Obama’s plan, by excluding Iran, is a guarantee for failure :
Obama’s “Coalition of the Willing” against Syria, Iran
The Obama administration is rapidly putting together a “coalition of the willing” to ramp up its new war of aggression in the Middle East. Using the pretext of “degrading and destroying” Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militias, Washington has revived its plans, put on hold last year, directed at ousting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and also aimed against Syria’s backers, Iran and Russia.
Since Obama announced his war plans last Wednesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry has been criss-crossing the Middle East to drum up support for military action in Iraq and Syria and the arming and training of pro-Western militia inside both countries. France has already indicated its willingness to participate in air strikes in Iraq. Yesterday, the Australian government announced the dispatch of eight strike fighters and associated military aircraft, as well as 600 troops to the Middle East.
The latest barbaric ISIS beheading of British aid worker David Haines has proven very convenient for the British government, which last year was forced to pull out of the planned US-led air war against Syria. Amid widespread public opposition and divisions in ruling circles, British Prime Minister David Cameron lost a parliamentary vote authorising air strikes.
Just as Obama has exploited the ISIS murder of two American journalists to sway public opinion, temporarily at least, behind a new war in the Middle East, Cameron is attempting to do the same. Denouncing ISIS as “monsters” and the “embodiment of evil,” he declared that Britain would proceed with the US and its allies to “dismantle and ultimately destroy ISIL [ISIS] and what it stands for.” The British-based Telegraph reported yesterday that Cameron could announce air strikes as early as next week after attending the UN and reconvening parliament to authorise military intervention.
In reality, ISIS is a creation of the US and its allies. It emerged as Al Qaeda in Iraq amid the sectarian bloodletting unleashed by the American-led occupation of Iraq from 2003. It morphed into ISIS as part of the US-backed regime-change operations in Libya and Syria initiated in 2011. ISIS established its prominent position in Syria, not as a result of popular support by the Syrian people, but through arms, funds and fighters from American allies in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states.
The absurdity of US claims that it will train and arm “moderate” anti-Assad forces in Syria to fight ISIS is underscored by a report Friday by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that ISIS had reached a ceasefire with “moderate and Islamist rebels.” An official from the pro-Western Syrian National Coalition, no doubt concerned that the report could jeopardise US arms and aid, vigorously denied that the Free Syrian Army (FSA) had reached anything other than a temporary truce to retrieve bodies. He noted, however, that he did not speak for the many other “moderate” and Islamist militias in Syria.
The Syrian opposition militias including ISIS, whatever their disputes and clashes, are united by their determination to oust Assad and unquestionably maintain close relations. The family of beheaded American journalist Steven Sotloff has reported that he was traded to ISIS by the “moderate” FSA for a sum of between $25,000 and $50,000. The FSA and other anti-Assad militias certainly welcome the prospect of American aid, training and arms but these will be directed primarily at the Syrian regime, not ISIS.
That is Washington’s objective as well. An article in yesterday’s New York Times based on discussions Obama held last week with senior journalists, former officials and foreign policy experts, drew attention to the way in which the war on ISIS could rapidly transform into a wider war to topple Assad.
“He [Obama] made clear the intricacy of the situation, though, as he contemplated the possibility that Mr Assad might order his forces to fire at American planes entering Syrian airspace,” theNew York Times reported.
“If he dared to do that, Mr Obama said he would order American forces to wipe out Syria’s air defence system, which he noted would be easier than striking ISIS because its locations are better known. He went on to say that such an action by Mr Assad would lead to his overthrow.”
Of course, as it has done in the past, the US is quite capable of fabricating such an incident, if Assad does not order the military to respond to US air strikes, which are naked acts of aggression against a sovereign state. Nor would it simply be Syrian air defences that would be wiped out. Rather the Pentagon would set in motion plans drawn up at least a year ago to target the Syrian military and industrial base, including “command and control” centres, with Assad himself at the top of the list.
The wider US aims are also evident in the composition of the conference to be convened today in Paris to map out war plans. After France indicated that Iran might receive an invitation, US Secretary of State Kerry quickly ruled out the possibility, telling the media that it “would not be appropriate, given the many other issues that are on the table with respect to their engagement in Syria and elsewhere.” The last thing that Washington wants is for the Assad regime, or its backer Iran, itself a US target, to be part of the discussions.
Saudi Arabia, which was bitterly critical of Obama’s decision to call off air strikes against Syria last year, is only backing the new war because Riyadh understands it is directed against Assad, and also arch-rival Iran. The Saudi monarchy has agreed to provide the US with facilities to arm and train Syrian “moderates.” Last week Saudi Arabia hosted a gathering of 10 Arab states attended by Kerry that agreed to support efforts to destroy ISIS, including through their military involvement “as appropriate.”
As cited in yesterday’s New York Times, a senior US State Department official stated that at least some of the Arab countries had offered to take part in air strikes, including in Syria, and have been doing so for some time.
The scope of what is being prepared goes far beyond the US air strikes that have already taken place against ISIS inside Iraq. Even that has been grossly understated. The Pentagon has focused on the 156 airstrikes on ISIS vehicles, road blocks and other targets, but the number of sorties over the past month has been far higher—2,749 up until September 11, including reconnaissance and refueling missiles. With France, Australia, possibly Britain and also Arab countries involved, the US is preparing a devastating air war in Iraq and Syria
From Globe and Mail in Canada:
ReplyDeleteIn Damascus, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said the U.S. effort was flawed. “You cannot fight terrorism when you collaborate with those who created these terror groups including in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and others,” he told the BBC.
Wading back into the bitter sectarian violence that has erupted in several Middle East countries has also brought Mr. Obama under fire domestically.
“This idea we will never have boots on the ground to defeat them in Syria is fantasy, said Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican. He said the rise of the Islamic State is the consequence of Mr. Obama’s decision to pull all U.S. troops out of Iraq in 2011.
“All this has come home to roost over the last three years of incompetent decisions,” he said. “This is not about bringing a few people to justice who behead the innocent in a brutal fashion; it’s about protecting millions of people throughout the world from a radical Islamic army. They’re intending to come here, so I will not let this President suggest to the American people we can outsource our security,” he said, referring to Mr. Obama’s insistence that he would limit the U.S. military response to air strikes.
Vague plans to train Sunni ground forces deemed moderate and therefore acceptable to Washington have also emerged, with Saudi Arabia offering a base for training. But it may take months before any ground forces capable of taking advantage of U.S. air strikes in Syria can deploy.
“To defeat and ultimately destroy ISIL, something that is not only in our interest but in the interest of the countries in the region, [Arab states] are going to need to take the fight,” White House chief of staff Denis McDonough said, referring to the Islamic State militants by an earlier name.
“They’re going to help us beat them on the ground,” he added.
The President’s newly hatched strategy of air war alone – backed by an ironclad promise the he won’t send U.S. combat troops to Iraq or Syria – is politically popular but has been questioned by critics.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry claims there are Arab states that have offered to provide ground forces, but he declined to identify them.
“There are some who have offered to do so, but we are not looking for that, at this moment anyway,” he said.
Follow Paul Koring on Twitter: @PaulKoring
The insanity of this is difficult to overstate:
ReplyDeleteObama said last week he was prepared to bomb Islamic State forces in Syria as well as Iraq, which would – ironically – amount to air strikes against the Assad regime’s most bitter foe.
Both Iran and Syria lampooned Mr. Obama’s new-found interest in waging war against the Islamic State.
“I saw no point in co-operating with a country whose hands are dirty and intentions murky,” Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in comments quoted by IRNA, the state-controlled news agency.
Russia, an ally of both Damascus and Tehran, deplored their absenceBoth were “natural allies” in the war against Islamist extremists, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. Moscow has staunchly supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose regime is waging a brutal war against rebels, who are mostly Sunnis, with Islamic State the most militarily capable.
DeleteTurkey, a key front-line border state, has offered only humanitarian aid and refused to let coalition warplanes fly bombing missions from its big air force base at Incirlik (Which the US built).
DeleteMost of the U.S. air strikes are being launched from the USS George H.W. Bush cruising in the Persian Gulf.
France, which like Canada opted out of the 2003 Iraq war, has taken a leading role in military actions against Islamist militants in both North Africa and the Middle East. “There is no time to lose,” Mr. Hollande told the conference.
