Human nature causes us to measure progress against utopia rather than against the past.
The State of the World is Better Than You Think
By: George Noga – January 17, 2021
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Tag: Terrorism
America’s 25 Year Long Party Is Over
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Victory Over Radical Islamic Terrorism
A highly practical and potent 10-part plan to defeat radical Islamic terrorism
By: George Noga – June 19, 2016
At MLLG we don’t just consternate about problems, we are into solutions. This post presents an effective and powerful 10-part plan to defeat radical Islamic terrorism.
1. Know the enemy; use its correct name: The enemy is radical Islamic terrorism. Jihad is a 1,400 year old religious mandate for those who take the Quran literally. There are over 100 exhortations to violence in the Quran; those who comply are not extremists perverting Islam. Our present policy is one of self deception and political correctness. We must understand the enemy and use its correct name to defeat it. If Obama were president in 1941, he would have said we were attacked by militant expansionism.
2. Declare war: This is needed for clarity, focus and unambiguous commitment. Most importantly, it transforms the legal landscape in numerous positive ways. In a declared war our enemies only rights are per the Geneva convention; we can impose economic sanctions, take POWs, confiscate assets and arrest domestic collaborators as traitors.
3. Ban jihadist websites; make accessing one a serious crime: There already exists a proven model for this strategy, the successful campaign against child pornography. Are not jihadists even worse than child pornographers? Knowingly visiting such a website would be a felony. Return to the US following visits to jihadist locations would be banned. These measures would go a long way to stop self-radicalization. As with Bosnia, jihadist leaders should be tried in the World Court for crimes against humanity.
4. Deny terrorists all territory, revenue sources and staging areas: This requires boots on the ground. Most forces should be provided by our Sunni allies with the US acting as quarterback and to provide air, logistic, intel, naval and limited ground troops for specialized roles. Continue and expand drone attacks to decapitate leadership. As terrorists lose battles, they become seen as the weak horse and support evaporates.
5. Demand assistance from Moslem communities: Mosques and Moslem communities should be expected to police their communities and identify possible jihadists. We also should expect these communities to publicly renounce jihad and all forms of violence. In a declared war, anyone advocating jihad could be arrested for supporting the enemy.
6. Impose repercussions on families of jihadists: As in Israel, there must be measures taken against families (immediate family, siblings and two generations back) of mass killers. Measures would include, inter alia, deportation and forfeiture of assets. Anything we can do to change the calculus of possible jihadists could save many lives.
7. Initiate a massive public relations campaign: A sustained blitz to highlight barbaric practices such as child marriage, honor killing, genital mutilation, miscegenation and homophobia is needed. This type of psychological warfare should exact a toll – much as Reagan’s calling the USSR an evil empire. Remember, they call us the Great Satan.
8. Expand Guantanamo; build new facility in St. Helena: Guantanamo is a model prison and better than most in western Europe. It needs to be vastly expanded. If there isn’t sufficient space at Gitmo, then we should lease land from the UK in St. Helena.
9. Do all the above for as long as necessary: Implement the preceding eight measures ASAP and continue until complete victory is achieved. This must be done with the understanding that the war may be an intergenerational one and that final and total victory may not be achieved until the time of our children or grandchildren.
10. Live our lives as usual: No amount of measures or vigilance will stop every Islamic terrorist attack and there will be setbacks. The best way to confront terrorism is to continue to live our lives according to our values – that drives jihadists even crazier.
The 10-step plan outlined herein is a real solution to a real problem. Obama and progressives ignore or refuse to correctly name real problems, preferring fake solutions to fake problems. War is a terrible thing that no American welcomes. But as Leon Trotsky once said: “You may not be in interested in war but war is interested in you“.
Next we address the timeless struggle between personal freedom and government power.
Orlando Deaths Not Due To Climate Change
Those killed yesterday in Orlando were victims of a war that dare not speak its name.
Special Posting About the Orlando Terrorist Attack
By: George Noga – June 13, 2016
As most readers know, MLLG is based in Orlando; accordingly, yesterday’s act of terrorism hit home. Firstoff, a few corrections to media reportage are needed. The US mass killing with the most fatalities is not Orlando; it was Waco, Texas with 84 killed. Instead of terrorists, the killing was perpetrated by Janet Reno. Second, it is inaccurate to describe the Orlando terrorist as a lone wolf; he had extensive ties to jihadists; he may have done the shooting but he was no lone wolf like say a Ted Kaczynski.
