Category Archives: National Insecurity

National Insecurity

UPDATED: Simple Solution to Piracy Incident!

Ship reaches Kenya; pirate lifeboat drifts toward land

A U.S.-flagged ship that was seized by Somali pirates arrived safely in the Kenyan port of Mombasa on Saturday, as a Somali mediator headed to sea to try to secure the release of the ship’s American captain.“The captain is a hero,” one crew member shouted from the 17,000-ton Maersk Alabama container ship as it docked. “He saved our lives by giving himself up.

The ship, under the command of Richard Phillips, was attacked by gunmen far out in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday but its 20 American crew apparently fought off the hijackers and regained control of the freighter.

Phillips was taken hostage and is being held captive on a drifting lifeboat by the gang of four pirates who want $2 million ransom for him, as well as safe passage.

B.O. and his ilk continue to play “duck and cover” to avoid doing anything constructive on this…no doubt because of fears it might offend some Islamofascist somewhere if we acted decisively.

UPDATE comment:  Well, well.  B.O. Let the Seals go and do it to ’em!

What COULD we do? This is an easy one!

Situation: Small open boat, drifting in Indian Ocean. Contents of boat: Four (4) Islamoterr pirates, (1) hostage U.S. captain.
Solution: 4 Navy Seal and/or USMC sharpshooters; countdown: “5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – FIRE!” – 4 simultaneous shots.
Result: U.S. captain freed. 4 Islamoterr pirates simultaneously are surprised to meet their maker, and discover that the “72 virgins” situation was WAY exaggerated!

This is even legal under LONG-standing International Law (such as it is).  Pirates fall into a category of hostis humanus generis – common enemies of humanity – said status placing the perps in the category of “take ’em out before they do anything else”.  Historically, pirates were either sent to the bottom, or more or less immediately hung from a yard-arm.

Sounds fair to the Chief!

What WILL happen? Who knows at the rate the B.O. gang is fiddle-farting around. They’ll probably give it the old Ivy League try, and go for a UN resolution. One could HOPE for a CHANGE for something better than this, but, at this point those chances look pretty slim.

I hope I’m wrong, but fear that I’m not.

 UPDATE:  Good for us – I was wrong, and B.O. earns creds by allowing the Navy to do it’s job.  There’s not a whole lot that the Chief has said positive about B.O., but this time “he done good!” and the Seals did what was needed to resolve the situation (as suggested above), and free Captain Phillips.

Now – to avoid treating the captured maritime terrorist as just another “criminal” in the U.S. court system.  Give him to Kenya, and let ’em hang him high.

National Insecurity

Strategy & the G.W.O.T.*

Getting beyond the daily concern over the immediate details of the Islamoterror War, it is instructive to back up, and take a look at “the big picture” of the Great War on Terror (* GWOT) in a historical and strategic sense.

The Chief humbly offers this posting from the Gates of Vienna blog as being a worth while offering towards doing this.

Islamic Jihad vs. the Western Way of War

I [written by a noted Norwegian blogger posting as Fjordman] had a conversation recently with a good friend of mine regarding the situation in Western Europe, with rapidly rising ethnic and religious tensions caused by mass immigration. Historically, the usual situation is that Muslims keep the lands they have taken possession of. There are a few exceptions, for instance with the Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula, but this took centuries. If this pattern still holds up, the situation does admittedly look bleak.

The problem is that the circumstances this time around are very special. We are dealing with the unprecedented situation where a militarily inferior group is allowed by the authorities in technologically stronger countries to settle in their lands and harass the local population. Muslims haven’t actually defeated us in warfare. Do the old rules then apply? Nobody knows for certain. It is difficult to predict the future, apart from the fact that there will be a lot of turbulence here in the coming years and decades.

In my book Defeating Eurabia I quoted the American scholar Daniel Pipes, who believes that the decisive events in Europe have yet to take place, perhaps within the next decade or so. As Pipes puts it, the situation is historically unprecedented: “No large territory has ever shifted from one civilization to another by virtue of a collapsed population, faith, and identity; nor has a people risen on so grand a scale to reclaim its patrimony. The novelty and magnitude of Europe’s predicament make it difficult to understand, tempting to overlook, and nearly impossible to predict. Europe marches us all into terra incognita.”

I write about European history in order to gain inspiration from our past so that we can face the future with self-confidence. While reading about our artistic and scientific contributions to world culture is inspiring, we should not leave out our military traditions. They, too, constitute a part of our heritage, and we may soon need to revive some of those traditions.

Go to the original full posting for a lot of details and further analysis…if you have a serious interest in what we REALLY have to consider in dealing with this continuing “long war”.

As an additional historical note, Gates of Vienna takes it’s name from commemorating the successful defense of Vienna against the Islamic Ottoman Empire in 1683, which should reinforce for the reader the idea that fighting against Islamic aggression is nothing new, and continues to this day.

This fact remains, in spite of “politically correct” changes in terminology from B.O., Napolitano, et al,and their ilk referring to “overseas contingency operations” and such like, refusing to admit that there IS a continuing (if asymmetric) war declared on us by an Islamic militancy rejuvenated by petrodollars.

They (and we) ignore this cardinal fact at our peril.

National Insecurity

Donk Border Folly

The Donkey Party is feelin’ its oats these days, so some of they’ve decided it’s time to open up the borders, and destroy effective enforcement in an area that is a hot spot in the massively escalating cross-border drug wars.

Justice Dept. Investigates Arizona Sheriff for Enforcing Immigration Law

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched an investigation of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona following requests by congressional Democrats and allegations by liberal activists that the department has violated the civil rights of illegal aliens.

Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), and Robert Scott (D-Va.) requested the investigation, and activists groups such as National Day Laborer Organizer Network and ACORN launched petition drives and rallies in support of the probe.

The investigation focuses on Sheriff Joe Arpaio and dozens of officers under his command who were trained through the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Agreements of Cooperation in Communities to Enhance Safety and Security (ACCESS), which partners federal and local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws. (The Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement division is known popularly as ICE.)

What a concept. Enforce the law (for a change), and become subject to a DoJ investigation hit team.

This would be laughable if it wasn’t so ridiculous. Apparently Sheriff Joe isn’t supposed to enforce the immigration laws down there…too many illegal Mexicans are getting busted, which, to the moonbats in DoJ and their Donk Cong instigators is prima facie evidence of some form of discrimination.

Hmmmmm. (Think! Think!) Oh yeah! Illegal Mexicans (and some other Latinos/Latinas) are coming across the border in large numbers, committing (felonious) crimes in large numbers, and getting busted…in appropriately large numbers. ¡No problemo!

