Yemen Briefing

Andrew Marcus shares a great bit about Yemen...

This report is interesting because even as it parrots the Jihad narrative, it provides more in depth background information and perspective on American, Saudi, and Iranian involvement in Yemen than anything we have seen from just about any US “news” outlet.

What a sad comment on the state of US/Western media, that “Jihad TV” is a better source of information pertinent to this aspect of the world war we are engaged in.


Pay special attention to the discussion that unfolds in the video above, regarding the common interests between Sunni radicals and Shia radicals, who both want to topple the Saudi Royal Family. One implication is that what is really transpiring here is a proxy war between the Saudis and the Iranians.

The larger implication is that Yemen is where Sunni radicals and Shia radicals work together against the Saudi Royals and Americans.

Does the Yemeni front of the Jihad wars represent the key to understanding the links between Iran and al-Qaeda? It depends on who you ask, but it sure is beginning to look that way.

The war in Yemen also reveals at least one massive hypocrisy on the Left. For all of their talk about the problem with America being that we do business with evil dictatorships around the world, Democrat controlled America sure does appear to be working side by side with the Saudis to fight on their behalf against a Sunni-Shia Jihad alliance/insurgency. Or, perhaps that’s why the President of the United States shouldn’t be seen bowing to the Saudi King. It makes it that much harder to argue that America isn’t doing the king’s bidding in Yemen.

In reality, we think this all mostly falls under “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” In this case, Sunni and Shia terrorists operate as friends (al-Qaeda) against their enemies in the Saudi Royal Family and America, while America operates as friends with Saudi royal family against the Sunni-Shia al-Qaeda factions.

And for all of those Lefties out there who insist that the Sunni and Shia can never work together because they hate each other so much, your theory appears to die with al-Qaeda in Yemen.

Cold

Dr Fouad Ajami shares some bitter meds about Great Satan's New Era - or rather 44's New Era.

And it's pretty alright.

Pretty cold.

"With year one drawing to a close, the truth of the Obama presidency is laid bare: retrenchment abroad, and redistribution and the intrusive regulatory state at home. This is the genuine calling of Barack Obama, and of the "progressives" holding him to account. The false dichotomy has taken hold—either we care for our own, or we go abroad in search of monsters to destroy or of broken nations to build. The decision to withdraw missile defense for Poland and the Czech Republic was of a piece with that retreat in American power.

In the absence of an overriding commitment to the defense of American primacy in the world, the Obama administration "cheats." It will not quit the war in Afghanistan but doesn't fully embrace it as its cause. It prosecutes the war but with Republican support—the diehards in liberal ranks and the isolationists are in no mood for bonding with Afghans. (Harry Reid's last major foreign policy pronouncement was his assertion, three years ago, that the war in Iraq was lost.)




As revolution simmers on the streets of Iran, the will was summoned in the White House to offer condolences over the passing of Grand Ayatollah Hussein Montazeri, an iconic figure to the Iranian opposition. But the word was also put out that the administration was keen on the prospect of John Kerry making his way to Tehran. No one is fooled. In the time of Barack Obama, "engagement" with Iran's theocrats and thugs trumps the cause of Iranian democracy.

In retrospect, that patina of cosmopolitanism in President Obama's background concealed the isolationism of the liberal coalition that brought him to power. The tide had turned in the congressional elections of 2006. American liberalism was done with its own antecedents—the outlook of Woodrow Wilson and FDR and Harry Truman and John Kennedy. It wasn't quite "Come home, America," but close to it. This was now the foreign policy of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden. There was in the land a "liberal orientalism," if you will, a dismissive attitude about the ability of other nations to partake of liberty. It had started with belittling the Iraqis' aptitude for freedom. But there was implicit in it a broader assault on the very idea of freedom's possibilities in distant places. East was East, and West was West, and never the twain shall meet.

We're weary, the disillusioned liberalism maintains, and we're broke, and there are those millions of Americans aching for health care and an economic lifeline. We can't care for both Ohio and the Anbar, Peoria and Peshawar. It is either those embattled people in Iran or a rescue package for Chrysler.

The joke is on the enthralled crowds in Cairo, Ankara, Berlin and Oslo. The new American president they had fallen for had no genuine calling or attachments abroad. In their enthusiasm for Mr. Obama, and their eagerness to proclaim themselves at one with the postracial meaning of his election, they had missed his aloofness from the genuine struggles in the foreign world.

It was easy, that delirium with Mr. Obama: It made no moral demands on those eager to partake of it. It was also false, in many lands.

Thus Turks who loathed the Kurds in their midst, who denied them the right to their own memory and language, could identify themselves, or so they said, with the triumph of Mr. Obama and his personal history. No one questioned the sincerity with which Egyptians and other Arabs hailed Mr. Obama as they refused to be stirred by the slaughter in Darfur, and as they gave a carte blanche to Khartoum's blatant racism and cruelty.

Surely there was something amiss in Paris and Berlin—the vast crowds came out for Mr. Obama, but there were millions of Muslims in France and Germany, and the gates hadn't been opened for them, they hadn't been swept into the mainstream of European life. Postracicalism, rather like charity, should have begun at home, one would think.

Everywhere there is on display evidence of the rogues taking the Obama administration's measure, and of America's vulnerable allies scurrying for cover. A fortnight ago, Lebanon's young prime minister made his way from Beirut to Damascus: Saad Hariri had come to pay tribute to the Syrian ruler.

Nearly five years earlier, Saad Hariri had insisted on the truth about the identity of his father's killers. It had been a tumultuous time. Rafik Hariri, a tycoon and former prime minister caught up in a challenge to Syria's hegemony in Lebanon, had been struck down by a massive bomb on Beirut's beachfront. It's obvious, isn't it, the mourners proclaimed, the trail led to Damascus.

In the aftermath of that brazen political murder, a Syrian tyranny in Lebanon that had all but erased the border between the two countries was brought to a swift end with what would come to be known as the Cedar Revolution. The Pax Americana that had laid waste to the despotism of Saddam Hussein frightened the Syrian rulers, and held out the prospect that a similar fate could yet befall them.

We're now worlds away from that moment in history. The man who demolished the Iraqi tyranny, George. W. Bush, is no longer in power, and a different sentiment drives America's conduct abroad. Saad Hariri had no choice but to make peace with his father's sworn enemies—that short voyage he made to Damascus was his adjustment to the retreat of American power.

In headier moments, Mr. Hariri and the leaders of the Cedar Revolution had been emboldened by American protection. It was not only U.S. military power that had given them heart.

There was that "diplomacy of freedom," the proclamation that the Pax Americana had had its fill with the autocracies and the rogues of the Greater Middle East. There but for the grace of God go we, the autocrats whispered to themselves as they pondered the fall of the Iraqi despot. To be sure, there was mayhem in the new Iraq—the Arab and Iranian rulers, and the jihadists they winked at and aided, had made sure of that. But there was the promise of freedom, meaningful elections, a new dignity for men and women claiming their own country.

