John Yoo: The Consequences of Leading from Behind

John Yoo wrote this post at Ricochet.com last night.

While this President is all too happy to exercise his powers domestically to remake society, he shies away from the singular area where the need for swift and decisive executive action is greatest — foreign affairs.

Compare the Obama administration's response to that of an earlier, greater President.  In this some region of the world, once, an American man named Perdicaris was taken hostage by an Arab brigand named Raisuli.  President Teddy Roosevelt sent out the message:  "The American government wants Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead."  It had the desired effect, thanks to the dispatch of seven American warships and the Marines. By contrast no doubt, Obama will ask the United Nations to resolve the matter instead.

Caroline Glick:U.S. Embassy Attacks Not About a Movie

Here are a couple of facts:

On June 4 the White House confirmed that the US had killed Abu Yahya Al-Libi - OBL's Libyan lietenant who had moved into Al Qaeda's #2 spot after Ayman Zahawiri after the Navy SEALs whacked OBL. 

On Tuesday 9/11, a tape was released of Zawahiri announcing that Libi had been killed earlier this year by a US drone attack. The Zawahiri tape was made during Ramadan which ended in the middle of last month. Zawahiri called for his terrorist underlings to avenge Libi's death and especially exhorted Libyans to take revenge.

The attack in Libya was well planned and executed. It wasn't about a spontaneous protest against some ridiculous internet movie of Muhammad. The assailants came armed to the teeth, with among other things, RPG 7s. They knew that the US Ambassador was in Benghazi rather than Tripoli. They knew how to track his movements, and were able to strike against him after he and his colleagues left the consulate building and tried to flee in a car. As Israel Channel 2's Arab Affairs Correspondent Ehud Yaari noted this evening, you don't often see well trained terrorists participating in protests of movies.

Then there is the attack in Cairo. They were led by Mohammad Zawahiri - Ayman Zawahiri's brother. According the Thomas Josclyn in the Weekly Standard, the US media has been idiotically presenting him as some sort of moderate despite the fact that in an interview with Al Jazeerah he said said, "We in al Qaeda..."  

To read the rest of the article, click the link below:

http://www.carolineglick.com/e/2012/09/the-911-attacks-on-the-us-emba.php

A Canadian Critiques Obama and the Pipeline

That’s Ezra Levant.  He hosts a show, The Source, for Canada’s Sun News.  He knows Obama, and is not a fan. 

This is from the website for the show:

THE SOURCE

Your go-to for controversially Canadian content, The Source is set to be the most provocative and thought-changing multimedia show in Canada. What are the foundations of our freedom, and where are those freedoms under siege? In answering these critical questions, professional pundit and provocateur Ezra Levant turns conventional Canadian values and beliefs on their head with a cultural counter-spin you won't find on any other network.

ABOUT EZRA LEVANT

Hailed as "Canada's no.1 defender of free speech," best-selling author, lawyer, blogger and general trouble-maker, Calgary's Ezra Levant is one of Canada's best-known conservative pundits. A veteran journalist, Ezra covered national politics, the Supreme Court and the Middle East for the National Post and founded the Western Standard magazine, the only Canadian media outlet to publish the Danish cartoons of Mohammed. His best-selling books include Shakedown: How Our Government is Undermining Democracy in the Name of Human Rights and Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada's Oil Sands. His non-televised rants appear at ezralevant.com

H/T: edscis

Japan's Earthquake: One Year Later

Tomorrow is the first anniversary of the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami.  The death toll now stands at 15,854, with 3,271 still listed as missing.  The Japanese people have always been resilient.  They're coming back strong, and are not forgetting those who rendered assistance - especially the USA.

H/T: dcbate

Condoleezza Rice on "Uncommon Knowledge"

The video was uploaded by Pajamasmedia with the following introductory remarks:

Is war in Iran imminent? Find out as former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice talks to Peter Robinson about Iraq, Iran, Israel, Afghanistan and Aretha Franklin. Secretary Rice focuses on the lessons of 9/11, and also discusses the surprising remarks of Vladimir Putin on that day. In a moment of candor, Secretary Rice talks about the misunderstandings during the war in Iraq, and why the US chose not to go to war with Iran during the Bush Administration. Hear more about Middle East policy in this very candid "Uncommon Knowledge" interview.

