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Wednesday, April 29, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
O
P
I N I O
N
Rachel
Marsden
American Voices
Letters to the Editor…
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer’s name, address and phone
number. Letters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not neces-
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To the Editor:
In view of the letters on the roundabout I
think certain observations are necessary.
From a letter April 15 by Steve Allely:
“...if a roundabout is installed I can guar-
antee some unaware trucker is going to plow
straight through in the middle of some dark
night…” You guarantee? Truckers would be
that careless?
In the same letter “I don’t know of any
trucker or hauler who thinks this is a good
idea.” To make this statement objective, one
would have to give the names of the truck-
ers as well as the type of rig they are driving
(large pickups are not long-haul trucks).
From a letter of April 15 by Thomas Pryor:
“In New Jersey… Even a few decades
ago these circles were being decommissioned
or modified because of the high rate of acci-
dents.” This statement should be provided with
verifiable references. Same letter, “looking at
Bend’s roundabouts on the more heavily used
intersections, it is apparent that they are fail-
ing and creating long lines during busy times.”
Do you have objective information comparing
some roundabouts with some of Bend’s signal
intersections?
From a letter from Donna Holland on April
22:
“A roundabout will destroy the ambience
and quaintness of Sisters.” That is opinion and
will be hard to ascertain since the event has
not occurred. “I presented my personal survey
to ODOT and City officials of 52 businesses I
interviewed during the first week in April…”
Good for you at least that was an attempt to
quantify your opinion. If one is making such a
survey, one should reveal the structure of the
questions on the survey. Many times surveys
are not valid just because of that reason.
From a letter of April 22 by E. Paul Janssen:
“..the incidence of close calls at the
Highway 20 and Barclay Road intersection
seemed to me to be less with the temporary
traffic lights in place.” That is certainly true
but it does not address what the safety of the
See letters on page 18
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PARIS — As U.S. politi-
cal focus turns to declara-
tions of presidential can-
didacies, there needs to be
a deliberate effort to avoid
a repeat of the “Obama
adventure.”
Remember how Obama
was supposed to be some
kind of benign political
homemaker who, unlike
his predecessor, George W.
Bush, was going to wrap up
overseas military engage-
ments, bring the troops
home and focus on tidying
up the house? The so-called
“domestic” president instead
ended up being dragged
into the international arena,
armed with little more than
his preemptive Nobel Peace
Prize, and now faces the dis-
tinct possibility of ending
his tenure with the Middle
East afire and the Cold War
revived.
Presidential primary sea-
son usually means that both
Democratic and Republican
bases start evaluating their
candidates against a wish
list of largely social values.
Given the current global
climate, that’s like argu-
ing over wallpaper while a
bulldozer is revving up out-
side to demolish the entire
house. America’s domestic
security — both military
and economic — is totally
dependent on its president’s
understanding of the end-
lessly shifting global puzzle,
the effects of which trickle
down to impact every
American’s checkbook.
Take the recent exam-
ple of the Iranian nuclear
negotiations, which U.S.
President Barack Obama
seems to think he’s leading,
based on White House state-
ments. It’s a bit like watch-
ing a child “pulling” on the
handrail of an escalator,
thinking that he’s moving
all the people up to the top.
Russia has just leveraged
the pending detente between
Iran and the P5+1, agreeing
to ship Iran an $800 mil-
lion S-300 defensive mis-
sile system, whose deliv-
ery had previously been
cancelled due to Western
sanctions pressure. Russia
also has been negotiating an
arrangement with Iran for
the sale of Russian goods
to the Iranian market, com-
pensating for the hit that
Russia would take from
post-sanctions Iranian oil
coming to the global market
and potentially cutting into
Russia’s market share.
A true statesman would
read the tea leaves beyond
the Iranian nuclear deal
and pinpoint Turkey as the
next economic and political
battlefront. Here’s why that
matters.
America and Europe
are no doubt counting on
establishing an economic
foothold (that could trans-
late to political influence)
via Iran’s participation as
a gas supplier to the Trans-
Anatolian gas pipeline,
set for 2018 completion.
The pipeline would supply
gas to Europe via Turkey.
Except that this would cut
into Russia’s gas exports
to Europe. So Russia is
pushing back with the new
Turkish Stream pipeline,
running into Turkey and
Greece.
If you’re keeping score
at home, this means that if
all goes as planned, Russia
may cede leverage in
Ukraine by opting for gas
transit to Europe via Greece
instead of the traditional
Ukraine route. But Russia
would gain market share
and influence in Europe as
a result of the pivot. Turkey
gets asked to the prom by
two different pipelines —
one controlled by Russia
and the other by the West —
and feels torn, so it cries on
the phone while the offers
ramp up. And Iran ends up
getting seduced for its gas
supply by the West’s new
pipeline initiative, all while
fully understanding that
Russia has long remained
its only friend in everything
from diplomacy to nuclear
knowhow.
The outcome of this
maneuvering will determine
how much America spends
or saves — which in turn
will impact the economic
situation at home.
How many of the U.S.
presidential candidates
actually understand these
critical issues? It’s like the
computer strategy game
“Empire: Total War” on ste-
roids. Meanwhile, the presi-
dential candidates are busy
playing “Hungry Hungry
Hippos.”
© 2015 Tribune Content
Agency, LLC.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.