Air strikes have helped Kurdish peshmerga forces stabilize a front in northern Iraq. But without ground forces acceptable to the Sunni Muslim populations, the air war can’t “degrade and destroy” – to use Mr. Obama’s words – the Islamic State’s proto-caliphate.
The only observation that makes the most sense is:
DeleteIn Damascus, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said the U.S. effort was flawed. “You cannot fight terrorism when you collaborate with those who created these terror groups including in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and others,” he told the BBC.
WTF is going on? I want to state clearly that I am 100% opposed to this pathetic and” tragedy in the making” farce.
Assad, with the help of Russia, Iran and Hezbollah have killed 200,000 civilians and displaced 11 million people.
DeleteNow Iran, which had taken over most of Iraq as well has shoved it's Shiia love up the ass of the Sunnis of Iraq
These 2 events in Iraq and Syria have created the Sunni backlash...
It is not pleasant to contemplate the thoughts that must be passing through the mind of the Owl of Minerva as the dusk falls and she undertakes the task of interpreting the era of human civilization, which may now be approaching its inglorious end.
ReplyDeleteThe era opened almost 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent, stretching from the lands of the Tigris and Euphrates, through Phoenicia on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean to the Nile Valley, and from there to Greece and beyond. What is happening in this region provides painful lessons on the depths to which the species can descend.
The land of the Tigris and Euphrates has been the scene of unspeakable horrors in recent years. The George W. Bush-Tony Blair aggression in 2003, which many Iraqis compared to the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, was yet another lethal blow. It destroyed much of what survived the Bill Clinton-driven UN sanctions on Iraq, condemned as "genocidal" by the distinguished diplomats Denis Halliday and Hans von Sponeck, who administered them before resigning in protest. Halliday and von Sponeck’s devastating reports received the usual treatment accorded to unwanted facts.
One dreadful consequence of the US-UK invasion is depicted in a New York Times "visual guide to the crisis in Iraq and Syria": the radical change of Baghdad from mixed neighborhoods in 2003 to today's sectarian enclaves trapped in bitter hatred. The conflicts ignited by the invasion have spread beyond and are now tearing the entire region to shreds.
Much of the Tigris-Euphrates area is in the hands of ISIS and its self-proclaimed Islamic State, a grim caricature of the extremist form of radical Islam that has its home in Saudi Arabia. Patrick Cockburn, a Middle East correspondent for The Independent and one of the best-informed analysts of ISIS, describes it as “a very horrible, in many ways fascist organization, very sectarian, kills anybody who doesn't believe in their particular rigorous brand of Islam."
Cockburn also points out the contradiction in the Western reaction to the emergence of ISIS: efforts to stem its advance in Iraq along with others to undermine the group's major opponent in Syria, the brutal Bashar Assad regime. Meanwhile a major barrier to the spread of the ISIS plague to Lebanon is Hezbollah, a hated enemy of the US and its Israeli ally. And to complicate the situation further, the US and Iran now share a justified concern about the rise of the Islamic State, as do others in this highly conflicted region.
{...}
2014 Noam Chomsky
DeleteDistributed by The New York Times Syndicate
ISIS is a plague, but it's a plague created as an anti-body to Assad and Iran (hezbollah) too
DeleteThe video makes it clear that no military action without diplomatic action will work. That should be obvious to every serious person that has been paying attention for at least the last 50 years of the results of one US military disaster after another.
ReplyDeleteDiplomacy?
DeleteGood Luck.
LOL Diplomacy with Islam?
DeleteShits verses the Suns..
"Diplomacy"?
LOL
You're getting FUNNY Deuce...
Meanwhile, my wife is deep deep deep into the series about the Roosevelts on the Tellie.
ReplyDeleteThat Teddy sure had the moustache.
How can one possible eat soup with a moustache like that?
Only way would be through a straw.
She seems to like Teddy.
I doubt Ted would be making all the mistakes Obozo is making.
He might well just flatten most of the mid east and make it a colony.
Would that be any worse, really?
After a while the people there might get used to it and have a much better life.
Oddly enough, my wife, who claims to be, and is to, I believe, related to William Wallace -
Deletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wallace
- has shown very little interest in the affairs of Scotland these days.
By the use of terror, ISIS, very much like a mafia organization, has established muscle and force on the ground. ISIS will stand in the shadows when the “cops” are in the neighborhood but as soon as the cops leave, ISIS will let everyone know who the real capos are.
ReplyDeleteWhatever weapons are given to the US created “moderate allies” will be willingly surrendered by the “moderate allies”, to the ISIS enforcers, just as willingly as they were surrendered before.
The parties that know this and have the power to do anything about it, are the forces from Syria and Iran. It was Sunni Muslims from Saudi Arabia that attacked the US. It was Sunni money that paid for the jihad in Afghanistan, Kosovo and New York. The US cannot defeat either faction. The US can play balance of power politics and respect the counter views of the disparate players or it can continue its fifty year record of failure.
The US has no friends in the Middle East, nor should it. There is not one country in the Middle East that should have a call on US diplomatic and military assets. There is not one country in the Middle East that deserves to have US blood shed for it. The US should set the stage where the various groups have to learn to live with each other and settle their differences and the US should normalize its own relationships with Iran and Syria and pay for some of the damage done to Iraq and Palestine by past US policies.
US should normalize its own relationships with Iran and Syria and pay for some of the damage done to Iraq and Palestine by past US policies.
DeleteLOL....
You can't normalize relations with Iran that's core commitment is the destruction of the Great Satan, the USA.
Now you may want it, you may beg for it, you may plead for it?
But the Mahdi worshipping Iranians will just be measuring what size sword to use on your neck...
Obama has already announced a time limit for US military activity. ISIS heard.There is no military solution with a price that the US public is willing to pay. That is reality.
ReplyDeleteGuns will not settle the differences.The weapons and violence we used and introduced into Iraq specifically helped create and arm ISIS.
Bad political decisions like going into Iraq at all, failing to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for 911, firing the Iraqi army and the de-Baathification of the Iraqi civil service all helped create ISIS.
US blind support for Israel has lengthened the violence in Palestine.
Diplomacy is tedious but is the ultimate weapon in causing or allowing a resolution of differences. Scoff at the proposition but in doing so you are scoffing about the facts and lessons of history.
US blind support for Israel has lengthened the violence in Palestine.
DeleteLOL
More like billions in aid for the palestinians has prolonged it...
Even as we speak the west is organizing a "donor" meeting for the Gaza Strip...
Maybe we should leave the Palestinians in their rubble for a few decades and have to pay the cost of shooting rockets at a larger better armed enemy.
>>France didn’t stay out of the Iraq War because it’s a lover of multilateral diplomacy and international law. It actually enjoys bombing countries that it used to run. And it’s telling that the Nobel Peace Prize unilateralist is stuck in a coalition with France whose pint sized president is battling economic disaster and sex scandals, and is searching desperately for a way to change the subject by bombing something.
ReplyDeleteIt’s ironic that America’s fiercest liberal advocates of diplomacy don’t actually understand how it works. They think of international relations as an ideal, when it’s actually a tangle of narrow selfish interests.
That misunderstanding led to the United Nations, a democracy of dictatorships whose members can’t agree on anything except hating Israel. And they wouldn’t agree on even that if the USSR and then the Islamic nations hadn’t created crude coalitions motivated by negative, rather than positive agendas.<<
Obama’s Coalition of the Uncertain
September 16, 2014 by Daniel Greenfield
Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. He is completing a book on the international challenges America faces in the 21st century.
According to the media the diplomatic wunderkinds of Obama Inc. have assembled a coalition that is “broader and more committed” than the one that Bush put together against Saddam Hussein.
Bush couldn’t get France and Germany on board. Obama got France.
Unfortunately France is also about the only country in Obama’s coalition against ISIS. At least France appears to be the only country willing to commit militarily. Possibly the UK will join it, but after parliament turned down Cameron’s air strikes on Syria the last time around, that may be unlikely.
Kerry claims that some Arab countries might be willing to bomb ISIS, he just isn’t willing to say which ones, and meanwhile the standard for participating in the military campaign has been lowered to mean providing training and weapons to Sunni Jihadists in Syria. That means Qatar and Turkey, ISIS’ backers, can be in our anti-ISIS coalition.
