America's Saudi problem in its anti-IS coalition
Saudi Arabia sentenced dissident Shiite cleric Nimr Baqir al-Nimr to death today. That's trouble for a strategy that rests on ending sectarianism in Iraq.
America's Saudi problem in its anti-IS coalition
Saudi Arabia sentenced dissident Shiite cleric Nimr Baqir al-Nimr to death today. That's trouble for a strategy that rests on ending sectarianism in Iraq.
Christian Science Monitor OCTOBER 15, 2014
Following two years in jail, most of that time in solitary confinement, Saudi Arabia sentenced dissident Shiite cleric Nimr Baqir al-Nimr to death today for leading demonstrations and "inciting sectarian strife." Mr. Nimr's predicament – and that of at least 5 other Shiite activists Saudi Arabia has sentenced to death this year – illustrates a problem for the US strategy for taking on the so-called Islamic State in Iraq.
The Obama administration believes that a non-sectarian government in Iraq is the key answer to the country's problems. There's little doubt that the Shiite dominated politics that emerged after the US invaded Iraq in 2003 has fueled support for IS among the country's Sunni Arabs.
But with country's like Saudi Arabia in the coalition the US is trying to build against IS, you have one of the greatest forces for sectarianism in the region. Nimr has long been an influential figure among Saudi Arabia's repressed Shiite minority, who are concentrated in the country's oil-rich east.
Recommended: How much do you know about the Islamic State?
“The death sentence against Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr is part of a campaign by the authorities in Saudi Arabia to crush all dissent, including those defending the rights of the Kingdom’s Shi’a Muslim community,” Said Boumedouha, deputy director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Program, said in a statement. "The shocking death sentence against Sheikh al-Nimr followed by the arrest of his brother in court today illustrate the lengths Saudi Arabia will go to in their quest to stop Shi’a activists from defending their rights. Sheikh al-Nimr must be released and Saudi Arabia must end its systematic discrimination and harassment of the Shi’a community."
Saudi prosecutors over the summer argued that Nimr should be beheaded – the typical form of execution in the Kingdom – and then crucified in a public square for the crime of "speaking against God." However, if the sentence is carried out, it appears the crucifixion isn't currently planned.With allies like this, and ongoing close military ties between the US and Saudi Arabia, it's hard for President Obama or Secretary of State John Kerry to convince Iraq's Shiite leaders that they're taking their interests to heart.
Saudi Arabia has beheaded at least 41 people so far this year, and by no means all of those killed were murderers themselves. Four members of a family were beheaded in August for smuggling hashish. That same month, a woman was executed for practicing "sorcery."
Toby Craig Jones, a professor of Middle Eastern history at Rutgers, wrote about Nimr and his significance to the country's Shiites in 2008:
In addition to the diplomatic response by the 85 activists, there has also been a surge of hostility in some circles. The Shi`a cleric Nimr al-Nimr, who has long rejected the willingness of figures such as Hassan al-Saffar and Jaafar al-Shayib to work within the political system for the amelioration of Shi`a grievances, recently stated publicly that “we stand with Iran, heart and soul, and with all our resources." While al-Nimr’s harangue was directed at the United States and American hostility toward Iran, it should also be read as a response to the unwillingness of the Saudi regime to address the endemic sectarianism inside the kingdom as well as a signal that the moderation that has dominated Saudi Shi`a politics since the early 1990s is under fire from within the community. Al-Nimr declared that “we fear no one, be they regimes, arrogant powers, or mercenary pens.”
IRAQ, SYRIA AND THE MIDEAST: WHAT IS TO BE DONE? – ANALYSIS
ReplyDeleteOCTOBER 15, 2014 TRANSCONFLICT
By TransConflict
The essential fact of the sectarian conflicts (internal and external) that have characterized the MidEast for decades has been the artificial boundaries left behind by empire and the colonial powers. The basic question facing any political approach to restoring peace would be whether to seek to preserve those boundaries or draw new ones that would somehow recognize the ethnic and religious realities on the ground.
By Gerard M. Gallucci
It seems increasingly clear that there is no purely military solution to the chaotic conflict engulfing Syria and Iraq. Given the extreme sectarian nature of the over-lapping confrontations, and the various outside forces involved on the several sides, an air war alone is unlikely to achieve anything beyond metastasizing the violence and may not be able to prevent further gains by the Islamic State (IS). It is hard to see how even a ground war – i.e., the introduction of US, NATO or other combat forces – could gain a stable outcome. America’s generals have freely admitted that the war may be a long one. The situation seems to cry out for a political approach.
President Obama had been long reluctant to get involved in another foreign intervention. But perhaps led by the political pressures upon him to be seen doing something – and apparently ill-advised by his current national security team – Obama first undertook a half-hearted effort to aid Syrian “moderate” rebels. Then after the IS beheadings, he decided to launch the current air war against the IS in both Syria and Iraq. The aim of the air war is to prevent further IS gains and “degrade” its capabilities. In Iraq, the US now has a Shia government perhaps more able to keep further Sunni from going over to the IS. In Syria, it is “vetting” rebels to find some it can entrust with its weapons. Some have criticized the US focus on IS rather than on overthrowing Assad in Syria. Turkey has been especially critical. Ankara seems understandably reluctant to take on fellow Sunnis who are fighting Assad, himself supported by Shia powers Iran and Hezbollah. (Turkey also may not object to IS delivering setbacks to Kurds.) In Iraq, it is not the Iraqi army confronting IS but Shia militia. US special forces are on the ground in Iraq and probably Syria as well. In all, the US has stepped into a conflict in which everyone seems to be fighting everyone else and the Arab powers and other outsiders all have their favorites.
If there is no military solution to the conflicts then what is to be done? The answer seems, in principle, obvious: engaging the many parties in some political process, some form of negotiation. But about what, including who and how to go about it?
The essential fact of the sectarian conflicts (internal and external) that have characterized the MidEast for decades has been the artificial boundaries left behind by empire and the colonial powers. The basic question facing any political approach to restoring peace would be whether to seek to preserve those boundaries or draw new ones that would somehow recognize the ethnic and religious realities on the ground. The US and West Europeans customarily reject, as a matter of general policy, reopening the question of borders with Washington especially looking to preserve multi-ethnic states through democracy and minority participation. But exceptions have been made. Yugoslavia was allowed to fragment along ethnic lines. Despite US and EU efforts to construct a multi-ethnic Kosovo out of part of Serbia, the effort has run aground on the lack of enthusiasm of Serbs in the north for living under “Albanian rule.” Keeping Syria and Iraq within the current boundaries would, at the least, require a massive and prolonged outside invention focused not only on keeping the peace but on nation building.
{...}
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ReplyDeleteRelated to the question of “what” is of course the question of “who” would be included in any negotiations. All the parties – including the outsiders – would have their own views, especially on the issue of who to leave out. But it would seem that the only way to achieve an outcome that would stand a chance of being sustainable would be to somehow include everyone. The list would certainly have to include the Iraqi government. But that would be the only “easy” one. What about the various Sunni, Shia and Kurd communities and factions? And Assad? How about the Iranians, the Gulf States, Turkey and Washington, Brussels and Moscow? They would have to be part of any process that would have a chance of success.
