Bombs and Dollars - American Foreign Policy Blog - China, Afghanistan, Pakistan

Communism, or Apartheid, or Something.

Mitchell Blatt — Mon, 03 May 2010 03:42:32 +0000

The “Fundamental Transformation” of America.

Partisanship is running high these days, if you listen to any of the commentators, but one thing that partisans from both sides agree on is this: big changes are quickly coming to America.

Conservatives have been saying that Obama is a radical president intent on bringing socialism to America. Obama said that he was going to “fundamentally transform” America, prompting Glenn Beck to ask, “Transform into what?”

The passage of Arizona’s recent immigration law, according to liberals, signals America’s first steps into Nazi-ism or apartheid. This view has even been endorsed by Rep. Jared Polis of Colorado: “It is absolutely reminiscent of second class status of Jews in Germany prior to World War II.” (And they say Beck’s investigation into FEMA camps was conspiracy-mongering…)

Bertha Lewis, CEO of ACORN, recently told the Young Democratic Socialists that we are entering a new age of McCarthyism. (True, the tea partiers are routinely accused of being un-American seditionists by liberals.)

But the truth is, America isn’t fundamentally changing because of Obama and Congressional Democrats’ actions. America faces great change from large scale global and domestic events that would have came about no matter what Obama did. Obama is only hastening some of the economic changes.

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Immigration Reform, Not Immigration Limitation

Mitchell Blatt — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 21:41:15 +0000

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America has always been a country that welcomes immigrants, and that is no different today. Immigrants help our economy. America is starting to have a shortage of engineers and other skilled employees, but we have great universities that entice many foreign students. If we could keep them in America, that would be a great boost.

America is the most diverse country in the world and the most accepting of immigrants. China and other Asian countries are about 99.9% Asian. Many African countries are 99% black. Europe is 90% white. Britain’s population, according to their 2001 census, was 92% white.

In many other countries, the racial controversies are between people who would be classified as being of the same race by American demographic systems. Shiites and Sunnis have been fighting all throughout the Arab world since the dawn of history. Christians and Muslims, all black, have been fighting in Sudan. China brags about its diversity with 56 ethnicities, but that includes Han, Zhuang, Manchu, Hui, Miao, Uygur, etc, all ethnic groups that would be classified as “Asian-American” by the US census. And these ethnic groups (with 90% Han dominance) are often in controversy with the Han, particularly Tibetans and Uygurs, who have been at times repressed by the Han majority.

If America were to treat its ethnic demographics as such, we would have Koreans, Japanese, Chinese (including Han, Manchu, Miao), Irish, British, German, Kenyan, Indian, etc, as all specific ethnicities.

Anyone who refers to America as a xenophobic nation clearly hasn’t traveled the world.

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Selling out the tea parties… Buying into MSNBC’s line.

Mitchell Blatt — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 23:11:02 +0000

Judson Phillips and his partner in crime Joseph Farah are trying to expand big government greed just so they can become millionaires by sponsoring tea parties.

The “National Tea Party Convention” appears to have taken its talking points from MSNBC.

“How can the Democrats work with Republicans if most Republicans are birthers?” David Shuster often asks during his show, in multiple variations, often using harsher words.

Joseph Farah, editor of ConspiracyTheoriesDaily, otherwise known as WorldNetDaily, didn’t disappoint Shuster.

Some highlights from Farah’s speech on February 5th:

“Some people say it’s not important where Barack Obama was born.”

(Other people say he was born in Hawaii.)

“No one has been permitted to see the one document that might shed light to his claim for eligibility.”

(No one except for Fact Check, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, and anyone with an internet connection. If you don’t have an internet connection, I can tell you that his certificate of live birth “sheds light” on the fact that he was born in Honolulu, Hawaii.)

And it’s not just the “socialist media,” as Joseph Farah commented later that night, that has taken the initiative to actually read Barack’s certificate of live birth.

“Big” Journalist Andrew Breitbart, whose website Big Government was the first to post the ACORN prostitution videos, got into an argument with Farah afterwards.

