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."

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

"Most Americans Don't Know About it..." (Seymour Hersch on Rift Between Obama and US Military)

"I think many Americans think believe that the United States, Russia, and China eventually will be the main sponsors, if we could ever get our policy straight, (to) work together with Arab boots on the ground, and that would take care of the problem." 



'Game of cards': Seymour Hersh on conflicting interests in Syria
Published time: 29 Dec, 2015 20:12
Edited time: 29 Dec, 2015 20:15 RT


Journalist Seymour Hersh's new report on contradictions between President Obama and the US military regarding rebels in Syria was a bombshell. Hersh spoke with RT about the US military's view of Syria's Bashar Assad and Obama's relationship with Turkey.

Writing for the London Review of Books, Hersh reported that, in a classified document from Summer 2013, the highest echelons of the US military establishment outlined their opposition to the Obama administration’s strategy of arming so-called "moderate" rebels to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad. From 2013 to September 2015, in an effort to truly counter extremists in Syria, US military leaders fed US intelligence to Russia, Germany, and Israel, which then sent it to Assad, he reported.


The removal of Assad from power would be a gift to fundamentalist extremists, the military report said, as US defense officials compared a potential Assad ouster to ill-advised US eliminations of secular leaders Moammar Gaddaffi in Libya and Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Turkey – which the Obama administration has held close as an ally – is "a major impediment to Obama’s Syria policy," Hersh wrote of the 2013 military report. Turkey "co-opted" the US program "to arm and support the moderate rebels fighting Assad," a former senior adviser to the Joint Chiefs of Staff told Hersh. The moderate-arming program "had morphed into an across-the-board technical, arms and logistical program for all of the opposition, including Jabhat al-Nusra and Islamic State," Hersh's source said. The Free Syrian Army – the administration's preferred moderate rebel ally on the ground Syria – was not a "viable 'moderate' opposition to Assad, and the US was arming extremists," Hersh wrote.

"I have no way of explaining why the White House wasn't interested in that intelligence, but that was the perception that the Joint Chiefs of Staff had, that the president wasn't responding to very important intelligence and continuing to carry on with a policy that they saw as disastrous in the long-run,"
Hersh told RT. 


Hersh added in the interview that the Obama administration seems "to be backing away from their hard line about Assad staying in power," even as they say Assad cannot stay in power during any negotiations to settle the ongoing Syrian crisis.

"So it is really just like a game of cards," he told RT.


Obama and the US military's 'moderate' rebels

Hersh told RT that Robert Ford, the US ambassador to Syria in Damascus, went to demonstrations against Assad in early 2011, amid the Arab Spring, in support of the opposition. Wikileaks reported that the US State Department worked to encourage the opposition. In reality, Hersh said, the stated strategy of the US, in which it arms alleged moderates to fight both Assad forces and extremists like Islamic State (formerly known as ISIS or ISIL), has long been a fiction.


"At least on some level, (US officials) understand that the groups they insist are so moderate have a lot of ties (to jihadist groups)," Hersh said. "You can't exist without being in league with Al-Nusra or the Islamic State."

The Free Syrian Army (FSA), which receives arms from the US, is not considered a serious foes by Islamic State and other militant groups, as the FSA has had to make "an accommodation" with Al-Nusra and Islamic State "in order to survive," Hersh wrote. In his story, he quoted a German journalist who spent ten days with Islamic State militants; those fighters said the FSA are "the best arms sellers we have."

Furthermore, the Obama administrations' close ties with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan "make no sense," and come at the expense of effectively fighting Islamic militants in Syria, Hersh told RT, citing Russian and American sources.


"Without getting Turkey to stop opening its borders and stop supplying arms to the 'bad guys' it is going to be an intractable war, a much harder war," Hersh said is the view of military sources. "If we can get him to stop it would be much easier" to clear the area around Aleppo, the site of fierce fighting in Syria's northwest. 

China's interests in Syria

An ally of Assad, China has "allegedly committed more than $30 billion to postwar reconstruction in Syria," Hersh wrote, and sees Islamic State as a threat, especially given the jihadist group's support for militant Uighurs, who are Muslims from western China. Uighurs are making it to Turkey via Kazakhstan, Hersh told RT, and then "are funneled into Syria to fight."

"What the Chinese are finding particularly offensive … is the fact that Islamic State, which has pretty good expertise in small-unit fighting, and, certainly, they've been training some of the Uighurs in how to make themselves more presentable and work them back into China where they then can do terrorism activities. So China sees this as a huge threat. China is very pro-Bashar, and has made a huge commitment of money for rebuilding," Hersh told RT.

94 comments:

  1. If reporting by renowned American journalist, Seymour Hersh, proves accurate, the declared American policy regarding the Syrian war is principally inconsistent with United States military behaviour on the ground.

    Writing in the London Review of Books, Hersch states that the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs-of-Staff have been working secretly with the Syrian military, providing the kind of intelligence that allows the government of Bashar Al Assad to fight Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) extremists.

    According to Hersh’s investigation, Military to Military, the conduct of the Pentagon is not part of a double-pronged US policy on Syria, but is rather carried out in complete defiance of the declared position of President Barack Obama.

    “The military’s resistance dates back to the summer of 2013, when a highly classified assessment, put together by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the Joint Chiefs-of-Staff (...) forecast that the fall of the [Al] Assad regime would lead to chaos and, potentially, to Syria’s takeover by extremists, much as was then happening in Libya,” Hersh wrote.

    Ironically, Libya was by then serving as a major depot of arms shipped by the CIA to deliver weapons to Al Assad’s rivals. According to the report, much of these weapons, ended up in the hands of Daesh and Jabhat Al Nusra.

    In keeping with his previous reports, Hersh’s investigation was immediately dismissed by some as unfounded. However, as was the case with his reporting on ‘The Killing of Osama Bin Laden’ last May, much of these new allegations are likely to be validated over time.

    The US approach to the war in Syria is a typical reaction of the Obama administration. On one hand, it is prudent enough not to get entangled in another costly conflict with unguaranteed outcomes. On the other hand, it lacks the courage to force a politically-negotiated solution that would spare Syria countless more lives. Either way, it is viewed as lacking in any moral conviction, as a world power, with the ability to assist in conflict-ridden zones.

    {...}

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  2. {...}

    In fact, Obama’s political agenda, underserving of the term ‘strategy’, has been predicated on fighting a Cold War in the Middle East. It labours to stifle the war efforts of its global and regional rivals, as well as support, at least publicly, anti-Al Assad forces using its network of regional allies.

    Needless to say, such indecision has proved a major obstacle in Syria.

    Obama’s double-edged ‘strategy’ has done more damage than a covert split between Obama and the Pentagon regarding their perception of Al Assad. It has also resurrected a political group, the neoconservatives, that has done the Middle East and the US much harm — first, by cheerleading the war on Iraq; and later, by concocting the very policies that resulted in the current bloody mess, which has extended to Syria.

    Furthermore, while the neocons are still generally subdued and confined to their old and newly-launched think-tanks, their talking heads are back with more sinister plans than ever. In fact, it was the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, signed between the P5+1 (the US, Britain, France, Russia, China plus Germany) and Iran that revitalised the neocons, uniting them around a single cause.

    According to investigative journalist Jim Lobe, even as Israel has largely limited its efforts to derail the agreement with Iran, which aimed at clinching a $50 billion (Dh183.9 billion) military aid package from the US, “hardline neocons ... have clearly not given up on their cherished goal of achieving regime change in Tehran”.

    The neocons’ vision on Iraq was articulated in an article recently published in Foreign Affairs magazine. The rhetoric used by the article’s three neocon intellectuals is the same as that often utilized in the past, promising a grand, dark vision of dismantling nations, and rehashing solutions to massive problems, with little expertise on the subject, aside from ensuring Israeli interests.

    “A regime as dangerous to US interests as Tehran requires a comprehensive strategy to counter it. That means exploiting all of Iran’s vulnerabilities: Increasing the costs of its foreign adventures, weakening its economy, and backing its domestic discontents. Pursuing that strategy will take time, but eventually, it will put the United States in a position to impose terms on Iran, including in the nuclear realm,” they wrote.

