Biden's Munich role: Reinvigorate NATO ties
Associated Press, by Robert Burns & Stephen R. Hurst
1/28/2009 8:55:28 PM
Washington - Hoping for a fresh start with Europe, the Obama administration is sending a more high-powered delegation, led by Vice President Joe Biden, to Germany for an annual talkfest on foreign and defense policy. (Snip) The United States usually sends its secretary of defense because military issues have been at the center of the conference agenda. But the White House announced on Tuesday that Biden would lead this year's delegation,
Full Version: US Department of State Renovations
India warns Obama over Kashmir
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a545f3b0-f1f9-11...00779fd2ac.html
By James Lamont and Amy Kazmin in New Delhi
Published: February 3 2009 13:56
India has warned US President Barack Obama that he risks “barking up the wrong tree” if he seeks to broker a settlement between Pakistan and India over the disputed territory of Kashmir.
MK Narayanan, India’s national security advisor, said that the new US administration was in danger of dredging up out of date Clinton administration-era strategies in a bid to bring about improved ties between the two nuclear armed neighbours.
“I do think that we could make President Obama understand, if he does nurse any such view, that he is barking up the wrong tree. I think Kashmir today has become one of the quieter and safer places in this part of the world,” Mr Narayanan said in an interview with CNBC TV18.
“It’s possible that at this time there are elements, perhaps in the administration who are harking back to the pre-2000 era.”
The warning comes as Richard Holbrooke, Mr Obama’s special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, prepares to come to the region for the first time in his new capacity. Mr Narayanan is close to Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister, and Sonia Gandhi, the president of the ruling Congress Party......
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a545f3b0-f1f9-11...00779fd2ac.html
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a545f3b0-f1f9-11...00779fd2ac.html
By James Lamont and Amy Kazmin in New Delhi
Published: February 3 2009 13:56
India has warned US President Barack Obama that he risks “barking up the wrong tree” if he seeks to broker a settlement between Pakistan and India over the disputed territory of Kashmir.
MK Narayanan, India’s national security advisor, said that the new US administration was in danger of dredging up out of date Clinton administration-era strategies in a bid to bring about improved ties between the two nuclear armed neighbours.
“I do think that we could make President Obama understand, if he does nurse any such view, that he is barking up the wrong tree. I think Kashmir today has become one of the quieter and safer places in this part of the world,” Mr Narayanan said in an interview with CNBC TV18.
“It’s possible that at this time there are elements, perhaps in the administration who are harking back to the pre-2000 era.”
The warning comes as Richard Holbrooke, Mr Obama’s special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, prepares to come to the region for the first time in his new capacity. Mr Narayanan is close to Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister, and Sonia Gandhi, the president of the ruling Congress Party......
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a545f3b0-f1f9-11...00779fd2ac.html
General Zinni gets undiplomatic treatment from Obama team
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/20...4/zinni_unloads
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/20...4/zinni_unloads
And?
Pakistan Frees Nuclear Dealer in Snub to U.S.
The New York Times,
by Salman Masood and David E. Sanger
2/7/2009 12:28:38 AM
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A Pakistani court freed one of the most successful nuclear proliferators in history, Abdul Qadeer Khan, from house arrest on Friday, lifting the restrictions imposed on him since 2004 when he publicly confessed to running an illicit nuclear network. Mr. Khan, 73, considered in the West as a rogue scientist and a pariah who sold technology to North Korea, Libya and Iran, is revered as a national hero in Pakistan
Sect. Clinton, where are you?
The New York Times,
by Salman Masood and David E. Sanger
2/7/2009 12:28:38 AM
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A Pakistani court freed one of the most successful nuclear proliferators in history, Abdul Qadeer Khan, from house arrest on Friday, lifting the restrictions imposed on him since 2004 when he publicly confessed to running an illicit nuclear network. Mr. Khan, 73, considered in the West as a rogue scientist and a pariah who sold technology to North Korea, Libya and Iran, is revered as a national hero in Pakistan
Sect. Clinton, where are you?
QUOTE (Lord_Proprietor @ Feb 7 2009, 08:08 AM) 
Pakistan Frees Nuclear Dealer in Snub to U.S.
The New York Times,
by Salman Masood and David E. Sanger
2/7/2009 12:28:38 AM
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A Pakistani court freed one of the most successful nuclear proliferators in history, Abdul Qadeer Khan, from house arrest on Friday, lifting the restrictions imposed on him since 2004 when he publicly confessed to running an illicit nuclear network. Mr. Khan, 73, considered in the West as a rogue scientist and a pariah who sold technology to North Korea, Libya and Iran, is revered as a national hero in Pakistan
Sect. Clinton, where are you?
The New York Times,
by Salman Masood and David E. Sanger
2/7/2009 12:28:38 AM
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A Pakistani court freed one of the most successful nuclear proliferators in history, Abdul Qadeer Khan, from house arrest on Friday, lifting the restrictions imposed on him since 2004 when he publicly confessed to running an illicit nuclear network. Mr. Khan, 73, considered in the West as a rogue scientist and a pariah who sold technology to North Korea, Libya and Iran, is revered as a national hero in Pakistan
Sect. Clinton, where are you?
