"Change Or Be Changed!"

Smashing fashion luv!

Uncle Tony's hot! controversial daytrip down Memoir Lane (fully crunk with gossip and risque raison d'etre') shares da deets about Great Satan's most former VP - the nigh indestructable cardiac wise, avuncular vulcan nom d'guerr'd Gitmo Dick.

Uncle Tony grants dramatic lift and reinforces what all the cool kids knew eons ago.

When it comes to illegit, intolerant regimes that fear fun, free choice while penchanting a constant strong inclination to hook up and hang with terrorists, creepy non state actor outers and fiddle about with WMD witchcraft - best to break out the hard power bay bee!

The previous vp saw 911 as a Strategic Wake Up Call, Uncle Tony says

"The world had to be remade after September the 11th. Work through the whole lot, Iraq, Syria, Iran, dealing with all their surrogates in the course of it - Hiz'B'Allah, HAMAS, etc."

"Hard, hard power. No ifs, no buts, no maybes. We're coming after you, so change or be changed."

Kinda tough to debate that one - after all -

"...Threats from those quarters have only increased. Iran is the greatest challenge and remaking Iran should be a national security priority.

"...Removing the Iranian threat would go far to take care of the others on Mr. Cheney's hit list. Syria has long been an Iranian client, a majority Sunni country ruled by a small Shiite cabal who rely on Iran for subsidies to remain in power. Lebanese Hiz'B'Allah is likewise bolstered by Iran as a mainstay of its terrorist network, and Palestinian HAMAS has been drawn further into Tehran's orbit in recent years.

"...None of these entities would likely survive as important regional powers if they lost the subsidies made possible by Iran's energy wealth.

Pic - "An attempt to inform and shape current and future thinking"

Afghan Studyless Group

Quiz Time!

What all happens when a collective of brainiac academs, super smart attorneys, intrepid journalists, ex gov guys wishful thinkers and the guy from Weenie Hut Juniors hook up?

Not much!

Least in the practical sense for certain views Great Satan could actually use.

Kinda like the Afghanistan Study Group.

First off - no military cats were involved, a serious error!

"...Put briefly, the ASG Report:

Eschews expertise on Afghanistan or the military;

Distorts the nature of the threat;

Does not account for the realistic consequences of its recommendations;

Does not support questionable assertions and assumptions;

Misrepresents vital American interests in the region;

Implicitly blames Pashtuns for militancy, instead of the social and historical pressures driving the insurgency;

Is cut and pasted multiple times, leading to lots of repeated assertions with little argument to support them; and

Is inconsistent and contradictory in consecutive paragraphs and sections."

Easy to diss and dismiss - ASG could have been way more better by admitting without modesty or restraint that the choices are somewhere betwixt suck and suckiest.

Check the amazing follow up and attempted defense with some of the very creators of Afghan Unassing Consortium's report here

Pic "Great Satan would have to deal with a strategic disaster the likes of which we have not seen since the fall of South Vietnam."

Always Remember

Art - "Cleared Hot! "by Nicolas A. Price

"Major Retreat"

The most powerful Mother in Law in l'era moderne read the riot act to friends, frienemies and enemies!

HRC's 3 D's (development, Diplomacy and Defense) are presented (almost deliciously daemoneoconic) with hot! breaths of ""...national renewal aimed at strengthening the sources of American power, especially our economic might and moral authority.

Dosed up with wicked little flashbacks to Dr B's recent Puissant Proclamation l'Hyper (DNA indeed!)

Whoa! Sounds hot? Sounds cool?

Moment bitte!

1st off, Democracy Promotion is no where to be found! This amazingly amazing abstinence is serious signs of Great Satan moving away from the leadership role HRC champions. Face it - democrazy promoting is what Great Satan does best - it's like kryptonite in Smallville for a host of nation/state actor outers - all unfree, consistently problematic with uncool despotic tendencies.

Dissing Democrazy pimpin is the same as democrazy repression - nicht war?

M*a*j*o* r* R*e*t*r*e*a*t*

“For the United States, global leadership is both a responsibility and an unparalleled opportunity.” She then proceeds to describe what amounts to an abdication of American leadership

"...At home, this is called burden sharing, but usually it means “I want to do less.” And that is Clinton’s message to the world: America wants to do less.


