Appeasing Iran Ignores the Lessons of History

 Expect a Nobel Peace Prize for Secretary of State John Kerry now, followed by Chamberlain-like infamy later.

The now-concluded Iran nuclear negotiations predictably reflect ancient truths of

 While members of the Obama administration are high-fiving each other over a deal with the Iranian theocracy, they should remember unchanging laws that will surely haunt the United States later on. 

First, appeasement always brings short-term jubilation at the expense of long-term security. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was a beloved peacemaker after the Munich Agreement of 1938 with Adolf Hitler but derided as a conceited fool and naif by May 1940. 

A few years from now – after Iran has used its negotiated breathing space to rearm, ratchet up its terrorist operations, and eventually gain a bomb to blackmail its neighbors – the current deal will be deeply regretted. Expect a Nobel Peace Prize for Secretary of State John Kerry now, followed by Chamberlain-like infamy later. 

Second, the appeasement of autocrats always pulls the rug out from under domestic reformers and idealists. After the Western capitulation at Munich, no dissenter in Germany dared to question the ascendant dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. 

RELATED: Is the Iran Deal the Worst Political Blunder of All Time? Until last week, Iranian dissidents and reformers had blamed the theocracy for earning Iran pariah status abroad and economic ruin at home. Not now. The haughty ayatollahs are bragging that they faced down the West and will restore the economy – as they wink to applauding crowds that Iran will soon be nuclear and dictate its terms to the Middle East. 

Third, appeasers always wrongly insist that the only alternative to their foolish concessions is war. Just the opposite is true.

Via: National Review

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Obama's 'Better Ideas' by Ed Lasky

When Republicans dared to question Barack Obama during his 2008 campaign he warned them to stop criticizing him. He sent a shot across the bow:

“If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.”

He confirmed his animus whenever he felt he was being dissed -- in other words, quite often, since he has a very thin skin.

After he won the presidency, he “joked” that he would sic the IRS on Arizona State University when Arizona State University withdrew their early 2009 offer to give him an honorary degree because they belatedly  realized he had done far too little to merit such an honor. One wished the Nobel Peace Prize Committee had shown an equal level of intelligence, but Obama not being George Bush -- and not being a Republican -- was enough rationale for them.

He also has continually mocked and insulted political opponents and, for that matter, many millions of Americans. He is the Snarker-in-Chief.  His “joke” about ASU became less funny when his IRS, his FBI and his Department of Justice targeted political opponents. He does not “lead from behind” when his feelings are hurt or his political future may suffer. He is incapable of developing a strategy to deal with Islamic terrorists but is quite capable of developing a strategy when his career is at stake.

Has he devoted the same attention or forcefulness when dealing with Islamic terrorists -- America’s enemies?

What has been his approach?

Barack Obama has recently declared that “ideologies are not defeated with guns; they’re defeated by better ideas.” Or, as New York Post columnist Benny Avni phrased it in the title to a recent column, “President Obama brings a mouth to a knife fight.”

Avni writes:

“Ideologies are not defeated with guns; they’re defeated by better ideas.”

Add that, along with “leading from behind” and disappearing “red lines,” to the list of gems that will forever define President Obama’s era in national security That line, from Obama’s televised Pentagon visit Monday on his administration’s anti-ISIS strategy, quickly became a social-media meme.Can we beat ISIS by presenting “a more attractive and more compelling vision”? That’s how Obama put it while assessing progress in our undeclared, undefined non-war against a nonstate that has nothing to do with Islam (and yet kicks our ass all over the place).Come on. This isn’t Debate Club.

Obama also said this is a “long-term campaign,” meaning that he has pushed responsibility for dealing with them to future presidents. He absolves himself of judgment for his weak-kneed performance against them (recall, he has “no strategy” to deal with them). So he cannot deal with even a “JayVee” team.

Is Barack Obama a powderpuff president?

Were the Nazis defeated by better ideas? Was the Soviet Union? Didn’t Barack Obama boast that he was a “student of history”? In the world of free information, western liberal ideas are pervasive. They are not “better ideas” to Islamic extremists who hate much of the West for those very ideas. Talk therapy won’t work with them. Perhaps Obama can call for a collegial symposium to hash out differences of opinion between the beheaders and representatives of the freedom and liberty-loving West.

Barack Obama has the world’s biggest megaphone and operates on the world’s biggest stage. What better ideas has he been propounding over the years? Has he been helping or hurting the West and its battle over better ideas?

Obama’s Better Ideas

What have Muslims been hearing from Barack Obama for years? Has he been a proponent of better ideas? Has he been proclaiming the wonders of America and of the West?

No.

Via: American Thinker

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The Presidential Degradation of the Medal of Freedom

At the 2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony held in the East Room of the White House, 2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner Barack Obama chose to honor more than just a few 'winners.' The colorful collection was a cacophony of politically correct Democrat darlings, with a journalist, a RINO, two deceased homosexuals, a few Latinos, and an occasional black sports figure thrown in for good measure.

In addition to the eclectic array of 13 relatively benign forgers of freedom, three controversial awards also went to a race-baiting billionaire, a misogynist former president, and an abortion-supporting, man-hating women's rights activist. 

It was three centuries ago that English Bible commentator and Presbyterian minister Matthew Henry wrote that "The wickedness of a people is great indeed when noted sinners are men renowned among them." Henry's words sum up why Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, and Gloria Steinem ended up being commended by the president.

Via: American Thinker

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Obamacare’s Website Debacles Migrate To Paper, Phone Applications

The rollout of Obamacare to date has been, as many predicted, the case study of everything that is wrong with a mandatory government-conceived, supervised and enforced program. Ignoring for a minute the daily embarrassment the Obama administration has to face with the well-documented failings of the HealthCare.gov website which on second glance should win Obama the Nobel Price for coding in Fortran (or  Cobol), and which seems set for a full-blown overhaul that would force a delay of the mandate whether Obama wants it or not, the several million “glitchy” lines of code have become the greatest gift the GOP could have asked for. A gift, which as the saying goes, keeps on giving. Because one of Obama’s suggested loopholes has been to advise people who can’t or won’t sign up online, to do so using old-fashioned means: by paper, pen or phone. Unfortunately, that’s where the rabbit hole just goes deeper, because as Politico reports, the glitches that started on line have rapidly shifted to the world of phone and mail, as virtually every pathway of enrolling into the enforced healthcare program is now hopelessly bottlenecked, if not entirely shut.

From Politico:

With the supposedly state-of-the-art $600 million HealthCare.gov portal malfunctioning, President Barack Obama is urging Americans to go ahead and try to get health coverage by mailing in a paper application, calling the helpline or seeking help from one of the trained “assisters.”

But the truth is those applications — on paper or by phone — have to get entered into the same lousy website that is causing the problems in the first place. And the people processing the paper and calls don’t have any cyber secret passage to duck around that. They too have to deal with all the frustrations of HealthCare.gov — full-time.

Via: Phil's Stock World
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[VIDEO] Tavis Smiley to Obama: Take MLK Bust Out of Oval Office

(CNSNews.com) – Radio host Tavis Smiley said President Barack Obama should remove the bust of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which was added to the Oval Office during Obama’s first term, because of the president’s willingness to go to war with Syria.

“Here you have a war president with a peace prize. Once again the parallel between King and Obama just doesn’t measure up. He ought to just take that bust out of the Oval Office if you’re going to dishonor Martin in this way,” West said.

Obama added the bust of MLK to the Oval Office in 2009, replacing the bust of Sir Winston Churchill, marking the first time an image of an African-American was displayed in the president’s work quarters, NBC Washington reported on March 19, 2009.

Via: CNS News

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