Category Archives: Islam
Palin Has Same Foreign Policy Stands As Bolton
Governor Palin wrote an op-ed on USA Today, and is really using her claws and calling the Obama administration to use United States’ super-power status (that is, if Obama has the balls to do it) and go after Russia and Iran. Governor Sarah Palin is using the same common-sense that I share: Iran is a threat, therefore it must be taken care of; but keep in mind that there are Iranians that want democracy and freedom, and that women in Iran deserve their freedoms too.
There are ways to deal with both issues and still come out on top; but in my honest opinion, the UAE should advocate a very similar position, if they want a similar result that Palin portrays.
Below is her op-ed, in which the All-American values and strong sense of freedom should be a priority, not only for Iran, but for us as well.
Iran continues to defy the international community in its drive to acquire nuclear weapons. Arab leaders in the region rightly fear a nuclear-armed Iran. We suspected this before, but now we know for sure because of leaked diplomatic cables. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia “frequently exhorted the U.S. to attack Iran to put an end to its nuclear weapons program,” according to these communications. Officials from Jordan said the Iranian nuclear program should be stopped by any means necessary. Officials from the United Arab Emirates and Egypt saw Iran as evil, an “existential threat” and a sponsor of terrorism. If Iran isn’t stopped from obtaining nuclear weapons, it could trigger a regional nuclear arms race in which these countries would seek their own nuclear weapons to protect themselves.
That wouldn’t be the only catastrophic consequence for American interests in the Middle East. Our credibility and reputation would suffer a serious blow if Iran succeeds in producing its own nuclear weapons after we’ve been claiming for years that such an event could not and would not be tolerated. A nuclear-armed and violently anti-American Iran would be an enormous threat to us and to our allies. Israel in particular would face the gravest threat to its existence since its creation. Iran’s leaders have repeatedly called for Israel’s destruction, and Iran already possesses missiles that can reach Israel. Once these missiles are armed with nuclear warheads, nothing could stop the mullahs from launching a second Holocaust. It’s only a matter of time before Iran develops missiles that could reach U.S. territory.
Even without nuclear weapons, Iran has provided arms used to kill American soldiers and Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran is also the biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. It has shielded al-Qaeda leaders, including one of Osama bin Laden’s sons. Imagine how much worse it would be for us if this regime acquired nuclear weapons.
Toughen up
President Obama once said a nuclear-armed Iran would be “unacceptable.” Yet, Iran’s nuclear progress still continues unchecked. Russia continues to support Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactors. It also continues to sell arms to Iran — despite the Obama administration’s much-touted “reset” policy with Russia. The administration trumpets the United Nations sanctions passed earlier this year, but those sanctions are not the “crippling” ones we were promised. Much more can be done, such as banning insurance for shipments to Iran, banning all military sales to Iran, ending all trade credits, banning all financial dealings with Iranian banks, limiting Iran’s access to international capital markets and banking services, closing air space and waters to Iran’s national air and shipping lines, and, especially, ending Iran’s ability to import refined petroleum. These would be truly “crippling” sanctions. They would work if implemented.
Some have said the Israelis should undertake military action on their own if they are convinced the Iranian program is approaching the point of no return. But Iran’s nuclear weapons program is not just Israel’s problem; it is the world’s problem. I agree with the former British prime minister Tony Blair, who said recently that the West must be willing to use force “if necessary” if that is the only alternative.
Standing with the people
But we also need to encourage a positive vision for Iran. Iran is not condemned to live under the totalitarian inheritance of the Ayatollah Khomeini forever. There is an alternative — an Iran where human rights are respected, where women are not subjugated, where terrorist groups are not supported and neighbors are not threatened. A peaceful, democratic Iran should be everyone’s goal. There are many hopeful signs inside Iran that reveal the Iranian people’s desire for this peaceful, democratic future. We must encourage their voices.
