COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Friday, January 02, 2015

If reports are true that Sony Pictures was hacked by ticked-off ex-employees yet North Korea’s Internet was brought down by a U.S. cyberattack, who is the cyberterrorist now?

IS WAR IN THE CARDS FOR 2015?


“If you see 10 troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you,” said Calvin Coolidge, whose portrait hung in the Cabinet Room of the Reagan White House.
Among the dispositions shared by the two conservatives was a determination to stay out of other people’s wars. Peering into 2015, there are wars into which our interventionists are eager to plunge that represent no immediate or grave threat to us.
One is the war the Islamic State group is waging in Syria and Iraq, a menace so great, we are told, it may require U.S. ground troops.
But why? Syria and Iraq are 5,000 miles away. And because of its barbarism and incompetence, the Islamic State is losing support in the Sunni lands it now occupies.
The Kurds have halted the group’s advance toward Irbil, Iraq. Shiite militias, no friends of ours, have halted its advance toward Baghdad. The Islamic State is under steady drone and air attack by the U.S. and Arab allies. Iran is providing men and materiel to Damascus and Baghdad in their battle against the group.
Now the Turks and Gulf Arabs, including the Saudis, appear to have awakened to the threat and are weighing in against the Islamic State.
Why not let them do the fighting?
By staying out of the two world wars of the 20th century until the other great powers were fully engaged and horribly bled, America emerged triumphant with the fewest casualties and least damage.
That used to be called statesmanship.
Moreover, compared with Nazi Germany, imperial Japan, Stalin’s USSR and Mao’s China, the Islamic State doesn’t even make the “JV,” to use Barack Obama’s term.
Last month, the drums were beating for an attack on North Korea for what Sen. John McCain called a “new form of warfare” and what Sen. Lindsey Graham called “cyberterrorism” aided by China.
In “A Reply to Kim’s Cyberterrorism,” the Wall Street Journal urged a “forceful response” to deter “future attacks.” Swiftly, there followed the crashing of North Korea’s Internet system.
Query: If reports are true that Sony Pictures was hacked by ticked-off ex-employees yet North Korea’s Internet was brought down by a U.S. cyberattack, who is the cyberterrorist now?
Perhaps some of those Iranian technicians in Natanz who watched their centrifuges breaking down and blowing up from the Stuxnet virus have some thoughts on this.
But the most determined push for war in 2015 will come from neocons and interventionists who want a U.S.-Putin confrontation and regime change in Russia. And as Russia has a nuclear arsenal to match our own, this is a matter of real gravity.
Because of U.S.-EU sanctions on Russia for its role in Ukraine and the collapse in the price of oil, Russia’s principal export, the ruble has lost half its value, and the economy faces a contraction of 5 percent in 2015.
Real hardships lie ahead for the Russian people. But it seems they are not blaming Vladimir Putin for their troubles. They are blaming us.
“According to the respected Moscow ‘Levada Center,’ which measures political sentiment in Russian society,” the New York Observer reports, “74 percent of Russians have negative feelings towards the USA. … In the 1990s, 80 percent had positive attitude toward America.
“Currently, 76 percent of Russians hate Obama personally and only a meager 2 percent like him. … These are the maximum peaks of anti-American feelings in Russia in years. … Just last week Visa and MasterCard completely stopped their operations in Crimea, leaving more than 2 million people there without access to their money.”
One Moscow supermarket is using American flags as doormats, and customers are wiping their feet on them.
Before going home, Congress voted to levy new sanctions on Russia and authorized U.S. lethal weapons to be sent to Kiev to enable Ukraine to retake Luhansk and Donetsk and perhaps Crimea.
Obama signed the bill.
With Republican hawks taking over all congressional committees dealing with foreign and defense policy, peace and war, in the new year, there will be a competitive clamor that Obama send the guns to Kiev.
And what happens then?
Will Putin abandon the rebels and face the rage of the Russian people for backing down? Will Putin wait for the U.S. anti-tank weapons and ammunition to arrive and be sent to eastern Ukraine?
Or will Putin, a decisive sort, send in the Russian army before the U.S. weapons arrive, hive off a land bridge to Crimea — and maybe more for bartering purposes — and call Obama’s bluff?
In his New Year’s message to the Russian people, Putin hailed the annexation of Crimea as an achievement that will “forever remain a landmark in the national history.”
Doesn’t sound as if he’ll be giving Crimea up any time soon.
“It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future,” said the wise Yogi Berra. But one prediction seems not too risky.
Either Obama and Putin enter negotiations over Ukraine or the war in Ukraine, with 4,700 dead since April, gets bigger and wider.
Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of the new book “The Greatest Comeback: How Richard Nixon Rose From Defeat to Create the New Majority.” 

91 comments:

  1. Calvin Coolidge, huh? The guy whose policies gave us the "Great Depression?"

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    1. Maybe 9 troubles ran into a ditch, but that no. 10 was a real motherfucker.

      Delete
  2. In other words, Obama's policy is working fine in Iraq; let's try to cause him some trouble over Ukraine.

