Michele Kearney's Snuffysmith's Blog Major Foreign Policy, Economics, Energy, and Irrelevancies of the Day
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Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists: Bulletin experts in the news on North Korea
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As the security situation ratcheted up on the Korean Peninsula over the last week, the Bulletin’s
staff, leadership, and columnists quickly jumped into action, providing
a trusted source of information to help track and make sense of
unfolding events. Here is a summary of what we’ve been up to, in case
you missed it:
Los Angeles Times: An op/ed by Bulletin Board of Sponsors chair, Lawrence Krauss North Korea, Donald Trump and the ticking Doomsday Clock CBS: Will the Doomsday Clock be reset in light of North Korea situation? With Lawrence Krauss and Bulletin Science & Security Board member Jon Wolfsthal Huffington Post: Trump's Warning to North Korea called 'Exactly Wrong" And "Reckless" With Bulletin editor John Mecklin Donald Trump Claims US military ‘Locked and Loaded” for North Korea. With John Mecklin The Hill: Fallout: Trump's 'fire and fury' sends officials scrambling With Lawrence Krauss Motherboard/Vice: We Asked a Doomsday Clock Scientist About Trump's 'Fire and Fury' Threat With Bulletin Science & Security Board co-chair Robert Rosner Newsweek: North Korea Missile Claims are ‘a Hoax’ Nina Burleigh’s article was the first article based on our report by Ted Postol, Markus Schiller, and Robert Schmucker New York Times: North Korea’s Missile Success Is Linked to Ukrainian Plant, Investigators Say This Wiliam J. Broad and David E. Sanger article also references our report by Ted Postol, Markus Schiller, and Robert Schmucker Chicago Tribune: Scott Santis Doomsday Clock comic And from the Bulletin website: North Korea’s “not quite” ICBM can’t hit the lower 48 states Ted Postol, Markus Schiller, and Robert Schmucker Comments on the developing situation with North Korea Ted Postol Pyongyang can miniaturize, so let’s move on to what’s important: David Wright on the North Korea crisis Lucien Crowder After midnight The July/August issue is on the aftermath of the use of nuclear weapons What would happen if an 800-kiloton nuclear warhead detonated above midtown Manhattan? Steven Starr, Lynn Eden, Theodore A. Postal Nuclear Notebook Interactive: Our infographic on the world’s nuclear arsenals has just been updated Sign up for the Nuclear Roundup by Jodi Lieberman A compilation of quality nuclear policy news published on the Web, around the world |
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What's next in Afghanistan?
What's next in Afghanistan?
by John R. Bolton • August 15, 2017 at 12:30 pm
U.S.
Army soldiers fire mortars at a Taliban position in northeastern
Afghanistan, September 2, 2011. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
As President Trump wrestles
with America's role in Afghanistan, he should first decide what our
objectives are today compared to what we wanted immediately after Sept.
11, 2001.
Initially, the United
States overthrew the Taliban regime but failed to destroy it
completely. Regime supporters, allied tribal forces and opportunistic
warlords escaped (or returned) to Pakistan's frontier regions to
establish sanctuaries.
Similarly,
while the Taliban's ouster also forced al-Qaida into exile in Pakistan
and elsewhere, al-Qaida nonetheless continued and expanded its terrorist
activities. In Iraq and Syria, al-Qaida morphed into the even more
virulent ISIS, which is now gaining strength in Afghanistan.
Continue Reading Article
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10839/next-in-afghanistan
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10839/next-in-afghanistanThe Anti-Semitic Jewish Media
The Anti-Semitic Jewish Media
by Bruce Bawer • August 16, 2017 at 4:00 am
- Almost everyone in a position to do something is a coward. Politicians continue to recite the mantra that "Muslims are today's Jews," even though in Europe today Muslims are far more often the tormentors than the tormented, and Jews lead the list of victims of public abuse.
- Needless to say, the immigrants Trump wants to keep out of the U.S. are precisely the type who, in Europe, are currently Jew-bashing people like Stephen Miller -- and Rob Eshman. But Eshman doesn't want to think about this ticklish fact, which challenges his own simplistic, self-righteous pontifications.
- Linda Sarsour is the very personification of stealth Islamization and an obvious anti-Semite. But as Davidson himself noted, she's acquired plenty of Jewish allies and defenders, "including Jeremy Ben-Ami, Mark Hetfield, Rabbi Jill Jacobs and Brad Lander."
Stephen
Miller, Senior Advisor to the President for Policy, talks to reporters
about President Donald Trump's support for creating a "merit-based
immigration system", August 2, 2017. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty
Images)
For years now, Jews across
western Europe have been the targets of harassment by Muslims. Police
officers stand guard outside of synagogues. Recently, when I stayed in
the Jewish Quarter in Rome, I couldn't help notice the presence of
multiple police kiosks, each manned by an armed cop. Many Jews in
European cities have long since ceased wearing yarmulkes or Stars of
David. Jewish kids are instructed by their parents to avoid identifying
themselves as Jews at school lest they be beaten up by their little
Muslim friends.
