As a child in the 1950s, I learned how to “duck and cover” in order to protect myself from an atomic bomb explosion. Little did I know that the instruction should have been “Kiss your asterisk goodbye.”

The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when the Soviets wanted to put nuclear-tipped long range missiles there, led to a confrontation between President John F. Kennedy and Nikita Krushchev that had both sides changing their underwear after it was over.

What do the United States, Great Britain, France, Russia, Pakistan, India, Israel, and North Korea in common? They all have nuclear weapons and, of course, Iran has been working toward that goal and is now very close to achieving it.

Some will argue that Israel should not be on the list because it has never acknowledged its nuclear capabilities, but everyone knows they have them. Presumably the Iranian mullahs do as well, but they are a bunch of nuts waiting for the mythical Twelfth Imam to come out of a well and smite the enemies of Islam.

It is instructive that both Pakistan and India acquired their nuclear weapons without anyone being aware of it until after the fact. At CIA headquarters, when India announced its successful test, it came as a very big surprise. These days, the U.S. is busy reassuring Israel that Iran is “at least a year away” from nuclear status and you can imagine how relieved they are to hear that.

North Korea is a wild card and, given the lack of success the U.S. and anyone else has had to get them to abandon their nukes, the same can be assumed for Iran when they make their announcement. Meanwhile they have to content themselves with announcing new missiles, the latest of which they dubbed “the ambassador of death.”

The Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization has designated Sunday, August 29, as “The International Day against Nuclear Tests.” Given the total lack of success in thwarting any nation that wants a nuke, my confidence in the United Nations’ treaty is zero.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, a UN component, has been kicked out of North Korea, Iraq and Iran on several occasions, so one might rationally assume it is useless when it comes to stopping the manufacture of A-bombs.

Olli Heinonen, the former chief of UN nuclear inspections worldwide, told Le Monde, a French newspaper, that Iran has stockpiled enough low-enriched uranium for 1-2 nuclear arms, but he thought doing so made no sense. Betting on the rationality of the Iranian ayatollahs is not a good idea.

Who doesn’t want a ban on nuclear weapons testing? The United States Senate for one.

While the U.S. has “signed” a number of the test ban treaties that have been around since the 1960s, the Senate has not ratified any of them, thus avoiding having to commit the nation to no longer testing new nuclear weapons. For some reason, the U.S. Senate does not trust Russia or the other nuke nations.

In April, our ever-hopeful President Barack Obama journeyed to Russia to sign a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Dmitry Medvedev dubbed “New Start.” For Obama it was another empty photo opportunity on a par with accepting the Nobel Peace Prize (soon to be available everywhere in boxes of Cracker Jack). For the Russians it was a reason to break out the vodka.

Robert R. Monroe, a retired vice admiral in the U.S. Navy and former director of the Defense Nuclear Agency from 1977-1980 explains why. “The treaty has many problems from being unverifiable to giving Russia virtual veto power over U.S. missile defense, and more.” That’s bad enough, but it’s worse than that.

Two days before meeting with the Russians, the Obama administration released its Nuclear Posture Review (NPR). Monroe says, “The NPR is joined at the hip with New Start, and together they take this country down a dangerous path. For 65 years, the very existence of our nation has depended upon a strong nuclear deterrent. The new NPR wipes out this proven policy, substituting one of weakness in its place.”

Liberals love test ban treaties. They love the idea of unilaterally disarming the United States in a world where there are nations who may not love us.

Not surprisingly, the nations with nukes have not signed onto anything that would take away their deterrent factor and, of course, Iran is hell-bent on getting them for itself.
Not a single conflict since the U.S. dropped two A-bombs on Japan in 1945 to end a war they started has used nuclear weapons. Rational people, even if they have nuclear weapons know that using them is probably suicidal. Irrational people like the Iranian ayatollahs are probably the exception.

Alan Caruba blogs daily at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com. An author, business and science writer, he is the founder of The National Anxiety Center.

(c) Alan Caruba, 2010

 

WesternFront America

I have seen the “talking heads” on TV and I have read the reports by liberal, progressive, reporters and commentators in the US and from around the world assuring their readers and viewers that Israel will not attack Iran without the United States.

There is only one thing wrong with that view. It is ALL WRONG.

Unfortunately, they are judging Israel as if Israel was one of their countries or even the US. There is a HUGE difference between the country of Israel and the European countries and even the US (under its current leadership). That difference? Israel has GUTS!

