Sierra Rayne

Mexico Straddles the Fence Between the West and Russia

As the United States and Canada struggle with geopolitical challenges abroad, the potential weak link in continental defense sits at the U.S. southern border. For too long has Mexico forged a political path that often acts at cross-purposes to the goals of its democratic northern neighbors. And the problems run far deeper than just Mexico's internal difficulties with the drug cartels. The nation's true allegiances remain undefined.

Christianity's Demographic Challenge in the United States

The Pew Research Center's latest report on America's religious landscape highlights the significant demographic challenges that Christianity is facing in the U.S.

RAND Expert: American Ground Forces Needed Against the Islamic State

"This article explains why US ground forces are not just a better option than the ISF [Iraqi Security Forces], but absolutely necessary for achieving US policy objectives against the Islamic State," argues David Johnson (US Army, Ret.) -- a senior historian at the RAND Corporation -- in a special commentary article from the current issue of US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters.

Poll: Only One-Third of Republicans Support Same-Sex Marriage

New polling data from the Pew Research Center shows very low levels of support for same-sex marriage among Republicans. The Pew Research Center survey, conducted May 12 to 18 among 2,002 adults, found just one-third of Republicans support same-sex marriage, in contrast to 65 percent of Democrats and Independents.

Pegida Exceeds Expectations in Dresden Mayoral Contest

The German anti-Islamification party PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West) -- founded in October 2014 over growing concerns about the increasing presence and influence of Muslims in Europe -- has received a surprisingly high 10 percent of the vote share in the Dresden mayoral election.

Poll: Majority of Americans Don't Believe Human Activity is Causing Earth to Warm

The Pew Research Center has released the results of a poll that examines the ideological divide over global warming in the United States.

Public Supports Ukraine Joining NATO, But Misunderstandings of the Alliance Clearly Exist

According to a new Pew Research Center survey, a majority of the populations of Poland, Spain, the UK, France, Canada, and the United States all support Ukraine becoming a NATO member.

Canadians Remain Deeply Skeptical About Carbon Pricing

An Angus Reid poll in late April illustrates the lack of commitment to, and deep skepticism about, carbon pricing in Canada. Only one-third of Canadians "strongly support" Canada as a whole joining or forming a cap and trade system. No region of the country has a majority of strong support. Support is weakest among the western provinces and Ontario, and lowest overall in Alberta.

Polling Data Doesn't Support the Nuclear Abolitionists

There is no greater threat to the national security of Western nations than the nuclear abolitionist movement. If you want to talk about radical extremists who live among us, the Global Zero crowd are the most radical, the most extreme, and the most dangerous. They pose a far greater civilizational threat to the West than radical Islamists, radical environmentalists, and radical anti-capitalists combined -- although many of these other categories also play a role in the anti-nuclear weapons movements. And yes, Ronald Reagan's crazy talk about seeking a world without nuclear weapons was dangerous, naive fantasy land dreaming, assuming he actually believed what he was saying.

Report: Risks to Navy from Ships Assigned to Overseas Homeports

A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) raises concerns over long-term risks to U.S. Navy ships assigned to overseas homeports. The study found that "casualty reports -- incidents of degraded or out-of-service equipment -- have doubled over the past 5 years and that the material condition of overseas-homeported ships has decreased slightly faster than that of U.S.-homeported ships."

British Columbia's Carbon Tax Induced Economic Troubles Continue

While liberal economists try to convince us that British Columbia's carbon tax -- brought in on July 1, 2008 -- hasn't harmed its economy, the evidence continues to pile up against proponents of this tax. The latest release of Statistics Canada's labour force survey shows the problems this province's economy has been having since the carbon tax implementation.

The GOP Can Rage Against the Dying of the Light

At Politico, Daniel McGraw has an interesting article on how “The GOP Is Dying Off. Literally”:

It turns out that one of the Grand Old Party’s biggest -- and least discussed -- challenges going into 2016 is lying in plain sight, written right into the party’s own nickname. The Republican Party voter is old -- and getting older, and as the adage goes, there are two certainties in life: Death and taxes. Right now, both are enemies of the GOP and they might want to worry more about the former than the latter..

