Synopsis: NATO celebrated its 60th anniversary last week in Strasbourg, France. The military/defense group had clarity of purpose back in 1949: stop Soviet aggression/expansion. However, since the fall of the USSR in 1991, the group has lost a bit of focus of mission and today’s NATO is nowhere near the cohesive tight military unit it once was. The Plaid Avenger highlights a variety of issues that the organization is currently NOT doing so well at, from its relationship with Russia to the current war in Afghanistan.
Synopsis: North Korea launched a missile/rocket/space satellite on Sunday April 5, 2009, much to the chagrin and consternation of most of the ‘Western’ world. However, China and Russia are unconvinced of the launch’s motivations, and are therefore stalling any UN condemnation of the act. The Plaid Avenger explains the basis for this difference in world opinion, its historic precedent, and the reasons behind why impoverished North Korea would even attempt these ‘satellite’ shenanigans. Even Kim Jong-Il should check this one out!
North Korea’s Rocket Launch Spurs Broad Condemnation
North Korea threatens “strong steps” if U.N. acts
Japan Acknowledges UN Security Council Split on N. Korea Sanctions
The G-20 met this week, in what the Plaid Avenger predicts will be looked back upon as a hugely historic event. This meeting is the first time a truly representative group of the biggest movers and shakers has gotten together to truly try and solve some global problems. Unlike the UN, this tight 20-entity group has the capacity to actually get stuff done without the bloated bureaucracy bogging it down. It represents big changes in the global outlook of how to solve global problems…perhaps for the first time in history. The G-20 is now the premier institutions for problem solving on the global scale. How exciting!
The G-20: saying farewell to the ‘blue-eyed blond men’?
Synopsis:
Russia has been working hard for the last couple of months to flex its muscles in an effort to gain the maximum amount of leverage prior to the first meeting between Russian President Medvedev and US President Obama. Some of Russia’s moves are obviously propaganda pieces, but many more realistic Ruskie ruses are establishing the tremendous advantage they posses in getting what the want from the US. The START treaty, revamping their military, reasserting themselves in central Asia and Georgia, and even sweetening ties with Iran are all Russian cards that they will play in order to curb the growth of NATO and the US missile defense shield, as well as pushing all foreign influence out of their historic periphery.
Keywords: Russia, USA, Medvedev, Obama, military, START, NATO, missile defense shield, Central Asia, Georgia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Iran, Kyrgyzstan
Synopsis:
Pakistan has been on the brink of full-on catastrophe and chaos for some time now, and most look to the woes of the struggling democracy as reason for the calamity. However, the Plaid Avenger wants you to consider the indecisive nature of the the military and the intelligence communities within Pakistan as the primary problem behind the current calamity in Afghanistan, in the Swat Valley,and in the entire western side of Pakistan….which taken together may spell the possible future failure of the state itself.
Keywords: Pakistan, al-Queda, Taliban, Swat Valley, Afghanistan
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