A universe of intelligent people are caught asking the wrong questions about the Mumbai terrorists: Were they Brits? Were they Pakistanis? Afghans? Al Qaeda? Home grown Indian? Is this a new form of terrorism?
Good grief, the right question: Were they Muslims? Yes! Where they are from is irrelevant!
That Islamic teachers and preachers are raising a borderless army of fanatical assassins and murderers, that is what is relevant. Besides, it is not just in Mumbai!
Wake up world! We are undeniably on a course to WWIII. And platitudes will not help. Nothing short of global military action will stop these madmen! In the end, the fanatics will be annihilated or we will, but the civilized world will NEVER be the same.
Showing posts with label Geopolitics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Geopolitics. Show all posts
Saturday, November 29, 2008
GLOBAL DENIAL: A world caught in the headlights of Islam!
Friday, November 14, 2008
BIN LADEN: Still hiding but not running!
For keeping us safe for seven years, I hope Bush gets the SOB; for Nick Berg's sake, I hope they show his decapitated remains on Al Jazerra!Usama bin Laden is isolated from the day-to-day operations of Al Qaeda, but the terrorist organization he built is spreading its influence in Africa and the Middle East CIA Director Michael Hayden said.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
NORTH KOREA: I hate to say ...!
... I told you so, but "I told you so!"Former American Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton has been predicting North Korea would disavow previous commitments (inspection and verification efforts) made to America and its allies regarding its nuclear program
Bolton was right; and the New York Times editorial page was wrong when it trusted the North Koreans to follow through and blamed the Bush Administration for problems dealing with the North Korean regime. Now the North Koreans are threatening war if America tries to hold it to its promises. [Ed Lasky at The American Thinker; h/t Black Kettle]
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
THURSDAY'S TRANNIES: Linking the transitory (ephemera)!
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "As I watched the press conference on Friday [11/7/08] given by President-elect Barack Obama, I asked myself, 'How did this 47-year-old African-American with no executive experience and only three years in the Senate become the most powerful political leader in the entire world?'" [WND - Samuel Blumenfeld (h/t Black Kettle)]118th pyramid found in Egypt... and it appears to be a small puppy! [FoxNews.com]CAIR demands DHS explain 2004 'Profiling' of Muslims ... duh!
[PR News Wire]El Baradei says Obama openness will loosen lips in Iran; yea, right! [Yahoo! News]Sharia push in UK and EU continues coming to America soon [Jihad Watch]Anglican angst ... bout time! [National Post]Whales and subs back to ground zero! [Yahoo!]When you smell democrat desperation in the air, does it smell of hypocrisy? [Q & O; h/t Maggie's Farm]MUSLIM MEDICINE: Hypocritical Oath [Yahoo!]How does this happen! [Yahoo!]A Picture is worth $78.20. [Maggie's Farm]The Big Three automakers remind me of my dog Buck ... blind, deaf, can't raise himself, cranky, incontinent, 105 years-old, and wanders ... I put him down recently! Nuff said! [FOX Business]Multiculturalism and its link to Nazi-like nationalism or vice-versa [Brussels Journal]Good news ... Bhudda's back! When was he gone? [FOXNews]And in closing: good news about "the One" and his foreign policy! [Europe News]
Automakers, Archeology, Bhudda, ECUSA,
Ephemera, Episcopal, Foreign policy, Iran, Multiculturalism,
Muslims, Nationalism, Obama, Sharia, Trannies, Unions
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PETRO DOLLARS: USA consumers apparently funding UK bailout!
If I understand this right, the UK's Gordon Brown (PM) is seeking to influence Saudi Arabia's support of the IMF and the World Bank ... why? Because the Saudis have excess petrodollars lying around and the IMF and the World Bank, due to the seriousness of the global financial crisis, don't! So?
It seems Brown, like most of the rest of the world, needs tons of pounds to bail the English economy out, and the UK doesn't want to be seen going hat in hand to Arab Gulf states; normally the only source of those funds is the IMF and the World Bank.