What a difference three or four years make. The despots have waited out that burst of American power and optimism. No despot fears Mr. Obama, and no blogger in Cairo or Damascus or Tehran, no demonstrator in those cruel Iranian streets, expects Mr. Obama to ride to the rescue. To be sure, it was in the past understood that we can't bear all burdens abroad, or come to the defense of everyone braving tyranny. But there was always that American assertion that when things are in the balance we would always be on freedom's side.

We hadn't ridden to the rescue of Rwanda and Burundi in the 1990s, but we had saved the Bosnians and the Kosovars. We didn't have the power to undo the colossus of Chinese tyranny when the tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square, but the brave dissidents knew that we were on their side, that we were appalled by the cruelty of official power.

It is different today, there is a cold-bloodedness to American foreign policy. "Ideology is so yesterday," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton proclaimed not long ago, giving voice to the new sentiment.

History and its furies have their logic, and they have not bent to Mr. Obama's will. He had declared a unilateral end to the "war on terror," but the jihadists and their mentors are yet to call their war to a halt. From Yemen to Fort Hood and Detroit, the terror continues.

But to go by the utterances of the Obama administration and its devotees, one would have thought that our enemies were Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, not the preachers and masterminds of terror. The president and his lieutenants spent more time denigrating "rendition" and the Patriot Act than they did tracking down the terror trail and the latest front it had opened at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen. Our own leaders spoke poorly of our prerogatives and ways, and they were heard the world over.

Under Mr. Obama, we have pulled back from the foreign world. We're smaller for accepting that false choice between burdens at home and burdens abroad, and the world beyond our shores is more hazardous and cynical for our retrenchment and our self-flagellation.

Pic - "Cold" featuring Tabret Bethel

The 3rd Hiz'B'Allah - Little Satan War

Whoa! Hiz'B'Allah's gross, overtly robust Body Part Collector General Control Freak addressed crowds on the annual shia Ashura 'Stab Yourself in the Head with a Knife Day" and proclaimed his rocket rich rejectionist militia (now here's a quiz - why all the snazzy camo fatigues during noncombat activities that magically disappear during combat?) would fight Great Satan and her hegemonic designs as well as fighting Little Satan.

Yay.

"A Third Lebanon War could make the Second Lebanon War in 2006 look like a minor kerfuffle. And the Second Lebanon War was anything but. When Noah Pollak and I covered it from the Israeli side, we found the whole northern swath of the country emptied of people and cars like it was the end of the world. The city of Tiberias looked like a zombie movie set. Kiryat Shmona is so close to the border that the air raid sirens often didn't start wailing until after Hezbollah's incoming Katyusha rockets had already exploded.

"Meanwhile, pitched battles between the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah seriously chewed up South Lebanon. The centers of entire towns were pulverized by Israeli air and artillery strikes. More than a thousand people were killed, many of them civilians used by Hezbollah as human shields.

"Hezbollah is much more dangerous than any terrorist group that has ever been fielded from the West Bank or Gaza. It managed to create hundreds of thousands of refugees inside Israel, and it did so with fewer and shorter range rockets than it has now.

"And while the "Party of God" may think it's terrific that it can do what Hamas in Gaza only fantasizes about, its arsenal indirectly threatens Lebanon just as much if not more than it threatens Israel. Nasrallah can unleash a great deal of destruction, but it's still no match for what the IDF can dish out while fighting back."

If recent rocket reports are true and HBA really does unleash tons of missiles and wads of rockets - it could actually grant the martyrdom that Nasrallah seeks to impale Lebanon to death on.


"If Tel Aviv skyscrapers explode from missile attacks, if Hezbollah manages to turn all of Israel into a kill zone where there is no place to run, Israelis will panic like they haven't since the 1973 Yom Kippur War when it briefly appeared the Egyptian army might overrun the whole country.

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere in Lebanon while Israelis are actively fending off that kind of assault. No country can afford to be restrained while fighting for its survival."

In such an uncool event - Little Satan would (hopefully) not stop until Nasrallah's minions were ground to dust


Pic - "Parents look after their children, and Hiz'B'Allah looks after the people of Lebanon."

Adios, MoFo

Ha! One thing all despots should have in common (especially after the spider hole debacle) is an escape hatch.

"Supreme National Security Council has ordered a complete check-up of the jet which is on standby to fly Supreme Leader and his family to Russia should the situation in Iran spiral out of control."

Sweet!

"There can now be little doubt about the movement's staying power. Western countries dealing with Iran must now recognize that the specter of this democratic movement hovers over every negotiation."

Pic - "Adios MoFo!"

Shout out to Winston @ Spirit of Man

Why Not Yemen?

For a tiny nation state (failing or not) Yemen is totally hot! right now.

"Yemen’s remote areas are notoriously lawless, but the country’s chaos has worsened in the past two years, as the government struggles with an armed rebellion in the northwest and a rising secessionist movement in the south."

"Yemen is running out of oil, and the government’s dwindling finances have affected its ability to strike at Al Qaeda."

With a literacy rate higher than Pakistan - Yemen has been the hood for several al Qaeda attacks - going all the way back to USS Cole - not to mention the latest attempt with explosive undies:

Shooting up an Army recruiting center in Little Rock, Major Disaster shooting up Ft Hood and the scene of a crazy preacher extolling the jihad against "crusader nations."

Yemen also hosts a proxy war with Saudilanders and the terrorist regime in Iran with the Houthi tribe.

So, if "...Iraq was yesterdays war, Afghanistan is today's war and Yemen is tomorrows war..." then it may be time to advocate a semi Counter Terrorism war with an armored face. Except for the mountains - Yemen is great panzer turf.

Open intervention - clippage constantly rotating on al Jazeera - and/or sending out crazy signals like creating girl schools or a new center for Lady Imams could reap a bonanza of dividends.

Terrorist ratlines could be revealed by creating a giant sucker trap for easily inflamed minions and ardent supporters alike. Heavy on spies, satellites, drones gone wild and Special Forces, Delta Forces, Seals sweetly dropping in unannounced for righteous kills or snatching up fresh HUMINT for thorough, leisured enhanced interrogation along with a constant pr barrage of "Dang! Well, we done tried everything else, laws yes.

Splitting the difference betwixt those crazy Federally Unadministered Tribal Areas in Land of the Pure and Yemen could be the same as splitting al Qaeda.

Pic "Yemen? Why Not!"

Great Wall Of Gaza

Oh the irony! Pyramidland plots to erect betwixt Egypt and their former colony of rowdy rocket rich rejectionists in the Strip!

Super high tech (alledgedly createed by Great Satan!) the wall digs deep - like nearly six stories under ground!

