American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture
I’m seeing this in the crystal ball: The Obama administration’s objective is to give Guantanamo Base to Cuba. They understand that,
Once played, the Guantanamo card will be gone and Washington’s long-term leverage over Havana will be forever altered.
Obama Does Have a Strategy
Once you see what he is trying to accomplish, it all makes sense.
The Polish Prime Minister knows when he’s being sold down the river, and wasn’t about to make nice:
Polish PM wouldn’t take U.S. calls
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed today that he declined last night to take a call from the U.S. informing him of the decision to scrap planned missile-defense bases in his country.
Two U.S.-based sources close to the Polish government said Thursday that Tusk also rejected a call from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — on the grounds that, as the head of the government, he should speak to the president.
“Hillary called — and the reason he turned it down was because of protocol,” said a source.
Questions about the exchanges surfaced in the Polish press after Obama reached the Czech prime minister late last night to warn of the policy change, but did not speak to the Pole until this morning. And the static offers a glimpse at the distress beneath the diplomatic facade being offered by Eastern European leaders.
Polish Radio reports today that Tusk confirmed an earlier press report that he hadn’t taken Obama’s call but denied it was due to “technical difficulties.”
Tusk said he declined to speak with President Obama during the night because he wanted to “properly prepare for the discussion.”
A Polish Embassy spokesman noted that Tusk ultimately spoke to Obama, while Clinton spoke to the country’s foreign minister.
This highlights a few facts:
a. As Michael Goldfarb stated yesterday,
the administration did not undertake any serious consultation with the allies affected by this decision, displaying a kind of unilateralism that became one of the core Democratic criticisms of the Bush administration’s diplomacy
b. The president did not see fit to advise in person any of the allies affected, even when they see this decision as potentially catastrophic. They were not called to Washington, instead they got a phone call.
c. Obama does not understand the niceties of protocol, sending the help to do the call to a head of state, instead of doing the calling. Next thing you know Tusk will be getting a set of DVDs as a consolation prize.
Max Boot writes about More Naiveté
The White House will shelve Bush administration plans to build a missile-defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, according to people familiar with the matter, a move likely to cheer Moscow and roil the security debate in Europe.
The U.S. will base its decision on a determination that Iran’s long-range missile program has not progressed as rapidly as previously estimated, reducing the threat to the continental U.S. and major European capitals, according to current and former U.S. officials.
Just as the WSJ is reporting that story, Agence France Presse comes up with this one: France ‘certain’ Iran working on nukes
French intelligence agencies are certain that Iran is hiding a nuclear weapons program, President Nicolas Sarkozy says.
“We cannot let Iran acquire nuclear” weapons because it would also be a threat to Israel, Sarkozy said during a meeting at the Elysee presidential palace with lawmakers from his conservative UMP party on Tuesday.
“It is a certainty to all of our secret services. Iran is working today on a nuclear (weapons) program,” he said.
The French leader also said he would not “shake the hand of someone who wants to wipe Israel off the map”, referring to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
So the French think the Iranians are getting nukes, but the Obama administration is not worried because the Iranian rockets are not ready to deliver them?
But, guess what, Intelligence Agencies Say No New Nukes in Iran
Secret updates to White House challenge European and Israeli assessments.
Not only does the administration think the Iranians don’t have the rockets, they don’t even believe Iran could get the bomb.
Gee, that so eases my mind!
Alright kids, let’s make Vlad happy, then!
Michael Goldfarb:
This represents a complete capitulation to Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who had demanded that the proposed deployments be halted as a price for improved relations. Ironically, the Obama administration, which is appeasing Russia in the hopes that Moscow will help put pressure on Iran, has made this mammoth concession just a few days after Moscow declared that it had no intention of supporting sanctions against Iran.
The consequences of this action in Eastern Europe, especially in Ukraine and in other countries that feel vulnerable to Russian power, will be disastrous. It is a major American retreat in the face of Russian bullying. And we will get absolutely nothing for it.