    {...}

    These efforts are largely mounted via the Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI), the rebranded name of the Project for the New American Century which is responsible for fashioning the political discourse that destroyed Iraq and destabilised the Middle East.

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    1. {...}

      The authors, Eliot Cohen, Eric Edelman, and Ray Takeyh, have all served important roles within the former George W. Bush administration, alongside other neocon leaders such as Richard Perle. Edelman was a senior deputy national security adviser of US Vice-President Dick Cheney — a particularly belligerent character during the Iraq war.

      But since the philosophy of neocons is predicated on grand visions, however destructive, it should come as no surprise that they are also promoting yet a new Middle East, which requires the dismantling of modern Iraq and Syria and the creation of a new country. That part of the ‘vision’ is left to John Bolton, a former US ambassador to the United Nations who has now been promoted as an apparent ‘scholar’ in the pro-Israel lobby group, the American Enterprise Institute.

      The latest of such intellectual charges by Bolton was published in the New York Times on November 24. Under the title, ‘To defeat [Daesh], create a Sunni state’, he engaged in his typical brand of theorising, raging against “Obama’s ineffective efforts” to destroy Daesh and demanding instead a “clear view shared by Nato allies.” The impetus behind his logic is that once Daesh is destroyed, the region that the militant group designated as a ‘state’ should be turned into a Sunni state; which he termed a “Sunni-Stan”.

      “As we did in Iraq with the 2006 ‘Anbar Awakening,’ the counterinsurgency operation that dislodged Al Qaida from its stronghold in that Iraqi province, we and our allies must empower viable Sunni leaders, including tribal authorities who prize their existing social structure,” he wrote.

      Only an illogical person would fail to appreciate how the sectarian seed that the US has sowed in Iraq has resulted in the disfiguring of the Iraqi nation. This massive tampering with the social, cultural, religious and political fabric of society — by first dismantling all government institutions, empowering Shiites and oppressing Sunnis, turning the Sunnis against one another, and so forth — has paved the way for the unity between various Sunni groups, which has ultimately resulted in the formation of Daesh.

      The dark vision propagated by the neocons, which are still largely confined to media platforms, could possibly find their way to the halls of power under a new administration. However, whatever path they select, the neocons should never be allowed access to the Middle East discourse, and their visions should remain confined to their ever-mushrooming think-tanks.

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    2. Dr Ramzy Baroud has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an author of several books and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com. His books include Searching Jenin, The Second Palestinian Intifada and his latest My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story. His website is: www.ramzybaroud.net.


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  3. Seymour Hersh, the legendary investigative journalist who broke the My Lai massacre and the abuses at Abu Ghraib, says in a new report for the London Review of Books (the New Yorker and the Washington Post both reportedly passed) that the Obama administration did not tell the whole truth while arguing for a military strike against Syria’s Bashar al-Assad for using chemical weapons.

    Hersh accuses the Obama administration of cherry-picking its evidence and omitting key, contradictory facts. But the administration’s greatest sin, according to Hersh, was its failure to reveal its knowledge that an al Qaida-aligned group of Syrian rebels — the al-Nusra Front — had mastered the creation of sarin gas, the substance used in the chemical attack the administration cited as a cause for war. “When the attack occurred al-Nusra should have been a suspect,” Hersh writes, “but the administration cherry-picked intelligence to justify a strike against Assad.”

    Responding to Hersh’s report, Shawn Turner, a spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence, said Hersh’s allegations are “simply false.”

    “The intelligence clearly indicated that the Assad regime and only the Assad regime could have been responsible for the 21 August chemical weapons attack,” Turner said. “The suggestion that there was an effort to suppress intelligence about a nonexistent alternative explanation is simply false.”

    More from Hersh at the London Review of Books:

    In both its public and private briefings after 21 August, the administration disregarded the available intelligence about al-Nusra’s potential access to sarin and continued to claim that the Assad government was in sole possession of chemical weapons. This was the message conveyed in the various secret briefings that members of Congress received in the days after the attack, when Obama was seeking support for his planned missile offensive against Syrian military installations. One legislator with more than two decades of experience in military affairs told me that he came away from one such briefing persuaded that ‘only the Assad government had sarin and the rebels did not.’ Similarly, following the release of the UN report on 16 September confirming that sarin was used on 21 August, Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the UN, told a press conference: ‘It’s very important to note that only the [Assad] regime possesses sarin, and we have no evidence that the opposition possesses sarin.’

    It is not known whether the highly classified reporting on al-Nusra was made available to Power’s office, but her comment was a reflection of the attitude that swept through the administration. ‘The immediate assumption was that Assad had done it,’ the former senior intelligence official told me. ‘The new director of the CIA, [John] Brennan, jumped to that conclusion … drives to the White House and says: “Look at what I’ve got!” It was all verbal; they just waved the bloody shirt. There was a lot of political pressure to bring Obama to the table to help the rebels, and there was wishful thinking that this [tying Assad to the sarin attack] would force Obama’s hand: “This is the Zimmermann telegram of the Syrian rebellion and now Obama can react.” Wishful thinking by the Samantha Power wing within the administration. Unfortunately, some members of the Joint Chiefs who were alerted that he was going to attack weren’t so sure it was a good thing.’

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    1. Elias Isquith is a daily columnist at Salon who focuses on politics and inequality. He tweets at @eliasisquith.

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  4. Nothing makes sense in Syria unless look at it from the views of a Neocon and AIPAC. Then it clarifies.

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    1. :):):):)

      But, of course !!!

      Now it is all clear as a bell....

      hahahaaaa.....god almighty

      Delete
  5. The Wall Street Journal (Neocon owned and operated} is reporting that Obama spied on Netanyahu.

    Is that all there is? Spying is the least that should have been done.

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    Replies
    1. I would have hoped for at least a couple of attempted poisonings. :)

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    2. I thought an "accidental" (a la USS Liberty) AIM-9 Sidewinder would be rather delightful to behold.

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    3. I'm reasonably (say, 90%) sure that a reasonable end will come out of the IS/Iraq thing.

      Syria, however, defies analysis, much less, optimism.

      Delete
  6. WILL SAUDI ARABIA BE LESS OF A THREAT IF THEY GO BROKE?

    Oil price rout will bring end to era of Saudi Arabian largesse, warns Bank of America

    Declining crude prices signal that an era of Saudi overspending is "firmly behind us"

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/12072675/Oil-price-rout-will-bring-end-to-era-of-Saudi-Arabian-largesse-warns-Bank-of-America.html

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  7. You two are both bonkers and so I'm going to the Casino.

    Carry on !!

    That's an order !!!

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    1. ((((galopn2Tue Dec 29, 09:31:00 PM EST

      I would have hoped for at least a couple of attempted poisonings. :)
      Deuce ☂Tue Dec 29, 09:35:00 PM EST

      I thought an "accidental" (a la USS Liberty) AIM-9 Sidewinder would be rather delightful to behold.))))

      Good God !!

      Urging murder, no less.

      Far out !

      out

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  8. Well, when one of the stupidest individuals on the planet calls you "bonkers," there's hope.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I just heard on tv that Iran no longer has enough enriched uranium to make a nuclear weapon.

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    1. 25,000 lbs. of Enriched Uranium on a ship headed for Russia.

      Iran's "breakout" time for a nuclear weapon just tripled.

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    2. Tehran/Washington (dpa) - Iran on Monday sent tons of enriched uranium stock to Russia in keeping with a nuclear deal reached this year with the international community.

      US Secretary of State John Kerry called the transfer "one of the most significant steps Iran has taken toward fulfilling its commitments" under the nuclear deal.

      The ship that departed Monday for Russia is carrying more than 11,000 kilograms of low-enriched uranium materials, Kerry said. The shipment includes all of Iran's nuclear material enriched to 20 per cent that was not already in the form of fabricated fuel plates for the Tehran Research Reactor, according to Kerry.

