Tag: Smart Power!

Putin Set to Invade Ukraine. Harsh Letter From Obama to Follow.

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics1 Comment

Obama-Shrinks-2We will defend our people and uphold our values through strength of arms and rule of law. We will show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully – not because we are naïve about the dangers we face, but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear. America will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe; and we will renew those institutions that extend our capacity to manage crisis abroad, for no one has a greater stake in a peaceful world than its most powerful nation. – President Barack Hussein Obama, Second Inaugural Address, January 21,2013

Strength? I do not think that you know what that word means, Mr.President. From foxnews.com  on February 24, 2014:

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called Monday for shrinking the U.S. Army to its smallest size in decades, along with other cuts, drawing criticism that the drastic changes will hurt U.S. security.

Hagel announced his Pentagon budget priorities Monday afternoon. The Army had already been preparing to shrink to 490,000 active-duty members from a wartime peak of 570,000. Hagel is proposing to cut it further to between 440,000 and 450,000.

That would make it the smallest since just before the U.S. entered World War II.

“We are repositioning to focus on the strategic challenges and opportunities that will define our future: new technologies, new centers of power, and a world that is growing more volatile, more unpredictable, and in some instances more threatening to the United States,” Hagel said at a press conference at the Pentagon.

He defended the proposed reductions in troop strength, as a trade-off for building up “technological superiority” and priorities like Special Operations Forces and “cyber resources.”

Americans…every action has an equal and opposite reaction…

Yahoo News reports that

Ukraine’s Western-backed leaders voiced fears on Sunday of an imminent Russian invasion of the eastern industrial heartland following the fall of their last airbase in Crimea to defiant Kremlin troops.

Saturday’s takeover involving armoured personnel carriers and stun grenades provided the most spectacular show of force since the Kremlin sent troops into the heavily Russified peninsula three weeks ago before sealing its annexation Friday.

Alarm about a push outside Crimea by Moscow’s overwhelming forces — now conducting drills at Ukraine’s eastern gate — were fanned further Sunday by a call by its self-declared premier for Russians across the ex-Soviet country to rise up against Kiev’s rule.

The interim leaders in Kiev fear that Russian President Vladimir Putin — flushed with expansionist fervour — is developing a sense of impunity after being hit by only limited EU and US sanctions for taking the Black Sea cape.

“The aim of Putin is not Crimea but all of Ukraine… His troops massed at the border are ready to attack at any moment,” Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council chief Andriy Parubiy told a mass unity rally in Kiev.

Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya reaffirmed that message in an interview broadcast on Sunday on a top US political talk show.

“We do not know what Putin has in his mind and what would be his decision. That’s why this situation is becoming even more explosive than it used to be a week ago,” Deshchytsya told ABC’s “This Week”.

Europe’s most explosive crisis in decades will dominate a nuclear security summit opening in The Hague on Monday that will include what may prove to be the most difficult meeting to date between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The encounter comes with Russia facing the loss of its coveted seat among the G8 group of leading nations and US financial restrictions imposed on the most powerful members of Putin’s inner circle for their decision to resort to force in response to last month’s fall of Ukraine’s pro-Kremlin regime.

President Ronald Reagan, speaking to the National Association of Evangelicals in 1983, in what has since become known as the “Evil Empire Speech”, said the following,

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 1930’s. 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 proposes 50-percent cut in strategic ballistic missiles and the elimination of an entire class of land-based, intermediate-range nuclear missiles.

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. And we will never stop searching for a genuine peace. But we can assure none of these things America stands for through the so-called nuclear freeze solutions proposed by some.

The truth is that a freeze now would be a very dangerous fraud, for that is merely the illusion of peace. The reality is that we must find peace through strength.

I would agree to a freeze if only we could freeze the Soviets’ global desires. A freeze at current levels of weapons would remove any incentive for the Soviets to negotiate seriously in Geneva and virtually end our chances to achieve the major arms reductions which we have proposed. Instead, they would achieve their objectives through the freeze.

A freeze would reward the Soviet Union for its enormous and unparalleled military buildup. It would prevent the essential and long overdue modernization of United States and allied defenses and would leave our aging forces increasingly vulnerable. And an honest freeze would require extensive prior negotiations on the systems and numbers to be limited and on the measures to ensure effective verification and compliance. And the kind of a freeze that has been suggested would be virtually impossible to verify. Such a major effort would divert us completely from our current negotiations on achieving substantial reductions.

A number of years ago, I heard a young father, a very prominent young man in the entertainment world, addressing a tremendous gathering in California. It was during the time of the Cold War, and communism and our own way of life were very much on people’s minds. And he was speaking to that subject. And suddenly, though, I heard him saying, “I love my little girls more than anything — — “And I said to myself, “Oh, no, don’t. You can’t — don’t say that.”

But I had underestimated him. He went on: “I would rather see my little girls die now, still believing in God, than have them grow up under communism and one day die no longer believing in God.”

There were thousands of young people in that audience. They came to their feet with shouts of joy. They had instantly recognized the profound truth in what he had said, with regard to the physical and the soul and what was truly important.

Yes, let us pray for the salvation of all of those who live in that totalitarian darkness — pray they will discover the joy of knowing God. But until they do, let us be aware that while they preach the supremacy of the state, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the Earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world.

My, how the Foreign Policy Standards of our nation’s leadership have fallen.

President Barack Hussein Obama has accomplished his goal for America’s Foreign Policy. Thanks to his efforts, and those of his Foreign Policy Team, spearheaded first by Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and now, by John Kerry, the greatest country on God’s green Earth has changed, in terms of the World’s point-of-view from Charles Atlas to the 98 lb. weakling , who gets sand kicked in his face by the bully of the beach.

America’s Community Organizer-in-Chief is either naive, stupid, or malevolent, considering the vulnerable, feckless position he has put our nation in.

On second thought, it is pretty apparent that he is all three.

Until He Comes,

KJ

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

On By kingsjesterIn Politics4 Comments

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

Senate Wants Obama to “Stand Firm” Against Putin About the Ukraine. Fat Chance.

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

obamaputinSo, with the Mid-East already a smoldering ash heap thanks to “Arab Spring” and “Smart Power”, is Eastern Europe next?

