Osama bin Laden’s death is a long-awaited day of justice for the American people and for all those innocents across the globe who suffered al-Qaeda’s brutality.

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Yes, it has been a costly war and it is far from over . Let us not forget that declaring victory prematurely led democracies to squander their World War I victory with disastrous results.  Ruling elites are never fond of releasing the  reigns of power.  It is only when they experience the greater freedom and safety that liberal democracy offers, do they come to terms with its greater demand for accountability.   For when all said and done, democratic ruling elites, unlike autocratic ones, may and often do lose power but they find the consequences are easily manageable and the lose of power impermanent.  

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National Security Adviser Tom Donilon  published an opinion piece on the administration’s efforts toward global nuclear disarmament — a presidential priority.

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The Syrian uprising is roiling Tehran. Syria is the country’s major ally. That is the reason that after cheering demonstrators in Tunisia, Egypt,Yemen, Bahrain and Libya, Iran blames Jordan and Saudi Arabia for Assad’s troubles. An Arab uprising in the oil producing Iranian region is always a threat. The recent Explosions in three oil pipes in Qum could be harbinger of things to come.

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Egyptian Israeli peace treaty is much more popular in Egypt than we were led to believe. 63% of the Egyptians polled support it while only 14% oppose it. So, the Egyptian “street” is much less belligerent than MSM or the Egyptian intellectual elite would have you believe. I can hardly imagine better news. Egyptian elections are upon us and I hope against hope that this poll would diminish the candidates’ appetite to base their campaign on Israel bashing or threats to stop honoring the treaty as the wily El Baradei did recently.

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Justifiably or not, the narrative during the Bush era went thus: Nato is able and willing but arrogant USA has little faith in the capabilities of its allies.

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The website of the Cageprisoners human rights organization beloved by Amnesty International and supported by Quaker charities, is by proud definition, an apologist and advocate for terror. Today, as the UK’s leftwing anti-terror site Harry’s Place points out, Cageprisoner’s researcher Ayesha Kazmi deplores the King hearings, the anti-Islam “witch-hunt” going on at the King hearings, and other cliches.

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In war speed is of the essence as the enemy always develops counter measures. So, while the world is pontificating about the amazing power of “social media” Evgeny Morozov explains dictators develop not only increasingly effective counter measures but new sophisticated ways to distribute their own propaganda:

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Few analysts remember that the enemy also has a hand to play. Bob Kagan certainly does not seem to while Congresswoman Jane Harman does. Note the following exchange:

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I wasn’t even looking for this. I just went to the ISAF website to see whether the grossly underreported weekend murders of two American soldiers (and shootings of four others) by an Afghan security contractor — again — was considered newsy enough to post by the official powers that be. “The slayings bring to nine the number of U.S. soldiers who have been killed by rogue Afghan security force members, whether uniformed or private security contractors, in the past two months,” NBC reports.

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Transcript of Phone Interview with Sergeant Edi (Edward) Itelman 22.03.11Edi: I’m a paramedic in the army. My base is located 10 minutes from Itamar. So, Friday night, approx. 1:00 AM, I get a call that there has been a terrorist penetration in Itamar and I should come there because there are wounded. There’s a special code in the army, it was used and it meant someone’s in the village in Itamar and there’s a terrorist attack right this moment. So I take my crew, me, another medic and our driver, and we take the ambulance to Itamar.

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John Rosenthal keeps exposing a very inconvenient Libyan reality. We are busy saving the Libyan Islamists. Qaddafi, mad dog or not, is telling the truth. Libya may become a Sunni Iran:

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Just when you are ready to give up, something renews your hope. I have always had a soft spot for Turkey but, recently, it took an Islamist, anti-American, anti-Israeli turn. Given Turkish tendency to muzzle the press, it took exceptional for Turkish Hurriyet Daily News columnist, BURAK BEKDİL to write, You shall not kill!

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Let’s be honest, no one is ready to be the president of the United States. The job is too big and the demands too unpredictable. But, some candidates are more ready than others and yes, when push comes to shove, it does make a difference as the failed Obama presidency is making more and more clear each passing day. No Democrat will have the gall to challenge the first Black American president in the manner Ted Kennedy challenged Jimmy Carter. So, it is crucial that Republicans put up a candidate who not only can win the presidency but has the ability to mend the damage the Obama presidency inflicted on the country. Since recent events high lighted yet again the intimate ties between freedom and American capabilities, Republicans have a moral obligation to appoint an experienced manager committed to rebuilding the nation’s economic and strategic might.

