Saudi Prince Ilweed bin Talal on Oil Prices

Americans have been reveling in low gas prices wondering if they are in a time warp.  Many do not realize that petroleum prices have plunged because of American entrepreneurial ingenuity and Saudi backup strategy.

The shale oil which is being extracted due to fracking in  American oil wells on private land is creating some oversupply.   Saudi Arabia is not cutting production.  This is not simply because others in OPEC would not respect production cuts but is part of a long term strategy.

Fracking is an effective way to get more yield out of an oil field, but it is only economical at certain prices, which are believed to be around $55 a barrel.  If OPEC can keep flooding the market and keeping oil prices low, it becomes uneconomical to do more fracking ventures.  

The oil industry can not start up on a dime due to infrastructure and regulatory impediments. For example, the  moratorium which President Obama imposed after the BP Deepwater Horizon spill chased away jobs, as uninstalled oil rigs were sent away from the Gulf of Mexico to more productive waters.  If fracking becomes unproductive for a prolonged period, the equipment may be reallocated to other sectors.  If not, an overreaching EPA and lawfare can slow down a renewal of fracking. 

World Class Gymnast Gives Up Gold to Aid Ukrainian Army

[L] Natalia Godunko performing Rhythmic Gymnastics  [R] Gold Medal being auctioned for Ukrainian Army

Natalia Godunka, a 29 year old world class Rhythmic Gymnast from Ukraine, decided to auction her team Gold Medal from the 2001 World Championships in Madrid to support the Ukrainian army in the War of the Donbass (Eastern Ukraine).

To get an idea of the caliber of athlete Godonko is, witness her frenetic but flawless ribbon performance at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.



Godunka boyfriend, musician Sasha Polozhynsky, announced the auction of the medal on Facebook.  Plozhynsky regrets that Godunka put the medal up for auction but since it has been bid upon, he hopes that it will raise more money and inspire others to also help fund the cause. 

In one day, the auction had garnered bids had garnered bids up to $843 US.   The auction runs until August 10th, 2014.

During the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia  a couple of Ukrainian athletes protested violence at the Euromaiden protests in Kiev by Russian backed paramilitaries  by not showing up to their events.

Godunko sacrificing her gold medal  to support her country's army to inspire shared sacrifice to forestall Finlandization of Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin's expansionistic incursions using  non-linear warfare.

Many celebrities will spout off about causes about which they know little or that lending their support comes at no cost.  It is admirable that Ukrainian athletes like Natalia Godunko as well as Olg and Bohdana Matsohski are willing to personally sacrifice for their country and their freedom. 

h/t: Ukrainian Pravda 

Illustrating Obama's Lack of Leadership

There is a maxim that a picture can tell a thousand words.  To illustrate President Barack Obama's lack of leadership, one need not waste so many words.

A day in the life-- July 17, 2014

Top Left- A Malaysian Passenger Airliner with 298 people (including 23 Americans and 80 children) was shot down at 31,000 feet over Ukrainian airspace near the Russian border with a sophisticated Surface to Air Missile.  Pro Russian "rebels" against Ukraine trumpeted a shootdown on Twitter and then retracted it once the civilian debris was spread over a path of 10 miles. These rebels also claimed to take the plane's black box.    Russia wildly claims that Ukraine was responsible, claiming that the shot was intended for Russian President Putin and declaring that Ukraine was responsible for their own territory.

Top Right-  After 10 days of intense indiscriminate bombardment from the Iranian backed Hamas terror forces from Gaza, and a Hamas invasion force into Israel right after a five hour seize fire,  the Israeli Defense Forces launch a sustained air, sea and land campaign in Gaza to take out tunnels used to terrorize 2/3rds of Israel's civilian population.

