COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

EU Puts Together Sanction Plan Against Iran Without US, Iran Terrified

Europeans may move Iran resolution without U.S.
Tue Oct 24, 2006 3:45pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Key European states are threatening to circulate their own draft resolution imposing nuclear and missile sanctions on Iran after failing to reach agreement with Washington, a European diplomat said on Tuesday.

But a senior U.S. official predicted the dispute will be resolved.

A unified front among Britain, France, Germany and the United States has been key to international efforts to deal with Iran's nuclear program.

But they have recently split over a U.S. demand that Russia be forced to halt work at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, U.S. officials and European diplomats said.

"The Europeans have told the United States that we're going to circulate the text among the permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council and planned to do it today," one diplomat said.

But a senior U.S. official told Reuters: "On Bushehr, I think they'll solve it" by allowing some work on the project -- worth an estimated $800 million to Russia -- to proceed.

38 comments:

  1. I guess we will have to wait and see how el dente the wet noodle will be. see

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  2. It was ever to be so. I would hate to think Mr. Bush ever really thought it could be otherwise.

    As they say at the rodeo, "Ride your own shute."

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  3. Right on schedule.

    Same old story
    same old song.

    Lil' Kim may or may not be "sorry"
    Abracadabra warns Europe of consequences
    Russia stands by it's client.

    We don't buy much from Russia, it's not like China, on the high road to free trade.

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  4. The insurgents are the Iraqi government's problem. Li'l Kim (and the Rising Japanese Sun) is China's problem. President Ineedanewjob is Israel's problem. The North African "youths" are France's problem. Bring the troops home and put them on the border, and don't quote "Posse Comitatus" at me, what could be more appropriate for the Defense Department than defending our own land from invasion?

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  5. My old pal C4 has a post at the BC. As is so often the case, a snippet of it is useful.
    “America is singularly unwilling to commit it's sons and daughters to joining the military in numbers needed not just for Iraq - but to make other military actions possible.”
    10/24/06; 1:13 PM

    Moreover, C4's observation is supported anecdotally by an editorial in the Air Force Times, 23 October 2006, pg 60 - "We can handle the truth"

    So important is it to national security that it is herein reproduced verbatim.

    “The Pentagon has issued final recruiting numbers for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, along with press releases crowing about how the service hit 100 percent of their goals in a tough wartime recruiting environment.

    “But what defense officials did not say spoke far louder than what they did.

    “The Army had to ease several quality standards to hit its goal last year, while the Marine Corps had to bite into its delayed entry pool more than it likes.

    “And if the Navy and Air Force are not seeing similar problems, that is largely because both are cutting active-duty end strength; neither the Air National Guard nor the Navy Reserve made its recruiting goals last year.

    “Moreover, the initial release of recruiting data last week omitted crucial details: enlistment exam scores and percentages of high school graduates, the most important measures of recruiting “quality.”

    “Curious, especially since this data was routinely trumpeted during the forcewide drawdown of the 1990s, a buyer’s dream market for recruiters.

    “When defense officials did produce that data – two days later- it was easy to see why they’re not eager to emphasize it.

    “In terms of recruits with high school diplomas, the Army was down to 81 percent last fiscal year - its poorest showing in the past two decades by far.

    “And the percentage of Army recruits in the bottom half of enlistment exam scores jumped to 39 percent - a 12 percentage point increase since 2003. The Air Force and Marine Corps also saw increases in this area in the past few year, though much smaller.

    “Trying to gloss over the wars’ impact on recruiting erodes the Pentagon’s credibility.

    “Telling the whole story - and then proposing realistic solutions – is a more responsible course.”

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  6. Then they came for my beer
    Submit to fingerprinting to buy a drink at a bar? Samizdata points out it is happening already, all over England. The British newspapers report:


    Read more at the BC

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  7. Just when I think Teresita has lost it or never had it, she blows me away. No pun intended, so don’t go there.
    10/24/06; 05:54:32 PM

    “In an era when national boundaries, even stupid ones, are sacrosanct, this amounts to a chronic legacy of woe for the hegemon.
    (Wretchard)

    The only national boundary that is not sacrosanct is the United States national boundary, if the citizen-militia who elects to patrol that border (because our own government won't do it, and won't build a fence, and won't supply troops beyond a vague promise made for the press in the Rose Garden) tries to speak, the nutballs storm their meeting and shut them down.”

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  8. Again I reccomend the latest piece of work at Westhawk

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  9. Gentlema, Lady, some damn good posts in here tonight.

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  10. As usual Tiger Hawk has up an excellent post about our Arab friends. Well, maybe technically not OUR friends, but surely the friends of Mr. Bush.

    All compliments of VDH via Instapundit

    The collective mentality of the Arab Middle East

    “It is difficult in history to find any civilization that asks as much of others as does the contemporary Middle East—and yet so little of itself.”

