"The day I’m inaugurated, not only the country looks at itself differently, but the world looks at America differently … If I’m reaching out to the Muslim world they understand that I’ve lived in a Muslim country and I may be a Christian, but I also understand their point of view … My sister is half-Indonesian. I traveled there all the way through my college years. And so I’m intimately concerned with what happens in these countries and the cultures and perspective these folks have. And those are powerful tools for us to be able to reach out to the world … then I think the world will have confidence that I am listening to them and that our future and our security is tied up with our ability to work with other countries in the world that will ultimately makes us safer."
"US President Barack Obama's Middle East policy is in ruins. Like no president before him, he tried to win over the Arab world. After some initial hesitation, he came out clearly on the side of the democratic revolutions. … In this context, he must accept the fact that he has snubbed old close allies such as Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Egyptian military. And now parts of the freed societies are turning against the country which helped bring them into being. Anti-Americanism in the Arab world has even increased to levels greater than in the Bush era. It's a bitter outcome for Obama."
"Obama was naive to believe that one only needed to adopt a new tone and show more respect in order to dispel deep-seated reservations about the free world. In practice, the policies of the Obama administration in the region were not as naive as they may have seemed at times, and the Americans have always been much more involved in the Middle East than the passive Europeans. But Washington has provided the image of a distracted superpower in the process of decline to the societies there. This image of weakness is being exploited by Salafists and al-Qaida, who are active in North Africa from Somalia to Mali."
"One thing is clear: If jihadists believe they can attack American installations and kill an ambassador on the anniversary of Sept. 11, then America's deterrent power has declined considerably. For a superpower, it is not enough just to want to be loved. You have to scare the bad guys to keep them in check."
Hillary Clinton has threatened North Korea with "consequences" should they proceed with a missile launch. She declined to say what those consequences would be, however, we are free to speculate. Any guesses? Will she undertake military action? Economic sanctions? Or perhaps we retaliate with a gift pack of 25 crappy DVDs the next time their head of state comes to visit?
You go girl. You show em' who wears the pants suit.
That's a lot of angry Muslims yelling "death to America". What's that you say Laverneus?
No, you silly hope and changeling. It's not related to race at all. So put that card back in the deck.
The EU leader condemned Obama's remedies to the economic crisis as "the road to hell" He said:
“The US Treasury secretary talks about permanent action and we, at our spring council, were quite alarmed at that . . . The US is repeating mistakes from the 1930s, such as wide-ranging stimuluses, protectionist tendencies and appeals, the Buy American campaign, and so on,” he told a European parliament session in Strasbourg. “All these steps, their combination and their permanency, are the road to hell.”
Oh Jeez!
Damnit Lav! It is not. It's just pointing out the obvious.
Great work Commander Cankles. You really got Russia cooperating in a big way. My God! Can't you just see the Russians gulping vodka and laughing their asses off.
In a speech before generals in Moscow, Mr. Medvedev cited encroachment by NATO as a primary reason for bolstering the military, including nuclear forces.
Not sure where Joe is getting his numbers. Must be from an MSNBC poll.
Joe Biden claims only 5% of the Taliban are incorrigible. This is ignorance of a profound and dangerous nature. There are lives in this man's hands. And unfortunately, most of the sons and daughters who may die as a result of his ignorance are conservatives.
And what of Obama's call to appeal to "moderate" Taliban? The Taliban responds by saying that Obama is smoking crack.
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?"
So many Americans sacrificed. And now Barack Obama seems poised to throw our troops and our country under the bus. This report is from TimesOnline:
President Obama conceded today that the US was not winning the war in Afghanistan and opened the way for negotiations with moderate elements of the Taleban, much as America did with Sunni tribes in Iraq.
The new strategy, which comes as Mr Obama prepares to send an additional 17,000 US troops into Afghanistan, emerged after a frenetic 48 hours of American diplomacy in the region involving new overtures to Iran, Russia and the Muslim world.
The fresh approach to Tehran is causing significant concern in Israel and the Arab world over fears that Mr Obama is making too many concessions to Iran at a time when his own officials say it now has enough enriched uranium to make one nuclear weapon.
Asked during an interview with The New York Times if the US was winning in Afghanistan, Mr Obama replied “no”. He pointed to the success of peeling away Iraqi insurgents from al-Qaeda in Iraq, and said there may be “comparable opportunities” with the Taleban, although he warned that the situation there was “more complex” than in Iraq.
