The Covert Intelligence War Against Iran/ What would Ron Paul do?

STRATFOR   "There has been a lot of talk in the press lately about a “cold war” being waged by the United States, Israel and other U.S. allies against Iran. Such a struggle is certainly taking place, but in order to place recent developments in perspective, it is important to recognize that the covert intelligence war against Iran (and the Iranian response to this war) is clearly not a new phenomenon."
....
"The United States is currently in the process of completing the withdrawal of its combat forces from Iraq. With the destruction of the Iraqi military in 2003, the U.S. military became the only force able to counter Iranian conventional military strength in the Persian Gulf region. Because of this, the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq will create a power vacuum that the Iranians are eager to exploit. The potential for Iran to control a sphere of influence from western Afghanistan to the Mediterranean is a prospect that not only frightens regional players such as Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey but also raises serious concerns in the United States."
The Covert Intelligence War Against Iran is republished with permission of STRATFOR.

RQ-170 Sentinel drone

U.S. Considered Sending Commandos to Get Drone Downed in Iran   "American officials considered conducting a covert mission inside Iran to retrieve or destroy a stealth drone that crashed late last week -- but ultimately concluded such a secret operation was not worth the risk of provoking a more explosive clash with Tehran, a U.S. official said." ....
"No one warmed up to the option of recovering it or destroying it because of the potential it could become a larger incident," the U.S. official said. If an assault team entered the country to recover or destroy the drone, the official said, the U.S. "could be accused of an act of war" by the Iranian government.

We wouldn't want to harm our relationship with Iran or cause them to want to kill Americans.
Sounds like the Ron Paul foreign policy, which is amazingly similar to that of the Amateur Hour currently in the White House:
Ron Paul: Befriend Iran
Ron Paul Ignores Iran's Treachery;  "So Paul not only has shown that he has no understanding of the murderous radicals who rule Iran but has a dangerous lapse of memory. President Obama at first tried to do exactly what Paul argues now should be done -- and failed miserably."....
"Obama not only legitimized the brutal regime in Iran but he also then turned his back on the Iranian people, who had taken to the streets by the millions after the fraudulent elections of 2009, demanding an end to the thugocracy."  But I digress...

Back to that lost drone: US's military restraint on missing spy drone bolsters Israel's Iran hawks
"The Obama administration's decision after internal debate not to send US commando or air units into Iran to retrieve or destroy the secret RQ-170 stealth drone which fell into Iranian hands has strengthened the hands of the Israeli faction which argues the case for striking Iran's nuclear installations without waiting for the Americans to make their move."  from DEBKAfile as are the posts immediately following: 

Iran's Guards on war footing – London. Spy drone capture is US, Israel setback  "Our sources add that possession of the drone is more than just a major intelligence coup for Tehran; it has acquired an important military edge before any overt military operation has been launched. Western and Israeli war planners now have cause to fear that Iran has penetrated the heart of their most secret intelligence and electronic technological hardware for striking its nuclear infrastructure. If Tehran is capable of reaching out and guiding an American stealth drone into landing from a distance, it may also be able to control the systems of other aircraft, manned or unmanned."  Oh boy; now we really, really better be nice to the Iranians.

How Iran's Nuclear Power Play Can Change Global Politics | World | AlterNet
From...from..Iranians for Ron Paul?  Bear in mind that this article was posted in July 2009 and it is the most recent one in this blog. Why they have stopped publishing for Ron Paul and do they have an opinion on Paul's recently stated Kumbaya Iran policy?

Newt Presents a Fresh New Virtual Face

donkeyhotey

Ann Coulter  "Soon, Gingrich was writing a foreword to a Toffler book -- the same one on the Republicans' reading list –- and spending Christmas with the pro-choice, anti-school prayer, Christian Coalition-hating Tofflers. Yes, there's nothing like having an old-fashioned Christmas with a doddering couple who hate prayer and Christians, love abortion and are afraid of their microwave.

"(Incidentally, this was around the same time the purportedly pro-abortion Mitt Romney, as a Mormon elder, was pressuring a woman who wanted to abort her child to continue the pregnancy and give up the baby for adoption -- something he was attacked for in Teddy Kennedy campaign ads a few years later.) "

Hillary Campaign Conspicuously Emerges

Washington Whispers   "In an E-mail, the Hillary Clinton for President campaign revived speculation that she is still interested in the Oval Office despite new denials that President Obama is considering replacing Vice President Joe Biden with his secretary of state. ..."The E-mail comes as a new Washington Whispers poll finds that Clinton is the runaway favorite of those seeking a third party candidate. In our poll, 39 percent picked Clinton as their choice to head a third party. Mike Huckabee is next at 20 percent and Donald Trump dead last at 12 percent."

