Diplomacy

Insane USA Wants Iran To Disarm But Won't Guarantee We Won't Attack Anyway

Elaine Meinel Supkis

Our Mad Hatter/March Hairbrain Diplomacy rolls for defeat to defeat. The latest joke is our demand that Iran disarm while we refuse to commit ourselves to not attacking them like we attacked Iraq once we discovered they were helpless. In addition, we want Iran to help us disengage from Iraq. Gah.

By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL
The Associated Press
Sunday, May 21, 2006; 11:24 AM

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. has not offered a guarantee against attacking or undermining Iran's hard-line government in exchange for having Tehran curtail its nuclear program, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday.

"Iran is a troublemaker in the international system, a central banker of terrorism. Security assurances are not on the table," Rice said.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice enters the NBC studio to appear on 'Meet the Press,' Sunday, May 21, 2006, in Washington. Asked on "Meet the Press" if President Bush would leave office with nuclear arms being developed in Iran, Rice said: "We can't allow Iran to steadily turn toward nuclear weapons because it would be tremendously destabilizing in this already volatile region. We have a lot of tools at our disposal." (AP Photo/Chris Greenberg) (Chris Greenberg - AP)

The European Union said last week it would propose economic and political incentives to persuade Iran to halt its plans for enriching uranium. While Iranian officials contend they are only seeking nuclear power, the U.S. and other nations fear Iran is working toward developing weapons.

Rice, appearing on Sunday news shows, said European officials have not asked the U.S. for security guarantees as they discuss options for dealing with Iran. She did not say what the U.S. response would be if asked to provide such an assurance.

Like in Gunga Din, the religious leader in India says, "Am I mad? Was Napoleon mad?"

Napoleon may have been totally sane but I won't say that about Bush. He is madder than the Maddest Hatter or the marchest March Hare. The entire universe saw how we lunged for Iraq's throat the minute Mr. Blix, the WMD inspector for the UN, gave his report that there were zero WMD in Iraq. And there were none and that makes the invasion extremely illegal only we rule the earth so we can do whatever Gonzales says Bush can do which seems to be anything Hitler did in the past.

There is no way Iran dare disarm. There are a millions reasons why the USA must disarm. We will have no foreign policy so long as our mad hatters in the Pentagon imagine we have the power to dispense with mere talking and just go and kill whoever we want wherever we wish.

The military is useful only on certain circumstances. Otherwise, military organizations menace humanity. They are the means for controlling people against their wills. I control animals by penning them in, giving them food which causes them to want to be around me, being nice to them and then chatting with them as I put on halters or harnesses, etc. My animals would do bad things if I didn't control their environment but I don't tell Sparky what to do while menacing him with a gun!

I ran the ox team using a small stick with a short string attached. They did things because they wanted to please me and I gave them food, bedding and affection. If I scolded them, they literally cried. My dogs obey me because they want me to smile upon them. Even the cats cooperate most of the time, heh.

Using guns to get things is what thieves do. Our foreign policy vacillates between bribes and threats. This is stupid, expensive and is turning people against us more and more. Will we figure this out???

No. We can't.

Jerusalem Post: By ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq

Formation of a national unity government in Baghdad has cleared the way for proposed direct talks between the United States and Iran about the situation inside Iraq, US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said Sunday.

The topic of the talks from the US viewpoint is supposed to be an exchange of views on the situation in Iraq, rather than broader subjects like Iran's controversial nuclear program or Iran's renewed verbal hostility to Israel.

"We have a lot of issues to discuss with them with regard to our concerns and what we envision for Iraq, and be prepared to listen to their concerns," Khalilzad said.

High on the US agenda, he said, would be alleged transfer of weapons from Iran into Iraq.

Here we are, secretly infiltrating tribes within Iran, tranfering weapons across Iran's borders, making lots of loud noises about bombing Iran and we want them to help us in Iraq? What? This is another insane Mad Hittite moment for America.

6,000 years ago, when the first ambassadors exchanged views in the Middle East, they figured out the eternal dance of diplomacy vs war preparations. Everyone who reads even a smidgen of history knows this ancient dance.

For America to pretend we never heard the walz of Death is sheer stupidity. Pretending to be naive while ordering everyone around and boasting about how great we are is not just stupid and annoying, it is self destructive. The Brits tried this, too. They still try this. Acting like a drunken Borsch while mocking the French for being haughty is stupid.

