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POPSPissed off at another failure of smartough diplomacy The Obama Olympics debacle has pushed Jay Cost over the edge. He says, Sooner or later, the American people are going to say, "Enough is enough" with this constant, incessant politicking that is inevitably built around the specialness of Barack Obama. That time may be approaching faster than anyone thinks.
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POPSJ-Street: The New Israel Lobby 
It is safe to say that at least one participant in the meeting enjoyed this exchange immensely: Jeremy Ben-Ami, the founder and executive director of J Street, a year-old lobbying group with progressive views on Israel. Some of the mainstream groups vehemently protested the White House decision to invite J Street, which they regard as a marginal organization located well beyond the consensus that they themselves seek to enforce. But J Street shares the Obama administration’s agenda, and the invitation stayed. Ben-Ami didn’t say a word at the meeting — he is aware of J Street’s neophyte status — but afterward he was quoted extensively in the press, which vexed the mainstream groups all over again. J Street does not accept the “public harmony” rule any more than Obama does. In a conversation a month before the White House session, Ben-Ami explained to me: “We’re trying to redefine what it means to be pro-Israel. You don’t have to be noncritical. You don’t have to adopt the party line. It
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POPSHugo Chavez's Golf Politics "It isn't justified that in the middle of a city there's a golf course, with so much land lacking for buildings for the people," Chavez said. Good on Chavez!
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POPSVOA Censored in USA! I can see VOA propaganda being problematic--but shouldn't we be allowed to hear what they're telling others? This article is interesting (and pro-VOA) but also, we should have access to the media supported by our taxes.
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POPSBOLTONLAND IT SAYS A LOT FOR A SOCIETY WHICH ALLOWS BOLTON AND OTHERS OF HIS ILK TO HAVE A NATIONAL PLATFORM AND REACH THE VERY TOP OF GOVERNMENT AND DIPLOMACY, INDEED THE PRESIDENCY ITSELF. THERE MUST BE SOMETHING INTRINSICALLY WRONG WITH IT. ONE ONLY NEEDS TO WATCH WITH INCREDULITY THE MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE DEATH OF A RATHER STRANGE ENTERTAINER, WHILST HUNDREDS ARE KILLED ALMOST DAILY BY THE ACTIONS OF THIS NATION AND ARE SCARCELY MENTIONED IN THE MEDIA. THIS IS EVEN WORSE THAN "NEVERLAND", IT'S FANTASY LAND. IT RENDERS ME ALMOST SPEECHLESS. LET US HOPE THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THIS EMPIRE IS IMMINENT.
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POPSSpanish Magistrate pursues US `torture lawyers` This is a right-wing article - essentially no-one has the right to question US actions around the world ! Don`t you just love it LOL But the Europeans are after them in court and civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere are probably next. about time.
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POPSIsrael Insults Obama's Peace Initiative
For the last dozen years, more or less, the overt and dramatic acted-out actions of Israel towards any peace initiative are clear. Sec. Rice would go to Israel to talk peace and the day before she arrives Israeli jets would bomb the Gaza. Sec. Hilary Clinton would go to talk about peace inititates and a bunch of Palestinians would be arrested and added to the thousands held in Israeli jail without any charges or crimes: just picked up off the streets and thrown in jail. Now President Obama proposes a peace initiative and another Arab home in bulldozed by the apartheid state of Israel. Get the message? It seems as clear as someone bending over and farting in your face, honestly. I hate to be so rude about saying it that way but this is not "diplomacy," this is thug rudeness. Diplomacy is when you at least pretend to be nice and don't insult people in public. We should wash our hands of our support for Israel. This is the only type of response we've been receiving for a
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POPSVatican Receives Briefing On Pelosi Abortion Record Prior To Papal Meeting To be clear, I don't think Pelosi is going to get excommunicated. It is, however, the perfect time for the pope to sit down with her and have that chat she so obviously needs to have about the teachings of the Church. You know, that chat she promised her Archbishop she would have him with him 162 days ago. So, no time for her Archbishop, but plenty of time to tour Europe? Talk about a woman with dysfunctional priorities.
