Are There Other Reasons for Obama to End the Whaling Ban?

Both the Left and Right are outraged at the latest broken campaign promise from Barack Obama is his support to lift the 26-year ban on commercial whaling that was put in place by, wait for it, Ronald Reagan.

: From the HuffPo piece:

The IWC proposal would actually reward the whaling abuses of Japan, Norway, and Iceland. This “compromise” deal allows whaling countries to continue killing for at least the next 10 years, with an unachievable requirement for reduced kill quotas. It offers no true enforcement, it can’t hold the whalers to any promises, and it obviously undoes all conservation measures made since the 1986 declaration of a whaling moratorium. Furthermore, it would legitimize Japan’s slaughter in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and promote a Japanese generated ploy wherein “Indigenous” whaling would apply to Japan’s coastal whalers, allowing more killing of whales in the North Pacific.

I have come to always ask the question of why the Obama administration supports the policies it does because there is always an ulterior motive. This latest outrage must have the same m.o., so: let’s look at this a little closer.:  We know Obama is infuriating his liberal, environmentalist, animal-loving base and we know that three countries will benefit from lifting the ban–Iceland, Japan, and Norway.:  Each of these three: countries has an interesting history with Obama.

First, Iceland, which now has a:  leftist government after its economy collapsed–never let a crisis go to waste in Iceland, either.:  How does this tie into the Obama administration and why would the US be willing to aid Iceland and lift the whaling ban?:  Most people do not realize that OMB Director Peter Orszag was directly involved in Iceland’s economy prior to the crash–just before he become the director of the CBO–Orszag‘s: consulting firm,: Sebago Associates, was a direct advisor to the Central Bank of Iceland.:  So, this could either be a sorry Peter bankrupted your country or a shout out to the new leftist government.

Moving to Japan, Obama welcomed the country’s new Prime Minister. In addition, we must remember that Japan is right there with China as a US debt holder.:  In addition, this may explain the need to show good faith to the new Prime Minister as explained by the NYT:

However, he also inherits difficult decisions on relocating the American base, Marine Corps Air Station Futenma on Okinawa, a politically toxic issue that drove Mr. Hatoyama to resign after he gave in to the Obama administration’s demands that the base stay on the island.

Mr. Hatoyama stepped down a week after announcing an agreement with the Obama administration to move the base to a less populated part of Okinawa. In making the deal, he broke a prominent campaign pledge to move the base off the island.

Last stop, Norway, which: has had its problems with Obama after his snub to the King.:  While this may not seem to be a big deal, because most have: come to terms with Obama’s rudeness towards our allies, nevertheless it is worth mentioning.

Finally, Greenpeace’s video reminds Obama of his campaign promise in March 2008.:  And I wonder what John Kerry has to say about Obama now and what is the fate of his newly introduced whaling bill?

Crossposted to RedState

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