The French refined the diplomacy dance. They still did illegal invasions and stupid wars, ask Napoleon! But at least they didn't pretend to be naive. That would have made them look stupid.

Stupid diplomats are useless unless one is a very cunning fox. If the leader is even stupider than his diplomats this merely means one has a tea party from hell. Namely, wars like WWI.

Here is what smart diplomats do:

BEIJING, May 22 (Xinhua) -- China and Germany inked 19 documents of bilateral cooperation here Monday, with Premier Wen Jiabao and visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel attending the signing ceremony.

These documents mainly cover such fields as railway technology, financial cooperation, high tech dialogue, telecommunications, energy, culture and sports. The two sides also signed a memorandum of understanding on the protection of intellectual property in textile industry.

China's rulers know that one doesn't hang from chandeliers nor sing the wrong anthems in the wrong language or snore loudly while other leaders answer questions or do the host of things Bush and Cheney do like when Bush got drunk in Chile and ran around with his zipper open, making monkey faces.

The red carpet rolls out, deals are signed, joint friendships toasted and all capped with a big fat feast at night as is proper. Since the first Pharoh, feasting ambassadors or other kings or leaders has been the number one tool of diplomacy. Alas, it is one America has lost.

Meanwhile, the USA tries to court China after gravely insulting China!

SINGAPORE, May 22 (Xinhua) -- The United States believes that it can work with China throughout the world, including in Southeast Asia, Christopher Hill, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, said here Monday.

Delivering a public lecture on the U.S. foreign policy in East Asia at Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Hill said that the United States' relationship with China could have an impact on its relations with all the other countries in the region.

China's dynamic economic development offers both challenges and opportunities to all Asian nations, as well as to the United States, Hill noted, adding that the U.S. welcomes the growth of China, which is peaceful and prosperous.

Hill said that the U.S. and China have found many areas, where their interests and policies converge, and more importantly, they are able to work candidly in those areas, where they have differences.

I can assure you, when the Chinese reporter wrote this, he was probably trying hard not to laugh. You can bet, Hu was getting grim joy out of each mealy-mouthed word our "foreign policy expert" was choking up. The dragon has its claws around our throat. They rattled their bag of FOREX dollars and glared at us.

So now, we pretend all is well. We just want to be friends. We need Chinese money, we need loans from them, we need them to soak up a tidalwave of inflation that is sweeping America. They know we are in a trap we built for ourselves because we wanted to have our cake and eat the yuan too.

Time to demand they fix their currency! Hahaha.

Culture of Life News Main Page

Rice And Russian Sec. of State, Lavrov, Fight Over Dinner

Elaine Meinel Supkis

Once again, Cinderella Condi, the shoe fetish lady, turns her basilisk eye upon foreign dignitaries and turns everything to stone. She had dinner with the head of Russia's foreign affairs and managed to mangle that nearly as badly as her lover boss, Bush, mangled luncheon with Hu.

Telegraph UK:

By Philip Sherwell in Washington
(Filed: 14/05/2006)

The American secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, traded barbs during bad-tempered talks at a foreign ministers' summit in New York on Iran's nuclear programme.

The exchanges provided a candid introduction to diplomacy for Margaret Beckett, the new Foreign Secretary, who attended the tetchy session at the end of her first full day in the job. The row, which further undermines hopes of a diplomatic solution to the Iran crisis, reflects deepening rifts between the United States and Russia.

Tension surfaced at a private meeting hosted by Ms Rice in the Waldorf Hotel for the Russian, British, French, German and Chinese foreign ministers, and spilt over into a much-delayed dinner.

As a good hostess, Condi had to make certain her international guests all got whoopee cushions and used teacups. I suspect our State Department uses "The Mad Hatter's Tea Party Manual" for their winning wine & dine sessions with foreign dignitaries.

One official in Washington said: "It was a pretty extraordinary session and everyone's been talking about it in private since. It was certainly quite an introduction to the rough and tumble of the new job for Mrs Beckett."

Mr Lavrov arrived at the Waldorf for the meeting seething about a speech on Kremlin policies delivered by Dick Cheney, the vice-president, the previous week in Lithuania. The Russian repeatedly complained about the comments and then threatened to veto a Security Council resolution, drafted by Britain and France and backed by the US, that would force Iran to abandon enrichment of uranium.

