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US capitulates to Putin, drops missile shield

U.S. to Shelve Nuclear-Missile Shield
Defense Plans for Poland, Czech Republic to Be Dropped as Iran Rocket Threat Downgraded; Moscow Likely to Welcome Move

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,

Iranian range

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…]

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Diluting meaningful data, EU style

The start of a not-good trend:
EU mulls indicators to measure wellbeing ‘beyond GDP’

The European Commission has published a roadmap for developing new environmental and social indicators to measure the real prosperity and wellbeing of nations beyond traditional GDP. The reflections could affect the strategic goals of the post-2010 Lisbon Strategy for growth and jobs.

GDP growth is the main indicator for measuring the effectiveness of recovery plans launched last year to restore economic growth.

However, “there is a clear case for complementing GDP with statistics covering the other economic, social and environmental issues on which people’s well-being critically depends,” according to a Commission communicationexternal entitled ‘GDP and beyond – Measuring progress in a changing world’, adopted on 20 August.

Sarko, as it turns out, is way ahead of the EU crowd on that one: France to count happiness in GDP

Happiness, long holidays and a sense of well-being may not be everyone’s yardstick for economic performance, but Nicolas Sarkozy believes they should be embraced by the world in a national accounting overhaul.

If Sarko wants to send me on an all-expenses-paid three-month long tango vacation in Buenos Aires he would probably improve France’s GDP by at least two points, easily. He is certainly doing his part by contributing $300/session with his perineal trainer.

Jonah Goldberg makes a sarcastic comment,

Will the market for French bonds rally every time the price of brie drops or France wins a soccer game?

But, as I said at the start of this post, this is not a good trend. Joe at ¡No Pasarán! explains why:

So the way to evade the ineffectual nature of borrowing for capital injection on this scale is basically to lie about it. In effect, having a petit cannon to take the edge off of the hangover, remorse, and herpetic itch that you woke up with.
…
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, real people see the GDP to mean the GDP, from which accurate impressions of social progress, particulary poverty, can be clearly and realistically understood, not hidden in a miasma of predetermined inferences.

This, as we’ve seen all too often before in European history, is an attempt to control the interpretation of reality based on what the public is permitted to learn, and limited from knowing. If they really think that they’re offering up some “brand new age of freedom” world view, the destruction of instruments like those is the way to go, not recycling the contemporary equivalent of “announcing another successful 5 year plan”. I wonder if they really realize that they appear to be living in a philosophical near-past that they should otherwise take heed of, one characterized by the chewing-up of a frail population in the name of improving their lives. The view itself is a regurgitation lebensraum delusion, handed off to a new generation, a new “human mass”, when in reality the mass needed to be permitted to release its’ cogs into enabled individuals who can act autonomously.

The failure of their history is to see people as “the people” which could be handled and controlled as a unit, a tool, and an inconvenience. It’s also those that buy into it who have such a hard time grasping what it is Americans mean by their freedoms. No matter how often the people of rump Europa get donkey punched by dictat and history, they never seem to grasp even the outline of this idea.

Then, the “ideal man” was stupid and pliant. For whatever collection of popularly shared reasons for which the evasion is supposed to be a cure, (normally the reason used is the ‘climate change’ hostage-taking brand of environmental issues), the forgetful children of the meek who inherited the continent are trying it again.

Indeed.

Email me about that Buenos Aires holiday, Sarko.

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Gawking: Amateur vs. Pro

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Althouse explores the subtleties in the difference between Obama and Sarko, but Althouse’s commenter Moose says it all

Man, that’s a lot of verbage to say that Obama looks like a dork and Sarkozy looks like a Frenchman.

As Glenn put it,

Sorry, but it’s an unfair competition — this is what the French have been finely honing for centuries. . . .

Ace is not suitable for work.

Jake Tapper says it was all very innocent. Hmm. Jake, when a guy looks like he’s ogling, he is ogling. Just take my word on this.

In the interest of fairness, here’s the video, so you can watch and decide for yourself:

And notice how ABC followed the video with some reporter in Washington announcing, “If you’re having trouble keeping track of the Republican sex scandals, you are not alone.” Because Democrats don’t have sex scandals, nooo…

Note: today there is utility work down the street and internet connections are iffy. Thank you for your patience.

