tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post7651659435305345545..comments2023-06-15T09:13:45.467-04:00Comments on Liberty's Torch: Syria.Francis W. Porrettohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05862584203772592282noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-10544126450421352272015-10-17T17:47:00.231-04:002015-10-17T17:47:00.231-04:00Reg T, Jeane Kirkpatrick's idea of relatively ...Reg T, Jeane Kirkpatrick's idea of relatively benign non-communist dictators being worthy of our support has been ignored. The lesson of Libya alone shows what a catastrophe ensues when you rip flesh from bone inside a nation, if you'll pardon the lurid imagery. As bad as Gaddafi was in the past he CLEARLY had moderated his behavior and, obviously, he was a thousand times better than what came after. It was madness to interfere but Hillary just had to have her opportunity to say, "We came. We saw. He died." I would like to see the families of those killed in the aftermath of that have 48 hours alone with her. She might think deposing Gaddafi was such a great idea. She was an absurd choice for SoS anyway, one following as the night the day from the even more absurd choice of Obama as president.<br /><br />The insanity of having Obama as president is a direct result of our failure to demand that only natural born citizens be electable. The Framers and Ratifiers had no idea of the exact consequences of failing to enforce that requirement but the president we have now clearly is an example of what they did fear, namely, someone whose allegiance is to something other than America. I don't think in their wildest imaginings they thought that a man could actually become president who would harbor an actual, honest to gosh hatred of his "own" country or that voters would be so astonishingly incurious about his origins and life's tracks and so foolishly beguiled by the empty glibness and posturing of this pathetic fool.<br /><br />The West as a whole is afflicted with a moral and intellectual failing that seems to me to be nothing less than satanic. I'm not a man who sees evidence of God in human affairs but there seems to me to be abundant evidence of an active malevolent spirit at work in these seeming last days of the West. I don't actually believe there is such a force at work but I'm hard pressed to deny that there's such compelling evidence of man's tolerance for lies and weakness and stupidity in the face of mortal threats that something a lot LIKE satanic influences are at work. Merkel, for one, seems possessed by the spirit of the Deceiver. Somebody please provide an explanation that is superior to THAT one.<br /> Col. B. Bunnyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09590364016079745156noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-25072971791631323772015-10-15T06:39:14.114-04:002015-10-15T06:39:14.114-04:00Col., those were my thoughts, to a large degree. P...Col., those were my thoughts, to a large degree. Putin is doing what I think _we_ should be doing if we weren't being led disastrously astray by Obama and his handlers. Supporting Assad would have nipped this "civil" war in the bud, and there would have been stability in Syria. Hezbollah and Syria's ties to Iran would have remained to be dealt with, but not this chaos - with unpleasant end results no matter who "wins". Mubarak in Egypt, Gaddafi in Libya, and Assad in Syria would have been easier to deal with - and better for the citizens of each country - than ISIS/ISIL and whoever is actually running it right now.<br /><br />Obama's willingness to accept the chaos, the destruction of the economies and cultures of those countries, and the damage to- and decimation of - their populations, indicates either a mental sickness or dysfunction that causes him to love the diseased , immoral, destructive nature of islam over any rational alternative (even Rev. Wright's "Goddamn America" being preferable to islam). Or, it indicates an endgame involving using islam and a Universal Caliphate to produce the conditions Obama and his handlers desire, including an end to Western civilization. They may believe such a UC as controllable by them or easier to lop the head off of as opposed to controlling or ending a Christian Western Civilization. <br /><br />I believe they would discover themselves in error, but far too late to do any of us any good. Defeating a Universal Caliphate will always be easier at the Gates of Vienna than after Vienna had fallen, and the UC firmly established.Reg Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14099612693763932005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-81386709478453288112015-10-12T21:33:18.930-04:002015-10-12T21:33:18.930-04:00Mr. Bonneau, that's a point I wish I'd bee...Mr. Bonneau, that's a point I wish I'd been a bit less adamant about. I reflexively recoil from glib characterizations of national leaders. Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi, and Assad (I don't equate them) all sat atop a slippery pole from which they sought or seek to hold their nation in question. To try to remove them because of their failure to measure up to some goo goo (good government) standard of political purity is reckless, ignores the realities of their nation which they know intimately, and ignores the crucial "what next?" question. Libya and Ukraine are good examples of bad results that the wise men failed to anticipate.<br /><br />Andrew Bostom is quite negative about Assad and I respect his opinion. Still, to me, he seems an impressive man who has, amazingly, managed to garner support from Sunnis, Allawites, and Christians. (Don't know about Kurds....) Offhand, I would rather live in peacetime Syria if I had to choose one Arab country to live in.