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WASHINGTON ON THE DNEIPER |
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Written by Dr. Jack Wheeler
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Friday, 16 December 2005 |
Here I am in Kiev, Ukraine – but in some striking ways it seems I never left Washington. The parallels go way beyond the geography, as both capital cities are on the banks of a large river, the Dneiper (nyay-purr) in the case of Kiev. In both, the political scum dominate public opinion.
Ukraine is the largest country in Europe (entirely in Europe – most of Russia is in Asia). It had suffered as a colony of Russia’s since the 17th century, and underwent a holocaust perpetrated by Stalin in the 1930s that killed twice as many Ukrainians (well over 12 million) as Hitler killed Jews.
When Ukraine gained its independence in 1991 with the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Soviet apparatchiks (bureaucrats) and nomenklatura (ruling elite) still clung to power. The now “ex-” Communists quickly gained control of the Ukrainian Parliament called the Rada. Socialism, corruption, and selling state assets for a song to apparatchiks and gangsters posing as “biznessmen,” flourished.
The smartest and most charismatic of these “biznessmen” wasn’t a man at all but a good-looking blonde named Yulia Timoshenko.
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THE ROGUE WEASELS CLUB |
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Written by Dr. Jack Wheeler
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Friday, 16 December 2005 |
How upset are you over the CIA “secret prison scandal”? Maybe you said, “What scandal?”, or maybe you’ve glanced at stories about it carried in the back pages of your newspaper. Here in Europe, it’s the giant screaming front page headline story on every paper you pick up from England to Germany.
The Europeans are in a state of high emotional froth over CIA “renditions” of Moslem terrorists seized in one of their countries and taken to a “secret prison” in Poland or elsewhere. The Euroweenies are far more concerned with the “human rights” of the terrorists than they are about the threat of terrorists to kill them.
If you think all of this is just an excuse to bash the CIA and indulge in anti-Americanism, you’re right – just as planned by the weasels.
Everyone on the right, it seems nowadays, from the editorials in the Wall Street Journal to conservative columnists like Mona Charen and bloggers like John Hinderacker, are issuing calls to “Investigate the CIA!” They have been suckered by the left.
They should instead be demanding, “Investigate the weasels, not the agency!”
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Chapter Seventeen: FORTES FORTUNA ADIUVAT |
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Written by Dr. Jack Wheeler
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Tuesday, 13 December 2005 |
The Jade Steps:
Chapter Seventeen: Fortes Fortuna Adiuvat
When they arrived at the city of Tlaxcala[1], there was an enormous welcoming party to greet the Spaniards. Different clans of Tlaxcalans dressed in differing colors, their maguey or henniquen cloaks all painted and embroidered. A contingent of priests with their burning copal performed fumigations, wearing long white hooded robes, their hair long and blood-encrusted, blood oozing from their ears, and with fingernails several inches long. The streets and rooftops were thronging with smiling Indians who showered the Spaniards with roses of varying hues.
When they reached the central plaza, King Xicotencatl took Cortez by the hand and led him to a palace, explaining, “This shall be your home in Tlaxcala for as long as you wish.” He assured Cortez that all his men, all the Totonacs and Xocotlans, and even the Mesheeka nobles, would be well housed. Upon his signal, hundreds of servants began streaming into the plaza bearing cooked turkeys, maize cakes, fruits and vegetables for all. The soldiers all agreed it was the best they had eaten since leaving Cuba.
With everyone so joyously happy, Cortez and Malinali retired to their quarters. They had not had any time together since Zautla – so they did not waste any time now, making love fiercely and quickly. Afterwards, noticing Malinali was staring into space, Cortez asked her what she was thinking about.
[1] September 18, 1519.
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A SUCKER’S GAME |
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Written by Michael Ledeen
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Friday, 16 December 2005 |
The French just arrested 20 people, apparently pretty close to doing some mean terrorist thing. In late September, nine people were arrested in Paris in "what officials said was a crackdown on suspected Islamic terrorist activities." It was later reported that the DST (internal-security service) had learned that members of this group had been trained in Lebanon, and possessed an exotic poison: seeds of the "nigelle" plant, said to be highly lethal.
