Wednesday, December 6, 2006

A sad time for Venezuela, a sad time for the US and Israel

I am sorry about all this pessimism. I hope to find good news, distracting news, and/or funny news and post that. In the meantime, I want to convey my sadness at Hugo Chavez's win in Venezuela. Lest we forget, C4A already cited some of the reasons (there are so many!) why Chavez is bad for Venezuela, irrespective of his Bush hatred and Pat Robertson's call for assassination. (go read it!) Sadly, too many people buy into the Chavez-as-hero myth, simply because Chavez called Bush the devil. Sandmonkey wrote about Daniel in Venezuela's post concerning Chavez's recent win, and I largely agree with him. Go read it! Daniel in Venezuela feels his country is irreversibly gone, and he is a stranger in his own land. I would feel that way as well, if Chavez were president of the US. The man backs world terrorism, is a rabid anti-semite, and of course is incredibly corrupt and backs the most insanely inefficient government in Venezuela. (documentation to support these assertions are in my August post I wrote) Yet he is a hero of the world left. What a joke. (it should be noted that something new has come to light - Chavez said he will fire all civil service workers who disagree with him - what a great guy!) Then, there's the American joke, Robert Gates. He is a man C4A has already chronicled on several occasions, here and here. When Gates was questioned during the confirmation hearing, he said that he is against the US doing anything against Iran, unless it's in American interests, and only then, at the last minute. However, he also admit that he believes Iran would not hesitate to use the nukes on Israel! (reference) This is the new American secretary of defense, ladies and gents...um...hooray? This is not a new philosophy, as the US did not enter WWII until American interests were threatened - it did not undertake to save Jews during the Holocaust. In fact, not only did the US literally do nothing to save the Jews of the Holocaust, neither did the UK. No one really cares about the Jews...but then neither does the Israeli leadership! After all, Israel is headed by the corrupt and incompetent Ehud Olmert, who believes that Israel should be giving up more territory during its time of peril! (reference) He also calls for no more IDF arrests of Palestinians in the West Bank, unless there is explict approval from either the GOC Central Command or the commander of IDF forces in the territories. (reference) Then there is the insane 'hudna' nonsense Olmert decided on - whereby Israel does not fire back when the Palestinians fire missiles, thereby abdicating its responsibility as a state to defend its citizenry. (reference) This led the Raccoon to believe that we should all be preparing for a nuclear holocaust, as Israeli leaders are not doing anything to prevent Iranian nukes, and neither are American leaders. He believes, perhaps rightly, that nothing will be done until an actual nuke is used against Israel, and then Israel, with its second strike capabilities, responds by wiping out Iran. (go read his analysis) He may very well be right. It is with all these thoughts in mind that I am planning my trip to Israel in January. Unless something is done to reverse this course, I may be going on a trip to Israel not unlike my trip to the oberservation deck of the WTC that I took several times in my youth. UPDATE: LGF goes through the Iraq Study Group's recommendations (that came out today), and shows it advocates selling Israel down the river in exchange for fluffy promises and puppies. (ie, nothing) It is not a good time for Israel right now, what with the combination of global antisemitism and incompetent, corrupt, and inept Israeli leaders.

7 comments:

felix said...

Red Tulips,
It occurred to me that Gates remarks and his replacement of Rumsfeld could, unintentionally, increase the liklihood of Israel attacking Iran nuclear facilities. Follow this: Olmert and the Israeli gov't have been expecting that UN Sanctions would be imposed in Iran and that eventually, if that did not work, the US would bomb Iranian nuclear sites. Bush has said that he would not leave the Presidency with Iran possesing nuclear weapons. However, now Gates is sounding like US won't ever attack Iran nukes.

So if current Israeli gov't concludes that USA cannot or will not ever deliver on its threat to take out Iran nukes, what conclusion will they reach? That whatever IDF plans are developed to degrade or destroy Iranian nukes, if IDF doesn't take action nobody else will. Just a theory.

Mr. Smarterthanyou said...

This is what happens when gutless republicans are faced with a democratic upswell, they appoint losers that the democrats will support.

GJ to those of you who voted democrat, or who failed to support conservatism, this is what you get.

How can a liberal complain?

Red Tulips said...

Felix:

Sadly, I do not trust the Israeli leadership to do what is right.

Smarty:

Bush decided to appoint Gates of his own volition. No one forced him to choose this man. It's his cabinet, after all.

Thomas Forsyth said...

Red Tulips> As a soldier, I probably hsould watch what I say about Gates, but luckily I have also sworn to defend your right to say whatever you want about him :)

Shmart like Fredo> The Democrats won, because the GOP betrayed the prinicples and memory of Barry Goldwater. Bush's actions brought in an associate of Dhimmi Carter and James Baker. I know of a great three star General for Secretary of Defense, but that is strictly forbidden by the Constitution.

Irina Tsukerman said...

Thomas: True, we are supposed to have civilian leadership for our military... but from what I read about Gates's past, his administrative skills weren't that great. Well, I guess all we can do is wait and see what happens. I'm not optimistic.

Thomas Forsyth said...

Irina> Neither am I. And he's now part of my Chain of Command :(

I applaud Santorum and Bunning for voting against him, though.

Mr. Smarterthanyou said...

Gates was Bush's idea, but who know what backchannel BS went into it. But he didn't want to select someone that the Dems would filibuster for two years. The dems held up John Ashcroft for 6 months, and that gap probably contributed to the FBI failing to connect the dots leading up to 9/11. A huge fight and and a lame duck SecDef could be just as bad. "It's his cabinet" is just as true as "It's his UN Ambassador", but we know how that works when the Dems would rather see the nation suffer than have Bush get his man in place.

RE Santorum, he seems like a real good man.