A Democrat third party sounds great, but only Republicans are scatter-brained enough to have those. Do you think Hillary would be a factor without Ross Perot?

Obama as the other Roosevelt

http://terrellaftermath.com/

Obama's class warfare speech



Obama at Osawatomie

The Last Incarnation of Barack Obama  "If there was any doubt where President Barack Obama’s ideological heart lies, yesterday he let it be known loud and clear in a wide-ranging speech in Osawatomie, Kansas. President Obama is at his core a dyed-in-the-wool progressive who sees the federal government as the answer to all of America’s problems. And he is charging full steam ahead on this far-left course toward Election Day 2012, despite the total failure of his big-government policies and an American people who have flatly rejected the message he is trying to sell.

"True to form, President Obama yesterday did what he does best: He delivered a flowery speech and flexed his rhetorical muscles. It’s a talent that won him the presidency, but unfortunately it hasn’t won the future for the American people. And that’s because the President’s underlying philosophy is terribly flawed."

'Pay no attention to that man behind the teleprompter'  "President Obama's class-warfare strategy is designed to divide Americans while keeping him hidden behind the teleprompter long enough to impose his socialist agenda. "

Warning Signs

TPM  "Obama has taken a lot of heat from the left over the years for failing to articulate an aggressive message against Republicans that directly targets their overarching small government message. Tuesday’s speech, however, went straight at Republicans core philosophy, moving Obama’s rhetoric much closer to their goal right as his re-election campaign heats up."  Obama Swings Left, Signals Occupy Movement: I’m With You

usnews.com

Obama's speech ... Fair Fair Fair  "The problem here is that the current occupant of the White House knows nothing about how to restore or promote economic growth. His goal is to push America toward a European-style socialist welfare state. Economic growth comes from a strong and vibrant free market economy. No other economic model in the history of the world has brought more people out of poverty than has capitalism. Obama simply does not like capitalism. He despises it. Hence his focus on balance and fairness."

Obama: demagogue  "And then we have this complete fallacy of millionaires paying at lower tax rates than millions in the middle-class.  You know the trickery Obama is pulling on you here.  He is referring to millionaires paying capital gains taxes versus middle class Americans who pay income taxes.  When you dig deep into the numbers, you will realize that the effective tax burden on millionaires is, on average, much higher than middle class tax payers."

And after many weeks of rolling out bite-sized initiatives, Obama’s grander ambitions were on full display.   "Are we on the verge of witnessing one of the greatest political events of modern times: the admission by Democrats that they are, in fact, socialists? " Comment

Obama Promises to Save the Middle Class by Enslaving It     "Nothing says middle-class triumph like more regulation, unionism, cronyism and endless spending."

Surely, that won't do. If not, what are you talking about exactly, Mr. President? Give us the big plan. What program have you devised that offers middle-class Americans more opportunity, not just more dependency? How have you expanded the fortunes of the bitter, occasionally clingy bourgeois in the past three years—by adding $4 trillion to their offspring's tab?

William A. Jacobson in Legal Insurrection:  Obama grows shorter   "I have posted numerous times before about Obama’s penchant for creating false choices in his speeches, invariably some non-existent supposedly conservative position versus his position. This enables Obama to knock down the conservative straw man * and make his own position seem reasonable by contrast. He’s a classic shorter.
"It’s a cheap rhetorical trick, but he can’t seem to shake the habit."
*The Straw Man fallacy is committed when a person simply ignores a person's actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented version of that position.

http://zappatrust.deviantart.com/gallery/

Big Statism in Osawatomie  "Today, too much power is concentrated in Washington and on Wall Street, and the two concentrations reinforce one another. Wall Street helps fund the campaigns of politicians in both parties, and in exchange the politicians give Wall Street regulation that insulates the biggest banks from competition by subsidizing their failures. The remedy here, too, is not more state control, but more competition and more free, unsubsidized enterprise."

Pearl Harbor attack, 70 years ago, still fresh in the memories of old sailors

San Jose Mercury News  "The survivors of those doomed ships -- many from the Bay Area -- are mostly hard of hearing now, but the buzz and the boom of the bombs from that day still ring in the ears of John Tait of Concord, Ed Silveira of Hayward and Dempson Arellano of Antioch. Gordon Van Hauser, who lived in San Carlos until his death in 2008, often spoke of his service not in terms of fighting for his own life, but for the life of his country."

