The NATO war of 2011 delivered Libya not to one government with a monopoly over violence, but to a chessboard of competing militia groups who have allegiance to regional powers.
ISIS flourished in the chaos and the refugee mess has created misery throughout the Middle East and Europe.
Tribalism was unleashed and was aided and abetted by the regime changers in the US and Europe.
Militia groups were either rooted in their cities, in their tribes or in an extremist world-view.
One of the most powerful militia armies was from the city of Misrata. It is the one that is leading the fight to remove ISIS from Sirte.
The US has been bombing Sirte with hundreds of raids, causing additional and continued misery on an incomprehensible scale.
I thought it would be useful to look backwards as to who said and did what.
Nigel Farage:
Hillary Clinton:
Background on Clinton and Libya:
WASHINGTON POST
ReplyDeleteCAIRO — Libyan militias backed by American airstrikes said they have cleared the stronghold of the Islamic State in Libya, a defeat that would set back the group’s ambitions in North Africa. The country, however, remains very unstable amid battles between rival militias, and the remaining militants could still undermine a fragile U.S.-backed unity government, analysts say.
Libyan fighters erupted in celebration in the coastal city of Sirte on Tuesday after a nearly seven-month struggle to oust the Islamic State, as the mostly pro-government forces were searching for any remaining militants.
The Islamic State’s hopes of extending its self-proclaimed “caliphate” beyond Syria and Iraq into Libya have been dashed, at least for now. But while their propaganda war and recruiting efforts have also been weakened, analysts said, the group remains active in other parts of the country.
Libya faces the specter of clandestine cells staging terrorist attacks, much like they’ve done recently in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan after battlefield reverses in those countries.
“The retaking of Sirte is certainly a negative blow to Islamic State affiliates in Libya because they will no longer have a territorial stronghold in the country,” said Claudia Gazzini, senior Libya analyst for the International Crisis Group. “This is significant because it no longer gives them the possibility to operate in the open or to recruit and levy taxes directly.”
Libya was ruled by Gadhafi because Libya needed Gaddafi.
ReplyDeleteUnder Gaddafi, Libya had the highest standard of living in the whole Middle East.
Libya is a mostly desert and oil-rich country with a small population - 6.4 million, residing a vast land area - 1.77 million sq km (685,524 sq miles).
Since the Obama Clinton disaster, hundreds of rival militias fighting are in constant war and the outcome has been ISIS.
With all that, there is still support for war criminal Hillary Clinton and incompetent Barack Obama.
Please give at least 2 minutes to his great legacy:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1Xc_n7pow0
I must agree with Quirk:
DeleteThis guy IS a Dick.
THE FIERCE UNRELENTING OPPOSITION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!
DeleteAxelrod: Racists
Obama: Northern Whites are different than Southern Whites.
Birthers are all Racists, esp Trump, a Northern White.
The highly trained Cambridge Policeman acted stupidly.
Travon Martin could have been Barrack's son.
...I quit.
Ambush-style killings of police up 167% this year
Deletehttp://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/11/02/ambush-style-killings-police-up-300/93155124/
Fareed used to write for Newspeak I think, among other outlets, newspapers among them.
DeleteThen he got busted for plagiarism.
He let a little time pass and returned to his usual activity.
.
DeleteAnother look at the Obama legacy
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/12/08/assessing_the_obama_legacy_--_against_his_own_mileposts_132514.html
.
Cooked to death:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2016/12/01/enlighten-us-fatal-sweat-lodge-visit-sidner-pkg.cnn
Always use a temperature gauge in the sweat lodge.
ReplyDeleteNEXIT
ReplyDeleteGeert Wilders is convicted of saying unpopular things
POSTED AT 8:41 AM ON DECEMBER 9, 2016 BY JAZZ SHAW
We’re still not finished talking about Brexit, but next slogan to gain international attention may be “Nexit” given what’s going on in the Netherlands these days. In a very troubling sign, Dutch member of Parliament Geert Wilders was convicted of “hate speech” in court this week. His crime? Addressing a rally of his supporters earlier in the year where people were shouting “fewer” when speaking of how many Moroccan immigrants they wanted in the country. (The Guardian)
A Dutch court has convicted populist anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders of hate speech charges at the end of a trial he branded a politically motivated “charade” that endangered freedom of speech.
