Bloggers are Not Above the Law - Good

Telegraph: Reports that Google has unmasked a blogger by order of a US Court who defamed a Vogue Model. This is a good move by the US Court System, bloggers should be under the same rules that apply to anybody that reports, its a matter of fairness. A blogger should be a civic reporter, using negative terms to describe someone else should not be allowed. If your going to say something that is personally negative then you should have the guts to place your name by the article. Lets be clear there is a difference between political blogs and celebrity blogs. This blog uses the title Views from the UK 2006 as it deals with International Politics, Politics in the UK and the USA, International History, History and the Arts. It is not interested the world of celebrity, it does not do gossip or personal attack on individuals. Thus good for the US Court System.

Media BLACKOUT in Afghanistan on Election Day

Guardian: Reports on the terror media blackout that has been announced by the Government of Afghanistan for the Election Day in Afghanistan. The Guardian writes the following, " government spokesmen said local journalists who defied the ban would be put out of business, whilst foreign media would be "kicked out" ..." On the whole do not support the idea of the suppression of the news but this is a special case, as in the UK and the USA there are tough restrictions on what can be reported when the Polls are open. The idea of this election is to get the people to vote, if they are frightened out of their minds by the idea of voting then they will not vote and the Taliban will win in the long term. Thus any terror attacks can be reported after the polls are closed, its only a few hours, its not suppressing the election, its to make the election more representative of the people. So lets give the Government of Afghanistan a break on this subject during the voting.

The Nuclear Option on Health Care Reform, Only 51 Votes Deal !

Politico: Reports that the Obama Administration might push its health care reform package through with only 51 votes. As reported in the Liberal New York Times at the start of August, the Democrats in the Congress have already passed a framework that would allow them to use the 51 vote margin to win the debate. The Democrats would use the reconciliation procedure, an arcane Congressional method to by pass the 60 votes need in the Senate, and just use their majorities in both Congressional Chambers to pass the Health Care Reform Bill. The Republicans should allow the Democrats to own Health Care Reform, if like any other government run programme it will be slow and full of bureaucrats and lawyers, let Obama pass the bill and then when it goes wrong push it down his throat. Lets seen when old people cant get new drugs, when they are considered to old for new drugs, when they are advised to just fall of the perch, push it down the Presidents throat. Thus the Republicans will retake Congress in 2010 and the Presidency in 2012. If President Obama wants to play Chicago Dirty Pool, lets be more ruthless, let him own Health Care Reform, and the minute it passes start to list his name as the man that destroyed the health care of the USA and then show the pictures of the people this HIS Bill have destroyed because of his ideological arrogance.

Day of Terror in Baghdad - Iraq

BBC News: Reports on a day of terror in Baghdad, Iraq, nearly a hundred people have been killed and five hundred injured. This is the result when you create a time table for leaving a country that is on a brink of civil war without the USA there to prevent such attacks. The Bush and Obama plan to leave Iraq has created a political vacuum that allows the terrorists in the shape of al-Qaeda to fill in the political vacuum, they can claim that when the USA leaves in 2011 that it was al - Qaeda that pushed them out, this is not true but works well on the Arab Street. The Government of Iraq and the Obama Administration have to create a new deal that allows the USA to stay beyond 2011, otherwise the victory of Bush 43 will turn in to a political defeat for Obama, he can not afford lose Iraq and Afghanistan. Lets be very direct here, of the two Iraq is lot more important than Afghanistan, the simple reason the oil, if the West was to lose the oil to Iran then Iran would have no reason to give up its nuclear plans, also Israel would have no choice but to hit Iran to prevent a nuclear Iran.

USA back to North Iraq

The Times: Reports that the oil rich North of Iraq is to get the presence of US Troops due to increase of violence between the Kurds and the Arabs. That is the problem with a Time Table for withdrawal that both Bush 43 and Obama have gone along with for Iraq. The local powers in the region want to fill in the vacuum once the USA has gone, thus you have a Kurds who would like an independent state in the North; this is the last thing that Turkey wants, it has its own Kurdish problem; and the rest of the population at each other throats. Lets be honest here, one could care less in pure hard nose political terms, but its the oil. The present state of the Western economies could not deal with an interruption in oil from the region, thus the US has to calm the region down, gets the locals back to talking and not shooting each other. Lets see if the USA gets out of Iraq by the end of 2011, as a British PM once stated, Events, Events are the master of politics.

Iran wants talks about its Nuclear Plans ?

Fox News: Reports that Iran wants talks about its nuclear ambitions. This is spin by President Ahmadinejad, he knows that President Obama is arrogant and thus thinks that he cant achieve a non - nuclear Iran by his talking to Iran. The point of the talks are simple, they will divert attention at home from the stolen election, the show trials and the fact that Iran is now a even more a totalitarian state. Obama is so arrogant he just might fall in to the trap and think this is real attempt by Iran at talks. The end result will be that Iran will allow Obama to think that he is making progress then announce at the end that Iran is a nuclear power. Lets hope Obama is not really a combination of Jimmy Carter and Neville Chamberlain. I will postulate that Iran might release the American hostages they are holding to show some positive spin and they expect the USA to start talks, or they could demand that Bill Clinton do another of his trips to pick up the hostages. I can guess the great PR President Ahmadinejad would get if he seen in a picture with Bill Clinton. Hillary Clinton might not be to happy, not sure Obama would think its a great idea either in the long term. This is my prediction, Israel will hit Iran, and Obama might just be grateful in the long term.

A New Tet in Kabul ?

BBC News: Reports on the latest attacks by the Taliban/Terrorists on Western Forces in Kabul. One can postulate that the Taliban/Terrorists have read their history, they might think this could be 1968 when the Vietcong attacked US Forces in Vietnam at the time of the Tet Festival. The Vietcong in military terms lost but that was lost on the American voter, what they saw was the disconnect between the Presidential statements of President Johnson and the reality on the ground, lets hope the USA military have Tet in their minds, on election day and after it can be expected that the Taliban/Terrorists will try a major attack in Kabul and other cities. Thus the Western and Afghan Forces should be on red alert. President Obama in PR terms should never allow the impression to gain ground that there is a disconnect between what he says and the images that the voter gets via his or her news. The Obama White House has problems already when it comes to the economy and health and the perception of the voter, the latest polls suggest that Obama has lost the trust of the voter, President Obama can not afford for Afghanistan to make him another LBJ. Thus crucial days ahead in Afghanistan.