Saturday, June 30, 2007

Far Left Media Bring Us To Edge Of Disaster

The biggest threat to the safety of the citizens of the United States is the far left media. It is so dominated with a blame America ideology it has become both a pawn and an asset to Islamic terrorists. I say this after carefully watching events unfold over the past several years.

The far left wants to position terrorism as a republican only issue. The New York Times places a story about a foiled terror plot to blow up Kennedy Airport and half of Queens on page 37. Why not page 1 like all the other local New York media? Because it would emphasize that there is a significant , life and death threat we are facing and not a Republican witch hunt.

Yesterday two terror bombing plots were foiled in London. It was a massive story but not for pudgy slime ball Keith Olbermann and MSNBC. While most of the rest of the world was in shock over the near miss of a terror plot aimed at killing hundreds of civilians, the smug Olbermann continued his broadcast series on the character assisnation of Vice President Dick Cheney. The London terror plot was not mentioned.

The viewpoint expressed is so myopic and dated it is frightening. Little spells it out better than today's outstanding article by Bruce Thorton.

June 29, 2007
The Passion of the Left
CIA’s new revelations fan the flames of “progressive” myths of our past.
by Bruce Thornton, VDH Private Papers

The publication of the CIA’s “family jewels” — the record of its domestic spying, hare-brained plots against Castro, and mind-control experiments, among other oddities — is sure to add fuel to that roaring bonfire of a myth that so-called “progressives” have been warming their egos at for forty years.

http://victorhanson.com/articles/thornton062907.html

Monday, June 25, 2007

Wall Street Journal: Ill Winds of Tehran

ILL WINDS
Winds of War Iran is making a mistake that may lead the Middle East into a broader conflict.
BY JOSHUA MURAVCHIK Monday, June 25, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT

Several conflicts of various intensities are raging in the Middle East. But a bigger war, involving more states--Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, the Palestinian Authority and perhaps the United States and others--is growing more likely every day, beckoned by the sense that America and Israel are in retreat and that radical Islam is ascending.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010256

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Arab American News: Right Here !

IN America every citizen is entitled to their own opinion and has the right to express it in a peaceful manner. There is no question about it. However, what concerns me about this article from the American based Arab American News is that a paper published by people living in The United States can still take the position of Israel as the bogeyman , seeking destruction of it's 300 million neighbors by manipulating and then utilizing the United States in a puppet like manner.

It's fascinating because it is happening right here. You would hope that Arabs living here in America would have a broader based perspective than those living in any of the dictatorships through out the Middle East. Perhaps a bit better perspective. Unfortunately it appears not to be so.

Why this is ultimately so dangerous for the survival of the state of Israel is a fact few talk about today but will not be able to avoid in the future. Over the next 10 or 15 years population trends predict that there will be more Arabs and Muslims living in the United States than Jews. That translates into more voting power and will simply shift the policy position pendulum with our the self-serving, survival first politicians.

Watch and wait.

Aiming toward disaster

By: Patrick Seale / The Arab American News2007-06-23

What would it take to persuade Israel to rethink its attitude towards its Arab neighbors — and primarily towards the Palestinians? The Hamas victory in Gaza is surely a clear signal that an Israeli change of direction is urgently needed.

http://www.arabamericannews.com/newsarticle.php?articleid=8982

Haaretz: Iran Involved in Arming Hamas

Last update - 14:22 24/06/2007
PA intelligence chief: Iran aided Hamas in takeover of Gaza Strip
By News Agencies

Palestinian intelligence chief Tawfiq Tirawi on Sunday accused Iran of close involvement in Hamas' violent takeover of Gaza, saying Tehran funded the Islamic militants and trained hundreds of them.Tirawi said the battle for Gaza earlier this month had been carefully orchestrated and was a joint program with Iran.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/874410.html

Krauthammer on the Realities of Gaza

Last Chance for Abbas
By Charles Krauthammer, Friday, June 22, 2007; Page A19

Gaza is now run not by a conventional political party but by a movement that is revolutionary, Islamist and terrorist. Worse, Hamas is a client of Iran. Gaza now constitutes the farthest reach of the archipelago of Iranian proxies: Hamas in Palestine, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Mahdi Army (among others) in Iraq and the Alawite regime of Syria.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062101863.html

Deja Vu in Gaza ?

Conservative Columnist: The End of War as We Know It?
by J. Peter Pham, 06.22.2007

I have been following the Hamas takeover of Gaza with a sense of what Yogi Berra, in reference to Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, described as "déjà vu all over again."

http://www.nationalinterest.org/Article.aspx?id=14728

Thomas Friedman: ON the Mark Over Progress over Energy

Op-Ed Columnist
The Capitol Energy Crisis
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: June 24, 2007

When you watch a baby being born, after a difficult pregnancy, it is so painful and bloody for the mother it is always hard to tell the truth and say, “Gosh, that baby is really ugly.” But that’s how I feel about the energy legislation passed (and not passed) by the Senate last week.

http://select.nytimes.com/2007/06/24/opinion/24friedman.html

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Bravo L.A. Times on Salman Rushdie

Amazing but the L.A. Times of all newspapers had the balls to call out the western media on it's cowardly complete lack of courage on the Salman Rushdie Knighting affair...an important piece.

Why no mention of this as a New York Times lead? Answer: Because the New York Times is becoming irrelevant.

