U.S. expels Venezuelan diplomat over cyberthreat
The Obama administration is expellin…
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Iran readies uranium enrichment at underground site
The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Org…
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Arizona marks anniversary of Tucson massacre
This time, in the supermarket parkin…
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Newt to Mitt: ‘Can we drop the pious baloney’
“Can we drop a little bit of the pio…
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Read more at: http://times247.com/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/8998411/The-battle-for-the-Pacific-will-reshape-the-world.html
JOHN HUNTSMAN DOESN’T EVEN GET CHINA….HOW DID HE GET SO FAR IN THE GOP?….RSK
America’s shift in defence strategy to focus on the Far East has momentous significance for Europe and Asia.
The Pentagon briefing room rarely hosts all of America’s service chiefs, let alone the president. Its use by Barack Obama to announce the conclusions of his defence review was designed to add a sense of drama – and the occasion certainly lived up to its billing. Future historians will probably conclude that this was the week when America’s entire foreign and defence strategy pivoted decisively away from Europe and towards the Pacific. More ominously, it might also mark the onset of a new, if concealed, arms race between the US and its aspiring rival, China.
First things first: America’s military dominance will remain unchallenged for the foreseeable future. Mr Obama might have announced spending cuts of almost $500 billion over the next decade, but this amounts to a light trim for a defence machine with an annual budget of $650 billion, amounting to 45 per cent of all military expenditure in the world. America is not axing capabilities in the foolish fashion of British governments; rather, its power is being focused on the great strategic challenges of the next century. These can be simply summarised: the struggle for mastery in Asia, home of the world’s most populous countries and fastest-growing economies, and responding to sudden crises. To this end, the US will reduce its presence in Europe, cut 90,000 soldiers and bulk up in the Pacific, with new bases in Australia and elsewhere. As for other flashpoints, few will be surprised that the US policy stresses the goals of containing Iran and guaranteeing free passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
http://politicalmavens.com/
Name a 21rst century movie about a famous, outstanding British woman suffering from Alzheimer’s with a devoted husband played by the noted British actor Jim Broadbent. “Iris” you say correctly, referring to the 2001 film about the author Iris Murdoch – but wait, here’s another that fits exactly the same description. “The Iron Lady,” starring Meryl Streep as a demented Margaret Thatcher and Jim Broadbent as her loyal spouse has so much wrong with it that perhaps its reprisal of another scenario is the least of its sins. Nevertheless, it bears mention since the decision to cast a bio-pic about England’s first woman prime-minister in the context of her doddering senility is not only wrong-headed but derivative to boot.
http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3531164,00.html
I’LL HAVE TO ASK JOHN HUNTSMAN WHO IS A MULTILINGUAL BORE HOW TO SAY THANKS A LOT IN CHINESE….RSK
China good for the Jews
A book titled ‘the Jews – why are they rich?’ would be considered anti-Semitic in every other country in the world. In China, however, it’s a sort of compliment. Ronen Medzini elaborates on the Chinese people’s idolization of the Jewish mind
Ronen Medzini
When I present myself to a Chinese person, it always boosts my ego. “A Jew? Very smart!” is the immediate response. It is mostly followed by “you are very good at business.”
http://www.stonegateinstitute.org/2740/cold-war-old-russia
President Obama has a long-term and serious aversion to American missile defense and an almost equally serious desire to befriend Russia. The Administration’s first “reset” included withdrawing hard-won permission for missile defense radars from Poland and The Czech Republic, dumping missile defense and America’s allies in favor of better relations with Moscow. The American concession to Russian interests was followed by the tightening of Russian screws on its domestic political and economic opposition along with continued Russian support for Iran and Syria in the UN.
A new “reset” is in the works. This time it involves the President giving Russia sensitive data that would allow the Russians to counter better what are considered the best of America’s missile defense interceptors. The potential for the degradation of our capabilities is matched by concern that the information Russia receives could be shared with China, Iran or North Korea.
But while President Obama may think the Cold War is over and the Russians are our friends, look at Syria. Look at Syria anyhow, and consider Libya.
Prompted by the (credible) threat of massacres in Libya, the West jumped to oust Gaddafi – don’t let them tell you it was about doctors, farmers and teachers rising up and over throwing their government. The doctors and teachers were there, of course, and so were al Qaeda operatives, but the intelligence, aerial bombing, weapons and Special Forces (some Western and some Jordanian) were not Libyan. They were NATO and friends.
Prompted by actual massacres in Syria, the Syrian uprising receives an Arab League delegation headed by Sudan’s Mohammad Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, the former head of Sudan’s military intelligence service, who created the janjaweed militias that have been pillaging, raping and starving the people of Darfur. He works for Omar al-Bashir, the “president” of Sudan who is under indictment for genocide by the International Criminal Court. The terms of the Arab League delegation’s visit were negotiated with Assad, and the killing continued right under its windows.
“Andalusia Spring” Reclaiming “Occupied” Spain for Islam
SPAIN IS THE MOST ANTI-ISRAEL/ANTI-SEMITIC NATION IN EUROPE AND THAT BAR IS VERY HIGH….NOW THEY ARE FEELING THE PINCH OF CALIPHATE….HMMMM THE MISERY OF MY ENEMIES IS …..RSK
http://www.stonegateinstitute.org/2744/andalusia-spring
Controversies over Islam dominated the Christmas and New Year holidays in Spain this year.
These conflicts reflect the growing influence of Islam in Spain after mass immigration from Muslim countries. They are a harbinger of things to come, especially as the Muslim population in Spain is predicted to double within the next fifteen years.