At the end of October, the London Telegraph reported that French authorities had discovered that "an Islamic terror cell has smuggled two surface-to-air missiles into Europe in a plot to shoot down planes at one of France's main airports..." For extras, the terror group, part of the Zarqawi network, had chemical and biological agents including ricin, cyanide, and botulin.
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APEC FACE AND FRAUD |
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Written by Neal Asbury
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Monday, 12 December 2005 |
It is fascinating to observe the stark difference between Latin America and Asia regarding the great issues and diplomacy impacting the World War of Trade.
The Summit of the Americas (see The Myths of FTAA) held November 6th at Mar del Plata, Argentina attended by the 34 democracies of the Western Hemisphere, will be remembered for the warped bravado of a few left-wing-populist leaders from Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela spewing out their venom in staged events.
They have no solutions and continue to deliver their people deeper into darkness and despair while corruption in their ranks runs wild.
Contrast this with the recent APEC Summit (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) attended by President Bush held November 18th and 19th, in Busan, South Korea.
The APEC meeting was cold and calculated with every move carefully choreographed. It was attended by Asia’s economic powerhouses very confident of themselves each promoting and defining globalization and free trade in their own image. It was all about face and politeness but resolute in avoiding any real dialogue in rebalancing the American trade deficit.
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THE WAR OF THE WEASELS |
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Written by Dagny D'Anconia
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Friday, 16 December 2005 |
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Last week Dr. Rice said "This is essentially a war in which intelligence is absolutely key to success. If you are going to uncover plots, if you are going to get to people before they commit their crimes, that is largely an intelligence function." (See Rice)
In this information age, warfare has more and more to do with intelligence and less to do with brute force. The battlefield we fight on is often the world of intelligence, and the crucial battles that are fought can occur silently, and unseen. So it is with a battle ongoing in the shadow lands where politics and intelligence overlap.
The extraordinary confession of Randy Cunningham offers a glimpse...
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WHAT WILL YOU DECIDE? |
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Written by Dr. Joel Wade
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Friday, 16 December 2005 |
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There is a line in the movie, “Apollo 13”, where Jim Lovell (played by Tom Hanks) is talking with his wife about the moon landing of Apollo 11. He says something to the effect of, “It’s not a miracle that we did it, you know. We just decided to go.”
The fulcrum that moved such powerful forces toward such a magnificent achievement was first and foremost simply the decision to go.
The critical element of positive change in your life, upon which all of the other elements rest, is the decision to do it. |
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POLITICAL NASDAQ - - December 9-15, 2005 |
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Written by Dagny D'Anconia
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Friday, 16 December 2005 |
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This was a historic week with the elections in Iraq. President Bush gave speeches led up to the event, and each time he did, the market went down. In fact it is precisely orchestrated. Bush speaks, the market drops. Murtha gives the response for the Democrats and it starts back up again. Next time President Bush gives a speech that the Lefties don’t want to hear, watch the Nasdaq and you will see what I mean. It is an amusing thing to watch.
However pained they were, the DDI nevertheless remained up. This is presumely due to the fact that..
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SAYYING NO TO NOTEBOOK THIEVES |
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Tuesday, 13 December 2005 |
If you travel with your notebook, you’re always worried about thieves. Here’s how to stop computer kleptos with this bag of hardware and software tricks.
You may have all the data security tools you need – firewall, antivirus program, and antispyware protection. But what if a thief slips into your office or hotel room or breaks into the trunk of your car – and tries to walk away with your trusty computer?
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THE LATEST WASHINGTON SCANDAL |
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Written by To The Point News
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Friday, 16 December 2005 |
The latest hot rumor that has all of official Washington agog is that Senator Edward Kennedy attempted to sexually harass Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The only solid grounds for the rumor is this photograph – which seems to provide convincing evidence:
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SHOULDN’T THE PALESTINIANS BE TERRIFIED OF IRAN? |
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Written by Dr. Jack Wheeler
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Thursday, 08 December 2005 |
Israeli military intelligence now states that Iran may have the capacity to build a nuclear bomb by March, 2006. That’s less than four months away.
Thus the pressure for Israel to mount an attack on Iranian facilities is getting intense. Yet they are dispersed and dug in deep fortified subterranean tunnels. Sabotage, rather than a missile attack, seems the only option – but the frightening reality is that Mossad, the Israeli CIA, can’t pull it off.