Survivors of Axis nations have their own, harrowing stories and tales of Allied attacks. We will leave those to PBS,academia, Alan Alda type celebrities and left-wing history writers -there are far more than enough of them and we don't need more-to bring out today. 

Here, we will focus only on stories of America and Americans' reactions to the threat on this nation. 

Pearl Harbor Day 2011: three enduring mysteries    "On Pearl Harbor Day, historians continue to debate the mysteries of Pearl Harbor. The Japanese attack created some of the great unanswered questions of military history."  Also here.

Aboard the USS Arizona   "Marine Corporal E.C. Nightingale was aboard the Arizona that fateful Sunday morning:"

Has Obama Set the Stage for Pearl Harbor All Over Again?  "Federal stimulus programs have piled up debt but haven’t brought back jobs for most Americans. Critics charge that the stimulus funds have mostly gone to friends of the President. At the same time, the defense budget has been cut to the bone, and America’s troops have neither the weapons nor the personnel to carry out their assignments.

"Sound familiar? Actually, we are describing the U.S. on Dec. 7, 1941—the day Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and dragged the U.S. into World War II. What can we learn from the Pearl Harbor disaster?"


How God caught up with the man who led Japan's surprise attack.  "America's latest blockbuster, Pearl Harbor, has already been blamed for dwelling on a shallow love triangle, ignoring the sacrifices of Japanese Americans, downplaying the Japanese empire's aggression, and generally Disney-fying the "date which will live in infamy." No surprises there; as director Michael Bay told Reuters, "It's not a history lesson." But it's far too easy to shoot holes in Hollywood history. Instead, I'm going to fault the movie for missing a poignant and inspiring Christian story: the saga of Mitsuo Fuchida."

From Pearl Harbor to Calvary  by Mitsuo Fuchida. 

In the ensuing weeks, I read this book eagerly. I came to the climactic drama -- the Crucifixion. I read in Luke 23:34 the prayer of Jesus Christ at His death: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." I was impressed that I was certainly one of those for whom He had prayed. The many men I had killed had been slaughtered in the name of patriotism, for I did not understand the love which Christ wishes to implant within every heart.

The story of the man who introduced Fuchida to Jesus Christ: "During the next forty long months in confinement, DeShazer was cruelly treated. He recalls that his violent hatred for the maltreating Japanese guards almost drove him insane at one point. But after twenty-five months there in Nanking, China, the U.S. prisoners were given a Bible to read. DeShazer, not being an officer, had to let the others use it first. Finally, it came his turn -- for three weeks. There in the Japanese P.O.W. camp, he read and read and eventually came to understand that the book was more than an historical classic. Its message became relevant to him right there in his cell."

For you Christmas shoppers: Dave Barry’s Gift Guide

Miami Herald  Unique presents for 2011 include a toad purse, a wearable wine ‘rack’ and a stocking full of knives
"Here in America, the most popular [Christmas] tradition, observed by millions, is to celebrate the birth of Jesus by going to a Walmart at 4 a.m. on the day after Thanksgiving and getting into fistfights over steeply discounted TV sets. ....
"That is why we are able to offer you our Holiday Gift Guide Pledge of Guaranteed Quality Assurance Warranty, as follows: If you purchase one of these items, and you are not completely satisfied with it, simply give it to somebody else, and maybe that person will be completely satisfied with it. Although quite frankly, we would be surprised.
"But enough with the legal disclaimers. Let’s get to the items that "made the cut" for this year’s Gift Guide"...

Each item listed below has its own link in this site:

Wine Rack

Candwich — Sandwich in a Can (pictured at right)
Dear Leader Tongue Scraper*
Wrap-a-Nap
Morphsuit
Toad Purse
The 'Phubby' Wrist Phone Cubby
Game On Glove
Christmas Stocking Full of Knives
Cow and Horse Droppings
Girlfriend Pillow
Martha Stewart Animated Snake Wreath

Right: the Candwich

*This is the first tongue scraper we are aware of that harnesses the glamour and “star power” of Kim Jong-Il, the supreme ruler of North Korea, often called “Dear Leader” by North Koreans in recognition of the fact that any time he wants, he can have them executed.
"The Dear Leader Tongue Scraper comes packaged on a cardboard display card featuring an image of a sprightly and smiling Kim Jong-Il running on a beach, holding a tongue scraper in his hand and being pursued by three young women in bathing suits, their arms open wide and their faces expressing the message: “We want you carnally, Dear Leader, because your tongue is devoid of crud!”"

