RAUL COLON

Birth of the Swiss neutrality

2011-02-13T22:35:00.001-04:00

The League of Nations, the international organization created at the peace conference in Versailles after the end of World War I, recognizes the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland in 1920.

Switzerland was a loose confederation of German-, French-, and Italian-speaking communities until 1778, when the French, under Napoleon Bonaparte, unified the country as the Helvetic Republic and imposed a constitution, which was enforced by French occupation troops.

Bitterly resented by the Swiss people, the French occupation ended in 1803, when Napoleon agreed to a new Swiss-approved constitution and withdrew his troops. The Congress of Vienna in 1815, which would determine Europe's borders until the outbreak of World War I nearly a century later, recognized the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland.

The Swiss considered preserving this neutrality essential to Switzerland's economic and political development. A new constitution, adopted in 1848, reinforced the neutrality principle by outlawing Swiss service in foreign armies or the acceptance of pensions from foreign governments.

Neither the unification of Italy in 1861 nor the birth of the German empire in 1871 shook the loyalty of the nation's Italian or German population to Switzerland. With industrialization, fueled largely by hydroelectric power, and the construction of an efficient railroad network, Switzerland's economy continued to grow, spawning a thriving tourism industry by the end of the 19th century.

Though Switzerland maintained its neutrality during the Great War, with German, French and Italian Swiss standing firm to preserve their country's solidarity, a costly military mobilization to protect the Swiss borders diverted most of the working population to war-related work and brought economic hardship.

After the war ended, membership in the League of Nations—the international organization established at the Versailles peace conference—was narrowly approved by Swiss voters after a federal council opposed it. In February 1920, the League voted to recognize the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland.

The League also established its headquarters in the Swiss city of Geneva, a tribute to the country's neutrality as well as its relative economic and political stability, which has continued to the present day.

Puerto Rico's governor points to the future

2011-02-09T05:34:00.001-04:00

In his third State of the Commonwealth speech, Gov. Fortuño touted his accomplishments of the last two years and ushered in a new set of projects that he believes will take the island to recovery.

For a little over an hour, Fortuno, using a clear Republican message, discussed a plethora of past and present issues and his signature project, the new tax reform.

“With the help of the legislative presidents, we approved the largest, most far reaching and most just tax reform in history. We have done it in just two years along with the public that clamored for change,” the Chief Executive said.

According to Fortuño, the reform would save Puerto Ricans almost $1.2 billion annually.
In the 1994 reform, the average savings was $400 million.

Starting this April, tax payers can take advantage of the new Tax Code with a new tax credit.

In the short form, the individual credit deduction can be posted on the 16F line while in the long one, it is on the 31G.

The reform would reduce the individual tax burden of individuals by 50 percent and of corporations by 30 percent.

Fortuño stated that this reform will spark a massive investment in the local market which he argued would create jobs and stabilize the economy.

In a message that could be interpreted as “back-and forth,” the island’s seventh elected governor announced a series of initiatives he hopes will spark a struggling economy.

He called the 2000s a “lost decade” blaming the slowness in economic development on the two administrations of the Popular Democratic Party which governed the island at the time.

The reference of the “lost decade” was first used by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his 1932 campaign stump speech against Republican Herbert Hoover, whom he soundly defeated.
The new measures promised by the New Progressive Party governor are the completion of the financial stabilization plan, the full implementation of the new Tax Code, the expansion of Mi Salud (My Health) health care plan, the refurbishing and development of hundreds of infrastructure projects including water distribution systems and the opening of two long delayed projects.

Projects slated to be dedicated this year are the Vanderbilt Hotel in Condado and the new Dos Hermanos bridge connecting the island of San Juan with the rest of Puerto Rico.
During this year, the administration also plans to start work on the dams of Valenciano in Juncos and Beatriz in the Cayey-Cidra sector at a cost of $475 million.

Once completed, the two new dams will benefit 1.5 million residents in several towns including Las Piedras, Juncos, Humacao, San Lorenzo, Gurabo and the entire Caguas area.

Other infrastructure projects promoted by the governor on Tuesday were the construction of the Bayamón Mega Rotunda which would connect the Highway 177 and 175, the refurbishing of Intersection No. 5 near the Convention Center District, the pavement of the connection between the Highway 53 and 5 in Fajardo and the construction of the Urban Metro system between Bayamón and Toa Baja.

The mountain sector of the island is slated to receive more than $100 million in road repairs and development in 2011 according to the governor.

Since August 2010, the economy has created 27,600 new jobs in the fields of health services, retailing, education and professional service.

Of the $6 billion allocated to the island from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, Fortuño explained that $4.5 billion have already being disbursed, and the rest are already assigned to several projects, mostly infrastructure.

Dismissing an allegation made by the PDP, Fortuño explained that all of the $500 million from the local stimulus fund have already been assigned and are waiting disbursement.

On Monday, PDP President Héctor Ferrer challenged the governor to detail the whereabouts of the funds. He also wanted to know how the Public-Private Alliances were being used.

According to Fortuño, the PAA would be solely responsible fund structure for the investment of more than $3 billion over the next two years.

More than $756 million were assigned for the renovation of 95 schools and the construction of five new ones.

In the social front, Fortuno touted the new adoption law which he credits for an increase in the number of adoptions from 158 in 2008 to 375 in 2010.

Other programs announced by Fortuño on Tuesday are the rebuilding of the Culebra pier, which was destroyed in September, the development of the Torcadero Diverplex tourism complex in Hato Rey and the advancement of the stagnant Americas Port in Ponce.

“We have opened two five-star hotels and in Dorado, we are building the first six-star hotels in the Caribbean with an investment of $342 million. These projects will create 1,000 jobs during construction and 1,000 permanent ones,” Fortuño said.

The government had invested $174 million in the remodeling of 46 residential projects and has started a program to refurbish buildings including the conversion of the Minillas Government Center into a green energy zone at a cost of $70 million.

To stimulate the economy, the governor cited the disbursement of more than $250 million in 825 loans to small businesses on the island.

Weapons don't buy leverage

2011-02-06T17:12:00.000-04:00

The Pentagon has often boasted of close ties to the Egyptian military, but in the current crisis the payoff from billions in military aid and three decades of U.S. mentorship isn’t direct leverage.

Mostly, it’s meant an ability to get Cairo’s top defense officials on the phone.

U.S. military officers argue that deeper, more subtle benefits have derived from 30 years of cooperation between the two militaries, including a degree of discipline and professionalism by the Egyptian army that has helped keep its soldiers from attacking protesters seeking to topple President Hosni Mubarak. But other factors, including political direction, also influence the army’s behavior.

On Friday the military took a more active role in providing security on the streets of central Cairo, where tens of thousands stepped up their protests.

At the same time, officials acknowledge that the U.S. military’s influence is limited in circumstances that call for political, rather than military, solutions.

“We’re not counseling them; there is no finger-wagging here,” said Navy Capt. John Kirby, spokesman for the top U.S. military officer, Adm. Mike Mullen, who spoke briefly by phone on Monday and Wednesday with his counterpart in Cairo, Army Lt. Gen. Sami Enan.

Enan was in Washington last week for meetings at the Pentagon, but his delegation cut its visit short and returned home as the crisis grew more perilous last Friday.

Mullen on Friday cautioned Congress against rushing to halt U.S. military aid, reflecting the long-held view that it provides important leverage. He told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that he would “caution against doing anything until we know what’s really going on.” And in an appearance Thursday on Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central, the Joint Chiefs chairman said Egyptian officials had assured him the military would not fire on protesters.

The military has largely stayed out of the clashes, perhaps judging that to intervene more directly could make matters worse.

Haim Malka, a senior Mideast expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, was even more forceful about not cutting off military aid, predicting that the Egyptian military will play a central role in shaping the contours of a post-Mubarak government.

“The United States’ ability to influence that system is already limited,” Malka wrote in a commentary Friday. “Freezing military aid now undermines what leverage the U.S. government does have to promote a post-Mubarak system that is more than just a reconfiguration of the status quo.”

Many aspects of the training the Egyptian army has received from U.S. officers over the years are not directly relevant to the current crisis featuring vicious clashes between pro- and anti-government protesters with police forces doing little to stop them.

At its core, the purpose of U.S. military assistance to Egypt has been to preserve its peace deal with Israel, although U.S. officials in recent years have tried to steer the Egyptians toward a focus on countering Islamic extremist forces.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has talked by phone with Egyptian Defense Minister Mohammed Hussein Tantawi four times since Sunday, most recently on Friday, and the Joint Chiefs’ top strategic planner, Lt. Gen. Charles Jacoby, had a brief phone conversation with his Cairo counterpart on Wednesday.

None of that suggests the U.S. military has great influence.

Kirby said Mullen has offered no advice to the Egyptians, neither urging them to counsel Mubarak to resign nor asking them about specific military plans for dampening the street violence. Instead he has sought simply to keep the lines of communication open and, by praising the military’s restraint, make clear that Washington expects them to continue to avoid a harsh crackdown.

President Barack Obama appeared to be sending a similar message to the military when he said Tuesday, “I want to commend the Egyptian military for the professionalism and patriotism that it’s shown thus far in allowing peaceful protests while protecting the Egyptian people.”

The Egyptian military is the power base of Mubarak’s regime. He’s a former air force pilot. The army ousted the monarchy soon after it seized power in a 1952 coup, and all of the country’s presidents since have come from the ranks of the military.

The current scope of U.S. military assistance began with the signing of Egypt’s landmark peace treaty with Israel in 1979. It totaled $1.3 billion last year and includes air, land and naval support.

Egypt is just one example of how the Pentagon has sought over time to improve its standing with foreign militaries by selling them U.S. weaponry, providing long-term technical support, holding joint exercises, having regular face-to-face meetings at senior levels, and bringing junior and mid-level officers to the U.S. to attend institutions like the National Defense University and the Army’s Command and General Staff College. The curriculum includes instruction in human rights, the principle of civilian control of the military, the U.S. Constitution and other elements of democracy.

The theory is that such interaction will make foreign military leaders more inclined to accept U.S. views on the proper role of a military in society.

Pentagon officials have often cited Pakistan as an example of how this influence can be lost or diminished when military-to-military ties are severed, as they were in the 1990s as a punitive U.S. response to Islamabad’s development of nuclear weapons. That left the U.S. military struggling to rebuild trust and regain influence among Pakistani military officers when the Bush administration launched its war on terrorism after the 9/11 attacks.

Egypt is a particularly important U.S. ally because it was the first Arab nation to sign a peace treaty with Israel and remains an important player in broader Arab-Israeli peace efforts. Mubarak attended ceremonies in Washington in September marking a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, and he hosted the first formal round of talks shortly afterward in Egypt.

By controlling the Suez Canal, Egypt also plays a key role in the movement of world oil supplies

Lawmaker's driver can run errands

2011-02-05T00:29:00.000-04:00

A driver can ferry a lawmaker on personal errands, if necessary, according to an administrative order issued by a former House Speaker more than four years ago.

Article XIV, Section 2 of Administrative Order 2007-12 states that any House member can use the services of their officially assigned vehicles including attending personal situations.

“In any official or personal errands of the Representative or any family member that live under the same roof as long as it is the Representative or an authorized official who drives the vehicle,” the document reads.

On Friday, Justice Secretary Guillermo Somoza referred Popular Democratic Party Rep. Carmen Yulín Cruz to a Special Independent Prosecutor panel for allegations that she used her driver to run personal errands.

Cruz has not commented on the matter because she had not been personally served with the complaint.

Other accusations involve taking food to one of Cruz’s aunts.

The Order was issued in 2007 by then House Speaker Jose Aponte and profiled all the responsibilities and rules governing the use of public funds and assets, including personal and vehicles.

The order still holds as it was extended by the current House leader, New Progressive Party Rep. Jenniffer González.

“The lawmakers can use their vehicles to do personal errands as well as official duties. The Comptroller Office also issued a statement that, among other things, argued that while the driver can take a legislator to and from a political event, they can’t participate,” Aponte said.

The Comptroller Order, issued in June 2003 under the banner of Administrative Memo 03-09, regulates the use of official vehicles and drivers assigned to them.

In the memo, the Office states that public resources can’t be used for political gains disconnected from the political-legislative process.

On page seven of the Office of Legislative Services memo of 2003, its director, Elba Rodríguez Fuentes argues that “a legislator can use his/her assigned official vehicle for family activities, but not to transport individuals to a political rally.”

The memo also reiterated Aponte’s position.

“The lawmakers and officials with assigned vehicles can use them 24 hours a day for all errands, official or personal, as long as the lawmaker or the authorized official drives the vehicle.”

On Tuesday Cruz met with her attorney, Harry Anduze, to discuss the matter and craft a response, once they are summoned by the SIP panel.

Ventas de armas a granel en Medio Oriente

2011-02-03T07:52:00.004-04:00

Por Raul Colon

El Medio Oriente es una de las regiones más conflictivas y volátiles en el mundo es por tal razón que la mayoría de las naciones del área se encuentran involucradas en una muy costosa carrera armamentista.

Carrera que es suplementada por el posible asenso de la Republica Islámica de Irán como potencia nuclear.

Cifras brindadas por el Instituto Internacional de Investigación Pacifica en Estocolmo corrobora el impacto de dicha carrera armamentista.

En la última década, las naciones en el Medio Oriente han aumentado sus gastos en sistemas de defensas por casi 40 por ciento.

En un informe publicado en abril del 2009, conocido como ‘Tendencias en el Mercado de Armas’ analistas del Instituto concluyen que 40 por ciento de todos los sistemas de armas vendidos por los Estados Unidos entre el 2004 y 2008 tuvieron como ultimo destino países en el Medio Oriente.

En esos cuatro años, empresas Americanas enviaron al área 207 aviones de combates de diferentes categorías y sobre 5,500 bombas áreas teledirigidas.

Israel y los Emiratos Arabes Unidos han sido los mas beneficiados en la región, acumulando entre los dos 22 por ciento de todas las ventas de armamento provenientes de Estados Unidos.

No solo America exporta armas a la volátil región.

Según el Instituto, el 40 por ciento de todos los sistemas de defensas vendidos por Francia terminan en el Medio Oriente.

Inglaterra exporta el 10 por ciento de sus armas a uno de las naciones más grandes en la región, Arabia Saudita.

Inclusive Rusia, nación que no pose una base industrial avanzada como los tres países antes mencionados, hace billones de dólares anuales en venta de armas a Irán.

En el 2009, el Reino de Arabia Saudita invirtió sobre $40 billones en compras de armamentos avanzados a los Estados Unidos, incluyendo tanques de combate M1-1A, vehículos de transporte de personal y paquetes de navegación para su flota de aviones F-15 y F-16.

Inglaterra le suplió al Reino varios cazas de combate Tornados al igual que misiles de ataque.

Impresionante como suena las compras del Reino, estas es solo una fracción de las que incurrido los Emiratos en el mismo año.

De hecho, los Emiratos son el cuarto país que más sistemas de armas adquirió en el mundo durante el 2009 de acuerdo con data provista por el Instituto.

El listado de plataformas de defensas adquiridas por esta pequeña nación es impresionante.

La larga lista comienza con la compra de baterías de misiles de defensas Patriota (PAC-3), aviones de transporte C-17, helicópteros de combate, cazas F-16, tanques M1-1A, piezas de artillería pesada y vehículos de transporte blindados.

No obstante los impresionantes números y gastos asociados, Israel continua siendo, por gran distancia, el primer consumidor de armas en el Medio Oriente, patrón que se espera continué por la próxima década.

El Estado Judío gasto $14 billones en el 2010 en armas, mayormente defensivas en su naturaleza.

Desde el 2008, Israel ha invertido en paquetes de navegación y sistema de rastreos para su avanzado sistema anti-misil, La Flecha (Arroz en ingles). Otros componentes adquiridos, exclusivamente de los Estados Unidos, incluyen plataforma de rastreo de tercera generación para descubrir misiles.

De todos los sistemas armamentistas mas codiciados por las naciones del Medio Oriente, la artillería anti-misiles Patriota es la que indiscutiblemente se sienta en el tope.

Israel, los Emiratos y Bahrain, nación que ha incrementado significativamente su cooperación con la Armada y la Fuerza Aérea de Estados Unidos; han expresado interés de adquirir componentes de tercera generación asociados as ‘Theater High Altitude Air Defense’ sistema de defensa anti-misil.

También en la lista de naciones interesadas en adquirir el sistema debemos incluir a Qatar y Kuwait, dos países que al igual que Bahrain, se encuentra bajo la cobertura militar de America.

Recientemente el embajador de los Emiratos a los Estados Unidos, Yousef al-Otaiba, confirmo la razón por el aumento en gastos relacionado a defensa.

“De todas la naciones de la región, los Emiratos son los mas cercanos a Irán. Nuestras fuerzas armadas se despiertan, trabajan, comen y duerme pensando en la amenaza Iraní,” al-Otaiba dijo.

Here comes the U-boats

2011-02-01T06:43:00.004-04:00

In January 1917, Imperial Germany announces the renewal of unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic as German torpedo-armed submarines prepare to attack any and all ships, including civilian passenger carriers, said to be sighted in war-zone waters.

When World War I erupted in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson pledged neutrality for the United States, a position that the vast majority of Americans favored. Britain, however, was one of America's closest trading partners and tension soon arose between the United States and Germany over the latter's attempted blockade of the British isles.

Several U.S. ships traveling to Britain were damaged or sunk by German mines and, in February 1915, Germany announced unrestricted warfare against all ships, neutral or otherwise, that entered the war zone around Britain. One month later, Germany announced that a German cruiser had sunk the William P. Frye, a private American merchant vessel that was transporting grain to England when it disappeared. President Wilson was outraged, but the German government apologized, calling the attack an unfortunate mistake.

The Germans' most formidable naval weapon was the U-boat, a submarine far more sophisticated than those built by other nations at the time. The typical U-boat was 214 feet long, carried 35 men and 12 torpedoes, and could travel underwater for two hours at a time. In the first few years of World War I, the U-boats took a terrible toll on Allied shipping.

In early May 1915, several New York newspapers published a warning by the German embassy in Washington that Americans traveling on British or Allied ships in war zones did so at their own risk. The announcement was placed on the same page as an advertisement for the imminent sailing of the British-owned Lusitania ocean liner from New York to Liverpool. On May 7, the Lusitania was torpedoed without warning just off the coast of Ireland. Of the 1,959 passengers, 1,198 were killed, including 128 Americans.

