The degree to which Iran has advanced its uranium enrichment capabilities will remain an unknown factor, and the international community reaction will continue to be perplexed, and marooned in paralysis of fear. Iran will not let anyone into whatever enrichment facility exists. No one will see what the ayatollahs do not wish to make public, sending us into recollections of the disastrous outcome following a long hide-and-seek dance with Saddam Hussein seven years ago. This leaves the world, Israel and the U.S. in particular, with a conundrum of literally seismic proportions. Iran’s nuclear progress is not new, nor is it news. What is new is the loss of one very powerful strategic negotiating tool that could have been useful in addressing Iran’s dangerous belligerence – the land-based European missile defense system.

When Obama backed off the deployment of a missile defense system in Europe, he did so without gaining a single concession from Putin and Russia. Russia had long blustered and railed against the U.S. missile deployment plan. Putin claimed the missiles were intended to threaten Russian sovereignty in the region, and that they were not meant to defend against Iran. The hovering menace from the U.S. was a significant affront to Putin’s self-image. Obama’s abrogation of such significant “stance” on behalf of the United States suggests that this Administration learned nothing from the Ronald Reagan approach to international negotiations. Reagan changed the world when he boasted of his Strategic Defense Initiative satellite based defense system. The long list of concessions extracted from Gorbachev by Reagan, as well as his brilliance throughout the process of negotiations, should be compulsory reading for any student of Presidential impact on history.

Disclosure that Obama has known about Iran’s second uranium-enrichment facility all along, and that he has supposedly sprung an international trap for Iran, as some media such as the Washington Post are now suggesting, is peculiar analysis, as well as it is pandering in the extreme. Obama gave up a major negotiating card that could have been used to push Russia toward joining the strengthening of sanctions against Iran. China cannot be counted on to assist any future confrontation with Iran, having taken itself out of the equation with investments in Iran to feed its own requirements for energy and natural resources. The only other power, whose advocacy is truly needed in the region for serious containment of the ayatollahs in Tehran, is Russia. China and Russia provide Iran with enough trade to successfully finance the Ayatollahs through many more elections no matter what sanctions Obama might think of adding to the existing limitations. Iran’s path to becoming a nuclear power appears unobstructed.

The alternative to the controversial land based system being mothballed, according to Obama, is cheaper, quicker and more effective. This means the decision to embrace the new technology is very likely a good one. If you had this information in hand, would you have run headlong into an announcement, given that the planned European shield had been a major thorn under Putin’s belly? The diplomatic clout that the West’s tension with Iran has provided Putin still remains, and no concessions have been extracted, nor are we likely to see any extracted in the near future. Russia’s response has been to provide more rhetoric, and more blustering. The Russian envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, said, “… Americans have simply put their own mistake right. And we are not duty-bound to pay for someone to put their own mistakes right.” Putin will continue to view Iran as an economic opportunity that will be exploited without interference from the West. The threat of crisis and instability in the region will also maintain energy prices at levels that Russia requires to finance its annual operating budget.

Adding to the confusion of signals emanating from the White House, Obama suggested that he could resurrect the European missile defense plan if Russia doesn’t help with the threat presented by Iran. This kind of accessory statement further weakens America’s hand. It suggests a lack of resolve on the initial reversal of the strategy, and it also infers apprehension about the new strategy and the underlying technology. Can America rely on the new capabilities and technologies or not? Are the interceptor capacities more flexible and cost-effective? Are the advanced sensor technologies capable of detecting and tracking enemy missiles, or aren’t they? Why would Obama even hint at such uncertainty?

The signals showered on Americans and their allies by this Administration’s decisions and announcements are confusing, but to Russia, they seem to be welcome and they reinforce its strategy of saber rattling. Sanctions have also not deterred Iran’s ayatollahs. Now, with the loss of a major strategic and negotiating option against the Kremlin, the enlistment of the Russian bear’s assistance will undoubtedly be impossible, and will lead to a more belligerent Iran. We can expect an increase in its destabilizing activities in Iraq and Afghanistan, and its financing of terrorism. The violence we witnessed against the Iranian people after the recent elections should be indication enough that a strategy pursuing, “engagement that is honest and grounded in mutual respect,” as Obama wishes it, is simply just that, … wishful thinking.

The ship was officially carrying timber from Finland to Algeria when it was boarded on July 24 by a group of eight men. They were charged with kidnapping and piracy after it was intercepted by Russian warships off Cape Verde

Ya know, if any of this story is true, it’s almost as if Israel doesn’t have faith in President Obama’s ability to stop the Iranian nuclear program with diplomacy. Why on Earth would anyone believe that?

From Boston.com…:

On August 17th, near Sayanogorsk in south central Russia, a catastrophic accident took place in the turbine and transformer rooms of the hydroelectric plant of the Sayano-Shushenskaya dam. The exact cause is still under investigation, but what is known so far is that a tremendous amount of water from the Yenisei River flooded the turbine room, causing at least one transformer explosion and extensive damage to all ten turbines, destroying at least three of them. 74 workers are known to have lost their lives in the accident, while one remains missing. Additionally, 40 tons of transformer oil were spilled into the river, killing an estimated 400 tons of trout in two fisheries. Investigators plan to release findings in two months, as Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called for a nationwide infrastructure inspection. (32 Photos Total)

More pics below the fold:

I picked just three photos from the 32 at the site.