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    1. Another 23 Airstrikes, yesterday (52 in the first two days of 2015.)

      So, how about that New Year, eh, headcutters?

      No longer walking, just dead

      Delete
    2. Don't get me wrong Rufus, I support the USA's airstrikes.

      That being said, you show a unrestrained enthusiasm for them and yet, when Israel was being 40 times more careful NOT to cause civilian causalities you down right called them war criminals.

      I don't expect you to publicly change your stripes as you are either by pride or by sheer Israel hatred to stubborn to publicly admit you were being a hypocrite on the subject.

      But between you and I?

      Start thinking about the headcutters and WHO they are.

      Who the Revolutionary Guard is, who Hamas is, who Hezbollah is (etc etc) and when you see that they all claim Allah is their god and Mohammed is their greatest messenger, that they ALL murder the infidel, they all cut off people's heads, they all kidnap, use rape and torture to further their Islamic Jihad you might learn see you have been off the farm shall we say about Israel.

      Dont respond, no need for you to further your vapid point of view to the readers..

      :)

      Delete
    3. Blow me, asshole. The U.S. isn't perfect, but there is very little moral equivalence between Our actions, and the Israelis.

      Delete
    4. Rufus you are correct, The USA has used nukes on civilians, genocided the natives and used napalm on the enemy.

      Israel doesn't do that.

      As for your repeated homosexual requests?

      No thank you. :)

      Again, don't respond, sit, learn, investigate....

      Delete
    5. Blow me, asshole. The U.S. isn't perfect, but there is very little moral equivalence between Our actions, and the Israelis.



      If Israel had nuked Gaza city like America nuked Hiroshima?

      Hmmm......

      You might have a point...

      If Israel had treated the arabs of Israel the way America treated Indians in America?

      You might have a point....

      But you don't, you have ego, pride and arrogance.

      Delete
  3. And, yes, I sympathize with the children, but I have No sympathy (or empathy) for the stupid bitch that leaves a loaded gun within reach of a toddler.

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    1. It was within a concealed carry pouch inside a purse.

      Your quickness to condemn the "stupid bitch" is quite telling..

      Put yourself in the lady's shoes. You don't know WHY she carried.

      Think before you condemn her.

      Delete
    2. She "carried" in a dangerous manner; that's all I need to know.

      A Two year old set it off.

      Delete
    3. The "stupid" part is a culture that accepts, nay encourages, a mother to pack heat while shopping with her family at WalMart.

      look in the mirror for the stupid amongst us.

      Delete
    4. It is more than stupidity - it is FEAR!

      Delete
    5. Shoulda known you'd weigh in, Noble Ash.

      But I do agree with you. Inside Wal-Mart doesn't seem the proper setting.

      The Wal-Mart parking lot, maybe. :(

      The park at night or the streets at night, absolutely. Daytime too........

      Mirror, mirror, on the wall
      Who's the........
      It's it's......Noble Ash!

      She must have had a cartridge in the chamber. Another error. KId wouldn't have been able to chamber a round, probably.

      Delete
  4. As I am typing this there is NO PROOF the USA took down access to netflix and porn to North Korea for a day.

    To call the shutdown of North Korea's access to amazon for a day as "cyber terrorism" as compared to the SONY hack?

    Would embrace that Christian concept that all SIN is equal.

    As Jimmy "the Dhimmi" Carter once said, I lusted in my heart for a woman and that was the same as cheating on my wife....

    No not all "cyber terrorism" is the same.

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  5. “According to the respected Moscow ‘Levada Center,’ which measures political sentiment in Russian society,” the New York Observer reports, “74 percent of Russians have negative feelings towards the USA. … In the 1990s, 80 percent had positive attitude toward America.

    This is weak gruel. There is no reputable source within Putin's Russia.

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  6. .

    Would embrace that Christian concept that all SIN is equal.

    Where do you come up with this stuff?

    .

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Billy Graham’s Answer: What is Sin? Are All Sins Equal in God’s Eyes?

      When once asked, ‘What is the definition of sin?’ Billy Graham gave the following answer:

      A sin is any thought or action that falls short of God’s will. God is perfect, and anything we do that falls short of His perfection is sin.

      The Bible actually uses a number of examples or “word pictures” to illustrate what this means. For example, it tells us that sin is like an archer who misses the target. He draws back his bow and sends the arrow on its way—but instead of hitting the bull’s-eye, it veers off course and misses the mark. The arrow may only miss it a little bit or it may miss it a great deal—but the result is the same: The arrow doesn’t land where it is supposed to.

      The same is true of sin. God’s will is like the center of that target—and when we sin, we fall short of His will or miss the mark. And this is something we do every day; as the Bible says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Even when we aren’t aware of it, we commit sin by the things we do (or fail to do), or by the way we think.

      This is why we need Christ, for only He can forgive us all our sins, and only He can help us live the way we should. We can’t forgive ourselves, nor can we change our hearts and make ourselves better in God’s eyes.

