Prince William to The Falklands

The British have announced that Prince William will be going to the Falkland Islands as part of a normal squadron rotation. This move comes just days after British Prime Minister David Cameron accused Argentina of colonialism. Argentina has once again been pressuring the Falklands to give up being British and surrender themselves to Argentinian rule. The last time Argentina acted like this, they invaded the islands in 1982, forcing the British to send troops to free the islands from the invaders.

This time around Argentina has gotten several other South American countries to sign a trade agreement refusing to ships flying the flag of the Falklands to enter their harbours, in attempt to coerce the islands into giving up their self determination. Argentina is after possible oil and natural gas, that may lie off shore, inside the island's territory. Argentinians have been protesting in front of the British Embassy in the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires, burning Union Jacks.

Sending Prince William is a huge move by the British, making a clear statement on how important they consider this situation, and that they will not abandon the Falkland Islands to face the Argentinian belligerence alone.

William, the Duke of Cambridge, grandson to Queen Elizabeth II, is expected by many to be the next king of England. His father, Charles, may still take rule after the Queen, but not likely for long considering his age. William works in search and rescue missions for the Royal Air Force.

US Carrier Prepares to Enter Gulf, China Joins Against Iran

The USS Abraham Lincoln has joined the USS Carl Vinson in the North Arabian Sea. Within the next couple weeks one of the carriers will make the move through the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian gulf. Pretty standard, as the United States normally does maintain one carrier in each body of water. But this time the threat situation is different.

In December, Iran threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz. A sixth of all western oil flows through there, so such a move would have huge economic repercussions. Iran made the threat after President Obama and other world leaders promised new sanctions on the country for it's continued nuclear program. The Iranian government followed that threat with another one, stating that no US carriers would be allowed to enter the Persian Gulf.

The situation has been worse, after an Iranian scientist was assassinated in Tehran. Iran was quick to blame Israel, the US, and the United Kingdom for the attack, even claiming they have proof of the CIA and MI6's involvement. Russia entered the fray with a very bold statement that, "any attack on Tehran is an attack on Moscow"; and that they will defend Iran from "western aggression". The response from the United States Navy has been to continue normal functions, though on higher alert, and to rescue three groups of Iranian fishermen from pirates and their own sinking ships.

Now enter China, Iran's long time ally. "China adamantly opposes Iran developing and possessing nuclear weapons," Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, was quoted as saying. China followed this statement by cutting their oil imports from Iran, by half. A huge number considering how much oil China has been taking in. The premier continued to say, "Some people said my visit was to secure oil, which is narrow-minded. I came here for friendship." Interestingly enough China has apparently decided that world opinion matters more than defending a single country.

So now we must wait and see when the United States carrier goes into the Strait, what will Iran do? Will they go through with their threats, and hope Russia will really save them? Or will they just simply back down, realizing that such stupidity would truly not be worth it. Expect Russia to make the first response, either by reinforcing their statements or by backing down on them now that China won't be joining them.

Diplomatic Immunity Abuse

We've all seen it on the TV shows, a diplomat commits some crime, but nothing can be done because of their diplomatic immunity. Well it happens in reality quite often. Most of the time it's for violation traffic laws, sometimes theft, other times abusing domestic employees, and at times more serious crimes are gotten away with because of diplomatic immunity.

Last Sunday, it was Si Hong Ri, North Korean ambassador to Germany who committed a crime that would mean fines and up to two years in jail. The ambassador was caught fishing without a license. When police first found him they asked him to stop he simply smiled, claimed to be the ambassador but stated that he didn't have papers proving who he was, and continued his fishing. Not wanting to get themselves in trouble the polezi called it in and asked for a picture of the ambassador to be sent to them. One was and it showed him to be telling the truth. The officers again asked him to stop, but he simply smiled and continued once again.

