Obama, Putin, and Crimea: Jimmy Carter Deja Vu…on Steroids

obamacarterYes, I could see this one from Alaska. I’m usually not one to Told-Ya-So, but I did, despite my accurate prediction being derided as “an extremely far-fetched scenario” by the “high-brow” Foreign Policy magazine. Here’s what this “stupid” “insipid woman” predicted back in 2008: “After the Russian Army invaded the nation of Georgia, Senator Obama’s reaction was one of indecision and moral equivalence, the kind of response that would only encourage Russia’s Putin to invade Ukraine next.” Sarah Palin, 2/28/14

Yep. Isn’t it amazing that a “chillbilly” from Alaska could figure out in 2008, what escaped the “most transparent President and Administration evah” and “the smartest people in the room”?

And, now that United States President is looking like a gelding in the race to be the most powerful country in the World.

TheGuardian.com reports that

Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin clashed over the Crimea referendum during a telephone call on Sunday, as the US president dismissed claims from his Russian counterpart that the vote was legal and warned him that Moscow would be punished.

Obama rejected an argument from Putin that the vote, which Moscow claims overwhelmingly endorsed Crimean secession from Ukraine to become part of Russia, was “fully consistent with the norms of international law and the UN Charter”, according to the White House.

In a statement, it said: “President Obama emphasised that the Crimean ‘referendum’, which violates the Ukrainian constitution and occurred under duress of Russian military intervention, would never be recognised by the United States and the international community.”

Russian state media reported that 95.5% of people in the southern province, which has been occupied by Russian forces for the past fortnight, voted on Sunday in favour of leaving Ukraine. Some 3.5% were said to have chosen more autonomy while remaining part of the country.

A Kremlin statement said Putin also told Obama during the call, which the US initiated, that the case of Crimea was in line with the so-called “Kosovo precedent”. Putin has claimed that the recognition of the former Yugoslavian territory as a sovereign state in 2008 established a legal framework for secession that could be repeated by other separatist movements.

The White House’s read-out of the call did not mention such a discussion and instead said that Obama “emphasised that Russia’s actions were in violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

The US president was said to have complained to Putin that Russian military exercises on Ukraine’s eastern border “only exacerbate the tension” and warned him that the US and allies were “prepared to impose additional costs on Russia for its actions”. But he also “underscored that there remains a clear path for resolving this crisis diplomatically”, according to the White House.

White House aides had reiterated earlier on Sunday that the US would not recognise the results of the referendum and promised to introduce sanctions against Moscow within days.

Dan Pfeiffer, a senior adviser to Obama, told NBC’s Meet the Press: “This referendum is in violation of international law.”

Amid pressure on Obama from Republicans to take tougher action against Putin, Pfeiffer declined to rule out American direct military aid to Kiev, saying only that the US was considering “all ways of assistance” in light of the Russian military occupation.

The Republican senator John McCain said on Saturday during a visit to Ukraine by a bipartisan group of eight senators that the country required a “long-term military assistance programme from the United States” comprising “lethal and nonlethal” equipment to enable resistance against Russian forces.

Pfeiffer said senior Russians should prepare for “sanctions designations in the coming days” from the US, which is poised to introduce asset freezes and visa bans authorised last week by Obama. And he urged Congress to pass an economic aid package for Ukraine, comprising $150m (£90m) along with $1bn in loan guarantees.

“We are putting as much pressure on the Russians as we can to do the right thing,” Pfeiffer said. Of Putin, he asked: “Is he going to continue to further isolate himself, further hurt his economy, further diminish Russian influence in the world, or is he going to do the right thing?”

Back on March 3rd, the Arctic Fox was interviewed on Fox News by Sean Hannity.

“Well, anyone who carries the common sense gene would know that Putin doesn’t change his stripes,” Palin told Sean Hannity tonight. “He hearkens back to the era of the czars and he wants that Russian empire to grow again.”

Palin said that there is a link between energy and security. She said the United States isn’t developing its resources, but Russia is, and Putin is strengthening Russia’s power and influence in the world.

“People are looking at Putin as one who wrestles bears and drills for oil,” she said. “They look at our president as one who wears mom jeans and equivocates and bloviates. We are not exercising that peace through strength that only can be brought to you courtesy of the red white and blue, that only a strengthened United States military can do.”

According to Palin, other countries no longer see a nation to emulate in America due to Obama’s leadership. Now, she says countries are taking advantage of America’s current weakness.

40 years ago, Russia was making noise, acting belligerent, and supporting America’s other enemies, such as the Islamic Terrorist Nation of Iran. It was because America had a ineffectual Democratic wimp named Jimmy Carter as her President.

You see, America’s enemies do not respect weakness in an American President. A weak President emboldens our enemies and endangers the safety and very sovereignty of our country. And our Marxist/Alinsky-ite Follower of a President does not have the intestinal fortitude of a field mouse….and Putin knows it.

God help all of those nations who broke away from the former Soviet Union. Because, unless our gelding of a President turns into a stud overnight, they will all be saluting the Hammer and Sickle again…upon pain of death.

Until He Comes,

KJ

November 2014: A Chance for Redemption (A KJ Op Ed)

americaneagleflagYou and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man’s age-old dream — the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order — or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. Regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would sacrifice freedom for security have embarked on this downward path. Plutarch warned, “The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.” – Ronald Reagan, Address to the nation, October 27, 1964

I miss the country I used to know.

The America that was respected all over the world. ..”One nation under God…indivisible…with liberty and justice for all”…where children were raised to love God and country and were taught that anyone could be successful in this great land, if they worked hard enough.

When did the American Dream turn into our National Nightmare?

I know it wasn’t during my parents generation. After all, they were the greatest generation. When all of our American Heroes returned home from World War II, they set upon the task of building a better life for themselves and their families. Then, somewhere along the way, as things got better and better, things started to change for the worse.

Remember how they referred to the Kennedy Administration as Camelot?

It was because there was still a hopefulness in America…an unbounded optimism that we could not only make a difference in our own nation, but that we could go out and make a difference in countries not as fortunate as ours. Then, after the tragic assassination of JFK, something changed. President Lyndon Baines Johnson somehow turned the country’s optimism into pessimism, concerning the future of minorities in our nation.

He told America’s minority population that they could not achieve the American Dream of their own accord. They had to be assisted by a benevolent nanny-state government.

This pessimism became entrenched in the very fabric of our society, as young people began to tune in, turn on, and drop out, protesting the Vietnam War and the very parents who brought them into this world in the first place.

As this pessimism continued in the 1970s, it turned into a malaise during the Carter Presidency,. as Carter’s Domestic and Foreign Policies proved to be failures.

After the debacle of the Carter Presidency, we were waiting for something good to happen…and it did.

A plain-spoken gentleman from the Midwest named Ronald Wilson Reagan told us it was time for “Morning in America”.

This country experienced a resurgence in national optimism and international stature during President Reagan’s 8 years in office. Then, when he left, things started to unravel once again. We endured a sexual predator in the White House and the worst terrorist attack ever on American soil.

And now, after 6 years with an inexperienced community organizer occupying the Oval Office, America is facing challenges domestically and in the field of Foreign Relations, that we have never seen before.

