Will Putin Seize Ukraine, And If So When?

  By Timothy D. Naegele[1]

Russia’s killer Vladimir Putin is expected to attend Xi Jinping’s Winter Olympics in Beijing[2], and then all bets are off.  As I wrote in 2015:

The world must never forget that Putin left the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing to launch his aggression against Georgia.  Then, he left the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and launched his aggression against Crimea and the rest of Ukraine.  Also, the world must never forget that in addition to downing Malaysia Airlines Flight 17—and killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board—Putin killed Alexander Litvinenko and countless others.[3]

Exploiting America’s humiliating defeat in Afghanistan, both Putin and Xi are “chess masters” who may move simultaneously to inflict heavy losses—both psychologically and militarily—against the United States and the American people.  In short, the “axis of evil” may strike on multiple fronts before our elections occur later this year.

Larry Kudlow—the Director of the National Economic Council during the Trump Administration from 2018 to 2021[4]—has written an article entitled “A Perfect Storm Engulfs Biden Over Economy, Europe, and Asia,” which is worth reading:

Almost immediately following President Biden’s blundering news conference on Wednesday, a near-perfect storm has descended.  Stock markets are selling off with their worst performance in many years.  Interest rates and oil prices are rising.  High inflation is embedded in the economy, and the Federal Reserve is about to launch a monetary tightening cycle.

Russia shows absolutely no signs of de-escalating in the Ukraine. If anything, it has gotten more aggressive by moving troops into Belarus and ships into the Black Sea, effectively surrounding Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Mr. Biden’s domestic agenda has collapsed, and the very essence of his presidency is hanging by a thread.  He has never recovered from the catastrophic Afghanistan withdrawal.

Nor has he recovered from his launch of a radical left big-government socialist domestic policy.

Polls unanimously show the public is simply not buying the product Mr. Biden is selling.  He doubled down on his failed woke product last Wednesday, another huge mistake.

Now, in a futile attempt to recoup his failed diplomacy with Russia, Mr. Biden’s Administration is suddenly saber-rattling an increase of American GIs into Eastern Europe under the NATO flag.  This after telling the country he would not deploy American troops.

Right now, I am completely unconvinced and uncomfortable with putting another 8,500 Yanks into Eastern Europe.

For one thing, Putin couldn’t care less. He’s got about a couple hundred [thousand] troops around the area—8,500 is an ankle bite.

For another thing, President Biden and his team have been so far behind the curve on this Ukraine story that it looks as if they can never catch up.  Our own diplomats, intel people and even Defense Department sources, expect Russia to invade Ukraine.

Look, I’m no isolationist and I’m always America First in international relations, but the way to deal with Mr. Putin is by closing down his Nord Stream pipeline and shutting Russia out of the dollar-based international banking system.

These kinds of brute economic sanctions are something that would surely get Mr. Putin’s attention and do great damage to his economy.  Close down the Russian central bank and their larger commercial banks from using the SWIFT electronic funds transfer system.

The dollar is the world’s reserve currency. About 90% of foreign exchange transactions are denominated in dollars. Take Russia out of that system and their economy is literally sunk. S-u-n-k. They can fiddle around with some Chinese banks, but China and its capital controls are a small sideshow digression in world finance.

Say to Mr. Putin: No oil, no natural gas, no dollars, no banking. Then pour a larger and larger weapons arsenal into Ukraine. That’s a tough policy. That’s what Mr. Biden should have done the minute he learned of the Russian troop buildup.

Many weeks have been wasted.  America has been reacting to Mr. Putin, not defending its own agenda.  And now, the Bidens are digging a deeper hole by putting in more American soldiers, which will prove to be extremely unpopular and ineffectual.

By the way, I hate to say it, but the current Pentagon and national security group in this Administration has not earned any spurs after the Afghanistan fiasco.  At the moment, I don’t think we want them to expand their military horizon.

I don’t know if we are appeasing Mr. Putin. That’s such a toxic word. I do know that we have been enabling Mr. Putin.  The former KGB officer now turned presidential autocrat understands this full well.  We are playing his game, on his turf, with his narrative.