Bottom Left- A picture of the supposed US border where an alluvia of illegal aliens are overwhelming the US Border Patrol as Other Than Mexicans expect to gain "permisos" from the Obama Administration.  This stream of illegal immigrants are being kept in close quarters in makeshift refuge camps, often on underutilized military bases, without screening for communicable diseases like scabies, whooping cough, tuberculosis, Hand and Foot disease and swine flu.  These illegal aliens are being distributed around the country, being given EBT (food stamp) cards and told to report for a hearing months (or years) into the future.  The Obama Administration's solution was a $3.9 Billion spending bill, which only dedicates $100 million to the Border Patrol.

Bottom Right-  President Obama's schedule included meeting with an unemployed American at the Barbecue Pit in Delaware, a partisan rally for raising National Highway Funds in Wilmington, Delaware and then off to New York City for two political fundraisers which were closed to the press.  During the 30 minute Highway speech, Mr. Obama devoted 36 seconds to the world crises but noting that the downed jet  "may" have been a terrible tragedy and our first priority is to determine whether American citizens were onboard.  Nearly a day later, the Obama Administration's investigation can not confirm if Americans were onboard.  Perhaps it is data lost on an IRS/EPA/FEC hard drive crash.

Douglas MacArthur on Politics

Palin's Prescience on Obama's Ukrainian Ineffectiveness

Progressives may poke fun at the supposed stupidity of Sarah Palin.  But who foresaw the geopolitical consequences of weakness in reacting to the Russians?  Palin intuited the patterns of Comrad Wolf as manifest by Russian leader Vladimir Putin. 

How much respect have the Russians shown for President Obama's reset of relations and his red lines?  Maybe it's because Hillary Clinton's State Department presented a red button which read "pregruzka" which actually means "overload" instead of reset.  More likely, it is the truth in Mr. Obama's "hot mike" moment when  now Russian Federation Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev  promised to transmit to Comrad Putin that POTUS will have more flexibility after his election. 

Garry Kasparov Checks Western Fecklessness on Ukraine

Garry Kasparov has evolved from a youthful Soviet Chess Grandmaster and a prospective Russian Presidential candidate in 2008 to an outspoken critic of the Putin regime.  Kasparov has not held his rhetorical fire against the unrest in Ukraine.

Previously peaceful  Euromaidan protesters were attacked by forces supporting of Ukrainian President  Victor Yanukovych.  Kasparov foresees an eventual Aunshlauss of Ukraine with the Russian Federation.  Or at the very least the Crimea and other areas with large ethnic Russian populations in Ukraine being "protected" by Mother Russia.  Kasparov intimates that the attacks in Ukraine were coordinated with Putin to occur during the Sochi Winter Olympics to act as a distraction.  The Kremlin has amassed 50,000 man force to secure the Olympics and Kerch,  Crimea  is only 274 miles away, separated only by narrow strait (alas the 2.8 mile bridge which Yanukovych agreed to in 2010 has yet to be built).

With Kasparov's involvement with the Human Rights Foundation, he is attempting to sound the klaxon to preserve freedom in Ukraine.  Unfortunately, based upon his Twitter feed, Garry Kasparov does not seem optimistic about Western "leaders"  rising to the crisis to preserve freedom in Ukraine.

President Obama made public pronouncements about unrest in Ukraine, which tried to blame both sides but also warned the Ukrainian government not to "cross the line."  

Hugh Hewitt was incredulous that Mr. Obama opted to use the idiom "step over the line", especially after the Red Line he painted in Syria in 2012, and then denied that Mr. Obama ever set a red line  in 2013 as the US was preparing to get involved in the Syrian Civil War.   Kasparov picked up on President Obama's pusillanimous tact about acting on "red lines".

The credibility of the European Union and the Obama presidency are on the line in protecting the liberty of the Ukrainian people and freedom.  If this situation goes unchecked, it will be an invitation for forcing a de jure Russian empire.

h/t: Garry Kasparov
     Chip Bok
     Graeme MacKay

A Bit about Euromaidan -- You Say You Want a Revolution?

