Peter C. Maffitt

Europe is going through an extended disruptive economic period. Many people and institutions are greatly harmed in disruptive periods, but this is when nations are forced to develop new, efficient technologies to pull themselves out of this malaise. Europe has

David Gockley, general director of the San Francisco Opera, has commissioned an opera, “Heart of a Soldier,” on the life of the hero Rick Rescorla, the man who predicted the NY World Trade Center 9/11 attack. The director is Francesca

Let us listen closely to General Russel Honore’s warning. Lt General Russel Honore ( retired) gave the keynote speech at the 2011 NAPE luncheon in Houston, Texas. One purpose of the lunch was to raise funds for the Charitable Organizations

In Texas there is a 100 year drought. Over 3.5 million acres of Texas have burnt, which is larger than the State of Conn. There have been massive fires in Bastrop, Grimes, Waller, and Montgomery Counties. Over 2,00 homes in

For the past few months President Obama has called for massive taxes on the US oil industry and to eliminate oil industry tax breaks. It is self evident that President Obama has no idea what are the consequences of such

Crude oil production and revenue are essential elements to a stable Mexico. The Rice University James A Baker Institute for Public Policy Energy Forum has just presented a compressive study on “The Future of Oil in Mexico.” It was financed

Congressman Michael T. McCaul of Texas There is growing concern regarding the security of our US-Mexican border. In 2006 our Homeland Security Committee did a report on the issue. It is available on the web site of Congressman Michael T.

There is a potential natural disaster developing with the water deluge creating flood conditions along the Mississippi River, Ohio River, Black River, etc. Will the Mississippi River peak around May 14th and will the levies hold? In 1927 the levies

Peter Gubser has written an extraordinary book on Saladin (depicted below), the 12th century warrior-king Middle East leader who was the great Muslim opponent in the Third Crusade. Gubser died just before his exceptional book was published in late 2011.

In early April (PIT/TIP) Policia International Transfonteriza and The Transborder International Police had their 5th annual Training Conference in Houston, Texas. Few Americans have a full appreciation for the degree of Drug violence along the US Mexican border. The mission

John Hess, CEO of Hess Petroleum, sees a major future Energy Crisis. “The $140 per barrel oil price three years ago was not an aberration- it was a warning.” His talk was broken in eight parts covering: introduction, oil, natural

There is a coming Energy Crisis in the US. The key to being a successful politician or member of a government agency is to appear never to be responsible for a crisis. Is the Department of Energy responsible for the

Is the Middle East the only reason gasoline prices are rising and how much damage will they do to our economy? Gasoline and diesel prices are going up. That is a certain. The issue is how high is high and

Great events are occurring in the Muslim North African and Middle East World. There are many factors to understand what is happening and what will happen in these nations. Over the centuries regimes have risen and fallen. Change is the

In 2011 there will be a continued national debate on US Immigration policy. Should we change the 14th Amendment allowing everyone being born in the United States to become a citizen, even if the parents are illegally here or even

Land borders: Afghanistan – 585 miles Armenia – 22 miles Azerbaijan-Nakhchivan exclave – 112 miles Azerbaijan – 270 miles Iraq – 911 miles Pakistan – 568 miles Turkmenistan – 620 miles Turkey – 312 miles 2010 population: 74.5 million Ethnic

The debate for 2011 is what will happen with crude oil, heating, oil, gasoline, and natural gas prices? Will they increase or decrease? Google “Crude Oil and Natural Gas Spot Prices NYMEX” and you will get a mass of detail

On December 23, 2010, WTI crude oil moved over $90 a barrel. The 2011 question is will crude oil price increase over $100 barrel or fall back into the$70 $80 barrel range? The fact is every $1 increase in crude

Barclays Capital, the research arm of the investment bank, has just issued two reports on international oil industry. They forecast international oil Exploration and Production (E&P) in 2011 will increase 11%, to about $490 billion. The five major international oil

Events in Spain need to be watched closely. Spain is in the midst of a credit crisis, a major debt crisis. The reality is Spain has tapped the financial markets through borrowing treasury bills. Spain is paying more than a

India just announced a $9 billion nuclear power deal with France. India’s Nuclear Power Corporation (NPCIL) currently has 17 atomic plants which only produce 3% of India’s power. That will change. AREVA, the French national nuclear power company, just closed

What is not understood in Washington, and by most US citizens, is that Mexico, our closest neighbor, is our most important strategic foreign policy and economic trade nation. Mexican demographics both in Mexico and of Mexican-Americans in the US are

It has been several decades since I was a 2nd Lt. at Ft. Benning, our US Army Infantry School. My first week at Ft. Benning an old Army Sergeant gave me some sound advice. He said “son, the way to

[Editor’s Note: This article, submitted by Peter Maffitt, was written by his Army ROTC classmate Larry Gwin, who has given us permission to reprint it here. Gwin received a Silver Star for his courageous action in la Drang, November 17.]

