Syrian Regime and Hezbollah Capture Key Town
Victory Means Arms Can Flow to Iran's Lebanese Proxy
DEBKAfile has the story and what it means. Click here to read it.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Jodorowsky's Dune is the Story of an Unmade Classic
DATELINE CANNES
Click here to read about Frank Pavich's new documentary; below, to watch the trailer.
On Benghazi and Obama's Real Foreign Policy Scandal
Regarding Benghazi, the real foreign policy scandal isn't that the administration lied about what happened, which was obvious from day one, or that security at the U.S. facilities was practically non-existent, or, even, that for all the billions of dollars spent on national defense, the Pentagon wasn't able to scramble armed units in time to save U.S. diplomats and support personnel from being slaughtered by barbaric, Third World terrorists and mobs.
All that, bad as it is, pales in comparison with the much larger scandal--namely, that the United States needlessly intervened in Libya in the first place and that the intervention resulted in destabilizing--and Islamizing--a completely contained, former secular enemy that had become an important asset in the fight against Islamism (rightwing political Islam).
In other words, the real scandal is President Obama's pro-Islamist foreign policy, that is to say, his overt alignment of the U.S. with Islamism and overlapping organized Islam under cover of diplomatically engaging (collaborating with) all Islamist regimes and groups with the exception of Al Qaeda, and, in a clear nod to Islamist ideology, an odious embrace of ("outreach to") what he insists on calling "the Muslim world."
Copyright © 2013 Foreign Confidential
Defiant North Korea Fires Missile from Coast
Provocative Projectile Firing Follows Yesterday's Launches
North Korea is ignoring U.S. calls for restraint.
Read more.
We are witnessing the complete unravelling of the Obama foreign policy. America's adversaries are not impressed by his lofty lectures on his view of how they should behave according to their true, enlightened self interests.
There is also a clear degree of coordination between North Korea and Iran, tag team partners in nuclear and missile crimes.
The United States should cut a deal with China about regime change in North Korea, reunification of Korea and U.S. withdrawal from the South.
Similarly, Washington and Moscow should cut a deal on the political neutralization, division into autonomous provinces and demilitarization of Syria.
There needs to be order in the world, which requires statesmanship--not political posturing--and deal-making at the highest levels of government. The price for pacifying Korea and Syria, and isolating--ahead of removing--the Iranian regime will be Grand Bargains among the superpowers (China and Russia need the status, still have the nuclear arsenals that must be taken into consideration, etc.) encompassing agreement on spheres of influence allowing for protection of key U.S. allies Japan and Israel. There is a huge difference between, on the one hand, staying strong and not being seen as weak and vulnerable, and, on the other hand, insisting on a divine right to "lead the world" in such a manner so as to approach the whole globe as a sphere of influence.
There is also a huge difference between isolationism and imperialism--not as Marxists use the term but as it applies to a foreign policy that aims to overturn the status quo, radically alter power relationships among nations, reorder and reshape regions (in the name of democracy promotion and humanitarian intervention). Both policies--isolationism and imperialism--are pathways to disaster.
Copyright © 2013 Foreign Confidential
Assad Defiant; Wider War Could be Catastrophic
The Syrian dictator seems determined to stay in power at any cost.
Read more.
The road to peace in Syria leads to Moscow. The United States needs to come to an understanding with Russia while there is still time to prevent the Syrian civil war from turning into a catastrophic regional conflict.
Related: War of Attrition Against Israel Looms
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