Monday, 23 May 2011 02:51

Written by Marvin Bionat

Tags: Bottom Line

People should take note of what George Friedman has to say in his New York Times bestseller book The Next 100 Years.  Friedman is the founder of STRATFOR, a private geopolitical intelligence and forecasting firm.  The first time I heard of the company was back in President Estrada’s time, when a friend and I were discussing what might happen to his newly minted presidency.  I then took the view that Erap would in a matter of time be ousted through People Power, a somewhat dubious prediction at that time considering how popular the new president was.  Then I stumbled upon a STRATFOR report that made the same forecast.  The firm was just founded then, and while I liked the confirmation of my view, I dismissed the report as a wild amateurish guess, unsupported by hard political data.

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites

Tuesday, 17 May 2011 02:29

Written by Marvin Bionat

Tags: Bottom Line

No, they don’t exactly have the apocryphal skills of the ancient ninjas that included walking on water and disappearing into thin air, but the U.S. Navy SEALs that got Osama bin Laden can pull some pretty dramatic stuff.  In 2005, four members of SEAL Team 10 were on a mission to kill a high-ranking Taliban in Afghanistan when they were ambushed by up to 150 enemy fighters.  Despite the overwhelming Taliban firepower, the SEALs managed to hold them off for more than 2 hours in a running firefight over rough terrain.  The U.S. commando team fought on and killed an undetermined number of the Taliban fighters before three of its members succumbed to gunshot wounds, leaving Marcus Luttrell as the only survivor.  Luttrell himself was blown off a cliff by a rocket-propelled grenade.  Badly wounded, he staggered and crawled 7 miles to safety, killing 6 more Taliban combatants along the way.

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites