Update from the Heartland
No.685
26.1.15 – 29.1.15
Blog version: http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/
To all,
This will be a
short week, as will become obvious in next week’s Update. Thank you for your understanding and
interest. More to follow.
The follow-up news items:
-- The trickle of information from the examination of the
Air Asia Flight QZ8501 [680-3] FDR
& CVR data is far from conclusive.
Bits of that information suggest investigators are concerned about the
interplay between the pilots and the aircraft’s automation (computers). From my perspective, this accident is
looking more like Air France Flight AF447 event [391], i.e., high altitude, ice crystal impaction, followed by loss
of airspeed indication, and subsequent failure of flight augmentation and
mishandling by the crew as a consequence.
We still do not know enough about the analysis of the FDR & CVR
data.
A friend,
brother-in-arms, and frequent contributor to this humble forum submitted this
week and sent along the following article:
“What do you think they are playing at Cap….?”
“Putin's Bombers Intercepted By RAF Jets Over English
Channel, Russian Ambassador Summoned.”
by Paul Vale
PA/The Huffington Post UK
Posted: 29/01/2015 17:58 GMT; Updated: 30/01/2015 09:59 GMT
My reply:
My
opinion: Putin may have several objectives: 1.) Unsettle the West, i.e., divert
economic resources to defense; 2.) Return Russia to bully status, i.e., the
big-dog on the street to be feared and for intimidation leverage; and 3.) Provoke
Western response to feed the internal political paranoia to justify autocratic
or dictatorial assertions. These
probes are reminiscent of the Zeppelin probes of Great Britain in the late
1930’s. These aerial incursions
were typical during the height of the Cold War 1950’s to 1970’s, so it seems to
be part of a much broader political play by Putin. It will only take one miscalculation or mistake to blow this
thing up.
. . . a
follow-up comment:
“Well that may be
your view and I fear you’re not wrong. He plays a dangerous game indeed; one
slip and it could be a disaster. The word megalomaniac hovers on my tongue
waiting for the prompt that I fear may well occur, empire building, taking the
focal point away from the desperate plight of Russia’s economy. However they do
seem to find enough cash to spend on their armed forces which is causing us
great concern here in NATO who for years have been, as you are well aware,
spending less on defence.
“Indeed I do
remember from my days spent manning readiness crews these unwanted incursions.
Normally to the north of the U/K an incursion into the English Channel is
somewhat rare although I recall recently some warships cheekily sped through.
“I guess they just
like taking photos of the white cliffs. Sorry there, being dismissive.”
News from the economic front:
-- Standard Poor's Ratings Services cut its credit rating on
Russia to junk, as they decided the country dropped below investment grade for
the first time in more than 10 years.
-- The U.S. Federal Reserve suggested they will keep
short-term interest rates near zero at least until midyear and set the stage
for tough debates in the months ahead about whether to wait even longer.
-- The Nationalbank of Denmark cut its deposit rate to minus
0.50% from minus 0.35%, its third reduction in less than two weeks [684]. The Danish central bank seeks to defend its long-established
currency peg against a weakening euro.
Comments
and contributions from Update no.684:
“My you are developing some good relationships these days.
Personally I would never stoop to criticising your work or those any others on
your forum. Yes we’re here to express our views and possibly articulate some
suggestions where we believe the world, including our personal opinions, might
be ‘improved’. If I thought you’d got it wrong, yes, I would say so but I would
be courteous and pointed. I feel one should always, when being critical,
propose the alternative. It’s called debating over here.
“I hear there’s a snow storm heading for your north east, I trust
it won’t make it too far inland.”
My response:
No
worries. When I chose to put my
opinions in a public forum for debate, I had to have sufficient confidence in
myself to accept a full spectrum to criticism. In no small measure, I believe it is a reality of public
debate. The topic has been a
long-time issue for us, so the criticism was understood and accepted. Frankly, I was far more concerned about
losing his contributions than any criticism he directed at me, or my
writing.
At the end of the day, I am thankful that he does express
his perspective and opinion, which is far more in the spirit of this humble
forum than silence. We need
disagreement, dissent and debate to maintain a viable democracy – the lubricant
to keep the machinery running.
Yes,
the weather guessers are saying this is an historic Nor’easter for New
England. The leaders of states,
cities and communities are taking unprecedented action in anticipation of the
storm. I hope they did not overplay
this thing. We shall see.
. . . follow-up comment:
“Understand your reply and your reasons for accepting the
criticism. I do still however believe that in the honoured tenure that we try
to preserve in such a debating circle one should always respect the other
argument even if it is at loggerheads with your own views.
“My views Cap. Like you I could also be wrong!”
My very best wishes to all. Take care of yourselves and each other.
Cheers,
Cap :-)
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