Like I said, this is just what happens when you go soft on evil. I recommended that Bush execute more folks, but he doesn’t want to go that route. And so this is what happens. Thjis is what happens when you try to push the buck unto somebody else, like the Iraqi government mired in political problems post 2005. The United States Executive Branch could execute hundreds of enemies, not just Al Sadr, when we were occupying Iraq in the absence of any government. The Iraqi government was doing well enough just by keeping their politicians Alive. They had neither the power nor the authority to order the executions of political enemies and rivals, like Al Sadr. The US President had both the authority and power though, but not the will. Never the will.

All this is water under the bridge, but it is still a hard earned lesson in how it is always a mistake to go easy on those that do violence. It is always a mistake. As I said before, Bush’s primary problem is that he just doesn’t kill enough people.

http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/016021.php

The Soviets knew that with the correctly trained lapdogs, aka journalists and Western observers, they could show them what they wanted to believe and therefore acquire instantaneous agents willing and eager to propagate Soviet propaganda in the United States. Because this view will come from Americans themselves, other Americans will be far more likely to believe and adhere to the same kind of programming.

Good propaganda campaigns always propagate by word of mouth, through the magic of peer pressure and social hierarchy.

Questions are okay, so long as they are questions that adhere to quality scientific methods and statistics. One must have standards after all.

I guess that for Ophi and his fellow travelers, associating the cachet “international” to an organization or a climate report (IPCC) confers instant credibility.

It seems like it. The Soviets understood this natural tendency for people to look towards their own for backup when the Soviets created their espionage and recruiting strategies for Western agents.

My point. If they wish to stop it then rescind the law they passed initially. Not some craven financial battle.

Incidentally, I want to thank all of you again for the high level of discourse you maintained during Ophi’s visits. Sometimes things got a little sharp and sarcastic, but they never developed into the kind of hurtful, damaging stuff that I periodically have to crawl around and delete from my site. I think that’s a testament to the really high quality of my readership, and for that I am most grateful.