#2
Fjordman is right both about the threat and the reaction to it. The Euro governments are keeping their native citizenry cowed by threat of legal sanction while the Muzzy immigrants use violence without concern for those sanctions. The Muzzies can do so because they see the Euro governments are afraid of them. It's a situation that cannot continue because the people the governments depend on to enforce the laws will, sooner or later, refuse to do so and will most likely be leading the nativist revolt against the Muzzy invaders. The only question then will be the severity of the pogrom/ethnic cleansing program. I have no doubt that when the gloves come off in Europe, as they will, that it's going to be real ugly and the Muzzies are going to end up dead or expelled. It's just a matter of time.
Posted by: mac ||
07/14/2006 10:29 Comments ||
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#3
When they have a majority in European cities, then the cities will look and function just like the middle east shitholes they emulate. The Paris suburbs already do, jobless, crime ridden,oppresive to women. But with welfare!!
#4
#3 When they have a majority in European cities, then the cities will look and function just like the middle east shitholes they emulate. The Paris suburbs already do, jobless, crime ridden,oppresive to women. But with welfare!!
Posted by: bigjim-ky 2006-07-14 10:40
Jim, may I add to the list, Atlanta, New Orleans, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Durban, Cape Town, Johannesburg.......
I wonder if the nuts even believe what they are saying. Because if something like 9/11 happened in Canada, and I believed with all my heart that, say, Stephen Harper was involved, I don't think I could still live here. I'm not sure I could stop myself from ripping up my passport and ID and running screaming to another country.
How can you believe that your President killed 2,000 people and in between bitching about this, just carry on buying your vente latte and so forth? I would have to be literally locked up, as a danger to myself and others. That's why I think a lot of this is just adolescent style posturing on the part of conspirazoids. They want to bitch about their dad but still want to use the pool and borrow the car.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/14/2006 06:58 ||
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#1
Great question. The leftist-Islamofascist 9-11 deniers, despise the national-security consensus with such hate, that they cannot accept any official position on anything. A John Bircher once wrote a book, stocked with hundreds of nominal support quotes, on which he sought to "prove" that President Eisenhower was a Communist agent for the Soviet Union. Crackpot pseudo-science in action.
#2
Living in Boulder, CO, it's easy to encounter these 9-11 conspiracy freaks. And have no illusions, they totally believe this crap.
Was a time when I'd debate the fools and direct them to proof contrary to their beliefs. Did no good. Whether they're stupid or insane or both, in the end they'll believe what they want, and that's that. So rather than debate them anymore, I just mock them and laugh at their faces. Doesn't change their tiny, demented, pathetic, little minds, but watching them turn red with anger sure is fun!
The real danger is in coddling these idiots, whether on the street or in Universities, with the all-opinions-are-equal bullsh!t.
#3
I ask the conspiracy theorists out there this:
If our government is demented enough to slaughter 3,000 of our own for some nefarious purpose, why haven't they come to your home and made you disappear yet?
If it was some big secret conspiracy - surely your pissant existence means nothing to right wing death machine - I'd start moving around - alot!
So what do we do? We can certainly try to support the democracy movement and dissidents in Iran more aggressively. But this is going to be an enormously difficult task even under the best of circumstances. Detest the ruling clergy as they may, Irans young men still appear unwilling in any significant number to meet the regime on the streets.
Although Irans growing democratic culture is unlikely to be stopped, and its pro-American disposition is unlikely to change unless Washington goes Scowcroftian and seeks to placate Tehran, a militant, dictatorial Islam remains strong among the countrys ruling elite. And the circumstances in Washington arent propitious. The CIA hates pro-democracy covert action (its difficult, requires a level of knowledge and linguistic skill which is beyond todays clandestine service, and is always politically problematic in Washington). The State Department doesnt like it either, and doesnt trust the CIA to undertake such action (an astute judgment call on States part). And many European officials are equally queasy about such things, seeing them as counterproductive to the spirit of dialogue and the undying European hope that the US will make some grand bargain--which means any serious democracy-promotion inside Iran is verboten. The Bush administration ought to begin a crash course in covert and overt Iranian democracy-promotion, firing all those in the bureaucracies who seek to sabotage the mission.
