The Saudi’s move to blunt Iran in the Middle East and become the Top Player there….
I touched on this briefly after the Egyptians sent Mubarak packing….
The truth is no matter how much the media hypes it up…
The United States is just a bystander in the Middle East and North Africa….
The Saudi’s know that…
They have watched American President’s come and go….
Blah…Blah…Peace …
Yea right….
The fact is …
There is no peace ….
In addition…
By Bush II beating up Iraq and Saddam Hussein …
He upset a natural balance in the region….
Most people forget that the US had been working WITH Iraq to keep their eight war going on….
Iran had no time to mess with other countries in the region with Saddam constantly probing the Iranian’s militarily….
But…
After Iraq ceased to be a fighting force…..
Iran looked around the region and began to export instability and influence….
Then the Egyptian political thing happened and the ‘democracy’ was off to the races….
That movement was strong but not channeled…
It struck out across the Middle East and North Africa and probably scared the shit out of ever ruler….
And the Iranians of course saw a means to spread their brand like all political systems do….
America with its hands full in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and relief work in Japan has been ineffective in dealing with Iran….
Several infantile attempts at over throwing the Political system in that country have resulted in crushing lock downs on its young people….
All this while that countries leader’s pursue the ‘Nuclear Option’…..
Which the west and Israeli’s have been force to attack with computer viruses instead of direct action…
No wonder the Saudi’s have decided to combat eth influence of Iran on it’s own….
The United States constantly has this internal argument in the media on WHEN will we leave the region with our Armies , Navies and Aircraft…..
No IF…..
So they have stuck out on their own …
Which of course in the right thing for them to do…
It’s their butts that are on the line…..
And we shouldn’t be so worried at the linked piece below declares…
It’s about time someone else is leading the band…
We American’s are tired….
Saudi Arabia is rallying Muslim nations across the Middle East and Asia to join an informal Arab alliance against Iran, in a move some U.S. officials worry could draw other troubled nations into the sectarian tensions gripping the Arab world.
Saudi officials have approached Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Central Asian states to lend diplomatic support—and potentially military assistance in some cases—to help stifle a majority Shiite revolt in Sunni-led Bahrain, a conflict that has become a symbol of Arab defiance against Iran.
Saudi Arabia’s efforts, though against a common enemy, signal increasing friction with the Obama administration. Its invitation to Pakistan in particular could complicate U.S. security goals in South Asia. The push also complicates U.S. efforts to guide popular uprisings in the Middle East toward a peaceful and democratic conclusion.
The chief of the Saudi National Security Council, Prince Bandar bin Sultan al Saud, asked Pakistan’s powerful generals in March to lend support for the operation in Bahrain, according to Pakistani, U.S. and Saudi officials briefed on the meetings.
Prince Bandar—who was the Saudi ambassador to Washington for more than two decades—told the Pakistani generals that the U.S. shouldn’t be counted on to restore stability across the Middle East or protect Pakistan’s interests in South Asia, these officials say.
U.S. officials working with Saudi Arabia acknowledged in recent days Riyadh’s frustration with Washington’s policies but believe the relationship can be stabilized. “They are not happy with us, and are really nervous about Iran,” said an American official. “But I don’t think they are going to go too far.”
Another view on why the French and Brits jumped into Libya….And pulled us in too…
Ok….
I’m tired …..
But while riding around with my wife this afternoon and evening I tuned into POTUS Satellite Radio….
They were doing the replay of the morning Press Pool radio show….
Louise Schiavone was filling in for the Joe Mathieu and she had Llewellyn King on….
She got into a discussion about Libya…
And Llewellyn went on about a another reason for the mess in and over Libya…..
King invited that while the big deal about the Libyan “Civil War” in this country was framed in the term of media pictures of people getting hurt from Gaddafi’s troops…
The REAL reason for the French flexing and the Brits and the rest of Europe getting excited and worked up was NOT Gaddafi at all…
It was immigration and assimilation….
The two issues are very real in the European continent King advised….
For this reason…
As things have gotten bad in the Middle East and Africa from wars and disputes between religious groups of muslims….
As the shia and Sunni muslims square off….
People move….
They move to the European countries where democracy lets them live their lives as they want to…..
If they aren’t religious the still move to live their lives free of dictators….
