More Aid Than Aid

I've been following the situation in Georgia and it is breathtaking how Mr. Putin has managed to take on old 1930's play, scratch out Czechoslovakia, pencil in Georgia and restage it with a perfectly straight face.. Russia has managed to split Georgia in two within five days and it's "withdrawl" leaves it in occupation of a fifth of the country. Worse, it has made it entirely clear to the Georgians that they can take the whole lot over any time they feel like it.

Unfortunately, it's one of those situations where there's a whole lot of nothing we can do about it. Russia may have the long-term prospects of an old turnip in a compost heap, but today it enjoys an imperial Indian summer with its petrodollars and nuclear arsenal giving it a large degree of immunity against Western sanctions. In the case of Georgia, simple geography prevents any meaningful intervention and it looks as though Mr. Putin is going to have a free hand to do as he wills.

Or at least, it did until the Americans came up with an elegant little countering move. According to the BBC, President Bush has announced that the United States is sending humanitarian aid to Georgia–using military aircraft and ships to do the delivering. They may not be able to do any fighting, but a flotilla of ships in the Black Sea and troops on the ground in the path of Putin's tanks makes for a nice little trip wire that even a former KGB chief would think twice about stepping on.

Now if only the rest of Nato would send similar "aid" plus a couple of "goodwill" visits by a fighter wing and we'd be laughing.

Slience of the Lambs

Victory?

Is the war in Iraq over?

Michael Yon says yes.

Future War Tank (1939)

Not bad, but I've seen better.

Ben Magnan, Call Your Service

It turns out that Britain is taking the war seriously after all. Faced with Jihadist aggression in Asia and the Middle East highlighted by the assassination of a former prime minister of Pakistan, Mr. Gordon Brown is bringing the full might of Britain to bear by deploying a devastating task force-- of diplomats.

Talk 'em to death over smoked salmon and a nice Chablis; that always works against crazed barbarians. But that depends on the diplomat.

Benazir Bhutto Assassinated

The former prime minister of Pakistan is killed in bomb attack with fifteen others.

Not good.

Hicks Nix Peacenik Pix

Roger Simon looks at why the American public is staying away from Hollywood's anti-American films in droves.

An Un-Grim Milestone

Sometimes one image just says it all.

My Book To Help America

The children's book they would never publish today.

Al Qaeda in Iraq is Defeated

From Michael Yon:

“Al Qaeda in Iraq is defeated,” according to Sheik Omar Jabouri, spokesman for the Iraqi Islamic Party and a member of the widespread and influential Jabouri Tribe. Speaking through an interpreter at a 31 October meeting at the Iraqi Islamic Party headquarters in downtown Baghdad, Sheik Omar said that al Qaeda had been “defeated mentally, and therefore is defeated physically,” referring to how clear it has become that the terrorist group’s tactics have backfired. Operatives who could once disappear back into the crowd after committing an increasingly atrocious attack no longer find safe haven among the Iraqis who live in the southern part of Baghdad. They are being hunted down and killed. Or, if they are lucky, captured by Americans.

Let us sincerely hope so. The situation in Iraq reminds me of war game simulations that I used to run. You'd be fighting forever, apparently making no progress against an enemy who seems to have infinite reserves, and then suddenly the front collapses like a wet paper bag and what's left of the hostiles is running for the hills.

Update:

Some graphic evidence.

Tiny Minds

Turning to the tinfoil hat section of the news, we learn that anti-war protesters in the United States believe that the CIA is spying on them with teeny, tiny flying robots.

At least, that's what the voices keep telling them.

If It Flops, Blame The Audience

David Kahane has a beautiful summing up of Hollywood's current raft of anti-war films:

Now, what do all these films have in common — besides being passionate indictments?

They all flopped. Or will, soon enough. (Except for, maybe, The Kingdom, which apparently has an appalling whiff of vigilantism.) And this is something we out here in Hollywood just cannot wrap our minds around.

What the hell is wrong with this country? We support the troops, showing them as the dysfunctional, murdering, drug-addicted, red-state crypto-rapists in need of psychoanalysis we all know they really are. Hey — even the Marine officer in Alan Ball’s award-winning American Beauty a few years back was humanized by making him a sadist and a closet queen. And this is the thanks we get?

Ungrateful so and sos. And after we gave them Gigli, too!

If You Want Peace, Prepare for War

From the Telegraph:

The world should "prepare for war" with Iran, the French foreign minister has said, significantly escalating tensions over the country's nuclear programme.