Maybe if they weren’t doing the crimes, they wouldn’t be doing the time. What a concept! Apparently one that the A.G. Napolitano and her ‘crats can’t wrap their minds (if they haven’t totally lost them) around.

National Insecurity

Why We Need GITMO

Officials: Afghanistan Taliban leader was at Gitmo

The Taliban’s new top operations officer in southern Afghanistan had been a prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, the latest example of a freed detainee who took a militant leadership role and a potential complication for the Obama administration’s efforts to close the prison. U.S. authorities handed over the detainee to the Afghan government, which in turn released him, according to Pentagon and CIA officials….

The officials, who spoke anonymously because they are not authorized to release the information, said Rasoul has joined a growing faction of former Guantanamo prisoners who have rejoined militant groups and taken action against U.S. interests. Pentagon officials have said that as many as 60 former detainees have resurfaced on foreign battlefields.

What to do with GITMO & its denizens?

B.O. should frankly admit the first response to shut it down was wrong. Don’t hold your breath.

What to do with the occupants? Simple. Declare them formal POW’s under Geneva Convention rules, and hold them as POW’s until the entire terror war is OVER and WON. No tribunals except for proven war crimes and atrocities. No civilian courts, lawyers, habeas corpus, etc. It was good enough for German, Italian, and others we captured in WW-II, so why should the Islamoterrs expect anything better?

National Insecurity

B.O.’s Lack of Situational Awareness

Taliban say Obama’s call on moderates “illogical”

OK. The problem here is that B.O. has a mindset that it’s possible to sit down with sociopathic leaders and make a reasonable accomodation with them.  “Moderate” Taliban? That’s fully as realistic as it would have been looking for tolerant SS Einsatzgruppen in 1943.

Unlike B.O., the Chief is perfectly willing to take the Taliban at their word…to the effect that there is no such thing as “Moderate Taliban”.

Afghanistan’s Taliban on Tuesday turned down as illogical U.S. President Barack Obama’s bid to reach out to moderate elements of the insurgents, saying the exit of foreign troops was the only solution for ending the war.

Obama, in an interview with the New York Times, expressed an openness to adapting tactics in Afghanistan that had been used in Iraq to reach out to moderate elements there.

“This does not require any response or reaction for this is illogical,” Qari Mohammad Yousuf, a purported spokesman for the insurgent group, told Reuters when asked if its top leader Mullah Mohammad Omar would make any comment about Obama’s proposal.

“The Taliban are united, have one leader, one aim, one policy…I do not know why they are talking about moderate Taliban and what it means?, If it means those who are not fighting and are sitting in their homes, then talking to them is meaningless. This really is surprising the Taliban.”

Fortunately for the U.S., it looks like said sociopaths aren’t buying into negotiation. With a bit of luck we MAY be spared the spectacle of a “peace in our time” proclamation with a “paper bearing signatures” of Mullah Omar, as happened in the 30’s with Chamberlain erroneously thinking he could negotiate a meaningful agreement with “Herr Hitler”. as well as the disastrous consequences of THAT earlier manifestation of situational UNawareness.

National Insecurity

Another B.O. Appointee Bounces

Couldn’t have happened to a more deserving guy!

Freeman hits ‘Israel lobby’ on way out

President Barack Obama’s controversial pick for a top intelligence post blasted the “Israel lobby” on his way out the door Tuesday, intensifying a debate on the role Israel’s allies played in the latest failed Obama appointment.

Charles W. Freeman Jr.’s abrupt withdrawal from his appointment as chairman of the National Intelligence Council came after he drew fire on a number of fronts – including questions about his financial ties to China and Saudi Arabia.

The last thing we need is a top Intel policy geek in the tank for the Saudis and the ChiComs…two of the more significant players with definite reasons of their own not to hold the U.S. or its interests in favor.

National Insecurity

B.O.: Foriegn Policy? What’s That?

Obama Flunks First Tests On Foreign Policy

The Biden prophecy has come to pass. Our wacky veep, momentarily inspired, had predicted last October that “it will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama.” Biden probably had in mind an eve-of-the-apocalypse drama like the Cuban Missile Crisis. Instead, Obama’s challenges have come in smaller bites. Some are deliberate threats to U.S. interests, others mere probes to ascertain whether the new president has any spine.

Preliminary X-rays aren’t encouraging. Consider the long list of brazen Russian provocations:

(a) Pressuring Kyrgyzstan to shut down the U.S. air base in Manas, an absolutely crucial NATO conduit into Afghanistan.

(b) Announcing the formation of a “rapid reaction force” with six former Soviet republics, a regional Russian-led strike force meant to reassert Russian hegemony in the Muslim belt north of Afghanistan.

(c) Planning to establish a Black Sea naval base in Georgia’s breakaway province of Abkhazia, conquered by Moscow last summer.

(d) Declaring Russia’s intention to deploy offensive Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad if Poland and the Czech Republic go ahead with plans to station an American (anti-Iranian) missile defense system.

There are more gory details concerning the consequences of these situations: it ain’t that pretty at all!

But wait! There’s more!

New U.S. Diplomacy Getting No Respect

President Barack Obama’s first TV interview was with the Dubai-based, partly Saudi-funded Al Arabiya satellite channel. In passing, he faulted past American policy for too readily “dictating” in the Middle East. He had better things to say about Saudi King Abdullah’s “courage” in trying to solve the Middle East crisis.

Vice President Joe Biden likewise has promised the world a sharp break from the prior Bush administration that, from his references, was apparently to blame for bouts of anti-Americanism abroad. He assured the Europeans at the Munich Security Conference that it was time to press the reset button in foreign policy, and pledged a new chapter in America’s overseas relations.

On her initial tour abroad, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton re-emphasized the Obama and Biden message, announcing that she would follow an approach that “values what others have to say.” And then Clinton elaborated on this now well-worn “blame Bush” theme: “Too often in the recent past, our government has acted reflexively before considering available facts and evidence or hearing the perspectives of others.” America, Clinton promised, from now on would be “neither impulsive nor ideological.”

Contrast such admirable talk with events:

North Korea has just announced that it plans to launch a new Taepodong-2 missile capable of reaching the United States.

China, which holds hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. Treasury bonds and will be asked to loan us billions more, advised the Obama administration to drop the “buy American” talk in the new Democratic stimulus program.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently bragged that his country would soon go nuclear, and that President Obama’s offer to talk without preconditions revealed a new passivity in the West.

Russia just announced it had developed new strategic ties with Iran, and warned that American-sponsored missile defense for Eastern Europe was unpalatable.

About the same time, the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan, on Russian advice, disclosed that it may no longer allow Americans to use a base in the country to supply the war effort in Afghanistan.

Pakistan just released from house arrest A.Q. Khan, the father of the Pakistani nuclear bomb, who had sold nuclear technologies to the likes of Libya and North Korea.

