The Political Voices of Women

Video: President Barack Obama Sworn Into Office

Here is a video of Keith Olbermann’s Special comment on whether or not the Bush administration is guilty of war crimes and torture…

What do you think? Let me know in comments.

With much of US oil production temporarily shut down due to Hurricane Ike there could not have been a worse time for the US’ relationship with Venezuela to be strained further. But it has.

As reported by The New York Times:

The United States stepped up the diplomatic skirmish with its left-wing adversaries in Latin America on Friday, saying it would expel the Venezuelan ambassador and declaring that Venezuela’s top two intelligence officials had supported the “narco-terrorist activities” of rebels in the region.

The moves heightened the political tensions that have been building between the United States, Venezuela and Bolivia in recent days. On Wednesday, Bolivia’s embattled president, Evo Morales, expelled the American ambassador there, Philip S. Goldberg, accusing him of supporting rebellious groups in eastern Bolivia.

Then on Thursday, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela said he was expelling the American ambassador to his country, Patrick Duddy, contending that an American-supported coup plot had been discovered.

The State Department responded by declaring Bolivia’s ambassador to Washington persona non grata. Then on Friday morning, it said it would expel Venezuela’s ambassador, while the Treasury Department accused the Venezuelan intelligence officials of aiding Colombia’s largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, “even as it terrorized and kidnapped innocents.”

The latest moves represent a low point in Venezuela’s political relations with the United States, which imported more than $40 billion in oil from Venezuela last year. Trade between the countries has remained resilient, topping $50 billion in 2007, despite repeated threats by Mr. Chávez to halt oil exports to the United States, a warning he reiterated on Thursday

In her post “We live in a global village“, Political Voices of Women blogger Paula Hall raises the question of why the US Presidential Candidates have seldom addressed this issue:

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Watch as Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates dance around the truth about the consequences for Russia’s actions in the Russia-Georgia conflict.

Try not to laugh

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url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li25wM6JTUkI give everyone of those journalists credit for maintaining a poker face during those interviews. However, don’t you wonder what was going on off-camera?

Now with a straight face, explain to me how Russia’s international reputation is any worse than that of the United States after the Iraq WMD debacle. If, as Secretary Gates states, “the world is looking at Russia through a different set of lenses”, just imagine the magnifying lens they’re using to look at the US.

As for the impact on Russia’s reputation referred to by Secretary Rice, apparently no one in the Bush Administration saw this 2007 interview with Garry Kasparov. I sure did.

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url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z9g7jN3Kso

A little earlier today, Reuters correspondent Oleg Shchedrov reported the following on the Russia-Georgia conflict:

“Washington demanded on Friday that Russia pull its troops out of Georgia ‘now,’ but Moscow said it would be another 10 days before the bulk of its force left Georgian soil.

In a sign of growing tension between Moscow and the West over the conflict in Georgia, a Russian news agency reported that Russia had temporarily frozen cooperation with the NATO alliance, though there was no immediate confirmation.

In some of Washington’s toughest comments to date, the White House declared Russia in violation of its commitments to leave the territory of Georgia after routing Georgian forces in a war that erupted two weeks ago.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said he could not imagine a circumstance in which the United States would engage in military-to-military cooperation with Moscow until the Georgia situation was resolved.

U.S. impatience has been growing by the day as it waits for a full-scale pullout of troops and weaponry that Russia sent into its small Caucasus neighbor two weeks ago to counter a Georgian attack on the Moscow-backed South Ossetia region.

A Reuters reporter saw a column of T-72 main battle tanks lumbering across the border from Russia into Georgia — the first sign of heavy armor being withdrawn from Georgian soil — but elsewhere Russian forces remained in place.

As Charles Amico noted in his blog, “We The People”:

“So the Bush Administration has overplayed its hand again and has been blowing smoke at Russia in the form of bellicose language expected to threaten the Russians. Do you really believe this tactic will work? If you do, wake up.”

Related posts:

The New Old Russia

Obama Wraps Up Tour of Mid East and Europe – by Heather Holdridge at The Care2 Election Blog

Senator Barack Obama made his way home Saturday night after a long trip throughout the Middle East and Europe. During his visit, he went to Kuwait, Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. Upon returning, he was met with criticisms from Senator John McCain for basically neglecting his own people by paying too much attention to the world audience. But polls show that Obama’s Europe trip may have given him a boost:

Democrat Obama’s apparent advantage over Republican John McCain in national polling has “stretched” to seven percentage points, according to the latest results of the Gallup daily tracking poll – a survey taken at the height of Obama’s widely watched march across Europe, days in which he polled strongly against McCain.

