Last week while our President was yucking it up with Cuban dictator Raul Castro, ISIS terrorists set off two bombs at the American Airlines terminal at the Brussels airport and one bomb at the Maalbeek metro station. A third bomb at the airport was defused by a bomb squad. 35 people were killed including at least 4 Americans, and over 300 injured.
Yesterday, Sec't of State John Kerry went on Face The Nation, to lament that world leaders are "shocked at the rhetoric of our current Republican Presidential campaign. Here is a link to a HuffPo article that explains (even though the clip does not state this) that... the "Republican Primary Race Is ‘An Embarrassment’". Now I don't necessarily disagree, however who cares what the "leaders of the world" think.
Kerry went on to say that these same world leaders "don’t know where it’s taking the United States of America. It upsets people’s sense of equilibrium about our steadiness, about our reliability, and to some degree I must say to you, some of the questions, the way they’re posed to me, it’s clear to me that what’s happening is an embarrassment to our country.”
This made me laugh. Kerry should be more embarrassed by the actions of the "world leaders" than Donald Trump. Neither the collective leaders of European Union (EU) nor the worthless body we call the United Nations have done anything while Europe is being overrun by people fleeing Syria, Iraq, and other Islamic countries and many dying while trying to escape. But they are worried about our "reliability"? Innocent people are being blown up all over the world by Islamic terrorists and these same "world leaders" can't even accept there is a problem.
But hey, the Obamas had a lovely time in Argentina dancing the Tango while the body parts were being sorted...
Comments.
For some time now, I've felt that the Democratic elite are out of touch with reality. They act like the royal class of the 14th Century by ignoring whatever bad happens to their own people while paying attention only to other royals. This is just more of the same. Though, Obama in particular has proven to be a real turd of a human being with no sense of empathy who isn't his own race.
ReplyDeleteBTW, There's an article at the film site.
ReplyDeleteJames Bond Books
Kerry's Trump whine was silly but par for the course. During political campaigns, both sides normally troll each other with global opinion ('They don't respect or fear us enough!').
ReplyDeleteIn terms of refugees from Islamic countries, Europe is in a tough spot (much tougher than the US). For them refugees and terrorists are only a boat ride away. They seek to interdict refugees in transit (remember the photo of the little Syrian kid who had drowned?) they get grief, they let them in and some of them turn out to be terrorists, they get grief.
Given increasing public frustration with a never ending wave of terror attacks, I suspect Fortress Europe is the most popular option and becoming more popular all the time.
I cannot imagine widespread popular support in Europe (or for that matter America) for anything abroad beyond what is currently being done (commando raids, drone strikes and missile attacks, basically anything you can do which minimizes risk to soldiers).
Of course, none of that stuff will end the War on Terror. Al Queda seems to be curled up in a fetal position in the corner, but ISIS has filled the void and probably once their leadership is sufficiently degraded (a top ISIS leader was recently killed), some other group will become the banner under which atrocities are commited.
Like the War on Drugs, the War on Terror is probably going to be an unending war. As with drugs, smart decisions can minimize the cost the public pays, but cannot eliminate the problem. As with drugs, there will always be a debate about the right balance between freedom and security.
I thought the Apple encryption thing was interesting. To my surprise a lot of people on right (who was more vocal about it) and the left supported Apple's refusal to help the government access a terrorist's phone (which is apparently a moot point since the government claims it cracked the phone on its own).
Anthony, I agree about Europe. I would add one more thing too. Europe has a demographic problem that is biasing their decisions right now. They just don't have enough babies being born, so they need to import them. That's on the minds of their leaders too.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of the war on terror being unwinnnable, I think that's true. The only way to win the war on terror is for the Arab world to clean itself up, modernize, and give young men a reason to do something with their lives other than be terrorists. Right now, the Arab world is the equivalent of a Detroit ghetto only worse. You have no jobs, no amenities, no hope - true poverty. Add in Arab governments blaming Westerners for everything. F*ck the cops! Whitey won't let you succeed! Then you add this religious veneer that tells them that it's not only morally right, but morally necessary to go destroy the West along with promises that all their problems will go away. Suddenly, you have a ripe recruiting ground for killers.
Just to be clear, I did not expect Obama to jump on AF1 and race back to the US because of the Brussels attack. Though, judging from the brou-ha-ha and countless references to that infamous 7 min that Bush stayed put reading to the little children, I would think maybe photos of baseball game "high 5's" with a Castro and Tango-ing with some hottie probably weren't the best optics.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have said myself that Trump is an embarrassment. But for some reason to have our Sec't of State go on national TV and Republicans are an embarrassment to us just appears purely "political". Of course, it was right after the baseball high-5ves and the Tango dancing that looked equally callous to balance it all out.
BTw, did you hear that Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski has been charged and arrested for battery. It all has to do with his man-handling of a Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields while trying to ask Trump some questions. The Trump camp called her a liar. But then a close circuit video confirmed that he did yank her around a bit and bruised her arm. She filed charges and he was arrested this morning for battery.
ReplyDeleteWPost - Donald Trump’s campaign manager was just charged with battery
What kind of Allah forsaken country do we live in where a man cannot manhandle a woman without interference from the infidel authorities?!!
ReplyDeleteOoops, sorry. I thought I was posting on our CommentaraIslam board. ;)
Bev, In all seriousness, I don't think anything will come of it. Battery charges never really stick on their own. They usually need to be part of something bigger to stick.
ReplyDeleteOn Obama, I didn't expect him to give up his vacation either, but you do kind of expect him to stop looking like he's having a great time, to get his butt to a briefing, and then to make a statement of solidarity at the nearest microphone. But then, Obama is a turd.
Trump's campaign manager hired a lawyer who lost his position with the Justice Department after he bit a stripper.
ReplyDeleteYou can't turn around without tripping over half a dozen lawyers in many big cities and most are normal(ish) people so I think its unlikely that Trump happened on this freak by accident.
I wouldn't be surprised if after he loses in November Trump announces the whole candidacy was a joke, a scheme he cooked up with the Clintons to guarantee Hillary power. Honestly, I don't believe that but this election keeps getting crazier and crazier.
http://www.mediaite.com/online/corey-lewandowskis-florida-lawyer-lost-his-job-for-allegedly-biting-a-stripper/
Ejected from the club after his failed attempt to kiss the stripper ended with him biting her instead, he used a credit card to pay the $900 bill. Later he sent his father to the bar to buy the credit-card slip back at a premium price of $1,200, which tipped the irate stripper and her even-more-irate husband off that they’d been dealing with someone anxious to conceal his identity. Their complaints eventually attracted an investigators from the office of the U.S. Justice Department’s inspector general.
Coffey, then a U.S. Attorney, actually kept his job for two months. But Coffey briefly became a campaign issue when Republican Bob Dole used his conduct as an indictment of the Clinton administration’s appointments. Under the increased scrutiny and to avoid charges, he resigned.