Executive Actions on Cuba...

Today the president announced a plan to reward Cuba with US recognition in return for doing... well, nothing:

“This is being done because we believe the policy of the past has not worked and we believe the best way to bring democracy and prosperity to Cuba is through a different kind of policy,” a senior administration official told reporters on a conference call under White House ground rules that did not permit the official to be identified.

Outraged right wing hacks immediately weighed in with their displeasure, like Democratic Senator Menendez:

“Let’s be clear, this was not a ‘humanitarian’ act by the Castro regime. It was a swap of convicted spies for an innocent American,” said Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey and the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. “President Obama’s actions have vindicated the brutal behavior of the Cuban government.”

So, when do we normalize relations with the North Koreans and set up an embassy? And if not, why not?

OBAMA LIBRE!  12/18/14

Politico paints a picture of the true portrait of an emerging president, finally unencumbered by the messiness of posturing (lying) before elections.

So maybe it's worth throwing this out there.   There were interactions between the Weathermen and Cuban intelliegence (back when Obama was 7), the same Cuban intelligence running the 3 spies Obama just released in exchange for Alan Gross (he's already released the other 2 members of the Cuban 5, and we can all believe in this mystery US asset hostage held for 20 years when we see him).  Ayers is still proudly a "small-c communist" and openly advocated for Hugo Chavez only a few years back.  Of course it's probably racist to even mention their names in the same paragraph.  Viva, and onward to our new progressive future!

Just Kabuki Theater?

Everyone seems a little perplexed by the actions of lil Kim-un.  What is he doing?  Why?   Some think it's just an exercise of his new power and show of force to the Nork population and his generals as to who's boss.  Maybe.  Here's NBC News:

Korea-watchers expect there would be a declaration of a victory unrecognized anywhere else in the world, dancing in the streets, and then quiet until the drama repeats itself at some point in the near future. "We've been there, done that," Straub said of a possible missile launch. "Unless they lobbed these things onto Japan, there's not going to be some huge sanctions from it."

OK, sure.  We have indeed 'been there, done that'.  But why does it seem all these networks continually erase one of the most important events in the history of the regime, an event that not only relates to the Norks themselves but to the current Syrian civil war (which they are also pretty much ignoring)?

Well, maybe it's because the event solidified George W. Bushitler's "Axis of Evil" speech while at the same time putting the MSM in a box as to how to report on something Israel did without criticizing Obama's lead-from-behind Syrian policy and reporting on the North Koreans...

A video taken inside a secret Syrian facility last summer convinced the Israeli government and the Bush administration that North Korea was helping to construct a reactor similar to one that produces plutonium for North Korea's nuclear arsenal, according to senior U.S. officials who said it would be shared with lawmakers today. The officials said the video of the remote site, code-named Al Kibar by the Syrians, shows North Koreans inside. It played a pivotal role in Israel's decision to bomb the facility late at night last Sept. 6, a move that was publicly denounced by Damascus but not by Washington.

In other words, even if they never launch a missile they have already shown themselves to be a huge proliferation threat.

In Obama's visionary unicorn world free of nukes such things are a problem. Towards that end, US officials are now backing down on rhetoric and military exercises while simultaneously saying that the Norks will not be allowed to become a nuclear state (even though they already are--presumably they mean a nuclear weapons state). Since we've tried every kind of talk and ceremony to stop these clowns, from Clinton through Bush to Obama--to no end, how do they propose to stop them now short of an attack?

Ten Years After

MSNBC is still yelling from their local rooftops trying to sell David Corn's (the father of Plame-gate) "Hubris, or how Bushitler hornswoggled Hillary and other Democrats into taking out a guy they had been demonizing for eight years straight" (or thereabouts).  In other words, why aren't Bush and Cheney in some international gulag yet.  

Meanwhile squishy beltway RINOs are still blaming the failure of Bushitler to quietly take out Iraq with no casualties on the current media demise of the GOP without explaining how the Tea Party revolution occurred in 2010 or why so many state governors are Republicans, or why John Boehner is the only thing standing between the USA and the Marxist pitchforks.

