WEEKLY BLOG COMMENTS No. 76
DATES:
2013/08/04 – 2013/08/11
ANALYST:
Domingo Trassens
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear
Friends:
National
security continues in the headlines of the newspapers of the United States and the debate of the bloggers.
The
argument of the last few days was about what is best balance between liberty
and security.
The defenders of strong security structures argue that
thanks to the current surveillance system, a lot of terrorist plots were
aborted during the last few years.
From the
other side, the most loyal defenders of the principles of liberty affirm that
the American Constitution was violated for all the initiatives related to
structures of security and surveillance.
In the
middle of this discussion, a group of Libertarians say that Edward Snowden was
right when he leaked information about the NSA system and they don't blame him
for fleeing to Hong-Kong and Russia. This political group is
against the statement of former Vice President Cheney who accused Mr. Snowden
of “traitor” and also they complain about the current politics of White House
related to security issues.
Meanwhile,
President Obama showed a big disappointment for the Russian asylum for Mr.
Snowden, canceling his September meeting with Russian President Putin. This
cancellation produced bad reactions from the Russian side and question marks
across the United States. Some bloggers approve the
President Obama’s decision and others disagree.
Also in
relation with the national security, the U.S. Secretary of State ordered to
close a series of embassies in countries where there are terrorist threats.
Some bloggers says that these threats are false.
In other important news of the week, Jeff P. Bezos,
Amazon.com founder announced the acquisition of The Washington Post for US$ 250
million. This announcement shook the supporters of the classic newspaper
industry and also produced tears in the journalists that work on the newspaper
of the Graham family for more than 20 years.
In
parallel with the news about The Washington Post, IDC informed a strong advance
of the Android software platform during the last quarter (79.3% of market).
This operating system from Google is the software that runs in the smart-phones
from Samsung, LG, Lenovo, Huawei and ZTE. (By the way, now a lot of users of
the digital devices are reading the news on their digital devices instead of
the classic newspapers.)
Now I
would like to share with you a series of comments posted by myself in the WSJ
Journal Community and PBS/NewsHour through Twitter during the last seven days
about the top news of the week.
The
comments are organized in the following sections:
- United States
- Europe
- The
World (Asia, Africa, Middle East…)
-
Corruption
- Latin America
-
Education
-
Economy, Business, Technology.
DAT
August 11, 2013
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UNITED
STATES
PBS - ANALYSIS -
AIR DATE: Aug. 9, 2013 Brooks and Marcus on Obama's Surveillance
Stance
Subject: In the weekly political analysis of
PBS/NewsHour, the main subject of the previous week was the proposals of President
Obama to change the surveillance system of the United States.
My Comment: We agree that the new equation
between the interests of liberty and security has to be balanced in complete
respect of the principles of our Constitution, but with a realistic
implementation of all that national security demands in times of terror.
This
doesn't imply to be indulgent with wrong decisions of civil servants. (By TWITTER) (2013/08/11) 1 Recommendation
PBS - REPORT -
AIR DATE: Aug. 9, 2013 - News Wrap: U.S. Staff Moved to Pakistan Capital After Threat to Lahore Consulate
Subject: U.S. closed its Lahore consulate (Pakistan) due to terrorist threats.
My Comment: The news says that
the U.S. government closed its consulate
in Lahore, Pakistan and moved temporarily its
personnel to Islamabad - the capital of the country - because of a specific
threat to the American office in this Pakistani city.
We think that in the places where the government of the
countries are weak or don't offer basic security conditions, the best action is
a permanent closure of the consulates or embassies. (By TWITTER) (2013/08/11)
PBS - REPORT AIR DATE: Aug. 9, 2013 - Kerry, Hagel Make Effort to Mend Relations
With Russia
Subject: The meeting among the officials of foreign
relations and defense from the United States and Russia was not canceled despite the cancellation
between President Obama and President Putin.
My Comment: This story begins with the title:
"Kerry, Hagel Make Effort to Mend Relations With Russia."
By the way, one of the important functions of Secretary of
State John Kerry is to mend relations with countries that have disagreement and
collisions with the United States.
According to this
story, President Obama said: “I don't have a bad personal relationship with
Putin…”
The last events show
something different. It looks like President Obama doesn’t have a personal
relationship with President Putin. (By TWITTER) (2013/08/10) 1 Recommendation
WSJ - Story: Obama Proposes Surveillance-Policy Overhaul
Subject: After more
than one month of public discussion about the NSA system, President Obama organized
a special conference where he proposed a surveillance-policy overhaul.