Bernard Kouchner said that while "we must negotiate right to the end" with Iran, if Teheran possessed an atomic weapon it would represent "a real danger for the whole world".

The world should "prepare for the worst... which is war", he said.

At last we know where David Cameron shipped all those Conservative party spines.

Shooting One's Foot

Al Qaeda has not only moved the Swedish Cartoon War from a question of "sensitivity" to deadly serious by putting a price on the head of the cartoonist and his editor, but they've also responded to their waning support in Iraq by declaring war on the very Sunnis they claim to champion.

Yup. All the foresight of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March.

War is Peace

Bruce Bawer over at City Journal has an uncompromising look at the so-called Peace Movement and sums up its more unbalanced fringe once stripped of its Marxist double talk:

In other words, if you want to ensure peace, worry less about freedom. Appease tyranny, accept it, embrace it—and there’ll be no more war.

This reminds me of something I read in one of Robert Conquest's books where he points out that this attitude is rank nonsense even on its own terms. Using the Communists as his example, Conquest notes that once a tyranny becomes secure in itself the result is not a perpetual albeit repressive peace, but that the tyrants instantly split into competing factions ala the Bolsheviks and the Menesheviks, Hitler and Stalin, or the Soviets and the Maoists and war against one another forever.

Want to find the road to Oceania? Start at your local Peace Institute.

Calling a Terrorist a Terrorist

The United States is about to officially declare Iran's Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organisation. This announcement came on the same day Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said at Iran's embassy in Afghanistan (emphasis added),

There is no truth on earth but monotheism and following tenets of Islam and there is no way for salvation of mankind but rule of Islam over mankind.

"Overreaction" by the US bows to "about time" on this one.

The Mask Slips

Neil Clark, in a piece in the Guardian titled "Keep these Quislings out" weighs in on the question of whether or not Iraqi interpreters who have been working for the Coalition should be granted Asylum because the Jihadists have marked them for death. Where he stands isn't too much of a mystery, given that in the title itself he compares the interpreters to pro-Nazi traitors and, by implication, calling the Coalition forces Nazis. However, his attitude summed up in this quote is particularly striking (emphasis added):

The interpreters did not work for "us", the British people, but for themselves - they are paid around £16 a day, an excellent wage in Iraq - and for an illegal occupying force. Let's not cast them as heroes. The true heroes in Iraq are those who have resisted the invasion of their country.

As Seumas Milne wrote in yesterday's Guardian: "More than any other single factor, it has been the war of attrition waged by Iraq's armed resistance that has successfully challenged the world's most powerful army and driven the demand for withdrawal to the top of the political agenda in Washington."

"Resisted" in this case being stretched to include blowing up markets, beheading journalists, kidnapping aid workers, baking children and feeding them to their families, wiping out whole villages, and trying to recreate the Taliban all over again. The quote in the second paragraph is also revealing in that it shows the nostalgia that the Left has injected into the war. Mr. Clark may hark back to French Resistance, but it's clear that his real models are rose-tinted and sanitsed versions Che Guevara other Communist "resistance" leaders who the Chattering Classes lauded as the true representatives of The People to be supported against the evil, Capitalist West, but whose fruit was invariably the gulag and the guillotine.

As the old saw goes, they're not anti-war, they're just on the other side.

The Pope, Bears, & Islam

From the BBC:

The failed bomb attacks on London and Glasgow have damaged public perceptions of Islam, a survey has suggested.

No doubt that would be the "No #&%$, Sherlock" survey.

The Australian Connection

In the wake of last week's bombing attempts in London & Glasgow, Australian authorities are carrying out raids and are questioning five more doctors with (if you read the BBC) nothing in common beyond being doctors.

By a staggering coincidence, at least one is named "Mohammed", so I suspect that they are not Methodists

A Former Jihadi Speaks Out

Hassan Butt, who was once a member of radical group Al-Muhajiroun, addresses the ostrich mentality of the West and moderate Muslims when it comes to radical Islam:

When I was still a member of what is probably best termed the British Jihadi Network, a series of semi-autonomous British Muslim terrorist groups linked by a single ideology, I remember how we used to laugh in celebration whenever people on TV proclaimed that the sole cause for Islamic acts of terror like 9/11, the Madrid bombings and 7/7 was Western foreign policy.

By blaming the government for our actions, those who pushed the 'Blair's bombs' line did our propaganda work for us. More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology.

