Bad enough he will be going in with the problem of Iraq and Afghanistan hanging over his head like a chandelier after an earthquake... but now Iran too.
Remember Diplomacy????
Colin Powell, Henry Kissinger, James Baker III, Madeleine Albright, and Warren Christopher have all called for diplomacy.
Barack will use diplomacy.
I want diplomacy. I have taught my children. If you have to fight, it is because you don't have the intelligence to resolve the problem without violence. Civilized people work out their differences. Are we so intellectually stunted that we cannot work around our opposition and thereby avoid the bankruptcy of our country, the death of our young people and decline of our civilization?
More than 200 congressional representatives support a blockade of Iran.
Forgive me... but isn't that how we got Pearl Harbor?
I may be wrong but I thought a blockade by anyone other than the full UN was an act of war..
So.... check with your legislators... are they helping Barack?
Are they helping us??? Are they helping you???? OR are they helping the defense industry?
Barack will need us to keep our representatives in line... otherwise he will be playing catch-up his entire presidency.
Peace to you all,
marsha
Diplomacy, not War with Iran Action Alert H.C.R. 321 and H.C.R. 362 Please join PDA, The Council for the National Interest and other groups in a national call-in/email campaign to OPPOSE H.C.R 362, the Blockade of Iran bill, and SUPPORT H.C.R. 321,
Tell your representative to vote FOR H.C.R. 321. which calls for a diplomatic initiative with Iraq, Iran, Syria, and neighboring countries as a means of getting out of Iraq and resolving other disputes.
Tell your representative to vote AGAINST H.C.R. 362. If followed, would in effect set up a blockade of Iran, which is considered an act of war under international law. This would constitute a “trigger event” that inevitably would provoke action by Iran, retaliation by the US, and draw us into pointless war similar to the way the Gulf of Tonkin incident pushed us into the Vietnam War.
Find out more at www.pdaamerica.org and sent a message to your representative in Congress at www.capwiz.com/pdamerica/home/
JFK,Nixon,and Jimmy Carter all talked with the leaders of enemy nations. Those talks resulted in detante, the demise of the Berlin Wall, the end to the Cold War, the Camp David Peace Accords, and economic relations with China.
this is david brooks, today's ny times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/opinion/16brooks.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
More and more people in the United States are coming to realize that the tough guy fighter, my-way-or-the-highway approach does not work. Hillary likes to cite her husband's administration as her experience so let's look at Waco:
On April 19,1993, barely into its second quarter, the Clinton administration provides us with an example of its diplomacy skills. Instead of negotiating, this administration ordered the final assault on the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. The final death count of this assault was 86 dead Branch Davidians including 21 children and two pregnant women. This diplomatic disaster at Waco was supposedly what motivated Tmothy McVeigh to participate in the bombings in Okalahoma City two years to the day later on April 19,1995.
Now we have Hillary openly and publically threatening Iran with nuclear annihiliation.
The last thing this world needs is the cowgirl version of George Bush as our head of state. She has told us repeatedly that she will not talk to Iran or rogue countries. (Of course we can assume that she doesn't count China as a rogue nation since she is for China trade.)
It just makes me wonder. How long do the Israeli's want this to drag out? Only Carter has any cache with these nut cases lobbing rockets.
"They're not getting support from local security," one of the sources said, on condition of anonymity.
An Israeli security source said the Shin Bet security service provided no protection to Carter during his visit to the Jewish state because no request was made.
Asked about the Israeli account, Carter's delegation, which had previously declined to comment, told Reuters in a statement: "The Carter delegation inquired with both the lead agent of the Secret Service detail (protecting Carter) and the State Department Regional Security Officer and were told unequivocally that an official request for assistance had been made."
American sources close to the matter said the Shin Bet, which helps protect visiting dignitaries and is overseen by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office, declined to meet the head of Carter's Secret Service detail or provide his team with assistance as is customary during such visits.
I can understand official statements opposing Carter's visit. But to deny security at best achieves a minor slight to Carter, and at worst would invites a huge disaster due to a successful assination of a President on Israeli soil. I suppose that is what the MidEast has done to all the other Camp David accord participants.
Sure does speak volumes.
Many of you may know that Bill Richardson was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, but his diplomatic experinces go back before that time. Bill has gone toe-to-toe with some of the world's toughest characters like Saddam Hussein, North Korean generals, Burmese military leaders, Sudanese President al-Bashir and Fidel Castro among others. How many other candidates have dealt with these people face to face? In `94 while Bill Richardson was in North Korea on a fact-finding mission, a US helicopter was shot down by N. Korea after it strayed into their airspace. He stayed after Bill Clinton asked him to help with the negotiations, and he refused to leave until the N. Korean government turned over the remains of the pilot David Hilemon, and released co-pilot Bobby Hall. After much stonewalling by the N. Korean leaders, Bill was successful in his negotiations.
The next year, 2 American contractors got lost in the Iraqi desert and were captured by Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard, and charged as being spies. The negotiations for their release were not going well until Bill Richardson went to Iraq, and met directly with Saddam and secured their release.
