Dedicate DMV service to kupuna all day
At the DMV, kupuna and anyone with health issues should have priority in going in to register their vehicle(s) during business (County of Kaua‘i/ state) working hours on the weekdays.
Reason is that these people mentioned cannot stand for a long time, and the one hour at the time of the day makes it hard for them to have to drive during peak hour. School students, school buses and workers are on the road at the same time.
There also should be a special DMV worker available to wait on them (kupuna and medical-health-issue personnel) at an open window.
It’s my understanding that we don’t have what’s mentioned above is because people are complaining that it is discrimination for others (healthy, middle-age or younger) to be standing and waiting in a long line.
However, before COVID-19, we all (including those mentioned above) had to pick a number and stand in line. No matter how long the line was.
Nowadays, since COVID-19, it’s even more inconvenient to get your vehicle registered. One has to make an appointment. Why? Because there are complainers who spoil it for everyone!
Remember that someday you’ll get old or may have some health issue(s), too!
Open up a window for the kupuna and health-issue(s) personnel to register their vehicle(s) any time during business hours weekly.
Also, get rid of the appointments and let’s pick a number and wait in line.
Howard Tolbe, ‘Ele‘ele
A no-fly zone brings World War III
I have an urgent need to address the no-fly-zone issue. Ukrainian President Volodomir Zelenskyy made a heart-rending plea to Congress on March 16, asking for humanitarian help. He compared the attack on civilians in Ukraine to the surprise Pearl Harbor attack and the 9/11 attack on New York City.
His urgency is understandable. The Ukrainians have been fighting Russian separatists and military in the Donbas and Crimea regions of his country since 2014. The war has killed thousands and forced at least 1.4 million people to flee from eastern Ukraine to western Ukraine over the years.
A no-fly zone will lead to war with Russia. Militarily, a no-fly zone will be ineffective in Ukraine, unlike the role it played in Afghanistan where there was no air opposition. Let me explain.
There are two ways to have a no-fly-zone defense using modern technology and rockets. The first is ground-based defense. But air war is no longer like two knights jousting in the sky. Rocket-carrying aircraft do not fight face-to-face. A Ukraine SU 27 twin-engine, Russian-made, jet fighter flying over Kyiv was shot down by a Russian mobile surface-to-air S-400 missile fired from 150 nautical miles away in Russian territory.
America first experienced rocket warfare in Desert Storm, the war against Saddam Hussein. Mobile trucks in Iraq loaded with Scud missiles attacked Israel, Saudi Arabia and U.S. targets. We responded with our Patriot missiles with mixed success. We did not stop the Scuds nor find the missile trucks.
Here on Kaua‘i, the U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands is America’s (and the world’s) largest missile station that can track and knock out projectiles in both air and underwater. Duplication of it is unlikely to be considered for Ukraine.
If we commit air assets from NATO/U.S., how effective can they be? In World War II the Germans fired V-2 rockets onto London. They were virtually impossible to defend against and shoot down. You can argue we have more-sophisticated technology, but so do the Russians. The key problem is: If you want to stop missiles you must find the launching sites, which may be mobile, in Russia. Allied aircraft must enter Russian airspace and risk being shot down, starting World War III.
Let’s discuss Russian military doctrine. The U.S. uses the combined-arms approach: tanks, infantry, artillery, tactical air, all working together on the military objective. In WWII, Russians learned that artillery/rockets are the keys to victory.
Russian military doctrine is to use bombardment by artillery and rockets, including long-range rockets from Russian soil. Tanks and infantry act in support. Airpower is not needed. Siege warfare fits ideally into Russian military doctrine. You may recall war movies and catapults hurling rocks into a city under siege.
I had intended to write an article on diplomacy and war, but shifted to this one because I want to stop WWIII from occurring. PMRF on Kaua‘i is a primary target. For those insisting it be closed for that reason, we would become even more vulnerable.
We must have the courage to overcome our natural instincts to rush to help. We have to realize Eastern European people have been fighting each other for years. We cannot get into their fight. Instead, diplomacy must proceed. Siege warfare is heart-rending. Zelenskyy must get to the bargaining table and settle without direct NATO and/or U.S. direct military help.
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William J. Fernandez is a retired judge and Kapa‘a resident.
