For all of our StarProg players.  For some unknown reason, perhaps a server interruption, our October Pop Trivia and News Predictions did not get posted.  They have now been updated and are on the web site and application.  Team StarProg

U.S. Response to Murder of Jamal Khashoggi

The murder of U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian columnist hired by the Washington Post, who was apparently killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, has set off a firestorm of incriminating accusations and demands of withdrawal of support for the Saudi government.  Evidence from the government has been coming out in drips and dabs with successive accounts awkwardly contradicting previous accounts.  Critics have been focusing on Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), for at least alleged conspiracy if not orchestration in the plot and demanding sanctions and the cancellation of proposed Saudi weapons purchases, particularly from the U.S.  MBS, at age 33, has been considered a cultural and political reformer for the country in defiance of the repressive sentiment of the institutionalized Islamic clerical establishment.

In any regional foreign policy assessment, the existential forces within the region are measured against U.S. strategic interests.  Until there is actual conflict, the overriding objective must be the maintenance of the balance of power in a region.  With recognition that Iran, Israel and Saudi Arabia are the chief protagonists in the Middle East, their military capabilities and alliances are highly factored into these assessments and form the basis of U.S. military sales in the region.  We want our friends in the area to not only defend themselves, but with U.S. assistance to also possess a military force strong enough that it will act as a deterrent to attack.   

Israel has unquestionably been America’s strongest ally in the highly strategic Middle East while also the object of hostility by its neighbors, chiefly Iran.  With its superior conventional military force and its victories in previous wars, perpetuated against it since its inception, there has been hesitance in recent years on the part of its neighbors to attack it despite the vulnerability of its small size and being geographically pinned against the Mediterranean Sea on the west.  If there should be a question of Israel’s survival, its greatest deterrent is what is framed as an “ambiguous” nuclear capability.

Iran is considered by the U.S. and other countries and entities as the “world’s major exporter of terrorism”.  It has consistently called for the destruction of Israel and “death to America”.  Through direct support of the terrorist groups; Hezbollah in Syria and Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the Houthi who are revolting in Yemen, Iran has fomented major instability throughout the region.  Until the signing of the Iran Nuclear Agreement, Iran had aggressively been pursuing a nuclear ballistic missile capability and has recently reinitiated intermediate range ballistic missile testing in contradiction of the spirit of the agreement.  With the release of the $150 billion of sanctuary funds to Iran, included as part of the agreement, it is aggressively modernizing its military including, its surface to surface missile systems and its surface to air missile systems with the purchase of the ultra-sophisticated S-400 missile system from Russia.  Iran has also been complicit in acquiring the advanced S-300 system for Syria. 

The civil war in Syria, instituted in opposition to the tyrannical, Bashir Assad regime, originated in 2011 with the consequences to date of approximately 600,000 deaths and 6 million Syrian refugees.  The atrocities committed by Assad’s military against the opposition has included devastating barrel bombing and the use of chemical weapons that have targeted civilians as well as opposition forces.  In addition to Iranian and neighboring Lebanon-based Hezbollah military support, under siege by the Islamic State, the al-Qaeda affiliated al-Nusra Front and the Free Syrian Army, Assad requested and secured direct Russian support in his efforts to keep his government in power.  Militarily since 2015, Russia operates in full coordination with the Syrian military in vanquishing any resistance forces to the government.  This has included the establishment of a Russian air base in Syria from which the Russian Air Force has conducted thousands of offensive combat strike missions using a variety of different types of bombs.  Human rights activists have accused Russia of being indiscriminate in its bombing campaigns which have allegedly killed thousands of civilians, and destroyed not only opposition military facilities, but also homes, schools and hospitals.  Russia has declared its presence in Syria to be a permanent situation.                         