Instead of talking about NATO flags, backed by the unreliable Germany, I wish we were talking about American flags and American interests in freedom, democracy, and free-enterprise capitalism.

One final thought.  This is just in, and it blows my mind.  Apparently, the Biden Administration has arranged for the payment of Iran’s dues at the United Nations.

Can you believe this?  The Bidens have arranged to release $18 million of blocked Iranian funds, to be released to the Iranians so they can pay their dues, and—get this—have a vote in the United Nations, so that John Kerry and the State Department could once again bypass Congress and make a new deal with Iran.  Like I said, a perfect storm.[5]

Kudlow’s advocacy for the use of stringent economic sanctions is consistent with my earlier articles.[6]

© 2022, Timothy D. Naegele

_____

[1]  Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass).  See, e.g., Timothy D. Naegele Resume-21-8-6  and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/accomplishments/  He has an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University.  He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal (see, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commendation_Medal#Joint_Service). Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/articles/ and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/articles/), and studied photography with Ansel Adams.  He can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com

[2]  See, e.g., https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59663827 (“Beijing 2022: Putin tells Xi he will attend Winter Olympics”)

[3]  See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2015/11/29/the-death-of-putin-and-russia-the-final-chapter-of-the-cold-war/ (“The Death Of Putin And Russia: The Final Chapter Of The Cold War”)

[4]  See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Kudlow (“Larry Kudlow”)

[5]  See https://www.nysun.com/national/a-perfect-storm-engulfs-biden-over-economy-europe/91975/ (“A Perfect Storm Engulfs Biden Over Economy, Europe, and Asia”); see also https://www.gingrich360.com/2022/01/25/ukraine-taiwan-and-a-weak-commander-in-chief/ (“Ukraine, Taiwan, and a Weak Commander in Chief”) and https://theloudobbsshow.libsyn.com/president-trump-on-bidens-blunders-rinos-winning (“The Great America Show with Lou Dobbs: PRESIDENT TRUMP ON BIDEN’S BLUNDERS, RINOS & WINNING”)

[6]  See, e.g., supra n.3.

Unspoken in all of these discussions, but hanging like a dark cloud over all of the world today, is China’s Coronavirus pandemic.  Perhaps its impact is described best in an article by Meghan McCain, the former Senator and presidential contender’s daughter, which is worth reading.

See https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10443695/MEGHAN-MCCAIN-got-Covid-doubt-America-recover-not-Biden.html (“MEGHAN MCCAIN: I finally got Covid and it was so horrible it made me doubt if America will ever recover from this pandemic. It WILL but not with moronic Biden in charge”)

I was not a fan of her father, but I voted for him.  I know little or nothing about her, except she was anti-Trump.  The latest Coronavirus mutation, Omicron, is overriding the vaccines and boosters.

Will Americans Have A Country When Biden And His Democrats Are Finished With It?

  By Timothy D. Naegele[1]

If Donald Trump had served a second consecutive four-year term as our President, it is possible that China would have been forced to pay enormous reparations and/or restitution.  Amounting to trillions of dollars—and paid to Americans and others for having unleashed the devastating Coronavirus pandemic that has killed so many, and hurt so many others—China has sowed chaos in the United States and globally.  This is consistent with Xi Jinping’s goal of achieving global domination.[2]

Americans are split between those who has been vaccinated fully, and anticipate periodic “boosters” in the future like our yearly flu shots; and “anti-vaxxers,” many of whom are intelligent, well-educated and believe “devoutly” that we will not know for years (if not decades) what the long-term effects of the vaccines really are.  After all, more than 100 years have passed since the Spanish flu ended; and an estimated 50-100 million died from it, with the exact number still being undetermined.[3]

Meanwhile, Xi and his lapdog—Russia’s killer Vladimir Putin—continue to oppress their own people; threaten war against Taiwan and Ukraine, respectively; and sow the seeds of global chaos.  They have willing accomplices or handmaidens in America’s Left, who see this as an opportunity to further their own radical beliefs and agendas, and subjugate the masses.

