An Objectivist Rips the No Balls Republicans

On August 23, 2013 Yaron Brook, director of the Ayn Rand Institute delivered a presentation at the Steamboat Institute Freedom Conference in Steamboat Springs, Colorado



Dr. Yaron Brook at the Steamboat Institute Freedom Conference 

@ 33:30 minutes kick ass commentary to American foreign policy in the Middle East

Obama's Statement on Syria Throws the West in Disarray

Since Obama's statement yesterday about military action in Syria, the Western world has descended into chaos. Obama is waiting Congressional approval after September 9

Consensus isn't truth and it certainly doesn't bring a solution any closer. 

Obama yesterday hasn't laid down a vision, nor has he made things any clearer. Channeling every thinkable, uninformed opinion doesn't bring the conflict any closer to a resolution either. The world is in chaos. The war for the moment is focusing on Syria. But this conflict can't be viewed from under a telescope. It must be watched from a great distance for the ligaments and the cross currents to become apparent. 

BREAKING Why Didn't the Obama Admin Give Warming About the Chemical Attack

If the intelligence services knew ahead of Assad's plans to gas his people, why didn't they give warming, Dutch General Dick Berlijn is wondering in a tweet

Secretary of State John Kerry's Statement at 4.05 minutes on Friday August 31, 2013

"We know that for three days before the attack the regime's chemical weapons personnel were on the ground, in the area, making preparations. And we know that the Syrian regime elements were prepared by putting on gas masks and taking precautions associated with chemical weapons. We know that these were specific instructions.  We know where the rockets were launched from, and at what time. 

In North Korea "Socialism is Beautiful", KABOOM!!!

Kim Jong-un's ex-girlfriend, Hyon Song-wol was among a dozen well-known North Korean performers who were executed by firing squad nine days ago

Socialism is Good 社会主义好 by Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble's Hyon Song-wol

The ex-lover of North Korean despot Kim Jong-un was executed by machine guns in front of relatives for allegedly making a sex tape. According to reports, family had to watch on as singer Hyon Song-wol was put in front of a firing squad in public three days after her arrest. She is believed to have been one of 12 well-known performers killed for violating North Korea’s law against pornography. It was also claimed that some possessed Bibles, which meant they were treated as political dissidents. (Source)

Build up of Russian War Fleet in Syria Largest Since the Cold War

Many in the West see the war in Syria through the prism of the Arab Spring. But this rose colored frame is the result of war propaganda. The situation is in fact much more explosive

The build up of Russian military power in the East Mediterranean is dating back at least 18 months 

Reposted from May 18, 2013

The war is Syria is in essence a battle between Shia and Sunni Islam over the hegemony of the Islamic Middle East. On the one hand there's Iran and her proxies - Assad's Socialistic regime and Hezbollah - and on the other end of the divide, the Sunni autocracies of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey.

15 Short Points to Understanding the Middle East

Confused about the Middle East? Here's your short guide to instant expertise

Capiche?

Gas Plays an Explosive Role in the War in Syria

Gas as an aspect of the war in Syria is very much underexposed. Actually it's about a pipeline that is of vital interest to Europe and Qatar. It's a game of chess on a global stage

There's another side to the war in Syria that is of strategic importance: at stake are the economic future of the region and its natural resources

In "Build up of the Russian war fleet largest since the Cold War" we have seen that Syria is the battle field in the fight over the hegemony of the Islamic Middle East between Sunni and Shia Islam. The Russians are not the only ones building up their presence in the region. An American marine vessel just arrived in the Israeli port of Eilat; the Russian Pacific Fleet just passed the Suez Canal and has arrived in the East Med. It seems the stage is now set for a major confrontation. 

BREAKING! OBAMA AND CAMERON AGREE MILITARY ACTION AGAINST SYRIA

The Sunday People have reported that David Cameron and Barack Obama last night agreed to take military action against Syria

Photo from SANA.sy by M. Ismael/Mazen: chemicals uncovered by the Syrian army disproving the claim (Source)

"David Cameron and Barack Obama last night agreed to take military action against Syria. The US president sealed the deal in a 40-minute phone call to the Prime Minister at his holiday retreat in Cornwall. The two leaders agreed that Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad was responsible for using chemical weapons against children. Mr Obama and Mr Cameron will discuss the military options in the next few days. They include missile strikes, ­disabling the Syrian air force or ­enforcing a no-fly zone across the country".

