Insidious evil plan to warp your mind

Do you feel it? The weakness in your knees? The sudden desire to look at the Koran? To march helplessly out of your house waving an Obama poster?

Oh the nefariousness of the perfidy!

Or do I mean the perfidiousness of Obama's nefariousness?

They could have done so much with their evil plans!!! But THIS is the LAST straw!!!!11! So subtle, so sneaky, so evil!!! A design that looks like Obama's campaign poster and the Islamic crescent all in ONE!!!!111!......

Wut? You say this logo was designed three years ago under the Bush administration.... Well then...

Look at how patriotic the design is! How clever to employ the US flag's colors....

Repairing eight years of damage

Sounds wonderful:

"I come to Europe on behalf of a new administration determined to set a new tone in Washington, and in America's relations around the world," Mr Biden said.

"We will engage. We will listen. We will consult. America needs the world, just as I believe the world needs America," he said.

"Our administration has set ambitious goals... to advance democracy not through its imposition by force from the outside, but by working with moderates in government and civil society to build the institutions that will protect freedom."

On Russia, Mr Biden said: "It's time, to paraphrase President Obama, to press the reset button and to revisit the many areas where we can and should work together."

But then Biden acknowledged:

He added that the US would continue with its plans for a missile defence shield in Central Europe.

[snip]

On Iran, Mr Biden said: "We will continue to develop missile defences to counter a growing Iranian capability, provided the technology is proven to work and cost effective.

[snip]

He added: "We will do so in consultation with our Nato allies and Russia."

He reiterated President Barack Obama's pledge to communicate with Iran, saying the US offered a clear choice: "Continue down your current course and there will be pressure and isolation; abandon your illicit nuclear programme and support for terrorism and there will be meaningful incentives." "

WTF? We still have the useless Star Wars program being advanced? Is this because of the Iranian satellite that was just launched? Or is this more about a nuclear Pakistan becoming destabilized? Or is it the inability to peel off an entrenched defense contractor?

What it's guaranteed to do is piss off Putin....

Diplomacy is hard werk

In the time since the summit, numerous foreign policy observers have concluded that Bush's resolute advocacy of promising Tbilisi NATO membership caused unnecessary tensions with the Kremlin. At the same time, if NATO now backs away from its pledge to Georgia, this could also be perceived by Moscow as a reward for its actions.

Well... forget that. Bush will save the day by sending help!:

WASHINGTON — President Bush Wednesday promised that U.S. naval forces would deliver humanitarian aid to war-torn Georgia before his administration had received approval from Turkey, which controls naval access to the Black Sea, or the Pentagon had planned a seaborne operation, U.S. officials said Thursday.

As of late Thursday, Ankara, a NATO ally, hadn't cleared any U.S. naval vessels to steam to Georgia through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, the narrow straits that connect the Mediterranean and the Black Seas, the officials said. Under the 1936 Montreaux Convention, countries must notify Turkey before sending warships through the straits.

Pentagon officials told McClatchy that they were increasingly dubious that any U.S. Navy vessels would join the aid operation, in large part because the U.S.-based hospital ships likely to go, the USNS Comfort and the USNS Mercy, would take weeks to arrive.

"The president was writing checks to the Georgians without knowing what he had in the bank," said a senior administration official.

Whatever, let's build more missile shields and piss Russia off even more!:

WASHINGTON: The United States and Poland have reached a deal to place an American missile-defense base on Polish territory, in the strongest reaction so far to Russia's military operation in Georgia.

Russia reacted in anger, saying that the move would worsen relations with the United States, which had already been strained severely in the week since Russian troops entered separatist enclaves in Georgia, a close American ally.

At a news conference Friday, a senior Russian defense official, Colonel General Anatoli Nogovitsyn, suggested that Poland was making itself a target by agreeing to serve as host for the antimissile system. Such an action "cannot go unpunished," he said.

Not to worry, Poland! Just look at how we've treated Georgia!

One of the mines being laid for Obama

Is the idiotic Star Wars missile defense which has irritated Russia. Only the Czech Republic signed on:

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has signed a deal to base part of Washington's controversial missile defence system in the Czech Republic.

The deal, signed in Prague, allows a tracking radar base to be set up.