Where did the Saudis get all this hard cash? From petrodollars ... the recent rise in crude prices filled Arab States coffers. Where do the petrodollars come from? Well, something shy of 25% of every petrodollar comes from the American consumer (this assumes US petroleum consumption and US energy consumption track).So if the Saudis agree to fund the IMF and the World Bank, and the UK obtains bailout funds from them, about 20 cents of every dollar borrowed by the UK would come from an American purse!
So, the American taxpayer is not only bailing out AIG, the national banking system, and soon the automakers, but theoretically any nation or group that relies on Saudi funding; blend in ongoing funding of the UN (22% of annual budget), the consumer's indirect involvement in any UK bailout, the fact that Arabian petrodollars go to support terrorist organizations, and a web of self-destructive global financing begins to appear before our eyes.
What a mess! If we factor in the bankrupt Social Security and Medicare systems it gets even messier.
American taxpayers need immediate action from their representatives.
Bailout, IMF, Medicare, Petrodollars,
Politics, Saudi Arabia, Social Security,
Terrorism, UK, UN, World Bank
Sunday, November 09, 2008
CONGO: Here we go again ... rape, torture, pillaging, and genocide!
The continuing rebel incursion into the DR Congo is Rwanda all over again. I sometimes wonder if ANYONE knows where and what Africa is?
While the world continues to have an erection over "The One" (h/t FL), rape, torture, and murder proceed unimpeded in the DR Congo, the third largest country by area in Africa.
The UN was shouldered with responsibility for finding a solution years ago ... long before the current war; their answer to the challenge was and is MONUC, which is nothing more than a subsidy for thousands of emasculated foreign military personnel. The EU sent its own contingent of troops as well ... so too the French.
In the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, conservative and religious voices lifted a chorus of "never again," while numerous Western nations conducted inquiries into their failure to prevent the inhumanity ... yet here we are again.
We have well over 5 million (mostly civilian) native deaths directly or indirectly related to the DR Congo wars, yet the world watches and yawns; add the genocide in Darfur and one should choke on the staggering loss of lives in Africa in the past decade.
The incompetence of our global structures to stop these tribal and regional conflicts and bring general peace to the continent speaks volumes about the state of 21st Century man and his creations.
If it weren't so damn irritating it would be laughable.
Raise a stink about this, write your leaders, write the UN, call newspapers. Do something!
Africa, Darfur, DR Congo,
Genocide, Global incompetence, MONUC,
Obama, Geopolitics, United Nations
Sunday, October 26, 2008
PALIN: And so soon it begins ... !
The MSM and the left begin their destruction of the thing they fear most, a 2012 run for the White House by Sarah Palin. As I mentioned yesterday - "it's a shame Sarah Palin is not at the head of the ticket [now]" I'll support her in 2012, unless "the MSM and the federal super majority in DC ... fix it so she can't" run.
Even the foreign press cites "unnamed campaign insiders" and "aides close to both candidates" and "a senior Republican" and "four Republicans close to Ms Palin" and "a Palin associate" and "reports" and "advisers to Senator McCain" and "McCain sources," ... eight common unnamed sources in a single article and not one named source, NOT ONE! These are all journo-speak for "I don't have a source, but I trust my rumor mongers."
UPDATE: The fix is in, and proof of it is here. [26 Oct.'08; 12:57 PM]
Saturday, October 18, 2008
OBAMA: Is our election of a president a popularity contest or prophetic precursor?
The world is being set up; set up to one day receive the biblical "man of lawlessness." In August I posted ...The CRIB is NOT saying anything about Obama being the Antichrist, far too many things must come first ... the Temple, the priesthood, the ten nation confederacy, and the return of the Jewish diaspora ... only be aware, be on the alert ... for the days are short.In that post I quoted 2 Thessalonians 2:3-5, where Scripture warns us of a day when he will be made known ... it's a certainty. The CRIB simply wants to warn its readers to be on the alert ... these are prophetic times.
Some generation will be alive when he is revealed; our generation is being used to set the stage for that revelation. The global community (this generation), because of its godlessness and weariness, is being hypnotized into acting as a precursor for his actual coming.
