Going Gray -- and Making it Pay -- on Turtle Bay

FOXNews.com - Going Gray -- and Making it Pay -- on Turtle Bay? - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News: "Double-dipping, anyone?

The United Nations, with a headquarters staff of approximately 15,500, is apparently relying on a battalion of retirees to fill important vacancies. The cost of keeping codgers on its payroll to do jobs that full-time employees apparently cannot handle has soared from $33 million in 2004-2005 to $50 million in 2006-2007.

In the process, the world organization appears to have been violating its own limits on how much retirees are allowed to earn after they take a U.N. pension, and how long they can be kept on the job. Those rules were seemingly designed to prevent double-dipping by former workers, or the filling of jobs that might otherwise go to full-time staff.

But one small group of pensioners — 135 people in all — appear to have done far, far better than anyone else in breaking through the post-retirement salary ceiling. That group, consisting of higher-level professional and administrative employees, and representing little more than 10 percent of the total number surveyed, pulled in $11.4 million, or more than 20 percent of the amount spent on the growing post-retirement work force, according to an internal U.N. study on the group."

Atomic Bomb Plans Still For Sale

Just ask the Peace Groups, it is fine for Third World barbarians to have nukes as long as the US does not. This network is partly compromised and still vary dangerous. Maybe it is time to kill them all.

NBC Weapons: Atomic Bomb Plans Still For Sale: "The UN IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) has continued investigating Pakistani nuclear weapons scientist A Q Khan's illegal nuclear weapons technology smuggling organization. IAEA believes that Khan's group not only had a wider reach than previously thought, but is still in business.

Khan himself recently admitted that the Pakistani Army knew he was selling nuclear weapons secrets to Iran, Iraq and North Korea. Previously, he had insisted that he, and his small group of accomplices, had done it all themselves."

UN peacekeeper killed by blast in south Lebanon

UN has forces in Lebanon? Doing what? walking around in minefields? Why don't they arrest some terrorists?

UN peacekeeper killed by blast in south Lebanon - Yahoo! News: "A United Nations peacekeeper in south Lebanon was killed by an explosion Wednesday while clearing unexploded ordnance, a U.N. official said.

Yasmina Bouziane, a spokeswoman for the U.N. peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL, said the blast took place while the peacekeepers were clearing unexploded ordnance near the village of Aitaroun, close to the border with Israel.

The peacekeeper was not identified, pending notification of relatives.

Bouziane said in a statement that medical and explosion teams were immediately dispatched to the site of the blast and that an investigation was under way.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said the soldier was Belgian and that another unidentified peacekeeper was wounded in the blast caused by a land mine left behind by Israeli forces.

More than 30 people have died in cluster bombs or land mine blasts in Lebanon since the 2006 summer war between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas, according to Dalya Farran, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Mine Action Coordination Center.

Farran said that 14 de-mining experts from the Lebanese army, the U.N. peacekeeping force in south Lebanon and private mine action teams have also died in similar explosions in the past two years.

The United Nations and human rights groups say Israel dropped about 4 million cluster bomblets during the 34-day Israel-Hezbollah conflict. U.N. experts say that up to 1 million of these devices failed to explode and now endanger civilians in the area."

Russia: Another Rhineland

The key part of this article is that the other Russian neighbors are now fearful of also being annexed back into the Soviet block.

Would a Marine Division stationed in Ukraine make the region more stable? Or a mob of peacenik hippies who can tell the Russians how evil they are?



Russia: Another Rhineland: "Russia has announced that it will, in effect, annex the Georgian separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. No one is willing to face down the Russians on this issue, which many of Russias neighbors see as the first of many such annexations. There is a precedent for this sort of thing, and it all began on the French-German border in 1936.

