U.S. Foreign Policy Is Too Militarized
How the military became the most powerful diplomatic tool America has - and why that won't help win the fight against ISIS.
Nick Gillespie & Amanda Winkler | December 18, 2015
Does U.S. foreign policy always come down to the question of when and where to deploy the military?
It seemed that way in Tuesday night's GOP debate. While the candidates got a chance to showcase their foreign policy and diplomatic chops to the American voter, most of the time was spent bragging about who would be the more willing and able to use the military to accomplish national interests abroad. When and how did U.S. foreign policy become synonymous with military intervention?
"Ever since the beginning of the cold war," says Gordon Adams, emeritus professor of international politics at American University, "We built up a very substantial military and to some degree ever since then the instinct in American policy has been to say that the most useful tool to reach for to demonstrate American leadership, to demonstrate American commitment, to demonstrate American capacity is our military capability."
This heavy reliance on the military for diplomatic relations is actually hurting American national security, according to Adams. "As long as we imagine that we are both exceptional and indispensable in dealing with ISIS, we will fail," he says.
Adams, a former senior White House official for national security and foreign policy budgets under the Clinton administration, sat down with Reason TV's Nick Gillespie to give his thoughts on the recent GOP debate, why foreign policy has become so militarized, and why he thinks it won't help America win the fight against ISIS.
Raise the flag higher assholes.
ReplyDeleteIgnore the crumbling infrastructure, the growing public ignorance and basically flat wages since the 1970s. Give them a fine smart salute.
ReplyDeleteThe only war you have to worry about is Star Wars.
DeleteWe will spend $700 billion this year on militarism that has made us progressively less safe, more paranoid, less free, poorer and closer to bankruptcy so that our political class can play with our mercenary global armies.
DeleteHEADLINE
ReplyDeleteVisiting Afghanistan today, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter echoed recent gloomy reports from the Pentagon on the ongoing occupation of the nation, adding that he anticipates another “hard year” in 2016 as the Taliban continues to seize territory and the Afghan security forces also struggle to cope with a growing ISIS presence.
2015 was a definite struggle, despite the Pentagon touting the ability of the Afghan military to at the very least stand its ground against the Taliban, the Afghan forces have faced soaring casualties and have lost ground on many fronts, even though the Taliban is engaged in an internal leadership battle.
And that’s just part of the problem, as the Afghan government was just barely holding its own against the Taliban, only now to also face an “operationally active” ISIS affiliate which has carved out territory of its own around Jalalabad.
Though another “hard year” is hardly news in Afghanistan 15 years into the occupation, it is unusual for a Pentagon chief to admit as much, as historically US officials have believed they were on the cusp of some decisive turnaround in the war, one that’s simply never come.
HOOrahs all around for the Heroes & Warriors in year number 15 of mind numbing insanity.
DeleteNot one of them had their arm twisted to go there.
DeleteHEADLINE
ReplyDeleteWho has the mental defect?
Gen. Robert Abrams, chief of Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg, N.C., last week overruled the recommendation of a hearing officer that Bergdahl be tried before a special court-martial, a lower court in the military system limited in the maximum sentence it can impose to one year in prison. Bergdahl thus is faced with a general court-martial which may impose the death penalty, which Bergdahl will not face.
An investigating officer reported that psychiatrists had concluded Bergdahl suffered from a mental defect. If this assertion becomes the basis for a defense, it is a general court-martial, nothing less, that should handle it.
Bergdahl faces two charges: desertion “with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty,” which carries a five-year sentence, and misbehavior before the enemy, which could bring life in prison. In a podcast interview, he already has admitted walking away from his post with the intent of reaching a higher level of command to which he could complain about poor leadership in his unit. (None of his comrades has seconded that complaint.) He said he wanted to be perceived as “the real thing,” that is, some kind of hero.
HEADLINE
ReplyDeleteThe American airstrike that may have killed a number of Iraqi soldiers on Friday seems to be “a mistake that involved both sides,” U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Saturday. Iraq pledged to punish those responsible.
Speaking to reporters during a visit to the USS Kearsarge in the Persian Gulf, Carter said the incident near the western Iraqi city of Fallujah was “regrettable.” He called Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to express condolences.
“These kinds of things happen when you’re fighting side by side as we are,” Carter said. He said the airstrike Friday “has all the indications of being a mistake of the kind that can happen on a dynamic battlefield.”
THE NEOCON DREAM COMES TRUE
ReplyDeleteIranian Supreme Leader’s top adviser for international affairs Ali Akbar Velayati warned that Washington plans to disintegrate regional states into smaller countries to make them weak and guarantee Israel’s security.
“The US is after implementing its plot to create a Greater Middle-East whose aim is disintegrating Iraq into three countries and dividing Syria into five states in a bid to downsize countries to provide security to the Zionist regime,” Velayati said on Saturday.
He also referred to the regional developments, and said,
“What we are witnessing today, including the creation of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and the ISIL, is aimed at confronting the Islamic Awakening and annihilating the chain of resistance.”
“Today, Syria is the golden chain of resistance and the US, the western states and their allies in the region are attempting to destroy this chain,” Velayati said.
His remarks came as General Vincent Stewart, the head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency, claimed in September that Iraq and Syria were unlikely to emerge intact from years of war and sectarian violence.
In Iraq, the Defense Intelligence Agency boss indicated that he believes it unlikely that a government in Baghdad could hold authority over the disparate regions within the country’s official borders;
Stewart claimed that he is “wrestling with the idea that the Kurds will come back to a central government of Iraq”.
Also in the same month, CIA Director John Brennan echoed Stewart’s idea that the borders of the Middle-Eastern countries have irreparably broken down as a result of war and sectarianism.
“I think the Middle East is going to be seeing change over the coming decade or two that is going to make it look unlike it did,” said Brennan, remarking that Iraqis and Syrians now identify themselves more by their tribe or religious sect, than by nationality.
After the comments, Iraqi Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmad Jamal lashed out at the US intelligence officials for their comments about disintegration of Iraq and Syria.
“The US officials’ remarks on the possible disintegration of Iraq and the zero chance for the country’s return to its past conditions are strongly rejected,” Jamal told FNA.
OUR NEXT POTENTIAL LEADER
ReplyDeleteFormer Secretary of State Hillary Clinton twice dodged moderator Martha Raddatz’s simple question on Libya at Saturday night’s Democratic debate in Manchester, New Hampshire: “How much responsibility do you bear for the chaos that followed elections?”