Continue Reading Articlehttps://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10810/antisemitic-jewish-media
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10810/antisemitic-jewish-mediaEurope: Migrant Crisis Reaches Spain
Europe: Migrant Crisis Reaches Spain
by Soeren Kern • August 16, 2017 at 5:00 am
- "The biggest migration movements are still ahead: Africa's population will double in the next decades. A country like Egypt will grow to 100 million people, Nigeria to 400 million. In our digital age with the internet and mobile phones, everyone knows about our prosperity and lifestyle." — German Development Minister Gerd Müller.
- "Young people all have cellphones and they can see what's happening in other parts of the world, and that acts as a magnet." — Michael Møller, Director of the United Nations office in Geneva.
- "If we do not manage to solve the central problems in African countries, ten, 20 or even 30 million immigrants will arrive in the European Union within the next ten years." — Antonio Tajani, President of the European Parliament.
Migrants
wait to be rescued by crewmembers from the Migrant Offshore Aid Station
(MOAS) Phoenix vessel on June 10, 2017 off Lampedusa, Italy. (Photo by
Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
Spain is on track to
overtake Greece as the second-biggest gateway for migrants entering
Europe by sea. The sudden surge in migration to Spain comes amid a
crackdown on human smuggling along the Libya-Italy sea route, currently
the main migrant point of entry to Europe.
The
westward shift in migration routes from Greece and Italy implies that
Spain, situated only ten miles from Africa by sea, may soon find itself
at the center of Europe's migration crisis.
More
than 8,300 illegal migrants have reached Spanish shores during the
first seven months of 2017 — three times as many as in all of 2016,
according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Fr. Bob Warren's Week Reflection for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
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| Fr. Bob's Reflection for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time | |||||
| In our Gospel today Jesus says to Peter "come." It is a simple invitation, one that Jesus gives us daily. It is the same one that he offered to the rich young man elsewhere in the Gospel. The young man turned away because he had many possessions. Think of the ways you obey this invitation, think of the ways you avoid it. What is it that makes it difficult for us to clasp his hand and come to Jesus? He said to Peter and to us "come" but so often we hesitate. | |||||
| Peter became frightened. What is it that frightens us the most? What frightens you? It could be waiting for the doctor to call with the results of medical test. Parents are often frightened by what their children are exposed to on TV and the internet. Seniors are often frightened by growing disability and dependency upon others. Mid‑lifers are frightened over losing their jobs, seeing incomes dwindle or their marriages fracture. Sometimes teens are frightened of being counted out by the in‑crowd. | |||||
| So often we are all frightened to get out of the boat. At the start of our Gospel, Peter does get out of the boat. He showed great faith in the Lord. In the beginning, he was faithful. To be faithful is to take a risk, just as Peter risked in stepping out of that boat. | |||||
| Actually, the whole human bag is a risk. If you do not know that, you have been living on cloud nine. In the measure that you are really alive, you are risking. You take all sorts of chances without knowing how they will turn out. To marry is to risk. You risk your individual life in the hope of finding it more full with another and the odds today are only 50‑50. To love is to risk. You open yourself to all the burdens that being loved lays on you and many crumble under it. | |||||
| To become a top flight doctor or lawyer or to be in business is a risk. You may end up terribly narrow and one‑sided, closed to everything except your profession or work. Even to be free is to risk. You can say no to God, betray your Christ with a kiss. In a word, to live humanly is to launch out into a large unknown. To be a Christian is to risk. To begin with, you commit yourself to a Christ you can not see. Your act of faith is just as breathtaking as Peter stepping out of the boat. | |||||
| Here, you do violence to what you see and hear, touch, smell and taste. You see a criminal on a cross and you say — my Lord and my God. You hear words from a book and they turn for you into the word of God. You taste bread and you eat the body of Christ. It is a risk because you do not have certainty and you realize that faith is more than nice thoughts and feelings. It determines your life. | |||||
| If we risk in committing ourselves to Christ who we can not see, we risk perhaps more in committing ourselves to a church we can see. For this is a pilgrim church, a community on the way not yet there. A body of sinful men and women who at times are in startling contradiction to the Lord who heads it. To the spirit who gives it life and still it is Christ's community. It is here where he expects us to experience Him and not only to endure it but to love it and take it for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health until death.... | |||||
| Scripture tells us that to be a disciple of Christ you have to lose your life in order to find it. I do not know what life it is that Christ is asking you to surrender or what it is that keeps you from a deeper relationship with Him. What is it that weakens your faith or stops you from getting out of the boat.... I do know that it is one thing to be faithful when the issues are stark and clear, when you know the way to God and what will end well. When it does not cost anything, does not threaten your way of life but our life is not always like that. There are times when we are lost and we grope in the dark. There are times when we are not sure, when we are afraid to get out of the boat. There are times when we want to rely and depend on someone or something else other than Christ. When the Lord simply says you have your gift, my church and your own conscience, my Grace and your good sense. | |||||