Where is the West's outcry?
June 23, 2007
By Tim Rutten, The Los Angeles Times

FOR a writer, Salman Rushdie has had a rather turbulent career.Even by his standards, however, this has been quite a week for the Indian-born, British-educated Booker Prize-winning novelist, now a resident of New York:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-rutten23jun23,1,6014697.column?coll=la-news-columns&ctrack=1&cset=true

Major Crackdowns on Dissent in Iran

Crackdown on Dissent Is Under Way in Iran

By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
Published: June 24, 2007

Iran is in the throes of one of its most ferocious crackdowns on dissent in years, with the government focusing on labor leaders, universities, the press, women’s rights advocates, a former nuclear negotiator and Iranian-Americans, three of whom have been in prison for more than six weeks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/24/world/middleeast/24iran.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Al-Ahram: More of the Same, How Pathetic.

Is it any wonder why the middle east is such a miserable mess? Five years under the world's spotlight after 9-11, we have all been forced to see the mechanics of the region as it really is. Even today we have the "highly respected" Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram posting it's lead editorial blaming America and Israel for the Mid Easts woes ...

It is pathetic beyond belief. Any same Westerner would know our only strategy is to create energy substitutes as quickly as possible and leave this miserable section of the planet to it's own demise.

A matter of legacy:
Normally a president would aim to leave office on a note of goodwill. George W Bush doesn't seem to care, writes Ayman El-Amir* , Al-Ahram Weekly

With 18 months to go before the expiry of his presidency, George W Bush must be anxious about the question of his place in history. This, at least, is usually symptomatic of world leaders, who entertain belated self-doubt as to how historians and future generations will judge their era, their actions and their achievements. Not George W Bush. He has dedicated his two-term presidency to the global war on terrorism. Regardless of the dismal failure in Iraq, Afghanistan and the war-by-proxy against Hizbullah in Lebanon, the Bush administration has one more prized target to attack -- Iran. Without arresting Iran's budding nuclear capability, whether by regime change or military strike, President Bush's messianic mission will never be accomplished.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/850/op21.htm

The Guardian: Taliban Using Children on Suicide Missions

Just a reminder of the sort of animals we are up against. Where is the world outcry, the marches, the New York Times headlines denouncing this sort of activity?

The West has become a theater of the absurd, denying reality at all costs. I'm amazed The Guardian of all papers had the balls and decency to actually post this story.

Nato accuses Taliban of using children in suicide missions·
Troops say bomb defused on six-year-old boy· Claim follows 13 civilian deaths in air strike Chiade O'Shea Islamabad, Saturday June 23, 2007 The Guardian

Children as young as six are being used by the Taliban in increasingly desperate suicide missions, coalition forces in Afghanistan claimed yesterday.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,2109574,00.html

Al Jazeera Readrs Sound off on Salman Rushdie

An always fascinating look at how other parts of the world think about specific issues. This week I have selected the feedback of Al Jazeera readers worldwide on the issue of author and former assignation target Salman Rushdie being selected for knighthood.

Should Britain withdraw an honour given to Salman Rushdie?

Salman Rushdie, the author of a novel considered blasphemous by many Muslims, has been awarded a knighthood. Pakistan's parliament has demanded that the title is withdrawn and an apology issued. Should the British government take back the award?

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E9A36960-AB5A-43E7-A637-4628328249EB.htm?&choice=3&dgDiscID=166&dgPoolID=27d03f54-e23c-4850-a88e-e419a10e84fa

The New York Times: Relentless in their Objective to Paint a Portrait of Failure at all Costs

What's a news day be without the blatantly biased The New York Times choosing to open their page one lead without a story slamming events in Iraq. It does not matter that most of the news reported elsewhere depicts a story of new found success with a change in strategy. All the Times wants is to brainwash the American Public into thinking all is lost and to bring the troops home.

No where do they determine what should be done after that catastrophe takes place. The New York Times is a far left, highly partisan disgrace.

Militants Said to Flee Before U.S. Offensive
By JOHN F. BURNS
Published: June 23, 2007

BAGHDAD, June 22 — The operational commander of troops battling to drive fighters with Al Qaeda from Baquba said Friday that 80 percent of the top Qaeda leaders in the city fled before the American-led offensive began earlier this week. He compared their flight with the escape of Qaeda leaders from Falluja ahead of an American offensive that recaptured that city in 2004.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/23/world/middleeast/23iraq.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Friday, June 22, 2007

Horowitz of Jerusalem Post Talks about Hamas

David Horovitz, editor of the Jerusalem Post, puts reality into perspective in an article regarding Hamas' brutal overthrow and take over of Gaza and the world's reaction to it.

Updated Jun. 21, 2007
Editor's Notes: Leverage in Hamastan
By DAVID HOROVITZ, The Jerusalem Post

Let's be sure we've got this straight. Hamas has taken over the Gaza Strip, with a display of ruthless brutality toward its own people. We've seen Palestinians shoved off the roofs of buildings, by other Palestinians. We've seen Palestinians with literally dozens of bullets pumped into their heads, by other Palestinians. Palestinians murdered in front of their families, by other Palestinians. Palestinians murdered as they waited, desperate and helpless, to get out of the Strip, by other Palestinians.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1182409609561&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Victor Davis Hanson on American Amnesia

Professor Hanson brilliantly details the history of what got us into Iraq and analyzes the what if scenarios and how others might handle them in the future. Hanson's ability to place current event paters into historical perspective is exceptional and highly informative.