All of which points to what can only be described as a lack of situational awareness.

In simpler terms, B.O. and company are clueless in foreign affairs.

National Insecurity

B.O. Lifts Syria Sanctions

Obama approves aerospace system for Syria

Not only does this represent a de facto lifting of sanctions on Syria, a terrorist supporting state, but the business is going to the Saudis.

You might say, “Hey, it’s only for airliners, no big deal?

Two comments on that:
•  Remember 9-11?  Didn;;t that have something to do with airliners?
•  How many rockets per plane load can you fly from Iran to Lebanon in a 747?  Quite a few one would (correctly) guess.

Hezbollah gives its thanks!

It’s just nuts to support these guys.

National Insecurity

More Financial Follies

1 Comment

Failure to save East Europe will lead to worldwide meltdown

With Americans from President B.O. on down focused on our own fiscal and economic woes, it’s easy tio forget about what might be transpiring in the rest of the world. Unfortunately, dire circumstances across the pond can impinge severely on what can happen here.

Like it or not, the United States has always been involved in global economics, even before the turn of the century – of 1800 no less – with Yankee traders actively involved in trade with China, Europe, the Mediterranean (remember the bit about the North African Barbary pirates?), and Africa. The more things change, the more they stay the same, and U.S. business is still up to its eyeballs in international trade.

As a result, severe problems overseas inevitably will have a kickback to us here, so the possible critical mass chain reaction setting up from Eastern Europe into the heart of the E.U. could do nothing at all beneficial for our own situation. Just what we need…something else to be worried about…not even that we are in a position to DO anything to help the situation.

So what’s it mean to South Dakota?  Anyone ever hear of ag exports?

The unfolding debt drama in Russia, Ukraine, and the EU states of Eastern Europe has reached acute danger point

If mishandled by the world policy establishment, this debacle is big enough to shatter the fragile banking systems of Western Europe and set off round two of our financial Götterdämmerung.

It’s worth noting that there is an alternate way to communicate the concept involved in Götterdämmerung – Armageddon.

National Insecurity

Greatest “Peace” letter since 1938

Revealed: the letter Obama team hope will heal Iran rift

Read it all if you want to, but the Chief doesn’t want to dwell on the swill that is passing itself as a diplomatic initiative.

Symbolic gesture gives assurances that US does not want to topple Islamic regime

There. That pretty well sums it up without reaching the retch-point.

This is reminiscent of another letter that promised “peace in out time” that Chamberlain exchanged with Hitler in 1938. But hey, who cares about history any more, anyway?

National Insecurity

Does the word SEDITION still exist? (It SHOULD!)

Do we still have a functional Department of State? Or a Department of Homeland Security? Doesn’t anybody notice stuff like this except the blogosphere?

Top American Islamic Cleric Threatens U.S. on Egyptian TV

Islamic cleric Salah Sultan appeared on Egypt’s Al-Nas TV last week and delivered a warning of death and destruction for America. Not only did he attack the U.S. for its military support of Israel in its fight against the Hamas terrorist organization, but he vowed retaliation such that more Americans would be killed than those Palestinians (and, presumably, Hamas terrorists) killed in the present conflict in Gaza, emphasizing that this would take place “soon”:

America, which gave [Israel] everything it needed in these battles, will suffer economic stagnation, ruin, destruction, and crime, which will surpass what is happening in Gaza. One of these days, the U.S. will suffer more deaths than all those killed in this third Gaza holocaust. This will happen soon.

He also invoked a notorious Islamic hadith on the inevitable annihilation of the Jews by Muslims:

The stone, which is thrown at the Jews, hates these Jews, these Zionists, because Allah foretold, via His Prophet Muhammad, that Judgment Day will not come before the Jew and the Muslim fight. The Jew will hide behind stones and trees, and the stone and the tree will speak, saying: “Oh Muslim, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.” The only exception will be the Gharqad tree.

This harangue would be nothing new on television in the Islamic world; in fact, it is commonplace. What is unique about Sultan’s threats against America is that he holds U.S. permanent residency status and, according to one federal law enforcement official, travels regularly on a U.S. passport. And as I have reported elsewhere, Sultan is pursuing U.S. citizenship (the status of his application is unknown due to federal privacy laws). Thus, Salah Sultan has lived quite comfortably for more than a decade under the protections of the very country he now threatens with death and destruction.

It should be noted that Salah Sultan is not some obscure figure in the American Islamic world. He serves as a member of the Fiqh Council of North America. Touted as the top Islamic governing body in the U.S., the Fiqh Council is an arm of the Islamic Society of North America. Sultan founded and served as president of the Islamic American University in Southfield, Michigan; he was the national director of tarbiyah (Islamic instruction) for the Muslim American Society; and he continues to operate the American Council for Islamic Research, based in my hometown of Hilliard, Ohio.

Islamofascist. Rope. Tree. Some assembly required.

Defense Matters!, National Insecurity

Navy vs Pirates

New US-led naval force to battle Somali pirates

At first glance this sounds like a great step in the right direction, at last.

A new international naval force under American command will soon begin patrols to confront escalating attacks by Somali pirates after more than 100 ships came under siege in the past year, the U.S. Navy said Thursday.

But then, at second glance, it’s more of the same ole’ same ole’ pussyfooting around.

But the mission—expected to begin operations next week—appears more of an attempt to sharpen the military focus against piracy rather than a signal of expanded offensives across one of the world’s most crucial shipping lanes.

The force will carry no wider authority to strike at pirate vessels at sea or specific mandates to move against havens on shore—which some maritime experts believe is necessary to weaken the pirate gangs that have taken control of dozens of cargo vessels and an oil tanker.

Ah, so what’s the point if nothing actually changes policy-wise?

The new force underscores the urgency to act after a stunning rise in pirate assaults off the Horn of Africa last year: At least 111 ships targeted and 42 of them commandeered, including a Ukrainian cargo shop loaded with tanks and heavy weapons and a Saudi oil tanker with $100 worth of crude.

At two more ships have been hijacked this month, leaving about 15 vessels and about 300 crew members in pirate hands, according to the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center.

OK – so it “underscores the urgency to act…”, so why isn’t there an actual plan TO ACT? More “symbolism over substance” won’t address the problem.

“This task force does not does have any greater rules of engagement,” said Cmdr. Jane Campbell, a 5th Fleet spokeswoman. “It does, however, bring a greater focus to counter-piracy operations under one command.”

This only reinforces the above noted problem, with an open admission that there is no loosening of the R.O.E.

But it also carries the suggestion that it could one day take stronger measures. The force’s flagship, the USS San Antonio, is an amphibious ship capable of bringing hundreds of Marines ashore. This is the type of action needed to truly rattle the pirates, said Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center.