Fox News reports that

Top Senate Republicans on Sunday told President Obama to send a “clear” message to Russia President Vladimir Putin to stay out of Ukraine’s political crisis, renewing criticism about the president’s foreign policy and his negotiations with the powerful Russian leader.

“I believe the president needs to up his game and send a clear unequivocal public message to Putin not to interfere in what is happening in Ukraine,” Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told “Fox News Sunday.” “This is an opportunity for the president to really be unequivocal with Putin right now.”

The months of political upheaval in Ukraine have divided some residents between aligning with Russia or Western nations, a situation now being portrayed as a de facto power struggle between Obama and Putin, who appear on opposite sides of several world issues, including the Syria crisis.

Obama vowed in June 2010 to “reset” relations with Russia in an effort to help solve international problems and improve the world economy. But four years later, little appears to have improved.

“It’s time to reset the reset,” Ayotte said.

Critics of the Obama administration’s foreign policy say Putin has had the upper hand in efforts to end Syria’s 3-year-long civil war because Russia is a major ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, which has allowed him to remain in power and keep a large part of his chemical weapons cache.

Such critics are also bristling over Putin allowing former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked U.S. government secrets, to live in Russia.

Still, Obama said the situation in Ukraine is about residents being able to make decisions for themselves and not about “some Cold War chessboard.”

Susan Rice, Obama’s national security adviser, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the president talked Friday with Putin and that they agreed that a political settlement in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, should ensure the unity of the country and the right of Ukrainians to express their free will.

This weekend, the Ukraine parliament declared President Yanukovych unable to carry out constitutional duties.

…Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, a frequent critic of Obama’s foreign policy, said the United States needs to be clear with Putin that Ukrainians must be allowed to determine their own future and that partitioning the nation would be unacceptable.

“They want to be Western,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “That’s what this whole hundreds of thousands in the square was all about. They don’t want to be Eastern.”

McCain also said an array of Ukrainians in the opposition movement are overjoyed but worried about the economy. And he suggested Putin should be “a little nervous” now that the Olympics are over and his residents — “tired of crony capitalism” — might follow neighboring Ukrainians.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ind., the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, defended Obama, saying he, like every new U.S. president, has tried to negotiate with Putin, who has been a threat for many decades.

He also told “Fox News” the administration will have a challenging time in Ukraine because Russia has the “trump card” of supplying the country with natural gas.

The problem with the Senators’ wishes, is the fact that we have Neville Chamberlain in office, when we need Winston Churchill.

Or…

President Ronald Reagan, who gave a speech, concerning our relationship with Russia, on March 8 1983, which has since come to be called “The Evil Empire Speech”. His words ring as true today, as they ever have.

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 proposes 50-percent cut in strategic ballistic missiles and the elimination of an entire class of land-based, intermediate-range nuclear missiles.

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.

…It was C.S. Lewis who, in his unforgettable “Screwtape Letters,” wrote: “The greatest evil is not done now in those sordid ‘dens of crime’ that Dickens loved to paint. It is not even done in concentration camps and labor camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried and minuted) in clear, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice.”

Well, because these “quiet men” do not “raise their voices,” because they sometimes speak in soothing tones of brotherhood and peace, because, like other dictators before them, they’re always making “their final territorial demand,” some would have us accept them at their word and accommodate ourselves to their aggressive impulses. But if history teaches anything, it teaches that simple-minded 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.

While America’s military strength is important, let me add here that I’ve always maintained that the struggle now going on for the world will never be decided by bombs or rockets, by armies or military might. The real crisis we face today is a spiritual one; at root, it is a test of moral will and faith.

…Whittaker Chambers, the man whose own religious conversion made him a witness to one of the terrible traumas of our time, the Hiss-Chambers case, wrote that the crisis of the Western World exists to the degree in which the West is indifferent to God, the degree to which it collaborates in communism’s attempt to make man stand alone without God. And then he said, for Marxism-Leninism is actually the second oldest faith, first proclaimed in the Garden of Eden with the words of temptation, “Ye shall be as gods.”

The Western World can answer this challenge, he wrote, “but only provided that its faith in God and the freedom He enjoins is as great as communism’s faith in Man.”

President Reagan knew that, one day, the struggle against Marxist Ideology would not just be waged externally, against foreign enemies, but internally, against domestic ones, as well…bureaucrats who would give away our very sovereignty for perceived political expediency. As we have seen in the ongoing Middle East Islamic Fundamentalist Revolution, known as Arab Spring, and, more recently, President Obama and Sec. Kerry’s bungling of Syria and Iran, our enemies, like Vladimir Putin, love this present administration, who are more than willing to “negotiate” with their new-found “friends”.

And, much like the small town fellow, who gets conned into a three-card monte game on the sidewalks of New York, the deck is stacked against us.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Obama and Kerry Negotiating With the Israelis…on Behalf of the Palestinians. Are You Kiddin’ Me?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics4 Comments

americanisraelilapelpinAs if Obama’s failed Syrian Pep Rally and allowing Iran to continue their Uranium Enrichment Program wasn’t embarrassing enough, now the purveyors of “Smart Power!” are trying to negotiate an “agreement” between Israel and the Palestinians, which gives part of the Land of Abraham to the Palestinians.

Reuters.com reports that

Saudi King Abdullah offered his “enthusiastic support” to U.S. efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday.

The U.S. diplomat made the comment after some two hours and 40 minutes of talks with the Arab monarch, who in 2002 floated a plan to try to bring peace to the Israelis and Palestinians.

During that meeting, as well as one with the king of Jordan earlier in the day in Amman, Kerry briefed the Arab leader on his three days of talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

“I want to thank his majesty for … his enthusiastic support for the efforts that are being made with respect to the peace process,” he told reporters after seeing Abdullah at a desert palace outside Riyadh under a winter rainfall.

“Today, his majesty was not just encouraging but supported our efforts in hopes that we can be successful in the days ahead,” Kerry added, saying the Saudi ruler believed a peace deal could bring “great benefits” throughout the Middle East.

On his 10th peace-making trip to the region during the last year, Kerry had tried to establish what U.S. officials call a “framework” for guidelines for any eventual peace accord.

The U.S.-brokered Israeli-Palestinian talks resumed in July after a three-year halt, with Kerry pushing for an accord within nine months despite skepticism on both sides.

