Banning Trump

I hesitate to put a number to it, since it is increasing so rapidly, but more than 400,000 people, in the UK, have petitioned the UK government to ban GOP hopeful Donald Trump, from visiting the UK.

The cause is said to be his statements that America should ban all Muslims from entering the country. It seems that many people find Trump's views as undemocratic, and unworthy of the American ideals of free speech etc.

So the solution is, to show the value that the British put on free speech by banning Donald Trump's right to free speech.  Funny old world!

I don't particularly like Donald Trump and find his brand of politics is just 'Mr Angry with a loud voice' but he has undoubtedly struck a chord with many Americans.  So far, with Trump, all we have really heard are sound bites, particularly around immigration and latterly concerning Daesh and Muslims.

You might think his views are obnoxious but he has the right to say them.

If British people want to petition the UK Government, why not do so in opposition to the UK Government allowing Islamic terrorists, who have fought for Daesh, in Syria and Iraq, back into the UK?  Why not petition the UK Government to ban the hate preacher Anjem Choudary?  Why not shut-down Finsbury Park mosque and some of the other radical mosques?  Why not ban the wearing of the burka?  These are subjects worthy of a petition.  Donald Trump's right to free speech, isn't.

My major concern with Trump is with his egotism and over-confidence in his own self-belief.  Trump is running as a candidate for the Republican nomination.  It is well known that he is very wealthy but I have a fear that he is anti-democratic.  The Donald, as he styles himself, doesn't do humble and doesn't think he has to listen to the people who he professes to want to serve.  If the Republican voters, in the various primary elections decide to reject Trump and plump for another candidate, it is my strong expectation that Trump will cry foul and then decide to run as an independent.  This would then make, the Democrat front-runner, the highly ethically-dodgy Hillary Clinton, a shoo-in for the Presidency.

The questions that I believe should be asked of Donald Trump are these:

If, following the Primary Elections, you do not have sufficient delegates to secure the Republican nomination, will you accept the result of the National Convention and publicly and privately endorse the chosen candidate?

Will you now state, that there are no circumstances, none (as in zero, nada, nil) under which you would run as an independent third party candidate and thus split the Republican vote.

If you get the chance, ask Mr Trump these questions, and keep asking them.

Part of Mr Trump's appeal is his supposed straight talking and his not being part of the Washington insider gang.  He is not one of 'them'.  Reading around the subject of Donald Trump, we do find though that he has, himself, flip-flopped on policy and political allegiance, in the past.  One would hope, that if he did answer on the record, the above questions, he would do so honestly and would then honour his responses.  That he wouldn't, like we usually find with Washington politicians, say one thing and do something different and then justify it with mealy-mouthed excuses.  Is Mr Trump up to the challenge?

As said earlier, there is far too little policy meat on the carcass to allow one to back Trump.  I am not an American voter, so couldn't vote for him nor would I if I had the chance.  Making America Great again, is a catchy slogan but how?  That is the question.  How will Trump tackle the ever ballooning deficit and debt that has been run-up by the Obama administration and the Congress?  The American National Debt has doubled, under Obama, to $17 trillion!  I was going to write that out with 17 followed by a series of 000s but I am not entirely sure I know how many or if they would all fit on one line!

America's biggest problems are on the domestic scene.

America's economy is, in my view, stuttering.  The jobless figures are flattered by people leaving the jobs market, altogether - people taking early retirement, because they see no prospect of getting a job, young women taking the career break now, to have children because they see no prospect of a job, etc., etc..  It is going to take much more than building a wall across the southern frontier to get America's economy moving.  It has been bloated by fake money - Quantitative Easing, to you and I - for far too long.  Interest rates are far too low, though if now raised, would likely lead to other pain for ordinary Americans.  These ordinary Americans have taken their cue from the US government (successive ones of both hues) and keep on kicking the debt can, down the road.  If Americans want to understand why they are losing jobs overseas  and power and prestige on the World's stage it is because the once mighty US Dollar has become and continues to become devalued and weak.  That weakness is currently hidden within an overall weak global picture, but it is there!

The Obama administration has been obsessed with changing America.  Pushing ever more changes to the definition of marriage, to the education of future generations and a whole other raft of politically liberal, minority issues, which pull apart the weave in the tapestry that made America what it is.

Making America great again - on the international front - wouldn't be too difficult.  It would require just about a 180 degree shift in policy but that shouldn't be above an incoming President.  It would require recognition that international terrorism is the greatest threat to America (and the World).  It would require that radical Islam is identified as the founding father of international terrorism.  No radical Islam would largely mean an end to international terrorism.  It would require that the new administration recognise it has sorely tested the patience and allegiance of its allies.  In the Middle East, America should be backing Israel, should be actively against Iran and Saudi Arabia, should rein in and make clear its opposition to the potentially genocidal Erdogan of Turkey.

Militarily, America should be prepared to intervene, and that has to mean 'boots on the ground'.  Failed states like Libya and Syria need a global policeman to come in and 'bang a few heads together'  and to restore a semblance of order.  Maybe such countries aren't ready or right for democracy, maybe a strong man, who is not anti-West is what is needed, rather than a focus on women's issues and climate change, when it comes to nation building.

We're just not hearing, from Donald Trump, what he would do!

So long as Texas Senator, Ted Cruz, has the funding to stay the course, he will be up against Donald Trump.  Cruz also isn't an 'establishment' candidate but he is consistent and consistently right on the issues that face America.  I suppose it is too much to ask that the also rans - Rubio, Bush, etc., depart the stage before Iowa and New Hampshire but they should do so, as soon as possible.  Republicans need to be united behind a candidate.  That candidate should be Ted Cruz!

