Whither Turkey?

Turkey has long been held up by the west as an example of a moderate, secularized Muslim nation. Kemal Ataturk founded a secular republic in the aftermath of the fall of the Ottoman empire after World War I, and aggressively sought to limit the role of Islam in governmental affairs to spur the development of the nation.

A few years ago, an Islamic party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) under the leadership of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, came to power. The hope in Washington has been that the AKP could be an example to the Muslim world that freedom could co-exist during the rule of a Muslim-oriented political party. Moreover, the United States has sought to bring Turkey into the European Union to cement its ties to the West.

Unfortunately, a recent column in the Wall Street Journal raises concerns that such hopes could be trampled. Erdogan has used the power of government to reduce the freeedom of the press. A free press is critical to exposing and limiting abuses by any government, and most authoritarian regimes limit the press to prevent critical coverage of the government.

Let's hope the Obama administration is taking notice. Obama's attempts to reach out to the Islamic world have been long on criticism of America's actions and short on substantive measures to work for positive change in Islamic nations. Turkey is too important to ignore or fail to hold to high standards.

Iran-Venezuela Axis

Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau has undertaken the unusual step of writing an op-ed piece warning of the growing relationship between Iran and Venezuela. Morgenthau believes that Iran is interested in using Venezuela to launder money to purchase materials for its nuclear and missile programs, while Iran supports Venezuela's efforts to overthrow pro-American regimes and replace with Chavez-oriented dictatorships.

Remarkably for a district attorney, Morgenthau adds that law enforcement alone is not sufficient to deal with this threat, and he is no doubt correct.

But let me add what I suspect may be another long-term goal of the Iran-Venezuela axis. Caracas is less than 2,150 miles from New York and 1,400 miles from Miami. If Iran deployed the ballistic missiles it is developing, armed with nuclear weapons, to Venezuela, it would confront the United States with a direct, credible nuclear threat against the continental United States.

Every so often, a Chinese general will publicly ask, "will America sacrifice Los Angeles to protect Taiwan?" Someday Iran can ask, "will America sacrifice Miami to protect Israel or Saudi Arabia?"

If Barack Obama does not deal with the nuclear threat from Iran decisively with a military attack, it will be one of the greatest disasters in American foreign policy history.

Health Insurance 103

One of the many myths that Obama and the Democrats are spreading about health insurance is that there isn't sufficient competition in the insurance market, and therefore either a government-run insurance plan or government-led insurance exchange needs to be established to create such competition.

Reality so differs from this myth, it boggles the mind. There are many large, publicly-traded health insurance companies in America that compete aggressively with one another. The biggest include: United Health, Wellpoint, Aetna, Cigna, Humana, Healthnet, and Coventry.

But there are many other health insurance providers, and remarkably, some of the biggest providers in any given state are not-for-profit Blue Cross Blue Shield plans.

That's right: not-for-profit providers are already some of the leading providers of health insurance in America.

Now, the reality is, the not-for-profit health insurers need to operate profitably, so they can maintain and grow their capital base and have the financial means to serve customers properly. But that is just another way of saying, a proper not-for-profit insurance system has to reflect market realities and not the whims of politicians.

Obama and the Democrats know this, since the prominence of these not-for-profits in health insurance is unmistakable. So when they claim the need for government-provided competition, it is their excuse for ultimately creating a government-only insurance market. Because rest assured, the government will underprice insurance (as it always does, as evidenced by government-provided car and hurricane insurance) and ultimately drive the private insurers out of business.

So the public option, or its weakened version in the form of health exchanges, would slowly but surely lead to full government control of health insurance in America. And when the government eventually pays all the bills, it will then exert overwhelming influence over all aspects of healthcare, from drug development to how hospitals and doctors treat patients.

The Doomsday Clock is at 11:57 pm

The United States, UK, and France have sprung their "trap" on Iran by deciding to announce now the existence of a secret Iranian nuclear facility. Reports indicate we have known of this facility for some time, and that Barack Obama was briefed on it during his presidential transition.

Clearly, Obama and our allies are hoping that its disclosure, during the UN's General Assembly meetings and before the G-20 conference this week, will convince other nations to support tougher sanctions.

Unfortunately, it illustrates the depths of Iran's nuclear program and adds to the overwhelming evidence that Iran's nuclear efforts are designed to produce weapons and not energy.

If Obama were a bold leader, dedicated to protecting America's interests, he would seize on this disclosure to further justify an immediate attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Instead, Obama, having set September 30 as the deadline for constructive negotiations, has in the spirit of all efforts with Iran for the past seven years, extended the deadline another three months - rewarding Iran for its defiance with more time to harden its facilities to attack, build its defenses, and continue to develop its nuclear program.

America, not Israel, is the only nation that has a realistic chance of dealing a decisive blow to Iran's nuclear program. As this article by military analyst Anthony Cordesman suggests, Israel doesn't possess anything close to the military capabilities of the United States to devastate Iran's nuclear program.

The answer, with all its attendant difficulties, is that we must bomb Iran now to disrupt and destroy as much of its nuclear program as we can - and continue to bomb Iran if we haven't destroyed their facilities or if Iran resumes working on its nuclear program.

How About That

Buried in the news is that the Obama administration has asked Congress to renew three provisions of the Patriot Act that expire at the end of this year.

Recall that Democrats attacked the Patriot Act as a violation of our civil liberties, while the Bush administration argued they were necessary to protect us from terrorist attacks while preserving our freedom.

So despite all the bombast directed at President Bush, now it is Barack Obama who agrees with the policy.

This is just part of a long litany of Bush terrorism policies Democrats opposed that Obama now favors. The responsibility to protect Americans no doubt now weighs on Obama. Too bad Democrats couldn't have exercised real leadership rather than engage in baseless partisanship when the country needed it.

How to Harm the Economy and Our International Relations

The "buy American" provision in the $787 billion "stimulus" bill is raising trade frictions and harming businesses, as described in the Wall Street Journal.

This is just one concrete example of how the "stimulus" bill actually harms the economy, and is harming America's relations with other countries.

Do you think this what Obama meant by "resetting" our relationships in foreign affairs?

The Great Depression of 2008-09?

With Ben Bernake saying that recession is "very likely over", it is time to take stock of the politically-inspired fear mongering that has surrounded this recession.

The Federal Reserve pursued policies in 2008-2009 completely contradictory to those pursued during 1929-1933. In 1929-1933, the Federal Reserve reduced the supply of money, creating a huge deflation and destroying the financial system. In contrast during in the past 18 months, the Fed has flooded the economy with money, with a predictable result: the recession would end led by monetary policy.

But the Democrats saw political gold in creating the impression that the economy was in terrible shape, and with a compliant press, succeeded. It was a critical element to Obama's victory last November and to passing the "stimulus" bill, whose effects have barely registered and for which most of its spending has yet to take place.

Monetary policy, along with government led subsidies for housing, got us into the financial crisis and recession. Now it is getting us out of the recession. Obama deserves no credit for this since he wasn't the architect of monetary policy - that is the Fed's job, which is an entity independent of the executive branch.

Instead, Obama's spending extravaganza, raising taxes, nationalizing the auto industry, proposing radical changes to the healthcare industry, opposing free trade pacts, and promoting cap-and-trade all serve to increase uncertainty in the economy and slow recovery and growth going forward.