THIS would work! (All we’ve got to do is step up to the plate.)

“Right now there is no major deterrent,” he said. “The military maybe chases away the pirates, but they regroup and come back for another attack on another ship. Piracy will continue until their networks and bases are hit.”

Hopefully somebody in Washington will remember that action here would be a renewal of the the Navy’s oldest tradition…overseas suppression of Islamopiracy. It worked against the Barbary States’ pirates, it would work now too.

Defense Matters!, National Insecurity

“Anchors Aweigh” for ChiCom Naval Deployment

Chinese Warships Set Sail for Pirate Fight

Chinese warships — armed with special forces, guided missiles and helicopters — set sail Friday for anti-piracy duty off Somalia, the first time the communist nation has sent ships on a mission that could involve fighting so far beyond its territorial waters.

The three vessels — two destroyers and a supply ship — may increase worries about growing Chinese military power. The mission will also challenge China’s ability to cooperate with other naval forces patrolling the Gulf of Aden, one of the world’s busiest sea lanes.

Warships from India, Russia, NATO and the U.S. are also cruising the Somali waters that have been plagued by pirate attacks in recent months.

This could be good news, or it could be bad news. One thing that it IS, unfortunately, is rational, at least from China’s point of view. The Chief commented in an earlier post that perhaps if the US and other western navies were doing the job, that the ChiComs wouldn’t feel as much of a need to get into the picture. On the other hand…maybe they would do it anyway…just to prove that they can.

Denny Roy, a senior fellow at the East-West Center in Hawaii, said countries in the region will view China’s mission off Somalia differently.

“For Japan and some in South Korea, this is another step in the unwelcome growth of the Chinese navy as a capable blue-water force, which has only downsides for Tokyo and Seoul,” said Roy, an expert on China’s military.

But he said most Southeast Asian countries may see China’s involvement in the anti-piracy campaign as a positive thing. It would mean that China was using its greater military might for constructive purposes, rather than challenging the current international order.

However, the analyst added, “The Chinese deployment gets at a question the U.S. and other governments have been asking: ‘Why the big Chinese military buildup when no country threatens China?’ Or more bluntly, ‘Why do the Chinese need a blue-water navy when the U.S. Navy already polices the world’s oceans?”‘

Roy said the answer is that China is unwilling to rely on the U.S. to protect China’s increasingly global interests.

Given what B.O. stated before the election about a desire to radically chop U.S. defense capabilities, perhaps it is only prudence that the ChiComs actively look out for themselves.

Beijing still believes it needs to enter the field, Roy said, and that leaves open the possibility of a China-U.S. naval rivalry in the future.

A rivalry? THAT would be an improvement over the supine attitudes of the current higher US Naval leadership.

National Insecurity

“Liberalism is a Mental Disorder”

This is a PRIME example of the above proposition.

Carter laments: Terrorists lack ‘defense’ against Israel

The Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist organization lacks missiles to “defend” itself from Israeli aircraft, former President Jimmy Carter claimed upon returning from a trip last week to Lebanon.

“The general showed us a graph of the many flights of Israeli planes over all parts of Lebanon, averaging about a dozen each day. Neither Hezbollah nor the Lebanese Armed Forces have any anti-aircraft weapons for defense,” wrote Carter in a first-person report posted on his Carter Center website.

This is just crazy.

Firstly, the Hezbos are certifiably a hard militant Islamoterr group.

So…Jimmy Peanut cries crocodile tears for them that they don’t have Stinger missiles to shoot down the Israelis? HUH!

Apparently Carter forgets about the penchant that terrs have general mayhem and destruction. Now, what could they do with anti-aircraft. (Think, think!) Have terrs ever been known to go after COMMERCIAL aircraft? Like the Pan-Am that was blown up over Scotland, as an example?

With anti-air, they wouldn’t even have to worry about trying to sneak something past that pesky airport security, and, they might even have a pretty good chance of getting away using “shoot and scoot” tactics.

Carter had his head where the sun doesn’t shine even when he was President 30 years ago. In his case age hasn’t brought wisdom…quite the contrary!

Which brings us back to the opening header of this posting which the Chief shamelessly borrowed from the title of a Michael Savage book.

Q.E.D.

Defense Matters!, National Insecurity

What’s Chinese for “Anchors Aweigh”?

Chinese flag up anti-pirate fleet

China is considering sending ships to fight pirates off the Horn of Africa in what would be the country’s first significant long-range naval combat mission since the 15th century.

Senior Colonel Huang Xueping, spokesman for China’s ministry of national defence, told the FT an anti-piracy mission was “still in the consideration stage”. But he said: “There will be an announcement very soon.”

What’s wrong with this? Nothing in and of itself, but why isn’t the US Navy acting against piracy?

What in the heck do we have the 5th Fleet in the Indian Ocean for?

The U.S. Navy built its first ships in the 1790’s specifically to respond to demands for “tribute” from Islamic pirates operating from North Africa. Prior to the vote, one Congressman proclaimed “MILLIONS FOR DEFENSE! NOT ONE CENT FOR TRIBUTE!”, and Congress voted accordingly to build such historic ships as the frigate USS Constitution (which is still officially commissioned and on the fleet list).

Nowadays we’re saddled with Admirals that apparently couldn’t find their posteriors with assistance from GPS, extra lookouts, along with surface and air-search radars as evidenced by their apparent lack of knowledge of what our naval ships can do.

Admiral Mike Mullen has expressed surprise at the range of action demonstrated by the Islamopirates operating out of Somalia, and has apparently forgotten that navy ships have GUNS that REALLY can shoot, and MISSILES that do a good job at killing enemies and breaking their stuff too. Perhaps India, whose Navy has demonstrated that it remembers this basic knowledge can send us some advisors to refresh the memory of the Pentagon about the capabilities of naval warships.

The Chief would have thought that the US just MIGHT be able to exercise some leadership in dealing with this problem…but not until those in charge manage to rediscover that they have some cojones. Unfortunately, there probably won’t be much, if any, improvement from the incoming B.O. administration. More’s the pity.

National Insecurity

Obamanation, Abomination: same difference!

Obama Win Would Be Historic Tragedy

Thomas Sowell, arguably the leading black conservative thinker on the scene today, cogently summarizes problems that would result from B.O.’s ascension to the Throne election.

Some elections are routine, some are important, and some are historic. If Sen. John McCain wins this election, it probably will go down in history as routine. But if Sen. Barack Obama wins, it is more likely to be historic — and catastrophic.

Once the election is over, the glittering generalities of rhetoric and style will mean nothing. Everything will depend on performance in facing huge challenges, domestic and foreign.

