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POPSObama Heads For Foreign Policy Disaster
The U.S. is applying pressure to Israel, because Israel is susceptible to U.S. pressure, in hopes of gaining concessions from the Palestinians, who are not. The process is the diplomatic equivalent of a drunk searching for his key under the streetlamp"because it's brighter there. The approach has never worked before, but repeated failure does not seem to have discouraged Obama from trying yet again. Not everything that goes wrong in the world is the president's fault, of course. Vladimir Putin's Russia would behave aggressively no matter who was president, just as any president would confront the same unappealing range of options in Pakistan. But the very intractability of such problems makes it more important to do right what can be done right. Despite the domestic focus of these early months of his presidency, Barack Obama thinks of himself as a foreign policy thinker above all, according to those who know him best. His confidence is undiminished by his lack . . .
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POPSHow To Piss Off China & Screw The Consumer All at the same time. More dangerous tires on the road? Also, in timely fashion, seeking out the Dali Lama is not a soothing fact to the Chinese. Timed more strategically, you might be able to say, "Screw 'em." I hear something about needing their support at the U.N.against, Oh..N.Korea,...Iran,..maybe even Chavez.
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POPSVeggans Beware The Minister of the CP went on to say that "everything that looks like a fruit or vegetable, is not always edible". OK. Then he said, "No one should eat plants or parts of plants that have an unusual taste". Hmmm.....Well that leaves out about ½ of my salads.
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POPSMore on the Rise of the Euro-Right
Reason has a good post up discussing the rise of the Euro-Right. Moynihan dismantles a number of misconceptions by Left-wing pundits desperate to present the British National Party as a phenomenon of the Right. Here are some good posts about the BNP by Daniel Hannan. For instance: "BBC presenters keep calling the BNP "far Right"? Nick Griffin's acceptance speech: He wasn't going to talk about immigration policy he said, since everyone knew where he stood on the subject. No, his priority was to expose the way in which public assets had been privatized. Look at the BNP's manifesto: it wants nationalisation, subsidy, higher taxes, protectionism and (sotto voce) the abolition of the monarchy. And look at where its votes came from. The BNP is a symptom of Labour's collapse." http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/daniel_hannan/blog/2009/04/24/new_statesman_bnp_is_to_the_left_of_labour http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/daniel_hannan/blog/2009/06/08/2009_european_elections_ten_conclusions
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POPSEconomy Shows Cracks in European Union The article also said: "Germany and France together are the traditional motor of the European Union, but relations between them are cold, with the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, putting national interests first, whether the issue is social benefits or saving jobs in the faltering car industry."
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POPS IPCC Global Warming Hoaxers Wrote Cap and Trade! energy-intensive companies, including pulp and paper, steel, aluminum, glass and cement. That includes a 15 percent distribution of free allowances to the trade-vulnerable industries, as well as a clause that allows the president by 2025 to impose tariffs on carbon-intensive goods imported into the United States.” 4.) Pollution that is causing greenhouse gas warming on our planet. 700 scientists, including some current and former UN IPCC scientists, tend to disagree. So not only will our energy costs exorbitantly higher per year, but now everything we import will be more expensive too. "I don't know the details. I don't claim to know everything that's in this bill. We left it very heavily with the scientists." . . . Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) The "scientists", global warming hoaxers wrote cap and trade! Waxman doesn't know what's in it. It's a badge of honor. Don't bother me with these things!
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POPSAuto Workers' "protectionism" Refine the "global product mandate" model(s) to determine the disadvantage North American manufactures will be under with respect to overseas producers.
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POPSAgainst the hallmarks of liberalism CyberSpace Czar Technology Czar Drug Czar Copyright Czar Climate Czar Car Czar Energy Czar Health Care Czar WMD Czar Education Czar Economic Czar Housing Czar Mortgage Czar
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POPSExperts: Financial crisis threatens US security House panel members also were concerned about how the government is devoting money to handle the crisis. President Barack Obama has proposed a 4 percent increase in defense spending to $534 billion during the next fiscal year. But with a $787 billion stimulus package, and billions being poured into propping up banks and other companies, many defense analysts believe that Pentagon budgets, one of the largest shares of government spending, are likely targets for cuts. That could include big programs like the Army's plans to modernize its forces, led by Boeing Co., and programs by Lockheed Martin Corp. to build new advanced fighter jets. Dov Zakheim, a Defense Department comptroller during the most recent Bush administration, said cuts in defense spending could create the perception of American weakness.
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POPSThe Great Destabilization Gordon Brown landed back in London a sadder but wiser man. The Fleet Street correspondents reported sneeringly that he (and they) had been denied the usual twin-podia alternating-flags press conference. The Obama administration had supposedly penciled one in for the Rose Garden, but then there was that catastrophic snowfall (a light dusting). This must be the first world leaders’ press conference to be devastated by climate change. He did, however, get to give an almost entirely unreported address to Congress. U.S. legislators greeted his calls to resist protectionism with a round of applause, and then went back to adding up how much pork in the “Buy American” section of the stimulus bill would be heading their way. I would make a modest prediction that in 2012, after four years of the man who was supposed to heal America’s relations with a world sick of all that swaggering cowboy unilateralism, those relations will be much worse.
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POPSGordon Brown Attempts To Establish Himself As An International Statesman Mr Brown, who did not make his usual claim that the economic crisis began in the US, hailed American innovation as he appealed for it to lead the world out of the economic “hurricane” and protect the planet from climate change. “I say we should seize the moment, because never before have I seen a world so willing to come together,” he said. “Never before has that been more needed, and never before have the benefits of co-operation been so far reaching.” He added: “I believe that you, the nation that had the vision to put a man on the Moon, are also the nation with the vision to protect and preserve our planet Earth.” Mr Brown, who has studied Franklin D Roosevelt’s 1930s New Deal, said it was time to revive that visionary spirit. He delivered his address 76 years to the day since President Roosevelt told Americans that the only thing they had to fear was “fear itself”. video (2:38)
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POPS World Economic Forum, Davos 2009 Brown faces protectionism challenge UK banks cut sharply lending to overseas borrowers – highlighting challenge to ensure money and loans flow to emerging markets Leaders of the business, political and philanthropic worlds are gathering in Davos, Switzerland, for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. The unrelenting economic gloom and the fragility of the banking system have cast a cloud over the global agenda and are likely to dominate discussions.
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POPSBrussels warns US on ‘buy America’ rule First shot across the bows in the new trade wars. Protectionism is irresistible in a depression, even though it makes things worse. It then leads to trade blocs which might not be such a bad thing: e.g. Europe, Asia, Americas.
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POPSHigher Import Tariffs: Stimulate Us Into Another Depression of the “economic stimulus” nonsense Democrats are pushing through Congress. Protectionism of this sort drives up prices, disrupts competition and is prohibitive to foreign investment in our country. Some would argue that “buy American” policies create more jobs for Americans by creating more business for American companies, but I’d argue that foreign-owned companies are likely to employ just as many Americans in their operations as American-owned operations do. Certainly companies like Toyota and Honda employ hundreds of thousands of Americans. I think these “buy American” policies embedded in the stimulus should be seen for what they really are: Less patriotism than indirect bailouts for union-dominated American industry that just can’t compete with their foreign counterparts.
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