The American Century: Neoconservatism

[robertik1]

Re: The American Century: Neoconservatism

Theyd rather spent it on Iraq and soon Iran.

[Armenian]

Re: The American Century: Neoconservatism

McCain: To Russia, without love

John McCain and his national security advisor both want to get tough with Russia -- but one of them got paid to say so. Does McCain have another lobbyist problem?

By Mark Benjamin

Jun. 09, 2008 | John McCain is a saber-rattler when it comes to Russia. On the campaign trail, the Republican presidential candidate warns of the "dangers posed by a revanchist Russia." A quick Google search produces video of McCain plodding through his oft-repeated joke that when he looks in Vladimir Putin's eyes, he sees three letters: KGB (and not, like George Bush, Putin's "soul"). As president, McCain says he would back up his tough talk with equally aggressive policies. He wants to kick Russia out of the Group of 8, the organization of the world's leading industrial powers. McCain has also long been a proponent of quickly expanding NATO to include former Soviet allies like Georgia. Russia bristles at the notion of the Western military alliance encroaching on her border. "Rather than tolerate Russia's nuclear blackmail or cyber attacks," McCain said in a March speech, "Western nations should make clear that the solidarity of NATO, from the Baltic to the Black Sea, is indivisible."

This kind of talk -- in particular the call to oust Russia from the G-8 -- has given pause to seasoned experts on that part of the world, who tend to emphasize engagement with Russia. McCain's harsh rhetoric and tough proposals led Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria to write an April column titled "McCain's Radical Foreign Policy." If McCain were to pursue his Russia agenda as president, Zakaria wrote, it would be interpreted by much of the world as an "attempt by Washington to begin a new Cold War." But the sound of sabers rattling is music to the ears of Randy Scheunemann, the McCain campaign's senior foreign policy and national security advisor. A long-term confidant of the candidate, Scheunemann also supports a very tough stance toward Russia. Unlike McCain, until very recently he was paid to support that stance. McCain, already under fire for the role of lobbyists in his campaign, is taking his foreign policy advice from someone who was a paid lobbyist for former Soviet Bloc countries that are wary of Russia, and seems to advocate those policies the countries and their former lobbyist want. Notably, McCain supports a quick expansion of NATO, and Scheunemann has already helped two former Soviet satellites gain admission to NATO and has worked on behalf of two others.

Until early this year, Scheunemann was simultaneously working for the McCain campaign and as a lobbyist for a shifting menu of Eastern European and former Soviet Bloc countries with NATO aspirations. Some, including Georgia, have chilly relations with Russia. At various times from 2001 through early this year, Georgia, Latvia, Romania and Macedonia paid Scheunemann and his partner, Mike Mitchell, more than $2 million. Much of Scheunemann's work focused on paving the way into the NATO fold. Two of Scheunemann's clients, Latvia and Romania, were admitted to full NATO member status in 2004, after which they ceased paying him. McCain, who has portrayed himself as a crusader against the corrupting influence of money in politics, has already been compelled to cut ties with lobbyists who have worked for his campaign. On March 12, a New York Times story noted that a co-chairman of McCain's campaign and other campaign advisors had lobbied for European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., which beat Boeing for a contract worth $35 billion to build aerial tankers for the Air Force. The headline in the Times was "McCain Advisers Lobbied Europeans to Win Air Force Tanker Deal."

The bad press sparked efforts inside the McCain campaign to purge any real or perceived conflicts of interest. On May 15, the campaign instituted a new policy that bars staff from also working as "registered" lobbyists, requires unpaid advisors to disclose such activity, and prohibits those volunteers from trying to influence McCain. The new policy was drafted by McCain’s campaign manager, Rick Davis, himself a lobbyist until 2006. The new rules quickly resulted in the departure of at least two advisors, including a key fundraiser, Thomas Loeffler. The European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., which beat Boeing for the Air Force tanker contract, was one of his clients. But the policy does not state that a campaign staffer can't be a former lobbyist. According to Justice Department records, Scheunemann halted his lobbying activities on March 12, the day the Times story on the Air Force tankers appeared. Scheunemann's partner continues to lobby on behalf of Georgia and Macedonia.