The exchange was as follows:
Raddatz: Secretary Clinton, I want to circle back to something your opponents here have brought up. Libya is falling apart. The country is a haven for ISIS and jihadists with an estimated 2,000 ISIS fighters there today. You advocated for that 2011 intervention and called it “smart power at its best.” And yet even President Obama said the U.S. should have done more to fill the leadership vacuum left behind. How much responsibility do you bear for the chaos that followed elections?
Clinton: Well, first, let’s remember why we became part of a coalition to stop Gadhafi from committing massacres against his people. The United States was asked to support the Europeans and the Arab partners that we had. And we did a lot of due diligence about whether we should or not. And eventually, yes, I recommended and the President decided that we would support the action to protect civilians on the ground and that led to the overthrow of Gadhafi. I think that what Libya then did by having a full free election which elected moderates was an indication of their crying need and desire to get on the right path. Now, the whole region has been rendered unstable, in part because of the aftermath of the Arab Spring, in part because of the very effective outreach and propagandizing that ISIS and other terrorist groups do. But what we’re seeing happening in Libya right now is that there has been a fragile agreement to put aside the differences that exist among Libyans themselves to try to dislodge ISIS from Sirte, the home town of Gadhafi, and to begin to try to create a national government. You know, this is not easy work. We did a lot to help. We did as much as we could because the Libyans themselves had very strong feelings about what they wished to accept. but we’re always looking for ways about what more we can do to try to give people a chance to be successful.
Raddatz: Secretary Clinton, I want to go back. That government lacked institutions and experience. It had been a family business for 40 years. On the security side we offered only a modest training effort and a very limited arms buy-back program. Let me ask you the question again. How much responsibility do you bear for the chaos that followed those elections?
yada yada yada, if Hillary's lips are moving, odds on, she is lying.
...
DeleteClinton: Martha, we offered a lot more than they were willing to take. We offered a lot more. We also got rid of their chemical weapons, which was a big help. And we also went after a lot of the shoulder-fired missiles to round them up. you know, we can’t–if we’re not going to send American troops, which there was never any idea of doing that, then to try to send trainers, to try to send experts, is something we offered. Europeans offered, the U.N. offered, and there wasn’t a lot of responsiveness at first. I think a lot of the Libyans who had been forced out of their country by Gadhafi who came back to try to be part of a new government, believed they knew what to do and it turned out they were no match for some of the militaristic forces inside that country. But I’m not giving up on Libya and I don’t think anybody should. We’ve been at this a couple of years.
Raddatz: But were mistakes made?
Clinton: Well, there’s always a retrospective to say what mistakes were made. But I know that we offered a lot of help and I know it was difficult for the Libyans to accept help. What we could have done if they had said yes would have been a lot more than what we were able to have done.
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ReplyDeleteIn 2014, it was reported that Gallup took a worldwide poll among 65 countries which included 65,000 responses to determine and rank the countries which were the biggest dangers to peace in the world.
Afghanistan was the number 2 most dangerous to world peace. The US was rated number 1. On a relative basis the US scored around 25. This was higher than the scores of Afghanistan, North Korea, Syria, and Iran combined.
It's strange we never hear about this in the MSM. Is it a conspiracy theory when it is obvious that the media and the government collude to keep the sheeple in the dark?
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ReplyDeleteThe following is an article from Salon, a site with a definite liberal bias. Knowing that going in, it is still worth the read even though it is a long article.
The United States is Scarier Than Isis
While some might argue with the tone of the article, there is no denying the facts they lay out to justify the title.
If I could summarize the article in a few paragraphs I would but there is too much there. You'd have to read it.
Obviously, I wouldn't put it up if I didn't agree with much of what it has to say.
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Sounds like horse shit, but I'll read it later.
DeleteQuestion: Why are so many people fleeing to USA and to Europe and away from ISIS ?
Are they just dumb, or what ?
Yep, there is much to that perception of the world.
DeleteIt comes from a false 'starting point', along with a truly limited view of US "National Interests".
None of the 'facts' are in dispute, just the interpretation of what part of the story they tell.
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Delete:o)
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I like the idea of Iraq and Syria all divided up, but that's just me.
ReplyDeleteLibya, too.
Iran as well.
Power to the local people !!
Safe spaces for Christians and minorities !!
DeleteMy wife has ordered me to get up, take a shower, put on some new clothes because we are going to town for dinner.
ReplyDeleteSo, that's that.
later
ReplyDeletePresident Bashar al-Assad:
“Europe is exporting terrorists to Syria”
Many European officials have sold their values for the petrodollar, and they allowed the Wahabi Saudi institutions to pay money and to bring this dark and this extremist ideology to Europe, and that’s why now you are exporting terrorists to us. We don’t export, actually, they came to Syria, and then they go back to Europe.
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ReplyDeleteThere is a bit of truth to al-Assad's statement, at least in the role of Saudi Arabia.
At the height of the refugee crisis when countries around the world but mainly in Europe were accepting Syrian refugees, the Saudis pledged to 'do their part'. Their offer consisted of a pledge of $200 million to aid the refugees settle in their new countries. Of course, the aid wouldn't be used for food or housing or health services. It would be used to build madrassahs and mosques where the refugees could be indoctrinated in the same Salafist Wahhabism fundamentalism SA has been promoting around the world for decades.
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None of the Sunni countries are doing shit for the 'refugees'.
DeleteThey ain't dumb shits, like us Americans.
Benson Mayowa, #95, defense end, is playing well for the Raiders today.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see that. U of I grad.
Go Benson !
December 20, 2015
ReplyDeleteSingle men stage anti-Christmas rally in Tokyo
By Rick Moran
"East is east, west is west, and never the twain shall meet," wrote Rudyard Kipling. Perhaps that's why the story of a demonstration in Tokyo by single men against Christmas is so inexplicable.
The name of their group speaks volumes: the Revolutionary Losers' League. And it shouldn't surprise you that they're communists who hate western holidays and capitalism.
AFP:
The group of about 20 -- part of the Communist-inspired group that routinely protests Western holidays -- marched under angry banners that read "Smash Christmas!" in Tokyo's Shibuya district, where couples and families strolled for holiday shopping.
The scrooges -- mostly single men -- said they were against capitalism and were opposed to the commercialisation of Christmas.
"In this world, money is extracted from people in love, and happy people support capitalism," said the head of the organisation, formally called Kakumeiteki Hi-mote Domei, or the Revolutionary Losers' League.
"Christmas is the most symbolic event for this," he added.
The man, who identified himself only by the pseudonym MarkWater, said the rally was also in support of unloved men.
"Unpopular men, who don't have a girlfriend or are not married, are overly discriminated. We want to break this barrier," he told AFP amid the shouting protesters.
