Atlas Shrugs

Honduras Fights for Constitution, Obama Takes Sides with Chavez against the Honduran People

I've made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and is not interfering with Iran's affairs. Barack Hussein Obama, Press Conference, June 23

COUP ROCKS HONDURAS WSJ [it wasn't a coup]

Honduran soldiers rousted President Manuel Zelaya from his bed and exiled him at gunpoint Sunday to Costa Rica, halting his controversial push to redraw the constitution but spurring fresh concerns about democratic rule across Latin America.

The U.S. and other countries condemned the coup. President Barack Obama said he was "deeply concerned" and called on all political actors in Honduras to "respect democratic norms." Venezuela President Hugo Chávez, a close ally of Mr. Zelaya and nemesis of the U.S., said he would consider it an ''act of war" if there were hostilities against his diplomats. "I have put the armed forces of Venezuela on alert," Mr. Chávez said.

Honduras's Supreme Court gave the order for the military to detain the president, according to a former Supreme Court official who is in touch with the court.

Later, Honduras's Congress formally removed Mr. Zelaya from the presidency and named congressional leader Roberto Micheletti as his successor until the end of Mr. Zelaya's term in January. Mr. Micheletti and others said they were the defenders, not opponents, of democratic rule.

Chavez threatens military action over Honduras coup | U.S. | Reuters

Obama refuses to "meddle" in Iran, where individuals are courageously risking life and limb for the idea of free elections. Brutal Islamic nazis are crushing dissent, and Obama talks about "lively debate". But in Honduras, Obama and the whores at the UN have no qualms about interfering to back a Chavez proxy (of course). 

The real story behind the chaos in Honduras is a huge story that needs to be exposed to the world.

Take this hypothetical: Imagine Obama announced that he was going to hold a referendum on legalizing a third term for himself. Imagine that even his attorney general Eric Holder advised him that it was illegal. Imagine that the Supreme Court ruled that holding the referendum was unconstitutional. In spite of that, let's imagine that Obama coerced the FEC to hold the referendum any way. Then we found out that the referendum was being financed by Hugo Chavez. What should the Joint Chiefs do? That is exactly what has occurred in Honduras to a tee. The Honduras Attorney General and their Supreme Court did exactly that. Their Generals did what they had to. Of course Obama and Clinton express outrage on our behalf. Thank God that another domino wasn't toppled. But Chavez wants blood.

(hat tip Howard)

The collective negation of humanity (aka the UN) at Turtle Bay weighs in immediately on Honduras (after weeks of silence on the murdering Mullahs in Iran) and backs .... the axis of evil, of course.

UN's Ban Ki-moon condemns Honduras leader's arrest

America, take a page from this. What happened in Honduras is how democracy works.

Venezuela: Chavez Steps Up Attacks on the Jews

Obama to restore ties with Chavez

The attacks on Jews in Venezuela are escalating (previously at Atlas here and here). Chavez and Ahmadinejad speak with one voice when it comes to the Jews.

CHAVEZ STEPS UP ATTACKS ON JEWS Tim Mack, The New Majority (hat tip Rut)

From the beginning of his rule in Venezuela, Hugo Chavez has stridently criticized Israel. In recent months, Chavez has found a more vulnerable target: the Jewish population inside Venezuela.

Last week, an angry mob broke out in Miranda, Venezuela’s second largest state. Reports indicate that the Mayor of Miranda’s capital city incited an angry group of Chavez supporters to paint Nazi swastikas on the home of an anti-Chavez Jewish politician, Governor Henrique Capriles Radonski. “We are showing Capriles that …people are opposed to his continuous attacks against the initiatives and socialist projects of president Chávez,” explained Los Teques Mayor Alirio Mendoza. Governor Radonski is a charismatic Chavez opponent, and has spent time in jail for a minor role in Venezuela’s failed coup of 2004. Further, since he is perhaps the only well-known Jewish politician in the country, it is easy to understand why he has become a prime target for irate Chavistas.

 

Anti-semitic graffiti on the walls of the Tiferet Israel Synagogue in Caracas.

These incidents follow a trend of anti-Semitic behavior that has strikingly worsened since the beginning of the year. In January 2009, Chavez accused Israel of attempting to carry out “genocide” against the Palestinian people and expelled Israel’s ambassador. Soon thereafter, a pro-Chavez columnist named Emilio Silva posted on a pro-government website urging Venezuelans to “publicly challenge every Jew that you find in the street, shopping center or park, shouting slogans in favor of Palestine and against that abortion: Israel.” A week later, a group of at least a dozen men raided the aforementioned Tiferet Israel Synagogue, vandalizing property and spraying the words ‘Jews, get out!’ on the walls. In February, someone threw a hand grenade at another synagogue, damaging it.

The hand grenade incident jolted world attention, and seemed to have persuaded Chavez to draw back for a time. For a short period, it seemed like there might be some cause for optimism. A month ago, an American resolution calling on Venezuela to “protect the rights of the Jewish Venezuelan community” was withdrawn after several Jewish Congressmen and the American Jewish Congress came out against it. Apparently, those who opposed the resolution feared that such legislation could prove to be counterproductive. In justifying his organization’s opposition to the resolution, Confederation of Israelite Associations Venezuela (CAIV) spokesman David Bittan was quoted as saying that the number of anti-Semitic articles in Venezuelan media decreased by 60% in the weeks after the grenade attack. Yet, this optimism turned out to be slightly misguided. As international pressure dissipated, the regime seems to have resumed its anti-Jewish actions, leading to the mob in Miranda and the vandalism in Caracas.

While most would agree that the rise in anti-Semitism is driven by Chavez’s need to scapegoat a minority group for his own disappointing record of achievement in power, a secondary motive is his desire to ingratiate himself with his most important international ally, Iran. As Forbes’ Venezuelan commentators note in a piece on this topic, “Chavez and Iran speak with one voice about the Jews.” Lacking positive results to show their people, both autocratic regimes benefit from a coordinated effort of propaganda that blames Jews for domestic issues and foments anti-Semitic violence and vandalism. 

And Obama, of course, rewards such depravity.

US and Venezuela to restore ties Al Jazeera (hat tip Robert)

The United States and Venezuela are to reinstate ambassadors to Caracas and Washington, setting aside a diplomatic spat that soured ties last year.

Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, who had been a fierce critic of Washington, met Barack Obama, his US counterpart, for the first time at a Trinidad summit in April.

Chavez said then he hoped to begin a "new era" in relations between the two countries, which have often feuded over Washington's role in Latin America.

The news of the restoration of Venezuela-US ties came as a US official confirmed that Washington planned to reappoint an ambassador to Damascus after a four-year absence.

Is he or Isn't he? UPDATE: He ain't! Ahmadinejad out

UPDATE: Thanks to Rut: Ahmadinejad cancels trip to Latin America

The Iranian president was to visit Brazil, Venezuela and Ecuador on a regional tour to Latin America but the visit was cancelled.

Atlas Reader, David in Rio De Janeiro, tells me Ahmadinejad had canceled his trip to Brazil.

David wrote,

We had demonstrations yesterday in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. The media covered both protests. Today good news: ahmadinejad is not coming anymore. Why? They did not say..

Now I hear Ahmadinejad's trip is back on. So is he or isn't he? 

David sent these pics from the rally:

 

 

I posted on this growing axis of evil here:

- and will be welcomed by president Lula da Silva. Most people think the Brazilian president Lula is a moderate and not a clown like Chávez and Morales - but in reality they share the same basic leftist beliefs, as do most Latin American "leaders". Lula Da Silva blames whitey:

Brazil's president blamed "white people with blue eyes" for the world economic crisis and said it was wrong that developing countries should pay for mistakes made in richer countries, sparking accusations of racism.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has criticized the European Union and the US for tariffs on products from developing countries and has advocated a bigger say for developing countries in decisions on the world economy, pointed a finger to Western bankers.

"This crisis was caused by the irrational behavior of white people with blue eyes, who thought they knew everything and now show they know nothing," Lula da Silva said after a meeting with the UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown in the country's capital of Brasilia.

In case you were wondering why the Chavez wannabee Evo Morales recently went on a pogrom against the Jews, as reported here, it was probably in honor of the arrival of the fuhrer of the Fourth Reich, Ahmadinejad.

Ahmadinejad nixes visit after Jewish protests

 

Iran's Ahmadinejad Postpones Latin American Trip Indefinitely Bloomberg

Iranian president postpones Latin America tour indefinitely Xinhua

Washington Deeply Concerned over Ahmadinejad's Brazil Visit

Axis of Evil: Brazil's Blame-Whitey Da Silva Welcomes Ahmadinejad

Ahmadinejad will visit Brazil on May 6 - for the first time - and will be welcomed by president Lula da Silva. Most people think the Brazilian president Lula is a moderate and not a clown like Chávez and Morales - but in reality they share the same basic leftist beliefs, as do most Latin American "leaders". Lula Da Silva blames whitey:

Brazil's president blamed "white people with blue eyes" for the world economic crisis and said it was wrong that developing countries should pay for mistakes made in richer countries, sparking accusations of racism.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has criticized the European Union and the US for tariffs on products from developing countries and has advocated a bigger say for developing countries in decisions on the world economy, pointed a finger to Western bankers.

"This crisis was caused by the irrational behavior of white people with blue eyes, who thought they knew everything and now show they know nothing," Lula da Silva said after a meeting with the UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown in the country's capital of Brasilia.

In case you were wondering why the Chavez wannabee Evo Morales recently went on a pogrom against the Jews, as reported here, it was probably in honor of the arrival of the fuhrer of the Fourth Reich, Ahmadinejad.

Several times this week, Bolivian police forcibly closed a Chabad House. A Foreign Ministry official said Thursday that there were no Israeli citizens caught up in the raids. Several Israelis were arrested.

There is an article about the dangers in Portuguese here. (hat tip Ingo)

Here's why.

Iran and its Proxy Hezbollah: Strategic Penetration in Latin America Ely Karmon

Iran’s Goals in Latin America

[...]

What is Ahmadinejad Looking for in Latin America?

First, he is seeking Latin American support to counter US and European pressures to stop Iran from developing nuclear capabilities. Venezuela and Cuba were, alongside Syria, the only three countries that supported Iran’s nuclear programme in a February 2006 vote at the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency.[5]

Secondly, Ahmadinejad wants to strike back at the US in its own hemisphere and possibly destabilise US-friendly governments in order to negotiate with Washington from a position of greater strength.

Third, Ahmadinejad's popularity at home is falling, and he may want to show his people that he is being welcomed as a hero abroad.

Since Ahmadinejad’s ascendancy to power, he has made three diplomatic tours to Latin America in search of an alliance of ‘revolutionary countries’. He visited Venezuela in July 2006, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Ecuador in January 2007, and Venezuela and Bolivia in September 2007. Ahmadinejad had also hosted President Chávez of Venezuela, President Ortega of Nicaragua, President Morales of Bolivia and President Correa of Ecuador and is expecting the visit of Brazil’s President Lula da Silva in 2009.

The cornerstone of Ahmadinejad’s Latin America policy is the formation of an anti-American axis with Venezuela. During a July 2006 visit to Tehran, Chávez told a Tehran University crowd, ‘We have to save humankind and put an end to the US empire’. When Chávez again visited Tehran a year later Ahmadinejad and Chávez used the visit to declare an ‘Axis of Unity’ against the US.[6] Ahmadinejad’s efforts to further destabilise the neighbourhood suggest that he is seeking a permanent Iranian presence on the US doorstep.

Both leaders are using their mutual embrace to overcome international isolation and sanctions. Both Tehran and Caracas have used their petrodollar windfall to encourage states in Latin America to embark on confrontational policies towards the US.[7]

Using billions of Iranian dollars in aid and assistance, and a US$2 billion Iran/Venezuela programme to fund social projects in Latin America, Ahmadinejad has worked to create an anti-American bloc with Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua.

Iran’s Growing Presence in Latin America

During the International Conference on Latin America held in Tehran in February 2007, Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mehdi Mostafavi, announced the opening of embassies in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Uruguay and a representative office in Bolivia, and that a number of Latin American countries would open embassies in Iran.[8]

Iran’s political and economic penetration of the continent in a short period of two-three years is indeed impressive.

Venezuela

According to Elodie Brun, both Venezuela and Iran are using oil as a political instrument to insert themselves internationally in a way that both characterise as revolutionary. The Venezuelan President, Hugo Chávez, and President Ahmadinejad embrace a rhetoric emphasising autonomy and independence from the great powers, primarily the US but also Europe, citing unity in the struggle against imperialism and capitalism. Hostility to the US, and particularly to the Bush Administration, is what most binds the foreign policies of the two countries.[9]

‘Here are two brother countries, united like a single fist’, Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan leader, was quoted as saying in Tehran. ‘Iran is an example of struggle, resistance, dignity, revolution, strong faith’, Chávez told al-Jazeera. ‘We are two powerful countries. Iran is a power and Venezuela is becoming one. We want to create a bipolar world. We don’t want a single power [that is, the US]...Despite the will of the world arrogance [of the US], we [Iran and Venezuela] will stand by the oppressed and deprived nations of the world’, Ahmadinejad said.[10] Thérèse Delpech, a French analyst, has noted that Ahmadinejad's ‘flamboyant style’ is similar to that of his Venezuelan colleague.[11]

Some observers consider that Latin America’s willingness to embrace Iran indicates how far US prestige has fallen in the region. Chávez has emerged as ‘the godfather and relationship manager’, striving to draw in this embrace other allies such as Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua. He is providing Iran with an entry into Latin America, vowing to ‘unite the Persian Gulf and the Caribbean’ and recently gave Iran observer status in his leftist trade-pact group known as the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas.[12]

Iran has become the second-largest investor in Venezuela, after the US. The first ‘anti-imperialist cars’ from a joint venture (Venirauto) have now reached Venezuela’s roads, with the first batch earmarked for army officers. The 4,000 tractors produced annually in Ciudad Bolivar have a symbolic value as agents of revolutionary change. Most are given or leased at a discount in Venezuela to socialist cooperatives that have land, with the government’s blessing. Universities are teaching Farsi.[13]

Iran is to help build platforms in a US$4 billion development of Orinoco delta oil deposits in exchange for Venezuelan investments. An Iranian company is building thousands of apartments for Venezuela’s poor. The most visible impact so far has been the arrival of Iranian businesses. The public housing project alone has brought more than 400 Iranian engineers and specialists to Venezuela, where many have learned basic Spanish.[14]

Iran starves its own people to finance the jihad in Latin America.

Venezuela could also provide Iran with some breathing space as it tries to weather the financial pressure of UN and US sanctions on its nuclear programme. Venezuela could end up being an outlet for Iran to move money, obtain high-tech equipment and access the world financial system.[15]

Venezuela has already become Iran’s gateway for travel to the region. There is now a weekly flight between Caracas and Tehran, with a stopover in Damascus, operated by the Venezuelan state-controlled airline Conviasa and Iran’s national carrier, Iran Air. Flights are packed with government officials and government-friendly business people.[16] Venezuela’s state airline bought an Airbus jet especially for the route.

Bolivia

Bolivia might be a poor country, but it is strategically located and represents an important ally for Iran that can act as a catalyst in enhancing Iran’s growing cooperation with other leftist or populist governments in Latin America.

On 27 September 2007 Ahmadinejad visited La Paz for the first time to meet President Morales. They took the opportunity to sign a programme of cooperation worth US$1.1 billion in Bolivia’s underdeveloped oil and gas sector.[17]

In August 2008 the government of Bolivia, with the support of Iran and Venezuela, created the Public National Strategic Company ‘Cement of Bolivia’ with an investment of US$230 million for the establishment of two plants in Potosí and Oruro departments. In the same month, the Vice-president of Iran, Mojtama Samare Hashemi, came to the country to express his support for Evo Morales and to promote economic agreements.

Iran decided to open two health clinics in Bolivia, as a base for future Red Crescent projects in South America. The agreement includes sending Iranian medical teams to Bolivia, and offering specialised education and training for Bolivian physicians. The Bolivian Health Minister said that the Iranian clinics would expand the medical aid already being provided by Cuba and Venezuela.[18]

The Iranian state television agreed to provide Bolivian state television with Spanish-language programming, making it that much easier for every Bolivian to receive Iranian-produced news and documentary shows –ie, propaganda.

In September 2008 Morales went to Teheran and agreed with Ahmadinejad to accelerate the execution of joint projects to increase economic development and welfare for both nations. The two Presidents issued a statement to the effect that the interference of the United Nations Security Council in Iran’s nuclear programme had no legal or technical justification. Morales’ decision to set aside any hesitation and fully support Iran's position in the current nuclear stand-off has gone a long way to cementing Iranian-Bolivian friendship. According to the statement, the two sides have also pledged to continue their political struggle against imperialism. ‘Nothing and no country can harm our relations with the revolutionary country of Iran’, Morales told reporters.

Following his return from Iran, President Evo Morales announced he was moving the country’s sole Middle Eastern Embassy from Egypt to Iran, a clear sign of what his strategic priorities in the Middle East are.

Nicaragua

According to Maradiaga and Meléndez, Nicaragua’s foreign policy strongly correlates with Venezuela’s, and any Latin American relationship with Iran is conducted through Caracas. President Ortega sees himself as a ‘revolutionary’ who supports Chávez’s political-ideological anti-imperialist ‘Socialism of the 21st century’. Francisco Aguirre Sacasa, a former Nicaraguan Foreign Minister, described Ortega’s relations with Iran as a ‘policy of the heart’.[19]'

And Hussein Obama sat through a 50-minute tirade of vilification of the US at last week's Summit of America.