      Delete
    2. In one sense, the answer is, “Yes, sin is sin.” James 2:10-11 says: “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.” From these verses, we see that any sin is enough to convict a person as a sinner. John said as much when he wrote: “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). So, even though cultures may view certain sins as more or less important than others, the Bible teaches that any deviation from God’s law is enough to keep an individual from the presence of the Lord if that sin is not forgiven.

      This point is further underscored in the story of the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18-27). The rich young ruler explained to Jesus that he had kept all of the commandments from the time of his youth. Jesus responded to him by saying, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” At these words, the young ruler left sorrowfully. Though he had kept all of the commandments save one, he was still living in sin, due to the fact that he valued his wealth more than his relationship with God. According to Jesus’ statement, the young man only lacked “one thing,” yet it was still enough to keep him from the presence of the Lord. So, in this context, all sins are the same.



      It's not my dogma.

      Delete
    3. But the thread was calling the denial of service to the NKor's as Cyber terrorism... the same as what happened to Sony..

      That was and IS my point.

      The dogma of SOME christians aint...

      After all there are HUNDREDS of versions of Christians now, who holds the official Christian manual?

      Delete
    4. .

      It amazes how some people can read a simple English sentence and read into it things that aren't there. It's almost rat like.

      The first mistake amounts to a logical fallacy, the assumption that Billy Graham could speak for all Christians, all 2 billion of them in their various denominations and sects.

      The second is assuming that a general description of all sin as an act that falls short of God's will somehow insinuates that the gravity of all those acts is equal, that lying to your girlfriend for instance is the same as murdering her.

      .

      .

      Delete
    5. Quirk, I am QUICK to concede that Jimmy Carter's Lust in my Heart and such doesn't speak for all or even a majority of Christians.

      I also was just pointing out the point that a DOS against North Korea aint the same as the hacking and destruction of Sony's stuff...

      I didn't INVENT the all sin is equal motif...

      If you type in google "all sin is equal" it comes up with 119,000,000 resulting in .36 seconds.

      so the concept, right or wrong, is out there..

      Delete
  7. .

    Looks like Ol' Pat is pretty much right on this morning especially on the matter of American interests.

    .

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  8. .

    All we can do is speculate on who did the deed both in the Sony attack and also on the one in NK. Although NK has denied that they were responsible for for the Sony attack and (as far as I know) the US has not commented on whether they were involved in the attack on NK.

    .

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    1. Once again a denial of service is not the same as hacking and ruining a company.

      Not all "cyber terrorism" is created equal.

      Delete
    2. .

      Nonsense.

      How do we know that NK attacked Sony? I mean they have denied it. You have cyber security agencies saying they couldn't have done it. NK didn't even seem to complain when another movie, Team America: World Police hit theaters with a similar plot in some respects.

      Well we have the Obama administration who says they did it, no doubt based on info from the CIA an agency that has an oxymoron written into its name. An agency whose director lied to Congress. An agency whose record just ain't that good. The is the same Obama whose polls are in the tank, who has been accused of being a weak sister on foreign policy, and who has stated that he would make NK suffer.

      And how do we know the US wasn't involved? Well, we have a firm "No comment". And it's not like the Obama administration would use a film for political purposes.

      However, I'm not saying NK did or didn't attack Sony. I'm also not saying the US did or did not attack NK. What I am saying is that if in fact the US did shut down the NK internet in a tit for tat act of spite it was stupid.

      The NK internet is not the same as the US internet. Theirs is used for government agencies not Facebook. Players in our government have stated that our grid is vulnerable to cyber attack. We sure don't need to precipitate a war which we assuredly would win but has the potential to cost this country dearly.

      .

      Delete
    3. Nonsense?

      Again, the hacking of sony (whoever did it) is not the same as cutting off access to the internet to Nkor.

      Is it stupid? sure...

      but that was not my point.

      not all cyber terrorism is the same.

      Delete
    4. .

      not all cyber terrorism is the same.

      Surely you are not saying that attacking a company over a stupid movie that only pre-pubescents could enjoy was worse than shutting down infrastructure in another country.

      .

      Delete
  9. Pat's off his rocker, still hung over from New Year's Eve -

    "But the most determined push for war in 2015 will come from neocons and interventionists who want a U.S.-Putin confrontation and regime change in Russia. And as Russia has a nuclear arsenal to match our own, this is a matter of real gravity."

    Name someone, anyone, who is pushing for a war with Russia.

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    1. .

      Second, according to Boot, once military spending is fully ramped up, Obama must set out to provoke a war with nuclear-armed Russia -- because, hey, why not go in big?

      Recommends Boot: "Impose tougher sanctions on Russia, freezing Russian companies entirely out of dollar-denominated transactions, while sending arms and trainers to Kiev."


      http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/neocon-watch/2014/november/05/neocon-pundit-max-boots-post-election-demand-start-a-war-now/

      .

      Delete
    2. .

      See resolution 758 passed by the House in December. Russia says the US is pushing for WWIII.