BBC spills the deal:

"When it is finished the wall will be 10-11km (6-7 miles) long and will extend 18 metres below the surface. The reports say the wall cannot be cut or melted - in short it is impenetrable."

Less likely that Egypt is concerned for Little Satan than they are worried about another estimated 750k - nearly half of the Strip's 1.5 million - busting out and trekking to Cairo to score ciggy puffs, snazzy new moto bikes and trying to hook up with hot girls.

Pic "Locked In For Life: Gaza"

Showing Their Fangs

Following the death and mourning period of an ancient cleric in Persia's rocket rich, map redrawing gay free faux Republic, perhaps it's time to revisit certain critiques of the Iraq War vis a vis the current rowdiness in Iran.

Tons of corrupt stability worshippers often cried out that when Great Satan defeated the largest arab army in history in 20 days those naughty, unintended consequences had xformed Iran from being a regional playa with terroristic penchants into a regional powerhouse.

Instead of causing Iran to think twice about acting out or racing for wmd witchcraft - Great Satan had doofusly enabled Iran to sieze the moment, enact the shia crescent and spread preacher command's influ from Persia to the Red and Med seas. Yes, yes they minister - only an unfree, unregime changed Ba'Athist Iraq could have stymied the dangerous ayatollahs.

Au contraire mon frer!

In fact - it could be said that Great Satan hitting the hood, then surging the place has actually pushed certain neighboring despotries to the breaking point:

The off cycle majilles election - Preacher Command - the ayatollahs - became eclipsed by their very own praetorian guard. Xforming Iran into a military ran regime with a firm desire to maintain their semi isolated, defiant stats.

Could that have really happened unless the most proficient regime changers in world history were not only in theatre but an overnight panzer ride away from Tehran?

Or the avalanche of sexyful elections ranging across CENTCOM - freely electing the world's very first suicide regime in the Strip, through Lebanon, Iraq and even Land of the Pure - the unimplied implications (regardless of the Palestinian Uncertainy Principle) are that democracy mortally wounds or kills outright illegit regimes.

A stolen election later, people are fighting back and getting shot down on the streets.

Despite 44's "Bystander in Chief: The Hawaiian Hiatus" events may be actually deign to design that 44 soon recant from lofty ideas of jaw flapping with illegit leaders and identify with the people:

"Bubbling beneath the surface, therefore, are significant elements of Iranian society fed up with their government, embarrassed by its foreign policy, and angry at its authoritarian ways. The dissident citizens are mostly young, urban and educated; the regime's supporters are mostly old, rural, poor and badly educated.

"Exceptions, of course, would include the business people who get rich on government contracts, and those employed in the various security services and the pro-government press or ministries."

Has the circle became unbroken? Has the regime change in Iraq actually increased the chance of regime change in Iran?

As Uncle Tony once let the cat out of the bag:

"The spread of freedom is the best security for the free. It is our last line of defense and our first line of attack."

Whoa! Like Kryptonite in Smallville - the mullahs and the Revolutionary Guards are getting weaker.

And showing their fangs.

Pic - "It will indeed be ironic if the Iranian theocracy begins to crumble on the most important religious day of the Shiite calendar."

The Night Roger W Gardner Got In My Pants

Roger was an older cat, with a rich life - serving Great Satan manning long watches on Early Warning Systems from back in Cold War time, art history professor, artiste' and generally a fully crunk, super savvy cat with a strong sense of history. His writing style was totally formidable and he never suffered fools gladly.

Way back in the day - Iraq was a mess - and despite seeing off two family members to pre Surge the place, "Defeat!", "Retreat!" and "Repeat!" seemed like the defeatist war cry dejour.

It was deceitfully depressing - and seemed, historically speaking - weirdly unAmerican.

Trekking about loose and unattended on the big bad web, yours truly magically collided with the one and only Roger W Gardner.


Roger had just pubbed a piece about Kasserine Pass. Essentially, even before Pearl Harbor, Great Satan kinda sat up and took notice of Deutschland's rowdy, racy Panzer Korps. And She began to bling R&D, industrial might and assembly line prowess to meet and exceed the armored spear that Germany used to blitz her enemies into defeat or drive them to the brink.

And the debut place d'armes was Kasserine Pass. And it was a disaster, a real catastrophe (unlike the fakebelieve ones today). Great Satan's own dear sons literally shot to pieces along with the best gear Detroit deployed in North Africa.

Yet less than 3 years later, American armored divisions liberated the most people, captured the most turf, killed and captured the most enemies while suffering the least casualities in the shortest amount of time ever in history.

Roger's target was that American free inquiry, willpower and firepower could be stymied now and then - but never defeated.

Another of Roger's amazing bits, hot and online at the time was the definative deconstruction of Imperial Mohammedist Sayid Qutbah - "Those Greeley Girls."


Finding both pieces online at a friends house - killing time before blitzing a party posse to the mall's cineplex - it was only a couple clicks to print both articles.


Hopping into the SUV, the five of us picked party Roddy - the guylinered rocker boi down the street. Moi earnestly reading the printed bits cashiered from Roger in the back seat. Jamming the jams loud, we ran straight into a roadblock conducted by the Highway Patrol.

Sitting behind Roddy (not his real name), engrossed in reading Roger, it was a bit of a surprise to receive an over the shoulder airborne drop of the dreaded cannabis sativa.

Whiskey Foxtrot Tango?

"Just hide it. Just hide it - I dont have any pockets"

Well, great - I don't either!

So, as the patrol cat came up to the drivers window, moi stashed the stash - folded up in Roger's writings into britches so tight - they could have painted on.
Flashing the best smile money can buy and sweetly answering all the questions - the HP flagged us on through - even though their k9 partners were giving us the old evil eye.


As the dirty yellow waves of panic subsided, and the cineplex in sight, the sharp pain of a secreted stash became prominent and unless some type of semi nude gymnastics were carried out - it was nigh impossible to retrieve.



Thus began a long correspondance with Roger. He took interest in a goofy kid with audacious ideas and offered killer guidance, advice and a sounding board.
We often shot sparks off of each other - particularly to the concept that Mohammedism is /is not compatible with democracy and we both had to research and tighten up our debates.


Roger insisted that GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD go online and NOT to mimic every other blog out there but follow Dr Wolftgang Ischinger's caveat that it is "funny, smart and tolerable in small doses."

And it all started the night Roger W Gardner got in my pants!

Miss Palestine!

A group of Palestinians decided they were going to host the first-ever Miss Palestine contest. But it was quickly scuttled when religious and secular extremists decided it wasn't good for the country.

The argument, repeated often in interviews, held that it was somehow wrong for Palestinians to engage in such "frivolity" when there were more serious issues like the tragedy of the occupation and the suffering of the economic collapse associated with the occupation.

