PUTIN GIVING ADVICE ABOUT DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS IN THE UKRAINE IS LIKE...

Kofi Annan giving advice about stopping genocide to Rwandans or Bosnians or Sudanese... Or Kofi giving advice to Paul Volker on how to properly run an investigation into the corruption of the Oil for Food Program... Or Kofi giving advice to Ken Starr on how to investigate sexual harassment...

Why don't Putin and Kofi - and Jimmy Carter, while I'm at it - just sit down and shut up.

UPDATE: NOW GORBY IS MOUTHING OFF! He should shut up, too! What did he ever do besides try to prop up a decadent corrupt socialist tyranny?!?!?!

THE LEFT'S FEAR OF RELIGIOUS PEOPLE

Betsy Newmark - of the GREAT BLOG Betsy's Page (a MUST READ EVERYDAY BLOG!) - has a fascinating post about how historically speaking religious presidents are common. Betsy concludes that therefore the Left's current harsh criticism of Bush, because he is religious, is phony and merely partisan. I disagree; I think it is not partisan.

I think most of the Democrats and all of the Left are moral relativists who look down on religious people because the Left believes that religious thinking is stupid, illogical, over-simplified un-nuanced. That's why they like to call themselves the "reality-based" party.

The Left believed this about religious people prior to 9/11 - but it did NOT bug them as much then as it does now. Lincoln, FDR, Truman, MLK Jr., Carter, Reagan and Clinton - for starters- all used a lot of religious language and images in their speeches -- as Betsy's post related - but the Democrats and the Left never complained about it then.

I think that the Democrats and the Left are more afraid of religiousness now because they blame "religious fanaticism" for 9/11 and they conflate the Jihadoterrorists - (who actually perpetrated 9/11, and decades of other less horrific but still horrible terrorism all over the world) - with any and all devoutly religious people of any faith - sects that have NEVER perpetrated any terror anywhere.

To the Left - Christian fundamentalists and Islamic Salafist/Qutbist/Wahabbist Jihadoterrorists are not merely analogical equivalents to each other, they're identical in essence, and they're to be equally feared to the Left. To the Left, it's "THAT you preach," and not "WHAT you preach" that matters.

Of course: this is ABSURD. But remember, it comes from the folks who call our president "BusHitler" and spell out our AG's name "AshKKKroft." Which is obviously equally absurd.

(On top of this absurd conflation, the Left's post-modernist bent makes them pre-disposed to be less tolerant of Western religious sects, than Eastern or non-Western sects.)

Sure: Many Democrats try to exploit Bush's religiousness for partisan gain - but as the election showed, this can only work among the Left, and the Left isn't enough to carry the nation.

Thank God.

UPDATED BREAKING NEWS IN THE UKRAINE

UPDATED...

BREAKING NEWS FROM MOSCOW NEWS SERVICE:

The candidates in Ukraine’s disputed presidential election, after mediations that lasted nearly three hours Friday, agreed to set up a working group for further talks and declared the official poll results, which handed victory to pro-Moscow Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, invalid. The sides agreed to act in accordance with an upcoming ruling from Ukraine’s Supreme Court on the alleged voting violations.“To oversee the negotiating process, the sides have created a working group to reach a joint decision to resolve the political crisis,” outgoing president Leonid Kuchma said in the Mariinsky presidential palace, Reuters reported. Both Yanukovich and liberal challenger Viktor Yushchenko had agreed to renounce violence, Kuchma was quoted by Reuters as saying. “The group is to start working immediately ... We will without any doubt find a worthy way out of this complicated situation. We understand that we have but one Ukraine and if we fail to find a solution, the consequences will be most unfavorable.”

The two rivals beamingly shook hands at the end of the talks. After the meeting, which included mediators from Europe and Russia, Yushchenko announced to the thousands of demonstrators rallying for the fifth day on Kiev’s Independence Square that the results have been declared invalid after the talks, and that a new round of elections would be held, monitored by the OSCE, the Russian Information Agency Novosti reported. “The sides agreed that that the results of the second round that were announced earlier do not correspond to the will of the people and must be cancelled,” Novosti quoted Yushchenko as saying.

UPDATE: This news story seems to contradict the above, saying NO DEAL has been reached! BUT....... THIS POST from, Le Sabot Post-Modene, seems to WANT to confirm elements of it - but so far can only relay it as a rumor, with caveats. STAY TUNED!

UPDATE: "Reuters": UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT TO MEET SATURDAY TO DEBATE THE ELECTION... "We are counting on parliament to give its political assessment of the Central Election Commission," Yushchenko told a vast crowd assembled in Kiev's Independence Square for the fifth day. All groups backed the sitting, except Yanukovich's Regions of Ukraine party. A similar debate this week was closed amid pandemonium as Yushchenko symbolically took the oath of office. "

UPDATE 11/27 - UK Telegraph: Ukrainian Parliament Declares the Election Invalid... Most observers say this is largely symbolic - the Supreme Court will be final, though... stay tuned - they meet on Monday...

How do you think the DU'ers and the LLL feel about the Ukraine?

I betchya many DU'ers and others on the loony Left must be looking at the doings in the Ukraine very JEALOUSLY, and wondering why oh why oh why didn't they do HERE what the opposition is doing THERE!

SHARANSKY TO PALESTINIANS: "NO REFORM, THEN NO TERRITORY, NO STATE, AND NO PEACE"

NATAN SHARANSKY IN THE JERUSALEM POST:

"If the new Palestinian leadership seeks to build a democratic society, then the free world should support and encourage each step along the way. Such a leadership should be provided with international legitimacy, money and, yes, territory. But if the new leadership is not interested in building a democracy, then it should be given no legitimacy, no money, and no concessions. The formula for peace is simple: Embrace leaders who embrace democratic reform and reject leaders who don't. "

Sharansky suggest four ways we can measure Palestinian reform:

"We should should seek to find concrete means to determine whether Palestinians are making progress on democratic reforms, so we can link our policies directly to such reforms. First ... refugee camps should be dismantled as soon as possible and the refugees resettled in decent housing. Second ... Textbooks where Israel does not appear on the map and PA-controlled television programs where kindergarten children beckon their classmates to follow the path of suicide martyrdom should be replaced with an educational system that promotes peace. Third ... the new PA [must] embrace joint ventures that strengthen the Palestinian middle class while inevitably lessening the control the new regime has over its subjects. Finally, a new Palestinian leadership that is committed to reform will be our partners in fighting terror, for as long as terror continues no reform will be possible."

