Israel speechless at Zbig's plan to protect Iran

JERUSALEM – Both the Israeli government and the military here refused to respond to comments by Zbigniew Brzezinski, the national security adviser during the administration of President Jimmy Carter, who said the U.S. should confront Israeli jets if that nation chooses to take military action against Iran's nuclear installations. ....

Hamas-linked CAIR: Jump. Pennsylvania school district: How high?

by Robert Spencer

Dhimmitude and ignorance from a Pennsylvania public school district. At the slightest hint of pressure, most individuals and groups who find themselves in this position cave in faster than you can say "Islamophobia" -- and most of the time, as in this case, they don't make the slightest effort to verify whether or not the pressure group's claims are true. "CAIR: Penn. High School Drops Anti-Islam 'Obsession' Video," a CAIR press release, September 22 (thanks to James):

Civil rights group calls film 'vehicle for promoting anti-Muslim bigotry'
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-PA) announced today that a high school in that state has dropped an anti-Islam video listed for use in one of its classes.
Earlier this month, CAIR-PA sent a letter to the superintendent of the Council Rock School District expressing concerns about a hate-filled video, "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West," listed in the syllabus of a course at Council Rock High School in Newtown, Penn.

In her letter, CAIR-PA Director of Civil Rights Marwa El-Turky wrote in part:
"'Obsession' is a vehicle for promoting anti-Muslim bigotry that seeks to blur the distinction between violent extremism and mainstream Islam. The use of such an inaccurate and inflammatory film in a world history class would inevitably result in both the promotion of stereotypes and the creation of a hostile learning environment for Muslim students.
"The hate-filled agenda promoted by the film has been repudiated by the Hate Hurts America Multifaith Community Coalition (HHA), a group of religious and civic organizations seeking to challenge hate speech in our society... Those interviewed in Obsession constitute a veritable who's who of Muslim-bashers. SEE: http://www.obsessionwithhate.com/

". . .this film is obviously not suitable teaching material for a captive audience of impressionable youth. We therefore respectfully ask that 'Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West' be dropped from the curriculum and that representatives of the local Muslim community be invited to offer balanced and accurate information about Islam and the American Muslim experience."

These are all highly debatable claims. Did Superintendent of Schools Mark J. Klein seek to verify CAIR's (false) claim that Obsession "seeks to blur the distinction between violent extremism and mainstream Islam"? In fact, the movie bends over backwards not to blur that distinction -- so much so that some say it errs too much on the other side, giving viewers the impression that the Islamic jihad globally is just the property of a few nuts, and is condemned and actively opposed by the vast majority of Muslims. Did Klein receive this claim from CAIR and investigate it? Or did he receive it and immediately move to accommodate these thugs and bullies, without giving it a moment's thought?

In his response to CAIR-PA's concerns, Superintendent of Schools Mark J. Klein noted that the course was eliminated from the curriculum for the 2008-2009 school year and that, "Along with the elimination of this course, we will represent to you that this film will not be used in any other course in Council Rock."

"We appreciate the school district's prompt and appropriate response and hope that any future courses touching on Islam will use accurate and balanced educational materials," said El-Turky....

"Balanced." Does Mark J. Klein really want CAIR to decide what is a balanced curriculum? Does Mark J. Klein know or care that CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, is an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case -- so named by the Justice Department? Does he know or care that CAIR operatives have repeatedly refused to denounce Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist groups? Does he know or care that several former CAIR officials have been convicted of various crimes related to jihad terror? Does he know or care that CAIR's cofounder and longtime Board chairman (Omar Ahmad), as well as its chief spokesman (Honest Ibe Hooper), have made Islamic supremacist statements?

Cops use stun gun twice on unarmed amputee

(Analyst's note:  Maybe it is just me, but I really tire of seeing this weapon misused time after time by our own police forces -- troubling.)

New York jihad plot: Authorities know of "three distinct teams of four men each"

(Analyst's note:  Absolutely must read.)

from Jihad Watch

An update on this story. "Active Terror Cell Prepared NYC Attack, Officials Say," by Brian Ross, Richard Esposito, Clayton Sandell, and Megan Chuchmach for ABC News, September 21:

After overnight arrests this weekend in the alleged New York terror plot, FBI agents believe an active terror cell directed by al Qaeda was preparing an attack on New York City, and authorities say they have yet to identify everyone involved.

Officials tell ABC News they know of three distinct teams of four men each, but there may be others linked to the plot that remain unidentified.

Law enforcement agents say they're watching a number of people on round-the-clock surveillance who they suspect might have been part of the alleged terror cell. [...]

Court records show [Najibullah] Zazi ran up more than $50,000 in debt on 20 credit cards, leading to concerns he was preparing for a suicide mission. He declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Mar. 2009, and while he told investigators he had been traveling to Pakistan see his wife, he checked the "not married" box on his application form....

Uh, whoops.

Cap and Trade: The Wall Street Tax

(Analyst's note:  Absolutely must read and carefully consider.)

by Rep. Michele Bachmann

The cap and trade national energy tax is being sold to the American people as a free-market answer to environmental problems. Dressed in green as it is, people are led to believe that it was a scheme hatched by the environmentally conscious. The truth is that cap and trade is a product of the very same minds that gave us subprime loans and market bubbles, credit default swaps and the financial meltdown. Cap and trade is actually a child of Wall Street. But, nowadays, that doesn’t help in the marketing, does it?

Cap and trade is based on government setting a cap on the total amount of carbon that can be emitted nationally. Companies will then be allowed to buy or sell permits to emit carbon dioxide. So, at a time when Congress is already grappling with the appropriate solution for restructuring our nation’s financial regulatory system, Congress also wants to simultaneously introduce a new, and potentially the largest, commodity market into the mix? As Tyson Slocum, director of energy for Public Citizen, has stated, “You have to ask yourself if it is wise policy to create a new derivatives market on the heels of the collapse of derivatives markets.”

Some environmental watch groups who support the climate change goals of cap and trade have withheld support for the legislation in part because they know that the financial risked posed by this piece of legislation would shake an already volatile financial market. In a recent report, Friends of the Earth warned that the U.S. carbon market could be the next “subprime market” since it carries the same high-risk characteristics. Their report notes that the high risk comes from the fact that carbon credits can be sold before credits are officially issued. As they become more and more scarce, as the legislation guarantees year after year, these new financial products with essentially no actual value will increase in price. The report continues to warn that this provides the potential for speculators to push up market prices, which will “create a bubble and spur the development of subprime assets,” setting the stage for another potential financial meltdown.

