Krauthammer Punctures Obama's Posturing, Once Again

It's so good that I've posted the entirety of his editorial below:

Obama's French Lesson
by Charles Krauthammer

"President Obama, I support the Americans' outstretched hand. But what did the international community gain from these offers of dialogue? Nothing."
-- French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Sept. 24

When France chides you for appeasement, you know you're scraping bottom. Just how low we've sunk was demonstrated by the Obama administration's satisfaction when Russia's president said of Iran, after meeting President Obama at the United Nations, that "sanctions are seldom productive, but they are sometimes inevitable."

You see? The Obama magic. Engagement works. Russia is on board. Except that, as The Post inconveniently pointed out, President Dmitry Medvedev said the same thing a week earlier, and the real power in Russia, Vladimir Putin, had changed not at all in his opposition to additional sanctions. And just to make things clear, when Iran then brazenly test-fired offensive missiles, Russia reacted by declaring that this newest provocation did not warrant the imposition of tougher sanctions.

Do the tally. In return for selling out Poland and the Czech Republic by unilaterally abrogating a missile-defense security arrangement that Russia had demanded be abrogated, we get from Russia . . . what? An oblique hint, of possible support, for unspecified sanctions, grudgingly offered and of dubious authority -- and, in any case, leading nowhere because the Chinese have remained resolute against any Security Council sanctions.

Confusing ends and means, the Obama administration strives mightily for shows of allied unity, good feeling and pious concern about Iran's nuclear program -- whereas the real objective is stopping that program. This feel-good posturing is worse than useless, because all the time spent achieving gestures is precious time granted Iran to finish its race to acquire the bomb.

Don't take it from me. Take it from Sarkozy, who could not conceal his astonishment at Obama's naivete. On Sept. 24, Obama ostentatiously presided over the Security Council. With 14 heads of state (or government) at the table, with an American president at the chair for the first time ever, with every news camera in the world trained on the meeting, it would garner unprecedented worldwide attention.

Unknown to the world, Obama had in his pocket explosive revelations about an illegal uranium enrichment facility that the Iranians had been hiding near Qom. The French and the British were urging him to use this most dramatic of settings to stun the world with the revelation and to call for immediate action.

Obama refused. Not only did he say nothing about it, but, reports the Wall Street Journal (citing Le Monde), Sarkozy was forced to scrap the Qom section of his speech. Obama held the news until a day later -- in Pittsburgh. I've got nothing against Pittsburgh (site of the G-20 summit), but a stacked-with-world-leaders Security Council chamber it is not.

Why forgo the opportunity? Because Obama wanted the Security Council meeting to be about his own dream of a nuclear-free world. The president, reports the New York Times citing "White House officials," did not want to "dilute" his disarmament resolution "by diverting to Iran."
Diversion? It's the most serious security issue in the world. A diversion from what? From a worthless U.N. disarmament resolution?

Yes. And from Obama's star turn as planetary visionary: "The administration told the French," reports the Wall Street Journal, "that it didn't want to 'spoil the image of success' for Mr. Obama's debut at the U.N."

Image? Success? Sarkozy could hardly contain himself. At the council table, with Obama at the chair, he reminded Obama that "we live in a real world, not a virtual world."

He explained: "President Obama has even said, 'I dream of a world without [nuclear weapons].' Yet before our very eyes, two countries are currently doing the exact opposite."

Sarkozy's unspoken words? "And yet, sacré bleu, he's sitting on Qom!"

At the time, we had no idea what Sarkozy was fuming about. Now we do. Although he could hardly have been surprised by Obama's fecklessness. After all, just a day earlier in addressing the General Assembly, Obama actually said, "No one nation can . . . dominate another nation." That adolescent mindlessness was followed with the declaration that "alignments of nations rooted in the cleavages of a long-gone Cold War" in fact "make no sense in an interconnected world." NATO, our alliances with Japan and South Korea, our umbrella over Taiwan, are senseless? What do our allies think when they hear such nonsense?

Bismarck is said to have said: "There is a providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children, and the United States of America." Bismarck never saw Obama at the U.N. Sarkozy did.

Guess what? Iran has the bomb

AP NewsBreak: Nuke agency says Iran can make bomb

This should come as a surprise to absolutely no one who has been paying any attention for the last few years.

And on a related note:

Israel may attack Iran by December
Link to news article courtesy of the Joel Rosenberg weblog.

SHTF Scenario: Suitcase Nukes

Kellene Bishop at Preparedness Pro posted a warning today about the impending 9/11 anniversary and the possibility of suitcase nukes being detonated over large urban centers.

If this scenario could apply to you, as it does to me, then this information from GlobalSecurity.org will be helpful in assessing the ramifications of such an attack. I will note that it assumes a 10-kiloton payload; the information I found on Wikipedia suggested that a 5-6 kiloton device may be more likely, making the Global Security website's information a useful and reasonable "worst-case scenario."

Longing for the Good Old Days...

... When Civil Defense was actually taken seriously.