But this isnt going to happen. Although a sense of urgency about Iran is growing in Washington, the administration has not--despite occasional rhetoric from the President, Vice President, and Secretary of State--been shocked into much action. As with so many other major foreign-policy issues, the Bush administration, worn out by Iraq, is operating on momentum, capable only of continuing the logic of policies from the first term. It does not want to see the Iranian train wreck ahead of it. The administration is pushing an approach that it really doesnt believe will work, but it doesnt want to break from the process since that, among other things, will inevitably force the administration to have the great Iran debate: Is it better to preventively bomb the clerics nuclear facilities or allow the mullahs to have nuclear weapons? And if the administration were to acquiesce to the clerical bomb, it would, of course, empower its worst enemies in Tehran and spiritually invigorate all Muslim radicals who live on American weakness. The United States and the Europeans have now aligned the West against the regime in Tehran. Acquiesce and the revolutionary hard core triumphs. We will whet their appetites, externally and internally. As Iranian society continues to sheer away from the ruling elite, that elite has kept its radicalism, especially among the diehards raised in the Revolutionary Guards, like Ahmadinejad.
Continued on Page 49
#3
CA, Bush said that US will not let mullahs have it. I think he meant it.
The apparent inaction may have some good reasons.
1. Bush knows that there is no way Iran can be convinced to forget about the nukes. The diplomacy is, to a large degree, a sideshow, from the POV of US administration. It may net allies in the military sense, but US is not counting on it. What Bush is essentially seeking is a tacit agreement from Uropeons, so that when the time comes, they won't go apeshit. By now, it has to be clear to Uros that the diplomacy avenue has been an abyssmal failure. And that has been the primary goal of this whole exercise.
2. There is no need to advertise what course of action US will take, specifically, to denny nukes to mullahnazis. Remember NYT. I think I don't need to elaborate on this point.
#4
Whatever their failings, the Bush administration (Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice) is NOT stupid, and certainly does not lack confidence. If they are not 'doing something' in Iran, that is not why. Either they don't think it is the right thing to do right now, or they are doing something but you don't see it, or they CAN'T do something because existing politics and law don't support it. Americans don't want a war, and won't support one unless and until they get another Pearl Harbor or 9-11 (or worse).
#5
Iran is a tough nut to crack, and the US wants to get all of our ducks in a row before we give it a go. We are using this interlude to make all kinds of diplomatic preparations, and to rebuild our depleted stocks of weapons, and to procure ASAP the new defensive and offensive weapons we will be needing.
This just plain takes time, even at full steam.
The White House and Pentagon have been quiet as heck because they are so busy. Clinton's White House produced daily hubbub, because it wasn't doing anything important or useful.
Notice you haven't heard anything out of Condi Rice for the longest time? Even with her IQ, she must be pushed to the limit calculating out what's next.
Remember also that if we attack Iran, we are going to try damn hard to keep our own casualties to a bare minimum. That raises degree of difficulty in planning by a factor of 10.
Ideally, Bush is creating a situation in which the Iranians will defeat themselves by doing something incredibly stupid and weak, right when we are ready to pounce.
#7
Let's try an analogy here. Iran is a zit. A big old nasty puss filled pimple. Now I realize it may have been awhile since your average Rantburger has had to contend with one of these, but I know you've all been there.
When excising a zit, you don't just rush in and try and pop the thing. Odds are you'll displace most of the puss further under the unbroken skin and end up with an even nastier mess. What you need to do is carefully lance the bastard with a sterile implement, selectively determine the best vantage points, then slowly apply increasing pressure until until the infected material is forcibly removed.
Gerecht is a smart guy, but he doesn't know what he's talking about on this one. Regarding Iran, the administration has all the focus and concentration of a teenager getting ready to remove a major blemish.
The caller to an Indian news agency who praised Tuesday's bombings of Mumbai commuter trains in the name of an Al Qaeda branch in Kashmir might have been an impostor. But there is no denying that elements of Tuesday's bombings of commuter trains in Mumbai bear a disturbing resemblance to past attacks mounted or inspired by the Al Qaeda network.
