Obama & Russia: Gulf of Tonkin, Redux?

Lots of excited tweets and press reporting about Russian "hacking," and Obama's "tough" actions against the Soviet Russian diplomatic presence in the USA. The State Department has ordered 35 Russian personnel out of the US, declaring them PNG, and shut down two large Russian owned compounds one on Long Island, New York, and the other in Centreville, Maryland. In its last three weeks in office, Obama's misadministration suddenly discovered that Russia spies on us, that many of Russia's diplomats are actually spies, and that those two compounds, owned by the USSR and Russia for decades, are used for "espionage." Ask the folks at Aberdeen Proving Grounds about that Maryland compound.

Wow! I guess Romney was right when he worried about the 1980's being back, eh?

There's a lot to say on all of this, but I will only say a bit--many others out there smarter than I are writing a lot about this. I am, however, just taken, really quite impressed, in fact, by how patriotic and national security conscious the Dems and the progs, in general, have suddenly become. Suddenly (there's that word, again) American security and sovereignty are at the top of prog and media concerns. They demand respect--Demand it, I tell you!--for the office of the President and his sole prerogative on foreign policy matters. We only have one President at a time, we are reminded whenever Trump's camp comments on anything having to do with foreign affairs. Those of us skeptical of some or much of the Russian "hacking" tale, get told that we have to believe the President and to stop siding with the evil Putin. I have to wonder if that will be the same line taken after January 20? Will Obama respect that admonition?

But, I digress, we have Commies Russkies to hunt down!

Re the "hacking," The Hill has published the FBI/DHS report on the matter. There are lots of people much better equipped than I to analyze it, BUT let me just note that on reading that report, I don't think it really makes the case. There are a lot of assertions but no real proof. Well, first it's not clear what the case is it is trying to make. Is it trying to convince us that Russia spies on the USA? Hey, Elmer, does the sun rise in the east? There are some interesting expositions on Soviet/Russian espionage techniques and history, and some flat assertions, but nothing that comes near being a smoking gun. Maybe that's in a more classified version of this investigation, and we will just have to wait, but for now, the "proof" is rather skimpy if the charge is the Russians "hacked" our elections in an effort to throw them to one side. As the report itself seems to indicate, access was gained to the DNC computers via an "old fashioned" phishing scheme that got a senior official (John Podesta, it seems) to give away his password and other information to "hackers" who then used his email account to gain access to the DNC. That's kind of a standard, run-of-the-mill Nigerian-Romanian-Chinese-Russian, etc. method. Anyhow, read the report; those more technically savvy than I can try to convince me that the proof is there for the accusation of Russian state "hacking" of our election.

As I have said MANY times, I am perfectly willing to accept, if for no other reason, on the basis of my own nearly 34 years in the Foreign Service, that Russian state actors engage in espionage and influence operations against and in the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, and elsewhere. I also am quite willing to believe that this administration has proven notably passive and inept in responding to Russian, Chinese, Iranian, Cuban, and North Korean penetrations of our computers and nets, both public and private. I also must wonder if all this "tough" response would be happening if Hillary had won the elections? Kinda doubt it.

One additional problem is that I am old enough to remember the actions of another Democratic President, the late LBJ, and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which opened the door for our massive involvement in Vietnam, a place of no particular strategic or economic importance to us. There were a lot of creative accounts of the Gulf of Tonkin incident, not to say "lies" coming from the White House and Pentagon. I also recall many of the same people now demanding that we believe Obama as sitting in the front rows of the "Bush lied!" chorus when it came to our intervention in Iraq in search of WMDs. In that case, however, I would note that Bush did not lie; he relied on the intel provided him with great unanimity by agencies not just within our government but from around the world. Let's just agree that intel is not a settled science, it is subject to interpretation, and, of course, to political manipulation.

Let me note yet another problem I have: This particular administration is not known for truth-telling. The examples of outright lies by Obama and his people come tumbling out with the gentlest of pokes at the Great Prog Piñata: Obamacare, Benghazi, Iran Deal, Solyndra, Fast and Furious, job number reports, policy on Israel, etc. This is not a group of "folks" with an impressive record for telling the truth or for being concerned about our security and sovereignty. Suddenly they are doing both? Nah, still ain't buying it.

Happy New Year.

Uneventful Days

The holidays have so far proven uneventful in the Diplomad household. Lots of kids and their significant others, one granddaughter, and a new .45 cal 1911 Colt Commander enlivened the otherwise totally humdrum nature of our holidaying. Took the Commander to the range with one of my sons. It shot nicely, but I did have problems with one of the two magazines that came with it. The beast sticks when empty and is very hard to eject. On several occasions, it also failed to keep the slide open after the last round. Couple of misfeeds, too. It was just that one mag, so I retired it and bought a couple of Wilson Combat magazines (10 rounds); they seem to slide in and out quite nicely and I look forward to trying them out at the range in a couple of days.

