Presidential Advisors on Foreign Policy

The president and Mitt Romney have a number of advisory boards. So, who has been serving on theadvisory board for Obama and for Romney's plans for foreign policy?

BLUF: Bottom Line Up Front, Obama has four academics, three Madeleine Albrights, two Sam Nunn's, one retired veteran, one former intelligence specialiast, and a Joe Biden. By the way, Albright was part of the FAILED North Korea nuclear disarmaqment talks (emphasis is mine).

Romeny has six Hawks looking closely at Iran, vocal American exceptionalists, four highly qualified internationl intelligence professionals, and one former terrorist who is strongly anti-Sharia. This last man, Walid Phares, may seem dubious; however, I have met him, talked with him, and attended some of his speaking events. This man knows the world of terrorists like no one else inside the United State4s policy teams.


Since he is the winner of the last presidential electoral fight, in the Incumbant Corner we have President Obama, a former community coordinator, and his team of Foreign Policy Advisors. Obama's policy, according to Wikipedia (such a bastion of knowledge nuggets, eh?) is described "as a form of realism unafraid to deploy American power but mindful that its use must be tempered by practical limits and a dose of self awareness.

That team includes ...
Hillary Clinton:            Secretary of State; Former First Lady, former top level lawyer.
Tom Donilon:              National Security Advisor; Manager of Overseas Crises; 1993 he was the Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs; A partner with the Washington office of the national law firm of O'Melveny and Myers This man is described as the central figure of Obama's foreign policy. He seems to be a top go-to-guy and, it would appear, the most likely suspect in national security leaks of late.
Susan Rice:                  1993 Started her career with the National Security Council in Washington, DC, as the director of international organizations and peacekeeping; Was a \n ardent follower of Madeleine Albright on African Affairs under President Clinton; Currently Ms. Rice is the US Ambassador to the UN; Has likely lost her run for Secretary of State to John Kewrry due to her claims that the recent embassy attacks were from spontaneous protests about an anti-islam film.
Joe Biden:                    Vice President; Has not made foreign policy, but keeps in touch with world leaders; Was the Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; In 1990 predicted that the Soviet Union would cease to exist, how about that, Vladimir Putin, your Russia no longer exists. What dfo you have to say about that?; Nation building can prevent full scale war is one of his beliefs.
Dennis McDunough:    Was Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress; Former Foreign Policy Advisor to Tom Daschle; Outspoken  proponent for energy and environmental concerns; Feels that the US Aid Packages are inadequate, "woefully insufficient", according to a report on www.cfr.org; Believes that American needs to set clear deadlines on troop withdrawal so that we c an focus on reducing the national deficit and solve our own economic problems.
Richard Danzig:           Sam Nunn Prize Fellow in International Security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; Consultant to the Department of Defense on bio-terrorism; Holds that Security Strategy should "aim to keep us and our allies free ... [and] protect as much as possible".
Jonathon Scott Gration: Retired Air Force Brigadier General; CEO of Millenium Villages, based upon the UN Millenium Development goals to bring African villages out of poverty; Dirfector of Strategy, policy, and assessments for Europen Command (EUCOM); Supported withdrawal of troops from Iraq, but, to his credit, said that if the situation required it that it would "be crazy not to readjust"; Supports hunting terrorists into Pakistan.
Sam Nunn:                   Former politician from Georgia; Lead the effort to reduce the global threat of nuclear arms; Served eight years as the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee; Voted against the first Gulf War.
William J. Perry:         Was Senior Fellow at Hoover Institute; Was a Professor at Stanford University; 1994-1997 Served as Secretary of Defense; Sent US Forces into Haiti; Oversaw military intervetion in Bosnia in 1994; Critic al of the US Invasion in Iraq; Suipports nuclear disarmament.
Sarah Sewell:               Lectured on Public Policy; Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Assistance under Clinton; Called for a natinoal doctrine delineating the responsibilities of both civilian and military insofar as nation building is concerned.
Anthony Lake:             National Security Advisor to Clintonfor Bosnia and Somalia; Pushed for greater UN involvement in Sudan; Critical of the Iraq War.
Mark Lippet:                Served one tour in the Navy as an Intelligence Officer for the SEALs; Completed one tour in Iraq; Known as the closest daily advisor to Obama; Reported to have had a hand in every major speech and statement OBama has given on foreign affairs; Worked for the Senate Appropriations Committee on Foreign Operations Subcommittee and the Senate Democratic Policy Committee.
Suasan Rice:                Was a Senior Fellow at Brookings Institute for Foreign Policy Global Policy, and Global Ecoonomic Development; Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairstowards the end of the Clinton Presidency; Critical of the Iraq War; Wanted tougher US response to the Darfur situation; Advocates fighting global poverty as part of US National Security.
George B. Craig:         Former Clinton Whitehouse Aid; Director of Policy Planning under Madeleine Albright; Partner in a Washington law firm; Criticized Bush for taking sides in some Latin American elections.
Madeleine Albright:    Secretary of State under Clinton; Former US Ambassador to the UN; Part of nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea; Believes that America has lost its moral authority.
Joe Biden:                    A name that speaks for itself.