Although Moscow has made clear that it opposes any use of mandatory powers, the other ministers were left in no doubt that Mr Lavrov's approach reflected fury over the Cheney speech. As the mood worsened, Mr Lavrov accused the Americans of seeking to undermine efforts by Britain, France and Germany to solve the crisis.

The Russians should be happy Cheney shot off only his mouth. After America impeached Clinton because of his cock, the GOP decided going off half-cocked was OK---so long as one is a Republican. I knew the minute Cheney made his obnoxious speech, all hell would break loose. The Europeans merely roll their eyes when our dictator's Robinesque side kick goes forth to talk about democracy, tiny nations threatening giant military powers and of course, torturing prisoners---Russia and China don't like this one bit since we are just like them in general and in many particulars except for one: we are running deep in the red while the commie countries are doing just splendidly, building huge FOREX funds.

He singled out Nicholas Burns, the State Department's number three, for particular flak, complaining about his criticism of Russian involvement in Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant. Already frustrated, Ms Rice, a Russia expert, took exception to his remarks about Mr Burns and curtly told her guest: "This meeting isn't going anywhere." The gathering in Ms Rice's suite had been intended as a 30-minute chat before dinner but turned into a two-hour session. By the time the foreign ministers sat down to eat at 10.30pm, their sea bass was shrivelled and, to Mrs Beckett's surprise, the bickering continued in front of senior officials.

Bush did this to the Chinese. They wanted substantial meetings to hash out many items but Bush gave them only an hour and even that, he figetted and fussed and Cheney went to sleep, playing the role of the Dormouse at the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. Condi Rice is a fake.

She supposedly is a Russia expert but maybe she thought this meant "Russian export" and farmed out her homework when she was in college. All she mastered was "How to be a stupid Neocon." If she read my blog, she would have known the Russians were angry with us. Then she could have come up with some clever way of dealing with it like taking Cheney out on a hunt and sticking the dogs on him or stumbling while carrying her own gun, oopsie!

Or maybe scaring him with a Jack-in-the-box. But of course, she probably thinks he is right and the Russians should be ashamed of their secret prisons, torture, invading Afghanistan and budget deficits. Oops. Well, again, she can't see her own reflection in the mirror. Certainly, Cheney can't.

So we had a replay of the movie, "My Dinner With Andre."

Culture of Life News Main Page

The Militarization Of The CIA And State Department Is Destructive

Elaine Meinel Supkis

The worship of our military which has been heavily encouraged by all organs of propaganda are now reaping a bitter fruit. The military is taking over all imperial functions and they are trained to do one thing: start wars and win wars. Starting is easy as falling out of bed, winning is now nearly impossible thanks to the military running our entire diplomatic/foreign affairs.

USA Today:

By Katherine Shrader, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON — With Gen. Michael Hayden's expected nomination to run the CIA, a military officer would be in charge of every major spy agency.
The question is: Will the headstrong CIA salute as he presses ahead with reforms?

Government officials all the way up to President Bush have called this a time of transition at the CIA.

This article goes on about trivial matters concerning the military. Unfortunately, it is much easier to doff the uniform than to change one's philosophical thinking. And military men and women are trained to go to war. They no longer even consider defending America to be a priority, no, it is to play the World Go Game using bombs. They seriously think, if we plant our flags all over the place and build military bases far from home, we score points!

So the entire aim of their multifarious activities is to take over countries and force them via military methods of killing and torturing people, to obey our commands which are barked at the populations we occupy. This is why, instead of being received as heroes in say, South Korea, the people fight with desperate fury against the encroaching American bases. Our messed up military thinks we can "contain" China by putting up a zillion bases all around China.

This, of course, is classic provocation for war and China would be 100% justified in attacking us because we are menacing them with our out of control military.

The CIA was supposed to be civilian so they could give a different point of view and different information to President Eisenhower. He could then consider non-military options to various Gordinian Knots. Alexander the Great chopped the Gordian Knot with his sword and then tried to conquer the world and ended up dying in Babylon (HAHAHA...history is so funny!).

Anyway, the military slow motion coup taking over all spook functions, state department activities and local law enforcement means all we need now is a very powerful, charismatic man who can move the masses who will be scared because of the collapse of the currency and bankruptcy causing a world wide depression.....

This is all too annoying! Our Founding Fathers were leery about the military despite voting for General Washington and in later years, more than one general ended up wearing the purple toga. The Founding Fathers feared ancient Rome! They understood what happens next. This still didn't stop them from keeping slaves just like ancient Rome. People are hard to change.