However, our domestic challenges are not just of a political nature. They are moral and cultural challenges as well.

The faith of approximately 70% of our population is being attacked on a daily basis by a government whose founding documents reference Our Creator.

Additionally, those of us who believe God’s Holy Word, as found in the Bible, are being called bigots and are being marginalized as being out of touch with the viewpoint of the majority of America’s population.

Even, if we clearly are not.

Meanwhile, all around the world, America has lost stature, because we have a president who does not believe in American Exceptionalism and would rather bow to other world leaders then look them in the eye and represent America from a position of strength and as a World Power.

As we head toward the 2014 Midterm Elections, it is up to us as Americans to decide what kind of country we want.

Do we want to return to an America that is fiscally sound, with a culture and character that is admired all over the Free World?

Or, do we want to watch the “Shining City Upon a Hill” continue to tarnish and decay as those who are supposed to be serving us, serve themselves instead, while following, intentionally or unintentionally, the failed nanny-state philosophy of Marx and Lenin?

On January 25, 1974, Ronald Reagan spoke the following words in a speech which has come to be known as “The Shining City Upon a Hill” Speech…

Somehow America has bred a kindliness into our people unmatched anywhere, as has been pointed out in that best-selling record by a Canadian journalist. We are not a sick society. A sick society could not produce the men that set foot on the moon, or who are now circling the earth above us in the Skylab. A sick society bereft of morality and courage did not produce the men who went through those year of torture and captivity in Vietnam. Where did we find such men? They are typical of this land as the Founding Fathers were typical. We found them in our streets, in the offices, the shops and the working places of our country and on the farms.

We cannot escape our destiny, nor should we try to do so. The leadership of the free world was thrust upon us two centuries ago in that little hall of Philadelphia. In the days following World War II, when the economic strength and power of America was all that stood between the world and the return to the dark ages, Pope Pius XII said, “The American people have a great genius for splendid and unselfish actions. Into the hands of America God has placed the destinies of an afflicted mankind.”

We are indeed, and we are today, the last best hope of man on earth. 

This November, this country will, once again, make a choice.

I pray that it is the right one.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Time is Running Out on a Desperate Obama. Who Will Thwart His Plans? Conservatives, if Allowed to.

Cartoon-Cruz-Vs-Establishment-600The clock is ticking down on the Obama Presidency. It won’t be long until the Mid-Term Elections, which could make the rapidly-failing Lightbringer’s political mission even tougher to complete than it is now.

Weeklystandard.com reports that

President Obama knows that his time is almost up. It’s a point he’s making to liberal Democratic donors to get them to donate generously in this year’s mid-term election.

At a Democratic fundraiser last night in New York City, President Obama said, “I hope you will all step up because, although I’m very optimistic about our long-term trends, the notion that we would waste two years in further inaction rather than move boldly on a path that I think all of us in this room agree on — we don’t have time to waste.”

The president continued, “I don’t have time to waste. The clock is ticking. There’s less than two years left — less than three years left. I want to squeeze every last little bit of work that I can during the remainder of my term so that, looking back, I’m going to be able to say that we left everything on the field and every single person I could help in this office — which is such an incredible privilege — I helped.”

But before that, Obama also took an opportunity in the middle of the fundraiser, to tweak Democrats. “And the fact of the matter is that Democrats are not without our flaws. We have our blind spots and we have our dogmas and we’ve got our crazy folks,” Obama said as the crowd laughed.

“But as a whole, this is a party that is serious about making sure that America is growing and offering opportunity to everybody. And the story many of you here in this room have lived, the success that you’ve lived out, what we’re about is making sure a whole bunch of kids behind us can live out that same success. And if I have just a smidgeon of a cooperative Congress, think what we can do these next two and a half years.”

… A cooperative Congress.

You do realize that he is not just talking about members of his own political party, i.e., Democrats, don’t you?

He is referring to the Vichy Republicans, also.

You know, the professional politicians who believe that if they adopt the Liberal beliefs and goals of the Democrats, then those potential voters, who share the Democrats’ Liberal Beliefs, will then transfer their loyalty to the Republican Party.

PT Barnum was right. There IS a sucker born every minute.

It won’t be Establishment Republicans who will thwart Obama’s plans to “radically change” America. It will be Reagan Conservatives working within and alongside the TEA Party Movement.

Conservatives like Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who told the audience at the annual Conservative Political Action Committee Conference last weekend, that you win by standing on your principles, as pjmedia.com reports:

…Let’s look back at the past four elections, 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012. The only election we won was 2010, when we stood unequivocally for principle….Who are the most two people who have energized young people? Ronald Reagan and Ron Paul. What did they do? They painted a bold picture of what America can do…. You win elections by standing for principles and believing that there is a better tomorrow.

“How do we inspire people? Number one we tell the truth…. The truth is Washington is corrupt. You are in some of the richest counties in the country. As more and more people make great wealth in Washington, young people, single moms, and small business owners suffer…. Real change is changing the corruption that is here in Washington, D.C.”

Cruz also addressed how President Obama, whom younger Americans propelled into the presidency in 2008, has hurt America’s rising generations.

…Under President Obama, the American Dream is harder to achieve…. If you were to sit down and hammer the living daylights out of young people, you couldn’t do better than the Obama Administration. Obamacare is a massive wealth transfer. And who the heck is going to pay for our national debt?

…We need to stop bankrupting our country. What we’re doing to our kids and grandkids is morally wrong. If we don’t change course, they will be left working to pay off the debts their parents left them with. We need to turn this around.”

Cruz also addressed the need to repeal Obamacare, unleash American energy production, expand school choice and abolish the scandal-plagued IRS.

Another TEA Party Favorite, the Arctic Fox, Sarah Palin, announced yesterday, that she would be continuing her successful endorsement of Conservative Candidates:

As I said in my speech last week in Washington, D.C., America needs bold Constitutional conservative leaders who will fight for us with intelligence and integrity to restore our exceptional nation and preserve the blessings of liberty and prosperity. Time is short. I’m convinced it’s now or never to save our free republic.

So, I’m excited to announce that big U.S. Senate and House of Representatives endorsements are on the way! We’ll tackle some state races, too. Lots of vetting and research goes into these endorsements because this is for YOU. It’s to allow you to take a closer look at good men and women with servants’ hearts who are willing to get in the rough and tumble arena to help save America. Please do your own homework on candidates; never put all your hopes and unattainable expectations in anyone running for office (because humankind’s imperfections aren’t absent in politicians), but know that I’ve been diligent and pragmatic in choosing patriots whom I believe we can trust to do the right thing. I never want to let you down! And you know me well enough by now; you know I do my homework; I use discernment, and then I go with my gut.

These candidates put service over self and principles over politics. They’re not going to D.C. to get cozy with the permanent political class or feather their nests off the crony capitalism running rampant in the swamp. They’re going to Washington to shake things up and restore that endangered species in D.C. – common sense – in an out-of-control government that stomps on the neck of freedom and opportunity. These men and women have promised to be fighters for all that is good about America. They’ll have our back; let’s do our part and watch their backs, too, as we send these reinforcements into the battle.