      (10) calls on the President to provide the Government of Ukraine with lethal and non-lethal defense articles, services, and training required to effectively defend its territory and sovereignty;

      (11) calls on the President to provide the Government of Ukraine with appropriate intelligence and other relevant information in a timely manner to assist the Government of Ukraine to defend its territory and sovereignty;

      (12) calls on North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies and United States partners in Europe and other nations around the world to suspend all military cooperation with Russia, including prohibiting the sale to the Russian Government of lethal and non-lethal military equipment;

      (13) reaffirms the commitment of the United States to its obligations under the North Atlantic Treaty, especially Article 5, and calls on all Alliance member states to provide their full share of the resources needed to ensure their collective defense...


      https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hres758/text

      .

      Delete
  10. ...and you claim that you are not an Israeli-firster?

    There was no mention of Israel until...



    But since you bring it up, let me be clear. I think Israel, the political entity under Netanyahu and his religious right wing fanatics, is an absolute disaster for US interests and a continued source of instigating instability in the Middle East. You holding up the slaughter and destruction of Gaza by the Israeli Schutzstaffel as an example of restraint is a cynical despicable lie.

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    1. What is "Occupation"Fri Jan 02, 12:44:00 PM EST
      Rufus you are correct, The USA has used nukes on civilians, genocided the natives and used napalm on the enemy.

      Israel doesn’t do that.

      Delete
    2. You have repeatedly called for the nuking of Mecca. I suspect your sentiment is not singular in your circle.

      Delete
    3. Deuce do you have to LIE about what I advocated?

      I advocated, the nuking of the rock IN mecca, I repeated this with the addendum at least 30 times, that if should be small, the population should be warned and the time should be when the Haji is not in effect, if that was not possible I advocated the lasering of the rock, or the capture and sending it to space.

      Why distort and lie? It makes you look small and stupid.

      Delete
  11. Deuce ☂Fri Jan 02, 01:07:00 PM EST
    ...and you claim that you are not an Israeli-firster?

    There was no mention of Israel until...




    Israel 1ster?

    Wow, by mentioning to Rufus that his wetting his pants about the dozens of American bombings of "head cutters" was slightly hypocritical compared to his calling Israel guilty of war crimes makes me an Israel firster?

    Your blog which bashes Israel and Zionists on a daily basis made me into the Israel defender that I am...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Interrupting the porn stream to North Korea for even a single day is a serious matter and should be treated as such.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Deuce pontificates: I think Israel, the political entity under Netanyahu and his religious right wing fanatics, is an absolute disaster for US interests and a continued source of instigating instability in the Middle East. You holding up the slaughter and destruction of Gaza by the Israeli Schutzstaffel as an example of restraint is a cynical despicable lie.


    Thanks for proving my point, calling Israelis Nazis?

    Schutzstaffel

    The Schutzstaffel (German pronunciation: [ˈʃʊtsˌʃtafəl] ( listen), translated to Protection Squadron or defence corps, abbreviated SS—or Runic "ᛋᛋ" with stylized "Armanen" sig runes) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP). It began at the end of 1920 as a small, permanent guard unit known as the "Saal-Schutz" (Hall-Protection)[1] made up of NSDAP volunteers to provide security for Nazi Party meetings in Munich. Later, in 1925, Heinrich Himmler joined the unit, which had by then been reformed and renamed the "Schutz-Staffel". Under Himmler's leadership (1929–45), it grew from a small paramilitary formation to one of the largest and most powerful organizations in the Third Reich.[2] Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II (1939–45). The SS, along with the Nazi Party, was declared a criminal organization by the International Military Tribunal, and banned in Germany after 1945.

    Wow...

    You are surprisingly going lower and lower with each and every day.

    Hamas? Your friends?

    Are, by the nation you claim to be a loyal citizen of are recognized as true terrorists...

    And you blame Israel,

    pathetic.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hamas = ISIS = al Qaeda = Boko Haram = Etc.Etc.Etc.

    All the same bunch of fanatic Koran morons.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. The Shia/Sunni divide sometimes seems to me a truly wonderful thing.

      Delete
  15. As this is written, the IDF legal section is not speaking to the IDF command section because of a potential dispute about the tactics used to retrieve the body of a dead IDF officer. No one has made a formal complaint or accusation that the tactics were outside the SOP, but the legal guys want an investigation anyhow. The command section believes the lawyers are looking for a scapegoat in the event one might be needed to placate UN investigators. This dispute bodes ill for the IDF in future operations.

    To my knowledge the SS never investigated itself for possible war crimes (admittedly, there were none). With that in mind, a Roman Catholic priest has, to date, discovered over 600 mass graves in Ukraine, alone. These graves contain the bodies of some of the 1.5 million Jews murdered there. Each Jew was allotted one bullet to the back of the neck. If the kill was not clean, the Jew was buried alive. As one Ukrainian witness reported, the graves "breathed" for three days and the SS beat steel drums to drown out the muffled screams of their interred victims. The priest believes he has been "called" to find and memorialize the dead.

    To compare the IDF with the SS is ... ... ... I really don't know.

