Most Recent Posts

The Wolverine

Director: James Mangold

Genre: Action

Running Time: 126 minutes

Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, some sexuality and language

With: Hugh Jackman, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima

The news out of Detroit has been grim of late, but there are some bright spots coming from one corner of the Motor City. On Thursday, General Motors posted its 14th straight profitable quarter since emerging from bankruptcy. Ford announced its 16th consecutive profitable quarter Wednesday and Chrysler is expected to offer good news soon, as well.

And for the first time in more than 20 years, a domestic sedan, the Chevy Impala, won top marks from Consumer Reports.

But while this should be good news in a city that has just filed for bankruptcy, what's good for Detroit's automakers isn't always good for Detroit.

None of the car companies would agree to talk about Detroit's bankruptcy on tape for this story. But when you consider the Big Three — and the auto industry as a whole — there's one fact to recognize, says Michael Robinet, an analyst with IHS Automotive.

"The epicenter for the U.S. automotive industry, from a vehicle production perspective, is probably northern Kentucky," he says.

Robinet says cars and Detroit are inextricably linked emotionally and culturally, but not so much financially anymore.

"All the major decisions within the global automotive industry somehow weave their way through Detroit," he says. "So this is still the heart of the industry. A lot of the muscle around it has sort of moved to other parts of the country."

The home of General Motors sits in downtown Detroit, but it's the only auto company actually headquartered inside the city limits. The company has about 30,000 employees in the Detroit area, but just a little more than 4,000 of them work inside the city itself.

Ford, in contrast, is headquarted in Dearborn, Mich., and its plants in the region are outside the city limits. Chrysler is headquartered in Auburn Hills, north of the city.

News

Detroit Businesses See Opportunity In Bankruptcy

GREEN BEANS WITH PEANUTS AND CHILE DE ARBOL

Ejotes con Cacahuates y Chile de Arbol
Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:
1 pound green beans (or Chinese long beans), ends cut and diagonally sliced in about 2" pieces
1 tablespoon soy sauce
cup chicken broth
teaspoon brown sugar
teaspoon kosher or sea salt
2 tablespoons peanut oil
cup roasted peanuts
4 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
3 to 4 chiles de arbol, stemmed and thinly sliced
4 to 6 scallions, thinly sliced, light green and white parts only

TO PREPARE:
Bring salted water to a boil in a large pot, add the sliced green beans and cook, uncovered for 2 to 3 minutes until al dente, drain and set aside.

Combine the soy sauce, chicken broth, sugar and salt in a small bowl and mix well.

Heat the peanut oil over high heat in a large heavy skillet until hot but not smoking. Add the peanuts, stirring constantly, as they begin to fry for about 20 seconds. Beware, peanuts burn faster than you would think... so don't wait until they look browned. Add the garlic and the chiles de arbol, stir for about 10 seconds, and add the scallions and stir for another 10 to 15 seconds. Add the green beans, stir to combine all the ingredients and finally pour soy sauce mixture, let it all cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Serve immediately.

If NSA leaker Edward Snowden is allowed to leave the Moscow airport and enter Russia, as some news reports suggest, he'll join a fairly small group of Americans who have sought refuge there.

So how did it work out for the others?

In short, not so well. Some became disillusioned and left, like Lee Harvey Oswald. Others were sent to Josef Stalin's gulags, where they served long sentences or were executed. Some lived out their days in an alcoholic haze.

"There's little evidence from historical records that [Snowden] has anything good to look forward to," says Peter Savodnik, a journalist and author of the upcoming book, The Interloper: Lee Harvey Oswald Inside the Soviet Union. "Essentially, nobody from the U.S. who has defected to Russia has gone on to think that's a smart decision."

A Long History

In the 1920s and '30s, hundreds of American leftists moved to what was then the Soviet Union, motivated by a desire to build socialism.

Alexander Gelver of Oshkosh, Wis., was taken there by his parents. But when the 24-year-old wanted to return to the U.S., he was stopped by Soviet police outside the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. He was arrested and disappeared. Only in the 1990s did his fate become clear: He was executed in 1938, one of Stalin's many victims.

The Associated Press documented the case of Gelver and 14 other Americans who disappeared in the Soviet Union in 1930s and '40s. All were either imprisoned or executed. Dozens, perhaps hundreds of other Americans, met a similar fate during the rule of Stalin, who suspected that foreigners were spies.

A famous case in the Cold War era has parallels to Snowden. William Martin and Bernon Mitchell, cryptologists at the NSA, defected in 1960. But they came to regret their decision and became alcoholics. Martin died in Mexico in 1987. Mitchell died in Russia in 2001.

One defector who did return was Oswald. He left for the Soviet Union in 1959, returned to the U.S. three years later, and became infamous as the assassin of President Kennedy in 1963.

Valuable To Russia's Intelligence Service

Peter Earnest, executive director of the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., and a 35-year veteran of the CIA, says Snowden is exactly the kind of person Russia's intelligence service would be interested in.

"This is an individual with knowledge about a major national security organization [the NSA], one Russia would love to penetrate," Earnest says. "He's a pretty smart guy. With only a GED, he was able to secure employment with the CIA, the NSA and Booz Allen, and with it a high-level security clearance. So he'd be a very useful resource to them."

But Savodnik, the author and journalist, says it's likely Snowden has served his purpose in Russia.

"Whatever value he has to the Kremlin has already been drained," he says. "They'll probably try to marginalize him and send him where he's less likely to make noise or attract the attention of the media or others."

The Snowden story began in May when the NSA contractor boarded a plane in Honolulu and headed to Hong Kong. From there, he went to Moscow, apparently with the intention of heading to a third country. But with the U.S. canceling his passport, Snowden's been stuck at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport since June 23.

The question of where he'll go next has been the subject of intense speculation — as has the duration of how long he's been in the airport's transit lounge.

"It's a slow-motion opera," Earnest says.