Some historians see the German reoccupation of the Rhineland in 1936 as the real beginning of World War II. As part of the treaty that ended World War I, Germany agreed to keep troops out of the Rhineland (a German region on the French border). Going back in was a huge gamble for the Germans, who were in the midst of rebuilding their military, and, in 1936, much weaker than France or Britain. But neither of these countries were willing to risk the violence that might occur if they went after the 32,000 troops and police Germany sent into the Rhineland. This convinced Hitler that he could bully the Western allies, and grab neighboring countries with impunity. This worked for Austria and Czechoslovakia, but triggered World War II when Germany and Russia (by prior agreement) carved up Poland in 1939."

Hizballah high-up falls to his death at rocket pad on Israeli border

The UN is almost aiding the terrorists in their efforts to fortify in direct violation of the UN Resolutions. Why are they just standing back and allowing this to happen?

Why are the Israeli politicians keeping their military on a short leash while the terrorists are openly preparing for war?

It is past time to bomb that area flat. It is almost a criminal act that neither the UN or local governments are willing to stop these acts of open aggression.

DEBKAfile - Hizballah high-up falls to his death at rocket pad on Israeli border: "The geography of the accident Tuesday, Aug. 26, belied the reiterated claims of Israeli ministers and UN officials that Hizballah’s rockets had been pushed back from the Lebanese-Israeli border, under the terms of the Resolution 1701 ceasefire which ended the 2006 Lebanon War.

Jamal Amin Salah, 51, a Hizballah operations executive, stood on the rooftop of a building at the Lebanese Yaroun village, less than half a kilometer from the Israeli border. He was discussing with his men how far inside Israeli territory the rockets installed at the launch pads in the village could reach, when he fell to his death.

DEBKAfile’s military sources confirm that, not only has Hizballah returned to its old positions on the Israeli border - contradicting statements by prime minister Ehud Olmert and defense minister Ehud Barak - but the Iran-backed Shiite terrorists are working feverishly on the construction of a new line of fortified military positions, including rocket-launching pads, right on top of the Israeli border fence.

Neither Israeli Defense Forces nor UN peacekeepers have interfered with this barefaced violation of international agreements."

Tehran hosts Assad to celebrate winning nuclear dispute with West and cooling of US-Israel ties

I guess that Iran has every reason to celebrate their win. Too bad their win makes the world more unstable. Will this be the legacy of Bush? A stable Iraq and Middle East because they have to be united in perpetual war against the Iranians?

What a horrible thought.

DEBKAfile - Tehran hosts Assad to celebrate winning nuclear dispute with West and cooling of US-Israel ties: "The Syrian president Bashar Assad was due to visit Tehran in a week’s time. The trip was brought forward to Saturday, Aug. 2 to coincide with the deadline the six powers gave Iran for an answer to its offer of benefits in return for its consent to suspend uranium enrichment – or face a fourth round of sanctions.

DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources report: Iranian and Syrian rulers are so pleased with their unforeseen success in outmaneuvering the West that they called an urgent summit for follow-up planning.

When a line of Iranian leaders rejected the ultimatum on their “right” to develop a nuclear program, Washington responded mildly “we are not counting the days”, while the European Union said there was no hurry. In any case, as DEBKAfile reports in a separate article on this page, a huge German energy deal with Iran has drawn the sting of any prospective penalties.

The Syrian-Iranian get-together also follows the failure of top Israeli leaders traveling to Washington in the past three weeks to persuade the Bush administration of the urgency of considering military action against Iran’s nuclear installations – or at least backing an Israeli operation.

Transport minister Shaul Mofaz was the last arrival after chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, foreign minister Tzipi Livni and defense minister Ehud Barak.

Iran’s supreme ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, president Mahmoud Ahminejad and Assad can therefore pat each others backs over the cooling of US-Israeli strategic relations in on top of their other successes.