I’ll roll out endorsements in coming days; I’ll ask you to support the good guys, and we’ll all covet prayers for them and for the great awakening I’m confident our nation is experiencing as people open their eyes to the present harsh reality but also to America’s future positive possibilities as we seek our nation’s good destiny!

Since I began my daily musings in April of 2010, I have always told you that Liberals will tell you whom they fear. That is true for Liberals on both sides of the political aisle.

Unfortunately, since Conservatives handed the GOP the House of Representatives in the Mid-Terms of 2010, the Establishment Republicans have had a rapidly progressing case of amnesia, as regards to whom they owe their phony-baloney jobs to. As I recently wrote, the vast sea of Red you see in Electoral Maps, was responsible for the GOP’s rise to power in 2010.

It can be again, if the Northeastern Republicans’ Club would just shuddup, step aside, and allow the Conservative Base to carry them to victory, once again.

Because if they attempt to nominate squishy  Moderates in the Mid-Term, they will lose any hope of winning the Senate, plus they will lose seats in the House, as well.

Just ask President Romney.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Demeaning of the Presidency: Obama Appears on “Between Two Ferns”. Hilarity Does Not Ensue.

Obama and Founding FathersThe 44th President of the United States appeared on a supposed-to-be-comedic interview show on the Internet, yesterday.

Foxnews.com reports that

The White House is defending President Obama’s snarky appearance on comedian Zach Galifianakis’ mock-interview show “Between Two Ferns,” touting it as a creative, effective way to promote ObamaCare to young adults.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney claimed Tuesday that the video was the “number one referral” to HealthCare.gov the morning it was released online. He said he believes the “viral” video will be a big factor in getting young people to visit the website and explore coverage.

Asked whether Obama’s appearance on the “show” was beneath the office of the president, Carney said he did not think so, saying “we made the right call here.”

Obama delivered both jabs and a plug for the law in the episode, which was filmed two weeks ago and released online Tuesday. Galifianakis is known for putting his interview subjects in awkward positions and passive-aggressively insulting them in the “Funny or Die” web series.

Galifianakis began by asking Obama if he was planning on pardoning another turkey for Thanksgiving in 2014. Obama said yes and then asked Galifianakis if it was depressing for him to see a turkey “taken out of circulation” that he “couldn’t eat.”

Galifianakis responded by asking if after Obama sent “Ambassador Rodman” to North Korea, he would send Hulk Hogan to Syria or if that was more a job for Tonya Harding.

He also asked Obama what it is like being the “last black president,” and if Obama is sad that when he leaves the White House people will stop letting him win at basketball. Obama responded by asking Galifianakis what it is like to have a “three-inch vertical.”

When Galifianakis asked if he would run for a third term, Obama told him it would be like the third “Hangover” movie — probably not a good idea.

Obama then touted his health care overhaul, asking Galifianakis if he had heard of HealthCare.gov and insisting it “works great now.” He then told a seemingly bored Galifianakis how young people can get covered for what it costs to “pay their cell phone bill” every month.

“Is this what they mean by drones?” Galifianakis asked.

The White House has engaged in numerous pushes recently to get young Americans to sign up for health care, including a video featuring YouTube stars released last week.

Rush Limbaugh, per usual, has a pretty insightful take on the circumstances of Obama’s appearance on this second-rate web program, that reminded me of the old Public Access Cable Shows that I used to Direct back in the 1980s…

Now, if you wonder why people are losing respect for the president — and I think people are. I think what’s happening here is actually devastating to the office, and it began with Bill Clinton. It began with Bill Clinton. There was an arrest and a restoration when George W. Bush was there, but the office of the presidency has taken a big hit dignity-wise. And with Obama constantly on TV and constantly campaigning and making jokes and yuk yuks about inconsequential things, but doing it to build a bond between himself and the lowest-common-denominator voters, the low-information voters, it’s an unseemly, sad thing.

So he shows up on this show called Funny or Die. Funny or Die is the website. The show is Between Two Ferns. I have a couple sound bites from this show that I guess came from this morning. Now, this is a guy who doesn’t have time for national security meetings. He doesn’t have time to get a briefing from a CIA guy, doesn’t have time for all that, but he’ll go do something like this. This is a six-minute skit, and like every other guest, he gets insulted by the host. It’s a parody, it’s a joke, everybody’s in on it, you know what’s gonna happen when you show up. Nobody’s blindsided.

The whole purpose of this was to plug HealthCare.gov. The whole reason for going on this show, because this is supposedly what the low-information crowd has glommed onto now. If I were Jon Stewart, I’d be worried ’cause this is currently what’s hip, this show.

…Now, remember, Obama’s in on this. He knows full well what he’s doing. He’s not purposely being insulted. (interruption) Well, that’s the thing. Pick any president you have respect for, put ’em in this. I know it’s a changing world, folks. I know the media’s constantly expanding, but there are just certain things that presidents never deigned to take a step down and do. So here is this guy openly mocking Obama with Obama’s permission, and it’s all to celebrate and to promote HealthCare.gov.

Now, I just saw a tweet, a tweet just went out saying that the majority of sign-ups to HealthCare.gov today are coming from this show. Whoever tweeted it out meant it as a compliment. Whoever tweeted it out meant to say that this was a home run performance by the president, that there are all kinds of people now going to HealthCare.gov to sign up, like we believe this. I don’t, by the way. You know what I believe? I believe the number of cancellations. And you know what that number is? It’s well up to six and a half million people.

Six and a half million real people have had their insurance plans canceled despite these delays, despite putting off the implementation, six and a half million people have had their insurance canceled. Some of them are cancer patients. Some of them are really sick. Some of them aren’t, but some of them are. I don’t believe the number they claim to sign up. There wouldn’t be the panic. Look, if this were going great guns you wouldn’t have Democrat senator after Democrat senator running away from it. The Democrats that are up for reelection are running as far away from HealthCare.gov and Obamacare as they can. And some of them are making no bones about it.

Some of them are actively campaigning against Obamacare, Democrats are, Democrat senators up for reelection. There’s nobody that can make me believe that whatever is happening with Obamacare, HealthCare.gov, is good and overwhelmingly optimistic and growing by leaps and bounds. You want to tell me that appearing with this kind of an interview on this show spawned and inspired massive visits to HealthCare.gov, massive enrollment?

Strains credulity, doesn’t it?

Just like Obama’s overall performance as United States President.

From the moment he walked into the Oval Ofrfice, his focus has been on erasing any trace of American Exceptionalism.

He has done this through his Domestic Policies, designed to stifle individuality and ambition and his Foreign Policy, “Smart Power”, through which he has insulted and demeaned our longtime allies, and embraced our enemies, who wish to kill all of us “infidels”, to the point where he is seemingly so naive, he cannot even see when they are playing him for a fool on the world stage, which reflects on our standing as a World Power.

Of course, his policies are an extension of his own work ethic (or. lack thereof). I mean, he saunters over to the Oval Office at 10:00 a.m. (when he is not on vacation), shirtsleeves rolled up, collar open, acting like he’s going to a poker game with the boys, instead of leading the Free World.

That is in stark contrast to the crack of dawn, shirt, tie, and jacket professional work ethic of President Ronald Reagan and both President Bushes.