 



     

News update November 10

IAAF and Russia doping
Lord Sebastian Coe is either being excessively polite to the Russian athletics authorities or he is not yet entirely confident that he can persuade the organisation that he now leads, the IAAF, to do the right thing.

The World Anti-Doping Association - WADA - found widespread and state-sponsored support of a programme designed to thwart efforts to root out performance enhancing and other doping, from athletics.  The crystal clear recommendation is that Russia should be banned from international athletic meetings for a period of time.  Such time would include the 2016 Rio de Janiero Olympics.  Consider that there is none of the usual 'bureacratese' about the WADA report - nothing about 'appropriate disciplinary action' or 'measures should be taken'.  WADA are clear - a ban.

Come on Lord Coe!  Send the world of sport a very clear message that doping is unacceptable and will be punished.  This might be harsh on any 'clean' Russian athletes but that's just tough.  Russia needs to suffer for its sins and so that the world of athletics knows, that the IAAF has teeth.

Global Warming
I don't subscribe to the fad of changing a subject title simply because the facts stubbornly refuse to support it!  So I won't be discussing the faddish 'Climate Change'

The BBC and no doubt all of their fellow travellers in the environmental lobby are sounding the alarm bells because the temperature figures for 2015 through to the end of September are 1.02C above the average for the period 1850 to 1900.  They try to slide in a comment about 'confusion' relating to earlier periods but we have seen, time and time again, that the Global Warming scaremongers have consistently fudged and fixed the numbers to suit their pseudo-science.  Always, always remember, these folks have monetary and career based vested interests in pushing the warnings.

The latest data is a joint effort from the UK Meteorological Office and the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia.  The latter were heavily discredited, and remain so in many people's opinions, by their highly questionable behaviour in the Climate Gate scandal.

The BBC do have the good grace to admit that the so called El Nino weather phenomenon is also a contributory factor in the temperature increase but don't say whether or not this was present during the earlier time period - so we don't know if the data sets are comparing apples with apples!  Nothing new for the Global Warming industry!  

Refugees
Prepare yourself for a shock!

Sitting comfortably?  Okay, I'll begin.

It seems that a leading member of Daesh/ISIS has been discovered among the so called Syrian 'refugees'.  I know, what a shock, almost floored me.  Then I remembered that sensible commentators - you know, those that point out that most of the 'refugees' are in fact young men of military age and these far outnumber the relatively few families - the commentators have consistently predicted that Daesh would use the situation to infiltrate battle-hardened terrorists into Europe.

Don't be surprised at this story, when or more accurately if, you hear about it but do consider how many we don't know about!  It would be naive in the extreme, to suppose that these murderous maniacs have only slipped one killer in among the 'refugees'.  Especially when the extremely foolish Merkel, threw open the German border, to them all.

Incidentally, it seems that the 'refugees' are very fast wearing out their welcome - or in many cases have already worn it out - in Sweden, Austria and Germany. If Twitter chatter is to be believed, these countries are seeing significantly increased instances of rape and child molestation as well has attacks on Christians.  And that is before Daesh get themselves properly situated!  

Yemen
Just thought I would mention it.  It seems to have fallen off of the news agenda in recent months but the few available reports suggest that this Saudi/Iran proxy war is particularly bloody and, as is so often the case, civilians are the largest victim group.

Don't hear too much wailing and gnashing of teeth from Obama's White House though.  One senses that this will run and run.

Israel
You likely won't hear too much about what is going on in Israel either.

Palestinians - remember those people that 'right-on' countries have been rushing to recognise as a state - are entering Israel and then seeking to stab and kill random innocent Israeli civilians.  Old lady on a bus - stab her - in the name of peace!  Group standing at a bus stop - drive a car into them and then jump out and stab them, just to make sure they die - for peace, of course.

You will though, hear the usual Leftist bleating if Israel reacts by sealing off Gaza and the West Bank.  I am kind of surprised that Netanyahu hasn't done this already!

More tomorrow....

Obama's revenge

Say what you like about President Obama, no one can accuse him of letting the grass grow under his feet, when it comes to settling scores.

No sooner had Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, been re-elected (read more here ) than people from Obama's team have leaked highly classified information relating to Israel's nuclear capabilities.

Be very clear, this leak was directed against Israel.  The document also contained information on Britain's and France's capabilities but these were redacted and only that on Israel, remained.

Israel has incurred the wrath of Obama because they, and particularly Netanyahu, see the dangers in treating with Iran, as with nuclear deal and, very publicly, say so.

Maybe Israel should follow the example of Iran?

Here they are, going to get a sweetheart deal that will allow them to continue with their development of a nuclear capability and will see economic sanctions lifted and yet do the Iranians sit back and take it easy?  Heavens no (or in Iran's case, hell no.)

They haven't even signed the deal with America but that hasn't stopped them from fomenting trouble and seeking regime change in Yemen.  And this is where it starts to get really dangerous.

