Making Matters Worse

The first hurricane of the 2010 season made landfall about 100 miles south of the US-Mexican border, thus hampering the clean-up of the gulf oil spill.

From the Seattle Times:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2012240909_apustropicalweather.html

More Talks with the Usual Suspects

Continuing with the theme of ditching allies and patronizing thugocracies, Obama Administration officials are supposedly talking with representatives from Hamas, but don't want these talks publicly broadcast, lest it upsets "the Jewish lobby."

YNet News, has the story:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3910714,00.html

What Obama's cronies don't realize is that this "Jewish lobby" consists of us gentiles who support the only democracy in the middle east.  A democracy that isn't hell-bent on attacking the U.S.

"Provacative Action," but not Terrorism

(Pictured above is the salvaged portion of the S. Korean frigate, Cheonan, sunk by a N. Korean torpedo)

Once again, the Obama Administration turns its back on an ally.  This time by declining to put North Korea on the U.S. blacklist of countries sponsoring terrorism.

From the San Luis Obispo's The Tribune:

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2010/06/28/1196302/us-sinking-of-skorean-warship.html?storylink=mirelated 

Somehow I don't think the condolence letters mailed to South Korean families said their sons died of a "provocation."

The Russian Bear Doesn't Change It's Fur After All

Ten people were rounded-up the other day and charged with spying for Mother Russia.  News agencies ask if this is return of the Cold War.  Most of us like-minded folks feel the chill never really left in the first place. 

From CBS:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/28/world/main6627393.shtml?tag=topnews

While the Daily News has photos of "spy vixen" Anna Chapman:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/06/29/2010-06-29_untitled__2spies29m.html

The friend who sent us this news story had this to say:

But....but...Russia is our friend! We hit the Reset Button and everything!

Yeah, we're reset back to pre-1989.

Our Dear Leader Continues to Fiddle...

...or play golf, while oil continues to spew into the Gulf of Mexico, Iran and North Korea continue with their nuclear program, Russia continues to bully it's neighbors, while the Taliban becomes resurgent in Afghanistan.

It's not that we expect the President of the United States to personally scrub oil-covered wildlife, but the federal government shouldn't hinder state and local clean up efforts either.  Not to mention turning down help from our allies, some who've had extensive experience in off-shore drilling.

Mark Steyn rolls-in on our "unengaged" President:

http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/obama-255034-one-president.html

I certainly agree with Mark on this one.  The press should have asked serious questions about Obama's qualifications for the most powerful office in the world right from the beggining.  Instead most news agencies prostituted themselves as his cheerleading section, and now, Ministry of Propaganda.

Iranian "3 Hour Tour" Delayed/Cancelled

(Image of the SS Minnow from Gilligan's Island).

Apparently the Iranian attempt to run the Isreali blockade has been delayed or cancelled.

From Ricochet:

http://ricochet.com/conversations/Iran-Ship-to-Gaza-Cancelled

From Time Live:

http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/article512971.ece/Iran-aid-flotilla-to-Gaza-delayed

Five days ago, a high amount of message traffic was exchanged over the story of a US carrier battle group entered the Red Sea:

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/138164

I read 3 articles on it yesterday when I saw it linked on Drudge - not a single one made it clear which direction they were headed! I thought they  were going to the Med (low interest) but maybe they are heading to the IO/AS/PG?  My admiration for the press knows no bounds (or really even existence) for their godawful reporting!


According to USN press releases the strike group deployed on 21 May and according to NAVCENT's website the carrier entered the 5th Fleet AOR on 18 June to relieve the Eisenhower's strike group. In other words, it is simply part of the normal rotation.

It's always fun when bloggers and people in the media get excited about routine deployments because they are too lazy to look up the facts. Two years ago there was similar drill. Some people got all excited about a possible strike on Iran because there was a French Rafale squadron doing workups with the TR's airwing off the East Coast and she was going to deploy to 5th Fleet with a French ship and British ship as part of her battle group. The thinking was that Washington, Paris, and London had finally had it with Iran and the TR with its airwing plussed up by a French squadron with allied ships in tow was heading to the AOR to kick some tail. Reality was of course a lot less interesting - our strike groups deploy with allied ships all of the time and the French squadron operating off the TR was there to do their annual qualifications because the Charles De Gaulle was in refit and it didn't deploy with the group.