Performance is where Obama has nothing to show for his political career, either in Illinois or in Washington.

Policies he proposes under the change banner are almost all policies that have been tried repeatedly in other countries — and failed repeatedly in other countries.

Sowell goes on to detail the specifics that rationally lead one to this conclusion…assuming that, unlike the libDonk left, your reason wasn’t blown out of your skull by too much personal experimental recreational pharmacology in the 60’s, or thereafter.

National Insecurity

Cold War II – Med Sea Front Established

From Syrian fishing port to naval power base: Russia moves into the Mediterranean

The Chief remembers his time in the late 60’s on active duty aboard USS Sellers (DDG-11) with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. A significant part of our time was watching, and being watched by Soviet naval and air forces based in Russia-friendly places like Egypt, Libya, and,…Syria. Looks like some of those same circumstances are re-organizing in the (allegedly) post-Soviet Russia, and old buddy Syria.

Tartous is being dredged and renovated to provide a permanent facility for the Russian navy, giving Moscow a key military foothold in the Mediterranean at a time when Russia’s invasion of Georgia has led to fears of a new cold war.

Fears of a new cold war? Uh, situational awareness dictates that “fears of a new cold war” are way behind the curve. Historically, it was a pattern of assertive and at times confrontational behavior that marked the start of Cold War I, which was formally recognized by Churchill’s famous “Iron Curtain” speech at Fulton, Missouri’s Westminster College in 1946. By the way, it’s STILL worth reading…and makes the Chief wonder where the West might be able to find another Churchill…but I digress.

The bolstering of military ties between Russia and Syria has also worried Israel, whose prime minister, Ehud Olmert, was in Moscow yesterday seeking to persuade the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, to stop Russian arms sales to Syria and Iran. Mr Olmert later said he had received assurances that Russia would not allow Israel’s security to be threatened, but offered no indication he won any concrete promises on Russian arms sales.

Igor Belyaev, Russia’s charge d’affaires in Damascus, recently told reporters that his country would increase its presence in the Mediterranean and that “Russian vessels will be visiting Syria and other friendly ports more frequently”.

That announcement followed a meeting between Medvedev and the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, at the Black sea port of Sochi in the immediate aftermath of Russia’s victory over Georgian forces and its recognition of the breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia – actions Assad supported.

The bolstering of military ties between Russia and Syria has also worried Israel, whose prime minister, Ehud Olmert, was in Moscow yesterday seeking to persuade the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, to stop Russian arms sales to Syria and Iran. Mr Olmert later said he had received assurances that Russia would not allow Israel’s security to be threatened, but offered no indication he won any concrete promises on Russian arms sales.

The Chief is a great believer in the principle that “If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and has white feathers and a flat bill, then it MUST be a duck.” It looks enough like the first one, so as far as the Chief is concerned, it IS in fact Cold War II.

Defense Matters!, National Insecurity

Cold War II: Naval Front Now Open

Soviet Union Russia says to send battleship to Caribbean Sea

First off – it ISN’T a battleship, except perhaps generically as a ship built to participate in battles. Nobody at present has any active battleships (BB types)… we still have a few that in a pinch COULD be reactivated, and there are some reasons why this would be a good idea…but that’s another story, and I digress.

What is being discussed here is effectively a guided missile battlecruser (BCG), and is a very impressive looking package, although it may be subject to some technical and maintenance issues. These ships are significantly larger than the current USN cruiser classes, and for that reason are very effective at “showing the flag” exercises and activities, if not combat.

kirov.jpg

Russia will send a nuclear-powered battleship to the Caribbean for a joint naval exercise with Venezuela, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday. The maneuvers later this year will be the first Russia has conducted in Washington’s traditional sphere of influence since the end of the Cold War.

So…Putin figures apparently that turn about is fair play, since the Black Sea has been as much of a Russian “lake” as the Caribbean has been for us.

Russia has heavily criticized the United States for sending a sophisticated command ship and two other naval vessels to Georgia, on its southern border, to deliver aid and show support for President Mikheil Saakashvili after Moscow sent troops into Georgia.

Nothing to be concerned about however, according to the Soviets Russians:

Russia denied that the move amounted to retaliation against the United States over its action Georgia. “We are talking about a planned event not linked with current political circumstances and not in any way connected to events in Georgia,” he told a news briefing. The exercises “will in no way be directed against the interests of a third country.”

You can believe as much of that as you want to, but the Chief isn’t buying it!

National Insecurity

Cold War II & Stalinist Revivalism

Ghost of Stalin strides the Caucasus

Knowing the origins of Stalin, and his later record, the current mess in Georgia, and the aggressiveness of the Soviets Russians is unfortunately part of the pattern of the new cold war, same as the old cold war.

AT the centre of Gori, Georgia, where every window has been shattered and Russian T-72 tanks patrol, the marble statue of the world’s most famous Georgian, Joseph Stalin, stands gleamingly, almost supernaturally unharmed. As this vicious colonial war turns into an international battle over spheres of influence, Stalin is Banquo at the feast, metaphorically present in the palaces of the Kremlin, the burning houses in the villages, the cabinets of Europe’s eastern capitals.

Today, as far as Moscow is concerned, the Georgian cobbler’s son and Marxist fanatic has been laundered of any traces of Georgia and Marx. He is now a Russian tsar, the inspiration for the authoritarian, nationalistic and imperial strains in today’s capitalistic, pragmatic, swaggering Russia.

In this crisis, and in who knows how many future ones, Stalin represents empire, prestige, victory.

Given the historical fact that Stalin’s USSR killed more of its own people than the Nazis did in their rightly despised death camps, where’s the outcry over Russia’s Stalinist revival?

What would the reaction be if Germany similarly launched a rejuvenation of Hitler’s rep?

National Insecurity

Iranians Sounding Like Nazis – Again

Ahmadinejad calls Israel ‘germ of corruption’ to be ‘removed soon’

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is calling Israel a “germ of corruption” that will be “removed soon.” The comments were posted Wednesday on his presidential Web site. They appear to be part of an effort to defuse criticism by hard-liners over recent remarks made by a high-level official.

Last week, Iranian media quoted Vice President Esfandiar Rahim Mashai as saying Iranians were “friends of all people in the world – even Israelis.” The comments were rare from a government official in Iran. They sparked domestic criticism of Mashai, with some officials calling for his resignation.

…and these are the friendly fiendly folks that Donk candidate=apparent B.O. thinks he can negotiate with.

Sort of positioning himself for walking in the footsteps of Chamberlain, assuming of course that he gets elected…which is NOT something the Chief is ready to concede

Defense Matters!, National Insecurity

More Cold War II – Leading to World War III (or is it IV?)