My Comment: Sometimes
when we see that suddenly the President reacts like now with a press conference
explaining some proposals to overhaul the surveillance policy, we have to think
more than twice.
Is it really the intention of President Obama to review our
surveillance policy or is it only another subject for the Congress agenda of
the next months? (2013/08/09) 2 Recommendations
WSJ - Story: Leaker's Father Plans to Fly to Russia – Part 1
Subject: Lon Snowden plans to visit his son Edward in Russia.
My Comment: We think
if Lon Snowden wants to visit his son in Russia
and Mr. Putin gives him the possibility to see his son, this is his business.
Personally, we don’t understand why the media expends a lot
of time talking about the father of Edward Snowden, his lawyer and all the
operation: "To Moscow with
Love".
The story about the fatherly love to the NSA’s leaker will
not change the facts that Edward Snowden broke the law giving secret
information of state to the Russians and Chinese. (2013/08/09) 2
Recommendations
WSJ - Story: Snowden's Father Plans to Fly for Visit – Part 2
My Comment answering to another
member of the Journal Community: Barrie,
Today we don’t have the right answer for your question about who is paying for
the trip of the Edward Snowden’s father to Russia,
but we read that Lon Snowden has some people who are supporting him.
For example, his counsel – Bruce Fein – sent a long letter
to President Obama with this reference: “Re: Civil Disobedience, Edward J.
Snowden, and the Constitution”.
Probably, somebody with money is helping Mr. Lon Snowden to
finance the operation. (2013/08/10) 1 Recommendation
WSJ - Opinion: Robert Stone: Beware the Curse of Asylum in Russia
– Part 1
Subject: Robert Stone - WSJ columnist - talks about Edward Lee
Howard, a former American agent who received Russian asylum and after that was
killed in Russia.
My Comment: The
story about Edward Lee Howard looks very dramatic. In the case of Edward
Snowden, he took the risk to go to Russia because he was dreaming in another espionage
story with a happy end. We have to see if he is a lucky man or he ends his life
with all his bones broken. (2013/08/08)
WSJ - Opinion: Robert Stone: Beware the Curse of Asylum in Russia
– Part 2
My Comment answering to another
Journal member: If
Mr. Snowden was disappointed with NSA, he had other resources to complain
against the surveillance system without breaking the law.
We think that some observers are mixing subjects:
1) It is good that when a citizen see abuse in the institutions, claim.
2) It is not the right procedure to go to Russia
and China with
the complaint against NSA’s system.
And this
conflictive situation is independent whether the president is Republican,
Democrat or without any affiliation.
For example, former Vice President Dick Cheney said that Mr.
Snowden is a “traitor”.
This is a transcript from Fox News “Mr. Cheney said former
NSA contractor Edward Snowden exposing the gathering of information on phone
calls and emails has done “enormous damage” to the United
States' anti-terror programs and called
Snowden a “traitor.””
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/16/cheney-defends-us-surveillance-programs-says-snowden-traitor-obama-lacks/#ixzz2bXgGQdbK
In summary, if each American citizen wants to take Justice in his/her way without following reasonable procedures, we will not live in the United States like a country, we will live like in a cockfight. (2013/08/10)
PBS -
CONVERSATION AIR DATE: Aug.
8, 2013 - In
'Collision 2012,' an Outside-In Look at Wider Forces That Shaped the Election
Subject: Months after the re-election of President
Barack Obama, the journalist Dan Balz of the Washington Post published a book
that examines the 2012 election. The title of the book "Collision 2012:
Obama vs. Romney and the Future of Elections in America."
According to Mr.
Balz, the 2012 election changed previous models of presidential campaigns.
Technology contributed to the deployment of the new paradigms.
My Comment: Across all the presidential campaign, Mitt
Romney showed some doubt about the right way to take a hard offensive against
Barack Obama and use for himself the weak points of the president. Mitt Romney didn’t use the strong weapon that he had in his
hands: Benghazi.
From the other side,
President Obama hit nearly every day the image of Mitt Romney with the case of
Bain Capital and other subjects, always using resources of technology. It was a
strong marketing campaign to discredit the “brand” of his competition because
Mr. Obama knew that he really didn’t have a new “product” to offer. With
this game, the President neglected the economic issues. (By TWITTER) (2013/08/09) 1 Recommendation
PBS - REPORT AIR DATE: Aug. 8, 2013 - News Wrap: A Thousand Firefighters Battle Wildfire in Southern California
Subject: A thousand firefighters battle against a new
wildfire in Southern
California.