It’s funny that McCain basically challenged Obama to make a trip to Iraq before this trip happened, and once it did, McCain started calling Obama out on it. In a radio address Saturday, McCain said, “With all the breathless coverage from abroad, and with Senator Obama now addressing his speeches to the people of the world, I’m starting to feel a little left out. Maybe you are too.” Obama responded with, “The reason that I thought this trip was important is that I am convinced that many issues that we face at home are not going to be solved as effectively unless we have strong partners abroad.”

Then, after all the hubub from the McCain campaign, the Senator tells Wolf Blitzer that a 16 month timetable in Iraq is “a pretty good timetable.” Huh? From Daily Kos…

Read full post at The Care2 Election Blog

Here is the full video of Barack Obama’s speech in Berlin…

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Obama’s Berlin Speech Appears To Resonate With Crowd…

Tens of thousands of Germans, along with some resident Americans, filled Berlin’s Tiergarten park to hear Barack Obama talk about the U.S., Europe and their shared visions and challenges. It was a remarkable turnout for the lazy days of late July, when most Germans are more focused on summer vacations than foreign politics.

The audience repeatedly interrupted his speech with applause and cheers, and erupted in chants of “Yes, we can!”

A lot of Europeans are hoping Obama will give them a reason to love America again.

“I expect Obama to be a president who makes it possible to be proud of being a fan of the USA,” said Gerda Schulz, a 72-year-old retiree. Schulz has watched historic speeches here by a string of American presidents — John F. Kennedy in 1963, Ronald Reagan in 1987 and Bill Clinton in 1994 — and on Thursday added the Democratic presidential contender to the list.

Did you hear Barack Obama’s speech? What did you think?

How much worse could the mortgage crisis get? The failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could create a mortgage and banking disaster, so they will now be getting a government bailout.

McCain Flip-Flops on Offshore Oil Drilling – by Catherine Morgan 

John McCain is using our sky-high gas prices to justify his flip-flopping on the issue of offshore oil drilling. I mentioned this yesterday in a post, and questioned why the MSM didn’t seem to notice. Today, they have noticed.

However, there is no evidence that allowing more offshore drilling will help in reducing the price of gas in the near future (as McCain is suggesting), or even the far future. But, I guess the McCain campaign is hoping you will be fooled, and vote for McCain in the hopes of lower gas prices.

Here is an interesting clip from The Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer…

SEE VIDEO AND READ FULL POST AT THE CARE2 ELECTION BLOG

Afghan Prison Break – Taliban Fighters Taking Control — by Catherine Morgan (cross posted at The Care2 Election Blog)

Have you heard about the prison break by Taliban rebels in Afghanistan on Friday? You might not have, it’s not getting very much coverage in the MSM. However, as the days have gone by, this situation has escalated. Here are some video and news clips, as well as blogger reaction to this news.The first report I heard about this prison break was this 1 1/2 minute piece of coverage…

What do you think? How big of a problem is this prison break? How big of a problem is the Taliban in Afghanistan? Has the war in Iraq hurt the war on terrorism?

READ FULL POST AND SEE ALL THE VIDEO CLIPS AT THE CARE2 ELECTION BLOG–

Roundup: McCain and Obama on the Iraq War — by Catherine Morgan (cross posted at The Care2 Election Blog)

Today’s political blog roundup will take a look at the Obama and McCain positions on the Iraq war. We will start with this video clip by Keith Olbemann.

Keith Olbermann really gives the context, with a comprehensive look at McCain’s views on the war and why he has been wrong. Keith Olbermann’s Special Comments on John McCain’s Views on Iraq…

The Nation: Obama, McCain & Iraq…

It’s a tradition in American presidential politics that once the primaries are over, both the Democratic and Republican candidates move to the center in search of that all-important centrist swing voter. Let’s hope that this year, at least, Barack Obama resists that impulse when it comes to what is likely to be one of the most contentious issues in this fall’s campaign: Iraq.

In fact, we need to do more than hope. Progressives, antiwar activists and, yes, even swing voters–who long ago realized that Iraq is what Obama, in 2002, called a “dumb war”–should demand that the senator from Illinois draw as stark a contrast as possible between himself and John McCain over Iraq.

READ FULL POST AT THE CARE2 ELECTION BLOG

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