Of Jumbo Jets, Boxers — and Hillary
Up next on the world’s via dolorsa: Saudi Arabia. Karen Eliot writes at the Washington Post that “from afar, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia appears immune from the turmoil and uncertainty engulfing nations such as Syria, Egypt and Libya. But rather than being an oasis of stability in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is nearing its own crisis point.”
In fact you could say it was a timebomb waiting to go off. The fuses smoldering beneath its serene facade are succession, money and theology. “The three historic pillars of Saudi stability are cracking. Massive oil revenue, which has bought public passivity, is threatened by peaked production and sharply increased domestic energy consumption. A supportive Wahhabi Islamic establishment that bestowed legitimacy on the House of Saud is increasingly fractious and is losing public credibility. And now, the royal family is in danger of division as it is forced to confront generational succession.”
And they are not styrofoam pillars, but supports on which the region and Western energy depend. The President has a plan for dealing with it. He must. We just don’t know what it is.
So for the foreseeable future, the royal Saudi 747, richly appointed but mechanically flawed, flies on, its cockpit crowded with geriatric pilots. The plane is losing altitude and gradually running out of fuel. On board, first class is crowded with princely passengers, while frustrated Saudi citizens sit crammed in economy. Among them are Islamic fundamentalists who want to turn the plane around, as well as terrorists who aim to hijack it to a destination unknown. Somewhere on board there may be a competent new flight team that could land the plane safely, but the prospects of a capable pilot getting a chance at the controls seems slim. And so the 747 remains in the sky, perhaps to be hijacked or ultimately to crash.
I'm Just the President of the United States
In the meantime Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is in the Pacific hoping among other things to find out what is happening in China. China and Japan, the second and third largest economies in the world respectively, are at each other’s diplomatic throats.
In an exclusive interview with Foreign Policy on Friday evening, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta cast himself as a mediator in the dispute between China and Japan over the Senkaku Islands, which both see as sovereign territory. “What we’ve urged both China and Japan to do is to resolve these disputes as peacefully as possible as well, and that will be one of the things I will urge Japan to do,” Panetta said …
The elephant in the room, of course, is the mystery that is China. Developing a trusting, transparent relationship is key to good relations, Panetta said, and on his must-do list while there. “That’s one of the things I’m going to urge,” he said. …
But he has yet another challenge in China, he acknowledged. Xi Jinping, the vice-president and China’s heir apparent, hasn’t been seen for two weeks.
“One of my challenges is to find out where he’s at,” Panetta joked.
Xi came out of hiding to meet Panetta. The Washington Post reports that “this is Panetta’s first trip to China as defense chief, and it is expected to include several historic visits, including a meeting Wednesday with the country’s leader-in-waiting, Xi Jinping, just days after the ruler reappeared in public after a two-week absence.”
All the same Panetta was worried. “Just before landing in Tokyo on Sunday, Mr. Panetta told correspondents aboard his jet that he was worried that territorial disputes in the Pacific raise ‘the possibility that a misjudgment on one side or the other could result in violence.’” And violence between these two giants would not be a counterinsurgency affair. It would be tempting to put it all down to misunderstanding, but the NYT was beginning to suspect that the Chinese, unlike the Arabs, were not simply inflamed by a YouTube video and were instead orchestrating the demonstrations for their own purposes. In other words it’s deliberate.
Complicating the diplomatic dispute, Japan’s newly appointed ambassador to China, Shinichi Nishimiya, died Sunday after falling ill last week in Tokyo, according to Japanese and Chinese news reports. He was appointed ambassador last week and was to assume his duties next month. …
There was evidence on Sunday that some Chinese government officials were involved in the protests. In the western city of Xi’an, activists on the Internet identified one of the officials as the police chief.
The political analyst Li Weidong said the official tolerance fit a longstanding pattern of behavior in which the Chinese government uses mass protests to further its foreign policy goals. In a text message sent to friends and associates, Mr. Li compared the current protesters to the Boxers, a quasi-religious group that was used by the Qing dynasty to oppose foreign incursions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
“Beijing dares not to fight, but it’s unable to talk it over either,” Mr. Li wrote. “So it has to employ Boxers, using product boycott to press Japan.”