So, is Obama intentionally trying to demean the United States of America and the office of the Presidency?

Well, he was seen in New York City yesterday, at the Gap Clothing Store, looking at a pink sweater.

Perhaps, Ukraine should just go ahead and surrender now.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Ukraine and Iran: Peace…err…Nuclear Proliferation in Our Time

nuclear bomb 2As if the situation in Ukraine was not bad enough, it may be about to go nuclear.

According to usatoday.com,

Ukraine may have to arm itself with nuclear weapons if the United States and other world powers refuse to enforce a security pact that obligates them to reverse the Moscow-backed takeover of Crimea, a member of the Ukraine parliament told USA TODAY.

The United States, Great Britain and Russia agreed in a pact “to assure Ukraine’s territorial integrity” in return for Ukraine giving up a nuclear arsenal it inherited from the Soviet Union after declaring independence in 1991, said Pavlo Rizanenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament.

“We gave up nuclear weapons because of this agreement,” said Rizanenko, a member of the Udar Party headed by Vitali Klitschko, a candidate for president. “Now there’s a strong sentiment in Ukraine that we made a big mistake.”

His statements come as Russia raised the possibility it may send its troops beyond the Crimean peninsula on the Black Sea into the eastern half of Ukraine.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said lawlessness “now rules in eastern regions of Ukraine as a result of the actions of fighters of the so-called ‘right sector’ with the full connivance” of Ukraine’s authorities.

Rizanenko and others in Ukraine say the pact it made with the United States under President Bill Clinton was supposed to prevent such Russian invasions.

The pact was made after the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991 and became Russia, leaving the newly independent nation of Ukraine as the world’s third largest nuclear weapons power.

The communist dictatorship that was the Soviet Union had based nuclear missiles in republics it held captive along its border with Europe, and Ukraine had thousands. World powers urged Ukraine to give up the arsenal but its leaders balked, expressing fear they needed the weapons to deter Russia from trying to reverse Ukraine’s independence.

To reassure the Ukrainians, the United States and leaders of the United Kingdom and Russia signed in 1994 the “Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances” in which the signatories promised that none of them would threaten or use force to alter the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine.

Yeah. That worked. Didn’t it?

This new nuclear wrinkle in the Ukrainian Situation reminds me of another “nuclear promise”, which the present Democrat in office brokered.

It’s not going very well, either, as foxnews.com reports…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the international community’s “self-deception” regarding Iran as defense officials unveiled an arsenal of weapons the Islamic Republic is accused of trying to smuggle into Gaza.

Israeli Defense Forces unloaded the cargo of the Panamanian-flagged ship that its commandos boarded last week off the coast of Sudan, displaying 40 M-302 missiles with a range in excess of 100 miles, 181 mortar shells and 400,000 AK-47 bullets.

“The goal was to have rained down on the heads of Israel’s citizens,” Netanyahu thundered from the port of Eilat, where the Klos C was towed after being boarded in the Red Sea.

Netanyahu noted that the assorted rockets, mortars and other munitions could have reached Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and even Haifa. He accused the international community of ignoring Iranian support for militant groups and being deluded by Tehran’s claims to be willing to tame its nuclear weapons program.

“Iran, a brutal regime, has not abandoned its deep involvement in terrorism, its systematic efforts to undermine peace and security throughout the Middle East and its ambition to destroy the state of Israel,” Netanyahu said. “What is new is not Iran’s deeds or its lies, but the desire of many in the international community to bury their heads in the sand.

“Just as Iran hid its deadly missiles in the belly of this ship, Iran is hiding its actions and its intentions in many of its key installations for developing nuclear weapons,” he continued.

“My message today is simple: those engaged in self-deception must waken from their slumber, we cannot allow Iran to continue building nuclear weapons,” he continued.

The tough comments threatened to further strain Netanyahu’s already tense relations with the European Union and the White House.

Israel believes that Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon, saying a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a threat to the existence of the Jewish state. It cites Iranian calls for Israel’s destruction, its development of long-range missiles and its support for hostile militant groups on Israel’s borders. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

And, if you believe that, I’ve got a copy of the “Rosie O’Donnell Diet Plan” to sell you.

So now, thanks to President Barack Hussein Obama and “Smart Power”!, we not only face the imminent threat of Iran exercising its nuclear capability, the volatile Ukrainian Situation could escalate into a Nuclear Armageddon.

The greatest United States President in my lifetime, Ronald Wilson Reagan, coined the saying, “Trust, but, verify” based on a Russian folk proverb. Reagan was a master of the one-liner, and he knew that this phrase summed up the appropriate way to negotiate Foreign Policy Accords with America’s historical enemies.

When a United States President attempts to negotiate with a tyrannical society, he is immediately at a disadvantage because dictatorships are untrustworthy by nature, as their day-by-day governance is maintained through brutality and distrust. Tyrants don’t trust their own people. Therefore, the chance that they will trust an enemy nation is as slim as the chance that Michelle Obama will pay for her next vacation. It is not a matter of if one of these rogue nations, like Iran will cheat on a negotiated agreement, it is a matter of when.

Unfortunately, when you have a naive, petulant community organizer, instead of an actual American President, as is the situation our country finds itself in today, leading the negotiations, that increases the danger of a nuclear outcome, because our enemies will soon figure out that he is negotiating from a position of inexperience and weakness.

To quote the great Fred Thompson, in his role as Admiral John Painter, “The Hunt for Red October”:

This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we’ll be lucky to live through it.

God protect us.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Crimea Situation Intensifies. Obamas, Bidens Take Vacations. Who’s Minding “The Store”?

ObamaJarrettWhen the going gets tough…the not-so-tough go on vay-cay.

Fox News reports that

The White House brushed off concerns Friday that, with the crisis in Crimea intensifying, now might not be the best time for President Obama — and his vice president — to go on vacation.

The travel schedules of both the president and Vice President Biden have come under scrutiny, given the rapidly changing situation in Ukraine. Obama, already in Florida to talk about education, was planning to spend some family time this weekend in Key Largo, Fla., where he arrived late in the day. Biden, meanwhile, will be in the Virgin Islands.

Despite some apparent discussion over cutting the president’s trip short, White House spokesman Josh Earnest indicated the president would be able to handle the crisis from out of the office.

“The president over the course of a very busy week has maintained his schedule and his ability to monitor ongoing events in Ukraine. I would anticipate that he’ll do the same thing this weekend,” Earnest said. “And the fact of the matter is what the president is doing this weekend in Florida is essentially what the president will be doing if he stayed back at the White House. It’s just that the weather will be a little warmer.”

He said Obama plans to spend time with his wife and daughters while in the Keys. “There are some recreational amenities on the property, including workout facilities, tennis courts, a couple of golf courses,” he noted.

So, who’s “minding the store”? Why, Valerie Jarrett, of course.

In an article, posted on August 12, 2012, on AmericanThinker.com, “Obama’s Strange Dependence on Valerie Jarrett” by Karin McQuillan, it was reported that…

…According to Edward Klein, a reporter once asked Obama if he ran every decision by Jarrett. Obama answered, “Yep. Absolutely.”