Some sort of military assault, covert or overt, may be attempted anyway, but let’s also watch out for Sharon to deal a card from the bottom of the deck as well. This sure is a good time he thinks, for some Psy-Ops – directed at the Palestinians, and all Sunni Moslems worldwide.
It is a very good time to point out to them that there is no way to make a nuclear bomb that just kills Jews. There is no way to “wipe Israel off the map” in a Nuclear Armageddon without wiping out the Palestinians as well.
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THE PARANOIA ANTIDOTE |
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Written by Dr. Jack Wheeler
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Thursday, 08 December 2005 |
Given all the frantic efforts by so much of the media, and by so many folks with agendas, to freak you out with fear, I think you should look upon To The Point as The Paranoia Antidote.
In addition to this week’s article on how Iran’s nuclear threat may be of benefit to Israel (Shouldn’t the Palestinians Be Terrified of Iran?), let’s take three examples.
The first concerns the liberal paranoia of global warming, or more precisely man-made global warming, as in, it’s all our fault. It’s hilarious, of course, that COP-11, the assemblage of eco-goofballs attending the UN conference on “climate change” are freezing their tushes in Montreal this week in record cold while whining about the earth burning up. They would be enlightened by reading Solar Warming in To The Point in September.
Our second example concerns conservative paranoia over the phony terrorist threat of “EMP.” The “threat” is a cry of nuclear wolf, as originally discussed in The EMP Annoyance last June.
Our third example is the current paranoia over torture – specifically the torture of terrorists to extract information from them regarding planned terrorist acts. All of this can be avoided – all brutalizing torture can be avoided – with the techniques described in three To The Point articles:
D3 Terrorists (July 2005).
How To Get A Terrorist To Sing Like A Canary Without Torture (January 2005).
Interrogating Osama (October 2001).
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THE CIA IN DEEP CRISIS |
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Written by Jack Kelly
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Friday, 09 December 2005 |
On August 2nd, Dafna Linzer of the Washington Post reported that: "A major U.S. intelligence review has projected that Iran is about a decade away from manufacturing the key ingredient for a nuclear weapon, roughly doubling the previous estimate of five years."
On December 5th, the Jerusalem Post reported that Mohammed el Baradei, chairman of the International Atomic Energy Agency, "confirmed Israel's assessment that Iran is only a few months away from creating an atomic bomb.
"My, how time flies. It hasn't seemed as if ten years have elapsed since last summer.
The CIA could be right, and Mossad and the IAEA could be wrong. But given the CIA's forecasting record -- it missed the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Islamic revolution in Iran, the warning signs of 9/11, and Saddam's WMD -- that's not the way to bet.
Intelligence analysis isn't the only thing the CIA does sloppily.
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THE KAZAKH TIGER IN CENTRAL ASIA |
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Written by Dr. Ariel Cohen
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Friday, 09 December 2005 |
President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the leader of Kazakhstan since 1989, won the country's Dec. 4 presidential election hands down. The Central Election Commission reported he got 91 percent of the votes. Gallup and International Republican Institute exit polling says he got only 83.2 percent. Either way, no Orange Revolution there.
To put the Kazakh elections in perspective, it is important to note there were no democratic procedures there during the Russian czarist or the Soviet times. Seen in this light, the Kazakh elections were among most open in Central Asia.
What makes Kazakhstan unique are its real economic achievements, fueled by high oil prices. Kazakhstan today is as one of the more positive available examples of post-Soviet market development, including Western access to oil and gas resources, which Russia increasingly rejects.
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THE CHINA TRADE SOLUTION |
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Written by Neal Asbury
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Monday, 05 December 2005 |
President Bush’s visit to Beijing on November 20th was a tremendous disappointment in achieving any tangible progress on easing our trade crisis. Our stratospheric trade deficit is clearly one of the gravest national security threats we face – and no one in Washington seems to have a clue on how to deal with it.
Our overall trade deficit in 2005 is tracking to exceed $700 billion up from $612 billion in 2004. Our trade deficit with China will exceed $200 billion up from $162 billion in 2004 and $124 billion in 2003.
It may surprise many (including President Bush!), but there are a number of actions that can immediately be taken that in the short term will have a dramatic impact to turn around our trade crisis with China.
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