COLD WAR 21: Russia Tests ICBM

August 28, 2008

Last night Russia tested a stealth ICBM (Inter Continental Ballistic Missile), and reported that it was a successful endeavor. International experts say that the test was meant to alarm the West, and the World.

“The RS-12M Topol, designed to dodge defence systems, has a range of 6,125 miles — enough to reach Britain — with a 550-kiloton warhead capable of devastating a 14-mile wide area.” (source)

Coming on the heels of the Russian-Georgian war, this test fire has produced mixed reactions from around the world.

The UK says that no one wants to start a nuclear war with Russia.

Curiously, the Chinese are condemning the test fire last night as an unnecessary show of force against Georgia: The SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation), made up of China and Black Sea states, said: “Relying on the use of force has no prospects and hinders a settlement of local conflicts. We urge the sides to solve problems peacefully.”

When the Chinese criticize their Russian comrades for demonstrating force, it is time to be suspicious. Is it possible that the Chinese are secretly aligned with Russia’s goals of imperialism, and are acting as pseudo-brokers of peace in order to give the Bear UN Security Council cover for accomplishing it’s goals?

ISLAMOPHILE 082708: Jihad On The UNC Campus

August 27, 2008

Naturalized US citizen from Iran, Mohammed Taheri-Azar.

A former student at the University of North Carolina was sentenced to up to 33 years in prison for plowing his sport utility vehicle into a crowd on the Chapel Hill campus in a self-professed bid to avenge the deaths of Muslims overseas.

The driver, Mohammed Taheri-Azar, pleaded guilty this month to nine counts of attempted murder in the March 2006 attack at a popular outdoor gathering spot known as the Pit. One person had a head injury and several had cuts and bruises, said District Attorney Jim Woodall of Orange County. Mr. Taheri-Azar, 25, is a naturalized citizen from Iran who grew up near Charlotte and graduated from the university. (source)

Cold War 21: The West Says, "Back Off"

August 28, 2008

UK Foreign Secretary, David Miliband.

"Speaking during a visit to Kiev, David Miliband, the UK foreign secretary, called on the European Union and Nato to prepare for "hard-headed engagement" with Moscow following its military action in Georgia.

"Russia must not learn the wrong lessons from the Georgia crisis. There can be no going back on fundamental principles of territorial integrity, democratic governance and international law," he said." (source)

The rest of Western Europe is nervously watching the Bear's activities, too. G7 countries have roundly criticized Russia for its Georgian war, and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warned that the situation was "very dangerous" because Russia might now be considering other targets such as the divided state of Moldova and Ukraine, with its strategically important Crimean peninsula.

In typical Russian style, the Bear slashes and rips at its victim, then turns to a defender to claim, "you made me do it." As the EU prepares for an emergency summit on the Georgian crisis, Russia's response is to urge the west not to damage broad mutual ties.

According to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili: "This story is no longer about my small country, but the west’s ability to stand its ground to defend a principled approach to international security."

Cold War 21: Our Pawn Moves Up One

August 27, 2008

President Bush has reacted to Russia's escalation of superpower tensions from yesterday: he deploys our military Coast Guard to rush in humanitarian supplies to thed war-torn people of Georgia.

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter, Dallas at Georgia's Black Sea port of Batumi, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008. The U.S. military ship on Wednesday docked at the Georgian port carrying humanitarian aid. The Dallas, had originally been slated to dock at the Black Sea port of Poti, which is still controlled by Russian forces. But instead it arrived in Batumi, a port well south of the zone of fighting in this month's war between Russia and Georgia. ( AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

We have NATO on our side, of course, but the USA is the first to send in substantial help to the Georgians. Unilaterally. That's leadership in the grown-up world of superpower politics. No time for an untested boy to seize control of the wheel.


"Can NATO - which is not a state located in the Black Sea - continuously increase its group of forces and systems there? It turns out that it cannot," Russian General Anatoly Nogovitsyn was quoted as saying Wednesday by the Interfax news agency.