America has withdrawn troops from a base in Yemen because they feared it might be overrun by Al Qaeda terrorists.  No Alamo type defence for Obama's boys!  They ran for the hills.  Is it any wonder when America has a President that fetes the family of a deserter, like Bowe Bergdahl?  With all the money that is spent on America's military, you have to expect that the 'top brass' must know the consequences of this and previous capitulations and yet all of those 4 stars and admirals stay silent.  They shame the uniform they wear and the brave soldiers, sailors and airmen who serve under them.
Let's assume that the military plead ignorance, for a moment.  Let them take a look to the North, to a country called Iraq.  At Obama's bidding, America ran away from here before the job was complete.  America's military leaders knew and know that this was the wrong thing to do.    The result?  In the South of the country, Iran and its stooges allowed ISIS to advance far into the country and take over large swathes of central and Northern Iraq.   I suppose Iran and their local militias figured that ISIS would focus on the North of the country but the Kurdish Peshmerga proved a far more formidable force than the 'turn tail and run' Iraqi Army and so ISIS has sought to change direction, southwards, and so started to step on Iran's toes.    And now we have the position where Iran and its local militias have tried to take Tikrit but cannot do so and in steps the US air force to bomb a path for them.  Of course, good form requires that the Iranians step back while America bombs and are not seen on the scene but don't doubt who will take the credit for ISIS' defeat.

The consequences of Obama's actions are many-fold.

Saudi Arabia and other Arabian Gulf countries can clearly see that Obama is abandoning the Gulf and allowing Iran a free rein to become the regional super-power.  These other countries have intervened in Yemen, because America ran away and because they cannot allow Iran a foothold on the Arabian peninsula.  Saudi Arabia is not in a position to stop Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon - Obama has seen to that.  So we can now expect Saudi Arabia to get its own nuclear weapons.  Perhaps buying from Pakistan or even North Korea?  Saudi Arabia has plenty of what both of these countries need - money.

So courtesy of Obama, the Arabian Gulf will become a nuclear-armed region, in a short space of time.

Of course, will Israel sit tight and allow Iran to become a nuclear power?  Or will they bite the bullet and bomb the Iranian facilities out of existence?  Will Israel get its nuclear retaliation in, first?  Might Israel figure, that the usual opprobrium that is heaped upon them, from Arab nations, would be more than somewhat muted, given that both Israel and these Arab nations share a common enemy - their neighbor, Iran.  The Europeans would screech and moan but what else can they do?  The US?  What do Israel have to fear?  They will get no favours or benefits from America for the next two years, only more of the same from the Obama White House.  Russia will use any such event as an opportunity to expand in Ukraine and maybe even further westward.  China?  They could be bought off with Gulf oil.

Such is the crop from the seeds that Obama has sown!

Somebody on Twitter, suggested that Vice-President Joe Biden was Obama's impeachment insurance - people might consider impeaching Obama but then would look at the line of succession and abandon the notion, when they see that Biden is next in line!  Biden does have an almost perverted interest in fondling other men's wives, which would be interesting on State occasions but surely the time has come to consider him the far lesser of the two evils?

Think of the damage that Obama can do in another 20 months.  Move for articles of impeachment to be issued, now.

Well done Bibi

 The title says it all.  Well done to Benjamin Netanyahu on his success in the recent Israeli elections.

This victory was seemingly against the odds as domestic issues - the economy etc., - tended to predominate and the story was not good.  Also because, to America's shame, it seems that President Obama went out of his way to interfere in Israeli politics and to actively work against Netanyahu's re-election.

It must have really stuck in the craw, for Islam-loving Obama, to find his only non-Bibi choice was a party bearing the word Zionist in its name but he swallowed deep and followed his political teachings, where the end justifies the means.  Except that this time, his end wasn't met.  The people of Israel did not fear the wrath of Obama.  

I trust though, that they can now depend on the support of the US Congress, whom Bibi just recently addressed.  The rumour-mill has it that in retaliation or more accurately, in a fit of childish pique, Obama will now change the US' stance at the United Nations and withdraw the previously solid and constant support for Israel.  

And why is Obama doing this?  

Well it is of course because Obama is looking to seal an agreement with Iran.  He sees this as an opportunity for a legacy.  His flagship Affordable Care Act or Obamacare as it is better known, is a miserable failure.  This will end-up being repealed wholly or in part, in the next administration. The American people are seeing through the pack of lies on which it was passed.  Not least because the people that passed it and their union backers have claimed exemptions  for themselves.  It's funny how Americans whose ancestors threw off the 'yoke of a monarchy' now have to endure an elected monarchy that sets one rule for the people and then sets themselves above those same rules.  Not so much 'let them eat cake' as let them eat higher insurance premiums'!

Benjamin Netanyahu understands that the deal being mooted, is a bad deal.  In this he is supported by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, who recognise the threat posed by a nuclear armed Iran.  This isn't just an existential threat to Israel.  Iran is developing Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs).  The clue to their target is in the name - intercontinental.  The target is of course, the 'Great Satan' itself, the USA.  Once again, Obama is seen to be jeopardising the safety of America and Americans.  His swapping of the 5 Taliban terrorists for the deserter Bowe Bergdahl was another example. 

Obama has pussy-footed around on Syria and ISIS and in part has allowed ISIS its successes because it serves his anti-Israel and anti-America aims.  It has been left to the courageous Peshmerga forces of Kurdistan to offer any real opposition to the murderous Islamic State - which Obama still insists, isn't  Islamic!  The Peshmerga have been collecting arms from European countries but isn't being supported by the USA.  Obama prefers instead, to put minimal resources into training (again) the Iraqi army controlled by Baghdad.  This is the same army that is being supported by murderous Shia-Muslim militias.  These same militias, in recent activity, went into Sunni-Muslim tribal areas, previously controlled by ISIS and then started massacring local Sunnis.  Obama and the Baghdad government know, absolutely know, that the defeat and annihilation of ISIS in Southern Iraq, is very dependent  upon the support of Sunnis but that didn't stop them from letting the militias loose.  Is there any wonder that the Kurds want to take Mosul and Kirkuk themselves rather than leave it to the butchers from Baghdad?