A similar pageant is held in Haifa, but when the idea was brought to Ramallah, the supposedly bustling cosmopolitan heart of Palestinian society, the "governor" decided to cancel it because the event "coincided with the first anniversary of the Israeli attack against Hamas in the Gaza Strip."

Other Palestinian leaders said it was canceled because it was simply inappropriate to celebrate when so many are suffering.

That kind of thinking is exactly why Palestinians have been losing over the years. They embrace the psychology of the victim rather than exercising the will of the victor.

It's simple. When you surrender to tragedy you live the life of a victim. You become the victim. You become the hostage of suffering, and your life begins to reflect a life without will.


And that explains why there is so little hope in Palestine.

I entered stand-up comedy after September 11, 2001 specifically because I know that the most powerful response to tragedy and suffering is to spit in its face, to tell tragedy, terrorism, violence and suffering that you will not simply lie down and surrender without a fight.

And the best way to fight is to be human and to exercise the power of humanity through a resistance to tragedy.

Humor, not anger, is the answer to hatred. Humor and being human is the answer to suffering and tragedy, and even to the loss of life.

The reality is that the human spirit of the Palestinians cannot surrender to the suffering of the Israeli occupation or to the continued conflict that seems never-ending. To surrender and to allow the suffering to consume our lives means that we have given up the hope of being human beings and living full lives.

IN FACT, the answer to the occupation is to not stop being human, and to do the very things that tragedy and oppression throw at you.

The Palestine beauty pageant would have been a powerful statement to the world that Palestinians will not surrender to the occupation nor allow the suffering to dictate how they live their lives.

It also would have been a powerful statement to themselves to energize their inner spirit and allow them to find strength just when strength is needed most.

At the most tragic moment, when a family member dies, sadness is the appropriate response to respect the dead. But the most appropriate response for those who survive and are left holding the tragedy of the person's death is to give the spirit a boost, to allow them to overcome the hardships of suffering. Humor is often found in the aftermath of burials and wakes because humor helps the survivors to survive.

Underlying this conflict in human survival for Palestinians is the steady rise of the religious fanatics who bring the lowest common denominator of life, subservience to zealotry, as their answer to tragedy and suffering. In reality, they want you to continue suffering because it helps them disguise their inability to be true leaders.

In fact, when a society "suffers" and embraces victimization, false prophets with little talent or leadership ability can rise more quickly to control the population.

Instead of focusing on the failings of the leaders, embracing the tragedy makes it easier for the failed leaders to avoid accountability.

The pageant would have been a declaration that Palestinians are a people who can rise above the challenges that oppress people, not just in Palestine but throughout the Middle East, where living as an oppressed victim seems to be a way of life.

And that's no joke.



Submitted by Ray Hanania

Pic - Miss Palestine 2008 Merna Kattan

44 So Far

Behind site is certainly 20/20, looking through the dark, glassly.

Perusing previously previewed preludes of 44's curious worldview:

"Compare it to the first year as foreign policymaker-in-chief."

"A drawdown of forces in Iraq; An enhanced effort in Afghanistan;
Close cooperation with Russia, paticularly on arms control;

"A willingness to talk to adversaries, but not just talking for talking's sake;
Restoring America's standing in the world


Hmmm, Ok. Yet how does 44 stack up so far in an America Unbound! daemoneoconic stackage?

"Some of the most cringe worthy moments in modern American history."

Whoa! Number 6 is kinda iffy, yet the balance is quite quite, sir.

"1. Surrendering to Russia over Missile Defence

"The White House’s betrayal of US allies in eastern and central Europe by reneging on the deal to establish Third Site missile defences sent a clear signal that Washington was more concerned about appeasing Moscow than defending its friends. It symbolized all that is wrong with Obama’s foreign policy – including the willingness to curry favour with brutal enemies while giving the boot to some of America’s closest partners.

2. Appeasing the Mullahs of Iran

If 44 makes a New Year’s resolution, I hope it will be that he stops appeasing Tehran.

"The White House’s strategy of engagement with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been nothing short of a spectacular failure. While Obama has been busy emulating the European Union’s dismal Common Foreign and Security Policy and sending polite video messages, the Mullahs and their puppets have been busy advancing their nuclear weapons programme, enriching uranium, supplying arms to the Taliban, capturing British sailors, test-firing long-range missiles, threatening the annihilation of Israel, and killing pro-democracy protestors.

3. Ending the War on Terror

Not only did Barack Obama order the closure of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay within hours of becoming president, but he also embarked upon ending the entire War on Terror, which was swiftly renamed an Overseas Contingency Operation. Nearly a year later the threat from al-Qaeda remains just as great, if not greater, but President Obama refuses to describe the battle in terms of a global war, and balks at identifying the enemy – Islamist terrorists. At the same time he has given the enemy a huge propaganda victory by endlessly castigating the Bush administration for supposedly “torturing” terrorist suspects, and apologizing for the counter-terror strategy of the previous US government.

4. Announcing a Surge while Declaring an Exit

There can be no doubt that the three months of dithering by President Obama over whether to deploy more forces to Afghanistan was highly damaging to the United States, and sowed considerable uncertainty within the NATO alliance. When Obama finally made an announcement in December to send an additional 30,000 troops to the battlefield, a huge step in the right direction, his decision was immediately undercut by the simultaneous announcement of an exit timetable, starting in 18 months. It is hard to imagine Churchill or Roosevelt declaring in the middle of the Second World War that they would fight the Nazis for another year and a half, and then start withdrawing their forces on the grounds of cost.

5. Apologising to France for America’s “Arrogance”

Barack Obama’s Strasbourg speech will go down in history as one of the most embarrassing moments ever for a US president on foreign soil. As I wrote earlier, “The President of the most powerful nation on earth traveled to France to deliver a grovelling, massive mea culpa for US foreign policy, including the War on Terror. Utter humiliation for America on European soil in front of a largely French and German audience who bitterly opposed the liberation of Iraq – not even Jacques Chirac could have dreamt it up.”

6. No State Dinner for British Prime Minister

I’m no fan of Gordon Brown, but the treatment of the Prime Minister at the hands of the White House on his visit to Washington in March was an appalling humiliation for Great Britain. The PM was received as though he were the leader of a third world banana republic rather than America’s closest ally, denied an official press conference and even a dinner. To add insult to injury, Brown was packed off with 25 discount DVDs ranging from Toy Story to The Wizard of Oz, which couldn’t even be played in Britain.

7. Siding with Marxists in Honduras

The Obama administration has certainly been consistent in its strategy of cuddling up to America’s enemies while kicking its friends. True to form the White House and State Department rushed to condemn the constitutional removal of left-wing, America-hating, Hugo-Chavez-backed despot Manuel Zelaya from power in Honduras, and his temporary replacement with pro-American Speaker of the House Robert Micheletti. Whatever happened to the good old days when the United States actually fought against Marxist tyrants in Latin America and backed anti-communists?