"...Now there should be no mistake: This administration is also committed to maintaining the greatest military in the history of the world and, if needed, to vigorously defending our friends and ourselves.” (Mark those words, Israel.)

HRC again - “After more than a year and a half, we have begun to see the dividends of our strategy.” Well, that’s true. And the picture is not pretty:

• About NATO: “A core principle of all our alliances is shared responsibility—each nation stepping up to do its part.” But isn’t NATO stepping back in Afghanistan precisely because of the costs and the apprehensions about our own commitment to the fight?

• About our real leadership role in the world: “Helping other nations develop the capacity to solve their own problems—and participate in solving shared problems—has long been a hallmark of American leadership.” Much as we have helped the Iranian people? The Hondurans? The Georgians? The North Koreans? The Lebanese?

• About our new allies: “We must also take into account those countries that are growing rapidly and already playing more influential roles in their regions and in global affairs, such as China and India, Turkey, Mexico and Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa, as well as Russia, as it redefines its own role in the world.” Surely, even the secretary cannot see the rise of China and Russia—their assumption of “greater responsibility,” as she says—as a good thing?

• And of course, the United Nations.

"...The speech is replete with dreadful irony. Two gems:

• “As we strengthen and modernize regional and global institutions, the United States is also working to cement democracy, human rights, and the rule of law into their foundations.” This is nonsense; the United States under Obama has dismissed the value of democracy and retreated in our defense of human rights almost everywhere. Look no further than the UN Human Rights Council for confirmation.

• “One need only look at our diplomatic effort to stop Iran’s provocative nuclear activities and its serial non-compliance with all of its international obligations. There is still a lot of work to be done, but how we are approaching the Iranian challenge is an example of American leadership in action.” Yes. It is. They are about to have a nuclear weapon.

"...Our allies have been bubbling with resentment and fear over the Obama administration’s retreat. There have been admirable and notable exceptions, particularly in Afghanistan and, of late, in Asia.

"...In general, enemies and friends have a shared impression of this president. He doesn’t want America to lead the world, and he’s doing his best to ensure we can’t. This speech will only cement that view.

Pic "And the threat comes because in another part of our globe, there is shadow and darkness, where not all the world is free, where many millions suffer under brutal dictatorships"

The ISI al Qaeda Hook Up

Zap!

A bigger shock than getting hit on by your bff's semi cool and totally tipsy uncle!

All the cool kids know Land of the Pure's terrorist sympathizing covertly shadow spy guys in the ISI have had the hots for Taliban ala Strategic Depth - yet hot! gossip that ISI may be hooking up with al Qaeda in Afghanistan as a Taliban controller is off the hook!

"...Al-Qaeda is blocking Taliban fighters who favour peace talks from negotiating with Kabul.

"...The terror movement has disarmed two Taliban commanders, Mullah Laal Muhammad and Mullah Alaoddin of the Haqqani network, who were interested in starting peace talks with the Afghan government, Kunduz Provincial Governor Engineer Muhammad Omar said.

“...Al-Qaeda has disarmed two prominent commanders of the Haqqani Network in Kunduz in the past two weeks, and nine others in fear of being disarmed have buried their weapons and fled to Pakistan.”

Whoa! Certainly queers the mix on all the happy talk by the Afghan Unassing Consortium - a military free collective of academics (yay), biz peeps, ex gov officials, policy practitioners, journalistical cats and wishful thinkers.

Despite magical incantations of internat'l internat'lness, and no aq anywhere near AFPAK, the truth is more sobering than two triple expressos loaded in a 5'2" 102 lb frame

"...Osama bin Laden & Co. would crow that they had defeated another superpower and their movement would be turbocharged across the world. The Taliban would take over much of southern Afghanistan and advance on Kabul, sparking a terrible civil war with the forces that once belonged to the Northern Alliance.

"...In Pakistan Islamist extremists, including the Pakistan Taliban, will be spurred in their own drive on Islamabad. The US would have to deal with a strategic disaster the likes of which we have not seen since the fall of South Vietnam.

Perhaps the most important observation in the Central Asia Online account is this:

'...Kunduz representative to the Afghan parliament Moyeen Merastyal confirmed the governor’s statement.

“...The groups that are supporting the Taliban from outside don’t want peace talks in Afghanistan as they consider stability detrimental to their interests,” Merastyal said. “They want terrorism in the region, not only in Afghanistan, so anyone who looks interested in peace talks is being disarmed or captured,” he said, referring to the arrest of some Taliban figures in Pakistan.