A few examples will suffice.  They are changing the voting rules; opening our borders wide to illegal aliens (including human traffickers and other criminals), and rewarding them with financial and other benefits; making us dependent on oil from the volatile Middle East again; weakening our global alliances after our humiliating defeat in Afghanistan, where Americans were killed while others are still left behind; and blessing crimes that were prosecuted until recently.[4]

Lots of us began as Democrats but abandoned that political party years ago, when it veered so far to the Left that it became unrecognizable.  Today, it’s as if the bowels of Hell have opened wide and unleashed a host of devils on our great nation, which are determined to destroy or “cancel” everything that we have held dear and sacred.  To say that they are Godless is to be kind and forgiving, with respect to what they really are.  They are the Devil incarnate; that much is crystal clear.

For example, anyone who doubts this—or is offended by such an assertion—needs to read Barack Obama’s “Dreams from My Father.”[5] It is all there, in his own words: unbridled racism, and a hatred of America.  For those who scoff at this, one needs to realize that he grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia, and never lived on the American mainland until he attended Occidental College in Los Angeles.

His mother lived in Indonesia, and essentially raised her “second family” without him; and he only spent one month of his lifetime with his father, who visited Hawaii from Kenya.  His unbridled anger toward America has sowed racial divisions between blacks and whites; the lawlessness that is almost nonstop and an epidemic; and hatreds that have been festering, like a wound that never heals.[6]  All of this inures to the benefit of Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and our other enemies, who are bent on America’s destruction.

Conspiracy theorists aside, Barack Obama, Brain Dead Joe Biden[7], Willie Brown’s ho Kamala Harris[8], Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, and their fellow travelers of America’s Left are fulfilling the goals of Xi Jinping and China’s other rulers.  They are tearing apart the very fabric of our great nation.  Unless they are stopped in their tracks—for example, in our congressional elections later this year—the United States’ future may be imperiled.[9] 

© 2022, Timothy D. Naegele

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[1]  Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass).  See, e.g., Timothy D. Naegele Resume-21-8-6  and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/accomplishments/  He has an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University.  He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal (see, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commendation_Medal#Joint_Service). Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/articles/ and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/articles/), and studied photography with Ansel Adams.  He can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com

[2]  See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/timothy-d.-naegele.pdf (Timothy D. Naegele, “The Coronavirus and Similar Global Issues: How to Address Them”)

[3]  See supra n.2.

[4]  See, e.g., https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10391037/Nearly-100-people-charged-murder-free-walk-streets-Chicago-thanks-woke-bail-reform.html (“Nearly 100 people charged with murder are free on bail in Chicago”)

[5]  See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/is-barack-obama-a-racist/ (“Is Barack Obama A Racist?”)

[6]  See supra n.5.

[7]  See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2020/08/08/biden-is-brain-dead/ (“Biden Is Brain Dead”)

[8]  See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2020/08/11/brain-dead-joe-biden-has-picked-willie-browns-ho-as-our-next-president/ (“Brain Dead Joe Biden Has Picked Willie Brown’s Ho As Our Next President”)

[9]  See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2022/01/07/january-6-2021-in-perspective/ (“January 6, 2021, In Perspective”) and https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2021/12/30/2021-annus-horribilis/ (“2021 Annus Horribilis”)

January 6, 2021, In Perspective

  By Timothy D. Naegele[1]

The violence that occurred on January 6, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.—where I spent so many years—never should have happened, period.  Before working there, I served as an Army officer in The Pentagon, where I was assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency when it was headquartered there.[2]

While memories fade with the passage of time, many of us were glued to our TVs on the morning of September 11, 2001—or the infamous “9/11″—when our great nation was attacked by thugs from abroad.  They had hijacked our own airliners, which slammed into the Twin Towers in New York City, The Pentagon, and another that was brought down by courageous passengers in a Shanksville, Pennsylvania field.  The latter flight might have targeted our White House or Capitol.[3]

I was in California that day, and had gotten up early to watch Laura Bush testify at a hearing on Capitol Hill, when I saw the horrors unfold. Before 9/11, I had eaten dinner at the “Windows on the World” restaurant, atop one of the World Trade Center’s towers that were destroyed by the terrorists.[4]

Because of my work, I knew the security at The Pentagon and at our Capitol well, and had to pass security checks when I entered either building.  What happened at the Capitol on January 6th of last year is mind-boggling for me, especially in light of the fact that the FBI and other government agencies were apparently tipped off ahead of time about possible violence at the Capitol, yet they failed to respond.

