In a truly Orwellian turn of events, the rhetoric was ratcheted up a notch as George Bush today stated that Moscow has derailed reforms in Russia. This accusation will undoubtedly overshadow his attempts to reassure Putin that Russia is "not our enemy" and "has nothing to fear from the missile defense systems" My guess is that Putin knows this but like everyone else, is using the weakened state of the President for his own political purposes. With the up-coming Russian elections, Putin may be using the United States and George W. Bush as a convenient bogey-man to distract his people from their domestic problems. Putin, whatever his motivation, is playing a dangerous game which will only play into the hands of those who wish to see the United States chastised and weakened. These short sighted parties have no concern for the world they are creating. Chaos and anarchy will reign if we are not careful.
If there is a positive in all this, it is that the United States will no longer be bound by the role of being the "World leader." If no one respects the US in that role, then the US may be freed to speak freely instead of playing the duplicitous diplomatic games which attempt to appease all parties while pleasing none. I know, "this is wishful thinking" and what could very well happen is that the Democrats will go to extremes to repair the relations with nations who have been our most vocal critics. Dark days....
Well fellas, here are five examples of why Mr Putin walks tall and unafraid, for such a short guy.
ReplyDeleteTaken with an editors eye off of googles prolific data base.
1
2
3
4
5
Techniques and outcomes differ, to a degree that gives him more freedom of action.
a lot of talk to be so unafraid?
ReplyDeleteodd...a prowling lion does not roar
I don't think they are proweling, but settin' up to defend their den.
ReplyDeleteAs you've said so often, we've encircled 'em and pushed right up to their door.
He's not huntin US, we're driving him. To just what, I'm sure Ms Rice knows full well, it is her field of expertise.
Dick Morris is fun to listen to. He is talking about the Clinton scandals going back forever. He says' it's getting so you have to carbon date these scandals to get a proper time line'----ha,ha,ha,---if you are my age, you might want to watch out for those telephone sales groups. They are preying on folk like me, and Bill has gotten millions from the main telemarketer company, whose name escapes me. Fearful of Alzheimer's, we have the answer for you bob, trust us, just send... your bank account number. Have you noticed how religious Hill has gotten lately? Man, a real conversion...to parts of the Bible, the parts she likes...the liberation theology parts.
ReplyDeleteWhat a couple scums. We got to start doing better than this.
got to carbon date those scandals, to get the dates right, they go back so far..........har,har,har! I liked that.
But is Hillary on botox?
That's the question.
Putin seems popular in Russia, I've read. Shoot all the journalists, it cuts down on the bad press you receive about yourself.
ReplyDeleteThin though, elijah our presence is thin, along the Russian Caspian frontier.
ReplyDeleteBut I guess that with just 150 some bombers, we're thin just about everywhere.
If we weren't to go nuclear, first.
Dick Morris sees Ms Clinton riding a wave of first time female voters, bob.
ReplyDeleteA landslide created by a tsunami of estrogen
Let's take your perspective...that of a thin presence along the caspian...150 bombers.
ReplyDelete150 bombers seems easy pickings for Russian S-400s, right?
Was the SR-71 operational before being known by the public?
Interesting that the F-117, although not a heavy bomber mind you, is already antiquated and was quietly retired.
Hillary is having trouble with the fifty-somthing girls, at least if my info from around here is correct. But, yup, she is big with the first time naive girls, and the soccer moms. Hillary/Obama is going to be tough to beat, what with the new hispanic voters and all. Then we're sunk. Australia maybe the last resort. On matter what the government in Australia, the place is so big, a guy could always find some respite somewhere.
ReplyDeleteEasy pickins', doubt it.
ReplyDeleteThat's 150 some US bpmbers, world wide. There are many more target points around the world, then 150 could handle, without going nuclear, first.
They name B-2s after States, like in days of old, when battleships used to be all the rage.
Maybe we don't need so many bombs any more, nor area targeting. Aerial bombardment has advanced and our intel is always so top notch, it's become like sniping:
One Jdam, one kill.
Hope it's goin good, the negotiations and favorable trade talks, credit extensions and such.
Hope there are some good super secret weapons just waiting to roll out. Because even if the F-117 is be retired, as an antique, the mighty buffalo flys on. Older than many of their pilots, they say.
