Oxford Union: “This House regrets the founding of The United States of America.”
Such is the extent of anti-Americanism out there that this was considered to be a reasonable debate topic by Britain’s best and brightest...read the rest here.
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Afghanistan and Iraq are half a world away from the United States, but the most important front in the war on terror may just be a mouse click away. Correspondent Scott Pelly takes an in-depth look at the world of Jihad online, including how ordinary Americans are fighting back.
Watch the video produced by the News Program, 60 Minutes, by clicking here.
The Financial Times reporting that Iran will be able to develop enough weapons-grade material for a nnuclear bomb and there is little that can be done to prevent it, and internal European Union Document has concluded.
...The downbeat conclusions of the “reflection paper” – seen by the Financial Times – are certain to be seized on by advocates of military action, who fear that Iran will be able to produce enough fissile material for a bomb over the next two to three years. Tehran insists its purposes are purely peaceful.
“At some stage we must expect that Iran will acquire the capacity to enrich uranium on the scale required for a weapons programme,” says the paper, dated February 7 and circulated to the EU’s 27 national governments ahead of a foreign ministers meeting yesterday.
“In practice . . . the Iranians have pursued their programme at their own pace, the limiting factor being technical difficulties rather than resolutions by the UN or the International Atomic Energy Agency.
“The problems with Iran will not be resolved through economic sanctions alone.”
The admission is a blow to hopes that a deal with Iran can be reached and comes at a sensitive time, when tensions between the US and Tehran are rising. Its implication that sanctions will prove ineffective will also be unwelcome to EU diplomats. Only yesterday the bloc agreed on how to apply United Nations sanctions on Tehran, overcoming a dispute between Britain and Spain over Gibraltar.
A brilliant analysis of our Iran's strategy by PINR. This strategy is working and we don't need the Democrats to undermine it.
Here are some excerpts:
(snip)
These moves are clearly attempts to change perceptions that the United States is in a position of weakness and that it is unwilling to further embroil itself in conflict. Eliminating this perception is critical for the United States in order to regain geopolitical influence in the Middle East. Perceptions of U.S. weakness -- which PINR has warned of since 2003 -- were recently confirmed by U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. On January 15, Gates confirmed that "the Iranians clearly believe that we are tied down in Iraq, that they have the initiative, that they are in a position to press us in many ways. They're doing nothing to be constructive in Iraq at this point." Gates went further, admitting, "I think that our difficulties have given them a tactical opportunity in the short term…" Gates, however, added that "the United States is a very powerful country." This caveat is a military reality that Iran must carefully take into account. While the United States is reluctant to further embroil itself in conflict, it retains the ability to attack Iran. In fact, it is possible that Washington's latest moves are in preparation for a strike on Iran, even if such a course of action would not be in the interests of the United States.
Nevertheless, even if the United States did not achieve its objectives in an attack -- such as ending Iran's nuclear research program permanently and eliminating its influence in Iraq -- it would prove detrimental to Iran's regional ambitions. For this reason, Iran will make efforts to avoid this outcome and it is here where the United States retains the most leverage. Indeed, there are reports that forces within the Iranian government are pressuring President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to tone down his aggressive posture so as not to invite a U.S. or Israeli attack.
ABF, for the promotion of human rights and democracy in Iran