THE FOOLISHNESS OF BAKER'S LINKAGE

Even the Editorial Board of the Washington Post has figured out just how foolish James "F**k the Jews" Baker's prescription for linkage really is (Hat Tip: The Real Glenn):

Start with the supposition that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is somehow central to ending the chaos in Iraq. In fact, even if the two-state solution sought by the Bush administration were achieved, it's difficult to imagine how or why that would cause Sunnis and Shiites to cease their sectarian war in Baghdad or the Baathist-al Qaeda insurgency to stand down. It's no doubt true, as study group chairmen James A. Baker III and Lee H. Hamilton have said, that every Arab leader they met told them that an Israeli-Arab settlement must be the first priority. But the princes and dictators of Riyadh, Cairo and Amman have been delivering that tired line to American envoys for decades: It is their favorite excuse for failing to support U.S. initiatives and for refusing to reform their own moribund autocracies. In fact, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and other Iraqi neighbors have vital interests in the ongoing Iraqi power struggle. They can and should be moved to help stop the slide toward anarchy on their borders whether or not peace breaks out in Jerusalem.

As Kurdistan President Barzani has pointed out (along with Iraq President Talabani) the Baker-Hamilton Iran & Syria Gift does not address the realities of the Iraqi situation itself, and it is an "insult to the people of Iraq."

It is also an insult to the United States Armed Forces, whose heroic sacrifices deserve far, far better from the political leaders of their country.

KNOW THINE ENEMY

It is always interesting to observe how events are reported. Today we have a story of the murder of three young boys - the children of a Fatah intelligence officer - liquidated by Hamas gunmen - either as payback for an old score, or as part of the current power struggle in the PA, or BOTH!

A secondary story is now trying to put these murderous dogs in a better light - by floating the idea that the victims were somehow caught in the crossfire of a gunfight between unidentified gunmen and Hamas. Bullshit!!! - the photo and text on BBC is pretty clear: 70 shots into the car carrying the boys clearly demonstrates that these children were the targets of the attack and NOT innocent bystanders. (And then there are the NUTS who blame it on Israel/Mossad!!!)

What does this tell us of the Enemy: that they will murder the children of their political RIVALS! (And their allies in the media are willing to repackage the truth to make thier deeds palatable!)

These same people, who publicly proclaim that they intend to destroy Israel and the USA, certainly intend to treat our children no better. The IslamoFacistJihidistas intend to persevere until they win or are destroyed. And we have no choice but to face them - and destroy them. Without handwringing about the thousands of innocents who inevitably will be killed, maimed, and abused in the process!

But instead we are divided, and lacking the leaders who are willing to shoulder the burdens of power - and to make the tough decisions that are necessary to defeat these evil murderers. In the short term I am afraid the West will need to suffer severe and terrible losses before an appropriate response to this real threat to our freedom and culture is formulated and executed.

MORE HERE.

WHY HARRY TRUMAN DIDN'T RUN IN 1952

The sinister side of the blogosphere is working itself into a foamy-mouth lather over Senator Dick "Americans are worse than Nazis" Durbin's report that President Bush had the historic wisdom to compare his current predicament to that of Harry Truman's during the Korean War.

The other Glenn (the Mini Glenn?) says:

Bush believes he will be vindicated by history -- like Truman -- and anyone who thinks he is going to change course or moderate his aggression any simply hasn't been paying attention to how he operates.

Well, let's take a brief look at the historical record, shall we?

Most people today would consider the Korean War a success. At least a partial success. If the entire Korean Peninsula was not protected from the onslaught of communist tyranny, at least South Korea remained free, and over a period of four arduous decades of sacrifice and hard work the South Koreans were able to propel themselves from abject destitution to EU-class prosperity, and from autocracy to democracy.

By demonstrating to Stalin and Mao that the Free World (16 nations contributed fighting troops, and 5 more support personnel) would fight back against communist expansionism, Harry Truman managed to slow down the expansion of tyranny and poverty that the Wise Old Men's policy of containment allowed. (And not only in Korea; let's not forget his courageous stand in using an airlift to break Stalin's provocative blockade of West Berlin.)

