What is it with Norks and nukes?

"Will North Korea ever become a seeker of peace instead of a god of war? Maybe not in my lifetime. I do know this - life in North Korea is very hard. Will the North Korean people finally wake up and decide this is not the way to live a good life? One can only hope and pray they will."

North Korea. The hermit kingdom. The land in which time forgot. The "why" in North Korea is what really interests me. They are the bad boy of the WestPac. Normally, I could look at this country and blow it off. As the saying goes, "not give it no never mind". But we (I) can't. One simple reason. While the US presidents were asleep at the switch, the Norks got nukes. It started small, but then it seems like almost overnight, North Korea became a nuclear power. Now it is a country with 50 nuclear bombs, run by a madman.

It has been a while since I have addressed this issue. The "rich man - poor man" issue of the Korean Peninsula. Why is this such a big deal that the hermit kingdom has now garnered nukes? Has anybody had the forethought to ask Kim what he plans to do with all those nukes? And because he has free reign to do as he wishes over there, he is building an additional five to eight nukes a year. Why? To use of South Korea? To us on us? Japan? What is going on in his twisted mind? 

Donald Trump is fighting like crazy right now to keep Iran from developing nukes. Why? He has seen what nukes have done to the tipping point over in Korea. He does not want a repeat of that in Iran, happening under his watch. Trump knows that should Iran get a nuke, right behind them would be the Saudis. Or UAE. Or Jordan. Or who knows who would be next. Israel has nukes but are quiet as church mice about it. Their nukes would only be used as absolute last option. North Korea on the other hand? His nukes might be for his recreation. His power plays. Basically, the fact the Norks have nukes right now is a mess - a real hot mess.

As poor and misguided as North Korea is, is how balanced and successful South Korea is. South Korea is a powerhouse of technology and innovation. It is a rich country with a wonderful future. North Korea is a dead country with no future. During his first term, Donald Trump tried every which way to convince Kim there is a better way. For a short time, it almost looked like Trump was getting through to Kim. But he did not. And now Kim is back on that lonely road to becoming a bigger and much badder despot.

Where do we go in the future? What is to become of the Western Pacific? The ascending stars are for sure South Korea and Japan. Both have shown that should push comes to shove with any of the bad boys in that region of the world, they can take care of themselves. But then there is the question of nukes. Neither Japan nor South Korea have nukes. But North Korea does. China does. Russia does. India does. And Pakistan does. That makes the balance over in the Indo-Pacific become very unbalanced. VERY unbalanced.

Will North Korea ever become a seeker of peace instead of a god of war? Maybe not in my lifetime. I do know this - life in North Korea is very hard. Will the North Korean people finally wake up and decide this is not the way to live a good life? One can only hope and pray they will.

  

The art of the deal? Or is this a no deal?

"As Shakespeare said, "Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war!" Our troops are tired sir. Let them finish the job and then go home."

I know this is going to look like a Deja vu all over again. We have a deal; we don't have a deal. We are close to the framework of a deal; we are not even meeting for a deal. For the love of Pete President Trump, listen to your military advisors. They are telling you (in gentle and respectable language), that this bunch of Persians are playing us like a fiddle. I am going to make this short, to the point - and blunt. There is ZERO interest for Iran to make a deal with us. We may want a neat and tidy legal document with all the "T's" crossed and the "I's" dotted - but the other side could give a whit about any paper produced. They just want Israel and the USA dead. It is as simple as that.

I think it is time to show the back side of our hand like it has not yet been seen by these guys. I could see a parade of B-52s, B-1s, B-2s, Warthogs, F-35's, F-15s, Super Hornets - you name it. Throw everything but the kitchen sink at them. When the call up and say "please stop bombing us" - tell them tough toenails. They had their chance for peace. Now it is war up until they sign the surrender papers. We will never have a better chance than right now. Stalling makes no sense - none.

