Syria A Failing State or Burgeoning State of Multitheism?

Syria truly is more of a keystone state than most give it credit for. I have several blog entires from more than a year ago looking at the mess there. Syrian sectarian and ethnic divisions into individual sovereign states would begin the rush for more similar states across the Middle East.

Syria is now closing in on the end of its second year of fighting. It is in no way an internal fight. What started as an ethnic cleansing by al-Assad, who follows a Shi'ite form of Islam, has spilled over its own borders into Jordan and Turkey, thus threatening a broader internastional conflict. There are a growing number of deaths in both of these neighboring countries. These would include the assassination by car bomb of Jordian Intelligence office, Brg. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan in Beirut.

While there is enough tumult going on in Syria, what is the view of the regional states? The London based editor of Al-Quds Al-Arabia, Abd al-Atwan, warns that no country isd immune to the risks of dividing into ethnic and sectareian lines. What? There is a risk of a country being a mix of ethnicities and religious beliefs? What if a country existed that allowed people to believe as they wanted? My goodness, that would mean no state religion and less control over peoples thoughts and actions! No, not that! Anything but a country with the American First Amendment protections! Seriously, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Jordan, Iraq, and the other Arabian Street and Gulf State actors loathe the idea of this happening anywhere in the world. They will do anything to prevent it in their backyard.

Atwan warns his readers globally that if the Alawhites get to have a state, the Sunni's will get to have a state, the Kurds will have a stae, Saudi Arabia will have to provide a state for al-Aksa, the Coptic Christians in Egypt wouldf get their own sovereign state. I cannot stress how horrific an idea this is to the domineering views of Sunni and Shi'ite sects throughout the Middle East.

Almost all of the Middle EAstgern states have come together and voiced their commitment towards preventing Syria from falling into this abyss of partitioning with its sectarian and ethnic violence. How's that working so far? There is no sectarain violence or ethnic violence of any sort within these countries. Copts in Egypt, Kashmiris in between Pakistan and India, and so on.

How does Iran fit into this? Iran, a Shi'ite dominated country, plays into a number of issues that directly and indirectly impact Americans.

Iran is sending troops, Basij (child suicide soldiers), heavy munitions, weapons, as well as financial and medical aid into Syria on a frighteningly regular basis. How they are doing this is by using both ground transportation, previously with the knowledge and highly probable assistance of Iraqi indicted PM Maliki, and via air transportation through Iraqi airspace. How is this going to impact anything in America? It's just regional, reight? It's contained within Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran, right? Really contained.

How this impacts the united states immediately is that these countries are also OPEC members. We are currently buying their oil. We are dependcant upon their oil right now, not our own greater resources available domestically and at far lower costs. Look at a map of the region and you will see the Suez Canal, Straights of Hormuz, and the Gulf of Aden. More than 80% of the world's international shipping goes through there. Going around the African continent takes far too much time, whih is why the Suez Canal was built. If this region degrades furhter into choas, conflict, and more violence, most everything we buy is goipng to skyrocket in cost.

I believe that we already understand that Iran is investing so much into the Assad regime that Iran expects to be able to expand into Syria. If this happens, we again come to the Suex Canal. I can see IRan charging for ships to enter or exit safely, just as Egypt chargesa for transit through the canal. Again, due to the risks and costs involved due to pirates, the Egyptian fees for transit, and the IRanian fees, it is clear how this will also raise costs on the massive amounts of global shipping through the region.What would Iranian missile silos and anti ship m,issiles along the coast look like? Suppose there was an Iranian nuclear cruise missile stationed there? That threatens more shipping and all of Europe. Even though Khameini and Ahmedinijad are at odds with each other regarding nuclear capacity of any sort, Khameini has proven powerless in stopping Ahmedinijad's nuclearv progress.

Syria truly is more of a keystone state than most give it credit for. Syrian sectarian and ethnic divisions into individual sovereign states would begin the rush for more similar states across the Middle East. There is already enough strife and tension between Sunni and Shi'ite, you can only imagine the carnmage and chaos that would result from Christians, Kurds, and other religious sects having their own states not answerable to Suadi Arabian, Iranian, or other powerful states in the region.

