Chechen Mournful.
Superb video from Moscow on the attack by Black Widows martyrs launched by isolated cells of jihad called Jamaats. This attack is linked to many in the past. What is news is that the cell cannot be penetrated because it is not in a pyramid structure. Once the martyrs are switched on, they operate alone and at their own time. Black Widows are extremely sad stories, the widows or mothers or sisters of KIA Chechens from the war years and the underground years, who pin the photos of their lost loved ones to their lapels and go into battle with unblinking despair. Bottomlessly mournful. Significantly, it is the face of jihad in the Russian empire. The aim is to undermine Putin's credibility as an authoritarian who can deliver security to the business hub.
Putin.
The big boss builds his strength and popularity on certainty and violence toward disorder. The Black Widows undermine the message. Quote of the days from Moscow: Putin, "The terrorists will be destroyed." Hang 'em high Volodya is off again on another adventure or pursuit and mayhem. Who cannot love this guy? Note that Putin intimidates POTUS and the Obama NSC team of nudges and utopians. Putin is 'way too much force and unilateral ambition. The START treaty last week was a slack and wasted press op for POTUS, Clinton and Gates, changing nothing. Relations between Washington and Moscow are at a post-Cold War low. Reminds that relations between Washington and Jerusalem are at a low point since Suez crisis. Same for Berlin, Paris, Seoul. Theme? John Bolton did his senior thesis at Yale on the Suez Crisis (below). We laughed about how those days are going to pay off now. Ike and Ben-Gurion and Dulles and Eden. Laughter. Imagine POTUS sorties battle groups off Gaza and Israel?
Looks like a classic example of the dog turning on its master. (Note: I make no qualitative distinction between dog and master.) From these (cyber) pages we have learned that Russia encourages Tehran; that Tehran encourages terrorists. Will Russia now cooperate with America to defeat terrorism?
Answer: No. Putin does not see America as a credible partner in any serious area of endeavor. Putin has looked into Obama's eyes and saw nothing useful there - only immense pride and unearned arrogance. Putin will handle this on his own. He will be utterly ruthless. He can be expected to take full advantage of the crisis. He will make heads roll publicly to distract from his own failings.
Americans watching from the sidelines will not feel encouraged. They will despair at what they see as their own president's efforts to counter terrorism. FBI raids of Christian militia groups will fail to allay fears.
Since passage of the health care bill, there has been much talk in the media about right-wing violence. The NYT – party organ of our current administration - has suggested that the tsunami of public disapproval of the bill has nothing to do with the bill itself; that instead, it has become an excuse by white males to attack a sitting black president. We are now to believe that any criticism of Obama’s policies is the result of racism. This is a dangerous tact this administration is taking.
Obama was elected primarily to vanquish white guilt. It appears to have backfired. Obama’s election is about to give race baiters a field day. I propose we shut down all conservative websites, and silence conservative talk radio. Why, when disagreement alone is deemed sedition, hand them more nails with which to crucify us?
http://peterkoelliker.blogspot.com/
Recall how the Chatterati told us American Foreign affairs would be SOOOOOO much better after the Bush 43 administration. How much more we would be respected in the world after we got rid of Bush.
BHO's White House:
Infuriated Great Britain, sending back a bust of Sir Winston Churchill (Honorary American Citizen) that had been in the Oval Office for decades, the man most responsible for winning WWII, enemy of appeasers. UK parliament just declared the "special relationship" is dead. Cheezy DVDs (wrong region) show little thought was given to purchase a gift for PM Brown. Canceling a Press Conference with PM brown due to the "weather." States Relations with Ireland are the best (I cannot find the direct quote, but it must have been infuriating to UK and Israel)
Left Israeli PM to have Dinner, left the Israelis waiting (stewing) in the Roosevelt room. Serious, Serious breach of Protocol, BHO is not a gracious host.
Sending a DEPUTY chief of Protocol out to greet Canadian PM Harper at 1600 as he entered through a side entrance.
