Thursday, April 17, 2008
Balance of Power in Europe?
Angela Merkel opposes admission of Ukraine and Georgia on the grounds that it will alter the 'balance of power' in Europe. 'Balance of Power' is sought by those on the short or losing end. NATO has this unique and dissipating window of opportunity, this historical chance to take the upper hand and consolidate their power OVER Russia. Russia does not understand 'balance of power', they only understand 'domination' if you are at all familiar with their history of invasions and land-grab. Appeasing Russia does not work, it never did with any totalitarian system which is identical to Russian tradition. Europe and the West are missing out on a rare, unique opportunity as Russia is rebuilding their military (at the expense of their people, again, at the purest Stalin style), and this alleged 'balance of power' will tilt toward Moscow. Germany, France and others are delivering Ukraine and Georgia to Russia, in the futile hope to appease their appetite. Feeding the monster only makes it stronger. This does not work. This implies sacrificing more lives of Ukrainians and Georgians to the appetite of Russia. This is a stupid decision by all standards, and self defeating. It is also cruel and inhumane.
Graphic
"We must warn you of the graphic contents of the following segment" is used to describe some gory or adult images to follow on tv programs. This equates 'graphic' with 'adult' or 'porn'. This is killing the language.
I guess graphic artists are porn artist now. Is the English language so poor that they need to steal words meant to represent something totally different, to make references to obscene or potential upsetting images?
How about ""We must warn you of the potentially offending contents of the following segment", instead?
I guess graphic artists are porn artist now. Is the English language so poor that they need to steal words meant to represent something totally different, to make references to obscene or potential upsetting images?
How about ""We must warn you of the potentially offending contents of the following segment", instead?
Give Ukraine and Georgia a chance.
Give Ukraine and Georgia a chance.
Four centuries of occupation by Russia, had a profound impact on Ukraine. On their intend to eliminate the Ukrainian identity, Russian became the mandatory language and most vestiges of Ukrainian history were eliminated from history books, museums and architecture. By sending millions of Russians to intermingle and marry the natives, Russia was highly successful in achieving their goal. In fact, the 50%+ of the Ukrainian population willing to join NATO and the CE are a testament to incredible resiliency by peoples who have been systematically assimilated into the civilization of their enemies.
Russians are very cruel occupiers. They created two artificial famines, to break the Ukrainian spirit, killing, for no other reason, over five million Ukrainians. Russians forced thousands of Ukrainians into a Afghanistan, when Moscow decided to invade that Country as well.
Russia has not given up on their expansion and imperialistic goals, not a bit. They occupied sovereign nations long before Communism, and they will continue long after. The Soviet Union is just a small chapter on the history of conquest and atrocities by Russia.
Nobody knows this more than the countries that have been under their control. They also know they are powerless to stop Russia from taking them over again. Ukraine, Georgia and the other nations formerly controlled by Moscow know that their only chance at surviving as independent is by joining NATO.
Since attacking one NATO member is the equivalent of attacking them all, Russia will not dare to make a move on its former colonies.
Accepting and accelerating NATO membership to Ukraine, Georgia and the other nations in similar situation is not only the decent and compassionate thing to do, it is also the smartest. If we stand to the side and allow Russia to take them over again (as they will), we will have to deal with a stronger Russia as an enemy. The cold war is not over.
A legislator in Moscow recently declared “the concept of an independent Ukraine makes no sense”. When Ukraine courageously approached NATO and asked for an admission plan, Putin declared that his nuclear missiles will be pointing at Ukraine.
Ukraine and other nations in similar predicament had suffered enough on the hands of Russia. It is for the decent people of the world to see that this does not happen again. Alone they are helpless.
I traveled to Ukraine twenty times during the past three years, as our Company employs people there. I have firsthand experience on dealing with many of their people as I traveled the Country by road, taking on people asking for rides and talking with them. I had the chance to meet the families of our employees in all four corners of that beautiful Country. 400 years of being dominated, humiliated and massacred left deep marks on these highly intelligent, hard working and ethical people.
Russia also ‘gave’ them Chernobyl. The consequences of the world’s largest man-made disaster are yet to be fully understood. A full half or our employees or their direct family, have immunodeficiency diseases. A large portion of Ukraine will be unfit for human life for forty thousand years. When the explosion occurred, Russia denied the accident for several days, until the Swedish detected it and the New York Times reported it on their first page. Pravda reported a small article in page 9. This allowed for countless more Ukrainians to be contaminated with high levels of radiation.
The cruelty of Russia towards the nations they invaded, knows no limits. The claim that Ukraine, Georgia and others need to follow Russia because they under Russia’s ‘are of interest’ is phony. The only fault of those countries is to border Russia.
Some of us in the West thought that many of the stories we heard about life under the Soviets, were exaggerated if not fabricated by the CIA or American press. Unfortunately those stories are accurate. I had the opportunity to hear it first hand from Ukrainians that lived under the Soviets. Their stories, if anything, are worst than what I read in any American magazine or watched on TV. Control was absolute, there was no freedom at all, dissent was unheard off and those with ‘peculiar’ ideas were in fact sent to mental institutions for ‘rehabilitation’.