Go have a look at the rest.

To give you some sense of the size of the dam, here is a full shot with the damaged portion circled.

The U.S. has abandoned plans to install a missile defense system in Europe, according to a report. If true, this is a major strategic error that will have serious consequences for our allies in Europe and for us.

Quoting a U.S. source, the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza says the Obama administration has decided against building a missile shield to protect Poland and the Czech Republic. The reason? Russian opposition.

Now, if we want to build a defense system for friends in Europe, we’ll have to place it in the Balkans, Israel or somewhere else. That is, if Russia approves.

This is a stark reversal of past policy and reneges on promises made by the current administration. Worse, it shows weakness. We got into a staredown with the Russian bear and we blinked.

Ironically, it was the very same day I did a little noticed post about Obama’s growing impotence with our western allies, and the battle against global jihad by citing three incidents:

1: The UK’s silence on the Scottish release of Lockerbie al-Megraphi… which now may be a stealth backroom deal with Libya over a BP oil contract. Apparently, no one seemed to consult the US POTUS, who proclaimed on the US stage that the Lockerbie bomber should remain in the Scottish jail to die.

2: Obama’s “Gitmo plan” to merely release as many detainees as possible using the US judicials system’s higher standards of evidence, and a loose definition of “torture”… sending Mohammed Jawad back to Afghanistan, adding to the total of 26 detainees already released and dispatched to various locations. This indicates to the enemy that the US has little will to prosecute those they capture on battlefields.

3: Obama and AG Eric Holder’s acquiescence to the ACLU and their leftist base by releasing, and spinning, the Helgerson 2004 report on the EIT’s used, and the results of those interrogations as it relates to our national security and intel gathering. Despite a promise to the CIA not to run an investigative witchhunt and prosecute interrogation operatives, they are doing just the opposite. By reneging on his promise not to “look back”, but to “look ahead”, Obama has ostracized our intel operatives, and compounded that by seizing authority of interrogations by moving it into the jurisdiction of the FBI and the WH instead.

We can now add one more assault on US allies by Obama’s abandonment of Eastern Europe by dropping the missile defense shield. A system that has become more successful than many dreamed possible.

Instead, Obama sells out Eastern Europe and the missile defense farm in the “hopes” that Russia will assist in bringing an increasingly unruly Iran under control.

Worst of all, according to the New York Times, President Obama in February sent a secret letter to Russian President Dmitri Medvedev offering to scrap our Eastern European missile defense in exchange for help with Iran’s burgeoning nuclear threat.

So far, it hasn’t been much of a deal. And as we scale down our defense efforts, Russia is boosting military spending at double-digit rates. Here we have all but abandoned the testing and rebuilding of our nuclear deterrent, and Russia only last month test-launched two new Sineva class sub-based ICBMs.

Whom do you think they’re trying to intimidate?

The IBD op-ed comes down with the same conclusion that I did in my Friday post… that we are seriously damaging our credibility with our European allies. And Obama’s recent decision to scrap the missile defense plan, if true, does little for SOS Hillary Clinton’s reputation and credibility as well.

As for promises to our allies, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton just this month said the U.S. would offer our allies a “defense umbrella” against threats from a possible Iranian nuclear weapon.

Now, all that high-sounding defense rhetoric is out the window.

Coupled with the $1.2 billion slashed from the missile defense budget this year, the administration is making clear it hopes to kill off missile defense — a mistake we may all come to regret.

We’ve just weakened America’s standing in a critical region of the world — Eastern Europe — and let our allies down. We’ve made them vulnerable, in ways that only we could, to Russia’s growing military menace. Polish and Czech friends who had relied on us to stand firm and keep our word no doubt feel betrayed.

This diminishes our global influence. What smallish country will now take our word at face value when we promise to protect them?

The U.S. abandonment of the so-called “third site” development of 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar array in the Czech Republic signals our weakness to both Russia and Iran.

And for that trade off of both implementation and credibility, how are we doing with Russia’s “help” with Iran? Apparently, Iran’s progress has slowed little, and instead advanced considerably. According to a report from the Heritage Foundation last month, Iran makes the case for implementing the missile defense system ASAP.