8. Bowing to Emperors and Kings

"The last time checked, 44 was not a subject of imperial Japan, but his bow before Emperor Akihito was a scene straight out of the 1930s. A simple handshake with the descendent of Emperor Hirohito would have sufficed, but the president opted for a full-blown bow when the two met in Tokyo in November. It is one thing to pay respect to a monarch, but quite another for an American president to prostrate himself and his nation before a foreign leader. Needless to say, eyebrows were raised not only in America but across Asia as well. This was far from an isolated incident. Obama did exactly the same when he met with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at the G-20 in April.

"9. Embracing Genocidal Killers in Sudan

On the list because it illustrates the extraordinary lengths to which the Obama administration will go to appease the most evil tyrannies on the face of the earth. In October Obama extended the hand of friendship to the brutal regime in Khartoum led by Omar Hassan al-Bashir, responsible for the murder of hundreds of thousands in Darfur, offering to lift sanctions if there were “concrete steps in a new direction”.

"The moral bankruptcy of this approach was summed up by Obama’s hugely controversial special envoy to Sudan, retired Air Force Major General J. Scott Gration:

“We’ve got to think about giving out cookies. Kids, countries — they react to gold stars, smiley faces, handshakes, agreements, talk, engagement.”

"10. Throwing Churchill out of The White House

"The decision to throw a bust of Sir Winston Churchill out of the Oval Office within days of taking power set the tone for his foreign policy. It sent a clear signal that the president cared little about the Anglo-American Special Relationship and the transatlantic alliance in general. It spoke volumes about Obama’s disdain for Britain, a nation that he has never mentioned in a major policy speech, as well as his scorn for the kind of powerful, assertive leadership that Churchill embodied."

Yowza. Powerful meds indeed.

Pic - "OTOH, Great Satan's new , hipper, hotter generation of Americans do not expect co operation, love and big time support from illegit unfree regimes that torment their own people and their neighbors"

America's Xmas Gift To the World

The world has forgotten that the biggest gift to this planet is America's industry - and it's time to remind them where they would be without it.

1. Whenever a horrible disaster hits, they would be dead. Be it an earthquake, a tsunami or a Madonna tour - we're usually the first and biggest responders - saving the injured, and helping to rebuild. It is because of our tremendous capability to mobilize quickly that makes us a nation of superheroes. It also takes planes, trucks and tractors to do that stuff. Imagine that carbon footprint.

2. If they ever get sick, they would be dead. It's true. While critical cretins like Chavez and Mugabe actually harm their own people, we save millions of strangers' lives. Even that bozo called Bono admits it was George Bush who helped prevent the death of millions of Africans from AIDs. Yeah - I know what our critics will say: it's easy for America to do this stuff. Well, it's even easier not to do it.

3. If their family is hungry, they would be dead. Let's not forget Norman Borlaug, who invented disease resistant wheat, saving hundreds of millions of lives in India and Pakistan. You can only do that if you're of an industrial mind - thinking about people, not polar bears.

4. If they're under the thumb of fascism, they would be dead. We possess the greatest military technology in the world, and we've used it to end horrible wars. Our industry of annihilation gave new life to many countries.

In sum, the very people complaining about America would not be alive, if it weren't for America. Which is why, I say to them: Merry Christmas.


It sure beats a pair of socks.

Submitted by Greg Gutfield

Pic "25th Infantry Division Does Santa Claus in AFPAK"

Helping Hand

Dr Ken Pollack - author of the essential "Persian Puzzle" and a real live Iraqi Surge psychic, reflects about Great Satan's baby democracy in Iraq with a great piece that includes a great synopsis of xforming Iraq from one of nearly 2 dozen Arab despotries into something more like Great Satan:

"The critical role that the United States plays today is that we are the peacekeepers, we are the levy holding back violence, we are Iraq’s security blanket, and we are the broker of political deals that makes Iraqis willing to keep sacrificing today because they can hope for a better tomorrow.

"But another way to think about the American role is that we enforce the rules: we prevent Iraqis from employing large-scale violence in pursuit of political agendas, which reassures all of them that they can take actions that would be risky in the kind of security vacuum that existed (thanks to American negligence and foolishness) in 2004-2006 and that would exist again if we withdrew prematurely. Acts like voting for the candidate you like rather than the candidate with the most thugs.

"If Iraqis believe that security blanket is going to be removed prematurely, they will be terrified that the militia warlords will revert back to violence (which they certainly will) and will again rule the country very soon.

"That would prompt ordinary Iraqis (who would gladly do the right thing if they could) to do the wrong thing, and sign on with the militias to ensure that they are protected when the Americans leave and the civil war re-ignites.

"The mistake we are in danger of making in Iraq is that as our military steps back, our civilians are not always stepping up. Over the past six to nine months, our embassy has been inconsistent at best, and has panicked many Iraqis and many Iraqi leaders into believing that the Obama administration does not care about Iraq and is simply running for the exit as fast as they can.

"This isn’t true, and the President’s lieutenants have said so time and again, as has Vice President Biden, both in private and in public. But by failing to remain actively engaged with the Iraqi political process at all levels, by disdaining any further involvement in guiding Iraq’s domestic politics, and in abandoning aid programs willy-nilly, many embassy personnel have convinced a great many Iraqis of exactly the opposite. And therein lies the seeds of renewed civil war and a disaster for American interests.

"The last thing that any American should want is for an NSC staffer to have to walk into the Oval office one day and ask, “Mr. President, would you rather send 150,000 American troops back to Iraq or have it descend into renewed civil war?” That is clearly not a decision this president ever wants to face. The best way to ensure that he never has to do so is to invest the diplomatic capital and bureaucratic elbow grease right now to reassure Iraqis that they can keep taking risks for peace because we are not abandoning them.



(U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Angelique Perez)

Plunder

As daemoneconic avatar Natan Sharansky shared in the essential "Case For Democracy" - the 'fear Societies' - unfun, unfree, illegit and intolerant regimes need internal and external enemies to keep the pool of true believers stocked and win back double thinkers before they become dissidents.

Persia's recent Operation Plunder - siezing an Iraqi oil derrick may be kinda like that. Border disputes between Iraq and Iran may have some legit concerns. Telling, is it not, that Iran would resort to armed chicanery instead of a fun and friendly land dispute loving lawyer liasons?

The avuncular Vulcan (v2.0) enabler John Hannah shared some insight about the Persian projection of force penetrating Iraq:

"1) The incident underscores the continuing complexity of Iraqi-Iranian relations. Critics of the Bush administration often assert that, in liberating Iraq from Saddam Hussein’s tyranny, America handed the country to Iran on a silver platter, making it a virtual satrapy of the Islamic Republic.