It is probably fortunate that Leon Panetta instead of Hillary Clinton or even President Obama is in Asia. When Hillary was in China a few weeks ago the leadership went out there way to insult her. The Guardian reported:
Personal and stinging attacks in the state media heralded the US secretary of state’s arrival in Beijing. “Many people in China dislike Hillary Clinton,” said an editorial in the state-run Global Times. “She has brought new and extremely profound mutual distrust between the mainstream societies of the two countries.” Such stringent remarks were extremely unusual on the eve of a visit by a US secretary of state, noted Shi Yinhong, an expert on the bilateral relationship.
The Washington Post noted that Xi was too sick to see Hillary on her earlier trip though the nature of his indisposition was not revealed.
Panetta’s meeting with Xi is particularly notable because he had not been seen since Sept. 1, and had canceled sessions with a number of other foreign dignitaries since then, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. The Chinese government has yet to explain Xi’s public absence, but there had been rumors that he had been ill.
The arrival Panetta and his reception by the Chinese may be an indirect expression of Beijing’s lack of enthusiasm, or even contempt for Barack Obama and his coterie of foreign policy advisers like Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice and Samantha Power. The Chinese may regard Obama and this group as useless to converse with. And hence Panetta.
Big in Japan
Not so big in China
As for Hillary, will she get her Talking Points straight?
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Is there a level above Code Red? Code Black, maybe?
They’ve taken the measure of the man and clearly found him wanting.
There will be much, much more mischief before November. Six months ago, I regarded predictions that Obama would stop at nothing to remain in power as slightly paranoiac – after witnessing the brazen and unhinged lying following his myriad meltdowns and debacles, I believe we will witness something even more horrible engineered by this demon in the WH.
Obama’s weakess, arrogance, and ignorance encourages our worst enemies to transgress. In just the same manner, the complacent US media, which literally yawned while he shredded the Constitution and catastrophically destroyed American Foreign Policy, will encourage this bastard to unleash himself with little fear of being held to account by them. He will do something heinous because he is convinced he can. He won, after all.
What malign offering they are concocting, I do not know, but it will surpass all else in its enormity, and it will follow on the other galactic perversions he has encouraged our other enemies to make.
Dominoes. Are. About. To. Fall.
Wretchard, if you don’t mind sharing, what do you invest in?
I subscribe to a similar perspective on the world, and struggle mightily in trying to figure out how to best get my (very) modest wealth from the here and now to the other side of the chaos in at least decent shape. Any thoughts you could share?
I see a bad moon rising, and there will be bad times ahead, but I am optomistic enough to believe the bad times will end in something less than the millenium it took to recover from the fall of Rome.
I just noticed something about the picture of Obama bowing to the King. See the position of his right foot, how it’s drawn back. That particular motion with the right foot is called a scrape. That’s not just a bow, that’s bowing and scraping. It’s more abject than a simple bow.
A closer look earlier showed that that ships pictured at the democratic convention were Russian. This was termed a mistake.
Now it comes out that the jets pictured at the convention were Turkish. Now I think this was a mistake too. The jets would more properly have been Chinese.
Fighter jets in Democratic convention’s military montage were Turkish, not American
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/17/fighter-jets-in-democratic-conventions-military-montage-were-turkish-not-american/#ixzz26lYXpqDv
Most Australians are invested in property. For some that’s just residential or investment property. For others it might be a working farm or sheep station if you know how to manage it. For still others it is mineral claims, that being a big industry in Australia.
There is nothing particularly exciting about financial markets in Australia. So I guess property of some sort is what it is.
The larger and more important issue, Wretchard, is the collapse of American power. No debtor nation dares make war against its creditors, or even undertake foreign policy action of which its creditor does not approve. The British found that out in 1956 at Suez, when the US forced them out of Egypt by economic pressure. I imagine Panetta will shortly face the same problem. Japan, Australia, South Korea, et al, are very much on their own. And if they value their freedom they will begin building independent nuclear deterrents as fast as possible.
