About Me

Name: Michael Goodell
Biography
Loading...

Create Your Own Blog Find Other Townhall Blogs

Comments

Blog Roll

 

STOP IT! STOP IT NOW!

Posted by Michael Goodell on Tuesday, May 26, 2009 11:47:25 AM
 
In an impressive demonstration of its willingness to engage with President Barack Obama’s more civil, sophisticated and internationalist approach to foreign policy, North Korea detonated a 10- to 20-kiloton nuclear bomb over Memorial Day weekend. This time it appears chief thug and blood-thirsty murderer Kim Jong Il may have gone too far.
 
Accustomed to a history of appeasement, no doubt the Dear Leader was taken aback by the unanimous cries of outrage and condemnation which greeted the blast. Obama, eschewing the cowboy diplomacy of his predecessor, who repeatedly called for a coordinated international response to North Korea’s provocations, called for a coordinated international response to North Korea’s provocations. “North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic-missile programs pose a great threat to the peace and security of the world, and I strongly condemn their reckless action,” the Commander in Chief elaborated.
 
Most of the rest of the world’s leaders joined in the chorus, including those of England, France, Germany and Sierra Leone. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, it is rumored, responded to the occasion by offering to lend another book to the American President, in this case his treasured copy of “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.”
 
Not to be outdone, China, formerly the world’s leading force for restraint in the civilized world’s response to its client state’s serial violations, said it is “resolutely opposed to the test.” The “Wall Street Journal” noted that the Chinese statement was “nearly identical to its response in October 2006 (the date of North Korea’s first nuke test), but stronger than its response in April.”
 
World leaders took heart at this development, because it was only with China’s support that the United Nations Security Council was able to draft a strongly worded resolution banning North Korea from conducting nuclear development. The Security Council forcefully condemned the North Korean test, stating that it was a “clear violation” of the 2006 resolution, and that it would start work immediately on a new, more strongly worded resolution. Some UN insiders speculate that it might even say “STOP IT! STOP IT NOW!” Others suggest the resolution might take the form of “If I have to turn around one more time I’m going to stop this car and give you a spanking!”
 
Regardless of the particular language they choose, most observers believe North Korea has no real intention of using its nuclear arsenal, preferring to use its existence merely as a means of extorting more money from the west, or to earn much-needed foreign currency by extorting its technology to other rogue regimes, and possibly terrorist groups.
 
Even if nuclear weapons find their way into the hands of terrorists, or, in the parlance of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Neapolitano, “man-caused disaster causers,” this should pose no real threat to the United States. Even if man-caused disaster causers do manage to detonate a device in, say, New York or Washington, D.C., Obama administration officials are confident that the Justice Department will manage to shift the ensuing criminal trial to some other as yet unincinerated city.
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Oh Baby, Baby

Posted by Michael Goodell on Tuesday, February 24, 2009 4:06:35 PM
Back before he booked passage on an express train back to the Fourteenth Century, Cat Stevens wrote a song called “Wild World,” which contained the lyrics, “Oh baby, baby it’s a wild world, it’s hard to get by just upon a smile.”
 
These words keep rattling around in my head while I read the daily news. Our nation is mired in a severe economic downturn. It may be the worst recession since 1981. It may be the worst recession since 1973. Surprisingly, there are many, and many in Washington today, who ardently hope these are the worst times since the Great Depression.
 
It is curious to say the least to think that some people who ostensibly have the American people’s interests at heart should pine for the days when nearly one in four Americans couldn’t find a job, when men would abandon their families to wander the roads in search of a few grains of sustenance. But then again, as White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is fond of saying, “Never let a crisis go to waste.”
 
Fresh from their success with the “Stimulus Package,” the 1,100 page paradigm shift which passed unread, there are those who seek to reshape the way we live and breathe as Americans. By shifting the center leftwards, they seek to institutionalize the greatest growth in the reach and role of government in American history.
 
Regardless of the merits of such a campaign, the single-minded focus on domestic concerns ignores the certain reality that we are living in a dangerous world. While we spend time debating bailouts and tax increases, those who were plotting to kill Americans when George W. Bush was President continue to plot to kill Americans today. Those who sought to undercut American authority, influence and power under Bush continue to do so today. In fact, they are doing so at an ever-increasing rate.
 
Barack Obama’s offer to extend an open hand of peace seems to have been met with the mailed fist of hostility. Russia is busy calving off the components of its former empire, militarizing Ossetia and Abkhazia, intimidating Ukraine, buying off Kyrgystan, and shaking the faith of former Warsaw Pact nations in the reliability of their western allies. Iran is moving ahead with nuclear weapons development and thumbing their nose at American overtures. North Korea is test launching missiles capable of striking the United States. Pakistan is surrendering to the Taliban. As for China, they are being very, very quiet, which is the most frightening development of all.
 
President Obama is new to the job, and he has a lot on his plate right now. We can only hope that someone is keeping his or her eye on the big picture, and reminding him that, “Oh baby ,baby, it’s a wild world. It’s hard to get by just upon a smile.”

www.zenithrising.webs.com
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Reunited, and it Feels So Good

Posted by Michael Goodell on Wednesday, August 13, 2008 2:05:41 PM

 When confronted with Russia’s Caucasian adventurism, President George W. Bush responded by cheering harder for Misty May-Traenor. Surely this has not gone unnoticed by our once and future adversaries around the world. If Bush can’t muster the resolve to counter the Russians, they must think, what can they expect from his successor, Barack H. Obama? Obama, after all, is the embodiment of those who excoriate the incumbent as a cowboy, a unilateralist, a warmonger. Those who wish us ill must be licking their lips in gleeful anticipation of the ascension of the junior Senator from Illinois.

While we don’t know the source of the first great challenge he will face, we know for certain that he will be tested, early and severely. How he responds to these tests will go a long way toward determining the future of American power and influence in the world.

One likely scenario involves China. Fresh from the airbrushed, lip-synched success of the Olympics, China’s leaders will no doubt test Obama’s resolve to preserve America’s commitment to the security of Taiwan. Soon after his inauguration, China will instigate a series of diplomatic disputes with the island nation. How Obama responds will help determine how far China is willing to go. A firm, forthright reiteration of our support for Taiwan would no doubt temper China’s aggressiveness. A timid, retiring deferral of the matter to the judgement of "the international community" will have the opposite effect. It doesn’t take too much imagination to figure out which option Obama will choose.

Once China presents the world with the fait accompli of its Taiwanese conquest, Obama will feel forced to act. Though preferring the photogeneity of JFK bravado, he will be more likely to follow the lead of the man whose second term he was elected to fill. He won’t know what to do, but he will know he has to do something. After an exhaustive analysis of his options, Obama will no doubt ask WWJD, or What Would Jimmy Do?

The answer will come quickly and clearly. We should boycott the Beijing Olympics! A great idea, flawed only by the fact that they will already have included. This is where his otherworldly grasp of nuance will come to the rescue. In a perfect melding of Carteresque resolve with the moral suasion of that other, more compatible JFK, Obama will announce that a retroactive boycott. Assembling all the American medal winners to Washington, he will personally lead them in a march to the Chinese Embassy, where they will all throw their medals over the fence onto the embassy grounds.

Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive
« Previous1Next »