The neoconservative Scheunemann was a national security advisor to Mississippi Republican Sen. Trent Lott. He worked on Bob Dole's campaign in 1996 and McCain's failed 2000 White House bid. Like McCain, Scheunemann was an early and ardent advocate of regime change in Iraq. He helped draft a 1998 bill giving $98 million to the Iraqi National Congress, the exile group led by the controversial Ahmed Chalabi. In the early days of the Bush administration, he served as an advisor on Iraq to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. In 2002, prior to the invasion of Iraq, Scheunemann helped lead the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, a nongovernmental, pro-invasion group that counted McCain as a member. Lobbying disclosure records for Scheunemann's two-person company, Orion Strategies, show dozens of phone calls and meetings with McCain and his staff between 2001 and 2008, as well as regular contributions to McCain's campaign and political action committee. In 2006 McCain cosponsored legislation that passed the Senate endorsing an expansion of NATO to include Georgia and Macedonia as well as Albania and Croatia. Late last year, while Scheunemann was still on Georgia's payroll, Georgia got a shout out, by name, from McCain in a national security treatise published in Foreign Affairs. McCain warned of Russian efforts to "bully democratic neighbors, such as Georgia, and attempts to manipulate European dependence on Russian oil and gas." He also hammered on the "diminishing political freedoms" in the former Soviet Union, and wrote that the country was "dominated by a clique of former intelligence officers."

Incidentally, China also took it on the chin in that Foreign Affairs article. At the time, Scheunemann was working for Taiwan, which has paid him and partner Mitchell a half-million dollars since early 2005. (Scheunemann ceased lobbying for Taiwan in March; Mitchell continues to work for the Taiwanese.) "When China threatens democratic Taiwan with a massive arsenal of missiles and warlike rhetoric, the United States must take note," McCain wrote. Lobbying records show that as late as June 2007, Scheunemann's partner was lobbying McCain staffers on "Chinese ballistic missiles pointed at Taiwan." During the presidential campaign, the presumptive Republican nominee has shown remarkable interest in Scheunemann's client, Georgia, a country of 4 million. In his statement last month on the inauguration of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, McCain said he hoped the new president would "take steps to ease tensions with Georgia by reversing recently announced measures that undermine Georgia's internationally recognized sovereignty which have rightly caused great concern among our European allies."

McCain might take his hard line on Russia because it plays well with some of the GOP base. Experts on Russia say some of those Republicans harbor nostalgia for being tough on the Soviet Union. Or perhaps he simply believes Russia will respond best to threats. But there is little doubt that McCain's rhetoric and policies would please the countries Scheunemann has worked for. "Those are countries whose advantage it is to point the finger at a Russian threat, particularly Georgia," explained Thomas Simons, ambassador to Poland under George H.W. Bush and to Pakistan under Bill Clinton. There is no way to tell if Scheunemann has influenced his boss on behalf of his clients, or if McCain and Scheunemann simply share a common get-tough-on-Russia philosophy. But when there are lobbyists on a candidate's campaign staff, it's hard to distinguish chicken from egg when it comes to policy. "The whole point of lobbyists is to influence how politicians think," said Dmitry Gorenburg, executive director of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies and a lecturer at Harvard. "If these people have had an association for a long time, how do you tell if it is because they think alike, or one has told the other how to think because he is getting paid?" he asked. "Any time you've got a guy who has been lobbying for somebody as opposed to a regular observer, it sort of makes you wonder," said Gorenburg, who also thinks the hard-line approach with Russia is the wrong way to go. "My guess is that you cannot completely disentangle the influence."