They have good reason to worry. After all, the very same people who created the risky financial products which contributed to our financial collapse helped create and then promote cap and trade. And, those very same institutions will be selling carbon credits on Wall Street. Cap and trade’s creator, Goldman Sachs, which is reported to have spent $3.5 million to lobby on climate issues last year, envisioned it as a tax imposed by Washington with the revenues collected by private interests.

According to the Washington Post, Enron – which has gained a more notorious public reputation than most others in corporate America, was one of cap and trade’s chief promoters because they believed it would bring them a major financial windfall. In an internal memo, according to the Post, Enron stated that the Kyoto Agreement, which would regulate energy use, would “do more to promote Enron’s business than almost any other regulatory initiative outside of restructuring the energy and gas industries in Europe and the United States.” When the Kyoto Agreement failed, Enron executives pushed hard for the implementation of a cap and trade policy.

As hedge fund director Michael Masters told Rolling Stone in its article, The Great American Bubble Machine, “We’re saying that Wall Street can set the tax and Wall Street can collect the tax.” The author of that article, Matt Taibbi, remarks that, “This is worse than the bailout: It allows the bank to seize taxpayer money before it’s even collected.” (Emphasis is the original author’s.)

Of course, with the creation of this new market also comes the creation of a new bureaucracy. Bart Chilton, commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) estimates that it “could be a $2 trillion market within five years.” And, to handle that expansion and meet its responsibilities to police the new futures market for allowances, the CFTC would have to expand its workforce by at least 31%. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which would be overseeing day-to-day trading, would also have to expand its workforce by 20-30%.

Not to be outdone, the EPA would have to grow to go from regulating 330 million tons of pollution each year to 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions from nearly 7,500 facilities. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the cost of the expanded government alone would be $8 billion over 10-years. It would require about 1500 new regulations and mandates under 21 or more federal agencies.

It is interesting that the same lawmakers who are continuously blaming Wall Street for the financial meltdown are the lead cheerleaders for Wall Street’s plan to buy and sell carbon credits. Perhaps they have bought their own hype and truly believe that this is a plan for climate change. But, the American people are beginning to see through all that. When so many analyses and reports conclude that cap and trade will only result in negligible – if any – changes in the earth’s climate, the American people wonder who is really benefitting from the extra tax they are paying?

Michele Bachmann represents Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Mexico-USA Flights See Increased Security Measures

Mexican federal police will intensify security measures on flights inbound to the United States from Mexico at the request of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, according to press reports in Mexico.

Who’s Really Threatening Obama?

by Cliff Kincaid

.... This disinformation effort needs to be analyzed carefully to understand where the real threat to Obama may actually lie. If scribbling like that of Boehlert is taken seriously, Obama’s life could be put more in jeopardy from the real extremists, who are on the left and in the Islamic camp. ....

Rifqa Bary, Islam, Muslims, Shar’iah, and Apostasy (Part Two of Two)

by M. Zuhdi Jasser

If global Muslim Brotherhood icons cannot be criticized frankly and openly as I did in my visit to Noor, reform will never become a reality. ....

Audio - 'Elite level' terror plot in progress? Terrorism expert: Upcoming events in NYC may have prompted urgent arrests

MI6 to train Gadhafi's guards Libyan strongman claims he's target for al-Qaida

Islamic rally on Capitol clouded by organizer's terror ties As 50,000 Muslims prepare for D.C. event, leader's history questioned

Another Obama program caught in undercover sting 'Milk it, baby – It's free money'

Feds unsure if arrest of Najibullah Zazi and two others has foiled al-Qaeda terror plot

BY James Gordon Meek In Washington and Rocco Parascandola and Alison Gendar

Federal agents from Denver and New York to Pakistan are still racing to solve an Al Qaeda bomb plot, unsure whether the arrest of three suspects has put the terror gang out of business.

"They're still looking," a senior counterterror official told the Daily News. As to whether they have identified all the conspirators, "nobody knows the answer for sure," the official said.

FBI arrest documents showed prime suspect Najibullah Zazi, 25, an Afghan, visited the city from Colorado on the 9/11 anniversary carrying a laptop with bomb-making notes he wrote. Specific attack plans or targets remain unknown, a Justice Department statement said.

Zazi was collared in Aurora, Colo., near Denver, by the FBI on Saturday night and was charged with lying about the bomb notes. He'll likely soon be slapped with tougher terrorism charges, sources said.

Also nabbed for lying to feds was Flushing mosque Imam Ahmad Wais Afzali, 37, an NYPD snitch who the FBI says alerted Zazi and his father, Mohammed, 53, after cops quizzed him about the son.  The senior official said the feds believe the plot is now "compromised" and would be "hard to bring forward."

"We think we have a pretty good handle on the threat, but we'd know a lot more if Afzali hadn't tipped them in the beginning," another insider said.

The source added that court papers released yesterday reveal only a "sliver" of the conspiracy.

"The FBI is investigating several individuals in the U.S., Pakistan and elsewhere, relating to a plot to detonate improvised explosive devices in the U.S.," the Justice Department said. ....

Mass Transit Warning To Be On Alert For Terrorism

(Analyst's note:  As a citizen, thought you'd like to know.)

from National Terror Alert

There’s a reminder today from federal officials that rail and transit systems can be vulnerable to terrorist attacks. The reminder is being sent out to law enforcement around the country. The FBI and the Homeland Security Department warn that improvised explosive devices are the most common method used to blow up mass transit and rail systems overseas.

Officials are recommending that transit system security officials conduct random sweeps at terminals and stations, and that police make random patrols and board some trains and buses.

Officials have said privately that the investigators who searched some New York City apartments earlier this month were worried about the possible use of backpack bombs on New York City mass transit trains.

Source
From Around The Country

Philadelphia – Philadelphia police said they have already been operating on an elevated security level before this weekend, supporting Septa and Amtrak on random sweeps. And for passengers we spoke to they say these days you can’t depend on anything to be completely safe.
“I was surprised there were so many Amtrak police officers here this afternoon. I thought something was going on here,” said Leslie Thompson.
But Thompson suspects they’re trying to make themselves visible after federal authorities say two men could have been plotting to attack the mass transit system somewhere in the U.S. Other passengers noticed.
Source

San Francisco- Bay Area mass transit operators tightening security following a nationwide terror alert. Bay Area operators are heeding the call to conduct random patrols and board some trains and buses to look for anything unusual. BART says it already does this. The agency will not announce any details about exactly how it will adhere to the warning.

“Many of the things that they are suggested are already taking place, many of them are behind the scenes,” BART spokesperson Jim Allison said. “The one exception to that is bag checks, and unless the alert level would be raised to a red level, then we would consider bag checks.”
Golden Gate Transit says it is also following recommendations to tighten security.

