Forum: Russia, Friend Or Enemy?

Tags

Foreign Affairs, President Donald J. Trump, RUSSIA, Vladimir Putin

Every Monday, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week’s question:

Russia, Friend Or Enemy?

Rob Miller: I think President Trump is taking exactly the right stance on Russia. They are competitors, neither friend or foe at this time. We will need Putin’s help to fight the war of jihad, and Putin is finally coming around that he can’t control Iran like he used to… he doesn’t want the Israelis taking matters into their own hands in Syria, which could lead to Russian casualties and a major war. Yes, he put out the de riguer language about how Iran’s nuclear power is ‘controlled’ but he knows what a lie it is and so does Trump. Both of them made a point of including Netanyahu in the loop and reaffirming their commitment to Israel’s security, and unlike a former U.S. president, Putin is serious about this and so is Donald Trump.

Russia, as Putin has stated before needs the U.S. as a superpower, but he’s essentially a Russian nationalist. As he said, he doesn’t trust Trump and Trump doesn’t trust him but both look out for the interests of their respective nations, and they are now, as Putin said  ‘looking for points of contact and mutual interests.

The entire nonsense about Russia meddling in our elections is hypocrisy in the extreme. Putin was diplomatic enough not to mention it, but President trump’s predecessor openly meddled serious in democratic elections in Israel, the UK and Nigeria among others. Democrats, who said nothing about it at that time have their nerve raging about Russia meddling in an election. We even put a regime in power in the Ukraine that was openly anti-Russian. I wonder how we would react if Russia or China put a regime in Mexico that was blatantly anti-USA?

It’s a pity Trump felt compelled to apologize and back track on what was really courageous diplomacy. Instead of taking the easy way out, cancelling the summit over Mueller’s bull, he went ahead knowing that no mater what happened he’d be crucified by the Left and their media. If he had been aggressive towards Putin, they would have wailed about a war monger president he doesn’t understand diplomacy. Since he decided to really exercise true diplomacy and be honest about how both countries are responsible for th ebad relations between Russia and the U.S. he’s being crucified as a traitor and ‘Putin’s puppet.

It’s obvious who the real traitors are, at this point.

Don Surber:Any discussion of Russia should begin by drawing the distinction between this country and the Soviet Union, which was a far larger country that included Georgia and Ukraine. To its credit, the USSR was one of the few socialist states that had toilet paper.

Russia is larger than the United States with less than half the people. Texas has a larger economy than Russia with one-fifth the population.

While Russia has a lot of nukes, I cannot see much use for nukes in any kind of war. You blow one off, and the world will crush you.

Still, those nukes carry sway politically.

But the biggest asset Russia has is its natural gas and oil which Germany needs because it foolishly banned fracking.

Thus the USA cannot look at Russia as a friend or ally, but rather as a big old bear that is missing most of its teeth, but it has this very valuable pot of honey that our biggest frenemy in Europe wants. Putin has masterfully played the USA media into making him this larger-than-life Rasputin (McCain was no help when he said when I look into his eyes, I see KGB). Putin is an animal trainer in a third-rate circus with this bear on a unicycle. Interesting but not very practical.

Be wary, but friendly. His help with North Korea and Syria are appreciated.

Dave Schuler: Is Russia a friend or an enemy of the U. S.? Both. Neither. It is a different country from the U. S. and as such has foreign policy objectives different from ours. As has been mentioned by others today’s Russia is not the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was apocalyptic and milliennialist. Russia is irredentist. Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have been parts of Russia or the Soviet Union since 1793 and Georgia has been since the first decade of the 19th century. All of these areas now have populations of ethnic Russians due to explicit programs of Russification in the 19th and 20th centuries. I don’t point these historical facts out to justify them but merely because of the role they play in present day Russian foreign policy objectives.