The campaign did not respond to Salon's questions about this topic. But McCain spokespeople have said in the past that any similarity between lobbyist interests and McCain's actions is coincidental. Jill Hazelbaker, McCain's spokeswoman, has said that her boss has "never violated the public trust, never done favors for special interests or lobbyists." While McCain's plan to kick Russia out of the G-8 is widely unpopular, Democrats also support expanding NATO -- but more gradually and with Russia's concerns carefully taken into account. At a meeting at the Council of Foreign Relations on March 7 that included Scheunemann, the Democratic candidates' national security advisors said McCain was too confrontational with Russia. "Where I get a little bit concerned, Randy, is when you sound like you're issuing ultimatums in a variety of fronts without finding ways to be able to talk and discuss and work through our issues as well," said Mara Rudman, a Clinton advisor. Scheunemann took a hard line. "No outside country has a veto on [NATO] membership," he said. "With Russia, I don't think Senator McCain's position is secret to a lot of folks," he added. "He often likes to say when he looks into Putin's eyes, all he sees is a K, a G, and a B."

Simons, now a visiting scholar at Harvard's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, was one of a number of experts interviewed by Salon who believe McCain's hawkish Russia policy is counterproductive. "It is not the right way to deal with this part of the world," Simons said. He described McCain's strategy as "punish and challenge, hit them in the nose, stick them in the eye." Given the concern about McCain and his advisor's aggressive attitude toward Russia, a recent speech the candidate delivered about nuclear nonproliferation left many Russian experts scratching their heads. In a May 27 address in Denver, McCain struck a strangely conciliatory note, laying out "a vision not of the United States acting alone, but building and participating in a community of nations all drawn together in this vital common purpose," he said. "While we have serious differences, with the end of the Cold War, Russia and the United States are no longer mortal enemies." McCain then announced that he would seek a new arms control agreement with Russia.

Russian experts, who have eyed McCain's confrontational tone with some skepticism, were obviously confused. Charles Kupchan, a professor of international affairs at Georgetown University, said the speech left him thinking that McCain's policy toward Russia is "schizophrenic." "It is just contradictory," explained Kupchan. "If you really want a breakthrough arms control deal with the Russians, it is probably not a good idea to kick him out of the G-8." Other experts speculated that McCain has set aside the tough talk now that the reality of the presidency is staring him in the face. It would be wonderful if the change didn't have anything to do with less money changing hands.

Source: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/06/09/mccain/

[Azad]

Re: The American Century: Neoconservatism

"BRUSSELS, Belgium - NATO nations agreed Thursday to broaden their peacekeeping mission in Kosovo to include training for the newly independent nation's security forces.

NATO troops will help train Kosovo's troops even though a minority of member nations, led by Spain, have not recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia in February.

"With this decision, NATO will be able to assist Kosovo in building necessary, democratic security institutions," alliance Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said at the meeting of NATO defense ministers.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080613/ap_on_re_eu/nato_defense

[Armenian]

Re: The American Century: Neoconservatism

Book review

************************

American Armageddon: How the Delusions of the Neoconservatives and the Christian Right Triggered the Descent of America--and Still Imperil Our Future

The presidency of George W. Bush has led to the worst foreign policy decision in the history of the United States -- the bloody, unwinnable war in Iraq. How did this happen? Bush's fateful decision was rooted in events that began decades ago, and until now this story has never been fully told.From Craig Unger, the author of the bestseller House of Bush, House of Saud, comes a comprehensive, deeply sourced, and chilling account of the secret relationship between neoconservative policy makers and the Christian Right, and how they assaulted the most vital safeguards of America's constitutional democracy while pushing the country into the catastrophic quagmire in the Middle East that is getting worse day by day.Among the powerful revelations in this book: Why George W. Bush ignored the sage advice of his father, George H.W. Bush, and took America into war. How Bush was convinced he was doing God's will. How Vice President xxxx Cheney manipulated George W. Bush, disabled his enemies within the administration, and relentlessly pressed for an attack on Iraq. Which veteran government official, with the assent of the president's father, protested passionately that the Bush administration was making a catastrophic mistake -- and was ignored. How information from forged documents that had already been discredited fourteen times by various intelligence agencies found its way into President Bush's State of the Union address in which he made the case for war with Iraq. How Cheney and the neocons assembled a shadow national security apparatus and created a disinformation pipeline to mislead America and start the war.A seasoned, award-winning investigative reporter connected to many back-channel political and intelligence sources, Craig Unger knows how to get the big story -- and this one is his most explosive yet. Through scores of interviews with figures in the Christian Right, the neoconservative movement, the Bush administration, and sources close to the Bush family, as well as intelligence agents in the CIA, the Pentagon, and Israel, Unger shows how the Bush administration's certainty that it could bend history to its will has carried America into the disastrous war in Iraq, dooming Bush's presidency to failure and costing America thousands of lives and trillions of dollars. Far from ensuring our security, the Iraq War will be seen as a great strategic pivot point in history that could ignite wider war in the Middle East, particularly in Iran.Provocative, timely, and disturbing, The Fall of the House of Bush stands as the most comprehensive and dramatic account of how and why George W. Bush took America to war in Iraq.