Nearly gave the Diplowife a heart attack this evening when at dinner I announced that I would buy a 1965 Mustang. She raised hell, so, ever the clever negotiator, I dropped that proposed purchase and laid out "alternate plans" for a .357 Mag S&W Performance Center Model 627-5. The Diplowife, relieved that I would not bring home yet another "smelly old" car, quickly gave consent to this purchase. Hey, at times I do know how to negotiate! I will check out a couple of local gun stores tomorrow and see what they have on offer. We'll see if I fork out that kind of money or not.

I still remain livid over the Obama stunt in the Middle East. He is determined to undermine our one stable democratic ally in the region, Israel, and make the US irrelevant to that part of the world. He wants Trump to fail. Never in my lifetime have I seen that region in greater turmoil and Western policy and influence in more disrepair and disregard. I want, with our energy independence policy, to make the Middle East irrelevant to us; I do not want us to be irrelevant to the Middle East. There's a difference.

If nothing else I hope (forlorn?) that Obama's betrayal of Israel, driven by his leftist, pro-Muslim, anti-semitism, serves as a wake up call to America's dopey secular Jewish voters. They seem beyond all hope and just cannot bring themselves to dump the Democratic Party.

OK, I am going to try to finish watching a mixed up mess of a movie, "The Hollow Point," which is some Hollywood nonsense about bullet smuggling from US gun stores to Mexican cartels. Totally absurd, but I rented the movie, so . . .

Happy New Year to all in Year One of Trump.

Obama & Israel, "The hand that held the dagger . . . "

Another date that will live in infamy, December 23.

On that date, to borrow and update a phrase from FDR's famous June 10, 1940 speech on Mussolini's declaration of war on France, "The hand that held the dagger has stuck it into the back of" Israel.

Our execrable Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, abstained on the UN Security Council Resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the "occupied" territories (text.) This is not just another UN anti-Israeli resolution joining the ranks of thousands of previous ones.

Security Council resolutions are tantamount to international law. This one states,

Condemning all measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, including, inter alia, the construction and expansion of settlements, transfer of Israeli settlers, confiscation of land, demolition of homes and displacement of Palestinian civilians, in violation of international humanitarian law and relevant resolutions, 

Expressing grave concern that continuing Israeli settlement activities are dangerously imperilling the viability of the two-State solution based on the 1967 lines . . .

The Western countries that voted for this resolution should be deeply ashamed of what they have done. They will be seen as cowards by the Muslim world. This will not prevent any jihadi attacks in Europe, and, probably, will encourage them. They should also remember that there already is a two state solution: Israel and Jordan.

For decades, the US has used its veto power in the Security Council to stop these sorts of resolutions. We have, in private, expressed concern to the Israelis about overly "aggressively" establishing settlements  outside of the 1967 lines, but have never really pushed too hard. Previous administrations realized that the settlements were not holding up a "comprehensive peace treaty" between Israel and those sworn to destroy it, and by the way, western civilization, too.

We will see Israelis, private individuals and public officials, haled before courts in PC EU Europe and the ICC for living in "occupied territories." Those territories include, of course, eastern Jerusalem, or what used to be called the Jewish Quarter until 1948 when the Jews living there were expelled by Jordan's Army, and Jewish access to the Wailing Wall prevented. Israel, furthermore, continues as the only country not allowed to pick its own capital, and forced to consider a large portion of it off-limits to its own citizens.

Obama allowed this resolution to pass out of cowardly spite--notice he didn't even have the guts to vote for it, just to vote the equivalent of "present," much as he has done for most of his political career.

President Obama detests PM Netanyahu, and clearly has bought into the leftist view of Israel as a Western imperialist outpost, and, in essence, the cause of the current global jihadi explosion. This resolution will do nothing to further peace and, in fact, will make it harder as the so-called Palestinians will now see that they do not have to talk to Israel, they just have to come running to New York.

A reading of the resolution also shows that Obama has sought to throw a land mine in the path of incoming President Trump who had vowed to move our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. In theory, by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel then the US would be in violation of the Security Council resolution as we would have helped alter the "status of the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967."

What can Trump do?

He has a ranges of options. First, of course, join Israel in saying we do not recognize the validity of the Resolution; since we "ONLY" abstained, we don't feel bound by its strictures. Second, we should move our embassy to Jerusalem. Third, we should make it very clear that we are ready to defund the UN if this is not repealed.