In some cases, perhaps the outsiders might represent the interests of the conflicting parties. Iran might speak for the Shia, Saudi Arabia for the Sunni. Turkey – which must have some way of talking to the IS since it won the release of the 49 hostages – might be able to bring it into the mix. Perhaps Russia might speak to the future of Assad? While everyone would find the participation of some “distasteful,” it’s hard to see how anyone could be excluded if they have not been able to be eliminated militarily.
This bring us to the “how” question. It may be necessary to work toward convening an international conference of those foreign powers with interests and potential roles, perhaps under a mandate from the UN Security Council. The US might work toward such a process by reaching out to the major outside powers including Russia, Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Such a conference might first work out a common approach to the conflicting parties to engage them – with appropriately provided encouragements and constraints – in considering what sort of settlement they would accept.
Does all this seem unlikely? For sure. It is not clear that IS, for example, would settle for anything other than everything. So perhaps there remains a role for military actions to degrade it to the point that other Sunni abandon it or its leaders accept a political outcome. But this might also have to be in the context of accepting that some form of Sunni state be made from parts of Syria and Iraq. But then what about the Kurds and Turkey? This is all very complicated. And it doesn’t by itself touch on the other big questions in the region, Israel/Palestine and Iranian nuclear. It is hard to see how these might all be kept separate.
Since Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld broke Iraq, the Pandora’s box has been open. War alone – from the air or on the ground – won’t close it. Only a political approach can find a way to survive the forces that have been released. What else is there?
Gerard M. Gallucci is a retired US diplomat and UN peacekeeper. He worked as part of US efforts to resolve the conflicts in Angola, South Africa and Sudan and as Director for Inter-American Affairs at the National Security Council. He served as UN Regional Representative in Mitrovica, Kosovo from July 2005 until October 2008 and as Chief of Staff for the UN mission in East Timor from November 2008 until June 2010. He was Diplomat-in-Residence at Drake University for the 2013-14 school year and now works as an independent consultant.
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DeleteBasically, the gentleman says that the only solution to the problems in the ME is a political one. Then he points out all the obvious reasons there is no way in hell there will ever be a political solution.
Thank you Mr. Gallucci.
.
Nah, our job isn't to fix Iraq, or to show the middleeast a better way. Our mission, today, is to kill psychopaths.
ReplyDeleteWe're doing a pretty good job at present; no use confusing the issue.
The candidates who represent me neither fix countries, nor show them a better way, nor kill psychopaths. They stay home and manage a very much enlarged No Fly List.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for dividing these countries up into their constituent parts.
ReplyDeleteMiss T, Drunken Joe Biden, and The Geostrategist, as he is known, aka 'Bob', were for dividing Iraq up into three parts long long ago.
We three spent a long time in the wilderness.
Now despite USA efforts to prevent this it is happening of its own accord.
Syria comes to mind as a place that could use a little dividing, as well as Afghanistan. There are others, too.
The Guiding Star says:
"Do that which weakens any Islamic state, or Islam as a whole"
While I am all in favor of amicable divorces, sometimes a Court Order is necessary.
Today, a very long day, I had breakfast, lunch and dinner at McDonald's.
ReplyDelete1) Big Breakfast
2) Big Mac
3) Chicken McNuggets and Salad
Got to know some fellow named Ron that reminded me of Quirk.
Kind of an odd chap who seemed to be smiling continually.
CONFUSION: CDC: You Can Give -- But Can't Get -- Ebola on Bus.......drudge
ReplyDeleterat must have finally landed a job as a spokesperson for CDC.
Impeccably illogical as he is so often.
He was hired through the Outreach to Felons Program.
ReplyDeleteWar Room
Why the Islamic State Is Losing
The pundits have it wrong—the terrorists’ move toward Baghdad is a sign of desperation.
By MICHAEL KNIGHTS
October 14, 2014
Many in the world media seem to be concluding, with alarm, that the group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is at the gates of Baghdad. ISIL has made dramatic gains in Anbar province, Iraq’s perennially troubled “wild west,” and Anbar is next to Baghdad. Ergo, Baghdad must be next to fall. It was probably no accident that, on Tuesday, President Obama convened an urgent conference of defense officials from 21 countries at Andrews Air Force Base to coordinate strategies and tactics.
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Everyone should calm down. The reality is that ISIL and its forerunners have always been in Baghdad. The Iraqi capital and its rural exurbs – the “Baghdad belts” — have been a desperate battleground since 2003.
True, ISIL has been posing much more of a direct threat to Baghdad since the beginning of 2014, when the movement took control of Fallujah, a city of 300,000 that is located just 25 miles west of Baghdad International Airport. But Baghdad won’t fall to cascading panic the way that Mosul did in June 2014, no matter how many towns and cities ISIL overruns in the Euphrates River Valley to the northwest of the capital.
Here’s why. Mosul was a predominately Sunni city of one million people where the Shia-led security forces were despised and where the bulk of Iraq’s security forces were hundreds of miles away. Baghdad is a predominately Shia city of more than seven million and the hub of a gargantuan popular mobilization of Shia militias and regular security forces.
Mao Zedong said that the guerrilla “must swim among the people as the fish swims in the sea,” but ISIL would be swimming with piranhas if it tried to recreate Mosul in Baghdad..........
Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/10/why-islamic-state-is-losing-111872.html#ixzz3GGdX4ed7
I voted today.
ReplyDeleteI voted for two democrats, all else straight Republican.
"Butch" Otter certainly got my vote.
There's a guy that could clean up Detroit.
It doesn't matter who is in charge. Most of us have outlived our usefulness.
DeleteThe only job worth having now is being a politician. Teflon coated liars and leeches who are impervious to progress.
Right there is an example of what I was talking about. Isil does NOT control Fallujah. They control a PART of Fallujah. The local SUNNI Tribe has fought them off, and controls the rest of the town.
ReplyDeleteBBC
ReplyDeleteIslamic State militants are retreating in parts of the strategic Syrian town of Kobane, a Kurdish official has said.
Idriss Nassan told the BBC IS had lost control of more than 20% of the town in recent days.
US defence officials say hundreds of militants have been killed around Kobane as US-led air strikes intensify.
The news came as US President Barack Obama and European leaders agreed on the need to do more to stop the IS advance in Iraq and Syria.
In a video conference, Mr Obama and the leaders of the UK, France, Germany and Italy agreed to step up support for an "inclusive political approach" in Iraq and training for local forces in Iraq and Syria, a statement by UK Prime Minister David Cameron's office said.
'Cleaning operations'
Mr Nassan said Kurdish YPG forces in Kobane were making progress against IS.
"Maybe in the few past days [Islamic State] was controlling about 40% of the city of Kobane, but now... less than 20% of the city is under control of [IS]...," he said.
"Today YPG started cleaning operations in the east and south-east of Kobane."
US defence department spokesman John Kirby said "several hundred" militants had been killed in and around the besieged town, though "it could very well still fall" to IS.
It's too early to say "I told you so," but damn, the temptation is great. :)
DeleteOh but you will, you certainly will, when the time is right.
Delete:)
Huckabee Returning to Iowa Amid Growing 2016 Talk
ReplyDeleteBy Scott Conroy - October 15, 2014
As he considers whether to launch a second presidential bid next year, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is heading back to the state that launched him from the back of the GOP pack to top-tier contender during his 2008 White House run.