Presiding Judge Hendrik Steenhuis said the court would not impose a sentence on Wilders, saying that the conviction was punishment enough for a democratically elected politician.
The charges stem from a 2014 incident in which Wilders led supporters to chant that they wanted “Fewer! Fewer! Fewer!” Moroccans in the Netherlands.
You read that correctly. An elected representative was convicted in a trial for talking about public policy. If that doesn’t send a chill down your spine then you are considerably more comfortable with socialism than you should be. As for Wilders himself, he found the idea to be insane. (Reuters)
Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders said his conviction on Friday of discrimination and inciting hatred was “insanity” and said the three judges who handed down the ruling were “haters” of his far-right Freedom Party (PVV).
“Three PVV-hating judges declare Moroccans a race and convict me and half of the Netherlands. Insane,” he wrote in a tweet shortly after the verdict.
It’s interesting that the court decided not to impose any sort of sentence on Wilders, saying that the conviction itself was “punishment enough.” That conclusion is obviously based on the assumption that the public could take care of chastising the politician for his unpopular speech by ostracizing him. Since Geert is the founder and head of the Freedom Party (or more properly translated, “Party for Freedom”) you’d expect them to be taking a hit in the polls from this embarrassing defeat. How’s that working out? (Express.co.uk)
Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party soars ahead in polls
DeleteThe party, led by the controversial Geert Wilders, would beat prime minister Mark Rutte’s ruling conservative liberals if elections were held today.
The Freedom Party (PVV) can count on 29 seats out of the 150-seat chamber, according to the latest IPSOS poll, making it the largest party in the Netherlands.
In the space of one month the popularity of the PVV has surged with an increase of six seats.
In terms of European politics specifically, Nexit could be the next big thing. The growing unrest over the immigration crisis, terrorism and crime has spread across much of the EU and the Netherlands is no exception. If a large enough chunk of the people are hungry for change, Wilders seems to be the face of that movement. They have their own elections coming up in a few months and a sharp turn to the right would be an indicator that one more domino is getting ready to fall.
The item here which American observers might view optimistically however is the “insanity” which Wilders referred to. We can think of the Dutch as pleasant folks in a western nation who grow wonderful flowers if we wish, but underneath it all they are still essentially a socialist state. It’s a small and comparatively prosperous one to be sure, but they carry with them many of the typical hallmarks of socialism. One of those is the lack of any meaningful freedom of speech. Sure, you can say all sorts of things in public, provided it’s not too “controversial” or something the government doesn’t like. They technically have freedom of speech in their constitution, but as we’ve seen here with Wilders, all they have to do is slap the phrase “hate speech” on the charges and that freedom evaporates pretty quickly.
So with the rise of the Freedom Party, are people finally getting tired of this? We’ll find out in a few months, but it would be nice to see actual freedom on the rise and more of a rejection of socialism at large.
http://hotair.com/archives/2016/12/09/geert-wilders-is-convicted-of-saying-unpopular-things/
The conviction is great for Wilders and his 'far right' Freedom Party.
DeleteHe may be the next PM.
Certainly hope so.
Geert's one of the few sane people left in The Netherlands.
DeleteActually Geert was convicted of saying popular things that the current rulers have ruled one ought not say.
DeleteElectoral disaster awaits the rulers.
DeleteStop having elections.
DeleteHillary is lamenting about fake news and suggesting it helped her lose the election. Is fake news and lying the same thing? Someone please tell her to go away.
ReplyDeleteThe DNC giving the questions for the debates to the networks is real news.
DeleteLikewise for CNN giving the questions to Hillary.
Millions and millions of people have told her to go away.
ReplyDeleteShe never listens.
MCAULIFFE SAYS PET CHICKEN NAMED HILLARY DIED RIGHT BEFORE ELECTION....DRUDGE
DeleteAt least he had a chance to get a meal out of it.
.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of 'Fake News'...
Here is Boondock Bob denying that fake news is fake news and at the same time pulling a Hillary in blaming a cybersecurity breach for his loss,
Idaho BobFri Dec 09, 02:36:00 AM EST
Obviously, the integrity of your data has been degraded, perhaps by some sort of cyber attack.
This refers to a story I put up yesterday in which the Israeli IDF admitted they put up a fake news story and map. Now Bubblegum Bob refuses to admit the fake news story is fake, this even though the authors of the fake news story, the IDF, have admitted it is a fake news story.