As for the Saudis, the house of Saud is a bubble that will burst sooner or later. When it does, the only real queston will be who will pick up the pieces? Shiites Islamic fascists backed by Iran? Or Sunni Islamic fascists of the Muslum brotherhood vareity? It is possible that the Shiites could seize, with Iranian help, the Eastern provinces which contain much of the oil. Iranian military assistance, backed by the threat of nuclear weapons, would make that relatively easy. Dominance of the region would soon follow.
Of course, the USA will do nothing to stop this. Obama does not have the will, and even if he did, he does not have the ability. Obama would rather gut defense spending to buy votes, and as long as his voters get their free healthcare, free contraceptives, free food and government jobs, they will not care either. An America who responds to attacks on embasies by arresting her own citizens invites contempt and will receive it.
” No debtor nation dares make war against its creditors,”
Say what? That’s one of ways to get *out* of debt from a creditor.
OT:
The number of self identified democrats stands at 33%… which is a record low and below self identified republicans which is 37%. The reason the polls have been favorable to dems lately is because they have been way oversampling democrats.
http://datechguyblog.com/2012/09/17/demoralized-as-hell-the-poll-the-media-isnt-talking-about-edition/
Reset, reset, the problems that beset.
If your neighbor is a threat
Reclassify him as a pest
Then think of him as a friendly pet!
And Reset, Reset
The problems that beset.
I was about the only Obama opponent around here and after he was elected some friends gave me an Obama T-shirt. The color was prison trustee orange. It had one of those Obama Seals on the front with his visage in the center. On the bottom of the outer ring it said “For President” and on top it said, “08 OBAMA.” Naturally I had to try it on and when I changed in the restroom I looked in the mirror and read “AMABO 80.” I thought I put on the wrong shirt. Then I remembered I only had one. Besides, I’d voted in the 1980 election and didn’t remember AMABO on the ballot. I think it was Jimmy Carter.
I went out and saw my friends and told them the shirt read “AMABO 80″ in the mirror. It got a good laugh. I saw them again today and reminded them of it. AMABO 80. It got another good laugh. I’d say about half will vote for him again, if they vote.
Hillary’s lack of tact and shoddy preparedness are remarkable for a diplomat. Remember, she mispelled the ‘Reset’ button she presented to the Russians. She went to Africa and angrily lectured her hosts in feminist righteousness. In Mexico they brought down none other than Our Lady of Guadaloupe for her private viewing, what an honor, and she had this to say, “That’s quite a virgin you’ve got there. Who painted it?” A smooth operator she is not, in diplomatic role wholly unsuited to her brash and imperious nature. It is very difficult to understand what anybody sees in the woman. It must gall her to no end, but what made her is that she’s Bill’s Wife.
And she’s reportedly one of the sharper ones on Obama’s grand team of rivals. So expect even less from the Department of State than its usual contribution.
Panetta’s the cabinet member with the most talent and ability and the surest track record. The best move Obama has is to put Panetta on it. That’s unlucky for Panetta. Obama is not a general you want to run point for. He’s liable shoot you in the back, figuratively speaking, at the first sign of trouble and blame it all on you. He’s not a guy you want having your back. As our allies and enemies figured out a long time ago.
“”…that will be one of the things I will urge Japan to do,” Panetta said”
That casts Japan in the role of Israel, urged to make unilateral concessions to appease a totalitarian enemy.
China and Russia and Iran and the Saudis are all farther off the financial cliff than the Road Runner. We need a coherent strategy and we aren’t getting one.