Those objectives may be summarized as

1. Present Russian territorial integrity.
2. Access to warm water ports, e.g. Sevastopol, Tartus.
3. Defense of Russians in Russia’s “near abroad”, i.e. Baltics, Ukraine, and the small population of Russians in George
4. Defense of Slavs.
5. Defense of Orthodoxy
Again, I’m not seeking to justify these objectives, merely identifying them. IMO following the collapse of the Soviet Union the U. S. squandered an opportunity for establishing a more cordial relationship between Russia the United States through a series of actions including
• Interfering with Russian elections and domestic politics
• Defeating Saddam Hussein, a major Soviet ally and customer, in the Gulf War
• Bombing Serbia without UN Security Council authorization
• Reneging on its promise not to enlarge NATO by admitting former Warsaw Pact countries
• Invading Iraq and removing its government without UN sanction
• Admitting the former Soviet Republics in the Baltic to NATO
• Assisting in the overthrow of the Libyan government in violation of UN Security Council mandate
• Threatening to admit Ukraine and Georgia to NATO
• Supporting Al Qaeda in its attempt at overthrowing the Syrian government
• Supporting the overthrow of the legitimately elected (and pro-Russian) government of Ukraine by an anti-Russian and purportedly neo-Nazi group
and there are others including generally dismissing, demeaning, and belittling Russia over the period of the last 25 years. That is a tragedy and contrary to U. S. interests. There is no more important bilateral relationship in the world than that of the U. S. and Russia. Our two countries are the only two either of which has the capability of destroying the world. A less hostile relationship can only be good.

Finally, China and Iran are not natural allies for Russia. Quite the opposite they’re natural adversaries. By comparison Russia’s interests and U. S. interests rarely interfere with one another. We should be able to cooperate with one another where they intersect.

One final word. It would be interesting to discuss this question (friend or foe?) in the context of other countries, particularly China, India, and Germany.

Bookworm Room: Is it too coy to call Russia a frenemy? The reality is that modern Russia is the tail end of a once great empire. Its current population is shrinking and its economy is a disaster, but it still has those nuclear weapons, a worldwide influence network, and at its helm an incredibly cold, cruel, effective leader. Putin’s leadership abilities (they may not be used for good, but they are still leadership abilities), coupled with eight years of Obama’s feckless “leading from behind,” has given Russia a lot more leverage than it should have. That’s the reality Trump has to deal with.

Meanwhile, there’s China: 1.5 billion people, the world’s largest standing army, a sense of manifest destiny that would have been comfortably in place at the height of the 19th century expansionist colonial era, and a willingness to cheat in the world marketplace, steal technology and other protected ideas, manipulate currencies, and do anything else to maintain an economic edge. That doesn’t make China a current enemy, as in on-the-ground hot warfare, but it makes it a very dangerous potential enemy.

When it comes to both Russia and China, it’s much better for the U.S. to have a working relationship with them than to have open enmity. Moreover, when it comes to balancing power, there’s a lot to be said for a Russia / U.S. alliance — a loose one — to offset China’s manpower edge.

The reality is that politics invariably puts us in bed with people and nations that are not nice. The Lefties weren’t upset when Roosevelt partnered with Stalin to defeat the Nazis. Of course, the Lefties adored Stalin even as he was mass murdering his own people but still…. Even now, 70+ years later, when the Lefties can no longer deny Stalin’s depredations, they’re still comfortable with Roosevelt partnering with a mass murdering former Hitler pal because it was necessary to do so. The enemy of my enemy is my temporary ally and all that.

As is the case with North Korea, I see nothing wrong with Trump offering to work with two dictators, provided that no harm comes to us. That these leaders — Kim Jong Un, Putin, and all the other nasties out there — are dictators is certainly a problem for their citizens, but that doesn’t mean in geopolitics that it has to be a non-starter for us.

The only thing Trump needs to do is make sure that these evolving relationships are mutually beneficial. The last thing we want is to see the Obama years repeated, with Obama giving up everything he had to dictators around the world while getting nothing in return for America. As long as there’s a quid pro quo that benefits America, both in terms of the economy and national security, world affairs demand that sometimes you make nice with bad people. Only Lefty governments believe that you make nice with bad people to America’s detriment.

Rather than waffle on here, I’ll just say that Trump represents the necessary end of the Wilson doctrine that insisted that it was America’s responsibility to shed her citizens’ blood on battlefields around the world, in order to export democracy to ungrateful, profoundly undemocratic nations.

Laura Rambeau Lee: To say our relationship with Russia is complicated would be an understatement. America and Russia are absolute ideological opposites with radically different objectives. That being said, both countries have apocalyptic capabilities and the possibility of mutually assured destruction requires we maintain a continuing dialogue. President Trump sees Putin and Russia as a competitor and understands we must find ways to work together when it is mutually beneficial. He has a lot of work to do to reestablish our position of strength in the eyes of the world and particularly with Russia, which became painfully weak during the previous eight years of the Obama Administration and Secretary of State Clinton’s bumbling attempts at diplomacy. I suspect after Helsinki, Putin knows without a doubt President Trump will not sell out American interests and that he will do what is necessary to maintain our position of strength on the world stage.

