tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post1753483615034327978..comments2024-03-28T21:41:52.558-04:00Comments on The Elephant Bar: The Perils of Split Loyalties - Finally, A Focus On The Neocon Agenda To Get The US Into Wars To Eliminate Middle Eastern Threats To IsraelDeuce ☂http://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comBlogger169125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-35282217446013290232015-05-22T20:14:08.810-04:002015-05-22T20:14:08.810-04:00The notion of Judaism as a “race”, rather than a r...<i>The notion of Judaism as a “race”, rather than a religion of various races, is without foundation.<br /><br />The results of a recently published study by Israeli-American geneticist Dr Eran Elhaik at John Hopkins University have scientifically and genetically validated Sand’s research<br /><br />The idea of a “nation race” was progressively developed and reinforced over centuries among segregated Jewish communities in Europe.<br /><br />With the rise of German nationalism in the 19th century, Jewish historian Heinrich Graetz “retrospectively” crafted a discrete identity for the ghettoized people – mapping their origin to an old kingdom and wandering exiles.<br />The exiles tales transpired from a Christian myth of “divine punishment” imposed on Jews for rejecting the new religion.<br /><br />The parable is likely to have originated from the Old Testament story of Jews wandering the desert for disobeying God and worshipping a golden calf.<br /><br />Christians propagated the concept of exile to lure “disobeying” Jews to the new religion, becoming their saviour from another eternal banishment.<br /><br />Modern political Zionism, which otherwise rejects the Christian Bible, adopted the untested story of “Jewish exile” to establish a mythical linkage between European Jews and the Middle East.<br /><br />But Jewish history tells us that the Romans did not expel the original Jews from Palestine when they crushed the Simon bar Kokhba revolt in 136 AD but instead barred them only from city of Jerusalem – and even then they were allowed to visit it during Tisha B’Av, the annual fasting day on the ninth day of the month of Av in the Hebrew calendar.<br /><br />Under Christianity and during the Roman Empire a large number of native Jews converted to Christianity and, with the advent of Islam, most adopted the new religion and assimilated under the new power.<br /><br />In addition to the descendants of the Canaanites, the original denizens before patriarch Abraham’s arrival from Mesopotamia, Sand concludes that today’s <b>Muslim and Christian Palestinians are actually the true progenies of the original Jews.</b><br /></i><br />Jamal Kanj<br /><br /><br />Jack Hawkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00342056653466462640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-42475635877256795252015-05-22T20:11:18.600-04:002015-05-22T20:11:18.600-04:00Yep, the US did not provide the assistance I thoug...Yep, the US did not provide the assistance I thought it would, to the Iraqi.<br /><br />Missed that call, on to the next.<br /><br />The only one that ever called any contributor here a 'military expert', was Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson.<br />He also called d. rat a gentleman.<br /><br />{;-)<br /><br /><b><i>bobal Mon Sep 01, 05:20:00 PM EDT</i></b><br />Rat's a gentleman.<br /><br />With his own way of thinking about things.<br /><br />Habu has his own way of thinking about things too, but is so corrosive, that after a while you don't want to read him anymore.<br /><b><br />While with Rat, you are always eager to hear what he has to say.</b><br />http://2164th.blogspot.com/2008/09/progressives-reveal-their-motivation.html<br /><br />Jack Hawkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00342056653466462640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-3128610174378590412015-05-22T20:10:48.062-04:002015-05-22T20:10:48.062-04:00I hope my Niece moves to occupied USA someday, per...I hope my Niece moves to occupied USA someday, permanently. She is thinking of doing so. She would make great USA citizen, doesn't blow stuff up, energetic, like Jews, like blacks........she'd fit right in.........already knows the language, better than many right here........highly educated......does not eat gator tails, nor cats.....nor beef......no drink, smoke, drugs......good humor....Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-7524908140946065992015-05-22T20:07:54.586-04:002015-05-22T20:07:54.586-04:00Neither qualify, the Turks would never agree to th...Neither qualify, the Turks would never agree to the ISreali joining.<br />As to the Indians, they are joining with China and Russia in an economic alliance.<br /><br />Neither India nor ISrael are signatory to the NPT, rogue nations need not apply, Robert "Draft Dodger" PetersonJack Hawkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00342056653466462640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-58701498582800796142015-05-22T20:06:35.870-04:002015-05-22T20:06:35.870-04:00.