On February 2, 2009, Iran successfully launched a satellite into orbit using a rocket with technology similar to that used in a long-range ballistic missile. It also test-fired a 1200-mile solid-fueled ballistic missile in May. Today, July 15th, Germany’s foreign intelligence service, BND, announced that Iran will be able to produce and test a nuclear weapon within six months. BND also stated that it has “no doubt” that Iran’s missile program is aimed solely at the production of nuclear warheads. While many of us may have put the Iranian missile and nuclear threat on the back burner and moved such issues as North Korea and arms control negotiations with Russia to the fore, Iran still poses a serious threat to the United States. If Iran develops a nuclear weapon and has the long-range ballistic missiles to carry such a weapon, the United States and Europe need to be prepared.

~~~

Although President Obama has talked about abandoning the missile defense option in Europe, it would provide much-needed security to a region that is currently unprotected. It would also, very importantly, provide another layer of defense for the United States homeland. Iran has the capability to strike at Israel and South-Eastern Europe including NATO members such as Greece, Bulgaria, and Romania.

Add to that the Jerusalem Post’s accusation today that the IAEA officials are deliberately “hiding” a critical report on Iran’s capabilities.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said in a prepared statement that the latest IAEA report, released Friday, “accuses Iran of defying [UN] Security Council decisions, but at the same time hides actual Iranian violations on its path toward military nuclear capability,” “This is a harsh report, but it does not reflect all the information possessed by the IAEA on Iranian efforts to advance its military program, on its continuing efforts to hide and deceive, and on [Iran's] noncooperation with the IAEA and the demands of the international community,” the statement read.

“The IAEA is the only body recognized by the international community that can prevent the games of deception being played by Iran as it works to build nuclear weapons,” a senior Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post Saturday.

If this is Obama’s idea of a successful trade off… missile defense for Russian aid with Iran… I wouldn’t be taking him to a swap meet as a negotiator any time soon.

Instead, it appears this POTUS prefers to focus on eroding our ability to gather intel, cares little of promises to protect our western allies, and relishes an assault on our own operatives – all while letting bad guys go free because it’s too danged inconvenient to figure out a way to prosecute them.

Nothing good can come from showing potential enemies that America folds when threatened. Weakness emboldens bullies. The best deterrent for potential foes is for them to know that any attack will bring swift and devastating retaliation.

The threat to us and our allies from rogue states with weapons of mass destruction is quite real. If we vow to protect our friends, we must follow through — or lose influence and let the bullies run free.

New technologies, including electromagnetic pulse weapons, that could knock out our electrical grid and paralyze our country, will soon be part of our enemy’s arsenals — if they’re not already.

Given the threat to millions of American lives — not to mention millions of our allies — reducing missile defense is both dangerous and irresponsible. President Obama should rethink his decision to pull back on missile defense before it’s too late.

Is this impotence and systematic destruction of our allied relationships deliberate? Or merely the results of an inexperienced, socialist utopian dreamer who was catapulted to the most powerful office in the world?

Either way, we’re in a boat load of trouble.

Getting rid of antiquated and cumbersome warheads, 2,200 down to 1,500 or so, and trimming delivery rockets from 1,600 to around 1,000, is a good thing, if it ever happens, but such reduction would have absolutely no impact on either nation’s present realities. Elimination of a few war heads, or WVMDs, (weapons of very massive destruction), leaves entrenched and siloed enough destructive power to annihilate everything living on the face of the Earth a few times over. We shall hear over the coming months whether the Administration’s claims of these reductions ever actually come to pass. The odds are not terribly favorable to the President’s claims. Any part-time student of international affairs knows that Putin will not allow any such compliance under his watch, if the U.S. proceeds with its defense shield deployment in Poland and Czech.

Did America advance ground on obtaining any cooperation whatsoever on its objective of reigning-in Iran? Not a nod. Putin is very comfortable with selling Iran anything nuclear that it wishes to put its hands on. He has to sell Iranians something, anything, since they won’t buy his cars. Iran strategically presents the most critical foreign relations pillar to potential peace in the Middle East, and for now it remains an ace in Putin’s hand.

Countries expected by Putin of remaining within the “Russian sphere of influence,” such as Ukraine and Georgia, are making efforts to slip away from the bear’s grasp through entry into NATO. While the U.S. supports their inclusion, this stance is considered a direct threat to Russian hegemony in the region, further aggravated by the U.S. ballistic missile defense system intentions. Putin is not buying the sales pitch that this deployment is intended as a deterrent against Iran, no matter how the U.S. presents it. Putin just can’t take a joke. Of course it’s intended to protect against Russian aggression, however, in reality, well, it would augment the threat looming over Moscow, … just in case.

When Obama said to a business audience in Moscow, “Along the way, you gave us a pretty good deal on Alaska. Thank you,” was this intended to liven the discussion? Was it delivered to remind them Czar Alexander II, who received less than a penny per acre in gold for it, had shafted them? … At least under 21st Century perception it seem a really bad deal. Is this a novel method of referencing a long history of trade? Russians never quite swallowed that pill, and Obama might have thought twice, or thrice, before raising this caustic historical Russian forget-me-not on Russian soil. Given Alaska’s current importance as a source of natural resources, it should have been evident that such recollection would rub some salt on an old wound. It should also have been obvious that it would be received as a backhand smack at Putin’s urgent quest for new productive oil and gas fields in Siberia, and more recently in contested areas of the Arctic. It would serve little here to imagine in much detail how the MSM might have treated Bush, had he made such a gaffe.

Some of Putin’s highest priorities are oil and gas, their control, and their prices. He will support any measures that can sustain oil prices above $65 per barrel so that he can continue to fund his expensive power base. America’s wishes are for something less than $40 per barrel, rendering Putin’s ears deaf to any such discussion on this topic. Putin also needs to be seen as the nation’s strongman, and has been almost Hollywoodian in the shaping of that image. He must be seen as the defender of the motherland, and he enjoys approval by a comfortable majority of his countrymen. While Obama’s insecurity surfaces as arrogance, IMHO, Putin’s insecurity effuses as “My ego will take no prisoners, and my superiority doesn’t care what you think.” Any slights to his ego can only result in automatic and deep setbacks to pretense of cozy relations even though there is a long laundry list of expectations by each side.