So ten years after the mother of all battles lurched back into a hot war nothing much has changed, except conventional wisdom, which is that Iraq was the worst foreign policy mistake ever in the history of the United States, including Vietnam where over 50,000 men died basically for nothing.  

But ten years later the puzzling question of why Bush and his inner circle never provided more evidence to back their incursion into Iraq does remain unanswered.  When asked, Bush, Condi Rice, Rove, Cheney and the others usually reply with steely resolve--they would do it again.  The world is safer.  So what do they know and why can't they say anything?  Nobody really believes the world is safer right now with Saddam gone because few believe he was even a threat.   But they do. 

So is the truth so steeped in international diplomatic minefields, such as maintaining relations with Russia and China and some secret roles they may have had, or even presumably trusting European allies, that any kind of 'brutal honesty' would cause more harm than winning some kind of domestic political urinating contest?  Or are they all just covering their butts?

Back in 2001 president Bush stood before America and declared an 'Axis of Evil' that was menacing the planet--Iran, Iraq, and North Korea.  He didn't include al Qaeda in that mix per se, but terrorist groups are understood to be useful cats paws for the evildoers.  Now ten years later the Iraqi regime is gone, Iran is still working towards a nuke while their client state Syria teeters on the brink, held up by Russia (the same client state who worked with North Korea to build a clandestine nuclear facility) while North Korea threatens to blow up Seoul, San Francisco, Okinawa, Honolulu and our equipment remaining on the Moon.   Where was Bush wrong, exactly?

Anyway, it's traditionally time for some music.  The title gives it away... to the late guitarist Alvin Lee and Ten Years After, shown in all their hippie glory.  But their socialist-sounding frustrations can cross over...



"Tax the rich, feed the poor, til there are no rich no more".  I always took that as a slap at socialism as in Thatcher's comment that one day you run out of rich people to tax.  But who knows, maybe it was just a general frustration that it's hard to really change anything in this mean ole world. 


   

Bits and Pieces

Obama's Kenyan granny Sarah started out the presidential campaign as a 'non-practicing Muslim'. Then she morphed into a Christian around the time Obama was nominated. Then after his election she apparently re-converted into a practicing Muslim who recently attended the Hajj and prays that our current president will one day convert himself. Well at least that means he isn't a Muslim. Whew! Or is he?

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Fed Ex is looking for a shipment of radioactive material apparently lost in transit.

Munoz says as long as no one tries to open the metal container, the rods do not pose a danger.

Well, that's a nice warm fuzzy considering the news of late.

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Considering what's going on in Korea why isn't this famous picture enough evidence to forever condemn communism as a viable political system?



Yet guys like Bill Ayers, the washed up terrorist turned professor who hardly knew Obama according to 'fightthesmears', still calls himself a 'small-c communist'. In other words, it's only the corrupt rulers who fall short in their attempts to manage the system, not the system itself. Maybe that's why they lied about Ayers.

Of course, if the following picture is the only face of capitalism then it's no wonder some of our utopian dreamers dream of a land of equal equality (run by them)...


Look at those silly women. Now, if that was a sale on 60 inch LEDs...completely justifiable.

Korean Thing

Should we be concerned or go back to watching TV? Well, imagine a Kim-Jong controlled Korean peninsula with nuclear commie influence extending all the way into the Sea of Japan, pointed right in the faces of Japan and Taiwan. So there's concern aside from the overall potential catastrophic human toll.

As to today's scuffle, lots of ideas and furrowed brows. While this blog doesn't fashion itself as an expert source we are always open to wild speculation, and today's speculation centers around the responses from both the South Koreans and President Invisible.

South Korean president Lee Myung-bak emphatically stated that any further provocation would result in "enormous retaliation". That's patriotic and all but he's now placed the south in a box that will require 'enormous retaliation' the next time the Kims poke their toes across the line. And if they do, and South Korea doesn't, what then?

As to Washington, our vital interests remain peace and stability in the region along with the prevention of nuclear proliferation to places like Iran or Syria or Burma, but the past three presidents haven't been willing to go very far to enforce these goals. Therefore the lil Kims will likely keep it up knowing that 1) they are desperate, 2) they think it will get them concessions from the west as it always has, and 3) they believe Obama is weak.

