Ricky the Perry - Deeper into the Stupid

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Further to the post below, Rick Perry is now wallowing in his own stupid.  On CNNs "The Situation Room" hosted by Wolf Blitzer, he goes beyond his initial stupid of saying that Turkey was run by Islamic extremists to now advocating that it be kicked out of NATO and that the US should not only, not have any relationship with Turkey, but that Turkey owes the US an explanation.   This mouth breathing knuckle dragger is symbolic of the conservative Christian movement in the US.  No country owes the US any sort of "explanation" - least of all a strong US ally like Turkey.

He then talks about honor killings  (a practice in some groups in Turkey, but also in Afghanistan, Egypt and that great ally of the US, Pakistan) as if it is official Turkish policy.  These honor killings are illegal in Turkey and the state prosecutes its practitioners.

He thinks the US provides foreign aid to Turkey? Well, if you consider mult-million dollar arms sales as aid, I guess to the galactically stupid he is correct.  Turkish troops fight together with US troops in Afghanistan.  More to the point, can anyone identify the single instance that Israeli troops ever fought alongside the US military. And yet they get to dictate US foreign policy in the Middle East.

He wants to "deal" with Turkey, Syria and Iran?  Wise up moron - Article 5 of the NATO treaty says that all members will treat an attack on one as an attack on all. 

Rick Perry is a monumental dope and dumber than a bag of hammers who should go home to his country – otherwise known as Texas – and crawl back under his rock.  I, for one, am all for secessionist sympathies in Texas. That way all of them would need visas, the US military could close all its bases and, best of all, the Cowboys could no longer be called "Americas Team".

Rick Perry - Darling of the Right

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Is Rick Perry dumber than a bag of hammers?

YES

Rick Perry said in Monday’s South Carolina debate that Turkey may have been taken over by “Islamic terrorists” based on their ruling Islamic party. The answer came in response to a question over whether Turkey should remain a NATO ally, which Perry said was a conversation worth having.

“Obviously when you have a country that is being ruled by what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists, when you start seeing that type of activity against their own citizens, then, yes,” he said. “Not only is it time for us to have a conversation about whether or not they belong…but it’s time for the United states, we look at their foreign aid, to go to zero with it.”

This level of ignorance – reflected in his and other right wing tea party activists – is simply too astoundingly stupid to measure. 

Ten Events in Iran's Nuclear Program

This is a guest post by Shelly Mirriam, a science student and creator of www.mastersinenvironmentalscience.org, an objective source for students looking to find information on Environmental Science.

The issue of a nuclear Iran is a complex and touchy subject that will no doubt be a huge topic of debate during the upcoming US election cycle.  But with both sides arguing frightening scenarios, it can all be a little confusing.  To help get a better understanding of it, we have included ten key events from 2002 on during which Iran has been pursuing its nuclear program which began in the 1950s.  Keep in mind that Iran has 16 known nuclear facilities and insists that they are for peaceful purposes.  Iran is also a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT).

2002 – The Russians resume construction of Iran’s first nuclear facility in Bushehr which began under the Shah under contract with German companies and help from the Ford administration in the US.

2003 – The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspects Bushehr, as well as the newly revealed enrichment and heavy water facilities at Natanz and Arak, for any sign of nuclear weapon development and finds no evidence.

2004 – The IAEA rebukes Iran for failing to fully cooperate with their investigations, and Iran agrees to voluntarily and temporarily suspend uranium enrichment (enrichment is not a violation of the NPT).

2005 - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wins presidential election in Iran and Iran resumes uranium enrichment but is found in non-compliance with the Safeguards Agreement by the IAEA. 

2006 – Iran announces it has successfully developed enriched uranium to 3.5% (over 20% is considered weapons grade while 90% is used to produce nuclear weapons) despite IAEA protests and in violation of UN resolution 1696.  UN Security Council votes for sanctions (UNSC Resolution 1737), pushing Iran to speed up uranium enrichment.

2007 – President Ahmadinejad claims he can produce nuclear fuel on an “industrial scale”.  After more UN violations by Iran, U.S. announces toughest sanctions on Iran in 30 years.

2008 – Iran tests several missiles and claims to be able to launch one into space.  Russia refuses to impose further sanctions on Iran.

2009 – Germany and several UN Council Members offer Iran the opportunity to enrich their uranium abroad.  Iran rejects the proposal as political and announces plans for further facilities.