Private RNC conference call: Let’s stay away from personal attacks on Obama next year

On private call, Republicans say attacking Obama personally is too dangerous: Yahoo News

Hot Air  "I do think they’re right, though, about people liking or pitying O more than you’d expect given the relentless dreariness of his term. That’s what I was getting at last week when I wrote about his surprisingly high job approval numbers, and why I’ve written several times about how O’s perceived culpability for the protracted awfulness of the economy might actually shrink the more protracted that awfulness is. As bad as he’s been, he can always argue that he was handed a terrible hand; even if voters decide he’s too risky to bet on again, they’re bound to wonder if he’s being blamed for something no one realistically could have fixed in four years. There’ll be some electoral sympathy for him. The RNC’s simply trying to figure out how to keep it as dormant as possible."

Well, that strategy worked so well for John McCain in 2008, didn't it?

October 10, 2008: McCain Says No Need To Fear Obama, Calls On Supporters To Be "Respectful"
"After taking criticism for standing by for days while his supporters grew increasingly unhinged and hysterical, John McCain did the right thing today, telling his supporters that there's no need to be "scared" of a president Obama and calling on them to be "respectful" towards him.
"We have two videos for you from the same event. Here's vid of McCain saying that you needn't fear Obama: "He is a decent person, and a person that you do not have be scared as President of the United States"..."

Obama's speech; first impressions

National Review Online:
Big Statism in Osawatomie  ..."The “America that Roosevelt dreamed of,” Mencken wrote"

was always a sort of swollen Prussia, truculent without and regimented within. . . . He didn’t believe in democracy; he believed simply in government. His remedy for all the great pangs and longings of existence was not a dispersion of authority, but a hard concentration of authority. He was not in favor of unlimited experiment; he was in favor of rigid control from above, a despotism of inspired prophets and policemen. He was not for democracy as his followers understood democracy, and as it actually is and must be; he was for paternalism of the true Bismarckian pattern, almost of the Napoleonic or Ludendorffian pattern—a paternalism concerning itself with all things, from the regulation of coal-mining and meat-packing to the regulation of spelling and marital rights.

And we put his face on Mt Rushmore.

Drudge:
Obama sees 'make or break' time for middle class  "Obama's speech delved into the theme of inequality of income and opportunity, which the White House sees as a major force in current politics, but it was short on new ideas for pulling the country out of its economic doldrums."
Obama Now Blames The Internet For Job Losses

PJ Media:
Obama’s Kansas Speech: Middle Class Faces ‘Make or Break’ Moment  "President Obama delivered a highly partisan and highly dishonest speech in Osawatomie, KS, today. Depicting Republicans as hoping to set up one set of rules for the rich and another for everyone else, the president declared that the America in which “you can make it if you try” is gone, replaced by an America in which Republicans want “everyone to fend for themselves.” "

Hot Air:

Obama’s BIG small-minded class warfare speech in Kansas doesn’t disappoint  "Needless to say, this 55-minute meandering parade-float of an address was O’s early attempt to frame the narrative of the election. WaPo’s dead right that the key parts echo that Elizabeth Warren video that went viral on the left for its communitarian pitch on tax hikes:"

Weasel Zippers:

Dem Sen. Chuck Schumer on Obama’s Class Warfare Speech In Kansas: “The President Just Coined An Economic Version Of An Obama Doctrine”…

The Smartest President In The History of The World Confuses Texas And Kansas

A Tale Of Two Economies In The Headlines

Get the feeling Obama's friends off camera are
teasing him about standing next to Bush?

The Right Sphere   "Take a look at these headlines:"

The President’s Jobless Recovery
Frustrated Job Seekers Cause Jobless Rate To Drop
Economy Adds Few New Jobs
Low Jobless Rate Reflects Lost Hope
US Jobless Rate Drops But For Wrong Reasons

"Recent headlines regarding the drop in the unemployment rate from 9% to 8.6% right? Wrong.

"Those are headlines from January 2004, when the jobless rate dropped to 5.7% and when President Bush was just starting a re-election campaign.
"Here are headlines from Friday’s job numbers:"

Unemployment Rate Drops To 8.6% Raising Hopes
Jobless Rate Drop Could Boost Obama
Obama Gets Economic Indicator He Can Crow About
Good News On Job Front For Obama
Jobless Rate Lowest In 2.5 Years

"See the difference?"...

