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."
Lets get in here before Bob wakes up from his current drunken stupor.
ReplyDeleteThe Islamic State’s affiliate group in Egypt reportedly claims it fired three Grad rockets Friday in southern Israel. The Telegraph reports ISIS said the rocket launches were retaliation for Israel’s support of Egypt’s armed forces Wednesday after the militants attacked army checkpoints in northern Sinai.
DeleteThat makes ISIS on Deuce's side, but will he kick Iran to the curb?
The very thought that Iran is not a threat to Israel is laughable.
DeleteThose that proclaim Israel is not at risk? Are in no way in any risk.
Maybe someday they will walk in the shoes of Israel. Til then? They should learn to shut up.
Someone asked, how do you post a picture.
ReplyDeleteWith a link, silly.
Miss T linked to a picture of her noble self sharing a whopper dildo with who ever.
Deuce took it down.
Yes, I opened the link, not knowing.
Disgusting.
I see we are back on the Jews again.
I am waiting for the fireworks.
There is nothing more disgusting that a middle aged Philippino twat in the morning eye, before coffee.
ReplyDeleteBob called me illiterate, but spells Filipina "Phillipino". Go figure.
DeleteBut I know how to spell 'twat'.
DeleteYou are not even denying it now, are you ?
DeleteCause we both know it is true.
Splatttt, middle aged Phillipino twat, right before the coffee, it's the shits.
ReplyDeleteThis alone is reason enough for some American Imperialism.
ReplyDeleteTeach the natives some manners.
Netanyahu Calls Iran 'Most Dangerous Country In The World'
DeleteThat's sort of like "Most Interesting Man in the World"
Stay thirsty, my friends.
Israel faces hundreds of thousands of Iranian rockets on 2 major borders.
DeleteIran has spent BILLIONS trying to destroy Israel. It's not a commercial, it's not fiction and the Hamas and Hezbollah rockets and kidnappings are real.
Couple that with the Iranian illegal and secret attempt for a pathway to a nuke with it's clandestine war head program?
It's real.
But the good news?
Iran doesn't need ICBM's or miniaturization of nuke warheads to hit Israel.
But it does need those things to hit either EUROPE or the USA....
:)
Stay thirsty?
I think Israel and I can handle the threat, can you?
Million and billions of rockets ready to rain down on the itsy bitsy teenie meanies.
DeleteI think Israel and I can handle the threat, can you?
DeleteAnd yet who's the Chicken Little around here? Not the veterans.
Bobby Jindal is on Fox.
ReplyDeleteI like him a lot.
The Republicans have some wonderful candidates.
He doesn't look American to most GOP voters.
DeleteNeither did Barry Soetoro
DeleteMost GOP voters didn't vote for Barry.
DeleteFor Christ's sake, bob, give the misogynistic, racist shit a rest for awhile. Get off the girl's ass.
ReplyDeleteI really couldn't care less, I think it funny.
DeleteI admit to being shocked, at the time, seeing such a display of feminine have at it at the touch of my keyboard.
Wow, some of these Asian gals know some things !!!!!!!!!!!!
You remember it too, don't cha, Ruf.
DeleteBIG dildo.
No, bob, I never saw that. But, it doesn't matter; there's no use using that kind of language to a girl.
DeleteHillary Clinton is privately signaling to wealthy Jewish donors that — no matter the result of the Iranian nuclear negotiations — she will be a better friend to Israel than President Barack Obama. (Follow the money)
DeleteJewish Money to the democrats has vaporized to historic lows...
DeleteGood...
.
ReplyDeleteThat makes ISIS on Deuce's side, but will he kick Iran to the curb?
You're nutz if you think there is a side worth being on in the ME. They all suck.
Reason #17 why the US shouldn't be in the ME.
.
Sorry Quirk, the right side?
DeleteIs israel, someday you will become reasonable and rational and have the balls to admit it..
We just don’t get it. It’s all in the Torah wrapped in metaphors on magic skins in the secret code unintelligible to the goyim.
DeleteThe Christian Right is Pro Israel because they know Israel is the Apple of God's Eye, and they want to be on the Right Side of History when the Rapture of True Believers comes before the Great Tribulation leading to the Battle of Armageddon.
DeleteTop Ten Signs You're a Fundamentalist Christian
Delete10 - You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.
9 - You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.
8 - You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.
7 - Your face turns purple when you hear of the "atrocities" attributed to Allah, but you don't even flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in "Exodus" and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in "Joshua" including women, children, and trees!
6 - You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.
5 - You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of Earth (few billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that Earth is a few generations old.
4 - You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs -- though excluding those in all rival sects - will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering. And yet consider your religion the most "tolerant" and "loving."
3 - While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in "tongues" may be all the evidence you need to "prove" Christianity.
2 - You define 0.01% as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God.
1 - You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history - but still call yourself a Christian.
http://www.evilbible.com/Top_Ten_List.htm
I like it, Deuce.
