Monday, September 27, 2010

Woodward on Obama and Afghanistan

The Washington Post: Bob Woodward reports how the US National Security team got Obama to surge in Afghanistan, even if he didn’t like the plan. If Obama thinks Afghanistan is going to be as easy as Iraq the he is a fool, also he cant leave Afghanistan if there is a threat that Al Qaeda will return to power. Any Taliban/ Al Qaeda control of Afghanistan would be a threat to a nuclear armed Pakistan. Lets look at the political picture folks, the Obama health care reform has been a disaster for the Democrats, a majority of Americans still want to revoke the Act, the Obama economic plan has failed to get unemployment down from 9.6%, also you have 16% of voters who are in part time jobs or have given up on the job market. It a fact of politics that liberal Presidents cant be liberal on the domestic and international front, that is called Jimmy Carter. It only takes the Afghan Commander General Petraeus the hero of Iraq to walk out on Obama and run against him in 2012 for Obama to join the ranks for failed Presidents. The Taliban/ Al Qaeda are not fools, murdering thugs YES but not fools, they will see a weak President, a UK Coalition Government that wants out, thus what would you do if your intelligent terrorists, yes more body bags, why talk to the Kabul Government when you can wait Obama out, and Afghanistan can wait Obama out folks, they have done it to better leaders, starting with Alexander the Great. And Obama is NO Alexander or Nero even, and he was rock star in Rome. Its is interesting at the end of the article Obama gave the military thirty thousand troops, from his perspective he thinks that’s great, that he can control the War, good luck with that President, the military have way of getting what they want, Obama after the 2010 Mid Term Elections will be weak, the Republican Congress will support the military over Obama any day, the hold the purse strings, they can have investigations and hearings, Obama will have to play ball with the military and the Congress, that will be the price of losing the House. Obama has to get the fact that the real world is not a seminar. Also the US military play tougher that Chicago politics.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Coalition Government and Ed Miliband

Guardian: Has an interesting article on how the PM Cameron and the Conservatives can defeat Ed Miliband at the next election, the article states the following, “ Cameron knows that the longer he keeps the coalition together, the better his chances of beating Miliband. ..”. This is a very interesting strategic view, but it can be argued that the real weapon against Labour will be the economy, if the Coalition cuts work and the Conservatives can promise major tax cuts in 2015 then Labour will lose badly. If the Coalition cuts fail and the economy is a dire state the Labour Party should have an easy victory. But as an ancient Labour PM stated, a week is a long time in politics, the Lib Dems in Government don’t want to face the electorate in till 2015, it’s a long time to go folks. Still bet that “ Red “ Ed Miliband will be replaced by 2015, he could even be replaced by his own brother David Miliband.

On the Bookstand

Tony Blair, A Journey

Alastair Campbell, The Alastair Campbell Diaries

Alistair Horne, Kissinger’s Year: 1973

Jimmy Carter, The White House Diary

On the Bookstand

Tony Blair, A Journey

Alastair Campbell, The Alastair Campbell Diaries

Alistair Horne, Kissinger’s Year: 1973

Jimmy Carter, The White House Diary

On the Bookstand

Tony Blair, A Journey

Alastair Campbell, The Alastair Campbell Diaries

Alistair Horne, Kissinger’s Year: 1973

Jimmy Carter, The White House Diary

The International Monetary Fund vs. The Labour Party

BBC News: Reports that the IMF has supported the cuts of the Coalition Government. This will really place Ed Miliband the new Labour Leader in a tight spot, from the IMF to the Bank of England you have support for the Government cuts, and who does Mr Miliband have to thank for getting the Labour leadership but the Unions. It would be ironic if Mr Miliband lost the 2015 election in 2010, if the Government cuts work and Labour has opposed them due to the fact that Miliband is in the pocket of the Unions the Labour Party could be out of power for another twenty years. It is also ironic that Miliband Junior might need David Miliband more than David needs him at the minute, the only way that Miliband can tell the Unions to jump over a cliff is if his brother is the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. David Miliband could take the role of Gordon Brown, in other words he would run economic policy within Labour, Ed would be the front man, depends how charitable he feels towards his brother who stabbed him the back! If this blog was David Miliband would tell Ed he is on his own, and go make some money in business, he can come back in a few years to replace Ed before the 2015 election.

Deaths in Afghanistan

MOD: Reports that the UK has lost 338 of its Armed Forces Personnel in Afghanistan, of that total it has lost 298 in combat operations and 40 due to illness, accidents or other incidents. The next big milestone is when the UK will have lost 300 of its Soldiers in combat operations, how many more before 2015 when the new Coalition Government has promised the UK will have combat troops out of Afghanistan. And then we have the END RESULT, will Afghanistan be any different, will it be more Western, of course not, to many deaths for nothing, lets get out NOW, recall this blog would bomb Tehran tomorrow, so not some extreme left wing blog , just have some basic understating of Afghanistan, the UK has been HERE before, it never ends well, just history repeating itself, at the cost of our brave Armed Forces.
 
 

Afghanistan Front News

MOD: Has announced the name of the UK Soldier that was killed on Saturday in Afghanistan, the Soldier was “ Corporal Matthew Thomas, from the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers ”. Our thoughts are with the family of Corporal Thomas.