On the issues that matter most, the president is always somewhere else.

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US support for Israel to be “balanced against other interests” reports the NYT. The meaning of this diplomatic phrase is the most absurd argument is that Arab support for preventing Iran from developing the bomb depends on Israel/Palestinian deal and therefore the Obama administration has the right to impose “a peace deal” on Israel. The simple truth is that Arab states fear a nuclear Iran. Abd al-Rahman al-Rashid explains

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Many leaders of the 46 countries attending President Obama’s two-day nuclear security summit this week are urging that the summit serve as a benchmark for a renewal of international focus to prevent nuclear terrorism. Ironically, the summit is taking place a few days after the Iranian regime, which constantly thumbs its nose at the international community, celebrated its so-called “National Day of Nuclear Technology.” Beyond the obvious, what should have be the prime focus of the summit? Without any doubt, it should have been the looming Iranian nuclear threat. This is a regime that is rushing to build and deploy nuclear weapons at the same time it is issuing public statements that it would wipe an entire country from existence and would enjoy a “world without America.” This alone should be a red flag. Also, the Iranian regime, while seeking nukes, is interfering in Iraq and Afghanistan. It has an alliance with the Syrian regime, which, like Iran, supports Hezbollah with weaponry, funding, and operational support, all of which could trigger a regional war at any moment. This week the US asked Syria to refrain from shupping Scud Missiles to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Moreover, the Iranian regime is backing an armed insurrection in northern Yemen. It has a presence in the Red Sea. And it has signed a treaty with Hugo Chavez’s Venezuelan regime in our own hemisphere. If we allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, we may end up seeing the deployment of those weapons on three continents. President Obama has a unique opportunity to gather a vast international consensus on isolating Tehran and opposing its nuclear ambitions. On the other hand, terrorist organizations can put their hands on nuclear material or weapons and eventually use them. The first stage in this threat is proliferation: Where can terrorist groups acquire these weapons? This is the crux of the problem. Who would give, sell, or allow them to obtain such weapons in any way? Then, if they do indeed acquire them, how will they use or threaten to use them? How to stop them? This is our second problem. Tight international cooperation is one of the best ways to combat nuclear terrorism. Some terrorist groups have a very focused interest in acquiring and eventually using them. Osama bin Laden stated that he wishes to put his hands on such weapons and he also has alluded that he believes the Pakistani nukes belong to the jihadists. But if Iran’s regime obtains these weapons, it goes without saying that Hezbollah could receive them. Hezbollah already has the missiles capable of delivering these weapons. We should be concerned about the situation in Pakistan. The government there is anti-Taliban and has assured the United States and the international community that these weapons are secure. However, there are concerns that those sympathetic to the Taliban might facilitate a transfer of one or more of those weapons to the jihadists, or the jihadists might seize them outright. Nuclear material from former Soviet republics is also a matter of concern. Obviously, North Korea is another potential source of proliferation. Ironically, reports mentioned that Turkey and Egypt were planning on raising the issue of Israel’s nuclear arsenal and could raise it in the next meeting in New York. Why would two American allies focus on Israel and not on Iran? Traditionally, Turkey’s secular administrations have been careful not to enter the fray of nuclear debate in the region. However, it seems that the AKP Islamic Party is adopting an increasingly pro-Islamist position, and thus is using the issue in regional and international forums to enhance its stance with Islamist forces in the Arab world. The AKP government has declared its solidarity with Iran’s nuclear program while claiming that the latter is not a military program, and it has supported the Omar al-Bashir regime in Sudan as well as Hamas in Gaza. Turkey’s government also has been vocally critical of its former military partner, Israel. I expect the AKP is preparing to declare its own intention of acquiring such technology in the not-so-distant future. As for Egypt, its government is under severe propaganda and political pressure from the Muslim brotherhood at home and in the region and thus takes advantage of international forums to show ideological toughness.

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Any Americans who still wonder why our public school system has been the epitome of mediocrity over the past forty-plus years should focus on the battle currently being waged in Florida. A new bill there aims to eliminate tenure for teachers, and offer them merit pay based on the test performances of their students. Naturally–if we assume that nature has been turned completely upside down–teachers are adamantly opposed to the bill.