DEBKAfile’s analysts report that their feats owe more to the way the West plays into their hands than their own ingenuity:

1. In mid-June, the Bush administration decided to embark on a secret dialogue with the Islamic Republic. DEBKA-Net-Weekly was the first publication to expose this radical turn of events and to trace its progress. After procuring a direct line for business with US government leaders, and wrapping up deals, mostly behind Israel’s back, on the burning issues of oil pricing, Iraq and Lebanon, Iran nullified any leverage Washington had. Tehran can now afford to make light of the six-power ultimatum on its nuclear activities.

2. At about the same time, Israel entered into peace talks with Syria through Turkish mediation. The result: While Iran was developing its back-door rapprochement with the US, the Syrian ruler had hit the jackpot for buying back international legitimacy and a respected role in Middle East politics, without giving up his warm ties with Tehran or his sponsorship of terror.

Damascus can now afford to dump its diplomatic track with Israel as soon as Ehud Olmert steps down as prime minister in September.

The insistence of Olmert’s would-be successors – Livni and Mofaz from his own Kadima and Labor leader Barak – on continuing the talks with Syria, on condition that Assad pulls away from Tehran – not only mislead the public about their purpose, but feed the Damascus-Tehran alliance which is aimed against Israel.

3. French president Nicolas Sarkozy gave Assad a massive boost to the stability of his regime when he hosted him as the guest of honor at the last French Bastille Day parade. Sarkozy assured him then that he would act through the UN Security Council to abolish the international tribunal set up to prosecute the murderers of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005. This let the chief suspects, Assad’s close kin and intelligence chiefs, off the hook.

4. A torrent of studies suddenly coming out of US think tanks in recent weeks shows how hard American research and intelligence circles are leaning on the administration to expand its dialogue with Tehran. Bush is being urged to call off sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program and withdraw US backing from Iran’s disaffected minorities’ revolt against the Islamic regime – all for the purpose of putting US-Iranian relations on a normal footing."

Iran doubles uranium-enriching centrifuges to 6,000 – Ahmadinejad

The UN is good for what exactly? Not intimidating bad guys into line!

If we, the Free World, wish to stop Iran, we need to give them a nuke or two. In the same locations as the centrifuges. Quickly.

DEBKAfile - Iran doubles uranium-enriching centrifuges to 6,000 – Ahmadinejad: "Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Saturday, July 26: “Islamic Iran today possesses 6,000 centrifuges at the uranium enrichment plant in Natanz.

He said the US, Britain, France, Russian, China and Germany, the nations whose officials met the Iranian nuclear negotiator last Saturday in Geneva, “had tempered their demands.” They asked Iran not to freeze enrichment but rather not to expand its current program beyond 6,000 centrifuges, according to Tehran radio. Ahmadinejad clarified this by saying: “Today, they have consented that the existing 5,000 or 6,000 centrifuges not be increased and the operation of this number is not a problem.”"

Hizbullah moves into 'every town'

Naturally, Israel is worried about Hizballah moving back into the areas that it has announced it will stay out of, since the UN is totally worthless and seems to even be openly aiding them to rearm.

I wonder if nuking southern Lebanon is out of the question? The fallout would travel to Syria... Something to think about.

Hizbullah moves into 'every town' | Israel | Jerusalem Post: "Hizbullah is bolstering its presence in south Lebanon villages with non-Shi'ite majorities by buying land and using it to build military positions and store missiles and launchers, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The decision to build infrastructure in non-Shi'ite villages - where Hizbullah has less support - is part of the group's post-war strategy under which it has mostly abandoned the 'nature reserves,' forested areas in southern Lebanon where it kept most of its Katyusha rocket launchers before the Second Lebanon War.

Behind the change is the mandate given to UNIFIL by the United Nations after the war in 2006. According to the mandate, the peacekeeping force can patrol freely throughout southern Lebanon but cannot enter villages or cities without being accompanied by soldiers from the Lebanese Armed Forces, which regularly tips off Hizbullah ahead of the raids.

News of the change in Hizbullah strategy came as Israel is trying to persuade the UN to strengthen UNIFIL's mandate to give it the right to patrol the villages freely."