Not much we can do. Here's the rest of the story-
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/07/world/as...ml?pagewanted=2
BTW, the ring included several Swiss citizens as well.
That guy needs to get lead poisoning. He's no hero that's for sure.
Hillary’s incredible, shrinking role
http://thehill.com/dick-morris/hillarys-in...2009-02-09.html
By Dick Morris
Posted: 02/09/09 06:23 PM [ET]
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is finding that her job description is dissolving under her feet, leaving her with only a vestige of the power she must have thought she acquired when she signed on to be President Obama’s chief Cabinet officer.
Since her designation:
• Vice President Biden has moved vigorously to stake out foreign policy as his turf. His visit to Afghanistan, right before the Inauguration, could not but send a signal to Hillary that he would conduct foreign policy in the new administration, leaving Hillary in the role of backup.
• Richard Holbrooke, the former Balkan negotiator and U.N. ambassador, has been named special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. He insisted on direct access to the president, a privilege he was denied during much of the Clinton years.
• Former Sen. George Mitchell (D-Maine), negotiator of the Irish Peace Accords, was appointed to be the administration’s point man on Arab-Israeli negotiations.
• Samantha Power, Obama’s former campaign aide, who once called Hillary a “monster,” has been appointed to the National Security Council (NSC) as director of “multilateral affairs.”
• Gen. James L. Jones, Obama’s new national security adviser, has announced an expansion of the membership and role of the NSC. He pledges to eliminate “back channels” to the president and wants to grow the NSC’s role to accommodate the “dramatically different” challenges of the current world situation.
• Susan Rice, Obama’s new United Nations ambassador, insisted upon and got Cabinet rank for her portfolio, and she will presumably also have the same kind of access to Obama that she had as his chief foreign policy adviser during the campaign.
So where does all this leave Secretary of State Clinton?
While sympathy for Mrs. Clinton is outside the normal fare of these columns, one cannot help but feel that she is surrounded by people who are, at best, strangers and, at worst, enemies. The competition that has historically occupied secretaries of State and national security advisers seems poised to ratchet up to a new level in the current administration.......
http://thehill.com/dick-morris/hillarys-in...2009-02-09.html
By Dick Morris
Posted: 02/09/09 06:23 PM [ET]
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is finding that her job description is dissolving under her feet, leaving her with only a vestige of the power she must have thought she acquired when she signed on to be President Obama’s chief Cabinet officer.
Since her designation:
• Vice President Biden has moved vigorously to stake out foreign policy as his turf. His visit to Afghanistan, right before the Inauguration, could not but send a signal to Hillary that he would conduct foreign policy in the new administration, leaving Hillary in the role of backup.
• Richard Holbrooke, the former Balkan negotiator and U.N. ambassador, has been named special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. He insisted on direct access to the president, a privilege he was denied during much of the Clinton years.
• Former Sen. George Mitchell (D-Maine), negotiator of the Irish Peace Accords, was appointed to be the administration’s point man on Arab-Israeli negotiations.
• Samantha Power, Obama’s former campaign aide, who once called Hillary a “monster,” has been appointed to the National Security Council (NSC) as director of “multilateral affairs.”
• Gen. James L. Jones, Obama’s new national security adviser, has announced an expansion of the membership and role of the NSC. He pledges to eliminate “back channels” to the president and wants to grow the NSC’s role to accommodate the “dramatically different” challenges of the current world situation.
• Susan Rice, Obama’s new United Nations ambassador, insisted upon and got Cabinet rank for her portfolio, and she will presumably also have the same kind of access to Obama that she had as his chief foreign policy adviser during the campaign.
So where does all this leave Secretary of State Clinton?
While sympathy for Mrs. Clinton is outside the normal fare of these columns, one cannot help but feel that she is surrounded by people who are, at best, strangers and, at worst, enemies. The competition that has historically occupied secretaries of State and national security advisers seems poised to ratchet up to a new level in the current administration.......
QUOTE
Reds, which was released theatrically in 1981 and comes now to DVD in a freshly spiffed-up 25th Anniversary Edition, is a sprawling epic like no other. Beatty, who also co-wrote and directed, plays radical American journalist John Reed, a part of New York's flourishing, Greenwich Village-based community of bohemians in the early 1900s. He’s in love with aspiring writer Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton), but with intense intellectual curiosity and a rabid desire to be in the thick of things, he ventures off to Russia to chronicle the October Revolution spearheaded by the newly minted Bolshevik movement. The idealistic Reed embraces many of the Bolsheviks' socialist principles and sees in them great hope for America. In the movie’s roughly eight-year arc -- Reed died just shy of his 33rd birthday in 1920, in Moscow, and is the only American buried in the Kremlin --
http://video.barnesandnoble.com/search/pro...EAN=97361197746
If you have not been privileged to see this movie, I urge you to do so.