Huckabee will travel to Iowa on Tuesday to campaign for Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst, RealClearPolitics has learned.
His visit to the state that kicks off the presidential nominating cycle will be Huckabee’s first since April, when he delivered a fiery keynote speech at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition’s spring fundraiser in the central Iowa city of Waukee.................
Read more: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/10/15/huckabee_returning_to_iowa_amid_growing_2016_talk__124316.html#ixzz3GGtTfGKS
Follow us: @RCP_Articles on Twitter
Don't laugh. The Huckster is well liked in places like Iowa. He may do Ernst some good.
Don’t laugh? How about crying?
ReplyDeleteFrom the start, the administration was a little "holier than anyone" about not "coordinating" with Les Undesirables - this evidently included taking targeting information, etc from anyone with one badge less than Eagle Scout. Obviously, that wasn't going to last for long (and, it didn't.)
ReplyDeleteNow, with the allies ramping up, and the kinks getting worked out, and with more bona fide targets to hit . . . . . . .
Well, personally, I think it's a really bad time to be a Daesh.
We'll see. :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgtQj8O92eI
ReplyDeleteI fought the law, and the law won
From 1966
DeleteThis can all be understood metaphysically, philosophically, as seeing the true nature of things, but I won't get into all that.
DeleteIt is Quirk's Theme Song.
1:22
DeleteWow !
;)
Quirk-O is the drummer back there. The drum is marked 4. This numerology has a mysterious hidden inner meaning regarding the totality of things. (See: Carl Jung)
DeleteQuirk was quite the flash back then.
(Blessed Holy Mother Church has striven mightily over the centuries to correct the error of The Trinity by boosting Mother Mary up there and making it a proper Quaternity. When 3 becomes 4 all will be well, as it should be. We recall how the bombers came in threes, and threes and threes in For Whom The Bell Tolls when things were not well)
Delete1:22 - 1:24
DeleteIt simply doesn't get any better than that !
Here are the Dead Kennedy's mucking up The Great Song -
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dB_ubVAnGw
Listen to, and weep over, how our Higher Culture has become degraded over time...................
Culture Counts !
Do you catch the symbolism in the name The Bobby Fuller Four ?
DeleteRecall how it is in that ancient wonderful symbolism deriving from India and still current today in the inner life of us all that the spiritual life proper begins at Chakra Four, where the sound is first heard "of no two things striking together".
Delete1:22 - 1:24
Deletethwuang thwuang thwuang thwuang thwuang thwuang
bang bang bang bang bang bang
six shooter
Perfection in Musical Form
Delete;)
October 16, 2014
ReplyDeleteWhat My Polish Mother-in-Law Taught Me about Ethnicity
By Richard B. Collier
I have a Polish mother-in-law. This is not the beginning of a politically-incorrect ethnic joke. It reflects belated recognition that StanisÅ‚awa’s -- now Stella’s -- ethnicity has been a source of pride and identity to her, and has provided impetus for tolerance and good works throughout her entire life.
As a teen-aged victim of the Nazis during WWII, Stella sacrificed her adolescence to protect her father. She spent years in slave labor in exchange for her father’s release from an SS jail, where he had been held for refusing to aid the Nazis. When she married, she sacrificed her attachment to Catholicism to proffer respect to her husband’s Eastern Orthodox rituals, reasoning that both communities worship the same unique God, and that family integrity mattered more than church-specific forms of liturgy. She seems well satisfied with her life and continues to give endlessly of herself to help friends, neighbors, family, and her community. Even now, at 89 years old (and she doesn’t cringe to hear her age spoken of, another ego-less attribute I admire in our youth-worshipping culture) she still gardens, takes in stray cats, delights in her grandchildren, hosts family and friends at gatherings, cooks up a storm of unpronounceable delicacies, participates in neighborhood functions, knits and crochets beautiful gifts for lots of people, and generally lives a life which is as exemplary as it is rare.
Stella blessed my wife's choice of becoming Jewish, in a whimsical, heavily-accented, brief but powerful speech just before our wedding. "Olgitsa (the diminutive nickname, used often when addressing my wife, who is, after all, still Stella’s little girl), don't forget that Richard is now going to be your husband. You must always do what he wants." I immediately, enthusiastically agreed. Unfortunately, my wife-to-be understood the unarticulated central subtlety contained in her mother's coarse message. Olga translated it for me in its totality. "My mother means that just as she adopted my father's religion, she is delighted that I have chosen to follow yours, now ours." I tried to broaden the meaning of this wonderful piece of pre-marital advice to include all of my whims, but my bride calmly smiled and assured me that this was all that my mother-in-law had intended. Nonetheless this was not a trivial message, even in its limited interpretation. It was the message of Ruth to Naomi: "Wither thou goest, there will I go... Thy people will be my people, and thy G-d my G-d" (Ruth 1-16.) There are lots of commentaries on this verse. It has great meaning to many, but is particularly personal to us given that it was my Mother-In-Law's pre-nuptial blessing.........
http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/10/my_polish_motherinlaw.html
October 16, 2014
ReplyDeleteOperation Inherent Resolve?
By Russ Vaughn
The Obama High Command today issued a press release to inform the uninformed that it had now vanquished one of the major obstacles in the campaign to do something about ISIS: they found a name for the operation. Inherent Resolve. Could they have submitted a request to the ivory towers of academia to come up with a name for the operation that could possibly be less understood by the American public? It is doubtful that our assembled politically correct camp leadership could have done better than the focused circle of sycophants surrounding our C in C.
Take a microphone and a camera out in the streets and interview everyday folks as to their interpretation of “Inherent Resolve.” If you can find one in a hundred who knows both words and is familiar with their usage, you will have done quite well. Float that same term through faculty lounges across the country, and you will likely get a lot of approving nods and grunts of acceptance. Why is that? Well, it has the inherent capability of meaning whatever its creators want it to mean. That was likely the goal of those inside the administration who came up with this indefinable tag for an apparently pointless attempt to stem militant jihadists in their fervent drive to create a Muslim caliphate in the very regions this same ineffectual administration so recently abandoned, walking away from the battlefield, arrogantly proclaiming victory while the enemy cleverly lay low and rebuilt their martial capabilities.
What is a more laughably foolish way to initiate a battle campaign than to burden the efforts of your engaged warriors with a label that is inherently based upon your previous lack of resolve, and therefore absolutely laughable to your enemies? And to the world?
I’m an old combat infantryman who has no problem with an enemy who hates me with a deadly determination to destroy me. But I swear to all of you out there, I cannot support a commander in chief and his politically correct administration who subject our nation in general and our military in particular to this sort of international ridicule.
I do believe I am inherently resolved to oppose these silly Democrat fools who profess to lead us.
Thomas Lifson adds: "Resolve" cannot by its nature be "inherent." Resolve is an act of will. The phrase is self-contradictory.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/10/operation_inherent_resolve.html
We obviously need a better name for this 'operation'.