Kerry has previously asked Israel to reconsider the 2002 Arab peace plan, originally proposed by King Abdullah, which offers Israel full recognition in return for giving up land it captured in 1967 and a “just” solution for Palestinian refugees.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal also emerged from the desert talks upbeat, calling the rainfall a “great” omen and describing the meeting as “excellent.”

“There is really no meeting that could have been smoother and more productive than this meeting,” Saud al-Faisal told reporters while seated beside Kerry in an airport reception room.

“It’s a meeting that … belies any bad vibes about relations that were expressed in many of the media lately,” he added, referring to widespread reports of U.S.-Saudi strains over U.S. policy toward Iran, Syria and Egypt.

The foreign minister did not specifically echo Kerry’s comments about Saudi support for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process but he said an agreement that meets the Palestinians’ aspirations “will receive the full support of Saudi Arabia”.

From discoverthenetworks.org:

…The term “Palestine” (Falastin in Arabic) was an ancient name for the general geographic region that is more or less today’s Israel. The name derives from the Philistines, who originated from the eastern Mediterranean, and invaded the region in the 11th and 12th centuries B.C. The Philistines were apparently either from Greece, Crete, the Aegean Islands, and/or Ionia. They seem to be related to the Bronze Age Greeks, and they spoke a language akin to Mycenaean Greek. Their descendents, still living on the shores of the Mediterranean, greeted Roman invaders a thousand years later. The Romans corrupted the name to “Palestina,” and the area under the sovereignty of their city-states became known as “Philistia.” Six-hundred years later, the Arab invaders called the region “Falastin.”

Throughout subsequent history, the name remained only a vague geographical entity. There was never a nation of “Palestine,” never a people known as the “Palestinians,” nor any notion of “historic Palestine.” The region never enjoyed any sovereign autonomy, remaining instead under successive foreign sovereign domains from the Umayyads and Abbasids to the Fatimids, Ottomans, and British.

During the centuries of Ottoman rule, no Arabs under Turkish rule made any attempt to formulate an ideology of national identity, least of all the impoverished Arab peasantry in the region today known as Israel.

The term “Palestinian,” ironically, was used during the British Mandate period (1922-1948) to identify the Jews of British Mandatory Palestine.

…According to Palestinian revisionism, the Palestinians lived from time immemorial in historic Palestine, which is portrayed as a veritable paradise of flourishing orchards and fertile vineyards, teeming with happy peasants. Then, according to the mythic narrative, the Zionists came and, with the support of the British, stole the Palestinians’ land, exiled the people, and initiated a reign of terror and ethnic cleansing that has not abated until this very day.

Since the Six Day War of 1967, the Arab world’s most powerful leaders — in Egypt, Libya, Arabia, Syria, and Iraq prior to Saddam Hussein’s demise — have waged a war of words against Israel. Having failed to defeat Israel by means of naked military aggression, these leaders and their advisors decided, sometime between the end of the war and the Khartoum Conference of August-September 1967, to bring about the destruction of Israel by means of a relentless terror war.

To justify to the world their ruthless murder of Israeli civilians and their undying hatred of the West, these leaders needed to invent a narrative depicting Israel as a racist, war-mongering, oppressive, apartheid state that was illegally occupying Arab land and carrying out the genocide of an indigenous people that had a stronger claim to the land of Israel than did Israel itself.

Thus the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), under the tutelage of the Soviet KGB, invented “The Palestinian People” who allegedly had been forced to wage a war of national liberation against imperialism.

To justify this notion, Yasser Arafat, shortly after taking over as leader of the PLO, sent his adjutant, Abu Jihad (later the leader of the PLO’s military operations), to North Vietnam to study the strategy and tactics of guerrilla warfare in the hopes that the PLO could emulate Ho Chi Minh’s success with left-wing sympathizers in the United States and Europe. Ho’s chief strategist, General Giap, offered advice that changed the PLO’s identity and future:

“Stop talking about annihilating Israel and instead turn your terror war into a struggle for human rights. Then you will have the American people eating out of your hand.”

Giap’s counsel was simple but profound: the PLO needed to work in a way that concealed its real goals, permitted strategic deception, and gave the appearance of moderation. And the key to all this was creating an image that would help Arafat manipulate the American and Western news media.

Arafat developed the images of the “illegal occupation” and “Palestinian national self-determination,” both of which lent his terrorism the mantle of a legitimate peoples’ resistance. After the Six Day War, Muhammad Yazid, who had been minister of information in two Algerian wartime governments (1958-1962), imparted to Arafat some wisdom that echoed the lessons he had learned in North Vietnam:

“Wipe out the argument that Israel is a small state whose existence is threatened by the Arab states, or the reduction of the Palestinian problem to a question of refugees; instead, present the Palestinian struggle as a struggle for liberation like the others. Wipe out the impression . . . that in the struggle between the Palestinians and the Zionists, the Zionist is the underdog. Now it is the Arab who is oppressed and victimized in his existence because he is not only facing the Zionists but also world imperialism.”

So, President Barack Hussein Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry are asking Israel to “give back” land to the Palestinians, the Gypsies of the Middle East,who would rather kill them than look at them, in order to provide a country for them, that never existed in the first place.

This is “Smart Power”?

No. This is betraying a friend and embracing an enemy.

EPILOGUE: 

Genesis 12: 1-3 (NKJV)

12 Now the Lord had said to Abram:

“Get out of your country,

From your family

And from your father’s house,

To a land that I will show you.

2 I will make you a great nation;

I will bless you

And make your name great;

And you shall be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you,

And I will curse him who curses you;

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Now…about that “Polar Vortex”… 

Until He Comes,

KJ

Barack Hussein Obama and the Never-Ending “Arab Spring”

On By kingsjesterIn Politics6 Comments

obamaegypt7613“The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam” –  United States President Barack Hussein Obama, September 25, 2012

On June 4, 2009, President Barack Hussein Obama (peace be upon him) in a speech to the Muslim World at the University of Cairo, in Cairo, Egypt, said the following

I’ve come here to Cairo to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one based on mutual interest and mutual respect, and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles — principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.