I, like one of the reviewers, became enthralled when I saw it shortely
after its debut and bought a tape; now I will go out and get the freshly
spiffed-up 25th Anniversary Edition CD.
QUOTE (Lord_Proprietor @ Feb 12 2009, 07:16 AM)
http://video.barnesandnoble.com/search/pro...EAN=97361197746
If you have not been privileged to see this movie, I urge you to do so.
I, like one of the reviewers, became enthralled when I saw it shortely
after its debut and bought a tape; now I will go out and get the freshly
spiffed-up 25th Anniversary Edition CD.
If you have not been privileged to see this movie, I urge you to do so.
I, like one of the reviewers, became enthralled when I saw it shortely
after its debut and bought a tape; now I will go out and get the freshly
spiffed-up 25th Anniversary Edition CD.
Obama administration takes softer stance on missile defense
McClatchy Newspapers, by Byron Asher
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090214...clatchy/3168083
2/14/2009 3:13:48 PM
PRAGUE — The Obama administration has begun to indicate that it's willing to reconsider the Bush administration's push to deploy a ballistic missile defense system in the Czech Republic and Poland — if Russia helps curb Iran's push to develop nuclear weapons. Echoing Vice President Joe Biden , who said the new administration wants to push a "reset button" on U.S.- Russia relations
Story #2: Obama Removes Churchill Bust from Oval Office
Daily Telegraph UK
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/...to-Britain.html
RUSH: No, I don't think they even asked for it. They didn't even ask for it back.
He just saw it sitting there in the Oval Office, said, "What the hell is this?"
Somebody said, "Well, that's a bust of Winston Churchill."
"Churchill? Why is that here?"
"Well, the Brits gave it to George Bush after 9/11."
"Well, get it outta here."
"Do you want to put it someplace else in the White House?"
"No. Get it out of here!"
So Obama sent it back to the Brits and it's over there in the British embassy in Washington.
I'm not kidding you. He walks in the Oval Office, he sees the Churchill statue. The British gave it to
George W. Bush after 9/11. They didn't even ask for it back. He just decided he didn't want the bust of
Churchill plaguing him as he saw it every day in the Oval Office.
Barack Obama quits worrying about the economy long enough to snub Britain
Posted: February 16, 2009, 9:00 AM by Kelly McParland
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/f...ub-britain.aspx
Posted: February 16, 2009, 9:00 AM by Kelly McParland
The British, who are very good at being shocked and outraged when it suits them, are shocked and outraged at the deliberate snub directed their way by President Barack Obama.
Mr. Obama has offended the sensibilities of Fleet Street by returning a bust of Winston Churchill that was loaned to George W. Bush.
Mr. Bush kept the bust in the Oval Office. The British embassy offered to let Mr. Obama hang onto it for a while, but the President -- who is already keeping the desk and rug used by Mr. Bush, must have thought Democrats would start whispering if he kept the bust too, so he returned it.
The Daily Telegraph sees dark motives behind the decision:
"American politicians have made quoting Churchill, whose mother was American, something of an art form, but not Mr Obama, who prefers to cite the words and works of his hero Abraham Lincoln. Indeed a bust of Mr Lincoln now sits in the Oval Office where Epstein's Churchill once ruled the roost.
Churchill has less happy connotations for Mr Obama than those American politicians who celebrate his wartime leadership. It was during Churchill's second premiership that Britain suppressed Kenya's Mau Mau rebellion. Among Kenyans allegedly tortured by the colonial regime included one Hussein Onyango Obama, the President's grandfather. "
Yes, I'm sure that's it. Mr Obama was concerned about the Mau Mau implications. Quite so. And he jolly well should be, if you ask me.
Kelly McParland
National Post
Not very good diplomacy for our best friends, ya think?
Daily Telegraph UK
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/...to-Britain.html
RUSH: No, I don't think they even asked for it. They didn't even ask for it back.
He just saw it sitting there in the Oval Office, said, "What the hell is this?"
Somebody said, "Well, that's a bust of Winston Churchill."
"Churchill? Why is that here?"
"Well, the Brits gave it to George Bush after 9/11."
"Well, get it outta here."
"Do you want to put it someplace else in the White House?"
"No. Get it out of here!"
So Obama sent it back to the Brits and it's over there in the British embassy in Washington.
I'm not kidding you. He walks in the Oval Office, he sees the Churchill statue. The British gave it to
George W. Bush after 9/11. They didn't even ask for it back. He just decided he didn't want the bust of
Churchill plaguing him as he saw it every day in the Oval Office.
Barack Obama quits worrying about the economy long enough to snub Britain
Posted: February 16, 2009, 9:00 AM by Kelly McParland
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/f...ub-britain.aspx
Posted: February 16, 2009, 9:00 AM by Kelly McParland
The British, who are very good at being shocked and outraged when it suits them, are shocked and outraged at the deliberate snub directed their way by President Barack Obama.