Read More – See Video

All Your Art Are Belong To Us

(Analyst's note:  This report is more than a little troubling.)

from Pajamas Media

Unless you are old enough or foolish enough to still try to extract something like news out of the mainstream media, you probably already know about the NEA phone call transcripts.  They were released today through the work of artist/blogger Patrick Courrielche at Andrew Breitbart’s new website Big Government.  Breitbart and his merry gang seem to have taken it upon themselves to print all the news that apparently isn’t fit to print, also known as “the truth about the Obama administration and their friends.”

The transcripts prove, despite the earlier denials and obfuscations of the participants, that officials from the White House, the National Endowment of the Arts and a federally overseen initiative called United We Serve joined in hosting a conference call on August 10th with a group of artists.  The point of the call was to cajole these artists into making artistic propaganda in support of President Barack Obama’s agenda.

There is so very much to be disgusted by here that it’s hard to know what to gag on first.  The NEA is the largest single funder of art in the country.  They give away tens of millions of bucks in grants to artists and art organizations.  Although the NEA wasn’t actually offering to give money to artists in return for their services to the all-powerful state, their very presence on the line creates the implied offer of access and favor.  This in and of itself is deeply corrupt and potentially corrupting to artists in a difficult economy desperate for any means of support.

Oh, but that’s not the half of it.  Go here and take a look at the legislation that authorized and created the NEA in the first place, its founding document as it were.  Read its original principles and mission:  how the arts are for all Americans, how the NEA is there to nurture freedom of thought, imagination and inquiry.  In fact, just for fun, see if you can find a single proposition in this document that the NEA did not violate, corrupt and/or betray in the course of this phone call.

Then there’s the arrogance.  Michael Skolnick, political director for hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, says he’s speaking at the behest of the White House and the NEA when he tells the assembled artists, “You are the thought leaders.  You are the ones that, if you create a piece of art or promote a piece of art, or create a campaign for a company, and tell our country and our young people sort of what to do and what to be into; and what’s cool and what’s not cool.”

I’ll retire to Bedlam!  Having spent my life in the arts, I was indeed surprised to learn that my role in life was to use my abilities to convince people that some politician’s agenda was cool.  In fact, if I’d wanted to be a state prostitute, I’d've moved to Nevada.

I have always believed that art is one of the most powerful tools we have in the search for spiritual truth, a form of communication that can, at its best, reach into the deepest part of the human soul.   The Communists, and other tyrants, always understood that.  Why do you think they always arrested and silenced the artists first?

No need for that here, thanks very much.  Already largely corrupted by the ideology they’ve learned in our universities, our artists are standing by to take Big Brother’s call.

Pakistani jihadists recruiting entire families to join the jihad -- from Europe

by Robert Spencer

Eurabia is already proving to be a fruitful recruiting ground for the jihadists. "A German Jihad Colony: Islamists in Pakistan Recruit Entire Families from Europe," by Yassin Musharbash and Holger Stark for Spiegel, September 21 (thanks to Davida):

The German government is trying to secure the release of a group of suspected German Islamists who were arrested by Pakistani authorities while making their way to a jihadist colony in the Waziristan region along the Afghan-Pakistani border. Entire families from Germany are moving to the region to join the jihad.

The young speaker, who calls himself "Abu Adam," praises the stay in the mountains -- almost as if he were shooting an ad for a family holiday camp. "Doesn't it appeal to you? We warmly invite you to join us!" Abu Adam says, raising his index finger. He lists all the things this earthly paradise has to offer: hospitals, doctors, pharmacies as well as a daycare center and school -- all, of course, "a long way from the front." After all, they don't want the children to be woken up by the roar of guns.

The latest recruitment video from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) is a half-hour in length and is addressed to our "beloved" brothers and sisters back in Germany. The video is presented by, among others, Mounir Chouka, alias "Abu Adam," who grew up in the western German city of Bonn.

The video shows shacks erected against a backdrop of lush greenery and craggy rock formations. Women wearing blue burqas are seen surrounded by their children. One small girl is holding an artillery gun.

Welcome to the wild world of Waziristan, the region along the Afghan-Pakistani border controlled by Pashtun tribes, al-Qaida and other splinter groups which has become a regular target of US drones and their remote-controlled missiles.

Islamists Recruiting Entire Families
The ad for Waziristan appears to be finding fertile ground in Germany. Security officials here believe the IMU is currently the largest and most active Islamic group recruiting in the country. But there's an unusual development here, too -- militants don't normally recruit women and children as the IMU appears to be doing. The families move to mujahedeen villages in the rough terrain which are used as bases for supporting the battle against the US troops and the Afghan army.

The German government in Berlin is also examining the propaganda offensive. For several weeks, diplomats in the German Foreign Ministry have been negotiating with Islamabad over the fate of a group of suspected Islamists from Germany's Rhineland region who have been held in custody in Pakistan for several months now. The group includes a young Tunisian and six Germans, including Andreas M. of Bonn, a Muslim convert, and his Eritrean wife Kerya....

The Pakistani government has signalled that it might not prosecute the group for entering the country illegally or for supporting a terrorist organization and instead put the Germans on a plane back to Frankfurt....

What a surprise!

Hizballah – ‘The Most Capable and Disciplined Terrorist Organization in the World’

(Analyst's note:  Absolutely must read and see.)

by W. Thomas Smith, Jr.

FOX News is reporting what we’ve been saying for at least two years – and which terrorist sympathizers and their paid cronies have tried to keep from public awareness – that is, Hizballah may well be the most dangerous terrorist organization on the planet, posing even a greater threat to the U.S. than al Qaeda.

 

According to the FOX segment, Friday, “Hizballah reportedly has operatives in the United States. Two years ago, a Hizballah agent was arrested after infiltrating the FBI and CIA.”

 

True. Though few Americans are actually aware of this, thanks to a heavily financed counter-media, propaganda, and disinformation campaign aimed at soft-soaping the Lebanon-based, Iranian-Syrian-supported terrorist organization as simply a Lebanese political party with guns; and – as a part of that campaign – discrediting or destroying anyone who might aggressively take Hizballah to task. 

 

Former U.S. Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff said, “We know there are people who have raised money for Hizballah, and committed crimes to generate profits for Hizballah. What I can’t tell you is how many of those people would lay down the moneymaking and actually carry out an attack.”

 

Nevertheless, we know Hizballah is in the U.S., and their substantial presence – and freedom-of-movement – throughout Latin America is increasing “almost exponentially,” so-say some of our sources.

 

Chertoff has said, Hizballah “makes al Qaeda look like a minor league team.”

