First off, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is quite capable of writing in English and German, and probably other languages, but the idiom used in the op-ed was American, so aides polished it.

While it is addressed to Americans and appeared in the New York Times the target audience was the rest of the world.

The content is ironic and almost sarcastic by design, and he is well aware that most American officials will miss that, no doubt claiming that it is ‘ironic’ for the President of the Russian Federation to have written it.

The Guardian has the text of the op-ed without requiring the deposit of your first-born child.

The problem for Americans is that they receive their news primarily from the US corporate news media, and have no idea what the US gets up around the world, nor how what we do internally is viewed by other countries.

Most Americans don’t understand that to extradite people from Europe we have to guarantee they won’t face the death penalty. There are a lot of things the US does that are considered barbaric by most of the rest of the world. The US is not seen as a shining beacon of hope anymore.

The sad reality is that Vladimir Putin has more credibility in the world than Barack Obama. This is payback for the cancellation of the face-to-face meeting.

CBS reports that in the center of the Florida Peninsula:

Polk County sheriff’s deputies arrested Pastor Terry Jones, 61, and his associate pastor, Marvin Sapp Jr., 44, each on a felony charge of unlawful conveyance of fuel as they travelled in a pickup truck towing a large barbecue-style grill filled with Qurans soaked in kerosene. Jones had said he was heading to a nearby park to burn 2,998 Qurans — one for every victim of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Sheriff’s officials said that Jones was also charged with unlawful open-carry of a firearm, a misdemeanor, and that Sapp faces a charge of having no valid registration for the trailer.

This clown received his notoriety for staged burnings of Qurans at his double-wide ‘cathedral’ up in Gainesville, Florida. Apparently the locals felt that his activities were affecting UF Gators football, so he has left and is now in Central Florida on the I-4 Corridor.

When I look at those charges I know that he gave a traffic cop a hard time. Polk County hasn’t voted for a Democrat for President since LBJ, so it isn’t some ‘liberal conspiracy’, it is a PO’ed police officer. Flammable liquids, as most people do not know are required to be carried in a Department of Transportation approved container when being transported on a highway. A barbecue grill does not qualify. A charge like that requires research, so the officer was not happy with Brother Jones. The other charges were thrown in just to up the bond required.

I assume that the trailer and contents were seized as evidence, that would be the procedure for a felony arrest.

Position: 19.7N 94.0W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West [270°] near 2 mph [ 4 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 35 mph [ 55 kph].
Wind Gusts: 45 mph [ 70 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1003 mb.

Currently about 145 miles [ 235 km] East-Northeast of Veracruz, Mexico.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the Gulf Coast of Mexico from Coatzacoalcos to Barra de Nautla.

This was expected and has formed in the Bay of Campeche.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 23.4N 29.7W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North-Northwest [345°] near 12 mph [19 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 80 mph [130 kph].
Wind Gusts: 95 mph [150 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 205 miles [335 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 35 miles [ 55 km].
Minimum central pressure: 984 mb ↑.

Currently about 630 miles [1015 km] Northwest of the Cape Verde Islands.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 35.1N 67.7W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North-Northeast [015°] near 10 mph [17 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 70 miles [110 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1008 mb.

Currently about 450 miles [ 720 km] South-Southeast of Nantucket, Massachusetts.

The storm has regained strength this morning.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]