The British government has made it clear to Washington that it also supports contacts with the Taleban, and that moves have already been made by Western officials to talk to lower-ranking Taleban fighters.
One very large problem with Obama's approach which I suppose, could be seen as the Afghanistan version of the U.S.' strategy in Iraq when it worked in tandem with former Iraqi insurgents to quash Al Qaeda. In Iraq, we did not announce our intentions. We just did it. The fact that Obama is running around announcing our military strategy is either a deliberate attempt to cause our forces to lose, or gross incompetence. take your pick.
Wow! Boy wonder is tired. And incapable of multitasking. Perhaps if he didn't spend all his time playing basketball and partying, he could get down to doing his job. As an American, I don't think that's too much to ask of him.
Barack Obama's offhand approach to Gordon Brown's Washington visit last week came about because the president was facing exhaustion over America's economic crisis and is unable to focus on foreign affairs, the Sunday Telegraph has been told.
Sources close to the White House say Mr Obama and his staff have been "overwhelmed" by the economic meltdown and have voiced concerns that the new president is not getting enough rest.
British officials, meanwhile, admit that the White House and US State Department staff were utterly bemused by complaints that the Prime Minister should have been granted full-blown press conference and a formal dinner, as has been customary. They concede that Obama aides seemed unfamiliar with the expectations that surround a major visit by a British prime minister.
But Washington figures with access to Mr Obama's inner circle explained the slight by saying that those high up in the administration have had little time to deal with international matters, let alone the diplomatic niceties of the special relationship.
Allies of Mr Obama say his weary appearance in the Oval Office with Mr Brown illustrates the strain he is now under, and the president's surprise at the sheer volume of business that crosses his desk.
A well-connected Washington figure, who is close to members of Mr Obama's inner circle, expressed concern that Mr Obama had failed so far to "even fake an interest in foreign policy".
The American source said: "Obama is overwhelmed. There is a zero sum tension between his ability to attend to the economic issues and his ability to be a proactive sculptor of the national security agenda.
The real views of many in Obama administration were laid bare by a State Department official involved in planning the Brown visit, who reacted with fury when questioned by The Sunday Telegraph about why the event was so low-key.
The official dismissed any notion of the special relationship, saying: "There's nothing special about Britain. You're just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn't expect special treatment." The apparent lack of attention to detail by the Obama administration is indicative of what many believe to be Mr Obama's determination to do too much too quickly.
The Brits have to be loving Obama. He has crapped on them at every turn. Overwhelmed is an understatement. Obama has no clue how the real world works. His whole life has been spent buried in leftist literature while guilt-ridden white liberals tell him how great he is. He is going to be in for a rude awakening (if he ever awakes) when the reality of foreign situations become known to him. The world wants a strong American leader. The world needs a strong American leader. Obama is not that.
First, why is Obama writing "secret" letters? I thought this was to be the most transparent administration ever. Second, just what does the letter say? Russia, says it's a quid pro quo offer to abandon the missile defense system if Russia cooperates on Iranian nukes. If this is true, this shows an astounding lack of comprehension of Russia's involvement in Iran. To think they would forgo their petrol alliance with Iran for the removal of an unproven missile defense system is nothing short of idiotic. Besides, what leverage does Obama have? He's already on record as not favoring the missile defense system. Russia already knows he doesn't support it. Does he think they're inexperienced and misguided as he is?
President Obama wrote Russia's president suggesting the U.S. would scrap a missile defense system in Eastern Europe if Moscow helps stop Iran from building nukes and missiles, it was reported Monday.
The letter to Dmitry Medvedev was hand-delivered about three weeks after Obama took office, said The New York Times.
Officials who knew what was in it said Obama told Medvedev the U.S. wouldn't need to go ahead with the interceptor system if Tehran stopped developing long-range weapons.
Russia has opposed the system since it was proposed during the Bush administration.
Here is a report from Russia that makes it clear that they're not going to trade their petrol investments in Iran for anything related to the missile defense system.
Did you catch that? Obama is exchanging emails with Russian President Medvedev. And we haven't seen them. I'm calling BS on all this transparency fluff. Obama is proving to be a dangerously ignorant human being.
