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."

Sunday, January 31, 2016

Syria and Russia are displacing US ambitions to occupy Syria with physical forces - Turkey is getting desperate

Syrian civil war: Could Turkey be gambling on an invasion?

Kurdish forces, close to sealing the border, must beware - President Erdogan is unpredictable


A month before Turkey shot down a Russian bomber which it accused of entering its airspace, Russian military intelligence had warned President Vladimir Putin that this was the Turkish plan. Diplomats familiar with the events say that Putin dismissed the warning, probably because he did not believe that Turkey would risk provoking Russia into deeper military engagement in the Syrian war.
In the event, on 24 November last year a Turkish F-16 shot down a Russian bomber, killing one of the pilots, in an attack that had every sign of being a well-prepared ambush. Turkey claimed that it was responding to the Russian plane entering its airspace for 17 seconds, but the Turkish fighters made every effort to conceal themselves by flying at low altitude, and they appear to have been on a special mission to destroy the Russian aircraft.

The shooting-down – the first of a Russian plane by a Nato power since the Korean War – is important because it shows how far Turkey will go to maintain its position in the war raging on the southern side of its 550-mile border with Syria. It is a highly relevant event today because, two months further on, Turkey now faces military developments in northern Syria that pose a much more serious threat to its interests than that brief incursion into its airspace, even though Ankara made fresh claims yesterday over a new Russian violation on Friday.
The Syrian war is at a crucial stage. Over the past year the Syrian Kurds and their highly effective army, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), have taken over half of Syria’s frontier with Turkey. The main supply line for Islamic State (Isis), through the border crossing of Tal Abyad north of Raqqa, was captured by the YPG last June. Supported by intense bombardment from the US Air Force, the Kurds have been advancing in all directions, sealing off northern Syria from Turkey in the swath of territory between the Tigris and Euphrates. 

31-syria-graphic.jpg
The YPG only has another 60 miles to go, west of Jarabulus on the Euphrates, to close off Isis’s supply lines and those of the non-IS armed opposition, through Azzaz to Aleppo. Turkey had said that its “red line” is that there should be no YPG crossing west of the Euphrates river, though it did not react when the YPG’s Arab proxy, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), seized the dam at Tishrin on the Euphrates and threatened the IS stronghold of Manbij. Syrian Kurds are now weighing whether they dare take the strategic territory north of Aleppo and link up with a Kurdish enclave at Afrin. 

Developments in the next few months may determine who are the long-term winners and losers in the region for decades. President Bashar al-Assad’s forces are advancing on several fronts under a Russian air umbrella. The five-year campaign by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s to overthrow Assad in Damascus, by backing the armed opposition, looks to be close to defeat. 

Turkey could respond to this by accepting a fait accompli, conceding that it would be difficult for it to send its army into northern Syria in the face of strong objections from the US and Russia. But, if the alternative is failure and humiliation, then it may do just that. Gerard Challiand, the French expert on irregular warfare and the politics of the Middle East, speaking in Erbil last week, said that “without Erdogan as leader, I would say the Turks would not intervene  militarily [in northern Syria], but, since he is, I think they will do so”. 

Erdogan has a reputation for raising the stakes as he did last year when he failed to win a parliamentary majority in the first of two elections. He took advantage of a fresh confrontation with the Turkish Kurds and the fragmentation of his opponents to win a second election in November. Direct military intervention in Syria would be risky, but Mr Challiand believes that Turkey “is capable of doing this militarily and will not be deterred by Russia”. Of course, it would not be easy. Moscow has planes in the air and anti-aircraft missiles on the ground, but Putin probably has a clear idea of the limitations on Russia’s military engagement in Syria. 

Omar Sheikhmous, a veteran Syrian Kurdish leader living in Europe, says that the Syrian Kurds “should realise that the Russians and the Syrian government are not going to go to war with the Turkish army for them”. He warns that the ruling Kurdish political party, the PYD, should not exaggerate its own strength, because President Erdogan’s reaction is unpredictable. 

British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria

Other Kurdish leaders believe that Turkish intervention is unlikely and that, if it was going to come, it would have happened before the Russian jet was shot down. That led to Russia reinforcing its air power in Syria and taking a much more hostile attitude towards Turkey, giving full support for Syrian Army advances in northern Latakia and around Aleppo.

For the moment, the Syrian Kurds are still deciding what they should do. They know that their quasi-state, known as Rojava, has been able to expand at explosive speed because the US needed a ground force to act in collaboration with its air campaign against Isis. Russian and American bombers have, at different times, supported the advance of the SDF towards Manbij. On the chaotic chess board of the Syrian crisis, the Kurds at this time have the same enemies as the Syrian Army, but they know that their strong position will last only as long as the war.

If there is no Turkish intervention on a significant scale then Assad and his allies are winning, because the enhanced Russian, Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah intervention has tipped the balance in their favour. The troika of regional Sunni states – Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey – have failed, so far, to overthrow Assad through backing the Syrian armed opposition. 

Their enthusiasm for doing so is under strain. Saudi Arabia has a mercurial leadership, is enmeshed in a war in Yemen, and the price of oil may stay at $30 a barrel. Qatar’s actions in Syria are even more incalculable. “We can never figure out Qatar’s policies,” said one Gulf observer in frustration. A more caustic commentator, in Washington, adds that “Qatari foreign policy is a vanity project”, comparing it to Qatar’s desire to buy landmark buildings abroad or host the football World Cup at home. 

In Syrian and Iraqi politics almost everybody ends up by overplaying their hand, mistaking transitory advantage for irreversible success. This was true of a great power like the US in Iraq in 2003, a monstrous power like Isis in 2014, and a small power like the Syrian Kurds in 2016. One of the reasons that Iran has, thus far, come out ahead in the struggle for this part of the Middle East is that the Iranians have moved cautiously and step by step. 