My Comment: We have to pray that this new battle
against the wildfire in South California doesn’t end
with a tragedy like a month ago in Arizona
where 19 firefighters died. (By
TWITTER) (2013/08/09)
WSJ - Opinion: Ali Soufan: How Al Qaeda Made Its Comeback
– Part 1
Subject: The comeback of al Qaeda and the temporary closure of
embassies through the comments of the journalist Ali Soufan.
My Comment: Probably, the initiative of a
temporary closure of several embassies helps now, but after that what? This is
not a permanent solution to the threat of terrorism. (2013/08/08)
WSJ - Opinion: Ali Soufan: How Al Qaeda Made Its Comeback
– Part 2
My Comment answering to another
Journal member: About your question: “What if we never reopen them?”
This is another issue. In a practical sense, this decision implies to cut
diplomatic relationships with the country where we close the embassy
permanently. In other words, we are dismantling our diplomatic channel with
that country.
This issue requests a different evaluation:
- Do we have diplomatic, business or cultural interests in this country?
- If we do have nothing in common and it is not a strategic
country, maybe your suggestion is good.
- In the case that we have special interests in this
country, we need to analyze the way to maintain these interests through the
embassy of a friendly country or other procedures. This is a technical subject
for the Secretary of State.
But we cannot solve all the problems related with the threat of terrorism closing embassies. (2013/08/09)
PBS – 2013/08/07 - REPORT AIR DATE: Aug. 7, 2013
News Wrap: U.S.
Files Charges Against Suspected Benghazi
Attacker
Subject: The United
States files charges against a suspected Benghazi
attacker who was member of the Libyan rebel groups.
My Comment: The martyrs of Benghazi till now are claiming for Justice. (By
TWITTER) (2013/08/08)
WSJ - Story: Obama Cancels Meeting With Putin Amid Tension Over Snowden
– Part 1
Subject: President Obama canceled his September meeting with
President Putin.
My Comment: The
decision to suspend the meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin is a
personal decision from President Barack Obama.
However, the only way to solve problems and differences is
through a personal dialogue of the two leaders.
Mr. Putin is a controversial leader, but the way to gain his
confidence is through a face-to-face conversation.
Sometimes, in times of crisis, it is good to talk without
rhetoric and in a direct tone. (2013/08/07) 4 Recommendations
WSJ - Story: Obama Cancels Meeting With Putin Amid Tension Over Snowden
– Part 2
My Comment answering to another
member who asked if Mr. Putin didn’t want to meet President Obama: The
point is not if President Putin wanted to meet President Obama because who
cancelled the meeting was the American President.
Personally, we think is a lost opportunity for a personal
discussion between the two leaders about subjects that produce friction and
frustration on both sides.
For example, in the current circumstances, it doesn’t make
sense that the U.S. Secretary of State complains in public about Russian asylum
for Edward Snowden. President Obama is who has to discuss this subject and
others at the table with President Putin. (2013/08/07)
WSJ - Story: Obama Cancels Meeting With Putin Amid Tension Over Snowden
– Part 3
My Comment answering to a
Journal Community member who thinks it is very difficult to discuss with the
Russian President: In front of Mr. Putin, we always have to act
unhesitatingly, with resolution. With him, a conversation in a hard tone is
better than an amorphous silence. (2013/08/07) 1 Recommendation
PBS -
ANALYSIS AIR DATE: Aug.
6, 2013 - Yemen Scholar Says U.S. Drone Strikes May Have Driven al-Qaida
Membership
Subject: Gregory Johnsen from Princeton University, a former Fulbright scholar in Yemen, discusses about the negative impact of the drone
attacks and explains how al-Qaida is growing in the Arabian Peninsula.
My Comment: In the terrorism war, when you kill
the wrong people, especially civilians, you procreate new enemies.
Also,
drones are a risky tool for targets where it is impossible to kill only the
militants because they are together with children and women.
The operations against terrorist targets have to be executed
like when a good “surgeon” only removes the “tumors” of the human body. In
another case, you spread the sickness.
Definitively, the
killing of children and women is a strategic mistake in the war on terror.
(By TWITTER)
(2013/08/07) 6 Comments
WSJ - Story: U.S. and U.K. Issue Warnings Over Yemen
My Comment: We will not discuss the mistakes that the
White House made because it believed that all was possible to manage with
“drones”…
Now, the facts show
that we have to fix the mistakes soon or decide to all live together
underground in bunkers.
We don’t have the
“technical” elements to determine why several decades ago our Tehran’s embassy was taken by a group of Iranian
revolutionaries and what happened in Benghazi a year ago. From our “humble” perspective,
both cases were mistakes of those who were in charge to protect our
“territories” in other countries. (Maybe we are wrong...)
