The Elephant Bar: Iranians demonstrate their capability to protect sea lanes

Monday, December 29, 2014

Iranians demonstrate their capability to protect sea lanes

The Saudis have been soliciting the US for greater military cooperation with them and other monarchies in the area. Obama should tell them thanks for asking but no. The Iranians would make for far better allies and are capable of providing legitimate security to the sea lanes.

The Iranian economy is far more diverse and the US could save a considerable amount of money by reducing its presence. Iran has shown its willingness and capabilities in helping free Iraq from ISIS fanaticism.

Obama would do well in seizing this opportunity to release the US from being owned by the usual suspects in the region.

232 comments:

Deuce ☂Mon Dec 29, 08:26:00 PM EST
In October of this year, (CNSNews.com) – Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “Iran is a natural ally” of the U.S.

“As long as Iran is ruled by the ayatollah and bases itself on its sectarian philosophy, we have to be careful. But basically, as a country, Iran is a natural ally of the United States. It’s the ideological, religious component that makes it an antagonist,” said Kissinger, who served as Secretary of State for the Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford administrations.

Kissinger was half right is saying that it’s the ideological and religious component that makes it an antagonist. All of the religious nut jobs in Israel, Egypt, Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia are a problem. The US has a problem with our own religious fanatics. It would be refreshing to see Obama cut them all down to size and seize the opportunity to reduce the religious factor to the margins where they belong.
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Deuce ☂Mon Dec 29, 08:32:00 PM EST
Any and all of them that think they have a special deal with god are a menace. The religious right it ruining Israel and would do the same in the US if we would let them get away with it. Religious fanatics have a universal disdain for women, progress and science. In the age of knowledge it is well past time to be politely silent. There should be no deference or reverence for ignorance institutionalized superstition.
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Deuce ☂Mon Dec 29, 08:38:00 PM EST
Real Americans will cheer Obama in this. Those with other agendas, less so.
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Rufus IIMon Dec 29, 09:32:00 PM EST
It's important that our military has the ability to fight, and win, wars.

It's equally important that our President knows WHEN to fight wars.
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Rufus IIMon Dec 29, 10:14:00 PM EST
Spending in fiscal year 2015 could come in below 19% of GDP.

That is astonishing.
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Jack HawkinsMon Dec 29, 10:31:00 PM EST
This comment has been removed by the author.
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Jack HawkinsMon Dec 29, 10:44:00 PM EST
You know, Rufus, the Federal spendingt as % of GDP number had not been part of the matrix, lately.
Thanks for mentioning it, it is a sign post on Reality Road.

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UnknownMon Dec 29, 11:54:00 PM EST
All of us American folks here should fully support Iran in its desire for a world without The Great Satan, our good ol' US of A, the Fountain of All the Evil in the World.

The Iranians are Fighting for Civilization.

Here are videos of just one example of the great work the Iranians are doing -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3cAJ6Q9QII

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfodgcK68bw
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UnknownTue Dec 30, 12:03:00 AM EST
Deuce ☂Mon Dec 29, 08:38:00 PM EST

Real Americans will cheer Obama in this.
............

Deuce, are you now determining who is and who is not a 'real American'?

If we all should start to do this, we soon won't have an America at all.
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UnknownTue Dec 30, 12:33:00 AM EST

POLITICO Pro
FBI briefed on alternate Sony hack theory

By Tal Kopan

12/29/14 7:41 PM EST

FBI agents investigating the Sony Pictures hack were briefed Monday by a security firm that says its research points to laid-off Sony staff, not North Korea, as the perpetrator — another example of the continuing whodunit blame game around the devastating attack.

Even the unprecedented decision to release details of an ongoing FBI investigation and President Barack Obama publicly blaming the hermit authoritarian regime hasn’t quieted a chorus of well-qualified skeptics who say the evidence just doesn’t add up.

Researchers from the cyber intelligence company Norse have said their own investigation into the data on the Sony attack doesn’t point to North Korea at all and instead indicates some combination of a disgruntled employee and hackers for piracy groups is at fault.............

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/fbi-briefed-on-alternate-sony-hack-theory-113866.html#ixzz3NM9IFAoJ

I didn't have anything to do with it. I am computer illiterate and I can't handle my own home computer properly............and I am proud of that fact.......:)

I am almost beginning to think computers a work of the devil.....
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UnknownTue Dec 30, 12:52:00 AM EST

RISE: Radical leftists on course to assume power in Greece.......Drudge

Well, finally !

The financial struggles of Greeks are over.

They will fix the Greek economy.

We can count on it.
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UnknownTue Dec 30, 01:18:00 AM EST
News from Idaho -

Another mysterious explosion heard in Bingham County; residents in Riverside say boom shook their homes

Posted: Monday, December 29, 2014 12:54 am | Updated: 8:53 pm, Mon Dec 29, 2014
By Journal Staff

Bingham County residents are reporting a second mysterious explosion less than a week after the first blast triggered several 911 calls.

Residents in the town of Riverside reported to the local media Sunday evening that they not only heard a loud explosion but the boom was powerful enough to shake their homes.

However, the Bingham County Sheriff's Office says that it did not receive any calls from residents about Sunday night's alleged blast.

This is in stark contrast to the explosion that several Groveland residents reported to the Sheriff's Office on Wednesday afternoon.

Those reports prompted sheriff's deputies, Blackfoot fire units and Idaho State Police to respond to Groveland to find what blew up.

But their search of the area turned up nothing.

Riverside is located about three miles west of Blackfoot, while Groveland is about two miles northwest of Blackfoot. Riverside and Groveland have about 850 residents each.

Because no one reported Sunday night's explosion to the Sheriff's Office it's unclear if the incident is going to be investigated.

When contacted Friday about the Wednesday explosion, the Sheriff's Office had no leads on what caused the blast.

Dozens of Groveland and Riverside residents have commented about the explosions on social media.

http://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/local/another-mysterious-explosion-heard-in-bingham-county-residents-in-riverside/article_e76e150e-8f2f-11e4-86f2-573e59da983c.html

It's just possible it's Mormons undergoing training for Mormon-jihad.

That area down there is filled with 'em.
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Jack HawkinsTue Dec 30, 09:25:00 AM EST
The Europeans rally to defeat deflation ...

Prices slid 1.1 percent this month from a year earlier, the Madrid-based National Statistics Institute said today. The drop was the sixth in a row and bigger than the 0.7 percent forecast by economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Euro-area data next week is forecast to show consumer prices in the currency bloc stagnated in December.