      The removal of the enriched material is step toward Iran meeting its commitment to have no more than 300 kilograms of low-enriched uranium by prior to the implementation of the deal, Kerry said in a statement.

      He noted that the shipment more than triples the two-to-three-month breakout timeline for Iran to acquire enough weapons-grade uranium for one weapon. The goal is an eventual breakout time of at least one year by the day the nuclear deal is implemented.

      The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, was quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying that in exchange Tehran would get 137 tons of so-called "yellow cake," or uranium concentrate, from Russia.

      Kerry said Russia had played "an essential role" by taking the material out of Iran and providing natural uranium in exchange.

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    3. He said Kazakhstan contributed to the effort by providing some of the natural uranium material that Iran is to receive in exchange for its enriched material and by helping to facilitate the shipment along with Azerbaijan.

      Norway contributed, Kerry said, by providing funding to the commercial transactions involved in reducing the amount of enriched uranium in Iran and provided expertise in managing some of the transactions.

      The US secretary of state phoned Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende to thank him personally for his leadership. "These efforts represent a significant contribution by Norway to a safer world," Kerry said.

      Iran agreed in July to drastically cut its uranium enrichment capacity, reduce its stock of enriched uranium and accept close international inspections, thus providing guarantees that its civilian nuclear programme cannot be used for nuclear weapons.

      As part of the deal reached with the five United Nations veto powers - China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States - plus Germany, Tehran has begun dismantling thousands of centrifuges.

      If all goes according to plan, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will confirm in early January that Iran has taken all steps to curb its nuclear programme.

      On this so-called implementation day, the European Union and the United States will lift their sanctions against Iran in return.

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    4. Dismantling Thousands of Centrifuges, Shipping Enriched Uranium to Russia, . . . .

      No Comment from Bibi, and the Party of Stupid.

      Delete
    5. Dismantling Thousands of Centrifuges, Shipping Enriched Uranium to Russia, . . . .

      No Comment from Bibi, and the Party of Stupid.

      Delete
    6. You are double posting again.

      Time for some sleep.

      Delete
  10. I just heard on tv that Iran no longer has enough enriched uranium to make a nuclear weapon.

    "Dufus"


    Well all righty then. We can count on that !

    Bwabwabwabwahahahahaha


    Which channel ya watchin', Duf ?

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    1. By the way, Iran never admitted in the first place to having enough enriched material to make a nuclear weapon.

      They denied they were enriching past nuclear power stations standards.

      What the hell ?

      ;(

      What confuses me is when the tellies report different shit.

      Then I never know what shit to believe.

      And feel 'out of the loop'.

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  11. Ah, Lordy Lordy, as "Q" would say.

    You're a gas, Duf.

    A true GAS !!!!

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  12. I heard on MSNBC-TV that the Iranian soil samples that the Iranians collect themselves have no trace of radioactivity.

    All is well.

    I heard on al-Jazeera TV that one of our pro football players has been drugging his entire career.

    That settles that matter.

    The player denies the foreign allegation.

    (And al-jazeera is backtracking due to threats of law suits.)

    We can always believe what we hear on the telly.

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  13. And I can't believe that our great and ethical nation is actually spying on Israel !

    What have we become ?

    We're just like the Israelis !

    (my honest opinion is our intelligence agencies should be spying on damn near everyone, except perhaps the Lesser Antilles or someone similar....if they weren't they would not be doing their job....I expect that every other nation that has the capacity is doing exactly the same thing....and I don't blame them....I would too...)

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  14. You might think that I would agree with every word of the following. You'd be wrong. I disagree with nearly every word of it as it concerns sexual orientation. To the best of my limited knowledge right now, matters of sexual orientations are not genetic but are determined or influenced by very very very very early fetal development.

    A whole long series of biochemical hoops and hurdles must be gone through in the 'correct' manner to be 'normal'. If this sequence is not negotiated 'correctly' the 'normal' orientation is not achieved.

    This must be the case as the 'normal' orientation - being attracted to the opposite sex - is necessary in most cases for the human race to continue on its merry way.

    The Iranians have it wrong. They think they can kill homosexuality out of the population. They cannot because it is not genetic.

    They could kill every queer and queerette in Iran and the phenomenon would reappear in the next generation because it is developmental, not genetic.

    Thus Deuce had it right when he said: "It ain't no big deal".

    Live and let live, be polite, and we should all shut up about it.

    There is nothing to be done.

    (I got this from a long article by the head of the human bio development group from England's most famous university in London. His group only had a few minor 'hoops and hurdles' left to untangle, he said, then they'd have the whole sequence.)
    ***********

    December 29, 2015
    The Left's Retreat to Fantasy
    By J. R. Dunn

    The left’s slide into irrationality in recent years should come as no surprise. There is no way the ideology – in particular regarding its record – can be rationally defended any longer. Virtually every claim made by the left has been negated repeatedly, often in the most sanguinary terms imaginable. No reasonable defense remains; all that exists is irrationality.

    Leftism began amid claims to being the ultimate in rationalism, an application of scientific method to politics by thinkers as varied as Saint-Simon, Hegel, and Marx. Throughout its development in the 19th through 20th centuries, through the Fabians, the British Labour Party, the New Deal, and the Great Society in the United States, leftism held fast to that claim above all others: that it embodied the sole rational method of dealing with political and social challenges.

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    1. With each step, certain predictions were made, and with each step, every last one was undermined and swallowed by history. In the USSR, occupied Eastern Europe, Maoist China, and Cambodia, failure was accompanied by bloodshed on a scale difficult for most millennial individuals to comprehend. In the West, the process was less bloody, but just as thorough. The UK, Sweden, France, and all other social democratic states have been forced to admit defeat. The same occurred in the U.S. with the Great Society and its underpinning programs – federal welfare, urban renewal, the War on Poverty. All were based on the most rigorous rationality, and all were abject failures.

      Which doesn’t mean that leftists have given up. True believers don’t. Instead, the collapse of the liberal/leftist program following the 60s led to a retreat into romantic fatuity – evanescent claims of “compassion” and decency that were considered to be beyond debate.

      But these are no longer tenable either, after 65 million abortions, mass murder and outrage in the inner cities, and the piles of dead generated by the left-supported “Arab Spring,” to mention only three outcomes of leftist policy. “Humanist” Western liberal/leftism may in the end turn out to be even more deadly that the brutalist communist variety.

      In response, the left has at last leaped off the board into the deep end, greeting the new millennium with a burst of pure lunacy.

      During the 60s, when the current model of liberal/leftism was coming together, this was presaged by the Scottish psychologist R.D. Laing. Today utterly forgotten, Laing’s thesis was that insanity was a justifiable response to an insane social and political milieu, a claim that has been largely simplified into an assertion that the crazies are actually the sane ones.

      Though Laing may be forgotten, his thesis has become the centerpiece of millennial leftism. In its twilight era, leftism has entered a Dreamland where anything – anything at all to the limits of the imagination -- can be had for a wish.

      Such a philosophy should be easy to defeat. But, as is so often the case, conservatives are blowing it off.

      Take, for instance, the latest left-wing crusade – transsexuality.

      Two points need to be made – first that this involves a vanishing minority placed at 78,000, which can be arbitrarily cut in half to get a more accurate number of about 39,000. You can’t get a smaller minority than this. There may be as many left-handed Albanians in the U.S. as there are transsexuals.

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    2. Second, that these people are by definition badly disturbed. They are obsessed with something they cannot have, and insist that the rest of us share in their delusion that they can have it. A cause for pity, at most, but the left has chosen to put these people in the firing line.

      One telling fact about the transsexual “debate” (if you can justly use that label about something in which only one side is heard) is that all of the previous research and consideration of the topic have been set aside. A number of psychological theories to explain transsexuality have been put forward. One convincing example is that of C.G. Jung, the brilliant Swiss student of Sigmund Freud. Jung broke with Freud over his proposal that human behavior is predicated on “archetypes” inherited from generation to generation. Among these archetypes are a male component – the “animus”— and a female component – the “anima” – present in all psyches, both male and female. For years this thesis was dismissed due to doubts that anything such thing could be inheritable. Today we know that the human genetic structure is a lot more complex than previous generations could have imagined.