Those slaughtered in Orlando were only the latest in a long train of similar atrocities. There have been over 30 separate fatal incidents. From the bombings in the Beirut embassy and marine barracks in the 1980s killing 241 soldiers, to the Berlin disco bombing, to Pan Am flight 103, to the 1993 attacks on CIA headquarters and the World Trade Center that killed many more – there was one common denominator.
The Khobar Towers bombing in 1998 killed 19; this was followed by the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania killing scores more. Seventeen sailors died in the USS Cole attack and another 2,997 Americans perished in the World Trade Center. These were followed by the Daniel Pearl beheading, Karachi Consulate attack, murder of marines in Kuwait, the Riyadh bombing and yet more beheadings in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Khartoum – again, there was only one common denominator.
At Fort Hood 13 more died; Benghazi saw the slaughter of our ambassador and 3 others; and the Boston Marathon massacre saw 3 killed and 183 injured. Just within the past year there were 4 marines killed in Chattanooga, the 14 deaths in San Bernardino and now, Orlando. Yes – all this terror and slaughter had a single common denominator.
What is the common denominator responsible for this horror that has been with us for 33 years? Is it climate change, corporate tax inversions, workplace violence, wage inequality or fossil fuels? Is it Citizens United, the TPP, gender specific restrooms, gluten, campus rape culture, too big to fail, white racism, lack of free community college, war on women, low minimum wages or state right to work laws? Or could it be the accumulation of microagressions or lack of trigger warnings or safe rooms?
Could the common thread possibly be GMOs, fracking or even religious opposition to birth control and gay marriage by bakers, florists and nuns? Could the common denominator be lack of sustainability, broken window policing, the vast right wing conspiracy, Chick-fil-A or even the legacy of George W. Bush? Or, were all of these horrific incidents merely isolated crimes best handled by the criminal justice system?
To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, we are in the midst of a war against an enemy that dare not speak its name. The over 100 dead and wounded in Orlando yesterday were not killed by climate change, fracking or GMOs; they were killed by radical Islam.
Note to readers: In the time ahead we will have much more about terrorism.
The next post on June 19th explains why business succeeds while government fails.
America’s Conflict with Radical Islam Dates to 1785
| Visit the new MLLG website; it contains the best posts of all time. Conflict between radical Islam and America goes back 231 years. |
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By: George Noga – February 28, 2016
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We will get to America’s first encounter with Islamic terrorists, but first a few words about our new More Liberty – Less Government website. The website now is ready with most writings from mid 2011 to the present already on the website and more being added each week. Eventually, there will be over 75 past posts plus all 2016 posts. The website already has experienced thousands of hits even though I have yet to mention it in a post. Moreover, our posts now show up in Google searches (especially our Guns in America series). Go to www.mllg.us and you will find the following:
You will find extensive information about MLLG and also about yours truly, including some things that may surprise you. If you enjoy reading our posts, you will enjoy browsing the website and finding all our most popular posts and series including: Defining Liberalism, IQ in Society and Public Policy, The Gods of the Copybook Headings and many about climate change including Warming Throughout the Solar System. It also is a great way for your friends and associates to learn about our work. America’s First Encounter with Muslim Terrorism In 1785 (231 years ago) Dey Muhammad of Algiers declared war on the United States and captured several American ships. Soon thereafter, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, American diplomats in London at the time, requested a meeting with the ambassador from Tripoli regarding piracy by the Barbary States. The meeting took place in early 1786 and Adams and Jefferson sent a letter dated March 28, 1786 summarizing the meeting to John Jay, at that time the US Secretary of Foreign Affairs under the Articles of Confederation. Adams and Jefferson asked the ambassador why the Barbary States made war upon the United States which had done them no injury. Adams and Jefferson went on to say that America considered all mankind as our friends who had done us no wrong, nor had given us any provocation. The ambassador’s response to Adams and Jefferson as contained in their letter to John Jay is excerpted in the following paragraph.
