COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Who are the Libyans McCain and Schumer want to support with US military assets?




Does McCain or Schumer know who these rebels are? Why are they a US problem? Have we learned nothing? The drums of war are beeing beaten by all the usual suspects:

Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.)
said the chances the United Nations Security Council will declare a no-fly zone over Libya have risen following a recommendation by a coalition of other Arab countries to ground military aircraft there.

“I certainly think the Arab League’s decision makes a no-fly zone more likely,” Mr. Schumer said during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.


_____________________________

Paris: G-8 powers will seek a united front on the conflict in Libya amid calls to enforce a no-fly zone there, at a meeting of the eight major powers’ foreign ministers in Paris on Monday and Tuesday.

Amid divisions over calls for foreign military intervention, diplomats said the group of eight will take stock of efforts by host France and Britain for a UN Security Council resolution on a no-fly zone, backed by the Arab League.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will join counterparts from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. All the Council’s permanent members except China will be represented.

Britain and France have a draft resolution in hand for the Security Council to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya which received backing on Saturday from the 22-nation Arab League, considered crucial for dealing with the region.

Russia and China have appeared reluctant to back the no-fly zone while the United States, Germany and Italy have taken a cautious line on intervention, which Washington and the European Union say can only happen with a UN mandate.

26 comments:

  1. In Search of Monsters
    By MAUREEN DOWD


    "The Iraq war hawks urging intervention in Libya are confident that there’s no way Libya could ever be another Iraq.

    Of course, they never thought Iraq would be Iraq, either.

    All President Obama needs to do, Paul Wolfowitz asserts, is man up, arm the Libyan rebels, support setting up a no-fly zone and wait for instant democracy.

    It’s a cakewalk. "

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/opinion/13dowd.html?hp

    She goes on.

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  2. Bring it on. "What could possibly go worng?"



    {sic} (just in case)

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  3. .

    Some of these guys will die as foolish as they are today.

    John McCain is a nitwit.

    They call for a no-fly zone, forgetting or not caring that to do so requires bombing another muslim country.

    Clinton says we don't want to lead. What she forgets to say is the US will lead whatever arrangement is set up, if not with our planes at least with our wallets.

    They say we need to support the rebels. What rebels? From what I've read they haven't a clue as to who these rebels are or what they would do if they actually won.

    I remember another rebel we supported nine years ago without knowing much about him except that he was telling the generals what they wanted to hear. Our little romance with Chalabi in Iraq didn't turn out so well.

    Obama calls for Khadaffi to go which sets him up as a loser if the Big Mo doesn't go.

    I feel another foreign policy fiasco building.

    .

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  4. Stay out of it and hope for a slaughter...

    The Arabs deserve the violence they are giving each other.

    The only thing we should do is celebrate the deaths of innocents by giving out candy...

    Oh my bad, that's what the palestinians do when innocent civilians are murdered in their sleep.

    But really, we should not celebrate the deaths on both sides of the fight, but I do suggest we use the "theater butter" popcorn as it goes best with watching barbarians be barbarians...

    Now if only the violence of moslem on moslem murder would spread...

    oh my bad, it already has, it just doesnt make the papers anymore..

    pakistan, yemen, sudan, egypt, fake nationalistic people call palestine, lebanon, iraq & more...

    no news here, just suicide bombers, knives and machettes...

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. Got to love a people that reproduce just to murder...

    Islam, the religion of peace, oh my bad, pieces..

    Here a leg, there an arm, here a head....

    Not to worry, all in the name of Jihad....

    How many murdered today? 30, 50, 100?

    No matter they will make more...

    Just like Fritos, betcha they can't murder just one..

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  7. Muslim violence on native Europeans has increased greatly in the last few months, and weeks.

    With the uprisings across northern Africa and the Middle East, immigration to Europe, mainly southern Europe, has increased dramatically. (See LibertarianRepublican.net, "Italian Island flooded with Algerian, Tunisians fleeing N. Africa")

    Additionally, Western European leaders like Nicolas Sarkozy in France, David Cameron in the UK, and Angela Merkel in Germany have instituted measures to curb rampant immigration and multiculteralism. This has resulted in a backlash among Muslim populations in Europe.

    Just last week in Spain, a crazed Morroccan Muslim stabbed 12 people attacking staff and patients in a waiting room at a hospital in Madrid. (Source: BNI).

    And in France, nightly riots by mostly Algerian Muslims in Paris have spread from the Islamic enclaves surrounding the city, to downtown. (Photo of Algerian man beating up a French citizen in the tourist area of Paris near the Eiffel Tower.)

    In Marseilles hordes of Muslim Youth rampaged through neighborhoods, attacking local French citizens, and shops after a soccer match. (LR, March 4).

    The French news site La Provence reports:
    Twenty-six assaults per day in Marseilles. Is there any need to comment on the figures when the figures speak for themselves? When the Superior Court reopened after the New Year, district attorney Jacques Dallest used the occasion to explain the figures in more detail. And this year, they are more painful than before. They paint the portrait of a city that is suffering from crime: a 19% increase in armed robberies over 2009. With, as the attorney said, "assaults" executed "only for lucre" rising at a frightening rate. Three hundred crimes, major and minor, take place each day within the precinct (Marseilles-Aubagne-La Ciotat) of the Superior Court. "Marseilles is a minefield of criminal infractions," attorney Dallest declared in summary.
    And Muslim gangs are staging "pray-ins" blocking streets 5 times a day with the Muslim prayer to Allah throughout France, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and even Bulgaria.


    Muslin
    violence

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  8. McCain is owned by the oil companies. They figure, somehow, that it will be to their benefit if the "rebels" win.