 

And Friday’s segment included a clip from a recent terrorist briefing by New York City’s deputy police commissioner (also NYPD intelligence chief) David Cohen, who warned those in the briefing that Hizballah “is probably the most capable and disciplined terrorist organization in the world.”

 

Global terrorism expert Dr. Walid Phares said, “A success of the uprising inside Iran – against the regime – may compel the regime, actually, to deflect attention from events inside Iran, and order strikes inside the United States. And have Hizballah cells deliver that strike.”

 

The FOX segment also mentioned Hizballah’s annual income of $1 billion Iranian petrodollars, for its service as an Iranian foreign legion. Again, we – including Dr. Phares and a very small minority of analysts with very deep sources of accurate information – have been reporting this estimated $1 billion for at least two years: As was predicted Gen. Michel Sleiman’s ascension to the Lebanese presidency (long before he was even considered). As was predicted 48-hours prior that Hizballah was going to launch a widespread military offensive against the legitimate government of Lebanon in May 2008. I could go on and on.

 

As one Middle East analyst mused in an e-mail Friday, “Why the administration is not educating the public about Hizballah – and why the media does not dedicate as much time to explaining the Hizballah threat as it does al Qaeda – is beyond comprehension.”

 

See FOX segment here.

 

Obama: Legalize Illegals to Get Them Health Care

Ten Growing Threats to Our Liberty

(Analyst's note:  An absolutely must read -- please click on the title above.)

John McClaughry

 .... our liberties are threatened now as never before; so much so that you well might ask: Why only 10 threats? And why are there more threats now than, say, a decade or a century ago?

 

To that first question I would reply, there are surely more than 10 threats to our liberty today – I have just picked out 10 of which I particularly want you to be aware. And to the second question I would say, with real emphasis, that never before, going back to when I was a boy during World War II, have I seen so many growing threats to the liberty of the American people, emanating from the seat of our national government. ....

9/11 Conspirators Refuse to Appear in Court

DEVELOPING: In one of the most bizarre moments, the three 9/11 conspirators who are acting as their own attorneys refused to come to court Monday, FOX News has learned. The prosecution says the men should be forced to attend, even forcibly extracted from their cells, but the judge declined to do so. ....

Soros: Republic Enemy #1

(Analyst's note:  A long, yet troubling read.  Please consider clicking on title above to read the entire article.)


by Jim O'Neill

“The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.”—George Soros

“George Soros is an evil man. He’s anti-God, anti-family, anti-American, and
anti-good.” —Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson

Is it possible to lay the global financial meltdown,  the radicalizing of the Democratic Party, and America’s moral decline, at the feet of one man? 


It is indeed possible.  

If George Soros isn’t the world’s preeminent “malignant messianic narcissist,” he’ll do until the real thing comes along.  Move over, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot.  There’s a new kid on the block.

What we have in Soros, is a multi-billionaire atheist, with skewed moral values, and a sociopath’s lack of conscience.  He considers himself to be a world class philosopher, despises capitalism, and just loves social engineering.  

Uh oh.  Can you say “trouble,” boys and girls?  

Soros is a real life version of Dr. Evil—with Obama in the role of Mini-Me.  Which is not as humorous as it might at first sound.  In fact, it’s bone-deep chilling. 

György Schwartz, better known to the world as George Soros, was born August 12, 1930 in Hungary.  Soros’ father, Tivadar, was a fervent practitioner of Esperanto—a language invented in 1887, and designed to be the first global language, free of any national identity.

The Schwartz’s, who were non-practicing Jews, changed the family name to Soros, in order to facilitate assimilation into the gentile population, as the Nazis spread into Hungary during the 1930s.  Soros is an Esperanto word meaning “to soar.” 

In 1944 Hitler’s henchman Adolf Eichmann arrived in Hungary, to oversee the murder of that country’s Jews.  The Soros children were all given fake identity papers, and were shipped out to various Christian families.  George Soros ended up with a man whose job was confiscating property from the Jewish population.  Soros went with him on his rounds.

Soros has repeatedly called 1944 “the best year of his life.”  

In an article in the Wall Street Journal, Joshua Muravchik notes that, “70% of Mr. Soros’s fellow Jews in Hungary, nearly a half-million human beings, were annihilated in that year. They were dying and disappearing all around him, and their numbers no doubt included many whom he knew personally. Yet he gives no sign that this put any damper on his elation, either at the time or indeed in retrospect.” ....

Uprising in Tehran to impact Ahmadinejad visit Iranian insider reveals how rape used to crush protests, assesses Obama

Get ready! Here come the energy police 'Google PowerMeter' could mean regulation of your private home

Google is developing an Internet-based power monitor designed to monitor energy usage inside homes. As a result, the meter will provide utilities and any government regulators access to data on a household's energy footprint and carbon footprint, Jerome Corsi's Red Alert reports.

Carter's security adviser says U.S. should block Israeli jets if they try to attack Iran

(Daily Beast) "If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not. No one wishes for this but it could be a Liberty in reverse" ...

EXPLOSIVE NEW AUDIO Reveals White House Using NEA to Push Partisan Agenda

Romney rips Obama's domestic policies

By Ralph Z. Hallow (Contact)

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said more Americans are being seduced into relying on the government instead of on themselves, thanks to the policies of President Obama and his fellow Democrats. 

Mr. Obama's policies encourage "a growing sense of dependency and entitlements," and are making some Americans "less apt to create new businesses, to strike out on new adventures and pursue opportunities that have always been the source of America's vitality economically," he said.  ....

National security adviser says Iran advancing in making medium-range missiles

By Bill Gertz

White House National Security Adviser James L. Jones says President Obama's decision to abandon a long-range missile defense site in Eastern Europe was driven by U.S. intelligence concerns that Iran is further along than previously thought in developing medium-range missiles that could strike Western Europe and the Middle East with nuclear warheads.

"We think they are heading toward weaponiz[ing] these missiles, which obviously we want to dissuade them from doing," the retired four-star Marine general told The Washington Times, explaining why U.S. officials dramatically shifted from years of focus on guarding against longer-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

Related article: Russia considers nixing missile countermove

Gen. Jones also acknowledged that the policy shift announced on Thursday will pay "an ancillary benefit" to U.S. efforts to improve relations with Moscow, taking issue with a statement by White House press secretary Robert Gibbs that the change was "not about Russia."

"The fact is, there is clearly a relationship here in all of these issues," he said. "We are trying to reset the relationship with Russia, based on one of mutual respect and mutual interest."

In a wide-ranging interview Friday afternoon in his West Wing office, Gen. Jones said the government's top national security leaders met about 50 times since March before unanimously agreeing to scrap a 2006 Bush administration plan to put 10 long-range, ground-based interceptor missiles in Poland and a related radar tracking site in the Czech Republic. They are to be replaced by ship-based radar and interceptors better able to protect Europe from shorter-range missiles, he said. ....