1. Drill frack and build nuke plants until the price of energy crashes.
2. Triple the size of the US military over the next 8 years.
3. Forge a tight alliance between India Australia Japan Taiwan The Philippines Vietnam and Korea.
4. Form an allied fleet with 30 modern air independent propulsion submarines.
5. Defund every Leftist front and fire or jail every Leftist intrusion in America’s government.
6. Start with Patrick Fitzgerald and move on to Al Gore, Pelosi and the Goldman Sachs crew.
7. Put a Division in Poland, a Brigade in Rumania and a Brigade in Bulgaria.
Point number (3) will be hard because of legacy grievances and territorial disputes. China will exploit these.
The oil rich Eastern Province of KSA is Shi’a and was once Nestorian Christian. Sunni Arabs reside over little oil in the Mideast. In Iraq the oil is in either Shi’a or Kurd regions. In North Africa the people are by convention described as Arabs but their ancestry is largely Berber or from other pre-islamic communities.
If Israel breaks the mullah regime and if the line is held against China as it implodes then facing down the millennial caliphate fantasies of the Sunni will prove manageable. This won’t be easy but it is doable.
If the Chinese see Obama as weak, can we expect them to contain any mischief until after the election? One could imagine the military favoring a weak Obama while the money men hope for a Pres. Romney to control the deficit and shore up the value of all the US paper they hold.
“That afternoon, another Saudi military officer, a very congenial man who also spoke near-native English but looked like an Arab Yosemite Sam, told the American teacher, “Sir, you are a very nice man.”
“Thank you,” said the American.
“This is not a compliment” said the Arab. “In America, it is good to be a very nice man, but here, with these young men, when you are very nice, you are not a man. They want to respect their teacher, but if their teacher is not strong, they will push him out of the way and find someone who is.
“What you call the Old Testament says that the people ‘loved and feared’ their God, yes? This is not a misinterpretation.
“If your students think you are not a man, your reputation will spread through the Academy, and soon no students will respect you or listen to you, and your time here in Arabia will be wasted.”
“What should I do?” asked the American.
The Saudi officer stuck out his right foot and said, “You must find the biggest troublemaker in your class and squash him,” twisting his foot back and forth on the floor, “like a bug.”"
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/09/a_personal_account_of_arab_violence.html#ixzz26mXdgWPi
“Hillary’s lack of tact and shoddy preparedness are remarkable for a diplomat.”
She isn’t a diplomat, she’s a failed lawyer who narrowly escaped jail time for perjury and to this day hasn’t been back to Arkansas. Gov. Huck kept her out of jail and I for one will never forgive him. He told the Whitewater prosecutor that if she went to jail he would pardon her. Nobody wanted the expense of a useless trial. A conviction for perjury would have kept her out of any non-elective government position.
14. toadold; Like the English used to say, ‘At your throat or at your feet’.
That is why I think a few nukes will adjust their attitude in a positive manner.
Gibbons assures us “The wind and the waves favor the ablest navigator”–
Well, the wind is boxing the compass, we have a confused sea, there are cross-currents every where we turn, and breakers under our lee.
“A pilot, God, a pilot. For the helm is left awry,
And the best sailors in the ship lie there among the dead”
In one of the greatest tales of the sea; “The Nigger and the Narcissus”- Joseph Conrad;
The sailing ship Narcissus is laid on her beam by a freak wind, the cargo shifts, and she is held there, masts level to the water. Everyone gives up, but the captain. He sits on the deck house and watches the sea, for several days while around him is chaos, men trying to find a way off the ship.
Then he sees the wind coming and shouts the order to make sail. They all think he’s gone mad, but they obey the voice of command. The sails catch the wind, the ship is pulled upright, and the voyage continues.
God willing, and we elect a truly competent Pilot, we can pull this battered ship of state upright yet. God willing.
‘
There are exist facilities in NY, NJ, MA and (I am sure) in other states for senior citizen who are brought there almost every day with free transportation, food, and various forms of entertainment. The citizens spend there the entire day and… they are sometimes slightly, sometimes blatantly instructed to vote dems. because “only dems will continue to provide the service” but evil repubs will take it away.
And many will. I had an opportunity to talk with few and they said without hesitation that they will vote the way they were instructed to.