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    1. WIO regularly denigrates Muslims calling them Islamo-nazis, a racial and ethnic slur. There are 1.4 billion Muslims, hundreds of thousands of them killed and wounded as the results of US wars instigated by the Neocons. We saw recent photos of Israelis cheering the mass bombing and slaughter of children and civilians in schools, hospitals and civilian housing by the IDF. Over 4000 were killed.

      WIO has called for a nuclear attack on Mecca and the destruction of Iran.

      Netanyahu has been itching for a war against Iran. We see regular brutality from the IDF against the Palestinians in the Israeli occupied territories.

      Israel has been on a forty year mission of expansion and has destroyed thousands of private homes and businesses and has ghettoized Gaza.

      Right wing Israeli politicians regularly call for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, all done by the IDF.

      Delete
    2. I regularly call Hamas, Hezbollah, Fatah, Islamic Jihad as islamic nazis.

      I call for the rock in Mecca to be nuke, lasered, stolen and shot to the sun.

      I call for the destruction of the Mullahs and the revolutionary guards of Iran and if war is needed? The destruction of targets including the oil export platform and industry that feeds the government.

      Why do you distort my words?

      Really Deuce?

      WHY?

      Delete
    3. Deuce: WIO regularly denigrates Muslims calling them Islamo-nazis, a racial and ethnic slur. There are 1.4 billion Muslims

      Really? care to show us that quote? Please show me any quote that calls all moslems islamo-nazis...

      A weak argument is when you have to distort or lie to make a point.

      Delete
  16. To be clear, Putin's troops were in the Ukraine BEFORE there were sanctions. Putin's troops invaded Georgia BEFORE there were sanctions. While this chronology disrupts the anti-neocon narrative, facts is facts.

    If Russia wants a war, it will have one because it has started one in 2008, not because of some half-witted conspiracy theory about neocons and a Conga line.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. What would Happen if the Int’l Criminal Court Indicted Israel’s Netanyahu?
      By Juan Cole | Jan. 2, 2015 |

      If the International Criminal Court takes up Israeli government actions in the occupied Palestinian territories, it could well find specific officials guilty of breaches of the Rome Statute of 2002. Article 7 forbids “Crimes against Humanity,” which are systematically repeated war crimes. Among these offenses is murder, forcible deportation or transfer of members of a group, torture, persecution of Palestinians (an “identifiable group”) and “the crime of Apartheid.”

      The Israeli government murdered Palestinian political leaders (not just guerrillas) and have routinely illegally expelled Palestinians from the West Bank or from parts of the West Bank illegally incorporated into Israel. They deploy torture against imprisoned Palestinians. Their policies on the West Bank, of building squatter settlements on Palestinian land from which Palestinians are excluded, is only one example of Apartheid policies. Getting a conviction on Article VII should be child’s play for the prosecutor. And there are other articles which Israel is guilty of contravening.

      If Israeli government officials or leaders of the squatters in the Palestinian West Bank were convicted by the ICC, would there be any hope of enforcement? Israeli firms doing business in the West Bank would be exposed to billions of dollars of legal actions in European courts and would be unable to sell their goods in Europe, if they were declared fruits of crimes against humanity and apartheid. If the legal actions were brought by Palestine, Israel would be ordered to pay it massive reparations.

      The ICC can only work through member states. But it could authorize those states to capture and imprison Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, for instance. While it is unlikely that this could happen, Israel’s leadership might not be able to visit most of Europe, which would isolate them and much reduce their influence. The European institutions in Brussels would take an ICC conviction seriously.

      The African Union and the Arab world decided to protect Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir from the ICC verdict against him. According to the African Union, he can freely visit African countries. But he cannot visit Europe or large numbers of other countries without risking arrest. And even in Africa, al-Bashir in 2013 had to abruptly leave the Nigerian capital of Abuja after only 24 hours because a Nigerian international law association filed a court case to have him arrested.

      Over a third of Israeli trade is with Europe, and technology transfers from Europe are crucial to Israel. It could be kicked out of European scientific and technological organizations, where it presently has courtesy memberships. And Israeli leaders could end up being afraid to visit European capitals lest they be arrested, Pinochet style (even if governments ran interference for them, they could not be sure to escape lawsuits by citizen groups and could not be insulated from activist judges).

      The world wouldn’t end for Israeli leaders if they were convicted, as it hasn’t ended for al-Bashir. But the consequences would be real and unpleasant, and over time could have a substantial impact.

      Delete
    2. What will be interesting is the conviction of hundreds of Palestinians for warcrimes and crimes against humanity.

      By joining the court? The palestinians have opened up pandora's box...

      I for one? Hope to see Abbas convicted of mass murder, not to mention to see the leadership of Hamas hang. :)

      Delete
    3. Then again?

      The ICC might just surprise the Israel haters and find Israel innocent of all charges and convict the palestinians...

      Oh the weave we web when we try to deceive.

      The palestinian national movement has been a criminal / violent terrorist action since day one.

