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MARCH 22,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:24 P.M. ET: 

HEY, IT'S THE RAGE – Even Venice is getting into the "let's split up countries" act.  From London's Daily Mail:  "Venetians have voted overwhelmingly for their own sovereign state in a ‘referendum’ on independence from Italy.   Inspired by Scotland’s separatist ambitions, 89 per cent of the residents of the lagoon city and its surrounding area, opted to break away from Italy in an unofficial ballot.  The proposed ‘Repubblica Veneta’ would include the five million inhabitants of the Veneto region and could later expand to include parts of Lombardy, Trentino and Friuli-Venezia Giulia."  And I say, if Beverly Hills and Massachusetts want to secede, more power to 'em!

WHILE WE SLEEP – From AFP:  "(AFP) - About 200 pro-Russian protesters on Saturday stormed a Ukrainian air force base in western Crimea, forcing the soldiers to leave as the Ukrainian flag was taken down.  The unarmed crowd yelling "Russia! Russia!" broke through to the base in the town of Novofedorivka and started smashing windows.  Ukrainian servicemen barricaded themselves inside buildings and threw smoke bombs at the intruders from the roof. Some of the people threw the smoke bombs back at the soldiers.  Russian officers stood outside watching as the protesters took down the Ukrainian flag and put up the white and blue flag of the Russian navy.  'It's my unit and I have to protect it!' a Ukrainian soldier yelled to the Russian officers from the roof.  A Russian military officer then went inside the building to negotiate with the Ukrainians as the crowd of protesters were told to leave. Several dozen soldiers were later seen walking out of the base, leaving it empty, with Russian soldiers standing outside."  Within a few weeks we seem to have gone back decades in Europe.

A REAL CLUE? – Amidst all the non-stop breathless coverage of the Malaysian airline mystery, there was one intriguing development today that may actually have some meaning.  Several informed commentators noted that the pilot's (or co-pilot's) last words from the plane – "All right, good night" – were very odd, and did not conform to airline protocol.  Normally, we're told, the cockpit officer would have acknowledged the air controller's last instruction, then issued a self-identifier ("United 682," as an example) and only then would he say "good night."  I'd like to know more about that.  The implication is that something was going on aboard the plane, distracting the pilot or co-pilot from normal protocol.

March 22, 2014       Permalink 

QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 11:21 A.M. ET:  From former Republican Congressman Ernest Istook of Oklahoma.  From the Washington Times: 

It’s morning in Moscow, a vibrant new dawn of growth, pride and prestige—that was the Russian President’s message Tuesday as he announced the annexation of Crimea.

But is it midnight in America?

President Barack Obama wanders in the dark over what to do, trapped by his own philosophy and the results of his own policies. His most emphatic act has been to restrict visas on 11 people out of 145-million Russians. That wasn’t a sanction; it was full employment for comedy writers.

The contrast is vivid.

“Joy in the streets of Moscow,” declared ABC News‘ Martha Radditz. “Thousands strong bellowing the Russian anthem, welcoming Crimea back to fatherland Russia. … their leader, Vladimir Putin, basking in his moment … blasting the United States.” He accuses us of hypocrisy for intervening in other nations such as Iraq and for supporting a secession vote in Bosnia while opposing it in Crimea.

Putin’s soaring popularity in Russia is far more pronounced than his disrepute in Washington. He’s not loved everywhere, but universally he commands respect. In global politics, that’s enough.

By contrast, under Obama, America is slipping in respect, in military power and in economic power.

COMMENT:  Very well said.  And it raises, once again, the questions:  Who is Barack Obama?  What does he really stand for?  What are his motives?

But we must also ask questions of some Republicans, especially Rand Paul, whose brand of 1930s isolationism is just what the Russians dream of.  That is going to be a very bitter discussion within the Republican Party.

