The Pakistani government has pretended to turn a political corner and now wants to be a friend to the U.S. All we have to do is provide them with money and they will help us fight the terrorists. This may sound like a good deal but there are a few problems yet to be resolved. Pakistan has stated they will hunt down the terrorists but the U.S. troops may not engage in operations in country. U.S. operations must be supportive from the other side of the border. That means we are not allowed to cross the border into Pakistan from Afghanistan. What that means in plain English is the U.S. has to stay out of Pakistan unless invited in which allows the terrorists in Afghanistan to cross the border into Pakistan where the Pakistani army may or may not hunt them down. The reality check here is we are now going to foot the bill to build up the Pakistani army to fight terrorists which most of the time the Pakistani military indicates has eluded them. At the same time the government attacks our presence in political speeches to the people who now want the American invaders to stop bombing innocent people in their country. In effect we are receiving a bill for Pakistan to pretend to fight terrorists for us and at the same time we are made the escape goat by the same government for their homeland political gain. These are the same tactics used by the Afghanistan government when they look the other way to let the terrorists, who have made a deal with them, go and tell the U.S. military they do not know how they got away. It seems that we can not even figure out how to pay for friends.



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Afghan and Pakistan leaders are crooks and thugs. Their sole purpose is to maintain political control for the enhancement of their own wealth and power positions. They payback political favors in their respective countries mostly by looking the other way when necessary and not taking the actions or taking actions too slowly when there is the possibility of political risk to them. It happened in the early days in Afghanistan when our enemy was bottled up and the new Afghan government bought time for them allowing our enemy to escape through a back door and across the border to Pakistan. They have always done this and they continue to do so to this day. Pakistan functions in much the same way. The Pakistan government has so many layers with many infiltrated terrorists in the military ranks even after the shake up and purge in late 2008. This is the way these people do business and they are not going to change. Last year just running for high office ended with the assisnation of the leading candidate. Everyone knew it was a political move for the incumbent Pakistani President with future political payback to the killers. Even though that president is no longer in power the political payback is still owed and will be called in one day soon.

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Afghan, Mexico, Iraq, or Pakistan it does not matter where we go we just do not know how to mind and protect borders. The question is how can we protect and monitor borders in far away lands if we cannot police and protect our home borders? The U.S. has basically four borders. To the north is Canada and to the south is Mexico. On the east and west sides are the oceans. We are there supposedly policing our borders but on a daily basis illegal drugs, contraband, illegal aliens and terrorists pass through the borders with little or almost no chance of being discovered. We have not stopped this traffic because we have yet to figure out how to do so. When I make these statements to people they say well we have not been attacked since 9/11 so I guess they are doing a good job. Tracking down terrorists in the U.S. is not the same as protecting borders. Terrorists that were stopped were discovered in the U.S. proper or tracked from other lands with assistance from other countries. The point is that we cannot wait until a terrorist enters our soil to be able to discover their intentions.

What makes us think that as a country we can go to another land and pursue a war where border crossing is the prime method of escape? When protecting the borders for our homeland, we have most everyone on our side, yet we are quite ineffective. What makes us think we can perform better in other lands where most of the population is against us. Terrorists have not hit us with a nuclear weapon yet. We have only been safe from a nuclear attack because the terrorists have not yet obtained such a device. I can assure everyone that once they obtain a device they will find a way to breach our borders with it. Aside from dumb luck the only chance we have is to devote the money and time to a new series of plans and advanced technical devices to drastically improve security and our chances of avoiding a devastating terrorist attack. The problem I see is most Americans have convinced themselves that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will, in the end, make us safe. With that as our belief system and bench mark there will be more wars with the same players for decades to come. Then, we as a people, will wise up to what is going on only because our treasury will have become empty. At that point there will not be much left to defend within our borders.

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On the second of September in 2008 I published a piece on the future cost and economics of oil. The following is a reprint of that piece. When you read it please remember when it was written and that we are only half way throuth the period of time it covers. Here it is.
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My future oil price projections, covering a time period now through the end of 2011, indicate we are just past the half way mark in pricing. At the end of 2011 the price of a barrel of oil will be in the range of $237. That means the U.S. consumer will be paying $8 a gallon to fuel their cars by the end of 2011. At this time most of Europe is seeing prices of $8 to $9 for the equivalent of an American gallon. Using an extrapolation to my formula the European price should be close to $20 by the end of 2011.

At this point the world economy is in more than mere trouble it is in a powerful downward spiral. Over the next eight months the price of oil will fall to $45 per barrel but in the late spring of 2009 the price will begin to rise. There will be fits and starts with the oil pricing at that point but the upward trend will become evident with a general and continuous upward thrust thru the end of 2011. As the acceleration of these prices start to hit the rest of the world inflation will be on the move and it will be world wide. Expect 5.75% general inflation by the end of 2010/2011 in the states. The unemployment rate by the end of 2009 will climb to 10.2%. There are no guarantees this will be as high as it goes. The cost of energy will impact every business trying to rebuild from the present impending economic crisis.

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