How can we describe Bob's aberrant behavior? Abnormal commitment to Israel to the point of denying reality or merely pure buffoonery? It's a toughy.
.
Ahem, Slicker, my post refers to the integrity of your data, which obviously has been degraded, then I continue to speculate as to the cause, 'perhaps by some sort of cyber attack'.
DeleteAn alternative explanation might be another episode of 'intermittent windshield wiper information flow' in your brain.
I will be discussing this possibility with someone who knows this subject very soon, and will report back if something can be done to help you.
.
DeleteThe nonsense flow continues gushing from the boondocks of the northwest.
You comment is ridiculous. You offer no specifics merely a jumble of words. What is it you are saying, that the Times of Israel created a 'fake news' story? That there story was hacked and altered? Are you really that stupid? Do you know what editors, proofreaders, and fact-checkers do at a newspaper? Or, are you saying that the IDF in admitting it made up a fake news story is actually creating a new fake news story? Appealingly inscrutable but what is the point? To make themselves look like fools to... Gee, I don't know who. Enlighten us. Or, better yet, if you have no actual point just leave us in peace.
No, I suspect you are simply throwing up a lot of words in a stream of gibberish to try to distract from the fact that you have no answer to the point I made in my post, a point you so desperately want to have.
Quit embarrassing yourself.
.
.
I will be getting back to you in a day or so with some high quality advice for your condition.
DeleteIn the meanwhile, load up on Prevagen at your local Wal-Mart so as to help you retain what information you do have...
You can buy direct-
http://www.prevagenoutlet.com/?gclid=CjwKEAiAyanCBRDkiO6M_rDroH0SJAAfZ4KLaQPe9hXIdqjBwpuzZtJVnXjdwMKWX62RkDZd3CskRhoCtwfw_wcB
or through Amazon too, if you are housebound.
(the Prevagen ES Chewables - Extra Strength Chewables - might be best for you)
Delete(featuring mixed berry flavor)
Delete.
DeleteAnother nonsense flow from Bubblegum Bob.
.
Intermittent Windshield Wiper Brain Information Flow Blockages are a tough problem.
DeleteI wish to get my facts firm from my source before continuing the conversation.
Just hang with me for a day or two.
Take Prevagan in the meantime.
Help is on the way.
Doctor Carson attests to the efficacy of Prevagan.
DeleteFor a fee.
.
DeleteRight, Bubblegum Bob has to visit his fake news source about his fake news stories.
Brilliant.
.
False Advertising Class Action suits in the news
ReplyDelete2. Many firms also follows the strategy of keeping high prices initially and later offering high discounts. By keeping high price initially customers have a high refernce price and when they see a high discount based on the high base price, they have a notion that it is a very great deal. This lead to increase in sales.
Example: A store launches new clothes range for fall and after a week or two offers 50% discount on them
http://www.mbaskool.com/business-concepts/marketing-and-strategy-terms/11370-reference-pricing.html
Many retail firms, including Sears, Macy's, JC Penney's, Cole's and Quirk's are being sued for false advertising over this season of Christmas and sharing.
A slight variation on the above is often used and is the subject of these suits.
An item is advertised as being dropped in price by, say, 50%, even when the original price was less or equal to the new advertised price.
Originally offered at say $50, the ad say the price has been dropped to $60 from the original price of $100.
They just change the signs and the tags.
This is, in the business, called "Quirking", after the originator of the practice.
Christmas shoppers have finally caught on and are super pissed, and the Class Action lawyers are on the case.
Pope Francis compares 'fake news' to fecal fetish....DRUDGE
DeleteImagine what the old boy might think of false advertising !
Idaho Elevator Report: America's Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, has removed his name from consideration for any post in the Trump Administration.
ReplyDeleteThis is disheartening news, and might point to the possibility of Romney becoming Secretary of State.
RomneyWatch™: Giuliani reportedly out of running for State job, Tillerson moving up the list; Update: Rudy withdraws
DeletePOSTED AT 4:01 PM ON DECEMBER 9, 2016 BY ALLAHPUNDIT
http://hotair.com/archives/2016/12/09/romneywatch-giuliani-reportedly-out-of-running-for-state-job-tillerson-moving-up-the-list/
Quirk's Obama Legacy link is by VDH, and should not be missed.