1 Comment

To one who is able and willing to recall 20th Century history, current events produce that same old deja vu all over again.

Remember? 3rd Reich Glee Club and Marching Society World Tour: 1938- Sudetenland / Czechoslovakia; 1939 – Poland; 1940 – Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, France; 1941 – Yugoslavia, Greece, Albania, North Africa, USSR. ’nuff said.

Russia: Poland risks attack because of US missiles

A top Russian general said Friday that Poland’s agreement to accept a U.S. missile interceptor base exposes the ex-communist nation to attack, possibly by nuclear weapons, the Interfax news agency reported. The statement by Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn is the strongest threat that Russia has issued against the plans to put missile defense elements in former Soviet satellite nations….

“Poland, by deploying (the system) is exposing itself to a strike — 100 percent,” Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of staff, was quoted as saying.

100%!!?? Is this REALLY a war warning? If so…see above note about 1939…

He added, in clear reference to the agreement, that Russia’s military doctrine sanctions the use of nuclear weapons “against the allies of countries having nuclear weapons if they in some way help them.” Nogovitsyn said that would include elements of strategic deterrence systems, he said, according to Interfax.

Yikes! Even the Foggy Bottom Boyus at the State Department wouldn’t be able to ignore an attack on Poland…whether or not we were actually ready to act…which we aren’t, at least not much more (psychologically if not militarily) than were Britain and France in 1939.

This leads to a REALLY ugly, bad conclusion… and the Chief at least can’t see a good ending if the Russia keeps its vows.

Defense Matters!, National Insecurity

Cold War II Update

Georgia on my Mind… (to quote Ray Charles)

Quoted in an e-mail bulletin, but without specifics as to date:

“Russia’s attack on neighboring Georgia over two tiny separatist provinces is really about something much bigger—Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s desire to restore the former USSR’s might. Russia’s ill intentions clearly are on display in Georgia. In a fit of nationalist fury, it wants to teach Georgia and other former satellite countries that once made up the Soviet Bloc that its pro-Western rapprochement days are over. What better way than to invade a former republic, humiliate its leaders and then taunt the West for failing to come to its aid? As if that wasn’t enough, Russia immediately began threatening its other neighbors. A top Russian diplomat ominously warned Monday that Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland would ‘pay’ for criticizing Russia’s ‘imperialist’ policy toward Georgia. Russia’s claim to support independence from Georgia of tiny South Ossetia and even tinier Abkhazia is simply phony. Georgia, with its strategically important oil pipeline, has grown close to the U.S. —even sending troops to Iraq. Putin, furious at growing U.S. and NATO ties with Eastern Europe, wanted to emasculate Georgia’s military while deposing its pro-American President Mikheil Saakashvili. With his attack, it looks like he’s succeeding. The symbolism of the invasion, coming at the start of the Beijing Olympics, is unmistakable. This is Russia’s wake-up call to all of us. Communism may be dead, Putin is saying, but Russia isn’t.” —Investor’s Business Daily

toon081408.gif

Thid did encourage the Chief to look at I.B.D. to try to find the specifics, without success. There WERE however, a couple of other relevant op-eds there on the topic:

A Pipeline Runs Through It

Geopolitics: Russia’s aggression is not only about toppling a pro-Western democracy and potential NATO member. It’s about the only pipeline bringing Caspian Sea oil to the West not controlled by Moscow or Iran.

Georgia is only the latest instance of Russia’s plans to reassemble the “evil empire” and neuter NATO expansion, using energy as both a weapon and a means of financing its rapid military expansion. Russia has doubled its military in the past five years, thanks in large part to the “windfall profits” it has reaped from skyrocketing energy prices.

One of the Russian targets in Georgia is a pipeline carrying oil from the Caspian to the West. Georgia was a target of renewed Russian imperialism because it was a democracy, a future NATO member and an energy supplier to the West. Its use would accelerate declining oil prices worldwide and put a serious crimp in Moscow’s plans.

This makes FAR too much sense…is anyone in Washington besides Sen. McCain noticing this? B.O. the Annointed continues to demonstrate his nearly total lack of situational awareness concerning national security issues.

Answering Russia

Energy: Russia’s bloody invasion of a smaller neighbor whose territory includes a vital oil pipeline has left many people wondering: What can we do? Plenty, it turns out — including some things right here at home.

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev announced he was halting Russia’s air and ground attack on Georgia, but someone forgot to tell Russia’s military.

It has continued its brutal assault, with news reports that Russian troops have started looting, raping and savagely attacking Georgian civilians.

It’s clear former President Vladimir Putin, not his handpicked successor Medvedev, is calling the shots. Putin’s made no secret of the fact that he wants to depose Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and set up a pliant puppet regime, giving him de facto control of Georgia’s oil pipeline — the main conduit to Europe from the oil-rich Caspian Sea that’s not on Russian soil.

What to do? Some ideas from I.D.B.:

Start with President Bush’s pledge Wednesday to support Georgia, an ally in the war on terror, and send it aid. Bush warned Russia the U.S. might not support its “aspirations” to join diplomatic, economic and security groups. We’ve already canceled joint NATO-Russia naval exercises, scheduled for this weekend. And we can turn the G-8 nations back into the G-7. Russia has shown that it doesn’t deserve to be counted among democratic, economically free nations.

But there’s more we can do:
• Russia wants badly to join the World Trade Organization. Put that on a back burner until it starts behaving.
• Russia is scheduled to hold the 2014 Winter Olympics at the resort of Sochi, 15 miles from Abkhazia, the other Georgian province that Russia just invaded. Cancel it, and give it to a more deserving host.
• We’re building a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. We should accelerate our plans, and broaden participation.
• Russia took in about $27 billion in foreign investment last year. We should limit capital flows to make sure Western capital and technology aren’t used to build Russia’s military.

In short, if Russia wants a Cold War, we can give them one.

Hoo-rah! The Chief heartily concurs.

National Insecurity

Marching through Georgia – Update

“…wars, and rumors of wars.”:

Russian strikes hit civilians

Hmmm. Restoring the old Russian traditions of not troubling over trivialities like collateral damage”. Sort of like Afghanistan in the 70’s and 80’s, to say nothing of Hungary in ’56.

Georgia conflict: Screams of the injured rise from residential streets

georgian-woman-460_788473c.jpg

The ground shook and a series of explosions rippled through the air. From the middle of a housing estate in the Georgian town of Gori a huge fireball rose into the sky, twisting and mushrooming as if in slow motion. Choking dust swirled above the debris, darkening the sky. A brief silence followed and then the screaming started.

For two days, Georgia has been convulsed by a Russian air and ground assault in a conflict that has escalated rapidly from a localised war against separatist rebels in South Ossetia into a full-scale military confrontation.

