THE ISLAMISTS' WAR ON THE INTERNET (IslamoNazis threaten to kill Michelle Malkin)

Believe me, she has bodyguards.

When she was at UC Berkeley a year ago or so she had massive opposition.

Not that FR people and other supporters shouldn't keep their eye out for people that mean to harm her---or any other conservative speakers for that matter.

I was asked by a conservative media speaker to escort her to her car after an event because of a threat against her.

Just as an addendum, whenever we are at any kind of an event it is a good idea to be on alert. And have several cameras going.

Came accross this quote you bothy might find interesting. Goes to the discussion a couple of weeks ago.

"An international fraternity of terrorists, with the Soviet Union as the chairman of the rush committee, has enabled the Russians to engage, as Senator Henry Jackson has put it, in 'warfare by remote control' all over the world. Other members of the international club include North Korea, Cuba, South Yemen, East Germany, Libya, and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Malcontents from all over the world are trained by them in the arts of kidnapping, assassination, sabotage, bomb making, and insurrection, and then sent off to ply their trade. Their tutors are careful to keep them well supplied with weapons and to provide sanctuary when they need it." - Richard Nixon, The Real War, 1980.

Many people shared this view then.

I'd have to disagree with that. I got my BA in poly-sci (SJSU '90). Outside of the military and those that really paid a lot of attention to Soviet affairs, which was fewer than those who pay attention to Middle East affairs today, I rarely met people who knew of Soviet involvement in world terrorism except in the most vague ways. And often it was dismissed as Reagan/Cold War propaganda.

Had forums like this been more prevalent in the 70's, 80's and early 90's, that might have been different.

Furthermore, the collapse of the Old Soviet Union had the effect of purging all thought of it from peoples minds. Talk to anyone under the age of 40 and the Soviet Union, and all the evils that that went with, it is ancient history.

As for the WOT, it began on 9/11 and most of what people know about terrorism began then. They forget (or never knew) about Qaddafi, Khomeini, and Arafat's early days. The current WOT is seen as something new and different, not fruition of 30-years of Soviet meddling in the Middle East.

"I'd have to disagree with that. I got my BA in poly-sci (SJSU '90). Outside of the military and those that really paid a lot of attention to Soviet affairs, which was fewer than those who pay attention to Middle East affairs today, I rarely met people who knew of Soviet involvement in world terrorism except in the most vague ways. And often it was dismissed as Reagan/Cold War propaganda."

You are probably right. But compared to now, the numbers then were immense.

And the thing is, the Russians are doing the same things they did then, and its all progressing and getting worse. Meanwhile, like you say, history has been wiped clean like a chalkboard.

I'll tell you something. As a kid, I educated myself in the local library, same city I live in now. I don't think I could get an education there anymore. I think they scrubbed the place!

And the thing is, the Russians are doing the same things they did then, and its all progressing and getting worse. Meanwhile, like you say, history has been wiped clean like a chalkboard.

The difference between now and then is that under the Soviets it was official government policy. Today it is basically former Soviet Aparatchik (KGB, ARMY, etc.), that are acting as independant contractors for former Soviet clients.

Post Soviet governments, whether Yeltsin or Putin or whoever, had very little control over this. Things were complete chaos under Yeltsin. Things are marginally better now that Putin is in charge. Official government policy means little were there is massive unemployment and hard currency can buy anything that is not nailed down (and much that is).

Terrorist states like Iran, North Korea and Syria have actively recruited, for example, former soviet scientists who worked in the USSR's massive bio/chem warfare programs, offering them monthly salaries (in hard currency) that exceeded their yearly salaries back home before the government collapsed and put them on "no-pay" status. One report I read had a nuclear scientiist trying to smuggle radioactive material out of lab in a thermos hoping to sell it to anyone who'd pay.

Lots of Russian Army officer, who under Yeltsin went for a year or more without pay, made their money selling off whatever military hardware they could get their hands on.

While many distrust Putin, As I still do to some degree (cold war prejudice?), Parliamentary proceedures will not fix what is wrong in Russia, post Soviet collapse. In effect, they need Plato's "enlightened dictator" who can crack heads, clean out the corruption, and put the Russiam mafia in its place.

Much of the back-sliding to the "old-ways" that are attributed to Putin are, I believe, are neccessary measures to get a handle on the problems he faces. From some of the things I have read he is an honest broker struggling to fight political problems that make what goes on here look like playgroung antics.

The problem lies in what happens after. Will power corrupt him? Those who seem to know him well, say no. I'm not sure. We'll see.

For Russia to make the jump from Soviet Communism to democracy was probably more of a leap than for a country like Iraq, in many ways.

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