The Saudi king is a strong, though vice-filled man of 88 (or 92 depending on sources). He looks maybe 40 in this picture taken ten years ago. Only the king of Thailand is more indestructible, having reigned 66 years without any obvious body-doubles replacing him.
Now I am starting to wonder about the British royal family… We already know they aren’t human, but I never considered they too could be imposters.
So anyone not seen by U.S. intelligence is “in hiding”? What does that make all of us?
The Arab protests were staged- and not by the Chinese government. It’s quite probable some Ivy League suits dreamed up a plan to “embolden” Chinese citizens to go out and protest, priming them for future manipulations that will test national loyalty.
I have two words for such instigators. Despite our reputed internet freedoms, I can’t say them here.
One problem the Saudi establishment has is they have too many princes that married cousins. The have to find jobs for those princes who aren’t all that sharp or try to put them into jobs that they can’t do to much damage. Recent efforts to find out who is related to whom has proven difficult and little or no progress has been made in reducing cousin marriage. The placement of the unqualified princes into nice jobs has caused resentment among those who aren’t members of the royal family and who are smarter…or just as smart.
3. Daedalus Mugged
I am not Wretchard but I would have to say that one of the best ways to get to the other side of a finanacial crisis would be land with a steady supply of water and precious metals (gold & silver) and a fair bit of semi=precious metals (brass & lead). That would assure of a supply food and the ability to protect it.
Any re-emerging economy would need to eat and be very distrustful of fiat currency.
We all knew that Obama would be weak at foreign policy. His weakness isn’t Hillary, shes doing a great job, his weakness is his lack of belief in the ideals of America. He doesn’t believe in them, so he won’t promote them.
There’s no strength behind his apparent weakness – just more weakness. A product of the anus of the Chicago political machine, he can’t do anything to or for a group of people who can’t legally vote for him. I.e. he only knows to govern for vote gathering – not to defend this country at the expense of votes.
But that is a what a front-man, an entertainer, does. We’ve been watching him for 4+ years now and we shouldn’t be surprised.
More cowbell? Maybe. More Obama? NO! – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4nvhAZ0vr0
Via Ace and Hot Air:
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/09/17/source-tells-glenn-beck-doj-negotiating-with-egyptian-government-for-return-of-blind-sheikh/
Way to go Hil and Buraq! That ‘s the way you stand up to evil! I mean those evil Rethugians, of course. It was just a little misunderstanding about that video, don’t ya know. And if ya don’t, well you had better shut up if ya know what’s good for ya.
The Religion of Peace needs it’s spiritual advisor back to do Allah’s work, so why are we to stand in the way? We must show Tolerance and that we respect the freedom of their phony Religion, but not our real faiths, of course. .
“Karen Eliot writes at the Washington Post that “from afar, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia appears immune from the turmoil and uncertainty engulfing nations such as Syria, Egypt and Libya. But rather than being an oasis of stability in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is nearing its own crisis point.”
There’s little apparent appreciation for the ‘hinge point’ that is Saudi Arabia. Despite the Saudi’s covert support for financial and cultural Jihad against the West, the House of Saud is now the sole major bulwark against the entire region falling under the control of violent jihadists. There is no viable alternative to the Royal Saudi’s, only violent fanatical jihadists wait in the wings to seize control of the world’s most important oil producer.
If Iran gets the bomb, the Iranian’s status within the Ummah will greatly increase and the momentum of the ‘arab spring’ jihadists are using to seize control, will strengthen and accelerate and then, the House of Saud will fall.
Pakistan will fall as well.
The vision of a newly arisen, nuclear armed Caliphate will prove irresistible to both Shia and Sunni jihadists. Recently, Iran has been stressing to Sunni jihadists like the Muslim Brotherhood, that unity in the face of the little and great Satan is the only path to victory for the Ummah.
When the House of Saud falls, the entire region comes under the control of the jihadists. The price of oil will skyrocket with jihadists holding the economic jugular of the West firmly in hand. If Iran has nukes, military intervention will be off the table with Iran threatening nuclear retaliation against London, Paris and Berlin if they are attacked. Fanatical Iranian Mullah’s will have a “Samson option” too…
Things can get much worse than they currently are and the ones with their ‘finger in the dike’ are the Saudi’s.
