LFTC - Letter From The Capitol

IRAN: Stopping Nukes

We won't find the nukes when minted, so the capability must be destroyed....

Afghanistan: Winnable?

Despite the best imaginable commander team, can America prevail in Afghanistan?....

"To Russia, With Love"

Why the unseemly haste to make a spy swap with the Russians?....

The Latest Palestinian Child-Abuse Atrocities

Watch this "When We Die as Martyrs" child video (3:02) and try not to throw up: Orwell + Nazis.  More....

Morocco: Moderate Islam Center?

AS Turkey turns away, Morocco turns anew towards the West....

Cuba 1962, Iran 2010: Another Nuclear Crisis

Today TAS posted my article, "Cuba 1962 and Iran 2010: Will There Be a Mideast Nuclear Castro?"

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Homeland Security, Nuclear Proliferation, Arms Control, WMD, Foreign Policy, UN, Conservative Politics

IRAN: Revolt 2009 Plus One

Claudia Rosett exposes feeble US policy as Iran's democratic movement sinks, a year after a stolen election.

Taliban HIV Cocktail

The Sun reports that Afghan Taliban are lacing IEDs with HIV, targeting Brits.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Foreign Policy, Conservative Politics

IRAN Update: Mostly Bad News

The Daily Telegraph reports on Iran's latest smuggling via Dubai for its nuclear program....

Turkey: "Islamism 2.0" Crashing?

Turkey's turn toward Islamism gives America new opportunities, if we are astute enough to seize them....

51 Years Ago: American Power Kept Us Free

I attended the christening of the USS George Washington, SSBN 598, launched June 9, 1959....

Turkey Spurns West; West Spurns Israel

Turkey is turning from the West and we might as well face the unhappy music....

President Obama's National Security Strategy

On May 27 the White House released its new National Security Strategy (55 pages).  Sad to say....

Saudi Arabia: A Blow for Women's Rights!

Cheers for the Saudi woman who recently belted a religious thug-cop!  "You go, girl!"

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, Terrorism, Homeland Security, Foreign Policy, Conservative Politics

President Obama's West Point Address & Danny Pearl Fatuity

President Obama's May 22 West Point graduation address is laden with lofty words.  It is hard to swallow as he appeases Iran, Russia & Syria, shoves Israel into a Palestinian-tilted bargain, slights the UK & Canada, grovels at the UN, and spends America towards permanent bankruptcy.  Mark Steyn shows the fatuity of Obama's see-no-Islamic evil remark re beheaded reporter Daniel Pearl.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Homeland Security, Foreign Policy, UN, Conservative Politics

North Korea: The South Answers

South Korea is cutting trade ties & declaring its waters off-limits to North ships.  Good, but too late....

IRAN's Russian Nuclear Enablers & America's Surrender

Russia waters down new UN sanctions & brokers the Brazil/Turkey/Iran deal undermining same; Germany stops an illegal shipment en route to Iran via Russia; Kissinger predicts sanctions will fail, & we surrender....

CHINA: Regional Naval Domination Near Certain

Author-soldier Mark Helprin explains why China is likely to dominate the Western Pacific in a decade.  It then will annex Taiwan & unravel America's Asian alliances.  Defense maven Daniel Goure urges Team Obama to sell Taiwan the 66 F-16s it desires to buy.  But F-16s are not nearly enough, as Helprin shows.

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Nuclear Proliferation's Progress

On the nuclear proliferation front, the news just gets worse--and figures to get even worse....

Pirates: Blue-Water Rafting

Anne Applebaum notes a practical solution for Somali piracy: releasing pirates on small rafts to make their was hundreds of miles to shore.  Call it "blue-water rafting."

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, National Security, Terrorism, Foreign Policy, Conservative Politics

IRAN: Nuclear Checkmate?

Iran fakes out the West, AGAIN!  When the Washington Post & New York Times agree on this, THAT's NEWS!....

Israel & India: "Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship"

Historian Walter Russell Mead analyzes the blossoming ties between Israel & India. It is a tale to reckon with....

V-E Day + 65: A Remembrance

Paul Kengor, author of two books on the Reagan years, dredges up a neglected story: the brutal Soviet occupation of East Berlin, symbolized by our victorious ally's mass rapine & murder, and even running Buchenwald as a concentration camp.  A sober reminder of the company we kept in WW-II....

Navy SEAL Trial Three: WHO is Lying?