2010 – Turkey and Brazil offer a plan for enrichment abroad but the US and certain EU countries do not agree with a plan  which they say is too limited.  A November IAEA report says Iran has 28 centrifuge cascades that are now enriching uranium up to 19.8%. 

2011 – Recent IAEA reports suggest that Iran is working on nuclear weaponry.  The IAEA found explosive containment facilities and concluded that Iran was attempting to develop nuclear weapon capability.

The complexity of the issue is much more than can be summarized by these ten milestones.  However, given the recent escalation in rhetoric regarding the Straits of Hormuz, Iranian naval exercises in the region and the Western response,  it is hoped that readers will look more in depth into how we arrived at the state we find ourselves.

.org/>Shelly Mirriam is a science student and also writes for Masters in Environmental Science which helps students find the right environmental science degree.

In the Land of the Galactically Stupid

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This is a foreign policy blog – so I just could not resist:

“Every barrel of oil that comes out of those sands in Canada is a barrel of oil that we don’t have to buy from a foreign source”

Rick Perry, POTUS Wanabe in Clarinda, Iowa

Note well:  This got a huge round of applause from the audience.

Germany = EU - EU = Germany

Lest anyone feel uncomfortable with the notion that Germany is the EU and the EU is Germany, they need simply to  look at their Hooveristic economic policy it is imposing on  the EU and their attitude toward Ukraine at the recently conclude EU-Ukraine summit.
 

In the first case, the German government is simply saying that others – and they are looking at Spain, Italy and Greece in particular – must be like them, or else; hence the proposal to force the 27 members of the EU to amend their national constitutions to require balanced budgets.  To propose this in a recessionary environment sounds rather foolish especially when Germany has not proposed any growth policies, just crippling austerity which, ultimately won’t work to solve the multiple problems.  Coupled with the trade imbalances that exist in the EU – which Germany seems disinclined to address – it is hard to imagine any solution that would satisfy Germany which did not require that its policy choices are mirrored in Brussels.  If that’s the case, then the Eurozone is going to disintegrate and maybe even the EU.

The second German imposed decision arose at the EU-Ukraine summit.  Blithely ignoring the Polish position that inducements work better than sticks, Germany engineered the summit so that the EU did not even initial the Association Agreement with Ukraine killing, for the time being, closer economic cooperation and letting Yanukovich off the hook.  The reason for this rejection of even a small step forward was the German view that the Tymoshenko trial and imprisonment should bring the entire integration process to a grinding halt.  Astoundingly, Germany ignored Tymoshenko’s call to sign the Agreement preferring to appear as a defender of human rights while obscuring the inconvenient fact that 1) it is joined at the hip with Russia for energy and investment; 2) it gets to work on pipeline projects originating with Russia; and 3) it gets preferential pricing by Gazprom.

The result is that the EU, run by Germany, has managed to push an important country like Ukraine closer to the demonstrably undemocratic Russia and has also failed to come to grips with the Eurozone/EU crises.  Not a bad month’s work.

Merry Christmas to All

France and Freedom of Speach

I’ve been gone for almost a month since my day job is in an end-year crunch to complete a raft of legislation here in Tajikistan.   As the holiday period approaches though, the rush by the government has abated.

The French lower house of parliament recently voted to make it a crime to deny that the Armenians suffered genocide during 1915 at the hands of the Ottomans.  The French should – but won’t – discuss the 1.7 million Algerians that were killed during their colonial war.  That’s ok as we all know that governments are hypocritical when it comes to their own history but are easily lured by the political advantage of condemning other nations or peoples. 

However, France and some other continental countries go further that simply expressing an opinion. They legislate against any other opinion that challenges their view.  Note to France (and Germany) – this is curbing the freedom of speech which you hold is one of the foundations of liberal democracy.  It is unique to France and such actions would never occur in the US or the UK.

There is no question that Turkey needs to move forward on its own to recognize the tragedy of 1915 – perpetrated by a different government in both form and substance.   It was clearly an attempt at ethnic cleansing – not genocide (as the word did not exist until recently).  The actions of the Ottomans need to be addressed between Armenia and Turkey and I humbly suggest that the comfortable Armenians in the United States and France keep their collective noses out of the issue.  I spent enough time in Armenia to know that many there would be able to resolve their differences in the region if they were permitted by the diaspora to do so.

And perhaps France and Germany should keep in mind that their great EU experiment is heading for catastrophe while Turkey is a rising power that should be courted, not rejected not least because its economy puts every EU member, except for Poland, to shame.