I do so recognizing that change cannot happen overnight. I know there’s been a lot of publicity about this speech, but no single speech can eradicate years of mistrust, nor can I answer in the time that I have this afternoon all the complex questions that brought us to this point. But I am convinced that in order to move forward, we must say openly to each other the things we hold in our hearts and that too often are said only behind closed doors. There must be a sustained effort to listen to each other; to learn from each other; to respect one another; and to seek common ground. As the Holy Koran tells us, “Be conscious of God and speak always the truth.” (Applause.) That is what I will try to do today — to speak the truth as best I can, humbled by the task before us, and firm in my belief that the interests we share as human beings are far more powerful than the forces that drive us apart.

Now part of this conviction is rooted in my own experience. I’m a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and at the fall of dusk. As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith.

As a student of history, I also know civilization’s debt to Islam. It was Islam — at places like Al-Azhar — that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe’s Renaissance and Enlightenment. It was innovation in Muslim communities — (applause) — it was innovation in Muslim communities that developed the order of algebra; our magnetic compass and tools of navigation; our mastery of pens and printing; our understanding of how disease spreads and how it can be healed. Islamic culture has given us majestic arches and soaring spires; timeless poetry and cherished music; elegant calligraphy and places of peaceful contemplation. And throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality. (Applause.)

I also know that Islam has always been a part of America’s story. The first nation to recognize my country was Morocco. In signing the Treaty of Tripoli in 1796, our second President, John Adams, wrote, “The United States has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Muslims.” And since our founding, American Muslims have enriched the United States. They have fought in our wars, they have served in our government, they have stood for civil rights, they have started businesses, they have taught at our universities, they’ve excelled in our sports arenas, they’ve won Nobel Prizes, built our tallest building, and lit the Olympic Torch. And when the first Muslim American was recently elected to Congress, he took the oath to defend our Constitution using the same Holy Koran that one of our Founding Fathers — Thomas Jefferson — kept in his personal library. (Applause.)

So I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed. That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn’t. And I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear. (Applause.)

On May 19, 2011, speaking before an “Amen Chorus” in the State Department, (with the cameras on, naturally) Obama spoke about the marvelous Arab Spring, which had just begun…

The question before us is what role America will play as this story unfolds. For decades, the United States has pursued a set of core interests in the region: countering terrorism and stopping the spread of nuclear weapons; securing the free flow of commerce and safe-guarding the security of the region; standing up for Israel’s security and pursuing Arab-Israeli peace.

We will continue to do these things, with the firm belief that America’s interests are not hostile to people’s hopes; they’re essential to them. We believe that no one benefits from a nuclear arms race in the region, or al Qaeda’s brutal attacks. We believe people everywhere would see their economies crippled by a cut-off in energy supplies. As we did in the Gulf War, we will not tolerate aggression across borders, and we will keep our commitments to friends and partners.

Yet we must acknowledge that a strategy based solely upon the narrow pursuit of these interests will not fill an empty stomach or allow someone to speak their mind. Moreover, failure to speak to the broader aspirations of ordinary people will only feed the suspicion that has festered for years that the United States pursues our interests at their expense. Given that this mistrust runs both ways –- as Americans have been seared by hostage-taking and violent rhetoric and terrorist attacks that have killed thousands of our citizens -– a failure to change our approach threatens a deepening spiral of division between the United States and the Arab world.

And that’s why, two years ago in Cairo, I began to broaden our engagement based upon mutual interests and mutual respect. I believed then -– and I believe now -– that we have a stake not just in the stability of nations, but in the self-determination of individuals. The status quo is not sustainable. Societies held together by fear and repression may offer the illusion of stability for a time, but they are built upon fault lines that will eventually tear asunder.

So we face a historic opportunity. We have the chance to show that America values the dignity of the street vendor in Tunisia more than the raw power of the dictator. There must be no doubt that the United States of America welcomes change that advances self-determination and opportunity. Yes, there will be perils that accompany this moment of promise. But after decades of accepting the world as it is in the region, we have a chance to pursue the world as it should be.

Of course, as we do, we must proceed with a sense of humility. It’s not America that put people into the streets of Tunis or Cairo -– it was the people themselves who launched these movements, and it’s the people themselves that must ultimately determine their outcome.

Not every country will follow our particular form of representative democracy, and there will be times when our short-term interests don’t align perfectly with our long-term vision for the region. But we can, and we will, speak out for a set of core principles –- principles that have guided our response to the events over the past six months:

The United States opposes the use of violence and repression against the people of the region. (Applause.)

The United States supports a set of universal rights. And these rights include free speech, the freedom of peaceful assembly, the freedom of religion, equality for men and women under the rule of law, and the right to choose your own leaders -– whether you live in Baghdad or Damascus, Sanaa or Tehran.

Last Wednesday, Obama was forced to speak about the revolution in Egypt, leading to his fellow travelers, President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood’s, being thrown out of power by the Egyptian people…

The United States is monitoring the very fluid situation in Egypt, and we believe that ultimately the future of Egypt can only be determined by the Egyptian people. Nevertheless, we are deeply concerned by the decision of the Egyptian Armed Forces to remove President Morsy and suspend the Egyptian constitution. I now call on the Egyptian military to move quickly and responsibly to return full authority back to a democratically elected civilian government as soon as possible through an inclusive and transparent process, and to avoid any arbitrary arrests of President Morsy and his supporters. Given today’s developments, I have also directed the relevant departments and agencies to review the implications under U.S. law for our assistance to the Government of Egypt.

The United States continues to believe firmly that the best foundation for lasting stability in Egypt is a democratic political order with participation from all sides and all political parties —secular and religious, civilian and military. During this uncertain period, we expect the military to ensure that the rights of all Egyptian men and women are protected, including the right to peaceful assembly, due process, and free and fair trials in civilian courts.  Moreover, the goal of any political process should be a government that respects the rights of all people, majority and minority; that institutionalizes the checks and balances upon which democracy depends; and that places the interests of the people above party or faction. The voices of all those who have protested peacefully must be heard – including those who welcomed today’s developments, and those who have supported President Morsy. In the interim, I urge all sides to avoid violence and come together to ensure the lasting restoration of Egypt’s democracy.

As you can tell, Scooter is not a happy camper.

Now, I’m just spitballin’ here…but, shouldn’t the President of the United States of America be standing for Freedom, not for Oppression?

Is this never-ending Arab Spring in the Middle East a direct result of his June 4, 2009 suck-up to the Muslim World?

