While U.S. print and broadcast media continued to highlight nuclear talks with Iran (where its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday called for “death to America”) and the White House placed the perils of climate change (aka global warming) at the top of its concerned list, other dangers --- with scant reporting --- were lurking from North Korea and Russia, finds Grumpy Editor.
North Korea ambassador to the United Kingdom Hyun Hak-bong came right out and bragged to Britain’s Sky News defense correspondent Alistair Bunkall that the communist nation has a nuclear capability and can use it at “any time” and is ready to launch a nuclear war if it feels threatened.
"We don't say empty words,” the ambassador added. “We mean what we mean. It is not the United States that has a monopoly on nuclear weapons strikes."
Meanwhile, Washington Free Beacon’s Bill Gertz revealed, in input from a U.S. defense commander, that Russia is developing a long-range cruise missile that poses a new threat to the U.S.
Gertz said Adm. William Gortney, Northcom chief who heads the U.S.-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) warned: “Russia is progressing toward its goal of deploying long-range, conventionally-armed cruise missiles with ever increasing stand-off launch distances on its heavy bombers, submarines, and surface combatants, augmenting the Kremlin’s toolkit of flexible deterrent options short of the nuclear threshold.”
The admiral added, “Should these trends continue, over time NORAD will face increased risk in our ability to defend North America against Russian cruise missile threats.”
Despite this activity from opposite sides of the world, plus recent threats from terrorists, the White House --- while looking skyward --- sees natural changes in atmospheric conditions as the evil thing to watch.
Along with declaring, “No challenge, no challenge, poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change” in his State of the Union address in January, President Barack Obama told West Point graduates last year to get ready to combat climate change which he termed “a creeping national security crisis.”
FYI, IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE EDITORS MISSED THESE…
Joining in the global warming chorus last week was New York Times op-ed columnist Gail Collins, who wrote: “Now climate change is perhaps the most important long-term issue the next American president will have to deal with”…Attorneys in a proposed legal action claim unacceptable levels of arsenic are in California wines from about 30 makers. (Tip to an aggressive fact-finding newspaper: With professional analysis of the wines, get the facts, see if wine poses a danger --- and compare findings with arsenic levels in drinking water)…Snappy reporting: A story in a daily (largest newspaper in its state) on a shopping center robbery pair sought by police ran nine days after the incident. Despite mention that police released surveillance photos, the newspaper did not run any art but gave this full description of the bad guys --- “The men were described to be in their late 30s or 40s.” (That’ll help nab ‘em)…Also unusually slow is the continued review of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. A White House senior adviser on Thursday said the State Department is still reviewing the project --- announced seven years ago…Blaming the dry spell in California, the State Water Resources Control Board adopted restrictions that require restaurants to serve water only on request and hotels/motels to offer guests the option of not having linens washed daily.
Repo-by-remote: Busy Nevada lawmakers were working on a bill that involved a “starter interrupt device" designed to make it easier for car loan issuers to disable vehicles of those who are behind in payments.
