Foreign Confidential ™
Foreign News and Analysis Since April 2005 -- formerly China Confidential -- for America and Israel and their friends abroad
Friday, January 27, 2012
Has Newt Been Neutralized?
Has Newt Gingrich been neutralized?
Did the Republican Establishment get to him?
Watching the two Florida GOP Presidential primary debates, especially last night's event, it's tempting to believe that some powerful figures may have threatened the candidate in a most vicious and personal way.
Really. The Gingrich that showed up in Jacksonville was not the man that made verbal mincemeat of Mitt Romney in South Carolina. The populist, compassionate-conservative streak that made Gingrich so appealing to independents as well as to angry, fed-up Republicans was inexplicably, glaringly gone. The former House Speaker appeared to be holding back at key moments, seemed to be self-censoring criticism of his rival's business dealings, foreign bank accounts, and carefully controlled, timed release of tax returns. It was as though Gingrich had for some unknown reason decided to blunt his own winning, competitive edge.
His enemies, of which there appear to be no shortage, will no doubt cite his weak performance to support their assertion that he is too "erratic" to be the Republican nominee, let alone President of the United States.
Maybe. But erratic could be code for uncontrollable … and anti-elitist.
Gingrich may also be too intellectually honest for the GOP, as shown by the sympathy he has expressed for some of Ron Paul's ideas, specifically, regarding monetary policy and health care. Although Paul's foreign policy views are anathema to Gingrich--he considers Paul's hands-off position on Iran to be even more dangerous than Obama's record of appeasing and trying to "engage" the Islamist menace--the history professor in Gingrich can't seem to stop himself from agreeing publicly with Paul on those issues on which Gingrich clearly believes the Texas Congressman may be more right than wrong.
Memo to Newt: Consider spending less time talking about going to the moon and more time talking about massively developing America's awesome, untapped, real energy resources … meaning, oil and gas … the so-called fossil fuels despised by Democrats … in order (a) to make the country energy independent, and (b) to directly and indirectly create millions of well-paying, permanent jobs … with health and medical benefits.
Related: Romney's Hedge Fund Investments
Hamas 'Embarrassed' by Syria
Terrorist Group Distancing itself From Damascus
Turkey, a full member of NATO that the Obama administration has hailed as a model "Islamic democracy," the MB, which the administration is "engaging", and Hamas--which the administration would also openly engage but for the organization's terrorist methods and avowed commitment to Israel's destruction--are all Sunni. Iran, of course, is a Shiite theocracy; and Syria is ruled by a regime that is dominated by Alawite Muslims, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Ahead of a conflict with nuclear-arming Iran that could engulf the region, players seem to be picking sides along traditional theological lines.
POSTSCRIPT: Notwithstanding Iran's past support for Hamas and assistance to Al Qaeda before and after 9/11, the Sunni-Shiite divide will probably not be bridged again until the present Iranian regime is replaced with a "moderate" (code for pragmatic and supposedly more pliable) Islamist version--another so-called Islamocracy. The Obama administration is not really interested in promoting genuine democracy, only Islamic/Islamist democracy. What is arguably the most-leftwing-ever administration in American history ironically sees rightwing political Islam as an unstoppable--and essentially progressive--force that can somehow be effectively exploited without once again blowing back as it did on 9/11 following the unleashing of the global jihad that resulted from America's covert intervention in Afghanistan on the Islamist side.
Europeans Increasingly Converting to Islam
Romney and Gingrich on Israel and Palestine
Cell Phone Use 'War Crime' in Still Grieving N. Korea
Bibi's Chinese Greeting Goes Viral
Is Iran Missile Threat to Israel Exaggerated?
Reports suggest that Iran is bluffing, that it may not be able to block the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf and that its missiles may not be able to inflict as much damage as it says. Click here for the story.
Foreign Confidential™ analysts respectfully disagree. Iran's intentions toward Israel and the United States are entirely evil. It is hard to understand how the IRGC and its Quds Force terror cells and more than 100,000 Iranian/Hezbollah/Syrian missiles (and stockpiles of Syrian warheads) do not constitute a potentially existential threat to Israel and a serious threat to U.S. forces in the Middle East. If not for Israel's presumed nuclear deterrent, Israel would have already been bombarded. If not for the missile threat to israel, it would already have wiped out Iran's nuclear sites.
This reporter remembers when Israel's generals and political establishment convinced themselves that Egypt was not a serious threat. A hero of the Six-Day War, Israeli defense minister Moshe Dayan, told reporters in the summer of 1973 that it would be at least five years before Egypt could think of attacking Israel. Egypt attacked Israel on Yom Kippur of that year, on October 6, and the surprise strike into the Sinai Peninsula, coordinated with a Syrian sneak attack on the Golan Heights, nearly ended the Jewish State. Dayan himself, on the verge of a nervous breakdown, had to be stopped by Prime Minister Golda Meir from calling a press conference announcing Israel's destruction.
Related:
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Australian PM in Narrow Escape
US Transportation Secretary's Son Held in Egypt
Several American citizens are effectively being held hostage by the Egyptian military junta--which came to power with the help of the Obama administration. Click here for the story.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Will S. Korean Drill Provoke Pyongyang?
As reported here, South Korean marines are staging a live-fire exercise on a front-line island. Will the drill provoke a North Korean attack of some sort? Time will tell.
Foreign Confidential™ analysts believe the North is preparing a series of provocations, including armed actions and nuclear and missile tests. The South Korean maneuvers could provide Pyongyang with a pretext for aggression against Seoul.
IRAN PREPARES FOR WAR WITH US
US Buildup of Saudi Air Force Troubles Israel
Even North Korea Has Foreign Supporters
Incredibly, the world's worst dictatorship, nuclear-armed North Korea, has friends in the West. Meet the ultra-Left loons--over here--who support the Kimist/Communist regime.
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