Our Pals the Russians

A U.S. general reports intercepting Russian bombers:

According to an account from The Associated Press, the flock of Bears first raised alarms over Japan, where officials say that Japanese national airspace was violated — a bomber overflew an uninhabited island south of Tokyo, they said.

American Navy vessels tracked the Bears as they went, and then let slip the jet-fueled hounds:

As the bombers got about 500 miles out from the U.S. ships, four F/A-18 fighters were launched from the Nimitz, the official said. The fighters intercepted the Russian bombers about 50 miles south of the Nimitz.

At least two U.S. F/A-18 Hornets trailed the bomber as it came in low over the Nimitz twice, while one or two of the other U.S. fighters followed the second bomber as it circled.

There was no further escalation, no messages were exchanged between the two sides and no formal protest will be filed to Moscow, The A.P. continued. The military escaped a whole lot of paperwork during the Cold War by keeping this game on the field, and away from the diplomats.

So friendly, the Russians. With some "friends" war never ends.

Why Do We Care?

Why do we care about the Middle East? When people ask me that question, it still shocks me. Do they really not get it? Maybe with the murder of Benazar Bhutto of Pakistan, we need a reminder why it is in America's, in the world's best interest, to care about this sandy, forsaken landscape half-way around the world.

It has been my belief since the beginning that George W. Bush entered Iraq secondarily because of Saddam Hussein's WMD flirtations. Yes everyone, including the lily livered Democrats and squishy Republicans, believed Saddam was a bad guy desiring to do bad things with bad substances. He had done bad things. It wasn't a stretch that he'd do more bad things. But that didn't seem to me to be the most compelling reason for Iraq. To me, and I feel that George Bush must have seen this too, Iraq is first and foremost a strategic launching pad. For all Saddam's bluster, he was weak. No one could imagine how weak until the Yanks marched through Iraq. It happened so quickly, everyone was stunned. But the fall and subsequent search for scant WMDs mattered less than being planted as a bulwark against crazy in the Middle East.

Iraq borders Iran, Syria, Jordan, Turkey, a couple Stans and a lovely thing called the Persian Gulf. Trouble brews in every place on the list. And trouble there means trouble everywhere. Russia trembles with hypermasculine impotence. Any way to cause trouble to the alpha males of the world will be and are being embraced. Putin squeezes Europe already. Georgia sits like a plum in a vice. Iran would happily be the conduit for Putin's displeasure. More on all this here.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan and Pakistan boil with extremism. Here's what's happening now:

"We've really got a new situation here in western Pakistan," said Army Col.
Thomas Lynch III, who has served in Afghanistan and with Central Command, the
U.S. military headquarters for Pakistan and the Middle East. He said the
assassination marks a "critical new phase" in jihadist operations in Pakistan
and predicted the coming months would bring concentrated attacks on other
prominent Pakistanis.

"The Taliban ... are indeed a growing element of the
domestic political stew" in Pakistan, said John Blackton, who served as a U.S.
official in Afghanistan in the 1970s and again 20 years later. He noted that
Pakistani military intelligence created the Taliban in Afghanistan.

"Pakistan must take drastic action against the Taliban in its midst or we will face the
prospect of a nuclear weapon falling into the hands of al-Qaida — a threat far
more dangerous and real than Hussein's arsenal ever was," he said, referring to
the deposed Saddam Hussein.

Nuclear warheads in the hands of Jihadists in a country where 40% approve of Osama. America may not be able to do anything from Afghanistan to stop willful annihilation, but I hazard to say it could do less without a mid-east presence.

And Pakistan is a crazy little country compared to China with her supersized ambitions. Imagine the panic should China not get the fuel needed to keep its economic engine humming. Forget for a moment American's cries of despair at being deprived of cheap consumer products, the bigger problem would be an unstable country armed to the teeth.

