Axis of Jihad

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called "Axis of Jihad."

Deport the terrorists, halt their vile ways,
Before darkness consumes our brightest days.
Iran’s threat looms large, Yemen’s shore cries,
The Axis of Evil seeks its prize.

Russia, China, and Iran—psyops behind it all,
Undermining the West with terror and chaos, oh the gall!
Their geopolitical dance, a cunning ballet,
While the world trembles, caught in their dangerous strategic sway.

 (AI generated image via Designer)

Axis of Jihad

The Biggest Threat to Western Civilization

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called "The Biggest Threat to Western Civilization."

In short, radical jihadists are not only using everything from terrorism to the pursuit of nuclear weapons to achieve their goals of domination and a caliphate, but they are also employing a dangerous strategy of subterfuge and subversion of our democratic institutions and society. As long as we continue to focus almost exclusively on threats from China and Russia and attempt to downplay the significant danger of a radical terrorist caliphate, we ignore the "revolution," the ideology of martyrdom, and the pursuit of Jihad that is a threat to freedom and human rights not only to the people in their own countries but to those around the world.

(AI generated image via Designer)

The Biggest Threat to Western Civilization

Putin: Will He Stay or Go?

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called "Putin: Will He Stay or Go?"

Perhaps Putin dodged a bullet today, but we'll see over time if he continues to be so lucky and who is ultimately right about Vladimir Putin's future: will he be whisked away to some Siberian gulag or will he continue his absolute reign over Russia and its people and continue his war for Soviet-era power and dominance?

(Credit Photo: Florian Lisi via https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-holding-a-painting-12249238/)

Putin: Will He Stay or Go?

Space Boy Is Dead Meat

Debate in the Wall Street Journal about sending radio communications billions of light years away to communicate with aliens. 

Given man's destructive nature to man, why would we want to entice aliens to come here and do to the world what Russia is currently doing to Ukraine. 

Moreover, why would we court disaster and give them a celestial roadmap to get to earth?

Our scientists may know science, but they are nuts to want to bring ET destruction to us.  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Space Boy Is Dead Meat

Fighting Domestic Abuse

I came across these excellent graphics used to educate and prevent against domestic dominance and abuse.

The first wheel shows how "power and control" are used to instill fear and dominate domestic partners as well as in an overall pattern of relationships with physical and sexual violence:

- Intimidation
- Emotional Abuse
- Isolation
- Minimizing, Denying, and Blaming
- Using Children
- Male Privilege
- Economic Abuse
- Coercion and Threats

In contrast, the second wheel displays positive patterns of "equality" in relationships and nonviolence and are marked by the following attributes:

- Non-threatening behavior
- Respect
- Trust and Support
- Honesty and Accountability
- Responsible Parenting
- Shared Responsibility
- Economic Partnership
- Negotiation and Fairness

Have you ever noticed a pattern of domestic abuse behaviors that include the following?

- Constantly lecturing on political views the other person should hold.
- Keeping them away from their family and friends.
- Controlling the major life decisions.
- Hiding money and accounts.
- Demanding the partner stay home with the kids indefinitely.
- Using emotional withdrawal and/or passive aggressiveness to control.
- Requiring the other person to be available whenever they want.

Spouses and partners should be your best friend and not your servant or dog to kick when you get home.

Watch out for those who exhibit the bad behaviors and patterns of abuse and violence...and stay safe in good and healthy relationships! ;-)

(Source Photo: Domestic Abuse Intervention Project - Duluth Model)

Fighting Domestic Abuse

Preventing Cyber Disaster

So I liked this ad from Palo Alto Networks on the side of the bus, over the windows:

"Dinosaurs react.
Professionals prevent."

That's some very good marketing for a cyber security company.

It's almost a daily occurrence now to hear about the infiltrations into our networks and exfiltrations or manipulations of data that is taking place across government and industry.

Just today again, another NSA contractor accused of stealing highly classified computer code.

The day before Guccifer 2.0 and Wikileaks releases trove of stolen documents from the Clinton Foundation. 

And again, J&J reveals that it's insulin pump is vulnerable to hacking following allegations in August that St. Jude heart devices were subject to life-threatening hacking. 

Certainly, we can't afford to sit back and wait to react to the next attack...damage control and remediation is much harder than getting out in front of the problem in the first place. 

Prevention and deterrence is really the only solution...keep the hackers out and make sure they know that if they mess with us and our systems that we can identify who they are, find them, and take them out. 

These are the capabilities we need and must employ to dominate the cyber realm. 

In the presidential debates, candidates struggled to articulate how to deal with cybersecurity. 

But this is not a game of cyberopoly, rather national security, critical infrastructure, vital intellectual property, and our economy is at risk. 

Giving away Internet control and trying to plug leaks after the fact on a sinking cyber ship is no way to manage our vital technology resources.

It's high time for the equivalent Cold War determination and investment that ensures we win a free and safe cyberspace with all our networks and data intact. 

This is the only way that we don't go the way of the dinosaurs. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Preventing Cyber Disaster

Russia's Iron Fist

Russia is enormously resurgent (as is China), and they are modernizing their military, while we are "busy" and distracted with ridiculous dysfunctional political infighting here in the U.S.

- Between Republicans and Democrats. 

- Between Trump and Hillary.

- Between running mouths and utter corruption. 

- Between what our values are and aren't.

- Between racism and cop killings. 

- Between sequestrations, filibusters, and government shutdowns. 

- Between fighting terrorism and not even being able to say it's name and origin. 

- Between support for NATO and our allies and abandoning them. 

- Between invading Iraq and Afghanistan and then hasty and wasty retreats. 

- Between capturing terrorists and locking them away in Gitmo and then throwing them back out on the streets to plot and attack again. 

- Between calls for a strong military, policing the world, and keeping the peace and that being replaced by leadership from behind, disengagement, appeasement, and weakness.

- Between a healthy, vibrant economy and a shallow recession, failing Obamacare, slowing innovation, and ballooning national debt and welfare state. 

In the meantime, the Russians, if no one has noticed is moving critically forward in the world. 

- Ukraine's Crimea has been gone since 2014, separatists are fighting in the east, and tens of thousands of troops are massing on the border. 

- Georgia's Abkhazia and South Ossetia was  occupied by Russia in the war in 2008

- Chechnya was taken by Russia in 1999 and Grozny, the capital, was completely leveled. 

- Bases around Damascus and in Iran have been built up and are in active use in the civil war in Syria going on today, and Aleppo, the largest city in Syria is becoming apocalyptic. 

- The Baltics are under threat by encroaching Russian forces. 

- U.S. military ships and planes and being regularly "buzzed" and Russia is flying mock nuclear bombing runs on the U.S.A. and Europe. 

- Russia is proposing a counter-alliance to NATO by them, China, India, and arch enemy, Iran. 

So while the U.S. spends more on military than the next 8 nations combined, with the U.S. at $610 billion to Russia's much more modest $85 billion, nevertheless, we are falling over our own feet, while Russia is clearly on a determined march.

We can't afford to play politics and suck our thumbs here at home, while Russia is determined and strategic in their moves geopolitically advancing their interests.

We are playing a losing hand and wasting valuable blood and treasure unless we get our democratic house in much needed order, focus, and resolve. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Russia's Iron Fist