Category Archives: Foreign Policy

UPDATED: What ‘Bombing ISIS’ In Syria Looks Like

Donald Trump, Foreign Policy, Middle East, Neoconservatism, Russia, Terrorism, War

This is what “bombing ISIS” in Syria looks like. You can’t find them, you can’t tell friend from foe, and you kill kids galore. It’s a bad idea.

“The truth about Syria: Undercover behind rebel lines,” By Clarissa Ward

The Russians did it. How will our Daisy Cutters differ?

UPDATED (3/22): Donald Trump, will you consider?

There are no good bombs.

American Foreign Policy Foments A Good Deal Of Hatred

Donald Trump, Foreign Policy, Islam, Middle East

American foreign policy is a necessary but insufficient explanation as to why Muslims hate the United States. Myron Robert Pauli concentrates on the first variable in the hatred equation: What the U.S. government does to make Muslims hate us over and above the call of Islam.—ILANA

Republicans and Moslems
By Myron Robert Pauli

In the latest and possibly last of these Republican slugfest debates, the question arose over whether Moslems hate America.

Here’s what I would have said: “Suppose Liechtenstein murdered the government of Texas, installed corrupt incompetent puppets who make Boss Tweed look like Moses, destroyed the infrastructure, dropped 10,000 bombs all over Texas – while roving ethnic mobs of Christian Whites, secular Whites, Hispanics, and Blacks were murdering and displacing 3 million refugees. Would it be POSSIBLE that many Texans might hate Liechtenstein? Would the reason be other than that they are wealthier, have good skiing, pretty mountains, beer, a monarchy, safe banking, and sauerbraten?”

Kasich (not the first to answer) gave the standard politically-correct establishment blather of Moslems love us other than some “radical” 1% or so. A perfect example of why Republican voters have rejected the establishment. Well, Kasich seems to be a competent governor – so win your favorite son beauty contest and go back home to govern!

Trump, not surprisingly, answered “Moslems hate us”. He might have said MOST Moslems or MANY Moslems but a good showman knows how to jack up the ratings! He gave his usual, “You don’t like my answer, up yours!” look and gave his followers their daily orgasm as he gave his verbal finger to political correctness. No doubt he will probably qualify his answer next week on some TV interview but, of course, there is no such thing as bad publicity. Trump’s supporters love every word he says and will shrug off any contradictions to biased media attacks.

While I was thinking about the Moslem scientists I have worked with – none of whom have decided to don a suicide vest and blow themselves up in Union Station, I watched Ron Paul saying how he works with Moslem physicians. My daughter’s dermatologist is a Moslem but then so is Virginia born Dr. Malik Hasan – the Army psychiatrist who should have been killed in Ft. Hood if American soldiers were allowed to carry guns.

… And, of course, this is the flaw of generalization. A lot of Moslems hate us. Most do not kill us in although the percentage goes up when we invade their lands. And while not ALL terrorists are Moslems, a statistically significt—very significant—percent are.
Sneaky, devious, ambitious, and clever Cruz did not want to step on either the Kasich or Trump landmines and avoided answering.

Which led to the all-time lightweight answer from Rubio. Instead of repeating his “new century” slogan, he attacked Trump because Trump’s answer endangered “Christian missionaries in Bangladesh”! I can’t make this up!

Now think this over… How happy are Abdul and Fatima when their kids Jazmine and Ishmael come back as Christine and Luke and spotting big crucifixes? They might even be less ecstatic than the Orthodox Jews I know if their kids came back as Christians! They even might be less happy than Ted and Heidi Cruz would be one day if their teenage daughters came back as disciples of some lunatic sex-cult guru. Yes, Marco, if there is one thing that might upset Moslems even more than blowing up their electric power grid, it would be turning their kids into Christians! You managed to out-Kasich Kasich and out-Trumped Trump in one answer. You should just stick to the canned lines about how Obama knows exactly what he is doing or compare hand size with Trump!

Did anyone notice how many Moslems “hated America” when Cleveland, Taylor, or Hoover were Presidents? Indians perhaps – but probably most Moslems didn’t give any thought to America. However, why leave something alone when there is so much fun kicking a hornet’s nest? Ouch!

The primary season food-fight debates are almost over. Most likely, Hillary and Donald will sling enough “BS” to excite their followers to vote. In the long haul, some new politician will replace our current Hope-N-Change Messiah (wasn’t HE going to not only get Moslems to all love us but also reduce racial tensions in America????) , our troops will still be flailing around the Middle East, and more Moslems will come to hate us. As the French say, “plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose” (the more things change, the more they remain the same).

