Sunday, January 03, 2010

Obama and the " War on Terror "

Telegraph: Reports on the reaction of the Obama White House to the attempted terrorists attack over the Christmas Period. How there is the perception that Obama does not get the fact that there is a War on Terror. As readers of this blog have noticed this blog did not cover the incident in detail, on the whole don't care what rhetoric Obama uses and as long as he gets the job done. Since President Obama took Office in 2009, he has kept the rendition polices of Bush 43, he has done a double surge in Afghanistan, attacked Al Qaeda in Pakistan, thus it can be argued that his actual policies to be fair are quite centre right, the rhetoric might be left wing, but actions speak louder than words, on the whole he would have gotten an A grade but his rhetoric to the left gets him a B+. The coming year will define the Obama Presidency, and the country that will define Obama is no Afghanistan or Iraq it will be Iran.

Sanctions and Iran

The New York Times: Reports that the Obama Administration sees sanctions against Iran being an effective policy weapon, the NYT writes the following on sanctions, " domestic unrest and signs of unexpected trouble in Tehran’s nuclear program make its leaders particularly vulnerable to strong and immediate new sanctions. " The article argues that due to internal and domestic pressure the time frame for Iran getting the bomb is longer than expected, sorry but I don't trust the extreme liberal New York Times when it comes to Iran, the Liberal NYT has an agenda, it does not want to do anything about Iran, it wants the pressure but no action, so lets see what Israel says about the nuclear plans of Iran, if they say wait that is fine if not then POTUS will have to get his finger out and take action, and to hell with the Liberal New York Times.

Spies and Modern Terrorism

WSJ: Reports how the CIA will deal with death of seven of its Agents in Afghanistan, how less security is traded off by getting real time information on the Taliban/Al Qaeda. The CIA officers that died were real heroes, but this is a new type of war, this is not the " Good Times of the Cold War", in that period both the USA and the USSR knew that there was a code, no extreme killing of other sides actual agents, not their operatives but US or USSR citizens, if they had gone on a killing spree the Cold War would have gone hotter faster, it was in their interest to allow each some leave way as to keep themselves informed and thus keep the Cold War from not getting warm. This is not to say that people didn't get killed, of course they did, but it was never policy of the USA or the USSR to wipe out the other sides Agents as this would have been a kind of nuclear option in many respects. The CIA is dealing with terrorists in the shape of the Taliban/ Al Qaeda would do not play by the rules, to them there can only be one winner, thus no rules, the CIA has to strike back hard, it has to be in some respects like the old KGB, strike terror in to those that would attack either the Agency or the USA.

The Left and Yemen

The Daily Beast: Interesting look in to the mid of the left wing, how the left are afraid that Yemen will become another Iraq or Afghanistan, think about this quote folks on US policy after 9/11, " America’s response to terrorist attacks is far more costly to the country than the damage caused by the attacks themselves. " I think it is fair to say if you ask those three thousand that died on 9/11 if America's response was worse they would look at you as if your a nutter, they died due to the weakness of the Clinton Administration, Al Qaeda started the War in the mid 1990s just no one knew in the United States, when you kill three thousand people the state are the right and duty to come after you, to destroy you, no matter the cost, otherwise the rest of the population are open targets. The policy of Bush 43 was right when it came to Afghanistan and at the outset for Iraq, but to appease the terrorists know would be a big mistake, you have to destroy Al Qaeda root and branch, or they will destroy you, its that simple folks.

Iran - To make on nuclear fuel ?

Fox News: Reports that Iran will make its now nuclear fuel if the West does not appease its demands to become a nuclear-armed power. Thus the question that will face the Oval Office is what next, any UN sanctions will be weak due to China and Russia, any weak sanctions and Israel will take action, if Israel takes action you could have a regional war in the Middle East, that leaves the US to take action, it might be the lesser evil, the regime in Tehran would know that if took on the USA the USA voter would be quite happy to erase Iran from the face of the earth, and Obama would have no choice, the Congress would Impeach him if he tried to be Neville Chamberlain, thus interesting few weeks ahead folks.

Afghanistan Front News

MOD: Has released the name of the recent soldier to die in Afghanistan, the soldier was " Sapper David Watson from 33 Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) Royal Engineers " Our thoughts are with the family of Sapper Watson.

The End of an Era - New Doctor

The Doctor Who News Page: Reports that the second part of the End of Time got an audience of 10.4 million. The the second of the two part special show is the end of the Tenth Doctor, what can you say, Mr Tennant will shall miss you, it can be said with no argument, you are at the top of the ten with the fifth Doctor, the final few minutes of the Doctor and Rose bought a tear to this fan boy. But as with all good things there is new Doctor, new adventures, but all I can say and think it can be said for Million, our Doctor has gone, and we are sadder for it, come back one day Doctor with Rose, few years down the line, lets see the human Doctor and Rose, that will be fun, a Doctor with no Tardis or sonic, but with Rose, hell that its own series. Well 11th Doctor you have filled big boots, lets see what your made off, lets see if you really are the The Doctor.