In Japan, Christmas is not an official holiday and is mostly celebrated informally as a romantic event for couples, while the New Year's day is an occasion for family reunion.
The Christian population remains small in the Asian country, stores offer special holiday sales and people decorate Christmas trees at home.
The group has held past marches to denounce imported Western holidays, including rallies against Valentine's Day.
There are significantly more women than men in Japan - 51.3% to 48-7% - but fewer women are getting married and having children. This has led to a declining, aging population with adults staying single into their 30's - if they get married at all.
DeleteBut the commies calling themselves "losers" is appropos. This is not about demographics as much as it is a statement against the "happiness" of families who share holidays and experience a closeness and intimacy that these young men are unable to feel. Railing against capitalism is not the story. It is the jealousy and enviousness of the lonely, trapped in a demographic death spiral, who are unable to find spiritual fulfillment in their lives.
Thomas Lifson adds:
Actually, this is not inexplicable at all. The Japan Communist Party (JCP) sees Japan in decline and is trying to harness itself to anger over the despair. It is playing what we call the “victim card” with the chosen name “Revolutionary Losers.” The bet is that there are more losers than winners in Japan, so becoming their voice offers some hope of rising support.
Christmas in Japan is almost entirely a commercial phenomenon, driven by retailers and manufacturers eager to create an occasion on which consumption of their products becomes a social obligation. For example, Valentine’s Day (obviously, another imported holiday) has become a day on which males in offices are required to give females white chocolate, while the females must give the males dark chocolate. Failure to do so becomes an insult. The chocolate is known as “giri-choco” (“obligatory chocolate”).
Christmas is no different. Aside from toys for children from Santa, the holiday has been most brilliantly exploited by Kentucky Fried Chicken (a joint venture between KFC and Mitsubishi Corporation), which created the fiction that the traditional way Americans celebrate Christmas is with fired chicken. Thus, on Christmas Eve and Day, lines form at KFCs across Japan, as parents do their best to discharge their obligation to offer an authentic holiday. The Wall Street Journal is only the latest American news outlet to notice this.
Photo credit: Wall Street Journal
One can find this either charming or repellant, depending on your values. The JCP obviously falls in the latter camp. And that is the basis of its reaction.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/12/single_men_stage_antichristmas_rally_in_tokyo.html#ixzz3uuMkKVkG
Heh :)
DeleteAt least the commies in Japan have a pretty good sense of humor.
Fully 20 cadres from the Revolutionary Losers' League fired up to take on Santa and his hundreds of northern helpers.
DeleteThe commies don't stand a chance.
And, they realize it too.
If these Revolutionary Losers could ever score a little poontang their revolutionary zeal would quickly vanish.
DeleteIf Totalitarianism comes to the United States it will come from the left, not the right
ReplyDeletefrom The Sayings of Uncle Bob
The Democrats’ Theme for 2016 Is Totalitarianism Hillary Clinton and John Kerry share a laugh in September 2014. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty) by Kevin D. Williamson December 20, 2015 2:00 AM @kevinNR
At the beginning of December, Rolling Stone writer Jeff Goodell asked Secretary of State John Kerry whether Charles and David Koch, two libertarian political activists, should be considered — his remarkable words — “an enemy of the state.” He posed the same question about Exxon, and John Kerry, who could have been president of these United States, said that he looked forward to the seizure of Exxon’s assets for the crime of “proselytizing” impermissibly about the question of global warming. An enemy of the state? That’s the Democrats’ theme for the New Year: totalitarianism.
Donald Trump may talk like a brownshirt, but the Democrats mean business. For those of you keeping track, the Democrats and their allies on the left have now: voted in the Senate to repeal the First Amendment, proposed imprisoning people for holding the wrong views on global warming, sought to prohibit the showing of a film critical of Hillary Rodham Clinton, proposed banning politically unpopular academic research, demanded that funding politically unpopular organizations and causes be made a crime and that the RICO organized-crime statute be used as a weapon against targeted political groups. They have filed felony charges against a Republican governor for vetoing a piece of legislation, engaged in naked political persecutions of members of Congress, and used the IRS and the ATF as weapons against political critics. RELATED: A Syllabus of the Dangerous Errors of the Left On the college campuses, they shout down unpopular ideas or simply forbid nonconforming views from being heard there in the first place.
RELATED: A Syllabus of the Dangerous Errors of the Left On the college campuses, they shout down unpopular ideas or simply forbid nonconforming views from being heard there in the first place. They have declared academic freedom an “outdated concept” and have gone the full Orwell, declaring that freedom is oppressive and that they should not be expected to tolerate ideas that they do not share. They are demanding mandatory ideological indoctrination sessions for nonconforming students. They have violently assaulted students studying in libraries and assaulted student journalists documenting their activities. They have staged dozens of phony hate crimes and sexual assaults as a pretext for persecuting unpopular organizations and people. What they cannot achieve by legislation or litigation, they seek to achieve by simple violence, left-wing activists having smashed, looted, and burned portions of Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore, where Koreans and other Asian minorities were specifically targeted. As on college campuses, they have made a point of assaulting journalists documenting their violence. They have rioted in Philadelphia and in other cities. ADVERTISING Share article on Facebook share Tweet article tweet They are not backing away from that. Hillary Rodham Clinton may do her vice-principal shtick, but Bernie Sanders is calling for “revolution,” and by “revolution” he means crushing the economic and political rights of opponents in order to prevent them from having a say in political debate. Sounding oddly like Henry Ford, he seethes as he talks about scheming foreigners and international bankers working nefariously behind the scenes to undermine American interests, while his admirers brandish such traditional symbols of totalitarianism as the hammer-and-sickle flag.
