Mr. President: Train Afghan Police Forces in U.S.

This morning, Reuters reported out of Brussels, Belgium that President Obama plans to significantly increase the size of the Afghan police force.  The story was attributed to U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke.

The usual plan was described in the article which was to send over hundreds of U.S. specialists, etc., etc. to train the candidates in country.

I say, if there are police or army personnel to be trained let's bring them here to the U.S. for their training.  It is a safer, much more efficient method and we can rotate classes at a faster rate.  It would also give these individuals a picture of the U.S. and its people.  We would not have to deal with insurgent attacks and many other issues related to training personnel in country.

In addition, for a period of time, it will create jobs in areas once served by U.S. military training facilities that can be reopened and utilized.  Good for the Afghans, good for the U.S.

Mr. President, this is change for the better.  We should have done it with the Iraqi army, let's do it with the Afghans.

Please sir.

Copyright 2009 WBSeebeck

No Russian Presence in Cuba or Venezuela!

Let there be no mistake, if we don't stand on our heels and growl as Teddy Roosevelt's bear did back in the early 20th century, the Russians will establish air and later naval bases in Cuba and Venezuela.

The Russian government has already held joint naval operations in the Caribbean with these nations and just announced their intention to stage bombers in these two countries.  This is totally unacceptable to the United States.

We trust that President Obama will stand and publicly state that the presence of Russian offensive weapons in our hemisphere is unacceptable and a threat to the national security of the United States.

Those of us who lived through the Cuban missile crisis and other similar encounters with the Soviet Union and now Putin's Russia know that their intentions are not honorable.

Copyright 2009 WBSeebeck

Beware Oil Prices! Speculation May Be in Play Again!

Today, on CNBC, an analyst claimed that the oil market had "bottomed out" and that there was an increase in demand.  As a result, he believed that oil might quickly rise to $60.00 per barrel. If this CNBC guest analyst is to be believed, we are about to enter another period of dramatic increases in oil prices. If you read my February 11th article on oil, you would know two things: One, such increases are based on speculation rather than reality or demand and second, that any price over $50.00 per barrel will cause untold hardship on the American consumer and economy at a time when we can least handle it. 

Copyright 2009 WBSeebeck