the opinionist

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Chinese Military Power Report

Posted on March 29th, 2009 under 2009, Afghanistan, Americans, Arms Trade, Axis of Evil, Britain, Bush, Bush Administration, CIA, China, Cold War, Conspiracy, Cyber-Warfare, Defense Security Service, Deficit, Democrats, Depression, Dmitry Medvedev, Espionage, Federal Reserve, Global Policeman, Global Poverty, Great Satan, IMF, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Medvedev, Middle East, Moscow, Multipolar, NATO, Nuclear Bomb, Nuclear Weapons, OPEC, Osama bin Laden, Oval Office, Pentagon, Politics, Presidential Election, Reagan, Russia, São Paulo Forum, U.S., US Dollar, US Treasury Bonds, Unilateralism, Unipolar, United Nations, Use of Force, WTO, War, War on Terror, WikiLeaks, World Trade, al Qaeda, counter-intelligence, defence. Comments: None

Article in Time.com from Saturday August 18 by Robert Baer.
Entitled, “Prelude to an attack on Iran.”
Begins:
Reports that the Bush Administration will put Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the terrorism list can be read in one of two ways: it’s either more bluster or, ominously, a wind-up for a strike on Iran. Officials I talk [...]

Posted on August 21st, 2007 under Bush, Iran, Revolutionary Guard, Robert Baer. Comments: None

The 2008 Democratic presidential hopefuls gathered this evening in the constantly-under-construction city of Chicago and the always-charming Soldier Field – home of the Chicago Bears. The insanely hot and humid weather a provided stark contrast to the frigid relations between front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton (D – N.Y.) and second-place Sen. Barack Obama (D. [...]

Posted on August 8th, 2007 under 2008, Barack Obama, Biden, Bush, Chris Dodd, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Kucinich, Presidential Election. Comments: 4

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates trip to the Middle East and the subsequent and substantial $63 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and a handful of smaller Arab states has drawn considerable criticism back home from Presidential hopefuls (Edwards | Obama) and other media-starlets as an act of incompetent [...]

Posted on August 2nd, 2007 under Bush, Condi Rice, Edwards, House of Saud, Iran, Iraq, Middle East, NeoCons, Obama, Putin, Russia, SNSC, Shia, Sunni, Syria, israel, saudi arabia. Comments: 1

Recent stock market declines, an ever-weaker Dollar, and an increasingly loud chest beating by nations beyond the U.S.’s rapidly shrinking sphere of influence suggests one disheartening but rapidly apparent reality. We are witnessing the rapid decline in global dominance – the unipolar / hyper-power world – of the United States of America and the emergence [...]

Posted on July 26th, 2007 under BRIC, Bush, China, Chávez, Global Policeman, India, London, Middle East, Multipolar, New York City, Putin, Russia, UN, US Dollar, Unipolar, Venezuela. Comments: 1

Just as Reuters reports a third aircraft carrier group is being sent to join the Fifth Fleet parked off the coast of Iran, … the National Review (a surprisingly right-wing but critical voice against the Bush incompetency) says succinctly what many well-placed people remain stubbornly mute about: The ridiculous inability of the Bush administration to [...]

Posted on July 10th, 2007 under Andy McCarthy, Bush, Democrats, Iraq, NRO, Salazar, al Qaeda. Comments: None

The Financial Times today posted a gloriously titled article, “World will face oil crunch ‘in five years’” yesterday afternoon that predicts ever rising oil prices and economic gloom. But who is to blame?
The FT continues, “The world is facing an oil supply “crunch” within five years that will force up prices to record levels and [...]

Posted on July 10th, 2007 under Alternative Energy, Bush, Exxon Mobil, JFK, OPEC, Refineries, oil. Comments: None

You know the war in Iraq is so far beyond recovery and success when the Bush Administration’s cable news mouthpiece, Fox News, shuns any mention of said war in favor of:

- Paris Hilton
- immigration reform so out of whack with reality as to emphasize the absurdity of Bush’s “Conversative” values and the far-left’s betrayal [...]

Posted on June 13th, 2007 under Ann Coulter, Anna Nicole Smith, Bush, CNN, Fox News, Iraq, Larry Birkhead, MSNBC, PEJ. Comments: None

The energetic French presidential race concluded yesterday with the election of moderate conservative Nicolas Sarkozy. But even as Sarkozy reaffirms France’s close relationship with the United States, the French will continue in their role as a diplomatic counterweight by reminding the U.S. of the challenges to be faced in the likely multi-polar world of the [...]

