Day: March 17, 2016

Granddaughter Punks The Old Guy

I do not write much of my personal life but from time to time I like to share some of those moments in life that make one proud.

I am a fortunate person….my granddaughter lives less than 2 miles from me and I get to spend time with her often.

Last year she made me a video for Veterans Day about my time in Vietnam and in service to my country….her and her mother were putting some of my pics from those days together in a frame for me…..let me say her vid made this old fart a bit teary.

She had asked me about those days….I told her about the mud,  the rain and the heat….I left out some of the more gruesome parts of those days.  Her interest was for the Monsoons and the mud…..she could not believe how much it rained in those times or just how deep the mud could get thanks to all that rain.

I told her that my unit worked mostly in the Mekong delta of Vietnam and even when it was not raining it was deep mud and rice paddies and WET.  She was grossed out by the leeches that seems to attack from all sides.  To use her words…….eeeeeeewwww!

She came by the other day and showed me this report that she saw in the paper…..

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) – Vietnam’s southern Mekong Delta, the country’s main rice growing region, is experiencing the worst drought and saline intrusion in recent history that has affected more than half a million people, officials said Thursday.

The drought could result in the loss of up to 1 million tons of rice, but is not expected to affect Vietnam’s status as the world’s third largest exporter of grain, said Ma Quang Trung, a department director at the Agriculture Ministry.

The water shortage could drive many farmers into poverty, especially if there are no rains between now and the peak of the dry season in late April, Trung said.

He blamed the drought on the El Nino weather phenomenon and excessive construction of more than 10 hydropower dams on the upper stream of the river.

The level of inland saline intrusion was unprecedented, resulting in damage to some 180,000 hectares (444,780 acres) of paddy fields, Trung said.

This is where she punked me.

She said…..”See if you had waited for 40 years then you would not have had to put up with all that rain and mud.”  “Timing is everything, Popi!”  She laughed out loud and patted herself on the back for being clever.

This tickled her and she went and got a water and some of my cookie stash and returned and grinning from ear to ear for what seemed like hours.

How could I get pissed?  A 12 year old that reads the paper and is clever enough to relate a tale of her grandfather to a situation in the news.

What can I say….she is my girl!

The Most Dangerous Group in Syria

With all the antics in the election the situation of terrorism has fallen off the headlines…..(I shall pause here for reflection)…….

The title would lead my readers to think that this article is about that barbaric group known as ISIS/ISIL/IS (your preference)……right?

Well guess what?  You, my friends, would be sadly mistaken……..

The situation in Syria goes far beyond understandable…..there are a multitude of groups fighting each other….from local militias to army’s from several nations….and since I enjoy studying the different conflicts around the world I would like to know just who is the most dangerous group fighting in Syria…..

The Institute for the Study of War has issued a paper on this subject and you might well be interested to know that they have found that ISIS is NOT the most dangerous…..that label falls on another group fighting in the country…..

Jabhat al-Nusra, al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, is more dangerous than ISIS — and while the two groups share the common goal of establishing a global caliphate, they are using different means to achieve it.

Source: Why the Most Dangerous Group in Syria Isn’t ISIS | World Affairs Journal

Fascinating at the conclusion this group has drawn…..

These types of groups seem to be invincible, at least according to some of the reporting that is happening…….but is that truly the case?

Next the question to be asked is……Can the group, AQ affiliate, be stopped?

The reach of “jihadists” (a term Crisis Group uses reluctantly but that groups this report covers self-identify with; a fuller explanation for its use is on page 2) has expanded dramatically over the past few years. Some movements are now powerful insurgent forces, controlling territory, supplanting the state and ruling with a calibrated mix of coercion and co-option. Little suggests they can be defeated by military means alone. Yet, they espouse, to varying degrees, goals incompatible with the nation-state system, rejected by most people in areas affected and hard to accommodate in negotiated settlements. Most appear resilient, able to adapt to shifting dynamics. The geography of crisis today means similar groups will blight many of tomorrow’s wars.