Turkey is the last regional power that could reverse the trend of events in Syria by open military intervention, a development that cannot be discounted as the Syrian-Turkish border is progressively sealed off. But, barring this, the conflict has become so internationalised that only the US and Russia are capable of bringing it to an end.

75 comments:

  1. Check or Checkmate?

    Russian forces, if they are indeed setting up in Qamishli, will establish a permanent bastion in Syria’s northeast. When inevitably Syrian forces cut off terrorists from their foreign supply routes and reestablish control over Syria’s largest cities back west, they will be able to reenter the northeast of their nation in force with Russian backing up to and including onto the doorstep of any illegal US occupation. There would be little the US could do to stop this, and no strategic or tactical means of “holding” territory already under the control of Syrian-Russian forces.

    The US in this scenario is reduced to a trespasser coming up to an occupied house, unable to do anything else but leer through the window. While the US would surely be trampling the flowerbed outside the home, it would be unable to access anything of value within it.

    Syria and Russia are displacing US ambitions to occupy Syria with physical forces that once in place will be difficult to remove. The US will come to the bargaining table with its “Syrian Democratic Forces” operating at the fringe of Syrian territory, with a Russian airbase standing between it and Syria’s interior. Meanwhile, the lion’s share of military victories against both Al Qaeda forces masquerading as the West’s “moderate fighters” and the “Islamic State” (IS) itself goes to Russia and Syria, not the US.

    It is becoming increasingly difficult for the US and its allies to explain just what they are actually even doing in Syria besides perpetuating the war for as long as possible. It is clear that the only progress being made in Syria against the forces of extremism is being made by the long-chastised Syrian government and their Russian, Iranian, and Lebanese allies. It is also clear that remaining hurdles preventing the final restoration of peace and order in Syria is the US and its regional allies who insist on propping up armed groups opposed to the Syrian government, and direct threats and undermining by the US itself aimed at Damascus.

    It should be abundantly clear that the US has lost the political war, the proxy war and now possibly checked in the “base war” as well. How much more the US wants to lose before withdrawing from yet another quagmire of its own creation depends on how much credibility the US believes it can still afford to lose as it pursues hegemony openly in front of an increasingly aware global public that has begun effectively fighting back.

    Ulson Gunnar, a New York-based geopolitical analyst and writer especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.


    http://www.globalresearch.ca/washington-has-lst-the-proxy-war-us-ambitions-to-occupy-syria-with-physical-force/5504648

    ReplyDelete
  2. Replies
    1. We did not learn from Iraq and the NATO intervention in Libya in 2011. The US government, FUKUS (Again), and the Zionist controlled media organizations across the West repeatedly claimed that the conflict was not an invasion by multinational terrorist organizations, but rather a “pro-democracy uprising.” They played it again in Syria. From Iraq to Syria, the World pays for the Neocon Dreamers’ travesty . Each time this happens, Washington claims this time will be different. It never has,

      Delete
  3. What's this I read in the article cited above about a possible coming 'illegal US occupation' of Syria ?

    Clan Assad represents fully about 15% of the Syrian people.

    I'd call the Russian presence 'illegal'......

    Legal, illegal, in Syria ? Who made Russian presence 'legal' ?

    It could not have been Assad as he was never legally elected to anything.

    Legality seems to grow out of the barrel of a gun in Syria...

    :(:(

    I see the 'Zionist controlled media organizations' are raising their ugly heads again.

    This whole entire Syrian barn square dance was choreographed and brought upon the world by the Israelis.

    Just ask rat.

    He's been saying so for years.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Syrian government, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson, the one recognized at the United Nations

      Delete
    2. Bwabwabwabwahahahaha

      In addition to being a Dead Beat Dad you're a Dead Brained Dummy.

      DBD-DBD


      Bwabwabwaahhahahaahahaaaaaa


      ZIMBABWE is a member of the United Nations.


      bbbbwwwwaaaabbbbbwwwwaaaaaBBBBWWWWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA

      You're an idiot.

      Delete
    3. So is NORTH KOREA

      bwabwabwa

      The entire western world ought to get the hell out of there.

      What a FARCE

      Delete
  4. Glad to see some of our bombing seems to have helped the Kurds.

    ReplyDelete
  5. REVEALED: OBAMA EMAILED HILLARY 18 TIMES!
    FLASHBACK: CLAIMED HE LEARNED FROM MEDIA
    ......Drudge

    Ask Rufus, he'll have an explanation as to how his O'bozo could have emailed Hillary to a server he learned about in the newspapers.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Idaho BobSun Jan 31, 05:40:00 AM EST
    What's this I read in the article cited above about a possible coming 'illegal US occupation' of Syria ?

    Clan Assad represents fully about 15% of the Syrian people.

    I'd call the Russian presence 'illegal'......

    Legal, illegal, in Syria ? Who made Russian presence 'legal' ?

    It could not have been Assad as he was never legally elected to anything.

    Legality seems to grow out of the barrel of a gun in Syria...

    :(:(

    I see the 'Zionist controlled media organizations' are raising their ugly heads again.

    This whole entire Syrian barn square dance was choreographed and brought upon the world by the Israelis.

    Just ask rat.

    He’s been saying so for years.


    The legal government in Syria is Assad.

    RECENT FACT Staffan de Mistura, the UN envoy for Syria, has met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, pushing for the implementation of a UN plan including local truces.