ReplyDeleteMy suggestion is:
Foolish Operation To Fix Earlier Fuckup
Operation FOTFEF
fot-fef
October 16, 2014
ReplyDeleteExponential Ebola
By Ronald R. Cherry
Exponential expansion of an infectious disease occurs when the rate of growth is proportional to the number of people currently infected. The mathematical formula for exponential growth is:
[x_t = x_0(1+r)^t]
In the case of Ebola, xt represents the total number of people infected, xâ‚’ represents the number of index cases at the starting point, r represents the rate of disease transmission (believed to be about 2 for Ebola, i.e.: each Ebola victim transmits the disease on average to 2 other people), and t (as an exponent) represents the time interval used for measurement (months). The formula reduces to xt = 3áµ— for a transmission rate of two with a single index case. Since 70% of Ebola patients die, and since the survivors no longer transmit the disease, the formula for Ebola cases further reduces to xt = 2áµ—.
With a transmission rate of 2 and a one-month transmission time, there would be 2 active Ebola cases at the end of the first month, assuming the index case either died or survived with immunity. In two months there would be 4 cases, in three months 8 cases, in four months 16 cases, in six months 64 cases, in nine months 512 cases, in one year 4,096 cases, and in two years 16,777,216 cases. If cases emerge after three weeks instead of four weeks, the numbers are much worse. If healthcare workers die off early in the Ebola epidemic, as one would expect with no vaccination and inadequate protection, then the transmission rate would increase from 2 to who knows how high, also leading to much higher case numbers.
As we speak the Ebola epidemic in West Africa is expanding exponentially, doubling each month, apparently with most cases unreported. What if our healthcare system, as good as it is, was unable to alter a transmission rate (r) of 2 for Ebola? All that would be necessary for this to happen is for each Ebola victim in turn to infect one family member, and one friend, stranger or healthcare worker. CDC recommended precautions for your local hospital are currently inadequate to prevent nosocomial (hospital) Ebola transmission, and the CDC's failure to quarantine all Ebola contacts in the community (the proper way to monitor them) could easily lead to transmission of the dreaded disease in our neighborhoods. If the CDC can't properly monitor Ebola transmission among our doctors and nurses at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, then why would we expect them to properly monitor Ebola transmission in the community?
"The pool of people being monitored for potential exposure to the disease appeared to more than double, from 48 to perhaps more than 100, none of whom had reported any symptoms of Ebola. All of those now being evaluated for the first time were workers at Presbyterian who cared for Mr. Duncan after he was admitted. Though the precise number of workers remains unknown, questions were also being raised about why they had not been monitored previously."
DeleteThe CDC will inevitably be unaware of new index Ebola cases from endemic areas, asymptomatic individuals escaping detection from thermometers at the airport, and likewise unaware of some Ebola contacts in the community, thus each new Ebola case (index, secondary, tertiary…) may transmit the disease to a family member, neighbor, or stranger, and the CDC, along with the rest of us, would be in the dark. We would be unaware until secondary cases presented themselves to a clinic or hospital -- having in turn transmitted Ebola to tertiary contacts prior to arrival at the clinic or hospital -- even before symptoms are admitted to or are clinically evident in the secondary cases. And so on….
"Moreover, said some public health specialists, there is no proof that a person infected -- but who lacks symptoms -- could not spread the virus to others. 'It's really unclear,' said Michael Osterholm, a public health scientist at the University of Minnesota who recently served on the U.S. government's National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity. 'None of us know.'"
Under current CDC "leadership" exponential expansion of Ebola in the United States could occur. Unless things change drastically and quickly, and with thanks to our President, FDA, and CDC Director, we could have thousands dead within one year of an index case (Xâ‚’), and millions dead in two years, and even worse if we end up with multiple index cases via unblocked inbound air travel (and sea travel) from West Africa -- or from future geographic areas of epidemic -- like South or Central America. Where is the ZMapp and other effective therapy which would not only cure cases but also reduce the nosocomial transmission rate? Where is the vaccine? Without widely available effective therapy and widespread Ebola vaccination we the American people are reduced to sitting ducks. What has happened to the all-American virtues of intelligence and common sense -- have we become that blind to a clear and present danger?
We now have enough information which should lead us to distrust our government regarding the Ebola epidemic -- we should question their dogma against airborne transmission of Ebola -- they are not an infallible priesthood. Having failed in their primary duty to protect the American people, we find ourselves in harms’ way.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/10/exponential_ebola.html#ixzz3GJ9WbBxH
This is quite scary. However there is hope that an effective vaccine is on the way. The Canadians are testing a new vaccine right now, which is said to both prevent the disease and to help in curing it after an infection.
DeleteThere is a lot of work being done on it, and the scientists have gotten quite good at quickly creating vaccines.
(I hope)
A dramatic ramping up of coalition air strikes reached a new crescendo in recent days, with Islamic State targets around Kobani being hit nearly 40 times in 48 hours. The barrage has halted the militants' advance, with Kurdish sources saying that Kurdish YPG fighters had managed to retake some territory.
ReplyDeleteThe four-week assault has increasingly been seen as a key test of U.S. President Barack Obama's air strike strategy, and Kurdish leaders have repeatedly said the . . . . . . . .
Gittin' Bizzy
Dramatic!
Delete40 times in 48 hours!!!!
Well that's about ONE an HOUR!!!!!
GO Team AMERICA!!!
One bomb an hour!!!!!
Heck even Hamas could fire 100 missiles an HOUR....
.
DeleteIt's a hell of a lot better than the 4-5 they were doing.
.
Holy Moly!
ReplyDeleteJobless Claims Down to 264,000
Best number since April 2000.
DeleteHoly Moly!
DeleteThe share of the working-age population either employed or seeking a job declined in April for the first time this year, helping drive the unemployment rate down to 6.3 percent, the lowest since September 2008. At 62.8 percent, the so-called participation rate matches the lowest since March 1978.
A shrinking workforce saps the U.S. of the manpower needed to boost the expansion to a higher level, keeping the world’s largest economy merely plodding along. It also undercuts the theory that sustained growth alone will be enough to attract more Americans, from students to people discouraged over employment prospects, back into the hunt for jobs.
Holy Moly!
DeleteThe Most Frightening Result of the Great Recession: Jobless Americans Who Have Given Up
For months now a debate has been raging in economic circles about the long-term unemployed. One group argues that the current unemployment rate, currently at 6.7 percent, is unrepresentative of the labor market because it doesn’t include the millions of long-term unemployed: discouraged workers who have left the labor market. The other side argues that the labor market has segmented—that those with jobs and the short-term unemployed compete for work in one labor market that is tightening, while the long-term unemployed compete in another where jobs are scarce.
Holy Moly!
DeleteLower paying jobs replacing higher paying careers as baby boomers are old and useless.
How the recession turned middle-class jobs into low-wage jobs
The U.S. job market is slowly improving, and most economists expect that gradual recovery to continue this year. Yet one of the most disturbing trends of the recession is still very far from being reversed. America's middle-class jobs have been decimated since 2007, replaced largely by low-wage jobs.
A recent presentation from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco lays out the situation clearly. The vast majority of job losses during the recession were in middle-income occupations, and they've largely been replaced by low-wage jobs since 2010:
Do you want FRIES with that?
Welcome to Walmart!
How Far Back Did You Go To Find Those Stories, Doug?
DeleteOne of them had the Unemployment Rate at 6.7% (it hasn't been that high in over 6 months, I believe.
We get a glimmer of Good News, and you feel compelled to go way back to find a negative Opinion Piece?
Jeez.
April 2014
DeleteSuch a LONG time ago...
Almost 6 months.
Rufus IIThu Oct 16, 08:38:00 AM EDT
DeleteBest number since April 2000.
