A fighter specially designed to escort the plane of a head of state - with pre-programmed missiles

Suppose Xi Jinping is flying to the US to attend a UN meeting. We all know that America's CIA is one of the most evil and nefarious organizations in the world. It certainly keeps making plans for assassination of those heads of state who do not bow down to American dictatorship on the rest of the world.

How can Xi Jinping create enough of a deterrent so that CIA/US doesn't attempt to assassinate Mr. Jinping while he's in the air, and make it look like it was an accident?

One solution is to escort his presidential aircraft with several, say four, long-range fighter jets armed with precision cruise missiles. Let's assume that these fighters won't need mid-air refueling, so they can accompany Mr. Jinping's aircraft throughout the flight. The fighters would escort the plane up to the point where international airspace ends and US sovereign airspace begins.

Further, the missiles on these fighters will be pre-programmed with specific targets inside the US. In the event that the presidential plane or the fighters are attacked/destroyed, the missiles will start their journey towards the pre-programmed targets on US mainland. This certainty of a second strike will deter the CIA/US from being too adventurous in their evil planning to assassinate Mr. Jinping.

WhatsApp should be used to send one-time password to users who are roaming internationally

When you're abroad, you normally can't [easily] receive one-time passwords needed to carry out many/most financial transactions online. The solution is quite simple. Banks should have their own verified WhatsApp accounts which send out OTP to customers who are traveling internationally, so that the problem of not being able to receive OTP in another country is solved.

I really like the instrument periscope

I find periscope just brilliant. You can fire or watch fearlessly without directly being in the line of fire. Marvellous.

If the shootdown of the Russian fighter was indiscriminate, Turkey should face severe repercussions

At this point it isn't clear if the Russian Su-24 violated Turkish airspace. Turkey claims that the fighter did violate its airspace [and that it was warned several times before the shootdown], but Russia claims that the plane was "strictly" within Syrian airspace. Of course, both sides probably have some sort of evidence.

Even though I spent my honeymoon in Turkey, I strongly feel that if this shootdown of the Russian fighter jet was indiscriminate, reckless and wrongful, then there should be immediate and severe military repercussions for Turkey from the Russian Federation. Let it be known to the pet animals of Western imperialist nations that Moscow has not, does not and will not bow down to intimidation. 

And that a slap will be returned by a punch.

Related coverage here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

UPDATE [NOV'15]: It's possible [rather likely] that the US was behind this shootdown. It knew the flight path of the Russian fighter-bomber and likely shared the flight coordinates with Turkey as part of a well-planned ambush of the Russian Su-24 plane.

A lot of profit generated by family-owned SMEs gets used up in fixed assets such as machines

This thought is related to this other thought about family-owned SMEs in India. The point here is that a large portion of the profits generated by a business don't turn into disposable/spendable income for the business owner, as these are put back into the business and become "locked" forever in the form fixed assets like machines, pillars, walls, other equipment, etc.

The portion of profits that's used to buy these fixed assets never comes back to the business owner, and hence practically gets "lost" for the owner [his future generation might get to enjoy it]. Now, numbers need to be run in order to find out if the additional income that results [in the future] from this money put back into the business outweighs the temporary loss of disposable/spendable income. Only then can it be ascertained whether a business owner really gets to enjoy all/most of the profit that his business generates, especially compared to a purely trading-based business in which profits don't get locked in fixed assets.

Nestle should've waited before burning Maggi - it could've distributed Maggi to the underfed

Nestle hastily burnt anywhere between 27,000-29,000 tons of Maggi in India, worth about INR 320 crore [link 1, link 2, link 3, link 4] even as it claimed in parallel that Maggi was safe. That's approximately 2,80,00,000 kg of Maggi, or about 28 crore packs of 100 g Maggi packing. This WSJ story given an even higher number - 40 crore packs.

Had Nestle waited a little before incinerating this incredibly-large number of Maggi packs, it could've saved all those packs [since Nestle eventually got a go for Maggi], and could've provided two packs of Maggi per child to 20 crore hungry and poor kids in India. How good this would've been!