They have played us long enough. We have seen this movie, played this game. We need to end this and end it quickly. Heck, they are still shooting at ships in the Strait! Enough already! We will never return to normal at this rate. And another thing - if they are this dishonest putting an agreement together, do you really think they will honor it once the ink is dry? No way, Jose! Like I said - there is no better time than the present to end this. Tell the Saudis if they want to help us end it quickly, fire up your jets. 

My biggest fear is if Trump keeps getting played by Iran, he will have "TACO Don" as his legacy. That would be unfair to him, but if he can't get us out of this rut, it might be earned. As Shakespeare said, "Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war!" Our troops are tired sir. Let them finish the job and then go home.

Is Cuba now ripe for the taking?

"I would love to see a USA friendly Cuba by the end of the year. They deserve it, and we need another close by neighbor to be friendly. Would I like to visit Cuba some day? Absolutely. I have had that dream for years. Time to be friends again, Cuba. Time to see what happens when you let freedom ring." 

Oops - poor choice of words for this title. We really don't want to "take" Cuba - we want to have Cuba be our friend in this hemisphere. No longer be an agent or client state of Russia or China - we want Cube to throw off the yoke of Communism and become fair traders with us. And here is the irony - we can fix Cuba only if they let us. Get their electrical grid fixed; have some real industry again; stop living in the 1950's. 

What has China done for Cuba as of late? Zip. How about Russia? Double zip. And then there are the rumors flying around that one of those bad actors has managed to smuggle in some Shahed Drones from Iran. To be used against our homeland. If the drone story is true, and some drones are fired against our southern shores of our homeland, we will have to give Cuba the stick instead of the carrot. What we really want to do is allow Cuba to straighten up and fly right, so normalcy can once again return to that fine island.

Growing up, many of us heard from our parents - "Set an example for others". Well, Cuba has set an example to all to see. How is that Communism thing working? Poorly, at best. For the DSA sheeple who seem to be growing in number in our country, here is your Communism. Do you really want to live like the Cubans? Right now, many Cubans want to live like us. They way they live really sucks, and most know it.

I know that SOS Rubeo is working some magic to get Cuba back into our fold. Ever since we liberated Venezuela, Cuba has been an island all to themselves. We can help fix that, but Cuba has got to want to be fixed. Getting those fossilized Castro brothers out of power will help - a lot. 

Here is the irony of Cuban people. The ones who escaped to America after the Cuban revolution are good, hard-working folks. I worked for one while at IBM. I have talked with Ted Cruz's father. I like our expatriated Cubans who live here. They add nicely to our national fabric. Unlike other nationalities who were dumped here and refuse to work or assimilate, I give expatriated Cubans an A++.

I would love to see a USA friendly Cuba by the end of the year. They deserve it, and we need another close by neighbor to be friendly. Would I like to visit Cuba some day? Absolutely. I have had that dream for years. Time to be friends again, Cuba. Time to see what happens when you let freedom ring. 

  

Did the BUFFs cause another pause in the Iran bombing?

"The interesting thing is how scary the BUFF is, considering we still have the B-1, B-2, and soon the B-21 in our bomber fleet. We may be getting a little short on some of the bombs but still have more than enough to complete this mission. Too harsh? Sorry about that." 

I know. I know. We have all of us, seen this movie before. We know how it ends. We know it by heart. We get hit by Iran, or some ships in the Strait get hit by Iran, we unleash a bit of shock and awe on our target list, then - the phone call. "Could you please stop bombing us? We promise we will resume negotiations with you." We stop the bombing, "negotiations" resume, and then another ship or two in the Strait is hit by Iran. But this time it was a bit different. The Iranian on the other end of the phone call sounded like he was getting ready to wet himself. Why? He knew the BUFFs were coming. And that is bad - very bad.

Wait a minute! Am I saying that this ancient relic from the Viet Nam War, held together by spit and gum, is still flying? And can still bomb like it once did? Yes, it is still flying. Yes, the BUFF (B-52), is better than ever. If there are no air defenses, the B-52 is unmatched. If there is an active air defense, the B-52 is nothing more than a high fat target. Fortunately, our forces have taken care of all of Iran's air defenses. All a BUFF needs is the target list, and it is shooting fish in a barrel. 

