U.S. Troops Start Exercises In Georgia, (Moscow Times)…Combined Dispatches. July 16, 2008
One thousand U.S. troops began a military training exercise in Georgia on Tuesday against a backdrop of growing friction between Georgia and neighboring Russia.
Gates Warns Of Militarized Policy, (Washington Post)…Ann Scott Tyson, July 16, 2008, Pg. 6
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates warned yesterday against the risk of a “creeping militarization” of U.S. foreign policy, saying the State Department should lead U.S. engagement with other countries, with the military playing a supporting role.
Gates said in a speech that the government’s civilian institutions, especially those with the tasks of diplomacy and development, had been undermanned and underfunded since the end of the Cold War.
Over the next 20 years, Gates predicted, “the most persistent and potentially dangerous threats will come less from emerging ambitious states, than from failing ones that cannot meet the basic needs — much less the aspirations — of their people.”
Japan Sees a Chance to Promote Its Energy-Frugal Ways, By MARTIN FACKLER, Published: July 4, 2008
“Superior technology and a national spirit of avoiding waste give Japan the world’s most energy-efficient structure,” Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said in a speech outlining his agenda for the meeting. Japan “wants to contribute to the world,” he said.
POST: If Iran wants to trigger US strikes for domestic purposes, this is the route, Thomas P.M. Barnett on July 15, 2008
ARTICLE: Iran’s chief of staff expands threat of Strait of Hormuz closure, DEBKAfile, July 10, 2008
I don’t put it past the hardliners to trigger their own splendid little war while their man still holds the presidency.
Much the same with Cheney, who sports the same, time-is-running-short look.
I still think there’s a strong probability that shots will be fired before 1/20/09. So many players on all three sides (US, Israel, Iran) want it to happen before Obama takes office.
It’s this sort of twisted logic that starts global conflicts.
Glimpses Of The Enemy’s (Mad) Mind, (New York Post)…Deroy Murdock, July 12, 2008
As al Qaeda in Iraq’s fortunes wane, it has no one but itself to blame. President Bush’s troop surge indisputably has crushed al-Qaeda and other terrorists, while Iraqi soldiers have honed their ability to hammer deadly insurgents.
Islamo-puritanism ….
… terrorists targeting what they considered pagan symbols bombed a statue of several women hauling jars on their shoulders.
… a decree that clothiers cover the heads of their in-store mannequins
… Extremists banned soap in public baths because the Prophet Mohammed lacked it back in the 600s.
… “Sammoun,” a type of bread popular in Mosul, also was prohibited, since Mohammed never ate it. Islamo-puritans found the sight of cucumbers and tomatoes side by side sexually charged, so they ordered produce stands to keep them apart, and told restaurateurs like Khalaf Khalid to serve them on separate plates.
… Al Qaeda also took a “Just Say No” attitude toward ice. Mohammed didn’t have it,
… As part of a general crackdown on public displays of joy, al Qaeda even banned wedding parties in Mosul.
… “They threatened to kill me if I used an electric shaving machine,”
These bizarre, frightful incidents illustrate the bottomless depravity of America’s chief enemy in Iraq. This is a glimpse of how Iraq could look if U.S. forces prematurely withdrew, and the bad guys returned. This also is a cautionary tale of the insanity that likely would erupt wherever al Qaeda or any of its allies gained power.
Finally, al Qaeda’s chilling tenure in Mosul and elsewhere in Iraq puts the lie to the notion that Islamofascists merely are defending themselves against America’s allegedly over-assertive foreign policy and Israel’s supposed anti-Muslim menace. Combating ice, cucumbers, and wedding gowns has nothing to do with the policies of the Pentagon or the Knesset. It’s all about building a bridge to the 7th Century.
S. Korean Tourist Is Shot Dead In North, (Washington Post)…Blaine Harden, July 12, 2008
Pg. 9
A North Korean soldier shot dead a middle-aged South Korean housewife Friday after she walked into a restricted area near a mountain resort inside the communist North.
The killing of the 53-year-old tourist — who reportedly was shot twice from behind, in the chest and the left hip —
Since Mount Kumgang was opened to outsiders in 1998, about 1.9 million people, nearly all of them South Koreans, have visited the resort on the east coast of the Korean Peninsula. It is one of two North Korean locations that are open — under tight rules — for foreign visits.
As of Friday morning, there were 1,200 to 1,300 tourists at the resort. They were to start leaving Friday night and would all be gone by Sunday, Hyundai Asan told news agencies. The other tourist operation in North Korea — at the former capital city Kaesong just north of the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two states — was not affected by Friday’s shooting and will remain open, according to Hyundai Asan.
North Korea has come to depend on South Korean aid, especially fertilizer, to prop up a centralized farming system that almost always fails to produce enough food to feed the country’s 23 million people.
Russian Planes Put On Notice, (Washington Times)…Unattributed, July 12, 2008, Pg. 8
A Georgian official warned Russia on Friday that it will have to “collect the shattered fragments” of its planes if they intrude on Georgian airspace again.
Israeli ‘Base’ In Iraq, (New York Post)…Unattributed, July 12, 2008, Pg. 8
Israeli warplanes have been flying over Iraq and landing at US bases there in preparation for an attack on Iran, Israeli media reported yesterday.
Georgia: A Request For More Soldiers
(New York Times)…Reuters, July 15, 2008
President Mikheil Saakashvili has asked Parliament to approve the recruitment of 5,000 additional soldiers, just days after an incursion by Russian jets into Georgian airspace, a senior member of Parliament said.
Star Wars-Style Laser Technology To Reach Battlefield (London Daily Telegraph)…Thomas Harding, July 15, 2008
…After decades of delay and billions of pounds spent, it will be simple commercial lasers rather than the hugely expensive US Department of Defence technology that could be used to save hundreds of troops’ lives. In just 18 months the American defence firm Raytheon has turned a laser used in the car manufacturing industry into a weapon that can hit incoming rounds at the speed of light, melting the outer casing and detonating the explosive inside.
Laser beam technology is being rushed into service to combat the threat of insurgent missiles and mortars raining down on British and American military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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