Obama: Tyrannosavior Rex (#iranElection #honduras)

Obama’s foreign policy to date has been so erratic, so inconsistent, so egregious that it could mark the end of Realpolitik for ever (and good riddance!).

#iranElection The difference between a man and a jellyfish

Reagan had impressed upon his aides that he wanted to be kept well informed on Polish developments. "Less than two weeks after his inauguration," O'Sullivan relates, "Reagan met with his senior foreign policy advisers to discuss how to undermine Communist power in Poland and discourage Soviet intervention."

#iranElection Do it, President Obama, please. Take the side of democracy.

During the campaign you mocked those who belittled your rhetoric as “just words.” Well, what you’ve offered so far is less than just words. You’ve put a fresh coat of whitewash on Iran’s sham “democracy.” On Monday, you proclaimed yourself “troubled” by the events in Iran, before hinting that you’d negotiate with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad no matter what an official investigation into his “landslide” victory found. (Would you trust Mafia internal audits, too?).

The urgency of the Cairo address

I believe there is very little doubt that 9/11 and George Bush following policies have changed the Middle East forever. Results of the liberation of Afghanistan and Iraq will of course take years to become evident and their influence in the rest of the Region will take even longer. From this comes the urgency, for the Democratic party, to deny this merit to Republicans as quickly as possible and be able to claim ownership of “we changed the Arab world", we and Obama with his historical speech in Cairo did it”.

The “historical speech”, although better than I expected (apart for a couple of horrible blunders of which I will write sometime in the near future and the usual stupid apologies, could have been straight out of Bush’s mouth), was full of good intentions and scarce on solutions; if Obama thinks that he can turn around the Arab world with nice words, he better think again. Arab regimes survive on lies and by redirecting hatred (as he bravely mentioned); not one of them however, will commit political suicide because a black man (which they despise and still enslave in many Muslim countries) asks them to forget the past and embrace the future.

We will have to wait and see, but in my opinion the best we can expect is business as usual. As for the worst…I don’t even want to think about it.

PS: For the religious authorities of the Cairo university from which Obama launched his kumbaya message, he is an apostate and according to the Quran should be killed.

Like a Prayer

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is marking today's National Day of Prayer [7 may]-- but not publicly.

The president has signed a proclamation about the day in private. There'll be no public ceremony involving prominent clerics, lawmakers or prayers, as there was when George W. Bush was in the White House.

Just like a dream, you are not what you see
Just like a prayer, no choice your voice can take me there…

Jokes, bitterness and lack of class

It would seem that under Obama’s regime it is not acceptable to make a joke about Nancy “I forgot” Pelosi:

…if you gave any U.S. soldier a gun with two bullets in it, and he found himself in an elevator with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Osama bin Laden, there’s a good chance that Nancy Pelosi would get shot twice, and Harry Reid and bin Laden would be strangled to death.

Which, apart from being funny is also very true (Feherty had to apologize), but it is perfectly all right to wish death to Obama’s critics (the Dear Leader will even laugh with you):

But she wasn't done. "Rush Limbaugh says 'I hope the country fails." I hope his kidneys fail. How about that? He needs some waterboarding, that's what he needs."

Well… you can’t expect class from people who shamelessly exploit their race and your guilt, can you?

Well, well, well…

If you don’t want to puke or at least spoil your week-end, just skip this post. Straight from the WAPO (of all places):

DEFENSE SECRETARY Robert M. Gates earned modest headlines in the United States this week for playing down the possibility of a "grand bargain" with Iran after a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (ed.which of course is what he is trying to pull off)…

The Obama administration, which has rushed to embrace Egypt's 81-year-old strongman, would do well to consider why al-Jazeera -- not known for pro-American sympathies -- would choose to trumpet that report.

Mr. Gates, like Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton before him, heaped praise on Mr. Mubarak while making clear that the new administration will not trouble him about his systematic and often violent repression of the country's liberal politicians, bloggers and human rights activists.

Yet, as al-Jazeera well understands, Mr. Mubarak and his fellow Arab autocrats are widely despised across the region -- and the United States is blamed for unconditionally propping them up. In fact, Mr. Bush won credit from many Egyptians for pressing for democratic change; he was criticized because he failed to follow through. Now, Arabs around the region are learning that the Obama administration is returning to the old U.S. policy of ignoring human rights abuses by Arab dictators in exchange for their cooperation on security matters -- that is, the same policy that produced the Middle East of Osama bin Laden, Hamas and Saddam Hussein.

Congratulations B.O.! Continue on this road and George Bush will be the new Reagan in six months (and in terms of foreign policy, that would only be fair).

Way to go, B.O.!

Iraqi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Atta Qassim said the resurgence of Al Qaida was fueled by the U.S. release of nearly 4,000 insurgents in 2009. Qassim said the released insurgents have been returning to both Al Qaida and organized crime.

But…but…they always told me it was because they didn’t like Bush!

Cry wolf

Many people,when I suggested that the MSM had contributed to the Swine flu hysteria and that there was no reason to be afraid, replied: “but the WHO raised the pandemic alert rating to 5!”. It seems that the WHO has realized that, following blindly their alert criteria only fed panic material to the media:

The World Health Organisation is considering an overhaul of its pandemic ratings system amid growing criticism that it provoked unnecessary alarm by rapidly escalating its warnings over swine flu…
…Media organisations initially seized on the raising of the alerts in front page headlines around the world, but as it has emerged that the death toll has stayed relatively low, so the criticism has mounted. As of Thursday morning the WHO had confirmed 2,099 cases in 23 countries, including 44 deaths….

Unfortunately this comes at a critical moment and could give ammunition to either sides of the aisle, preventing an objective decision to be taken:

The Obama administration is weeks away from a critical decision on whether to trigger mass production of swine-flu vaccine, which could affect the bottom lines of big vaccine makers as well as public health.
Besides determining whether a vaccine would be effective and safe, government officials and private laboratories will need to answer practical and financial questions: Does it make sense to order hundreds of millions of doses and organize a mass vaccination campaign for a virus that, so far, isn't widespread and doesn't seem particularly lethal?

Lost in translation 2

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday played down tensions with Russia over Georgia…

Translation: you want Georgia, NATO? No problem, you can have whatever you want; you see, our foreign policy is collapsing on all fronts, at least we can show we are making some progress…

…Obama told reporters: "We have an excellent opportunity to reset the relationship between the United States and Russia on a whole host of issues."

Translation: let’s try again…

Iran Policy

Jane “I was in Vietnam but I am still a coward” Kerry’s contradictory ramblings seem directed at further confusing the issue of what to do with Iran' terrorist activities, nuclear proliferation and continuing killings of Americans in Iraq and elsewhere:

The United States has stepped back from the notion of "regime change" in Iran…
…"Just as we abandon calls for regime change in Teheran and recognize a legitimate Iranian role in the region, Iran's leaders must moderate their behavior…
…Kerry praised the Obama administration's focus on diplomacy with Iran, adding that "engagement alone is not a strategy and talks are not an end in themselves."…

Interestingly, the Country Report on Terrorism, released at the end of April 2009, states, among various trends, this:

Iran "remained the most active state sponsor of terrorism".

Can anyone see where all this is going? I can’t…this is the only result I can see and of course the only alternative at this point would be this: Israel would inform, not ask U.S. before hitting Iran.

Lost in translation 1

President Obama says that his meetings with the leaders of both Afghanistan and Pakistan were 'extraordinarily productive.'

Translation: a waste of time, back to square one. This is not working, don’t know what to do now…

US President Barack Obama has said after meeting his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts that they are united in the goal of defeating al-Qaeda.

Translation: they couldn’t agree on the time of day. Finally, and it was hard work, they found something they could share: the Earth is round (most of the time).