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Sarko and the burka, part 3

Today’s NYT illustrates how significant the setting and the speech (that I posted about yesterday) are:
Sarkozy Backs Drive to Eliminate the Burqa

Mr. Sarkozy gave his speech, a sober, wide-ranging address, in the first presidential appearance before Parliament since Charles Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte’s in the 19th century.

Presidents had been barred from entering Parliament since 1875, to protect the independence of lawmakers. But reforms carried out last summer through Mr. Sarkozy’s party opened the way for him to speak to Parliament.

Mr. Sarkozy entered through rows of French guards with raised swords, then delivered an American-style state-of-the-nation address that sketched out his view of France’s future.

Here’s the photo:

23france600

Sarko is setting French policy on a course; as you may remember this particular discussion on the burqa was ignited by Obama’s Cairo speech. Unlike Obama, however, Sarko is unequivocal:

Mr. Sarkozy said that “in the republic, the Muslim religion must be respected like other religions.” But he declared, “the burqa is not welcome in France.” He added, “We cannot accept in our country women imprisoned behind bars, cut off from social life, deprived of identity.”

You can watch the whole speech (in French) at the official Elysee website (right now it’s their featured video but once that changes, please search under Discours de M. le Président de la République devant le Parlement réuni en Congrès), but here is the part on the burqa (video in French):

As you can appreciate from his speech, Sarko has made a principled stand for democratic values and human rights.

His words were received with applause.

Joshua Muravchik, writing at Commentary, speculates on The Abandonment of Democracy, and quotes Obama’s speech at Strasbourg, France:

Obama seems to believe that democracy is overrated, or at least overvalued. When asked about the subject in his pre-inaugural interview with the Washington Post, Obama said that he is more concerned with “actually delivering a better life for people on the ground and less obsessed with form, more concerned with substance.” He elaborated on this thought during his April visit to Strasbourg, France:

We spend so much time talking about democracy—and obviously we should be promoting democracy everywhere we can. But democracy, a well-functioning society that promotes liberty and equality and fraternity, does not just depend on going to the ballot box. It also means that you’re not going to be shaken down by police because the police aren’t getting properly paid. It also means that if you want to start a business, you don’t have to pay a bribe. I mean, there are a whole host of other factors that people need . . . to recognize in building a civil society that allows a country to be successful.

Whether or not the President was aware of it, he was echoing a theme first propounded long ago by Soviet propagandists and later sung in many variations by all manner of Third World dictators, Left to Right. It has long since been discredited by a welter of research showing that democracies perform better in fostering economic and social well being, keeping the peace, and averting catastrophes. Never mind that it is untoward for a President of the United States to speak of democracy as a mere “form,” less important than substance.

I will post more on this article later, but for now, let’s ponder how a French president – instead of the American president – is the one taking a stand on democracy and human rights.

Previous posts on this thread:
Part 1: France: Obama’s Cairo speech provokes new debate on burqa
Part 2: Sarko says No to the burqa

Post re-edited to enter text that was omitted

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Sarko says No to the burqa

Following up on the French burqa story, Sarkozy says burqas are ‘not welcome’ in France (emphasis added)

President Nicolas Sarkozy lashed out Monday at the practice of wearing the Muslim burqa, insisting the full-body religious gown is a sign of the “debasement” of women and that it won’t be welcome in France.

The French leader expressed support for a recent call by dozens of legislators to create a parliamentary commission to study a small but growing trend of wearing the full-body garment in France.

Sarko didn’t make this statement in a passing conversation – he made a big gesture in an historic ocasion:

In the first presidential address in 136 years to a joint session of France’s two houses of parliament, Sarkozy laid out his support for a ban even before the panel has been approved—braving critics who fear the issue is a marginal one and could stigmatize Muslims in France.

“In our country, we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity,” Sarkozy said to extended applause in a speech at the Chateau of Versailles southwest of Paris.

“The burqa is not a religious sign, it’s a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement—I want to say it solemnly,” he said. “It will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic.”

The French understand symbolism, and by his making this statement – a clear and unequivocal statement that is not symbollic at all, but specific and concrete – while addressing both houses of Parliament, the country knows for certain where he stands.

Earlier last week Sarko had denounced the Iranian government’s “brutal” reaction to demonstrators.

At least one president knows what he stands for.

UPDATE
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