IDF General: "Arab Spring" Poised to Turn Into "Radical Islamist Winter"

Consider the so-called "Arab Spring" a reprise of the Carter Doctrine, as it were. To wit: show weakness, stall as long as possible before making decisions, and tacitly condone the Middle East's most radical elements.

IDF Major General Eyal Eisenberg warned last week that the so-called “Arab Spring” may ultimately turn into a “radical Islamic winter.” Recent events in Egypt and elsewhere in the region indicate that this grim assessment is materializing at a rapid pace right before our eyes.

...the growing Mideastern chaos has shattered any semblance of regional stability, allowing the darkest, most radical forces to erupt and increasingly set the tone. What we saw in Egypt [Ed: the storming of the Israeli embassy] over the weekend was merely the beginning. Much worse is yet to come.

Arab affairs expert Guy Bechor notes that the siege and near-lynch at Israel’s Cairo embassy is first and foremost a domestic affair, reflecting the great deterioration on Egypt’s streets. The orgy of violence and lawlessness we witnessed marks the rise of Islamists and street thugs and the State’s declining ability to impose law and order.

...In Libya, rebels are dusting off what’s left of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, under the leadership of none other than “former Jihadist” Abdel Hakim Belhaj... post-revolution Tripoli has already become a menace to regional stability. Last week, Israeli officials warned that Palestinians in Gaza have acquired anti-aircraft and anti-tank rockets from Libya. Meanwhile, the European Union’s counter-terrorism’s chief warned that al-Qaeda may have also secured arms looted in the Libyan conflict, including surface-to-air missiles that could threaten commercial airliners.

On the tenth anniversary of the horrific attacks of 9/11, it is worth asking the question:

How did President Obama arrive at his decisions to: (a) actively support the overthrow of a U.S. ally (Hosni Mubarak); (b) fail to support Iran's Green Revolution; (c) support Libya's rebels, whose leaders represent the most radical Islamists imaginable; and (d) fail to support Syria's attempted overthrow of the Iranian puppet dictator Bashar as-Assad?

For you drones: that's a rhetorical question.


Hat tips: Dan from New York and The Telegraph (photo of Neda).

Photos: London Islamists commemorate 9/11 by burning U.S. flags, breaking moment of silence with megaphones, celebrating mass murder

Un-indicted co-conspirator CAIR hardest hit:

Islamic supremacism, triumphalism, and hurling insults against the soldiers who defend the rights they have chosen to mock and abuse...

"9/11 anniversary: Muslim protesters burn US flag outside embassy in London," by Andy Bloxam for the Telegraph, September 11:

A number of radical Islamic groups including Muslims Against Crusades (MAC) gathered outside the embassy on the 10th anniversary of the attacks.

The group of around 100 men shouted "USA terrorists", brandished anti-American placards and chanted through a loudhailer.

Several members of the Muslim groups made anti-American speeches following the flag burning.

One said: "You will always face suffering, you will always face humiliation, unless you withdraw your troops from Muslim lands."

Another declared that America had been "defeated in Iraq and defeated in Afghanistan".

Members of the group publicly burned a poppy on Armistice Day in a similar stunt.

True to form, legacy U.S. media completely ignored the death-worshipers' celebration in London.


Update: Report: Two EDL members stabbed by Islamists.

Contagion in Europe: Greece Poised to Shatter the Global Financial System

Over the past several years, the phrase "trouble in Greece" was routinely used to explain the occasional market tumble here in the U.S. Lately, though, the broader "European contagion" description is heard more frequently as banks in central Europe try to avoid a seemingly inevitable series of sovereign defaults.

Why should you care?

Put it this way: if immense global banks seize up, even if they are headquartered in Europe, the reverberations will be felt here in America.

...markets are saying that default by Greece is inevitable. Greece is expected to run out of cash within weeks and massive civil unrest may slide into anarchy as protests become increasingly violent. The bailout by the European Union that was supposed to save Greece appears to be on the verge of collapse according to The Wall Street Journal... "Europe’s failure so far to rescue its first patient has had immense consequences for the 17-nation euro zone, despite the fact that Greece’s economy is but a tiny fraction of it."

...Greek citizens have responded to the looming default of their government by withdrawing their money from Greek banks at a record pace. Greek banks have reportedly run out of safety deposit boxes as Greeks withdraw their life savings to put into bank vaults... "In May alone, almost €5bn (£4.4bn) was pulled out of Greek deposits, as part of what analysts describe as a 'silent bank run'... Bags of money in garages, frightened savers fleeing banks and even the country: these aren’t the sort of stories you associate with a comparatively-prosperous European country, but with a developing one facing a life-or-death economic crash.