June 22, 2007
Reactionary Amnesia: The good ole’ days in the Middle East.
by Victor Davis Hanson, National Review Online

“Mess,” “fiasco,” “disaster,” “blunder,” and “catastrophe.”Fill in the blanks with almost any stock noun of gloom these days when speaking about Iraq.For finger-in-the-wind politicians, writing off Iraq is mere throat-clearing before moving on to any discussion of immigration reform or taxes. For ahead-of-the-curve pundits, starting out with “The failure in Iraq” is like opening their browser before daily pontificating. No need of explanation or empiricism, one just gets things out of the way at the very beginning with our new postmodern ritual.

http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson062207.html

Democrats Produce Zero After Six Months ...

Democrats promised way more than they've delivered so far
Six months on, much ado over an unfinished agenda
By Jill ZuckmanWashington Bureau, Published June 21, 2007, 7:11 PM CDT

WASHINGTON -- In the heat of their successful campaign last year to retake the House and Senate, Democrats made voters promise after promise.They promised to end the war in Iraq. They promised to expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. They promised to lower prescription drug prices for seniors and raise the minimum wage.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-070621dems,1,2175390.story?page=1&cset=true&ctrack=3&coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

Amir Taheri: Iraq Military Gains

It's time we call a spade a spade here ... there are two wars going on over Iraq. The first is our soldiers and military in the field. The second is the media war to end the war. The huge concern is that the plug will be pulled just when we are getting our act together to win this thing.

Last night I watched CNN and MSNBC spend the first third of their programing positioning all doom and gloom over the war. Never in their coverage was the slightest hint that the military is turning this thing around. Everything is positioned to disturb the American public so that support crumbles.

What scares me the most is other than blaming George Bush, the Left has zero plan to do anything to deal with the catastrophe of what an American military defeat would mean. They are truly a party of dreamers living in a vacuum.

IRAQ: MILITARY GAINS, GOV'T MESS
By Amir Taheri, The New York Post

June 22, 2007 -- SIX months ago, the U.S.- led Coalition force in Iraq appeared to be largely in self-defense mode, allowing terrorists and insurgents much latitude in parts of Baghdad and the troubled provinces of Anbar and Diyala. At the same time, the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appeared to be engaged in a broad political offensive.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06222007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/iraq__military_gains__govt_mess_opedcolumnists_amir_taheri.htm

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Ralph Peters on Winning on Offense ...

WINNING ON OFFENSE
REAL PLAN TO DEFEAT IRAQ FOES

By Ralph Peters, The New York Post

June 21, 2007 -- HALLELUJAH! For the first time since Baghdad fell, our military in Iraq has a comprehensive, integrated plan to defeat our enemies. Until now, our efforts have always been piecemeal, stop-start affairs. Even our success in the Second Battle of Fallujah in 2004 went unexploited. Things have changed. And terrorists, not just Iraqi civilians, are dying.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06212007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/winning_on_offense_opedcolumnists_ralph_peters.htm

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Tony Blankley's Journey into Islam

June 20, 2007
Journey into Islam
By Tony Blankley

I have just finished reading a deeply disheartening book by my friend Professor Akbar Ahmed. Dr. Ahmed is the former Pakistani high commissioner to Britain and member of the faculties of Harvard, Princeton and Cambridge, current chair of Islamic Studies at American University -- and is in the front ranks of what we Westerners call the moderate Muslims, who we are counting on to win the hearts and minds of the others.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/06/journey_into_islam.html

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Al Ahram Reports on Intergrating Extremists

A very interesting piece from the Eqyptian weekly ...

Integrating Islamists: Political inclusion is the best way to blunt extremist currents within Islam, writes Ammar Ali Hassan*
Al-Ahram Weekly

Counter-violence has not succeeded in burying extremist Islamist groups. Nor has it limited or weakened them to the point of stripping their efficacy or marginalising them into inactivity, making them incapable of recruiting or mobilising followers. Counter-violence has also not prevented Islamist groups from challenging the authorities, whether through symbolic rhetoric or through real actions ranging from the circulation of inimical leaflets to the perpetration of acts of extreme violence.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/849/op12.htm

Al Jazeera Readers speak about Gaza ...

Once again it is very interesting and revealing to read how readers around the word sound off about Gaza in an Al Jazeera opinion section ...

Can Gaza find peace?

An Israeli energy company has cut back fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip as Israel attempts to isolate the Hamas movement after it took control of the coastal territory. Can Gaza find peace? Send us your views.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E9A36960-AB5A-43E7-A637-4628328249EB.htm?&choice=3&dgDiscID=164&dgPoolID=0f59991e-6676-4014-ad8d-e46bb059be44

Victor Davis Hanson on Hypocrisy and Civilization

June 19, 2007
Hypocrisy That Undermines Civilization
By Victor Davis Hanson

There is only a thin veneer that separates civilization from man's innate barbarity. Some 2,500 years ago the historian Thucydides once warned us about the irony of revolutionaries and insurrectionists destroying this fragile patina of culture, as if they themselves might be exempt from ever wanting it back again.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/06/civilization.html

Monday, June 18, 2007

Brooks: After Gaza, What Next?

THE SIEGE OF LEBANON
AFTER GAZA, THE NEXT DOMINO?

