We are to believe that Obama, the Democrats and NATO have the political will to commit the US to the long, long mission in Afghanistan. That is too serious to be laughable. It is absurd and we do not have to go back to Viet Nam to get a hint as to how this will end.
We have been here before and as a matter of fact, we still are. It is called 'International Community' nation building in Kosovo & Bosnia.
First Afghanistan:
According to a story in The Washington Post:
"The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan warns in an urgent, confidential assessment of the war that he needs more forces within the next year and bluntly states that without them, the eight-year conflict "will likely result in failure."
Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal says emphatically: "Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) -- while Afghan security capacity matures -- risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible."
His assessment was sent to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Aug. 30 and is now being reviewed by President Obama and his national security team.
McChrystal concludes the document's five-page Commander's Summary on a note of muted optimism: "While the situation is serious, success is still achievable."
But he repeatedly warns that without more forces and the rapid implementation of a genuine counterinsurgency strategy, defeat is likely. McChrystal describes an Afghan government riddled with corruption and an international force undermined by tactics that alienate civilians.
Let's face facts and look at previous NATO nation building efforts in European Muslim conflicts, notably Bosnia and Kosovo. That has been going on for 14 years.
$14 billion and 14 years later, Bosnia is a living experiment of real time nation building. It is a country dictated to by Brussels and Washington. They are the bastard children of the Dayton Agreement.
Along with continued presence of NATO in Bosnia, the US and Nato attack on Yugoslavia resulted in the creation of Kosovo, another Muslim country (after Albania) in Europe. Kosovo is a criminal state run by drugs, organized crime and human traffickiing for prostitution.
Yet, Bosnia and Kosovo are a walk in the park compared to Afghanistan. Before we indulge in wishful thinking in Afghanistan, let's look at Bosnia and Kosovo.
After eight years we can't erect two building in NYC to replace the towers taken down by 19 Saudi Arabs. They killed 3500 and probably caused $450 billion in damage.
ReplyDeleteWe have spent 14 years trying to build nations in Muslim Bosnia and Kosovo.
We have 40,000 casualties and $1 trillion, give or take a few hundred billion plowed into Iraq.
We pay billions in tribute to Pakistan, nuclear armed to the teeth, a country that will not turn over the scientist that trafficked nuclear weapons to who knows who.
We have been meddling in the the Israeli Palestinian insanity for 45 years. Count the billions there if you can.
Something is not working folks, and amongst other things that includes over 14% of the American work force.
We have trashed our military and our economy in the toxic wastes of the Middle East and we misinterpret a lull in domestic US terrorism as security.
It is way past time to stop the insanity.
The former Bishop of Rochester has led calls for a repeal of the Blasphemy law of Pakistan.
ReplyDeleteUnder the law, section 295c of the country’s penal code, those accused of blaspheming against the Prophet Mohammed may be sentenced to death or life imprisonment. They are fined in addition.
“The law is sometimes used for a personal agenda that has nothing to do with blasphemy – eg an interest in a neighbour’s property” said Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, who last weekend stepped down as bishop of the Kent diocese of Rochester.
His comments follow a wave of violence in August in which eight Christians were burnt alive, and a further 20 attacked when a 3,000-strong Muslim mob attacked the Eastern town of Gojra. Two days earlier, on August 3rd, gangs in the nearby village of Korian set fire to more than 70 Christian homes and two Protestant churches. The attacks, condemned by religious leaders including Pope Benedict XVI and the Archbishop of Canterbury, were rated among the bloodiest in Pakistan’s history.
From The Times
ReplyDeleteSeptember 21, 2009
Muslims mass-producing children to take over Africa, says Archbishop
One of the most powerful figures in the Anglican Church believes that Africa is under attack from Islam and that Muslims are “mass-producing” children to take over communities on the continent.
Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, 56, was elected Primate of Nigeria last week and his elevation could exacerbate tensions at a time when Anglicans are working to build bridges with Muslims. Dr Michael Nazir-Ali resigned as Bishop of Rochester earlier this year to work in countries where Islam is the majority religion.
