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, May 26, 2013

Lebanese security officials say two rockets have hit a Beirut neighborhood that is a stronghold of Hezbollah militants. Reports say the rockets landed in the southern part of the Lebanese capital Sunday, wounding at least three people. It was not clear who was responsible for firing them. The rocket attacks came a day after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed his group will not stand by while the neighboring government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is attacked. Nasrallah said in a speech Saturday that Hezbollah is fighting in Syria to protect Lebanon from the threat of radical Islamists. It was the first time Nasrallah has publicly confirmed Hezbollah's fighting presence in Syria.

BBC
At least three people have been wounded by a rocket strike on the southern part of the Lebanese capital Beirut.
Two rockets hit a district controlled by the Hezbollah organisation, officials and residents were quoted as saying by news agencies.
Tension has been high over the conflict in neighbouring Syria.
On Saturday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah promised his supporters they would prevail in Syria, where they are backing President Bashar al-Assad.
There was no immediate indication who had fired the rockets or from where.
Dozens of militants from Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim organisation, are said to have been killed in recent fighting alongside Syrian troops, who face a mainly Sunni Muslim opposition.
'Failed to explode'
Mr Assad is fighting to end a revolt against his rule which began just over two years ago and has left at least 80,000 people dead and made refugees of some 1.5 million.
An unnamed Lebanese security source told AFP news agency the missiles were Grad rockets, a Soviet-made weapon.

One rocket struck a car showroom, causing injuries and damaging vehicles, the source said.
The second rocket hit a residential building. An unconfirmed report said the rocket had not exploded.
A Reuters news agency photo showed the face of a building pockmarked by what appeared to be shrapnel, while video showed shattered windows blown across a living-room.
Another photo showed dazed men with cuts to their legs being treated in the street by friends.
The Syrian conflict has heightened Lebanon's own sectarian divisions, at times spilling into open conflict.
Fighting in Lebanon's northern town of Tripoli between factions supporting the opposing sides in Syria has left at least 25 people dead in the past week.
Inside Syria itself, opposition activists said many Hezbollah militants were killed on Saturday during fighting for the western town of Qusair.
__________________________________________
In the previous thread we were treated to one of the usual canards justifying the US  involvement in Syria:

  1. What is "Occupation"Sat May 25, 06:59:00 PM EDT
    Let's not forget the numbers of Americans that Hezbollah has killed (marine barracks), kidnapped (william buckley) and more.

    hezbollah has murdered American in America, in LA.. but they were Jews so they might not count


  2. DeuceSat May 25, 05:54:00 PM EDT
    The Shiite Hezbollah are fighting alongside regime troops in Syria. if Assad’s regime falls, Hezbollah will be weakened in Lebanon.

    According to Syrian human rights activists, the Lebanese group lost more than 100 fighters since getting involved in the Syrian civil war.

    The surge in the number of Hezbollah fatalities is mainly due to fighting alongside Syrian army troops in Qusayr near the Lebanese border.

    Israel attacked Syria to keep weapons out of the hands of Hezbollah. In doing so, Israel set itself up to be seen on the side of the rebels against Assad or worse yet, the rebels appeared to be on the side of Israel against Assad.

    If we have any business in the Middle East, it is against Saudi Arabia.
    ReplyDelete




DeuceSat May 25, 09:10:00 PM EDT
You like to bring up the fact that Hezbollah killed Americans in (marine barracks). Where were these marine barracks? Camp Pendleton, in California, Jacksonville NC, Norfolk, Virginia? No, they were in Lebanon. US marines in Lebanon, sort of like Lebanese troops in Pennsylvania.

What business did US marines have in Lebanon? What happened before they went  there? What was the neighborhood where the US marine’s barracks were located? 

The Multinational Force (MNF) US and French troops) were among Lebanese Muslims, Shi’ites living in the slums of West Beirut and around the airport. The Shi’ites saw the MNF siding with the Maronite Catholics in their domination of Lebanon. Prior to that the US Sixth Fleet lobbed missiles at the Druze-dominated Shuf mountains killing innocent civilians. The US also backed Israel in the 1982 invasion of Lebanon and other pro-Israeli factions within Lebanon. These US and Israeli backed factions had been responsible for multiple attacks committed against the Muslim and Druze Lebanese population.

Colonel Timothy J. Geraghty, the commander of the marines in Beirut during the incident, said that the marine and the French headquarters were targeted primarily because of "who we were and what we represented;" and that,
It is noteworthy that the United States provided direct naval gunfire support -- which I strongly opposed -- for a week to the Lebanese Army at a mountain village called Suq-al-Garb on September 19 and that the French conducted an air strike on September 23 in the Bekaa Valley. American support removed any lingering doubts of our neutrality and I stated to my staff at the time that we were going to pay in blood for this decision.”

Some authors, including Thomas Friedman point to the use of this naval gunfire as the beginning point of the U.S. forces being seen as participants in the civil war rather than peace keepers and opening them up to retaliation.