My point is simple though idealistic, stay out ....<br /><br />My point is simple though idealistic, stay out of the ME.<br /><br />Providing humanitarian aid? No problem. Providing military aid? Don't like it. However, let's be realistic. There is money in it and it's going to happen. Likewise, it can be used as a counter-balancing tool. <br /><br />Beyond that, stay out. The US has no large national interest in the region.<br /><br />I am much more worried about China's encroachment into the Americas, their adventurism in the Pacific and the East China Sea and Russian adventurism around or possibly in NATO countries in Europe.<br /><br />.Quirkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00272168240606512672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-11857723289741146642015-05-22T20:02:03.302-04:002015-05-22T20:02:03.302-04:00Ash moved from the occupied USof A to occupied Can...Ash moved from the occupied USof A to occupied Canada.Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-79204773934275618802015-05-22T19:58:49.190-04:002015-05-22T19:58:49.190-04:00This genetic information was developed at John Hop...This genetic information was developed at John Hopkins, the Albert Einstein Medical Center and written about quite extensively by Sholmo Sand, a professor of history at the University of Tel Aviv.Jack Hawkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00342056653466462640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-60076942876043700772015-05-22T19:56:06.695-04:002015-05-22T19:56:06.695-04:00It's a great big occupied puppy, that's fo...It's a great big occupied puppy, that's for sure.<br /><br />Mega mega mega times the size of occupied Israel.Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-52632953986528922342015-05-22T19:52:59.848-04:002015-05-22T19:52:59.848-04:00Wrong, again, "O"rdure.
There was never...Wrong, again, "O"rdure.<br /><br />There was never a time when Jack described Jews as frauds.<br />Just that there majority of Jews were not the genetic seed of Abraham.Jack Hawkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00342056653466462640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-44784091511679289642015-05-22T19:43:17.490-04:002015-05-22T19:43:17.490-04:00Now ash, you now live in occupied Canada right?
W...Now ash, you now live in occupied Canada right?<br /><br />What is the square miles of the occupied Canadian nation?What is "Occupation"https://www.blogger.com/profile/02054075097495500689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-4121906037920393112015-05-22T19:42:09.572-04:002015-05-22T19:42:09.572-04:00AshFri May 22, 03:24:00 PM EDT
Don't forget th...AshFri May 22, 03:24:00 PM EDT<br />Don't forget the Jewish people, and the Christians, both also in the fight.<br /><br /><br />No ash, we aint "IN" the fight, were are targeted by both the sunni and shia for murder.<br /><br />Christians and Jews just want to live, eat, drink and be merry...<br /><br />Deuce loves to point out how the Jewish state is "expanding" it's size and causing so much turmoil....<br /><br />but if you look at a map, a real one and were honest? You'd see that the Nation State of the Jewish people is but a speck compared to the vast lands of the arabs, let alone the moslems...<br /><br />Heck, Israel's return of the sinai, southern lebanon and gaza amounts to almost 99% of all disputed lands... <br /><br />so show me, on a map of the middle east thefts lands of Israel and now compare to the lands that ISIS/ISIL now occupies..<br /><br />What is "Occupation"https://www.blogger.com/profile/02054075097495500689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-41160907668495805962015-05-22T19:35:33.508-04:002015-05-22T19:35:33.508-04:00Now Rufus, hates Israel and the stupidity of Jewis...Now Rufus, hates Israel and the stupidity of Jewish thought, culture, wisdom, lore and faith but claims he has no problem with Jews, just those that are colonial occupiers and he would, if he lived in Gaza, be a hamas member...<br /><br />Now the interesting thing of course is that Hamas hates JEWS and calls for the genocide of the Jews world wide... Their hatred is not limited to Israel out side of 1948 borders but the very fact that Jews have created/liberated themselves from Islamic.arab oppression...What is "Occupation"https://www.blogger.com/profile/02054075097495500689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-63799603518348352012015-05-22T19:32:34.351-04:002015-05-22T19:32:34.351-04:00A few weeks ago, Jack was claiming that the Jews w...A few weeks ago, Jack was claiming that the Jews were frauds, that the Palestinians were the real jews..<br /><br />Now he claims the Jews of Europe (and hence from Bavel) are Satanists...<br /><br />But also Jack claims he's not a jew hater, or a Judaism hater, just an Israel/zionist hater...<br /><br />Same with Deuce... He hates Israel, but not Jews and yet? He calls them "god's bulldozer chosin"What is "Occupation"https://www.blogger.com/profile/02054075097495500689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-75054431167096266562015-05-22T19:32:21.045-04:002015-05-22T19:32:21.045-04:0055.5 hours left until the start of Memorial Day, I...55.5 hours left until the start of Memorial Day, Iraq ISIS Free Memorial Day 2015 as predicted by our 'military expert', d. rat's ass.Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-89589452216126740262015-05-22T19:30:01.789-04:002015-05-22T19:30:01.789-04:00well according to Rat/Jack, master of all things u...well according to Rat/Jack, master of all things under the sun....<br /><br />Libya is NOT part of the middle east...<br /><br />What is "Occupation"https://www.blogger.com/profile/02054075097495500689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-1975053497661121242015-05-22T19:29:08.386-04:002015-05-22T19:29:08.386-04:00Nor was Obama administration grandstanding concern...Nor was Obama administration grandstanding concerning the killing of “key” ISIS figures wanting. Most recently, on May 16, U.S. special forces managed to kill Abu Sayyaf. Although only a mid-ranking leader, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said his killing “represents another significant blow to Isis.” (Read here for an idea of how many times U.S. officials have made the “significant blow” assertion whenever this or that jihadi dies, only for the jihad to spread and conquer more lands.)