It seems clear to this non-American observer, that Obama is working against the interest of the USA and its allies (sadly, a dwindling band) and it is now incumbent on the US Congress, in addition to providing support to Israel, to commence impeachment proceedings against Obama and should at the same time, use existing congressional mechanisms to de-fund Obamacare and other anti-American and anti-free enterprise legislation that has been recently passed.

Be clear, America and the World cannot successfully survive another two years of this very dangerous White House.

Do Americans still have courage? 

Republicans - wake up!

President Obama delivered his State of the Union speech this week.

There really wasn't anything surprising in its content.
The usual - the economy is thriving, its all because of Obama's policies, Obama's foreign policy is paying dividends, Obama wants more money for 'programmes', blah, blah, blah.

What I haven't heard though is a robust and concerted response from the Republicans.  Yes, those members of the party that scored resounding victories in the mid-term elections.   Where are they?  Where is the strong line that says:

 "Mr President, you have shown, over and over again, that you do not want to work with Republicans.  We have gotten the message.  We will now do what we were elected to do!  We are going to represent the people of America.  Therefore, we will oppose any, let us say that again, any attempt at any, repeat any, kind of Amnesty Bill.  We will begin steps to defund Obamacare.  Firstly though, we will revoke any and all exemptions from Obamacare.  We believe that if it is as good as you and your supporters claim, then it must be good enough for Congress and all of the other elites that have wheedled exemptions out of the administration"

"We will begin steps to reduce the deficit by rolling back the frontiers of the state.  We will work with Homeland Security and make such cooperation on a clear quid pro quo basis - as in Homeland Security does its job and seals the southern border and we continue to fund them."

"We will work with the foreign allies of the United States.  We have already begun this process by inviting the Premier of Israel to address Congress.  Countries like Israel, Canada and the European members of NATO, as well as places like Kurdistan deserve America's support both moral and materiel and we will aid this.  We put you on notice that we will not support any further aid to organisations representing Palestinians.  We will actively oppose any further rapproachment with Iran.  Actively means that we will link all of the spending that comes out of the State Department with the furtherance of this policy. "

"We will bring forward, as a response to the budget you present, measures to balance that budget plus to include within that budget, a 10% reduction in the overall spending of the US Government.  It is as clear to us, as it is clear to the American people, that we, as a nation, can no longer afford to live beyond our means"

"We will bring forward measures to rein in the ill-thought policies being pushed by the EPA.  In line with this we will halt the plans affecting coal producing areas and we will bring forward a bill to approve the Keystone 2 pipeline."

"Finally, Mr President, we will oppose, oppose and oppose again, you and your attempts to impose Socialism on the American Republic and to show favour, as you have so far consistently done, to those in the Muslim world, who would do us harm"

Any Republicans out there want to take-up the message?  There is no point in winning elections if you don't use the power that the people have given you!

2014 in review

This has been quite a year.  Some things would have been predictable at the start of the year and others not.

It wouldn't have taken a rocket scientist to predict that the Republicans would do reasonably well in the US Mid Terms.  It would though have been rash to predict that they did as well as they actually achieved.

I wouldn't have been so rash to predict that despite such representative progress, the current Republican leadership in the House of Representatives and the Senate would then cravenly acquiesce and pass the so called 'Cromnibus' bill with $1.1Trillion of new spending.  One long suspected them of being RINOs but to so blatantly, and especially so soon after the Mid Terms, ignore the crystal clear direction from the American people, takes some kind of special courage or blindness and deafness.  Or is it just arrogance?

Clearly though, Mitch McConnell in the Senate and John Boehner in the House must be deposed and replaced by real Republicans who understand the message that the people of America delivered on November 4th. .  Roll on January and a new Congress and a new GOP leadership.

Also predictable was the results from the August killing of Michael Brown, in Ferguson.  Protests about police brutality, Al Sharpton backing-up a fuel truck to add to the flames, rioters that 'trash' their own neighborhoods and loot and steal from their own people, the Obama administrations use of the incident to push their progressive agenda.  Following on, when the Grand Jury decided that based on the evidence that they had the killing was justified, we saw the normal reaction from people who demand justice but don't accept it, when it doesn't coincide with their version of justice.  Same thing happened in New York.  In both cases the 'victim' was held-up as some kind of angel, a gentle giant, if you will.  Of course the airing of the security video of Michael Brown stealing from a store and assaulting the store-owner, in the process, put the truth to that lie.

I don't though, think that I could have predicted the length or depth to which Obama and,  departing but not soon enough, Attorney-General Eric Holder would drag the US Government.  They spoke of understanding the anger.  Of empathizing.  Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised.  So called 'progressives' always use 'equivalence'  and historical reference to justify the unjustifiable.  America once had slaves that were brought to the country from Africa - therefore anything that these people do, even if it is 150 years after they were emancipated, is allowed because it is a reaction to that wrong that was done to their ancestors!

All crime statistics show that American blacks are more likely to die at the hands of another black than they are at the hands of a white cop.  People point to the disproportionate number of black people in America's prison population and see this as some kind of racism.  So let's ignore the fact that America's blacks - especially young black men - are much more prone to violence and crime and end up getting convicted as a result of the choices (bad ones) that they make.  Instead, let's blame it on white slave owners from the 19th century (who, incidentally were largely Democrats, which is why the Democrat Party so opposed the abolition of Slavery!!)