The plans remain unpopular in the Czech Republic and the US has also failed to reach agreement with Poland on housing other parts of the system there.

A senior Russian official has been quoted as saying the deal "complicates" global security.

Moscow has previously threatened to aim its own missiles at any eventual base in Poland or the Czech Republic.

But wait! Condi says it's Iran that we should be afraid of!

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the shield is a good deal for the Czech Republic and for Poland, where the United States hopes to place another part of the system, although Warsaw hasn't yet agreed.

The next American president will have to decide whether and how to go forward with the missile defense system, Rice said, adding that the threat from Iran is growing and it is hard to imagine any administration giving up an effective deterrent.

Then ... it's not Russia that we're trying to contain? Then why aren't we setting up missile defenses in Iraq, Turkey and Armenia if it's Iran we're focusing on? Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan? India? Saudi Arabia? Why not Israel, which is about the only hostile country Iran can reach with its missiles.

But the Czech Republic? And ... Poland? The neocons sure do miss the Cold War days, don't they? Life was simple then, men were men and bad guys spoke in Russian accents.

Europeans say 'Naaaaaahhhh'

BUCHAREST, Romania - President Bush suffered a painful diplomatic setback Wednesday when NATO allies rebuffed his passionate pleas to put former Soviet republics Ukraine and Georgia on the path toward membership in the Western military alliance.

[snip]

It was a sour outcome for Bush at his final NATO summit as he sought to polish his foreign policy legacy. Instead, he wound up sidetracked by opposition and splits among European allies. It was a result that was foreshadowed by public statements from France and Germany but Bush nevertheless put his prestige on the line and even made a stop in Ukraine on Monday to argue his case.

[snip]

Bush was counting on the summit to strongly endorse plans for an anti-missile shield in Europe despite once-heated objections from Moscow.

The summit's opening dinner ran two hours longer than scheduled as the discussion went around the table, with each leader making his or her case. The White House expressed confidence that NATO would give a strong statement of support for its mission in Afghanistan and that a number of countries would pledge additional troops.

Bush, going into the talks, said he was "optimistic that this is going to be a very successful summit."

Diplomats said the alliance would offer a statement saying NATO's door will remain open if Ukraine and Georgia move ahead with political and military reforms and build support for NATO among their citizens.

Afghanistan loomed as the summit's No. 1 topic, a point of contention between some Europeans who see the NATO mission as largely a humanitarian effort and the Bush administration and others who see it as a central front in the fight against terrorism.

Canada had threatened to pull its troops from the front lines in southern Afghanistan unless other allies sent an additional 1,000 combat troops to help.

NATO has about 47,000 troops in Afghanistan, but commanders are pleading for more troops in the south, where Taliban insurgents are wreaking the most havoc. The United States supplies the largest contingent, about 14,000 for NATO, plus the United States has 13,000 operating separately in eastern Afghanistan hunting terrorists and training Afghan forces.

"We expect our NATO allies to shoulder the burden necessary to succeed" in Afghanistan, Bush said a midday news conference with Romania President Traian Basescu on a Black Sea beach.

Putin tells the world Iran can have a nuclear program

Putin, who is in Tehran to attend a summit of Caspian Sea nations, said that he and the other leaders agreed that "peaceful nuclear activities must be allowed" in the region.
"The Iranians are cooperating with Russian nuclear agencies and the main objectives are peaceful objectives," he said.
Russia is building Iran's first nuclear power plant and has resisted moves by the U.S. and its allies to impose stronger U.N. sanctions against Tehran.

And: (my bold)

Bush was speaking a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has resisted Western pressure to toughen his stance over Iran's nuclear program, made clear on a visit to Tehran that Russia would not accept any military action against Iran.

At a White House news conference, Bush expressed hope Putin would brief him on his talks in Tehran and said he would ask him to clarify recent remarks on Iran's nuclear activities.

Putin said last week that Russia, which is building Iran's first atomic power plant, would "proceed from the position" that Tehran had no plans to develop nuclear weapons but he shared international concerns that its nuclear programs "should be as transparent as possible."

"The thing I'm interested in is whether or not he continues to harbor the same concerns that I do," Bush said. "When we were in Australia (in September), he reconfirmed to me that he recognizes it's not in the world's interest for Iran to have the capacity to make a nuclear weapon."

