Exclusive: Obama authorizes secret U.S. support for Syrian rebels
(Reuters) - President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing U.S. support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, U.S. sources familiar with the matter said.
Obama’s order, approved earlier this year and known as an intelligence “finding,” broadly permits the CIA and other U.S. agencies to provide support that could help the rebels oust Assad.
This and other developments signal a shift toward growing, albeit still circumscribed, support for Assad's armed opponents - a shift that intensified following last month's failure of the U.N. Security Council to agree on tougher sanctions against the Damascus government.
The White House is for now apparently stopping short of giving the rebels lethal weapons, even as some U.S. allies do just that.
But U.S. and European officials have said that there have been noticeable improvements in the coherence and effectiveness of Syrian rebel groups in the past few weeks. That represents a significant change in assessments of the rebels by Western officials, who previously characterized Assad's opponents as a disorganized, almost chaotic, rabble.
Precisely when Obama signed the secret intelligence authorization, an action not previously reported, could not be determined.
The full extent of clandestine support that agencies like the CIA might be providing also is unclear.
White House spokesman Tommy Vietor declined comment.
’NERVE CENTER’
A U.S. government source acknowledged that under provisions of the presidential finding, the United States was collaborating with a secret command center operated by Turkey and its allies.
Last week, Reuters reported that, along with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Turkey had established a secret base near the Syrian border to help direct vital military and communications support to Assad’s opponents.
This “nerve center” is in Adana, a city in southern Turkey about 60 miles from the Syrian border, which is also home to Incirlik, a U.S. air base where U.S. military and intelligence agencies maintain a substantial presence.
Turkey's moderate Islamist government has been demanding Assad's departure with growing vehemence. Turkish authorities are said by current and former U.S. government officials to be increasingly involved in providing Syrian rebels with training and possibly equipment.
European government sources said wealthy families in Saudi Arabia and Qatar were providing significant financing to the rebels. Senior officials of the Saudi and Qatari governments have publicly called for Assad’s departure.
On Tuesday, NBC News reported that the Free Syrian Army had obtained nearly two dozen surface-to-air missiles, weapons that could be used against Assad's helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Syrian government armed forces have employed such air power more extensively in recent days.
NBC said the shoulder-fired missiles, also known as MANPADs, had been delivered to the rebels via Turkey.
On Wednesday, however, Bassam al-Dada, a political adviser to the Free Syrian Army, denied the NBC report, telling the Arabic-language TV network Al-Arabiya that the group had "not obtained any such weapons at all." U.S. government sources said they could not confirm the MANPADs deliveries, but could not rule them out either.
Current and former U.S. and European officials previously said that weapons supplies, which were being organized and financed by Qatar and Saudi Arabia, were largely limited to guns and a limited number of anti-tank weapons, such as bazookas.
Indications are that U.S. agencies have not been involved in providing weapons to Assad's opponents. In order to do so, Obama would have to approve a supplement, known as a “memorandum of notification, to his initial broad intelligence finding.
Further such memoranda would have to be signed by Obama to authorize other specific clandestine operations to support Syrian rebels.
Reuters first reported last week that the White House had crafted a directive authorizing greater U.S. covert assistance to Syrian rebels. It was unclear at that time whether Obama had signed it.
OVERT SUPPORT
Separately from the president’s secret order, the Obama administration has stated publicly that it is providing some backing for Assad’s opponents.
The State Department said on Wednesday the U.S. government had set aside a total of $25 million for "non-lethal" assistance to the Syrian opposition. A U.S. official said that was mostly for communications equipment, including encrypted radios.
The State Department also says the United States has set aside $64 million in humanitarian assistance for the Syrian people, including contributions to the World Food Program, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other aid agencies.
Also on Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury confirmed it had granted authorization to the Syrian Support Group, Washington representative of one of the most active rebel factions, the Free Syrian Army, to conduct financial transactions on the rebel group's behalf. The authorization was first reported on Friday by Al-Monitor, a Middle East news and commentary website.
Last year, when rebels began organizing themselves to challenge the rule of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Obama also signed an initial "finding" broadly authorizing secret U.S. backing for them. But the president moved cautiously in authorizing specific measures to support them.
Some U.S. lawmakers, such as Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, have criticized Obama for moving too slowly to assist the rebels and have suggested the U.S. government become directly involved in arming Assad’s opponents.