A Human Events piece details opening arguments in the trial of Petty Officer Matthew McCabe, the Navy SEAL accused of punching an al-Qaeda detainee.  It is riveting reading.  Root for McCabe.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Homeland Security, Foreign Policy, Conservative Politics,

Sharpshooting at Jhadists

A US special forces sniper has set a distance record for a kill, taking out a Taliban target from a range of 8,120 feet--slightly over 1-1/2 miles.  He used a British L115A3 Long Range Rifle.  Team Obama published its official estimate of drone strike deaths, and found mostly bad guys hit.  Take their tally, not that from the Taliban.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Foreign Policy

Ahmadinejad Does the UN Again: Obama Does Israel (& US) Again

Yesterday Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadiejad addressed the latest UN Nuclear Nonproliferation Conference. More bad news--lots of it....

US Nuclear Stockpile: We Tell the World

The Obama administration released yesterday the official figures for the US nuclear stockpile, 1945 - 2009.  It is a good thing....

Russia's Latest Lethal Gift for Rogues

While the US publishes its stockpile figures, Reuters reports that Russia will market a compact cruise missile that can be fired from a standard shipping container, and sink an aircraft carrier.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Arms Control, Foreign Policy

China: Need for More Nuclear Missiles?

Beijing's main military newspaper called for China to field a nuclear force capable of surviving a first strike and then launching a retaliatory strike.  The implications of this are simple: China needs a force larger than the few hundred missiles it now has deployed, in order to be able to ride out a Russian or American (however improbable) nuclear first strike.  Team Obama is doing what comes natural to them: holding back details on China's growing arsenal.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Nuclear Proliferation, Arms Control, WMD, Foreign Policy, Conservative Politics

Russia Buys Ukraine, Ukraine Buys Trouble

The Washington Post reports that Russia & Ukraine signed a pact ensuring (if Moscow honors it, that is) a 30 percent discount through 2019 on natural gas in return for a 25-year extension of Russia's lease at the Sevastopol naval base, giving Russia its Black Sea port.  Mother Russia is reclaiming her departed subjects.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, National Security, Foreign Policy, Conservative Politics

North Korea: Third Nuke Test Coming

In time for sunny May, North Korea is readying a third nuclear test, the first two having been only partial fizzles.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Homeland Security, Nuclear Proliferation, Arms Control, WMD, Foreign Policy, UN, Conservative Politics

North Korea's Crime Inc.

Ace investigative journalist Claudia Rosett spotlights the criminal operation set up a generation ago by North Korea's founder, tyrant Kim -Il-Sung, father of current tyrant Kim Jong-Il.  She links to a March 2010 CSIS Study (47 p.) that merits a read.  Perhaps the UN & our President can take time off from bashing Israel.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Foreign Policy, Conservative Politics

Iran: Covert Ops Success?

Agence France-Presse reports on US & Israeli covert sabotage delaying Iran's march to nuclear status.  Pray the report is true, and that covert operations, if underway, stay covert.  If true as to the US, then President Obama's Iran policy is not as weak as I think it is.

9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Homeland Security, Nuclear Proliferation, Arms Control, WMD, Foreign Policy, UN, Conservative Politics

Socialist Cuba: Castro's Hellish Creation

An article by Karen Horn in the UK publication Standpoint Magazine details how grim & desperate life is in Fidel & Raul Castro's socialist paradise.  It makes for searing reading.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, Foreign Policy, Conservative Politics

IRAN: Updating Options

Stories and reports galore update the story of Iran's march towards nuclear club membership.  Begin with the latest tally on Team Obama's apparent acquiescence in a nuclear Iran....

Team Obama Defends Drones

Long overdue, President Obama's top State Dept. legal adviser, a hard lefty, is defending the lawfulness of America's use of drones to target terrorists.  Not a moment too soon, as a Gray Lady front-pager reports that stepped-up drone strikes are paralyzing al-Qaeda & Taliban forces in the Af/Pak theater.  It gets better....

Good Friday: Easter Weekend in Jerusalem

Washington Times pundit Wesley Pruden recounts how Jews governing Jerusalem protect the rights of all religions, not true when Muslims controlled the Old City.  As to how Palestinian leaders treat Jews on the West Bank....

Nuclear Proliferation: The Descending "Pitiless Crowbar" of Iranian Events

It is oddly fitting that this April Fools' Day President Obama keeps fooling himself that Iran will be stopped from going nuclear.  AEI scholar Danielle Pletka explains why only a strike at Iran's facilities is likely to stop Iran now....

Prague "New Start" Arms Treaty: Number Hocus-Pocus? Missile Defense Focus?

