Obama's missing college 'thesis' on Soviet nukes

various sources | various authors

[ETL]

Obama and the case of the missing 'thesis'
By Jim Popkin, NBC News Senior Investigative Producer
July 24, 2008

excerpt:

The hunt for Obama’s senior “thesis” began with a throwaway line in a newspaper article last October. The New York Times story, on Obama’s early New York years, mentioned in passing that the presidential contender had majored in political science at Columbia and had spent his time “writing his thesis on Soviet nuclear disarmament.”

Journalists began hounding Columbia University for copies of the musty document. Conservative bloggers began wondering if the young Obama had written a no-nukes screed that he might come to regret. And David Bossie, the former congressional investigator and “right-wing hit man,” as one newspaper described him, took out classified newspaper ads in Columbia University’s newspaper and the Chicago Tribune in March searching for the term paper.

Bossie came up dry, but said the effort was well worth it:

“A thesis entitled Soviet Nuclear Disarmament, written at the height of The Cold War in 1983, might shed some light upon what Barack Obama thought about our most pressing foreign policy issue for 40-plus years (U.S.-Soviet Relations),” he wrote in an e-mail to NBC News.

http://deepbackground.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/07/24/1219454.aspx
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Here is the passage from the New York Times that the above article refers to:

"He barely mentions Columbia, training ground for the elite, where he transferred in his junior year, majoring in political science and international relations and writing his thesis on Soviet nuclear disarmament. He dismisses in one sentence his first community organizing job — work he went on to do in Chicago — though a former supervisor remembers him as 'a star performer.'"

[snip]

"he [Obama] declined repeated requests to talk about his New York years, release his Columbia transcript or identify even a single fellow student, co-worker, roommate or friend from those years.

'He doesn’t remember the names of a lot of people in his life,' said Ben LaBolt, a campaign spokesman."

Obama’s Account of New York Years Often Differs From What Others Say
By JANNY SCOTT, October 30, 2007:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/us/politics/30obama.html?ex=1351396800&en=631bf83f428647f9&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss
_________________________________________________

From David Horowitz's FrontPageMag.com/DiscoverTheNetworks.org:
Profile: Institute For Policy Studies (IPS)

IPS’s [Institute For Policy Studies] Washington, DC headquarters quickly became a resource center for national reporters and a place for KGB agents from the nearby Soviet embassy to convene and strategize. Cora Weiss headed one of the IPS's most successful forays -- into Riverside Church in Manhattan. She was invited there in 1978 by the Reverend William Sloane Coffin to run the church's Disarmament Program, which sought to consolidate Soviet nuclear superiority in Europe -- in the name of "peace." In 1982 Weiss helped organize the largest pro-disarmament demonstration ever held. Staged in New York City, the rally was attended by a coalition of communist organizations. During her decade-long tenure at Riverside, which became home to the National Council of Churches, Weiss regularly received Russian KGB agents, Sandinista friends, and Cuban intelligence agents. Weiss became infamous for her role in the psychological warfare conducted against U.S. prisoners of war held in the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" during the Vietnam War.

The Liberation News Service, which is a news source for hundreds of "alternative" publications nationwide (with antiwar, Marxist-oriented perspectives), was founded in 1967 with IPS assistance."

[lots more at link...]

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6991
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From the website of Riverside Church...

The Riverside Church
490 Riverside Drive
New York, New York 10027
212-870-6700

The Riverside Church is located on Manhattan’s Upper West Side near Columbia University.

http://www.theriversidechurchny.org/about/?directions
_________________________________________________

"She was invited there in 1978 by the Reverend William Sloane Coffin to run the church's Disarmament Program, which sought to consolidate Soviet nuclear superiority in Europe -- in the name of 'peace.'

In 1982 Weiss helped organize the largest pro-disarmament demonstration ever held. Staged in New York City, the rally was attended by a coalition of communist organizations."
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6991
_________________________________________________

From the Columbia University website...