Stop Funding the UN

Another debate is coming on Capitol Hill. This one relates to withholding funds from the United Nations. The UN has become an inept, impotent organization at best and a purveyor of rape and other crimes at worst. I say yes to withholding funding from the UN! In all fairness, the bill to stop funding to the UN is in relation to the vote on recognizing a Palestinian state, but why should the US pay an organization that;

·         Cannot decide on a final definition of terrorism

·        Cannot keep its own members (who have sworn to uphold and defend the sanctity of life) from slaughtering their own citizens (Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria, Iraq,

·         Iran, China, need I continue?)

·         Is controlled by a voting bloc of states that are openly hostile to the US

·         The bloc that is hostile to the US also has numerous states which the US government is paying other funds to, see http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2011/08/we-pay-our-enemies.html

I claim that there are ongoing crimes and a long history of such offenses by UN workers, let’s look at a few of these crimes; crimes that have been committed by an organization which receives 27% of its operating budget from the US and openly votes against US interests domestically and abroad.

Not counting all the UN police I had worked with in Bosnia who partook in supporting human trafficking and related sex crimes or the UN Oil For Food debacle or the UN International Atomic Energy Agency, here are just the first few of thousands of articles relating to the criminality and depravity of UN Peacekeepers.

1.     Wikileaks: U.N. Peacekeepers Traded Food for Sex With Underaged Girls

United Nations peacekeepers in Ivory Coast have traded food for sex with underage girls, according to a United States Embassy cable released by Wikileaks.

United Nations spokesman Michel Bonnardeaux confirmed that 16 Beninese peacekeepers were sent back to Benin and barred from service after an investigation confirmed the exploitation.

"We see it as a command and control problem," Bonnardeaux told The Associated Press. Of the 16, ten were commanders and the rest were soldiers.

2.      UN Peacekeepers Continue to Rape Children

Sexual misconduct by U.N. troops has been reported in a number of countries including Congo, Cambodia and Haiti — as well as in an earlier incident involving Moroccan peacekeepers in Ivory Coast.

3.     10 Muslim UN Peacekeepers rape 13-Year-Old Girl

The UN continues to employ and sanction child rape and trafficking. This is not new, they move the child rapists. Expect more sanction of sharia Obama relinquishes American sovereignty to the UN, driven largely by the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

4.     United Nations Should Be Accountable For Peacekeeper Crimes

The allegations, based on confidential UN sources, involve Pakistani and Indian troops working as peacekeepers.

The UN investigated some of the claims in 2007, but said it could not substantiate claims of arms dealing.

UN insiders told the BBC’s Panaroma they had been prevented from pursuing their inquiries for political reasons.

an 18-month BBC investigation for Panorama has found evidence that:

- Pakistani peacekeepers in the eastern town of Mongbwalu were involved in the illegal trade in gold with the FNI militia, providing them with weapons to guard the perimeter of the mines.

- Indian peacekeepers operating around the town of Goma had direct dealings with the militia responsible for the Rwandan genocide, now living in eastern DR Congo.

- The Indians traded gold, bought drugs from the militias and flew a UN helicopter into the Virunga National Park, where they exchanged ammunition for ivory

5.     UN Sanctioned Heinous Sex Crimes of UN Workers, Covered and Protected the RAPISTS KNOWINGLY!

UN told it ignored years of abuse by peacekeepers  Reuters

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday condemned for the first time sexual abuse among peacekeepers after being told U.N. members ignored such exploitation for decades, fearing exposure of their own soldiers' wrongdoing.

The United Nations has accused peacekeepers and civilian staff in the Democratic Republic of Congo of rape, pedophilia, and enticing hungry children with food or money in exchange for sex. Sexual abuse on a smaller scale was discovered in other missions.

A U.S.-drafted statement read at a formal meeting urged all nations to adopt recent proposals by a U.N. inquiry to end and prevent sexual abuse. But it says the countries contributing troops have primary responsibility for the conduct of their soldiers.

6.     United Nations: A Network of Pedophiles

Charles Johnson
Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 8:03 am PST

A French UN worker accused of child rape in Congo says there is an organized network of pedophiles at the UN mission: Explicit Photos Fan U.N. Sex Scandal.