DeleteFunny, you both were raised with that faith
Delete
ReplyDeleteMiss T linked to a picture of her noble self sharing a whopper dildo with who ever.
Deuce took it down.
Sure, like Deuce has access to my server.
Not to defend bob's insanity but Deuce has censored hundreds of posts.
DeleteWhere o where did I see it then, and nearly throw up?
ReplyDelete**************
One of these days I will be able to post a picture of a real woman, in her graduation gear, Ph.D. Max Planck Institute of Brain Research.
My adopted Niece.
She knows, in her little finger, more about Islam than our Host.
ReplyDeleteFrom experience.
When the time comes I will, with her permission, post a picture of her in her black robe, white around the neck, PhD Head Board.......
PhD from Max Planck Institute of Brain Research.
She is image of WOMAN.
PhD
DeleteMax Planck Institute of Brain Research
Specialty: Information flows in the brain
Hindu
26 years old
Works 14 hours per day
Transportation: Bike
Housing: one room flat
Nature : Divine
Sex: Woman
American women are losing
The Judgements of the Lord Are Righteous Altogether
Favorite Activities: Life !!!!!!!!!!!!!
HEH
DeleteShe said to me one day on the phone:
"I am getting old, Uncle Bob"
I broke out laughing sooooo loud....
Hahaha
I have it in mind to take her to Portugal in September.............
She has never said one word against the Jews.
She is lovely in all ways.
Not even Max Plank can help this disgusting misogynistic pervert. I can’t stand him. Please do not link to his comments, that way I can make him disappear without disturbing others.
DeleteOnce again, my apology to T and respect for her tolerating the stinking old perverted sewer.
DeleteIt looks like Bob's life is about to change. I wonder what he will do to fill up all that spare time. Maybe he can try his shtick out at the Belmont Club.
Delete.
ReplyDeleteBob, why don't you get your ass out of here. You are bad enough most of the time when you just bring the bar down to your level. When on the rare occasion a woman shows up here you show how really low you can sink. You drive them all off. Believe me the place would have been 100 times better off with any one of them here and you gone.
Go get some help. You need it.
.
THE IRANIAN DEAL MUST BE A GOOD ONE:
ReplyDeletePrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday expressed alarm at the emerging nuclear deal between western powers and Iran currently taking place in Vienna.
Speaking at the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said that "what's coming out of the nuclear talks in Vienna is not a breakthrough, it's a breakdown."
Netanyahu said that the world powers were conceding more and more with each passing day.
The emerging deal "will pave Iran's way to produce the cores of many atomic bombs and it will also flood Iran with hundreds of millions of dollars that will serve it in its aggression and its mission of terror in the region and the world," the prime minister warned.
Netanyahu claimed that the emerging deal with Iran was worse than the nuclear deal that had been signed with North Korea which led to Pyongyang obtaining an arsenal of nuclear weapons.
"However, here we are talking about a very big conventional and non-conventional threat against Israel, against the countries of the region and against the world," he stated.
Iran and world powers made progress on future sanctions relief for Iran in marathon nuclear talks on Saturday, but remained divided on issues such as lifting United Nations sanctions and the development of advanced centrifuges.
TEHRAN, Jul. 05 (MNA) – Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said outlook of talks over Iran’s nuclear program is positive and good steps have been taken to resolve conflicts.
ReplyDeleteLarijani made the remarks during a joint meeting with ambassadors of Islamic countries in Tehran.
He pointed to the countries which play a major role in developing terrorist groups and sabotage in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, adding that their acts waste power and resources in Islamic countries in a way not to counter Zionist regime.
Stressing the need for unity among Islamic countries, Larijani said colonizers seek division among Islamic Ummah to facilitate advancing their evil goals in those countries.
He added Iran has always been a pioneer in establishing unity among Islamic countries.
Larijani pointed to the role of countries in the fight against terrorism and its eradication calling it a responsibility for all Islamic and non-Islamic countries.
"The nuclear negotiations are in progress in the right direction, and we hope that the other side would prepare the ground for achieving a final agreement by gaining a better understanding of the realities and making tough and necessary decisions," Larijani said.
The same Larijani
DeleteIranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani on Wednesday congratulated Hezbollah on the eighth anniversary of its 2006 “victory” over Israel and urged Hamas to continue its “resistance” in Gaza “against the Zionist enemy.”
“Today the only power that can resist against the Zionist enemy and change the equations is resistance,” Larijani told the Arab-language Al-Ahd news website, according to Iranian state news agency Fars.
Fars reported that Larjijani “further underlined that the brilliant victory of the resistance movement indicated efficiency of people’s faith and patience against deadly modern weapons” and quoted French journalist and author Thierry Meyssan as saying in 2013 “that Hezbollah’s military capacities and capabilities against Israel have grown 400 times” since its 33-day war against Israel in 2006.
