I am not sure what we have today can be termed a Cold War. I can see what you're saying - there are parallels - but America is just as interventionist as it was under Bush. Only the slogans and some methods of attack have changed.

I actually feel the US is on a hiding to nothing in these conflicts, especially with the Arabs. Think about it - 9/11 was the most successful terrorist action of all time. It cost Al Qaida no more than a few hundred thousand dollars, a few million at the most, and they managed to not only kill thousands of people but more importantly for them, drag America into a war that cost them not only lives but trillions of dollars. Way to deplete the nation of its resources...

The american interventionist nature is just the status quo from Henry Kissinger's foreign policy and that will never, ever change. Thanks to him their attitude has always been and will always be "we are the global power, we are the global police".

As for "depleting a nation of its resources", the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq benefited US finances immensely. Their economy boomed. Nothing bolsters the economy quite like when we're all trying to kill each other. Their downfall was their own greed. The banks and their investors demanding increasingly bigger slices of the pie for short term profits made things unsustainable. Otherwise they would have been laughing.

It's all well and good to say "well, it cost Al Qaeda comparatively fuck all" but don't forget, their resources are also comparatively fuck all.

Ariel Castro, Cleveland kidnapper, found hanged in prison cell
By Lateef Mungin and Dave Alsup, CNN
September 4, 2013 -- Updated 1149 GMT (1949 HKT)
Watch this video
Ariel Castro found hanging in his cell
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Judge tells Castro there's no place in the world for him
"I will live on. You will die a little every day," Knight tells him
Castro lured the women into his car with the promise of a ride
During his sentencing, Castro played the victim
(CNN) -- Ariel Castro, who was sentenced to life plus 1,000 years for kidnapping and raping three women, as well as murder, was found hanging in his prison cell Tuesday night.
Authorities found Castro, 52, hanging in his cell at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, Ohio, about 9:20 p.m., the state's Department of Corrections said.
Prison medical staff tried to revive him but failed.
Castro was taken to The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 10:52 p.m.
Why did Ariel Castro kill himself? Ariel Castro found hanging in his cell Reporter: Castro wasn't on suicide watch
Castro's brother-in-law, Juan Alicea, told CNN that the family was notified by the warden about 1 a.m. The family is angry, Alicea said, that it learned about the death from media reports first.
Another family member, Maria Castro Montes, said she cried when she heard the news.
"I cried for several reasons. My first thoughts were if the girls knew. I am talking about the victims," said Castro Montes, Castro's cousin. "I immediately thought of them and what is going through their minds. Maybe this was for the best. I don't think they were ever going to find peace with him alive."
Castro was not a part of the general prison population, officials said.
"He was housed in protective custody which means he was in a cell by himself and rounds are required every 30 minutes at staggered intervals," JoEllen Smith of the corrections department told CNN in a statement.
"A thorough review of this incident is underway," she added.
'Hope for everyone,' ex-captive says before Castro house demolished
No place in the world
In handing down a sentence last month, Judge Michael Russo told the kidnapper there was no place in the world for his brand of criminal.
Castro pleaded guilty to 937 counts, including murder and kidnapping, in exchange for the death penalty being taken off the table.
The charges stem from his kidnapping, rape and assault of three women: Michelle Knight, abducted in 2002; Georgina DeJesus, abducted in 2004; and Amanda Berry; abducted in 2003.
Castro is the father of Berry's 6-year-old girl, DNA tests confirmed.
Sylvia Colon, a family member and spokeswoman for DeJesus, said early Wednesday morning she had not heard about the death and had not yet spoken to her family about it.
Castro's victims resilient after years of abuse
'You will die a little every day'
All three women kept diaries with Castro's permission, providing many of the details of their abuse.
"I cried every night. I was so alone. I worried what would happen to me and the other girls every day," Knight, 32, said, as she addressed her abductor head-on during his sentencing. "I will live on. You will die a little every day."
In each case, Castro lured the women into his car with the promise of a ride, according to court documents. The women and girl were freed in May after Berry shouted for help while Castro was away.
Knight: 'Your hell is just beginning' Judge paints lonely future for Castro Cleveland kidnap victims: Thank you 3 missing women found alive in Ohio
Neighbors heard her cries and came to her aid as she tried to break through a door. One neighbor gave her a cell phone to call authorities.
"Help me, I am Amanda Berry," she frantically told a 911 operator. "I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years. And I'm here, I'm free now."
Captives' hellish life inside Castro's home
Plays the victim, blames the victims
During his sentencing, Castro played the victim, saying he was addicted to porn and masturbation. In his oft-disjointed statement, he referred to himself as "very emotional" and "a happy person inside."
Castro appeared to blame the victims and accused them of lying about their treatment. He went on to say that none of the women was a virgin when he abducted them, that they wanted sex and there was "harmony" in the "happy household."
Castro's 1,400-square-foot home was reconfigured to keep their whereabouts a secret, FBI agent Andrew Burke testified. The back door was outfitted with an alarm, bedspreads and curtains obscured parts of them home and a porch swing was placed in front of the stairs leading to the rooms where Castro held the women and girl hostage.
Police also testified Castro would chain the women to objects, including a support pole in his basement.
In the room where Berry and her daughter were held, the doorknob was removed, a lock was affixed to the outside and a hole was cut through the door for ventilation because the windows had been boarded up from the inside, Burke said.
Burke also described a handwritten letter in which Castro claimed he had been sexually abused as a child and wrote, "I am a sexual predator."
Most dramatic moments from his sentencing
'You saved us'
The first police officer on the scene, Barbara Johnson, recalled for the court how she and another officer heard the pitter-patter of footsteps in a dark room where Knight and DeJesus were held.
When the captive women realized they were police, Knight "literally launched herself" onto an officer, "legs, arms, just choking him. She just kept repeating, 'You saved us! You saved us!' " Johnson said.
The women were described as scared, pale, malnourished and dehydrated when they were rescued. Dr. Gerald Maloney, who was in the emergency room when the victims arrived, said Knight requested that no male physicians attend to her.
Castro's son said he wouldn't visit dad in prison