The MSM has applauded Obama’s appeal to Russia’s youth that they should ignore past agenda (Putin), and take responsibility for a new 21st century agenda. Such communing with young Russians should help negotiations along astonishingly well with the country’s boss. Still, the MSM considers this strangeness, “a solid foundation,” for the future of the relationship. There is always something to be said for looking at a glass as being half full. There is also something to be said for realistic assessment, which provides a viable platform for effective strategic thinking. This U.S. representation in Moscow, IMHO, established absolutely no inroads that might provide launching pads for addressing the serious confrontational bargaining sessions that Putin’s long-established, aggressive and firm belligerence might budge for.

Obama apologists have excused him with commentary that he was simply stating historical fact. Such perception is baffling. Putin has been around a while, perhaps when visiting him, Obama should have taken more care to recall that his title is that of Prime Minister. No one in Russia does anything of import that his iron fist does not pre-approve. This too is historical fact, but perhaps Obama was tired, and when he mentioned Stalin, well, Stalin is part of Russian history after all, is he not?

The Moscow trip was not a favorable photo-op as it turned out, with Putin doing his best to appear nonplussed, and the meetings seemed to have accomplished nothing of substance. What was the point? The warheads will likely stay where they are, the missile shield has a doubtful future, and Putin will continue feeding Iran’s dreams of nuclear power. Putin understands America’s overwhelming military power. He cannot replicate it, however, he will remain an irritant, unwilling to appear acquiescent to any demands from America and the West. We can be assured that any backwards move Putin might relent to, he will extract maximum price for.

Crossposted from The Pacific Gate Post.

Today, multiple papers are reporting a combined attack, and this time…it IS an outright attack on the United States-not a mere probe.

Official: N. Korea believed behind cyber attacks

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – South Korean intelligence officials believe North Korea or pro-Pyongyang forces in South Korea committed cyber attacks that paralyzed major South Korean and U.S. Web sites, a lawmaker’s aide said Wednesday.

The sites of 11 South Korean organizations including the presidential Blue House and the Defense Ministry went down or had access problems since late Tuesday, according to the state-run Korea Information Security Agency. Agency spokeswoman Ahn Jeong-eun said 11 U.S. sites suffered similar problems.

Governments hit by cyber attack

A widespread computer attack has hit several US government agencies while some South Korean government websites also appear to be affected.

The US Treasury Department, Secret Service, Federal Trade Commission and Transportation Department were all hit by the attack that started on July 4.
…
The attack slowed down and, in some cases, shut government websites, including the site of the presidential office, for several hours.

President Obama hasn’t commented on having his website shut down by the North Koreans, but one can expect yet another “stern warning” like the twelve warnings NKorea got after they fired missiles, launched an ICBM, tested a nuke, threatened the entire United Nations, and declared the half century armistice as over.

On a more serious note, this is clear evidence that North Korea, China, and Russia are working together closely-even while President Obama is actually IN RUSSIA.

(from earlier)
Spies ‘infiltrate US power grid’

The WSJ reported that the intruders had not sought to damage the power grid or any other key infrastructure so far, but suggested they could change their approach in the event of a crisis or war.
US government computer
A report last year said China had been accessing sensitive US databases

Security watchers said that, if true, the involvement of the Chinese and Russians in such a scenario would show they were strategically thinking about how either to constrain the US or to inflict more damage if they felt a need to do so.

“I think that China recognises if in a very strategic sense you want to ensure you have the ability to exploit another country’s potential weakness or vulnerability, but do it in a way that isn’t confrontational or cause an international crisis, then this is a very good way of doing that,” Eric Rosenbach, of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government’s Belfer Center, told Reuters news agency.

The motives behind these potential attacks are undoubtedly military or political in nature, said Tim Mather, chief security strategist for the RSA Conference, the world’s biggest security event.

He told the BBC: “These countries are not doing this willy-nilly. There is a tactical reason for all of this and no doubt tied to a longer term strategic plan which is gosh if they need to jerk the chain of the US, then this is the way to do it.

“This is like having an ace in the hole for the Chinese or Russians, just in case,” said Mr Mather.

With the clock running out on a new US-Russian arms treaty before the previous Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, expires on December 5, a senior White House official said Sunday said that the difficulty of the task might mean temporarily bypassing the Senate’s constitutional role in ratifying treaties by enforcing certain aspects of a new deal on an executive levels and a “provisional basis” until the Senate ratifies the treaty.

“The most ideal situation would be to finish it in time that it could be submitted to the Senate so that it can be ratified,” said White House Coordinator for Weapons of Mass Destruction, Security and Arms Control Gary Samore. “If we’re not able to do that, we’ll have to look at arrangements to continue some of the inspection provisions, keep them enforced in a provisional basis, while the Senate considers the treaty.”

Samore said administration lawyers are exploring the “different options that are available. One option is that both sides could agree to continue the inspections by executive agreement; that would work on our side. On the Russian side, as I understand it, that would require Duma approval.”

The fact that the administration is preparing for such an extraordinary measure shows just how much pressure the two administrations are under to arrive at an agreement before the 18-year-old treaty expires.

Eh, whats consulting with the Senate have to do with anything right?

Just Article II, Section 2 of our Constitution.

Meanwhile Russia is telling Obama he needs to dump Star Wars or they walk. What’s the odds Obama will capitulate?

During her visit she visited different historical and not so historical sites and met the residents of Auburn: (h/t to Conservative 4 Palin)

Bistro One got a very last-minute reservation request Thursday. But this was one they wanted to make room for.

Former vice-presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin participated in a breakfast event Friday morning at the Auburn restaurant. The event, which was attended by area supporters, kicked off a day of activities for the Republican governor at various local businesses, parks and organizations.

Her tour of the area precedes today’s first-ever Founders Day, which celebrates local history. During the Auburn festival, Palin will take part in a parade, speak at the city hall and attend a fundraiser luncheon at the Seward House.