Iraq War Media Deceptions 101

SBVOR: Iraq War Media Deceptions 101: "1) Iraq had WMD stockpiles and the United Nations knew it!

If Saddam had no stockpiles of WMD, how do you explain 17 UN Security Council Resolutions over a period of 12 years, 14 of which deal directly with WMD?

Pay special attention to UNSCR 1441, which essentially said to Saddam (paraphrasing):

“Better hide the WMD, The United States will be invading 30 days from today”


But, that notice was given on 11/8/02 and we did not invade until 3/20/03. No wonder we have not found most of the WMD which the United Nations KNEW was there!

Even so, ISG, post war, REPORTED they found limited quantities of WMD. ISG also found clear evidence of intent to produce more WMD, including thermonuclear weapons. They failed to find clear evidence of large quantities of recently manufactured WMD. But, they were also:

“unable to rule out the possibility that WMD was evacuated to Syria before the war.”


Various other sources offer evidence that the WMD was evacuated to Syria.

Given fighter jets were buried in the desert, there clearly exists the possibility that WMD was buried in the desert."

More Evidence of the Criminal-Terrorist Nexus

This is a key report about how the terrorists are having to shift to drugs for funding. Tell all your stoner buddies that they are helping to fund the terrorists!

Counterterrorism Blog: More Evidence of the Criminal-Terrorist Nexus: "Those who are skeptical of the growing ties between drug trafficking organizations and terrorist groups-which I think will be the real war we will be fighting for many years, given the resources obtainable by drug trafficking organizations-should read the latest UN Office of Drugs and Crime report.

Among the many interesting findings is that the two areas of greatest increase in illicit production of drugs in the world are in the hands of designated terrorist groups: the Taliban in Afghanistan and the FARC in Colombia.

A third party involved in the expansion of drug production is Burma, a rogue criminal state. This bodes ill for the rest of the world."

U.N.'s Arbour opposes taboos in human rights body

Just talking about sharia is now being banned by the UN? As much as I hate to agree with a UN type, well, a modern one, Ms Arbour is correct that the UN is supposed to protect freedoms, not caving in to barbarians from the Middle Ages.

U.N.'s Arbour opposes taboos in human rights body | International | Reuters
"Arbour, who steps down this month after 4 years the post, did not refer specifically to the incident in the Council on Monday when Egypt, backed by Pakistan and Iran, said referring to sharia there meant "crucifying" Islamic states."

But she pointed to treatment of homosexuals in many countries -- prosecuted as criminals in a number of Islamic and some other states -- as "fundamental" to debate on sexual discrimination around the world.

"It is difficult for me to accept that a Council that is the guardian of legality, prevents the presentation of serious analysis or discussion on questions of the evolution of the concept of non-discrimination," Arbour declared.

Monday's row centered on a scheduled 3-minute speech on behalf of two non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) and the Association for World Education (AWE), calling on Muslim countries to take firm action against "honor killings" and female genital mutilation.

INTERRUPTED

The NGOs' speaker was repeatedly interrupted by Egypt, whose delegate, as seen on a U.N. webcast, accused him of trying to link these practices with Islam, and said discussion of sharia in the Council "will not happen" -- although the European Union and Canada argued that the address should go ahead.

Islam, the Egyptian delegate declared, "will not be crucified in this Council"."

This isn't Mr. Roger's neighborhood, kids

Working with terrorists is in line with the the goals of UNICEF? Is that what the UN is saying in this? Help the terrorists to build more training camps for children to learn to kill and slaughter?

I start to despise the UN more every time they do something stupid like this! Where are the people with brains to help them out?

This isn't Mr. Roger's neighborhood, kids: "The United Nations Children's Fund has announced an agreement with an organization linked by the U.S. government to al-Qaida and the Taliban to work to improve services to children in Saudi Arabia.

The announcement from UNICEF this week confirmed a new memorandum of understanding with the International Islamic Relief Organization 'to strengthen cooperation and support for children's rights, health, equality and protection in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other countries.'