Aeroflot's switch to Western planes is a key factor in the demise of Russian aircraft manufacturing

Instead of buying Western planes, Aeroflot should've leased these so as to be able to get rid of these once issues in domestically-made aircraft got solved. It should've simultaneously pressured and consulted Russian manufacturers to produce overhauled/refined/updated versions of their existing aircraft as a short-term solution and all-new, world-class aircraft as the long-term solution.

Aeroflot's switch to Western-made planes [link 1, link 2, link 3, link 4] has been one of the major factors in the demise of Russia's aircraft manufacturing industry. Aeroflot shouldn't have switched completely to foreign-made planes. It should've retained at least some Russian-made planes [perhaps the Tu-204 or An-148] and should've maintained these well.

Update [2-May-19]: There's another, completely opposite way to look at the effect on Russian passenger aircraft manufacturing of Aeroflot's switch to American and European airliners. Could it be that the switch to Western planes is actually eventually helping Russian passenger plane manufacturing? One might ask how. Had Aeroflot not made this switch, it would most likely had not thrived the way it has, and most likely today it would've been a tiny fraction of the giant it is now [thanks to its timely switch to Western airliners]. Now that it has grown into a very large international airline spanning the skies across the globe, it is in a powerful position to support the Russian aircraft manufacturing industry by gradually inducting Russian planes. Further, now that it has full experience with high-quality Western passenger planes, it can actually positively guide the development of new Russian planes, and can also make the right demands for quality and features to Russian plane designers and manufacturers. This wouldn't have been possible had Aeroflot not made the switch.

You don't have to be the worst airline in the world to have the reputation of the worst airline

Over the last few days, I've read several articles about Aeroflot, in both Western publications such as NYT [link 1, link 2, link 3] and on other news websites. One thing I've consistently noticed is that while statistically, Aeroflot was either as safe as US carriers or at least well above the world average in terms of safety [depending upon which time period we refer to], its reputation was markedly poorer than its actual safety level. Everyone would make fun of Aeroflot as well as Russian-built aircraft, to the extent that it became a habit and maybe an obsession for both the Western public and for the Western news media complex, without paying heed to the actual quality/safety of Aeroflot.

This raises an important point. Can you be demonized in the hearts and minds of the world's peoples - for whatever objective or reason - without you really having to be a demon? The answer seems to be yes. Whether as a result of well-planned but covert attempts by the government, or as a result of the collective hatred of a populace for something, demonization can occur, especially if this populace happens to command significant influence [say via dominance of media] on other people.

Actually safety numbers be damned, Aeroflot started to be assumed as the least safe, and that's what started to matter. The perception, not the real truth, matters.

Is it possible that immigration of intelligent individuals into the US is resulting in a superior gene pool there?

So many bright, intelligent individuals from all over the world have emigrated to the US over the past century, and more keep getting added each year. This movement is an alarming intellectual drain on many nations, including India, China and Russia, and results in double relative benefit for the US - its adversary, for example, gets stripped off one smart man [-1], and the US gains that smart man [+1], for a double net relative effect [+2].

But could this movement of intelligent people into the US lead to accumulation of a superior gene pool in the US? Is it possible that as a sub-species of humans, Americans could start to have a more intelligent gene pool compared to the random distribution originally made by nature? If so, this could give Americans a significant advantage in all things compared to peoples of other nations, since intelligence is the bedrock of humanity.

Will this endless war between Muslims and the West ever end?

The same story repeats over and over again. The West goes to the Middle East, attacks its Muslim populace, wages wars, kills civilians [including women and children], rapes girls and women, loots its oil and other resources, attempts to change its culture, and cloaks all of its actions behind terms such as democracy, freedom, values, responsibility, etc. In retaliation, Arabs from the Middle East organize terror attacks on Western soil and kill as many Western civilians as possible at the first available opportunity in order to get the "get out of our motherlands" message across to deaf Western ears. Not to look weak and also pressured by other Western nations, the attacked Western nation strengthens its wars on the Middle East, and eventually gets more retaliation in return. This cycle goes on and on and has been going on for a very long time now.