Or maybe we’re in their ISIS coalition...................
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/obamas-coalition-of-the-uncertain/
I am very dootfull if even a diplomat of Quirkian Qualities could talk his way through and out of this mess.
I can only identify three entities in the entire middle east that have some value.
ReplyDeleteIsrael
The Egyptian Military
The Jordanian Monarchy
For the rest it's obvious they can't run their own affairs in a sane manner.
Add the Kurds.
Delete.
DeleteI would probably cut the list in half.
.
The Kurds of Iraq have allied themselves with the Iranians
DeleteHezbollah is definitely a valuable military asset, it held the Israeli Army, has beaten ISIS in Syria.
But da ho Bob ignores realities that fall outside his prejudices.
Jack HawkinsTue Sep 16, 03:14:00 AM EDT
DeleteThe Kurds of Iraq have allied themselves with the Iranians
Hezbollah is definitely a valuable military asset, it held the Israeli Army, has beaten ISIS in Syria.
But da ho Bob ignores realities that fall outside his prejudices.
JackRat's reading of history is like Hillary Clinton reviewing her vast and great accomplishments as SoS.
LOL
Pure fiction and delusion.
.
ReplyDeleteYesterday, the Australian government announced the dispatch of eight strike fighters and associated military aircraft, as well as 600 troops to the Middle East.
Those damn Aussies are a bloodthirsty lot. They seem willing to join any fight anywhere anytime.
.
.
DeleteOf course, they are not on a par with the dolts in D.C.
.
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ReplyDeleteA hysterical Lindsay Graham goes batshit crazy on national television.
For those who haven't seen it, you should look up Lindsay Graham's interview with John Roberts on Fox News from this past Sunday.
Senator Graham Suffers a Case of the Vapors on National TV
"It's going to take an army to beat an army, and this idea [that] we'll never have any boots on the ground to defeat them in Syria is fantasy, and all this has come home to roost over the last three years of incompetent decisions," Graham told Fox News host John Roberts. "It's delusional in the way that they approach this."
The senior senator from South Carolina said that ISIS was similar to Nazi Germany, but instead of a master race, they were "a radical Islamic army that's pushing the theory of a master religion."
"It's about protecting millions of people throughout the world from a radical Islamic army," he added. "They're intending to come here. So, I will not let this president suggest to the American people we can outsource our security and this is not about our safety. There is no way in hell you can form an army in Syria to go after ISIL without a substantial American component."
"This is a war we're fighting! This is not a counter-terrorism operation! This is not Somalia, this is not Yemen! This is a turning point in the war on terror! Our strategy will fail yet again! This president needs to rise to the occasion before we all get killed back here at home!"
Graham concluded by proclaiming that "the consequences of losing" were dire.
"They will open the gates of hell to spill out on the world," he said. "This is not a Sunni versus Sunni problem. This is ISIL versus mankind."
http://crooksandliars.com/2014/09/lindsey-grahams-unhinged-isis-rant-obama
It's got to scare you when a senior senator becomes unhinged and starts spouting off like some hell and brimstone preacher.
.
Makes sense to me.
DeleteAfter all, we don't want Detroit to fall to ISIS.
Closet Queens are always on edge to prove their masculinity. Lindsay is always on script.
Delete.
ReplyDeleteFrom the Peter Symonds article,
That is Washington’s objective as well. An article in yesterday’s New York Times based on discussions Obama held last week with senior journalists, former officials and foreign policy experts, drew attention to the way in which the war on ISIS could rapidly transform into a wider war to topple Assad.
“He [Obama] made clear the intricacy of the situation, though, as he contemplated the possibility that Mr Assad might order his forces to fire at American planes entering Syrian airspace,” theNew York Times reported.
“If he dared to do that, Mr Obama said he would order American forces to wipe out Syria’s air defence system, which he noted would be easier than striking ISIS because its locations are better known. He went on to say that such an action by Mr Assad would lead to his overthrow.”
Of course, as it has done in the past, the US is quite capable of fabricating such an incident, if Assad does not order the military to respond to US air strikes, which are naked acts of aggression against a sovereign state. Nor would it simply be Syrian air defences that would be wiped out. Rather the Pentagon would set in motion plans drawn up at least a year ago to target the Syrian military and industrial base, including “command and control” centres, with Assad himself at the top of the list.
A conspiracy theory?
:o)
Ask Ghadafi. In Libya, the story was that we were going in for humanitarian reasons. Sound familiar? We were not looking for regime change there...well...we weren't until we were.
.
The US was attempting regime change in Libya since Ronald W Reagan was President of the US.
DeleteThat the US used a disinformation campaign during the course of the conflict, lied to Colonel Q, not really much of a shock to those that know US history.
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DeleteOnce again, you, and Obumble in the following posts, demonstrate your acute ability to read a post and completely miss the point, that point in this case being that the US has on more than one occasion lied us into wars of aggression. Other obvious examples are Bush and LBJ.
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And once again, Quirk, in an example of another of your peculiarities ...
DeleteDo not know how to take "Yes" for an answer.
Ronnie put a couple of bombs into Colonel Q's desert tent. Didn't get him but got one of his daughters, IIRC.
ReplyDeleteThe aircraft involved had to fly from England, around France, IIRC.
Not B 52's but some smaller bomber of a type I forget.
The attack was richly deserved by Mr. Q.
He had been behaving in a very uncivilized manner.
Ah, F 111's --
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_United_States_bombing_of_Libya
It did indeed change Mr Q's behavior somewhat over the course of time.
Mr. Schultz, who had a Princeton Tiger tattooed on his butt, said at the time of Mr Q:
Delete"We put him back in his box."
Ronnie was also, miraculously :), able to free the Iranian held American hostages that had been languishing in Tehran for about a year.
ReplyDeleteRight at the time of Ronnie's Inaugural too.
It was not diplomacy that accomplished this feat.
Rather it was an absolutely credible threat, no, rather an absolutely credible promise.
Are you kidding me?
ReplyDeleteU.S. to Commit Up to 3,000 Troops to Fight Ebola in Africa
By HELENE COOPER, MICHAEL D. SHEAR and DENISE GRADYSEPT. 15, 2014
WASHINGTON — Under pressure to do more to confront the Ebola outbreak sweeping across West Africa, President Obama on Tuesday is to announce an expansion of military and medical resources to combat the spread of the deadly virus, administration officials said.
The president will go beyond the 25-bed portable hospital that Pentagon officials said they would establish in Liberia, one of the three West African countries ravaged by the disease, officials said. Mr. Obama will offer help to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia in the construction of as many as 17 Ebola treatment centers in the region, with about 1,700 treatment beds.
Dr. Mosoka Fallah, center, an epidemiologist and immunologist, with residents of New Kru Town, a district in Monrovia, Liberia.
Senior administration officials said Monday night that the Department of Defense would open a joint command operation in Monrovia, Liberia, to coordinate the international effort to combat the disease. The military will also provide engineers to help construct the additional treatment facilities and will send enough people to train up to 500 health care workers a week to deal with the crisis.
And yet, we are BRINGING into the USA infected selected patients.
DeleteWhy bring it here?
Treat the ill there...
Dont bring them to Kansas
Are they going to shoot the Africans that insist on eating Bush meat?
ReplyDeleteTo the foreign eye, it looks like a flattened, blackened lump of unidentifiable animal parts. To many Africans, however, bush meat — the cooked, dried or smoked remains of a host of wild animals, from rats and bats to monkeys — is not only the food of their forefathers, it is life-sustaining protein where nutrition is scarce.
And as it has been during past Ebola outbreaks, bush meat is once again suspected to have been the bridge that caused the deadly disease to go from the animal world to the human one. All it takes is a single transmission event from animal to human — handling an uncooked bat with the virus, for example — to create an epidemic. Human-to-human contact then becomes the primary source of infection.
“If you know that the Ebola virus is introduced in one area, it’s probably an extra good time to stop eating bush meat,” said Daniel Bausch, an associate professor of tropical medicine at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.
What is bush meat? It varies. It can be a chimpanzee, gorilla or monkey. It could also be a rat, deer or fruit bat. The animals come from the wild and are captured and sold for sustenance where other sources of protein from domesticated animals are scarce or prohibitively expensive.