Three unrelated yet relevant news articles caught my attention ... and they should catch yours."I want you to believe," said the candidate, clad in an open-necked shirt and barn jacket. "Not so much believe just in me but believe in yourselves. Believe in the future. Believe in the future we can build together. I'm confident together we can't fail."Jesus Himself said, "Apart from me you can do nothing." How is it that this candidate never mentions Jesus if he is such a staunch believer.
There was a carnival atmosphere among the crowd of some 4,000, who almost drowned Mr Obama out as he reached his crescendo and said: "I promise you. We won't just win New Hampshire. We will win this election and, you and I together, we're going to change the country and change the world." [Telegraph UK]The Economist has organized a global consultative participation via the internet in the US‘ election. The available results give “99%” of the countries to Obama. While the sample is not scientific – only those with access to the weekly and the internet could participate – one thing is clear.Almost sounds biblical, doesn't it? That's what I thought. We are being used by God to set the stage ... I'm certain of it!
Never has anyone in superpower America ascended to power with as much global support as BO is likely to. The disappointment of the sobered at home and abroad will match the present enthusiasm fueled by illusions. [Brussels Journal]Friday's NBC Nightly News devoted a story to how around the world “people want to turn a page on the Bush years” and, as if it's relevant, “if the world had a vote, Barack Obama would win in a landslide.” A suggestion to viewers on what they must do to restore America's honor?I too want to turn a page on the Bush years, but I don't want the world to have anything to do with selecting our president. In fact, I only cede that to God.
Reporter Dawna Friesen warned that the next President “faces a grim reality: Much of the world deeply distrusts, even dislikes, the United States” and she rued “much of the sympathy and solidarity that existed after 9/11 evaporated during the Bush years.” [News Busters]Here in Turkey, as in much of the world, people want to turn a page on the Bush years. In fact, polls show the image of the U.S. has improved slightly this year simply because President Bush is leaving. And, that if the world had a vote, Barack Obama would win in a landslide. Regardless of who wins, the world is clamoring for a new America in 2009. [Friesen - NBC Nightly News via News Busters]Clearly, in my opinion, this generation is being used to precursor the coming of the Antichrist. Not a generation which follows this one will be immune from the subtle pull of Satan's grip and Antichrist's power sapping undercurrent.
God have mercy on me a sinner, and show us your Light, your True Light.
Monday, October 13, 2008
ISLAM: Call me an Islamophobe but ... !
Some day, perhaps not in my lifetime, WWIII will commence. A war of the west against the evil empire of the east - Islam. Not everyone on either side will be in favor of this conflict but its commencement and conduct are not in the range of their control.
The North American theatre is well under way, with Canada going as Europe goes. The USA front has a unique character to ti ...Many black racists ... are key figures in [a] “stealth” jihad, whose prime recruiting grounds are the U.S. prisons and mosques where inmates and worshippers alike are taught to embrace a radical Islam engaged in an apocalyptic battle against America.The European theatre of this Third Jihad has almost resulted in a Eurabia, a union of the EU (not with popular support either) and the Arabian states of the Middle East (Israel was not invited ... go figure).
Our ally, Saudi Arabia, W's close desert friends, is footing the bill for the Jihad's foot soldiers in the land of the free ...... Saudis ... have spent many millions of dollars funding a majority of America’s mosques, and have dispatched Imams from a number of Middle Eastern nations to settle in the U.S. as missionaries.Some might say these clandestine enemies don't stand a chance against our intel services, but need I remind you of the 9/11, Iraq, and Taliban failures of recent years? I would suggest my fellow Americans not put much faith in either ourdomestic or our international operations.
Faheem Shuaibe, an Imam at a predominately black mosque in California, says that Saudi Arabia has set up “a very deliberate recruitment process … trying to find black Muslims who had a real potential for Islamic learning and also for submission to their agenda” of Wahhabi extremism.Pakistani religious leaders Sami ul-Haq and Fazrul Rehman predict that “in the next 10 years, Americans will wake up to the existence of an Islamic army in their midst—an army of jihadis who will force America to abandon imperialism and listen to the voice of Allah.”The belief among Muslims worldwide is that America is the new Crusader. The belief among black American racists is that all whiteys are still fundamentally non-reformable slavers.Other black racist Islamists play less glamorous but equally significant roles as Imams at major mosques in the U.S.; as chaplains in prisons and jails; and as radical figures who haunt American higher education by advising and speaking for organizations such as the Muslim Students Association (MSA) on campuses across the nation.The Judeo-Christian focus on the next life as opposed to the Muslim focus on this life is a powerful and dividing force; one that allows the former to coexist in this world, but forces the other to conquest of this world.
