Yeah, ’cause…this couldn’t POSSIBLY be related to the worldwide oil crunch and economic crisis. Nah, must be a blood for oil neocon conspiracy! People

The biggest ever sale of oil assets will take place today, when the Iraqi government puts 40bn barrels of recoverable reserves up for offer in London.

BP, Shell and ExxonMobil are all expected to attend a meeting at the Park Lane Hotel in Mayfair with the Iraqi oil minister, Hussein al-Shahristani.

Access is being given to eight fields, representing about 40% of the Middle Eastern nation’s reserves, at a time when the country remains under occupation by US and British forces.

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There was an interesting article out in the NYP that goes back and looks at how Osama Bin Laden escaped Tora Bora in 2001. Most of the article rehashes the fact that the US relied on its allies in Afghanistan to block his escape, and the US relied on its ally Pakistan to block his escape, but now we get an interesting little accusation about how OTHER allies, NATO, allowed Bin Laden to escape.

One, the US unwisely trusted Pakistan to patrol its border. Two, NATO allies objected to the use of “GATOR” mines, which are dropped from planes and could have sealed up the Tora Bora area. But mostly, Fury says the decision to let Afghan allies form “the tip of the spear” was the biggest mistake. “The idea worked like a charm when we faced a common foe, the oppressive Taliban . . . but they were fighting Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden . . . we might as well have been asking for them to fight the Almighty Prophet Mohammed himself.”

In all my reading, research, conversations, etc., I have never heard about NATO blocking the use of GATOR mines. That would have been a great way to prevent Osama Bin Laden’s escape, but America’s allies let them down at every turn in 2001. I believe it, but I doubt we’ll hear Obama talk about how relying on allies isn’t as useful as it was 60yrs ago.

Similarly, I doubt that we’ll see anyone on the political left recognize that Germany and France are looking to pull out of Afghanistan rather than send more troops and do more fighting as the Obama campaign expects (according to Sen Obama, he’ll encourage them to do this by offering more foreign aid, but in the VP debate Sen Biden admitted that the very first thing a President Obama will do is CUT foreign aid.)

Europe is coming! Europe is coming!
QUESTION: Why doesn’t this deter pirates (or pretty much anyone)?

An international armada was preparing to head towards the Somali coast yesterday as the stand-off with pirates holding a Ukrainian ship to ransom threatened to escalate.

Amid warnings that an effective blockade by the pirates could spark a famine in the Horn of Africa, European Union defence ministers meeting in Paris agreed to set up a naval taskforce to tackle the threat.

Two Royal Navy frigates, HMS Chatham and HMS Lancaster, are already in the region and could join the proposed fleet.

The pirates who seized the Ukrainian cargo ship MV Faina were in defiant mood yesterday, vowing to fight if there was an attempt to rescue the crew of 20. They also said that they were only prepared to hand over the cargo of tanks and weapons in return for a ransom of £11 million.

“Anyone who tries to attack us or deceive us will face bad repercussions,” Sugule Ali, a spokesman for the pirates, told the Associated Press in a satellite telephone interview. The vessel is surrounded by half a dozen American warships but no moves have been made to board it.

link

Now this is how a leader should sound. Taking notes Obama?

But Bush, speaking at his Crawford, Texas, ranch, issued a stern warning to Russia, whose president said Friday that it’s “unlikely” the two breakaway regions — South Ossetia and Abkhazia — will be able to stay in one state with Georgia.

“A major issue is Russia’s contention that the region of South Ossetia and Abkhazia may not be a part of Georgia’s future,” Bush said. “These regions are a part of Georgia — and the international community has repeatedly made clear that they will remain so.”

Bush said the United States fully recognizes Georgia’s borders and that the country “continues to stand behind” Georgia’s democracy and sovereignty.

“Georgia’s borders should command the same respect as every other nation’s. There’s no room for debate on this matter,” he said.

Meanwhile I doubt this tape will provide much sympathy to the Russian side. (h/t Gateway Pundit) Read the rest of this entry »

This is not a joke. Within hours of a cease-fire having been declared in Georgia, Democrats raced to get on TV and claim that Senator Obama was the one person responsible for peace because he had asked for it (apparently similar calls from President Bush, Senator McCain, France, Germany, the EU and the UN were all sideshows-what mattered was what The One said).

THEN-when it came out that the Russians never really stopped their invasion, but merely paused to consolidate positions and logistics-Obama’s foreign policy advisor used her MSNBC propaganda outlet to claim that Senator McCain was responsible for fighting in Georgia.

Meanwhile, the DNC’s platform echoes the Bush Administration almost identically, and faux-anti-war groups are showing their true colors by blaming Georgia for the invasion of Georgia rather than the invader: Russia.
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I’m speechless:

A secret deal between Britain and the notorious al-Mahdi militia prevented British Forces from coming to the aid of their US and Iraqi allies for nearly a week during the battle for Basra this year, The Times has learnt.

Four thousand British troops – including elements of the SAS and an entire mechanised brigade – watched from the sidelines for six days because of an “accommodation” with the Iranian-backed group, according to American and Iraqi officers who took part in the assault.

US Marines and soldiers had to be rushed in to fill the void, fighting bitter street battles and facing mortar fire, rockets and roadside bombs with their Iraqi counterparts.

Hundreds of militiamen were killed or arrested in the fighting. About 60 Iraqis were killed or injured. One US Marine died and sevenwere wounded.

US advisers who accompanied the Iraqi forces into the fight were shocked to learn of the accommodation made last summer by British Intelligence and elements of al-Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shia Muslim cleric.

I guess Neville Chamberlain lives.

Oh, but it gets better:

The British were partly handicapped because their commander, Major-General Barney White-Spunner, was away on a skiing holiday when the attack began.

