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POPSA Fight For The Amazon That Should Inspire The World
Of course, fossil fools will argue that the only alternative to burning up our remaining oil and gas supplies is for us all to live like the indigenous peoples in the Amazon. But next door to Peru, you can see a very different, environmentally sane model to lift up the poor emerging – if only we will grasp it. Ecuador is a poor country with large oil resources underneath its rainforests – but its president, Rafael Correa, is offering us the opposite of Garcia's plan. He has announced that he is willing to leave his country's largest oil reserve under the soil, if the rest of the world will match the $9.2bn in revenues it would provide. If we don't start reaching for these alternatives, we will render this month's victory in the Amazon meaningless. The Hadley Centre in Exeter, one of the most sophisticated scientific centres for studying the impacts of global warming, has warned that if we carry on belching out greenhouse gases at the current rate, the humid Amazon will dry up an
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POPSIran Uprising Live-Blogging Sunday June 28 5:31 PM ET -- Mousavi calls into today's protest. Several readers have passed along this video posted on Facebook. Reader Kia offers a description (slightly edited for clarity): "Dr. Beheshti (son of the Ayatollah Beheshti, who was a founder of the revolution and assassinated some 30 years ago -- the event today was held in his memory), who is a supporter of Mousavi, is first talking to people telling them that Mr. Mousavi is stuck in traffic and is not able to join them. 5:39 PM ET -- Senior cleric calls for separation of powers. The NIAC translates a story today about Ayatollah Javadi Amoli calling for separation of powers in Iran. 5:43 PM ET -- Iranian state TV tries to spin Neda's death. An Iranian-American friend sends along some new propaganda from state media making the case for why Neda's death wasn't caused by government forces.
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POPS Iran Uprising Live-Blogging 27 June, 2009 Jose Aznar, who was voted out of office in 2004, writes in today's Wall Street Journal: President Obama has said he refuses to "meddle" in Iran's internal affairs, but this is a poor excuse for passivity. If the international community is not able to stop, or at least set limits on, the repressive violence of the Islamic regime, the protesters will end up as so many have in the past -- in exile, in prison, or in the cemetery. And with them, all hope for change will be gone. Delayed public displays of indignation may be good for internal political consumption. But the consequences of Western inaction have already materialized. Watching videos of innocent Iranians being brutalized, it's hard to defend silence. More recently, it based a collection office in Los Angeles to take advantage of the Iranian expatriate community there. None of it, however, is a substitute for having CIA staff actually on the ground, says former CIA official Bob Baer.
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POPSStudent Uprising Open Thread June 22, 2009 Between Mousavi's statement yesterday - "If they arrest me, go on strike" - the students calling for a strike on Tuesday, the Ayatollah Montazeri calling for "three days of mourning (read: general strike that uses another name) for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday," and the Bus Workers Union calling for a day of national education on Friday, the various tendencies in the resistance - electoral, student, religious and labor - are circling around the same idea. My guess is that before the week is out they'll synchronize their watches and all strike at once, quite plausibly when one of the labor sectors suddenly calls out a Wildcat Strike that electrifies the nation, bringing the other sectors into quick mobilization to seize upon the moment.
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POPSThe Uprising Is On and There’s No Turning Back But is it true that a strong U.S. position in favor of the Iranian democracy movement would create a backlash against America? The reality is that those who are advancing this argument are in fact trying to shield the Iranian regime in the West. The Khomeinist propaganda machine is unleashing all doubts possible about international support to the demonstrators. In fact, the tipping point against the ayatollahs’s militias is precisely a world outcry in defense of the uprising. Presently there are no neutral Iranians who could be irritated by American or Western verbal support to democracy in Iran. The argument is inserted in the debate to confuse the public and mollify outside solidarity. What can shift the ground against the oppressive Pasdaran is precisely this, if a wide majority of Iranians feel the international community is, at least morally, on their side.
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POPSWho Stands With The Freedom Fighters of Iran? Iran's dictatorship is the heart of much of Islamic terrorism and violence throughout the Middle East and the world. Ridding the world of that evil transcends the more narrow concerns about Iranian nuclear development! President Obama, behind the curve of even Democrats in his own party in the House who voted unanimously for a resolution sponsored by Mike Pence, (R-IN) to "Condemn the ongoing violence against demonstrators by the Government of Iran and pro-government militias," finally some additional fortitude Saturday afternoon and released the following statement: The statement above is a subtle shift from Obama's statements earlier in the week where he repeated the phrase "respect Iranian sovereignty" which is code for respect the dictatorship of the Mullahs. Today's phrase "If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community" is a subtle, but significant shift.