Is Meghan McCain useless?

If you will remember, gentle reader, at the same time Obama was kissing the posteriors of the Muslim World, his State Department Spokespeople were telling us that the “War on Terror” was over with, and there were no such thing as Islamic Terrorist Attacks any more, just “Man-Caused Disasters”.

The kissing up to the Muslim World continues in Obama’s Second Term as, just in the past several months, Obama has hosted representatives off the MB, the ISNA, and Radical Islamic Cleric, Sheik Abdullah bin Bayyahm, who had actually been barred from entering our country!

Shouldn’t Obama be protecting us from our sworn enemies, not inviting them to OUR White House and hugging their necks?

While Obama’s DOJ and IRS have been harassing Christian and Conservative Groups alike, Obama has been welcoming those who wish to behead us Infidels, with open arms.

 

Think about something, did the gigantic bonfire, known as Arab Spring, happen under President Ronald Reagan? Did it happen under President George W. Bush? NO. 

The responsibility for what is going on in the Middle East and its potential threat to our allies in Israel and to this sacred land, as well, lies on the narrow shoulders of President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm).

Smart Power! has proved to be anything but.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Smart Power! Vs. Jihad: Guess Which is Winning?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics8 Comments

muslimredbeardBack on May 20, 2011, President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) made a speech before a select group (and the television cameras, of course) gathered in the offices of the U.S. State Department. The purpose of the speech was to outline his wonderful Foreign Policy of Smart Power! and how he intended to had the ongoing “Arab Spring” and the growing tension between Israel and the Palestinians.

…The question before us is what role America will play as this story unfolds. For decades, the United States has pursued a set of core interests in the region: countering terrorism and stopping the spread of nuclear weapons; securing the free flow of commerce and safe-guarding the security of the region; standing up for Israel’s security and pursuing Arab-Israeli peace.

We will continue to do these things, with the firm belief that America’s interests are not hostile to people’s hopes; they’re essential to them. We believe that no one benefits from a nuclear arms race in the region, or al Qaeda’s brutal attacks. We believe people everywhere would see their economies crippled by a cut-off in energy supplies. As we did in the Gulf War, we will not tolerate aggression across borders, and we will keep our commitments to friends and partners.

Yet we must acknowledge that a strategy based solely upon the narrow pursuit of these interests will not fill an empty stomach or allow someone to speak their mind. Moreover, failure to speak to the broader aspirations of ordinary people will only feed the suspicion that has festered for years that the United States pursues our interests at their expense. Given that this mistrust runs both ways –- as Americans have been seared by hostage-taking and violent rhetoric and terrorist attacks that have killed thousands of our citizens -– a failure to change our approach threatens a deepening spiral of division between the United States and the Arab world.

And that’s why, two years ago in Cairo, I began to broaden our engagement based upon mutual interests and mutual respect. I believed then -– and I believe now -– that we have a stake not just in the stability of nations, but in the self-determination of individuals. The status quo is not sustainable. Societies held together by fear and repression may offer the illusion of stability for a time, but they are built upon fault lines that will eventually tear asunder.

So we face a historic opportunity. We have the chance to show that America values the dignity of the street vendor in Tunisia more than the raw power of the dictator. There must be no doubt that the United States of America welcomes change that advances self-determination and opportunity. Yes, there will be perils that accompany this moment of promise. But after decades of accepting the world as it is in the region, we have a chance to pursue the world as it should be.

Unfortunately for the safety of our nation, Obama’s policy of Smart Power! has been, and continues to be, an utter failure. The four brave Americans who were savagely murdered the night of September 11, 2012 at the US Embassy Compound in Benghazi, Libya would agree, if they were still alive  to do so.

Obama’s sucking up to the Radical Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East has not won the barbarians over to our side. They still want to destroy “The Great Satan”.

And, judging from the following statement, I would wager to say, that they believe that our President is a wuss.

Why should they be different?

Al-Qaeda’s military chief in Yemen warned Americans in an audio message posted online Sunday that the Boston bombings revealed a fragile security as he urged Muslims to defend their religion.

Qassim al-Rimi, the military chief of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, said making bombs such as the ones used in the twin blasts in Boston in April, is within “everyone’s reach”.

“The Boston events… and the poisoned letters (sent to the White House), regardless of who is behind them, show that your security is no longer under control, and that attacks on you have taken off and cannot be stopped,” he said, in the message entitled: “A letter to the American people.”

“Every day you will be hit by the unexpected and your leaders will not be able to defend you,” warned the man whose organisation is considered by Washington the world’s most dangerous Al-Qaeda branch.

Rimi said the killing of Al-Qaeda’s founder Osama bin Laden in May 2011 and top Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in September 2011, had not ended the struggle.

“Have you eliminated the jihadist groups that have spread everywhere after they had only been in Afghanistan? Today, they are in your land or close to it,” he warned.

To the Muslims in the United States, he said: “We encourage you to carry on with this way, be steadfast in your religion.

“Carry out your obligations, defend your religion and follow in the footsteps of those who supported their religion and Ummah (Muslim nation) while they are in their enemy’s den,” he said.

The “religion of peace”, my hindquarters.

Perhaps Obama should send that Federal Attorney from Tullahoma, Tennessee, who is warning us all about talking mean about Muslims on the Internet,  over to Yemen to talk to this Mad Mullah.

I am sure that the attorney would be just as effective as Smart Power!

God protect us.

Until He comes, KJ

“Smart Power” + North Korea = Kaboom!?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics2 Comments

obamaunRonald Reagan once famously asked, while running for President,

Are you better off than you were 4 years ago?

After 5 years of “Smart Power”, is America better off in the field of Foreign Policy?

No.

Let’s examine the wherefores and the whys, shall we?

I first knew that “Smart Power” was going to be neither smart, nor powerful, shortly after Obama was inaugurated.

On June 4, 2009, Obama spoke to the Muslim World at the University of Cairo, where he said,

I’ve come here to Cairo to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one based on mutual interest and mutual respect, and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles — principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.