Fars said: “During the war of 2006, over 200,000 Israelis were obliged to hide in shelters to escape from Hezbollah retaliation. This time, they were 2,000,000 seeking shelter from Palestinian missiles, he said during the current Israeli war with Gaza.”
During Operation Protective Edge, Iran boasted of supplying Hamas with its Fajr-5 missiles and Ababil drones, as well as calling for a “unity pact” of Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas to fight Israel.
Iran ready to support process of arming West Bank: IRGC official
DeleteTEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran is ready to provide military assistance to the Palestinian resistance groups in the West Bank without any boots on the ground, an IRGC official announced.
“If there is a need to have our military power available in the West Bank, we will provide that support,” Hojjatoleslam Ali Shirazi, the Supreme Leader’s representative at the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps’ Quds Force told the Tasnim News Agency on Wednesday.
“However” Shirazi said “that move will not mean our physical presence (in West Bank).”
The issue of arming Palestine attracted a great deal of attention after Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei underlined the necessity for armed confrontation with Israel.
Back on July 23, Ayatollah Khamenei described the armed resistance as the only way to confront the “destructive regime” of Israel, noting, “Based on these realities, we believe that the West Bank should also be armed like Gaza and those who are interested in Palestine’s destiny should act in this regard in order to relieve Palestinians’ distress.”
In terms of dynasty, there has been a sole exception, and that is the Larijanis. There are five brothers, two of whom sit at the very top of two of the three branches of government. Ali Larijani is the Speaker of the Majles, while Sadegh Larijani is the new chief of the judiciary. A third brother, Mohammad Javad (Ardeshir) has been an important conservative ideologue who was deputy for international affairs to Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, Sadegh Larijani's predecessor. A fourth brother, Dr. Mohammad Bagher Larijani, is the head of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, and a one time deputy health minister. Until two years ago, the fifth brother, Fazel Larijani, was Iran's cultural attache to Canada.
DeleteAdd to this list a first maternal cousin, Ahmad Tavakkoli, whose mother and the Larijanis' are sisters, and a maternal uncle, Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli, a powerful conservative cleric, and one has all the makings of a true dynasty. Tavakkoli is an influential right-wing Majles deputy and head of its research center. Tavakkoli is also a two-time presidential candidate, and was Minister of Labor in the administration of Mir Hossein Mousavi in the 1980s.
A most interesting aspect of the rise of the Larijanis to prominence is that none played any role in the 1979 Revolution, or even in the first several years after the Revolution. In fact, the Larijanis' father, Grand Ayatollah Ayatollah Mirza Hashem Amoli, as well as their maternal grandfather, Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohsen Ashrafi, who lived in Behshahr, in the province of Mazandaran, in northern Iran, belonged to a school of Islamic thinking that had little, if any, interest in politics.
Only Tavakkoli was a junior member of the right wing of the Islamic Revolution Mojahedin organization, which is now one of the two most important reformist groups. He was included in the Mousavi government only as a concession to the right wingers in the Majles who were pressuring Mousavi most of the time.
The rise of the Larijanis has been helped by two developments. They married the daughters of very important clerics, and Ali Larijani forged a very close relationship with Ayatollah Khamenei when he was serving in the IRGC. First, Khamenei was the deputy Defense Minister, then the (clerical) supervisor of the IRGC, and finally the president in the 1980s, when he frequently went to the war front during the Iran-Iraq war. Ali Larijani has remained a confidante of Ayatollah Khamenei ever since.
The Larijanis have a sister who is married to Ayatollah Seyyed Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad, a progressive cleric. He has recently been highly critical of Ahmadinejad.
This article profiles the three most visible Larijanis.
Ali Larijani
248-s2
Read more: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2009/08/nepotism-the-larijani-dynasty.html#ixzz3f1UlBGCS
not the nicest of guys, just knows how to look "moderate" in the west's presses eyes.
DeleteThe rhetoric coming from the ultra-right in Israel, the GOP Likuds Force, as well as some of from your inner Genghis Khan is not to be outdone.
DeleteAli Larijani own words are enough to scare the crap out of any thinking American...
Deleteno "rhetoric" needed...
Just Iran's own guy's own words and deeds...
Iran is standing firm in it's right to genocide Israel and the Jews. No matter what paper it signs, no matter what permission the "world" give Iran to accomplish this goal, Israel will not go without a fight.
And Iran will fight until the last Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian and Syrian dies...
So why does any of that scare the crap out of any thinking American?
DeleteListen to his and his nation's actual words.
Deletethat should scare the crap out of those that can think, those not capable of thinking?
Are making excuses for Iran.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Saturday that while he is deeply troubled by the emerging Iranian nuclear agreement, he would not pledge to undo it should he take office.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking to Republicans on July 4th in this lakeside vacation town, Christie sought to differentiate himself from the other 15 GOP candidates for president, casting himself as a leader who would carefully consider all options.
