Obama Goes Ballistic Over Corsi Best Seller

Blistering 40-page report challenging WND reporter's high-flying, No. 1 exposé
Posted: August 15, 20081:00 am Eastern© 2008 WorldNetDaily

The title page to Barack Obama's response to Jerome Corsi's "The Obama Nation"With the wreck of John Kerry's "swiftboated" 2004 campaign in his rearview mirror, Barack Obama and his surrogates are wasting no time mounting a counterattack against WND staff writer and columnist Jerome Corsi, the co-author of the Swift Boat Veteran's for Truth's "Unfit for Command" and the author of current No. 1 New York Times best-seller, "The Obama Nation."
Obama advisers have been tracking Corsi's media appearances, quickly telephoning producers to react to the book's charges, and last night, the Democratic presidential candidate's campaign issued a 40-page response to the book.

Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor accompanied the release with a shot at Corsi, calling him a "discredited liar who is peddling another piece of garbage to continue the Bush-Cheney politics he helped perpetuate four years ago."

"His is just one of what will likely be many more lie-filled books rushed to print this election cycle, which are cobbled together from debunked Internet sources to make money and advance a partisan agenda," the spokesman said. "We will respond to these smears forcefully with all means at our disposal."

"The Obama Nation" is ranked No. 1 among all books at Amazon.com and will debut at No. 1 on the New York Times non-fiction best-seller list next week. The book already has secured the Times' top spot for the following week, as the Democratic National Convention gets under way.

The Democratic National Committee has its own rapid response team to take aim at Corsi's book, with an e-mail sent out yesterday saying, "One of the most vile smear peddlers of the 2004 election has found a new target. … We cannot afford to let Corsi get away with the same dirty tricks that fooled so many people in 2004. We can't rely on the media to hold him accountable – in fact, the sheer brazenness of the lies is attracting even more coverage. The media have shown that they aren't going to stop him. It's up to you to spread the truth. …"
At the time of this story, Corsi had not had a chance to see Obama's 40-page rebuttal, but he responded to the strong counter-surge against "The Obama Nation," a book with some 600 footnotes that portrays the Illinois senator as a radical leftist whose handlers are presenting him to the nation through a carefully crafted cult of personality.
Corsi told WND the campaign has largely chosen to respond to his book with a series of personal attacks.

"Derision and ridicule are the lowest form of argument, suggesting the Obama camp already has lost the debate," he said. "The Obama camp and its supporters appear to be in disarray over the book, responding almost irrationally with an endless string of epithets and insults."
Corsi charged Obama "has intentionally manufactured a cult of personality in order to discourage any attempt to examine or comment critically upon any aspect of his background."
"Critics such as myself are immediately branded as 'racists' to discourage readers from reading and evaluating the book for themselves," he said.

'Vicious innuendo'
Obama aides are feeding producers of Corsi's media interviews with a number of his past controversial quotes and insisting campaign surrogates, equipped with talking points, be allowed on the shows to counter the book, according to the blog Talking Points Memo.
The online watchdog Media Matters, which says its purpose is to counter the "lies" of the right, sent senior fellow Paul Waldman up against Corsi on CNN's "Larry King" show Wednesday night.
Waldman charged that four years after "Unfit for Command," Corsi "has come out with another book that is also riddled with distortions and falsehoods. So the question is, why on earth would anyone listen to what he has to say about Barack Obama?"

In a heated exchange, Waldman accused Corsi of "spreading this incredibly vicious innuendo."
Corsi shot back: "This is typical Media Matters. They bring you on the show and they bait you up, don't give you a chance even to respond."

Corsi told WND that Media Matters "has intentionally misrepresented my arguments so they can 'prove' as 'false' claims I never made, while proclaiming 'mistakes' over trivial points in the book they chose to nit-pick in support of their obvious leftist political agenda."
Prior to publication of Corsi's book, Obama created a website FightTheSmears.com to respond to a host of charges largely circulating on the Internet. A FightTheSmears "Action Wire" uses the campaign's extensive e-mail list to respond to charges.

An e-mail issued yesterday said, "Right now, vile smear-peddler Jerome Corsi is back with a new book of lies – this time about Barack Obama. ... We'll need the combined efforts of every member of the Action Wire to push back against this year's vicious Republican attack book."
Kerry's deputy campaign manager Steve Elmendorf told the Politico he believes that in hindsight, the Massachusetts Democrat's 2004 campaign "made a mistake in not responding more forcefully."

Elmendorf offered advice to Obama's handlers.

"It's on the front page of the New York Times," he said, referring to a Tuesday story on Corsi's book. "It's number one on the New York Times best-seller list. Right now, I would be very aggressive with reporters and factually going through the book and responding and making it clear that this is a bunch of bullsh-t."

On Wednesday, Kerry himself launched a website called Truth Fights Back challenging the book. It was accompanied by an e-mail to former supporters headlined, "Book on Obama Hopes to Repeat Anti-Kerry Feat."

'An agenda here'
As even a popular late-night comedy show has acknowledged, Obama has many defenders in the mainstream media, and some apparently have joined the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee's battle against Corsi's book.

The media watchdog Newsbusters, which responds to left-leaning media bias, pointed to CNN's treatment of the book Wednesday. In the segment, anchor Suzanne Malveaux worried aloud to former Clinton aide Paul Begala that Obama might not be responding fast enough to attacks against him, thereby "falling into the same trap as John Kerry."
Introducing the segment, the "Situation Room" host "didn't hesitate to make unequivocal claims as to the Corsi book's inaccuracy," Newsbusters said.

