Redstate

Posted at 8:06am on Jul. 3, 2008 A Roundup of the Colombian FARC hostage rescue.

Which, by all accounts, was one for the books.

By Moe Lane

As you've no doubt heard, fifteen hostages were rescued yesterday from the South American terrorist group FARC. Actually, what you probably heard was that French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt (oddly, though she ran for President of Colombia, it's never the other way around), Three Americans, and mumblemumblemumble some Colombian guys mumblemumblemumble got rescued, but that's just the American media's little way.

But I digress.

Read on.

Posted in Colombia | FARC | Foreign Affairs | The War On Terrorism | Uribe — Comments (16)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 6:20pm on Jul. 2, 2008 Mercosur Demands Lebensraum

By Neil Stevens

The South American trade union demands that its people know no boundaries, according to the BBC:

The EU laws, due to come into force in 2010, could see illegal immigrants held for up to 18 months and face a five-year ban on re-entry if expelled.

....In a joint declaration, [Mercosur leaders] rejected "every effort to criminalise irregular migration and the adoption of restrictive immigration policies, in particular against the most vulnerable sectors of society, women and children".

They used to call this sort of thing an invasion, sending your people across national boundaries and demanding full rights to that territory. If the EU caves on this, I bet Hitler would be kicking himself right now. He might have had Poland without a fight had he just demanded an end to "restrictive immigration policies."

Posted in European Union | Foreign Affairs | Godwin's Law | illegal immigration | Immigration | Lebensraum | Mercosur — Comments (11) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 10:23am on Jul. 1, 2008 Are ANC members terrorists? That all depends on your definition. [UPDATED]

By Marcus Traianus

The President has now signed this bill. The event was not complete without Democrat Barbara Lee taking a shot at Ronald Reagan;

Your Democrat Congress is of course hard at work. Preeminent in their plethora of issues is the topic of homeland security. They have opined ad nauseum about "change" and their ability to secure our nation. Now they have set out to prove it with this;

Negotiators from the Senate and the House agreed Thursday night on a final version of the bill to remove from U.S. databases the names of the former South African president and anybody else marked only because of a relationship with the African National Congress.(snip)

Rep. Howard Berman , D-Calif.,introduced the bill to remove the stigma from Mandela and other ANC members.

One can not argue either intellectually or scrupulously the end of Apartheid in South African was an unpropitious event. However, does the end justify the means?

Please read on.

Posted in Foreign Affairs — Comments (2) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 9:59pm on Jun. 30, 2008 The Blindest Of Eyes

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

This story speaks for itself in discussing how much the African Union cares about the nightmare currently going on in Zimbabwe:

A defiant Robert Mugabe sailed unchallenged through the first test of his presidency by his peers.

Freshly sworn-in following a single-candidate election, he received a leader's welcome when he strode into the African Union summit in Sharm el-Sheikh today and emerged unfazed, his authority intact.

He dined at a lavish luncheon given by his Egyptian hosts, hugged heads of state and other diplomats in the corridors and stayed at one of the most luxurious resorts in this Red Sea town.

I'm sure that Mugabe is quaking in his boots after that.

Posted in Begone I Say And Let Us Have Done With You | Foreign Affairs | Robert Mugabe | Zimbabwe — Comments (1)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 6:54pm on Jun. 30, 2008 Iraq Seeks to Develop Oil

By dglenn

This comes from The BBC.
According to an article from the business section of the BBC News (linked above), Iraq is seeking foreign investment to help develop six of it's biggest oil fields - the Rumaila Field, which is located on the border between Iraq and Kuwait, the Bai Hassan Field, the Maysan Field, and three others.

More Below the Fold...

Posted in Foreign Affairs — Comments (2) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 3:38pm on Jun. 30, 2008 Giving In. . . One More Time

By RollingThunder

Last week the White House announced that President Bush had changed the policy on how we deal with North Korea. Unfortunately for us, the policy is not more strict. The policy is yet another instance of "if we want to get along, we must give in, not make the other side meet our standards."

I can see why The President wants to reach out to other nations. I fail to see, however, why he would want to reach out to a nation which we know has had nuclear capabilities (regardless of the dismantling of the reactor) in the past. This nation's word has not been reliable. I believe their word may not be that reliable in the future.

Posted in Foreign Affairs — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 11:55pm on Jun. 26, 2008 A Significant Change In North Korea Policy

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

In response to the North Korean decision to release to the Chinese information concerning its nuclear program, the Bush Administration has taken the dramatic step of removing the designation of "state sponsor of terrorism" from North Korea and lifting American sanctions against the country (UN sanctions will remain in place). I'd like to think that this was a good and welcome step on the part of the Administration, but the following paragraph gives me great pause:

Bush called the declaration a positive step along a long road to get the nation to give up its nuclear weapons. Yet, he remained wary of the regime, which has lied about its nuclear work before. And North Korea's declaration, received six months late, falls short of what the administration once sought, leaving it open to criticism from those who want the U.S. to take an even tougher stance against the regime.

So the North Koreans can be half a year late with their declaration and its content can be deficient and yet, they will still get the benefit of having the designation of "state sponsor of terrorism" removed, in addition to having American sanctions removed? Does. Not. Compute. I can understand a partial response to the North Korean declaration that gives them some carrots but this appears to go way too far.

I guess we will wait and see whether my pessimism is founded. But the larger message to North Korea after today's announcement by the President has to be something along the lines of "obfuscation and non-compliance pays in the end."

Posted in Foreign Affairs | North Korea — Comments (1)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 3:33pm on Jun. 24, 2008 Christmas Bombs for Iran?

By Bill Dupray

The U.N.'s chief nuclear watchdog, Mohamed El Baradei (not exactly a guy in the tank for Bush), in an interview with Al-Arabiya TV, said, quite explicitly, that Iran will be able to produce a nuclear weapon in six months to a year. Via lgf.

