Anne Applebaum on Eastern Europe's Concerns about Putin

Anne Applebaum wrote Gulag for a Pulitzer Prize and is married to the Polish Foreign Minister.

She speaks fluent Russian and Polish, among other languages and has dire warnings about the extreme nationalists in Russia calling for the use of nukes on Warsaw and the Baltic members of NATO, all to demonstrate the flimsy Potemkin Village that NATO is compared to its projection of over-the-horizon force.

Read the above and contemplate how our witless President answered Romney in one of the debates that regarding Russia as an opponent was "so last century."

Obama, welcome to the 20th century.

Obama's GEICO impersonates Loners Hafta be Alone….

The NYT surprises us occasionally and here is one the rare occasions the lapdog nips the ankles of its Lord & Master Messiah Hussein.

Looks like Jesse's gonna be shot off his high horse, if you can catch the allusion.

Here's more from Howie Kurtz.

Packers Boast Best Fan Base in NFL

Forbes has a good article on NFL fan bases.

As a Packer fan since 1952 [I remember Tony Canadeo as QB], I can hardly differ.

ESPN names the other top four [Broncos, Saints, Ravens & Patriots.]

Terrorist Suicide Bomb Instructor Blows Up Self, 21 Aspiring Suicide Trainees.

Islam, the so-called Religion of Peace, lost 22 of its most aspiring devotees recently in an ISIS training base north of Baghdad.

Nowadays, good news is hard to find, so ENJOY!

Robin Williams and Me: Synchronicity

Valentine's Day 1981 I was in LA at The Comedy Store on Melrose and was sitting by myself having a drink at a small round bar table with a Variety rolled up in my back pocket. I got up to go to the men's room and was asked by a voice behind me, "Is this yours?" and handed me the Variety, which had fallen out of my pocket. It was Robin Williams all by himself, with a friendly smile on his face. [I know it was Valentines Day because as I went in, Tommy Smothers came out of the bathroom wearing an outsized button saying "Mom loved you more than me." Remember The Smothers Brothers?]

Flash forward three short months or so and I am with my fiancé at Williams College in Massachusetts seeing a Greek play starring Superman star Christopher Reeve in the lead. There is no room in the theater except at the very back row and I slide into a seat. Sitting next to me all by himself is Robin Williams! [I find out later that Reeve and Robin were roommates in NYC when they both started out in their acting careers.]

Bumping into Williams on both sides of this vast country and at Williams College no less!

Both times he was quiet [and friendly] and had a sort of solitary look about him that one wouldn't expect.

Requiescat in Pace.

Obama's Lack of Social Skills Reflected on the Golf Course

POLITICO has an excellent piece on why Obama has golfed 180 times during his failed presidency versus 24 for GWB.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Obama's brief tenure as a Senator did not supply him with negotiating skills and schmooze ability that ex-Governors Reagan & Clinton & GWB, for example, had to learn to get things done. Like Nixon & Jimmy Carter, Obama has a loner gene in his DNA that confines his golf partners to WH staffers for the vast majority of outings. His one round with golf fanatic John Boehner left him with deep distaste for a partner who didn't agree with this evident solipsistic and autistic social-skill lacking autocrat.

One of his advisors was quoted on background that Barack thinks dissent and dialogue is "messy."

At least he is not a serial cheater like LBJ or Billy Jeff Clinton, famous for his "Billigans" which were extensions of Mulligans.

He is most reminiscent of classical loner and non-golfer Jimmy Carter, whose retreats to Camp David and elsewhere symbolized his out-of-the-box essentially eccentric qualities.

How Iraq Fell Apart

That's Obama's urban legend. The Status of Forces Agreement was being haggled over by Al-Maliki, but Obama saw the [temporary] to-and-fro of this agreement as an excuse to make a quick exit. The US could have had the 11K residual soldiers there & a SoFA. And 11,000 might have been enough to stiffen the backbones of the cowardly Iraqi generals and also encourage peace between the Sunnis & Shi'ites. Now we'll never know, and the exit of a US presence gave Al-Maliki more leverage to play his divisive political games.

Dogs Versus Cats

Cats predominate in the densely-populated New England & Atlantic North as well as the Upper Middle West.

Dogs predominate in Texas and the Deep South----except for Florida.
I am slightly biased, as we have six housecats and two dogs.

Egypt, Jordan, UAE & Saudi All Distance Selves from Hamas This Time Around

The New York Times has an interesting piece by David Fitzpatrick that the mainstream media herd has declined to comment on. This time around, the Arab Levant of Jordan Saudi UAE & Egypt are onto Hamas terrorist gambit, and unlike simpletons like Kerry & the EU herd, just ain't buying it. As an FSO Arabist who has lived in three Arab countries [Lebanon, Saudi, & Egypt] and travelled to all but a couple Arab League members, this does not surprise me. After a year of Morsi and his autocratic ways and lack of any personal politics, no compromises led to the Egyptian Army reasserting its paramountcy. As I had written all along was going to happen. It would happen to Al-Maliki were his 60% majority not fireproof. Or at least he thinks, and never compromises. Over 1300 years, the Arabs have either ruled by tyranny or seen anarchy. Tsisi in Egypt is a tyrant replacing an anarchical situation Morsi caused. And Hamas is a member of the Ikhwan just as the Muslim Brotherhood is. With Morsi gone as a mediator, it's no wonder sensible Arabs are staying away and even silently urging Israel on by their thundering silence.