In short, Obama has four academics, three Madeleine Albrights, two Sam Nunn's, one retired veteran, one former intelligence specialiast, and a Joe Biden.

In the challenger's corner we have Mitt Romney, who has built a national level highly respected investment firm. His policy appears to be storngly hawk, and fiscally aware.

Romney's corner men include
Cofer Black:                Former CIA counter terrorism department head; Former Vice Chairman of controversial Black Water; Serves as in house intelligence for Romney; Has the dubious reputation of conceiving, planning, leading the CIA's war in Afghanistan; supported enhanced interrogation, yes, torture.
John Lehmon:             Former Secretary of the Navy under Reagan; Continues to vierw Russia as a primary threat to the United States.
Paul Dobriansky:        Began his career in the State Department, he was the Under Secretary for Global Affairs; Known as a staunch defender of human rights.
Mitchell Reiss:            Director of Policy Planning under Collin Powell; Integral part of the Northern Ireland Peace Proicess.
Robert Kagan:             Most vocal of the American exceptionalists; A thoughtful writer who is respected by both Democrats and Republicans alike.
John Bolton:                Former US Ambassador to the UN; Chastized Bush for not being hawkish enough towards IRan.
Elliot Cohen:               Pushed the case for toppling Saddam Hussein; Continues to push for a closer overwatch on Iran; Conmsiders military intervention in Iran as a possibility.
Walid Phares:              As a teen was recruited by al-Zawahiri extremism and terrorism: Active and vioolent participant in the Lebanese civil war; Nowe an ardent anti-Sharia speaker, teacher, and writer.
Michael Hayden:         Lead both CIA and NSA under G. W. Bush; Supports torture for getting information in order to prevent military and national security losses.
Dan Senor:                   Has participated in debates about military action against Iran: Had previously said, in regards to Iraq, that "Off the record, Paris is burning. But, on the record, security and stability are returning".
Max Boot:                    Hawkish; Supports showing US strength; Said that Iraq would have bennefitted from a long term commitment of 65,000 to 70,000 troops; Advocates staying longer in Afghanistan; Advocates bombing Iran.
Eric Edelman:              Hawkish: Former Cheney aid; Former Ambassodr to Turkey; Believes that a war with IRan is a better alternative than a nuclear capable Iran; Recently made some harsh statements against Obama in leaking classified material, but has been involved in doing so himslelf under Scooter Libby.

In short, strong advocates of American strength, leadership, and prominance in the world. This team has policy writing experience, and has gotten their lumps in the real world, not in academics.

Week In Review September 9, 2011

I have written quite a bit this week about Iran and its apparent intentions. Monday I had asked if Iran is planning on being the seat of the caliphate. The answer to that is yes, I believe that Iran is planning to be the seat of the caliphate. It may have been al Qaeda that wrote the 7 Phases, but it is Iran that is carrying them out. Those phases are outlined below.