Whatever audience they target, they speak a lingua franca of anti-white, anti-Semitic, anti-American hatred—all in the name of Allah.
WWIII is coming, as sure as the sun will rise in the morning ... unless the sun that rises tomorrow is the Son that has risen.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
EUROPEAN CONNECTION: Don't fence me in ... I'm religious and political?
Europe's first revolution | New Statesman
HT - Cranmer: MEPs: ‘The EU is of a secular and neutral nature’
We Are Losing Europe to Islam | Diana West : Townhall
America is going the way of Europe ... unbeknown to the majority of her citizens!
John Steinbeck's novella was titled - Of Mice and Men; but God said - of neither mice nor men ...Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation." For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water.But first a metaphorical interlude ...
But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.2 Peter 3:3-10Farmer Jones was content with his life's work: his terraced fields were solid and easily maintained; his dual-source irrigation system was state of the art; his stock fine and deep in DNA; his bio-seed stores unrivaled; and his children and grandchildren legally provided for ... a century at least if the wisdom they were taught ruled their lives.Though the global financial crisis is the easiest correlation here, the demise of Europe as a viable Western ally will cascade across the sea and destroy all that is not destroyed by the fiduciary failure of our financial community.
But his neighbor was not so content, nor so wise: when the 100 year flood came, it took his poorly built terraces, polluted his wells, killed his stock, saturated his seed stores, and took the house and barns as a final thought. On their way to removing the new county road, the waters and the flotsam and jetsam undermined Jones' terraces and took his farm too!
So how is it that I see America following Europe's lead in to oblivion?
First, Europe's new leaders believe they can correct "mistakes" of the past (Crusades, wars, poverty, inhumanity, etc.) by ignoring almost 1,500 years of Christian influence.Papal mutterings about this perceived "apostasy" have been increasing in volume for some time now - but what really infuriated the Vatican was the presentation, back in 2003, of the first draft of the ill-fated European constitution.In the USA it is a popular recreation, and Starbucks' moment, to wax on about our evil and religious past, while revealing a severe case of anti-religious ignorance marinated in an unhealthy canister of secular arrogance; in so doing the secular humanist, not seeing the baby in the dirty water, throws it out.
In its preamble, the authors had indulged themselves in a spot of root-tracing. Europe's debt to ancient Greece and Rome was solemnly acknowledged. So, too, were the achievements of the Enlightenment. About the Christian roots of European civilisation, however, there was nothing.
The implication was obvious: everything between Marcus Aurelius and Voltaire was to be reckoned mere backwardness and superstition. [...]
Today's secular Europe may well pride itself on having arrived at a post-religious state of moral and intellectual superiority - but it is no less Christendom's heir for that.
What they conveniently forget in their snobbery is the existence of such grand institutions as Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, Notre Dame, Loyola; the multiple and nationwide hospitals of the Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Catholics, the benevolent work of the Amish, Mennonites, the Salvation Army, the Knights of Columbus, and the senior care and retirement facilities of manifold others, etc. and etc.
All undeniable foundational and historically relevant religious entities.
Second, Europe's new leaders believe they can get away with the former if they "ring-fence" all religions and politics.... the con viction [sic] that the religious and political spheres should be rigorously ring-fenced - and even more rigorously patrolled - has widespread support in Brussels. As one group of MEPs protested, in an official letter of complaint to the president of the European Parliament: "The EU is of a secular and neutral nature."Almost daily, in America, someone (usually a politician but also an entertainer or academician), somewhere stands to condemn all things religious, throwing the baby, the water, and the clean out together.
A good example of this attitude of the left is the fairness doctrine (it's believed by some that this abomination will be reinstated in the event of an Obama victory); this is nothing more than cristophobia in drag.
