ThreatsWatch has a scary bit of intel that needs to be confirmed or blown out of the water.

It comes to our attention that the MEMRI Blog highlights an article from the Saudi _al-Watan_
in Arabic that - according to an Afghan source - the United States is
talking to the Taliban seeking to trade control of 5 provinces in
exchange for the cessation of attacks on US bases. MEMRI summarizes:

An Afghan source in Kabul reports that U.S.
Ambassador in Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry is holding secret talks with
Taliban elements headed by the movement's foreign minister, Ahmad
Mutawakil, at a secret location in Kabul. According to the source, the U.S. has
offered the Taliban control of the Kandahar, Helmand, Oruzgan, Kunar
and Nuristan provinces in return for a halt to the Taliban missile
attacks on U.S. bases.

Kunar province borders the Khyber Pass region where the majority of US and NATO supplies
pass enroute from Pakistan. And the4 remaining four provinces
constitute fully the southern 25% of Afghanistan's territory.

Like I said this is a sole source so far, but sadly it fits in with Eikenberry's strategically leaked messages stabbing Gen. McChrystal in the back by calling for no reinforcements. It also offers President Obama the opportunity to start the exfil from the country and avoid having to attempt to win.

Just a question that pops into my meager little brain, what do we think the Taliban will do if we surrender the 5 provinces to them? Renounce their avowed goal of an Islamic State leading to a larger Caliphate? Settle down and become kindly goat herders studying the Koran in pursuit of peace?

or

Take this as another sign of the weak horse status of the declining United States? A sign to Pakistan that there is no point to their continuing operations against their own Taliban? A good time  for the Talibs to declare Greater Pashtunistan on both sides of the border? 

This surrender would undoubtedly work out just as well as the dozen or so that the Pakistanis have signed with the same folks. Oh wait the Talibs violated every single one of these agreements and simply used them as an opportunity to recruit and rebuild leading to their resurgence on both sides of the border they don't recognize.

This would be a mistake so blatant and obvious that I cannot conceive of it.

Since we are hearing that surrender is on the table, we better take a look at what it would take to win. The Foreign Policy Initiative has a document exploding many of the myths about Gen. McChrystal's request for a fully-resourced Counterinsurgency strategy.

Posted by: Uncle Jimbo at 10:10 AM | Comments (78)
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That's the question Nigel Lawson, former Chancellor of the Exchequer (which may be the coolest government title in the western world) asks leading up to the hopefully failing Copenhagen Summit.

The greatest error in the current conventional wisdom is that, if you accept the (present) majority scientific view that most of the modest global warming in the last quarter of the last century — about half a degree centigrade — was caused by man-made carbon emissions, then you must also accept that we have to decarbonise our economies.

Nothing could be further from the truth. I have no idea whether the majority scientific view (and it is far from a consensus) is correct. Certainly, it is curious that, whereas their models predicted an acceleration in global warming this century as the growth in emissions accelerated, so far this century there has been no further warming at all. But the current majority view may still be right.

Even if it is, however, that cannot determine the right policy choice. For a warmer climate brings benefits as well as disadvantages. Even if there is a net disadvantage, which is uncertain, it is far less than the economic cost (let alone the human cost) of decarbonisation. Moreover, the greatest single attribute of mankind is our capacity to adapt to changing circumstances. By adapting to any warming that may occur over the next century, we can pocket the benefits and greatly reduce the disadvantages, at a cost that is far less than the cost of global decarbonisation — even if that could be achieved.

As Lawson lays out, the very real costs of these carbon cap schemes are borne by the world's poor. So much for liberals caring about them.

We've simply been sold a bill of goods (and one that increasingly looks like it was a fraud) and cowered into accepting it based on doomsday scenarios and fear. No dissent allowed.

It's amazing that the Gaia worshipers are convinced evil humans have poisoned the planet (a conceit that boggles the mind) and yet somehow we are to believe we can not put that power to use in ameliorating the 'problem'. We can not even discuss it without be labeled a 'denier'.

I would find the Global Warming enthusiasts somewhat more credible if any of them were open to an option other than the destruction of the world's economy and oh yeah, limits on freedom of people everywhere. The taunt Green on the Outside, Red on the Inside comes to mind.

And oh yeah, they'd also be more credible if their predictive models worked and they weren't hiding data.

Either one of those would help.

It's funny, in a sad and scary way, that not only do we have the Chinese to thank for propping up our economy but they (along with India) are the main obstacle to our committing economic suicide in the name of Global Warming.

Strange times we live in.

Posted by: DrewM at 10:08 AM | Comments (41)
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Ouch because it's true.

In Tokyo, the new center-left government even pulled out of its participation in a mission which saw the Japanese navy refueling US warships in the Indian Ocean as part of the Afghanistan campaign. In Beijing, Obama failed to achieve any important concessions whatsoever. There will be no binding commitments from China to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A revaluation of the Chinese currency, which is kept artificially weak, has been postponed. Sanctions against Iran? Not a chance. Nuclear disarmament? Not an issue for the Chinese.

The White House did not even stand up for itself when it came to the question of human rights in China. The president, who had said only a few days earlier that freedom of expression is a universal right, was coerced into attending a joint press conference with Chinese President Hu Jintao, at which questions were forbidden. Former US President George W. Bush had always managed to avoid such press conferences.

...Obama's new foreign policy has also been relatively unsuccessful elsewhere, with even friends like Israel leaving him high and dry. For the government of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, peace is only conceivable under its terms. Netanyahu has rejected Obama's call for a complete moratorium on the construction of settlements. As a result, Obama has nothing to offer the Palestinians and the Syrians. "We thought we had some leverage," says Martin Indyk, a former ambassador to Israel under the Clinton administration and now an advisor to Obama. "But that proved to be an illusion."