Don't forget Israel, either. Like Tawain, Israel is a freedom-loving democracy, and America is about democracy building, remember? As shaky as that idea may be as a long-term solution to extremist middle east regime problems, there is one democracy that thrives over there. Should that country be abandoned?

Oh yeah, there's this other little thing called oil. I never have understood what's so upsetting about trading a little blood for a lot of oil. If China, Japan, Europe and America come to a screeching halt economically, the next step would be, inevitably, war. And there would be a whole lot more blood spilled. The whole world is entertwined in ways that could have never been imagined during the World War II era. The internet reflects a world interconnected.

Our fate rests in the Middle East as much as any other country's. The Jihadists hate freedom. They hate life. They believe they have a holy mission. If Pakistan crumbles, if Iran arms, if Afghanistan turns back to the Taliban, if China becomes aggressive, if Russia presses, if, if, if, the free people of the world have big problems.

America is in the Middle East because, well, isn't it obvious?

Cross-posted at Right Wing News.

Nekkid Putin

My brother asked what I thought about Vlad Putin's bare torso.

"Um, yuck..."














Now a man in a uniform, flying a plane? That's just hawt!







Besides, Putin is a midget. He's exudes a Napoleon Complex. Ewwww!

Russia's Power Trip

The domineering Russian spirit didn't die with perestroika and glasnost. The notions of power didn't crumble with the Berlin wall, either. The Russian's intentions merely got put on hold due to financial considerations.

So they're back to their old tricks like drugging political dissidents in psychiatric hospitals and acting aggressively toward supposed friends. And, by Putin's pronouncement: Russia will dominate the military aircraft market, too.

I think I like poor Russians better.

Cold War Days Are Here Again

Not that I think they ever really went anywhere:

A Russian bomber flew over a U.S. naval base on the Pacific island of Guam on Wednesday and "exchanged smiles" with U.S. pilots who had scrambled to track it, said Major-General Pavel Androsov, head of long-range aviation in the Russian air force.

Wow! I didn't know that Russia could fly planes with Nukes all over the world! Wow! I never imagined that they could give their nuclear material to rogue agents to bomb the poo out of American cities!

Sneaky, sneaky bunch, those Russians.

Evil Or Useful Idiot?--UPDATED & Bumped

It is amazing what lengths people will go to feel special, to feel "in" and to feel smarter than others. There is a profile and John Kerry and Scott Beauchamp fit it: Lazy, arrogant, persecution complex, feeling unappreciated, desire for fame and fortune and willing to do anything, sell anyone to achieve it. Sure they have a belief system but that is secondary to the desire to belong and feel better than average. They are extreme examples to be sure. Look how easy The New Republic bought the lines--they wanted to...they are the definition of Useful Idiots.

But what of the narcissistic poseurs themselves? Are they Useful Idiots? I say no. These people are calculating, intelligent and ambitious. They use their gifts to serve themselves above their friends, their family, their country. They lie. They smear with the ease other people tell the truth. They are evil.

I know what I'm saying. It's strong. It's alarming in its implications, but consider this, and I'm heavily quoting from Gateway Pundit:

Today in the Opinion Journal, former KGB intelligence officer Ion Mihai Pacepa explained the propaganda tactics of the communists during the Cold War.
Here is a bit of what Pacepa had to say about the Soviet's propaganda campaign in the West:

During the Vietnam War we spread vitriolic stories around the world, pretending that America's presidents sent Genghis Khan-style barbarian soldiers to Vietnam who raped at random, taped electrical wires to human genitals, cut off limbs, blew up bodies and razed entire villages. Those weren't facts. They were our tales, but some seven million Americans ended up being convinced their own president, not communism, was the enemy. As Yuri Andropov, who conceived this dezinformatsiya war against the U.S., used to tell me, people are more willing to believe smut than holiness.

Does that remind you of anyone?
Here are the words of future democratic Senator John F. Kerry in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 22, 1971:

They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam...