Having tried to destroy Donald Trump from the moment his quest for the presidency began—in bogus impeachment attempts, and other concerted efforts masterminded by Barack Obama and his Democrats[5]—it is not surprising that they would try to pin the Capitol attacks on him too.  It is a convenient ruse to divert attention from the colossal failures of the Biden-Harris administration, which may result in the Democrats’ loss of the House in our elections later this year.[6]

I began as a Democrat in a devoutly-Republican family, but became an Independent when I left the Senate.  I had seen too much “dirt” on Capitol Hill[7], and I have been an Independent ever since.  Indeed, I concluded that the Democrats were “evil” but smart, while the Republicans were “Neanderthals” and dumb.  I have never changed that conclusion.[8]

Today, the Democrats and their Leftist cohorts in the media are trying to blame last year’s Capitol attacks on Trump and the Republicans, in a pathetic effort to salvage their likely-failing election prospects.  Some Republican “RINOs” are playing along with this ruse.  One is the “architect” of the George W. Bush presidency, Karl Rove, who was there when Bush invaded Afghanistan, and then embarked on the tragic Iraq War—in which 5,000 Americans died and many more were maimed, and trillions of dollars were wasted, for nothing.[9]

Our great nation is divided because of the Coronavirus pandemic and other factors[10]; and we need to heal, not engage in more divisiveness . . . and yes, lawlessness.  To incarcerate those who were there a year ago, without trials or other constitutionally-guaranteed rights, is repugnant unto itself.  This is especially true when the thugs, slugs, hoods and mongrels of “Black Lives Matter,” Antifa and other far-Left groups—who burned our cities, killed or hurt innocent Americans including our police, and destroyed black and other businesses—have never been brought to justice.[11]

© 2022, Timothy D. Naegele

_____

[1]  Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass).  See, e.g., Timothy D. Naegele Resume-21-8-6  and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/accomplishments/  He has an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University.  He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal (see, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commendation_Medal#Joint_Service). Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/articles/ and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/articles/), and studied photography with Ansel Adams.  He can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com

[2]  See, e.g., Timothy D. Naegele Resume-21-8-6 and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/accomplishments/

[3]  See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2021/09/13/9-11-every-american-should-read-this/ (“9/11—Every American Should Read This”)

[4]  See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_on_the_World (“Windows on the World”)

[5]  See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2019/09/30/impeachment-may-become-the-singular-obsession-in-washington-and-dominate-news-coverage/ (“Impeachment May Become The Singular Obsession In Washington, And Dominate News Coverage”)

[6]  See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2021/12/30/2021-annus-horribilis/ (“2021 Annus Horribilis”) and https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2021/12/20/have-woke-anti-americanism-and-china-risen-to-take-the-place-of-the-soviet-union-which-replaced-the-nazis-third-reich/ (“Have Woke Anti-Americanism And China Risen To Take The Place Of The Soviet Union, Which Replaced The Nazis’ Third Reich?”)

[7]  See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/09/24/washington-is-sick-and-the-american-people-know-it/ (“Washington Is Sick And The American People Know It”)

[8]  See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2019/04/29/the-democrats-are-evil-but-smart-while-the-republicans-are-neanderthals-and-dumb/ (“The Democrats Are Evil But Smart, While The Republicans Are Neanderthals And Dumb”)

[9]  See https://www.wsj.com/articles/republicans-jan-6-responsibility-anniversary-riot-storm-capitol-trump-protesters-investigation-11641417707 (“Republicans’ Jan. 6 Responsibility”)

[10]  See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/timothy-d.-naegele.pdf (Timothy D. Naegele, “The Coronavirus and Similar Global Issues: How to Address Them”)

[11]  See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2020/06/02/history-repeats-itself-thugs-riot-in-america/ (“History Repeats Itself: Thugs Riot In America”)

We Are All Parisians

 By Timothy D. Naegele[1][2]

On Friday the 13th day of November, 2015, the city of Paris was hit by multiple, deadly terrorist attacks. Like September 11, 2001 in New York City—or “9/11″[3]—the attacks and those who died will live on in the world’s consciousness.  They were tragic, horrific events similar those that have occurred in other cities and countries during recent years.

Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu, in what is now the State of Hawaii, was struck on the morning of December 7, 1941, which led to the United States’ entry into World War II—”a date which will live in infamy,” in the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt.[4]

For non-New Yorkers, the city was cold and overwhelming for most Americans before 9/11.  Even for those who could afford it, and traveled there for business, it was still uninviting.  After 9/11, most Americans embraced it and the heroic rescuers who went to the twin towers of the World Trade Center, trying to save lives.  Many of them perished.

“Windows on the World” restaurant, at the top of the North Tower, had spectacular views of the city; and one’s ears popped riding the elevator to its 107th floor.[5]  It is gone now, but New York City remains the financial capital of the world.  Similarly, the lovely city of Paris will survive and flourish even more after the attacks, for it has taken its place in the hearts of people around the world.

There are thousands of stories to be told by the survivors and other witnesses, and by those who came to their aid.  Perhaps they are best exemplified in the interview conducted by CNN’s Anderson Cooper with Isobel Bowdery and Amaury Baudoin, which is short and should be watched in its entirety:

In a wonderful and loving sense, all of us became Parisians, just like all of us became New Yorkers.

Also, it must never be forgotten that Islam has approximately 1.8 billion followers, only a pittance of whom are terrorists.  It would be wrong to discriminate against the majority, or ostracize them.  They have suffered too, for the acts of the radicals.

Please remember the words of Love, and the emotions expressed by both Isobel Bowdery and Amaury Baudoin . . .

© 2015, Timothy D. Naegele

 

 

_______________________________________________

[1] Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass). He and his firm, Timothy D. Naegele & Associates, specialize in Banking and Financial Institutions Law, Internet Law, Litigation and other matters (see www.naegele.com and http://www.naegele.com/documents/TimothyD.NaegeleResume.pdf). He has an undergraduate degree in economics from UCLA, as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University. He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal. Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., www.naegele.com/whats_new.html#articles), and can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com; see also Google search: Timothy D. Naegele

[2] Note: This article is an expansion of earlier comments at this blog.  See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2015/07/01/global-chaos-and-helter-skelter/#comment-7819 (“A Friday The 13th Paris Survivor’s Tale”)

[3]  See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks (“September 11 attacks”)

[4]  See, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor (“Attack on Pearl Harbor”)

[5]  See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_on_the_World (“Windows on the World”)

Barack Obama: America’s Second Emperor?

By Timothy D. Naegele[1]

Just days after announcing the surge of 30,000 more U.S. troops in his Afghan war, Barack Obama was in Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize that was announced shortly after he became president—before he had done anything.  Next, he was in Copenhagen accepting a deal without any teeth to address “global warming,” in the midst of a blizzard that dumped snow on the Danish capital, suggesting to most people that the issue is a “hoax.”

Straddling his back-to-back trips to Europe, he was in Washington, D.C.—where he was met by a blizzard on his return from Denmark—pushing for the enactment of ObamaCare that Americans oppose[2].  The legislation is so reckless that it had to be rammed through the U.S. Senate on a partisan vote.  Also, the Democrats’ leadership hid the exact nature of the health care bill from senators, who surely had a right to know what they were voting for.