Mr. Obama has offended the sensibilities of Fleet Street by returning a bust of Winston Churchill that was loaned to George W. Bush.
Mr. Bush kept the bust in the Oval Office. The British embassy offered to let Mr. Obama hang onto it for a while, but the President -- who is already keeping the desk and rug used by Mr. Bush, must have thought Democrats would start whispering if he kept the bust too, so he returned it.
The Daily Telegraph sees dark motives behind the decision:
"American politicians have made quoting Churchill, whose mother was American, something of an art form, but not Mr Obama, who prefers to cite the words and works of his hero Abraham Lincoln. Indeed a bust of Mr Lincoln now sits in the Oval Office where Epstein's Churchill once ruled the roost.
Churchill has less happy connotations for Mr Obama than those American politicians who celebrate his wartime leadership. It was during Churchill's second premiership that Britain suppressed Kenya's Mau Mau rebellion. Among Kenyans allegedly tortured by the colonial regime included one Hussein Onyango Obama, the President's grandfather. "
Yes, I'm sure that's it. Mr Obama was concerned about the Mau Mau implications. Quite so. And he jolly well should be, if you ask me.
Kelly McParland
National Post
Not very good diplomacy for our best friends, ya think?
Who cares? They shouldn't get all pissy.
the world has a lot more important things to worry about than reich wing "hero" worship.
Clinton remarks on rights rile activists
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/2...o-climate-chan/
Other issues top China agenda
Nicholas Kralev
Saturday, February 21, 2009
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (left) walks with Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jieyi after her arrival Friday at the airport in Beijing, China. Clinton is on a three-day visit in the Chinese capital. (Associated Press)
UPDATED:
BEIJING| Human rights groups reacted angrily Friday to comments by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that she would not let thorny issues such as human rights and Tibet prevent the United States and China from making progress on climate change, security and economic matters.
As she began her trip
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/2...o-climate-chan/
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/2...o-climate-chan/
Other issues top China agenda
Nicholas Kralev
Saturday, February 21, 2009
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (left) walks with Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jieyi after her arrival Friday at the airport in Beijing, China. Clinton is on a three-day visit in the Chinese capital. (Associated Press)
UPDATED:
BEIJING| Human rights groups reacted angrily Friday to comments by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that she would not let thorny issues such as human rights and Tibet prevent the United States and China from making progress on climate change, security and economic matters.
As she began her trip
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/2...o-climate-chan/
You cheered John Bolton when he was nothing but a dick. God, you people are unreal.
riled activists matter now?
Argentina calls CIA comment "irresponsible"
Fri Feb 27, 2009 5:05am IST
BUENOS AIRES, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Argentina on Thursday blasted the head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency for saying the country, along with Ecuador and Venezuela, could be pushed into instability by the global economic crisis.
Lumping Argentina together with Ecuador and Venezuela, both led by leftist anti-Washington firebrands, raises concern in this country, where center-left President Cristina Kirchner is trying to keep the economy from stagnating.
Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana called the comments made on Wednesday by CIA Director Leon Panetta "unfounded and irresponsible, especially from an agency that has a sad history of meddling in the affairs of countries in the region."
Taiana said he will meet on Friday with U.S. Ambassador Earl Anthony Wayne to demand an explanation. (Reporting by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by John O'Callaghan)
Fri Feb 27, 2009 5:05am IST
BUENOS AIRES, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Argentina on Thursday blasted the head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency for saying the country, along with Ecuador and Venezuela, could be pushed into instability by the global economic crisis.
Lumping Argentina together with Ecuador and Venezuela, both led by leftist anti-Washington firebrands, raises concern in this country, where center-left President Cristina Kirchner is trying to keep the economy from stagnating.
Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana called the comments made on Wednesday by CIA Director Leon Panetta "unfounded and irresponsible, especially from an agency that has a sad history of meddling in the affairs of countries in the region."
Taiana said he will meet on Friday with U.S. Ambassador Earl Anthony Wayne to demand an explanation. (Reporting by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by John O'Callaghan)
Putin:He, like Maddie Notallbright, wants Russia to be strong because they don't trust their country.
Russia Waiting for US Solution to Missile Shield Dispute: Medvedev
Deutsche Welle, by Staff
3/1/2009 3:32:59 PM
Russia is awaiting new proposals from the United States to resolve a dispute on missile defense that has chilled ties between the two Cold War ex-foes; President Dmitry Medvedev was quoted Sunday as saying. Medvedev's comments were among the most upbeat yet by Moscow on the chance of an improvement in ties under new US President Barack Obama (Snip) Moscow has reacted furiously to plans by the former administration of George W. Bush
QUOTE (Lord_Proprietor @ Mar 1 2009, 02:50 PM)
Putin:He, like Maddie Notallbright, wants Russia to be strong because they don't trust their country.
In know what they said about that look when Sarah Palin did it.
PILF?
