This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Foreign Policy

  • More riots in ME

    Monday, I enumerated some of the protests against repressive governments in the Middle East, Algeria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iran. Today you can add Bahrain and Libya. While he was urging Palestinians to revolt against Israel, Gaddafi didn’t notice the unrest among his own population.

    Two people were killed in Bahrain protests and during a funeral for one of the victims of the Iran protests, more violence broke out;

    Although opposition Web sites say the two people killed in Monday’s demonstrations were anti-government protesters, state television said the victims were members of a paramilitary organization and had been killed by the opposition, as government-backed entities have asserted.

    “Students and the people attending the funeral ceremony of the martyred student have clashed with a limited number of people apparently linked to the sedition movement and forced them out by chanting slogans of death to hypocrites,” the state TV Web site said.

    Apparently, some Iranian protesters are prepared to die;

    Karroubi, once a pillar of the regime, said in a statement posted on his website Sahamnews.org, he was ready to “pay any price”.

    “I declare that I am not afraid of any kind of threat and as a soldier of this great nation for the past almost 50 years, I am ready to pay any price,” he said.

    Meanwhile, the Obama Administration twiddles it’s collective thumbs as infighting between the Clinton and Obama camps makes for a sluggish policy towards the protests and our relationships with the petty fiefdoms. More of that “smart diplomacy”, no doubt.

  • Argentina seizes US military cargo

    So we go down to Argentina to train President Christina Fernandez’ police for hostage rescue. Sounds like a nice thing to do, right? Well, the Argentinians turn around and seize the cargo of the C-17 bringing the mission assets back to the US. (Wall Street Journal link)

    Relations between Argentina and the U.S. have deteriorated rapidly since U.S. President Barack Obama said in January that he would visit El Salvador, Brazil and Chile next month, skipping Argentina.

    Argentine officials reportedly considered Mr. Obama’s decision an affront, especially after Argentine President Cristina Fernandez in December blocked a bid by some South American nations to formally condemn U.S. policy amid the WikiLeaks diplomatic cables scandal.

    The leaked cables contained unflattering comments about several Latin American leaders, including Ms. Fernandez.

    More of that smart diplomacy we’ve been hearing about, I suppose. They all hated us under Bush, but at least they didn’t do some stupid shit like this.

    Recently widowed Fernandez’ (formerly Kirchner) was financed during her political campaign by Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez in the famous “maleta-gate” scandal.

    Thanks to Old Trooper for the link.

  • Egypt’s last best chance

    So Hosni promised not to run for office again this evening. That’s probably for the best. From the Washington Times;

    In a speech aired on state TV Tuesday night, Mr. Mubarak said, “In all sincerity, regardless of the current circumstances, I never intended to be a candidate for another term.”

    He said he will work during “the final months of my current term” to carry out the “necceasary steps for the peaceful transfer of power.”

    Earlier Tuesday, U.S. officials said a visiting envoy of President Obama told Mr. Mubarak Tuesday that the U.S. sees his presidency at an end, an administration official said.

    There are calls for Mubarak’s immediate resignation, but that doesn’t serve Egypt well. The people calling for his resignation are probably the same people who can’t win the popular vote in an open election. If we can believe anything that Mohamed ElBaradei says, the Muslim Brotherhood is “only” twenty percent of Egyptians which might make them part of a party coalition, but not the main characters.

    Egypt needs to have the scheduled elections and transfer power by the tenets of it’s Constitution in order to show the world they can do it and to restore the confidence of the people in it’s government. It’s their last best chance for their country and for the region.

  • Blackwater founder to fight pirates?

    Yeah, it’s pretty much a product of the chickenshit world we live in. For the last several decades, the whole world has relied on the US to fight everyones’ wars and provide a security umbrella for civilization against the dark forces. Now the US is reluctant to involve itself in some of the more serious problems, so the Gulf States are contemplating hiring a private security force, assembled by Blackwater founder, Eric prince, to combat piracy off the horn of Africa. From an Associated Press link sent to us by Old Trooper;

    Prince’s role revives questions about the use of military contractors. Critics say it could undercut the international community’s effort to train and fund Somali forces to fight al-Qaida-linked Islamist insurgents.

    The European Union is training about 2,000 Somali soldiers with U.S. support, and an African Union force of 8,000 Ugandan and Burundian peacekeepers is propping up the government.

    By introducing contractors, “You could see the privatization of war, with very little accountability to the international community,” said E.J. Hogendoorn, a Nairobi-based analyst with the International Crisis Group think tank. “Who are these private companies accountable to and what prevents them from changing clients when it’s convenient for them?”

