analysis policy in all the world

Arrests made in Plutonium Black Market

Authorities in Kyrgyzstan say they have arrested two men who were trying to sell a large quantity of plutonium on the black market. The men were detained last week near the capital, Bishkek, but the news was not immediately released...

The national security service in the remote mountainous republic says it arrested two Kyrgyz citizens and confiscated 60 small containers containing plutonium-239. There is no information on exactly what quantity of plutonium was in the containers. Kyrgyz security agents tracked the men who were attempting to sell the plutonium and arrested them while posing as buyers.

The origin of the material is unknown.

Security officials say it is not used in Kyrgyzstan, so they think it may have come from one of the neighbouring republics or from Russia...

Black-Market Plutonium Dealers Arrested In Kyrgyzstan

O'Reilly: the Bush Interview

President Bush's interview with Bill O'Reilly tonight was a great exchange. O'Reilly asked pointed questions -- tough questions. The president answered them with confidence and conviction.

This contrasts with Kerry who has not sat for an extended interview, or even a short interview, on camera with a journalist since August 1. Kerry cannot do so because he cannot answerer the questions without colliding with himself. So its Letterman, Dr. Phil and Jon Stewart. Some Commander-in-Chief, who won't even risk a meeting with Bill O'Reilly.

"[Kerry's] habit of soliciting one more point of view prompted one close adviser to say he had learned to wait until the last minute before weighing in: Mr. Kerry, he said, is apt to be most influenced by the last person who has his ear. His aides rejoiced earlier this year when Mr. Kerry yielded his cell phone to an aide, a move they hoped would limit his seeking out contrary opinions." --Sunday's New York Times on John Kerry.

The last person to talk to Kerry will usually be Theresa or Teddy Kennedy. Really. So be sure to read what Teddy had to say at George Washington University yesterday. Kerry's collapse must be across the board to allow the aging lion of the incoherent left to come out and growl. Kennedy is Kerry's mentor. Kennedy will be the decisive voice on foreign affairs. America is fully warned as to what that means by reading through the remarks Kennedy gave yesterday.

Hugh Hewitt on Bush @ O'Reilly

Kennedy says Bush makes U.S. more vulnerable to nuclear attack

From, you guessed it, the AP:

The Bush administration's failure to shut down al-Qaida and rebuild Iraq have fueled the insurgency and made the United States more vulnerable to a nuclear attack by terrorists, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy said Sunday.

In a speech prepared for delivery at George Washington University on Monday, Kennedy said that by shifting attention from Osama bin Laden to Iraq, Bush has increased the danger of a ''nuclear 9/11.''

''The war in Iraq has made the mushroom cloud more likely, not less likely,'' he said in the remarks released late Sunday...

...Kennedy's Monday speech details 13 reasons why Bush's policies have not made the United States safer from terrorism. Among other things, he said the war in Iraq created a new breeding ground for terrorists, distracted from efforts to eliminate al-Qaida, alienated America's allies and allowed North Korea and Iran to pursue nuclear weapons.

Suprisingly, Kennedy made no mention of Madeline Albright's brilliant 1994 negotation techniques with the North Koreans or Jimmy Carter's failure to support the Shah of Iran, which resulted in the current Iranian government.

Kennedy on...

The Narcissist

It isn’t hard to see, or hear. All one has to do is listen to John Kerry for a bit. His every word drips of it. It emanates from his every action. John Kerry is arrogant. This has never been more obvious than in his recent remarks about Iraq in the face of Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s speech to a joint session of Congress. John Kerry essentially said that the prime minister didn’t know what he was talking about and that he, John Kerry, did.

We’ve heard about Kerry’s legendary elitism. We’ve heard the stories of him bucking lines in small town Massachusetts, chastising those he usurped with a flippant, ''Don’t you know who I am?'' We’ve read accounts of him demeaning Secret Service agents for his lack of balance on his snowboard: ''I don’t fall down. That son-of-a-bitch knocked me over.'' It’s clear that he believes he is above the Everyman. Better than the Everyman. Superior to the Everyman. He is an elitist. He is a narcissist.

All of this pales in comparison to the statements he made directly after the speech to Congress by Prime Minister Allawi...

The Narcissist

Halliburton... Fannie Mae

It was John Kerry’s very own idea recently to begin popping the Bush-Cheney team over Halliburton, lifting a theme from the playbook of Howard Dean. Fate has now handed the Bush campaign a rejoinder: Fannie Mae.

Beneficiaries of alleged book-cooking by the federally-sponsored housing colossus include: Jim Johnson, who ran Mr. Kerry’s vice presidential search process and is a former Fannie CEO; Jamie Gorelick, former Clinton Justice Department official and partisan member of the 9/11 commission who formerly served as Fannie’s Vice Chairman; and, most of all Franklin Raines, former Clinton budget director and the politically oleaginous current Fannie CEO who has been touted in recent months as a Kerry Treasury Secretary...

Halliburton... Fannie Mae

PoliPundit's Quote of the Day

“Day One of [Kerry’s] presidency, every child in America will have health care. Period.”

- Teresa Heinz. Would someone please explain to Queen Teresa that, unlike her butlers, the US Congress isn’t at her beck and call?