They need our help.
We may stereotype Ukrainians as being similar, if not identical, to their tormentors. Nothing further from the truth. During last year’s Independence Day celebrations, in Maidan Square, I had (at first) that impression. Those soldiers came marching down Khreshatik (Kyiv’s main street). They wore uniforms that appear identical to those of the Russian soldiers marching down Red Square, the same goose step, long and powerful, swinging one arm almost violently from side to side, the face severe and topped with that big hat with green, gold and a lot of red. I felt like the lone American about to battle an army of ruthless soldiers… to my amazement, the moment they reached the Square, the music changed to the tune of Strangers in the Night and those same soldiers broke lines and started dancing to a choreography of a Sinatra’s song. These are not the same as the Russians marching in front of Lenin’s tomb!
It is our moral responsibility to admit them into the safety of NATO. It is also the intelligent thing to do, in our own best interests. The fears of Germany, France and Spain of a Russian reaction to the expansion of NATO are misguided. They should fear more an even larger, more powerful Russia encompassing and including those additional countries and their populations now as troops at the command of Russia’s generals. You can’t appease Russia. A disproportionate number of casualties on the Russian side during the invasion of Afghanistan, were Ukrainians. You can see their photos, letters to their mothers, etc. at the Afghan War Museum in Kyiv. They send those troops first.
Four centuries of occupation by Russia, had a profound impact on Ukraine. On their intend to eliminate the Ukrainian identity, Russian became the mandatory language and most vestiges of Ukrainian history were eliminated from history books, museums and architecture. By sending millions of Russians to intermingle and marry the natives, Russia was highly successful in achieving their goal. In fact, the 50%+ of the Ukrainian population willing to join NATO and the CE are a testament to incredible resiliency by peoples who have been systematically assimilated into the civilization of their enemies.
Russians are very cruel occupiers. They created two artificial famines, to break the Ukrainian spirit, killing, for no other reason, over five million Ukrainians. Russians forced thousands of Ukrainians into a Afghanistan, when Moscow decided to invade that Country as well.
Russia has not given up on their expansion and imperialistic goals, not a bit. They occupied sovereign nations long before Communism, and they will continue long after. The Soviet Union is just a small chapter on the history of conquest and atrocities by Russia.
Nobody knows this more than the countries that have been under their control. They also know they are powerless to stop Russia from taking them over again. Ukraine, Georgia and the other nations formerly controlled by Moscow know that their only chance at surviving as independent is by joining NATO.
Since attacking one NATO member is the equivalent of attacking them all, Russia will not dare to make a move on its former colonies.
Accepting and accelerating NATO membership to Ukraine, Georgia and the other nations in similar situation is not only the decent and compassionate thing to do, it is also the smartest. If we stand to the side and allow Russia to take them over again (as they will), we will have to deal with a stronger Russia as an enemy. The cold war is not over.
A legislator in Moscow recently declared “the concept of an independent Ukraine makes no sense”. When Ukraine courageously approached NATO and asked for an admission plan, Putin declared that his nuclear missiles will be pointing at Ukraine.
Ukraine and other nations in similar predicament had suffered enough on the hands of Russia. It is for the decent people of the world to see that this does not happen again. Alone they are helpless.
I traveled to Ukraine twenty times during the past three years, as our Company employs people there. I have firsthand experience on dealing with many of their people as I traveled the Country by road, taking on people asking for rides and talking with them. I had the chance to meet the families of our employees in all four corners of that beautiful Country. 400 years of being dominated, humiliated and massacred left deep marks on these highly intelligent, hard working and ethical people.
Russia also ‘gave’ them Chernobyl. The consequences of the world’s largest man-made disaster are yet to be fully understood. A full half or our employees or their direct family, have immunodeficiency diseases. A large portion of Ukraine will be unfit for human life for forty thousand years. When the explosion occurred, Russia denied the accident for several days, until the Swedish detected it and the New York Times reported it on their first page. Pravda reported a small article in page 9. This allowed for countless more Ukrainians to be contaminated with high levels of radiation.
The cruelty of Russia towards the nations they invaded, knows no limits. The claim that Ukraine, Georgia and others need to follow Russia because they under Russia’s ‘are of interest’ is phony. The only fault of those countries is to border Russia.
Some of us in the West thought that many of the stories we heard about life under the Soviets, were exaggerated if not fabricated by the CIA or American press. Unfortunately those stories are accurate. I had the opportunity to hear it first hand from Ukrainians that lived under the Soviets. Their stories, if anything, are worst than what I read in any American magazine or watched on TV. Control was absolute, there was no freedom at all, dissent was unheard off and those with ‘peculiar’ ideas were in fact sent to mental institutions for ‘rehabilitation’.
They need our help.
