From WaPo’s “In the Loop” column (via Daniel McKivergan, The World Wide Standard):
“U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, who’s president of the Security Council this month, is making some headway in imposing law and order at the notoriously fractious council—but it’s not been easy. At his first session last week, Bolton tried to impose fresh discipline and some new practices. First, he asked top U.N. staff to provide the council with daily briefings on the latest peacekeeping crises, irking council members who abhor changes and sparking groans from staff. Then, he proposed discussions on corruption in U.N. peacekeeping, which is proving unpopular—the issue’s not considered a threat to international peace and security by some. Most controversial of all, he insisted that all 15 Security Council members show up to meetings on time, at 10 a.m. Asked Thursday by a reporter whether he really thought he could start the council meetings on time, Bolton said he had failed. ‘I took a list of when they came in. We started just before 10:15. I brought the gavel down at 10. I was the only one in the room, though.’”
Well, “Regis” was there, too, of course—along with a couple of curvaceous broads from the Czech Republic and a tumbler of single malt Scotch. And though his suit was a bit rumpled, his mind remained sharp as one of the points on Chuck Schumer’s tongue. And he was taking notes.
Prediction: the next meeting will start precisely on time—or else at least one of those 15 Security Council members will wake up alongside a severed horse head—or perhaps a dead hooker, a bloody knife, and a fleet of AP photographers. If he hasn’t already done so.
Because order is order, baby. And that’s just how Regis rolls.
There goes a real hero.
Damn I would pay cash money to see that legendary photo of Regis climbing down off Bolton’s face and sodomizing Kojo Annan “just for kicks”, while a helpless Kofi looks on.
What’s the use of sending a few hapless Paki protesters to Gitmo, when our nation is ruled by a man who was called “my beloved son†by late Wahhabi-in-Chief King Fahd? They didn’t call the king’s allegedly Westernized nephew “Prince Bandar Bin Bush†for nothing!
When Dick Cheney and Condi Rice have only words of praise for the cradle of Islamo-terrorism where Christians are still officially treated as second-class citizen? Not to mention the fate of women, blacks Shiites and Jews…
When our government allows 70% of our country’s mosques and madrasas to be funded and controlled by the Saudi embassy in Washington and its many fronting foundations “for the advancement of multicultural understanding�
At best, it’s sending a mixed signals to Saudi-sponsored Jihadists the world over, in many ways similar to what King George VI and Neville Chamberlain did vis-à-vis the Nazis in the mid-1930s when a few UK fascists were symbolically prosecuted while most of the British aristocracy and foreign policy establishment embraced Germany and the lucrative commercial opportunities Hitler bestowed upon them…
Not to mention the fact that the German ambassador in London, Lord Joachim von Ribbentrop hosted the best parties in town: surely Prince Bindar Bin Ribbentrop would have been a more fitting appellation for John Bolton’s “favorite diplomatâ€Â!
Screw them neocon pansies and their Saudi love buddies. This is REGIS we’re talking about here, Vic.
He’s the metaphorical lovechild of a Sinatra knocked up by a Dirty Harry / John Wayne hybrid.
The doctor seems surprisingly lucid these days.
Which raises an important question… does powdered lemonade ferment?
I don’t have a Regis but I do hate stragglers to meetings. They deserve a lot worse than horse heads or dead hookers in their beds.
When I taught I always picked the early classes. Any predilection to straggling in the collective pod and I would have quizzes first thing in the morning until that problem went away.
That was before I lived next door to all of these horses.
So, Doctor.
What the hell’re you gonna do about it?
I thought the Democrats were just being hysterical when they opposed Bolton’s nomination to this post, but now that he’s demanding that meetings start on time? Clearly, this man is worse than a dozen Hitlers.
Personally I’m still waiting for the promised deathmatch between Regis and Broderick, Chuck Norris’ beard.
Nick – it’s already happened. You’ve heard of a little place called Alamogordo, circa July 16, 1945?
Scary stuff huh Ohnoes? Usually I peg his posts within the first three words of the first sentence, this time my jaw dropped when I got to the sig line, so I poured in a Carlsberg to compensate.
De la Vega assumes that no contact is better, and discounts the effect of the Haj on internationalist debate. More the fool he. Only by understanding the yearly sacrifice of the Haj can we come to terms with our inner meteorites, and truly wax the board of God.
Can I get an “Amen!”?
SB: mass
uh-huh
Yeah…OK, well perhaps I’m kind of getting more reactionary
Age maybe?
Or the sickening sight of the “spontaneous†global ballet of Mohammedan demonstrations carefully orchestrated by the Saudi Komintern…
Or, more probably, Bush’s policy of systematic “sensitivity†and appeasement towards “quietist†Saudi Islamo-fascists (as opposed to say “restive†OBL-type Jihadis), reminiscent in many ways of ambassador Joe Kennedy’s idea that backing Hitler’s brand of “moderate Nazism†to weaken Ernest Roehm’s revolutionary National-Socialism was sound foreign policy!
