Kim Jong-un and Bashar al-Assad are evil terrorist bookends

Imagine yourself walking into a meeting room where two international "leaders of genocide" are sitting? Worse than walking into Adolf Hitler's final World War II bunker.

Kim Jong-un and Bashar al_Assd. They're evil dictators and poisonous governmental bookends at the table. Both of them are over their heads in perpetrating cruelty to their own citizen human beings and have past the point of no return. 

Even scarier than their evil ambitions to eliminate political opposition and maintain power are how they also differ. Kim Jong-un is now the keeper of an atomic bomb or, even a more sinister hydrogen or "H" bomb.  On the other hand, Bashar al-Assad must look to Russia for a holocaust causing nuclear weapons. In my opinion, both of these evil driven ambitious power hungry men with sinister ambitions are desperate because they know how fragile their control is. About the time the only way to maintain political power is by causing death, destruction and genocide, then there's justs no remorse in killing more people, over time, in ther vain efforts to create leadership by ruling others with fear.  

Obviously, China has propped up North Korea as a buffer zone against the US allied governments in South  Korea and in Japan. In Syria, Russian President Putin holds the puppet strings over the Assad genocide machine, because, in part, it's retaliation for Europe tanking the Russian economy.

Nevertheless, the two evil world dictators and holocaust bookends are dangerous human belings. As such, they're also mortal men. Meanwhile, until their inevitable mortality occurs, the world is increasingly torn apart by the state sponsored terrorism each is fueling, because neither will participate in international negotiations to improve the humanitarian crises of which they are the root causes.  

Obviously, the salient question is how can the world survive these two and their evil intentions?  It may seem counter-intuitive and politically unpopular, but one way to combat evil is by causing stronger isolalation via economic sanctions and even preventing humanitarian assistance to many victims of these holocausts. Tragically, the response of greater armament only causes an equal and opposite retaliation; but neither dictator can continue to survive the economic collapses of their entire nations. Russia can't prop Assad up forever and Kim Jong-un can't continue to look fat while even his army looks like they're starving from lack of sustenance.  

Moreover, Kim Jong-un can't buy nuclear technology without money or food to feed the people who provide the expertise. Nor will he be able to buy medicine when he inevitably gets sick or mortally ill.

Unfortunately, the routes of economic sanctions and isolation haven't been enormously evident in the past. Nevertheless, we really can't measure how much worse off the world would be if these measures weren't tried in other situations, like in Cuba or Iran. Frankly, economic sanctions contributed to bringing down the Cold War Berlin Wall in Germany and may have finally caused a thaw in Cuban-American relations. (Cuban president dictator Fidel Castro may have had a "call to redemption" when he met with Pope Francis.)

Eventually, somebody in North Korea and in Syria will also create change and reject evil. Let's just hope the evil bookends will topple under the weight of their own tyranny.

Je suis Charlie is a clarion call to all of Western Europe - Will Russia join?

President Barack Obama condemned the "terrorist attack" and pledged US assistance.  

"We are in touch with French officials and I have directed my administration to provide any assistance needed to help bring these terrorists to justice," he said.

France is now under a widespread terrorism threat, with the reality of all Western Europe being at risk for sleeper cell attacks. Russia's President Putin has joined Western Nations in condemning terrorism and the attacks in Paris. Would he become an ally in a widespread response to destroying the Islamic extremists? Obviously, Russia, is at risk for Islamic terrorist attacks (only Putin knows how many are already captured, we'll never really know), so it makes sense for all of Europe, with Russia, to respond, to defend "je suis Charlie.

(CNN) French law enforcement officers have been told to erase their social media presence and to carry their weapons at all times because terror sleeper cells have been activated over the last 24 hours in the country, a French police source who attended a briefing Saturday told CNN terror analyst Samuel Laurent.

Ahmedy Coulibaly, a suspect killed Friday during a deadly kosher market hostage siege, had made several phone calls about targeting police officers in France, according to the source.

The alert came amid word that the lone remaining suspect wanted in connection with a terrorism spree -- Hayat Boumeddiene -- entered Turkey on January 2, a Turkish prime minister source told CNN Saturday.