It would be my hope elijah, that man bombers were a thing of the past, Swarms of droids suits me better.
ReplyDeleteThat may be the new deal, or not.
We'll wait and see, knowing what is knowable and discussing that.
Otherwise, pigs may as well fly.
Which in a C-130, is more than doable.
Still waiting on the Ospry, I believe it was named, back in 1983, when I first read of the Marines soon to be deployeed MV-22 first being tested.
Twenty plus year development program, must be state of the art.
Scooter went down for 2.5 years. With time off for good behaviour, should be 15 months.
ReplyDeleteHe'll be out in time to campaign, but for who?
Won't be in, at the end of Mr Bush's term, to be pardoned.
Big deal becomes mute point.
Newt's pretty much right, about functionality
Swarms, UAVs - hmmm
ReplyDeleteV-22 Osprey Tilt-Rotor Aircraft, Updated March 13, 2007
If he manages to stay out while the appeal goes forward then he could very well not sully Mr. Bush with a pardon now.
ReplyDelete$88.5 million USD per copy
ReplyDeleteThey plan to acquire 458 uunits.
In Vietnam, 7,013 Huey helicopters were deployeed. 3,305 of those were destroyed.
Total helicopters destroyed in the Vietnam War was 5,086 out of 11,827 deployeed. linked and everything 'cause it's important.
Do the math at $88 million per unit.
Fabulous capacity per unit, but units so expensive and hard to replace they cannot be risked, in today's zero defect enviorment.
Doubt there'd be a pardon, ash.
ReplyDeleteScooter goes down for 15 months, writes his book, is a millionare before Mr Cheney leave Government Housing.
All's well that ends well.
It's only the beginning of the fourth quarter of the Bush Presidency, Mr Cheney's lost Scooter, Mr Bush that Mr Bartlett fellow.
Goin' with new, fresh players now that we're comin' into crunch time!
Benching the starters, lookin for someone fresh to get a hot hand, cap a couple of threes...
Mr Bush is down to 18 months, times a wastin'
I don't much like the guy, but I think scooter got screwed. Rep. William Jefferson ought to get about 10. Half of Congress ought to be in jail.
ReplyDeleteDirect Democracy--could it be any worse?
It wouldn't be a republic or an empire, just an executive and the people.
ReplyDeleteCould become an empire, or at least a despotism, easily enough. Venezuela has taken that democratic path.
The uniqueness of the United States, and the thickness of the veneer of civilization, not things that need to put to the test.
The US Constitution protects the minority, be glad of that, as it is where we most reside.
In the last Senate, the Democratic minority represented the majority of the votes cast for Senators.
ReplyDeleteBeing from larger population states, they represented more people, to less effect, than did the Republicans, representing the more sparsely population "Red States".
Not really being serious, Rat, sometimes I spout off when I'm ticked. I do believe a majority would vote to put an end to this immigration bill, though. There are very few people that benefit from it.
ReplyDeleteFrom the Guardian:
ReplyDelete"Russia is not the enemy," Mr Bush said after meeting Czech leaders in a visit en route to the G8 summit. He said his message to the Russian president would be that "we can work together on common threats".
Despite his conciliatory remarks on missile defence, Mr Bush later criticised both Russia and China in a speech to democracy and human rights activists."
**********************
Despite repeated assurances, the Russians insist that they are under threat. Funny, Bush and Rise say no, but Vlad says, "We'll target Europe with nuclear weapons." One argument used by Putin and others is that the Iranians have no missiles that can strike Europe. I think, "Not yet, but the Russians and Chinese will certainly sell them some."
You asked the downside, to direct democracy, there are more than a couple.
ReplyDeleteHere's democracy at Yale
ReplyDeleteIt always ticks me when these university cities do this stuff. We here are a sister city with Ciudad Muck, Neecaraaaqquaaa, what are we into this for? A city government shold run the utilities, and that's about it. And keep out of foreign politics.
They had a good go round, I read today, with name calling and the whole nine yards at the recent city council meeting. Going over that 'big box' ordinance again.
Idaho was better off when the legislature met once every two years, and better yet when we were a territory. Moscow was best off when it was unincorporated.