Eventually, the US fought two Barbary wars in 1801-1805 and again in 1815-1816. In the first war, a combined land and naval assault by the US Marine Corps on Tripoli won the war; in the second, the US Navy, led by Commodore Steven Decatur, forced a peace treaty on the Barbary States. Thereafter, the Barbary States did not capture any more US ships although they continued to pillage and plunder those of other nations. Not much has changed in over 230 years; is there a lesson here from the past? The next post revisits our favorite topic – climate change; it is not to be missed! |
America’s Greatest Threats
Power Grid, EMP Attack, Coronal Mass Ejection
By: George Noga – June 10, 2014
Weakness, not strength, invites conflict and war – a truth known throughout human history and included in George Washington’s farewell address when he said: “The best way to keep the peace is to be prepared for war“. It is a lesson which America forgets regularly. We (along with Europe) forgot it is the 1920s and 1930s; we had amnesia again under Carter in the 1970s. We deeply regretted it both times. Now under President Obama we have not only forgotten but we fail to take even inexpensive measures that could stave off disasters with potentially 100+ million American casualties.
Obama displays weakness and appeasement at every possible opportunity. He cancelled our missile defense in Europe to the chagrin of our allies and received nothing in exchange. He manifested weakness in Libya, North Korea, Egypt, Iran, Syria, Crimea, Ukraine and the Middle East. He has savaged the defense budget and made unilateral reductions in our strategic forces. Everything he (and his acolytes Clinton and Kerry) do and say signals weakness. He refuses to recognize the attacks in Benghazi, Ft. Hood and San Jose (power grid) as terrorism.
Alexandr Solzhenitsyn understands; he said the following when accepting his Nobel Prize. “The spirit of Munich has by no means retreated into the past; it was not merely a brief episode. The timid civilized world has found nothing with which to oppose the onslaught of a sudden revival of barefaced barbarity other than concessions and smiles. The spirit of Munich is a sickness of the will of successful people; it is the daily condition of those who have given themselves up to the thirst after prosperity at any price, to material well-being as the chief goal of earthly existence. Such people – and there are many in today’s world – elect passivity and retreat, just so as their accustomed life might drag on a bit longer, just so as not to step over the threshold today – and tomorrow you’ll see, it will be all right. But it never will be all right! The price of cowardice will only be more evil.” Solzhenitsyn preternaturally was describing Obama.
Protecting the Power Grid Against Terrorism and Natural Phenomena
This post (space limitations) deals only with EMP and power grid threats, but it is: (1) one of the greatest threats in terms of possible casualties, i.e. 100+ million; (2) the most likely to happen sooner or later; (3) the most imminent; (4) accomplishable on a low budget with existing technology; and (5) difficult to trace the source. One threat is an attack on our electrical power grid. Such an attack can be carried out exactly by doing what was done in San Jose on a larger scale; it also can be carried out via an EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse) attack involving only one low-grade nuclear device. Shockingly, the same damage can result from a coronal mass ejection or “CME” – more about this infra.
April 16, 2013 at 1:00 AM near San Jose, California, a group of 2 to 6 terrorists attacked and knocked out a major electrical transmission substation. The terrorists first cut underground fiber optic cables, cut communications and disabled security systems. All skilled marksmen, they commenced a highly disciplined, coordinated attack with high power rifles knowing precisely where to aim. When police arrived 50 minutes later, the terrorists were long gone, left no evidence and never have been found. This likely was a rehearsal for a broader attack that could knock out America’s entire power grid.
It would require fewer than 10 such teams of terrorists (20 to 60 people in total) under 30 minutes to kill 100 million Americans. Because of the interconnectivity of America’s power grid, knocking out a small number of facilites would shut down the entire country. It took several months to repair the damage in San Jose as key components are manufactured in Korea and not readily available. In that amount of time a broader attack could have killed 100 million. Note: You may have missed the San Jose incident in the news because it happened the same time as the Boston Marathon bombing.
The same effect can be achieved via an EMP attack by detonating a single low power nuclear device at the right altitude; it would create an EMP that would knock out power in America except for Alaska and Hawaii. Moreover, it recently has been understood that a massive solar storm (CME) could also knock out much of the power grid. Such storms occur every 150 to 300 years and there has not been one since the advent of electricity. Scientists believe we are due for a CME; in fact, one just missed Earth in July 2013. Lloyds of London estimated a CME would affect 20-40 million Americans for up to two years.
Some readers may be wondering how there could be 100+ million casualties from an attack (either EMP or San Jose style) on the power grid that knocked out power for months – and that is how long it would take to restore power. Without electricity, the US can provide for less than 10% of Americans; the other 270 million are out of luck. Virtually nothing would work; there would be no food and water; nuclear power plants would melt down because they require power for cooling. Most deaths would come from starvation. Society, civil authority and the rule of law would disappear.