<br /><br />Even the New York Times observed that “Abu Sayyaf is a midlevel leader in the organization — one terrorism analyst compared him to Al Capone’s accountant — and likely is replaceable in fairly short order.”<br /><br /> Then, just as they “suddenly” appeared in Iraq, we will “suddenly” again hear -- probably first from IS itself -- that the Islamic State has made some major comeback, winning over some new piece of territory, as the caliphate continues to grow and get stronger.<br /><br />Finally, after the Obama administration had claimed that it had killed half of IS leadership, that it had pushed IS out of 25%-30% previously held territory, that its killing of an IS midlevel leader was a “significant blow”—right on cue, the Islamic State just announced its takeover of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar, one of Iraq’s most strategic provinces. According to a May 17 Reuters report:<br /><br /> Islamic State militants said they had taken full control of the western Iraqi city of Ramadi on Sunday in the biggest defeat for the Baghdad government since last summer.<br /><br /> […]<br /><br /> It was the biggest victory for Islamic State in Iraq since security forces and Shi'ite paramilitary groups began pushing the militants back last year, aided by air strikes from a U.S.-led coalition.<br /><br /> The U.S. Defense Department, while not confirming the fall of Ramadi, sought to play down the impact on the broader Iraq military campaign of an Islamic State seizure of the city.<br /><br />To fully appreciate the significance of this latest conquest by the Islamic State, consider the words of Anbar governor Ahmed al-Dulaimi, spoken back in November 2014: “If we lose Anbar, that means we will lose Iraq.”<br /><br />Of course, none of these developments are surprising for those among us who were able to take a step back -- to transcend the distracting noise and nonsense daily grinded out by mainstream media -- and look at the big picture. For those able to read the plain writing on the wall, the end game of Obama and IS was always easy to discern. <br /><br />Put differently, Americans need to start viewing the Obama administration with the eyes of a hedgehog, not a fox.<br /><br />http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/05/obama_isis_and_the_writing_on_the_wall.html<br />Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-22954064157969062392015-05-22T19:28:30.313-04:002015-05-22T19:28:30.313-04:00May 22, 2015
Obama, ISIS, and the Writing on the W...May 22, 2015<br />Obama, ISIS, and the Writing on the Wall<br />By Raymond Ibrahim<br /><br />For months, many Western observers have been closely following the minute-by-minute developments concerning the battle between Islamic State and coalition forces in the hopes that such data will help them discern what the future may hold.<br /><br />Yet knowledge of the end game has been available for anyone cognizant of what the Obama administration is all about.<br /><br />In an article published over seven months ago, I anticipated the main developments to have taken place since U.S. President Obama declared war (i.e., “air strikes”) on the Islamic State in September, 2014. Titled “Does Obama Need ‘Time to Defeat or Forget ISIS?” I made the following predictions, all of which have come true, and in the same sequence:<br /><br /> Obama’s “it will take time” [to defeat IS] assertion prompts the following prediction: U.S. airstrikes on IS targets will continue to be just enough to pacify those calling for action against the caliphate (“we’re doing what we can”). The official [U.S. government’s] narrative will be that the Islamic State is gradually being weakened, that victory is a matter of time (remember, “It will take time”)….<br /><br /> [W]e will hear about the occasional victory against IS -- this or that leader killed or captured…<br /><br /> Then, just as they “suddenly” appeared in Iraq, we will “suddenly” again hear -- probably first from IS itself -- that the Islamic State has made some major comeback, winning over some new piece of territory, as the caliphate continues to grow and get stronger.<br /><br />Now consider how the Obama administration’s actions have fulfilled these predictions, and often in the same sequence.<br /><br /> The official [U.S. government’s] narrative will be that the Islamic State is gradually being weakened, that victory is a matter of time…<br /><br />Last February, key Obama administration figures -- including Secretary of State John Kerry and retired General John Allen, the president’s special coordinator for the coalition against the Islamic State -- triumphantly asserted that, thanks to U.S. air strikes, “half the group’s [IS] leaders in Iraq had been killed.”<br /><br />Not long thereafter, an investigative report demonstrated that such claims were utterly false and hardly representative of reality. <br /><br /> [W]e will hear about the occasional victory against IS…<br /><br />In April, the Pentagon announced that, thanks to U.S. air strikes and the Iraqi army, “ISIL [Islamic State] is no longer the dominant force in roughly 25 to 30% of the populated areas of Iraqi territory where it once had complete freedom of movement.” The Pentagon even released a map showing which territories the Islamic State had lost. <br /><br />Soon, however, it became evident that the Pentagon’s claim and map were misleading and incomplete. Among other irregularities, the map, while showing territories that IS once held and territories it had since lost, failed to indicate the new territories IS had gained since the coalition effort began -- making the 25%-30% claim totally misleading. <br /><br /> [W]e will hear about … this or that leader killed or captured…<br /><br />Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-28724493286704113722015-05-22T19:24:27.418-04:002015-05-22T19:24:27.418-04:00Israel is fighting for it's survival.
