Obama’s Nuclear Naivety

 ENEMIES OF AMERICA, SECURITY  No Responses »
Apr 282010
 

The problem is not nuclear weapons per se, but who has them.

Victor Davis Hanson
National Review Online, April 28, 2010

The Obama administration has celebrated its recent efforts to sign a nuclear-weapons accord with Russia and the hosting of a nuclear non-proliferation summit in Washington — all silhouetted against grandiose promises to seek the end of all nuclear weapons on the planet. But from all this, what real progress exactly have we made toward ensuring a world safer from the specter of nuclear annihilation? Aside from the wording of proposed treaties and proclamations, what are the larger philosophical assumptions behind the new utopian approach to non-proliferation?

First, nuclear weapons per se — regrettable though they may be — are not exactly the problem. None of us is terrified that a democratic Britain, France, Israel, or India possesses them. While we might prefer that major autocracies like China and Russia were not nuclear, we do not at present fret about a first strike from either, given that both are invested in, and profit from, the global system of trade and commerce — and, in their more aggressive moments, are subject to classical laws of deterrence. Continue reading »

The time of testing is coming for Obama

 ENEMIES OF AMERICA, IRAN TENSIONS, PRESIDENT, RUSSIA*, SECURITY, TERRORISM, VENEZUELA*  No Responses »
Apr 242010
 

Jim Stuart
American Thinker, April 24, 2010

In 1962, after nuclear missiles were discovered in Cuba, President John F. Kennedy faced down his Soviet Rival Nikita Khrushchev, almost precipitating a nuclear exchange. The principal reason JFK took a firm stand was to protect his image. In those days, with the Cold War in full swing, it was important to maintain a posture of strength and resolve.

Each side was constantly testing the other for signs of weakness that could be exploited. Earlier in 1961, Kennedy had been humiliated at the Bay of Pigs, and Eisenhower had warned him that the Soviets would be emboldened as a result. So when the missiles were discovered, Kennedy’s primary concern was not any strategic advantage they might pose (the US had offsetting nuclear missiles already installed in Italy and Turkey), but rather, that he not appear weak. Such was his concern for his image of strength and resolve that he was willing to risk a nuclear confrontation. Continue reading »

Iran boosts Qods shock troops in Venezuela

 ENEMIES OF AMERICA, IRAN TENSIONS, SECURITY, VENEZUELA*  No Responses »
Apr 212010
 

Bill Gertz
Washington Times, April 21, 2010

Iran is increasing its paramilitary Qods force operatives in Venezuela while covertly continuing supplies of weapons and explosives to Taliban and other insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the Pentagon’s first report to Congress on Tehran’s military.

The report on Iranian military power provides new details on the group known formally as the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), the Islamist shock troops deployed around the world to advance Iranian interests. The unit is aligned with terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, North Africa and Latin America, and the report warns that U.S. forces are likely to battle the Iranian paramilitaries in the future.

The Qods force “maintains operational capabilities around the world,” the report says, adding that “it is well established in the Middle East and North Africa and recent years have witnessed an increased presence in Latin America, particularly Venezuela.” Continue reading »

What’s the Meaning of Gates’s Iran Memo?

 ENEMIES OF AMERICA, IRAN TENSIONS, PRESIDENT, SECURITY  No Responses »
Apr 212010
 

by Jed Babbin
BigGovernment.com

Saturday’s New York Times reported the leak of a secret January memo from Defense Secretary Gates to “top White House officials” warning that “the United States does not have an effective long-range policy for dealing with Iran’s steady progress toward nuclear capability…”

The article quoted an unnamed senior official who called the memo “…a wake-up call.”  But the day after the initial report, Gates told the Times, “The memo was not intended as a ‘wake-up call’ or received as such by the president’s national security team.” He added, “Rather, it presented a number of questions and proposals intended to contribute to an orderly and timely decision-making process.”

Was it that, or something else? All evidence leads to the latter. Continue reading »

Iran’s Hour Draws Nearer

 IRAN TENSIONS, PRESIDENT, SECURITY, UNREPORTERS  No Responses »
Feb 102010
 

by The Czar of Muscovy
The Gormogons, February 9, 2010

Perpetually not getting the attention it deserves is Iran, who again graciously extended its middle finger to the world. The Czar likes to imagine the world as a grade school playground; Iran tends to be the weird kid that no one likes, who hangs around the playground by himself insulting and ridiculing other kids as they run by, daring them to hit him. They don’t, due to his intense weirdness, but some kids are growing sorely tempted to paste him solidly in the mouth.

Anyway, Iran has announced that they will stun the world this Thursday, to celebrate the 31st anniversary of the Fall of Iran. This probably will not consist of a new line of ladies’ Persian-motifed handbags.

They have also announced that they fully intend to enrich uranium to 20%, which flies in the face of prior promises to restrain enrichment to small levels. The uranium, says Iran, will be used for medical research purposes. Continue reading »

America Rides Off into the Sunset

 CHINA, ENEMIES OF AMERICA, IRAN TENSIONS, PAKISTAN*  No Responses »
Feb 042010
 

The only people excited about the “change” in America’s foreign policy are the world’s bad actors.

by Victor Davis Hanson
National Review Online, February 4, 2010

Ride into sunsetThousands in Tokyo have been echoing Barack Obama’s signature call for “change” — as in “Change Japanese-U.S. relations!”

Our military is rushing anti-missile batteries to Iran’s Arab neighbors in anticipation of new Iranian military escalation.

As in the case of the 2004 Indonesian tsunami, the U.S. both gives the most aid to a devastated Haiti and still seems to receive the most criticism. Continue reading »

Eye to Eye on Iran?

 ENEMIES OF AMERICA, IRAN TENSIONS, PRESIDENT  No Responses »
Feb 042010
 

Our partisan Congress has united behind sanctions.

by Clifford D. May
National Review Online, February 4, 2010

iran sanctionsWashington’s partisan divide is as wide as it’s ever been. Democrats and Republicans bitterly disagree on fundamental points of principle and policy. So it should not go unremarked: Last week, the Senate passed — unanimously — a bill that would impose serious sanctions on Iran. A similar bill already has passed the House by a 412-to-12 margin. What explains this sudden outburst of harmony?

Members of Congress from both parties appear to have recognized that if those who now rule Iran acquire nuclear weapons the consequences will be dire. Continue reading »

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