Making the Dali Lama use the *Service Entrance* past the Garbage bins! An insult to all Buddhists and people who believe in peace!
"Dissing" Norway during the Coronation at the Nobel Prize Ceremonies, skipping dinner with the Monarch of Norway.
Canceling a visits to Indonesia and Australia for HCR vote. POTUS does not vote and mentioned he would not sign a bill until 5 days had passed.
Disastrous State Dinner for India, hastily arranged due to refusal to visit after visiting several Muslim states. Menu full of typos, the Salahis, and others.
Russian "Reset" button fiasco
Misspelling President Lula's of Brazil's name (it is a very long Portuguese name)
Bowing to Monarchs and Tyrants is obscene. 250 years of American exceptionalism down the crapper. Americans bow to no-one!
I could go on, but the evidence is overwhelming: Obama treats our enemies better than our allies.
Wisdom.
add the Las Malvinas to the brits by SoS.
add the dis's of israel.
shame on us for permitting this.
Add: Honduras; and inexplicable bowing; and apologizing...
true that, pk.
to jb:
thanks for teaching us to spell "jamaats"
the theban sacred band invented a maneuver to pressure the flank of a shield wall.
wwI showed that when the ratio of force to space was high enough the shield wall had no flank.
liddell hart showed that sherman (and grant) understood that the key was the deep maneuver, the deep turning movement against the sine qua non of the opposition. the wehrmacht proved the point in 1940.
the anti-jihad is not a matter of killing perps, nor of blocking tactics (jamaats). what is the root? not the symptoms, the root?
slaughter sows dragons teeth. slaughter helps villains. beslan helped putin. subway bombs help putin. nietzsche spoke for dictators. that which does not destroy me makes me stronger.
the opposition is smart. it learns. it evolves. it jamaats. find the root and choke it.
i want to make a new para-military force. a team of 10 of the best farsi/dari joke writers. their mission is to make viral ridicule of the mad men of tehran. a joke a day.
i want to make a new para-military force. a team of 10 of the best arabic joke writers. their mission is to make viral ridicule of the mad men of al qaeda, hamas, hezbollah. a joke a day.
i want to make a new para-military force. a team of 10 of the best urdu/pashtu joke writers. their mission is to make viral ridicule of the mad men of al qaeda, afghan taliban, paki taliban, hakaanis, hekmatyaris. a joke a day.
i want to make a new para-military force. a team of 10 of the best mandarin joke writers. their mission is to make viral ridicule of the mad men of beijing. a joke a day.
democratic institutions are a deep turning movement but they can be corrupted. jokes are so much more insidious. be merciless in your ridicule. shame the demons. send them back to ravana in lanka.
CC, I like your thinking. The punch-line is mightier than the sword.
40 men writing jokes, a Soros-like billionaire could fund that.
The Israelis have done this previously, ( the "no women" request in the Control tower when the Saudi Royal plane arrived)
Jokes are easily transmitted via them Internets. Firewalls and filters are looking for porn and Incendiary remarks, a simple joke "let them eat cake" will always get through. The best jokes don't need to refer to the dictators, it is inferred.
I would add a teams in Spanish for Cuba and Venezuela and Korean for the the Dear Leader.
The jokesters would need to live anonymously, they would become immediate targets. Comedians need to test their material, the ethnic communities in NYC LA and SFO are a safe spot to test humor warfare.
Conservative commentators, Rush, Coulter, Palin, are at their best when they use humor. Liberals used to be very effective at humor, they now let screeching ladies in pink shirts set the agenda.
exactly.
and all for a price less than a typical predator swarm.
and the only collateral damage punctured vanity.
and like a nuclear chain reaction, a point comes when one neutron in makes 2 come out and spread the effect.
and the first target is the human firewall agents, things they would find funny and sympathetic, things they would giggle at and spread themselves.
i think it could work and it would do no harm.
of course they would retaliate. somewhere deep in a bunker just outside mashhad perhaps a brainstorming session is underway even now trying to find a way to ridicule potus ... naaaaaw.