“I’m not one of those guys who’s going to say to you, ‘on Day One I will abrogate the agreement,'” Christie said, noting that the American president could not just act alone when China, Russia, Germany, France and the United Kingdom are also parties to the deal, should one emerge. “On Day One, I will look into it and try to decide, depending upon where we are at that moment.”
Is there a more dumbass but revealing comment than this?
ReplyDelete“On Day One, I will look into it and try to decide, depending upon where we are at that moment.”
Depending on where we are in the polls at that moment.
DeleteGot to get that wet chubby finger up to see which way the wind blows. Pure leadership. Inspiring.
ReplyDeleteHis campaign is Clintonesque, the way it has started with a thud.
DeleteHe is Thud-like.
DeleteBEIJING, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Wikileaks' latest revelation shows that Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is another state leader that has been wiretapped by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), exposing again the U.S. hypocrisy and arrogance on cyber security.
ReplyDeleteAccording to a release by the whistleblower website, U.S. intelligence workers targeted Rousseff herself but also her aides, secretary, chief of staff and the presidential palace and even the phone in the Presidential jet.
Economy chiefs of the Brazilian establishment were under surveillance as well, with finance ministers and the governor of the Brazilian Central Bank on the target list.
The irony is that only months ago at the summit of the Americas in Panama, U.S. President Barack Obama reassured Rousseff that NSA would not spy on allied leaders anymore.
It seems Obama is either unable to call off the spying program on Rousseff as he has promised, or simply never meant to walk his talk.
Relations between the two countries have chilled for quite some time after former U.S. intelligence employee Edward Snowden revealed in 2013 that Rouseff was one of the foreign leaders whose phone was tapped by the NSA.
Though it is almost impossible for a third party to confirm the authenticity of Wikileak's claims regarding U.S. eavesdropping on Rousseff, many tend to believe they are true given the U.S. track record.
It has been revealed that the NSA monitored the phone conservations of at least 35 world leaders, including Germany Chancellor Agela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and several former French presidents.
Just another day in The United Security States.
ReplyDeleteEveryone should remember the immense domestic and international costs and troubles suffered by this country as a result of our misguided ME policies and the internal corruption of the US Congress.
ReplyDeleteEveryone should remember the occupation of lands by the Arabs are the root of all instability in the middle east.
ReplyDeleteIt's time for a Druze Republic
A “Druse State” existed in Syria from 1921 to 1936 located in the Jabal Druse – which means Druse Mountain‒ region that gave the state its eponymous name. Jabal Druse is part of the volcanic heights in southwest Syria, some sixty kilometers from the Jordanian border and a similar distance from the Israeli border with Syria along the Golan Heights.
The “Druse State” was an autonomous district during the days when the French ruled Syria and Lebanon between the two world wars. Its capital and central city was and still is As-Suwayda. During the state’s brief period of “independence,” the Druse led by Sultan al-Atrash rebelled in 1925 against the French occupiers. The revolt with a strong Syrian nationalist sentiment spread to engulf the whole of Syria, but was quashed within two years by the French. Still, the revolt did ensure that autonomy lasted until 1936 when the area’s special status was canceled and it was incorporated into Syria as part of the Franco-Syrian treaty signed the same year.
Couple that with a free and United Kurdistan?
DeleteHmm....
World powers and Iran have reached tentative agreement on sanctions relief for the Islamic Republic, among the most contentious issues in a long-term nuclear agreement that negotiators hope to clinch over the next several days, diplomats said on Saturday.
DeleteThe annex hammered out by experts, one of five meant to accompany the agreement, outlines which US and international sanctions will be lifted and how quickly. Diplomats said senior officials of the seven-nation talks, which include Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, still had to sign off on the package.
Still, the word of significant progress indicated the sides were moving closer to a comprehensive accord that would set a decade of restrictions on Tehran’s nuclear programme in exchange for tens of billions of dollars in economic benefits.
Officials had described sanctions relief as one of the thorniest disagreements between Iran and the US, which has led the international campaign against Iran’s economy. The US and much of the world fears Iran’s enrichment of uranium and other activity could be designed to make nuclear weapons; Iran says its programme is meant only to generate power and for other peaceful purposes.
The diplomats, who were not authorised to speak publicly on this past week’s confidential negotiations in Vienna, said the sanctions annex was completed this week by experts from Iran and the six world powers it is negotiating with: the US, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia. They did not provide details of the agreement.
A senior US official did not dispute the diplomats’ account but said work remained to be done on “Annex II” before the issue could be described as finalised.
The Usual Bone Heads Mouth off
ReplyDeleteCongressional and Administration officials are drawing up battle lines tonight over a planned reopening of the US Embassy in Cuba, with several Congressional leaders from both parties vowing to block any such reopening.
Sen. Robert Menendez (D – NJ) says the move is not in the US “national interest,” while Sen. Tom Cotton (R – AR) is blasting the effort as “appeasement of dictators.” House Speaker John Boehner (R – OH) said that US-Cuba relations shouldn’t be revised at all, let alone normalized.
Well, maybe they can just do like Hillary in Benghazi and wing it with a volunteer ambassador.
DeleteHere's the most simple political fact of 2016:
ReplyDeleteThe Republicans absolutely, positively Cannot win the Presidency without carrying Florida. Period.
And, you can bet Obama's polled this move from front to back.
DeleteSure, well, nobody thought same sex marriage would be the law of the land two years out either. Difficult to see, the future. Always in motion, it is.
DeleteOr, to put it another way:
DeleteNothing is dead solid perfect. :)
Islamic State has issued a stark warning to the Palestinian group Hamas that the Gaza Strip could be next on their list of territories they want to conquer. The jihadist organization has accused Hamas of not enforcing Islamic law stringently enough.
ReplyDeleteThe jihadist group, formerly known as ISIS/ISIL, released a video message that was recorded in Syria and addressed to the “tyrants of Hamas.”
SO HOW DOES ISRAEL RESPOND?
Israeli Major-General Yoav Mordechai has accused Hamas of aiding and supporting ISIS-affiliated militants in Egypt’s North Sinai, where fierce battles left 100 militants and 17 soldiers dead on Wednesday.
The Israeli Major-General told Al-Jazeera that he had credible and verified information that proved Hamas members had trained Ansar Bait Al-Maqdis (currently known as the Sinai Province) and even provided medical assistance to wounded militants.
According to the Major-General, Abdallah Oishta has been training IS-afiliated members in the Sinai, while Wael Faraj, a battalion commander, had “smuggled terrorists from the Sinai into Gaza” for medical treatment.
Following the accusations, Hamas denied that its members had been involved in any operations in Egypt’s Sinai, adding that the statements amounted to “silly incitement,” reported Reuters.
Egyptian media has often blamed Hamas for attacks on Egyptian soldiers in Egypt’s Sinai region. The number of attacks escalated after the ouster of former President Mohammed Morsi in July 2013. According to the National Human Rights Council, 700 security personnel were killed between June 2013 and December 2014.
Excuse me! Israel can’t get their lies straight:
Israel is quietly cultivating ties with moderate Syrian rebel groups operating along the country’s U.N.-monitored cease-fire line with Syria, providing medical care and other unidentified supplies to the insurgents while potentially extracting a valuable vein of intelligence on the activities of President Bashar al-Assad’s army as well as extremist opposition forces within Syria.
In the past three months, battle-hardened Syrian rebels have transported scores of wounded Syrians across a cease-fire line that has separated Israel from Syria since 1974, according to a 15-page report by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the work of the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). Once in Israel, they receive medical treatment in a field clinic before being sent back to Syria, where, presumably, some will return to carry on the fight.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/06/11/exclusive-israel-is-tending-to-wounded-syrian-rebels/
Isis and hamas are 99.6 percent the same. Just kill a few leaders give out a new ball cap? Poof. You have change.
DeleteI think Israel is going to get a taste of the difference.
ReplyDeleteGreece:
ReplyDeleteTwenty percent of the votes have now been counted, and the no side is holding onto a solid lead -- with over 60%, against less than 40% for the yes side.
The Gareth Porter video details how Israel fabricated evidence about Iran’s nuclear intentions. Obama is using these fabricated ( by Israel) documents as a negotiating point where Iran must come clean on its nuclear history. Iran knows the documents are phony and a fabrication by Israel pawned off to the Bush Administration through John Bolton.
ReplyDeleteOne important player who worked for Colin Powell and knows the true nature of Israeli control in the US Congress is Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff for Secretary of State Colin Powell from 2002 to 2005.
Speaking to MintPress News over the phone from his home in Virginia, Wilkerson claimed that the damage done to The US by Netanyahu as prime minister has been “unprecedented,” and that Netanyahu and his predecessors, including Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert, destroyed their own movement.
“Fifty-one percent of the [Israeli] land belongs to the security complex, either outright or leased. Sixty families in Israel own about 75 percent of the wealth, which is unbelievable,” he explained. “They’re the most predatory capitalist state in the eastern Mediterranean, and that’s saying something because we [the U.S.], China, and Russia have exemplified predatory capitalism in the last 20 years, but Israel outstrips us all.”
Wilkerson also asserts that Israel is a strategic liability for the U.S. government. Israel, he says, is helping Russia, one of America’s principal adversaries. He referenced an internal audit carried out by the Russian military in 2013 and 2014. Through that audit the Russians realized that their unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were a major weakness on the battlefield. Israel responded by selling Russia state-of-the-art UAVs. “And of course, they sell weapons to the Chinese too!” quipped Wilkerson.
As long as the United States continues to support Israel in this way, explained Wilkerson, “It is impossible to say you have a sound strategic approach to the region.”