This is from the "Uncommon Knowledge" website concerning the interview with former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice:

Condoleezza Rice, senior fellow on public policy at the Hoover Institution and a professor of political science at Stanford University, discusses the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, her days as George Bush's national security adviser and secretary of state, and the current state of the world, including Israel, Iran, and China. (1:09:44) 

Happy New Year from The Israel Defense Forces

Romney’s Foreign Policy Address at The Citadel

Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney, according to Marc Thiessen writing today at The Enterprise Blog, gave a very good speech at The Citadel today in which he laid out a clear vision of his foreign policy. Click on the link below to read Thiessen's comments and some of the highlights of Romney's speech. Here's some good news for our troops:

"I will reverse President Obama’s massive defense cuts. Time and again, we have seen that attempts to balance the budget by weakening our military only lead to a far higher price, not only in treasure, but in blood … I will reverse the hollowing of our Navy and announce an initiative to increase the shipbuilding rate from 9 per year to 15. I will begin reversing Obama-era cuts to national missile defense and prioritize the full deployment of a multilayered national ballistic missile defense system."

And this: "If you do not want America to be the strongest nation on Earth, I am not your president. You have that president today."

Romney’s Very Good Foreign Policy Address

Here's a video of parts of the speech:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPwefHuAw5E&feature=player_embedded

Michael Ledeen: Iranians in Syria

PJTV's Dr. Micahel Ledeen, in the below video, talks about the invasion of Syria by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and how they are helping Bashar al-Assad kill his own people because the fall of the Syrian despot could cause the fall of their theocratic Islamic Republic back home.

http://www.pjtv.com/?cmd=mpg&mpid=174&load=6130

The Islamization of Turkey IV

Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum and a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, wrote a piece today at National Review Online titled: Is Turkey Going Rogue? You might surmise from the title that Professor Pipes thinks there are big problems with Turkey. He does. Here are some of the problems he highlights in today's article:

When four out of five of the Turkish chiefs of staff abruptly resigned on July 29, 2011, they signaled the effective end of the republic founded in 1923 by Kemal Atatürk.

Ironically, secular Turks tend to be more anti-Western than the AKP (the party in power).

Turkey faces a credit crunch, one largely ignored in light of crises in Greece and elsewhere. As analyst David Goldman points out, Erdoğan (pictured above) and the AKP took the country on a financial binge: Bank credit ballooned while the current account deficit soared, reaching unsustainable levels.

Some 15–20 percent of Turkey’s citizens identify as Kurds, a distinct historical people; although many Kurds are integrated, a separatist revolt against Ankara that began in 1984 has recently reached a new crescendo...

In the tradition of Gamal Abdel Nasser and Saddam Hussein, the Turkish prime minister deploys anti-Zionist rhetoric to make himself an Arab political star. One shudders to think where, thrilled by this adulation, he may end up.

As economic troubles hit, a once-exemplary member of NATO may go further off track; watch for signs of Erdoğan emulating his Venezuelan friend, Hugo Chávez.

There are a number of other reasons that lead Pipes to consider a rogue Turkey "the region's greatest threat." You can read his entire article by clicking on the link below.

Is Turkey Going Rogue? - Daniel Pipes - National Review Online


For earlier posts on Turkey, click on "Turkey" in the Labels below.

The Palestinian Myth is Just That - A Myth

Sol Stern writing at National Review Online today exposed the total myth of the plight of the Palestinians, who will try to set the Middle East on fire tomorrow by calling for a vote on Palestinian statehood.

Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, wrote an op-ed in the New York Times last May titled “The Long Overdue Palestinian State.”

From Stern (emphasis added):

In his Times op-ed, Abbas also wrote, “Minutes after the State of Israel was established on May 14, 1948, the United States granted it recognition. Our Palestinian state, however, remains a promise unfulfilled.” Abbas didn’t explain how any country could have recognized a United Nations–designated Palestinian state that the Palestinians and the Arab states themselves rejected. The Arab Higher Committee (AHC) was the recognized representative of the Palestinian people at the time of the U.N. partition vote. The Zionists accepted the partition plan. The AHC and the Arab states rejected any proposal to share the land and vowed to drown the fledgling Jewish state in “rivers of blood.”