Other lawmakers have suggested caution, saying too little is known about the many rebel groups.
Recent news reports from the region have suggested that the influence and numbers of Islamist militants, some of them connected to al Qaeda or its affiliates, have been growing among Assad’s opponents.
U.S. and European officials say that, so far, intelligence agencies do not believe the militants' role in the anti-Assad opposition is dominant.
While U.S. and allied government experts believe that the Syrian rebels have been making some progress against Assad’s forces lately, most believe the conflict is nowhere near resolution, and could go on for years.
(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Warren Strobeland Peter Cooney)
Drudge has posted a photo of Obama talking to someone on the phone while playing with a baseball hat. That must be the level of his focus these days.
ReplyDeleteWe are reported to have been supporting the “rebels” in Syria. Who are they?
The horrific video posted above is one faction of these “rebels” committing a war crime of the first magnitude.
Have we gone insane?
Sitting in a room in his flat darkened by drawn curtains, Abdul Fawaz al-Jais flinched every time he heard shots. He almost jumped when there was loud and prolonged shouting outside. At the sound of a helicopter, however, he raised his head with a look of almost relief.
ReplyDeleteThe reaction was hardly the normal one in "Free Aleppo", where residents have been subjected to attacks from the air from the Syrian regime while at the same time facing regular salvoes of tank and artillery fire on the ground.
But Mr al-Jais, unlike his neighbours, was not looking forward to the triumph of the revolution; 20 hours earlier his brother, Ahmed, and cousin, Jassem, had been dragged away and executed by the revolutionaries.
The family are part of the Al-Barre tribe whose militia had entered the fray pledging their loyalty to President Bashar al-Assad. Their first act was an attack on opposition positions near the airport in which 15 revolutionaries were killed, some, it is claimed, shot with their hands tied behind their backs.
The reaction was an assault in the Sher Osman neighbourhood where part of the clan are based, with about a dozen killed and 20 arrested. These arrested men were accused of being members of the Shabiha, the loyalist militia accused of serial human rights abuse, and, according to video footage released, put against a wall and sprayed with Kalashnikov fire.
“They were screaming that Ahmed and Jassem were Shabiha, that is not true, not true”, Mr al-Jais, a 47-year-old businessman, insisted, furiously shaking his head.
{…}
{…}They only started defending our area when it came under attack. We had nothing to do with what happened at the airport. This was in the war between the government – now they are blaming us all. I am sure they have killed Ahmed and Jassem. What will happen to their families? The children? What will happen to the rest of us? Some people were saying we are Alawites, we are not, we are Sunnis."
ReplyDeleteThe Independent had been with the rebel fighters as they fought running battles with armed Al-Barre men late on Tuesday afternoon. The attack was halted due to lack of ammunition and missile strikes from a Mig-23. But later, replenished, the revolutionaries had apparently gone back and extracted their revenge.
Abu Suleiman was one of the rebel commanders in charge of the attack. "Some of the Shabiha were killed, some were arrested. We lost some martyrs as well. What happened to the arrested men I do not know. I think they are in prison and they will be tried. How do we know this video is real? No one has to fear just because they are Al-Barre. You have seen what the regime is doing, firing heavy weapons, killing civilians. The Shabiha kill children with the knife."
These attacks continued on Tuesday night and, sporadically, through yesterday. The most intense barrages were at Salaheddine, a south-eastern district which stands between regime forces and the 45 per cent of the city the revolutionaries claim to hold. Tanks which had been lined up shielding a regime-held district, Hamdaniyeh, came forward launching a number of rounds accompanied by artillery fire. "They are using a bigger type of artillery; look at the damage it is causing," said Abdul Razak Hadi, a music teacher who has taken up the gun, pointing at a metre-wide hole on the side of a building which was not there the previous day.
Three mortar rounds landed in quick succession to the east. "That was useless, they are wasting their ammunition," a fighter shouted. Mr Hadi told him to calm down: "They have ammunition to waste, we don't."
The advancing tanks stopped for the time being. The rebel fighters, who had fired back with rocket propelled grenades, waited in an alleyway shielded by curtains, as more grenade rounds and trays of Molotov cocktails were brought by a baker's van.
Had they heard that the opposition had supposedly received a consignment of heavy weapons and anti-aircraft guns through Turkey?
{…}
No wonder "pootie-poot" was pissed, and sulking.
