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Posts Tagged ‘united nations’

Netanyahu’s excellent UN speech

Posted by Richard on September 29, 2012

To get the taste of Obama’s disturbing UN speech out of my mouth, I read the address of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to the same corrupt body. Damn, I wish we had a president who spoke like that. Read the whole thing and/or watch the video.

Netanyahu began by challenging the claim, supported by much of the UN, that Jews are recent interlopers in the region (it was never a nation) known as Palestine:

Three thousand years ago, King David reigned over the Jewish state in our eternal capital, Jerusalem. I say that to all those who proclaim that the Jewish state has no roots in our region and that it will soon disappear.

The Jewish people have lived in the land of Israel for thousands of years. Even after most of our people were exiled from it, Jews continued to live in the land of Israel throughout the ages. The masses of our people never gave up the dreamed of returning to our ancient homeland.

Here he might have added that Jews continued to live throughout the Middle East in large numbers (a third of the population of Baghdad) until they were driven out or murdered by the Arabs who embraced Islamofascism.

Defying the laws of history, we did just that. We ingathered the exiles, restored our independence and rebuilt our national life. The Jewish people have come home.

We will never be uprooted again.

In Israel, we walk the same paths tread by our patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But we blaze new trails in science, technology, medicine, agriculture.

In Israel, the past and the future find common ground.

Unfortunately, that is not the case in many other countries. For today, a great battle is being waged between the modern and the medieval.

The forces of modernity seek a bright future in which the rights of all are protected, in which an ever-expanding digital library is available in the palm of every child, in which every life is sacred.

The forces of medievalism seek a world in which women and minorities are subjugated, in which knowledge is suppressed, in which not life but death is glorified.

These forces clash around the globe, but nowhere more starkly than in the Middle East.

Israel stands proudly with the forces of modernity. We protect the rights of all our citizens:  men and women, Jews and Arabs, Muslims and Christians – all are equal before the law.

Israel wants to see a Middle East of progress and peace. We want to see the three great religions that sprang forth from our region – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – coexist in peace and in mutual respect.

Yet the medieval forces of radical Islam, whom you just saw storming the American embassies throughout the Middle East, they oppose this.

They seek supremacy over all Muslims. They are bent on world conquest. They want to destroy Israel, Europe, America. They want to extinguish freedom. They want to end the modern world.

Militant Islam has many branches – from the rulers of Iran with their Revolutionary Guards to Al Qaeda terrorists to the radical cells lurking in every part of the globe.

But despite their differences, they are all rooted in the same bitter soil of intolerance. That intolerance is directed first at their fellow Muslims, and then to Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, secular people, anyone who doesn’t submit to their unforgiving creed.

They want to drag humanity back to an age of unquestioning dogma and unrelenting conflict.

I am sure of one thing. Ultimately they will fail. Ultimately, light will penetrate the darkness.

I think the relevant question is this: it’s not whether this fanaticism will be defeated. It’s how many lives will be lost before it’s defeated.

Outstanding. Reason, the Enlightenment, modernity: the leader who represents one of the most ancient civilizations in the world forcefully defends these values; the leader of the nation that was founded on those principles can’t bring himself to do so.

Oh, and by the way: US Ambassador Susan Rice skipped Netanyahu’s speech, thus treating him the same way she did Ahmadinejad. Moral equivalence?

Like I said: Read the whole thing and/or watch the video. Especially the latter, so you can see the marvelous visual aid he uses to illustrate Iran’s progress toward nuclear weapons and where we must draw a red line.

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Obama’s disturbing UN speech

Posted by Richard on September 29, 2012

I finally got around to checking out the President’s address to the UN General Assembly. Although there were some good phrases, the general “can’t we all just get along” tone left me cold.

So did his reiterated denunciation of that “crude and disgusting video” and the tepid defense of the First Amendment that followed, which made it sound like the difference between those who protect free speech and those who suppress it is merely a matter of taste, a preference that, understandably, not everyone shares  (“I know that not all countries in this body share this understanding of the protection of free speech”).