Bush, who has insisted he wants a diplomatic solution to the Iranian issue, is pushing for a third round of U.N. sanctions against Iran.

Russia, a veto-holding member of the Security Council, backed two sets of limited U.N. sanctions against Iran but has resisted any tough new measures.

[snip]

Russia, a veto-holding member of the Security Council, backed two sets of limited U.N. sanctions against Iran but has resisted any tough new measures.

Stepping up his rhetoric, Bush said a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a "dangerous threat to world peace."

"We've got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel," he said. "So I've told people that, if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."

I don't think Putin is going to share anything with you, Georgie.

Bush and Putin apparently didn't really have such a soul-searching relationship:

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration's failure to win Russia's consent to install U.S. missile defenses in its European backyard and a growing list of other disputes suggest that President Bush and his aides have misread the man whose "soul" Bush thought he'd divined when they first met six years ago.

Bush's strategy on Russia assumed that Russian President Vladimir Putin embraced democracy, wanted integration with the West and sought a "strategic partnership" in which Moscow would acquiesce to U.S. policies such as NATO expansion. Feuds could be resolved through the close personal relationship that Bush believed he had with his Russian counterpart.

Instead, fueled by record oil and natural gas prices and resentment of what he lambasted in February as Bush's "almost uncontained hyper use of force," Putin has led global opposition to the U.S. war in Iraq, hosted Palestinians on the U.S. list of terrorist groups, sold anti-aircraft missiles and other arms to Iran and stymied Bush's drive to tighten U.N. sanctions on the Islamic republic for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment.

The Kremlin has steadily increased spending on defense modernization and revived symbolic long-range aerial reconnaissance patrols toward U.S. and European airspace.

Putin also has threatened to re-target Russian nuclear missiles at Europe if Bush deploys U.S. missile defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic, declared his intention to trash treaties that eliminate a class of nuclear missiles and limit conventional military forces in Europe and compared the United States under Bush to Germany under Hitler.

Forward into the glorious cold war past with Georgie and Dick!

Bush's form of diplomacy

'Ah'll crumple yer stoopid country like this coat if'n you don't let my cronies build that Star Wars Missile Shield thing!'

MOSCOW (AP) -- High-level talks Friday between the United States and Russia failed to bridge major differences over U.S. plans for a missile defense system in Europe and a range of strategic arms issues.

After a series of tense meetings that began with a blunt rebuff from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates appeared to have been unable to turn around Moscow's opposition to missile defense.

Rice and Gates brought several new detailed proposals to the table meant to ease Russian concerns that the system would be aimed at Moscow, but the pair was unable to convince Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov or Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov.

"We see two serious problems with these proposals," Lavrov told reporters at a four-way news conference following the talks.

He said the two sides still disagree about the nature of the missile threat to Europe and that the Bush administration refuses to freeze its deployment plans while the issue is discussed.

"There is no agreement on this," Lavrov said. He said that while the initial U.S. plan to place elements of the system in Poland and the Czech Republic were small, it could grow to become a threat to Russia's deterrent force. "There is a potential threat for us here."

Serdyukov agreed.

"The principal thing to which we did not agree today is the deployment of anti-missile elements which have an anti-Russian character and which are to be placed in Europe," he said.

Rice said the ideas that she and Gates presented are "conceptual at this point" and would be handed to experts to consider further. The two sides plan to meet again in Washington in about six months.

"I know that we don't always see eye-to-eye on every element of the solutions to these issues, nonetheless, I believe we will do this in a constructive spirit, that we will make progress during these talks as we continue to pursue cooperation," Rice said.

Gates said that one idea is to have Russian personnel stationed at each missile defense site to improve coordination and openness with Moscow.

Neither Lavrov nor Serdyukov appeared impressed with the suggestion.