DeleteRELATED: The First Amendment Is Dying They have sought to use the FCC to revoke the broadcast licenses of Rupert Murdoch and other political hate totems, and have long dreamt of using federal regulation to shut down conservative talk radio. They have gone to the Supreme Court to argue that they should be empowered to ban books, films, magazines, and newspapers when they desire to do so for political reasons. They are energetic suppressors of free speech. The Right cannot be indifferent to this: It is our speech that they intend to prohibit first, and it is us that they are attempting to imprison for our political views. It is possible to have a robust, energetic political discourse within the parameters of American liberalism, which cherishes freedom of speech and of inquiry, which distinguishes between public and private spheres, which relies upon the rule of law and the Bill of Rights while placing limits on the reach of the state. But if you reject that, as our so-called liberals have, then you cannot have genuine political discourse, or genuine democracy. When he was asked about having fabricated a story about Mitt Romney’s not paying taxes, Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid made a straight-up might-makes-right argument: “Romney didn’t win, did he?” You cannot have much of an argument without some level of honesty, which is a problem for a country that probably is going to be subjected to yet another Clinton campaign. You cannot have much of an argument without freedom of speech, and you cannot have democracy if political activism is criminalized. The Democrats are seeking to restrict speech, and they already have criminalized politics: Ask Rick Perry about that, or Tom Delay. RELATED: Inverting the First Amendment The Right cannot be indifferent to this, because we simply do not have that option: It is our speech that they intend to prohibit first, and it is us that they are attempting to imprison for our political views. But the Left should not be indifferent to this, either. There are at least a few (and, one suspects, more than that) liberals of the old-fashioned variety in the Democratic party, and it is not at all clear that they are going to wish to remain part of a political organization that is seriously attempting to create a class of political prisoners, to ban books, and to drive people from their jobs and communities for their political beliefs. John Kerry cannot quite answer the question of whether one of his political rivals should be declared “an enemy of the state.” Between now and November 2016, Americans might want to think a bit about whether they wish to invest an openly totalitarian political party with the power of the presidency. — Kevin D. Williamson is roving correspondent at National Review.
DeleteRead more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/428793/democrats-and-totalitarianism-2016
Wake UP, Real Americans !
Delete.
DeleteI agree. The dolts on the Right have as much right as the dolts on the Left to make fools of themselves in public.
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A mysterious statement of undetermined meaning but, true, of equal opportunity.
DeleteWhat about in private, though ?
What about a dolt of neither the left nor right, like yourself ?
Delete.
DeleteI see you continue to exercise your right.
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Lame comeback, Q, really l a m e.
Delete.
DeleteAnd still you continue to exercise that right?
I may disagree with what you say,
I may call you a halfwit or a nitwit,
a clown or buffoon,
a fruit or a nut,
a nativist or a xenophobe,
a sheeple or a sheepette,
but I would defend to the death your right to make a complete ass of yourself.
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Dear Voter -
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't matter who you vote for in the general out here, Idaho's going Republican, no matter.
Vote for the Republicans for your County Commissioners though, they can do a guy some good once in a long while.
Same with your City Council.
Most Sincerely and with Great Friendship,
Yours,
An experienced Idaho voter
;)
DIVA: HILLARY REFUSED TO SHARE BATHROOM DURING BREAK......... Drudge
ReplyDeleteWhy that BITCH!!
(though I can't imagine any honest person in their right mind wanting to share a bathroom with Hillary 'Criminal' Clinton)
Always choose destiny over fate.
ReplyDeleteI'm for this Destiny Velez.
Just because you're in a beauty contest, I'm certain Quirk will agree, though it's hard to hold Quirk and beauty in mind at the same time, just because you're in a beauty contest doesn't mean you have to squat and disrobe before Political Correctness and Michael Fatass Moore.
Go, Destiny !
Puerto Rico Destiny Velez suspended after anti-Muslim rant
BY Peter Sblendorio
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Sunday, December 20, 2015, 5:05 PM
Miss Puerto Rico Destiny Velez has been suspended for her anti-Muslim comments. Donald Kravitz/Getty Images
Miss Puerto Rico Destiny Velez has been suspended for her anti-Muslim comments.
There's nothing pretty about this beauty queen's comments.
Miss Puerto Rico Destiny Velez has been suspended indefinitely from Miss America competition after she fired off a series of vicious anti-Muslim tweets in response to the "We Are All Muslim" protests led by director Michael Moore, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
The 20-year-old Velez directed her angry tweets at the director — who created a buzz last week when he held up a sign reading "We Are All Muslim" outside of Trump Tower. Twitter
The 20-year-old Velez directed her angry tweets at the director — who created a buzz last week when he held up a sign reading "We Are All Muslim" outside of Trump Tower.
The 20-year-old Velez directed her angry tweets at the film director — who created a buzz last week when he held up a sign reading "We Are All Muslim" outside of Trump Tower and shared an open letter online claiming that, unlike Trump, "we are not a country of angry white guys."
Velez's remarks prompted the Miss Puerto Rico Organization to issue a statement calling her comments a poor representation of "the integrity and esteem of our program." Twitter
Velez's remarks prompted the Miss Puerto Rico Organization to issue a statement calling her comments a poor representation of "the integrity and esteem of our program."
In her tweets, Velez said, "Muslims use our constitution to terrorize USA & plant gas stations," before later adding that Muslims "terrorize this country & many others."
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/puerto-rico-suspended-anti-muslim-rant-article-1.2472115
Destiny's a black haired beauty of The First Degree.
DeleteGo ahead and take a peek at the link above.
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DeleteStill with the rights.
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(Iraqinews.com) al-Anbar – On Sunday, Joint Operations Command called the citizens of Ramadi (110 km west of Baghdad) to evacuate the city within 72 hours, emphasizing that the Iraqi air force dropped leaflets guiding them to safe roads.
ReplyDeleteJoint Special Operations Command said in a brief statement received by IraqiNews.com, “The Iraqi air force dropped leaflets on the center of Ramadi urging the citizens to leave the city within 72 hours and guiding them to safe roads.”
Anbar Province has witnessed fierce battles on the back of the control of ISIS elements over most of the province’s cities including Fallujah and Ramadi as well as western regions.
Military reinforcements arrive in Ramadi in preparation for storming the city
Delete(Iraqinews.com) al-Anbar – On Sunday the Council of Khalidiya District in al-Anbar province announced the arrival of military reinforcements in the eastern and northern axes of Ramadi in preparation for storming the city, emphasizing that the enhancements included shields, tanks and heavy weapons.
The head of the council Ali Dawood said, “Military reinforcements arrived in Khalidiya District (20 km east of Ramadi) and will move to the eastern and northern axes of Ramadi in order to storm the city and cleanse it from ISIS gangs.”
Dawood added, “The military reinforcements included ground forces from the army and police,” pointing out that “The arrival of these military reinforcements will resolve the cleansing battle of Ramadi against ISIS.”
Iraqinews
Deleteemphasizing that the enhancements included shields, tanks and heavy weapons
ReplyDeleteThat's the first time I've noticed the use of the term 'shields' and wonder what it means ?
Does Hillary’s Potty Break Matter? DEPENDS.
ReplyDeleteBy: Caleb Howe (Diary) | December 20th, 2015 at 08:45 PM | 18
The Democrats held a stealth primary debate in the dark of night on the weekend before Christmas this past Saturday, which you may be forgiven for, like 99.9 percent of the human race, not knowing about. But that’s why we’re here. To let you know what painful tortures occur every day without your knowledge. Sunlight, or something.