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POPSThe Latest From Iran What should President Obama do about Iran? He can do what he does best: Talk. He should roll out the TOTUS and give the Iranian mullahs and moguls an old-fashioned spanking. Complete with direct quotes from the Koran. Alas, this will not happen. Dr. Charles Krauthammer this week said of President Obama: “All hangs in the balance. The Khamenei regime is deciding whether to do a Tiananmen. And what side is the Obama administration taking? None.” Ouch. I feel the pain not for the target of Dr. Krauthammer’s words, but for the rest of us. 53% of the nation gave 100% of the world a leader of the free world someone who, when danger comes, dares to vote " present. Such a timorous approach to adversity is decidedly James Buchanan-like, as opposed to Harry Trumanesque or John Kennedyesque. There is much intelligence in not taking unnecessary risks. There is greater ignorance in trying to avoid all risks at all times.
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POPSWhat Is Freedom Worth? These are moments in history whose salience it is simply impossible to know as they happen. But today has already demonstrated both the total bankruptcy of the current Iranian regime and the immense bravery, humanity and genius of the Iranian people. 1.45 pm. Shiraz erupts. 1.44 pm. Via NIAC, translation of the chants: “I welcome death I welcome death But not subjugation But not subjugation” 1.36 pm. Kristol and Hayes want Obama to say what the regime now falsely accuses him of saying. No, they won't learn. Their ideology is too rigid for actual judgment and their partisanship too deep to support the president at a moment like this. 1.33 pm. Kevin Sullivan: "There is a list of embassies in Tehran floating around, as injured protesters are being encouraged to go to them instead of hospitals. The hospitals are very like stocked full of Basijis. Question: If the embassies become overwhelmed, what happens then? In 1906, over 10,000 Persian constitutionalists occupied
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POPSMichael J. Totten's Posts on Iranian Populists' Revolt 
Rural areas in the Middle East are often startlingly conservative, especially from the point of view of Western visitors like me and my colleagues in the media. This does not mean, however, that country people are more likely to support fascist political movements. Egypt’s Bedouin, for instance, are far more open-minded about and friendly toward Jews and Israelis than are the denizens of cities like Cairo. This strange meme in many media reports that Ahmadinejad has a “base” of support beyond Iran’s cities is not only wrong, it has everything backwards. The uprising we’re all watching on YouTube is taking place inside Ahmadinejad’s “strongholds,” such as they are. Ahmadinejad is a “conservative” in the relative sense of the word, as he resists any and all reform of the 1979 revolution. He is not, however, a conservative in the traditional sense. Khomeinism and radical Islamism are 20th Century totalitarian ideologies. Traditional village people, conservative
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POPSFox News began the call for an armed revolution
Beck cheers them on. "This isn't a crazy scenario," he says. The survivalist thing is "likely" to happen. The collapse of Mexico will lead to "a possible uprising here in the United States." Then he turns back to the Wall Street Journal guy. "Real quick, how much are taxes in our scenario of 2014?" "If we tried to pay for all of the spending we have done in just the last 18 months with higher tax rates, the Heritage Foundation and other groups have estimated that the tax rate at the top would have to go to 80, 90, perhaps even 95 percent, which means that 95 percent of everything you make would have to go to the government just to pay for what we have already spent." "And what happens to the people when you start taxing?" "This is going to be violent," another guest answers. "The cities are going to look like Dodge City. They're going to be uncontrollable. You're going to have gangs in control, motorcycle marauders. You're not going to have enough police or federalis, just lik
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POPSNoble and necessary! With family in the military, I strongly oppose those who oppose freedom worldwide and those who are against helping those that need it (whether they know they need help or not)
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POPSThe Great Betrayal On controlling America’s borders and halting the invasion through Mexico, McCain collaborated with Senate liberals in the McCain-Kennedy amnesty, which was rejected only after a national uprising. When 190,000 Arizonans petitioned in 2004 to put Prop 200 on the ballot, requiring proof of citizenship before an individual could vote or receive welfare benefits, John McCain led the GOP congressional delegation in opposing it unanimously.Unsurprisingly, Juan Hernandez, the open-borders chatterbox and former adviser to Vicente Fox, has turned up in McCain’s campaign. On the three issues that have ravaged the Bush presidency—the misbegotten war in Iraq, the failure to secure America’s borders, and the trade policy that has destroyed the dollar, de-industrialized the country, and left foreigners with $5 trillion to buy up America—McCain has sided with Bush.
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POPSClueless On Cuba US foreign policy has long hinged on the rather shaky presumption that we are always right, and that those who disagree with us must be universally reviled. With such a perspective, Bush is no doubt very confused as to how someone like Fidel Castro could have maintained power, overlooking the fact that a lot of Cubans actually LIKE their communist government. Delusional egotism is no basis for foreign policy. Americans have an increasing reputation (since the beginning of the cold war) for being willfully out of touch with reality and utterly oblivious to inconvenient truths. Bush simply continues to prove that stereotype correct. The real danger lies in that we might soon apply the same naive optimism to a very dangerous war that we WILL lose in Iran. Sad to say, America is such a great nation, the only people who can destroy it are the Americans themselves. Unless we wise up and start taking the rest of the world seriously, we are doomed.
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POPSHeroic Monks, Chinese Shame Article on China's establishing Burma in its ;string of pearls. that is China's expansionist policy in Asia. Details China's military support for Burma and its large economic interests.
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