Turkish police tracked her movements, according to the source.....

No doubt, the Islamic extremists events in France will keep all of Europe on edge until something is done to eradicate terrorism.

CNN is reporting on a raised terrorism alert throughout France.

Now, it appears terrorist cells have been called into action and God only knows where they are or how many are capable of launching more murderous attacks. Nevertheless, more heinous attacks on innocents are forthcoming.

I found this Muslim response posted on the BBCNews website:

Hamed Saeedi writes: In my Islamic upbringing I was taught that the pen is man's strongest weapon. These extremists must know that they can never silence freedom of speech, for it is a stronger weapon than any they'd dare to carry. Why couldn't they answer peacefully through the pen as our prophet likely would have? True Islam condemns such attacks, more so when they are ignorantly and violently carried out in its name. Long live freedom of expression, religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence.

Dear Mr. Saeedi, it's time for those who share your Islamic upbringing to stand up against the extremism you are writing about Although Mohammed would have preferred the pen to the sword, there comes a time when actions must be summoned, to speak louder than words.  

Russian economy shrinks for first time since 2009: Economic sanctions at work

The Moscow Times is telling the world what's going on inside Russia, but major American news networks like NBC would rather report "Making a Difference" stories. US news media must eventually give President Obama credit for his international patience and suppot for economic sanctions to oppose Russian President Putin's illegal invasion of the Ukraine.

It's difficult to understand how President Putin can withstand this kind of economic downturn, but our American news isn't reporting the ruble's collapse.

"This is linked to sanctions first of all, oil and the panic we saw on the market in December. The damage to the banking system and consumer sentiment will take a long time to repair," Polevoy said.
(chief economist for Russia and the CIS at ING Bank in Moscow)

The (economic) sanctions have severely reduced the ability of Russian companies to borrow abroad, triggering the worst currency crisis since Russia defaulted on its debt in 1998.

 

Russia's economy shrank sharply in November and the ruble resumed its slide on Monday as Western sanctions and a slump in oil prices combined to inflict the first contraction in GDP since the global financial crisis.

The Economic Development Ministry said gross domestic product shrank 0.5 percent last month, the first drop since October 2009. With oil exports forming the backbone of the economy, analysts said the contraction is likely to worsen.

The slide on the oil market accelerated this month after the exporters' group OPEC refused to cut output, and prices are down almost 50 percent from a peak in June. On top of this, the sanctions imposed over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis have deterred foreign investment and led to over $100 billion flooding out of the Russian economy this year.

"With the current oil price we expect things to get worse. There is no cause for optimism," said Dmitry Polevoy, chief economist for Russia and the CIS at ING Bank in Moscow.

"This is linked to sanctions first of all, oil and the panic we saw on the market in December. The damage to the banking system and consumer sentiment will take a long time to repair," Polevoy said.

The sanctions have severely reduced the ability of Russian companies to borrow abroad, triggering the worst currency crisis since Russia defaulted on its debt in 1998.

The ruble, which had strengthened on Friday, slumped over 6 percent against the dollar in early trade on Monday in thin trade, although it later regained some of the losses.

Overall the ruble's weakness will inevitably lead to higher inflation next year by pushing up the cost of imports, threatening President Vladimir Putin's reputation for ensuring Russia's prosperity.

Government ministries forecast the slump in oil prices will lead to a 4 percent contraction of the economy next year and that inflation could exceed 10 percent.

Falling Ruble

The ruble had lost more than half of its value at one stage in December, although it has recovered since then after the government introduced informal capital controls and raised interest rates steeply.

The government issued orders to large state-controlled oil and gas exporters Gazprom and Rosneft to sell some of their dollar revenues to shore up the ruble.

Russians have kept a wary eye on the exchange rate since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Hyper-inflation wiped out their savings over several years in the early 1990s and the ruble collapsed again in 1998.

At 2:27 p.m. in Moscow the ruble was trading at 56.40, much weaker than the 30-35 seen in the first half of the year but well up from a low of 80 per dollar in mid-December, its lowest point since the financial collapse of 1998.