In addition to Russia and Syria; Iran, Turkey, Jordan, Israel and the U.S. all conduct air combat missions from time to time within Syrian airspace, dependent upon the perceived threat scenario each entity perceives to its own security interests.  What also must be factored into the power balance equation are the relationships that China and North Korea share with Iran.  Although China and Iran represent ideologically opposed regimes they have found economic areas of mutual benefit in trade that allows each to support the other on global and regional political issues.  Iran provides a reliable source of oil and natural gas energy to Iran and China in trade is a source for considerable consumer products to Iran. North Korea has shared nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technology with Iran for some years prior to the Iran Nuclear Agreement.                                                                                                                                                     It is against this Middle East backdrop that the Saudi Arabia government judges its own security interests, perceiving Iran’s expanding influence in the region and in particular within its unstable bordering neighbor, Yemen, as a direct threat to its own influence and security in the region.  In this context, the Royal Saudi government has consolidated its ties to other Arab countries, moved closer to the U.S. and moderated its harsh stance against Israeli existence. That does not hold true, however, for many of the Tribal Sheiks of whom there are an estimated 7,000, and who share in the oil and other revenues generated by the country. These sheiks and their followers continue to maintain resistance to change with their harsh anti-western rhetoric and flagrantly provoke and finance disruption, often in the form of terrorist actions, wherever and whenever an issue fits their agenda and without regard for the Royal Saudi Government or the sovereignty of other nations.  They tend to work autonomously and either individually or collaboratively with other tribal entities and not necessarily confined within their own country.

Given his quest for reform and modernization, it would seem highly unlikely that Prince MBS nor King Salman would be involved, either directly or indirectly, with the plot to murder, Jamal Khashoggi.  Both, as well as the remainder of the royal family, have been put in a precarious predicament, perhaps intentionally so by the perpetrators, and face a serious dilemma due to the seriousness of the incident as to how they will extradite themselves from direct responsibility.  They have to expect that they, in at least some way, will be held accountable. 

Partnered by historical circumstance through what might be considered the “shadow government” of the Tribal Sheiks, the Royal Saudi government operates under an accommodation with the Sheiks in which they are the formal representation of Saudi Arabia, while the tribal entities, who receive apportioned shares of the country’s revenues, have at least semi-autonomous authority in their respective regions.  This arrangement presents a tenuous relationship and constant threat of an uprising that could overthrow the Royal Saudi government.  Any such rebellion could expand to other similarly governed countries in the region and would create massive chaos in the Middle East.  Not only would there be serious disruption in the oil markets, but the event would trigger a serious tipping in the balance of power in the Mediterranean region favorable to Iran, Russia and China, and most likely would accentuate what currently is the leaning towards a bi-polar reformation of the Cold War.         

As the only NATO-member country in that region, buttressed up against that potentially formidable opposition and with a sense of increased vulnerability, Turkey could be expected to demand additional major military support from within NATO as would Israel from the U.S since both would consider their deterrent military capabilities compromised.  How Egypt would react is another question.

The diplomatic measures the U.S. must undertake in this very indelicate situation must be carefully plotted to avoid the potentially unintended consequences of undermining the representative government of Saudi Arabia while they take actions to investigate and prosecute all of those involved in the plot.  The U.S. can offer law enforcement and intelligence support to the Royal Saudi government to help identify with specificity those who committed this egregious crime.  Opinionated conjectures attempting to connect Prince MBS to the crime derived from a Turkish audio recording but devoid of any other physical evidence of the actual strangulation death of Khashoggi, are not only irresponsible but extremely harmful to the overarching security considerations that must be accounted for.                                                

Going forward, significant U.S. intelligence resources need to be committed to identify the tentacles of the Imams and Tribal Sheiks who are involved in global corporate corruption and terrorism.  The effort would be greatly enhanced if it included the cooperation of our global partners in such a mega endeavor, however realistically, special interest relationships will attempt at every level to impede any concerted effort to expose the root elements of these criminal enterprises.

This post was authored by Major General (Ret.) David E.B. (DEB) Ward, founder and CEO of StarProg, and reflect his views and do not represent the views of the United States Air Force, the Air National Guard or StarProg LLC.

The General served 36 plus years in the United States Air Force and the Air National Guard.  His assignments included a tour in South Korea (1966-1967) as a Forward Air Controller,  Commander of an F-15 ANG Fighter Group (1987-1989), State Commander of the Oregon ANG (1989-1993), and as the Air National Guard Special Assistant to the Commander, U.S. Air Forces, Europe (1993-1996).  He is a graduate of the USAF Air War College.  

At the conclusion of the Korean Peninsula denuclearization summit between President Trump and North Korean Chairman, Kim Jong Un, all of the prominent media outlets presented a host of experts who provided their opinions on the significance every known aspect of the meeting.  For the most part, the commentary of many of the presenters demonstrated a one-dimensional political bias rather than a strategical understanding of the social-political situation that exists in North Korea today.  Without an understanding of the historical background of the autocratic Kim dynasty and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) regime, any assessment of the potential for the success of denuclearization or the extent of a transformational government and society should be dismissed due to the exceptional complexity of the forces involved.