Malveaux said:
There's a new book out about Barack Obama, and it is not flattering. The facts are mixed with accusations about Obama that are misleading or just flat-out wrong. Yet despite all of this, there is concern that author's claims might catch on with some voters. Our CNN's Jessica Yellin joining me now, and Jessica, the author even admits that there is an agenda here behind this book."
Newsbusters contributor Mark Finkelstein pointed to the irony of expressing concern that authors might have an agenda, noting the invitations and respectful treatment offered anti-Bush administration authors such as Seymour Hersh and Ron Suskind.

CNN played only a brief clip from a Fox News appearance by Corsi.
The network's Yellin said Corsi's book "alleges Obama is on the extreme left of American politics and has extensive connections to Islam and with radical racial politics. This despite the fact that for months Obama's been explaining he's not Muslim."

But Newsbusters's Finkelstein pointed out Corsi doesn't claim Obama is a Muslim and, with regard to the radical racial politics charge, notes the National Journal's rating of his voting record as most liberal in the Senate and the Democrat's close ties to black liberation theology adherents Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Rev. Michael Pfleger.

Meanwhile, customer rankings of the book at Amazon.com reflect the sharp contrast of opinions: They either love it or they hate it. Of 555 reviews, 183 give the book a five, the top ranking, while 329 score it a one. The combined total for the three rankings in between is just 43.

Obama's Records Verify Allegations in Corsi Book

Posted: August 17, 20088:18 pm Eastern© 2008 WorldNetDaily

Obama's childhood records vindicate Corsi book. Photo Shows candidate registered as an Indonesian citizen ans a Muslim.
Indonesian school registration for "Barry Soetoro" (AP photo)
NEW YORK – An AP photo that recently surfaced showing Barack Obama registered for school as an Indonesian citizen of the Muslim religion provides tangible evidence for some of the claims made by author Jerome Corsi in his best-selling book, "The Obama Nation."
"The Associated Press document provides additional evidence suggesting the Obama campaign's insistence that Obama was never trained in Islam and he never lived as a Muslim is not accurate," author and WND staff reporter Jerome R. Corsi said.
"Moreover, the document indicated that Obama may have been an Indonesian citizen when he lived there," Corsi continued. "This is an issue the Obama rebuttal fails to address at all, evidently conceding the accuracy of the claim."
Corsi discusses these school registration documents on pages 50-52 of "The Obama Nation."
The existence of the school registration was first revealed on the Internet by "An American Expat in Southeast Asia" on Jan. 24, 2007.
Since then, the issue has been widely discussed, but without the documentary proof the Associated Press photo has now provided.
Corsi told WND that until the AP photo surfaced, he did not have in his possession a copy of the original.
In the 40-page rebuttal to "The Obama Nation" issued last week by Obama's presidential campaign, the "reality" asserted by the campaign was the school registration only listed the religion of the father, implying the registration established nothing about the religion of Barack Obama, then known as Barry Soetoro.
"The Obama rebuttal misses the point in claiming my statements about the school registration are a lie," Corsi said. "It is clearly true that the 'An American Expat in Southeast Asia' blog did state the registration listed Obama as an Indonesian citizen and a Muslim. That is not a lie."
"Now that we have the AP photo, we see the blog was correct in describing the registration," Corsi continued.

The only issue at dispute is whether the registration establishes Obama to have been a Muslim, or only registered as one because that was the religion of his father.
"The most convincing evidence Obama was living in Indonesia as a Muslim, not simply registered as Muslim because his father was Muslim, comes from Obama's experience at the government-run public school at SDN 1 Menteng, Jakarta, not from his time at the Catholic Assisi School in Jakarta," Corsi argued.
On pages 59-60 of "The Obama Nation", Corsi cites a Kaltim Post interview with Tine Hahiyary, one of Obama's teachers at the public school.
Tine Hahiyary affirmed that Barry Soetoro had been registered as a Muslim and took part actively in the Islamic religious lessons during his time at the school.
"I remembered that Barry studied 'mengaji,'" she told reporters.
"Mengaji" involves recitation of the Quran.
"To put it quite simply, 'mengaji classes' are not something that a non-practicing or so-called moderate Muslim family would ever send their child to," wrote the 'An American Expat in Southeast Asia' blog.
"The Obama campaign desperately wants to deny Obama was raised as a Muslim child in the four years he lived in Indonesia from age 6 to 10," Corsi said. "These are formative years in a child's religious education."
"What the record clearly shows is not only that Obama received Islamic instruction, at least in the public school he attended," Corsi concluded, "but he received the type of Islamic instruction reserved for Muslim children in a government school system that mandated Islamic instruction at that time for all children attending public school in Indonesia."

Was Obama Indonesian Citizen?

Document, travel suggest 'Barry Soetero' member of world's largest Muslim country

---

Posted: August 17, 2008
8:18 pm Eastern

By Aaron Klein
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

Indonesian school registration for "Barry Soetoro" (AP photo)

JERUSALEM – Was Sen. Barack Obama a citizen of Indonesia at any point in his life?

That question has been circulating on the blogosphere with increased fury the past few days, since a photograph emerged of Obama's school registration papers as a child in Indonesia – the world's most populous Muslim nation – showing the presidential candidate listed as a "Muslim" with "Indonesian" citizenship.

An investigation into Indonesian citizenship law and a review of Obama's biography and travels suggest the Illinois senator at one point may have been a citizen of Indonesia. That would not necessarily disqualify Obama to run for president, but it could raise loyalty concerns.