ReplyDeleteQuite frankly I don't blame Putin for his support of Assad. Syria has long been a close ally of Russia (and the Soviet Union) and Syria is Russia's best friend in the Arab world.
DeleteHowever, once Assad is gone Syria will probably not be pro-western or pro anything. It will likely fall into anarchy and be like Beirut in the 1980s - but on steroids. Certainly nothing that we should be involved with.
{…}
ReplyDeleteSheikh Taufik Shiabuddin, the rebel commander in the area, shrugged. "No one has brought them to me. We don't need anti-aircraft guns here, but if we had some anti-tank weapons we can take out more of these tanks. We have taken care of three so far. We shall hold the regime here. There are other plans for the city."
Whether planned or not, the rebels have continued to make incremental gains, taking another police post yesterday towards the centre of the city to add to three captured the day before. As has been the pattern so far, the area was hit a little later with fire from a helicopter-gunship, but no attempt had been made by the evening at recapture.
Amid the violence, normality of sorts prevails in a number of districts, with shops open and men milling around.
"We want this to be finished one way or another as soon as possible, this city is dying around us," said Mohammed Qassem Ali, the owner of a stationery store. "We are struggling to get enough food for our families. We have to wait in the bread queue for two, three hours."
The United Nations was sending in relief. "That is good, but why don't they come in and stop the fighting? Isn't that what they are supposed to do?" Mr Qassem Ali asked.
{…}
{…]
ReplyDeleteAssad rallies armed forces with personal message
The Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, urged his fighters yesterday to step up their "heroic" battle that he said will determine the destiny of the country.
In a message published on the 67th anniversary of the founding of the Syrian armed forces, President Assad described the military as "the backbone of the motherland".
Straying somewhat from the regime line that the uprising is the work of foreign terrorists, President Assad described the conflict as "multi-faceted", with foreign fighters supported by "internal agents".
"Today you are invited to increase your readiness and willingness for the armed forces to be the shield, wall and fortress of our nation," he said in the message published in the army magazine.
"Our battle is against a multi-faceted enemy with clear goals. This battle will determine the destiny of our people and the nation's past, present and future."
With the speech not televised, it was not clear if the President delivered it directly to his troops, who have suffered heavy losses during the conflict, particularly in recent weeks.
President Assad is yet to make a public address following the devastating opposition strike on his inner circle on 18 July, which killed four of his top security officials. Following the bombing, there were rumours he had fled to the Alawite stronghold of Latakia, though some Western diplomats say they believe he remains in Damascus. -The Independent
Goya --
ReplyDeletehttp://eeweems.com/goya/2nd_of_may.html
and the aftermath -
http://eeweems.com/goya/3rd_of_may.html
Those rebels in Syria sure wasted a lot of valuable ammo.
Have we gone insane?
Since we really don't know much about who we are helping, it would seem so. We ought to be worrying about the WMD material as the first order of business.
There is going to be a huge slaughter at the end of this one, I'd think.
b
Why not stir it up a little more, attack Iran and really get the crazies to fire up the after burners?
ReplyDeleteGood idea!
DeleteKeep the nukes out of the hands of the crazies. Let them kill one another slowly, not all in a flash.
By the way Ruf, our missile defense guys, according to an article I posted, seem to spend an extraordinary amount of their time surfing the web for porn, and not watching the skies.
b
Don’t you understand that you cannot keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of the Iranians no more than you could every other nuclear power since we had exclusive rights to them. Israel has over 100 nuclear weapons as does India and Pakistan.
DeleteDon’t you understand? Here are your choices:
1. Iran procures nuclear weapons before you attack them.
2. Iran procures nuclear weapons after you attack them, murder a bunch of innocents, rally the Iranian people around the mullahs and fire up their need for revenge?
They are your choices. Which of the two is manageable?
I am not certain you are right. No one has ever tried to use, to my knowledge, military force to stop a nuclear weapons program.
Deleteb
actually Libya
Deleteit stopped them in their tracks
our choices for iran are vast and complex. not the two that you lay out like the choices between two happy meals
Iran's population is NOT the same as the population of syria or lebanon. Most Iranians are not arabs.
if you want to avoid war with iran you need to impose drastic sanctions that do not give exemptions to china, india, germany and 8 other major nations.
simply put? choose. do business with America or do business with Iran. and be serious.
then put a bounty on every republican guard's head and every iranian leader.
arm the iranian rebel groups and use all tools to cripple their nation with out firing a shot.
and when they are caught supplying terror groups to proxy murder our citizens and out allies? take out high value iranian targets.
but to allow them to go hot? insanity
That's right. I had forgotten in my haste and befuddlement the bombing of the Iraqi reactor, the Syrian reactor to be, Libya, little items like that.
DeleteMy mistake.
There is a lot of precedent for taking out a nuclear weapons program.
b
The US still has aprox 2500 tactical nuclear weapons. We had as many as 50,000 including nuclear land mines, artillery shell and the suitcase variety. Nuclear weapons are not that large. The Russians had as many as we did and no one knows what happened to all of them. We lost several due to aircraft crashes and not all have been recovered.The Russians had many economic ties with the Iranians. My guess is that the Iranians may already have them or the components that could make them. The question is how many?
DeleteThey have the science and access to the necessary technology. The cost of delivery weapons has dropped considerably with the development of drones. There is a threshold where MAD comes into play and that is when you have enough weapons, credible delivery systems and unknown whereabouts of the weapons. Pakistan has that, North Korea may not.
My point is this. Iran will not announce it has one weapon. It will announce when it has enough weapons to make it a MAD player. Iran is paying a very high economic price with these sanctions. Why are they doing that? I believe to get their weapon count high enough so that the US and Israel have to deal with them.
Israel killed a hand full of Iranian scientist and then lost a handful of its own people in revenge killings.
DeleteWe had a bounty on bin Laden for ten years.
China is a major trader in Africa, all the Americas, Europe and all of Asia.
None of your suggestions have a remote chance of success.
Israel killed a handful of iranian scientists?
DeleteYou know that for a fact?
It was my understanding that Iran killed it's OWN and/or the green movement killed some...
In fact the method (magnetic bombs attached by motorcycle) was found in the possession of Iranians arrested just a few days after a killing in Iran.
As for the number of Israelis killed by Iran? Iran has been funding and murdering jews non-stop since the shah fell.
My suggestions have a chance if we had a leader that had some balls.
But the way you play? we should all just learn to say surrender in farsi
Leon Panetta, Barack Hussein Obama and Hillary Clinton, our brain trust in charge.
ReplyDeleteThrow in John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Joe Lieberman and Mitt Romney.
ReplyDeleteJest another day at the office, Deuce. Jest another day in paradise.
ReplyDeleteA conspiratorialist might say they're just knocking down the front door to Iran in case some Israeli bombers want to mosey inside.
DeleteSitting in a room in his flat darkened by drawn curtains, Abdul Fawaz al-Jais flinched every time he heard shots. He almost jumped when there was loud and prolonged shouting outside.
ReplyDelete...
The Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, urged his fighters yesterday to step up their "heroic" battle that he said will determine the destiny of the country.
...
President Assad is yet to make a public address following the devastating opposition strike on his inner circle on 18 July, which killed four of his top security officials. Following the bombing, there were rumours he had fled to the Alawite stronghold of Latakia, though some Western diplomats say they believe he remains in Damascus.
Sunni account for 74% of the population,[144] while 12% are Shia (Alawite, Twelvers, and Ismailis combined),[144] 10% Christian[144] (the majority Antiochian Orthodox, the rest include Greek Catholic, Assyrian Church of the East, Armenian Orthodox, Protestants and other denominations), and 3% Druze.[144]
ReplyDeleteMaybe we are starting to back the wrong horse. From the point of view of literature, we ought to be supporting the Christians, as there you have some writings that can be worked with, and not the koranic non-sense. The Christians are complicit with Assad for sure, out of necessity, the lesser of two evils. I imagine that is how they have looked at it.
Best outcome? Maybe if the place breaks apart into sections. The French (I think) had it broken up into sections.
b
the best thing for syria is it's breakup.
ReplyDeletea free and strong kurdistan makes the most sense. this would defang iran, iraq, turkey and syria all in one swipe..
will it be bloody? hell yeah...
The foregoing requires a caveat. America does not have a free market; the economy is laden with intervention, much of it in the form of privileges for big, established companies at the expense of would-be competitors.
ReplyDeleteTax and regulatory interventions distort market forces and facilitate the migration of jobs and other resources. Moreover, neo-feudalism in developing countries likely reduces workers’ options, providing cheaper labor to transnational corporations.
All of this underscores the imperative to free the market at home and to set an example for others abroad. Global cooperation beats trade war every time.
So let's recap...
ReplyDeleteAssad, the secular nazis of syria are being whacked by the rebels, who are islamists nazis....
The solution?
Buy popcorn.
I think the nazis were self-proclaimed elitists that were incapable of empathy with the suffering, destruction and murder of others. They obviously felt culturally superior and probably enjoyed their schnitzel while people were tracked down in their homes , taken out and executed.
Deletesounds like the assads and it sounds like the moslem brotherhood.
Deleteregardless
the baathist party has it's roots in the nazi party and the moslem brotherhood's islamists founders supported hitler...
So, who's the big winner in all this? I'd have to say "Israel." The reasons should be obvious.
ReplyDeleteThe big loser (aside from Assad, of course?) Gotta be a Iran (and, of course, Hezbollah.)
Turkey is trying to find the edge.
If I were the Kurds I'd be very, very careful for the foreseeable future.
DeleteTurkey has coveted those Kurdish oilfields for a long time.
at the end of the day?
Deletesyria's downfall will be a major peg to the downfall of iran.
the only issue is how...
if hezbollah and hamas go hot?
it will get ugly fast.
All i can say is that thank all that is holy the israelis spend BILLIONS on bomb shelters and the arabs don't...
In the next war, after the 30,000 are killed in syria, no one will give a shit if beirut is leveled.
Turkey is about to bite off more than it can imagine with the attempt at taking over iraqi kurdistan.
DeleteTurkey is going broke as we speak, nato will not prop it up and the Turks may have forgotten the hugh 5th column inside of turkey )they are called the kurds)
Turkey is heading for a cliff... maybe this will push them over.
Of course the opening up of USA oil fields, natural gas and relaxation of carbon emissions domestically in an attempt to insulate ourselves energy wise will only help (if the price of oil can be driven DOWN)
Look for more "creative" destruction to happen in Iran very soon...
ReplyDeleteSince the iranians just murdered the new saudi security chief the gulf states are torquing up their arming and financing of the sunni rebels in iran against the shia
shits verses the suns...
crips verse the bloods...
getting interesting by the day..
better stock up on more butter for the popcorn...
200,000 refugees flooding into jordan...
I gots to laugh... real refugees... pissing of the palestinian "refugees" sitting in their high rises (with cable and computers, tv and free UN supplied food, shelter and energy)
pissing off...
ReplyDeleteI hate this auto correct spelling
Those Sunnis that used to run Iran - don't they live, mostly, in the North?
ReplyDeleteOne can almost feel the noose tightening.
DeleteNot a particularly good time to be an Iranian, I think.
Deletenot a good time to be a revolutionary guard member in iran... or to be part of the ruling elite.
Deletethe people in the streets are pissed (and very pro-american)
Ahmadinejad wakes up in the morning and he has Fifteen Thousand of the best combat troops (extremely well-supplied) sitting to his West in Kuwait, and Seventy Thousand more camped out to his East in Afghansistan. He's looking at a couple of Carrier Groups, F-22's, F-15's, and God only knows what else sitting across the strait. B-2's most likely to his South at Diego Garcia.
DeleteHis main ally to the North is falling, and being replaced by Sunnies that sincerely hate his ass, and are joined in that hatred by their cousins in his own country that his tribe took power from.
Oh, and half the world has a surprisingly, semi-effective boycott going against him. I'd hit the snooze alarm, and hope it got better by tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteAides to President Barack Obama used personal email accounts to contact pharmaceutical companies and deliberately scheduled meetings in coffee shops away from the White House in order to skirt disclosure rules, according to a Congressional report on Wednesday.
Among the most damaging findings are emails from Jim Messina – the former White House deputy chief of staff who now manages the president’s re-election campaign – to a drugs lobbyist in the days before Mr Obama’s health care reforms passed Congress in 2010.
In an email from his personal account, Mr Messina promised "I will roll [Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi] for the 4 billion" needed to fund expansion of health care coverage. Mr Messina also promised the lobbyist he would deal with a reporter who had been questioning the White House’s links with the pharmaceutical industry.
The report by the Republican-controlled oversight and investigations sub-committee also contained details of a proposed meeting between Jeffrey Smith, one of the president’s science advisers, and an executive from a technology company.
Mr Smith suggested meeting at a Caribou Coffee near the White House, explaining that meeting in his office would mean “you’d appear on an official WH Visitor List which maybe not [what] you want at this stage”.