This according to the Washington Independent’s David Weigel (who is an associate editor of the libertarian Reason magazine, even though he also writes for the leftist Independent):

First, Breitbart was asked by WND’s Chelsea Schilling what he thought of the speech, and Breitbart said, “If you don’t have the frigging evidence — raising the question?”

(Farah, however does have evidence: He has already produced a photoshopped Australian birth certificate that said Obama was born in Kenya.)

Farah, by way of Weigel, heard what Breitbart said, then got into it with Breitbart and told him, “You don’t even understand the fundamental tenets of what journalism is about.”

(I’m a journalism major, and I can tell you that nowhere in the tenets of journalism is: passing off a copy of “Barack Obama’s Kenyan birth certificate” not once, but three times, without fact checking it once, even after you have been embarrassed previously.)

(That said, I’m kind of amused at Breitbart’s veneration of the term “journalist” and his constant efforts to be identified as such. Whenever someone asks what my major is, I tell him or her, “I’m a journalism major, but I’m minoring in business.” Why would you want to be identified as someone who can’t get facts straight, who tries to keep a straight face when talking for hours on end about a runaway balloon, who looks for facts to corroborate their opinions? … In short someone like Farah.)

So Farah, in his attempts at “journalism”–and successful attempts, I might add, based on the aforementioned standards of today’s journalism–asks Breitbart, “I should prove, what, a birth certificate that may or may not exist?”

(Which Farah has already not proven three times, and Obama has proven.)

His certificate of live birth itself is evidence enough to get a passport, a driver’s license, and a social security number. Birthists want Obama to produce his “official” original birth certificate (not just the COLB, which they think is photoshopped by the way). But we can already see that the COLB is evidence for anything to prove birth, and that even if he produced his real birth certificate, Farah would then demand to see one that wasn’t photoshopped.

(Interesting note: When I worked for Mosaic Sales Solutions earlier this year, they didn’t actually know I existed, because they only had a copy of my COLB, not my “birth certificate.”)

Apart from the already-proven COLB, we also have birth records placed in both the Honolulu Advertiser and the Star Bulletin.

Farah has a good reason for not paying attention to the facts, though: “It is a winning issue!”

As Breitbart easily notes, “The elections in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts were all won not on birther, but on substance.”

(i.e. Voters might be more concerned about how to cut the $14 trillion deficit and respond to the coming entitlement crisis than about seeing even more proof that Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii at 7:42 PM on August 4, 1961.)

There’s a reason why David Shuster keeps trying to apply Joseph Farah’s views to the entire conservative movement.

With Breitbart’s views now being known–the same views as 90% of conservative activists–I have to question why Breitbart and some other conservative media figures have been so aggressively pushing the Tea Party Convention Sales Pitch on their blogs. Breitbart’s Big Government and Big Journalism have multiple stories on it, many written by Gateway Pundit’s Jim Hoft.

Not only is this convention an embarrassment featuring keynote speakers using MSNBC’s talking points, but Tea Party Nation Owner and CEO Judson Phillips has admitted he got into the business just to exploit conservatives for profit. He charged $550 for people to hear MSNBC’s talking points, and he said, “I want to make a million off this movement.”

The real tea party leaders–those at the venerable groups Tea Party Patriots and the Tea Party Caucus–have intentionally stayed away from the convention, because, as Eric Odom of the Tea Party Caucus said, “The idea of a national tea party convention flies in the face of the movement.”

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Sources:
Joseph Farah’s speech
Breitbart vs. Farah argument
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War Watch:

Sumantra Maitra — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:59:20 +0000

We posted once on the ongoing wars across the planet, and pledged to continue it with all our goodwill. But due to the tight schedule of our Managing Director, and tighter schedule of your’s truly, it was a one timer.

Not any more. Here we dig it up from the premature grave, and present you a details of the war news across…umm…everywhere.

1. Afghanistan-Pakistan: U.S. drones strike again, killing lots of people, most of them suspected terrorists, though the Pakistan government saying no, as usual.

Meanwhile, NATO needs good ol’ enemy Russia’s help in Afghanistan, where Russia almost got raped, not so long back.