~~~

One of about 40 in attendance at the breakfast was state Assemblyman Gary Finch. Finch said Palin gave a nonpolitical talk, and she expressed gratitude to the local community for inviting her.

Finch said that Palin, who brought her husband, Todd, daughter, Willow, her sister and nephew along, made sure to speak individually with each person at the event.

“She certainly conveyed to everyone that she is very glad to be here,” said Finch, who will also participate in Saturday’s festivities.

“She was very real, very genuine,” Finch said.

She also visited the Harriet Tubman Home:

At 10:15 a.m., a black SUV took her to the Tubman House for an unannounced tour away from the media pool. Palin’s family was shown through Tubman’s Home for the Aged, and site manager Paul Carter pointed out a print of a guardian angel leading a child. Carter said it reminded him that Tubman was “the guardian angel of us all.”

“That’s beautiful,” Palin said. “That says it all.”

In the Tubman visitor center, after hearing about Tubman’s resilience as she fought slavery, Palin called over her nephew Karcher, who is autistic, and said, “This is something for you, anytime you go through something tough. Keep going.”

And the Women’s Rights National Historic Park and the National Women’s Hall of Fame:

Shortly before noon, Palin’s party was led to the National Women’s Hall of Fame by Executive Director Christine Moulton. Moulton pointed out a number of inductees (including Ruth Colvin, founder of Literacy Volunteers in Syracuse) who had made great contributions to society after raising a family.

“That’s very hopeful for a lot of young moms today, who have to put things on hold,” said Palin, whose 18-year-old daughter, Bristol, is raising a child.

At the Hall of Fame, Palin — wearing a Blue Star Mom pin and bracelet for her son Track serving in Iraq, and showing red toenails in open shoes — posed for pictures.

Moulton gave Palin flowers. Nozzolio gave Palin a DVD of Ken Burns’ series on Anthony and Stanton (”Not for Ourselves Alone”). Palin congratulated Seneca Falls Mayor Smith for being “a good mommy mayor” and “setting an example for young women who want to affect positive change.”

At one point, Palin said she shared with Susan B. Anthony a desire for the protection of women. “For me, that includes our youngest sisters, girls in the womb,” she said.

And one reaction from a resident needs to be repeated:

Adams and his daughter, Erin, got up at 5:30 a.m. to be in Auburn this morning. By 9 a.m., they were seated in folding chairs and talking with other Palin fans. John Adams likes Palin’s politics.

“She makes me think of Ronald Reagan,” John Adams said.

“For the first time since Reagan, I’ve found a candidate that … sounds like Reagan and that has some Reaganesque qualities,” said Adams, 56. “She’s not the speaker Reagan was, but she believes the same things Reagan believed and talk that way, and that inspires me.”

Later she led a parade through Auburn where 20,000 people showed up to cheer her on and gave a speech which definitely contained some red meat. As she reached the podium you can hear people yell “run Sarah run.” The video’s of the speech is below but a few spots of interest, at about the 2:20 mark in part 1:

We never need to fear that though we’re not a perfect nation, that we must apologize for being proud of ourselves.

Later in part 1 she honors a few Auburn son’s who gave the ultimate sacrifice fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq asking them to join her in “promising the gold star moms that our soldiers deaths are not in vain and we will continue to fight for our security, our democracy, our freedom.”

And she takes on those who criticized her for not taking the strings attached stimulus money from the federal government (part 4 below):

I recently turned down, or vetoed, stimulus dollars that were tied to implementing…some mandates from the federal government trying to take away more control of our local governments, and our families, and our businesses. In this case, implementing universal energy building codes that some claimed after I vetoed the money “oh, she’s just trying to make a political statement.” And, no, I’m actually trying to use some common sense here, and some may be uncomfortable with that, but it is the right thing to do.

You know the response I got when I vetoed these dollars? “Girl, are you crazy, the federal government is handing out free money and if you don’t take it another state’s going to spend it.” Oh this borrowed, debt ridden, government growing money – it is not free money, and taking it takes away anything that is free.

So many in Congress warned the states about the ramifications of accepting the money, and most legislators went around governors who didn’t want to take all the money, and they resolved via resolutions to take the money anyway. But opportunity for development and local control, that is what’s taken away when all of these dollars are accepted without questioning them, because, believe it or not, there are fat strings attached to this borrowed money. See that attitude of free money is wrong.

Finally I have just conceded, I’ve said ok, I just won’t claim that there are strings attached. I won’t use that term anymore. Because the more we dig into these mandates, these connections that the money would have that we would spend coming from the federal government, including the string attached to these dizzying federal debts that we are handing to our kids and to their kids to pay off for us – I can’t say strings attached anymore, now I say they are ropes…They are debt building, binding, controlling ropes and it is bigger government that ultimately will take away our opportunities and our freedoms.

