In a rare Obama administration success, we pulled off a major diplomatic offensive a few weeks back in Asia, setting China back on its heels, diplomatically speaking. We’re standing up a new beachhead in Northern Australia, Opening up Burma (Myanmar) and China’s neighbors are cosying up to us, encouraging our involvement in the region.
Looking across the Atlantic, things ain't so great...
“The nose of the British Bulldog has been slanted backwards so that he can breathe without letting go” -- Winston ChurchillMeanwhile, Europe is in its death throes, with member states lacerating and devouring one another. First, irresponsible governments loaded up on free money, incurring crushing debt and demanding others pay, and now this …
“BRITAIN last night faced a revenge attack for David Cameron’s EU snub when a senior Brussels bureaucrat promised a new deluge of damaging red tape on UK business.” (EU Plots Revenge against Britain)What a slice of reality. Europeans no longer fight wars. They now threaten one another with onerous paperwork. Britain was smart to keep its own currency, and it is now distancing itself further from the imploding EU experiment, incurring the wrath of the unelected Continental Poobahs in Brussels. The British Bulldog, however, is not backing down…
Conservative MP Douglas Carswell said: [...] “If he is such an economic genius, why is the continent that he helps to preside over heading down a debt vortex? He should be worrying about his own maths, not ours.”
Stephen Booth, of the Euro-sceptic think tank Open Europe, said: “The threat of EU regulation on the City of London remains.
“The British Government must continue to push to prevent any further unnecessary and unwanted regulation from Brussels.” (EU Plots Revenge against Britain)Britons are tough, but it worries me that we have a Great Britain hater in the White House. Our closest and most trusted ally may need some backup if it is to survive the continental collapse...
Meanwhile, wild-eyed practitioners of the Religion of Peace bombed and shot up the city center of Liege, Belgium, killing or wounding almost 100 people. It was all a matter of "honor" with links back to *Surprise!* Pakistan.
It’s the Decline and Fall of Rome on a continental scale...
Lest anyone on this side of the Atlantic give vent to a schadenfreude-induced chortle, let us recall that we ourselves teeter on the brink.
So the Olde Continent is in economic collapse, and its once brave societies have turned “weak and effeminate*.” The barbaric invaders have overwhelmed the decadent hosts; the 7th century obscurantists who Europe invited in will finish the job, just as the Vandals and the Goths finished off Rome, picking through the ruins and hauling off the marble. A darkness of ignorance will fall upon the continent, as it does anywhere civilization cedes ground to Islam.
So the US is right to turn our attentions away from the Middle East and Europe. They deserve one another. The Western Hemisphere has enough gas, oil and coal, there’s no further need to spill our blood and treasure on ungrateful bastards. Vietnam (yes, that Vietnam) and it’s neighbors are welcoming us because China is an imperial bully.
China's Hu tells all the Hu's in Huville to prepare for war
Chinese President Hu Jintao on Tuesday urged the navy to prepare for military combat, amid growing regional tensions over maritime disputes and a US campaign to assert itself as a Pacific power.War with China is not inevitable. Neither is the fall of Europe. Our destiny is in our hands. Do we have the wisdom, strength and courage to grasp it?
* - Gibbons’ observation on Rome’s decline
London’s Bankers Tell EU to Get Bent
29 comments:
Excellent on all counts. In some small measure, we aided and abetted their demise by allowing them to develop their unsustainable life style while we took care of their military defense which would have been a requirement of any other nation. Thus they learned to live off the government. Now they are where they are. Bye Bye Europe. We have given way too much blood and treasure while you have dumped on us big time.P.S. Lots of luck with your Libyan oil, and Russian nat gas.
The demise of Europe is very dangerous to us, too, I think. Do you know there are small towns in Germany with maybe 10 muslims but they're building mosques? Get ready for when Turkey joins the EU and passports are no longer necessary between them and Europe. (Pray it does not)
Western Society will be US, folks...that's not much! And that's only if Obama loses in 2012 (heh!)
I'm thinking that other countries like Vietnam "welcoming us" is much of what's behind CHina saying "a US campaign to assert itself as a Pacific power." (as IF) Taiwan must be behind that Chinese lie, too.