In any case, during the debate, wee old white lady Hillary Clinton took one heck of a bathroom break. It took her so long to come back that they went ahead and started without her. After what seemed like hours, she finally returned, although to be fair each and every two minute stretch of the debate seemed like hours.
Does this really matter? I’d say it … Depends®.
Did Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) 94% taking a sip of water matter? It sure did to Democrats. We still hear about it all the time, nearly three years later. So I guess that matters.
Did John McCain’s age matter? You know it did. They brought it up more frequently than Rudy Giuliani brought up 9/11. They never stopped talking about his age. They still, in fact, have the temerity to talk about the age of current GOP candidates. So it seems that matters.
Imagine if McCain had been late to return to the debate because he was in the bathroom. Seriously, they would not only bring up his age but they’d make jokes about his time as POW and whether he was permanently damaged or afraid to leave the toilet.
Imagine if Donald Trump came on stage late and the audience cheered. We’d be treated to think pieces about how it is impossible for him to do wrong in the eyes of the Republican electorate, who wet themselves every time he burps. But Hillary comes traipsing on stage with toilet paper metaphorically stuck to her orthopedic shoes and you’re a jerk if you bring it up.
It goes without saying that the media is biased. They have a hard time holding it in. But people seem less accepting of the fact that the media are totally in the tank for Hillary to the exclusion of all other issues. Bernie, for example, isn’t in this in this. He’s being given token attention to satisfy the Dem version of Ron Paul voters. They have debates as part of their pretense that they are having a primary. But we know what they all think. We saw it on SNL last night. It’s Hillary’s turn and they are going to make it happen, by any method.
How far will they go? Depends®. But if she doesn’t win, at least she can rest assured there will be a longish post-politics career pitching Activia and reverse mortages and, of course, the obvious one.
*************
See The New Hillary's Adult Diddies at link below: Democrat Debate For Women - New Fit Flex Protection - MediaShield Now With Fit Flex Protection
http://www.redstate.com/2015/12/20/hillarys-potty-break-matter-depends/
Heh :)
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ReplyDeleteCuriouser and Curiouser
Oberlin College Students: Cafeteria Food Is Racist
The noted liberal arts school explores new frontiers in getting offended.
University dining halls aren’t exactly famous for serving gourmet dishes, but Oberlin students say their meals aren’t merely bad—they are racially inauthentic, and thus, a form of microaggression.
It’s one thing to quietly gripe about the quality of dorm food (students have likely been doing that for centuries). It’s quite another to accuse the dining room staff of stealing from Asian culture because they didn’t prepare the General Tso’s chicken with the correct sauce.
And yet, here’s what one Oberlin student had to say about the dining hall’s sushi bar:
“When you’re cooking a country’s dish for other people, including ones who have never tried the original dish before, you’re also representing the meaning of the dish as well as its culture,” student Tomoyo Joshi told The Oberlin Review. “So if people not from that heritage take food, modify it and serve it as ‘authentic,’ it is appropriative.”
Cultural appropriation, readers will recall, allegedly occurs when people borrow the traditions of another ethnic or religious group. Liberal students at a Canadian university, for example, recently shut down a free yoga class for disabled students because yoga has its origins in Hinduism, meaning it doesn’t belong to white people and they shouldn’t practice it. This kind of thinking is actually bafflingly illiberal—who’s to say that culture itself belongs to anyone?—and yet it’s usually left-leaning students waging weirdly nativist campaigns of forced isolation on foreign cuisines and customs.
The culinary critics at Oberlin, however, aren’t just mad that the cafeteria has appropriated their culture—they’re mad that it’s been appropriated poorly.
“It was ridiculous,” student Diep Nguyen told The Oberlin Review (the “it,” in question was a banh mi sandwich with the wrong bun). “How could they just throw out something completely different and label it as another country’s traditional food?”
For one thing, the banh mi sandwich is itself the product of the blurring of cultural boundaries: French and Vietnamese.
For another, there’s something deliciously ironic about Oberlin students—some of the most privileged people in the world, as evidenced by the $50,000 they pay annually in tuition—whining about the bun-thickness of meals prepared by lowly paid cafeteria workers. As academic and writer Fredrik de Boer noted on Twitter, “When you’re defending the cultural authenticity of GENERAL TSO’S CHICKEN, you’re a living Portlandia sketch.”
Remember folks, these elite poofs will be the leaders of this country tomorrow.
Beware, a great weeping and knashing of teeth is coming.
.
Just think what McDonald's has done to the noble Hamburger.
DeleteAnd baseball to the noble Frankfurter.
It makes one cry.
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ReplyDeleteWay to go Harry
The Senate minority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, provided key support for preserving a tax loophole for the hotel, restaurant and gambling industries.
WASHINGTON — In the span of a mere 11 days this month, $1 billion in future federal tax payments vanished.
As congressional leaders were hastily braiding together a tax and spending bill of more than 2,000 pages, lobbyists swooped in to add 54 words that temporarily preserved a loophole sought by the hotel, restaurant and gambling industries, along with billionaire Wall Street investors, that allowed them to put real estate in trusts and avoid taxes.
They won support from the top Senate Democrat, Harry Reid of Nevada, who responded to appeals from executives of casino companies, politically powerful players and huge employers in his state. And the lobbyists even helped draft the crucial language.
The small changes, and the enormous windfall they generated, show the power of connected corporate lobbyists to alter a huge bill that is being put together with little time for lawmakers to consider. Throughout the legislation, there were thousands of other add-ons and hard to decipher tax changes.
David Bonderman, a founding partner of TPG Capital, which has large holdings in companies that stand to benefit from the last-minute change. His family has donated $1.2 million since 2014 to the Senate Majority PAC, a campaign fund with close ties to Mr. Reid and other Senate Democrats. Credit Michael Nagle for The New York Times
Some executives at companies with the most at stake are also big campaign donors. For example, the family of David Bonderman, a co-founder of TPG Capital, has donated $1.2 million since 2014 to the Senate Majority PAC, a campaign fund with close ties to Mr. Reid and other Senate Democrats. TPG Capital has large holdings in Caesars Entertainment and helps run a Texas-based energy company, both of which stand to benefit from the last-minute change.
“For Senator Reid, it was important, as he represents Nevada, to help the large employers in his state,” said Kristen Orthman, a spokeswoman for Mr. Reid. She noted that Caesars, MGM Resorts International and Boyd Gaming, all Nevada-based casino companies, could benefit. A spokesman for Mr. Bonderman said he had played no direct role in pushing the cause, but did not dispute that his company was involved in the discussions with congressional staff members.