    IMPLICATION: The UN recognizes Assad as the legal head of Syria

    THE US RECOGNIZES ASSAD: Relations between the United States and Syria hit a low point in 2005 after the former prime minister of Lebanon, Rafik Hariri, was assassinated and the Bush administration withdrew the U.S. ambassador. But President Obama has sought to repair relations, believing a peace deal between Israel and Syria would help stabilize the region. Over congressional opposition, he returned the US ambassador to Damascus.
    During a March, 2009 meeting that included Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.), Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) and Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.), the lawmakers pressed him on human rights. Assad replied, “We are a country in process of reform. We aren’t perfect. You are talking about 12 people out of 20 million. It’s a process. We are moving forward, not fast, but methodically.”
    in January 2010, included Sens. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.), John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). At one point, Bayh is recorded as saying: “Many things in Syria had changed for the better since his 2002 visit. Now, there were positive indicators that bilateral relations might be on the upswing as well.” But otherwise, there was little discussion of reforms.

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  7. There is a legal government in Syria and that government asked the Russias to provide assistance in Syria. No one invited the US. No one.

    ReplyDelete
  8. How is the water in Upper Buttocks, Idaho?

    ReplyDelete
  9. I did an entire post on the top 8 US media conglomerates. I did a search on the name of the CEOs. They were all Jews and all had various affiliations with Israeli and Zionist causes to one degree or another. Does that affect their opinions?

    Suppose they were Catholics all active to one degree or another in Catholic causes and the Vatican, as Israel is, was in a casus belli with a neighboring state and was supported uncritically by a US Catholic controlled media?

    Suppose the Pope, over the objections of the US President, lobbied in and out of the US Congress.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I posted the interview by General Clark at least ten times. He stated the entire Neocon goal using names and places and said the big prize was Syria.

    ReplyDelete
  11. And I have news for you dummy: US legalities and illegalities in the ME grows out of the barrel of many guns. You really can’t be that stupid can you?

    ReplyDelete
  12. HEADLINE

    Turkish-Russian Airspace Conflict as Ankara-backed Turkmen flee Syria

    By Juan Cole | Jan. 31, 2016

    Russia rejected as “propaganda” on Saturday renewed Turkish charges that its fighter jets had crossed Turkish territory. NATO asked Moscow to respect its joint airspace.

    A promontory of Turkish territory sticks down into northern Latakia, and it would be very difficult to conduct the sort of bombing raids in which Russia is engaged without occasionally crossing it.

    In any case, likely the complaint from Turkey is actually about something else. Ankara must be upset that its proxies in Latakia Province have been destroyed or disrupted.

    This week the Syrian Arab Army of the regime, with the help of intensive Russian bombing, took all the Turkmen strongholds in northern Latakia Province, including the holdout city, Rabia.

    As a result, some 600 Turkmen are said to have crossed the border from Syria into Turkey. Turkmen speak a language similar to that spoken in Turkey itself to the north, and immigrated into Syria from Central Asia in the medieval period. The Turkmen in northern Latakia Province had been evenly divided between those who acquiesced in regime rule and those who had joined the revolution. Some of the latter had been tactically allied with Salafi Jihadi (radical vigilante) groups such as Ahrar al-Sham or Freemen of Syria and the Nusra Front (the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria). The Freemen of Syria is widely thought to receive support from Turkey, as are the Turkmen fighters. These groups have been subjected to intense and indiscriminate Russian bombardment, allowing Syrian troops to regain this territory. Some of those fleeing fear reprisals from the bloodthirsty al-Assad regime.

    In essence, Russia had defeated a prime strategy of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, involving the taking of northern Syria by fundamentalist militias and ultimately the fall to them of the key port of Latakia, at which point the regime would have been finished. Ankara is frustrated, and the only purchase it has on Russian intervention is the complaint of airspace violations, given the dicey legal status of Turkish intervention in Syria and the unsavory alliances Turkish-backed groups have sometimes made.

    ReplyDelete
  13. HEADLINE

    War in Syria: Russia’s ‘rustbucket’ military delivers a hi-tech shock to West and Israel

    As the Kremlin showcases its military capabilities in Syria, Kim Sengupta says Nato leaders are having to reassess

    Kim Sengupta Saturday 30 January 2016

    Their army’s equipment and strategy was “outmoded”; their air force’s bombs and missiles were “more dumb than smart”; their navy was “more rust than ready”. For decades, this was Western military leaders’ view, steeped in condescension, of their Russian counterparts. What they have seen in Syria and Ukraine has come as a shock.

    Russian military jets have, at times, been carrying out more sorties in a day in Syria than the US-led coalition has done in a month. The Russian navy has launched ballistic missiles from the Caspian Sea 900 miles way, and kept supply lines going to Syria. The air defences installed by the Russians in Syria and eastern Ukraine would make it extremely hazardous for the West to carry out strikes against the Assad regime or Ukrainian separatists.

    {...}

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    1. {...{

      Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, the commander of the US army in Europe, has described Russian advances in electronic warfare in Syria and Ukraine – a field in which they were typically supposed to be backward – as “eye watering”.

      The chief of US Air Force operations in Europe and Africa, Lieutenant General Frank Gorenc, has disclosed that Moscow is now deploying anti-aircraft systems in Crimea, which the Kremlin annexed from Ukraine last year, and in Kaliningrad, an enclave between Lithuania and Poland. It is doing so, he says, in a way that makes it “very, very difficult” for Nato planes to gain access safely to areas including parts of Poland.

      It is not just Nato member states watching the Russians with concern. Israel, too, sees the build-up of Russian weaponry across its northern border in Syria and wonders where it will all end. Their apprehension is that the advanced equipment already in situ in the Middle East will end up with Iran, viewed as an existential threat to the Jewish state, or with other Arab countries, thus eroding the air superiority that is Israel’s primary advantage over its neighbours.