For India, it is crucial to determine if Mumbai was hit in the same way as New York, Madrid, and London, in pursuance of the same grandiose goals, or by a more parochial local group, perhaps one of the Kashmir-oriented terrorist outfits originating in Pakistan. The planning and operational sophistication needed to detonate seven bombs within 11 minutes at the height of rush hour suggest a Qaeda-type operation. Even the date, 7/11, echoes earlier jihadi bombings associated with Al Qaeda, as does the selection of a target at the nexus of a commercial and transportation system in a great city. Mumbai, formerly Bombay, is India's center for finance and movie-making. The timing of the Mumbai attack also coincides with two significant developments in India's foreign policy. One is the recent nuclear deal with the Bush administration. that is meant to become the cornerstone of a strategic partnership between the world's two biggest pluralistic democracies It would be consistent with Osama bin Laden's concept of a global war against non-Muslim "crusader" powers if he were to punish India for entering into a strategic alliance with the United States. The other development that may have provoked the Mumbai atrocity is an imminent renewal of India-Pakistan peace talks. Based on their past performances, e Extremist groups such as Lashkar-e-Toiba or the Students Islamic Movement of India might well have planted the explosives in the Mumbai commuter trains to derail those talks. Thus far, Indians and their government have reacted to the bombings with admirable resiliency and sangfroid. Within hours, the trains were running again in Mumbai, and Mumbai had resumed its vibrant life. India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for calm, sagely avoiding any temptation to point fingers before the perpetrators could be identified. And Pakistan's foreign ministry issued an emphatic denunciation of the train bombing and of all terrorism. But both nations are engaged in stoking separatist or oppositional movements in each other's backyard. These operations are pursued in shadow by their security services. They extend not only to Kashmir but also to Afghanistan and the region of Pakistan known as Baluchistan. These practices destabilize a large swath of south Asia, and they nourish terrorism. The best antidote to this syndrome would be a comprehensive peace accord between India and Pakistan. Should it turn out that Al Qaeda was behind the Mumbai bombing, the geopolitical effect could be to accelerate movement toward a resolution of the 60-year quarrel between India and Pakistan. Qaeda leaders have called for the assassination of President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan and have tried to kill him at least twice. The two nations share a profound interest in resisting the tide of jihadi terrorism.
The caller to an Indian news agency who praised Tuesday's bombings of Mumbai commuter trains in the name of an Al Qaeda branch in Kashmir might have been an impostor. But there is no denying that elements of Tuesday's bombings of commuter trains in Mumbai bear a disturbing resemblance to past attacks mounted or inspired by the Al Qaeda network.
For India, it is crucial to determine if Mumbai was hit in the same way as New York, Madrid, and London, in pursuance of the same grandiose goals, or by a more parochial local group, perhaps one of the Kashmir-oriented terrorist outfits originating in Pakistan. The planning and operational sophistication needed to detonate seven bombs within 11 minutes at the height of rush hour suggest a Qaeda-type operation. Even the date, 7/11, echoes earlier jihadi bombings associated with Al Qaeda, as does the selection of a target at the nexus of a commercial and transportation system in a great city. Mumbai, formerly Bombay, is India's center for finance and movie-making. The timing of the Mumbai attack also coincides with two significant developments in India's foreign policy. One is the recent nuclear deal with the Bush administration. that is meant to become the cornerstone of a strategic partnership between the world's two biggest pluralistic democracies It would be consistent with Osama bin Laden's concept of a global war against non-Muslim "crusader" powers if he were to punish India for entering into a strategic alliance with the United States. The other development that may have provoked the Mumbai atrocity is an imminent renewal of India-Pakistan peace talks. Based on their past performances, e Extremist groups such as Lashkar-e-Toiba or the Students Islamic Movement of India might well have planted the explosives in the Mumbai commuter trains to derail those talks. Thus far, Indians and their government have reacted to the bombings with admirable resiliency and sangfroid. Within hours, the trains were running again in Mumbai, and Mumbai had resumed its vibrant life. India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for calm, sagely avoiding any temptation to point fingers before the perpetrators could be identified. And Pakistan's foreign ministry issued an emphatic denunciation of the train bombing and of all terrorism. But both nations are engaged in stoking separatist or oppositional movements in each other's backyard. These operations are pursued in shadow by their security services. They extend not only to Kashmir but also to Afghanistan and the region of Pakistan known as Baluchistan. These practices destabilize a large swath of south Asia, and they nourish terrorism. The best antidote to this syndrome would be a comprehensive peace accord between India and Pakistan. Should it turn out that Al Qaeda was behind the Mumbai bombing, the geopolitical effect could be to accelerate movement toward a resolution of the 60-year quarrel between India and Pakistan. Qaeda leaders have called for the assassination of President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan and have tried to kill him at least twice. The two nations share a profound interest in resisting the tide of jihadi terrorism.