Edward Klein, former foreign editor of Newsweek and editor of the New York Times Magazine for many years, describes Jarrett as “ground zero in the Obama operation, the first couple’s friend and consigliere.” Klein — who claims he used a minimum of two sources for each assertion in his book on the Obama presidency, The Amateur — writes in detail about Jarrett opposing the raid on bin Laden. She told Obama not to take the political risk. Klein thought Obama ignored Jarrett’s advice. Miniter tells us he listened to her, three times telling Special Operations not to take the risk to go after bin Laden.

We need to understand the role Valerie Jarrett plays in Obama’s private and political life.

“If it wasn’t for Valerie Jarrett, there’d be no Barack Obama to complain about,” starts Klein’s chapter on Jarrett. He quotes Michelle Obama on Jarrett’s influence over her husband: “She knows the buttons, the soft spots, the history, the context.”

No one outside Michelle has the access or power over Obama’s decision-making like Jarrett does. Here’s an odd little fact that gives some insight into what kind of president Obama is: Michelle, Michelle’s mother, and Valerie, and only a few others in Washington, are allowed to call Barack by his first name. After work, Jarrett joins Obama at night in the Family Quarters, where she dines often with the First Family. She goes on vacation with them.

Jarrett’s title is the weird mouthful “Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs.” She is the gatekeeper, but she is also much more than that. She occupies Karl Rove’s and Hillary’s old office and has an all-access pass to meetings. She shows up at the National Security Council, at meetings on the economy and budget. She stays behind to advise Obama on what to think and do. Obama uses her as his left-wing conscience. Klein’s sources describe how at each pressing issue, Obama turns to ask her, “What do you think the right thing to do is?” As president, he likes to have her next to him “as the voice of authentic blackness in a White House that is staffed largely by whites.”

A longtime friend told Klein that Jarrett is the “eyes, ears and nose” of the Obamas. She tells them whom to trust, who is saying what, whom to see at home and abroad. Michelle wants her there: “I told her … it would give me a sense of comfort to know that (Barack) had somebody like her there by his side.” As Obama told the New York Times, “Valerie is one of my oldest friends. … I trust her completely.”

…Valerie Jarrett reflects Obama in many ways. Like himself, Valerie looks more white than black. Her mother had three white grandparents, and her father was black. Like Obama, she lived in the Muslim world for part of her childhood, when her father practiced medicine in Iran. Like Obama, she is a committed leftist. But there are crucial differences. Her father was not a drunk Kenyan polygamist like Obama’s, but a famous pathologist and geneticist. Her mother was not a leftist expatriate like Obama’s, but a distinguished psychologist. Valerie married into Chicago’s black elite, the top rung of African-American society. She went to Stanford, got a law degree from Michigan, and became Mayor Richard Daley’s deputy chief of staff, “the public black face” of his administration.

When Valerie Jarrett hired Michelle to work for Daley and befriended her, the Obamas gained access to the exclusive world of upper-class black Chicago politics. Valerie knew everyone whom it was important to know in black and Jewish money circles. She gave Barack entrée and legitimacy. She financed and promoted his ambitions for national office.

Obama finally belonged. Not that Jarrett’s record in Chicago was anything to be proud of. Jarrett was known for her corruption and incompetence. Daley finally had to fire her after a scandal erupted over her role in misuse of public funds in the city’s substandard public housing. She went on to become CEO of Habitat Executive Services, pulling down $300,000 in salary and $550,000 in deferred compensation. Again, she managed a housing complex that was seized by government inspectors for slum conditions. The scandal didn’t matter to Obama. The sordid corruption was all part of Jarrett’s Chicago success story.

Every insider in Chicago told Klein the same thing: Jarrett has no qualifications to be the principal advisor to the president of the United States. She doesn’t understand how Washington works, how relations with Congress work, how the federal process works. She doesn’t understand how the economy works, how the military works, how national security works. But she understands how Obama works.

The president turns to Valerie Jarrett for definitive advice on all these issues. She has given him terrible advice over and over, and still he turns to her.

Her true job is to make Obama feel proud of himself. When Obama looks at Jarrett, he sees himself as whole and good and real. He is no longer the fake black, the fatherless kid flailing around in a white world, tortured by the unfairness of it all. She fills the emptiness at the core of his identity. She admires and adores him. Jarrett told New Yorker editor David Remnick that the president is “just too talented to do what ordinary people do.” And the icing on the cake — she shares his left-wing politics that project unfairness out onto white America.

Obama relies on Jarrett to create the White House bubble he likes to live in, where his narcissism is stroked and his desire to do the big, left-wing thing is encouraged. Jarrett is the doorman. She runs access to the president. As Klein puts it, she guards him from meeting with “critics and complainers who might deflate his ego.” No one gets past Jarrett who has an incompatible point of view.

The authoress goes on to report that Ms. Jarrett is the reason that Rob Emmanuel and Richard Daley are no longer members of the Obama Administration.

For both the President and Vice-President to not cancel their Vacation Plans, with an “involuntary excursion” into the Ukraine going on, is negligent at best and Dereliction of Duty, at worst.

And, for a non-elected individual, such as Ms. Jarrett to wield so much power in our nation, is equally as distressing.

Now is not the time to spend more of the taxpayer’s money on vacations. Especially, after it was just announced that Michelle Obama and her two girls will be taking an extensive “fact-finding trip” to China, courtesy of us American Taxpayers.

All Nero did was fiddle.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

The Ukrainian Invasion: The Collapse of “Smart Power!”…A Return From Fantasyland

obamaputincartoonThe Russian Bear, Vladimir Putin, continues his quest to reclaim the former Soviet Bloc nation of  Ukraine, while Barack “Urkel” Obama continues to warn him against doing what he has already done.

The Washington Times reports that

President Obama warned Russia on Monday of possible U.S. sanctions over its military land grab in Ukraine, but Moscow brushed aside international threats, tightening its stranglehold on Crimea and calling audaciously for a national unity government in Kiev.

In Washington, Mr. Obama said the world is “largely united” against Russia’s military action and he is considering economic and diplomatic steps that would gradually isolate Russia. He criticized the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin for being “on the wrong side of history.”

“What cannot be done is for Russia with impunity to put its soldiers on the ground and violate basic principles that are recognized around the world,” Mr. Obama said. “Over time, this will be a costly proposition for Russia.”

But the U.S. and European Union floundered for solutions — while global markets panicked over the prospect of violent upheaval in the heart of Europe. Fears grew that the Kremlin might carry out more land grabs in pro-Russian eastern Ukraine, or elsewhere in the former Soviet Union, adding urgency to Western efforts to defuse the crisis.

Secretary of State John F. Kerry was heading to Kiev in an expression of support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, and the EU threatened a raft of punitive measures as it called an emergency summit on Ukraine for Thursday. In Congress, lawmakers prepared to move on an aid package for Ukraine.

But it was Russia that appeared to be driving the agenda.

China, Iran, North Korea…why are America’s enemies now so bold?

Lt. Col. Allen B. West has served our country proudly and honorably, both in our military and as a Representative in the United States Congress. He made the following interesting observation on his website, allen bwest.com, yesterday…

Russian troops are invading Ukraine and we have no response. I suppose the Pentagon has more important things to worry about – like hair and makeup for our gay military.