The British people should be dismayed and appalled that their leaders abandoned their allies and sided with their most dangerous enemy. It’s just mind boggling. In no way do I blame the British troops. They have acted with courage when called upon….but someone high up in the chain of command should be hung for this.

Some in the British government obviously understand that this is bad….real bad, for Britain:

A senior British defence source agreed that the battle for Basra had been damaging to Britain’s reputation in Iraq. “Maliki, and the Americans, felt the British were morally impugned by the deal they had reached with the militia. The British were accused of trying to find the line of least resistance in dealing with the Shia militia,” said the source.

“You can accuse the Americans of many things, such as hamfistedness, but you can’t accuse them of not addressing a situation when it arises. While we had a strategy of evasion, the Americans just went in and addressed the problem.”

Your damn right thats how we do it. Always have and always will.

Well, unless Obama gets into office. Then we will be loved by Europe and we too can have a strategy of evasion.

I’m on the fly all day today here, but wanted to pass on a news update (OMG.. it’s MSNBC… LOL) on just how those talks were doing, and perhaps quell the suggestions of some that the US POTUS is somehow caving in on principles out of desperation.

In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Other than having more envoys (not high level officials) at the table, and more goodies on the incentives platter, it appears Iran is quite determined to “stay the course”, despite any western carrots. Surprise, surprise….

From the NBC/MSNBC news services, “U.S. to Iran: Cooperate or face confrontation: Statement comes after U.S. envoy joins talks on nuclear program”

McCormack said William Burns, the senior U.S. diplomat at the talks, did not meet separately with any member of the Iranian delegation and that EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told Iran it must give a “clear answer” to an offer made by world powers within two weeks.

Europe and the United States want Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program, but Iran made clear Saturday that it has no intention of doing so.

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When the Archbishop of Canterbury gave a lecture on civil and religious law… from the religious perspective… at the Royal Courts of Justice on Feb 7th of this year, I was quick (as were the media and other bloggers) to hit the “publish” button with my opinion. I figured this is a “no brainer”, right?

Certainly the Archbishop has taken more than his fair share of criticism in the wake of his published opinion. But first, let’s establish just what the Archibishop said as perspective: You can read his lecture, linked above. But I’ll pull shorter summaries from a report about his interview with BBC on his website.

The Archbishop made no proposals for sharia in either the lecture or the interview, and certainly did not call for its introduction as some kind of parallel jurisdiction to the civil law.

Instead, in the interview, rather than proposing a parallel system of law, he observed that “as a matter of fact certain provisions of sharia are already recognised in our society and under our law” . When the question was put to him that: “the application of sharia in certain circumstances - if we want to achieve this cohesion and take seriously peoples’ religion - seems unavoidable?”, he indicated his assent.

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David Gratzer, a licenses physician in the US and Canada, wrote a editorial for Investors Business Daily about Canada’s socialist health care system…and it isn’t pretty:

As this presidential campaign continues, the candidates’ comments about health care will continue to include stories of their own experiences and anecdotes of people across the country: the uninsured woman in Ohio, the diabetic in Detroit, the overworked doctor in Orlando, to name a few.

But no one will mention Claude Castonguay — perhaps not surprising because this statesman isn’t an American and hasn’t held office in over three decades.

Castonguay’s evolving view of Canadian health care, however, should weigh heavily on how the candidates think about the issue in this country. Read the rest of this entry »

President Bush is touring Europe; but he seems to have lost his ability to draw stadium-sized crowds of protests:

The young anarchists, middle-aged peace activists and established left-wing politicians here have at least one thing in common: none bothered to keep a six-year tradition alive by organizing a protest against President Bush’s arrival here Tuesday.

“Bush is not even popular in the role of the enemy anymore,” wrote Der Tagesspiegel newspaper.

As in many other parts of Europe, Mr. Bush was a popular villain here even before the Iraq invasion, in part because of his steadfast rejection of the Kyoto Protocol limits on greenhouse-gas emissions. His visits to Germany have reliably drawn thousands into the streets to denounce him and his policies, beginning with his first visit to Berlin in May 2002.

It would appear the stamina of the Bush-haters has mostly run its course, given that he is serving out the twilight of his presidency; or….could it just be that Europe is finally coming around to its senses? After all, we have seen an increase in pro-Bush and pro-American leaders in the last few years, than anti; And President Bush, contrary to mainstream beliefs, has strengthened our place in the world and strengthened our alliances. It would seem that this is because the cowboy diplomat is also a multilateralist one at that:
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If you only watch part of this, start from about 7 min 30 sec. But it’s worth 10 minutes of your time.

Memo to Mr. Obama: This is the America your preacher damns. We ARE the good guys and sometimes, when talking doesn’t work, you just have to go kill the bad guys. Learn your history.

America does not forget her heroes.

H/T Media Mythbusters

Will you remember how those boys became men, how they fought against a foe that never attacked us?  Will you remember that they saw a threat, saw evil, travelled to far away distant lands, and confronted it wherever they found it-Africa, Sicily, Italy, the skies over Europe, the depths of the Atlantic, the churning seas off the Kola Peninsula, France, Luxembourg…anywhere they saw people who needed someone to fight for them.

Will you remember?
 

(Video by Scott Malensek)

The Bad War?
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LINK

No doubt there will be the “It’s Bush’s fault” rantings, but Russia and the former Soviet republic of Georgia are on the edge of war over the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan. 

This place has been a hot spot for decades.  Many point to the defeat in Afghanistan, or the outspending by the Reagan Administration during the arms race, Pope John Paul’s in your face dissent in Poland, or a zillion other reasons that the Soviet Union collapsed. 

Definitely a situation to watch.