Oil prices have fallen by about half this year, dividing ECB officials as they consider whether to start large-scale sovereign-bond purchases, or quantitative easing. While Germany’s Jens Weidmann says cheaper energy is an economic “mini-stimulus” that alleviates any need for action, others including ECB Vice President Vitor Constancio have warned it could feed into broader price expectations and spark a deflationary spiral.

Spanish Prices Drop Most Since 2009 as Oil Bedevils ECB Debate
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Jack HawkinsTue Dec 30, 09:29:00 AM EST
I notice that Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson is taking Greece ...

Hitler tried, failed.
As have a host of others.

Not even the Greeks can take Greece.

That Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson would have the hubris to think he could take it ....
Confirms his status as just another delusional dumb fuck American.
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allenTue Dec 30, 10:16:00 AM EST
The Long and the Short of Household Formation

Rate of Americans Starting Own Households ‘Disturbingly Slow’

More Housing Bad News: Household Formation At 30 Year Lows
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Jack HawkinsTue Dec 30, 10:18:00 AM EST
Now take notice, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson ...

The Rat Doctrine is only implemented when the Coalition provides close air support to local forces in ground combat operations directly against the Daesh. If there are no local forces engaged in ground combat operations against the Daesh, any Coalition air strikes are not a part of the Rat Doctrine tactical portfolio.

The folks at Al Jazeera America' seem to be a echo chamber for both the American Stinker and Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson.

The United States faces massive roadblocks in its quest for victory against ISIL.

In Syria the prospects for a victory favoring the U.S. are even more remote. The U.S.-backed civilian group the Syrian National Coalition has little popular support. The Pentagon has stopped supporting the Free Syrian Army, the so-called moderate force backed by the U.S. for three years. The Free Syrian Army — not very popular in its own right — wants to focus on defeating Bashar al-Assad’s regime, while the United States demands that rebels fight ISIL first.

Now the Obama administration has a new scheme. The U.S. claims it will vet moderate rebels, send them to Saudi Arabia for training for one year and then return them to Syria. But even Vice President Joe Biden admitted that the Saudis helped fund and arm extremist rebels for years. The administration has offered nothing but token assurances that the Saudis have changed their practices.

Understanding the Israeli-Egyptian-Saudi alliance
By CAROLINE B. GLICK

Be careful who you lay with, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson, those are fleas crawling into your ear.
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Deuce ☂Tue Dec 30, 10:20:00 AM EST
Bob OreilleTue Dec 30, 07:30:00 AM EST
Many Iranians, fighting for civilization, want to blow up the USA.

I’ll take the Greeks.

You are mistaking Iran for Saudi Arabia, who actually did blow up some rather important US buildings. The Iranians were very supportive after 911 but our president, beholden to the Saudis chose to overlook that. Then of course we have our eternal ally Israel. Read on:

How Iran And Syria Offered To Help (After 911), But Got Rolled

by Mark Gaffney

01.05/05 "ICH" -- In the period after 911 the governments of Iran and Syria supplied intelligence information to the United States about Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and in other ways supported the initial US response to the World Trade Center attack. Their cooperation was an important new development, and could have led to improved US relations with both of these countries––but it never happened. This paper will explore why this potential for positive change was not realized. It will also argue that US Mideast policy continues to reflect narrowly conceived interests that are not conducive to the long-term peace and security of the region.

At the start of President Bush’s first term in office, the troubled US-Iran relationship showed signs of new life. Positive statements by Secretary of State Colin Powell were reciprocated by Iran’s Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi. American oil companies were very much in favor of lifting US sanctions on Iran––for obvious reasons. The last great oil and gas fields on earth still awaiting full development are in Central Asia, in the Caspian Sea basin, especially in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan. And by far the most direct and efficient route to get the oil/gas out lies through Iran, which already has an existing north-south network of pipelines. For this reason, during the Clinton years oil companies lobbied the White House to waive sanctions––as it turned out, unsuccessfully––so that they might reap immense profits from highly lucrative energy swaps. A swap of crude oil might work as follows: Iran would supply oil for export directly from its own fields in the Persian Gulf, while receiving an equivalent amount for its own energy needs from newly developed fields in neighboring Turkmenistan.1 By eliminating the need to transport oil over great distances, such swaps promised enormous savings to investors. Given the large number of officials in the Bush administration who had been plucked from the oil industry, there was every reason to think that the President would cater to these and similar proposals. Even VP Cheney, despite his hawkish views, was on record against sanctions. Back in 1996, while still the chairman of Halliburton, Cheney called sanctions against Iran “self-defeating.”2 His company was well-positioned to benefit. Halliburton had been dealing with Iran, despite the sanctions policy. In fact, the company was under investigation for violating it, and later even paid fines. The company also had business with Turkmenistan. Cheney’s remark reflected the cynical view that “business is business, so boys, let’s get on with enriching ourselves––and policy be damned.”
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Deuce ☂Tue Dec 30, 10:21:00 AM EST
The Axis of Evil and the dire consequences for the Palestinians

On January 3, 2002, the Israelis intercepted a ship in the Red Sea, the Karine A, loaded with military arms that had originated in Iran. The arms shipment was apparently en route to the Palestinians in Gaza, though some have said it was bound for Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon. The incident produced an immediate chill in the US-Iran dialogue that had held such promise. The Bush administration condemned Iran’s leaders for supporting terrorism, and for undermining the President’s Mideast peace process. The reality was rather different, however. By the start of 2002 there was no extant US Mideast peace process. Clinton’s Camp David initiative had long since fizzled. The second Intifada was underway. Arafat had been blamed for both––wrongly, as it happens.6 By the time of the Karine A incident, Israeli PM Sharon had rejected the idea of negotiations with the Palestinians, and was preparing a large new military offensive against them, which he unleashed in March 2002. Through the spring and summer of 2002, those Palestinians unlucky enough to live in the occupied West Bank endured a continuing nightmare of Israeli military incursions into their towns and communities. These included the leveling of wide urban areas with American-supplied Caterpillar bulldozers––this in addition to the usual helicopter rocket attacks, targeted assassinations, checkpoints, curfews, torture, and countless other forms of harassment. Sharon had declared open season on the Palestinians. Thousands were killed, and many more were wounded, arrested, or made homeless during this period. What was left of the West Bank economy also collapsed. Most of the population was reduced to bare subsistence, and became dependent on international food aid. For the first time, malnutrition became a serious problem. Many Palestinians lived on the edge, a meal or two away from starvation. During this period Israel reduced to rubble nearly all of the infrastructure (valued at hundreds of millions of dollars) that had been built-up during the Oslo peace process, including administrative and police buildings, radio stations, helicopter and port facilities, water utilities, electric facilities, schools, hospitals––everything needed to support a society, which was precisely the reason for the wholesale destruction: to erase the efforts of the Palestinians to create their own nation. The Israelis even stole or destroyed the Palestinian Authority’s computers and anything else they could get their hands on: administrative, legal and medical records, cultural materials, census information, and so on. The US press widely blamed the victims for the crackdown. The Palestinians obviously had brought this holocaust upon themselves because of their suicide bomber attacks on Israeli citizens, and also because of Arafat’s rejection of PM Ehud Barak’s “generous” peace offer. A more honest assessment, however, would have correctly placed at least an equal measure of blame at the doorstep of Israel and the White House. A more fair assessment would also have recognized the fundamental right of the Palestinians to defend themselves against Israel’s military attacks, which in many cases were carried out with advanced weapons supplied by the United States.
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Jack HawkinsTue Dec 30, 10:22:00 AM EST