The falling ruble has prompted huge buying of foreign currency in Russia and heavy withdrawals of bank deposits, heaping pressure on a vulnerable banking sector whose access to Western capital markets is restricted by the sanctions.

On Friday, Russian authorities also significantly scaled up rescue funds for Trust Bank, saying they would provide up to $2.4 billion in loans to bail out the mid-sized lender, the first bank to fall victim to the crisis.

 

It's a dangerous situation for ordinary Russians trying to survive the winter.  For President Putin, it's an ominous problem but one he has control over. Just pull back out of Eastern Ukraine and the economic problems will be alleviated. It's not rocket science.  

 

But, for President Putin to order a withdrawal means he must deflate his ego or the Russian nation will pin prick it for him.

Putin continues to up the ante now blocks imports but ruble still = 34 cents

Well the Russian ruble has just reached the value of about 34 cents on the $US dollar. That's a spike since the last time I checked the value at 28 cents on the $US dollar.

Nevertheless, even with this measly increase in the ruble's value, Russian President Putin announced a "tit for tat" embargo on imports, to retaliate for economic sanctions imposed on his nation by the USA. Rather than save the Russian economy billions in costs to fund a military build up to test Ukrainian resolve and the cuts being imposed via economic sanctions, Putin puffed up his ego yet again and announced a block on imports.

Who's hurt by a block on imports? It's always the middle class who are impacted because the cash heavy rich can access whatever they want want on the black market.

Moscow (CNN) -- President Vladimir Putin has banned food and agricultural imports from countries that imposed sanctions against Russia because of its actions in Ukraine.

Putin signed the decree Wednesday, calling it an order "on the use of separate special economic measures aimed at ensuring the security of the Russian Federation."

The move comes more than a week after the United States and European Union increased economic sanctions on Moscow for supporting pro-Russian separatists fighting Ukraine government forces in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, along the border with Russia.

Meanwhile, CNN also reports that the search for the tragic victims of the Malaysian air MH17 has stalled, because Russia

doesn't want the international community to find proof of how the airliner was shot out of the sky by a surface to air missile.

Moreover, it's certainly an intentional assault on US corporations involved in the economic sanctions Putin is retaliating against, that over one million email access passwords were corrupted by Russian computer hackers.

At the end of this "tit for tat" litany, Putin is acting like the gorilla in the zoo who wants attention.  Regardless of what the western nations do to prevent Russia from creating havoc with the Ukraine, Putin, will simply beat his chest and howl like Tarzan in the jungle.  

Meanwhile, as Putin forces his import embargo on the people of Russia, the rich will seek out black market supplies without regard for the costs. A healthy black market already exists in Russia but now it will balloon into a sub cultural illicit corporation.

And the Russian ruble is still worth a measly 38 cents.

It's time for somebody to teach President Putin about economic 101. In other words, he can't sustain his nation's economy on nearly worthless ruble.  

Republicans are shocked-shocked by impact of sequestration cuts to military

Hypocritical Republicans act out in self righteous anger about our nation's largely rhetorical response to the Ukrainian crises with Russia.  I'm angry about Russia's moves in the Ukraine, a feeling driven by my heritage as the daughter of a Ukrainian father.

Russia's tyrannical President Putin is acting like a 21st century Hitler. 

Nevertheless, Republicans think Americans should somehow be incited to rise up in a military response to Putin's dangerous saber rattling in the Ukraine.  It seems to me, Americans should be saving lives in Syria before thinking about  a military response to Russia.   

Certainly, Putin has ripped the scab off of old political wounds. Indeed, the old Cold War is now "Cold War II", deliberately caused by Russia's power hungry President Putin.  

In my opinion, European leaders should be flooding our US news media with support for the Ukraine, because Russia will eventually keep up this power grabbing. Putin will claim to want back the countries Russia once occupied post World War II, putting his military power dangerously close to Western NATO nations.

Republicans who supported stupid budget sequestration cuts, just to prevent the US economy from rebounding post the Great Recession, should hang their heads in shame rather than criticize President Obama about wanting a forceful response to Russia.  

