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Obama's speech at Hiroshima

Boiling Point

What happens when you mix poor governance, collapsing oil prices, and drought? You get a nation in crisis. I am not talking about the Middle East, but a country closer to home. At least for us here in the United States.  That country is Venezuela. What seems to be happening is a perfect storm of consequences resulting from policies put in place years ago, mixed with an ill conceived revolution.

Venezuela, with its large oil reserves, chose to rely on hydroelectric power for domestic energy while it exported its oil. It seemed like a good idea at the time. However, now they are facing a drought which has resulted in lower electricity production and power outages. The price of oil collapsed below $40 a barrel resulting in a decrease in income from exports. And a socialist revolution started by Hugo Chavez has left the country with shortages of just about everything.

I thought it might be time to take a peek at a situation that may be a lesson to us all.  Here are a couple short news clips.

This piece is the first part of a debate aired on France 24 about the crisis.  It's somewhat informative on the political situation regarding President Maduro, the current President, and people's feelings.  Of course, there are those who try to blame the United States for some of this.   The interviewer for France 24 and at least one of the panelists seem intent on putting that spin on the story anyway.

If you would like to see the rest, here is the second part of that show.  I don't think that the United States is at fault line is working for others.

Link to Another World

Today I have for you a link to a special that was aired on Frontline in March.  I watched it the other night and thought I would bring it to your attention.  It is 54 minutes in length, but is worth watching, if you haven't done so already.  

Saudi Arabia Uncovered

Shall we play a game?

Today on Fareed Zakaria they aired a clip of a debate between Fareed and Edward Snowden regarding the question of whether or not the government should have access to an encrypted device, as was the issue with the iPhone that belonged to the San Bernardino attackers. Edward Snowden took the position that encryption should be unbreakable, using the argument that computer security is of primary concern for our security, which in a way kind of struck me as ironic coming from Snowden. But be that as it may, that is not what I saw as the critical point. What he seemed to be suggesting was creating something that did not include a back door. I am not sure how old Snowden is, but perhaps he should be reminded of something.

Snowden spoke of our security. Yet he seemed to completely ignore the fact that unbreakable encryption is not just something that we could create. There are others out there with the knowledge and, perhaps, the motivation to create the same thing. What we should be concentrating on is how to go about breaking unbreakable encryption. Because some day that is what may be critical to our security.

                                    

I have this feeling that Edward Snowden's analysis on this issue lacks as much maturity as did his decision to leak classified data. One wonders if he will learn eventually.

Yeah, I know, that film is over 30 years old.  But apparently it still has relevance today.  Giving our lives, and our security, over to a machine is perhaps not wise.