Sharansky continues: "We should be under no illusions about the upcoming Palestinian elections. ... Free elections can only be held in a free society where people can express their views without fear of being punished, let alone killed. ... Still, whoever emerges from the elections in January should be given an opportunity to win the trust of the free world, including Israel."

Sharansky concludes: "In the weeks, months, and years ahead, those who want to know the state of the peace process might want to tune out all the chatter and ask themselves one question: Is there more freedom today within Palestinian society than there was last week, last month, or last year? If the answer is yes, then we will truly be moving down the road to peace."

Read the whole article, then buy and read his new book: The Case for Democracy.

PAKISTAN REMOVES CHECKPOINTS IN TRIBAL REGION

According to the BBC, Pakistan is removing all their checkpoints in the tribal regions. This might make it easier for al Qaida remnants continue to hide-out or to re-enter Afghanistan. AND/OR... it might strengthen their ties to tribal chiefs who might then be willing to do more to help the Pakistan government and army get al Qaida foreign fighters. Toward this end, the government of Pakistan is also releasing some tribal prisoners.

This seems like wishful-thinking, to me. And, I think it's unwise to prosecute the GWOT with strategies based on wishful-thinking. The tribal chiefs have screwed us before; they will probably again. After all, if Allawi's treatment by many of the tribal chiefs in the Sunni Triangle is any indication, then tribal chiefs are simply not reliable allies. Which means - to me at least - that Pakistan should instead be planning their own version of "Operation Plymouth Rock" inside their own "Tribal Triangle."

OKAY, okay - some tribal chiefs have been fine: the northern tribes of Afghanistan, the Shias in southern Iraq; the Kurds in northern Iraq... but it seems to me that all of these reliable tribal chiefs ALSO have another status, in less primitive/less nativistic organizations. So, I'd recommend that we only rely only the tribal chiefs who are also leaders in other more modern, Western civic organizations. Which rules out the tribal chiefs in the lawless western regions of Pakistan. Which means the Pakistan government should be cranking UP their overt military efforts, and NOT winding them DOWN. Musharraf needs to be even braver than he has been - more like Allawi...

UKRAINIAN POLICE CADETS MARCH WITH OPPOSITION

According to BBC TV NEWS (links to the BBC video-player; then choose "Ukraine rivals meet to end crisis" for a 2:00 minute story): Ukrainian POLICE CADETS marched with the opposition tonight in Kiev - chanting "Police with the people!"

This comes after the biggest TV station - owned by a Putin/Kuchma supporter - came out and said that their news would no longer be biased against the opposition!

The momentum is clearly on the side of the people. The only question is: how long before the Putin/Kuchma status-quoists relent, and - if they don't relent - whether they will resort to violence to attempt to stem the tide of this popular (and so far non-violent) rebellion...

IRAQ'S BRAVE INTERIM GOVERNMENT TAKES THE HARD-LINE

NASDAQ/AP - President Allawi: "The operations south of Baghdad, north of Hillah, is according to plans done by the government that gives priority to clearing these areas from the elements that want to inflict Iraq with death and destruction." Meanwhile, Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan said the Iraqi government intends to turns its attention to insurgents inside Baghdad once the current offensive south of the capital is completed: "There are pockets in Baghdad that we have to liquidate and confront."

I wish we heard this kind of talk from the Palestinians: They'll get a state and PEACE and prosperity - once the Jihadoterrorists are wiped out! This can only happen if the interim (and then new) Palestinian president takes as tough a stand as Allawi's has.

THE COMING ELECTION IN IRAQ

Charles Krauthammer:

In 1864, 11 of the 36 United States did not participate in the presidential election. Was Abraham Lincoln's election therefore illegitimate? In 1868, three states did not participate in the election. Was Ulysses Grant's election illegitimate? There has been much talk that if the Iraqi election is held and some Sunni Arab provinces (perhaps three of the 18) do not participate, the election will be illegitimate. Nonsense. The election should be held. It should be open to everyone. If Iraq's Sunni Arabs - barely 20% of the population - decide they cannot abide giving up their 80 years of minority rule, tough luck.

RTWT.

UPDATE: Deacon over at POWERLINE has made an important criticism of Krauthammer's article - "I'm not a blind adherent to the pottery store view of Iraq -- 'you broke it, you bought it.' And I certainly agree that we should not lead the fight in Iraq indefinitely. However, I think that, in Krauthammer's institutionalized civil war scenario, our national interests would require more engagement than Krauthammer seems to envisage.

ON VIEW IN KIEV: the very soul of liberty

These words were written by Ivan Lozowy - President of the Institute of Statehood and Democracy in Kiev - and published in the INDEPENDENT:

"As I write these words, my wife has taken our elder daughter to demonstrate on Independence Square, if only for a few hours. If I hurry, I will be in time to join them. What is it like to protest publicly in a semi-authoritarian state, knowing there are thousands of specially trained riot police waiting around the corner? We know what is at stake today. Not just an election, but our very survival as citizens of a democratic country. ... I have never been prouder of my fellow countrymen than I am today. As Viktor Yushchenko said on the first day of the demonstrations, whatever tomorrow brings we have shown that we are a nation, proud and free."

RTWT.

How America Has Been Aiding and Abetting Peaceful Democratic Revolutions

Here's a fascinating article - in the UK Guardian - about how the US government and US NGO's have been helping to spread democracy in Central America and in Eastern Europe - places like Sebia, Georgia, and now the Ukraine. From the intro: "But while the gains of the orange-bedecked "chestnut revolution" are Ukraine's, the campaign is an American creation, a sophisticated and brilliantly conceived exercise in western branding and mass marketing that, in four countries in four years, has been used to try to salvage rigged elections and topple unsavoury regimes."