I do so recognizing that change cannot happen overnight. I know there’s been a lot of publicity about this speech, but no single speech can eradicate years of mistrust, nor can I answer in the time that I have this afternoon all the complex questions that brought us to this point. But I am convinced that in order to move forward, we must say openly to each other the things we hold in our hearts and that too often are said only behind closed doors. There must be a sustained effort to listen to each other; to learn from each other; to respect one another; and to seek common ground. As the Holy Koran tells us, “Be conscious of God and speak always the truth.” (Applause.) That is what I will try to do today — to speak the truth as best I can, humbled by the task before us, and firm in my belief that the interests we share as human beings are far more powerful than the forces that drive us apart.

Now part of this conviction is rooted in my own experience. I’m a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and at the fall of dusk. As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith.

That speech, and the resulting perception that Obama was an appeaser, set the stage for “Arab Spring”.

“Arab Spring” busted out all over the Middle East in late 2010. Arab nations throughout North Africa and the Middle East saw Muslim Fundamentalist-led “grass-roots movements” “spring” up in an effort to replace their Moderate Muslim dictatorial governments with Muslim Fundamentalist-led groups, promising to install democratic systems within their countries. Some of these movements have been more successful than others, and overs are still blossoming, but, there is no doubt that the so-called “Arab Spring” has fundamentally transformed the Middle East.

Several factors led up to the Arab Spring. These factors include economic conditions, demographic trends, and the more obvious social and political influences.

These factors brought a newfound opportunity for the Muslim Brotherhood, giving them political leverage which they never had before.

The “Arab Spring” movement was sparked by a young Tunisian street vendor named Muhammad Bouazizi on 17 December 2010. Bouazizi, out of desperation over his harassment by local police, set himself on fire in front of the municipal building of Sidi Bouzid, the town where he lived.

From there, the revolution traveled to Egypt. And, the rest, as they say, is history…

Had the Arab Spring moved in the right direction, Obama would have been hailed as a strategic genius for his smart, low-cost management from the sidelines. The brutal reality, is, that it has moved toward instability, violence, dashed hopes, and the strengthening of the Muslim Brotherhood. As a result, people saw Barack Hussein Obama react as a president who became strangely disconnected and who at best just seemed to have other things to do. At worst, he seemed to have simply stopped caring about the volatile situation in the Middle East, almost as if the takeover of the Muslim Brotherhood was what he wanted to happen in the first place.

So, now that Obama has succeeded in getting our Middle Eastern Ally, Israel, surrounded by Muslim Extremists, what will he do for an encore?

Well, it appears that he is going to reunite North and south Korea…under the flag of Communism.

Kim Jong-il’s successor in December 2011, his third son Kim Jong-un,has turned to out to be just as big an unstable goofball, as his old man was.

He agreed to suspend long-range missile tests in order to receive US food aid in February 2012, only to turn right around and challenge the US by announcing that they were going to fire a “rocket-launched satellite” for April, to celebrate Kim Il-Sung’s birthday.

The launch failed, but in October 2012, the “Norks” responded to the unveiling of a new missile deal between Seoul and Washington by claiming to have missiles capable of hitting our shores. A December satellite launch served as a forewarning that North Korea is developing such rocket technology, and brought immediate condemnation from the UN, US, Japan and China.

In January 2013, right after the UN Security Council condemned the launch, North Korea announced that it planned to conduct a third “high-level nuclear test” and rehearse more long-range rocket launches aimed at the US “arch-enemy”. It proceeded to perform a third nuclear test in February 2013, followed swiftly by another set of UN Security Council sanctions on cash transfers and travel for its diplomats.

Undeterred, North Korea threatened South Korea and the USA with war and announced that it would restart all facilities at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex, including a reactor mothballed in 2007.

According to an Obama Administration official, the Norks may test fire mobile ballistic missiles at any time, based on the most recent intelligence showing Pyongyang probably has completed launch preparations.

According to a CNN Poll, 4 in 10 Americans view North Korea as an imminent threat to the United States.

However, just as he proved during “Arab Spring”, Obama does not “walk softly and carry a big stick”.

This wuss of a president speaks loudly and carries autograph DVDs of his speeches as peace offerings.

God protect us.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Karzai Links Obama to the Taliban. This is Smart Power?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics2 Comments

Obama-Shrinks-2Back in January , President Karzai of Afghanistan and U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) had a meeting, where it was decided to speed up America’ s military withdrawal from that war-torn nation. The two presidents seem to have gotten along famously.

Well…that honeymoon’s over.

Bloomberg.com reports that

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was greeted on his first visit to Afghanistan since taking office by suicide bombs, threats and Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s accusation that the U.S. is colluding with the Taliban.

As Hagel prepared to leave a U.S. military compound in Kabul on March 9, a Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up outside the Ministry of Defense, and another suicide bomb detonated in Khost province. Yesterday, Karzai said that those attacks, which together killed 19 people, aided U.S. goals. A joint Hagel-Karzai press conference at the presidential palace was canceled for what Pentagon officials said were security reasons.

While the Taliban said the attacks were aimed at sending a message to Hagel that the insurgents remain a powerful force, Karzai said in a speech yesterday that the U.S. is holding peace talks with the radical Islamists and the bombs were in the “service of America.”

“On the surface and to this outside observer, it appears that Karzai has gone way off the reservation, perhaps more so than he has in the past,” said David Maxwell, a retired U.S. Army colonel who’s associate director of the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. “I cannot see how we could work with such an apparently delusional leader much longer, but unfortunately I do not know if we have any other good options.”

Karzai’s allegations and the suicide attacks gave the new defense secretary, who took office March 1, a close-up view of the military and political obstacles the Obama administration faces as it tries to extricate the U.S. from a war it’s been waging for more than 11 years, train Afghan forces to take over the fight, root out official corruption, curb opium trafficking, and develop the Afghan economy.

President Barack Obama has ordered the withdrawal of 34,000 of about 68,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan by February. Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said last month that the drawdown will occur in stages, with the force dropping to 50,000 by November, after the summer fighting season, and then to 34,000 by February. More troops will come home after Afghan elections planned for early 2014, Panetta said.

“When you spend 48 hours in Afghanistan or any part of the world that’s still dangerous, you again recognize the complications that exist every day in these parts of the world,” Hagel, a combat veteran of Vietnam, told reporters at a U.S. military base after he met with Karzai yesterday. Asked about Karzai’s accusation that the U.S. was colluding with the Taliban, Hagel said he “spoke clearly and directly” to Karzai on the matter. Hagel didn’t elaborate.