Third, Europe's new leaders believe there are no absolutes and are willing to institute a broad set of absolutes to stop belief in them.Pope Benedict asked last year: ‘Is it not surprising that today's Europe, while hoping to be seen as a community of values, more and more seems to contest that universal and absolute values exist?’A refreshing wind in all of this elitist duplicity and stupidity is Benedict XVI's adamant stand against the EU Parliament's efforts to bury their heads in the sand.
Yet he ought to have made it clear that the EU has developed its own universal and absolute articles of faith which are not neutral, but decidedly anti.
If a state seeks to be neutral in the effect of its policies then it requires a greater level of state intervention to ensure that inequalities are negated. [Cranmer]
Most of our (America's) cultural war has been fought on this battlefield ... sanctity of human life, separation of church and state, Constitutional law and legislating from the bench, capital punishment, free speech, etc.Cranmer is with Pope Benedict XVI in his opposition to the EU’s militant secularism.Secular humanism has progressively become more absolutist in its quest to silence conservatives and people of faith by ridiculing the belief in absolutes ... and the irony seems to be lost on them.
One cannot be ‘neutral’ in matters of religion - pretending to broker between ‘equal’ faiths and impartial in arbitration between competing worldviews - for that neutrality presupposes a higher level of knowledge and constitutes itself an article of faith. There is no neutrality to be had because neutrality needs as much justification as any other position.
Fourth, multiculturalism has been the weapon of choice for Europe and the European Union ... a weapon incapable of aiding in a suicide ... for combating the Third Jihad.With Wall Street convulsing, and the White House race intensifying, the question "Who lost Europe" is on no one's lips, let alone minds. Indeed, the question begs another: "Is Europe lost?"The USA has been duped into a multicultural stupor by leftists and special interest groups; Islamic groups have used this stupor to their advantage. If America doesn't wake up, it will have more than an illegal immigration problem.
The answer to the second question is, "No, not yet." And losing Europe, I would add, is by no means inevitable. But that doesn't mean the continent isn't currently hell-bent to accommodate the dictates of Islamic law, bit by increasingly larger bit. Such a course of accommodation, barring reversal, will only hasten Bernard Lewis' famous prediction that Europe will be Islamic by century's end. [Diana West]The west faces increasing tension with the Muslim world. [...]A bleak picture indeed ... for a nation so self-absorbed and carnal that it might well face a day not too distant when it cannot defend itself. A nation's military security is intrinsically tied to its economic security ... and as we found when Russia invaded Georgia, we're lacking in both areas.
As the first decade of the third Christian millennium draws to an increasingly troubled close, the verdict of historians on its significance can already be anticipated. Two themes will predominate. The first, exemplified by the present carnage in the financial markets, will be the quickening of the west's decline relative to China and India; the second, not entirely coincidentally, will be the tensions in the relationship between the west and the Muslim world.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
WEALTH: A prelude to the Last Days!
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.Matthew 6:19-21Scripture warns of days like these ... man, vested in this world and not the next, is surprised by the loss of all his wealth, having come to trust in it.
Who is there to blame ... point the finger of blame anywhere but in a mirror! Whose watch is it? Blame him! Or, though they know not God, they blame God!
I have come to believe this financial crisis is being allowed by God, much as He allowed the Tower of Babel to be built. When He tired of man's efforts to reach Him He threw them into global confusion, much like the global confusion we witness today.
And the fact that neither of the two candidates for POTUS are truly acceptable candidates, that neither is qualified to lead in these days of trial and tribulation; neither is like David, a man after God's own heart.
It is so like God to humble the wisdom of man by His ignorance, man's power by His weakness, and man's message by the message!
Wars are being fought that cannot be won (and here); nonsensical ideologies are waxing strong (Soviet resurgence; Amadinajab's nuclear & Israeli foreign policy), while the wisdom of the ages gathers dust on the book shelf; and public ignorance grows like mold under a leaky sink.Yet still the panic continues, still the stock markets suffer record-breaking falls, still the finance ministers and central bank governors scratch their heads to cobble together yet another initiative to avert financial cataclysm.Or so says His Grace, the Archbishop Cranmer. Here, here! Or is it, "Hear, hear"?