RTWT.

al Arabia poll: 74% of Arabs favor Hamas to succeed Arafat

Here's the article:

"A survey of the Arab world organized by the Al-Arabia network website after the death of Yasser Arafat, showed 73.72% want a Hamas representative to replace Arafat, ITIM reported. In contrast only 0.7% expect that one of the PLO leaders will take over. 25.58% were in favor of an independent candidate. 113, 107 participants from across the Arab world took part in the survey. The organizers of the survey explained that the Hamas movement and the Islamic Jihad organization stand for the establishment of a Palestinian state on the land of historic Palestine, a concept that the PLO gave up on when the Oslo discussions began. "

IOW: Arabs prefer Hamas - which has never accepted the state of Israel - or the two-state solution - and which wants to destroy Israel and replace it with a Muslim Arab state.

This poll reveals a few things: first, that the vast majority of Arabs still do not want the state of Israel to exist; second that those in the West who believe that Arafat's passing increased the likelihood for a settlement of the dispute and a two-state solution ARE FLAT OUT WRONG. Unless and until the genocidal Jihadoterrorists - like Hamas, Hizb'allah and IJ, and the rest - are DEFEATED and forced to accept the state of Israel, there will be no peace, no settlement, no two-state solution, and no "state of Palestine."

The Bush Doctrine is based on two things: transparency, and democracy within the Palestinian Authority, and their full efforts to stop the Jihadoterrorists. This poll reveals that the vast majority of Arabs do NOT want to stop terrorism - indeed, they want the Jihadoterrorists enshrined into office. Which means that a unilateral separation from Gaza - and then from almost all of the West Bank - is the only way for Israel to maintain security (albeit in a virtual/perpetual state of war with its neighbors) and remain a Jewish state. Polls in Israel reveal that 60% of Israelis expect this is the only realistic outcome - and accept it.

CHEM WEAPONS LAB FOUND IN FALLUJAH

Coalition forces - led by the Iraqi Army - have discovered a chemical weapons lab in Fallujah. "Soldiers from the Iraqi National Guard found a chemical laboratory that was used to prepare deadly explosives and poisons," Minister of State Kassim Daoud told a news conference. "They also found in the lab booklets and instructions on how to make bombs and poisons. They even talked about the production of anthrax."

Not surprising - after all, Zarqawi was known as al Qaida's chemist: "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who is credited with being Al Qaeda's chemist-in-chief - an expert in weapons of mass destruction. It is Abu, too, who is credited with being the mastermind behind a plot to use ricin to poison food at a British military base and other Allied military sites across Europe."

CLOSING THE NET ON ZARQAWI

AP: Zarqawi's top lieutenant captured in Mosul. It's only a matter of time, now - a short time - before we GET Zarqawi!

UPDATE - AP / Les Temps Daily (Switzerland): Zarqawi's cellphone use has been traced. His sim-card was from Switzerland. He called all over Europe and Hong Kong and Chile. Cellphone tracings have led to the capture of other al Qaida leaders - including KSM. Others being tracked now...

THE UKRAINE - UPDATED: will it be like Georgia or Tiennamen?

The Ukrainian people have taken to the streets. They want democracy. There is some likelihood - unless we warn Russia now (and threaten rebukes) - the Russians will act to install their stooge, and then send in their military, and then instigate violence - and blame it on the people. As of now, there have been NO TROOP MOVEMENTS, but we'll have to wait and see...

The West - the USA the EU and the UN - must make it clear that we will not accept any intervention, or the theft of the election - by threatening Russia and their stooges with sanctions.

So... I wonder, anxiously: Will it end like Georgia - with a victory for the forces of freedom? Or, will it end like Tiennamen Square - in failure for the Ukrainians, and shame for the rest of us for not doing enough to make a difference?

UPDATE: (ACCORDING TO FOXNEWS) - POWELL SAYS USA WILL NOT ACCEPT THE RESULTS OF THE UKRAINE ELECTION THAT CLAIM RUSSIA'S MAN HAS WON BECAUSE THE ELECTION WAS MARRED BY FRAUD.

UPDATE: C-SPAN HAS POWELL'S STRONG STATEMENT ON VIDEO - (9 minutes). He answers a few questions from the press, too. (Sec. of State Colin Powell Briefing on Ukraine - 11/24/2004).

UPDATE: OPPOSITION LEADER CALLS FOR A NATIONAL STRIKE! IF THE STRIKE WORKS THEN UKRAINE WILL BE LIKE GEORGIA. IF THE GOVERNMENT USES TROOPS AND POLICE TO BREAK THE STRIKE, THEN WE HAVE "TIANNAMEN REDUX." STAY TUNED...

UPDATE: Reuben F. Johnson has written an in depth article in the WEEKLY STANDARD...... He ends up with the same question I started out with: Will Ukraine end up like Tiennamen Square of like Georigia?

UPDATE - 11/25: (UPI): The OPPOSITION has filed a case with the Uklrainian Supreme Court. And Putin agrees with this move - so it's suspect; (maybe Kuchma and Putin control the Court?). Still no troop movements...

UPDATE 11/25: BBC - "Ukraine's top court has suspended publication of the disputed presidential election result until it considers the opposition's appeal."

UPDATE 11/25: ACCORDING TO "REUTERS," THIS RULING, BY UKRAINE'S HIGH COURT, EFFECTIVELY BLOCKS THE INAUGURATION OF PUTIN'S & KUCHMA'S HAND-PICKED SUCCESSOR.