Iran promised Nicaragua US$1 billion in aid and investment to develop its energy and agricultural sectors, infrastructure and water purification facilities. The largest project was the construction of a deep water port on Nicaragua’s eastern shore, requiring an investment of US$350 million. Nicaragua received a US$231 million loan from Iran in 2007 to build a hydroelectric dam. In August 2008, Nicaraguan-Iranian relations were further consolidated when President Ahmadinejad donated US$2 million for the construction of a hospital. Iran will also expand media cooperation with Nicaragua.[20] Iran has stationed about 20 Iranian officials at its Embassy there, which has by now become one of the largest in the country.

However, Maradiaga and Meléndez claimed as late as mid-2008 that the proposed projects created the appearance of strong economic ties between the two nations but that there was little evidence that the aid and investment would materialise. They doubted that the relationship –held together by the anti-Americanism espoused by the leaders of both countries– would deepen beyond the ideological and political level.[21] On the political level, Nicaragua is actually playing down US concerns about Iran’s nuclear-weapon ambitions and President Ortega publicly supported Iran’s right to ‘nuclear energy for peaceful ends’.[22]

Brazil

During President Mohammad Khatami’s February 2004 visit to Caracas to attend the summit of the non-aligned G-15 he met the newly elected President Lula da Silva of Brazil and talked about bilateral trade. Since then, Brazil’s exports to Iran have doubled and it has been the latter’s largest Latin American trade partner for several years, with a volume of exports to Iran as large as those of neighbouring Turkey and India.[31]

However, when in September 2007 Ahmadinejad expressed his intention of going to Brasilia on an official visit –after speaking at the UN General Assembly and visiting Venezuela and Bolivia–, Brazilian diplomacy came out with the classic excuse: the impossibility of reconciling Lula and the Iranian President’s schedules.[32]

Still, Lula’s reluctance to meet Ahmadinejad did not prevent him from publicly supporting Iran’s nuclear energy programme and suggesting that Iran ‘should not be punished just because of Western suspicions it wants to make an atomic bomb’.[33]

During the visit in November 2008 of the Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim to Iran, his Iranian colleague Manouchehr Mottaki said that ‘Iran affords South America major priority in its foreign policy and Brazil enjoys a special position in this respect’ and that Tehran and Brasilia generally share the same interests in numerous global matters which can be used as a potential for bilateral consultations. Amorim, for his part, described the expansion of ties with Iran as a priority for Brazil’s foreign policy. He also referred to his meeting with Mottaki as a ‘turning point’ in Brazil-Iran relations and expected that the visits by the two nations’ Presidents would bring ties to a new level.[34]

On this occasion, President Ahmadinejad said there are no barriers to the expansion of ties with Brazil. ‘The (political) systems in the world are on the decline, and we should help each other and work for establishing a new (political) order’. Ahmadinejad expressed his hope that the visit to Iran of President Lula in the near future would further help build up the friendship between the two nations.[35]

On Obama's Sanctioning Despots Tour, Chavez Punks Obama with America Bashing Book

Obama continues to humiliate and embarrass free men on his sanctioning of evil tour across the world.(video hat tip Kasper)

Barack Obama has said the US seeks a "new beginning" with Cuba and an "equal partnership" with all the nations of the Americas.
Below: Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, right, hands President Barack Obama the book entitled, "The Open Veins of Latin America," by Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano.

Embracing dictators and torturers. Welcome to the Post America America.

Chavez Gifts Obama With Book That Assails U.S. for Exploiting Latin America
Jake Tapper hat tip Chad

At President Obama's meeting with the heads of South American countries this morning, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez stood, walked over to him, and presented him with a copy of "Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent" by Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano.

Obama politely posed for a photograph with Chavez, shook his hand, and accepted the gift.

The book, first published in Spanish in 1971, offers a critique of the consequences of 500 years of European and U.S. colonization of Latin America.

"The division of labor among nations is that some specialize in winning and others in losing," the book begins. "Our part of the world, known today as Latin America, was precocious: it has specialized in losing ever since those remote times when Renaissance Europeans ventured across the ocean and buried their teeth in the throats of the Indian civilizations. Centuries passed, and Latin America perfected its role."

Galeano writes that while the era of "lodes of gold" and "mountains of silver" has passed, "our region still works as a menial laborer. It continues to exist at the service of others' needs, as a source of oil and iron, of copper and meat, of fruit and coffee, the raw materials and foods destined for rich countries which profit more from consuming them than Latin America does from producing them."

At another point in the book, Galeano writes: "Our defeat was always implicit in the victory of others; our wealth has always generated our poverty by nourishing the prosperity of others."

The book also criticizes the U.S. for "spreading and imposing family planning. ... In Latin America it is more hygienic and effective to kill future guerillas in the womb that in the mountains or the streets."

[...]

At the start of the first plenary session at the Summit of the Americas later this morning, President Obama was asked what he thought of Chavez’s gift.

“You know, I thought it was one of Chavez’s books," Obama answered. "I was going to give him one of mine.”

What an embarrassment.

One review of the book on Amazon reads,

Please stop this man. The fantasy of blaming the US and Europe for the problems in Latin America has caused a lot of damage in Latin America. Unfortunately, a great number of Latin American leaders of the last century follow this filosophy [sp]and adopt a kind of nationalism and socialism that just puts more latin americans in misery.

 

Shot of the Day

It's to vomit .................Chavez in 2006: “The United States empire is on its way down and it will be finished in the near future, inshallah". (hat tip Mike) 

Looks like Chavez got his wish.

photo hat tip Amaros

Just a couple of weeks ago, Chavez called B Hussein an "idiot".

Prior to the opening of the V Summit of the Americas, the U.S. president, Barack Obama, approached the president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, to offer a greeting.

Both leaders shook hands in a historic greeting, after several years of tension over the Bush administration, when relations between Washington and Caracas had deteriorated. 

Yeah, right. It was Bush's fault, not the latino Mussolini's.

President Chavez expressed his desire to President Obama that relations between the two nations will change. "With this same hand eight years ago I greeted Bush. I want to be your friend, "the Venezuelan president to receive the greetings of the U.S..

For his part, Obama expressed his gratitude to the Venezuelan leader.

President Chavez has repeatedly stated that the only thing they expect is that United States and Venezuela to respect its sovereignty.

Google translation

Woo hoo! It's Pan American day. Another brave presidential act by Hussein!

UPDATE: Check out Obummer's knowing look:

 

hat tip James the fin

Where can I buy one?

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left, presents a carpet to his visiting Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez, right, woven with their images, during an inauguration of a joint commercial bank, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2009. (AP Photo/ISNA, Mona Hoobehfekr - hat tip Amaros via Breitbart)

CUBA: OBAMA SANCTIONS CASTRO'S EVIL

In Obama's relentless quest to celebrate all that is evil and demonize all that is good, Obama rewards tyrannical Cuba.

Where America once stood for freedom, liberty, and justice, and put her might where her mouth was, she has become what she has always held the utter contempt.

This is positively Un-American. And so I ask you, with Obama turning his back on our allies one after another, what does America stand for? Sanctioning the axis of evil - that's what the left accomplished 8 years after 911.

"The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it" -- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, 1957

U.S to Lift Some Cuba Travel Curbs WSJ

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama plans to lift longstanding U.S. restrictions on Cuba, a senior administration official said, allowing Cuban-Americans to visit families there as often as they like and to send them unlimited funds.

The gesture, which could herald more openness with the Castro regime, will fulfill a campaign promise and follows more modest action in Congress this year to loosen travel rules.

The president has authority to loosen the restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba on his own. The new rules will affect an estimated 1.5 million Americans who have family members in Cuba. Other Americans are allowed to travel to Cuba but only if they qualify through certain cultural, educational and other programs.

President Obama doesn't intend to call for lifting...

THE EXPANDING AXIS OF EVIL: IRAN-SUDAN-HAMAS

Where is the looney clooney Hollyweird left (George? Mia? Sean? crickets chirping) that wrings its hands and bemoans the horrible genocide in Darfur (without ever mentioning jihad ...shhhhh)?

Iran-Sudan-Hamas Chain Exposed hat tip Rut

(IsraelNN.com) Reports of an alleged IAF strike on a Hamas arms convoy in Sudan have drawn attention to an arms network running from Iran, via the Persian Gulf and Yemen to Sudan, Egypt, and Hamas-ruled Gaza. Noted by analysts in the past, the network forms part of a larger, overt, close relationship maintained by both Iran and Hamas with the regime of Omar al-Bashir in Khartoum, according to Global Research in International Affairs Center senior researcher Jonathan Spyer.

The regime of Brigadier Omar al-Bashir in Sudan is, with the exception of the Hamas enclave in Gaza, the only overtly Islamist and pro-Iranian government in the Arabic-speaking world. Sudan is an acknowledged member of the Iran-led regional alliance, which includes Syria, Hizbullah in Lebanon, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

It's the jihad, stupid.

UPDATE: U.S. Officials Confirm Israel Struck in Sudan - Michael R. Gordon and Jeffrey Gettleman

American officials said Israeli planes bombed a convoy of trucks in Sudan in January believed to be carrying arms to Gaza during the weeks it was fighting a war with Hamas there. Two American officials who are privy to classified intelligence assessments said Iran had been involved in the effort to smuggle weapons to Gaza and that an operative with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps had gone to Sudan to coordinate the effort. One American military official said the strike was one of a series of Israeli attacks against arms shipments bound for Gaza. (New York Times)

    See also Report: Second Airstrike Hit Iranian Ship at Sea
A new report by Sudanese sources cited an additional strike on a ship possibly making its way to Sudan from Iran. "There were indeed two strikes in Sudan, in January and February," Sudan's deputy transportation minister told Israel's Channel 10 television on Thursday. "The second strike was against a ship at sea and it was completely destroyed," another Sudanese official said. (Jerusalem Post)

    See also Israel, U.S. Agreed to Address Arms Shipments in East Africa - Patrick Martin
A senior Israeli official said Tuesday, "what we learned from Lebanon and from Gaza is that there is a need to prevent forces such as Hamas or Hizbullah from rearming....Is it possible to be more pro-active in intercepting weapons before they arrive at the frontier? That's why we signed an MOU with Secretary of State Rice to intercept weapons shipments." The memorandum of understanding, signed Jan. 16 in Washington, calls for the U.S. and its partners to work to gether to address the problem of the supply of arms to Hamas and other militant forces in Gaza. It lists the areas where such arms shipments may occur as "the Mediterranean, Gulf of Aden, Red Sea and Eastern Africa." Sudan is an Eastern African country.
    Former Israeli Air Force commander Avihu Bin Nun described to Israel's Army Radio the enormous difficulty in carrying out such an operation: "The planes had to pass over areas that have defenses against missiles and against other air forces; this had to be done at night, the target had to be hit precisely and not something else. This is quite an operation. And you also don't have years to prepare for this kind of operation." (Globe and Mail-Canada)

Iran Has Started a Mideast Arms Race

Now what? The Jews are supposed to watch the annihilationists that surround them plan the second holocaust and go nuclear? Seriously, where the hell do the rational and humane go from here? We are living in the era of the barbarian. And they have an ally in the Oval office whose most obvious characteristic is weakness.

And this nuclear arms race won't be contained to the Middle East. The vacuum will be filled. When our allies in Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia fully understand that the umbrella of protection provided by the most benevolent super power in the history of man no longer means anything of real value -- the nuclear arms race will go global. SHEER CHAOS. The strength of America is what kept the world at the relative levels of peace for the past six decades.

Those days are over. The new paradigm is  built on the new "respect" for destruction and terror.

Iran Has Started a Mideast Arms Race
 States throughout the region are looking to establish nuclear programs.

Amir Taheri, WSJ

In the capitals of Western nations, Abdul Qadeer Khan, the man regarded as the father of the Pakistani atom bomb, is regarded as a maverick with a criminal past. In addition to his well-documented role in developing a nuclear device for Pakistan, he helped Iran and North Korea with their nuclear programs.

But since his release from house arrest a month ago, Mr. Khan has entertained a string of official visitors from across the Middle East. All come with messages of sympathy; and some governments in that region are looking to him for the knowledge and advice they need to fast track their own illicit nuclear projects.

Make no mistake: The Middle East may be on the verge of a nuclear arms race triggered by the inability of the West to stop Iran's quest for a bomb. Since Tehran's nuclear ambitions hit the headlines five years ago, 25 countries -- 10 of them in the greater Middle East -- have announced plans to build nuclear power plants for the first time.

The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates [UAE] and Oman) set up a nuclear exploratory commission in 2007 to prepare a "strategic report" for submission to the alliance's summit later this year. But Saudi Arabia is not waiting for the report. It opened negotiations with the U.S. in 2008 to obtain "a nuclear capacity," ostensibly for "peaceful purposes."

Egypt also signed a nuclear cooperation agreement, with France, last year. Egyptian leaders make no secret of the fact that the decision to invest in a costly nuclear industry was prompted by fears of Iran. "A nuclear armed Iran with hegemonic ambitions is the greatest threat to Arab nations today," President Hosni Mubarak told the Arab summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia two weeks ago.

Last November, France concluded a similar nuclear cooperation accord with the UAE, promising to offer these oil-rich lands "a complete nuclear industry." According to the foreign ministry in Paris, the French are building a military base close to Abu Dhabi ostensibly to protect the nuclear installations against "hostile action," including the possibility of "sensitive material" being stolen by terrorist groups or smuggled to Iran.

The UAE, to be sure, has signed a cooperation agreement with the U.S. forswearing the right to enrich uranium or produce plutonium in exchange for American nuclear technology and fuel. The problem is that the UAE's commercial hub, the sheikhdom of Dubai, has been the nerve center of illicit trade with Iran for decades, according to Western and Arab intelligence. Through Dubai, stolen U.S. technology and spent fuel needed for producing raw material for nuclear weapons could be smuggled to Iran.

Qatar, the smallest GCC member by population, is also toying with the idea of creating a nuclear capability. According to the Qatari media, it is shopping around in the U.S., France, Germany and China.

Newly liberated Iraq has not been spared by the new nuclear fever. Recall the history. With help from France, Iraq developed a nuclear capacity in the late 1970s to counterbalance its demographic inferiority vis-à-vis Iran. In 1980, Israel destroyed Osirak, the French-built nuclear center close to Baghdad, but Saddam Hussein restored part of that capacity between 1988 and 1991. What he rebuilt was dismantled by the United Nations' inspectors between 1992 and 2003. But with Saddam dead and buried, some Iraqis are calling for a revival of the nation's nuclear program as a means of deterring "bullying and blackmail from the mullahs in Tehran," as parliamentarian Saleh al-Mutlaq has put it.

"A single tactical nuclear attack on Basra and Baghdad could wipe out a third of our population," a senior Iraqi official told me, on condition of anonymity. Since almost 90% of Iraqis live within 90 miles of the Iranian border, the "fear is felt in every town and village," he says.

Tehran, meanwhile, is playing an active part in proliferation. So far, Syria and Sudan have shown interest in its nuclear technology, setting up joint scientific committees with Iran, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency. Iranian media reports say Tehran is also setting up joint programs with a number of anti-U.S. regimes in Latin America, notably Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Ecuador, bringing proliferation to America's backyard.

According to official reports in Tehran, in 2006 and 2007 the Islamic Republic also initialed agreements with China to build 20 nuclear-power stations in Iran. The first of these stations is already under construction at Dar-Khuwayn, in the oil-rich province of Khuzestan close to the Iraqi border.

There is no doubt that the current nuclear race in the Middle East is largely prompted by the fear of a revolutionary Iran using an arsenal as a means of establishing hegemony in the region. Iran's rivals for regional leadership, especially Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, are aware of the propaganda appeal of the Islamic Republic's claim of being " the first Muslim superpower" capable of defying the West and rivaling it in scientific and technological fields. In that context, Tehran's development of long-range missiles and the Muslim world's first space satellite are considered political coups.

Mohamed al Quwaihis, a member of Saudi Arabia's appointed parliament, the Shura Council, warns of Iran's growing influence. Addressing the Shura Council earlier this month, he described Iranian interferences in Arab affairs as "overt," and claimed that Iran is "endeavoring to seduce the Gulf States, and recruit some of the citizens of these countries to work for its interests."

The Shura devoted a recent session to "the Iranian threat," insisting that unless Tehran abandoned its nuclear program, Saudi Arabia should lead the Arabs in developing their own "nuclear response." The debate came just days after the foreign ministry in Riyadh issued a report identifying the Islamic Republic's nuclear program as the "principal security threat to Arab nations."

A four-nation Arab summit held in the Saudi capital on March 11 endorsed that analysis, giving the green light for a pan-Arab quest for "a complete nuclear industry." Such a project would draw support from Pakistan, whose nuclear industry was built with Arab money. Mr. Khan and his colleagues have an opportunity to repay that debt by helping Arabs step on a ladder that could lead them to the coveted "threshold" to becoming nuclear powers in a few years' time.

Earlier this month, Mohamed ElBaradei, the retiring head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned that the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty has become a blunt instrument in preventing a nuclear arms race. Meanwhile, the U.S., France, Russia and China are competing for nuclear contracts without developing safeguards to ensure that projects which start as peaceful undertakings are not used as cover for clandestine military activities.

The Obama administration should take the growing threat of nuclear proliferation seriously. It should try to provide leadership in forging a united response by the major powers to what could become the world's No. 1 security concern within the next few years.

IRAN SUPREMACIST LEADER KICKS PRESIDENT HUSSEIN TO THE CURB

These seventh century savages look at Obama and see weak craven cowardice. They laugh at him (and invariably us). He has, in 62 short days, destroyed decades of American hegemony in a ruthless and cutthroat world.

