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source-The Gathering Storm

EDINBURGH: Stuck in a chronic sports slump, Britons are eternally searching for a home-grown tennis star with a fighting chance of winning Wimbledon. Their latest is 21-year-old Andy Murray, who this summer demonstrated traditional British come-from-behind pluck in advancing to the quarter finals. He finally lost to the eventual champion, Rafael Nadal. for more click here

AMERICA’S “global war on terrorism”, now in its seventh year, has gone on longer than the second world war. Will it ever end? Optimists believe some kind of victory is in sight: Iraq is improving; al-Qaeda has been unable to stage a big attack in the West in three years; and terrorists have shown little sign of using weapons of mass destruction. Jihadists face an ideological backlash, even from radical “brothers” who support jihad but disagree with killing Muslims. for more click here

Not since John Dean told the truth about President Richard Nixon’s crimes have we had an account by a very close aide to a sitting president charging him with crimes of the most serious kind. for more click here

“It isn’t a “war on terror” any more than the European theater of WWII was a “war on the blitzkrieg” or the recent Hezbollah-Israeli debacle was a “war on incoming missiles.” The war is against Islamic totalitarianism.” So said blogger Sixth Column.

I could not have said it any better.
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“My centre is giving way. My right is in retreat. Situation excellent. I shall attack!”

If only our political leaders and opinion-formers displayed even a hint of the defiant resilience that carried Marshal Foch to victory at the Battle of the Marne. But these days timorous defeatism is on the march. In Britain setbacks in the Afghan war are greeted as harbingers of inevitable defeat. In America, large swaths of the political class continues to insist Iraq is a lost cause. The consensus in much of the West is that the War on Terror is unwinnable. for more click here

Echoes From The Past
This from recent speeches by Winston Churchill III, Winston S. Churchill III on Islamic fundamentalism , Winston Churchill III: Radical Islam at war With the World.

Here are some excerpts.

Intriguingly the dangers of extremist Islam were forseen by Winston Churchill all of 85 years ago, as I discovered to my amazement, while compiling my most recent book Never Give In! The best of Winston Churchill’s Speeches. Churchill is of course well known for his gift of prescience and, specifically, for being the first to warn of the menace of Hitler and Nazism as early as 1932, and of the Soviet threat in his famous Iron Curtain speech of 1946 in Fulton, Mo.
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For centuries, the great city of Smyrna was a European foothold on the Anatolian coast. The British Levantine Company had had a factory there since 1667, trading in raisins and carpets, and even then the place was renowned for its lively social life. Francesco Lupazzoli, the priapic Venetian consul, lived on a diet of fruit, bread and water and a few slices of unseasoned meat, yet survived until the age of 114, and fathered 126 children on his five wives and innumerable Smyrniot mistresses. for more click here

Rumours have been rife that the Clintons’ marriage may be on the rocks. From Washington, Tim Shipman dissects the dynamics of the power-hungry duo’s complex relationship. for more click here

It would be easy to conclude from UK headlines that the British Government is getting tough on Terrorism. But while British Security services seek an extension to the detention laws for potential terrorists the government appears to be undermining their efforts.Cabinet Minister Jacqui Smith has announced a $25 million initiative to provide therapy and counseling to people who are members of extreme violent religious organizations. Crucially, under the new plan, members of such fanatical organizations will not automatically face prosecution.It is hard for any observer to see a coherent security policy developing in Britain.

For a country that risked its very existence on appeasement in the 1930’s what would make them want to repeat such a doomed experiment? Not for the fist time, British leaders are prepared to treat fanatics as they would themselves - as reasonable people.

The root of this folly goes to the heart of the British Labor {Labour} party movement itself. There is a deep distrust of history within the party. It is an ingrained belief born out of European left wing politics that there are no lessons to be learned from the past.

source-The Gathering Storm