Meanwhile some in the conservative press call the president incapable, unable to handle the situation. But he is not so stupid he doesn’t know this is a crisis. He knows his poll numbers are going to go even lower next month because of it. He scrambled Wednesday to hold a news conference to control a little of the damage, but said nothing new.
There is every sign he let the crisis on the border build to put heat on Republicans and make them pass his idea of good immigration reform. It would be “comprehensive,” meaning huge, impenetrable and probably full of mischief. His base wants it. It would no doubt benefit the Democratic Party in the long term.
The little children in great danger, holding hands, staring blankly ahead, are pawns in a larger game. That game is run by adults. How cold do you have to be to use children in this way?
Category Archives: Foreign Policy
North Korean Refugee Stories: Meet Kyung Min | Liberty in North Korea
Kyung Min and her family struggled in North Korea. They rarely had enough to eat and often foraged for food. When they tried to make a living at the markets, they could never turn a profit. Eventually, Kyung Min escaped to find work in China, but things didn’t go the way she planned.Kyung Min was sold to a man who regularly threatened to turn her over to police. She lived in fear for 10 years. Though it had been hard to survive in North Korea, life in China wasn’t much better. Her only solace came from the Chinese church she attended. It was there that she found her chance for a new life. She met a pastor who told her she could live a free life in South Korea and helped her find a way. Unfortunately, she had to leave her son behind, but she plans to have him join her soon.Kyung Min is very proud of her Christian faith and believes it helped her get safely to freedom. She is looking forward to studying Chinese and learning more about the Bible in South Korea. She knows that life will not be easy, but she is determined to make the most of the opportunities she finds there.
via North Korean Refugee Stories: Meet Kyung Min | Liberty in North Korea.
Twenty-Five Years After Tiananmen: China’s Fight for Human Rights | Public Discourse
Today, on this twenty-fifth anniversary of the June Fourth Incident, I speak to the people and government of the United States. I speak to all freedom-loving countries throughout the world. I hope you will look beyond China’s economic success. I urge you to support the ordinary Chinese. Help them end Internet censorship. Help them break down the Great Firewall of China. Stop receiving the June Fourth Incident criminals as your honored guests. Don’t let those who crush human rights enter your free, democratic countries. Deny them the warmth of your handshake, the warmth of your smile. Evildoers won’t stop until they are held responsible. Dishonoring evildoers is not dishonorable. But honoring them honors their crimes.
via Twenty-Five Years After Tiananmen: China’s Fight for Human Rights | Public Discourse.
Hillary’s State Department Refused to Brand Boko Haram as Terrorists – The Daily Beast
On Wednesday, Clinton said that the abduction of the girls by Boko Haram was “abominable, it’s criminal, it’s an act of terrorism and it really merits the fullest response possible, first and foremost from the government of Nigeria.” Clinton said that as Secretary of State she had numerous meetings with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and had urged the Nigerian government to do more on counterterrorism.
What Clinton didn’t mention was that her own State Department refused to place Boko Haram on the list of foreign terrorist organizations in 2011, after the group bombed the U.N. headquarters in Abuja. The refusal came despite the urging of the Justice Department, the FBI, the CIA, and over a dozen senators and congressmen.
“The one thing she could have done, the one tool she had at her disposal, she didn’t use. And nobody can say she wasn’t urged to do it. It’s gross hypocrisy,” said a former senior U.S. official who was involved in the debate. “The FBI, the CIA, and the Justice Department really wanted Boko Haram designated, they wanted the authorities that would provide to go after them, and they voiced that repeatedly to elected officials.”
via Hillary’s State Department Refused to Brand Boko Haram as Terrorists – The Daily Beast.
Russian forces storm Ukraine naval HQ in Crimea – Yahoo News
“Putin said his move to take control of Crimea was justified by what he calls “fascists” in Kiev who overthrew pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovich last month after three months of often deadly street protests.”
The biggest fascist in Europe is Putin.
via Russian forces storm Ukraine naval HQ in Crimea – Yahoo News.
Egyptian mosque turned into house of torture for Christians after Muslim Brotherhood protest | Fox News
Ayad said he was beaten for hours with sticks before being left for dead on a roadside. Amir’s brother, Ezzat Ayad, said he received an anonymous phone call at 3 a.m. Saturday, with the caller saying his brother had been found near death and had been taken to the ambulance.
“He underwent radiation treatment that proved that he suffered a fracture in the bottom of his skull, a fracture in his left arm, a bleeding in the right eye, and birdshot injuries,” Ezzat Ayad said.
Officials at the Bilal ibn Rabah Mosque said radical militias stormed the building, in the Cairo suburb of Moqattam, after Friday prayers.