John F. Kerry- Useful Idiot.

John F. Kerry is useful, but he's no idiot. He's evil. Most people don't fall into this category. Oh, they'll talk a big game in their social circles, but if push came to shove, they'd back up their friend, their family, their country. Still, far too many these days are willing to believe smut against their own country and purify the enemy. That is dangerous ground. They refuse to see their usefulness.

I made the connection between Beauchamp and John Kerry:

You knew there would be a John Kerry coming out of this War, didn't you? I mean, it's inevitable. Never mind that the army these days is 100% volunteer. Never mind that soldiers are re-upping and re-upping to serve in Iraq; to get the job done. There had to be at least one of these guys. [I was referring to Scott Beauchamp. -ed.]

This war, like all conflicts, will produce not only a plethora of Useful Idiots (being a contrarian and hiding your fear under faux-sophistication makes you sound so cool in the Beltway--it's called conventional wisdom) but also worse. There will be out and out double agents betraying America. And there will be subtler snakes, but snakes still, who use their experiences (or pretend ones--as with Kerry and Beauchamp) as a platform to destroy what better men and women have built.

And these destroyers destroy for the basest of reasons: their own egos. No, not Useful Idiots. Evil.

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin lists many more false testimonies given by evil people banking on the usefulness of the Western media:

Winter Soldier Syndrome will only be cured when the costs of slandering the troops outweigh the benefits. Exposing Scott Thomas Beauchamp and his brethren matters because the truth matters. The honor of the military matters. The credibility of the media matters.

Jimmy Massey, Jesse MacBeth, Micah Wright, Josh Lansdale, Amorita Randall, and the big one--John Kerry.

Russia Being A Friendly Neighbor

Not what is Putin denying he's up to?

The Georgian president, Mikhail Saakashvili, said after a visit to the site where the missile landed: "This is not Georgia's problem. This is a problem for European security and safety." He drew a parallel with cyber-attacks on Russia's neighbour Estonia this year, which some there blamed on the Kremlin, and said European states should not appease Moscow.

Appeasing Moscow works if you like being called a new Soviet republic member.

Russia Owns The Arctic

Just ask them.

Nashi: Russia's Version of Hitler Youth--UPDATED

Fascism is in fashion. A nice sum-up of the Russian mind:

For the east European countries with first-hand experience of Stalinist terror, the Kremlin's rewriting of history could hardly be more scary. Not only does Russia see no reason to apologise for their suffering under Kremlin rule, it now sees the collapse of communism not as a time of liberation, but as an era of pitiable weakness.

It ALWAYS saw the collapse of communism as weakness. This is not a new development. What is new is the economic strength to organize and retrench. Drunk on oil revenue, the Kremlin rises again.

And history is rewritten:

Russia barely commemorates even the damage it did to itself, let alone the appalling suffering inflicted on other people. Nashi is both a symptom of the way Russia is going - and a means of entrenching the drift to fascism.

Terrifyingly, the revived Soviet view of history is now widely held in Russia. A poll this week of Russian teenagers showed that a majority believe that Stalin did more good things than bad.

If tens of thousands of uniformed German youngsters were marching across Germany in support of an authoritarian Fuhrer, baiting foreigners and praising Hitler, alarm bells would be jangling all across Europe. So why aren't they ringing about Nashi?

Because the left engages in the same kind of moral equivalence as Vladamir Putin and his cronies. They have a crush on communism.

Britain banishes Churchill from history books. Russia brings Stalin back. Japan finds neonationalism. This bodes ill.

UPDATE: I missed this on Friday, but Gary Kasparov explains Putin perfectly:

The web of betrayals, the secrecy, the blurred lines between what is business, what is government, and what is criminal--it's all there in Mr. Puzo's books. A historian looks at the Kremlin today and sees elements of Mussolini's "corporate state," Latin American juntas and Mexico's pseudo-democratic PRI machine. A Puzo fan sees the Putin government more accurately: the strict hierarchy, the extortion, the intimidation, the code of secrecy and, above all, the mandate to keep the revenue flowing. In other words, a mafia.