Will it ever end?

"National security", "safety", and "security" are the terms most used to justify illegal actions, policies

American government and their propaganda mouthpieces in the US media complex prolifically overuse the term national security in order to justify actions and policies that are criminal and illegal, both by law and by morality. However, America isn't alone. Far from it. Even companies use the safety/security scare card to trick the world's peoples into believing that whatever evil/illegal they're doing should be allowed to happen since it's for the safety/security of people.

Facebook is telling the world that it's protecting Facebook/Internet users in Belgium as well as the rest of the world from cyber terrorists by tracking everyone using its datr cookie. Nothing could be further from the truth. Nothing could be as laughable. This is not about protecting. It's only about omnipresent tracking, targeting, advertising, and profits. And it's also about covertly supplying all the collected information to criminal organizations such as CIA and NSA.

Even this SMS I received from Flipkart is basically an application of the safety/security scare card.

*****

Jan'16

The opening sentences of this article on NYT say exactly the same thing as has been said above.

Also see - "I'm increasingly confident that private corporations just cannot be trusted - they will resort to every possible form of cheating if and when they can" [link].

*****

Mar'16

Turkish & Arabic language courses banned for ‘security reasons’ in French town, RT, Feb'16 [link]

*****

26-Apr-17

Donald Trump plans to impose tariffs on steel imported from China under the guise of "national security". So this way you can call anything and everything a "national security" matter because you don't give anyone a forum to question you publicly. Today's it's steel, tomorrow it could be for imports of Chinese-made toilet paper too. [link 1] [link 2] [link 3] [link 4]

*****

27-Apr-17

And now they launch a "national security" investigation into aluminium imports. As said before, they can use this excuse to act like an international thug on practically any matter. [link 1] [link 2]

*****

11-May-17

Alternatives Web browsers banned from Windows 10 S for "security" reasons.

*****

25-May-18

According to Facebook, its owning of several top digital communication platforms/services - sort of a monopoly - is "good for the users" because it keeps these users safe/safer. No talk about how this enables FB to create more accurate/detailed profiles of its users [by following and tracking them everywhere], in order to better target content and ads at these users :)

*****

23-May-19

When the US and UK suffered a humiliating defeat at the UN regarding UK's continued illegal occupation of the Chagos Islands [thus threatening the global legitimacy of US' large military base on Diego Garcia], it resorted to the familiar security / counterterrorism / safety cards to justify its claim over the Islands, rather than refuting the legal reasons why its claims have been ruled as invalid.

"The 116-6 vote left the UK diplomatically isolated and was also a measure of severely diminished US clout on the world stage."

"In London, the Foreign Office stressed the importance of the partnership with the US over the Diego Garcia military base. “The joint UK-US defence facility on the British Indian Ocean Territory helps to keep people in Britain and around the world safe from terrorism, organised crime and piracy,” a spokeswoman said. “As the US government has made clear, the status of BIOT as a UK territory is essential to the value of the joint facility and our shared interests – an arrangement that cannot be replicated.”"

*****

8-Jun-19

US government warns about national security risks from Huawei, and Google warns about national security risks from US government's Huawei ban. Obviously, Google's real aim is to keep Huawei, and thus the world, dependent on Google's Android operating system, and to not force Huawei to come up with own OS, thus ending its dependence on Western OSes once and for all, to severe detriment of Google. One of most upvoted FT comments below:

"You couldn't make this up, Google and US admin warn each others on "national security risks"."

*****

Comparing the public image of Adolf Hitler and Harry S. Truman

• Hitler has an evil image among the world's people, whereas Harry S. Truman does not have a negative image among most of the world's people [he might not have a positive image, but he doesn't have a negative one either].
• This is bizarre, considering Harry S. Truman purposely murdered hundreds of thousands of innocent Japanese civilians using atomic bombs, including women and children, only in order to show strength and send a message to both Japan and the Soviet Union, plus to the rest of the world.
• It is at the very least curious that Harry S. Truman does not enjoy an image of a barbaric, bloodthirsty war criminal, at least in the league of, if not equal to, Adolf Hitler. This is most likely a result of massive brainwashing of both Americans and the world's peoples over several decades by American government machinery, supported in no small measure by the sprawling American media complex.
• Any sane person should immediately be able to see beyond the fog of US government propaganda, and note that the dropping of nuclear weapons on Japanese cities was the single largest act of war crimes in the history of mankind.