The Truth About the Wars
By DANIEL P. BOLGER

As a veteran, and a general who learned hard lessons in two lost campaigns, I’d like to suggest an alternative. Maybe an incomplete and imperfect effort to contain the Islamic State is as good as it gets. Perhaps the best we can or should do is to keep it busy, “degrade” its forces, harry them or kill them, and seek the long game at the lowest possible cost. It’s not a solution that is likely to spawn a legend. But in the real world, it just may well give us something better than another defeat.

Daniel P. Bolger, the author of “Why We Lost,” retired from the United States Army last year as a lieutenant general.

Reads like Mr Bolger is recommending the Rat Doctrine
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Deuce ☂Tue Dec 30, 10:24:00 AM EST
The View from Israel

Now, let us explore the Israeli viewpoint. The Israeli government has viewed Iran as the regional threat since the period immediately following the 1991 Gulf War, which greatly weakened Saddam Hussein’s military power. No sooner had the dust from that conflict settled than the Israeli government shifted its focus away from Saddam, and launched a campaign to prepare the Israeli people for a future war against its new nemesis. According to the late dissident scholar Israel Shahak, all of the Hebrew newspapers in Israel joined “in the advocacy of this madness,” the lone exception being Ha’aretz, which, however, did nothing to challenge it.9 To my knowledge this war of words was not even reported in the United States. The matter of Iran also loomed large during Israel’s rancorous 2002 election campaign, in which the specter of a nuclearized Shi’ite theocracy became one of the most contentious issues separating the incumbent PM Ariel Sharon from his challenger, former PM Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu. Both candidates were hard-liners. On some issues Netanyahu was even farther to the right than Sharon. Nonetheless, their disagreement over how to deal with Iran was deep, and apparently was irreconcilable. The tone of the debate was bitter. Netanyahu took the position that it was too late to prevent Iran from going nuclear, and that Israel must accept this and come to terms with the new reality. But this only inflamed Sharon, who angrily accused Netanyahu of treason. Sharon evidently believed––no doubt he still believes––that Israel must go to any length to prevent the maturation of Iran’s nuclear program, even if this means war, which, in turn––notice––would require Israel to persuade, push, and, if necessary, to drag the Americans into it. As far as I know, the sparring of the two candidates over the question of Iran was never picked up and reported by the US media.

In the early 1990s the Israelis also launched a new offensive in Washington to persuade the Americans of the growing nuclear threat from Iran. By this period US-Iran relations had sunk to an all-time low. By 1995 President Bill Clinton was already outraged that Iran was opposing his Oslo Peace Process––with hindsight, Tehran’s reasons appear astutely accurate. The point, though, is that Clinton did not need much prodding by Israel. In May of that year Clinton hardened his containment policy by signing an executive order that imposed sweeping economic sanctions on Iran. Clinton even punished a dozen specified Russian companies for their nuclear and military trade, especially transfers of missile technology. The concern in Washington was not only with Iran’s developing nuclear program, but also with its continuing development of a delivery vehicle, namely, the Shahab-3 missile, which, according to experts will be capable of targeting US bases in the Gulf––and Israel. Clinton was much less successful persuading US allies to cooperate with his sanctions effort. No doubt, US unwillingness––already discussed––to confront Israel over its settlement policies had much to do with this, not to mention the US double standard regarding Israel’s own nuclear weapons program. The world looked to America for leadership, but instead saw hypocrisy. Throughout most of the 1990s the European Union’s policy toward Iran was one of “critical engagement.”10
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Deuce ☂Tue Dec 30, 10:25:00 AM EST
In November 2002, just weeks after George W. Bush had announced his new first strike policy of preventive war, PM Sharon openly called on the United States to bring about regime change in Tehran, after first dealing with Saddam Hussein.11 In April 2003, after the US invasion of Iraq, Sharon’s public statement was repeated again in more detail by Daniel Ayalon, the Israeli ambassador to Washington. Ayalon issued a statement to the press, in which he called for regime change in Syria and Iran, to be achieved by "diplomatic isolation, economic sanctions, and psychological pressure."12 The ambassador stopped just short of advocating a US-led war against Syria and Iran. This “softer” tone presumably reflected the perceived need to sanitize the message to insure its favorable reception by an American audience (one war at a time, if you please). Ayalon noted that while the overthrow of Saddam Hussein had created new opportunities for Israel, it was "not enough." "We have to follow through," Ayalon told a sympathetic conference of the Anti-Defamation League. “We still have great threats of that magnitude coming from Syria, coming from Iran." Ayalon criticized the European Union for encouraging commerce with Iran, and even appeared to advocate a suspension of diplomatic ties. “Governments should not allow visits by Iranian leaders such as President Sayed Mohammed Khatami and Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, and foreign leaders should not visit Iran,” he said. "I don't think this is the way to deal with them, because the more the regime is isolated, the shorter its days...” In fact, the Iranian leaders cited by Ayalon were anything but radical Mullahs. Khatami and Kharrazi were both moderate reformers who favored improved ties with the West, especially the US. Ayalon went on to express a delusional hubris rivaling that of Rumsfeld and company in the case of Iraq: “...and, as I mentioned, there is fertile ground in Iran to have a regime change there. Seventy percent of the population [of Iran] are really ready for regime change. They have tasted, they have been experiencing, before, democracy and Western cultures and they are yearning for it.”
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Deuce ☂Tue Dec 30, 10:27:00 AM EST
The Syrian Sanctions Bill

A large majority of the US Congress evidently shared ambassador Ayalon’s belief that harsh punitive action by the US would perversely strengthen the forces of democracy in the Mideast. In the Fall of 2003 both the House and Senate passed legislation to impose tough sanctions on Syria, in each chamber by overwhelming margins. Here, the numbers showed just how deep Ariel Sharon’s support was––is––in the US Congress. The bill’s final language gave President Bush considerable leeway to impose a wide range of sanctions against the Assad regime. Yet, as it happened, Congress was far out ahead of the Bush administration, which had not asked for the bill. Indeed, Bush initially had opposed it, and only began to support it on when its overwhelming passage became inevitable. Members of Congress described the legislation as necessary to punish Damascus; and they cited three reasons why Syria was culpable: 1) for allowing infiltration across the border into Iraq; 2) for pursuing weapons of mass destruction (notice, the same charge leveled against Saddam Hussein); and 3) because of Syria's military adventures in Lebanon and its support of terrorism.

All of the stated reasons were bogus. Not a one of them withstood closer scrutiny. After the House vote the Washington Post ran a follow up story debunking the alleged infiltration across Syria's 300-mile border with Iraq.13 The Post interviewed US military commanders with the 101st Airborne Division, guarding the northern portion of the frontier, and officers with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, currently watching the southern part of the line. The commanders flatly denied that any significant infiltration was occurring across the Syrian border with Iraq. They acknowledged that a 60-mile stretch of border north of the Euphrates River remained unpatrolled by US ground forces or Iraqi border police. However, they explained that under a project known as Operation Chamberlain the US military was constantly monitoring the line by air. The project apparently involves sophisticated Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) planes––drones––that gather information about vehicle movements and relay this to US forces. Strangely, no one in the press––to my knowledge––asked the next logical question: If our own US military is in agreement that nothing of consequence is getting through from Syria to trouble US occupation troops in Iraq, why then did members of Congress cite border infiltration as a justification for sanctions? Why, indeed?
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Deuce ☂Tue Dec 30, 10:28:00 AM EST
US Incursion into Syria

In fact, border violations have occurred, but not by the Syrians. On June 18, 2003 a US Special Operations team known as Task Force 20 crossed the Iraq border into Syria for the purpose of destroying a convoy of vehicles. Senior US officers believed the convoy was carrying high level officials from Saddam’s former regime who were escaping into Syria. The US task force, supported by helicopters and AC-130 gunships, penetrated more than 25 miles into Syrian territory. The raid resulted in a series of enormous explosions––fireballs lit up the night sky––and damaged a nearby housing complex. The incursion also triggered an intense fire fight with Syrian border police, after which, the US force withdrew. The Pentagon praised the operation, but other government sources described it as a fiasco that killed as as many as eighty innocent noncombatants—–the occupants of the cars and trucks, and civilians who lived in the area. High level US officials conceded that military intelligence had been faulty. In fact, the vehicles had been part of a smuggling operation and had no connection with the former Iraqi government. The convoy was carrying gasoline, which accounted for the explosions. Days after the incident, questions were still being asked about the source of the faulty intelligence, and why the Syrian government did not protest the flagrant violation of its sovereignty. In a moment, I will return to these questions. But first, let us complete our discussion of the sanctions bill.14

The second justification for the bill, Syria's alleged pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, was also dubious, and was akin to the proverbial naked elephant lounging in the living room. It’s no secret, the world has known for many years that Syria possesses chemical weapons mounted on an aging Soviet-era missile force. Yet, none of the supporters of the House bill bothered to mention the obvious: that Syria's decrepit missiles are its markedly inferior deterrent to neighboring Israel's much larger and vastly more advanced arsenal of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.15 In fact, the current imbalance of military power between the two states is so heavily weighted in favor of Israel that to cite Syria's weaker deterrent as a justification for sanctions is laughable, or would be if the implications for the region were not so serious. The language of the bill says nothing about Israel’s weapons of mass destruction, nor was the matter of Israel’s nukes ever mentioned on the House floor preceding the vote––facts that must have perplexed and dismayed the inhabitants of the Mideast, who live under the constant implicit threat of Israel’s nuclear weapons, and who, no doubt for this reason, follow US foreign policy decisions in Washington much more closely than do most Americans, and, I would add, with greater awareness.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7624.htm
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Deuce ☂Tue Dec 30, 10:31:00 AM EST
Syria Offers to Help

The matter of Hezbollah is doubly relevant to this investigation,

because after 911 the government of Syria, another supporter of Hezbollah, began to share its voluminous intelligence files on Al Qaeda with the CIA. According to Seymour Hersh, who covered the story for the New Yorker, this intelligence sharing was ordered by Syrian President Bashar Assad to improve his relations with the US.25 For many years Syria had been on a US State Department list of states that sponsor terrorism––and Assad wanted off the list. The intelligence sharing operation went well, and by early 2002 Syria was one of America’s most effective allies in the campaign against international terrorism. The Syrians had accumulated extensive files on Al Qaeda because of Al Qaeda’s close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical Islamic group that the secular Syrian government had been fighting for decades. In the course of tracking the Brotherhood the Syrians had penetrated Al Qaeda cells in the Middle East, and also Arab exile communities in Europe. As a result, they were able to provide the US with dossiers about many of the 911 hijackers, and other Al Qaeda members, who had operated out of cells in Aachen and Hamburg. The quality of the intelligence was excellent. Flynt Leverett, a former US National Security Council adviser, told Hersh that its “quality and quantity exceeded the agency’s [CIA’s] expectations...”26 Another official from the US State Department described the channel as “top notch.” In one case the Syrians provided the CIA with information about an Al Qaeda plot to attack the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, one of the Gulf states, a heads-up that enabled the US to thwart the terrorist operation and save American lives. Remarkably, the Syrians also allowed the CIA to undertake a sensitive intelligence-gathering mission inside their country––in Aleppo, near the Turkish border. The Syrians made it clear they were also prepared to do even more, for example, to provide the US with detailed information about controversial Saudi links to Al Qaeda. As Robert Baer, a former CIA field officer, put it: “The Syrians know that the Saudis were involved in the financing of the Muslim Brotherhood, and they for sure know the names.”27 Baer is the author of an important book, Sleeping With the Devil, in which he contends that the Saudis have given safe haven to Islamic extremists for many years, including members of Al Qaeda, and have also funded them to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. Baer also believes that the pipeline of cash continues to flow––post 911––for several reasons. One of these is protection. Saudi payoffs and gratuities from so called charities deflect Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood from attacking the royal family. As Baer points out, so far none of the terrorist attacks inside Saudi Arabia have been aimed at the playboy princes, or at the dysfunctional King Fahd, or at any other family members. Each and every attack so far has been aimed at American or foreign assets, which points to a tacit understanding.28 The terrorists have also refrained from attacking the kingdom’s vast complex of pipelines, refineries, and other oil-related equipment, all of which is extremely vulnerable to sabotage, but whose destruction, from Al Qaeda’s viewpoint, would at this time serve no purpose. Indeed, it would be self-defeating, because it would destroy the basis for the largesse that sustains the terrorists themselves. Consider also that chaos in Saudi Arabia would be an open invitation to the United States to intervene, which no one wants.
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Deuce ☂Tue Dec 30, 10:38:00 AM EST
...but keep reading your American Thinker.
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allenTue Dec 30, 10:42:00 AM EST
Median Household Incomes: The Real Truth about the U.S. Economic Recovery, Four Years Later

Poverty dropped but household incomes didn’t rise, Census Bureau says
Census economists said median household income in the U.S. last year was just under $52,000, roughly where it was in 2012 when the figures are adjusted for inflation. The median income is 8 percent lower than it was in 2007, the last full year of pre-recession economic well-being, and 11 percent below what it was in 2000.