It would have been good but probably unpredictable, to see black role models step-up and tell young black males that if you go around stealing and terrorizing people then you will end-up in jail or dead.  Not because you are black but because you are committing a crime.  If you want the latest clothes or shoes or cars, then do what most people do - work for them.  If you want a job, don't go to an interview with your ass hanging out of your trousers and you all 'blinged-up' and talking like only another gang-banger could understand.   The government can only offer blacks hand-outs.  If they need a hand-up, then they need to reach for it, themselves!

ISIS was entirely predictable - Obama's administration has abdicated responsibility in the Middle East.  They equate the self-defence actions of the Israelis with that of an 'apartheid' state and allow a terrorist organization such as HAMAS to go unpunished for their crimes.  There is even talk that the USA might impose some kind of sanctions against Israel!  having lifted sanctions against Iran, I suppose that the machinery needs to be put to work somewhere!

Talking of Iran, there are rumours that an agreement exists but it isn't being publicised because the Iranians need time to 'sell it' to the people and the Ayatollahs!

Other predictable events from 2014

All UK political parties falling over themselves to offer a blank cheque to the NHS.

The SNP, having lost the Scottish Independence Referendum, continuing to push for all of the trappings of independence without any of the responsibility.  Equally predictable that they are allowed to get away with their claims about independence making economic sense for Scotland and these all being based on oil at an average price of $113 a barrel.  Now it is around half that price, the fragility of their policies are exposed!

UKIP doing well as Britain, or perhaps more accurately  England come to reject the recent but rapid implementation of 'multi-culturalism'.  I think that the biggest problem with 'multi-culturalism' is that it allows no place in the 'multi' part for the indigenous culture.  Britons feel swamped because their values are being replaced.   And politicians from the three main parties are seen to be complicit in this.

Germany winning the World Cup wasn't so predictable but was fully deserved.  England going home early, was, sadly always on the cards.  Australia thrashing England in the Ashes was ominously predictable.  The England win in 2013 was much more slender and lucky than the scorelines suggested.  One wonders how the awfully tragic death of Philip Hughes will affect the bowling of Mitchell Johnson, in the future.

Unfortunately, the post-January fall-off in Arsenal's Premier League performance was also predictable though one always travels in hope!

On the personal front, I became a grandfather for the first time and though we don't see as much of my grandson, as we would like - he is in Scotland and we are in the UAE - the wonders of modern communications do help to bridge the gap.

Unsurprisingly, the pause in Global Warming or Climate Change or whatever is the current name that is applied to the non-happening environmental event, continued.   This of course didn't stop countries spending untold billions and impoverishing their people along the way, to try and address the climate change that simply refuses to conform to the expectations of the science and psuedo-science community and all of the other 'hangers-on' and band-wagon jumpers.  Thinking about 2015 and onwards, I predict that people will come to the realisation the this climate change just isn't happening and will demand that their politicians stop wasting money and stop funding the regressive policies of the so called 'progressive agenda'.

Of course it would have been very difficult to predict what happened to those two Malaysian Airlines planes.  One becoming inexplicably lost in the Indian Ocean and the other being shot down  as a victim of Russian expansionism or European Union adventurism, depending upon your viewpoint.  Nevertheless, the loss of life was tragic.

It wouldn't though have been difficult to predict something like the Peshawar school massacre.  The chances of this being perpetrated by the Taliban (Pakistan Branch office) were always high, given the effectively 'failed state' that is Pakistan and the state within a state that is the Pakistan Intelligence Service.  Unfortunately, we can expect more of the same in 2015 and later years.  Indeed, this won't ever cease while so many Muslims silently accept these acts being committed in their name.

Ebola was predictable but not Obama's actions in importing this into the USA.  Like the diseases brought into the USA by illegal immigrants through the US' open Southern border, these could have been prevented but they fit Obama's warped agenda to hollow-out and destroy America.

Boko Haram's action in kidnapping 200 young girls is of a kind with ISIS' enslavement of Yazidi and Christian girls.  The feeble #hashtag effort by Obama and his wife and their Hollywood allies was a  sad reflection of America's declining position in the world.

Crime continued as could be predicted - Oscar Pistorius found guilty, though of a lesser charge.  Rolf Harris and Max Clifford and Stuart Hall convicted on ancient sexual assault charges - though Bill Roach and Michael LeVell acquited.  Not sure how to categorise Dave Lee Travis who was acquitted and then re-charged.

Israel and Gaza fought a war because, predictably, Israel got tired of having rockets fired into its territory and tunnels being used to infiltrate the country.  Equally predictable the leftist media sided with the aggressor Palestinians rather than the defending Israelis.

The most predictable event of 2014?  The USA raising, yet again, its debt ceiling.

Most of the above is, I am afraid a more than a little depressing but some things particularly lifted my spirits this year.

Malala Yousafzai winning the Nobel Peace Prize - one in the eye for the Taliban and anyone that wants to hold back women.

The Ice Bucket challenge raised funds for ALS and got people around the world, engaged.

Who cannot have been moved by the tale of Stephen Sutton?  In the short life of this remarkable young man, his story touched so many people and his efforts raised significant funds for cancer research.



Not Happy Holidays but I do wish you a very Merry Christmas and here's hoping 2015 is more peaceful for the world!

Biden better?

Firstly, if you've been reading recent blogs you might think I don't like America or Americans.  You would be very mistaken.  I do like them both and especially the spirit that they have shown and love of life and freedom that has epitomised the 'American way' for so long.

