How does one respond to an unpopular tyranny who is threatening to start a war? Do you try to encourage them to reform, with soft words and promises to help if they turn to cooperation? Or do you be blunt and articulate the idea that unjust government must reform, because freedom lives in the hearts […]

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Opinia.US SAN FRANCISCO — Due to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s decision to prolong her stay in the Middle East, her scheduled meeting in Washington with visiting Polish foreign minister Radosław Sikorski has been cancelled. The announcement of the cancellation was made Tuesday by the State Department spokesman Ian Kelly.

Tomorrow, of course, she has a meeting […]

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Opinia.US SAN FRANCISCO — Tony Blinken, national security adviser to the vice president, said in a briefing with reporters before Biden left for Europe October 20, that leaders in Warsaw, Bucharest and Prague should think less of what the U.S. can do for them and more about what they can do with the United States.

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Opinia.US SAN FRANCISCO — Bloggers and Russian experts in the US have been trying to find out whether the Obama White House coordinated with the Kremlin the timing of the missile shield decision that deeply offended people in Poland and produced biting commentaries in the US. Speculations abound that Russian diplomats, working on instructions from […]

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The answer is "Yes", but when it does, this is not necessarily a failure of those trying to prevent conflict.  At times, this is simply a result of the motivations of the belligerent. 
In response to my post on the blog "Stones Cry Out" about the delusions of negotiating with Iran, commenter Dan Trabue responded […]

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Dear Poland, Happy Soviet Invasion Day, Love Uncle Sam
Wired
While American and international media blames President Obama for choosing to announce his decision on the removal of the missile defense system from Poland and Czech Republic on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet attack on Poland on September 17, 1939, surprisingly so far no one has […]

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President Obama’s announcement on September 17 that the US is shelving its plans to build a ballistic missile defense (BMD) system in Central Europe is likely to raise painful historical memories in Poland.

President Barack Obama bids farewell to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev backstage after the two spoke at the Parallel Business Summit at the […]

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A lot of nonsense being written in the news about Conservative writer George Will deciding to throw in the towel in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is a mess. Big deal. It’s been a mess for a couple thousand years, and trying to “win” a war there and put in a crumpets and tea democracy is a bit delusional.
But […]

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FreeMediaOnline.org, Free Media Online Blog, GovoritAmerika.us, Commentary by Ted Lipien, August 18, 2009, San Francisco — Ever since the United States Information Agency (USIA) was dismantled in a foolish post-Cold War cost-cutting move, the U.S. State Department and American diplomats abroad have not been able to present a coherent message to foreign […]

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Today’s Manila Bulletin has it’s usual supplement from the New York Times, and the headline blares:
A Nuclear Free Vision.
In the Depths of the cold war, in 1983, a senior at Colombia University wrote…about the vision of a “nuclear free world”.
It seems that President Obama was promoting nuclear disarmament in the 1980’s.
That in itself is strange […]

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From the desk of Charlie Churchill’s Parrot
Churchill’s Parrot: Charlie Churchill’s Parrot here and joining us this evening is the Prince of Darkness himself, Satan.  Mr. Satan, so gracious of you to be here.
Satan: Not at all.
CP: How are you, sir?
S: Never better.
CP: That’s most unfortunate. We must say we are a bit surprised to see […]

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White House Photos, Lawrence Jackson. The President discusses Iran during his opening remarks at the Press Conference at the White House, June 23, 2009.

FreeMediaOnline.org,  Free Media Online Blog,  GovoritAmerika.us, Commentary by Ted Lipien, June 26, 2009, San Francisco – Ronald Reagan’s strong response to the imposition of martial law  against the independent Solidarity trade union in Poland in 1981 was distinctly different […]

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Here in the Philippines, there are always demonstrations, usually by the leftists, but if things get bad enough, the opposition always reminds the government about the “People Power” revolution that overthrew Marcos.
At that time, thugs associated with Marcos assassinated exiled politician Ninoy Acquino who had just returned to Manila to run against Marcos in the […]

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I am happy that President Obama is trying to mend fences with Arabs and Iranians in the Middle East by giving a speech in Cairo.
And many Americans agree, although many think he is being naive, or is sending a message to the radicals in the area that he is willing to “throw Israel under […]

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My grandkids are into Facebook, and most people in the US know how the anti war opposition used Facebook and other internet social sites to help catapult Senator Obama to win the US elections last year.
But using Facebook groups for political purposes is not limited to the US.
Here in the Philippines, we have a big […]

