All Posts Tagged With: "U"
Pakistan Now Greatest Threat To U. S. Interests
No Room For Obama’s Rodney King-Like Foreign Policy
Anthony Cordesman, senior scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies says the world is not shaped by democratic values, international law, good intentions, globalism, rational bargains, or the search for dialogue. His comment reflects the dictum that countries do not have friends but countries have interests. While this may not comport with the Barack Obama “Rodney King” idea of foreign policy it is none the less a fact.
Cordesman argues that U. S. ally Pakistan’s Pervez Musharraf’s political demise poses the greatest threat to the U. S. interest now. He cites Musharraf’s opponent’s link with and support from the radical Islamic Wahhabi sect in Saudi Arabia. He describes roadside markets selling weapons including rocket propelled grenades.
His premise is dire consequences in Afganistan. He talks about black turbaned Taliban extremist openly prowling the countryside on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border fomenting mischief and mayhem.
Pakistan’s government has descended into dysfunction with rampant fuel and food shortages leaving the way open for another military coup as in 1999 that installed Musharraf. Overall a dangerous situation for one of the world’s eight nuclear armed nations.
Iran Defiant; Israel Worried; U. S. Waiting; Russia and China Preparing
Iran May Breakup “Six Powers” And Get What It Wants
“If Iran takes one step back, the arrogant powers in the world would take one step forward,” said Iran’s supreme ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a sermon Wednesday, July 30. He spoke three days ahead of a deadline given by the six world powers for his government to give “a reasonable” answer to their incentives for suspending uranium enrichment to produce nuclear weapons.
Ayatollah Khamenei’s statement, broadcast by Iran’s national TV, if it represents Iran’s final position, will have the effect of breaking up the six-power front against Iran’s nuclear program. This may have been his desired effect. Russia and China are expected to take exception to the harsh economic penalties favored by the US and most of Europe and let Iran off the hook. Iran believes it can stall meaningful action against it relying on Russia and China to give it a pass, and ticket into the nuclear club. Iran, Russia and China all believe the U. S., particularly if Barack Obama is elected President, will lack resolve and they can advance their views and influence at its expense and they are arming and positioning to do so.
Simultaneously Israeli transport minister Mofaz, who leads Israel in the regular strategic dialogue with the United States, raised strong concerns over Washington’s direct talks with Iran at a meeting of the forum and encounters with Vice President Dick Cheney and secretary of state Rice on July 31. The hardline Mofaz, one of the leading contenders to succeed Ehud Olmert as prime minister, said “All options against Iran should not only be on the table, but prepared.” Israel has expressed open concern about the consequence of the upcoming U. S. Presidential elections, and is preparing to go it alone.
U. S. Newspaper Readership Steady As Advertisers Desert
Good and Bad News for U. S. Newspaper - Great news for Asia
Newspaper readers are not deserting at anywhere near the rate of advertisers says the latest edition of the Readership Institute (RI) tracking study among 3,000 readers of 100 newspapers.
The Institute observes that as newspaper staffs contract it’s a challenge, to say the least, for a smaller staff to produce, sell and deliver a high-quality local news. Newspaper readers spend, on average, 27 minutes with the daily paper, little changed in the last six years. Readers spend 57 minutes with the Sunday paper, but that figure “has been slowly dropping” since 2002.
The bad news is that 62% of respondents said they had never gone to their local paper’s Web site — and just 14% said they had visited between the last seven to 30 days. RI’s Site Usage Measurement (SUM) score — measuring the frequency and duration of visits — has changed little for newspapers over the years, and is a “feeble” 1.26 on a scale of 1 to 7. A Neilsen Survey of US Newspaper websites attracted more than 66 million unique visitors in the first quarter of 2008 — a record, and a 12 percent increase on a year ago, according to Nielsen Online analysis. Forty percent of all Internet users visit a newspaper site.
U. S. newspaper circulation is down 30% since 1985. Seven of the 10 best-selling daily newspapers are in Asia, which also has the three largest markets: China, India, and Japan
No Peace Until After U. S. Election - Syria’s Assad
Syria Hopes For Obama Win In U. S.
Middle East peace is unavoidable but most likely will not be achieved until a new US administration is elected, Syrian President Bashar Assad said on Sunday.
Bush, according to the Syrian leader, “has no vision for peace” and lacks the will to push forward the process, an encoded message that if the U. S. continues its pro-Israel stance war is inevitable with his Iranian financed nation. Reports from Damascus and Ankara, however, indicating that Syria will not enter into direct negotiations with Israel before the advent of new American administration show an obstructive apprehension on the part of the Syrian government.
Clearly Syria is hoping for the election of a less reliable Israeli ally, namely Barack Obama, who will not go to the mat for the Jewish state.
Three-quarters Say Iran Serious Threat To U. S. and Israel
In Partisan Split Just Forty-six Percent Say U. S. Should Attack Iran If It Attacks Israel
A Rasmussen Report poll taken and released after recent Iranian missile tests found 71% of American voters say that Iran represents a serious threat to the United States and 82% believe that nation is a threat to Israel. Those figures include 30% who consider Iran a Very Serious threat the United State and 56% who see it as a Very Serious threat to Israel.
Just 46% believe the U.S. should intervene militarily if Israel is attacked by Iran. On that point 32% disagree. Men overwhelmingly support a military response while women are evenly divided. Forty-three percent say it is somewhat likely the U. S. will be at war with Iran within a year a decrease of 10% from last October. By a 70% to 12% margin, Republicans say the U.S. should respond militarily if Israel is attacked. Forty-five percent (45%) of Democrats oppose a military response while 30% support it. Unaffiliated voters are evenly divided. Voters under 30 oppose a military response by a 50% to 32% margin. Older voters are somewhat more supportive of that approach. Earlier surveys have found that most voters doubt economic sanctions will succeed in getting Iran to scuttle its nuclear weapons program.