REAL HOUSEHOLD INCOMES FALL 5.9% UNDER OBAMA

From the beginning of 2000 to the bottom of the recession in May of 2009, real household income fell by only -2%. But in the “supposed expansion,” real household income decayed by another -7.6%, before bottoming in August 2012 at down -9.6%. In the last two years, real household income has grudgingly recovered but is still down -5.9%.
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Deuce ☂Tue Dec 30, 10:42:00 AM EST
The corruptions of oil have flowed in both directions.

Long ago, at the insistence of the US, the Saudis became America’s largest arms customer. Saudi Arabia spends a larger percentage of its GNP on weapons than any other nation, by far, and it does most of its purchasing from US companies. Not that the kingdom needs the weapons––the US military protects Saudi Arabia from foreign threats. Baer estimates the grand total of this payola, since the arrangement began in the 1960s, at something in the vicinity of $100 billion. Entire sectors of the US economy arose and have flourished simply because of the Saudis’ willingness to placate the US government. But the sustained high level of military spending has not been good for the country. Today, Saudi Arabia is an armed camp. One day, after the tottering house of Sa’ud has been swept away, the US may find itself confronted by militant warriors armed to the teeth with weapons and ordnance that came from the good old USA.

The US also played another key role in the emergence of these same Islamic warriors. During the CIA’s largest covert operation ever, the “secret” war waged during the 1980s against the Soviets in Afghanistan, the US and its ally Pakistan passed over the more moderate Mujahedeen groups that might have become the nucleus of a future Afghan government. Instead, we armed and trained the most extreme elements.30 In this, the Saudis were only too happy to assist. They ponied up matching funds: $100 million at a whack. The radical Islamic recipients of this cash lifeline flourished, while more moderate groups passed into obscurity. Many of today’s Al Qaeda fighters received their training and arms during this period. The CIA never guessed that the same insurgents who helped bring down the mighty Soviet empire would later be emboldened to turn their gun sights in a different direction. The radicals Islamicists largely owe their Wahabbist faith to the Saudis, who supplied additional vast sums to establish and run thousands of madrassas across Pakistan’s wild West. There, in the autonomous border lands of mountain tribesmen, rampant smuggling, and the opium trade, a generation of orphans and refugees from war-torn Afghanistan were tutored not in math or science, nor even in their own venerable history, but learned instead a most extreme form of fundamentalist Islam. Wahabbism transmogrified became the Taliban.
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Deuce ☂Tue Dec 30, 10:47:00 AM EST
What great Americans they all were. Let’s build another huge Roman style monument to all of them and place them around the Mall.
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Deuce ☂Tue Dec 30, 10:56:00 AM EST
This should be good:

FBI briefed on alternate Sony hack theory

By TAL KOPAN 12/29/14 7:41 PM EST
FBI agents investigating the Sony Pictures hack were briefed Monday by a security firm that says its research points to laid-off Sony staff, not North Korea, as the perpetrator — another example of the continuing whodunit blame game around the devastating attack.
Even the unprecedented decision to release details of an ongoing FBI investigation and President Barack Obama publicly blaming the hermit authoritarian regime hasn’t quieted a chorus of well-qualified skeptics who say the evidence just doesn’t add up.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/fbi-briefed-on-alternate-sony-hack-theory-113866.html#ixzz3NOgXx4wI
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allenTue Dec 30, 11:00:00 AM EST
The Price of an Egg

2000 --- $0.09

2009 --- $0.11

2014 --- $0.18

% change 2000 - 2014 --- 100.00

% change 2009 – 2014 --- 63.63
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allenTue Dec 30, 11:10:00 AM EST
When household formation dramatically declines; when real income dramatically declines; when the price of staples dramatically increases; when the number of subsidized Americans is in the 45-47 million range and rising; when the "Middle Class" continues to shrink; the country (general public) is not faring well, despite the economy being awash in cash and equivalents.
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QuirkTue Dec 30, 11:26:00 AM EST
.

Iran a 'natural ally' of the US?

Good heavens.

Quoting HK on Iran is as bad as quoting Bibi on Iran. 'Iran would be a natural ally of the US, if only'..., bubblegum and lollipops, filled with enough caveats and limitations that it sounds like the 'rat doctrine' as described above, otherwise known a CAS, a 'tactic' dating back to WWI.

The ME is filled with about a half dozen countries seeking regional autonomy and a few more that are proxies. The US has no business being there. There are few things there we need and what we do need can be had without our presence there.

The US has no natural allies in the ME, only client states and adversaries.

.
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Deuce ☂Tue Dec 30, 11:45:00 AM EST
The US has no natural allies in the ME, only client states and adversaries.

In a strictly political Iran is an ally against ISIS . It is more correctly the opposite of an adversary.
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Rufus IITue Dec 30, 11:45:00 AM EST
The price of a dozen eggs at Walmart varies slightly by location but the average price is between 99 cents and $1.25.

Eggs - Walmart
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Deuce ☂Tue Dec 30, 12:02:00 PM EST
If I split my purchase to half smokes and half gasoline, I was making in real 2014 wages, $2200 per week.
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allenTue Dec 30, 12:25:00 PM EST
Egg prices hit record high as demand grows [26 NOV 2014]

Without question the substitution effect is at work, compensating for a major die-off in beef herds during the winter of 2013. Pork production has declined during the same period because of an epidemic of disease among piglets. Moreover, government subsidies have increased by about 30 million souls over the same period, driving demand. With that said, find a staple food that has not increased in price during the period 2009-2014. The fact is that Americans are paying a great deal more, in real terms, for the necessities of nutrition than they were in 2009; and are doing so in the face of about a 5.7% decrease in real income over the same period. When the trend started is irrelevant to the reality.
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Rufus IITue Dec 30, 12:50:00 PM EST
I'm going to the store, tomorrow. I'll report back on the price of eggs.