GAO and IG Reports: Significant Problems With TSA’s Airport Security

In testimony presented Wednesday to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Inspector General (IG) in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) presented reports highly critical of the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) approach towards airport security -- an administration with a $7 billion budget and 61,000 TSA personnel, including 46,000 screeners.

Freedom House: Democracy Discarded, Return to the Iron Fist

After the Cold War ended, much promise was held out that the world would rapidly democratize -- particularly states with notoriously poor human rights records such as China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba. Alas, these were utopian dreams. We were told that transferring large amounts of wealth and technology to authoritarian regimes would make them richer and free -- only the former took place. We educated their leaders, often at our taxpayers' expense, with the promise that these Western educated leaders would usher in a new era of freedom in their home countries. This, too, failed to come to pass. What we often saw was our transferred knowledge being used against us, and to repress other peoples.

Former Pentagon Official: U.S. Subsidizing Russia’s Nuclear Weapons Buildup

In an interview with Bill Gertz of the Washington Free Beacon, former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Eric Edelman revealed that the United States is, in effect, subsidizing Russia’s increasing nuclear weapons capacity -- weapons that could be used against the U.S. in any major war with the West Gertz’s report describes how the “Energy Department plans to spend more than $60 million in Russia for nuclear security activities at the same time U.S. and European Union sanctions are punishing Moscow for aggression against Ukraine.”

Report: Guilty Knowledge on the Vulnerability of the Electric Grid

A report by the Center for Security Policy (CSP) paints a dire picture regarding the vulnerability of the U.S. (and by extension -- Canadian) electricity grids from man-made or natural electromagnetic disturbances. The CSP and others in the national security sector have been beating this drum for a number of years, but unfortunately all too little is being done about the risks. William Forstchen even wrote a compelling must-read novel on this topic -- One Second After -- back in 2009. In 2004, the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack also released a report which reached the following conclusions:

Lexington Institute: F-35 Critics Need to Calm Down

As the F-35 fighter program continues to make successful progress, critics of the joint strike fighter procurement are unrelenting in their attacks. In a recent commentary, Dr. Daniel Goure -- a Vice President with the Lexington Institute, a nonprofit public-policy research organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia -- takes issue with the hysteria and injects some realism and balanced perspective back into the debate:

Report: Potential Impacts of Second Circuit's Ruling Against NSA Bulk Collection

Following last Thursday's federal appeals court decision, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) has issued a legal sidebar on the possible impacts of this Second Circuit ruling against bulk collection on USA PATRIOT Act reauthorization:

On May 7, 2015, a federal appeals court issued a decision in American Civil Liberties Union v. Clapper that could have significant implications for both the telephone metadata collection program operated by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the legislative debate surrounding consideration of the USA FREEDOM Act of 2015 (H.R. 2048 S. 1123) currently taking place in the House and the Senate. While the ruling did not reach the question of whether the collection itself was a violation of the Fourth Amendment, the court did reject the government's use of Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 (as amended) to effectuate the bulk collection of telephone records by the NSA.

ONI Report Highlights Rapidly Growing Chinese Navy

A new report by the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) sheds further light on China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLA(N)). According to the authors, China's naval ambitions extend towards a global presence -- thereby seeking to place it alongside the U.S. Navy as the only other nation with a worldwide seaborne military reach:

Since our last publication in 2009, the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLA(N)) has made significant strides in operationalizing as well as modernizing its force. Although the PLA(N)'s primary focus remains in the East Asia region, where China faces multiple disputes over the sovereignty of various maritime features and associated maritime rights, in recent years, the PLA(N) has increased its focus on developing blue-water naval capabilities. Over the long term, Beijing aspires to sustain naval missions far from China's shores.

Report: Major Problems with U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program

A report by the Center for Security Policy (CSP) has uncovered major problems within the Refugee Resettlement Program (RRP). The foreword by Frank Gaffney describes the source of the concerns: