The NATO 2014 group photo of world leaders who came to Wales to discuss finding ways to stave off ISIS is good for a much-needed world laugh.
And not just because preening peacock President Barack Obama is once again the only one of the western leaders calling attention to himself with that silly signature photographed wave.
Some monarchs wave to the unwashed masses from the comfort of horse-drawn carriages. Obama does his right royal wave from official photographs of gathered world leaders.
“It appears our Narcissist in Chief is worried that the rest of the planet is being distracted by all the OTHER world leaders appearing in HIS photos. We wouldn’t want that, would we?” says Herman Cain in an intro to today’s Robert Laurie column.
"I'm the important guy in the middle!"
Obama’s NATO picture wave, not his first, because he was posing in the same fashion thing in the 2011 official UN class picture, seems to shout “Look at me!” “Look at me!”.
But the NATO 2014 group photo is ‘Lousy Shot 101’ and not just because of the preening peacock waving at the world from the front row. Go back to the third row and try to make out who is the leader completely obliterated by the head of one of his peers in the second row.
Canada Free Press, had to really look to find Prime Minister Stephen Harper fourth from the left in the second row in Lousy Shot 101. Some leaders, who lend themselves to tasteless ‘Selfies’ show up front row for any and all photo ops. Others find trying to get their peers to stand up for Israel over Hamas, more important than mugging for the cameras.
NATO’s ‘Waving Bama pic’ is all the more absurd in light of the news that the U.S. State Department is launching a “tough and graphic propaganda counteroffensive against the Islamic state”, using some of the group’s own images of barbaric acts against fellow Muslims to undercut its message.
Isn’t that unnecessarily trotting out and recycling the same message as the terrorists?
“Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications, which is running the latest campaign, launched in 2011 to “coordinate, orient, and inform government-wide foreign communications activities targeted against terrorism and violent extremism,” according to the State Department. It runs on an annual $6 million budget, and works to challenge “extremist propaganda in previously uncontested digital space.” (Fox News, Sept. 9, 2014)
“While the department since 2011 has operated a small unit devoted solely to the task of analyzing and countering terrorists’ messaging around the world, that unit – the 50-member Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications -- has shifted gears in recent months to concentrate more on the Islamic State threat.”
Guess the Obama administration will do anything to look “tough” and “graphic” on ISIS other than stand up to the heinous terrorist group.
This is all cove for Obama not having a strategy for dealing with ISIS.:
“The social media presence – on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and beyond – has started using some potentially risky tactics to go after the militant network, also known as ISIS.
“The item grabbing the most attention lately is a shock factor-heavy YouTube video set up as a fake recruiting ad for the Islamic State.
““Run – do not walk to ISIS Land,” the video implores viewers. The video tells recruits they can learn “useful new skills” -- like “blowing up mosques” and “crucifying and executing Muslims.” (WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO)
“Illustrating the sarcastic appeal is an array of bloody images and videos, including of people being crucified, decapitated heads arranged next to each other, and mosques being blown up.
“The “ad” ends with the line: “Travel is inexpensive, because you won’t need a return ticket!”
“Not everyone thinks the “ad” is an effective tool.
Gee, wonder why.
“I just thought it was bizarre,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told Fox News, dismissing the video as a symptom of “press release foreign policy” that is “fundamentally unserious.”
“But a State Department spokesperson said the work is vital “given how violent extremists are increasingly exploiting the suffering caused by global conflicts to lure susceptible youth” to join.
“We believe countering our adversaries in this space is critical. We must contest the space by confronting distortion with reality and lies with truth,” the spokesperson told FoxNews.com.
“The video is part of the State Department’s “Think again. Turn away” campaign aimed at convincing would-be recruits not to join."
We all know by now that Obama won’t be coming up with a strategy for dealing with ISIS until Valerie Jarrett comes up with it.
Meanwhile, how can anyone reasonable take a “Run--do not walk to ISIS Land” fake recruiting ad from someone who can’t resist waving in photos of Western leader group shots just to get attention?
Isn’t that somewhat radically “fundamentally unserious”?
Judi McLeod——Bio and Archives
-- Judi McLeod, Founder, Owner and Editor of Canada Free Press, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years’ experience in the print and online media. A former Toronto Sun columnist, she also worked for the Kingston Whig Standard. Her work has appeared throughout the ‘Net, including on Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.