A 2007 Associated Press photograph taken by Tatan Syuflana, an Indonesian AP reporter and photographer, surfaced last week on the Daylife.com photographic website showing an image of Obama's registration card at Indonesia's Fransiskus Assisi school, a Catholic institution.

In the picture, Obama is registered under the name Barry Soetoro by his stepfather, Lolo Soetoro. The school card lists Barry Soetoro as a Indonesian citizen born Aug. 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. His religion is listed as Muslim.

Jack Stokes, manager of media relations for the AP, confirmed to WND the picture is indeed an AP photo.

After attending the Assisi Primary School, Obama later was enrolled at SDN Menteng 1, an Indonesian public school.

Obama's campaign did not return repeated WND phone calls and e-mail queries the past week asking for a clarification regarding the school documentation listing the presidential candidate's citizenship as Indonesian.

Obama spokesmen have stated the candidate is a natural-born citizen amid rumors he may have been born in his father's home country of Kenya, but the campaign has not addressed whether Obama became a citizen of Indonesia at any point.

Obama's American mother, Ann Dunham, separated from her first husband, Barack Obama Sr., in 1963 when the presidential candidate was two years old. Dunham and Obama Sr. are reported to have later divorced. Dunham married Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian, and moved to Indonesia sometime between 1966 and 1967.

It was not clear whether Soetoro adopted Obama, either in Hawaii or in Indonesia, but there is strong circumstantial evidence that he did as far as Indonesian law was concerned.

In Indonesia, which was under tight rule in 1967, Obama clearly took on the last name of his stepfather in school registration documents. All Indonesian students were required to carry government identity cards, or Karty Tanda Pendudaks, which needed to bear the student's legal name, which should be matched in public school registration filings.

Following his enrollment at the private Assisi school, Obama attended public schooling in Indonesia until he returned to Hawaii at age 10. According to Indonesian legal experts, it was difficult to enroll non-Indonesian citizens in public schooling.

Obama arrived in Indonesia at about the age of five according to most accounts, although it was possible he arrived at the age of six, according to a few sources. If Lolo Soetoro adopted Obama at age five or younger, then Obama would automatically have become an Indonesian citizen according to the country's laws in the 1960's, which stipulated any child aged five or younger adopted by an Indonesian father is immediately granted Indonesian citizenship upon completion of the adoption process.

Lolo Soetoro could have adopted Obama in Hawaii, although such an adoption would not have necessarily been recognized by Indonesia.

Indonesian law at the time also did not recognize dual citizenship, meaning if Obama became Indonesian, then as far as that country was concerned, his U.S. citizenship was no longer recognized by Indonesia. But U.S. law would still recognize Obama as an American citizen.

In a revelation that raised a few eyebrows, Obama last April disclosed he traveled as a college student to Pakistan in 1981.

"I traveled to Pakistan when I was in college – I knew what Sunni and Shia was [sic] before I joined the Senate Foreign Relations Committee," Obama reportedly stated at a fundraising event.

The senator had not previously discussed any trip to Pakistan, either in his books or in scores of policy talks regarding Pakistan.

Prompted by Obama's statements, ABC News contacted the presidential candidate's campaign, which affirmed that in 1981 – the year Obama transferred from Occidental College to Columbia University – Obama visited his mother and sister Maya in Indonesia. Obama then went on to Pakistan with a friend from college whose family was from that country, the campaign said.

Obama was in Pakistan for about three weeks, said the campaign, staying with his friend's family in Karachi and also visiting Hyderabad in Southern India.

Pakistan in 1981 was under military rule. It was difficult for U.S. citizens to travel to the country without assistance. It would have been easier for someone to enter Pakistan on an Indonesian passport.

If Obama indeed possessed Indonesian citizenship as a child, it is unlikely he retains such citizenship. The country's bylaws require any Indonesian citizen living abroad for more than five years to formally declare his intention to return, otherwise risk losing his citizenship status. The law does not necessarily mean Indonesian citizenship would be immediately lost. The law can be overruled by ministerial order.

Obama's registration in Indonesia under the name "Barry Soetoro" also raises questions as to whether he adopted that name in the U.S. at any time. According to Illinois state filings, when Obama registered as an attorney in 1991, under the name Barack Obama, he stated he did not have any former names.

IF

and for real ceshune... you flowers are beautiful......your art is soo cooll... this is not in any way sarcastic.......Monet is my favorite artist of all time....

its really just the glitter graphics of J's....

Fif Aug 17 2008, 12:39 AM)
and for real ceshune... you flowers are beautiful......your art is soo cooll... this is not in any way sarcastic.......Monet is my favorite artist of all time....its really just the glitter graphics of J's......

So, you are comparing my art with that of Monet?Reminds me of a comment of mine to someone whose art I once admired. I told them their art was very pretty and then asked them if they were going to school. That was before I achieved recognition as an artist; now I realize how offensive the comment was and that the way to compliment an artist is to be specific about what you like about their work and not compare them with anyone, even a famous artist because each artist's work is original.What is your objection to the glitter graphics, by the way?

Tima Aug 17 2008, 02:01 AM)

no, I was not comparing your art to the art of Monet........ this was certianly not my intention......

all i was trying to do was to expalin to you i have no objection to art in general and actually do have an appreciation for good art.......

as far as glitter graphics go i was serious...... first... its not my idea of art... second..... it does bother E and this was her only reaosn to post glitter graphics was to annoy him... to me there is no point in it if this is your only motive sister........ as muslims we should try to have consideration for one another.......