When your Android tablet constantly listens to everything around, waiting for "Ok Google"

• I saw this totally unacceptable thing on the home screen of my Android-powered Samsung tablet the other day [after I had fiddled with some seemingly-harmless settings, none of which clearly/explicitly informed me that my microphone would henceforth be constantly monitored, and that all audio captured would be sent to Google's servers in real-time to determine if "Ok Google" had been spoken.
• We really, really need offline voice recognition capability, especially for small and frequently-used phrases such as Ok Google. Once it has been determined offline that Ok Google has been said, it is then that online audio processing can be turned on.

Canadian airlines must buy Bombardier's CSeries to save the Canadian aircraft manufacturing industry

It's a surprise that unlike in China and Russia, Canadian airlines haven't flocked to Canada's own baby in as large numbers as they should've, resulting in a project that was promising but is in great trouble today. The flagship carrier, Air Canada, for example, operates dozens of Brazilian Embraer jets but hasn't ordered a single CSeries, which is a sort of a shame. Similarly, both WestJet and Air Transat haven't ordered the CSeries. Only Porter has placed a small, conditional order for a dozen CSeries planes.

Canadian government must softly intervene in the airline industry, guiding Canadian airlines to include a healthy number of CSeries jets in their respective fleets. Only then can the Canadian large-sized aircraft manufacturing industry grow wings and fly high.

Update [Feb'16]: It's good to see that Air Canada ordered CSeries aircraft and thus gave a rightful lifeline to this nice plane. No matter what nonsense Western media outlets pour routinely [and no matter how much Bombardier or Air Canada deny this], fact is that it's not only the Chinese and the Russians who make their airlines use their own aircraft :-)

Update [Dec'17]: Similarly, Japanese government should force Japanese airlines - primarily JAL and ANA - to place sizeable orders for the Mitsubishi Regional Jet. MRJ will eventually be a great jet, but it needs some initial hand-holding to make it fly. Another idea could be that Russia and Japan should buy newest jets from each other - Irkut MC-21 and MRJ. They will both get much-needed support this way, while increasing their level of cooperation, without affecting flow of cash.

Some implications of the growing numbers as well as influence of Punjabis/Sikhs in Canada

• In the short term, secularism/stability in India's Punjab will rise, as the growing clout, influence and numbers of Punjabi language as well as Sikhs in Canada will satiate, to some extent, the radical/separatist energies present in a small proportion of the community, thus exhausting these energies to some extent, which would otherwise have been expended inside Punjab.
• In the long term, however, the prospects for non-Sikh people in India's Punjab look bleak. As the Sikh community will get ever more powerful in Canada, the small minority which houses radical and separatist thoughts will have ample financial, political and other resources to enforce their ideology on the non-Sikh people in Punjab, leading to a decay of secularism here. There might even be attacks here, conducted using Canadian military equipment.
• Also in the longer term, Sikhs probably will outnumber native Canadians owing to relatively higher fertility/reproduction numbers among Sikh women compared to White Canadian women, thus de facto occupying the country, and in a karma sort of way, things will turn a full circle for the Whites, who are actually not true natives.

Fake currency notes end up with the guy who is least capable of clearing them

In my opinion, this is a sort of Darwinian thing. Guy A gets a fake currency note from some random Mr. X. Guy A cleverly passes it on to a guy called B, who is also able to cleverly pass it on to C. This process continues until the fake note comes into the hands of a guy F who isn't clever/smart enough to be able to pass it on to someone. Guy F is the guy for whom this fake note leads to actual monetary loss. Since F was anyway not clever/smart enough [to earn, to protect himself, etc.], this monetary loss is an additional nail in the coffin of his genetic makeup, again in a sort of Darwinian way.