With that, the president of the United States had this to say:

So Kokomo has a storied place in our history. This is a city where people came to invent things and to build things, to make things here in America; to work hard in the hopes of producing something of value and something that people could be proud of.

OK, to be fair that was the POTUS attempting not to project panic over an international incident, sort of like Bush continuing to read "My Pet Goat" instead of dashing out of a school room and plowing over a few kids to get back to the limo. Anyway, it's a mess calling for all the 'smart power' we can muster. And if that doesn't work, maybe some dumb power.

Sighs of Relief

Remember this from the campaign:



National Security Advisor James Jones apparently has heard sighs and has been keeping score:

Gen. Jim Jones (Ret.), told ABC News in an exclusive interview that actually the reverse is true: President Obama’s greater success with international relations has meant more terrorists put out of commission.

Really? Must be a scoreboard somewhere in one of those alphabet command centers. Here's the reason:

“The world is coming together on this matter now that President Obama has taken the leadership on it and is approaching it in a slightly different way – actually a radically different way – to discuss things with other rulers to enhance the working relationships with law enforcement agencies – both national and international."

Which is the same thing Obama promised last year, which is a noble goal. But has it worked already? Is it prudent to suggest such a thing?

For instance, if we had a scoreboard it might show that the worst nuclear proliferator of all time, A.Q. Khan, is now Scot-free. Scotland pardoned the Pan Am 103 bomber, which was a slap in our face, and the Uighurs are now chilling on tropical islands my family will probably never be able to afford to visit.

Bettulah Meshud was dusted but the Taliban are winning in Afghanistan and got dangerously close to reaching Islamabad just a few months ago. We are still waiting for those NATO reinforcements to arrive in Afghanistan that were supposed to materialize due to the overflowing good will. Oh well, maybe Germany, France and Spain are still sighing.

Meanwhile the Baathists recently tried to repeat the Golden Mosque attack in Iraq while Syria has yet to feel enough love to give up some of the insurgency captains undoubtedly hiding there. At last check Raghad Saddam Hussein was still evading capture in broad daylight down in Jordan.

On the global seas (which Obama is lowering) several mysterious ships have been wandering around with mysterious cargo doing mysterious things. The North Koreans have shown no signs of stopping their missile play and a corrupt election came and went in Iran with little if any international consequences, leaving Israel to wonder. India told us to pound sand on carbon taxes and the administration has been busy trying to put Chavez-Lite back into power in Honduras.

Back home we're still fighting amongst ourselves regarding who is more evil, Dick Cheney (for wanting to stick a water hose down a terrorists' nose) or the actual terrorists themselves, who've been maltreated and abused, according to them and their lawyers, several of whom are associated with the new Attorney General. Obama has said he wants to look forward not back, which apparently means he's looking forward to the prosecutions.

So as to the actual sighs of relief it's hard to tell. It certainly appears the bad guys have.

Testing the Line

Shall we question the timing?

The United Arab Emirates has seized a cargo ship earlier this month bound for Iran with a cache of banned arms from North Korea, the first such seizure since sanctions against North Korea were ramped up, diplomats and officials told The Associated Press on Friday.

The Times story doesn't bother to inform readers when the seizure took place, leaving them to wonder. Or wander on over to Drudge and read the Reuters update:

The weapons seized on Aug. 14 included rocket launchers, detonators, munitions and ammunition for rocket-propelled grenades, they said.

And what was going on August 14?

Well, a Russian-crewed cargo ship was being hijacked off the coast of Europe, for one. The hijacked ship, whose story has completely fallen off the radar, was allegedly carrying contraband under a manifest of lumber. The North Korean shipment was characterized in a similar manner:

"The cargo was deceptively labeled," said a diplomat "The cargo manifest said that the ship contained oil boring machines. But then you opened it up and you found these arms."

Interesting. And of course, in the first week of August Bill Clinton visited Pyongyang in a dramatic rescue of two misguided employees of Al Gore's TV network. Slate's Fred Kaplan mentioned this tidbit at the time:

Desmond Ball, a prominent intelligence expert at the Australian National University, has written a widely publicized paper reporting that Burma is cooperating with North Korea on an ambitious nuclear program involving extracting and enriching uranium with a goal of producing one nuclear weapon a year by 2014. The report is based on testimony of two Burmese defectors, and some Western officials find their stories credible.