Oh, you have no objection to art! I was holding my breath for a minute. Whew! You were not comparing my art to Monet? Ah, that is obvious.

So you want to presume someone else's motive about why they post something or other? Are you psychic?

Why do you think E needs protecting from some glitter graphic? Maybe one will jump out of the screen and attack him, do you suppose?

No one said we were all Muslims here.

Now back to my reverse psychology lessons.........

Phelps Makes History With Eight Gold Metals

By NBCOlympics.com

August 16, 2008

Michael Phelps out-touches Milorad Cavic to win the 100m butterfly by .01.

Busy, busy: Nine days, eight gold medals, seven world records.

BEIJING -- A journey that started four years ago after his six gold medals in Athens and included 17 swims over nine days here ended triumphantly for Michael Phelps on Sunday.

Phelps earned his unprecedented eighth Olympic gold medal of the 2008 Olympics as he swam the butterfly leg of the Americans' world-record win in the 4x100m medley relay to close out the swimming competition at the Water Cube.

Jason Lezak held off Eamon Sullivan of Australia in the freestyle leg, with the Americans finishing in 3:29.34. Australia took the silver in 3:30.04 and Japan the bronze.
Lezak said he was inspired by the celebrities on hand to watch history in the making.

"I looked up and I saw Kobe and LeBron, the best basketball players in the world, and I love basketball," he said. "I thought there's no way I was going to let those guys down," he said.

Aaron Peirsol led off in the backstroke leg, Brendan Hansen swam the breast and Lezak anchored, the same three who won gold in Athens. Phelps swam the prelims of that race in Athens, giving up his finals spot to Ian Crocker. The American men have never lost the medley relay in the history of the Olympics.

"Hats off to this guy right here," Peirsol said of Phelps in an NBC interview on the pool deck after the race. "He did something that's never been done before. We're happy to be a part of it."

Hansen called Phelps' 8-for-8 the greatest achievement in sports.

"Every single athlete in the world right now needs to tip their hat to Michael Phelps because what he did this week was amazing," he said.

Phelps tied Mark Spitz with his seventh gold medal a day earlier in the 100m butterfly, winning by the slimmest of margins, .01 of a second over Milorad Cavic. His quest was almost derailed in Day 2 of the meet in the 4x100m free relay, but Lezak's unbelievable anchor leg kept the quest alive. he touched ahead of Alain Bernard of France by .08.

"It wouldn't have been possible without the help of my teammates." Phelps said. "For the three Olympics I've been a part of, this is by far the closest men's team that we've ever had. I didn't know everybody coming into this Olympics, but I feel going out I know every single person very well. The team that we had is the difference."

Phelps set world records in seven of his eight swims, with only the 100m fly mark not broken. He also won the 400m IM, the 200m IM and the 200m fly, breaking his own world mark in each, and led off the 4x200m free relay.

It was nine days of magical moments for Phelps, and he said the collective effort is what he'll remember most.

"Every race, from one to the other," he said. "It's the whole thing. It's a great experience."

"Everything had to go perfect. Everything had to fall perfectly into place and I was able to have probably the best week of my life."

Probably?

Ukraine Offers Satellite Defense Co-operation With Europe and U.S.

By Damien McElroy in Tbilisi

17 Aug 2008

Ukraine inflamed mounting East-West tensions yesterday by offering up a Soviet-built satellite facility as part of the European missile defense system.

The proposal, made amid growing outrage among Russia's neighbours over its military campaign in Georgia, could see Ukraine added to Moscow's nuclear hitlist. A Russian general declared Poland a target for its arsenal after Warsaw signed a deal with Washington to host interceptor missiles for America's anti-nuclear shield.

The move came as the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, signed a cease-fire deal that sets the stage for a Russian troop withdrawal after more than a week of warfare with its neighbour Georgia.

The deal calls for both Russian and Georgian forces to pull back to positions they held before fighting erupted on August 8. As of last night, though, there was little apparent evidence of a Russian pull-out from the Georgian town of Gori, which Russian tanks and troops took last weekend. Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, insisted a broader withdrawal would be contingent on further security measures.

Just hours before Mr Medvedev put his signature to the ceasefire deal, Russian forces blew up a Georgian railway bridge on the main line west of the capital, Tbilisi, an act that critics interpreted as a malacious attempt to cripple the country's infrastructure. Moscow at first issued a denial, but television footage shot by the Reuters news agency clearly showed the bridge's twisted remains.

Ukraine said it was ready to give both Europe and America access to its missile warning systems after Russia earlier annulled a 1992 cooperation agreement involving two satellite tracking stations. Previously, the stations were part of Russia's early-warning system for missiles coming from Europe.

"The fact that Ukraine is no longer a party to the 1992 agreement allows it to launch active cooperation with European countries to integrate its information," a statement from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.

It follows a declaration earlier this week from Ukraine's pro-Western president, Viktor Yushchenko, that the Russian naval lease of the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Sebastopol would be scrapped if any vessels joined the conflict in Georgia.

The crisis over Russia's display of military might in Georgia has alarmed ex-Soviet satellites states in a broad arc from the Baltics to Central Asia. Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, all of which harbour bitter memories of Soviet occupation, have expressed solidarity with the Georgian position.

Yesterday President George W. Bush hailed what he saw as progress in resolving the Georgia crisis, describing the ceasefire agreement as "a hopeful step."

He reiterated, though, that the disputed regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia remained part of Georgia, despite Moscow's insistence that they should now be allowed to become part of Russia. "There's no room for debate on this matter," said Mr Bush. "The international community is clear that South Ossetia and Abkhazia are part of Georgia and the US fully recognises this reality."