      Usually the sexual archetypes are well integrated, to the point where they’re not even noticed. But in some cases, they are rejected or resisted at which point…. Well, we all know the proverb about a woman scorned. The anima takes on a pathological form, distorting the entire psyche – even to the point of completely undermining the victim’s sexual identity. (It should be pointed out – though it’s often overlooked – that there are a lot more men convinced they are women than the other way around.)

      Viewed from the Jungian point of view – or that of any other traditional psychological school -- it’s undeniable than transsexuals are extremely disturbed individuals in need of treatment to help them reintegrate their psyches. The record reinforces this conclusion, from the sad case of the Dutch transsexual who handed himself over to the tender mercies of the state’s euthanasists after being transformed into a “monster,” to the recent complaints of “Chaz” Bono, who bemoans “his” loneliness due to normal women viewing him as a “freak.” It’s no surprise to learn that transsexuals have a 40%+ postoperative suicide rate. These people deserve our compassion and a concentrated research program on how to help them come to terms with their disorder.

      That, needless to say, is not what they’re getting. Their friends on the left have adopted them not out of concern, but to use as a battering ram to cause further damage to the world as it is.

      How have conservatives responded? Well, they haven’t. In the battle against “gay marriage,” the conservative response was limited to remarks along the lines of “Can I marry my cat?” All else was confusion, bewilderment, and a refusal to engage. The same has occurred with transsexuals, the lone comment often being along the lines of, “Well, what if somebody says they’re Napoleon?”

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    3. What’s the reason for this? There’s an interesting story concerning the respected social democratic philosopher Sidney Hook, who late in life found a home among neoconservatives after tossing aside every argument the left had to offer. Walking through the park with a close friend, Hook sat on park bench and said, “Tell me, what is it homosexuals do?”

      Hook was in his fifties at the time. He was a man of vast intelligence and erudition. He’d lived for years in New York City, only blocks for the epicenter of American gay life. Yet he’d never gotten the key elements of homosexuality clear in his mind.

      And that, in a nutshell, is the problem with conservatives and homosexuality: they don’t know about it because they don’t want to know about it. They view it with confusion, bewilderment, and discomfort amounting to fear. It is alien, it is disturbing, it is irrational. So it’s best to retreat to the think-tanks for lengthy discussions as to what Madison or Tocqueville might have thought about it.

      Conservatives too, are slaves of rationalism. Unlike the left they have maintained their allegiance. Which has created a vast opening for leftist action, a weak spot that can be exploited. The American Left has selected gay marriage, transsexualism, and related elements as causes because they are ridiculous. They have hit on the fact that this kind of thing seriously confuses conservatives. As a result, the LGBT+ movement is the sole leftist component still making gains in this century.

      What the solution? You cannot deal with an irrational doctrine on a rational basis. To do this is to verify it. We need to return to the response of instinctive revulsion, the conviction that, as it was once put, “oddities must pay the price of being oddities.” Ridicule, insult, and sarcasm must be the weapons of choice. The answer is not going to be found in theory.

      The left has made itself vulnerable with this move. Nothing good will ever come of its infatuation with the far reaches of the sexual continuum. But to take advantage of this opportunity, conservatism must change its strategies, its practices, and its methods. There is no purpose in an opposition that is afraid to strike.

      http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/12/the_lefts_retreat_to_fantasy.html#ixzz3vmTXlMlX





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    4. I did like this, though -

      During the 60s, when the current model of liberal/leftism was coming together, this was presaged by the Scottish psychologist R.D. Laing. Today utterly forgotten, Laing’s thesis was that insanity was a justifiable response to an insane social and political milieu, a claim that has been largely simplified into an assertion that the crazies are actually the sane ones.

      It has that lovely aroma of "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" about it.

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  15. Is Trump an uninvited thumper humper without consent like "Bubba" Bill ?

    That is the question.

    So far no news of it on the TV, from which we all get our most trusted information, and there would be if the f...ing Democrats could catch a whiff of rape in The Donald's behavior.

    *****

    WaPo’s Marcus: Let’s face it, Bill Clinton’s predatory behavior is much worse than Trump’s sexist
    remarks

    posted at 1:01 pm on December 29, 2015 by Ed Morrissey

    To paraphrase the immortal words of Daniel Simpson “D-Day” Day, the war’s over — Donald Trump dropped the big one. At least Ruth Marcus thinks so when it comes to the Battle of the Sexes between Trump and Hillary Clinton. Marcus argues that while Trump personifies vulgarity, he has the edge over Hillary when it comes to attacks on women. Trump just makes sexist statements, Marcus argues, but Hillary’s husband Bill preys on them:

    “Hillary Clinton has announced that she is letting her husband out to campaign but HE’S DEMONSTRATED A PENCHANT FOR SEXISM, so inappropriate! ” Trump tweeted on Saturday.

    He followed up the next day on “Fox and Friends Weekend,” accusing Clinton of playing the “woman’s card” and declaring her husband “fair game because his presidency was really considered to be very troubled, to put it mildly, because of all the things that she’s talking to me about.” Trump, typically delighted with himself, pointed out, “I turned her exact words against her.”

    And again, Monday morning. “If Hillary thinks she can unleash her husband, with his terrible record of women abuse, while playing the women’s card on me, she’s wrong!”.....


    Hillary, if she was worth a shit, which she isn't, would have left Bubba Bill long ago for humping without permission.

    Instead, she tried to destroy the string of women ("Women making sexual misconduct allegations have the right to be believed" - Hillary 'Rodent' Clinton) making the allegations

    Both Clinton's deserve real time in federal prisons.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://hotair.com/archives/2015/12/29/wapos-marcus-lets-face-it-bill-clintons-predatory-behavior-is-much-worse-than-trumps-sexist-remarks/

      Delete
  16. .

    Ramadi

    What we saw in terms of the combination of airstrikes and intelligence support and then forces on the ground, it has worked very, very well,” he said.

    Over the past six months, the coalition has launched more than 600 airstrikes, hitting about 2,500 different targets, US Army Col. Steve Warren, the Baghdad-based spokesman for the coalition, told reporters on Tuesday. He said at its peak there were up to 1,000 IS fighters in Ramadi, and that only 150-250 remain. But while the airstrikes eventually helped flush out the militants, they smashed large parts of the city into rubble.

    The city has suffered “huge devastation,” Al-Belawi said. He estimates that more than half of the city’s buildings have been destroyed, including government offices, markets and houses. Most residents fled earlier this year, and it could be months or longer before they are able to return.

    Even before IS rolled in, Ramadi bore scars from the eight-year US intervention in Iraq. US troops fought their bloodiest battles in Ramadi and nearby Fallujah, which was the first Iraqi city to fall to IS and remains under its control.

    When IS captured Ramadi earlier this year, the militants blew up the homes of members of the security forces, but even those demolitions did not compare with the destruction wrought by the US-led warplanes, according to al-Belawi.

    The recapture of Ramadi has nevertheless lifted the morale of Iraq’s troops. State TV has repeatedly shown footage of soldiers waving Iraqi flags and brandishing machine guns, chanting and dancing inside the government complex in central Ramadi. Some can be seen slaughtering sheep in celebration near heavily damaged buildings.


    [Danged sheep can't win for losing. Even on a good day they're screwed.}

    http://www.timesofisrael.com/retaking-of-ramadi-proves-us-led-strategy-but-at-high-iraqi-cost/

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. {...}

      But the high cost of liberating Ramadi raises questions about whether the same tactics can be brought to bear in Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, which remains under IS control, or other dense urban areas in Iraq and Syria, where IS militants live among civilians.

      “This approach has a very high cost in material damage and human casualties,” said Lina Khatib, a senior research associate at the Arab Reform Initiative, a Paris-based think-tank.
      “To use the same approach everywhere in the region… the scale of damage would be immense,” she said.