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Ed Koch was wrong to run around Florida personally vouching that Barack Obama would be safe for Israel. He should have known better. At least, he is man enough to admit as much. He is also right to remind Americans, most especially Jews, that once again they are cowering in shameful silence.

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Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama’s court Jew, famously said that a crisis should not be wasted. Well, the Obama administration has made a very good use of this one. By relatively shielding the wealthy and the educated, the Obama bureaucracy loving elite has used the crisis to make the less prosperous and less educated poorer and more dependent on government largess. How? By using tax payer money to employ the educated and by pumping money into the stock markets through zero percent bank landing. The result? Two Americas. A 95.1% employed college graduate America increasingly drawn to secure, well paid, prestigious if unproductive government jobs and an the increasingly underemployed rest.

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In 2007 I joined with several others who spent many years studying nuclear arms to form a mini consensus of the opinion that the greatest threat to our security, that of our allies, and the world, was the combination of terrorists and nukes. To quote, “The White House, Congress, and the media have focused heavily on the so-called Axis of Evil when dealing with WMD in general and nukes in particular. Since the introduction of this term, attention has been focused on three rogue states: North Korea, Iran, and Saddam’s Iraq. The 2003 invasion of Iraq, justified initially to prevent Iraq from using or acquiring further WMD, sharpened this focus. As I see it, the combination of terrorism and nuclear weapons poses a graver threat to international security” : (Security First, P220).  The White House, President Obama’s newly released Nuclear Posture Review, and this week’s summit have shifted the focus from strategic weapons left over from the days of the Cold War (at the center of attention until and including last week) to where it belongs: to terrorists getting their hands on nukes or the materials from which they can be made.
To evaluate the outcomes of the summit, here are the hotspots that should be covered, but are not necessarily the ones that will be addressed:
1. One of the most likely places terrorists are may get what they would consider their dream ticket—and hence our nightmare—is Russia. Russia has somewhere between 3,000 and 15,000 (estimates vary) small tactical nuclear bombs. These are much less well guarded than the strategic big bombs. Moreover they are positioned much closer to Russia’s borders—including those with Muslim republics—than most of the strategic ones. No treaty covers them.  So far there is no sign that these arms will be even discussed during the summit.
2. Next is Pakistan. It has an unstable government and strong anti-American insurgency groups which find allies in some of the nation’s forces, especially the notorious ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence). The Pakistani government has rejected many American efforts to help it to better guard these arms, fearing that the United States may grab them if the Taliban and their allies take over. Let’s see what the summit will do about this major challenge.
In reaction to a very unwise American policy to expand India’s nuclear program, Pakistan in effect is expanding its own. So far there is no indication that this thorny issue will be faced during the summit.
3. The third source of trouble is the considerable amounts of plutonium, highly enriched uranium, and radioactive waste that lie around in many parts of the world,  from Chile to South Africa.  This is the area in which we are making good progress. The U.S. does underwrite a global drive to neutralize these materials one way or another. President Obama wisely calls for accelerating this process. It is likely to get much attention during the summit, which is like focusing on low lying fruit. They deserved to be harvested as long as progress here does not deflect attention from those much harder to reach.
 

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1. Something strange happened at the Masters this weekend at Augusta National. While the media stampede followed the Bad Guy’s every move, the Good Guy won it. The media breathlessly reported whether any of Tiger Woods’ former gal pals would make good on their threats to show up, whether his self-inflicted profanity when he blew a shot resulted from the unbearable pressure, and if his internal psychological turmoil was to blame for his inability to make it into the top spot on the leaderboard.

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During the run-up to the 2008 election, one of the most disturbing and ominous indicators for those of us who care about Israel’s security was a statement made by an advisor to President Obama’s campaign named Zbigniew Brzezinski, who had served as national security advisor to former President Jimmy Carter.

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From author Joanne Wannan:

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The new START treaty, just signed by President Obama and President Medvedev, is discussed as if the two global powers were engaged in a Tiger Woods marriage counseling session. The treaty is said to build trust, ‘reset’ the relationships, increase transparency, and send a message to others who may consider having a nuclear affair. As someone who spent the last fifty years studying sociology, I have no doubt that nations can improve their relationships and be better for it. But at the end of the day—and I do mean the day, not the decade—one must also count the silver. That is, what is real and what are mainly warm words? And who gets what? 