However that doesn't mean I can't be critical.  The criticism comes from a good place though maybe a little bit of a selfish place.  Selfish because right thinking people look to America for leadership and, I suppose, robust leadership, at that.  As in, until recently, America and Americans could be relied upon to do the right thing and support the right thing, up to and including physical material support..  Now though we see different.

We see an America that is too weak to confront Russia over the Ukraine.

We see an America that, in spite of Obama's much vaunted 'pivot toward Asia', allows China to flex its very large military muscles against its neighbors, unchallenged.  Maybe though, that is the price America must pay for being so much in China's debt?

We see America failing to wholeheartedly support Israel against the Hamas terrorist group.  Israel's PrimeMinister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is bang on the money when he says that no nation can stand by and let rockets rain down on its people, day after day, without defending itself.   Let's be clear, these rockets are not like the fireworks that are set-off on 4th of July or New Year.  These pack a warhead of around 20 Kg of explosive material.  That they have not killed thousands of Israeli civilians - Jews and Arabs - is down to the early warning systems, air raid shelters and the so called Iron Dome anti-missile defence system.

Incidentally one positive outcome of the recent campaign by Hamas, is that the main stream media seems to now be spending time and reporting on the effect of those rocket attacks on Israel and reporting on Hamas' use of civilian shields and civilian targets as launch sites!  Previously, the MSM were solidly in the terrorists camp.

But I digress.

We see an America not even able to secure its own border.  Don't worry, there isn't a flood of Canadians swooping down on the Northern states with all of their guns,better hockey players and maple leaf decals.  No, it is the Southern border that is being flooded with illegal immigrants from Central America.  By many accounts, these visitors are bringing serious communicable diseases with them alongside Latino gang members and drug syndicate criminals and, who knows, maybe the odd terrorist or twenty!

It doesn't take too many clicks, on a Twitter feed to find oneself in conspiracy lalaland but.....  There are stories circulating that the Obama administration anticipated this 'invasion' as far back as January 2014 and certainly the availability of all of those Homeland Security buses, which are being used to transport the illegals around the country, suggests a prescience not usually apparent in the administration!

We see an America that allows a decorated US Marine (Andrew Tahmooressi) that made a mistake while driving (took the wrong road and couldn't U turn) and now languishes in a Mexican jail, to remain so, while swapping five very dangerous Taliban terrorists for a certainly damaged and likely a deserting US soldier (Bowe Bergdahl).

At the same time, on this military theme, the scandal at the Veterans Administration, continues.  Indeed, President Obama wants Congress to approve $3.7Bn for aid for the illegal immigrants but isn't asking for an extra cent to provide decent care to those veterans who have loyally served the US.

Do you start to see what I am getting at?  America has lost its way! 

And that is before we look at the Administration's inability to manage its data!  It must be incredibly worrying for Americans to know that the NSA and who knows how many other organisations are snooping upon them and to also know that agencies like the IRS are so incompetent that they can operate computers without damaging hard drives and losing e-mails etc.

Of course there are other scandals that are plaguing the USA, today.  Benghazi, Fast and Furious, Bureau of Land Management, Common Core and ObamaCare, to name just a few.

I keep expecting the US Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives to stand, almost as one (Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and some of the other drinkers from Obama's Kool Aid stand excepted) and start impeachment proceedings against Obama but it isn't happening.  I can only come to one conclusion.

The Congress is scared.

They are scared that there would be such a groundswell of opinion (not that they pay too much attention to that) and Obama would be removed from office.  Their fear?  When Obama goes, he is replaced by Joe Biden!  On the 'right' the fear is that if Biden was also impeached, then the succession would fall to John Boehner, who many see as a 'RINO'.

Surely though, Biden has to be better than Obama?  Biden would have to see Obama's impeachment as a chastening experience and a sign that the leftward lurch of America and its abandonment of its superpower role and responsibilities needs to stop.  Don't you think?  I just think that America has to take a chance on Biden.  I am apprehensive but look at it this way.   Biden is a Beltway politician.  he understands that he needs to work both sides of the aisle to accomplish anything.  He knows that America has been pulled in an un-natural direction by Obama, Jarret and the Alinsky followers that populate the White House.  Joe also knows that politics isn't just about getting elected because of your skin colour, playing golf and taking vacations.  He understands what America needs far better than Obama ever could.  Can you imagine Biden going to a fund raiser, when a passenger plane containing US citizens is shot down over Eastern Ukraine?

 Go on America, be bold (can't believe I am saying this!) - impeach Obama and get Biden - it has to be better than continuing downwards.

Obama's friends

If you are not a Ukranian, consider yourself very lucky, as you wake up, this morning. 

Ukranians have President Obama as a friend and ally.  They know how lucky that is, because you can always count on a friend, right?

Except........

When that friend is President Obama.

Germany counted the USA and most particularly President Obama, as a friend.  Remember that big Obama love-fest before he was elected as President?  The one where he had the rock-star stage?  That was in Germany. 

So how does Obama repay this adulation?  Well his security services, in the relentless pursuit of America's terrorist enemies, bug the phone of German Chancellor Merkel.  Now Merkel, having grown-up in the old East Germany, probably knows a thing or two about being bugged, so she is unlikely to have said too much that was incriminating, on any of the calls that Obama's spies listened-in to.  Or maybe she did.  Maybe she thought, friends don't spy on friends.  Hmm!

So to Ukraine.  President Obama and his ineffectual Secretary of State, John Kerry, are threatening all sorts of sanctions against Russia.  Now call me naive but what was the result of ever increasing sanctions against Iran?  Oh yes!  Iran is currently enjoying a sanctions vacation, courtesy of the Obama administration and still able to pursue its goal of obtaining a nuclear capability.  Iran's number one enemy after the USA?  Israel, another friend of the USA that is being treated to Obama's own, very special, interpretation of friendship.