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The Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad said today that Tehran will ‘welcome favorably’ a start of  dialogue from the USA if it will happen “in mutual respect and justice”.  But he added that the Islamic Republic is still waiting for a “real change” by the new U.S. administration of Barack Obama.
“The new US administration has […]

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The Washington Post’s Scott Wilson writes a 692-word article on a topic President Barack Obama “just can’t seem to get right.”
Is it getting Iran to take him seriously? A bailout exit strategy? What to do with the committed jihadis currently warehoused at Gitmo? No, it’s bowling:
A president who this week spoke fluently about the changing […]

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MEMO TO: Richard Feducci, Overlord of Finance
FROM: E Pluribus, Wondergod
SUBJECT: Five Year International Finance Plan
DATE: January 1, 2005
Happy New Year, Rich. Got some good news and some bad news. The bad news: We’re going to let the American economy crater. The good news: Everybody else’s will, too. The best news: By 2010, we’ll be on […]

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If you visit Washington, locals will point out when the President leaves in a convoy of helicopters, most of which are there to protect him from bad guys. It’s quite an inspiring sight. His helicopter is called Marine One.
But the helicopters are getting on in age, so there has been some discussion about an overpriced […]

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From Churchill’s Parrot blog
In the race of the Trojan horses, we have entered, it would seem, the final stretch. 
Those of us with eyes to see and optical nerves still communicating with the brain - our voices drowned out in the hysteria - have a decision to make: continue languishing in the grandstand, or make some […]

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As CNN and other News channels in the US spent most of yesterday showing its viewers an empty US Airways Airbus 320 floating in the Hudson river, the citizens of Gaza ran for their lives from the indiscriminate bombing by the Israeli forces. But in a place as small as Gaza, there is not much […]

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 FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog  The Federalist Commentary, January 6, 2009, San Francisco
Thinking About The Unthinkable
by The Federalist
If you think about the above phrase coined by the late nuclear war theorist, Herman Kahn, you might find it  both unusually appropriate and alarming when applied to US public diplomacy.
There is a fundamental flaw in the […]

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You might not know it from the headlines, but the war in Iraq is essentially won, and the good guys won.
Oh yes, you will still see reports of bombings, but then 50 years after Magsaysay here in the Philippines essentially ended the Huk uprising, we still get kidnappings, murders and killings here by the NPA, […]

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The BBC has an interesting article about a “perfect storm”: economic collapse, high inflation,high unemployment, and an up and coming election.
No, not the US: Iran.
Some background:
A couple months ago, oil prices surged to $150 a barrel, causing food and other everyday commodity prices to climb. Here in the Philippines, the government intervened by subsidizing low […]

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This September 11, everyone waited with baited breath for the yearly “nyah nyah nyah” video rant from Al Qaeda.
More worrisome was that there might be a pep talk to coordinate a pre election attack in the US.
But something happened with the Alqaeda websites that usually deliver the videos: They went off line.
It was assumed that […]

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David Schussler
This morning in an attempt to convince the American people that he is presidential, Barack Obama basically said that he is ready to protect us from terrorism, financial disaster, social ills, a John McCain presidency, and I’m sure he would have concluded warts, hail, frogs, and murrain.
Obama surrounded himself with an impressive […]

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Not to give credence to the crazies in America (no offense …  you know who you are) but you have to admit that things have suddenly gone awry, both domestically and internationally, at an awfully convenient time.
Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean someone isn’t following you.
With what little we now know about what is REALLY going on in our […]

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The Taliban has been busy.
They do try to fight foreign troops (aiming mainly at the Canadians and the French: they admit the attacks are trying to get these countries to remove their troops).
And they are busy trying to exaggerate “civilian” casualties by hiding out among civilians. That always gets headlines in the papers, blaming the […]

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One of our relatives just came back to visit from Canada, and she is looking to recruit people to work with her in Alberta. I said no thank you, since my Hispanic (adopted) son already was working in nearby Alaska, along with other Hispanics and Filipinos, and he said if he changed jobs, he preferred […]

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Just how did Barack Obama (D-IL), a rather undistinguished IL state senator, get elected to the U.S. Senate, and without doing anything noteworthy in that august body, go on to capture his party’s nomination for president before even finishing out his first term in Congress? A combination of heartlessness and happenstance - and some say, […]

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