 Liberal bias in the Obamamedia? No way!  "...But look at the headlines for 2011! We have phrases like “Raising Hopes,” “Crow About,” “Good News,” and “Boost Obama.” The unemployment rate drops to 5.7% under Bush and we see the words “Lost Hope”, “Frustrated Job Seekers” and “Jobless Recovery.” “But,” you say, “310,000 people left the workforce when those Bush numbers were reported.” Well, you’re right. But do you also know that the very same government stats that brought us the 8.6% unemployment rate that is “Raising Hopes” showed that 315,000 people left the workforce?
"Come on, folks. Wake up and smell the bias! "

•A 5.7% unemployment rate with 300,000 people leaving the workplace equals “Lost Hope.”
•An 8.6% unemployment rate with 315,000 people leaving the workplace equals “Raising Hopes.”

"I really don’t think I need to say anything more here. My job is done."  Neal Boortz

Obama, Democrats and Foreign Policy

Sen. Eugene McCarthy (D)

When Democrats Became Doves; With the GOP candidates eager to call Obama weak-willed on foreign policy, it's worth looking at how Democrats got stuck with this tag. "It became an opportunity to tar Democrats with the broad brush of weakness and fecklessness on national security (a recurrent GOP political attack since the "Who Lost China" debate of the 1950s). This week came word that the Obama administration is reluctant to apologize for a recent cross-border raid that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, for fear of being portrayed by Republican presidential contenders as soft."

Enforce Existing Laws Against Iran: Obama’s New Get-Tough Policy Is Weaker than Current Measures    "Yet a close analysis of Treasury’s action demonstrates that the new sanctions regime is far weaker than existing laws and falls short of the moves that members of Congress are demanding. What is needed is not new measures, but better implementation of existing statutes."

Belgium Embassy’s Transcript of Gutman Speech Doesn’t Match Delivered Remarks  "If the difference between the speech and the transcript is at all representative, it helps explain why Israeli reporters left the room insisting that Gutman made a distinction “between traditional anti-Semitism, which should be condemned, and Muslim hatred for Jews, which stems from the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.” "
On Second Thought, Gutman’s Comments Were Unfortunate   It sounds like at least the
[National Jewish Democratic Committee ] agrees that Gutman’s comments were problematic — but apparently not enough so to warrant a resignation.

Jonathan S. Tobin: Has Obama Destroyed the Alliance?   "But as bad as things seem right now, it should be remembered that no matter what Obama, Panetta, Clinton and their underlings may think about Israel, they are keenly aware a full break with Israel is not something they can get away with."



Obama Pushed Early Elections In Egypt Knowing That It Would Likely Lead to Islamist Victory
"After two days of largely peaceful voting marked by high turnouts, U.S. spokesmen termed Egypt’s first vote since Hosni Mubarak’s ouster a success. They focused on the openness of the parliamentary election and not on the Islamic hardliners who may end up the big winners — or what that might mean for U.S. policy or U.S. ally Israel."   Caroline Glick: An ally no more

Yeshiva World News: Gingrich Calls On Obama To Renounce Anti-Israe​l Remarks By Members Of His Administra​tion  "Gingrich notes: “Barack Obama must tell the American people today whether he condemns or condones the deeply wrong statements by his Secretary of Defense and Ambassador to Belgium. We have the right to know whether Secretary Panetta’s harsh criticism of Israel is merely his own personal opinion, or a reflection of the policy of his Commander in Chief." "

The Newt and Nancy Show

Gingrich: 'House Should Immediately Condemn' Pelosi If She Uses Ethics Panel Materials Against Me  (video)

"I think it tells you how capriciously political that committee was that she was on it. It tells you how tainted the outcome was that she was on it. And I think what she said to you today should explain a great deal about what happened in the ethics process when Nancy Pelosi was at the heart of it. And is now prepared to totally abuse the House process. “

...And the gloves come off   "This can only be a good thing for Newt and for the Republicans. Princess Pelosi has one of the lowest approval ratings in Washington, well below Dear Ruler. In fact, Pelosi is the most unpopular politician in Washington. The more this woman sticks her nose into things, the better it is for the American people. Pelosi --- she of the “we have to pass the bill so we can see what’s in it” comment on ObamaCare. She’s about as popular as a canker sore at a wedding. So keep it up, Nancy!

Pelosi: On second thought …  "What a difference a day makes — and a counterthreat. On Friday, Nancy Pelosi bragged to TPM’s Brian Beutler that she had access to “a thousand pages” of investigatory material on Newt Gingrich, implying that she would “talk” later in the campaign if Gingrich won the nomination.  However, after Gingrich blasted her a few hours later and called for an ethics probe into Pelosi’s threat, her office suddenly developed a case of amnesia about those thousand pages:"...

The dumbest thing he has ever done, he says.