      It is this military might that is underpinning President Vladimir Putin’s strategic triumphs. His intervention in Syria has been a game changer and what happens there now lies, to a large extent, in his hands. The Ukraine conflict is semi-frozen, on his terms. The Russians are allying with the Kurds, unfazed by the Turkish anger this has provoked. And, crucially, they are now returning to Egypt to an extent not seen for 44 years, since they were kicked out by President Anwar Sadat.

      {...]

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    2. {...} One of the most senior analysts in Israeli military intelligence told The Independent in Tel Aviv last week: “Anyone who wants anything done in this region is beating a path to Moscow.”

      Mr Putin has relished pointing out the significance of the West seeing “for the first time that these weapons do exist, that they are of high quality, and that we have well-trained people who can put them to effective use. They have now seen, too, that Russia is ready to use them if this is in the interest of our country and our people.”

      In Syria the Russians have been conducting as many air strikes a day, up to 96, as the US-led coalition has carried out in a month. This is in marked contrast, Western military planners have noted, to how quickly Nato began to feel the strain when bombing Libya and Kosovo.

      One reason for the dearth of coalition sorties is that its Sunni state members are carrying out scarcely any missions, focusing instead on Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. Operations by Turkey, meanwhile, have been overwhelmingly against the Kurds rather than Isis.

      Western defence officials also contend that the Russians are hitting other rebel groups in the guise of attacking Isis and that they are more indiscriminate in their targeting because they are less sensitive to any evidence of civilian casualties and because of their lack of precision-guided weaponry.

      But Russia had never promised it was going to attack only Isis. Instead, it declared that “all terrorists” would be targeted. This, conveniently for Mr Putin and President Bashar al-Assad, has included more moderate rebel groups. Experience of the Chechen wars show that the Kremlin is, indeed, more prepared to shrug off “collateral damage” than the West. It is also true that there were not enough Russian guided bombs and missiles in the first stage of the Syrian mission: Moscow’s claim that it has used precision weapons alone does not stand up to scrutiny.

      The aircraft, missiles and bombs used at first were a mix of old, dating from the Soviet era, and relatively new. There are 34 fixed-wing aircraft based at Latakia: 12 Su-25s and four Su-30SM fighter-bombers; 12 ageing Su-24M2s and six Su-34s. There are also helicopters and an unspecified number of drones.

      {...}

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    3. {...}

      However, more of the most advanced of these, the Su-34, codenamed Fullback by Nato, have been replacing older aircraft. One reason for this is that aircraft such as the Su-25, a veteran of the wars in Chechnya and Georgia, are vulnerable to Manpads – shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles – which Moscow suspects the Turks and the Saudis have been supplying to Sunni rebels.

      The introduction by the Kremlin of advanced air-defence systems has gained impetus since the shooting down of a Russian jet by the Turks. The S-400 Triumph system is a source of great Israeli worry should it fall into “wrong hands”. This has an array radar that continuously monitors the skies, and a missile battery which can shoot down targets 250 miles away. One such array is positioned at the Russian base at Latakia and covers half of Israeli airspace.

      The deployment of Russian electronic warfare equipment in Ukraine and Syria, such as the Krasukha-4 which can jam Awacs and satellite radar systems, has been another sobering experience for Nato. Ronald Pontius, deputy to the US Army head of cyber command, stated: “You cannot but come to the conclusion that we are not making progress at the pace the threat demands.”

      (READ THIS PART CAREFULLY DUMMY)

      Gen Gorenc, while bemoaning the proliferation by Russia and worrying about Nato’s capabilities, acknowledged that Russia was not breaking any international agreements and “has every right” to deploy these systems. In Syria, he said, the Russians were using “cruise missiles, they are using bombers. It is clear that they are desiring to show the ability they have to affect not just regional events, but worldwide events.”

      That, indeed, is the point. The question for the West is whether to react to this by initiating a new chapter of confrontation with Moscow, or one of greater accommodation.

      http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/war-in-syria-russia-s-rustbucket-military-delivers-a-hi-tech-shock-to-west-and-israel-a6842711.html

      Delete
  14. The fact is, we have an election underway, and the American people could care less about any of it. They want to see ISIS destroyed, reasonable prices for gasoline, and the devil take the rest.

    Sometimes, the American people show signs of a little common sense.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I bet I could talk to a thousand people, and not find one that gave a good goddamn about who controlled the naval base at Latakia.

      Delete
    2. They may, but in a plutocracy their little common sense has little weight.

      Delete
  15. REPEAT

    Gen Gorenc, while bemoaning the proliferation by Russia and worrying about Nato’s capabilities, acknowledged that Russia was not breaking any international agreements and “has every right” to deploy these systems. In Syria, he said, the Russians were using “cruise missiles, they are using bombers. It is clear that they are desiring to show the ability they have to affect not just regional events, but worldwide events.”

    - The chief of US Air Force operations in Europe and Africa, Lieutenant General Frank Gorenc

    The US has no similar legal standing for actions in Syria. None.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I gotta disagree; we have Every "legal" right to go after ISIS.

      When they made those videos showing the decapitation of Americans the die was cast. Any American President that failed to take action, at that point, would have quite possibly had to face impeachment.

      Delete
    2. If we have a legal right to go after ISIS, and I agree that we do, that right does not extend to ISIS affiliated groups being armed by the US and allies to fight Assad, who is also fighting ISIS.

      The US has not only a right to fight ISIS, it has a duty. Without US meddling in the ME, ISIS would not have been formed in US controlled prisons in Iraq.

      Delete
    3. Now, all that I have to agree with. :)

      Delete
    4. ISIS is an outcome of the Neocon posture and theory for the ME, implemented by the US and UK.

