45 Comments

1. Alexis:

George W. Bush didn’t pull the trigger on Iran. Although George W. Bush’s foreign policy is laudable in many respects, particularly its liberations of Afghanistan and Iraq, America’s rhetorical check of Iranian regime change has bounced.

Now, rumor has it that the Obama administration will push for formal diplomatic ties with the Iranian government. The problem with proposing better relations with Iran, of course, is that aggressive courtship only encourages Iran to play “hard to get”.

Many of America’s problems in foreign policy come from wanting something too much. The more our foreign policy establishment wants something, the more everybody else in the world raises the price. Desperation is never a good foreign policy, but that’s what typically happens when a nation’s foreign policy is run by a bunch of spoiled brats.

Dec 2, 2008 - 1:23 pm 2. fred:

I am not at all surprised that Oobonga has blundered into a conundrum of his own making. Let us hope and pray that his foreign policy and national security people can talk some sense to him.

I never bought the bs that Oobonga is brilliant in all his Ivy League glory. We’ve seen nothing about his background and “achievements” to suggest that he possesses a stellar mind. And having a “sovereign right” to invade Pakistan? A little imprecision with language there now, eh, Harvard boy? Not to mention legal convolution.

Hang on, boys and girls; it’s going to be an interesting four years.

Dec 2, 2008 - 1:35 pm 3. Steve Schippert:

Rice: “After three years of fruitless negotiation and feckless rhetoric, it’s time to go beyond unenforced U.N. resolutions to a new kind of resolution: the firm resolve to act.”

Sure she wasn’t talking about Iran’s nuclear weapons gambit?

Well, that would have been “five years of fruitless negotiation and feckless rhetoric.”

Regardless, excellent linkage, Richard. Well placed context.

Dec 2, 2008 - 1:59 pm 4. Steve Schippert:

FWIW, she could have even been talking about pre-invasion Iraq under Saddam Hussein. But one man’s (or woman’s) noble cause is another man’s (or woman’s) anti-war rally.

Not to cheapen the Sudan crisis, but rather to note the selectivity yet parallel passion.

It should be noted that one is solely a humanitarian concern, and the other two national security concerns in addition to smaller measures of humanitarian concern. (Living under Saddam or the Ayatollahs is/was in themselves degrees of humanitarian crisis.)

Dec 2, 2008 - 2:03 pm 5. NahnCee:

Obama is still thinking small; i.e., fund-raising in Chicago and keeping his moonbat donors happy. He hasn’t broadened his horizons yet, and I don’t know that he’s capable of doing that until someone rubs his nose in it a al 9/11. Even then, he’ll be looking over his shoulder at what Bill Ayers and Rev. Wright have to whisper in his ear … and will try to vote “present” in lieu of pulling the trigger.

I have no respect for the man at all. People keep saying to give him a chance, the benefit of the doubt, and he keeps flubbing each new chance as it arises. Even Hillary said she would be willing to “obliterate” Iran, while Obama is playing let’s make mud pies in the dirt with Code Pink.

I just hope at some point Obama gets the chance to actually meet a Mohammad Atta and look in his dead shark-like eyes … and also gets a chance to meet an American war hero and look at what a real man behaves like.

Dec 2, 2008 - 2:10 pm 6. wretchard:

It’s a lot easier to solve all the problems of the world when you don’t actually have to do it. (Which is something all bloggers, including myself, should remember) so I imagine that things appeared more attainable to Obama the candidate than Obama the President-elect. Personally I think the best thing Obama can do now is lead the Left in building the necessary consensus for the hard road ahead. Just as “only Nixon could go to China”, maybe “only Obama” can effect the demolition of all the unreal shibboleths which ironically brought him to power.

We are in a generational conflict, in partnership with some elements in the Muslim world (and our allies) to keep things from blowing up. The wellsprings of the world crisis arise from its increasing complexity; the decline of its core ideology (Western rationality) and the rise of alternative, but virulent thought-systems (like relativism and radical Islam). To solve these without resorting to large scale war means creating an extraordinary and sustained effort. Whereas Obama came to power promising to make the seas fall what he must really say is “I have nothing to offer you but blood, toil, tears and sweat”. Changing Pakistan will take fifteen years at least. Harry Truman started a process which lasted fifty years. I think history will recognize GWB as the Harry Truman of his era; it is up to Obama to make it bipartisan. I am not sure he will pass the test, but one can hope.

Dec 2, 2008 - 2:11 pm 7. Marcus Aurelius:

I think the idea Obama is going to play small ball and propose lots of small & vacuous national initiatives will be the order of the day.

Letting the investigators do their job and make a determination. Hmmm, where have we heard that before? I am not saying shoot first and ask questions later, but it seems the STandard Operating Procedure for the Democrats is to investigate, and investigate, and investigate, and investigate and then investigate some more and only when absolute & irrefutable proof is obtained then we can talk about shooting.

That is the out they typically take a burden of proof not even our courts demand. Heck, even after video is released of Osama Bin Laden in a comfortable setting telling his co-diners how even he was surprised by the 9/11 results, many still can not believe it was Osama Bin Laden & AQ behind 9/11.

Dec 2, 2008 - 2:24 pm 8. Zim:

Obama’s toe isn’t even in the water and already he is in over his head. At least he has shown some smarts in his cabinet selections, he’s going to need them. Everyone from Dinner jacket to Capt. Kangaroo is going to try him.

Dec 2, 2008 - 2:24 pm 9. Staring In Disbelief:

Whether Obama is as “smart” as he is supposed to be will be fully revealed over the next few years. If he is dumb enough to believe his own cantwealgetalongkumbayaletstalkwindchimeBULLS**T when choosing between humanitarian or security choices (much like Bill Clinton did focusing on Haiti vs AQ) then we will have our answer. Temporarily slowing the tragedy that grips so much of sub-saharan Africa will look like a stunningly poor choice of priorities to the American people if it causes neglect of our core security concerns in the Middle East & Southwest Asia.

BTW, hat tip to Steve Schippert’s excellently put humanitarian vs national security dilemma.

Dec 2, 2008 - 2:39 pm 10. ricpic:

Just like his horror of a wife: huge ambition with no commensurate ability.

Dec 2, 2008 - 2:45 pm 11. Eggplant:

Wretchard said:

“I think history will recognize GWB as the Harry Truman of his era..”

I also have this opinion about George W. Bush. I take pride in having voted for him in 2004 and would do so again.

I remain concerned about Obama. Time will tell…

Dec 2, 2008 - 2:58 pm 12. dan:

“STandard Operating Procedure for the Democrats is to investigate, and investigate, and investigate, and investigate and then investigate some more and only when absolute & irrefutable proof is obtained then we can talk about shooting.”

Ha! Exactly – and then hopefully by that time it will be time for a Republican to get elected president, and they can spend the next four years sicking the Leninist Left on them and then ride in on a white horse again…

What a bunch of consumate politicians the Democrats have become.

I agree with the W/Truman assessment too. I would only propose, though, that it is possible that Darfur is not simply the humanitarian tragedy it appears to be. Khartoum is a serious Islamist stronghold; “Darfur” is a jihad. Who abets and shields this enterprise?

China. I was talking to an oil-rig engineer who has worked in Darfur and Sudan generally. Apparently Darfur has the largest inland oil deposits on earth, or is presumed to have it, and the Chinese have something like an 80% monopoly over the territory.

I also saw a video on Netflix by a marine who, after Iraq, joined the UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur and managed to smuggle out some footage of what goes on there. Guess what it is? Chinese oil platforms sheltering the Janjaweed.

Now, it is possible that China simply looks the other way, or pretends not to know what’s happening locally, but…

Are we really to believe the Chinese Communist Party, sitting behind their nuclear arsenal and trillions in US T-Bills and their freindship with the USA, are not manipulating or directing or coordinating or instructing or at least facilitating the jihad against the American Devil?

The CCP, after all, did suddenly become American suburban mall rats just because we hear about all the manufacturing of crap that goes on there now. These are the Tienamen, Tibet, North Korea, “Myanmar,” Xinjiang guys, after all…

Dec 2, 2008 - 3:19 pm 13. whiskey:

Obama wrote in “Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance” that he would stand with Muslims against America in the event of terrorist attacks on America by Muslims.

So we already have our answer. Obama would WELCOME another 9/11. And stand with the terrorists against America.