Iran supreme leader dismisses Obama overture Meghan from Chicago

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed overtures from President Barack Obama on Saturday, saying Tehran does not see any change in U.S. policy under its new administration.

Islam wants the Jews .... dead. And so they have put O-bambi's little hooves to the fire

Iran's Khamenei says Obama's overture not enough -- says Obama must abandon Israel and stop supporting Israel.

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-, AFP/Getty Images

Thousands of Iranians listen to a speech given by the Islamic republic's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the holy city of Mashhad, northeast of Tehran.

Iran's supreme leader dismisses Obama overtures LA Times

He also accused the U.S. of provoking ethnic tension in Iran and said Washington's accusations that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons are a sign of U.S. hostility. Iran says its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes, like energy production, not for building weapons.

"Have you released Iranian assets? Have you lifted oppressive sanctions? Have you given up mudslinging and making accusations against the great Iranian nation and its officials? Have you given up your unconditional support for the Zionist regime? Even the language remains unchanged," Khamenei said.

Khamenei, wearing a black turban and dark robes, said America was hated around the world for its arrogance, as the crowd chanted "Death to America."

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is Iran's highest spiritual, military and political authority, told supporters in his hometown of Mashhad that "changes in words" would not be enough to convince Iran that the Obama administration was sincere in its outlook.

"We do not have any record of the new U.S. president," he said in a live television broadcast. "We are observing, watching and judging. If you change, we will also change our behavior. If you do not change, we will be the same nation as 30 years ago."

The crowd chanted, "Allah is great! Khamenei is the leader!

[...]

Opposition to the U.S. and Israel remain a major pillar of the Islamic Republic's radical populist ideology. "Death to America" is a ubiquitous rallying cry, and opponents of the system are often tarnished by accusations of being American or Israeli dupes.

Khamenei said that lifting economic sanctions and retracting "hostile propaganda" would be among the welcomed shifts in U.S. policies.

"For you to say that we will both talk to Iran and simultaneously exert pressure on her, both threats and appeasement, our nation hates this approach," he said.

Obama has said he is committed to improving America's image abroad after what most analysts consider a sullying of the U.S. reputation in the wake of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and abuses of detainees in the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay military prisons.

We were gorgeous. America was strong, feared and respected, ya big pussy.

To improve America's standing abroad, Khamenei advised Obama to "avoid an arrogant tone, avoid arrogant behavior, avoid bullying behavior, do not interfere in nations' affairs, be contented with your own share, do not define interests extraterritorially all over the world."

He urged Obama to get his words translated, but suggested he not use "Zionist" translators, drawing laughter from the audience.

Further poisonous fruit of Barack Hussein's contempt for America and his weak pathetic appeasement of political Islam. President Hussein may have helped Ahmadinejad in his quest to retain the Iranian presidency.

Armaros sent this link and agreed, "He may be right. Let alone any overture to these animals is a triumph for them as not only they see it as a weakness but a sign of their 'genius' and 'divine mission'. A president named after their greatest holy man, Imam Hussein is making overtures to them. And the MSM wanted to make his name a non issue."

Now that Khatami has withdrawn from coming election, Ahmadinejad should be very happy with Obama's message as he can now steal the reformists' thunder and claim that he was the one who reconnected US-Iran relations after 30 years, achieved Iran's nuclear rights and empowered Iran to exert control over Iraq (the US having paid the price for removing Saddam Hussein and Iran having gained the benefits).

Ahmadinejad has been always willing to re-establish ties between Iran and the US, but he may have been surprised how Obama's message helps him to boast about his achievements in Iran-US relationship and use it to further his effort to win a second presidential term." (more at the Guardian here)

"WE'LL SHOOT DOWN NO. KOREA'S ROCKET LAUNCH OVER JAPAN"

If this object falls toward Japan, we can shoot it down for safety reasons -- Japan Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura

Here is more of the continuing escalation of hostilities around the globe since President Hussein took office. The world knows there is a power vacuum and evil forces in the world intend to fill it. For more on the disintegration of the order of the world - go here. The US had better start supporting her allies.

Victor Davis Hanson explained Obama this way back in November: "He [Obama] has a very different view of the world. This view is anti-platonic. And I say that, not to be condescending, but Plato said that the natural order of the world was chaos, it was war—peace was a parenthesis, it had to be achieved and worked at. I think in the Obama view that men like him that are charismatic, articulate, they can change the world because it's naturally a peaceful thing until people like George Bush rush in and through their stubbornness—"smoke 'em out dead or alive" vernacular—destroys it, but the fact of the matter is the only reason there is any semblance of peace and tranquility in the world today is because in places as diverse as the Aegean, planes over-flying in Greek airspace daily, where there's near fighting on Cypress, or whether we are talking about the Korean Sea and the Philippines and Taiwan and South Korean democracies not going nuclear because the United States is there, or whether Russian ships keep out of Norway every hour—all of that is predicated on the presence of the United States."

Japan's prime minister expressed anger.

"They can call it a satellite or whatever, but it would be a violation" of a 2006 U.N. Security Council resolution banning Pyongyang from ballistic missile activity, Taro Aso said. "We protest a launch and strongly demand it be canceled."

Japan's coast guard and Transport Ministry issued maritime and aviation warnings, urging ships and aircraft to stay away from the affected regions.

Hisanori Iizuka, a spokesman for Japan Airlines Corp., Asia's biggest carrier, said the airline will reroute some flights during the April 4-8 period.

Japan Warns It May Shoot Down N. Korean Rocket FOX news (hat tip terri)

SEOUL, South Korea — Japan strongly protested North Korea's planned rocket launch, warning Friday it could shoot it down after the North said it would fly over Japan and designated a "danger" zone off the country's coast.

North Korea has given U.N. agencies coordinates forming two zones where parts of the multiple-stage rocket would fall, unveiling its plan to fire the projectile over Japan toward the Pacific Ocean sometime between April 4 and 8.

One of the "danger" zones where the rocket's first stage is expected to fall is in waters less than 75 miles (120 kilometers) from Japan's northwestern shore, according to coordinates released Thursday by the International Civil Aviation Organization and the International Maritime Organization.

The other zone lies in the middle of the Pacific between Japan and Hawaii.

In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura told North Korea to abandon the launch and said Japan was ready to defend itself.

"Legally speaking, if this object falls toward Japan, we can shoot it down for safety reasons," he said.

Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said Japan would "deal with anything that is flying toward us. We are preparing for any kind of emergency."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday a North Korean satellite or missile launch would "threaten the peace and stability in the region."

Though it is an international norm for countries to provide such specifics as a safety warning ahead of a missile or satellite launch, it was the first time the communist North has done so. It did not issue a warning ahead of its purported satellite launch in 1998 over Japan and a failed 2006 test-flight of a long-range missile.

The North's notification to the ICAO and IMO underscores that it is intent on pushing ahead with the launch in an attempt to gain greater leverage in negotiations with the United States, analysts say.

"They want to do the launch openly while minimizing what the international community may find fault with," said Kim Yong-hyun, a professor at Seoul's Dongguk University. "The launch will earn North Korea a key political asset that would enlarge its negotiating leverage."

U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood called the North's plan "provocative."

"We think the North needs to desist, or not carry out this type of provocative act, and sit down ... and work on the process of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," Wood said.

Good luck with that. If Bolton couldn't do it -- you think O-bambi can?

Analysts, including Kim, say a rocket launch would raise the stakes as well as the benefits the impoverished nation might get from negotiations with the U.S. and other countries trying to persuade it to give up its nuclear weapons program. The North has repeatedly used brinksmanship in the past as a negotiating tool to gain concessions and aid.

Separately, North Korea on Friday barred overland border crossings for the second time this week, leaving hundreds of South Koreans working at a joint industrial complex in the North stranded on both sides of the border.

About 250 people, who are mostly South Koreans but also include an Australian and two Chinese, had planned to return Friday to the South from the complex in the North Korean border town of Kaesong, South Korea's Unification Ministry said, adding that some 610 people were unable to cross the border to the complex.

"Our government expresses our deep regret over the fact that this kind of situation has been repeated," Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyeon told reporters.

CHINESE THREATEN UNARMED US NAVY SHIP, NO. KOREA WARNS US .... THERE'S SOMETHING HAPPENING HERE

Pentagon: Chinese vessels harassed unarmed ship

There's something happening here. What it is ...... is very very clear.  John Jay spoke of it in his essay here - nature hates a vacuum. And Obama is creating that vacuum -
"where the sun recedes. the United States navy will disappear from the Indian ocean and the china sea. The first result of this will emerge in conflict between China and Taiwan, with Taiwan exposed to missile fire from the Chinese mainland. soon, the red Chinese will surmount the obstacle of a 40 miles stretch of ocean, and will invade and occupy Taiwan. Who or what is to stop China from doing this. In the absence of an American navy in the Indian ocean and the South China seas, a power vacuum exists, into which will step a militarily resurgent Japan, and expansion minded China and India. China and India are planning the laying of many “bottoms,” which to you lubbers, means that they are going to build blue water navies. with the presence of the American navy upon the high seas, with over 200 years of warfare and strategic experience, these countries might have been expected to be prudent in their expansion: a country and military force does not step into that sort of context with impunity or without caution, especially given the aggressive posture for battle always exhibited in the U.S. navy, from John Paul Jones to Bull Halsey to Chester Nimitz. where once there would have been every caution exercised, there will only be “irrational exuberance” as the Chinese and the Indians rush in to fill the vacuum."

Pentagon: Chinese vessels harassed unarmed ship

The Associated Press 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon charged Monday that five Chinese ships shadowed and maneuvered dangerously close to a U.S. Navy vessel in an apparent attempt to harass the American crew.

Defense officials in the Obama administration said the incident Sunday followed several days of "increasingly aggressive" acts by Chinese ships in the region. The incident took place in international waters in the South China Sea, about 75 miles south of Hainan Island.

U.S. officials said a protest was to be delivered to Beijing's military attache at a Pentagon meeting Monday.

The USNS Impeccable sprayed one ship with water from fire hoses to force it away. Despite the force of the water, Chinese crew members stripped to their underwear and continued closing within 25 feet, the Defense Department said.

"On March 8, 2009, five Chinese vessels shadowed and aggressively maneuvered in dangerously close proximity to USNS Impeccable, in an apparent coordinated effort to harass the U.S. ocean surveillance ship while it was conducting routine operations in international waters," the Pentagon statement said.

In other developments in the perceived American weakness:

North Korea Warns of War as US, S Korean Drills Begin

Voice of America - ‎1 hour ago‎

By Kurt Achin Several-hundred South Koreans remain stranded in North Korea after the North's decision to cut a military hotline and seal its border to the ...

JJ wrote, "and, though they have neither the foresight nor the intellectual capacity to understand it, they give up the peace won by the blood of patriots the world over, to an inevitable worldwide conflict as new balances of power and influence and strategic dominance are worked out and resolved.  nature abhors a vacuum, and the same may be observed of politics and geo-politics especially, and into the vacuums formerly occupied by the formidable presence of the United States"

Back in November,  Victor Davis Hanson gave an unforgettable speech at Restoration Weekend ...

It seems to me that what we're all worried about is what does Barack Obama think about the world at large—when he says that Iran is a small threat, and then he corrects himself and says it's a large threat—when Georgia is invaded by Russia and he tells us first that each side is of equal blame and then he suggests Georgia prompted the entire crisis and then suggests the UN should adjudicate it and then he suggests that when an authoritarian country like Russia tries to destroy a democracy its because of the precedent of an American democracy trying to destroy an authoritarian regime in Iraq.

It's hard to make sense of all this. All I can make sense of is, he has a very different view of the world. This view is anti-platonic. And I say that, not to be condescending, but Plato said that the natural order of the world was chaos, it was war—peace was a parenthesis, it had to be achieved and worked at. I think in the Obama view that men like him that are charismatic, articulate, they can change the world because it's naturally a peaceful thing until people like George Bush rush in and through their stubbornness—"smoke 'em out dead or alive" vernacular—destroys it, but the fact of the matter is the only reason there is any semblance of peace and tranquility in the world today is because in places as diverse as the Aegean, planes over-flying in Greek airspace daily, where there's near fighting on Cypress, or whether we are talking about the Korean Sea and the Philippines and Taiwan and South Korean democracies not going nuclear because the United States is there, or whether Russian ships keep out of Norway every hour—all of that is predicated on the presence of the United States.

To be frank, or to put it a different way, Vladimir Putin doesn't give a damn that Barack Obama is African American. And the Chinese autocrats do not hear very well "hope" and "change"—it doesn't translate to Chinese very well—and the Europeans don't care if he has a nifty jump shot.  All they want to know is half the world are vying to try to take advantage of regional opportunities if the United States is not there to stop mold, and to stop rust, which is the natural organic order of the world. They take advantage of it and our friends are there waiting to see which side to join. All of our friends in Europe know that, and Australia and South America. They don't have deities. Nations don't have deities like Barack Obama, they have interests. And their interests are predicated on who is going to win and who is going to lose. Into that void comes Barack Obama.

UPDATE: Martin at National Terror Alert points out the Russian bombers that flew along the Canadian coastline right before Obama's visit. There is no doubt we are being tested. There is no doubt we are being tested.

ANOTHER SYNAGOGUE ATTACKED IN VENEZUELA

Chavez was just voted President for life - an only slight exaggeration but not really - and the Jews cannot stay in Venezuela. Seems like the world wants to get all the Jews in one place, Israel, so annihilation will be a no brainer. The world is silent.

Another synagogue attacked in Venezuelan capital WJC (World Jewish Congress)

Another synagogue in the Venezuelan capital Caracas has been attacked. Explosives were thrown from a motorbike at the walls of the Orthodox Beit Shmuel synagogue, damaging windows and a car. No injuries were reported. It was the second such attack this year on a Jewish site in Caracas. Eleven people, including eight policemen, are under arrest for vandalizing another synagogue in Caracas last month. In that attack, the walls were painted with anti-Semitic slogans, religious objects were damaged and a database listing Venezuela's Jews was stolen.

The president of the Latin American Jewish Congress, Jack Terpins, called on Venezuela to show energetic action following the recent attack against the Beth Shmuel synagogue in Caracas. In a statement, Terpins called on the government of president Hugo Chávez "to guarantee the security of all synagogues" in the country.

The Wagons are Circling

Porkulism trillions for socialism, third world despots, ACORN, and unimaginable waste and sedition ..... but President Hussein is making deep US defense cuts and cutting our only real ally in the Middle East off at the knees. Islam in action.

Headline hat tip: Sounder

Caroline Glick: Kadima's strategy for success

"Also on Monday, The Jerusalem Post reported that the US is curtailing its military aid to Israel. Under new Pentagon guidelines, the Ministry of Defense must give a detailed accounting of how it uses every item it purchases with US aid money. As a consequence, the Defense Ministry issued new instructions to the IDF that from now Israel's purchases from the US will be limited to defensive armaments and systems aimed at preserving its "qualitative edge" against its enemies."

[...]

"As we absorb the spectacle of world leaders lining up to give their money to Gaza while Israeli schoolchildren are forced to stay home from school, we must understand how we got here. We are here because Kadima has placed its political success above Israel's security."

POLICE BEHIND SYNAGOGUE ATTACKS IN VENEZUELA

How can the Jews in Venezuela feel safe when the police are behind the attacks on the Jews?

What happened in Venezuela has Chávez's hoof prints all over it. I don't believe that we are aware of the political atmosphere in Latin America at the present time. Chávez and the Islamic Arab countries are advising and financing the electoral campaigns in Latin America.

Venezuela holds police, guard in synagogue attack Reuters

CARACAS, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Seven Venezuelan police agents and four civilians have been arrested in connection with an attack on a synagogue that sparked international condemnation, investigators said on Sunday.

President Hugo Chavez, whom Jewish groups accuse of encouraging anti-Semitism, referred to the arrests and said the attack was led by a police officer who had worked closely with the rabbi at the synagogue.

"What a coincidence, the gang leader is a metropolitan police officer who for the last four years was the personal bodyguard of the synagogue's rabbi," he said during an interview with television station Venevision on Sunday.

Armed men broke into Venezuela's Tiferet synagogue last month, daubed the walls with slogans like "Jews get out" and destroyed religious objects.

NYC: VENEZUELA ANTI-CHAVEZ RALLY  RALLY AGAINST JEWISH POGROMS

AXIS OF JEW HATERS: VENEZUELA'S VICIOUS CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE JEWS, SYNAGOGUE DEFILED

The proposed actions against Jews in Venezuela appear to be taken from the SS manual (hat tip Libby)

These attacks occurred after the Chávez government sponsored papers and published the following. Read them, it's terrifying. An organized gang seized the names and address of almost all Venezuelan Jews, so the consequences of the mandates below are even more dire. The anti-Israel propaganda is your standard Jew hating narrative... but the steps below are right out of the SS playbook:

1. "To publicly challenge every Jew that you find in the street, shopping center or park to take a stand shouting at them slogans in favor of Palestine and against that abortion: Israel."