I'm betting on "$1.28 for small, and $1.58 for large."
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QuirkTue Dec 30, 12:53:00 PM EST
.

That process began when Nixon opened up China. Had we opened up America instead, real incomes would not have fallen.
Deuce ☂Tue Dec 30, 10:52:00 AM EST

The problem may have started with Nixon but China and trade deals were just part of the problem. As rebuttal to your statement, I offer you the ultimate appeal to authority

Jesus vs. the 1%

.

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QuirkTue Dec 30, 12:58:00 PM EST
.

You can’t hang that on Obama. It is a structural mistake and the intellectual property stolen by the Chinese is probably worth three million American jobs.

I don't blame Obama for the problem. It's been a long time developing and may be impossible to reverse for all I know. What I do blame Obama for is that except for right before elections he has shown very little inclination to even 'talk' much less act to try and do anything about it.

.
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AnonymousTue Dec 30, 01:09:00 PM EST
Three Syrian diplomats left Damascus for Kuwait Monday where they will reopen their country's embassy in the Persian Gulf nation, ...
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AnonymousTue Dec 30, 01:12:00 PM EST
Russia threatened Tuesday that it might halt its assistance on critical international issues if the U.S. continues its strategy of economic sanctions against Moscow.

"The actions by the United States are putting in doubt the prospects of bilateral cooperation on solving the situation around the Iranian nuclear program, the Syrian crisis and other acute international problems," Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"As Washington could have seen previously, we don't leave such unfriendly acts without an answer," the ministry added.

The terse statement comes a day after the U.S. Treasury Department announced it would impose sanctions on four more Russians for alleged human rights abuses, including two law enforcement officials believed to have covered up the death of a prominent anti-corruption lawyer while he was held in prison.

The ministry’s statement marks latest backward step in the relationship between Washington and Moscow. Relations have deteriorated steadily since the US sponsored coup in Kiev ...
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allenTue Dec 30, 01:28:00 PM EST
Fire at Libyan oil port destroys up to 1.8 million barrels of crude
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Jack HawkinsTue Dec 30, 01:43:00 PM EST
'Someone was just talking about how ISIS was going to garner revenue from Libyan oil sales ...

Guess not, really.
The fires have been burning for almost a week.

In the 'good ole days' the Libyans would ship a million barrels a day.

Bet there's a cork in it, now.

{;-)
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UnknownTue Dec 30, 01:46:00 PM EST
My God Deuce, you certainly trashed up your blog with all those long posts !

I thought we weren't supposed to do that?

;)

Or is that just a prerogative of the blog owner?

................

rat is saying the rat Doctrine is not an EPIC FAIL because one of its elements is lacking, disciplined local fighters on the ground.

THAT IS JUST THE POINT YOU DUMB SHIT

JEsus chaREEist

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UnknownTue Dec 30, 01:54:00 PM EST
If every American family were allowed some chickens in the home, like in China, the price of eggs would collapse.

Add a hog or two in the back yard and breakfast would be free.
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UnknownTue Dec 30, 02:00:00 PM EST
December 30, 2014
Obama: Iran can be a 'very successful regional power'
By Rick Moran

Obama, the delusional:

"[W]hen I came into office, the world was divided and Iran was in the driver's seat. Now the world's united because of the actions we've taken, and Iran's the one that's isolated," Obama told NPR.................

............Iran is among the least "sophisticated" countries in the world. Their beliefs date from the 9th century and, despite an overlay of Western technology, are as backward as any country on Earth. Any nation that uses as a basis of law the literal interpretation of a book writen 1,400 years ago cannot be considered "modern" in any way, shape, or form.

What do you think the Saudis and the other Sunni Arab gulf states think of Obama's ridiculous notion that Iran would conform to international law? No one can be that naive, right?

Iran as a regional hegemon would be a catastrophe for the region and the world. The fact that the president of the United States is encouraging that outcome is unbelievable.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/12/obamal_iran_can_be_a_very_successful_regional_power.html#ixzz3NPQvJGfx
Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/12/obamal_iran_can_be_a_very_successful_regional_power.html#ixzz3NPQg1oAR
Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook
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UnknownTue Dec 30, 02:04:00 PM EST
Just passing it on, as my old girl friend says to do -

> Subject: Clint Eastwood says.....
>
> Clint Eastwood....
>
> If you realize each day is a gift, you may be near my age.
>
>
> As I enjoy my twilight years, I am often struck by the inevitability that the
party must end.

> There will be a clear, cold morning when there isn't any "more." No more hugs,
no more special moments to celebrate together, no more phone calls just to chat.

It seems to me that one of the important things to do before that morning comes,
is to let every one of your family and friends
> know that you care for them by finding simple ways to let them know your heartfelt
beliefs and the guiding principles of your life so they can always say, "He was my
friend, and I know where he stood."
>
> So, just in case I'm gone tomorrow, please know this: I voted against that
incompetent, lying, flip-flopping, insincere, double-talking, radical socialist,
terrorist excusing, bleeding heart, narcissistic, scientific and economic moron
currently in the White House!
>
> Participating in a gun buy-back program because you think that criminals have too
many guns is like having yourself castrated because you think your neighbors have
too many kids.
>
> Regards, Clint
> Make my day—Pass it on!
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UnknownTue Dec 30, 02:12:00 PM EST
GRUBER: Obamacare WON'T Be Affordable...

We'll Have To Deny Treatment...............Drudge
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AnonymousTue Dec 30, 04:14:00 PM EST
Not too bright in Idaho

A woman in the US state of Idaho has been killed after a two-year-old boy accidentally shot her with a gun he found when reaching into her handbag.

The woman was shot in a Wal-Mart in Hayden, a town in Idaho's northern panhandle.

A sheriff's spokesman said the woman was shopping with several children and it was unclear if they were related.

Officials said she had a concealed weapons permit but her identity has not been released.

The Wal-Mart closed after the shooting.

Local media reported the woman was visiting the area and died at the scene.
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AnonymousTue Dec 30, 04:25:00 PM EST
Could it be part of the Mormon jihad?

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A teenager accused of bringing a loaded gun to his northern Utah high school to open fire on other students has been charged with four misdemeanor weapons violations.

Authorities say the teenager was angry after hearing rumors circulating about him and planned to shoot a former girlfriend and others at Fremont High School in Plain City on Dec. 1.

The 16-year-old has been charged in juvenile court with possessing a dangerous weapon at a school, possessing a weapon with intent to assault, carrying a concealed weapon and possessing a weapon as a minor.