I love me some schadenfreude as much as anyone (especially made in the original German) but this is serious stuff. There's no issue on the world stage where we are better off than we were a year ago (except maybe Iraq and that's no thanks to Obama). I know Team Obama says all this self induced humiliation will pay dividends down the road but as the Der Speigel article goes on to note, Jimmy Carter tried this and we all know how that ended.

I know this all stuff we've saying here for almost two years now but the world is finally catching up and realizing 52% of Americans elected an empty suit as President (and not even a nice hand tailored one but an off the rack, department store clearance sale suit).

The world is a tough place. Foreign leaders don't care how dreamy your eyes are or what your pecs are like. They want to know how much they can get from you or how hard you are going to push them to get what you want. Right now, friend and foe alike is finding out Obama is a soft touch. That's not good for us and it's not good for the world.

Gotta hand it to Team McCain, they nailed this one. more...

Posted by: DrewM at 08:06 AM | Comments (200)
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Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:13 AM | Comments (75)
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OK, no.
But Maureen Dowd is starting to wake up. She hasn't vomited the poison, but she's got an unpleasant case of the bed spins.

Check out this op-ed in which she compares Obama to Palin (favorably and unfavorably).

ItÂ’s time for the president to reinvent this formula and convey a more three-dimensional person.

Palin can be stupefyingly simplistic, but she seems dynamic. Obama is impressively complex but he seems static.

She nurtures her grass roots while he neglects his.

He struggles to transcend identity politics while she wallows in them. As he builds an emotional moat around himself, she exuberantly pushes whatever she has, warts and all — the good looks, the tabloid-perfect family, the Alaska quirkiness, the kids with the weird names.

COUGHCOUGHSASHAMALIACOUGHCOUGH

She obviously can't think clearly about Palin (Identity politics? Really?), but her frustration at President Present is velvety and rich. 'Look alive! DO something!' is her gist.

Later on she actually exhorts Obama to be more like Palin. Oh my, my my.

Hey, remember what happened the last time a bunch of Democrats were disillusioned by an ineffectual and weak leader?

No? Me neither.

By the way, the whole thing is worth a read just for the pleasure of seeing her clutching at straws. There's a laugh-out-loud line where she actually typed "Like Reagan, Obama is..."

Pffft!
Oh yeah, you fuckin' WISH, Mo.
You. Wish.
Thanks to Eddiebear, who has a good related article on Althouse up at DPUD.

Posted by: LauraW at 06:38 AM | Comments (120)
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Never let a crisis trial go to waste.

The five men facing trial in the Sept. 11 attacks will plead not guilty so that they can air their criticisms of U.S. foreign policy, the lawyer for one of the defendants said Sunday.

Scott Fenstermaker, the lawyer for accused terrorist Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, said the men would not deny their role in the 2001 attacks but "would explain what happened and why they did it."

...Mohammed, Ali and the others will explain "their assessment of American foreign policy," Fenstermaker said.

"Their assessment is negative," he said.

Negative you say? Well I'm sure Team Obama is looking forward to reaching out to this gentlemen to hear their views and see how they can be incorporated into his more modest and humble foreign policy.

At the very least they can verify whether or not Obama was right and that they do indeed suffer from a "fundamental absence of empathy". Perhaps then President Wonderful can launch a worldwide "Empathy Enhancement Program".

Posted by: DrewM at 06:09 AM | Comments (71)
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Someone throws out a poorly-written story from Sarah Palin's book to the liberal anklebiters in the Slate comment section.

It might not sound like that's the kind of thing you want to read, but seriously, read it anyway.

Thanks to Jim Treacher.

Posted by: Ace at 11:56 PM | Comments (144)
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Just awful, nightmare fuel:

A man thought by doctors to be in a vegetative state for 23 years was actually conscious the whole time, it was revealed last night.

Student Rom Houben was misdiagnosed after a car crash left him totally paralysed.

He had no way of letting experts, family or friends know he could hear every word they said.

'I screamed, but there was nothing to hear,' said Mr Houben, now 46.

Doctors used a range of coma tests, recognised worldwide, before reluctantly concluding that his consciousness was 'extinct'.

But three years ago, new hi-tech scans showed his brain was still functioning almost completely normally.

They say he'll still be paralyzed for the rest of his life, but at least now he can communicate and read books while he lies there.

Oy.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 10:13 PM | Comments (65)
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Last call for the weekend - make these last few hours count. Unless you're funemployed and in that case be prepared to settle in for the ONT long haul.

Meet Bhut Jolokia, the Hottest Pepper in the World
Bhut jolokia is a pepper from Northern India which is the hottest pepper in the world coming in at over 1 million on the Scoville heat scale. So there's a non-trivial risk of having to visit the ER whenever you eat it. And I can only imagine the pain it causes on the way out.
And yes defense companies are looking into it as a crowd dispersal agent.

Posted by: Open Blog at 06:00 PM | Comments (679)
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This guy is my new favorite post-human.

LATELY more people have begun to express an interest in where the meat they eat comes from and how it was raised. Were the animals humanely treated? Did they have a good quality of life before the death that turned them into someoneÂ’s dinner?

Actually, I tend to be more concerned with trolling the meat department looking for the choicest bits, closest to their expiration date because then they will be marked down and I can buy and gnaw on them.

None of these questions, however, make any consideration of whether it is wrong to kill animals for human consumption.

Posted by: Uncle Jimbo at 05:36 PM | Comments (135)
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