The embassies are a
part of “our territory” and we have to defend them like we defend California, Washington DC or Texas.
For this reason, we
said before that “the Defense Department has to do their best to protect them.”
Of course, if we
determine that some of the countries where we have embassies are not our
friends, they are our enemies, in those cases we have to “cut” our
relationships with those countries and leave their territories, but this is
something different.
The hysteria of panic
is destructive and pushes to make new mistakes.
The United States became a great country thanks to the courage
of its heroes and the offensive of its leaders. (2013/08/06) 2 Recommendations
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EUROPE
WSJ - Story: In Germany, Greens Knock Wurst
Subject: In September, Germany will have federal elections. The most important
competitors are: CDU/CSU, SPD, Green Party (referenced in this story), FDP and
Die Linke.
My Comment: The fact
is that Germany
is in federal election time in a very complex moment due to the impact of the
European crisis on its domestic politics and NSA's case in relation with Europe.
Now, this story posted in WSJ says that the Greens – the national party that represents the environmentalist groups - want the German cafeterias to eliminate the meat menu one time per week on the “veggie day”.
We don’t believe that for political reasons, the Germans will change their habits in food that frequently include a lot of dishes based on meat. (2013/08/11) 1 Recommendation
Subject: The new Italian government is trying to fix the economy and
finance of the country.
My Comment: The
formula of the Italian Economy Minister to push the economic growth of his
country looks reasonable:
- Cut government expenditures that are not necessities.
- Cut government expenditures that are not necessities.
- Lower taxes on companies.
But this effort is not enough if the current government doesn’t find a way to stop the pressure from the followers of Silvio Berlusconi.
In a country where business, economy, politics and normal
life, all are in the same basket, it is impossible to solve fiscal and
financial problems if some of the members of the political apparatus want to
have a different “law” for the others. (2013/08/09) 1 Recommendation
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE
WORLD (Asia, Africa, Middle East…)
PBS – REPORT - AIR DATE: Aug. 5, 2013 - News Wrap: After Zimbabwe
elections
Subject: Chaotic situation in the political
environment of Zimbabwe
after Robert Mugabe declared himself the winner.
My Comment: In Zimbabwe,
Robert Mugabe continues controlling the country in his way.
Surely, the claim of Morgan Tsvangirai – the main challenger
- about a fraudulent election will end in nothing. (By TWITTER) (2013/08/06)
WSJ - Story: Iran Seen Trying New Path to a Bomb
Subject: The new Iranian president is trying a new path to a nuclear
bomb.
My Comment: Some
members of the White House celebrated the results of the last Iranian
presidential election because the winner was a moderate clergyman.
Meanwhile, Iran continues mocking the Western governments with its projects of a nuclear bomb.
It is evident that the Iranians know how to play the game of cat and mouse. 2 Recommendations (2013/08/05)
Meanwhile, Iran continues mocking the Western governments with its projects of a nuclear bomb.
It is evident that the Iranians know how to play the game of cat and mouse. 2 Recommendations (2013/08/05)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LATIN AMERICA
Subject: An important drug lord who is in jail will be freed by the
Mexican Justice.
My Comment: When the Mexican President
assumed the government, he promised to fight harder and without concession
against the drug gangs.
Now, the news from Mexico says that Rafael Caro Quintero, a drug lord who is in jail for the killing of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent and other drug crimes will be released by the order of a federal court.
The original sentence was 40 years and he served in prison 28 years. Is this time enough to ensure that Mr. Caro Quintero will not continue in the drug business?
In the middle of the
bloody drug war that Mexico lives in this moment, one more drug criminal
on the streets doesn’t look like a good idea. Sometimes, the judicial officials
have to think twice before making crucial decisions. (2013/08/12)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CORRUPTION
WSJ - Story: British Murder Victim's Family Speaks
Subject: The mother of the British businessman killed by the wife of
a Chinese corrupt politician claims for justice.
My Comment: Everybody
with family feelings can understand the reaction of a mother when they kill her
son.
The message of Ann Heywood - mother of British businessman
who was poisoned by Bo’s wife - is reasonable.
However, in the environment of bribery and abuse of power of
Mr. Bo, only another corrupt individual could feel comfortable to work.
Now, it is late for resuscitating Ann's son. Surely the
Chinese authorities know the British businessman was not an innocent employee
of the Bo family. (2013/08/12) 1 Recommendation
Subject: The former New York governor wants to return to the political arena but a
former challenger reveals another scandal of Eliot Spitzer.
