Friday, August 03, 2007

The Objective Standard on US-Iran Negotiations

More good stuff from the Objective Standard, this time on the recent "negotiations" (cough, appeasements, cough) between the US and Iran. Obviously, the post supposes that Iran is the winner, and of course that's true.

They say it better than I could, so go read it already.

Chicago Overrun by Loony Left

The "Yearly Kos Convention," currently being hosted in Chicago, is probably the only reason I can think of in recent memory of why I'm happy I moved from there to Los Angeles. Of course, they'll probably host in LA next year, in which case I suppose I'll have to go on a vacation or something.

Russia Sells Some Serious Stuff to Iran

Recent significant Russian arms sales (including 250 advanced Su-30 fighters) to Iran does put a bit of a different spin on our arms sales to Saudi Arabia. At least, it does so in a purely contemporary pragmatic sense.

Really, what it says is that we should hurry up and build our ground and air bases in Iraq and Afghanistan and start stocking them up. And the $20 billion should have gone straigh to Israel. Thinking that we can trust Saudi Arabia (or any other Arab state, for that matter), with protecting our interests in the Middle East is the kind of thinking that go us where we are today.

We need to stop with the subtle geopolitical wrangling and start acting like the superpower we are. If that means being really, really nice to our allies and really, really mean to our enemies, than so be it. First, of course, we have to identify which is which, and so far, we've done a poor job of it.

Iran's going to be our problem. Saudi Arabia won't do anything for us. And unfortunately, the Russians and Iranians both know this better than do we.

Digg Report

Digg Report: Today's #1 Digg, at a hefty 7802 Diggs, is a screenshot of Digg from the '90's. Looking at the Dugg titles listed, the only thing that's changed is Digg's gotten a whole lot prettier and more complex.

As they say, the more things change...

Russia Plants Flag at North Pole

Well, they've gone and done it. Russia has planted a flag on the sea floor at the North Pole. It has no legal standing, of course, any more than the American flag planted on the Moon means that we own it. But to Russia, it's more than just symbolism.

The only economic strength that Russia has is its energy resources. It will do anything it can to exploit them, and to grow them. And so I expect some serious wrangling over this territory, and I don't expect it to be pretty.

A Little Bit about Preemption

Here's an interesting post at The Sophistry blog about the issue of preemption. It raises some interesting points, not all of which I agree with, and is in general an interesting read. Of course, I'm all for preemptive strikes against our enemies, and agree with elements of the linked discussion that the concept of "preemption" has a pretty broad timeline.

I won't toss in more examples, because the linked post provides a few. Give it a read.

Newsflash: Young Russians Agree with Putin

Apparently, according to the Washington Post, young Russians consider America their number one threat, just as does Putin. Surprise, surprise.

This quote is interesting:

And while Putin's rhetoric is driving this development, human rights violations associated with U.S. counterterrorism policies have played a role.

Now, this seems a little redundant to me, since Putin controls the media with a pretty tight fist and thus "Putin's rhetoric" and "human rights violations associated with U.S. counterterrorism policies" are really one and the same. Certainly, these same youngsters wouldn't be familiar with Russian counterterrorism policies, and would thus have nothing to compare against.

At times, I think this is all just political posturing, by a nation (Russia) that has long held a collective sense of inferiority. Then again, at other times, I think that things are going to come to a head sometime in the future, and where the Cold War stayed cold (or I wouldn't be writing this), the next one might not be so cool.

al Qaeda Planning "Big Surprise"?

Some stuff about a potential al Qaeda attack in the next 90 days. I don't normally publish such scaremongering, but for some reason this post caught my eye. And I do put more stock in Israeli intelligence than, well, I suppose, in our own. Even ex-Israeli intelligence. And then there's the bit about August 22nd being an auspicious date in the Muslim calendar.

I could say, we've heard this all before, but then again, we'd heard it all before 9/11, as well. We just weren't listening. So maybe it's a good idea to keep at least one ear open.

Just in case.