    As for me, and thee: it couldn't possibly matter.

    Meanwhile, Karzai has publicly asked us to leave. We should oblige, immediately.

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  9. .

    I see the GOP's new budget cuts include dropping $600 million from border security.

    .

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  10. Some Accurate Information

    ...for a change:
    This is a small excerpt from the summary:

    From 80. Subotai's link above...

    Now, where does that leave us?

    The plant is safe now and will stay safe.

    Japan is looking at an INES Level 4 Accident: Nuclear accident with local consequences. That is bad for the company that owns the plant, but not for anyone else.

    Some radiation was released when the pressure vessel was vented. All radioactive isotopes from the activated steam have gone (decayed). A very small amount of Cesium was released, as well as Iodine. If you were sitting on top of the plants’ chimney when they were venting, you should probably give up smoking to return to your former life expectancy.

    The Cesium and Iodine isotopes were carried out to the sea and will never be seen again.

    There was some limited damage to the first containment. That means that some amounts of radioactive Cesium and Iodine will also be released into the cooling water, but no Uranium or other nasty stuff (the Uranium oxide does not “dissolve” in the water).

    There are facilities for treating the cooling water inside the third containment. The radioactive Cesium and Iodine will be removed there and eventually stored as radioactive waste in terminal storage.

    The seawater used as cooling water will be activated to some degree...

    ---

    I believe the most significant problem will be a prolonged power shortage. About half of Japan’s nuclear reactors will probably have to be inspected, reducing the nation’s power generating capacity by 15%. This will probably be covered by running gas power plants that are usually only used for peak loads to cover some of the base load as well. That will increase your electricity bill, as well as lead to potential power shortages during peak demand, in Japan.

    If you want to stay informed, please forget the usual media outlets and consult the following websites:

    http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS_Battle_to_stabilise_earthquake_reactors_1203111.html

    http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/12/japan-nuclear-earthquake/

    http://ansnuclearcafe.org/2011/03/11/media-updates-on-nuclear-power-stations-in-japan/

    ReplyDelete
  11. They would cut their own grandmothers before they would collect any money from Exxon, or the Wall St. Bankers.

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  12. Thanks, Whit and Quirk. Now back to your regular programing.

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  13. Harry Reid is a hero. The only man in Congress brave enought to stand up for the Elko Annual Cowboy Poetry Festinval.

    "And when I die
    At my trails bitter ending
    Just skin my out
    And tan my hide
    To a leather fine
    And make a saddle thin and pure
    For the two legged filly of my dreams
    For to ride
    On the back of a four legged filly
    Stout and strong
    So I can take my eternal rest
    Between those two places I love best."
    author forgotten

    Elko, Nevada circa 1986 or so

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  14. I dunno doug, it doesn't make much sense that the steam would be radioactive if there wasn't a breach of some sort of the containment structure. Normally the steam wouldn't be radioactive at all, or only at a very low level. No need for iodine treatment in routine radioactive releases.

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  15. The problelm with "Nuclear" is the plants are operated by people. - and they will be for a long time.

    They spent Tens of Billions on those plants, and saved a few million by not building the sea walls high enough.

    Then, in an earthquake/tsunami zone they put the backup diesel generators in the BASEMENT.


    Smart folks can do dumb shit.

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  16. I never trust anyone who says, "don't listen to those other guys; trust me."

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  17. It just means the Zircaloy cladding on the fuel rods was starting to fail, leading to Cesium and Iodine being released in small amounts as they vented the containment to avoid overpressure.

    Most of the "radioactive materials" other than Cesium and Iodine released decay in less than a second.

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  18. hmmm, if they "released decay in less than a second" why would such a thing happen:

    "Military Crew Said to Be Exposed to Radiation, but Officials Call Risk in U.S. Slight



    The Pentagon was expected to announce that the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, which is sailing in the Pacific, passed through a radioactive cloud from stricken nuclear reactors in Japan, causing crew members on deck to receive a month’s worth of radiation in about an hour, government officials said Sunday."

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/world/asia/14plume.html?src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB

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  19. A no-fly zone, over Libya?

    The Italians and French could handle that. Couldn't they?

    The US Navy certainly could, if tasked.

    Which does not go to the why, other than the Colonel deserves it, for his past transgressions.

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  20. Los Angeles Times -

    A Saudi official reportedly confirms more than 1000 Saudi troops had been sent to Bahrain, apparently to help the Sunni royals control protests by the majority Shiite Muslims.

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  21. There are many EB patrons that supported Mr CCain, the "Maverick" when he ran for President.

    Leaving Mr McCain behind them, now.

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  22. My vote for McCain was not a vote FOR McCain but a vote AGAINST Obama. I would do the same all over again.

    If Maureen Dowd is searching for Monsters all she has to do is look in the mirror.

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  23. The last guy I voted for, that won, and that I actually liked was Bush senior.

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  24. .

    The last guy I voted for, that won, and that I actually liked was Bush senior.

    Doug and Deuce better start stockng up on the paxil and the ambian. Looking at it objectively I expect Obama to win easily.

    There is no joy in that for me but I predicted before the last election that regardless of who won it would take at a minimum a few more elections before we got anything decent in D.C.

    Given the breakdown on who is vulnerable its possible the GOP could take a small majority in the Senate. However, it's jut as possible they will lose the House.

    Currently, The GOP is making the exact same mistakes as the Dems did after they won in '08. I don't know much about many of the GOP presidential hopefuls but there is certainly none that are standing out right now. We still have the same GOP leadership complicated by the fact that they can't control their own caucus.

    Politicians, they just don't get it.

    .

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  25. .

    That is carreer politicians just don't get it.

    .

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