PILFO
same to you
Russian general says U.S. may have planned satellite collision
03/03/2009 13:01 MOSCOW, March 3 (RIA Novosti) -
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090303/120392490-print.html
A collision between U.S. and Russian satellites in early February may have been a test of new U.S. technology to intercept and destroy satellites rather than an accident, a Russian military expert has said.
According to official reports, one of 66 satellites owned by Iridium, a U.S. telecoms company, and the Russian Cosmos-2251 satellite, launched in 1993 and believed to be defunct, collided on February 10 about 800 kilometers (500 miles) above Siberia.
However, Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Leonid Shershnev, a former head of Russia's military space intelligence, said in an interview published by the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper on Tuesday that the U.S. satellite involved in the collision was used by the U.S. military as part of the "dual-purpose" Orbital Express research project, which began in 2007.
Orbital Express was a space mission managed by the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and a team led by engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC).
According to the DARPA, the program was "to validate the technical feasibility of robotic, autonomous on-orbit refueling and reconfiguration of satellites to support a broad range of future U.S. national security and commercial space programs."
Orbital Express was launched in March 2007 as part of the U.S. Air Force Space Test Program's STP-1 mission. It tested a prototype servicing satellite (ASTRO) and a surrogate next generation serviceable satellite (NextSat). The demonstration program met all the mission success criteria and was officially completed in July 2007.
Shershnev claims the U.S. military decided to continue with the project to "develop technology that would allow monitoring and inspections of orbital spacecraft by fully-automated satellites equipped with robotic devices."
The February collision could be an indication that the U.S. has successfully developed such technology and is capable of manipulating 'hostile satellites,' including their destruction, with a single command from a ground control center, the general said.
Looks as if they are trying to "gang up" on the new President, BHO!
To my special friend
Gordon, 25 DVDs: Obama
gives Brown a set of classic
movies. Let's hope he likes
the Wizard of Oz
By Ian Drury
Daily Mail UK
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/...-Wizard-Oz.html
Last updated at 8:17 AM on 06th March 2009
As he headed back home from Washington, Gordon Brown must have rummaged through his party bag with disappointment.
Mr Brown is not thought to be a film buff, and his reaction to the box set is unknown. But it didn't really compare to the thoughtful presents he had brought along with him.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/...-Wizard-Oz.html
Perhaps got them as a bonus for joining a DVD club or at the bargin counter at Walmart - not very good diplomatic thinking, IMHO. I suspect PM Brown will not have a special display case built to display the DVDs in his No. 10 Downing Street Office.
Some "class", huh? Well, maybe Chicago type class.
Gordon, 25 DVDs: Obama
gives Brown a set of classic
movies. Let's hope he likes
the Wizard of Oz
By Ian Drury
Daily Mail UK
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/...-Wizard-Oz.html
Last updated at 8:17 AM on 06th March 2009
As he headed back home from Washington, Gordon Brown must have rummaged through his party bag with disappointment.
Because all he got was a set of DVDs. Barack Obama, the leader of the world's richest country, gave the Prime Minister a box set of 25 classic American films - a gift about as exciting as a pair of socks.
Mr Brown is not thought to be a film buff, and his reaction to the box set is unknown. But it didn't really compare to the thoughtful presents he had brought along with him.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/...-Wizard-Oz.html
Perhaps got them as a bonus for joining a DVD club or at the bargin counter at Walmart - not very good diplomatic thinking, IMHO. I suspect PM Brown will not have a special display case built to display the DVDs in his No. 10 Downing Street Office.
Some "class", huh? Well, maybe Chicago type class.
That is a GREAT PRESENT. Uniquely American.
Jesus, what is wrong with you old dude?
Jesus, what is wrong with you old dude?
That is great. lol. I don't remember that one and I have all the books. I was at a garage sale and they had all the Calvin and Hobbes and Far Side 25 cents each.
Pretty soon he bites dad's leg.
can't find my fave
his mom says the stuffed bell peppers are monkey heads, so he's excited about dinner
his mom says the stuffed bell peppers are monkey heads, so he's excited about dinner
President Barack Obama dislikes Britain, but he's keen to meet the Queen
Telegraph.co.uk
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/iain_martin/b..._meet_the_queen
Iain Martin at Mar 6, 2009
President Obama has been rudeness personified towards Britain this week. His handling of the visit of the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to Washington was appalling. First Brown wasn't granted a press conference with flags, then one was hastily arranged in the Oval office after the Brits had to beg. Obama looked like he would rather have been anywhere else than welcoming the British leader to his office and topped it all with his choice of present (*) for the PM. A box of 25 DVDS including ET, the Wizard of Oz and Star Wars? Oh, give me strength. We do have television and DVD stores on this side of the Atlantic. Even Gordon Brown will have seen those films too often already.
A bit of regal glamour is quick to woo Barack Obama (Photo: PA)
This was coupled with Michelle Obama's casual choice of gifts for the Brown sons - matching models of the helicopter which ferry her husband around. While Sarah Brown had spent time choosing gifts for the Obama girls, Michelle had clearly sent an aide to the White House gift shop at the last moment.