      Delete
    5. True enough, but we still have to fight them.

      Delete
  16. The scary part in the dummy from Upper Buttocks is mouthing GOP talking points who have behind them the dumb and dumber in significant numbers.

    ReplyDelete
  17. As for all that Russian stuff, it's worthless in the face of our F-22's, B-2's, and F-35's.

    Actually, it might be a "good" thing for us to meet in Syria, and Ukraine, and wherever, to wave our dicks around, and give each other a good taunting. If we don't let it go too far. :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. A vote here, a vote there - I post this in my continuing Quixotic Quest to prevent 'The Bern' from confiscating other people's hard earned Limos -


    January 31, 2016

    Bernie Sanders before political office

    By Thomas Lifson


    Before he achieved political office, Bernie Sanders never had a steady paycheck in the first four decades of his life. Now, he aspires to the highest office in the land where he could play a decisive role in shaping the circumstances under which the rest of us work and receive (when we can) our paychecks. It is a sobering record, as Investor’s Business Daily explains it:


    His family managed to send him to the University of Chicago. Despite a prestigious degree, however, Sanders failed to earn a living, even as an adult. It took him 40 years to collect his first steady paycheck — and it was a government check.

    “I never had any money my entire life,” Sanders told Vermont public TV in 1985, after settling into his first real job as mayor of Burlington.

    Sanders spent most of his life as an angry radical and agitator who never accomplished much of anything. And yet now he thinks he deserves the power to run your life and your finances — “We will raise taxes;” he confirmed Monday, “yes, we will.”

    One of his first jobs was registering people for food stamps, and it was all downhill from there.

    Sanders took his first bride to live in a maple sugar shack with a dirt floor, and she soon left him. Penniless, he went on unemployment. Then he had a child out of wedlock. Desperate, he tried carpentry but could barely sink a nail. “He was a shi**y carpenter,” a friend told Politico Magazine. “His carpentry was not going to support him, and didn’t.”

    Then he tried his hand freelancing for leftist rags, writing about “masturbation and rape” and other crudities for $50 a story. He drove around in a rusted-out, Bondo-covered VW bug with no working windshield wipers. Friends said he was “always poor” and his “electricity was turned off a lot.” They described him as a slob who kept a messy apartment — and this is what his friends had to say about him.

    The only thing he was good at was talking … non-stop … about socialism and how the rich were ripping everybody off. “The whole quality of life in America is based on greed,” the bitter layabout said. “I believe in the redistribution of wealth in this nation.”

    So he tried politics, starting his own socialist party. Four times he ran for Vermont public office, and four times he lost — badly. He never attracted more than single-digit support — even in the People’s Republic of Vermont. In his 1971 bid for U.S. Senate, the local press said the 30-year-old “Sanders describes himself as a carpenter who has worked with ‘disturbed children.’ ” In other words, a real winner.

    He finally wormed his way into the Senate in 2006, where he still ranks as one of the poorest members of Congress. Save for a municipal pension, Sanders lists no assets in his name.

    Well, at least he hasn’t pulled a Clinton and enriched himself via influence-peddling. But it is quite clear that envy is a deep part of his psychology. That has become the source of focus in his life, something that obviously was lacking until he got into politics.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Can a man who was unable to earn a decent living, unable to keep himself in orderly environment, without political office really be the chief executive of the United States Government?


      Before he achieved political office, Bernie Sanders never had a steady paycheck in the first four decades of his life. Now, he aspires to the highest office in the land where he could play a decisive role in shaping the circumstances under which the rest of us work and receive (when we can) our paychecks. It is a sobering record, as Investor’s Business Daily explains it:


      His family managed to send him to the University of Chicago. Despite a prestigious degree, however, Sanders failed to earn a living, even as an adult. It took him 40 years to collect his first steady paycheck — and it was a government check.

      “I never had any money my entire life,” Sanders told Vermont public TV in 1985, after settling into his first real job as mayor of Burlington.

      Sanders spent most of his life as an angry radical and agitator who never accomplished much of anything. And yet now he thinks he deserves the power to run your life and your finances — “We will raise taxes;” he confirmed Monday, “yes, we will.”

      One of his first jobs was registering people for food stamps, and it was all downhill from there.

      Sanders took his first bride to live in a maple sugar shack with a dirt floor, and she soon left him. Penniless, he went on unemployment. Then he had a child out of wedlock. Desperate, he tried carpentry but could barely sink a nail. “He was a shi**y carpenter,” a friend told Politico Magazine. “His carpentry was not going to support him, and didn’t.”

      Then he tried his hand freelancing for leftist rags, writing about “masturbation and rape” and other crudities for $50 a story. He drove around in a rusted-out, Bondo-covered VW bug with no working windshield wipers. Friends said he was “always poor” and his “electricity was turned off a lot.” They described him as a slob who kept a messy apartment — and this is what his friends had to say about him.

      The only thing he was good at was talking … non-stop … about socialism and how the rich were ripping everybody off. “The whole quality of life in America is based on greed,” the bitter layabout said. “I believe in the redistribution of wealth in this nation.”

      So he tried politics, starting his own socialist party. Four times he ran for Vermont public office, and four times he lost — badly. He never attracted more than single-digit support — even in the People’s Republic of Vermont. In his 1971 bid for U.S. Senate, the local press said the 30-year-old “Sanders describes himself as a carpenter who has worked with ‘disturbed children.’ ” In other words, a real winner.

      He finally wormed his way into the Senate in 2006, where he still ranks as one of the poorest members of Congress. Save for a municipal pension, Sanders lists no assets in his name.

      Well, at least he hasn’t pulled a Clinton and enriched himself via influence-peddling. But it is quite clear that envy is a deep part of his psychology. That has become the source of focus in his life, something that obviously was lacking until he got into politics.

