BALTIMORE, Maryland March 19, 2014 - McCain says Moldova is next Putin target: Senator John McCain (Rep. Arizona) displayed utter scorn for the American response to Russian Strong Man Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea today when he spoke before noon on Fox. Calling President Obama's sanctions against Russia "weak" for the first invasion of a European Country since the end of the Cold War, McCain, the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008, said there were plenty of steps Obama could have taken besides the weak measure he chose. Obama on Monday said the United States would freeze the assets of several Russian bureaucrats (but not Putin) as a response to Russia's annexation of Crimea. He was also critical of the United States Senate, including certain Republicans, who chose to move through the IMF to help Ukraine rather than assisting the Eastern European Nation directly. The consequence of the weak response to Putin's aggression, McCain said, would be more aggressive steps, not only by Putin but by other dictators around the world as well. Next up, McCain said, might well be Moldova, a former Soviet Socialist Republic. Evidence is on the Senator's side. Right now, Moldova has what is known as an "association agreement" with the EU. It is viewed as the first step in a process which culminates in the nation formally joining the EU, but right now it looks like Moldova is on the verge of breaking that agreement and joining Russia's customs union. The web site Deutsche Welle, a German Broadcasting group, said this today, "While the world watches Crimea, Putin is still planning for the Republic of Moldova to join Russia's customs union. Pressure from Moscow is high - and might be enough to scuttle Moldova's EU Association Agreement." Moldova fits the description of a country Putin will move against. It is a former SSR, it is small and economically weak (Wikipedia says it is the poorest country is Europe). It is landlocked, although it does not share a border with Russia. The nations that surround it are Ukraine and Romania. It has its own breakaway area, similar to Crimea in Ukraine. It's breakaway area is called Transnistria. It broke with Moldova in 1990 and fought a War with Moldova in 1992 to maintain its status. Trananistria is not recognized by any United Nations country. McCain says Russia has troops in Transnistria, making it even easier for Putin to move there. The breakaway nation is on the west bank of the Dniestr River, between the river and the Ukraine border.
Also today, Russia held "war games" on its border with Estonia, where F-16 Fighter Jets from the United States, on loan to Estonia, are flying patrols on the border. And, Ukraine has announced that it is pulling its troops out of Crimea. This may be a capitulation to Putin - what else could it be? - but it is also crazy to keep them there to be the subject of such mob violence as they have been since Putin's troops pulled in. There was no immediate word about when that pull out would take place. There is no word as to whether Putin will have his troops stand down during the pull out.
Australia Spends Third Day in Same Area Search for Missing Malaysian Jet There is an area of the Indian Ocean, 3000 kilometers southwest of Perth, Australia, that Australian Search Planes are spending a third day searching. They believe that satellite data, kept from the public view by Malaysian Authorities, makes this area a likely spot for the missing Malaysian Jet to have crashed in. The United States' experts involved in the search apparently agree. The respected aviation blog, Plane Talking, written by Ben Sandilands and carried by the Crikey Media web source: (http://blogs.crikey.com.au/planetalking/2014/03/18/mh370-australian-search-targets-location-3000-km-from-perth/), reported this today. The particular area has and will be searched by Australia using their AP-3C Orion airplanes because these planes have the best range and endurance performance available in the world today, at least among those in current widespread use. And despite this, the search area is fully taxing those endurance limits. The ocean in the area being searched has never been explored in depth by mankind. It is deep and treacherous, windswept and subjct to gigantic swells. Mr. Sandilands wrote that John Young, a manager of the Australian agency conducting the search, said that Australia has specific information that convinces it that this is a particularly prime place to search. The area being searched was selected "after modelling based on higher and lower speed assumptions for the flight, surface water movements and drift patterns across the remote section of ocean," Mr. Sandllands wrote today. In another development, Fox reported that sources have confirmed that the FBI has been asked by Malaysian Authorities to attempt to extract information from the flight simulator removed from the home of the Pilot of the Missing Jet. In particular, the Malaysians want to know the content of the files deleted by the pilot in the month before the missing jet took off from Kuala Lumpur. The FBI has experts adept at retrieving such deleted files.
Poems and Prose: It has been my intention to add this to my blog from the outset but I keep running out of time. I have printed poems before. There is an Index in the July 28, 2013 entry entitled "Sunday Morning on My Mind." Whether this will be a regular feature or not all depends on the time I have to write.
Vital Spark of Heavenly Flame
by Alexander Pope (English, 1688 - 1744)
Vital spark of Heavenly flame!
Quit, O quit this mortal frame;
Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying,
O the pain, the bliss of dying!
Cease, fond Nature, cease thy strife
And let me languish into life.
Hark! they whisper; angels say,
Sister Spirit, come away!
What is this absorbs me quite?
Steals my senses, shuts my sight,
Drowns my spirits, draws my breath?
Tell me, my soul, can this be death?
The world recedes, it disappears!
Heav'n opens on my eyes! my ears
With sounds seraphic ring!
Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly!
O Grave! where is thy victory?
O Death! where is thy sting?
The Letter of Paul to Titus
Chapter 3, Verses 1 through 7:
Chapter 3. Verse 1. Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for any honest work, Verse 2. to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all men. Verse 3. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by men and hating one another; Verse 4. but when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Saviour appeared, Verse 5. he saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit, Verse 6. which he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, Verse 7 so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life.
Surviving the Weather, Terps Whack Blue Hens, 5-2 The biggest story of this game is that it was played. Two days after a significan snow storm swept across Maryland, the Terrapins beat Delaware at Harford Community College in Bel Air, Maryland. The school furnishing the field is about 20 miles northeast of Baltimore and has a climate that is generally several degrees cooler than at College Park, where the University of Maryland is located. Somehow, the field was made playable and Bobby Ruse, a 6' 3" Junior from Bel Air, threw a career high six innings for the Terps, surrendering only one run on three hits to pick up his first win of the season. He has not been charged with a loss. Charlie White and Kevin Martir knocked in two runs apiece and Blake Schmitt banged out three hits to pace the Maryland offense. The Terps struck for two runs in the second and seventh innings as well as a single run in the third. Delaware, which was designated the home team because the game was originally scheduled to be played at Newark, scored single runs in the fourth and eighth innings. For the Terps, Tayler Stiles pitched one and one-third innings of one-hit relief to gain his first save. Stiles struck out three Blue Hens in his brief outing. Maryland improved to 12-6 while Delaware dropped back to .500 at 9-9. Notes: Schmitt leads Maryland in hitting with a .311 average. The shortstop also leads the teams in hits (19), doubles, triples (he has the only triple this season), and, surprisingly, stolen bases (8). Charlie White, who set a school record last year for stolen bases, is third on the team with 5. But, just as surprising, White, despite being the leadoff hitter, leads the team in runs batted in with 12. In that category, Brandon Lowe has 10, Kevin Martir has 9, Schmitt has 8 and Lamont Jordan has 7.
On Wednesday the Terps returned to Harford CC to play UMBC. They blanked the retrievers in a cold drizzle, 6-0. It must be the best drained field on the East Coast there at Bel Air's community college. Jake Drossner scattered three hits over six innings and Jose Cuas hit his team-leading second home run to pace the Terps. They now return home to begin a three game conference set with North Carolina State.
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