The U.S. Treasury Department, however, identifies the IIRO as a group with one leader who 'provided donor funds directly to al-Qaida and is identified as a major fundraiser for the Abu Sayyaf (ASG) and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) (terror organizations).'

A leader, Adb Al Hamid Sulaimian Al-Mujil, often directs funds be transferred to the IIRO organizations blamed by the government for terrorism, including training al-Qaida operatives, in the Philippines and Indonesia, the report said.

'The partnership with IIROSA is in-line with UNICEF's policy that encourages the exchange of expertise and experiences regionally and internationally; and to collaborate and join forces as part of the Millennium Development Goals,' said Ayman Abu Laban, who is the UNICEF representative for the region."

First documentary evidence Iran is into nuclear explosives, missile warhead design

First evidence? I thought there was a lot of evidence that was all ignored. Well, I am not an expert, but I thought it was now common knowledge that Iran was building nukes and preparing to make the only fertile area in the region into radioactive waste.

Well, except for the Left, who WANT to kill the Jews because Papa Joe Stalin hated Jews and killed tens of thousands of them. Not quite as many as Hitler, but, hey, not every thug Socialist can be that efficient.

About time the UN decided to admit that Iran might not be telling the truth. Now if they could stop raping little kids in Africa. What a worthless body of freaks.

DEBKAfile - First documentary evidence Iran is into nuclear explosives, missile warhead design: "The International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna based its new and damning findings partly on 18 intelligence documents submitted by the United States, and now accuse Tehran of willful lack of cooperation. Iran dismissed the documents as forged or fabricated.

DEBKAfile reports that the documents came from materials contained in a laptop stolen from one of the heads of Iran’s nuclear program in Tehran in late 2006 by Iranian dissidents. It was passed to the CIA. Despite this evidence of an ongoing nuclear weapons program, sixteen US intelligence agencies, including the CIA, combined last year to announce this program was suspended in 2003.

Even the nuclear watchdog’s director Mohammed ElBaradei, who often meets the Iranians halfway, has concluded that Iran’s nuclear activities are of “serious concern” and require “substantial explanations.” which Tehran has refused to offer.

His latest report describes Iran’s installation of new IR-2 and IR-3 centrifuges for enriching uranium at the Natanz site as “significant” yet not communicated to his agency. IAEA inspectors on a visit in April were denied access to the sites where the centrifuges are manufactured and the scientists involved. Some, the report states, were produced by Iran’s “military” (a reference to the Revolutionary Guards corps which is in charge of Iran’s nuclear weapons industry).

An official connected to the watchdog disclosed that since December, the Iranians have processed close to 150 kilograms, double the amount produced in the same period 18 months ago.

The watchdog director’s report was released Monday, May 26, to the IAEA’s 35-member board of directors and the UN Security Council, and will be discussed by the board next week."

Democrats and Our Enemies

I do not like all of Sen. Lieberman's position, but he is dead right on his Party and the War. Actually, I think that both Parties have drifted so far off of the Chosen Path that neither are the Parties that they used to be. Both are corrupt and worthless.

Join the new Parties, what ever you wish.

Democrats and Our Enemies - WSJ.com: "Democrats and Our Enemies
By JOSEPH LIEBERMAN
May 21, 2008; Page A19

How did the Democratic Party get here? How did the party of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy drift so far from the foreign policy and national security principles and policies that were at the core of its identity and its purpose?

Beginning in the 1940s, the Democratic Party was forced to confront two of the most dangerous enemies our nation has ever faced: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. In response, Democrats under Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy forged and conducted a foreign policy that was principled, internationalist, strong and successful.

This was the Democratic Party that I grew up in – a party that was unhesitatingly and proudly pro-American, a party that was unafraid to make moral judgments about the world beyond our borders. It was a party that understood that either the American people stood united with free nations and freedom fighters against the forces of totalitarianism, or that we would fall divided.