2. "Denounce publicly, with names and last names the members of powerful Jewish groups present in Venezuela "

3. "...capitalist agents as these Zionist Hebrews are the thing that hurts them most is the pocket (including Jehovah) it is inappropriate to buy their products and go to their stores and to the stores, supermarkets, restaurants, etc., that have relations with them or are owned by them"

4. "...question the existence in Venezuela of educational institutions for Jews only" 5. "...Public, massive, periodic concentrations not only in front of the Israeli embassy but also in front of all Jewish institutions"

6. "Detect and watch, by the intelligence entities of the State and by the social comptroller of the organized peoples, the undercover agents of Mossad and NGOs and other groups of the so called civil society (including the filthy ("escuálidos") students of the private and autonomous universities) that have received advise and financing from the artificial state of Israel,"

Videos and forums about the true situation of Palestine and Israel, in all spaces, including "barrios" and villages, together with an intense debate of ideas. Media offensive in the press, radio, television and internet about the terrorism perpetrated by the Zionist Jews and their eurogringo (European and North American) allies since 1918 until the present. To assure the success of the offensive attack, besides reactivating (or waking the bureaucrats in charge) the agreement between Telesur and Al Jazeera, to kick out the negligent or sabotaging officials that serve only as ballast for the communications policy of the State as well as foster alternative community media. What is the use of CONATEL (where, supposedly Jewish citizens work in key positions) if up to now the procedure against Globovision for the declarations of Rafael Poleo about the assassination of the President is still lost in some drawer and there isn't a single civilian in jail for assassination and coup de etat denounced by Mario Silva between September and October 2008?

7. Denounce publicly, with names and last names the members of powerful Jewish groups present in Venezuela , indicating the companies they own in order to establish a boycott. For example: not going ever again to the Sambil Shopping Center in Caracas, Maracaibo, Valencia, etc, owned by the Zionist thief Salomon Cohen, who continues getting rich since the Fourth Republic with the complicity of corrupt officials enchased in the machinery of the State. Thus, it is an imbecile who favors the opening of Sambil La Candelaria as a shopping center and even more brainless whoever wants such constructions in places like Catia.

OPEN SEASON ON OBAMBI'S AMERICA: ECUADOR THROWS US EMBASSY OFFICIAL OUT

Expect lots of these tests. Expect President O to fail lots of these tests. More "creepy people are lining up to test Obama's world view".

Ecuador orders U.S. official expelled Yahoo news hat tip Susan

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa ordered a U.S. Embassy official expelled on Saturday after accusing him of interfering in the country's affairs, a move that will test ties with Washington.

Correa, a leftist, has generally kept good relations with the United States as his socialist allies in Bolivia and Venezuela often clash with Washington over what they say is U.S. "imperialism" in Latin America.

lol! If we were imperialistic, Bolivia and Venezuela would be the 51st and 52nd states.

"Foreign minister, give this gentleman 48 hours to pack up his suitcases and get out of the country," Correa said during his weekly media address. "We're not going to let anyone treat us as if we were a colony here."

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Quito said the official already left Ecuador last month as part of a regular staff rotation.

"We hope to continue cooperation with Ecuador," spokeswoman Marta Youth said. She did not comment on Correa's charges.

Correa said U.S. official Armando Astorga had abruptly ended a financing agreement with local police after authorities rejected his attempts to handpick officers he wanted to manage the U.S. aid projects.

"Mr. Astorga, keep your dirty money. We don't need it. We have dignity in this country," Correa said. "Ecuador doesn't need charity from anyone."

Correa said if Washington was going to insist on vetting Ecuadorean personnel he would insist on the same for U.S. Coast Guard pilots who land their planes on Ecuadorean territory after the lease runs out in November on the U.S. anti-narcotics base at Manta on the Pacific coast.

Correa has refused to renegotiate a renewal of the lease on the Manta operation, the only such U.S. base in South America.

NYC: VENEZUELA ANTI-CHAVEZ RALLY RALLY AGAINST JEWISH POGROMS

First let me express my disgust at today's news that President Hussein will be meeting with Chavez (pronounced chazzer in yiddish) in April in the hot vacation spot of Trinidad. Meanwhile Chavez is taking a page from Ahmadinejad and Adolf Hitler with his pogroms against Jews.
I headed down to the Venezuela consulate to join others in demonstrating against Venezuela's violence against Venezuelan Jews.
There was a heavy turnout (word of mouth) of this close knit, young, beautiful Jewish community. Jews from Venezuela and Latin America were out in full force, vocal and passionate against Chevez's campaign against the Jews.

 

As you probably all know, on Friday January 30th, 2009, a group of 15 armed men overpowered two security guards and broke into Venezuela's oldest synagogue, desecrating it by shattering religious objects, destroying several Torahs, smashing windows and spray-painting walls with racial epithets such as "Death to all Jews" and "Jews get out." 

Jews in Venezuela, who have for over two hundred years enjoyed tolerance and peace, over the past few weeks have suddenly found themselves victims to constant fear of attack and discrimination.

As a result of recent events in Gaza, the Venezuelan Government has adopted an aggressive and dangerous tone, inciting anger and leading supporters of the government to draw swastikas on synagogues, in public plazas and at universities throughout the country.

A well-orchestrated campaign has been launched on TV, radio, print and on websites owned by the Venezuelan government, openly questioning Israel's right to exist and even including anti-Semitic publications like "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion."

A group of pro-government journalists is now urging the population to boycott businesses owned by Jews in Venezuela.

Government officials have made no effort to stop the looting, curb the tone, or guarantee the security of those in peril. Jews in Venezuela are suddenly left to fend for themselves, without police or military protection of any kind.

The recent expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador and the subsequent break in diplomatic relations between the two countries has exasperated the situation.

 

Honorable David Weprin, Congressman Queens, Chair Finanace Committee and Michael Miller, Jewish Community Relations Council

Where were NY politicians - the phony fake Schumer, and that slovenly Nadler or Ackerman? Leftist bums.

VIDEO: INTERVIEWS SPEECHES!

/p>

 

 

Meanwhile in some cheap hotel in Hades .........

 

AXIS OF JEW HATERS: VENEZEULA'S VICIOUS CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE JEWS, SYNAGOGUE DEFILED

UPDATE: The news isn't printing it but it looks like they took all of the records of all of the members of the synagogue, all of the donations and amounts of donations etc. With that, they have all of the addresses of the members.  (hat tip Henry)

The axis of evil is circling the wagons around their favorite historical scapegoat. Their failures, their corruption, the brutality inflicted on the lives of their people, run a pale second to their favorite diversionary tactic, Jewish attrition, incitement to violence against the Jews and finally - Jewish genocide (the final solution).

We must have an Israel. We will all be forced to make aliyah, even those of us (like me) who never considered it. How bad is it going to get? Terrible.

One can't help but see the Hollywood asshats kissing the face and the ass of Chavez -- if only ... they'd move there, especially the Jewish hollywood libtards.

Another synagogue vandalized (of course in the CNN  "reportage," they neglect to mention the axis of Jew haters. Much thanks to amaros, who adds, "Of course CNN doesn't really refer to the connection between Iran and Venezuela, The Hezbollah bases and Al Quds trainers of Chavez's personal militia. Nor does it explain the extent of state sponsorship in this":

CARACAS, Venezuela (CNN) -- Armed men forced their way into a Caracas synagogue, defacing its administrative offices with anti-Semitic graffiti and vandalizing an interior room where the Torah is kept, officials said. Vandals smashed items in an interior room where the Torah is kept, officials said.

1 of 2 About 15 men forced their way into the Mariperez Synagogue in Venezuela's capital about 10 p.m. Friday, staying until about 3 a.m., police said. They tied up a security guard at the synagogue before vandalizing the rooms.

Graffiti left at the scene included the phrases "Damn the Jews," "Jews out of here" and "Israel assassins." The men also left behind a picture of a devil, authorities said.

A campaign of anti-Semitism threatening Venezuela’s Jewish community has prompted an immediate protest from the Simon Wiesenthal Center to the Organization of American States.

“Since the events in Gaza … the government has adopted an aggressive and dangerous tone never previously heard clearly inciting against the Jewish Community …. government's supporters picked up on the government's lead with clearly anti-Semitic expressions – with no effort whatsoever by government to stop them. The expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador followed, and subsequently, a final breaking off of diplomatic relations,” alerted the Jewish Macabi Latin America Confederation.

“There is a well-orchestrated campaign on TV, radio, print and Internet media owned by the government, openly questioning Israelis right to exist, even including publication of such anti-Semitic materials as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. A group of pro-government journalists is urging the population to boycott of businesses owned by Jews in Venezuela,” they added.

 

Jews - Damn Assassins

Most frightening was a 'plan of action' published in a pro-government digital newspaper, Aporrea.org, giving direction against Venezuela’s Jewish community which included:

- publicly denouncing by name, the members of powerful Jewish groups in Venezuela, names of their companies and businesses in order to boycott them

- avoiding products, stores, supermarkets, restaurants, and where Kosher food is sold which either belongs or has links with 'Zionist Jews'

- questioning the existence of Jewish educational institutions

- shouting pro-Palestine and anti-Israel slogans at Jews on the street

- inviting anti-Zionist Jews living in Venezuela to publicly express their disassociation from 'Zionist war crimes' and the imposition of artificial State of Israel on Palestine

- nationalization of companies, confiscation of properties of those Jews who support the Zionist atrocities of the Nazi-State of Israel, and donate this property to the Palestinian victims of today’s Holocaust

- sending all type of aid to Palestinians including weapons

- hacking pro-Zionist websites including governments or institutions that have relations with Israel

- organizing an international conference about the creation of the theocratic - Nazi state of Israel as a genocidal European colony, and about the myths and facts of the alleged Jewish Holocaust or Holohoax (a blackmailing industry)

- support the dissolution of the artificial State of Israel

A letter from Center dean and founder Rabbi Marvin Hier to the Organization of American States (OAS) read in part, “Under the presidency of Hugo Chavez, the Jewish community of Venezuela has suffered repeated attacks, which were, at least tolerated, if not incited or promoted by State officials …. We believe it is time for the OAS to take action on this outrageous situation which makes a mockery of democratic and civil liberties and guarantees. We urge you to establish an OAS special field mission … to immediately investigate the situation … and recommend punitive action against all those who are responsible for this campaign of hatred against the Jewish people.”

RUSSIA TO OPEN NAVAL BASES IN SYRIA, LIBYA

So, while Obambi is kissing Syria's ass, making foreign policy speeches from Damascus, and forcing Israel to turn over Jewish land to Iran's proxy state, the Russians will be building naval bases.

Obambi is on a collision course with history.

Naval Bases Planned for Libya, Syria 19 January 2009 Moscow Times (hat tip Kenny via Skandenbeg at RedState.com )

 Russia has decided to establish naval bases in Libya, Syria and Yemen within a few years, a military official said Friday, in a sign of Moscow's growing foreign policy ambitions.

"It is difficult to say how much time it will take to create the bases for our fleet in these countries, but within a few years this will be done without question," the unidentified military official told Itar-Tass.

"The political decision on this question has been taken," the official said.

A Navy spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the General Staff, said it was too early to name any foreign ports that could host Russian bases.

"There are negotiations conducted with foreign governments. Such publications [on bases] may have a negative effect on the way of these talks," Nogovitsyn said, Itar-Tass reported.

Analysts have said the Syrian port of Tartus could be revived as a Russian naval base. During the Cold War, the Soviet Navy had a permanent presence in the Mediterranean, using Tartus as a supply point.

National media have reported that opening a naval base in the Libyan port of Benghazi was among the main issues discussed during Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's visit to Moscow in October last year.

BIG THREE INTERNET/PHONE CABLES CUT IN MIDDLE EAST

Hmmm, what are the bloodthirsty neanderthals planning now? Three of the four main cables cut.

Herb posted: I am currently in the Middle East and we have a 95% work stop state due to this outage. I cannot make any cell calls to the US and we are unable to keep our VPN connection up to the US (hat tip Randall)

According to BitGravity's backbone team, there are three major cable systems SMW3, SMW4 and FLAG FEA have all been cut near Alexandria.

Our CDN operations cannot be impacted from the cuts, but we monitor them anyway, thought this might be helpful:

SMW3: Fault Status: Suspected Problem in SWM3 between Alexandria and Mazara. Restoration of restorable bearers is currently in progress and non-restorable bearers are down.

SWM4: Fault Status: Suspecting some problem Problem in SWM4 Seg 4 between Alexandria and Marseille.

FLAG:Fault Status: FLAG FEA Cable system traffic between Alexandria (Egypt) and Palermo (Italy) is affected since 08:06GMT on dated 19th December 2008. Reliance Globalcom Marine team closely working with Alexandria & Palermo landing stations to investigate the fault and Reliance Globalcom is unable provide restoration because other cables SMW3 & SMW4 cables also failed on same segment about 07:50 GMT.

Posted by: Barrett Lyon | Dec 19, 2008 5:36:27 PM

Severed Cables in Mediterranean Disrupt Communication (Update4)

By Malcolm Fried and Lars Klemming

Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Internet and telephone communications between the Middle East and Europe were disrupted after three undersea cables connecting Italy and Egypt in the Mediterranean Sea were damaged.

The failures cut the flow of “data of various kinds” between Europe and the Middle East, and there’s no timeframe for when communications will be restored, said Sanjeev Gaur, director of assurance at Reliance Globalcom Ltd. in India. France Telecom SA, which plans to send a maintenance boat to fix the problem, said the situation should be back to normal by Dec. 31.

Three cable systems carrying more than 75 percent of traffic between the Middle East, Europe and America were damaged, according to the U.K.’s Interoute Plc, which operates a fiber- optic data network connecting 92 cities. The cables run from Alexandria in northern Egypt to Sicily in southern Italy. In January, an anchor severed the cables outside Alexandria after bad weather conditions forced ships to moor off the coast.

“The information we have is a bit sketchy, but chances are that it will have been an anchor again,” Jonathan Wright, Interoute’s director of wholesale products, said in a telephone interview. “Close to 90 percent of all the data traffic between Europe and the Middle East is carried on these three cable systems.”

Interoute said the January incident brought down 70 percent of the Internet network in India and the Middle East.

Egyptian Outage

Customer services and some mobile-phone customers at Vodafone Group Plc’s Egyptian unit are affected by the cable failure, said Simon Gordon, a spokesman for the U.K. company. Egypt is the only country where the company is aware of any problems linked to the failure, he said. Most mobile-phone calls are routed through fixed-line cables at some point.

Verizon Communications Inc., the second-largest U.S. phone company, said it has rerouted traffic for its Verizon Business customers making calls to the Middle East by siphoning it to Europe and the U.S. and then down through Asia, spokeswoman Linda Laughlin said in an interview.

The rerouting slowed some traffic to about half its normal speed, Laughlin said. Point-to-point customers still don’t have connections, and Verizon doesn’t have information on how many subscribers are affected. The company expects repairs to be completed by early next week, she said.

Portugal Telecom SGPS SA, Portugal’s biggest phone company, has redirected traffic through other cables in the region and therefore the “impact is very small,” said a company official. Sonaecom SGPS SA, Portugal’s second-biggest fixed-line phone company, also said that it’s diverting traffic to other routes.

‘Greatly Disturbed’

France Telecom’s Orange mobile-phone unit said the cable failure “greatly disturbed” the traffic between Europe and parts of Asia. At one point as much as 55 percent of voice traffic in Saudi Arabia, 52 percent in Egypt and 82 percent in India was out of service, according to Orange.

Internet traffic “from Mumbai to London has now been rerouted via Hong Kong which may lead to congestion and increased latency on this route,” Reliance said in an e-mailed “traffic disruption update,” adding that it is working with the affected customers to restore all services. The company said it will publish another update on its Web site tomorrow.

“You can reroute the data through other cables, but that increases traffic and can potentially create bottlenecks,” Interoute’s Wright said. “So Internet connections may slow down and some phone calls could get disrupted.”

HAPPENING NOW: RUSSIA CONDUCTING WAR GAMES WITH VENEZUELA

This goes right to what Victor Davis Hanson was speaking to in his remarks a couple of weeks back at the Resoration Weekend. " but the fact of the matter is the only reason there is any semblance of peace and tranquility in the world today is because in places as diverse as the Aegean, planes over-flying in Greek airspace daily, where there's near fighting on Cyprus, or whether we are talking about the Korean Sea and the Philippines and Taiwan and South Korean democracies not going nuclear because the United States is there, or whether Russian ships keep out of Norway every hour—all of that is predicated on the presence of the United States."
"To be frank, or to put it a different way, Vladimir Putin doesn't give a damn that Barack Obama is African American. And the Chinese autocrats do not hear very well "hope" and "change"—it doesn't translate to Chinese very well—and the Europeans don't care if he has a nifty jump shot.  All they want to know is half the world are vying to try to take advantage of regional opportunities if the United States is not there to stop mold, and to stop rust, which is the natural organic order of the world. They take advantage of it and our friends are there waiting to see which side to join. All of our friends in Europe know that, and Australia and South America. They don't have deities. Nations don't have deities like Barack Obama, they have interests. And their interests are predicated on who is going to win and who is going to lose. Into that void comes Barack Obama."

Russia, Venezuela Launch Naval Exercises

Russia and Venezuela have begun a series of joint naval operations in the southern Caribbean Sea aimed at evaluating their nations' skills in the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking.

Military officials for both countries said the exercises, dubbed "VenRus 2008," will include navigation, rescue and other operations.

A fleet of about 1,600 Russian naval officers is participating in the exercise aboard several Russian warships, which left the port of La Guaira, near Caracas, Monday for the exercises. The vessels arrived in Venezuela late last month in Russia's first deployment in the Caribbean since the Cold War.

The U.S. State Department has said the United States will keep a close eye on the military exercises, but it has dismissed the notion that they represent a challenge to U.S. influence in the region.

NORTH KOREA: A 24 MILLION MAN GULAG, AN ESCAPEE TELLS OF PURE HORROR

We are negotiating with these evil barbarians. Fiends. This country has done our children great harm in not teaching them the evils of marxism and communism. This video should be mandatory viewing in public and private school. Every year.

You need proof of Communism vs Capitalism? North Korea vs. South Korea. Good vs. Evil. Period.
Born in a gulag, family shot before his eyes, he escaped. The only man who ever escaped North Korea tell his story.