The First Phase is "the awakening" -- this has already been carried out and was supposed to have lasted from 2000 to 2003, or more precisely from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York and Washington to the fall of Baghdad in 2003.In short, to provoke and promote war.
The Second Phase "Opening Eyes" is to make the western conspiracy aware of the "Islamic community." 
The Third Phase This is an "Arising and Standing Up" and should last from 2007 to 2010. "There will be a focus on Syria,"

The Fourth Phase Between 2010 and 2013, Hussein writes that al-Qaida will aim to bring about the collapse of the hated Arabic governments.

The Fifth Phase This will be the point at which an Islamic state, or caliphate, can be declared. The plan is that by this time, between 2013 and 2016, Western influence in the Islamic world will be so reduced and Israel weakened so much, that resistance will not be feared.

The Sixth Phase Hussein believes that from 2016 onwards there will a period of "total confrontation." As soon as the caliphate has been declared the "Islamic army" it will instigate the "fight between the believers and the non-believers" which has so often been predicted by Osama bin Laden.
The Seventh Phase This final stage is described as "definitive victory."

So far, Ahmedinijad is leading the way on this. Chaos is central to Ahmadinejad's religious beliefs and, by extension, his hopes for the future. He believes, as many zealous Shi'ites do, that the Twelfth Imam, or "Mahdi," a messianic figure from the ninth century, will soon reappear to signal the end of the modern world and the onset of Islamic justice over all the earth. Ahmadinejad believes that his presidency will herald the Mahdi.

It has come out that Iran was one of the first to purchase a missile launching system from Russia. This system, known as the Club K, can be hidden inside a cargo container and brought right into the target zone. Until it is activated the system is virtually undetectable. By the time that anyone knows the system is in place it will be far too late to do anything about the first few vollies of rockets launched. To make this even better, the Club K can deploy low level nuclear warheads.

With Syria being part of the aforementioned 7 Step Plan, I have looked more at the country than Obama and Clinton seem to. Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to U.S. President Barack Obama: Your words are worthless. How much more succinct can that be? The East sees giving in and changing the way it conducting itself as giving up all their rights.Al-Assad, al-Basher of Sudan, and Ahmedinijad believe that it is their right to kill whoever gets in their way. No amount of apologizing by Obama or tes sipped at a table with Clinton is going to change that. While the UN eventually was tasked to bring a change in Libya, it is not likely here. As a proxy to Iran, al-Assad has said "Not in their wildest dreams – not now and not under different circumstances." an, in fact, continues to slaughter the Sunni population of his own country.

This week we got to read an excellent piece on the nine fronts of war that Israel is facing.  The Arab Spring has turned to an arid and deadly Arab Summer. The spreading chaos and failing of governments across the region would fit into the plan of Ahmedinijad to herald in the mahdi. In order to accomplish this, there must be utter chaos, and chaos is spreading like roaches in a tenement building. Iranian proxies are now surrounding Israel and Saudi Arabia. And Iran is moving ahead with alacrity to attain full nuclear capability.

Part of the recommended, and underdone, initiatives is the Container Security Initiative.; an initiative that would make the use of the Club K far more difficult from inside contiguous waters near large ports. The raid in Pakistan by the SEALs brought back plans that Osama was still planning to attack ports or attack from them. From the information I have seen, this piece of our national armor is another languishing from the neglect of the Appeaser in Chief and his lackeys.

Meanwhile, the TSA continues to steal, rape, and plunder the people and nation it is supposed to be protecting. Even the new Behavioral Assessment plan has had one member caught and arrested for assisting a drug courier.

But not to worry! Seriously, Napolitano has just paid out some $12 million dollars under the Homeland Fiscal Grant Allocations decision. After reviewing them there is not one penny given to detect or to look at suspect shipping containers. She has paid $12 mil into "feel good" programs that, in the end, will amount to squat. The letter written by Dr. Jim Giermanski, Chairman Powers Global Holdings, Inc. makes that point abundantly clear.