And I found this bit quite disturbing (emphasis added):

The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam. Yet to be credible, those who condemn that slander must also condemn the hate we see when the image of Jesus Christ is desecrated, churches are destroyed, or the Holocaust is denied. Let us condemn incitement against Sufi Muslims, and Shiite pilgrims. It is time to heed the words of Gandhi: “Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit.” …

Does Obama (or his speech writer) really not understand the meaning of those words to much of the Muslim world? To a devout, fundamentalist Muslim, you slander Muhammad if you deny that he was a prophet, a messenger of God, and that the words he spoke are the words of God. To much of the Muslim world, the President might as well have said, “The future must not belong to those who reject Islam.”

Obama then engaged his favorite rhetorical device, dialectic. We must also condemn the desecration of Jesus? He and his Socialist Democrats have aggressively defended taxpayer funding, via the National Endowment for the Arts, of “Piss Christ” and a dung-covered Mary, among others. It’s the people who dared to condemn such works of “art” (without, I might add, any rioting, burning, or killing) and who opposed federal funding of them whom Obama and his cohort have condemned.

Intolerance is a form of violence? By embracing that absurd statement, he negated his earlier defense (such as it was) of free speech and threw overboard the First Amendment. And he posited a moral equivalence between those who criticize 7th-century barbarians and those barbarians, who raped and murdered a US ambassador, call for the extermination of Jews, subjugate women, keep slaves, and execute homosexuals.

All in all, a sorry performance by the President of the United States and purported leader of the free world. Rep. Mike Coffman was correct when he said of Obama that “in his heart, he’s not an American.” His leftist ethics and post-modernist epistemology make him at best a reluctant defender of the values that created and sustained this country, and at worst an apologist for and underminer of those values.

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Belated happy birthday, Octomom!

Posted by Richard on July 12, 2012

I just learned that July 11 was World Population Day. And by a curious coincidence, it was also the Octomom’s birthday.

This year’s World Population Day, 11 July 2012, focuses on the theme of “Universal Access to Reproductive Health Services.” Reproductive health problems remain the leading cause of ill health and death for women of childbearing age worldwide. Some 222 million women who would like to avoid or delay pregnancy lack access to effective family planning.

Did I mention that it was also the Octomom’s birthday?

Write your own joke.

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UN inquiry: Israel’s blockade of Gaza is legal

Posted by Richard on July 10, 2011

Well, this is something that doesn't happen every day: a UN committee siding with Israel! Both DEBKAfiles and Canada's National Post report that the UN inquiry into last year's Gaza flotilla incident has ruled that Israel's naval blockade of Gaza is legal and that it doesn't owe Turkey either an apology or reparations. According to the National Post's Michael Ross:

The UN investigative committee, headed by former Prime Minister of New Zealand and internationally renowned jurist, Geoffrey Palmer, actually criticizes Turkey for not doing enough to prevent the flotilla from setting sail and for also providing a somewhat anaemic and lacking investigation into the events of May 2010.

Now the part that is going to really take the starch out of the flotilla activist’s kafiyehs is that in its examination of the Turkel Committee’s report – the committee conducting Israel’s official investigation – aided by Nobel Peace Prize winner David Trimble and former Canadian Forces former Judge Advocate General, Ken Watkin QC, is its conclusion that the Israeli investigation (in stark contrast to Turkey’s) was conducted in a professional and independent manner.

For a UN report, the summary is astoundingly tepid in its criticism of Israel’s actions and constitutes a very mild slap on the wrist. The report mentions that while international law allows Israel to intercept ships far from its territorial waters, the navy would have been better off waiting until the flotilla was closer to the blockade line some 20 miles off shore. There is also the bromide of Israel using excessive force, but nobody disputes that when faced with attackers wielding iron bars, knives or axes, there is every justification for ditching the paintball gun for a real weapon in self-defence.

Greece is currently preventing this year's ten flotilla boats of "peace activists" from sailing for Gaza, so this seems to have been a bad week for leftist Hamas-lovers and Jew-haters.

In celebration, I'll repost the Latma TV Flotilla Choir's marvelous "We Con the World." Enjoy! 


[YouTube link]

 

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Making the UN look quick and decisive

Posted by Richard on March 18, 2011

You know the expression "a day late and a dollar short"? This is a month late and a couple of squadrons of F22s short:

The United Nations Security Council approved a resolution Thursday evening authorizing a no-fly zone over Libya and other military action against Libya, as the Obama administration worked to ready plans to enforce a no-fly zone with help from Arab and European allies.

Nice to know that the US is now working to ready plans. Only 31 days after President Obama declared that Gaddafi must go.