"Wrong. The fact is that the historical animosities, conflicts, and suspicions that have long colored relations between Arab Iraq and Persian Iran are deep and enduring. No doubt, the removal of Saddam’s Republic of Fear and the ascent of an Iraqi government dominated by Iran’s Shiite co-religionists helped ease some of these longstanding tensions. But they have not been eliminated.

"The oilfield dispute is only the latest of many controversies currently plaguing the Iraq-Iran relationship. In recent months, Iraq has challenged — sometimes privately, but increasingly publicly — the Islamic Republic’s claims to Iraqi territory, its excessive diversion of joint water resources, and its declared intention to build new nuclear facilities near the Iraqi border.

"As the security situation in Iraq has stabilized and the Iraqi government has gained greater confidence, it has shown itself increasingly willing to stand up for Iraq’s sovereignty and push back against Iranian encroachments.

"2) The historic rivalry between Iraq and Iran, intensified by the Islamic Republic’s hegemonic ambitions, creates an important opportunity to advance U.S. strategic interests. Surrounded by hostile neighbors, Iraq needs the world’s only superpower as an ally and patron.

"America, for its part, needs influential Arab friends as it seeks to deal with the looming threat of a nuclear Iran, as well as the broader war against violent jihadism. Historically, Baghdad has exerted a major influence on the politics, culture and religion of the Arab/Islamic world.

"Today, Iraq’s emerging democracy contrasts sharply with Iran’s dictatorship, where even rigged elections are stolen and peaceful protesters are systematically arrested, tortured, and raped by regime thugs.

"Najaf, Iraq — not Qom, Iran — is the historic heartland of Shia Islam. Its school of quietest clerics, led by the highly influential Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, reject outright the doctrine of velayat-e faqih, or rule by the supreme religious jurisprudent, which constitutes the essential theological underpinning of Iran’s Islamic Republic.

"In the past few years, Iraq’s Sunni community — almost alone among Sunni populations around the world — has risen up en masse, not only to reject al-Qaeda’s ideology, but also to take up arms alongside the American military to defeat the takfirists in their midst. Simultaneously, Iraq’s Shiite-led government has, with American support, waged successful campaigns to confront Iranian-backed Shiite militias.

"With a very real prospect in the not-too-distant future of rivaling Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest oil producer, Iraq has the potential to one day emerge as the economic and military powerhouse of the Arab Middle East — and, if we play our cards right, a central pillar in America’s strategy to fight and win the long war against violent Islamist extremism. In short, this is a relationship very much worth investing in — even as America’s combat presence declines.

"3) In light of the escalating conflict over Iran’s nuclear program, the move against the Iraqi oilfield could well have been meant as a challenge to the United States as well. The rather flaccid U.S. response to the Iranian incursion was not particularly heartening.

"The sum total of the U.S. public reaction was the comment of a military spokesman that “There has been no violence related to this incident and we trust this will be resolved through peaceful diplomacy between the governments of Iraq and Iran.”

"Nary a word of condemnation or warning that might instill fear in the Iranian regime or confidence in our Iraqi allies. You’d hardly know we still had more than 100,000 troops on the ground fighting and dying to defend Iraq’s independence and sovereignty, often against enemies armed, trained, and financed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

"For its part, the Iraqi government appeared to take the matter far more seriously: It called an emergency national security council meeting and issued a statement condemning Iran’s violation of Iraqi sovereignty and demanding that Iranian troops be withdrawn.

"For all the reasons cited above, in addition to a host of others, America’s interests require that we do far more to support our Iraqi friends and stand up to our adversaries in the Islamic Republic.

Pic - "Plunder!"

NIC:2025 Project

Great Satan's Nat'l Intell Council recently unleased their scary scary predictions for what the geopolitical world may very well look like in 2025.

Amir Mizroch describes the up for grabs pdf:

"Fifteen years from now America is still globally preeminent, yet its relative power is in decline. The US faces multiple threats from state and non-state actors, some of which have superseded their nation states and could be in possession of weapons of mass destruction.

"Mega-cities forge their own policies and partnerships.

"Complex threats transcend geographic borders and organizational boundaries, and small local skirmishes quickly escalate into worldwide shooting wars. Asia and the Middle East are awash with WMD; space, the Arctic and cyberspace become increasingly militarized.

"Governments around the world take a zero-sum attitude to international affairs and retreat from free trade agreements, while simmering competition between nations results in a growing wave of nationalism, reviving historic tensions.


Art - "Great Satan 2025" by Kirk Manley

Bismarck Biz

While certain elements yearn for the old school days of 1909 and the great power game among Euro Centric nation states that shared the semi same constitutional monarchies, Westphalian writ of state, parlimentary systems with rule of law and protection of personal wealth and property - it is kinda funny to watch them twist up Furor Teutonicus' Weltpolitik to back up a decidely twisted worldview.


"So maybe it is time to reconsider the value of Bismarck as a guide for policymaking in the contemporary world. After all, if he were alive and at the climate talks in Copenhagen today, he might be logrolling the compromises and critical concessions needed to get a deal done -- for instance, between U.S. willingness to commit direct aid to industrializing countries for cutting emissions and China's willingness to accept some sort of international supervision on its reductions.

"Back in his day, Bismarck's Congresses settled some of the world's most pressing international issues, and kept World War I from breaking out for another few decades. Indeed, the Great War might not have happened at all had his parting advice to Kaiser Wilhelm II been followed. Having someone consciously emulate Bismarck today is exactly what the world needs."

Oh really?

Otto v. dealt with nation states that were very close toegether in values, outlook and shared something of a common history - Great Satan and her posse of Hot! Democrazies are dealing with revisionist reactionaries, corrupt autocracies and 'non state actors.'

Good try!

Art "Prussianism"

The China Great Satan Navy War Of 2015

February 15, 2015 - Taiwan's rowdy Parliment calls for Oh Snap! Elections by March 1st. On the ballet is a drive to claim independence from the Collectivist Momieland.

Openly dissed beyond repair at a "...rebellious province...", Red China's effete elite turn to Peoples Liberation Navy to put steel fangs into President Hu's "5 No's"

"If we do not oppose and check the 'Taiwan independence' secessionist forces and their activities resolutely, they will certainly pose a severe threat to China's national sovereignty andterritorial integrity, ruin the prospects of peaceful reunification, and harm the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation."

Peoples Liberation Marines were placed on alert and spy sats were showing increased activity at several China Navy bases which included embarking D Day style goodies aboard transports. China's super semi secret sub base at Yulin sorteed several sub groups including a sole magically enhanced Yuan type 039X submarine.

Taiwan responded by showing off all those fancy amphib killing short and medium range missiles in endless drills and test firings live on tv.

Then, the balloon went up:

"USS George Washington was conducting routine patrols off the coast of China to send a signal of U.S. resolve. China responded with a signal of its own—sinking the massive ship.