Both Ms. Orthman and the spokesman for Mr. Bonderman said it would be wrong to presume his contributions to Mr. Reid had played any role in the help his companies received.
This budget deal wasn't a 1 party spending spree. For more on some of the pork, read the rest of the article.
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Yoga(meditation) is for everyone.
ReplyDeleteThis morning I feel badly for Miss Colombia.
She's Miss Universe one moment, and an also ran the next.
The M.C. deserves the death penalty.
Monday, December 21, 2015
ReplyDeletePaul Krugman: The Donald and the Decider
Nothing comes from nowhere:
The Donald and the Decider, by Paul Krugman, Commentary, NY Times:
Almost six months have passed since Donald Trump overtook Jeb Bush in polls of Republican voters. At the time, most pundits dismissed the Trump phenomenon as a blip... Instead, however, his lead just kept widening. Even more striking, the triumvirate of trash-talk — Mr. Trump, Ben Carson, and Ted Cruz — now commands the support of roughly 60 percent of the primary electorate.
But how can this be happening? After all, the antiestablishment candidates now dominating the field, aside from being deeply ignorant about policy, have a habit of making false claims, then refusing to acknowledge error. Why don’t Republican voters seem to care?
Well, part of the answer has to be that the party taught them not to care. Bluster and belligerence as substitutes for analysis, disdain for any kind of measured response, dismissal of inconvenient facts reported by the “liberal media” didn’t suddenly arrive on the Republican scene last summer. On the contrary, they have long been key elements of the party brand. So how are voters supposed to know where to draw the line?. ...
Donald Trump as a political phenomenon is very much in a line of succession that runs from W. through Mrs. Palin, and in many ways he’s entirely representative of the Republican mainstream. For example, were you shocked when Mr. Trump revealed his admiration for Vladimir Putin? He was only articulating a feeling that was already widespread in his party.
DeleteMeanwhile, what do the establishment candidates have to offer as an alternative? On policy substance, not much. Remember, back when he was the presumed front-runner, Jeb Bush assembled a team of foreign-policy “experts,” ... dominated by neoconservative hard-liners, people committed, despite past failures, to the belief that shock and awe solve all problems.
In other words, Mr. Bush wasn’t articulating a notably different policy than what we’re now hearing from Trump et al...
In case you’re wondering, nothing like this process has happened on the Democratic side. When Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders debate..., it’s a real discussion... American political discourse as a whole hasn’t been dumbed down, just its conservative wing.
Going back to Republicans, does this mean that Mr. Trump will actually be the nominee? I have no idea. But it’s important to realize that he isn’t someone who suddenly intruded into Republican politics from an alternative universe. He, or someone like him, is where the party has been headed for a long time.
Krugman - NYTimes
Delete
DeletePaul Krugman is deeply irritating.
In case you’re wondering, nothing like this process has happened on the Democratic side. When Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders debate..., it’s a real discussion...
What horse shit.
I know you're trying to give everyone a hearty laugh this frozen snowy morning, Rufus.
Thank you.
I did have a chuckle.
heh
SOUTHWEST ASIA, December 21, 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.
ReplyDeleteOfficials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.
Strikes in Syria
Ground-attack and remotely piloted aircraft conducted three strikes in Syria:
-- Near Mar’a, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL staging area and an ISIL mortar system.
-- Near Ayn Isa, one strike destroyed an ISIL road obstacle and an ISIL bomb.
Additionally, there was an additional strike in Syria from Dec. 19 that was not included on the Dec. 20 strike release:
-- Near Raqqah, one strike struck five ISIL gas and oil separation points and two ISIL crude oil collection points.
Strikes in Iraq
Attack, fighter, bomber, ground-attack and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 12 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:
-- Near Beiji, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL rocket-propelled grenade, an ISIL heavy machine gun, seven ISIL vehicles, two ISIL caches, and an ISIL fighting position.
-- Near Mosul, six strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units, an ISIL weapons storage facility, and an ISIL weapons cache and destroyed two ISIL heavy machine guns, an ISIL mortar tube, three ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL checkpoint, two ISIL vehicles, and suppressed an ISIL light machine gun.
-- Near Ramadi, four strikes struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed eight ISIL buildings, eight ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL staging area, an ISIL command-and-control node, an ISIL tactical vehicle, three ISIL heavy machine guns, and denied ISIL access to terrain.
A strike, as defined in the CJTF releases, means one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative effect for that location. So having a single aircraft deliver a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against a group of buildings and vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making that facility [or facilities] harder or impossible to use. Accordingly, CJTF-OIR does not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.
Part of Operation Inherent Resolve
DOD
Deletean ISIL mortar system
ReplyDeletean ISIL road obstacle and an ISIL bomb
an ISIL rocket-propelled grenade, an ISIL heavy machine
an ISIL mortar tube
suppressed an ISIL light machine gun
I wonder how much Mr Reporter gets for making this shit up every day ?
They've been going easy on the 'bed down positions' the last few days, I've noticed.
Maybe they've figured out that each time they attack a desert 'bed down position' they're actually just creating a nice cratered desert 'fighting position' ?
DeleteVideo: Lindsey Graham exits the race
ReplyDeleteposted at 10:31 am on December 21, 2015 by Ed Morrissey
So Graham is out. Who’s next? Rick Santorum ties Graham in the RCP average at 0.5%, and George Pataki comes in even lower at 0.2%, and like Graham never have made it out of the undercard debates. Still, Rand Paul seems the more likely candidate for the next exit, as he has to start preparing for his re-election campaign in Kentucky. Paul has clearly not captured the national imagination, and while his debate performances are improving, his national polling numbers aren’t. He needs to start shepherding resources toward more productive ends more than Santorum, Pataki, or Mike Huckabee do.
Jeb Bush: “I feel much better back here” in fifth place polling single digits than I did as frontrunner
Dec 21, 2015 11:21 AM by Allahpundit
:):):)
from Hot Air
Sounds like Jeb! won't feel on top of the world when until he's dead last.
DeleteDecember 21, 2015
ReplyDeleteMust-see ISIS recruiting video uses American politician (and it ain't Trump)
By Thomas Lifson
Hillary Clinton has got a lot of 'splainin to do. And just wait until Donald Trump takes a look at the ISIS recruiting video below that zooms in on a picture of her husband as it denounces “fornicators” among the American infidels.
I urge readers to view this 4-minute-plus English-language video in its entirety. It is stunningly well done, and it helps explain how ISIS is able to appeal to Muslims living in the West, often upset at their place in society, and looking for a way to assert their righteousness and strength.