When the brave people of Iran take to the streets in defiance of their unelected dictatorship, they must know that we in the free world stand with them. When the women of Iran rise up to demand their rights, they must know that we women of the free world who enjoy the rights won for us by our suffragist foremothers stand with our sisters there. When Iranians demand freedom of religion, freedom of conscience and freedom to simply live their lives as they choose without persecution, we in the free world must stand with them.
We can start by supporting them with diplomacy and things such as radio broadcasting, just as we did with those who suffered under the former Soviet Empire. Most of all, we should support them with confidence in the rightness of the ideals of liberty and justice.
Just as Ronald Reagan once denounced an “evil empire” and looked forward to a time when communism was left on the “ash heap of history,” we should look forward to a future where the twisted ideology and aggressive will to dominate of Khomeini and his successors are consigned to history’s dustbin.
Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin was the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2008.
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Julian Assange’s Interview With Forbes
How can a magazine interview one of the most volatile persons on the planet, that has shattered and revealed secrets from multiple countries? And we’re not talking about The National Enquirer; it’s Forbes. Follow the money, as some will say.
Admire him or revile him, WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange is the prophet of a coming age of involuntary transparency, the leader of an organization devoted to divulging the world’s secrets using technology unimagined a generation ago. Over the last year his information insurgency has dumped 76,000 secret Afghan war documents and another trove of 392,000 files from the Iraq war into the public domain–the largest classified military security breaches in history. Sunday, WikiLeaks made the first of 250,000 classified U.S. State Department cables public, offering an unprecedented view of how America’s top diplomats view enemies and friends alike.
Image by bbwbryant via Flickr
Next goal: Takedown of Wall Street (Bank Of America is already saying “hey, it’s not me!,) carry on with his rape accusations, Ecuador wants to build him a cozy cottage, and People Magazine will surely catch on Assange’s fame to make them The Sexiest Person Of The Year to revamp Assange’s metrosexual looks. I won’t hold my breath if TIME goes ahead and crowns him Man Of The Year.
Update: YES, THEY ARE!
Assange’s exploits have cemented him as a candidate for TIME’s 2010 Person of the Year — so much so that past TIME 100 honores went out on a limb to explain why he was their choice. “For better or for worse, Julian Assange has changed the accessibility to knowledge of the two wars that involve the U.S., within a matter of months,” said Lauren Zalaznick, president of NBC Universal Women and Lifestyle Entertainment Networks. “He has also put journalistic integrity on a knife-blade edge: What is the responsibility of the journalist to make public or keep private?”
Now, on Ecuador. Niiice. Via RWDB (link above):
Never fear Lefties, a “progressive” state has offered Assange refuge:
An Ecuadorean minister has offered residence in his country to Julian Assange, the reclusive founder of WikiLeaks, without conditions.
“We are ready to give him residence in Ecuador, with no problems and no conditions,” Kintto Lucas, the deputy foreign minister, told the website Ecuadorinmediato on Monday.
“We are going to invite him to come to Ecuador so he can freely present the information he possesses and all the documentation, not just over the internet but in a variety of public forums.”
Does this sound familiar?
Too bad that Assange won’t negotiate with Obama:
You were interviewed this month by Chris Anderson at the TED conference, where you were given a standing ovation. But the Pentagon reportedly wants to question you about the documents you released on Afghanistan. Do you feel safe traveling in the U.S.?
Assange: It’s a free country, right? Wrong.
Closing Up Shop With A Bang…Hope NOT!
It’s all over Twitter, huge on Twitscoop. Obama has done it again. He’s backing up the “mosque” near Ground Zero.
Via Big Government:
by Publius
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama on Friday forcefully endorsed building a mosque near ground zero, saying the country’s founding principles demanded no less.
“As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country,” Obama said, weighing in for the first time on a controversy that has riven New York and the nation.
“That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances,” he said. “This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable.”
Obama made the comments at an annual dinner in the White House State Dining Room celebrating the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Mediaite posted the video where Obama made these remarks:
