I think it’s pretty clear that North Korea can do whatever it wants whenever it wants and to whomever it wants. No matter how outrageous the act there are never any consequences from anyone. They can launch ballistic missiles, they can detonate nuclear bombs, they can sell nuclear technology to rogue regimes, they can counterfeit US currency, they can starve their own people, and now they can murder South Korean sailors by sinking their ship.

A submarine from the DPRK (North Korea) launched a torpedo at a South Korean Navy ship causing it to sink. 46 South Korean sailors lost their lives in the explosion. I repeat 46 sailors died in the attack. I don’t think you have to be Dick Cheney to call that a pretty clear act of war.

What’s the worlds response to this? Officials from South Korea and the US are calling it a “provocative action.” Yeah, I’d say sinking a Navy ship and killing 46 sailors is pretty f*cking provocative alright, but let’s be clear — it was an act of war.

Now, Hillary Clinton is acting all blustery at the UN demanding that the world “send a clear message to North Korea that provocative actions have consequences.” I’m sure Kim Jong-iL is beside himself with worry.

What this means is that we’ll see the usual dog and pony show at the UN and out of that we’ll get a “strongly worded statement” of condemnation to add to the pile of other strongly worded statements to North Korea and that will be that.

It’s pretty clear that Kim Jong-iL is constantly testing the US and its allies. He’s constantly testing to see how far he can go before we hit back. So far, he’s been able to do whatever he wants.

What’s important to realize is that every so-called “provocative action” by the North is a little more extreme and little more dangerous than the previous one. They’ve gotten away with detonating nukes and firing ballistic missiles and sinking ships. Maybe next time they’ll try firing a ballistic missile into Seoul. Maybe they’ll see what happens if they detonate a dirty bomb close to the DMZ. Who knows? Kim Jong-iL is a despicable mass murdering dictator — calm and rational thought is not exactly his strong suit.

North Korea is probably the most pathetic broken down country on the planet. I can’t believe the South are such pussies that they’re going to let the DPRK get away with this. The South has an awesome military that’s practically a mirror image of our own with top of the line fighter aircraft, etc.

The South should have immediately launched air strikes against the naval base the North Korean submarine launched from. They should have destroyed the entire base and every submarine and surface ship docked there.

That would have been a very clear message to the thugs in the North. For the first time in decades someone would have sent the North Koreans a message they could understand.

-Chris Jones

It looks like the Obama administration is attempting to literally rewrite history when it comes to Iraq. When asked about Iraq recently, Joe Biden was very optimistic and said “this could be one of the great achievements of this administration”.

I am very optimistic about — about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration. You’re going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer. You’re going to see a stable government in Iraq that is actually moving toward a representative government.

Now that’s a stretch,even for Joe. The Obama administration has not done a single thing in Iraq — not a single thing. They are simply following the agreements put in place by the Bush administration.

If Joe Biden and Barack Obama would have gotten their way Iraq would look like Haiti and be run by Al Qaeda.

They were vehemently opposed to everything that has made Iraq look the way it does today. Joe Biden wanted to cut the country up into ethnic provinces for God’s sake.

I’d rather get foreign policy advice from my mailman than a chucklehead like Joe Biden.

The reality is that Iraq looks like it does today not because of Joe and Barack — but in spite of them.

There are only 3 people who deserve credit for Iraq. George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and General David Petraeus.

-Chris Jones

The United States must intervene in the current conflict between Russia and Georgia. We have spent billions training Georgia’s military and have done everything to assist that young democracy. Now in the face of outrageous aggression by Russia, President Bush is going to let that country be destroyed?

If we allow Russia to seize control of Georgia and its valuable oil pipeline then all the President’s talk about spreading freedom and democracy ring hollow. Georgia has been a staunch ally of the U.S. and now their country is being stolen by Russia.

Georgia’s U.S. trained military is vastly superior to Russia’s in terms of training, but with a force of less than 50,000 they are no match for Russia’s 750,000 poorly trained, poorly led, and poorly equipped drunks. The real problem for Georgia is air power. Georgia has no fighter aircraft or attack choppers while Russia has more than 1,200 attack aircraft.

The latest reports out of Georgia are that more than 50 Russian aircraft are flying above Georgia. With no aircraft the only thing the people of Georgia can do is hide.

Georgia had the third largest troop commitment in Iraq behind Great Britain until this week when the Pentagon began flying Georgian troops home to fight the Russians.

Russia’s intention is to seize control of Georgia’s valuable oil pipeline that carries oil to Turkey. It’s the only pipeline in the entire region that the corrupt Russian government doesn’t control — at least not yet.

I understand that we “need” Russia to back us on UN sanctions against Iran, but that rationale is really pretty absurd. The Russians play lip service to President Bush about the need to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, while at the same time building a nuclear reactor for Iran.