Then the president jetted off to spend the holidays in Hawaii[3], having irresponsibly saddled the people with ObamaCare—after the legislation clears a joint Senate-House conference committee and he signs some version of it into law—which is reprehensible, certainly with respect to its impact on Medicare patients[4].  His recent travels alone create a carbon footprint globally that boggles the mind, especially when so many Americans are suffering from an economic meltdown that shows few real signs of abating.  Indeed, 49 States have lost jobs since his so-called “Stimulus Package” was enacted.[5]

His popularity poll numbers have been plummeting[6], but he is seemingly oblivious to the will of the people and determined to remake the United States and the world in his own image.  Never mind that his life was shaped by years growing up in Hawaii and Indonesia, he is bent on changing this country.  He did not set foot on the American mainland until he attended Occidental College in Los Angeles and Columbia University in New York City; and when he did so, he was a druggie—according to his own admissions[7].

He ignores a super-majority of Americans who believe warming and cooling are natural phenomena that have occurred in cycles on this planet for millions of years.  Science and common sense tell us that some of the coldest temperatures recorded to date have occurred in recent years.[8] Yet, in remarks prepared for delivery in Denmark, he called on heads of state and other attendees to forge a deal, warning that “[u]nchecked, climate change will pose unacceptable risks to our security, our economies, and our planet.  This much we know.”[9]

What we know for certain is that scientific studies support the opposite conclusion, namely that “global warming” is a hoax; and they have been suppressed and their authors have been intimidated.  Also, the leaders who arrived in Copenhagen did so on private jets, and they commandeered a fleet of limousines in the midst of global economic problems—as if to thumb their noses at “commoners” worldwide who pay for their trips and lavish life styles, and say: “Let them eat cake.”

Obama is determined to close our detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and transfer its “detainees” (or jihadists) to prisons in the continental U.S., which the American people oppose.  Also, he pushes for the trial of terrorist mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York City—rather than in a military tribunal—which will make a public spectacle of the event, and expose the city to more chaos and the risk of additional attacks at a time when it is still traumatized by 9/11.

His decisions on both issues are wrong and irresponsible, which was underscored by the attempted Christmas Day terrorist bombing attempt on Northwest Airlines Flight 253.[10] Earlier in the year, the president had the audacity to give himself a “B+” for his performance in office.  However, it is doubtful that a majority of Americans would give him a grade even remotely approaching that.  In fact, he has been given an “F” for protecting Americans, and criticized harshly.[11]

Obama is pursuing his war in Afghanistan, but failing to heed the advice of his generals and trying to micromanage the war on the cheap, thereby endangering the mission as well as brave members of our military—which is stretched too thin already.  They do not deserve to be hamstrung into failure by an anti-war community organizer-president, who is half-heartedly supporting the war and unable (or unwilling) to state that the goal of winning is why we are there.[12]

He is pursuing deals with Russia’s “dictator-for-life” Putin, who is a smoother version of Stalin.  Both men are known for the brutal oppression and systematic elimination of their critics.[13] Russia is no longer a super power, and it is little more than a Third World country with severe economic problems.  It should not be helped by the United States, much less coddled; and Putin should be treated as our enemy[14]. Obama has befriended Venezuela’s Chavez too, and other tinhorn dictators and enemies of America.

In 1859, Joshua Abraham Norton—better known as “Emperor Norton I,” a celebrated citizen of San Francisco—proclaimed himself “Emperor of these United States.”  He issued numerous proclamations including his “order” that the U.S. Congress be dissolved by force.[15] If there was ever an American who had regal notions of grandeur and an imperial presidency, it is Barack Obama.  His naïveté[16] has been matched by his arrogance and overarching narcissism.  Ultimately, he may be viewed as a tragic Shakespearean figure who is forgotten and consigned to the dustheap of history.

In a famous Danish fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, an emperor marches in a procession under a beautiful canopy wearing a new suit of clothes that does not exist, provided by two swindlers. A little child says at last: “But he has nothing on at all.”[17] Obama’s core beliefs and modus operandi are becoming clear for Americans and the world to see[18], as the first decade of the 21st Century ends ominously.  He is a mistake of potentially cataclysmic proportions.[19]

© 2010, Timothy D. Naegele

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[1] Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass), the first black senator since Reconstruction after the U.S. Civil War.  He practices law in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles with his firm, Timothy D. Naegele & Associates (www.naegele.com).  He has an undergraduate degree in economics from UCLA, as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University.  He is a member of the District of Columbia and California bars.  He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal.  Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years.  See, e.g., www.naegele.com/whats_new.html#articles

[2] See http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/healthcare/december_2009/voter_attitudes_towards_health_care_plan_harden_58_opposed (December 30, 2009: “(“Thirty-nine percent (39%) of voters nationwide support the plan, and 58% are opposed.  That’s consistent with our weekly tracking of the issue which has found support between 38% and 41% every week from just before Thanksgiving to the end of 2009.  The new figures include 19% who Strongly Favor the plan and 46% who Strongly Oppose it.”)