The German government maintained that the Lusitania was carrying munitions, but the U.S. demanded reparations and an end to German attacks on unarmed passenger and merchant ships. In August 1915, Germany pledged to see to the safety of passengers before sinking unarmed vessels, but in November sank an Italian liner without warning, killing 272 people, including 27 Americans. Public opinion in the United States began to turn irrevocably against Germany.

At the end of January 1917, Germany, determined to win its war of attrition against the Allies, announced the resumption of unrestricted warfare. Three days later, the United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany; just hours after that, the American liner Housatonic was sunk by a German U-boat. None of the 25 Americans on board were killed and they were picked up later by a British steamer.

On February 22, Congress passed a $250 million arms-appropriations bill intended to ready the United States for war. Two days later, British authorities gave the U.S. ambassador to Britain a copy of what has become known as the "Zimmermann Note," a coded message from German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann to Count Johann von Bernstorff, the German ambassador to Mexico.

In the telegram, intercepted and deciphered by British intelligence, Zimmermann stated that, in the event of war with the United States, Mexico should be asked to enter the conflict as a German ally. In return, Germany would promise to restore to Mexico the lost territories of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. On March 1, the U.S. State Department published the note and America was galvanized against Germany once and for all.

In late March, Germany sank four more U.S. merchant ships and, on April 2, President Wilson appeared before Congress and called for a declaration of war against Germany. On April 4, the Senate voted 82 to six to declare war against Germany. Two days later, the House of Representatives endorsed the declaration by a vote of 373 to 50 and America formally entered World War I.

By Raul Colon

Puerto Rico's bloodiest month ever recorded

2011-02-01T06:39:00.001-04:00

January ended as the most violent month in Puerto Rico's history, with 109 reported homicides, including five domestic violence cases, as of press time.

That is 33 more violent deaths than in January 2010.

But despite mounting criticism, the island’s top cop defended his anti-crime plan while at the same time admitting that the police overreacted in the incidents involving a student protest at the Capitol.

One thing that José Figueroa Sancha condemned was the alleged use of excessive force against the University of Puerto Rico students protesting in front of the Capitol on Thursday. “I would have not used that force on a female student. That does not mean that it was not according to the parameters, but it is something that I would have not done,” he said. Video film of the melée shows a policeman groping the breast of one female demonstrator which prompted intense reactions from the student movement. The police chief ordered an investigation into the matter and expects a full report in the coming weeks.

Figueroa Sancha quashed rumors that he would be fired or is about to resign amid constant criticism for his force that is under constant criticism for its apparent inaction. He mounted a vigorous defense of his crime-fighting initiatives and blamed the rise of deadly incidents on the degeneration of the social fabric on the island. “There has been a shift in the type of homicides we are experiencing. Crime rates, among what we call "organized crime," are down significantly this year. In fact, they has been down for the past two years. The problem is that we are now watching the rise of social crime,” Figueroa Sancha said.

The police superintendent stated that 49 of the 109 reported homicide cases, or 42 percent, are related to the social environment of the island. He cited as an example the high number of domestic violence deaths registered, six this month, and the case of the Florida man who burned to death six of his family members, as examples of the type of crime. “These types of crimes are hard to prevent because of their nature. It’s hard to stop a person from killing his or her partner. It’s also hard to stop a man who burns his family. These are new crimes,” Figueroa Sancha said.

For comparison, in 2010, 16 women died as a result of domestic violence, that’s 1.4 per month. If the current trend continues, more than 50 women will perish at the hands of their spouses.

Figueroa Sancha continued defending his plan to curb crime. “We can’t look at one aspect, such as the homicides, to measure if a plan is working or not. We have to look at the entire spectrum and when we do this, we see an across-the-board-reduction in crimes,” he said. Data provided by the police department for 2010 supports that reality for the island.

Out of the seven major crime categories, four showed a reduction last year in comparison to 2009. Aggravated assault was down 21 percent, rape cases reported a 33 percent decrease, burglary was down 12 percent, and robberies showed a 2 percent reduction. Three categories that increased during 2010 were armed robbery, up 10 percent, homicides, up 8 percent, and car theft, up 1 percent.

More at the PE Daily Sun

Japanese Aircraft Carrier

2011-01-18T04:38:00.000-04:00

When World War II broke out in 1941 with Japan surprisingly attacking the United States’ main Pacific Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese possessed the largest and most powerful aircraft carrier force in the world. Added to the sheer numbers of carrier platforms, the Japanese had developed the world’s largest and most complete naval air fleet. This was the arm of the military that Japanese Imperial officers believed would win the war for them. A thought augmented by the early streak of quick victories enjoyed by the Imperial Navy. These successions of quick conquest also gave the Japanese military the false hope that they could maintain their initial numerical advantage in deployable carriers over the US for a long run. An advantage that was hallowed when the war commenced and one that would last only a few months. The reality was that, although Japan outgunned the US and Great Britain in deployable flatbeds, they were not prepare to engage the US and, later, the UK in a battle of attrition. It was this attrition, and the fact that they could not replace their lost carriers or even more importantly, their experience aircrews; as promptly as the Americans could, that lead to the downfall of Japan’s carrier force.

Japan entered hostilities against the western democracies with the most powerful and flexible carrier force that world had seen. Seven completed fleet carriers (Hosho, Akagi, Kaga, Ryujo, Soryu, Hiryu, Shokaku, and Zuikaku) formed the backbone of the Imperial Navy’s power projection force. They also possessed the most experienced naval aviators in the world. It was this numerical as well as tactical advantage the made possible Japan’s early surge into the Pacific Theater. At the end, Japan lost all of those carriers, with the exeption of the Hosho, in combat operations during the war. These losses were hard to overcome by a relative backward industrial society such as the one Japan possessed. During the war, Japan only managed to design and develop four additional fleet carriers, while its main adversary, the United States managed to build 17 front line fleet flatbeds. It was this fact that spelled the demise of the Japanese Navy in WWII.

It is the intention of this article to paint a clear picture of the development and conception of the Japanese flatbeds fleet during the war with the US. The article hopes to leave the reader with detail information on all the Japanese aircraft carriers developed and deployed between 1941 and 1945. It will make emphasis on the carriers’ developmental history as well as their combat operations, right to the end of their service lives.

A Brief History

The Japanese carrier development program before the Great War resembled those of the United States and the U.K. Their view of sea-based aircrafts flying aloft for hours was perceived to be for strategic as well as tactical reconnaissance operations only, thus no new advantage could be gained by constructing a vessel to operate airplanes only. Big guns still dominated their ideas, same as in the US and Britain. It was not until late in 1912, when Japanese official embedded, with Royal Navy forces, began to seriously consider the seaplane tender ship as an offensive platform instead of just another recon unit. With this in mind, in mid 1913, a major conceptual experimentation took place within the Imperial Japanese Navy confines. They were able to re-fit an old transport ship, the Wakamiya Maru, with two seaplanes extenders. In the fall of that year, the floatplanes operating out of the Wakamiya participated with the whole Combine Japanese Fleet in maneuvering and detecting exercises. The outcome of the exercises was impressive. The Wakamiya was able to located and engage most of the over-the-horizon targets assigned to its zone of operations without the “sea-plane carrier” being spotted by the Fleet’s screening ships. Trials continued trough the early months of 1914. Again, the seaplane tender demonstrated a unique ability to project power beyond its visual engagement range. In late 1914, faith intervened to push the nascent Japanese aircraft carrier program one step closer towards achieving operational status: the War to End All Wars erupted in Europe.

In an attempt to display their newly acquire naval power, Japanese leaders decided to extract territories from the overextended Imperial German forces in the Pacific, they wanted German-held territory in the south west coast region of China. The Wakamiya was dispatched as part of a Japanese fleet element assigned to capture ports and facilities in the Chinese coast. Meanwhile, Japanese observes and naval liaison officers attached to the British Royal Navy began reporting on the British employment of sea-tendered aircrafts to spot and track German ships, especially U-boats, operating in the North Sea as well as the Atlantic Ocean. These reports, as well the Japanese Navy’s own experience with the Wakamiya, enabled Japan to formulate a new strategic vision for its main fleet that incorporated the carrier as one of its main features, instead of just using it as a complementary platform. In the 1918, as well as in the 1920 budget, Japan allocated a major portion for their Navy design and development funds into their carrier platforms. This decision was augmented by an agreement with the UK, where the former would render technical assistance to the Japanese in exchange for some basing rights along the Hong Kong sea route. The British assistance centered on naval aircraft profiles and combat tactics. Faith again intervened when in 1922 the Washington Naval Treaty provided a structural limit on the size of the world’s top naval powers. The new treaty also provided the guidelines for displace characteristics of new ships designs. A limit of 27,000 tons was placed on all of the signatories. Any ship under construction above those limits was permitted but up to 33,000 tons. The tonnage aspect relating to carrier vessels was established at 81,000 for Japan, a deficiency of 54,000 tons from their US and British counterparts. It was this limitation that historians had attributed as one of the causes of Japan’s bellicose behavior towards the US since the early 1930s. It’s worth pointing out that during the Japanese binding to the Treaty’s tonnage limitation they were continually circumventing the tonnage issue in an effort to maintain parity in carriers with America.

There’s another, more important point to be made about how the Japanese Navy interpreted the Treaty’s ramifications on its carrier program. Before Washington 1922, Japan was a forerunner in the development of combat tactics for carrier platforms. They were one of the early converts to carrier power projection, but they still relegated the carrier force as a second fiddle to the big guns of the once mighty battleships. The Treaty, with its overall tonnage limitation, was the turning point in Japan’s carrier program. From that moment on, Japanese leaders decided not to augment its existing fleet of battleships, instead, the carriers would become the center piece of a newly designed Imperial Navy. Japanese leaders knew that they could not match ship per ship the US, but with a numerical as well as tactical advantage in deployable flatbeds, they believed that they could, not only offset the US numerical superiority in capital ships, but in fact take the strategic advantage away from the Americans in the vast Pacific Ocean. The new strategic position adopted by Japan in direct response to the new realities imposed on it by the 1922 accords meant that their main axis of attack would originate from its carriers force instead of the traditional battleship alignment, thus, from that moment on the carrier became Japan’s main first strike weapon system. As such distinction merits, all available naval resources were, either placed on the carrier itself or allocated to the development of the carrier’s air complement. Capital ships like battleships, heavy and light cruisers still received a substantial amount of the budget, but the importance of the Japanese had cleared shifted to their new first strike platform: the aircraft carrier.

Carrier Profiles

1. Taiho Class (Great Phoenix)

The Taiho had the distinction of being Japan’s first carrier to be fitted with a redundant damage control system that would had enable the flatbed to operate at the same profile even if she was damaged. Taiho was also the first carrier developed by Japan to incorporate an armored flight deck area. The deck’s thickness was in the range of 75 to 80mm. The Japanese believed that this level of reinforcement would have allowed the deck to withstand hits from up to 1,000lbs of free fall bombs. An armored belt of 5.9” circled the hull structure. But, as with most of Japan’s other carriers design, the Great Phoenix lacked armored platting hangars, a design flaw that would prove to be fatal for the entire carrier fleet. Taiho design was comparable to that of the famous Shokaku-class, except that it incorporated a large Island structure similar to that founded on the original Hiyu design. The other major departure from the Shokaku design was that the Great Phoenix’s bow was enclosed instead of the open air bow on pass vessels. This was done in order to provide the Taiho with an improve sea going capabilities. This new bow arrangement allowed the Taiho to have a more robust (33%) hangar space available for ordinance and fuel storage. The Great Phoenix was designed with a low center of gravity to improve the ship’s seaworthiness. As a result, the carrier had only to hangar elevators, one in the aft and the other in the forward area. With only two designated hangar areas available, the Taiho did packed an impressive cargo of aircrafts. Up to 75 front line plus 10 reserve aircraft could be embarked on the ship.
The new aircraft carrier was fitted with the newly designed Type 98 antiaircraft (AA) gun. This new gun was a 100mm demon that can shot at ranges up to 21,300 yards. Six dual mounts housed three of these awesome guns on each side of the hull. Seventeen of the triple 25mm guns were placed around the flight deck as well as in the Island superstructure. The Taiho also carried the two of the new Japanese Type 21 radar array. One was paced atop of the island while the other lay in the lower aft section of the structure. Taiho was completed in March 1944 and immediately was transferred to the Imperial Navy’s Mobile Fleet based at Singapore, where it was assigned to take over the flag of the Mobile Fleet.

Carrier Specifications

Total Displacement 29,300tons
Hull Length 855’-0”
Beam Area 91’-0”
Draft Section 32’-0”
Top Operational Speed 33 knots
Combat Range 10,200 nautical miles
Crew Complement 1,751

Taiho first extended combat action saw her launching strike aircrafts against a US carrier fleet in the morning of June 19th, 1944, when she was hit by one torpedo from the USS Albacore. Originally, the officers of the Taiho though that the hit was superficial and that the carrier would be able to sustained until it reached port, but in reality, the impact was more profound. The impact wave of the hit cracked the main aviation fuel tanks in the forward elevator area. As the fuel began to mix with sea water, the carrier’s crew demonstrated their under training in damage control tasks, a weakness that had already proven fatal to many of their companions in other flatbeds. They opened all hatches around the ship’s two hangar areas in an attempt to steam the water flow. It was to no avail. Because just four hours after the impact, the damage control crew turned on all of the hangar’s extractor fans thus setting up a massive explosion the blew the sides of the hangars. At this moment, the resulting fires began to consolidate and a second, most violent explosion shook up the ship. The hull was compromised and power was lost. Two hours later, the ship buckle under its own weight finally sinking with around 400 men trapped below the rupture deck.

2. Unryu Class (Unryu, Amagi and Katsuragi)

The Unryu class had the distinction of being Japan’s last front line carrier design of the war. The Unryu was a departure from the advance Taiho class. With this class, Japan returned to its original carrier designs roots. Speed above armor and protection was the rule instituted on the Unryu. The Unryu class was an attempt to match carriers with the US. In fact, the whole class was a crash curse on carrier construction. In 1941, the Navy ordered the development of six new flatbeds as soon as possible. The time requirement prevented Japanese shipyards to maximize what they had learned on the Taiho and Shokaku classes. To maximize their construction, all of six the carrier’s proposed on this class were designed along the lines of the Hiryu class. The first three hulls were laid in mid 1942, while the next three were to be under construction by the autumn of 1943. Those three never made it out of the yard. When the program was terminated in the spring of 1945, these three units (Ikoma, Katsuragi and Kasagi) were nearly a three quarters up. There were initial speculation that if the class was able to perform adequately, eleven additional units would have been ordered.

The Unryu class boats possessed almost the same hull structure, armor plating and hangar space distribution of the Hiryu. Their only structural difference was the Island placement. In the new class, the Island was located forward on the starboard side of the ship. As with others Japanese carrier designs, only two elevators were fitted to the boats. Two main hangar areas were able to storage 57 operational planes with seven reserved units as backup. The carriers of this class were armed with the same Type 89 guns as in the Hiryu boat. Three of the 89s were placed on each side of the carrier’s upper hull area. Sixteen triple and three single fire 25mm antiaircraft guns were also fitted around the flatbed’s superstructure. An additional four triple and thirteen single 25s were installed, giving the Unryu class an impressive array of 76 AA guns. The class was also the first of its kind in Japan to carry six 28 barrel 4.7” rocket launchers for short range action. Another distinction for the carriers was that they were the first platforms to be incorporated with a radar system since its design. Two of the Type 13 radars arrays were installed. One at the island’s mainmast and the other on the four hinged radio antenna.

Carrier Specifications

Total Displacement: 17,150 tons Unryu
17,260 tons Katsuragi
17,460 tons Amagi
Hull Length 742’-0”
Beam Area 72’-0”
Draft Section 26’-0”
Top Operational Speed 34 knots (Katsuragi 33 knots)
Combat Range 8,000 nautical miles
Crew Complement 1,595

Of the three completed ships of the class, only one actually saw active combat. And that action only involved the ferrying of aircrafts and ammunition to the Japanese garrison in the Philippines during the last stages of the war. Unryu, the lead boat, was commissioned in August 1944 and immediately was assigned to the Mobile Fleet. In December she was tasked to carry airplanes into Manila Harbor. On the 9th, while in transit to the Philippines, the Unryu was spotted by the submarine USS Redfish. The Redfish proceeded to put two torpedoes into the port side of the carrier hitting the half-filed aviation fuel tanks. The ensuing explosion sent the boat to the bottom with nearly 1,350 of its crew compliment. The other two carriers, the Amagi and Katsuragi were commissioned in October 1944. Neither embarked on any ocean going travel, mostly because of Japan’s massive fuel shortages. In March 1945, the Amagi was lightly damage in an American raid on Kure. On July 25th, a more intense bombardment damaged the Amagi’s hull integrity and she sank within minutes. Amagi had the distinction of being the last Japanese carrier sunk in combat. Katsuragi, who also received heavy damage during the 24th raid, survived the war. She was issue to the Allies as reparation payment and was ultimately scrapped in the fall of 1946.

3. Shimano Class

The largest carrier built during World War II, Shinano would remain the biggest flatbed in the world until the US Navy deployed its first series of super carriers in the 1950s. Shinano was original conceived as the last of the Yamato class super battleships. Laid in May 1940, work of the battleship stopped by June 1942. In August the Japanese Navy decided that the era of the big gun wagons was over and, still coping with the losses suffered at Midway, decided to convert the Shinano to an aircraft carrier. Work on the conversion started in September. At the time, Japanese naval leaders envisioned a new role for the huge hulled ship: floating fortress. The Shinano would become the next step in the evolution of the aircraft carrier, Japanese commanders thought at the time. Aircrafts from small decked carriers as well as long range land based planes would use the Shinano as sort of refueling and re-supplying platform. Thus in the design of the ship’s structure, only one hangar deck area was implemented. This reduced the amount of planes, 47, that new flatbed could carry. These planes were primarily for self defense purposes.