Escapee of North Korea's brutal prison camp tells his horrifying story(hat tip Edge)

The only escapee of North Korea's most brutal prison camp has lived to tell us a story of unspeakable horror. Starved of food and common humanity, Shin proves that gulags are still a tragic reality.

The leftards here in America idealize and romanticize this hell on earth. Let's start a collection so they can fulfill their wish and live their dream.

VENEZUELA AND BOLIVA EXPEL US AMBASSADORS

Venezuela expels US ambassador, threatens to cut oil

BOLIVIA EXPELS US AMBASSADOR

Olavo de Carvalho is a Brazilian journalist and philosopher who has been sounding the alarm about the leftist takeover of Latin America for some time especially concentrating on the machinations of the Sao Paulo Forum, the new Latin American Commintern of Communist parties of which current President of Brazil Lula da Silva was the one time President. Below is an article by Carvalho analysing the Obama phenomenon.

The American Lula  Olavo de Carvalho hat tip Paul

With the same self-confident insolence, Obama’s government plans run flagrantly counter to the will of the majority, without the candidate having to fear the loss of even a single vote. The nation wants gas prices down; Obama promises to send them up, by maintaining the ban on new oil drilling. America wants to see illegal immigrants depart; Obama promises not only to grant them amnesty but also to give them taxpayer-funded health care. The nation wants fewer taxes; Obama promises to create a few more. If millions of American citizens who think and want the opposite of what Obama does have sworn to vote for Obama for president, it is not on account of what he promises, but in spite of his promising them even hell itself. The attraction of the hypnotic image is stronger than the cost-benefit analysis.

Obama’s campaign is a work of precision psychological engineering, planned not to win over voters through rational persuasion, but to weaken, shock, and stupefy them to the point of making them accept every loss, every humiliation, every defeat, just in order not to contradict the assumed moral obligation to elect him, it being of little importance whether he actually is an enemy in disguise. Here is what Obama is demanding—and obtaining—from voters: that they sacrifice everything to a fetish, that they do so to some extent consciously, sharing therefore the blame for the operation and becoming in advance unable to fight against it once it has been accomplished. We have already seen this operation be carried out in Brazil, on the basis of the stereotypical image of the “worker president,” against whose crimes and perfidies no one can raise an audible voice anymore, for everyone, dragged by the psychological blackmail, became an accomplice somehow in the rite of sacrifice before the altar of the idol.

UPDATE: Honduras in diplomatic snub to U.S. over Bolivia

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduras, a former U.S. ally in Central America now run by a leftist government, told a U.S. envoy not to present his credentials as ambassador on Friday in a diplomatic snub in support of Bolivia.

RUSSIA ON WARPATH, DANGEROUS MOVES

UPDATE 9/10 8:28pm: Russian Muslim Leader Declares Anti-US Jihad

Talgat Tadzhuddin, one of Russia's two competing chief muftis, has once again declared jihad against the US, this time because of its support for Georgia, ...

UPDATE: The Marxist Obama can be depended upon to take the KGBs’ side (I know they changed the name) in any conflict. The Post editorial that follows gives an example.

Putin is trying to overthrow Georgia’s pro-free market, pro American president Mikheil Saakashvilli. For starters, he proclaimed a boycott on Georgia’s wines and spirits. It hurt the economy because Russia was their largest market. But the Georgians didn’t whine about it –they started marketing to the EU and America. We can help them by buying their wines. Georgian brandy is good stuff.  Historian Richard Holbrooke says that if Saakashvili survives, Putin loses and freedom wins. I’ll drink to that.  [I got this info from the 9/6 WSJ article, How’s Your Drink? by Eric Felton eric.felton@wsj.com  -Geo.

August 15, 2008 Editorial in the New York Post

The phone may not have rung at 3 a.m., but when word came of Russia 's brutal invasion of neighboring Georgia , one of the two presidential candidates instinctively understood the adventure's long-range implications.

And one did not.

Indeed, the crisis in the Caucasus is giving voters real insight into how John McCain and Barack Obama might handle a foreign-policy emergency.

In his first public reaction, Obama merely called on " Georgia and Russia to show restraint" - a reflexive exercise in what Sen. Joe Lieberman rightly labeled "moral neutrality."

Then Obama called for a UN Security Council resolution condemning Russia - apparently unaware that Moscow , a permanent Security Council member, can veto any such resolution.

He also suggested sending an international force under "an appropriate UN mandate" to South Ossetia . (See above, Security Council veto.)

Obama's initial reaction was that only Georgia 's territorial sovereignty was at stake - and that the way to resolve that issue was to negotiate.

But McCain immediately understood that the real issue wasn't just a Georgian territory violation, but Vladimir Putin's premeditated effort to let Eastern Europe know that Russia intends thoroughly to dominate what it terms its "near abroad."

And, belligerently, to let the world know that Moscow again considers itself a player on the global stage.

"World history is often made in remote, obscure countries," McCain said. "It is being made in Georgia today."

Translation: Small regional clashes can have ominous wider implications.

And, unlike even President Bush, McCain appreciates the real nature of Russia 's leader.

Where Bush famously described looking into Putin's soul and seeing someone "straightforward and trustworthy," McCain retorted: "I looked into Mr. Putin's eyes, and I saw three things: a K and a G and a B."

His firm line from the start - calling on Russia to be booted from the G-8 and for NATO to immediately admit Georgia - was a model of what the entire Western response should have been.

Obama's campaign, meanwhile, decried McCain's approach as "belligerent," and pointed out that one of his advisers formerly lobbied for the Georgian government - criticism that mirrored almost exactly attacks on McCain emanating from Putin's foreign ministry.

Pretty weak beer.

The crisis in Georgia was the first real election-season test for the two men who seek to become commander-in-chief. Only one passed.

Daryl said, "Talking, cajoling, and threats of a good scolding worked just great with Hitler and Tojo, too.

Obama should become President of Sesame Street. He may be able to handle that.

Leave being Commander-in-Chief and leading America through the dangers of the real world to John McCain. We can trust him to handle that.

Check out what Russia is up to post Georgia invasion. America is lost in the presidential election and Putin knows it - they are moving their chess pieces - belligerent war posturing. Much thanks to Van for the links.

Russia prepares to launch Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant J Post

Russia says to send nuclear warship to Caribbean

US-Russian naval rivalries heat up over Black, Caspian, Persian Gulf seas Debka

DEBKAfile's military sources report Washington is testing the Turkish government's response to the permanent anchoring of US warships at either of the two Georgian ports of Poti or Batumi. This would be quid pro quo for Moscow's interest in bases in Iranian Azerbaijan and the Persian Gulf.

Our sources report that the US anticipates a protracted period of tension with Russia for the following reasons:

1. US and NATO vessels will need safe coastal berths when the approaching winter storms strike the Black Sea. As time goes by, Turkey, which under international conventions controls the passage of naval vessels through the Dardanelles, will be under increasing pressure from Russia to block the waterway to NATO.

3. Washington is well aware of the talk in Moscow and Tehran in recent days about establishing Russian naval bases in Iran: Iranian Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea and an Iranian-held island in the Persian Gulf.

The latter, if Moscow and Tehran reached agreement, would terminate US naval control of the Persian Gulf waters opposite Iran forces and drastically upset the balance of strength in the region. Washington's response to this talk is its bid for a permanent Black Sea base.

Here's some more on the Russia Venezuela Naval issue. A good piece from the excellent IBD Editorials series. They get it.

The Russians have little respect for Chavez, but their anger over the U.S. missile shield treaty with Poland and the U.S. Navy's relief mission to Georgia coincide their interests with his.

This threat to sea lanes will increase the burden on U.S. forces who must monitor the new activity. It also underscores how important it is for Congress to permit new drilling for reasons of national security. If Russia can gain control of 25% of Europe's oil just by menacing Georgia, it could get an even more impressive return in the Caribbean.

Van opines, "the entrance to the Black Sea is through the narrow Dardanelle Straits. Russia is trying to persuade Turkey to block this vital passage to our ships. Russia is Turkey's biggest trading partner, so the economic incentive is great.

Russia has announced plans to acquire an Iranian port for its Mediterranean fleet. This would spell the end of our dominance of the Persian Gulf region.

Russia has announced plans to finish the Iranian Nuclear plant at Busheir. This has been on hold for 5 years, due to pressure from the U.S. That understanding has now gone south.

Venezuela/Chavez has made huge military purchases of planes, armament and submarines as of late. There are also stories out there that Hezbollah is operating there against the Jews.

The STRATEGIC BALANCE of POWER in the world is in a major state of flux right now. The pieces on the chessboard are being re-arranged. To put it in non-diplomatic terms, the shit is going to hit the fan soon!"

Democrat Leadership Heart Chavez, Hezbollah, FARC

All of those Hugo Chavez loving leftard asshats know not what they do? Or is it all about destroying America?

U.S. ties Caracas to Hezbollah aid Freezes assets of envoy, businessman Washington Times

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia | The Bush administration is accusing the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of providing cash and refuge to the militant Islamist group Hezbollah of southern Lebanon.

An investigation by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) names Venezuelan diplomat Ghazi Nasr al Din and Venezuelan-Arab businessman Fawzi Kanan as key links between the two.

"It is extremely troubling to see the government of Venezuela employing and providing safe harbor for Hezbollah facilitators and fundraisers," said Adam Szubin, political affairs director of OFAC.

Mr. al Din has served as charge d'affaires at the Venezuelan Embassy in Syria and as director of political affairs at the embassy in Lebanon.

The Treasury Department made the accusations in a June 18 statement, which summarized an investigation of Venezuelan-registered businesses that are thought to be laundering money for Hezbollah.

The department also froze assets of Mr. al Din and Mr. Kanan and banned them from conducting business in the U.S. or with U.S. citizens and residents.

Read it all. Ouch

Larwyn sent this bombshell over. Over at Gateway:

Speaker Pelosi Was Sending Messages to FARC Terrorists While Undermining Colombian Government!

SWAMP POLITICS---

New information reveals that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was indirectly sending messages to the FARC. The Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is designated as a terrorist group by the US government. Speaker Pelosi was doing this while at the same time she refused to bring a free trade agreement with Colombia up for a vote in the US House. In fact, Pelosi took extraordinary steps to block this trade agreement with America's closest ally in South America.

Cordoba-Pelosi-McGovern
Colombian Sen. Piedad Cordoba (left) is currently under investigation by the Colombian attorney general for ties to the FARC. Cordoba claims that Speaker Nancy Pelosi was sending messages to the FARC terrorists. Cordoba also claimed during FARC negotiations that Pelosi had assigned Rep. Jim McGovern, as the point man. Captured FARC documents confirmed in March that Mr. McGovern had been working with an American go-between, who had been offering the rebels help in undermining Colombia's elected and popular government.

The Wall Street Journal reported on the confiscated FARC documents that implicated Rep. McGovern back in March:

The Reyes hard drive reveals an ardent effort to do business directly with the FARC by Congressman James McGovern (D., Mass.), a leading opponent of the free-trade deal. Mr. McGovern has been working with an American go-between, who has been offering the rebels help in undermining Colombia's elected and popular government.

Mr. McGovern's press office says the Congressman is merely working at the behest of families whose relatives are held as FARC kidnap hostages. However, his go-between's letters reveal more than routine intervention.

Now, today we find out who was directing Rep. McGovern--
Speaker Pelosi!
Mary Anastasia O'Grady at The Wall Street Journal reported:

Last fall, Mr. Chávez and the FARC hatched an audacious plan whereby the Venezuelan would take "proof of life" of Ms. Betancourt to French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris, where the plight of Ms. Betancourt was a cause célèbre. The rebels wrote that Mr. Chávez was sure French pressure for negotiations would cause President Bush to "order Uribe to allow the meeting" between Mr. Chávez and the rebels on Colombian soil, something Mr. Uribe had refused to do. The rebels reported that Mr. Chávez was "super-motivated," because he viewed the rendezvous as a public-relations coup that would give him and the FARC "continental and world renown."

That plan flopped, but Mr. Chavez had other cards up his sleeve. One involved Colombian Sen. Piedad Cordoba, who is currently under investigation by the Colombian attorney general for ties to the FARC. She figures prominently in the captured rebel documents, and is notoriously close to Mr. Chávez.

She met at the Venezuelan presidential palace with FARC leaders last fall. From that meeting the rebels reported that "Piedad says that Chávez has Uribe going crazy. He doesn't know what to do. That Nancy Pelosi helps and is ready to help in the swap [hostages in exchange for captured guerrillas]. That she has designated [U.S. Congressman Jim] McGovern for this."

If the speaker of the House was working with Ms. Cordoba in this scheme, her judgment was more than a little misguided. The rebels write that on a trip to Argentina Ms. Cordoba told them, "It doesn't matter to me the proposal that Sarkozy has made to free Ingrid. Above all, do not liberate Ingrid." In short, why give up such a useful pawn?

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (C), senior FARC rebel commander Ivan Marquez (L) of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and Colombian senator Piedad Cordoba walk at Miraflores Palace in Caracas November 8, 2007. (Reuters)

 

BOLTON NAILS OBAMBI

The man who should be running weighs in on the radical left's nominee. Bolton dissects and shatters  Obambi's silly policy statements with surgical precision. This should be required reading for the electorate. Seriously.

Obama the naive John (the bomb) Bolton hat tip jon s

His views on world affairs ignore history and imperil the U.S. and our allies.

Barack Obama's willingness to meet with the leaders of rogue states such as Iran and North Korea "without preconditions" is a naive and dangerous approach to dealing with the hard men who run pariah states. It will be an important and legitimate issue for policy debate during the remainder of the presidential campaign.

Consider his facile observations about President Kennedy's first meeting with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, in Vienna in 1961. Obama saw it as a meeting that helped win the Cold War, when in fact it was an embarrassment for the American side. The inexperienced Kennedy performed so poorly that Khrushchev may well have been encouraged to position Soviet missiles in Cuba in 1962, thus precipitating one of the Cold War's most dangerous crises.

Such realities should cause Obama to become more circumspect, minimizing his off-the-cuff observations about history, grand strategy and diplomacy. In fact, he has done exactly the opposite, exhibiting so many gaps in his knowledge and understanding of world affairs that they have not yet received the attention they deserve. He consistently reveals failings in foreign policy that are far more serious than even his critics had previously imagined.

Consider the following statement, which was lost in the controversy over his comments about negotiations: "Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don't pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. ... Iran, they spend 1/100th of what we spend on the military. If Iran ever tried to pose a serious threat to us, they wouldn't stand a chance."

Let's dissect this comment. Obama is correct that the rogue states he names do not present the same magnitude of threat as that posed by the Soviet Union through the possibility of nuclear war. Fortunately for us all, general nuclear war never took place. Nonetheless, serious surrogate struggles between the superpowers abounded because the Soviet Union's threat to the West was broader and more complex than simply the risk of nuclear war. Subversion, guerrilla warfare, sabotage and propaganda were several of the means by which this struggle was waged, and the stakes were high, even, or perhaps especially, in "tiny" countries.

In the Western Hemisphere, for example, the Soviets used Fidel Castro's Cuba to assist revolutionary activities in El Salvador and Nicaragua. In Western Europe, vigorous Moscow-directed communist parties challenged the democracies on their home turfs. In Africa, numerous regimes depended on Soviet military assistance to stay in power, threaten their neighbors or resist anti-communist opposition groups.

Both sides in the Cold War were anxious to keep these surrogate struggles from going nuclear, so the stakes were never "civilizational." But to say that these "asymmetric" threats were "tiny" would be news to those who struggled to maintain or extend freedom's reach during the Cold War.

Had Italy, for example, gone communist during the 1950s or 1960s, it would have been an inconvenient defeat for the United States but a catastrophe for the people of Italy. An "asymmetric" threat to the U.S. often is an existential threat to its friends, which was something we never forgot during the Cold War. Obama plainly seems to have entirely missed this crucial point. Ironically, it is he who is advocating a unilateralist policy, ignoring the risks and challenges to U.S. allies when the direct threat to us is, in his view, "tiny."

What is implicit in Obama's reference to "tiny" threats is that they are sufficiently insignificant that negotiations alone can resolve them. Indeed, he has gone even further, arguing that the lack of negotiations with Iran caused the threats: "And the fact that we have not talked to them means that they have been developing nuclear weapons, funding Hamas, funding Hezbollah."

This is perhaps the most breathtakingly naive statement of all, implying as it does that it is actually U.S. policy that motivates Iran rather than Iran's own perceived ambitions and interests. That would be news to the mullahs in Tehran, not to mention the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah.

It is an article of faith for Obama, and many others on the left in the U.S. and abroad, that it is the United States that is mostly responsible for the world's ills. In 1984, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick labeled people with these views the "San Francisco Democrats," after the city where Walter Mondale was nominated for president.

Most famously, Kirkpatrick forever seared the San Francisco Democrats by saying that "they always blame America first" for the world's problems. In so doing, she turned the name of the pre-World War II isolationist America First movement into a stigma the Democratic Party has never shaken.

This is yet another piece of history that Obama has ignored or never learned. There may be one more piece of history worthy of attention: In 1984, Mondale went down to one of the worst electoral defeats in American political history. We will now see whether Obama follows that path as well.

Evil takes a Roman Holiday

Show me your friends - this is priceless

Barbarians of a feather, rot together

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith called Mugabe's presence in Rome "obscene". Britain also criticised Mugabe's rare foray out of Zimbabwe where he is fighting for his political future in an election runoff.     

"This is the person who has presided over the starvation of his people. This is the person who has used food aid in a politically motivated way," Smith said.     