Following instructions from the AHC, Palestinian militias and volunteers from neighboring Arab countries began attacking Jewish settlements after the U.N. partition plan was announced in November 1947. The irregular Arab units were ordered to take strategic strongholds and hold on until the expected invasion of Israel by regular Arab armies after the British withdrawal on May 14, 1948. What happened in Safed was typical of the bloody inter-communal warfare that soon convulsed the country. Elements of the Arab Liberation Army — the main Palestinian armed force — plus Jordanian irregular units, entered Safed’s Arab neighborhoods and began sporadic attacks on the Jewish quarter. Facing a full-scale invasion of Galilee by the Syrian and Jordanian regular armies, Jewish military commanders couldn’t afford to have armed Palestinian units behind their lines. On the night of May 8, reinforcements from the Palmach, the elite Jewish strike force, counterattacked and took the key Arab strongholds in the city. Almost immediately, Safed’s Arabs began streaming out toward the Syrian border. There were no expulsions of Arab civilians by Israeli forces.

The entire Sol Stern piece can be viewed by clicking on the link below:
The Palestinian Big Lie - Sol Stern - National Review Online

This should not be a tough vote for us (but it will be): if we vote for Palestinian statehood, the Obama administration will be continuing its sordid treatment of our greatest ally in the Middle East; if we vote against it, the other Arab nations will be furious and make all kinds of threats against Israel (and us). There's only one right thing to do: vote for truth.

"Egyptian PM: Peace deal with Israel not sacred." Uh Oh!

Looks like the first fruits from The Arab Spring are not good news for our friends in Israel. Robert Spencer posted this piece at Jihad Watch today. Here's part of it:

CAIRO - Egypt's Prime Minister Essam Sharaf said a peace deal with Israel was not "sacred" and could be changed for the benefit of peace or the region.

"The Camp David agreement is not a sacred thing and is always open to discussion with what would benefit the region and the case of fair peace ... and we could make a change if needed," he said in the interview.

Mustapha al-Sayyid, a professor of politics, said Sharaf's comments appeared to be aimed more at boosting Egyptian security on the border with Israel, rather than abrogating it altogether, but Spencer calls that "wishful thinking."

Turkey Suspends Defense Ties With Israel

Erdogan just won't let it go.

From Jihad Watch two hours ago:

Turkey to step up naval patrols in waters where Israeli navy operates

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/09/turkish-pm-suspends-all-defense-ties-with-israel-promises-this-process-will-be-followed-by-different.html

Robert Spencer: Islam is islamism

Robert Spencer of Jihadwatch.org posted this must read piece on his website on Saturday. He called it: Islam versus Islamism -- a distinction without a difference? These short clips pretty much summarize his thesis:

"The Quran says that Muslims are fated to rule the world, and everyone in it. While Jesus of Christianity says, "My Kingdom is not of this world," Muslims are explicitly commanded to do otherwise, to remake the world into an Islamic kingdom and all religion is for Allah (Quran 8:39). In other words, the Quran is an inherently political document. Consequently, there is no separation between mosque and state in core Islamic texts. In traditional Islam, dating back to the time of its prophet, the spiritual and the political are one.

"Drawing distinctions between Islam and its corresponding '-ism' is a false dichotomy. There is no political Islam, no 'Islamism', no 'Islamists' -- there are only Islam and Muslims. The so-called 'radical', 'fundamentalist' or 'militant' Muslims, the 'Islamists', and indeed the terrorists, are the ones faithfully practicing the dictum of Islam, exactly as Islam's founder intended."

Click below for the entire piece.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/09/islam-versus-islamism----a-distinction-without-a-difference-1.html

The Islamization of Turkey III

Caroline Glick, Israel's Iron Lady, points out how Turkey is once again trying to ingratiate herself with the Islamic world. Prime Minister Erdogan has practically neutered the military that has, since the days of Ataturk, been charged with maintaining the secular government of the country, and he continues to move the country closer and closer to an Islamic Republic. That's bad news for our closest ally in that part of the world, and bad news for us.

Listen to Turkey's latest unprovoked attempt to embarrass the Israelis for no apparent reason:

"Monday morning Turkey took its anti-Israel campaign to a new level. Beyond downgrading diplomatic relations with Israel; beyond suspending military agreements; beyond threatening naval war; beyond threatening to foment an irredentist insurrection of Israeli Arabs; the Turks decided to terrorize Israeli tourists landing in Istanbul airport.

"Forty Israeli passengers, mainly businessmen who had landed in Istanbul on a Turkish Airlines flight from Tel Aviv, were separated from the rest of the flight passengers. Their passports were confiscated.

"They were placed in interrogation rooms and stripped down to their underwear. Their carry-on bags were checked. And then they were lined up against a wall, forbidden to sit down or use the washroom.

"Passengers who contacted the Foreign Ministry said they felt frightened and intimidated.