To recap: Russia kills hundreds if not thousends of Georgian civilians in a hostile takeover of region in a bordering soveriegn nation. The rest of the world reacts with shock and horror. While there is much European nail-biting and rethinking of everything they knew, the US saddles up and risks it's military men's lives to send much-needed aid to the Georgians. And beacause we are navigating between their naval blockade in the Black Sea to bring Georgia this help, Russia calls us "devilish." (source)

Your move, Old Bear.

The Board Is Set: South Ossetia and Abkhazia In Place

August 27, 2008

The nation sits distracted with our Changing Of The Guard ceremonies in Denver, just as the world sat distracted with Beijing a few weeks ago for the beginning of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. During both times, we saw the worm turn. What was a decade-plus of new friendship with Russia turned quickly into a geopolitical shift in concern and priorities. Our State department is suddenly changing plans and making emergency trips to Eastern Europe a lot. We are suddenly having to draw lines in the sand for the same foe that butchered tens of millions of people and said that the problem was really with us.

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev announced that Russia is recognizing the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia. Clever ploy the Russians deployed years ago: Instal clusters of Russians in the satellite republic of Georgia when your federation is falling apart. Consider these players as "pawns" in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Instruct them to agitate their parent nation, Georgia, and even spark low-level assaults on the Georgian military and police force. Have them do this for years in order to demonstrate the justification for rushing in to "recognize their grievances".

"We are not afraid of anything, including the prospect of a Cold War," Medvedev said yesterday. (source)

He ordered Russian Foreign Ministry to start establishing diplomatic ties with the secessionist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Who can't see what's next: Russia will consider the recognized breakaway regions as "part of Russia now", and declare these Georgian regions fair game for the picking.

Yes, we condemned the act. Yes, so did the rest of Western Europe (Eastern Europe is bracing for more, and silent). Still yet, Russia dares to "flip the script" on us, saying that even though Russia killed Georgian civilians needlessly, the keys to stopping the madness is up to us: "everything depends on the position of our partners".

Eight years went by before Putin pulled this move on us. Is it possible that he did this, knowing that a lame duck President Bush will not be able to commit a response to effectively face down this annexation of Georgia? And what does that say for how much they fear whoever is next? Is this anytime to elect a weak judge of character into office?

The Axis Of Evil: North Korea

August 26, 2008

We’ve known that North Korea has always been a despotic hellhole for 50 years. That’s why the truce has never matured to a declaration of peace. When my grandfather was stationed there, a group of US infantrymen were beaten and killed in their sleeping bags. When I was there, a border massacre on the DMZ had just taken place.

Years later, in the mid 90’s, it was time for the Democrats to steer our country through the foreign policy minefield that Reagan, Bush, Nixon, and Eisenhower had superbly navigated. How did Bill Clinton direct our stance against communism? He sent Madeline Albright to give away the farm.

Madeline Albright negotiated [read: asked what could we do to erase our previous hard stance against evil] with the N. Koreans, and ended up with a GREAT deal for them, and another bunch of lies and empty promises for us. She “negotiated” to give Kim Il sung the know-how and help to build them nuclear reactors.

Albright barked back at those of us here in the US who said that they will use these “power plants” to make enriched plutonium: “Diplomacy takes time, and trust”, she said. Ten years later we find out that--surprise--the N Koreans had successfully tested an underground nuclear bomb.

As the grown-ups took control of our relations with N. Korea, they tried to put guardrails up to contain this monster. President Bush actually achieved an agreement with them to demolish their reactor, along with 11 other disablement measures in order to be removed from the famous list we keep of “terror-sponsoring countries”.

Finally, this past June, the North Koreans blew up their nuclear reactor at Yongbyon.

We thought that this MAY be the start of something good. But, almost two months later, they showed their true self again. Today the tyrannical regime announced that they were halting their disablement program.