Dec 2, 2008 - 3:21 pm 14. dan:

*The CCP, after all, did *not suddenly become…. (obviously)

Dec 2, 2008 - 3:21 pm 15. Ape Man:

wretchard,

I agree with your over all point.

But in the specific case of Pakistan, I don’t think Obama has done himself (or the US) much harm. I doubt the goverment of Pakistan is long for this world regardless of what Obama says. Anything Obama says about Pakistan will be irrelevant in a year or to.

In other words, its bad to aim a gun at something you don’t intend to shoot. But when the something in question is already dieing (if not dead already) its not quite as big of an issue.

Dec 2, 2008 - 3:33 pm 16. Peter Boston:

Susan Rice and Samantha Powers (the Two Susies) both have expressed their opinions that the primary, if not the exclusive, objective of US foreign policy should be genocide prevention. If there is any advancement of American interests in those skulls it will be entirely coincidental.

We are going to have to rely on Hilary to save our bacon for the next four years and I doubt that she will be any more successful at cleaning the Aegean Stables than any of her predecessors have been. From what I’ve read the Two Susies are deep into personnel selections at State. Not a good sign.

I think it’s been obvious since the initial success in Afghanistan drove out AQ and the Taliban that Pakistan would be the safe haven. Perhaps it’s only been wishful thinking that the Pakistan military would carry the burden in the tribal areas. So far they have not and there is no reason to believe that they ever will.

GWB was 100% correct that we must not allow the Islamists a safe haven anywhere on earth. What’s to be done about Pakistan? Even if the US did sweep the tribal areas the Islamists would pick up and leave and go to the cities. What then?

The so called not radical Muslims could end the GWOT by condemning terrorism en banc. They have not and they will not for so long as there is even the remotest possibility that when the shooting is done that Islam will have spread its ugly tentacles over a larger part of the planet.

Dec 2, 2008 - 3:53 pm 17. Mark:

Whiskey writes:

“Obama wrote in “Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance” that he would stand with Muslims against America in the event of terrorist attacks on America by Muslims. So we already have our answer. Obama would WELCOME another 9/11. And stand with the terrorists against America.”

Actually, Obama wrote that he would stand with Arab/Pakistani U.S. immigrants if public opinion turned against Muslims, etc. I’d have to go back to see the exact language, but I’m quite sure he mentioned Pakistani immigrants, which seemed somewhat peculiar, reminding one, perhaps, of his student trip to Pakistan and some special connection to that nationality.

Dec 2, 2008 - 3:54 pm 18. Alexis:

Eggplant:

As stinging as my criticisms of the Bush administration can be, I think most other presidents would have been defeated in Iraq. Iraq has been difficult, yet it has been nowhere as bad as the barely salvaged disaster called the Korean War.

Overall, I think George W. Bush will be known as an average president. The main reason why he probably won’t have a better historical reputation than Harry Truman is because Harry Truman had the courage to fire General MacArthur. Truman’s sacking of MacArthur was very unpopular when it happened, and General MacArthur was wildly popular after he was relieved of his command. Firing MacArthur was still the only good decision President Truman could make at the time. Every presidency has its share of blunders, but not every president has political courage of Harry Truman.

Dec 2, 2008 - 3:55 pm 19. Jim Nicholas:

Whiskey #13

I do not remember that from my reading of “Dreams From My Father” and cannot find it. Will you please give me that page reference? It may change how I evaluate things in the future.

Jim

Dec 2, 2008 - 4:54 pm 20. noprisoners:

Am I the only person who worries that the events of the last six months were not coincidental? I am not normally a conspiracy theorist. However, it seems to me that, with the U.S. government’s insinuation into a number of induatries, the election of a novice as POTUS, and the series of events around the globe, we may be seeing too many events falling in one direction to be accidental.

Wretchard, could we please have a thread that deals with this. I am anxious to be disabused of this suspicion. However, right now, I am unable to rule it out. If the outstanding contributors on this blog can help me with this, I will be most appreciative.

Dec 2, 2008 - 5:03 pm 21. noprisoners:

induatries = industries

The names of Soros, Ayers, and others cloud my mind. Even though I am a Nebraskan, Warren Buffet is worrying me. Am I dreaming?