Like my aunt said, bob, sometimes I tink ve need a goood prince.
The West Lost Russia
ReplyDelete- Patrick Buchanan
---
I am more in agreement on this one with Pat and C-4 than you on this one Whit:
Whatever else may be true, it's just one more instance of W doin one hell of a job of screwing up the cards he was dealt.
Critical point in Pat's piece regards the Chicoms v the Ruskies v our treatment of the two.
Learned a new term listening to Hitchens on Hewitt:
"Infant Exposure"
At first I thought they were talking about some kind of sexual abuse, but no, they were talking about the Chicom practice of leaving infants exposed to die.
Maybe I'll follow up on it maybe I won't.
For now I'll just remember what Hitch said (he lived there for a while I guess) about them not having a word for "brother" or "sister."
Didn't get that one until I was explaining it to my wife and it dawned on me that obviously, with a one-child policy, there ARE no brothers and sisters!
But they are our good Buddies, and unlike RR, the Ruskies are totally beyond our ability to deal with.
Like Pakistan, Iran, North Korea, and etc.
Mat has mentioned from time to time we should have used the Ruskies to help wipe out Muzzies or some such.
Maybe he'll contribute.
---
Now I'll check out 'Rat's mysterious numbered links!
---
PS
Please stop blaming everybody but Bush!
;-)
I guess number 1 kind of ties in with my comment about Mat!
ReplyDeleteYou're all wrong, 'Rat:
ReplyDeleteDestroying the enemy is so old school and only breeds resentment and payback, never respect and Jeffersonian Democracy.
Just ask George, or his remanining acolytes in the brain-dead blogosphere.
---
We proved we were smarter at the outset in Afghanistan.
Been all downhill since then, the way I see it, with War being given a black eye by it's kinder and gentler imposter.
If there is a positive in all this, it is that the United States will no longer be bound by the role of being the "World leader."
ReplyDeleteI don't see that happening. Having the #1 economy and military and what-not. Holding those 2 aces pretty much solidifies our postion for sometime to come.
But I do agree not being the 'world leader' would free us up from our responsibilities. Kind of like the captain of a sports team. No longer being captain frees you up to concentrate more on your game.
Keeping a Passenger in Check
ReplyDeleteGreat story. Comments from the police commander's wife at the end are money.
ht: Blackfive
!-Good story, Sam.
ReplyDeleteArnoud on Iran
ReplyDeleteSoft Power Unplugged
ReplyDeleteBy Frank J Gaffney Jr.The Bush administration is wrong to silence the Voice of America. More>
---
Amexican Amnesty
By Bill Steigerwald
Mark Krikorian tells the truth about the immigration scandal. More>
A: The worst thing about the bill isn’t the language so much as the complete lack of credibility on enforcement by the president. In other words, no one believes that this president is remotely interested in enforcing the immigration laws. So it doesn’t matter what the provisions of the bill are because they are not going to be implemented.
Q: What’s the reason for the president not enforcing it?
A: The president is emotionally and psychologically repelled by the idea of enforcing immigration laws.
He sees it as uncompassionate, as un-Christian, especially with regard to Mexico.
But he sees Mexico as kind of a proxy for all immigration and he loves his Mexican servants and therefore all immigration must be good.
A 21st-century society like ours doesn’t need 19th-century workers to function.
Folding up the propaganda tent, now, at the "end of History", doug.
ReplyDeleteNo need for information arms, overseas. We have no tales to tell.
At the rate of one step forward, two steps back.
Long way to Tampico.
Ten Republicans hoping to represent their party in the 2008 presidential elections have held a live TV debate in the US state of New Hampshire.
ReplyDelete...
The Iraq war featured early, with Senators John McCain and Sam Brownback forced to admit they had not read the detailed report known as the National Intelligence Estimate before authorising the invasion of Iraq.
...
Mr McCain's rivals attacked his position, which he has acknowledged was not popular within his party, but he said was the best way to address what he called "a national security issue".
Head-to-head
"It is corrosive of American civic ideals to have widespread violation of the law and a class of people who aren't fully a part of American society.