But the Korean War was no more popular in the lamestream media of 1952 than the Iraq War is today. From June 25, 1950 to July 17, 1953, the entire Korean Peninsula was the scene of intense and bloody fighting. 36,940 Americans were killed in three years, along with 415,000 South Koreans, and 16,000 from the other countries in the U.N. coalition -- and on the enemy's side, over 500,000 North Korean soldiers and as many as 900,000 Chinese soldiers were killed. It is estimated that more than one million Korean civilians lost their lives during the war.

As the saying goes, freedom isn't free. Not by a long shot.

In 1952, Harry S. Truman's popularity rating was at 22%, and although he was exempted from the Constitutional Amendment limiting Presidents to two terms, after a poor showing in the New Hampshire primary, he withdrew from the race.

According to Senator Dick "Americans are worse than Nazis" Durbin:

Instead, Bush began his talk by comparing himself to President Harry S Truman, who launched the Truman Doctrine to fight communism, got bogged down in the Korean War and left office unpopular.

Bush said that "in years to come they realized he was right and then his doctrine became the standard for America," recalled Senate Majority Whip-elect Richard Durbin, D-Ill. "He's trying to position himself in history and to justify those who continue to stand by him, saying sometimes if you're right you're unpopular, and be prepared for criticism."

Durbin said he challenged Bush's analogy, reminding him that Truman had the NATO alliance behind him and negotiated with his enemies at the United Nations. Durbin said that's what the Iraq Study Group is recommending that Bush do now - work more with allies and negotiate with adversaries on Iraq.

Well, from the brief historical review I've outlined above, you can see that President Bush has got it exactly right.

Like the Truman Doctrine, the Bush Doctrine seeks to address the problem of a worldwide war launched by a fanatical enemy propelled by an erroneous and malefic ideology.

And as far as NATO and the UN are concerned, remember that only 16 countries contributed fighting troops to oppose the communists in Korea, and that in Iraq today fighting troops represent 22 nations in addition to the United States. NATO is explicitly committed to the war in Afghanistan, where 56 nations in addition to the US have committed troops, and the UN Security Council has approved a mandate which requires continuing American military involvement in Iraq.

Although it doesn't begin to approach it in scale and in the sheer hell of a massive collision between colossal adversaries, like the Korean War, the Iraq War is more difficult than the American public would like. Moreover, the Korean War was a direct attack on leftist statism, and the Iraq War opposes Islamist Statism. Since undermining American traditions of private property and the free market is a sanctified goal of the leftists who populate American newsrooms, both the Korean War and the Iraq war are ideologically suspect to them. So the press opposes the Iraq War for much the same reason that it opposed the Korean War.

And the unrelenting, unmitigated anti-administration propaganda of the media has had its effect. President Bush is unpopular, he can not get his message across through the screen of the media's distortions, and of course he will not be re-elected.

But President Bush, despite the often weak, confused, and half-hearted execution of the policy that he has outlined in his public speeches -- the Bush Doctrine-- is right.

The Iraq War is as just and as noble a cause as the Korean War. Or the Vietnam War, but that's a matter for another post altogether.

And history, even if the only future historical account of our era is penned by an Aesopian historian in a future worldwide Caliphate, will record that President Bush was right, and that America's cause was just.

IDF INTEL: "Syria preparing its army for war with Israel"

HAARETZ / (VIA YID WITH LID:

The head of the research division of Military Intelligence, Brigadier General Yossi Baidatz, said Sunday that Syrian President Bashar Assad is preparing for a war with Israel. He said that Assad has ordered increased production of long-range missiles and instructed the Syrian army to position its anti-tank missiles closer to the Syrian border with Israel, on the Golan Heights.

Some of the other sourcing is dubious, but only with regard to the imminence. And that's not so critical, really. After all, Syria and Iran and their jihadostooges are going to stage a massive attack against Israel again - if not sooner, then later. Unless we neutralize them first.

WHAT'S IN A NAME: WHAT "ISG" MUST REALLY STAND FOR

Many have weighed in with their own expalantion for ISG. Here's mine: Iranian-Syrian Gift.