      There is also the question of what do with Sunni areas like Ramadi once the militants are driven out. Distrust of the Shiite-led government runs deep in the sprawling Anbar province, which is overwhelmingly Sunni. Many residents initially welcomed IS as liberators.

      U.S. troops were able to pacify Anbar and other Sunni areas starting in 2006 with the help of the Sahwa, or “awakening” movement — Sunni tribes and militias who allied with the Americans against al-Qaida in Iraq, the predecessor of the IS group. But the Sahwas later fell out with the central government, which contributed to the IS group’s resurgence.

      Al-Belawi insisted that the Sunni fighters had returned and allied with his forces, helping them to advance. “Most of these fighters fought al-Qaida in Iraq in 2006 and 2007, they know their areas very well and the whereabouts of the local Daesh fighters and their movements,” he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

      But Warren, the coalition spokesman, said Sunni fighters “were not a significant player” in the assault on Ramadi, but were mainly holding ground already cleared by the army.


      {...}

      Delete

    2. {...}

      IS militants still control an estimated 30 percent of the city, according to Gen. Ismail al-Mahlawi, head of military operations in Anbar province. IS launched a number of small-scale attacks Tuesday.

      The IS group’s territory in Iraq makes up only about half of its self-declared caliphate. Even if Iraq drives the extremists out, they would retain their grip on large parts of Syria, where an increasingly complex civil war has sucked in regional powers and left the U.S. with few reliable allies.

      “I expect that IS will continue to be weakened in Iraq,” Khatib said. “But this does not mean IS is weakened in general because it can still have a significant presence in Syria.”


      George reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.

      .

      Delete
  17. What I don't get about the peaceful Iranians, whose Islamic 'theology' calls for a world wide holocaust to bring back the fellow hiding in the well, and Jesus too, by the way, is why the Iranians are so hot to develop ICBMs. According to Rufus quoting a TV program they have shown their peaceful intentions by shipping their enriched nuclear materials to their ally Russia, run by that peaceful and truthful Christian Saint Pooty.

    Oddly, I have heard on another TV program, and read it too, that the Iranians have now violated the
    Treaty - strike that, executive agreement - on three different occasions, in three differing ways.

    We all know the one and only purpose of ICBMs and it is not to lob 1,000 pound conventional warheads half way around the world.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Idaho BobWed Dec 30, 01:48:00 AM EST

    What I don’t get about the peaceful Iranians, whose Islamic ‘theology’ calls for a world wide holocaust to bring back the fellow hiding in the well, and Jesus too, by the way, is why the Iranians are so hot to develop ICBMs.


    Because the chancre on the Middle East has 200 nuclear weapons would be my guess.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They need ICBM's to reach Israel ?

      Who knew.

      Thanks for the info.

      Delete
  19. But why doesn't Israel need ICBMs to reach Iran ?

    I just don't get it.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Had you paid attention to the US and Soviet missile programs over the past five decades, you would have noticed that ICBM’s are multi use for both weapons delivery, satellite launching and space exploration and development. Iran could check Israeli and Saudi indiscretions with a well thought out satellite and weapons program.

    ReplyDelete
  21. What a lot of grasping non sense.

    Iran has a Man on Mars Program !

    As far as I know neither Israel or Saudi Arabia has an ICBM program.

    They best get one to 'check' Iranian 'indiscretions'.

    After all, Iran is always shouting 'Death to Israel'.

    And, you being an American, 'Death to Deuce' too.

    ReplyDelete
  22. .

    As far as I know neither Israel or Saudi Arabia has an ICBM program.

    Of course, you don't; although a simple Google check would inform you. But why would you do that as it would weaken your anti-Iranian meme?

    Israel has ICBM's (Jericho III) and the fact has been mentioned here a few times. In fact, some would argue they had the capability since the 80's when they put their first satellite in orbit. They also have planes and more importantly submarines capable of launching nuclear weapons.

    Saudi Arabia may not have nuclear weapons or ICBM's but they do have money. They have been paying for about 60% of Pakistan's nuclear program development for years and there are numerous sources that say the quid pro quo is that SA can have 5 or 6 nukes delivered off the shelf any time they want it. Saudi Arabia is pursuing its own 'peaceful' nuclear program with the help of Pakistan, China, and the US. Unlike Israel, SA has signed the NPT so they have even more reason to keep aspects of their nuclear program secret.

    In the past, SA has depended upon big daddy US to provide their nuclear umbrella. That may be changing and when it does they can have nukes over night.

    And you talk about Iran being a Muslim country. So is Pakistan. Pakistan is also a nuclear power. They have had three major conflicts with India in the last 15 years and; yet, we have seen so nukes going off. NK also has nukes and Kim Jong Un is more of a nut job than anyone you will find in Iran. Heck, just a few months ago he had 10 top officials executed for watching foreign soap operas.

    ICBM's? Pakistan, if they don't have them already as some report, has the capability of producing them. As does North Korea.

    Your mantra of Iran shouting 'Death to Israel' and 'Death to America' has become exceedingly tiresome. You accept this cheerleading at face value; yet, when those that speak it explain that what they mean is not physical war but that they will 'destroy our Western way of life' you ignore it.

    And before you say they are both just as bad remember that others have made that boast before, the Russians for instance. How did that work out?

    Al Queda has done more damage to the American way of life than Iran ever could, what with Bush's Patriot Act and WOT, that and the willing acceptance of the loss of their individual rights by chicken-shit sheeple like you.

    .

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You certain the Jericho III is a true ICBM, Quirk-O ? Maybe it is for all I know.

      I'll look it up later on my new computer.

      I don't understand why you are bringing Pakistan and N. Korea into the discussion.

      Yes I know about the Pakistanis and India.

      The only country I mentioned was Iran.

      Deuce said they needed ICBM's for exploration of space and to counter Israeli misbehavior.

      I countered that Israel wasn't all that far away.

      And mentioned that the Iranians are always achanting about death to folks like Deuce, and you too, Quirk-O.

      If O'bozo had given the Iranian people just a little even verbal support, the mullahs might be gone now.

      Remember Neda !

      The Iranians were better off under the Shah.

      And this discussion had more meaning before you butted in with Pakistan and N. Korea.

      I don't understand why you people give Iran such a pass.

      They stone women to death, among many other mis deeds.

      They are widely know as the worst, at least until recently, generators of terrorism in the world.

      ISIS is, it is true, currently hard to beat.

      Have you taken into your home those Syrian 'refugee' families yet, Quirk ?

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    3. .

      I don't understand why you people give Iran such a pass.

      Some here may give Iran a pass, I don't even though it may seem so to dolts like you.

      Russia said of America, "We will bury you." It didn't happen. The leadership of Iran Says 'Death to America'. It ain't going to happen. Even if Iran had a nuke or two or five or ten, and had the will and capability to attack America, it wouldn't mean the death of America but it would mean the death of Iran as it was turned into a sheet of glass. The only apocalypse that would be achieved would be their own. they would play hell finding their 12th, 13th, or any other Imam. They are not stupid. They know this. That is why I believe them when they say they are merely trying to replace our culture with their own.

      Second, your comment above about how you didn't think that Iran had any enriched uranium shows how uninformed you are about the whole nuclear process and what level of enrichment is required for both civil processing and to build a bomb. You are completely ignorant about the testing protocols and the Iranian nuclear agreement; yet, you are constantly bitching about it. This despite the fact that, the US, Israel, the UN, and others have stated that Iran was within a few months of having the nuclear capability to build a bomb before this agreement and now this agreement will push off the possibility for 10 to 20 years and moves the breakout window from a few months to a year or more. You argue against it despite the fact that the IDF and Shin Bet argue that regardless of what Bibi says, the agreement is a good deal for Israel.

      The only thing you know about this is what Bibi, AIPAC, and the GOP feed you, not America's military and intelligence services, not Israel's military and intelligence services, not the other countries that signed on to the agreement, not the UN, not most Americans.

      Go read AT and find something else to bitch about.

      .

      Delete
  23. Some of you guys don't think much of President Obama, but you damned well need to give him his props on this one.

    The world's a little more peaceful (safer) this morning, because of this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The middle east is cesspool of violence right now due to O'bozo, you fool.