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POPSIs Hillary right for Secretary of State job? While Obama is already gaining a reputation for extending a hand to his former foes (Lieberman for example), putting Clinton in charge of such a large department could cause more damage than good. Obama supporters around the globe are waiting for him to put his stamp of change on American foreign policy. Would that be hindered by putting a public figure with existing ties in this prominent position?
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POPSObama's First Big Foreign Crisis - Denials Already The Polish Prime Minister says he said: Yes. Obama's advisors say: He made no comittment. Ah! -- Foreign diplomacy has begun. This specific issues -- an issue that could lead to a nuclear exchange in Europe (!) -- started one day after Obama's great victory. While all over the world many people were dancing in the streets and in rural villages, leaders sending messages of congratulations, etc. --- while this was going on -- The Russians announced they were sending nuclear missiles to their border with Poland. Why? -- In respond to the USA building a missile base in Poland (on the Russian border) That -- I would say -- is rather a rude awakening the day after your greatest public success. Now, two days later, we have political leaders from two countries (ours and Poland) playing the game of he said, she said, he didn't say that, who said what? I don't want to get all 'fanatical,' about this but I feel a certain 'responsibility,' to tell Europeans your lives are i
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POPSNicholas Burns: We Should Talk to Our Enemies Nicholas Burns started his career as a foreign service officer in 1983. He served in Cairo and Jerusalem, before working in the State Department’s Department of Soviet Affairs. Then in 1990 he shifted onto the National Security Council staff. In 1995 he became Acting Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, and in 1997 he was appointed Ambassador to Greece. In 2001, the George W. Bush administration made him the United States’ Permanent Representative to NATO, and then in 2005 they made him Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs — the number three job in the State Department. This career diplomatic, widely respected and widely experienced, trusted with key missions by the Bush administration, has an article in Newsweek about how yes we should engage in direct, high-level talks with “bad guy” regimes:
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POPSMultilateralism Comes With A Price We must work with our allies, but we also must recognize that multilateralism comes with a price. Coalitions can dilute effectiveness. The European concept of multilateralism is Washington's obeisance to European positions. Western Europe exists in a bubble of stability and affluence, unable to fathom how dangerous extremist ideology in Tehran and Pyongyang can be. Multilateral organizations are not the answer; at best, they are ineffective soap boxes, at worst cesspools of venality. Rose petals and well-digging have never stopped bombs, racism or genocide. A strong military has. Obama says, "Let us remember this history." Let us hope he first learns it. Leadership is about more than rhetoric.
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POPSObama Plays to AIPAC on Iran Obama speaks to his real constituents--The Lobby. Gas prices will continue to rise on this speech, as his words demonstrate NO CHANGE in "entangling alliances" with Israel, bowing to the Lobby, and continuing the neocon agenda. Oil futures will continue to climb on war fears as this middle east policy based upon nothing but propaganda about Iran continues. He may say "diplomacy" but they can make him go to war, and will, through stealth provocations or false-flag events.
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POPSMcCain's Argument a Loser The problem here is that this isn't a winning argument. A Gallup poll shows "Large majorities of Democrats and independents, and even half of Republicans, believe the president of the United States should meet with the leaders of countries that are considered enemies of the United States. Overall, 67% of Americans say this kind of diplomacy is a good idea." McCain's attacking an extremely popular position.
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POPSThe Family: The Hidden Christian Fundamentalist Power in the U.S. A journalist's penetrating look at the untold story of christian fundamentalism's most elite organization, a self-described invisible network dedicated to a religion of power for the powerful They are the Family—fundamentalism's avant-garde, waging spiritual war in the halls of American power and around the globe. They consider themselves the new chosen—congressmen, generals, and foreign dictators who meet in confidential cells, to pray and plan for a "leadership led by God," to be won not by force but through "quiet diplomacy." Their base is a leafy estate overlooking the Potomac in Arlington, Virginia, and Jeff Sharlet is the only journalist to have reported from inside its walls.
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POPSMuslim true/false What you think you know about them is likely wrong -- and that's dangerous. By John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed
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POPSEnglish Kings not Gay?! Lionheart Straight?
