The Times: Reports that President Obama's Pakistan policy is falling apart, due to Pakistan's refusal to be told how to spend aid from the USA. This is when Obama's arrogance comes in to play folks, this is not 1914 and the Austrian - Hungarian Empire telling Serbia what it had to do to prevent War, give up its sovereignty in essence, Pakistan is an ally of the USA, thus you cant tell it to give up its sovereignty to please 100 would be Presidents in the US Senate. As noted in the New York Times ( when it comes to reporting from this region, the liberal NYT plays it straight ) the USA is not that popular at the moment with the elite in Pakistan, this aid package with heavy strings, the building of a massive US Embassy in Pakistan and the drone attacks has not made the USA that popular within Pakistan. President Obama needs Pakistan and vice versa, its more about equals than than the USA pushing its weight around to keep the liberal base happy in the USA. This is the kind of mistake you make when you follow the Biden advice when it comes to Pakistan, President Obama should follow the advice of General McChrystal when it comes to his AfPak policy.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Biden and Afghanistan
The New York Times: Reports on the role of VP Biden in the Obama Administrations discussion on Afghanistan, the NYT writes the following on Biden, " the strongest voice against further escalation of American forces..... .......a role that may have been lonely at first,.....attracted more company inside the White House " One has to wonder who has leaked this story, Biden to get some PR in just in case Obama does agrees to the McChrystal recommendations, in essence a get of jail card with the liberal base, making them aware that its down to Obama. Also one has to look at the political side of the Obama White House, they could be afraid that Obama could taken them down the toilet with him if Afghanistan goes South. This is Obama's moment, if he follows the military advice those in NATO might send more troops, but anything else and NATO and the Taliban will know that Obama has no stomach for a real winning strategy in Afghanistan. If your Iran or North Korea you will look at the Obama action and see at the end of the day what kind of President he really is, weak or strong. Israel will also be looking, they have given Obama a deadline of December to solve the Iran nuclear problem, any waffling or wobble and Israel will strike Iran, they don't care about Obama's Nobel Peace Prize. This is really Obama's crossroads, will he be Neville Chamberlain or Ronald Reagan.
US Health Care
As predicted yesterday the US Senate Finance Committee passed their version of the health care reform bill, also as predicted all Democrats voted for the Bill. The one surprise was that Republican Senator Olympia Snowe also voted for the bill. It should be noted that Senator Snowe made it clear she would not vote for any new bill that had the Public Option. On the whole support the Finance Committee Bill as long as it has lower costs for Americans, does not break the bank, allows the Government to pay for Abortions and gives equal treatment to gays and lesbians as other people in the system.
The New York Times: Reports on the fun process of the combination of different Bills in the Senate and House. This is the time for President Obama to show how good of a manager he is of Congress, is the new LBJ or Reagan, or he is Jimmy Carter. The President will have to persuade, do deals and twist arms to get a compromise Bill through, lets hope the Nobel Peace Prize Award has not gone to his head, have my doubts. This is good old fashioned politics time, if you can manage the Congress the Voter will be impressed if not you get one term like Jimmy Carter.
500 EXTRA Troops to Afghanistan
BBC News: Reports that later today UK PM Gordon Brown will announce that the UK will send another five hundred troops to Afghanistan. Lets hope this deployment has been agreed by the UK only on the condition that President Obama sends the extra forty thousand troops as requested by US Commander on the ground General McChrystal. If no such agreement between the UK and the USA then oppose such a move, why should our soldiers die or get hurt because Obama does not have the backbone to stand up to his left wing or the Nobel Peace Committee.
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