2. In a different kind of war, the Maoists start their civil war in Nepal, after almost a couple of years, when they were democratically in the government, but couldn’t adjust to civility possibly, and hence decided to go back to their old ways…

3. In a war, that might flare up anytime, (or maybe not, if this pacifist tendencies of other countries goes on!) Iran tested yet another long range missile, and U.S. verbally condemned it, yet another time…

4. U.K., after the diplomatic disaster with Israel, on the war crimes charge on it’s former foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, now tries to mend ties…

5. Germany apparently don’t need enemies, they have plenty of Afghan born German lawyers, to be exactly that, right in their drawing room.

WORLD WATCH: “Nohopenhagen” and more…

Sumantra Maitra — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:59:05 +0000

Well, this is all relatively old, posted during Bombs and Dollars’ break…

* In some kind of hilariously pervert display, the infamous sign over Auschwitz concentration camp, was stolen, by Neo-Nazis, who somewhat get somekindofa cheap satisfaction by stealing scrap iron apparently.
Sign over Auschwitz stolen by fans of Hitler. (Oliver Stone suspected.)

* The lone terrorist captured by Mumbai police during the terrorist attacks last year now claims in a comical lie that he was a saint, who came to India for trying his luck to be a Bollywood singing sensation.
Seriously, what a dope!

* Iran declares war, well…almost…
But Obama is in Copenhagen trying to fix the climate in some kind of a naturist orgy.

* Berlo, got out of Hospital, and started womanizing again immediately…
The Mummy returns!

* Russia understands everything about the Whine flu conspiracy even when Putin passes his time in some secret dungeon, which is not so secret, cause they have been photographed by reporters…

And, the pick of the day…Obama’s secret love letter to Lil Kim …

Moral Relativism on Hitler

Mitchell Blatt — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 03:01:02 +0000

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“Hitler was a good scapegoat, but I want to open people’s minds about him.”

The far right talk show hosts are at it again, this time spreading smears and hate against German leader Adolf Hitler.

No, seriously, that’s what Oliver Stoned would have been saying in 1944.

The man who immortalized Che Guevara is off to set the record straight and correct the right-wing’s misinformation campaign about Hitler.

In a new documentary series titled “Secret History of America,” Stoned says, “I’ve been able to walk in Stalin’s shoes and Hitler’s shoes to understand their point of view. We’re going to educate our minds and liberalize them and broaden them.”

Naturally, his goal is to prove that America is responsible for the mass murder of 12 million during the Holocaust and millions more in Stalin’s Russia.

“Go into the funding of the Nazi party. How many American corporations were involved, from GM through IBM.”

Right, it was America’s fault that some of her companies were doing business in Germany, not the Nazi’s fault for… …killing 12 million people.

Naturally, Stoned is the best source for information about US history. With regards to John F. Kennedy’s assassination, he thinks that the CIA, FBI, Secret Service, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Marilyn Manson’s music killed Kennedy. (Though recent email leaks suggest global warming was the real culprit.)

However there is a bigger issue than just one fanatic having stuff come out of his mouth. The larger issue is about the progressive elite’s absolute lack of moral values.

Indeed, even if the United States had caused the Holocaust, Stoned wouldn’t be blaming her for doing any wrong.

“We can’t judge people as only ‘bad’ or ‘good,’” Stoned said.

Right, so even as the Left accuses George W. Bush of killing one million Iraqis in his illegal war for oil, Bush has done nothing wrong. It’s all… America’s?… fault.

To Stoned, Hitler isn’t bad. Stalin isn’t bad. Che isn’t bad. Chavez certainly isn’t bad.

In his 2009 documentary “South of the Border,” Stoned sought to redress the unfair treatment Chavez has been receiving in America. According to Stoned, Chavez stealing property and throwing dissidents in prison constitutes a “Renaissance.”

These are the same views held by some members of Obama’s administration.

FCC Diversity Czar Mark Lloyd said that Chavez’s murderous government takeover was “an incredible revolution–a democratic revolution.”

Then there was 9/11 Truth Czar Van Jones who produced a rap album with convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu Jamal titled, “Wartimes: Reports From the Opposition.” The album cover shows a group of terrorists lined up to oppose the American military, but one of the songs reminds us that, “The true terrorists are made in the US.”