As an atheist sometimes I really wish there were fiery pits of hell in the afterlife...

Whatever's the opposite of RIP...

Edited by thupercoach: 5/9/2013 03:51:14 AM

What a legend of a pope. So impressed already.

What a legend of a pope. So impressed already.

Australia's Rejection Of Kevin Rudd May Foretell Political Change In The U.S.

With the victory of the Tony Abbott led conservatives in Australia, we can see that the Anglosphere is now post progressive. The English speaking nations of the world: England, New Zealand, Canada and now Australia are governed by conservatives. America stands apart from them as the sole remaining major leftist-governed power in the Anglo world.

If you’d like to throw India into the mix too, you find Manmohan Singh, who is pushing to deregulate foreign investment markets and has just appointed a monetary hawk, Raghuram Rajan, as the new head of the Reserve Bank of India . Canada entirely skipped the recent wave of progressivism which swept the Anglosphere, and under PM Stephen Harper has surpassed the United States in economic freedom. Our northern neighbor is now listed by both the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom and the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World as the most economically free nation in North America. Harper has been particularly diligent in cutting corporate taxes while the U.S. now has the highest corporate tax rates in the developed world.

England rejected the hard-core labourite policies of Gordon Brown, putting the Tory David Cameron in power. New Zealand has a center right government in power as well. The English speaking peoples (to borrow Winston’s Churchill’s evocative phrase) tend to move in a sort of partial political sync with one another. Thatcher paved the way for Reagan, preceding him, anticipating him and inspiring him. Then we see the near simultaneous rise of Blair and Clinton, then the later hawkish Blair corresponds with Bush. Brown and Obama moved both their countries hard left in step with one another. And as of last year, England moved right under Cameron. In Australia, John Howard allied with and paralleled with his friend Bush, Russ/Gilliard tracked with Obama.

And in what could herald yet another political shift, this time back to the right, Australia just handed a decisive victory to the Liberal National Party (the Australian conservative party), and a decisive defeat to the incumbent Labour Party under Kevin Rudd. Why?

We shouldn’t over-emphasize the ideological side of this election. The incumbent party was deeply divided over a personality contest between Julia Gillard, and Rudd. Gillard was a member of Rudd’s cabinet who ousted him in a coup. Rudd then staged a counter-coup in which he came back and ousted her. On the other hand, the counter-coup helped Labor’s prospects given that Gillard had become deeply unpopular, and perceived as overly ambitious and disloyal to the likable Rudd. They party was perceived as chaotic and incompetent.

But it wasn’t all personalities, the philosophical differences were sharp. Green policies were front and center. Tax policy was important too: Abbott promised to cut business taxes. Monetary policy: Abbott argued against debasement of the Australian dollar in order to promote growth, and against competitive devaluation in foreign exchange markets. Social policy: Abbott, a practicing Roman Catholic (and former seminarian), opposed calls for same sex marriage, while Rudd argued for it, with awkward attempts to link the Bible’s opposition to homosexuality with its alleged support for slavery.

