Category Archives: Political Commentary

Media Criticism, Political Commentary, War Commentary

Obama Supporters Try To Defend His Middle-East Policy

2 Comments

An epic fail:

Let’s consider this:

A. Britain, France, Italy, and Germany all announced they would vote against unilateral independence before Obama did anything. He didn’t twist their arms; they took the lead.

B. There is no evidence that Obama has tried to twist anyone’s arm in Europe on this issue. Quite the opposite, he’s tried to get them to endorse his program of: We’ll get Palestine independence real fast so they don’t need to go to the UN. In other words, it is an appeasement strategy.

C. No, he has not given “ultimatums”; he’s just said he’s against it and will vote against it. In saying that, he’s assuming that it will go to the UN. An ultimatum is when you threaten someone with serious consequences unless they give in. He has not done so.

D. “He knows Israel is [our] only ally in the Mideast.” This is the most interesting sentence of all. No public action Obama has taken demonstrates that in any way. We only have the ritual pro-Israel statements. And such things as continued good military relations are not expressions of Obama’s personal views, but of Defense Department policies and sheer inertia.

Unfortunately, failure doesn’t distinguish this policy from any of his others.

Political Commentary

What’s Worse Than Iran-Contra?

16 Comments

Project Gunwalker:

The more than 2,000 weapons that the Obama Justice Department allowed to be delivered to Mexican narco-terrorist cartels are thought to have been used in the shooting of an estimated 150 Mexican law enforcement officers and soldiers battling the cartels. Two American law enforcement officers have also presumably fallen prey to these weapons, along with an unknown number of civilians on both sides of the border.

President Barack Obama’s Department of Justice has purposefully armed narco-terrorist drug cartels that have been accused of bombings, ambushes, mass murders, public executions, and the assassination of police, politicians, and civic leaders.

Obama’s Justice Department armed the enemy of our neighbor and ally, providing enough arms to equip ten infantry companies, or two battalions, of violent drug dealers.

What did the president know, and when did he know it?

In a world in which we didn’t have a corrupt Attorney General, there would be people being charged under the False Statements Act. I don’t know whether or not the Congress can impeach a cabinet officer, but if not, they should demand Holder’s resignation and threaten to impeach the president if he refuses.

[Update a few minutes later]

I should add that what makes this even worse was the apparent purpose of it — to falsely accuse American gun sellers of selling guns to the cartels to allow them to further restrict the right to bear arms of law-abiding Americans.

[Friday morning update]

This should end Holder’s tenure. But it probably won’t.

Political Commentary, War Commentary

A “Troubled Marriage”?

6 Comments

No, Pakistan is essentially at war with us, and has been for many years.

More thoughts from Stanley Kurtz:

Unfortunately, it’s now time to at least begin thinking about what the United States should do in case of either an overt anti-American coup within Pakistan’s army, or in case Kayani himself is forced to effectively break relations. Although liberation from Pakistan’s double-game and reversion to honest hostility might come as a welcome relief to some, I see no good scenario here.

Should anti-American elements in Pakistan’s army displace Kayani, they would presumably hold our supply lines to Afghanistan hostage to a cessation of drone attacks. The step beyond that would be to cut off our Afghanistan supply lines altogether. Our minimum response to either of these moves would likely be a suspension of aid (on which Pakistan’s military is now dependent) and moves to provide India with technology that would give them major advantages over Pakistan. Pakistan may run eagerly into the arms of China at that point.

These developments would pose many further dangers and questions. Could we find new supply lines, and at what geo-strategic price? Should we strike terrorist refuges in Pakistan, perhaps clashing with Pakistan’s own forces as we do so? Would Pakistan actively join the Taliban to fight us in Afghanistan? In short, would the outcome of a break between America and Pakistan be war–whether low-level or outright?

There is no good or easy answer here. If there is any single spot it would be hardest for America to walk away from conflict, Pakistan is it. Bin Laden was not alone. Pakistan shelters our greatest terrorist enemies. An inability to strike them there would be intolerable, both in terms of the danger posed for terrorism here in the United States, and for the safety of our troops in Afghanistan.

Yet the fundamental problem remains Pakistan’s nuclear capacity, as well as the sympathy of many of its people with our enemies. Successful clashes with Pakistan’s military may only prompt sympathizers to hand nuclear material to al-Qaeda. The army is virtually the only thing holding Pakistan together. A military defeat and splintering of the army could bring an Islamist coup, or at least the fragmentation of the country, and consequent massive expansion of its lawless regions. These gloomy prospects probably explain why our defense officials keep counseling patience, even as the insults from Pakistan grow.

Pakistan has always been the biggest problem since 911 (and before, actually, though we didn’t realize it). It would be an impossible military task to conquer the country, absent massive carnage, but I wonder if there would be some way to take away the nukes?

Business, Political Commentary, Space

The Other Shoe About To Drop

32 Comments

You remember that letter from Senators Boxer and Feinstein? ATK and Orrin Hatch aren’t going to be very happy with another one coming out tomorrow, from a surprise source (though it’s not that much of a surprise when you think about it). The divide-and-conquer strategy against the porkers is working.

[Update a while later]

No need to wait for tomorrow — I have the scoop over at Competitive Space.

Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Science And Society

A Shock To The Warm Mongers

88 Comments

I’ll obviously have a lot more to say about this in the coming days, but it’s going to be a major battle of one “settled” science versus another:

The big consequences of a major solar calm spell…would be climatic. The next few generations of humanity might not find themselves trying to cope with global warming but rather with a significant cooling. This could overturn decades of received wisdom on such things as CO2 emissions, and lead to radical shifts in government policy worldwide.

We won’t just be firing up the SUVs. We’ll be burning fossil fuels for everything we’re worth, and not just for electricity–for heat. But unlike the watermelons who have been waging war against carbon, I don’t propose any massive government solutions, other than to get the hell out of the way, and let the market work. Oh, and I think I’d be shorting carbon-trading schemes. I wonder if Algore is?