Nigeria is split almost half and half between Christianity and Islam. There are about 17 million practising Anglicans in the country, but they face persecution in the north, while the two faiths vie with local religions for supremacy in the rest of the country.
Archbishop Okoh made his controversial comments about Islam in a sermon in Beckenham, Kent, in July. He said that there was a determined Islamic attack in African countries such as Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda.
“They spend a lot of money, even in places where they don’t have congregations, they build mosques, they build hospitals, they build anything.
“They come to Africans and say, ‘Christianity is asking you to marry only one wife. We will give you four!’ ” Archbishop Okoh described this as “evangelism by mass-production”.
He said: “That is the type of evangelism they are doing: mass-production, so if you have four wives, four children, sixteen children, very soon you will be a village.”
Africa was “surrounded by Islamic domination,” he said, and he urged Christians to speak out now or lose the authority to speak. “I am telling you, Islam is spending in Uganda and in other places, it is money from the Arab World,” he claimed, accusing Christians of abdicating their responsibilities. “Who is the leader in the Christian world? There is no leader.”
One senior member of Britain’s Muslim community said: “The views presented by the Archbishop are extremist and overwhelmed by Islamophobia and his elevation will certainly foster misunderstanding and extremism. Knowing the communal geography of Nigeria, he will be a massive danger to community relations and cohesion in his country, besides places like London.”
So they got a Primate Running Nigeria?
ReplyDeleteWe got our Marxist Monkey, too.
Hamas Complains, So U.N. School Will Not Teach Gaza Students About Holocaust
ReplyDeleteU.N. Agency Calls for Teaching Children 5-to-8 Years of Age about Masturbation
Health Care Bill Directs HHS Secretary to Develop 'Standards for Measuring Gender'--As Opposed to 'Male' and 'Female'
Funny stuff.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in the military the sayin' was
"Can Do!"
Now-a-days it is
"Well, if we had more assets, maybe"
And this is the "best" we've got.
Given a Mission, the six stars come back and tell US it cannot be done with what they've got to work with.
They're gonna have to build another "Army Empire", there in Afghanistan. No small footprint adventures, for US.
Misguided mission parameters have been set, either by the President or the Generals. Perhaps working in concert they have lost sight of the forest, for the trees.
So typical.
By naivete or artifice Obama has signaled a review of Afghanistan.
ReplyDeleteObama equivocating on support for the Afghanistan campaign guarantees the exit of Nato allies.
That insures a ramping up of Taliban violence. More American troops will have to die before the politicians decide.
"They're gonna have to build another "Army Empire", there in Afghanistan. No small footprint adventures, for US."
ReplyDelete---
The closest we came to completing the mission:
But Big Army, or who knows what decided that letting the small footprint boys and the USAF finish off the job, just would not do.
Shoulda been done and out, except for Air Force and Army picking off Taliban camps as they popped up in Pakistan.
...as reported, in detail, by ABC News.
Some here said such bombing would not do.
Collateral damage, which would have been MINIMAL compared to the toll of the LONG WAR.
Meanwhile not a word about the indictment of ineptitude and irresponsibility that the Six Star report's findings lay on Mr Bush's desk.
ReplyDeleteThe CiC that started a war, then punted.
Team43 makes the Carter years seem fruitful, by comparison. Without doubt, the tenure of GW Bush as President, the worse in the post WWII era.
From either a national security or a financial/economic perspective.
Mr Bush was certainly tested.
ReplyDeleteAnd found wanting.
Newsday:
ReplyDeleteGov. David A. Paterson vowed Sunday to seek election in 2010 despite alleged pressure to drop his bid from President Barack Obama and others alarmed by his dismal poll numbers.
“I have said time and time again that I am running for governor next year,” Paterson said at a parade in Harlem. “My plans have not changed.”
At least someone in the Pentagon has the balls to release this story now, right in the middle of Obama's health care show.
ReplyDeleteObama would have been quite happy to demure on a decision and save it for a more convenient time. Hard luck for the poor bastards that get killed while he does his politics.
General Stanley McChrystal, to his credit isn't playing that game.