Representative Cliff Sterns, the sub-committee chairman, said: “What we have learnt from our many investigations is that, time and again, the Obama administration’s actions have failed to match the president’s lofty rhetoric on transparency.”
The sub-committee did not accuse the White House of breaking the law but rather of failing to live up to its own claim of being “the most open and transparent administration in history”.
The White House declined to address the allegations directly, insisting that Mr Obama worked with “unprecedented openness in government”. TELEGRAPH
Makes one want to head to D.C. with pitchforks doesn't it?
Deleteb
Most Iranians are Muslims. Around 89%[1] belong to Shi'a branch of Islam, the official state religion, and about 9% belong to the Sunni branch of Islam.
ReplyDeleteHere's an article by Michael Ledeen that argues that the best option with Iran is to support a regime change there through an Iranian revolution.
ReplyDelete(I thought we already had that chance, and did nothing)
Obsession with the nuclear question has obscured the fact that, since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran has waged a low-level war on the United States. That war began in earnest in 1983, when, evidence suggests, Iranian-backed operatives bombed the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut. Such violence continued throughout the 1980s, as Hezbollah, a terrorist organization created by Iran, kidnapped and murdered Americans in Lebanon. In addition to supporting Hezbollah, Iran started funding other terrorist groups, such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. In the last decade, Iranian agents have attacked U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Late last year, the Obama administration revealed that Iranian agents had attempted to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States and to blow up the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington, D.C.
Already are at war, as WiO has said.
Here's the article:
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/137803/michael-ledeen/tehran-takedown
b
The Iranians may be at war with the US, the US is definitely not at war with Iran.
DeleteNo matter what any poster here at the EB says, about that.
Or what Michael Ledeen thinks.
DeleteThe Congress can put US on a war footing with Iran. The President could abuse his authority and do so, as well.
No one else though has the power or authority.
Little matter what is written in Foreign Affairs magazine.
The problem with this is - it's all been argued before - is that the opposition in Iran by and large also supports the nuclear program.
ReplyDeleteb
Funny how all those Iranians see their "National Interests" in the same light, regardless of their religious affiliation.
DeleteEven the Shah was an advocate of Iran developing nuclear technologies. Back then, so did the US, with Dick Cheney signing off on their "need" for nuclear powered electrical generation.
What was perceived as a national priority by the Iranians in the late 20th century, all the more in the 21st.
It will be difficult to persuade them otherwise.
100th Ca Walmart Installs Solar
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteScotland opened its first — and the world’s largest — marine energy park earlier this week. The Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Energy Park (MEP) is expected to have a power capacity of up to 1.6 GW.
The UK leads tidal power in the world, with 46 power devices under development, including the South West MEP that opened earlier in 2012. The US comes in second with 17 tidal power devices, while Canada has 10, ranking third.
It’s estimated that tidal power could create 26,000 jobs and supply up to 20 percent of the UK’s electricity needs by 2050. However, some are still skeptical of the new technology with its high cost of project implementation and difficulty attracting investors.
Clean Technica (http://s.tt/1jIDq)
1.6 Gigawatts? Whoa!
BTW, my posting of all this Renewabl energy stuff has very little to do with "environmentalism." It has Everything to do with that TV Commercial that we've all seen that states that "25% of All Goods and Services Produced in History were Produced in the last 10 Years."
ReplyDeleteEnergy Demand (Needs) are increasing, worldwide, at a very rapid rate. And, Fossil Fuels are a Finite Quantity.
It's as simple as that.
Obama has a "white guy" problem. No shit, especially with this "white guy."
ReplyDeleteThe US is allied with the radical Islamists that attacked US on 11SEP01.
ReplyDeleteWe have been since 13SEP01.
We invaded the country and deposed the regime that most threatened the Golden Chain that financed OBL's attacks upon US in Africa and the Americas.
We now posture against those same radical Islamoids current enemy.
A video that's worth a thousand words...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kg5kjMEU3U
:) :) :) :)
DeleteGreat Video
.
ReplyDeleteWere I to worry about such things, as a citizen of the US, I would worry more about Saudi Arabia than I would about Iran. Were Iran to use a nuclear weapon on us or our interests, they could immediately be nuetralized with extreme predjudice.
