The Unknown Candidate: Our National Un-Security Policy

Thursday, January 18, 2007

FOREIGN POLICY

Energy Control And Political Power:
"Not 'Islamo-fascism' but 'Energo-fascism' -- the heavily militarized global struggle over diminishing supplies of energy -- will dominate world affairs (and darken the lives of ordinary citizens) in the decades to come. This is so because top government officials globally are increasingly unwilling to rely on market forces to satisfy national energy needs and are instead assuming direct responsibility for the procurement, delivery, and allocation of energy supplies. The leaders of the major powers are ever more prepared to use force when deemed necessary to overcome any resistance to their energy priorities. In the case of the United States, this has required the conversion of our armed forces into a�global oil-protection service; two other significant expressions of emerging Energo-fascism are: the arrival of Russia as an 'energy superpower' and the repressive implications of plans to rely on nuclear power."

Secrecy, Interrogation and the Rule of Law
JURIST Guest Columnist James Friedman of the University of Maine School of Law says that the veil of secrecy with which the United States has shrouded the detention and interrogation of terrorism suspects makes the rule of law impossible to determine and thus to maintain....
History is not preordained: a new cold war can be averted:
Mikhail Gorbachev write: "US military arrogance has led to a global crisis. But there is still time to change course and build a democratic world order...."

Defense reluctant to share data on Iraqi troop readiness:
"The Defense Department has resisted auditors' efforts to obtain data on the military readiness of U.S.-trained Iraqi troops, according to a senior government official."
Iran envoy: Iraq to free captured Iranians

Iraq edges closer to Iran, with or without the U.S.:
"BAGHDAD -- The Iraqi government is moving to solidify relations with Iran, even as the United States turns up the rhetorical heat and bolsters its military forces to confront Tehran's influence in Iraq."
Nothing but the oil truth
"It is not surprising- that Bush will order additional 20,000 American soldiers to risk their lives in Iraq. They will be needed to fight "terrorism" that is sure to rise as Iraqis resist the raping of their country. The world will be treated to a continuing spectacle of bloodletting. Young Iraqis dying to stop and young Anglo/Americans dying to ensure Iraq's wealth going to enrich Bush and Cheney's already rich buddies."

BBC NEWS: Washington 'snubbed Iran offer':
"Iran offered the US a package of concessions in 2003, but it was rejected, a senior former US official has told the BBC's Newsnight programme."
Iran's President Did Not Say "Israel must be wiped off the map"
Arash Norouzi writes: "Across the world, a dangerous rumor has spread that could have catastrophic implications. According to legend, Iran's President has threatened to destroy Israel, or, to quote the misquote, 'Israel must be wiped off the map'. Contrary to popular belief, this statement was never made, as this article will prove. ..."
Iranian President Visits Venezuela to Strengthen Ties - New York Times

The Nightmare Scenario
"A former arms control expert in the Soviet Union argues that Bush, in his obsession with North Korea and Iran’s relatively minuscule nuclear threat, has effectively ignored the much more perilous threat of Russia’s 10,000-strong nuclear arsenal...."