In centuries past, a wider range of body parts might come into diplomatic play. Medieval rulers, for example, routinely greeted one another with a kiss (the biblically sanctioned "kiss of peace"). Richard's decision to share a mattress with Philip was the ultimate public demonstration of trust in an age when PR had to rely on word-of-mouth rather than the lenses of the international media. And it worked, in the context of a monarchy where privacy was relative and political life didn't stop at the bedroom door. The king held court in his bedchamber, and his favourite servants slept at the foot of his bed. World leaders don't, any more, feel the need to ratify a treaty by getting into bed with each other - though, interestingly, that's still the language we use when we talk of sealing a deal. Perhaps we should just be grateful that, these days, the "special relationship" between the UK and the US doesn't involve seeing Bush and Brown in their underpants. ...Guardian
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POPSEvidence of Revision: MK ULTRA and Jonestown The more you know about “real history” versus “official history”, the better equipped you are to see behind the lies of our times, even as they are told to you. Evidence of Revision sweeps “official truth” into the dustbin of history as it may be revised even as it is being written.
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POPSBush admin. should save Libyan dissident Upon his release, Eljahmi began speaking up for political reform in Libya. Within the month, Gadhafi had him back in prison, where he has been held, mostly incommunicado, since late March 2004. In all that time, there have been no more public mentions of Eljahmi's name from the White House. Gadhafi, meanwhile, has hit the jackpot as America's prime example of a rogue regime on rehab - presumably a case study for the likes of Iran and North Korea of how good life can get for tyrants if only they will forego an interest in nukes. Astride the oil wells of Libya, Gadhafi has enjoyed a parade of high-level visitors, including United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and he has been welcomed in Paris. This year, with no protest from the United States, Libya gained one of the 10 rotating seats on the U.N. Security Council. Last month, Rice treated the Libyan foreign minister to a personal tour of the White House.
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POPS"Shallow Throat" Sizes Up the Dem/GOP Candidates
Shallow Throat laughed. "Well, of course Obama or Clinton would be better than who my party is likely to put up. But we're talking about the need for a MASSIVE overhaul in all areas of post-Cheney/Bush politics, and re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic that is Iraq is not my idea of anything major happening. The mindset that allows for war in that region of the world will not alter all that much. But, you're right, the Dems would change the tone and priorities a bit and maybe that's all we can hope for at this stage." "That's what I'm saying!"I nearly shouted. "Maybe these are not the candidates you or I would have chosen as the Democratic Party's nominee, but they are infinitely better than the rabid warhawk McCain, who knows honor and duty and 'patriotic' warfare and stay-the-course but not much about diplomacy and peace and when enough is enough. He's still fighting the Vietnam War in his head and the 'Islamofascist extremists' are, to him, the 'gooks' (his terms) of the 2
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POPSConflict in Iran: Symbiosis between Bush and Ahmadinejad
I've stitched together three very interesting articles over the last week, which become much more interesting when you read them in sequence. Look carefully at what is happening. If there is anything that lays bare the role of the Bush Administration's jingoistic belligerence in the Middle East, it is the recent conflict in the Strait of Hormuz. With the international pressure off Ahmadinejad, he starts taking heat in Iran for the shortcomings of his leadership. Without fear, his belligerent and isolationist politics lose their appeal. In order to defend his world view, and preserve the source of his power, he needs America as an enemy... So some Iranian boats play around with one of our convoys, Bush comes out with some insane saber-rattling press conference, and, Ahmadinejad is back in business, courtesy of the Bush administration. If you desire war, you need an enemy. If you need an enemy, you desire war. Bush needs Ahmadinejad. Just like Ahmadinejad needs Bush.
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POPS Washington Watch:Hillary's Mirror Has Cracked
This is not news to conservatives who have been saying this about the Hill-Billies since the 1990’s. However, Tuesday night marked a watershed. On national television, leading Democrats agreed. John Edwards and Barack Obama unequivocally stated that Hillary does not say the truth, nor is she consistent in her views and as a result is not presidential material. All the candidates at one point or another indicated that her responses were either deliberately confusing or completely contradictory. It is well known that Democrat leaders dislike the Clintons and recognize they behave in a repugnant and sleazy manner when they are in office: their flagrant disrespect for the law, their use of thuggish tactics and their failure to uphold even the most basic standards of public decency (like don’t have oral sex at work) repulse even Democrats. If Hillary fumbles and appears increasingly unable to win in a national election, Democrats will turn on her as quickly as Bill dumps his mistresses
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