Grave but Not Serious
The New York Times reports that Barack Obama staked out an insouciant position on Iran and other U.S. antagonists:
Arguing for engagement with the country's foes, Mr. Obama said in a speech on Sunday that "strong countries and strong presidents talk to their adversaries."
"That's what Reagan did with Gorbachev," he said, adding, "I mean think about it. Iran, Cuba, Venezuela--these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don't pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. And yet we were willing to talk to the Soviet Union at the time when they were saying we're going to wipe you off the planet."
He went on to argue that Iran spends "one-one hundredth of what we spend on the military. If Iran ever tried to pose a serious threat to us, they wouldn't stand a chance. And we should use that position of strength that we have to be bold enough to go ahead and listen."
"Let me be absolutely clear," said one candidate the next day in response: "Iran is a grave threat." That quote comes from . . . Barack Obama.
At least we're getting a real debate about foreign policy!
It is true enough that America's adversaries today are not superpowers with global reach, as the Soviet Union was. Whether that means they are less of a threat is open to debate. One could argue that Iran today is actually more dangerous than the Soviet Union in Reagan's era, both because the breadth of the Soviet empire acted as a check on its destructive impulses and because the Iranian regime is still run by men with a fanatical revolutionary fervor. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with one nuke is probably more dangerous than Mikhail Gorbachev with a thousand.
And yet Obama's blasé attitude toward America's current enemies underscores how cracked is his desire to have tea with Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez, et al. As Joe Lieberman pointed out in his Commentary speech Sunday, although Presidents Kennedy and Reagan met with Soviet rulers Nikita Khrushchev and Gorbachev, respectively, Kennedy never met with the late Fidel Castro, or Reagan with the Ayatollah Khomeini.
If Obama doesn't even think Iran and other such regimes are a serious threat, why is he so eager to elevate them by holding presidential summits with their rulers?
Diplomacy Works
Reporting from Colombia's capital, CNN has what should be a lesson for Barack Obama:
The commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia's Force 47 told reporters in Bogota Monday--a day after surrendering--that "the solution is not through war. There must be dialogue."
Nelly Avila Moreno, 45, whose nom de guerre was Karina, said she and her longtime male companion made the decision jointly to abandon the FARC group, based in the jungle, at 5 a.m. Sunday.
She said pressure from Colombian soldiers had been key to their decision, and she called on her fellow rebels to follow her example.
Wasn't it Clausewitz who observed that the best diplomat is a fully loaded phaser bank?
Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Vernünftiger Antrag--II
Yesterday we noted that Seattle Times editorialist Bruce Ramsey had responded to President Bush's Knesset speech last week by defending the appeasement of Hitler at Munich. Now Ramsey has been one-upped by Pat Buchanan. Whereas Ramsey says the March 1939 conquest of Czechoslovakia marked the point at which appeasement ceased to be viable, Buchanan argues that Poland, because it failed to appease Hitler, is to blame for his invasion of it in September:
Why did the tanks roll? Because Poland refused to negotiate over Danzig, a Baltic port of 350,000 that was 95 percent German and had been taken from Germany at the Paris peace conference of 1919, in violation of Wilson's 14 Points and his principle of self-determination.
Hitler had not wanted war with Poland. He had wanted an alliance with Poland in his anti-Comintern pact against Joseph Stalin.
But the Poles refused to negotiate. Why? Because they were a proud, defiant, heroic people and because Neville Chamberlain had insanely given an unsolicited war guarantee to Poland. If Hitler invaded, Chamberlain told the Poles, Britain would declare war on Germany.
From March to August 1939, Hitler tried to negotiate Danzig. But the Poles, confident in their British war guarantee, refused. So, Hitler cut his deal with Stalin, and the two invaded and divided Poland.
The cost of the war that came of a refusal to negotiate Danzig was millions of Polish dead, the Katyn massacre, Treblinka, Sobibor, Auschwitz, the annihilation of the Home Army in the Warsaw uprising of 1944, and 50 years of Nazi and Stalinist occupation, barbarism and terror.
One wonders if there is any point at which Buchanan would have said, "This time, Herr Fuehrer, you've gone too far!"
Bean Counters
Yesterday we noted this quote from Barack Obama: "We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times . . . and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK."
It turns out these guys are serious about policing what we put into our bodies. The Denver Post reports:
Fried shrimp on a bed of jasmine rice and a side of mango salad, all served on a styrofoam plate. Bottled water to wash it all down.
These trendy catering treats are unlikely to appear on the menu at parties sponsored by the Denver 2008 Host Committee during the Democratic National Convention this summer.
Fried foods are forbidden at the committee's 22 or so events, as is liquid served in individual plastic containers. Plates must be reusable, like china, recyclable or compostable. The food should be local, organic or both.
And caterers must provide foods in "at least three of the following five colors: red, green, yellow, blue/purple, and white," garnishes not included, according to a Request for Proposals, or RFP, distributed last week.
The shrimp-and-mango ensemble? All it's got is white, brown and orange, so it may not have the nutritional balance that generally comes from a multihued menu.
As if racial quotas aren't enough, the Democrats are now mandating "diversity" of food at the buffet table. Remember, too, that Obama is from Chicago, site of the widely mocked, recently repealed foie gras ban--though at least that was explained on humanitarian rather than gustatory or nutritional grounds. (Hey, if a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?)