Meanwhile another Russian leader shows what outreach can do:

Mikhail Gorbachev drew loud cheers in New Orleans Friday when he promised to lead a local revolution if the Army Corps of Engineers doesn't keep its promise to improve levees by 2011.
"We will be coming back," the Soviet Union's last leader said, through an interpreter, during a ceremony in the Lower Garden District. "If this pledge is not fulfilled, we will start a new revolution in New Orleans."
After the applause died down, Gorbachev said that action should be a last resort, even though, he added, most Americans apparently have forgotten that their country is the result of a revolution.
"We shouldn't want another revolution," he said. "We should do our best in every (other) way."
Gorbachev, who is in New Orleans as the board chairman of a worldwide organization that promotes environmentally friendly construction, spoke at the International School of Louisiana after a quick tour of the Katrina-ravaged Lower 9th Ward.
"A few brief hours are not enough to see everything," he said, "but it is enough to appreciate the scale of the disaster that the city had to go through."

When you have grown up in a Cold War

You long for the good old days, when bad guys were bad guys and good guys were always right:

Russia Plans ICBM to Counter US Missile Shield

The Russian navy plans on producing a new submarine-based missile system in 2008. It is part of a big increase in the country's spending on research, development and procurement of weaponry, prompting fears of a new cold war.

The Russian navy plans on producing a new submarine-based missile system capable of carrying nuclear warheads in 2008 as part of a big increase in the country's spending on research, development and procurement of weaponry.

The navy will commission the new missile system, the planned core of a seaborne nuclear arsenal in the coming years, even though three consecutive test launches of the missile last year ended in failure. But a successful test in June has prompted officials to approve the start of production of the missile's components, according to comments made Sunday by Admiral Vladimir Masorin and reported by Russian media.

Is this what you saw in Putin's eyes, Georgie?

The big stick diplomacy of Bush's administration gets you this:

Russia suspends the arms control pact that controlled the amount of heavy weapons deployed:

Russian President Vladimir Putin has suspended the application of a key Cold War arms control treaty.

Mr Putin signed a decree citing "exceptional circumstances" affecting security as the reason for the move.

Russia has been angered by US plans to base parts of a missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic.

The 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE) limits the number of heavy weapons deployed between the Atlantic Ocean and the Urals mountains.

'Cornerstone'

The Russian suspension will become effective 150 days after other parties to the treaty have been notified, President Putin's decree says.

The suspension is not a full-scale withdrawal - but it means that Russia will no longer permit inspections or exchange data on its deployments.

Pakistan may have caused more problems by their actions with the Red Mosque, trying to please the White House instead of defusing extremism in their own citizens:

The number of soldiers killed in a suicide attack on a military convoy in north-western Pakistan has risen to 18, an army spokesman has said.

Twenty-eight others were hurt when the convoy was hit in the remote tribal region of North Waziristan.

A spokesman acknowledged the attack could be linked to the storming of the Red Mosque earlier this week.

Troops have been sent close to the area amid fears militants may be planning a "holy war" in response to the siege.

The 102 people killed in the week-long siege included 11 soldiers and an as yet unknown number of extremists and their hostages.

The government's operation against the radical Islamists sparked protests across Pakistan

In the north-western city of Peshawar on Friday more than 1,000 demonstrators vowed to avenge the death of the mosque's deputy leader, Abdul Rashid Ghazi.

Oh, this should be good....

Headline: Putin proposes alternate site for US missile shield.

Merkel: I don't care where he told you to stick it, you will not bomb his mother's house!


(pic stolen from watertiger)

The Diplomanglator scolds Putin for derailing democracy

President Bush risked further stoking a testy dispute with Russia over a new U.S. missile defense system on Tuesday, saying Moscow has "derailed" once-promising democratic reforms.

In a speech celebrating democracy's progress around the globe — and calling out places where its reach is either incomplete or lacking — Bush said that free societies emerge "at different speeds in different places" and have to reflect local customs. But he said certain values are universal to all democracies, and rapped several countries for not embracing them.

"In Russia, reforms that once promised to empower citizens have been derailed, with troubling implications for democratic development," Bush said, speaking at a conference of current and former dissidents.

[snip]

With the Iraq war raging and that country far from a stable democracy, critics say there is widespread skepticism about Bush's "freedom agenda" — the byproduct of his promise to advance democracy in every corner of the globe.

But Bush claimed the mantle of democratic warrior.

"I pledged America to the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world," he said. "Some have said that qualifies me as a dissident president. If standing for liberty in the world makes me a dissident, then I'll wear the title with pride."