According to World Net Daily, “Almost seven decades after being the scene of one of the most ferocious and protracted battles of World War II – a site of legendary valor and sacrifice on the part of American soldiers – some U.S. service personnel stationed in Okinawa today are treating the world to another kind of display: Gay and lesbian service personnel performing in drag, to raise funds for their activities, to a sellout audience.

Openly homosexual service members at Okinawa’s Kadena Air Base took to the stage and performed as “drag queens” and “drag kings” Saturday on a military installation in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender troops.

In September 2011, on the implementation of the repeal of the Clinton-era Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, President Obama said: “I was proud to sign the Repeal Act into law last December because I knew that it would enhance our national security, increase our military readiness, and bring us closer to the principles of equality and fairness that define us as Americans.” However, the latest reports show that the rate of sexual assaults, and especially male-on-male sexual assaults, in the U.S. military has skyrocketed.

It’s obvious what defines “vital national security interest” in the Obama administration. A week ago Obama announced the decimation of our military – maybe that’s why these troops got their groove on.

I am kinda at a loss for words, but quite sure there are those of you who can fill in the blanks.

The Godfather of Conservative Talk Radio, Rush Limbaugh, was not at a loss for words yesterday. He sums up this whole ugly never-ending Benny Hill Chase Scene (to the background theme of “Yakety Sax By Boots Randolph) rather succinctly:

These are scary, scary times — and one of these days, Putin is gonna figure out that American public opinion does not have the same impact today that it had back in the seventies and eighties. He’s gonna figure out, if he doesn’t already know, that American public opinion has been dumbed down and refocused. America’s now focused on, “Should we be penalizing players 15 yards or kick ’em out of the game for using the N-word in the NFL?” The American people are focused on, “Can gay couples buy a cake from a non-gay baker or not?”

In fact, you probably have heard this by now. Sarah Palin, back in 2008, predicted and warned that Russia was gonna take Ukraine. She was laughed at. She was mocked and made fun of because, of course, that was the narrative. Sarah Palin never said was she an expert on the Soviet Union ’cause she could see it from her backyard. Tina Fey said that in a comedy sketch. Palin never said it, yet it was attributed to her.

Romney, I remember this in a presidential debate like it was yesterday. Probably the second debate, Romney is warning of Russia as our number one geopolitical enemy, and Obama is sitting there and mocking him and laughing at him and making fun of him like he can’t believe what he just heard and everybody knows it’s Al-Qaeda. And look at what’s happening here. All the people who’ve been insulted as dumb and stupid and idiotic and don’t know what they’re talking about are being borne out. There were people — I’ll leave myself out of this — there were people eight years ago warning that Putin existed to rebuild the Soviet Union. The Washington establishment hemmed and hawed and huffed and puffed and laughed, said nothing could be further from the truth. The best and the brightest had no clue.

Now, by the way, Russia and the ChiComs are aligning. They have discovered geopolitical interests that meld together and one of those geopolitical interests is opposition to us. Then you’ve got the ChiComs and the Japanese on the verge of a major conflict. I don’t think too many people are aware of that. So these are heavyweight times, and we’ve got a lot of people dazed and confused and just, in addition to dazed and confused, entirely misinformed. They happen to be our leaders at the moment.

Yes sir. These are “heavyweight  times”.

And, we have a lightweight sitting in the Oval Office as “the Leader of the Free World”.

Yesterday, even Obama’s sycophants, The Washington Post, had to admit that Obama’s “Smart Power!” is a work of fiction:

FOR FIVE YEARS, President Obama has led a foreign policy based more on how he thinks the world should operate than on reality.

Unfortunately for our nation, Obama’s Fantasy Land, where “Smart Power!” reigned, has led to a failure of Foreign Policy, and the birth of a Nightmarish Reality of a purposefully-weakened national image and cross-dressing military.

God Protect Us.

Until He Comes,

KJ

While Being Ignored By Putin, Obama Seeks to Lecture Netanyahu

americanisraelilapelpinAs if Putin’s “unwanted excursion” into the Ukraine wasn’t enough for Obama to bungle, today he meets with Israel Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu concerning Obama’s wishes that Israel give have of its country to the nomadic tribe known as the Palestinians, returning Israel to where it was before the 1967 War, and to attempt to assure Netanyahu that Obama’s “deal” with Iran, will not result in the nuclear annihilation of Israel.

Fox News reports that

President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet Monday with the major topics expected to be a potential Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement and international efforts to freeze Iran’s nuclear program.

The leaders will meet on the sidelines of the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference in Washington.

Ahead of the meeting, Obama had some tough words for the Israeli leader, saying that if Netanyhau “does not believe that a peace deal with the Palestinians is the right thing to do for Israel, then he needs to articulate an alternative approach,” Bloomberg News reported.

Before leaving for the United States, Netanyahu said the two leaders would discuss the Iranian issue and the diplomatic process for mapping out a peace agreement, but said he’d be “steadfast” in defending Israel.

“I will stand steadfast on the State of Israel’s vital interests, especially the security of Israel’s citizens,” he said.

Netanyahu has for years appealed to the U.S. and other allies to stop Iran’s purported efforts to build a nuclear weapon — arguing that achieving that goal is within the grasps of the neighboring, rival country.

Iran has agreed to a deal, opposed by Netanyahu, to freeze its nuclear program in exchange for some easing of international sanctions.

Republicans have led a congressional effort to enact more sanctions — against the wishes of the Obama administration — should Iran fail to fulfill its end of the deal.

APAIC, the powerful pro-Israel lobby group, had supported the sanctions but now opposes them.

The group recently backed efforts by New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to halt the largely GOP Senate effort, saying the timing isn’t right for the upper chamber to vote on the sanctions. The bipartisan bill is co-sponsored by Menendez.

Netanyahu is also scheduled to meet this week with Secretary of State John Kerry and congressional leaders and deliver the APAIC keynote address Tuesday.

Obama is expected to ask Netanyahu to agree to a framework for the so-called “final status” peace agreement.

Kerry has set a goal of April 29 for getting the sides to agree on the final deal, after getting them back to the negotiating table this past summer. However, the Obama administration says such an agreement could take nine more months.

Back in November, when Obama’s “historic deal”,  it was met with less than thunderous applause.

John Bolton, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in 2005-06. He says that it is nothing but “abject surrender”.  He posted this article at the Weekly Standard:

This interim agreement is badly skewed from America’s perspective. Iran retains its full capacity to enrich uranium, thus abandoning a decade of Western insistence and Security Council resolutions that Iran stop all uranium-enrichment activities. Allowing Iran to continue enriching, and despite modest (indeed, utterly inadequate) measures to prevent it from increasing its enriched-uranium stockpiles and its overall nuclear infrastructure, lays the predicate for Iran fully enjoying its “right” to enrichment in any “final” agreement. Indeed, the interim agreement itself acknowledges that a “comprehensive solution” will “involve a mutually defined enrichment program.” This is not, as the Obama administration leaked before the deal became public, a “compromise” on Iran’s claimed “right” to enrichment. This is abject surrender by the United States.