But…..
And this is VERY IMPORTANT …..
These immigrants ….
And they are a LOT of THEM…..
Are moving into Europe and NOT assimilating…..
King points out that in Italy and France there are whole swaths of the country that have immigrants that don’t bother to learn their new countries language, customs or laws….
They set up shop in their new destinations and BRING THEIR OLD COUNTRY with them…
France is in heated battle with muslim women who wear cover-ups that make them unrecognizable to anyone….
This ia religious custom ….
But the French are highly pissed ….
To the point that they have passed a law against it….
As in this country….
Immigration is a hot subject….
So King points out…..
The French and the Italians have been watching nervously as immigrants bail out of troubled Middle Eastern and Africa countries and landing on their shores….
Gaddafi was alright in Kings estimation until people started heading for the borders….
The result of the same thing the American media was showing…..
King points out that Sarkozy must have picked up the phone and spoke to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton…..Then President Obama reminding them that French and NATO troops where operating in Afghanistan providing great political risk to the heads of state of those countries……
It was time for the US to return the favor….
And I add…
Hillary sold it to Obama….
You know I never saw this thing that way….
But I can NOW see it …..
The more you know….
The more you can see……
The Rep. Peter King Muslim Hearings…..
This Dog is of two minds on Rep. Peter Kings (R-NY) Theatre up on Capital Hill….
While I am a bit alarmed that media tilt to the Hearings might push the branding of the McCarthy era…
I have to say that I applaud the Congressman from down road from me for coming out of the closet on the issue….
Right after 9/11, there was a local Yemeni store worker that point to the 9/11 headlines and smiled in front of me…
I stopped going to that store….
The guy lost all of his regular customers and was replaced in the store by another family member that is a US citizen a has his kids in out local schools….
He does not bring the incident up….
Yet I an aware of several cases where Muslim parents raised US born children…Only to see them become radicalized and sneak away to join the ’cause’…
If Peter King’s hearings can help the parents who are suffering then that’s good….
If Federal, State and local police can testify that there HAVE been Muslims that come forth to help keep America safe….
Then that IS good…..
There is a problem with American born or naturalized citizens doing harm to their fellow Americans…
But…
Sunlight and knowledge of these issuers are good for ALL Americans to see and understand….
As american’s are christians, jews and muslims….
We all blend together to form a beautiful somewhat flawed country that is the greatest in the world…
We MUST be vigilant against those theat would do us harm…
But as we the American people have always been..
We must fight our demons to be tolerant and to continue accepting those that are different from us…
But want to BE us….
It is the strength and the lifeblood of this great nation…
Representative Peter King during a hearing on the radicalization of American Muslims in Washington on Thursday.
“Indeed, Congressional investigation of Muslim American radicalization is the logical response to the repeated and urgent warnings which the Obama administration has been making in recent months,” he said in his opening statement.
Mr. King quoted top Obama administration officials as attesting to the threat of homegrown terrorism, listing a half-dozen American citizens and residents accused of plotting or carrying out violence in the name of Islam since 2009.
But the committee’s top Democrat, Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, said Muslims as a community should not be accused of radicalism or violence. He suggested that such accusations could play into the hands of Al Qaedaby supporting its claim that the United States is hostile to Islam.
“I cannot help but wonder whether this hearing, focused on the Muslim American community, will be used to inspire a new generation of suicide bombers,” Mr. Thompson said. Noting his own roots in Mississippi, he also referred to Mr. King’s Irish heritage; some critics of Mr. King have noted that he was a strong supporter of the Irish Republican Armywhen it carried out terrorist attacks in the 1980s…..
Russia, Turkey and Iran get together to talk about the Middle East…..
[ Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, left, with Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Tuesday in Istanbul. ]
Remember the old complaints 20 years ago about the Russians trying exert influen=ce in the Middle East?
Probably not…
A lot of people here where babies when that was going on….
Well…anyways …
We’re back to history repeating itself….
In an obvious slap at the Obama Administration….
Putin has shown up (NOT Russian President Dmiitry Medvedev) to sit down and talk over the Middle East with Trurkey….Which isn’t too happy with Israel and the US right now…..and is having a muslim reawaeaking…..and Iran…which seems to be running circles around President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton….