Nevertheless, Republicans act "shocked! shocked!" about our nation's unwillingness to aggressively push back on Putin's ruthless ambitions. Yet, Republicans won't put up the money needed to build up our nations national defense and support veterans. In fact, just this week, Republicans voted not to reinstate veterans benefits! This is an outrage and they should all be voted out of office! Most of them have never served in the US military yet they consume US tax dollars in executive level pay and benefits. 

Republicans are the reason our nation is reluctant to engage Russia in an equal and opposite reaction to Putin's thirst for power.  

It's the proverb about "what goes around comes around". President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney falsely claimed our nation had to invade Iraq to destroy weapons of mass destruction and none existed.  

Here's the result of the Bush-Cheney Iraq War to find non existent weapons of mass destruction:

Source	Casualties	Time period
Associated Press	110,600 violent deaths	March 2003 to April 2009
Iraq Body Count project	112,667–123,284 civilian deaths from violence. 174,000 civilian and combatant deaths[1][2][3][4]	March 2003 to March 2013
Iraq Family Health Survey	151,000 violent deaths	March 2003 to June 2006
Lancet survey	601,027 violent deaths out of 654,965 excess deaths	March 2003 to June 2006
Opinion Research Business survey	1,033,000 deaths as a result of the conflict	March 2003 to August 2007
PLOS Medicine Survey[5]	Approximately 500,000 deaths in Iraq as direct or indirect result of the war.	March 2003 to June, 2011
Classified Iraq War Logs[1][6][7][8]	109,032 deaths including 66,081 civilian deaths.[9][10]	January 2004 to December 2009

So, now Republicans are "shocked! shocked!" because Americans were misled in Iraq and have no trust or energy left to summon against another dictator like Saddam Hussein.  

Surely, the world should demand for Syrian President Assad to be removed from power for causing a humanitarian crises in his own nation. President Putin should be shunned by world leaders until he stops meddling in other nations' business.

Unfortunately, thousands more people will be put in harms way before Americans will wake up and see the need to respond. Americans point to our nation's problems needing solutions before taking on more world policing.

Meanwhile, Republicans should stop acting "shocked! shocked!" about our nation's reluctance to take up a forceful response to the evil peculating out of Putin's foreign policy cauldron.  

Of course, Putin is aware of how Americans are not prepared to take a forceful response to the Syrian and Ukrainian land grab. 

Instead of being "shocked! shocked!" about America's inability to create a forceful response to Putin, Republican should, instead, recall all sequester cuts, We must give our US military the resources needed to keep our nation's defenses alert during the dangerous reign of President Putin.

Syria - We Must Remember the Millions of Victims: FoxNews

It's among the least supported subjects I write about but somebody must remember the millions of victims of the Syrian civil war - especially since the ridiculous peace talks fell apart like an avalanche in Geneva, Switzerland this week.

Syria has an ancient history, but now the country's population is under threat of pandemic diseases (polio outbreaks reported) and genocide because President Assad is now focused on protecting the interest of the Russians, who have set up a puppet government in Damascus.  There's no doubt, if polio has erupted in the Syrian refugee camps, then tuberculosis is also endemic in the population, because sanitary conditions must be deplorable. 

Nevertheless, President Assad sent peace feelers to the Geneva peace talks to help resolve the country's daunting civil war, because he thought, maybe, the nations would give him a pass on regime change.

How can any civilized country give President Assad a pass? He is responsible for the disease, dislocation and death of millions of his own people! 

At the imploded Geneva conference, the two sides discussed humanitarian issues and possible ways to end the violence. They made some agreements on local ceasefires to allow access for humanitarian workers. UN aid chief Valerie Amos said the deals had allowed some aid to get through to a few thousand families.

Oh my, aid to "a few thousand families"? There are more than a million displaced people living in refugee camps, because they fear genocide if they remain in their homes. Many of the displaced people support the Syrian rebels and, sadly, are largely Christians.

Syrians Christians seem to be targeted in this horrific civil war.

FoxNews has been covering the persecuted Syrian Christians.

I must say, I'm not a FoxNews fan, but this is the one subject where I believe this reporting is earning humanitarian kudos. 