    Yeah, well, since no one can summon the testicular fortitude to dedicate some government force to battling piracy, it’s up to privateers. The UN can debate the topic from now until Eternity, they’ll never have the guts and the UN has a reputation for just screwing up, anyway. I can only imagine the stories about blue-helmeted goons raping underage dolphins and flounder.

  • Somali Islamist promises to bring terror to US

    A Somalian Islamist warlord has threatened to bring terrorism to the United States and threatened the president to convert to Islam according to the Washington Post;

    A leader of Somalia’s Islamist insurgency threatened to attack America during a speech broadcast Monday.

    “We tell the American President Barack Obama to embrace Islam before we come to his country,” said Fuad Mohamed “Shongole” Qalaf.

    Al-Shabab has not yet launched an attack outside Africa but Western intelligence has long been worried because the group targeted young Somali-Americans for recruitment.

    It’s probably just a bunch of wishful thinking from a leader who doesn’t even control his own country, but it’s instructive in that all of that blather about how electing Obama would soothe the world’s savage breasts. How everyone would love us again if only we’d elect Obama. Yeah, that’ll never happen until we become a failed state like the rest of them. Nothing we can do in our own national interest will ever placate the folks who are still living in the 20th century, or in this case, the 12th century. How has the policies of Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Somalia or any other country, for that matter, changed since 2009?

    We can’t elect a President based on what the rest of the world tells us. We can’t elect a President based on what half of this country tells us.

  • Iran to build missile base in VZ?

    Old Trooper sends us a link to an article about our old buddy Hugo Chavez who has agreed to let iran build a missile base supposedly within range of the US;

    According to Die Welt, Venezuela has agreed to allow Iran to establish a military base manned by Iranian missile officers, soldiers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Venezuelan missile officers. In addition, Iran has given permission for the missiles to be used in case of an “emergency”. In return, the agreement states that Venezuela can use these facilities for “national needs” – radically increasing the threat to neighbors like Colombia. The German daily claims that according to the agreement, Iranian Shahab 3 (range 1300-1500 km), Scud-B (285-330 km) and Scud-C (300, 500 and 700 km) will be deployed in the proposed base. It says that Iran also pledged to help Venezuela in rocket technology expertise, including intensive training of officers

    So, it looks like President Obama will have to channel JFK’s ghost now to deal with a new missile crisis. They bullshitted around long enough with Iran’s nuclear program, and now Iran and Venezuela have grown the ballsacks of giants. Of course, we can always hope that an errant missile from some regional democracy in the Middle East might sink ships before they can deliver their payload to Venezuela, because I’m pretty sure our vessels will remain silent.

  • Koreas exchange artillery fire again

    As a US special envoy on North Korea visited South Korea this week, the hermit kingdom opened fire on a disputed island this morning according to Fox News;

    The artillery barrages struck the small South Korean-held island of Yeonpyeong, which houses military installations and a small civilian population in an area that has been the focus of two previous deadly battles between the Koreas.

    One South Korean marine was killed, three were seriously wounded and 10 slightly wounded, a Joint Chiefs of Staff official said. Island residents were escaping to about 20 shelters in the island and sporadic shelling was continuing, the JCS said.

    Ya know I was always under the impression that North Korea was a problem because of George Bush and his reference to North Korea as a rogue nation and a member of the “Axis of Evil”. Yet here we are nearly two years after George Bush left office and North Korea is still acting like a rogue nation.

  • But we are suppose to be the horrible ones.

    So meanwhile while our image is being dragged through the mud by the people like Bobby Whittenberg while these are issues like this one going on in Mexico.

    Soldiers are hunting a 12-year-old suspected drug gang hitman accused of helping wage a gruesome turf war in central Mexico, a state prosecutor and Mexican media said on Friday.

    Yea, so in regards to us being accused of using our youth to comment horrible acts in war and that is the “obvious” reason that the world hates it. But in the mean time we have a 12 year old kid killing people for hire.

    The boy, known only as “El Ponchis,” is believed to be working for the South Pacific cartel in Morelos state just outside Mexico City and is one of a group of youths who have already committed “terrible acts,” Morelos State Prosecutor Pedro Luis Benitez told local radio.

    “These minors are still not fully developed and so it is easy to influence them, to give them a gun, pretending it is plastic, that it is a game,” Benitez said.

    Benitez did not name the boy or give more details but when asked directly about the teenage hitmen he said: “They’re persuaded to carry out terrible acts; they don’t realize what they are doing,” he added.

    Oh and never mind about doing wonders for the area.

    More than 31,000 people have been killed since Calderon launched his cartel crackdown four years ago, alarming many Mexicans and some foreign investors who are freezing investment in the country just as it is recovering from recession.

    So I imagine that good old Bobby and friends will be on this to giving full coverage, right?

    Also here is a link that is in Spanish if anyone can read it.