ReplyDeleteThis bill -- which is neither soft nor tough enough -- will quickly return us to exactly that position. People who have absconded from deportation orders and aren't automatically eligible for the Z visas (some 600,000 people), illegals who have come here since January 2007 and are ineligible, and illegals who won't bother with the rigmarole of getting a real Z visa will form the basis of another large illegal population.
This is why a rational approach to immigration must start with enforcement.
Only when enforcement is real will it be possible to give an amnesty to those illegals still here without repeating the experience of the past 20 years -- an ever-growing illegal population after an amnesty -- all over again.
With a viable enforcement regime in place, illegals still here could get a path to citizenship more generous than the Know-Nothing version in the deeply flawed Senate bill."
Rich Lowry, RCP
When was it doug, we raised this at BC, over a year, anyway.
ReplyDeleteSaid that if Mr Bush didm't get a handle on this, it'd wipe 'em out, taking the Iraq project down with it.
Now it's happening, Team Bush is imploding before our eyes, Mr Bartlett just the most current swimmer to hit the water.
Evil Slavers, You!
ReplyDelete"In the Journal interview, the president reveals what's really at the heart of the debate:
politics.
"If people think that a party is against somebody or some group of people, you'll pay a political price for it."
He then likened those opposed to the immigration bill to people who once opposed civil rights for blacks.
---
Whose country is this? Does it belong to illegal immigrants and politicians, or to the citizens of the United States of America?"
CalThomas - RCP
Bush should not have taken the job, knowing he did not want to do it.
ReplyDeleteKnowing he WOULD NOT DO IT.
Liar's Just Deserts.
The United States would spend more to combat illegal immigration and prepare for terrorist and weather-related disasters under legislation approved on Tuesday by a House of Representatives panel that ignores a White House veto threat.
ReplyDeleteThe Appropriations Committee sent to the full House a $36.3 billion domestic security bill for fiscal 2008, which starts October 1. This year, the U.S. is spending $33.7 billion.
In approving the bill, the Democratic-controlled panel ignored White House veto threats against any spending bill moving through Congress that exceeds President George W. Bush's request. This bill would breech that level by about $2.1 billion.
Domestic Security
Amexican Amnesty
ReplyDeleteBy Bill Steigerwald
Mark Krikorian tells the truth about the immigration scandal. More>
Q: This is scary:
You’re saying that President Bush actually knows what he wants to do and is about to get it?
A: I don’t know that he’s about to get it.
Practically speaking, I think there is still a good chance this will fall apart in the Senate and an even better chance that it will fall apart in the House.
But the president does know what he wants, which is de facto open borders: legalizing the illegals who are here and letting any willing worker overseas get a job with any willing employer, which is a pretty compact definition of open borders.
Q: Would you prefer that this compromise bill just go away or die?
A: Yeah.
No bill is better than this bill.
In fact, it’s hard to see a rationale for any more legislation coming out of Congress until the public is confident that the president will enforce whatever the rules happen to be.
In other words, he’s spent six years ignoring the immigration laws so far...
Romney shines again,(according to local early reports) as Republicn candidates beat the bush on rino hunting safari, reads tomorrow's headline.
ReplyDeleteyou'll enjoy this bobalharb
ReplyDeletethe cosmological constant and a designer or...
What We Still Don't Know: Are We Real?
Presidential Jet Flames Out, Nearly Missing Moon
ReplyDeleteMcCain for "Amnesty" in 2003
ReplyDeleteSupporters of McCain-Kennedy don't like it when the word "amnesty" is used against them. But that's how John McCain described his plan in 2003 (via Power Line):
"We Are Not Going To Build Fences And Barriers"
ReplyDeletePosted by Hugh Hewitt
When a frustrated John McCain threw in the above declaration, he took a desperate political position and made it unredeemable.
It was an afterthought, but one which telegraphed a confirming message to the Republican electorate:
The Senate bill's sponsors aren't serious about the border fence or border security.
The good news is that both Romney and Giuliani looked and sounded great tonight and are going to prove to be formidable candidates throughout the summer and fall and into '08. The party is in excellent shape with either of them, and Fred may make that three.
Don't worry about me elijah, I'll be ok. I accepted weird when I stumbled into the Elephant Bar. I'm used to it.
ReplyDeleteGentlemen, the little things count. Be nice to your grandmothers!