And millions of helpless people are left to wander aimlessly in a valley of darkness and insecurity, because they followed their leaders without discernment; they trusted their teachings and respected their learning; they affirmed their experience and submitted to their authority.
Yet all the time those leaders were leading the people astray, for they were placating them with falsehood and lies, leading them to the false god of riches and avarice. They fixed their eyes on the Gold Calf, in worship, love and adoration. And the people mistook this idol for the God of their forefathers, for it brought happiness, material wealth, security, and the people had never had it so good.
But all good things must come to an end, especially those good things which were not actually good, but merely seemed so.
Friday, September 26, 2008
FINANCIAL CRISIS: German minister gets ahead of the game!
Sometimes we (Americans) deserve criticism; this is one of those times."The world will never be as it was before the crisis," [German Finance Minister Peer] Steinbrueck told the Bundestag lower house of parliament.But sometimes critics get ahead of the game; like leaving the stadium before the game is over.
"The United States will lose its superpower status in the world financial system. The world financial system will become more multi-polar," he said."Give me a U, give me a S, give me an A; give me a USA!"
Saturday, September 20, 2008
OBAMA: The Muslim Factor!
Perceptions mean a lot in national elections. Here are more reasons why you should think very carefully about voting for the suave and debonier Senator from Illinois.GOP loses Arab-Americans, but support for Obama is soft | Detroit News
HT - The Iconoclast - New English Review
Sons of Thunder, James and John Zogby, collaborated on an Election 2008 survey of Arab-Americans.Arab-American voters also appear consistent with the rest of the population in that Arab Catholics -- including Chaldeans, Malachites and Maronites -- favor McCain, 53-31. Muslim Arab-Americans favor Obama 84-4.The issue here has to do with the last sentence. "Muslim Arab-Americans" perceive Obama as favorable for a reason. Such a wide margin between Muslim and non-Muslim voters should give every voter pause.
Consider Rebecca Bynum's cautious innuendos in today's New English Review ...It may be the standard liberal line that anyone who isn't for Obama is a racist, but James Zogby also went to bat for Mazen Asbahi, the Muslim Brotherhood linked adviser to the Obama campaign and it seems pretty clear he uses the Arab-American Institute to advance Muslim causes. John J. Miller says he keeps a signed picture of Yasser Arafat in his office.Reader beware; look at Eurabia to see what happens to a people asleep at the wheel.
OBAMA: Logan Act - unindicted co-conspirator!
Negotiating with foreign governments and/or foreign officials on behalf of the United States of America is restricted to a universe of only a few individuals. We have a federal law to spell this out ...OBAMA OBJECTS - NY Post
SEN. BARACK OBAMA WANTS TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ, BUT WANTS A DELAY IN NEGOTIATIONS FOR REMOVAL - NY Post
Palin to Meet With Karzai at U.N. Opening - FOXNews.com
HT - Forked Tongue - Part Two | View from 1776The Logan Act is a United States federal law that forbids unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign governments. It was passed in 1799 and last amended in 1994. Violation of the Logan Act is a felony, punishable under federal law with imprisonment of up to three years.On September 16, the New York Post's Amir Taheri charged in an OpEd piece ...
The text of the Act is broad and is addressed at any attempt of a US citizen to conduct foreign relations without authority. However, there is no record of any convictions or even prosecutions under the Logan Act. [Wikipedia; CRIB emphsis]WHILE campaigning in public for a speedy withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama has tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence.If true, a clear violation of the Logan Act.
On September 20, Taheri again addressed the issue, only this time he had an Obama campaign response to his original charge ...The Obama campaign has objected. While its statement says my article was "filled with distortions," the rebuttal actually centers on a technical point: the differences between two Iraqi-US accords under negotiation - the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA, to set rules governing US military personnel in Iraq) and the Strategic Framework Agreement (SFA, to settle the legal basis for the US military presence in Iraq in the months and years ahead).In other words, not only did he violate the Logan Act but he was now attempting to obfuscate on the whole matter by twisting the truth to his satisfaction.
The Obama camp says I confused the two. [...]