"So Robert Mugabe turning up to a conference dealing with food security or food issues is, in my view, frankly obscene," added the Australian minister, who is also to attend the Food and Agriculture Organization summit.
[...]
There were also protests in Italy by activists, leftist politicians and Jewish groups against Mugabe and Ahmadinejad.    

"It is in no way legitimate for the people of Zimbabwe to be represented by a head of state who has been disowned by the international community and who is unwanted by his own people," Sergio Marelli, Italian host of a forum on food sovereignty coinciding with the summit, told AFP.     

"We are against all dictatorships," Radical Party spokeswoman Anita Friedman told AFP.     

Zimbabwe faces acute food shortages after land reforms and the collapse of the farming sector.     

The 84-year-old president is subject to a travel ban to the European Union because of sanctions imposed after he allegedly rigged his re-election in 2002, but is able to attend UN forums.     

Ahmadinejad's presence at the summit "addressing the tragedy of hunger in the world symbolises the devastating contradiction between the violence of totalitarian governments and their demogogic statements," demonstration organisers said in a statement.     

[..]

"For nearly 30 years, the rulers in Tehran have negated the rights of religious and ethnic minorities, women, gays, student associations and anyone who does not agree with the regime's policies," the statement said.  (more here)

Meanwhile, the poison dwarf, yet again, threatened the tiny Jewish state with annihilation:

Iran's president took yet another swipe at Israel and the U.S. today claiming the former "would soon disappear off the map" while he branded the latter a "satanic power" which faced destruction.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke out at a gathering of foreign guests marking this week's 19th anniversary of the death of Iran's late revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

He said: "You should know that the criminal and terrorist Zionist regime which has 60 years of plundering, aggression and crimes in its file has reached the end of its work and will soon disappear off the geographical scene."

Turning to the United States, he added that the era of decline and destruction of its "satanic power" had begun. He said: "The bell on the countdown of the destruction of the empire of power and wealth has begun to ring."

Americans Name top Enemies

Despite Condiappeaser, Bush lite, State dept arabists, Olmurderer and the Euroweenies, Americans know who the enemy is:

Americans call Iran, Iraq, China top enemies
USA Today
China has replaced North Korea as one of the top three U.S. enemies, according to a poll of Americans. Iran topped the list, with 25% naming it when asked which country is the greatest U.S. enemy, according to the Gallup Poll. Iraq came next at 22%, then China with 14%.

But folks, North Korea is huge. Americans perceive it as China's vassel.

China, a growing economic rival of the U.S., was cited by 11% as top enemy a year ago.

Gallup first asked the question in early 2001, before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. At the time, Iraq was seen as the biggest foe, followed by China and Iran.

CONDI'S LETHAL LEGACY

Condi has nothing on Iran as they race to build a nuclear arsenal. No plan. Gotz. She's got nothing on the NORKS  as they race to nuclear arm Syria and Iran and who the hell knows who else. She's got nothing ............so her leagcy will be the funding and arming of Islamic jihad under the auspices of a bloody, deadly, "peace" process. This headbanging has gone on long enough. How many Jewish kids, rabbis, believers have to die before the deadly reality of not backing Israel but backing our mortal enemies sets in?

The Jews are not the problem. Nuclear armed Islamic regimes are the most frightening of all possible futures.

Deconstructing the utter mess we are in begins we de-nuclearizing the North Koreans. Bolton has a plan.... is anyone listening?

In yesterday's Wall Street Journal Ambassador John Bolton writes:

At a minimum, President Bush should not bequeath to the next president only the burned-out hulk of the Six-Party Talks, and countless failed and violated North Korean commitments.

David Gothard

Since they were conceived in spring 2003, the Six-Party Talks have stumbled around inconclusively. And for the last 13 months, Pyongyang has ignored, stalled, renegotiated and violated the Feb. 13, 2007 agreement.

Throughout all this "negotiation," which has mostly consisted of our government negotiating with itself, North Korea has benefited enormously. It's been spared the truly punishing sanctions that concerted international effort might have produced. In large part because of the appeasement policies of the two previous South Korean governments, Pyongyang has not felt the full impact of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) on its outward proliferation efforts. The U.S. has muzzled its criticism of North Korea's atrocious oppression of its own citizens. And, perhaps most humiliatingly of all, the U.S., in a vain effort at chasing the mirage, gave up its most effective pressure point -- the financial squeeze -- allowing Pyongyang renewed access to international markets through institutions like Banco Delta Asia.

In fact, the protracted Six-Party Talks have provided Kim Jong-il with the most precious resource of all: the time to enhance, conceal and even disperse his nuclear weapons programs. Time is nearly always on the side of the would-be proliferator, and so it has proven here. In exchange for five years of grace to North Korea, the U.S. has received precious little in return.

Pyongyang is now stonewalling yet again on its promise to disclose fully the details of its nuclear programs, including its uranium enrichment efforts and its outward proliferation. The successful Israeli military strike against a Syrian-North Korean facility on the Euphrates River last September highlighted the gravity of the regime's unwillingness to do anything serious that might restrict its nuclear option.

Nuclear arming of Islamic regimes. The worst of all possible scenarios.

President Bush should spend the next 10 months rectifying the Six-Party concessions and put North Korea back under international pressure -- efforts that would be welcomed by Japan, and South Korea's new, far more realistic President Lee Myung-bak. Here are the steps to take:

- Declare North Korea's repeated refusal to honor its commitments, especially but not exclusively concerning full disclosure of its nuclear programs, unacceptable. This is the easiest step, and the most obvious. It can happen immediately. Accept no further partial "compliance," as the State Department continuously tries to do. Make public what we know about the North's Syria project, and its uranium enrichment and missile programs, so our 2008 presidential candidates can have a fully-informed debate.

- Suspend the Six-Party Talks, and reconvene talks without North Korea. Although the talks could be jettisoned altogether, continuing them without the North allows Japan, South Korea and the U.S. to begin applying real pressure to China, the one nation with the capacity to bring Pyongyang's nuclear program to a halt. China has feared to apply such pressure, worried that it could collapse Kim Jong-il's regime altogether -- an accurate assessment of the regime's limited staying power. Nonetheless, the effect of Chinese reticence has been to preserve Kim and his nuclear program. It is vital that China know this policy is no longer viable.

- Strengthen international pressure on North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. Ramp up PSI cooperation with South Korea. Remind Russia of its own voluntarily-assumed obligations as a PSI core member. Remind China as well to comply with the sanctions imposed on North Korea by U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1695 and 1718 (which followed the North's 2006 ballistic missile and nuclear tests), and honor its other counterproliferation obligations. Tell them we will be watching with particular care, and that Chinese failure to increase pressure on North Korea will have implications in Sino-American bilateral relations. We can make this point privately to China rather that trumpet it publicly, but it should be made without ambiguity.

- Squeeze North Korea economically. Return the regime to limbo outside the international financial system, and step up action against its other illicit activities, such as trafficking in illicit narcotics and counterfeiting U.S. money. These and other "defensive measures" are nothing more than what any self-respecting nation does to protect itself, and the U.S. should never have eased up on them. Even now they can have a measurable impact on Kim Jong-il's weak and unsteady regime.

- Prepare contingency plans for humanitarian relief in the event of increased North Korean refugee flows or a regime collapse. Both China and South Korea have legitimate concerns about the burdens they would face if the North collapsed, or if increased internal economic deprivation spread instability. America and Japan should make it plain that they will fully shoulder their share of providing humanitarian supplies and assistance if either happened. Moreover, President Lee should increase pressure on Pyongyang -- by reiterating that South Korea will fully comply with its own constitution and grant full citizenship to any refugees from the North, however they make their way to the South.

Doubtless there are other steps. President Bush will not likely be able to solve the threat posed by North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Nonetheless, he still has time to implement policies that will allow him to leave office with the nation back on offense -- thereby affording his successor the chance to vindicate a return to the original Bush administration national security strategy.

OT but related: Anybody know if McCain is talking to Bolton? I mean really.

UPDATE: VENEZUELA AMASSING MILITARY SHOWDOWN ISRAEL SUPPORTS COLUMBIA CHAVEZ SUPPORTS 2ND HOLOCAUST

UPDATE 3/5 : VENEZUELA IS GOING TO WAR

CHAVEZ AMASSING MILITARY SHOWDOWN AT COLUMBIA BORDER

UPDATE: VENEZUELA IS MOVING 10 TANK BATTALIONS TO THE COLUMBIA BORDER. They are sending tanks, troops, warships.

Leftist terror FARC trying to acquire uranium.

*************************************************************

Israel supports Columbia in her fight against terror as does Atlas and  every  freedom loving man. The media will spin this differently but Columbia is in the same fight we are. Chavez is licking his chops stoking the fires of war and ..... Jew hatred.

Columbia takes Chavez to International Criminal Court BBC:

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe says he will ask the International Criminal Court to bring genocide charges against President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

He accused Mr Chavez of sponsoring and financing Colombian Farc rebels. Venezuela denies the charge.

Colombian officials say a laptop found during a raid on a Farc camp held files indicating Venezuela gave Farc $300m.

Important to watch the align of nations in the lead up to the unavoidable world war. It is important to expose the increasing Jew hatred in in Venezuela. Since Chavez it has become virulent.

Check these articles out, read them carefully.  There's a campaign going on against the Jews in  Venezuela and it really is noteworthy, regarding Chavez' declaration of  Columbia being the Israel of Latin America. This guys enemies are, of  course, the Jews.

Israel supports Columbia in its War on Terror. Chavez is apoplectic and will call upon the  dangerous  alliances with Islamic jihad, Hezb'Allah for one:

In a nearer and more dangerous scenario which also has Venezuela as a starting point, Hezbollah in Latin America, also called Hezbollah Venezuela, converts to Islam any indigenous Chavista it can, because they are the ones that least understand what is going on. Evangelical missionaries have disappeared from the jungle because according to Chavez they are genocidal spies. Evo Morales in Bolivia repeats Chavez's same words.

Chavez has invited Iranian Shiite "missionaries" to convert the Guajiros and other indigenous peoples in Amazonia. The entire Wayuu tribe is now Muslim, women wear veils while men go to Kalashnikov shooting practice. Some have themselves photographed wearing suicide vests loaded with bombs, and the Venezuelan government distributes the photos, publicizing its friendship with Ahmadinejad and Middle East terrorist groups.

More here.

Antisemitism in Venezuela 1996-98
Antisemitism in Venezuela 1999-2000
Anti-Semitism in Venezuela 200 -2001
Anti-Semitism in Venezuela 2001- 2002
Anti-Semitism in Venezuela 2002 -2003
Anti-Semitism in Venezuela 2003-4
Anti-Semitism in Venezuela  2004
Anti-Semitism/in Venezuela 2005
Anti-Semitism in Venezuela 2006

THE CHAVEZ REGIME: Fostering Anti-Semitism and Supporting Radical Islam ADL

Over the years, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has befriended a number of questionable figures in South America and also in the Middle East where he has formed bonds through both OPEC and ideological channels. As Chavez's hatred of the United States Israe has grown, he has become close allies with a number of the West's most dangerous adversaries. These relationships grew only stronger during the Israel-Hezbollah war, when Chavez was outspoken in his criticism of Israel and the United States and in his support for Hezbollah.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – President of Iran

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad explicitly threatens to wipe Israel< from the map, denies the Holocaust and defies the democratic world by supporting terrorism and extremism and pursuing nuclear weapons.

Chavez has visited Iran on several occasions, has hosted President Ahmadinejad in  Venezuela and has made extensive bilateral agreements with the current Iranian government. On July 30, 2006, while visiting Iran, Chavez and Ahmadinejad took part in a joint press conference at which Ahmadinejad stated, "Just like my dear brother Chavez expressed, [Israel's incursion] is a real shameful crime, and a handful of Zionists see an open path to crime…. We believe the real criminals are those who have created this illegal regime.

Also disturbing is Chavez's Argentinian ties:

BUENOS AIRES-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has developed close links         with Argentine radicals ranging from Communists to right-wing nationalists,  some of whom, knowledgeable people here fear, have the potential to further  destabilize Argentina as it struggles to emerge from its worst economic crisis in decades.

In the Caribbean heat of Caracas, a continent away from the mock-Parisian         boulevards of Buenos Aires, Mr. Chavez is presiding over his own deepening         economic and political crisis. But his domestic troubles haven't kept him from working hard to push his notion of populist revolution. In Argentina, which is struggling to emerge from its own economic debacle, some in the    country's political leadership worry about the influence Mr. Chavez, who is due here for Sunday's inauguration of Nestor Kirchner, the country's   new president, exerts over local radicals.

There isn't any evidence that the Venezuelan leader is working to overthrow         governments. But his politicking comes at a very delicate time in Latin America. Fragile democracies throughout the region are struggling to cope with an economic downturn and growing popular resentment at the market-based  economic policies pushed by Washington and Wall Street. Mr. Chavez, who  has been accused of trying to turn Venezuela into a second Cuba, spouts   a heady mix of nationalist, leftist and populist sentiments.

Note also that there's a growing presence of Hezbollah in Venezuela and read this document here:

    The October 23, 2006 failed explosive operation in Caracas     On October 23, 2006, the Baruta Municipality police found two explosive devices near     the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela. One of the bombs was found in a box     containing leaflets making reference to the Lebanese radical Islamic group Hezbollah.     The local television news network, Globovision, reported one of the devices found in a     flowerpot near the Embassy, while the other device found outside a school, near the     diplomatic premises.     Wilfredo Porras, acting director of the Baruta police, said they arrested a man carrying “a backpack with six containers of 100 black powder bases, pliers, adhesive tape, glue and electric leads". At that time, the suspect declared the devices were “set to explode in 15 minutes".     1 “The idea was apparently to create alarm and publicize a message", Borraz told reporters, explaining that the explosives were made to scatter the pamphlets.2 It is possible that the second device was intended to explode near the Israeli Embassy but the suspect gotnervous and dropped it near the American Embassy.     \The arrested man is Jose Miguel Rojas Espinoza, a 26-year-old student of the state-run     Bolivarian University founded by President Hugo Chaves, offering free education.

    An organization calling itself the Hezbollah Latin America (Hezbollah LA) took     responsibility for the attack on October 25 on their website and promised they would     stage other simultaneous attacks, with the same goal of publicizing the organization. The website presented Rojas as “the brother mujahedeen, the first example of dignity and struggle in the cause of Allah, the first prisoner of the revolutionary Islamic movement Hezbollah Venezuela”.3 The organization already threatened to explode a non-lethal device on August 18, 2006, which is surprising since they publicly announced their plans and because no one seemed to take notice to this warning. The target mentioned was an ally of the U.S. in a Latin American city in order to launch its propaganda campaign. Hezbollah Venezuela would see this as a beginning of their war against imperialism and Zionism and to show its solidarity with the Lebanese Hizballah after the July war in Lebanon (see Annex 1).

Read this excerpt:

"The Sephardic Tiferet Israel Synagogue suffered repeated attacks in the wake of several pro-Chavez demonstrations (see also ASW 2003/4). Following a government organized rally on 16 May under the banner “Against terrorism and foreign involvement, for respect of sovereignty, the homeland and the Constitution,” a group of persons scrawled slogans on its walls and in the car park, in the name of the ‘Simon Bolivar Coordination’ (Coordinadora Simón Bolívar − CSB) and the ‘Revolutionary Left Youth’ (Juventud de Izquierda Revolucionaria − JIR). It should be noted that Chavez’s revolution − the ‘Bolivarian revolution’ − is named after the 19th century general Simón Bolívar (El Liberator). The slogans read, inter alia: “Don’t allow Colombia to be the Israel of Latin America [an allusion to US attempts to bring Colombia under its wing in order to fight left-wing guerilla groups]”; Sharon is a murderer of the Palestinian People”; “Viva the armed Palestinian people”; and “Free Palestine.”

Similar graffiti, as well as the slogan “Jews go home,” appeared on the wall of synagogue after a pro-government rally on 6 June. It was signed by the pro-Chavez Communist Youth and the Communist Party of Venezuela. On 8 August a group of supporters from a pro-Chavez rally held at the close of his anti-referendum campaign daubed slogans such as: “Sharon is a murder. No to Israel,” with the letter ‘S’ shaped like a swastika. They also wrote, inter alia: “Viva Chavez and Arafat”; and “NO to Zionism.”

Virulently anti-Israel posters appeared on the streets of Caracas in December during the Second Bolivarian Congress of the People (II Congreso Bolivariano de los Pueblos). Signed by pro-government organizations such as MVR (Movimiento Bolivariano Revolucionario/Movimiento Quinta Republica [Quinta=5 in Roman numbers], the Chavez Party), the Communist Party in Venezuela (Partido Comunista de Venezuela) and Coordinadora Simón Bolívar, they read, inter alia: “Neither Orlando Urdaneta [Venezuelan anti-Chavez actor] nor the super-terrorist Israelis will succeed with our people”; “No to the Israeli commandos in Caracas”; “No to the involvement of Israelis in our nation”; “No to the Mossad and no to the CIA”; and “Bush+Sharon = murderers.”"

 

Much thanks to Michael N for sharing all this with me. We got all this information via this  German blog

Venezuela: Jew Hatred Chavez Style

An epidemic of incomprehensible proportions.

Journalist: There is a new fear among Jews in Venezuela Miami Herald hat tip Mara

A Venezuelan journalist sounded the alarm about repeated acts of 'government-sponsored' anti-Semitism in the South American country at a presentation at a South Florida synagogue.

Venezuelan Jews, long uneasy with the Chávez government's alliances with Iran and other Middle Eastern countries that espouse anti-Israel views, are concerned that the government is sponsoring anti-Semitism in this hemisphere, a prominent journalist said Tuesday.