Trump was very clear on one point. If Iran tries that Lucy and football trick one more time, the jig is up. Every weapon that Trump needs is still in theater, and HE WILL USE THEM ALL. Will Iran be good boys and not fire on anymore ships? The betting crowd thinks a leopard does not change his spots. Not to sound like a warmonger, but I think the two cups of grace Trump has given the IRGC is about empty. 

The interesting thing is how scary the BUFF is, considering we still have the B-1, B-2, and soon the B-21 in our bomber fleet. We may be getting a little short on some of the bombs but still have more than enough to complete this mission. Too harsh? Sorry about that. But these guys have been begging for a beating since they took our people hostage right after their "revolution". Biden gave them the carrot, time for Trump to show them the stick.

Living in a dorm right next to Kadena AFB during the Viet Nam era, every day I had off, I would watch the BUFFs take off, ladened with bombs, headed for North Viet Nam. They would use about half their fuel just to get to altitude, so the tankers took off right behind them. Even though the BUFFs are a bit grey in the temple but can still kick some serious butt. Do they need a swan song in Iran? Maybe. We should find out this week. 

Enough already! Of this AI stuff!

 

"Many in Hollywood are shaking in their star-studded boots that soon, very soon, content for movies, TV shows and maybe even music recordings will be done by non-humans (not aliens). I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but AI is already infused in many movies with very complicated special effects."

Welcome to the future. As we continue to plod along with our daily lives, the future has a habit of sneaking up on us. With many starting to wring their hands in worry and show some legit concern about how AI will affect our lives, the cat is already out of the bag (so to speak). ICYMI, your cell phone provider as well as your internet provider has been dishing out loads of AI stuff to be embedded in your favorite toys. And as the old saying goes, "You have not seen nothing as of yet."

Every time I do a blog post, and before I publish it, my friendly (yet uninvited) AI who lives in my blogosphere, asks me if I would like to have (he/she/it) re-write my article. So far, the answer has always been NO! Could the AI do a better job than me at times? Maybe - but the product would not be mine. It would belong to (he/she/it) instead. No - as flawed as my writing is compared to a robot, it is still mine.

This past week, there was a real Skynet type of story on the news. It seems that the AI from one developer got into the weeds of a couple of other AI products from different developers and corrupted them. Here is my legal question of the day - since the guilty AI is autonomous, who is responsible for the charges to fix the corrupted programs? The (he/she/it) who did it? Or the developer, who is only as guilty as Frankenstein was. Could something like this happen again? Count on it.

Many in Hollywood are shaking in their star-studded boots that soon, very soon, content for movies, TV shows and maybe even music recordings will be done by non-humans (not aliens). I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but AI is already infused in many movies with very complicated special effects. I can only imagine what Hollywood will look like in five years. Why five years? In this rapid world of AI technology, five years is like forever. 

Soon, most will not know what is real and what is AI generated. Yes, it will be that good. My thoughts? I will stick with the same opinion as the man on the dino pictured above. Since he does not believe in AI spoofing people, neither shall I! 

   

Not hyperbole - are we approaching World War III?

"If you have concerns that either of these wars could spread into much wider conflicts, it would be wise to keep an eye on all the chess pieces on the board (so to speak). If a world war comes, it could come very quickly. A miscalculation, a gambit, or an error could lead to instant escalation. And as we have learned, the path to war is fraught with many slippery slopes. Are we on one of those slopes right now? Maybe."

Wars can spin out of control. This war with Iran is no exception. And the war in Ukraine? With the unthinkable happening where Russia could actually lose? I remember Putin saying at the on start of this horrible war, that the only time he would consider using nukes was if Russia started to lose the war. But wait - the Iran war and the Ukraine war are two separate events. No relation between the two. Or is there?