ReplyDeleteA lean, mean, long list of the disaster that his Presidency has been.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/12/08/assessing_the_obama_legacy_--_against_his_own_mileposts_132514.html
Conway: Clinton's Attack On "Fake News" Shows Lack Of "Self-Awareness," "Blaming Everybody But Themselves"
ReplyDeletehttp://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/12/09/conway_the_fake_news_hillary_clinton_should_worry_about_was_everyone_who_told_her_trump_could_never_win.html
Hillary Clinton Calls For Regulation Of "Malicious" Fake News; "Lives Are At Risk"
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/12/08/hillary_clinton_calls_for_regulation_of_epidemic_of_malicious_fake_news_lives_are_at_risk.html
Brian Williams: "Fake News Played A Role In This Election And Continues To Find A Wide Audience"
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/12/08/brian_williams_fake_news_played_a_role_in_this_election_and_continues_to_find_a_wide_audience.html
Obama: Attitudes About My Presidency Among Whites In North Very Different From South; "I Seem Foreign"
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/12/08/brian_williams_fake_news_played_a_role_in_this_election_and_continues_to_find_a_wide_audience.html
Gotta love Hillary and Brian Sermonizing about Fake News.
DeleteCorrected Obama link:
DeleteObama: Attitudes About My Presidency Among Whites In North Very Different From South; "I Seem Foreign"
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/12/08/obama_attitudes_of_my_presidency_among_whites_in_northern_states_very_different_from_southern_states_i_seem_foreign.html
Fake Combatant:
DeleteJason Stern, of the Committee to Protect Journalists, tweeted that Buttrill had put journalists in danger by shooting at ISIS fighters.
“Jason, journalists are detained and killed all over the world over false accusations of being combatants,” Stern tweeted on Friday. “This doesn't help.”
http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/reporter-shoots-at-isis
Hillary Clinton Calls For Regulation Of "Malicious" Fake News; "Lives Are At Risk"
DeleteMy God that woman's got brass tits.
Benghazi ? - why caused by a video out in California, of course....
LOCK HER UP !!!!
Question of the Day:
ReplyDeleteWhich is worse, Fake News, or False Advertising
And defend your position.
Quirk, you are invited to go first.
DeleteIn the alternative:
DeleteCompare and contrast Fake News and False Advertising
Quirk, you are invited to go first.
.
DeleteBoth of your questions are silly as one would expect. Speaking of both in general, they are both deceitful and potentially harmful but the only way you can compare them is in the specific and then only in a relative sense, that is, only in how much harm each respective instance produces. They can either be simple shit bordering on satire or they can be seriously dangerous. An example of the latter in the case of advertising would be the many years of false advertising by the tobacco companies. As far as fake news, we have many examples that have either the potential or have actually led to wars, such as, WMD's in Iraq, 'humanitarian crisis' in Libya, and the recent story put out by the IDF on Hezbollah.
The latest example of Fake News, "Pizzagate', could have proven disastrous. Luckily it didn't.
Fake News Story Leads Gunman to Open Fire in Pizzeria, Police Say
This involved the story about the Clinton's running a child sex ring out of a pizzeria. The only interesting things about the story were the assholes who started it and the idiots who spread it. The latter included some of Trump's people like Michael Flynn, the son of general Flynn. And while Gen. Flynn didn't specifically refer to 'pizzagate' himself, he did write an article saying that Clinton e-mails proved she was involved in "Money Laundering, Sex Crimes w Children, etc”.
Gen. Flynn has been called demented by some for all the conspiracy theories he posts on social media. It brings into questions Trump's judgement in appointing him National Security Advisor.
Of course, Pizzagate also went viral because of the millions of lesser morons on social media that spread it. In fact, the story was posted here. No point in naming names as to who posted it. That should be obvious.
.
ISRAEL
ReplyDeleteLessons of the Next Missile War
JONATHAN S. TOBIN / DEC. 9, 2016
AP Photo/Dan Balilty, File
Israelis have slipped back into a degree of complacence about the missile threat from Gaza since the war in 2015. The same could be said about their level of concern about a repeat of the 2006 conflict with Lebanon in which the terrorist group rained down missiles on northern Israel. Due to the success of the Iron Dome anti-missile system developed with the United States and the devastating counter-attacks against both Hezbollah and Hamas by the Israel Defense Forces, the terrorist groups are believed to understand they have more to lose than to gain from another war. But assumptions are no guarantee, and the Israeli government and military may not be taking into account the increase in the arsenals possessed by their enemies or whether sufficient resources have been allocated to ensure adequate civil defense in the event of another war with either or both.