There was some of this pre-2003...everytime a convoy of ships went somewhere, usually as part of an UNREP or other maritime replenishment of stocks, the blogs would freak and go "whoa, hey...."

Interesting this is raising so much hoo hah. Sometimes I suspect it reflects wishful thinking of the blogger/analyst rather than anything meaningful. As was pointed out, a lot of it is just reflective of how lame reporting is these days--these guys (and gals) seem to lack basic journalistic skills.

This Blog--And Most of the Internet--are Blasphemous

(Image from caglecartoons.com)

Pakistan will be monitoring several websites in an attempt to block "blasphemous material." From Yahoo News:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100625/ap_on_hi_te/as_pakistan

The sites listed in the article represent a large chunk of the internet.  But one of my friends noticed "...they don't seem to be blocking any porn sites..."

I guess you can take extremism only so far.

Nemisis Takes Aim (Again)

Once again, Victor Davis Hanson (VDH), calls forth Nemisis.  This isn't the first time VDH pointed out that a lot of Obama's campaign rhetoric is coming back to bite him. 

And this isn't the first time I've used the above image either.  I prefer the Xena: Warrior Princess version of the vengeful goddess than the classic one.

http://article.nationalreview.com/437029/saving-obama-from-himself/victor-davis-hanson

My How Times Have Changed

Remember this hit piece, pictured above?

After General McChrystal's comments about Obama and his administration to Rolling Stone Magazine, Petraeus is now called back to help set things right in Afghanistan.  From Yahoo News:

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/109922/general-mcchrystals-next-job?mod=career-leadership

Victor Davis Hanson adds his scholarly view of this chain-of-command shake-up:

http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/cracked-chrystal/

During Bush the Younger's administration, General Shinseki was praised for "speaking truth to power" when the general criticized the president over proposed troop strength in Iraq.  Now Obama is praised for "taking bold action" for removing an outspoken general.

Happy Father's Day!

As if Islamofacism Weren't Enough to Worry About

Chinese generals and admirals have been giving our flag officers a tongue lashing.  Gordon Chang discusses Sino-US relations and China's looming threat in Pajamas Media:

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/china%E2%80%99s-military-threatens-america-we-will-hurt-you/

I've often wondered about our country's wishy-washiness towards the PRC, especially since their hackers continually try to infiltrate our computer systems, not to mention stealing our nuclear secrets.

Chang's article garnered a couple of comments from my friends:

The Navy leadership ought to read their own scholarly publication, Naval War College Review (AKA “We’re Gonna Go to War with China Eventually” Magazine)

Why would the Chinese need to pop a nuke. They could just dump all of the US treasury bills they hold. It would hurt their economy but it would pretty much wreck ours...

Kind of like cashing in their chips all at once.

Blabbing to WikiLeaks

(Image:  WikiLeaks logo)

Last week Specialist Bradley Manning was arrested for leaking a bunch of material to the website known as "WikiLeaks."

Here's one of the initial stories from the Washington Post (WaPo):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/07/AR2010060702381.html

Ralph Peters, the former US Army intelligence officer, rolls-in on the issue of leaking government secrets, and the "Wikileaker" in particular.  From the NY Post:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/the_wikileaker_and_the_white_house_5wjrb0VLR1WSfVzQRE5G5O

One of my friends cited Ralph's comment:

"I don't care if leakers of classified info are Democrats or Republicans, military or civilian. Leaking classified documents is treason. So is publishing them."

Then he had this to say:

As I said before, there in lies the problem - to people in the political class on both sides leakers are a useful tool to make the administration in power look bad and they can easily hold them up as heroes who speak truth to power.

To which Comrade Karla responded:

The fact that both parties use this is why nothing substantive will get done. The side effect is piddling little sentences for people who should go away for life or get the chair/noose/firing squad.

Iran Planning to Run the Gaza Blockade

(Image:  The former "Linda" renamed the "Rachel Corrie," after the American gal who got herself run over by an Israeli bulldozer, for its mission as a Gaza blockade runner)

Iranian ships, supposedly caring aid supplies, are reported to be en-route to Gaza:

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE65D0HG.htm

Most of my friends' responses where of the humorous variety, like about how crowded these ships would be with 100,000 Iranians on board.  But one did make an excellent point:

I do agree with the VDH article earlier that the net result of this will be to remove all constraints on Israeli action – it is much the same as how Obama’s “zero nuclear weapons” policy will almost inevitably lead to the worst proliferation breakout the world has yet seen.

