Day: December 26, 2013

Where The Hell Is South Sudan?

The joy of opening presents has passed and now we must face reality once again…..

A perfectly good question.  How many Americans realize that to help curb the violence in Sudan a vote was taken and the Southern part of the country became an independent nation of South Sudan in 2011.

From its inception there have been problems but that is expected after all it is the oil rich region……..the problems burst into gunfire about a week ago……with different sides wanting to gain control of the area……

So why am I writing about a common occurrence in African nations?

Well it seems that things have gotten so bad that the State Department has said that Americans in South Sudan need to get the Hell out…..and to assist have sent in troops to expediate the movement of Americans and there is where the problem is…….

Newser) – At least four US service members were wounded today when rebel gunfire hit two US military aircraft responding to the outbreak in violence in South Sudan. The aircraft were heading to Bor, the capital of the state of Jonglei and scene of some of the nation’s worst violence over the last week. One American service member was reported to be in critical condition. Officials said after the two aircraft took incoming fire, they turned around and headed to Kampala, Uganda. From there the service members were flown on to Nairobi, Kenya for medical treatment, the officials said.

The aircraft were there as part of an attempt to evacuate Americans from the area, reports CNN. South Sudan President Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, said this week that an attempted coup triggered the violence now pulsing through South Sudan that has left hundreds dead and raised the prospect of a full-blown civil war. He blamed the former vice president, Machar, an ethnic Nuer. But officials have since said a fight between Dinka and Nuer members of the presidential guard triggered the initial violence late Sunday night. Machar’s ouster from the country’s No. 2 political position earlier this year had stoked ethnic tensions.

You may say…”not good that Americans were killed because of the situation”……and you would be right!

(Newser) – Washington is getting in deeper: About 150 US troops are heading toward South Sudan today to help secure the US embassy and evacuate more Americans from the war-torn country, military officials said. The troops will likely first travel to Djibouti via Spain, CNN reports. The move follows a letter from President Obama to Congress yesterday saying he would take “further action” to protect US interests in Sudan. The State Department flew out 15 Americans yesterday from the flashpoint town of Bor.

South Sudan officials say that Bentiu, the capital of an important oil-producing state, has been seized by rebels. “Bentiu is not currently in our hands,” the government tweeted. “It is in the hands of a commander who has declared support” for former Vice President Riek Machar. An official said that People’s Liberation Army troops were headed for Bentiu, as well as Bor, to take control. President Salva Kiir blames the crisis on a power grab by troops committed to Machar, his longtime rival.

And there you have the beginning of a possible American excursion into yet another third world country…..if we are not careful this could blow up in our face…..

Some may say I am an alarmist…..could be….but I have been in the service of my country in place that began with far less loss of American life…..I worry and I hope that more American soldiers  do not have to put their lives on the line for far away places that could care less……

A side note…….the problems in Central African Republic could add to the violence in South Sudan because of the closeness of the two countries….something to watch.

Iceland Shows The World

This would have been the perfect gift for the country to give to its people on the joy of the season……start putting the thieves that work at banks in prison…….wishful thinking I know but at least one country has done the right thing…….(read on)…..

There has been lots of mumbling and grumbling about what the bankers were allowed to get away with when they caused the economic meltdown of 2008……..they have made obscene bonuses and still walk among us even after about 50% of the population lost lots of their coveted nest egg that they were depending on for a comfortable retirement….the American Dream was crapped on by the banks and the thieves they employ……some Americans have called for these crooks to be jailed for they basically robbed the population of their funds….but so far they got bigger bonuses and are not help responsible for their actions…….what to do…..what to do?

The small island country of Iceland has shown the world what should be done to these cons……

(Newser) – Iceland has done something highly unusual with some of the bank chiefs blamed for the country’s 2008 financial collapse: put them on trial and sent them to prison. Four former Kaupthing Bank bosses have been sentenced to between three and five years for market abuses relating to a deal where a Qatari sheikh bought a confidence-boosting stake in the bank with money that had been provided by the bank itself, the BBC reports.

Prosecutors said the loans, made soon before Kaupthing collapsed under massive debts, were made solely to boost the bank’s share price, reports Reuters. The bank’s former chief executive and chairman of the board received prison terms, along with one of its majority owners and the chief of its Luxembourg branch. The sentences are the heaviest Iceland has ever handed down for financial fraud, but prosecutors say a bigger case against Kaupthing is in the works

And that my friends is how you hold con artists responsible for their actions……America should follow suit….but NO…we fine them and let them return to the actions they were doing that caused the economic collapse……where is the logic here?