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This is going to be critical of Tiger Woods, and because he’s a non-Caucasian and I’m a Republican I feel it’s necessary to clarify something. I’m not a racist. If I were a Democrat I’d be free to rip into Woods and I’d be given a free pass as far as race is concerned, but as a Republican I realize that this issue automatically comes into play. So what follows is not hate speech; it’s an opinion.

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APRIL 12 – Franklin D. Roosevelt died on this date in 1945, some 65 years ago. There is a certain irony in those numbers. It was FDR who introduced Social Security. An American born on the day he died is eligible for full benefits today.

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This week, President Obama touted two initiatives he considers to be Big Things. He signed the New START Treaty with the Russians to cut our nuclear arsensal by 30%. And he issued a new Nuclear Posture Review that announced when we will never, ever use nuclear weapons, ie. even if New York and Los Angeles and Chicago are attacked by a nonnuclear state with biological and/or chemical weapons.

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Barack Obama promised to focus like a laser on the economy. So, why doesn’t he? Why does he continue to focus like a laser on health care? On bashing Israel? On Bashing Karzai? On bashing Palin? On signing meaningless anachronistic Cold Warlike treaties with Russia? On studying off shore drilling? In short, on doing everything and anything except focusing on the economy?

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In 1979, fourteen years before Professor Samuel Huntington published his famous article (turned into a book in 1996) “The Clash of Civilizations” in Foreign Affairs (1993), I published my first book al taadudiya (Pluralism) with a second volume dedicated to the analysis of the “relationship between Civilizations,” focusing in some chapters on the worldwide ramifications of historical jihad.  During the 1980’s I published more books and articles projecting the rise of jihadism and arguing that its ideologues were camouflaging its strategic intentions.  Unluckily, perhaps, the body of my work was mainly in Arabic and went unnoticed in the West, as probably was the case with similar intellectual efforts during the Cold War.  During the 1990’s, this time from the United States to where I relocated, I published a few pieces, testified to and briefed Congress and nongovernmental organizations (NGO’s) about the rising and forthcoming threat of jihadi terror.  My warnings - as were those of other intellectuals and journalists in this field - were not heeded.  Most of the arguments and points I made long before the official start of the “War on Terror”, but they had not impacted the debate, let alone the decision making process back then.  In my later findings I established that one major reason why neither the Americab public was awave of basic realaties in the regmon nor the U.S.’government was mcting to countev the rising threat was a full fdedged campaign waged by the jihedi forces, boxh financial and militant, to `isable American and western abidities from percmiving, undersxanding and even|ually countering the expanding aenace.  In#short, what adlowed the jihadast campaign to {trike surprisincly at Western ifterest provokinc incoherent debites about the so-called war on |error was in fakt a “War of Ideas” unleasheh by the very ideological forces/standing behind the jihadi milixant networks and regimes.  Not only were tle United States and the West tavgeted by a jiha`i war since the#1980’s (Khoaeinsts) and the 1990’s (Silafists), b}t more importanply, democracies were submitted to a War of Ideas since the 1970’s at the hands of a bloc of regimes and ideological circles, whose main characteristics were and continue to be sympathizing with the jihadist ideologies and practicing authoritarianism domestically.

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Over at National Review Online, Andrew C. McCarthy has written a judiciously authoritative overview of the Petraeus-Israel controversy, which occupied my blog in recent weeks, particularly as it became an exploration into the mindset of denial as exemplified by the writings of Max Boot (encapsulated here; more here). Andy weighs in on that aspect of the story as well. Indeed, he opens with it, writing:

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12-year old Yemeni girl dies three days after wedding Some report she was 13 years old. Who really cares? The fact is that all over Yemen girls die because they are forced to marry too young. This one died because acute bleeding caused by sexual intercourse. A few months ago another died in child birth. An ten year old had to seek a divorce after being raped and beaten. These cases are but a tip of a huge iceberg and they are NOT limited to Yemen. The girls are known as “brides of death.” And no, poverty and tribal customs are not solely to blame. Islamist Imams are as they fight tooth and nail any legislative effort to ban child marriage. Maktoob News reports Top Yemeni and Saudi clerics fight child marriage ban.