THE ASTUTE BLOGGER SCOOPS DRUDGE AND THE MSM ON LIVESTOCK FLATULENCE

We wrote about the effect livestock flatulance is having on greehouse gas levels in the atmospsphere way back on 11/30/06:

COW FARTS INCREASE GREENHOUSE GASES MORE THAN MAN-MADE CO2

Xinhua (China): Cattle-rearing generates more global warming greenhouse gases, as measured in CO2 equivalent, than transportation, according to a new United Nations report released on Thursday. "Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious environmental problems," senior UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) official Henning Steinfeld was quoted by the Ghana News Agency as saying

Now 10 DAYS LATER, Drudge links to an MSM story on it:

Cow 'emissions' more damaging to planet than CO2 from car -

Meet the world's top destroyer of the environment. It is not the car, or the plane,or even George Bush: it is the cow. A United Nations report has identified the world's rapidly growing herds of cattle as the greatest threat to the climate, forests and wildlife.

Drudge and the UK-Independent link to the same set of facts we linked to, ONLY TEN DAYS LATER. Thus proving once again that TAB is the place to be! SPREAD THE WORD!

BTW: MARK MY WORDS: I believe that the eco-nutsies will now try to begin a global effort to get people to stop eating meat and become vegetarians. These eco-utsies - like Gore - will adopt the anti-smoking strategies and anti-trans-fat strategies of the nanny-state Leftists and try to ban meat. At the very least they will make an efforts to raise taxes on the livestock industry and on meat at retail - for our won good, for the common good, of course. MY ADVICE: HOLD ON TO YOUR HAMBURGER! BABY!

A MUSIC VIDEO: "If We Would Talk to the Terrorists"

A musical version of the ISG Report. MUST SEE TV.

HUGO CHAVEZ AND JOE CONASON MEET THE POPINJAY

Joe Conason, columnist for the New York Observer, took umbrage with me the other day for implying that he was a fan of Hugo Chavez. I made this charge in a roundabout way to see if anyone would remember a column he wrote during the short-lived coup that put Chavez out of power for a few days in 2002. Conason was annoyed with the Bush administration for "not standing up for a democratically elected president." Please. Everyone knew then what is painfully clear now: that Chavez is (and was then) a tyrant (Communist, Marxist, Stalinist, Nazi...you pick the label) and having him out of power would only be to the benefit of Venezuela.

But Chavez is a good Leftist and the American Left has a long love affair with Leftist dictators, whether it be Castro, Ortega, Stalin, Gorbachev, et al. Now if your dictator is more of the Right Winged persuasion like say, an Augusto Pinochet, then it's off with his head!

I SAY: A dictator is a dictator, whether he's "elected" or not.

UPDATE: Conason responds:

"Hard to say which is worse - your reading comprehension or your personal integrity. To take the simplest example, the phrase you put in quotation marks above did not appear in my column. It's a trick you can attempt only because there's no link to the column you are supposedly quoting.

I would be happy to send that column to any reader who'd like to know what it actually says. My email address is jconason-at-observer.com."

There is no link because the New York Observer's archives are subscription only. I did not republish any any of it on my website because of that fact, but very well, you have forced my hand: Here are the first two paragraphs of the column in question (which I paid for):

It was a good week for democracy in Latin America, and not such a good week for democracy in Washington and New York.

Beyond those immediate observations, we know far less at the moment than we need to know about the events leading up to the coup and countercoup in Venezuela. Who was killed in the violent street demonstrations of April 11? Who did the shooting? When did the State Department learn that a coup was imminent? What did our diplomats (and military attachés) say to the plotters? Why did the White House and the National Security Council ignore our treaty obligations to oppose the unlawful overthrow of an elected President? (Emphasis mine)

Joe is correct. I shouldn't have paraphrased his words and for that I apologize. The two statements have the exact same meaning, but that's still no excuse. I do however suggest that everyone take Joe up on his offer and have him send the column to you directly. It's speaks for itself.

Reliapundit adds: I think Popinjay is right: Conason's column clearly was supportive of Chavez. And I agree that it's because the Left likes Leftist dictators who talk of "class war" and promise "economic justice", "free" healthcare and the like. The road to serfdom is littered with billboards promising this crap.

Unike Popinjay, though, I wouldn't ever lump Pinochet in with scum like Chavez. I admire Pinochet for what he PREVENTED, and accept his tactics as a necessary part of the war against Leftism which he waged successfully - resulting in the fact that Chile is now the most properous, freest, and most stable democracy in South America. The numbers of political deaths in Chile as a percentage of total population are miniscule compared to those in Cuba or any other socialist nation -- like Cambodia or the USSR, for example - socialist tyrannies which most folks like Conason - Leftie MSM'ers - have never decried. I abhor Chavez and Castro because they use similar tactics as Pinochet, BUT they used them in the service of SOCIALISM which is ESSENTIALLY AND FUNDAMENTALLY an ideology and politico-economic system which hostile to and limits individual liberty.