UNITED NATIONS — A scandal about the sexual abuse of Congolese women and children by U.N. officials and peacekeepers intensified Friday with the broadcast of explicit pictures of a French U.N. worker and Congolese girls and his claim that there was a network of pedophiles at the U.N. mission in Congo.

ABC News’ “20/20” program showed pictures taken from the computer of a French U.N. transport worker.

The Obama administration is stepping up criticism of calls by some members of Congress to withhold or slash U.S. funding of the United Nations. Senior State Department official Esther Brimmer says such moves would be "backward" and would seriously undermine America's role as a world leader. Even though this call is in relation to the Palestinian calls for recognition of its statehood (which I do not recognize) funds to the UN should be stopped until the UN can police itself and actually uphold its claims for existence. Call your elected officials today and tell them to stop paying for rapists and thieves.
 

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=14685_United_Nations-_A_Network_of_Pedophiles

http://www.zimbio.com/United+Nations/articles/15/United+Nations+Accountable+Peacekeeper+Crimes

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/05/10-muslim-un-peacekeepers-rape-13-year-old-girl.html

http://rightwingnews.com/government-waste/un-peacekeepers-continue-to-rape-children/

http://www.christianpost.com/news/wikileaks-u-n-peacekeepers-traded-food-for-sex-with-underaged-girls-54943/

Discourse or Death, What to do

Bottom Line Up Front

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.

In short, the Middle East is ruled by iron fisted dictators that visit their sadistic pleasures against their citizens, routinely and violently attack neighbors based on issues as seemingly trivial as what form of religion they practice, and smile too sweetly at the US with their hands extended either for a questionable handshake or for money. Unless the West drastically changes its political will and stands tall with testicular fortitude, the Middle East WILL devolve further from our vision of peace and further into chaos. The problem with deepening chaos is that the entire world will feel that pain. How much oil do we depend on these sanctimonious psychopaths for? How much of the worlds trade travels through their regions? How much are we going to have to pay in our own ransom before there is another knife at our global throat?

My suggestion is to stand strong and respond to a bloody nose with a bloody nose and breaking of the knee.

Background

So, the Middle East is a problem that is worsening. Coercive regime change has, and is still, being tried in Iraq, Egypt, and Libya. While Iraq is currently seeing fewer shootings than in Chicago it is not a stable peace. Egypt and Libya appear to be falling into deeper trouble without their previous rulers in place. The Muslim Brotherhood, which has stated that it is dedicated to the destruction of the West and its allies in establishing a caliphate, is solidifying its grip on Egypt. Libya is still in the death throes of the Qadaffy regime.

As a result of the sour smelling bag of dung the West now has its hands on there is currently a strong resistance towards regime change in places like Sudan, Syria, and Lebanon. Applying any measure of control or trying to urge the leadership in the East to use restraint has resulted in mockery and public chastisement of the West, a serious loss of face and sign of weakness to the cultures we are trying to connect with.

The other obvious option is trying to use sanctions, trade deals, and resolutions aimed at gently turning the despotic leaders towards being kinder and gentler leaders. Will behavior change, rather than forced and violent leadership change, work in either Iran or Syria or anywhere else for that matter?

Diplomatic options might be worth exploring if done with broad regional appeal and allied relationships among friends and allies. The primary caveat to this might be that we need to enter discussions with eyes opened remembering that, even as allies, the regimes are dangerous, untrustworthy allies. Problematic is achieving this without the appearance of appeasing the parties at the table. Appeasement has always proven to be a failure.

How does one negotiate a positive ending, a resolution to longstanding issues? One way, as taught in ivy covered colleges, is to identify what the others want and find a way to achieve that without giving up what you want. What do these governments want? What does a person who trains his own citizens to be suicide bombers want? I say that person wants a totalitarian system of government in which no one is allowed to think for themselves. Listen to what each country says about its neighbors! In the case of religious rule for a country Saudi Arabi, the seat of wahabism, is not considered strict enough. Anyone who does not share their understanding will be executed. If you want to know what a this will look like, contemplate the Taliban in Afghanistan—the only state in recent memory that is considered to have been legitimately Islamic. Consider, also, the rise to power of Stalin and how many millions of people were, and still are, murdered for the communistic regime.