| So often we forget those wonderful words that we heard from St. Paul in last week's readings, "neither death nor life, neither Angels nor principalities, neither the present or the future, nor powers, neither height nor depth, nor any creature will be able to separate us from the love of God that comes to us in Christ our Lord". | |||||
| The truth is we are never alone. Note it was only when Peter took his eyes off Christ that he began to sink. Remember the words of Mother Teresa, "God does not call us to be successful but he does call us to be faithful, to keep our eyes on Him, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health... keep your eyes on Christ. | |||||
| On a dark winters' night in a small Midwest family community, a two‑story home of a young family caught on fire. The parents and children made their way through the smoke filled home to the outside. As soon as they reached safety, the mother screamed "where is little John?" Just then they heard a wail and looked up to see their 5‑year old son at the bedroom window, crying and rubbing his eyes. The father stood under the window and called out, "jump son. Jump and I will catch you". In between sobs, the boy responded to the voice he knew so well, "but I can't see you. Daddy, I can't see you". The father answered, "But I can see you, so jump". The boy with faith in his father jumped into the smokey darkness and found himself safely cradled in his father's arms. | |||||
| Sometimes life is like that, we feel like we are on the edge and don't know which way to turn. That is the time to have enough faith to jump into our father's arms. That is the time to get out of the boat and walk toward the Lord. When Peter started to sink, he didn't try to swim back to the boat or call the other disciples to help, no he called to Jesus, Lord save me. | |||||
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The focal point: White supremacy
The focal point: White supremacy
Charlottesville violence gives a movement the attention it wanted, professor says
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/08/charlottesville-violence-gives-white-supremacist-movement-the-attention-it-wanted-professor-says/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=08.16.2017%20%281%29
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
How much should tech firms police hate speech?
How much should tech firms police hate speech?
In
the wake of racist demonstrations that turned violent over the weekend,
thoughts turn to how tech can help. On one hand, neo-Nazi website Daily
Stormer was kicked off GoDaddy then denied a home by Google, and AirBnb has blocked users that used the site to organize the rally. On the other, white supremacist content is rife on sites like Twitter and Facebook. Wired investigates how Internet firms must balance freedom of expression with a moral duty to use tech tools to fight hate.
Monday, August 14, 2017
Sunday, August 13, 2017
China Is Our Last Diplomatic Hope for North Korea
China Is Our Last Diplomatic Hope for North Korea
by John R. Bolton • August 13, 2017 at 1:00 pm
An inscription stone marking the border of China and North Korea, in Jilin. (Image source: Prince Roy/Wikimedia Commons)
Former National Security
Advisor Susan Rice acknowledged last week that America's policies
regarding North Korea's nuclear-weapons program over the last three
administrations had failed. She said, rightly, "You can call it a
failure. I accept that characterization of the efforts of the United
States over the last two decades."
Former
Vice President Al Gore said much the same. They should know. They
served under President Bill Clinton, who started things rolling downhill
with the Agreed Framework of 1994. This misbegotten deal provided
Pyongyang 500,000 tons of heavy fuel oil annually and two light-water
nuclear reactors in exchange for the North's promise to abandon its
nuclear-weapons efforts.
Pyongyang
violated its promise before the ink was dry. In 1999, former Secretary
of State James Baker denounced Clinton's approach as "a policy of
appeasement." Baker's characterization also applies to much of the
subsequent U.S. diplomacy. North Korea has always been willing to
promise to abandon its nuclear ambitions to get tangible economic
benefits. It just never gets around to honoring its commitments.
Continue Reading Article
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10826/north-korea-diplomacy-china#continued |
I Look At Charlottesville And I Am Afraid – A Sermon on Matthew 14:22-33
I Look At Charlottesville And I Am Afraid – A Sermon on Matthew 14:22-33
https://interruptingthesilence.com/2017/08/13/i-look-at-charlottesville-and-i-am-afraid-a-sermon-on-matthew-1422-33/
The Hippies Who Hated the Summer of Love
The Hippies Who Hated the Summer of Love
The merchants of Haight-Ashbury advertised a summer of free food, free lodging, and free love. What they got instead was a civic nightmare.https://longreads.com/2017/08/07/the-hippies-who-hated-the-summer-of-love/?utm_source=Weekly+Longreads+Email&utm_campaign=985cd46669-Longreads_Top_5_August_11_2017&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bd2ad42066-985cd46669-239031537&mc_cid=985cd46669&mc_eid=9528811089
Forever Yesterday: Peering Inside My Mom’s Fading Mind
Forever Yesterday: Peering Inside My Mom’s Fading Mind
Kevin Sampsell bears witness to the ways in which Alzheimer’s has been pulling his mother back in time, and taking over her life.https://longreads.com/2017/08/11/forever-yesterday-peering-inside-my-moms-fading-mind/?utm_source=Weekly+Longreads+Email&utm_campaign=985cd46669-Longreads_Top_5_August_11_2017&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bd2ad42066-985cd46669-239031537&mc_cid=985cd46669&mc_eid=9528811089
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