Meanwhile, disturbing reports of abuse of ethnic Georgians in captured parts of the disputed region emerged. A group of captive soldiers were paraded in the streets of the South Ossetian capital, Tskinvali, and the bodies of at least 40 dead troops rotted in the sun.

Teams of ethnic Georgians, some under armed guard, were forced to clean the streets. It was the first apparent evidence of humiliation or abuse of Georgians in the Russian-controlled breakaway republic.

Russian Invasion Threatens 1 Million Barrels Per Day of Global Crude Oil from the Caspian Sea

August 17, 2008

WASHINGTON – Although oil traders on Monday shrugged off Russia's widening invasion of neighboring Georgia, the conflict, if it spreads farther, could threaten nearly 1 million barrels per day of needed global crude supplies from the Caspian Sea, most of it bound for Europe.
Oil prices on Monday continued their recent slide, but this trend could quickly reverse if the conflict in the Caucasus region, a tinderbox area between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, doesn't end soon or continues to escalate.

Even before the fighting began Thursday in South Ossetia, a breakaway region in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, the vital BTC pipeline traversing the Caucasus already had been largely shut down by an Aug. 5 bombing of a section of the pipeline in eastern Turkey.

The BTC pipeline takes its crude from Baku in Azerbaijan through Tbilisi in Georgia to the port city of Ceyhan in Turkey. It's the world's second-longest pipeline at almost 1,100 miles; this month, its through-put capabilities were to be boosted from 850,000 barrels a day to 1 million.
That extra capacity, important in moving more supply to the oil-starved world market, was sidelined when the PKK, a Kurdish separatist movement in Turkey, blew up part of the pipeline.
Some Caspian Sea oil had still been moving from Azerbaijan by railcar and a small pipeline to Georgia's western port of Sup'sa, but that had stopped Monday as Russian troops moved beyond disputed South Ossetia and deep into Georgia. The only remaining outlet was to send some oil far north through the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea, an option that Azerbaijan apparently rejected.

"Virtually all production has been shut down because of this," said Eric Kreil, an oil analyst who follows the world's oil news for the Energy Information Administration, the statistical and research arm of the U.S. Energy Department.

Like many global hot spots, the conflict in the Caucasus region is in large measure about oil, specifically who controls its flow and who derives its benefits.
The BTC pipeline was built at a cost of $4 billion with support from the Bush administration. It is one of the important sources of new oil to offset falling production in Mexico and elsewhere.
But Russia, the world's second-largest oil producer, was upset about competition from Baku, the capital of the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, and its hostile, U.S.-backed neighbor, Georgia.

The United States has aggressively sought its own oil foothold in the Caucasus region. The U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corp. and the World Bank provided credit guarantees for the building of the BTC pipeline, whose biggest stakeholder is British Petroleum at 30 percent. The U.S. Export-Import Bank provided about $160 million in financing for the project for construction giants Bechtel Corp. and Petrofac LLC, a British company with U.S. operations in Tyler, Texas.

U.S. oil giant Chevron had a nearly 9 percent stake in the project, while ConocoPhillips and Hess Corp. had stakes of 2.5 percent and 2.36 percent, respectively.
Baku's oil was first commercialized in the 1870s by Swede Robert Nobel, brother of Alfred Nobel, for whom the famed prizes are named, according to "The Prize," a 1991 book on the history of oil.

Roughly two-thirds of the oil moving along the nearly 1,100-mile BTC pipeline is bound for Europe. Any hit on global supplies in a tight world market threatens consumers everywhere.
Environmental groups opposed construction of the BTC pipeline because of concerns that the fighting in the volatile region could lead to pipeline damage and fouled ecosystems.

"That was always identified as a huge potential risk for this project," said Doug Norlen, policy director for Pacific Environment, a San Francisco-based group that helps foreign communities oppose well-financed oil companies. "It demonstrates what the world's addiction to oil results in."

Jonathon Kay on the Russian Invasion of Georgia

The first war of the post-post-9/11 era?
August 11, 2008

I'm not going to pretend to have any special insights into Russia's invasion of South Ossetia — and now Georgia proper. Even the Russians may not know how far they'll go, or how long they'll stay: This New York Times report suggests the invasion was a spur-of-the-moment reaction to events in South Ossetia, not a pre-meditated move.

But whatever the outcome, the conflict may mark the beginning of a new era in foreign affairs: The post-post-9/11 world.

Last month, the National Post comment pages presented five excerpts from a new book by Robert Kagan, The Return of History and the End of Dreams. Kagan's book is extraordinary — by post-9/11 foreign-policy standards, anyway — in that he devotes a mere five pages to the problem of militant Islam. That's because he sees militant Islam, and the terrorism it's spawned, as a mere sideshow to a larger conflict between the world's autocracies (led by China and Russia) and the world's democracies, led by the United States and (more flinchingly) the European Union. In this conflict, religion has little relevance. Instead, it is a raw Great Powers-style struggle for resources, influence and geopolitical control — layered over with an ideological battle about the legitimacy of non-democratic forms of government.

The fight in Georgia is exactly the sort of little proxy war that Kagan, presumably, sees as characteristic of the coming age: A fight between a pro-Western democratic state struggling in the shadow of bald-faced Russian hegemony. The fight has nothing to do with Islam, or terrorism, or Arabs, or Jews — and is only tangentially related to oil (which flows through the region). As such, it doesn't fit into any of the patterns we've come to expect since 9/11. In fact, most Western observers would have difficulty picking a favorite in this war. but not for the fact that Georgia is the more democratic and smaller of the two principals.