Only after the UN demanded (several times) an end to the slaughter in Libya by Qadaffy did Obama call on NATO to be part of the solution. That should be read as NATO being used as a cover for Obama’s attempt to clumsily effect a regime change. Meanwhile, in Syria Iran sent elite forces, equipment, and money to Bashir al-Assad to use in his continued legacy of killing his own people based on their religious bent.

Thousands of people are dying at the whim of al-Assad, in a manner not too dissimilar to how Qadaffy ruled, and Ahmedinijad declares that he will stand by his ally.

What do we do? Do we depose of the despot or try to charm him? How long did the West try to talk with Osama? What has happened since we killed him? What will come of deposing a terroristic leader? When the West kills or removes a leader in the East it is widely heralded as an act of devilish evil which must, by religious decree, be met with the blood of the people of the West and their leaders.

The options still include regime change and appeasement, but there is also another option. That is to install a benevolent dictator. Look at the culture and the attitudes of the regions and peoples of the Middle East. A harsh environment in which the slightest bit of weakness brings death has created a people who see the world, life and death, in the same way.

There is no simple answer. The only sure thing is, by going in showing timidity and weakness, by apologizing for all wrongs (real and perceived) will dangerously fail.

US FOREIGN POLICY & MIDDLE EAS (Garland Reference Library of Social Science)

http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/pub759.pdf

http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5592.htm

http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5606.htm

Foreign Aid Bill

I have posted quite a bit, and will continue to post, about the national budget. Of particular interest to us is where in the world our tax dollars go and how do the recipient countries treat America on the global and personal levels.

It would be in all of our interests to let these members know that we are watching closely how they intend to spend our money. The 2012 bill has less funds going to foreign interests than Obama wanted, but it amy be more than We, The People, should like.

Middle East: Rep. Kay Granger Steps Up

From the JPost:

Washington’s $2 billion in annual aid to Egypt will be cut off if Cairo backs out of the peace treaty with Israel, Congresswoman Kay Granger – whose job as chairwoman of the US House appropriations foreign operations subcommittee means she literally writes America’s annual foreign aid bill – told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.

“The United States aid to Egypt is predicated on the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, and so the relationship between Egypt and Israel is extremely important,” the eight-term Republican from Texas said in an interview.

“As an appropriator I have two concerns: One thing is the continuing relationship between Egypt and Israel, and the other thing of course is what government we will be dealing with in Egypt, and what position the Muslim Brotherhood will play in this government.”

Granger, who is visiting Israel with a group of House Republicans, will also inform Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that if the PA goes through with their unilateral statehood plans at the UN, $500M in US aid will be cut, including aid to the Palestinian security forces.

(Dare we say, “You go, girl!”?)

According to the information found at the link below, the members of the US House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations are

Republicans

Harold Rogers, Kentucky, Chairman

C.W. Bill Young, Florida

Jerry Lewis, California

Frank R. Wolf, Virginia

Jack Kingston, Georgia

Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, New Jersey

Tom Latham, Iowa

Robert B. Aderholt, Alabama

Jo Ann Emerson, Missouri

Kay Granger, Texas

Michael K. Simpson, Idaho

John Abney Culberson, Texas

Ander Crenshaw, Florida

Denny Rehberg, Montana

John R. Carter, Texas

Rodney Alexander, Louisiana

Ken Calvert, California

Jo Bonner, Alabama

Steven C. LaTourette, Ohio

Tom Cole, Oklahoma

Jeff Flake, Arizona

Mario Diaz-Balart, Florida

Charles W. Dent, Pennsylvania

Steve Austria, Ohio

Cynthia M. Lummis, Wyoming

Tom Graves, Georgia

Kevin Yoder, Kansas

Steve Womack, Arkansas

Alan Nunnelee, Mississippi

Democrats

Norman D. Dicks, Washington

Marcy Kaptur, Ohio

Peter J. Visclosky, Indiana

Nita M. Lowey, New York

José E. Serrano, New York

Rosa L. DeLauro, Connecticut

James P. Moran, Virginia

John W. Olver, Massachusetts

Ed Pastor, Arizona

David E. Price, North Carolina

Maurice D. Hinchey, New York

Lucille Roybal-Allard, California

Sam Farr, California

Jesse L. Jackson, Jr., Illinois

Chaka Fattah, Pennsylvania

Steven R. Rothman, New Jersey

Sanford D. Bishop, Jr., Georgia

Barbara Lee, California

Adam B. Schiff, California

Michael M. Honda, California

            Betty McCollum, Minnesota

http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/08/22/middle-east-rep-kay-granger-steps-up/#comment-92984