McChrystal: More Forces or 'Mission Failure' Top U.S. Commander For Afghan War Calls Next 12 Months Decisive

By Bob Woodward



The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan warns in an urgent, confidential assessment of the war that he needs more forces within the next year and bluntly states that without them, the eight-year conflict "will likely result in failure," according to a copy of the 66-page document obtained by The Washington Post. 

Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal says emphatically: "Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) -- while Afghan security capacity matures -- risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible."

His assessment was sent to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Aug. 30 and is now being reviewed by President Obama and his national security team.

McChrystal concludes the document's five-page Commander's Summary on a note of muted optimism: "While the situation is serious, success is still achievable."

But he repeatedly warns that without more forces and the rapid implementation of a genuine counterinsurgency strategy, defeat is likely. McChrystal describes an Afghan government riddled with corruption and an international force undermined by tactics that alienate civilians. 

He provides extensive new details about the Taliban insurgency, which he calls a muscular and sophisticated enemy that uses modern propaganda and systematically reaches into Afghanistan's prisons to recruit members and even plan operations. 

McChrystal's assessment is one of several options the White House is considering. His plan could intensify a national debate in which leading Democratic lawmakers have expressed reluctance about committing more troops to an increasingly unpopular war. Obama said last week that he will not decide whether to send more troops until he has "absolute clarity about what the strategy is going to be."
The commander has prepared a separate detailed request for additional troops and other resources, but defense officials have said he is awaiting instructions before sending it to the Pentagon.

UK Report – Obama May Be Preparing Deep Cuts To US Nuclear Arsenal

by Julian Borger

The UK’s Guardian newspaper is reporting President Barack Obama wants the Pentagon to review the U.S.’s nuclear-weapons doctrine to prepare for deep cuts to the country’s nuclear arsenal. The report suggests The President rejected the Pentagon’s first draft of the review as being too timid, and not consistent with his goal of eventually abolishing nuclear weapons altogether.

In asking for more options, among the goals to be considered, according to the report:

• Reconfiguring the US nuclear force to allow for an arsenal measured in hundreds rather than thousands of deployed strategic warheads.
• Redrafting nuclear doctrine to narrow the range of conditions under which the US would use nuclear weapons.
• Exploring ways of guaranteeing the future reliability of nuclear weapons without testing or producing a new generation of warheads. ....
  

Terror Suspect Had Bomb Guide, Handwritten Notes

By DAVID JOHNSTON and WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM

The central figure in what authorities describe as a widening inquiry into a possible plot to detonate explosives in the United States had been trained in weapons and explosives in Pakistan and, according to court papers released Sunday, had made nine pages of handwritten notes on how to make and handle bombs.

The court papers, released after the arrests in Colorado of Najibullah Zazi and his father, as well as that of an imam in Queens, showed that during a search in New York of the younger Mr. Zazi’s rental car on Sept. 11, agents found a laptop computer containing an image of the notes. According to a criminal complaint, the notes “contain formulations and instructions regarding the manufacture and handling of initiating explosives, main explosives charges, explosives detonators and components of a fusing system.” ....

Obama: Make Illegals Legal to give them ObamaCare

Audio -- Savage on Obama ditching missile shield

Health care reformers plan protests, target insurers as 'villains,' 'enemies'

(Washington Times) The plan for a series of grass-roots demonstrations to promote Obama's health care agenda calls for tightly scripted events and an "escalation" against "enemies" of reform ...

Seven ex-CIA chiefs: Stop 'torture' probe

(Fox News) Seven former directors of the Central Intelligence Agency urged President Obama to reverse Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to hold a criminal investigation of CIA interrogators ...

Military growing impatient with Obama on Afghanistan U.S. risks losing Afghans' support: 'Dithering is just as destructive as 10 car bombs'

Researcher dies after exposure to plague bacteria Officials say 'does not appear to be a threat to the public'

A University of Chicago molecular genetics professor studying the origins of harmful bacteria died last weekend after contracting an infection linked to the plague, officials said today.


University hospital officials said there "does not appear to be a threat to the public" following the death of Malcolm J. Casadaban, 60, at the campus' Bernard Mitchell Hospital on Sept. 13.

None of the people the researcher had contact with has reported illness and symptoms typically develop within 2 to 10 days, officials said.

The researcher was studying a weakened laboratory strain of Yersinia pestis that lacked the plague bacteria's harmful components, officials said.

Further study is under way after initial autopsy showed no obvious cause of death other than the presence of the bacteria.
Underlying health conditions could potentially increase susceptibility to infections, officials said. ....

Moscow to modernize, train Cuban military 'Will still force the United States to address the Russian presence in its backyard'

Watch Aaron Klein on Fox News Business Discusses mood in Israel following Obama's decision to scrap missile shield

Congress, Obama team up to kill marriage protections 'Respect' proposal has nearly 100 members of Congress endorsing homosexuality

Al Qaeda operative had $50k in unsecured loans from bailout banks

from the Jawa Report

This story comes from Karl Denninger at Market Ticker. It seems the admitted Afghan Al-Qaeda operative currently being questioned by the FBI for a possible attack against NY targets, Najibullah Zazi, had obtained unsecured credit cards amounting to $50,000 by the time he declared bankruptcy this past March. As the NY Daily News reported yesterday:

Between 2005 and 2008, he opened credit card accounts with Bank of America, Chase, Capital One, Discover and Citibank and ran up a debt of more than $50,000. When he filed for bankruptcy, Zazi said he hadn't worked in two months.

How many of those banks received bailout money? Sadly, all of these banks happily loaned mountains of money to immigrants - legal and illegal alike - and all other manner of individuals who had no possibility of repaying. Bills your children and grandchildren will be paying for many years to come.
As Denninger summarizes:

Can someone answer this question: HOW .... DO OUR BANKING REGULATORS ALLOW THIS SORT OF OUTRIGHT FRAUDULENT GRANTING OF CREDIT? $50,000 IN UNSECURED CREDIT LINES TO A FREAKING DELIVERY DRIVER WHO APPEARS TO BE A FOREIGN NATIONAL WITH NO ASSETS IN THE UNITED STATES AGAINST WHICH TO SECURE THE LOAN?

THE BANKS THAT WE BAILED OUT FAILED TO STOP THIS ... ALL THE WAY UP TO MARCH OF THIS YEAR AT LEAST (WHEN THIS GUY FILED BANKRUPTCY) AND PROBABLY STILL ARE DOING IT!