Posted by: john ||
07/14/2006 15:34 ||
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Israel's military invasion and naval blockade of Lebanon is being denounced in European capitals and at the United Nations as a "disproportionate" response to the kidnapping this week of two of its soldiers by Hezbollah. Israel's decision late last month to invade Gaza in retaliation for the kidnapping of another soldier by Hamas was also condemned as lacking in proportion. So here's a question for our global solons: Since hostage-taking is universally regarded as an act of war, what "proportionate" action do they propose for Israel?
In the case of Hamas, perhaps Israel could rain indiscriminate artillery fire on Gaza City, surely a proportionate response to the 800 rockets Hamas has fired at Israeli towns in the last year alone. In the case of Hezbollah, it might mean carpet bombing a section of south Beirut, another equally proportionate response to Hezbollah's attacks on civilian Jewish and Israeli targets in Buenos Aires in the early 1990s.
We aren't being serious, but neither is a feckless international community that refuses to proportionately denounce the outrages to which Israel is being subjected. That goes also for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who says "all sides must act with restraint." But Israel's current problems result in part from an excess of restraint in responding to previous Hamas and Hezbollah provocations. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
07/14/2006 06:42 ||
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#1
Israel's current problems result in part from an excess of restraint in responding to previous Hamas and Hezbollah provocations Time to tell the Euros to "Gay red tsu der vant."
#3
"Disproportionate" response strikes me as the best way to minimize the total (long-term) cost of a war - at least if it is clear which side should win militarily. It establishes that those who have the means to achieve victory also have the will to do so - at that point only the insane or suicidal would continue to fight (of course that makes this whole discussion moot in regards to the Islamist war.)
#4
TW. Have a mixed marriage--old testament and new testament. Wife has relatives in Tel Aviv. The wife's parents are holocaust survivors--despite that some don't believe it ever happened. Some Yiddish picked up through my wife and the in-laws--enough to appreciate some of the humor of Yiddish.
#5
Lots of that going around, JohnQC; I'm the Old Testamenter, and my grandmother's memoir is archived in the Holocaust Museum in DC, among other places. Only my parents never spoke in Yiddish, so I took a course at Hebrew School one quarter -- at the same time as I was studying Hebrew and German, so it didn't stick. "Go right through the wall"?
#6
Very good TW. "Go talk to the wall" as best as I can determine. Like so many phrases, they are often rich in meaning and have several similar meanings. Yiddish and Hebrew gives rise to some funny stories. An aunt on my wife's side was talking in Hebrew about a nephew "complaining too much." What came out was "Why does Charley play with himself so much?" Apparently the phrases are very similar.
By headbutting opponents and missing penalty kicks, France showed the world how not to win the World Cup. But with the G8 leaders about to gather in St. Petersburg for their annual meetings, France does have one important thing to show the world, and thats how to guarantee a measure of national energy independence.
...
Meanwhile, the country generates nearly 80 percent of its electricity from nuclear power, and even exports significant amounts to its neighbors. Most important, France has insulated itself from the possibility of a natural gas shock brought about by anything Vladimir Putin might do, intended or not.
Posted by: ed ||
07/14/2006 07:19 ||
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#1
But at the end of the day they are still French.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/14/2006 8:27 Comments ||
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#2
But they are certainly right about nukes. Perhaps it's the stopped clock phenomenon.
#4
This is the one thing I will give the Frogs credit for. The smart thing they did was use only one and then two reactor designs. Helps control costs and IMO increas safety because if a problem does show up the fix is known for all off the other plants. Plus France reprocesses fuel rods, Thanks Jimmy.
#5
Well, I'm always of the opinion that, no matter how much you can't stand them, you need to give credit where credit's due.
Viva la' France.
Now, back to reality. I don't really know how this'll help when Paris starts to burn again, unless France grows a spine and begins to start bucking the Muslim overpopulation. My guess is (like all "liberal" countries), France will be open to these goons, until things get really hairy, and then (and only then) we they lash back like never before. Things will be VERY ugly for the Muslims if my hunch is true (think Bastille Day and guillotines, since the muslims are so fond of beheadings). Instead of solving the problem from the get-go, France will wait until they're cornered, then lash back like a cornered/scared animal and it won't be pretty.