The Good News
The good news is that it is possible to attain a high degree of protection from all three of these perils at low cost. The quickest, easiest and cheapest is protection from terrorist attacks against our power grid. All that is required is to build high enough fences around our principal power transmission stations that would preclude snipers from knocking them out San Jose style. We also shock stockpile and store all critical spare parts near each facility. This could be accomplished in less than one year at a cost of under $1 billion.
Protection could be achieved against a CME by hardening our power grid; this also could be accomplished quickly and for under $1 billion. There is a bill now in Congress, the SHIELD Act, which stands for Secure High-Voltage Infrastructure from Lethal Damage. Finally, deterrence and defense against an EMP attack can be accomplished via missile defense which is well within America’s current capability. Potential adversaries contemplating an EMP attack and knowing we had effective missile defense would decide not to pursue such an attack, and if they did, we likely could prevent it as it would be only one missile. Note: An EMP attack could be launched via balloon from within the USA; for that reason we need to harden the grid as a backup and also in case missile defense fails.
The Bad News
President Obama refuses to spend the money to protect America’s power transmission stations against terrorist attack – even though it is a shovel ready project. Heck, he won’t even call San Jose a terrorist attack because it goes against his political narrative that terrorism is receding – the same reason he falsely attributed the story about an internet video being responsible for the Benghazi attack. Obama refuses to spend money on missile defense because he considers it destabilizing and would rather spend the money to buy votes. Congress also needs to pass the SHIELD Act which currently is stuck in committee, although there is no reason to believe Obama would sign it.
“Obama won’t call Benghazi or San Jose terrorism; he won’t invest in missile defense; and he refuses to spend even one day’s borrowing to protect 100 million American lives.”
The USA borrows $2 billion each and every day to fund a massive government deficit but we won’t spend one day’s borrowing to protect America against the most imminent, likely and deadly threat we face by building walls around our key power stations, stockpiling spare parts and hardening our transmission infrastructure. The most important function of government, and one with which all agree, is to protect America against outside threats. Obama refuses to do this – he won’t even spend $1 billion to possibly save 100 million lives – that works out to a paltry $10 per American life. How would you feel, while watching your family dying an agonizing death from lack of food and water, to know that $10 per person could have prevented it and our president refused to spend it and for all the wrong reasons?
“He Came – He Saw – He Capitulated”
Syria is to Obama as Munich is to Chamberlain
By: George Noga – October 1, 2013
The headline above is a quote from Churchill; he made the remark about a British general (Monro) who upon being placed in command of the Battle for Gallipoli in WWI recommended an immediate evacuation of all Allied forces without further fighting. Churchillian phrasing is apropos because he also succeeded Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister following Chamberlain’s disastrous appeasement of Hitler at Munich. More Churchillian wisdom infra.
Lest anyone believe it is unfair to compare Obama to Chamberlain, you should know the first person to bring up Syria and Munich together was none other than John Kerry. Initially Kerry came on strong calling Assad’s use of chemical weapons “indiscriminate, inconceivable horror . . . an unspeakable crime . . . a crime against conscious, a crime against humanity” Kerry then went on to call Syria’s use of chemical weapons “this century’s Munich moment“.
A mere three days later Kerry again spoke publicly stating the US military response would be “very limited and very targeted” and further stated it would be “unbelievably small“. So, a crime that Kerry terms “inconceivable horror” is to receive an “unbelievably small” response. Of course, it gets even worse; Putin adroitly followed up an inept Kerry slip of the tongue and it seems there will be no response at all except to (maybe) take away some of Assad’s deadly toys.
This is appeasement pure and simple, which is defined as: to yield or concede to demands based on belligerance (actual or threatened) at the expense of principle. Just as with Hitler and Chamberlain, this is only the beginning of the price we and our friends will pay; consider:
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Despots and thugs everywhere now know using chemical weapons works. In Syria it worked to terrorize the regime’s enemies while also saving Assad’s regime.
- Cameron, Hollande, Netanyahu and all our allies now distrust Obama and will seek to make accommodations with our enemies – or at the very least to hedge their bets.
- Bashar al-Assad is transformed from a war criminal into a negotiating partner.
- The Middle East will become a much more volatile and dangerous place.
- Terrorists will be encouraged to plan bigger and more unthinkable actions.
- Obama’s red lines and incessant bluffing are exposed as worse than meaningless.
- Vladimir Putin has taken Obama’s measure and now can play him like a drum.
- North Korea knows we are toothless and South Korea has good cause to worry.