I am no fan of the public policy we see toward Saudi, but I suspect the language has been getting stronger behind closed doors. And does anybody really want to even think about the shit storm an invasion of Saudi Arabia would start?
I actually agree with the good Dr. Now I’m going to go hang myself.
Somewhere George Voinovich sits in a corner and gently weeps.
Really, Dr. Vega, the options are quite limited by history; particularly the Indian Branch of
I know it comes from the Moshe Dayan Center; but it’s mostly based on Foreign Office
the British Foreign Office; represented by Philby
pere and Percy Cox, in choosing to back Ibn Saud
over Prince Ali’s Hashemites. A in depth examination of these events are seen in Joseph
Kostinen’s tome; “The Making Saudi Arabia; 1916-1936
Documents. made the Ikhwan,the Bedouin Taliban,
who the likes of Capt. John Glubb, routed in the 20s the pivot point; by the time the boys from Standard Oil, paid a call; the rest has been history. the Nasserists, Communists et al; were pretty much canceled; over the years;
Personally, the President likes Bandar;he’s worked with the US Govt on many occasions;
and he’s an ACLU liberal when compared to the likes of Prince Naif and Prince Sultan. His wife, though, daughter of King Khalid, is like Martha
Logan, or more to the point Sheri Palmer; she
should have been deported as soon as her charity
to the Riggs Bank was discovered. We switched him out for his older brother; Prince Turki. the former spymaster cashiered two weeks before 9/11;
on personal terms with Osama; he replaced a non
saud former health minister who wrote approvingly
of suicide bombers; as the envoy to the Court of
St. James (I’m not making this up) there are a
few Saudi liberals; but the chances of them getting anywhere; is unlikely; They’re the Shia
minority in the oil rich Hijaz and on the East
coast; but the’re not likely to be able to prevail; The most likely alternatives to the Saud
are likely to be the Wahhabist and Salafi underground; which would be Hamas on steroids;
Iraq is a cakewalk; compared to the likely consequences of such a transition. Richard Clarke’s bizarre roman a clef; seems to take
the view; that they would not be such a bad
crew Ultimately the same policy directed at the
Meiji ruling family’s retainers in 1945; may be
the ultimate outcome; but that would the end
And ain’t it strange we’re hearing nothing of Bolton’s brutality toward our friends from the Congressional “loyal opposition”. Can it be that their polls tell them that 99.9% of their constituency have pictures of “Regis” above a little shrine to that kickass American hero whose time has come.
99.9% of their constituency have pictures of “Regis†above a little shrine to that kickass American hero whose time has come.
And the other .1% have a realistic looking “Regis” glued onto the bathroom mirror at upper lip height. It beats “Skin Bracer” in the morning—I know this to be true.
Very good, Doctor. You are beginning to creep toward falling into the camp that cannot look at George Bush without grinding their teeth over something, but rejoices with loud hosannahs when imagining either al-Gore or John Boy in his place. The sane people, in other words.
So, it’s time to ask: what’s the solution? Carping and sunfishing just gets you fried for dinner, with cornmeal breading and hush puppies on the side.
Shall we invade Saudi? Pushover—this is the only Army in the world where the soldiers can hire Bengladeshis to do all that tedious drilling and practicing. It’s a good chunk of what Osama wanted, as well. Do you suppose we will be greeted warmly as the (eventual) custodians of Makkah and Madenah, the great holy places? Will you volunteer to be the Governor thereof? On site duty, of course…
Shall we simply give them the cold shoulder? Toss them out of the parties and embassy receptions, tell them to go home and f* a camel, that their children shall be smarter and better looking? Of course they’ve already spent half a century dancing on eggs, trying to buy off or appease Prince Najaf and the Committee for the Preservation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. Now you propose to give them no place to stand, nothing to serve as counterweight to the muttawa, while doing nothing about the flood of money that underlies the whole contretemps. Who, then, will sit the Throne and hold the majlis? Do you suppose he will cease the funding of madrassahn in the West? Do you suppose he will allow ambassadors to even find out?
Shall we become energy independent, and tell them to go back to camel herding? Then China gets oil at half price and the flow of money into Saudi continues unabated…
Turing word: what is your proposed method, sir? You modestly confess being smarter than the rest of us put together, and prove it with polysyllabic profundity the envy of many a tenured English professor. Put that intellect to work and offer us solutions that aren’t certain to make things worse faster than the others.
Oh, and welcome to the neocon center, left wing. You can leave your misericord on the pile by the entrance—when we have time for music, it’s simple stuff like the recorder and Jew’s harp. Most of the time we spend bailing.
