The United States has started evacuating its drone operations from a Pakistani military base in response to the demands by the Pakistani government to leave in the wake of the NATO airstrikes on two Pakistani outposts which killed 26 Pakistani soldiers last week. Investigations into the cause of the strike are continuing - as the NATO / Afghani forces involved insist they were fired on by forces from inside Pakistan.
In the German city of Koblenz, located about 130 kilometers northwest of Frankfurt, 45,000 residents have been evacuated from the city. The reason that nearly half the total population of the city were evacuated is that experts today are attempting to disarm a 1.8 ton British bomb dropped on the city during World War II. The bomb was discovered in the Rhine River after water levels dropped significantly as a result of a prolonged period without rain.
Russia is having major national elections today to elect a new Duma - their Parliament. The party of Russian strongman Vladimir Putin are expected to win a majority in the new Duma, but the size of this majority is expected to be significantly smaller than in 2007 as the popularity of Putin has declined with the Russian voters.
Not only is the Obama Administration actively involved in providing assault and sniper weaponry to the Mexican drug cartels via the DoJ / ATF Operation Fast and Furious which has directly caused hundreds of deaths in Mexico, the DoJ / DEA is actively laundering millions in drug proceeds for the drug cartels. The Administration's justification for these actions is that by laundering these funds, the DEA can identify how cartels move money, where they keep their funds, and who the leaders of the cartels are. Is the Administration making a profit for providing these services?
The common element with both of these programs - they are run out of the Department of Justice headed by Attorney General Eric Holder. AG Holder is not a stranger to possessing a lack of ethics or ethical behavior - with the main goal on the advancement of his agenda.
These aren't the limits of the extent that we are meddling in the affairs of a sovereign nation. Liberal lawmakers in Congress, strong supporters of the Obama Administration, are demanding that the Mexican government liberalize it's illegal immigration laws and that the Mexican government take better care of illegal immigrants inside Mexico.
"Watermelons" around the world are outraged with reports that Canada is seriously considering dropping out of the Kyoto Protocol prior to the end of this year. The Kyoto Protocol was the mid-1990's climate change treaty developed through the United Nations to require Western nations to make significant changes in their carbon emissions or pay billions for the purchase of 'carbon offsets'. Canada is expected to save $6.7 billion if it drops from the treaty. Canada, while participating in the current Durban discussions, has also indicated that it will not sign onto a new Kyoto-like treaty. The United States never ratified Kyoto - the US Senate voted 97 - 0 in an advisory vote to President Clinton that it would not ratify the treaty because it was unfairly stacked against Western nations. By the way, the term "watermelon" refers to the "green" environmental political activists who are really "red" or communist on the inside.
The NY Times reporter Gretchen Morgenson, author of an excellent book on the housing market collapse, Reckless Endangerment, has an excellent article in today's NY Times that provides some of the secrets of the Fed and the 2008-2009 Fed bailout of numerous banking institutions. $7.7 trillion in loans from the Fed were outstanding in March 2009, and while the Fed claims that all of these were paid back without loss to the Fed, none of this assistance was detailed on any of the required financial disclosures by these banking institutions. Investors in these banks, in 2009, had no hard data as to the true status of their financial standing. Today, these same circumstances exist where investors have no information on the exposure these institutions have to the Eurozone challenges.
The GOP Presidential Primary race will see some new shaking out in the wake of Herman Cain's decision to suspend his campaign. While Cain's poll numbers have dropped significantly since the start of the accusations against the candidate for sexual harassment from the 1990's, how his supporters break could have an effect on the the primary race. Currently, Newt Gingrich is standing strong in Iowa, with 25% support, followed by Ron Paul at 18%, and Mitt Romney at 16%. The former Speaker also has a huge lead in Florida - passing the 50% mark during the week. In New Hampshire, which goes to the polls on January 10th, Mitt Romney has a 15 point lead, but Newt Gingrich has gained 19 points there since October.
Wrapping up today, I reference back to a post filed yesterday about Obama and Israel. The first followup point comes from this Big Peace blogpost that says that the President's favoritism towards the Muslim Brotherhood, as demonstrated over his term in office, will lead to war in the Middle East.
The second major point comes from The Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol, who is the Chairman of the Emergency Committee of Israel. Kristol released a very strong statement condemning the Obama Administration and US Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman's remarks made late last week in Europe...
“For example: as reported in the Israeli press, the U.S. ambassador to Belgium, Howard Gutman — a top Obama fundraiser in 2008 — told a conference in Brussels this week that Muslim anti-Semitism ‘stems from the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.’ Pardon us for retaining our belief that Muslim anti-Semitism in the Middle East predates 1967, and even 1948 — and in any case is the fault of the anti-Semites, not of the Jews….
…“Just about the only thing in the Middle East that President Obama hasn’t blamed Israel for is the Iranian nuclear program. But when it comes to this, too, instead of supporting crippling sanctions or preparing military strikes, the White House seems to spend more time deterring Israel from acting than deterring Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons in the first place. And the administration’s energy seems more focused on undermining Israel and those members of Congress pushing for a tougher approach to Iran, than in undermining the Iranian regime.
“The Obama message is loud and clear: the world would be a safer, simpler, and more peaceful place if not for the troublesome Jewish state.”
This is why there will be war...and reflects just how totally wrong the President is regarding his foreign policy.
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