All I know is, our present ham-fisted foreign affairs style is driving us straight into the gaping Maw of Hell called WWIII. Our military already dominates the domestic side of America to such a degree, they eat up half of our budget and are directly responsible for us going into the feared bankruptcy that will cause us to rush to some powerful, charismatic...Seig Heil. Victory will be ours.

Yup.

Culture of Life News Main Page

Why We Should Know More Than English

Elaine Meinel Supkis

The BBC wonders about the collapse of learning foreign languages in America and Britain. I examine why this is so and why our diplomatic gestures get more and more comical as well as futile. These things are directly connected.

BBC News:

As we were to discover during our three-day stay, the Belgians and the Dutch move effortlessly between Dutch (or Flemish as the Belgians would prefer), French and English. They are competent German-speakers, and not averse to trying their hand at Italian and Spanish. In the Low Countries you are greeted fearlessly, with cheerful attention and direct eye-contact. In whatever language you speak to them, they are pretty sure they will be able to understand and respond appropriately.

To my twenty-something-year-old British companions this felt truly European. They expressed delight, not only at the shared, effortless means of communication, but also at the extraordinary similarities in interests and outlook between themselves and the young Dutch and Belgian historians at the conference. They all shopped at cheap-and-cheerful clothing stores like Hennes and Zara; they spent their leisure time in the same pursuits, downloading music, going to the movies... and, it turned out, digging their allotments.

In the week leading up to Europe Day [9 May] this all sounds wonderfully optimistic. The founding charter of the European Union extolled the virtues of a multilingual community, of shared values and mutual respect among the member states. The new, ill-fated draft constitution, voted into oblivion last year, first by the French and then by the Dutch themselves, reaffirmed those commitments.

But while the rest of Europe embraces the variety of European languages, Britain seems bent on becoming determinedly monolingual. A recent survey for the European Commission revealed that two out of three Britons are unable to speak a language other than English. The number of students studying A-level French has dropped by two thirds over the past 10 years.

And here is what I wrote for the BBC comments section:

All world girdling empires impose their language on the world. During the entire Medieval period the greatest empire was the Catholic Church which used Latin to tie its far-flung bishoprics to Rome. Because the letter writers were universally priests, everything was in Latin.

With the Protestant revolution with Luther translating the Bible into German, nationalism overwhelmed Latin. But diplomats continued to use Latin while the French and the Spanish vied for world dominance.

The French won and everyone had to use that variation on Latin to talk to the point that when Napoleon invaded Russia, all the Russian upper classes MAIN language was French! They ditched that in a hurry and Russian nationalism made Russian the preferred language for the upper classes.

Once England ruled the Seven Seas and the Sun Never Set, all subject populations had to use the master language. Germany wanted to impose German on everyone, for example, even when England ruled the world, they lost ground in the sciences and anyone learning chemistry or physics, for example, had to learn German.

Just like if one wanted to understand science in 1500, one had to learn Greek!

Thanks to the great American empire, English is the language of science and diplomacy and we abuse both now which is a sign of imperial decay. Instead of refining the language of diplomacy, we coarsen it using primarily threats and bluster.

Meanwhile, China catches up and will surpass us and they are using their language as the primary language and soon all scientists will have to learn Chinese in order to participate in the scientific realm.

Also, a side note as someone who is multilingual and went to school in other countries (parents in the State Dept!)---the reason you need to know the language of a country is so you can understand what people are saying behind your back! Heh! You will be SHOCKED. I used to pretend to not understand, when I was young, while diplomats would try to insult my parents while smiliing. Then I would pipe up and translate for my mom.

Each of us seven kids learned a different language so we could do this.

I majored in German at the university. And gave up due to a pregnancy plus the fact that teaching German in America has collapsed nearly totally. For example, the State University system in NY State has pretty much eliminated all German studies but the simplest first and second year conversational German. The number of students studying languages aside from the heavy growth in Spanish and Hebrew studies has been dropping even as the need to expand grows. If our stupid President could speak any language (he pretends to speak Spanish---he certainly doesn't master English!) then our diplomacy wouldn't be in the toilet all the time.

The need to hear what people are saying is important. When Chinese officials lived with me in New Jersey as they tried to master English, they would do charming things like discuss me in Chinese right in my face only I could understand some key words. "So what if I am the White Bone Demon?" I would snort and they would hunch the shoulders and laugh. Hahahaha.