Regards,
Ric
Victorino embracing Neoconservatism? Are we getting into Dr. Peter Venkman territory?
Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling. Forty years of darkness. Earthquakes, volcanoes… The dead rising from the grave. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together – mass hysteria.
Or maybe it’s a good thing.
Showing signs of it, yes, but only at the comets and rains of frogs stage. (What if the Beast with Seven Horns is a Mardi Gras parade float? O, the embarrassment.) [fx: goes outside, checks the moon]</pre> No guttering out of the Sun evident at the moment.
He’ll back off. It’s entirely too luxuriously comfortable to sit facing backward, head firmly against the rest in case of sudden stops, and describe with eager glee all the sights and opportunities already behind. Facing forward to help the navigator is way too strenuous.
I hope narciso stays around. That’s a post worth reading, that is.
Regards,
Ric
tw: dead. I can think of two or three dead guys, mostly Brits, who could really help out here. Unfortunately I left the keys to the time machine on the dresser at a hotel…
Kennedy became ambassador in 1938; you’d think his concern over Roehm would have been assuaged a bit by the fact that Roehm had been executed in 1934.
To forestall any objections, I am aware that the dialogue in question was in fact shared among the characters of Egon, Winston, Ray, and Peter in the 1984 epic. Somehow, though, it just seemed right imagining the whole thing delivered by Bill Murray. You hear me, Ivan Reitman?
Might I humbly request you refrain from such imagery until April or so, when I can more conveniently do something about the salivating?
Thank you.
Bolton’s doing his job; I’ll give that to him, he’s attempting to make the UN little more than an instrument of US foreign policy.
Hopefully he won’t succeed.
Fire all those late staffers and let them work at Dunkin Donuts and hire some real workers!
And why not, C. W.? Why would that be a bad thing?
As opposed to an instrument for deliberately frustrating U.S. foreign policy, when its members can be distracted from infighting over the next “factfinding” tour of worldwide five-star hotels and which tinpot dictator and/or Third-World “businessman” to ship carloads of cash to.
Start a campaign to move it, Carl. Surely it needs to be away from New York, where the damned Americans can’t influence it so strongly. Dacca, perhaps?
Regards,
Ric
Does that mean you pine for the 60 year long status quo at the U.N. Carl? Or do you have a different model in mind? Should the world follow Islamic law? Chinese doctrine? Cuban?
What exactly is the alternative that you would suggest? It’d be interesting to hear what your preferred world model would be, one that you think would surpass the success of the U.S. over the last couple of centuries.
Weird. Because I don’t have the slightest desire to hear it.
I’ll bet when Regis flies into a proud rage at those dictatorial garlic gobblers at the UN, he can dance like an armadillo on a hot plate.
Hmm Jeff. I figure if he’s called he should put the cards on the table. I’ll put the U.S. Royal Flush record up against his Ace high anytime, and be happy to rake in the pot as often as he wants to contribute to it…
I hear you, Mark. It’s just that Carl prefers inference to substance. And frankly, I’d rather spend time petting my dog or eating some salami slices than listening to Carl pretend to engage.
That’s not a judgment on you or anybody else, though. That’s just me saying, “damn, I could really go for some salami, a Guinness, and The Valachi Papers on DVD just now.”
Make it a really fattu slice of salami rolled around a thick slab of Philly cream cheese (just to piss off the fat police you understand) and the original Manchurian Candidate, and you’ve got a deal!
He said, as he searched for the tape (yea, I have it on tape…).
Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
tw: The Methods of King George…
Yeah, I know. Don’t say it.
I think Carl Goss is just against meetings that start so damn early in the morning.
I might hold off on that salami, if I were you. Well, at least if your grocer is getting it from Bulgaria.
Have a hot dog instead.
The sequential nature of time, nay, the very concept of causality, has no place in Victorino’s mind.
Yeah and right after the bit about apocalypse and dogs and cats living together was the bit about the pencil neck dude with no dick…truly the best putdown in the history of cinema!!
Hmm…â€Âambassadorâ€Â, “diplomatâ€Â, whatever…Joe Kennedy was the special envoy to Spain of President Roosevelt in the mid-1930s, which surely qualifies him as kind of de facto ambassador
Anyhoo, that wasn’t my main point
And I’m even willing to admit I made a mistake!
PS
Ric,
I’ll have to meditate further upon your Pauline prose…
For Jeff:
“What did you do after the Masseria hit, Joe?”
“DO? What kinda idiot are you? I RAN!”
*Gives the good doctor a salute* I like the neocon points better, but I’m partial.
Final point, the better analogy is not to Rohm v.
Hitler, but the former Junker military class and
intelligentsia; typified by the Von Moltke & Col.
Von Stauffenburg; the men behind the July 20, Wolf
schanze plot