With the help of Turkey and Brazil ( nuclear fuel deal ) the sanction policy against Iran is stalled….
Today the New York Times has piece about how the Iranian’s are getting around sanctions…
And the Russian are now on board for larger International investigation of the Israeli raid on the shipping to Gaza…..
Things are not good for the American home team…..who are further distracted by North Korea and South Korea flexing on each other….
Hillary Clinton seems to be in worst shape and busier that Obama with the fuel spill….
I wonder if she still thinks taking the job was good thing?
In remarks at the gathering of regional leaders, the third of its kind dedicated to increasing cooperation and security in Asia, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejadof Iran said a nuclear agreement brokered by Turkey and Brazil last month was a one-time opportunity and other countries had called to express their support for it.
“We’ve seen a lot of support from the international arena,” he said, according to the Turkey’s official Anatolian News Agency. “This is the voice of everyone’s heart.” Mr. Ahmadinejad also maintained a defiant posture toward the United States.
“If the U.S. and its allies think they could hold the stick of sanctions and then sit and negotiate with us, they are seriously mistaken,” he told a news conference, according to Iran’s state-run Press TV satellite broadcaster. European and American officials say the vote on sanctions could come as early as Wednesday.
Mr. Ahmadinejad said Iran would not repeat its recent offer to send part of its stockpile out of Iran for enrichment. The accord, supported by Brazil and Turkey, was designed to break the deadlock over its nuclear program, according to Iran.
“The Tehran declaration provided an opportunity for the United States government and its allies. We had hoped and we are still hopeful that they use the opportunity well,” Mr. Ahmadinejad said. “I must say opportunities like this will not be repeated again.”
Mr. Putin, speaking at the conference, said sanctions should not be “excessive” but gave no details on whether Russia would change its mind on the vote. He called Iran’s nuclear program peaceful, a characterization with which Washington disagrees.
“I hold the opinion that this resolution should not be unnecessary, should not put Iran’s leadership or the Iranian people into difficulty,” Mr. Putin said.
The conference reinforces the shifting alignments in this complicated area, where regional powers like Iran and Turkey, a NATO member, are emerging as bigger players.
Turkey, whose relationship with its longtime ally Israel is fraying, has been mediating in the Balkans, the Caucasus and the Middle East in a new activist foreign policy that has sometimes placed it at odds with Washington, its closest diplomatic and military partner.
Note.….The Israeli’s have set up an internal group to study the raid and its decision making…..
The Dog thinks Haley will win the South Carolina Governor GOP Primary…..But can she avoid a run-off?
Publicity is publicity….
Good or bad….
And it is free advertising for most cash strapped politicians…..
Even if they are Tea Partiers with Sarah Palin endorsements….
Nikki Haley down in South Carolina is gonna get a boost from people in her state making remarks about her skin color, her supposed religion and her supposed sex life……
Good for her…
South Carolina state Rep. Nikki Haley shows no sign of suffering any damage from allegations that she has had extramarital affairs, with a new poll showing she continues to hold a 20 point lead in her bid for the GOP gubernatorial nomination. A majority of voters say they don’t believe the accusations of infidelity.
Going into Tuesday’s primary, Haley runs ahead of the Republican field with 43 percent followed by Rep. Gresham Barrett at 23 percent, Attorney General Henry McMaster at 16 percent, and Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer at 12 percent, with 7 percent undecided, according to a Public Policy Polling survey conducted June 5-6.
Haley has gained four points in her level of support since PPP’s poll two weeks ago when she held a similar advantage over her nearest rival.
She is seen favorably by 58 percent of likely voters and unfavorably by 23 percent, with 19 percent undecided. The 35 point spread in her favor is about the same as it was in the last poll.
Last week, a state lobbyist who had resigned from Bauer’s campaign claimed he had a tryst with Haley in 2008. It was the second such allegation, following one by a former aide to Gov. Mark Sanford who said he had physical relations with Haley in 2007. Haley vigorously denied both accusations.
Fifty-four percent of voters do not believe she has had extramarital affairs while 13 percent do, with 33 percent undecided.
“Nikki Haley’s in good shape,” said PPP’s Dean Debnam. “Her campaign has deflected the allegations against her well and so far she hasn’t suffered any political damage in the wake of them.”
