South Korea has joined forces with the rest of the parties involved in the nuclear treaty in an attempt to convince North Korea to restart the disablement of their nuclear plants. If you remember, North Korea had stopped disabling their nuclear facilities and had discussed enabling said facilities because the United States had not yet taken them off of a blacklist which forfeited their right to receive United States economic aid. North Korea argued that they should be receiving aid because they were in the process of disabling their facilities. The United States was not ready to give aid yet because the facilities had not been fully disabled.
The economic aid in exchange for disarming nuclear facilities was a deal constructed by the United States, China, North and South Korea, Russia, and Japan. The US is still holding fast that they will not deliver any aid to Korea until North Korea allows them to verify the validity of their claims for having disabled their plants. Honestly I can’t imagine why North Korea won’t allow the US to check up on their progress if they are making good on their word. It reeks of conspiracy if they are claiming one thing but not allowing anyone to check that claim.
South Korea commented that this is “typical” of North Korea. The South Korean spokesperson said, “The North Korean announcement appears to be a typical tactic.” North Korea consistently tries to lie and manipulate the rest of the world with regard to their nuclear program. They have always had nuclear aspirations and I would be surprised if they were actually willing to give those up for some economic aid. We need to watch them carefully if the treaty resumes and not assume that they are doing as they say. The only way this will work is if we are allowed to continually and randomly verify that their plants are disabled.

In doing a little research about the US Air Force, I happened across this little fact. Lockheed martin is the principal company which develops and distributes air force jets and weapons. They developed their first jet for the US Air Force in 1946. This jet was relatively affordable for the United States Air Force. However in continuing to do business with the Air Force, Lockheed Martins prices have gone dramatically upward. Lockheed’s prices for their jets have increased by a factor of 273. You might say, “but what about inflation?” Well the United States dollar has inflated from 1946 to now by a factor of 12. Therefore it is clearly evident that we are paying substantially more for our Air Force jets now than we did since the conception of Lockheed Martin.
Granted that the current jets supplied by Lockheed are far more capable than those developed in 1946. However my question is this – just how often are fighter jets utilized in air combat? I can’t personally answer this but I am wondering if you can shed some light on the subject. Are we really using our jets enough to justify such extravagant expenses? As of now the Air Force budget for 2009 is 143.7 Billion dollars. My question is this: is there anything that could be sacrificed without losing our military advantage?

North Korea has now stated that they have ceased the denuclearization process since August 14. Furthermore they are planning to reactivate their nuclear plants that were supposed to be disarmed as a result of a six-nation treaty involving the Untied States. The North Korean government has authorized such actions because they believe that the United States has not fulfilled their end of the agreement. According to the treaty, the US was to supply North Korea with Economic aid in exchange for their denuclearization. However the United States has not yet given that aid because North Korea will not allow in depth checks of their nuclear facilities. The North Korean spokesperson said, “It would be a big mistake if the US believes that it can carry out a search of our home as it did in Iraq as it pleased.” North Korea is also planning to reinstitute their nuclear program because of incessant requests from affiliated North Korean parties.
What do you believe the United States should do about this quandary? I think that the best step when dealing with nuclear weapons and facilities is to practice diplomacy. The United States must come across as stern yet accommodating to the North Koreans. They need to strike some kind of deal about the testing procedures because that is what started this whole predicament. If they can come to an agreement about when and how they will test the nuclear facilities to verify that they have been disarmed, then the two nations will likely be able to resume their original treaty which ordained economic aid from the United States in exchange for disarmament of nuclear facilities.

Obama commented on Monday that new sanctions are necessary for Iran so that Israel will not be placed in a position of danger. Iran has repeatedly threatened to attack Israel with nuclear weapons. In several news clips, the President of Iran can be seen stating that he wishes to wipe Israel off the map.
As the most powerful country in the world, do we have a duty to defend Israel from villains such as Iran? True these tensions between Israel and the middle east run deep but we can’t sit back idly and let Iran make open threats toward our ally while pursuing a nuclear program. In the event that Iran procured nuclear weapons, the first course of action would be to attack Israel. I believe that preemptive action must be taken now. In order to ensure the safety of Israel as well as the rest of our allies, we need to impose harsher ultimatums on Iran. What could these ultimatums be? Your guess is as good as mine. All I am saying is that diplomacy has yielded little cooperation thus far. I don’t believe that we should attack Iran, but rather we need to continue to tighten our sanctions and to show them that we mean business. They have disregarded our economic sanctions as if they were nothing. I believe that soon enough our economic cut off will have an effect on their county. However until that time, further sanctions would act as a catalyst for negotiations between Iran and the United States/ United Nations.

The Russian Army is now accusing the United States and several NATO countries of establishing military presence in Georgia under the guise of humanitarian aid. He said that ships from the United States as well as Spain and Germany are occupying the region while pretending to distribute aid to Georgia. The premise for his accusations comes from the large grouping of NATO ships that have been passing through the region for naval exercises. “Under the cover of needing to deliver humanitarian goods, NATO countries continue to boost their naval grouping,” The Russian General commented. Before continuing on, do you believe that the United States and our NATO allies would do such a thing as Russia is suggesting? Granted our military has had mishaps such as the bay of pigs which cause us to distrust seemingly noble endeavors. However I believe that like any entity, the US military has in the past made mistakes. Regardless of their past faults, I believe that the US military is run in an honorable manner and that we should give our military the benefit of the doubt in situations as this. Whose word should we welcome first, our governments comments on the issue or Russia’s?
Besides the naval exercises being conducted in the region, the United States has been sending ships with aid to Georgia. It is appalling to me that Russia would suggest that we would be involved in a generous act only so that we could build our military presence.