Some analysts believe the newly formed Islamic Republic of Iran was heavily involved and that a major factor leading it to participate in the attacks on the barracks was America's support for Iraq in the Iran–Iraq War and its extending of $2.5 billion in trade credit to Iraq while halting the shipments of arms to Iran. A few weeks before the bombing, Iran warned that providing armaments to Iran’s enemies would provoke retaliatory punishment.

This is reported in Wikipedia and is essentially as I understood it to be at the time. We had no business in Lebanon. Which American state would not attack foreign troops that bombed Americans and set up camp on American soil?

None.
Delete


DeuceSat May 25, 09:14:00 PM EDT
It is called blowback. The marines were killed because of US unquestioning support of Israel attacking Lebanon and the US Navy killing Lebanese. What should their response have been to a foreign invasion? You argue continuously that any missile attack on Israel justifies an Israeli response. Why should a US attack on Lebanon not result in a Lebanese response based on the same reasoning?
Delete


87 comments:

  1. The Syrian army has seized an airport in the strategic border town of al-Qusayr as it presses ahead to liberate the town fully from foreign-backed militants.


    The Syrian troops took control of al-Daba’a military airport north of Qusayr in Homs province on Saturday, the latest reports from the town said.

    The army also regained control of the Ba’ath Party headquarters in Qusayr, killing large numbers of foreign-backed militants.

    Meanwhile, the Syrian government forces have also taken full control of the Homs-Ba'albek Highway after severe clashes with militants.

    Earlier in the day, the Syrian forces pounded the positions of the militants with heaviest artillery and rocket barrages.

    The Syrian army has kicked off the second phase of its operation in the town after successfully concluding the first phase of battle.

    Qusayr, which borders Lebanon, has been the scene of fierce clashes between Syrian forces and militants over the past few days.

    Homs Province remains a strategic gain for either side because of its location which connects the capital, Damascus, to the Mediterranean coast.

    So far, the army has inflicted losses on the foreign-backed insurgents and destroyed their weaponry and equipment.

    The Syrian crisis has dragged on for over two years, and many people, including large numbers of Syrian soldiers and security personnel, have been killed in the foreign-sponsored militancy.


    SAB/SS/SL

    ReplyDelete
  2. Without US and the usual suspect’s intervention, the Assad administration looks to be breaking the back of the Syrian rebellion.

    Obama is up to his ass in all sorts of domestic corruption scandals.

    As usual, the majority of the US population is clueless on all counts.

    What a perfect opportunity to change the subject and get the US involved in another ME war.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A senior Iranian official says Russia and China will participate in the upcoming Friends of Syria meeting slated to be held in the Iranian capital, Tehran.


    “Representatives from Russia and China will attend the international Syria conference in Tehran due to be held on May 29 under the banner of ‘Political Solution, Regional Stability,’” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Saturday.

    The event will be a step toward the realization of a political solution based on ending the violence and holding national dialog in the crisis-stricken country, he said.

    “Tehran has invited different countries, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which have other positions on the crisis in Syria, and welcomes them aboard when it comes to regional cooperation,” the Iranian official pointed out.

    Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of Syrian soldiers and security forces, have been killed in the turmoil

    ReplyDelete
  4. Meanwhile, Syria's fractured political opposition failed on Saturday after three days of intense deliberations to reach a decision on whether to attend an international conference brokered by the US and Russia aimed at ending the conflict in Syria.

    The US and Russia want to bring together representatives of the opposition and the Syrian government at an international conference in Geneva for talks on a possible transition government.

    Much remains up in the air, including the date, the agenda and the list of participants.

    The Syrian National Coalition meetings started on Thursday and were scheduled to end on Saturday, but discord among the fractured opposition delayed the discussions.

    Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Istanbul, said: "They have delayed the crucial vote on the expansion of the Syrian coalition."

    By Saturday night, the factions locked themselves up in a room, trying to find a way to work together.

    The talks were now expected to continue on Sunday, opposition figures said.

    Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

    ReplyDelete
  5. Who’s peace conference are you going to believe?

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a bizarre canard. Sounds more like a Deucean monologue.
    ...

    Here is something I found interesting:

    >>


    Rufus IISun May 26, 02:16:00 AM EDT

    Not only was Obama's mama CIA, she was a "close associate" of Brzezinski. Close enough that Zbigniew rescued Obama from Occidental College, and drug him up to Columbia.

    The rest, as they say, is History.
    Reply








    Rufus IISun May 26, 02:19:00 AM EDT

    The man is a creation of the CIA, and the Military Industrial Complex. Far more dialed in to the intricacies of the world power structures than his republican critics could ever hope to be.







    BobSun May 26, 03:06:00 AM EDT

    Why in the hell did you vote for him then?<<

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. g'nite, it will be interesting to read what transpires here in the morning.

      Delete
    2. But just a dang minute here. I thought you said 100% of us were against going into Syria.

      I really don't recall WiO forcefully advocating we charge into Syria. Maybe I missed it.

      Delete
    3. Obama Was/Is right on the issues.

      Obama, and the CIA understand "peak oil." They understand that we are going to have to transition away from the stuff at a pretty good clip. The Republicans just want to give out blowjobs in the Exxon parking lot.

      Let's face it; the old joke has come to pass. The Republicans truly Have become the "stupid party."

      And, that's why I voted for Obama.

      Delete
    4. I do seem to remember WiO expressing a certain satisfaction at the thought of the Syrians all killing one another.

      Delete
    5. Rufus voted for a CIA/Industrial Complex clone.

      Knowingly.

      Wow!


      bwahahahahhaha

      Delete
    6. Cause The Industrial Complex understands 'Peak Oil'.

      hoothoothoot

      g'nite Rufus.

      You are a good person.

      Delete
    7. Wio does seem to take a perverse pleasure in mass murder in the Middle East, outside of Israel of course. Nice of you to recall.

      Delete
    8. A no-brainer vote, compared to the alternative.

      Delete
    9. WiO expresses the feelings of many others too delicate to be so blunt.

      Delete
    10. On other websites I've found it to be by far the majority opinion.

      Delete
    11. Websites populated by racists, aye.

      Thee are only two of you blatant haters here.
      You, boobie and the Israeli immigrant in Ohio, or Texas.

      The "o"riginal was from the state of Ohio, had a candy store there.
      quot, he claims to be an Israeli, living in the State of Texas.

      Discussed the state of Texas and having that polity dissolve, reforming as five distinct new States.
      Couldn't call 'em all Texas, but ...

      He could be in Palestine, or one of the states there. Jordan, Israel.
      He could be in the stateless part of Palestine, the part occupied by Europeons.
      In the Russian colony, in Jerusalem.


      Delete
    12. BobSun May 26, 08:00:00 AM EDT
      WiO expresses the feelings of many others too delicate to be so blunt.

      Delete

      BobSun May 26, 08:01:00 AM EDT
      On other websites I've found it to be by far the majority opinion.

      Delete


      An amazing answer. Moral desiccation incarnate.

      Delete
    13. You totally misrepresented WiO's opinion on Syria in your post head. Shame.

      Delete
    14. And if you were so upset about the Syrians killing one another you ought logically to be for an international force to intervene and stop it. Because it's going to continue for a long time.

      Delete
  7. More on who are you going to believe?

    Russia will not fulfill a deal to sell advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Syria for fear they could fall into the wrong hands and be used to attack civilian aircraft at Israel's main airport, a senior Russian official told The Sunday Times.

    In return, he told the British newspaper, the Russians expected Israel to refrain from further airstrikes on Syria.

    Israeli government officials dismissed the report. "This story is detached from reality. A fairytale. There was no agreement or understanding achieved between Putin and Netanyahu. That's another piece of fantasizing," one of the officials told Ynet.

    "It's likely there would be a great deal of foot-dragging by the Russians, who would use it as a bargaining chip without following through with the deal. Only time will tell," he said.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Can't believe a word that comes out of an Israeli.

      www.nbcnews.com/id/37653040/ns/.../saudis-clear-israel-bomb-iran/‎
      Jun 12, 2010 – Saudi Arabia will allow Israel to use a corridor of its airspace to shorten the ... Riyadh opens air space for run on nuke facilities, paper says ...


      Which was denied, by the Saudi, a week later.

      Can't believe them lyin' Wahhabi, either.

      Delete
    2. I think the "Iran Deal" has been made, don't you?

      Israel is going to get some F35's. Russia is pulling back on the S300's. The "squawking" has, more or less, died down. Now, all that seems to be left is a little misdirection as to the route to the targets.

      Russia gets to keep its Syrian ally alive. Feels like it's over, to me.

      Delete
  8. Enquiring minds want to know: Why the Syrian push to take Qusayr?

    When David Cameron plays host to world leaders at the upcoming G8 summit in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, one issue threatens to overshadow the prime minister’s official agenda: Syria. And Russia’s Vladimir Putin - participating in a G8 summit for the first time in six years - could well play the key role in brokering a deal to end the two-year-long civil war in the country.

    Hopes are high that the G8 summit could be where a breakthrough in made toward securing peace in Syria. A clear declaration by the G8 in favor of a negotiated peace would be especially fitting in Northern Ireland, where Britain and Ireland brokered the Stormont peace deal in 1997 that saw the end of a 30-year sectarian conflict between Protestant Loyalists and the Catholic IRA.


    Ahead of the G8 meeting on June 17-18, Russia has been at the centre of intensified efforts to resolve the Syria crisis in recent weeks. At talks this month in Moscow, Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, secured agreement from John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State, to jointly call an international peace conference in Geneva, while Putin held detailed talks with Cameron in Sochi, the venue for the 2014 Winter Olympics, that also focused on Syria.

    This diplomatic push was lent further weight by the recent visit of Ban Ki-Moon to Moscow, where the UN Secretary-General backed the joint Russian-U.S. peace plan, and Lavrov indicated that he would like to see the Geneva peace conference go ahead under UN auspices.
    Ban Ki-Moon agreed, stressing: “Expectations are high, so the meeting has to go ahead as soon as possible.”


    June 17 looks to be the date when Syria will want to have control of Qusayr.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Catholics, Protestants, Christians all, fighting a sectarian war, a civil war, for thirty years ...

      Those children, when will they ever learn?

      Delete
    2. Assad knows that if there is conference, if the terrorists can unites, find a spokesperson, and actually have a presence at the table ...

      The only acceptable solution will be to 'freeze' everyone in place.

      So hit hard, now, and be in position to benefit, tactically, from that freeze in place.

      If the conference is a bust,well, Assad and his team will have made gains against the fighting foreigners that make up the radicalized Islamic horde rampaging in Syria and saved countless lives by doing so.

      Delete
  9. All these ME wars are causing havoc in some pretty surprising places. Who would have thought Sweden, a country that knows how to mind its own business?

    Sweden has taken in more than 11,000 refugees from Syria since 2012, more per head than any other European country, and it has absorbed more than 100,000 Iraqis and 40,000 Somalis over the past two decades. About 1.8 million of its 9.5 million people are first- or second-generation immigrants.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sweden appears to have screwed the pooch on this one. :)

      Delete
    2. Swedish Idiots!!

      It's ALL their own fault, the dolts.

      Delete
    3. Is being Swedish in the blood?
      Is it a race of people?
      Are there DNA markers that are distinct to Swedes?

      Or is it a geographic reference?
      But then, once a fella left Sweden, his children would not be Swedish, would they?

      So, if it is a geographic reference, those newly born, of immigrant parents, they're as Swedish as anyone else born there.

      If being Swedish is a blood thing, what are the purity levels required to qualify, to be a Swede?

      Delete
    4. Sweden, being part of Scandinavia, is a sovereign polity of that country.
      And what country it is. With many polities, there.
      Sweden, Norway, Finland. All states of Scandinavia, where not a single sovereign polity takes the name of the country. Just like Palestine.

      Twin sons of different mothers?

      Delete
    5. If I remember correctly, the Scandinavians were in the Ukraine some 13,000 years ago.

      (in fact, a Lot of our ancestors were in the Ukraine along about that time.)

      Delete
    6. I recall a map, from the Encyclopedia Britannica circa 1910 or so, had Palestine as part of Arabia. Now that is some kind of country. So many distinct polities with in it. Kind of like America, in that regard.

      There ae the 31 states in Mexico
      49 American states in the Union (Hawaii, not an American state, it is in Polynesia)
      Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, Costa Rica, Belize, Nicoland and San Salvador.

      That's 87 states, so far, just in North America.
      Canada's a Commonwealth polity.
      Are those Commonwealths considered sovereign states?

      Maybe ash knows.

      Delete
    7. Are US individual state considered Sovereign?

      sov·er·eign (svr-n, svrn)
      n.
      1. One that exercises supreme, permanent authority, especially in a nation or other governmental unit, as:
      a. A king, queen, or other noble person who serves as chief of state; a ruler or monarch.
      b. A national governing council or committee.
      2. A nation that governs territory outside its borders.
      3. A gold coin formerly used in Great Britain.
      adj.
      1. Self-governing; independent: a sovereign state.
      2. Having supreme rank or power: a sovereign prince.
      3. Paramount; supreme: Her sovereign virtue is compassion.
      4.
      a. Of superlative strength or efficacy: a sovereign remedy.
      b. Unmitigated: sovereign contempt.


      Canadian Provinces certainly have their domain - often referred to as the "separation of powers". For example, each province is responsible for administering Health Care but they must do it according to the "Health Care Act". There are transfers of money from rich to poor provinces, each province runs it's own Securities commission, but "sovereign"...depends on the definition.

      Delete
  10. The Syrian army has taken control over the al-Daba’a airport in the strategic border town of al-Qusayr as it advances to free the town from terrorist groups, Iranian Alalam reported. The army also regained control of the Ba’ath Party headquarters in Qusayr, killing large numbers of foreign-backed militants.

    Meanwhile, the Syrian government forces have also taken full control of the Homs-Ba’albek Highway after severe clashes with militants.

    The victory in the Qusayr battle has already enabled Syria to reopen the main road connecting Homs with the Lebanese city of Baalbek.

    Meanwhile, Syrian opposition talks in Istanbul have so far failed to unite liberal leaders and Islamists of the Syrian National Council. The opposition risks being unable to present a coherent front at the forthcoming Geneva conference, making it irrelevant, VoA Reported.

    The two opening days of negotiations of the Syrian opposition have been fruitless as the Islamist-dominated Syrian National Coalition refused to admit liberal opposition leaders into its ranks.

    Also, the opposition failed to elect a new leader of the coalition, which remains without a chief since the resignation of Moaz al-Khatib, a former Damascus religious leader, in March.

    “We are back to square one,” a source in the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) told Reuters before the start of the third day of negotiations.

    The source said the participants in the talks would now focus on international demands for a broadening of the Islamist-dominated group, leaving leadership issues for later.

    Still, Syrian National Council representatives believe they could take part in the peace conference – if their central demand for President Bashar Assad to leave power is satisfied, Al Arabiya reports.


    Author
    InSerbia Team | E-Mail: desk@inserbia.info | http://inserbia.info

    ReplyDelete
  11. BobSun May 26, 08:00:00 AM EDT
    WiO expresses the feelings of many others too delicate to be so blunt.

    Delete

    BobSun May 26, 08:01:00 AM EDT
    On other websites I've found it to be by far the majority opinion.

    Delete


    Amazing answer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. An answer that just exudes hate and disrespect for humanity.

      Delete
    2. How do these answers exude hate? Everyone in Syria wishes to push the Israelis into the sea, and would do so were they able. It is understandable that one might be grateful they are killing one another, rather than oneself.

      And I express a simple truth of what I have found by reading other websites. It is the majority opinion in many places. When I stumble over it again I will post it.

      I would most prefer that they all become Amish, but they are not going to do so. I would rather they kill one another than kill Israelis. Or Americans. It is just as Martha Gellhorn said, they hate, and hate one another, and it is going to come out. Better it come out on themselves than on say, Deuce, or General Bunk even!

      Delete
    3. How, pray tell, do you bob, know what all Syrian want? From reading American Thinker? From reading HotAIr?

      Please spare us you assessment of the "majority opinion in many place" and DO NOT post those idiotic things you happen to "stumble" over in your selective readings! Things are bad enough as it is sifting through all the bird shit you crap here.

      Delete
    4. .

      DO NOT?

      Canada seems to be getting a little uppity these days.

      Hey, Ash, DO NOT keep posting on how you scroll past everything Bob posts here yet constantly spend an inordinate amount of space whining about it.

      .

      Delete
    5. Ash is like a Maggot always seeking out my Filet Mignon.

      It is the very first time he has experienced lucidity of the first order, and he cannot stay away, and is overwhelmed.









      Delete
    6. .

      Not to say that much of what he says isn't true.

      :)

      .

      Delete
  12. Now what? Somehow, the whole thread from here is ending up in my email? How do I fix that?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It has happened to me, before.
      I killed that account.
      ;-0

      At the bottom of the blog, I think there is an envelope icon, click it., or it is right near the Publish button, I do not really recall where it was.

      Delete
    2. The gods are punishing you for voting CIA/Military Industrial Complex.

      Delete
  13. Ah, I went down and clicked "unsubscribe." sheesh.

    ReplyDelete
  14. The World's 10th largest economy obtained 22.8% of its electricity from Renewables (non-large hydro,) yesterday.

    CaISO

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That California, that was country worthy of theft.

      Those Mexicans never knew what hit 'em.
      And never really recovered from the loss.

      Could be the Napoleonic Code being the basis of their legal system.
      I've read that, elsewhere.
      That being part of Frances and all of southern Europe's travails it was surmised, the Napoleonic legal system bestowed upon them by the Emperor of Europe. Good thing for America that the Haitian slaves revolted and France lost interest in the Americas.

      Got the center of North America out of the Napoleonic Code and into British Common Law.

      The results, California is a sovereign state in the Union, not a Mexican polity.
      Well, parts of California are in the US, part of it, lower California, la baja, is still in Mexico.

      Delete
    2. Imagine California if they could imbed solar panels in the highway system.

      Delete
    3. That was actually a "thought" at one time, I believe. Then, they decided it was easier to put them almost anywhere else. :)

      Delete
  15. In the previous thread we were treated to one of the usual canards justifying the US involvement in Syria:

    What is "Occupation"Sat May 25, 06:59:00 PM EDT
    Let's not forget the numbers of Americans that Hezbollah has killed (marine barracks), kidnapped (william buckley) and more.

    hezbollah has murdered American in America, in LA.. but they were Jews so they might not count





    With all due respect, which really is none.

    I did not, nor have I ever supported American involvement in Syria.

    I was simply pointing out that the wahabbists were not alone in murdering Americans.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are correct, quot.

      The Wahhabi are not alone, the Israeli are masters, at murdering US sailors.

      Delete
  16. DeuceSun May 26, 03:36:00 AM EDT
    Wio does seem to take a perverse pleasure in mass murder in the Middle East, outside of Israel of course. Nice of you to recall.

    Deuce, once again your ability to recall lacks.

    However since the current Syrian conflict pits to groups that BOTH advocate the genocide of Israel and Jews against each other it is hard to get my knickers in a wad when both sides of genocidal bastards are killing each other.

    Is that perverse? To see 2 groups that have funded, supported and trained terrorists that have blown up hundreds of Israeli (and American) children fight?

    Your selection of the term perverse is perverse.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This from the guy who has gone by the moniker, among others, "Pork Rinds for Allah", has advocated dropping a nuclear weapon on Mecca, and urged the mass killing of muslims on numerous occasions gets his knickers in knot over the term "perverse".

      and the boobie chimes in with his usual pertinent comment.

      down the rabbit hole we go...

      Delete
  17. General Bunk:

    desert ratSun May 26, 08:30:00 AM EDT
    Websites populated by racists, aye.

    Thee are only two of you blatant haters here.
    You, boobie and the Israeli immigrant in Ohio, or Texas.

    The "o"riginal was from the state of Ohio, had a candy store there.
    quot, he claims to be an Israeli, living in the State of Texas.

    Discussed the state of Texas and having that polity dissolve, reforming as five distinct new States.
    Couldn't call 'em all Texas, but ...

    He could be in Palestine, or one of the states there. Jordan, Israel.
    He could be in the stateless part of Palestine, the part occupied by Europeons.
    In the Russian colony, in Jerusalem.




    I see the General's grip on reality is getting more and more "jello-like" each and every day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I disagree. The General has never had any grip at all on reality. He has spouted so many conspiracy theories I gave up reading him with anything but a combination of humor and disgust long ago.

      Delete
    2. .

      Thee are only two of you blatant haters here.
      You, boobie and the Israeli immigrant in Ohio, or Texas.


      The only two?

      I recall others here who have said they could care less how many died in the ME, the explanations running from better they die over there than we die over here to 'I really don't give a shit.'

      If you are going to continue the running feud, at least get the facts straight.

      Ah, forget it. I know I was asking a lot there.

      .

      Delete
  18. BobSun May 26, 03:23:00 AM EDT
    But just a dang minute here. I thought you said 100% of us were against going into Syria.

    I really don't recall WiO forcefully advocating we charge into Syria. Maybe I missed it.



    I never advocating doing anything in Syria except watching.

    The arab world is huge, there is tons of room for the refugees to find space in arabia, sudan, jordan and of course Turkey (non-arab but historic ruler of the lands, ie ottoman empire)

    As we know at this blog you dont have to say it for it to be EB truth.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for confirming my memory. At my age, it is reassuring.

      ;)

      Delete
  19. General Bunk says...


    He could be in the stateless part of Palestine, the part occupied by Europeons.
    In the Russian colony, in Jerusalem.



    Notice the detachment to reality. It's truly amazing. I just wonder with awe how such a person views reality. It's like he lives and walks thru a some bad alternate arab superiority movie...

    Pallywood unleashed

    ReplyDelete
  20. Solar at Grid Parity in at least part of 102 Countries.

    Map

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was never an Al Gore fan; however, he did get (steal) one thing right:

      The more fossil fuels you use, the more expensive it is. The more Renewables you use, the Cheaper it is.

      The fossil fuel-owning utility companies are starting to squeal. They're in full voice in Australia (where, something like 1 in 10 homes have solar panels, I believe.)

      Delete
    2. There is a new day a-comin', that's fer sure, rufus.

      The sun shines every day.
      Rainy days and Mondays ...
      ... they always bring me joy.

      Don't rain much, not any more.
      Horses, they are cheaper by the dozen.

      Allowing the export of live cattle to China.
      Price of beef is goin' up.
      Got nothin' to do with ethanol.
      Or the price of corn.

      Demand is not static.
      Charlie Chi-com likes his McD's quarter pounder, with cheese.



      Delete
    3. From what I've heard, there is nary a cow in all of Texas.

      Sold 'em off, 'cause of the drought, they say.
      Could take a decade to rebuild those herds.
      If this is just a cyclical drought and not irreversible climate change.

      If you think it is a cyclical drought, I know a girl with 275 acres of farm and feedlot in La Junta, Colorado. She'd sell it for $1.5 million.
      Fenced and cross fenced, irrigated, got a nice pond, big enough for a row boat.
      When I first saw it, told her it was a lake, if it was in AZ.

      Great little place.



      Delete
    4. I think it's a cyclical drought. But, paying $1.5 Mil for the pleasure of raising cattle? :)

      Yeeahh, I don' think so. :)

      Delete
    5. Seems easier just to wake up every morning, and hit myself in the head with a hammer. :)


      Then, if that's not punishment enough, I could buy some cattle futures, and spend my spare time "training rattlesnakes," or something. :)

      Delete
    6. I read once of a DNA test they conducted in a University, I think, in Chicago. They tested 4 subjects from different geographic, and ethnic backgrounds. I don't believe there were any African Americans, but there was one Cree Indian (I don't remember if they said whether he was "full-blood" Cree, which would likely make a difference.