Meanwhile, Ralph Peters takes a look at Turkey's role in this escalating issue.  From the NY Post:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/dc_turkish_denial_j3JmVrSXVlSdMsgy9nhbTN

Mark Steyn's been on the road.  However, here's what he's picked up during his travels:

http://www.steynonline.com/content/view/3397/26/

Happy Flag Day!

The origins of Flag Day:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_Day_(United_States)

Helen Thomas's Cheerleaders

Helen Thomas, the discraced columnist, formerly of the White House Press Corps, gained some cheerleaders--Hezbollah.  Ynet has the news snippet:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3902914,00.html

Here's Ms. Thomas's comments that has Hezbollah cheering and her supporters in the US making excuses for her age, experience, etc, blah-blah-blah:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Kx8t6uW9Nk

Victor Davis Hanson (VDH), examines today's avant garde anti-semitism:

http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/hanson061310B.html

Meanwhile, at college campuses across the US, faculty members add their 2 dinars to denounce Israel.  From Campus Watch:

http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/9704

And speaking of campus faculty, VDH rolls-in on the Obama Administration's "Government by Faculty Lounge:"

http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/government-by-the-faculty-lounge/

The Islamic Way--to a Greener World

The other day Prince Charles suggested we follow the Islamic way in order to save the planet from ecological destruction:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1285332/Follow-Islamic-way-save-world-Charles-urges-environmentalists.html

Um, the first thing HRH will have to do if he follows the Islamic way will be giving up on sampling the local vintages.
He"...spoke in depth about his own study of the Koran which, he said, tells its followers that there is 'no separation between man and nature' and says we must always live within our environment's limits."


Um, has he considered the environment from whence the Koran was written? It's still pretty much the same as it was in the 7th Century--a dismal example of Muslims' stewardship of the earth...

Actually, the Middle East was once quite lush. It was killed through over irrigating, cutting down trees, over grazing, etc. Granted, a lot of that was pre-Islam, but certainly a lot of it wasn't!


Unfortunately, this will appeal to the warmists and other enviro-nutters who think earth would be a fine place if it weren’t for those damned humans.  I wonder if he even has a clue what “Islamic spiritual principles” are? He should work for the Foreign Office, with an attitude like this.

Obama Pledges $400 Million to Hamas...

The Obama Administration continues to back our enemies and the enemies of our allies.  The Paleostinians will be collecting $400 million from the US:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jun/9/palestinians-get-400-million-in-us-aid/

"...an Israeli raid that thwarted a Turkish-led flotilla carrying aid supplies toward Gaza last week led to international protests over the blockade, which Mr. Obama has called “unsustainable.”"


Unsustainable? Why? Did Hamas sink the entire Israeli Navy? As long as Israel has warships, it sounds like the blockade is very sustainable.

And speaking of blockades, it looks like Hamas is very picky on how relief supplies reach the needy in Gaza:

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/293139

This goes to show that it isn't about helping the needy, it's about instigating a military/political confrontation.

Packaged Jihad

The FBI reports a jihadi blogger called for a "suspicious package jihad" to be waged in New York City and Washington, DC.  The goal of this is to desensitize and frustrate first responders and to increase public anxiety over taking mass transit.

ABC News has the story:

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/jihadi-calls-suspicious-bags-left-dc-nyc/story?id=10826590&page=1

Meanwhile, the Oil is Still Flowing--and Not in a Good Way

On 20 April an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, exploded, burned and sank with the loss of several workers.  Unfortunately this tragedy has yet to end.  British Petroleum (BP), the owners of the rig have been trying to staunch the flow of oil spewing from the broken well line--with no success.  Now millions of gallons of crude oil has polluted America's Gulf Coast beaches, and if the leak continues, could affect the east coast, thanks to the Gulf Stream.

Pundits and critics have also been discussing the Obama Administration's lackluster response to this and calling it "Obama's Katrina."

