Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Weakness Invites More American Attacks

In the following post, Raymond Ibrahim, very clearly and succinctly shows why Libya will not be the only place that the US will be attacked should Obama's weak kneed response to radical Islam continue.  In fact, instead of preventing terror we are inviting such terror by our perceived weak response to Islam's march.

As an example, Al Queda has not been dispatched with the death of Osama bin Ladin. Rather, it is like the weed that breaks into multiple branches when you pull it. Pull one week and the next week, four replace it. 

 We have two choices.  First, we could retreat to the shores of the country and let the world sort out the pieces, a position suggested by Ron Paul. Or we can strongly go after those who support, promote and encourage Muslims to kill Americans.

Unfortunately for the United States and the free world, neither position will be taken. American leadership (including Romney)  will tinker around the edges, not trying to insult the Muslims while, in reality, encouraging their world wide conquest goals. 

As we saw prior to WWII, weakness of will only encourages the "schoolyard-bully" to continue his actions. It does not stop it. When is the world going to have enough of this newest threat to world peace?

Conservative Musings






The Islamic Schoolyard-Bully and Obama’s America 

October 18, 2012 By Raymond Ibrahim
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/raymond-ibrahim/the-islamic-schoolyard-bully-and-obamas-america/



In an era of high education and specialty degrees—from psychology to political science—perhaps it was inevitable for simple common sense to fall by the wayside. The embassy attacks across the Muslim world, especially the most savage in Egypt and Libya, are a testimony to this: U.S. policy towards these countries fundamentally exacerbated their wild reactions. To understand all this, one need only turn to the classic “schoolyard bully” paradigm, that any child can understand.

Not especially large or strong, the schoolyard bully—generally a prickly, nasty fellow—picks on two groups: 1) those who are obviously weaker than him and 2) those who, while larger or stronger than him, willingly give in to him—willingly appease. Bullying the first group, the weak, is an easy matter for the bully. As for the second group, whose capacities and responses are unclear, these he must first determine through a few bully trial-runs—to see whether they will fight back, or whether they will give in. He begins small—a shove and harsh word here and there—and takes it from there, always seeing how far he can go.

The bully will receive one of two responses from the second group, those not smaller or weaker than him: either appeasement and giving in, or a punch to the nose. If he receives the former, he continually ups the bullying to see how much more he can get away with: harsh words and shoves become demands for lunch money and stolen jackets. His work becomes complete with the absolute subordination of his victim.

As for the one who does not put up with his bullying—who gives him a swift punch to the nose—not only does the bully leave him be, he even begins to respect if not befriend him.

For centuries, people from all walks of life knew this—from experience if not common sense. Children knew it.

Now consider how the schoolyard bully paradigm helps explain America’s relationship to the Muslim world, especially in the last four years, culminating with the U.S. embassy debacles in the Muslim world.

To set the stage, here are the main characters: the Muslim world represents the bully and the international arena is the schoolyard where his shoves and demands are made; the Muslim world’s religious minorities, Christian and otherwise, represent the weak—they who are bullied incessantly because there is nothing they can do about it, and whose plight is a testimony to the bullying mentality of the Muslim world; the U.S. represents the ostensibly strong figure in the international-schoolyard, whose response to the bully is not wholly known and needs to be tested.

Soon after taking office, Barrack Obama made it clear in numerous ways that he was intent on appeasing the Muslim world—whether by bowing to the Wahabbi King, commanding NASA to make Muslims feel better about themselves, censoring security language deemed insulting to Muslims, or giving terrorist Osama bin Laden an Islamic funeral. No American president has been more appeasing to the Muslim world than Barrack Obama.

Of course, much of this may not be naïve appeasement; it may be something much worse. But the Muslim masses interpret it as appeasement.

Obama’s most recent concessions were unprecedented: he betrayed America’s longtime secular allies—whose existence was fundamental to U.S. interests, not to mention the interests of the secular and non-Muslim segments of their societies—to appease the Islamists of the world, those groups that share the same ideology, if not always tactics, of the terrorists who struck the U.S. on 9/11; those groups that are fundamentally hostile to the U.S.; those groups renowned for bullying the weak in their midst.

Of all Middle East nations, it was his policies in Egypt and Libya that were especially appeasing to the Islamists. In Egypt, he threw Hosni Mubarak—a staunch 30-year-ally of the U.S.—under the bus and helped empower the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis; in Libya, he provided military aid to the al-Qaeda-affiliated “rebels” who overthrew Gaddafi.