The international mainstream media, in my opinion, is simply trying to convince Israel NOT TO ATTACK IRAN. They are trying to control events the way they would like them to unfold rather than the way they KNOW they are going to unfold.

Look, we have been telling you, for at least two years now, that when Israel is ready, and the time is right, Israel will mount an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. And they will do it with, or without, America’s help and with, or without, America’s blessing.

Israel is fighting for its life, for its very existence. Israel’s leaders know that the Obama Regime is no friend to Israel — at all. They get it! They understand that even though most Americans do not. Therefore, they do not trust the American president, or the military and intelligence services under Obama’s command. As a result, they are NOT sharing their full intelligence on Iran with the US for fear of its, somehow, making its way into the hands of Israel’s enemies. In my opinion, that is just good thinking.

Then there is the fact that the Israeli people live with death every single day. They no longer fear it as Americans and Europeans do. They understand they may be called upon, as individuals, to lay down their lives for their countrymen, at any moment, and they are prepared to do that, again, unlike many Americans and/or Europeans.

Israel also understands what it means to be a free nation, a free people, and they understand that freedom is not free and it requires nourishment from time to time with the blood of Israeli patriots.

The Israelis understand that it is much better to die on their feet fighting, like men, than to live on their knees as slaves to some Islamic fanatic.

Yes, Israel’s back is to the wall. They will fight. They will attack Iran with everything they have, including nukes, if they feel it is necessary, and nothing the Obama Regime can say, or do, will stop them.

Poor Israel — out there all by herself. Just Israel … and … God.

© J. D. Longstreet

J. D. Longstreet blogs daily at INSIGHT on Freedom at: http://www.csadispatch.blogspot.com/

 

WesternFront America

Just a few days ago we watched as President Obama chaired the United Nations Security Council for the first time and pledged to bring nuclear disarmament to the planet.

See, the thing is – he was SERIOUS about it! Now, nuclear disarmament alone frightens me, but having a President who actually believes in it and is pledging to do it, scares me witless!

What we have here, people, is a Utopian Dream right out of the 1960’s peace movement and ban-the-bomb movement.

I suppose I should not be surprised. I mean our government is filled with old hippies who reached the high water mark of their lives during the 60’s as wreaths of marijuana smoke swirled about their heads. One has to wonder these days — as one views the distress our country is in — just how much lasting damage those funny cigarettes left on their brains?

Since that morning back in 1945 when we vaporized a Japanese city, people have wanted to climb under rocks to escape the fact that the nuclear genie was let out of the bottle and cannot be put back in. That genie is out forever.

As the nuclear virus spread over the world and country after country, by hook or crook, managed to acquire atomic weapons, the margin for error, or a nuclear accident, has widened exponentially. Plus, the ever-present threat that a rogue nation would also acquire nuclear weapons and hold other countries or, indeed, the world, for ransom, has strained the nerves of the planet’s inhabitants.

However, the plain truth is nuclear weapons are here to stay. There is no getting rid of them. No country, which has them now, is going to give them up — unless made to do so by another country with MORE nuclear weapons than they!

So what makes Obama think he can affect the nuclear disarmament movement in such a way as to cause nuclear-armed countries to dump their arsenals?

To answer that — one must be brutally honest. The brutally honest answer is that we are very afraid Mr. Obama has some issue with narcissism and he honestly believes the power of his own charisma will, alone, force people to become compliant to his will and they will do as he asks simply because it is he, and ONLY HE, who is asking.

When a man, any man, pledges to “end war” and to “seek a world without nuclear weapons”, you must take notice. The expression of self-love encompassed within those words is striking. Remember narcissism? I believe we mentioned that we fear Mr. Obama MAY have issues with it, didn’t we?

Oh, and for those of us who think the US is spending WAY too much to assist foreign countries, Mr. Obama pledged recently to DOUBLE the amount those nations, less fortunate than us, are getting from the US Treasury now. Is there any wonder the UN nations voted unanimously to support Obama’s anti-nuke stance?

So what if the people of the United States are not interested in reducing the size of our nuke stockpile? Well, Obama says he won’t unilaterally disarm the US. Of course not! He needs the cover of OTHER nations reducing their stockpiles first before he can sell such an idea to enough Americans to allow him to do such a crazy thing in the first place.