The problem with a Greek default involves the subsequent and inevitable chain reaction. The troubled country's debt is owned in great part by banks throughout Europe -- especially in France and Germany -- and panicked depositors are unlikely to weigh the solvency of their own personal bank. If hysteria and fear spread, much of Europe could suffer bank runs.

As bond yields spike in Portugal, Spain and Italy, it becomes increasingly clear that the market anticipates a series of defaults on sovereign debt that no one on Earth can backstop.

And, as it turns out, Germany is already preparing for the inevitable Greek default.

Germany's Finance Ministry is studying the potential impact of a Greek debt default, working through scenarios which include Greece abandoning the euro to reintroduce the drachma, Germany's Der Spiegel magazine reported on Saturday.

Put simply, Germany's preparations involve bulking up banks. An emergency plan discussed within Germany anticipates a 50% haircut (loss) on Greek debt. Some experts believe that's an optimistic estimate.

Greece is “on a knife’s edge,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told lawmakers at a closed-door meeting in Berlin on Sept. 7, a report in parliament’s bulletin showed Thursday. If the government can’t meet the aid terms, “it’s up to Greece to figure out how to get financing without the euro zone’s help,” he later said in a speech to parliament.

Greece has vowed to avoid default, no matter the consequences for its government.

George Papandreou has vowed to fully implement reforms demanded by international lenders so that Greece will be able to avoid default and remain a member of the eurozone.

...Thousands of protesters shouting anti-austerity slogans gathered outside a conference centre in the northern city of Thessaloniki where the premier was making his annual economic policy speech on Saturday... Riot police fired teargas to disperse protesters as a dozen separate groups, including public sector trade unions, university students and supporters of a local football club, staged marches around the city centre.

Mr Papandreou said he was committed to carrying out this week’s cabinet decisions: immediate cuts in civil service salaries and the planned dismissal of 20,000 public sector in the next few weeks – a condition for Greece to receive the next €8bn tranche of its current bail-out loan...

But Greece will default; the markets are predicting that outcome with essentially 100% certitude:

Greece’s historic record bond yields have forced the markets to recognize and read the proverbial financial writing on the wall... Greece ... is set to default.

...The fact that Merkel, and by extension Germany (the final stop between the Greek economy and default), is now prepping the nation’s banks for Greece’s default could not be a clearer economic and political signal to the market that “bad times are coming” for not only Greece, but the entire European Union.

What’s most interesting, however, is the future of the European Union, post -Greece’s-seemingly-inevitable default. For while Greece is today’s “problem Economic child,” its soon-to-be-failed brethren (i.e Italy, Spain, etc.) are close behind, busy elbowing for a place at the default table.

Let’s see what happens once Germany officially steps out of the way of the cliff.

My prediction is that within a month (three at the very outer, outer limit), a default by Greece will touch off the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression.

2008 will look like a cakewalk in comparison.

An economist interviewed Friday on Bloomberg Radio -- not exactly a hotbed of doom-and-gloom talk -- predicted that gold would hit $7,000/oz. as investors flee to the world's one true reserve currency: a yellow-toned metal.

Libya Rebel Commander: "An Islamist? Moi?"

Dan from New York:

This should quiet all the bitter skeptics who said Obama’s Libyan adventure would wind up trading Qaddafi for something worse.

Libya Rebel Commander Plays Down Islamist Past

September 02, 2011 | Associated Press



TRIPOLI, Libya -- The rebels' Tripoli military commander, a former leader of an Islamic militant group that sent fighters to Iraq and Afghanistan, insisted Friday that the new Libya will shun extremism and won't become a breeding ground for terrorism.



The commander, Abdel Hakim Belhaj, said he was detained in 2004 in Malaysia and sent to a secret prison in Thailand where he was tortured by CIA agents. Then he was sent to Libya and jailed for seven years by Muammar Qaddafi's regime.



But Belhaj, 45, played down his Islamist past, seeking to allay concerns about his emergence as a prominent figure in the Western-backed Libyan opposition movement.