"The ship broke in two and sank in twenty minutes. The Chinese medium-range ballistic missile had a penetrator warhead that drilled through all fourteen decks of the ship and punched a cavernous hole measuring twenty-feet wide from the flat-top landing deck through to the bottom of the hull.

"Ammunition stores ignited secondary explosions. Two million gallons of JP-5 jet fuel poured into the sea. The attack was calamitous and damage control was pointless.

"While the Pentagon was reeling to determine exactly what happened, a well-orchestrated and pre-planned ‘‘rescue’’ effort was already underway by a flotilla of first responders from China.

"The Chinese media reported on the bravery of Chinese naval forces, fisheries enforcement police and common fishermen who happened to be in the vicinity of the disaster and were able to save numerous lives.

"The massive warship had a crew of 3,200 sailors, and there were nearly 1,800 additional sailors and airmen embarked with the wing of aircraft on board the ship. Among this floating city, thousands of souls either incinerated or drowned.

"In the end, China saved hundreds of desperate survivors floating in the water. Chinese state television filmed distraught young U.S. navy personnel, weeping, grateful to be alive as they were plucked from the oily water. Family members back in the States rushed to Beijing to reunite with their sons and daughters, hosted by the Chinese government and state media.

"Beijing denied the attack. China shuttled to the Security Council, claiming that an accident on board the aircraft carrier had created a ‘‘radioactive incident’’ in its fishing zone, spreading nuclear fallout throughout the air and water in the region.

"The International Maritime Organization had declared the area of the attack a marine sanctuary one year earlier, and China had publicly warned that foreign warships posed an environmental risk to the natural marine environment.

"The United States, it was suggested, was liable for damage to China’s living and nonliving resources in the oceans, in accordance with the Law of the Sea Convention. Beijing also rushed to the area activists from environmental NGOs to monitor the situation.

"Expressing solidarity and sorrow for the U.S. loss, China flatly denied that it had anything to do with the catastrophe.

"The Pentagon was stunned, immediately ordering warships and aircraft toward the East China Sea. B-2 bombers repositioned to Guam. Submarines in Guam and the West Coast got underway. One Aegis destroyer operating off Hawaii broke away from high seas driftnet enforcement duty to begin the week-long trip to the area.

"No sooner had warships from the U.S. Second Fleet in Norfolk gotten underway, however, than did Cosco, the Chinese company operating the Panama Canal, declare the passageway closed for four weeks for urgent repairs to the Atlantic and Pacific locks. Closure of the 40-mile long canal added 3,000 miles to transits from the East coast of the United States to the Far East. The alternative was to take the laborious route through the Strait of Magellan in southern Chile.

"Considerably safer than Drake Passage, Magellan was still difficult to navigate. The narrow passage was dogged by fierce winds and the inhospitable climate. Half the U.S. fleet anchored in Norfolk was temporarily cut off from the Pacific.

"At the same time, street protests to stop the impending transit of U.S. warships through the Suez Canal stung the government in Cairo. The Suez Canal shaves 40 percent of the distance off a trip from the Sixth Fleet operating area in the Mediterranean Sea to the Far East.

"A number of U.S. Navy ships on patrol with the Fifth fleet in the Persian Gulf began the two-week transit back to Asia, but to what end? It became apparent that China was doing all that it could to provide assistance to the crew of the George Washington—showcasing to the world a kind, benevolent and proactive rescue effort.

"At the same time, China repeatedly denied blame for the incident. Nationalists honked car horns in China, and the Chinese government funded ‘‘spontaneous’’ rallies of support in selected Chinatown districts.

"The shock of the sinking of George Washington transformed Asian security.

"Clearly, the United States had been unseated. Only more slowly did people begin to realize that the maintenance of world order had rested on U.S. military power, and the foundation of that power was U.S. command of the global commons.

"The Army could fail, as it did in Vietnam; the Air Force was ancillary to the Army. To secure the U.S. position and the nation’s security—and indeed for world order—the Navy could never fail.

"This was an unexpected wake-up call to the United States and its NATO partners who had become increasingly obsessed with counter-insurgency tactics and small wars doctrine in Iraq and Afghanistan, forgetting the lessons of history and great
power conflict.

"When China acted, it was the culmination of a patient and focused national plan to couple naval technology and resources to a corresponding political, legal and diplomatic strategy in the oceans.

"The U.S. Naval force plans had been in disarray for decades. The nation was implementing a ‘‘cooperative’’ naval strategy designed for peace—preventing brushfire wars rather than deterring great power conflict.

"Meanwhile, the White House, through both Republican and Democratic administrations, placed environmentalists in charge of strategic U.S. oceans policy. These environmentalists championed coastal state control over the offshore areas – both in the United States and in multilateral diplomacy – and this focus played into China’s hands by de-legitimizing freedom of the seas in the littorals.

Pic "Touchy Towards Taiwan"

Hacked!

Whoa! That can't be good!

Enemy agents hacking into Great Satan's battle bots in the heat of combat is outrageous.

And old news since the 1996 Bosnia wars.

Noah knows and shares tons of insight, intell and interceptive techniques.

The curious thing about the deal is:

"And here’s the real scandal: Military officials have known about this potential vulnerability since the Bosnia campaign. That was over 10 years ago. And, as Declan McCullagh observes, there have been a series of government reports warning of the problem since then. But the Pentagon assumed that their adversaries in the Middle East and Central Asia wouldn’t have the smarts to tap into the communications link.

"That’s despite presentations like this 1996 doozy from Air Combat Command, which noted that that “the Predator UAV is designed to operate with unencrypted data links.”

Instead of freaking out and surrendering to Taliban (since AFPAK is about to get fully crunk and see a massive rise in warrantless, attorney - client privilge free 'Drones Gone Wild!"), this may actually be an opportunity:

If "Pretty much anyone could intercept the feeds of the drones" then perhaps pretty much everyone intercepting those signals could end up on the rec'ving end of a drone's business end. Turning those searchers into targets - for surveillance, intell or righteous kills or maybe even a surprise visit from an airborne Miranda team (Why not? HUMINT needs refreshing too!)

Pic - "By Your Command" by Ziopredy

Democrazy!

Should Great Satan be into democracy promotion?

Spin that around, right round, baby right round.

Should Great Satan be into despotry promotion?

Whoa!

That's the real quiz. After all, if the status quo features intolerant regimes that tend to act out in a wild variety of diplo polit itary actions against their own people (not to mention - any democracy in weapons range) then it's off the hook.

Eschewing sharing of sexyful desires like fun and free choice is exactly that: providing PR. meds and support groups for creeps, control freaks and autocrats.

Yeah, yeah yeah - we got the texted message about Great Satan:

"She goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own."

Yet 6 did preceed that oft quoted quotable with a very interesting caveat that rarely gets quoted:

"Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be."

Since Great Satan is created out of universal principles, how can Americans practice amoral indifference when those principles are getting blitzed all about the globe?