March 22, 2014       Permalink

GLAD THEY'VE NOTICED – AT 10:46 A.M. ET:  It is reported that the White House is starting to understand that Russia is a hostile power, and isn't just the Bolshoi.  And more Russian action is expected.  From Jake Tapper at CNN: 

(CNN) - Based on intelligence, Obama administration officials are very concerned the Russians are not being truthful when they say their forces near Ukraine's eastern and southern borders are merely there for training exercises, sources tell CNN.

Officials assess that Russia – as early as coming days – could use any number of pretexts to justify further military incursions into Ukraine.

Moscow could express a need to protect Russian-speaking Ukrainians, or to protect transportation lines from Russia to Crimea, or the energy supply to Crimea from the rest of Ukraine.

Russian troops could accomplish this quickly, officials say, and theoretically before any other nation could even raise objections.

Officials publicly attribute their skepticism to previous Russian assurances that proved false, and privately say intelligence from the field has bolstered this view of Russia’s plans.

Asked for a candid assessment of White House worries about a possible incursion, a senior administration official told CNN, “We’re very concerned, but it’s by no means certain.”

Separately, National Security Adviser Susan Rice said Friday the Russians have said they intend to conduct military exercises.

“Obviously given their past practice, and the gap between what they have said and what they have done, we are watching it with skepticism," she said.

COMMENT:  The words from the White House are right, but the deeds are weak.  Obama, who's apparently planning another vacation, has no stomach for this.  He's sending the very signals to Putin that will encourage further aggression by Moscow.

And the Russians want to "protect" Russian-speaking Ukrainians?  Wasn't there some German guy in the 1930s who talked that way?  

Nothing to see, folks.  Nothing to see.

March 22, 2014       Permalink

THE OLD CHINESE SATELLITE GAME – AT 10:03 A.M. ET:  The press continues to milk the missing airliner story.  Each night we are treated to still more panels who have no more information than viewers do.  I guess the ratings are holding.

The latest story is that a Chinese satellite has picked up a chunk of...something.  From Fox: 

A Chinese satellite has spotted a large object along a broad stretch of ocean where officials hope to find a Malaysia Airlines plane that has been missing for more than two weeks, Malaysia's defense minister said Saturday.

Please note that earlier in this tragic story the Chinese also reported satellite images of wreckage that turned out to be false.  I'd be careful.

Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters that he had been informed that a Chinese satellite had spotted an object 74 feet by 43 feet.

Awfully big for a piece of aircraft wreckage, unless the plane hit the water while gliding in from a low altitude. 

He said, "The news that I just received is that the Chinese ambassador received a satellite image of a floating object in the southern corridor and they will be sending ships to verify."

He said he had no other information and that China would release further details. It was not immediately clear whether the object was seen near where another satellite found two objects earlier this week.

Meanwhile, NASA said Friday it is stepping up its support for a multinational search in the remote southern Indian Ocean for possible debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

The agency joined the search last week, sending data to the U.S. Geological Survey's Earth Resources Observations and Science Hazard Data Distribution System, which facilitates the sharing of information when the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters is activated.

COMMENT:  We wait and see.  There is an enormous search going on right now, but I wonder if we'll ever actually find the plane. 

March 22,  2014     Permalink

MARCH 21,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:46 P.M. ET: 

GREAT MOMENTS IN LAW – From sfgate.com:  "An extremely drunk Los Angeles County deputy public defender created a scene at San Francisco International Airport, screaming at officers and assaulting them, singing the 'Happy Days' theme song and asking for cocaine, authorities said Thursday.  Monica Marie Jenkins, 37, pleaded not guilty Wednesday in San Mateo County Superior Court to misdemeanor charges of assault and battery on a police officer, obstructing officers and being drunk in public. She was released on her own recognizance. "  The "Happy Days" theme?  Fonzi?  This is cause for disbarment.