      Hamas and it's rockets, Fatah and it's murders.. Oh such a party...

      Delete
    4. Over a third of Israeli trade is with Europe, and technology transfers from Europe are crucial to Israel. It could be kicked out of European scientific and technological organizations, where it presently has courtesy memberships. And Israeli leaders could end up being afraid to visit European capitals lest they be arrested, Pinochet style (even if governments ran interference for them, they could not be sure to escape lawsuits by citizen groups and could not be insulated from activist judges).

      What if Europe could not have access to Israeli computer and medical innovation? And Israel sold it to China and India instead?

      Europe? Didn't they murder 6.5 MILLION Jews just 70 years ago? Yeah right, and stole all that property and such..

      It would be devastating if EUROPE turned HOSTILE to the Jews...

      LOL

      Delete
    5. I LOVE THIS LINE

      The world wouldn’t end for Israeli leaders if they were convicted, as it hasn’t ended for al-Bashir. But the consequences would be real and unpleasant, and over time could have a substantial impact.

      Yep it would have a substantial impact on Europe...

      LOL

      Becareful of what you wish for... you might just get it..

      Delete
  17. "...

    In the late 1990s, Mr. Mauch was asked to testify via conference call in a trial under way in Los Angeles. A six-year-old boy had shot and killed his friend, also 6, with a gun belonging to his father and made by Heckler & Koch. For several hours, Mr. Mauch explained how the pistol worked. Newly married, he returned home dejected. He told his wife it had been “a horrible time. To explain that a product you use normally for your own protection killed a young boy.”

    That experience “was more or less the starting point for me to think” in a different direction, he says. According to the latest statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, nearly 600 people are killed in accidental shootings in the United States annually, about 100 of them children. An investigation in 2013 by The New York Times found that those statistics may undercount by half the true number of accidental shootings involving children.

    ...

    Mr. Mauch and his team developed a weapon that works using radio-frequency identification – the same technology employed in anti-theft tags on clothes in department stores. To fire its gun, you use an accompanying watch. When that watch is activated with a code and sitting on your wrist – or anywhere less than 25 centimetres away from the gun – the gun will fire. Otherwise, it’s a “just a piece of composite,” says Mr. Mauch, and useless as a weapon.

    ...

    By early this year, Armatix was ready to introduce its pistol in the United States. It had marketing materials and promotional swag. Two gun dealers – Oak Tree Gun Club in California and Engage Armament in Maryland – agreed to carry the iP1, which would sell for $1,800 (U.S.).

    But it turned out that Armatix had stepped into a minefield. The two gun stores were besieged with criticism from gun-rights enthusiasts, who learned of the product from media coverage and online forums. They flooded the Facebook pages of both stores with angry comments; some even called in death threats, according to a video later posted by Andy Raymond, an owner of Engage Armament.

    ...

    Confronted with an onslaught, both gun stores backpedalled. Mr. Raymond of Engage Armament initially resisted, saying it was a matter of customer choice. He retreated after a night spent sleeping in his store to protect it from perceived threats.

    ..."

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/german-designed-smart-guns-rerouted-after-cultural-backlash-in-us/article22222138/


    good ole 'american culture'!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm not sure I'm buying each and every word of your account there, Ash.

      I'll do some reading around and get back to you.

      Delete
  18. Up yours, Ash. At least, America has culture.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The United States has A culture,

      Not, necessarily, "culture."

      :)

      Delete
  19. :)

    Troll Patrol
    01.02.15
    Texas Gun Slingers Police the Police—With a Black Panthers Tactic

    In Arlington, Texas, armed open-carry activists are challenging cops as they do their jobs, in escalating confrontations that go beyond the Black Panthers’ ‘cop-watching’ strategy.

    On any given night in Arlington, Texas, a group of open-carry activists turned self-appointed cop-watchers can be found walking by the side of the road, in safety-yellow reflector vests with cameras pointed at police. They carry “FILM THE POLICE” signs, and sometimes, in a habit that’s become of increasing concern to the officers being watched, they’re carrying guns of their own.

    These armed activists’ mission—ostensibly to hold the police accountable by recording every interaction—has found new meaning in light of recent deaths of unarmed citizens like Mike Brown and Eric Garner. Indeed, members of the Texas group have adopted the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” cry popularized during protests of the men’s deaths.

    The group is led in part by Kory Watkins, an Olive Garden bartender trainer.................

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/02/texas-gun-nuts-police-the-police-with-a-black-panthers-tactic.html


    The 2nd Amendment is the Cornerstone of Civilization, Ash.

    ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Take a look at that picture.

      There's a guy knows how to open carry !!

      I call that the 'double decker' carry.

      Delete

  20. Iraqi General Warns of Military Woes in Fighting Extremists

    BAGHDAD — Jan 2, 2015, 9:59 AM ET

    By HAMZA HENDAWI and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press
    Share
    Associated Press

    Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi had 225 fighters, a single Abrams tank, a pair of mortars, two artillery pieces and about 40 armored Humvees when he set out to retake a strategic city in northern Iraq captured by Islamic State militants over the summer.