Now illegal fishing of this nature is not that big of a crime, and diplomatic immunity is definitely a time honored tradition. However, diplomats do in actuality get away with series things, including violent crimes like murder, simply because they can flash credentials and walk away. Worse case scenario for most of them, is being barred from the country they were in, and being sent home. It is a shame and a travesty that they can get away with such things. It is along the same lines of people who simply buy their way out of trouble. The rules of diplomatic immunity must be changed to allow for criminal persecution, especially when people were harmed, when the laws were broken.

In Ambassador Si Hong Ri's case, hopefully he really was hungry and went without catching anything.

Etta James, Dead at 73

Early Friday, Etta James passed on at the age of 73. Born Jamesette Hawkins on January 25, 1938 she was discovered singing on a street corner in San Fransisco. Her life as a star was a constant struggle, due to various addictions that she eventually over came, but she will always be remembered for her voice. Without a doubt one of the greatest American singers, and likely the greatest soul singer. She had many hits over the years, bringing her four Grammy awards, but none so famous as a song that came out before she was known, which she made her own in 1961, "At Last".

Falkland Conflict Rekindled

It has been almost thirty years since April 2, 1982, when Argentina invaded and occupied British commonwealth of the Falkland Island and South Georgia. After 74 days the Falklands War ended with the Argentinian surrender on June 14, 1982. Six hundred forty-nine Argentine military personnel, two hundred fifty-five British military personnel and three Falkland Islanders died over the duration of the conflict. Before the war the two countries had argued for over a century who was the rightful owner of the islands.

And now Argentina is once again pressuring the possibly oil and natural gas rich Falkland Islands to submit to their rule, whilst Prime Minister David Cameron, following in the footsteps of Margaret Thatcher, is defending the Falklanders desire to remain British citizens. Argentina has even gone as far as getting Brazil, Uruguay, and Chile to sign an agreement to turn away any ships flying Falkland colours.

Hopefully Argentina does not go as far as they did last time, and start a war over it. But if they should be so stupid, Prime Minister Cameron seems up to the job, just as Thatcher was, and will defend the islands from their neighbor's aggression and colonialist goals. Irony, again, that the old empire is the one who now defends others from becoming prey to the imperialistic visions of someone else.

Occupy Denver Cooperates?

In a shocking change, it seems Occupy Denver is learning to cooperate with the city. Wednesday, when asked to, they cleared the sidewalk they've inhabited so that city workers could clean it. This is a huge step forward for the movement, who in the past have resisted such attempts and forced the city to evict them each time. The last time, some of their members lit fires as police moved in to enforce the eviction. With this sign of intelligence within the movement, maybe they could actually transform from a whiny, drugged out mob, into a legit political action group as they claim to be.

Other than the fires, the Denver group is most famous for electing Shelby, the three year old border collie, as it's leader; the massively failed attempt to invade BlogCon11; for being met by the Larimer County Posse when they tried to block a Walmart distribution center in Loveland; and for braving the snow and well below freezing temperatures.

Perry Out, Supports Gingrich

Texas Governor Rick Perry has officially dropped out of the Presidential race, and supported Newt Gingrich. With Perry out, we are left with the scenario we had discussed before, who to support in 2012 between Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Newt Gingrich. And we are still at the same conclusion, Newt is the best option of the three.

There are definite reasons people like Perry, Thomas Sowell, Tim LaHaye, and almost Sarah Palin have or will endorse Gingrich. To quote Sowell, "Why not vote for the candidate who has shown the best track record of accomplishments, both in office and in the debates? That is Newt Gingrich. With all his shortcomings, his record shows that he knows how to get the job done in Washington."

Gingrich has proven himself to be more conservative than Romney. He was the last speaker of the house to succeed in having a balanced budget for the country. Newt is electable, as unlike Ron Paul he isn't seen by most of the country as someone to ignore or thought to be out right crazy.