INCREDIBLE – From the New York Post:  "The Freedom Tower, America’s top terror target, doesn’t have a single working surveillance camera inside — a stunning security lapse that let a New Jersey teen roam the top floors undetected for two hours, The Post has learned.  The video system for 1 World Trade Center 'won’t be operational until the building opens later this year,' said a source familiar with the security plan.  That means there is no footage of Justin Casquejo, 16, as he slipped by a sleeping guard to the antenna of the 1,776-foot-tall building Sunday morning.  'This place has a big bull’s-eye on it, and I don’t even want to think what could have happened if it was somebody with bad intentions' said a hardhat at the site Thursday."  Another effective day in the war on terror, which, according to the commander-in-chief, is over.

THE WISDOM OF BARACK OBAMA – How often have you seen that phrase here?  But we found a case where it applies.  From Mediaite:  "Jimmy Carter has been very active in the decades since his presidency, and his successors have occasionally called for his advice. Except, it turns out, the current occupant of the office. A clip from Carter’s upcoming Meet the Press interview reveals that President Obama is the first president since Carter left office not to solicit the Southern Democrat’s advice."  Maybe it's because Obama already has mastered Carter's approach.  Carter is, after all, the president to whom Obama is most often compared.  But staying away from Carter himself is a good Obama move.

March 21, 2014       Permalink

BARACK LINCOLN – AT 11:14 A.M. ET:  This president compares himself to another.  You can't make it up.  From Breitbart: 

Appearing on ESPN Radio’s The Herd with Colin Cowherd, President Obama explained that his pop cultural tour to push Obamacare – a tour that has spanned from The Ellen Degeneres Show to the Funny or Die! sketch Between Two Ferns – was actually Lincolnesque. He stated:

First of all, if you read back on Lincoln, he loved telling the occasional bawdy joke, and he went out among regular folks. One of the hardest things about being President is being in a bubble that is artificial. Unless you make a conscious effort, you start to sound like some Washington stiff. So you got to consciously try to get out of that, if you want to remind yourself of the wonderful people you are supposed to be serving with a sense of humor and aren't thinking every day of position papers.

Obama’s words were actually a rip-off of a defense used by MSNBC’s Chris Hayes shortly after Obama’s appearance on Between Two Ferns. Undoubtedly, the MSNBC-watching president parroted the Hayes line.

The president's answer took 93 words.  This is what Lincon did with 89:

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives, that that nation might live.

COMMENT:  I suggest there's a bit of a difference between the two gents.

March 21, 2014       Permalink

PATHETIC – Reader Joseph J. Gallick alerts us to an important piece in The Wall Street Journal.  We watch our enemies laugh at us, and ignore our thinned-out threats.  And this is what they see when they do a hard assessment of the United States:

Americans may be war-weary after Iraq and Afghanistan. But the world is still a hostile place, and the U.S.Navy is stretched too thin. And in a new sleight of hand, the Obama administration has changed what it considers a warship when reporting the size of the Navy's "battle force." From now on it will include the two hospital ships, Mercy and Comfort, 10 small coastal patrol vessels and a high-speed transport. Add those, subtract a few minesweepers, and voilà—the Navy fleet has grown to 293 from 283 ships.

Most of the new additions are lightly armed coastal-patrol craft and not true oceangoing ships. Originally designed to carry Navy SEALs and other special-operations forces, these 179-foot ships turned out to be inadequate for that role. Instead, armed with machine guns, they can be used to support "low intensity conflicts." They were launched in the early 1990s and recalled in 2010 to deal with fatigue damage to their hulls. Their military role is questionable and they're well past their expiration date, yet they sail on for public-relations purposes.

The Navy takes great pride in its humanitarian relief work, and its recruiting commercials feature photos of tsunami and earthquake survivors receiving food, water and medical care delivered by aircraft carriers, amphibious command ships, and of course, the two hospital ships. Such soft power diplomacy is an essential part of our foreign-policy strategy.

But substituting hospital ships, a former car ferry (which the Navy itself refers to as a noncombatant) and over-the-hill coastal craft for capital ships is delusional when calculating the battle force. So is the boast that the U.S. Navy has an 11 aircraft-carrier fleet.