North Korean History

Geographically, the Korean Peninsula sits in a highly strategic position in Northeast Asia with China to its north and west, Russia to its north and east and the Japan Archipelago stretching from its northeast to its south.  It is accessible from the Sea of Japan on its eastern shoreline, the Yellow Sea on its western shoreline and the East China Sea located to the south. 

In Korea's history, the expansionist policies of its neighbors have intervened in ways designed to adversely affect its sovereignty as a nation and the integrity of its traditions and culture.  There were also religious components introduced into the culture from both eastern and western influences including Christianity, Buddhism and Confucianism.                                          

In victory, following the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905, Japan successfully plotted to assert itself as the Protectorate of Korea and essentially colonized the country.  It was an annexation that existed until the end of World War II, wherein the Japanese developed factories and extensive infrastructure on the Peninsula, but their ruling governance was exceptionally brutal and oppressive.  In reaction to the Japanese occupation and the strong desire for independence, various rebellious movements and frequent demonstrations and armed conflicts occurred between the Koreans and the Japanese military and government agencies.                                      

In the 1930s a Korean guerilla resistance group formed in Manchuria.  The group was supported by the Soviet Union which provided training, weapons and Communist Party indoctrination.  Among the group's members was a standout student who adopted the name, Kim il Sung.  This Kim would become instrumental in forming a dynasty of Kim dictatorial leaders that rule North Korea to this day.   He is recognized in perpetuity as North Korea’s “Leader for Life”.

Just prior to Japan surrendering to the allies, by prior diplomatic arrangement with the allies, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan.  It was agreed that Korea would be temporarily divided and separated roughly along the 38^th parallel prior to a reunification program.  The Soviet Union would take control of the North and the United States the area to the South.  In 1948 when it came time for reunification, the Soviet Union scuttled the deal and maneuvered Kim il Sung into the position of Premier of North Korea.

In 1950, with the support of the Soviet Union, Kim il Sung decided to forcibly reunify Korea under North Korean control.  The North invaded the South which in turn drew in United Nations military forces, headed up by the United States military, in the effort to defend South Korea.  When the North began to suffer heavy losses, China came to the aid of the North Koreans who might have otherwise faced defeat.                                                                                                      

The Korean War came to an end in July 1953 with an Armistice Agreement between the warring parties that established the Demilitarized Zone, a cease fire and the repatriation of POWs.  A peaceful settlement that was supposed to follow has never taken place, therefore leaving the parties still technically at war. 

The Kim Dynasty Model of Government

North Korea has been ruled by the Kim Dynasty since its inception, the country controlled by what has been described as a "Cult of Personality".  The late Kim il Sung, as the first Premier, considered the founder of North Korea, formed the new country into a repressive, Soviet-style totalitarian state.  In 1994, he was succeeded in death by his son, Kim Jong-il.  When Kim Jong-il died in 2011, his son, Kim Jong Un became the head of State and ruler of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) regime.

Three specific Korean government terms define much of the political philosophy by which the DPRK governs. 

 Juche  (self-reliance):  Due to their historical experiences with outside forces and influencers on Korea's culture and security, under the leadership of Kim Il Sung, North Korea would internalize and rely to the maximum extent possible upon its own resources and talent to establish their national objectives.  That expressed objective earned the country the nickname of "the Hermit Kingdom".  This distrust has prompted the regime to primarily manifest its goals into military forces and weapons capabilities.  Surprisingly, despite their isolationist policies, North Korea has developed an advanced ballistic missile and nuclear weapons capability that the successive Kim regimes have progressively leveraged into a formidable defensive war-deterrent position.  In this highly secretive environment, the advances in these areas have confounded Western intelligence organizations whose intelligence estimates appear to be consistently lagging North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear explosive demonstrations.  The growth of these weapons developments accelerated dramatically under Kim Jong Un's regime such that many intelligence estimates now project that he has or nearly has the capability to put the entire United States, East Asia and Western Europe under threat of a ballistic missile nuclear attack.                                                                                                 

Songun (military first):  Obsessed with their national security, the Kim regimes have made the military their top priority in terms of resourcing and granting political favors.  The estimates for North Korean military spending range from approximately 15% to 22% of GDP.  With a policy of universal conscription, it has a force of approximately 1.2 million active and 7.7 million reserve military personnel out of a total population of 25.3 million.  The Demilitarized Zone constitutes a narrow area of 160 miles in length and 2.5 miles width which separates North and South Korea.  Sixty percent of North Korea's active troops are positioned along this line.                              