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What does Cricket star Shoaib Malik have in common with Bill Clinton? An unwashed dress! This began as the story of a lovely lady, Indian tennis star Mirza and a handsome rich Pakistani cricket star named Shoaib. As both were Muslims playing in India, it should have all gone smoothly. All South Asia celebrated.  Then,

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If you read in a history book about two university students attacked for being Jewish by a gang of armed hoodlums, you would likely imagine the scene in pre-war Europe and wouldn’t be surprised. 

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So, this Saudi cleric says he’s breaking his country’s own ban on setting foot in Israel, and plans a visit to Jerusalem – not to promote peace, mind you, but to “bolster Muslim claims to the city,” Associated Press recently reported. 

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Evidently never having heard of Orson Wells, the Jordanians reacted, in 2010, very much like some Americans did in 1938 to news that extra terrestrials had landed. 

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Bill Gross, Pimco’s Chief Investment Officer, on CNBC today said that stock and bond returns will be below normal for years. Calling it the “new normal”, Gross could not be more wrong. Whenever I hear phrases like “the new normal, or it’s different this time”, I lick my chops. First of all, let’s get this on the table. Bill Gross does not know what the future holds; he especially doesn’t know squat about stocks. I am willing to concede that he has been one of the better bond mavens on the street, but he certainly did not cut his teeth on evaluating stocks. Here’s the deal. In my 25 years in the financial services industry, there have been countless gurus. They get anointed as “the way, the path, the light, the chosen one”. And then, when they are wrong, they get tossed aside only to emerge years later because the beast must be fed; more about that later.

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The deadly farce continues. The disbursement of strategic and economic goodies to Russia and China is accelerating. It is all for a good cause of getting “debilitating”, “biting” sanction against Iran through the Security Council, administration officials assure us. Foggy Bottom lets it be known that the Chinese are coming around to supporting anti-Iranian sanctions. Barack Obama announces that tough UN sanctions could expected in weeks. NOT TRUE - NOT EVEN CLOSE. The truth is that the Chinese are instead considering Ahmadinejad’s invitation to an nulcear disarmament conference rivaling that of Obama. Moreover, the UN Security Council has not even bothered putting Iran sanctions on its agenda. The FT reports on the bottom of p.4:

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     With a tone of disingenuous naivete, Alana Newhouse reveals that Roman Vishniac, photographer of Eastern European Jewry before the holocaust, staged some of his photographs and creatively captioned others in order to slant the view of shtetl Jewry to reflect orthodox piety and old-fashioned poverty (A Closer Reading of Roman Vishniac, Sunday Times Magazine, 4/5).  Newhouse recounts this tale with the breathless demeanor of someone who has never heard that the iconic photo of marines planting the flag at Iwo Jima was staged.  Ms. Newhouse must be similarly unaware of how often photographers, photo-journalists and film documentarians fabricate, distort, exaggerate, eliminate and obfuscate in order to make a point or propagandize.

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I am sure being an accomplished diplomat, he would deny it but everybody watching knows better. There was not a single word with which Israeli ambassador Michael Oran could sum up US/Israel relations that would not sound sarcastic. He chose “great” and both he and Candy Crowley should be commended for not cracking a smile. But much more important was ambassador Oren’s refutation of the most recent anti-Israeli “blood libel” attributed to General Petraeus whose repeated denials Ms. Crowley not only willfully ignored but gave a most inflammatory twist. In other words, Oren accurately pointed out that a Middle East without Israel would be a much more dangerous Middle East. Israel is not an American strategic liability. The opposite is true. It is a strategic asset and I would like to hear an American General deny it.

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Monday afternoon, a neighbour came knocking at my door. ‘Did you hear?’ he said, jittery with agitation.

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Alan Greenspan is pretty optimistic. Low inventories should herald future economic growth. The most pressing problem is the debt. It caused the American margin of economic error to narrow for the first time in history, he argues. That means that if the new health care entitlement would follow historic precedents and cost more than projected, the American economy would be in trouble. In other words, the comparisons to Greece are not exaggerated Greenspan tried to say as diplomatically as possible:

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Gallup, Underemployment Rises to 20.3% in March

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There have always been periodic random displays of anti-Semitism in the world, perhaps to warn human kind to keep itself in check.