But he does not have a plan to complete the mission or to redefine the mission to meet the assets available.
ReplyDeleteSame old story, same old song
Scenes that we've all seen before
There can't, Really, be a "Plan." It's a country, roughly, the size of Texas, bordered by a mountainous country that is a pure "safe haven."
ReplyDeleteThe people despise us, and think we're clowns. We're trying to tiptoe around without "hurting" anyone's sensiblities while our guys get killed for lack of artillery support.
It's madness.
We can't "train" a local army, because the only governance is the Mayor of Kabul, and he doesn't have the money for an effective police force, much less a "National" Army.
ReplyDeleteThere's only one "money" crop, and that is one that we're "committed" to destroying.
The only reason this is a "Country" is that it's such a desolate, and worthless pile of rocks that none of its neighbors deign it worthy of the aggravation of governance.
Everyone will squeal, and rend their garments, but the only reasonable thing to do is say, "Sayonara."
... some in the administration have begun to fault McChrystal for taking the policy beyond where Obama intended, with no easy exit. But Obama’s deliberative pace — he has held only one meeting of his top national security advisers to discuss McChrystal’s report so far — is a source of growing consternation within the military. “Either accept the assessment or correct it, or let’s have a discussion,” one Pentagon official said. “Will you read it and tell us what you think?” Within the military, this official said, “there is a frustration. A significant frustration. A serious frustration.”
ReplyDeleteSmall Wars Journal
Homeowners who 'strategically default' on loans a growing problem -- latimes.com
ReplyDeleteWho is more likely to walk away from a house and a mortgage -- a person with super-prime credit scores or someone with lower scores?
Research using a massive sample of 24 million individual credit files has found that homeowners with high scores when they apply for a loan are 50% more likely to "strategically default" -- abruptly and intentionally pull the plug and abandon the mortgage -- compared with lower-scoring borrowers.
The number of strategic defaults is far beyond most industry estimates -- 588,000 nationwide during 2008, more than double the total in 2007. They represented 18% of all serious delinquencies that extended for more than 60 days in last year's fourth quarter.
* Strategic defaulters often go straight from perfect payment histories to no mortgage payments at all. This is in stark contrast with most financially distressed borrowers, who try to keep paying on their mortgage even after they've fallen behind on other accounts.
* Strategic defaults are heavily concentrated in negative-equity markets where home values zoomed during the boom and have cratered since 2006. In California last year, the number of strategic defaults was 68 times higher than it was in 2005. In Florida it was 46 times higher. In most other parts of the country, defaults were about nine times higher in 2008 than in 2005.
* People who default strategically and lose their houses appear to understand the consequences of what they're doing. Piyush Tantia, an Oliver Wyman partner and a principal researcher on the study, said strategic defaulters "are clearly sophisticated," based on the patterns of selective payments observable in their credit files. For example, they tend not to default on home equity lines of credit until after they bail out on their main mortgages, sometimes to draw down more cash on the equity line.
Strategic defaulters may know that their credit scores will be severely depressed by their mortgage abandonment, Tantia said, but they appear to look at it as a business decision: "Well, I'm $200,000 in the hole on my house, and yes, I'll damage my credit," he said of defaulters. But they see it as the most practical solution under the circumstances.
Don't you be rending my garmets, boy!
ReplyDeleteNobody fucks with the threads!
George Clooney in "The Perfect Storm:"
ReplyDeleteIt's Not Going to Let Us Out.
"or let’s have a discussion,” one Pentagon official said.
ReplyDelete“Will you read it and tell us what you think?”
Within the military, this official said,
“there is a frustration.
A significant frustration.
A serious frustration."
---
The One only has discussions with fellow collaberaters.
All else need not plead their case.
"collaborators"
ReplyDeleteWhere the Hell is linear?
...maybe the US Forest Service could put out this fire.
ReplyDeleteTired of liberal Republicans?
ReplyDeleteDear Friend:
If you're worried that America is sliding dangerously into socialism, please join me in supporting a group I am chairing to elect true conservative leaders to the United States Senate.
