House,” said London Telegraph columnist David Hughes. Mr. Obama’s “churlishness is unforgivable,” Mr. Hughes said.
The administration went beyond snubs and slights last week when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsed the demand of Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, a Hugo Chavez ally, for mediation of Argentina’s specious claim to the Falkland Islands, a British dependency since 1833. The people who live in the Falklands, who speak English, want nothing to do with Argentina. When, in 1982, an earlier Argentine dictatorship tried to seize the Falklands by force, the British — with strong support from President Ronald Reagan — expelled them.
“It is truly shocking that Barack Obama has decided to disregard our shared history,” wrote Telegraph columnist Toby Young. “Does Britain’s friendship really mean so little to him?” One could ask, does the friendship of anyone in the entire world mean anything to him?
“I recently asked several senior administration officials, separately, to name a foreign leader with whom Barack Obama has forged a strong personal relationship during his first year in office,” wrote Jackson Diehl, deputy editorial page editor of the Washington Post, on Monday. “A lot of hemming and hawing ensued.” One official named French President Nicolas Sarkozy, but his contempt for Mr. Obama is an open secret. Another named German Chancellor Angela Merkel. But, said Mr. Diehl, “Merkel too has been conspicuously cool toward Obama.”
China thinks WOMEN CANNOT DRIVE
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8432887.stm
BBC NEWS 28 December 2009
China shopping centre builds 'car park for women'
A shopping centre in China's Hebei province has built a car park with wider spaces that it says is designed especially to suit women drivers.
The women-only car park in Shijiazhuang city is also painted in pink and light purple to appeal to female tastes.
Official Wang Zheng told AFP news agency the car park was meant to cater to women's "strong sense of colour and different sense of distance".
The parking bays are one metre (3ft) wider than normal spaces, he said.
The Wanxiang-Tiancheng shopping centre had also "installed signs and security monitoring equipment that corresponded more to women's needs", he said.
The Global Times website says female parking attendants have been trained to help guide women drivers into their parking spaces. The bays also have extra lighting.
BBC NEWS 28 December 2009
China shopping centre builds 'car park for women'
A shopping centre in China's Hebei province has built a car park with wider spaces that it says is designed especially to suit women drivers.
The women-only car park in Shijiazhuang city is also painted in pink and light purple to appeal to female tastes.
Official Wang Zheng told AFP news agency the car park was meant to cater to women's "strong sense of colour and different sense of distance".
The parking bays are one metre (3ft) wider than normal spaces, he said.
The Wanxiang-Tiancheng shopping centre had also "installed signs and security monitoring equipment that corresponded more to women's needs", he said.
The Global Times website says female parking attendants have been trained to help guide women drivers into their parking spaces. The bays also have extra lighting.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Is China's Politburo spoiling for a showdown with America?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/7442926/Is-Chinas-Politburo-spoiling-for-a-showdown-with-America.html
Is China's Politburo spoiling for a showdown with America?
The long-simmering clash between the world's two great powers is coming to a head, with dangerous implications for the international system.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard 14 Mar 2010
China has succumbed to hubris. It has mistaken the soft diplomacy of Barack Obama for weakness, mistaken the US credit crisis for decline, and mistaken its own mercantilist bubble for ascendancy. There are echoes of Anglo-German spats before the First World War, when Wilhelmine Berlin so badly misjudged the strategic balance of power and over-played its hand.
Within a month the US Treasury must rule whether China is a "currency manipulator", triggering sanctions under US law. This has been finessed before, but we are in a new world now with America's U6 unemployment at 16.8pc.
Is China's Politburo spoiling for a showdown with America?
The long-simmering clash between the world's two great powers is coming to a head, with dangerous implications for the international system.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard 14 Mar 2010
China has succumbed to hubris. It has mistaken the soft diplomacy of Barack Obama for weakness, mistaken the US credit crisis for decline, and mistaken its own mercantilist bubble for ascendancy. There are echoes of Anglo-German spats before the First World War, when Wilhelmine Berlin so badly misjudged the strategic balance of power and over-played its hand.
Within a month the US Treasury must rule whether China is a "currency manipulator", triggering sanctions under US law. This has been finessed before, but we are in a new world now with America's U6 unemployment at 16.8pc.
House votes to allow Puerto Rico to choose status. Island may decide whether to become nation's 51st state
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=147661
Posted: April 29, 2010
By Chelsea Schilling WorldNetDaily
A vote in the U.S. House of Representatives today has put Puerto Rico one step closer on a path to becoming the nation's 51st state.
The House passed H.R. 2499, the Puerto Rico Democracy Act, on a 223-169 vote. Now the Senate will take up the measure.
Posted: April 29, 2010
By Chelsea Schilling WorldNetDaily
A vote in the U.S. House of Representatives today has put Puerto Rico one step closer on a path to becoming the nation's 51st state.
The House passed H.R. 2499, the Puerto Rico Democracy Act, on a 223-169 vote. Now the Senate will take up the measure.
Military Academic Paper in China Sets Off Alarms in U.S.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/world/asia/21grid.html
By JOHN MARKOFF and DAVID BARBOZA
Published: March 20, 2010
It came as a surprise this month to Wang Jianwei, a graduate engineering student in Liaoning, China, that he had been described as a potential cyberwarrior before the United States Congress.