The Shinano’s design closely resembled that of the Taiho’s. The ship’s was fitted with an armored flight deck of three inches. Two elevators served the hangar area which was divided into two separate compartments. The forward hangar area was only covered by shutters, while the rear area was completely enclosed. A huge island structure, with a slanted stack, was placed the same way as in the Taiho’s. A massive armored belt, over eight inches in thickness, covered the other hull area. Additional armored platting, 7.5 inches worth, was installed on the machinery and magazine’s areas. Two pairs of Type 89 AA were placed on the forward and rear areas of each hull side. Between 30 and 33 triple 25mm guns were mounted all around the deck area. Twelve short range rocket launchers were also added. Two Type 21 radar systems were placed on the ship. One in forward area of the island and the other in the aft. These were augmented by two additional Type 13 arrays. One installed on the mainmast and the other on the forward port side of the radio antenna.

Carrier Profile Characteristics

Total Displacement: 62,000tons
Hull Length 873’-0”
Beam Area 119’-0”
Draft Section 34’-0”
Top Operational Speed 27 knots
Combat Range 10,000 nautical miles
Crew Complement 2,400

Apart of being the largest carrier built at the time, Shinano had also the distinction of having the shortest life span of any carrier in WW II. Commissioned in the morning of November 18th, 1944, Shinano departed the Yokosuka docks on the 28th for final fittings at Kure. On the early hours of the 29th, she was torpedo by the USS Archerfish. Although the damage was not considered sever, the ship did not had its full complement of counter flooding and damage control systems. As the ship continued its voyage, the flooding, checked by the crew at first, began to overmatch the ship’s countermeasures. Power was lost and after eleven hours, the mighty ship capsized tanking with her 1,350 crewmembers.

In the end, Japan felt victim of what the saw before the war commenced as its biggest weakness: their small industrial base. Of the three carrier classes developed during the war, only the Taiho’s and Shinano’s represented any real opportunity. One, the Taiho, was not properly exploded mostly because Japan could not build them in numbers; the other, Shinano, although very promising, became irrelevant due to its late entry into the war. The Unryu class was Japan’s last attempt at matching the Americans in carriers. They were easy to mass produce because of its simplicity of design. This same trait also worked against them. By the time the class was ready for action their boats were easily outclassed by the new American flatbeds.

It was Japan’s lack of industrial material, know-how and experience work force that accounted for the small number (only five ships were developed) of new carriers during the war. In contrast, the United States developed and deployed 17 front line carriers during that same period.

Sources:

Warship International, Volume 1, International Naval Research Organization, Holden 1982

Aircraft Carriers, David Brown, Arco Publishing Company 1977

The Imperial Japanese Navy, BG Gordon & AJ Watts, MacDonald 1971

Weather and human error, most likely causes of crash chopper in Puerto Rico

2010-12-31T06:31:00.004-04:00

Details of the night when a National Guard chopper went down paint a picture of human error, exacerbated by bad weather.

The error was probably caused by a series of bad weather patterns that showed up in the flight profile of the aircraft.

On Dec. 20, a National Guard chopper carrying six people went down in the waters just north of the coast of Río Grande during a mission sponsored by the Justice Department.

Five bodies have been recovered so far. The other is still missing and presumed dead.
In the early evening, at least two radar systems in the island painted the area between Loiza and Ceiba in red, meaning that there was a high degree of bad weather, including thunderstorms with lighting associated with them.

According to Weather Underground, an online radar system, the area was seriously contaminated with several bad weather patterns.

The flight pattern of one mile off the coastline and the operational ceiling at the time, 400 feet, suggested that the pilots of the downed UH-72 Lakota were trying to avoid rough weather.

Several experts, who preferred to remain anonymous, have told the Daily Sun that the debris recovered from the fuselage points to a violent collision at sea.

There are two ways to down a troubled chopper if the pilot has some control of the aircraft, even without power.

One is a controlled crash landing and the other is forced landing.
There are two recent examples of these types of landing.

In the last decade, the local police department has landed two choppers, in the sea, with partial control. One of those instances occurred while chasing a high speed boat believed to be carrying illegal drugs.

The parts of the fuselage recovered from the latest crash suggest that the landing was not a controlled one.

The destruction seen and the matter in which the bodies were found points to a collision speed of 100 to 120 knots, or 100 mile per hour.

At a 400 foot ceiling, meaning that the aircraft crashed violently, argues one expert, destroying the insides of the cockpit, which explain the absence of security harnesses on each of the five bodies found.

According to Defense policy, the search and recovery effort will be conducted by Army aviation regulations.

A team of three aviation accident specialists from Fort Rucker, Ala., with the assistance of two officials from the Coast Guard Board, based on Virginia and a member of the Puerto Rico National Guard, a physician, are conducting the investigation.

In an effort to recover the remains of the missing airman and the rest of the fuselage, including the cabin, Defense contracted the services of Titan Maritime LLC, a world renowned salvage company that has provided services for the Pentagon for decades.

The debris recovered is in storage at the Muñiz Air Base in Carolina.

There are rumors that the crash was caused by several of the Lakota’s instruments -- including the multi functional display and vehicle engine monitor display -- which could have shorted out due to malfunction provoked by high temperatures in the cabin.
That theory has been partially dismissed by investigating officers.

The Daily Sun has learned that the main theory which could have led to a crash landing was the weather and a possible disorientation on the part of the crew.

Investigators are also mulling whether there was a struggle between the pilot and co-pilot in a frantic effort to gain control of the chopper.

The absence of radio communication and even a cell phone call, also points to the fact that the aircraft suffered from a catastrophic and sudden crash, which suggests a forced landing due to crew disorientation.

The mission started a month before the actual flight occurred when Justice Secretary Guillermo Somoza met with National Guard Adjutant General Antonio J. Vicéns, to discuss details of a multi-pronged operation involving at least two targets.

Several sources told the Daily Sun that besides Vieques, at least one luxury marina in the eastern section of the island was a target.

It all started on Dec. 20 at the Aviation Assistance Area of the Army National Guard at the Isla Grande Airport.

Around 5:50 p.m., Guard officials submitted the flight plan for the Lakota, as well as four other choppers, including three Black Hawks and one Kiowa reconnaissance helicopter.

The Lakota is part of the United States Army Light Utility Helicopter fleet. In 2006, Defense selected the rotary-winged aircraft as a replacement for its aging fleet of Vietnam-era Kiowa choppers.

At 6:40 p.m., the Lakota took off from the base en route to Vieques, on a trip intended to take from 15 to 25 minutes.

According to Vicéns, the Lakota was assigned the task of an aerial command center for the overall mission, including Vieques and possibly the Puerto Del Rey Marina in Ceiba, where it was scheduled to touch down after completing its mission.

The Lakota was the second aircraft dispatched from Isla Grande that night.

First to depart was a Blackhawk, followed by the rest of the force several minutes later.

The magnitude of the operation could be measured by the allocation of National Guard resources. In a 35-minute period, the force dispatched almost half of its available helicopters.

As it took off, the Lakota maintained radio and radar contact with the other members of the fleet as well as with the San Juan Radar Station at the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport.

In fact, the pilot of one of the Blackhawks, José García, confirmed that twice during the flight, the Lakota maintained contact with the other members of the fleet through the radar station.

“We had communication with [the Lakota] twice before 7 p.m., and in none of those communications did the pilot express any problem with the aircraft," García said. "Nor did he report anything unusual about the weather.”

Around 7 p.m., García reported that he had noticed the absence of the Lakota and started to search from Loíza to Río Grande, ultimately landing his Blackhawk in the coastal area outside the Hotel Meliá in Río Grande. It was approximately 7:40 p.m., he said.

Another Blackhawk came to his aid to look for the missing Lakota. The initial search lasted about two hours.

García said he was near the Sandy Hills condominiums when he decided to turn back and start looking for the missing aircraft.

“At no time during my return did I encounter a bad weather pattern. In fact, I flew by visual flight rules, not instrumentation,” said the experienced aviator.

He recalled there were several rainy areas to the east of his positions. According to his recollection, the bad weather area was a mile off the coast of Río Grande, where the Lakota apparently crash landed.

Garcia argued that during the Lakota’s two communications with the SJRS, the pilots never mentioned bad weather.

His assumption was that the Lakota had to have gone through the bad weather area without any trouble.

After several passes through the area, Garcia’s chopper landed back in Ceiba and at 8:02, the Coast Guard took control of the search.

For four hours, the Coast Guard and several other National Guard helicopters searched the area until the initial debris began to appear at midnight.

The UH-72 Lakota is the backbone of the U.S. National Guard. The downed aircraft was brought to the island in May and had its last inspection on Dec. 14, six days before the fatal crash.

By Raul Colon for the Puerto Rico Daily Sun

Puerto Rico without medical airlift?

2010-12-30T07:00:00.003-04:00

In February, the island could be left without a medical emergency airlift because the government does not pay the only company that provides this vital service.

Several physicians operating at the Río Piedras Medical Center interviewed by the Daily Sun, told horror stories of patients arriving at the trauma center near death because of road transportation, which takes longer than an airlift.

“There were a lot of cases when the individual could be saved, but because they were not transported through air, they die en route. Air transportation is imperative in some high trauma cases,” said a doctor who wished to remain anonymous.
The main reason family or doctors choose land transportation is to save money, according to consensus.

Several other doctors confirmed the statement of the need for a reliable airlift capability.

Accurate data on the number of deaths attributed to a lack of an emergency airlift capability were not available, but most experts and industry insiders placed the number at more than a dozen every year.

The island has already been without a medical airlift service since Aero-Med filed for Chapter 11 bankrupcy in 2008, ceasing all operations that year until Dec. 2009.

Then, in March 2010, after providing the government with service for nearly two months without receiving compensation, the company shut down again until the Centro American and Caribbean Games started in July.

Mounting government debts are financially strangling Aero-Med, Puerto Rico’s sole helicopter medical airlift company, to the point that many board members are questioning the wisdom of continuing to operate.

Over all, the government owes the company in excess of $600,000 in current and back payments.

For a corporation with an operational overhead of $200,000 a month, that’s a critical debt to be carrying and one that can’t continue for much longer.

Aero-Med President José Hernández argued that without a real resolution of the payment situation, his company will be hard pressed to continue operating past early 2011.

“We gave the government service in January and February waiting to see what their attitude would be regarding payment,” Hernández said.

The government failed to pay, forcing the company to close the much needed operation once gain.
When the Mayaguez 2010 games were set to start, the government was forced to pay Aero-Med to provide services.

The Daily Sun has learned that many persons inside Gov. Fortuño’s administration were not too keen to have the service back in operations, mainly due to the outstanding balance it had accumulated with the company.

An administration official suggested the idea that the Coast Guard and National Guard could supply the choppers for the airlift, if needed.

“We resumed operations on July 17 after we told the government we would not operate during the Games because of the outstanding debt.

Four days prior to the Games they decided to contract us,” Hernández said.
The list of debtors starts with its biggest client, the Automobile Accident Compensation Administration (AACA), which owes the corporation more than $300,000 and accounts for 48 percent of its transported patients.

Since the Mayagüez event, the AACA has reduced the overall size of its debt from $500,000 to the current level but the agency and the other government institutions that use the services have not signed their service contracts as discussed after the incident.

Nearly all the injured covered by AACA are car accident victims who must be transported.

The Health Department had an outstanding balance of $100,000 and the Corporation for the State Insurance Fund owes $45,000.

The Health transfers are usually crime victims, trauma patients, and even babies, such as one 11-day old infant the company moved from a mountain town to the Río Piedras Medical Center on Christmas Day.

To add to the problem, the service contracts between two of those agencies, AACA and the Department, are set to expire soon.

The agreement with the CSIF expired two years ago, and still the coporation keeps flying injured workers, including a Puerto Rico Electrical Power Authority line worker who suffered an accident on the job.

The contract with the CSIF is important to the government, because they are the agency that compensates for work-related accidents involving primary workers like police officers, fire fighters and even emergency personnel.

But the CSIF has been negligent in their management of the situation.

Despite not having a signed contract with Aero-Med, officials from the Fund routinely call up the company for an airlift.

“There’s a person there (CSIF), Dr. García, who calls us every time he needs an airlift, and promises us payments and contract signings, but after the service is provided, he disappears,” Hernández said.

Conversations regarding the service agreement with the Health Department is set to start next week. The deal with AACA is still in the early stages.

Aero-Med is also facing another situation, the refusal to pay for transporting injured individuals who do not fulfill certain criteria.

AACA does not cover the transportation of people who have been in accidents involving four-track trucks, victims under the influence of alcohol and illegal drugs, victims without a valid driving license and individuals who are not yet identified when the lift is ordered.

Early in the year, Health Secretary Lorenzo González told Hernández that he would be requesting a monthly allocation from the Legislature to cover the expenses regularly.

The problem is that as of today, no allocation or other disbursement has been approved or is under discussion at the Capitol.

Overall, Aero-Med made between 35 to 45 trips a month this past year, a figure that pales in comparision to the almost 90 monthly flights it performed a decade ago.

By Raul Colon for the PR Daily Sun

Puerto Rico, crime capital of the United States

2010-12-27T06:47:00.002-04:00

Statistics usually paint a complete picture and this is the case of the massive crime wave ripping the island this year.

The most important of them all, murders, are up 8 percent compared to 2009.

Police data shows that as of Dec. 25, there have been 962 reported violence deaths, 72 more than in 2009 and on pace to creep to the thousand plateau.

By comparison, in 2009, there were 13,600 murders in the entire United States, including its territories.

That’s mean that Puerto Rico accounts for almost 8 percent of all violence deaths in the U.S. despite having less than a fraction of one percent of its population.
Of the 13 police regions, 8 have reported an increase in deadly crime compared to the previous year.

Four of them, Arecibo, Bayamón, Caguas and Mayaguez have seen a double digit increase.

Caguas has the dubious distinction of having the largest increase in number of murders, going from 62 in 2009 to 81 so far this year.

Percentage-wise, Mayaguez has experimented the highest hike, a 46 percent increase (24 in 2009 to 35 this year).

Even Aibonito has seen an increase in killings (20 percent) from the previous year.
Once again, the most fertile ground for killing on the island is the metropolitan area.

San Juan reports 196 killings as of Dec. 25th, a 5 percent increase over 2009. Bayamón follows the deadly trail with 169 reported murders, 13 more than the previous year.

Ponce breaks the metropolitan monopoly when it comes to crime, as they have seen 119 killings in 2010.

Carolina rounds out the list of regions with 116.

But not only murders are on the rise, robberies have increased 10 percent from 2009.
The police have reported 6,764 robberies this year, 604 more than in 2009.

In this area, Bayamón is the undisputed leader with 1,845 robbery attempts, a 28 percent hike from 2009.

San Juan follows with 1,768, a 17 percent increase.

The only bright spot in the damaging statistics is the palpable decrease in rape cases reported.

Figures provided by the police show a dramatic 33 percent reduction in that area of crime, going from 55 in 2009 to 37 so far. e acts aside from murders.

Data showed a solid, 21 percent decrease in the number of assault cases filed (2,644 compared to 3,364 in 2009).

Another statistic that points downward is crime against property, with an overall decrease of 7 percent (57,803 in 2009 compared to 53,563 this year).

Those types of crimes involve car theft, which is barely down a fraction of 1 percent (only 13 less than in 2009) and illegal appropriation, down 12 percent.

Still, the high number of killings seems to disguise any improvement in crime prevention.

The almost 1,000 murders for the year are the clearest indication that the Fortuno administration had failed in crime prevention.

It also means that police superintendent Jose Figueroa Sancha is incapable of handling the island’s biggest problem and as such, he needs to resign immediately.

That’s the opinion of Popular Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker Eder Ortiz who once again called for, not only the dismissal of Figueroa, but for a complete overhaul of the crime fighting strategy.

“The strategy of fighting crime is a shame. First of all, it is obvious to anyone that it is not working. The government needs to provide mire than a media show every time they enter a residential complex,” Ortiz said.

Golpe al Punto (Blow to the Drug Point) is one of the most criticized crime prevention program for Ortiz to its lack of depth as it is only targeted to one sector, according to Ortiz.

“That program has been an utter failure. Crimes keep happening on those areas and with a relentless pace. The police should change strategies and instead of focusing on drug addicts, should start looking for the killers,” Ortiz said.

For the PDP Senator, the Superintendent and the Justice Department needs to shift their focus from what he called “rounding out drug addicts” to a full target of those individuals who have actually pulled the trigger in murders.

“We need to focus of getting those who actually kill people. Here, the Police and Justice Department have been concentrated on napping the addicts and the people who finance the drug trafficking, but the real problem is the murders,” he said.

To combat the alarming murder rate on the island, Ortiz suggested a new focus.

First, he believed in the integration of a medial program to treat drug addicts in order to ease the weight on crime fighting in that area, moving it to the health system.

The idea seems to have broad base support as New Progressive Party Sen. Carmelo Rios and presume PDP gubernatorial candidate, Sen. Alejandro Garcia Padilla, have backed the idea.

Second, the police must concentrate the majority of their resources in solving killings.

“I would assign 2 or 3 investigative agents to each murder case until it is solved. That way, the cases should be handled with more depth and better results would be expected.”

Ortiz also proposed that instead of entering the public residential complexes with police units, the government should sent detachments of specialist from other agencies in order to pave the way in the recovery of the sector targeted.

The PDP legislator argues for an intervention by the Family, Health, Education and Sport and Recreation Departments every time a Golpe al Punto operative is mounted.

“The different agencies should move inside the complex to provide social help to those individuals and families in order to offer them an alternative,” Ortiz said.

By Raul Colon for Puerto Rico Daily Sun

Local party to re-organize

2010-12-24T06:24:00.002-04:00

The Popular Democratic Party will have a new organizational structure behind its presumed nominee for governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla.

In announcing the changes, Rep. Jaime Perelló, Chairman of the PDP Special Rules Committee, gave his first profound endorsement of García Padilla as his party’s next gubernatorial candidate.

Among the changes in the new platform are the creation of 12 new regional directorates and the introduction of a women-only vice-presidency.

Other institutions created by Perelló’s proposal are the Auxiliary Theme Secretaries which would concentrate the resources of health, security issues, economic and education in separate organizations.

The Committee also called for the introduction of an Auxiliary Professional Youth Secretary as well as the development of 16 sectoral organizations to include experts in the fields of the environment, agriculture, labor issues, sports, and handicapped persons.

“We started this work more than a year ago with visits to the base of the party. In fact, this new proposal placed the organization structure of the party closer to the base, which included the special communities, among other sectors,” Perello said.

According to the freshman lawmaker, the new organizational model would fundamentally alter the structure of the island’s oldest political institution.

