My Top News

The Russian government has agreed to allow American troops and weapons bound for Afghanistan to fly over Russian territory, providing an important new corridor for the United States military as it escalates efforts to win the eight-year-old war, officials from both sides said Friday.

The agreement, to be formally announced when President Obama visits here on Monday and Tuesday, represents one of the most concrete achievements of the effort to rebuild a relationship severely strained. - NY Times

The Honduran army ousted and exiled leftist President Manuel Zelaya on Sunday in Central America's first military coup since the Cold War, triggered by his bid to make it legal to seek another term in office.

President Barack Obama and the European Union expressed deep concern after troops came for Zelaya, an ally of socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, around dawn and took him away from his residence. He was whisked away to Costa Rica. - Reuters

Conveniently being tried after North Korea's recent missile/nuke tests (they've been held for months), 2 US Journalists charged with illegally crossing into the communist state, have been sentenced to 12 years in a labor camp.

Despite the administration taking a hard stance, it's definitely quite interesting to see North Korea keep raising the stakes. With neither side backing down, the US has already said they are looking to intercept NK ships that may have weapons/nuke materials which will really raise the pressure.

It will be interesting to see if we keep upping the pressure or not. Something like intercepting North Korean ships would be high stakes, but also more likely to work rather than sanctions. (but by all means, sanctions are a good thing) As well, Obama is looking into a legal way to reverse the Bush decision of removing North Korea from the terrorist supporting list.

As always with North Korea, it's about limits and what each side is trying to achieve and how it's going to cool down. This time both have no intentions of backing down or making concessions which makes things more dangerous and more uncertain. North Korea is determined to be in the "Nuke Club" and build a respectable weapons armada, of course the US wants nothing of this for 1. North Korea with Nukes isn't a good idea and 2. An arms race, which seems more and more likely with the increasing aggressiveness by NK.

We'll stay tuned and hope for the journalists to be released as soon as possible.

Shortly after President Obama landed in Saudi Arabia, Osama bin Laden's homeland, a new audio tape purported to be from the al Qaeda leader was aired today on Al Jazeera television network.

Bin Laden makes reference to this spring's violence in the Swat Valley of Pakistan, indicating that he recorded his message relatively recently.  - The Blotter

The government accidentally posted on the Internet a list of all civilian nuclear sites and their activities in the United States.

The 266-page document was published on May 6 as a transmission from President Barack Obama to the U.S. Congress. Some of the pages are marked "highly confidential safeguards sensitive." - AP

That seems to be the plan apparently. That's not a big shock as the total amount of nuclear weapons on both sides have gone down steadily for quite some time, but the number is what's surprising - 1,000 each which is an 80% cut. (according to Wiki the US has 4k active nukes and 5,500 total - Russia has 8,800 total with 5,200 active)

Obama admin. seeks treaty to cut US, Russia nukes

While I don't mind a cut in the amount of nukes it's crazy to see some people think and some even are for total nuclear disarmament. Don't get me wrong, if it were possible to get rid of all nuclear weapons forever - that would be great. But while were at it why don't we cure cancer, fix the economy in the next week and let's just all sit in a circle of peace - make love, not war!

Seriously, when it comes to certain issues there can be 2 sides but sometimes there's a wacko 3rd side or it's an issue that really isn't an "issue", but the other side is just crazy. 2005-2007ish it was those that kept denying the Iraq war wasn't going well, no it's just the liberal media making things up. In this case it's the people that want the US to seriously disarm completely all it's nuclear weapons and trust that every other country will willingly give them up.

It's not just nukes, nukes is just a small part of what I guess some would call more of a "peace" generation but I can think of a different word. If there was no war, then that would be awesome and of course I'm for war being the very last option but that is not the reality. Sometimes war is necessary and some people can't/won't accept that.

Whenever I think or talk about nuclear weapons I think of Albert Einstein and how much he regretted recommending to Roosevelt what we now know as the "Manhattan Project". The great irony is one of the last things Einstein said was:

"I made one great mistake in my life... when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made"

And yet the nuclear bomb not only ended World War II a few million less dead then the alternative (Invasion of Japan), but it may of been "the" thing that got us through the rest of the 20th century relatively unscathed. Imagine a world where we invaded Japan, where deaths were projected in the millions, and a world where the two mighty super powers had nothing standing between them, preventing them from attacking each other and invoking millions more to parish.

The irony without a doubt is when Einstein said that he would of never guessed that the Nuclear Weapon is in an odd way, the weapon of peace and thanks to it and MAD, got us through the Cold War and keeps us here without a world war since before the nuke was first made.

With that said, those that think nuclear disarmament need to come to reality. There will be wars, I'm sure a major one in the next few decades (aren't we due?) and peace will also prevail in some places, but it isn't always the right answer. As well, Nuclear Weapons won't always exist! Once a more destructive weapon is found, it'll take "the bomb's" place.

Some people might call me a "war-monger" or pre-judging those in the future, but it's reality. War will always exist and getting rid of the world of nuclear weapons will simply not happen, it's a fairy tale. It's great if we reduce the amount and work to try and prevent others from learning to build there own nukes, but actually totally disarming? That's a fairy tale.