FoxNews reports how Christianity began in the East, not the West, yet today Christians in the East are enduring an all-out-assault by Islamic terrorists, while Christians in the West live their lives largely oblivious to it all. This has to change.

This is no imaginary persecution; in Syria alone there have been reports of kidnappings, Christian communities intentionally displaced by militants and, worst of all, shootings and beheadings of Christians who refused to convert to Islam.

In Egypt radicals have recently destroyed dozens of churches, and the once vibrant Christian population in Iraq has been decimated.

In my opinion, the world has abandoned Syrians and President Assad is protecting his mortality by doing whatever the Russians want him to do.  If Putin pulls support for Assad, he's done.

Human nature under stress being what it is, Assad thought he might barter for some deal to allow humanitarian aid to be given to displaced and persecuted Syrians. Assad actually thought he could exchange humanitarian aid for his leadership, presumably, exempt from Russian control. This strategy didn't work, so the talks imploded. Thankfully, the Geneva peace talks won't barter with a leader who is responsible for the murder of untold numbers of his own people through violence and persecution.

Thanks to FoxNews for remembering the Syrian victims of the deadly civil war. It's impossible for President Assad to continue as Syria's leader, because he's a perpetrator of genocide.  

Russia has its own internal problems with domestic terrorism. It's a long shot, but possible President Putin will have to, either, declare war on his own people or resign. Who's going to hold Assad's hand when President Putin is distracted or gone?

Who cares what happens to Assad? He's a man who wants to barter the humanitarian aid to his own people to save his presidency.

Meanwhile, millions of Syrians, inheritors of thousands of years of history and culture, will never know peace or be able to claim what they lost during this horrific civil war.

We must remember to care about these tragic people.

Qualifications of a House Speaker - First Do No Harm

House speaker John Boehner is a leader obsessed with obstruction. Although he pretends to lead his colleagues in the House of Representatives, he fails the basic political test of a public servant to create trust. 

As though Americans need more reasons to mistrust Speaker Boehner, he has now criticized President Obama for not attending a previously scheduled summit meeting with Russian President Putin in early September. House Speaker John Boehner used the development as an opportunity to take a swipe at Obama.
"A reset with Russia just collapsed," he said.  

President Obama has every reason not to attend a summit with Putin in advance of the G-20 economic summit in St. Petersburg.

Apparently, Boehner is unaware of how the US was diplomatically snubbed when the National Security Agency whistle blower Edward Snowden, a man on the lamb for breach of national security, was given asylum by the Russians, despite US protests 

This decision to cancel the summit meeting was made in the interest of affirming America's international leadership in the face of a national security embarrassment over the asylum granted to Snowden by Putin.  

Boehner's criticism of President Obama is making a delicate situation even more fragile. Moreover, the criticism doesn't demonstrate patriotic leadership.  In short, Boehner isn't building trust in America by criticizing the President about this important decision not to attend the summit.  

Putin must have known this response to the summit was coming. For President Obama to attend the summit, while Russia continues to provide Snowden asylum, would be ridiculous, because only acrimony would result. This anticipated negative political affect shared by two world leaders wouldn't be good for either nations' public relations.

One has to wonder if Speaker Boehner even bothers to read the news he needs to know.  (Boehner needs Katie Couric's question. "So, Speaker Boehner, what newspapers do you read?")

Boehner doesn't understand how his leadership is harming our national security and America's international credibility.

In short, Boehner must learn to "first do no harm".

Let's begin with the public servant's obligation to build trust. About the only thing Americans can trust Boehner to do is obstruct any and all things sanctioned with a President Obama imprimatur.

Obviously, Speaker Boehner doesn't recall, or he chooses to ignore, the effective leadership built upon the trust shared by Republican President Ronald Reagan and Democratic Speaker of the House Tip O'Neal.  MSNBC pundit Chris Matthews reported in a January 8, 2011 Washington Post op-ed article how politicians today should pay attention to the effective leadership shared by these two elected politicians, who didn't philosophically agree:   "...it seems like a good time to reflect on Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill.  It would serve us well to understand how these very different politicians managed to temper their philosophical divide with a public, and sometimes personal, cordiality," wrote Matthews.