The question Kasparov doesn't answer: Why does the populace submit and actually facilitate the mafia? One answer is fear. Yes, fear is a motivation. But this is Russia not Italy. The Russian ego is driven by pride and strength. They enjoy intimidation. The general population relates to and lives vicariously through Putin and his mafioso government's strength.

Perhaps the great majority of thinking Russians were expunged during Stalin. Perhaps the thinking man fled Russia during the ensuing communistic years. But Russia thrives on brute force. The average Russian respects it. Who wants choices when one can have power?

H/T Gina Cobb

China's War on al-Qaeda

There is one, you know. It's rather one-sided and brutal and hopeless....for the Muslims. The West, hamstrung by the leftist elites and MSM, haven't documented this fight. They are too busy emasculating their own:

There are times when I am tempted to think that the Western Left is radical Islam's Ring of Power. And the brilliance of al-Qaeda's reliance on it as a force-multiplier is that the defeat of radical Islam must consequently come at the price of altering the structure of post-war Western politics itself. In a sense the Western Left has become a hostage to the current world crisis, and perhaps the only part of the Left that understands this are the signatories of the Euston Manifesto, who realized that al-Qaeda had already claimed its political soul: that unconciously, almost imperceptibly, the Left in uncritical embrace of any foe of America had come to align itself with the most brutal, obscurantist, repressive theocrats on the planet. And would conceivably share its fate with them.

But al-Qaeda's allies can only control events up to a point. Elemental forces are ranged against it. Chief among which is the sheer, simple brutality of countries like Putin's Russia and China. If a snapping point is reached, even the Left may not forever restrain the West. The end point of debasing the coin of information is absolute bankruptcy

China won't lose the War on Terror. They meet brutality with brutality. It's something that even Islamists understand. That's why the fight isn't taking place in Taipei.

As long as al-Qaeda has Western allies, the fight will be with the West.

Russia's "Street Theater"

Austin Bay:

The big point: Russia is offering options and talking cooperation. The second big point: The Russian huff has been street theater since the mid-1990s. “Useful idiots” bought the schtick– but they always do. They made for sensational anti-American headlines.

Bay notes that Russia has a crumbling infrastructure and needs allies against strengthened border states. (What of the joint military ops with the Chinese?)

"Allies" seems a strange word to use in a sentence with anything Russian. They are like the autistic kid on the world block. (The big one, not the savant one.)


H/T Instapundit

Russia Killing, Maiming and Silencing with Impunity

I got this incisive comment from a reader:

As a matter of fact , the russians have plenty of good reasons to feel treatened ,beside NATO, an organisation made to fight the russians , camping 100 miles from st.petersburg , the constant creeping closer in georgia and ukraine ,the unilateral U.S. gov decision to rip the A.B.M. treaty , the trade sanction slapped on two of the biggest russian arm exporters ,the declared intention of the pentagon to develop a new generation of nuclear weapons , the deliberate insults of the president for the fifty aniversary of the victory of WW2 ,of the V.P. at riga last year or bates last month ...... Yeeh ,sure the russians are unreasonable

Yes, yes, Russia feels threatened, that's the ticket. Any moment now, the U.S. will be invading Russia. Or could it be that Putin and Russians want to return to the glory days and don't like an other power messing up their mission to dominate the Eastern block again? It couldn't possibly be that Russia is flush with oil cash and seizing the moment to re-assert itself aggressively in the world. It couldn't be the mythic Russian pride is still wounded and looking for salvation. It couldn't be that. It must be this:

Meanwhile the national security council said Russia is to adopt a new military doctrine in response to the "strengthening" of NATO forces, in the latest sign of worsening relations between the two sides.