West Africans say they have been eating bush meat for longer than anyone can remember. And even where it is outlawed and frowned upon by conservationists who decry the killing of protected primates and other animals, you can still find it readily available in markets and on street corners.
“Life is not easy here in the village,” Guinean Sâa Fela Léno told the Guardian. Authorities and aid groups “want to ban our traditions that we have observed for generations. Animal husbandry is not widespread here because bush meat is easily available. Banning bush meat means a new way of life, which is unrealistic.”
In addition, uneducated villagers have sometimes been more inclined to blame the presence of medical teams for the spread of the virus, rather than bush meat or contact with sick friends or relatives.
“Life is not easy here in the village"
ReplyDeleteSâa Fela Léno
"It takes a village"
Hillary Rodham Clinton
If it was easy, we'd send da ho Bob.
DeleteYup, I can imagine Shillary and Quart sitting around in some Guinean village eating road killed bush meat together.......
ReplyDelete"This shit tastes awful Quart" said Shillary. "Can you pass me the bottle of Quart's Qetchup-Special Strong?"
Delete"We're out, Hon. No more till the next supply drop by the bush pilot" answers poor quaking Quart, feeling Shillary's eyes bear down on him.
Someone will have to explain to mr how this works?
ReplyDelete* 300 ISIS troops are holding a town of 6000.
* Three US air strikes take out 8 pickup trucks killing 15 of them
* 285 ISIS troops imbed themselves in the community, publicly killing 25 community leaders and 50 of the their family
* ISIS promises the entire community the same deal and worse if they cooperate with the infidels
* ISIS makes the local people swear allegiance to ISIS
What does the US do about it? Send in the Israelis, Turks, Egyptians, Jordanians or Kuwaitis? What a fucking joke.
Hizbollah, Quds force, The Syrians, Iranians and in the right locale, Kurds would know what to do, would not need interpreters, arms or maps.
Hezbollah and the Quds force are the choice, they do that exact kind of thing all the time and understand it...
DeleteWe can’t do anything inappropriate so stay the fuck out of it.
ReplyDelete.
DeleteShouldn't that read, "We can't do anything 'appropriate' so stay the fuck out?
:o)
.
.
Delete* Three US air strikes take out 8 pickup trucks killing 15 of them
Haven't you heard, the average is 10-15 per vehicle?
.
Quirk, it means they took out 8 pickup trucks, killing 15 of the pickup trucks.
DeleteThat's efficiency.
The pickup trucks that survived were sent to the local body shop, according to a US Military Spokesman.
DeleteSorry Q, I was thinking about the body count math in Viet Nam but forgot to make the conversion.
Delete
ReplyDelete>>In Europe, displays of ferocity were clearly not a "spontaneous reaction" to the developing situation in Gaza. They were an opportune moment for many to act on their anti-Semitism by dressing it up as a supposedly "genuine concern" for human suffering.
In India, youth groups rallied to show their support for Israel, a fellow democracy under terrorist siege -- a pain known only too well by Indians, who have lost more than 30,000 of their countrymen to terrorism since 1994.
A majority if Indians, whose culture is not tainted by anti-Semitism, can see that Israel not only has the right to defend itself, but an obligation to protect its citizens from terrorism.
The media elites of Europe seem unable to see the threat posed to the West by radical Islamist ideology, which drives countless terrorist outfits, including IS, Hamas and al-Qaida. They also seem unable to distinguish their friends from their foes.
Even as an Indian living in Europe, with no stake in Israeli-Arab conflict, the anti-Semitism was striking. I have often witnessed the nuanced anti-Semitism of the intellectual elites and the crude anti-Semitism of "the street." But I have never seen such a frenzy of anti-Semitism on the loose as in the wake of the latest round of hostilities between Israel and Hamas -- and in Germany of all places!<<
Responses to Terrorism: Europe v. India
by Vijeta Uniyal
September 16, 2014 at 4:30 am
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4694/terrorism-europe-india
Long talk with my Niece today. Forgot to ask her about this. She is dating a Hindu guy from her old high school whom she didn't know before. PhD, great job, parents live in New York, and he, somehow, became a German citizen !
She sounded very happy, which made me very happy.
She deserves this. She hung in there when the going was tough.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Delete.
DeleteGood thing you had the sense to remove that before the blog administrator saw it.
That was disgusting. You racist, faux farming, wolf poisoning slug.
.
"the nuanced anti-Semitism of the intellectual elites and the crude anti-Semitism of "the street"
ReplyDeletexxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Indians, who have lost more than 30,000 of their countrymen to terrorism since 1994"
That's 1,500 a year.....half a 9-11 each year
And my Niece says 'the ones in India aren't so bad, it's the ones in the middle east that are the worst'.......
Good Grief
Yet another statement that demonstrates how little Idaho Bob understands the world around him as he assumes that all terrorism in India is performed by Islamists.
DeleteI say again.......India, Israel, Australia.....made for one another.
ReplyDelete.
DeleteI agree.
.
Three countries with nothing in common ...
Delete"Made of Each Other"
Opposites attract.
I thought you said Israel was not a country?
DeleteRemember how you used to rant that it was smaller than your own occupied area of AZ?
wow it's hard to keep all your opinions straight as they change like the wind..
A City-State, "O"rdure.
DeleteIs still a 'country'.
Israel is about as far out of the Anglosphere orbit as Russia.
ReplyDeleteAnglosphere?
DeleteAnglosphere is a neologism which refers to a set of English-speaking nations with a similar cultural heritage, based upon populations originating from the nations of the British Isles: England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, and which today maintain close political and military cooperation. While the nations included in different sources vary, the term anglosphere usually does not include all countries where English is an official language, although commonly included nations were all once part of the British Empire. In its most restricted sense, the term covers the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, which post-British Empire maintain a close affinity of cultural, familial and political links with one another.
Yep Israel is not a British Colony, nor a European one at that...
Native to the region.
My only question is why is the USA doing anything about the shits verses the suns?
They deserve each other....
There is nothing Israel can do to be helpful accept to stay out of it and shut up.
ReplyDeleteIsrael can and will protect it's self.
DeleteAs for "shutting up"?
Give it a rest.
Fact is simple Israel is there.
DeleteIt is where it's lives.
Iran and Hezbollah are propping up Syria's slaughter of it's own resistance.
Of course, Iran and Syria are propping up Hezbollah's slaughter of Lebanese resistance too..
Israel has borders that are surrounded by these bat shit crazy people of all stripes.
All of the groups, on both sides of the clusterfuck, between the shits and the suns vow to genocide all jews.
So the "Art of War" would clearly advise allowing the two brutal genocidal, murderous savage groups to slug it out...
Now if that is "shutting up" so be it...
Not to worry Iran is already (with Qatar and Turkey's help) funding the rebuilding of the Hamas tunnels into Israel and providing them with rockets and weapons.....
ReplyDeleteThis "round 4" will not pop for a while, but the Hezbollah's turn (with Iran's help) is about to pop in the north of Israel. People living in Northern Israel have reported "digging" sounds late in the evening under their homes...
Hezbollah is reported to have over 100,000 rockets of advance status that can reach anywhere in Israel with more accuracy than anything Hamas had had.
Israel has already told the Lebanese Government, that Hezbollah has official recognition and standing in, that Israel will NOT waste time sending leaflets, sending phone calls and "knocking" on the roof tops of building holding C & C, weapons, bunkers and Rocket launchers.
So if you have buddies living south of the Litoni? I'd tell them to move now, as Hezbollah has now shot off over a dozen rockets into Israel in the last 5 months and the trip wire is thin
Israel top command EXPECT a land invasion into the Galliee by Hezbollah this time around...
This next war will make the 55 days of gaza look like a pre-school event.
So again, if you have friends that are living in the south of lebanon?
Get out now...
FYI, there is no place on earth with more racial and ethic prejudice than India.
ReplyDeletePakistan comes in close, but that was sliced off India in an effort to appease the moslems...
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete.
Delete.
Re: Deuce's statement.
Pure nonsense. India was colonized by the English. The English language is used by a full 4% of the population there. It's all about culture.
The Raj brought civilization to India, even though benighted Indians remembering the the cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro and 5000 years of history in the Indus Valley thought they already had a civilization.
