How Will President Obama Respond?

CNN.com reports that Iraqi President Nuri al-Maliki may request that the deadline to withdraw combat troops be extended if the security situation in Iraq is questionable.

The current US administration highly touted the deadlines as both a sign of progress in Iraq as well as one delivering on one of the campaign promises that President Obama made as a candidate for the US presidency.

This is a significant change of President al-Maliki's stand on this issue. He had frequently stated previously that he was inflexible on the U.S. withdrawal deadline. Many believed that this position was necessary to convince the Iraqi people that he was neither a puppet of the U.S. or that U.S. troops in Iraq were an occupying force.

Clearly, al-Maliki is concerned about the apparent inability the of Iraqi military and police forces to step up to the challenge of keeping the peace in a nation and region that has been historically plagued by sectarianism. Only the strong, repressive regime of Saddam Hussein had managed to quell it, through the use of swift and violent retribution against those trying to rebel against his regime or committing violent actions.

President Obama will be put into something of a bind should the Iraqi president make this request. If he refuses then he shows the Iraqi government that the U.S. will not stand by its allies over the long term. If he commits to keeping combat troops in Iraq longer then he will be seen as betraying many of the voters who helped elect him to the U.S. presidency because of his promise to get U.S. combat troops out of Iraq by the end of summer this year.

Italian Minister Slams U.S. Haiti Aid Effort.

Reported on January 25th Mr. Guido Bertolaso, Italy’s top disaster relief official lambasted and impugned the so-called “U.S.-led” relief effort in Haiti as a “pathetic” failure.

The confirmed death toll for Haiti is now 150,000, which if true represents nearly 1.5% of Haiti’s total population. It is estimated that nearly three million Haitians are now homeless, which would be about 1 in 3 Haitians. Reports from Haiti indicate that the government is all but gone with little or no native police or military presence in ravaged neighborhoods and that mobs of looters have been ravaging the remains of both retail businesses and private residences alike. Further, vigilante mobs have been executing suspected looters without due process or trial. Haiti is on the verge of reverting to the “law of the jungle”. And yet, Mr. Bertolaso believes that the U.S. has confused “military intervention” with “emergency intervention”.

I would invite Mr. Bertolaso to identify just exactly what he would do if given unlimited opportunity. For myself, I have seen angry mobs in the U.S. and they will turn violent if not controlled. And never in the history of our nation have we had to deal with a crisis on the level with the situation the Haitians face. At the same time that the U.N., with assistance from numerous nations, tries to distribute food, water, clothing and medical supplies to desperate Haitians, it has to deal with the fact there is essentially no effective Haitian government that could assist in controlling the victims from violence.

Desperate people will perform desperate acts. We have seen over and over again where well-meaning missionaries or aid workers have been attacked, injured or even killed while trying to distribute supplies to victims of disasters. We have also seen over and over again where those same supplies tend to go to the strong instead of the weak and helpless unless armed men oversee such operations. Strength respects only greater strength, and 13,000 armed soldiers trained in the art of imposing its will on organized enemy resistance will likely find little opposition from bands of thugs trying to monopolize on the supplies being provided by the generous people of the world.

I further suspect that had the United States simply decided to take over coordination over the relief effort, that Mr. Bertolaso would then have lambasted the arrogance of the Americans in taking over what should be a U.N. operation. So the U.S. is damned either way. In such a case, I support the U.S., considering our overwhelming contribution to Haitian relief, to just go ahead and take over the relief operation.

Oh yeah, to date, the United States has delivered about $184 million in aid to Haiti. By the same date, Italy had contributed about $9 million. By my math, that means that the U.S. response to this tragedy is about twenty times the size of the Italian response. That apparently is a fact that Mr. Bertolaso did NOT get quoted on.

Ben... It's the UN. Of Course They Have No Shame!

An excerpt from the dramatic speech given by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu: "But to those who gave this Holocaust denier a hearing, I say on behalf of my people, the Jewish people, and decent people everywhere: Have you no shame? Have you no decency?"

He was addressing the UN. Therefore this was clearly a rhetorical question.

Putin is Russia's Most Powerful Man. Any Questions?

Financial Times today reported that Russian Prime Minister may run for President in 2012. Wow. Who could of seen this coming? I'm just saying?

President Dmitriy Medvedev has attempted to carve out a political image that is distinguishable from Putin's, his predecessor. He recently has indicated that Russia's government would be more open and accessible under his administration than under Putin's. As has been widely reported, Putin is a former KGB man and although he does not desire a resurgence of the old Communist Party he clearly desires a more authoritarian, centralized government than Mr. Medvedev.

Like many of the nations of the Middle-east, Russia is a nation whose population does not know how to take advantage of a true republican or democratic form of government. Russians are more comfortable under a stronger government that takes more responsibility for the basic needs of it's citizens. Many Russians, especially older ones, are unhappy with the rampant crime and runaway mega-capitalism and perceived lost of national prestige that existed during Boris Yeltsin's administration. They are therefore happier with Putin and Medvedev in charge, where Russia is once again flexing it's muscles abroad as well as nationalizing some of it's private industry.

My prediction: While he will not claim the title, I believe that Mr. Putin will do everything he can in order to garner the same level of power that the Czars ("Kings") had in order to create, in his eyes, an orderly, powerful and peaceful united Russia.

President Obama's Bowing to King of Saudi Arabia.

Oh for crying out loud!

There are times when I think American protocol is arrogant and misshapen and the newshounds that watch for each faux-pas, misstep are just a bunch of sadistic vultures.

During the G20 summit last week, President Obama made an apparent "bow" to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. NOT, as the Drudge Report put it: "White House Denies Bow to Saudi Prince".

First, the act of bowing to someone can be interpreted to mean several things. It can be the act of deference when performed by a person who is clearly inferior to another. It can also be used by equals to show respect and friendship, similar to the usage of a handshake or a salute.

I know that U.S. protocol has established that no American President should bow to royalty. I think that this particular position is pernicious and arrogant.

Had President Obama bowed to a subordinate member of the Saudi Royal family or any other Saudi who is not the head of the state, I would join many of the people who are decrying this act. However, King Abdullah is the undisputed ruler of Saudi Arabia. Much more importantly, the act of clasping hands or otherwise touching the person of a high position or title is very alien to many cultures outside of Western Europe.

Therefore, for two head of states to bow to one another while in a multi-cultural setting is totally appropriate and shows sensitivity to their culture. The same act of President Obama bowing to King Abdullah were he visiting the White House in Washington would probably be inappropriate, because in that setting he would be expected to be sensitive to our culture. When in Rome....

Something else does bother me though. It would appear that King Abdullah either did not believe that President Obama actually bowed to him ( which would support the White House' claim that President Obama did not bow to him ) or King Abdullah did believe he received a gesture of respect from one head of state to another and failed to reciprocate by returning the bow. If this is true, then it is King Abdullah who has failed to measure up to protocol by failing to recognize the respect given him by a head of state of a foreign nation, an equal.

We are Pushing the Russians too Hard

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081114/ap_on_re_eu/eu_eu_russia_missiles

France's President Nikolas Sarkozy, who is a very pro-Western, pro-America ally, has made it very clear that he questions strongly the actual effectiveness that the proposed U.S. missile defense installations that are being installed in Czechoslovakia and Poland.

He said "Deployment of a missile defense system would bring nothing to security ... it would complicate things, and would make them move backward,"

In my opinion: If the Europeans do not feel that this system is going to make Europe safer, then what the heck are we installing the things for?

I'm going to go with the French on this one. Let's stop antagonizing the Russians right on their front door and scrap this system.