In short, their issues and our issues are quite similar and Australia may well be a portent of political change in the U.S. If not, as the U.S. lags the rest of the English speaking world in freedom, it will gradually lag the rest of that world in wealth and power.


http://www.forbes.com/sites/jerrybowyer/2013/09/07/australias-rejection-of-kevin-rudd-may-foretell-political-change-in-the-u-s/?

Nothing "progressive" about the Left. Foisting class warfare on the population takes us back 50 years at least.

Hope the lefties are sleeping well at night.

That still leaves 503 falsely imprisoned people champ.

Edited by afromanGT: 12/9/2013 07:43:29 AM

A Plea for Caution From Russia
What Putin Has to Say to Americans About Syria

By VLADIMIR V. PUTIN
Published: September 11, 2013

MOSCOW — RECENT events surrounding Syria have prompted me to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders. It is important to do so at a time of insufficient communication between our societies.

Relations between us have passed through different stages. We stood against each other during the cold war. But we were also allies once, and defeated the Nazis together. The universal international organization — the United Nations — was then established to prevent such devastation from ever happening again.

The United Nations’ founders understood that decisions affecting war and peace should happen only by consensus, and with America’s consent the veto by Security Council permanent members was enshrined in the United Nations Charter. The profound wisdom of this has underpinned the stability of international relations for decades.

No one wants the United Nations to suffer the fate of the League of Nations, which collapsed because it lacked real leverage. This is possible if influential countries bypass the United Nations and take military action without Security Council authorization.

The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious leaders, including the pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria’s borders. A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance.

Syria is not witnessing a battle for democracy, but an armed conflict between government and opposition in a multireligious country. There are few champions of democracy in Syria. But there are more than enough Qaeda fighters and extremists of all stripes battling the government. The United States State Department has designated Al Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, fighting with the opposition, as terrorist organizations. This internal conflict, fueled by foreign weapons supplied to the opposition, is one of the bloodiest in the world.

Mercenaries from Arab countries fighting there, and hundreds of militants from Western countries and even Russia, are an issue of our deep concern. Might they not return to our countries with experience acquired in Syria? After all, after fighting in Libya, extremists moved on to Mali. This threatens us all.

From the outset, Russia has advocated peaceful dialogue enabling Syrians to develop a compromise plan for their own future. We are not protecting the Syrian government, but international law. We need to use the United Nations Security Council and believe that preserving law and order in today’s complex and turbulent world is one of the few ways to keep international relations from sliding into chaos. The law is still the law, and we must follow it whether we like it or not. Under current international law, force is permitted only in self-defense or by the decision of the Security Council. Anything else is unacceptable under the United Nations Charter and would constitute an act of aggression.

No one doubts that poison gas was used in Syria. But there is every reason to believe it was used not by the Syrian Army, but by opposition forces, to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons, who would be siding with the fundamentalists. Reports that militants are preparing another attack — this time against Israel — cannot be ignored.

It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States. Is it in America’s long-term interest? I doubt it. Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan “you’re either with us or against us.”

But force has proved ineffective and pointless. Afghanistan is reeling, and no one can say what will happen after international forces withdraw. Libya is divided into tribes and clans. In Iraq the civil war continues, with dozens killed each day. In the United States, many draw an analogy between Iraq and Syria, and ask why their government would want to repeat recent mistakes.

No matter how targeted the strikes or how sophisticated the weapons, civilian casualties are inevitable, including the elderly and children, whom the strikes are meant to protect.

The world reacts by asking: if you cannot count on international law, then you must find other ways to ensure your security. Thus a growing number of countries seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction. This is logical: if you have the bomb, no one will touch you. We are left with talk of the need to strengthen nonproliferation, when in reality this is being eroded.

We must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilized diplomatic and political settlement.

A new opportunity to avoid military action has emerged in the past few days. The United States, Russia and all members of the international community must take advantage of the Syrian government’s willingness to place its chemical arsenal under international control for subsequent destruction. Judging by the statements of President Obama, the United States sees this as an alternative to military action.

I welcome the president’s interest in continuing the dialogue with Russia on Syria. We must work together to keep this hope alive, as we agreed to at the Group of 8 meeting in Lough Erne in Northern Ireland in June, and steer the discussion back toward negotiations.

If we can avoid force against Syria, this will improve the atmosphere in international affairs and strengthen mutual trust. It will be our shared success and open the door to cooperation on other critical issues.

My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this. I carefully studied his address to the nation on Tuesday. And I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.” It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.

Vladimir V. Putin is the president of Russia.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html?hp&_r=1&

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