The question Georgians must be asking is: How far does that get you? Is NATO — or any Western nation — going to stand behind Georgia simply because we like their political system better than Russia's? Insofar as casus belli go, that's a pretty weak basis for jumping into a potentially dangerous fight — especially against a Russian army that's waging war in its own backyard to protect Russian nationals from persecution by Georgia.

Which side are you going to bet on — the one fighting for the abstraction of democracy, or the one fighting for blood and kin? It's pretty clear the first war of the post-post-9/11 era is going to go to the bad guys.

jkay@nationalpost.com

McCain's Experience Shows Through on Russian Invasion

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

August 12, 2008

Russia's brutal invasion of Georgia caught America off guard. But it did give voters an idea of what to expect from a President McCain or a President Obama, and right now the differences are stark.

John McCain understood just what was happening and called it right on the first shot.
"Russian military forces crossed an internationally recognized border into the sovereign territory of Georgia," he said as the news broke. "The very existence of independent Georgia — and the survival of democratically elected government — are at stake."
He was blasted by pundits as being too extreme, but events now show he was right. McCain grasped the regional implications, too.

"Russia has used violence against Georgia to send a signal to any country that chooses to associate with the West and aspire to our shared political and economic values," he said.
As he spoke, tiny Estonia and weak Ukraine began efforts to aid Georgia. Western Europe's greater powers wrung their hands.

McCain also comprehended what the attack meant for U.S. influence in the world — the specter of an ally bleeding while friend and foe alike eyed our response.

"Russian aggression against Georgia is both a matter of urgent moral and strategic importance" to the U.S., he said. He masterfully warned Russia off the cuff of specific consequences if it didn't leave — a United Nations Security Council condemnation even if Russia vetoes it; an emergency NATO session for a peacekeeping force, and a potential end to Russia's NATO partnership; a G-7 meeting that could kick Russia out; and beefed up Eastern European defenses.
In contrast, Barack Obama was all over the map, first equivocating Georgia and Russia as equally at fault and calling like a tired parent for all sides to just stop, making no moral distinction between an invader state and a nation invaded.

"Now is the time for Georgia and Russia to show restraint and avoid escalation into a full scale war," he said. It was a call for peace at any price, and implied that if Georgia should take exception to a foreign invasion, its self-defense was culpable. Jimmy Carter would be so proud.
Obama then lazily called on the U.N. to take care of the problem, which ignores the U.N.'s long record of inaction. All the same, turning it over to the U.N. conveniently extricates the U.S. from any responsibility to an ally and shields Obama from peace lobby criticism.

Obama then shifted to a slightly tougher line with more U.N. involvement, easily done with 300 foreign policy advisers, apparently including Hollywood actor George Clooney.
Obviously, one candidate has a superior sense of America's strategic interests and the emerging threats over the other, and Russia's invasion of Georgia has laid it out starkly.

McCain has a consistently clear reading on America's role in the world. He's seen war up close in Vietnam, and knows the mentality of tyrants and thugs. He also has focused on foreign affairs for decades, helping found Ronald Reagan's International Republican Institute in 1983, which, along with the National Democratic Institute, has attempted to spread democracy through the world. It's not surprising that he calls for a league of democracies to replace the stagnant U.N. and ineffective multilateral organizations.

McCain has been calling Russian intentions right since 1999, when he warned that Vladimir Putin was bad news and said Russia's strike at Chechnya would in time spread to Georgia.
It was later echoed in his defiant support of the surge in Iraq, which challenged conventional wisdom at the time but has since brought America a real victory in a long war.

It was also there in 1994, when the former POW defied Republicans to urge the normalization of trade relations with Vietnam, giving President Clinton, a draft dodger, crucial legislative cover to lift the embargo. Events show he provided America with a vital partner and emerging ally to counter the growing power of China in Southeast Asia. McCain cited that strategic picture in 1994.

In 1988, he was one of the loudest advocates for Reagan's missile shield in Europe, bluntly saying that supporters of what was then derisively called "Star Wars" "believe in protecting our security," while "opponents believe in undermining our security." Today, with military tests successfully knocking missiles out of the sky, the wisdom of that is obvious, too.

All of this shows that McCain is rapidly emerging as the 3 a.m. president.

Russia Orders Halt in Georgia Fighting

By Christopher Torchia

Press Democrat

and Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili

August 12, 2008

TBILISI, Georgia — Russia on Tuesday ordered a halt to military action in Georgia after five days of air and land attacks that sent Georgia’s army into headlong retreat and left towns, military bases and homes in the U.S. ally smoldering.

Georgia insisted Russian forces were still bombing and shelling.

Despite the pledge by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Russia launched an offensive Tuesday in the only part of Abkhazia still under Georgian control. An Associated Press reporter saw 135 Russian military vehicles driving through Georgia en route to Abkhazia’s Kodori Gorge, and Georgian officials said their troops in the gorge were being attacked by Russians.
Abkhazian officials claimed their forces, not the Russians, were carrying out artillery attacks in the Kodori Gorge. Fleeing Georgians said the entire population of the gorge, about 3,000 people, had abandoned their homes — some so quickly they didn’t even grab food or water.
“It feels like an annexed country,” said Lasha Margiana, the local administrator in one of the villages in Kodori.

Just hours before Medvedev’s order, Georgian officials said Russian jets targeted government offices and an outdoor market in the key Georgian city of Gori, killing six.