I agree with the late GREAT Jeane Kirkpatrick - a former socialist herself - who said authoritarians like Pinochet were categorically better than Leftist tyrants and Chavez and Castro. Means must in part be graded or measured against the ends, and with the agents intentions in mind. Lenin wanted to create a UTOPIA - if he had to commit genocide against MILLIONS, then so-be-it. Pincohet had no such utopia goal he merely tried prevent Marxism from smashing Chile, and to foster a state which would eventually allow for democracy and maximum individual liberty - and the prosperity which is a by-product of that liberty. Chile was lucky for Pinochet's service. Venezuela suffers because of Chavez: Their economy is faltering and they have fewer liberties. Like Hayek said: it's the road to serfom.

Sharansky will be awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom

JPOST:

Former Israeli minister and statesman and world-renowned Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky will be awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony this week, becoming only the fourth non-American citizen to receive the two top civilian honors in the United States, the White House announced this weekend.

Sharansky, 58, who stepped down from Israeli politics last month and now serves as a distinguished fellow at the Shalem Center, a conservative Jerusalem research institute, joins Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela and Pope John Paul II as the only non-American citizens to receive both the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Medal of Honor.

RTWT. Buy/read this, too.

JIHADISTS: ISG REPORT SIGNALS THE "DAWN OF THE REAL ISLAM"

So says Abu Ayman, a senior leader of Islamic Jihad in the northern West Bank town of Jenin, as he gloated about details in the report from the Iraq Study Group. Islamic Jihad is the group which has been responsible for suicide bombings within Israel over the past two years. More from Abu Ayman:

"The [ISG] report proves that this is the era of Islam and of jihad..."(With the Iraq Study Group report), the Americans came to the conclusion that Islam is the new giant of the world and it would be clever to reduce hostilities with this giant. In the Koran the principle of the rotation is clear and according to this principle the end of the Americans and of all non-believers is getting closer."

And this from Abu Abdullah, leader of Hamas's military wing:

"It is not just a simple victory. It is a great one. The big superpower of the world is defeated by a small group of mujahedeen (fighters).... "It is no doubt that Allah and his angels were fighting with them (insurgents) against the Americans. It is a sign to all those who keep saying that America, Israel and the West in general cannot be defeated on the ground so let us negotiate with them."

According to Abu Abdullah, after the United States withdraws from Iraq:

"America must understand that with anti-American governments in Latin America and with Islam growing and reinforcing, including in the US itself, the next step would be a total defeat on their (American) land, not a relative one like they are facing in Iraq."

Is this all bluff and bluster which we shouldn't worry about?
Before 9/11, we thought that Osama bin Laden's threats were bluff and bluster.

PRESIDENT OF IRAQ CONDEMNS BAKER REPORT

BBC:

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has criticised some of the main findings of a high-level US report calling for a change of strategy in Iraq. Mr Talabani rejected the Iraq Study Group's proposal to withdraw US troops if Iraq failed to strengthen security.

He also objected to including former regime members in reconciliation talks. His comments come as outgoing US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made a surprise visit to Iraq to thank US troops for their efforts in the war. "[The report] contains dangerous articles which undermine the sovereignty of Iraq and its constitution" - Jalal Talabani

SO... IRAQ - a new democracy and a new ally of thhe West in the GWOT - WANTS us to stay until they can defend themselves. In addition, the USA occupation of Iraq is required by the UNSC and international law.

So all those who say we should leave by a time-table are essentially advocated ABANDONING an ally and violating international law! AND FOR WHAT!?!?! To appease our enemies!? Sheesh.

Never has a more stupid, insidious, odious, cowardly and foolish proposal been made in wartime.

TURKS NAB 10 AL QAEDA - INCLUDING LEADER OF AL QAEDA IN TURKEY

GULF DAILY: Turkish Al Qaeda leader 'arrested'

Turkish police have detained a lawyer who admitted he was the leader of Al Qaeda in Turkey, Anatolian News Agency reported yesterday. Nine other suspects were also held. Police seized bomb-making material and a compact disc set to explode when inserted into a computer - the first time Turkish police had got hold of such a device - the state-run agency said. They also found maps of an oil refinery owned by the Tupras group in the house, the agency said.