The proposal now has to be approved by the PDP Governmental Board, which seems like a "slam dunk."

After their approval, the platform would need to be ratified by the Program and Rules Assembly.

Once approved, the party would begin its re-organization effort at a General Assembly, which should be convoked no later than May.

“It’s my understanding that by April or March, the majority of the organization of the party should be completed and that includes the selection of the party’s president,” Perelló said.

The PDP lawmaker made no secret who should occupy that post in light of the 2012 elections.

“I believed that Alejandro García Padilla, who has my support, is the person who would be sitting in that position. He has done the work with the base and has been involved in the reorganization effort since the start,” Perelló said.

In an effort to provide continuity in case of a transition, the PDP would make the post of secretary general a permanent one with a term limit of four years.

The party president will nominate the person, who will then have to be confirmed by the governing board.

The Committee’s proposal calls for the nomination to be made no later than two years prior to the electoral process. In order to shield the position from political influences, the person occupying the post can not be a candidate until the second election cycle following his or her separation from the post. Aiding the Secretary will be three regional coordinating offices, that of finance and innovation and new media strategy organizers.

Each new coordinator will report directly to the secretary, who will then pass on the information to the PDP Governing Board for action.

The base of the decisional structure is composed of the party’s serving mayors, municipal committee presidents, the regional youth organization leader, the president of the women’s group, municipal legislators, electoral coordinators, sitting state legislators and the coordinator of public workers.

Both the public workers and the regional youth coordinator are new posts. The proposed organization will have representatives from all 78 island’s municipalities.
Each new municipal coordinator will report to one of 12 regional presidencies, who, in turn, will report to the national president for the organization.

To provide a solid financing foundation, the party is restructuring the financing director office. The plan calls for a complete coordination between each candidate’s campaign finance officer and the party’s financial officer.

The creation of the women-only vice-presidency is another novel concept by the seven-decade old party.

It is believed that Reps. Carmen "Yulín" Cruz and Brenda López de Arrarás are vying for the spot.

Cruz confirmed her aspirations.

“Since 2005 when the Popular Women Organization presented the concept of a party’s vice-presidency to be occupied by a woman, we have supported it. When the proposal is ratified we will be viewing for that position,” Cruz said.

Meanwhile, the PDP’s most thorny issue, — the enhancement of the current commonwealth status — is under discussion.

There’s a veil of secrecy surrounding the meetings of the status Committee, but Cruz, who is part of the group, confirmed that a final report on their discussions should be available by January.

The new definition of enhancement would be centered on the basis of three premises, argued Cruz.

One is that the commonwealth should not be considered a colonial or territorial status, as is currently is. The other is that it maintains a viable political association with the United States and that the U.S. citizenship would be guaranteed for further generations.

“We are in the process of finalizing the details. There’s already a preliminary document ready on the basis of enhancement that included the development of the economy and political powers under the commonwealth,” Cruz said.

Puerto Rico's legislator covering domestic violence?

2010-12-09T06:19:00.003-04:00

Two Popular Democratic Party lawmakers and members of the panel investigating Rep. Luis Farinacci mingled with him the same day he called his estranged wife to allegedly threaten her.

The two, Rep. Luis Vega Ramos and Carlos ‘Charlie’ Hernández, failed to notify the Ethics Committee that they had had direct contact with the Ponce legislator just hours prior to the incident being investigated.

On July 14 at 9:46 p.m. Farinacci called his wife, Liza Yahaira Rivera, and allegedly threatened her.

The call forced Rivera’s parents to make the complaint to the Ethics Committee.
Rivera’s cellular calling record indicated that the call made by Farinacci was from Santurce, San Juan.

Farinacci told the police he had made the call from “between two sectors of Ponce.”
As members of the committee, both legislators should have told the body that they were with Farinacci hours before the call to his wife was made, but as of Wednesday, neither had notified the Committee.

According to several sources who attended the event at an Isla Verde hotel, Farinacci was seen talking to Hernández several times during the activity, attended by the entire PDP House delegation with the exception of Reps. Carmen “Yulín” Cruz and Brenda López de Arrarás.

The activity was promoted by Rep. Jaime Perelló.

López, like Vega and Hernández, is a member of the committee evaluating Farinacci’s actions.

There is also evidence that after Farinacci made the threatening telephone call to his wife, he made at least 14 other calls to friends and relatives, including a cousin, trying to enlist their help in dissuading Rivera from going to the police.

According to information obtained by the Daily Sun, at least two of the persons Farinacci called tried to convince Rivera not to go to the police with the complaint of domestic violence.

Rivera told the caller that she would go forward with the complaint because “he threatened my parents as well.”

It is strange enough that he called his wife the same day he showed up at the activity with another woman whom he introduced to at least one lawmaker as his “girlfriend.” But more information is forthcoming.

One PDP legislator who attended the event told the Daily Sun, on condition of anonymity, that there were several more “troubling actions.

“He was drinking for much of the activity. There was some strange behavior with the date he brought to the event,” said a PDP legislator.

According to three sources, Farinacci and the unnamed “girlfriend” had a falling out at the event.

“I hear that he (Farinacci) told another lawmaker that he had a problem with the woman he took to the activity,” said a PDP representative who wished to remain anonymous.

Sources said that Rep. Lydia Méndez also heard the same story at the event.

Farinacci also received a call at 3:30 that afternoon from the now ex-legislator Iván Rodríguez Traverzo, one of his closest friends.

PDP hopueful blast majority

2010-12-07T22:35:00.003-04:00

He is a presumed gubernatorial nominee and soon to be his party’s standard bearer. He is also one of the first to dispute Gov. Fortuño’s claim that the island’s economic outlook is improving.

Alejandro García Padilla is not buying administration statements that Puerto Rico is headed in the right direction.

Unlike most of his peers, the first-term Popular Democratic Party senator is usually one of the first to arrive at the Capitol.

He is regularly seen entering his senatorial office no later than 8:30 in the morning.

“It’s a ritual I learned a long time ago,” said Padilla. “In the morning, especially early, we are able to start the day with a flood of ideas and a fresh mind to tackle the many problems facing the island,” Padilla said.

Most on his mind lately is the state of the economy.

“This is the number one issue on the mind of Puerto Ricans, but the Fortuño administration has failed miserably,” Padilla said.

The PDP lawmaker questioned the comments made by administration officials citing that the island’s economic outlook is improving. He also rejects the idea that a recovery is underway.

Early in the week, the administration cited an improved classification of the island’s debt as an indicator that the economic situation was improving.

To offset that claim, Padilla pointed to data from the Center for the New Economy that showed that economic activity had receded on the island by 2.6 percent the last year.

The Center has a non-profit blog managed by Sergio Marxuach, an advisor to former PDP Gov. Sila M. Calderón.

In his trips to small towns such as San Germán, Aguas Buenas and Cayey, the PDP senator has found that the people are not experiencing what he referred to as the “so-called recovery.”

“People in those towns are laughing at the comments that the economy is improving. The reality is that the economy is depressed. We are generating a negative growth every quarter since Fortuño took over.”

Padilla argued that several well known economists who had heavily criticized the government of Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, are now blasting the financial measures of the current administration.

The economy is only the tip of the provincial iceberg, according to the at-large senator. He claims that the policies implemented by the NPP-led government have strangled health care and destroyed the island’s education system.

“There’s no area in which real progress can be measured. The public is not fooled by hollow words of encouragement. They know the difference and they know that the island is in dire state,” he said

Padilla blasted the comments made by New Progressive Party Secretary General Héctor Morales, saying that he has found “renewed hope on the streets of Puerto Rico.”
“He must have been on a trip somewhere when he heard that comment, not on the island. That’s a ridiculous statement,” he said.

The senator challenged Morales to stroll the streets of Puerto Rico and he would find out how deep the despair runs.

To express his point, Padilla recalled a conversation he had with an Aguas Buenas business man who has been operating a small shop in the center of the town for 56 years.

“He told me that this was the worst year in the history of his business. People of our age have never seen Puerto Rico in the situation we are currently in,” he said.
On the matter of the forced resignation of former NPP lawmaker Iván Rodríguez Traverzo, Padilla referred to it as a “wakeup call.”

“The vote has serious implications; it is not a folk exercise. What is happening in the legislature and the government is the direct result of the November 2008 vote.”
Padilla readily expressed that the person who came second in the 2008 election for the 16th House District, PDP hopeful Antonio “Tony” Rodríguez Quiles, would have been a much wiser choice for the voters of San Sebastián, Las Marías and Isabela.

Padilla called the San Sebastian lawyer who lost to Rodríguez by 3,500 votes “a first class citizen with an impeccable background.”

The pointed reference was an intentional comparison to Rodríguez’s checkered background.

“The NPP party ignored the red flags concerning Rodríguez. Give the NPP one term in control of the legislature and the public will see scandals like this one.”

The first-time lawmaker explained that members of his party had anticipated what the result of an NPP takeover of the legislature and the executive branch would entail.

“We told the country that the governor would fire public employees and months after he took over he fired 30,000 public servants. The vote has consequences and this is another one of them,” Padilla said.

Puerto Rico lack facilities for the handicapped

2010-12-07T22:30:00.003-04:00

A lot more needs to be done in order to guarantee full access to the handicapped at the island’s recreational facilities.

The problem is such that most stateside travel agencies advertising Puerto Rico as a tourist destination, note that the island has “minimal facilities for the handicapped.”

Nearly all of Puerto Rico’s 3,010 passive parks have a ramp for use by the handicapped, but they lack specialized recreation systems for disabled individuals, especially children.

More troubling still, at most of the island’s top sport venues, such as the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum, the Hiram Bithorn Stadium and the Rubén Rodríguez Coliseum, have only a few designated bathrooms for handicapped persons.

Twenty five years after the implementation of Law 44, known as the Anti-discrimination against Handicapped Persons Act of 1985, there’s still a lot of ground to be covered when it comes to providing disabled individuals a better quality of life.

According to the latest figures, 26 percent of the population, or roughly 1 million people, have some form of disability.

“A lot has been achieved in the last 25 years, especially in the area of acceptance. Now, the people with disabilities are more visible and are getting out more,” said José Montalvo, director of administrative officials at the Handicapped Persons Advocacy Office.

Montalvo said that because the disabled are venturing out more to sporting competitions and other events, the lack of proper bathroom facilities has become more pressing.

“Sometimes the venue has only one bathroom area designated for the handicapped. That’s one area per floor. If that bathroom is full, the person must wait or move to another floor,” said Montalvo.

His comments came during a hearing by the House Family Affairs and Community Committee, chaired by New Progressive Party Rep. Elizabeth Casado.

“This is a problem we need to discuss further. We need to look out for solutions. We have done a lot, but there’s still a long road to cover before we can give justice to people with disabilities,” Casado said.

The Committee is reviewing the merits of Senate Bill 1744, authored by Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz, which calls for 40 percent of all sport recreational facilities to have facilities for the handicapped by 2020.

Although the bill is well intentioned, it could be difficult to enforce because most parks and passive recreation facilities are in the hands of the municipalities.
According to Sports and Recreation Department Secretary Henry Neumann, his Department has already transferred facilities to 68 municipalities.

“Many island parks and facilities are in the hands of the municipalities in accordance with Law 120. Only 10 towns are still pending transfer,” Neumann said.
Transfer means that the municipalities control the facilities, which makes any modification to the parks difficult due to the lack of funds.

“Getting parks ready to receive the disabled is not as expensive as many think. The specialized equipment needed to get more recreation for those with a handicap are basically the same system but with a few modifications,” Montalvo said.

There is also a problem with the parks in residential areas.

Most recreational facilities located in access- controlled residential complexes belong to the residents, making it impossible for the government to regulate the systems for the handicapped.

The Daily Sun visited five such complexes in the metropolitan area and found that none have specialized platforms for the disabled. The only facility available was the access ramp.

Farinacci's to wait until Saturday

2010-11-13T07:58:00.000-04:00

Friday’s hearing against Rep. Luis Farinacci was abruptly postponed until this afternoon.

Scheduled to testify today are the policeman who took the initial domestic violence complaint, Agent Edgardo Márquez, and Marilyn Ortíz, a friend of Farinacci’s wife.
The hearing is slated to start at 1 p.m. in Audience Room 6 at the Luis A. Ferrer building in front of the south side of the Capitol.

The embattled Popular Democratic Party lawmaker was set to appear before the Ethics Committee to defend himself against charges filed by several family members of his still wife, Liza Yahaira Rivera, when the postponement call came.

“I received a call from my lawyer stating that the hearing was postponed until today. I willl not divulge the time of the call but it was early,” Farinacci said.
He also condemned the presence of Ortíz in the proceedings because, according to him, she was never directly involved in the events.

“She was never involved in the procedure. I have no idea why she is there since she was not a witness to anything,” Farinacci said.

He once again sounded optimistic that in the end, the truth would be revealed and that he would be exonerated of all charges.

Chairwoman, New Progressive Party Rep. Liza Fernández, told the Daily Sun that it was Farinacci’s attorneys who requested the postponement.

The cancellation caught the PDP members on the Committee by surprise. According to the ranking PDP member on the Committee, Rep. Carlos ‘Charlie’ Hernández, the postponement was announced during a telephone call from Fernández and not through regular channels.

“I, like all of the members of our delegation received a call in the morning stating that the hearing was postponed until today. They did not give us a reason for the postponement,” Hernández said.

There were questions regarding the status of the PDP members on the Committee.

On Tuesday, Fernández requested that House Speaker Jenniffer González expel Hernández and fellow lawmakers Luis Vega Ramos and Brenda López de Arrarás citing infractions to the confidentially code that covers all hearings of the Committee.

On the same day, Vega and López revealed that the NPP members on the Ethics Committee decided to alter, unilaterally, the contents of a final report that called for the expulsion of NPP Rep. Iván Rodríguez Traverso.

That prompted Fernández to ask for the expulsion. As of press time, González had not ruled on the request.

In the meantime, the PDP delegation wants Fernández to summon Rivera on the basis that she is the only one that can corroborate what was actually said during the telephone call that sparked the domestic violence complaint.

“We were ready to assume our duties on the Committee. We want to give Farinacci due process, but for that we need the full testimony of all people involved,” Vega said.
López echoed her fellow party member’s desire.

“In an open and just process, we need to hear from all the people involved. As of today, the main person, his wife, has refused to talk to us and this is an important part of the procedure,” López said.

ZELMAL

2010-10-04T06:09:00.002-04:00

By Raul Colon

The Republic Aviation Corporation’s F-84 ThunderJet was one of the first air superiority fighters, powered by a jet engine, in the United States Air Force (AF) arsenal. It was also one of the most intriguing experimental platforms ever designed.

Between 1952 and the fall of ‘57, no less than two hundred tests of various systems involving ThunderJet were performed. One of the most unusual involved a program called Zero Length Launch and Mat Landing (ZELMAL).

More at: http://www.aviationearth.com/republic-aviation-corporation%e2%80%99s-f-84-thunderjet/

2010-10-01T07:58:00.000-04:00

This is a test
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Medics fight for certification

2010-09-20T23:00:00.001-04:00

The head of the Puerto Rico Medical and Surgeons Board, Dr. Alicia Feliberti, vehemently defended the organization’s obligatory membership, while at the same time, drawing a line on the sand against those who want to eliminate it.
For more than three hours, Feliberti, who became the head of the Board earlier this year, fended off accusations and arguments from several members of the House Governmental and Health Committees, who probed her on the matter.
“We strongly believe in obligatory membership. Back in 2001, the medical professionals voted to once again make membership obligatory. Since then, it has been that way. We see no reason for any change to the status and will defend against any attempt to destroy the Board,” Feliberti said.
The president of the organization cited the voluntary aspect of the Board as the main reason for ongoing obligatory membership, expressing that if it was not for the inscription dues, the Board could not perform the civic activities it currently does.
Among the activities mentioned by Feliberti were the obligatory 20 credit certification seminar each physician needs to complete every year, the voluntary clinics the Board offers and the orientation prevention campaign it has embarked since 2001.
Her comments came at the beginning of the Committee’s hearing into House Bill 2770 which calls for an addendum to Law 77, in order to eliminate the obligatory membership to the Board as a requirement to practice medicine on the island.
According to the bill’s proponent and Chairman of the Government Committee, New Progressive Party Rep. Johnny Méndez, he have received more than 400 certified letters from doctors asking to amend the law and allow for membership to be voluntary.
The medical board is one of the newest professional organizations in Puerto Rico. It was created back in 1994.
Since then it has regulated the practice of medicine on the island, until 1997, when obligatory membership was abolished. The Board once again took control of the profession in 2001, but with the creation in 2009 of the Board for the License and Medical Conduct, it main regulatory function was again passed on to the State.
In 1997, a similar measure that allowed for voluntary membership was signed into law by then-governor Pedro Rosselló. According to Feliberti, the law had a dramatic effect on the Board’s membership as it dropped to 2,600 associates, from a high of 9,000 in 1996.
In 2001, the Popular Democratic Part controlled legislature rewrote the law, providing the mechanism of a referendum inside the medical profession to determine if they once again wanted membership to be obligatory.
Currently, the Board has a membership of 10,562 health providers. Tuition for inscription is $ 300 annually, with an operating annual budget of just above $3 million.
“If this bill passes, most of our members will no doubt leave the Board. Our institution provides a valuable service to the community. It does more than regulate our profession. It gives back to the people with non-profit programs, such as helping our island combat the recent dengue epidemic,” Feliberti said.
The head of the Board also criticized what she called “a small group” of physicians who, for the second time, is asking for voluntary membership.
“Democracy calls for participation. We had our referendum and it was for obligatory membership. The time for those who opposed it has passed,” Feliberti said.
Her comments were quickly condemned by Méndez who stated that “democracy is not served when only a few are allowed to vote and those who do not participate in the electoral process are counted one way.”
Feliberti admitted that in the referendum of 2001, the Board counted votes from non-participants in the process, as affirmative to the obligatory option.
Méndez asked Feliberti to provide the Committee with the acts of the 2001 referendum as well as the financial records of the organization for the past five years. He gave her until Wednesday to submit the requested documents.
Politics and counter charges dominated most of the session as NPP lawmakers blasted Feliberti for her recent comments to the media that stated that the NPP-controlled legislature is out to “destroy the Board because of is political views.”
House Vice-President, Angel Rodriguez asked Feliberti to tone down the rhetoric so that dialogue can flourish.
Maybe one of the lighter moments of the day came when PDP Rep. Jaime Perelló asked the physicians who jam packed the House session room, to openly express their opinions on the matter.
Only one medical professional raised his hand to demand an end to obligatory membership.
The Committee also heard from two of those 400 health providers who expressed that, because of their belief in voluntary membership, the Board has made several referrals to their internal Ethics Committee.
“Because the State took control of the regulatory aspect of the medical profession in 2009, the Board does not have a regulatory function, thus the obligatory aspect of membership should be abolished immediately,” Dr. Natalio Debs, a plastic surgeon said.
Concurring with Debs was Dr. Humberto Quintana, a local cardiologist who in the past has openly campaigned for the abolition of obligatory membership.
“To make voluntary membership is to allow those who truly believe in the functions the Board provides, an opportunity to remain. This would make the organization’s top structure more appreciative of the rank and file member, something it has failed to do so far,” Quintana said.
For the head of the House Health Committee, NPP Rep. José Torres, both arguments are equal , but his opinion is that all associations must be voluntary in nature.
“I have expressed in the past that there is a need to make an open electoral process in the organization. We need to devise a mechanism wherein everyone can participate and not take their absent votes for one thing or another,” Torres said