Maybe Obama should just name Popeye his running mate. The spinach Popeye, of course, not the fried-chicken one.
Are You Smart Enough for Bob Herbert?
"The general election is about to unfold and we'll soon see how smart or how foolish Americans really are," columnist Bob Herbert announces in today's New York Times. Herbert is afraid that the campaign will be "undermined by the usual madness," and he urges the candidates to "wrestle"--but only metaphorically:
Let the candidates wrestle with this issue of increasing economic inequality. . . . Let the candidates wrestle with the war without end in Iraq. . . . Let them talk about health coverage, which is a scandal, and the vanishing American pension. . . . Forget the foolishness for a change. . . . For once, let the election be serious. Show the hacks and the hypocrites the door. Argue substance. And then let the people decide.
Well, our heart is certainly fluttering. The only problem is that by our estimation, at least half of all Americans are below average in intelligence. There's no way such a country is smart enough for Bob Herbert.
It Discriminates Against Poor People, Too
"Court Says Money Discriminates Against Blind People" reads an Associated Press headline. The trouble, the AP reports, is that there is no way of telling a dollar bill from a hundred without looking at it:
The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upholds a decision by a lower court in 2006. It could force the Treasury Department to redesign its money. Suggested changes have ranged from making bills different sizes to printing them with raised markings. . . .
The U.S. acknowledges the design hinders blind people but it argued that blind people have adapted. Some relied on store clerks to help them, some used credit cards and others folded certain corners to help distinguish between bills.
The court ruled 2-1 that such adaptations were insufficient. The government might as well argue that, since handicapped people can crawl on all fours or ask for help from strangers, there's no need to make buildings wheelchair accessible, the court said.
Asked by a reporter what he thought of the ruling, the plaintiff said, "I haven't seen it."
Homer Nods
An item yesterday (since corrected) should have said that the Democratic presidential nominee is likely to be someone who evaded the draft. By all accounts, neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton has evaded the daft.
At Mom's Urging, Stays Away From Leftorium
"Chelsea Clinton Goes Shopping in Springfield"--headline, Register-Guard (Eugene, Ore.), May 20
Dennis Kucinich Is Still Around
"Weird Shrimp Has Astounding Vision"--headline, University of Queensland (Australia) press release, May 15
Nice Pockets, Mr. Gore
"Giant Kangaroo Gives Clues on Climate"--headline, Reuters, May 20
They Couldn't Find Jumper Cables
"Inspectors Push 'Stalled' Schools"--headline, BBC Web site, May 19
That Sounds Like Cheating
"U-M Faculty to Study Academics for Athletes"--headline, Ann Arbor (Mich.) News, May 20
You Do That Hoodoo That You Do So Well
"Banana Handout to End Exam Hoodoo"--headline, Lancashire (England) Evening Post, May 20
Tales of Royal Intrigue
"Drag Queen Robs Burger King"--headline, Internet Broadcasting, May 16
Someone Call Forest Lawn
"Calif. Customs Officer Accused in Smuggling Plot"--headline, Associated Press, May 20
Can't Someone Get Them a Ticket Back to Krakow?
"Arc-Shaped Troughs on Europa May Be Sign of Wandering Poles"--headline, New York Times, May 20
Hey, Buzz, Get Some Clothes On!
"Pilot From Moon Accused of Naked Romp in Woods"--headline, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 20
Help Wanted
"Police Seek 'Bogus' Doctor"--headline, Mercury (Durban, South Africa), May 20
News of the Allegedly Tautological
"Alleged '20th Hijacker' Tried Suicide, Lawyer Says"--headline, MSNBC.com, May 20
News You Can Use
• "Compact Fluorescent Lamp Bulb Fire May Lead to Better Labels"--headline, Cumberland (Md.) Times-News, May 19
• "Hate Nice Weather? Too Bad"--headline, Rocky Mountain News (Denver), May 20
Bottom Stories of the Day
• "Tamales a Big Hit at Castroville Artichoke Festival"--headline, Monterey County (Calif.) Herald, May 19
• "One-Bedroom Home Fails to Fetch $2 Million"--headline, United Press International, May 19
• "Gore Says Undecided on U.S. Candidate Endorsement"--headline, Reuters, May 20
A Spear to Spare
"A newspaper photographer got a little too close to the action at the state high school track championships--and was speared through the leg by a javelin," the Associated Press reports from Provo, Utah:
Ryan McGeeney of the [Ogden] Standard-Examiner was spared serious injury Saturday, and even managed to snap a photo of his speared leg while others tended to him. . . .
Striking just below the knee, the javelin tip went through the skin and emerged on the other side of his leg.
"It wasn't real painful. . . . I was very lucky in that it didn't hit any blood vessels, nerves, ligaments or tendons," McGeeney said.
Much of the javelin was cut off at the scene. The piece in McGeeney's leg was removed at a hospital, and he received 13 stitches.
The javelin was thrown by Anthony Miles, a Provo High School student who said his "heart just stopped" when he saw what happened.
Miles's coach, Richard Vance, said, "One of the first things that came to my mind was, 'Good thing we brought a second javelin.' "
After all, McGeeney has two legs.
No comments:
Post a Comment