And what thanks did America receive from Egypt and Libya? More bullying, more demands. Like the proverbial schoolyard bully used to getting what he wants, during the embassy riots and protests across the Muslim world, it was the Islamists of Egypt and Libya—precisely those two groups which Obama did so much for, the al-Qaeda affiliated rebels in Libya and the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis—who went on the most violent sprees, made bolder demands (including the release of the Blind Sheikh or else), stormed and terrorized embassies, burned American flags, and murdered and raped American diplomats.

Thus, as all the talking heads analyze how and why the embassy attacks occurred, the greater lesson is obvious for those with common sense: nothing short of a punch to the nose—or at this very late date, when the image of an appeasing America is so ingrained, several punches—will ever cease the bullying and earn some respect for the United States.
 

19 comments:

  1. And this is the kind of dumb thinking that drives me to Ron Paul. Let's see. We attacked Iraq. How is that looking now? We attacked Afghanistan. How is that looking now? Bush went into Iraq with 100,000+ troops. Obama did the same in Afghanistan. We blew up both countries. Did that do anything to discourage al-Qaeda from starting operations in Pakistan, Yeman, Somalia, etc., etc.

    IT DOES NOT WORK!!!

    How many more trillions of dollars and American lives do you neocons want to waste on this insanity? Iran would be an even worse disaster than the others, and I heard Romney and Obama competing in that last debate over who is the most determined to bomb Iran's nuclear plants.

    And before you start up again with WWII analogies, I will remind you again that noninterventionism does not equate to pacifism head-in-sand weak military. We have the strongest military in the world and should keep it that way -- but only used for self-defense. The noninterventionist foreign policy means you don't attack other countries so long as they stay inside their own borders. Free countries have the right of self-determination within their own borders regarding religion, free speech advocating the destruction of Israel (or anything else you can possibly think of), nuclear bombs, or anything else. If it is inside their own borders, it is their business. If they transgress their borders, it is our business. That is what happened in WWII.

    --David

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  2. So, if we have another 9/11, what should we do? Let it go? Ignore it? Or what if another ambassador is killed by someone, what should our response be? Turn the other cheek?

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  3. Did I say that? The correct response is to track down the person or group responsible for the bombing and kill them. I am NOT a pacifist. That is what we did in WWII when Japan and Germany went outside their borders. That is what we did in the first Iraq War when Saddam went into Kuwait. We should do it again, if and when it ever happens. That is different than attacking another country that has not transgressed outside its own borders. Why is the philosophy of noninterventionism so difficult for you to understand? You always conflate it with pacifism, but I don't see what I said that leads you in that direction.

    In the specific case of Libya, this was done by a militia group and the Libyans themselves have retaliated against them. If we can track them down and kill them as we did with bin Laden and with other al-Qaeda killed in drone attacks in Pakistan, they will also be killed. I don't know what else you would like our country to do over there. Declare war on Libya?

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  4. If you will remember, we went to Afghanistan due to the Taliban supporting Al Queda which was responsible for 9/11. You cannot argue against Afghanistan and ignore this fact, they do not correlate.

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  5. Right. I supported the intent of the Afghanistan operation. The Taliban were offered the opportunity to avoid invasion by turning over bin Laden and they refused. That makes them a willing partner to our enemy. We are justified to go into Afghanistan, Pakistan to kill those responsible for 9/11. That is within the limits of a noninterventionist policy.

    --David

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  6. i would agree with you on that. I was not comfortable with the invasion of Iraq for the reason that they had not attacked us. I definitely was not in favor of operations in Libya or Syria.

    Would you be comfortable supporting an attack on Iran if they used a bomb against England? France? Israel?

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  7. Yes. This would be in the same category as Saddam invading Kuwait. I think George H.W. Bush handled that almost perfectly with the expert wisdom of people like general Colin Powell. Too bad for all of us that his son came under the influence of the neocons who wanted a war with Iraq from Day-1. These are a lot of the same neocons who are on Romney's foreign policy team (17 of 24, I believe are former Bush advisors). I fear they will start a war with Iran claiming more (nonexistent) WMD's just as they did in Iraq. And I regard Obama as only slightly less dangerous in that regard. We have early voting here, and I was proud to cast my write-in vote for Ron Paul.

    --David

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  8. A vote for Ron Paul is a vote for Obama! How are you going to feel if we get another four years of Obama if your one vote could have made the difference? You could be responsible for the final decline of the US.

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  9. A vote for Ron Paul is a vote for Ron Paul.