Earlier yesterday, Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s International Security Assistance Force, said the Afghan president’s comments were “categorically false.”

Perhaps, Karzai is a just a  wee bit torqued over all the unmanned drones flying over his country:

With debate intensifying in the United States over the use of drone aircraft, the U.S. military said on Sunday that it had removed data about air strikes carried out by unmanned planes in Afghanistan from its monthly air power summaries.

U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Afghanistan war, said in a statement the data had been removed because it was “disproportionately focused” on the use of weapons by the remotely piloted aircraft as it was published only when strikes were carried out – which happened during only 3 percent of sorties. Most missions were for reconnaissance, it said.

U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration has increasingly used drones to target against al Qaeda-linked militants overseas.

Civilian casualties from drone strikes have raised ethical concerns and angered local populations, creating tension between the United States and Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Some U.S. lawmakers have also questioned the legality of targeted killings and whether drones would allow the killing of American citizens inside the United States.

The debate was intensified by Obama’s decision to nominate his chief counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan, an architect of the drone campaign, as the new director of the CIA.

The Air Force Times said air force chiefs had started posting the drone strikes data last October in an attempt to provide more detail on the use of drones in Afghanistan.

The newspaper said the statistics were provided for November through January, but the February summary released on March 7 had a blank spot where the drone data had previously been listed.

“A variety of multi-role platforms provide ground commanders in Afghanistan with close air support capabilities, and it was determined that presenting the weapons release data as a whole better reflects the air power provided” in Afghanistan, Central Command said in its statement.

“Protecting civilians remains at the very core of AFCENT’s (Air Force Central Command’s) mission,” it said. “The use of all AFCENT aerial weapons are tightly restricted, meticulously planned, carefully supervised and coordinated, and applied by only qualified and authorized personnel.”

The statement said the decision to stop reporting the drone strikes was taken with the International Security Assistance Force – the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan.

Brennan was sworn into office on Friday following a protracted confirmation battle that saw Senator Rand Paul attempt to block a vote on the nomination with a technical manoeuvre called a filibuster, in which he tried to prevent a vote by talking continuously.

Paul held the Senate floor for more than 12 hours while talking mainly about drones, expressing concern that Obama’s administration might use the aircraft to target U.S. citizens on home soil.

Back in 2009, Joseph S. Nye, Jr. , wrote the following in an article for ForeignPolicy.com:

In her confirmation hearings, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “America cannot solve the most pressing problems on our own, and the world cannot solve them without America. . . . We must use what has been called ‘smart power,’ the full range of tools at our disposal.” Since then, editorial pages and blogs have been full of references to “smart power.” But what does it mean?

“Smart power” is a term I developed in 2003 to counter the misperception that soft power alone can produce effective foreign policy. Power is one’s ability to affect the behavior of others to get what one wants. There are three basic ways to do this: coercion, payment, and attraction. Hard power is the use of coercion and payment. Soft power is the ability to obtain preferred outcomes through attraction. If a state can set the agenda for others or shape their preferences, it can save a lot on carrots and sticks. But rarely can it totally replace either. Thus the need for smart strategies that combine the tools of both hard and soft power.

Judging by their appeasement of our enemies, and their total naivete (at least, I hope it’s just naivete) of the Muslim World, Obama and his State Department have Nye’s “Smart Power” down pat. The only problem is, the only things those barbarians understand are strength of will and brute force. Therefore using unmanned drones, instead of traditional Armed Forces, only solidifies their opinion of Obama as a wimp.

Therefore, Karzai and his friends in the Muslim Brotherhood, are not impressed.

God protect us.

Until He Comes, 

KJ

Romney: “Hope is Not a Strategy.”

On By kingsjesterIn Politics2 Comments

Yesterday, an American Leader gave an excellent, commanding speech on his vision for what our Foreign Policy should be.

And, it sure wasn’t Scooter.

Reuters.com summarizes the speech:

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney delivered a sweeping critique on Monday of President Barack Obama’s handling of threats in the Middle East, saying Obama’s lack of leadership had made the volatile region more dangerous.

In what his campaign called a major foreign policy address, Romney called for a more assertive use of American influence in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Romney, speaking before the white-uniformed cadets at Virginia Military Institute, questioned Obama’s handling of the episode in Libya last month in which U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed after the U.S. consulate in Benghazi came under militant attack.

The former Massachusetts governor also accused Obama of failing to use U.S. diplomacy to shape events in Iran, Iraq, Israel, Syria, Russia and elsewhere.

“The president is fond of saying that, ‘The tide of war is receding,'” Romney said. “And I want to believe him as much as anyone. But when we look at the Middle East today … it is clear that the risk of conflict in the region is higher now than when the president took office.”

Romney’s speech was short on specifics, but in broad terms he laid out his national security priorities before the second of his three debates with Obama, which will be at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York on October 16 and will include discussion of foreign policy.

Romney’s aim on Monday was to portray himself as having the presidential stature needed for the world stage. He had a similar goal during a trip overseas in July, but that was marred by a series of missteps, including his inadvertent insult of the organizers of the London Olympics.

In calling for a more forceful foreign policy, Romney indicated that he would not rush into armed conflict.

But he accused Obama of a hasty troop withdrawal from Iraq, saying hard-fought gains there are being eroded by rising violence and a resurgent al Qaeda. Obama considers his withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq the fulfillment of a 2008 campaign promise, sought by Americans weary of war.

Romney also said he might not be so quick to pull troops out of the unpopular war in Afghanistan. Obama has pledged to end the U.S. combat role in Afghanistan by the end of 2014 as part of NATO’s plan to hand over security responsibility to Afghan forces.

Romney said he would pursue a transition to Afghan security forces by that time but would evaluate conditions there before making a final decision to pull out.

Obama was right to order the mission that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden last year, Romney said, but he charged that other elements of the president’s strategy for the region were weak or ill-advised. Romney pointed to the extensive U.S. reliance on attacks by drone aircraft as “no substitute for a national security strategy for the Middle East.”

Romney, who accused Obama of pursuing a strategy of “passivity” rather than partnership with U.S. allies, is running just behind or even with his Democratic rival in most opinion polls, which have gotten closer since Romney did well in their first debate last week.

Our Brightest and Best, who have to enforce the President’s Foreign Policy know, overwhelmingly, whom they want to be the 45th President of the United States. 