Read the whole thing, as they say.

Death With Indignity

The Telegraph reports on a terrorist web site based in Britain where 45 Muslim doctors threatened to blow up naval bases and "clubs for naked women" in the vicinity of Jacksonville, Florida.

I guess that's what happens when you start treating the Hippocratic Oath as "guidelines."

Blackburn Arrests

Two "Asian" men have been arrested in Blackburn on terrorist charges.

In other developments, the number of Jihadi doctors has now risen to seven. The eighth is a medical technician.

Now We Are Eight

The bombing arrest toll has risen to eight.

It also brings the number of doctors under arrest to three.

Update: Make that five doctors. This is starting to slip into surrealism.

Update: Six doctors and arrests in Brisbane. Surrealism achieved.

Net Widens

Two more men have been arrested in connection with the recent bombings, bringing the total to seven. The BBC describes the suspects as "not thought to be of British origin," so I presume that they are Lithuanian Buddhists.

Also reported, one of the people arrested in Cheshire is named "Mohammed." What are the odds?

Update: The connection between the Glasgow and London bombings is more of a unity, according to CNN:

Authorities suspect the two men who rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into Glasgow's airport on Saturday are the same people who parked two car bombs in central London a day earlier.

Damn It, Jim; I'm a Doctor, Not a Jihadist!

Five people from Glasgow to Cheshire to Liverpool have been arrested in Britain in connection with the recent bombing attempts with more to follow over the next few days.

Interestingly, two of the five are physicians.

So much for the "poor and disenfranchised" theory of Jihadism.

Still, it's perplexing that we keep finding so many people from such diverse backgrounds and over such a wide area of the country involved in terrorist attacks. I keep looking at the news reports for something that they all have in common, but it still remains a mystery.

Glasgow Attack

Two "Asian" men rammed a Jeep Cherokee into the main terminal at Glasgow airport with the vehicle bursting into flames. The men in the car and two others are reported to be under arrest by Strathclyde police. Eye witnesses say that this was no accident and that the driver deliberately swung the car into the entry way. According to Sky News, one witness said that the men were "throwing petrol around".

Who is behind this attack, what their motive might be, whether it is part of some larger events, if it is related to the failed London bomb attacks, if there is some religious element (Heaven knows what), or if anyone named "Mohammad" is involved remains an utter mystery and will remain so for as long as the major media outlets can manage.

Update: Sky News is now reporting that only two men have been arrested.

Update: Witness tells Sky News that one of the suspects shouted "Allah" while attacking a policemen.

Update: Fox News has reported that Britain's threat level has been raised to "critical", meaning that another attack is thought imminent. The BBC confirms.

Update: The BBC is reporting that two people have been detained in Cheshire in connection with the bombings in Glasgow & London. Looks as if the two incidents are part of the same plot.

Update: The Jihadist who was taken to hospital in critical condition from severe burns was wearing a suicide bomb belt.

Update: CNN reports that there may be a third Jihadist in the Jeep. Also, the burns of the bomb belt terrorist are explained:

Witness Jackie Kennedy told the BBC that after the crash, a passenger in the Jeep doused himself with fuel from a can and ignited it, then got out of the vehicle. Airport police used fire extinguishers on him, and he fell to the ground, she said.

"I realized that this was obviously deliberately done -- the fact that the guy was in flames and seemed to be enjoying himself, even smiling," Kennedy told the BBC.

How anyone can read this and think it's no problem if these madmen get their hands on nuclear weapons is beyond me.

London Bombing Attempt

Authorities in London have neutralised a car bomb in the Haymarket. Planted outside of the Tiger Tiger nightclub, which has a maximum capacity of 1700, a green metallic Mercedes packed with petrol, propane and nails was discovered by an ambulance crew when it started emitting smoke at about 1:30 AM. Police destroyed the vehicle with a controlled explosion and a second car in Park Lane is under investigation.

This bomb smells so heavily of Al Qaeda that even the BBC can't skirt around the obvious, though the AP does a valiant effort by reporting that "Police were also investigating the possibility that the planned attack could have been criminal in nature."

Uh, yeah.

My impression is that this happening within two days of Gordon Brown becoming Prime Minister is no coincidence and that the Jihadis were hoping to pull a Madrid by killing hundreds, if not thousands within a stone's throw of Piccadilly Circus before Mr. Brown had a chance to finish unpacking his underwear at No. 10. Hopefully this misfire will turn into a backfire that will make Mr. Brown declare what his predecessor could never bring himself to do, which is that what is happening on the streets of Britain is nothing less than enemy action in time of war and that those who carry these acts out, those who aid them, and those who support their goals are nothing less than enemy agents or traitors to be treated accordingly..