We may stereotype Ukrainians as being similar, if not identical, to their tormentors. Nothing further from the truth. During last year’s Independence Day celebrations, in Maidan Square, I had (at first) that impression. Those soldiers came marching down Khreshatik (Kyiv’s main street). They wore uniforms that appear identical to those of the Russian soldiers marching down Red Square, the same goose step, long and powerful, swinging one arm almost violently from side to side, the face severe and topped with that big hat with green, gold and a lot of red. I felt like the lone American about to battle an army of ruthless soldiers… to my amazement, the moment they reached the Square, the music changed to the tune of Strangers in the Night and those same soldiers broke lines and started dancing to a choreography of a Sinatra’s song. These are not the same as the Russians marching in front of Lenin’s tomb!
It is our moral responsibility to admit them into the safety of NATO. It is also the intelligent thing to do, in our own best interests. The fears of Germany, France and Spain of a Russian reaction to the expansion of NATO are misguided. They should fear more an even larger, more powerful Russia encompassing and including those additional countries and their populations now as troops at the command of Russia’s generals. You can’t appease Russia. A disproportionate number of casualties on the Russian side during the invasion of Afghanistan, were Ukrainians. You can see their photos, letters to their mothers, etc. at the Afghan War Museum in Kyiv. They send those troops first.
Remove the H1B Visa Cap
Technology is an essential component on the lifecycle of all products and services. The ‘technology component’ plays an ever-increasing role on the quality, price, speed to market and overall competitiveness of anything offered.
Technology workers make it possible. The availability, quality and cost of those workers have a direct impact on the competiveness of governments, companies, products, services and (ultimately) whole economies and countries.
Our system of quotas on the number of H1B visas granted to high tech workers is a godsend to our competition, and a hindrance to our ability to compete and win. Out system allows for few engineers to come and train, only to deny them the right to renew their visas and stay. They leave, join other companies and governments, and compete against us, with the tools we taught them.
The necessity to increase our technology advances is heralded by all presidential contenders, but this will not happen without courageous and deliberate action by Congress and the President. The beginning is to dramatically expand, or eliminate, limits on the number of qualified technology workers admitted into the Country.
Getting down to business, this is what happens: when a company needs to improve their services or products (which is ‘always’ if they want to remain competitive, make better products or reduce costs), they will look for technology workers to do it. They are buyers of technology. If the sellers (the workers) are not available, or are too expensive locally (limited supply), the company will either postpone or eliminate new development, or offshore it.
Should this company postpone development of their services or products, they fall behind and cannot compete globally. Eventually, imports will even affect their domestic market. Under this scenario, we lose.
Should this company offshore development, we lose the opportunity to ‘on-the-job-train’ new workers, increase our technology capital, the tax revenue of salaries not paid to American workers and the income not spent in our economy.
As long as there is a buyer, there is a seller. When we need technology, we will buy it wherever it is. If we find it here, the technology and money stays here. If we buy it overseas, they both go to enrich another country. If we do not buy it, we lose the market to other companies that have readily cheap technology available to them.
We cannot ignore the technology component in all we do, enjoy and buy. Technology does not just ‘happens’, it requires workers. Highly skilled and intelligent engineers from the world over are motivated to come and join our communities and our economy, bringing with them millions of dollars worth of education. Other countries fight for them while we keep them out. This does not make sense; we should open the doors to them, as they will enrich our society in many ways.
Technology is an essential component on the lifecycle of all products and services. The ‘technology component’ plays an ever-increasing role on the quality, price, speed to market and overall competitiveness of anything offered.
Technology workers make it possible. The availability, quality and cost of those workers have a direct impact on the competiveness of governments, companies, products, services and (ultimately) whole economies and countries.
Our system of quotas on the number of H1B visas granted to high tech workers is a godsend to our competition, and a hindrance to our ability to compete and win. Out system allows for few engineers to come and train, only to deny them the right to renew their visas and stay. They leave, join other companies and governments, and compete against us, with the tools we taught them.
The necessity to increase our technology advances is heralded by all presidential contenders, but this will not happen without courageous and deliberate action by Congress and the President. The beginning is to dramatically expand, or eliminate, limits on the number of qualified technology workers admitted into the Country.
Getting down to business, this is what happens: when a company needs to improve their services or products (which is ‘always’ if they want to remain competitive, make better products or reduce costs), they will look for technology workers to do it. They are buyers of technology. If the sellers (the workers) are not available, or are too expensive locally (limited supply), the company will either postpone or eliminate new development, or offshore it.
Should this company postpone development of their services or products, they fall behind and cannot compete globally. Eventually, imports will even affect their domestic market. Under this scenario, we lose.
Should this company offshore development, we lose the opportunity to ‘on-the-job-train’ new workers, increase our technology capital, the tax revenue of salaries not paid to American workers and the income not spent in our economy.
As long as there is a buyer, there is a seller. When we need technology, we will buy it wherever it is. If we find it here, the technology and money stays here. If we buy it overseas, they both go to enrich another country. If we do not buy it, we lose the market to other companies that have readily cheap technology available to them.
We cannot ignore the technology component in all we do, enjoy and buy. Technology does not just ‘happens’, it requires workers. Highly skilled and intelligent engineers from the world over are motivated to come and join our communities and our economy, bringing with them millions of dollars worth of education. Other countries fight for them while we keep them out. This does not make sense; we should open the doors to them, as they will enrich our society in many ways.
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