President Obama is ramming billions in bailouts, stimulus plans, and government takeovers through Congress as fast as he can. We desperately need principled leaders in the Senate who will fight to stop him.
Wishy-washy Republicans who say one thing and then do another are not the answer. They will only make things worse.
That is why I started the Senate Conservatives Fund. Its mission is to bring bold, principled leadership to Washington by supporting only the most rock-solid, conservative candidates nationwide -- candidates who actually believe in the Constitution and who will fight to defend it.
We work to achieve our mission by raising money for conservative candidates, educating voters on critical issues, and building a grassroots army of like-minded conservatives across the country who can push our candidates on to victory.
SCF does not support liberal Republicans and it is not affiliated with the Republican Party or any of its campaign committees. SCF only supports true conservatives and will oppose liberal Republicans in contested primaries.
I am writing to ask for your help and I hope you will answer the call. If you're concerned about what is happening to our country and you're ready to take positive action to stop it, there are two easy things you can do:
Forward this email. We all know people who love their country. Now is the time to urge them to fight for it.
Make a contribution. Your contribution of just $25, $50, or even $100 to the Senate Conservatives Fund -- combined with the support of thousands of others -- will have a major impact in building a truly conservative Senate.
With only 406 days until the 2010 elections, SCF has already begun to make key endorsements.
In Oklahoma, we are supporting the re-election bid of conservative U.S. Senator Tom Coburn. Senator Coburn is a one-man pork-busting machine who has done more to protect taxpayers from wasteful Washington spending than anyone in Congress.
In Pennsylvania, we are backing former Congressman Pat Toomey in his race to replace liberal Senator Arlen Specter, who helped President Obama pass the $1 trillion stimulus bill and recently switched parties to save his political hide.
In Florida, we have endorsed former Speaker of the House Marco Rubio who is running for the GOP nomination against Governor Charlie Crist. Rubio is a bright, articulate, and principled leader who has what it takes to win this important seat for conservatives.
Jim DeMint
United States Senator
---
---
But COBURN is the Head Senatorial Selector that is committed to selecting MODERATE Candidates.
Go Figure.
They're all crooks.
ReplyDeleteI would give anything (and, I really mean, Anything) to see "Recall" petitions instituted in every State in the Union Against EVERY Representative, and Senator in Congress.
ReplyDeleteMan, THAT would be a Show.
"Recall Them ALL"
ReplyDeleteMy Mistake:
ReplyDeleteTexas Senator John Cornyn, is the moderate ball sucking LOSER.
(bad link)
ReplyDeleteHead of National Senatorial Selection Committee
The current Chairman, Texas Senator John Cornyn, was elected at the end of 2008. Click here to view past NRSC chairmen.
Rufus,
ReplyDeleteThis Graph is similar to the one on socialized health care cost rises (Medicare/Medicaid) that puts the lie to your claim that we could grow our way out of Socialized Medicine Bankruptcy.
Rend your garments over that!
Obama: 'I didn’t even know that ACORN was getting a whole lot of federal money.'
ReplyDeleteObama on ACORN:
'Not Something I've Followed Closely' Won't Commit to Cut Federal Funds
---
I didn't know Ayers was a murderous terrorist.
I didn't know Wright was a racist hatemonger.
I didn't know...
etc.
I too am organizing a fund to bring back good government to our country in 2010.
ReplyDeleteThe new "Really Good Government Fund" is up and running now and dedicated to the principle that we need really good people working for us in Washington.
I am writing to ask for your help and I hope you will answer the call. If you're concerned about what is happening to our country and you're ready to take positive action to stop it, there are two easy things you can do:
Forward this email. We all know people who love their country. Now is the time to urge them to fight for it.
Make a contribution. Your contribution of just $25, $50, $100or even $1000 to the "Really Good Government Fund" -- combined with the support of thousands of others -- will have a major impact in building a truly really good government.
Send contributions to:
Really Good Government Fund
Po Box FUFU2
Lagos, Nigeria 88637289
God Bless You. And God Bless America.
Ah, Doug, Look at that chart again.
ReplyDeleteHe's doing "Real" GDP growth (after inflation,) and "Nominal" Debt growth (before inflation.)