Demography, not surprisingly, is a major topic of debate in Spain. Spanish newspapers, for example, reported that the first child born in Spain in 2012 was Fatima, whose parents are Muslim. According to one estimate, a whopping 75% of all the babies born in Spain on January 1, 2012 were born to immigrant parents, primarily from Morocco.
This trend is not a new: the first babies born in Spain in 2005, 2009 and 2011 were all born to Muslim parents. Since 1990, the Muslim population in Spain has risen from just 100,000 to an estimated 1.3 million in 2011. At the same time, native Spaniards are leaving Spain in droves. The economic crisis in Spain – nearly one in four Spaniards (five million in all) are unemployed – is spurring a mass exodus of native Spaniards, who are looking for work in other countries, such as Britain, Germany and the United States.
The Narrative of Perpetual Palestinian Victimhood
http://www.stonegateinstitute.org/2586/palestinian-victimhood-narrative
Shelby Steele, Robert J and Marion E. Oster Senior Fellow, Hoover Institute, member of the Working Group on Islamism and the International Order.
The following is excerpted from a speech delivered September 22, 2011 in New York City at the conference “The Perils of Global Intolerance: The UN and Durban III,” sponsored by the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and the Hudson Institute.
The Arab-Israeli conflict, is not really a conflict, it is a war – a war of the Arabs against the Jews. In many ways, this conflict has been a conflict between narratives. We who strongly support Israel have done a poor job in formulating a narrative which will combat the story spun by the other side. We can do better.
The Durban conferences, the request for UN recognition of a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood, and the general animus in the Middle East and elsewhere toward Israel and toward the Jews, what are they really about? Is the Durban conference and the claim that Israel is a racist nation really about reforming the people of Israel and curing them of their racism?
I think their real interest is to situate the Palestinian people within a narrative of victimization. This is their ulterior goal: to see themselves and to have others see them as victims of colonialism, as victims of white supremacy.
Listen to their language; it is the language of colonial oppression. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas claims that Palestinians have been occupied for 63 years. The word oppressed is constant, exploited. In this, there is a poetic truth; like poetic license, in a poetic truth a writer will bend the rules in order to be more effective.
http://times247.com/articles/obama-planning-bypass-of-congress-to-soften-immigration-law
The president is making another bold move against Congress today, this time using his executive power to make changes to an immigration rule. The changes would allow illegal immigrants whose spouses or children are legal US residents to apply for a waiver from some penalties while they seek legal status.
Currently, they are required to return to their home countries before they can ask the US government for a visa to come back to the United States legally. Those visas are often subject to a three-to-10-year ban on returning to the US. …
It is Obama’s third salvo in as many days in his war against GOP members of Congress. Republicans have criticized the administration’s previous immigration policy changes as “backdoor amnesty.” Read the original article at Politico
Read more at: http://times247.com/articles/obama-planning-bypass-of-congress-to-soften-immigration-law
‘We can’t wait’: Obama skirts Congress on immigration
President Obama plans to take executive action to soften immigration policy — without congressional approval. Photo Credit:AP
West: Obama’s military cuts show ‘incompetence’
Rep. Allen West has harsh criticism for President Obama’s proposed military cuts. Photo Credit:AP
Rep. Allen West says the military cuts outlined by President Barack Obama at the Pentagon Thursday show “incompetence” in understanding the nation’s national security needs and the defense strategy is not “coherent.” …
“We’re not talking about a coherent national security strategy — what the president laid out is very dangerous and it really does show incompetence in understanding national security strategy,” West said. … West said the administration cannot take a “one-size-fits-all” approach to the nation’s military needs and operations, and noted the administration’s strategy shows military leaders were probably not consulted in devising the defense cuts.
“I can tell you that is probably the case — I have heard some rumination to that effect,” West said. “The guidance he gave was not oriented towards how we have a strategy to contend with threats across the world — it was more so based on a budget analysis.”
Read more at: http://times247.com/articles/west-obama-s-military-cuts-show-incompetence
www.hebronfund.org Yesterday my wife and I spent Shabbat in Jerusalem with some friends. They made Aliyah a year and a half ago and invited us to spend the day with them in the “Holy City.” After arriving at their apartment in the Kiryat Shmuel neighborhood of Jerusalem, I asked what time they leave the house […]
http://times247.com/articles/real-jobless-rate-stands-at-11-4-percent
One does not need to be a rocket scientist to grasp the fudging the BLS has been doing every month for years now in order to bring the unemployment rate lower: the BLS constantly lowers the labor force participation rate as more and more people “drop out” of the labor force for one reason or another. While there is some floating speculation that this is due to early retirement, this is completely counterfactual when one also considers the overall rise in the general civilian non institutional population. In order to back out this fudge we are redoing an analysis we did first back in August 2010, which shows what the real unemployment rate would be using a realistic labor force participation rate. To get that we used the average rate since 1980, or ever since the great moderation began. As it happens, this long-term average is 65.8% (chart 1). We then apply this participation rate to the civilian noninstitutional population to get what an “implied” labor force number is, and additionally calculate the implied unemployed using this more realistic labor force. We then show the difference between the reported and implied unemployed (chart 2). Finally, we calculate the jobless rate using this new implied data. It won’t surprise anyone that as of December, the real implied unemployment rate was 11.4% (final chart) – basically where it has been ever since 2009 – and at 2.9% delta to reported, represents the widest divergence to reported data since the early 1980s. And because we know this will be the next question, extending this lunacy, America will officially have no unemployed, when the Labor Force Participation rate hits 58.5%, which should be just before the presidential election.
SEE THE CHARTS
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