The question for Haley is whether she can get to the 50 percent she needs to avoid a runoff. If there is one, Barrett appears to be the candidate with the second place momentum, picking up 7 points of support since the last poll.
Israel's backers in Congress….Obama slows down his retort…..
[ Anthony Weiner has vigorously supported Israel’s boarding an aid ship bound for the blockaded Gaza. ]
After the initial ‘hot’ words about the Israeli raid on the Turkish funded relief supply convoy…..
The White House had spread the word to’ cool it’ on the caper…
The President has been reported to told Bibi Netanyahu to double-check his intelligence on the situation…
So while the Turks, British and the rest of the world is pounding the Jewish State…Obama has become quiet…
Meanwhile several members of Congress have stepped up to Israel’s defense…..
While the Obama administration takes a wait-and-see approach to the newest crisis in the Middle East, some Democrats in Congress stand firmly behind Israel’s raid of a Turkish flotilla en route to Gaza.
New York Democratic Reps. Anthony Weiner, Jerrold Nadler, Gary Ackerman, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Ron Klein (D-Fla.) have all vigorously supported Israel’s boarding an aid ship bound for the blockaded Gaza — an act that resulted in ten deaths and a U.N. condemnation.
The comments expose a bit of daylight between the White House and some staunch defenders of Israel in Congress. Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said the administration is “greatly supportive of [Israel’s] security. That’s not going to change.” And in a statement, the White House said it had “regret” for the deaths but supported an investigation to uncover the facts.
Pro-Israel Democrats aren’t being so nuanced.
“I think that members of the United States Congress understand why the blockade was in place against Hamas and support it, once you start at that place, a boat that bows into the teeth of that blockade isn’t going to be viewed sympathetically,” Weiner said. “To the extent that any time that there is a flare-up of tensions, it’s bad for U.S. and Israeli efforts of peace. We obviously had a bad weekend.”
Note….There are reports that the Israeli’s are holding hundreds of people and more ships are on the way to Gaza….
Israel’s backers in Congress….Obama slows down his retort…..
[ Anthony Weiner has vigorously supported Israel’s boarding an aid ship bound for the blockaded Gaza. ]
After the initial ‘hot’ words about the Israeli raid on the Turkish funded relief supply convoy…..
The White House had spread the word to’ cool it’ on the caper…
The President has been reported to told Bibi Netanyahu to double-check his intelligence on the situation…
So while the Turks, British and the rest of the world is pounding the Jewish State…Obama has become quiet…
Meanwhile several members of Congress have stepped up to Israel’s defense…..
While the Obama administration takes a wait-and-see approach to the newest crisis in the Middle East, some Democrats in Congress stand firmly behind Israel’s raid of a Turkish flotilla en route to Gaza.
New York Democratic Reps. Anthony Weiner, Jerrold Nadler, Gary Ackerman, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Ron Klein (D-Fla.) have all vigorously supported Israel’s boarding an aid ship bound for the blockaded Gaza — an act that resulted in ten deaths and a U.N. condemnation.
The comments expose a bit of daylight between the White House and some staunch defenders of Israel in Congress. Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said the administration is “greatly supportive of [Israel’s] security. That’s not going to change.” And in a statement, the White House said it had “regret” for the deaths but supported an investigation to uncover the facts.
Pro-Israel Democrats aren’t being so nuanced.
“I think that members of the United States Congress understand why the blockade was in place against Hamas and support it, once you start at that place, a boat that bows into the teeth of that blockade isn’t going to be viewed sympathetically,” Weiner said. “To the extent that any time that there is a flare-up of tensions, it’s bad for U.S. and Israeli efforts of peace. We obviously had a bad weekend.”
Note….There are reports that the Israeli’s are holding hundreds of people and more ships are on the way to Gaza….
Should it manner?…..The Protestant-Free Court…..
Good question from Ed Kilgore over @ Fivethirtyeight.…..
The religious, as opposed to ideological, composition of the U.S. Supreme Court has become less important to most people in recent decades. But it’s still being noticed that the proposed nomination of Elena Kagan to replace John Paul Stevens would create, for the first time, a Supreme Court with no professed Protestant Christians—instead, six Roman Catholics and three Jews.