"...In all the talk of the possibility of peace between some elements of the Taliban and the Afghan government, Merastyal's point remains the most important one.

"...The Taliban and other jihadist proxies of the Pakistani ISI are not going to make peace unless the ISI wants them to. It is just that simple. Here we have a good illustration of some Taliban commanders wanting to reconcile and their efforts being blocked by outside forces.

"...And isn't it interesting that in this case al Qaeda is performing the same function that the ISI does? That is, al Qaeda is neutering commanders in northern Afghanistan who are not as committed to war as they should be, just as the ISI does in Pakistan.

Pic "Taleban Strategy Clash"

Book Burning

So hot it's on fire!

Literally Bay Bee!

P4's recent shout out about an alleged Xian ministerial ministry flaming up K'Rans as a burnt offering on one of Great Satan's High Holy Days is super subtle beyond descript.

Consider - Americans do not fear books - of any kind - fun, free choice and occasionally common sense are in heavy play. Make your best case, lay it out to play it out - and if it works - yay! for you!

If not - no prob - re edit, rewrite and re release, essentially ppl are free to try again.

It is weirdly unAmerican to burn books - control freaks, creeps, jerks and tardists (in the classic sense as in limited intellectual and emotional development please) like NSDAPers, Collectivist NoKo and Cuba or chaotically rowdy freelance m'hammedists fear books and burn books - not Americans.

And, as best understood - it is also amazingly unXian to advocate book burnings. "...Whosoever will..." is the comte d'guerr ensembe of free choice, free will and free thinking - that xformed Europa (along with the ancient Roman Empire's interstate system, hooked up with Greek indivdualism) from a wilderness frontier to Western Civ's powerhouse of audacity that actually brought Great Satan into the world.

As Goethe (or maybe it was Batman) said, something something "where one burns books, ultimately they will burn people also..."

Pic "And I'm burning, I'm burning, I'm burning for you..."

Once And Future World Revolutionary

Oh, it's true bay bee!

Being hot! funny, smart, cool, desirable and fashionably coutured as the world's indispensably Hyper Puissant bears certain costs as a - actually - the Great Power!

Great Satan has been revolutionary beyond repair since the day she hit the hood - and she is not about to change.

"...America remains the most revolutionary force on the planet. Love us or hate us (and feel free to do both) -- our DNA remains unchanged. We are a frontier-integrating nation that refuses to stand back, much less stand still.

"...Simply put, the world didn't work until we came along and sought to reshape it in our image

Sassy sweet imperialistic hubris nicht war?

Au contraire, mon frer'!

See, Great Satan's "...65-year moratorium on great-power war and an international liberal trade order actually empowers and enriches individuals the world over -- especially women.

"...The rising pillars of the East and South -- such as Brazil, South Africa, Turkey, India and China -- while speaking of themselves in great-power terms and building up their military might, continue to free-ride on the West's efforts. What's more, they prefer to describe us as more problem than solution, while offering no serious alternatives of their own.

"...In short, as the world experiences fantastic structural change, an aging, post-industrial West still covers all security "bets" while the surging, rapidly industrializing East and South lack the military maturity and strategic vision to step up and lend a much-needed hand.

"...So we watch demographically moribund Europe struggle to recast its relatively small militaries as expeditionary forces, while cash- and manpower-rich China stockpiles advanced weaponry useful only for fighting fellow great powers.

"...How long can this resource mismatch endure? Plenty long, judging by some of our clueless erstwhile allies. Consider Pakistan, which took about 10 years and $10 billion in U.S. military aid to finally admit that its in-country version of the Taliban constitutes a bigger security threat than India.

"...Astride it all stands America, which, amazingly enough, continues to find the political willpower to try and manage the international security landscape, even as such efforts contribute to -- but hardly encompass -- its magnificent public debt. Despite our enduring self-sacrifice, the world still feels more hostility than gratitude toward us

"...The world will continue demanding our responses, both kinetic and non-kinetic, in the years ahead. The sirens of isolationism will argue otherwise, as will those who dream of fantastically big wars against fabulously armed opponents.

"...A problem shelved is not a problem solved. We created this world; we will not abandon it.

Pic "Cause it happens too fast and it feels so good, it's like walking on glass" with January Jones