To our international readers, please understand this: America is STILL a representative republic. The President can do very little the American people do not approve first. At best, Mr. Obama has roughly 50% of the electorate with him. So, any promises he makes, to any nation, or group of nations, of the world, should always be taken with a grain of salt — with a measure of D O U B T. If you remember that, in the end, you will not be surprised, nearly as much, when he fails to deliver on those promises.

As an example of a representative republic’s power, Obama has, so far been unable to get the US Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty nor the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty. The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty must be signed by December 5^th, 2009 and he desperately needs it to be ratified before the conclusion of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference in May of 2010. Obama’s hope is that Congress will vote on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty no later than 2011, and he really needs the fissile-material cutoff treaty wrapped up before his first term ends in January 2013. This is highly unlikely. He faces tremendous opposition in the Congress. For more on this we recommend you read the article: “Obama’s Misguided Nuclear Triad” at NationalReview.com HERE.

Obama’s “Ram-it-down-their-throat” tactics used with Cap and Trade, and ObamaCare (Socialized Medicine) and soon with amnesty for illegal aliens, and currently with all the nuclear treaties, have not made him any friends on Capitol Hill. When all this background is considered, one must conclude that all the grandstanding at the UN recently, was, well, just that: GRANDSTANDING.

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© J. D. Longstreet

J. D. Longstreet is a conservative Southern American (A native sandlapper and an adopted Tar Heel) with a deep passion for the history, heritage, and culture of the southern states of America. At the same time he is a deeply loyal American believing strongly in “America First”.

J. D. Longstreet blogs daily at INSIGHT on Freedom

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WesternFront America

When World War Two arrived at America’s doorstep, we had to virtually build an Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines from scratch. The war had been raging in Europe since 1939 by the time the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor propelled us into war in 1941. The Japanese had been sacking, raping and looting Manchuria and China since 1931.

Now President Obama wants to reduce the U.S. arsenal of nuclear weapons to a reported “hundreds rather than thousands” to prepare for deep cuts. Truman was the first and last president to actually use a nuclear weapon to end the war with Japan.

Since then, all presidents have paid lip service to reducing the threat of nuclear weapons, but there is an iron law that says you cannot “un-invent” something once it comes into existence.
The suggestion that the world is “safer” or “less safe” because nuclear weapons exist is purely subjective. What we know is that without nuclear weapons all nations that do not have them are at a severe disadvantage with those that do.

That is why both Pakistan and India, traditional enemies, both developed their own nuclear weapons in secret while ignoring international prohibitions and proscriptions against them, It is also why little North Korea that cannot keep the lights on at night also developed them. They are a tidy source of income to a criminal communist satrap.

All the major powers have them and the worry is that they will fall into the hands of terrorists; presumably of the Muslim variety.

The big worry, however, is Iran’s program because there are few world leaders who do not doubt they will use them. Iran is not regarded as a terrorist organization like al Qaeda, but the simple fact is that Iran is the world’s leading supporter of terrorism whether you call it al Qaeda, Hizbollah, Fatah, Hamas or any one of the endless self-declared jihad groups.

So it is cause for real concern that we have a president who not only put the kibosh on a missile defense system to be placed in Poland and the Czech Republic, but now wants to unilaterally disarm or greatly reduce America’s nuclear arsenal.

Having apologized profusely to Europe and Muslim nations for America’s apparent misdeeds in coming to their defense in the past, President Obama is now punishing tiny Honduras for expelling a former president who wanted to ignore that nation’s constitution and its supreme court to set up a Hugo Chavez-type government.

Meanwhile, Venezuela’s Chavez, a big fan of Fidel Castro’s Cuba, has been busy cutting deals with Russia, China, and any other nation hostile to the interests of America.

To cap off his efforts in the passed eight months, President Obama has allowed his Attorney General to re-visit decisions regarding the Central Intelligence Agency’s use of advanced interrogation techniques that are widely acknowledged to have thwarted attacks on the homeland. Seven former CIA directors wrote the President to say this was a very bad idea.

It’s a bad idea that is exacerbated by President Obama’s intention to close down Guantanamo and to return terrorists to their home nations. From there, they return to the front lines of jihad because that’s what jihadists do.

Officially, throughout the Obama administration, the words “war on terrorism” and “terrorists” are never uttered out loud. They have been banned from the lexicon of the State Department, Homeland Security, and possibly even Defense.