All in all, he doesn't think much of us, as I explained in my post here earlier this week.
But what's this? Something, suddenly, seems to have made the Obama White House perk up and start to take an interest in the Brits. The Queen has invited the President to tea when he's here for the G20 in April. And he's in through the front door of Buckingham Palace faster than a Harley Davidson roaring along Route 66.
Note how the coolness of Team Obama disappears when a bit of regal glamour is introduced into the equation. He might not like the Brits, but he can recognise a global superstar when he encounters one. He wants to be associated with her. He's shameless.
(*) If Obama, or someone in his inner circle, had spent two minutes thinking about what present to get Brown then they could easily have come up with something appropriate. He likes books. He loves American history. Get him a signed first edition of a good Robert Dallek book such as the brilliant Flawed Giant on LBJ. Come to think of it, Obama should read it too, if he hasn't yet, as it reveals a great deal about how a Presidency can go so wrong.
Telegraph.co.uk
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/iain_martin/b..._meet_the_queen
Iain Martin at Mar 6, 2009
President Obama has been rudeness personified towards Britain this week. His handling of the visit of the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to Washington was appalling. First Brown wasn't granted a press conference with flags, then one was hastily arranged in the Oval office after the Brits had to beg. Obama looked like he would rather have been anywhere else than welcoming the British leader to his office and topped it all with his choice of present (*) for the PM. A box of 25 DVDS including ET, the Wizard of Oz and Star Wars? Oh, give me strength. We do have television and DVD stores on this side of the Atlantic. Even Gordon Brown will have seen those films too often already.
A bit of regal glamour is quick to woo Barack Obama (Photo: PA)
This was coupled with Michelle Obama's casual choice of gifts for the Brown sons - matching models of the helicopter which ferry her husband around. While Sarah Brown had spent time choosing gifts for the Obama girls, Michelle had clearly sent an aide to the White House gift shop at the last moment.
All in all, he doesn't think much of us, as I explained in my post here earlier this week.
But what's this? Something, suddenly, seems to have made the Obama White House perk up and start to take an interest in the Brits. The Queen has invited the President to tea when he's here for the G20 in April. And he's in through the front door of Buckingham Palace faster than a Harley Davidson roaring along Route 66.
Note how the coolness of Team Obama disappears when a bit of regal glamour is introduced into the equation. He might not like the Brits, but he can recognise a global superstar when he encounters one. He wants to be associated with her. He's shameless.
(*) If Obama, or someone in his inner circle, had spent two minutes thinking about what present to get Brown then they could easily have come up with something appropriate. He likes books. He loves American history. Get him a signed first edition of a good Robert Dallek book such as the brilliant Flawed Giant on LBJ. Come to think of it, Obama should read it too, if he hasn't yet, as it reveals a great deal about how a Presidency can go so wrong.
You are getting buggier every day.
Obama doesn't hate the Brits.
You people are idiots. Bush massages shoulders and does all kinds of ignorant sheit and you idiots give him a pass.
<shakes head>
Obama doesn't hate the Brits.
You people are idiots. Bush massages shoulders and does all kinds of ignorant sheit and you idiots give him a pass.
<shakes head>
On a slightly different note, did I read LP correctly as saying that he actually never saw combat in WWII?
QUOTE (Nomarchy @ Mar 6 2009, 03:49 PM)
On a slightly different note, did I read LP correctly as saying that he actually never saw combat in WWII?
I've always stated that I arrived in Germany shortly after the shooting was over and was a soldier in the occupation army. In Germany I was in the AG department, mostly, (attached to a housing quartermaster group) and one of my jobs during my time there was "confiscating" houses, for Americans and their families, military and civilian, from the mostly NAZI connected German citizens. Civilians awa military were coming over to be a part of "the how to live in a democracy" re-education process for the German people. I had a Naturalized American interpreter from Milwakee, who "got caught" in Germany after the war started, so he said, who was "very happy to assist" because he was trying to get back into the "good graces" of the American officials who would control his "reentry" to the USA.
The job was not exactly a pleasant one since many of the people who got caught up in the NAZI controlled business world had no choice but to cooperate or else. I remember one home in particular of a prosperous businessman, in an upscale section on a hill, in the old city of Bamberg, (for "general & field grade officers" and "GS-12 civilians" and above) who requested only one piece of furniture, the desk in his study/library, and specific pieces of his art collection be excluded. It was a handsome, large, hand carved desk and, in addition to its DM value, I always suspected it had some secret compartments where he could have stored some valuables. And his collection of art was of no value to the military so I allowed those items to be marked for removal. All that had to be done before, with the owner present and assisting with the description and values, a complete inventory of the furnishings was done and signed off by the military and owner. He would be paid a lease or rental fee until such time as the home was returned to him. That is the way it was when I was there, I don't know how it changed at a later time, which I'm sure it did.