The Saudi's on the other hand are the ones providing arms to spread the current insurrections throughout the ME. They are guided by Wahhabism, a violent fundamentalist doctrine that rejects all non-Wahhabi Islam, especially the spiritual forms of Islam. Wahhabism is an expansionist sect intolerant of Shi‘ite Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and Hinduism; in fact, Wahhabists seek to challenge and destroy these faiths. The Saudi's are the ones who spawned al Quaeda and the jihadist that perpetrated 9/11. The Saudi's are center of the radical Islamists. Al-Qaeda represents Wahhabism in its purest form. The Saudi's use their religious influence and edit and modify the Koran to include passages calling the Jews out specifically and justifying radicalism and jihad against all others. They then spend their money to promulgates these bastardized versions of the Koran throughout the world for free. The Saudi's are the ones who fund the radical madrasses and provide them with text books. Those who talk about Iran supporting terrorism are talking small ball.
When Hillary talks about Iran being the greatest supporter of terrorism, she is once again blowing smoke. In order to assure the flow of Saudi oil, the US is willing to allow the free flow of Saudi theofascism. A bit hypocritical but what would you expect?
.
.
Oil trumps All
DeleteAnd, the Saudis have the Oil
Unfortunately, Iran has a bit of oil, it's damn self. Makes for a tricky maneuver, wot?
DeleteThe Sweet Life of Rafalca Romney - whinney! -
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7_EJLBU400&feature=player_embedded
b
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7_EJLBU400
DeleteAnother advantage of voting for Romney is we just might score, you never know, Rafalca Romney as Secretary of State. At $73,000 a year she would be cheaper than Hillary and we'd be getting much more value for much less money, she'd be much easier to look at, and she'd bring more grace and a little 'horse sense' to the job. And once she is 'stabled up' at night we could be sure there'd be no occasional rumors of lesbian affairs as we hear about periodically these days concerning Hillary.
Deleteb
:)
DeleteRare, though they are, you do have your moments, Bob.
DRA2010
ReplyDeleteWonderful - Saudi Arabia and Qatar are allied with Al-Qa'ida and Barack Obama to back the rebels, and Iran, Russia, and China are backing Assad (with Israel opposed to both sides) in this conflict?
Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen! :-(
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/08/syrian_rebels_use_captured_heavy_weapons_against_assads_forces_comments.html#disqus_thread#ixzz22PdJLeDE
Sounds like a bitter divorce all right. Or a family corporate fight. Just what the doctor ordered, a bitter break-up into at least two, maybe more, parts!
b
Oh, Noes, Say it ain't so; :)
ReplyDeleteNew Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) has signed legislation into law that allows the state's solar energy market to continue growing and creating good jobs in N.J. over the next several years. The legislation, S1925/A2966, addresses the current imbalance of Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs), which created uncertainty in the market for project developers and end users.
The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) worked with a number of stakeholders to advocate for this legislation that was passed by the New Jersey legislature on June 25.
The Tea People Will NOT Be Pleased
Christie and Romney, both Northeastern Republicans with a history of promoting "Green Energy".
DeleteMr Romney's record speaks volumes, to those that listen.
A Star is Born - Rafalca the Talking Horse
ReplyDeleteThe European Central Bank may soon step in to buy government bonds on the open market and consider other unconventional measures to lower "exceptionally high" borrowing costs of financially stressed euro-zone economies, ECB President Mario Draghi said Thursday.
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"We have discussed a possible reduction of interest rates but the council in its entirety decided this wasn't the time [to do it]," Mr. Draghi said.
"On the deposit rate, let me say, for us these are largely uncharted waters."
Geologist Professor Sanjeev Gupta, from Imperial College London said: “Nasa chose Gale Crater as the landing site because it has a number of really exciting geological features that we are hoping to explore. These include a canyon and what appears to be a lake bed on the floor of the crater, as well as a channel and a delta, which we think may have been carved by water.
ReplyDelete“We will use the rover's cameras, including one which is like a powerful magnifying glass, to study the geology up close.”
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Scientists think they are a reminder of a time, three to four billion years ago, when there was water on the surface of Mars.
Dick Cheney might have said precisely the same thing about the court’s rulings on the rights of terrorist detainees. In fact, he did.
ReplyDeleteAs he put it in an interview: “How does one argue with someone convinced that the routine massacre of our children is the price we must pay for our freedom?”
Oops, sorry—that was The New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik, writing about those who support gun rights. But you can see how easy it is to get the two confused, can’t you?