    It took 30 days as his force made an agonizingly slow journey for 40 kilometers (25 miles) through roadside bombs and suicide car attacks, then successfully laid siege to the oil refinery city of Beiji. The campaign earned al-Saadi the biggest battlefield victory by Iraqi forces since Islamic State fighters swept over most of northern and western Iraq in a summer blitz, prompting the collapse of the military.

    Yet al-Saadi is deeply pessimistic. In a two-hour interview with The Associated Press, he said Iraq's military lacks weapons, equipment and battle-ready troops and complained that U.S. air support was erratic. Both the military and the government remain riddled with corruption, he said. Most of the senior generals serving when the military fell apart had skills "more suited to World War II," he said.

    "If things don't get better," warned the general, "the country could end up divided" between its Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish populations...............

    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iraqi-general-warns-military-woes-fighting-extremists-27960692

    ReplyDelete

  21. Idaho wolf, coyote derby set to start at sunrise Friday


    By Keith Ridler

    Associated Press

    Published: Thursday, Jan. 1 2015 10:49 a.m. MST

    Updated: yesterday
    Share

    A hunting derby with $1,000 each for whoever kills the most wolves and coyotes is scheduled to start at sunrise Friday in east-central Idaho.

    Daily Inter Lake, Karen Nichols, File, Associated Press

    Enlarge photo»
    Summary

    A hunting derby with $1,000 each for whoever kills the most wolves and coyotes is scheduled to start at sunrise Friday in east-central Idaho.

    BOISE, Idaho — A hunting derby with $1,000 each for whoever kills the most wolves and coyotes is scheduled to start at sunrise Friday in east-central Idaho.

    Idaho for Wildlife's three-day Predator Hunting Contest and Fur Rendezvous is planned on private ranch land and U.S. Forest Service land around Salmon.

    The U.S. Bureau of Land Management in November withdrew a permit it had issued to the group following lawsuits by environmental groups.

    Derby organizer Steve Alder says hunters will likely use BLM land anyway but animals killed there won't be eligible for contest prizes.

    The event last year drew 230 people, about 100 of them hunters, who killed 21 coyotes but no wolves.

    Environmental groups say they will make another attempt in 2015 to stop the derby.

    http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765665330/Idaho-wolf-derby-set-to-start-at-sunrise-Friday.html






    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Date night in the land of the Yahoos.

      .

      Delete
    2. Patriotic Americans and Friends of the Helpless saving the elk herds.

      Delete
    3. .

      Their slogan is "Stop the wolves from killing elk. That's our job."

      .

      Delete
    4. .

      "Save the elk herds for the paying customers."

      .

      Delete
    5. Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation

      http://www.rmef.org/

      JOIN NOW !!!

      Make a difference !

      Delete
    6. Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountain_Elk_Foundation

      Delete
    7. Detroit really needs some Canadian Grey wolves.

      They'd clean up those mage-packs of wild dogs I've been reading about....two weeks maybe.

      I got to say - when Quirk gets something wrong, he gets it really really wrong.

      Delete
    8. A very occasional event, I will say that too, charitable in all ways as I am.

      Delete
    9. Torstenson Family Endowment

      In 2002, Bob Torstenson gifted the 93,403 acre (378 km²) Double H Ranch, later named the Torstenson Wildlife Center, in west-central New Mexico to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. In 2012 the RMEF, working with the Torstenson family, made a gift transition of the ranch resulting in the establishment of the Torstenson Family Endowment (TFE), one of the largest endowments ever for a wildlife conservation organization. The ranch is forever protected and conserved through a conservation easement maintained by the RMEF.

      RMEF will use proceeds from the TFE exclusively to further its core mission programs: permanent land protection, habitat stewardship, elk restoration and hunting heritage. The TFE allows RMEF to increase project funding by attracting matching funds both from the private and public sectors, and allows RMEF to much more quickly meet and head off the habitat changes and challenges taking place across the United States.


      wiki

      Delete
    10. Hey, I talked to Wayne. He is still in the cattle business.

      Has them all shedded up for the winter.

      Wolf protection.

      Delete
    11. .

      I guess ol' Wayne will have the carpets cleaned come spring.

      .

      Delete
    12. .

      ...elk restoration and hunting heritage...

      I rest my case.

      .

      Delete
    13. 1) Dirt floor in the large large shed
      2) Yes, please, 'rest your case'. They are like Pheasants Unlimited, Ducks Unlimited and other groups. They strive to restore elk habitat that has been lost from urbanization, cattle grazing, ski resorts, you know, shit like that. They have done some wonderful things too. I imagine most of them would vote to raze Detroit and turn it into a game park if they could.

      Your talents would be much better put to use by becoming the much needed Counter Propaganda Division chief against ISIS.

      With advertising skills such as yours there's still a place for you in the world, Quirk, and that's it !

      Delete
  22. http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=HN.608028912666478704&w=300&h=300&c=0&pid=1.9&rs=0&p

    Gays in Ancient Egypt ?

    pic

    ReplyDelete
  23. .