US Marine Corps Capt Brian IGLESIAS, director, and Anton Sattler, co writer, have produced an outstanding DVD on the Nov/Dec, 1950, Chosin Reservoir battle in North Korea. Iglesias enlisted in the US Marine Corps and was promoted to Captain. He

The United States is experiencing a major population revolution, largely unrecognized by our voting public. For several years I have followed US population projections, which really are quite interesting. For example in 1987 the US Census Bureau projected that the

With all the international advances in modern medicine international staph infections and germs are still a major problem, including potential germ warfare. I was discussing the staph infection and germ problem with a friend and he said ” remember Dr.

Can Hydrogen and carbon, especially CO2, be combined inexpensively to produce Low Carbon Hydrogen Fuel (LCHF) light, medium, and heavy Synfuels? Hydrogen is the foundation of all fossil fuels and for that reason they are called hydrocarbons. Hydrogen is the

Re: The Forgotten Highlander, My Incredible Story of Survival During the War in the Far East, by Alistair Urquhart, Little Brown, 2010, library # D805 .J3 U77 2010 I just finished an extraordinary book written by a surviving former private

In early 1942 a group of Texas petroleum geologists were invited to Washington an assigned a classified study- “How to Shut Down the Nazi Industrial War Machine.” Before their deaths, three Houstonians give me a first hand view of the

October 15-18th the Fifth Plenary Session of the 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, a 300 member Committee, met to prepare for the Oct/Nov, 2012 18th Chinese Communist Party Congress and the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015). We

Not a trace of 9/11 World Trade Tower hero Rick Rescorla was recovered. Homeland Security needs to analyze his special DNA for that missing link in our anti-terror attack strategy. Men with the uncanny ability – personified by Rescorla –

The Iranian Ahmadinejad regime repeated announced goal is the destruction of the State of Israel. The goal of the State of Israel is survival. Israel feels it has the absolute right to defend itself against a potential nuclear attack. Iran

As President Hugo Chavez binds Venezuela ever tighter to every international enemy of the USA, at home he confronts high inflation, dropping oil revenue, a falling GDP, and a National Assembly election just a few weeks way. That said he

Germany was just 24 hours away from winning the “Battle of Britain” when Goering made a fatal strategic error. He shifted their bombsights from Britain’s aerodromes to London’s civilian population, galvanizing the nation into exuberant cheerleaders for the Royal Air

Crude oil is a commodity. For centuries commodities have been traded on international commodity markets. For decades the Texas Railroad Commission had monthly Proration Meetings and in essence set the price of world oil. When the US became less important

The US began supplying a Strategic Oil Reserve in 1975 which currently is the largest in the world. However, the problem is a large percentage of our reserve crude oil is Mexican Mayan high sulfur crude oil, which is difficult

The future availability of our US crude oil supply is part of the current unrecognized international economic war. The objective of this conflict is control of natural resources, especially crude oil and natural gas, technology, shipping lanes, markets, job creating

Senator Harry Reid today Wednesday, August 4th, announced he will not hold two test votes on his proposed energy and oil spill bills. The proposed 409 page bill is S.3663, otherwise known as the CLEAR (Consolidated Land, Energy & Aquatic

July 30th the House of Representatives, now on recess, passed the 225 page HR 3534 Offshore Drilling Regulation Bill and the 16 page HR 5851 Offshore Oil & Gas Worker Whistleblower Act. The Democratic Leadership headed by Congressman Ray Rahall

There is a legislative drama being played out in Washington DC this week. The Congress has a summer recess beginning after work on Friday, July 31 and returns to session Sept 14 to stay in session until October 8th. The

There are hundreds of financial indicators which give a forecast of the international economies. One Index which is often not followed, but is important is the BALTIC DRY INDEX (BDI). The BDI tracks dry bulk cargo international shipping prices. It

Sun Tzu about 500 BC wrote The Art of War. One of his main points is a nation must know its enemy thoroughly. There are several critical military issues being debated in Washington today. Should the US have a combat