VIDEO
Via YoungCons and Red State:
Update: ISIS lies (is anyone surprised?). The acual figure for armed forces suicides is not 18 per day, but 250 per year. Hat tip: Greg P. Richards
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/12/mustsee_isis_recruiting_video_uses_american_politician_and_it_aint_trump.html#ixzz3uzLNY3Mi
Speaking of illiterate school districts - Philly must rank right at the top of the lists -
ReplyDeleteBlacklisting ‘Huck Finn’ — the PC police side with 19th century racists
By David Marcus
December 17, 2015 | 8:41pm
Blacklisting ‘Huck Finn’ — the PC police side with 19th century racists
The upcoming film “Band of Robbers” imagines Mark Twain’s classic characters Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer as modern-day dysfunctional adults. About a quarter of the dialogue is taken directly from Twain’s works.
Not that many kids would recognize it even if they heard it.
For example, prestigious Philadelphia prep school Friends’ Central recently announced it has removed Twain’s classic anti-slavery tome “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from its junior curriculum.
Friends’ Central’s reason for dropping Huck Finn is that “the community costs of reading this book in 11th grade outweigh the literary benefits.” The community cost in question: discomfort caused by Twain’s liberal use of the N-word.
This isn’t a new issue. In 1988, it was the subject of a two-part episode of “Family Ties.” In the sitcom, the teachers eventually stand up for the educational value of Huck Finn. But a lot has changed since then.
Almost as bad as the decision not to teach the book is the way the decision was announced.
The teachers could have just turned down NPR for a few minutes in the faculty lounge and made a private decision. They could have determined that some other book with less baggage would be a better fit this year.
If asked why, they could have truthfully said that great, important books move on and off curricula all the time, for myriad reasons.
But that’s not what they did. They put poor old Huck Finn and Mark Twain against the wall, stood in a line and yelled “fire.” They didn’t simply leave the book off of the curriculum; they put it on a blacklist. They told their students — and, eventually, the media — that this is a dangerous book.
DeleteThis is especially troubling given that Friends’ Central is an elite, $30,000-a-year school that has great influence on the wider educational system. Going forward, many schools considering whether to teach Huck Finn will look to this needlessly public decision in reaching their own conclusion.
One silver lining that comes from these kinds of challenges to “Huckleberry Finn” is that some students, as kids are wont to do, will view the prohibition as an invitation. Many of our most beloved books have been banned at some point for some reason or other.
People want what they aren’t supposed to have.
And frankly, the kids might be better off reading Huck Finn on their own. Not in a classroom where questions about modern social justice would likely overshadow its historical realism and literary greatness. Those kids will come to adaptations and references to Twain’s work better prepared to understand them.
Adaptations like “Band of Robbers” often change classic characters’ race, gender or age. In this case, the writers chose to make the villain Injun Joe into a white man obsessed with Native American culture.
Was that a nod to political correctness? Maybe, maybe not. It does, however, send the message that while Twain’s story plots and clever quips are fine, his frank depictions of historical racism are a problem for modern audiences.
But all adaptations can be best appreciated when people have actually experienced the original.
This isn’t the first time Huck Finn has been officially prohibited. In the 19th century it was widely banned for depicting a close friendship between people of different races. It’s quite an accomplishment for a book to get challenged both for being too racist and not racist enough.
But that dualism speaks to the enduring nature of the book. It’s a 12-year-old’s adventure story and a challenging, complex adult novel. Its words are simple, but its message is profound. As with much of Twain’s work, it rewards re-reading.
Twain’s American classic has endured moral challenges for more than a century. Friends’ Central’s ill-advised attack on it won’t dislodge it from the American canon. The current fads of safe spaces and trigger warnings will pass, and Huck and Jim will still be there.
That’s reassuring, because whether it’s crossing the boundaries of 19th-century racism or 21st-century political correctness, it is always a good time to read “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”
David Marcus is a senior contributor to the Federalist and the artistic director of Blue Box World, a Brooklyn-based theater project.
http://nypost.com/2015/12/17/blacklisting-huck-finn-the-pc-police-side-with-19th-century-racists/
:):):):):)
DeleteHeh
Philly put 'Huck Finn' on the black list !@
Don't those morons back east in Philly realize what a major major micro aggression is the use of the term 'black list' ?
The Nigger Jim, by the way, is the one character in the book that is flawless.
DeleteEven Huck makes a grievous mistake.
Read it and see if you can find it.
A little revenge by Pooty, the arse -
ReplyDeleteGorbachev Could Be Accused of Treason
Posted by Samuel Bendett on December 21, 2015
On Dec. 10, Russian-language Komsomolskaya Pravda (KP.ru) published previously classified transcripts of 1991 talks between Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, President of the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic Boris Yeltsin, and U.S. President George H. W. Bush. The Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation has now asked the Prosecutor General's Office to determine whether Gorbachev's and Yeltsin's actions constituted state treason and divulging of state secrets.
According to KP.ru and the transcripts in question, during a telephone conversation with Bush, Yeltsin and Gorbachev gave the U.S. president information on how they governed the Soviet Union. Yeltsin called Bush on Dec. 8, 1991, soon after the signing of the Belovezha Accords that "buried the Soviet Union," and "reported to him for as long as 28 minutes on the accords and his country's future plans." On Dec. 25 of that year, Gorbachev also talked to Bush over the phone, following the official announcement that dissolved the Soviet Union.
KP.ru notes that both calls were recorded by U.S. intelligence services, which immediately restricted access to the transcripts. The transcripts were declassified only in 2008, and later on, copies of the transcripts were transferred to the Yeltsin Center that recently opened in Yekaterinburg, Russia. The Belavezha Accords were signed in Belarus on Dec. 8, 1991 by heads of state and the governments of the three major constituent republics of the Soviet Union: the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, and the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. The accords officially dissolved the Soviet Union and established the Commonwealth of Independent States.
KP notes that the content of the conversation between the presidents is of great interest to Chamber member Georgy Fyodorov, who submitted the request to the Russian Prosecutor General:
"Judging from the published transcript, according to these telephone conversations, Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev, in fact, reported to the president of the United States about the destruction of the Soviet Union. I ask you to check the content of these conversations for compliance with the following articles of the Russian Criminal Code - ‘treason' and ‘divulging state secrets' - and, if necessary, take appropriate action."
Fyodorov admits to Komsomolskaya Pravda that his request to the prosecutor was motivated by KP.ru's publishing of talks between Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Bush about the collapse of the Soviet Union:
"The transcripts have troubled me, and in my opinion, it is necessary to check whether such actions were a deliberate and coordinated betrayal [of the state]. Therefore, I made a request to check this from the legal standpoint."