Opposition in Tunisia Calling for Mass Protests

The Islamists have shown the world a great con trick. But the people of Tunisia and Egypt are on to it and are no longer buying. When will Western politicians and the media catch on?

Jellez: the funeral of Mohammed Brahmi.

UPDATE: Tunisia’s opposition coalition on Friday rejected proposals by the ruling Islamist Ennahda for ending a month-long political crisis, saying their offer to enter talks on a government of technocrats was insufficient. “All negotiations without the (immediate) dissolution of the government are a waste of time,” said Taieb Baccouche, a representative of the National Salvation Front. (...) Ennahda indicated on Thursday, for the first time since the start of the crisis triggered by the assassination of opposition MP Mohamed Brahmi, that it might agree to the resignation of the coalition government which it heads. But the Islamists stressed that a “national dialogue” bringing together supporters and opponents of the ruling coalition needed to take place first. (...) The opposition has called for nationwide anti-government demonstrations, starting on Saturday, with the first big gathering to take place outside the national assembly. (Source)

Anti Frackers: "Resistance Is Justified, As Democracy Just Isn't Working"

The shale gas test drilling sites have been the target of sabotage by a bunch of eco activists who have no respect for the democratic process

Balcombe residents stand up to fracking.

The mouthpiece of the Dutch Green party and the cause of sustainability, the newspaper Trouw, is once again skirting the edges of responsible journalism while reporting on the "war on fracking": the protests at the site of the shale gas test drilling by the Cuadrilla corporation at the British town of Balcombe. According to Trouw anti fracking protests reached boiling point this week, culminating in the arrest of a great number of eco activists, among them Caroline Lucas, MP for the British Green Party.

Trouw is reporting that the MP was released on bail, while declaring "she isn't wont to participate in these sort of activities", but simply had no choice. Well, what do you know?! A member of parliament, with all the resources of democracy at her disposal, is forced to take recourse to extraparliamentary activism. That's sad!

They are really sensitive human beings too, these green democrats: "I have the feeling that the government just isn't listening to the people". At that point in the article Trouw is really going overboard. Lucas:

"At some stage the democratic means at our disposal have been exhausted and one feels obliged to resort to non-violent, direct action".

Stop! Democratic means exhausted? Ms Lucas has a seat on the left side of the aisle in the British parliament, where the debate on fracking is still ongoing. Her declared legitimacy of extraparliamentary 'direct action' is highly debatable.

But is Trouw's reporting correct? No, it isn't. Lucas MP, the activist democrat was actually declaring something quite different. She said: "Resistance is justified, because democracy isn't working." Which is an extraordinary approach. Hypocrisy is rife at the green front; stretching the truth for a good cause isn't considered a big deal. Fact-free alarmism and sabotage are dominating the debate on fracking. Trouw is really piling it on:

"Lucas understands that fear and hyperbole are part and parcel of the debate on fracking and she refuses to participate in the politics of fear. What annoys her, is that there has never been a proper debate". 

And that coming from a MP who has the entire democratic tool kit at her disposal! At this time British PM David Cameron is speaking of an ongoing national debate. The shale gas test drilling sites have been the target of sabotage by a bunch of eco activists who have no respect for the democratic process whatsoever. A couple of Dutch MPs prove that these actions have nothing to do with a public debate either.

Marianne Thieme MP is tweeting that "We can learn a thing or two from the British protests against fracking." 

It's really sad that parliamentarians should opt for extraparliamentary activism instead of open debate. The former director of Greenpeace Netherlands, Liesbeth van Tongeren MP is even worse:

"British protests against fracking are reaching boiling point. I was there and I made this video."

So the member of the Green party was in attendance when the Balcombe protests exploded, citing something about getting experience in "tactics & strategics" in the war on fracking.  It's an outrage that members of parliament are engaging in such activities when the democratic means have not even been exhausted!

But even then. The green minority wants to have their cake and eat it too. They are just as democratic as the D in GDR. This is on par with dumping cement blocks in the North Sea against fishing, and the undermining of railtracks during transports of nuclear waste. These actions are potentially very dangerous and damaging to society as well as the economy.

To the green wing nuts democracy is just another railway track to undermine and an ethics program in which the end justifies the means. Because to them, democracy just isn't working.

For Gerton van Unnik