As the world watches the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russian Federation, there is unrest in Kjiv, Ukraine.  Nearly twenty years ago, Nike advertised the that Revolution would not be televised.  That proves untrue as Espreso TV was carrying it live as paramilitary attacked the peaceful protestors throughout the night of February 19th.   First news reports indicate that 22 fatalities with 1,000 people injured,  but  based on the constant pops in the night air and the burning pyres of the barricades  in the main square, this could be a low estimate. 

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The EuroMaidan protests began on November 21st, 2013 when protestors gathered at Independence Square in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine when President Yanukovych suddenly swayed away from an associate agreement with the European Union and chose to strengthen economic ties with Russia.  The protest snowballed on November 30th when a group of students were attacked by the police, and it became a national movement.  

 

Protestors have been gathering in Independence Square, in the bitter Ukranian cold day and night to protest.  But people do not get passionate about just trade agreements.  People are concerned about the rampant corruption in Ukraine. President Yanukovych’s aloofness and unresponsiveness to the will of the people engenders ire.  And of course, the heavy handed tactics, which killed five protestors in late January and the wider violence and bloodshed today. 

While Kjiv’s main square constantly has 20,000 protestors (and can swell up to 800,000), there are said to be mini Maidans throughout the country, but much more pronounced in Western Ukraine.    George Weigel characterized the Euromaidan protests as the rising up of a nation which is tired of being ruled by thieves and barbarians and stand against a thugocracy. 

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These Euromaidan protests have been going on for the last three months.  It is a region of the world that we are familiar with through the Cold War.  Now that we know the protesters goals and modus operandi, what is the Yanukovych Ukrainian government position, and how much which "friendly" neighbors help resolve the uprising?

[***]

  Aside from geopolitical considerations, this is a people who wished to be freed from tyranny.  We ought not abandon such lovers of liberty as the Obama Administration did with the Green Revolution in Iran in 2009.   Then again, a God fearing people protesting against thievery and heavy handed tactics may not find much sympathy in today’s corridors of power of the District of Calamity. 

 SEE MORE at DCBarroco.com

Binyamin Netanyahu on Geopolitics

SEE MORE of the Farsi-cal (sic) Big Science projects by the Islamic Republic of Iran and the farcical reactions by most of the West at DCBarroco.com

Celebrating the U.S. Marine Corps' Birthday

The United States Marine Corps was created on November 10th, 1775 to guard vessels during the American Revolutionary War.  Since then, the Marine Corps responsibilities have expanded as in integral component of American military forces working with the Navy to rapidly deploy combined armed task forces. 

While the U.S. Marine Corps is the smallest of the nation’s combat forces, it is the largest Marine Corps in the world and is often the first forces sent out. ... 

 Marines attach great tradition to celebrating their founding.  A ceremonial cake is presented where the oldest Marine cuts the culinary creation with his sword and then feeds the youngest Marine present. Often this is done in dress uniforms and high ceremony.  But this video from the 2011 ceremony in Afghanistan poignantly captures that same spirit in the fields of combat. 




READ MORE at DCBarroco.com

McCain Spares the Rod and Spoils the Staff With O’Bagy Hire

[L] Elizabeth O'Bagy [R] Senator John McCain (R-AZ)

Ordinarily in political circles the  hiring a Legislative Assistant in the Senate does not make headlines.  But Senator McCain’s (R-AZ) retention of Elizabeth O’Bagy’s services as a L.A. in his Washington office manages to achieve that dubious distinction.  Foreign Policy "The Cable" website reports through its website that the Senior Senator has hired the 26 year old foreign policy researcher three weeks after she was released from the Institute for the Study of War, a neoconservative think tank.

O’Bagy wrote an op/ed titled “On the Front Lines of Syria’s Civil War” for the Wall Street Journal, which downplayed the reach of Jabhut al Nursa (an Al Qaeda affiliate) fighters  in the Syrian Free Army, and suggested that such  jihadists were concentrating in a couple of northern, rebel held areas of Syria.  Esssentially, O'Bagy was allaying fears that U.S. involvement in the Syrian conflict would, in the words of former Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH 10th), be acting as Al Qaeda's air force.