Russia has accused Georgia of killing more than 2,000 people, mostly civilians, in the separatist province of South Ossetia. The claim couldn’t be independently confirmed, but witnesses who fled the area over the weekend said hundreds had died.

Many Georgians also have been killed in the fighting. The overall death toll was expected to rise because large areas of Georgia were still too dangerous for journalists to enter and see the true scope of the damage.

Tens of thousands of terrified residents have fled the fighting — South Ossetians north to Russia, and Georgians west toward the capital of Tbilisi and the country’s Black Sea coast.
Gori’s post office and university were burning Tuesday, but the city was all but deserted after most remaining residents and Georgian soldiers fled Monday ahead of a feared Russian onslaught.

Russian deputy chief of General Staff Anatoly Nogovitsyn insisted Tuesday that Russian forces did not bomb Gori and said Russian troops weren’t in the city. Still, he confirmed his forces had taken control of a Georgian airport in Senaki, 30 miles east of Abkhazia.

In Tskhinvali, South Ossetia’s provincial capital, the body of a Georgian soldier lay in the street along with debris. A poster hanging nearby showed Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the slogan “Say yes to peace and stability” as South Ossetian separatist fighters launched rockets at a Georgian plane soaring overhead. Broken glass and other debris littered the ground.
In Moscow, Medvedev said on national television that Georgia had been punished enough for its attack on South Ossetia. Georgia launched an offensive late Thursday to regain control over the separatist province, which has close ties to Russia.

“The aggressor has been punished and suffered very significant losses. Its military has been disorganized,” Medvedev said.

“If there are any emerging hotbeds of resistance or any aggressive actions, you should take steps to destroy them,” he ordered his defense minister at a televised Kremlin meeting.
Russia’s foreign minister called for Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to resign and Medvedev said Georgia must pull its troops from South Ossetia and Abkhazia — the two breakaway provinces at the heart of the dispute.

But thousands of Georgians poured out their support for their president at a rally in Tbilisi, crowding a main square and nearby streets as far as the eye could see and holding aloft fluttering red-and-white Georgian flags.

Georgia borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia and was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. South Ossetia and Abkhazia have run their own affairs without international recognition since fighting to split from Georgia in the early 1990s.

Both separatist provinces are backed by Russia, which appears open to absorbing them.
Medvedev said Tuesday that Russian peacekeepers will stay in both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and Saakashvili said his government will officially designate Russian peacekeepers in those breakaway provinces as occupying forces.

On Monday, Russian forces opened a second battlefront in western Georgia, moving deep into Georgian territory from Abkhazia. They seized a military base in Senaki and occupied police precincts in the western town of Zugdidi. Russian troops also advanced Monday into central Georgia from South Ossetia, taking positions near Gori on the main east-west highway as terrified civilians fled.

Saakashvili said the twin moves sliced his country in half.

Nogovitsyn dismissed Georgian reports that warplanes again bombed an oil pipeline and accused Georgia of spreading false reports to rally anti-Russian sentiments in the West.
Still, the British oil company BP shut one of three Georgian pipelines as a precaution.
Georgia sits on a strategic oil pipeline carrying Caspian crude to Western markets bypassing Russia, has long been a source of contention between the West and a resurgent Russia, the dominant energy supplier to Europe.

Tamam Bayatli, a spokeswoman for pipeline operator BP-Azerbaijan, said in Baku that pumping of oil via Georgian territory was temporarily suspended as a “precaution” but the pipeline was intact.

The situation in Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, remained tense as sporadic fighting and artillery duels continued, but the city was in the control of Russian army and South Ossetian forces.

In villages around Tskhinvali once populated by ethnic Georgians, South Ossetian fighters reportedly were setting fire to Georgian houses and searching for hidden Georgian fighters.
An AP photographer in the village of Ruisi near South Ossetia saw fresh damage from a Russian air raid that locals said came just 30 minutes before Medvedev’s televised statement.

Residents said three villagers were killed and another five wounded when a Russian warplane raided the village. One slain victim, 77-year old Amiran Vardzelashvili, was struck by a fragment in the heart while was working in a field.

The Georgian government said another nearby village, Sakorinto, also was bombed after Medvedev announcing a halt to fighting, and as was an ambulance near the village of Agara in the Black Sea province of Adzharia.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who arrived in Moscow carrying Western demands for a Russian pullback, welcomed the Russian decision to halt the fighting but said Georgia’s sovereignty, integrity and security must be protected.

As he started talks with Sarkozy, Medvedev said Georgia must pull its troops from the breakaway regions and pledge not to use force.

The United Nations and NATO called meetings Tuesday to deal with the conflict, while Poland’s president and the leaders of four former Soviet republics flew to Georgia for a meeting of solidarity with Saakashvili.

“The Russian state has once again shown its face, its true face,” said Poland’s Lech Kaczynski, who was being joined by counterparts from Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine and Latvia.
But he said it was “good news” that Medvedev ordered a halt to military action.

At the White House on Monday, Bush had demanded that Russia end a “dramatic and brutal escalation” of violence in Georgia, agree to an immediate cease-fire and accept international mediation.

“Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century,” Bush said in a televised statement.