The President and Scooter Libby
ReplyDeleteThe President and Scooter Libby
Posted by Dean Barnett | 5:10 PM
Judge Reggie Walton has sentenced Scooter Libby 30 months in jail. It looks like Walton will not allow Libby to remain free pending his appeal. I’ve written about this case before, saying it didn’t feel like justice. Libby got his own private prosecutor who was determined to send him or someone in his orbit to jail. When the music stopped, Libby was the one without the chair and without any luck.
I’ve never met Scooter Libby. I do know several people who know him well who think this case is a travesty and his looming incarceration a national disgrace. There is of course one man who could stop it: George W. Bush, a man famous for his loyalty. A man so determinedly loyal that he has steadfastly stood by an obviously inadequate attorney general and tried to appoint a woefully unqualified person to the Supreme Court all because they were part of his inner circle.
So you’d think that a Libby pardon would be right in Bush’s wheelhouse.
You also would think the politics of the matter wouldn’t affect the president, since his move on immigration heralded not only an indifference but actual contempt for public opinion.
Au contraire.
----
Bill Kristol sums it up nicely:
Who, Me?
Bush evades his responsibility with respect to Libby.
"The President said that he felt terrible for the family, especially his wife and his kids."
--Deputy White House press secretary Dana Perino, accompanying President Bush on Air Force One, Tuesday
I FEEL TERRIBLE for Scooter Libby's family. Millions of Americans feel terrible for Scooter Libby's family. But we can't do anything about the injustice that has been done. Nor can we do anything to avert a further injustice looming on the horizon--Judge Reggie Walton seems inclined not to let Libby remain free pending appeal.
Unlike the rest of us, however, George W. Bush is president. Article II, Section Two of the Constitution gives him the pardon power. George W. Bush can do something to begin to make up for the injustice a prosecutor appointed by his own administration brought down on Scooter Libby. And he can do something to avert the further injustice of a prison term.
Will Bush pardon Libby? Apparently not--even if it means a man who worked closely with him and sought tirelessly to do what was right for the country goes to prison. Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino, noting that the appeals process was underway, said, "Given that and in keeping with what we have said in the past, the president has not intervened so far in any other criminal matter and he is going to decline to do so now."
So much for loyalty, or decency, or courage. For President Bush, loyalty is apparently a one-way street; decency is something he's for as long as he doesn't have to take any
risks in its behalf; and courage--well, that's nowhere to be seen.
Many of us used to respect President Bush. Can one respect him still?
William Kristol
Cheney's letter was glaringly lacking in the pile of letters the judge received having good things to say about scooter.
ReplyDeleteHad not heard that Double Al:
ReplyDeleteWhere'd you find it?
Dangerous Illusions
ReplyDeletePeace-processing our way to disaster.
by Reuel Marc
The Scooter got kicked under the Bus.
ReplyDeleteLetters for Scooter
ReplyDeleteThis idea must have a downside but I can't get a handle on what it might be.
ReplyDeleteCompetent? Moral? Decent?
ReplyDeleteHe should hole up in a closet, but that would be admitting his denial.
If the Taliban were uprooted from Waziristan, it would not only destroy al Qaeda's new headquarters but tremendously shorten the length of the war.
Fought on a shoestring
I've only been in small parts of Iraq and a small part of Afghanistan, but I've seen enough to know that while the Iraq effort is awash with money but lacking in men, the war in Afghanistan is being fought on a shoestring in terms of both.
There will be about 155,000 U.S. troops in Iraq when the U.S. buildup is complete, but there are only about 27,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, a country larger in both geography and population.
A massive concrete blast wall in Iraq is a mere mud wall in Afghanistan.
"It takes four weeks here just to get cement," Lt. Wei says. "We need to help build and to provide security, but we just don't have the funds. Everybody here understands what needs to be done but their hands are tied by a lack of resources in both funds and people. We could pacify Zabul in probably a year if they pumped money into here like they do Iraq."
As to the number of soldiers, Stofan says: "I see a solution in sight for Afghanistan; it's just going to take some more guys." Wei seconds that.
"We know how to win here," says Wei. "But we're so shorthanded. Every platoon we have is covering what used to be a company-sized sector."