      Can a man who was unable to earn a decent living, unable to keep himself in orderly environment, without political office really be the chief executive of the United States Government?


      http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/01/bernie_sanders_before_political_office.html#ixzz3ypurj4p8

      Delete
    2. "Well, at least he hasn’t pulled a Clinton and enriched himself via influence-peddling."

      True, and the reason is, The Bern never had any influence to peddle.

      And, hopefully, never will.

      Delete
    3. And then there was young Gipple, too, over test driving the Criminal side of the Democrat Clown Car -

      "It feels like there's a lot of young people out there, like myself, who are very passionate supporters of Bernie Sanders. And I just don't see the same enthusiasm among younger people for you," Gipple said in a nervous voice at an Iowa town hall on CNN


      "In fact," Gipple said, "I've heard quite a few people my age that think you're dishonest, but I'd like to hear from you, why you feel the enthusiasm isn't there."

      She paused, then blinked and her face began to move toward him on the end of her neck.

      There was that Queen Cersei smile. Not with her eyes but with teeth, before she fixed on him with her squint.

      If she was standing not in Iowa but in HBO, Cersei's guards would have already ripped out young Gipple's tongue or lopped off his thumbs.

      Happily, Hillary took neither tongue nor thumbs. Instead, she tried to take Gipple's pride. And that will cost her more. She started by recounting all of the "stuff" that's been thrown at her over the years.

      "But if you're new to politics and this is the first time you've really paid attention, you go, 'Oh, my gosh, look at all of this.' And you have to say to yourself, 'Why are they throwing all of that?' " Clinton said. "I'll tell you why: I've been on the front lines of change and progress since I was your age."

      Since I was your age, sonny! And what have you done except clap your hands for Bernie, you punk kid!




      HILLARY'S QUEEN CERSEI MOMENT

      http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/kass/ct-hillary-clinton-kass-0131-20160131-column.html

      Delete
    4. Gipple didn't know all that as he stood, rather nervously, before Hillary the Great as she dressed him down on national TV.

      "When I worked on health care back in '93 and '94, and I don't know if you were born then, I can't quite tell, but, if you'd been around, and had been able to pay attention, I was trying to get us to universal health care coverage," she said.

      If you'd been around. If you were born then. If you'd been able to pay attention.

      Delete
  19. Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson, are you 'for' any candidate?

    Or are you just a disruptive agent of idiocy?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Stalking are you again, rattie ?

      I've said a hundred times I'm for Dr. Ben Carson.

      Go hassle Ash or Quirk, dick head.

      Delete
    2. Look at Jack's statement, nothing but slander and name calling, how instructive.

      Delete
    3. You've also said, Bob, that you like Trump and that Carson will drop out of the race. At least Jack reads your drivel, you should be pleased someone does.

      Delete
  20. Deuce ☂Sun Jan 31, 02:32:00 AM EST
    ..............and the Zionist controlled media organizations across the West .................


    Deuce ☂Sun Jan 31, 09:18:00 AM EST
    I did an entire post on the top 8 US media conglomerates. I did a search on the name of the CEOs. They were all Jews and all had various affiliations with Israeli and Zionist causes to one degree or another. ......




    Thanks Deuce for proving my point about you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So what he posted is true is it WiO?

      Delete
    2. Hey, Ash, the big Idaho Spud Truck is on the road.

      Great BIG Semi !!!

      HUGE POTATO

      YUGE !

      When I saw it I thought of you, and how wonderful it would be if you were driving it, seeing as how you look the part, and how great it would be if you were doing something socially useful for a change.

      Delete
    3. Ash "is it true"?

      LOL

      Yeah we control everything...

      Fucking retard....

      Delete
    4. I was asking about the asserted fact - The 8 largest Media Conglomerates are all run by Jews with affiliations to Israeli and Zionist organizations?

      Delete
  21. Sorry, does the truth disturb you?

    Do Jews Dominate in American Media? And So What If We Do? -

    See more at: http://mondoweiss.net/2008/02/do-jews-dominat#sthash.itKdR67u.dpuf

    ReplyDelete
  22. Do Jews Really Control the Media?

    Only the fun parts.

    By Brian Palmer

    Rick Sanchez. Click image to expand.
    Rick Sanchez


    CNN anchor Rick Sanchez was fired last week for calling The Daily Show host Jon Stewart a bigot and implying that Jews control the media. ("Everybody who runs CNN is a lot like Stewart, and a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart," he said, trying to explain that Jews are not an oppressed minority.) Setting aside the propriety of Sanchez's claims, is he right? Do Jews control the media?




    Maybe the movies, but not the news. If Sanchez was referring to people in the television news business, he's wrong. Not one of the major television news operations—Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, ABC News, CBS News, or NBC News—is currently headed by a Jewish executive. (That includes Ken Jautz, the man who fired Sanchez.) Or at least none of these executives has talked about being Jewish in a public forum. The Internet is littered with rumors about various media moguls being Jewish, but few of those claims are backed by any evidence.


    There are more Jews at the head of the country's major newspapers, but it's still a stretch to say these publications are controlled by them. Even in New York City, where around 12 percent of the population is Jewish, there isn't any indication of Jewish dominance. The Ochs Sulzberger family, which has controlled the New York Times for more than a century, is of Jewish origin. But current Executive Editor Bill Keller is not.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. At the Wall Street Journal, the only hint of Jewish influence at the top is the persistent Internet rumor that the mother of Rupert Murdoch, the CEO of Journal parent News Corp., is Jewish. Murdoch has joked about the gossip but hasn't addressed the whispers publicly. (The Explainer's phone calls to News Corp. headquarters went unreturned.) The Bancroft family, which controlled the Journal for nearly eight decades until they handed the reins to Murdoch in 2007, isn't Jewish, nor is current Journal Managing Editor Robert Thomson.


