Why Don’t New York City Subways Have Platform Barriers?

A few weeks ago, an acquaintance asked me if I ever thought there might be peace in the Middle East. Well, in the near term is really doesn’t appear to be all that possible – could it happen, peace that is? Well, surely anything is possible right?

The other day, I was mulling over the challenges in the hot spots in the Middle East, namely the ongoing saga of those in the Palestinian Territory and Israel. Then a funny thing happened, that same day I was contacted by an East Coast acquaintance, and also the whole issue came up in our think tank, as it had been in the news that day. With Syria on the verge of an all-out civil war and revolution, and with Iran forcing its hand in the region, Israel must realize that it must unite its own citizens for the potential attacks…

Is it possible to bring a “bridge of technology” to the Middle East to unite the Western world in a common cause, the goal being the forward progression of mankind? Not long ago, I was having an interesting conversation with someone about all this, namely allow all of our partners and allies in the Middle East to participate in our space technology, as have the Russians, Australia, Canada, and the European Union. In doing so, those who currently oppose us, for instance Iran, might dump their nuclear weapons program, agree on robust inspections, and then join their goal…

Pakistan is a large country with a huge population, and many of its areas are loosely governed, and many folks are not that well educated. Sounds like another troubled region for the world doesn’t it? Indeed, it is, and not part of Pakistan are hideouts for terrorists, and insurgents, and elements of radical Islam, who have been making the Afghan situation quite troubling for NATO and US troops trying to stabilize the region.

Hurricane Katrina struck the city of New Orleans on August 29th, 2005 catching the city unprepared for the massive floods that its squalls would bring. Katrina led to the structural failure of New Orleans’ federally constructed levee system, leaving 80% of the city totally flooded and leading to the deaths of 700 citizens. The storm would serve as a cultural watershed for America, not only because of the massive loss of human life, but because of the subsequent failure of the federal government organization, FEMA, to respond and rescue the survivors of the hardest-hit areas in timely fashion.

Well, it looks as if Pakistan is temporarily on the UN Security Council, and their neighbor India actually voted for that surprisingly enough, which I am assuming that is good news, as we need an open dialogue when two bordering nations like that have nuclear missiles point at one another. Maybe things are mellowing out over there was one comment that came in recently from an acquaintance. “Could be!

Many believe that to ‘win the war’ in Afghanistan we need to leave with a secure and stable society and civilization, and yet do any of us really believe that is possible? Not long ago, I talked to an international analyst type acquaintance, who indicated that is the minimum we must do, otherwise the vacuum we leave once we are gone will re-fill in with the Taliban, and tribal area insurgents of Pakistan, and they will continue where they left off. Indeed, I immediately challenged my acquaintance and said; well, if that’s your definition of winning, but at…

Many ask; how can we win the war in Afghanistan? Some military advisors say we need more troops to cover that large area, and without them, the insurgents just keep moving around and hiding out, until we move again. Further, most agree that once we do leave, all the insurgents in Pakistan will come fill in the vacuum, and as we leave so too will all that money inflow we brought into those economies, villages, towns, and cities there.

Many contend that we must “win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people” or we will never be respected in the Middle East or trusted in the future. They say that if we don’t get this right, it will have massive unintended consequences down the road. Okay so, perhaps so, but still realize that the whole “winning hearts and minds” motif has been a disaster so far and look how much it has cost us, we don’t need any more trillion dollar wars, or whatever you call that exercise.

Most people don’t know much about CVID but I imagine they will the future, based on what’s happening in Iran. It’s obvious it’s time to lay down the gauntlet when it comes to rogue nations like North Korea and Iran and their nuclear weapons program, the ones they deny exist, yet they continually work to upgrade with new modernized centrifuge enriching equipment. Now then, let’s discuss this.