…are flooding into Egypt.
Goody.
Category Archives: War Commentary
Bloody Sunday In Cairo
…and the White House’s disturbing statement:
On Monday, the Christians’ funerals took place, and as the procession left the cathedral for the cemetery, further sectarian clashes occurred. State TV retracted its claim of Sunday, saying that no soldiers were killed after all and the earlier report had been fabricated. Unfortunately, this correction seemed not to have reached the White House, which expressed President Obama’s concern for the “tragic loss of life among demonstrators and security forces,” adding that “now is a time for restraint on all sides.” Perhaps I ought to join the president in his concern and call for restraint: I call upon the security forces to refrain from killing Christians, and upon Christians to refrain from dying.
This is the mindless mentality of the diplomat and “peacemaker.” It is the mentality of the school principal who sees a bully beating up on a defenseless kid, and suspends them both for “fighting.”
The Iran Plot
…some useful thoughts. Bottom line, it’s not a distraction from Justice Department scandals, and it’s not really anything new. It’s just part of the war they’ve been waging, and we’ve been pretending isn’t happening, against us for over three decades.
[Update a few minutes later]
Some questions for the president:
Do you consider the Iranian plot to bomb a U.S. restaurant an act of war? If not, would it have been an act of war had the plot succeeded?
Are you still willing to negotiate with Iran without preconditions? Are you still willing to grant Mahmoud Ahmadinejad entry into the U.S.? Do you maintain that your failure to support the Iranian Green Movement in 2009 was not a significant mistake?
In light of the Iranians’ willingness to plant a bomb in Washington, D.C., do you now consider a nuclear Iran unacceptable? Is a military option to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon off the table?
Nah. All we need is another “reset” button.
Wish It Had Been Ahmadinejad
The Telegraph is reporting that Iran attempted to launch a monkey into space, and failed.
Why? Frankly I haven’t taken their space program seriously, other than as front for missile development, so I wonder what they have in mind?
[Via Marcia Smith]
Arab Spring
I was astounded by the naivety of those who thought that things would work out wonderfully in Egypt with Mubarak’s fall.
Thanks To Wikileaks
Baghdad is finally Judenrein.
From “Arab Spring” to Arab Fall
Egypt descends into chaos:
Egypt literally will run out of food. It imports half its caloric consumption, mainly wheat (although Egyptians eat less wheat than Iranians, Moroccans, Canadians, Turks and Russians). Egypt spends $5.5 billion a year on food subsidies. Its social solidarity minister wants to change the system (which subsidizes some people who can afford to pay more than the penny a loaf the government charges), but seems deeply confused. “‘We need to change consumer habits so that we are not consuming so much bread. In Mexico, for example, they rely more on potatoes. Why can’t we start shifting toward that?’said Saad Nassar, adviser to the agriculture minister.” Mr. Nassar seems unaware that Mexicans eat more corn than wheat or potatoes. This discussion would be comical if not for the fact that Egypt is about to run out of money to pay for any sort of food.
It’s going to get a lot uglier. Especially for the Copts. And perhaps Israel.
Why The Libyan Intervention Was Such A Disaster
Because it’s likely to prevent an intervention where it really matters:
If we are going to bomb Syria, it will have to be the way we bombed Serbia, or worst case the way we invaded Iraq: with cheaper, lower grade holy water sprinkled by the less sacrosanct NATO priests on the bombs as in Serbia, or with just some Potomac water hastily and unconvincingly sprinkled by Pentagon chaplains on the bombs as in Iraq.
But for the foreseeable future, as long as he is reasonably discreet and possibly even if he isn’t, President Assad can murder as many of his subjects as he wants with no fear that the UN will do anything about it. We stopped a relatively small scale massacre in a country that posed little threat to our interests (and from which we were getting some excellent intelligence cooperation I am told) at the cost of enabling what looks ultimately like a much larger bloodbath in a country where our vital interests are much more engaged, and whose government actively supports some of our most dangerous enemies in the region.
As Glenn often says, a replay of the Carter administration is a best-case scenario.
Victory Over Iran And Syria
Is it at hand?
Probably not, until we get a new president, who doesn’t “lead from behind.”
Coexist
I love this sign.
