Crony Capitalism Keeps the US Dependent on Vladimir Putin

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Photo Credit: TownHall

Photo Credit: TownHall

The latest news to come out of Ukraine doesn’t involve Vice President Joe Biden, European natural gas supplies, or Vladimir Putin’s insatiable appetite for the resurrection of the Soviet Union. In fact, it hits a bit closer to home. America’s spy satellites, as it turns out, is dependent upon Russian provided technology to reach orbit.

That’s right… Not only are our astronauts hitching rides to the Russian-run “international” space station, but even our spy satellites have to hitch a ride via Putin’s Russian Military industrial complex. And any sanctions that could come out of the situation in Ukraine, may just put the future of those missions in some peril. And the worst part is that American built technology, from American Companies, is being denied the opportunity to replace the Putin approved tech upon which our space missions depend.

At issue is the engine for the Atlas V rocket that places our satellites into orbit. The RD-180 is sold to the United Launch Alliance (a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin) for use in the Atlas V. And while the ULA claims to have enough engines in stock to last the agency roughly 2 – 3 years, they may soon be buying up more engines from Vladimir before sanctions are put in place, according to Capitol Hill insiders.

According to ULA, American made replacement engines are several years away… Which begs the question, “are we really that far behind” in space age technology? Well… No. It seems that ULA simply enjoys their monopolistic handle on American space technology. Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX, has developed all American-made alternatives to the Russian engines. And just like a good old-fashioned capitalist, Musk’s technology is significantly cheaper. (But, I guess saving the taxpayers some expense isn’t a real concern unless we’re talking about soldier pay, or foreign aid.)

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China Splurging On Military As US Pulls Back

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

China’s navy commissioned 17 new warships last year, the most of any nation. In a little more than a decade, it’s expected to have three aircraft carriers, giving it more clout than ever in a region of contested seas and festering territorial disputes.

Those numbers testify to huge increases in defense spending that have endowed China with the largest military budget behind the United States and fueled an increasingly large and sophisticated defense industry. While Beijing still lags far behind the U.S. in both funding and technology, its spending boom is attracting new scrutiny at a time of severe cuts in U.S. defense budgets that have some questioning Washington’s commitments to its Asian allies, including some who have lingering disputes with China.

Beijing’s newfound military clout is one of many issues confronting President Barack Obama as he visits the region this week. Washington is faced with the daunting task of fulfilling its treaty obligations to allies such as Japan and the Philippines, while also maintaining cordial relation with key economic partner and rising regional power China.

China’s boosted defense spending this year grew 12.2 percent to $132 billion, continuing more than two decades of nearly unbroken double-digit percentage increases that have afforded Beijing the means to potentially alter the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific. Outside observers put China’s actual defense spending significantly higher, although estimates vary widely.

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Photo Credit: CLAYTON CUPIT / U.S. AIR FORCE

Photo Credit: CLAYTON CUPIT / U.S. AIR FORCE

As Army shrinks, young officers are being pushed out

By Lolita C. Baldor.

After the 9/11 attacks, tens of thousands of young men and women joined the military, heading for the rugged mountains of Afghanistan and dusty deserts of Iraq.

Many of them now are officers in the Army with multiple combat deployments under their belts. But as the wars wind down and Pentagon budgets shrink, a lot of them are being told they have to leave.

It’s painful and frustrating. In quiet conversations at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Eustis in Virginia, captains talk about their new worries after 15-month deployments in which they battled insurgents and saw roadside bombs kill and maim their comrades. They nervously wait as their fates rest in the hands of evaluation boards that may spend only a few minutes reading through service records before making decisions that could end careers.

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Jimmy Carter: Do Not Hurt Russian People with Sanctions

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Photo Credit; AFP / Brian Kersey

Photo Credit; AFP / Brian Kersey

Former US president Jimmy Carter said Tuesday the West should not impose sanctions that would hurt the Russian people over their leaders’ actions in Ukraine.