Well, there it is!

Make sure to drop by every Monday for the WoW! Magazine Forum. And enjoy WoW! Magazine 24-7 with some of the best stuff written in the ‘net. Take from me, you won’t want to miss it.

PRES TRUMP SKIPS ALL MEDIA: POSTS A VIDEO SUMMARY OF THE PRESIDENTIAL FOREIGN TOUR TO THE PEOPLE

Tags

Foreign Affairs, President Donald J. Trump, trip abroad

As not told by global media propagandists but President Donald J. Trump himself.

Re-blogged from Burst Updates

Forget the fake news. This message skips all of the media, the whining politicians, and goes directly to the people.

What happened on the first presidential foreign tour? What were the accomplishments? How many silly red lines were drawn in the sand? As Pelosi demanded, should Pres Trump have spoken with the countries in alphabetical order?

WATCH THE PRES TRUMP VIDEO

 

The message is delivered as only Pres Trump can.

Forum: China And Russia – Enemies or Potential Partners?

Tags

China, Foreign Affairs, RUSSIA, USA

 

Every week on Monday, the Council and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher’s Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week’s question: China And Russia – Enemies or Potential Partners?

The Razor : Neither of these nations are America’s natural enemies, but it doesn’t matter what we think. What matters is what they think, and they both perceive us as their enemies so we would be foolish not to respond accordingly. And that’s what we’ve been for the past dozen years or so, responding foolishly.

The problem with our response is that it confuses Beijing and Moscow. They see us as an enemy in zero-sum terms, so perceive our statements as indicating weakness. This has emboldened them to expand, Russia in Eastern Europe and China in the south China Sea. The more they expand the more we talk and the less we act. They therefore perceive this as further weakness.

Eventually the are going to push too far and cross a line where the US will have no choice but to act. For Russia that may be against Poland or possibly one of the Baltic states, and in China it could be against Taiwan or through supporting North Korea. From their perspective our action will be unexpected, which is why it is important that we respond in kind with each and every move they make. We must speak their language and ratchet up the actions each time they press us in order to prevent them from overplaying their hands. It’s a form of real-politic that the ancient Roman emperors would understand (or their descendants the Italian mafia), but that the geniuses at Foggy Bottom have missed in their diversity training.

Stately McDaniel Manor :Russia and China are enemies. To be sure, they have adopted at least some of the characteristics of fiscal Capitalism, but this is out of economic necessity. Communism, as economic underpinning for a state, is always and everywhere a dismal and murderous failure. Where both nations still cling to the ultimately totalitarian nature of Communism we see the necessity of keeping an outside, all-powerful boogeyman–the United States–foremost in their minds and propaganda. They have no doubt they are our enemies, and are delighted to play us for suckers when we think smiles, handshakes and insincere promises and lies portend otherwise.

We certainly, and when it suits our national security needs, ally with both nations, but thinking, for an instant, that they give a moment’s thought to what is good for America, or for a peaceful and prosperous world order, is dangerous credulousness. The leadership of both nations thinks only of what benefits them and what will keep them in power.

Combine this with enormous arsenals of nuclear weapons, and one begins to understand the nature of the threat. Add in the aggressive, and purposefully provocative behaviors of both nations over the last few years, and we see two still-Communist nations that are actually more dangerous than they were during the Cold War.

Why more dangerous? Because America is led by weaklings and fools, people the Communists know they can play like violins from Hell. What makes the span from now until January so uniquely dangerous is both Russia and China understand that there is no way Barack Obama would use nuclear weapons against an adversary. They could wipe New York City off the map, and he would not respond in kind. They can even be reasonably assured that he would not respond with conventional weapons in any meaningful way. Remember John Kerry’s threat of an “unbelievably small” military response to Syria?

What this calculation portends is scary indeed. If the Russians and particularly the Chinese, think Obama is too weak to respond to attacks on Americans, they can be certain he would never uphold America’s mutual defense treaty obligations with her allies. At few times in world history has America’s fecklessness and retreat so invited aggression, and at few times have our enemies–again, particularly the Chinese–been stronger or more capable of taking advantage of American moral weakness.

I am not convinced that Barack Obama is not doing his best to make America and her allies inviting targets for the enemies of liberty, but if he is not, what, apart from outright disarmament and surrender, would he be doing differently?