"The analysis of the international situation shows that recourse to military force is increasingly the policy of leading world states," the council said in an announcement that the new doctrine was in preparation.

It has to be Bush's fault. That's exactly why they are killing reporters, assassinating enemies and generally acting Cold War-ish. It's PRESIDENT BUSH'S FAULT!!! Silly me! I should have known the answer to answer all answers by now. Whatever will the world do when Bush leaves office?

Somewhere, deep down, tucked away underneath their loathing for George Bush, in a secret place where the lights of smart dinner-party conversation and clever debating-society repartee never shine, the growing hordes of America-bashers must dread the moment he leaves office.

When President Bush goes into the Texas sunset, and especially if he is replaced by an enlightened, world-embracing Democrat, their one excuse, their sole explanation for all human suffering in the world will disappear too. And they may just find that the world is not as simple as they thought it was.

As usual, the anti-Bush, anti-American sentiment is just a distraction from Russia's, Putin's, nefarious actions. I have catalogued Russia's steady march back into totalitarianism here. And just this week:

"In many countries, murder has become the easiest, cheapest and most effective way of silencing troublesome reporting, and the more the killers get away with it the more the spiral of death is forced upwards," Rodney Pinder, Director of INSI, said in the report.

Another couple of reporters have mysterious interactions with five-story windows and bullets and death and destruction. And while the reported motive is robbery, his wife disagrees:

In a brief interview at the couple's Adelphi home, Elizabeth Joyal said reports that Paul Joyal's wallet and briefcase were taken were false. She didn't know of any possible motive for Thursday's shooting outside their home in what she said was a normally safe area.
"We really have no idea what the reason was," said Mrs. Joyal, but added that "it could easily have been a random act of violence."
A law-enforcement official familiar with the investigation said the wallet was later found in Mr. Joyal's car, and the briefcase has been accounted for but did not provide details. The official requested anonymity because the probe is ongoing.

And the cause of these killings? Why President Bush, of course! It makes so much sense.

Between China, Russia and Iran, I hope U.S. military folks are considering bulking up our armed forces. Maybe someday the world will be filled with robot fighters and a streamlined force of gamers will be the new soldiers. Until then, the U.S. needs more numbers, more technology and more force. You know, just in case Russia isn't just acting defensively. Just in case.

Russia: The Cold War Resumes--UPDATE

There, everyone happy? It won't be a uni-powered world anymore.

UPDATE:
Ed Morrissey of Captain's Quarters agrees with me:

One has to wonder what game Putin has decided to play. After a long period of Russian engagement with the West, Putin seems determined to return to the traditional Great Game nonsense of Russian emperors. He has courted terrorist states such as Iran and Iraq, actively protecting them from the consequences of their instransigence towards the global community. He has played games with energy deliveries to Europe in barely-veiled threats that lacked any kind of subtlety about his projection of power. Days ago, he gave a speech so belligerent that Defense Secretary Robert Gates had to explicitly state that one Cold War was enough.

Putin wants to make a case for his ascension to Emperor, in fact if not in name. In doing so, the old spy seems to care little if he touches off another generation of brinksmanship between the Kremlin and the West. He should note that the brink is about a thousand miles closer to Russia in this generation.

I have definitely wondered if Putin is jones'n for absolute, supreme dictator-for-life status. I'm not sure that Russia has enough strength to be the power Putin wants. He really ought to let businesses make more money and get fiscally sound before he has the state rape them again for his own use. If I had investments in Russia, I'd be pulling them out now. The writing is on the wall.

Oh, reading about this topic, I'm figuring he'll blackmail and shall we say cajole, business leaders into being part of the "inside". It will be, like all good dictatorships, propped up by an oligarchy who is terrified of him.

More on Russia here.

Putin's Projection

I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma: but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest. --Winston Churchill

Well, Vladimir Putin finally reveals his hand: he wants to rule the world and he's angry the U.S. interferes with his plans. That's not exactly what he said, though:

Attacking the concept of a "unipolar" world in which the United States was the sole superpower, he said: "What is a unipolar world? No matter how we beautify this term it means one single center of power, one single center of force and one single master."