“So far, we have limited the sanctions to the leadership of Russia, and I think that is the proper approach,” the Nobel peace laureate told AFP on the sidelines of a discussion in Paris on climate change.

“I don’t think we would go so far as to impose sanctions that would hurt the Russian people.”

The statesman was taking part in a meeting with students as a member of The Elders group set up to promote human rights around the world.

US Vice President Joe Biden earlier warned Russia of “more costs” and “greater isolation” if it continued to “pull Ukraine apart”.

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Children’s Corpses Show Attempts to Escape Sunken South Korean Ferry

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

Divers swam through the water Wednesday searching for the bodies of children in cabins and corridors of the sunken South Korean ferry.

According to Reuters, the divers can only see a few inches in front of them in the wreckage of the ship.

Most of the bodies found had broken fingers, presumably from children frantically trying to climb walls or floors to escape, local media reported, according to Reuters.

“We are trained for hostile environments, but it’s hard to be brave when we meet bodies in dark water,” diver Hwang Dae-sik told Reuters.

A maritime professor, who spoke with the third mate who was steering the ferry before it sank, said Wednesday that he suspects there was a problem with the steering gear.

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Egypt’s Leader Urges America to Reinstate Military Aid for Fight Against Terror

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Photo Credit: Reuters

Photo Credit: Reuters

Egypt’s de facto ruler urged President Obama to restore the military aid suspended last year after Egypt’s armed forces ousted the country’s president and warned that America’s unwillingness to combat Islamic extremists in strife–ridden Arab states was endangering the U.S. and its European and Arab allies.

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the military commander behind the ouster of ex-President Mohamed Morsi, and who holds the title of field marshal, is widely expected to win the country’s presidential elections scheduled for late May. He said that U.S. military aid was badly needed to help Egypt combat Islamist terrorism in the Sinai peninsula and jihadi training camps in Libya near Egypt’s border. America’s unwillingness to help Egypt battle what some have called the largest militant Islamist insurgency in Egypt’s history and to help contain ongoing civil strife in Iraq, Libya and Syria, he said, had created “fertile ground for religious extremism” that would be “disastrous” for both the U.S. and the Arabs.

“The only thing they know is destruction,” he said, speaking of the militant jihadis now battling for power in Syria and other Arab states. “Usama bin Laden was only the first.”

By refusing to deploy western forces to help stabilize Libya after the North Atlantic Treaty Organization overthrew longstanding dictator Muammar Qaddafi in late 2011, he said, the U.S. and other NATO members had created a political vacuum that had left Libya at the mercy of “extremists, assassins, and murderers.” “History will judge you severely,” he declared.

Yet during most of this rare, two-hour meeting with a small group of American national security specialists and journalists in Cairo last week, Sisi repeatedly stressed Egypt’s desire for strong ties with, and support from Washington. America and its allies, he said, had an interest in avoiding further chaos in Egypt and in helping restore political stability and economic growth in the Arabs’ most populous nation. Egypt, whose population totaled 94 million people in March and which adds one million new Egyptians to its ranks every nine months, needs “substantial” economic support to overcome “monumental’ challenges, he said.

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US Troops Arrive in Poland for Exercises Across Eastern Europe Amid Ukraine Crisis

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Photo Credit: REUTERS

Photo Credit: REUTERS

U.S. Army paratroopers are arriving in Poland to begin a series of military exercises in four countries across Eastern Europe to bolster allies in the wake of Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula last month.

Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said Tuesday that the exercises will last about a month, and initially involve about 600 troops.

An Army company of about 150 soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team based in Vicenza, Italy, will start the exercises Wednesday in Poland. Additional Army companies will head to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and are expected to arrive by Monday for similar land-based exercises in those countries.

Under the current plan, U.S. troops would rotate in and out of the four countries for additional exercises on a recurring basis.

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U.S. Says Has Indications Toxic Chemical Used in Syria this Month

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / STRINGER

Photo Credit: REUTERS / STRINGER

The United States has indications that a toxic chemical, probably chlorine, was used in Syria this month and is examining whether the Syrian government was responsible, the U.S. State Department said on Monday.