This was the Democratic Party of Harry Truman, who pledged that "it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."

And this was the Democratic Party of John F. Kennedy, who promised in his inaugural address that the United States would "pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of freedom." "

Volcano Releases One Trillion Cow Farts Into Atmosphere

The Cubists have been busy lately. The latest is yet another piece of perfection!

Groupthink :: View topic - Volcano Releases One Trillion Cow Farts Into Atmosphere: "On May 2, Chile's Chaiten Volcano released a gigantic cloud of emissions composed of ash, steam, smoke, and various oddball gases whose estimated amount equals to one trillion cow farts, a UN-sponsored climate change study revealed. 'In just one day, this volcano set the Kyoto Protocol back 15 years, obliterating the otherwise outstanding success of our multi-billion dollar efforts to curb the release of cow farts into the atmosphere,' complained Chairman of Intergovernmental Panel on Cow Farts (IPCF) Rajendra K. Pachauri at an emergency conference at Grand Plaza Hotel in New York yesterday. 'Therefore, we demand that this eruption be considered unscientific and thus disqualified from inclusion into climate change models. Need I mention that it wasn't sanctioned by the the United Nations?'"

Who could know?

Ms Phillips is such a smart lady.

Thanks for finding yet more proof of the UN aid to terrorists. The UN is such a corrupt joke. Actually, it is too dangerous to be a joke. It is not very funny anymore.

The Spectator: "
Who could know?
Tuesday, 6th May 2008


The UN has long effectively behaved as a club of terror, excusing, ignoring or condoning acts of terrorism and tyranny while repeatedly singling out their principal state victim, Israel, for grotesque condemnation. The role of its relief agency UNWRA in supervising ‘refugee camps’ which are factories of terrorism has long been deeply compromised. Israel has repeatedly claimed that terrorists operate under the cover of UNWRA vehicles and facilities. The UN however has always strenuously denied any involvement whatsoever in such activities. Now however Reuters tells us that the headmaster of a UN school in Gaza, Awad al-Qiq who was killed last week in an Israeli air strike on a 'mechanic's workshop', taught by day and made rockets for Islamic Jihad by night. Wrapped in an Islamic Jihad flag, he was buried as a terrorist hero.

Who knew?

Not his family, not the slightest suspicion apparently, all a terrible shock. And not the UN, good gracious no, not a clue, natch.

Spokesman Christopher Gunness said UNRWA, which spelled its teacher's surname al-Geeg, was looking into the matter. ‘We have a zero-tolerance policy towards politics and militant activities in our schools. Obviously, we are not the thought police and we cannot police people's minds,’ he said.

Of course not! How could anyone expect the UN to know that one of its paid officials was — never mind the contents of his mind — actually making rockets and mortars on a regular basis for Hamas? For the UN, clearly, ‘zero tolerance’ of terrorism means zero scrutiny.

He added that staff were also regularly instructed not to engage in political or militant activities of any kind.

Yersss, Hamas must really be quaking in its boots. Doubtless such pieties will continue to put the minds of the American donors of UNWRA fully at rest. "

Michael J. Totten: The Military Situation in Beirut

Totten Always has the best insight into the Middle East. His friends help alot with that. Go read him and his links. We all need better insight into what is happening on the street over there so that we don't make bad guesses and back the wrong side with the wrong force.

Michael J. Totten: The Military Situation in Beirut: "Fighting in Beirut has broken out between Hezbollah/Amal and Future Movement supporters. Here's a brief look at the military situation. For a political reading, see the post by Lee Smith below, and make sure to read the excellent quoted op-ed by Michael Young.

The tactics are reminiscent of the 1970s-80s war, with two essential differences: 1- the trigger is not the Palestinian guerrilla threat to the state, but Hezbollah's threat to Lebanon, and 2- the beginning fault line is to the west of the 1975 flash point.

The current areas of clashes is roughly along a crescent from Hamra and the vicinity of the Serail in the north down to Tariq el-Jdideh in the south, and the vicinity of Qoreitem (Hariri's residence) and Ain el-Tineh (Berri's residence) in the west to Ras el-Nabe' in the east."

An Anatomy of Surrender

Excellent article with excellent insights and research in it. I want to read it again to see if the things that did not click the first time will click in the next read. And then again and again. I need to look up some of the points to get the full stories, even though I know most of the points Mr. Bawer has made. I love articles that tie loose threats into a string, but this is almost a rope strong enough to hang with.

An Anatomy of Surrender by Bruce Bawer, City Journal Spring 2008: "We need to recognize that the cultural jihadists hate our freedoms because those freedoms defy sharia, which they’re determined to impose on us. So far, they have been far less successful at rolling back freedom of speech and other liberties in the U.S. than in Europe, thanks in no small part to the First Amendment. Yet America is proving increasingly susceptible to their pressures.

The key question for Westerners is: Do we love our freedoms as much as they hate them? Many free people, alas, have become so accustomed to freedom, and to the comfortable position of not having to stand up for it, that they’re incapable of defending it when it’s imperiled—or even, in many cases, of recognizing that it is imperiled. As for Muslims living in the West, surveys suggest that many of them, though not actively involved in jihad, are prepared to look on passively—and some, approvingly—while their coreligionists drag the Western world into the House of Submission.

But we certainly can’t expect them to take a stand for liberty if we don’t stand up for it ourselves."

Video: UN Watch on Another Corrupt UN Human Rights Official

lgf: Video: UN Watch on Another Corrupt UN Human Rights Official: "It’s amazing (not in a good way) what’s going on in the United Nations on a daily basis, and UN Watch is blowing the whistle on yet another outrage. Here’s a video presentation on the radical Marxist, dictator-supporting Jean Ziegler, and why he should never be anywhere near the UN Human Rights Council."

The Iranian Bomb - A Matter of Time?

A much faster rate of enrichment? What a surprise! I thought the West, and all of Iran's neighbors, had a lot of time. I guess that those peaceful Iranians were lying? What else have they been deceitful about? Could it be about how peaceful they are? Something to consider.

While pondering Iranian lies, something else to consider is the lack of ability to end this problem through the UN. Besides publishing worthless papers that accuse the West of destroying everything and absolving the primitive countries of all blame for anything, what DO they do? I guess they also allow diplomats to live in NY for free and charge the US and NY for the privileged of hosting these bums. Oh joy.

Collactive: GIYUS.org - The Iranian Bomb - A Matter of Time?: "The International Atomic Energy Commission has determined that Iran, having solved its technical problems, is enriching uranium at a much faster rate than ever before.

Next stop: weapons-grade material - and a crisis that threatens not only the region, but the global economy as well.

Iran's ability to produce its own nuclear fuel is what Israel has repeatedly called 'the point of no return' - a view all but confirmed by IAEA Director Mohammed ElBaradei.

Now, he said, 'it is simply a question of perfecting that knowledge. People will not like to hear it, but that's a fact.'

The West has demanded that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad halt enrichment - but it shies away from meaningful sanctions.

But forcing Tehran's hand is something the West must do - sooner, rather than later. Because the global implications of a nuclear Iran are truly staggering.

A nuclear Iran by definition is a threat to the world's petroleum supply - a development of critical concern not only to the United States and Europe, but to China and Japan, as well.

Israel would be at grave risk, of course.

But so, too, would be America's strategic relationships with Saudi Arabia and the oil-rich Gulf emirates.

It is probably no coincidence that the White House has now agreed to direct talks with Iran on the Iraq war - despite earlier refusing to sit down without a full suspension of Iran's nuclear program.

Talks are fine - up to a point.

But Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had it right last year, when she noted that, faced with an Iranian nuclear threat, "The United States will be steadfast in defense of our forces, and steadfast in defense of our friends and allies who wish to work together for common security."

Has that changed, too?"