Gov. Fortuno squabbles with Weather Service

2010-09-01T08:11:00.001-04:00

The rift between the National Weather Service and the Fortuño administration over the closing of schools and public services due to hurricane Earl continued to widen Tuesday, with back-and-forth comments between the two sides.
During a press conference Tuesday, Gov. Fortuño reiterated that his administrative decision to open most of the island’s 1,500 schools and public offices Monday was done in collaboration with the NWS and the expected path Earl was expected totake.
“The decision to close all schools in the eight most affected towns and leave the rest of the island system operating Monday was done in conversations with and the consent of the NWS, as all of our decisions are done in cases of weather emergencies,” the chief executive said.
Early Tuesday, Israel Matos of the NWS stated that his agency gave the administration ample time to make decisions on the timeline for Earl, suggesting that the government erred in its decision to allow classes islandwide.
Fortuño said that because the island was not on hurricane advisory, which means that hurricane conditions are imminent, until Monday at 11 a.m., the administration took the prudent action of not canceling all classes through the whole island on Sunday.
On Monday, the administration closed the schools and public services at noon as Earl was starting his run through the island. This decision, coupled with the decision of most private-sector industries to cancel their activities, caused a massive traffic jam in the metropolitan area.
The administration was also on the defensive regarding their handling of the electrical power situation. As of 6 p.m. Tuesday, 107,159, or 6.8 percent of the total (1.5 million) customers, were without power.
Contrary to common belief, it is the metropolitan area, not the northeastern region, where the most customers without power are located.
According to Puerto Rico Electrical Power Authority director, Miguel Cordero, the main problem at the agency has been downed tree lines, mostly in the Guaynabo area.
“The issue is that we have old lines running through homes and those lines are usually near or between trees. We just can’t get to them because people are not always at home during the day. This caused a branch to fall on a line, which shut down a circuit to a region,” Cordero said.
The director was confident that all the power will be restored by the early hours of today.
As for the roads, the Transportation and Public Works Department announced that 17 roads were damaged and were closed due to Earl. Of those, six were opened by midday Tuesday. The rest are in various stages of reopening.
The affected roads were Routes 494 in Isabela, 423 and 112 in Moca, 845, 181 and 25 in San Juan, 191 in Río Grande, 608 and 6115 in Ciales, 666 in Manatí, 10 and 123 in Utuado, 181 in Arecibo, 14 in Cayey and 160, 646 and 690 in Vega Baja.
Also affected was Road 975 in Ceiba which was partly destroyed due to the ground giving way at the pass of a river bed.
The Water and Sewer Authority reported that almost 60,000 of its consumers were without water as of 4 p.m. Tuesday. As with power, the San Juan metropolitan area was the most affected, with 17,427 homes and businesses without water.
José Ortíz, the WSA executive director, explained that the problem resided in the lack of power to pump the precious liquid.

http://www.prdailysun.com/index.php?page=news.article&id=1283314245

Make way for Via Verde

2010-08-15T08:32:00.004-04:00

Puerto Rico is poised to join a growing list of nations that generate more than a quarter of its energy from natural gas if Gov. Fortuño is able to develop its proposed Via Verde gas line (Green Way) project.

As it was unveiled, Via Verde will supply the island with a cleaner energy source while at the same time reducing the cost of generating electricity up to 30 percent. It will also reduce gas emissions 60 percent while creating 5,000 direct and indirect jobs.

The island uses 36,000 million megawatts of electricity annually. Current cost for 1 million BTUs with petroleum burning is $12.25. With Via Verde, the cost would be reduced to $5.15, according to government figures.

“This is a vanguard program never attempted in Puerto Rico. It would place us closer to true green energy while at the same time reducing not only the cost of generating energy, but the amount of greenhouse gases we emit,” said José ‘Pinchy’ Torres, a New Progressive Party Representative and the main person behind the administration’s green campaign.

The cost of converting the current system to produce gas-generating electricity is estimated at $300 millions.

Facts and myths

The reality is that of all fossil fuel (coal, petroleum and gas) methods of generating electricity, natural gas is the cleanest. Known as "the prince of hydrocarbons," gas is an increasingly important fuel source in the world energy system.

Because it is relatively easy to transport, and to use, cheap and clean, it is considered by many experts as a good way to improve our current energy system in the short run.

“It’s a great first step that should at least take us away from our dependence of oil. It will reduce the cost of energy generation and that of gas emissions,” said José Fuentes, an environmental engineer attached to the Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-profit group that monitors energy developments.

Fuentes was emphatic that while the conversion from a mainly oil-consuming society to one based on natural gas should be pursued with energy, it should not be the end of the line. “Natural gas is the way to move forward, but more is needed to rid Puerto Rico of its dependence on fossil fuels burning,” he said.

As part of the current debate, many pundits had expressed their reservations about operating a natural- gas electricity generating system.

Their concerns had arisen from several facts.

First is the possibility that the government would not explore other alternative energy-generating options because it had already settled on gas.

This is a solid argument, because the current state of Via Verde calls for a 30-year contract to buy natural gas at a rate of $1,000 million per year. With so much money tied up in one source, environmentalists worried that not enough funds will be available to explore other options.

Torres, an environmental engineer, himself, disputes this, saying he will work with the Puerto Rico Electrical Power Authority to explore alternative energy options as soon as possible.

“[Via Verde] goes hand in hand with our desire to explore alternative means of generating electricity. We are trying to jump-start solar power as well as wind generating electricity mechanism,” Torres said.

According to the legislator, PREPA is already discussing the feasibility of installing some kind of wind-powered turbine in the near future. But the technology is still years away from being cost-effective.

“Spain and Germany have installed massive solar and wind farms and they are paying a heavy price for it. The technology, unfortunately, is not profitable enough yet to warrant heavy government investment,” he said.

Germany carries a €25 billion debt relating to their alternative energy investments while Spain is bleeding a €20 billion cost. Both debts are slated to jump 15 percent in the next fiscal year.

There’s also the possibility of a shortage of the source in the near future. Gas is not an abundant source, unlike coal or even oil. While despite years of exploitation and increasing demands, worldwide oil reserves are in abundance, while natural gas deposits are not. In the United States, coal reserves dwarfed that of gas by an almost 3-1 margin.

But this is a misleading statistic, according to Fuentes. “Currently, the United States is expected to run out of natural gas in 60 years. However, this is not a locked-in estimate because every other month, a new deposit is found. Plus there’s Russia which is expected to have 10 times the reserves of the U.S. by 2015.”

New sources were also found in Mexico and North Africa. If the current situation does not change, natural gas reserves are estimated to expire at some time in the middle of next century.

The government’s claim that natural gas is a clean method of producing energy is not accurate either, nor is the statement that it is completely safe.

Natural gas is a fossil fuel and so is made up mostly of carbon components. Global-warming emissions from gas burning are much lower than those from coal or oil. Compared to coal, gas produces 43 percent fewer carbon emissions for each unit of energy produced, and 30 percent less than oil.

Unlike the massive amounts of ash effluvium from a coal plant, gas also produces no solid waste by-products, and very little sulfur dioxide and particulate emissions.

The problem is that gas combustion still produces nitrogen oxides, a cause of smog and acid rain. And while carbon emissions are lower, natural gas itself is a powerful greenhouse gas. Natural gas (methane) is much more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere, 58 times more effective on a pound-for-pound basis.

Methane concentrations had increased eight times faster than carbon dioxide, doubling since the beginning of the industrial age. Natural gas use has accounted for about 10 percent of all global warming emissions.

It did not take long for many environmentalist groups to voice their concerns about feasibility of the entire project, tagged as another unsafe combustible-burning program and not a green project.

Ivette González, a well known environmental activist, declared that the safety of the affected area, despite the proposed security range, is at the forefront of her objection to the entire project.

Federal guidelines set a 150-foot perimeter or free residential constriction zone at both sides of the pipeline.

“We have to be careful where the pipeline is located. They [lines] are not as safe as the movement wants us to think. That’s one of the many reasons we opposed this project,” she said.

Even the Puerto Rican Independence Party raised their objections stating that the burning of natural gas is a ‘discredited form of generating energy which threatens the public safety.’

“It is incredible that Gov. Fortuño is insisting once again on building a gas pipeline knowing that it is not a safe method of generating energy, one which could place the residents of the impacted areas in real danger,” said José Dalmau, PIP secretary general.

In the United States, there are two million miles of gas- transporting pipelines serving almost 62 million customers. According to the National Transportation Administration, the transfer of gas through the nation’s pipeline system accounts for five deaths a year. By contrast, oil transportation through the same lines averaged two fatalities every 12 months.

Miguel Martínez is an environmental advocate and an expert in pipeline-gas transfer, often being called to testify on behalf of the National Transportation and Safely Board.

“For me it is a safe environment to transport an energy- producing source. But like all mechanism, is not fail proof. There are risks associated to the transferred of gas including pipeline ruptures,” he said.

In 2006, the NTA reported 78 accidents related to gas lines. Many of them, 48, were due to inaccurate excavation procedures. A pinched gas line caused the death of 12 people, including four children in New Mexico in 2000.

Others reasons for ruptures include corrosion of the lines, mechanical failures, earthquakes, floods and operator errors. Lines are also subject to acts of vandalism and terrorist attacks. It is worth mentioning that as of 2002, any act against a civil utility facility is punishable under the U.S. Patriot Act.

For Torres, this is another trick to divert the attention. “Those accidents happened because corrosion on older pipelines. We here will cover our lines with anti-corrosion coatings. Plus, we will have the most advance monitor systems to track any problems arisen from corrosion or any other problem.”

A different path

Rogelio Figueroa is known for many things including founder of a political organization and gubernatorial candidate. However, he is more remembered as a fierce advocate for alternative energy options.

“This is a bad plan, a pipe dream," he said. "First, it will destroy the area impacted by the construction of the line. Second, it will not reduce cost; in fact, it will increase it exponentially. And lastly, it will tie us down financially for the next three decades,” Figueroa said.

Figueroa argues that during the construction phase, which he claims will last more than two years, debunking another government claim; most of the area impacted by the project and its natural habitat will be destroyed.

He also said that no cost will be reduced in the long term. “Its simple math. We are tied up to 30 years at a rate of 1 billion annually. This looks good on paper but because we are a society which is using less energy every year, cost of buying the gas will increase exponentially.”

The former Puerto Ricans for Puerto Rico Party leader states that with an investment of $30,000 billion in the next 30 years, there simply will be no money to invest in other, truly green sources.

“If we take the money we're investing in this bad program and re-invest it in a renewable energy system, we will not only reduce cost, we'll be generating electricity almost for free,” he said.

According to Figueroa, offshore wind farms are one of many ways to move forward. As are grants to persons trying to buy solar energy mechanisms. Currently, a solar kit to power regular, three-bedroom homes cost around $30,000. With Figueroa’s proposal, that cost will be reduced in half.

“This is not the way to go. The costs are simply too high at this time. A massive solar array will generate only 50 megawatts a year operating at top capacity. Where will the rest come from?” asked Torres rhetorically.

By Raul Colon

The Plane with No Name

2010-07-26T22:16:00.001-04:00

By Raul Colon

Convair’s B-36 long range bomber is well recognized by many attributes. It was America’s first true intercontinental heavy bombing platform and the Strategic Air Command’s initial deterrence weapon. Although its service life of just 10 operational years (1949 to 1959) was short in comparison to other aircrafts conceived during the same time, such as the U-2, SR-71 and B-52, which still flies today; the B-36 was the first symbol of US air power during the early stages of the Cold War.

Unlike the U-2 Dragon Lady, the SR-71 Blackbird and B-52 Stratofortress, its eventual replacement, the massive B-36 was never assigned an official name by the US Air Force. Despite this sobering fact, today much of the world recognized the huge propellant pusher bomber as the ‘Peacemaker’. The history behind the name is as interesting as the aircraft’s own life cycle. It all started back in December 1948, when the Convairiety, the Consolidated Vaultee Aircraft Corporation’s newsletter, announced a dedication and naming contest for the new plane.

Read more at:http://www.aviationearth.com/a-plane-with-no-name/

South Africa's Nuclear Program

2010-07-01T09:44:00.002-04:00

By Raul Colon
rcolonfrias@yahoo.com

The United States and its European allies found themselves at the cross roads of history regarding their dealings with Iran. The Islamic Republic continued to defy the international community with the recently acceleration of their nuclear weapons program. The implementation of broader United Nation sanctions system does not seems to steam the buoyant Iranian program. In fact, a case can be made that it had the opposite effect.

Almost three decades ago, the world confronted another emerging power seeking to develop an atomic arsenal. From the early 1970s, to the 1977 call for action, and all the way through the 80s, the Republic of South Africa started, maintained and eventually produced a comprehensive nuclear weapons program. One that went, almost unnoticed to the Super Powers. Now, more than twenty years since its end, Pretoria’s program is viewed by many as a case in study, especially in light of Iran’s effort.

For over fifty years, this once British colony was the single most powerful nation in the African continent. South Africa weapons’ industries produced (and continue to produce today) some of the most sophisticated weapons system platforms in the world. Their armed forces, spearheaded by the most professional Army in Sub-Sahara Africa and one of the most resourceful Air Forces in the world proved equally adaptable at either fighting guerrilla warfare in their own soil or taking head up any comers, including the Cuban-backed Angola army units armed with the latest in Soviet weapons system.

The string of successful military victories achieved by the South African Defense Force (SADF) since the early 1960s made them the most revered force in the continent, outside Israel. Spearheaded by on the battlefield success, the SADF continued to grow in size and stature during the proceeding two decades. But all of those military investments and combat exploits ended in the early 1990s with the handing over the government to the black majority.

The end of Apartheid and major budget cuts entrenched in the 90s reduced, not only the structural size of the SADF, but also it’s fighting capability. Today, experts believes that if South Africa were to be invaded by another small but well armed country, the SADF would be hard pressed to hold them, let alone to launch a counteroffensive campaign.

In late 1980s the white minority government started to make small gestures of reconciliation with the black majority. Restrictions were lifted, travel bans were abandoned and in a moment parallel to the fall of the Berlin Wall, longtime activist Nelson Mandela was free from twenty-seven years of captivity. Those events eventually lead Mandela and his political movement, the African national Congress (ANC), to assume power in Pretoria. This unprecedented pacific move gave South Africa the distinction of being the first modern state where the ruling elite gave up complete political and military power to the opposition without firing a shot.

Shortly after the ANC moved into the state house, reports began to surface regarding South Africa’s scuttling of its nuclear weapon program as well as its ballistic missile systems project, the later due in part by the imposition of massive United Nation’s financial sanctions since the mid 1970s. Details regarding the country’s nuclear program were sketchiest at first. Nevertheless, as time has passed more information had become available. Now, at least the outlines of the events surrounding the development of their nuclear weapons program are well known.

Accordingly to the record, South Africa’s atomic project produced six serviceable nuclear devices, all in the twenty kiloton explosion range. It was also determined that at the time, Pretoria possessed enough enriched uranium to build another bomb. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), with major assistance from the United States, helped the government in dismantle its nuclear devices. The weapon’s nuclear components were melted down and the casings were physically destroyed. All material related to the programs was either completely destroyed or re-built for use in other fields. Today, South Africa is the only country in the world to voluntarily abandon a successful ongoing nuclear weapons program.

In the past few decades there had been a number of nations that had started small nuclear weapon programs only to abandon them when the horrified reality of the massive financial and logistic commitment sets in. Among the examples were: Taiwan, Sweden, Libya, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Algeria, Spain, Egypt and South Korea. Why those countries found necessary to invest resources that some of them did not posses in order to develop a nuclear weapon? The answer is simple: survival.

By the time President F.W. De Klerk and his National Party left office, South Africa had been involved in two decades of adventurous military expeditions. Their main antagonist was Angola. This relative small African nation had at its disposal a well trained, Soviet equipped armed forces. It had advisors from North Korea, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, but more importantly, it had two full Cuban seasoned combat divisions at its disposal. That is fifty thousand men with the latest in Soviet-supplied equipment and tactics.

In the 60s and 70s, Pretoria, mainly because of its Apartheid regime, was isolated from the world weapons market. It could not legally purchase advanced weapon systems in the world’s market because of U.N. sanctions. This situation forced South Africa to invest vast amounts of money in the development of an indigenous weapon industry. The industrial base of the nation was forced to divert vital resources away from other industries to weapons design and development. What they were able to produce was nothing short of amazing.

Some of the weapons platforms developed and fielded by South Africa were amongst the most advanced deployed in Africa. The 155mm G-5 howitzer was one example of it. The G-5 was so effective, that it became a best-seller in the black market. Also developed was the Buffel troop transport, a top tire troop carrier that would go on to see extensive action against the Angolans. Added to the almost unlimited number of top-of-the-line mortars, rifles and rocket systems, the SADF had enough firepower to deal with its enemies on the ground, the problem for Pretoria was in the air.

Unable to produce an indigenous fighter-bomber, the SADF air component could not stop the incursion of scores of Mig-29s and Sukhoi fighter-bombers flying from Angolan bases. Pretoria needed an answer to stop the bombing of its ground forces or the country could be overrun by the enemy quickly. Here is where the genesis of South Africa’s nuclear weapons program lays.