The United States, France and Britain pushed for speedy approval because Muammar al-Qaddafi's forces are advancing toward opposition-held Benghazi. The Libyan leader vowed Thursday night to oust the rebels from their eastern stronghold.

France and Britain have been pushing for some time. The US has been distracted by the President's need to attend fund-raisers, plan vacations, and fill his brackets.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said if the resolution was approved, France would support military action against Qaddafi within hours. The U.S. said it was preparing for action.

France is ready to act within hours. The US is still, after more than a month, "preparing."

In the last four weeks, compared to France, the US has looked weak, indecisive, and unprepared. Boy, the world sure has changed in the last two years. 

Last week, I said "Reasonable people can disagree over whether we should intervene, but this dithering is the worst of all possible responses." Let me amend that a bit: Dithering even longer — until the allies who used to look to the US for leadership decide to take the lead themselves — and then belatedly agreeing to act, apparently without having a plan in place for doing so, is the worst of all possible responses. 

Gaddafi's fighter jets and helicopter gunships have been pounding rebel forces and civilian populations in rebel-supporting regions for more than a month. No one knows how many have died. Now that the rebels have been decimated, Gaddafi's mercenaries are ready to drive them out of their last stronghold, Benghazi, and the defeat of the rebellion seems almost certain, the US is almost ready to act.

This is simply disgusting and shameful. It would have been better if the President had declared 31 days ago that what happens in Libya is none of our concern and had unequivocally pledged not to intervene in its internal affairs. 

This, as I said, was the worst of all possible responses. For weeks, it gave brave freedom fighters false hope. Now, when it's almost certainly too late, it lets us pretend to be concerned and engaged. While leaving in charge the same UN that put Libya on its Human Rights Council.

The rebels were right to cry out for help from Bush.

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Civilization against barbarism

Posted by Richard on September 26, 2009

An excerpt from the one honorable and courageous speech at the U.N. this week, by Benjamin Netanyahu:

Yesterday, the man who calls the Holocaust a lie spoke from this podium. To those who refused to come and to those who left in protest, I commend you. You stood up for moral clarity, and you brought honor to your countries. But to those who gave this holocaust denier a hearing, I say on behalf of my people, the Jewish people, and decent people everywhere, have you no shame? Have you no decency?

A mere six decades after the Holocaust, you give legitimacy to a man who denies the murder of 6 million Jews? While promising to wipe out the state of Israel, the state of the Jews? What a disgrace. What a mockery of the charter of the United Nations.

Now, perhaps – perhaps some of you think that this man and his odious regime, perhaps they threaten only the Jews. Well, if you think that, you're wrong – dead wrong. History has shown us time and time again that what starts with attacks on the Jews eventually ends up engulfing many, many others, for this Iranian regime is fueled by an extreme fundamentalism that burst on to the world scene three decades ago after lying dormant for centuries.

In the past 30 years, this fanaticism has swept across the globe with a murderous violence that knows no bounds and with a cold-blooded impartiality in the choice of its victims. It has callously slaughtered Muslims and Christians, Jews and Hindus, and many others. Though it is comprised of different offshoots, the adherents of this unforgiving creed seek to return humanity to medieval times. Wherever they can, they impose a backward, regimented society where women, minorities, gays, or anyone else deemed not to be a true believer, is brutally subjugated.

The struggle against this fanaticism does not pit faith against faith nor civilization against civilization. It pits civilization against barbarism, the 21st Century against the 9th Century, those who sanctify life against those who glorify death.

If only our Appeaser in Chief had spoken with such moral clarity.

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Oh, those hated Raiders

Posted by Richard on November 24, 2008

I bet you didn't know this: there's a city ordinance in Denver that requires all uses of the proper noun "Raiders," spoken or print, to be preceded by the adjective "hated."

So today the Broncos played host to the hated Raiders. And the outcome sucked. 

That's the trouble with having to rely on lots of young players. Sometimes they provide the energy and enthusiasm that really makes a difference, like the previous two weeks. But sometimes they bring inexperience and errors. 

But, really, most of the blame for today's humiliating defeat belongs to Jay Cutler. When he's on his game, he's every bit as great a QB as he thinks he is. But when he's off, he really stinks up the place.

Oh, well — the Chargers lost, too, so nothing much changed in the division. 