"Obama attended Columbia College from 1981 to 1983"

Source:
http://news.columbia.edu/home/1260

Here is a (long) link to a cached version of the source with quote highlighted. Caches are often good backups when an original source is taken down and/or replaced:
http://74.6.239.67/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=%22Obama+attended+Columbia+College+from+1981+to+1983%22&fr=moz2&u=news.columbia.edu/barack-obama-cc83-first-columbia-graduate-elected-president-united-states&w=%22obama+attended+columbia+college+from+1981+to+1983%22&d=HQg1KJ2uSeBR&icp=1&.intl=us
_________________________________________________

Bill Ayers' education:
1987 - Ed.D, Columbia University, Curriculum & Instruction
1987 - M.Ed, Teachers College, Columbia University, Early Childhood Education
1984 - M.Ed, Bank Street College, Early Childhood Education
1968 - B.A., University of Michigan, American Studies
http://education.uic.edu/directory/faculty_info.cfm?netid=bayers
_________________________________________________

Bank Street College
Where We Are and How to Get Here:

Bank Street College is located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan at 610 West 112th Street, between Broadway and Riverside Drive.

Bank Street College is located in a bustling family and university neighborhood four blocks from Columbia University
http://www.bankstreet.edu/aboutbsc/visiting.html
_________________________________________________

Why Won’t Obama Talk About Columbia?
The years he won’t discuss may explain the Ayers tie he keeps lying about:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NjY4YzdhMDBkZGQ3ZmU2MTUzYjdkMzc5ZjUzYmViZWM=

[ETL]

Barack Obama, from Dreams from My Father, Three Rivers Press, New York, Revised Edition, 2004, ISBN 1-4000-8277-3, p. 76-7:
"But by the time I met Frank [Frank Marshall Davis] he must have been pushing eighty, with a big, dewlapped face and an ill-kempt gray Afro that made him look like an old, shaggy-maned lion. He would read us his poetry whenever we stopped by his house, sharing whiskey with Gramps out of an emptied jelly jar."

___________________________________________________________

From Accuracy In Media | AIM.ORG

Obama’s Red Mentor Praised Red Army
AIM Report | By Cliff Kincaid | April 30, 2008

Frank Marshall Davis

Barack Obama’s childhood mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, a member of the Moscow-controlled Communist Party USA (CPUSA), wrote a poem dedicated to the Soviet Red Army. “Smash on, victory-eating Red Army,” he declared. He also wrote poems attacking traditional Christianity and the work of Christian missionaries.

The “Red Army” poem goes beyond hoping for the communists to beat the Nazis in World War II and hails the Soviet revolution. It says:

Show the marveling multitudes
Americans, British, all your allied brothers
How strong you are
How great you are
How your young tree of new unity
Planted twenty-five years ago
Bears today the golden fruit of victory!

http://www.aim.org/aim-report/obamas-red-mentor-praised-red-army/

[ETL]

Obama Pledges Cuts in Missile Defense, Space, and Nuclear Weapons Programs

February 29, 2008 :: News
MissileThreat.com

A video has surfaced of Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama talking on his plans for strategic issues such as nuclear weapons and missile defense.

The full text from the video, as released, reads as follows:

Thanks so much for the Caucus4Priorities, for the great work you've been doing. As president, I will end misguided defense policies and stand with Caucus4Priorities in fighting special interests in Washington.

First, I'll stop spending $9 billion a month in Iraq. I'm the only major candidate who opposed this war from the beginning. And as president I will end it.[i.e. not win it]

Second, I will cut tens of billions of dollars in wasteful spending.

I will cut investments in unproven missile defense systems.

I will not weaponize space.

I will slow our development of future combat systems.

And I will institute an independent "Defense Priorities Board" to ensure that the Quadrennial Defense Review is not used to justify unnecessary spending.

Third, I will set a goal of a world without nuclear weapons. To seek that goal, I will not develop new nuclear weapons; I will seek a global ban on the production of fissile material; and I will negotiate with Russia to take our ICBMs off hair-trigger alert, and to achieve deep cuts in our nuclear arsenals.

You know where I stand. I've fought for open, ethical and accountable government my entire public life. I don't switch positions or make promises that can't be kept. I don't posture on defense policy and I don't take money from federal lobbyists for powerful defense contractors. As president, my sole priority for defense spending will be protecting the American people. Thanks so much.

Article: Obama Pledges Cuts in Missile Defense, Space, and Nuclear Weapons Programs:
http://missilethreat.com/archives/id.7086/detail.asp

"MissileThreat.com is a project of The Claremont Institute devoted to understanding and promoting the requirements for the strategic defense of the United States."

[WaterBoard]

How can the US press still ignore the fact that Obama refuses to release his college transcripts/grades?

We have all of the president’s grades from Clinton through Bush even presidential candidates grades like Sen. Kerry and Algore.

Even for historic reasons, this is a missing link for the future Obama presidential library.

1) We know nothing about Obama’s previous life other than what he wrote about in two autobiographies.

2) We know of none of Obama’s college friends.

3) We know of none of Obama’s former girlfriends.

4) We know nothing about Obama’s foreign travel except for a reference to a trip to Pakistan when it was prohibited for US citizens to travel there.

5) We know nothing about Obama’s Selective Service registration when the press spent thousands of hours on Bush’s National Guard service.

The silence is deafening by the press and it is very telling that there is some skeletons in that Obama closet.

[popdonnelly]

The Obama toadies are obviously hiding a lot of stuff.

I thought theses were the property of the universities, and were usually preserved.

[Texas Fossil]

there is some skeletons in that Obama closet

There are Many skeletons in the Obama closet.

[Carley]

I suspect like other globalists, Madame Halfbright included, that he was against the US being the only super power as we weren’t to be trusted. They wanted the Soviets, now Russia, to have the bomb to balance our power.

[ETL]

From the Sino-Russian Joint Statement of April 23, 1997:
"The two sides [China and Russia] shall, in the spirit of partnership, strive to promote the multipolarization of the world and the establishment of a new international order."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/HI29Ag01.html
_____________________________________________________________

[2009] Russia, China plan new joint military exercises

By MARTIN SIEFF, UPI Senior News Analyst
Published: March 26, 2009

WASHINGTON, March 26 (UPI) -- The continuing tensions over Russia's refusal to sell its state-of-the-art land warfare advanced weapons systems to China hasn't interrupted the rhythm of major joint military exercises between the two major land powers on the Eurasian landmass. The latest in the regular, biennial series of exercises between the two nations has been confirmed for this summer.

The next in the now well-established series of exercises called Peace Mission 2009 will be carried out in northeastern China, the Russian Defense Ministry announced March 18, according to a report carried by the RIA Novosti news agency.

The first bilateral Peace Mission maneuvers -- described at the time as counter-terrorism exercises -- were held in Russia and the eastern Chinese province of Shandong in August 2005. As we reported at that time, they were a lot bigger than mere counter-terrorism exercises. Warships, squadrons of combat aircraft and more than 10,000 troops were involved carrying out landings against hypothetically hostile shores. The maneuvers also involved large-scale paratroops drops. The scale and nature of those exercises suggested a trial run for a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan with Russian support. ..."

http://www.upi.com/Security_Industry/2009/03/26/Russia_China_plan_new_joint_military_exercises/UPI-25021238094858/
_____________________________________________________________

Russia, China flex muscles in joint war games
Reuters: Aug 17, 2007

CHEBARKUL, Russia (Reuters) - Russia and China staged their biggest joint exercises on Friday but denied this show of military prowess could lead to the formation of a counterweight to NATO.

"Today's exercises are another step towards strengthening the relations between our countries, a step towards strengthening international peace and security, and first and foremost, the security of our peoples," Putin said.

Fighter jets swooped overhead, commandos jumped from helicopters on to rooftops and the boom of artillery shells shook the firing range in Russia's Ural mountains as two of the largest armies in the world were put through their paces.

The exercises take place against a backdrop of mounting rivalry between the West, and Russia and China for influence over Central Asia, a strategic region that has huge oil, gas and mineral resources.

Russia's growing assertiveness is also causing jitters in the West. Putin announced at the firing range that Russia was resuming Soviet-era sorties by its strategic bomber aircraft near NATO airspace.
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-29030120070817?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0
_____________________________________________________________

War Games: Russia, China Grow Alliance
September 23, 2005

In foreign policy it’s critical to “know thine enemy.” So American policymakers should be aware that Russia and China are inching closer to identifying a common enemy — the United States.

The two would-be superpowers held unprecedented joint military exercises Aug. 18-25. Soothingly named “Peace Mission 2005,” the drills took place on the Shandong peninsula on the Yellow Sea, and included nearly 10,000 troops. Russian long-range bombers, the army, navy, air force, marine, airborne and logistics units from both countries were also involved.

Moscow and Beijing claim the maneuvers were aimed at combating terrorism, extremism and separatism (the last a veiled reference to Taiwan), but it’s clear they were an attempt to counter-balance American military might.

Joint war games are a logical outcome of the Sino-Russian Friendship and Cooperation Treaty signed in 2001, and reflect the shared worldview and growing economic ties between the two Eastern Hemisphere giants. As the Pravda.ru Web site announced, “the reconciliation between China and Russia has been driven in part by mutual unease at U.S. power and a fear of Islamic extremism in Central Asia.”
http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed092605a.cfm

[DocH]

'He doesn’t remember the names of a lot of people in his life,' said Ben LaBolt, a campaign spokesman."

That's because it is all about HIM.

He could care less about anyone else.

Not his mother, father, grandmother.

Not his poor African relatives.

Not any worthwhile charities.

He CERTAINLY does not care about America and its people.

He doesn't REALLY care about ANYONE but himself.

He is an arrogant, self-centered, Narcissistic egotist who is power hungry and is willing to step on, and FORGET, anyone who can help him in the short-term, OR...

ANYONE that gets in his way or criticizes him.

He NEEDS to fall on his sword, or somehow prevented from destroying our country.

[Houghton M.]

This is a wild goose chase. Invest your time more prudently. The last time this came up, it became clear that he did not write an undergrad thesis because Columbia did not require one. He apparently wrote a term paper on this topic, but term papers are turned in only to the teacher of the class for which they are written and that professor didn’t keep a copy. So, unless Obama kept a copy himself, it’s probably impossible to locate. And even if located, it’s a damn term paper, not a BA thesis.

Universities don’t keep official copies of term papers.

I don’t doubt for a moment that he hung around with radicals during the period of his life. But you’re not going to shed any light on it via this phantom undergrad thesis.

So give it up already.

[Kenny Bunk]

Obama did not attend "Columbia College." He attended Columbia University's "School of General Studies." This is an alternative program run by the University and has evening seminars" and "special programs", intended for part-time, or working students. It's OK, but it ain't "Columbia College." Pretty much "walk-in" admission.

Hardly a soul in Columbia College Class of '84 even knew Obama. IMHO, the "thesis" about "Nuclear Disarmament" is disinformation. What Obama was really into at Occidental and at Columbia was "Black Power" studies. Whether or not Obama knew Ayers in NYC is a good question. They ran in the same circles. Start with, "Mr. POTUS, when did you meet Bill Ayers?" Betcha the FBI knows.

Also note that Bernadine Dohrn's sister was a big gun at Columbia in those days, smoothing the way for Obama and Ayers. There is also a mystery surrounding his acceptance at Harvard Law School. Rumor has it that his academic performance was not very good and that the LSAT was "waived" for him. He was Law Review at Harvard, but there is also some controversial discussion surrounding that, as well.

Obama has successfully stonewalled most inquiries about his life, pre-Chicago and Illinois Legislature. All he wants us to know is in "Dreams of My Father." That book, literary analysts claim, was possibly ghost-written by Bill Ayers. Its style, vocabulary, sentence structure, philosophy and story line are eerily similar to Ayers' other works.

The quoted position on defense is very carefully worded and fully worthy of whoever fills this man's teleprompters for public appearances. It is a standard Democrat position, <>

[Freedom Dignity n Honor]

bttt

[a fool in paradise]

"written at the height of The Cold War in 1983"

Apart from The Soviet Union almost launching a Mutally Assured Destruction missile launch at the US, I wouldn't say things were at the HEIGHT.

That is unless you hold to the Left's position that Ronald Reagan was a reckless cowboy who antagonized the Communists and almost brought on WWIII (truth of the matter is that the Cold War WAS WWIII). The Left believed that we could not and SHOULD NOT defeat the Communist Soviet Union. We should learn to accept Communism as a rational and legitimate political system (like Nazism?).

[ETL]

IMHO, the "thesis" about "Nuclear Disarmament" is disinformation. What Obama was really into at Occidental and at Columbia was "Black Power" studies.

The New York Times reported as a 'throwaway' comment that he wrote his "thesis"/term paper on Soviet nuclear disarmament.