Dec 2, 2008 - 5:05 pm 22. Bob W:

Noprisoners,

I think you are being overly paranoid when you worry about Buffett, Soros, etc, especially in regards to the recent election.

President-elect Obama won the election because a couple million more people voted for him and Senator Biden than for the other ticket.

Sure, the media was for the most part biased in Obama’s favor, but it was biased in 2004, too. I think if people start worrying more about conspiracies causing their candidates/party to fail, they may well have run out of ideas. Or at least juice to stay in the game and keep arguing.

Just a thought.

Dec 2, 2008 - 5:21 pm 23. Bob W:

On another note,

When Obama rolled out his national security team yesterday, he made some good points about reforming some of the critical departments, like State; I talk about some of the challenges faced Here.

Dec 2, 2008 - 5:26 pm 24. NahnCee:

noprisoners – no. but you need to be looking overseas, I think, for the instigators of a domino fall that includes enormous rises in oil and gasoline prices, the bankruptcy and failure of several American corporate giants, the real estate bubble and subsequent credit crisis, AND the election of Marxist B. Hussein Obama.

To me, all of those events could have been purchased with a stealthy infusion of billions of (oil) dollars. With the express purpose of either bankrupting America, or causing us to turn inward and leave those poor little terrorists we’ve been chasing and killing so effectively alone.

Dec 2, 2008 - 5:27 pm 25. noprisoners:

I stated my point poorly. I am concerned about the failure of some of the oldest and, at least theoretically, most solvent financial houses in the U.S. many due to the poor practices of Democrat run agencies such as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Further, these failures virtually guaranteed the election of BHO. At the same time, Russia is spooling up it’s relationshiops with Cuba and Venezuela, invading Georgia and generally challenging the U.S. Normally, I say that a conspiracy cannot be maintained because it is impossible to keep all of the conspirators (and their subordinates) quiet. However, this scenario does not need to involve so many conspirators. Probability dictates that events do not all fall in one direction. However, recent events seem to have done exactly that. If not conspiracy, what?

Dec 2, 2008 - 5:39 pm 26. Ruby:

Whiskey: “Obama wrote in “Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance” that he would stand with Muslims against America in the event of terrorist attacks on America by Muslims.”

Actually he wrote:

They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.

That means when people like Fletcher Christian say, “Muslims have no place in any civilised society. Period. and they shouldn’t be given one, and they should have no concessions given, of any sort whatsoever, while they are still here…The sooner that Westerners realise that, the less likely we are to end up having to kill them all,” Obama stands against him and with Americans of Muslim persuasion. And so do I. Why? Because we both are sworn to uphold the Constitution, and the Constitution doesn’t say which God you must worship.

Dec 2, 2008 - 5:45 pm 27. Langley:

whiskey:

“Obama wrote in “Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance” that he would stand with Muslims against America in the event of terrorist attacks on America by Muslims.”

I need the quote and page number.
Thank you.

Dec 2, 2008 - 5:57 pm 28. Ron Hardin:

The notion of a sovereign nation maybe can be rethought. If Pakistan can’t control activity within its borders, maybe modestly declaring smaller borders that it can control is the solution. The rest is open for foreign invervention.

That the nation can control what it is sovereign over is the reason for negotiating with the nation, and not acting unilaterally, in the first place.

If the nation can’t control it, then ways to work around it will be found.

Dec 2, 2008 - 6:05 pm 29. Staring In Disbelief:

noprisoners: I think it is important to remember that in as complex a world as we live in, several independent & nonlinear trendlines can occasionally overlap (like those “rogue waves” in the ocean). Soros is just a left Donald Trump: a lucky blowhard who throws his money around as a means of garnering attention to fill the massive void in his soul. Obama’s primary qualification for the swing voter sliver that put him into office was that he wasn’t the Republican in the race.

dan: Also, I think all this China Is Behind Everything is stuff is a bit fevered too. If Darfur was sitting on that much oil, they wouldn’t be a desperately poor backwater. Don’t get me wrong, China is not lifting a finger to make our life easier anywhere, and are certainly our most formidable potential rival, but they are no more the evil genius puppet masters of the world than their Soviet forebears were. China’s power is in direct proportion to the freedom their communist leaders let their people have, not their own genius at geopolitics or economics. We have as much to fear from a free and prosperous China as they do from us.

