How's about some current events dot-connecting:
Obama to address UNObama to address Muslim unrest
National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor previews the president's speech to the UN General Assembly next week:
"UNGA always provides an opportunity for the President to put the international situation in context, and to put forward a vision of US leadership. I would certainly expect the President to address the recent unrest in the Muslim world, and the broader context of the democratic transitions in the Arab World."
... "As he has in recent days, the President will make it clear that we reject the views in this video, while also underscoring that violence is never acceptable – a message that has been echoed by the leaders he has personally reached out to in places like Libya, Egypt and Yemen. He will also send a clear message that the United States will never retreat from the world; will bring justice to those who harm Americans; and will stand strongly for our democratic values abroad.
With respect to Iran, we have consistently framed that issue around Iran’s profound failure to meet its international obligations with respect to its nuclear program. Therefore, UNGA presents another opportunity for him to underscore that Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon.
Any time the President goes to the UNGA, he has an opportunity to set the agenda on the world stage as the leader of the world’s most powerful nation. He does so with the credibility of strengthening our alliances, ending the war in Iraq, devastating al Qaeda, and rallying international action on challenges like securing nuclear materials and stopping the spread of nuclear weapons. It’s clear that the United States is in a stronger position than we were when he took office."
Got that? We are in a stronger position than when Obongo took office, said by our National Security Council spokeweasel.
Somebody should have told
Egypt's president Morsi, Mursi, whatthehellever his name is:
On the eve of his first trip to the United States as Egypt’s new Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi said the United States needed to fundamentally change its approach to the Arab world, showing greater respect for its values and helping build a Palestinian state, if it hoped to overcome decades of pent-up anger.
A former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mr. Morsi sought in a 90-minute interview with The New York Times to introduce himself to the American public and to revise the terms of relations between his country and the United States after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, an autocratic but reliable ally.
He said it was up to Washington to repair relations with the Arab world and to revitalize the alliance with Egypt, long a cornerstone of regional stability.
If Washington is asking Egypt to honor its treaty with Israel, he said, Washington should also live up to its own Camp David commitment to Palestinian self-rule. He said the United States must respect the Arab world’s history and culture, even when that conflicts with Western values. (emphasis added).
And, by the bye,
the State Department has issued 140 visas for Ahmadinnerjacket and his entourage for that same UN meeting:
That would be 140 visas allowing entry for officials and affiliates of a regime under UN and U.S. sanctions — a nuclear-bomb-seeking regime implicated just last fall in an alleged terror plot to murder the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. by bombing a restaurant in Washington, D.C.; a regime whose terror-based rule, networks and ambitions violate the UN’s own charter and threaten America and America’s allies.
Who are these people? We're not permitted that information; State does not reveal these lists.
Then there's this:
55 detainees to be released and transferred from Gitmo; mostly YemenisThat's about a third of Gitmo's population, and keep in mind that a former detainee was at the forefront in the attack in Libya and Stevens' assassination.
But, never fear .... our illustrious
Senate overwhelmingly rejected foreign aid cuts for Egypt, Libya and Pakistan,
with help from some Republicans.Rand Paul wants to hold up Pakistan's "aid" until they release the doctor who helped The Mighty Obongo find bin Laden. Not to be, sorry doc.
And lastly, there is the tale of
CNN concealing for a week the use of information from Chris Stevens' personal journal, otherwise known as a "source familiar with Ambassador Stevens' thinking", despite the express wishes of his family.
Nice, huh?
H/T
BadBlue
