Background

I feed on youtube quite heartily; actually, overfeed on it.

Markers

Let us go over some markers.

1. Space
   • Asteroid
     • Apophis
2. Government
   • United States
     • George Bush Junior
     • Barack Obama
     • Donal Trump
     • Joe Biden
   • Israel
     • Isreal Prime Minister
       • Benjamin Netanyahu
3. Science

Quick Analysis

Space

Asteroid

Apophis

Wikipedia

Link

We will rest on Wikipedia.

Discovery & Risks Estimation

1. 2004 June 19
   • Apophis was discovered on June 19, 2004, by Roy A. Tucker, David J. Tholen, and Fabrizio Bernardi at the Kitt Peak National Observatory.
2. 2004 June 24th
   • When first discovered, the object received the provisional designation 2004 MN₄, and early news and scientific articles naturally referred to it by that name.
   • Once its orbit was sufficiently well calculated, it received the permanent number 99942
3. 2005 July 19th
   • Receiving a permanent number made it eligible for naming by its discoverers, and they chose the name “Apophis” on July 19, 2005.
   • Apophis is the Greek name of Apep, an enemy of the Ancient Egyptian sun-god Ra.
   • He is the Uncreator, an evil serpent that dwells in the eternal darkness of the Duat and tries to swallow Ra during his nightly passage.
   • Apep is held at bay by Set, the Ancient Egyptian god of storms and the desert.
4. December 2004
   • In December 2004 when initial observations indicated a probability up to 2.7% that it would hit Earth on Friday, April 13, 2029
5. March 25, 2021
   • The Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced that Apophis has no chance of impacting Earth in the next 100 years.
   • The uncertainty in the 2029 approach distance had been reduced from hundreds of kilometers to just a couple of kilometers greatly enhancing knowledge of future approaches.
   • It was removed from the Sentry Risk Table the next day.

Space Exploration Missions

Link

1. China plans an exploration fly-by mission to Apophis in 2022, several years prior to the close approach in 2029.
2. This fly-by mission to Apophis is part of an asteroid exploration mission planned after China’s Mars mission in 2022 currently in development, according to Ji Jianghui, a researcher at the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a member of the expert committee for scientific goal argumentation of deep space exploration in China.
3. The whole mission will include exploration and close study of three asteroids by sending a probe to fly side by side with Apophis for a period to conduct close observation, and land on the asteroid 1996 FG3 to conduct in situ sampling analysis on the surface.
4. The probe is also expected to conduct a fly-by of a third asteroid to be determined at a later time.
5. The whole mission would last around six years, said Ji.

 

Governance

United States ( US )

George Bush, Junior ( 2001/Jan – 2009/Jan )

1. George Bush Junior was president for 8 years; starting in January 2001 and completing in January 2009
2. Was President during the 9-11 Terrorist Attack on the Homeland
3. Foreign Intervention
   • Afghanistan
   • Iraq

Barack Obama ( 2009/Jan – 2017/Jan )