The Kim regimes have primarily focused on advancing their strategic weapons capabilities, I.e. ballistic missiles, submarine launched missiles and nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.  Their conventional tactical weapons, however are antiquated in comparison to the technically more modern warfare capabilities possessed by their perceived adversaries.

A particular concern that must be taken into consideration is the advancement that North Korea is making in their own cyber operations and their potential for launching cyber-attacks and counterattacks to a perceived threat.  Many North Korean scientists and technology engineers have been elevated into superior elite statuses and have been incorporated into the regime's military structure and promoted with commensurate military ranks.

 Songbun (Caste system classification of the populace):  The population of North Korea is racially homogeneous, but during the Kim il Sung regime every citizen was placed into one of three major groups and 51 subcategory political and social classes.  The system fundamentally created a hereditary caste system based upon the regime's often conjured sense of historical social inequities which were incurred during the Japanese occupation.  An individual's perceived loyalty and commitment to the government's stated socialistic ideals also played a role in a person's status classification.  The system continues today.

At birth and through heredity, all North Koreans are classified as loyal or committed, approximately 25% of the population; wavering, approximately 50% of the population; or hostile, the remaining 25%.  In all aspects of a person’s life they face discrimination based upon this classification in terms of food distribution, housing, residential location, employment, education, etc.                                                                                                                                       

Despite its relative small size, geographically within North Korea itself there is segregation of the classes with most of the elite class located in the capital city area of Pyongyang.  These elites have much better access to government positions, higher paying jobs and education.                                                                                                                                                                           

Those at the peasant level in the hostile class are relegated to living in remote regions of the country and are pretty much left to themselves to fend for food access and daily survival.  This has led to wide-spread disease, malnutrition and starvation even among North Korea's military forces.  In turn, this level of the society subsists on massive corruption in terms of graft, extortion and other crimes associated with destitution.                                                                                                                        

The Effect of United Nations Sanctions on North Korea

In an effort to curb the nuclear adventurism and ambitions, The United Nations 1718 Committee on economic sanctions levied the harshest sanctions to date against North Korea.  These sanctions are presumably having an effect on the ability of the regime to maintain stringent Songbun control.  With the increasing need for the government to reach out for goods and services beyond its borders and to utilize money as a means of operating its system of granting favors to its favored class, the country may be slowly evolving into a more susceptible and increasingly permeable social structure.                                                                                                                                                    

Radio Free Asia reported in October 2017 that beginning in March, young family members of elite class families began to migrate into the cities of Dandong and Shenyang in northeast China in a region not far above the North Korean border.  These new residents appeared to range in age from teens to in their 30s.  Despite the imposed sanctions, they were reported to be renting high rise condominiums and apartments in upscale neighborhoods and making cash purchases of luxury goods.  

Meanwhile, with the advent of the U.N. 1718 sanctions, Radio Free Asia learned from a North Korean executive that the food distribution channel employed in the country for its elites, including factory workers, is being stressed to the point of near collapse.  The system distributes food stipends in the form of food stamps as a partial payment for their work and services.  As a result of the sanctions, several North Korean factories have been forced to close resulting in the workers being denied their food stamps.  Those elites who hold social services and administrative positions are also being stripped of their food stamps while technical educators in the science fields, the ranking military and the judiciary continue to receive their food stipend.  The situation is fostering an expanding internal resentment between the caste classes, even amongst the elites.

Since the end of the Korean War there have been approximately 31,000 defectors from North Korea, mostly across the Chinese border, of whom 70% were women.  In the 2014 to 2016 period, that percentage has risen to 85%.  Many of these women end up in the international sex industry or become married to Chinese men where the "one child" China policy created a huge deficit of marriage eligible females.  In North Korea the social status of women is significantly lower than that of men which deprives them of education and positions in the state-run businesses and government.  Consequently, they have become integral to the informal or "black" market which is becoming more important to the numerous Koreans increasingly suffering hunger and even starvation.  Thus far their diminished status has kept most of the market activity of these North Korean women "under the radar" to the Kim Jong Un regime. 

