Obama's Paradigm Shift in Geopolitics (Updated)

Update: Sen. Kyl brings up another important aspect of this case. It brings back to life the Cold War paradigm of the "spheres of influence" through which swathes of the globe were either on the East or on the West's side. No wonder the Poles are upset. What's more, they were informed about the decision about the same time as the news broke. I have a feeling this mistake may cast a very long shadow.



Newt Gingrich also weighing in. This looks worse by the hour. The program was apparently scrapped without any quid pro quo and Obama on Russian insistance "correcting an American mistake". Incidentally, I think this administration will find the Russians quite racist and very insensitive to their notions of political correctness. 



Almost simultaneously news is breaking that may well define history. 

On the eve of the Soviet Union invading Poland 70 years ago US President Obama has made it formally known he's flinging Europe under the appeasement bus. How sensitive and empathic! After the debacles of the Iran uprising and the Honduras enormity, Obama is now pandering to the next autocracy. It is unmistable. Obama is not the champion of liberty-hungry peoples.

Our valued contributor, Dr Sam Holliday, director of the Armiger Cromwell Center just sent in this:

It is too soon to know all of the implications of today's announcement by the Obama administration scrapping plans for a Ballistic Missile Defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. But the timing of this announcement is interesting. Today marks the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland on September 17, 1939, sixteen days after the beginning of the German attack. I doubt that Obama and his postmodern experts gave it much thought, but I'm certain that the timing of this announcement was not lost on the Poles. This will be seen as another betrayal of Poland by a great power.

At the same time news is breaking that one of the main reasons the Bush administration proposed the missile defense shield, is one disastrous step closer to apocalyptic reality.

Times Online: "Dismay in Europe as Obama ditches missile defence"

President Obama dismayed America's allies in Europe and angered his political opponents at home today when he formally ditched plans to set up a missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.

The project had been close to the heart of Mr Obama's predecessor, President Bush, who had argued before leaving office in January that it was needed to defend against long-range ballistic missile attacks from rogue states such as Iran and North Korea. (...) >>>

It's no surpise the German Spiegel Online is able to report:

Sense of Triumph in Moscow

"Euphoria over Obama's Decision To Shelve Missile Shield"

Moscow is triumphant over Obama's decision to cancel his missile shield plan. But it is no foregone conclusion that Russia will harden its line against Iran. And Poland and the Czech Republic will also expect overtures from the United States. (...) >>>

Manure hits the fan on the Iran nuke front as well, as IAEA in a secret report admit Iran has now enough info to plug the holes in its program!

The Yeshiva World News: "Secret Report: IAEA Says Iran Can Make Nuke Bomb"

A breaking news report released by the Associated Press just moments ago, claims that they have seen a “secret report” in which the International Atomic Energy Agency agrees with Washington’s fears that Iran has the capabilities to manufacture a nuclear bomb. The “secret report” also concludes that Iran is currently working on producing a missile which is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

Additionally, the AP reports that the highly secret IAEA document which the USA claims IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei withheld, says Iran has “sufficient information” and will “overcome problems” on missile technology.

The US, France, and Israel have recently accused the outgoing head of the IAEA, Mohammad ElBaradei, of concealing information regarding Iran’s nuclear program. ElBaradei rejected the allegations, saying they had political motives. >>>

Charming!

Update:

The Washington Examiner: "Obama helps strengthen General Electric-Putin ties", by Timothy P. Carney

Reuters reports an interesting nugget in the wake of President Barack Obama's decision to grant Vladimir Putin his wish and kill the Eastern European missile shield:

Shortly after the pullback on the shield programme was announced, Russia's government said Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would meet several U.S. executives on Friday from firms including General Electric, Morgan Stanley as well as TPG, one of the world's largest private equity firms.

General Electric may be the company with the closest ties to the Obama administration (if not, GE is second only to Goldman Sachs) (...) Reuters paints the broader picture (...) GE CEO Jeff Immelt sits on Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, and GE owns MSNBC, the network famously friendly to Obama. (...) Read it all >>>

Russia, for obvious reasons, but other opponents of the plan as well, want us to forget that we're talking here of a defensive system.  They like to present it as if the missile shield is an offensive weapon.

For his part Czech President Václav Klaus can't say he's surprised. The signals have been coming for some time (indeed).