"It has nothing in common with democracy because that is the opinion of the majority taking into account the minority opinion," he told the gathering of top security and defense officials.

"People are always teaching us democracy but the people who teach us democracy don't want to learn it themselves."

Gordon Johndroe, press secretary for the White House National Security Council, rejected Putin's comments.

Let's look at Mr. Putin's actions to promote democracy and freedom just in 2006:

• Stopping oil transportation to countries he's trying to cow
• Assassinating political enemies
• Attempting to assassinate political rivals in geographically important states like Georgia
• Arming Iran
• Arming China
• Arming anyone who will act against the U.S.
• Taking over private enterprise within Russia and stifling the press
  
• Acting against non-government organizations in Russia
  
• Expanding the KGB
  

By focusing on the United States, Putin saves Europe from taking a serious self-assessment. I'm sure Putin's words sound good, but to anyone watching Russia right now those words are very hollow and quite clearly psychological projection. Since the U.S. is everyone's favorite scape-goat, he figures he'll exploit it.

Those who want the U.S. to get out of Iraq need to consider the ramifications geopolitically of doing so. Since the Left refuses to drill for oil and explore serious ways to become energy independent (corn oil is not a serious solution), they should have a good alternative to staying in Iraq and being near to police the Middle East, but they don't.

America's reliance on Middle East oil, African oil, South American oil makes us a debtor nation. Of course these countries like our money, too, and don't want that spigot to turn off, either, but we need them more than they need us. China also needs energy as their economy grows.

The geopolitical world's ground shifts constantly and I'm not sure we have ever lived in a more dangerous time. Meanwhile, back to Anna Nicole.

LGF: "Orwellian Headline of the Day"

"U.S., Iraqi Troops Clash in Baghdad" is the AP Headline. What do you think that means? That they're working together, right? Riiiiiiight. But that's exactly what they were doing--not clashing with each other as the AP would have you mindless rubes believe (because they know that you don't read beyond the headlines, if you can read at all).

LGF has more great links and information:

• Were the downed helicopter contractors shot "execution-style"? Probably not.
• And does President Iran Good Hair really mean "wipe off the map" or is he calling for regime change in Israel? Even Reuters knows what he means.
• Russian Uranium smuggler caught by U.S. and Georgian officials. What the hell is happening in Russia? So much for 24 scare tactics, 'eh?
  

Oil War in Europe

Undeclared, of course. Belarus siphons off oil destined to Germany and Poland from Russia. This is how wars start.

Once again, Russia is in the center of it.

Russians Blackmail Gas Customers

Wow. This is just simply shocking. NOT.

Russia is a power that is better off when bent over tending to a kick in the gut. As The Bear strengthens, as Europe navel-gazes and holds to the politically correct line about Iran, and while the Democrats and President Bush twiddles and fiddles, tyrant regimes old and new regroup and strengthen.

Does Europe not get that they are about to be squeezed like a ripe melon?

Putin: Mr. Nice Guy

Right.

Russia Controlling Natural Gas

This does not bode well. I keep banging this drum, because it's important. Russia having leverage over the West is NOT good.

Brussels Journal: The Bear Sets A Trap

This is very important news. It is never a good idea to give Russia any sort of leverage. They tend to use it. Europe is in Russia's claws now. Let's hope the bear doesn't get hungry. Over at the Brussels Journal:

Have you noticed New York residents do not fear a cutoff of their natural gas supplies because of a potential political or economic dispute with Texas? But envision a scenario where the State of Texas owned all of the natural gas in that state and the distribution network to other states, and where the governor of Texas decided to ignore pre-existing contracts in order to force New Yorkers to pay more for their gas since they were totally dependent on the Texas monopoly.