"The ordeal went on for 90 minutes, until Turkish authorities returned their Israeli passports and permitted them to pick up their suitcases and exit the airport."

Click the link below to read the entire article.

http://www.carolineglick.com/e/2011/09/turkeys-chosen-scapegoat.php


For previous posts on this subject go HERE and HERE.


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Ron Paul: Clueless and Dangerous

It's time to stop saying "anybody but Obama." That's not to say that any of the candidates would be worse than Obama, but there is one (maybe more) who would be just as bad - at least as far as knowing our enemy. How's this for an idiotic statement by Ron Paul?

“I don’t see Islam as our enemy. I see that motivation is occupation and those who hate us and would like to kill us, they are motivated by our invasion of their land, the support of their dictators that they hate.”

As Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch said after reading that quote of Ron Paul:

Yes. When Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, “Have no doubt... Allah willing, Islam will conquer what? It will conquer all the mountain tops of the world,” he was just upset about the U.S. invasion of Iran.

If we put one more man in the White House (we've already had two) who want to tell us that Islam is a "religion of peace," we will be in bigger trouble than we already are.

To read more of what Robert Spencer had to say about Ron Paul on his website: Jihadwatch.org, click on the link below.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/08/ron-paul-those-who-hate-us-and-would-like-to-kill-us-they-are-motivated-by-our-invasion-of-their-lan.html

Have the Turks Been Brainwashed? Were we?

Claire Berlinski, in her post yesterday at Ricochet.com sounds like she might be getting a little more concerned about the future of Turkey (where she's been living for some time) than she was in this prior post.

To view all prior posts on Turkey, click on the label "Turkey" below.

Claire Berlinski: Huge News From Turkey

Claire Berlinski, who lives in Istanbul and writes for City Journal and many other publications, and edits Ricochet.com, just posted this at Ricochet:

Huge News From Turkey: Highest Ranking Military Officers Resign
Claire Berlinski, Ed. · 24 minutes ago
This just came across the transom:

Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Işık Koşaner announced his resignation Friday afternoon.

His resignation was followed by the resignations of Turkey's Land, Sea and Air Force commanders.

I don't yet know what this means or what the implications will be, but obviously it's a very big deal.

It would be difficult to think this is anything but bad news - very bad news - for Israel (and us), as it appears to be yet another step away from the reforms put in place by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923, and a step closer to The Islamic Republic of Turkey.

For prior posts on this scary topic go Here and Here.

Gaza Flotilla Peace Activists: Bad Guy of the Week

(Click to enlarge)

The Bloggers at The Captain and the Kid just posted their "Bad Guy of the Week," which they do each Wednesday.

Their post is HERE, and the referenced article by Mario Loyola of National Review Online is HERE.

Israel's Only Two Options

Judea and Samaria Area is the official Israeli term roughly corresponding to the area usually known outside Israel as the West Bank; it also includes the Israeli settlements there that are not governed as part of Jerusalem.

Caroline Glick is convinced, in the face of the Palestinian bid to sidestep negotiations with Israel and have the UN General Assembly recognize Palestinian sovereignty over Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem in addition to Gaza, that there are only two options for Israel: (1) Either the Palestinians will take control of Judea and Samaria, or (2) Israel will annex them.

She's further convinced (and who would argue with her?) that "If the Palestinians take control, they will establish a terror state in the areas, which - like their terror state in Gaza - will use its territory as a starting point for continued war against Israel."

Every day gets a little scarier for the only democracy in the Middle East - especially since she appears to be all but abandoned by her former best friend in the West.

To read Caroline Glick's essay on the options, click on the link below.

Israel"s only two options

Big Win for Secretary of State

From CNSNews.com (emphasis added):

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday that the State Department played an instrumental role in “sealing the deal” for pop-rock star Lady Gaga to perform at a gay pride rally in Rome, Italy.

“And then there is the work that our embassy team in Rome has been doing,” Clinton said. “Two weeks ago they played an instrumental role in bringing Lady Gaga to Italy for a Euro Pride concert.

Mrs. Clinton made the remarks at the State Department at a celebration of LGBT Pride Month co-hosted by the department and Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies (GLIFAA), a group that, according to its website, “represents lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) personnel and their families in the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Foreign Commercial Service, Foreign Agricultural Service, and other foreign affairs agencies and offices in the U.S. Government.”

OK, how many of us knew there was such an organization as Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies (GLIFAA)? And, how many members of that group were hired for their government jobs since January 2009?

Here's the whole story from CNSNews.com.