SCOTSMAN:

The 10 were detained in simultaneous raids in the cities of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. Police seized bomb-making material, including a minuscule explosive device placed on a CD which would have exploded if played. Two suicide bomb attacks in 2003 in Istanbul blamed on a Turkish al-Qaeda cell killed 58 people. More than 70 are on trial for alleged roles in the bombings, though the ringleaders fled and some reportedly died in Iraq while fighting US forces.

This is good news. But, pretty soon one or two of the hundreds of cells in Europe are gonna succeed. Which is why we can't win this war with police work, intel, and certainly not "first responders." We need to take the fight to the enemy. And not just in Afghanistan and Iraq.


UPDATE: 10 HOURS later LGF notices the story.

Proving once again that TAB is the place to be! Spread the word.

SARKOZY CRITICIZES SEGOLENE FOR MEETING WITH HIZBALLAH

IHT:

French conservative presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy called Socialist rival Segolene Royal to task Saturday for meeting a Hezbollah lawmaker during a recent visit to the Middle East.

"One does not discuss things in this way, there are a certain number of conditions that should be respected," Sarkozy said during a debate in his conservative UMP party. ... Sarkozy ... suggested that Royal had violated international conditions set for talks with groups such as Lebanon-based Hezbollah, considered by the United States and many countries as a terrorist group. Sarkozy said the fact that the Hezbollah lawmaker was popularly elected was not enough to justify meeting with him.

Sarkozy also reiterated his position on the Middle East, which is considered more pro-Israeli than other French politicians.

This demonstrates why I think that - (with Blair leaving the stage - thus making lil' Denmark the only Western European nation unambiguously supporting the USA in the GWOT) - Sarkozy is Europe's last best hope for ending euro-islamification: he knows who the bad guys are and wants them defeated. I pray he wins.

UN: "'man-made' global warming not as bad as we thought..."

TELEGRAPH: UN downgrades man's impact on the climate

Mankind has had less effect on global warming than previously supposed, a United Nations report on climate change will claim next year. The IPCC has been forced to halve its predictions for sea-level rise by 2100, one of the key threats from climate change. It says improved data have reduced the upper estimate from 34 in to 17 in.

It also says that the overall human effect on global warming since the industrial revolution is less than had been thought, due to the unexpected levels of cooling caused by aerosol sprays, which reflect heat from the sun.

The article quotes a lot of eco-nutsie scientists who then go on to argue that things are really bad anyway - or will be in another 50 years or 100 years, or so, but that's all a lot of CONJECTURE. The facts remain: things ain't gonna be as bad as these AL Gore-type eco-nutsies were HYSTERICALLY CLAIMING AS RECENTLY LAST YEAR. Which is why I wish all the eco-nutsies would take a deep, CO2-filled breath and STFU.

SHOWDOWN IN LEBANON LOOMING...

BBC:

Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud has formally rejected a cabinet proposal to create a tribunal to try suspects in the killing of former PM Rafik Hariri. The pro-Syrian leader said the cabinet had already lost its legitimacy when it passed the decree calling for the UN-backed tribunal last month. Mr Lahoud has regarded the cabinet as unconstitutional since Shia ministers and their allies resigned last month. A UN inquiry has implicated Syria in Mr Hariri's assassination last year. Syria has denied the allegation.

Mr Lahoud had said he would reject the decree to form a tribunal the day after the cabinet passed it. A statement issued by the president's office on Saturday said he had returned the draft to cabinet "for reviewing as soon as a constitutional and legitimate cabinet is formed".

Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's cabinet is expected to seek parliament's approval for the plan, even though it does not have the president's signature.

If Bush had balls, then the next sound you'd hear would be the sound of Assad's ass being blown to Kingdom come. SURE: there'd be chaos in Syria. SO WHAT!? It's like all those Sunnis killing Shias in Iraq: SO WHAT: IT'S A SELF CLEANING OVEN: THEY'RE KILLING EACH OTHER, SO WE DON'T HAVE TO! Sort of like the Iran-Iraq War - to which Kissinger said, "Too bad they BOTH can't lose!"