Tis time to face the facts. We are down to the time where we must decide. There will not be anyone else entering the field, as much as we might for hope for Condoleezza Rice (yes I'm still waving my #RiceRyan2012). The remaining candidates will all be dropping out and supporting one of these three. Newt is not perfect, no one is. But of the big three he is the best hope for America in 2012.

US Helps Iranian Fishermen, Again

The United States Navy has once again come to the aid of Iranian fisherman. This marks the third time this month that they have done so. The first time the USS Kidd, freed a group that had been held captive, for over a month, by Somali pirates. Iran's response was to say thanks, but we think you rigged the whole thing. A few days later, the US Coast Guard saved a crew of fishermen who's boat was sinking out from under them. Iran refused to comment on that one. And now, a week later, this group is rescued by other fishermen, but don't have enough supplies. So what did the USS Dewey do? They gifted them with one hundred and fifty pounds of "food, water, medical, and hygienic supplies".

One would hope, and maybe even think, that such humanitarian acts of good will would help ease tensions between the United States and Iran, but that's not the case. If Iran deigns to respond, it will likely be another accusation or maybe continued harassment of US forces in the Persian Gulf. With Russia joining the verbal war, on the Iranian side, things have not gotten any better. President Obama may be trying to start a cold war with China, but it definitely looks like Russia is trying to get the old cold war going again.

Or maybe all of this US aid, of Iranians, will somehow reach the Iranian people and they will remember it. In all the violent revolutions and protests going on in the Middle East, as well as the belligerence of the Iranian government, the Iranian Green Movement seems to have been forgotten. With some real luck the people of Iran will find their way to freedom from the tyranny of Ahmadinejad and look upon the US as a friend.

Russia and The Wretched Tyrant

Russia has once again declared their support of the Syrian government. The Russians originally announced the support by sending an aircraft carrier flotilla to the country, and having each ship's captain go on Syrian TV pledging the support of the Rodina. And now Russia pledges to not only defend the country from outside interference, but block any UN resolution to even sanction the country. Russia claims that the "western countries" are one sided against the regime of President Assad. Earlier this week Russia also pledged to defend Iran, stating that any attack on Tehran would be counted as an attack on Moscow.

The United Kingdom's Prime Minister, David Cameron, has accused Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah of aiding the regime of the "wretched tyrant". Stating that Turkey has proof of arms shipments to Syrian security forces. He continued to pledge that the UK would "lead the way" in ensuring stronger sanctions against Assad's regime. Interestingly enough, Hezbollah just this week released a statement of support for President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown, and added that all members of the opposition should turn themselves in and accept an offer of amnesty.

Arab League observers are still hoping that their presence will end the violence, that has killed an estimated fifty-five hundred people since March. So far they have been ineffective, and may have actually been the cause for more. China, however is strongly encouraging their continued and expanded presence. The Arab League says they will continue debate on Syria, Saturday and Sunday. The Emir of Qatar is calling for troops to be used to ensure peace, but so far he is alone in that.

One Year Down, Now to The Future

It was one year and two days ago, January 15, 2011, that I posted my first blog. On March 29, 2011 Landmark Report published the first of several pieces I had written. The year ended with fifty-five entries, and just under nineteen thousand views.

Now in 2012, currently sitting at 21,415 views, this will be the twenty-fifth piece of the year, with hopes to surpass last year's total in just the month of January. This year has already seen some big changes. The blog has gone from being just a blogger site, to having it's own domain. It has it's own Twitter account and, as of today, a Facebook one too.

Plans are underway to see the basic layout, that you currently see, be replaced with an entirely new design. The focus will still be on news, current events, and politics; but areas for food, sports, music, movies, gaming, and others will appear. By the end of 2012, our goal is to be more than a staff of one and to be using multiple medias to reach you.

We are very grateful to all of you who have supported and spread us throughout our first year of adventures. We hope you will continue to bear with us through the coming growing pains, and that you are as excited as us to see what the next year (and the many beyond that) will bring. You the readers have made this all possible. Thank you!