Now in this mountain there lives the White-bone Demon, a terror even among demons. Hearing that Xuanzhang has arrived with his disciples, she decides to go down the mountain and capture him. She is delighted to find Xuanzhang in meditation and is about to spring on him when golden rays shoot out from the circle and bar the way.

Unable to enter the magic circle, the demon changes into a coy young maiden and approaches the three with a basket of steamed buns in her hand. Greedy Pigsy smells the fragrant buns and races out of the circle to greet the girl. “I’m going over to the temple to offer sacrifices,” she says invitingly. Pigsy pulls Xuanzhang along to follow her.

Monkey returns, recognizes the demon and kills her with one blow of his staff. It is only the demon’s transformation, however, and the demon escapes in a wisp of cloud. Xuanzhang is horrified and accuses Monkey: “Look what you’ve done, you’ve committed a crime!”

The crafty demon now changes into a pious old woman. She screams at Pigsy that whoever killed her daughter must pay the death penalty. Xuanzhang, unable to tell man from monster, is deceived again.

Actually, Americans running our diplomacy are White Bone Demons. We go around, killing and screaming and making false accusations and then we try to seduce in crude manners, totally self centered and self preening.

Our latest diplomatic disaster is in Dafur. I knew from day one, fixing Dafur would be a pain in the rear we are not really interested in, it was all PR flack so we could distract the world over the fact that we are starving the Palestinians to death for daring to vote in a democratic election! As social services collapse there thanks to the USA/Israeli embargo, the Jewish community had to find some poor pathetic victims of Muslims to demonstrate they really love everyone and want to save the world.

Thus the heaving and sighing over Dafur. Now, after great diplomatic frou frou going to and fro, we cobbled together a "peace" that instantly fell to pieces and things are worse than ever there. But we showed the world we are a sincere White Bone Demon except we want to kill lots of Iranians.

I guess the Chinese were right about me. Hiss.

Culture of Life News Main Page

Taiwan's President Tries to Crash Gates With Jet

Elaine Meinel Supkis

Right on the heels of Bush insulting Hu and Hu going off to make a ton of great deals in other lands, the President of Taiwan who is fueding with Hu flew off in his jet. Only a few countries recognize him at this point so he tried to fly into several countries including the USA on an Ullyssesian odd Oddessy.

Xinhua News:

Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian's new attempt to promote "transit diplomacy" has suffered as his trip to Latin America turned out to be what the island's media dubbed "a journey to nowhere."

The start of Chen's eight-day visit to Paraguay and Costa Rica two of just 25 countries that recognize Taipei was marred by his plane changing its flight plan in mid-air and making an unscheduled landing in the United Arab Emirates and the Netherlands.

Taiwan's TVBS television reported on Friday that Chen's plane left Taipei early Thursday morning with the intention of landing in Beirut, Lebanon, on its way to Asuncion, Paraguay.

But it landed in Abu Dhabi instead after Lebanese authorities denied it permission to land.

The plane was then forced to land in Amsterdam on Friday for a second refuelling stop although it had planned to head to the Dominican Republic, another country that recognizes Taipei.

The TVBS report said that the plane was unable to take on enough fuel in Abu Dhabi to allow for a flight to the Dominican Republic due to technical reasons, forcing the plane to land in Amsterdam.

The unusual moves came after Chen unexpectedly dropped plans to stop in the United States only hours before starting his visit on Thursday. The move was to show his displeasure at a US decision not to allow him a higher-profile transit.

In Taipei, opposition Kuomintang "lawmaker" John Chiang doubted whether Chen's plane took off without knowing where it would make a stopover.

He could have pretended his jet was hijacked. Then he could have landed anywhere he wanted. This stunt is actually rather amusing for the Chinese leadership in Beijing. They have been busy weaving a very large net to catch the Taiwan fish and there are only a very few holes remaining. The USA doesn't have formal relations with the government of Taiwan and Chen really would like to have this. That would sour relations with America and mainland China and despite the bluster and yap from the neocons surrounding Bush, it isn't going to happen yet.

AP:

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer 29 minutes ago
UNITED NATIONS - Russia and China insisted Friday that a Security Council resolution on Iran stress diplomacy and oversight of Tehran's nuclear program instead of raising the threat of possible future action.

Those demands kept Russia and China at odds with the United States, Britain and France over a proposed draft resolution.