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Amidst pervasive, and mostly justified, pessimism about a political settlement in the Middle East, one beacon stands out: Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. Established before Israel was a country, Hadassah is a place where Arab doctors treat Jewish patients, and Jewish doctors treat Arab patients. As such, it is a living, functioning reminder that the values of the Hippocratic Oath are indeed transcendent.

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Why has the president behaved so accommodatingly towards Ahmadinejad and Qaddafi and so ruthlessly towards Mubarak? Because Bloody repression is acceptable by oil rich countries while bloody repression by oil poor countries is not. In other words, Obama is merely being pragmatic, argue administration mouth pieces, Mark Landler and Helene Cooper of the NYT:

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Walk around Egypt with your eyes open and you will be able to take a political poll without saying a word.  Simply count the “raisin spots” on the men you see.  The zabiba, or “raisin” is what Arabs call the prayer spot on the foreheads of devout Muslims.

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All the usual sympathies and buzz words begin…

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Filled with hope and trepidation I watch the unfolding of the rise of the Arab baby boom generation. Demographers know youth bulges of the type evident in the Middle East, especially unemployed ones, mean social/political upheaval leading to wars and massacres. European youth bulges preceded both the French revolution and the 1968 uprisings as well as the rise of 1930s Fascism and Cold War Communism. An economic downturn adds the kindling. Then, all that is needed is an accidental match, the type that a self immolator lit in Tunisia.

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On November 19, 2003, President George W. Bush delivered a major address at Whitehall Palace in London. Here’s part of what he said:

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Twenty-one year-old Albanian born and raised in Germany carries out revenge attack on…No wait…on Americans?

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In Washington, the Obama administration is agonizing over how it was taken by surprise by the dramatic events unfolding in the Arab world, first in Tunisia, then Egypt, now Libya. Where was the C.I.A.? The State Department? Isn’t anybody paying attention?

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Everyone repeat after me. No exceptions, this is an honesty check. Ready? Go:

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Revolutions generally start out full of hope. When regular people successfully throw off the yoke of oppressive, brutal tyranny, they naturally hope for a new order that will give them better, freer, more prosperous lives.

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Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have at least two things in common: a shared border and the apparent distinction of having rolled the President of the United States. Watching both men go to work on Barack Obama, you would never know that Israel and Egypt were the two largest recipients of American foreign aid.  Both men have defied the president, and apparently with little cost.

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No sane watcher of US foreign relations can miss the dichotomy between the kid gloves treatment with which the Obama administration accorded Ahmadinejad and the brutal treatment accorded Mubarak. I am no fan of Mubarak but he is no Ahmadinejad. Mubarak is on his way out but the American behavior is bound to cause serious harm to US interest around the world. Already China and Russia are quick to exploit the American blunder. Chinese foreign Ministry’s spokesman Ma Zhaoxu Said “China holds that Egypt’’s affairs should be decided independently by the country without foreign interference.” Similarly, “We, in Russia, don’t want to give recommendations because we trust the wisdom of the Egyptian people and leaders as well as the government,”Russian deputy forein minister Soltanov said. “Egypt will eventually emerge from the current crisis in light of legitimate measures and dialogue.”

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Muhammad El Baradei thought that the Gods were smiling on him. After decades of living abroad he used the demonstrations to return to Cairo as “a leading opposition leader” and immediately sought to establish close ties with the Muslim Brotherhood on the assumption was that the West knows him and will trust him to tame the powerful Islamist party. At first the Brotherhood played along hoping El Baradei will provide them with an entre to the negotiations. Alas, things changed.

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No, VP Omar Suleiman does not need to become a Mubarak redux ruling Egypt for decades to come. He should merely hold the country together until the promised September elections. Worse things can happen. A Suleiman directed election may be even better provided it permits moderate elements to present a real alternative to the Muslim Brotherhood. There is nothing more perilous than attempts to predict the ultimate outcome of a period of revolutionary chaos. So, please, do not try to convince me and the likes of Tony Blair of the unlikelihood that the Muslim Brotherhood will emerge victorious.

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What a bender. The government in Tunisia is gone. Hosni Mubarak teeters in Egypt. King Abdullah has sacked his government in Jordan. The Israelis are blind sided. It looks like the end of the world as we know it. But do we feel fine?

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This is a tale of two revolutions.

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“The United States of America and the Kosovo Liberation Army stand for the same human values and principles…Fighting for the KLA is fighting for human rights and American values.” — Sen. Joe Lieberman, April 28, 1999

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