    Gallup put out a summary of their monthly polls for 2014 on the issue of major concerns to Americans.

    The double digit results in the poll are as follows,

    Government 18%
    Economy 17%
    Unemployment 15%
    Healthcare 10%

    Gallup is not the most accurate of pollsters but I find the results interesting.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A ray of sunshine breaks over the horizon.

      Delete
    2. When Government ranks above the economy, and unemployment things are starting to look up.

      Delete
  24. Egyptian border troops shot dead a Palestinian youth as he tried to cross illegally from the Gaza Strip on Friday, Palestinian and Egyptian sources said.

    http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Egyptian-troops-kill-Palestinian-youth-infiltrating-from-Gaza-386522

    Let's get the ICC involved!!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Coalition nations conducting airstrikes in Iraq include the U.S. , Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations conducting airstrikes in Syria include the U.S., Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The United States and those allies wouldn't have a great problem in overcoming ISIS, but it would take some troops to do it.

      No one wants to do that, certainly not Obama.

      It would be admitting he was wrong earlier in taking out all the troops.

      He can't do that.

      The next President will probably have to deal with it.

      Delete
  26. A convoy of vehicles belonging to the American consulate in Jerusalem was attacked by stone-throwing far-right settlers near the West Bank outpost of Adi Ad, Palestinians reported on Friday.

    The incident nearly prompted US security personnel, who were armed with M-16 automatic rifles, to confront the assailants. There were no injuries reported in the incident.

    The convoy was driving through southern Samaria on a fact-finding mission when it came under a hail of stones.

    Israeli and Palestinian sources said on Friday that American security personnel nearly clashed with the settlers.

    "The settlers attacked the cars of the US Consulate in the town Turmus'ayya near the settlement of Adi Ad," a local Palestinian, Zakaria Sadah, posted on his Facebook page.

    The convoy included Palestinians who accompanied American diplomatic personnel on a trip through the northern West Bank. According to Israel Radio, the purpose of the trip was to show the Americans "the adverse effects of Israeli settlement policy on the local population" as well as the damage from the latest acts of settler vandalism against Palestinian olive groves.

    The convoy did not coordinate its trip with Israeli military authorities, Israel Radio reported.

    Rabbis for Human Rights, a left-wing NGO, denounced the Israeli authorities for failing to enforce the law against Jewish settlers in the territories.

    "The lax law enforcement which has permitted settlers to attack Palestinians has also brought about a situation where diplomats are also assaulted," the group said in a press release. "This is liable to lead to diplomatic tensions."

    ReplyDelete
  27. What wealth does to your soul

    Getting rich won't make you happy. But it will make you more selfish and dishonest.

    By Michael Lewis, The New Republic | January 2, 2015



    WHAT IS CLEAR about rich people and their money — and becoming ever clearer — is how it changes them. A body of quirky but persuasive research has sought to understand the effects of wealth and privilege on human behavior — and any future book about the nature of billionaires would do well to consult it.

    One especially fertile source is the University of California at Berkeley psychology department lab overseen by a professor named Dacher Keltner. In one study, Keltner and his colleague Paul Piff installed note takers and cameras at city street intersections with four-way Stop signs. The people driving expensive cars were four times more likely to cut in front of other drivers than drivers of cheap cars. The researchers then followed the drivers to the city's crosswalks and positioned themselves as pedestrians, waiting to cross the street. The drivers in the cheap cars all respected the pedestrians' right of way. The drivers in the expensive cars ignored the pedestrians 46.2 percent of the time — a finding that was replicated in spirit by another team of researchers in Manhattan, who found drivers of expensive cars were far more likely to double-park.

    In yet another study, the Berkeley researchers invited a cross section of the population into their lab and marched them through a series of tasks. Upon leaving the laboratory testing room, the subjects passed a big jar of candy. The richer the person, the more likely he was to reach in and take candy from the jar — and ignore the big sign on the jar that said the candy was for the children who passed through the department.

    Maybe my favorite study done by the Berkeley team rigged a game with cash prizes in favor of one of the players, and then showed how that person, as he grows richer, becomes more likely to cheat.



    ............A UCLA neuroscientist named Keely Muscatell has published an interesting paper showing that wealth quiets the nerves in the brain associated with empathy: If you show rich people and poor people pictures of kids with cancer, the poor people's brains exhibit a great deal more activity than the rich people's.............

    http://theweek.com/article/index/274046/what-wealth-does-to-your-soul




    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am nowhere near well off financially but can turn off my empathy in a moment.
      Maybe I have a personality disorder?
      Or have been "kicked around" enough to be comfortable with callousness.

      Delete
    2. Now that I think about it more, personality disorder seems to fit.

      Delete
  28. Another body of new research has shown that people from the East of the USA, from the big cities, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Philly, New York, where everything is tooth and claw, have a great deal less empathy for the suffering of innocent animals than do farm folks out West. They are much more likely to identify with predators, rather than helpless prey, the researchers state.

    ReplyDelete