He insisted he holds no grudges against the West because of the shared goal of ousting Qaddafi... Belhaj was a leader in the now dissolved Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which was deemed a terror group by the U.S. But he said he refused to join Al Qaeda because he disagreed with its ideology of global jihad, or holy war, and wanted to focus on ridding Libya of Qaddafi.



He said he never agreed with Al Qaeda's ideology of global jihad, or holy war, but only wanted to focus on ridding Libya of Qaddafi... Qaddafi, in courting the West in recent years, has insisted Al Qaeda would gain influence in Libya unless he remained in power...



Belhaj dismissed those concerns... "We never have and never will support what they call terrorism," he said.



"Libya is a moderate Muslim country," he said. "We are a simple people with a simple cultural makeup and we have never had extremist ideas. And if there ever were any they were an exception."

Why, this is the "Arab Spring", so what could possibly go wrong?

Gunrunner Tip: U.S. city officials smuggled guns to Mexican cartels... under the watchful eyes of federal agents

This story could give you chills.



I wrote a few days ago about the city officials in New Mexico's border town of Columbus indicted for smuggling firearms and tactical gear to the La Linea drug cartel. As it turns out, that case may be linked to "Operation Fast and Furious", the malevolent Justice Department project that shipped thousands of murder weapons to Mexican drug gangs.



Here's the interesting part -- over the transom comes the following tip:

Read Counts 23 and 24 of the indictment, on page 9 of 26 of the indictment, available here:



In Count 23, On January 25, 2011, federal agent(s) watched as two suspects purchased a total of 20 American Tactical 9mm pistols from an FFL in New Mexico, drove with two more persons about 27.5 miles in about 32 minutes to an apartment in El Paso, TX. They stopped at a Kmart and bought a black backpack. They entered the apartment with the black backpack and the box containing the 20 pistols. Shortly two individuals exited the apartment, with the now-full black backpack and drove, with the black backpack, in an unmarked Ford F-150 police vehicle registered to the village of Columbus, TX to the El Paso bus station (which is less than 1/4 mile from the Santa Fe Bridge Border Crossing between El Paso and Juarez).



In count 24, on January 27, 2011, federal agents watched as a Honda Pilot with Chihuahua plates occupied by two of the men from the Jan. 25 event, and an unknown female, pulled up to the apartment. Two men unloaded and carried into the apartment a large black suitcase. Two hours later, one of the men who had bought guns on Jan. 25 exited the apartment, wheeled the large black suitcase to the unmarked Ford F-150 police vehicle registered to the village of Columbus, NM, and drove to the El Paso bus station (yep, the one less than 1/4 mile from the Santa Fe Bridge Border Crossing between El Paso and Juarez).



So how do the statements made in those two counts in the indictment square with paragraph ten of the media's story announcing the arrests and unsealing of the indictment?



"As part of the investigation, every effort was made to seize firearms from defendants to prevent them from entering into Mexico, and no weapons were knowingly permitted to cross the border."



The agents followed the straw buyers for more than half-an-hour from Chaparral, NM to El Paso, TX. The agents watched as a bundle they had to suspect contained firearms was driven to a bus station within 1/4 mile of the border. The agents watched the apartment for two days. The agents then watched as a second container they might reasonably have suspected contained firearms was driven to the same bus station within 1/4 mile of the border.



How many opportunities did they have to interdict the firearms along the way?



How far from the border do they have to be when they avert their gaze to say they did not "knowingly" allow firearms to cross the border?



There is no indication that any of these 20 9mm pistols were seized or in any way accounted for. The activities reported in both counts 23 and 24 happened more than one month after the death of US Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry.

Those are damn good questions.



So I repeat: what did Eric Holder know? And when did he know it?

Israel Having Hard Time Boycotting Turkey

Dan from New York:

Israel’s security cabinet met in an emergency session today to decide on a response to Turkey’s expulsion of Israel’s ambassador. Among the actions discussed was a boycott of Turkish exports, but no decision was reached since none of the ministers present could think of anything Turkey actually exports. (BBC)

Mission Accomplished!

"Under my plan of a cap and trade system, [energy prices] would necessarily skyrocket. Even regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad. Because I’m capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, you know, natural gas, you name it — whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was... [t]hey will pass that money on to consumers." --Barack Obama, 1 November 2008

Mission accomplished.

This graph depicts gas prices since the election of President Subprime McDowngrade.

I wouldn't worry. Perhaps the Chinese will sell us gas from our own continent.

Gunwalker: Heard about the city officials in New Mexico who were smuggling guns to drug cartels in U.S. police cars?