(http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2011/07/assessment-of-todays-articles.html).

“But, surely, we can talk reason to them” I hear at the coffee shops. To which I reply, “You can’t talk reason to the insane and don’t call me Shirley.” Peaceful discourse, mutually supportive policies, economic growth, and the realization of certain inalienable rights to all peoples is one way of summarizing US goals and diplomatic efforts. Achieving these goals anywhere has proven difficult. Achieving these goals in the Middle East has proven impossible, at least for the past several decades. Dealing with Iran and Syria has been emblematic of this struggle faced by US policy makers.

We, as a nation, are facing several threats and problems. Many of which can be dealt with in the immediate and short term by opening up jobs in America. Those jobs that would help us most to increase manufacturing and decrease our reliance on the importation of OPEC petroleum (which is now run by a person identified by the US Treasury and the State Department as a criminal whose assets should be frozen, an apparent supporter of terror, and legally banned from doing business with US persons and corporations) are in the US petroleum market. By lifting Theban on US drilling, authorizing the Keystone XL Pipeline, and lowering taxes on businesses there would be an immediate jump in employment and national revenue due to nearly 2million people going to work. This would also serve our nation in the mid and long term as we would quickly get stronger and would be able to exploit the natural gas and oil reserves in a cleaner and safer manner than those in the Middle East. These reserves, mind you, are estimated to represent some 92% of the world’s resources by 2032.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and, please, call your elected officials and insist they support America.

Share this blog with all your friends, family, and opponents!

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2005/08/the_seven_phase.php#ixzz1XaDq7kim

http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2011/08/2011-dhs-fiscal-grant-allocations.html

http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2011/08/open-letter-to-secretary-napolitano.html

Somalia Famine Fight

North Korea Disarming The World

Meanwhile, the UN wants to have Kim Jung-il as the head of disarmament.

Joint Statement of NGOs Against North Korea’s
Presidency of the Conference on Disarmament

The undersigned coalition of human rights and non-governmental organizations strongly protest North Korea’s presidency of the Conference on Disarmament (CD), for the reasons described below.  We call on all CD Member States to register their protest, as Canada has already done.  We also call on North Korea to hand over its presidency to a more suitable country.

1.   North Korea is a Gross Violator of Disarmament Principles and Flouts UN Security Council Decisions

The North Korean regime has no credibility on disarmament. Few if any countries pose a greater nuclear threat to the world than North Korea. The rogue regime, led by the unstable dictator Kim Jong-il, possesses an estimated dozen nuclear weapons combined with a record of hostile actions and threats to its neighbors and the world at large.  Moreover, as reported by a UN panel last year, North Korea has defied UN sanctions and used front companies to export nuclear and missile technology to the repressive regimes in Iran, Syria and Burma.

Just last week, the IAEA found that North Korea’s nuclear program remains a matter of “serious concern,” noting reports about the construction of a new uranium enrichment facility and a light water reactor.

Even for a short period, the symbolism of an international outlaw heading “the undisputed home of international arms control efforts”—as the CD was recently described by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon—is terribly wrong. 

We further note: 

• On July 15, 2006, ten days after North Korea test launched a series of missiles, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1695 requiring all UN member states to “prevent the transfer of missile and missile-related items, materials, goods and technology to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s missile or weapons of mass destruction programs, as well as procurement of such items and technology from that country.” The resolution further cited North Korea for having “endangered civil aviation and shipping through its failure to provide adequate advance notice.”

• On October 7, 2006, three years after it withdrew from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, North Korea conducted its first nuclear test. In response, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1718, finding North Korea’s actions to constitute “a clear threat to international peace and security,” barring a range of military goods from entering or leaving North Korea, and imposing an asset freeze and travel ban on persons related to the nuclear-weapon program.

• In April 2009, North Korea violated this resolution with another rocket launch. The President of the Security Council issued a statement condemning North Korea, and demanded that it cease conducting further launches.