Readers of this blog know my long-standing position that we should get out of the UN. As Britain has left the EU, so should we leave the UN.

Pearl Clutching Amidst a "New Arms Race"

Russian leader Vladimir Putin declared that Russia would seek to boost its military potential including its nuclear weapons. Not long after President-elect Trump announced that the US should do so, too, and that, furthermore, if Russia or anybody else wants to get into an arms race with us, so be it (N.B.: pun on "Soviet," I know, I know). We can outlast anybody in such a race.

As those of you who bother to dip into the progressive swimming pool can attest, the mainstream media and the chatterers are getting the vapors over the thought of a Third World War! Trump has really done it now! His finger is on the button!

All this reminds me of the 1984 election when every morning I would leave my house in northern Virginia, and see my neighbor's car plastered with stickers that read, "Reagan '84, World War 85." I guess I missed the nuclear holocaust that befell us because I spent most of the 1980's overseas.

Once again, the progs demonstrate either their deep hatred for America or their incredible naiveté when it comes to global affairs. They do not understand, apparently, the concept of peace through strength.

You know who does? Putin does.

A few hours after Trump's announcements, Putin was downplaying the issue, saying he looked forward to visiting Washington. He even sent Trump a Christmas card.

Putin knows, as did his Soviet predecessors, that it does no good for his country to get into that sort of a confrontation with the United States (and the West) when the US is presided over by a determined patriot who understands power and negotiations.

I am going to go out on a limb here and make a bold prediction: there will be no war with Russia in 2017. In fact, we have an opportunity, unless it's ruined by US domestic politics, to get Russian cooperation in the war against terror. As a Jewish former US diplomat, I would love to see the world's two most powerful Christian countries work together to defeat the jihadis and counterbalance China's global pretensions.

Merry Christmas to one and all.

Is There No End to the Progressive Insanity?

As we denizens of the northern hemisphere head into the darkest days of the year (Curse you sunny Australia!), we find that the progressive insanity intensifies: It goes on and on. Not since the heyday of the communists and their soul mates, the nazis, have we seen such a concerted assault on democracy and the free expression of opinions and will.

Here in our now very bedraggled and beleaguered US of A, the electoral results of November 8 have launched the progressive elites into far outer space; blood and brain deprived of oxygen in the vacuum, they writhe, thrash and smash. I have written several pieces about this progressive phenomenon, but allow me to dwell just a little more on the subject. I find it fascinating.

The progs whom I know, and, of course, the prog-run media and the hordes of prog politicos, entertainers, pundits, and other members of the prog-dominated chattering class, had assumed, nay, incorporated into their very being the belief that Donald Trump would never get elected President. He was just a humoruos buffoon who had nothing to say to America, not anything of any value, that is. The American electorate would follow the lead and exhortations of their betters and reject the "orange monster."

Hillary Clinton, the progs anointed champion in this go-round, therefore, ran an arrogant, aloof, lazy, almost lackadaisical campaign, that ignored certain realities, e.g., the electoral college, the growing anger in the country, and just assumed that the same crowd who voted in Obama would do so again--and this time, extra bonus points, the progressive candidate had a vagina! The progs tried to laugh off and ignore Clinton's serious crimes, lack of ethics, and long track record of producing nothing except wealth for herself. Her lack of a message to the voters was ignored as irrelevant since "everybody knew" what Hillary stood for, and besides, look at whom she was running against (snort, chuckle). She trotted out the tired prog cliches, showing no particular enthusiasm for them, and made only the bare minimum of public appearances before markedly unenthusiastic gatherings. She seemed to show enthusiasm and energy only when appearing before elite gatherings of wealthy Hollywood donors where she spoke of Trump's supporters as "deplorables" and "irredeemables." Then the night of November 8 rolled around. The cocky arrogance, the DNC directed violence at Trump rallies, the dominance of the media, the expenditure of over $1.2 billion, the slick adverts, and the massive popular vote electoral fraud could not produce a win. Trump was elected, and elected the old fashioned way: hard work, targeting the areas most affected by the insanity of the Obama years, and--horrors!--by actually listening to the concerns of voters.