This is an OUTRAGE. Not only did this guy effectively stick the US Taxpayer with the $50,000 in debt it appears he may have been using the ... money to plot some sort of terrorist attack as part of an Al-Qaida cell INSIDE THE UNITED STATES?

TO PUT THIS IN ONE SENTENCE: BANKS THAT WE BAILED OUT WITH TAXPAYER MONEY ARE FUNDING TERRORISTS INSIDE THE US?!

No doubt Osama bin Laden is kicking himself that they hadn't figured out this scam before the 9/11 attacks.

Judge stalls access to Obama birth data Says he'll adjust trial date if plaintiffs need time for researching prez records

By Bob Unruh

A judge has told lawyers whose clients are challenging Barack Obama's eligibility to be president they cannot start digging into the president's historical records right now, and he'll adjust a scheduled Jan. 26, 2010, trial date if they end up needing more time for their research.

The ruling comes from U.S. District Judge David Carter in a California lawsuit brought by several political candidates and party officials, including former U.S. ambassador Alan Keyes and Wiley Drake and Markham Robinson of the American Independent Party.

They are suing Obama alleging that he was not and is not eligible to be president under the U.S. Constitution's demand for a "natural born" citizen in the Oval Office. They are represented by Orly Taitz, who has worked on a multitude of lawsuits over Obama's eligibility, and Gary Kreep of the United States Justice Foundation.

Kreep had responded to the government's motion requesting a stay in the discovery process, the procedures through which valuable evidence is assembled in a lawsuit, by requesting immediate access to Obama's records such as his original long-form birth certificate and his Occidental College records.  The plaintiffs' suspicion is that those records would, in fact, undermine the president's statements that he is a "natural born" citizen, which could disqualify him. For example, an original birth certificate could indicate that it was a "delayed" filing, which could open the door for a birth location outside the United States.

Likewise, the Occidental College records could be significant if Obama attended on a program for foreign students, or represented himself as a foreign student at the time.

See the movie Obama does not want you to see: Own the DVD that probes this unprecedented presidential eligibility mystery.


Carter has been handling motions in the case, including the government's motion to dismiss, in which Justice Department lawyers representing Obama claimed that the courts have no jurisdiction over any parts of the question.

The government's motions have been opposed by Kreep, who expressed concern the plaintiffs would be prejudiced by having their search of the evidence delayed, and the possible shortened time period for that process between the Oct. 5 hearing and the January trial.

Carter granted Obama's motion for limited stay of discovery, saying the court, not the defendants, will determine what evidence would be pertinent to the case and if the plaintiffs are hampered by the time frame imposed by the court, he will hear "any proposed new trial dates" during the Oct. 5 hearing.  Rumors had circulated on the Internet that the discovery process already had begun, because of Carter's earlier ruling that encouraged cooperation and as much movement forward as the two sides could agree to.

WND has reported on dozens of legal challenges to Obama's status as a "natural born citizen." The Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, states, "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President."

Some of the lawsuits question whether he was actually born in Hawaii, as he insists. If he was born out of the country, Obama's American mother, the suits contend, was too young at the time of his birth to confer American citizenship to her son under the law at the time.

Other challenges have focused on Obama's citizenship through his father, a Kenyan subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom at the time of his birth, thus making him a dual citizen. The cases contend the framers of the Constitution excluded dual citizens from qualifying as natural born.
Complicating the situation is Obama's decision to spend sums estimated over $1 million to avoid releasing an original long-form state birth certificate that would put to rest the questions.

WND also has reported that among the documentation not yet available for Obama includes his kindergarten records, Punahou school records, Occidental College records, Columbia University records, Columbia thesis, Harvard Law School records, Harvard Law Review articles, scholarly articles from the University of Chicago, passport, medical records, files from his years as an Illinois state senator, his Illinois State Bar Association records, any baptism records and his adoption records.

In the U.S. Justice Department's motion to dismiss, attorneys didn't address the concerns directly but instead focused their efforts on technical procedures, stating the matter can't be decided in court and that the dozens of plaintiffs cannot demonstrate they have been injured by having Obama in the Oval Office.

Kreep has explained that existing court precedent includes the right for a candidate or a political party "to challenge the inclusion of an allegedly ineligible rival on the ballot, on theory that doing so hurts the candidate's or party's own chances."

"Dr. Drake has an interest in having a fair competition," Kreep's USJF brief has argued. "This interest is akin to the interest of an Olympic competition, where one of the competitors in an athletic competition is found to be using performance enhancing drugs, but is not removed despite a violation of the rules, and all of the athletes who had trained for the event legitimately are harmed if that disqualified contestant remains. …

"Obama entered this race without having met the eligibility requirements for the office of President of the United States and, as a result, Dr. Wiley Drake has been injured because he did not have fair competition for the office of Vice President of the United States."  Kreep also explained the motion to dismiss is incorrect "in a number of ways" regarding the Constitution's assignment of presidential eligibility verification.

"Even if the people of the United States voted to elect as president a candidate who did not qualify for the position, that vote would not be sufficient to overcome the constitutional requirements," he wrote.  "Here, the issue is one arising under the Constitution, whether Barack Obama meets the eligibility requirements for the office of president of the United States, as required under Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution. As established above, PLAINTIFFS have standing to bring this action as they have suffered a concrete injury in fact, caused by Barack Obama, for which the court has a remedy. Because PLAINTIFFS have established the requirements for standing, and because this case presents an issue regarding a federal question arising out of the Constitution, this court has subject matter jurisdiction over the issues raised in this case," he wrote.


Because of the dearth of information about Obama's eligibility, WND founder Joseph Farah has launched a campaign to raise contributions to post billboards asking a simple question: "Where's the birth certificate?"

"Where's The Birth Certificate?" billboard at the Mandalay Bay resort on the Las Vegas Strip

The campaign followed a petition that has collected more than 450,000 signatures demanding proof of his eligibility, the availability of yard signs raising the question and the production of permanent, detachable magnetic bumper stickers asking the question.
 

The "certification of live birth" posted online and widely touted as "Obama's birth certificate" does not in any way prove he was born in Hawaii, since the same "short-form" document is easily obtainable for children not born in Hawaii. The true "long-form" birth certificate – which includes information such as the name of the birth hospital and attending physician – is the only document that can prove Obama was born in Hawaii, but to date he has not permitted its release for public or press scrutiny.

Oddly, though congressional hearings were held to determine whether Sen. John McCain was constitutionally eligible to be president as a "natural born citizen," no controlling legal authority ever sought to verify Obama's claim to a Hawaiian birth.
 