Source: http://books.google.com/books?id=ugWEz2p9Gk0C

[Armenian]

Re: The American Century: Neoconservatism

Major Neo-Con Role in Russo-Georgian War

Caspian Sea oil pipeline, sovereignty at heart of Russia’s blowup with U.S. ally

George W. Bush and his neo-con cohorts are behind the Russo-Georgia war, inside sources on the ground in South Ossetia and in Washington have revealed. Israel is also involved on behalf of Georgia because of oil. The sources remain anonymous. Russia’s attack was in response to U.S. plans to install missile sites near its borders and to bring Georgia into NATO. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called for Russia to regain its influential position in former Cold War ally Cuba, giving his country a military presence reminiscent of the 1963 Cuban missile crisis, which brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. This threat emerged earlier (AFP, Aug. 4, 2008) but was blacked out by the mainstream media.

“We should restore our position in Cuba and other countries,” Putin said, while hearing a report on a recent Russian delegation’s trip to Cuba. “It is not a secret that the West is creating a ‘buffer zone’ around Russia, involving countries in Central Europe, the Caucasus, the Baltic states and Ukraine,” said Leonid Ivashov, head of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems. “In response, we may have to expand our military presence abroad, including Cuba.” Earlier, Russia threatened a “military technical” response to U.S. plans to put missiles in Eastern Europe near its borders. Russia strongly opposes plans of Western oil companies, including Israeli firms, to route oil and gas that transit Georgia through Turkey instead of linking them to Russian pipelines. Tel Aviv owns a heavy interest in Caspian oil and gas pipelines.

The Swiss-based Israeli investigative journalist and author Shraga Elam reports that Israel, with U.S. connivance, was behind the attack against South Ossetia by the tiny former Soviet state of Georgia. “There is an obvious Israeli involvement in the present conflict between Georgia and Russia,” he says. “There are hundreds of Israeli military advisers in Georgia. . . .” He quotes sources like military expert Yossi Melman in the Israeli daily Ha’aretz: “Melman wrote that Georgia became a real El Dorado for Israeli arms dealers and numerous representatives of the army and intelligence services. Some former generals like Israel Ziv and Gal Hersh (with his company Defensive Shield) are very active there. “Hersh and Ziv are mainly training and consulting Georgian army units. They are using the ‘chain’ method common among Israeli arms dealers: a main contractor wins a tender and employs sub-contractors—in this case Israeli officers and former Shin Bet employees,” wrote Melman.

According to him there was a project to sell Merkava tanks to Georgia, The Ma’ariv newspaper points out that the Georgian defense minister, David Kezerashvili, lived for a while in Israel and speaks Hebrew. In a lengthy article the military exports to Georgia are described. Ma’ariv estimates them to be of a value of at least $300 million. An Israeli marketing expert told Ma’ariv: “To every Israeli agent representing an Israeli defense company is attached a cousin of the defense minister, who opens the doors for him.” Also, Israeli news web site (News First Class) confirms the massive presence of Israeli advisers in Georgia and writes: “The Israeli military industries upgraded the Georgian air force, sold unmanned aerial vehicles, advanced artillery systems and trained infantry units.” U.S. “consultants” are helping the Georgian army. According to Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman, there are 127 U.S. military trainers there, of whom about 35 are civilian contractors.