For many of us, the images of Hillary supporters melting down in tears and wails proved priceless. Then the fury began anew. First, the demands for recounts in three states critical for Trump's win. That quickly fell apart as the recounts showed Trump GAINING votes and began to reveal the extent of the Democrats electoral fraud in places such as Detroit, calling into question one of Hillary's proud claims that, at least, she had won the popular vote. Then, suddenly, the Democrats became interested in the Constitution, Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers, and the electoral college. With the complicity of a compliant mainstream media, they launched an absurd campaign to get 37 electors of the electoral college (out of Trump's 306 electors) to "vote their conscience," deny Trump the needed 270 votes, and, therefore, reject Trump as president. We had paraded before us an elector from Texas who gained fifteen minutes of fame by claiming that he knew of "at least" 20 other Republican electors ready to dump Trump and throw the election to Congress. The progs tried to sway the electors with violence, appeals to their patriotism and deep devotion to the Constitution. They wheeled out the usual tired Hollywood celebrities and "passionate" activists, whom the voters on November 8 already had rejected. These new patriots suddenly became incensed over alleged Russian efforts to influence our election! Mexico's efforts? Not so much . . . In the end, the "at least" 20 ready to reject Trump turned out to be two, and--Oh, endless joy!--FIVE electors previously pledged to Clinton jumped ship and voted for Colin Powell, Bernie Sanders, and--my favorite--Faith Spotted Eagle. It seems another two or three would have joined the defection from Hillary except that their state laws did not allow them. Not yet resigned to defeat, progs in Congress now talk about drafting legislation to ensure Trump's impeachment on day one if he doesn't divest himself of all his business interests . . . yawn.

I am sure on January 20 they will seek to disrupt the inauguration with their usual crowd of flag-burning, white-male-hating misfits. Our battle against our progs will be a long one.

Overseas, we see, yet again, another disaster produced by progressivism and its Molotov-Ribbentrop pact with Islam.

In Germany, governed by Angela Merkel, who competes with Obama and Trudeau for the gold medal as the stupidest Western politician, we have seen another slaughter of innocents by--ready for it?--a Muslim asylum seeker, this time apparently from Tunisia. He, it seems, murdered a Polish truck driver, seized his truck, and headed for a Berlin open-air Christmas market packed with happy shoppers. He slammed the truck into the crowd killing about a dozen people, adding yet another dozen names to the list of Westerners killed by Islam and its useful idiot enablers in the West. I hope the Germans get furious and end Merkel's destructive political career before she and her like end what remains of Europe.

In Turkey, of course, we have seen the assassination of the Russian ambassador. For some reason I doubt that either Putin or Lavrov will shrug and say, "What difference does it make?" I am sure Putin will find time from "faking" Podesta and Brazile emails to ensure that somebody is going to feel a world of hurt. The PC culture does not survive in Moscow.

Yes, the days up north are getting shorter, but soon that will change, and I can only hope that Trump is as bad as the progressives make him out to be and our political darkness also begins to lift.

This might be our last chance.

Intel Agencies and Russian Intent: Ain't Buying it

Quick one.

There's all sorts of press reporting out there that now--surprise!--our myriad intelligence agencies, the same ones that refused to brief Congress, have reached a unified conclusion that not only did the Russians hack into the DNC, they did it with the INTENT of making Donald Trump president.

Yes, about that bridge you want to buy, please sign right here and have the money wired to my account . .  .

We saw our fearless president in one of his rambling, seemingly endless press conferences, continue to try to stick the shiv into Trump's ribs. All sorts of nonsense of how he stood up to Putin on Russian hacking some months ago and told him to "cut it out." Right. And that after those blood-curdling words from the American president, we saw a decline and maybe even a stop to Russian hacking efforts . . . right. Obama, of course, told us that the intel agencies had concluded that the Russian goal was to make Trump president . . . right.

Don't buy it.

I have been around intel agencies and intel briefings almost my entire adult life. Most intel is garbage. Some of it is very good but that usually is very narrowly focussed and has to do with hard facts: e.g., "Army divisions X and Y have been put on alert and all leaves cancelled." The intent? Ah, well, that's a matter for conjecture and speculation unless--extremely rare--you have a reliable source right inside the other guy's highest and most inner circle who can tell you what is being said and planned for those divisions. As I said, very rare.

Just days ago, as noted, the heads of our intel agencies declined to send briefers to Congress to provide the intel on Russian hacking of the elections. Leaked reports indicated that the FBI and CIA were at logger-heads over the issue of Russian hacking. Now, suddenly, unanimity. Right.

Now, suddenly, we know the Russians, under direct orders from Putin, hacked with the intent of turning the election over to Trump.

Fake news.

Don't forget that this odious misadministration has a long track record of fiddling with intel. Political pressure was brought, for example, to declare us as winning against ISIS, when the intel showed we were not. The CIA and others were forced to find that climate change is a greater threat than terror.