The bottom line is that a normalization with Iran will have a positive effect on normalizing US policies in the ME.
FYI: Wilkerson is currently a distinguished adjunct professor of Government and Public Policy at William and Mary University in Virginia. His military career began in 1966 during the Vietnam War and spanned up until 2005. Wilkerson became Powell’s “point man” for making a case for preemptive war against Saddam Hussein in 2003. Indeed, it was Wilkerson who combed through the CIA’s information to create the presentation that Powell delivered to the United Nations Security Council in February that year.
Wilkerson later realized that the information provided by the CIA was faulty. That, plus the terrible way the U.S. followed up in Iraq and revelations of torture at Abu Ghraib, an American prison in the country, led him to openly condemn the Iraq War.
A NO in Greece and YES from the Iran talks will be a good day for advancing the cause of freedom, justice and stability in the Mediterranean region. It will be good for the US.
ReplyDeleteI don't care yes or no, only whichever choice gets Greece off the headlines faster. Turning the country into Somalia will do nicely.
DeleteThe Republicans are terrified that the truth will out. That is part of their fear about the US establishing an embassy in Cuba. Americans will be visiting Cuba in greater numbers as they would in Iran. Truth and lies will be exposed. The Republicans know that the precedent established in Cuba will carry through to Iran.
ReplyDeleteWell, well, well. Look here:
ReplyDeleteATHENS, Greece — Greece faced an uncharted future as its interior ministry predicted Sunday that more than 60 percent of voters in a hastily called referendum had rejected creditors' demands for more austerity in exchange for rescue loans.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who was gambling the future of his 5-month-old left-wing government on the vote, insisted that a "no" vote would strengthen his hand to negotiate a better deal with creditors, while a "yes" result would mean capitulating to their harsh demands.
The opposition has accused Tsipras of jeopardizing the country's membership in the 19-nation club that uses the euro and said a "yes" vote was about keeping the common currency.
With about a quarter of the votes counted Sunday evening, the Interior Ministry issued an official projection that the "no" side would win handily.
What's really stupid is that a 'yes' vote would be in approval of an offer that was taken off the table on June 30 when Greece went into default.
DeleteHappy 4th
ReplyDeleteA Maine man died during a Fourth of July celebration on Saturday night when he tried to launch a firework from the top of his head and it exploded, killing him instantly, police said Sunday.
Devon Staples, 22, of Calais, Maine, was drinking and celebrating the holiday in a friend's backyard when he placed the fireworks mortar tube on his head around 10 p.m., said Stephen McCausland, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety.
McCausland said it was unclear whether the firework was already lit, or whether Staples lit it once it was on his head.
He was killed instantly when it exploded, McCausland said.
The tube Staples was using was a reusable mortar shell but said McCausland said investigators did not know what type of firework he was attempting to shoot.
Maine has allowed the sale of fireworks since lawmakers repealed a 60-year-old ban on them in 2011.
I guess poor young Staples was unfamiliar with the concept of “recoil”.
ReplyDeleteThe poor lad must have slept through that lecture during Physics class.
DeleteHe also missed the lecture about Darwinism.
Delete.
DeleteThey legalized fireworks in MI a couple years ago and things seem to be getting progressively worse.
The one dog was hiding under the table and the other was barking to get out and kick ass.
But last night they weren't just setting off M-80's. Some of the explosions sounded like heavy ordinance.
It will continue until more get killed.
.
My city made fireworks illegal but last night still sounded like Shock and Awe. It will continue until tickets for using fireworks are $1000.
DeletePalestinians often shoot each other in the head by celebration gunfire..
DeleteThey missed the class on what goes up must come down, according to Deuce, it's all the zionists fault...
MOSCOW, July 5. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will join the talks between Iran and the six powers (the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany) in Vienna later in the day, the Russian foreign ministry said on Sunday.
ReplyDelete"The minister will join the Iran-P5+1 group talks in Vienna today," the ministry said.
Foreign Ministers of Germany, Great Britain and France, Frank-Waletr Steinmeier, Philip Hammond and Laurent Fabius, respectively, as well as High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini are also expected to arrive in the Austrian capital city on Sunday.
Vienna is hosting the final round of talks between Iran and the six powers on Teheran’s nuclear programme. A final comprehensive agreement on the Iranian nuclear dossier was originally expected to be elaborated by June 30 but the negotiating process has been extended till July 7.
European officials had insisted that a “no” vote would not make them any more likely to give Greece the debt relief and easing of austerity that it seeks. They also warned that the country could be ejected from the euro if it voted no. As the Greek government’s apparent victory became clear Sunday evening, attention shifted to European capitals for signals of whether the continent’s decision-makers would follow through on that threat.
ReplyDeleteThis is called biting the hand that feeds you.