      Jewish-American businessman Eugene Meyer bought the Washington Post in 1933. Philip Graham, his non-Jewish son-in-law, took over in 1946, and the paper has been published by gentiles ever since. Current Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli is not Jewish, nor are any of his top 12 editors. The Chandler family, which owned the Los Angeles Times for decades, is not Jewish. Sam Zell, who bought the paper in 2007, is a Jew, but top editor Russ Stanton is not.


      Hollywood is a slightly different story. The conventional wisdom that Tinseltown is Jewish-dominated has some basis in reality, as Jews seem to be disproportionately represented in the upper echelon of film directors and executives. According to the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey, 1.2 percent of the nation's adults are Jewish. (That includes only self-identified Jews and may exclude a significant number of Americans with Jewish ethnicity who are not observant.) Yet, of the top 20 directors, producers, and other non-acting movie bigwigs listed in the Guardian's Film Power 100, nine are Jewish (45 percent). There are plenty of prominent Jewish execs slightly further down the list, too, including the brothers Coen and Weinstein.


      The top executives at major media conglomerates are also Jewish in greater numbers than the general population. Robert Iger of Disney and Sumner Redstone and Leslie Moonves of CBS are all Jews, while Jeffrey Immelt of General Electric and Jeffrey Bewkes of Time Warner are not. Jeff Zucker, the departing head of NBC, is Jewish.


      If you look only at celebrities, and exclude the men and women behind the camera, the picture is very different. None of the top 20 people on the Forbes Celebrity 100 is Jewish. That is unless you count the much-debated Sandra Bullock. Or you misconstrue Bruce Springsteen's heritage—a common mistake. Steven Spielberg is the top Jew at No. 22.


      Got a question about today's news? Ask the Explainer.


      Like Slate and the Explainer on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

      http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2010/10/do_jews_really_control_the_media.html

      Delete
    2. Sorry if the truth disturbs you.

      Delete
  23. I was criticized by rat hole for watching Fox, which he said was controlled by Mooslims.

    There is a Mooslim investor but he doesn't control the place.

    If he did he'd fire Judge Jeanine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The stock holder allows Roger Ailes to pander to his audience, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson.

      Delete
    2. While, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson you have to come to grips with the fact that Israel is now allied with the Saudis. Even Caroline Glick acknowledges that reality

      Understanding the Israeli-Egyptian-Saudi alliance

      http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/COLUMN-ONE-Understanding-the-Israeli-Egyptian-Saudi-alliance-371891

      Delete

    3. According to Robert Parry an American investigative journalist:

      “The odd-couple relationship between Saudi Arabia and Israel may have been sealed with more than a mutual desire to kiss-off Iran. According to an intelligence source, there was a dowry involved, too, with the Saudis reportedly giving Israel some $16 billion, writes Robert Parry”


      https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/saudi-arabia-israel-mutual-ties-common-agenda-noor-dahri

      Delete
    4. https://groupegaullistesceaux.wordpress.com/2015/04/18/did-money-seal-israeli-saudi-alliance/

      Delete
    5. 16 whole billion???

      that's a fraction of what Saudi Arabia earns per year in oil sales.. about ONE month's sales...

      Try again Jack, your stats are meaningless.



      Saudi Arabia distributes $130 billion
      In the aftermath of the mass unrest in the poor countries of northern Africa and the Middle East, King Abdullah of the rich oil country Saudi Arabia quickly decided to distribute over $130 billion, which equals the amount the country earns from oil export in eight months, through various grants and programmes.

      Delete
    6. It does not take much to buy a Zionist.

      Delete
    7. Wow, deep thoughts Jack...

      You swing more than a donkey's dick.....

      Admit it. you are full of shit.

      WRONG as usual.

      Delete
    8. No, not wrong at all, the Israeli not only sucked Obama's dick to get Pollard out of prison but are tonguing Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud asshole for pocket change.

      Prostitution being legal in Israel, Bibi has no fear of prosecution.

      Delete

    9. Whatever the reason, Saudi Arabia is now a critical funder of Israel’s military effort against Iran.

      The question is how far is Saudi Arabia willing to go. If Bibi ever decided to launch an attack, would the Sunni nation fund that as well? The answer seems clearly to be yes.

      The next question is, given there is airtight military censorship in Israel, why did the censor allow Maariv to publish this? Either someone was asleep at the switch or the IDF and Israel’s political and intelligence officials want the world to know of the Saudi-Israeli effort. Who specifically do they want to know? Obama, of course. In the event the nuclear talks go south, Bibi wants Obama to know there’s a new Sugar Daddy in town. No longer will Israel have only the U.S. to rely on if it decides to go to war. Saudi Arabia will be standing right behind.


      http://www.globalresearch.ca/saudi-arabia-finances-most-of-israels-weapons-build-up-against-iran/5451703

      Delete

    10. The apparent Israeli-Saudi alliance, even though hidden from the masses for now, matches the interests of the US in the Middle East and Western Asia. Washington hopes that this will weaken anti-Israeli feelings in the Arab and Muslim world, create a reliable counterweight in the region to a possible strengthening of Iran, and isolate to the extent possible radical islamist Sunni and Shiite groups. The US, it would seem, is happy to see several centers of power at once (Israel, Turkey, Egypt, the Gulf monarchies and Iran) jostling or in competition with each other but dependent on Washington, with Riyadh together with Tel-Aviv assigned the role of regional gendarme. The Saudis’ counterinsurgency operations in Bahrain and Yemen and the support for opposition fighters in Syria confirm this thesis.


      http://www.mintpressnews.com/the-alliance-between-israel-and-saudi-arabia/209548/

      Delete

    11. ... this once-unthinkable alliance has become possible – and the Saudis, as they are wont to do, may have thrown lots of money into the deal.