In 1976, South Africa’s only active nuclear research reactor, Safari, which was commissioned in 1965, had produced enough enriched uranium to produce one crude nuclear device. Despite several set backs, the country pressed ahead in the late 70s and early 80s, eventually managing to produce six clumsy and bulky World War II gun-type nuclear bombs, but more importantly for Pretoria, it had acquired a deterrence weapon. It is important to state that had South African scientific community be given more time, they probable would have been able to reduce the size of the devices which would allow the bombs to be placed on a missile warhead.

At this time another player came in the picture: Israel. The Israelis had just fielded its first indigenous offensive missile system, the Jericho-1, and was in the process of developing the longer range Jericho2 which was designed to carry a one ton payload to a distance of a thousand miles. Some of the early testing of the Jericho-2 was performed on the Overberg Test Range near Arniston, South Cape. Israel needed to utilize the Overberg facility because it did not possess an eastward facing test range of its own.

Peg to Israel’s use of Overberg was Pretoria’s desire to reduce the size of its nuclear devices. As crude units, they were large enough that if the needs ever arose, only obsoletes British-built Buccaneer fighter-bombers could have been employed to deliver them. Israel and South Africa had many common issues that tied them up together. One of them was their collective and deliberate “uncertainty” about their nuclear weapon program. They did not boast about the fact that each had develop a comprehensive nuclear weapon program, which in political terms is often more delivered in achieving political goals than a full disclosure of their activities.

Meanwhile, the ongoing situation in South Africa was making Washington nervous. Leaders in the US were coming to realize that in a short period, Pretoria would have the ability to re-shape politically and military the situation on the African Continent. It was Pretoria’s development of a nuclear device, more importantly, that their leaders were not boasting their existence that led America, the Soviet Union and Europe to make an all-out effort to convince the country to relinquish its nuclear arsenal.

In August of 1977, South African President De Klerk delineated the country’s defense deterrent strategy. The first phase of Pretoria’s defense stand was to be strategic uncertainty to be issue in case of impending national emergency. The government would not display any inclination on either side of the nuclear issue. Phase two was, if their territory integrity were about to be compromised, then Pretoria would admit to the world that they possess a nuclear capability.

If this action failed to impress the attacking party, Pretoria would switch the third phase, an underground nuclear test demonstration. This strategic plan was aimed mostly at Western capitals, more importantly, Washington; in order to obtain their political and military support in case South Africa’s military were to be overrun by an invading force. So here laid one of Pretoria’s explanation as why they need to acquire a nuclear weapon capability, to black mail of the West should the country was on the verge of collapse.

The main nuclear program efforts began in 1977 with the construction of the Vastrap nuclear testing site in the Kalahari Desert, a place Pretoria hoped to use in the testing of their nuclear devices. Preparations were made to use Vastrap for dummy testing, an instrumented tests without the actual nuclear core. Soviet surveillance satellite detected preparations for the test in early July 1977. Though the test never happened, it proved to Western Powers that Pretoria was seriously preparing a nuclear test in the near future. This same exercise happened again in the mid 1980s when Pretoria’s quest for a nuclear deterrence officially began.

South Africa initially intended to build a nuclear device for research and development purposes and as is their initial nuclear program was given to the Minister of Mining instead of the Ministry of Defense. Over time, both agencies would share duties in building-up South Africa’s still infant nuclear program. The task of building a nuclear device by a third world economy country is of mammoth undertaking. One which needed to consolidate the prowess of the private sector with all the resources the state could supply. Full scientific mobilization was organized and non-essential resources were diverted, almost in full, to the program.

Seven years after the decision was made to proceed with program, South Africa produced one crude nuclear device, a remarkable feat by this perceived developing nation. The ordinance develop was similar in composition and technology to the one the United States dropped on Hiroshima in August 1945. The similarities with the American bomb was striking and it became obvious that South Africa imported nuclear materials and expertise from abroad, but what was not completely known is from where.

From 1973 onward Israel was South Africa’s most important weapon platform supplier, thus is a good bet that advanced Israeli weapons systems found their way to Pretoria, especially long range missile technology. The cooperation between Pretoria and Tel Aviv was a two-lane street. South Africa is believed to have shipped to Israel over fifty tons of concentrated uranium ore or yellowcake in exchange for thirty grams of tritium, a heavy hydrogen isotope usually used to boost the explosive power of a nuclear device. Tritium can substantially raise the yield of a nuclear bomb.

The Israeli tritium shipped to Pretoria never found its way to a nuclear weapon core, accordingly to several well stoked reports. With a useful lifespan of twelve years, much of Pretoria’s tritium was beyond service use at the time South Africa decided to closedown its nuclear program. The strict secrecy of which Pretoria’s nuclear program was perused often forced them to make do with in-house technologies. Between late 1978 to the early 1990s, South Africa produced high enriched uranium at its main producing facility in Pelindaba. One item that surprised UN Inspectors when Pretoria opened its program was the amount of low-tech equipment it used to produce the nuclear devices. Between 1977 and 1989, Pretoria developed six nuclear devices without ever accepting of conducting a test. In September 1979, a US’s Vela Satellite detected a double flash off the southern coast of Africa. This strongly suggested that a low-yield nuclear device was test exploded. As we now know, South Africa had only enough HUE for just one nuclear device in 1979.

This data was later confirmed by the IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog group, in their forensic analysis of HUE production. South Africa built its first three devices in a heavy and bulky configuration, exceeding one ton, mainly to be used as an underground demonstration device. At the time, Pretoria did not posses the ability to perform an atmospheric detonation.

The country finally relinquished its nuclear weapons program along with its six known devices in early 1991. IAEA inspectors were allowed to travel the country in search of its nuclear processing sites. They encountered a high level of cooperation with South Africa’s scientists and related personnel. Disclosure of technical data was unprecedented in the years of IAEA monitoring activities around the world. There’s one area in which South Africa was reluctant to submit information: the source of the raw nuclear-related materials used during the life of Pretoria’s nuclear weapon program.

What is worrisome about South Africa’s nuclear program is that the Western Powers learned from it after it had been successful in constructing a crude nuclear device.@

Iran's ICBM threat and the coming reality

2010-05-02T10:15:00.002-04:00

By Raul Colon
April 26th 2010

Embolden by their success in the 2008 United States’ Presidential elections, the newly inaugurated Administration of Barrack Obama made the cancellation of the Pentagon’s plans for the deployment of the Third Site Ground Based Missile Defense System in Eastern Europe a top priority.

Citing skyrocketing costs, the need to reproach Russia and the lack of a substantial threat profile, Obama and his national security team announced last autumn the termination of one of former President George W. Bush signature items.

In the spring of 2009, Administration officials began discussing the idea of engaging Iran, which along with North Korea; represent the most clearing ballistic missile threat of our lifetime. Low level communications, including cultural exchanges, the first step towards partial normalization of relationships, began in April 2009.

By the time (May) the US Defense Department (DOD) published its first-ever comprehensive Ballistic Missile Defense Review (BMDR), the writing was on the wall regarding a profound shift in America’s policies towards the most populated Middle East nation. The Review states, unambiguously, that Iran is moving towards acquiring the capability of reaching the homeland within a recent time. It cites the development of the Safir Space Launch Vehicle (SLV)-2 in February 2009 as one clear step of which direction the country is headed. But it came short of predicting when the Islamic nation will have the capability of deploying missiles capable of reaching America’s coast.

“Looking ahead, it is difficult to predict precisely how the threat to the US homeland will evolve…Iran and North Korea has yet to demonstrate an ICBM-class warhead”, stated the much discussed study. Further more, the paper was suspect of Iran’s ability to field but just a few operational systems this decade, thus the threat was downgraded.
The study’s conclusion tends to validate Washington’s new position.

The Review called for the termination of all ground-based missile interceptor activities in Europe shifting their designed mission to the recently upgraded Aegis Ship Based Missile Defense System and its Standard Missile 3 (SM3) package. The SM3 envelop was designed for theater warfare. A tactical weapon upgraded to perform semi-strategically missions, the SM3 was a good ‘in-range’ weapon, but not the kind of system a nation should relay on to defend its territorial integrity.

Now comes, months after the decision to scrap the land-based platform was made, US intelligence officials are worried about fresh allegations regarding the feasibility of the Islamic Republic of Iran fielding a first generation indigenous ‘Limited Range’ Inter Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) capable of hitting Continental America by the winter of 2014. That’s almost at the same time many experts believe Iran would have the ability to deploy a rudimentary nuclear warhead.

As present time Iran is capable of deploying several semi-advance mid-range missiles at the same time. Chief among them is the Shahab-3 or Shooting Star. The S-3 projects an operational range between 800 (1998 version) and 1,000 (with 2003 upgrade package) nautical miles. A Shahab-4, powered by a Russian RD-214 engine (same power plant use on the SS-4 system), is capable of en even greater range and carry a more accurate navigational package.

Against these threats, the Administration has conceived a simple rudimentary defense mechanism. In order to protect Europe, the Pentagon has suggested is the deployment of a limited number of Aegis-equipped (there are 63 total units in the US Navy inventory) ships with the new and improve SM-3 Block 1b. This platform was intended to protect a tactical environment. To defend the homeland, the DOD will relays on the already operational second generation Ground Based Interceptors (GBI).

There are a total of 30 GBI deployed in Continental US. Twenty six (26) of them deployed at Fort Greely, Alaska. With four additional units located at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. As configured, the system will most likely defend the US homeland of a relative small, up to 16; inbound ICBMs utilizing the standard firing procedure of Shoot-Look-Shoot Again.

There’s a problem. Because of the location of the interceptors, the Southeast coast would require a different firing pattern that could consume up to four interceptors for missile in a Shoot-Shoot-Shoot-Shoot doctrine. This means that the US will exhaust its missile allocations in a limited strike.

This is the system the Obama Administration has placed all their cards in. It had decided not to field the full complement of interceptors allocated in the 2008 DOD Feasibility Study. It had canceled two of the much anticipated programs ever developed: the Airborne Laser and the Kinetic Energy Interceptor. To further the slide of the missile defense umbrella, the US has now ‘un-officially’ abandoned Europe in terms of a realistic missile shield. In fact, the new US plan does not field any operational unit on a regular basis before the year 2010. Even then, the ability to defend the ‘Old Continent’ depends on the successful conclusion to the SM-3, Block 2b program as well as the deployment of the Aegis radar, command and control system on Europe’s littoral waters.

More trouble for Europe. Because Obama’s new re-approchement policy towards Russia, he has signaled the wiliness of the US to forestall any new deployment of interceptors. Plans are still in the works for the fielding of 8 additional GBIs and for the development and testing of faster, two-stage interceptors originally slated to be fielded during the Missile Defense System’s Third Stage. All in the hopes of hammering out further concessions from a buoying Red Bear.

With Teheran in an accelerated pace to acquire nuclear weapon capabilities and its desire to field an ICBM-type platform by the second half of the decade, the pressure is on the US to reaffirm to nervous allies in Europe and the Middle East, that they will be protected by America’s military power. A power that had been eroded by the curtail on missile defense investment. @

Vertical Flying in the Caribbean

2010-01-04T12:42:00.001-04:00

"Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return”-Leonardo Da Vinci.
Man’s fascination with flying is one of the common bonds universally shared. Men and women all around the globe take to the skies on a daily bases to commute, work or simply to enjoy what Da Vinci once called “the magnificent view from atop”. This powerful ‘addiction’ to such incredible adventure is the driving force behind the booming recreational flying industry, one of the few platforms not deeply affected by the world-wide economic depression.
As in many places, recreational flying spearheads a great deal of interest in the small Caribbean island of Puerto Rico. Located just a few hundred miles out of Miami. Puerto Rico, a United States territory since 1898, is a hot bed for aviation enthusiast trying to build their own enterprises.

Read the entire article at: www.aviationearth.com
Link:http://www.aviationearth.com/puerto-rico-aviation/

'An opportunity', accordingly to Mojica

2009-09-18T00:51:00.000-04:00

“An opportunity. We now know every team we will face in Bayamon, which set up nicely for us to demonstrate that we can play anyone in the region”, said a visible exited Vilmarie Mojica, as she and the rest of Puerto Rico's national women volleyball team prepares to take on Trinidad&Tobago in the opening day of the XXI North, Central American and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA) Tournament.

“We had worked tireless since the spring on our new playing style. Improving as we played against the best teams in the world. Hopefully, all that hard work will payoff next week”. This will be the last NORCECA event of the year and it will serve as a tune up for next summer's World Championships to be held in Tokyo, Japan.

“Ever since the Pan American Cup, where we beat the United States, we feel like we belong. Never in the history of our program had we played so well in an international tournament”, said the 24-year old. Puerto Rico stole the show in Miami this past June taking home an unexpected bronze medal, the first ever for women volleyball in this type of forum. A month later, they were at it again coasting to a 3-0 mark in the XX NORCECA to earn their first, outright ticket for the a Grand Prix, another benchmark.

“We played really well at the Prix. The record (1-8) may not show it, but our team played Brazil, the United States and Russia, a team we beat, well in the first two rounds. Unfortunately some errors cost us key points. The problem for us came later. First, we were playing a new system with little practice time against the best teams. Secondly, our lack of depth cost us dearly. Every other team was able to field a complete, 16 players roster, we could not match that. Now it different. We had more than four months of practice our quick-hitting style, so I think we are better prepare.”, added the sixth time team captain.

Beside Mojica, Team Puerto Rico is compose of Aury Cruz, Debora Seilhammer, Tatiana Encarnación, Saraí Álvarez, Ania Ruiz, Sheila Ocasio, Alexandra Oquendo, Eva Cruz and Raimariely Santos. Joining the group for the first time are the cuartet of Wilnelia González, Stephanie Enright, Diana Reyes and Shara Venegas.

The Island, currently ranked #18 in the world, will play in the competitive Group A along with Canada (#18), the Dominican Republic (#14) and Trinidad&Tobago (#53). The United States (#2), Cuba (#5), Mexico (#26) and Costa Rica (#30). The first two teams on each group will advance to the querterfinal round.

Notable QBs out of work

2009-09-06T19:54:00.000-04:00

Several well known veterans and a few, much prized rookies and second year signal callers are out of work as of this past Saturday. One of those 'sophomores' players is former Louisville star QU Brian Brohm. It's not everyday a team releases the player who was the No. 57 overall pick less than two years ago. Why you ask? Plain and simply, he has been bad. Since being 'handed' over the number two spot behind Aaron Rodgers, Brohm has never found his grove. Because of his high draft status, he will most likely land somewhere. But what ever happen, it will be a far cry from a once highly touted prospect. Another QB cut was Minnesota John David Booty. The former Trojan signal caller and 2008 fifth round pick is expected to clear waivers and resign with the Vikings.

The New England Patriots parted way with Kevin O'Connell and Andrew Walter, leaving the job of backing up Tom Brady to 2009 free agent Brian Hoyer. O'Connell, a third round selection last spring, never lived up to the high expectations the team placed on him.

Washington let got Hawaii's record setting QB Colt Brennan and 2009 free agent Chase Daniels. Brennan, who had a very good camp in 2008, failed to make serious improvements this past year. Daniels, a former Missouri star quarterback, is expected to be signed by the Redskins as a practice squad player.

Several well known veterans also got axed Saturday. Among them is Todd Bouman. Jacksonville send the former FA veteran packing to make room for recently signed Luke McCown. The Atlanta Falcons said goodby to DJ Shockley.

One of the most notable cut was that of Joey Harrington. The 3rd overall pick in the 2002 draft was release, for the second time in one year, by the New Orleans Saints. Look for Harrington to land, either with the Carolina Panthers or the Buffalo Bills.

20009FIBA America's Recap

2009-09-06T11:26:00.001-04:00

Brazil and Puerto Rico will face off tonight in the gold medal game of the 2009 FIBA Americas Championships. Both teams, along with Canada and Argentina, have secure berth for next year's world championships to be held in Istanbul, Turkey. The winner of what sure to be an exiting contest, will have bragging rights for two years.

With the tournament competition, all but completed, its time to look back and analyze what the world learned of this, ten-strong, regional championship.

1- We learned that Puerto Rico can play against anyone. Much as the women volleyball team learned last July when they played point-to-point against such powerhouses as Russia, Brazil and the United States, the men basketball team lost its ;respect' for NBA laden teams. The Boricuas overcame the stellar play of Charlie Villanueva (Detroit Pistons), Al Horfird (Atlanta Hawks) and Francisco Garcia (Sacramento Kings) to defeat an inspire Dominican Republic.
Two nights later, the team did the same against heavy favorite Brazil. The Cariocas are lead by two NBA starters (Leandro Barbosa-Phoenix Suns and Andersen Varejao-Cleveland Cavaliers), a center who should be playing in that league-that's further down-Tiago Splitter and a host of top end perimeter players such as Alex Garcia and Marcelo Machado. Puerto Rico, not only shut their attack down, but surged for a 19 point lead before a frenetic Brazilian counter attack scaled the lead back to single digits.
Now the team needs to take the next step. Turkey could be the platform in which Puerto Rico re-emerge as a basketball powerhouse.

2-We learned that Ricardo 'Ricky' Sanchez is ready for prime time. The 6-foot-4 guard/forward showed off his incredible ability playing shutdown defense and constantly hitting game-change three pointers. He still need some refinement on his jump shoot, but he is a slasher who can defense with the best of them. With only 22- years old, the sky is the future.

3-We learned that Carlos Arroyo belongs in the NBA. The Puertorrican point guard will always be somewhat of a defensive liability, but what he brings to the table more than compensate for it. He lead the team in minutes, points and assist. His 17.1 points per game are the best since the 2006 World Championships. Plus, his turnovers-less than 3 a night-are a personal best on the international scene. An NBA team will give this talented, and now savvy, PG a call soon.

4-We learned that 7-foot-3 center Peter John Ramos is the real deal. The 24-year old followed a breakthrough season in Puerto Rico's Superior Basketball League with a huge tournament. Yes, he will never be mistakes for Oscar Robinson or Shaquile O'Neil, but this mountain of man had demonstrated that he too belongs with an NBA franchise. Ten points and eight rebounds a night versus the likes of Horford and Splitter proves that.

5-We learned that Larry Ayuso still have a lot to offer on the international scene. Everybody knows about Ayuso's offense. But it his defense which was a great surprise to many. The sharp shooting guard posted career best in steals with 1.3 pg. He also showcased something many pundits believe he do not have: passion for defense. His defensive pressure against Alex Garcia was one of the key reason the Island beat Brazil last Friday.