Wow, you go back to 2000 to prove your point but I go back 6 whole months and you have a progressive meltdown....
Fucking Commie.
.
DeleteHell, now even the Hawaiian Ninja is going anonymous. The world is turning to shit.
I repeat, anyone who hides behind the anonymous tag is a dick.
.
quirk, so I am a dick…
DeleteWhat does it make those that invent dozens of fake tags?
The posts I made had links and spoke for themselves
.
Delete:o)
Based on Rufus post above and the comments, I though I was talking to Doug.
But that's the point isn't it?
My comment stands.
.
Rufus IIThu Oct 16, 08:37:00 AM EDT
DeleteHoly Moly!
Jobless Claims Down to 264,000
It will be revised in about a month. That's been the problem all along and helps to explain why "the street" sees no miracle.
Nah, you need to look at this chart of the 4 week averages. It doesn't support your theory.
DeleteJobless Claims
Iran executes 40 in two weeks: rights group
ReplyDeletehttp://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/01/iran-executes-40-two-weeks-rights-group-201411764616238893.html
Iran has executed 40 people since the beginning of 2014, according to Amnesty International, with at least 33 carried out in the past week.
The human rights organisation released a statement detailing 21 executions confirmed by Iranian officials, and another 19 that were reported through "reliable sources".
"The spike in the number of executions carried out so far this month in Iran is alarming," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Beginning on January 9, 2014, more executions were carried out in Iran than during the entire month last year, said the group.
The Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, who decisively won the national election in June 2013, promised to follow a "path of moderation" in international affairs and to ease restrictions on civil liberties.
But from the time of his inauguration in August to the end of 2013, more than 300 people have been executed, according to a figure tallied by the Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre (IHRDC).
Over 300 served.... Just like McDonalds...
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/iran-executes-two-for-perversion/
DeleteIran Executes Two for ‘Perversion’
Iran executed two gay men on Sunday for the crime of “perversion” and has sentenced a third individual to death for “insulting the prophet,” according to human rights activists tracking the situation.
The head of Iran’s judiciary department in the northern city of Rasht announced on Sunday that two homosexual men had been executed for “perversion,” which is considered a severe crime under Iran’s hardline Islamic law.
The executions come less than two months after Iranian authorities publicly hanged 40 individuals in a two-week period. Iran is executing at least two people a day, according to activists.
Executions in Iran have surged over the past year with well more than 500 being killed for crimes ranging from “waging war against God” to misdemeanor drug charges that would carry minimal penalties in Western countries.
State-sanctioned killings have spiked since the election of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who initially vowed to address the issue.
By March?
Over 500 Served....
Hung that is....
BTW, No one should be allowed to comment on the "Participation Rate" until they have internalized the YOY
ReplyDelete*Marginally Attached to the Labor Force,
and
*Discouraged Workers
numbers
Go Here
Go back to Belmont, Doug.
DeleteYou're "Overmatched," here.
The interesting thing is that while the "participation rate" is down Year Over Year,
DeleteSo are the Discouraged Workers, and Marginally Attached Numbers.
Bullshit Commie
DeleteTwist the numbers but the truth is clear.
It sucks out there and you are one DUMB motherfucker.
Don't even have a fucking clue who you are talking to....
Burned your sorry ass...
Deleteagain
Yep, I put up "actual, real numbers," and You rant, and rave, and call Me a dumb ass.
Delete"O"rdure has no numbers ...
DeleteHe just has shit.
He does not know business, does not know the System and does not comprehend that English utilizes vowels.
What is "Occupation"Sat Jul 19, 10:54:00 PM EDT
Deleteit's a great time to buy the stock (Sodastream) Herr Rodent..
It's undervalued. ($29.11)
LOL
you really just don't understand business..
That was then ...
This is now
October 11, 2014 by Doug Henwood for Mondoweiss
SodaStream: is BDS hitting where it hurts?
SodaStream’s stock is now 70% off its all-time high set in July 2011
Sodastream price Oct 14, 2114 - $20.95
Now let us review ...
"O"rdure recommends buying Sodastream on 19July 2014 at $29.11 telling us it was undervalued.
On 14Oct2014 Sodastream closed at $20.95
That is DOWN $8.16 or 28% since "O"rdure made his 'buy' recommendation.
What is "Occupation"Fri Oct 03, 10:16:00 AM EDT
I have been turned down repeatedly for a REFI.
The system is screwed.
Someone really does not understand business, and it ain't Herr Rodent
Now, if "O"rdure had 'recommended' Shorting Sodstream on 14Juy, he'd have been onto something ...
Deletebut, "O"rdure 'recommended' BUYING Sodastream and has provided us with poor, shall we say Faulty advise and Consultation, again.
The truth is in the numbers, and Israel is facing what allen called an Existential, an economic threat.
Well exemplified in the Sodastream story.
What is "Occupation"Mon Jul 21, 09:33:00 PM EDT
If there is one Hamas member still alive and spitting? Israel lost…
"O"rdure must have studied at the "Bernie Madoff School of Business", in Te Aviv.
DeleteSenor Jack Mierda speaks.
Delete(rough translation: Mr. Rat Shit)
Well, the psychorat is up and at 'em folks, your day is ruined.
I happily take my leave.
Believe me, anything he says...........you will have seen it numerous times before........
A broken record.........
And boring beyond belief.
TaTa
Cheers !
Run away, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson, follow the course of your life's work, coward.
DeleteYou have learned, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson that you cannot defend the biased, bogus and babbling bullshit you and your Zionist boobies bray, so now you never stay and play.
DeleteAh, I see the distorter in chief is back.
DeleteI swear to tell the truth, the whole, truth and nothing but the truth…
Words never spoken by Jack Hawkins.
Jack HawkinsThu Oct 16, 10:16:00 AM EDT
DeleteHe does not know business, does not know the System and does not comprehend that English utilizes vowels.
This from a man who cannot write a simple essay of 300 words?
Year Over Year, Civilian Non-institutional Population increased by 2,278,000
ReplyDeletebut
Marginally Attached and Discouraged Workers Fell by 230,000.
.
DeleteThose that haven't died of hunger crossed the border into Mexico looking for jobs.
:o)
.
Could be. I haven't seen any recent numbers, but a while back, Mexico had a lower unemployment rate than we did. :)
Delete"Detroit Steel" now has morphed into "Tijuana Tin"
DeleteRufus IIThu Oct 16, 11:25:00 AM EDT
DeleteCould be. I haven't seen any recent numbers, but a while back, Mexico had a lower unemployment rate than we did. :)
I would think so. Landscapers are is largest export to the U.S.
Actually, it's probably smartphones.
DeleteActually not, allen.
DeleteI think it is autos ...
But, what is the economic value of each immigrant?
When Carlos Slim parents choose Mexico ...
Or oil a little cursory research, it looks likely to be oil
DeleteJack HawkinsThu Oct 16, 10:20:00 AM EDT
ReplyDeleteWhat is "Occupation"Sat Jul 19, 10:54:00 PM EDT
it's a great time to buy the stock (Sodastream) Herr Rodent..
It's undervalued. ($29.11)
LOL
you really just don't understand business..
That was then ...
This is now
October 11, 2014 by Doug Henwood for Mondoweiss
SodaStream: is BDS hitting where it hurts?
SodaStream’s stock is now 70% off its all-time high set in July 2011
Sodastream price Oct 14, 2114 - $20.95
Now let us review ...
"O"rdure recommends buying Sodastream on 19July 2014 at $29.11 telling us it was undervalued.
On 14Oct2014 Sodastream closed at $20.95
That is DOWN $8.16 or 28% since "O"rdure made his 'buy' recommendation.
What is "Occupation"Fri Oct 03, 10:16:00 AM EDT
I have been turned down repeatedly for a REFI.
The system is screwed.
Someone really does not understand business, and it ain't Herr Rodent
What no links?
After all you demand it of others….
Time stamped referenced, "O"rdure. time stamped references, they are provided...
DeleteI have the inks, to, but anyone that is interested can find the full statements, using the timestamps provided.
I have the links, too, but anyone that is interested can find the full statements, using the timestamps provided.
DeleteIt is more of a reference than you have ever provided the reader, when the "O"rdure flows on about 'the rat'.
DeleteThe "reader"?
DeleteLOL
You are delusional
ReplyDeleteSerbia Honors Russia's Putin With Military Parade
Bloomberg -
Serbia, the country next in line to join the European Union, staged a spectacle not seen in a generation to honor Russian President Vladimir Putin.
ReplyDeleteGeorgia's jobless rate drops to 7.9 percent
Businessweek -
The Georgia Department of Labor announced the new seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for September early Thursday morning. State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said the state is continuing to see strong overall job growth.
National Unemployment Rate 5.9%
DeleteGeorgia Unemployment Rate 7.9%
Those good ol' Republican Governors; they can do it.
So, Georgia has a $7.25 / hr. Minimum Wage and a 7.9% unemployment rate.
DeleteBoy, I guess a state like Washington State, with its $9.32 / hr minimum wage must have a doozy of an unemployment rate, eh?
Wait. What was that? . . . . . . .
Washington State has a 5.7% unemployment rate?
Damned Commie Democrat Governors
Georgia, yesterday, 8.1% unemployment
DeleteVenezuela was elected Thursday to one of the 10 non-permanent seats on the U.N. Security Council for the next two years, succeeding Argentina in one of two slots reserved for Latin American and Caribbean.
ReplyDeleteIn the last three days, the United States has launched 54 airstrikes in Syria, 53 of them around Kobane. The latest wave of 14, announced by U.S. Central Command on Thursday morning, struck 19 buildings, two command posts, three fighting positions, three sniper positions, one staging location and one heavy machine gun, U.S. military officials said.
ReplyDelete. . . . . .
Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said Wednesday that the number of airstrikes in Kobane has risen for a couple of reasons, primarily the level of Islamic State activity there.
But he added that the number of airstrikes is down in Iraq recently because of a spate of bad weather in the central part of the country. While U.S. planes can fly in it, the weather has limited the military’s ability to perform aerial surveillance and reconnaissance missions, like drone flights.
Kirby said the U.S. will continue to launch airstrikes in Iraq as necessary. The air war around Kobane is centered on denying the militants an area they clearly want as a sanctuary, the admiral said.
“The more they want it, the more resources they apply to it, the more targets we have to hit,” Kirby said. “And part of what we’re trying to do is put pressure on them, and the strikes against them and their positions in and around Kobane allow us to do that.”
Sniper Positions?
wow, 54 airstrikes!!
DeleteNow that's an air force that doesn't MESS AROUND….
Yep, hundreds of dead headcutters in Kobane, and no civilian casualties.
DeleteNo "messing around," just professionalism.
How do you KNOW no dead civilians?
DeleteWe keep tabs on the funerals.
DeleteEye in the sky, don't you know?
'I have always imagined that Paradise will be some kind of library.'
ReplyDeleteJorge Luis Borges
Any government can look good with this, as can any numbers or any program.
ReplyDeletehttp://dailysignal.com/2014/10/15/19-times-documents-went-missing-government-didnt-want-know/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
19 Times the Government Withheld Documents It Didn’t Want You to See
Drexel Study Claims 21 Day Quarantine For Ebola Might Not Be Long Enough
ReplyDeleteOctober 16, 2014 12:12 PM
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2014/10/16/drexel-study-claims-21-day-quarantine-for-those-exposed-to-ebola-might-not-be-long-enough/
Rufus recommended 30 days for airport incomings, which is much better.
ReplyDeleteThe Fix
Ben Carson is going to run for president. What’s his best-case scenario?
By Nia-Malika Henderson October 15
Dr. Ben Carson, surgeon and conservative icon, waves to supporters as he passes them Monday, Aug. 25, 2014, as he arrives for a book signing at a Barnes and Noble bookstore in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (Photo by Scott Morgan for The Washington Post)
Ben Carson is doing much more than entertaining the idea of making a White House bid. A new Bloomberg story captures Carson, a retired pediatric neurosurgeon, in the middle of a virtual campaign-in-waiting.
For Carson himself, months of exploring have started to shift into action. He launched his own political action committee to support his nascent campaign in August (called USA First PAC). He has named his campaign chairman (Houston businessman Terry Giles). He even knows the first thing he'd do if elected (call for a joint session of Congress, where he will pledge to bridge the divide that has split the two parties).
Add to that, a new poll out from Bloomberg and the Des Moines Register suggests that he starts in pretty good shape. In the poll, he comes in second place to Mitt Romney, snagging 11 percent of the vote. He even leads within the margin of error (caveat emptor) against Ted Cruz (7 percent) and Rand Paul (10 percent), two potential rivals who would likely all be fighting for some part of the all-important "teavangelical" vote........
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/10/15/ben-carson-is-going-to-run-for-president-whats-his-best-case-scenario/
Run, Ben, Run
He'd have my vote.
Pilgrimage to Mecca May Come w/Extra Dose of Ebola
ReplyDeleteOctober 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.
In Islam, making a ritual pilgrimage to Mecca is almost as sacred as beheading a screaming infidel. These pilgrimages often come with their own death tolls as Muslims throw rocks at a pillar representing satan and generally trample each other and have a good time.
In the past, African Muslims would be tricked into making the pilgrimage only to be left with nothing and then sold as slaves. Today there’s a different sort of threat for them on the horizon.
Anxious to safeguard Islam’s haj pilgrimage from the threat of Ebola, Saudi authorities are screening pilgrims arriving from West Africa and have deployed mobile laboratories to test any suspected cases quickly.
The kingdom expects nearly 3 million pilgrims in Mecca this year, including 1.4 million from abroad. The health ministry said on Thursday it has been working with the World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to contain the threat of Ebola, which has killed 3,300 people in West Africa this year.
“We came from Lagos and went through screening there and again have been tested here in Saudi, so for sure we don’t have anything,” said Abdelsamad Shoudany, a Nigerian doctor standing outside the Grand Mosque in Mecca.
Inside, huge numbers of people were performing the first of the haj rites, walking around the Kaaba, the black-clad cube toward which the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims face to pray, and which they see as the geographic center of their faith.
The Saudis imposed a travel ban on Ebola countries because they are the opposite of politically correct, but disease often spreads in Mecca and it may take some time until we know for sure. We still don’t know what exactly happened with those 5 Saudi passengers reportedly returning from Mecca who were quarantined in Boston.
Meanwhile the death toll is up to 20 for Egyptian pilgrims and up to 58 for Pakistani pilgrims, though the causes are supposedly natural.
So, I wonder how those commies in Vermont are doing with their $8.73 / hr. minimum wage?
ReplyDeleteI mean, those publicans tell us that a higher wage kills jobs, right?
Oh, here it is. 4.1% ? ? ?
Damn, Damn, Damn them Damned Commies
Everyone, with the possible exception of human rats, likes Good News.
ReplyDeleteHere's some, if we can believe it -
Good news: New Lockheed Martin fusion reactor to solve all the world’s problems in 10 years or so
posted at 7:21 pm on October 16, 2014 by Allahpundit
In case you were too consumed with Ebola news yesterday to notice this, here’s a belated FYI that America’s going to put the Middle East’s oil barons out of business before your grandkids are out of college. Assuming the Ebola doesn’t get us first, I mean.
Lockheed has a webpage dedicated to its new breakthrough in compact fusion reactors but this write-up in Aviation Week is the most thorough explanation I’ve seen of how it would actually work. If I understand it correctly, which I probably don’t, the problem with current fusion reactors is..............
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/10/16/good-news-new-lockheed-martin-fusion-reactor-to-solve-all-the-worlds-problems-in-10-years-or-so/
Since reading that for me is sort of like reading a dissertation on information flows in the brain, I leave it to others, in particular Rufus, to offer criticisms of the idea.
Sounds just ike "Atoms for Peace"
DeleteJust sixty years on.
Chernobyl ... Vengeance of peaceful atom.
Robert "Draft Dodger" Robertson is going to fuel 300 million existing gas guzzlers, with electricity, from the "Peaceful Atom"
DeleteWonder if he experiencing an 'Acid Flashback' ... I mean, he's trippin'
Only 10 years? I can't wait. :)
DeleteThe stalker returns.
ReplyDeleteBlah blah blah
I can make the moron appear as if by magic.
Honestly, get a life, rat.
Isn't there a polo match going on somewhere you can go watch?
Just doing a little 'fact checking', Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson.
DeleteWith you and your Zionist friend, it is easy to do. Neither of you adhere to them.
Peaceful Atom - Energy for FREE
They call it solar, now. "Draft Dodger", installation costs have dropped like a rock. And their useful life ... decades. With no 20,000 year radioactive half-life storage hassles.
Nuclear fusion, in the sky.
Like "Lucy"..., with diamonds.
http://www.newsweek.com/venezuela-malaysia-angola-new-zealand-win-un-council-seats-277962
ReplyDeleteTurkey Loses U.N. Security Council Seat in Huge Upset
Expect a grandiose speech from Erdogan, a real podium pounder.
Play silly games, win silly prizes
And Venezuela picked up a seat. So the net bozo count remains the same.
DeleteI am sure they are trustworthy; otherwise, the U.N. would never have chosen them. We should always follow the lead of the U.N. -- that bastion of integrity and defender of freedom across the globe. Why the Israelis balk at this vast reservoir of sagacity is a patent case of the dilatory effect of polluting pig and monkey blood. Israel would do well to take the example of Rwanda, under the watchful eye of the neutral French, as its guide. Up Palestine! Viva Hamass!
DeleteRegional integration between the United States and Mexico is already vast and deep.
ReplyDeleteAs the United States’ second largest export market and third largest trading partner, Mexico is clearly important to the U.S. economy.
Merchandise ade has more than quintupled since NAFTA went into effect in 1994, and in 2011, bilateral goods and services trade reached approximately a half-trillion dollars for the first time. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has calculated that the jobs of six million American workers depend on U.S.-Mexico trade.
Many of those jobs are in border states, which have especially close ties to Mexico, but Mexico is also the top buyer of exports from states as far away as New Hampshire (mostly computers and electronics). In fact, 20 states, from Michigan to Florida, sell more than a billion dollars’ worth of goods to Mexico each year, and Mexico is the first or second most important export market for 21 states.
The United States and Mexico are also major investors in one another. In fact, combined foreign direct investment holdings now total more than $100 billion. According to the most recent count by the Department of Commerce, U.S.-owned companies operating in Mexico created $25 billion in value added and employed nearly a million workers.
Mexican investment in the United States is less than U.S. investment in Mexico, but it is has been growing rapidly in recent years. Several of Mexico’s top companies, which are increasingly global operations, have made significant investments in the United States. Mexico’s Cemex, for example, is North America’s largest maker of cement and concrete products.
Grupo Bimbo, which owns well-known brands such as Entenmanns’s, Thomas’s English Muffins, and Sara Lee, is the largest baked goods company in the Americas.
Even Saks Fifth Avenue and the New York Times Company are supported by significant Mexican investment.
The massive volume of commerce and investment is important, but the depth of regional integration is the primary reason why Mexico contributes to U.S. competitiveness. Mexico and the United States do not just trade products, they build them together.
DeleteIn fact, to understand regional trade, it is necessary to view imports and exports in a different light.
Whereas imports from most of the world are what they appear to be—foreign products—the same cannot be said of imports from Mexico. During production, materials and parts often cross the southwest border numerous times while U.S. and Mexican factories each perform the parts of the manufacturing process they can do most competitively.
Because of the complementary nature of the two economies, close geographic proximity, and NAFTA, which eliminated most tariff barriers to regional trade, the U.S. and Mexican manufacturing sectors are deeply integrated.
Demonstrating this integration is the fact that 40% of the value of U.S. imports from Mexico comes from materials and parts produced in the United States. This means that 40 cents of every dollar the United States spends on Mexican goods actually supports U.S. firms.
The only other major trading partner that comes close to this amount is Canada, the United States’ other NAFTA partner, with 25% U.S. content. Chinese imports, on the other hand, have an average of only 4% U.S. content, meaning that the purchase of imports from China does not have the same positive impact on U.S. manufacturers.
The regional auto industry is a good example of this production-sharing phenomenon.
DeleteThe United States, Mexico, and Canada each produce and assemble auto parts, sending them back and forth as they work together to build cars and trucks. Cars built in North America are said to have their parts cross the United States borders eight times as they are being produced, and between 80 and 90% of the U.S. auto industry trade with its North American partners is intra-industry, both of which signal an extremely high level of vertical specialization.
As a result, Detroit exports more goods to Mexico than any other U.S. city, and the North American auto industry has proven much more resilient than many expected. Although several of North America’s largest automakers nearly collapsed during the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, a robust recovery is now under way.
Mexico and the United States have each experienced the sharpest rise in vehicle production of the world’s top 10 auto producers during the past two years, growing 51 and 72%, respectively, between 2009 and 2011.
The groundwork is already laid, and several recent trends are in North America’s favor.
DeleteTo begin with, Mexico and the United States are among the most open economies in the world. Through their extensive networks of free trade agreements, the two countries have tariff-free access to more than 50 countries, including the large economies of the European Union and Japan.
This presents a tremendous opportunity for jointly produced goods to be exported around the world, something that could create jobs and improve the trade balance of the United States. The key, of course, is getting costs sufficiently low and productivity sufficiently high that North American goods are competitive with their European and Asian competitors.
Labor costs in China are rising while oil prices are increasing transportation costs, and new advanced manufacturing techniques are making labor an ever-smaller portion of the total cost of making a product.