Several city officials of the New Mexico border town of Columbus recently admitted they smuggled firearms and tactical gear to the La Linea drug cartel. And now, it turns out, that case may be linked to "Operation Fast and Furious", the malevolent Justice Department project that shipped thousands of murder weapons to Mexican drug gangs.

The Columbus gun smuggling case might be linked to a national case... The mayor, police chief and a trustee have all pled guilty to running guns to the Juarez drug cartel "La Linea".



At a hearing for police Chief Angelo Vega on Thursday, it was revealed that six of those weapons may be connected to "Operation Fast and Furious"[, ...] an ATF program that allowed thousands of guns to cross into Mexico so that federal agents could track them.



Now "Fast and Furious" is under investigation, because officials lost track of more than a third of the guns, many of which were linked to shootings.

Last month it was revealed that Columbus city officials were using the town's police cars and other equipment to run guns to the cartels.

The former mayor of a New Mexico border town pleaded guilty to gun smuggling charges four months after he was arrested in a federal sting.



On Tuesday, Eddie Espinoza, 51, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, three counts of making false statements, and three counts of smuggling firearms from the United States.



The guilty plea means the former mayor of the village of Columbus could face up to 50 years in a federal prison.



In March, federal agents arrested Espinoza and several others, including Columbus Chief of Police Angelo Vega and village Trustee Blas Gutierrez.



Federal documents state the group smuggled more than 200 guns from New Mexico to the streets of Cíudad Juárez and Palomas, Chihuahua. The documents further state that at times the group used unmarked police cars registered to Columbus to smuggle the guns across the border... the guns [were connected] to at least eight murders in those cities.

Gunwalker is a bigger scandal than Watergate. American law enforcement officials have been killed by the weapons smuggled to the drug cartels by a rogue Justice Department.



If we had a real media in this country, a firestorm of outrage would have already been ignited among the electorate. And the most partisan Attorney General in American history -- Eric Holder -- would be testifying every day in front of Congress.

Self-preservation is all the rage in Europe

Dan from New York:

As I’ve noted before, reports of the death of European culture are premature. Europeans will return to their roots and repel the encroachment of Islam in European societies. They’ve done it before. The French and the Germans have already thrown down their gauntlets, banning the burqa and declaring multiculturalism a failure. Now the Greeks seem to be stirring too. So when will we wake up? That’s anyone’s guess, but it won’t come before the reign of Obama ends.

Shariah Abolished for Greek Muslims

I, for one, would start by profiling Militant Quakers.

China: Working Around the Clock to Lock Up Fossil Fuels While Obama's EPA Systematically Destroys America's Energy Infrastructure

As the EPA, the Department of the Interior and the State Department do their level best to suppress exploitation of America's domestic energy sources, the Red Chinese are on the move, 24 by seven, 365, around the globe.



• China joins shale gas hunt: "China approved its first shale gas exploration tender in July, awarding two blocks in the Sichuan Basin to China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, or Sinopec, and a Henan provincial state-owned company... Last year, PetroChina Co, the country's top listed gas producer and a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), started drilling two shale exploration wells in Sichuan province. PetroChina said earlier it aims to produce 500 million cubic meters of shale gas by 2015."



• Beijing switches its allegiance to major oil supplier's rebel council: "CHINA HAS called for “a stable transition of power” in Libya and said it had made contact with the rebels there, a sign it has switched allegiances from Muammar Gadafy in a bid to ensure the flow of oil from Libya is not jeopardised... While Beijing backed Col Gadafy initially – as an authoritarian government itself, Beijing is not quick to call for the demise of other such regimes – it had also been stepping up engagement with Libyan rebel leaders in recent months."



• China and Iran Join Hands on Oil: "Recently, an oil deal was done between China and Iran; they’re bypassing the US dollar by having a trade agreement for the oil. If you look at what China has done in East Africa, you can see that Chinese firms are investing heavily in the region to secure future oil production."



In the mean time, the Obama administration's Cloward-Piven strategy is literally dismantling the United States' energy industry piece by systematic piece. Our infrastructure is truly being hollowed out from within, not unlike an infestation of termites inside a home's foundation.

Libya's New Regime: Daniel Pipes Fears the Worst

Emphases mine:

Many are ready to party about the political demise of the hated, eccentric, and foul Mu'ammar al-Qaddafi as rebel troops move into Tripoli. I am not partying. Here's why not.