    “We will damn your culture and politics, but expect our own to immigrate in the thousands to your shores; upon arrival any attempt to integrate Muslim immigrants into Western pluralistic society will be seen as Islamaphobic…”

    “We must at all times talk of anti-Americanism and why we want you out of the Middle East; you must never become anti-Arab or anti-Muslim, much less close your borders to our immigrants and students.”

    “Material aid—billions to Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, or the Palestinians — is our entitlement…”

    “We are deathly afraid of nuclear Russia, China, and India who have little tolerance for either Islamism or terrorism, and so will ignore their felonies, while killing you for your misdemeanors.”

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  11. DR,

    That Westhawk piece is good.

    "Sunni-Arab thinking is simply suicidal..."

    Hasn't that been the problem all along, and not just in Iraq?

    Too much inbreeding can lead to the situation where a group can be not the "least bit rational."

    Seriously, I am not being facetious. The recurring problem with the Western mind is the incapacity to accept that there are people who are only loosely human, as understood by the West. Frankly, generally, Muslims might as well be from Uranus.

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  12. News flash!

    NEW YORK, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Researchers at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University say most men are always thinking of sex.

    In other news, babies shit yellow.

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  13. Teresita,

    re: most men thinking about sex

    Don't be Reeedickulust. There are pauses of as long as six seconds.

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  14. Whew..had to go to Atlanta today. Just got back to Baja Georgia (FL)..miss all the neat thing the group assemble for the survival deal..
    One thing I didn't see...the lefties will be trying to survive too but more tha likely won't have the know how. Plus they can only fight with placards.
    So we form squads to identify various lefty enclaves and, to use one of their favorite words, "liberate" what we need. We might even tell them that the really good berries are way way up the mountain. They should be the easiest pick'ns for our group.
    We just locate, isolate, liberate, and reeducate. It'll be fun....I bet you they'd haul all the heavy stuff if were just persuaded them it was in their best interest ...yes fun is the word.

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  15. Now I'm hitt'n the hay

    nite good men and ladies.

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  16. We'd have to hobble 'em at night or they'd wander off & get lost--

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  17. If you "plan" to make a labor exploitation panopticon then maybe ou should conisder defining utilizty mazximization.

    How will you get stoners to work for ou? Especially when they are so laid back? will you pay them for their insights into spacetime and thier music reconmmendations?

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  18. i can tell you with one zer zero certainty that leftists a you call them will not be made into your slaves as they are very independent and free minded.

    They enjoy their freedom and independence and will see disasters as opportunities not the spilled milk, sour lemons and grapes Republicans are so obsessed with, rocking in a cultural corner ideologically naked

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  19. oops not bed yet..

    Buddy,
    We hobble, that is correct

    As for how you motivate stoners. You confiscate their oxygen and for every "good deed" they get some oxygen. Of course we define what a "good deed" is.
    Say for example Buddy slightly pulls a groin muscle,nothing serious but message is required for quick recovery. A fair maiden could earn "good deed"points for volunteering to work out the kink.

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  20. Well, hell, habu, that has got my vote, i agree with that wholefully.

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  21. Well, i deserve no thanks--I linked her for the pic, and haven't read her stuff yet, i hate to admit. But, i damn sure will, now.

    What is "My Thinking Corner"?

    Allen, that link to the Rabbinical story--great, great link. Love those foundational parables.

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  22. Ah, i see. Will do just that--if not tonite, then in the morn.

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  23. Allen, you know how you get all upset at C4 when he lets his anti-semitism show, well, you have a similar propensity except it is the mirror image. Here is yet another example:

    "Seriously, I am not being facetious. The recurring problem with the Western mind is the incapacity to accept that there are people who are only loosely human, as understood by the West. Frankly, generally, Muslims might as well be from Uranus."


    hmmmm, all 1.2 billion of the followers of a particular faith are "loosely human" and may "as well be from Uranus". Extermination of such beasts no problem in your eyes?

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  24. Ash, do you see a difference yourself in that a very high percentage of 1.2 billion want to either destroy or subjugate the West or are very sympathetic to that point of view? That stands alone as a problem, wouldn't you agree?

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  25. I am skeptical that a large percentage of muslims want to subjugate us.

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  26. Ash,

    re: C4

    Ash, why on earth would I be upset with such a useful person as C4? He has been catalytic to some of my best work.

    Ash, I challenge you to find an Arab newspaper, any Arab newspaper, that unequivocally condemns Muslims for suicide-murder. By all means go back to 9/11. Indeed, I further challenge you to find any Arab newspaper that has unequivocally condemned the attack of 9/11. So, do try to prove me wrong.

    Ash, name any Arab head of state that has unequivocally condemned Muslims for suicide-murder.

    Ash, there are a handful, quite literally, of Arab public intellectuals who have condemned Muslim suicide-murder. They hide in fear of retribution.