<br /><br />I should add that I'm probably too dismissive of many negatives about China. I still do see them as quite restrained in what they have used their military for and am of the the view that another powerful nation on the planet is not necessarily evil because it chooses to act in ways that resemble how we act around the world. Allegedly Brzezinski is the evil author of the doctrine that the U.S. should just be number one in the world, thank you very much, end of story, full stop. If true, that's a heck of a stupid position and should be replaced by an "each nation is entitled to its place in the sun" approach. By this token, Putin isn't the new Hitler or Stalin and this demonization of Russia that I see everywhere is dangerous madness. Putin strikes me as quite sane, quite reasonable, and very intelligent. <br /><br />I'm sick of the mindless grr woofery (h/t: Fred Reed) that seems to be the approach of choice. Col. B. Bunnyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09590364016079745156noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-66231798296331812532015-10-12T21:16:31.997-04:002015-10-12T21:16:31.997-04:00Ronald, that time may come. I trot out my tired q...Ronald, that time may come. I trot out my tired quote from that colleague of Lincoln Steffens at the Versailles Conference. He poked around at private meetings of delegates and told Steffens that everybody wanted peace but no one was willing to do without what could only be had with war. <br /><br />Similarly, the left and the Treason Class want power, comfort, control, and, maybe, some kind of earthly Valhalla, but they are not willing to do without the things that guarantee the destruction of our civilization and bloody internal conflict. I don't see reason deflecting the West from its disastrous short-term suicidal course.Col. B. Bunnyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09590364016079745156noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-3496554544245101862015-10-12T21:11:29.810-04:002015-10-12T21:11:29.810-04:00Reg T,
That's a good question. I suppose the...Reg T,<br /><br />That's a good question. I suppose the advantage to an ISIS win is that ISIS would be a Sunni counter to Shiite Iraq and Iran. (I'm assuming the Sunni minority in Iraq is not that influential.) Too, an Assad loss would remove, arguably, support for Hezbollah, which is a thorn in the side of Israel in s. Lebanon.<br /><br />Still, under the "devil you know" heading, I'd think Assad would be preferable than the ISIS maniacs. I wouldn't care if they were a Sunni counterweight to Iran. I'd be alarmed that such animals controlled a neighbor.<br />Col. B. Bunnyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09590364016079745156noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-43837587051895264812015-10-12T15:17:52.929-04:002015-10-12T15:17:52.929-04:00My only quibble would be #3. It should read, "...My only quibble would be #3. It should read, "Bashar al-Assad, the president of Syria, is not any more a war criminal than is Obama." However many if not most rulers are war criminals, by any objective measure.Paul Bonneauhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15279129269584372919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-78339892463059304452015-10-11T11:54:04.176-04:002015-10-11T11:54:04.176-04:00REVOLUTION! SHOOT THE BASTARD TRAITORS OF THE LEFT...REVOLUTION! SHOOT THE BASTARD TRAITORS OF THE LEFT, BURN THE BODIES TO ASHES AND THEN BURN THE ASHES!Ronbohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02767498198886077632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-10012737293969001222015-10-11T01:25:32.695-04:002015-10-11T01:25:32.695-04:00I agree with almost all of your points, but I don&...I agree with almost all of your points, but I don't understand what Israel stands to gain by supporting ISIS over Assad in Syria. I would have thought that a stable Syrian government would have been easier for Israel to deal with. If ISIS ends up controlling Syria, Israel will have to deal with them, and they have openly stated their intention of destroying Israel.<br /><br />Is Assad allied with Iran in some way that makes him worse than dealing with ISIS, and more of a threat to Israel?Reg Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14099612693763932005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-21908264380347773412015-10-10T11:46:10.774-04:002015-10-10T11:46:10.774-04:00That's the fundamental objection to what Obama...That's the fundamental objection to what Obama is doing. American power and money are being used without the consent of the people.Col. B. Bunnyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09590364016079745156noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-29198816507074049592015-10-10T04:30:08.539-04:002015-10-10T04:30:08.539-04:00I can't argue with many of your points, but it...I can't argue with many of your points, but it seems to me that not one U.S. soldier should be sent fighting some foreign enemy without a CONGRESSIONAL declaration of war.<br /><br />Again, maybe that's a wrong idea, but isn't that what the Constitution says?<br /><br />I understand all the "modern" arguments about how fast stuff happens.<br /><br />But no President should have the absolute power to deploy troops. The Constitution gave that power to Congress.<br /><br />Tim Turnerfurballhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15779319678886254479noreply@blogger.com