Island Dweller has his usual pair of related observations:

Your majesty,

Only a “consummate politician” could do this, after all those quaint little strolls on the beach…
ID

FoxNews home page
6-29-13
Associated Press

Republicans accused New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie of getting too cozy with President Obama after Superstorm Sandy.

But during a visit Friday to a Republican stronghold, the governor went out of his way to put some distance between himself and the Democratic president.

Before taking questions from the public, Christie spoke about the problems in Washington and “a president who can’t figure out how to lead.” The Republican governor, now running for re-election, says Obama is more concerned about being right than “getting things done.”

When a woman thanked Christie for his warm response to Obama after Sandy and referred to the criticism he took for it, the governor cut her off.

He says he didn’t vote for Obama and added, “I don’t want him to be president.”

Chris Christie very much shares something unexpected with President Obama—peole keep wanting him to be something he is not. Governor Christie is not going to be the ultra-libertarian candidate for President: he is too happy to keep taxes high, does not particularly care for the rich, and has no interest in foreign policy in defense. He would be a terrible President, even though he certainly rejects the unions and has a low tolerance for stupid people. Conversely, the Left keeps hoping he’s that reasonable Republican who gets out of their way and lets them do whatever they want. He certainly will not do that, either. In fact, he hates the Left.

Most of Gov. Christie’s actions make total sense when you see him as a career politician trying to get re-elected. His choice for Senate Pro-Tem is all based on him knocking out competition for his own re-election efforts, and his on-again/off-again friendship with President Obama depends on whether he is getting money from or giving money to the Federal government. As you say, ID, he is indeed a consummate politician—and the rest of the country should not be particularly excited by that.

Your imperial majesty:

Much amusement here in the hydrated hinterlands, and in the belly of the Beast courtesy of Esteemed Associate, over the revelation the Enlightened One has apparently been conducting an unprecedented level of internet hacking and spying on our illustrious allies. A couple of observations:

1) This is amusing because one of the offended parties, the French, have been hacking their way into our industrial secrets for years, and they just had the same treatment accorded them, which offends them;

2) The Germans, who are no slouches at this pastime themselves, have apparently not been subjected to such intense scrutiny as the French. When it happened this time, it was at the hands of the American Internet Sicherheitsdienst, rather than the GRU or KGB – or whatever they’re now called (althoughI’m sure you’ll still find their shoes peeking out from behind the curtains as well, if you look hard enough).

When Francis Gary Powers was shot down in 1960 while buzzing about over the Rodina, and he fell into the hands of the KGB, there were a lot of sleepless nights at the State Department and around the Pentagon and White House. The reason? Prior to that time, the U-2 had been used by the CIA to conduct flights on the periphery of the Soviet Union. Our allies knew this, as they could track the bird’s flight, and the aircraft launched from and recovered at some of their bases. What they didn’t know was those same flights were used prior to the Suez Crisis in 1956 to spy on the activities of the French, British, and Israelis as they prepared for their joint attack on Egypt. Powers had flown some of those missions. The DOS and DOD were terrified this question would be put to Powers by the KGB, and the revelation could split the NATO alliance. It would also be an unmitigated diplomatic disaster for the Eisenhower administration, which had also lost a scheduled 1960 Summit meeting with Khruschev as a result of the U-2’s loss. As shrewd as his KGB interrogators were, for some reason they never thought of the possibility of the US using the aircraft to spy on its allies. What makes this doubly unbelievable is they themselves must have already been spying on their WP allies, yet never transferred that line of reasoning over to Powers’ activities. They missed a golden opportunity to split the NATO alliance not two decades into its life. In his book “Operation Overflight,” Powers stated one of the first debrief questions his CIA employers asked him upon release was whether the Soviets during their Lefortovo Prison interrogations had ever raised this issue with him. Powers stated the subject never came up during KGB interrogation. We just had to wait a few more years to be told by Julian Assange and others we’re still doing the same thing, only using more discreet means.

ID

Yeah, well, keep your friends close and your enemies closer. The notion that America spies on its allies seems more shocking than it should, since as you say they have been spying on us for a while. The Czar was familiar with a defense contractor who was shut down because one of their top level executives was an Israeli spy who walked off with detailed plans on the F-16’s technology many years ago. In other words, the Israelis were more than spying on the US—they were walking off with technology.

Ultimately, the NSA stories will prove to be interesting for mostly intellectual reasons: the political fallout, the outrage of our allies doing the same things to us (or wishing they could), and the typical double standard applied to America by other countries. But we would be fools to think this will change anything.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.