      O'bozo supported the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood, saved from never ending chaos by Sisi and Company. May this last.

      O'bozo, and Hillary, totally fucked up Libya.

      Iran might have gotten rid of the mullahs except for O'bozo.

      ISIS would not have arisen in Iraq except for O'bozo going against the explicit advice of America's generals.

      You got a big Zero for a brain.

      All emotion, Zero thought, like if you were on meth.

      Delete
  24. Policy Effectiveness Since 2008

    DECEMBER 29, 2015 12:37 PM

    I came down pretty hard on Tim Taylor yesterday, but with reason. There is simply no reason any reputable economist should, at this late date, be saying things like “We tried huge stimulus, but it didn’t work, so maybe fiscal policy is ineffective.” This just flies in the face of the facts. Three points:

    1. Actual stimulus was only modest-sized and short-lived, as I documented in my previous post.

    2. Since 2010, the distinguishing feature of fiscal policy has been how contractionary it has been compared with previous experience. That’s not just me talking; it has been repeatedly documented by the IMF and others. Here’s the simplest indicator, government employment after the last two recessions:

    chart

    That spike in 2010, by the way, is temporary hiring for the Census.

    3. There has been quite a lot of empirical work on fiscal policy since 2009, and the preponderant conclusion of that work is that fiscal multipliers are larger, not smaller, than under pre-crisis conditions. If you want to disagree with that work, OK, but explain why — a tossed-off remark won’t cut it.

    The thing is, this matters — a lot. If fiscal policy is as effective as ever, if not more so, then austerity policies did immense damage, and we really need to be ready to do stimulus in the next downturn. But that has no chance of taking place if even economists who should be well-informed just make up a policy history that never happened.

    Krugman - NYT

    ReplyDelete
  25. SOUTHWEST ASIA, December 30, 2015 — U.S. and coalition military forces have continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

    Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

    Strikes in Syria

    Attack, bomber, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted four strikes in Syria:

    -- Near Hasakah, a strike destroyed an ISIL excavator.

    -- Near Aleppo, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle.

    -- Near Ayn Isa, a strike struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle.

    -- Near Dayr Az Zawr, a strike struck an ISIL main oil pump station.

    Strikes in Iraq

    Fighter, attack, bomber, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 24 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:

    -- Near Fallujah, a strike damaged an ISIL trench system.

    -- Near Kisik, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL bunker.

    -- Near Mosul, nine strikes struck six separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL assembly area, an ISIL bed-down location, 20 ISIL fighting positions, two ISIL vehicles, and an ISIL tunnel.

    -- Near Ramadi, seven strikes struck five separate ISIL tactical units, wounded an ISIL fighter, denied ISIL access to terrain, and destroyed an ISIL vehicle bomb, three ISIL vehicles, an ISIL tactical vehicle, an ISIL rocket rail, an ISIL building, an ISIL homemade explosives cache, an ISIL front-end loader, two ISIL fighting positions, and four ISIL heavy machine gun positions.


    -- Near Sinjar, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit, suppressed an ISIL mortar position and destroyed an ISIL heavy machine gun and two ISIL fighting positions.

    -- Near Sultan Abdallah, two strikes destroyed eight ISIL fighting positions and suppressed an ISIL sniper position.

    -- Near Albu Hayat, a strike destroyed an ISIL tactical vehicle and an ISIL vehicle.

    -- Near Hit, a strike struck an ISIL vehicle bomb storage facility.

    DOD

    ReplyDelete
  26. Security forces retake 48% of Iraqi territory

    (IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – On Tuesday, Prime Minister office’s spokesman Saad al-Hadithi stated, that the security forces were able to retake 48% of the Iraqi territory that was captured by the ISIS organization, while considered the liberalization of Ramadi in Anbar Province as a “strategic victory”.

    Hadithi said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “This year, the Iraqi security forces were able to achieve a significant security progress, while liberated 48% of the territory that was seized by ISIS since June 2014.”

    Hadithi added, “The security forces have achieved great victories in Salahuddin, Diyala and Ramadi,” pointing out that, “The liberation of Ramadi is a strategic victory, and it will contribute to the liberalization of the rest of the province’s areas from the ISIS.”

    Earlier this week, Joint Operations Command announced the liberation of the city of Ramadi, while also raised the Iraqi flag over the government complex.

    Iraqinews

    ReplyDelete
  27. I don't care who you are, chart #3 should drive you crazy.

    WaPo

    ReplyDelete
  28. Idaho Bob on his news computerWed Dec 30, 04:41:00 PM EST

    Jericho III



    Intercontinental ballistic missile


    Jericho III ICBMPin it!Share on Facebook

    The Jericho III is the first Israeli intercontinental ballistic missile










    Entered service 2008
    Basing Silo-based
    Missile
    Missile length 15.5 m
    Missile diameter 1.56 m
    Missile launch weight ~ 30 t
    Warhead weight ~ 1 t
    Number of MIRVs 1
    Warhead yield ~ 20 kT
    Range of fire ~ 11 500 km
    CEP ~ 1 000 m




    The Jericho III is the first Israeli Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM). It is a further development of the Jericho I Short-Range Ballistic Missile (SRBM) and Jericho II Medium-Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM). It is also believed to share technology with the Shavit space launch vehicle.

    The Jericho III is known to be 15.5 m in length and 1.56 m in diameter, and is estimated to weigh 30 000 kg. While the Jericho I and Jericho II are both uniformly cylindrical in shape, the Jericho III's first and second stages are very different in diameter. Both the first and second stage have small fins for drag stabilization, and possibly for maneuvering purposes.

    It employs inertial guidance, while the final stage with the warhead is radar-guided. The warhead is not believed to be particularly accurate compared to those of the ICBMs employed by the superpowers, with an estimated CEP of 1 000 m.



    The range of the Jericho III is substantial, encompassing the entirety of the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia, and most of North America, South America, and North Oceania. As such, the Jericho III enables the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to launch a nuclear warhead into almost any location on Earth. At relatively closer-range targets, the reentry velocity is such that the Jericho III is believed to be largely immune to all operational missile defense systems.

    The warhead of this missile is estimated to weigh 1 000 kg, and conventional, biological, chemical, and nuclear warheads are believed to exist, though the full range of warhead options are impossible to confirm due to the secretive nature of the IDF missile command. Some sources report, that yield of the Jericho III's nuclear warhead is approximately 20 kT. Though a yield this small by modern ICBM standard, it is arguably capable of causing significant damage to a modern battlefield or city. It is sufficient for the purpose of a nuclear deterrent.

    The Jericho III is known to be silo-based, though some sources claim that it may have a road-mobile version. The land-based silos are claimed to be virtually invulnerable to nuclear attack.

    Though it entered service in 2008, the Jericho III was not declared operational until 2011. The first test launch is believed to have occurred in January 2008, with a motor test in the following February. Several additional test launches have been reported, including one in July of 2013. In 2011 an upgraded version of the Jericho III was tested. The success rate of the Jericho III in both launching and guidance is unknown.

    The cost and numbers of the Jericho III are classified, though it is likely that the development costs associated with this missile have precluded the IDF from fielding as many as with the preceding Jericho-series missiles.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Quirk-O has shown he is not always wrong.

      Israel needs an ICBM about as much as I do.

      It's scary.

      They might get to Mars first, and claim it for Judaism.

      On the other hand, they are unlikely to launch one with a nuke at New York City.

      Not so true in the case of Iran, however.

      They might even launch one to Detroit, if the spirit calls.

      Delete
    2. Quirk can still, even though the invitation is in the stressed category at this time, come to the farm if need be.

      Delete
  29. Bill Cosby has been charged with some type of sexual assault from 2004.

    This charge, though he may well have done it, is a political farce.

    Too much time has passed.

    It reeks.

    A sex charge should be filed immediately, or ASAP, or never.

    Like nearly all other charges.

    Hillary says she should be believed.