In addition to the trainers, 1,000 soldiers from the Vicenza, Italy-based Southern European Task Force (Airborne) and the Kaiserslautern-based 21st Theater Sustainment Command, along with Marine reservists with the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines out of Ohio, and the U.S. state of Georgia’s Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry participated in “Immediate Response 2008.” Operation Immediate Response 2008 was held from July 15-July 30, with U.S. personnel training about 600 troops at a former Soviet base near Tbilisi, the largest city and capital of Georgia. The goal of this operation was allegedly teaching combat skills for missions in Iraq. The Marines left, but not the airmen. Georgia had sent 2,000 soldiers to Iraq, who were recalled to face the Russian invasion. Washington has provided Georgia with materiel and advisers, and so did Israel—at least until Russia pressed it to stop, reportedly in return for promises to withhold advanced weapons from Syria.

The South Ossetia separatists claim U.S. intervention, saying there are black people among the Georgian casualties. But even if some American personnel went discreetly into action, that would not suffice to deter Russia from bringing Georgia to heel, if not physically occupying the country. And then the Western loss will not be limited to the independence of a small, remote, struggling democracy. Among items Israel has been selling to Tbilisi are pilotless drone aircraft. Russian fighters shot one down in May, according to UN observers. Russia sent Israel a letter of protest after the shooting incident asking it to stop supplying military hardware to Georgia “as Russia from time to time complies with Israel’s requests not to supply weapons systems” to states seen as threatening Israel, according to the Israeli daily Ma’ariv. Israel is one of the world’s leading arms exporters but does not detail the contents or value of its trade with individual countries.

In addition to the spy drones, Israel has also been supplying Georgia with infantry weapons and electronics for artillery systems, and has helped upgrade Soviet-designed Su-25 ground attack jets assembled in Georgia, according to Koba Liklikadze, an independent military expert based in Tbilisi. Former Israeli generals also serve as advisers to the Georgian military.

Source: http://www.americanfreepress.net/htm..._role_146.html

[Armenian]

Re: The American Century: Neoconservatism

Obama’s New Running Mate: ‘I’m a Zionist’

Sen. Joseph Biden (D–Del.), whom Barack Obama has chosen as his running mate, called Israel “the single greatest strength America has in the Middle East” in a 2007 interview and proclaimed that he is “a Zionist.” According to The Daily Israel Report, in an interview with Shalom TV, when Biden was still running for the presidential nomination, he said that since the 9-11 terror attacks, “Americans can taste what it must feel like for every Israeli mother and father when they send their kid out to school with their lunch to put them on a bus, on a bicycle or to walk; and they pray to God their cell phone doesn’t ring.” Biden also boasted of xxxish family connection:

“My son married a young woman whose mother . . . [is from] a very prominent xxxish family in the state of Delaware, the Bergers,” he said.

Biden said Jonathan Pollard, who is in a U.S. jail after being convicted of spying for Israel, deserves leniency. “There’s a rationale, in my view, why Pollard should be given leniency,” he said.

“When I was a young senator, I used to say, ‘If I were a xxx I’d be a Zionist.’ [But now] I am a Zionist. You don’t have to be a xxx to be a Zionist.”

Biden called attempts to link the conflict over the land of Israel and the Iraq war “bizarre.”

Many xxxs think Biden is not “Zionist enough.” For instance, Republican xxxish Coalition (RJC) Executive Director Matt Brooks cautioned against voting for the Obama and Biden ticket.

“With the selection of Sen. Joe Biden as Sen. Obama’s vice president, the Democrats’ ticket has now become an even greater gamble for the xxxish community,” he said. “Throughout his career, Sen. Biden has consistently been wrong on Iran and his voting record on Israel has been inconsistent.”

Source: http://www.americanfreepress.net/htm...onist_147.html

[Armenian]

Re: The American Century: Neoconservatism

Sarah Palin: The New Face of Neocon Foreign Policy?