In other words, President Reagan and Speaker O'Neal worked together for the public good.  Although the two didn't agree much, they enjoyed mutual and national respect, leading to trust. 

Certainly, this isn't so with Speaker Boehner and his relationship with President Obama.  In contrast, Boehner's leadership of the US House has driven public opinion for the once dignified august House of Representatives into a walloping Gallop Poll rating of 79 percent disapproval!  Americans can't trust a politician who leads the Congress into a hole covered by public disdain.  

Speaker Boehner is harming American foreign policy by not supporting President Obama, especially when it makes patriotic and international good sense to do otherwise.  

Supporting President Obama's decision not to attend the summit with arrogant President Putin will do no harm to our nation or Speaker Boehner. As a matter of fact, the decision for President Obama not to attend the summit will likely save Americans a lot of tax money needed for travel security.  Support, rather than criticism, won't do any more harm to Speaker Boehner's image with Ohio Democrats, either.

It's really time Americans examine the qualifications of House Speaker John Boehner in the same way we ask to see the licenses of physicians who are treating patients for illness. Speaker Boehner's continuous obstruction of President Obama's agenda is unpatriotic and, therefore, doing more harm than good.

It's time to remove Speaker Boehner from his Congressional leadership position, because he's clearly doing us harm.  I have seen no evidence to the contrary.  There isn't a public initiative I can think of where Boehner's leadership has improved our nation's human condition.  

Boehner is not demonstrating the patriotic qualifications required to continue being Speaker of the House. My vote is to replace Boehner with somebody who garners respect.  Unfortunately, a Republican with qualifications required for this important leadership role seems, at this time, to be nonexistent.

Which may prove that the entire Republican Party needs to be sanctioned for political malpractice, until they can learn how to govern without doing more harm.  

Spy and Counterspy - What Goes Around Comes Around in Spyland and Snowden Paradox

If National Security Agency (NSA) fugitive Edward Snowden is given asylum in Russia, he will unleash a network of spies and counterspies who will seek witness protection status as a result of any impending extradition to the US.  

Snowden will remain homeless in a proverbial "no mans land", in the Moscow airport, until he decides to officially ask Russia for asylum; or, he can try to fly out of Moscow, without official status, because, certainly, Snowden's passport has been impounded. If he decides to simply leave Moscow, he will be flown back to the US where he'll face criminal prosecution.  It's a paradox.  Either situation is an embarrassment for Russia, who clearly wants information from Snowden but, afterward, would probably move him to a camp in Siberia (perhaps, a fate he deserves). 

Likewise, Snowden is an embarrassment to the US because, this one man, has been given the opportunity to disrupt international spy communications and, in the process, has ripped off the political scab of old fashioned and aggravating Cold War wounds.

This dicey Snowden controversy is terribly serious.  Anyone who underestimates just how dangerous this extradition is should take time to read spy novels by John LeCarre (the George Smiley novels) and Daniel Silva (Potrait of a Spy or The Unlikely Spy)  knowing how each fictional story is rooted in reality.  In other words, they're more fact than fiction.  There's more at stake in the Edward Snowden "man without a country" saga than a person who is a fugitive from justice.  

For Moscow to return Snowden to the US will ignite an electrical storm of international spy negotiations, the likes of which, has the potential to grow hair on Russian President Vladimir Putin's balding head and turn President Obama's brown eyes blue - but, surely, both men already know this to be dangerously true.  Media in the US and the Russian press want to know the "story behind the story"; they will want to probe to the bottom of the barrel of a bunch of spies who would like to come in out of the cold, to use a Le Carre metaphor.

Whatever happens to Snowden, if he winds up in the dismal camps of Siberia or in a Federal US prison, his "whistle blower" acting out has put at risk many spies, counterspies and the clandestine operations in which they've been involved.  And, so, this is what's fundamentally gone wrong with the daunting episode - it's got a strangely fatalistic sucking sound.  What goes around comes around in the world of international espionage. Tragically, those caught in the whirlpool of deceit will never be heard from, because they'll likely be the deadly and irreversible consequences of this NSA disaster.