Bill has participated in direct diplomatic work in the Middle East, and knows the nature of the region. He has dealt with situations that most other candidates have not, certainly not Clinton, Edwards, or Obama. Governor Richardson's diplomatic missions have given him valuable first-hand experiences in some of the world's most dangerous places, and we need someone who has been on the frontlines of diplomacy, and knows how to bring people together, and resolve tense situations without resorting to violence or compromise.
No other candidates foreign policy experience comes close to Bill Richardson's. We need somoeone with Bill's experience, not someone who has no diplomatic record. There are alot more things Bill Richardson has done on the diplomatic front than what I have told you here, and if I were to try and tell you about them all, I would be typing about them all day long. But unfortunatly I have to go for now and take care of some post-christmas things, and I hope this little bit of information about Bill will encourage you to look more into him, and help you see that he is the man we need to lead our country.
www.RichardsonForPresident.com
He said the aim of the meeting was to bolster Israel's position at the expense of the Palestinians.
Read this Link
Percy H Florez
Thousand of post and complains on Internet, on the radio news, on TV, thousands of words and voices claiming for restoring the constitution, for freedom of speech, for stop the war, for diplomacy...and what?The president of Iran come up to this country and he has the opportunities to clarify in his own words for what if being accused, and too many people do not want to listen him!
The best opportunity to know who the hell is him and what are his intention with out any censorship or any government censorship, and too many people do not want to listen him!
It is horrendous the face of the democracy you practice and I think so this is why America have the worst president of his history!
Or may be your concept of democracy is this evil concept of first FIRE and then ASK.
In other words WAR IS BETTER THAN DIPLOMACY!
This president is being accused of too many thinks, even kill american soldiers, and apparently the only one who want to ask him and have and explanation from him, is those young man and women in NY!
This is why America need this young and smart people conducting the wheel of this nation.
Percy H Florez
The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has said that Iran is not heading for armed conflict with the United States.In an American television interview, he said Iran was not on a path of war with the US and that Iran had no need of nuclear weapons.
He is due to address the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.
Read This Link
Percy H Florez
She said diplomacy was best left to diplomats, not a technical body such as the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Read this Link
Percy H Florez
Could it be because the IAEA is actually practicing diplomacy?
Iran has agreed with IAEA requests to answer unresolved questions about its nuclear program... Rice said the IAEA agreement with Iran was "a good thing," but "this wouldn't be the first time the Iranians made an agreement only to break it"Y'see, the Bush administration doesn't really believe in - or practice - real diplomacy. If they practiced real diplomacy and actually communicated with, and made an attempt to understand our foes, they wouldn't be able to claim "diplomacy doesn't work."
President Bush and his Neo-conservative advisers practice what they call "coercive diplomacy." In other words, threaten someone into doing what you want.
So-called "carrot and stick diplomacy" is not diplomacy at all. How then, can Condoleeza Rice have the gall to tell the IAEA to "butt out of diplomacy" when she is not even practicing it?
Turns out the IAEA is the only group capable of getting Iran to actually compromise. In real-world diplomacy, you recognize things like this and use them to your advantage. Telling the only party who has shown the ability to act as a go-between, makes me think the Bush administration wants diplomacy to fail.
I think Secretary Rice is mad because the IAEA is proving that real diplomacy can actually produce results, and maybe the Secretary is just miffed that the IAEA is making more diplomatic progress than she is. It's kind of like watching someone doze off at an important meeting, only to wake up at the end and complain about progress being made without them.
From The OCHQ Blog:
By Sam Graham-Felsen - Sep 12th, 2007 at 6:10 pm EDT
This afternoon, Barack Obama called for "the most agressive diplomatic effort in recent history" to bring about stability in Iraq.
Senator Obama would seek a new compact in the region to secure Iraq's borders, prevent neighbors from meddling in Iraq's affairs, isolate al Qaeda and support Iraqi unity. To do this, he would personally lead to help bring about an understanding between Turkish and Kurdish leaders, press Sunni states like Saudi Arabia to encourage Iraqi Sunnis to reconcile, and pressure Iran and Syria to stem the flow of foreign fighters, arms, and financial resources into Iraq.
Here's more from his speech:
Conventional thinking in Washington says Presidents cannot do this. But I think the American people know better. Not talking doesn’t make us look tough – it makes us look arrogant. And it doesn’t get results. Strong Presidents tell their adversaries where they stand, and that’s what I would do. That’s how tough and principled diplomacy works. And that’s what we need to press Syria and Iran to stop being part of the problem in Iraq.
Barack also directly addressed the President and Vice President on the issue of Iran:
We hear eerie echoes of the run-up to the war in Iraq in the way that the President and Vice President talk about Iran. They conflate Iran and al Qaeda. They issue veiled threats. They suggest that the time for diplomacy and pressure is running out when we haven’t even tried direct diplomacy. Well George Bush and Dick Cheney must hear – loud and clear – from the American people and the Congress: you don’t have our support, and you don’t have our authorization for another war.
May the best person win - Who has the resume to deal with both domestic issues and foreign policy? Who understand the consequences of carbon emissions and global warming and can craft a national initiative to bring us to peace with the environment? Who has called for the country to get out of Iraq this year? Read More »
Getting to my point: A very experienced, intelligent and savy political commentator recently discussed this topic and he concluded that countries are friends only to the point that it promotes their self-interests. The world is so complicated and regionalized, we must wonder who are our friends? Read More »
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