Throw international terrorism into the mix–which is surely supported and/or manipulated by the Communists to at least some degree–and it will be by the grace of God that we, and those foolish enough to ally with us, do not experience disaster between now and January, 2017.

Trevor Loudon: Russia and China are allies against the West. . Have been right through. Google Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

JoshuaPundit : Our relationships with Russia and China represent a unique opportunity provided we have competent leadership. Both countries face major problems that belie their tough stance, which has only been enhanced by the weak, incompetent and distrustful  nature of our current president and his administration.

Russia and China both have very similar problems…poisonous demographics, moribund economies whose chief assets are in decline, and problems with Muslims.

China’s one child policy has resulted in a severe shortage of marriageable females and a graying population balance far more intense than the U.S., all of which will have to be supported somehow by China’s social welfare system. It’s chief source of income, manufacturing, is in jeopardy. China invested heavily in manufacturing and now has a major overcapacity at a time when consumer consumption is falling.   They also are looking at a shortage of younger workers, to the point where the Chinese just closed a multi-billion dollar contract with Israel to design and build industrial robots for them. China’s infrastructure is another problem with pollution and damaged, antiquated structures and facilities a major source of concern.

And while the Chinese downplay it,  the insurrection and terrorist attacks by their Uigher Muslim population continue to grow more intense.

Russia’s demographic problem is even worse. The problem there is that the vast amount of pregnancies among native Russians end in abortion, and only one sector of the population is having children at replacement rates – Russia’s Muslims.  Aside from Russia’s problems with the Chechens, their own increasingly restive Muslim population has been linked to terrorist attacks within Russia. Brawls and even actual firefights have broken out in Russia’s military between Muslims and native Russian soldiers.

Russia’s economy is slowly sliding into basket case territory. Aside from the problems with the sanctions, Russia’s main economic engine is energy, where prices have dropped to historic lows.

Another both problems share is a long standing distrust and hostility towards each other. They’ve fought wars against each other over territory and Russia still holds large areas across their shared border that China still considers as theirs. While both countries belong to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, it’s more a trade organization rather than an actual military alliance, especially when it comes to dealing with energy policy.

A place where Russia and China differ is in their basic worldview. Russia,fearing encirclement and a lack of access to warm water ports (that’s a lot of what Crimea was about) has always been imperialistic, seeking to expand and especially to create a buffer zone along it’s borders, not too hard to understand when you see how many times in history Russia has been invaded.

China’s aim has been just the opposite, to secure its territory and keep foreign nations out. China has ever only gone to war along its borders, which the Chinese have always seen as defensive wars, with the possible exception of Tibet. At this point, maintaining those borders and maintaining access to trade and markets is China’s foreign policy goal.

Given the problems these countries have, there is a great opportunity to create a strategic partnership between Russia and America and China and America. Nations, after all, have interests, not friends and cooperation in a number of areas is in the interest both countries as well as America.

We have a common enemy in Islamic fascism and their economic needs are an imperative. There’s no reason that Putin, an ultimate realist wouldn’t cooperate with America on a number of items.  In fact, he tried, in Syria, and after being lied to repeatedly by our current president gave it up a a wasted endeavor. Putin, I think, realizes the desirable benefits of  engaging with America in a number of areas, but will requires an smart, honest horse trader on our side to make that happen in a way that works for both Russia and America. Might I add that Mrs. Clinton failed dismally at that task?

The same is true when it comes to China. Trade sanctions by America would devastate China’s economy, which is already stumbling. Serious discussion with the Chinese could secure our mutual spheres of interest, get China’s industry to build factories in America and create jobs here ala’ Japan in the 1980’s, and relieve tensions as we communicate effectively to the Chinese that the Western Pacific is America’s strategic frontier, a concept they would understand.  Even the problem of the Kims and North Korea is not out of reach…the Chinese are getting tired of them as a disruptive element, but will want assurances they can trust that China will control what happens on their border.

Perhaps Dr. Kissinger, whose mind is still as sharp as a whip even in his 90’s could be persuaded to embark on one more mission for his country, something he has done clandestinely for every president since Nixon except for Barack Obama, who pointedly declined his services. The Chinese trust and respect Dr. Kissinger as they do all wise elder sages, and his health permitting, he’s just the sort of intermediary  whom could make a difference.

 GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD : Enemies or adversaries? Both, actually.