More Obama-brand diplomacy:
A source tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD that the team in the air to Europe will be making stops in Warsaw, Prague, and Brussels. It sounds like the administration did not undertake any serious consultation with the allies affected by this decision, displaying a kind of unilateralism that became one of the core Democratic criticisms of the Bush administration’s diplomacy.
The Czech Interim Prime Minister got a midnight call. They couldn’t even bother to tell him in person.
From the day Obama was sworn in, the entire foreign policy has been, “appease our enemies, drop our friends.”
Let’s take a look at the map, and think fireworks,
Many other bloggers will be remarking that this move by the Obama administration gives the Czechs and Poles (and Israel) the middle finger. You can also be assured that Chavez is also welcoming the news, big time.
Exit question,
Is the healthcare debate timed to coincide with this in order to distract from the disastrous foreign policy, or is it just another disastrous move out of many?
UPDATE
While we’re at it, let’s appease China and throw the Dalai Lama under the bus, too.
At DEBKA, Sarkozy accuses Iran of hiding nuclear weapons program which threatens Israel
The first Western leader to expressly admit knowledge of an Iranian nuclear weapons program, French president Nicolas Sarkozy said: “It is a certainty to all of our secret services. Iran is working today on a nuclear (weapons) program.” He added: “We cannot let Iran acquire nuclear” weapons because it would also be a threat to Israel.” Sarkozy spoke during a meeting at the Elysee presidential palace with lawmakers from his UMP party Tuesday, Sept. 15.
The French president said he would not shake the hand (of Iran’s president at the UN General Assembly) of “someone who wants to wipe Israel off the map.”
DEBKAfile’s militlary sources add:
French intelligence has thus gone further than US intelligence agencies which maintained in an assessment to leaked to the media on Sept. 10: “Iran has created enough nuclear fuel to make a rapid, if risky, spring for a nuclear weapon,” and “Iran has deliberately stopped short of the critical last steps to make a bomb.”
France is one of the five permanent UN Security Council members with veto powers. Together with Germany they have agreed to meet Iranian representatives on Oct. 1 for talks, although Tehran insists they will not cover its “inalienable nuclear rights.”
At least Sarko’s awake.
In today’s podcast
This will be the subject of today’s podcast at 11AM Eastern.
More
The gathering storm, part 168
Surrender and Betrayal Do Not Make Us Safer
Update 2
Adding insult to injury is the timing of the announcement: A friend emailed reminding me that September 17 is the 70th anniversary of the Russian invasion of Poland. Nice going! Jules has more, lots more, on that.
Michael Goldfarb examines the decision:
[Read more…]
Finally! a European Union leader denounces the Iranian regime. Great Britain, Germany, Holland and the Czech Republic have also been vocal. Even then, Agence France Press couldn’t keep themselves from using scare quotes on the word fraud:
Sarkozy denounces Iran vote ‘fraud’
French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday branded Iran’s election result a fraud as the international outcry over the security forces’ crackdown on the opposition in Tehran intensified.
Governments from Asia to Europe voiced concern about the violence that erupted Monday during rallies protesting the hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election, with US President Barack Obama saying he had “deep concerns” while also not wanting to meddle in Iran’s affairs.
But while some governments tried to avoid taking sides, Sarkozy said the unrest was a direct result of Ahmadinejad’s failings in his first term.
“The extent of the fraud is proportional to the violent reaction,” said the French leader.
“It is a tragedy, but it is not negative to have a real opinion movement that tries to break its chains,” Sarkozy said.
“If Ahmadinejad has really made progress since the last election and if he really represents two thirds of the electorate… why has this violence erupted?”
At least seven people were killed on Monday in street battles between the security forces and supporters of Iran’s former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi who claim that their man was cheated of victory in Friday’s poll.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said questions about the validity of the outcome needed to be answered and that the violent scenes threatened Iran’s international standing.
“The regime must address the serious questions which have been asked about the conduct of the Iranian elections,” said Brown.