While we're on the topic of Obama' complete lack of understanding of Russia's motivation, there is this very alarming story from the Kyiv Post:
Georgia's defence minister appealed to the West to halt what he said was a continuing Russian military buildup in two breakaway Georgian regions, adding that a fresh Russian attack "cannot be ruled out".
The Kremlin recognised Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states in the wake of last year's five-day war between Russia and Georgia, when Moscow smashed a Georgian assault on South Ossetia.
Defence Minister David Sikharulidze told Reuters in an interview late on Monday that Russia's war aim had been "regime change", but it had failed. Moscow's continued military buildup in the absence of international monitoring meant the situation "remains fragile", he said.
The minister said Tbilisi had observed activity at the site of a proposed Russian naval base in the breakaway Black Sea territory of Abkhazia and understood that a Soviet-era military base near the Abkhaz resort town of Gudauta was "fully operational" and under Russian control.
What are the odds that Obama would hang Georgia out to dry? Pretty good if his past track record is any indication.
If this is true, you can add it to the "Obama is a closet Muslim" file. From The Daily Beast:
Charles Freeman, Obama’s reported pick for chairman of the National Intelligence Council, talked business with the Bin Laden family even after September 11.
Amid the criticism that has already emerged about President Obama's reported pick for the powerful position of chairman of the National Intelligence Council, there is a yet unmentioned problem that is likely cause even bigger troubles: He had business ties to the bin Laden family after 9/11.
Charles “Chas” Freeman, a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, had business connections with the bin Laden family and their Saudi Binladin Group, a multi-billion dollar construction conglomerate founded by the father of Osama bin Laden. As chairman of Projects International, Inc., a company that develops international business deals, Mr. Freeman asserted in an interview with the Associated Press less than a month after September 11 that he was still “discussing proposals with the Bin Laden Group—and that won't change.”
This is the height of irresponsibility. Is there anyone in his administration that isn't tainted with the stink of corruption or treason?
Shocked huh? Well get used to it my misguided, liberal, nutroot friends. Obama's foreign policy is modeled after China's. Which is to say, it is a policy without demands of morality, civility or humanity. It is a policy of economics without strings attached. Hillary's stance on China is just the tip of the Iceberg. See Obama's stance on Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, etc.
Paying her first visit to Asia as the top US diplomat, Clinton said the United States would continue to press China on long-standing US concerns over human rights such as its rule over Tibet.
"But our pressing on those issues can't interfere on the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crisis," Clinton told reporters in Seoul just before leaving for Beijing.
The Obama approach is plucked straight from the Chinese playbook. It is the Chinese model not to demand democracy, freedom or even human rights of its trading partners. This allows China to build powerful trade alliances with dictators and other despots. To the Chinese, the bottom line is the bottom line. And this is the policy that the Obama administration has embarked upon. So, liberals are just going to have to shut their pie holes and accept that their Messiah is not going to demand decency or civility, and certainly not humanity of nations with whom he seeks an economic alliance.
Right. All that closet Muslim talk about Obama during the election was just a smear tactic. George Bush liberated 50 million Muslims. Barack Hussein Obama is poised to throw them to the wolves. From Telegraph.co.uk:
The deal, under which Sharia law will be introduced in the Malakhand and Kohistan districts of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province if Taliban militants end their armed campaign in the Swat Valley, has been met with alarm by Nato chiefs and British and American officials.
Nato fears the deal would create a new "safe haven" for extremists, said a spokesman on Tuesday night, while a statement from Britain's High Commission in Islamabad said: "Previous peace deals have not provided a comprehensive and long-term solution to Swat's problems. We need to be confident that they will end violence, not create space for further violence."
President Barack Obama's special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan voiced the greatest concern about the strength of Taliban militants in Swat as he ended his first visit to the region since taking up his post.
"I talked to people from Swat and they were, frankly, quite terrified. Swat has really deeply affected the people of Pakistan, not just in Peshawar but in Lahore and Islamabad," he said, while a Defence Department official described the deal as a "negative development".
On Tuesday night however, US officials in Islamabad privately backed the deal as an attempt to drive a wedge between Swat's Taliban, which is focused on its demand for Sharia law, and the al-Qaeda-linked Taliban led by Baitullah Mehsud, the notorious commander who controls much of North and South Waziristan and other tribal areas along the Afghan border.