Meanwhile, arrests have been made of an alleged terror cell, the results of which will no doubt reveal planned attacks that would have killed many Americans.

None of this bodes well for America and all of this suggests that many more D.C. marches will be needed to encourage Congress to put the brakes on efforts to render America insolvent, in the grip of unaccountable “czars”, and defenseless.

© Alan Caruba

Alan Caruba writes a daily blog at FactsNotFantasy and a weekly commentary at the website of The National Anxiety Center.

 

WesternFront America

Iran has been at war with the United States for thirty years.

When one’s life spans time from the beginning of World War Two, the decades of the Cold War, and the emergence of rogue regimes in Libya, North Korea, Venezuela, Iraq and Iran, you develop an instinct for spotting the enemies of freedom. Russia and China never leave the radar screen.

Following World War Two, America entered into a long period called the Cold War and the stakes could not have been higher. It would last from 1945 until 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

We had entered the “Atomic age.” Though the threat was great, no one believed that the leaders of the Soviet Union were ever crazy enough to actually use nuclear weapons. The strategy of Mutually Assured Destruction worked for both adversaries and still does, but that is not the case with Iran.

From the earliest days of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, its leaders were determined to acquire nuclear weapons and the missiles with which to deliver them. From the beginning, America was always identified as Iran’s greatest enemy, the “Great Satan”, while Israel was called the “Little Satan.”

It is criminally stupid, if not insane, to believe that Iran will not use its nuclear weapons.

I repeat: Iran has been at war with the United States since the inception of the Islamic revolution in 1979. Defying all international laws, Iran seized American diplomats and held them hostage for 444 days, waiting for the inauguration of President Reagan before releasing them. One of the “students” who participated in that outrage was Mamoud Ahmadinejad, the current president of Iran.

This is a nation that has embraced taking hostages, political assassinations, suicide bombings that killed American Marines in Beirut and, later, the bombing the Khobar Towers in eastern Saudi Arabia. In the wake of 9/11, Iran provided sanctuary to al Qaeda leaders fleeing U.S. forces.

Iran is ruled by a psychotic, criminal regime.

Dr. Dore Gold, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, has written “The Rise of Nuclear Iran: How Iran Defies the West.” It details Iran’s determination to acquire the ability to build its own nuclear weapons and to deliver them with missiles.

From the day Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seized control of Iran, its subsequent leaders have been working toward an Islamic Armageddon that defies the imagination.

On December 14, 200l, Ali Akbar Rafasanjani said, “The use of an atomic bomb against Israel would totally destroy Israel, while the same against the Islamic world would only cause damage”, adding “Such a scenario is not inconceivable.”

“From 1979 to 2009,” writes Dore, “Iran was consistently prepared to take incredible risks to confront the United States.”

President Obama appears to be oblivious to the long history of Iranian aggression as he pursues a strategy of “soft power” through apologies to the Muslim Middle East and seeking direct negotiations with Iran.

Iran has always used negotiations to achieve its nuclear goals and it has always used deception as the primary means to do so. It “negotiated” with the European Union while buying time to build its nuclear weapons capacity. Iran is not pursuing a “civilian” use of nuclear power.

From Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama, any show of American weakness has only emboldened Iran’s plan to assert hegemony over the Middle East and to carry the Islamic revolution to the rest of the world.

“In the absence of a U.S. response to successive Iranian provocations, Iran did not sit back quietly, but exploited what it perceived as western weakness by adopting a policy of continuing escalation,” says Gold. And he is right.

The U.S., Europe, and nations in the Middle East cannot—dare not—assume that Iran will not use nuclear weapons. Just the opposite. Its unique Shiite belief that only an Armageddon of massive death and chaos can bring about the “return” of the Twelfth Imam, a mythical figure that will impose Islam on the entire world, propels Iran toward a nuclear war. It is a belief that is critical to an understanding of the psychology of the leaders of Iran today.

This is why, twice in the past, Israel has destroyed nuclear facilities in the Middle East, first in Iraq in the1980s and more recently in Syria. It literally has no choice other than to destroy Iranian facilities.

Negotiations will not work.

Economic sanctions will not work.

United Nations resolutions will not work.

The world, the United States, and Israel are rapidly running out of options.

We are all rapidly running out of time.

 

WesternFront America