If there is any confusion, it's in Obama's position - for the two agreements are interlinked: You can't have any US military presence under one agreement without having settled the other accord.[Taheri's] account of Obama's message to the Iraqis was based on a series of conversations with Iraqi officials, as well as reports and analyses in the Iraqi media (including the official newspaper, Al Sabah) on the senator's trip to Baghdad. It is also confirmed by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.Why haven't the Justice Department or the Senate Ethics Committee taken up this issue? Where is the old media on this?
In a long interview with the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat, Zebari says: "Obama asked me why, in view of the closeness of a change of administration, we were hurrying the signing of this special agreement, and why we did not wait until the coming of the new administation next year and agree on some issues and matters."
Again, note that Zebari mentions a single set of agreements, encompassing both SFA and SOFA.
Zebari continues: "I told Obama that, as an Iraqi, I believe that even if there is a Democratic administration in the White House it had better continue the present policy instead of wasting a lot of time thinking what to do."
In other words, Obama was trying to derail current US policy, while Zebari was urging him not to "waste time."
Now this other matter of Governor Palin meeting ...... next week in New York City with Afghan President Hamid Karzai during the opening of the United Nations General Assembly ... .Let me suggest, if Palin even hints at influencing US foreign policy in Afghanistan, the Democrats, old media, Obama's campaign staff, Bill Maher, and Keith Ubermanheim will all have a symbiotic cow.
Sadly, as Wikipedia indicated and RedState reiterated, there's little chance anything will come of this incident.
However, the bottom-line for me is of trust ... Obama said he will not meet with Iranian President Amadinajab, or Cuba's Castro, or North Korean officials, etc., etc. Can we believe him over against his own political ambitions?
Others commenting:Fried Green Onions
PUMA Pundit
Rabble Rouser Ruminations
Purplechiten's Weblog
Saturday, September 13, 2008
TERRORISM: Sir Paul McCartney targeted by whacko Muslims!
Way to go Paul ... I'm not sure John Lennon would be pleased but this John is ...Sir Paul McCartney has been threatened that he will be the target of suicide bombers unless he abandons plans to play his first concert in Israel.
Self-styled preacher of hate Omar Bakri claimed the former Beatle’s decision to take part in the Jewish state’s 60th anniversary celebrations had made him an enemy of all Muslims.
Sources said Sir Paul was shocked but refused to be intimidated.
In an interview with Israeli media yesterday he said: “I was approached by different groups and political bodies who asked me not to come here. I refused. I do what I think and I have many friends who support Israel.”
Sunday, August 31, 2008
FREEDOM: Love it and defend it ... or this!
If it hadn't been in the WSJ I would have doubted this story ...Police arrested and shot to death Sunday the head of an Internet news service who had been critical of authorities in the volatile Caucasus province of Ingushetia.The story is incomplete in the linked page because it i's a teaser to a WSJ subscription page.
The death of Magomed Yevloyev, owner of the Web site Ingushetiya.ru, is certain to further ratchet up tensions in the region which, along with the neighboring province of Chechnya, has been a haven for militant opponents to Kremlin authority. In recent weeks, the Kremlin has tightened security in Ingushetia, apparently fearing Russia's enemies may stir up trouble there while its troops have been occupied in Georgia.
However, other news services are reporting the same story; being unsuccessful with democracy the Soviets have indeed returned to their old tricks.In Moscow, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said in a statement that Yevloyev was detained by police and died in an "incident" while being taken to police headquarters for an interrogation. Markin did not elaborate, saying that a check to clarify the circumstances of Yevloyev's death had begun. The committee is under the Prosecutor General's office.I'm thinking - with recent geopolitical developments in mind, who do I really want to see in the White House next year?
Yevloyev has angered regional authorities with bold criticism of police treatment of civilians in the region. A court in June ordered him to shut his site on charges of spreading "extremist" statements, but it reappeared under a different name. [elpasotimes.com]
Saturday, August 30, 2008
CHARITY: It begins at USA border, not at home!
Let me see if I understand this?
Operation Blessing International wants American Christians and others, who just spent two weeks watching pagan China blow an estimated $40 billion dollars and use upwards of one million volunteers on this world's pagan games (oh, they were wonderful weren't they), to fund relief for Chinese citizens affected by a quake in May?