Don’t ask for the X Files reruns for Xmas, guys. And don’t look for the “hidden hand”. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Dec 2, 2008 - 7:27 pm 30. noprisoners:

Staring in Disbelief: I certainly agree with you about the massive void in Soros soul. Looking in the mirror when you have the horrors to your credit that he has would be a daunting task. While I still disavow most conspiracy theories, I still must recognize the leanings of people like Soros, et al, and their considerable financial wherewithal and their considerable genius. These factors are arrayed against my ideals. Remember, Soros broke the British Pound some years back. He is no doubt richer today and has the benefit of experience and additional contacts. I don’t think that we should easily dismiss the possibility of market manipulation that could lead to our present situation. Further, the timing might be coincidental and it might not. You must admit, even if no one had a hand in this, it benefits certain people – including Soros.

Dec 2, 2008 - 7:59 pm 31. Narmer:

I don’t know. I get the impression that Obama is acting fairly “centrist”, especially with Gates (an important part of the Surge in Iraq). Obama doesn’t need to win over liberals, Europe, the UN, etc. Just because of who he is, he’ll have a much easier time with the chattering classes, and will get much more of a break than Bush (who couldn’t do a thing without being seen as driven by some evil motive.)

No, radical Islam isn’t going away, and Obama knows he can’t avoid fighting it, and I think that’s signaled by the choices for Defense and National Security. I do think we’ll see liberals grow up a bit, and it sure will be nice to see the fight against Islamic nihilism as much more serious and important than “Bush’s” war. No doubt many here will bicker and complain about how Obama will follow through, but the significance of a liberal democrat taking up the fight shouldn’t be forgotten. It’s a he’ll of a lot more mature than seeing everything through the lens of Fahrenheit 911.

Dec 2, 2008 - 9:39 pm 32. buckets:

RE: Obama and reform

I laugh when these two words come up in the same sentence, because I’m from Chicago. It will be all too easy in the coming years to whitewash and forget the massive fraud and corruption Obama condoned, encouraged, and contributed to during his tenure in Illinois.

We hope for the best, but honestly, all we can judge him on is his record. To put it mildly, his only experience with reform in the past was helping to stomp it out. I believe someday his deep corruption will be well known, but until then I’ll just smile and nod and nurse the hope that he “grows in office.”

Dec 2, 2008 - 9:56 pm 33. Mike Sylwester:

During the period when Barack Obama said he might order military strikes against Al Qaeda targets inside Pakistan, the Bush Administration actually was ordering military strikes against Al Qaeda targets inside Pakistan. In that context, Obama’s statement was completely acceptable to the overwhelming majority of Americans.

If you are determined to criticize Obama’s position about US responses to Al Qaeda locations inside Pakistan, then it is easy to concoct a game of Damned If Obama Does And Damned If Obama Doesn’t. Tell us what Obama might have said that you would not damn him for.

McCain tried to make an issue about this during the last debate. Obama repeated clearly that if we knew where Bin Laden was in Pakistan and if Pakistan would not strike Bin Laden there, then Obama would strike him there. McCain sputtered as if there was something wrong with that position, and so McCain just made himself look like an idiot.

Dec 2, 2008 - 10:56 pm 34. Bob Smith:

Changing Pakistan will take fifteen years at least

That would require changing Islam itself. What makes you think that is possible?

Dec 2, 2008 - 11:40 pm 35. peterike:

Sometimes the Big O’s brainless Lefty viewpoint is on view for all to see. Ruby quotes O, and we can parse….

They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly;

Yes, the dark underbelly of millions and millions of people escaping oppression and misery for freedom and success. Damn them.

they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something,

A hilarious comment coming from a Leftist, considering the Left has worked tirelessly for decades to ensure that citizenship in America means nothing at all.

that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II,

That lesson being that there was nothing at all wrong in what America did, and thank goodness at the time we had the sense and balls to do it.

and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.

In other words, should Islamists attack America again and Americans get their dander up about it, Obama will stand with the Islamists and not with the Americans. Wow, what a surprise.

Let’s rephrase what Obama said in cant-free language.