SF, that image is amazing! I suppose you did it, but I say "suppose" only because that's something I'm sure I could never figure out how to do on a computer.
excellent ...
Z: My photochop skills are very crude, and it shows.
Z said: "Get ready for when Turkey joins the EU and passports are no longer necessary between them and Europe. (Pray it does not)"
Geography 101: Turks already don't need a passport to go to Europe. It's been this way for centuries. Why? Turkey is a European nation. In fact, the European part of Turkey, west of the Bosporus, is larger or the same size as several entirely-in-Europe European nations.
Meanwhile, wild-eyed practitioners of the Religion of Peace bombed and shot up the city center of Liege, Belgium, killing or wounding almost 100 people.
----
No. It was a freaking gun loon. Just like the right wing gun loon that shot African street vendors in Florence today.
The guy had a weapons and drug history and had been called into police headquarters to answer questions.
Just a freak like the one in Norway who shot a bunch of kids and received support from the likes of right wing heroes Robert Spencer and Pam "Psycho" Geller.
Let me tell you something Silver, you claim to know the situation in Colombia and I defer to you because of your direct experience.
I have spent time studying in Saudi Arabia and I can state that the evangelical morons in this country don't know crap about Islam. But you ain't going to listen.
You are good at ignorant bigotry though. I'll give fundamentalist Protestants that much.
I see that Duck is on another anti-Right, anti-Protestant rampage.
SSDD
"Just like the right wing gun loon that shot African street vendors in Florence"
You mean the Italian gunman with fascist sympathies. Looks more like a leftist Oligarchist to me.
Well AOW surely you aren't going to deny that you went through gyrations trying to establish that the shooting in Belgium was terrorist.
A fringe fundamentalist group in Florida floods Lowe's with complaints and they pull their ads from a show featuring every day Muslims in America and you are thrilled.
Let's face it. Evangelical America is bigoted.
Contrarian antagonists
––––– care rarely for what’s true.
They’re far more eager to denounce,
––––– so here is what they do.
Their purpose is to denigrate,
-–––– belittle and defame.
Their wish is to humiliate
––––– in hopes of fixing blame.
The truth too easily is lost
––––– in battles of this kind.
Hectoring and badgering
––––– abuse the human mind.
Instead of curiosity
––––– we often find expression
Of little but indulgence
––––– of a passion for aggression.
When avidness appears
––––– to open Vitriol’s loose spigot,
The one who twists and turns the tap
–––– is apt to be the bigot.
~ FreeThinke
This should be a great worry for all Americans. Because what happens in Europe can happen here, we are not immuned.
And we had better be paying closer attention.
Excellent post, Silver.
Silver, calling your post hyperbolic would be the understatement of the year, and it's mid-December.
"Europe" is not "collapsing." It is going through a turbulence created by shifts in demographics, trade, free markets, America, Asia, etc.
Perhaps the Euro was a bad idea. I always wondered that myself. But maybe not. Maybe the problem wasn't competing with the dollar, but rather attaching itself to it.
The Dollar Standard may be the problem.
Perhaps we are the cause of the problem, even if we didn't want it nor directly create it.
The dollar is in trouble, as this blog sternly reminds us, and the Euro was always really tagged to the dollar.
When you learn about the PPIIGS, you see the same Wall Street players goofing around over there. Funny, huh?
JMJ
I enjoyed this SF, thanks for the work and the playground.
<< Maybe the problem wasn't competing with the dollar, but rather attaching itself to it. The Dollar Standard may be the problem. >>
Truth here, JMJ.
<< In some small measure, we aided and abetted their demise by allowing them to develop their unsustainable life style while we took care of their military defense which would have been a requirement of any other nation. >>
Agree, bunkerville.
Ducky, you seem to be a nice guy in real life so I wonder why you are so pissed off all the time. Is must be an act :)
Ducky: Initial reports were the gunman was upset over some Pakistanis being convicted for an honor killing:
An early report, sourced to Pakistan's Karachi Post and picked up by several U.S. blogs, suggested that Amrani was taking revenge for a Belgian court's conviction on Monday of four family members for the "honor killing" of a Muslim woman who had chosen to live with a Belgian man rather than marry a Pakistani cousin. "Given the timing of the attack and where it was carried out, this certainly cannot be discounted," says Aaron Goldstein at The American Spectator. Oh please, says Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs. Amrani "was a drug dealer, not a jihadi, and there’s no indication that he was even a practicing Muslim."
http://theweek.com/article/index/222438/the-deadly-inexplicable-grenade-attack-in-belgium
That is now called into question, so I will leave open the possibility that his motive may have been something else. He's dead, so we may never know.