Denninger is a "Crank."
Rufus,
ReplyDeleteI don't have time to look up the numbers myself, so I won't comment on the chart other than to say no one expects real GDP growth of 5% into the future.
Q, that chart isn't representing "real" growth of 5%. It's representing 5% growth Minus some amount of inflation - probably about 3.5%.
ReplyDeleteLooking at it again, though. That is FAr from being the "Main" thing.
ReplyDeleteHe's playing the old "unfunded liabilities" game. Notice how he has our current debt at about 5 times our GDP. Our, actual real public debt is about .7 of GDP.
Our "unfunded liabilities" can't continue to grow such as they have because of Demographics. He's just putting up a silly "scare" chart.
Look, a whole lot more debt Would NOT be a good thing. Any logical moron knows that. But, we don't need nonsense charts to scare ourselves "around the campfire."
Trust me, we've got a lot scarier shit than that coming at us Real Soon.
ReplyDeleteThat fucking Obama thinks he's Hugo Chavez.
ReplyDeleteObama on TV, "all the time."
"Our "unfunded liabilities" can't continue to grow such as they have because of Demographics. He's just putting up a silly "scare" chart."
ReplyDeleteYou denigrate the demographics issue; however, I don't. GDP growth is a dependant on growth in productivity and the size of the workforce. In the absence of a rational immigration policy to replace retiring baby boomers you have to look at demographics.
The CBO is projecting GDP growth of around 2% thru 2015.
You have respected economists like Dean Baker and David Rosnick over at CEPR who agree with you. I hope you guys are right. However, I'm not quite as sanguine as you given it will take years before we get job growth sufficient to support robust economic growth. Add to that the deficits added this year. Well...
2009 Governor's Report on SS and Medicare Programs
Q, if I've given the impression that I'm the least bit "Sanguine," I'm sorry. I'm Not.
ReplyDeleteIt's just that we've got some things that are going to kill us stone cold dead long before that deal will get around to bothering us.
It's like worrying about a garden snake when you're surrounded by a bevy of pissed off mambas.
Everyone keeps overlooking that those "unfunded" liabilities are not really "liabilities." A Bond, or Treasury Note sold to the "Public" is a "Liability."
A vague "intention" to pay a certain amount, or percentage of another vaguely-defined metric to some group (to be statuarily defined by some future congress, etc, etc) is NOT a liability.
It's a "Conversation."
"It's just that we've got some things that are going to kill us stone cold dead long before that deal will get around to bothering us..."
ReplyDeleteI assume you're talking about the Maya Long Count Calendar and December 21, 2012.
I assume you're talking about the Maya Long Count Calendar and December 21, 2012.
ReplyDeleteWell, Yeah.
D'uh.
I've missed talking (arguing?) with you Rufus.
ReplyDelete:)
Yeah, well, we're still not going to be doing the long, hot, soapy showers thing.
ReplyDelete;)
Have you run across Sharp, DC, Oilshock or any of those guys?
ReplyDeleteI hit quite a few blogs but I've only come across a couple of the guys that used to be on Kudlow's.
Of course, I do see Anonymous quite often. :)
Sharp came around a couple of times, but I imagine he's in shock (not oil-shock) from a 50% "Shock" on his portfolio.
ReplyDeleteMaybe he'll stop by now that "His" name has been called.
"...I imagine he's in shock (not oil-shock) from a 50% "Shock" on his portfolio..."
ReplyDeleteUnfortunate. He probably should have listened to cinefoz instead of DC and Capgains. As I recall, cinefoz called the top perfectly.
Anyway, knowing Sharp, he's probably made most of it back by now.
""It's just that we've got some things that are going to kill us stone cold dead long before that deal will get around to bothering us...""
ReplyDelete---
So what the hey:
Lets tear up an excellent healthcare system and replace it with DMV care, as if deficiencies in present system aren't better addressed by leaving the large areas that are fully functional intact.
...and regardless of your economic gobbledeegook, all the welfare programs are ponzi schemes, pure and simple.