    Unlike the all the women whom her 'husband' Bill humped without permission over the years.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. (I have no sympathy for Cosby. But this is a legal farce)

      Delete
  30. A tragic 'love triangle' ended in violence in this area just recently.

    The deceased is one Dog, as he is known, accurately too.

    The shooter has not so far been charged with anything. An autopsy and drug testing are being done on Dog.

    Dog has a long rap sheet, the shooter not so much.

    Dog had come to the shooter's apartment and was raising hell about some woman to whom these fellows were mutually attracted.

    Oddly enough, both these Gentlemen are known to have engaged the 'gay experience' as well.

    I don't see how they can charge the shooter. After the shooting he called the Police, too. Said he'd bumped off Dog, who was in, or trying to get in, his apartment. The shooter has been very co-operative.

    As for Dog, his exit is not so distressing to me, heading into the New Year.

    Have no idea who Dog was, but his rap sheet was really bad.

    Dog's outta here, courtesy of the 2nd Amendment.

    If you know anything about this incident, you are asked to call our local Police.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Prosecutor is in something of a bind.

      The shooter of Dog is the only witness to the affair, and they have to prove 'beyond a reasonable doubt'.

      And Dog was on the shooter's property.

      If it turns out Dog has drugs in his deceased system, as he probably does, this one will be off the front pages very soon.

      And the county saved a bundle of prosecution bucks, and possible incarceration fees, too.

      And our society out this way the better for it, all round.

      Delete
  31. TRUMP: Bill Clinton 'one of great abusers of world'...

    Says silenced sexism attacks...

    Right hopes to turn women against Hillary...

    STONE: Establishment Won't Address Issue... CAMPAIGN CASH: $100 MILL FOR HILL...DRUDGE


    Go Donald.

    My guy, Dr Ben, is simply too polite to really emphasis the sordid realities.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Pakistanis with terror connections caught crossing US border...Drudge

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You poor, stupid asshole. Don't you ever get tired of Drudge yanking you around like a needy whore?

      They weren't "nabbed." They walked up to a Border Patrol Agent, and asked for asylum.

      Fucking nitwit.

      Delete
    2. You fucking dumb ass swamp hick nitwit, I like Drudge.

      How do you know what they did ?

      Maybe they were even practicing taqiyya.

      Why the fuck didn't they have passport in the first place ?

      Ever think of that.

      You are the dumbest fucker on the face of the earth, even the solar system, and far beyond.

      Fucking Hillary lover....

      You must unconsciously just love her war on women, you perverted schlong.

      Delete
    3. How the fuck did they get to Mexico, dumb fuck?

      Did they swim the Atlantic, or the Pacific, Zero Brain?

      Why didn't they 'ask for asylum' there, moron ?

      Delete
    4. .

      You fucking dumb ass swamp hick nitwit, I like Drudge.

      You mean you love the Drudge headlines. That seems all that you actually read.

      .

      Delete
    5. Yes, because if you had clicked on the link to the execrable Wash. Times, you would have eventually read the truth.

      Delete
  33. A major moral issue arises -

    Sperm Bank turns away dyslexic donors -- move branded 'eugenics'...Drudge

    The Nazis !

    As for me, I'd hope those coming from a background of generations....centuries.....of breeding with first cousins be turned away.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well that would eliminate the Jews from your preferred gene pool.

      Delete
    2. If you're Jewish, turns out that the next time your grandmother tries to tell you all about this Nice Jewish Boy she can set you up with, you have the perfect excuse to turn her down: Ashkenazi Jews are all related, so he's probably your distant cousin. According to new research, it turns out that almost all Jews of European descent are all descended from the same group of people. In other words, they're all family! Distantly, anyway.

      According to Live Science, Ashkenazi Jews, who make up about 80 percent of the Jews currently alive today and who trace their ancestry to Eastern Europe, are most likely all descended from the same group of about 350 people who lived about 600-800 years ago. This means that the vast majority of Ashkenazi Jews today are no more than 30th cousins from one another. Which, OK, isn’t really enough to make it weird to date that boy your grandma is talking about, but is still pretty closely linked by geneticists standards.


      http://www.bustle.com/articles/39587-ashkenazi-jews-are-all-related-geneticists-say-and-you-thought-your-family-was-big

      Delete
    3. Let’s see how you worm your way out of that one.

      Delete
    4. It’s worth leaving the thread up for another day.

      Delete
  34. Is this the beginning of the end for Isil in Iraq?

    The recapture of Ramadi is hugely significant for the coalition – but tougher battles lie ahead in Syria

    Members of the Iraqi security forces hold an Iraqi flag with an Islamic State flag which they had pulled down at a government complex in the city of Ramadi Photo: (Photo: REUTERS/Stringer)
    Con Coughlin

    By Con Coughlin

    7:01AM GMT 30 Dec 2015

    Comments552 Comments

    Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-styled leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), must regret ever making his boastful Boxing Day message that, for all the coalition’s efforts, his organisation continues to grow and expand.

    "The dawn of 2016 finds Isil very much on the defensive in both Iraq and Syria"

    No sooner had his message been broadcast through the Arab media than the Iraqi government announced one of the most significant military gains of 2015 – the recapture of the Sunni stronghold of Ramadi just 60 miles from the capital Baghdad. Isil’s capture of Ramadi last spring represented a severe setback to Haider al-Abadi, the Iraqi prime minister, who, with the help of several Iranian-backed militias, had just succeeded in recapturing another iconic Sunni position from Isil, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s home town of Tikrit.

    The liberation of Tikrit, moreover, was supposed to be the precursor for a far more challenging military offensive to liberate Mosul, Iraq’s second city, which was overrun during Isil’s initial invasion of Iraq in the summer of 2014. But the manner of Isil’s capture of Ramadi, where a few hundred jihadist fighters managed to rout a far stronger and better-equipped Iraqi force, put paid to any thoughts of liberating Mosul. On the contrary, the Iraqi military’s dire performance at Ramadi totally undermined the confidence of coalition commanders in its ability to take the fight to Isil. Thus the much-vaunted plan to liberate Mosul was quietly shelved in favour of rebuilding the war-fighting military capability of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In the complex campaign to destroy Isil in both Iraq and Syria, coalition leaders have concluded that it is vital that the ISF has the will as well as the strength to defeat its highly motivated and well-resourced foe. If the threat posed by jihadist fanatics can be eradicated in Iraq, then that will provide a firm platform from which to launch a decisive push to crush Isil in neighbouring Syria.

      The “Iraq First” policy, as some coalition commanders now refer to it, has seen American and British military advisers concentrate their efforts on rebuilding the strength of the ISF to the point where they can provide the ground component that will be essential if the Iraqi government is to achieve its long-term aim of reclaiming control of the whole country from Islamist militants.

      And, to judge by the success of the joint ISF/coalition operation to recapture of Ramadi, the coalition may now have found a workable template for defeating Isil, one that holds the promise of further significant coalition gains in 2016.

      Arguably the biggest criticism of coalition efforts to defeat Isil in Syria has been the absence of effective ground forces to exploit the damage inflicted on Isil positions by coalition air strikes. In Ramadi, however, this shortcoming was addressed by the ISF which, taking advantage of highly effective US and British air strikes against Isil positions, stormed the city centre, raising the national flag over the newly liberated Ramadi government compound.

      The advance certainly gave a hollow ring to al-Baghdadi’s Boxing Day boast that the coalition will not “dare send their troops against us”. On the contrary, the dawn of 2016 finds Isil very much on the defensive in both Iraq and Syria, where the intensification of coalition air strikes – in due part to the Commons vote to allow RAF bombing operations in Syria – has seriously disrupted the organisation’s lucrative oil smuggling operation.

      The big question now, though, is whether this successful military operation can be extended to inflict further defeats against Isil in Syria, as well as Iraq. Mosul, Iraq’s second city, with a population of around 1.5 million, presents a far more challenging target than Ramadi, and coalition commanders fear the battle to recapture the city, which is scheduled for autumn next year, will involve intense street-to-street fighting, with Isil jihadists using Iraqi civilians as human shields.

