Sunday, September 20, 2009

Will UK PM Brown be OUT of OFFICE by Xmas ?

The Daily Mail: Reports that former UK PM Tony Blair and Lord Mandelson the Business Secretary think that UK PM Gordon Brown could resign before the next election in 2010. Lets be honest here folks, there is more chance of VIEWS becoming POTUS than Gordon Brown winning the next election. The public finances are in the sewers, there will have to be cuts, reports today suggest that education will get a hit, the Unions will not be happy, Mr Brown is to dour to be a PM in bad times, if the economy was good to great it would not matter but in bad times you need a leader that brings you confidence, not a leader that makes you wish that you lived on Mars, what ever President Obama's faults, and they are many, he does have a kind of charisma to those that don't see politics beyond the spin.

Is Obama ready to SELL out Afghanistan ?

Politico: Reports on the Obama world tour of the Sunday TV shows; minus Fox News; and the subject of Afghanistan. The President from the various interviews seems to be sending the signal that there will be no more troops for Afghanistan. In other words after selling out Poland and the Czech Republic, President Obama is now going to sell out Afghanistan and the US military. It has been reported that the US military will ask for tens of thousand more troops as to fight the Taliban/Al Qaeda, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs has in essence stated that Afghanistan is going down the toilet, a new strategy and troops are needed to give the US a chance in Afghanistan. It seems that the Democratic rebellion to a troops surge has made its way to the Oval Office, if President Obama does not approve the troop surge the UK should withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, why should our Armed Forces die if Obama has not have the political will to take some heat from his liberal base. One can hope that his caution is based on the political need to keep his liberal base on side while he fights for his health care reform, but if this is another sell out then UK PM Gordon Brown should inform President Obama we are out of Afghanistan. Lets hope the US voter shows his/her disapproval in the Democratic way, lets vote out the Democrats in the Congress in 2010 and vote Obama out in 2012 to be a warm act for that other hopeless President, Jimmy Carter, on the speech circuit.

Is Obama the next LBJ ?

The New York Times: Has lessons for the Obama Administration when it comes to health reform from the Administration of President Lyndon Johnson. I think the Liberal New York Times is missing a point here, Obama is no LBJ, Obama checked in to the US Senate and checked out to run for the Presidency, LBJ was the most effective Majority Leader in US Senate history. In many respects Obama has the charisma of JFK but charisma does not get you Bills passed in the Senate. As LBJ noted Kennedy could get nothing through the Congress, its one thing to be President it another to roll the Congress, LBJ and Reagan had the skills to roll the Congress, and in Reagan's case right over the Liberal Speaker Tip O' Neill. Obama in many respects has some serious domestic and international problems, the US Government has bailed out the banks, the economic sector, the card industry, now Obama wants to take over the US health sector, and on the international front, he has Iran that will go nuclear, he also has to deal with the real fact that Israel will never allow a nuclear armed Iran. Then there is Afghanistan becoming Obama's Vietnam, he does not want to be another LBJ forced out of the Presidency, in 1968 LBJ was forced out office due to the Tet offensive by the Viet Cong in South Vietnam. Obama wants a second term in 2012. The next few weeks will show if Obama can really manage the Congress, if he forces through a health care reform package with just Democratic votes the Republicans could vote with Democrats when it comes to Afghanistan to wreck the Obama Administration.

Suspect Terrorist Plot in New York

Telegraph: Reports on a suspected terrorist plot in New York and how the FBI has take preventive action by taking the suspects in to custody. This is the reason that Afghanistan and Pakistan are important, it seems while the Obama Administration has a pre - 9/11 with its investigation of the CIA as reported by CNN, the terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan still have the USA as their main target. Although there have not been any formal arrests in the above case in general it can be argued that President Obama does not see the world in the same light as Bush 43, on 9/11 the USA was attacked and Bush 43 made it his mission that there would not be another major terrorist attack on the USA. Thus the CIA was set lose, one job no more attacks. The Obama Administration has a pre 9/11 mind set, it sees the War on Terror as a police matter, thus the Attorney General Eric Holder, a close friend of Obama's is going after the CIA while the terrorists are going after the USA. As stated many times in this blog, Al Qaeda only have to get lucky once, while the West has to keep its guard up at all times. If your in the CIA will you take action that prevents another major attack if your going to be dragged and accused of breaking the rights of the terrorists, as that seems more important to the Obama Administration than the security of its own people, you only have to look at the Obama appeasement of Russia over the Missile Defence Shield.

100 Billion ( Real Money ) = 2 Billion for Pakistan

The Times: Reports on recent remarks by the President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, the President stated that Pakistan needs a hundred billion dollars to fight back against Islamic Terrorists, but at the minimum Pakistan needs two billion to break the education hold of these terrorists. This is about winning hearts and minds of the young of Pakistan, at present the Islamic terrorists through their schools can twist the Muslim religion to convince the young to fight and die for the terrorists. As stated many times, there is need for a massive civic programme in the badlands of the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, there is the need for hope, thus the in the long term the West should save money by pumping money in to this region, thus new secular schools should be built, hospitals, new roads, show some light to the poor people of Pakistan. If the secular state of Pakistan fails the cost to the West could be more than a one hundred billion dollars. It is time for policy makers to think long term, invest now and save lives in the future.