      Anyway, All 4 had a common genetic marker that they said was from a woman, 13,000 years ago, that they thought lived in the Ukraine.

      Delete
    7. The "great-grannie" of us all.

      Delete
    8. Bee prices are way up, from what I've read.

      Will McDonald's pass it along?

      Certainly.

      Delete
    9. Beef prices.

      Bee prices may be up too, what with the colony disease.

      Delete
    10. Chinese consumers, and an easing of the export restrictions, or the import restrictions, I'm not sure which side was wanting to slaughter the cattle and ship the carcasses to China. I assumed it was on our side of the trade. But never bothered to find out.

      Increased global demand, decreasing US supply.

      It's a business, rufus, a business.
      And a "Lifestyle"

      Rural independence.


      Delete
    11. I liked the "lifestyle" of it, Rat; I truly did. But, the bizness part was a headache (or, sometimes a bit "farther south.") :)

      Delete
    12. I never said it was a 'good' business.

      Delete
  21. As the Islamic Republic of Iran prepares for presidential elections next month it is fielding a "massive" number of new long-range missile launchers, Iranian media reported on Sunday.

    Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi was quoted as saying the new weapon systems give Iranian forces the ability to "crush the enemy" with the simultaneous launching of long-range surface-to-surface missiles, according to Fars, the semi-official Iranian news agency.

    The report did not specify the type of missile that would be fired, or provide details on the number of launchers allegedly deployed.

    Iran’s military does possess surface-to-surface missiles that are capable of traveling over 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles), able to reach of targets inside Israel and US bases in the region.

    Vahidi did not specify who was the "enemy," and emphasized that Iran would never start a war.

    Although Tehran occasionally announces military achievements that cannot be independently verified – like the claim it developed a state-of-the-art stealth drone capable of evading enemy radar – they come in the face of relentless external pressure.

    Only last year, as the United Nations slapped Tehran with another round of harsh sanctions, Iran threatened to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, through which 18 million barrels of oil flows every day – roughly 35 percent of the world’s total. Any disruption of this supply route would have a huge impact on oil prices, and by extension the global economy.

    The stand-off resulted in a tense military parade as the US sent three full US carrier groups, each accompanied by dozens of support vessels and carrying more aircraft than the entire Iranian air force, to participate in the Hormuz exercises. Tehran watched with apprehension as the fleet came and went.

    Earlier this month, another US-led naval drill began in the Persian Gulf in a second such display of maritime strength in less than a year. The exercises involved 35 ships, 18 unmanned submarines and unmanned aircraft.

    At the same time, Washington has been engaged in constructing a European missile defense system that it says will protect Europe from a “rogue state” missile attack.

    In September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exhorted the UN General Assembly to draw "a clear red line" to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

    The hawkish government of Likud leader Netanyahu has said in the past that “all of the options are on the table” – a thinly disguised remark suggesting military action – in order to halt Iran’s nuclear research.

    These fears are shared by the US and EU who have imposed severe sanctions targeting Iran’s oil sectors against the Persian country, and by many other nations across the globe.

    Tehran has rejected the allegations, arguing that it is developing its nuclear capabilities for purely civilian purposes, and demanding that the world acknowledge its right to peaceful nuclear research.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. Despite the exhortations to the UN General Assembly for them to draw "a clear red line", the reality is that the General Assembly did not. They do not recognize the Iranian nuclear program to be a military threat.

      From Bibi's perspective the General Assembly at best abstained from following the exhortations made to them by his state in Palestine, at worse it endorsed the Iranian view...

      Bibi's perspective, it moves on the wind in the shifting sands of Arabia.

      Delete
  22. .

    In support of Deuce's ongoing these as well as the responses to it.

    Second, despite the self-serving bewilderment that is typically expressed whenever western nations are the targets rather than perpetrators of violence - why would anyone possibly be so monstrous and savage as to want to attack us this way? - the answer is actually well-known and well-documented. As explained by the CIA ("blowback"), the Pentagon (they "do not 'hate our freedom,' but rather, they hate our policies"), former CIA agents ("we could try invading, occupying and droning Muslim countries a little less, and see if that helps. Maybe prop up fewer corrupt and tyrannical Muslim regimes"), and British combat veterans ("it should by now be self-evident that by attacking Muslims overseas, you will occasionally spawn twisted and, as we saw yesterday, even murderous hatred at home"), spending decades bombing, invading, occupying, droning, interfering in, imposing tyranny on, and creating lawless prisons in other countries generates intense anti-American and anti-western rage (for obvious reasons) and ensures that those western nations will be attacked as well. In the London case, the attacker cited precisely such anger at US/UK aggression as his motive ("this British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. . . . the only reason we killed this man is because Muslims are dying daily"). Those are just facts.