And now precedent says government will bail you out, depending on the decisions that you’ve made if you’re not prudent with your business dollars. Government will buy you out. Anyone need a car? And this is a problem because we cannot afford this government largess and control and unrestrained spending. I don’t think that’s what Seward had in mind. And I do not believe it’s the will of the people.

Lastly she also speaks about the part Alaska plays in our national defense (part 5 below). Watch them all, great speech and a great lady.

Well, as Mike wrote about earlier we can see how well that “good” judgment has worked out so far:

North Korea announced Monday that it successfully carried out a second underground nuclear test, less than two months after launching a rocket widely believed to be a test of its long-range missile technology.

John Bolton predicted this a few days ago:

The curtain is about to rise again on the long-running nuclear tragicomedy, “North Korea Outwits the United States.” Despite Kim Jong Il’s explicit threats of another nuclear test, U.S. Special Envoy Stephen Bosworth said last week that the Obama administration is “relatively relaxed” and that “there is not a sense of crisis.” They’re certainly smiling in Pyongyang.

And what does Obama do?

Today, North Korea said that it has conducted a nuclear test in violation of international law. It appears to also have attempted a short range missile launch. These actions, while not a surprise given its statements and actions to date, are a matter of grave concern to all nations. North Korea’s attempts to develop nuclear weapons, as well as its ballistic missile program, constitute a threat to international peace and security.

By acting in blatant defiance of the United Nations Security Council, North Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the international community. North Korea’s behavior increases tensions and undermines stability in Northeast Asia. Such provocations will only serve to deepen North Korea’s isolation. It will not find international acceptance unless it abandons its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.

The danger posed by North Korea’s threatening activities warrants action by the international community. We have been and will continue working with our allies and partners in the Six-Party Talks as well as other members of the U.N. Security Council in the days ahead.

Warrants action huh? Judging by your “good” judgment so far I’m guessing that’s going to be a stern lecture via the UN. I’m sure Russia and China will go along with that.

Nope….the days of using the UN to accomplish anything has been over for sometime but we know Obama’s history, what little there is of it, and that is the only tool he will use….unsuccessfully. He has no backbone, and no stomach to be ill thought of by the world, the days of the paper tiger have come back, and our allies know it:

TOKYO (Reuters) – A Japanese ruling party panel is to propose that pre-emptive strikes against enemy bases be allowed despite the country’s pacifist constitution, Kyodo news agency said on Monday, weeks after a North Korean missile launch.

North Korea fired a ballistic missile in April that flew over northern Japan after warning that it planned to launch a satellite, prompting the government to deploy missile interceptors to the area .

” Japan should have the ability to strike enemy bases within the scope of its defence-oriented policy, in order not to sit and wait for death,” Kyodo quoted the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) committee as saying in its proposal.

Thanks lefties……you helped to elect a totally inexperience community organizer as our President during the 2nd inning of a war on terror. But what do they do when the heat starts getting turned up? Why they make excuses.

Bolton:

…Iran and other aspiring nuclear proliferators will draw precisely the same conclusion: Negotiations like the six-party talks are a charade and reflect a continuing collapse of American resolve. U.S. acquiescence in a second North Korean nuclear test will likely mean that Tehran will adopt Pyongyang’s successful strategy.

It’s time for the Obama administration to finally put down Kim Jong Il’s script. If not, we better get ready for Iran — and others — to go nuclear.

What a laugh….Obama put down the script of Kim Jong Il! Face it, with this man at the helm there is no more getting ready for a nuclear armed Iran, it WILL happen.

“2. Demands that the DPRK not conduct any further nuclear test or launch of a ballistic missile;”

But they went ahead and launched a missile anyways and what does the UN do? The same crap they did with Saddam….talk talk talk talk and more talk….and then nada, zip, zilch. NOTHING!

An emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council concluded Sunday without an official reaction to North Korea ignoring repeated international warnings and launching a long-range rocket, the council president told reporters.

“Consultations will go on among members to see what is the appropriate position that the council will take,” said Claude Heller, the current Security Council president, and Mexico’s U.N. ambassador. When the council would reconvene wasn’t clear, but Heller said it would be “as soon as possible.”

“I think that there is a very strong call for dialogue, to reconvene, and I think there is consensus in saying that the Security Council regretted the government of [North Korea] disregarded the call by [the] international community to suspend the launching,” he said.

What does Obama want to do? Well, after some tough talk:

“Rules must be binding. Violations must be punished. Words must mean something. The world must stand together to prevent the spread of these weapons. Now’s the time for a strong international response,” the president said during a speech before a huge crowd in Prague.

(kinda like the rules from 13 resolutions against Iraq eh?)

He wants……wait for it…….another resolution:

“The launch constituted a clear-cut violation” of the resolution, said Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. North Korea’s action “merits a clear, strong response” and in the U.S. view, that would come in the form of a council resolution, Rice said.

Pathetic with a capitol P.

Meanwhile Bolton has some strong words:

Prior to North Korea’s launch yesterday of a Taepodong-2 ballistic missile, President Barack Obama declared that such an action would be “provocative.” This public statement was an attempt to reinforce the administration’s private efforts to urge the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea (DPRK) not to fire the missile.

