BLUF:
[PJ] The most likely story is that the decision to shoot down the balloon once it was back over the water was made on Friday morning, shortly before Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s planned trip to Beijing was postponed.
It is highly unlikely that the Biden administration would have planned to send Blinken to Beijing while they’d been planning to shoot down the balloon. Considering the administration had long known about the balloon, the abrupt change of Blinken’s plans is the most obvious signal that there’d been a change in how the administration would handle the situation.
So Biden’s story doesn’t add up, yet he’ll forever claim he’d authorized the spy balloon to be shot down on Wednesday. But the facts suggest the authorization was two days later. Naturally, to help spin the situation as a positive for Biden, Democrats are now "celebrating" the balloon’s destruction as if Biden’s actions were heroic and decisive when we know they were not.
#5
We have multiple radars that should spot something like this while it's still over China. The idea its appearance over CONUS came as a surprise is bullscrit.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/06/2023 15:57 Comments ||
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[Dawn] When Pakistain’s dollar reserves fell below $5 billion in December, and its credit default risk had reportedly become too high for analysts to ignore the possibility of an imminent default, the central bank made a policy decision to allow the opening of import letter of credits (LC) in a staggered manner to ensure spreading of the dollar reserve over a longer period of importing time.
The idea was to allow the government some diplomatic time to knock on the doors of friendly countries and multilateral organizations, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Fund had dilly-dallied on the ninth review to force monetary authorities in Pakistain to take the first steps towards a few baseline reforms, including the relegation of the dollar to the markets. Markets that the central bank and the government regards as ripe with imperfections.
The rupee was finally devalued last week which automatically implied that it was left to a market that had the propensity to sell it to gain dollars. This provided IMF with the confidence to schedule the ninth review, which is now ongoing in Islamabad. It is likely that the IMF’s review will be completed, and default, as was predicted by some and wished by a few others, didn’t happen.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/06/2023 02:54 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[14 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Dawn] The ghastly terror attack in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistain's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire... last week traumatised Paks. Besides the tragic loss of lives and property, it reminded people of their persistent vulnerability. Terrorism and operations to counter the threat cost Pakistain dearly. The efforts to rid the country of this menace have yet to succeed.
A remote-controlled bomb may cost about the same as an iPhone at $400-500, a suicide bombing vest $1,200, and a suicide car bomb between $13,000-$20,000, depending on the make and model of the car
The nation compromised on other pressing priorities for years to finance counter-terrorism projects. Besides inflicting wounds on the body and soul of the nation, terror attacks hurt the country’s image. They project Pakistain as one of the most dangerous places in the world, leading to adverse economic consequences, some quantifiable and others not.
Continued on Page 49
For solar power to make sense, there's one non-negotiable component...and yes, it's that bright, shiny thing in the sky - the sun. But just because your planet has a sun doesn't mean you should use solar power...
The best examples are places like Denver or SoCal, where the sun is out showing off most days of the year. Then you move on to places like New York, Toronto or Berlin - which have plenty of overcast days - and your case for using solar power goes out the window.
The point of all of this isn't to say that solar power can't be part of the energy solution, but there are still quite a few hoops we've got to jump through to get there.
#2
Solar power is most popular where it is heavily subsidized. Without taxpayers getting fleeced there is little real financial incentive to go solar for other than remote uses where power distribution is an issue.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/06/2023 12:53 Comments ||
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#3
I was hammered for months, up until I told them I would pay cash rather than finance the design. Then the badgering stopped.
#5
Passive solar engineering, starting with architecture matching the local microclimate, is useful. Solar water heaters and solar chimneys are a reasonable choice. Solar panels are as silly as the ones my neighbor, a retired art teacher and artist, had installed -- here in Tornado Alley Oklahoma...
#6
I had a great room on the western end of my house in PeeAve that had very large windows that caught all the afternoon sun. Before putting 3M reflective film on them and adding thermal honeycomb blind window treatments (planned for and installed just after the addition was finished,) it was essentially impossible to air condition it.
Yes, you can do a lot with passive measures.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/06/2023 16:01 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistain's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire...