Judge threatens eligibility lawyer with $10,000 fine Says case, appeal of dismissal, frivolous

By Bob Unruh



A judge

who dismissed a lawsuit over President Barack Obama's eligibility and was accused by the attorney of exhibiting "subservience" to that "same illegitimate chain of command" now is threatening the lawyer with a $10,000 fine.

U.S. District Judge Clay Land of the Middle District of Georgia had dismissed a complaint challenging Obama's eligibility to be commander-in-chief by Capt. Connie Rhodes, the medical doctor and Army officer who wanted a restraining order to prevent her overseas deployment on the basis Obama has not demonstrated himself to be a natural-born citizen under the U.S. Constitution.

Orly Taitz, the California attorney handling many of the lawsuits challenging Obama's eligibility, immediately filed a request for reconsideration of the dismissal, even though she was threatened by the judge with sanctions.

Iran building backup nuke plant in Americas? Venezuelan site could give Hezbollah door to atomic mischief

(Analyst's note:  Absolutely must read.)


excerpted from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin

Iran may consider a proposal from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to build a backup "nuclear village" in his nation to produce nuclear energy and also to have a safe fall-back production capability in case there is an attack by Israel or the United States on nuclear facilities in Iran, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin. 

Chavez, in a visit last week to Iran, proposed to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the idea of building a project in Venezuela.

Security sources have confirmed such a "nuclear village" could become the Iranian nuclear production alternative, or a location to hide especially critical nuclear components from attack.

With the United Nations about ready to take up the issue of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear enrichment efforts, such a prospect of attack, particularly from Israel, is increasingly likely. Israeli officials have stated on numerous occasions that a nuclear Iran would threaten Israel's existence.

While the U.N. is expected to consider proposals for sanctions on Iran, there is an expectation that Russia and China will reject further sanctions. If that happens, security experts believe that Israel then could declare diplomacy a failure, opening the way for its long-intimated attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. 

The issue of nuclear cooperation between Iran and Venezuela arose in the context of military and security cooperation agreements reached between their two leaders.

France was quick to object to any nuclear cooperation, saying that it would violate various United Nations resolutions, including U.N. Security Council Resolution 1737. That resolution calls for all U.N. members to refrain from the direct or indirect purchase of nuclear-related technology from Iran.

Iran and Venezuela are signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, or NPT, and their legislatures have ratified it, compelling their compliance. At the same time, it allows them to undertake a peaceful nuclear development program. 

The purpose of the NPT is to allow for the promotion of cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy while trying to prevent nuclear weapons proliferation. The NPT is the only binding commitment in a multilateral treaty to disarmament by nuclear countries.

To date, some 187 countries are signatories to the NPT. It offers a safeguard system under the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, to verify treaty compliance through inspections. At the same time, it promotes equal access to nuclear technology.

Security experts believe, however, that efforts to insure effective Iranian compliance with the NPT or the U.N. resolutions would be difficult given the need for policing and investigation, something which most countries are not equipped to undertake and may not have the political will to do.

Iranian interest in nuclear cooperation with Venezuela has come up in the past. In 2006, Ahmadinejad and Chavez voiced the need for similar cooperation. At the time, Iranian parliament speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel said that Iran would study the possibility.

Obama Pushes for World Regulations

By Nicholas Johnston

Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said tougher financial regulations are needed worldwide to protect consumers, provide economic stability and prevent future crises.
With the leaders from the Group of 20 nations set to meet next week in Pittsburgh, Obama said in his weekly address on the radio and Internet that international cooperation has “stopped our economic freefall.”

“We know we still have a lot to do, in conjunction with nations around the world, to strengthen the rules governing financial markets and ensure that we never again find ourselves in the precarious situation we found ourselves in just one year ago,” Obama said.

The administration has proposed an overhaul of U.S. financial regulations including oversight of the systemic risk large financial institutions pose to the economy, new ways for the government to dismantle failed companies and a regulator to oversee financial products for consumers.
Obama reiterated his calls for Congress to act on his regulatory proposals, which he also made in a speech on Wall Street Sept. 13.

Terror Suspect’s Computer Shows Sports Stadiums, Fashion Sites

(Analyst's note:  When are ever going to learn to stop treating this enemy as if they are "criminals" on our streets?  Right AFTER the next 9/11 style attack is too late.)

from National Terror Alert

ABC News is reporting that law enforcement officials tell them a computer belonging to alleged al Qaeda suspect Najibullah Zazi showed he had researched baseball and football stadiums and sites used in the recent Fashion Week event in New York City.

ABC News reports officials said they aren’t sure what locations might have been targeted, but information found on Zazi’s computer may provide a window into what he might have been planning. They reportedly also found a text message that said “wedding cake is ready,” which may have been a signal about preparations for an attack.
Source – Fox News

Zazi, 24, had been scheduled to spend a fourth day today being questioned by the FBI but his lawyer, Arthur Folsom, canceled the session , according to the news report.  “He has taken the day to consult with his client,” said Wendy Aiello, a spokeswoman for the lawyer. Zazi is not in custody, she said.

While officials say they do not know the targets of the alleged plot, the contents of Zazi’s computer are considered a valuable insight into what he might have been planning.

Feds Investigate Failed Attempt To Rent Truck In NY Terror Probe

from National Terror Alert


The New York Daily News reports today that investigators are looking into a failed attempt to rent a truck at a Queens truck rental, for ties to a possible Al Qaeda bomb plot.

The New York end of the expanding federal probe centered on seven Afghan men who tried to rent the biggest truck at a Queens U-Haul on Sept. 9, sources told the Daily News.The size of the vehicle involved, a 26-foot-long truck, suggested the conspirators may have wanted to pack it with explosives, sources said.

[..]

The truck rental bid failed when none of the men could produce a valid credit card. All refused to surrender the identification needed to pay cash, the manager of the Flushing U-Haul said.

A team of FBI agents spent 10 hours Thursday combing through the Queens truck rental business. “We all feel very lucky right now,” U-Haul manager Robert Larson told The News.

[...]

“None of them looked suspicious,” Larson said. “They looked like laborers. Not clean-cut guys, but your average Joe’s.”

ACORN votes are nothing but 'cover' Bachmann says disgraced group still eligible for billions of tax dollars

By Bob Unruh




U.S. Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the top Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, is demanding a straight up-or-down vote on a bill dedicated to removing ACORN from the list of recipients of federal largesse, or says he'll force the issue.

And a key conservative vote, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., says unless there is such an action, it will mean the recent votes on that very issue were nothing but "cover." 

Filmmaker James O'Keefe and an associate, Hannah Giles, for the last week have been posting undercover videos on the Big Government.com website, revealing the actions and attitudes of employees of ACORN, an organization for whom President Obama once worked.