Too bad Bush is seemingly a wimp, and will probably let Rice and the next UN Ambassador go through the kabuki dance which is the UNSC. Which means a confrontation is STILL months away, months during which the enemy gets stronger and our resolve weakens. So, while the clock ticks, Bush seems content to keep his eye on the calendar. I'M FLABBERGHASTED AND FRUSTRATED! Stay tuned... (More HERE at JP/AP.)

CHAVEZ RUNNING VENEZUELA INTO THE GROUND

Hugo Chavez and his policies are yet more proof that Socialism doesn't work ... ever:

Here’s what Chavez’ Socialist revolution has to show for itself. Barely a dent taken out of poverty, GREATER dependency on foreign banks and governments, MASSIVE economic contraction. Adjusting for their rate of inflation, the economy is half the size it was 8 years ago, effectively making even those he’s “helping” poorer than they were a decade ago.

- In 1998 GDP was $185 billion (£93 billion); in 2006 it is $162 billion

- Inflation: 38 per cent (1998); 16 per cent (2006)

- Proportion in poverty: 44 per cent (1998); 34 per cent (2006)

- External debt: $27 billion (1998); $34 billion (2006)

ON WISHING PINOCHET A SPEEDY RECOVERY AND CASTRO A PAINFUL DEATH

UPDATE: Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, R.I.P. (Complete round up HERE AT MEMEORANDUM.)

Pincohet is recovering from heart surgery. We wish him a speedy recovery. WHY? Because he saved Chile from Marxist dictatorship. Now, Chile is perhaps the freest and richest and most stable democratic nation in all of South America AS A DIRECT RESULT OF PINOCHET.

The Left reviles Pinochet as a criminal. They say he killed thousands. Perhaps he did. But he did it to save his nation from a socialist dictatorship. And it worked.

The Left loves Castro, though... even though Castro killed tens of thousands, and put hundreds of thousands into prison, as political prisoners, because they wanted to be FREE.

(CAUTION: link has some very tough photos!)

And as a result of Castro's terror, he plunged his nation - which at the time was the second richest nation in the Caribbean region, (second to Jamaica) - into abject poverty. Now, only Haiti is poorer! And NO ONE in Cuba has any human rights: no freedom of religion, of the press, or of speech.

Yet Castro is still the darling of the Left, and Pinochet is still reviled. SHOULD WE BE SURPIRSED? No, the Left supports ANYONE who opposes the USA and traditional Judeo-Christian culture. Hence their support for Castro and the jihadists, an their desire to appease both. And my desire to oppose both the Left everywhere.

Well, Castro is very sick. Perhaps he's dead already; why else would he miss his own birthday party!?!?

If he's alive, then I hope Fidel is SUFFERING GREATLY. And that he dies a horrible death. And that Cuba rises up and overthrows their socialist dictatorship and joins the ranks of great, free and democratic nations. When it does, I am sure that the GREAT Cuban people will once again join the ranks of those who ENJOY not only their innate God-given human rights, but the best standard of living anywhere. CUBA LIBRE!

BTW: When Pinochet took over from Allende (who would have done to Chile what Fidel had done to Cuba, and Mugabe is doing to Zimbabwe) I don't recall seeing ANY Chilean "boat people" risk their lives on home-made rafts in order to flee Chile for Cuba. Heck: EVEN HAITIANS DON'T TRY TO GO TO CUBA. WHY?! Because Cuba is hell - the last stop on the road to serfdom. The sooner Fidel dies the sooner the Cubans come back on the road to freedom.

MUGABE THE SOCIALIST

TELEGRAPH:

Mugabe joins massive diamond rush


A British-listed mining company, the first to invest in bankrupt Zimbabwe since the political crisis began, was ordered off its valuable diamond claim yesterday. While President Robert Mugabe has seized thousands of white-owned farms since 2000 he has, up until now, left mining property alone. The claim, an extraordinary chunk of ancient tribal land in south eastern Zimbabwe, may be one of the richest diamond fields found in recent years. And the Zimbabwe government wants it.

And Mugabe will say it's for the common good Like Hillary. Like all "good" socialists. (Click the photos for backgrounders on Mugabe.)