“The way the regime responds to legitimate protests will have implications for Iran’s relationships with the rest of the world in the future.”
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said there “must be an end to the violence carried out by the security forces on demonstrators” while his Dutch counterpart Maxime Verhagen summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires.
“It cannot be that peaceful demonstrations are broken up violently,” a statement issued by his office said.
In Japan, Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said his country was “extremely concerned” about the situation while Australia’s Foreign Minister Stephen Smith expressed his disquiet over “images of serious human rights abuses that we’ve seen on camera and in photos.”
Rights groups also denounced the bloody crackdown with the New York-based Human Rights Watch saying the Ahmadinejad government “has a responsibility to stop the use of unlawful force against protesters.”
Despite the welter of criticism, Iran remained defiant and diplomats from Britain and the Czech Republic — the current holders of the EU presidency — were summoned in protest.
“Neither the European Union nor other countries are in a position to have the right to make rude and interfering remarks against Iran, especially about our glorious election,” Czech charge d’affaires Josef Havlas was told.
Where’s Obama? Having his waffle:
Obama meanwhile said he would not meddle in internal Iranian politics — reflecting a more widespread reluctance of governments to be sucked into the maelstrom.
“I have said before that I have deep concerns about the election. I think that the world has deep concerns about the election,” Obama said.
As I said in today’s Blogger Bunch on CNN Live, the President of the US should unfailingly stand for democracy, freedom and human rights. Everything else is equivocation.
UPDATE, Wednesday 17 June
Welcome back, Carter, via Instapundit.
UPDATE, Thursday 18 June
Welcome, Red State visitors, please visit often.
Barack Obama fails to win Nato troops he wants for Afghanistan
Barack Obama made an impassioned plea to America’s allies to send more troops to Afghanistan, warning that failure to do so would leave Europe vulnerable to more terrorist atrocities.
But though he continued to dazzle Europeans on his debut international tour, the Continent’s leaders turned their backs on the US President.
Gordon Brown was the only one to offer substantial help. He offered to send several hundred extra British soldiers to provide security during the August election, but even that fell short of the thousands of combat troops that the US was hoping to prise from the Prime Minister.
But hey, there will be 35 Belgians and 12 Spaniards coming along for the ride. What could go wrong?
That was in Baden-Baden, Germany. Now the Obamas are heading to the Czech Republic. My friend Maria (who was born and raised there) asked me to Czech this out:
Obama blew off yet another ally, in favor of “having a romantic private dinner.”
When President Obama arrives here on Saturday for a meeting aimed at forging closer trans-Atlantic relations, aides say he has opted for a romantic private dinner with the first lady. That, rather than a glass of Czech beer with Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, who last week invoked Satan’s lair to characterize the American president’s economic policies.
The Obamas also decided to forgo an official state dinner with Vaclav Klaus, the fiery Czech president.
Last week I posted the YouTube of the Topolanek speech,
Czech politics are in disarray right now, but obviously Obama doesn’t want to hear from anyone who vehemently opposes state intervention on the economy and (heavens to Betsy!) doesn’t believe in anthropogenic global warming.
It doesn’t sound like there will be the kind of rave reviews that the Obamas have been getting in this trip so far.
Of course getting blown off like that is not going to make the Czech people less worried,
Czechs have looked with growing alarm at what many perceive as Mr. Obama’s forsaking of the free-market principles that this country ardently embraced after decades under Communism.
Indeed, many Czechs have long looked to the United States — not Western Europe — as a political and economic model.
…
Yet in a nation where President Ronald Reagan remains the unrivaled hero of the Cold War, many here fear Mr. Obama is too soft on Russia and too willing to compromise.
…
Mr. Kotas said he worried that Mr. Obama, after completing a review of American security policy, would abandon plans to install a missile-defense radar system in the Czech Republic. The proposed system has polarized Czech society, but many nevertheless view it as an essential bulwark against Russia.