    Whether Islam will have to be eradicated in up to Muslims. Tolerance among much of the American public (and EU, I suspect) is wearing thin. The West has a history of brutal recompense when once some indistinct line is crossed. Personally, I would prefer to see severe punishment for Muslim provocation meted out discreetly, but fully. The US must instill in Islam the same fear as that held for the Russians, Chinese, and Indians.

    As a Western man, following a long tradition of the development of cultural norms, I find little in Islam compatible with those norms. And I make no apology for thinking Western cultural norms superior to those of Islam.

    With that in mind, Ash, what is your view of female genital mutilation? When living in the West, should Muslim women unveil themselves? Do you subscribe to the governing principles of Hamas?

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  27. Change "discreetly" to "discretely".

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  28. Ash,

    19 million Muslims for jihad
    ...and that's just in Indonesia


    So, Ash, how many of these religious fanatics are we permitted to take down?

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  29. Ash,



    Of the approximately 240,000 Muslims in Britain sympathizing with jihad, how many may we eliminate, for safety’s sake?

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  30. You are displaying some intellectual confusion Allen. Not all Muslims are Arab and not all Arab's are Muslim. In addition simply because publication X does not "unequivocally condemn" something does not mean they support it. Because I have not seen you unequivocally condemn Menachem Begin's actions when he was a member of the Irgun it does not follow that I can validly state that you support terrorism.

    With respect to the questions you ask:


    "With that in mind, Ash, what is your view of female genital mutilation?"

    It is an abhorent practice. Do all Muslims do this?

    "When living in the West, should Muslim women unveil themselves?"

    I don't care if they do or not. I have never been a fan of dress codes in general. Similarily, I have little problem with Orthodox Jews wearing funny hats and letting their hair grow weird, even here in the west. Sikhs can sport the Turban, even on 5th avenue, it doesn't bother me.

    "Do you subscribe to the governing principles of Hamas?"

    No, nor do the Muslims that I know personally. Do you?

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  31. allen, you are being silly. jihad is a complex term meaning much more then the definition you seem to be trumpeting which appears to be "jihad = suicide bomber taking out innocent people". I suggest you learn a little more about Islam and its terminology before you start your progrom.

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  32. Ash,

    The Great Divide: How Westerners and Muslims View Each Other

    Sometime Support for Suicide Bombing

    France---35%
    Spain----25%
    Germany- 13%
    Jordan---57%
    Turkey---26%
    Nigeria— 69%

    OK. Of these many millions of psychopaths, how many may the US kill, while remaining in your good graces?

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  33. Ash,

    Surely, you will not argue that suicide bombing is not a form of jihad.

    To gain an appreciation of the Prophet's view of jihad, take a look at Islam's geographic expansion during its first 100 years. This is the time believed by bin Laden and company to be most representative of Islamic culture. Unlike Christian missionaries during the first century of Christianity, Muslims did not peacefully go "unto all the world" in small groups spreading the "gospel" of the Koran.

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  34. Ash,

    When I ask you to use Arabic language newspapers for your search, I am not confused. Simply, I am trying to lighten your load. These papers, reaching several hundred million readers of Arabic, will suffice for my ends.

    Now, if you cannot find an unequivocal denunciation of suicide-murder in any Arabic newspaper, you need only say so.

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  35. Ash,

    re: "'With that in mind, Ash, what is your view of female genital mutilation?'

    It is an abhorent practice. Do all Muslims do this?"

    This extensive study from the early 90s, relying on data from the 80s may be useful. As to female circumcision among Muslims:

    “Sudan (98%), Somalia (98%) and Egypt (75%) are among the largest Arabic countries practicing it. In Egypt, 97.5% of uneducated families impose circumcision upon their daughters compared to 66.2% of educated families[21]. Other Arabic countries practice it too: Yemen, the United Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, some areas of Saudi Arabia, Mauritania. It appears to be done also in some Muslim countries of Asia such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and India…”
    TO MUTILATE IN THE NAME OF JEHOVAH OR ALLAH

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  36. Ash,

    Go to this post here at the Elephant Look at these verses from the Quran What do you do with that?

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  37. allen wrote:

    "Surely, you will not argue that suicide bombing is not a form of jihad."

    No I wouldn't argue that. Still, that does not mean that jihad means suicide bombing.

    2164th,

    Yes, there are some ugly things that can be found by doing a literal reading of the koran. As has been noted there are also ugly things to be found in the bible. What really counts are peoples actions and how those actions relate to US. There are many bad practices in the world, many things I don't agree with - honor killings, discrimination based on sex, discrimination based on sexual orientation, poverty, inequality of health care (i.e. only kids born to people of means receive first rate care). We can list many things that we find abhorrent but what are we to do about it? Should we invade and occupy Somalia because we don't like their laws? Should Canada take it upon itself to forcibly teach Americans about universal health care, more equitable income allocation? No, of course not. We can express our displeasure and try to help people realize the errors of their ways and we can work on fixing up the problems in our own house (i.e. jurisdiction) but should we militarily invade and occupy to force them to adopt our view of human rights....no.

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