“America is a bad and terrible place and has always done bad and terrible things and when America receives its just punishment for its sins, I will stand with those who have punished America, because that’s what it deserves.”

Oi, and he’s gonna be President, yet.

Dec 3, 2008 - 12:36 am 36. Fletcher Christian:

Ruby – In the specific case of Muslim citizens of the USA, I hold that every single one of them is a traitor because of his or her religion. Why? The First Amendment of the Constitution, the core of America’s political system and its laws, specifically prohibits an establishment of religion – and Sharia and the Koran specifically require such. Hence, Muslims who happen to be American are required, by their faith, to undermine the Constitution; which is a fairly clear case of treason.

Of course, since Muslims breed like bacteria, eventually the First Amendment might be changed or repealed by entirely legal means. At which time, any American non-Muslim will become a dhimmi slave.

It can’t happen in America? Hitler and Mussolini were both legally elected.

Dec 3, 2008 - 1:11 am 37. Pseudo-Polymath » Blog Archive » Wednesday Highlights:

[...] Don’t brandish if you don’t intend to use it … a first mistake of Mr Obama’s with consequence? [...]

Dec 3, 2008 - 7:08 am 38. dan:

State – i agree, i think my carping about a communist or KGB conspiracy is pretty fevered stuff too. i never would have believed it, or partly believed it, except that there is a certain rhythm recently in global events that bear striking resemblance to certain claims made during the last decade of the Cold War – resemblance of the kind that cannot but move the imagination. i do apologize for leaning so hard on it, though.

but just consider the following.

one of the main bars to wisdom is charged words. “conspiracy” ipso facto neutralizes credibility. but take the well-known dynamic among the Muslims: clerics at madrassas preach jihadi militancy and teach that the oppression so often noted in the Quran occurs today in the form of Western cultural, economic, and military imperialism. more importantly, the astronomically wealthy princes and ruling juntas of present day Islamic countries either fund and support militant groups – laundering money, providing diplomatic cover, buying them off, purchasing weapons for them, printing propaganda. in reality this is all done by a reasonably small number of people. certain groups arise in the dog-eat-dog guerrilla army underground in the central asian hinterlands and become clearing houses, holding companies, for the development of doctrine and strategy, for purposes of having a quasi-sovereign to administer the various groups and cells. they provide an example, and groups in areas unclaimed by the already-established arise as offshoots or declare their allegiance.

now, the thing that’s interesting to me in my reading of conventional history is the extent to which these terrorist groups originally began as proxy armies of the Soviet Union under Nikita Khruschev’s policy of supporting “national liberation” groups all over the rapidly de-colonializing third world in the wake of world war 2. did you know, for example, that the current head of Fatah and the PLO, Abu Mazen, got his PhD in Holocaust Denial from Patrice Lamumba University in Moscow? Patrice Lamumba University was a venue for the KGB to attract and train the future leaders of national liberation groups, whose victories over the local colonial/imperial power the USSR would foster, whereupon the KGB would have yet another puppet to use against the West.

For some reason, because of the Islamic thing, this doesn’t jive with popular imagination – but what did the Soviet Union do the countries of the Eastern Bloc during 1945 – 1956? How did those countries *become* Soviet police states, ruled by Communist Parties and KGB sister organizations? In fact, and even less well known – how did the USSR go from the Russian Empire to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics? They have many many Islamic people in the USSR – how did they avert the jihad in atheist, brutal Russia? Is it not well known and uncontroversial that the KGB completely co-opted the Russian Orthodox Church? Well – could they not have done the same thing to the mullahs and clerics and muftis? In fact they did. Russia – Communist Russia, meaning the Committee for State Security (KGB) – has had very long practice at using an Islamic front to achieve its (brutal, police-state) purposes.

This is all uncontroversial. And then you read Ion Mihai Pacepa, who claims (in 1987) that he was told in the 1960s that the KGB realized that, in the age of nuclear armaggedon, the best weapon against the West was terrorism? And you read Victor Suvorov in 1984 said that he heard, while in the Soviet Army, that in preparatio for the 3rd World War and triumph of Communism there would first begin a period of “grey terror” – that is, terror by groups who could not be traced to the Soviet Union.