Weber County sheriff's Lt. Lane Findlay confirmed the charges Tuesday but didn't have details about when they were filed.

Messages left with prosecutors weren't immediately returned.

The Associated Press isn't naming the teenager because he's a juvenile.
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UnknownTue Dec 30, 04:31:00 PM EST
Might be. Good possibility, in fact.
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AnonymousTue Dec 30, 04:47:00 PM EST
Rufus IITue Dec 30, 03:26:00 PM EST

Meanwhile, Corporate Profits just keep on truckin'.

onward and upward
...........

I'm hoping d. rat will post his "rat's Portfolio Picks" for the coming year so we all can get rich.
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UnknownTue Dec 30, 04:58:00 PM EST
Israeli Right to Dominate Election
December 30, 2014 by Ari Lieberman 26 Comments
462730
Print This Post Print This Post

Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Canada's PM Stephen Harper on the side lines of the United Nations General Assembly in New YorkIn early December, Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu fired his justice and finance ministers and called for the dissolution of the parliament and new elections. Frequent internal bickering coupled with open dissention from within the ranks of his coalition partners made Netanyahu’s position untenable and forced him to act resolutely. Elections are due to be held on March 17, 2015 and if past elections are any guide, this one promises to have the requisite amount of drama and mudslinging.

Navigating the labyrinth of the Israeli electoral process is a daunting task. Unlike the United States which has a 2-party system, Israel is a parliamentary democracy which maintains a multi-party system of government. There are 120 parliamentary seats up for grabs in Israel’s parliament or Knesset, as it is called in Hebrew. The party which garners a majority of Knesset seats may lead but no single party in Israel’s history has ever won a majority of parliamentary seats.......

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/ari-lieberman/israeli-right-to-dominate-election/
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UnknownTue Dec 30, 05:06:00 PM EST
Books and Movies by Cubans Themselves
December 30, 2014 by Lloyd Billingsley 11 Comments
182526
Print This Post Print This Post

ahReprinted from The Sacramento Bee.

Former California legislator Tom Hayden contends that key episodes in Cuban history are “best recalled” through “The Godfather: Part II” (“50 years later it’s time for closure and moving on”; Forum, Dec. 21). Those who seek actual knowledge of Cuba will find it in two films by actual Cubans.

When Cuban Gen. Arnaldo Ochoa returned from his military campaign in Africa, “8A,” a play on his name, began to appear on walls all over the island. Cubans believed the popular general was the only one with a chance to topple Fidel Castro’s communist dictatorship. Castro knew it, too.

He held a show trial for Ochoa and put it on satellite television. Cuban filmmaker Orlando Jimenez Leal taped it and made the documentary “8A.” Viewers can see the regime’s lawyers demanding that their clients get the death penalty.

Castro agreed and on July 13, 1989, duly carried out the sentence by firing squad, just like back in the day. No appeal process, and no more threat from Arnaldo Ochoa and others.

In “Improper Conduct,” Jimenez Leal and cinematographer Nestor Almendros portrayed the Castro regime’s repressions against political dissidents, journalists, poets and homosexuals. The New York Times called the film “convincing,” and former Castro supporter Susan Sontag said, “The discovery that homosexuals were being persecuted in Cuba shows how much the left needs to evolve.”

Hayden has written a new book, “Listen Yankee! Why Cuba Matters.” Sounds fascinating, but readers might want to compare it to books by actual Cubans.

In “Against All Hope,” which has been compared to Arthur Koestler’s “Darkness at Noon,” Cuban dissident Armando Valladares charts 20 years in Castro’s prisons, and the violence he and other political prisoners suffered. Arrested in 1960, Valladares was not freed until 1982, through the efforts of French President Francois Mitterand and human rights organizations.

In “Family Portrait With Fidel,” Carlos Franqui charts the Cuban Revolution from 1959 to 1964. Franqui broke ranks over Castro’s shift to Soviet communism, after which “nothing worked.” The privations of the regime get extensive treatment in Heberto Padilla’s novel, “Heroes are Grazing in My Garden.”

In “The Longest Romance,” Humberto Fontova calculates that between 65,000 and 85,000 people have died trying to escape Cuba, 30 times the number of casualties at the Berlin Wall. Cuba’s prison population includes Eusebio Penalver, “the world’s longest suffering black political prisoner"......

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/lloyd-billingsley/books-and-movies-by-cubans-themselves/

Sorry for the long post/quote but wanted to get the names of the main books in there.

Interesting article
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UnknownTue Dec 30, 05:10:00 PM EST

Arab Israeli Politician Praises Terrorism
by Ronn Torossian

The Hamas representative in the Israeli Knesset.

December 29 2014 / 30 Comments / Read More

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/ronn-torossian/arab-israeli-politician-praises-terrorism/
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allenTue Dec 30, 05:44:00 PM EST
MICHIGAN HAS MORE FOOD STAMP RECIPIENTS THAN STUDENTS

... but, hey, no problems... This is how America was built.
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samTue Dec 30, 05:45:00 PM EST
The UN Security Council failed Tuesday to adopt a resolution on Palestinian statehood by a vote of eight to two, with five abstentions.

...

Australia and the United States voted against...
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allenTue Dec 30, 05:55:00 PM EST
The price of 12 eggs, large in Jackson, Mississippi is $2.80 [20 OCT 2014]

Egg Donation Agency: Mississippi Fertility Institute
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samTue Dec 30, 06:06:00 PM EST
Indonesian rescuers searching for an AirAsia plane carrying 162 people pulled bodies and wreckage from the sea off the coast of Borneo on Tuesday, prompting relatives of those on board watching TV footage to break down in tears.

...

A navy spokesman said a plane door, oxygen tanks and one body had been recovered and taken away by helicopter for tests.

...

The plane, whose engines were made by CFM International, co-owned by General Electric and Safran of France, lacked real-time engine diagnostics or monitoring, a GE spokesman said.
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allenTue Dec 30, 06:24:00 PM EST
Palestinian Statehood Bid Falls Short in U.N. Security Council by One Vote
Voting for Palestinians
France
China
Russia
Jordan
Argentina
Chad
Luxembourg
Chile

Had the chicken-shit Brits not abstained, the Palestinian measure would have passed. As usual, the Brits displayed their characteristic duplicity. Recently, the parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Palestinians.