In the rush to get Congressional blessing for President Obama’s aborted red line attack threat against  Bashar Assad’s government forces in Syria for chemical weapons use, O’Bagy’s analysis was spotlighted.  Both Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Senator John McCain referenced and relied upon O’Bagy’s opinion.

Yet within a week of having her research promoted by Obama’s Secretary of State and the Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, O’Bagy was unceremoniously severed from her stint as the ‘Syria Analyst” at the Institute for the Study of War.  Officially, O’Bagy was fired because she falsely had purported to have a combined masters/Ph.D. from Georgetown University, when she had not even defended her thesis.  But O’Bagy’s prominence on the political stage also revealed that O’Bagy served as the political director for the Syrian Emergency Task Force, which was neither  disclosed in the WSJ op/ed nor mentioned by Kerry or McCain when confirming their bent for war in the Levant.

The mission of the Syrian Emergency Task Force has been characterized by critics as pushing weapons and other military support to the Muslim Brotherhood's Islamist brigades in Syria.  The Syria Emergency task force derives its funding from a State Deparment funded Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations.

O’Bagy for her part claims that she was a contractor for the Syrian Emergency Task Force and not an employee.  Of course, that is a distinction without a difference when it comes to conflicts of interest in setting American foreign policy.  When asked about a conflict of interest, O’Bagy told the Daily Caller “I work for the Syrian people.”

 O’Bagy claims that she did not help the Syrian Emergency Task Force lobby. Yet O’Bagy admits to facilitating a meeting between Syrian rebel commanders  and Senator McCain in May. McCain maintains that he met with patriotic rebels and no terrorists.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) meeting with Syrian rebel commanders, May 2013

When questioned about hiring O'Bagy, Senator McCain endorsed the new L.A. by saying: "Elizabeth is a talented researcher, and I have been very impressed by her knowledge and analysis in multiple briefings over the last year. "I look forward to her joining my office."  So the conflict of interest by O'Bagy working for the Syrian people was no problem for the maverick Senator.

This is a serious lapse of judgment by Senator McCain.  As the Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, McCain's viewpoints are influential in facilitating American Foreign Policy.  The senior Senator from Arizona should be receiving clear guidance, not having his opinions skewed by an aide who has declared herself allied with Syria, and has ties to groups that are aligned against broader United States interests.  By sparing the rod, McCain has spoiled his staff.

h/t: The Cable

Servicemens' Selfies Skeptical of Syrian Strike

After news of a chemical weapons  in Syria on August 21st , American President and 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Barack Hussein Obama and his Administration rattled the sabre about striking Syria, claiming that Syrian President Bashar-al-Assad had crossed "the red line."  But after the British House of Commons rejected supporting military action  in Syria and the American people were reminded of Mr. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden's hypocrisy about imperial presidencies,  Mr. Obama has shilly shallied and will let Congress vote. 

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While President Obama has claimed that he has decided to respond to the chemical weapons attack, he deferred to Congress.  Multiple leaks from the Obama Administration indicated that it was going to be a short (two to three day) aerial assault to degrade deployment capabilities and not aim for regime change.  

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Even if the limited strike does what was intended, degrading the Assad regime's capabilities throws US into a Syrian Civil War supporting rebels that includes actual cannibals and Al Qaeda elements who remain at war with US. 

These social media postings show that some servicemen have gotten the picture in Syria.  Will Congress and the American people, or will we continue to be seduced by the bluster and balderdash from this Administration?

The answer may be a deft use of propaganda by the Syrian Electronic Army. 

 SEE MORE at DCBarroco.com 

Obama's Bloody Red Line in Syria

Last August, President Barack Obama made a surprise appearance for a regular White House press briefing to warn Syrian President Bashar al-Assad not to cross a "Red Line" and use chemical weapons in their civil war.