President Hosni Mubarak also thought of America and Obama as a friend and then his friend 'threw him under a Muslim Brotherhood bus!

Take it closer to home.  Christopher Stevens was appointed US Ambassador to Libya by President Obama and the then Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.  It would be wrong to question the naivete of a person that cannot defend themselves, but surely Stevens could have done some homework on Clinton.  She was thrown off of the Watergate inquiry because of her having a very loose affiliation with the truth - that should have made him wary.  However, in Stevens' defence he probably thought that he could rely on his friends in Washington and the White House.  That didn't work out so well though! 

The US consulate in Benghazi was attacked by well-armed militants and Stevens and three other  US personnel were brutally killed.  Even in death though, Obama and Clinton's special notion  of what friendship means, had to be played out.  So the airwaves rang-out with stories of a spontaneous mob that were protesting about a video.  This mob were so spontaneous, they came very well armed, including carrying Rocket Propelled Grenades because that's kind of spontaneous, right?  Then Obama and Clinton go through the public expressions of sympathy that is called for, when 'friends' are taken from us.  Except, we have since learned, this was for show.  As said this was no spontaneous demonstration.  This was a well-planned attack and it was sustained but in a stunning display of friendship, Obama ordered the military to stand down and not to go to the aid of the beleaguered consulate.  Indeed, if the twittersphere is to be believed, the US General in charge, in that theatre of operations, was relieved of his command when he indicated an intention to send military personnel to rescue Americans that were in danger. 

I don't know about you but Obama's idea of friendship doesn't match anything that I recognise.

So back to the poor Ukranians.  If you believe in karma and that sort of stuff, then Ukraine must have been really bad in a former life.  In addition to having the highly dubious honour of the friendship of Obama they also have the European Union as an ally.  Now if you want to know how the European Union treats its friends, consider how it treated Greece, Ireland, Spain, Portugal and Italy during the recent economic crisis.  Ask the people of Cyprus, that saw their life savings stolen at the whim of the EU, if they think this was the act of a friend. 

Say what you like about the United Kingdom but when Ireland needed help, the UK provided it - because that's how friends treat friends!  Of course there was likely some self-interest involved but still!

If I was a political leader in any of the current hot-spots, I would be seriously reconsidering my country's friendship with the USA.  If I was the president if the Philippines, would I really believe that my American 'friends' would come to my aid, if the Chinese continued their South China Sea expansionist activity?

In closing, I need to bring some balance to this piece.  Plainly the foregoing is somewhat slanted against Obama and just shows how he mis-treats his friends.  In truth though it isn't always that way.  The successful investor, Warren Buffet is a big supporter of Obama.  This is one friend that Obama does consider or so it would seem.  The Keystone Pipeline Phase 4 has been awaiting US government approval for all of Obama's presidency but this can has been repeatedly kicked down the road and no decision made.  One  has to wonder if the fact that Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway group owns the rail company called Burlington Northern, has anything to do with it.  Is it a coincidence that BN rail cars are currently transporting the oil that would otherwise flow through the pipeline?  If I was on 'Who wants to be a millionaire' I would have to 'ask a friend' but I would make sure that it wasn't America's president!

Yes, if I was a Ukranian, I would be seriously considering what friendship means!

 





   

The American idea of friendship?

I don't have a Webster's dictionary to hand but would struggle to believe the definition of friendship includes anything like the way the current US administration (and recent former ones!) is treating its friends and allies.

I am not a gambling man but I would bet the equity I have in my house, that Angela Merkel is not plotting the overthrow of Western civilization and its replacement with a Sharia compliant caliphate,  with Al Qaeda.  Does anybody really think that Francois Hollande has the time for such plotting?  Thinking up more and more daft taxes to impose on his benighted citizens takes up so much time, there is too little left for proper plotting.

And yet......  If the leaks from Edward Snowden are to be believed, then that is what the folks in the US Administration think is happening.  Somehow these people have got it into their heads that the 'war on terror' requires them to spy on whomever they choose.  Prime Minister of Spain?  You bet! UN Secretary General? Of course!  Millions of Americans? For sure!  

How do I know that is what they're thinking?  Well how else can the USA possibly justify spying on its friends?  The only justifiable reason to spy on Merkel would be to get hold of her Sauerkraut recipe, which is said to produce a result that is only surpassed by her Lebkuchen one (Lidl and Aldi both follow this, trust me, but don't ask me how I know!) 

Those of us, of a certain age, remember the 'cold war'.  Amongst us intelligent ones (as opposed to the fellow travelers), we always understood that certain actions, let's call them spying, would be undertaken on our behalf, to protect us.  I am sure that we also suspected (and condoned) the fact that sometimes our enemies - foreign or domestic - might be legitimate targets and even that they could end-up being killed by our security services.  It was a war and as such casualties are inevitable. 

Part of the acceptance came from a belief that our system was better than theirs.  That we had freedoms that were worth protecting and fighting for and that sometimes playing a little dirty was required and therefore acceptable. 

Now though our 'system' is coming to look a whole lot like the systems of control that we, in the West, fought against.  In the UK, we have a Conservative-led coalition (or at least on paper, Conservative-led) seeking to impose severe restraints on press freedom.  From the USA we have widespread snooping on foreigner's mail and phone calls - OK to some US readers that might be acceptable - they're foreigners, after all - but we also have US citizens having their own mail and phone calls snooped on.  In the USA you don't have the Stasi on street corners asking you for your papers, but you do have drones flying overhead and you being watched by people in darkened rooms, simply because they can.