And don’t forget Anita Dunn’s favorite philosopher. Mao is also featured in Stoned’s blame-America documentary.

Yet, when he’s claiming that Che and Chavez are outstanding human beings who are bringing Renaissance to their countries, he should be applauding America for her actions in somehow supporting Mao and Stalin.

Also, Stoned throws Joe McCarthy right in there with Stalin, Hitler and Mao as people who have unfairly been vilified by history. As far as I know, McCarthy never killed anyone, but that’s what you get when you descend to Stoned’s level or moral equivalence.

Unable to define whether murder and subjugation are “bad,” the celebrity Left is dumbfounded on any issue regarding ethics. Thus, you have Joy Behar saying that Tiger’s cheating isn’t a problem, because he’s not a Republican who believes in marriage, and Whoopi Goldberg saying that Roman Polanski’s rape of a 13-year-old girl wasn’t “rape-rape.”

Barack Obama still can’t figure out if it is right to pass a healthcare bill by making $300 million bribes in backroom deals, after promising to broadcast negotiations on C-SPAN.

For all the fiscal problems the US is facing because of Congressional action, the real problem underlying Congress’s actions–and the reason American people across the spectrum are disenchanted with both parties–is not their policies per se but the way they conduct themselves.

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Barack Obama Shows You How to Lie (C-SPAN)

Mitchell Blatt — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 22:52:52 +0000

Barack Obama said that the healthcare negotiations were going to be “broadcast on C-SPAN.” At least eight times.

Well, we know what happened with that. Here’s Obama, Pelosi and Gibbs staring in a music video for the Offspring’s “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid” (lyrics: “Show me how to lie”)

WORLD WATCH: Tiger Woods is presently in his 14th hole…

Sumantra Maitra — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:17:26 +0000

* Tiger Woods, who is presently in his 14th hole, is for all practical purposes a Democrat, just as Bill Clinton, the U.S. president between two Bushes, (literally and figuratively) and well…Barack Obama.
Tiger Woods is a democrat, no surprise there.

* Some very boring stuffs by Pravda, with a forced effort to show that they do know and write good English as well. About the U.S. army,
and about Vietnam.

* Russia’s brilliant Human Rights records, meanwhile, improves. Noam Chomsky must be ecstatic!

* Britain, after it’s diplomatic disaster yesterday (which we reported in World Watch), says former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni, is welcome, even when she is under arrest warrant in her name!

Al-Jazeera though, thinks otherwise…

* U.S.A. is straining ties with former allies, either because of goofing up, by the present government, with India , or because of new rise of Imperialist powers, as in Japan …

And a brilliant analysis piece, by BBC, which basically don’t answer any questions, even though it tries very hard!

Chimerica is bad for both countries: Or why both countries are just complaining now that there’s a recession

Mitchell Blatt — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:37:27 +0000

China Hush has some thoughts from Zhang Hongliang on why China’s trade partnership with America is bad for them: The “Disaster” of Chimerica: Are Both Sides Losers?

No, but both sides are behaving like sore losers.

Here’s Zhang Hongliang:

1.) The US enjoys the accomplishments of industrialization while China bears the burden of the negative effects of industrialization. … environmental pollution and the depletion of resources, overproduction, and inflation.

Of course China bears the pollution; THEY CREATE THE PRODUCT!

So that means they get the money and the jobs, and the US is losing jobs to China. China bears the burden and also reaps massive rewards.

2.) The formation of a new pattern of the distribution of wealth: Whatever China has, the US gets to enjoy.

Distribution of wealth=Americans give money to China. The US pays Chinese companies for products, the Chinese enjoy increased prosperity from America, their economy growing faster than any other in the world, and thus there are rising wages and rising standard of living.

Generally speaking, when you pay someone, you get something in return, so yeah, that’s how the US gets to enjoy Chinese products, and the Chinese get to enjoy US wealth.

3.) China has become the international milking cow and the world’s garage. In terms of the economy: foreign trade accounts for two-thirds of China’s GDP and foreign investment accounts for two-thirds of foreign trade.