The NATO intervention in March 2011 was done without due diligence as to who it is in Benghazi that it was helping. To this day, their identity is a mystery. Chances are good that Islamist forces are hiding behind more benign elements, waiting for the right moment to pounce, as roughly happened in Iran in 1978-79, when Islamists did not make clear their strength nor their program until the shah was well disposed of. Should that be the case in Libya today, then the miserable Qaddafi will prove to be better than his successors for both the Libyan subjects of tyranny and the West.



I hope I am wrong and the rebels are modern and liberal. But I fear that a dead-end despotism will be replaced by the agents of a worldwide ideological movement. I fear that Western forces will have brought civilization's worst enemies to power.

There have been a series of credible reports that NATO -- in its quest to dislodge Gaddafi -- was actually assisting the rise of Al Qaeda in Libya. Nothing I've read thus far leads me to believe otherwise.



Of course, as Hillary Clinton once promised us during her magnificent efforts to bring peace to the Middle East, perhaps they're like "the moderate Taliban" -- and open to reason.




Hat tip: Dan from New York.

China's war of words escalates--and with its continuing military buildup, the long-term implications ain't good

Hey, I love Mike Shedlock's work at Global Economic Analysis, but his advocacy for a Ron Paul-George McGovern national security posture is naive, to put it kindly. Exhibit 9,305: The threat of China’s aircraft carrier. And Exhibit 9,306: China's rhetoric on its investments in U.S. debt grows ever more ominous.

The U.S. may be on its way to default on its debt despite the U.S. government's ability to print more money, a Chinese think tank researcher said Monday.



There is no guarantee for sovereign debt, which increases the risks the lenders face, said Wang Tianlong, a researcher at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, a think tank supervised by the country's economic planner, adding that the issuer could be more careless in using the loans.



In the short term, the U.S. doesn't have much ability to reduce its deficit, Wang said in an opinion piece published in Securities Times. He added that the U.S. lacks the political system to guarantee that it will not default on its debt.



There is also no way to punish the issuer country if it falsifies its accounting and there is no way to restructure the issuer either, Wang said.



Wang's comments come after the U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday the U.S. "never will default" on its government debt and reassured Beijing that Chinese investments in the U.S. are safe.

But I'm sure China's massive military buildup is only motivated by the best of intentions.

Rumor: Gaddafi Dead and Quote o' the Day

There are a lot of conflicting reports regarding the fate of Libya's nut-case dictator Muammar Gaddafi (spelling wrong? I don't care).



• He got whacked

• He's fled to Algeria and his sons are being held by rebels

• He's fleeing to Venezuela and the protective arms of Hugo Chavez

• Gaddafi will never flee, stating: "We will fight to the last drop of blood."



But Dave in Texas wins our Quote o' the Day award.



Can't touch this? Apparently they could.



Of course, Libya is said to own 144 tons of physical gold.



Which, at the current spot price, should yield nearly $9 billion for the rebels.



Which should fund... something or other.

Alarm Claxons Sounding in Europe: A Replay of 2008?

An unfolding banking crisis in Europe may soon reach a tipping point. Thursday saw the following ominous news:

The European Central Bank has lent dollars to a eurozone bank for the first time since February in the latest sign of escalating tensions in the region’s financial system...



The so-called Euribor-OIS swap, a gauge of fear in the banking sector, is at its highest since 2009, while short-term euro basis swaps, which show a strong premium for buying dollars over the single currency, are at the most negative since the collapse of Lehman Brothers.



Meanwhile, the ECB continues to see high levels of funds being parked overnight in its “deposit facility”, rather than being lent to other banks.

Friday saw European bank shares tumble as investors feared the worst.

European banks tumbled, led by Lloyds Banking Group Plc (LLOY) and Intesa Sanpaolo SpA (ISP), on concern firms will struggle to fund themselves and increase earnings as the region’s sovereign debt crisis strangles economic growth.



Lloyds, Britain’s second-biggest government-assisted bank, fell 6.2 percent in London trading, while Intesa slid 5.9 percent in Milan. The 46-member Bloomberg Europe Banks and Financial Services Index tumbled 3 percent after dropping the most in two years yesterday.

And today Ireland's Independent reported that the "flow of interbank lending [in Europe is] at risk":

THERE are renewed fears that the flow of interbank lending could be at risk after banks put €90.5bn on deposit with the European Central Bank last night. Banks placed the money on deposit instead of lending it to each other...