• In May 2009, North Korea conducted another nuclear test, detonating a bomb comparable to those that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1874, finding that North Korea’s clear threat to international peace and security “continues to exist,” and sharpening the import-export ban of weapons to North Korea by calling on all states to inspect, seize and dispose of military items and deny fuel or supplies to vessels carrying them.

• Two months ago, U.S. Navy warships intercepted a North Korean vessel carrying missiles to Burma and turned it around.

North Korea has allowed millions of its own people to literally starve to death in order to pursue its illicit nuclear-weapons arsenal. North Korea is currently facing another famine. Yet history shows that aid may not even help. An estimated two million people were killed by famine in the 1990s, while Kim Jong-il and his regime kept foreign aid for themselves. 

2.  North Korea is a Gross Violator of Human Rights

As one of the world’s worst violators of human rights, North Korea should not be granted the symbolic legitimacy of chairing a world body dedicated to peace.

The United Nations General Assembly and Human Rights Council have repeatedly condemned North Korea for its massive violations of human rights. Resolution 65/225 (2010), the UNGA’s most recent condemnation of North Korea, found, inter alia, the following gross violations: 

• Systematic, widespread and grave violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights;
• Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including inhuman conditions of detention, public executions, extrajudicial and arbitrary detention;
• The absence of due process and the rule of law,  including fair trial guarantees and an independent judiciary;
• The imposition of the death penalty for political and religious reasons;
• Collective punishments;
• The existence of a large number of prison camps and the extensive use of forced labour;
• All-pervasive and severe restrictions on the freedoms of thought, conscience, religion, opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association, the right to privacy and equal access to information, by such means as the persecution of individuals exercising their freedom of opinion and expression, and their families, and on the right of everyone to take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives, of his or her country;
• The violations of economic, social and cultural rights, which have led to severe malnutrition, widespread health problems and other hardship for the population in North Korea, in particular for persons in exposed groups such as women, children and the elderly;
• Violations of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women, in particular the trafficking of women for the purpose of prostitution or forced marriage and the subjection of women to human smuggling, forced abortions, gender-based discrimination, including in the economic sphere, and gender-based violence; and
• Violations of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of children, in particular the continued lack of access to basic economic, social and cultural rights for many children. 

Ramadan Begins

On The First Day of Ramadan I beat people in the town square!

While the UN dallies and Obama dithers, the violence against the people of Syria by their own dictator escalates. This is how Obama handled Iran in 2009.

The Syrian crackdown in Hama elicited appalled condemnations on Monday from the European Union and President Obama, who called the violence there “horrifying.”
Tanks in Tahrir Square, really? I suppose that this is nothing new. We have come to expect this sort of thing from “peaceful” leadership changes, despotic regimes, and the like. Where is the horror and disgust, the outrage that we, the United States, showed for nearly the same thing at Tiananmen Square? The lack of emotion, outrage, and action is appalling! The current administration has bowed to the leaders that are committing
While the previous seven years of unstable relations with the Syrian leadership have given the United States cause to stand off, the administration has not made a clear statement about its policies of engagement in the Middle East. For instance, in Iran during the crackdowns against the people in Tehran Obama held back. Obama called for “mutual respect” between the leadership of our two countries. He wanted to have the face of respect from a country that was beating, shooting, and raping its own citizens for complaining about harsh treatment. The State Department wanted lawmakers to believe that Obama found Syria’s relationship with Iran troubling. Still, the Obama Administration gives Syria legitimacy, in spite of apparent troubling close relations with Iran, a nation with which Obama seems to approach warmly. Did he really think no one would be watching?
After months of elected officials urging Obama to do something, like recall political officials, urge the UN to talk about sanctions, throw a shoe at Syria, anything. Obama acts, not against Syrian President Assad, but an asset freeze and a ban on business dealings with the U.S. – on three senior Syrian regime officials – Assad’s brother, Mahir; the president’s cousin, Atif Najib; and his intelligence chief Ali Mamluk .
How many more have to die before Syria meets the same quick, stalwart, decisive actions (16 months of dithering) end that Osama had? What has to happen to elevate the situation high enough for Obama to take control and give operations to NATO? Oh, yes, there is a closed door session going on at the UN building. Obama has to wait for the international peace organization (whose membership includes Syria) to figure out if they are going to write a strongly worded condemnation.