Is that right?
Sure, why not? We are and always have been the proverbial cookie jar for the world!
Oh, I know; Christians are supposed to do that kind of thing ... besides the poorest American is probably richer than 95% of the world's population. I suppose that's our fault too!
Monday, August 25, 2008
GEORGIA: What to do now that we've revealed no trump?
George Handlery's twelve comments in his "the week that was" are right on concerning the West's squeamish reaction to Russia's invasion of its sovereign neighbor Georgia ...3. Discreetly, it is being suggested that counter-measures and reactions to Georgia are to be of a sort that will not anger Russia. Absurdly, this self-created inhibition implies that strong aggressors (real or alleged) should only be criticized with their consent.This is classic championship chess only in the deadly game of geopolitical oneupmanship ... our opponent makes his move and slaps the switch on the game clock, only the West is not aware the clock is ticking. In this case Russia takes our non-response response as weakness and confusion.
Concurrently, this kind of squeamishness teaches the aggressor that he is to claim early, possibly before the fact, the status of the insulted party.
It creates a welcome opportunity to become confused in the case of those who do not like clear-cut cases if these result in tough going. Thereby the claimed victim status becomes protection against having to impose effective sanctions on the impostor.
[...]
5. Reacting to Russia’s handling of Georgia sheds light on another inhibition. Suggestively we are asked, “are we overreacting to the crisis?” The question is made to imply that the dangerous error of exaggeration is being committed.
No, in fact we are systematically under reacting. Here we should realize that it is exactly this manicured response that is the most dangerous one among our alternatives.
How come that the mistake which we love to make is our typical response? The case is similar to the abuse of cold medicine that combats symptoms. We search for palliatives to counter-act an event that is firmly embedded in an unfolding reality.
6. Moscow’s hegemonial action in Georgia sent a message. Indeed, the message was intended and calculated by Moscow. The question is what we will learn from the un-coded smoke signals we have seen rising.
Sadly, that is exactly what it is! The world's bleeding heart do-gooders have defeated us before we can even get our of the gate!11. A crucial detail of the “Georgia business” tends to get lost in the selective reporting of the event.Woe to those whose courage fails them when a clear and present threat is pointed at their hearts!
Not accidentally, this writer is alert to the matter that is easily repressed by most of us. The reason has to do with the conditioning that [normal] backgrounds can give us.
A policy of systematic atrocities against conquered enemy populations is part of the way some countries fight their wars. Russia is one of them. Mass rape, looting, the destruction of property can uproot conquered populations that are located in disputed territory. Well-planned spontaneous indiscriminate violence, if applied with stern vigor, produces high returns. [HT: Pankukas] It might make the victims submissive, demoralized and ultimately acquiescent when the conqueror imposes his system upon them.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
TROOPS: Bring them home, now!
HT: Pastor Boston
Let's be clear, there are many Americans who agree with the point of this post!It's time to bring all the troops home. Sure, leave a base that will serve as an air bridge for points further east, but it's time to bring 'em home.Go there and find the quote above and read to the end ... perhaps you'll agree when you finish.
The war is over. Some danger may still loom, but major fighting is finished. Besides, we're spending billions per year keeping our forces over there. We've trained 'em and armed 'em. It's time their duplicitous government and weak, untested military sink or swim on their own and stop lounging under our security umbrella. Our rapid withdrawal will be just the wake up call they need to get serious and grow up.
RUSSIA: What I'm learning from all the bad news from the Caucasus!
The NRO Editors on Russia & GeorgiaFirst, I've discovered the War on Terror, the 2008 Presidential election, and the Olympics are not the only news in the world ... apparently the MSM was just waiting for something to divert their attention.
Stories on Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan have dwindled to a trickle in my news feeds.
Second, I've learned that Russia may not be in the driver's seat after all ...Russia is a fundamentally weak power enjoying temporary strength through high oil prices. It has overplayed its hand in Georgia — and is likely to find the results increasingly damaging as time goes by. That should warn it against overplaying its hand geopolitically. And the West should stress that thought.Click on over to NRO to read an interesting list of reasons Russia overplayed its hand. Let's hope so.
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