Posted on May 7th, 2007 under Ahmadinejad, Brazil, Bush, China, France, IMF, Iran, Jean-David Levitte, NATO, Nicolas Sarkozy, Russia, UN. Comments: 3

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is literally running out of time – politically, militarily, and rather frighteningly, spiritually! Iran is teasingly close to an all-out war with the United States and the consequences for Iran, the U.S., and the world are enormous and potentially cataclysmic.
Politically:
Conservative Ahmadinejad was swept into power in August 2005 on a [...]

Posted on April 2nd, 2007 under 12th Imam, Ahmadinejad, Bush, China, Iran, Iraq, Mahdi, Qods, Russia. Comments: 2

Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky is a Russian politician, deputy and vice-chairman of the State Duma (the Russian parliament), and a lawyer. Zhirinovsky is (also) the founder and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), the third largest party in the Duma. He is also a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council [...]

Posted on March 29th, 2007 under Bush, Iran, Iraq, Putin, Russia, Zhirinovsky. Comments: 1

David Frum, the former speechwriter for President George W Bush normally pounds the Kool-Aid a tad too excessively for my liking – BUT this article (entitled, “Russian Democracy is Dying“) is right on the money. Succinct, non-partisan and well-thought out – if you can spare five minutes, I’d highly recommend.

- We do know … over [...]

Posted on March 12th, 2007 under Bush, China, David Frum, EU, Iran, Natural Gas, Putin, Russia, Syria, nuclear, oil. Comments: None

If it wasn’t for the disgusting scale of destruction, death, and general chaotic carnage that is Iraq (circa 2007) it would be almost a pleasant and welcome distraction to be glib about the Iraq Oil Law.
To put it succinctly, the Iraqi Government’s approval of the ‘Iraq Oil Law‘ has opened the door to a dismantled [...]

Posted on February 27th, 2007 under Bush, Cheney, Energy Task Force, Iran, Iraq, Kurdistan, Shia, Sunni, saudi arabia. Comments: 2

The blogosphere has picked up a rumor – I think started by wack-job conspiracy site ‘What Does it Mean?‘ – that reports (thus far unsubstantiated) Russian President Putin has ordered Russian ‘Spetsnaz’ (Special Forces) into Iran to “protect ‘vital’ Russian assets, including the Bushehr Nuclear power plant.”
As with all blog rumors – this is starting [...]

Posted on February 14th, 2007 under Bush, Bushehr, Iran, Putin, Russia, Spetsnaz. Comments: 2

And I’m not referring to a touchy-feely sit down with Iran – over sushi or skewered mutton! I’m talking about the most severe military engagement with Iran and the use of weapons systems that will put the Iranian regime out of action, permanently.
Before I’m labeled another Bush-moron – a war-loving jerk with no vested interests, [...]

Posted on January 30th, 2007 under Bush, Iran, Iraq, Karbala, Qods Force. Comments: 2

With just over a week to go until the Chicago Bears play in Super Bowl XLI in Miami – the city of Chicago is positively giddy with excitement and anticipation.
Twenty-two years is quite a dry spell for a city so addicted to football and the fans have been patient long enough.
For an Englishman’s perspective – [...]

Posted on January 27th, 2007 under 1985, 2007, Bush, Homeland Security, Iran, Iraq, Reagan, chicago bears, gorbachev, ortega, paris hilton, patriot act, super bowl, ussr. Comments: 1

Does history not teach those in power anything? Is President Bush comfortable placing his gut instincts (thus far proven rudimentary to say the least!) in a covenant with evil? Can the U.S. once again make a pact with truly bad people under the hackneyed expression, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”?
As previously mentioned, [...]

Posted on January 25th, 2007 under BBC, Bush, Filner, Iran, Iraq, Jackson-Lee, Kucinich, MEK, Ros-Lehtinen, Rumsfeld, Saddam Hussein, Sam Stratman, Tancredo. Comments: 3

President Bush shall address a hostile Democratic-controlled Congress tonight in his State of the Union address and will urge the nation to slash gasoline consumption by 20 percent within the next 10 years.
The reduction is to be achieved by the increased use of ethanol-derived fuel products (15% of the reduction) and improvements in car mileage [...]

Posted on January 23rd, 2007 under Ahmadinejad, Bush, Chávez, Iran, OPEC, State of the Union, Venezuela, gasoline, oil. Comments: None

Yesterday Pierre Thomas of ABC News managed to scrounge some more detailed information on an al Qaeda terrorist threat quietly reported in the never-ending avalanche of warnings, scares and less-than-comfortable terrorist updates that is our daily news fodder.
It appears that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ['al Qaeda in Iraq'] – who was killed approximately six months ago [...]

Posted on January 23rd, 2007 under 2008, Bush, Iraq, War on Terror, ballot box. Comments: None