    I do not live in a swing state, so my vote for president will have zero effect. I don't want to ever have to say I voted for the guy who started the next disastrous war. That won't happen with Ron.

    Obama's reelection is not going to make nearly the difference you imagine, because the Republicans still have solid control of the House of Representatives and the perpetually filibustered Senate will split about 50-50 one way or the other. Therefore, what we are going to get is 4 more years of legislative gridlock. Guaranteed.

    --David

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  10. Should Obama be re-elected, Congressional control will be meaningless as he will rule by Presidential edict. He will ignore Congress and even if the Congress were 100% controlled by the Republicans, he will continue to do what he wants. All you have to look at is the Presidential edict relating to the Dream act.

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  11. Presidents can issue executive orders, but their big plans for domestic policy changes require congressional action.

    The Dream Act cannot be enacted by "Presidential edict." The executive order you refer to was a legal exercise of long-standing governmental authority in prosecutorial discretion on deportation cases. It simply defers deportation proceedings for 2 years for those who:

    1. Are under age 30.
    2. Have lived here for at least 5 years.
    3. Have a GED or military service.
    4. Have no criminal history.
    5. Manage to get a work permit before their 2-year extension ends.

    It doesn't grant citizenship to anyone. The Dream Act would give them citizenship, but, as I said, it is going nowhere because we are looking at 4 more years of legislative gridlock -- beginning with the "fiscal cliff" in January. Fasten your seatbelt.

    --David

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  12. Hopefully, your words will not come back to haunt you! The upcoming "cliff" is going to be a disaster. Better get your food supplies and precious metals!

    Presidential orders are being issued every day effecting all sorts of citizen activities, many you will not know about until a regulator comes to visit you.

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  13. I believe that we will go over the "fiscal cliff." Congress needs a crisis such as the 2008 disaster to force them to do anything significant.

    Every president since George Washington has issued executive orders. Obama has done them also, but he is behind the pace of Bush and Clinton.

    --David

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  14. While we are on this topic, as a matter of individual freedom, do you believe a gay/lesbian should have the right to decide that his/her partner should be considered as family by hospital staff and, therefore, be entitled to hospital visitation and/or be designated as authorized to make health decision on behalf of the hospitalized partner? This is one of the big divides between conservatives and Libertarians.

    --David

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  15. I don't understand the problem! In Michigan, one can direct anyone to be their "personal representative" and indicate whom can make those health decisions. There is no limit. If one wanted, one could make Barack Obama the representative for your medical decisions and as long as they accepted, the hospitals, doctors etc would have to comply.


    The same goes for beneficiary designations on life insurance. It can be given to anyone to whom the owner designates. Gay or straight it does not matter as long as the forms are correct.

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  16. Correct, you don't understand the problem. Even if you have no living will designating a personal representative, your wife will be asked by the hospital staff to authorize surgery for you when you are unconscious in a coma following an auto accident. She will also be allowed at your bedside during "family only" visiting hours. The question I was asking you is whether you believe a person's gay/lesbian partner should have the same rights where there is no living will naming him/her as personal representative.

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  17. Edit: Upon further reading, the problem is that I did not frame my question correctly. Sorry.

    --David

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  18. Actually, if you do not have a living will or patient advocate form in Michigan, the hospital does NOT have to talk to your wife to authorize surgery. In fact if carried to the extent that the law was intended, the hospital is not authorized to give out ANY information if that person has not been granted the authority to receive such info. In your example, the hospital does not have the authority to release any of your information to anyone (including your wife) if there is no document.

    This all came from a case where a man was involved in an auto accident, his wife came and inquired about his condition. The hospital worker told her that his condition was complicated by his AIDS. She did not know and obviously their next conversation was not pleasant. He sued the hospital because they gave out his personal information to someone that was not authorized.
    If you want someone to know the information, you should authorize them to get it with either a living will in those states or to designate a "personal representative" in others. It does not matter if you are gay or straight.

    I know that does not answer your question, however, it is a question without a difference. Gays can designate their partner as would heterosexual couples.

    The real answer is to do the right planning and that will eliminate the issues whether you are gay or straight.

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  19. Okay, but check this story....

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-mcgonnigal/romney-may-end-hospital-visitation-rights-for-many-gay-couples_b_1996964.html

    Some hospital policies are not as enlightened on this subject as you folks in Michigan. Anyway, it is a real problem for some gays/lesbians. This is one of the issues that divides conservatives and Libertarians such as Ron Paul.

    -- David

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