Last month I was flown onto the USS Carl Vinson while its crew conducted training exercises about 150 miles off San Diego in the Pacific. Commissioned in 1982, the Vinson is one the Navy's oldest nuclear-powered carriers. In a briefing before the flight to the carrier, I asked how many carriers the Navy had deployed world-wide that day, and how many it could deploy within 30 days. A Naval officer said three were deployed that day, and one more could get under way within a month—a far cry from the 11-carrier fleet mandated by Congress.

COMMENT:  This is especially painful because the Navy needs more lead time to prepare for combat than any other service.  It takes years to build a capital ship.  And our shipbuilding capacity has diminished substantially since World War II.

Obama doesn't care.  The left wing of the Democratic Party, like the old "progressives," believes we are the problem, and that the Pentagon is the heart of the problem.  Distinguished novelist and major-league whackjob Toni Morrison said in a commencement address at Wellesley College in the late 90s that the American military was "out of control."  I hadn't noticed.  It's the left, and its allies in the press and the universities, that's out of control.

March 21, 2014       Permalink

THE REAL IRANIAN REGIME – AT 9:14 A.M. ET:  Occasionally the UN gets it right – kids should get a day off from school to celebrate – and they just got it right on one item.  From Fox:

The election last year of self-professed moderate President Hassan Rouhani has not brought Iran's Christians any relief, according to a new United Nations report which finds the Islamic Republic's Bible believers more persecuted than ever.

The detailed report finds Iran has continued to imprison Christians for their faith and designated house churches and evangelical Christians as "threats to national security.” At least 49 Christians were among 307 religious minorities being held in Iranian jails as of January 2014, noted the UN, which also blasted the regime for its hostility to Jews, Baha’is, Zoroastrians and Dervish Muslims, the UN report stated.

“These are indicators that President Rouhani has no influence over hard-liners, who remain fully in charge of the judiciary and security apparatus, government entities that are responsible for the most severe abuses against religious minorities," Dwight Bashir, deputy director for policy at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, told FoxNews.com.

Among the Christians held in Iranian prisons is American citizen and Christian pastor Saeed Abedini, who is serving an eight-year prison term for alleged crimes related to his faith. President Obama has called for Abedini's release, even as his administration has negotiated a disarmament deal with Iran.

"This report is as an important reminder about the true nature of the Iranian regime," Sen. Mark Kirk, (R-III), told FoxNews.com. "We can't pretend we are negotiating with Western moderates – we are negotiating with Islamic radicals who persecute Christians, Baha'is, other religious and ethnic minorities and women, while denying all of its citizens basic human rights -- including the freedom of speech and assembly."

COMMENT:  But once again we see the silence of too many "Christian" institutions.  I don't expect much from the National Council of Churches, whose relationship to Christianity has been vague for decades.  Or from the American Friends Service Committee, the "Quaker" group that is so anguished over the existence of Israel.  But surely there are others.  The evangelicals speak out.  All the time.  We must help them and amplify their voices, regardless of our religion.  When it comes to persecution of Christians in Iran, we should all be Christians.

March 21, 2014       Permalink

A DONE DEAL – AT 8:51 A.M. ET:  And, in a reversal of the Reagan doctrine regarding Moscow, they win, we lose.   From Fox:

MOSCOW – President Vladimir Putin signed bills at the Kremlin Friday officially completing the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

Putin hailed the incorporation of Crimea into Russia as a "remarkable event" before he signed the bills into law. Ukraine and the West have rejected the earlier vote by Russian parliament held two weeks after Russian troops had taken over Crimea.

The U.S. and the European Union have responded by slapping sanctions on Russia. President Obama ordered a second round of sanctions Thursday targeting members of Putin's inner circle and a major bank supporting them.

International agencies downgraded Russia's outlook, and Russian stock plummeted Friday.

Putin said in televised remarks at Friday's session of the presidential Security Council that he sees no immediate need for further Russian retaliation and said sardonically that he would open an account in the targeted bank.

COMMENT:  The Russians will get some knee scrapes over the sanctions, but the fact is that they've clearly won this round.  Anyone disagree?

March 21, 2014       Permalink