''The situation we have now in Venezuela is that for the first time in modern history we have government-sponsored anti-Semitism in a Western country,'' said Sammy Eppel. ``That is why this is very dangerous, not just for the Jewish community in Venezuela but for the Jewish community as a whole.''

Update: Fausta is on it as well.

Sleep with dogs ...............

Sleep with dogs ............. and maybe you don't wake up at all.

Iran's poison dwarf President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad walks hand in hand with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah at the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in Doha 12/3/07.

Ahmadinejad has been invited to perform the hajj pilgrimage by Saudi King Abdullah, in another first for the Islamic republic's leader, Iran's ambassador to Riyadh has announced.

Double Jeopardy Dan Diker J Post hat tip Carolyn

[...]

But Abdullah's last minute invitation to Ahmadinejad, and his public cozying up to the Iranian at a moment when Iran threatens to replace Saudi Arabia as the new hegemon in the Middle East could be the latest signal of how terrified the Sunni Arab establishment is - and the Gulf states in particular are, of Iran's rising power. It is also seems a graphic indication of Saudi and "Gulfie" nervousness over their perception of America's growing weakness and loss of political will opposite Teheran.

On the face of it, Ahmadinejad's key note address - the first for any Iranian leader to the Sunni Gulf Cooperation Council - that included Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman seems counter intuitive.

Wasn't the GCC created to offset the very threatening Iranian regional influence it now appears the Gulf States are ready to honor? In fact, as the Washington Institute's Simon Henderson points out in a December 7 analysis, the UAE set a precedent in November by impounding an Iranian-bound shipment of undisclosed material banned by UN Security Council Resolutions 1737 and 1747 because of its potential use for nuclear weapons or missile programs. The Washington Institute brief also notes that Bahrain's crown prince for the first time openly accused Iran in a recent interview of seeking nuclear weapons.

And didn't the same Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and other Gulfies send senior officials to Washington's Annapolis conference two weeks ago, to show the Iranians that the US could lead a coalition of Arab Sunni states to Isolate Teheran's Islamo-fascist mullocracy?

So how can what looked like the beginning of a kiss and make up session last week between Iran's Ahmadinejad and Iran's Sunni Gulf rivals be understood?

FOR STARTERS It was little coincidence that the Abdullah-Ahmadinejad photo op took place on the same day and virtually in tandem with the release of the US National Intelligence Estimate. 

Arab leaders don't believe that for a minute. Middle East scholar and Council on foreign Relations fellow Max Boot noted in a Wall Street Journal article this week that a senior Arab official warned him during a recent trip to the Gulf that "accepting Ahmadinejad with nuclear weapons is like accepting Hitler in 1933." Broad Arab participation at the Annapolis conference exemplified their heightened fears.

Now, for Arab Sunni Gulf States who are worried about Iran's ascendancy under a nuclear umbrella, the National Intelligence Estimate underscores growing confusion, disunity and discord in Washington.

While former UN ambassador John Bolton blasted the report as "politics masquerading as intelligence," to worried Arab leaders, the apparent lack of US unity and purpose opposite Iran spells weakness and a lack of political will. Some leading Islamic affairs experts inside and outside the Beltway have been issuing this warning for some time.

IRAN, MEANWHILE, continues to charge ahead with its atomic weapons plans while destabilizing the region via proxy terror groups in Iraq, in Lebanon via Hizbullah, via Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic jihad in Gaza, all the while promising to liquidate Israel, the US's key Middle East ally.

So despite palpable Arab fears of Iran - particularly a nuclear one - as Jordan's King Abdullah II first publicly expressed in 2004 when he coined the term "the Shi'ite crescent" - to refer to Iran's arc of control, Professor Bernard Lewis, the world's leading scholar on Islam and the Near East, has long reminded the West that Arab political culture runs with the winning horse.

THIS IS the also the context in which the recent US hosted Annapolis conference should be considered. Instead of pressing for victory against Iran, Bush's summoning much of the international community to Washington to advance Palestinian-Israeli peace and to send a message to Iran was likely perceived somewhat differently in the Middle East.

In the context of Lewis's "winning horse" analogy, Bush in the Arab and Persian mind may have appeared more like the school weakling who needed to turn to the rest of the class to back him opposite the class bully, in this case the 120 pound Ahmadinejad.

So with the US National Intelligence Estimate weakening US diplomatic efforts to mobilize the international community against Teheran, Arab states prefer to mingle with Iranian power rather than risk American uncertainty.

Read it all.

 

North Korea Aids the Hezbos

Evil makes for some strange bedfellows.It hardly seems a stretch when we know that the NORKS have been providing nuclear technology to Syria and Syria provides support, munitions to hezbollah so if A =B and B =C then A= C blah blah blah. Nobody gives a rats ass. Carolyn adds, "no matter.Condi will think.It's only Israel. If it could really harm the Saudis, well, that would be a different story-don't you know."

Oh and BTW, we are rewarding these nuclear proliferators with 100,000 metric tons of heavy fuel oil? They don't even have the facilities to house such an enormous amount of heavy fuel so we, and our "partners," are going to BUILD THEM. More here

North Korea may have aided Hizbullah, US report says Ynet via Reuters hat tip Carolyn

Congressional Research Service quotes 'reputable sources' as saying Pyongyang may have armed, trained members of Lebanese terror group.

French publication says training 'significantly improved Hizbullah's ability to fight the Israelis during the 2006 war'

North Korea may have given arms to Lebanon's Hizbullah and Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers, according to a report compiled for Congress that could complicate US plans to drop Pyongyang from its terrorism blacklist.

The report obtained on Wednesday by Reuters was written by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), which provides independent analysis to Congress, and cited "reputable sources" as saying Pyongyang had given arms and possibly training to the militant groups, which Washington regards as "terrorist" organizations.

As part of a deal to get Pyongyang to give up its pursuit of nuclear weapons, Washington has dangled the possibility of removing North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism if it fully discloses its nuclear programs.

North Korea, which conducted a nuclear test in 2006, has agreed to provide a "complete and correct" declaration of these programs by the end of the year, although analysts say there is considerable uncertainty whether it will meet the deadline.

Venezuela RIP UPDATED: BACK FROM THE DEAD!

Say Goodbye to Venezuela. As that fat thug imposes fascist lockdown, the pogroms have begun. Police raided Venezuela's main Jewish social club on the eve of a national referendum (and it's not the first time.)

Say Goodbye to Venezuela. hat tip Larwyn

The police raid took place as 900 Jews enjoyed an all-night wedding party at the nearby Union Israelita synagogue in Altamira, an upscale suburb of Caracas.

According to sources, members of the police unit that investigates drug-trafficking and terrorism broke the main gate of La Hebraica in the middle of the night, allegedly looking for weapons and explosives.
Officers searched the premises but found nothing, the sources said.

Venezuelans on Sunday were deciding whether to approve 69 constitutional amendments proposed by the Chavez government, including whether to eliminate presidential term limits. That would pave the way for Chavez to be re-elected indefinitely.

Thug for life.

Experts predicted a very close vote; results were not expected until late Sunday.

 

Chavez Claiming Victory

And he's doing it on Mecca time. The Tehran papers haver also been following the vote. Interesting that this would first turn up on Al Jazeera, via Reuters, ay?

Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, is heading for victory in a referendum on allowing him to remain in power as long as he keeps winning elections, two government-linked sources said citing exit polls.

Three exit polls showed Chavez won by between six and eight points in a vote where turnout was low, they told Reuters news agency.

If confirmed, the results would be by far the slimmest victory margin in the career of a man who wants to rule for life.

Most pre-vote opinion surveys predicted a close referendum on the raft of constitutional changes that the opposition and even some longtime former allies say are authoritarian.

An emboldened opposition and recent violent clashes during street protests have created fears of a potentially volatile dispute

UPDATE: Dr. Clifton writes of this breaking story:

1:20 AM
Fireworks in San Felipe. Chavez on cadena!!!

1:17
Tibisay Lucena head of the CNE has announced that the NO has won!!!!! Less than 2% margin!!!

UPDATE: Caracas Chronicle:

Hell No!...it's OFFICIAL!

Quico says: Venezuela rejects authoriarianism. It's a historic day. The myth of Chávez the invincible is no more.
NO 51%
SÍ 49%

GULF PETRO$: What Have We Wrought?

$100 BUCKS A BARREL AND CLIMBING

OIL BONANZA FUNDS GULF INVESTMENT SPREE

Near East meets Far East: the rise of Gulf investment in Asia EIU.com

Gulf-based investors have become increasingly active in Asia in recent years, and the trend looks set to continue over the medium term, according to Near East meets Far East: the rise of Gulf investment in Asia, an Economist Intelligence Unit report sponsored by Arcapita Bank B.S.C.(c). While claims that a "new Silk Road" is emerging that will trump the Gulf's relations with the West look overstated, there is little doubt that the small but substantial portion of petrodollar investment going into the region (estimated at around 10-11% of total Gulf outward investment) will increase significantly over the next five years.

Several trends have underpinned the rising interest from investors in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries in Asian assets:

• Changing investment preferences in the Gulf.
  In previous oil booms most of the billions of dollars in Gulf capital was parked in the international banking system and US treasuries, and the rest invested cautiously in portfolios that tended to favour capital preservation over yield maximisation. Today GCC sovereigns are increasingly managing their own surpluses directly, rather than outsourcing that process. At the same time, the past decade has witnessed rising sophistication in the GCC banking sector and among public and private investors, and deepening integration of emerging markets into the world economy, which have also underpinned a growing appetite among GCC investors for riskier Asian assets.

There's more (click headline)

China seeks 30% increase in Saudi crude supplies Reuters

China has asked for a 30 per cent increase in crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia for 2008 and also aims to raise imports from Iran, partly to feed two new refineries amid steady demand growth, trading sources said yesterday.

Sinopec, Asia's top refiner, wants to increase Saudi crude imports to 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) for next year, up from this year's 460,000 bpd, a trading source close to the supply talks told Reuters.

The supply pact, pending Saudi confirmation, would foster closer energy ties between Beijing and Riyadh, while maintaining the kingdom as China's top oil supplier.

China is keen to secure more long-term fuel supplies while the Saudis are building a refinery in China and looking to invest in a second one.

TRIAD OF EVIL MEETS, PLANS

STOP FUNDING THE JIHAD, OUR MORTAL ENEMY!

Triad of Terror: PA Terrorists Meet With Iranian FM in Damascus INN

(IsraelNN.com) Officials from Palestinian Authority terrorist factions met in Damascus Monday with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Motaki to discuss the situation in Gaza and the upcoming U.S.-sponsored Mideast summit.

According to a member of the Iranian delegation who spoke on condition of anonymity, Motaki met with Hamas deputy politburo head Moussa Abu Marzouk, Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, and PA officials.

"Damn Iranian Chavistas!"

Wow............. Anti-Chavez rally (hope he doesn't crush them)

Lots more pics here Brazilian Neocon's rough translation

From what I could see in the comments, this was a massive student demonstration against Chaves' so-called "constitutional reform". I am not very up to date in Venezuelan politics, but I think this reform is the one that would give him even more absolut powers and let him get re-elected forever... 

The great majority of the commenters were congratulating the students for having the guts to stand up against the dictator. Some mentioned that it is very ironic how the chavistas' demonstrations are all openly supported by the government and the police, while the pro-democracy protests are always met with brutality and suppression of free speech on the hands of the regime's security apparatus.  

I would not translate most of the comments, though, because they are basically very nasty slurs of a very graphic sexual nature slung between the few chavistas agitators infiltrated in that forum and the rest of the people - something very common among Latinos (I can say that because I am classified as one by most people...).  

There was one phrase though that caught my attention... MALDITOS CHAVISTAS IRANIES

or, "Damn Iranian Chavistas!" in English... It shows how the people in Venezuela are not only aware of the infamous alliance between Chavez and Ahmadinejad, but are also fed up with it.

UPDATE: Cinnamon Stillwell: Hugo Chavez seems determined to disallow anyone to interfere with his naked grab for power by "reforming" the constitution of Venezuela.  Does this look like a functioning democracy to you?

Syria Fesses Up to NUKES

 Nuclear Proliferation among the worst of players. I wonder if this is enough confirmation for the IAEA. Nah.

Syrian Confirms Israel Destroyed Nuclear Facility INN

(IsraelNN.com) A Syrian official has now admitted that the Israeli operation on September 6 destroyed a nuclear facility.

A Syrian representative said Tuesday at the United Nations that reports that the target was a nuclear device were accurate.  Syrian officials, including President Bashar Assad had previously claimed that Israel attacked an abandoned army base or an agricultural facility.

During a meeting of the UN Disarmament Commission, the Syrian representative acknowledged that the target had been the nuclear facility. Israeli Foreign Ministry officials were also attending. He accused Israel of aggression for targeting the facility.

NORK NUKE DUPE DEAL: SCAMMING PAYS

To read the latest missive from the State department on the deal struck with the North Koreans is to suspend your disbelief. America has become a joke. A terrible joke. We screw our friends and reward our enemies. That prison, that 30 million manned gulag parading as a nation has used every "negotiation" to buy time, blackmail the west, while building nuclear weapons, testing nuclear weapons and sharing that technology with the axis of evil.  State Department willful stupidity is stupefying in the face of the mortal threats we face. Who the frick are they working for? It's a disablement proposal not a disarment program. They can always reassemble. Hellooooo. What of their record of constant lying?

The reason we have no other options, the reason we have no leverage - is because we turned a blind eye to their lies in the past. There was no punishment for all the past deceptions, only continual reward.

The NORKs have repeatedly lied and bought time, why would it be different now? Scroll the State department doc and just look at what we are giving this despot in return for violation after violation (we are talking NUKEs here, NUKE violations.) REWARDING ENEMIES FOR SPITTING IN OUR FACE and flouting every tenet of basic human decency. This rounds perks are astounding. Removing  the North Korean designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. Further,  the NORKS do not even have the facilities to store some of the extortion goodies, so what are going to do? Build the facilities for them. You just can't make this stuff up.

John Bolton said this last week here," I don’t think North Korea is ever going to voluntarily give up its nuclear weapons. I don’t think you can chat Kim Jong Il out of what he sees as his trump card against Japan, the United States, South Korea, and others. So, in a sense, the entire six-party talks are a way of subsidizing Kim Jong Il with tangible economic and political benefits, relegitimizing him after his ballistic missile and nuclear weapons test of last year, and propping up a regime whose two main objectives are staying in power and keeping its nuclear weapons. So from that point of view, I don’t think the six-party talks can solve the North Korean nuclear problem. I think they’re perpetuating it.

FP: So could you not imagine a scenario wherein Kim Jong Il knows he’s better off without nuclear weapons than with them?

JB: I don’t think he can imagine such a scenario. He has repeatedly promised to give up nuclear weapons, or the regime has [via] the North-South Joint Denuclearization Declaration and the Agreed Framework. There have been any number of statements during the course of the six-party talks, not just the February 13 [2007] agreement or the September 2005 agreement, but earlier during the first Bush term. The difference is that in February of this year, Kim Jong Il was feeling the effects of the credit squeeze because of [the Banco Delta Asia issue] and keeping the North Koreans out of international financial markets. I think he was feeling the squeeze and the isolation as a consequence of his October nuclear test, and he needed to get himself out of the corner he had painted himself into. Once he’s out of that corner, I think he’ll simply revert to past practices.

Six Parties October 3, 2007 Agreement on "Second-Phase Actions for the Implementation of the Joint Statement

* On October 3, 2007, the Six Parties – the United States, China Japan, Russia, the DPRK, and the ROK – agreed on “Second-Phase Actions for Implementation of the Joint Statement.”
* The United States welcomes the October 3 agreement, which outlines a roadmap for a declaration of the DPRK’s nuclear programs and disablement of its core nuclear facilities at Yongbyon by the end of the year.

Yeah right like they did the zillions of other times they promised. Schmucks we are!

* These Second-Phase actions will effectively end the DPRK’s production  of plutonium – a major step towards the goal of achieving the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
* We intend to work closely with the other parties to implement Second-Phase actions as expeditiously and effectively as possible.

Jerking off - all together now!

Under the terms of the October 3 agreement:

+ The DPRK agreed to provide a complete and correct declaration of all its nuclear programs – including clarification regarding the uranium issue – by the end of the year

+ The DPRK agreed to disable all existing nuclear facilities subject to;
the September 2005 Joint Statement and February 13 Agreement. As a start, the core nuclear facilities at Yongbyon – 5-MW(e) nuclear reactor, reprocessing plant (Radiochemical Laboratory), and fuel rod; fabrication facility – are to be disabled by the end of the year.+ The DPRK committed not to transfer nuclear materials, technology, or know-how.

Is Kim Jung Very Ill still claiming the NORK nukes in Syria weren't theirs? If they lie about their nuclear proliferation, they can commit not to transfer right?

+ The United States reaffirmed its intent to fulfill its commitments
regarding the removal of the designation of the DPRK as a state sponsor of terrorism and the termination of the application of the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA) with respect to the DPRK.

They have been transfering nuclear technology to terror states (Syria, Iran) and you are removing them from the terror list? Holy shia!

+ U.S. action related to the terrorism designation and TWEA application will depend on the DPRK’s fulfillment of its Second-Phase commitments on providing a declaration and disabling its nuclear facilities.

Schmucks! They have lied and deceived time and time again - every time. Why is this time different. I can't believe this agreement.

+ The DPRK and Japan agreed to make “sincere efforts” to normalize their relations.

Japan is not the problem.

+ The other parties reaffirmed their commitment to providing the DPRK
with economic, energy, and humanitarian assistance up to the equivalent of one million tons of heavy fuel oil (HFO), inclusive of the 100,000 metric tons that has already been delivered.