According to the Iran bank Chief of Bank Mellat, the US financial sanctions are not proving to be effective. The bank Chief stated that there was a perceived problem because of the US sanction. However he continued and said, “in practice there was no halt to our operations.”
The Iranian bank commented that they are still doing business with a number of international banks including but not limited to Asian, African, and European banks.
With this information, I can’t help but ask the question – just how effective are US financial sanctions on Iran? There is the distinct possibility that the bank chief was minimizing the effect the sanction has had on business. Honestly, why would a state run bank admit that United States sanctions are proving to be effective. Their goal in making said announcement is to give the illusion of prosperity and safety. I believe that the United States sanctions are yielding satisfactory results. In theory, there is no way that any entity could function at full capacity if they formerly relied on United States business but can no longer have access to that business.

I leave the question to you – are United States financial sanctions enough to solve the Uranium enrichment problem with Iran? Is there anything else that the United States could be doing to help persuade Iran to cooperate?

How necessary is renewable energy for the United States? Oil is good right? It has always worked, who’s to say we should change anything up now? Well given the current situation in the Middle East, it could be in the best interest of America if we began exploring alternative energy mediums. If we continue to purchase oil from unstable foreign governments, we will continue to support their economy. However if we could cut ourselves off from oil from foreign nations, we would have more money being pumped through the united states and less money being given to unstable governments.
I know it seems as though an energy revolution is the current hype, but lets face it, gas prices are up and they probably aren’t coming down. From a military standpoint we would obviously benefit because our enemies would have less money to fund less than noble initiatives. Every entity in America would save money if we could develop an efficient alternative energy system within the United States. That includes the US Military. With less money being spent on fuel, they could direct such funds towards our domestic security and other ventures of great importance.
Anyway, I just thought that I would throw the idea out there. I don’t know if you believe that we have an energy problem or not . That is why I am writing this blog. I have heard it said that by buying oil from foreign governments, we are supporting terrorists. Do you believe that statement to be true?

Iran is continuing to engage in discussions with the UN atomic watchdog. When asked about the meetings, Iran stated that they believed them to be a positive venture. Mohammad Saeedi continued saying that he plans to hold further negotiations. Iran’s representative at the IAEA (Atomic Energy Agency) stated that negotiations “on technical cooperation between Iran and the IAEA will continue.”
Inspectors from the IAEA have been consistently dropping by Iranian nuclear facilities to make sure that these facilities are not veering towards nuclear aspirations. The chief argument of Iran for their nuclear program is that nuclear energy is necessary to help provide for their multiplying population.
The latest visit by the IAEA is as a result of Iran failing to give an answer to the UN about whether they will discontinue uranium enrichment in their facilities.
Honestly, I am somewhat surprised that there has not been more international pressure on Iran about their nuclear program. I am glad that everything is being done diplomatically. However it seems as though the UN is giving Iran too much free time. I believe that the fourth set of UN sanctions should be instituted now rather than waiting since Iran has clearly disregarded the requests of the UN to stop uranium enrichment.
Do you believe that the UN should wait to issue their new set of sanctions to Iraq? What would be the benefit of waiting? Could it allow for a more diplomatic solution to this problem?

Iran has just received their fourth set of UN sanctions for not halting the production of uranium enrichment. Instead of showing any signs of winding down, Iranian officials have now asked six Iranian companies to find suitable places for new nuclear power plants to be built. For some reason I keep thinking that these sanctions will slow Iran down, but on the contrary they are simply trying to increase production.
Why do you think Iran continues to disregard UN orders? Surely they must realize that there will be greater and greater repercussions for each day that they continue to disregard UN orders.
As of now, Iran continues to deny that these nuclear power plants are going to be utilized for the production of weapons of mass destruction. However I can’t help but wonder why Iran would admit to such an accusation when they have no plans for stopping uranium enrichment.
For those of you who don’t know, Uranium enrichment is the means by which nuclear power is generated. However this is a touchy area because Uranium enrichment can easily be used to construct nuclear weapons.
What do you believe that the UN should do if their economic sanctions continue to yield no cooperation from Iran? Should America get involved with the issue, or should we allow the UN to handle Iran’s nuclear aspirations? Would anyone actually be opposed to US intervention if it means a world that is safe from nuclear Iran? Can anyone argue that Iran can be trusted with nuclear plants?

On Friday Russia stated that they strongly opposed the United States plans for a new missile shield in Europe because they believe the missiles are pointed at Russia. They continued in their rage saying that the missile shields would not be exempt from Russian military action. In my mind, this seems to be the first serious comments of hostility that the United States has seen from Russia in years.
The President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev commented that the United States was developing the system specifically with the Russians in mind.
What do you believe is happening with the missile system located in the Czech Republic and Poland? The stated military objective of this system has always been to protect against rogue nations, specifically Iran. Is it possible that this system was designed to protect against Russia as well?
Honestly, the United States would be foolish if they didn’t factor the Russian military when designing this system. We are trying to be protected from every nation with this new shield. The shield is not being built to attack anyone, as Russia believes to be the case.
In my mind, there is only one answer, the shield was built to protect, not assault. However we have factored every nation into this defensive plan. Do you believe that it is counter-diplomatic to build a shield that suggests that we may not trust our worldwide neighbors? Or is it an intelligent, preemptive move that the United States is making? Either way, what do you see as being the best outcome for solving this situation with the Russians diplomatically?