Bayou City History: 1955 H-Bomb Drill Evacuates Downtown

It was Wednesday, June 15, 1955. The time was 5:15 p.m.

Air raid sirens blared throughout downtown. An "attack" on Houston was imminent.

At that moment, residents were directed to stop what they were doing and leave the area.

As the above headlines indicate, the 30-minute Civil Defense drill -- dubbed "Operation Alert" and conducted in various cities across the nation -- tested Houston's response to a nuclear attack. It wasn't a complete surprise to most Houstonians. Residents back then didn't have to wait for a siren to tell them to leave downtown. . . .

For those who want to bring back those days, I really recommend Utah Shelter Systems' website. Not only does it have information on their "All-Hazard Shelters," but there's also great general information on what to expect in the event of an actual nuclear strike, and what to do (if you have a shelter, that is).

North Korea preparing to launch ICBM capable of hitting Alaska

Fox News reports the story here.

It is not currently thought, however, that North Korea has perfected the technology needed to miniaturize a nuclear bomb to the point of arming a missile with it. But who really knows?

If only Biden had been wrong about this, too

Joe warned us that Obama would be tested within six months of taking office, and so far he's spot on. Iran and North Korea are competing over who will be the first to see just exactly how limp-wristed our super-fabulous new President is:

North Korea conducts underground nuclear test; readies three short-range rockets for launch
"Russian officials said the nuclear bomb that the North detonated underground Monday was comparable to those that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki, raising fears that the communist country could spread such technology abroad.

In a further sign of the North's mounting standoff with the world, a report said the country was likely preparing to fire short-range missiles Tuesday off its western coast."

Iran, fresh from successful long-range missile test, dispatches six warships to the Gulf of Aden
"Iran has threatened to block the [nearby] strait of Hormuz, through which about 40 percent of the world's traded oil is shipped, if it were attacked over its nuclear program."

God, I just want to dig myself a bunker, crawl in it, and not come out for the next three and a half years.

Iran test launch of medium-range missile successful

From Fox News:

U.S. government officials confirmed Iran's provocative long-range missile test Wednesday as they worked to study details of the launch.

"At this point it appears Iran launched a medium ranged ballistic missile and the test appears successful," a government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told FOX News.

The U.S. official said the Pentagon is trying to determine the missile's range, trajectory and other details about the solid-fuel Sajjil-2 surface-to-surface missile Iran launched Wednesday.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the launch was a successful test-firing of a new advanced missile with a range of about 1,200 miles -- capable of reaching Israel and U.S. Mideast bases.

It is a new version of the Sajjil missile, which Iran said it had successfully tested late last year with a similar range. Many analysts said the launch of the Sajjil was significant because solid fuel missiles are more accurate than liquid fuel missiles of similar range, such as Iran's Shahab-3.

"Defense Minister (Mostafa Mohammad Najjar) has informed me that the Sajjil-2 missile, which has very advanced technology, was launched from Semnan and it landed precisely on the target," state radio quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. He spoke during a visit to the city of Semnan, 125 miles east of the capital Tehran, where Iran's space program is centered.

The announcement comes less than a month before Iran's presidential election and just two days after President Obama declared a readiness to seek deeper international sanctions against Tehran if it did not respond positively to U.S. attempts to open negotiations on its nuclear program.

Iran May be Closer to Nukes than Previously Believed

From Fox News: Congressional Report Warns U. S. Underestimating Iran's Nuclear Progress

"The report examines material provided to the IAEA by U.S. intelligence from a laptop computer that reportedly was smuggled out of Iran. In 2005, U.S. intelligence assessed that information as indicating that Tehran had been working on details of nuclear weapons, including missile trajectories and ideal altitudes for exploding warheads."

Note that nuclear weapons can be used not just for thermonuclear warfare but also to launch an EMP attack, which happens when a nuclear weapon is exploded at an altitude of 30 to 300 miles. This suggests that Iran may be contemplating such an attack.

Are you unfamiliar with what an EMP attack entails? You need to be. Read the sobering details here.

Quick News Update

WHO Raises Pandemic Level to 5
Says pandemic is "imminent," countries should immediately implement their pandemic preparedness plans.

North Korea Threatens Nuclear, Missile Tests
Can someone please just assassinate Kim Jong Il already? I grow bored with his "look at me!" games.

Obama Claims he is "Remaking America"
“The priorities that we’ve acted on are the things we said we would do during the campaign,” Obama said. “It’s not like anybody should be surprised.”

And Now for Something Entirely Different...

... OK. No swine flu stuff for a moment. Here's some refreshingly different news items to spark your concern:

Pentagon Conducts Economic War Games

Yuppies Do the Math, Realize that Home-Schooling is Less Expensive Than Private School, but Requires Actual Interaction with Children

FDA Warns Consumers to Avoid Eating Raw Alfalfa Sprouts, Citing Rash of Salmonella Cases
(Note you never have to worry about this if you grow your own sprouts... but more on that some other time.)

Welcome to the New Normal: Experts Acknowledge North Korea is Now a Nuclear Power
And to think that missile test wasn't any big deal.

Happy Monday, y'all!