“[We] deeply regret what has happened and apologize to the people of Moqattam,” mosque officials said in a statement, adding that “they had lost control over the mosque at the time.”
The statement also “denounced and condemned the violence and involving mosques in political conflicts.”
Boris A. Berezovsky, a Putin Critic, Dies Near London – NYTimes.com
Check for polonium.
Mr. Dobrovinsky wrote in Russian on his Facebook page: “Just got a call from London. Boris Berezovsky has committed suicide. The man was complex. An act of desperation? Impossible to live poor? A series of blows? I am afraid that no one will know the truth.”
The Thames Valley police in Berkshire, an hour from London, said Saturday that they were investigating the “unexplained” death of a 67-year-old man, apparently Mr. Berezovsky, in Ascot.
The police statement did not name Mr. Berezovsky, but British news reports said an investigation was under way at his home. “Specially trained officers are currently at the scene, including C.B.R.N.-trained officers, who are conducting a number of searches as a precaution,” said a spokeswoman for the Thames Valley police, referring to the force’s chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear team. “This is to enable officers to carry out an investigation into the man’s death. The body of the man is still in the property at this time.”
via Boris A. Berezovsky, a Putin Critic, Dies Near London – NYTimes.com.
Corker: ‘Appalling’ waste and abuse in Iraq reconstruction efforts – The Hill’s Global Affairs
This is troubling especially in light of the oil money that’s been flowing into Iraq.
An “appalling” report on the misuse of U.S. reconstruction funding for Iraq shows the need for a “top-to-bottom” review of the State Department and its aid agency, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Wednesday.
“The extent of waste and abuse in the $60 billion of Iraq reconstruction funds coupled with the instability still evident in Iraq is appalling and highlights real failures of planning and execution that must be corrected to make U.S. foreign assistance a more effective tool for advancing the national interests of our country,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said. “At the same time, this final Iraq reconstruction report also highlights some approaches that worked and could be applied to future reconstruction efforts, especially the billions of dollars in remaining reconstruction funds for Afghanistan.”
via Corker: ‘Appalling’ waste and abuse in Iraq reconstruction efforts – The Hill’s Global Affairs.
Hell Holes: Torture, starvation and murder the norm at world’s worst gulags | Fox News
The imprisonment of American Christian Pastor Saeed Abedini in Iran’s infamous Evin prison has sparked an international outcry and shined a spotlight on one of the world’s cruelest gulags.
But Evin is just one of many prisons where conditions exist that would shock medieval jailers, and where the level of human misery is incalculable. Prisoners brazenly carrying guns and machetes, guards rousting inmates in the night for mock executions and captives forced to stand in water up to their noses for 24 hours when they’re not being worked literally to death are common at the world’s most draconian dungeons. Most operate in rogue nations, beyond the influence of human rights organizations or appeals from Western nations. The few who have escaped or been freed carry the scars from their imprisonment for the rest of their lives.
via Hell Holes: Torture, starvation and murder the norm at world’s worst gulags | Fox News.
Articles: Dangerous Times: How Euro-socialism Set off a Fascist Bomb
I think this paints a pretty stark picture of the problem in Europe.
To understand the new upsurge of European fascism, you have to imagine what it’s like to live in Rome.
Imagine the US government being sunk in red ink. The United Nations suspends the US Constitution and compels us to adopt a new UN currency called the UNO, designed to favor other countries. The United States no longer runs its own currency. Our economy tanks and our deficit keeps getting worse.
Therefore the UN unilaterally appoints a caretaker president for the US named Monti, who imposes radical budget cuts on our dependent welfare state.
1. Social Security is cut by half. People have to live on 700 euros per month.
2. ObamaCare is cut by half. Two hospitals in Rome do not pay their medical staffs for six months.
3. Taxes on income and sales are raised to an average of 50%.
4. Small business taxes are increased — but big businesses taxes are lowered, “because big business is more efficient.” (Meaning it has bigger unions).
5. Politicians and bureaucrats get major pay raises. The figurehead President of the US doubles his salary.
Government at all levels is corrupt. It’s the only way people can survive. Everybody is playing double games. People are doing two jobs and running their own businesses out of government offices. Everybody cheats on taxes. The mafia controls half the country. Survival depends on the black market, the black economy. The currency is kept artificially high, so exports crash.
It’s happened to Italy under the European Union. Don’t think it can’t happen here. Obama is a Euro socialist, representing faculty lounge socialism in America, so completely arrogant and cocksure that Paul Krugman just knows how to run the trillion-dollar US economy. Nobody else can figure it out, but Krugman knows that he knows. Our new rulers are control freaks, just as free market economists have said since Adam Smith. They are six year olds steering the family car and thinking they are in control until…
… until it all blows up.
via Articles: Dangerous Times: How Euro-socialism Set off a Fascist Bomb.