      According to a source briefed by U.S. intelligence analysts, the Saudis have given Israel at least $16 billion over the past 2 ½ years, funneling the money through a third-country Arab state and into an Israeli “development” account in Europe to help finance infrastructure inside Israel. The source first called the account “a Netanyahu slush fund,” but later refined that characterization, saying the money was used for public projects such as building settlements in the West Bank.

      In other words, according to this information, the Saudis concluded that if you can’t beat the Israel Lobby, try buying it.

      Delete
  24. More WINNING by Russia...

    Damascus Blasts: At Least 60 Dead in Bombings Near Sayeda Zainab Shrine

    BEIRUT/AMMAN — At least 60 people were killed, including 25 Shi'ite fighters, and dozens wounded on Sunday by a car bomb and two suicide bombers in a district of Damascus where Syria's holiest Shi'ite shrine is located, a monitor said.

    Sunni fundamentalist Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, according to Amaq, a news agency that supports the group. It said two operations "hit the most important stronghold of Shi'ite militias in Damascus".

    http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/damascus-blasts-least-45-dead-110-wounded-bombings-near-sayeda-n507976


    ReplyDelete
  25. Iowa, with its 98% White voting bloc is Bernie Sanders' best chance, outside of N.H./Vermont, of winning a state.

    And, right now, it looks like even Iowa will elude him (although, barely.)

    I'm becoming more and more sure that Hillary Clinton is the next President of The United States.

    It could be worse.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The alternative appears to be "Trump." :)

      Delete
    2. .

      As I said, not much.

      Looking at the issues, I agree with about 90% of the positions Trump currently takes. It's the other 10% that drive me crazy. That and his mouth.

      I haven't looked up Hillary's positions at sites like On the Issues but I have a lot of history to fall back on. That and the realization that she is a habitual liar.

      Like I say, not much.

      .

      Delete
  26. SOUTHWEST ASIA, January 31, 2016 — 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, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted five strikes in Syria:

    -- Near Hasakah, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL structure and two ISIL fighting positions.

    -- Near Raqqah, one strike destroyed an ISIL crane.

    -- Near Ayn Isa, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.

    -- Near Mar’a, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.

    Strikes in Iraq

    Attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 18 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

    -- Near Qaim, one strike destroyed an ISIL front-end loader.

    -- Near Habbaniyah, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL mortar position, an ISIL fighting position, and cratered an ISIL-used land bridge.

    -- Near Kirkuk, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL tunnel.

    -- Near Mosul, four strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units, and destroyed two ISIL heavy machine guns, two ISIL fighting positions, five ISIL assembly areas, and an ISIL checkpoint.

    -- Near Ramadi, seven strikes struck three separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL tactical vehicle, three ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL front-end loader, and denied ISIL access to terrain.

    -- Near Sinjar, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL heavy machine gun and an ISIL fighting position.

    -- Near Tal Afar, one strike suppressed an ISIL mortar position.

    Otherwise known as Sunday

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. More LOSING by the Islamic State, they are crying in Tel Aviv

      Delete
    2. They'd prefer that al-Qeada hold power in Syria.

      Delete
    3. Hardly Jack...

      They are singing in Jerusalem... the ETERNAL Capital of Israel, the Jewish people...

      When ISIS kills Syrian, Russian, Hezbollah and Iranian assholes? It's good.

      When Syrian, Russian, Hezbollah and Iranian kill Sunni ISIS assholes? It's good.

      Delete
    4. Songs of despair, that's what they're singing, in Tel Aviv

      Delete
    5. Really?

      Jack, Tel Aviv is BOOMING.... And not from your friends bombs...

      As for the Capital of Israel? Jerusalem?

      get used to saying it...

      J E R U S A L E M...

      You are always a cheerleader for the islamic nazis...

      Hey jack, How is Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Gaza, West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon doing?


      LOL

      Self imploding and murdering each other....

      I gots popcorn...

      Buttered....

      Delete
    6. Let's see... In Gaza? they are building tunnels and diverting much needed concrete to reconstruct terror tunnels... 7 hamas members died in a collapse this week..

      On the Egyptian side? they have dug a seawater MOAT!!!!

      In syria? Assd with a little help from his russian, iranian, hezbollah friends have murdered 360,000 and created a 14 million person refugee stampede to europe...

      LOL

      Now the ISIS in Iraq and Syria, in response to the slaughter by the Shits is slaughtering them back....

      From Islamic shit hole to another the arabs, Persians, turks (and other moslems in africa and asia) are chopping and shooting each other in daily deeds....

      But you say Tel Aviv sings songs of despair....

      But alias I googled tel aviv concerts and no "songs of despair"

      http://www.songkick.com/metro_areas/33176-israel-tel-aviv-jaffa

      Just 43 upcoming concerts...

      Hey they don't allow concerts in Gaza do they?



      LOL



      Delete
    7. Now about Tel Aviv?

      http://www.jta.org/2015/08/11/news-opinion/israel-middle-east/tel-aviv-cheers-new-subway-bemoans-its-construction

      They are building a light rail to help with the 500,000 cars that clog the roads....

      But you do have a point.....

      There are more NEW BMWs and Mercedes in the Occupied West Bank than Tel aviv and Jerusalem

      http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/54139/occupied-palestine-more-bmws-mercedes-streets-than-jerusalem-tel-aviv-judea-and-samaria/#LM1JeEAQGSv0DyW1.97


      Delete