UPDATE 11/25 - "RIA NOVOSTI": One of the leaders of the opposition in Ukraine Julia Timoshenko summoned the participant [s] in the rally on Independence Square in Kiev to blockade the buildings of government, the Parliament and the President’s Administration, reports RIA Novosti. 'We shall start a blockade of all authorities', announced Timoshenko in front of the marchers adding that this blockade will not be aggressive. "

NORTH KOREA WANTS TO URGENTLY RESTART MULTILATERAL NUKE TALKS

BREAKING NEWS FROM "REUTERS" -

"By Jack Kim / SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea wants urgently to restart six-party talks on its nuclear programs... [...] North and South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and China have met for three inconclusive rounds of the talks but a fourth round set for September did not materialize. Analysts said Pyongyang wanted to see the outcome of the U.S. election before resuming talks. [...] ...reports surfaced last week that some portraits of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had been removed in the secretive communist state, triggering speculation that his grip on power may be slipping. North Korea experts said the move was likely Kim's own attempt to project a more rounded image of his leadership. Rumors circulated in currency and stock markets in Seoul and Tokyo early on Thursday that Kim had been shot dead."

Maybe Kim Jong Il is not dead; maybe he's only "RONERY!"? STAY TUNED...

UPDATE: YAHOO / AFP - North Koreans are no longer wearing Kim Jong Il badges, but only badges with his father's likeness (the late Kim Il Sung). This might be as significant as the disappearing pictures... [Hmm... when confronted about this, will the North Koreans reply, "Badges!? We don't need no steenking badges!" Heh.]

Giving Thanks

I thank God every day that I was born in America. There is so much to be thankful for. Every Thanksgiving I read Lincoln's 1863 Proclamation. Because so many of our fellow Americans are now serving in dangerous war-zones overseas, this is an especially important document to read this Thanksgiving.

There are other things to be grateful for - other people to be grateful to, people who made or are making a difference - people who help make the world a better place.

Here's story about one of them - one which you probably haven't heard about before. It's from The Scotsman, (11/25/04 edition - so, it's especially fitting to read on Thanksgiving!) It's about a British spy who was honored yesterday at the British Embassy in Berlin - on the 120th anniversary of his birth. He was honored because he saved TEN TIMES as many Jews from the NAZI camps than Schindler did. MORE THAN 10,000! Why did he do it? "'Foley was just a good guy doing what he could,' Mr Smith [his biographer] said." Some of the people he saved were at the ceremony - and gave thanks!

Of course, there's more to his story, so: RTWT. And have a Happy Thanksgiving!

PENTAGON: Fallujah had enough weapons for sustained a nationwide armed insurrection

Looks like there's gonna be a huge payoff from the Fallujah operations: "We found enough weapons in Falluja for the insurgency to take over the whole country," Lieutenant Colonel Dan Wilson told a news conference at a U.S. base near the western city.

IRAQ'S UN AMBASSADOR REBUKES KOFI ANNAN

Kofi Annan - by executive fiat - has taken $30 MILLION in funds from the UN's suspect "OIL FOR FOOD" account to pay for the internal UN investigation into bribery, embezzlement, and corruption. Not surprisingly, Iraq's UN Ambassador has lodged an official protest. The money - after all - belongs to the Iraqi people, not the UN. Another reason that Kofi MUST GO!

IRAN'S CHEATS AND RETREATS THE IAEA... AGAIN!

The Iranians already want to renegotiate the EU/IAEA nuke deal. Story here.

I say: no deal with the Iranian mullagarchy is even worth the paper it's written on. It will be soon time for HARDBALL - I don't mean it's time to send them that rude blatthering Left-wing cable host, either (although I'm sure that Matthews would bug the merde out of them!); I mean the USA must get directly involved, and the matter MUST be brought to the UNSC for a sanctions resolution. NOW.

HOT ON ZARQAWI'S TRAIL

Could we REALLY be close to getting Zarqawi? Roger L. Simon relayed the rumor from HAMMORABI. Now, the story has broken into the MSM:

"KIRKUK, Iraq - Security forces were Tuesday focusing their hunt for Iraq's most wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, on an area in north-central Iraq after receiving a tip-off, an Iraqi national guard officer said. 'We received concrete information from very reliable sources that Zarqawi was transferred today to Tuz Khormatu and is heading to Baquba,' Staff Brigadier General Anwar Hamad Ameed, the national guard chief in the northern city of Kirkuk, said."

Let's keep our fiungers crossed, and pray for our troops.

UPDATE: FOX IS REPORTING THERE'S A NEW AUDIOTAPE OF ZARQAWI - HE SOUNDS DESPERATE AND ANGRY AT THE CLERICAL COMMUNITY THERE FOR LETTING HIM DOWN!

TIME FOR "HELMS-BIDEN" REDUX

In the 1990's, Congress passed a bipartisan bill - the Helms-Biden Act - which forced the federal government to withhold UN dues until the UN reformed. It worked. It's time to use that tactic again - to get UN cooperation with the Congressional committee investigating recent UN abuses - namely the OIL FOR FOOD SCANDAL.

Here's a letter I sent to the Chairman and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations committee - Senators Lugar and Biden. I also sent a few to a couple of other senators on the FR committee and one to Senator Norm Coleman - chairman of the Government Affairs committee - (which is the lead committee investigating the UN's Oil for Food scandal in the Senate), and to a few members of that committee, too.Read it. If you agree, copy it and send it to your senator. If a few Senators threatened to introduce the Bill, it might turn up the heat on the UN and get the Congress more cooperation. HERE'S THE LETTER:

Dear Senator;

In the 1990's Congress passed the Helms-Biden act - withholding dues fro the UN until they reformed. It worked.It's time to at least threaten the same thing now: Either the UN starts cooperating with the Congressional investigations in the "Oil for Food Scandal" or we will withhold dues.This is all about accountability. The American people expect the UN to beaccountable. Your committee should demand it on behalf of the American people - and Iraqis. The embezzled monies - maybe as much as $27 billion - must be found and returned to the Iraqi people. A Congressional investigation could help accomplish this - if the UN cooperated. IF YOU PASS A NEW BILL WITHHOLDING DUES UNTIL THEY COOPERATE! THEY WILL THEN COOPERATE!Thanks for your time.

Sincerely,

RATHER GOOD HAIKU

Rather is going
to retire from the news.
It's long overdue.

We don't take a poll to determine what is right

POWERLINE has a great post on the current battle in Congress over the intelligence overhaul bill that was written as a result of ther 9/11 Commission Report. Two Republicans - Sensenbrenner and Hunter - backed by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and charged by Congress with the constitutional oversight - are holding the whole thing up because they believe that a few provisions of the bill need to be fixed. IMPROVED. The Democrats are attacking them. WHY!?