http://appropriations.house.gov/

Syria

A few weeks ago I said that al-Assad would not step down. As time passed, videos, and reports came out depicting the slaughter being unleashed against the Syrian people.  As bodies were dumped off pick-up trucks into the ocean protestors continued. I suppose when you know that you are going to die you may as well go down screaming what you believe.

It was not until after UN leadership spoke about alleged atrocities ongoing in Syria that US leadership spoke up at all. The feeling I had was that our leadership was going to wait for the UN to say what was wrong and then we would lock step and parrot the weak and watery leadership for the UN. Blogs and tweets showed up relentlessly at White House pages. Finally, the page 8 articles from Lames Stream Media were noticed. Clinton spoke out and an international coalition was being built to do something. The coalition, US, EU, and UN (the UN being largely OIC and OPEC) spoke out against al-Assad.

This coalition called for a cease to hostilities and for al-Assad to step down. The threat of criminal charges in the International Criminal Court would appear to have been noticed. New sanctions were not seen as threatening enough by the regime, as Assad had clearly said that he could get all the resources he needed. Clearly, the political solution that Assad had insisted was going to come from his people was more the rest of the world tapping on his shoulder.

Al-Assad said that he stopped the killing of his people on the 18^th. The weekend would appear to have been quiet; however, Monday morning brings more bodies in fresh blood. I am (sarcastically) quite certain that these two protestors were shot either accidentally (which will, of course result in the troops being severely dealt with) or they were violent and well armed Syrian versions of Schwarzenegger from the movie Commando and these guards had simply acted in accordance with protecting themselves.

Al-Assad will not step down. He will continue to scoff and throw shoes at the rest of the world. He knows that, like al-Bashir the president of Sudan (indicted for war crimes and crimes against his own people due to committing similar attacks as al-Assad), he will not be apprehended. No one is going to go into Syria to catch him. Any country he goes to quietly will not turn him over to the ICC. And, like al-Bashir, the Obama administration and Clinton State Department will likely move to restore relations with al-Assad within the year.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2011/08/22/world/middleeast/22syria.xml
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/18/syria-assad-claims-military-operations-stopped

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14577333

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-08/22/c_131064442.htm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/un-rights-chief-likely-to-call-for-syria-to-be-referred-to-international-criminal-court/2011/08/17/gIQA7Iz2LJ_story.html

I cannot wait for the horror stoires and the accounts of mass rapes and mutilations to begin.

Week In Review, August 19

Due to technical and health issues, this one is a day behind. Late, but still here, The Week In Review

Sanctioned Murder Honor Killings and Child Soldiers

These are, and will continue to be, a regular topic. Until they love their children more than they hate us, there will be no peace with the Middle East.

While I was working, and writing this past week, authorities in NJ charged a Pakistani muslim, Kashif Parvaiz, with having his wife murdered. He claims that his now dead wife had spoke badly about the family. So, for honor, he had her killed. What rot! He murdered his wife because he was angry and offended that a woman should use her freedom of speech in America to voice her complaints.

It has continued and will continue even likely increase in America.

Child Soldiers

I am going to also include Theft of Aid in this portion as this week it turns out to all pertain to Somalia. Yes, there are child soldiers being used in Sudan. That is coming up as Sudan is a heap of its own. We have sent trillions of dollars to aid agencies, through development, other donations, as well as direct government payments from the US to Somalia. This has been going on since before the fall of the Siadd Barre regime. We are paying to have aid sent into an area where the government steals it for its own use. Stolen aid is sold openly in the market place. Aid is extorted from refugees who then watch their children get recruited into al-Shabaab.

While we are squeezing dimes to but our own food and gas to take care of our needs, our government wants to raise our taxes higher in order to send more money to states like Somalia; to pay for more child soldiers. How do Somalis thank the generosity of Americans? Do you recall two weeks ago when three Somalis tried to get a fake bomb onto an airplane? I do.