LA Times

President Obama, who hoped to sow peace, instead led the nation in war

Link

1. U.S. military forces were at war for all eight years of Obama’s tenure, the first two-term president with that distinction.
2. He launched airstrikes or military raids in at least seven countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan.
3. Obama slashed the number of U.S. troops in war zones from 150,000 to 14,000, and stopped the flow of American soldiers coming home in body bags. He also used diplomacy, not war, to defuse a tense nuclear standoff with Iran.
4. Arab Spring
   • Arab Spring uprisings roiled much of the Middle East and North Africa in 2011, leading to harsh crackdowns across the region.
   • Only one country, Tunisia, ultimately saw a transition to democracy
5. Libya
   • He reluctantly approved a NATO air campaign in Libya initially aimed at preventing massacres of civilians by strongman Moammar Kadafi.
   • The danger was clear after members of the Islamic militant group Ansar al Sharia stormed a U.S. diplomatic compound and nearby CIA base in Benghazi, in eastern Libya, in September 2012, killing U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.
   • The messy aftermath in Libya made Obama realize the limitations of military power in achieving U.S. goals, and that shaped the rest of his presidency, said Benjamin Rhodes, his deputy national security advisor.
   • “We can destroy things,” Rhodes said. “He does not believe we can shape the trajectory of the internal politics of another country or the building of a new society.”
6. Syria
   • He kept U.S. ground forces out of Syria’s bloody civil war
   • In August 2012, Obama publicly warned that President Bashar Assad would cross a “red line” if his forces used chemical weapons against rebels seeking his ouster.
   • A year later, when poison gas attacks killed hundreds in rebel-held areas of Damascus, Obama faced a decision: Make good on his implied threat and launch cruise missiles and bombers against Syria’s government and military? Or back down to keep America out of a civil war?
   • Obama initially appeared on the verge of ordering a massive attack. The Pentagon moved warships into place, readied missiles and bombers, dusted off targeting plans and waited for the go signal.
   • Then he hit the brakes.
   • On Aug. 30, Obama took a walk on the South Lawn of the White House with his chief of staff, Denis McDonough. Later they called senior aides together and Obama told them he wouldn’t bow to pressure from critics in Congress and elsewhere to get America into another Mideast war.
   • “These guys, because of the politics of the moment, are pushing me to take action that is going to have real consequences for Americans,’” Obama said, one senior staffer recalled. “He said, ‘I’m not going to do that.’”
   • The next day, Obama appeared in the Rose Garden to say he was prepared to order airstrikes but the American people deserved a vote. He asked Congress to pass a joint resolution authorizing use of force in Syria.
   • When lawmakers made clear they would reject the resolution, no vote was held — and no missiles were launched.
   • Instead, prodded by a United Nations Security Council resolution, Syria handed over 1,300 tons of chemicals and other material used to make sarin nerve gas and mustard blister agent, and the production equipment, for destruction at sea. Assad’s most toxic weapons were eliminated by August 2014.
   • James Stavridis, a retired U.S. Navy admiral who served as NATO supreme commander until 2013 and at the time was dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, said Obama’s lack of action in Syria would not be forgotten.
   • He “will be judged harshly for … failing to enforce the so-called red line in Syria against Assad’s use of chemical weapons,” he said. “And for not taking out Assad’s air force before the Russian involvement, which made it vastly more difficult to do.”
   • Obama thinks history will side with him for showing restraint. He kept America out of an unnecessary war with no clear military solution. And his cautious approach worked: Syria surrendered its lethal chemical arsenal.
   • “This wasn’t simply about being ambivalent about [sending] combat troops,” Rhodes said. “It was about making an analysis that it wasn’t going to solve the problem.”
7. Islamic State
8. Diplomatic Achievements
   • The Nuclear deal with Iran
   • The Paris agreement to fight climate change
   • The restoration of diplomatic relations with Cuba
9. Reduced Footprint
   • “It’s hard for people to remember, but when we came into office we were losing 100 people a month, spending $10 billion a month — an unsustainable allocation of resources and an incredible burden on our military,” Rhodes said.
   • Spending and casualties both have fallen sharply. The Pentagon has spent a total of $10 billion in the 30 months since it went to war against Islamic State in mid-2014, and the militants have killed only five American service members in Iraq and Syria since that time.

Donald Trump ( 2017/Jan – 2021/Jan )

1. No New Wars
   • First US President since Jimmy Carter not to start a war
2. Notable Targeted Killing
   • Iran
     • General Qasem Soleimani
       • The forbearance of Iranian leaders not to respond
       • And, escalate

Joe Biden ( 2021/Jan )

 

Summary

Covid

Unfortunately, Covid caused a lot of harm.

We are still deep into it.

Assuming it started in December 2019, we are about 19 months or so.

Understandably, there is a lot of discomfort and anxiety.

Stay Working

In as much as possible, please stay working.

Live Well

Continue to live well.

Prophetic

There is a lot been said by the prophetic crowd.

Take it all in.

Read up.

And, stay sober-minded.

This too will pass.

 

References

1. Wikipedia
   • 99942 Apophis
     Link
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT )
   • China Reveals Solar Sail Plan To Prevent Apophis Hitting Earth in 2036
     Date Published:- 2021-April-18th
     Link
3. LA Times
   • President Obama, who hoped to sow peace, instead led the nation into war
     Link