Besides Obumble has a 'niece' that comes from there.
Best recalibrate Deuce.
.
You are behind the times, Quart. It is more than 4% regardless of what orifice your figure was pulled out of by your finger.
DeleteIt is the language that the educated use to speak to one another. It is taught in the schools there for that purpose.
And, she is a nice looking niece, is she not?
By the way, I lost your email address. Any chance you can get it to me again. Mine is changed now, too. Lost it in the transfer.
There might be a Joe Vandal in it for you.
Lots of different groups there, that much is for certain.
ReplyDeleteBut I doubt your statement when I consider the Moslem world. Or even, perhaps, China.
Perhaps even Mississippi.
DeleteIslam is the second-largest religion in India
DeleteIndia has the third largest Muslim population in the world, dimwit.
It is the "Muslim World" - doubled down dimwit.
India is home to 10% of the world's Muslim population
DeleteObviously, fuck head.
DeleteI consider the Moslems in India as a part of the Moslem world.
The population of Iraq, minus Baghdad, is approx. 20 Million.
ReplyDeleteIf there are 10,000 ISIS fighters in Iraq (and, we know there are none in Baghdad to speak of,) then there is One for every 200 Iraqis.
A town of 6,000 would have 30 ISIL fighters, not 300.
Figuring 5 fighters per pickemup truck, 8 trucks would be 40 fighters dead, and gone. You've just killed all the fighters, and a visiting "Commander."
DeleteISIS is not in the populous parts of the country.
DeleteIt is not in Basrah or Baghdad.
That is where the people are, where the population is centered.
.
DeleteRufus has taken to figgerin again.
Good lord, when will it stop?
.
you are assuming that ISIL? fighters are not part and parcel of the natives...
Deletebtw, i see you use ISIL and not IS
Interesting..
ISIL
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL; /ˈaɪsəl/)
it claims religious authority over all Muslims across the world[67] and aspires to bring most of the Muslim-inhabited regions of the world under its political control[68] beginning with territory in the Levant region which includes Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Cyprus and part of southern Turkey.
Did you cat that sparkie?
It claims Israel as it's land...
Hmmm...
Maybe the pickup trucks were just parked in a parking lot?
DeleteMaybe they were just at the local Mo-Mart?
.
DeleteISIS is not in the populous parts of the country.
It is not in Basrah or Baghdad.
That is where the people are, where the population is centered.
Better get those maps updated general. IS has controlled Mosul since June, a city 50% larger than Basra. Of the 10 largest cities in Iraq, IS controls two of them, three if you split Abu Graihib out of the Baghdad mayoralty.
.
Some of you guys are letting your hatred for Obama cloud your assessment of the situation.
ReplyDeleteThe fact is: This is a very workable plan.
This is Not Vietnam. This is Not Iraq I, or II. This is Not Afghanistan.
DeleteThis is one of the most unique situations in World History.
A Pigeon Shoot.
LOL
DeleteThat's a fact.
DeleteAt least in Iraq.
It becomes more complicated inside Syria, where the US has no "Active Partner" to support.
.
Delete:o)
.
What of the civilians we are killing?
DeleteThose comfort western women that are providing all the islamic holy fucking possible?
Are we taking care not to blow them up?
This group that is supposed to be so strong couldn't even take Samarrah, or Haditha.
DeleteThey, evidently, are not assimilating all that well with the "population," and it doesn't take a genii to figure out, "why."
They are crazed lunatics that are as liable to cut the local Imam's head off, and rape his wife and daughter as to do anything else. They are going to wreck the economy, and the local Sheiks know that they are going to, eventually, bring a monsoon of bombs down upon the village.
These are, truly, dead men walking.
No, you Israeli kill them with impunity.
DeleteThat is your 'we'.
Sorry JackRat, As you well KNOW, I am an American..
DeleteI responded to your wanted "PROOF", I posted on BOTH my blogs...
and yet now you change the criteria...
As I sent the message to you on BOTH blogs,
FUCK YOU RAT...
LOL
Cant take yes for an answer...
As for Israel and killing them with impunity?
I can only hope...
when faced with facts the rat scurries to the shadows...
Deletecoward
I blame Obama for taking the troops out and the air out too soon and creating the pickle we are now in all by his very self.
DeleteI already gave my "Presidential Address".
"It is the policy of the United States of America to support, recognize and help defend a Kurdish State. Good night. my fellow Americans."
Even an inept military, with air support, will win against an enemy without it.
ReplyDeleteJust look at Israel's experiences.
It can take the ground, it just cannot hold it.
Evidenced in Lebanon, a number of times.
The great tactician JackRat speaks again above his pay grade.
DeleteIf Israel HELD ground in Lebanon, it would be accused of "occupying" sacred Islamic/Arab lands...
better to go and mow the grass when needed...
You never were accused of going to West Point were you?
Hardi har har...
JackRat, the self admired and promoted "sniper:, able to to make a head shot at a full 45 feet, at stationary targets (no wind) LOL tells us about military strategy...
LOL
Next he will tell us of his "authoring" of cyber books available for a penny each...
LOL
The thing is: In Iraq it was only in the cards for ISIS to take the ground "once."
DeleteOnce they've lost it, they won't be able to retake it (they'll be dead, for one thing.)
And, any convoy of pickup trucks out there on those desert roads is going to go "poof."
but they are in the major population centers dear Rufus.
Deletewhat part of native rebellion do you not understand?
Like in Israel, understand it perfectly.
DeleteIf the Iraqi government wants ISIS in control of their cities, that's what they'll get.
If the Iraqi people want ISIS in cntrol of the government, that's what they'll get.
But it appears as if the majority of Iraqi are moving against ISIS, slowly.
Don't "dear" me, you silly Zionist asshole. You wouldn't know a military operation from a sophomore panty raid.
DeleteDear Rufus,
Deleteyou have stated you were nothing more than a grunt.
nothing has changed
you are still a grunt...
Actually, I stated many times that I was Not 0300 (grunt.) But, if I were, that would still put me leagues ahead of you.
DeleteRuf you are allowing yourself to get het up.
DeleteI reply to an out and out lie, and that is "getting het up?"
DeleteOh I am sorry Rufus, I thought you said you were a grunt.
DeleteWhat was your Rank?
Major? Colonel? Lt Colonel?
Doesn't matter. I had one.
DeleteAnd, only an idiot would denigrate "grunts."
DeleteOr, "non-grunts."
It doesn't work that way.
I denigrate you.
DeleteI thought you said you were the lowest rank possible in this man's army…
a grunt.
Not someone to turn to for strategic advice.
"Grunt" is not a "Rank," you fucking moron. A "Grunt" can be a 4-Star General.
DeleteA "Grunt" is one with an MOS (Military Occupation Specialty) in the 0300's. For instance, a Basic Infantryman is 0311.
Many 0311's have risen to the highest ranks in the U.S. Army, and Marine Corps.
Moron
Slang: An infantryman in the U.S. military, especially in the Vietnam War: "They were called grunts....They were the infantrymen, the foot soldiers of the war" (Bernard Edelman).
DeleteSorry I never met a Marine General that EVER called himself a GRUNT.
Yeah, probably not many Marine Generals hanging out in the Campus basement in Tel Aviv.
DeleteBy the way, as for the difference between ISIS, and ISIL:
ReplyDeleteThe final "S" in ISIS is NOT Syria; it is an Arabic Word for LEVANT.
LEVANT
ReplyDeleteThe Levant (/ləˈvænt/), also known as the Eastern Mediterranean, is a geographic and cultural region consisting of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt".[2] The Levant today consists of Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and part of southern Turkey (the former Aleppo Vilayet).
Dumb illiterate hillbilly
Yes, and that Was my point.
DeleteThe English as a Second Language corps, Rufus ...
DeleteThey are easily confused, by the words.
There are vowels, and it throw them off.
Then what is your excuse in not understanding and using the proper plural forms of words?
DeleteJack HawkinsTue Sep 16, 10:14:00 AM EDT
The English as a Second Language corps, Rufus ...
They are easily confused, by the words.
There are vowels, and it throw them off.
LOL
Talk about kettle calling the pot black.
There’s no escaping racism in India
ReplyDeleteBy Mari Marcel Thekaekara |
I just read a Bangalore newspaper headline announcing that the government would take stern action against pubs that discriminate against African nationals. Good for the Chief Minister who said this in no uncertain terms.
Racism, prejudice and xenophobia are rampant in India. It’s a strange mixture of prejudice, ignorance and centuries-old discriminatory practices, when communities kept to themselves and there were dining taboos based on caste. You couldn’t eat with people not of your caste or marry into their communities.
India is always a mystery, a country which is so huge that practices from Kashmir to Kanyakumari are as different from each other as Scotland is from Greece or Russia. Each state is like a different country with diverse languages, cuisines, clothes, customs, climate. Punjabis are closer in terms of their food and language to Pakistanis than to Tamils.
All these differences made people fairly suspicious of those who were not like them. And ‘people like us’ closed ranks and bonded. These closed communities are naturally full of prejudices towards the other, the outsider. Every state considers itself superior. This phenomenon is global, like Polish, Italian jokes in America. Or English, Irish, Welsh, Scottish jokes in the UK. We stereotype each other mercilessly and there are jokes galore about food, clothes and accents (how residents of each state speak English, actually!).
There’s a huge North-South divide too. Yet, in pre-colonial times, India was a haven for persecuted people. We gave refuge to Jewish people, Parsis from Persia, Armenians and later Chinese who ran away from the Revolution, and Tibetans who fled the Chinese. These people kept their distinct, separate identities but they prospered and loved India.
There’s another side to us though. As migration takes place, across state borders within India, a kind of xenophobia begins. In Mumbai in the 1960s, Maharashtrians were incited by Enoch Powell- like politicians to drive out south Indians, Madrasis, they called them, (somewhat similar to calling people Pakis in the UK), who were stealing their jobs, claimed the rabble rousers.
Sounds familiar? Recently, the same paranoid party called for North Indians to be thrown out. Many poor, migrant Biharis were beaten up, attacked and threatened as they went about their daily grind, often working for a pittance. In Bangalore there are rumblings of resentment over north Indian techies who have flooded the city with their loud, noisy, in-your-face manners. South Indians are relatively quiet, stand in queues and can’t understand the chaos of a northern railway station, a bit like Sicilians versus North Italians.
{...}
Delete{...}
In the 1970s, when I used to visit Rome often, I found Italians warm and friendly. In the last decade that has changed. The racism towards Africans shocked me. I also discovered hordes of Bangladeshi flower sellers being rudely shooed away by Italians waiting for the traffic lights to turn green. I wondered how could things change so quickly, from warm, friendly to hostile ‘they’re swamping us with their alien culture.’
In Bangalore a bunch of Nigerians were picked up for drug peddling. The hostility is because of this perhaps. But there’s no getting away from Indian racism. In the heart of Mumbai, there’s a Nigerian ghetto. Ghettos are born because a minority feels it can find safety in numbers. The environment outside the ghetto is not warm or welcoming to Africans by and large. Students from North East India are mostly dubbed ‘chinky’. People ask them if they are Japanese, Chinese or Korean. There is total ignorance in most parts of India about the culture, indeed about anything North Eastern.
Men all over India drool over porn at their home computers and in internet cafes around the country. So it could be dangerous for a white, blonde woman to walk alone at night, too many men have been fantasizing about her. They stereotype white women as easy.
Indians rarely perceive beauty in black or far-eastern women. In fact, most Indians look for pale-skinned brides for their sons. Bridal ads ask for ‘fair skinned’ girls. So skin colour is important and you can’t be beautiful if you are not fair. Prospective bride seekers swarm into the girl’s house to ‘see the bride’. They have no compunction about saying, in front of the bride and her family, ‘she’s too black, we don’t want black grandchildren.’ Sensitivity, tact or even basic good manners are not common among average Indian families. They’d be genuinely astonished if you called them gross or uncouth.
When I see the Africans, Bangladeshis and Punjabis in Italy and Germany, they look miserable and unhappy. They hate the cold. They know they are despised. They are there to escape the poverty of their countries. Who would choose to leave home, family, the security of your own environment to run away illegally to an alien, hostile land? It’s exactly the same in India with migrant communities who come in thousands now, from Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand to the south because wages there are much higher.
In both cases, the solution is to improve conditions in the home country, the home state. But obviously that’s another story.
- See more at: http://newint.org/blog/majority/2011/06/03/racism-xenophobia-india-migrants/#sthash.w9ECmEPW.dpuf
Mari is a writer based in Gudalur, in the Nilgiri hills of Tamil Nadu. She writes on human rights issues with a focus on dalits, adivasis, women, children, the environment, and poverty. Mari's book Endless Filth, published in 1999, on balmikis, is to be followed by a second book on campaigns within India to abolish manual scavenging work. She co-founded Accord in 1985 to work with Adivasi people. Mari has been a contributor to New Internationalist since 1991.
DeleteAbout the blog I travel around India a lot, covering dalit and adivasi issues. I often find myself really moved by stories that never make it to the mainstream media. My son Tarsh suggested I start blogging. And the New Internationalist collective are the nicest bunch of editors I’ve worked with. So here goes.
Read more by Mari Marcel Thekaekara
- See more at: http://newint.org/blog/majority/2011/06/03/racism-xenophobia-india-migrants/#sthash.w9ECmEPW.dpuf
To the Chinese, you, Deuce, are a 'white ghost'.
DeleteTo many American blacks you are whitely, a cracker.
Tensions exist in India. Like everywhere else.
Are you now beginning to include Hindus in your extensive list of your disliked?
I think you don't much like the run of the mill blacks yourself.
I can't recall you ever actually praising one, nor expressing any sympathy at all for those of that race who languished in slavery until Lincoln came along.
Anyone want to read an article about female genital mutilation?
ReplyDeleteHere 'tis -
September 15, 2014
A Disgusting Practice: Female Genital Mutilation
By E. Jeffrey Ludwig
Read more: http://americanthinker.com/2014/09/a_disgusting_practice_female_genital_mutilation.html#ixzz3DUIyjg8a
Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook
Anyone dare to guess in which 'culture' this obscenity mostly occurs?
How about you, Rat - O - Rooter?
DeleteCare to take a guess?
“We must be compelled to hold this doctrine to be false, and the old and new law called the Old and new Testament, to be impositions, fables and forgeries”
Delete― Thomas Paine
I believe Mr Paine would add the Koran to the litney of impositions, fables and forgeries.
I certainly do.
It is the 'Culture of Abraham', You da ho Bob, or as some would say, "Abrahamic Culture".
DeletePerhaps we should refer to it as "Semitic Culture" instead?
DeleteNo, Rat - O - Rooter.
DeleteYou would say that and you would be wrong.
The correct answer is:
The Moslem 'culture'.
Jack HawkinsTue Sep 16, 10:58:00 AM EDT
DeleteIt is the 'Culture of Abraham', You da ho Bob, or as some would say, "Abrahamic Culture".
More like the bastard line of Hagar….
But why do you speak ill of your pals?
The Semite tribes of Arabia were inspired by Mithras patriarchal dogma, plagiarized the Egyptian’s l religious manual: the Book of Death, to invent Judaism and Torah, or Old Testament and the Talmud as their religious manuals.
DeleteThen came the leadership of the Prophet Muhammad and then there were two Semitic, barbaric, misogynist, man-made, warmongering, pedophile, children raping, slave holding and slave marketing, patriarchal religions.
Judaism and Islam are, and have always been the agents and promoters of ignorance, hate, violence, rape, murder, plunder, mediocrity and stupidity.
http://www.venusproject.org/reason/brief-history-of-patriarchal-religions-on-planet-earth.html
.
ReplyDeleteI just watched part of the Foreign Relations Committee questioning of Hagel and Dempsey on the 'situation' [not sure what today's nomenclature happens to be] in Iraq. What a clusterf**k. [You'll note I am attempting to clean up my occasional profanity.]
McCain, our expert on all groups moderate in Syria, was again pushing his argument about taking out Assad. However, he did have one good question about Syria.
He pointed out that if we approve the $500 million request and arm up the FSA it is only a matter of time before the FSA uses those weapons on Assad which is something the senator would approve. McCain's question: "If the FSA does attack Assad, there is little doubt that Assad would quickly respond with air power. If that happens would the US support the FSA with our air power?" The geopolitical repercussions of such an action are significant and neither Hagel nor Demsey were prepared to walk into that trap. Between them, they came up with the non answer 'that's a hypothetical we don't have to worry about at this point."
.
.
DeleteThe Libyan war gave us the euphemism 'kinetic engagement' to describe war.
Today's hearing compliments of General Dempsey gave us 'close combat advisers' to describe Us boots on the ground.
.
.
DeleteDrip, drip, drip.
.
.
DeleteThe administrations strategy has once again morphed. As described in the hearing, we will 'destroy' ISIS in Iraq but merely 'disrupt' them in Syria.
While there are some who will continue to view this as a workable plan, I have my doubts.
.
My guess is that at some point the eye doctor's pilots are going to meet Mr. F-22.
Delete"Close Combat Advisers" ... yep.
DeleteOne or two per hundred locals.
Instead of the inverse, as was the case in the 2nd Iraq War.
Used to be "Special Forces 'A' Teams", six to twelve troops advising a battalion size element.
Now I read that the US military uses SEAL Team fellas to fill the role.
The Army used to try to train the locals, that was a big part of the effort. Doubt if the Navy even makes the attempt.
QuirkTue Sep 16, 11:41:00 AM EDT
DeleteThe administrations strategy has once again morphed.
Not to worry, JackRat will post some quote out of time and space that is irrelevant just to see his name on the screen.
A hundred years before the advent of Hitler, the German-Jewish poet, Heinrich Heine, had declared:
Delete"Wherever books are burned, human beings are destined to be burned too."
On the night of May 10, 1933, an event unseen in Europe since the Middle Ages occurred as German students from universities once regarded as among the finest in the world, gathered in Berlin to burn books with "unGerman" ideas. …. http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/triumph/tr-bookburn.htm
May 20, 2008 - Orthodox Jews burn hundreds of New Testaments in latest act of violence against Christian missionaries in Israel. ... The Maariv newspaper reported Tuesday that hundreds of students took part in the book-burning. . . .
https://www.google.com/search?q=israel+book+burning&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb
And, about that "Free Syrian Army": Let's not lose sight of the fact that, even though they've been pounded on by both Syria (and, its air power,) And ISIS, they're still alive and kicking.
ReplyDeleteIf we give them some help with ISIS, they might surprise.
LOL
DeleteNow it's ISIS…
Always has been ISIS.
DeleteExcept when it was al-Qeada.
Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren told the Jerusalem Post that Israel so wanted Assad out and his Iranian backers weakened, that Israel would accept al-Qaeda operatives taking power in Syria.
“We always wanted Bashar Assad to go, we always preferred the bad guys who weren’t backed by Iran to the bad guys who were backed by Iran.”
Even if the other “bad guys” were affiliated with al-Qaeda.
“We understand that they are pretty bad guys,” Oren said in the interview.
http://www.jpost.com/Syria-Crisis/Oren-Jerusalem-has-wanted-Assad-ousted-since-the-outbreak-of-the-Syrian-civil-war-326328
Sorry, Oren hasn't been part of the Israeli government for quite a while, please update your quotes to reflect current polices.
DeleteYou are posting irrelevant, out dated information that is misleading, distorted and not reflective of the current situation.
But you know that.
Why be honest and add to the discussion when you can lie, mislead and distort?
He was when he said it.
DeleteIsraeli policy has not changed.
You'd have posted it if it had.
Ambassador Oren stays on, enjoy.
Michael B. Oren (Hebrew: מיכאל אורן; born Michael Scott Bornstein; 1955) is an American-born Israeli historian, author, and a former Israeli Ambassador to the United States.[2] He has written books, articles, and essays on Middle Eastern history, and is the author of the New York Times best-selling Power, Faith and Fantasy and Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East, which won the Los Angeles Times History Book of the Year Award and the National Jewish Book Award. Oren has been a visiting professor at Harvard, Yale, and Georgetown universities in the United States and at Tel Aviv and Hebrew universities in Israel. He was a Distinguished Fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem and a contributing editor to The New Republic. The Forward named Oren one of the five most influential American Jews and The Jerusalem Post listed him as one of the world’s ten most influential Jews.
DeleteHe retired as Ambassador to the United States in 2013
Post the change of policy, "O"rdure.
Ambassador to the US, Bibi or Lieberman would qualify as those that could publicly make the change.
DeleteQuote 'em, statements made since September 2013.
If you cannot, "O"rdure, then the statement made by Ambassador Oren stands as Israeli policy.
Delete.
DeleteThe FSA needs that $500 million. Without it, they might as well hang it up. They have already lost many members to the various Islamic radical groups.
It is worth noting that the FSA has been accused of war crimes and terrorists activities by groups like Human Rights Watch. Perhaps, their being called moderate is a reflection of the fewer amount of times they have been bad boys relative to the more radical Islamic groups. Perhaps, it is because John McCain says they are moderate, Or perhaps, it is because they are not quite as technically proficient, as say an ISIS, in using social media to broadcast their peccadillos.
You could see where someone might view the FSA as moderate after watching a beheading video posted by ISIS. Well, that is unless you go by the dictum 'dead is dead'.
.
Israeli policy, as stated by Israeli Ambassador to the United States, at the time he made the statement to the JPost.
DeleteIsrael’s Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren told the Jerusalem Post that Israel so wanted Assad out and his Iranian backers weakened, that Israel would accept al-Qaeda operatives taking power in Syria.
“We always wanted Bashar Assad to go, we always preferred the bad guys who weren’t backed by Iran to the bad guys who were backed by Iran.”
Even if the other “bad guys” were affiliated with al-Qaeda.
“We understand that they are pretty bad guys,” Oren said in the interview.
http://www.jpost.com/Syria-Crisis/Oren-Jerusalem-has-wanted-Assad-ousted-since-the-outbreak-of-the-Syrian-civil-war-326328
Sorry, Oren hasn't been part of the Israeli government for quite a while, please update your quotes to reflect current polices.
DeleteYou are posting irrelevant, out dated information that is misleading, distorted and not reflective of the current situation.
But you know that.
Why be honest and add to the discussion when you can lie, mislead and distort?
What is Israeli policy?
DeleteThat is a better question.
I'd say, if I were in charge?
Let ISIS and Assad/Iran/hezbollah kill each other off.
As we speak today, Assad and Syria no longer are the threat they were 36 months ago all without firing a shot..
And Iraq? same…
DeleteWhat is Israeli policy?
Israel would accept al-Qaeda operatives taking power in Syria.
Israel accepts ISIS
Republican "Wave?"
ReplyDeleteYou might want to ask
Kansas
The PPP results find Roberts deeply unpopular, with a -17 net job approval rating among all voters, and only modestly positive numbers even among his Republican base.
DeleteOrman, in contrast, has a +18 net favorable rating, with Democrats and independents giving him even stronger ratings, and Republicans about evenly split.
There was a question the other day, about Mexico ...
ReplyDeleteMarch 28, 2012
Panetta cites 150,000 deaths from narco-violence in Mexico in trilateral meeting in Toronto
Panetta cited a report from Mexican General Galvan Galvan, Sec. of Defense in Mexico,
that 150,000 people had been killed in the war on narcotrafficking. He did not specify the time span.
Just based on homicide statistics reported by the federal police agencies in Mexico,
I would estimate that the number is now about 109,000 homicides since 2007.
It is impossible to know at this point what numbers the Mexican military might be citing and for what time period.
http://fronteralist.org/2012/03/28/panetta-cites-150000-deaths-from-narco-violence-in-mexico-in-trilateral-meeting-in-toronto/
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Deletenervous laughter?
DeletePPP's new poll of the Sunflower State, their first since Democrat Chad Taylor announced he was dropping his bid for Senate, confirms that Kansas—Kansas!—has cemented its position as the most exciting state of the 2014 election cycle. Taylor's status remains uncertain, though: The state Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday morning as to whether Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach should remove his name from the ballot (Kobach's refused to), and election law expert Rick Hasen thinks that Taylor's likely to prevail.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, while we wait for the court to rule, PPP checked in on both possible scenarios—i.e., with Taylor on the ballot and with Taylor off—but in both cases, the news is equally dire for Republican Sen. Pat Roberts. In a three-way race, which is what we still have for the moment, independent businessman Greg Orman holds a 7-point lead:
Greg Orman (I): 41
Pat Roberts (R): 34
Chad Taylor (D): 6
Randall Batson (Lib): 4
Undecided: 15
Unlike SurveyUSA, which recently found Taylor at 10 percent despite informing respondents that he'd quit, PPP didn't prime the folks they interviewed. Instead, they asked Taylor supporters after the horserace question above whether they knew he'd dropped out, and 36 percent said they were, in fact, not aware.
That's good news for Orman, because this group of inattentive voters is heavily Democratic (42 percent, versus just 12 percent Republican). That means they're more likely to come over to his side once they learn Taylor's not running, even if his name does formally remain on the ballot. (Of course, it'll be a struggle to get folks who haven't paid attention to the single biggest political story in Kansas in the past month out to the polls, but that's a separate problem.)
And in the event that the Supreme Court does side with Taylor, PPP's numbers show that such a development would indeed redound to Orman's advantage. In a direct head-to-head matchup without Taylor or Batson, the Libertarian, Orman holds a huge 46-36 lead on Roberts, whose job approval rating remains mired at a miserable 29-46, unchanged from his 27-44 score in August. Orman, meanwhile, has seen his standing surge with voters, despite Republican attacks that he's a stealth Democrat who's Harry Reid's willing puppet: His favorability rating has jumped to 39-19, up from 24-12 a month ago.
That . . . . .
Article
An Orman win means the Republicans have to hold onto Ga,, Win Iowa, and beat Incumbents in La, Ar., and Ak.
DeleteThat's After giving them WV, SD, and Montana.
And, ceding Ky to McConnell
I think the pubs will win Iowa, even though the dem is said to be ahead slightly at this point.
DeleteRemember though:
DeleteBob is always wrong on political predictions.
With whom would Orman caucus?
ReplyDeleteDemocrats
DeleteIs what has been written, elsewhere.
He's telling the voters that he will caucus on whoever has the majority. It's assumed that he would go with the Democrats if he were the "swing vote."
DeleteAnything can happen, but this election doesn't look particularly "wavy" to me.
ReplyDeleteIt might be difficult building a "wave" around a party with a 72% Disapproval Rating.
DeleteOf course, that Democratic 61% Disapproval Rating isn't all that sporty, either.
DeleteTo Crush ISIS, Make a Deal With Assad - NYTimes.com
ReplyDeleteE85 for $2.19 / gal
ReplyDeleteLake Odessa, Mich
World Bulletin/News Desk
ReplyDeleteIsrael has provided satellite imagery and other intelligence in support of the U.S.-led aerial campaign against ISIL in Iraq, a Western diplomat said on Monday.
Once "scrubbed" of evidence of its Israeli origin, the information has often been shared by Washington with Arab and Turkish allies, the diplomat said.
Israel's Defence Ministry neither confirmed nor denied involvement in any international efforts against the militant group.
"We don't comment on any assistance by us, or if there is such assistance, in the fight against ISIS," said Yaacov Havakook, spokesman for ministry, using one of ISIL's former names.
The spread of ISIL in Syria and Iraq, the insurgent group's foreign volunteer contingent and the execution of two U.S. journalists have jolted Western powers into military intervention.
Israel, worried that ISIL could eventually reach its borders.
http://www.worldbulletin.net/todays-news/143981/israel-provides-intelligence-on-isil-western-diplomat
Jack HawkinsTue Sep 16, 02:42:00 PM EDT
DeleteHe was when he said it.
Israeli policy has not changed.
You'd have posted it if it had.
I lie, I mis-direct, I distort…
Deletethat is because I am a rat.
So now "O"rdure is calling the radical ISIS al-Qeada faction "ISIL", L as in the "Levant".
DeleteObama is calling it ISIL…
Deletecan't you get it straight ??
It has NEVER been about me, "O"rdure.
Delete
DeleteWhen "O"rdure begins to understand that simple fact, he will be able to advance to the next level of blogger consciousness.
Seems like the pressures of 'blogging' is getting to our little "O"rdure.
ReplyDeleteand you're the goofball with 12 different sign ons?
DeleteLOL
Fucking retard.
Not me, "O"rdure.
Delete“You presume to name those who have no name.”
― Brenna Yovanoff
Jack HawkinsTue Sep 16, 05:42:00 PM EDT
ReplyDeleteWhat is Israeli policy?
Israel would accept al-Qaeda operatives taking power in Syria.
Israel accepts ISIS
JackShit making up as he goes.
LOL
I guess the reality that ISIS/ISIL/Al Queda turned his application down is pissing JackShit off...
"I guess the reality that ISIS/ISIL/Al Queda turned his application down is pissing JackShit off......"
Delete:)
One might as well turn one's lights off if one can't make it with those guys.
Maybe as a pickup truck driver......?
Nah, he listed that as his specialty.
That and target acquisition.....
Arbil (Iraq) (AFP) - Kurdish peshmerga forces on Tuesday recaptured seven Christian villages in northern Iraq in clashes with Islamic State (IS) jihadists, an officer and a cleric . . . .
ReplyDeleteHello
On Tuesday, peshmerga forces ousted IS militants from seven villages west of the Kurdish capital Arbil during fighting in which rockets and mortar rounds were used, a senior officer said.
Delete"We liberated those villages with the support of US aircraft," Major Sardar Ali said, referring to the Nineveh plains area between Arbil and Mosul, the main IS hub in Iraq.
The United States, whose air force has been targeting IS jihadists . . .
U.S. Central Command says military forces using fighter aircraft launched two airstrikes northwest of Irbil and hit an armed truck and fighters. Three other airstrikes southwest of Baghdad hit anti-aircraft artillery, a truck and two boats on the Euphrates River that were resupplying the . . . .
DeleteSpreading the Love
DeleteSome of us predicted this would be happening ....
While others predicted failure ...
DeleteAs if the USAF would miss.
Others predicted mass civilian casualties, as if the USAF were Israeli.
Yep. :)
DeleteSome folks don't realize that they're watching Military History being made.
DeleteThis degree of precision from fast movers, at 30,000 ft. has never been dreamed of. But, there it is.
DeleteAgainst moving targets, I meant to add.
DeleteVERSE OF THE DAY:
ReplyDelete“You must kill them all - every man, woman, and child - except the young virgin girls. Keep the virgins for yourselves.” - Numbers 31:15-41
Long ago, Anon.
DeleteBut it's the reality of today for the muzz.
There is an expiration date on the word of G-d?
DeleteWho said it was the word of God?
DeleteSounds like the words of an ancient tribal society to me.
Alas, the muzz haven't outgrown the outlook.
They are still clipping clits.
Grow up, Anon, you are being silly and stupid, like Rat - O - Rooter.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteEntire Milky Way Galaxy.
DeleteRufus, descendent of slavers and aggressors......
DeleteWhatever the bombing done on ISIS should be done by the USA.
ReplyDeleteWhy give the others - Israel excepted - some real flying experience?
One man's opinion.
Obama's Biggest Flip-Flop on Iraq
ReplyDeleteSeptember 16, 2014
In a speech on the floor of the United States Senate on June 21, 2006, then-Senator Barack Obama warned against a withdrawal of American troops from Iraq that would endanger Iraq and the United States. More.......
September 16, 2014
Obama's Biggest Flip-Flop on Iraq
By Allan J. Favish
In a speech on the floor of the United States Senate on June 21, 2006, then-Senator Barack Obama warned against a withdrawal of American troops from Iraq that would endanger Iraq and the United States. Here is the complete text of that speech. You can hear an audio excerpt here. The more important parts of the speech are highlighted with italics by the author.
Later, while still a Senator, Obama opposed President George Bush’s surge policy that turned the war around and enabled Obama to begin his presidency with a relatively stable Iraq. As President, Obama then proceeded to do the opposite of what he advocated in this speech, leaving Iraq, the Middle East, and the United States with the horrors Obama predicted would result if his advice were not followed.
This strongly suggests that Obama’s speech in 2006 was a lie in order to maintain his political viability, because he did not want to appear as if he would completely abandon Iraq. Obama stated:.......................
http://americanthinker.com/blog/2014/09/obamas_biggest_flipflop_on_iraq.html
Read it and weep, folks.
Is Obama running for reelection?
DeleteDamn, I gotta vote for him, Again?
Delete