      Speaking shortly after the recapture of Ramadi, however, Mr al-Abadi promised to bring all of Iraq under the control of the country’s democratically elected government by the end of 2016. Doing so is deemed vital if the US-led coalition is to stand any chance of defeating Isil on the ground in neighbouring Syria, where the situation is immensely more complex than that in Iraq.

      "If leading Sunni countries can be persuaded to play a more active role, then there is every possibility that Isil can be defeated"

      Many of the Sunni-aligned rebel groups operating on the ground in Syria appear more interested in fighting the Assad regime than Isil, and David Cameron has now been forced to back down from his claim that there are 70,000 pro-Western fighters in Syria willing to do battle with the extremists.

      One possible solution would be for the coalition to work closely with the 34-nation Islamic military alliance Saudi Arabia established earlier this month to combat Islamist-inspired terrorism. To date, Sunni states such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia have been reluctant to deploy their ground forces in Syria. But if leading Sunni countries can be persuaded to play a more active role, then there is every possibility that Isil can be defeated in both Syria and Iraq.

      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/islamic-state/12073408/Is-this-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-Isil-in-Iraq.html

      Delete
  35. .

    One possible solution would be for the coalition to work closely with the 34-nation Islamic military alliance Saudi Arabia established earlier this month to combat Islamist-inspired terrorism. To date, Sunni states such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia have been reluctant to deploy their ground forces in Syria. But if leading Sunni countries can be persuaded to play a more active role, then there is every possibility that Isil can be defeated in both Syria and Iraq.

    The John Bolton approach.

    We'll have to wait to see what Russia and China have to say about that.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Not to mention Iran. One would think Saudi Arabia would have learned its lesson in Yemen.

      .

      Delete
  36. U.S.-led forces have killed 10 Islamic State leaders in air strikes, including individuals linked to the Paris attacks, a U.S. spokesman said, dealing a double blowto the militant group after Iraqi forces ousted it from the city of Ramadi.

    ...

    The Iraqi army's seizure of the center of Ramadi on Sunday is its first major victory against the hardline Sunni Islamists that swept through a third of Iraq in 2014, and came after months of cautious advances backed by coalition air strikes.

    ...

    The government has designated the mostly Sunni city of Mosul, 400 km (250 miles) north of Baghdad, as the next target for Iraq's armed forces.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Idaho BobWed Dec 30, 06:17:00 PM EST

    A major moral issue arises -

    Sperm Bank turns away dyslexic donors -- move branded 'eugenics'...Drudge

    The Nazis !

    As for me, I'd hope those coming from a background of generations....centuries.....of breeding with first cousins be turned away.


    Replies

    Deuce ☂Wed Dec 30, 11:43:00 PM EST
    Well that would eliminate the Jews from your preferred gene pool.



    Deuce ☂Wed Dec 30, 11:46:00 PM EST

    If you’re Jewish, turns out that the next time your grandmother tries to tell you all about this Nice Jewish Boy she can set you up with, you have the perfect excuse to turn her down: Ashkenazi Jews are all related, so he’s probably your distant cousin. According to new research, it turns out that almost all Jews of European descent are all descended from the same group of people. In other words, they're all family! Distantly, anyway.

    According to Live Science, Ashkenazi Jews, who make up about 80 percent of the Jews currently alive today and who trace their ancestry to Eastern Europe, are most likely all descended from the same group of about 350 people who lived about 600-800 years ago. This means that the vast majority of Ashkenazi Jews today are no more than 30th cousins from one another. Which, OK, isn’t really enough to make it weird to date that boy your grandma is talking about, but is still pretty closely linked by geneticists standards.


    http://www.bustle.com/articles/39587-ashkenazi-jews-are-all-related-geneticists-say-and-you-thought-your-family-was-big



    Deuce ☂Wed Dec 30, 11:46:00 PM EST

    Let’s see how you worm your way out of that one.



    Deuce ☂Wed Dec 30, 11:48:00 PM EST

    It’s worth leaving the thread up for another day.


    ReplyDelete
  38. Agents nab Pakistanis with terrorist connections crossing U.S. border



    Both men had been processed two months earlier by immigration officials in Panama, suggesting they took advantage of smuggling networks or other routes increasingly used by Central American illegal immigrants to sneak into the U.S.

    PHOTOS: Firepower that'll hurt the wallet: Most expensive guns

    It comes as lawmakers on Capitol Hill are increasingly worried about potential terrorists gaining entry to the U.S. through the border with Mexico or taking advantage of lax screening elsewhere in the immigration system.

    “The southern land border remains vulnerable to intrusion and exists as a point of extreme vulnerability,” Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican, wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson last week demanding to know how many people in the FBI’s terrorist screening database have been caught at the border.

    “Evidently there are criminal organizations and individuals with the networks and know-how to facilitate illegal entry into the United States without regard for one’s intentions or status on a terrorist watchlist,” Mr. Hunter wrote. “The detention of the two Pakistani nationals underscores the fact that any serious effort to secure our homeland must include effective border security and immigration enforcement.”

    PHOTOS: Game Changer: America's most advanced weapons

    The FBI, whose agents were brought in to interview the two men, declined to talk about the case, saying it had “no information to provide.”

    The Border Patrol turned the men over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which said they have been in custody since September and are being held while they face immigration court proceedings.

    But other similar incidents have raised increasingly urgent questions about the extent to which terrorists can take advantage of smuggling networks in Latin America.

    A year before the two Pakistani men were caught, the Border Patrol apprehended four Kurdish men who said they were part of the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Front/Party, which is listed by the U.S. as a terrorist organization. Mr. Johnson, the Homeland Security secretary, said the four were actually members of the Kurdish Workers’ Party, which is also listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.

    The Washington Times reported last year that the four men had paid $8,000 each to be smuggled from Istanbul through Paris to Mexico City, where they were kept by a smuggling network before being driven to the U.S. border. Their trip highlighted the existence of smuggling networks capable of getting terrorists from the Middle East to the U.S. border.

    Earlier this winter two Syrian families sparked a furor when they showed up at the U.S.-Mexico border demanding asylum.

    That case came amid a raging national debate pitting the Obama administration against dozens of U.S. governors and most of the Republican 2016 presidential field over the wisdom of allowing refugees from Syria and other Middle Eastern hot spots to resettle in America. Critics said there were inadequate screening procedures for the refugees in their home countries, raising the possibility the Islamic State or other terrorists could infiltrate their ranks and enter the U.S.

    Terrorists’ potential entry points into the U.S. have been hotly debated since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which saw many of the hijackers enter on legal visas but remain in the country after their permission had expired.

    The woman involved in the recent California terrorist attack was admitted on a fiancee visa.

    Story Continues →

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/dec/30/pakistanis-terrorist-connections-nabbed-us-border/

      Delete
  39. Ashkenazi Jews always score way higher than the Polish on intelligence tests.

    When mentioned, this always pisses off our resident Pole, Quirk the Shallow Emotional Laggard, as he is known, who made his living, such as it was, in 'advertising', milking people of their social security checks by inducing them to buy shit they don't need.

    Quirk SEL is steaming right now.

    Look !

    His ears !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Colorful rich looking bathroom fixtures, for instance.

      The old spend a lot of in their bathrooms.

      Quirk was always trying to sell them gold colored toilet handles, speckled birds for the bathroom ceilings, shit like that.

      He had warehouses full of this crap.

      Delete
    2. sorry, I was laughing -

      The old spend a lot of their time in their bathrooms.

      Sometimes they die in there, in the tubs, on the floors....

      This is the reason Q would only ever accept cash from them....

      Delete
  40. Replies
    1. And am I allowed to say I think you have become totally bizarre since undergoing the political equivalent of a sex change operation ?

      Delete
    2. Of the three of you, Quirk, Deuce, Rufus....Quirk actually makes the most sense, but just barely.

      time for bed out this way, got to go north early in the morning and the driving is bad

      g'nite !

      Delete
  41. .

    Ashkenazi Jews always score way higher than the Polish on intelligence tests.

    It's because they cheat.

    :o)

    .

    ReplyDelete