But, hey, don't take my word for it. Check it out on You Tube!!

Manufacturing In US Falls Again

Go back, if you will, and read the pieces posted here about the Keystone XL Pipeline. Now, wouldn’t that project, if given a go ahead, boost manufacturing for several parts of the project? I mentioned the approximated 138,000 jobs directly related to the construction of the XL Pipeline, but the number of other support jobs to run and maintain that system would certainly benefit the U.S. in so many ways.

Manufacturing growth hits lowest level in 2 years

WASHINGTON (AP) — Manufacturers had their weakest growth in two years in July, a sign that the economy could weaken this summer.

The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing executives, said Monday that its index of manufacturing activity fell to 50.9 percent in July from 55.3 percent in June. The reading was the lowest since July 2009 — one month after the recession officially ended.

Any level above 50 indicates growth. The manufacturing sector has expanded for 23 straight months.

Still, new orders shrank for the first time since the recession ended. Companies slashed their inventories after building them up in June. Output, employment, and prices paid my manufacturers all grew more slowly in July.

The disappointing report on manufacturing is the first major reading on how the economy performed in July. It suggests the dismal economic growth in the first half of the year could extend into the July-September quarter.

"The ISM manufacturing report for July is a shocker and strongly suggests that the disappointing performance of the economy in the first half of the year was not just temporary," said Paul Dales, a senior U.S. economist for Capital Economics.

The news of weak factory growth in July also cooled what looked to be a strong day on Wall Street.

The Dow Jones industrial average had risen nearly 140 points in the first half-hour of trading, after President Barack Obama and lawmakers announced a deal to raise the nation's borrowing limit. But the Dow erased all of those gains after the manufacturing report was released, and then fell another 145 points. It later pared most of the day's losses to close 11 points down.

In a separate report, the Commerce Department said builders began work on more projects in June, pushing construction spending higher for a third straight month.

Construction spending rose 0.2 percent in June, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $772.3 billion, the government said. But even with the gains, spending remains slightly above an 11-year low hit in March and is just half of the $1.5 trillion pace considered healthy by most economists.

The economy expanded at a dismal 1.3 percent annual rate in the April-June period after an even worse 0.4 percent increase in the first three months of the year, the government said Friday.

The factory sector has expanded in every month but one since the recession ended in June 2009. The ISM's index topped 60 for four straight months at the start of the year.

But manufacturing has stumbled in recent months. A parts shortage stemming from Japan's March 11 earthquake disrupted automakers' supply chains, cutting into the output of new cars. And high gas prices left Americans with less money to spend on discretionary items, such as vacations, furniture and appliances.

The index fell in May to 53.5 from April's reading of 60.4. That was the sharpest one-month drop since 1984.

Employers have responded by pulling back on hiring. The economy added just 18,000 net jobs in June, the fewest in nine months, and the unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent. Hiring by manufacturers was nearly flat in the April-June period.

The government issues its July employment report on Friday.

Several regional manufacturing surveys for the month of July have been mixed. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank said its manufacturing index rose to 3.2, signaling that the sector is growing again in that region. It had contracted in June for the first time in nine months.

And a private survey in Chicago showed that manufacturing expanded in July, but at a slower pace than in June.

Meanwhile, a survey by the New York Federal Reserve Bank found regional manufacturing activity shrank in July.

Manufacturing represents only about 11 percent of U.S. economic activity and can contribute only so much to the broader economic recovery. For unemployment to fall significantly, consumer income and spending also must pick up.

The ISM, a trade group of purchasing executives based in Tempe, Ariz., compiles its manufacturing index by surveying about 300 purchasing executives across the country.