POWERLINE asked it this way: "what reason is there to believe that Tom Kean, Lee Hamilton, and the others have a monopoly on good ideas for combating terrorism? Why should their opinions automatically trump those of serious elected officials like Rep. Duncan Hunter and Rep. James Sensenbrenner who are leading the opposition to the Commission's proposals?"

Here's the reason:

The Left - and the Democrat Party they dominate - prefer the 9/11 Commission's proposals to anything else because the Commission proposals were arrived at by consensus - across party lines. The Left believes that interventions into the status quo must be done ONLY after a consensus is reached across the "values divide" (a divide that can be political - as it is in this case - or cultural or national - as in the case of the UN, for instance).

The Left's belief in (and overvalue) of consensus is based on the fact that their meme is dominated by post-modernism - which denigrates Natural Law and universalism, and valorizes moral relativism.

Consensus is ersatz universalism for Leftists.

This is also why they think it was okay for the UN not to intervene in Rwanda (and Bosnia and elsewhere) because no consensus could be found. That's why the Left condemns the Iraq War: because no consensus could be found. Without consensus there is no "right thing to do" for the Left.

This is also the basis for the Left's revulsion of Bush: Bush has a conviction that there are such things as right and wrong, and good and evil. So do Hunter and Sensenbrenner.

We should all do what is right, not just what is popular. The right thing is not always the popular thing, and you can't always get a consensus to do the right thing. It was WRONG for the UN not to intervene in Rwanda with force - and failing to get a consensus is a poor "U.N.ACCEPTABLE" excuse.

Failure to find consensus is no excuse for failing to do the right thing. We did the right thing in Iraq, and Sensenbrenner and Hunter are doing the right thing now.

UPDATE: Deacon of POWERLINE linked to this post! Thanks! And Deacon made an important additional note in his link: the core problem with the Left - the basis of their dependence on consensus (as ersatz Universalism) is their MORAL RELATIVISM - which is at the core of post-modernism.

Our Universalism makes us look like fundamentalists to the Left - (to Leftists, only a simpleton could believe that such things as good and evil are real, and aren't subjective or culturally defined).

But - more importantly - the Left's moral relativism actually makes them incapable of doing the right thing when it requires an unpopular international intervention - which cannot find a consensus. In my mind this makes Leftism a morally bankrupt political philosophy. And, I'd rather be called a simpleton and intervene internationally to stop genocide, than be called a sophisticate and stand idly by as millions perish - as they did in Bosnia and Rwanda, and the Sudan, and for too long in Iraq.

(To POWERLINE readers: take a look around at my other posts - and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!)

FRANCE QUASHES CONGOLESE GENOCIDE CASE

The Chief Of Congo's Police was charged in French courts with murdering 350 of his citizens - who were returning refugees. France intercedes, on procedural grounds - and quashes the case. Need I say more!?

SOCIALIST SCUM OF EUROPE STILL REFUSE TO AID IRAQ

NATO IS SUPPOSED TO BE HELPING IRAQ TRAIN TRAIN THEIR MILITARY AND THEIR POLICE - BUT:

"France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg and Greece have refused to contribute personnel. ... The top U.S. military commander in Europe - [ Gen. James Jones, Supreme Allied Commander in Europe] - criticized NATO countries who refused to provide military instructors for a training mission in Iraq saying the result will be an increased burden on allies who are contributing. ... Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, speaking at a news conference at the Pentagon called the refusal by certain NATO countries to send personnel a problem."

MOST OF NATO'S 26 COUNTRIES ARE SENDING PERSONNEL. Old Europe and their cowardly friends are not. We know France's excuse: their army has their hands full killing unarmed Cote Ivoirians.

RATHER OUT!!! Can Andrew Heyward be far behind?

I hope not! Heyward - the chief of CBS News - should be fired for Rathergate. NOW.

Or: as soon as the Thornburg investigation makes its report public.

EVEN MORE "OLD MEDIA" BIAS

And it's always Left-wing bias, too.

According to GOOGLE NEWS searches, the UN scandals (UNSCAM/oil for food; Congo sex scandal, and the HQ sex harrasment cases) get a total of 649 hits. Abu Ghraib alone gets 6950 hits.

What makes this whole thing worse is the fact that the three UN scandals ARE WORSE than Abu Ghraib.

Abu Ghraib was a an isolated series of events done by two dozen rogues taking place over a month or two during the most dangerous time in occupied Iraq - and the crimes committed by these rogues were already under investigation by the Pentagon at the time the scandal was made public by the perpetrators' defense lawyers who were trying to discredit the Pentagon and exploited the Old Media who were predisposed to help them because the were always trying to hurt Bush.

The UN's scandals are bigger: (1) the Congo sex scandal was pervasive; HUNDREDS of UN workers systematically sexually abused people seeking refugee status and aid; it was "sex-for-aid." - and what makes it worse is that similar scandals were reported in Guinea and Sierra Leone a few years ago! (2) the UN oil-for-food scandal is ten times the size of ENRON - totally $22 BILLION, essentially stolen from the long-suffering people of Iraq. (3) the UN HQ sexual harrassment scandals not only show widespread sexual abuse of UN employees by UN big-shots; it shows that the UN big-shots - including Kofi - cover up for and defend their abusive buddies.

The Left and the Old Media have an obvious double standard. If Lefties do bad things they never get the same treatment from the Old Media as when others do similarly bad things - even when the Leftioes do even worse things, as thse instances of media bias prove.

Interim Leader Abbas Demands Israel recognize "right of return"

President Bush made two historic breakthroughs in US Mid East policy in June of 2002: first, he was the first president to call for the establishment of a Palestinian state - he predicated that on Palestinian transparnecy and democracy; second, Bush was the first president to declare that Israel had the right to exist as a Jewish state.

The death of Arafat has given many people new hope that the predicates for Palestinian statehood might now finally be met: transparnecy and democracy.

