Wolf Howling: CiC

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Interesting News - 1 Jan. 2008

"Never bet against the American soldier. King George III did. He lost. Jefferson Davis did. He lost. Hirohito did. He lost." And this year, it was Don Surber’s "Loser of the Year," Nancy Pelosi’s foolish bet.

As Iraqi celebrates the New Years, Brussels cancels their fireworks over threats of terrorism.

Ralph Peters interviews Gen. Petraeus on Christmas Day about the "Year of Wonders." Notable is Petraues’s explicit statement, contrary to assertions by the highest levels of our State Dept., that Iran is continuing to train and arm Shia proxies in Iraq.

Party like its 1499 B.C. This is some archeology we can all appreciate – uncovering a Bronze age Irish brewery and trying out the old recipes.

Over 150 billion petrodollars have flooded Iran’s coffers during the 30 month Presidency of Ahmedinejad. So why are Iran’s economic hardships increasing?

An interesting article on Iran’s byzantine political structures and circles of influence.

Frontpage Magazine has an interview with Homa Arjomand, the Coordinator of the International Campaign Against Sharia Court in Canada.

Analyzing Sarkozy’s decision to end relations with Syria until Syria stops its meddling in the internal politics of Lebanon’s election of a President.

After a survey across the "length and breadth of the country," it appears that Indian men are not quite measuring up, so to speak.

The Washington Times memorializes the Canadian Islamic Congress human rights complaint against Mark Steyn, charging him with hate speech for quoting Imams. This is nothing more than Wahhabi dissimulation – the hallmark of the Wahhabi Salafi religion that claims any criticism is hate speech. And the Canadian Human Rights Commission is appeasing them. Outrageous.

From Caroline Glick: "If democracy and freedom are the U.S.’s ultimate aims in this war, the only way to achieve them is to first fight and win the war. Bhutto – like her Palestinian, Egyptian and Lebanese counterparts – was a sideshow."

At the NYT, Pinch Sulzberger welcomes the staff back from what he hopes for each was a "wonderfully secular winter solstice," announces the hiring of Bill Kristol as a columnist, and gives the staff helpful pointers on how to understand and interact with a neo-con.

A Pakastani Imam and head of a madrasa tells of his dream to bring Sharia law to Pakistan and then Britain, by force if necessary.

Interesting News From Around the Web

Our intelligence community recently called in the NIE for placating Iran by negotiating with Iran to allow it to achieve its goals for regional influence. Today, under the cover of an aid project, Iran is consolidating Shia control over southern Lebanon by building a large mountain road that critics believe is a supply route for Hizbollah. It does not seem Iran requires our help.

Michael Yon has posted part IV to his article, Men of Valor. It is an incredible read.

The EU Referendum looks at the debate over the Common Fisheries Policy and how the EU has torpedoed Britain’s once significant fishing industry. Most depressing, it would appear that neither major political party in Britain cares.

The Lyrical Terrorist has been convicted in the UK of collecting articles "likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism". She was a promoter of the jihadi philosopy, penning prose supporting Osama Bin Laden, martyrdom and describing beheadings. In her house, she was found with an al Qaeda manual and that NYT best-seller, the Mujahadeen Poisons Handbook. The judge in the UK has given the budding jihadist a prison term of . . . 0 days. That’s the way to be tough on terrorism.

Ironic Surrealism II blogs on the Islamic sour grapes north of the border. It’s a good explanation of the Mark Steyn affair and the response of the Canadian Islamic Congress who are screaming Islamaphobia and bringing suit.

Bookworm Room is blogging on NBC’s oh so principled decision not to accept advertising in support of our troops. My t.v. shall not land on their channel again.

Rhymes with Right is a bit perturbed at the attitude adopted by the Mexican government towards its northern neighbor – an attitude that has been historically quite hypocritical. At any rate, RwR is suggesting a Southern Surge for our troops no longer needed in Baghdad.

Right Wing Nuthouse observes that the release of the NIE was a tribute to American exceptionalism. I agree in as much as the NIE was released. My heartburn lies with the fact that I think our leadership shirked their duty in flushing out this NIE before it was released. And I think the reason for that was driven purely by partisan politics of the past three years.

Gateway Pundit has the story of 19 year-old Makwan Moloudzadeh who was hung on Wednesday for having gay relations when he was 13. The 19 year-old was pardoned by an Iranian judge in November but the regime hung him anyway. 6,000 people attended his funereal.

And finally, ‘tis a foul and hellish wind from across the pond.