That effort failed, as have countless other attempts to deal softly with Pyongyang. Incredibly, U.S. Special Envoy for North Korea Stephen Bosworth revealed — just a few days before the launch — that he was ready to visit Pyongyang and resume the six-party talks once the “dust from the missiles settles.” It is no wonder the North fired away.

Once the missile shot was complete, the administration’s answer was hand-wringing, more rhetoric and, oh yes, the obligatory trip to the U.N. Security Council so that it could scold the defiant DPRK. Beyond whatever happens in the Security Council, Mr. Obama seems to have no plan whatever.

In 2006, when Pyongyang last lit off a volley of missiles and then exploded a nuclear device, the Security Council responded unanimously with Resolutions 1695 and 1718, which imposed extensive military and some economic sanctions. Unfortunately, the impact of these resolutions was dramatically undercut by subsequent Bush administration diplomacy, which effectively let North Korea off the hook. By re-engaging Pyongyang diplomatically rather than increasing the external pressure, George W. Bush relegitimized the North and gave it yet more time to bargain.

Yesterday’s launch is attributable to prior failures, but the global consequences now unfolding are Mr. Obama’s responsibility. In fact, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is expected to announce today deep cuts in the U.S. missile defense program, an extraordinarily ill-advised step.

The initial draft Security Council resolution responding to yesterday’s missile launch, written by Japan and the U.S., is weak. It essentially only reaffirms Resolutions 1695 and 1718, and minimally tightens existing enforcement mechanisms. Moreover, China and Russia made it plain before the launch they had no interest in stricter sanctions — even arguing with a straight face that Pyongyang was only interested in peaceful satellite communications.

He scolds Bush as well as Obama….rightly so. No negotiations should have resumed, but now the North Koreans have launched their longest flying missile to date and it’s Obama’s crisis to solve. And so far it’s just more of the same. At least with Bush the world knew he was capable of pulling the trigger. Not so with this weak gollum we have in the White House today

Iran has carefully scrutinized the Obama administration’s every action, and Tehran’s only conclusion can be: It is past time to torque up the pressure on this new crowd in Washington. Not only is Iran’s back now covered by its friends Russia, China and others on the U.N. Security Council, but it sees an American president so ready to bend his knee for public favor in Europe that the mullahs’ wish list for U.S. concessions will grow by the minute.

Israel must also be carefully considering how the U.S. watched North Korea rip through “the international community.” The most important lesson the new government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should draw is: Look out for No. 1. If Israel isn’t prepared to protect itself, including using military force, against Iran’s nuclear weapons program, it certainly shouldn’t be holding its breath for Mr. Obama to do anything.

Russia and China must also be relishing this outcome. They will have faced down Mr. Obama in his first real crisis, having provided Security Council cover for a criminal regime, and emerged unscathed.

Well, as Biden said would happen….Obama has been tested and failed completely.

UPDATE

Brian T. Kennedy at The Corner:

…does anyone seriously think it is possible that the North Korean missile test was not designed to embarrass Mr. Obama? While he is preening about a world without nuclear weapons, and beginning his justification for doing away with our rudimentary missile defense systems, the North Koreans launch a missile that further demonstrates their intention of being able to attack the United States or Japan.

And we have this report from RIA, the Russian news service: “Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has proposed to Russia using a Venezuelan island for temporary hosting of Russian long-range aviation, a top-ranking Russian Air Force official said Saturday.”

And from CNN: “Russia expressed interest in using Cuban airfields during patrol missions of its strategic bombers, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported.”

And from Bloomberg: “Russia could land strategic bombers at Cuban and Venezuelan airfields while conducting patrols, the head of the Russian strategic air force was quoted as saying by the Interfax news service.”

Russia can see they have a amateur in the White House, a man who will let them get away with anything and the only consequence from an Obama administration is a stern lecture. They can’t let this opportunity slip by…..

Latest case? Hillary’s Russian faux pas with the symbolic “reset” button… OMG…

It started with Biden who, for once, can’t get nailed with this gaffe. Early February he made news in Munich with his speech at the Conference where he para-phrased Obama, saying:

It is time — to paraphrase President Obama — it’s time to press the reset button and to revisit the many areas where we can and should be working together with Russia.

Along comes Hillary, here to assure our former Cold War nemesis that this new admin was determined to mend the broken relationship. Word has she greeted the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a symbolic “gift” of a red button with the word “reset” on it in Russian.

…. or so she thought…

“I would like to present you with a little gift that represents what President Obama and Vice President Biden and I have been saying and that is: ‘We want to reset our relationship and so we will do it together,” said Clinton, presenting Lavrov with a palm-sized yellow box with a red button.

Clinton joked to Lavrov: “We worked hard to get the right Russian word. Do you think we got it?”

“You got it wrong,” said Lavrov, smiling as the two pushed the reset button together before dinner at a Geneva hotel.

He told Clinton the word “Peregruzka” meant “overcharge,” to which Clinton replied: “We won’t let you do that to us.”

“We mean it and we look forward to it,” she said of “resetting” the relationship, a phrase that Joe Biden first used at a security conference in Munich.

Lavrov said he would put the gift on his desk.

What bozos do they have in charge of all this stuff? You’d think an mistake in “judgment” here or there may be understandable. But based on their performance thus far, I suggest they stick with sending on a complement of Keebler or Oreo cookies…. both regular and low fat, to be politically correct, of course.