We are rewarding these nuclear proliferators with 100,000 metric tons of heavy fuel oil? They don't even have the facilities to house such an enormous amount of heavy fuel so we, and our "partners," are going to BUILD THEM.

+ The Six Parties remain committed to holding a ministerial level meeting
in the near future.

* · The October 3 agreement builds on the February 13 agreement on  Initial Actions for the Implementation of the Joint Statement, pursuant to which the DPRK in July shut down and sealed the Yongbyon nuclear facility and invited back the IAEA to verify and monitor these  activities.
Declaration
* The declaration will include all nuclear facilities, materials, and

* The DPRK also agreed to address concerns related to any uranium enrichment

Disablement
* Specific disablement actions will be based on the findings of the U.S.-China-Russia experts who visited the DPRK September 11-15 to survey the facilities at Yongbyon
* The goal of these actions is to ensure that the DPRK would have to expend  significant time and effort to reconstitute its ability to produce weapons-grade plutonium.
* At the request of the Six Parties, the United States has agreed to lead disablement activities and provide the initial funding for those

* As a first step, U.S. experts will lead another delegation to Yongbyon the week of October 8 to prepare to develop operational plans for disablement.
* A team of U.S. experts is expected to be back on the ground shortly  thereafter to begin disabling the core facilities at Yongbyon, with the  goal of completing disablement action by the end of the year, as agreed in the October 3 agreement
* We anticipate that further disablement of other nuclear facilities at Yongbyon and elsewhere may extend beyond December 31, 2007.

Disable? DISARM - either way they are laughing out loud.

U.S.-DPRK Relations: Terrorism/TWEA
* The criteria for removing a country’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism and lifting the application of the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA) are set forth in U.S. law.
*U.S. action related to the terrorism designation and TWEA application will depend on the DPRK’s fulfillment of its commitments on providing a  declaration and disabling its nuclear facilities.
2007/843

These guys are going to need a vat of vasoline with all that masturbation going on. The Kim Jung Very Il and his Nork Nukeboys are laughing all the way to the bank.

UPDATE: Oppressed by Islam

Syria's Nukes: Whoops... there it is

It was nuclear. Bad dah bing, bah dah boom.

Israelis seized nuclear material in Syrian raid Times Online hat tip Jerry

Also from Sarah Baxter: Snatched: Israeli commandos ‘nuclear’ raid | Israelis 'blew apart Syrian nuclear cache' | Secret US air force team to perfect plan for Iran strike | Alan Greenspan: "Blair was clearly an aide to Brown"

Israeli commandos seized nuclear material of North Korean origin during a daring raid on a secret military site in Syria before Israel bombed it this month, according to informed sources in Washington and Jerusalem.

The attack was launched with American approval on September 6 after Washington was shown evidence the material was nuclear related, the well-placed sources say.

They confirmed that samples taken from Syria for testing had been identified as North Korean. This raised fears that Syria might have joined North Korea and Iran in seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. Go, read it all.

More evidence of North Korean Syrian connection  hat tip Larwyn

Related: Atlas Shrugs: The Brain: Bolton on Syrian Nukes
Atlas Shrugs: Syria's Nukes 
Atlas Shrugs: LIGHTENING BOLTON BACKS PRE-EMPTION
Atlas Shrugs: Iran/Syria Chemical Weapons Accident
Atlas Shrugs: Israel Struck Syria Nuke Sites
Atlas Shrugs: BOLTON: NORK NUKES IN SYRIA
Atlas Shrugs: Syrian "Cement" = Nork Nukes
Atlas Shrugs: ISRAEL BLEW APART SYRIAN NUKEPILE
Atlas Shrugs: Deja Nuke
Atlas Shrugs: NUKE NEXUS: North Korea and Syria
AtlasShrugs: Bolton:NORK Nukes in Syria
Atlas Shrugs: srael Struck Syria Nuke Sites.
Atlas Shrugs:olton: Nuke NORK meeting "profound mistake"
Atlas Shrugs: North Korea Firing Missiles
Atlas Shrugs: The North Korea Climbdown

CHAVEZ TAKES OVER SCHOOLS

The implications are staggering. The terrible lessons of the twentieth century tossed out like yesterday's newspaper. As Sean Penn and the Hollyweird asshats suck up to barbarians and sanction their evil deeds, the despot crushes, crushes, their people, dissent, reformers etc. It's a bloody nightmare, and the leftards are fueling the funeral pyre.

First the televison takeover, now this. Chavez goes for the jugular.  Complete control of propaganda and disinformation dissemination.

Chavez seems to be taking lessons from Hamas. Indoctrinating the children to lies and myths.

Venezuela's Chavez Warns Private Schools Breitbart hat tip George

Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened on Monday to close or take over any private school that refuses to submit to the oversight of his socialist government as it develops a new curriculum and textbooks.

"Society cannot allow the private sector to do whatever it wants," said Chavez, speaking on the first day of classes.

Freaking frightening.

All schools, public and private, must admit state inspectors and submit to the government's new educational system, or be closed and nationalized, with the state taking responsibility for the education of their children, Chavez said.

A new curriculum will be ready by the end of this school year, and new textbooks are being developed to help educate "the new citizen," said Chavez's brother and education minister Adan Chavez, who joined him a televised ceremony at the opening of a public school in the eastern town of El Tigre.

The president's opponents accuse him of aiming to indoctrinate young Venezuelans with socialist ideology. But the education minister said the aim is to develop "critical thinking," not to impose a single way of thought.

 

Ahmadinejad: “This summer will see Muslim victories in the region and the defeat of our enemies!”

When war comes .................... Olmert will be (anti)leading Israel. Israel  Dark Days my dear friends. Dark indeed.

“This summer will see Muslim victories in the region and the defeat of our enemies!” – Ahmadinejad in Damascus
Debka file hat tip Jeff

The Iranian president trumpeted Iran’s intentions for the Middle East when he arrived in Damascus Thursday, July 19. DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources reveal that behind the braggadocio, his conversation with Iran’s closest ally, Syrian president Bashar Assad, was acrimonious. In fact, he warned Assad he had better stop signaling his willingness for peace talks with Israel because this behavior was hampering Iran’s plans for a war this summer.

Ahmadinejad reminded Assad that Tehran had spent almost a year on detailed preparations for a summer war and would not tolerate the Syrian ruler sabotaging this effort. Assad was reminded of his huge debt to the Islamic Republic. In the last few months alone, Iran put up hundreds of millions of dollars for Syria’s arms purchases from Russia; Syria gets its oil gratis and raw materials and finished goods at subsidized prices.

Assad replied that with all due respect and appreciation for his Iranian brother’s assistance, he is obliged to look after his country’s interests, while of course cherishing his friendship with Tehran. Ahmadinejad pointed out that the Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert’s condition for talks was the severance of Damascus’ ties with Tehran.

Far from pleasant too was the Iranian president’s conversation with Hizballah’s secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah, who drove to the Syrian capital from Lebanon in a heavily secured convoy. Nasrallah, who lives in fear of any Israel attack, rarely leaves his bunker hideout. Ahmadinejad asked Tehran’s protégé to try and understand that his government was financially squeezed by its preparations for war and was therefore unable at the moment to remit the one million dollars promised to repair the war damage suffered by South Lebanon last year.

Has Olmert's Israel joined the axis of evil? hat tip eretz

While the Bush Administration concurs with Israeli support of Fatah, lawmakers of the US Congress may yet define Israel as an official sponsor of a terrorist entity. The March 2002 US government designation of Fatah's Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades as a terrorist organization has not changed. Under US law, any government that aids and abets an organization defined as a terrorist entity will forfeit US foreign aid assistance, which must be approved by the US Congress.

In other words, the Israeli government, in a move to placate the US administration, may undermine its own base of support with lawmakers of the US Congress.

NORKS EXECUTING CELL PHONE USERS

The silence of the left is devastating. Freakin frightening. Kill cell phone users - somehow I am sure it's Bush's fault

'Executions of cell phone users up in N. Korea' J Post aht tip EJO

North Korea has increased its public executions against cell phone users and those who circulate outside information in the communist country, a South Korean government think tank said Thursday.

The phenomenon of executions of those who "circulate South Korean leaflets and sell videos and use cell phones are on the rise," the South's government-affiliated Korea Institute for National Unification think tank said in a white paper on the North's human rights conditions. No exact figures were given.

North Koreans are officially banned from communicating with the outside world but some of them listen to foreign news and use cell phones through Chinese communication networks, according to North Korean defectors in South Korea. The use of cell phones in North Korea is banned though some are smuggled into the North by Chinese who have links with South Koreans. Full article here.

UPDATE: CONDI WATCH: Hardwired for self delusion:

Rice hails 'positive signals' from NKorea on nuclear programme

BUSH: "Livng in the Eye of the Storm"

This is chilling. The left refuses to save the nation. But this is what we are fighting. The left will say Bush is making it up (!), but will kiss the ass of the jihad. Think about it. How can we take seriously traitorous underminers who will refuse to recognize the greatest threat to our nation's survival?  The Democrats and their accessory to national suicide, the jihad loving media,  have a lot to answer for.

CHILLING TERROR INTEL IN BUSH'S IRAQ WAR CRY New York Post

WASHINGTON - Saying that "we are living in the eye of a storm," President Bush warned yesterday of the stark consequences at home if the United States gives up in Iraq.

"If we fail in Iraq, the enemy will follow us home," he said as he ticked off a slew of foiled terror plots, including one that has just been declassified.

"Al Qaeda's leaders inside and outside of Iraq have not given up on their objective of attacking America again," Bush said in a commencement address to cadets at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn.

"The danger has not passed. Here in America, we are living in the eye of a storm. All around us, dangerous winds are swirling, and these winds could reach our shores at any moment."

Bush said that in January 2005, Osama bin Laden asked his top operative, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, to use Iraq as a staging ground for attacks within the United States.

Planned targets have included the New York Stock Exchange, reservoirs and U.S. military academies, such as the Coast Guard's, Bush said.

Bin Laden "believes that if al Qaeda can drive us out, they can establish Iraq as a new terrorist sanctuary," Bush said.

He also talked about how in 2003, intelligence officials uncovered and stopped an aviation plot led by an al Qaeda operative named Abu Bakr al-Azdi.

"Our intelligence community believes this plot was to be another East Coast aviation attack" rivaling 9/11 in death and destruction, Bush said.

Responding to Bush's speech, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid yesterday dismissed the argument for the Iraq war and slammed Bush because "under his watch, Coast Guard readiness has deteriorated greatly." With Post Wire Services

A Picture is Worth 1000 Pathetic Attempts at Appeasement

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (L) greets Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in Tehran March 6, 2007. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAN)

UK: GINORMOUS SUPER MOSQUE BLOCKED

Cooler and wiser minds seem to be prevailing in London. Having watched the imam's hate speech in what is considered to be the "moderate" mosques (see VIDEO: BRITISH MAINSTREAM MOSQUE), the very idea of such a ginormous mosque is plain suicidal. Hat tip True Infidel

Supermosque for 70,000 'will be blocked'

Controversial plans to build a "supermosque" on the doorstep of the London Olympics will be blocked by the Government.

Ruth Kelly's Whitehall department is expected to refuse planning permission for the London Markaz, which would be the biggest religious building in Britain with room for 70,000 worshippers.

Backers want the £300 million mosque, in east London, to serve as a reception centre for athletes and fans from Islamic countries during the 2012 games.

The group behind the plans is Tablighi Jamaat, a Muslim missionary sect whose charitable trust, Anjuman-e-Islahul Muslimeen, has owned the 18-acre site since 1996. Tablighi Jamaat was called "an ante-chamber for fundamentalism" by French security services. Two of the July 7 London suicide bombers are believed to have attended one of its mosques.

UPDATE: Sorry the links are dead dhimmitube must have taken them down. But here is here,  here, and here hat tip Kasper

And then check out what the left believes here.

 

IRAN & NORK: Deadly Bedfellows

They are marching ..........

North Korea Helping Iran with Nuclear Testing; Iran Increasing Activity at All Nuclear Facilities - Con Coughlin
North Korea is helping Iran to prepare an underground nuclear test. Under the terms of a new understanding between the two countries, the North Koreans have agreed to share all the data and information they received from their successful test last October with Teheran's nuclear scientists, and to assist Teheran's preparations to conduct its own - possibly by the end of this year.
    Senior Western military officials are deeply concerned that the North Koreans' technical superiority will allow the Iranians to accelerate development of their own nuclear weapon. "We have identified increased activity at all of Iran's nuclear facilities since the turn of the year," said a senior European defense official. (Telegraph-UK)
    See also Strange Bedfellows - But Dangerous Nonetheless - Editorial (Telegraph-UK)

This Holocaust Will be different

This must be read. By you and everyone you can send it to. hat tip Eric

THIS HOLOCAUST WILL BE DIFFERENT Benny Morris

The second holocaust will not be like the first. The Nazis, of course, industrialized mass murder. But still, the perpetrators had one-on-one contact with the victims. They may have dehumanized them over months and years of appalling debasement and in their minds, before the actual killing. But, still, they were in eye and ear contact, sometimes in tactile contact, with their victims.

The Germans, along with their non-German helpers, had to round up the men, women and children from their houses and drag and beat them through the streets and mow them down in nearby woods or push and pack them into cattle cars and transport them to the camps, where "Work makes free," separate the able-bodied from the completely useless and lure them into "shower" halls and pour in the gas and then take out, or oversee the extraction of, the bodies and prepare the "showers" for the next batch.

The second holocaust will be quite different. One bright morning, in five or 10 years, perhaps during a regional crisis, perhaps out of the blue, a day or a year or five years after Iran's acquisition of the Bomb, the mullahs in Qom will convene in secret session, under a portrait of the steely-eyed Ayatollah Khomeini, and give President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, by then in his second or third term, the go-ahead.

The orders will go out and the Shihab III and IV missiles will take off for Tel Aviv, Beersheba, Haifa and Jerusalem, and probably some military sites, including Israel's half dozen air and (reported) nuclear missile bases. Some of the Shihabs will be nuclear-tipped, perhaps even with multiple warheads. Others will be dupes, packed merely with biological or chemical agents, or old newspapers, to draw off or confuse Israel's anti-missile batteries and Home Front Command units.

Read it all here

Mahmoud's Anti-America Tour

Iran, Venezuela to finance opposition to U.S. CNN.com

Ahamdinejad is hitting all points Anti-America. Galvanizing the forces of evil on the march to World War IV.  Chavez, Castro, Ortega, Morales ............... what a pathetic cabal of "fiery" anti-American gargoyles.

Ahmadinejad Tours Central and South America to Strengthen Iranian-Lantin American Ties Al Jizz

Iran and Nicaragua said Sunday they will open embassies in each other's capitals as Iran's hard-line president courted leftist allies in Latin America in an effort to offset Washington's global influence.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was in Managua as part of a whirlwind series of meetings with Latin America's newly inaugurated leftist leaders, who are linked as much by their opposition to the United States as by their political tendencies.

Ahmadinejad visited fellow OPEC-member Venezuela on Saturday, pledging with President Hugo Chavez to spend billions of dollars financing projects in other countries.

Ahmadinejad was meeting with Nicaragua's newly inaugurated leftist President Daniel Ortega, whose first government faced a U.S.-backed guerrilla insurgency during the 1980s. Ortega's foreign minister, Samuel Santos, told reporters the opening of the embassies in Managua and Tehran was a step toward bringing the two nations closer. They previously had limited ties through Iran's embassy in Mexico City.

"I'm sure this won't be the last visit" by Ahmadinejad to Nicaragua, Santos said.

Ahmadinejad's tour comes as he seeks allies in the international debate over his country's nuclear program and its alleged meddling in Iraq. The Iranian leader has come under increasing criticism at home, with both conservatives and reformists alike openly saying his provocative remarks have increasingly isolated their country, which now faces sanctions for refusing to halt uranium enrichment.

On Monday, Ahmadinejad will attend the inauguration of Ecuador's new president, Rafael Correa, and meet with Bolivian President Evo Morales, both critics of the Bush administration and its policies in Latin America.

Venezuela and Iran, both oil-rich nations, had previously announced plans for a joint $2 billion fund to finance investments in their own countries, but Chavez and Ahmadinejad said Saturday that the money would also be used for international projects.

My new favorite euphemism: "international projects."

"It will permit us to underpin investments ... above all in those countries whose governments are making efforts to liberate themselves from the (U.S.) imperialist yoke," Chavez said.

Ha! That's what America needs more of. Imperialist yoke. Not enough yoke if you ask me.

Chavez said he spoke with Shannon on the sidelines of Ortega's inauguration earlier this week, saying, "We shook hands and I told him: 'I hope that everything improves.'" Chavez - a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro whom Washington sees as a destabilizing influence - has pledged billions of dollars to the region in foreign aid, bond buyouts and preferentially financed oil deals.

 

Ahmadinejad offers Nicaragua help against "common enemies" (Extra)

Meanwhile in the real world;

U.S. Links Five Iranians Detained in Iraq to Militants WaPO

BAGHDAD, Jan. 14 -- The U.S. military said today that the five Iranian nationals detained on Thursday are connected to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's al-Qods Force, an organization that is active in arming, training, and funding Middle East militant groups, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The organization is "attempting to destabilize the government of Iraq and attack Coalition forces," the U.S. military said in a statement.

AHMADINEJAD'S HARD LINE AND GENOCIDAL RHETORIC STIRS DOMESTIC BACKLASH

R WOOSLEY: NEXT STEPS IN THE IRAN CRISIS

On a lighter note, ha!

UPDATE: Fausta has more here