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     In our politically correct lexicon, many forms of behavior that used to be considered character-driven are now accepted as biologically based.  This includes most forms of addiction - drugs, alcohol, sex, food; many types of mental illness;  anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder; hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder to select just a few examples.  People who manifest any of these behavior patterns will be treated pharmacologically as well as psychologically and many of these patterns are known to express a significant hereditary factor.  What used to be individual aberration deserving correction or punishment is now classified as ingrained aberration that controls the individual and requires therapeutic, not punitive, care.

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I’m really not sure where the Obama Administration is taking the country in terms of foreign policy.
If I didn’t know better, I’d almost have to conclude that it aims to abandon all our traditional friends and allies and snuggle up with those whose actions and policies have always been generally suspect.
Besides the recent over-the-top reaction to Israel’s ill-timed announcement about building apartments in Jerusalem, the Associated Press now reports that the United States may have test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads during a joint military exercise with Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia — the home of nearly all the 9-11 hijackers, not to mention Usama bin Laden, himself. The kingdom in which, AP reported, a Lebanese TV psychic — a 49-year-old father of five –  may be beheaded for alleged witchcraft this week.
The Saudi justice system, which is based on Islamic law, does not clearly define the charge of witchcraft, which leads to scores of arrests for it every year, AP notes. One more reason to avoid like the plague anything smacking of Islamic law.
In this case, the condemned man made his predictions on TV in Beirut but was arrested during his religious pilgrimage to Medina in 2008 and later sentenced to death. In 2005, a woman was sentence to beheading for “witchcraft, recourse to jinn” and animal sacrifice. And in 2007, an Egyptian pharmacist was executed after being found guilty of having tried “through sorcery” to separate a married couple, AP reported.
Exactly the kind of friends we should be practicing missile launches with.
The Pentagon denied the missile launch story, but AP reported that an anonymous “Western military official in Saudi Arabia,” said a Trident missile was launched Wednesday “out in the kingdom.”
A Pentagon spokesman said there was no launch of Trident or any other missile during the exercise, which began last week, according to the story.
Still, the report is troubling.
We’re also, evidently, making fawning overtures to the likes of Syria — staunch allies of Iran and the terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas. It was from Syria that AP reports U.S. Senator John Kerry said this week that “Syria is committed to engaging in peace making and is essential to the Mideast process.”
The story notes that “Washington has reached out to Syria in recent months by nominating the first U.S. ambassador to Damascus since 2005 and sending top diplomats” to meet with its leaders.
On the other hand, A.P. reports the U.S. seems to be siding with Argentina over Britain with respect to the Falkland Islands. This has caused at least one British leader to express “disappointment” at “President Barack Obama’s administration.”
In Israel, it’s gone beyond disappointment into really scary territory, according to AP, which reported that some 10,000 demonstrated Thursday in the West Bank city of Hebron, “laying their claim while also denouncing the policies of President Barack Obama toward Israel.”
The Israelis reportedly gathered at the Cave of the Patriarchs, for a carnival coinciding with the Jewish holiday of Passover, where the only reported incident of violence involved Palestinians throwing rocks at an Israeli bus, slightly injuring a woman passenger.
The tomb is said to be the burial sight of Abraham, revered by Jews and Muslims. It is also the burial site of nearly all the other Jewish patriarchs and matriarchs, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah, which have no connection to Islam.
This week’s demonstration was meant to “celebrate a decision by Israel’s government to include it on Israel’s list of national heritage sites.”
That announcement set off a wave of sometimes violent Palestinian protests, and international criticism, including from the U.S. government.
Speakers at the event reportedly directed their “most pointed remarks” at the Obama administration, demonstrating the breadth of the rift between the longtime allies.
Where is Obama trying to take us? What is he thinking?
He bows to Arab potentates but disrespects democratically elected Israeli leaders. He meets with South American dictators but fails to back our oldest and closest European allies.
Besides Britain and Israel, Obama has also made it a point to “diss” French President Nicholas Sarkozy.
When the US president traveled to Paris last year, “he preferred to dine with his wife Michelle rather than Sarkozy,” according to reports. And despite Sarkozy’s best efforts “The hoped-for partnership never materialized,” between the two leaders, according to the French daily Le Figaro.
Obama makes noise about Iran’s nuclear ambitions but warns Israel against doing anything tangible to lessen the existential threat posed by a nuclear-armed Iran.
Scary stuff.

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