“We have indications of the use of a toxic industrial chemical” in the town of Kfar Zeita, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, referring to a rebel-held area.

“We are examining allegations that the government was responsible,” she told a regular news briefing. “Obviously there needs to be an investigation of what’s happened here.”

Syrian opposition activists reported that helicopters dropped chlorine gas on Kfar Zeita on April 11 and 12. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, told ABC television’s “This Week” on April 13 that the attack was “unsubstantiated.”

Psaki said chlorine was not one of the priority one or two chemicals Syria declared to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) under a Russian-U.S. agreement for the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile.

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China On Course to Become ‘World’s Most Christian Nation’ Within 15 Years

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Photo Credit: ALAMY

Photo Credit: ALAMY

It is said to be China’s biggest church and on Easter Sunday thousands of worshippers will flock to this Asian mega-temple to pledge their allegiance – not to the Communist Party, but to the Cross.

The 5,000-capacity Liushi church, which boasts more than twice as many seats as Westminster Abbey and a 206ft crucifix that can be seen for miles around, opened last year with one theologian declaring it a “miracle that such a small town was able to build such a grand church”.

The £8 million building is also one of the most visible symbols of Communist China’s breakneck conversion as it evolves into one of the largest Christian congregations on earth.

“It is a wonderful thing to be a follower of Jesus Christ. It gives us great confidence,” beamed Jin Hongxin, a 40-year-old visitor who was admiring the golden cross above Liushi’s altar in the lead up to Holy Week.
“If everyone in China believed in Jesus then we would have no more need for police stations. There would be no more bad people and therefore no more crime,” she added.

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Boko Haram Leader Claims Abuja Bombing, Tells Obama to Go ‘To Hell’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The leader of Nigeria’s Boko Haram terrorist group in a weekend video claimed responsibility for a deadly bomb attack in Abuja last week, taunting the government for its failure to defeat the Islamist group and telling President Obama and other world leaders to go “to hell.”

“To hell with Obama!” Abubakar Shekau said during the rant. “To hell with [U.N. secretary-general] Ban ki Moon! To hell with [French president] Francois Hollande! To hell with [Russian president] Vladimir Putin!”

Although Shekau claimed responsibility for last Monday’s bomb blast in Abuja, which cost at least 75 lives and was the deadliest terrorist attack ever in the capital, he did not refer to the abduction hours later of more than 100 schoolgirls in the country’s far north-east. A Borno state’s top education official said in a statement Friday 85 of the girls remain missing.

Shekau, one of three Boko Haram leaders designated by the State Department in 2012 under an executive order designed to disrupt funding to terrorists, said his group carried out the bombing in Abuja because of the killing of Muslims in Nigeria and elsewhere. His remarks in the local Hausa language were translated by Premium Times, an Abuja-based media group.

“We carried out the attack because you kill Muslims in Plateau,” he said in comments directed at Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, and referring to the Nigerian state that lies roughly on the divide between the country’s Muslim north and Christian south.

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South Korean Ferry Captain Arrested; Divers Find Bodies Inside Sunken Ship

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

The captain of a South Korean ferry carrying 475 passengers that sank on Wednesday, killing 28 and leaving 270 missing, was arrested early Saturday on suspicion of negligence and abandoning people in need — three of whom were found lifeless in the sunken ship by a diver.

Senior prosecutor Yang Jung-jin Yonhap said 68-year-old Lee Joon-seok and the crew members were detained early Saturday, the Associated Press reported.

The captain was arrested amid reports that an inexperienced crew member may have been at the ship’s control when it overturned, and survivors’ claims that the crew did not act swiftly enough to evacuate its mostly high school-student passengers.

Lee faces five charges including negligence of duty and violation of maritime law, according to the Yonhap news agency.

Prosecutors and police said Friday they had asked a court to issue arrest warrants for the captain and two other crewmembers.

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