By Peter Brooks, The New York Post

June 18, 2007 -- BEWARE: The Gaza Strip may be only the first dom ino to fall this summer in Iran and Syria's push to establish an arc of influence across the Middle East, stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Eastern Mediterranean. Lebanon, already teetering on the brink of instability, could easily be next.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06182007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/the_siege_of_lebanon_opedcolumnists_peter_brookes.htm

Land for Peace …or Land in Pieces?

Land for Peace …… or land in pieces?
By Seth Leibsohn

The news out of Gaza is actually not the latest history lesson that Munich-type land-for-peace propositions require us to restudy. What we need is an update to Baruch Spinoza. While nature may still very well abhor a vacuum, we now know beyond speculation that terrorism will thrive in one. Where once a democratic state “occupied” Gaza, a terrorist Fatah took over under the watchful eyes of the U.N. In less than two years, the even-more-radical Hamas blasted Fatah out of power and took over from there — in one of the bloodiest coups of the past decade. Now Hamas, with support from Iran, runs a mini-state on the border of Egypt and Israel.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDNjZjY0YjZjNzJkZmUwZjUwNWE5YzdiOTU5ZGU3NTk=

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Newsweek: The Gaza Effect Worldwide

The Gaza Effect
By Michael Hirsh
Newsweek,June 25, 2007 issue -

The Israelis didn't want Palestinian elections back in January 2006. Even Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, had been worried about them and kept asking for delays. As early as the spring of 2005, Abbas had warned American officials that he did not have the popular support to disarm Hamas, the Islamist party that turned suicide terror bombings into a standard tactic in Israel and which both Abbas and the Israelis saw was growing in power. But Bush administration officials insisted, confident of the curative powers of democracy. Later, after Hamas stunned the world by winning control of the Palestinian Parliament, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice claimed: "Nobody saw it coming."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19263096/site/newsweek/

Al Jazeera Readers on a Nuclear Iran ...

It is very interesting to see how readers of Al Jazeera see the Iranian nuclear issue. Now that this paper is in English, we are afforded an amazing opportunity to actually see how other parts of the world actually think. Like it or hate it, we cannot afford to ignore it.

Iran's nuclear programme: Your views
Al Jazeera Reporting

Iran has brushed aside warnings by G8 leaders that it would face further UN sanctions if it failed to halt uranium enrichment work. Is the pursuit of nuclear technology Iran's right?

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E9A36960-AB5A-43E7-A637-4628328249EB.htm?&choice=3&dgDiscID=145&dgPoolID=dbbeb33f-7bc0-494b-9c45-5783ff142fc3

Kagan & Kristol: Slow Motion Tet ... Al Queda Style

Another retelling of how Al Qaeda is outlasting an American public that is spoiled, lazy and in denial. Not the first time this argument was positioned here but it cannot be understated. The left and it's media supporters are positioning terrorism as a Republican issue. Much of the country lacks the perspective and the follow through to realize that there are real nuts out there who would set a nuclear bomb off in the middle of New York City in a second once they are able to do so ... it cannot get any scarier than that.

This is why I keep posting this sort of article. You cannot understate what is at stake and it is at stake.

Slow-motion Tet
Al Qaeda is counting on sapping our will, and persuading America to choose to lose a war it could win. by Frederick W. Kagan & William Kristol 06/25/2007

Last week, a group of tribal leaders in Salah-ad-Din, the mostly Sunni province due north of Baghdad, agreed to work with the Iraqi government and U.S. forces against al Qaeda. Then al Qaeda destroyed the two remaining minarets of the al-Askariya mosque in Samarra, a city in the province. Coincidence? Perhaps. But al Qaeda is clearly taking a page from the Viet Cong's book. The terrorists have been mounting a slow-motion Tet offensive of spectacular attacks on markets, bridges, and mosques, knowing that the media report each such attack as an American defeat. The fact is that al Qaeda is steadily losing its grip in Iraq, and these attacks are alienating its erstwhile Iraqi supporters. But the terrorists are counting on sapping our will as the VC did, and persuading America to choose to lose a war it could win.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/769bdqeo.asp

Thomas Friedman on Anti-Semitism in Universities ...

Every once in a while Thomas Friedman stops crying and actually rediscovers some of his old talent. This is such an article.

A Boycott Built on Bias
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: June 17, 2007

Two weeks ago I took part in commencement for this year’s doctoral candidates at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The ceremony was held in the amphitheater on Mount Scopus, which faces out onto the Dead Sea and the Mountains of Moab. The setting sun framed the graduate students in a reddish-orange glow against a spectacular biblical backdrop.

http://select.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/opinion/17friedman.html

Niall Ferguson: Mid-East Headed for Armageddon ...

When a man as brilliant as Niall Ferguson spells out potential for disaster, we all better at least pay some damn attention ... this cannot be ignored or denied or squeezed in between Paris Hilton's jail term and the opening weekend gross for the new Fantastic Four flick (which happened to be terrible by the way) ...

This heat is a recipe for Armageddon
By Niall Ferguson, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 17/06/2007

Divide and rule was an old maxim of Britain's Empire. In the Middle East today, there's certainly no shortage of division. But who is ruling as a result? Any lingering hopes of a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians evaporated last week as the Islamist extremists of Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip. President Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the more secular Fatah party, now finds himself president of the West Bank only. The next Middle Eastern peace plan will have to be a three-state solution: Israel, Hamastan and Fatahland.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml;jsessionid=JAMRQI2CUFACLQFIQMFCFFWAVCBQYIV0?xml=/opinion/2007/06/17/do1701.xml

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Wall Street Journal: Arafat's Children

Arafat's Children
Gaza's mayhem is the bitter fruit of terror as statecraft.
Saturday, June 16, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT , The Wall Street Journal

Scores of Palestinians were killed this week in Gaza in factional fighting between loyalists of President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah and those of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas. As if on cue, it took about 24 hours before pundits the world over blamed the violence on Israel and President Bush.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/weekend/hottopic/?id=110010219

Singer: America is Sleeping ...Jerusalem Post

This article by Saul Singer details that the war on terror has become a Republican war which the democrats not only want no part of, they deny exists.

2007 2:10I
Interesting Times: Quiet, America is sleeping
By Saul Singer, The Jerusalem Post

It is not so much that Westerners do not feel threatened, but that they do not see how they can win. Anyone who watched the two most recent intra-party debates in New Hampshire could not miss the result: The Democrats competed over who was more against the war in Iraq; the Republicans over who would more vigorously prosecute the war against Islamofascism.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1181813032379&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Fundamentalists threaten Israel from all sides

Fundamentalists threaten Israel from all sides By Con Coughlin
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 15/06/2007

Welcome to the new Islamic Republic of Hamas-stan, where every Palestinian woman is obliged to wear the veil and all traces of corrupting Western influences, from pop music to internet cafés, are strictly banned.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml;jsessionid=3YN1R0U0TPQRHQFIQMFSFGGAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/opinion/2007/06/15/do1502.xml

Robert Kaplan Restates the Obvious

This stunning article by Robert Kaplan highlights that Americans have lost perspective on the costs associated with our free lifestyle and have lost the consistent will required to keep it in the face of relentless adversaries who count on this weakness to succeed.

On Forgetting the Obvious
By Robert D. Kaplan

Some truths are so obvious that to mention them in polite company seems either pointless or rude. What is left unstated, however, can with time be forgotten. Both of these observations apply today to the American way of war. It is obvious that a military can only fight well on behalf of a society in which it believes, and that a society which believes little is worth fighting for cannot, in the end, field an effective military. Obvious as this is, we seem to have forgotten it.

http://www.the-american-interest.com/ai2/article.cfm?Id=289&MId=14

Lieberman: What I saw in Iraq

THE WAR: What I Saw in Iraq: Iran remains a problem, but Anbar has joined the fight against terror.

BY JOSEPH LIEBERMAN Friday, June 15, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT

I recently returned from Iraq and four other countries in the Middle East, my first trip to the region since December. In the intervening five months, almost everything about the American war effort in Baghdad has changed, with a new coalition military commander, Gen. David Petraeus; a new U.S. ambassador, Ryan Crocker; the introduction, at last, of new troops; and most important of all, a bold, new counterinsurgency strategy.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010212

Iran Strategy Stirs Debate at White House

What fascinated me about this New York Time page 1 lead was how the paper refers to the confrontation with Iran as President Bush's problem, not Americas. For years the Bush Administration has attempted every means possible to negotiate with Iran. They have relied heavily on both our European "allies" and others in the international community. So far nothing has worked and Iran remains moving full steam ahead to possession of a nuclear bomb.

Iran Strategy Stirs Debate at White House
By HELENE COOPER and DAVID E. SANGER
Published: June 16, 2007

WASHINGTON, June 15 — A year after President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced a new strategy toward Iran, a behind-the-scenes debate has broken out within the administration over whether the approach has any hope of reining in Iran’s nuclear program, according to senior administration officials.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/16/washington/16diplo.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1181992195-kKsRvCIQLYzzpvC9wc2Svw

Friday, June 15, 2007

Aljazeera Survey's Worldwide Opinion on Gaza ...

Can Gaza find peace?
Aljazeera Reports ...


Hamas, now in apparent full-control of Gaza, has declared clemency for all Fatah members and security forces, after seizing several senior officials, a spokesman for the group's military wing said. Will Gaza descend into war? How will Israel respond? What do you think will stop the violence? Send us your views. If you are in Gaza, tell us your experiences.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E9A36960-AB5A-43E7-A637-4628328249EB.htm?&choice=3&dgDiscID=164&dgPoolID=0f59991e-6676-4014-ad8d-e46bb059be44&loc=1&pagesize=10&group=1

NY Post: Hamas-Istan

The New York Post argues that now that Hams appears to have ousted Fatwah and gained control, they will now have to deal direct with Israel, one way or the other ...

HAMAS-ISTAN

June 15, 2007 -- It's apparently all over in Gaza save for the mopping up: Hamas has won a substantial victory over the forces of Fatah, and while the outcome shifts the regional security balance in a dangerous direction, it also brings clarity to the picture in that blood-soaked corner of the Middle East.

This could be a good thing.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06152007/postopinion/editorials/hamas_istan_editorials_.htm

Same Old N.Y. Times Blame Games ...

Last night I watched and listened as Alan Colmes actually tried to debate John Bolton over U.S. policy on Iran. It was both fascinating and nauseating to see the hideous, reptilian Colmes openly defend Iranian policy by putting the bulk of the blame on U.S. foreign policy. While Bolton was whipping the floor with him, I still could not wonder where people like Colmes come from.

In today's N.Y. Times editorial the paper spends much of their time blaming the Palestinian Civil War on U.S. and Israeli foreign policy. I guess this thinking is exactly where the Alan Colmes come from. How pathetic.