Kurt,
I had a thought to share with you. Since I won't write you privately, this will have to do.
So if Obama is the hero in that he killed ObL and al-Awlaki and others, is he also a bumbling idjit for allowing the Iranians to capture one of our unmanned drones?
I mean, if he is CiC, he should be culpable when things go wrong, right?
Just a passing thought. Forgive the obtrusive interruption to this fine thread.
Oh, which reminds me: Ducky, I have spent considerable time in The Sandbox. Not once did I see a Christian Evangelical organization there. Islam doesn't allow it. Of course, I wasn't studying there, as you were. I was actually killing Muslim terrorists. So maybe I didn't have the luxury of seeing those evil Christian Evangelicals you mentioned.
No Silverfiddle, there were no such reports. That statement came from Spencer's Jihad Watch site and was sourced to a Tweet.
If you are using Spencer as a source then you are riding the short bus, boyo.
There is no evidence the guy is even a practicing Muslim and the drug conviction says he probably isn't.
Ducky, you seem to be a nice guy in real life so I wonder why you are so pissed off all the time. Is must be an act :)
---------
It's no act.
The posters who started in about the horrible Muslims are the first to complain about the bias of the "mainstream media". Some of these folks haven't read or listened to the truth in years.
Myself, I live next to a Muslim family. Much rather live next to them than an evangelical.
Yes there were reports, but they are now called into question. Again, we may never know what motivated this
"There is no evidence the guy is even a practicing Muslim and the drug conviction says he probably isn't."
He also served time for sexual abuse, which he just may be a Muslim.
And believe it or not, there are Muslims who use drugs. Ever been to South Asia?
Regardless, I will say that I could find no published evidence, after some googling, that the man was a practicing Muslim.
I just got back from a Japan, Philippine vacation. The one thing I noticed from my Asian trip before was the number of flights from Hong Kong, Beijing and Ho Chi Min City. Now the default languages are English, Japanese, and Chinese. I said it back then and I'll say it now. We had a chance to be the world ('s only) superpower back in 1989 when the wall fell and the USSR collapsed.
We had the power to make a new (America Democratic) world. Did we forget about manifest destiny? I fear we're the new Great Britain. A once mighty power. Me and Silver are sons of the Greatest Generation. Our sacrifice for the greater good are sadly lost at our generation. There are shining examples in our Armed Forces. But as a society I am afraid that our offspring to a grater extent are just out for themselves. It's all about the free and entitled.
My Grandpaw is a wiser man the older I get.
Duck,
Well AOW surely you aren't going to deny that you went through gyrations trying to establish that the shooting in Belgium was terrorist.
The hell I did!
I looked up some information on the web. I did not have gyrations of any type.
As you well know, I've extended you more courtesy than many other bloggers. I've put up with crap from you for over 6 years -- never mind that, when I first started blogging, you accused me of being a pepophile. I even gave you an interview on The Gathering Storm Radio Show and promised you no pissing contest. I delivered on that promise.
You know what? You can despise me all you want. I don't live for your approval.
Duck,
You also said:
A fringe fundamentalist group in Florida floods Lowe's with complaints and they pull their ads from a show featuring every day Muslims in America and you are thrilled.
Thrilled? THRILLED?
The whole point of the post I did on the topic of Lowe's was that legislation shouldn't interfere with a business's sponsorship or the withdrawal of that sponsorship.
After these years I've been on the web, you still don't have a clue as to the kind of person I really am.
Duck,
Myself, I live next to a Muslim family. Much rather live next to them than an evangelical.
Explain that, please.
FYI...Years ago, before 9/11, we had a Muslim neighbor. The AOW household was the only household who befriended them. In fact, Marwan and his wife had the key to our house, and we had the key to theirs: tool sharing, cat sitting, baby sitting, etc.
Likewise with our one evangelical neighbor -- with the keys I mean. Our one evangelical neighbor (married to a liberal Democrat) did go out of their way to avoid Marwan. Gotta tell the truth here.