I have had my doubts; I believe that Arafat's death gives the Jihadoterrorists no incentive for suddenly becoming "two-staters." They want to destroy Israel and replace it with a Muslim state.

Now there is another reason for grave doubt that peace and a two-state solution are any nearer now that Arafat is dead: the interim leader and leading candidate to replace Arafat, Abbas (who portrays himself as a two-stater, and was very involved in Oslo negotiations) declared before the Palestinian Parliament (so-called) that Israel MUST accept the "right of return."

"Right of return" is a deal-breaker - because "right of return" would mean that Israel would not remain a Jewish state. This goes against Bush's declaration in June 2002, and it is simply not acceptable to Israel. For Israel a "right of return" is a death sentence - and the palestinians know this; (it's why some Palestinians have publically given up on any two-state solution, and are now instead calling for one Israel - with citizenship for all "Arab Palestinians" in the occupied territories. The Arabs would soon outnumber the Jews and they would be able to use the democratic levers of state to destroy Israel from within. This is also why Sharon had udertake unilateral separation from Gaza - and will do the same in the West Bank - when the time is right -- a move supported by 60% of Israelis).

If Abbas is just posturing - to appear like a "hard-liner" to Jihadoterrorists before the upcoming election - it means he is essentially an appeaser, and that bodes poorly for the peace process on another front - because the single most important job that a Palestinian Authority has is to stop Jihadoterror against Israelis. If Abbas is already appeasing the Jihadoterrorists, then it probably means he will appease them after winning the election. Appeasing terrorists never stops terrorism; it only encourages them.

It will soon be time to accept the fact that short of destroying ALL the Jihadoterrorists in Gaza and the West Bank - (as we are finally doing in Iraq) - there can be no peace, nor self-rule for Palestinians. If the Palestinians will not destroy the Jihadoterrorists, then someone else will have to.

SADDAM'S TRIAL TO START BEFORE END OF YEAR

Saddam's trial will start before the end of this year - according to the Iraqi Defense minister (as reported by Qatar's alJazeera).

I hope they convict - AND EXECUTE - the evil tyrant before the elections - which means before January 30th. WHY SO FAST!? It would be nice if this little bit of business was completed BEFORE the new Iraqi administration - THE FIRST DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED GOVERNMENT IN IRAQ'S HISTORY (and in greater Arabia's history, too) - so that the new adminsitration could begin with a clean slate.

Which means Iraq needs to put on a simple, speedy trial. NOT LIKE THE ONE THE U.N. IS PUTTING ON AGAINST MILOSEVIC - WHICH HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR YEARS!

JFK WAS A NEO-CON

From the Inaugural Address in 1961:

Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. This much we pledge--and more.

To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do--for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder. To those new States whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom--and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.

[...] Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction. We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed. [...] In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility--I welcome it. [...] And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

Between Fallujah And February...

The fighting in Iraq - right now - is incredibly intense.

Many reportorial accounts capture the bravery of our soldiers - and what's at stake. None better than these 3 : First, from a tip by HUGH HEWITT - a story from the NYTIMES; second, one from the UK's Independent - about the fighting that's following on from Fallujah - in the Triangle of Death. And here's another from the UK Independnent.

The battles fought between Fallujah and the First of February (after the votes in Iraq's first real election have been counted) are the battles that will determine the strategy and pace of the coming year or two in the GWOT.

YES: that much is at stake. Which is why the Jihadoterrorists are fighting so hard. And why we must utterly defeat them - now. A clear victory in Iraq will make it much less likely that we will have to use force to settle our problems with our other three foes in the GWOT - Syria, Iran, and North Korea. And it will buttress our precariously ambivalent allies in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, AND even… "Old Europe."

Using new and hard-won strategies - (initiated by the tough reformist Rumsfeld BEFORE 9/11) - we vanquished first the theocratic Taliban and then the socialist Saddam, and sent a crucial signal to all other regimes that would harbor or aid the Jihadoterrorists: We will dethrone you; we will destroy you. These two campaigns were frighteningly swift, and demonstrated our vastly superior weaponry and training - and our new strategies and tactics. We did in weeks what huge armies had failed to do for centuries.

Our victory over the Jihadoterrorists in the current phase - undertaking horrifically dangerous urban warfare - will send a powerful message to every Jihadi instigator and every would be Jihadi recruit in every street of every city in the uncivilized world: "We fear no evil and we are willing to suffer serious and sad casualties to destroy you, too."

And if they get that message, then the hard-won and heroic victory we shall win in the Sunni Triangle of Iraq will make future diplomatic efforts everywhere else much more likely to succeed.

But, if - (after these incredible demonstrations of moral conviction and military might) - our diplomatic efforts should fail (in North Korea, Iran, and Syria), it should make it absolutely clear to everyone - including the Left - that our enemies are not reasonable - in the most basic sense of the word. And: that we have no other choice than to destroy them, too.

So... I hope that Iran and Syria and North Korea are watching very closely. And that they act accordingly.

Pak/Afghan Border Stays Hot: On Monday, We Got 20 Jihadoterrorists in Waziristan

"Eight people were killed at the seminary in Lalejai area, while 12 were killed in "hand-to-hand" fight in a separate raid on a camp in the Karam Manzai Chund Khel area, a military spokesman said in a statement. [...] In Tangari area alone, security forces recovered over 15 tonnes of ammunition and explosives on November 19 last. The ammunition included over 900 rockets and heavy weapons like recoilless rifles and mortars. "

US CAPTURES BIGGEST WEAPONS CACHE YET

"... 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division ... unearthed one of the largest weapons caches ever ... south of Mosul ... today. 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment discovered a huge stockpiles of weapons and munitions that consisted of one anti-aircraft gun, 15,000 anti-aircraft rounds, 4,600 hand grenades, 144 VOG-17M anti-personnel grenade launchers, 25 SA-7 surface-to-air missiles, 44 SA-7 battery packs, 20 guided missile packs, 21 120mm mortar rounds, two 120mm mortar tubes, 10 122mm rockets, six 152mm artillery rounds and two 57mm artillery rounds. Soldiers also discovered a building full of explosive-making materials.The 3-arce site is secure and still under investigation with more weapons and munitions discoveries expected. "

Some Straight Talk On North Korea - FROM JAPAN

The head of the ruling party in Japan has said that because the Kim Jong Il regime has not been sincere/trustworthy in negotiations that regime change may be the only option.