Der Spiegel's complete coverage of the missile shield contraversy and an interview with former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski. And then there's this comment:

US President Barack Obama has scrapped his predecessor's plans for a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe. German editorialists hope the move will encourage Russia to back tougher sanctions against Iran. But while some praise the decision as hopeful and brave, others dub it naive and dangerous.

They can't be serious! German editorialists hope the move will encourage Russia to back tougher sanctions against Iran ... completely unhinged ... are there no grown-ups in the place anymore?

Here's a reaction from Poland just in.

Breaking News from Prague: NATO, Greenism

Aktualne reports on a remarkable speech delivered by Czech President Václav Klaus on Monday during a meeting in Tokyo of an association of Libertarian economists, businessmen and intellectuals, where he coined and warned against the neologism of climatism.

Prague Daily Monitor is Breaking News pertaining to the US Presidential Election campaigns.


The US would halt its missile defense project in central Europe if Democrat Barack Obama won the Presidential election, US security expert Peter Huessy told Czech news agency CTK on Monday.

Huessy is President of GeoStrategic Analysis, a defense and national security consulting business. He is attending a conference on security challenges in Asia in Prague.

The planned missile defense radar on Czech soil combined with ten interceptor missiles in Poland would be important defense elements for NATO. For the realization of the plans, according to Huessy, it would be desirable if a Republican President retained the White House. He supports John McCain's campaign.

He said if Obama won the election the anti-missile project would end, as both Joe Biden and Obama hate it. Huessy said the Democrats do not see Iran and North Korea as posing serious threats.

He said the existence of the functioning missile defense system across the world, of which the radar in the Czech Republic would be a part, would give diplomats more space for negotiations.

They would not be under the pressure of threats and would be able to better negotiate and propose sanctions. Without the anti-missile defense system they would have to either surrender or use the armed forces, Huessy said.

Aktualne reports a speech delivered by Czech President Václav Klaus on Monday during a meeting in Tokyo of an association of Libertarian economists, businessmen and intellectuals, in which warned against climatism.

"Fear of global climate change has no serious basis - a resolute stance of all rational, freethinking and freedom-loving people. Our response to this ideology should be clear and uncompromising, because we are convinced that we know enough about the delicate and vulnerable human society, and how dangerous all efforts are to direct it from above," Klaus said.

The discussion is dominated by one-sided propaganda about the greenhouse effect, while serious economic arguments such as cost/benefit analyses of measures that are proposed are not voiced as frequently.

"We shouldn't let anybody try to play with the market and dictate who should produce what, how it should be produced, what inputs shall be used and what technologies implemented. This would cause a new, this time global, catastrophe and a real 'impoverishment of the masses', especially in developing countries. Some indications of this are already visible," Klaus said (...) >>>

Klaus is the author of the book "Blue Planet in Green Shackles" and is a Libertarian (not to be confused with a small l liberal).

Read it all in Aktualne >>>.

- Filed on Articles in "Freedom Isn't Free" and "The Science of Greenism" -

Proudly Introducing ... GlobSoc!

Reading a single news item about France taking over the EU Presidency, one surreal comment after another bizarre statement vy for attention. It is astonishing to realize to what extent European leaders - in the worst of Hegelian traditions - have managed to insulate themselves from the electorate.

Times Online article "Nicholas Sarkozy embarks on a mission to save the European Union" for example is illustrative of the chasm that separates them from Europe's citizens.

'Super Sark': “The question is how we give Europe a way of protecting its citizens in their daily lives,” he said on France3 television. “There is no shame in talking about protection.” Europe needed to be protected against the effects of globalisation, he added, warming to one of his favourite themes. “Europe worries people and worse still, citizens are asking if it is not the nation state that protects them better than the Union.”

Oh dear, where to start on this one? With the qualification of globalization as a threat, whereas the EU is its main promoter; or with the brazen call for protectionism, at a time when we all know that protectionism stifles economic growth?

Or should we begin by nailing the suggestion to the wall that an as yet non-existent federation could be primary in people's lives, while the nation state - officially at least - is still the operative unit? As if the latter has already passed out of common consciousness, and the federal behemoth has long taken its place! Both suggestions are factually untrue, but in all probability the statement reflects the Eurocratic state of mind.