Burma? Hey, that's the general direction of travel of that North Korean ship the Navy was tracking a few months ago, isn't it? Reports say it returned to port amidst a fireworks show. Meanwhile this event didn't get much press at all.

On a global scale it certainly appears the thug world is kicking sand towards a US president who comes across weaker than previous versions. Obama is smart and will not overtly kick any sand back right now (he only does that to the political opposition at home), which is perhaps prudent based on the tenuous position America finds itself in right now. But as with any school yard bully a time will come where he's probably going to be forced to show a manly hand in reply. Since that goes against his very nature (and leaves ugly comparisons to Bush/Cheney) it will be interesting to see how he pulls it off.

Manufactured?

So says Robert Gibbs to the press today when asked about the outbursts of patriotic dissent at town halls. You want manufactured, Mr. Gibbs? I got yer manufactured right here..



Unless the above is actually a picture of the first known alien with Clinton standing in his spaceship, this is about as manufactured as it gets.

Don't get me wrong, it's great he got the two hostages released, both of whom had been largely forgotten in the media. But reasonable people can have questions, such as what we gave up for their release? The only reason they were captured was to get something in trade, and it's doubtful a public apology was all Kim wanted.

As to Clinton, was he given special envoy status? Does a former president, as a private citizen, have any official authority to negotiate on behalf of the government? Wouldn't his charming wife have had to crowned him, or deputized him, or something? And if he did negotiate, does it count? This CNN story quote from Pyongyang suggests he did just that:

"The meetings had candid and in-depth discussions on the pending issues between the DPRK and the U.S. in a sincere atmosphere and reached a consensus of views on seeking a negotiated settlement of them."

Yet before Gibbs smeared the protesters he told the press that Bubba was on a 'solely private mission', suggesting he had no authority. Quick, which source is more believable? Keep in mind there were no government officials in Clinton's party.

This is probably a sign that realpolitik is back in style. It's highly likely Slick had nothing but star power here and the whole thing was pre-arranged (as the Times of London said), meaning he was there to remove Obama from any apology while passing along info. Clinton gets some extra international cred, Kim gets the image of more international muscle, and Obama gets a problem partially solved without showing up.

But it seems a bit strange for Bill Clinton to be making a surprise visit to North Korea on the very same day his wife left on a major African trip today (starting with Kenya). Was this done for security reasons? Surely it wasn't Bill trying to upstage honeybunch. Surely.

Finally, CNN mentioned Hillary's prospective meeting with Prime Minister Raila Odinga in Kenya but totally blanked out on Obama's own dubious past with this guy several years ago. When considering Obama's bro shake with Chavez, their position on Honduras, Gibbs' statement about Ahmadinejad being the elected leader of Iran, and this North Korean stunt perhaps Obama's past dealing with Odinga makes sense.

Global Tests

It's getting edgy out there. The remaining two cogs of the axis of evil are both threatening to boil over, with Iran nearing a showdown in the street and North Korea playing a brinksmanship game over a likely shipment of WMDs. It's possible we are approaching a "Biden test" moment, unless cooler heads somehow suddenly prevail.

Cooler heads is probably why Obama has been so cool so far, fearing any increase in rhetoric might escalate into something worse. But the problem with bullies is that they never seem to respond favorably to such games--they always seem to sniff out the tactic and push the event to the next level, forcing action.

Would Kim be brazen enough to launch a missile eastward, knowing it might green-light an attack on his nuke facilities? His massive army could retaliate by storming over the DMZ and into the south, forcing the war-weary and nearly bankrupt United States to open a third war front. Is he that crazy, or desperate?

And how might our largest bond holders next door likely react? They've been itching to make a world statement. Taking that further, how much are both Iran and North Korea actually just cats paws for larger states who can't be seen to directly be in confrontation with the shining city on the hill?

Big decisions, but as Obama said recently, "that's why I took the job". The phone may soon be ringing.