But I'm not holding my breath.

Update: In a concerted effort to sweep things under the carpet, AP (no surprise here) is reporting that terror links were "not found," though a closer reading indicates that there isn't any positive evidence linking the bomb to specific terrorist suspects. It's important to keep an open mind in these situations, but until the police put the finger on someone who isn't named Mohammad, I'm leaving this in the Jihad basket.

Update: Fleet street has been closed off because of a third suspicious vehicle.

Update: CBS claims to have uncovered a connection to a posting on a Jihadist web site.

Talking to Death

Iran now has enough nuclear material (that we know of) to construct two fission bombs.

Looks like all that talking did the job-- for the Mullahs.

The Gulf

Apparently the Royal Navy isn't the only service that the Iranians have attacked. In 2004, the mullahacracy tried to capture an Australian boarding party, but that one never made the headlines. Why?

Answer: They fought back and won.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald,

Quoting a "military source", BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner reported Iranian forces made a concerted attempt to seize a boarding party from the Royal Australian Navy and that the Australians "were having none of it".

"The BBC has been told the Australians re-boarded the vessel they had just searched," Gardner reports, "aimed their machine guns at the approaching Iranians, and warned them to back off, using what was said to be 'highly colourful language'.

Our sources inform us that the Royal Navy has requested a shipment of spines from the RAN.

Lawfare

As if this war wasn't overlawyered enough, British soldiers in the field must now operate under the scrutiny of the Human Rights Act, which means that if a soldier puts a foot wrong, the Ministry of Defence can get the pants sued off it.

That slapping sound you hear is Jihadis everywhere high-fiving each other.

Axis of Evil? What Axis?

North Korea tested its new 3000-mile range Musudan missile-- in Iran.

Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.

Quote of the Day

From the Telegraph:

If the choice is them continuing [towards a nuclear bomb] or the use of force, I think you're at a Hitler marching into the Rhineland point. If you don't stop it then, the future is in his hands, not in your hands, just as the future decisions on their nuclear programme would be in Iran's hands, not ours.

John Bolton on Iran's nuclear weapons power programme.

Don't Connect the Dots

MI5 reports that there are 2000 terrorists in Britain actively supporting Al Qaeda.

But remember, this is just a police matter; we are not at war.

And maybe I'm a Chinese jet pilot.

Surrender Bill Vetoed

Now that we've got the political posturing out of the way, perhaps the US Congress will get down to some real work and end this war by winning it.

Also Stable?

Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, is reported dead in a fire fight with rival Jihadists.

Until it is confirmed that Abu is sharing a pew with Castro in a very warm spot, I'm holding off on the celebrations.

Fun Fact from GlobalSecurity.org:

He probably came into Iraq in 2002, before Zarqawi's arrival, and may have helped establish the first al-Qaeda cell in the Baghdad area.

But Iraq had nothing to do with Al Qaeda and is just a distraction from the "real" war.

US Congress Turns French

The United States Congress has voted to surrender in Iraq-- apparently unconditionally, as they have yet to contact the Jihadists about terms and concessions.

High fives all around at Al Qaeda HQ.

Update: Courtesy of the EI time scanner, we present a view of the American embassy in Baghdad, March 2008.

Peace in Our Time

Senate Majority Leader Harry "The war is lost" Reid on Kosovo (Emphasis added):

Just a reminder to the predominantly Muslim-led government[s] in this world that here is yet another example that the United States leads the way for the creation of a predominantly Muslim country in the very heart of Europe. This should be noted by both responsible leaders of Islamic governments, such as Indonesia, and also for jihadists of all color and hue. The United States' principles are universal, and in this instance, the United States stands foursquare for the creation of an overwhelmingly Muslim country in the very heart of Europe.

Translation: "We're good dhimmis. Here is your Sudetenland. Take it and don't hurt us, please."

Someone hand Senator Reid his umbrella.

Missing Factor

The BBC is running a feature article on the "flight" of middle-class Muslims from Britain for the more "tolerant" climes of the Middle East.

The reasons for their being so fed up with life under the Union Jack are cited by the Beeb as "Islamophobia," a "witch hunt" and "glass ceilings"against Muslims, "an environment where the messages in the media are anti-Islamic" and