September Will Be Decision Time For The Euro

September Is The Cruelest Month -- Foreign Policy

Welcome back from summer holiday, Europeans! Get ready for 30 days that will determine the fate of your continent.

When German travelers return from their hallowed August vacations this week, they will find that the euro is gone -- at least as far as Frankfurt airport is concerned. Without much fanfare, the massive euro sculpture, a fixture at Germany's largest airport since 2001, was unceremoniously dispatched in the dead of night to make room for an inter-terminal railway.

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My Comment: I cannot see the Euro surviving. Too much debt, and an unwillingness among those who own it to pay it .... and those who are owed an unwillingness to give more.

How Osama bin Laden's Dead Body Was Identified

Speaking out: Former Navy SEAL Matt Bissonnette appeared on US TV show 60 Minutes this week to discuss his book. CBS said they disguised his appearance for his safety

Osama bin Laden's Dead Body Was Identified By Young Girl Hiding Out With The al-Qaeda Leader When Navy SEALS Raided His Compound -- Daily Mail

* MailOnline obtains copy of explosive account of bin Laden's assassination
* Author, identified as ex-SEAL Matt Bissonnette, 36, describes the moment he released he'd killed the 'most wanted man in the world'
* Bin Laden was hiding out with two wives and three children
* Girl who identified terrorist leader likely to be one of his 20 plus offspring

The dead body of Osama bin Laden was positively identified by a child who was in the room with him when he died, according to a former U.S. Navy SEAL's account of his assassination.

In his explosive book about the operation, titled No Easy Day, 36-year-old Matt Bissonnette - writing under the pseudonym Mark Owen - describes the moment his team discovered the terrorist leader was dead.

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Update: Excerpts from SEAL's book about Osama bin Laden killing -- CNN

My Comment: This is riveting reading.

Pentagon: Ex-SEAL Will Face Legal Action Over Bin Laden Book

Pentagon Threatens Legal Action Over Bin Laden Book -- Reuters

(Reuters) - The Pentagon warned on Thursday that it was considering legal action against a former U.S. Navy SEAL for material breach of non-disclosure agreements with his first-hand account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

In a letter obtained by Reuters, and subsequently released by the Pentagon, the Pentagon's top attorney said the Department of Defense was also considering legal action against anyone "acting in concert" with the author. It hinted that the book's royalties might be subject to government claims.

The letter, addressed to "Mark Owen," the pseudonym under which the book was written, identified two separate non-disclosure agreements he signed with the Navy that legally committed him to never divulge classified information, which is a crime.

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Update #1: Pentagon to consider legal action against ex-SEAL author of bin Laden raid book -- FOX News/AP
Update #2: Author of book on bin Laden raid could face legal action -- Washington Post

My Comment: Matt Bissonnette has destroyed the careful narrative that the Pentagon and White House pushed after the killing of Bin Laden. In short .... he has made a number of people very upset. The fact that he has also probably violated confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements will mean that he will be punished to the full extent of the law .... and (I predict) will become the poster-child of what happens to soldiers who violate non-disclosure agreements with the military.

But a question still needs to be asked .... he was behind the point man who shot Bin Laden .... and Matt Bissonnette was the man who finished Bin Laden off by shooting him in the chest .... as well as wiping the blood off Bin Laden's face and taking the pictures that proved that Bin Laden was dead .... he is in every way a great American hero .... but should he now be treated harshly and condemned for publishing this book as some are doing now?

Sighhhh .... I am glad that I am not in the military chain of command nor the prosecutor who must now make a decision that (I am sure) cannot .... and will not .... satisfy everyone.

China Tests 14000 km Range Dong Feng 41 (DF-41) intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)

The Chinese Second Artillery Corps (SAC) have test fired Dong Feng 41 (DF-41) intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with 14000 km range capable of hitting targets in various parts of the United States. The DF-41  intercontinental ballistic missile has been designed to carry multiple independently target able re-entry vehicle (MIRV).

Chinese Y-9 Transport Aircraft Becomes Operational with PLAAF?

Few unclear images of the Chinese -9 Transport Aircraft has appeared on the Chinese internet with color scheme which indicate that it may be operational with the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).

Mexicans Have No Confidence In Their Police Forces

Mexicans See A Losing Battle In The War On Crooked Police -- L.A. Times

President Calderon vowed to create a trustworthy federal police force. Now as he apologizes for a police shooting of a U.S. Embassy vehicle, citizens scoff at the very notion.

MEXICO CITY — In the midst of a violent drug war, President Felipe Calderon fired crooked cops by the hundreds, and hired new ones — rigorously vetted and college educated — by the thousands. Salaries were doubled, new standards imposed and officers were subjected to extensive background checks.

A trustworthy federal police force was to be one of the most important legacies of Calderon's six-year term. And yet, just months before he is to leave office in December, the president found himself apologizing "profoundly" this week for an incident in which federal police allegedly opened fire on an SUV with diplomatic plates, injuring two Americans.

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My Comment: There is always going to be bad apples in any barrel .... unfortunately for Mexico .... their police force has a long history of corruption and failing in their duties.

Is China's Navy A 'Paper-Tiger'?

China’s Real Blue Water Navy -- Andrew Erickson and Gabe Collins, The Diplomat

China is building a two-layered navy with a high-end Near Seas component and a limited, low-end capability beyond. It is not poised to speed across the Pacific to threaten America.

China’s navy is not poised to speed across the Pacific to threaten America the way the Soviet Union once did, if not worse. This despite Peter Navarro and Greg Autry’s over-the-top polemic, Death by China: Confronting the Dragon—A Global Call to Action, in which they claim that “[T]he People’s Republic is moving forward at Manhattan Project speed to develop a blue water navy capable of challenging the U.S. Navy.”

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My comment: China's Navy may appear insignificant when compared to the U.S. Navy .... but their goal is to have a blue navy that will be able to project Chinese power and influence far from it's shores. Their planning spans decades, and I suspect that when this question is asked 30-40 years from now, the answer may surprise us.