6-We learned that Angel Vassallo and Guillermo Diaz are ready for a bigger role. Both guards showed much promises in limited action. Vassallo will never be a fluid inside scorer or a top end defender, but his jump shoot is solid, a coveted trait for many teams. As for Diaz, he is the defender Vassallo isn't. He only needs to develop his offensive skills and then, watch out!

7-We learned that Manolo Cintron is a good coach. Despite criticisms for rotation changes, he has managed to keep a very talented and inexperience group of players on an even keel. No small feat in an era of big egos.

Here is a list of other things we learned about the rest of the ten team field.

1-We learned that no matter who is coaching (legendary Julio Toro) and how many NBA stars (3-Villanueva, Garcia and Horford), a team needs more than consistency out of its point guard in a high level competition. Case in point: the Dominican Republic. No matter how many points Garcia and Villanueva scored or how many boards and blocks Horford had, they could not overcome the lack of a pure PG on the team. Luis Flores, a natural shooting guard, does not posses the skills and mentality to run an offense by himself. Neither does Kelvin Pena. The lack of production-assist-out of the point is one of the reason the Dominicans will stay home in 2010.

2- We learned that Brazil has the best overall talent. No question about it. Barbosa (20.7ppg) Varejao (14.2-8.2 rpg) and Splitter (9.2-7) are stars. Machado (9.2 ppg) and Garcia are better-than-average play makers The rest of the squad is deep with a host of players (Guilherme Giovanoni, Joao Batista and Marcelo Huertas for example) that start for much of the teams in the region. With high energy head coach Jose Monsalve running s tight ship, this team, if it remains together, is poise for a big role in Turkey nest summer.

3-We learned that one talented man can lift an good, but inconsistent team. Luis Scola not only led the Championships in scoring (22.9-53.8%) he was a demon on the boards (7.1 rpg) and a good distributer of the ball (2.4 apg). He single handily lifted what was an underachieving Argentinian team to the final four. His performance against Puerto Rico (25 points – 12 boards) on Thursday was nothing short of spectacular.

4-We learned that sometimes the sum of all pieces is better than the individual parts. Canada, which enter the tournament with a collection of average players and two (Joel Anthony-Miami Heat and Carl English) good ones, is on its way to Istanbul thanks to a the contribution of Andy Rautins, Jessie Young and Levon Kendall. Not the most recognized trio out there.

5-We learned that Panama needs to get young in a hurry if they plan to stay with the big boys.

6-We learned that Mexico without the just retiring Horacio Llamas will be painful to watch unless its young players (Gustavo Ayon and Lorenzo Mata) are more seasoned. Kudos to head coach Arturo Guerrero for placing what was one of the least talented teams in the quarterfinals.

7-We learned that every time Jose 'El Grillo” Vargas wear the Venezuelan national uniform his game disappear Vargas, one of the best scores in the Venezuelan league, looked at times lost on the court.

8-We learned that Puerto Rican-born Walter Hodge (US Virgin Island) is the real deal. Sadly, he plays for a team that lacks top tier talent. The 22-year old PG average 12.8 ppg to go along with 3.5 assists a night.

9-We learned that sometimes, even an overachieving team has its limits. Uruguay came into the championships with little chances to made it to Turkey. But after a solid first week that included an upset over Canada (71-69), their shortcomings-lack of a complement for Esteban Batista-were clearly exposed.

This has been a tournament for the ages. A tournament that had left us with much to digest.

US Tennis Open Preview

2009-08-30T10:33:00.000-04:00

The veil in 2009 US Open Tennis Championship will be lifted early today when world's number one, and first seed, Rodger Federer (SUZ) take on little-known Devin Britton (USA) at 11:00AM on Arthur Ashe Stadium. The match will follow by unseeded and 2005 champion, Kim Clijster (BEL) versus Viktoriya Kutuzova (UKR).

The two-week event, and tennis' last Grand Slam tournament of the year, will crown its champions on Sunday, September 13th. But between now and then, there are certain to be many surprising, specially in a surface (deco turf) that is conducive upsets. Both defending champions (Federer and Serena Williams) have hard paths to repeat, but both are expected to do so.

With this in mind, here is a look at the contenders and pretenders for the coveted title.

Men
Favorites:

Federer (#1). Simply put it, he is the best tennis player in a generation. He already has won five straight titles. With Nadal coming off a serious injury, is fair to say that the 2009 crown will be his for the taking.
Rafael Nadal (#3 ESP). For a brief period last year, it looked like the 23 year old Spaniard had overtaken Federer at the top of the tennis world, but an inconsistent 2009, coupled by a bit of the injury bug, has halted that rise. Still, the 2008 semi finalist, is probably the best bet to unseat the Swiss.
Andy Murray (#2 BRT). Big and strong, the Scottish is ready for prime time. He made the finals last year, and now wants more. On pure talent, he is superior to both Federer and Nadal. If he ever mature on the court, he will be a multiple Grand Slam winner.

Pretenders

Novack Djokovic (#4 SEB). In the same boat as Murray. Big and physical gifted, but lacking mental thoughtness. Would cause problems and could win it, but is hard to see him defeating both Nadal and Federer in the same week.
Andy Roddick (#5 USA). The sole American hope is as inconsistent as he is talented. The best serve in the game will always give him a chance (see this year Wimbledon) but is he strong enough to win his first Slam since 2003? At 27, the window is closing fast on him. Could be a sleeper, specially with the crow behind him.

Dark Horse

Juan Martin Del Potro (#6 ARG). The young Argentinian has shown he can play with the best of them. Its time to show he can defeat them too. Another possible sleeper.
James Blake (#21 USA). The 30 year old will not win it, in fact, he has never made it to an Open semifinal, but in what looks to be his swan song, look for him to make noise in the first week.

Women

Favorites

Williams (#2 USA). The three time winner (1999, 2002 &08) is more than ready to defend her title. She is coming on the heels of a Wimbledon championship were the youngster of the William clan demolish the field. The clear favorite with no glaring weakness.
Venus Williams (#3 USA). Big Sis is running out of time and opportunities. At 29, this could be her last real shoot at winning the Open again (2000, 01). She looks fit and hungrier than in the past. Could this be enough to overtake Serena in a possible semifinal? Not likely.
Svetlana Kuznetsova (#6 RUS). The 2004 winner is coming off the biggest year of his career. Won easily the French Open and now is planning to challenge the Williams for Open dominance. It will be tough, but if she survives the first week, anything could happen.

Pretenders

Dinana Safina (#1 RUS). A number one seed as a pretender? Yes, Safina is the world top women player and she has played accordingly, reaching the Australian and French Opens finals in 2009, but she hasn't won a Grand Slam yet and expecting her to do it in New York and against a loaded field, could be too much.

Dark Horse

Clijster (unseeded). The 2005 winner is returning to Flushing Meadows for the first time since returning from a sudden retirement. She may not have the legs to win it, but the Belgian star has the moxie to cause heavy damage.
Caroline Wozniacki (#9 DEN). A little known player that could cause trouble for some seeds. Her game, a clay court-type, is conducive to long rallies, which can force unforced errors. She almost defeated Serena at the Medbank International early in the year and has play progressively better as the season moved on. A potential sleeper.

Brazil outgun Venezuela in FIBA America's second day

2009-08-28T07:49:00.000-04:00

A day after taking out former world champion, Argentina, Venezuela was brought down to earth hard by the mighty Brazil ( ) in the second day of the FIBA Americas Championships.

Venezuela (1-1) gave the heavily favorite Brazilian (2-0) all they could handle in a tough first quarter, but the Cariocas’ athleticism and deep proved too much for the undermanned Venezuelans as they took an early 20 point lead and never looked back.

Leandro Barbosa continues to shine. The Phoenix Suns SG scored 15, while Anderson Varejao and Tiago Slipper added 14 and 11 respectively. The duo also grabbed 17 rebounds, 8 of them offensively. Lugo paced Venezuela with 12.

Brazil was leading 17-11 at the 7:30 mark, when Lugo’s mid range jumper, started Venezuela’s 8-1 run to finish the first quarter tie with Brazil at 18.

The game was all tied up at 20 with 5:20 remaining in the second period when Varejao’s layup sparked an 18 unanswered points Carioca rally that gave them a 20 point (44-24) lead at intermission. Barbosa had 13 and Varejao 11. Richard Lugo was the sole bright spot for Venezuela scoring 8 points and taking 6 rebounds.

With Varejao and Splitter in the bench for much of the third period, Brazil kept Venezuela at bay with timely 4 and 5 point spurs that prevented Venezuela to close the gap. The stanza ended with Brazil still holding a 20 point lead, 63-43.

The pattern repeated itself in the final quarter as Brazilian substitute F Guilherme Giovanoni scored 7 points to close out the overachieving Venezuelans.

Brazil will tangle with Argentina in the early game (1:30pm) today while Venezuela will take on Panama at 6:30.

The Incredible M-4: The Bison early life

2009-08-27T07:57:00.000-04:00

spending almost a decade ‘outside’ the bomber design business, Vladimir Myasishchev officially returned with a bang in the mid 1940’s. By early 1950, one of the most prolific Soviet aircraft designers of all time, in collaboration with GN Nazarov from Experimenta Design Bureau (OKB) # 22 and the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI), commenced a full, state-funded study into the feasibility of developing a strategic long range bomber or SDB (Strategichesky Dahl’ny Bombardirovschchik). The concept, originally devised by Myasishchev in the summer of 1948, embraced the parameters he and his engineering team had set up as part of TsAGI’s overall specifications.
In February 1951, Myasishchev made his first serious proposal for an advanced SBD. The preliminary study showed an aircraft powered by six VK5 engines that would give the concept speeds in the vicinity of 470 miles per hours. Total payload was estimated at 6,614 pounds with an operational range of 7,460 nautical miles. TsAGI specifications called for total carrying load of 44,092lbs and an absurd range of just short of the 7,500nm mark. To be able to achieve these mindboggling characteristics, Myasishchev needed to radicalize the design. A high tense, swept flying surface will hold a shoulder mounted wing structure. Four massive Mikulin AMRD-3 engines will be housed on the center wing sections. At the time of its conception, Project M, as the program would be referred to by Soviet authorities, was the largest ever undertaken by an aircraft Bureau. The Soviet Union Ministry officially authorized the project on March 24th 1951.

More at:http://www.aviationearth.com/the-incredible-m-4-the-birth-of-the-bison/

Uruguay defeats the US Virgin Islands in FIBA Americas' opener

2009-08-26T15:53:00.000-04:00

Uruguay kicked off the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship win a pasting over an overwhelmed US Virgin Islands team, 88-62. Uruguay will rest today, its next game will be Friday against Puerto Rico. The Boricuas are the same rival the 0-1 USVI will face tonight. Both games start at 9:00pm.
Uruguay's Leandro Garcia took over the game early with his deadly outside shooting. The 6'1” guard connected 46% from beyond the arc, in route to a 28 point night. Esteban Batista added 23 and 13 boards in the 26 point rout.
The Uruguayans began the game with a 7-0 rally spearheaded by and . As the first half progressed, Uruguay's insensitive took over opening a 16-point, 35-19, lead with 4:12 in the clock. The USVI mounted small comeback, scoring 5 points in a row to close the gap to 11, but Garcia shutdown the Virgin Islanders' rally with a yet another three pointer, his fourth of the half, at the 1:59 mark.
Garcia and company then took off on an impressive 14-3 advance to end the first stanza comfortably ahead 49-29. Uruguay shoot 50% from the field. The USVI shoot a pedestrian 17%.
The Virgin Island came out of the locker room on fire. Lead by a puertorrican, Walter Hodge, the Islanders scored the first 9 points of the second half to close within 11, 41-52, at the 5:20 mark. Both teams exchanged baskets the rest of the 3rd quarter which ended 66-49 in favor of Uruguay.
The final period belonged to the Uruguayans. Garcia, Batista and company clamped down on a visible tired Virgin Island squad to push the lead back above 20. The trio accounted for 13 of the Uruguayans' 22 four quarter points.
Kevin Sheppard led the Islanders with 17 points. Puertorrican Walter Hodge finished with 12 in a losing effort.

49ers Camp News and Notes

2009-08-23T22:55:00.000-04:00

Once upon a time, the San Francisco 49ers ruled the National Football League. That has not been the case for more than a decade. The team ‘By the Bay’ is in the middle of yet another rebuilding effort with a new head coach (Mike Singletary), unproven receivers, an average offensive line, a weak pass rush and a quarterback unit that makes Jeff Garcia look like a Hall of Famer. In fact, the only thing the Niners has going for them is their running game.
This is the picture San Francisco took into the 2009 exhibition season. Now, that picture seems to be morphing. Singletary has shown a good he can get the best out of a talent-starved roster. Now he needs to translate that success into wins. The receiving corps is still a work in progress, at best. The only sure thing appears to be TE Vernon Davis who quietly is becoming a go-to-guy. He always had the talent, but due to a lack of maturity, he was never able to show it. Now he is finally displaying the line separation and hands scouts raved about when he came out of Maryland.
The much mélange offensive line is steadily improving. Tackles Joe Staley and Adam Snyder, center Eric Heittman and right guard Chilo Rachal all are having solid camps. As for the pass rush, although LB Patrick Willis continues his ascension to the upper echelon of NFL linebackers, there still a need for more options. Jeff Ulbrich, who started in place of Willis against the Raiders this past week, has looked sharp. He, promising rookie Scott McKillop and Takeo Spikes should form a nice combo. What still lacking is depth at defensive tackle.
The QB situation is the deicer of them all. Projected starter Shaun Hill has a good fell for the game. Unfortunately for the 49ers, he is not a playmaker by any stretch of the imagination. That distinction belongs to Alex Smith. But the former #1 overall pick lacks pure passing skills. He is more of an athlete than a passer and the Niners will be wise to grasp that fact soon. It’s a good bet Hill will be the starter this year, if by no other reason because of Smith. Lurking in the shadows is fifth round selection Nate Davis. The former Northern Illinois star is having a very, very good camp. He has displayed good escapability in the pocket and a nice passing touch to go along with a big, powerful arm. He is now the future of the franchise, at least for this year.
The one area that San Fran is more than adequate is at running back. We all know about Frank Gore and what he can do. His hard and explosive running is well documented. Now we are finding about that this is not a one man gang. Former reclamation project, Michael Robinson is running wild, bulling over defenses and presenting mismatches on the passing, while two rookies, third rounder Glen Coffee and undrafted free agent Korey Sheets, are making strong cases for playing time. Coffee, the preseason rushing leader, has shown the explosiveness the team covets in a third down back.

Missile Defense News

2009-08-22T21:03:00.001-04:00

This week in Huntsville, Alabama was a gathering of the highest ranking U.S. militarygenerals who directly oversee missile defense with the U.S. industrial base that develop and produce all the missile defense systems for the U.S. military. This conference enabled proactive communication of expectations and explanations of the current Administration's positioning on Missile Defense and a strategic vision different than the previous Administration that the U.S. military projects to implement. General James E. "Hoss" Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, advocated passionately for the elimination of nuclear weapons against emerging proliferating nations and for U.S. extended deterrence to work for the next 50 years a non-nuclear offense and a missile defense that must be able to devalue and deter these nations. General Cartwright further brought up in this context the relevance and irrelevance of current and future systems. This position by General Cartwright correlates with President Obama's desire to reduce nuclear weapons as well as support regional missile defenses. The biggest departure of strategy from the previous Administration is the omission in this conference of any discussion of the third missile defense site in Poland and the Czech Republic. A strong case was made by General Kevin P. Chilton, US Strategic Command Commander, that strategic stability between the U.S. and Russia and the U.S. and China are the top priority for the command and as to prevent incentives to be unstable. In China's case who feel strategically stable with the US, that they don't develop and deploy more strategic nuclear missiles. Thereby stating who is the US missile defense capability is aimed at and not aimed at, clearly defining that it is not aimed at Russia or China. Furthermore, General Chilton presented Russia's strategic sensitivities to the third site in Poland moving in a direction away from deployment there. The preferred solution which was referenced in many of the discussions as well as presented by Lt General Patrick O'Reilly, Director of the Missile Defense Agency, is the concept of land-basing the SM3 and Aegis sea-based missile defense system and integrating it with current missile defense sensors and with new sensors such as remote UAVs, and space-based sensors such as the STSS (Space Tracking Surveillance System). This would enable the system if placed in geographic desired locations and with further development to engage to intercept in the early ascent phase of a threatening ballistic missile thereby expanding the defended area considerably. This solution uses the commonality of the Aegis SM3 system that NATO and other European nations have incorporated and the testing history success of a proven system which aligns with the administration's position on missile defense. The land-based SM3 could alleviate some of Russia's concern on the third site due to range and placement of those sites. The system would first be placed in Israel and additional land-based SM3's will likely be placed in Turkey or the Balkan nations if an international agreement could be attained. The placement in Turkey and the Balkans could potentially have the ability to protect the U.S. homeland on early assent intercepts of ballistic missiles from Iran. An additional and new solution pursued and presented by the industrial complex this week was a mobilized two-stage ground-based missile interceptor designed for the third site in Poland so it can be placed where and when needed not just restricted to the European region. The issues of concern of both of these proposed solutions is the reality of the political loss and its international consequences of the U.S. withdrawing its commitment and bilateral agreements with Poland and the Czech Republic. The ramifications to those countries, Europe, NATO and Russia are significant and long lasting. Also of major concern is the capability to have "high" confidence in protecting the Eastern United States seaboard particularly the South East from long-range ballistic missiles from Iran. This capability of a look shoot look shoot confidence is not available from the current deployed GBIs in Alaska or California. Thus a system must be developed and deployed for the adequate and equal protection of the U.S. homeland. Basing this national security priority on proposed systems and interceptors that are on paper rather than in the ground, unsecured international agreements as well as intelligence projecting that Iran won't have a nuclear and ICBM capability by 2015 is accepting high risk for our nation's homeland and American public safety. On another important note, the international cooperation with the United States onmissile defense has grown to 30 countries as announced by Lt General O'Reilly, Director of the Missile Defense Agency. Within the next six months three major reports will come forward for the Administration that will solidify the statements that were reflected this week and they include the Ballistic Missile Defense Posture Review, the Space Posture Review and the Quadrennial Defense Review. As General Chilton, stated "...a good defense requires a great offense." We at MDAA would say a great offense requires a good defense!