Earlier, Bush defended the plans for the missile shield here against fierce opposition by the local population as well as Russia. Czech leaders chimed in to back him up, as did Poland's prime minister from afar.

So now he's the Dissident president? Does he know what that word means?

dissident:

adjective 1. characterized by departure from accepted beliefs or standards 2. disagreeing, especially with a majority

noun 1. a person who dissents from some established policy.

Hmmm. Maybe he does....




C'mon Vlad! Yah get somebody's kid to go all terrorist on yer country, THEN yah take away Habeas Corpus, the right to vote, the freedom from religion, the right to privacy, the right to travel abroad. Yah get to gut the treasury for yer friends, spy on yer enemies, and make'm disappear, ignore the rule of law and set up a thousand year rule!

All the while talk about how you're protecting freedoms and shit. Yah useda be mah bestest bud, Vlad! It'll be fun!

The Diplomatercizer

Looking for soulful eyes and not finding them:

Polls show more than 60 percent of Czechs are against plans to station a radar system southwest of Prague, and surveys in Poland — where 10 interceptor missiles would be based — show strong opposition there as well. Both countries are still negotiating with the U.S. over whether to host the shield.

Bush sought to play down Russia's response, which has overshadowed his European trip.

"The Cold War is over. It ended," Bush said at the medieval Prague Castle, where he met with Czech President Vaclav Klaus and Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek.

"My message will be: 'Vladimir — I call him Vladimir — you shouldn't fear a missile defense system. As a matter of fact, why don't you cooperate with us on a missile defense system?'" Bush said.

C'mon, Vlad! It'll be cool! Mah missile defense guys will make a buttload of money an' it won't work anyhow! Whatcha so steamed up about? Ain't we friends? Vlad?



No... no, I said you smell and your MOTHER not your brother dresses you funny:

But it pays one of Bush's cronies a load of money

So everything is fine. (my bold):

In the Clinton administration, Philip E. Coyle was in charge of weapons testing and evaluation. SPIEGEL spoke with the 72-year-old about Bush's planned missile defense system, why Russia feels threatened and how shooting down missiles is like playing golf.

...SPIEGEL: During Bill Clinton's presidency you were responsible for evaluating the technical feasibility of the project. Why did the President decide against it?

Coyle: He decided not to deploy the system because it could not do what it promised. One of President Clinton's criteria was to be able to shoot down an accidental launch of a nuclear missile from Russia or China rather than immediately starting World War III. In those days, we were not so worried about Iran and North Korea. The Bush Administration has not really set any criteria as to what the missile defense system actually has to be capable of doing.

SPIEGEL: But why does the US spend so much money for a system which, as you say, does not work?

Coyle: That is a good question. If you add it all up, the administration since 2002 has spent over $10 billion annually. The Pentagon has never before tried to build such a difficult system -- it is much more complex than any ship or aircraft. I support the research, but I am against deploying defense systems that do not work under realistic operational conditions.

SPIEGEL: Russia is sharply critical of the missile defense plans and feels threatened. Justifiably?

Coyle: If Russia were installing missile defense systems in Canada or Cuba, we would react pretty much the same way. We are surrounding them and getting closer to their territorial boundaries.

Putin is pissed off at the missile defense system, Merkel tells Bush to talk to allies. And to illustrate where the mindset of the Bush administration is, Condi Rice refers to the Russians as the Soviets while trying to reassure Putin of our intentions. Good job, Condi!!

The Germans are unimpressed with our super duper deflector shield

And the moat with sharks with lazers on their foreheads:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is urging the US government to engage in a broader discussion about the missile defense shield it plans to erect in Poland and the Czech Republic to protect it from enemy missiles.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged the US to refrain from acting unilaterally with its plans to erect a missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.

"We should always make sure that we discuss everything in a spirit of trust to avoid rifts," Merkel said in a speech to a conference on trans-Atlantic economic cooperation in Berlin. "No one can master the new challenges on their own." She said that applied to the European Union as well as the United States. The German chancellor was in Poland on Friday and Saturday to press its leaders to back a broader discussion on the missile shield within NATO.

I think she's just cautious about being in a contained area with Georgie....