Time for Thorns

His Oneness will be the first American president to refuse to meet the Dalai  Lama on the latter’s trip to America.    He wants to appease China,  and how can he do that if he meets with Tibet’s exiled leader?

It always amazes me that liberals proclaim themselves the champions of human rights,  but they are not lovers of liberty, and they willingly sacrifice others’ humans rights for their own claim to a higher reason.   Rubbish….

UPDATE:  Dan  Blumenthal has more over at The Corner,  now that other countries are following Obama’s  “leadership.”    I put that in quotes because I wonder,   if you’re leading a retreat,  does that still count as leadership?

The AFL-CIO was handing out these hardhats on Capitol Hill,  pushing for passage of the horribly misnamed Employee Free Choice Act.

And of course the bosses are blaming some poor staffer for not buying from an American company.  I expect what they’re actually mad about is that the  “Made in China” labels weren’t pulled off.

Apparently the Russians reported the underground test as being the size of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima,  but the initial seismic readings indicate it’s much smaller,  and in fact only slightly larger than the one  they generated in October,  2006.

Amb. Susan Rice said today that the US will rely on China to stop North Korea.   That,  boys and girls,  translates as we’re not gonna do a damned thing but express our concern.    The Obama administration is already promoting the theory that China doesn’t want to embarrass its client state,  and that it doesn’t want refugees at its border.    China doesn’t care about the NoKos’ losing face,  has no reluctance to kill,  and like the Russians,   is perfectly happy to have someone distracting the USA and consuming its time and attention.

The bottom line is that China owns so much US debt, and  Obama is so desperate for it to buy more to finance his mad spending,  that he can put no real pressure on China.   The only thing which may save us is that China does not want South Korea and Japan go nuclear.   Nor  does  it wish to lose  control of North Korea,   and it knows many regimes and entities pay handsomely for nuclear weapons and delivery systems.   Weaponry has long been the primary product of that miserable excuse for a country.

Rich Lowry has a zinger of a column up on the diplomatic two-step Obama performs.

And here’s why the dissembling and naivete of His Oneness is dangerous:  read the following links about the Chinese using banks to arrange transfer to Iran of prohibited materials useful in nuclear bomb-making, here,   and here.

New York managed to stop the money when it came through New York banks.    But China and Iran will find another way.    And we caught this bunch mostly by accident!     Has your hopey-changey worn off yet?

Clear and candid?    Um, not really.    Obama makes it sound as if the Taliban controlling parts of Pakistan is somehow our fault.

We need a stronger, smarter policy, His Oneness says, and that’s why he has appointed Richard Holbrooke as special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.   I could write a few thousand words on Holbrooke, but I won’t bore you.

Why is Obama conflating the 2 countries?    Well, it’s a hell of a lot easier to do that than to say Iran is stirring up trouble in both countries,  since yesterday Hillary! said Iran has a” role to play in the Middle East.”    Are either the President or the Secretary of State so stupid as to believe that Iran would actually help the US there?  Apparently so.

Let’s see, during the campaign, Obama was all for sending our troops into Pakistan to grab bad guys.    He doesn’t appear to know that the loyalty of Pakistan’s intel service is questionable, since a cadre there actually gave the Taliban its start.    He finally gets around to proclaiming that the futures of the 2 countries are linked together.

He’s talking as if we haven’t been training and upsizing the Afghan security forces,  and totally ignoring  the bad job some of our NATO allies have done there.

But he’s going to “invest” in the State Department — what a surprise! He’s going to strengthen Afghan institutions — of course, there really aren’t any other than the tribal and warlord systems.    And he’s going to bring in the entire region, including China and Iran.

My head hurts.    He’s singing the Jimmy Carter song.    Poor Gen. Petraeus must wince every time His Oneness opens his mouth.    The only things Obama announced which make real sense aren’t new, but a continuation of Bush Administration policies.

His Oneness seems utterly detached from the entire matter.    No, not calm, not just sober, but removed, passionless.    Is it because Afghanistan is now his own war?    That might explain the attempts at distancing himself from the whole matter.    Is it because he doesn’t much believe in American exceptionalism,  much less liberty and individual freedom?

Was it just a few weeks ago that Hillary! went to China and ignored human rights issues to beg for continued Chinese lending?

Now the Chinese, their exports down some 25%,  are “worrying out loud,” which lets them demand “guarantees”.     That translates as “your interest rates just went up, you dumb s.o.b.”

Obama’s response?  Send out Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to say “there’s no safer investment than the U.S.”     Which may still be true, but won’t be for long if His Oneness spends us into perpetual debtor’s prision.