Israel under the bus

…His (Obama’s) administration is proceeding on the entirely false analysis that a state of Palestine is the solution to the Middle East impasse and the route to peace in the region…
…But the ordinary American people are a different matter. They do value and support Israel. They do understand that if Israel is thrown under that bus, the west is next…
…This is shaping up to be the biggest crisis in relations between Israel and America since the foundation of Israel six decades ago. Those who hate Israel and the Jews will be gloating. This after all is precisely what they hoped Obama would do. To any decent person looking on aghast, this is where the moral sickness of the west reaches the critical care ward.

Melanie, as usual, gets her priorities right…read it all.

Breaking news!!!

Obamas take a walk, holding hands in the evening.

F^&%#*g unbelievable…

Obama not doing so well

If you think the triumphant headlines about Obama’s first 100 days are suspicious, if you find that MSM praise is fishy, don’t doubt your judgment; you are right. In fact, compared to previous presidents, he is doing poorly:

Gallup reports that 56% of the public believes that Obama is doing an excellent/good job. Gallup reported 62% approved of George W. Bush's job performance after the first 100 days.

Here are the numbers for other presidents:

April approval ratings in first year in office

Bush now 62% 
Clinton, 1993 55
Bush, 1989 58
Reagan, 1981 67
Carter, 1977 63
Nixon, 1969 61
Sampling error: +/-3% pts

The same discrepancy can be found in the celebration of Michelle popularity. 79% approve of her performance compared to 85% that approved of Laura Bush.

The more they lie and cover for him now, the more they will turn against him later.

Anything for a friend

Iran and Venezuela signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on bilateral defense ties on Thursday. Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar and his Venezuelan counterpart Ramon Carrizalez signed the document in Caracas, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The contract underlines an expansion of defense cooperation in education and exchanging experiences on defense issues, according to the report.

Najjar expressed Iran's readiness to assist Venezuela in developing its defense capabilities, it said. Najjar also met Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez who highlighted Iran's "positive and constructive" role in the Middle East and its position in the foreign policy of Venezuela, according to the report.

Obama’s Syria policy

Ok, let’s see…

• Besides having a falafel sandwich, Clinton's signature moment in Lebanon was a promise that "There is nothing that we would do in any way that would undermine Lebanon's sovereignty.

and

• Clinton urges fair, transparent Lebanese elections

but

• Hillary Clinton offers handshake of friendship to Syria

and

• U.S. Plans New Talks With Syria

in the meantime

• Syria's Credit Rating Sees Unique Boost
• Turkey and Syria conduct military drill, Israel disturbed
• Suspects in Hariri’s Death Released

so that

• Hezbollah, allies eye election

It will be interesting to watch how the various players respond to “the dialog” …

Cutting off your nose…

Stratfor on Obama’s decision to release four classified memos from former President George W. Bush’s administration that authorized “enhanced interrogation techniques.”:

Unlike in television shows like “24,” it is not uncommon in the real world for a meeting called to plan a counterterrorism operation to feature more CIA lawyers than case officers or analysts. These staff lawyers are intricately involved in the operational decisions made at headquarters, and legal issues often trump operational considerations.

I have seen it in other countries as well and I don’t understand it; as a revenge against previous administrations, is rather masochistic! A Secret Service should be secret, period. This fake moral posturing is so transparent (I mean, nobody believes for a second that any president/politician would give a damn about “enhanced interrogation techniques.”!) that it is not worth the price of tying the hands of your own country’s intelligence service. The disadvantage is equivalent to losing the arms race to your enemies.

One lie after another…

Before someone accuses me of not being objective, I will quote the AP, a notoriously liberal and anti-bush source:

OBAMA: "Number one, we inherited a $1.3 trillion deficit.... That wasn't me.
THE FACTS: Congress controls the purse strings, not the president, and it was under Democratic control for Obama's last two years as Illinois senator.

Pathetic, like a kid who has broken a vase…read it all, it’s one lie after another…as usual.

The first 100 days…again

It wasn’t only me then: 100 days, 100 mistakes…