See, “Power” is the ability to get others to do what you want and prevent them from doing what you don’t want.

Power changes people, and it changes nations. It changes their perceptions of themselves, of their interests, of their proper standing in the world, of how they expect to be treated by others. That is why the rise of great powers throughout history has so often produced tensions in the international system, and even wars.

Russia’s turn toward liberalism at home stalled and then reversed, and so has her foreign policy. The centralization of power in the hands of Vladimir Putin has been accompanied by a turn away
from the integrationist foreign policy championed by Yeltsin and Kozyrev. Great power nationalism has returned to Russia, and with it traditional great power calculations and ambitions.

Contrary to the dismissive views of many in the West, Russia is a great power, and she takes pride in being a force to be reckoned with on the world stage. She is not a superpower, and may never again be one. But in terms of what the Chinese call “comprehensive national power”—her combined economic, military, and diplomatic strengths— Russia ranks among the strongest powers in the world.

Today she spends more than every country in the world except for the United States and China. Much of this has gone to modernizing her nuclear arsenal, which remains formidable by any standard – Russia still possesses16,000 nuclear warheads. Russia also has an active-duty force of more than a million soldiers; is developing new jet fighters, new submarines, and new aircraft carriers; and has resumed long-range strategic bomber flights for the first time since the end of the Cold War.

Russian military power is an integral part of her foreign policy. In addition to fighting a war in Syria and Ukraine, she maintains troops in Chechnya, Georgia and Moldova and has suspended her participation in the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), which had restricted her troop deployments. She has also been the leading supplier of advanced weaponry to China and has thus made herself a factor in the strategic equation of East Asia.

This new sense of power today fuels Russian nationalism. It also stirs up deep resentments and feelings of humiliation. Russians today no longer regard Moscow’s accommodating policies in the 1990s as acts of enlightened statesmanship.

Today Russia’s leaders seek to reclaim much of the global power and influence they lost at the end of the Cold War. Their grand ambition is to undo the post-Cold War settlement and to reestablish Russia as a dominant power in Eurasia, to make her one of the two or three great powers of the world.

What Russia wants today is what great powers have always wanted: to maintain predominant influence in the regions that matter to them, and to exclude the influence of other great powers.

Were Russia to succeed in establishing this regional dominance, like other great powers its ambitions would expand.

When the United States made herself the dominant power in the Western Hemisphere at the end of the nineteenth century, she did not rest content but looked to new horizons in East Asia and the Pacific.

Russia’s self-image today is that of a world power, with global interests and global reach.

Europe may be ill-equipped to respond to a problem that it never anticipated having to face. Its postmodern tools of foreign policy were not designed to address more traditional geopolitical challenges. Europe is neither institutionally nor temperamentally prepared to play the kind of geopolitical games in Russia’s near-abroad that Russia is willing to play.

Today the Chinese believe that their nation’s ancient centrality, appropriately adjusted for the times and circumstances, can, should, and will be restored. They increasingly look back to imperial days for guidance about the future. Chinese thinkers and policymakers foresee a dawning era of renewed Chinese dominance in East Asia. Some see the world divided into two geopolitical spheres: a Euro-Atlantic sphere dominated by the United States and an Asian sphere dominated by China.

Chinese officials speak of extending strategic frontiers progressively outward to what they call the three “island chains”: the first, running from Japan to Taiwan to the Philippines; the second, from Sakhalin to the islands of the Southwest Pacific; the third, from the Aleutian Islands off Alaska to the Antarctic.

While the Chinese navy remains far from achieving these more distant ambitions, the Chinese have been steadily replacing their antiquated naval and air forces with modern ships and aircraft, almost all purchased from Russia. Within a few years China will have roughly doubled its fleet of modern submarines and modern guided missile destroyers. For the 1st time in eons, China thinks of herself as a sea power.

Don’t the Chinese understand that in the globalized world one can buy oil on the market without cozy relations with the oil despots of the world? Don’t they see that the globalized world of international commerce has an interest in keeping waterways open and that China’s buildup is therefore unnecessary?

Chinese leaders don’t believe any of this, and with reason. Like all rising powers throughout history, like the United States, Japan, and Germany at the end of the nineteenth century, they fear that the rest of the world may conspire against them. Like the Russians, the Chinese believe that to be a great power they must be independent and self-reliant.