[3] See, e.g., http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20091224/NEWS01/912240345/Timing++of+Obama+s+family+vacation+in+Hawaii+is++perfect+

[4] See, e.g., http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aHoYSI84VdL0

[5] See, e.g., http://republicans.waysandmeans.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=164206

[6] See, e.g., http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll

[7] See Barack Obama, “Dreams from My Father” (paperback “Revised Edition,” published by Three Rivers Press, 2004), p. 93 (“Junkie.  Pothead.  That’s where I’d been headed: the final, fatal role of the young would-be black man.”); see also pp. 120, 270; https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/is-barack-obama-a-racist/.

[8] See, e.g., http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/22/cold-weather-europe-death-toll; http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/6787095.html (“[T]he Dallas-Fort Worth area was experiencing its first White Christmas in more than 80 years”); http://www.weather.com/newscenter/stormwatch (“Historic snowstorm enters the record book”); http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1248956/Snowmageddon-brings-chaos-U-S-East-Coast-Washington-DC-braces-worst-blizzard-90-years.html (“[‘Snowmageddon’ brings] the heaviest snowfall in [Washington, D.C.] for 90 years”)

[9] See, e.g., http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/12/18/text-of-obamas-remarks-in-copenhagen (“All of you would not be here unless you, like me, were convinced that this danger is real.  This is not fiction, this is science. Unchecked, climate change will pose unacceptable risks to our security, our economies, and our planet.  This much we know.”)

[10] See, e.g., http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126209221278008901.html?mod=WSJ_hps_MIDDLESecondNews AND http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703278604574624503147162222.html (“Sending Gitmo’s jihadists back to this [Yemeni] maelstrom makes no security sense”)

[11] See, e.g., http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyharnden/100020934/barack-obama-gets-an-f-for-protecting-americans AND http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/31/AR2009123101744.html (“The reason the country is uneasy about the Obama administration’s response to this attack is a distinct sense of not just incompetence but incomprehension”)

[12] See, e.g., http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/25/AR2009122501923_pf.html (“Terms such as ‘winning’ and ‘victory’ have been eschewed by the White House.  Obama did not use either in his Dec. 1 address, and he said in an interview earlier this year that he was uncomfortable using the term ‘victory’ when fighting ‘a non-state actor, a shadowy operation like al-Qaeda.’”).

[13] See, e.g., http://www.theotherrussia.org/

[14] See, e.g., http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/29/ap/world/main6032803.shtml

[15] See, e.g., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Norton

[16] See, e.g., http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=DEE3CCB3-18FE-70B2-A8EADFBA65A39259

[17] See, e.g., http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Emperor%27s_New_Clothes

[18] See, e.g., Barack Obama, “Dreams from My Father” (paperback “Revised Edition,” published by Three Rivers Press, 2004).  See also https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/is-barack-obama-a-racist

[19] See, e.g., http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704152804574628134281062714.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read (“[The] patina of cosmopolitanism in President Obama’s background concealed the isolationism of the liberal coalition that brought him to power.  . . . The man who demolished the Iraqi tyranny, George. W. Bush, is no longer in power, and a different sentiment drives America’s conduct abroad.  . . . No despot fears Mr. Obama, and no blogger in Cairo or Damascus or Tehran, no demonstrator in those cruel Iranian streets, expects Mr. Obama to ride to the rescue.  . . . He had declared a unilateral end to the ‘war on terror,’ but the jihadists and their mentors are yet to call their war to a halt.  From Yemen to Fort Hood and Detroit, the terror continues.”)