The latest month’s wackiness in the world of international relations, politics, and  brinkmanship.
U.S. military suspends joint patrols with Afghans: Â All I can say is that it is about damn time one of the higher ups realized that the joint patrol and living policy is a failure. Â Absent a robust vetting process, which is obviously lacking, it is unconscionable to have our troops living side by side with Afghans who cannot be trusted as far as we can throw them.
Pakistanis Try to Storm U.S. Outpost; One Is Killed: Â I expect that demonstrations supposedly in outrage over the video will continue for a another week or so. Â I am more and more convinced that the movie is simply a pretext for the Muslims to go on a rampage and have a compliant western media and political class make excuses for them. Â The movie itself is garbage and would have never been known absent the riots and killing of the US Ambassador to Libya.
My contribution to free speech is embedding the video below. Â I heartily hope that Muslim regimes block this website because of it.
Germany Cracks Down on Terry Jones and Innocence of Muslims:  Is this proposed banning and censorship an example of appeasement?  I would argue that it is.  If free societies don’t sand up and defend their basic principles then those principles are worth less than the breath expended to express them.
Obama official: Benghazi was a terrorist attack: The truth comes out.  The next questions are how aware was US Intelligence that Al-Qaeda was operating in Libya and whether they are operating there with the knowledge and consent of the Libyan government.
France to close embassies in fear of cartoon backlash:  In other news I may have to take back some of the French jokes I have told over the years.  It appears that at least some Frenchmen are more than willing to take on the mob that calls themselves Muslim and has deliberately published some satirical cartoons about Mohammed prompting the French government to close some of their embassies in fear of retribution.  At some point historical remembrance will kick and the nations of the West will recall that appeasement does not work.  Self censorship in contravention of basic Western principles is nothing more than capitulation in the face of the Muslim mobs anger.  What they need is a little Napoleonic medicine.  Specifically, “a whiff of Grapeshot.”
Syria fires into Jordan, sparking clashes:  Incidents like this and others along the Turkish border along with reports of Iranian support for the Assad regime make me wonder if the Syrian Civil War is not at risk of spreading into the wider world.  I don’t think the idea is too far-fetched as Arab countries seem to be picking sides to support in Syria and any escalation is likely to spread quickly, if it spreads at all in my estimation.  If the Israelis can manage their own border they are probably more than happy to see Arabs shooting at each other.  At least it means that Arab hatred for Israel takes a back-burner to their own internal feuds.  The civil war in Syria bears watching.  Assad shows every intention of holding onto power and his admitted possession of WMD’s makes external intervention a dicier issues than were the interventions in Tunisia and Libya.
Strike on Iran would trigger ‘World War III’: Guards:  The bad part about when Iran starts smack talking is that they just might do it.  I can’t figure out if the Iranians are stupid or crazy but I fear it is the latter.  They seem perfectly willing to suffer annihilation if it mans they can take out some of the perceived enemies with them.
Euro crisis fuels Spanish separatism, Day of rage in Greece as more stringent cuts loom: Are we finally seeing the cracks in the Eurozone crisis widen into chasms?  I stick by my earlier prediction that the Euro is doomed to failure as the series of band-aids the EU has come up with are always too little, too late.  The question to me now is not whether the Euro will survive, it seems foregone to me that it will not, but will the EU survive?  I think that depends on how the individual states manage their internal crisis’ as the Euro flls apart.  I am not prepared to say whether I think the EU will break up although I tend to think a restructuring of the EU is likely but not outright failure.
Nod to Obama by Netanyahu in Warning to Iran on Bomb:  It would seem that Israel has ruled out an “October Surprise” but not that they have ruled out hitting Iran if the Iranians press ahead with nuclear enrichment.  All this latest twist means is that the story has been extended, not that Israel has committed themselves to a diplomatic process.  Israel is the state with the most to lose if Iran gets nukes given the nature of rhetoric emanating from Iran.  I simply cannot fathom that they will allow Iran to develop them unchallenged.  I also don’t think Israel will provide any notice to anybody that a strike is underway until their aircraft are in the air.  This is especially so given the poor state of current Israeli American relations.
EXPERT: Military Conflict ‘Looms’ Between China And Japan:  I somehow find it hard to believe tha a shooting war will erupt over these islands.  Then I think that wars have started over smaller issues.  There is also the aspect that China is very protective of what they consider their rights and privileges and is trying to assert themselves more on the world stage and they may just calculate that they can defeat Japan quickly and state down any response.  I think the the most realistic assessment is that this issue will simmer until China make a move and China will only do something when they are fairly certain of success.  I also think that even Obama would have no choice but to step into the breach were China to be the aggressor and consequences of that are unknowable at this time.  The South China Sea bears watching as these islands are no the only flash points.
Turkey vows to protect its people after Syrian shelling:  This could be the first step into a widening of the conflict or, and I think more likely, this could be the first step in the conflict ceasing to expand.  My prediction in Syria is that the Assad regime will maintain control and the rebels will retreat into an insurgency that will ultimately cost them the support they need to survive.  That is a process that could take years though, years in which the lot of the average Syrian will continue to get worse and worse.