This makes sense. Only how? I think an invasion by China makes the most sense. We should let them occupy North Korea and let them set up a new regime.

ALSO: here's a link to an article from a South Korean newspaper with photographic PROOF that billboards of KIM JONG IL are coming down all over North Korea.

Jihadoterrorists Take All Of Dutch Democracy Hostage

BREAKING NEWS:

Dutch MP Geert Wilders - who called for an end to non-western immigration into Holland (until all non-Westerners are assimilated, and unless future immigrants agree to assimilate) - has been forced into hiding after receiving numerous credible death threats.

Wilders "has two policemen by his side even when in his high-security parliamentary office in case someone tries to decapitate him. Each day, he does not know where he is going to sleep that night, as he is taken from safe house to safe house in a convoy of armoured cars."

This makes democracy itself - in Holland - effectively a hostage.

Which means it may be time for mass expulsion/deportation of non-assimilated Muslims. SOUND TERRIBLE!? I think not on two counts: one, we'd just be sending them "HOME" (how bad could that be!?); and two, we'd be saving democracy and free speech from being squelched by the ruthless intimidation of uncivilized thugs. Hat tip LGF.

UDATES: here; here; here; and here. AND HERE, a story about how Jihadoterrorists in Holland threaten to assassinate all anti-Jihadi politicians.

THE TREACHERY OF THE ENEMY

Our military has it tough: Not only must they battle the treacherous Jihadoterrorists - (who fake being wounded to blow-up soldiers who approach to aid them; or who wave the white flag of surrender, only to open fire as our soldiers let their guards down; and who take refuge in Mosques; and who behead charity workers) - but they must also deal with the treachery of the OLD MEDIA who volunteer to be embeds and then distribute their videos in order to discredit our military!

Here's an idea: next time we need to take out a sniper or investigate a minaret or enter a mosque... SEND IN THE EMBED FIRST!

MORE BLOOD FOR CHOCOLATE

The French are intervening with militry force (at least a French version of it!) in the Ivory Coast - without a UNSCR. WHERE'S THE OUTRAGE? Paul Greenberg in today's Wash Times writes:

This is the work of a small circle of ever-scheming neoconservatives around President Chirac who have plotted to seize the Ivory Coast's cocoa fields for years. And yet the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations has not used his veto to stop the Security Council from approving the French action. Where is the world's conscience? Just wait until Michael Moore exposes this whole rotten plot in his next blockbuster documentary, which will show a host of suspicious ties between France's ruling clique and Ivorian cocoa sheikhs. The rest of Hollywood will surely weigh in at any moment, led by Whoopi Goldberg and her minions. The BBC and NPR already plan specials to expose this war of aggression. If anyone doubts French responsibility for these atrocities, CBS' Dan Rather has proof in the form of some certifiably incriminating documents he soon will air, and which are very convincing — if you don't examine them too closely.

For more click here.

el Baradei and IAEA confirm Iran Nuke SHUTDOWN?!?!!?

How does Baradei and the UN 's IAEA know Iran shutdown its hitherto clandestine and illegal nuclear weapons program?

Well... because it was announced on Iranian TV, and according to el Baradei (in Vienna): ... it "appears" everything has come to a halt.

IAEA inspectors currently in Iran are expected to verify that Iran has halted all such activities and to seal the facilities where they are carried out. Tehran had previously denied reports it had made UF6 and diplomats close to the EU-Iran talks said it raised doubts about Iran's good faith.

Whoa. We're gonna let the UN and the IAEA and el Baradei give Iran the all clear based on Iran's say-so?!?!?!?!

I don't think the UN - who couldn't be trusted with Iraq's "Oil for Food Program" - should be trusted with shutting down Iran's nukes. And remote cameras and seals!?!?!?!? They didn't stop Kim Jong Il's North Korea from setting up shop elsewhere and making NUKES!

I say: Let's send in the Marines to "inspect."

Pakistan Finds Huge Weapons Cache In Waziristan

This is a good sign. And it comes on the heels of raids in Kabul and in eastern Afghanistan that've yielded (dead and alive) foreign alQaida Jihadoterrorists. We are making progress. NOW ... if we could only get Holland under control...

Jihadoterrorist Nuke Is A Real Threat

Twenty-two year CIA vet Sheuer - aka "Anonymous," author/critic of the Bush Administration - has said that alQaida wants a nuke and will try to get one, and would use it on the USA.

I hope we've made it clear to all the nations in the Axis of Evil (NoKo, Syria, and Iran) - and those near the Axis (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Turhey, Pakistan, Afghanistan) - that we will nuke their major cities if we are nuked by alQaida - (so they'd better help us prevent it by sharing all the intel' they have).

US Documents Prove alQaida and Chechens Allied

More proof that the WOT is a GWOT - or WW4. From Europe to Asia to the USA and to Africa. Targeting military and civilian sites. Using hijacked jets, or suicide bombers, or beheadings - or WMD, (including nukes - as soon as they get them)... SEE EARLIER POST (below).

Fallujah Weapons Cache Yields Could Reduce Jihadoterrorist Attacks All Over Iraq For Months

Besides killing bad guys - which makes them unavailable for any future Jihadoterrorist missions - the Fallujah operation has yielded tons of weapons and explosives. From the Pentagon's DEFENSELink:

Air Force Lt. Gen. Lance L. Smith said at a Pentagon news conference that over the past 10 days a single unit had found 91 weapons caches and 431 improvised explosive devices in one sector of Fallujah.

"In contrast to that, the entire Marine Expeditionary Force found 48 caches and 93 IEDs in the month of October, and in all of Iraq in the month of October, units found 130 caches and destroyed 348 IEDs," he said. "So that is an incredibly significant amount of weapons and IEDs that were found in the city."