Editorial
Palestinians at War

Published: June 15, 2007
In two days of fierce fighting, the gunmen of Hamas have virtually taken over the Gaza Strip. This is a defeat for Palestinians, and a defeat for Israeli and American policy as well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/15/opinion/15fri1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Murder in Gaza ...

As the world sits by and watches Muslim kill Muslim, it is fascinating to watch the hypocrisy that Israel is forced to live with ...

June 14, 2007
Murder in Gaza...Why Israel and not Fatah is demonized.
by Bruce ThorntonPrivate Papers

In Gaza the fighting between Fatah and Hamas has escalated to the point of all-out civil war, replete with dead women and children, kneecapping, and handcuffed prisoners thrown from roofs. Meanwhile in Lebanon, the Lebanese army continues to shell a Palestinian refugee camp, with who knows how many civilian deaths. Arab is killing Arab, Muslim is killing Muslim, and the world basically is shrugging its shoulders.

http://victorhanson.com/articles/thornton061407.html

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

After the Bomb ...

Simply an article that scared the shit out of me as I know in my heart NYC, my hometown, is the number one target in the world for these lunatics and the possibility of a nuclear weapon going off in Manhattan at any time is something that weights heavily on my mind each day. I am amazed how so many either block it out entirely or simply believe that because it has not happened that it will not.

My biggest struggle is over living with fear or giving in to it. It's nice to play brave but there is no way to underplay the horror of what we are discussing. It's very tough in the cross hairs.

Op-Ed Contributor
After the Bomb
By WILLIAM J. PERRY, ASHTON B. CARTER and MICHAEL M. MAY
Published: June 12, 2007

THE probability of a nuclear weapon one day going off in an American city cannot be calculated, but it is larger than it was five years ago. Potential sources of bombs or the fissile materials to make them have proliferated in North Korea and Iran. Russia’s arsenal remains incompletely secured 15 years after the end of the Soviet Union. And Pakistan’s nuclear technology, already put on the market once by Abdul Qadeer Khan, could go to terrorists if the president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, cannot control radicals in that country.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/12/opinion/12carter.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

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Sunday, June 10, 2007

New York Times: How the Mighty Have Fallen

June 10, 2007
New York Times: How the Mighty Have Fallen
By Ed Koch

The New York Times is special to me. It always has been, and it always will be. Over the years there were times when I was critical of The Times editorials, and on few occasions of its news stories. Yet, my day would not be complete if I had not read The Times.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/06/new_york_times_how_the_mighty.html

Al-Ahram on U.S. Iran Relatons

Talking to the Great Satan
The US has no choice but to engage in dialogue with Iran, writes Mustafa El-Labbad
Al-Ahram Weekly On-Line

The first public meeting between Iran and the US concluded in Baghdad a few days ago, but its ramifications are yet to be fully understood. The meeting was crucial, not just because the two "foes" sat down together to talk, after 25 years of diplomatic hiatus; and not just because the meeting took place in the Green Zone of Baghdad, a location with a certain symbolism in regard to international politics. The meeting was crucial because its timing and context meant that the US was publicly recognising Iran's regional influence -- although the Americans were going out of their way to dismiss this aspect of reality.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/848/re81.htm

Bush gets warm reception in Albania

Why is this story, a lead in newspapers around the world, ignored by The New York Times?

Bush makes landmark Albania visit
BBC News

President George W Bush has become the first US leader to visit Albania, where he has enjoyed a hero's welcome.
The Balkan country is a staunch ally in America's "war on terror", and Mr Bush met Albanian soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6738055.stm

Friday, June 8, 2007

Tony Blair: What I've Learned ...

An exceptional article from The Economist.

Tony Blair
What I've learned
May 31st 2007From The Economist print edition
Tony Blair reflects on the lessons of his decade as Britain's prime minister

TEN years ago, if you had told me I would spend a significant part of my premiership on foreign policy, I would have been surprised, a little shocked and probably, politically, somewhat alarmed. Even today, we all run for office concentrating on domestic issues. “Foreign” policy rarely wins votes, and can easily lose them. Yet nowadays the reality is increasingly that we are obliged as leaders to think, work and act internationally.

http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9257593

Economist: G8 Recap ...

It's amazing to see how so many of the far left leading American newspapers covered the G-8 as if George Bush was a leper. A more level bit of coverage from The Economist.

Friendly environment
Jun 8th 2007 HEILIGENDAMM, GERMANYFrom Economist.com
The G8 countries agree on climate change, and more besides

DESPITE the row over Russian missiles that preceded it and the mob of angry protestors outside, the G8 meeting probably helped in the quest for global stability. The top industrial countries ended their summit in Heiligendamm on Friday June 8th with a handful of agreements aimed at just that goal. The most positive outcome of the three-day summit was America's apparent shift closer to the G8 mainstream.

http://www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9320677&top_story=1

Paris Hilton makes New York Time Page 1 Lead ...

To further demonstrate the deterioration of The New York Times we point out that while last week's terror plot at JFK was covered on page 37, The Greying Lady found little problem placing Paris Hilton on the page 1 lead.