A recent news report surmised that the dedicated funds for Kim Jong UN's ambitious weapons testing program may be nearing depletion and that that could be the underlying rationale for his latest rapprochement with South Korea.  The article suggested that North Korea's successful effort at inclusion in the February 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea provided a source of funds replenishment even though the country remains under U.N. Sanctions. 

The overarching structure that has held the Kim regime government and North Korean society together, is described as the "Cult of Personality" in which each of the Kim leaders has been culturally exalted and deified throughout the populace.  Perpetual propaganda campaigns, political prisons and reeducation camps are designed to serve as constant reminders of the power Kim Jong Un as the DPRK attempts to maintain a hold over all aspects of the daily lives of the North Korean people.

It should be apparent from North Korea’s history and the current political and-social conditions which exist in the country, that the denuclearization process and the prospects of a radical transformation will be exceptionally complicated for both parties. The challenge will be even more so for Kim Jong Un who must open the “Hermit Kingdom” up for weapons inspections, liberate an oppressed population, defend his regime from the international criminal justice system for gross human rights abuses and risk a military coup from disgruntled senior military officers who might consider their own futures at extreme risk in a cultural reformation.  We’ve only seen the opening curtain for what is certain to become a huge global drama.  The finale has yet to be written.

This post was authored by Major General (Ret.) David E.B. (DEB) Ward, founder and CEO of StarProg, and reflect his views and do not represent the views of the United States Air Force, the Air National Guard or StarProg LLC.

The General served 36 plus years in the United States Air Force and the Air National Guard.  His assignments included a tour in South Korea (1966-1967) as a Forward Air Controller,  Commander of an F-15 ANG Fighter Group (1987-1989), State Commander of the Oregon ANG (1989-1993), and as the Air National Guard Special Assistant to the Commander, U.S. Air Forces, Europe (1993-1996).  He is a graduate of the USAF Air War College.  

Where is the demand for a Second Special Counsel?

After a public revelation that the FBI had used a confidential informant to collect information to be used in the Robert Mueller Special Counsel investigation to gather evidence in possible collusion and obstruction of justice between the2016 presidential campaign of President Donald Trump and Russia.  There was an immediate reaction from conservative Republicans that the government was spying on a private U.S. citizen in a high profile investigation where there had been no indication that a crime had been committed and that no evidence to date to warrant such an intrusion.                                                

Many conservative media reporters and political pundits immediately began to call for a second Special Counsel to look into the conduct of the Hillary Clinton FBI investigation led by fired FBI Director, James Comey and at the time being scrutinized by the Justice Department Inspector General, Michael Horowitz.  Moderates, including some prominent Democrats, voiced concern about rushing to judgement, and suggested that further action should wait until the results of the Horowitz IG were published.

On June 12, the IG report was publicly released and was immediately pounced upon by TV reporters and political pundits.  The editorial commentary that ensued, from all sides, did little to change or lessen the divide of public opinion.  The tenor of the report bore semblance to the Comey report on the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation, in that after factually listing the inflammatory text message exchanges between lead investigator on both the Clinton and Trump investigations, Peter Strzok and his lover former FBI attorney, Lisa Page as well as more texts by other FBI agents directed against President Trump and those citizens who supported and voted for him, Mr. Horowitz’s report found no evidence that political bias influenced key investigative decision-making.

In the charged atmosphere that the IG report created, many Republican lawmakers and supporters of President Trump claimed that the report validates the claim that the Mueller investigation is a “witch hunt” that should be terminated, while the Democrats say it supports no such position.  There were a few calls for the Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, to appoint a federal prosecutor to reinvestigate the Hillary Clinton email issues and the Clinton Foundation, but the question of the appointment of a second special counsel was muted if not silent.   What happened?      

StarProg Blog:  North Korea-US. Talks on Korean Peninsula Denuclearization.

The political events surrounding the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, which are still evolving, might appear as the beginning of the end to the rancorous relationship between North Korea and its adversaries, especially the United States, Japan and South Korea.

Through intense diplomatic efforts, headed by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, President, Donald Trump, had a summit meeting on June 12 in Singapore with North Korean Party Chairman Kim Jung Un in what hopefully will be the first step in a bid to achieve “denuclearization” of the Korean peninsula and a possible end to the official stance of a continuing war between the parties.

