Where is "Storok"?

From time to time, I listen to Obama - and then I think - did he really say this? Like when he promised Americans that Obamacare would cut insurance premiums by 3,000%? Or when he proclaimed that "Here is what I will say, if four Americans get killed it is not optimal..." The closest to that is JFK telling German people "I am a jelly doughnut.  Today, Obama said something similar, although not that entertaining:

And when I went to Israel as a candidate, I didn’t take donors. I didn’t attend fundraisers. I went to Yad Beshef (ph), the Holocaust museum there, to remind myself the nature of evil and why our bond with Israel will be unbreakable. And then I went down to the border towns of Storok (ph), which had experienced missiles raining down from Hamas.
 

Apparently, the wooden-tongued Obama did not visit "Yad Beshef" or the "towns of Storok". He did visit  Yad Vashem, and the town of Sderot though. One can easily see how deeply he was influenced by these two visits - although one could suspect that the memory of that visit did not stay too long.

Independent fact checking the debate: aircraft careers and submarines

During the foreign policy debate, Governor Romney's criticised Obama's policy of unilateral disarmament:

"Our Navy is smaller now than at any time since 1917," Romney said. "The Navy said they needed 313 ships to carry out their mission. We're now at under 285. ... We're headed down to the low 200s if we go through a sequestration. That's unacceptable to me."

Romney also said the U.S. Air Force is "older and smaller" than at any time since it first flew in 1947 and that the U.S. has begun to move away from its traditional stance of being able to simultaneously fight wars on two fronts."

In his response, President Obama replied:

"I think Governor Romney maybe hasn't spent enough time looking at how our military works," Obama said, beginning a sharp assault on Romney's foreign policy knowledge.

"You mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military's changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines.

Independent Fact Check of Obama's defense of his military budget strategy
While it's true that today's American military ships are more powerful than they were in 1916, it's also true of the enemies of US also upgraded their navy. What's more important, Barack Obama sounded as if submarines and aircraft carriers are a novelty which dramatically change the naval campaigns in the 21st century. In reality, according to wikipedia:

The first military submarine was Turtle in 1776, a hand-powered egg-shaped device designed by the American David Bushnell, to accommodate a single man. It was the first verified submarine capable of independent underwater operation and movement, and the first to use screws for propulsion.

What's is more amazing is that submarines were used  even during the American revolutionary war. The first all-metal submarine was built in Russia in 1834, and it was equipped with rockets. Submarines were used extensively during WW1 and WW2. First nuclear submarine sailed in 1955.

The first aircraft carriers found their service in 1914 in the Japanese navy. Aircraft carriers were used extensively during WW2.

Independent Fact Check rates Obama's defense of his cuts to the military budget as MOSTLY FALSE and MISLEADING for his attempt to present aircraft carriers and submarines as relatively new military tools, which are changing the 21st century military priorities.


 

What to talk about during the debates

This is the last debate between Romney and Obama, and it may well determine the winner of the elections. I hope that governor Romney came prepared, and here are a few very late suggestions on the issues he should raise.

1. American ambassador to Libya was dragged naked through the streets of Bengazi. It's now apparent that he did not get enough security to protect him from the Al Qaeda terrorist groups. President Obama needs to explain who in his administration is responsible for this failure to protect our ambassador. Who decided that it was sufficient to have 5 Libyan guys armed with walkie-talkies to protect our consulate in the Al Qaeda infiltrated country?

2. During his discussion with Medvedev, president Obama promised him that he will have more flexibility to deal with strongman Putin after the American elections. President Obama clearly did not want to share his agenda with America people. Why is that?

3. President Obama's national security team publicly proclaimed that Moslem Brotherhood, a terrorist Islamist group is a "mostly secular group". It's apparent that this mistaken view is one of the reasons why Obama administration backed the Moslem Brotherhood starting with 2009 speech in Cairo. Will president Obama make sure that if elected, President Obama will surround himself with more competent advisers?

4. President Obama greatly increased US involvement in the Afghan war and thousands of American troops were killed. Yet, there is no indication that there was any improvement in the situation in Afghanistan. Does Obama take personal responsibility for his failure to win in Afghanistan?

5. It's been widely reported that the day after the murder of ambassador to Libya, president Obama left Washington DC, without meeting with the security team and travelled to Las Vegas to meet his supporters. Was it necessary for president Obama to do it?