Paris Hilton Is Ordered Back to Jail
By MARIA NEWMAN
Published: June 8, 2007

A judge today ordered a tearful Paris Hilton back to jail, reversing a decision by the Los Angeles County sheriff to release her and keep her under house arrest after she had served only three days of a 45-day sentence.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/08/us/08cnd-paris.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

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Victor Hanson on the G-8 Conference

June 8, 2007
G-8 Precipice; It’s a different world.
by Victor Davis Hanson, National Review Online

The fitting geological metaphor for the so-called G-8 meeting in Germany is not a summit, but a precipice — as the world’s leaders scramble around to grab something before one of them falls into the abyss.

http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson060807.html

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Huge Progress in Iraq: CNN News

Why isn't this on page one of The Grey Lady or publicized on Pudgy Olbermann's program?

U.S. commander points to progress in parts of Iraq
POSTED: 2:44 p.m. EDT, June 7, 2007

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A new approach by American-led forces in Iraq is producing "breathtaking" improvements in security in some areas, says Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in the country, but al Qaeda in Iraq remains well-entrenched in some Baghdad neighborhoods.

In an exclusive interview with CNN, Petraeus said the situation in Anbar, the restive Sunni province west of the Iraqi capital, has been "truly transformed in recent months, as the Anbaris and the tribes have decided to oppose al Qaeda and fight with the coalition forces against them."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/06/07/petraeus.iraq/index.html

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

NY Times Explains Page 37 Coverage of JFK Terror Plot

While most of the rest of the news media treated the JFK bombing plot that was busted last week as page 1 news, The New York Times buried it on page 30. What was their agenda? I say it is clearly part of minimizing the realities and dangers we face in the war on terror.

Talk to the Newsroom:
National Editor Suzanne Daley

Suzanne Daley, The Times's national editor, is answering reader questions June 4 through 8, 2007.

The J.F.K. Airport Bomb Plot

Q. I live in California and was astounded yesterday to look at my print edition of The Times for the article on the J.F.K. bomb plot and to find it back on page A30!

What has happened with the news judgment of your colleagues? A terrorist plot that could have badly damaged the entire economy of the nation, including those of us who live in the Bay Area, and it's relegated to the level of bridge club reports. You might wish to suggest to your editors that your readers do not live in a vacuum, that we do have alternative sources for news and they only make The Times look foolish with such ineptitude. No wonder your circulation and advertising are falling; your editors are turning a once-honored newspaper into a dinosaur in the electronic age.

-- Richard Godfrey, San Francisco

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/04/business/media/04asktheeditors.html

Victor Hanson: Honesty About Iraq

Honesty About Iraq
How are we doing?

By Victor Davis Hanson

The United States can usually win even postmodern wars abroad if it can play to its strengths — which are marshaling our enormous material, intelligence, and technological advantages to defeat the enemy before he inflicts enough casualties to convince an affluent and comfortable public at home that such losses are simply not worth the envisioned aims.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MzExZWE4M2QyZDc4YTQxMmY4OTUwMzBkM2JjNjE0OTE=

Saturday, June 2, 2007

Massive Terror Plot Foiled, AGAIN !!!!!

It's time many woke up and dealt with the world we live in realistically. George Bush and Team have to deal with thousands of these threats. It's rare when one of the victories even make it to the public's knowledge.

Where's John Edwards this morning? Getting his mails buffed?

4 Men Charged in Plot to Blow Up Kennedy Jet Fuel Tanks

Published: June 3, 2007
Four men, including a onetime airport cargo handler and a former member of the Guyanese Parliament, were charged yesterday with plotting to blow up fuel tanks, terminal buildings and the web of fuel lines running beneath Kennedy International Airport.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/nyregion/03plot.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

449 Quentin Returns ...

FH2007VE--Lobster Salad
By 449 Quentin

Islam has been waging war on the west for over a thousand years. Until now the Jhihadists have been somewhat constrained by our technical prowess on the field of battle. Over that time Rome was eclipsed and replaced by France, England and Germany. Now that their empires are gone the United States is the power that props up Western Civilization. Unfortunately for us the military equation is in the process of changing. Islam is about to possess nuclear weapons and in addition it has learned to confront us with terror tactics rather than conventional military forces. After the first attack on American soil by a foreign power since the war of 1812 George Bush underestimated the enemy and as of this writing is well along the road to disaster. His Democratic opponents show no stomach for fighting anybody but Mr. Bush. Their response to attacks on embassies and naval vessels as well as 3,000 dead in our major city is to talk with the enemy. In addition despite Homers effort to enlighten us we are letting an infinite number of Trojan horses into cities all over the west. That being said it is interesting to see how both sides are gearing up for the titanic clash that is fast approaching. The headline in the New York Times On Monday May 28 is instructive. It reads “Militants Widen Reach As Terror Seeps Out Of Iraq”. They go on to say that a start of a trend is seen and that new plots in the region will use tactics honed in Iraq. In addition Radical Islam using Palestinian camps in Lebanon as a base are attempting to overthrow that government and put Iran and Syria fully in charge in that country. Photo’s in the news this week show Al Qaeda terrorists putting automatic weapons into the hands of children in Lebanon‘s Palestinian refugee camps. Major General Achraf Rifi director of Internal Security in Lebanon is quoted by the Times as saying, “if any country says that it is safe from this, they are putting their heads in the sand“.