The two posed as a pimp and prostitute and have asked questions about setting up brothels, importing underage girls for prostitution and tax issues, largely getting affirmative help from the ACORN employees, several of whom already have been fired for their statements.

One of the undercover videos feature a woman identified as Tresa Kaelke at an ACORN office in California:

The result has been that the U.S. Census Bureau has cut ties to Acorn and both houses of Congress have taken votes to halt funding to the organization. The problem with that, Bachmann says, is that the votes were on amendments to different bills and "still have far to go before they reach the president's pen for signature into law."

Bachmann warns, "ACORN still remains eligible for billions of your tax dollars."

"And don't think that the Democrats won't try to strip the ACORN language from whatever bill finally makes it to the White House," Bachmann continued. "These votes were their cover.

"They think that you'll be fooled into thinking that they've heard your outrage and are abandoning their good buddy, ACORN."....

The stunning, total defeat of ACORN

(Byron York, Washington Examiner) Yes, 172 House Democrats voted to totally cut off funding for an organization that has worked for years on behalf of Democrats nationwide ...

Chikungunya – Mosquito-borne Virus A New Threat to West

by David Morgan

The United States and Europe face a new health threat from a mosquito-borne disease far more unpleasant than the West Nile virus that swept into North America a decade ago, a U.S. expert said on Friday.

Chikungunya virus has spread beyond Africa since 2005, causing outbreaks and scores of fatalities in India and the French island of Reunion. It also has been detected in Italy, where it has begun to spread locally, as well as France.

“We’re very worried,” Dr. James Diaz of the Louisiana University Health Sciences Center told a meeting on airlines, airports and disease transmission sponsored by the independent U.S. National Research Council.

“Unlike West Nile virus, where nine out of 10 people are going to be totally asymptomatic, or may have a mild headache or a stiff neck, if you get Chikungunya you’re going to be sick,” he said.
“The disease can be fatal. It’s a serious disease,” Diaz added. “There is no vaccine.”

Chikungunya infection causes fever, headache, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, muscle pain, rash and joint pain. Symptoms can last a few weeks, though some suffers have reported incapacitating joint pain or arthritis lasting months. ....

John Bolton on Obama scrapping missile shield for Poland and Czech Republic: "The clear winners are in Russia and Iran"

by Robert Spencer

That is, Iran, one of the foremost players in the global jihad, and Russia, a key jihad enabler. Yet another Which-Side-Is-Obama-On Alert: "Obama under fire for U-turn on missiles," by Daniel Dombey, James Blitz and Jan Cienski in Financial Times, September 17 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Barack Obama's decision to scrap Bush-era plans for a missile defence shield on Thursday triggered dismay in central Europe and among Republicans on Capitol Hill, amid claims that it amounted to a major security concession to Russia.

Unveiling one of the biggest reversals on national security since coming to office, the US president said that he would abandon predecessor George W. Bush's plans for ground-based interceptors in Poland and a related radar site in the Czech Republic, deploying instead a new system that could hit shorter-range Iranian missiles....
But US officials deny the move is a quid pro quo for Russian support for tougher UN sanctions on Iran - an idea previously floated by Mr Obama's advisers.
Russia's foreign ministry on Thursday denied that there was any private deal behind the US decision....

US Republicans, who identify missile defence as a key part of US national security, were also critical. John McCain, the presidential candidate who lost to Mr Obama, criticised the move as "seriously misguided". John Bolton, former US ambassador to the United Nations, a leading Bush-era hawk, was scathing.

"I think this is a near catastrophe for American relations with Eastern European countries and many in NATO," he said. "It was the kind of unilateral decision that the Bush administration was always criticised for and I think the clear winners are in Russia and Iran."...

Obama promised Jewish homes to Palestinians? Official says American president 'fed up' with Israel

By Aaron Klein

President Obama is "fed up" with Israel while his administration has given the Palestinians guarantees they will eventually take over Jewish homes and buildings throughout most of the West Bank, a top Palestinian Authority official claimed to WND. 

"We heard from the U.S. that no matter what Israel is building in the West Bank, it will not affect a final status agreement to create a Palestinian state," said the PA official, who spoke on condition his name be withheld.

"The Americans told us (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu might construct in the West Bank for now but we (Palestinians) can enjoy these houses later. The evacuated homes will not be destroyed like some were when Israel pulled out of Gaza," the official said.

The official said Obama has adopted the position of PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who presented a plan to create a Palestinian state within two years based largely on the 1967 borders, meaning Israel would retreat from the West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem. ....

The Long Retreat Our security will now depend on the kindness of strangers.

By Mark Steyn

Was it only April? There was President Obama, speaking (as is his wont) in Prague, about the Iranian nuclear program and ballistic-missile capability, and saluting America’s plucky allies: “The Czech Republic and Poland have been courageous in agreeing to host a defense against these missiles,” he declared. “As long as the threat from Iran persists, we will go forward with a missile-defense system that is cost-effective and proven.”

On Thursday, the administration scrapped its missile-defense plans for Eastern Europe. The “courageous” Czechs and Poles will have to take their chances. Did the “threat from Iran” go away? Not so’s you’d notice. The dawn of the nuclear ayatollahs is perhaps only months away, and, just in case the Zionists or (please, no tittering) the formerly Great Satan is minded to take ’em out, Tehran will shortly be taking delivery of a bunch of S-300 anti-aircraft batteries from (ta-da!) Russia. Fancy that. 

Joe Klein, the geostrategic thinker of Time magazine, concluded his analysis thus:

This is just speculation on my part. But I do hope that this anti-missile move has a Russian concession attached to it, perhaps not publicly (just as the US agreement to remove its nuclear missiles from Turkey was not make public during the Cuban Missile Crisis). The Obama Administration's diplomatic strategy is, I believe, wise and comprehensive—but it needs to show more than public concessions over time. A few diplomatic victories wouldn't hurt.

 Golly. We know, thanks to Jimmy Carter, Joe Klein, and many others, that we critics of President Obama’s health-care policy are by definition racist. Has criticism of Obama’s foreign policy also been deemed racist? Because one can certainly detect the first faint seeds of doubt germinating in dear old Joe’s soon-to-be-racist breast: The Obama administration “needs to show more than public concessions over time” — because otherwise the entire planet may get the vague impression that that’s all there is.

Especially if your preemptive capitulations are as felicitously timed as the missile-defense announcement, stiffing the Poles on the 70th anniversary of their invasion by the Red Army. As for the Czechs, well, dust off your Neville Chamberlain’s Greatest Hits LP: Like he said, they’re a faraway country of which we know little. So who cares? Everything old is new again. ....


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