The Impotence Of Words
Oct 4, 2009 Political
There will be a war- just how big, or how severe, is still to be determined, but all the key players are lining up, all while our Resident thinks the sound of his mellifluous voice will sooth the savage nuclear holocaust. He is a legend in his own mind- unfortunately, he impresses no one else, especially the ones he has needed to impress. It is to the point now where even internet pundits and newspapers are opining about the impotence of our Resident.
Will all the pundits who relied on the discredited 2007 NIE on Iran now admit that they were wrong? That they bought into and kept citing, without any serious questioning, the now clearly politically skewed analysis in the so-called National Intelligence Estimate of that year? You remember: the considered consensus wisdom of the entire U.S. intelligence community, which misled the world into believing there was nothing to worry about Iran’s nuclear program, that it had virtually ceased. When, in fact, out of the three components of a nuclear weapons program, at most one might have been suspended, if that.
Will the congressional intelligence committees demand to know how such a deliberately misleading report was being leaked and fed to the public by half-baked pundits even after (we now learn) some part of the “intelligence community” knew — before the the NIE was issued — about the secret nuclear fuel facility we’re now reading about?
What took them so long? Or if there were reasons to keep silent about it, why issue a report that deliberately misled the world into the opposite conclusion? The NIE now appears to be a deliberate LIE — deliberate disinformation, disingenuously written by its authors, who should be hauled before the committees and asked how they could have made such fools of the “intelligence community” and those who took their report seriously.
pajamasmedia.com
First, the lie- the report, as Ron correctly says, gave the Iranians about two years free rein on constructing the essential components necessary to make a bomb. This report also puts Israel in a corner- and if our Resident thinks he can control, or even should control Israel, he is vastly wrong, but perhaps he has wanted this all along- certainly he has almost willfully made every diplomatic miscue he possibly could.
The Obama administration’s positive tone following its first diplomatic encounter with Iran covers a deep and growing gloom in Washington and European capitals. Seven hours of palaver in Geneva haven’t altered an emerging conclusion: None of the steps the West is considering to stop the Iranian nuclear program is likely to work.
Not talks. Not sanctions, even of the “crippling” variety the Obama administration has spoken of. Not military strikes. And probably not support for regime change through the still-vibrant opposition.
For obvious reasons, senior officials won’t state this broad conclusion out loud. But it’s not hard to find pessimistic public statements about three of the four options. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called the prospects for diplomacy “very doubtful.” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has said military action will do no more than “buy time.” Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, echoing private statements I’ve heard from the Obama administration, told me last week that a strategy of backing the Iranian opposition “would take too long” and might well produce a government with the same nuclear policy.
washingtonpost.com
It is rapidly becoming obvious to almost everyone except, apparently the Resident, that the time for action is rapidly approaching- and what form it takes, or who is who’s allies, well, that part is truly murky, and the most dangerous aspect of the whole scenario, because of America’s “diminishment” on the world stage, due in large part to the Resident’s Perpetual Apology Tour, and the rise of Russia, China, and India as emerging powers. Especially Russia.
American officials said concern about Russian experts acting without official approval, had been raised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in a report more than a year ago.
“There has been Russian help. It is not the government, it is individuals, at least one helping Iran on weaponisation activities and it is worrisome,” said David Albright, a former weapons inspector who is president of the Institute for Science and International Security.
However, Israeli officials insist that any Russian scientists working in Iran could do so only with official approval.
Robert Einhorn, the special adviser for non-proliferation and arms control to Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, is understood to believe that Russian companies have also supplied material that has been used by Iran in the production of ballistic missiles.
The disclosures came as Iran agreed at talks in Geneva to submit to IAEA inspections of its newly disclosed enrichment plant, which is being built under a mountain on a military base at Qom. Iran revealed the plant to the IAEA to pre-empt being caught out by an imminent announcement from western governments, which had discovered its existence.
The West says the plant is tailor-made for a secret weapons programme and proves Iran’s claim that its nuclear programme is intended only for peaceful purposes is a lie. The plant is designed to hold 3,000 centrifuges — enough to produce the material needed for one bomb a year.
Iran’s conduct over the next few weeks will determine whether the West continues its new dialogue or is compelled to increase pressure with tougher United Nations and other sanctions.
timesonline.co.uk
Sanctions? I think the time for that may be well past. Just as you can really only help those who are willing to help themselves, you can only punish those who fear the punishment- nothing else works, and I am afraid the Resident doesn’t know that, and there is no one telling him this reality. Just as he knows nothing about the military, and thus is disengaged about Afghanistan, he thinks, even after his ignominious defeats at all of his meetings, including the Olympics plea, tha the power of his personality will still win the day.
I have bad news for him- his ego is not a weapon- nor is it particularly impressive, as you actually have to be able to back it up on the world stage, and so far, he has bupkus. The rest of the world laughs at him, and apparently it is obvious to everyone but him.
I wish he could do something about this situation, I truly do- the alternative will be very deadly to the whole world, but I am afraid he is not up to the task, as I have thought all along.
Our Resident likes to quote Lincoln, but the President he should look to now might be Teddy Roosevelt-
“Talk softly- but carry a big stick.”