Larry M. Wortzel, a military strategist and China specialist, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on March 10 that it should be concerned because “Chinese researchers at the Institute of Systems Engineering of Dalian University of Technology published a paper on how to attack a small U.S. power grid sub-network in a way that would cause a cascading failure of the entire U.S.”
When reached by telephone, Mr. Wang said he and his professor had indeed published “Cascade-Based Attack Vulnerability on the U.S. Power Grid” in an international journal called Safety Science last spring. But Mr. Wang said he had simply been trying to find ways to enhance the stability of power grids by exploring potential vulnerabilities.
“We usually say ‘attack’ so you can see what would happen,” he said. “My emphasis is on how you can protect this. My goal is to find a solution to make the network safer and better protected.” And independent American scientists who read his paper said it was true: Mr. Wang’s work was a conventional technical exercise that in no way could be used to take down a power grid.
The difference between Mr. Wang’s explanation and Mr. Wortzel’s conclusion is of more than academic interest. It shows that in an atmosphere already charged with hostility between the United States and China over cybersecurity issues, including large-scale attacks on computer networks, even a misunderstanding has the potential to escalate tension and set off an overreaction.
By JOHN MARKOFF and DAVID BARBOZA
Published: March 20, 2010
It came as a surprise this month to Wang Jianwei, a graduate engineering student in Liaoning, China, that he had been described as a potential cyberwarrior before the United States Congress.
Larry M. Wortzel, a military strategist and China specialist, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on March 10 that it should be concerned because “Chinese researchers at the Institute of Systems Engineering of Dalian University of Technology published a paper on how to attack a small U.S. power grid sub-network in a way that would cause a cascading failure of the entire U.S.”
When reached by telephone, Mr. Wang said he and his professor had indeed published “Cascade-Based Attack Vulnerability on the U.S. Power Grid” in an international journal called Safety Science last spring. But Mr. Wang said he had simply been trying to find ways to enhance the stability of power grids by exploring potential vulnerabilities.
“We usually say ‘attack’ so you can see what would happen,” he said. “My emphasis is on how you can protect this. My goal is to find a solution to make the network safer and better protected.” And independent American scientists who read his paper said it was true: Mr. Wang’s work was a conventional technical exercise that in no way could be used to take down a power grid.
The difference between Mr. Wang’s explanation and Mr. Wortzel’s conclusion is of more than academic interest. It shows that in an atmosphere already charged with hostility between the United States and China over cybersecurity issues, including large-scale attacks on computer networks, even a misunderstanding has the potential to escalate tension and set off an overreaction.
Hispanics LEAVING Arizona ahead of Immigration Law
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-06-08-immigration_N.htm
By Alan Gomez, USA TODAY
Arizona's tough new immigration enforcement law is fueling an exodus of Hispanics from the state seven weeks before it goes into effect, according to officials and residents in the state.
Though no one has precise figures, reports from school officials, businesses and individuals indicate worried Hispanics — both legal and illegal — are leaving the state in anticipation of the law, which will go into effect July 29.
Schools in Hispanic areas report unusual drops in enrollment. The Balsz Elementary School District is 75% Hispanic, and within a month of the law's passage, the parents of 70 students pulled them out of school, said District Superintendent Jeffrey Smith. The district lost seven students over the same one-month period last year, and parents tell Smith the Arizona law is the reason for leaving.
They're leaving to another state where they feel more welcome," he said.
The measure, signed into law April 23 by Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, requires a police officer to determine a person's immigration status if they are stopped, detained or arrested and there is "reasonable suspicion" they are in the country illegally.
About 100,000 illegal immigrants left Arizona after the state passed a law in 2007 that enhanced penalties on businesses that hired them, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Some early signs suggest another exodus.
Businesses serving the Hispanic community say business is down, signaling that illegal immigrants are holding on to cash in anticipation of a move from the state, said David Castillo, co-founder of the Latin Association of Arizona, a chamber of commerce for nearly 400 first-generation Hispanic business owners.
By Alan Gomez, USA TODAY
Arizona's tough new immigration enforcement law is fueling an exodus of Hispanics from the state seven weeks before it goes into effect, according to officials and residents in the state.
Though no one has precise figures, reports from school officials, businesses and individuals indicate worried Hispanics — both legal and illegal — are leaving the state in anticipation of the law, which will go into effect July 29.
Schools in Hispanic areas report unusual drops in enrollment. The Balsz Elementary School District is 75% Hispanic, and within a month of the law's passage, the parents of 70 students pulled them out of school, said District Superintendent Jeffrey Smith. The district lost seven students over the same one-month period last year, and parents tell Smith the Arizona law is the reason for leaving.
They're leaving to another state where they feel more welcome," he said.
The measure, signed into law April 23 by Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, requires a police officer to determine a person's immigration status if they are stopped, detained or arrested and there is "reasonable suspicion" they are in the country illegally.
About 100,000 illegal immigrants left Arizona after the state passed a law in 2007 that enhanced penalties on businesses that hired them, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Some early signs suggest another exodus.
Businesses serving the Hispanic community say business is down, signaling that illegal immigrants are holding on to cash in anticipation of a move from the state, said David Castillo, co-founder of the Latin Association of Arizona, a chamber of commerce for nearly 400 first-generation Hispanic business owners.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