According to Russian law, the Prosecutor General should reply within 30 days on what actions, if any, have to be taken. "Stay tuned," says KP.ru.
The Belovezha Accords are a source of great controversy to millions of people across the former Soviet Union. Many Russians, including President Vladimir Putin, view them as a "great catastrophe of the 20th century." While Boris Yeltsin passed away in 2007, Mikhail Gorbachev is in bad health and has recently been hospitalized in Moscow with partial paralysis.
http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2015/12/gorbachev_could_be_accused_of_treason_111637.html
Gorby had certainly gained some weight in that picture, which must be old.
Cell phone reveals Turkish intelligence support to ISIS
ReplyDelete(IraqiNews.com) Salahuddin – On Monday, al-Hashed al-Shaabi leader Jabbar al-Maamouri announced, that the security forces have found a mobile phone belonging to a prominent leader in ISIS who was killed near al-Sharqat District north of Salahuddin, while noted that the phone uncovered the role of the Turkish Intelligence in backing ISIS by securing entry and exit passages for the elements of the organization.
Maamouri said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “A special security force from al-Hashd al-Shaabi found a new mobile phone with the body of a prominent Syrian leader in ISIS who was killed in an ambush near Sharqat District north of Salahuddin, two days ago.”
He continued, “The content of the mobile phone has been examined, especially text messages, which uncovered the Turkish intelligence role in supporting ISIS by securing entry and exit passages for the leaders of the organization from Turkey to Iraq and Syria, and vice versa,” adding that, “The mobile also contained other serious information which can’t be disclosed, and it was sent to the competent security authorities.”
Noteworthy, Russia has declared the possession of evidences that Turkey is the main consumer of oil extracted from the territory controlled by ISIS, while the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his family were accused of engaging in commercial activities with ISIS.
TAGSOILSYRIATURKEY
Iraqinews
DeleteAnbar Operations announces liberating 50% of Albu Ziyab north of Ramadi
ReplyDelete(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – The commander of Anbar Operations, Maj. Gen. Ismail al-Mahalawi, announced the liberation of 50 percent of the area of Albu Ziyab north of Ramadi, while pointed out to the destruction of a shelter and a store belonging to the ISIS during an aerial strike by the international coalition in the same area.
Mahalawi said in a brief statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “A force from Anbar Operations backed by tribal fighters from al-Hashed, in coordination with the Iraqi Air Force as well as the international coalition aviation, had managed to liberate 50 percent of the area of Albu Ziyab (north of Ramadi) from ISIS.”
He added, “The international coalition aviation was able to bomb and destruct a shelter and a store of gear belonging to the organization in the area of Albu Ziyab, in addition to inflicting big material and human losses upon the organization.”
MAYBE THE NEXT FIFTEEN YEARS WILL BE BETTER
ReplyDeleteReports from the southern Afghan province of Helmand suggest Taliban militants are close to overrunning the strategically important town of Sangin.
Helmand's governor, Mirza Khan Rahimi, insisted the authorities were still in control but his own deputy said that Sangin had been overrun.
The Taliban said they controlled most of the town and the main administrative building had been abandoned.
In the east, a Taliban attack near Bagram killed six US soldiers.
It was one of the deadliest attacks on foreign forces in Afghanistan this year.
Some 12,000 foreign soldiers are deployed as part of the Nato-led Resolute Support international coalition, which is meant to underpin Afghanistan's own security forces.
The battle for Sangin comes a little over a year after the end of UK combat operations in Afghanistan, in which at least 450 soldiers were killed.
During its deployment in Helmand, the British military suffered its heaviest losses in Sangin.
Battle for Sangin
Governor Rahimi gave a news conference in Helmand's provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, after his deputy, Mohammad Jan Rasulyar, said Sangin had been overrun by the Taliban late on Sunday.
Fierce gun battles were going on between the Taliban and the Afghan security forces, Mr Rahimi was quoted as saying on Afghan TV, and the government had sent back-up forces.
But Mr Rasulyar had told AFP news agency: "The Taliban have captured the police headquarters, the governor's office as well as the intelligence agency building in Sangin."
Quoted separately by the Associated Press, Mr Rasulyar said casualties among Afghan security forces were high, without giving figures. Only some army facilities had not been taken, he added.
TRUMP SUPPORTER ARRESTED FOR PLAN TO BOMB MUSLIMS
ReplyDeletePolice in Richmond, California have arrested a man who said he was making bombs “with the intent of harming the Muslim community.” A tip came into the police on December 17 saying that a man was making explosive devices. Richmond police evacuated the neighbors, removed the devices and detonated one before the neighbors were allowed back into their homes.
The man arrested, William Celli, is a supporter of Donald Trump, saying that he would “follow Trump to the end of the world.”
This puts der Comboverfuhrer in exactly the same position to Mr. Celli ans ISIS is to the San Bernardino shooters.
Top of the world, Ma.
Daily Kos
Comboverfuhrur is good. It should of course be Comboverfueher, but it's a minor matter.
DeleteYour point however is in error.
Both ISIS and the San Bernadino shooters advocate terrorism.
Mr Celli seems to do so too.
Mr Comboverfueher does not.
There is nothing creeping about American politics. It barges through the door and blows your brains out when and where it wants to- which not coincidentally happens to be where the precious resources are positioned that the savage capitalists wish to appropriate.
ReplyDeleteISIS is largely a fiction that serves the needs of the US National Security State. These various bogeymen have morphed through the years- anyone who does not understand how this works and can't see through it is trapped in a manufactured reality.
List them through the years- the innumerable threats that were and are coming to get us and that needed our full attention (and taxpayer dollar)- Commies, Al Qaeda, Chavez, Mossadegh, Arbenz, SARS, Russians, Hussein, Black Panthers, FARC, Reefer, Rock N Roll, Zapatistas, Pan Africa, Mujahideen, the list goes on and on and on and on- any and all threats all the time. Pimpin' fear to keep us believing that any and all of these cretins that are peddling the fear are actually interested in our welfare.
You are obviously bonkers.
DeleteA free airline ticket to ISISland is waiting for you, if you wish to commit suicide.
Or, you can join Rufus and Quirk in Gaza, Hamastan.
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DeleteOr, you can join Rufus and Quirk in Gaza
I repeat what I said before about you and your 1st Amendment rights, O'Bumble,
I may disagree with what you say,
I may call you a halfwit or a nitwit,
a clown or buffoon,
a fruit or a nut,
a nativist or a xenophobe,
a bumpkin or a hick,
a sheeple or a sheepette,
but I would defend to the death your right to make a complete ass of yourself.
.