The three Western nations had been hoping the council would adopt the resolution before foreign ministers of six key nations meet in New York on Monday to try to negotiate with Iran.

But it was clear after meetings on Friday that council members remain divided on two key issues and bridging the divide will be difficult.

Bush is still pushing for Russia and China to join him in keeping Iran disarmed. One would imagine, if this were his goal, he would have treated the President of China much nicer, right? Wrong!

Obviously, Bush is working his legs off trying to get Russia and China to restart the Cold War while he wages a repeat of Vietnam. I hope he repeats Nixon's end.

Knight Ridder:

by Jonathan S. Landay and Warren P. Strobel

WASHINGTON - Last month, the chief U.S. negotiator with North Korea wanted to meet privately with his North Korean counterpart, hoping he could persuade Pyongyang to return to talks on eliminating its nuclear weapons program.
But the meeting between U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill and North Korean Vice Premier Kim Kye Gwan on the sidelines of a conference in Tokyo never took place.

Hill's superiors in Washington forbade him from talking directly to the North Koreans, said three U.S. officials, a conference participant and another knowledgeable expert. All requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The Bush administration also is refusing to talk directly with Iran about its nuclear program, with Syria about Middle East security and the infiltration of terrorists into Iraq, and, like Europe, with the Palestinian government led by Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organization.

This approach to diplomacy is drawing criticism.

Obviously, Bush doesn't want to talk to anyone. He carries his big stick and uses it to poke potential allies in the eyes. This lunatic operation seems to please Tony Blair even as his government is falling rapidly. Labour should get on Workman's Comp. See what happens when one votes cynically for someone who isn't really Labour at all but is a Gentleman's Club wannabe?

Guardian UK:

The key to the demotion of Jack Straw from foreign secretary is Iran. Mr Straw for more than a year, in his favourite outlet the BBC Today programme or at various press conferences, said repeatedly a military strike on Iran was inconceivable.

Politicians always try to avoid boxing themselves in, but Straw did on this issue: if a military strike had become a serious option, he would have been forced to resign.

He was reflecting the reality of British domestic politics. Against the background of the Iraq debacle, Mr Straw knew it would be difficult to win support for the military option in cabinet and that it would create even more upheaval among the membership of the already weakened Labour party.

The problem for Mr Straw is that Tony Blair does not view Iran the same way. He regards the threat posed by Iran as the most serious in the world today, and is even more messianic on the issue than George Bush. That does not mean that a military strike will happen but Mr Blair, like Mr Bush, thinks it is a good idea to keep the option on the table, if only to keep Iran guessing.

Straw spoke the truth and that is verboten. As the British/American empire limps along they imagine they can fool everyone into thinking they are strong and know what they are doing. Yesterday, an American helicopter seeking bin Laden found angry peasants instead and went down killing all aboard. Today, ditto only this time in Southern Iraq, screaming mobs of Shi'ites attacked the helicopter's soldiers after someone shot it down. Battles rage across the Muslim world and we think we can fool the Iranians into believing we want more war. Well, they are handing us our heads even as we try to bluff them.

Our diplomatic debacles are so out of control now we are not the world's laughing stock---we are the livestock going into the slaughter house. Mooooo. This ludicrious situation is made worse each day as our humorless ill starred prince alienates even his own right wing followers. They want him to act like Super duper man and fly off and kill everyone. Only he can't since this involves destroying much of the planet.

Let's hope Bush isn't that insane.

On the other hand, tornadoes have been targetting Waco and Crawford this spring. Today, even. Maybe Mother Nature is drawing a bead on that beady eyed malcontent.

Culture of Life News Main Page

Cheney Demands Democracy For Russia And Dictatorial Rule For America

Elaine Meinel Supkis

To Russia with hate! This is the neo con motto. They got to get the Cold War on so they can run America from their nuclear bomb shelters. Meanwhile, Russia's FOREX numbers are looking great. They have more money now than the International Money Fund! Looking more and more like China, a success story, not going bankrupt America.

Reuters:

Vice President Dick Cheney, in one of the Bush administration's sharpest rebukes to Moscow, accused Russia on Thursday of backsliding on democracy and urged it to stop using energy supplies for "blackmail."

"Russia has a choice to make," Cheney told Baltic and Black Sea leaders at a summit in Vilnius, calling on Moscow to return to democratic reform at a time of increasingly chilly relations between the United States and Russia.