Here’s a newsflash: Per militarytimes.com, again, it ain’t Scooter.

The 3,100 respondents — roughly two-thirds active-duty and one-third reserve component members — are about 80 percent white and 91 percent male. Forty percent are in paygrades E-5 through E-8, while more than 35 percent are in paygrades O-3 through O-5.

Almost 80 percent of respondents have a college degree — including 27 percent with a graduate degree and more than 11 percent with a post-graduate degree — while an additional 18.5 percent have some college under their belts.

And they are battle-hardened; almost 29 percent have spent more than two cumulative years deployed since 9/11, while a similar percentage has spent one to two cumulative years deployed.

The Military Times poll shows that Republicans continue to enjoy overwhelming support among the military’s professional ranks.

For an example of the cockeyed Foreign Policy known as Smart Power!, check this out:

Yesterday, Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez “won” reelection. Today, the White House is congratulating Venezuela on that outcome.

From the pool report, which details a gaggle held by White House spokesman Jay Carney:

-Carney said US congratulates Venezuelan people on its election, while noting the US has its differences with Chavez.

President Obama is on his way to tour Cesar E. Chavez National Monument in California.

UPDATE: From the White House transcript of the gaggle:

Q Speaking of foreign policy, can you react to the election results in Venezuela?

MR. CARNEY: The Venezuelan National Elections Commission has declared that President Hugo Chavez won reelection, I believe roughly 54 to 45 percent, with 90 percent reporting. We congratulate the Venezuelan people on the high level of participation, as well as on what was a relatively peaceful election process. I would note the challenger has conceded the race.

Re-electing the despot, Hugo Chavez, signals a strong “Democracy”?

Mr. President, I do not think that you know what that word means.

And, as far as your inept and chaotic Foreign Policy is concerned, therein lies the problem.

Smart Power! Foreign Policy Still Dangerous

On By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

I’m experiencing deja vu all over again as far as the barbarian country of Iran in concerned. They’ve got their finger on the trigger and the Obama Admniistration’s thinks they can negotiate with them.

Ynetnews.com has the story:

A PR duel will be in two and a half weeks during the United Nations General Assembly discussions in New York between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The Iranian leader is expected to address the GA on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, while Netanyahu will speak the next day after arriving in the United States.

According to diplomatic sources in New York, the Iranian issue will be at the top of the agenda of the GA’s speakers, although there will be no votes during the 10-day assembly.

All Western leaders – including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Holland – are expected to speak. Their presence in New York will pave the way for discussions on the Iranian issue.

US President Barack Obama’s address will open the GA on September 25, and the Iranian president’s address is expected the next day.

Obama will not wait in New York to meet with Netanyahu, especially in light of his pressing election campaign. The window of opportunities for a meeting between the American and Israeli leaders will thus open on September 28 in Washington.

In his address, Obama will be expected to demonstrate his leadership skills on the Iranian and Syrian issues, which will be at the focus of Western leaders’ discussions.

So, what is this “great leader” doing at the present about the outlaw state of Iran? The answer is not a whole heck of a lot.

Per bloomberg.com:

The U.S. is “not setting deadlines” for Iran and still considers negotiations as “by far the best approach” to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.

While Clinton said in an interview yesterday that economic sanctions are building pressure on Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week the sanctions aren’t slowing Iran’s nuclear advances “because it doesn’t see a clear red line from the international community.”

Asked if the Obama administration will lay out sharper “red lines” for Iran or state explicitly the consequences of failing to negotiate a deal with world powers by a certain date, Clinton said, “We’re not setting deadlines.”

“We’re watching very carefully about what they do, because it’s always been more about their actions than their words,” Clinton said in the interview with Bloomberg Radio after wrapping up meetings at an Asia-Pacific forum in Vladivostok, Russia.

While the U.S. and Israel share the goal that Iran not acquire a nuclear weapon, Clinton said there is a difference in perspective over the time horizon for talks.

“They’re more anxious about a quick response because they feel that they’re right in the bull’s-eye, so to speak,” Clinton said. “But we’re convinced that we have more time to focus on these sanctions, to do everything we can to bring Iran to a good-faith negotiation.”

Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has an different opinion (Thank God.) concerning this bunch of barbarians:

Mitt Romney used Sunday morning — prime TV time for politics — to depart from his core message about fixing the economy to tout a bare-knuckled foreign policy approach that would include “crippling sanctions” on Iran.

The Republican presidential nominee also was critical of President Obama’s handling of Iran, which is moving toward nuclear capability.

“The president hasn’t drawn us any further away from a nuclear Iran,” Romney said on NBC’s “Meet the Press. “That’s his greatest (foreign policy) failure.”

Romney said Obama’s mistake was coming into office trying to comprise with Iran’s leaders, instead of confronting them.

“I will have a very different approach with regard to Iran,” including “crippling sanctions that should have been put in place long ago,” he said.

Romney also said the greatest threat facing the United States and the rest of the world is a nuclear Iran.

Despite his criticism of the president, Romney acknowledged that Obama is moving closer to tougher sanctions and called his successful mission to kill Usama bin Laden a “great accomplishment.”

Romney’s remarks follows the Democratic National Convention speeches on the closing night in which Obama and others touted his foreign policy successes.

“Ask Usama bin Laden if he’s better off than he was four years ago,” said Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Romney didn’t limit his criticism Sunday to just Obama.

He said his fellow Republicans erred last summer when agreeing to automatic defense-spending cuts in exchange for an agreement to raise the country’s debt ceiling, which prevented the U.S. from defaulting on its borrowing obligations.

“I thought it was a mistake on the part of the White House to propose it,” Romney said. “I think it was a mistake for Republicans to go along with it.”

He also said the Obama administration broke the law recently by failing to provide specific details on how the proposed defense cuts would be implemented. The law was passed by Congress in July, then signed by the president.

“The president was responsible for coming out with specific changes they’d make to the defense budget,” Romney said. “He has violated the law that he in fact signed. The American people need to understand how it is that our defense is going to be so badly cut.”

Negotiations with barbarians only work when you negotiate from a position of strength. Ahmedinejad is watching how the Obama Administration is cutting our Defense Budget and cozying up to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Smart Power! is neither smart foreign policy nor negotiating from a position of power.

Come on, November 6th.