According to the McCaffrey report, while the situation is getting better, "the war in Afghanistan has been shamefully under-resourced by DOD throughout the entire intervention in terms of interagency involvement, U.S. combat forces, political will, and nation-building resources."
Yet together, both wars plus all other defense spending consume about 3.8 percent of gross domestic product, or just over a third of the GDP percentage spent at the height of the Vietnam war. Total U.S. forces currently in both Iraq and Afghanistan amount to just a third of the 540,000 employed for the limited purpose of driving Saddam's forces out of Kuwait in 1991.
"You can see victory on the horizon," says Wei. "We just don't have the means to get there."
Michael Fumento, an airborne veteran, has been embedded three times in Iraq.
Putin's Inconsistencies
ReplyDeletedoes "less mature" imply the ABL is mature?
US ramps up missile tests in the Pacific
“Jaamat al Muslimeen”
ReplyDeleteDoug,
ReplyDeleteAre we leading, or following our destiny? At which time does moaning and complaining constitute an acceptable action?
At which time is denial of reality healthy?
ReplyDeleteAre the warriors talking to Michael Fumento moaning and complaining, or simply reporting facts and conclusions?
ReplyDeleteDoug,
ReplyDeleteSeems to me the Russians have a pretty good grasp of reality. Can the same be said, as it concerns Condoleeza Rice?
Are the warriors talking to Michael Fumento moaning and complaining, or simply reporting facts and conclusions?
ReplyDeleteYep.
No oil in Afghanistan, folks. I guess we, also, need to keep Musharraf in power for another year, or two, if we possibly can. Got a little work to do on that missile shield.
Putin knows that once we put those missiles in place Poland is off-limits, Forever.
ReplyDeleteAncient City Seen From Space With New Imaging Device
ReplyDeleteNite.
Rufus,
ReplyDeleteAre we still fighting WWI?
Mat, I guess you could say that. You could also say that we're still fighting the Barbary Wars.
ReplyDeleteHell, Mat, let's face it; war is the natural conditiion of the human race. The absence of war is not normal. People start to get nervous, and develop psychoses. That's probably why the Europeans have quit Breeding.
ReplyDeleteElijah,
ReplyDeleteI watched the whole 'Are we Real' clip. Mind blowing. Thanks.
While national polls have Giuliani in the lead, his advantage has eroded in recent weeks, analysts said, because of his comparatively liberal positions on abortion and social issues.
ReplyDeleteRomney meanwhile has shot into the lead in some polls in Iowa, home of the first nominating caucus next January, and McCain has been running strongly in another key early voting state, New Hampshire.
Candidates were also likely to clash on topics like social issues and abortion, which are vitally important to grass-roots Republicans, while a row was also brewing over immigration.
Presidential Debate
Rufus,
ReplyDeleteRe: War
The Moment of Sahel need not be so elusive. The Iraqis gave us this word, Sahel, and it means to utterly defeat and humiliate your enemy, dragging his dead or dismembered corpse through the streets. When the enemy is vanquished absolutely, his destruction is put on display for all to see.
Sahel-anthropus/pithicus
ReplyDeleteAdapted with a powerful masticatory response.
No, war is not a permanent part of the human condition, as Habu would have you believe, but is the result of farming, and other idiocy. Don't let Habu head fake you, on this. Remember---
Hugo Grotius.
We either smartten up a bit, or we ruin the whole show. The Russians are a disappointment in this regard, lately. Truth is, there are alot of people just don't like life much. May they blow their own brains out, and leave the rest of us alone.
Nite, again. (taking a break from Coast to Coast)
Whart a great thread! Bravo!!
ReplyDeleteOne more thing just brush your teeth with Baking Soda and save yourself a long, painful death. Long Live Bucky Beaver.
ReplyDeleteFor you younger ones, Met Bucky
ReplyDeletemeet bucky,grre--the guy that can chomp down Aspen trees in seconds.
ReplyDeleteSpc. Alexandre Alexeev hadn't spoken to his family and friends for about a month when he contacted them May 27. His unit had been on a mission in Iraq.
ReplyDelete"He called and said, `Don't worry guys, I'll come back,"' said close family friend Alina Ortega. "He said, `Nothing is going to happen for the next two or three days.
No missions.' They didn't need to leave the post."
Fallen Soldier