Smith said soldiers and Marines also found large IED-making facilities, and facilities for making vehicle-borne bombs. "So clearly, besides being a safe haven for leadership and command and control, Fallujah was a center for making the IEDs that were being produced and used in other parts of the country to attack the coalition," he said. "And we continue to make significant finds in the city every day."

WOW! Our brave military is doing great things. God Bless them! More at CENTCOM.

CONDI WILL BE TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT WHAT RUMSFELD AND GOSS HAVE BEEN TO THE PENTAGON AND THE CIA RESPECTIVELY

Belgravia Dispatch is one of the best blogs on foreign policy. Today, BD blogged on Condi. BD took the POV that Condi was a "flawed" NSC chair. BD agreed - basically - with Danner and Cordesman that the shortfalls in Iraq were due to "a flawed interagency process" and that since this is the primary responsibility of the NSC - and since Condi was chair of the NSC - that it was her fault.

This is flat out WRONG.

The reason there were problems in Iraq policy and policy execution is because there were problems within State and the CIA (and to a lesser extent because of lagging problems in the DOD - or should I say "institutional" unhappiness with the solutions to those problems instituted by Rumsfeld at the DOD). Powell never took on the entrenched bureaucrats or the Arabists in the State Department, choosing instead to handle them as he had as CJCS in the Pentagon: by allowing entrenched systems to continue by inertia.

Rumsfeld began the process of overhauling the DOD well before 9/11 - we reaped the rewards AFTER 9/11 - in Afghanistan and in Iraq: two brilliantly waged wars, wars waged AND WON with bold news strategies and tactics - strategies and tactics that were fought tooth & nail by old time Brass. Goss is undertaking a similar - long overdue - house-cleaning at the CIA.

Condi will do the same at State. Where an overhaul is also LONG OVERDUE. And she will succeed. Because Condi is tenacious, brilliant, experienced and knowledgeable about the bureaucracy, and she has the complete confidence of the President.

OUR ENEMY IS UNITED --- ISN'T IT TIME WE WERE, TOO?!

Our enemy in WW4 is united. The fascist jihadis are comprised of national, international, and transnational elements who share global strategic aims and who are cooperating to achieve them. Their cooperation transcends their national, ethnic, and sectarian divisions.

AQ Khan’s clandestine Nuclear Arms Proliferation enterprise utilized non-Muslim nations (China and North Korea) and Muslim nations of each major sect (Pakistan is predominantly Sunni, while Iran is predominantly Shia) and it was financed and/or sold its wares to socialist and capitalist Muslim nations (Libya is a Baathist/socialist/militarist state, Saudi Arabia is capitalist and aristocratic state).

Their goal - to achieve nuclear parity with the West - makes them transcend their differences (only for the time being, perhaps).

The Jihadoterrorists are united, too: Zarqawi is Jordanian; UBL is Saudi; Zawahiri is Egyptian; al Sadr is an Iraqi Shia; Ansar al Islam largely Kurdish and Shia. Van Gogh was murdered by Moroccans; Atocha was detonated by Algerians; the USS Cole by Yeminis; Bali by Asians; 9/11 by mostly Saudis.

POWERLINE has a story about how Zarqawi and Saddam and AL JAZEERA are linked - GO READ IT! Here's a snippet:

What did Saddam, al Qaeda and Al Jazeera Have In Common?
Haider Ajina sent us his translation of an article that appeared yesterday in the Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat. The headline was: "Al-Zarkawi’s right hand man 'Omar Hadid' was a personal body guard of Saddam Hussein and brother of the manager of Al-Jazeera in Baghdad. He also led the Terrorist fight in Felujah, and was trained in Afghanistan." Here is the text of the article: Iraqi security investigators have revealed that Al-Zarkawi’s right hand man Omar Hadid was a member of Sadam Hussein’s personal body-guards unit. Omar Hadid later joined Al Qaeda and was trained in Al Qaeda’s Afghanistan camps. Omar is the brother of the manager of the Baghdad office of Al-Jazeera news channel, which was closed three month ago.

You get the picture. WHY DOESN’T THE LEFT!? WHY DOESN'T OLD EUROPE!?

Why don’t they realize that their arguments – that Saddam was secular and wouldn’t have allied himself with al Qaeda, or that Iran is Shia and wouldn’t ally themselves with Libya, and so on – are false. Dangerously so.

LOOK: If we are going to defeat the enemy we must be united – MORE UNITED than we are now. Taming Iraq and pressuring Iran and Syria will take a much more concerted effort than we have heretofore seen. It’s now time the Old Europeans and the Left – and the moderate Muslim nations - buried the hatchet, and got on board. ALL THE WAY.

The SHARM EL SHEIK FORUM ON IRAQ'S FUTURE presents us with an opportunity to unite. Perhaps our last before any major new campaign is initiated by either side.

As reported in the BAHRAIN TIMES:

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahraion, Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, yesterday said that the Sharm El Sheikh forum to discuss Iraq’s future and pave the way for elections represented an unprecedented international convergence on the Iraqi issue. “The forum holds a special significance because all parties will take part, and more importantly, there will be an accord of the post-meeting process,” Shaikh Mohammed said.

Those attending the forum will include UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Mussa and his counterpart from the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, Abdelwahed Belkeziz.Outgoing US Secretary of State Colin Powell will make what is probably his last appearance at a conference on Iraq. Alongside Powell will be French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, as well as his counterparts from Britain and Germany, Jack Straw and Joschka Fischer. The two-day conference will open tomorrow afternoon with a meeting of the foreign ministers of Iraq’s neighbours – Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey and Jordan, as well as host country Egypt. They will be joined on Tuesday by the Arab ‘troika’ comprising Tunisia, Bahrain and Algeria. The G8 nations (the US, Russia, Japan, Canada, Germany, France, Britain and Italy) will also join on the second day.

(If we could get the Democrats to go, too... then we'd have a chance of straightening out all the nattering nabobs of negativism there at once! I guess Bush will have to deal with them separately!)

Update: two good articles. UPDATE #2: alQaida and the Chehchens are allies, too.