Partly, that’s because most voters doubt the United States can count on its European allies when dealing with Iran. Another survey from last year found that 40% favor using military force to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons capabilities. Just 1% of Americans view Iran as an ally and 62% believe that nation sponsors terrorist attacks against the United States.
Hersh and NY Time Team Up to Damn U. S.
Seymour Hersh and NY Times are at it again.
Seymour Hersh, 71. first gained worldwide recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai Massacre; then in 2006 he reported on an alleged US military plan for Iran, which allegedly called for the use of nuclear weapons against that country but that was later discredited, has now written an article in The New Yorker magazine criticizing the U. S. for staging covert special warfare operations to damage Iran.
Hersh’s article continues a pattern that has included: a 1986 book alleging that the Soviet murder of the civilians on Korean Air Flight 007 in September 1983 was a U. S. and Russian miscalculation; in 1991 his book The Samson Option: Israel’s Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy ignited debate about his intentions toward Israel and the U. S.; and in a 2004 article, he alleged that Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld circumvented the normal intelligence analysis function of the CIA in their quest to make the case for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The newest article cites disgruntled general officers pining for the good old days and openly disgruntled about maverick special operations who refuse to kiss their rings and simply get on with the “wet work” without hundreds of millions of dollars in support but with a knife or rifle. Since 1963 when JFK created the SEALS as a counter terror group in the US Navy military, traditionalists have opposed and resisted the idea of “special warfare” because that opposes their near Napoleonic tactics.
Simultaneously the NEW YORK TIMES wrote a front page article describing U. S. special operations in Iran and elsewhere that critics say exposes American special warfare troops to grave dangers, and is otherwise reprehensible.
Russia Supplies Iran and U. S. Protects Other Gulf States
Russia is Arming Iran and Syria to Protect Nuclear Bomb Plants - Others Ask for US to Help Protect Against Iran A-Bombs.
Russia has delivered simulators for the Pantsyr-S1E surface-to-air missile system and Russian technicians will employ the simulators for individual and joint training in Iran and Syria as both warily look toward Israel. Syria and Russia remain embarrassed by the Israeli air raid that sliced through its air defenses like a hot knife through butter allowing it to completely destroy its North Korea supplied nuclear reactor designed to make fissile materials for weapons. Syrian President Bashar Assad said a facility purported to be a plutonium production center has already been rebuilt seeming saying bomb grade plutonium is or will soon again be underway. It is unknown whether this is bombast or fact.
The Pantsyr-S1E, also known as the SA-22 ‘Greyhound, was designed by the KBP Instrument Design Bureau and built by the Ulyanovsk Mechanical Plant. The system contains 12 57E6 surface-to-air missiles in four launchers, bolstered close-in by two 2A72 30 mm cannons and 750 ready-use rounds. Attacking before its full deployment is an additional reason for the intensified speculation about an imminent Israeli attack to destroy Iran’s, and perhaps second attack on Syria’s, nuclear weapons facilities. The growing consensus is if Obama is elected US President Israel must attack Iran before he takes office, a belief strengthened by Ambassador Bolton’s comments in the last week. Israel has said repeatedly it will not permit a nuclear armed Iran because that would be a mortal threat to it.
On the other side of the Persian Gulf Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE and other Gulf States are negotiating to buy the U. S. produced THADD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System ) missile defense system as a complement to the Patriot missile defense system thay now have. THADD is so new the first system will not be delivered to the US Army until 2009, and likely would not be sold to anyone one else until deployed by the U. S. military. But, a sales contract is desired before a new U. S. administration - particularly if it is Obama — takes office in January 2009 and blocks such a sale.
THADD intercepts incoming ballistic missiles and separated warheads at long range and high altitude during the last minute of flight well before they can strike their target. The US Navy has been testing the system on its Aegis class warships and has had an improving 85% success record. Its deployment in the Gulf region would effectively eliminate the Iranian missile threat.
Middle East Deeper Into U. S. Politics.
Israeli Maj. Gen. Eliezer Shkedy told CBCNews 60 Minutes Bob Simon Thursday that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s threats against Israel must be taken extremely seriously. He said it reminds him of the Holocaust. “We should remember. We cannot forget, We should trust only ourselves.”
On Friday U. S. Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Friday, April 25, the Pentagon is planning for “potential military courses of action” against Iran and that “it would be a mistake ( for Iran) to think that we are out of combat capability.”
Shkedy’s comment appeared designed to show Israeli resolve to both Iran and the United States and Mullen’s to punctuate that Iran’s continued truculence is a dangerous strategy.
A peculiar development was the endorsement by the Hamas terrorist group of U. S. Democrat candidate Barack Obama as a latter-day JFK and someone the terror group can deal with. Iran has made similar expressions. Within hours Senator McCain, the presumed GOP presidential nominee said if in the White House he would be Hamas’ “worst nightmare.”
U. S. To Attack Iran’s Nuclear Bomb Plants.
A leading member of the American Jewish community told NEWSMAX this week to expect a U. S. attack on Iran this summer. Although Israel will not be directly involved it expects retaliatory strikes and heavy casualties and told Iran to expect a “prompt severe reaction … which will destroy the Iranian nation.” On Sunday Iran “abruptly cancelled” a meeting with the International Atomic Energy Agency that was set to investigate allegation Iran has already tried to make a nuclear bomb.”