Kirk Herbstreit Series going big

2009-08-19T11:25:00.001-04:00

The Kirk Herbstreit Varsity Football Series, sponsored by Burger King, announced the use of the newly built Dallas Cowboys Stadium to host four of the Series’ games. On Monday, September 7th, Labor Day, the 2008 Utah state runner-up Bingham (Utah) and Euless Trinity (Texas) will take the field in what should be a game for the ages. That will be followed by Texas rivals Colleyville Heritage and Irving MacArthur meeting in the second contests, schedule to commence at approximately 1:30 p.m. At 4:30 p.m., cross- town foes Mansfield Timberview and Mansfield Summit will take the field, following by the game between Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (Calif.) and Klein Oak (Texas) at 7:30 p.m. (CDT).

All games will be televised by the Fox Sports Network.

Succesful Missile Defense Test over Kauai

2009-08-17T14:16:00.001-04:00

The Pacific Range Missile Facility in Barking sands, Kauai, Hawaii was the scene for one of the most advance missile test this year. On crisp day of summer, the USS Hopper ( DDG 70 ) destroyer successfully tracked, discriminated and intercepted an ARAV ballistic missile target in its ascent phase. Time of interception occurred on July 31st was at 5:43pm HST, 3 minutes after the target missile was launched from the Pacific Test Range Facility (PRMF) located on Barking Sands, Kauai. The target missile represented a ballistic missile similar in speed, acceleration and burn of the same short range missiles fired by North Korea on July 2nd and 4th of this year. This intercept marks a first by a U.S. Aegis Destroyer and the second intercept in the ascent phase by the Aegis missile defense system. The ascent phase intercept is a concept of striking a missile after its initial boost phase as it continues to climb to its apogee, and that is what the current administration and the Missile Defense Agency are emphasizing as one of their future growth areas. They believe it will add another important layer to the mid-course and terminal layer defenses deployed today. Another ARAV target ballistic missile was launched approximately an hour later from PRMF in Barking Sands that was tracked and discriminated by the newest software upgrade 4.0.1 of the current Navy Aegis system and its SPY radar installed on the USS Lake Erie (CG 70). This new sensoring capability enables the Aegis Missile Defense to expand and enhance its existing radar capability so that it can have more range and be more effective in its early ascent phase defense mission as well as the mid-course mission, to do more than the current deployed versions. This system will be used with the future SM3 block1b and the SM3 block 2 missiles, and that will allow the United States more reach into North Korea and Iran from the adjacent seas. The USS Lake Erie (CG-70) and the USS Hopper (DDG 70) were accompanied by the USS Destroyer O'Kane (DDG 77). The USS Destroyer O'Kane was also involved in the test as it simulated tracking and interception of the target ballistic missile. The US Navy Aegis system is one of the most successful missile defense systems that the US has developed and deployed. The Aegis missile defense system has had 19 successful intercepts over the recent years.

It is Sanchez, period!

2009-08-17T10:24:00.000-04:00

Can it be that, like 2008, the NFL will have two highly priced rookie quarterbacks staring in the same year? The situation in Detroit, where first overall pick, Matt Stafford is making a strong claim to the position, is still up in the air. What was settle last week was the Jets’ QB position, regardless of what the coaching staff said.
QB Mark Sanchez had an outstanding debut for New York this past week. The former Trojan star completed 3 of 4 passes, one of them, a 48-yard bomb to WR David Clowney. Overall, the fifth pick of the draft threw for 88 yards.
If the number does not tell the story, the way his teammates, the fans and the coaching staff reacted to him did. Sanchez, a cool customer by all accounts, simple looks like a New York quarterback. He moves well in and out of the pocket and has a better than average arm. But is his demeanor that has everyone in the Big Apple salivating at the prospect of a big 2009 playoff run.
Jets Head Coach, Rex Ryan, announced that it will be Sanchez, not Kellen Clemens, who will start the team’s next preseason game against the Baltimore Raven on August 24th. A clear sign of where his desire rest. Ryan had original committed to Clemens as the starter for the second exhibition contest.

The new 'go to guy' in Oakland

2009-08-17T09:08:00.000-04:00

It took a year and two drafts, but it seems the Oakland Raiders might have found a number one WR for JaMarcus Russell and it’s not highly priced, first round pick Darrius Heyward-Bey, not yet at least. The job belongs to a ‘little’ known flier Al Davis took in 2008.
The diamond in the rouge is Chaz Schilens, who came up big in the Raiders preseason opener slicing the improved Dallas Cowboy’s secondary for five catches, 52 yards in less than two quarters of play. Schilens, a 6’4” 225 pound physical specimen has also shined in recent Raiders training session prompting coach Tom Cable to open up the passing attack.
The 2008 seven round selection out of San Diego State is quickly developing a rhythm with Russell in practice. Chemistry that was on display against the Cowboys.
In some ways, he has become the young quarterback’s first option. A process that began last year when he became a full time starter late finishing with 15 receptions for 226 yards and two touchdowns.
Despite his inmense size, Schilens is a fluid athlete who, contrary to his report card coming out of college, has displayed great hands and body movement. In fact, he has consistently catch the short-to-intermediate range pass, a ‘must do’ for a go-to WR.

Despite the awful display, Orton still safe in Denver

2009-08-16T18:23:00.000-04:00

Kyle Orton couldn’t have picked a worse moment to have a meltdown. The former Bear QB and new Broncos head coach Josh McDaniel’s pet project had a disastrous debut against the San Francisco 49ers throwing for three bad interceptions in his first three series during Denver’s 16-17 loss last Friday. To make matters worse for MacDaniels, who was already in the hot seat for the way he handle the Jay Cutler’s affair, backup Chris Simms played almost flawless football.
The box score on both signal callers read as follow: Orton 9-16 for 89 yards 0-3 (TD/INT) ratio and 32.6 passing rating, Simms was 11-17 for 14 with 2-0 ratio and a 130.0 rating. Aside the obvious discrepancies in numbers, it was clearly evident that the Broncos’ were a more fluid squad with the 6’3” Simms at the helm. The new style of offense also seems more suited for the son of Hall of Famer Phil Simms.
After the game, the 32-year old coach stressed that this was just the first exhibition game. That maybe true but he forgot to mention that since being appointed the number one QB last June, the ex-Purdue Boilermaker star has fail to impress in simple passing drills.
Maybe is the pressure of replacing a Pro Bowl quarterback just hitting his prime, or the constant booing by the diehard Denver fans, or knowing that his coach’s fate is tied up to his success. Whatever the reason is, Orton looks uncomfortable in the pocket which is a real cause of concern after having practiced with the first team unit for more than two months.
MacDaniels will not make a quarterback change, because he knows what will come after it. But, both he and Orton should get their house in order, and soon, because owner Pat Bowen will not tolerate mediocrity for long. Just ask Mike Shannahan.
Orton should improve, but how much better he can become is up in the air. And the air is thin in Denver, for both he and his head coach.

Russian Aircraft Carriers

2009-08-15T10:47:00.002-04:00

The notion that a country could develop and eventually, field an aircraft carrier ask force is seen by most observers as a major step to claim power projection beyond that country's international borders. It is the measuring stick of the country's naval force capability. The Soviet Union began its aircraft carrier program much later that it’s Western counterparts. In the beginning, the Soviet carrier program started slowly, a fact attributed to the unique mixture of historical precedents and the reining political circumstances surrounding the USSR in the post World War II years. Admirals and mid-level officials in the Soviet Union's Navy commenced to discuss the possibility of developing an aircraft carrier platform as early as the late 1930s. But at that time the USSR was in the mist of the Five Year Plan, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's effort to industrialize the whole country, thus all the available funding went to the Plan, little if anything was left for long term military projects. But the idea of matching the Western Powers sea fleets with carriers of their own was a powerful persuader and is rumored that Stalin approved the development and eventual construction of two carriers in late 1939. However, the Great Patriotic War intervened and those plans, if they ever existed, were shelved in favor of more pressing needs, officially ending any Soviet effort to deploy a carrier force in the 1940s.When the war ended in 1945, the Soviets placed massive amounts of resources on investigating and analyzing the role played by the United States carrier task force during its war against the Japanese in the vast Pacific Theater. They interpreted that the carrier can indeed be a powerful power projection platform. Orders were giving to Soviet shipyards to commence preliminary studies about the feasibility of the USSR building a carrier force comparable to the US, but as before, external factors intervene to thwart the effort. In the immediate post war years, the Soviet Union was in the enormous process of rebuilding the nation from the devastation of the German invasion, thus available funds for long term programs were again scarce. What ever funds were available usually went to support the massive Soviet Army present in Eastern Europe. As the post war years passed, the financial situation in the USSR improved and plans were once again crafted for the construction of a carrier fleet in the early 1950s, unfortunately for the Soviet Navy, Stalin died in 1953, and his successor, Nikita Khrushchev, did not inherit Stalin's appetite for a forward power projection platform; instead he supported massive Soviet efforts to built the world's largest missile force. Once again the Soviet Navy's objective of fielding a carrier was postponed. The situation changed when Khrushchev was forced out of power and Brezhnev assumed the leadership of the country.After his ascension, Brezhnev commenced a major re-armament and modernization effort of all of the USSR armed forces. This was the opening needed by the Soviet Admirals. The first Soviet carrier keel was laid at the Nikolayev South Shipyard No. 144. The first ship of what was expected to be a five ship class, took to the sea in 1965. The vessel was named Moska and two years later, she was commissioned into the Soviet Navy. Moska was followed by Leningrad three years later, in 1968. The Moska-class of carriers was not similar to its Western counterparts. It was built to carry only rotary wing helicopters. Their primary mission profile was anti-submarine warfare. Following a long standing Soviet Navy tradition, the Moska-class was saturated with a vast array of weapon systems such as twin SUWN-1 launchers fitted to deploy the FARS-1 projectile that can carry a 450mm torpedo with or without a nuclear warhead. Two RuB-6000 antisubmarine mortars were also installed. For air defense the Moskas relied on the SAN3 surface-to-air missile system. These systems were augmented by a pair of 57mm heavy guns. Although the Moskas proved to be a semi-successful venture, the Soviet Navy wanted more out, thus Navy engineers began to develop the next carrier platform almost at the same time as the Leningrad was put to sea. The new carrier design was the most advance and technical challenging vessel platform the Soviet had ever design. Project Orel would have been culmination of the intense years of research. The propose aircraft carrier would have been powered by a nuclear reactor and its displacement was estimated at around 80,000 tons. Up to seventy conventional, fix-wing aircrafts could have been accommodated inside the giant superstructure. These aircraft would have served as fighter, attack and early warning platforms for fleet defense. The man behind the whole Orel program was Soviet Defense Minister, Marshall Grechko. Grechko envisioned a carrier force capable of matching against the best of America’s super carriers. Un-factually for the Orel program, Grechko die and his successor at the Ministry, Marshall Ustinov, worried about the massive investment of Navy funds into the project; canceled the complete program. Instead of trying to match the US on super carrier vessels, Ustinov switched the Navy’s carrier building program in order to focus on the smaller and less expensive vertical take-off and landing aircraft carrier deck vessel, of which the famous Kiev class were to be the first. The Kiev was an extremely agile VTOL and helicopter carrier. It was powered by a conventional, steam-supply engine. Due to the small size of the super structure and its deck, the Kiev class was only able to carry a small contingent of Yak-38 Forger VTOL fighters augmented by twenty rotary aircrafts. The small number of Yak-38 available on any given time for combat air patrol made around the clock air operations with the Soviet fleet impossible. But the Kievs did provide the Red Navy with its first operational air arm. As with all of the Soviet capital vessels, the Kievs were fitted with an impressive anti aircraft missile system that included the SAN-3 and SAN-4, plus a variety of anti ship and submarine platforms. The first operational Kiev was launched in the winter of 1972 and commissioned three years later. The Mink follow with its launching in 1975 and commissioning on the fall of 1978. The Novorossiysk, launched in 1978 and commissioned in 1982; was the last fully operational Kiev class carrier. One other Kiev class aircraft carrier was built, the Baku. The Baku was not built for carrier operations but to gather research data on the newest Soviet command and control systems as well as the new Yak-141 Freestyle supersonic VTOL aircraft. Eventually the Baku was to be re-named Admiral Gorshkov.Although the Kievs provided the Navy with its first operational air arm, their design and concept was that of transitional platform. Filling a need until a permanent solution was provided. In early 1981 that role was assume by the Kuznetsov class. The Kusnetsov was a compromise carrier platform. Its design incorporated many features of the canceled Orel project as well as some of the Kiev’s characteristics. Displacing 65,000 tons and power by a conventional engine, the new vessel gave the Soviet Union its first true conventional carrier platform. Conventional take-off and landing aircraft such as the Su-33, Su-25 and the MiG-29k; are able to operate out of the Kuznetsov’s deck which was sloped upward twelve degrees to facilitate short take-offs. Following the tradition of the Kiev class, the new carrier was fitted with the latest of Soviet anti aircraft and submarine systems. The lead ship of the class, the Admiral Kuznetsov was launched in 1985 and commissioned in 1991. Her sister ship, the Varyag, launched in 1992, was never completed due mainly to the political situation in the Russian Federation during the 1990s. There was another carrier design the Soviets were working on before their collapse in 1991. Project Ul’yanovsk was destined to be the Soviet Union’s first nuclear power aircraft carrier. Its design was basically the same as the Orel. A 75,000 ton displacement with steam catapults for take-off assistance. The first unit was laid down in the autumn of 1988, but work was stooped by the August coup of 1991 and never resumed. She was scrapped the following year.@

The end of Inevitability

2009-08-15T07:31:00.000-04:00

The Islamic Republic has been on the forefront of news cycles for over a week. People of all walks of life are glued at television sets watching what in all fronts looks like a counter revolution. But lost in the middle of the biggest story of 2009, it the end of the age of ‘Inevitability of Change’ over the People’s Republic of China.
Many China observers have long been predicted that the Republic’s encounter with free flow market forces or liberal social institutions and instruments from the Western world would spur inevitable democratic change. These pundits have been right that China would become more pluralistic and multifaceted. But they have been delusional in thinking that its leadership would simply roll over and relinquish power when presented with challenges to their iron first-type of rule. On ever aspect raging from international trade to the World Wide Web, from village elections to the rule of law, Chinese rulers have consistently proved the flaws of inevitability of change.
The fundamental underwriting of US policy towards China (the promotion of democratic ideas inside the country) is full economic engagement. Since the American Congress granted the coveted Permanent Normal Trading Relations (PNTR) status to the communist republic back in 2000, an underlying assumption of economic engagement with China is that the free market forces unleashed by international trade and investment will spur economic and political reform in Chinese society.
Washington view is based in no small part by the successful democratic transformation undertaken by other authoritarian regimes such as those in Chile, South Korea and Taiwan after they embarked on economic liberalization. Indeed, two plus decades of direct US-Chinese trade have drastically alter the face of China’s society, resulting in an un-precedent expansion of economic, social and personal freedoms for its citizens.
The links between economic liberalization and political reform, nevertheless, have turned out to be more complicated and precarious in the case of China. More than eight years since the passing of PNTR, major improvements in Chinese society have not translated into political liberalization. The Communist leaders have shown o meaningful interest in reforming the country’s political structure and have continued to rely in the old fashioned ways of repression and brutality to maintain its hold on power.
Since 2000, the United States Department of State’s Annual Country Report on Human Right Practices has continued to state that the Chinese government human record is ‘poor’. Similarly, Freedom House, a non-profit human right organization has continuing rate China ‘unfree’ on its Annual Survey of Political Rights and Civil Liberties.
This lack of political progress was not what the Clinton and Bush Administration promised the American people. When lobbying for the extension of PNTR to China, former President Bill Clinton predicted in the summer of 2000 that, “we will be unleashing the forces no totalitarian operation rooted in the last century’s industrial society can control”. Five years later, President George W. Bush reiterated Clinton’s prediction, “I believe a whiff of freedom in the marketplace will cause there to be more demand for democracy”. Unfortunately for the 2 billion that lives inside continental China, the opposite is true. The communist regime continues to gobble up western technology, know-how and capital without relinquishing its authoritarian hold on power.

NFL Notes and Comments

2009-08-14T07:59:00.001-04:00

2009-08-10T10:06:00.000-04:00

Project Tom-Tom was originated by the United States Air Force’s Strategic Air Command as a way to provide its long range heavy bomber fleets with a fighter umbrella by towing them on semi-fixed wing links.

The concept of the MX-1018, the programs official call-sign, was devised from the FICO (Fighter Conveyor) system. A program initiated by the US Air Force in the 1950s to test the feasibility of utilizing a B-29 Superfortress bomber as a ‘mother ship’ from which a pair of Republic’s F-84 Thunderfalsh fighters would operate. FICO became fully operational in 1955, but only a handful of missions were ever flown.

In the Tom-Tom structure, the parasite fighter plane would shut down its engine to save fuel while it’s been towed. It will restart and detach from the moving airplane to intercept enemy aircrafts, rejoining the bomber once it has accomplished the mission.

For this configuration, two F-84Ds (versions 48-641 and 48-661) from the BASUT based at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio were especially modified to carry a lance-like structure on their port and starboard wingtips platforms. The re-configurated aircraft was given the EF-84D designation.

More on:http://www.aviationearth.com/project-tom-tom/

France's New Nuclear Posture

2009-08-07T09:00:00.002-04:00

Lost in the mist of the recently concluded Olympics Games and the current United States' Presidential campaign is the fact that the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, has completely transform France's overall nuclear posture in a period of just one year. Although this transformation had its roots in the mid 1990s under former president of Jacques Chirac, it was Sarkozy who will go on to fully implement the reforms Chirac envisioned. Among other things, Sarkozy's New Strategic Vision pledged France to reduce its overall nuclear stockpile, consolidate its armed forces and to slow the peace of next generation nuclear weapons design and development. The new French president even mentioned France's desire to rejoin the North American Treaty Organization (NATO) after a forty two years absent. All of this in the background of the release of the much anticipated White Paper on Defense and National Security which foment the nation's defense posture for the near-to-medium future. It is the attempt of this article to shed light on the French government new nuclear posture. Its weapon and delivery platforms, availabilities and weapons development.

More of the article can be find at:http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/military/fra-nuclear.htm