Nearly a week has passed since there was a chemical attack in Syria that left at least 1000 dead.  While the US has moved warships into the region and the President warned that reports of a Syrian chemical attack was "a big event of grave concern",  nothing affirmative has been done.

In fact, a White House spokesman had the temerity to joke about Red Lines in Egypt.  Alas, it is not the first time that Assad government forces have used chemical weapons.  There was an attack in December 2012, which the White House did not confirm until June, 2013 that chemical weapons were being used. 

Our choice in Syria seem to be lose/lose/lose.  If the US does nothing and Assad wins, we enhance Russia's domain as they have heavily backed Bashar al-Assad.  In addition, American inaction diminishes whatever remains of Obama's foreign policy credibility concerning crossing "Red Lines".

 Supporting the rebels not only engages US in an international conflict, it also means backing rebels who are Al Qaeda, who are in reality our enemy in the War on Terrorism, which we have conveniently cancelled but jihadist Islamist still consider US the Great Satan. Even though Senators John McCain ( R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have embraced our newest best buddies in the Syrian Rebels as videotaped surfaced of their leadership being literal cannibals on the battlefield.

If the US were able to conduct a surgical strike to take out or secure chemical weapons storage sites, it brings up the inconvenient truth about from where these chemical weapons stockpiles came.  During the 2008 Presidential campaign, candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) reveled in criticizing President George W. Bush for getting engaged in a dumb war with Iraq which did not threaten us or involve terrorists which attacked us.  As Democrats harped on the "Bush lied (about WMD) and people died" mantra, candidate Obama opined that Iraq was not giving chemical weapons to terrorists.  Oh, just storing it in the Bakkah Valley and allowing state terrorists to gas their own people.

Between Benghazi, Wikileaks and the NSA spying, the penchant for perfidy for the Obama foreign policy has eroded credibility at Foggy Bottom thereby leaving it open to sensational charges. RT reports the Russian Foreign Ministry line that the "alleged chemical attack near Damascus might have been a planned provocation in advance.  The theory is that the rebels might have used the weapons themselves and made it look like Assad forces committed the atrocity so that western forces would be prompted to help the rebels. Aaron Klein noted that there were reports of the lasted alleged Syrian chemical attack the day before it happened. The same sort of stunt was alleged to have been planned for last year .

LBJ Sec. of Defense Robert McNamara explaining Gulf of
Tonkin  incidents, August 4, 1964

It is tempting to dismiss the report because of the news source RT.  But a false flag operation is not unprecedented.  Former LBJ Defense Secretary Robert McNamera admitted later in life  that the "attacks" which prompted the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution never happened, but which escalated the US military involvement in Vietnam.  And the way that this Obama Administration conducted itself with the Benghazi bungle lends more credence to a conspiratorial tact.




American engagement in the Middle East is usually messy but it need not have been lose/lose/lose.  Had the Obama Administration shown leadership a couple of years ago in Syria, the rebels might not have been as badly infected with Al Qaeda influence. But Obama was proud of the Duty to Protect and leading from behind in Libya  and another foreign engagement might have looked bad going into his re-election campaign. It was great to talk tough during the campaign against Chemical Weapons, but it was risky business to do something provocative before the election or right after.  Thus, Obama's words were but wind and Assad assessed that Obama was a paper tiger.

So it seems whether or not the Obama Administration acts in Syria, it will be a bloody decision.

h/t: Michael Ramirez

It's Raining--Obama Calls in the Marines

Today President Obama held a joint news conference with the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House.  It began to drizzle during this Rose Garden presser and POTUS did not hesitate to call in the Marines to hold up umbrellas.

Strangely, one of Mr. Obama's answers touched on the dangers on the outpost in Benghazi, Libya,  where the State Department repeatedly denied additional security and refused to send in the Marines (or special forces) when terrorists killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. 