Look, the Russians and Chinese and others have been running intel and misinformation operations against us and our allies for decades. This Obama administration has taken a very soft stance on all of this, up until Hillary Clinton lost the election on November 8. Suddenly, the administration, Hollywood, the media, and, of course, the Democratic political class are in a patriotic uproar over foreign intervention in our elections. Prior to those elections we were assured by Obama and minions that our system was solid as a rock and that it could not be tampered with.

What happened to change things? Clinton lost. That was not supposed to happen! Now, suddenly, our election system is highly vulnerable AND our whole election, it is more than implied, has been thrown to Trump by these foreign actors.

Take it from me: this is bogus. The intel agencies know nothing of the kind. They might be able to say we have been subjected to hacking, I am sure we have, but the intel lads and lassies have no idea beyond speculation, much of it politically motivated, as to what the Russians or others intended. In addition, is there any evidence that shows that blue collar workers in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, etc., voted for Trump based on the information "provided" by the Russians?

We have a situation today wherein the media and Obama seek to get us to forget what the "hacks," be they Russian or otherwise, revealed. I would note that the Russians did not make Hillary put an illegal unsecure private server in her bathroom closet and stuff it with highly sensitive information. The Russians did not make DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz try to rig the primaries against Bernie Sanders. The Russians did not have CNN personnel passing presidential debate questions to the Hillary camp, and on and on.

Is there foreign interference in our elections? You bet.

The biggest offender? Not Russia, but Mexico. Mexican officials publicly called on Mexicans in the US to oppose Trump; Mexico's over fifty--yes, fifty--consulates in the US (here) are hot beds of political activity and activism. Millions of illegal and legal aliens largely from Mexico and Central America vote, yes vote. We need to have an in-depth investigation into Mexico's interference in our elections, an interference that goes well beyond revealing embarrassing DNC texts.

There. That's an investigation the GOP should endorse, and the new SecState should take up the issue of Mexican interference in our elections.

A Few Words on The Cabinet

I was going to write about the progressives completely losing their minds and their masks as they carry on a mad onslaught to undo the results of November 8. I was going to write about how progressivism has revealed itself, yet again, as nothing but an "ideology" that demands power, power over individuals and their choices. I may yet write that piece but for now, let's take a quick look at President-elect Trump's main choices for his cabinet.

I like the cabinet he has picked and hope they all get confirmed quickly and without too much fuss.

I am full of hope that his SecState Tillerson, SecEnergy Perry, and EPA Administrator Pruitt will work together to spearhead achievement of what I consider one of the very top priorities for our country: US energy independence. These three are no-nonsense guys with a deep understanding of the energy business and an appreciation for how unleashing the tremendous energy potential that exists in the US--oil, gas, coal, nuclear--would give a tremendous boost not only to our economy across virtually all fields of endeavor, but also to our ability to act on the international scene.

One of the most amazing and not very remarked upon developments in recent years has been the almost total collapse of OPEC thanks largely to the American fracking revolution. As I have noted in prior postings (e.g., here, here, here, and here) DESPITE Obama misadministration opposition to US energy development, the US, thanks to its innovative private sector, stands on the verge of energy independence, something not seen for at least the past sixty or so years. The new administration, one in which adults are finally in charge, must ensure that we have government policies that allow that very welcome development to continue. Let me repeat, nothing could have a bigger, more positive, and more immediate impact on our economy and global standing than finally turning the US from being an energy importer into an energy exporter. No other single step, short of nuclear war, I guess, would have a more dramatic impact upon our foes and rivals in the world than have US oil and gas production become and remain a major player in the world oil and gas market. The impact would be felt in the ability of certain states to finance terrorism, e.g., Saudi Arabia, Iran, and in other states to finance dangerous international adventures, e.g., Russia, Venezuela. With the threat of energy blackmail removed, the US would have its international options dramatically increased.

I also like the choice of General Mattis for SecDef and General Kelly for Homeland Security.

The morale of my military friends has jumped northward quite significantly since Trump announced his choice for Defense. Mattis a man with a deep philosophical understanding of warfare, and, of course, a deep personal and practical experience with conducting modern warfare. He knows how to use military power, and the limits of that power.

Kelly will have his hands full trying to restore some semblance of sanity and sound operating principles to the Department of Homeland Security. DHS is a poorly cobbled together mishmash of disparate agencies with no clear guidance form the top as to what exactly they are supposed to do. Along with Defense, State, and so many other agencies, DHS needs a major reduction in size and refocussing of its mission on core issues.

OK. That's enough for now. I am feeling just a little TOO optimistic--and optimism is not my natural state--so I have to go to the gun range and embarrass myself.