But this was the first time that Russian bombs had struck a residential area.

The fighter jets responsible for the devastation had been targeting a military barracks in the built-up outskirts of Gori, a Georgian town 15 miles from the Ossetian frontier. They missed.

Unfortunately there is a lot more harrowing description of the results of the Glorious Soviet Russian Air Force in the Telegraph piece.

Of course, all is sweetness and light from Moscow:

Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians, and insists that the offensive in Georgia is not war but a “peacekeeping mission”.

Yeah, right. So’s a cemetery peaceful. In other words: “Ignore the picture above and the accompanying descriptions. Move along folks, nothing to be concered about. Watch the ChiCom Olympics. Nothing happening here. The Soviet Union Russia is a peace-loving nation, quietly maintaining its sovereignty over a formerly Soviet land. I mean, wasn’t everything peaceful back in the USSR? Da! It’s that pesky independence that Georgia seems to think is important that’s the problem. Nyet?

Few of the people of Gori believe that. So powerful were the bombs aimed at the barracks that they shattered windows in a half-mile radius. Even if all had hit their intended target, the chances of collateral damage would have been high.

No precision bombing here!

Directly related is this:

Georgia: Crisis deepens as Russia snubs George W Bush’s call to pull troops out

Western nations have sent a high-level diplomatic mission to Georgia in a bid to broker a truce in the country’s conflict with Russia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

Yada, yada, yada. Like former KGB thug Putin gives a rip about diplospeak. If he DID care, the Red Russian Army wouldn’t be on the march.

National Insecurity

Marching through Georgia

Georgia: Russia enters into ‘war’ in South Ossetia

If there is anyplace on the planet with as intricate a set of blood-feuds, ethno-political complications, and a potential for generating mayhem on a massive scale as the Balkans, it’s the Caucasus. This is where Russia, Iran, Turkey, and numerous smaller nations and ethnic identities all are cheek-by-jowl, and many dislike if not hate each other, and have done so for centuries.

georgia-map_787491a.gif

The current events there are the latest manifiestation of this…although the situation is greatly complicated a Cold War II geopolitical calculus that has Georgia, which had been aligned to seek NATO membership musch to Russias displeasure, and which has a pipeline terminus that allows central Asian gas to by-pass Russia on its way to Europe, under attack by Russia for seeking to assert sovereignty over part of its own recognized territory opposed to an ethnic minority that looks to Russia for protection.

This is also taking place in the context of Russian threatened “bomber rattling” – floating ideas to place supersonic nuke bombers in Cuba and Venezuela, to threaten…guess who…as possible paybacks for preceding with missile defense against possible Iranian ballistic missiles. Phew! That’s a LOT on the geopolitical platter at one time.

Over 1,300 people are reported dead after Russian forces responded to a Georgian attack on rebels in the breakaway province of South Ossetia by mounting a full scale invasion. Columns of Russian tanks plunged the two neighbours into war as they filed into South Ossetia, marking the Kremlin’s first military assault on foreign soil since the Soviet Union’s Afghanistan intevention, which ended in 1989.

Russian tanks rolled towards the capital of South Ossetia and fighters bombed Georgian air bases after Georgia launched attacks on rebels in the breakaway region. South Ossetia won de-facto independence in a war which ended in 1992 but has been a source of tension ever since, along with Abkhazia, another separatist region.

The only light note in the situation, is the assurance that Atlanta will be safe…unless we learn that the Russians have a general named Sherman.

Defense Matters!, National Insecurity

More Notes on Cold War-II

Putin says Russia needs to go back to Cuba

This goes along with previous posting here, talking about Soviet…er…Russian talk about moving nuclear bombers to Cuba and Venezuela.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday said it was time for Russia to rebuild links with former Cold War ally Cuba, news agencies reported.

The Kremlin is angry at U.S. plans for a missile defence system in Eastern Europe, and last month a news report suggested Russia might use Cuba, a thorn in America’s side for half a century, as a refueling stop for nuclear-capable bombers.

Keep your powder dry.

Defense Matters!, National Insecurity

Betting on Blackjack: Not a Good Gamble!

Cold War II Taking Off with Rus Bombers, Carriers, arms to Venezuela?

This sure makes the decision to keep the B-1 base at Ellsworth AFB open look better and better.

Russia is betting on Blackjack and upping the odds: It may be a bluff, or Kremlin policymakers may believe they already are holding an inside straight.

Russian policymakers Thursday boosted their threat to deploy supersonic Tupolev Tu-160 “White Swan” — NATO designation Blackjack — nuclear bombers in Cuba to say they might put them in Venezuela and Algeria, too.

tu160_7.jpg

Like the original threat, floated three days earlier on July 21, to deploy the Blackjacks in Cuba, this one was reported Thursday in the newspaper Izvestia and was also attributed to unidentified sources in the Russian Defense Ministry.

Q. How close would the proposed single B-1 base be to the enemy – in EITHER Cuba or Venezuela at 2000 km/h?
A. A LOT closer than either is to South Dakota’s Ellsworth AFB!

How much is bluff, and how much is reality? Hard to say…but very much the sort of strategic “great game” played by the Soviets through Cold War I.

The Tu-160 Blackjacks and the more than a half-century old but still very much operational Tu-95MS Bears have gone through extensive refits in recent years. Both aircraft now carry new X-555 cruise missiles that can fly more than 2,200 miles, so that they do not have to fly out of bases close to the United States, or ever risk entering U.S. air space, to fire their nuclear-capable supersonic cruise missiles at almost any city or military target in the entire domestic United States, the report said.

RIA Novosti also noted the bombers could loiter in the air outside Russian territory, equipped with extensive electronic signals intelligence — SIGINT — and replace the capabilities of Russian military intelligence’s SIGINT station at Lourdes outside Havana, which was shut down six years ago.

The proposed policy of opening forward bases for the strategic bombers is not without its skeptics in Russia. RIA Novosti noted that the newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta argued Thursday that Russia could not afford the infrastructure costs of building the new bases.

The answer to that is: Even if the idea of an entire network of bases around the world remains an unachievable dream in the immediate future, the Russian treasury, bursting with the windfall profits of being the world’s largest combined oil and gas exporter when oil prices remain at unprecedented high levels of well over $120 a barrel, can easily afford to build two or three of them, at least in countries like Cuba and Venezuela.

Schwartz’s tough comments to the Senate Armed Services Committee on July 22 confirmed how seriously the U.S. Air Force takes the threat of a forward deployment of Tu-160s in Cuba. Schwartz knows that U.S. military planners cannot afford to bet against Blackjack.

Meanwhile, our southern flank isn’t being neglected in other ways also:

Oil-rich Venezuela may have signed off already on another huge arms deal with Russia during President Hugo Chavez’s visit to Moscow last week.