Fox News has a running time line of this disaster:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/28/disaster-gulf-days-counting/

2nd Blockade Run Thwarted

The Israeli Navy managed to stop the M/V (Marine Vessel) "Rachel Corrie" from running their blockage of the Gaza coast:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/06/05/israeli-forces-board-gaza-bound-aid-vessel/

This operation was much more subdued than the boarding of the M/V "Mavi Marmara," earlier this week.  Mark Steyn comments on how liberal activists all remember Rachel Corrie, the American woman who got herself run over by an Israeli bulldozer; but none of them remember Rachel Thaler, a 16-year old British girl who died from wounds suffered in a suicide-bomb attack:

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MjJlOGY3OGY3YWQ4MjYyMjVhNjYwODIzM2YwNWU5N2E=

Gaza "Peace Activists" Ready to Strike Again

Another "Gaza Flotilla" is ready to run the Israeli blockade.  From The Seattle Times:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2012030160_apeufreegazagroup.html

Here's what the distinguished Charles Krauthammer said about "those troublesome Jews" in the Washington Post (WP):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/03/AR2010060304287.html 

Barry Rubin discusses Turkey's role in sponsoring this "peace initiative," along with other recent actions.  From Pajamas Media:

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/its-not-about-the-flotilla-turkey-changed-sides-years-ago/ 

While we're waiting to see what happens to the second Gaza "Love Boat," a couple friends posted some comments about Turkey:


Carter-Iran 1979
Obama-Turkey 2011

Scary stuff. I do agree that the U.S. did not lose Turkey -- the Turks lost Turkey and they are going to pay for it eventually. Until then, they will cherish delusions of the rise of a new Ottoman Empire AKA the Caliphate (the latter will be an unspoken ideal with the core Islamists).
I think it is safe to say the Turkey will NEVER get in the EU now (not that I can see anyone wanting to!)

The issue isn't who lost Turkey, as you say, Turkey lost itself. It is acknowledging that Turkey is lost and figuring out what to do next.

Damn the Israelis and Full Speed Ahead...

...or whatever.

(Image downloaded from the Middle East Media Research Institute [MEMRI] who, in turn, obtained it from a Yemeni website).

While Americans were honoring Memorial Day, a flotilla of alleged humanitarian activists tried to run the Israeli blockade around Gaza.

Ralph Peters points out, in the NY Post, the condemnation of Israel from the "usual suspects" dwarfs any concern over Iran or North Korea:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/turkish_blood_bath_Jean7yjj5Salz75brRSsMJ

Victor Davis Hanson (VDH) follows through and points out some of this century's recent atrocities that the world did very little about, and yet, is going full steam ahead to condemn Israel:

http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson060110.html

And Bare Naked Islam has some photos of "impliments of peace" used by the Gaza Yatch Club Members, along with their terrorist affiliations:

http://barenakedislam.wordpress.com/2010/06/02/40-of-the-detained-peace-activists-from-the-gaza-flotilla-are-actually-al-qaeda-terrorists/

MEMRI's Report #2990 details the martyrdom preparations made by some of these alleged activists:

http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4265.htm

Meanwhile, FOX News reports another ship, set sail from Malta and is supposedly en-route to Gaza:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/06/03/second-aid-ship-reportedly-headed-gaza/?test=latestnews


One of my friends made an extensive comment on this:

I really wonder about the extent to which the TGS [Turkish General Staff] can influence domestic politics in Turkey anymore. Granted, I know NOTHING about Turkey but we all saw the reaction from people who should know better when the Honduran military stepped in (at the behest of their legislature and courts if memory serves) to support and defend their consitution against an executive who was trying to set himself as president for life.


The manner in which the TGS has served as a backstop for secular democracy in Turkey may not be textbook democratic politics or civil-military relations but I tend not to question things that work and in a country like Turkey where democratic institutions are not as strong as they are elsewhere, I've always viewed the situation as imperfect but necessary and better than the alternatives.

I can just see the reaction from the usual suspects from the White House on down if the TGS stepped in at some point to put the ship back on even keel. We'd here all sorts of blather about the military destorying Turkey's fragile democracy and how that sort of behavior just doesn't fly in the 21st century, blah, blah, blah, blah...

To which Comrade Karla replied:

Good points—the people I worked with in the 80s, especially those involved with the Turkish aspects of NATO, well understood the role of the TGS; however, the current admin will sh*t in their pants if the TGS does what they’ve done in the past, that is act as the guarantor of secular democracy. It might be too late; the TGS could still act but not with the effectiveness it might have had 5 or 6 years ago when this bozo took office and started sending out serious warning signs—that were largely ignored, IMO.