And that really is it.  The NSA and it's co-conspirator, the British GCHQ, do all of this snooping because they have the technology to do so.  They are boys with toys and have to use them.  They are the kid that gets a remote controlled helicopter for his birthday and then has to use it to 'buzz' his neighbour's house simply because he has this new toy and since his dad got it for him, he is going to make sure his son's 'constitutional right' to fly the toy are protected.

We are told that Al Qaeda and other terrorist organisations are really smart and getting smarter and more sophisticated.  While many of their weapons are crude - suicide bombs, for example - they are an implacable and intelligent enemy.  So, how many of them, do you think, are getting on their cell phones and directing their 'martyrs' to the next atrocity or sending e-mails detailing their upcoming plans?  I suspect that because these terrorists are well aware of the counter-measures used by the West, such as snooping, then they resort to old-fashioned methods of communication like a whispered conversation in a crowded street or behind locked doors.  

And then there is the hypocrisy.  Remember how the USA was enraged when it discovered that its erstwhile allies, the Israelis, were spying on it?  I am sure that at the time, there would have been Senators and Representatives and other 'nodding heads' condemning this as being unfriendly, 'these are not the actions, we, Americans would expect of a nation that we consider, a friend' etc..

Going back to those domestic drones for a moment, consider this.  One of America's contributions to the English language is the term 'going postal' - where someone becomes so deranged at slights, real or imagined, that they just load-up on guns and ammo and go to the scene of their humiliation and start killing all and sundry.   Think though about those guys in the darkened rooms, looking at these monitors.  Think about them just maybe 'losing it'.  That cheerleader that said no, when she was asked to the prom?  The number plate of her car can be read from 25,000 feet.  That 'jock' who always gave lesser beings and nerds a wedgie?  His cell phone can be tracked, wherever he is.  And hey, the guy in the darkened room has rapid fire weapons and a hellfire missile or two.   But Americans have nothing to fear.  It couldn't happen in America right?  There are controls on all this kind of stuff, aren't there?

 Bottom line is that friends don't spy on friends.  That for freedom to have any meaning, a government shouldn't be spying on it's own people.  Terrorism isn't just about bombs and assassinations - it is also about creating a climate of fear such that the values that we hold dear and which are anathema to the terrorists, we agree to relinquish, in the belief that it's part of the 'war on terror' and yet, by us doing so, the terrorists win!      

What does the USA get out of Syria intervention

What does the USA get out of the escalation of its involvement in the Syrian conflict?

Okay, so the immediate effect is to distract Americans from the scandals that are swirling around the Obama administration - the IRS targeting of non-Left wing organizations, the Benghazi US consulate attack and the NSA domestic spying furore. - but what else?

Syria's Assad comes from a long line of unsavory, undemocratic and murderous dictators but does America really believe that providing arms to the 'rebels' will actually help?  These 'rebels' are not exactly stalwarts of the democratic school of government nor are they exactly upholders of other 'western' values.  Many of them are jihadists who want to promote a sharia based orthodoxy on Syria.  There are also Al Qaeda affiliated groups within their ranks.  These groups are already massacring Christians in the areas that they occupy.  The secular Syrian state is in danger of becoming a Middle Eastern Afghanistan, with these new groups being the Arab equivalent of the Taliban.  Is this really what America wants?

Think forward a little, because the 'wise heads' of the Obama administration seem to have failed to do so.  How will the toppling of Assad and his replacement by a fundamentalist government affect the regional geo-political balance?  Do we really think that Israel would be happy to have a terrorist government on its doorstep, because it worked out really well, with Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon, didn't it?  Could another Arab-Israeli war be far away?  How would Iran view this, given its prior support for the Assad's rule (as a tit for tat for allowing Iran to supply Hezbollah, via Syria)?

What is the end game here?  Other than the immediate media diversion tactic, that is.

The US withdrew support for Mubarak in Egypt and in the ensuing elections, Morsi from the Muslim Brotherhood was elected.  The MB is another radical and fundamentalist organization and they too are promoting a policy of 'relgious cleansing' with the repeated attacks on Coptic Christians.

In Libya, the US stood by and let it's UK and French proxies provide the support for the rebels.  The upshot?  The US consulate in Benghazi was attacked on September 11, 2012 (the date must have been a coincidence, surely??) and the US Ambassador to Libya and three others were killed.  Libya is now in real danger of fragmenting or falling into civil war as the Al Qaeda in the Maghreb groups foment dissent and promote attacks on the Libyan government and armed groups refuse to hand over arms and effectively control parts of the country. 

The Iranian nuclear threat grows every day and yet Obama's 'positive engagement' has produced nothing.  The Iranians (how long before they re-style themselves as Persians and seek to re-create the Persian Empire?) have used Obama's naivety to continue development of a nuclear military capability.  Does Obama hate Israel that much?

And then there is Turkey.  Strangely the protests against the police (and military?) suppression of the recent unrest, from both the EU and the US have been very muted.  Erdogan's regime remember is pushing a very fundamentalist doctrine in Turkey.

Oh, and those people who still blindly follow Obama ad believe he can do no wrong.  You will no doubt (rightly) say that the use of chemical weapons against a civilian population was a red line the crossing of which, could not be accepted.  Maybe that's so but , the line was crossed long before this week.  The French were saying these weeks ago.  OK, so Obama didn't have these other things (IRS and NSA) bubbling away at that time but ...   Or is that just me being cynical?