And, if she were to profess indifference, how can she dodge the impish implication that her creation principles are not universal?

An authentic American foreign policy by design must reject amorality and pessimism; it ditches any boring, weak willed, weak minded and dangerously out of date notion and commotions of bindings, limits or constraints in her naturally magnetic attraction of the unfree from every curve of the globe.

Pic "My kisses are as wicked as an F 16"

Sajjil-2

Whoa! The rocket rich, oath breaking Gay Free Republic shehab'd off a naughty surprise!

Way better than Sajjil 1, Sajji 2 is a significant threat to the entire ME and really raises the bar - separating the real players from the unhip.

Sajji 2's range (1,200 miles or 2,000 kilometers), puts Little Satan, Saudi-Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan in sight, from launch positions in central Iran. Sexperts estimate that Iran will be able to extend her missile strike capability to 3,000 km by the end of the decade, with strike capability reaching well into central Europa!

And the payload? Who can say?

Sajji's nom de guerre' in foreign tongues means "Baked Clay."

Revo Guard's Rocketeer Brigadier Ahmad Vahidi certainly launched a conflicting signal of his own -

"Iran's missile capabilities are strictly defensive and at the service of regional peace and stability. They will never be against any country."

And just to be sure the signals are really discombobulated, the overtly robust Brig Vahidi explained - "Some of the warheads obviously have been designed to be able to evade anti-ballistic missile defenses of the enemy in actual battle conditions."

Pic "Clay Baking Babies"

Waltsheimer's Disease

Waltsheimers - the progressive deterioration in cognitive function - the ability to process thought (intelligence). From Professor Stephen Walt and Professor John Mearsheimer's pitiful attempt to reverse Great Satan's penchant for supporting sister democracies in rough hoods:

1. Consistently maintaining a losing argument or debate in regards to a curious belief that Great Satan's support of Little Satan is the sole cause of the entire world's problems. Waltsheimer's can be manifested several ways.

Originally professed as 'realism' in the wild, weird world of the Cult of Irrevelance, Waltsheimers is probably best described as a radical tilt towards the status quo:

1. Avoid any endeavours that may actually benefit democracies and champion any desires that are counter to Great Satan's internat'l interests - and those of her allies.

2. Status Quo must be maintained the world over - unless upstaging the status quo would benefit enemies, frienemies or be detrimental to Great Satan, her allies - and especially democracy promotion of any kind.

While deceptively described as realism it is totally NOT true Realism - at least as Dr Kissinger set it up - interlocking alliances balancing regional hegemons in pursuit of stability - Waltsheimer's is a terrible, wicked curse of a disease.

Pic "Take 2 of these and call me next semester"

Hit 'Em Where It Hurts!

Great Satan's lady congresslady from the peninsular state shared some hot! gossip about certain targets on the target list if the balloon goes up betwixt the Gay Free Republic of Preacher Command and Great Satan.

Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (GOP), let her hair down a bit :

"Behind closed doors, the Iranian regime probably cannot conceal its surprise and delight at what it has gotten away with. For more than 10 years, Tehran has succeeded in deceiving foreign governments, thwarting nuclear inspectors and keeping sanctions weak and feckless. During that time, Iran has not broken stride in expanding its nuclear program, and it has now announced plans for 10 new enrichment facilities.

"Tehran's greatest feat has been its success in lulling global leaders -- including many in the U.S. administration and Congress -- into complacency, based on the belief that the threat posed by Iran's nuclear weapons program can be negotiated away through engagement and concessions by the West. This approach also largely ignores the totality of Iran's multifaceted threat.

"The range and accuracy of Tehran's ballistic missiles continue to improve, with U.S. forces and allies in the Middle East and Europe now within striking distance. Iran is also quickly accumulating an array of advanced conventional weapons in its effort to dominate the Persian Gulf and the world's oil supply.

"Iran is designated by the U.S. as the leading state sponsor of terrorism, and it is supporting extremist organizations throughout the Middle East and beyond, reaching even into Latin America. Iran has also assumed a major role in fueling the insurgency in Iraq and is backing Taliban militants in Afghanistan.

"Many U.S. officials and congressional leaders seem content to engage in vague and open-ended talks with Iran, acting as though we have a reservoir of time to work with before the Iranian threat reaches critical mass. Yet, in June, the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, estimated that Iran had already amassed a stockpile of nearly 1,400 kilograms of enriched uranium, which it could use in a "dirty bomb" or pass along to extremist groups or other rogue states.

"Just last month, the IAEA made the startling revelation that Iranian scientists may have tested advanced components of nuclear warheads. Nuclear experts note that such technology, once mastered, would allow for the production of smaller and simpler nuclear bombs, and would make it easier for Iran to put a nuclear warhead on a missile. This represents a step that few in the West believed possible.

"The IAEA also issued a report last month containing urgent new findings. One was that yet another camouflaged nuclear facility, this time at the recently disclosed Qom site, was at "an advanced state of construction." With additional installations widely suspected, who knows what will be uncovered next.

"The IAEA should immediately cease all technical assistance to Iran and should suspend Iran's membership privileges in the organization. Until such actions are taken, the U.S. should not send one more penny of taxpayer funds to the IAEA that benefit Iran's nuclear program.

"The regime in Tehran knows only hardball, and nothing less than overwhelming and crippling sanctions could produce a reversal of its threatening programs and policies.

"That is why the United States must be prepared to act alone, if necessary, and with every weapon in its political and economic arsenal. The Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act is one such tool. This legislation, which I coauthored, has the support of more than 300 members of the House, and it is urgent that this bill reaches the president's desk before the end of the year. It targets one of Iran's major weaknesses -- namely, its dependency on foreign gasoline and other refined petroleum products. By placing financial sanctions on U.S. and foreign companies providing these crucial resources, Iran's economic lifeline would be severed and its already weak economy would crumble.

"But these sanctions must be coupled with action on all fronts. The U.S. must also specifically reject Iran's claim to an inalienable right to produce nuclear fuel. We must strengthen existing laws to prevent the transfer of prohibited materials and technology to Iran. Responsible nations should impose a ban on travel by senior Iranian regime officials and their families to Europe and the U.S.



We should strengthen bilateral and multilateral efforts to shut down accounts of those doing business with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps or its affiliated entities; deny Tehran access to euros and U.S. dollars; and freeze the assets of those who violate U.N. sanctions on Iran. Concurrently, we should offer our full support to the Iranian people and increase funding for Iran democracy programs.

"The weakness of recent actions has been daunting. The IAEA mustered only a weak censure of Iran; the U.N. Security Council has said that it was disappointed; the White House has maintained its wait-and-see approach; and the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act continues to languish because many remain true believers in the mirage of engagement. However, the threat is immediate, and the time to act has arrived.



Pic - Nina Hagen and "The World is a Ho - Be Otche, and Great Satan be da pimp"