CALIFORNIA YANKEE

Obama refuses to support Britain in Falkland Islands dispute with Argentina

Yesterday we wondered whether President Obama would support Britain in the latest dispute with Argentina over the Falkland Islands? Today we learn Obama decided not to support Britain, our closest ally.

According to the Times, The Obama/Hillary State Department insisted that the U.S. position was one of longstanding neutrality:

"We are aware not only of the current situation but also of the history, but our position remains one of neutrality," a State Department spokesman told The Times. "The US recognises de facto UK administration of the islands but takes no position on the sovereignty claims of either party."

This seems like revisionist history, and is a far cry from the staunch support the U.S. gave Britain under President Reagan during the 1982 Falklands War.

President Obama, once hailed as our first European President, has thrown out the United State's long-standing special relationship with our closest ally. Obama chose, under a false pretense of neutrality, to side with a corrupt, aggressive Argentine government that is backed by Hugo Chavez and is threatening a blockade of British territory.

This is how Obama repays Britain for continuing to support our special relationship and providing thousands of British soldiers to lay their lives on the line alongside their American allies on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Do not let Obama get away with this latest outrage. Call the White House. Call your Senators. Call your Representative. Tell them the American people, if not their current president, back our most dependable and important ally. So should the federal government.

Ortega Poised To Regain Power

Nearly two decades after Daniel Ortega's Marxist Sandinista government battled U.S.-financed contra rebels, Ortega is poised to win back control of Nicaragua in Sunday's election.

In his fourth attempt to regain power, Ortega leads in most opinion polls, but he probably won't win enough votes to avoid a December runoff.

Like the recent stalemate between Venezuela, Guatemala for a seat on the U.N. Security Council, the Nicaraguan election has become a proxie battle between the U.S. and the leftist Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chávez.

The U.S. favors Eduardo Montealegre, a Harvard-educated banker, who says he would continue with the free-market economic policies that Nicaraguan leaders have pursued since Ortega lost the 1990 presidential election:

Without explicitly backing Montealegre, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez warned Nicaraguan voters to "reject the politics of corrupt and discredited caudillos," noting that Nicaraguan exports to the U.S. are up 33 percent since the signing of a free-trade agreement with the U.S.

Oliver North, the former NSC staffer who coordinated the -contra scheme, came to town last month to warn against an Ortega victory. And several House Republicans said if Ortega wins, they would urge the U.S. government to intercept $800 million in remittances that Nicaraguan immigrants send home so they don't help prop up a hostile regime.

Venezuelan President Chávez has openly supported Ortega, whom he brought on his television show.
Chavez also sold Nicaraguans tens of thousands of barrels of diesel fuel at discount last month.

I hope the Sandinista-in-chief fails in his bid to regain power. I don't expect a Sandinista army to invade Texas, but an Ortega government would clearly side with Cuba and Sandinista against the U.S. in many diplomatic matters.