Category Archives: Foreign
Pope Prop
In the heat of the New York Democratic primary, Bernie Sanders hopped on a charter Boing 767-300 and burned a carbon footprint to the Vatican.
The Week has a good account of Sanders’ “awkward” campaign detour.
He claimed he was invited by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences to give a speech on morality in the world economy. The president of that group, Margaret Archer, says, “Sanders invited himself.”
A Vatican spokesman said Sanders would not meet the pope. But meet he did.
Bernie managed to bump into the Holy Father’s as he was leaving for Greece. He gushed:
“It was a real honor for me, for my wife and I to spend some time with him. I think he is one of the extraordinary figures not only in the world today but in modern world history.”
Here’s the pope’s description of the encounter:
“This morning when I was leaving, Sen. Sanders was there, he had come to the convention,” the pope said. “He knew I was leaving at that time and he had the courtesy to greet me. I greeted him, his wife, and another couple who were there and were sleeping in Santa Martha,” the hostel where Francis also lives. “When I came down, I greeted him, I shook his hand, and nothing more. This is called good manners and it is not getting involved in politics…. If anyone thinks that greeting someone is getting involved in politics, I recommend that he look for a psychiatrist.”
Libya
President Obama told Chris Wallace in a Fox News Interview that Libya was his greatest mistake. He blames a lack of planning for the day after Gaddafi was killed. Or, as Hillary put it, “We came, we saw, he died.”
Vanity Fair points out that Hillary considers Libya to be one of her “chief accomplishments.”
Ford Plant in Mexico
There’s a new Ford plant in Mexico. Presumably Mexicans will stay in Mexico to work there instead of sneaking into this country to steal jobs here.
Donald Trump calls that an “absolute disgrace”.
Ayatollah Banking Behavior
IBD had an editorial and the WSJ had an op-ed on Ayatollah banking behavior. Zany authoritarians worth billions who aren’t Donald Trump – I thought it was worth a cartoon.
Now that the mullahs are getting their moola back, possibly 100 billion in frozen assets thanks to the Iran nuclear deal, they want to be able to move it through the U.S. banking system. That’s been a no-no in the past. Apparently it would make it easier to launder money for terrorism. On the other hand it could make it easier for U.S. intelligence to keep track of Iran’s money.
Ayatollah Banking Behavior
Anyway, last summer Adam Szubin of the Treasury Department told Congress, “Iran will not be able to open bank accounts with U.S. banks, nor will Iran be able to access the U.S. banking sector.” Now Treasury Secretary Jack Lew seems less committal saying the administration is trying “to make sure Iran gets relief.”
Since the Iran nuclear deal isn’t a signed treaty, Iran could walk away if it doesn’t get what it wants.
Last Tango in Brussels
President Obama’s been dancing around the Islamic terror threat. He doesn’t want to take the lead. He says the threat isn’t “existential” and more people die in bathtub accidents.
He danced the Tango after the Brussels attacks. He played golf after James Foley was beheaded. John Kerry sent James Taylor to Paris to sing you got a friend after the Charlie Hebdo attacks.
While ISIS is losing ground in the Middle East the WSJ reports interlocking terror cells are growing throughout Europe.