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ReplyDeleteThe Israeli Major-General told Al-Jazeera that he had credible and verified information that proved Hamas members had trained Ansar Bait Al-Maqdis (currently known as the Sinai Province) and even provided medical assistance to wounded militants.
Obviously, a hypocritical case of 'do as I say not what I do.'
If true, then passing strange given that
- Both the EU and Egyptian courts have recently reversed previous rulings designating Hamas a terrorist group and...
- Fight against IS draws Hamas, Egypt closer
Relations between Hamas and Egypt have taken an unexpected gradual turn for the better, with Cairo expressing satisfaction with Hamas’ security approach toward Egypt, especially in the border areas. On June 25, Egyptian military officials praised Hamas for its role in Gaza, its policing of the smuggling tunnels at the border and preventing Salafi jihadists from infiltrating from and into Sinai...
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Anytime an Israeli official says they have credible and verifiable information, odds on they have neither.
ReplyDeleteodds are if Israel said the earth was round you'd find reason to criticize and find fault....
DeleteIf fact, nothing Israel can do will ever make you happy, short of self immolation.
But your heros, the palestinians and Iranians, are as reliable and honest as well, Yasser Arafat says it all...
I like the relationship and feelings that the US has with Paraguay. I wish similar for Israel.
DeleteWish all you want, click your red ruby slippers together all you want, Israel and America share values and interests....
DeleteRegardless of your opinion and loyality to Iran and Hamas
Deuce, you are on the wrong side of history.
DeleteYou support Iran, Hezbollah and the Hamas...
LOL
No sorry to say this but Israel and the US share a parasitic relationship with the US being the host. The US can live just splendidly without Israel and without the US, Israel is SOL. There is no benefit to the relationship for US citizens with single loyalties.
DeleteThere is no benefit, not even that of a trophy wife:
No financial benefit
No political benefit
No military benefit
No moral benefit
On the contrary, Israel degrades the US in almost all categories.
The only thing that keeps this well past expiration date umbilical cord attached is Israeli manipulation of corrupt US election laws and a thoroughly corrupt US Congress whereby in a just World, 90% of them should be in orange jumpsuits in Guantanamo. The Israeli right wing, like all fascists organizations, understands the benefits of playing in the DC corruption racket. Israel is the client, The US Congress the whore.
DeleteThe Greeks should go onto the drachma, renounce 80% of their debt and issue drachma bonds for the balance. The Federal Reserve has monetized $4 trillion in debt, what’s the problem? They also have to pass legislation that allows retail obligees to restate debt in drachma. Don’t do half measures. Get it all out now.
ReplyDeleteAll they have to do is offer a one hundred year lease basing rights to the Chinese and Russians navies and their creditors will get religion.
DeleteAch du liebe Zeit!
DeleteWashington played the financial bully card too many times:
DeleteMOSCOW, July 2. /TASS/. Russia did not suggest Greece joining the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB), Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Thursday.
"We did not suggest [that]," the minister said.
Greece did not hold any negotiations to join the BRICS NDB, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Storchak told TASS earlier.
"According to the charter of BRICS NDB, any state - UN member-nation can join it. As soon as the bank starts operations and organizational matters for admission of new members in the bank are approved, the board of governors should establish the legal basis for admission of the new member. Then the candidate shall formally request to consider its application," the deputy minister said.
American Express thought Costco could not live without them.
DeleteWhat’s in your wallet?
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DeleteGet it all out now.
Until the next time. This isn't Greece's first rodeo.
The Costa Ricans make the Greeks look like chumps in that arena.
DeleteThe idea that two sovereign countries can share one currency is fantasy of the highest order.
ReplyDeleteIt's bizarre.
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DeleteStill, some like Ecuador and the British V.I. use the USD as their official currency, others like Panama have two official currencies with the US being one, and others like the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and others are pegged 1:1 with the USD.
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Not many folk will be willing to loan Greece money denominated in Drachmas.
DeleteThe EU should have a free trade zone. That makes sense. They should also have a common trade currency that is efficiently convertible to the individual national currencies that are free to adjust via a market. All of Southern Europe would benefit from a national currency.
DeleteThey're in default to the IMF, joining the ranks of the likes of Sudan and Zimbabwe. Anyone who lends Greece money denominated in anything deserves it.
DeleteThey don’t have to loan them money in drachma. Greece would be like a debtor in possession with new creditors having a senior position on freed up collateral.
DeleteI worked for a New York Bank that did DIP financing and we made a lot of money.
DeleteI believe the Greeks are spending more than they take in.
DeleteIt wasn’t personal Sonny.
DeleteAshSun Jul 05, 06:43:00 PM EDT
DeleteI believe the Greeks are spending more than they take in.
All debtors do that before they file.
Most all countries spend more than they take in. They issue bonds and print to cover the difference. Greece has some real problems ahead even if they default in all their foreign obligations.
DeleteYou are correct, but they have no place to go but up.
DeleteYa, but the short term pain will be immense.