But both our evangelical neighbor and our Muslim neighbor were good neighbors -- as are other neighbors here, and some of them are atheists.
"Evangelical.."relating to, or being in agreement with the Christian gospel especially as it is presented in the four Gospels"
How AWFUL those folks are :-) WORSE THAN MUSLIMS! I love this!
dmarks, WHAT? that's absolutely not true. I have traveled between EUropean countries for years and it's only since the EU that we didn't have to show passports between EU countries.
Absolutely not true to suggest Turks don't need passports to cross borders, SORRY, but that's just WRONG.
DUcky, I'm sure you can't answer, but what is it that you think Americans don't know about Islam?
And do you EVER consider the ban on Christianity in their countries and the killings of innocent CHristians there? How about the lines of Christian converts waiting execution in Iranian jails?
Do you really think all Christians think all Muslims are killers? REALLY? You operate on such an unyielding view that your opinions are the only valid ones and all else is wrong. That must be tough
<< Myself, I live next to a Muslim family. Much rather live next to them than an evangelical. >>
This really is a curious statement. I could care less what religion my neighbors on our cul de sac practice or if they don’t practice at all. In the fifteen homes in our corner we have whites, Hispanics, Vietnamese and Philippinos. Three of the households are mixed racially.
What we all care about is that we care about each other. Odds are you are an act because most angry bigots won’t admit to being an angry bigot. The others don’t know they are angry bigots.
KP,
Z has given us a perfect definition of the word "bigot" in this sentence she addressed to Ducky:
"You operate on such an unyielding view that your opinions are the only valid ones and all else is wrong."
That is EXACTLY what bigotry is. It doesn't necessarily mean hatred of particular racial, ethnic or religious groups. It has much more to do with inordinate love of one's own views and values.
From time to time every one of us is capable of acting the bigot -- even if we are genuinely righteous. That may be a fine point, but it's an important distinction.
Bigotry, self-righteousness, the desire to denounce, hunt down and punish those we don't like, all fall under the category of Pride -- one of The Seven Deadly Sins. Pride is synonymous with conceit -- i.e. thinking too well of oneself.
Christ taught us to be forgiving. Doing right in this world is not merely a matter of expressing contempt for sinners and punishing wrong.
I am glad you live in a "mixed" neighborhood where your neighbors can see beyond their superficial differences, and relate happily in ways that count most. Would that we all could be so blest!
I suspect, however, you just found each other naturally, is that correct? If an official policy of "Ethnic Diversity" had been FORCED on you by government edict, you might feel very differently about it.
It's the COERCION most of us object to so strenuously.
Yours in the Quest for Honest Affection and Greater Understanding,
~ FreeThinke
I agree with your point that we all can find ourselves acting the bigot.
My point to Ducky, I don't believe him. I don't believe he is a proud, angry bigot. I think he acts the bigot for reaction and recreation. It's fun for him; like having a couple glasses of cab and cheese.
Like all good satirists he has a quick wit and command of language; and that makes him entertaining. A great asset to any blog!
I think you're probably right, KP. but after having been treated to Ducky's Vaudeville Act for nearly a decade I find myself wishing he'd get himself some new writers and rework the routine. It has gotten OLD.
He'll never admit he's putting us on -- that would mean he'd lose The Game. Goodness knows I've tried to initiate a more friendly style of exchange, but I might as well be whistling down the proverbial drainpipe. When I occasionally recognize merit in something he says, my support is always studiously ignored.
So yes, it's definitely a "game" he's playing -- but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
I think it's a perverse way to get one's kicks, myself, but it sure beats setting fire to the neighbor's house or shooting up the mall.
Merry Christmas, KP!
~ FreeThinke
Merry Christamas, FT.
Seriously, I would miss Ducky if he went on sabatical. As well, Ducky has some great input. I agree with him on a number of issues and always read his posts. It's the fake KKK style stuff I get a chuckle from.
I am a big original Star Trek fan. There was a episode (the name escapes me at the moment) that portrayed an entity that gained power by creating conflict among the Enterprise crew. It was working like a dream, fist fights in the halls, until the crew realized what the being was up to.
They laughed instead of being angry and the being failed to grow any stronger.
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