While they expressed fears that the deal might yet be sabotaged by some Swat Taliban militants who support al-Qaeda, they said that if successful, the deal would break up the alliance between the two groups, which has caused alarm throughout Pakistan and in Washington.
A wedge? Bullshit! This is nothing but surrender. And what of Obama's transparency? Why is this tactic not posted on the hopemaster's website?
The arrival of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Indonesia sparks anti-U.S. protests, with signs and caricatures of Clinton. Several protesters were arrested by police.
Let's remember that she represents America, and not Christianity.
Clinton, who on Wednesday will travel to Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, told students at Tokyo University that "this is one of the central security challenges we face -- as to how to better communicate in a way that gets through the rhetoric and through the demagogy and is heard by people who can make judgments about what we stand for and who we truly are."
Clinton's remarks came in response to a question about the "prejudice" in the United States against Muslims because of terrorism, a term she rejected forcefully, pointing to the history of Christians. "I am a Christian," she said. "Through the centuries we have had many people who have done terrible things in the name of Christianity. They have perverted the religion."
So what's she saying is that there is a modern moral equivalence to Islamic terrorism and Christianity. Nice.
Muslim women hold placards during a protestoutside the U.S. embassy in Jakarta February 16, 2009. A group of Muslim women protested against the upcoming visit by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Echoing Vice President Joe Biden , who said the new administration wants to push a "reset button" on U.S.- Russia relations, Undersecretary of State William Burns told the Interfax news agency in Moscow last week that, " The United States is quite open to the possibility of new forms of cooperation" with Moscow on missile defense, Iran and "the whole range of security issues with Russia ." His remarks are posted on the Interfax Web site.
Cancelling the project just as Moscow has taken a more aggressive stance toward the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Ukraine would strain U.S. relations with the two East European countries that risked Moscow's wrath to accept it, and with others that also worry about a revanchist Russia.
Now, it seems the new U.S. president has a problem with another president, Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, which Obama has long maintained is the actual central front in the ongoing global war on terror. Despite opinion poll numbers showing weak public support among Americans, Obama's expected to make a decision here soon on how many additional U.S. combat troops to send into that fractious land.
The good folks over at CNN, merely in the interest of spreading information, you understand, have sent us a quick excerpt from this Sunday's "GPS" program with Fareed Zakaria. Fareed's got a lengthy, exclusive taped interview with Karzai to air there at 10 a.m. Pacific.
Here's one unsettling exchange with the Afghan chief of state sounding a tad displeased with his newbie presidential counterpart:
Zakaria: "Mr. President, how will you deal with the Obama administration because you did get on well with Bush. President Obama says that 'Karzai has a bunker mentality.' He has said that the Afghan government seems detached from what is happening in the rest of the country. Richard Holbrooke has made similar criticisms. Do you feel that these people -- President Obama, Special Representative Holbrooke -- do not understand what is happening in Afghanistan?"
Karzai: "I saw that statement and I was surprised to see that statement.
"About seven months ago, the U.S. embassy signed a multi-million dollar contract with our ministry of health -- over $100 million I believe -- because the ministry of health, according to the U.S. embassy, has done such a great service all over the country and is present all over the country. Our rural development program has reached 75% of Afghan's 40,000 villages.
"We had schools in the country where we've never had schools in our history. We have roads in the country paved where we've never had roads in our history. The engagement with the Afghan population is so wide and so widely spread that we've never had in our history. And the U.S. government officials in Afghanistan know that.
"So I was surprised to hear that statement. Perhaps it's because the administration has not yet put itself together. Perhaps they have not been given the information yet. And I hope as they settle down, as they learn more, we will see better judgment."
The European Union warned the US yesterday against plunging the world into depression by adopting a planned “Buy American” policy, intensifying fears of a trade war.
The EU threatened to retaliate if the US Congress went ahead with sweeping measures in its $800 billion (£554 billion) stimulus plan to restrict spending to American goods and services.
Last night Mr Obama gave a strong signal that he would remove the most provocative passages from the Bill.
“I agree that we can’t send a protectionist message,” he said in an interview with Fox TV. “I want to see what kind of language we can work on this issue. I think it would be a mistake, though, at a time when worldwide trade is declining, for us to start sending a message that somehow we’re just looking after ourselves and not concerned with world trade.”