Well, China could always put a stop to foreign trade policies, but I guess that would hurt their GDP. Hell, if this were a problem, then they should be happy about Obama’s tariffs on tires!

4.) The integration and assimilation of the interests of the wealthy people in the US and China intensifies the burden on the ordinary Chinese people.

Ordinary people in China receive higher wages due to increased demand for their work.

5.) Political influences can be seen in the integration of US and Chinese policies. China’s policies have to account for and be built upon the foundations of American policy, and China’s decisions are all in consideration of the requests of the US.

True, when you want to base your economy on exporting to America, you have to make sure your political policies account for that. By basing American economic policies on importing from China, Obama made a bad decision to put a tire tariff on China. It goes both ways.

But with China owning about 25% of US debt, they have considerable political sway over America.

6.) Cultural influences are noticeable in the increasing Americanization of Chinese ideology and culture. Chinese culture more and more resembling American culture.

That’s a valid point, but culture is a cumulative of what every citizen in a community desires and how they live. I understand the desire to maintain a historic culture–especially a culture as old and illustrious as China’s–and I hope they maintain it–but I guess that’s a decision for the Communist government. Do they want to let individuals express themselves however they see fit, or do they want more totalitarian control over culture?

Now the CC, the blogger at China Hush, which I should say is one of my favorite blogs, writes:

Now, I am not a qualified economist by any means, but it seems like the Chimerica model is failing in many respects. Otherwise, why would both sides be complaining about the relationship?

It’s typical human nature for both sides to be complaining at the first sign of trouble (i.e. the recession). Both sides took advantage of the benefits of their arrangements for many years, but now there’s a problem, so both sides have to blame each other. It’s so easy to forget the past and take everything else for granted.

The one thing that is true is:

China cannot control US spending and the US cannot control China’s currency values.

Yes, yes, it’s all to obvious the US is destroying their currency and China has a huge stake in the dollar.

China is now so thoroughly invested in US dollars that the US’s huge spending and stupid economic policies are hurting their investments. Furthermore, they are devaluing China’s currency, the renminbi, too, because China fixes the renminbi to the dollar, to keep trading easy.

With the dollar devalued, what can I do to make sure my dollar investments are safe?

Again, this is just another example of ignoring the benefits through short term thinking. Devaluing and fixing the renminbi sure helped China trade a lot and greatly increased their GOP, but they should know the unnatural thinks don’t always work forever. Now they have the choice to either float the renminbi and decrease trade opportunities with the US, or continue on the same path of fixing currency. Well, they’re going to get some benefits by fixing their currency, as they have continued to do, but eventually they need to face reality, as does the US.

Both sides are now complaining about these policies that have helped them, yet they must know that the policies helped them, because they are continuing the same policies.

Investment opportunities to protect against the dollar’s decline and take advantage of China’s rise.

America is responding to the recession caused by easy credit and no-risk loans by trying to get the banks to give away even more easy credit and by borrowing trillions more on the federal level. China is responding by keeping their devalued currency still fixed to the devalued dollar.

Military Babe of the Day (and comment on most of Hot Air’s recent top headlines)

Mitchell Blatt — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:06:34 +0000

Tiger, don’t cheat on her!

Now for the blog links, some of which you will recognize for the Hot Air headlines section yesterday:

Al Gore is a poet now!
Kirsten Powers: Who cares how much socialized medicine costs?
Um, maybe people who want to have their problems fixed, because if we can’t pay for it, people won’t actually have any health problems fixed.
“By the time I’m grown up, the polar ice caps will have melted and everyone will have drowned.”
Yeah, and you’ll be unemployed feeding off Uncle ~~Sam’s~~ Mao’s teet.

(Which is to say that the US does suffer major problems in the future if we don’t correct our $12 trillion deficit problems that are unsustainably ruining the economy.)
Liberal: Lieberman is a bad Jew for not supporting socialized medicine
Yeah, and David Gibson is a bad liberal for not supporting separation of church and state.
Hitchens: In defense of atheist soldiers
Who was ever attacking them? (Oh, yeah: conservative Christian military supporters.)
Well, I’ll say what I say to David Gibson above. Additionally: If I’m in a foxhole, I’ll take guns over God any day.