UPDATE from Breitbart on Mar 7th

Seems some Russian media are having a field day with the faux pas…

Russian media has been poking fun at US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after she gave her Russian counterpart a “reset” button with an ironic misspelling.

~~~

But instead of the Russian word for “reset” (perezagruzka) it featured a slightly different word meaning “overload” or “overcharged” (peregruzka).

Daily newspaper Kommersant put a prominent picture of the fake red button on its front page and declared: “Sergei Lavrov and Hillary Clinton pushed the wrong button.”

A correspondent for NTV television called it a “symbolic mistake,” pointing out that US-Russian ties had become overcharged in recent years due to discord over such issues as missile defence and last summer’s war in Georgia.

“The friendly US gesture was upturned by a small amusing incident,” the news website RBC.ru wrote in an article posted late Friday evening.

“Yet this curious episode did not stop Clinton and Lavrov from pushing the button in front of television cameras.”

All of a sudden, six nations are building aircraft carriers (the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, India and China.) For over half a century, most of the carrier building took place in the United States. Russia built some, without much success, towards the end of the Cold War. Britain and France built a few, and several other nations (like India and Brazil), bought second had British carriers so they could maintain one or two in service.

But now six nations are planning or building new carriers, most of them a bit smaller (about 60,000 tons) than the larger U.S. ones (100,000 tons).

Britain & France

India

Brazil

Uh huh… a country a’wash in oil and it’s profits is focusing on nuke energy. Okay… I suppose it’s possible. But somehow, I don’t get the idea the world will be any more comfortable with Chavez using a peaceful energy program to potentially mask an undercover WMD program than they are with Iran’s Ahmadinejad.

Right along with that “peaceful” nuke energy was $4 billion in Russian weaponry, fighter jets and choppers.

Bad time for the DNC and our President-elect to continue snubbing our Latin American ally, Columbia, over protectionist trade issues, don’t you think?

“It was 5.30pm on election day in Ukraine when the thugs in masks arrived armed with rubber truncheons.

Vitaly Kizima, an election monitor at Zhovtneve in Ukraine’s Sumy region, watched in horror as 30 men in tracksuits stormed into the village polling station.

“They started to beat voters and election officials, trying to push through towards the ballot boxes,” he told The Telegraph.

“People’s faces were cut from blows to the head. There was blood all over.”

The thugs – believed to be loyal to the pro-Russian presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovich from his stronghold, Donetsk – were repulsed only when locals pushed them back and a policeman fired warning shots.”

“Maya Syta, a journalist working at polling station 73 in a Kiev suburb, witnessed ballot papers destroyed with acid poured into a ballot box. “The officials were taking them out of the box and they couldn’t understand why they were wet,” she said.

“Then I saw they started to blacken and disintegrate as if they were burning. Two ballots were wrapped up into a tube with a yellow liquid inside. After a few moments they were completely eaten up.”

“And late last week Mr Yushchenko’s headquarters released an audio recording in which senior members of Mr Yanukovich’s campaign team were allegedly caught red-handed discussing how to fix the election result.

In the telephone conversation, a member of the team can be heard saying that he ordered a local election commission to disqualify votes.”

What is the MSM reporting about this situation? Not a damn thing. You have incidents of real voter fraud and they are still crying about exit poll data.

Now news today from Ukrayinska Pravda

“Yuschenko lays down an ultimatum to Kuchma ? otherwise former president will be blocked in his dacha

www.PRAVDA.com….ua , 29.11.2004, 00:33

The national salvation committee has laid down an ultimatum to current president Leonid Kuchma.

The committee requires Kuchma to perform 4 main conditions during next 24 hours:

1. to dismiss Prime minister Yanukhovich for his support in falsifying elections and participating in separatist actions;

2. to present new composition of the Central elections committee pursuant to the request of the Supreme Council, formulated in the resolution of Supreme Council from November, 27.

3. to dismiss the chiefs of Donetska, Luganska and Kharkivska oblast administrations ? who in fact are igniters of separatism.

4. to order, that the Security Service of Ukraine and the office of Prosecutor General initiate criminal proceedings against the separatist governors.

Should Mr. Kuchma fail to comply with the request contained in the ultimatum, “his inactivity will be considered as the crime against the people of Ukraine, and it may have the consequences, stipulated by the Criminal code of Ukraine,” the ultimatum continues.

“Should the request be ignored, we will start blocking movements of Mr. Kuchma on the territory of Ukraine. We know well, where he is now and what would be his further movements. And we are able to disable his only step, should he fail to follow our request,” ? Julia Tymoshenko said, while reading the ultimatum on the meeting.

Add the following from Captain Joe

“Yushchenko warns of a possible attempt to break up the rallies and declare emergency law about 20:00.
Victor Yushchenko has warned that the authorities are considering declaring emergency law and moving to break up the rallies in Kiev.

“Already for two days there has been talk about introducing emergency law which would allow them to break up this demonstration and raze the tent city around 20:00″ – Yushchenko said at the rally in Kiev’s Independence Square.”

and you can see a real disaster about to take place.

Tulip Girl who is reporting from the Ukraine that the police may be gathering for an assault on the tent city.

“There are several reports of Kuchma planning on declaring martial law and possible attempting to raze the tent city at 8pm local time. Please pray that peace will prevail, Kuchma will not use violence, and the protesters will remain level-headed.”