What better way to deliver a nuclear device to the USA than by a group who had no territory other than one in which the people were supposedly held hostage?

I’m just saying that this is *not* a conspiracy theory. This is exactly the kind of thing the KGB, the Chinese Communists, and so on *do* for a living. What is a police state or totalitarian dictatorship if not a conspiracy holding a nation’s population hostage? But *strategy* would be a better word for conspiracy, don’t you think?

In any case, I just think the Soviet/Communist angle is certainly real and knowable up to a point, and so significant that the public silence on the subject is as big an omission as the government’s failure to call it “Islamic” terrorism.

Just do me a favor – read Richard Pipes’ “The Formation of the Soviet State,” written in 1954 (I think) and tell me whether you aren’t a little curious about this Marxist-Islamist thesis. Also – really look at the Islamic world: these people can’t do sh*t. Is it really credible that they could disrupt all global order on their own?

Dec 3, 2008 - 7:09 am 39. Stones Cry Out - If they keep silent… » Things Heard: e43v3:

[...] Don’t brandish if you don’t intend to use it … a first mistake of Mr Obama’s with consequence? [...]

Dec 3, 2008 - 7:10 am 40. Willy:

There is no conspiracy. It is prophsied in the Bible that God will remove his protective hand from the Earth at the end of time, and evil will rule unabbated. This is what we are seeing happen. Our true, and only hope, it that we are found to be Friends of Jesus when he returns to save us from destruction.

Dec 3, 2008 - 8:15 am 41. Mark:

Langley writes:

“whiskey: ‘Obama wrote in “Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance” that he would stand with Muslims against America in the event of terrorist attacks on America by Muslims.’I need the quote and page number.Thank you.”

Actual quote is from “The Audacity of Hope,” p. 261, not “Dreams”:
“Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”

Dec 3, 2008 - 9:11 am 42. John Work:

“Words Mean Something.”

But for the Left, do words mean anything? Remember “..what the meaning of ‘is’ is”? Words are very important for the Left because they are all about using words to attempt to twist reality and cloud the minds of others (and themselves). But in the end, the words are meaningless to them other than a means of manipulation. “Mistakes were made; let’s move on” is their ultimate reply when faced with facts that can’t be denied.

It seems unlikely that Obama or the media will allow mere words spoken at some time in the past to hold them to any position or to be used against them. “Just words. It’s all relative. Let’s not be judgemental.” Unless of course the words have been spoken by their enemies (that would be the rest of us).

I find it interesting that so many are of the mind to give Obama the benefit of the doubt and to presume that he will be a “centrist” or a “pragmatist” or “forced to deal with …” despite the lack of any evidence in his past to suggest such behaviour. I hope to be proved wrong, but then I also hope to win the Lotto someday.

Dec 3, 2008 - 10:14 am 43. Aristide:

the Times of India is reporting it as a “tacit endorsement”. It wrote, “although Obama said he did not want to comment on the specific situation involving India and Pakistan, his tacit endorsement of New Delhi adopting the same policy was circumscribed by two caveats: first, let the investigators reach definite conclusions about the Mumbai carnage, and second, see if Pakistan will follow through with its commitment to eliminate terrorism.” But the damage if any, is slight, because India is unlikely to openly strike at Pakistan in any case; at least not while there’s hope Islamabad will crack down on its resident terrorists. It’s a rhetorical close call and nothing more.

Barack’s vacuous words worked wonders for him because when they permitted voters to project their own feelings onto what he said. They won’t work so well when players on the world stage turn them to their own ends.

As Zim said, “Obama’s toe isn’t even in the water and already he is in over his head.”

Dec 3, 2008 - 8:42 pm 44. Steynian 293 « Free Canuckistan!:

[...] THE MESSIAH? “Barack Obama may have put his foot in his mouth by saying on the campaign trail that the US [...]

Dec 4, 2008 - 12:31 pm 45. downtowndubai:

hey

i agree with the comments on ”can this all be comming home at the same time”. all i think of is the expansive format of the S.E.C. 10k requirement each quarter. like…no one knew Lehamn was heading into the rocks. ditto the other banks—naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…this will all surface soon and i pray the fuse is lit for BHO’s birth crtificate.

Dec 6, 2008 - 4:04 am

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