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Tags: appeasement, Iran, nukes, Obama, war
More Tough Times For The Evil One
Mar 5, 2009 Political
The hits just keep on coming. Barack Obama is set to spend even more money that we do not have on things we do not need. He is set to impose oppressive taxes on the wealthy, or so he says because everyone will be affected. Most liberals cannot see this and will likely not realize it until they are on a corner with a tin cup and dark glasses with a sign that says “Will Protest for Pot.”
Looks like Obama is in for a fight from his own party. Many Democrats do not like the limit placed on itemized deductions because they know most people will cut donations to charity first. Other than that they might jump on board with a tax increase because most of them don’t pay their taxes anyway. That is a prerequisite to serve in the Obama administration. [My Way News]
Looks like Israel has finally figured that Obama and the Democrats are not really their friends. They finally realized that Hillary Clinton is an ally of Palestine when she kept blasting Israel for problems related to Hamas’ constant attacks on Israel. Hillary is critical of checkpoints set up by the Israelis and thinks they give a wrong signal. Checkpoints were st up in the very places she opposes so that she could travel there. She wanted protection she wants to deny Israel.
Israel has come to the realization that if anything is to be done about Iran it will be a solo act. Israel will have to carry out a raid on the nuclear plant alone if she wants it accomplished.
Hopey Obama is too busy trying to meet with the rogue leaders so he is too busy to help Israel out. Sparks are going to fly soon. [Jerusalem Post]
Union leaders at posh hotel while workers are losing jobs.
AFL-CIO union executives are at a luxury resort in Miami. They are out living the high life while their dwindling membership continues to decrease. A lot of union members are not working and their leaders going out to a fancy place like this sends the wrong message.
I wonder if Obama will say something like he did when companies honored their corporate sponsorship agreements and went to the Super Bowl even though they took TARP money (they pretty much had to take it, even if they did not want to).
The unions have Obama in their hip pocket so there should be no problem. [Breitbart TV]
It is going to get worse. Obama has been on the job a little more than a month and he is starting to go gray.
He might be up to 2 packs a day by now.
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Tags: bombing, Democrats, Israel, luxury, nukes, Obama, taxes, tough times, unions
Let’s Leave Iran Alone
Dec 17, 2007 Political
The report is out and the intelligence community has weighed in on Iran and it has determined that Iran has no nukes and that while they might acquire the capability to build them, they are not yet at that state. Basically, according to the intelligence community, Iran does not pose a threat. Never mind the fact that this is the same intelligence community that said Iran was working on nukes and never mind the fact that Israel has a vastly different opinion. We should also ignore the fact that Iran stopped working on its nuclear program and then started back up without anyone knowing and that they deliberately took actions to keep from being detected. We should also forget that the people telling us Iran is not a threat is the same community that missed 9/11 completely.
I think we should just leave them alone and let them do whatever they want because if we try to stop them now then everyone and their brother will scream that they had no nukes or no WMD. We will be looked at as aggressors rather than the liberators that we have been throughout history. People have used the “we found no WMD” mantra to question the validity of the war in Iraq despite the fact that WMD constituted a very small portion of the resolution for going in there and people seem to forget that Hussein actually used WMD on his enemies as well as his own people. Iran has shown that it cannot be trusted but that should really be none of our business. No matter what they build it is unlikely it can reach the US or that they can get it here so we should be safe.
Let the Russians and the Europeans worry about the fallout from a nuclear blast, should Iran develop a nuke. If they never develop one then it was prudent not to go after them and if they do build one then those who said they would were right and those affected can pay the consequences for not listening. However, any person (or nation) who opposes interfering with Iran and its nuclear ambitions now will have no right to blame their development of nuclear weapons on George Bush. Any member of the US Congress that does should be immediately taken to Gitmo and left there until they die. Any nation that has the audacity to blame it on him should be cut off from the world. This scenario is not beyond belief. Bill Clinton gave nuclear technology to the North Koreans and then Bush was blamed for “taking his eye off them” when they ended up testing a nuclear device.
I say the hell with Iran and let’s just ignore them. We will have proof of their nuclear ambitions when they announce they have the weapon (they wouldn’t lie, now would they) or when they launch one. In any event, we will then have the provocation we need to send about a hundred thousand Tomahawks toward their country and wipe that miserable place off the map. I bet then the naysayers will want action.
Of course, this all assumes that Israel is going to play the wussy games that the US is playing and sit idly by while Iran develops a weapon that will be used to destroy that country. If Israel gets fed up Iran might not exist too much longer.
Tough sanctions are needed right now and without them the world will be getting what it asked for. We need members of the UN Security Council to sanction Iran and we need the damned Russians and Chinese to get on board with the program instead of selling the Iranians what they need to make war.
I believe we should try diplomacy first but sine the diplomats are cowards and will not go practice diplomacy we are left with few choices should things get dicey.
The old Goodwrench commercial used to say; “You can pay me now or you can pay me later.” If we don’t do something now (like sanction Iran) then someone will pay for it later. It will be harder, of course, because Iran looks at the latest intelligence report as a declaration of surrender.
The only way to deal with Muslims is to be tough and to never back down. Thanks to the spineless people in our intelligence community and the greedy rulers of Russia and China, we will have a tougher road to travel from this point forward.