Iran Promises Final Response If Attacked

06/08/2008 11:44 - (SA)

Washington - Six world powers are to confer by telephone on Wednesday on whether to seek new sanctions or keep talking to Iran after its ambiguous response to their offer to resolve the dispute over its allegedly arms-targetted nuclear programme.
Iran promised in a letter on Tuesday a final response to the offer, but said it first needed some clarifications about the proposals, an EU source said.
Negotiators from United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China "have scheduled a conference call for tomorrow", said US State Department spokesperson Gonzalo Gallegos.
Iran's demand for more information came in the form of a letter to EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana that was also circulated late on Tuesday to the five UN Security Council permanent members and Germany, who are seeking to persuade Tehran to end its uranium enrichment programme.
The Iranian authorities "say there will be a response but that clarification is needed on certain points of the offer", the European source told AFP.
"They've hit the ball back. We must analyse whether it's just another way to gain time or if it's serious," she added.
The Iranian letter was received three days after an initial weekend deadline set by the United States and its allies.
'We are going to have no choice...'
A source with Iran's Supreme National Security Council told AFP that a message had been handed over to Solana, who has been leading negotiations on behalf of the six world powers, but confirmed it did not contain the awaited final response.
"The message delivered today is not Iran's response to the six countries," the source said.
The six powers had offered Iran negotiations on a package of technological incentives if it suspends the sensitive process of uranium enrichment, which the West fears could be used to make nuclear weapons.
Tehran has steadfastly refused to suspend its uranium enrichment activities, which it says are only aimed at producing fuel for nuclear power for a growing population.
The United States said Iran faced "additional measures" if it did not respond clearly, indicating it risked further UN Security Council sanctions.
"If we are not going to receive a clear response, a clear message from them, we are going to have no choice but to pursue additional measures," Gallegos said.
Along with the threat of further sanctions, Washington has warned that the option of military action against Iran remains open if Tehran sticks to its defiant line.
Anti-ship missile
In seeking new UN sanctions, Washington is assured the support of Britain and France, both of whom have used stronger language in dealing with Iran, but its unclear whether the other three powers would follow suit.
Russia and China, two of Iran's biggest trading partners, are usually reticent in adopting sanctions and have not commented on Iran's letter to Solana.
Germany, one of whose companies recently signed a controversial contract to build three liquefied natural gas plants in Iran, is also keeping its cards close to its chest.
Amid the continued tensions, Iran said on Monday it had successfully test-fired an anti-ship missile with a range of 300km that would allow it to close the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman.
"Given the equipment our armed forces have, an indefinite blockade of the Strait of Hormuz would be very easy," said the commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Ali Jafari.
But Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said that any move by Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz would be "self-defeating" because its economy is so heavily dependent on income from oil exports.

In Search for Vice President, McCain asks Cantor for records.

By BOB LEWIS, Associated Press Writer

August 2, 2008

RICHMOND, Va. - John McCain's campaign has asked Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor for personal documents as the Republican presidential candidate steps up his search for a running mate, The Associated Press has learned.
Cantor, 45, the chief deputy minority whip in the House, has been mentioned among several Republicans as a possible running mate for McCain. A Republican familiar with the conversations between Cantor and the McCain campaign said Cantor has been asked to turn over documents, but did not know specifically what records were sought.
The individual spoke on the condition of anonymity because neither the McCain campaign nor Cantor's office wishes to discuss the running mate selection process.
Cantor through a spokesman declined to comment. McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said the campaign would have "no comment on anything related to the vice presidential issue."
With just weeks till the national conventions, McCain and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama have knuckled down in their search for vice presidential candidates. They have been regularly huddling behind closed doors with a small circle of advisers to examine the backgrounds and records — and weigh the political implications — of at least a handful of prospects.
Cantor has been a visible McCain surrogate for weeks, appearing frequently on cable news outlets chiefly to promote McCain's positions on domestic and economic issues. He has been a forceful critic of Democrat Barack Obama's resistance to lifting the federal ban on oil and gas drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
Cantor has strong support among the party's conservatives, perhaps comforting a segment of the GOP base that has been reluctant to embrace McCain, who has often been at odds with members of his own party on several issues, including a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, federal funds for embryonic stem cell research and campaign finance reform.
Since his four terms in the Virginia House of Delegates starting in the early 1990s, Cantor has been part of the anti-tax wing of Virginia's Republican Party. His longtime advocacy for business and corporate interests in the General Assembly earned Cantor the derisive nickname "Overdog" from Democrats in Richmond.
Cantor is Jewish and is among Israel's most avid congressional supporters. His addition to the ticket could help the GOP win over Jewish votes this year. If McCain wins, Cantor would become the first Jewish vice president.
Cantor also would provide youth to the ticket as McCain turns 72 later this month.
Cantor could provide McCain with an important asset in Virginia, a state that last backed a Democrat for president in 1964 but which both parties are now targeting as a battleground.
That both McCain and Obama are considering Virginians as running mates underscores the importance of a conservative southern state in the back yard of Washington where Democrats have found success since 2001.
While the state's 13 electoral votes don't place Virginia among electoral giants such as California, Texas or Pennsylvania, picking off a state in the solidly Republican South could tip a close race to the Democrats.
Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is personally close and ideologically in sync with Obama and has been mentioned as a possible running mate along with Sens. Evan Bayh of Indiana and Joe Biden of Delaware and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.
Among others believed to be getting close looks from McCain: Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Ohio Rep. Rob Portman for McCain.
Cantor's drawback is his obscurity despite his leadership position in the House.
He won his seat in Congress in 2000 from one of Virginia's most conservative House districts. No Democratic challenger has come close to defeating him since, including actor Ben Jones, who played the Cooter character on the "Dukes of Hazzard" television comedy series. He faces a longshot challenge this year from Anita Hartke, the daughter of former Democratic Sen. Vance Hartke of Indiana.