These factors have led to what the Economist recently called the boomerang effect: Some companies that chased cheap wages in China in the previous two decades have reconsidered their decision to move production offshore.
Some are now more interested in either increasing production in Mexico or moving it back to the United States.
What is amazing is that North America is recovering its competitiveness without much of a strategy. Imagine how much more could be done if policymakers fully understood and took advantage of this opportunity. Instead of simply enjoying the moderate recovery of the manufacturing sector, the United States, Mexico and Canada should work as partners to develop policies that could lead to a real resurgence of the region.
"Mexican investment in the United States is less than U.S. investment in Mexico, but it is has been growing rapidly in recent years."
Delete... numbers for the U.S. but none for Mexico ... Hmm ...
Funny thing, the fellow representing the primary looter State of US foreign aid, Israel ...
ReplyDeleteAttempts to belittle the contribution of Mexico and its people to the economy of the United States.
Typical of a Zionist , trying to incite divisiveness, instigate distrust and disrespect amongst the peoples of America.
Our contributor 'alen' has written, up above somewhere, that to think the are 'readers' and/or to write to or for them is ...
ReplyDeletein his word ...
"delusional"
delusion definition
A false belief held despite strong evidence against it; self-deception. Delusions are common in some forms of psychosis. Because of his delusions, the literary character Don Quixote attacks a windmill, thinking it is a giant.
Now, amigos, ask yourselves something ...
Why would the two Israeli be spending their time, following the edicts of the government of Israel in its attempts to
"engage international audiences online"
...
Students will be organised into units at each university, with a chief co-ordinator who receives a full scholarship, three desk co-ordinators for language, graphics and research who receive lesser scholarships and students termed “activists” who will receive a “minimal scholarship”, the Independent reported.
If there were no readers?
Of course there are readers, over a thousand a day at my Google + account page.
Here at the Elephant Bar, a lessor amount, historically, but still a few each day.
Some are new, some repeat.
One by one they read, we state the case as it is seen from each of our perspectives. About six or eight of us, contribute.
More than that visit, read, digest the information provided.
I only need to be read by one of them, and strike a chord.
One reader, that is more than enough audience.
To consider that idea to be delusional, then tell us, allen, why are you and "O"rdure still here?
If not to provide that 'balance', the other perspective ...
If not for the reader, allen, why do you do it?
For the grade?
DeleteOr just for the stipend?
A mercenary blogger ... is that all allen is?
If there are no readers, what other reason is there, to participate?
Why are you still here?
So quick to type and squirt his "mark" over the blog pages, Jack Hawkins has "premature eblogatuation" again..
DeleteJack HawkinsThu Oct 16, 09:13:00 PM EDT
Our contributor 'alen' has written, up above somewhere, that to think the are 'readers' and/or to write to or for them is ...
in his word ...
"delusional"
What is "Occupation"Thu Oct 16, 03:04:00 PM EDT
The "reader"?
LOL
You are delusional
Delete
Yep Jack is Delusional.
We all know Jack is delusional.
DeleteThe only question is why is Jack delusional.
Various theories have been put forward.
I have come to the opinion that there is not a single cause, but multiple causes.
If I am correct, Jack is a gonner.
Not even modern psychiatry at its very best could solve all Jack's problems.
I am not saying this to put Jack down.
I am saying it because I believe it to be true.
WiO,
DeleteDid you find "above somewhere" my use of the word "delusional"? Does "above somewhere" reach as far as the cantle of a polo pony?
You would think a punctilious cut and paste impostor such as the "Guatemala Guacamole Guano Kid" would know exactly where "above somewhere" is. Of course, we are talking about a guy who lost his unit “somewhere” in Central America.
No Allen, no "delusional" usage for you...
DeleteI posted the term.
But Jack off, in his "premature eblogatuation" can't tell the Atlanta Jew from the Ohio Jew, I guess all Jews look and sound alike to him...
What has happened to the Kurds should be an object lesson to those blessed with the wisdom to take it.
ReplyDeleteAllen is not your contributor.
ReplyDeleteAllen is a Zionist.
Allen has legally hired Mexicans and finds them to be the best manual labor he has known.
Allen's favorite ring is the work of a group of Mexican jewelers, who created a piece that repeatedly features the Star of David.
Allen does not hit and run: make an argument backed with verifiable facts and I will debate courteously all day; try feed me opinion as fact and I will leave you high and dry.
Allen will call a lying, semi-literate NAZI just that.
Allen is a particular about with whom participates in blogging as he is of sex. If you need a shot-card, I don't need you.
Why, who cares,, if not to influence the reader.
DeleteTo do it for any other reason, well llen, that would simply be ...
.... delusional on your part.
Come on llen, you can admit that you either write out of your own narcissistic need, or that you write for the reader.
DeleteYou can admit to your own narcissism, or your self-diagnosis of 'delusion'
Which shall it be?
Jack is really really fucked up.
DeleteA gonner.
Bob,
DeleteJack is nothing. He has never written an original thought, right or wrong. As a parasite he takes snippets written by others, pastes them in support of his chosen bigotry, and yells, "What a good boy am I!" It has never occurred to him that his foolishness makes him the perfect foil for good. His easily elicited ravings do his beloved caliphate more damage than I could ever hope to do through measured persuasion and thousands of pages of supporting documentation. The man is an endless source of amusement who has not once suspected that he is the village idiot, a dunce in dunce's clothing.
The text above contains 105 words. An elementary school child could find the additional 195 words to complete a small essay of 300 words; but not our Jack.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/30/isis-bomb-muslim-world-air-strikes-saudi-arabia
ReplyDeleteWhy stop at Isis when we could bomb the whole Muslim world?
Humanitarian arguments, if consistently applied, could be used to flatten the entire Middle East
“Perhaps this is the plan: Barack Obama has now bombed seven largely Muslim countries, in each case citing a moral imperative. The result, as you can see in Libya, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia and Syria, has been the eradication of jihadi groups, of conflict, chaos, murder, oppression and torture. Evil has been driven from the face of the Earth by the destroying angels of the west.”
“While the bombs fall, our states befriend and defend other networks of death. The US government still refuses – despite Obama’s promise – to release the 28 redacted pages from the joint congressional inquiry into 9/11, which document Saudi Arabian complicity in the US attack. In the UK, in 2004 the Serious Fraud Office began investigating allegations of massive bribes paid by the British weapons company BAE to Saudi ministers and middlemen. Just as crucial evidence was about to be released, Tony Blair intervened to stop the investigation. The biggest alleged beneficiary was Prince Bandar. The SFO was investigating a claim that, with the approval of the British government, he received £1bn in secret payments from BAE.
And still it is said to go on. Last week’s Private Eye, drawing on a dossier of recordings and emails, alleges that a British company has paid £300m in bribes to facilitate weapons sales to the Saudi national guard. When a whistleblower in the company reported these payments to the British Ministry of Defence, instead of taking action it alerted his bosses. He had to flee the country to avoid being thrown into a Saudi jail.”
Alarm after vomiting passenger dies on flight from Nigeria to JFK...........drudge
ReplyDeleteUnder the circumstances prevailing today, I know this would cause me alarm.
Scientifically, What Is the Worst Way to Die?
ReplyDeleteOctober 15, 2014 // 12:40 PM EST
Written by Alexandra Ossola
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/scientifically-what-is-the-worst-way-to-die
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