In the real world, entitlements always cost multiples of what is promised, and invariably outstrip economic growth.
ReplyDeleteMarlise Skinner, a registered nurse who has dealt with medical insurance issues for years, also pressed Cantor.
ReplyDeleteSkinner told him that “the public option seems to be the best that’s out there so far … what is the alternative out there that would truly control costs, because I’m hearing a lot of spin but I’m not hearing what you would do to control it?”
...
“I thought it was helpful, thoughtful — to have a model like this where you have an independent moderator, rules of the game set out very clearly … I hope that I can go up to Washington and say this should be a model for everybody,” Cantor told a group of reporters.
Healthcare Plan
The United States announced late Sept. 17 that it would abandon a plan for placing ballistic missile defense (BMD) installations in Poland and the Czech Republic. Instead of the planned system, which was intended to defend primarily against a potential crude intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) threat from Iran against the United States, the administration chose a restructured system that will begin by providing some protection to Europe using U.S. Navy ships based on either the North or Mediterranean seas.
ReplyDelete...
Polish despair (and Warsaw seemed far more upset than Prague) and Russian satisfaction must be explained to begin to understand the global implications. To do this, we must begin with an odd fact: The planned BMD system did not in and of itself enhance Polish national security in any way even if missiles had actually targeted Warsaw, since the long-range interceptors in Poland were positioned there to protect the continental United States; missiles falling on Poland would likely be outside the engagement envelope of the original Ground-based Midcourse Defense interceptors.
...
The Islamic world has been the focus of the United States since 9/11. In this context, the development of an Iranian nuclear capability was seen as a fundamental threat to U.S. national interests.
Global System
Hatred of the USA is uniting leftist and Islamist leaders. Anti-Semitic propaganda and conspiracy theories are part of the way they see the world says Wolf-Dieter Vogel in his essay
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteoug and trish, sitting in a tree
ReplyDeleteK_I_S_S ING
wwwweeeelllll, both on the wrong side of the issue anyway:
"No country has recognized the de facto government of Mr. Micheletti. President Obama and other leaders in the hemisphere have insisted that Mr. Zelaya be returned to office, contending that he was removed in an illegal coup. The United States, the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have all suspended aid to Honduras in protest."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/world/americas/22honduras.html?_r=1&hp
Micheletti said that Honduras' problem is internal and not a problem affecting the international peace and security.
ReplyDelete"We will defend our sovereignty and self determination, together the government, army and all the Honduran people," Micheletti added.
After Zelaya's arrival in Honduras, the de facto government ordered a curfew from 4:00 p.m. (2200 GMT) to 7:00 a.m. (1300 GMT)
Demands Hand Over
Poland and the Czech Republic under the bus?
ReplyDeleteNo more like under the tank.
The World has enough for everybody, but some minorities, the descendants of the same people that crucified Christ, and of those that expelled Bolívar from here and in their own way crucified him. . . . have taken control of the riches of the world.”
ReplyDeleteTrish's favorite War Monger Predicts Peace!
ReplyDelete---The Death Spiral of the Islamic Republic
These little stories illustrate a great event, indeed a world-changing event: the death of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Khamenei and Ahmadinejad, and the rest of the evil empire in Tehran, are all dead men walking. We don’t know the schedule for the funeral yet, but Iranians know it’s on the agenda. One will get you ten at my betting window that, aside from a very thin veneer of top officials (for whom there is no hope, for they will fulfill the demand of the nightly rooftop chants), anyone who is anyone in Iran today is trying to make a deal with Mousavi and Karroubi. They are all whispering that their hearts are green, and always were green.
Khamenei & Co. certainly know this, as they know they are being betrayed by some very high-ranking people. And the exodus is under way; by the end of the week we will see some important representatives of the Islamic Republic resign their posts, for they do not wish to be associated with it any longer.
Look at what didn’t happen in the streets last Friday. Not a shot was fired at the millions of demonstrators in Tehran. There are YouTubes of police fraternizing with the Greens. There are stories of Revolutionary Guardsmen helping the demonstrators, and even the Basij didn’t dare to attack or arrest, with a handful of exceptions (one of which is notable: in Tabriz, if I remember correctly, they started to round up some people, and the crowd turned on them, freed the would-be victims, and beat the Basijis to death).
