Posted by farleft | Posted on 30-04-2008
Category : Liberal Antidote
Tags: Afghanistan, Taliban
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
By Fred Burton and Scott Stewart
Courtesy of Stratfor
The Taliban’s April 27 attack against a ceremony commemorating Afghanistan’s independence has gotten a lot of media attention. One reason driving the coverage is that the attack took place during an event broadcast on live television that was attended by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and an array of local and foreign dignitaries, including the U.S. and British ambassadors and the NATO commander in Afghanistan.
The strike, which left three people dead, has also resulted in severe criticism of Afghan intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh, Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and Interior Minister Zarar Ahmad Moqbel, with some Afghan lawmakers calling for their resignations.
Clearly, the attack underscores the Karzai regime’s continuing struggle to achieve stability in Afghanistan: the attack was the third assassination attempt against him in his four-year presidency. It is also a reminder — like the massive suicide bombing that occurred in Baghlan province Nov. 6, 2007, and the Jan. 14 attack against the Serena Hotel in Kabul — that Taliban militants have expanded beyond their traditional operational strongholds in Afghanistan’s South.
Posted by farleft | Posted on 23-04-2008
Category : Liberal Antidote
Tags: Iran, Iraq, United States
By Peter Zeihan
Courtesy of Strategic Forecasting
Fear is a powerful motivator, even getting results when the threat is exceedingly remote. It makes us cross at crosswalks even when traffic is thin, pay more over time for fire insurance than our homes are worth, and shy away from snakes even when signs clearly inform us they are not poisonous. Humans instinctively take steps to prevent negative outcomes, oftentimes regardless of how likely — or more to the point, unlikely — those unpleasant outcomes are.
Posted by farleft | Posted on 21-04-2008
Category : Liberal Antidote
Tags: bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton
I’ve often written of Hillary Clinton that she will someday become the Norma Desmond of modern politics, descending a flight of stairs in delusional grandeur as the cameras roll.
However, that can’t happen until the primary is over. Meanwhile, the most apt comparisons for Hillary and husband Bill are to Gollum and the Eye of Sauron.
As she becomes more desperate, Hillary is now muttering "my precious" even as her precious–the ring to bind them all in the person of the presidency–slips ever farther from her reach.
Meanwhile, husband BIll is the Eye of Sauron, policing all the political hacks, cronies and liars he’s accumulated through the years of public abuse to make sure they don’t stray from the fold and disrupt the Clintons’ perceived path to destiny–and to dynasty.
Case in point: Look at how Bill trashed New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who was in Clinton’s cabinet, when he endorsed Hosannah Obama.
What next? The pits of Mordor? Yes, but only if a Demofiend captures and takes the White House–and the rest of us–prisoner.
Posted by farleft | Posted on 16-04-2008
Category : Liberal Antidote
Tags: China, Tibet
By George Friedman
Courtesy of Strategic Forecasting
China is an island. We do not mean it is surrounded by water; we mean China is surrounded by territory that is difficult to traverse. Therefore, China is hard to invade; given its size and population, it is even harder to occupy. This also makes it hard for the Chinese to invade others; not utterly impossible, but quite difficult. Containing a fifth of the world’s population, China can wall itself off from the world, as it did prior to the United Kingdom’s forced entry in the 19th century and under Mao Zedong. All of this means China is a great power, but one that has to behave very differently than other great powers.
Analyzing Chinese Geography
Let’s begin simply by analyzing Chinese geography, looking at two maps. The first represents the physical geography of China.
Posted by farleft | Posted on 09-04-2008
Category : Liberal Antidote
Tags: Barack Obama, dialogue on race
It takes some gumption to put myself in the same category as the distinguished professor and columnist Thomas Sowell, but amen.
Sowell is one of the few people out there with either the sagacity or guts to proclaim that Barack Obama, in his much-acclaimed speech on needing a "dialogue on race," actually shut the door on any open discussion. Now, only Obama and his cronies will be able to talk about race.
Here are Sowell’s words:
Nothing is more fraudulent than calls for a "dialogue on race." Those who issue such calls are usually quick to cry "racism" at any frank criticism. They are almost invariably seeking a monologue on race, to which others are supposed to listen.
Double amen.
Posted by farleft | Posted on 05-04-2008
Category : Liberal Antidote
Tags: bill Clinton
I can’t imagine a single person who warrants making $51 million over seven years for giving speeches, but that’s what Bill Clinton claims in his just-released tax returns.
Payola would be a better term. Even graft and corrupt while in office being repaid by the recipients might describe it better.
I mean, if you want to hear cheap bullshit, there are all kinds of carnival barkers, shell game organizers and rackets runners who are a lot cheaper.
Ah, the price of Demofiend politics in the United States.
Posted by farleft | Posted on 02-04-2008
Category : Liberal Antidote
Tags: Iran, Iraq, President George Bush, Russia, Syria, Ukraine
By George Friedman
Courtesy of Stratford
For the past year, Stratfor has been focusing on what we see as the critical global geopolitical picture. As the U.S.-jihadist war has developed, it has absorbed American military resources dramatically. It is overstated to say that the United States lacks the capacity to intervene anywhere else in the world, but it is not overstated to say that the United States cannot make a major, sustained intervention without abandoning Iraq. Thus, the only global power has placed almost all of its military chips in the Islamic world.
Exploiting U.S. Distractions
Russia has taken advantage of the imbalance in the U.S. politico-military posture to attempt to re-establish its sphere of influence in the former Soviet Union. To this end, Russia has taken advantage of its enhanced financial position — due to soaring commodity prices, particularly in the energy sector — as well as a lack of American options in the region.
The Russians do not have any interest in re-establishing the Soviet Union, nor even in controlling the internal affairs of most of the former Soviet republics. Moscow does want to do two things, however. First, it wants to coordinate commodity policies across the board to enhance Russian leverage. Second, and far more important, it wants to limit U.S. and European influence in these countries. Above all, Russia does not want to see NATO expand any further — and Moscow undoubtedly would like to see a NATO rollback, particularly in the Baltic states.