The Chinese have considered the United States hostile to their ambitions for decades. Long before Europeans began expressing concern about the “hyperpower,” long before world opinion complained about America’s arrogance and hegemonism, Chinese observers had pointed to her “superhegemonist” ambitions. They knew 41’s new world order meant a dominant United States, with Russia and China in distinctly secondary roles.

China may speak of transcending traditional geopolitics. They may claim no interest in traditional
forms of power. But their actual policy is to accumulate more of it.

The Glittering Eye :Russia isn’t necessarily our enemy although we seem bound and determined to make it one. The last three administrations have completely bungled relations with Russia. Each has presided over an expansion of NATO, none of which increased our security or that of Western Europe but were aggressive and provocative from Russia’s viewpoint. Most recently we have supported the neo-fascist regime in Kiev which we are learning is as corrupt as its predecessors.

It didn’t have to be this way. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia downsized its military and reorganized it away from one prepared to confront Western provocations. Its gradual return was a response to NATO moves not their cause.

We should have been cooperating with the Russians in Syria. The Islamist rebels of whatever stripe are our common enemy. Now we’ve got Russian jets buzzing our planes and ships in the Baltic. I hope the Cold Warriors are happy. It’s what they’ve been working for the last 20 years.

China on the other hand clearly sees itself as the rising power and us the declining power. The U. S. to our Britain. I think they’re miscalculation but I believe they will be troublesome. We should stick to our longstanding grand strategy wherever it leads but I’m skeptical the present administration will do so. I think the Chinese would back down. Their aggression in the South China Sea isn’t popular in China however popular it is with a small number of Chinese elites.

Russia and China are natural adversaries. We should have the wit to capitalize on that.

Laura Rambeau Lee, Right Reason : We have gone beyond the impotent saber rattling from these communist countries seen during the peak of the Cold War. Over the past few years China has expanded its reach into the South China Sea through a reclamation project creating artificial islands; building airstrips and military installations and threatening regional peace. These are some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes as an estimated five trillion dollars of global trade per year passes through these waters. China’s control of these waters could have a devastating global economic impact.

A seemingly sleeping Russia flexed its might by invading the Crimea in Ukraine and annexing it into the Russian Federation in March of 2014. Just this week, two Russian fighter jets buzzed the USS Donald Cook, a U. S. Navy guided missile destroyer in the Baltic Sea, coming within 1000 yards of the destroyer and the next day a Russian jet came to within 30 feet of the destroyer. We can be assured Putin’s vision is the reclamation of the vast empire once under the banner of the Soviet Union.

We’ve gone beyond the “trust but verify” days of President Ronald Reagan. China and Russia are our enemies and are not just testing the response of the United States and our allied nations. I fear theirs is an unholy alliance whose goal is to divide and conquer as they expand power and seize control of more countries and waterways. All of this is happening as the Obama Administration is systematically downsizing and demoralizing our all volunteer military. It’s no surprise the threat to our national security is growing as President Obama seems unwilling to do anything to stop it. I just hope nothing catastrophic happens before the next president is sworn in, and that the next president has a good understanding of these truly existential threats and is willing to act; through diplomacy when possible or militarily if necessary. Unfortunately, it is impossible to be an isolationist in this 21st century.

Well, there you have it.

Make sure to tune in every Monday for the Watcher’s Forum. And remember, every Wednesday, the Council has its weekly contest with the members nominating two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The votes are cast by the Council, and the results are posted on Friday morning.

It’s a weekly magazine of some of the best stuff written in the blogosphere, and you won’t want to miss it.

And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter..’cause we’re cool like that, y’know?

Extremely Disturbing! Hillary Used Google to Try to Overthrow Assad in Syria

Tags

Assad, Barack Obama, Foreign Affairs, Google, Hillary Clinton, Jared Cohen, military policy, State Department, Syria

Independent Sentinel by S. Noble

Google apparently works for the White House.

They are the people who have unparalleled access to all our information, communications and our lives. They have tremendous power and Hillary was employing them in an effort to overthrow Assad. We are now finding this out after we just learned that the Google overlord is advising the military on how to improve its practices, establishing unique and inappropriate ties with government.

According to a Hillary email, the tech giant wanted to visually map those defecting from Assad. Google ideas chief Jared Cohen came up with the idea. He left the State Department for Google’s think tank in 2010.

Did you notice how all these companies, including the media, share employees with the government?