Is there a nexus between these two wars which could cause one to have spill over on the other? The other day on the news, it was reported that Ukraine has gotten so good with their drone technology, that Russian ships which are part of their Black Fleet, are being attacked by Ukrainian drones. These are ships which are coming from Iran with Shahed Drones on board. Drones which would be used by Russia against Ukraine. By taking this action, it has put Ukraine in the Iranian War on the side of the US and Israel. 

Can you see the path we might be going down? Sides in both conflicts are now taking shape. On the side of Russia, there is Iran, Iran's proxies, China, and North Korea. On the side of the US, is Israel, Ukraine, Poland, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, Japan, and South Korea. But wait - what about Europe? Canada? What about them? We can count on Poland for sure. But the rest of Europe? Depends on the day.

BTW - did you also hear of the news this week that one of Russia cruise missiles missed its mark and landed well into Poland? Fortunately, it hit in a field, and nobody was hurt. But what is the point? The point is this - this was no accident. It was a probe. Testing NATO's resolve. Putin has been itching to take on NATO for some time now, and in Putin's mind, NATO has never been weaker. With the US pulling back from the Euro Zone, and relationships between NATO countries looking frayed, what a great time for Putin to pull a stunt like this one.

Remember the push back that Trump was getting on Greenland, when all Trump wanted to do was extend the Golden Dome to protect more of Europe? When Trump said this was to give us an earlier alert for incoming missiles from Russia, NATO snickered. When Trump said his Golden Dome could also shoot down some of the incoming missiles, including the hypersonic ones, NATO did not snicker - they laughed. If war does break out with Russia, who will be laughing then? I dare say no countries in projected blast zones.

If you have concerns that either of these wars could spread into much wider conflicts, it would be wise to keep an eye on all the chess pieces on the board (so to speak). If a world war comes, it could come very quickly. A miscalculation, a gambit, or an error could lead to instant escalation. And as we have learned, the path to war is fraught with many slippery slopes. Are we on one of those slopes right now? Maybe.

Spain - how to un-win friends and make enemies

 

"Here are my words to the government of Spain. Good luck. You are foolish and lousy leaders. Now you will bear the consequences. Sometimes, it is good to learn from other's mistakes. As for me? I will continue to vacation in our RV up at the trailer camp. It is not perfect, but a whole lot better than Spain right now."

Stupid see what stupid do - or something like that. One would think that after the world watched four years of unfettered, out of control illegal immigration via open borders (under Joe Biden), most of the smart folks in Europe would have wised up. Not Spain. They liked this idea. So, the borders were thrown wide open so as many illegals as possible from Morocco (and elsewhere) could come on it. And now Spain, in the midst of their present day wokeness, is in a huge, huge problem. 

Italy's PM, Georgia Meloni (whom I deeply respect) is hopping mad right now with Spain. So mad, she might abrogate or suspend the Schengen Area Agreement with Spain. That agreement, which was signed in 1985, basically made it easy to go from country to country in Europe. Kind of like going from state to state here in America. But PM Meloni can only see bad things coming from this unfettered illegal immigration that Spain has fallen into. Italy, like the rest of Europe, needs to look out for their own national interests.

So, besides the scorching heat and the wildfires that Europe is enduring right now, why not throw in some out-of-control immigration on top of all that also. In the universe of dumb things to do, this ranks right up there. Why do I say that? Lessons learned - we in our country have found out that letting in a billion or so undocumented people is a who lot easier than having ICE get rid of just a fraction of that number. But Spain is wrapped up in wokeism right now, so they will have to suffer the same things that we did under Biden.

Is this a good time to visit Europe? Heat, fires, and now open borders in Spain. I think not. I have been to Spain working on a co-production deal some years ago. Those were the good days. But even in those "good days" in Spain - no thank you. Not a place I would choose to go back and visit. Just look at England, and how illegal immigration has hosed that place up. Again, I was there on business in the good days. Now - no thanks.

Here are my words to the government of Spain. Good luck. You are foolish and lousy leaders. Now you will bear the consequences. Sometimes, it is good to learn from other's mistakes. As for me? I will continue to vacation in our RV up at the trailer camp. It is not perfect, but a whole lot better than Spain right now.