Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Saudis looking to Israel for defense? Allies, Adversaries and the Right to Self-Defense :: Gatestone Institute

Ali Salim, writing for the Gatestone Institute, issues a warning about the perceived decline in American power and, I guess, worth overseas.
One view of diplomacy, deemed misguided by leaders such as Churchill, is to abandon one's friends and court one's enemies in the assumption that the friend is yours and will not abandon you. The United States deserted the Shah for the Ayatollah's Revolutionary Guards; it abandoned Mubarak for the Muslim Brotherhood Islamist Mohamed Morsi, and it has abandoned Iraq and Afghanistan to domestic chaos, growing terrorism and the approaching Islamist takeover.
America's withholding of aid to the Egyptian government and Saudi Arabia's refusal to accept a seat on the UN Security Council don't bode well for American influence in the Middle East.  Add to that the shopping for a new ally to take the place of the US.

While Israel's nuclear umbrella may work for a while, no Islamic nation will rely on it for too long (the Israelis are Jews, after all), a nuclear arms race in the Middle East may be on the table.

So, rather than criticize America's eavesdropping and drone attacks, the world should focus on destroying terrorism now, rather than later.

That's what I think.

The full report will be found here - Allies, Adversaries and the Right to Self-Defense :: Gatestone Institute

Stephen M. Flatow

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Drone strikes - what's the fuss?

The fuss over drone strikes against terrorists?  "Innocent" bystanders.  OK, so you are going to ask what they had to do with the dead terrorist?  All I'm saying is that there's a larger question, one not being asked.

The question - what happens when you allow terrorists to use your country, your neighborhood, your streets, and you, as a ploy to avoid attack?  These guys are counting on, they're absolutely depending on, those tasked with the job of removing these creeps from society on stopping cold in their pursuit when their target is in the midst of a public situation involving people on the street.

But isn't a missile strike from the air better than armies moving into the streets using tanks, artillery and other large weapons?

Isn't this a war?

Read from Voice of America -  http://www.voanews.com/content/pakistani-taliban-leader-dead-in-us-drone-strike/1782006.html

From Al-Jazeera - http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/10/31/pakistan-report-saysonly3percentofdronedeathswerecivilians.html

Well, that's what I think.

Stephen M. Flatow