Source: Exploiting Disorder: al-Qaeda and the Islamic State | World Affairs Journal

Questions always arise when nay group appears to be successful in their push for war…..they can be defeated……but it takes rational thought and logical reactions to be successful.

The World Affairs Journal is an excellent source for international relations…..it is not the typical regurgitation of war hawk propaganda it is full of thoughtful analysis, at least in my opinion….for what that is worth.

Why Did Russia Cut And Run?

If one is looking for the big news other than which lying toad won what primary then you are looking for the explanation to why Russia has decided to pull some of its forces out of Syria.

I have not heard much speculation from the Western media, they have been too busy with the election and all the antics by the different candidates.  Since I could find very little info on this situation I turned to the rest of the world which seems to have a good perspective on the event.

Russia – President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that Russia is beginning its withdrawal of forces from Syria came as a complete surprise. DW’s Moscow correspondent Emma Burrows looks at why the decision has been made now.

Source: Why is Russia withdrawing forces from Syria? – Daily News Egypt

Then I checked for European opinions…….

Russian media hailed it as a political victory, al Qaeda a stinging defeat for Moscow, while almost everyone else has been taken by surprise by the Kremlin’s announcement Monday it is pulling the bulk of its military out of Syria.

Source: Middle East – What’s behind Russia’s surprise Syria withdrawal? – France 24

My tour of the world’s newspapers concluded with a visit to the sub-continent, India for their perspective…….

According to The Hindustan Times, the Russian president has achieved in five months what US President Barack Obama has not in five years

Source: Indian media praise Putin’s achievements in Syria | Russia & India Report

As you can see, while the US was laser focused on the antics of candidates the rest of the globe seems to be giving Russia their props for a “job well done”….

Could that have been praise for the US if we had handled the situation differently?

My answer is……YES!

Why Obama didn’t bomb Syria in 2013

Okay it is not ancient history….but still history and one of those perspectives that irritates so many……(they will get over it)……

There has been lots of speculation why Obama did not give the order to bomb Syria back in 2013….most of which is coming from the GOP side of the spectrum….they use his lack of action as a sign of his weakness in foreign policy….and now with the 2016 election creeping closer I am sure that we will hear even more of the accusations…..

I admit it….I also offered up my ideas of what the president was thinking and why he chose not to go through with the bombing of Syria…..

Source: Let’s Talk Syria – In Saner Thought

Does anyone have a good idea of why he hesitated in giving the order to “take out Assad”?

There is a pretty good analysis of the situation and a fairly good explanation from PressTV…….

US President Obama’s reasons for backpedaling from his 2013 threat to bomb Syria were based on pragmatic and political concerns, an analyst says.

Source: PressTV-Why Obama didn’t bomb Syria in 2013

Just in case you happen to like to know the truth or at least a good explanation into the actions of the president…..we may never know for sure until the president makes facts known after he leaves office…..by then NO one will care for the election will be over and the politicos will have moved on to a brand new issue from which to speculate…..

With  Russia pulling out of Syria and claiming success…..if they were truly successful then the question could be asked, would the US be able to claim success if they had started their campaign earlier?

Two Faces of Russia’s Foreign Policy

With the recent news that Putin has ordered Russian troops out of Syria….I thought that this report from the Wilson Center would help with any understanding that some people might be searching for…..

Russian foreign policy has perplexed many in the diplomatic corps for years now…..if you are a reader of IST then you were aware of the Russian involvement in Syria was coming to an end almost as it was happening…..

Originally many in the West tended to view Russia’s Syrian adventure as yet another one of “Moscow’s gambits.” Commentators described Ukraine and Syria in the same breath. But Russia is eager to demonstrate that the two projects could hardly be more different and that Moscow can be two things at the same time.

Source: Two Faces of Russia’s Foreign Policy | World Affairs Journal

If you want to be “in the loop” then I suggest that making IST a stop would be a really good idea……