A Tuesday New York Times front-pager claims that arcane counting rules make the warhead totals actually higher than the numbers show.  The article explains how number counts in the Moscow Treaty of 2002 were also fishy.  This is S.O.P. for arms treaties with limits to feasible verification.  As to missile defense, history shows how America was trapped in the 1980s by the 1972 ABM Treaty....

Time of TALIBAN Troubles

Soldier-author Ralph Peters details the falling out among terror thieves in the "Af/Pak" theater, with Afghan Taliban enraged that Pakistan Taliban brought the wrath of the Pakistani Army on them too, denying them safe haven in Pakistan.  Big win for America and President Obama.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Foreign Policy, Conservative Politics

Prague Treaty 2010 & Prague 1973: Russian Reprise

While the US was negotiating the SALT II arms accord with the former Soviet Union, between the May 1972 signing of SALT I in Moscow and the June 1979 signing of SALT II in Vienna, the Kremlin had anything but peace in mind.  Moscow today may plan similar surprises....

Dubai Assassination: More Unanswered Questions

Intelligence maven Edward Jay Epstein's latest WSJ op-ed raises fascinating questions about the Dubai hit on a Hamas chief for which the world blames Israel.  EJE offers more reasons to doubt that Israel did it.

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North Korea: Regime Crisis Coming?

The Times of London reports that "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-Il is on kidney dialysis and has not recovered fully from his 2008 stroke.  The Washington Post reports on rising resistance within North Korea to the regime's tyranny....

Carrier Operations: Survival at Sea

Take a little time to watch Part I (10:00) & Part II (10:00) of carrier pilots trying to land in heaving seas and and then at night.  Riveting footage of America's Finest.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Foreign Policy

IRAN's Latest Nuclear Offer & Russia's Nuclear News

Iran's latest nuclear fuel exchange offer is to ship 1,200 kilograms of its estimated 2,065-kilogram stockpile of low-enriched uranium to Russia for enrichment to the 19.75 percent medical fuel level, in a single package rather than small installments per earlier Iran offers.  With SecState Hillary "Reset" Clinton in Moscow, Tsar Vlad the Bad announced that Iran's Russian-built nuclear plant will open this June.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Homeland Security, Nuclear Proliferation, Arms Control, WMD, Foreign Policy, UN, Conservative Politics

The War for Jerusalem

A Jerusalem Post article identifies the true source of the latest Palestinian outburst: religion, not housing.  Which makes true peace between Arabs & Israelis a near impossibility....

IRAN: New Pals, New Timeline Too?

Iran signed a $7.6B gas pipeline deal with Pakistan, gas to flow in mid-2015.  Iran continues to serve as a regional "facilitation hub" for al-Qaeda.  But Iran's nuclear program, much aided by Russia & China, may be slowing down due to technical snags--Gen. Petraeus says 2011 is earliest nuclear Iran date.

China's Coming Challenge

The Project 2049 Institute, an Asia-Pacific think tank, has several papers detailing China's advanced weapons programs, covering nuclear, convention and space weapons.  Lots to read and lots to worry about.

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Nuclear Proliferation, Arms Control, WMD, Foreign Policy, Conservative Politics

IRAN: Jaywalking Into June

Global security Newswire reports that France sees the earliest month for a vote on stiffer UN sanctions to be June.  The Hindustan Times reports that Iran arrested 30 people alleged to by spying with our CIA, ISO information on Iranian nuclear scientists.  The Washington Post reports that Pakistani nuclear father A. Q. Khan has disclosed help he gave Iran's program (lots).  But Iran failed to buy $10B of A-bombs from Pakistan.  The silver lining in a darkening (mushroom) cloud....

Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Homeland Security, Nuclear Proliferation, Arms Control, WMD, Foreign Policy, UN, Conservative Politics

Venezuela: Murder He Wrote

Venezuela's murder rate, after 11 years of Hugo Chavez, is skyrocketing.  Its nationwide 2009 murder rate of 54 per 100,000 is second in South America to El Salvador's 70; its Caracas toll of 140 per 100,000 is second south of Tio Sam's border to Mexico's Cuidad Juarez.  This is about 15,100 murders for the country & 3,100 for Caracas.

Apply these murder tares to America, at 309M 11 times Venezuela's 28M population and to Caracas, at 2.1M 3-1/2 times Washington, DC's 600,000 population.  You would get for the US 166,100 murders and for DC 885 murders.  In fact, America had 16,124 murders in the first 8 months of  2009 and DC about 140.  Thus Venezuela's murder rate is about 7 times ours, and for Caracas v. DC its rate is about 6 times ours.

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