Muhammad Al-Baradei: If Iran wants to turn to the production of nuclear weapons, it must leave the NPT, expel the IAEA inspectors, and then it would need at least... Considering the number of centrifuges and the quantity of uranium Iran has...

Posted in Foreign Affairs — Comments (4) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 12:57pm on Jun. 24, 2008 Is China Hacking U.S. Computers?

By BrianFaughnan

The Hill reports on allegations of infiltrations of Congressional computers by hackers operating from China:

More Members of Congress have had their computers infiltrated by hackers within China than initially suspected, a lawmaker has revealed.

Reps. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), Chris Smith (R-N.J.), and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) admitted to having data removed from their Capitol Hill computers last week, but Wolf says there are more.

Posted in Foreign Affairs — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 9:02am on Jun. 24, 2008 Is France Becoming More American?

By shdejong

The election of Nicolas Sarkozy was a source of hope for the future of Franco-American and transatlantic relations. Sarkozy made no secret of his intention to kick start a new era of French foreign policy and effect a radical break away from a forty year old Gaullist anti-American tradition, loyally held up by his predecessor Jacques Chirac. Now nearly a year has gone by since the proclaimed “rupture” and in July France will assume the European presidency. Has “Sarkozy l’Américain” truly improved the state of transatlantic relations and earned his reputation as the most pro-American president France has ever had?

Posted in Foreign Affairs — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 12:59am on Jun. 24, 2008 I Have Found Sisyphus

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

He lives 90 miles off of the coast of Florida and is working to run a country into the ground:

At the recent metal workers' union congress in Havana little seemed to have changed since Fidel Castro, former Cuban president, became ill almost two years ago, temporarily handing power to his brother Raúl before resigning and leaving the country's leadership to him last February.

There was no jockeying among cadres for a piece of privatised industry pie. There was no talk of competition, markets, strikes or other action against management, or turning state-owned businesses into co-operatives. Speeches calling on members to work harder for Cuba, Fidel, Raúl and revolution resounded through the hall as they have for decades.

"The key is in perfeccionamiento empresarial" - perfecting the state company system - read the banner headline in Workers, the trade union federation's weekly newspaper.

The union meeting was the latest evidence that a debate fostered by Raúl Castro has for now been settled in favour of those who want to improve one of the world's most statist economies - not dismantle it - using a business model developed when the president was defence minister to improve the performance of armed forces suppliers.

I would say that you have to admire the persistence of the Cuban communists. But the reality is that you don't and you shouldn't.

Posted in Cuba | Economic Ignorance | Foreign Affairs | The Castros — Comments (1)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:02pm on Jun. 22, 2008 Europeans on cowboy unilateralism: "A hell of a way to start a presidential term."

Dare I even say... *simplisme*?

By Moe Lane

If you're wondering why you haven't really heard about this before (Via Hot Air)...

Europe Fears Obama Might Undercut Progress With Iran
By Glenn Kessler

European officials are increasingly concerned that Sen. Barack Obama's campaign pledge to begin direct talks with Iran on its nuclear program without preconditions could potentially rupture U.S. relations with key European allies early in a potential Obama administration.

The U.N. Security Council has passed four resolutions demanding that Iran stop enriching uranium, each time highlighting the offer of financial and diplomatic incentives from a European-led coalition if Tehran suspends enrichment, a route to producing fuel for nuclear weapons. But Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has said he would make such suspension a topic for discussion with Iran, rather than a precondition for any negotiations to take place.

European officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said they are wary of giving up a demand that has been so enshrined in U.N. resolutions, particularly without any corresponding concessions by Iran. Although European officials are eager to welcome a U.S. president promising renewed diplomacy and multilateralism after years of tensions with the Bush administration, they feel strongly about continuing on the current path.

...it's simple: European governmnents assumed that this year's election was going to be McCain vs. Clinton. Which is to say, they thought that either way the election turned out they could still count on American-European relations being run by somebody competent to do so. The possibility that this might not happen is apparently alarming them somewhat.

Read on.

Posted in Europe | Foreign Affairs | Iran Policy | Obamafiles — Comments (4)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 3:09pm on Jun. 19, 2008 Good News All Around

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

Western oil companies are going back to Iraq. This will enable (1) the creation of Iraqi jobs, (2) increased oil supplies that will help bring down the price of oil over time, (3) increased oil revenues for Iraq and (4) greater confidence and increased attention on the fact that the domestic situation in Iraq has improved considerably.

I am sure that someone will find a reason to be upset about all of this--likely arguing anew that any strategic or economic value that comes from this indisputably positive development will somehow sully us all and ensure that we do not have clean hands. While this is a Pavlovian response to stories such as these, there is no reason to take such killjoy behavior seriously. I, for one, am glad that people who scream "ick!" every time a strategic or economic benefit rears its head are not in charge of setting policy at an executive level.

At least not yet, anyway.

Posted in Foreign Affairs | Iraq | Oil Exploration — Comments (3)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 10:28am on Jun. 19, 2008 Three cheers for Iraq!

now president bush should declare venezuela state sponsor of terrorism

By AcademicElephant

Two major news items from yesterday may seem unrelated, but both have serious ramifications for the intertwined issues of terrorism and energy. On the one hand, we had the excellent news that western oil companies are preparing to go back into Iraq after 38 years. On the other hand, we had the very very bad news that the Treasury Department has established economic ties between Venezuela and Hezbollah.

Read on to connect the dots...

Posted in Foreign Affairs | Hugo Chavez | Iraq | NO BLOOD FOR OIL | Saddam Hussein | Venezuela — Comments (2)/ Email this page » / Read More »