That was the conclusion of a recently published report by Israel’s State Controller about Operation Protective Edge — Israel’s counterattack against Hamas terrorists in 2014. It pointed out shortcomings in the government and army’s response to the war as well as the possible impact on future conflicts. Up to two million Israelis don’t have access to adequate shelters in the event of missile or rocket attacks. The country’s early warning system also was found to be faulty and may not be able to detect all possible forms of attack or give citizens adequate time to seek shelter.
After extensive re-armament campaigns financed in part by Iran, both Hamas and Hezbollah may now be in possession of so many rockets that Israel’s highly successful missile defense systems might be overwhelmed. Throw in the possibility that as a result of the Syrian civil war, Hezbollah may now be in possession of at least some of the Assad regime’s chemical weapons arsenal, and the report paints a potentially fearful picture.
The report has caused considerable embarrassment for the government of Prime Minister Netanyahu and the IDF. That’s especially true since the report notes that the Cabinet has not spent much time discussing civil defense issues since the last war. But there is another conclusion to be drawn from the report. The strongest arguments mounted generally by critics of Netanyahu’s stance on the Palestinians have come from some of Israel’s former military and intelligence officers. They argue that Israelis are foolish to worry about the military threat posed by efforts to trade land for peace. These security experts assert that there is no border that can be drawn—even the 1949 armistice lines that the late Abba Eban described as “Auschwitz borders”— that can’t be defended by the IDF. In particular they point to the relative peace with Hezbollah in the North and with Hamas in the south as proof that deterrence works. Fears about replicating the dangerous aftermath of 2005 withdrawal from Gaza in the far larger and more strategic West Bank are exaggerated, they say, because Israel’s army is so strong and its missile defense so foolproof that even a hostile Palestinian state in the West Bank rather than a demilitarized one, would pose no existential threat.
DeleteBut as the State Controller’s report shows, Israel’s security rests on assumptions that may be proven false if, encouraged by an Iranian regime that has been enriched and emboldened by President Obama’s attempt to appease them, Hezbollah and Hamas coordinate their next attacks and launch missiles in the kinds of numbers that might cause far more damage than the ineffectual campaign of 2014. If the West Bank were also held by a hostile Palestinian regime that refuses to accept Israel’s legitimacy that had access to such weapons, that peril would be compounded.
This wouldn’t be the first time the assumptions of Israeli military leaders were mistaken—the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the 2006 Lebanon War being just two such examples. The lessons of the last and the next missile war don’t just apply to those tasked with defending the Jewish state against Hamas and Hezbollah. They also apply to those who would further burden its defense by the creation of yet another potential terrorist missile launching pad in the West Bank.
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/foreign-policy/middle-east/israel/the-lessons-of-the-next-missile-war/
I’m a former CIA officer and a Democrat. Here’s what Obama still doesn’t get about terrorism
ReplyDelete...Obama also reiterated that there is no “war between the United States and Islam.” Islamic State and Al Qaeda, he said, do not speak for Muslims everywhere.
To me and many of my former colleagues at the Central
Intelligence Agency, such pronouncements reflect Obama’s greatest blind spot in his fight against terrorism:
He has been unwilling to acknowledge that Islamic ideology plays a role in what motivates terrorists to strike.
Meanwhile, men like Imam Bujar Hysa, a jailed cleric in Albania, frame the war on terrorism quite succinctly:
“Islam can coexist with other religions, but with democracy? No!”
Hysa isn’t an anomaly. He is a Salafist Muslim — a sect also called Wahhabi — who follows an ultraconservative set of beliefs propagated by Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab nations. Wahhabis do not believe in a separation of church (mosque) and state.
For them, government should be made up of religious clerics — and only clerics — that use the Koran to justify their decisions...
Many interesting examples follow, including Albania.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-wright-obama-islam-20161209-story.html
HOLIDAY SPECIAL !
ReplyDeleteFalse Reference Pricing Seminar
'Get The Most Out Of Your Christmas and Sharing Season Ads'
Seminar Price: $799.99
Original Price: $1,600.00
Sign Up Now For Our Holiday Special Seminar Pricing
Go to:
qads.com
or
Quirk's Quirking Seminars
P.O. Box 001
Detroit, Michigan
00000000001
(cash only)
(must sign legal action waiver)