JEANE KIRKPATRICK DIES

The irony shouldn't be lost on anyone. In the same week that John Bolton - the most effective U.N. Ambassadors we've had since Jeane Kirkpatrick - quits his job due to Democratic Party/Stalinists pressure, Kirkpatrick passes away. She was our version of Margaret Thatcher: a strong conservative woman, more intelligent than attractive with a commanding voice and a sometimes gruff style. She, like her boss, Ronald Reagan, was a Democrat before making the conversion to Reagan Conservativism.

Bill Bennett, a former secretary of education under Reagan, the nation's drug czar under the first President Bush and a leading conservative opinion-maker, called her "very forceful, very strong, a daughter of Oklahoma, great sense of humor. She held her own."

Bennett said the Iraq Study Group so prominently in the news "would have been better with Jeane Kirkpatrick on it ... She had no patience with tyrannies, said they had to be confronted, you couldn't deal with tyrannies, that there were some people you could work with - these people you couldn't."

Let's hope she's not the last of her kind.

TONY BLAIR: CONFORM TO OUR CULTURE OR LEAVE

It seems like Tony Blair is starting to get it. Well, at least a bit:

Mr Blair urged the public to embrace multiculturalism People entering the UK must be prepared to be tolerant or not become part of British society, Tony Blair has said. In a speech at Downing Street, Mr Blair said that tolerance was "what makes Britain, Britain" and warned "we must be ready to defend this attitude".

The prime minister said: "So conform to it; or don't come here. We don't want the hate-mongers, whatever their race, religion or creed." He also defended multiculturalism, saying it should be celebrated.

I think he's still going to have to come to the point where he can make a distinction between multiculturalism and a British melting pot, but one has to credit him for making such a forceful statement. By the way, France's Nicolas Sarkozy seems to be coming to the same conclusion at the same time -"I Want An Islam Of France...":

France is multiple. France is diverse. Whether one likes it or not. The second religion of France is Islam. I want an Islam of France, I don't want an Islam in France. I demand therefore a Frenchification of Islam to make it compatible with the laws of the Republic." The last sentence is repeated 3 times and then the video displays these words: "Islam must be made compatible with France," Nicolas Sarkozy tells us.

Reliapundit adds: Okay, fine. Now, what will Sarkozy do if they refuse to be frenchified/Westernized? This is the real crux of the crisis. It is a crisis of confidence: Will France - and the West - summon up ALL the resolve and courage it will take to remain WESTERN, or will the France and the West crumble from attacks made on it by Islam - from without and within? The answer will come in the next few years... YES: The survival of the West will be determined in the next few years.

DEMEMBER 8TH, 1941 - was the date FDR set the goal for the USA in war

TODAY - NOT YESTERDAY - IS THE ANNIVRSARY OF FDR'S GREAT SPEECH. Many MANY bloggers posted on it yesterday - because it was the anniversary of the BOMBING of Pearl Harbor.

THE ASTUTE BLOGGER posted on it LAST SUNDAY - in anticipation of the anniversary, and because we at TAB saw the comparison (between our strong resolute and unified efforts then and our ambivalent and half-assed efforts now), FIRST. As usual, TAB scooped the ENTIRE BLOGOSHERE. VDH, Power Line, Michele, the Captain... ALL OF THEM! Spread the word.

Here's what FDR said:

As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

Here's some of what we posted:

ON DECEMBER 8th, 1941 FDR SET A SINGLE GOAL FOR WW2
It was called unconditional VICTORY.

Pretty simple. ABSOLUTE VICTORY, UNCONDITONAL VICTORY. Either you are with us or against us. FDR did ask us to engage the enemy with words - BUT WITH BOMBS AND BULLETS AND BAYONETS!

The Left and the MSM are against us now; (ASIDE: the MSM weren't allied with our enemies in 1941 - I argue because we were allies of the USSR, and the Left liked WW2 because of that alliance. If Russia and France were our allies now, then the Left would be MUCH more supportive. GET THAT?!? The Left follows the lead of the amoral French and the immoral Russians! SHEESH.).

The MSM have carrried water for the enemy from Day 2 of the GWOT; they function as the propaganda arm of the enemy. The ISG report proves how effective this propaganda war has been FOR THE ENEMY. Which is why I have always said: In order to defeat the jihadists abroad we have to defeat the Left at home.

"DON'T PLAY US FOR CHUMPS"

Dennis Miller's take on the six praying imams:


[Hat-tip to CatHouse Chat]