This is the stuff of fiction but in this day and age of dictatorial government agencies, out of control leaders and corrupt crony corporations, it’s reality. A new Hillary Clinton email shows that Google coordinated with the State Department to overthrow Bashar al-Assad in Syria[…]

Continue Reading — Extremely Disturbing! Hillary Used Google to Try to Overthrow Assad in Syria

Anyone not creeped out about this is not paying attention.

Obama Contemplates His Naval

Tags

Barack Obama, China, Foreign Affairs, inept

Be Sure You’re RIGHT, Then Go Ahead by Bob Mack

“Look, there’s Obama on another TV show. And there’s Obama with a salmon. Pay no attention to the Chinese warships off the coast. They’re just probably dropping by to collect interest payments … Just part of the renewed international respect for the appeaser-in-chief. That’s what diplomatic success looks like, right? When a foreign enemy parks his warships off your coast on your visit.” (Now China Can See Alaska from its Warships)

Okay, so the Chinese incursion occurred closer to Russia than Anchorage. Still,

The PLAN ships moving through the Aleutians would be the legal equivalent of a U.S. destroyer moving through the strait separating mainland China from Hainan Island…

Continue…

H/t Grumpy Opinions.

Check out: Be Sure You’re RIGHT, Then Go Ahead AND Grumpy Opinions.

LINKS:
http://grumpyelder.com/2015/09/obama-contemplates-his-naval/
https://crockettlives.wordpress.com/2015/09/05/obama-contemplates-his-naval/

Code Pink Cows Try to Arrest Henry Kissinger

Tags

Code Pink, Foreign Affairs, George Shultz, Henry Kissinger, islamic-terrorism, Senate Armed Committee

 

During this week’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Global Challenges and the U.S. National Security Strategy the Code Pink mad cows/protesters interrupted the start of the hearing by attempting to arrest former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. How they were allowed to get the close to Kissinger in the first place should is worthy of a thorough investigation.

In any event, the disruption did not go over well at all.

 

Published on Jan 29, 2015 by C-SPAN

Code Pink protesters interrupt the start of the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing with former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger, Madeleine Albright, and George Shultz. Senator John McCain, Chair of the Committee, has the protesters removed. Watch the complete hearing here: http://cs.pn/1uEQRKp

Senator John McCain’s response to Code Pink’s attempts to handcuff 91-year-old Henry Kissinger, “Get out of here you low life scum…So Henry, I hope you will — Dr. Kissinger, I hope on behalf of all of the members of this committee on both sides of the aisle — in fact, from all of my colleagues, I’d like to apologize for allowing such disgraceful behavior towards a man who served his country with the greatest distinction. I apologize profusely.”

“Get out of here you low life scum..” While it may be the pot calling the kettle black, McCain nailed it.

As Kissinger began his opening statement, more protesters entered the room kvetching about Kissinger’s “war crimes” and Vietnam.

PJ Media

‘Vietnam! From 1969 to 1973, Kissinger, working for Richard Nixon, oversaw the slaughter in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, that led to the deaths of millions — millions of people. Many thousands more died from the effects of massive doses of agent orange and from unexploded bombs that covered the countryside!’ a protester shouted. ‘Chile! Henry Kissinger was one of the principle architects of the coup in Chile on September 11th, 1973…’

 

 

It was then that 94-year-old former Secretary of State George P. Shultz (image above) standing up for Kissinger proclaimed “I salute Henry Kissinger for his many contributions to peace and security.” (55:34 of video here)

Shultz’ proclamation was met with a standing ovation from the audience and members the Senate Armed Services Committee. The hearing in its entirety can also be viewed here.

Hearing: Global Challenges and the U.S. National Security Strategy
Date: Thursday, January 29, 2015 Time: 09:30 AM
Agenda
To receive testimony on global challenges and the U.S. national security strategy.
Witnesses
Dr. Henry A. Kissinger
Chairman of Kissinger Associates and Former Secretary of State
Adobe Acrobat Document Download Testimony
Dr. George P. Shultz
Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished Fellow Hoover Institution Stanford University and Former Secretary of State
NO ELECTRONIC TESTIMONY SUBMITTED.
Dr. Madeleine K. Albright
Chair, National Democratic Institute and Former Secretary of State

 

LINKS:
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2015/01/29/code-pink-tries-to-arrest-91-year-old-kissinger-for-war-crimes-get-smacked-down-by-94-year-old-george-schultz/
http://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings/15-01-29-global-challenges-and-the-us-national-security-strategy