RIA Novosti said Thursday it had received what it called “unofficial reports” that the fiercely anti-American Chavez had closed the deal with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin last Wednesday. The news agency said the agreement could include modern T-90 Main Battle Tanks, Ilyushin Il-76 military transport aircraft and man-held surface-to-air missiles — MANPADS in current U.S. parlance.

No doubt Chavez is seeking to protect himself from a feared blitzkrieg attack from Guyana. Yeah, sure.

And finally, our Russian “friends” aren’t neglecting the Naval side, either.

Russia has plans to start constructing at least five to six new aircraft carriers equipped with space-linked communications systems to operate in the Arctic and Pacific oceans, but work on the ambitious new carriers will not even start for at least another four years, the RIA Novosti news agency reported Thursday.

The news agency cited Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky as saying the navy command had decided to build complete systems for the new carriers and not just the ships themselves.

“Everything must work in a system, including aircraft carriers. We have called them sea-borne aircraft carrier systems, which will be based in the Northern and Pacific Fleets. The construction of such systems will begin after 2012,” Vysotsky said in a speech on the Russian holiday known as Navy Day.

All of this recent activity is yet more evidence that Donk Candidate B.O.’s situational awareness concerning national security is virtually non-existent, with his stated intention to gut US defense development and procurement.

Defense Matters!, National Insecurity

Cold War II?

US general warns Russia on nuclear bombers in Cuba

The Chief has been on the road for about the last 10 days for a summer teachers’ institute for a program called Teaching American History. As part of the program, the group had the chance to visit a number of SD historic sites. One of these was a Minuteman Missile site in western South Dakota, which is preserved (without a live missile, of course) as a site and artifact of historical significance in the context of the Cold War.

Very interesting to see, and contemplate the destructive energy that was (and still is to a lesser degree) ready to be unleased if required by the US and USSR if there was a REALLY bad day.

Now comes this little reminder that those sorts of concerns are, or certainly should be, still part of the international landscape.

Russia would cross “a red line for the United States of America” if it were to base nuclear capable bombers in Cuba, a top US air force officer warned on Tuesday. “If they did I think we should stand strong and indicate that is something that crosses a threshold, crosses a red line for the United States of America,” said General Norton Schwartz, nominated to be the air force’s chief of staff.

He was referring to a Russian news report that said the military is thinking of flying long-range bombers to Cuba on a regular basis. It was unclear from the report whether that would involve permanent basing of nuclear bombers in Cuba, or just use of the island as a refueling stop. In his confirmation hearing to become the air force’s chief of staff, Schwartz was asked what he would recommend if Russia were to base nuclear capable bombers in Cuba.

“I would certainly offer the best military advice that we engage the Russians not to pursue that approach,” he said.

The newspaper Iszvestia on Monday cited an unnamed senior Russian air force official in Moscow as saying that Russia may start regular flights by long-range bombers to Cuba in response to US plans to install a missile defense system in eastern Europe.

A White House spokeswoman declined to comment on the Russian report because there had been no “official response from the Russian government.”

National Insecurity

How Our Ally Thinks…er…Ally? Come again?

The Saudi Guide To Piety

Because they are so clearly designed for the convenience of large testing companies, I had always assumed that multiple-choice exams, the bane of any fourth-grader’s existence, were a quintessentially American phenomenon. But apparently I was wrong. According to a report last week by the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, it seems that the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Education finds them useful, too.

Here, for example, is a multiple-choice question from a recent edition of a Saudi fourth-grade textbook, “Monotheism and Jurisprudence,” in a section that attempts to teach children to distinguish between “true” and “false” belief in God:
Q. “Is belief true in the following instances:
(a) A man prays but hates those who are virtuous.
(b) A man professes that there is no deity other than God but loves the unbelievers.
(c) A man worships God alone, loves the believers, and hates the unbelievers.”

The correct answer, of course, is (c): According to the Wahhabi imams who wrote this textbook, it isn’t enough to simply worship God or just to love other believers; it is important to hate unbelievers, too. By the same token, (b) is wrong as well: Even a man who worships God cannot be said to have “true belief” if he also loves unbelievers. “Unbelievers,” in this context, are Christians and Jews.

In fact, any child who attends Saudi schools until ninth grade will eventually be taught outright that “Jews and Christians are enemies of believers.” They will also be taught that Jews conspire to “gain sole control over the world,” that the Christian crusades never ended…

The way things are going, we should be so lucky that the Crusades never ended.

…and that on Judgment Day “the rocks or the trees” will call out to Muslims to kill Jews.

If you go to the article, there’s unfortunately more. We’re supposed to be friends with these guys?

National Insecurity, Space Patrol

Space Race with ChiComs?

Uh…not unless we start to run! Otherwise it’ll be a default loss for us, and we’ll be on a slide down towards Eurotrash style mediocrity.

Buzz Aldrin: Invest in Nasa to beat the Chinese to Mars

Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the Moon, has issued a stark warning that America must invest now in the space agency Nasa, or surrender leadership of space exploration to Russia and China. In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Aldrin revealed that he intends to lobby Barack Obama and John McCain, the two US presidential candidates, in an effort to ensure they find sufficient funds for Nasa’s goal to establish a permanent base on the Moon and then send a manned mission to Mars.

This would be really BAD in so many ways…Russia and China literally holding the high ground?

Mr Aldrin, 78, said: “To me it’s abysmal that it has come to this: after 50 years of Nasa, and after putting about $100 billion into the space station, we can’t get our own astronauts to our space station without relying on the Russians.”

Really!

He said his message to the next president is this: “Retain the vision for space exploration. If we turn our backs on the vision again, we’re going to have to live in a secondary position in human space flight for the rest of the century.”

Any bets on this getting the attention of either of the major presidential candidates? No?

Didn’t think so. How sad.

National Insecurity

A Positive Note!

McCain attacks Guantánamo ruling

A good one from McCain…after all too many instances of moonbattery lately from him on oil drilliing, glowbull warming, etc.

John McCain on Friday described the decision by the Supreme Court to allow Guantánamo Bay prisoners to challenge their detention in US courts as “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country”. The Republican presidential candidate said he agreed with the four dissenting justices on the nine-member court that foreign fighters held at the detention camp were not entitled to the rights of US citizens.

He criticised Barack Obama, his Democratic opponent, for supporting the decision and said it highlighted the importance of nominating conservative judges to the Supreme Court. His remarks represented a hardening of his position from his more moderate initial response to the ruling on Thursday, signalling a strategic decision by the McCain campaign to make it an election issue.

As noted in a previous posting…stuff like this only re-emphasizes the critical nature of the judicial appointment process.