Russian & Hamas missiles; Romney was Right

Russian Imperialism

The surface-to-air missile (SAM) shoot-down of the Malaysian Airlines passenger jet over eastern Ukraine with 298 aboard from many nations is just another consequence of a series of both U.S. foreign policy ineptness & lack of leadership, as well as adventurism by various bad guys around the world.  And the two go together – when we leave a vacuum, they’re more than happy to fill it.

I’m still catching up after several months of hiatus.  I’d meant to comment during the Sochi Olympics, that there were already rumblings in the Ukraine (Russian-incited separatists & infiltrated, masked Russian special forces) that were clear to me would give the Russians their typical excuse for invasion (e.g., Afghanistan, Czechoslovakia,….).  But of course they’d wait until after the closing ceremonies to make their move.  I was going to blog that just as in the Disneyland commercials after the Super Bowl (where a victor is asked, “now that you’ve won the Super Bowl, what are you going to do?  -- they respond, “I’m going to Disneyland!”), Putin could be asked, “and now that you’ve won the Olympics, what are you going to do?”  To which he replies, “I’m going to Crimea!” 

Well, of course that’s history, now.  They’ve invaded and annexed Crimea, in cowardly and transparent fashion, ludicrously trying to be sneaky by removing Russian insignia & vehicle markings (gee, maybe they are French Foreign Legion or something, with really good Russian language training?).  And they are continuing to foment and supply separatist ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine with weapons, and back them (intimidate the Ukrainians from exercising sovereignty) with tens of thousands of Russian troops on the border.  Their intent is clearly to grab more Ukrainian territory, in violation of their treaty when Ukraine was given sovereignty after the breakup of the Soviet Union, and in which the Ukrainians gave up the nuclear weapons there from the former Soviet Union, and granted Russia military use of the port at Sevastopol.  

And they’ve clearly supplied (or supported) the separatists with advanced Russian weapons systems like SAMs that have been used to shoot down a number of Ukrainian military aircraft.  And either manned those systems with Russian advisors, or recklessly turned them over to trigger-happy separatist thugs who are merely doing their dirty work to try to further avoid Russia getting blame.  They must really think we’re idiots to not see through all this.  Or maybe it’s for internal propaganda which they can control. 

This is clearly consistent with the shoot-down of KAL007, and the Ukrainians have even already produced a similar incriminating telephone intercept, and a SAM battery short one missile has been seen transported back across the Russian border.  It was clearly launched from separatist-controlled territory, and there’s no excuse for mistaking an airliner at 35,000 ft. with a military aircraft that fly much lower (there’s been no high-altitude bombing by Ukraine).  It’s also consistent with the Soviets supplying their client state Cuba with nuclear missiles, although there at least they kept a bit tighter control over them. 

It’s time to do another Cuban missile crisis on them, and force them to remove all their SAMs, now that they’ve proven they can’t control them, or help Ukraine destroy them.  Maybe even start deploying missiles in other countries bordering Russia, as Reagan did (to counter Soviet missiles), ultimately (along w. SDI or “Star Wars”) precipitating the dissolution of the Soviet Union.  The Russians & their clients killed at least a couple hundred citizens of NATO/ANZUS countries (Netherlands, Australia, US,…), and this could even be considered an act of war (e.g., the Lusitania).  But of course this president doesn’t have the fortitude or ideology of Kennedy or Reagan, or Roosevelt.  No, he’s a talker -- he draws red lines (like Syria, Crimea, etc.) that ultimately mean nothing, withdraws prematurely from Iraq, cuts our defense budget, etc.  He’s more intent on placating “dialogue” w. guys like Putin (“after the re-election (2^nd term) I’ll have more flexibility” – well, now we’re seeing it – Putin knows weakness when he sees it).  And that is exactly what encourages the adventurism we now see in Iraq, Syria, Russia, China, Iran, Gaza, etc.  He’s good at creating crises, and miserable at solving them.  The Europeans may squawk, but have no fortitude either, with their dependence on Russian gas.  Of course we could contribute to their energy independence, but we can’t even look after our own, with Obama’s policies.  There are broader geopolitical consequences to our domestic policies (energy, debt, defense, entitlements), and weakening not only ourselves but our allies, and emboldening our enemies. 

And now Putin has even more blood on his hands with this airliner shoot-down.  He has created the situation in eastern Ukraine for his own purposes, and apparently supplied these trigger-happy thugs with weapons they should not, and obviously could not, be trusted with.  That’s like giving gang-bangers a tank, and then expecting them to use it carefully.  No, Putin bears the ultimate blame for creating this monster, although lower level operatives need to be held criminally responsible (at least criminal negligence, if not mass murder/terrorism).  And now that a precedence has been set, who’s to say that some of these thugs, or other Russian client terrorist-allied/sponsoring thugs in Syria or Iran, ISIS, etc., who already look for any way to bring down airliners, won’t seize this approach?  Which will quickly bring commercial aviation to a standstill, until they can be outfitted with military type countermeasures as Israel’s El Al has.