******
Barely a Blog (BAB) contributor *Myron Pauli grew up in Sunnyside Queens, went off to college in Cleveland and then spent time in a mental institution in Cambridge MA (MIT) with Benjamin Netanyahu (did not know him), and others until he was released with the “hostages” and Jimmy Carter on January 20, 1981, having defended his dissertation in nuclear physics. Most of the time since, he has worked on infrared sensors, mainly at Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC. He was NOT named after Ron Paul but is distantly related to physicist Wolftgang Pauli; unfortunately, only the “good looks” were handed down and not the brains. He writes assorted song lyrics and essays reflecting his cynicism and classical liberalism. Click on the “BAB’s A List” category to access the Pauli archive.

UPDATED: MIAMI Breakthrough: Not Just ANOTHER GOP Debate

Donald Trump, Economy, Elections, Foreign Policy, Free Markets, IMMIGRATION, Islam, Labor, Middle East, Republicans

For your convenience, here are my tweets in real time of the 12th, GOP debate, in CORAL GABLES, at the University of Miami (3/10). Since so few networks respect the written word, let us thank CNN for providing a transcript. For the first time, I’m comfortable saying Mr. Trump won the debate. He had never done so before.

UPDATE (3/11):

From first to last, with the most important tweet—you’re looking at it—in the lead:

UPDATED: Conservative For Trump Crucifies The ‘Con-servative’ Movement

Conservatism, Donald Trump, Elections, Foreign Policy, Iraq, Neoconservatism, Republicans

Somehow, being conservative now means denying the obvious and saying idiotic fantasies like ‘Islam is always peaceful’ or ‘Our war is not with a radical strain of Islam.’ Uh, sorry, but no it is not, and yes it is. And if getting a president who at least understands that means voting for Trump, then I guess I am not a conservative.John Kluge

A conservative attorney and veteran of failed, unconstitutional wars the kind Rubio/Cruz would continue, motivates his support for Trump and his disgust for “con-servatives.” (Doff of the hat to Jack Kerwick for sending this). He does seem confused about the genesis of our un-American foreign policy, blaming Democrats (Wilson), not incorrectly, but not considering the neoconservative interlopers who’ve hijacked conservatism. The parts I like:

* “it doesn’t appear to me that conservatives calling on people to reject Trump have any idea what it actually means to be a ‘conservative.’ The word seems to have become a brand that some people attach to a set of partisan policy preferences, rather than the set of underlying principles about government and society it once was.”

* “Conservatism has become a dog’s breakfast of Wilsonian internationalism brought over from the Democratic Party after the New Left took it over, coupled with fanatical libertarian economics and religiously driven positions on various culture war issues.”

* “Lost in all of this is the older strain of conservatism. The one I grew up with and thought was reflective of the movement. This strain of conservatism believed in the free market and capitalism but did not fetishize them the way so many libertarians do. … This strain understood that a government’s first loyalty was to its citizens and the national interest. And also understood that the preservation of our culture and our civil institutions was a necessity.”

* “Conservatives have become some sort of schizophrenic sect of libertarians who love freedom (but hate potheads and abortion) and feel the US should be the policeman of the world.”

* “… when the hell did being conservative mean thinking the US has some kind of a duty to save foreign nations from themselves or bring our form of democratic republicanism to them by force?”

* “… Trump said what everyone in the country knows: that invading Iraq was a mistake. Rather than engaging the question with honest self-reflection, all of the so-called “conservatives” responded with the usual ‘How dare he?’”

* “I do not care that Donald Trump is in favor of big government. That is certainly not a virtue but it is not a meaningful vice, since the same can be said of every single Republican in the race. I am sorry, but the ‘We are just one more Republican victory from small government’ card is maxed out. We are not getting small government no matter who wins. So Trump being big government is a wash.

* Sixth, Trump offers at least the chance that he might act in the American interest instead of the world’s interest or in the blind pursuit of some fantasy ideological goals. There is more to economic policy than cutting taxes, sham free-trade agreements and hollow appeals to “cutting government” and the free market. Trump may not be good, but he at least understands that. In contrast, the rest of the GOP and everyone in Washington or the media who calls themselves a conservative has no understanding of this.”

* “Our country is going broke, half its working-age population isn’t even looking for work, faces the real threat of massive Islamic terrorist attack and has a government incapable of doing even basic functions. Meanwhile, conservatives act like cutting Planned Parenthood funding or stopping gays from getting marriage licenses are the great issues of the day and then have the gumption to call Donald Trump a clown. It would be downright funny if it wasn’t so sad and the situation so serious.”

* “Some of us are pretty serious people and once considered ourselves conservatives. Even if you still hate Trump, you owe it to conservatism to ask yourself how exactly conservatism managed to alienate so many of its supporters such that they are now willing to vote for someone you loathe as much as Trump.”

Via New York Post.

John Kluge is an attorney living in Washington. He served in the US Army for nine years, including two deployments in Iraq and Kuwait. This essay first appeared on Ricochet.com.

UPDATE (3/10):