- Iran can go nuclear with impunity – its centrifuges are humming as you read this.
- The world will be a much more dangerous place especially as we deeply cut our military.
On October 5, 1938 following Chamberlain’s Munich Agreement Churchill said: “People should know the truth; we have sustained a defeat without a war. And do not suppose that this (Munich) is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year.” And so it is today!
“You were given the choice between war and dishonor.You chose dishonor and you will have war.”
Immediately after Chamberlain returned from Munich, Churchill said the following: You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war.”Obama has chosen appeasement and has opened Pandora’s box. In Greek mythology opening Pandora’s box meant performing an action that, in and of itself may seem inconsequential at the time, but turns out to have severe and far-reaching consequences. Oh yes – and in mythology Pandora’s box contained all the evils of the world.
Note to readers: The next posting will not be until mid November. I am off on assignment to Hawaii to research a future blog post. The Aloha state has been under total liberal dominance for well over a half century and has the most politically monolithic top-to-bottom government in America. Hawaii also has an uber-serious debt crisis despite the highest income tax rates in the USA. It has record food stamp, homeless and unemployment numbers and a serious drug problem. Have liberals screwed up paradise?
Reflections on the Boston Marathon Tragedy
By: George Noga – July 31, 2013
Sufficient time has passed to allow sober reflections on events surrounding the Boston Marathon tragedy. My impression at the time they were unfolding was that the police have undergone a transmogrification to become much more like the military while, at the same time, the military is being forced to act more like civilian police. These role reversals are disastrous for both institutions as well as the American people.
“Police have become like the military and the military like the police. This is disastrous for police, the military and the American people.”
Ultimately, the problems with police stem from the fact government has a monoply on the use of legally sanctioned force. Absent strict civilian controls, the natural order of things is the same as in any other monoply, i.e. over time policing becomes more and more autocratic and forfeits the erstwhile support of many citizens. The situation is exacerbated by virtue of police work being a closed subculture that attracts recruits from only a narrow band of society. Once initiated into the police fraternity, there is a special bonding and little openness to civil society.
That was the situation in Boston. Even before the marathon, Bostonians were under virtual siege. They were hectored about drinking and rowdiness during the marathon, prohibited from gathering on their own porches and roofs and warned there would be zero tolerance. In a true civil society, it should be the citizens who tell the police what conduct is to be permitted. The good people of Boston circa 1770-1776 never would have tolerated such police misconduct.
It was no surprise therefore when, following the bombing, thousands of police arrived including SWAT teams in armored personnel carriers resembling Star Wars Imperial Troopers. It had the feel of martial law or a coup in a banana republic. They shut down transportation, confined citizens to homes and behaved like an occupying force and all just to find one terrorist. Although I found this garish display of force out of proportion, the people of Boston didn’t as evidenced by their enthusiastically applauding the police when the manhunt was over.
“Private cameras photographed Tsarnevs. Private citizens identified them. A private citizen found Dzhokhar. Government failed Boston.”
What lessons are we to take away from all this? Following are the top five.
- Police should act like police not the army. There must be civilian control and oversight. Non political leaders of civil society must be appointed to exercise the oversight and must resist regulatory capture, i.e. when over time, they become apoligists for the police.
- We need to open up police work to a wide swath of society and encourage police not to be insular. Myths need to be dispelled; police are not among the top 10 most hazardous jobs. Citizens are nearly 10 times more likely to be killed by police than by a terrorist.
- Government failed to heed Russian warnings about the Tsarnevs. Government failed to detect they had returned to Chechnya and Dagestan. Boston police lacked photos of the Tsarnevs despite ample reasons to have them. The cameras used to identify the Tsarvevs were private. Private citizens identified the Tsarnevs. It was a private citizen who found Dzhokhar. The lockdown delayed his capture. Police misallocated resources, focusing more on sidewalk beer drinking than terrorism. Government failed the people of Boston.
- In the midst of the crisis, a vast majority of otherwise ultra-liberal Bostonians would gladly have supported enhanced measures to capture the terrorists and to prevent any further acts of terror. This looks for all intents like vindication of Bush’s policies.
- To the fullest extent possible, police should operate like a market rather than a monoply. If they were subject to market forces, they would have acted far differently both before and during the marathon bombing. Coercive relationships breed antagonism, defiance and victimhood; one does not coerce a customer – instead one promotes trust and goodwill.
Note to readers: I am taking a break; the next posting will be September 10-15.