In a recent essay "Is the Nation State Obsolete?" published on The Brussels Journal, essayist Fjordman quotes British philosopher and author Roger Scruton, who is posing the crucial query that our leaders have answered for us without prior consultation:

“Democracies owe their existence to national loyalties – the loyalties that are supposedly shared by government and opposition, by all political parties, and by the electorate as a whole. Yet everywhere the idea of the nation is under attack – either despised as an atavistic form of social unity, or even condemned as a cause of war and conflict, to be broken down and replaced by more enlightened and more universal forms of jurisdiction. But what, exactly, is supposed to replace the nation and the nation state?”

Those who follow developments relative to transnational progressivism know the answer well: extrapolating the current geopolitical trends one arrives at four or five gigantic post-democratic, multi-cultural and multi-ethnic 'empires' in competition for power and influence, pending the imposition of a global, collective dictatorship: GlobSoc!

Returning to Super Sark saving the EU, it is at least encouraging to note that contrary to some, the German President Horst Köhler can muster respect for the rule of law as he abstained from signing the documents until a legal challenge is heard by the Constitutional Court! He must be his mother's pride and joy! To his Chancellor Merkel he's merely an embarrassment. She's more appreciative of her counterpart Gordon Brown ... he has pushed ahead with the ratification while it was still subject to a High Court ruling! That's post-democratic expediency for you!

That's right, Ms Merkel, by all means: put further enlargement on hold until the treaty is signed and sealed, and stop all thought processes lest we come to realize we are witnessing a massive act of treason, unparalleled in human history.

Given the breadth and length of this single news item it is perhaps best to give the sensitive subject of the French-led Mediterranean Union a miss for the moment. The ongoing integration of Europe, North Africa and chunks of the Middle East warrants a library in itself. Let's limit the contribution here to providing a link to the shocking content of the Eurabia dossier.

Postscript: After the tiny minority of Irish dared challenge the dictatorship of the majority and plunged Europe headlong into crisis; and also the Czech Republic voiced its reservations; today the proud nation of Poland is expressing des qualmes and pangs of the conscience.

EURSOC: Polish President "Kaczynski said it would be "pointless" to sign the treaty, even though Poland's parliament ratified it last month. A conservative nationalist (often at odds with Poland's government), he is said to be keen to defend the EU's principle of unanimity on major issues. Treaties can only enter into force if approved by every member state; Ireland has said no, so Lisbon cannot be passed. "If one breaks the rule of unanimity one time, it will never exist again," he told a Polish newspaper. He's quite right in this respect, and it is unusual that he has not been supported by other smaller nations, who traditionally defend unanimity as one of the few bulwarks the EU's less powerful states have against the giants."

EURSOC has more good news ... "The Herald Tribune reported yesterday that a Provençal town has recently started accepted the Franc currency once again - and the gimmick has proved very popular ...

- Filed on Articles in "Building the State of Europe" -

Prague's Eccentric Activism

While it appears that a number of activists - actually "a chain of people" according to Russia Today (one of whom a pacifist fence-dweller) - have gone on hunger-strike against the proposed stationing of a US radar base in the country, journalist Jiri X. Dolezal on Friday did the contrary. He went on a hunger strike in support of the plan.

The military installation is to protect the United States and a large part of the European continent against missiles from Iran, North Korea and other rogue states with tot-tendencies.

The left opposition as well as a polled majority of Czechs oppose the project. In the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, they still believe bullies can be persuaded of the error of their ways by appeasing them. Bullies are dumb and mistake the lack of action for approval. Were these people never in school? I always found there was just one remedy for the cowards: telling them in no uncertain terms where they get off ...

Prague Daily Monitor: "Journalist goes on hunger strike to support US base"

(...) Dolezal said he will be on hunger strike until the Czech-U.S. treaty on the base is signed, he said in a Prague cafe while eating his last meal.

The two treaties are to be signed in June or July.

"I am afraid of a missile attack from the south and southeast. I thus prefer the Czech Republic being hidden under a missile defence umbrella," Dolezal said (...)

Activists Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar temporarily ended a hunger strike against the U.S. base's construction after more than two weeks though their demands were not met by the government.

They said their strike was successful as it focused public attention on the issue both home and abroad. (...) >>>