Futility Of Trying To Stop The Pakistani Horn (Dan 8:8)

US slams Pakistan for nuclear arsenal boast

By Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN | 29 Aug, 2015, 12.09PM IST

The censure came after Pakistan’s geriatric NSA Sartaj Aziz boasted that Pakistan was a nuclear weapons power that was capable of defending itself against India.

WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s nuclear sabre rattling earned for it a mild reprimand from the Obama administration even as military generals in Rawalpindi told the country’s politicians that India is their principal ex ternal threat and they need more money to counter it.

Border tension between India and Pakistan figured in the daily US state department briefing on Thursday with a spokesman cautioning Islamabad for talking loosely about using nuclear weapons to counter India.

“We want to see tensions decrease, and speculation about potential use of nuclear weapons certainly isn’t doing anything to help it, if in fact those comments were made,” spokesman John Kirby said.
The censure came after Pakistan’s geriatric NSA Sartaj Aziz boasted that Pakistan was a nuclear weapons power that was capable of defending itself against India, even though New Delhi has made no nuclear threats and has a no-first use policy when it comes to nuclear weapons use.

Kirby essayed the familiar salutary advice to a country that is home to a wide range of terrorists and terror groups, some of them designated by the UN and US.

“(US) secretary (of state, John) Kerry has said repeatedly that he wants the two nations to continue to work together, with constructive dia logue, to resolve their issues, and we understand that there are issues that are longstanding,” Kirby told reporters. “But that’s what really needs to happen, is sitting down, dialogue, cooperation, talking through these things, and trying to work through some meaningful solutions.”

Earlier in the week, the state department had repeated the familiar mantra that such talks were something the two sides needed to undertake and no mediation can be expected from a third party .
Pakistan has been trying hard to attract international attention and mediation into the Kashmir dispute while not giving up on its patronage of terrorist groups such as LeT and its avatars and helping militants infiltrate into India. Earlier this week, Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi took its complaints to the UN even though Pakistan protects UN designated terrorists such as Hafiz Saeed.
On Friday , Pakistani media reported that in a briefing at the joint staff headquarters, the generals told members of Pakistan’s senate defense committee that India was buying $100 billion worth of weapons over the next five years aimed primarily at Pakistan, and they needed more money to counter that.

Irony of Ironies: Nebuchadnezzar Teaches Foreign Policy

Obama: Gov. Scott Walker needs to ‘bone up’ on foreign policy

By David Nakamura April 7 at 11:50 AM

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) speaks to supporters in Greenville, S.C., on March 19, 2015. (Jason Miczek/Reuters)

President Obama and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker traded barbs Monday after the president suggested that the likely Republican presidential candidate “bone up on foreign policy.”

Obama made the remarks in an interview with NPR published Monday, responding to a question from reporter Steve Inskeep about Walker’s vow to undo a nuclear pact with Iran on his first day in the White House.

In defending his administration’s tentative framework with Iran over its nuclear program, Obama told NPR that he is confident that it does not need congressional approval. He added that he hopes lawmakers “won’t start calling to question the capacity of the executive branch of the United States to enter into agreements with other countries. If that starts being questioned, that’s going to be a problem for our friends and that’s going to embolden our enemies.”

Obama added: “And it would be a foolish approach to take, and, you know, perhaps Mr. Walker, after he’s taken some time to bone up on foreign policy, will feel the same way.”

Walker, who has been eager to establish his foreign policy chops ahead of a likely bid for the GOP presidential nomination next year, didn’t take long to fight back with a string of Twitter messages.

Walker has been overshadowed the past two weeks as a pair of rivals — Sens. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and Rand Paul (Ky.) — announced their candidacies for the Republican nomination. The governor has not impressed many of the party’s leaders with his knowledge of international affairs, drawing mockery last month for refusing to talk about foreign policy on a trip to London and then for comparing his experience battling labor protesters to taking on Islamic State terrorists.

Obama has been eager to sell the Iran nuclear framework to a skeptical Congress as his administration seeks to finalize a deal without lawmakers approving additional sanctions on Tehran that could scuttle the talks.

The Beast Of The Sea Can’t Shut Up! (Revelation 13:5)

Dick Cheney: The world’s a mess, and it’s Obama’s fault
By Dr. Stefan Grobe
14/07 23:10 CET

Proud and Arrogant Words

More than five years after leaving office, former US Vice President Dick Cheney sees the world in bad shape, especially the Middle East, and he blames President Obama (again) for most of it.

Crises in Syria, Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Ukraine and elsewhere, nuclear capabilities of Iran soon, rapid spread of terrorism: “I don’t like what I see happening”, Cheney said at a lunch hosted by Politico Magazine at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington on Monday.

For Cheney, Obama with his lackluster leadership is the prime suspect responsible for this mess. “He has created a situation in which our friends in the region are scared to death”, Cheney said, quoting Israeli and Arab “friends I have known for 25 years.”

Also speaking were Cheney’s wife Lynne and his daughter Liz. Just minutes into the conversation, things got nasty in the packed ballroom.

Protesters disrupted the on-stage event, shouting that Cheney needed to be held accountable for the war in Iraq.

“Dick Cheney — war criminal!” one woman shouted, holding a pink sign and handcuffs. The moderator tried to move on, but the woman continued shouting. “You destroyed Iraq, you’ll destroy this country!” and “Dick Cheney should be arrested!”

The woman, who belonged to the anti-war group Code Pink, was eventually escorted out by security agents. But just minutes later, other activists sitting in the audience repeated her protest.

Despite these awkward moments, the Cheneys stuck to their talking points during the discussion.
The former Vice President defended the Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003, calling it “absolutely the right thing to do”. President Obama inherited a stable situation in that country from the Bush administration, but his desire for a full withdrawal of US troops has led to the situation today, Cheney said.

Cheney weighed in heavily on that decision by Obama, deriding him for believing he “can go in and declare the war is over.”

Cheney has been harshly critical of the current administration’s foreign policy throughout Obama’s presidency, and has chimed in recently over the deteriorating situation in Iraq, where militants from the Islamic State of Syria and the Levant have taken over much of the northern and central parts of the country.

Cheney’s recent remarks and the creation of a political action committee to help advance his daughter Liz’ political ambitions have sparked a barrage of attacks from his political opponents and the media.

“When the Cheneys urge more of the same, it isn’t just as if they’ve missed the last decade, it’s also as if they never learned about opportunity costs. America should never again heed the foreign-policy advice of such incompetent analysts”, wrote The Atlantic monthly.

“I don’t think Obama ever had any intention of leaving anybody behind,” he added, saying that he thought Obama wasn’t fully committed to a Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq given his desire to get all troops out.

Cheney also ripped Obama for having “dramatically reduced the military,” and called cuts at the Pentagon “outrageous.” He then made a call for the next president to rebuild the military.

“Turn around the whole trend with the United State military,” Cheney said. “That ought to be our top priority for spending. Not food stamps, not highways, or anything else. Your number one responsibility as president is to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. He’s the commander-in-chief and he’s absolutely devastating the United States military today.”