When the burgeoning Catholic majority on the Court became an issue during the Sotomayor nomination debate, Andrew Gelman did a quick analysis here of the Court’s religious composition over the centuries, noting that Protestants were a long way from suffering any overall under-representation. It’s a good time to look a little deeper at religious representation on the Court.
Comments anyone?
'In the year of our lord' is still around on US documents…….
Here’s a little piece on the use of that phrase in all sort of Federal and State doucuments..in the past..and currently….
The Dog doesn’t think it’s a big deal….
And down South you could have a whole lot of trouble even bringing up the issue…..
This from Jeffrey Weiss @ PolitcsDaily…..
A few days ago, I got curious about the wording of those proclamations issued by several state governors announcing Confederate History Month. (Mostly, I wondered why a patriotic current citizen of the United States of America would want to celebrate what were unarguably the deadliest traitors in our nation’s history.)
As I found examples of the proclamations online, I was struck by some of what I’d consider the “boilerplate,” the way the date of issuance is described. Here’s how the governor of Georgia did it:
“In witness thereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the Executive Department to be affixed this 1st day of December in the year of our Lord two thousand nine.”
I found the same wording, basically, for Mississippi. What struck me? Whose Lord, exactly, are they referring to? In 2010, there’s a 100 percent chance that there is no state where every citizen would answer “Jesus Christ.”
This language wasn’t a peculiarity associated with the Confederate history proclamations for those two states. When I rooted around to find other proclamations in Georgia and Mississippi, I found the same wording.
Was this a Southern thing? Not so much. I looked at proclamations from Texas, South Carolina and Alabama and the dates did not have the religious appendage.
I realize this wording was once widely, if sporadically, used in America.
The Declaration of Independence does not include the religious language, going simply with: “In Congress, July 4, 1776.”
But there’s that reference in Article VII of the U.S. Constitution: “Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth.” (Interesting that this includes both the religiously linked dating and the utterly secular age of the nation itself.)
Some four score and seven years later, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation is dated “on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.”
And just a couple of weeks ago, Barack Obama ended his proclamation for National Park Week with: “IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.”
Even today, people who may not know it are making reference to that same phrase any time they add “AD” to a date. After all, the Latin “anno domini” means nothing but “year of the Lord.” (Which is why some people replace AD with CE for “common era.”)
‘In the year of our lord’ is still around on US documents…….
Here’s a little piece on the use of that phrase in all sort of Federal and State doucuments..in the past..and currently….
The Dog doesn’t think it’s a big deal….
And down South you could have a whole lot of trouble even bringing up the issue…..
This from Jeffrey Weiss @ PolitcsDaily…..
A few days ago, I got curious about the wording of those proclamations issued by several state governors announcing Confederate History Month. (Mostly, I wondered why a patriotic current citizen of the United States of America would want to celebrate what were unarguably the deadliest traitors in our nation’s history.)
As I found examples of the proclamations online, I was struck by some of what I’d consider the “boilerplate,” the way the date of issuance is described. Here’s how the governor of Georgia did it:
“In witness thereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the Executive Department to be affixed this 1st day of December in the year of our Lord two thousand nine.”
I found the same wording, basically, for Mississippi. What struck me? Whose Lord, exactly, are they referring to? In 2010, there’s a 100 percent chance that there is no state where every citizen would answer “Jesus Christ.”
This language wasn’t a peculiarity associated with the Confederate history proclamations for those two states. When I rooted around to find other proclamations in Georgia and Mississippi, I found the same wording.
Was this a Southern thing? Not so much. I looked at proclamations from Texas, South Carolina and Alabama and the dates did not have the religious appendage.
I realize this wording was once widely, if sporadically, used in America.
The Declaration of Independence does not include the religious language, going simply with: “In Congress, July 4, 1776.”
But there’s that reference in Article VII of the U.S. Constitution: “Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth.” (Interesting that this includes both the religiously linked dating and the utterly secular age of the nation itself.)
Some four score and seven years later, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation is dated “on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.”
And just a couple of weeks ago, Barack Obama ended his proclamation for National Park Week with: “IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.”
Even today, people who may not know it are making reference to that same phrase any time they add “AD” to a date. After all, the Latin “anno domini” means nothing but “year of the Lord.” (Which is why some people replace AD with CE for “common era.”)
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