In exchange for superficial concessions, Iran achieved three critical breakthroughs. First, it bought time to continue all aspects of its nuclear-weapons program the agreement does not cover (centrifuge manufacturing and testing; weaponization research and fabrication; and its entire ballistic missile program). Indeed, given that the interim agreement contemplates periodic renewals, Iran may have gained all of the time it needs to achieve weaponization not of simply a handful of nuclear weapons, but of dozens or more.

Second, Iran has gained legitimacy. This central banker of international terrorism and flagrant nuclear proliferator is once again part of the international club. Much as the Syria chemical-weapons agreement buttressed Bashar al-Assad, the mullahs have escaped the political deep freezer.

Third, Iran has broken the psychological momentum and effect of the international economic sanctions. While estimates differ on Iran’s precise gain, it is considerable ($7 billion is the lowest estimate), and presages much more. Tehran correctly assessed that a mere six-months’ easing of sanctions will make it extraordinarily hard for the West to reverse direction, even faced with systematic violations of Iran’s nuclear pledges. Major oil-importing countries (China, India, South Korea, and others) were already chafing under U.S. sanctions, sensing President Obama had no stomach either to impose sanctions on them, or pay the domestic political price of granting further waivers.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s earlier warning that this was “the deal of the century” for Iran has unfortunately been vindicated. Given such an inadequate deal, what motivated Obama to agree? The inescapable conclusion is that, the mantra notwithstanding, the White House actually did prefer a bad deal to the diplomatic process grinding to a halt. This deal was a “hail Mary” to buy time. Why?

Buying time for its own sake makes sense in some negotiating contexts, but the sub silentio objective here was to jerry-rig yet another argument to wield against Israel and its fateful decision whether or not to strike Iran. Obama, fearing that strike more than an Iranian nuclear weapon, clearly needed greater international pressure on Jerusalem. And Jerusalem fully understands that Israel was the real target of the Geneva negotiations. How, therefore, should Israel react?

Most importantly, the deal leaves the basic strategic realities unchanged. Iran’s nuclear program was, from its inception, a weapons program, and it remains one today. Even modest constraints, easily and rapidly reversible, do not change that fundamental political and operational reality. And while some already-known aspects of Iran’s nuclear program are returned to enhanced scrutiny, the undeclared and likely unknown military work will continue to expand, thus recalling the drunk looking for his lost car keys under the street lamp because of the better lighting.

…Undoubtedly, an Israeli strike during the interim deal would be greeted with outrage from all the expected circles. But that same outrage, or more, would also come further down the road. In short, measured against the expected reaction even in friendly capitals, there is never a “good” time for an Israeli strike, only bad and worse times. Accordingly, the Geneva deal does not change Israel’s strategic calculus even slightly, unless the Netanyahu government itself falls prey to the psychological warfare successfully waged so far by the ayatollahs. That we will know only as the days unfold.

Israel still must make the extremely difficult judgment whether it will stand by as Iran maneuvers effortlessly around a feckless and weak White House, bolstering its economic situation while still making progress on the nuclear front, perhaps less progress on some aspects of its nuclear work than before the deal, but more on others.

And what can critics of the Geneva deal, in Washington and other Western capitals, do? They can try to advance the sanctions legislation pending in the Senate over administration objections, for the political symbolism if nothing else. Unfortunately, they’re unlikely to succeed over the administration’s near-certain opposition. Tehran judges correctly that they have Obama obediently moving in their direction, with the European Union straining at the bit for still-more relaxation of the sanctions regimes.

Instead, those opposing Obama’s “Munich moment” in Geneva (to borrow a Kerry phrase from the Syrian crisis), should focus on the larger and more permanent strategic problem: A terrorist, nuclear Iran still threatens American interests and allies, and almost certainly means widespread nuclear proliferation across the Middle East. A nuclear Iran would also be essentially invulnerable, providing a refuge that al Qaeda leaders hiding in Afghan and Pakistani caves could only dream of.

So in truth, an Israeli military strike is the only way to avoid Tehran’s otherwise inevitable march to nuclear weapons, and the proliferation that will surely follow. Making the case for Israel’s exercise of its legitimate right of self-defense has therefore never been more politically important. Whether they are celebrating in Tehran or in Jerusalem a year from now may well depend on how the opponents of the deal in Washington conduct themselves.

Given the disastrous track record of Obama and Kerry’s “Smart Power!”, with the ongoing Middle East Bonfire known as “Arab Spring”, Putin’s invasion of the Ukraine, and Obama’s undeserved and dangerous trust of the Rogue Nation of Iran, I don’t blame Prime Minister Netanyahu one bit.

I would not trust President Barack Hussein Obama on anything, much less Foreign Policy, any further than I can throw him.

United States President Barack Hussein Obama has proven himself to be more concerned about America’s Enemies than our Allies…and, more concerned about reaching out to Muslim Radicals than demanding the release of Christian American Pastor Saeed Abedina, who has been held captive by Iran since the summer of 2012.

Obama, Kerry, and the rest of his Liberal Dhimmi Cabal has shown where their loyalties unequivocally lie, with their braggadocio over this Chamberlain-esque “deal”. 

And, they are not with our allies nor the safety of the citizens of the United States.

Either due to naivete or simple over-reliance on the part of Obama and his Administration, in regards to their “superior intellect”, to quote Fred Thompson, as Admiral Josh Painter, in the great movie “The Hunt for Red October”…

This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we’ll be lucky to live through it.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Putin Steps Across Obama’s “Red Line”

obamaputinIn an era when our destiny is shared, power is no longer a zero-sum game. No one nation can or should try to dominate another nation. No world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will succeed. No balance of power among nations will hold. The traditional divisions between nations of the South and the North make no sense in an interconnected world; nor do alignments of nations rooted in the cleavages of a long-gone Cold War.

President Obama , United Nations General Assembly, September 23, 2009

Meanwhile, 4 and 1/2 years later, here in Realityville…

The Washington Post reports that

For much of his time in office, President Obama has been accused by a mix of conservative hawks and liberal interventionists of overseeing a dangerous retreat from the world at a time when American influence is needed most.

The once-hopeful Arab Spring has staggered into civil war and military coup. China is stepping up territorial claims in the waters off East Asia. Longtime allies in Europe and in the Persian Gulf are worried by the inconsistency of a president who came to office promising the end of the United States’ post-Sept. 11 wars.

The international response to protests in Ukraine intensified Saturday as Russia’s parliament approved the use of the military to protect Russian interests in the politically-divided country.

Now Ukraine has emerged as a test of Obama’s argument that, far from weakening American power, he has enhanced it through smarter diplomacy, stronger alliances and a realism untainted by the ideology that guided his predecessor.

It will be a hard argument for him to make, analysts say.

A president who has made clear to the American public that the “tide of war is receding” has also made clear to foreign leaders, including opportunists in Russia, that he has no appetite for a new one. What is left is a vacuum once filled, at least in part, by the possibility of American force.

“If you are effectively taking the stick option off the table, then what are you left with?” said Andrew C. Kuchins, who heads the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “I don’t think that Obama and his people really understand how others in the world are viewing his policies.”