"He barely mentions Columbia, training ground for the elite, where he transferred in his junior year, majoring in political science and international relations and writing his thesis on Soviet nuclear disarmament." [he graduated in 83]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/us/politics/30obama.html?ex=1351396800&en=631bf83f428647f9&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss
___________________________________________________________

"She was invited there [Riverside Church, near Columbia University] in 1978 by the Reverend William Sloane Coffin to run the church's Disarmament Program, which sought to consolidate Soviet nuclear superiority in Europe -- in the name of 'peace.'

In 1982 Weiss helped organize the largest pro-disarmament demonstration ever held. Staged in New York City, the rally was attended by a coalition of communist organizations."

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6991

[ETL]

IMHO, the "thesis" about "Nuclear Disarmament" is disinformation. What Obama was really into at Occidental and at Columbia was "Black Power" studies.

What do you think the "Black Power" movement is? It's part of the "Black Liberation" movement.

"Their founding document [the Weather Underground's] called for the establishment of a "white fighting force" to be allied with the "Black Liberation Movement" and other "anti-colonial" movements[1] to achieve "the destruction of US imperialism and the achievement of a classless world: world communism."..."-Berger, Dan (2006). Outlaws of America: The Weather Underground and the Politics of Solidarity. AK Press, 95.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weatherman_Underground#cite_ref-Berger_0-0

Outlaws of America: The Weather Underground and the Politics of Solidarity (Paperback) by Dan Berger
http://www.amazon.com/Outlaws-America-Underground-Politics-Solidarity/dp/1904859410
_______________________________________________________

From the New York Times, August 24, 2003

"they [the Weather Underground] employed revolutionary jargon, advocated armed struggle and black liberation and began bombing buildings, taking responsibility for at least 20 attacks. Estimates of their number ranged at times from several dozen to several hundred."

Article: Quieter Lives for 60's Militants, but Intensity of Beliefs Hasn't Faded
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F04E4DE1539F937A1575BC0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2
_______________________________________________________

From David Horowitz's FrontPageMag.com/DiscoverTheNetworks.org:
"FBI files from 1976, recently made public under the Freedom of Information Act, confirm the connections between Weatherman, Havana, and Moscow. Weatherman leaders like Mark Rudd traveled illegally to Havana in 1968 to engage in terrorist training. There, camps set up by Soviet KGB Colonel Vadim Kotchergine were educating Westerners both in Marxist philosophy and urban warfare."
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6808
_______________________________________________________

For all you'll ever need or want to know about
Wright's Marxist "Black Liberation Theology",
see my FR Home page (Section 4):
http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/

[ETL]

You didn't find *anything* informative in this post? You responded like someone from the Obama camp or left-wing media.

[Coyote Choir]

Amen. This and the birth certificate topic are really sad (but understandable instances) of flights of desperate fantasy. It is no wonder people hope for some miraculous unveiling of Obama which will send the country immediately back into Conservative arms, but I think Rush has the right idea; it is just going to take a long time in rebuilding the Conservative movement, and it will be against the odds most of the way, barring some event which sends people irrationally back as the pendulum swings our way. We can’t wish an old, possibly goofy, and likely poorly written college paper written by anyone into becoming that kind of game-changing influence on the nation. Hillary Clinton’s old college papers have certainly not ended her career.

[twistedwrench]

“The Hunt for Red Obama”

[ETL]

We can’t wish an old, possibly goofy, and likely poorly written college paper written by anyone into becoming that kind of game-changing influence on the nation.

Who said this alone would be such a thing? It's simply another telling piece in the puzzle.

[Republic]

. During her decade-long tenure at Riverside, which became home to the National Council of Churches, Weiss regularly received Russian KGB agents, Sandinista friends, and Cuban intelligence agents. Weiss became infamous for her role in the psychological warfare conducted against U.S. prisoners of war held in the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" during the Vietnam War.

Wonder if the national council of churches is still located here...it was instrumental in forcing Elian back to Cuba during the clinton reign of terror and my church at the time, United Methodist, was a big contributor (member) of this sick council. I left the Methodist Church because of this affiliation.

[Houghton M.]

Did I say I found nothing informative? All of the pile of stuff could have been posted under the rubric, “Obama’s Radicalism.” That would be fine with me.

I specifically urged not to go down the rabbit hole of Obama’s phantom undergrad thesis.

He didn’t write one.

Period.

Once you get that through your head, then post all the other stuff about how radical he was and is.

But stop it with the conspiracy-to-hide-Obama’s-undergrad-thesis crap.