DeleteJohn Kerry says talks on Iran's nuclear programme have "made genuine progress" but "could go either way"
ReplyDeleteIf this deal goes down, Iran will be the economic powerhouse of the ME.
ReplyDeleteCuba the same.
DeleteIf this deal goes down?
DeleteThere will be a race to get nukes by the collective arab world.
War will intensify and millions will die..
Now if the deal was actually preventing Iran from getting nukes? Yeah color me incorrect....
As for the Iranian power house?
Hardly, they barely can stay afloat as it is...
But one can only wish for the breakup of the unnatural borders that hold Iran together today..
Yeah, you are colored incorrect. If the deal fails Iran will pull out the stops and go fo nukes propelling the region into a nuclear arms race. If the deal goes through there will be strong pressure against anyone else in the region to go nuclear.
DeleteYou can't say anything, you haven't seen the exact deal, nor has it been signed...
DeleteAs it stands now?
what we KNOW about the deal is creating an arab arms race for nukes
If the deal is signed and it allows Iran to get a nuclear weapon? Continue to enrich? use the billions from sanctions relief to fund hamas and hezbollah?
DeleteHow is that a good deal?
Oh, yeah, killing jews is GOOD right Asd and Deuce?
The goal of the deal is to stop Iran from going nuclear. It appears they want sanctions lifted more than they want the bomb.
DeleteIf sanctions are lifted hopefully the country will continue to liberalize. They have had problems in the past with a restive population and maybe they will gain more power without the Great Satan to rally against.
Ash, Iran is giving up what for this deal?
DeleteCentifuges? Inspections at military sites? Coming clean about past illegal and secret (now discovered) programs?
Iran is getting sanctions relief and is NOT under any obligation to stop enriching.
But you keep dreaming Ash, so what if Iran gets 50 billion in cash to continue to genocide Israel.
SO what if we pull their nuts out of the fire and save them from the deserved economic collapse...
We shall have to see the text of a final deal to see what, in particular, they are giving up. It would be interesting to see what Israel would be willing give up if put in a similar situation. Yes, that is a red herring, in this case.
DeleteIt would be a real political coup for Obama and a relief for US citizens to have an economic partner and a society that can actually do something about radical terrorism in the ME. Nothing would be sweeter than seeing regime change in Riyadh and Tel Aviv.
ReplyDeleteIsrael's capital is Jerusalem.
DeleteAs for economic relief and radical islam/terrorism?
Israel is the cure. Your friends the palestinians, iranians, syrian and hezbollah are the problem.
Maybe you will see it someday.. I doubt it.
I share your doubt.
DeleteWell several million arabs that LIVE in Israel don't share your doubts....
DeleteThey live the truth...
you live in occupied philadelphia..
The idea that two sovereign countries can share one currency is fantasy of the highest order.
ReplyDeleteIf we give China a trillion dollar coin, all they can do with it is use it to buy something else. So at that point two sovereign nations will be using one currency.
The wimmins is kickin' ass. Up 4 - 1
ReplyDeleteGood bye Bob.
ReplyDeleteWe don't want your pornographic crud here Bob.
ReplyDeleteMr. Gone.
ReplyDeleteIt has been a cordial thread. It will stay that way. Please don’t respond to his comment and I will spam him out.
ReplyDeleteU.S. wins 5 - 2
ReplyDeleteUSA USA USA USA :) :)
Vandals did donuts on the circular mound effigy at serpent mound last night. The serpent wasn't damaged but still it was desecration of Indian burial mounds. Almost like homegrown ISIS, as it were.
ReplyDeleteI am, of course, anxiously awaiting the results of Greferendum, although the next few days in Greece will be terrible whoever wins. But we shouldn’t lose sight of other risks facing the world. Some of us have been worrying quite a lot about China — an economy that at market exchange rates is 40 times the size of Greece, and is severely unbalanced. And in the past month, mainly in the past few days, the Shanghai stock index has fallen almost 30 percent. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the feared crisis has come, but it’s definitely not a good sign.
ReplyDeletePaul Krugman
The US federal deserve weighed in and rescued the western financial system. The Chinese gov has vowed to rescue their stock market. We shall see if they have the fire power to do it. If successful we will probably hear belly aching about a cheap Yuan again.
DeleteAh, well, hell, PK neglected to mention that that exchange Increased 150% in the last year. Bad form pk, bad form.
Deleteshame on you, butthole
The attempts to rescue the Shanghai index were viewed as trouble and the thing fell further. Can't win when the underlying psychology shifts to risk-off.
ReplyDeleteIt's a little more than psychology when leveraged buyers are concerned.
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteGreeks Reject Austerity in Landslide
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DeleteI expect the markets will sell off tomorrow. I wonder how long it will last.
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DeleteOf course, I think the markets would have been down whichever way the vote went. They don't like uncertainty and no one knows what either vote, yes or no, means going forward anyway.
Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times.
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