Why, you ask? Because our president had the audacity to ask Kim Jong-il (Kim Il Sung's son) to clean up his human rights problems. The North Koreans are a regime that can only be trusted by the blind, or the suicidal. Which one are Madeline Albright and Bill Clinton?

Sliding Into The Next Dark Age

August 25, 2008

Evidence of a sea change is taking place right now. We are seeing the equivalent of a polar shift in Earth’s tilt towards the sun. Have we experienced such changes in the past? Yes. Do we know what it’s outcome will be? No.

Condoleeza Rice is set to recommend to President Bush that we recall a nuclear plan we had structured with Russia in the last few years. It was a program designed to share nuclear materials and fuel between the two former adversaries, as something of a safeguard against rogue nations acquiring the same. (source)

This move is not one-dimensional: For the UN (and the US) to have any affect on isolating Iran and their drive to become a nuclear superpower, we needed to work through Russia. With the way that Russia has exposed itself in the last few years, culminating in their invasion of Georgia two weeks ago, all deals are becoming void.

This should be alarming for all who watch world affairs and concern themselves with the survival of Western Civilization. The bonds we sought to establish with this former monster are dissolving in front of our eyes. Their goal is becoming more clear with every tank, naval blockade, and assassination they thrust upon us.

The kabuki dance going on right now between the US and Russia is the distraction. Watch Israel, Syria, and Iran for proxy wars between The Bear and us, The Last Great Hope.

ISLAMOFILE 082108b

August 21, 2008

There has been a push from the world of academia here in the West to sanitize the religion of Islam. After 9-11, UNC Chapel Hill incorporated a semester-long course in Quoranic studies as a requirement for all students. Is there an equal requirement for New Testament studies, or Old Testament, or Upanishads studies?

Hardly.

But the same crowd who likes to demonize all things Christian has practically tripped over itself to embrace the “religion of peace”, Islam. For some reason, we here in the West seem to forget the 1300 years worth of Islamic terror, expansionism, and “convert-or-die” mentality. Far from it’s mythological image of today, the Crusades were a series of efforts to combat the imperialism of Islamic savages.

It’s almost as if we’ve forgotten the episodes of Moors, Barbary pirates, and IslamoFascism happening every day around us.

That is why I am starting this chronicle of examples of how Islam is practiced around the world: the bombings, the honor killings, and the attempt to shame those of us who say, “enough”.
If there were enough “moderate” Muslims who were trying to reign in their zealot brothers and sisters, I wouldn’t have to do this. What right does any Muslim have to shame America for trying to bring this insanity to a close? To me, the Muslims who get angry at the West because we call this practice what it is-barbarism-are simply cowards, and stone-age troglodytes.

They know they can beat up on the West because we’re an easy target around the globe. We open our doors to any malcontent in the world, give them a safe place to lay their head, start a family, earn a decent living, and what do we get in return? Screaming, riots, and lawsuits over perceived prejudice, whether it's a cartoon or something insignificant, even.

Today, I learned about a recent case of honor killing that took place in Saudi Arabia. A young girl converted to Christianity, and just like the young girl in Columbine who was asked by her assailant if she still believed in God, this little Saudi Arabian girl received the same fate.

Except this killer wasn’t some self-absorbed, emo punk on mood drugs. This little girl was killed by her own father. When he found out that she had converted, he first cut out her tongue, then held a “debate” with her. Then he burned her alive. (source)

I hope and pray that there is a special place in hell for people like her father.

ISLAMOFILE 082108

August 21, 2008

The Taliban bombed the Pakistani Army’s main ammunition factory near Islamabad yesterday. The terrorists waited until a shift change was taking place at the facility, in order to inflict the highest amount of casualties on the civilian workers. (source)

Mullah Omar, the spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, said the attack was a response to yesterday's airstrike in Wana, South Waziristan, that killed at least eight al Qaeda and Taliban fighters. (source)

Mullah Omar, spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban.

Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are the subject of increased tensions between the Taliban and government officials. Pakistani authorities are continually trying to reassure their nation that the Pakistani military is fighting the Taliban to prevent their seizure of these weapons.

Military operations have recently been conducted in Swat and Bajaur, threatening the Taliban organizations there. Baitullah Mehsud, the commander of the Pakistani Taliban, had previously threatened wage "jihad" and turn the provinces of Sindh and Punjab "into a furnace" if the operations did not cease.

Baitullah Mehsud, the commander of the Pakistani Taliban

The Dark Heart Of Russia

August 21, 2008

The South Ossetian village of Mul burns following Russian assault (EPA)

When a nation sends its army, navy, and airforce to do battle in another country, never does it hold something so improper as a concert 13 days into the occupation. Whether its going well or not.

In fact, the only reason why you would go to the trouble of high security for the concert participants, the attendees, etc, and the diversion of troops to accomplish it...is to make a big show for the residents, the nation, and the world. This is something you do when you know your hand has been overplayed, so you try to "flip the script", and accuse the accuser of provoking you in the first place. "You pushed me to it! You made me do it to you!" This is many times acted out during an alcohol-driven rage between husband and wife. The Russians are known for their drinking.

On this day, the Russians have announced a cease fire 7 times; every day continuing to blockade naval ports, burn villages, and kill civillians. How could they stop in the middle of this carnage, death, and Stalin-esque behavior to hold a symphony concert?

A statue of former Soviet Communist dictator Joseph Stalin is seen from a window shattered by bullets in Gori, Georgia. Russian forces were continuing their occupation of the city, despite a ceasefire document demanding their withdrawal (AP)

If you understand the macabre, you understand the Russian. There is a certain quality that allows leader after leader for hundreds of years to practice similar acts of madness, without a protest from their people. As if it is as much a cultural experience as any other peoples may have. (Or because no one dares utter a word, lest they be sent away.)

And cultural it was. From the conductor himself, Valery Gergiev, who is the conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, and a South Ossetian. He was conducting in London one moment, then flying into Georgia the next to conduct this, "victory concert."

Valery Gergiev conducts in the ruins of Tskhinvali.

And to add more irony, the conductor continues the propaganda with his own design on how this entire war went down:

Gergiev arrived on stage with a group of children and said that he had come to Tskhinvali “to see with my own eyes the horrible destruction of the city”. He told the audience that Tskhinvali reminded him of pictures of Stalingrad, the city where Soviet troops began to turn back the invading Nazi army. He flatly blamed Georgia for the destruction and repeated earlier Russian claims that 2,000 people had died, which led the Kremlin to accuse Georgia of genocide. (source)

Apparently, from his estate in England, he missed the finer details on just how this thing went down:

A bloodied woman after the Russians bombed Gori, whch is not in either of the breakaway regions.

A Georgian woman is left in tears as her apartment burns after being hit by a Russian shell in Gori (Bela Szandelszky/AP)

As part of Russia's tough response to Georgia's action in South Ossetia, troops moved into Orjosani, between the Georgian capital Tbilisi and the strategic town of Gori (AP)

[Notice even AP categorizes Russia as "tough", while also careful to paint Georgia as the original aggressor. The AP is purposely misleading in this caption. Georgia is not the one who began this conflict. This feud between South Ossetia and it's parent nation, Georgia, has seen the two trade rounds on a regular basis for years now. And all of a sudden, Russia chooses a friday, the first day of the Summer Olympics in Beijing, to claim that they just can't stand by anymore and watch the harrassment of their precious expatriots. Because Russia cares about people.]

During the Russian operation following the start of fighting, the main railway link between eastern and western Georgia, near the town of Kaspi has been destroyed (Reuters)

The conductor should have talked to these folks before he started to warm up the woodwinds: