Embassies closed in Yemen

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fgw-yemen-embassy4-2009jan04,0,1270665.story

The United States counter terror official, John Brennan says that they "won't take any chances with the lives of American diplomats and others at the embassy". After the recent threats from Al Qaeda that were responsible for the recent Christmas day airline bombing attempt, the United States and the United Kingdom have withdrawn their diplomatic outposts in Yemen. John Brennan has said that "there will be an ongoing threat until Yemen's government gets a better handle on terrorism." He also said that "the United States isn't opening a new front in Yemen against terrorism." His estimate is that there are seven hundred members of Al Qaeda in Yemen. Last week the United States General, David Petraeus visited Yemen to pledge to give their government advanced support in the defeat against Al Qaeda. However, Yemen officials seemed to bypass the help.

In my opinion, closing the embassies and announcing the decision to the world is the most brainless thing that could be done. The United States is at war with Al Qaeda and those announcements and actions are being sought out by terrorists. The United States should not be so upfront in regard to their enemies.

Should Politicians Use Social Networking Sites?

http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/newdelhi/Tharoor-ticked-off-for-visa-tweet/Article1-491604.aspx

The Indian External Affairs Junior Minister, Shashi Tharoor was harshly criticized for publicizing his concerns of the Indian government policy over twitter. The External Affairs Minister, S.M Krishna said "The government will go by the home ministry's guidelines and stressed differences over issues should not be discussed in public". Mr. Tharoor's tweets are directly referred to an edict of the Home Ministry. The Edict is that "foreign nationals with long-term multi-entry tourist visa must have mandatory two-month gap between two visits." The law was brought about following allegations that David Headley, accused of involvement with terrorism traveled to India on a tourist visa. Mr. Tharoor tweets clearly indicated his differences on government policy. He enquired whether the new policy would aid the security of the country. He pointed out that the "26/11 killers had no visas."

Here are some opinions:

"Goes on to show how ridiculous our politicians are. God forbid somebody shows up their incompetence in public forum. Everything needs to be sorted out in private where nobody sees how f**** incompetent these guys are to run a country." - Sagar

"Mr Tharoor is guilty for having a so called disagreement with the chance in the visa norms. As he is the most followed "twitter" politician, he should be aware of the possible reactions of his tweets. Even though he may be correct, he should find a better platform to discuss his concerns. Dear Mr Tharoor, request you to please keep it-weet to yourself." - Kartik Upadhyaya

So should politicians refrain from expressing their opinions and concerns in the public eye?

Failed Christmas day Bombing

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/obama-briefed-on-plane-reports/?scp=1&sq=briefed%20obama&st=Search

President Obama was recently informed while on vacation of what went wrong in the acuity and the security process that permitted a Nigerian man with cognized terrorist views to board a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit with explosives in his underwear on Christmas day. On Tuesday President Obama said that the incident had been a "systemic failure", saying that it was "totally unacceptable". In a written statement President Obama said that he would meet with agency directors next week "to discuss our ongoing reviews as well as security enhancements and intelligence-sharing improvements in our homeland security and counterterrorism operations."

In my opinion, securing the United States is beyond the bounds of possibility. The United States is too big, too diverse, and too economically depressed in order to be completely secure. They will have to access the core of their problems. - Their past and current international policies. It must be known that we share the world with our assailants. The United States must attain the same accountability for that basic relationship that they are asking their assailants to take.