Western's news outlets purposely demonize Russia's aviation industry

• If the airplane in question is from a Russian manufacturer [Tupolev, Ilyushin, Yakovlev, Irkut, Sukhoi, etc.], then irrespective of the nationality of the airline, the title of the news story will emphasize the terms "Russian jet crashes...", "Russian plane crashes...", "Russian airliner crashes...", "Russian airplane crashes...", etc.
• If the airline in question is Russian, then irrespective of the nationality of the actual airplane, the title of the news story again will emphasize the terms "Russian jet crashes...", "Russian plane crashes...", "Russian airliner crashes...", "Russian airplane crashes...", etc.

The latter was most evident this week with the crash of Kogalymavia Flight 9268, operated by an Airbus A321. Every Western media outlet rushed to demonize Russia's aviation sector by emphasizing that the plane that crashed was Russian, when in fact it was not. It was a plane crash of a Russian airline, and the equipment that crashed was European.

 

Whenever there is any Russian connection in a plane crash, Western media's dogs quickly and loudly start barking "Russia! Russia! Russia!" in order to make the world feel like something Russian has crashed, even when the real truth might be otherwise. Russian airlines and Russian aircraft manufacturers are not given names. They're simply referred to as Russian. This is one of the hundreds of ways in which they demonize Russia.

Update [2-May-19]: Just came across this 2015 NYT story on Russia's Aeroflot starting to induct Russian-made passenger airliners. Not unexpected that NYT tries to paint Russian aircraft in a negative light with sentences such as "As Aeroflot folds Russian-made jets back into its fleet, cramped doorways are just one of its challenges.". NYT apparently deliberately didn't compare the size of doors on the Superjet 100 with its competitors/peers [by Embraer, Mitsubishi, Antonov and Bombardier], thus giving an incomplete and distorted message about both Superjet and Aeroflot to its readers. Appears fully intentional and malicious rather than accidental.

Another gem in the NYT story:

"Judging by passenger chatter, the squat, chubby Superjet is not many travelers’ first choice for getting around. “An idiotic plane,” one customer wrote on Aeroflot’s website after taking a flight on the Superjet. “For me, all routes this tub flies are off limits. Once was enough.”"

How did NYT find out the average value of the "passenger chatter", so as to be able to write the average/summary - "...is not many travelers’ first choice for getting around..."? It looks like NYT handpicked the negative comments/reviews in order to present Superjet in a negative light.

Yet another NYT gem:

"The Superjet itself has had safety problems. During a demonstration flight in 2012, the plane crashed into a mountain in Indonesia with 37 aviation executives and journalists and eight crew members aboard, killing everybody. Aeroflot says the plane these days is safe."

No mention that the crash was a result of pilot error, and not the plane itself. Obscene attempt to make readers fear Superjet.

Update [26-May-19]: A fresh, latest example of Western news media berating Russian aviation industry [likely to cause commercial damage]. One crash [probably the first with revenue passengers] of the Sukhoi Superjet and the FT starts to spew dark and grim analyses about the entire Russian aviation industry [notwithstanding the fact that "Great" Britain, with its centuries of worldwide colonialism / imperialism accompanied by unfathomable loot of others' wealth conducted across the globe doesn't have a civil aircraft industry at all - this despite it not having been subjected to a traumatic experience of the scale of the breakup of the Soviet Union, that Russia endured and came out from]. The FT pretends that Boeings and Airbuses don't crash, when it throws in completely unwarranted exaggerations such as "one of the drive’s greatest failures". The FT says "has failed to find serious buyers other than the Kremlin’s own Aeroflot, due to manufacturing and repair concerns.", but doesn't even touch the possibility of the role of malicious geopolitics in Russian aircraft getting few orders. The role of Western sanctions in negative affecting Russia's aircraft industry is not directly noted.

West is jealous of Russia's size and is desperate to break it up

West got its first victory when USSR broke up. Russia continues to be the world's largest country, the way the Soviet Union was, and this fact hurts the inflated ego of the West. They just can't accept that Russia owns a staggering ~11.5% of the world's area, and they would like to break Russia up in several smaller and weaker states.