UNPotence, the Impotence of the Aged

Human Rights Watch wrote "far from condemning repression, Ban sometimes went out of his way to portray oppressive governments in a positive light". China, Burma, Sri Lanka have benefited from Mr Ban's lax hand. UN Peacekeepers have been involved in rape, torture, and extortion themselves.

With the most powerful voting bloc in the UN being Islamic, what else is going on that the power base in the UN would want us to not see?

Attacks on Churches

• Egypt: Muslims angered by the installation of a church bell—under Sharia, churches must not offend Muslims by ringing bells—went on a violent spree, attacking among others a 5-month pregnant Christian woman and others who were “beaten with iron rods and pipes.”
• Indonesia: Christians were forced out of a church building and hounded even as they tried to worship at the side of the road.
• Nigeria: Two churches were bombed simultaneously; at least three Christians died, several were injured.
• Pakistan: Under accusations of “blasphemy,” and with the help of a local politician, Muslims attempted to annex a Christian hospital established in 1922 by missionaries.
• Tanzania: Muslims burned down two churches to cries of “away with the church—we do not want infidels to spoil our community,” and vows not to befriend “infidels.”

Sexual Abuse of Christian Women and Misogyny:

• Egypt: Muslims “severely sexually harassed” a Christian woman in front of her husband at a bus terminal; when her husband tried to defend her honor, he was violently beaten.  Soon afterwards, thousands of Muslims in the region began looting and torching Christian property, screaming “Allahu Akbar!” and “cursing the cross.”  Also, a Muslim ring using sexual coercion to convert Christian girls was exposed.
• Pakistan: Newlyweds run for their lives, because the man is Christian, the woman Muslim.  Under Sharia, the leader of the household, the man, must be Muslim.  Says a Pakistani Muslim scholar: “I condemn this marriage, I call it illegal, these two could be killed for what they did.”

Apostasy and Proselytizing

• Iran: A Christian pastor faces the death penalty for “convert(ing) to Christianity” and “encourag(ing) other Muslims to convert to Christianity.” Even if he is found innocent of apostasy, the charge of evangelizing Muslims will still carry a severe penalty.
• Saudi Arabia: A captured Christian pastor is set to be deported to Muslim Eritrea, where he faces the death penalty.

General Killing of Christians

• Ivory Coast: Muslims crucify two Christian brothers on “the example of Christ” and in accordance to Koran 5:33: “The pair were badly beaten and tortured before being crudely nailed to cross-shaped planks by their hands and feet with steel spikes.”

Foreign Aid

Yet, again, we continue to raise taxes on Americans in order to send that money to our enemies, like China.

"We started looking at the contracts and it was rather amazing that the No. 1 recipient of these taxpayer dollars were Chinese-state owned corporations," said Sen. Jim Webb, D-Virginia, referring to $320 million dollars worth of U.S. government contracts let to China. "I think we can take a good hard look where we're giving foreign aid."

The U.S. provided $47 million in "development aid" to China in 2010, even though the nation is already a military and economic giant and the world's only other true superpower.

Sudan no longer terroristic, but still terrifying

Clinton and Obama are now in the 45 day process to remove Sudan from the list of Sponsors of terrorism. This is still a genocidal state, mind you. South Sudan has oil, bit deal. North Sudan has buddied up with Iranian president Mahnood Ahmedinijad, who slaughtered his people in 2009. By coming off that list, North Sudan is going to be able to purchase some “restricted” technologies and items. What do you want to bet these will go straight to Iran? These items are just as likely to be used against the South Sudanese people. The people of Darfur will regret this decision of Obama.

Thank Obama

The Middle East has long been annoyed that the West exists. The status quo of “Buy our oil and we will be kind to your face” has changed. No longer does the East see the West in that light. They see the West as the next errant servant who needs to step into line behind the East. I say they always have, but until now, had not the gall or courage to say it. Why do they have the courage to say it now? Because they see Obama as powerless, impotent, and completely ineffective and, as our leader, this is also how they see America and all Americans. Make no mistake, the East and the West are diametrically opposed. We are each other's antithesis.