He said opponents of reform in Russia were "seeking to reverse the gains of the last decade" by restricting democratic rights and warned President Vladimir Putin some of Moscow's actions could hurt relations with other countries.

But Cheney told leaders of post-communist nations with a history of domination by the former Soviet Union: "None of us believes that Russia is fated to become an enemy."

Russia's sphere of influence has been these same countries since the fall of the Golden Horde, the Mongol empire's last outpost. Since Catherine the fricking Great. Britain used to fight wars of dominance over there. Like something called "the Crimean War" which they pretty much lost, by the way. Ditto the French. They went deeper and deeper into Russia's sphere of influence and then Napoleon decided to go all the way. Why not simply declare war on Russia and plunge into Moscow! A fabulous idea.

Nope.

Hitler did the exact same thing. There is something about Russia's influence that gets invaders all giddy. They think, Russia can't stop our incursions into their territory! Let's see if we can go further!

Even a dunce reading history can't help but notice there is a pattern there. It is awfully easy to enter the Great Plains of Middle Europe. It is very hard to dominate from far away. Of course, we could bribe them into being our friends and allies but this is the dumbest, stupidest thing an empire can do. Do the Poles menace us? Do the Bulgarians?

Of course not. Nor do they menace Russia. But OUR PRESENCE MENACES RUSSIA. This is a big thing. So Russia has to destroy our influence and this is going to get very nasty because the tool Russia is using is their oldest tool: trade. We don't need Poland or Bulgaria's trade. But Poland and Bulgaria needs Russia's trade because Russia is one of the greates treasure houses of natural resources on earth outside of the USA which is already getting tapped out pretty badly.

We can't cut down all our forests and pump out all our oil wells and send it to Poland and Bulgaria or anyone, actually. Russia can.

Brad Setser

In 1998, Russia was very short on cash. It went to the IMF and got a $15 billion credit line. When it didn’t hold up its end of the bargain – taking steps to collect a bit of revenue – then Treasury Secretary Rubin pulled the plug on the program after only $5 billion had been disbursed. He argued that there was no point in throwing more good money after bad.

$5b. Chump change. That is less than ½ of what Russia added to its reserves in the first three weeks of April. Russia’s reserves were $217.1b on April 21, up from $205.9b at the end of March. For the full month, Russia’s reserves will probably grow by $15 billion.

Everyone at Brad's blog has taken a tiny moment to notice that not only the Japanese and Chinese run trade surpluses, so does Russia. China's FOREX dwarfs the IMF money. And the USA's FOREX. Now Russia's is surpassing both ours and the IMF! This fatal to the USA's power because what if Poland and Bulgaria want money from the USA? We have to take our tin cup, run over to Moscow, Beijing or Tokyo and plead for more IOUs.

Gads. No empire lasts more than a bug's migrane headache if they have to beg for loans from the same countries that they are menacing. This is sheer stupidity. But then, these neo con men are stupid.

Alas, too many Americans are too which is why they got to hold power for so long. But it seems their days are numbered. Too bad the Democratic leadership isn't working for America.

This is unfortunate. We will still be at war with all Muslims and everyone else who gets in the way of lobbyists' lusts.

Culture of Life Main Page

Pollack Writes Book About Iran Without Knowing Anything Iranian

Elaine Meinel Supkis

Kenneth Pollack, a Jewish man who supports Israel no matter what, is a "top expert" on Iran and Iraq. He speaks no languages of that region and never visited it, either. Just like Condi Rice is a "Russian expert" without speaking the language or living there as a scholar, either. I lived in Germany and went to school there so I am ten times the scholar of that country than these two fakers are of theirs.

Huffington Post:

Philip Weiss

I just got a copy of Ken Pollack's latest book on Iran, The Persian Puzzle, and was shocked on flipping to page 429, the Author's Note at the end of the book, to read that Pollack has never been to Iran and doesn't speak Persian, has only dribs and drabs of Arabic.

You'd think a book that purports to explain the "Persian Puzzle" might have offered that disclaimer at the front.

Pollack is an influential intellectual. As a scholar at the liberal Brookings Institution, whatever liberal means these days, he advocated invasion of Iraq in the book The Threatening Storm, back in 2002, thereby giving crucial centrist support to the neocons. Pollack argued that the way to peace in the Middle East lay through Baghdad. I.e., convert the Arabs to democracy there and everything else will fall into place. That book begins with Pollack's bona fides: he was in the CIA "on the Iran-Iraq account." Now we know he's never been to Iran.