After the devastating effects of the nuclear bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended World War II, nuclear weapons have become political weapons rather than military weapons when held in the control of responsible government leaders.  In that aspect they have become weapons of deterrence since it is assumed that any nation that crossed the nuclear threshold and launched a nuclear attack against an adversary would face nuclear retribution and suicidal annihilation.  North Korea has leveraged that capability to the maximum.

Media and political expectations on the results of the  summit range all over the map and almost all fail to take into account the political-social structure of North Korean history wrapped in the last seven decades of autocratic and tyrannical rule by the Kim family dynasty.  To evolve into the neo-enlightened leader that the transformational optimists believe that Kim Jong Un will become, he will have to denounce the legacy of both his grandfather, Kim Il Sung and his father Kim Jong-il as well as his own actions since taking the reins of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) government.  He will, in the course of that momentous challenge, have to completely reorganize or dismantle almost every agency of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).  In so doing, he will have to dramatically orchestrate entirely new objectives and a new future for North Korea.   (More to follow in additional blogs on North Korea after the Summit)

This post was authored by Major General (Ret.) David E.B. (DEB) Ward, founder and CEO of StarProg, and reflect his views and do not represent the views of the United States Air Force, the Air National Guard or StarProg LLC.

The General served 36 plus years in the United States Air Force and the Air National Guard.  His assignments included a tour in South Korea (1966-1967) as a Forward Air Controller,  Commander of an F-15 ANG Fighter Group (1987-1989), State Commander of the Oregon ANG (1989-1993), and as the Air National Guard Special Assistant to the Commander, U.S. Air Forces, Europe (1993-1996).  He is a graduate of the USAF Air War College.  

StarProg is running a Beta Test of the NASCAR Pennzoil 400 race in Las Vegas at 12:30 pm PT/ 3:30 pm ET.  The event should be available on both IOS and Android devices including mobile.  We invite you to join and make comments. 

ATTention!!  StarProg members, the NASCAR Coke Zero 400 Race at Daytona​ is being Beta tested live.  Feel free to log on and comment.  Test will only run during the first part of the race.  Final results will be posted after the race.  Point scores are for entertainment purposes only.   

We will soon be revamping our StarProg Blog pages into categorical links that will consist of the following:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

       Our StarProg messages and your comments about the functionality and features of the web site.

       Our News Information Blogs where we editorialize concerning stories in the news and you have the opportuinty to comment.

       Your opportunity to comment on the published StarProg News Prediction events through reciprocal comment links.

       Our StarProg marketing messages to the retailer e-marketing community.

Our commitment is to provide our players a web site that is safe, free and fun.  The StarProg Blog is designed to be a platform where we can keep you updated on a host of issues and you can comment and express you ideas. 

Your StarProg Team 

Thanks Linda,

The Teams competition feature is presently in development and making good progress.  The processes for forming and managing teams is pretty much the same as it was in the previous iteration of StarProg.   We will have the same League formation structure. but what is different is that the Team scores will be a compilation of each Team's individual player's LadderBoard chip scores.  It promises to be exciting.  We will still have the Individual LadderBoard monthly competition as well.

Does the ladderboard reset? How in the world can you get 41k points?

Greg,

Yes the LadderBoard was reset around midnight of September 30. One criteria of our testing was to determine that all of the end of month and new competition month scoring features worked as advertised, and they did.  We have players who love our Solitaire and Black Jack games and  with the new LadderBoard competition system they can now play extensively.  We will soon be revamping our LadderBoard chip scoring to give more chip credits in our News Prediciton and Trivia games.   Your StarProg Team    

In a previous iteration of StarProg we had a forum whereby players could comment on the web site including our News Prediction Events, Trivia Questions, and general game issues.  In this latest iteration, we decided to put our messages to our registered players and other site users into a Blog format where we will in due time format it into categorical links.                                                               

Viewers who log onto the StarProg web site will have the opportunity to view the content of most of the links, but only registered users will have the ability to provide published comments.

We intend to have a link that directly connects each News Prediction Event to a specific Blog section.  In keeping with a StarProg space theme we refer to this as the StarProg Galaxy where you, the player, are invited to comment.  Other players will have the opportunity to reply to your comments in a Blog thread.

In the meantime we will begin blogging about general news issues.  We feel that our seven yars of investigating a host of news stories and publishing our news predictions gives us the credibility and experience to begin commenting about the news.  The user comment feature will soon be incorporated as well. 

We are working in the new StarProg Site. And, we would like to know your opinion, observations and feedback about our test version.