    Having written about these matters many times before, I know exactly how some people reflexively try to radically distort the argument beyond recognition in order to smear you as a Terror apologist, a Terrorist-lover or worse, all for the thought crime of raising these issues. To do so, they deceitfully conflate claims of causation (A is one of the causes of B) with justification (B is justified). Anyone operating with the most basic levels of rationality understands that these concepts are distinct. To discuss what motivates a person to engage in Action B is not remotely to justify Action B.


    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/25/andrew-sullivan-distortion-terrorism-woolwich?guni=Network front:network-front main-4 Pixies:Pixies:Position13

    .

    ReplyDelete
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    1. .

      In today's Humpty Dumpty world, the following is the reason the War on Terror will never end. Use the right word's and you can justify anything.

      Concerning whether this attack should be categorized as "terrorism", I explained precisely why it's vital to ask that question: because the term bears such great significance legally, politically, culturally, and emotionally and yet has no clear or consistently applied definition, and is thus used as a propaganda tool to glorify violence and other conduct by western states while rendering inherently illegitimate all violence directed at those states. In doing so, I was equally explicit about what I was and was not arguing [emphasis added]:


      "I know this vital caveat will fall on deaf ears for some, but nothing about this discussion has anything to do with justifiability. An act can be vile, evil, and devoid of justification without being 'terrorism': indeed, most of the worst atrocities of the 20th Century, from the Holocaust to the wanton slaughter of Stalin and Pol Pot and the massive destruction of human life in Vietnam, are not typically described as 'terrorism'. To question whether something qualifies as 'terrorism' is not remotely to justify or even mitigate it. That should go without saying, though I know it doesn't."

      If anyone knows of a way to make that any clearer, do let me know.


      .

      Delete
    2. Yep, that's very true, Q.

      The US needs a sea change in policy and doctrine.

      The President, is tasked with carrying out the edicts of the Congress.
      The US is at war.

      The current strategies and doctrines are not serving US interests, as well as they might.
      But the levels of violence, in the Western communities does not begin to match the scale and scope of the violence the Western communities have wrought across the Islamic Arc.

      Delete
  23. .

    In response to the previous stream on the 4th branch of government. More nonsense from the PC prone.

    Responding to what it considers the University of Montana’s defective handling of complaints about sexual assaults, OCR, in conjunction with the Justice Department, sent the university a letter intended as a “blueprint” for institutions nationwide when handling sexual harassment, too. The letter, sent on May 9, encourages (see below) adoption of speech codes — actually, censorship regimes —to punish students who:

    Make “sexual or dirty jokes” that are “unwelcome.” Or disseminate “sexual rumors” (even if true) that are “unwelcome.” Or make “unwelcome” sexual invitations. Or engage in the “unwelcome” circulation or showing of “e-mails or Web sites of a sexual nature.” Or display or distribute “sexually explicit drawings, pictures, or written materials” that are “unwelcome...”

    ----------

    Wendy Kaminer, a civil liberties lawyer who writes for the Atlantic, traces the pedigree of the OCR-DOJ thinking to the attempt by some feminists in the 1980s to define pornography as a form of sexual assault and hence a civil rights violation. Volokh, too, believes that the government is blurring the distinction between physical assaults and “sexually themed” speech in order to justify censoring and punishing the latter.


    http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/alice-in-wonderland-coercion/2013/05/24/14de6762-c490-11e2-914f-a7aba60512a7_story.html?hpid=z7

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Unwelcome"

      A new standard for free speech?

      Don't really think that standard will stand.

      Delete
  24. Thank the Lord for voters like Rufus, voters with forethought and knowledge, willing to stand up and vote Obama/CIA/Military Industrial Complex --

    Obama’s new drone policy leaves room for CIA role

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obamas-new-drone-policy-has-cause-for-concern/2013/05/25/0daad8be-c480-11e2-914f-a7aba60512a7_story.html?hpid=z1

    >>But even those who agree with the decision said it may prove more difficult for Obama to dismantle the CIA’s drone program than it was to shutter its secret prisons, because of the agency’s expertise as well as circumstances that at times enable the CIA to operate in places off-limits to the Defense Department.<<

    Barky's is just shittin' us when he says he gonna ease back on the drones.

    He da CIA mon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rufus IISun May 26, 02:16:00 AM EDT

      Not only was Obama's mama CIA, she was a "close associate" of Brzezinski. Close enough that Zbigniew rescued Obama from Occidental College, and drug him up to Columbia.

      The rest, as they say, is History.
      Reply


      Rufus IISun May 26, 02:19:00 AM EDT

      The man is a creation of the CIA, and the Military Industrial Complex. Far more dialed in to the intricacies of the world power structures than his republican critics could ever hope to be.

      Delete
    2. Dangit, Ruf has surely provided much humor here over the years.

      You are a good man, Rufus.

      Delete
    3. I'm still alaughin', rollin' round the floor.

      Delete
    4. .

      I've heard lithium can help.

      .

      Delete