Washington DC is awash with "experts" who know exactly nothing. It is especially noticable in the Middle Eastern Policy sector. This field is overwhelmingly handed over to either Israeli-enabling Jewish ideologues or people in the oil industry. The think tanks are now stink tanks, cesspools of seething lust and rage directed against the teeming masses in the Muslim world. Either these people are sitting on natural resources we want or land we need to colonize. This sad state of affairs is driving us relentlessly into WWIII. As we fight more and more Muslim populations, the ripples of this conflict spread further and further.

Like the early waves of a restless sea when a hurricane approaches, the economic effects of this coming storm are already crashing upon our shores. The wind is picking up and the sea is red with deficit spending and human blood, bodies float in the surf and we look away, wanting to have everything for ourselves with a clear conscience.

It is laughably easy to get published if one supports the destruction of Muslims, the manipulation of their culture and politics from afar, if one supports breaking them apart into tiny, tribal units that are at each other's throats, disarmed and dispirited, encouraging this is very popular in American mediums. Whether it be TV, newspapers, radio or appearing at receptions and panels, pontificating, so long as one endorses the diplomacy of the State of Israel, all doors are open and money pours in.

I debated even talking about Palestine when I launched my blog. Many bloggers on the liberal side either avoid this issue at all or take the "they are all nuts" point of view. But in this evolving war, such ostrich type strategies are admitting failure. So I took the bull by the horns and proceeded to make myself unpopular because this blog is all about the future book, "The Decline and Fall of the American Empire." If anyone finds this distasteful, well, bitter fruits always burn the mouth.

It isn't just Middle Eastern diplomacy that has been taken over and destroyed by know-nothing neo-cons. Condi Rice is a typical example of high stupidity and craven ignorance. Over and over again, we are told that she is "a Russia expert." Only the duck in Peter and the Wolf shows more linguistic skill in that language. And she evidently knows nothing about Russian manners or methods, she irritates the entire country every time she interacts with any of them.

Pravda:

Is Condoleezza Rice a Russian expert? Yes! No, no, no, no, no, no, no!

How did Condy get appointed as Secretary of State and labelled a Russian expert? Could it be that she told President Bush that she was an expert in rushin' around and he made her his "Rushin' expert"?

Asked whether she would run for President at the next election on Ekho Moskvy Radio programme, Condoleezza Rice answered Da! Nyet! Nyet! Nyet! Nyet! Nyet! Nyet! Nyet! Not bad for someone who is quoted frequently by the Western press as being a fluent Russian speaker and a Russian expert, although she has never lived in the country.

Before admitting to this schoolgirl's question that is was difficult to speak Russian, she had already made a fool of herself on Tuesday, when she declared that the Kremlin's grip on the media is "very worrying." The question is, what grip?

For the information of Condoleezza Rice, who despite being Secretary of State of her country, continues to demonstrate an ignorance of world affairs at a shockingly consistent level, the notion that the Kremlin exerts a grip on the media is a fairy tale invented in the gardens of Washington. As correspondent of the English version of Pravda.Ru, director and chief editor of the Portuguese version and collaborator for three other Russian publications, two of these being official media organs, I have frequently asked for guidelines from the Kremlin on what line to follow.

The answer: "We are afraid we cannot give you any guidelines as you request. You will have to write the truth, after checking your sources, obviously", or words to this effect every time the question is posed.

Seriously, the inability to understand the basic language of a country one is pontificating at or about or around is incredible hubris. This is exactly why we are losing a fortune and many good American soldiers in Iraq! We went in there blind and banged up stupid and we stupidly stayed dumb and now the whole place is blowing up in our faces and will continue to blow up in our faces.

And during this disasterous diplomatic dysopian mess, we lost influence in and over Russia. Worse, we shoved Putin into Hu and Wen's laps. They wanted to woo him and were amazed and pleased that Condi and Bush, on their last trip, managed to so infuriate Putin, he called up Hu for an emergency dinner and made some very astonishing deals which Hu wanted for a long time. Now, they are good buddies and Putin got the total red carpet, gold plated service in Beijiing while we served a stripped down, fast food, insulting lunch date to Hu.

So here we go, off the cliff, ignorance working hand in hand with snotty arrogance. Maybe we should imitate Napoleon and Hitler and invade Russia? We could reach Moscow by October.

Culture of Life News Main Page