Dayna Donovan and her family have been unable to occupy their home after two strangers squatting in her Littleton, Colo., home for eight months have filed for bankruptcy, preventing an eviction from the sheriff's department.
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"People who are even on an extended vacation need to be aware of this situation because once someone illegally occupies your home, you can't just have the cops arrest them," because they need to be caught in the act of breaking in and entering, Donovan said.
"It's just been a nightmare," she said. "We just want to get settled and try to get on with our life."
On this day in 1939, Albert Einstein signed a letter to President FDR urging him to develop a nuclear weapon.
ReplyDeleteEuropean Central Bank President Mario Draghi dashed hopes the central bank would take imminent action in troubled euro-zone debt markets, unleashing a global selloff.
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At his press conference, Mr. Draghi also said the euro bloc's economy "remains weak" with risks "on the downside." The euro zone's gross domestic product hasn't expanded since the third quarter last year.
The ECB also said it expects annual inflation in the euro zone, currently 2.4%, to fall under its 2% target in 2013 or before. "The ECB remains the guardian of price stability," Mr. Draghi said.
Rafalca's first dressage performance at the Olympics --
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nbcolympics.com/video/equestrian/rafalca-puts-on-a-show.html
Jan Ebeling aboard, medal still possible...
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Instead of going "FORWARD!" Obama in now going "BACKWARD!" - back to the old Teleprompter nipple, the baby wheels having come flying off the campaign without it.
ReplyDeleteObama didn't build the Teleprompter, somebody else did that. He just uses it so he doesn't fuck up all the time.
President Obama spoke to supporters in Florida this afternoon, but was careful to stick to his script, relying heavily on his teleprompters.
The president campaigned without teleprompters last month, when he made his controversial "you didn't build that" remark about business owners.
A campaign aide insisted last week that Obama's slip up wouldn't change the campaign's teleprompter strategy.
“The attempts by the Romney campaign to make this into their rallying cry haven’t changed anything,” said a senior campaign official to the Hill, adding that Obama “has done events without a teleprompter since then.”
http://washingtonexaminer.com/back-on-the-trail-obama-clings-to-the-teleprompter/article/2503841
Really nice pic of the Teleprompter telling Obama what to say. Definitely worth a look, if a picture is worth a thousand words, as they say.
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ReplyDeleteThe worst drought in 50 years has intensified across the US midwest, not only condemning this year's corn crop but threatening the prospects for next year's too, new figures showed on Thursday.
The political fallout intensified as well, with growing pressure for the Obama administration to end its support for corn ethanol.
Critics say diverting food to fuel for corn ethanol production risks a global food crisis, tightening supplies and driving up prices. Nearly a third of Congress members signed on to a letter calling on the Environmental Protection Administration to scale down its support for corn ethanol...
Food vs Ethanol
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Good God! The price of gasoline is up because the price of GASOLINE is up.
DeletePrice Chart of RBOB (Gasoline Feedstock.)
The Price of RBOB is up because Inventories are at a multi-year low.
Inventories
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ReplyDeleteIMF: US plunge from fiscal cliff would hit global economy hard
Political infighting is threatening US growth, IMF report finds, with potentially disastrous consequences for world economy
Fiscal Cliff
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This linky no worky here.
Delete.
ReplyDeleteFree Pussy Riot!
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Interesting post. One might wish for more details, but then one can rely on one's imagination.
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Are you texting while driving Quirk, and pushed the wrong button?
DeleteBeware of your surroundings:
Man texts 'I need to quit texting' before driving off cliff... Drudge Headline
We would miss you.
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Some of us.
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Well, a few of us.
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I'd miss you, Quirk.
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Occasionally.
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DeletePutin proposses leniancy on hooliganism charges for radical feminist punk band, Pussy Riot.
Free Pussy!!!
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Ah!
DeleteGood news at last!
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With his plan to end the blood-letting in shreds, Kofi Annan yesterday quit as peace envoy for Syria, describing his task as impossible and leaving further diplomatic efforts rudderless.
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With the Annan plan dead and efforts at the UN Security Council hitting a brick wall, the international community is looking at alternative channels to foster change, as the government and rebels lie locked in a deadly battle for the country's second city of Aleppo.
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Kofi Annan's six-point plan is the latest peace effort to crumble. A watered-down timetable for change was criticised by opposition figures last month for being vague about whether President Assad would be allowed a role in the transition.