Zerohedge is now reporting that protests are occuring outside the US Embassy in Beijing. It’s not an especially violent or large protest (in fact, doesn’t look large or violent at all), but remains a disturbing development.
Maybe it’s all just internal maneuvering in China’s government, but I am not convinced of their ability to stage manage this successfully. After all, everyone else gets a vote.
GB24, the difference will be that North America will be nearly self sufficient on oil by then while Europe and Asia will be transferring wealth to the Caliphate. It’s a global market, but at least we will be paying NA companies who will then reinvest in our region rather than transferring wealth to Middle Eastern producers.
The security of supply of Middle Eastern crude is fast becoming someone else’s problem other than that of the US. Pardon all of the simplifying assumptions that I am making about the global economy, but there’s an equilibrium between higher prices and decreased demand that will get reestalished.
GB@24
Steeple@26 is right. Technically N. America doesn’t need to buy oil from the Middle East because we have plenty of our own. Once upon a time they were our main supplier of oil. More recently we have chosen to remain dependent on others for a part of our energy supplies because of their lower cost and because of political choices.
If the Saudis fall down and we get the fabled Caliphate and the price of Middle Eastern oil skyrockets (love that word) , then N. American demand for that oil will drop. The domestic supply of N. America oil will increase and will be sold at demand/supply equilibrium prices here on Earth. Those prices may well be higher than we pay now but will be way lower than the prices up there in the Caliphian orbit.
When that happens N. America will start exporting more energy than it does now and the Caliphian prices will have to Earth-rocket back down in order to compete.
Or something like that.
26 & 27,
Quite agree with your points. My focus is on what will happen to the global financial market if M.E. oil skyrockets. It seems likely that greatly higher world oil prices would collapse the E.U. and result in a much deeper depression in Japan, S. Korea and China. In an interdependent financial system, that has to affect the US as well. If China can no longer buy our debt, fiscal collapse looms near.
Then there is the geo-political ramifications of a nuclear armed M.E. alliance, a new Caliphate in all but name, controlled by radical jihadists…
How many Korans were in the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi? Isn’t it interesting how the so-called “Muslim Brotherhood” has not condemned the burning of those Korans by men (in al-Qaeda) who are intent upon defaming Islam?
Seriously, if the Koran were so sacred to Muslims, Korans could be used as body armor so Muslims wouldn’t dare attack anybody who wears it. Korans could be used as construction materials for embassies and consulates so Muslims wouldn’t attack those either. The message would be – attack us and you will be desecrating your holy book.
Of course, I don’t expect anybody from any “Islamist” group to refrain from attacking merely because they might be desecrating a Koran in the process. And that’s the point. Our enemies don’t actually give a damn about whether their holy book gets desecrated, for they are ready to do it themselves. They don’t actually give a damn about whether their prophet is insulted either; after all, it is the very religious authorities of Islam who proclaim their “warner” Mohammed as a pedophile. It is Muslim tradition that portrays Mohammed as a thin-skinned promoter of assassination against critical poets.
There is nothing that any non-Muslim can possibly say about Islam or the “warner” Mohammed that can defame Islam more than what is said by Muslims themselves. Almost nobody had ever heard of the film “Innocence of Muslims” before the protests; it was the protests themselves that actually spread whatever insults there are in that film. It is as if the protesters want to be insulted.
For all I know, “Innocence of Muslims” could be claiming that Mohammed was a cocksucker. I don’t know whether Mohammed was a cocksucker or not – and I really don’t care. I don’t know who Mohammed really was in any case, given how the stories in the Koran and Hadith are at best incomplete and not easy to verify. Mohammed’s role appears to be that of a legendary culture hero rather than an historical figure in any case.
These various protests aren’t about piety; they are about power politics. They are particularly an attempt to enforce an international regime of censorship upon all of humanity.