To put all of this into perspective this is being printed in the New York Times an organization that proudly proclaims that if an enemy invaded New England the rest of the United States should follow a course of diplomacy and fore go a military response. The fact that they are raising the alarm shows how dire the threat is. That being the case it would be interesting to see the response in the West. What are the politicians and the citizenry up to on this Memorial Day weekend. Are Militias being raised? Are the powers that be gearing up for guns instead of butter? Is anybody digging trenches or setting up tank traps along the New Jersey Turnpike. Are there any plans to teach the history of warfare at our major universities as opposed to continuing to bash all things military. In addition just who are the real powers that run America and what are they up to. Well don’t look at the politicians, they’re mostly lawyers. They don’t run anything, lawyers are mere hirelings. Clerks. Page three in the New York Post is somewhat instructive about who really pulls the levers of power in American. Writer Frank Eltman informs us that if you really want to know how people in the Hampton's are doing, go down to the local gourmet shop and check out the price of lobster salad. The price is according to Mr. Eltman $100 a pound. Now we can rest assured that the families of soldiers serving in Iraq are not out in the Hampton’s forking over a hundred bucks for a bit of salad. You see if your spending that much on lobster salad what’s $15 million for a home? We also learn that a financier named Ron Baron paid $100 million for a forty acre parcel of land in the area. That’s land not a home, we are talking about dirt. All of this is going on with the hedge fund/ mergers and acquisitions crowd. These are the guys and gals that do stuff that the rest of us in our ignorance do not even understand. The little guys from coast to coast who struggle with the car payments and wonder how they are going to send the kids to college. They don’t do hedge funds and they don’t dabble in mergers and acquisitions. Now don’t get me wrong I am not for communism. It didn’t work, there was all that messy stuff with forced labor camps and empty supermarket shelves so I am not going there. But we are living in a time of capitalism running amok .Page three in the Post also has a little article by Sharri Markson about Peter Beard the renowned wildlife photographer. It seems Pete recently threw a little party for 350 of his closest friends. Everybody who was anybody in The Hamptons was there including some barely clad nymphs form the Box nightclub. At 3 A.M. the party moved to the Pink Elephant nightclub where it was observed that Pete had at least two of the Box girls all over him. Somebody should have handed Pete the old Nikon because it looked like the Wildlife was as real as it gets.
Also on page three we are included in a conversation with one Sean Mckenna who told the New York Post that only Beautiful people would be allowed at the Star Room ,the Wainscott night spot where he is general manager.” We are looking for a better looking crowd and the New York big wigs“, he said. “We will have the prettiest waitresses”, he continued,” they’re models and actresses“.

After all nothing but the best for the Merger/Hedge fund guys that run the country. They are the lawyers cash cows. The guys the Democratic and Republican candidates for president must kiss up to and obey. So that’s the update Mr. And Mrs. America and all the ships at sea. That is what is going on in the country that will leave the borders open until you are reduced to serfdom. Our glorious leaders will indulge themselves in the Hamptons and other gated playgrounds, giving parties that you are not invited to. That is how they are preparing for a war between civilizations. That is what they are doing while our enemies are teaching their children how to hold and shoot a Kalishnikov automatic assault rifle. Would anyone care for some lobster salad?

Pakistan in Play as reported by Aljazeera

Meanwhile, the struggle for control of a nuclear Pakistan goes on ... two different stories were reported by AlJazeera.

Rally hails Pakistan chief judge

Hundreds of supporters have turned out to greet Pakistan's suspended chief justice, in defiance of a ban on gatherings of more than five people in the capital.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FE6A2E2E-01F8-4AAC-A903-9DE2185B1099.htm


Pakistan army backs Musharraf

Pakistan's senior military leaders have voiced their support for the country's president, amid a deepening political crisis triggered by his move to dismiss the country's most senior judge.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FB136CFF-7F3C-4587-BD50-6EA580470A37.htm

Bush's Achillies Heal

IT'S THE WAR
ROOT OF ALL W'S TROUBLES

John Podhoretz, The New York Post

June 1, 2007 -- IT'S all about Iraq.
The lesson of the cascading crises for this administration in its second term is a simple one: These crises would have been avoided if it hadn't been for the failure to secure victory against the insurgency in Iraq.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06012007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/its_the_war_opedcolumnists_john_podhoretz.htm

Friday, June 1, 2007

Jerusalem Post on Britian's University Policys

Denial and anti-Semites in Britain's academia ....

As Europe Self-Destructs
By CAROLINE GLICK, The Jerusalem Post

Wednesday's decision by Britain's University and College Union to call for a boycott of Israeli universities and colleges was not only hypocritical. It was suicidal.

It is not simply that the British prefer to boycott Israeli universities than say, Palestinian, Egyptian, Syrian, Iranian, Saudi and Jordanian universities where students are indoctrinated to seek the annihilation of the Jewish people and the subjugation of Christianity through the destruction of Western civilization.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1180527976961&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Ralph Peters on our Sorry Reality in Iraq

The New York Posts Ralph Peters clearly spells out how we are losing the war in Iraq because of our enemies greater endurance combined with their ability to exploit our own self-hatreds. A fascinating look at how we are manipulated so successfully...

OUT-THOUGHT BY THE ENEMY
OUR STRATEGY VS. THEIRS, IN IRAQ & BEYOND
By Ralph Peters, The New York Post

June 1, 2007 -- OUR current military tactics in Baghdad are the most promising we've tried: deploying units amid the population to provide security around the clock. But we may not have enough troops or enough time left to turn neighborhood successes into a strategic win.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06012007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/out_thought_by_the_enemy_opedcolumnists_ralph_peters.htm