Robriefs 5.13.2008

Robrief no 1: Tragedies Strike in China and Burma
My heart goes out to the victims and survivors of the recent earthquake that struck China and the post-cyclone disaster in Myanmar (Burma). I was out of town this past weekend and just got back yesterday after a ridiculous airline screw-up, but seem petty for me, given the tragedies going on in China and Myanmar (Burma) now. The tolls are unbelievable and tragic. Interestingly, Myanmar (Burma) is China’s important oil-producing ally in the southeast Asia (its oil/gas fields are off the coast of Myanmar (Burma) and all the oil/gas extracted is produced and exported to China). The militaristic government of Myanmar (Burma) is known to have close ties to some high-ranking Chinese officials in China, mainly related to mining, trading and oil/gas businesses. However, China have been trying to prod the government of Myanmar (Burma) to open up to global humanitarian relief efforts, probably through the diplomatic backchannel at the UN in New York. It’s time for the militaristic government of Myanmar (Burma) to go.

Robrief no. 2: Hillary’s last gasping chance tonight?
She ain’t giving up that easily, no matter high-level Democrats are prodding her to quit. Is she waiting for the immaculate reception anyhow? I could see some behind-the-scene strings pulling. Hmm…

Robrief no. 3: Daily Kos’ dirty low-blow “eulogy” to Israel’s 60th Anniversary celebration
Daily Kos is a blog representing the “best *cough-cough* bright” progressive-minded left-wingers in America and this nasty, conjectural piece of work is inconceivable and hard-to-swallow. Nice going, Daily Kos.

I will say this, as I’d predicted before: the end of Israel will not mean the beginning of peace in Palestine and the Mideast, it will mean more terrorism and violence in the future, particularly by some hardcore Jews who will fight to the death to avenge the loss of Israel and the homeland it represented for the world Jews (and Christians, Arabs, and Samaritans as well) for the last 60 years. No such concession to allow a micro Jewish state within Palestine will make up for such a loss. Too much bloods and sacrifices have been shed in Israel for 60+ years will not goes unanswered. The suggestion that Israel is an apartheid state is utterly ridiculous and conjectural, an invention cleverly conjured up by the anti-Semitic political radicals and Islamists worldwide. Mark my words: end of Israel will not mean peace in the Mideast in the future.

Robrief no 4: Obama was a born Muslim and he is an apostate to Islam, regardlessly
Edward Luttwak wrote a New York Times op-ed warning that if Barack Obama is elected President, his birth as a Muslim to a Muslim father and a Christian woman and his conversion to Christianity will be a problem for the leaders of the Islamic world. In some Islamic countries, voluntary apostasy from Islam is punishable by beheading or amputation of legs/arms. Sharia laws are on the rise worldwide and sharia banking is already gaining widespread interests within the global financial world, since in the next few or several years, the center of the financial world could shift from the Wall Street of New York to Dubai.

The only way for Obama to avoid the charge of apostasy from Islam and the threat of beheading is for him to renounce his Christian faith totally and return to Islam in an act of prostration. I don’t think Obama would goes in that direction, given the fact he wanted to be viewed as a man born of two faiths, both to Christians and Muslims (the Indonesian brand of Islam?). We shall see.

UPDATE – 5.18.2008: Barack Obama … Muslim Apostate
The author, Shireen K. Burki, have something in common with Obama: being a child of a Muslim father and a Christian mother and know the full lesson and price of Islamic apostasy from her study of Islam in Pakistan, this excerpt from Burki’s C.S. Monitor article said it all for Obama:

In bin Laden’s eyes, Obama is a murtad fitri, the worst type of apostate, because he was blessed by Allah to be born into the true faith of Islam.

There are two types of apostates according to sharia (Islamic law) and the Hadith (sayings of the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him).

The first type is murtad milli, one who converted to Islam and later renounced the faith. The second, and most egregious, type is murtad fitri. It refers to a person born of a Muslim father who renounces his birthright. Two recent examples of the latter are Magdi Allam (a male Egyptian who converted to Catholicism in Italy) and Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Somali-born woman who’s now an atheist). Both now face death threats.

According to Islamic jurisprudence, children of a Muslim father – even an apparently nonpracticing one, such as Obama’s father, and irrespective of the mother’s faith – are automatically Muslims. Most Muslims around the world agree: A child of a Muslim father is a Muslim. Period.

Should Obama become US commander in chief, there is a strong likelihood that Al Qaeda’s media arm, As-Sahab, will exploit his background to argue that an apostate is leading the global war on terror (read: attacks against fellow Muslims). This perception would be leveraged to galvanize sympathizers into action.

Shame On You! Democratic Race Get Dirtier

That’s what Bill Clinton said to a CNN reporter at the end of a testy press conference between Clinton and the media. The saga of Obama-Clinton mean-spirited campaign drama is about to reach its nadir before the on-set of the 2008 South Carolina Democratic primary this Saturday. I’m taking a neutral, observer position on this affair and I’m in no way endorsing any of the Democratic candidates, only taking in the presumption of what would become the decisive factor of the whole Democratic campaign to gain back the White House from the Republicans. For sure, the Clinton-Obama feud is already creating a genuine division within the rank and file of the Democratic Party, to the point when the entire Democratic campaign to win the White House could really come undone, on the account of female Democrats being the majority and the black Democrats the minority. However, some moonbats think the feud is cleverly concocted by Karl “Boy Genius” Rove himself. *sigh*

I can see Karl Rove fiendishly pulling strings and calling in old favors somewhere in an undisclosed bunker next to Vice Pres. Dick Cheney. *eyes rolled up*

With due respect, Barack Obama do have certain appeals to peoples beside the African American community, though he’d deftly and gradually crafted himself as the 21st century version of Abraham Lincoln since he made his first public appearance at the Democratic National Convention in 2004 and the Dems were wowed by him, especially among the black Democrats. They saw hope and glory come alive right out of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech. Hey, did that happened already when Colin Powell was widely speculated and prodded to run against Bill Clinton in 1996? Whatever happened to that distinct black Republican? Nevertheless, people watching the Clinton-Obama campaign drama heading into the South Carolina primary should bring to mind the memory of a very testy campaign drama between Bush and McCain early in 2000 in that same state primary; particularly when either the Bush campaign team or McCain’s political rivals made a false suggestion that McCain fathered an African-American baby out of wedlock. With that false news reaching throughout the Republican Party in South Carolina and the independent voters , McCain’s campaign momentum over Bush was stopped cold. From that 2000 S.C. primary outcome, Bush cruised onto getting the Republican Party nomination for President and eventually the White House.

So watching the South Carolina primary this Saturday, the real decisive factor of winning it out of this testy campaign drama would be: who blinks first? Clinton? Obama? That’s why Bill Clinton being worried and angry about all the negative focus on his wife as especially noteworthy, for the crucial key Democratic votes in South Carolina hold the key to victory for either Hillary R. Clinton or Barack Obama.

Whoever wins the 2008 South Carolina primary will, for sure, win the Democratic nomination for President handily. At least, the loser may still have a fighting chance in other primaries.

We shall see this Saturday.