I wonder if the French will sell the Mistrals to Israel. They would be perfect for that day when Israel needs to come ashore in Lebanon and envelop Hezbollah. Furthermore, they would perform as ideal platforms for shielding Israel’s growing natural gas fields from unwelcome visitors – twenty-four attack helicopters provide many eyes and a lot of firepower. Given the French need to sell the ships, anything is possible. A new Sarkosy government in France might see the light of economic expediency and active diplomacy. After all, countering terrorism is everyone’s business as the apple of the president’s eye, Iran, is proving.
France’s naval industry considers the Mistral one of its engineering jewels, with the navy dubbing the ship the “Swiss army knife”. It is designed to carry as many as a dozen assault helicopters, sixty armoured vehicles, and a dozen tanks. It can also host up to 700 troops and a full hospital.
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UnknownTue Dec 30, 06:26:00 PM EST
Lakhvi arrested before his release from jail

The Statesman
30 Dec 2014

Press Trust of India

Islamabad, 30 December: Mumbai attack mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was today arrested just before his release following a Pakistani court's suspension of his detention under a public security order which had evoked a strong reaction from India.

“Lakhvi has been arrested in another case,” an interior ministry spokesman told PTI. However, he said the details of the case would be provided to the media later.

Lakhvi was set to be freed from the Adaila Jail Rawalpindi this morning on the order of the Islamabad High Court after he submitted Rs 1 million surety bond, but just before that the jail superintendent received an order from the government regarding his arrest in another case.

“Lakhvi was then presented before a magistrate who remanded him in custody,” the official said.............

http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/content/2008-mumbai-mastermind-arrested-another-charge-controversial-release-pakistan
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UnknownTue Dec 30, 06:36:00 PM EST
Cuban dissidents arrested before free-speech demonstration in Havana..............drudge

Pre-speech detention ahead of free speech demo. Raul done used his delete button. Wonder which Cuban dungeon they will be going to..........
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allenTue Dec 30, 07:11:00 PM EST
Re: “some consulting”

In 2009, just one month after President Obama took office, the Department of Health and Human Services put out a sole-source solicitation titled “Technical Assistance in Evaluating Options for Health Reform.” The contract would be with Gruber, who the document said was the only person “reasonably available to satisfy agency requirements.”

As the agency put it, “Dr. Gruber developed a proprietary statistically sophisticated micro-simulation model that has the flexibility to ascertain the distribution of changes in health care spending and public and private sector health care costs due to a large variety of changes in health insurance benefit design, public program eligibility criteria, and tax policy.”

The first four months of (Gruber’s) contract (with the Obama administration) could not be found on the FedBizOpp.gov Web site, but in June 2009, HHS renewed the contract for eight months, with a value of $297,600. Gruber in an e-mail confirmed that the first part of the contract was for $95,000.
That adds up to $392,600 — or “almost $400,000.”

… some consulting for some states …

Michigan: $481,050
Minnesota: $329,000
Vermont: $400,000
Wisconsin: $400,000
Gruber has also earned more than $2 million over the last seven years for an ongoing contract with HHS to assess choices made by the elderly in Medicare’s prescription-drug plan.

The “Republican asshole” is apparently loved on a bipartisan basis.
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What is "Occupation"Tue Dec 30, 07:31:00 PM EST
And, he opined this in Two Thousand and Fucking 09
You poor befuddled old fuck.
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samTue Dec 30, 07:32:00 PM EST
Divers and ships will search for the wreckage and the all important black boxes of a doomed AirAsia plane on Wednesday after Indonesian rescuers found several bodies and debris floating in shallow waters off the coast of Borneo.

...

The plane, which did not issue a distress signal, disappeared after its pilot failed to get permission to fly higher to avoid bad weather because of heavy air traffic.

...

Three airline disasters involving Malaysian-affiliated carriers in less than a year have dented confidence in the country's aviation industry and spooked travelers across the region.
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AnonymousTue Dec 30, 08:27:00 PM EST
The Baghdad Agreement pulls both sides from the brink. It is a win-win, generating revenue for both the KRG and Baghdad, while deferring difficult decisions over Kirkuk's status and Kurdistan's independence.

The KRG is required to deliver 250,000 barrels of oil per day from oilfields in the Kurdistan Region to Baghdad. It will also assist the export of 300,000 barrels per day from Kirkuk via its pipeline, which skirts territory controlled by the Islamic State. In turn, Baghdad will resume payments to the KRG.

Baghdad will also give the peshmerga $1 billion to support the ongoing fight against ISIS.

Baghdad's direct support of the peshmerga also has symbolic value. After 11 years of talks, Baghdad is providing a portion of the national defense budget to the peshmerga. The agreement treats the peshmerga as part of the Iraqi defense system.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102301477#.
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What is "Occupation"Tue Dec 30, 08:55:00 PM EST
UN Resolution 181, the Partition Resolution, passed in November 1947, called for the creation of a Jewish state and an Arab state in the land which at that point was controlled by the British-run Palestine Mandate. All the Arab countries opposed the resolution, voted against it, and promised to go to war to prevent its implementation. Representing the Palestinians, the Arab Higher Committee also opposed the plan and threatened war, while the Jewish Agency, representing the Jewish inhabitants of the Palestine Mandate, supported the plan.

The Arabs and the Palestinians were true to their word and did launch a war against the Jews of Palestine, violating both Resolution 181 and the UN Charter. Much to the surprise of the Arab side, the Jews were able to survive the initial onslaughts and eventually win the war.

The fundamental fact remains that had the Arabs and the Palestinians accepted the Partition Resolution and not violated the UN Charter by attacking Israel, there would be a 63-year-old Palestinian state today next to Israel, and there would not have been a single Palestinian refugee.

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AnonymousTue Dec 30, 08:56:00 PM EST
"There's still a big fight going on here, so we're trying to get the Iraqi army ready to get back on the offensive," said Maj. Gen. Paul Funk, commander of Coalition Joint Forces Land Component Command-Iraq and the 1st Infantry Division. "They've blunted Daesh, and Daesh is losing across the country. We're trying to build that fist so they can finish the fight against Daesh in Iraq."

Funk, who is in charge of U.S. and coalition land forces in Iraq, refers to the Islamic State as Daesh, an Arabic term that leaders of the extremist group reportedly hate and consider pejorative. It's a term many leaders, including Lt. Gen. James Terry, commander of the U.S. war effort in Iraq and Syria, use as well.
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samTue Dec 30, 09:43:00 PM EST
A committee formed by the Kurdistan Region president has questioned 200 Peshmerga officers over their performance when Islamic State (ISIS) militants attacked Iraq’s Kurdish areas last summer, with disciplinary action possible against some.

...

Jabar Yawar, chief of staff of the Peshmerga ministry, said that officers from Shingal all the way to the southeastern frontlines of Khanaqin were questioned by the committee and that some might be disciplined.
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