And later tonight, 24: Redemption was good enough to make me forget the game. You've got to love a show where the first villain you see is a cowardly, duplicitous U.N. "peacekeeper" who keeps braying "We remain neutral!" and then sells out a bunch of kids. Now that's realism.

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24 teaser

Posted by Richard on November 22, 2008

I just saw a clip from the season premier of 24: Redemption (airing Sunday, Nov. 23, at 8 PM Eastern, 7 PM Central/Mountain). As all hell breaks loose in the distance, Jack Bauer says to a UN peacekeeper (who just declared "we remain neutral"), "Why don't you go hide with the other children?"

Excellent! I can't wait.

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The speech Palin never gave

Posted by Richard on September 23, 2008

The New York Times of Israel (both in stature and ideology), Haaretz, did what liberal Jewish groups in the U.S. wouldn't do: let Gov. Sarah Palin speak. Haaretz published the speech that Palin wasn't allowed to deliver yesterday:

In the speech which Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin was to have delivered at a Monday rally protesting the UN appearance of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, she was to have said that the Iranian president "dreams of being an agent in a 'Final Solution' – the elimination of the Jewish people."

Her appearance in the rally in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza was cancelled in a flap between protest organizers and Hillary Clinton, who had also been scheduled to speak. Clinton aides were quoted as saying that they had been "blindsided" by the decision to invite Palin, which they called a partisan move. In the ensuing controversy, Clinton withdrew her participation, and Palin's invitation was rescinded. 

In the Bizarro world of today's Democrats, if Sen. Clinton and Gov. Palin both speak, it's partisan, but if Sen. Clinton alone speaks, it's not.

Palin's speech took a more high-minded approach (emphasis added):

Earlier this year, Senator Clinton said that "Iran is seeking nuclear weapons, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is in the forefront of that" effort. Senator Clinton argued that part of our response must include stronger sanctions, including the designation of the IRGC as a terrorist organization. John McCain and I could not agree more.

Senator Clinton understands the nature of this threat and what we must do to confront it. This is an issue that should unite all Americans. Iran should not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. Period. And in a single voice, we must be loud enough for the whole world to hear: Stop Iran!
Only by working together, across national, religious, and political differences, can we alter this regime's dangerous behavior. Iran has many vulnerabilities, including a regime weakened by sanctions and a population eager to embrace opportunities with the West. We must increase economic pressure to change Iran's behavior.

As I've said before, today's left is much less tolerant than today's right. 

And it's really sad that liberal American Jewish groups seem to be more left than they are Jewish.  

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The sanction of the victim

Posted by Richard on September 22, 2007

The more I’ve listened to and read the arguments that there’s no problem with Mahmoud Ahm-a-doin-a-jihad coming to New York (yet again), the more disgusted I’ve become.

As if reasonable people could have a polite discussion with him about stoning women and homosexuals to death (with small stones, Mahmoud insisted, so they would suffer more), and publicly hanging dissidents by the score.

As if it were not craven cowardice for a Jewish mayor to say, in effect, he’d have no problem with a Holocaust denier committed to wiping out Israel visiting Ground Zero if it weren’t for that pesky construction and the security problem.

As if inviting this monster onto an American campus were not an unforgivable slap in the face to the students and faculty of Tehran University who’ve been beaten, tortured, imprisoned, and killed.

As if we don’t have incontrovertible evidence that he’s sent not only his weapons but his soldiers into Iraq to kill Americans, and as if Iran had not been killing Americans and de facto waging war on us for almost 30 years.

Treating this bastard as a respected world leader is giving him — and the other thugs that fill the halls at the U.N. — what evil always seeks and we must stop granting: the sanction of the victim. Dr. Sanity wrote about this a year ago:

Repeatedly over the years (but especially more recently), the world has said to America, “We will give you the honor and privilege of fixing our problems for us; and in return, we get to spit in your face; denounce you as immoral; and generally denigrate your culture, your leaders, and your people.”

The UN’s perverse anti-Americanism is well documented. No other country gives more to this organization than the U.S.; and no other country is on the receiving end of its absurd and childish criticisms more.

Only by withdrawing the “sanction of the victim,” –i.e., refusing to be manipulated in this manner–refusing to give aid where there is scorn and not even grudging gratitude; refusing to shoulder the burden of all as they beat us upon the back and tell us to go faster, do it better, and jump higher; refusing to pay their debts; fix their problems; or protect them from their own, deliberate, suicidal behavior–only then will the looters and the parasites be forced to recognize reality.