The situation is undoubtedly complicated, but what we absolutely must not do is sit around jawboning at the UN forever. The United Nations is one of the most ineffective and corrupt organizations on the planet and what’s worse is that it’s largely funded by us.

Barack Obama’s tepid response in the beginning and the moral equivalency he drew between a democratic ally of the U.S. and Russia speaks volumes about how he would conduct his foreign policy. His call for UN peacekeeping troops is also ridiculous, because if history is any indicator UN peacekeepers are nothing more than props. UN peacekeepers have never ‘kept peace’ anywhere, and as with everything involving the UN it takes years to see a boot hit the ground.

What the U.S. should do is give Russia a simple ultimatum. Either Russia immediately and unconditionally withdraws from Georgia or we will make Ukraine a part of NATO as early as next week.  Russia’s biggest fear is having Ukraine become a part of NATO, and this above all else is our biggest leverage on Russia.

Russia is surrounded by young democracies and if the U.S. allows Russia to topple one democracy it will weaken them all. Georgia has done everything it can to create a free and democratic society after decades of Soviet tyranny.

America has a moral obligation to help its friends when they’re in need, and right now Georgia desperately needs our help.

-Chris Jones

From Hot Air:

The Israelis have sent a warning to Gaza and its Hamas leadership after the latest rocket attack on Ashkelon. If the attacks continue, Israel will invade Gaza and conduct large-scale military operations to eliminate the threat:

Israeli leaders warned Friday of an approaching conflagration in the Gaza Strip as Israel activated a rocket warning system to protect Ashkelon, a city of 120,000 people, from Palestinian rockets.Ashkelon was hit by several Grad rockets fired from Gaza on Thursday, a sign of the widening scope of violence between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza. One hit an apartment building and another landed near a school, wounding a 17-year-old girl.

Located 11 miles from Gaza, Ashkelon had been sporadically targeted in the past but never suffered direct hits or significant damage.

“It will be sad, and difficult, but we have no other choice,” Matan Vilnai, Israel’s deputy defense mister, said Friday, referring to the large-scale military operation he said Israel was preparing to bring a halt to the rocket fire.

“We’re getting close to using our full strength. Until now, we’ve used a small percentage of the army’s power because of the nature of the territory,” Vilnai told Army Radio on Friday.

Israel had tried using softer methods to stop the attacks, including a lockdown on the border between Gaza and Israel. That resulted in a breakout at Rafah, which took the Egyptian government several days to resecure. Other nations had pressured Israel to end the embargo or at least loosen it for food, energy, and medical supplies, but the rocket attacks continue.

Hamas says that Israel’s return fire has killed 15 civilians and blames Israel for the rising tensions. Apart from the absurdity of blaming someone for hitting an aggressor in return, Hamas and other terrorist entities have no one but themselves to blame for civilian deaths. Even the AP acknowledges that Hamas launches its rockets from densely populated civilian centers, drawing fire onto their own people.

Israel cannot stand idle while terrorists rain rockets onto civilian populations, and the escalation to Ashkelon is a deliberate provocation by Hamas. The IDF has to take action, and this time it cannot be constrained by proportionality. They need a massive response to the Gaza provocateurs, one that leaves them no ground to hide. If Gaza’s civilian population wants to avoid that, then they need to rid themselves of the terrorists before Israel’s military does its work.

Hot Air has it right as usual. Israel needs to quit taking this crap from the terrorists and take care of business. The sooner they move into Gaza and lay waste to the place the sooner the violence will end. Anyone who thinks Israel can ever coexist with Hamas is living in a fantasy world.

Every single member of Hamas should be systematically hunted down and killed. The same goes for Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah, and any other gun toting, missile firing, Islamic group.

All the pretend cease-fires and half measures on the part of Israel only prolongs the violence. They need to get in, level the joint, and get out.

-Chris Jones

Here are some pictures of Prince Harry serving his country in Afghanistan:

(Click photos to enlarge)

From the AP:

Prince Harry has been serving on the front line in Afghanistan with the British Army, calling in airstrikes on Taliban positions and going out on foot patrols, the Ministry of Defense announced Thursday.

Officials said the prince, a lieutenant in the Blues and Royals regiment, was still deployed in the country.

“His conduct on operations in Afghanistan has been exemplary,” said the head of the army, Gen. Richard Dannatt. “He has been fully involved in operations and has run the same risks as everyone else in his battle group.”

Harry, who is third in line to the throne, has been in Afghanistan since December.

The planned deployment had been disclosed to reporters, with no specific date, and was not reported previously under a pool agreement between the Ministry of Defense and all major news organizations operating in Britain, including The Associated Press. The news blackout was intended to reduce the risk to the prince and his regiment.

The news embargo was broken, however, after reports of the prince’s deployment were leaked by an Australian magazine and a German newspaper, and then reported on a U.S. Web site, the Drudge Report.