Shortly before I left, the dependents without children were beginning to arrive. Officers' and top grade enlisted men's wives came first and after the commissaries and schools were set up the kids would have come. It was set up so when Americans came over and occupied the (graded) houses, they were allowed gardeners, maids, etc. and all of this helped with the employment of the German citizens. Those jobs, although menial, were actually choice because in some cases it meant, food, clothes and yes, cigarettes (DM300 per carton). Food was very short, I remember being disturbed after seeing Nuns from the local Dom Convent going through our garbage bins beside the mess hall. Even though our mess hall took food to the orphanages which the Nuns operated, they were still scratching for every little scrap of food.
I was surprised how fast the military was able to set up all the Military Government Operations and supply depots and such and get the MG personnel (lots of civilians) in place - we began to work with those people and later turned our work over to them - astounding to say the least as compared with what happened in Iraq, but then again, the Germans were very anxious for freedom, real freedom, and helped to control the "skinhead type nazi people".
QUOTE
no choice but to cooperate or else
hmmm
a "with us or with the terrorists" attitude
sounds familiar
Seymour Hersh dropped another bombshell this week when he revealed that former Vice-President Dick Cheney had his own SS-style political assassination unit that reported directly to him.
Hersh told a University of Minnesota audience on Tuesday, “After 9/11, I haven’t written about this yet, but the Central Intelligence Agency was very deeply involved in domestic activities against people they thought to be enemies of the state. Without any legal authority for it. They haven’t been called on it yet.”
Hersh then went on to describe how the Joint Special Operations Command was an executive assassination unit that carried out political`assassinations abroad. . “It is a special wing of our special operations community that is set up independently,” he explained. “They do not report to anybody, except in the Bush-Cheney days, they reported directly to the Cheney office. … Congress has no oversight of it.”
http://www.prisonplanet.com/hersh-cheney-r...ation-unit.html
Hersh told a University of Minnesota audience on Tuesday, “After 9/11, I haven’t written about this yet, but the Central Intelligence Agency was very deeply involved in domestic activities against people they thought to be enemies of the state. Without any legal authority for it. They haven’t been called on it yet.”
Hersh then went on to describe how the Joint Special Operations Command was an executive assassination unit that carried out political`assassinations abroad. . “It is a special wing of our special operations community that is set up independently,” he explained. “They do not report to anybody, except in the Bush-Cheney days, they reported directly to the Cheney office. … Congress has no oversight of it.”
http://www.prisonplanet.com/hersh-cheney-r...ation-unit.html
SHOWDOWN:
Justice Dept. Investigates Sheriff Joe
for Enforcing Immigration Law;
16,000+ Illegals detained...
Drudge --
(CNSNews.com) - The Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched an investigation of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in Arizona following requests by congressional Democrats and allegations by liberal activists that the department has violated the civil rights of illegal aliens.
http://cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=44899
Justice Dept. Investigates Sheriff Joe
for Enforcing Immigration Law;
16,000+ Illegals detained...
Drudge --
(CNSNews.com) - The Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched an investigation of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in Arizona following requests by congressional Democrats and allegations by liberal activists that the department has violated the civil rights of illegal aliens.
http://cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=44899
The Obama Watch
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/03/18/rookie-mistake
Rookie Mistake
By Ilan Berman on 3.18.09 @ 6:10AM
Last month, as part of his plans to "push the reset button" on U.S.-Russian relations, the new president sent a secret letter to his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev. The missive reportedly contained a simple offer: America would move to scrap Bush administration-era plans to deploy missile defenses in Eastern Europe in return for the Kremlin's help in dealing with Iran's persistent nuclear ambitions.
Russia's response was rapid -- and far from enthusiastic.......
.......In Vegas, showing your cards in such a fashion might be forgiven as a rookie mistake.
In the unforgiving world of international politics, however, it is not likely to be.
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/03/18/rookie-mistake
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/03/18/rookie-mistake
Rookie Mistake
By Ilan Berman on 3.18.09 @ 6:10AM
Last month, as part of his plans to "push the reset button" on U.S.-Russian relations, the new president sent a secret letter to his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev. The missive reportedly contained a simple offer: America would move to scrap Bush administration-era plans to deploy missile defenses in Eastern Europe in return for the Kremlin's help in dealing with Iran's persistent nuclear ambitions.
Russia's response was rapid -- and far from enthusiastic.......
.......In Vegas, showing your cards in such a fashion might be forgiven as a rookie mistake.
In the unforgiving world of international politics, however, it is not likely to be.
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/03/18/rookie-mistake
future historians are likely to look back at March 13, 2009 as the day that American imperialism began it’s inexorable decline. That’s the day that Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao announced that his country was “worried” about its holdings of over $1 trillion in US treasury securities, and warned that he wanted the US to assure China that it would maintain its good credit and “honor its promises” and “maintain the safety of China’s assets.”
There is no way that the US can accommodate Premier Wen and still finance and operate a global military system with over 1000 overseas bases, massive aircraft carrier battle groups, and with hundreds of thousands of men and women armed to the teeth with the latest high-tech military hardware, not to mention fight endless wars on the far side of the globe.
