When The Going Gets Tough, Call For Pizza

So sayeth Mark Steyn.

Basil Fawlty Diplomacy

Each day I’m more and more astonished.

Confirmed: Gordon Brown’s DVD’s Are Region 1

It doesn’t get any better. Great headline from Tim Walker in the London Telegraph:

Gordon Brown is frustrated by ‘Psycho’ in No 10

As an American, I can sympathise.

A Downing Street spokesman said he was “confident” that any gift Obama gave Brown would have been “well thought through,” but referred me to the White House for assistance on the “technical aspects”.

A White House spokesman sniggered when I put the story to him and he was still looking into the matter when my deadline came last night.

By the way, when Obama’s unlikely gift was disclosed, a reader emailed me to ask if Clueless was among the films. Funnily enough, it was not.

Brown, on the other hand, presented a rather more thoughtful gift to the American President in the form of a penholder carved from the timbers of an anti-slavery ship. The sister ship, in fact, of the one that was broken up and turned into the desk in the Oval Office.

Perhaps Jesus Christ Superstar will be in the next batch.

What kind of sweet hell is this?!

MORE: Moe Lane over at RedState:

I never want to hear another single bloody word about how intellectually incurious George W. Bush was.

EVER.

It Begins: Russia Tests Obama

Missile Crisis II?

“There are four or five airfields in Cuba with 4,000-meter-long runways, which absolutely suit us,” Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev told Interfax.

Zhikharev, who is the chief of staff of the Russian Air Force’s long-range aviation, said, “If the two chiefs of state display such a political will, we are ready to fly there.”

Zhikharev also told Interfax that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has offered a military airfield on La Orchila island as a temporary base for Russian strategic bombers.

“If a relevant political decision is made, this is possible,” he said, according to Interfax. Zhikharev said he visited La Orchila in 2008 and can confirm that with minor reconstruction, the airfield owned by a local naval base can accept fully-loaded Russian strategic bombers.

Drudge Siren: Obama Ready To Drop Missile Shield For Russian Help With Iran

MOSCOW, March 2 (RIA Novosti) – Washington has told Moscow that Russian help in resolving Iran’s nuclear program would make its missile shield plans for Europe unnecessary, a Russian daily said on Monday, citing White House sources.

U.S. President Barack Obama made the proposal on Iran in a letter to his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, Kommersant said, referring to unidentified U.S. officials.

Calgon, take me away!

Same Old Song In The Middle East

Haven’t said much about the latest Middle East conflict between Israeli and Hamas…and here’s why: I know how it’s going to end. It’s going to end like all the others. Israeli is going to bomb Hamas to within an inch of their lives. At that time, world diplomats (and at this point Barack Obama) will step in and broker a deal that “stops the bloodshed” which Israel’s Kadima idiots will sign on to. Peace in our time! Long live diplomacy! Hamas will then be able to regroup and rebuild with Iranian money and the process begins anew.

Simple. Easy. What more is there to say?

MORE: An absolute classic: “Death to All Juice!“

EVEN MORE: It’s a whole new world…the IDF starts its own YouTube Channel. Wonder how long before YouTube gets cold feet and pulls it?

Corruption Goes Mainstream In Obama’s America

Ah, the Clintons…is there anything they can’t get away with? With Hillary primed to take over at Foggy Bottom, the nation’s worst couple finally released their list of donors to the Clinton Library and Massage Parlor. Needless to say, if this were anyone else on the planet it would be game over, but this is the Clintons, so we’ll have a few days of back and forth and one or two Republicans in the Senate who will supply a few bumps in the road to confirmation and then Hillary will be sworn in. Does anyone doubt that?

Why Susan Rice Is Perfect For The U.N.

She’ll fit right in.

Mugabe Tells "Elders" To Pound Sand

The best right-wing blog couldn’t make this up. There is a need to send some folks to Zimbabwe to see how many people Mugabe is starving. The Will Rogers of Africa, Nelson Mandela, who never met a dictator he didn’t like, says Jimmy Carter and Kofi Annan should go. For those not attuned to events of the last 30 years, G-d took six days and six nights to create the universe, and on the seventh day he vomited and out came Jimmy Carter and Kofi Annan. So, getting back to the action, as these two geniuses rang the doorbell, Mugabe slammed the door on their faces.

Don’t you love international diplomacy?

The Treatment Of George W. Bush

A very nice piece in the Wall Street Journal from Jeff Shapiro on the shabby treatment of George W. Bush:

This is the price Mr. Bush is paying for trying to work with both Democrats and Republicans. During his 2004 victory speech, the president reached out to voters who supported his opponent, John Kerry, and said, “Today, I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent. To make this nation stronger and better, I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust.”

Those bipartisan efforts have been met with crushing resistance from both political parties. The president’s original Supreme Court choice of Harriet Miers alarmed Republicans, while his final nomination of Samuel Alito angered Democrats. His solutions to reform the immigration system alienated traditional conservatives, while his refusal to retreat in Iraq has enraged liberals who have unrealistic expectations about the challenges we face there. It seems that no matter what Mr. Bush does, he is blamed for everything. He remains despised by the left while continuously disappointing the right.

[…]

Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty — a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House.

I keep hearing how this country is so divided after 8 years of Bush. Well, why is this? Bush bent over backwards to bring his “new tone” to Washington. He had everything and anything said about him, and to the frustration of conservatives he would never fight back feeling it was beneath the presidency. George W. Bush didn’t divide America…Americans did that. And Shapiro is right about how damaging this can be when viewed by our enemies. Whether you agreed with the War on Terror or not, we actually had a large part of our population wanting us to lose, wanting soldiers to die, wanting George W. Bush impeached. Vladimir Putin is rubbing his hands together at the thought of a weak president. Republicans have to hope that Obama is strong when facing Putin and others, otherwise the world will be in great peril. I cannot bring myself to hope for American failure just to hurt Obama, but in this past eight years, many wanted America hurt so George W. Bush would be hurt. A very sad state of affairs.