Imperial Presidency

Obama’s Latest Arguments Do Not Hold Water

"Obama declares that the U.S. membership in the UN and solemn agreement to its Charter is irrelevant. He does not intend to abide by the agreement and thus international law. What messages does this declaration send? Obama is saying he’ll break or adhere to a compact on a selective basis as he pleases. Next week, he might support a UN action and the following week not. In this same speech, Obama says 'We cannot raise our children in a world where we will not follow through on the things we say, the accords we sign,…' He doesn’t seem to realize that his statement about going it alone regardless of the U.N. smashes that accord that the U.S. signed." Continue reading →

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White House sends resolution to Congress asking for approval on Syria strikes

"The White House formally asked Congress Saturday for authorization to conduct military strikes in Syria in a draft resolution framing a narrow set of operations, in a bid to ease fears of another open-ended war. The document says support from Congress, requested by President Barack Obama in a stunning development on Saturday, would 'send a clear signal of American resolve.' 'The objective of the United States use of military force in connection with this authorization should be to deter, disrupt, prevent and degrade the potential for future uses of chemical weapons or other weapons of mass destruction,' the draft resolution reads." Continue reading →

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Can Obama Control Syrian Outcomes?

"Obama is speaking of a 'limited, narrow act'. The fact is, however, that he has no control over the short-term and long-term responses of the Syrians, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Russians, Israel, and the Iranians. He has no control over current and future terrorists. He may imagine that he is executing a tit for tat or a surgical strike, but the other players need not accept that way of looking at a cruise missile attack. In all probability, their memories and histories suggest that they are not going to consider this attack an isolated event. They will surely connect it to the entire history of U.S. actions in the past, especially those of the past 10 years. I have to wonder who is advising the President at this juncture." Continue reading →

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The Return of the Dodgy Dossier

"How about consulting the open source record of serial hoaxes by the Syrian rebel propaganda team? First they did a replay of the old 'incubator babies' hoax, only this time instead of Saddam Hussein being cast in the role of baby-killing mad dictator it’s Assad. When that didn’t fly, they claimed the village of Houla had been the site of a massacre by government forces: the evidence they offered turned out to be a photo of taken in Iraq during the US invasion. They fooled the BBC – which ran it over stories about the alleged 'massacre' – until the photographer took umbrage at his work being misused in the service of war propaganda and angrily exposed the fraud." Continue reading →

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Paul Craig Roberts: America Totally Discredited

"Tthe United States government has lost its credibility throughout the world and will never regain it, unless the Bush and Obama regimes are arrested and put on trial for their war crimes. Obama’s destruction of US credibility goes far beyond diplomacy. It is likely that this autumn or winter, and almost certainly in 2014, the US will face severe economic crisis. When the proverbial hits the fan, the incompetent and corrupt Federal Reserve and the incompetent and corrupt US Treasury will have no more credibility than Obama and John Kerry. How long will it be before American citizens are shot down in their streets by 'their' government as occurs frequently in Washington’s close allies in Egypt, Turkey, Bahrain?" Continue reading →

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Paul Craig Roberts: Will Obama Doom Himself As A War Criminal

"Recently, the Turkish government shot down in the streets more of its own people–peaceful protesters, not imported mercenaries trying to overthrow the Turkish government–than were killed in the alleged use of chemical weapons by Assad. No country regards the criminal states of Turkey and Israel as cover for a war crime. If Obama is pushed by Susan Rice and the evil neocons, who are strongly allied with Israel, into going it alone and conducting a military strike on Syria, Obama will have made himself an unambiguous War Criminal under the Nuremberg Standard created by the US Government. Unprovoked military aggression is a war crime under international law." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPaul Craig Roberts: Will Obama Doom Himself As A War Criminal

Will Boehner Stop Our Rogue President?

"Why this rush to war? Why the hysteria? Why the panic? Syria and Assad will still be there two weeks from now or a month from now, and we will know far more then about what happened last week. Understandably, Obama wants to get the egg off his face from having foolishly drawn his 'red line' against chemical weapons, and then watching Syria, allegedly, defy His Majesty. But saving Obama’s face does not justify plunging his country into another Mideast war. Does Obama realize what a fool history will make of him if he is stampeded into a new war by propaganda that turns out to be yet another stew of ideological zealotry and mendacity?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWill Boehner Stop Our Rogue President?

Obama slams ‘incapacity’ of UN Security Council on Syria

"US President Barack Obama on Friday slammed the 'incapacity' of the UN Security Council to act on Syria and warned the world must not be 'paralyzed' on responding to a chemical weapons attack. 'What we have seen so far at least is an incapacity at this point for the Security Council to move forward in the face of a clear violation of international norms,' Obama said, as he met Baltic leaders at the White House Obama said he understood that there was widespread war fatigue both in the United States, Britain and elsewhere, but that did not absolve nations of their responsibilities." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama slams ‘incapacity’ of UN Security Council on Syria