Yup, might as well play it safe and have a nice romantic dinner instead.
Oh, and by the way, that will be followed by a visit to the Prague Castle on Sunday, a location that inspired Franz Kafka’s novel, The Castle.
UPDATE
Won’t be picking up the Czechs for dinner, but will be aiming towards “friendship and cooperation” with Sudan (h/t Larwyn).
Incredible. Simply incredible.
UPDATE 2, Monday 6 April
Welcome, EU Referendum readers. Please visit often.
Via No Pasaran,
Le Monde Diplomatique Director Ignacio Ramonet is gathering a “consencus” of French journalists to write an “authorized” retrospective of Castro’s paradise on earth.
Joe is not amused
Do Women Have A Right To Informed Consent?
- Allowance for girls beginning at the primary school level to wear the hijab
- seperation of the sexes in any sort of physical activity that would allow touching or that involves swimming
- special changing areas for muslim children to change clothes in private
- if you have a school field trip to a farm, muslims must not be allowed to touch a pig
- Parents can withdrawal their children from music classes
- Muslim children should not be asked to draw pictures of humans
Go read the rest.
Terrorists not allowed to use Constitution against us
War Power Game
The coming constiutional crisis
Edwards: Greatest Threat to World Peace is Israel
The Czech Republic said on Tuesday it would not be intimidated by Russia over plans to site parts of a U.S. missile defense system on its territory and said attempts at “blackmail” by Moscow would backfire.
Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said threats by Russian officials over the plans, which would involve placing a radar system on Czech land and a missile battery in Poland, would only make Czechs more determined to defend themselves.
Dennis Prager on Happiness Is a Moral Obligation
These PU students are making someone happy!
Augusto sent this, Vaclav Klaus about the IPCC panel (emphasis added)
Q: On Wednesday, the European Commission has approved carbon dioxide caps for new cars. One week earlier, the U.N. IPCC climate panel released a report that has described, once again, the global warming as one of the major threats for the whole civilization. The Stern report about similar threats was published before that. And you suddenly say that the global warming is a myth. Try to explain, how did you get this idea, Mr President?
A: It’s not my idea. Global warming is a myth and every serious person and scientist says so. It is not fair to refer to the U.N. panel. IPCC is not a scientific institution: it’s a political body, a sort of non-government organization of green flavor. It’s neither a forum of neutral scientists nor a balanced group of scientists. These people are politicized scientists who arrive there with a one-sided opinion and a one-sided assignment. Also, it’s an undignified slapstick that people don’t wait for the full report in May 2007 but instead respond, in such a serious way, to the summary for policymakers where all the “but’s” and “if’s” are scratched, removed, and replaced by oversimplified theses.
This is clearly such an incredible failure of so many people, from journalists to politicians… If the European Commission is instantly going to buy such a trick, we have another very good reason to think that the countries themselves, not the Commission, should be deciding about similar issues.
…
It’s also true that there exist social systems that are damaging Nature – by eliminating private ownership and similar things – much more than the freer societies. These tendencies become important in the long run. They unambiguously imply that today, on February 8th, 2007, Nature is protected uncomparably more than on February 8th ten years ago or fifty years ago or one hundred years ago.
Sunspots, Cosmic Rays Causing Global Warming
When sun is more active, its rays push the cosmic rays away from the Earth. Then fewer clouds are formed and the Earth warms. When the sun is less active, more cosmic rays reach the Earth, more clouds are formed, and the Earth cools.
“This is a very bad deal,” former U.N. ambassador John R. Bolton told CNN. “It contradicts fundamental premises of the president’s policy he’s been following for the past six years. And second, it makes the administration look very weak at a time in Iraq . . . when it needs to look strong.”
At NRO, via Alcibiades,
We are entering a very dangerous and depressing phase: making deals the principal accomplishment of which is the demonstration that we’re not unilateralist cowboys — diplomacy celebrated for its own sake rather than because it actually, materially furthers American interests.
It’s deja-vu all over again, babe.