Every time I see our country accept the premises of the insane political correctness promulgated by the political left–a doctrine that claims that, while all cultures and countries are equal; you, America, are uniquely bad and evil and must be punished for your sins. Every time I witness the hysteria mounted when America falls short of its own ideals–and then willingly and honorably acknowledges the fact and takes steps to correct it; every time I witness the granting of moral equivalence between America and the barbaric terrorists who get a free pass from the international community and the MSM for their behavior (being a terrorist means never having to say you’re sorry as far as the left is concerned)– I am appalled.

Me too.

Do we really have no choice under our “treaty obligations,” as some insist? History says otherwise.

In 1983, after the Soviet Union shot down Korean Air Lines flight 007, Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko canceled a trip to the U.N. after Governor Mario Cuomo of New York and Governor Thomas Kean of New Jersey (not exactly rabid right-wingers) both vowed not to allow a Soviet plane to land in their states.

In 1988, the Reagan Administration denied Arafat a visa to speak to the U.N. because he was a terrorist. The U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution condemning the United States, and then packed up and moved to Geneva, where Arafat was warmly embraced.

In neither case did the world end. In 1988, unfortunately, there was a down side: the General Assembly later returned to New York.

UPDATE: Please sign Brigitte Gabriel’s petition to Columbia University President Lee Bollinger.

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The Ahm-a-doin-a-jihad visit

Posted by Richard on September 20, 2007

If there were any justice in the world, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahm-a-doin-a-jihad's visit to the U.N. would culminate in his being taken hostage by a group of Jewish NYU students and held for a year or so, so he could see how it feels. It certainly wouldn't include:

  • a visit to Ground Zero (by the world's foremost state sponsor of terrorism).
  • a speech at Columbia University (liberal academics apparently find the presence of Larry Summers intolerable, but are ready to warmly welcome a Holocaust denier who promises to wipe Israel off the map and is responsible for hundreds of American deaths).

At least there are people who are outraged. Demonstrations are planned. Michelle Malkin and Pamela Geller have lots of info and links (check their home pages, too, for newer posts). If you're in the NYC area, I urge you to help make this POS feel unwelcome.

UPDATE: I suppose that at this point in time, it's entirely unsurprising that Liberal Bloggers Defend Ahmadinejad Visit To Ground Zero

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Bolton gives up

Posted by Richard on December 4, 2006

In my opinion, John Bolton is by far the best U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations since Jeane Kirkpatrick excoriated the "blame America first" crowd in the 80s. So I’m very disappointed by this statement from the White House:

President Bush Accepts Ambassador John Bolton’s Resignation as U.S. Representative to the United Nations

It is with deep regret that I accept John Bolton’s decision to end his service in the Administration as Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations when his commission expires.

Over a year ago, I appointed Ambassador Bolton because I knew he would represent America’s values and effectively confront difficult problems at the United Nations. He served his country with extraordinary dedication and skill, assembling coalitions that addressed some of the most consequential issues facing the international community. During his tenure, he articulately advocated the positions and values of the United States and advanced the expansion of democracy and liberty.

Ambassador Bolton led the successful negotiations that resulted in unanimous Security Council resolutions regarding North Korea’s military and nuclear activities. He built consensus among our allies on the need for Iran to suspend the enrichment and reprocessing of uranium. His efforts to promote the cause of peace in Darfur resulted in a peacekeeping commitment by the United Nations. He made the case for United Nations reform because he cares about the institution, and wants it to become more credible and effective.

I am deeply disappointed that a handful of United States Senators prevented Ambassador Bolton from receiving the up or down vote he deserved in the Senate. They chose to obstruct his confirmation, even though he enjoys majority support in the Senate, and even though their tactics will disrupt our diplomatic work at a sensitive and important time. This stubborn obstructionism ill serves our country, and discourages men and women of talent from serving their Nation.

I thank John Bolton for the dedication and skill with which he performed his duties, and his wife Gretchen and daughter Jennifer Sarah for their support as Ambassador Bolton served his country. All Americans owe John Bolton their gratitude for a job well done.

# # #

Yes, indeed — Bolton "articulately advocated the positions and values of the United States and advanced the expansion of democracy and liberty." And that’s a sin that the left cannot tolerate.
 

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