Last night, vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin gave a speech at the Republican National Convention which served as the first major address by a candidate who only a week ago many Americans had never even heard of. And while much of the speech was dedicated to introducing herself and her family to the American public (particularly her son Track who is being deployed to Iraq next week), it also provided the first serious glimpse at what turned out to be an unadulteratedly neoconservative position on foreign policy: a year old video of her declaring the Iraq War a task from God notwithstanding. Twice in her speech, she declared victory in Iraq to be “within sight”, and praised Senator McCain for having the “sheer guts” to defend the unpopular war though many predicted it would cost him voter support. She likewise lauded McCain’s war experience and chastised her Democrat opponents for their lack of military service. She also claimed that McCain had been granted special wisdom and compassion from his service and detention “by the grace of God”. Beyond Iraq, the Alaska Governor appeared to see threats everywhere, cautioning the crowd against “dangerous foreign powers” who don’t have America’s best interest at heart. She accused Russia of “wanting to control a vital pipeline in the Caucasus,” presumably referring to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, though the recent war with Georgia did not leave Russia in control of any territory near this pipeline. She also said Russia was “using energy as a weapon,” in a segment of her speech focused on energy independence. She also promised “to confront the threat that Iran might seek to cut off nearly a fifth of world energy supplies,” though Iran has only threatened to do this if they are attacked. Presumably also referring to Iran, she spoke of “terrorist states” which are “seeking nuclear weapons without delay,” and condemned Democratic presidential nominee Barrack Obama for saying he would meet with them without preconditions. Finally, she warned that terrorists may disrupt Saudi Arabia’s oil supply, and warned that al-Qaeda “still plot(s) to inflict catastrophic harm on America,” while mocking Obama for being “worried that someone won’t read ‘em their rights”. Between her eagerness to confront these “dangerous foreign powers,” her disdain for unconditional diplomacy, and her dismissive attitude toward very legitimate concerns about the treatment of detainees in US military custody many are left wondering: is Sarah Palin the new face of neoconservative foreign policy?

Source: http://news.antiwar.com/2008/09/04/a...oreign-policy/

[Fedayeen]

Re: The American Century: Neoconservatism

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdJUCU1UH2w

[Armenian]

Re: The American Century: Neoconservatism

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdJUCU1UH2w

A well done video presentation, Fedayeen. However, in the end, none of it will matter. Regardless of who wins, Obama or McCain, nothing will change in this nation's approach to international politics. The reality that true democracy has never existed anywhere on earth is something we Armenians, especially you Levonakans in LA, need to learn. The irony is that the real reason why we in the US (and they in Western Europe) enjoy a high living standard is because for the past several centuries western nations have conquered third world nations, exterminating them, enslaving them, exploiting them and stealing their natural wealth. Yes Fedayeen, the reason why we all fled the third world nation's and ended up here in the "land of the free and home of the brave" is because for well over a hundred years corrupt/criminal politicians in the US have conducted wars around the world (including in this country) in the name of profit and power. Don't expect this to change.

[Fedayeen]

Re: The American Century: Neoconservatism

A well done video presentation, Fedayeen. However, in the end, none of it will matter. Regardless of who wins, Obama or McCain, nothing will change in this nation's approach to international politics. The reality that true democracy has never existed anywhere on earth is something we Armenians, especially you Levonakans in LA, need to learn. The irony is that the real reason why we in the US (and they in Western Europe) enjoy a high living standard is because for the past several centuries western nations have conquered third world nations, exterminating them, enslaving them, exploiting them and stealing their natural wealth. Yes Fedayeen, the reason why we all fled the third world nation's and ended up here in the "land of the free and home of the brave" is because for well over a hundred years corrupt/criminal politicians in the US have conducted wars around the world (including in this country) in the name of profit and power. Don't expect this to change.

Please don't call me Levonakan or Sargianikan or anyakan...just because i side with the people and not with those who are in control does not make me 'akan.

And yes very well said, nothing will change no matter who gets in the office.