Leftist apologists and anti-Western agitators continue to excuse Russia for paranoia.  Right, the largest country on earth, 2^nd most powerful in nuclear forces, resurgent nationalism & totalitarianism, etc.  No, it’s supposedly the Western countries (U.S., particularly) that are imperialist – never the Russians (& Chinese) & all their client states and invasions.  As Colin Powell rightly noted, the only foreign land we’ve kept is enough to bury our soldiers who died fighting for others’ freedom. 

Israel-Hamas War

After a couple of weeks of some hundred missiles a day fired by Hamas in Gaza over almost the entire state of Israel, and after tremendous restraint by the Israelis, and good-will cease-fire offers ignored by Hamas, Israel finally launched a ground assault to destroy the missiles and tunnels used to transport and store them. 

Part of the reason they could exercise that restraint was the low Israeli casualty count, due in large part to the Israeli early warning & shelter systems, and the Iron Dome missile defense system.  And liberals chided Reagan for his SDI (“Star Wars”) missile defense concept.  Of course N. Korea’s nukes & missiles have given new impetus to our own missile defense system. 

But the mainstream (liberal) media coverage of this continues to blame Israel for the few civilian casualties they go out of their way to avoid, giving several-minute warnings before bombing a site that has been identified as a Hamas base, and there is evidence Hamas pushes civilians not to evacuate, to be used as human shields or martyrs.  Hamas, on the other hand, is totally indiscriminate in targeting (actually, they do target cities, not military), and without Iron Dome, no doubt many more Israelis would be dead than Palestinians.  And what does our president do?  He criticizes Israel and says they need to be more careful.  As one pundit noted, maybe Netanyahu should call & criticize Obama for the hundreds of VA casualties.

Further, U.S. excessive even-handedness has us funding the Unity Government in Gaza/West Bank, which is dominated by Hamas in Gaza.  So essentially, we are a state sponsor of terrorism, right up there with Iran.

Obama, Biden & Hillary vs Romney

With ISIS on the advance in Syria/Iraq, so much for Obama’s assurance that Al Qaida is on the run, and Biden’s that Iraq is on the road to a stable democracy.  And with all the Russian, Chinese, Syrian, Iranian, Taliban adventurism, what exactly is Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy legacy as Secretary of State?  Maybe her book should be retitled from “Difficult Decisions” to “Bad Decisions.”  So much for hitting the “reset button” w. Russia, Assad’s being a “moderate reformer,” alienating Egypt, unilateral withdrawal in Iraq, “what difference does it make?” in Benghazi, etc.

All of this and more has many noting that “Romney was right” on a variety of foreign & domestic policies, and now polls show if the election were held now, the outcome would be different.  Isn’t hindsight wonderful?  One can’t say we didn’t try to get the word out in 2008 & 2012, working around the mainstream media.  But between the Kool-Aid drinkers who believe anything Obama says, those who mainly see things through racial eyes, incurable Democrats, entitlement addicts, and Evangelicals who’d rather see America go down than elect a Mormon, it was not to be.

I heard about Romney considering 2016 on Bill O'Reilly this week.  And this week got solicitations from the NRSC offering a bumper sticker saying "Romney was Right!" But Mitt's probably more popular among Democrats than Evangelicals, despite where Obama's taken.  Might the 3rd time be the charm, or just an even more unbearable disappointment?  Maybe just a tease.

     

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Will Romney run? The 2016 rumor that won’t go away

Saturday, July 12, 2014

http://patriotupdate.com/2014/07/will-romney-run-2016-rumor-wont-go-away/ 

Think Mitt Romney won’t run again in 2016?

For those dismissing the possibility of the two-time presidential candidate launching another bid — and they may be wise to do so — a recent poll at least shows the former GOP nominee still has a loyal following in parts of the country.

First, the reality check. Romney, after two tiring presidential campaigns, consistently has said he is not running.

But the University of New Hampshire/WMUR-TV poll in the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire recently showed Romney with 30 percent support — blowing away a crowded field of potential 2016 Republican candidates who fail to even crack double digits.

Despite the seemingly long odds of a Romney entry into this field, the buzz has been percolating for a long time, and has grown unchallenged by anyone in Romney’s inner circle.

If there is such thing as a Romney revival, it would have begun last August when the Republican National Committee held its summer meeting in Boston at the very same Westin Hotel and Convention Center where Romney watched his candidacy wither on Election Day 2012. At the meeting, several Romney insiders began to light-heartedly ruminate about the plausibility of a third Romney run with delegates, guests and even a few political reporters.