Think Again: The Republican Party

The Republicans are facing some tough questions following their election defeat in November.

Former Presidential Candidate and current US Senator John McCain thinks this article from Foreign Policy Magazine addressing some of those questions should be required reading for Republican leaders.

Must-read for every Republican leader @foreignpolicy: "The future of the GOP - after the debacle" foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/… @dpletka
— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) January 8, 2013

Associated Press` Matt Lee confronts Obama`s State Dept. official over their refusal to condemn Turkey`s Erdogan for calling Israel a `terrorist state`

Transcript at FOX News

Unlike the White House, Senator John McCain was less equivocal 

Senators McCain and Graham call for a review of US relations with Pakistan

From the Senate press release:

The United States has been incredibly patient with Pakistan. And we have been so despite certain undeniable and deeply disturbing facts. Most importantly, Pakistani army and intelligence officials continue to support the Haqqani Network and other terrorist groups in Pakistan that are killing U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and the vast majority of the material used to make improvised explosive devices used against U.S. forces in Afghanistan originates from two fertilizer factories inside Pakistan.

The time has come for the United States to fully review its relations with Pakistan. We must assess the nature and levels of our support for Pakistan. In particular, all options regarding U.S. security and economic assistance to Pakistan must be on the table, including substantial reductions and stricter standards for performance. Most of all, U.S. policy toward Pakistan must proceed from the realistic understanding that certain actions of Pakistan’s military are contributing to the death and injury of our men and women in the military and jeopardizing our national security interests.

h/t Tarek Fatah

Israeli spymaster Dr. Dolittle strikes again in Iran!

First it was the Shark that Egyptians claimed was a Mossad agent eating people in the Red Sea.

Then came the Mossad Vulture. The Saudis arrested a vulture with a tracking collar as part of an avian migration study. The collar read "Tel Aviv University." Because as we all know, good spies wear collars identifying their country of origin.

Iran, never to be outdone in stupidity and paranoia by anyone, has just arrested 14 squirrels. Yup. You heard right. Squirrels.

"In recent weeks, intelligence operatives have arrested 14 squirrels within Iran's borders," state-sponsored news agency IRNA reported. "The squirrels were carrying spy gear of foreign agencies, and were stopped before they could act, thanks to the alertness of our intelligence services."

And these people are about to put a nuclear reactor online? News like this makes me wish John McCain had won the 2008 election.

The League of Democracies: An idea that needs to be discussed

The UN was a wonderful idea that has turned into a dismal failure.

Its waste and corruption and paradoxical jokes like its having a "Human Rights" supervisory body containing countries like Libya, Cuba, China, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have largely undermined confidence in its usefulness throughout the democratic world. This body of 192 member states, many of whom are undemocratic dictatorships, makes decisions that reflect the will of their dictators and not their people.

Canada's recent unsuccessful lobbying for a seat on the United Nation's Security Council highlights some of the inefficiencies and hypocrisies that are inherent in the world's diplomatic amphitheatre.

It's time to get past the UN and Canada should lead the move towards establishing a global decision-making body that reflects responsible, democratic principles, rather than is subject to the whims of totalitarians in Iran and North Korea.

John McCain proposed a the formation of a League of Democracies 2 years ago. It's an idea whose time has come.

McCain wrote in the Financial Times:

"We need to strengthen our transatlantic alliance as the core of a new global compact – a League of Democracies – that can harness the great power of the more than 100 democratic nations around the world to advance our values and defend our shared interests.

At the heart of this new compact must be mutual respect and trust. We Americans recall the words of our founders in the Declaration of Independence, that we must pay “decent respect to the opinions of mankind”. Our great power does not mean we can do whatever we want whenever we want, nor should we assume we have all the wisdom and knowledge necessary to succeed.

We need to listen to the views and respect the collective will of our democratic allies. When we believe that international action is necessary, whether military, economic or diplomatic, we will try to persuade our friends that we are right. But we, in return, must also be willing to be persuaded by them.

The nations of the NATO alliance and the European Union, meanwhile, must have the ability and the will to act in defence of freedom and economic prosperity. "

UN "Human Rights" Council Floatilla Probe: “even if Bin Laden himself were on the Mavi Marmara, Israel’s blockade would still be illegal.”

Everything coming out of the politically motivated council's pre-determined inquiry into the flotilla raid in June by Israeli forces intercepting the flotilla attempting to violate the sea blockade of Gaza shows the need to scrap the UN as a serious decision making body and replace it with a League of Democracies, as suggested by John McCain and others.

GENEVA, Sept. 28 - The U.N. commission into Israel’s May 31 flotilla clash declared during a U.N. Human Rights Council debate today that “even if Bin Laden himself were on the Mavi Maramara, Israel’s blockade would still be illegal.”

The statement was made by commissioner Desmond de Silva in response to questions posed in the council plenary by the Geneva-based UN Watch as to why the probe ignored voluminous evidence it submitted regarding the stated intentions of the Islamist flotilla members to physically confront Israel and become “Shahids,” or martyrs.

The chair of the flotilla probe, Judge Karl T. Hudson-Phillips, said that he had never heard the term “Shahid” before. However, he insisted that, in any event, the intentions of the IHH activists carried no legal relevance.

Some international lawyers disagree. “It is astonishing that the UN panel now openly admits to disregarding our evidence as to the violent, Jihadist and suicidal intentions of the IHH militants on the Mavi Marmara,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.

“That the head of the probe said he never heard the word ‘Shahid’ before today means that he never even looked at the numerous video testimonies and other compelling evidence that we submitted to his inquiry,” said Neuer

read the rest at the UN Watch website

For and Against bombing Iran

Jeff Goldberg's cover story in The Atlantic about Israel preparing to bomb the Iranian nuclear reactor has inspired a lot of recent discussion.

Many have called it the most thoughtful piece yet on the subject, while others accuse him of laying the groundwork for a military campaign.

The Atlantic published their own summary of the response from American punditry here.