And look at what else didn’t happen: nobody tried to arrest Mousavi or Karroubi.
---
Under the circumstances, you’d think that your government would be talking to the Greens. But you’d be wrong. Perhaps Hillary Clinton thought she was telling the truth when she claimed, a few days after the insurrection of June 12th, that “behind the scenes” we were helping the Iranian opposition. If so, she shouldn’t have said anything about it, but I don’t think she was well informed. There are no contacts between the American Government and the leaders of the opposition. One should not expect the new government to look kindly upon a President Obama who publicly sweet-talked the Tehran butchers, and all but begged Khamenei for a few minutes of his precious time. The same applies to the Europeans, all of whom scrambled for oil and other commercial contracts, and none of whom talked to the Green leaders.
As so often, Martin Luther King Jr. summed it up perfectly: “In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
Ledeen does not expect the new leaders in Iran to continue much of it's support for terrorism.
ReplyDeleteTHAT would be nice!
He also expects it to be more secular.
Right, Ash:
ReplyDeleteChavez's Crew, the Euroweenies, and the World Bank are the ultimate arbiters of the truth.
Sorry, Ash, your the one that's on the wrong side of the issue. I notice that Zalaya is using Al Jazeera as his mouth piece. Very telling.
ReplyDeleteHonduras should break off relations with Brazil and kick their diplomats out of the country. Then they should tell Clinton to take the 600 US troops stationed in the country and move them out. They should also tell her to take her advice and shove it up her fat ass.
What Happened in Honduras
"PAGE UNAVAILABLE
ReplyDeleteThe document you requested either no longer exists or is not currently available. "
Whoops.
ReplyDeleteWell if you Google "Honduran Constitution" the article should be about the fourth one down.
It's by Mary O'grady and is titled:
"Honduras Defends It's Democracy -- WSJ.com"
/w a subtitle (Fidel Castro and Hillary Clinton Object)
Hillary’s Honduras Obsession
ReplyDeleteThe U.S. is trying to force the country to violate its constitution.
"The Supreme Court of Honduras has constitutional and statutory authority to hear cases against the President of the Republic and many other high officers of the State, to adjudicate and enforce judgments, and to request the assistance of the public forces to enforce its rulings."
ReplyDelete—Congressional Research Service, August 2009
With the number of Czars now approaching 40,
ReplyDeleteit has been suggested that we call them
"Tsardines"
Oops, I almost forgot about those 32 "czars." I would like to know what they are up to.
ReplyDeletePresident Obama is scheduling appearances on five Sunday television shows, obviously trying hard to sell his medical reform abomination that even his own party does not want. I have heard about polls on the radio that say 52 percent of Americans do not like his program; they also say that the president's disapproval number goes up every time he gives a speech.
So, some advice to our President: Keep it up.
Letters
Iran: Videos from Quds Day Protests
ReplyDeleteFriday, September 18th, 2009 @ 21:54 UTC
by Hamid Tehrani
On September 18, Iranian protesters wearing green in support of the opposition, once more defied the Iranian government in the streets of Tehran, Shiraz, Isfahan, and several other cities as they protested against dictatorship.
The official Islamic Republic was observing Quds Day (a day of support for Palestinians against Israel) but the opposition prefered to ask for freedom in Iran rather than for liberation of foreign lands.
Iranian protesters chanted slogans such as ‘Neither Gaza nor Lebanon!' ‘My life is ready to be sacrified for Iran!' ‘Down with the dictator!' and ‘Down with Russia'.
People attending the rallies documented the events by with photos (above) and videos.
...
Down with Russia in Shiraz
Protesters in Shiraz rallied on Quds Day but preferred to chant against Russia, rather than Israel. This is in reference to opposition accusations that Russia has been involved in training repression forces of the regime.
linear,
ReplyDeleteYour last is making WiO's repeated references to the clique of Israel haters look prophetic. Hitchen's comments on the next thread has the same impact.