My Comment: Several weeks ago some news said
that Eliot Spitzer wants to return to politics. The best will be that the
former New York Governor doesn’t return more to the public. When corrupt
politicians have a second chance, frequently they continue with the same
practices from before.
The sad
news is that Anthony Wiener, another corrupt politician who wants to return, is
also from New York. (2013/08/11) 1 Recommendation
WSJ - Story: French Villa Linked to Fallen China Leader
Subject: The British businessman poisoned by Bo’s wife
managed a French villa of the Chinese politician - This
story is linked with the previous: “British Murder Victim's Family Speaks”
My Comment: The
people who are in a dirty business always enjoy luxury mansions and cars and
big pleasures of life until somebody kills them or they meet another tragic
end. (2013/08/06) 5 Recommendations
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EDUCATION
Subject: Hollywood
producers are taking Spanish lessons to produce movies in Spanish. Some of the
current productions include conversations in English and Spanish mixed without “helps”
for the people who are not familiar with the theme of the movie.
My Comment: Before making
movies in Spanish, Hollywood has to
go to the Academic of the Spanish Language or produce only English movies.
Learn a foreign language in the correct way is not a bad idea. However, Spanish that today a lot of people speak in the United States is not Spanish, it is not English, it is nothing.
A lot of Mexicans, Cubans and Central Americans who come to the southern states of the country really don't speak Spanish; they speak “dialects” mixed with some English words.
And we also saw that in the schools, they don’t respect the rules of the Spanish language.
For marketing reasons, Hollywood likes to break the rules of grammar of Spanish and English. Through this way, the movie producers will only corrode the roots of the American culture, building a Babel language.
From the other side,
movies edited with good English speaking are an important tool to improve the
speaking of English speakers and non-English speakers. (2013/08/11) 1
Recommendation
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ECONOMY,
BUSINESS, TECHNOLOGY
Subject: The PC
makers are focused on new strategies to improve their profitability despite the
pressure of digital tablets and smart-phones.
My Comment: Several years ago, the end users of
technology only had two options: laptop PCs and desktop PCs, both machines
include in the PC segment and running Microsoft Windows.
Today, the end users
of technology have more options: PC (laptops and desktops) running with
Windows, Chrome or other operating systems, digital tablets and smart-phones.
In its last
Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker, IDC said in the second 2013 quarter, tablet
makers shipped 45.1 million units, up 59.6% from the same quarter in 2012, when
they shipped 28.3 million devices.
We have to remark
that in some cases, digital tablets compete with benefits over PCs. For this
reason, it is normal that classic PC market has difficulty to grow, but the
advance of digital tablets doesn’t imply that all the PC users will move to
tablets.
However, the new PC
generation is running with touch-screen and other features that are similar to digital
tablets and smart-phones. (2013/08/10)
WSJ - Story: Google's Android Seizes Smartphone Market
Subject: In the smart-phone market, Google’s Android seizes more
market share.
My Comment: If Samsung, LG Electronics and the Chinese makers continue selling smart-phones based on Android, the Google’s software platform will remain as the top leader with a high market share.
The two Korean companies and Lenovo, Huawei and ZTE are very
aggressive and persistent when they enter into a business.
In front of this landscape, the situation is more complex
for Apple. The only way that the iPhone's father has to maintain market share
is introducing affordable innovative products two times per year. When it stops
this rhythm, its market share will fall drastically. 2013/08/08)
WSJ - Story: Bezos Buys Washington Post for $250 Million
Subject: Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder, acquires the Washington
Post for US 250 million.
My Comment:
Congratulations Jeff Bezos! With all your experience in publishing, technology
and the Internet, you can reinvent the newspaper and introduce innovative
concepts for the news publication industry. (2013/08/06) 3 Recommendations
WJS - Story: IBM Gets Allies to Chip Away at Intel
Subject: IBM builds a new alliance in the semiconductor industry in
hard competition against Intel.
My Comment: Really, it is not new that IBM works with
partners in the semiconductors industry, and it shares research and development
and production costs.
In recent years, it
opened its Power architecture for applications in different niches from
consumer electronics to advanced servers and mainframe computers.
The idea of
expanding the Power ecosystem comes from the moment that IBM left the PC
business and focused itself as a provider of technology for other technology
companies and enterprise solutions. (2013/08/06) 1 Recommendation
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SOURCES:
1)
External Sources: Wall
Street Journal, The New York Times, PBS NewsHour, IDC reports about digital
tables, PCs and Android operating system.
2)
Own Sources: My
own research for previous publishing projects: TTT of Comlab Corp, Spanish
English Club online.
Website: http://world-rethink.blogspot.de/
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
No comments:
Post a Comment