Rarely has a threat from a U.S. president been dismissed as quickly — and comprehensively — as Obama’s warning Friday night to Russian President Vladi­mir Putin. The former community organizer and the former Cold Warrior share the barest of common interests, and their relationship has been defined far more by the vastly different ways they see everything from gay rights to history’s legacy.

Obama called Putin on Saturday and expressed “deep concern over Russia’s clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity, which is a breach of international law,” the White House said.

During a speech on March 8, 983, now known as the “Evil Empire” Speech, President Ronald Reagan said,

During my first press conference as president, in answer to a direct question, I pointed out that, as good Marxist-Leninists, the Soviet leaders have openly and publicly declared that the only morality they recognize is that which will further their cause, which is world revolution. I think I should point out I was only quoting Lenin, their guiding spirit, who said in 1920 that they repudiate all morality that proceeds from supernatural ideas–that’s their name for religion–or ideas that are outside class conceptions. Morality is entirely subordinate to the interests of class war. And everything is moral that is necessary for the annihilation of the old exploiting social order and for uniting the proletariat.

Well, I think the refusal of many influential people to accept this elementary fact of Soviet doctrine illustrates an historical reluctance to see totalitarian powers for what they are. We saw this phenomenon in the 1930s. We see it too often today.

This doesn’t mean we should isolate ourselves and refuse to seek an understanding with them. I intend to do everything I can to persuade them of our peaceful intent, to remind them that it was the West that refused to use its nuclear monopoly in the forties and fifties for territorial gain and which now pr-proposes 50 percent cut in strategic ballistic missiles and the elimination of an entire class of land-based, intermediate-range nuclear missiles. [Applause]At the same time, however, they must be made to understand: we will never compromise our principles and standards. We will never give away our freedom. We will never abandon our belief in God.

…But if history teaches anything, it teaches that simpleminded appeasement or wishful thinking about our adversaries is folly. It means the betrayal of our past, the squandering of our freedom.

So, I urge you to speak out against those who would place the United States in a position of military and moral inferiority.

Meanwhile, in 2014, with the “Evil Empire” invading the Ukraine, our present occupier of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue skipped a National Security Council Meeting on the subject yesterday. Benghazigate Video Prevaricator Susan Rice “briefed him” later.

We are so screwed.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Putin Invades Ukraine. Obama Wags Finger. Palin Says, “I Told You So!”

palin-newsweekAs I was traveling home from work yesterday, I tuned the car radio to Sirius XM 114 to catch “The Five” on the Fox News Channel. Instead, I heard Bret Baier telling me that President Pantywaist…err…Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) was about to address the nation on the subject of Russia Invasion of the Ukraine.

And, sho’ nuff’, our Petulant President came on, and preceded to warn Russian Leader Vladimir Putin not to do what he had already done.

In other words, Obama told him,

Stop! Or, I’ll say “Stop!” again!

Political Pundit Dr. Charles Krauthammer explains, per national review.com

As reports are coming in that Russia has placed 2,000 troops in Crimea, within the borders of Ukraine, President Obama said that “the United States will stand with the international community in affirming that there will be costs for any military intervention in Ukraine.”

Charles Krauthammer responded on Special Report tonight saying, “The Ukrainians, and I think everybody, is shocked by the weakness of Obama’s statement. I find it rather staggering.”

Krauthammer thinks Obama’s statement is about “three levels removed” from actual action. He explained: Obama said “we will stand with the international community — meaning we are going to negotiate with a dozen other countries who will water down the statement — in affirming that there will be costs — meaning in making a statement not even imposing a cost, but in making a statement about imposing a cost — for any military intervention.”

“What he’s saying is we’re not really going to do anything and we’re telling the world,” Krauthammer said.

Over in the UK, The Guardian summarizes Putin’s reaction to Obama’s “stern warning”…

Fears of conflict in Crimea have intensified after Ukraine accused Russia of taking over two airports there, the day after gunmen seized the local parliament buildings. Here is a summary of the latest developments:

• Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said Russian forces have taken over two airports in Crimea, accusing them of “an armed invasion and occupation in violation of all international agreements and norms”.

• About 50 armed men in military uniform, without signs of identification, took over Simferopol airport in the early hours of Friday. Interfax Ukraine reported that a group of people with Russian navy ensigns also gathered at the airport’s building.

• Armed men, described by Avakov as Russian naval forces, have also taken over a military airport near the port of Sevastopol where the Russian Black Sea fleet has a base.

• The airport seizures come the day after pro-Russian gunmen took over the Crimean parliament.

• Russia has continued military drills in the west of the country and said more than 80 helicopters More than were being re-deployed to emergency airfields. A Russian defence ministry spokesman told Interfax the move was “part of a continuing inspection of the combat readiness of forces deployed in the western and central military districts.

• Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his government to continue talks with Ukraine on economic and trade relations and to consult foreign partners including the IMF and the G8 on financial aid, a statement on the Kremlin’s website said.

Allow me to translate President Putin’s actions for you, boys and girls…

Oh, yeah? Come over and MAKE ME!

And, with that, Obama will pull his pants up to his chest, a la Steve Urkel, and stomp away.

In an article posted on April 10, 2009, columnist Gerald Warner of telegraph.co.uk coined the title President Pantywaist for Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm).  He gave him this nickname after Obama:

…recently completed the most successful foreign policy tour since Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow. You name it, he blew it. What was his big deal economic programme that he was determined to drive through the G20 summit? Another massive stimulus package, globally funded and co-ordinated. Did he achieve it? Not so as you’d notice. 

Given the way America’s enemies, such as Vladimir Putin, are laughing at America and spitting in our face, the way that Obama has arrogantly alienated our foreign allies, and the President’s Steve Urkel-esque naiveté as exhibited by his Smart Power Foreign Policy, I would say Mr. Warner hit the nail on the head.

Back in 2008, a certain Republican Vice-Presidential Candidate warned that, given Senator Obama’s indecision and moral equivalence, Putin might decide to go ahead and invade Ukraine, as he did Georgia.

After the Russian Army invaded the nation of Georgia, Senator Obama’s reaction was one of indecision and moral equivalence, the kind of response that would only encourage Russia’s Putin to invade Ukraine next.

According to Tony Lee at Breitbart.com,

For those comments, she was mocked by the high-brow Foreign Policy magazine and its editor Blake Hounshell, who now is one of the editors of Politico magazine.

In light of recent events in Ukraine and concerns that Russia is getting its troops ready to cross the border into the neighboring nation, nobody seems to be laughing at or dismissing those comments now.

Hounshell wrote then that Palin’s comments were “strange” and “this is an extremely far-fetched scenario.”

“And given how Russia has been able to unsettle Ukraine’s pro-Western government without firing a shot, I don’t see why violence would be necessary to bring Kiev to heel,” Hounshell dismissively wrote.

Palin made her remarks on the stump after Obama’s running mate Joe Biden warned Obama supporters to “gird your loins” if Obama is elected because international leaders may test or try to take advantage of him.

Y’know, given the Liberals’ penchant from labeling Sarah Palin as a “chillbilly”, I would wpould say the not-so-“smartest people in the room” owe the Arctic Fox a huge apology.

But, I’m not holding my breath, waiting on it.

Until He Comes,

KJ