Posted by: BA ||
07/14/2006 11:32 Comments ||
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#6
BA:
My assessment as well. During the not-so-cold war, the French nuclear defence strategy.... had it ever been initiated, or launched, etc, would have depopulated about 60 percent of the planet.
#7
And, note Chirac's recent comments about unleashing nukes if France is ever attacked. I know he's passive-agressive, but even to say that shocked the he!! outta me. I guess the "french culture" thing may be to their benefit in this case...I can't imagine Paris just letting the muzzies take over w/o a fight. Of course, WWII and other instances have proved me wrong in that arena before.
Posted by: BA ||
07/14/2006 11:41 Comments ||
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#8
Plus France reprocesses fuel rods
And THAT is essential.
Jimmy Carter stopped all planned US reprocessing, leading to the build up of spent fuel rods.
This is incredibly wasteful. More than 95 percent of the extractable energy is still present in the spent fuel.
Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors, like the Canadian CANDU units, can be used to burn fuel fabricated from the spent fuel rods from the Light Water Reactors.
Fast Neutron Reactors will burn up all the heavy actinides (the nasty stuff with long half lives) giving you waste that (a) occupies much less volume (b) will lose much of its radioactivity in decades.
Posted by: john ||
07/14/2006 13:00 Comments ||
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#9
But at the end of the day they are still French.
Yeah, but they still have France. Doesn't seem FAIR!
#3
And I could have a 15-ounce sirloin steak for lunch.
But probably not.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/14/2006 10:10 Comments ||
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#4
O.K. I guess it's time to go down swinging then.
Nuke everyone that we consider an enemy, embark on a vicious campaign of colonization and plunder, ripping natural resources and treasure from the burned out ruins of our once powerfull enemies.
Yeah! Let's party.
#5
On a serious note, if the Medicare and Social Security program needs more money to sustain its payouts in the future, then taxes should be raised in the future,not now. There is a federal law that any excess funds from social security go into the common fund to be spent by congress on whatever. So essentially we have been overpaying for every year the program has been in existence. The excess goes to the general fund every year! So if the fund needs more money in the future, don't start paying it now, because that's not how the program works, it's not how it is set up to work.
#6
The budget deficit in the US is not massive. The Bush administration this week cut its forecasts for the fiscal shortfall this year by almost a third, saying it will come in at 2.3pc of gross domestic product. This is smaller than most European countries - including the UK - which have deficits north of 3pc of GDP.
The U.S. pension system is also in much better shape because there are substantially more funded private plans then there are in Europe and because there is a growing population.
The really interesting thing is why they are publishing these articles on the U.S. when European finances are in far worse shape.
It was initially patterned aftere German and Euro models, but only Washington could design a ponzi scheme that hitches everyone to a costly, mandetory insurance policy that allows irresponsible bureaucrats to at will for until it is nearly depleted. Any doubt in anyone's mind why amnesty for illegal aliens is being suggested?
#9
I sent this to The Skeptical Optimist (love his site) and this is his response:
"Kotlikoff has decades of his personal reputation invested in doomsaying. So far, he hasn't explained to anyone why we'll eventually have to pay off the debt, instead of just continuing to roll it over. Those T-bonds apparently scare him to death. :
IIRC, this is the jerk who wants to keep raising rates.
He's learned NOTHING from Greenspan's manoeuver 2 times, now, we're hitting the wall again.
#12
O.K. I guess it's time to go down swinging then.
Nuke everyone that we consider an enemy, embark on a vicious campaign of colonization and plunder, ripping natural resources and treasure from the burned out ruins of our once powerfull enemies.
I like the cut of your jib Big Jim! Let's quit our jobs, sell our homes, buy a surplus frigate and get to work. Were Americans dammit! Lets make our own navy!
#13
Okay, let's see. US defecit comes in at 2.3% of all spending (including capital outlays), figure inflation at 3.5%. Hummmm.... I will leave the concluder for the audience.
#17
A ballooning budget deficit and a pensions and welfare timebomb could send the economic superpower into insolvency
The budget deficit isn't ballooning it's shrinking. The welfare rolls have been shrinking since the '90's (i.e. Welfare Reform). As for pensions (Social Security) - there's always Soylent Green.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