What China is doing is pulling the rug out from under America’s six decades of global military dominance.
Who's Calling the Shots Now: The Death of American Empire
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Who-s-Cal...090317-788.html
There is no way that the US can accommodate Premier Wen and still finance and operate a global military system with over 1000 overseas bases, massive aircraft carrier battle groups, and with hundreds of thousands of men and women armed to the teeth with the latest high-tech military hardware, not to mention fight endless wars on the far side of the globe.
What China is doing is pulling the rug out from under America’s six decades of global military dominance.
Who's Calling the Shots Now: The Death of American Empire
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Who-s-Cal...090317-788.html
QUOTE
Chinese Premier Wen has made it clear that the US is no longer calling the shots.
QUOTE (inyerface @ Mar 18 2009, 05:06 AM)
Who's Calling the Shots Now: The Death of American Empire
THe author seems to like conspiracies as much as you do...
QUOTE
Lindorff gained national attention when he ran a story, just days before the 2004 presidential election, accusing President George W. Bush of using a remote wireless cueing device under his jacket and embedded in his ear during the Presidential debates against Democrat John Kerry.
conspiracy?
bush had no aids, no help, no tricks, no lies.
you have no clue
bush had no aids, no help, no tricks, no lies.
you have no clue
QUOTE (inyerface @ Mar 18 2009, 07:26 AM)
conspiracy?
bush had no aids, no help, no tricks, no lies.
you have no clue
bush had no aids, no help, no tricks, no lies.
you have no clue
So the lump really was a remote cueing device then?
it was spongebob
Bam's Gift to Brit a DV-Dud
New York Post, by Andy Soltis
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03202009/news/..._dud_160491.htm
3/20/2009 7:48:17 AM
Many Britons were outraged last month when President Obama gave their prime minister a set of DVDs. Now, it turns out, the discs can't even be viewed in England. When Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently tried to watch one of the 25 American classic films in a boxed set he received during a ceremonial visit to Washington, the words "wrong region" flashed on his screen, according to The Daily Telegraph of London.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03202009/news/..._dud_160491.htm
New York Post, by Andy Soltis
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03202009/news/..._dud_160491.htm
3/20/2009 7:48:17 AM
Many Britons were outraged last month when President Obama gave their prime minister a set of DVDs. Now, it turns out, the discs can't even be viewed in England. When Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently tried to watch one of the 25 American classic films in a boxed set he received during a ceremonial visit to Washington, the words "wrong region" flashed on his screen, according to The Daily Telegraph of London.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03202009/news/..._dud_160491.htm
whose brilliant coding does that?
ours, no doubt.
freedom aint free at all
its tied, tangled, abused, sold, stolen, mocked, faked, CONTROLLED
pwned
ours, no doubt.
freedom aint free at all
its tied, tangled, abused, sold, stolen, mocked, faked, CONTROLLED
pwned
QUOTE (Lord_Proprietor @ Mar 20 2009, 08:57 AM)
Bam's Gift to Brit a DV-Dud
New York Post, by Andy Soltis
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03202009/news/..._dud_160491.htm
3/20/2009 7:48:17 AM
Many Britons were outraged last month when President Obama gave their prime minister a set of DVDs. Now, it turns out, the discs can't even be viewed in England. When Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently tried to watch one of the 25 American classic films in a boxed set he received during a ceremonial visit to Washington, the words "wrong region" flashed on his screen, according to The Daily Telegraph of London.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03202009/news/..._dud_160491.htm
New York Post, by Andy Soltis
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03202009/news/..._dud_160491.htm
3/20/2009 7:48:17 AM
Many Britons were outraged last month when President Obama gave their prime minister a set of DVDs. Now, it turns out, the discs can't even be viewed in England. When Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently tried to watch one of the 25 American classic films in a boxed set he received during a ceremonial visit to Washington, the words "wrong region" flashed on his screen, according to The Daily Telegraph of London.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03202009/news/..._dud_160491.htm
That's what I feared. I bet you didn't know, did you LP?
QUOTE (inyerface @ Mar 20 2009, 08:04 AM)
whose brilliant coding does that?
ours, no doubt.
freedom aint free at all
its tied, tangled, abused, sold, stolen, mocked, faked, CONTROLLED
pwned
ours, no doubt.
freedom aint free at all
its tied, tangled, abused, sold, stolen, mocked, faked, CONTROLLED
pwned
Otherwise, American 'information' and 'culture' companies are all about freedom.
Engaging in labor price arbitrage is "free trade" but attempting to do the same with consumables, including e.g. pharmaceuticals is a no-no.
The same exact farking textbook sells for pennies on the dollar if purchased in Singapore (or, illegally through the internet, by an American from one who has access to Singapore-version textbooks), my students tell me.
QUOTE (Davis 2.0 @ Mar 20 2009, 08:40 AM)
That's what I feared. I bet you didn't know, did you LP?
I should have thought of that, but I don't have a staff and people whose only job is protocol.
Obama needs to toss in an American DVD player.
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