Dannatt, the military commander, said he was “very disappointed” that the story had leaked.

Harry, 23, has been deployed in the restive Helmand province for 10 weeks, where most of the 7,800 British troops in Afghanistan are based, according to the military’s statement.

In a recorded interview, Harry said he was happy to be standing shoulder-to- shoulder with his colleagues.

“It’s nice just to be here with all the guys and just mucking in as one of the lads,” said Harry, who had expressed bitter disappointment when he was banned from going to Iraq with his battalion last year. Army chiefs said publicity surrounding his deployment could put him and his unit at risk.

Pooled video footage of Harry in Afghanistan showed the prince dressed in camouflage fatigues patrolling arid and dusty terrain and firing a machine gun.

Harry graduated from Sandhurst military academy in 2006 and trained as a tank commander. After the decision not to send him to Iraq, he retrained as a battlefield air controller, the job he has been filling in Afghanistan.

The fact that Prince Harry actually wanted to fight is a very noble thing. He has more honor and guts than a lot of people both in Britain and in America. He and his brother are a credit to their country and will make exceptional leaders one day.

-Chris Jones

As I watched the reading of the names of the fallen at the Viet Nam Memorial in Washington D.C., it was obvious how many different families were affected. Some of the names were first and last name only, then there were first middle initial and last, but the most frequently called names were first middle and last with around a fifth of those followed by “the second” or “the third”. What was also obvious was the multinational or ethnic complexion of the names. America is truly a melting pot for the entire world.

As we honor the dead, significantly seen in honor guards, taps, and rifles discharged, we should keep the wounded in mind as well. Besides the physical wounds with their handicapped results and amputated limbs, there are the psychological wounds, with their therapy modifications and untreatable states. My wife’s uncle came back from WWII and sat in a chair until the early fifties, staring straight ahead not talking or responding in any manner.

Armistice Day, November 11, 1918 was the day the guns finally stopped on the front line. In the hours just prior, over 10,000 had to die from orders to fight until the appointed hour. When the hour arrived soldiers from both sides dropped their guns and jumped up out of their trenches to mingle with their mortal enemies just seconds before.

The name has been changed to Veterans Day, I guess because the world never left the guns on the ground after the “War to End All Wars”. Too bad the world didn’t get that war over with early in civilization like 5000 B.C.

No other word in our language carries as much pain as the word war; the fallen, the wounded, the disabled, the families, the refugees, the ongoing hatred and resentments which usually lead right into the next war. God help us all from becoming the next victim of the word war.

By Lloyd H. Frye
Op-Ed Columnist
The Hot Joints

The pundits for King George III say the surge in Iraq is showing signs of succeeding and the American people are now in favor of the war. The king himself recently gave a speech in which he outlined the importance of winning the war, defeating the terrorists, securing the oil fields for future generations and that if we withdraw we will be in grave danger at home. Basically, what he’s said all along as he does whatever he wishes with US troops worldwide.

The thing I don’t understand is if we withdraw the terrorists will all of a sudden be able to find America on the map and bring devastation and genocide to our shores. Do they not know where the troops came from? Will they have to wait until troops are airlifted and shipped back to the States to know where to attack next? Wouldn’t it be smart to strengthen our borders if terrorists are coming? What stops them from coming across with the millions of Mexicans, Central Americans, and South Americans that stream into the Border States to a point of complete chaos currently? Does this mean terrorists can only fight on one front at a time? Are they waiting for airlines to have fare wars so they can afford to come here? Are they saving their money for nukes? Hasn’t the current policy of 100 million new workers that the wealthy can take advantage of driven all domestic agendas?

Why after years of the war on terror is the state department have less than a couple dozen employees that speak Arabic? Is it possible we never intended to negotiate with the Arab world? Is it that important that we use up trillions of dollars of weaponry the military has stock piled up over the last couple of decades? Must we continuously act like a big, fat loudmouth, bragging and threatening everyone in the world except the British to get our way on every issue, all the time, all over the world, demanding everything imaginable, and giving nothing in return? In a school yard we would be the obnoxious bully everyone hated, which explains our place in the world today. I didn’t catch but a one liner the other day where he said something about nuclear war with Iran I think. Jesus, can’t anyone get a muzzle thrown over that guy’s mouth.

The phrase that keeps coming to mind is “not in my name”. I’ve never let my mouth overload my ass and I don’t appreciate others doing it for me. Our troops deserve better than this. Their lives should be placed in the line of fire only when we are actually under attack not just because someone plotted to kill our daddy. But I guess kings have never given a shit what the people think or feel. Life doesn’t change. History always repeats itself. The good die young. And absolute power corrupts absolutely.

By Lloyd H. Frye
Op-Ed Columnist
The Hot Joints

I forgot all about this guy! Iraq’s wily former Information Minister affectionately known as “Baghdad Bob.”

-Chris Jones