But of course Mr. Obama alluded to others to blame for all mistakes.  President Obama urged called on Congress to fully fund Embassy Security.  But for the 9/11/2012 Benghazi attack, it was the White House's call to not send in forces to rescue Americans in distress.  It's better to have Marines look good holding an umbrella as well as the bag for foreign failures.

Post Scriptus--  It seems that ordering Marines to carry umbrellas while in uniform is a violation of  Marine Corps regulations.  But what do rules matter in the Obama Administration?

A Date The Will Live in Infamy

Rescue operations on the U.S.S. West Virginia after the attack on Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941

December 7th 1941, a date that will live in infamy.    Those words uttered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during his address to Congress have resonated in the 70 years since the attack on Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Hawaii.




Americans were shocked out of their inclination to isolationism during the 1930s by what was understood as being a sneak attack by Japanese forces.

Recent scholarship calls into question how much of a surprise the Japanese strike was to the American government.

READ MORE at DCBarroco.com

Commemorating the 247th Birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps

The United States Marine Corps was created on November 10th, 1775 to guard vessels during the American Revolutionary War.  Since then, the Marine Corps responsibilities have expanded as in integral component of American military forces working with the Navy to rapidly deploy combined armed task forces.  While the U.S. Marine Corps is the smallest of the nation’s combat forces, it is the largest Marine Corps in the world and is often the first forces sent out. ... Marines attach great tradition to celebrating their founding.  A ceremonial cake is presented where the oldest Marine cuts the culinary creation with his sword and then feeds the youngest Marine present. Often this is done in dress uniforms and high ceremony.  But this video from last year’s ceremony in Afghanistan poignantly captures that same spirit in the fields of combat. READ MORE at DCBarroco.com

John Paul II on Faith

Today is the liturgical feast day for Pope Blessed John Paul II. It is worth remembering the encouraging words that the new pope uttered during his installation in 1978. The exhortation to "Open the doors wide to Christ" was delivered to a Church which was adjusting to the changes of Vatican II and a world in upheaval.

UN-Think Some Clear Red Lines

Some red line violations are more serious than others.

State Department Surliness Over Bungled Benghazi Blame

[L] P.R. spokesman Philippe Reines and [R] Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Buzzfeed correspondent Michael Hastings contacted Philippe Reines to follow up on the over-the-top
attack on that he made at CNN regarding the release of details of assassinated U.S. Ambassador Libya Chris Stevens.   Reines, the Press Secretary (and long time personal aide) to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, repeated his outrage against CNN's reportage, claiming that they have responsibilities to act as human beings and respect the grieving Ambassador's family.

The e-mail exchanges got testy and the ever officious civil servant used crude Anglo-Saxon invectives to dismiss the pesky questioner.

Students of history should remember that the forty years ago Watergate scandal may have been precipitated by an ill-conceived opposition research campaign stunt and a botched burglary.  But the situation was exacerbated by  surliness to the press and stonewalling by the Nixon Administration officials to cover up for their chief.  It is the cover-up that can be worse than the crime.

READ MORE at DCBarroco.com

The Celebrity in Chief's New Political Plank

September 19th was International Talk Like a Pirate Day, a fanciful faux holiday where people are encouraged to blurt out buccaneer phrases in casual conversation.  To wit, President Barack Obama tweeted this picture.

While it is kind of cute for Mr. Obama to participate in this visual joke.  But it took time and planning for the Celebrity in Chief to set up for this Pirate picture.  This same week, President Obama made time to appear on Late Night with David Letterman to face tough questions from the host such as "Have you seen me naked?"

Later, Obama went to a fund-raiser with Beyonce and Jay-Z which included a $280,000 tower of champagne.

When does President Obama have time to govern, or even attend a daily National Security briefing?

READ MORE at DCBarroco.com

POTUS Prioritization

Bibi's on a Red Courtesy Telephone--should he be UN-connected?