...Fluid interbank lending is crucial to keeping money flowing through the economy. Banks are normally happy to lend to each other on a daily basis.



In 2008, after the collapse of Lehman Brothers bank, other banks hoarded cash, fearing they could lose even money loaned out for short periods. The lack of lending threatened to collapse some banks by leaving them with too little money to function.



The interbank freeze is generally seen as the decisive factor in turning the financial crisis into a global recession.

Investors may want to watch market action very, very closely on Monday. While I'm no pro at this stuff, it doesn't smell good.



Thankfully, our Johnny-on-the-Spot Commando-in-Chief is monitoring these events closely from Martha's Vineyard.




Hat tip: Reggie Middleton.

Top 10 Military Robots That You Wouldn't Want to See Near Your House

A tradeshow in Washington called "Unmanned Systems" features the latest in military robotics. The Wall Street Journal features a slide-show of the latest robots and drones. My ten favorites:





















Does it ever seem to you like we're getting closer and closer to SkyNet?



Check out the entire slide-show at the Wall Street Journal.

Meltdown Replay? "It Sure Looks Like 2008"

Tony Pallotta of MacroStory:

When you think of it in the short term markets are nothing more than a group of people trying to process data and understand what others are doing all under the stress of losing personal wealth... At times like these markets are more about human psychology and less about technical and or macro data...



I believe it is time to fast forward to the fall of 2008. Once again the 2008 market is a road map of how human emotion reacts when credit events happen. When economic data deteriorates at an exponential pace. When the unthinkable becomes reality...



Once again markets are pricing in the unthinkable. In 2008 history witnessed the failure of Lehman, AIG and the GSEs. Today history is bearing witness to sovereign nations on the brink of failure. In 2008 there was the threat of bank runs. Today there is the threat of currency runs. In 2008 there were government bailouts. Today there are central bank bailouts.



Through it all market participants have not changed. They are still a group of individuals trying to process data and understand what others are doing all while real money is on the line. As history has proven once again they will get it wrong. Once again leverage will destroy balance sheets. Denial will get in the way of rational thought. History truly does repeat and the patterns are present in the charts.

Excuse me. I think I have to go to the bathroom now.

london riots

London braced on Sunday for more violence after some of the worst riots in the British capital for years which politicians and police blamed on criminal thugs but residents attributed to local tensions and anger over hardship.

Rioters throwing petrol bombs rampaged overnight through the deprived district of Tottenham in north London, setting police patrol cars, buildings and a double-decker bus on fire.

"There is Twitter conversations that people are being asked to meet again down in Tottenham, so we are all concerned but clearly we will be much better prepared this evening," Richard Barnes, London's Deputy Mayor, told BBC TV.

london riots

Police Commander Adrian Hanstock told Reuters there was "a lot of ill-informed and inaccurate speculation on social media sites" that could inflame the situation.

"Should we receive any indication that there will be any further violence or offending, there is a robust policing plan in place and we will respond appropriately with the resources available to us," he said.

Police later said they were called to Enfield, a few miles north of Tottenham, where youths had smashed two shop windows and damaged a police car. "Not a riot, but serious disturbance," the local member of parliament (MP) Nick de Bois wrote on his Twitter site.

BOMBARDED WITH MISSILES, BOTTLES

Police said 26 officers were injured as rioters bombarded them overnight with missiles and bottles, looted buildings including banks, shops and council offices, and torched three patrol cars near Tottenham police station.

The riots erupted after a street protest over the fatal shooting of a man by armed police this week. Residents said they had to flee their homes as mounted police and riot officers on foot charged the crowd to push rioters back.

Top 10 British Looter Photoshops

Given the scale of death and destruction, I'd normally be loathe to make light of the riots in Britain. But these events help illustrate the lunacy of the Left: these riots are, after all, the toxic product of political correctness, easy access to welfare, and tolerance of intolerant cultures. In other words, the complete failure of the Left's policies. Furthermore, they serve as a warning for the U.S.: this is what comes next if we don't crush the Marxists that today run the Executive and the Senate in 2012. Because we're on the precipice right now.



Back to the Photoshops: the fine pholks at PhotoshopLooter have an entire gallery. These are my ten favorites:





















But make no mistake: if we don't throw the Democrats out of office in 2012, what's going on in the U.K. will look like a picnic compared to what could happen here. After all, everyone here has firearms.