Russian takeover of Crimea

The Russians moved into Crimea and the whole world is looking at a Cold War rerun.

The whole thing started with the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Ukraine.  Granted it was unpopular and corrupt (sound familiar?), but it was democratically elected.  It was overthrown by a mob with a lot of border-line Nazi fanatics in it.  The Russians reacted by rolling into the Crimea where their Black Sea fleet is headquartered.  There is also a lot of bad blood between Ukrainians and Russian-speakers in the eastern Ukraine and Crimea.  The Russians saw a threat and reacted, like any other country would do when its interests are threatened.

Like the United States for instance.

In 1962, the Soviet Union placed nuclear weapons in Cuba, ninety miles from Miami.  The US imposed a blockade, called a quarantine, and threatened an invasion unless the Russians pulled the missiles out.  Now in 2014, the Russians see a threat on their doorstep.  And they reacted.

This is not to excuse anything but as Lord Palmerston once said, "Nations do not have friends, they have interests."

There is also the practical angle.

Do not screw around with a nuclear armed superpower on its front doorstep.  Remember 1962?

The Western press has also pointed out the 1994 agreement where the US, Russia, and Britain pledged to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity.  What they seem to forget is the US promise to the Soviet Union that when Germany war reunited in 1990, NATO would not expand past Germany.  The membership of Poland, Slovakia, and Czechia in 1999 violated that and the inclusion of the Baltic States in 2004 breached the old Soviet frontier, something Russia regards as her sphere of influence.  And we know what happened in 2008 in the CaucasusMountains with Georgia.  Now that I think about it, the situation reminds me of the justified US response to threats against Americans in Panama back in 1989.

Conclusion #1: Spheres of influence lead to stability

Conclusion #2: Look at issues from the other side.

With that in mind, I present the following article:
 http://news.yahoo.com/russia-west-were-good-guys-crimea-195700381.html?vp=1

FCC decides not to become KGB...

Ajit Pai should get a medal.

Federal Communications Commissioner member Ajit Pai came out against the President who appointed him to decry a White House plan to place "researchers" in newsrooms throughout America.  The plan had an Orwellian feel to it and looked a lot like the IRS scandal.  I have a link here to the story for your consideration.  The whole "Hope and Change" stuff is starting to smell worse than a backed up sewer.  Everyone is starting to tune out the idiots in the White House.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/feb/21/sekulow-a-tone-deaf-fcc-hears-a-retort-loud-and-cl/

NC thaws out

The Snow Demons returned for the second time in three weeks and wreaked a lot of havoc!  Civilization as we know it was shut down for four days but it was still a lot of fun.  It was pretty good snow, good enough to make snowballs.  It was not the usual icy stuff but it was a little tricky driving at night.

For the most part, NCDOT did a pretty good job but it is time to get back into the usual swing of things.

Even Michelle was getting tired of it and she said, "The snow was fun while it lasted!"

Time to go back to work :-P

Foot In Mouth Award...

Victoria Nuland, Assistant SecState for European and Eurasian Affairs, was caught in a phone call saying "F*c& the EU".  She is all ready in hot water over Benghazi so our idiot government promoted her, sent her to the Ukraine to stick her nose in that mess and she embarrasses the country.

If there is one thing you learn from the NSA scandal, it is to assume that when your are overseas, and especially when the RUSSIANS are involved, your comms will be bugged.

Our foreign policy is a complete joke.

The world loves Americans but hates the US government.


Now, you know why.

Snow in NC!

Winter hit North Carolina with a vengeance and I had to remember how I handled even worse conditions in Pittsburgh and Canada.  We figured it out and went on our merry way.  Of course, my running schedule was shot to the moon and back!

There were some foul ups, bleeps, and blunders but nothing as bad as Atlanta and New York.

New York?

Yes, New York.

For some reason, the city of New York can never seen to get the streets cleaned after a blizzard.  If it isn't some city worker smashing into cars with a grader or just not getting to the entire Upper East Side,it is something else.  Atlanta can fall back on the tired excuse of "we are not used to this weather" but New York has a lot more experience.  Atlanta had horrible organization but then so did New York.

This is what happens when you put bureaucrats in charge of things....

Maybe some bureaucrats.  North Carolina Deptartment of Transportation had a bunch of trucks and salt ready to roll and most of the roads were clear.  Some of the outlying ones were a little treacherous but NCDOT was working around the clock.

So why did Atlanta and New York drop the ball?

"Remote, out of touch bureaucrats" seems like a pretty good answer.  Instead of calling in sick, could they have not shoveled some snow for a half hour or so.  Many hands make light work.  Every little bit counts and all that.  That would entail actually getting up to do something important and meaningful than shuffling papers and writing regualtions that they themsevlves don't understand.

Hopefully, they don't screw up the Super Bowl.

Definition of Irony

I once saw a movie called "Con Air".  There is a scene where Steve Buschemi says. "Irony-a bunch of idiots on a plane singing a song from a band who died in a plane crash."

That is the first thing I thought about when I read this article about the federal Privacy and Civil Rights Oversight Board determining that the NSA's phone snooping program was illegal.

Here is the story for your consideration

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/23/politics/nsa-telephone-records-privacy/

Ottoman Empire=Byzantium 2.0?

I have finished a class on the Ottoman Empire and it bears a lot of resemblance to the Byzantine Empire it conquered in 1453.  How do I come to this conclusion?  Take a look....

Although the West often had problems seeing the Roman-Byzantine connection, the Turks and Arabs had no problem referring to the Emperors in Constantinople as Romans.  Sometimes, "foolish Romans" but Romans nonetheless.

The Ottoman Sultan referred to himself as the heir of the Caesars and even the Khans (!).  The second is a big of a stretch but the Byzantine/Roman reference in clear.  The Grand Vizier, the Sultan's right hand man, seems awful similar to the Byzantine megas domesticas.  The Byzantine horse archer seems to represent the Ottoman version too thought that might be a chicken and egg argument.

The Ottoman Turks were a cultural mishmash from the beginning.  Their religion, Islam, was borrowed from the Arabs.  A lot of their organization, military, bureaucratic, and administrative, is a copy from the Byzantines.  Even their capital was the old Byzantine one.

The Turks were originally pastoral nomadic barbarians.  Lord Kinross, in The Ottoman Centuries, describes such cultures, such as the Turks.Manchus. or Mongols, as "ephemeral".  Looking at the Mongols, you can see their absorption into China as evidence.  The Mongols conquer China in 1216 and two generations later, the capital is in Bejing and everyone is speaking Chinese.  The same applies to the Manchus (or Ming, if you prefer) who conquered China in 1644 and were technically in power until 1912.  Only by 1912, the country is referred to as "China" because Manchuria is 95% Chinese and Manchu is essentially an extinct language. 

If a couple of things had gone differently, ie no Fourth Crusade, it is possible that the Turks could have been incorporated into the Byzantine Empire and who knows.  The Byzantine Empire, which is really the Roman Empire, might still be around today.

I wonder whose side they would have taken in both World Wars?