Would y...Israel is fighting for it's survival.<br /><br />Would you like Israel more if it simply offed it's self so that the arabs and islamists would like America better?<br /><br />It's the old story, no one likes the Jew that fights, they like the victim jew, the dead jew, the homeless jew....<br /><br />But wait! Israel and it's Jews will not simply allow it's self to retreat to suicide borders because Obama and others think that it will bring peace....<br /><br />Peace?<br /><br />That's a joke...What is "Occupation"https://www.blogger.com/profile/02054075097495500689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-8275030449264001482015-05-22T19:19:51.461-04:002015-05-22T19:19:51.461-04:00Anyway the answer they get them from the Turks.
G...Anyway the answer they get them from the Turks.<br /><br />Get the Turks out of NATO, they are no longer wanted or needed there.<br /><br />Let India and Israel into NATO.Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-88791310027492959962015-05-22T19:17:31.065-04:002015-05-22T19:17:31.065-04:00Up until about 18 months ago, Ahmed was smuggling ...Up until about 18 months ago, Ahmed was smuggling foreign recruits across the border, but stopped when he realized they were going to ISIS. “I thought they were going to Jabhat al-Nusra or the FSA,” he says. The fighters he guided across the border either a few miles east or west of the town, where there are easy paths through farmland and olive groves, were young, in their late teens or very early 20s.<br /><br />He says of the 20-plus recruits he assisted, none were Arabs: They were Georgian, Russian, and Azerbaijani as well as three Britons and two Americans. Through an Azerbaijani, he asked the British recruits why they were going to Syria. “They said for jihad.”<br /><br />In those days it was easier for foreign recruits. The foreigners would board a domestic flight from Istanbul’s international airport to Urfa or Gaziantep and then be driven to Harran, a small town 12 miles from Akcakale, where they would stay at the hotel for a few hours before being guided to Tel Abyad. Harran, once a center of Assyrian Christianity, was resettled by the Ottoman Turks during the 18th century with ethnic Arabs from what is now Syria and, as with Akcakale, Syrian Arab influence is obvious with many locals able to speak Turkish and Arabic.<br /><br />Under pressure from Washington and the Europeans, Turkish authorities have become more vigilant in Istanbul and are monitoring the Gaziantep and Urfa airports.<br /><br />Foreign recruits are being intercepted and their journey has become more disguised, says Ahmed. Recruits and would-be jihad brides are flying to more far-flung airports and then busing themselves to Urfa or taking a bus from Istanbul. And instead of congregating at the hotel in Harran, they are being distributed by their handlers more discretely, in safe houses in Akcakale. Once here, the chances are slim of Turkish interception. Hatay Boumeddiene, the partner of Amedy Coulibaly, the jihadi gunman who murdered Jewish shoppers at a kosher supermarket in Paris in January, slipped across to ISIS at Akcakale despite a Europol alert.<br /><br />“For us, Akcakale doesn’t exist,” says Ahmed. “Locals call this town Tel Abyad, too, just like over the border. We are the same town, the same family separated by a railway line and a little fence—we have relatives over the border.” Locals, though, have mixed feelings about ISIS. Some were happy when the jihadis eventually vanquished FSA militias in Tel Abyad, relieved that the booms and crash of battle were over. Others say they have no sympathy for the jihadis.<br /><br />Aside from efforts at more discretion, not much has changed since Ahmed was a people smuggler. He says five brothers and a few of their relations are the main smugglers for ISIS and will purchase items the jihadis need. Two Turks—both longtime Islamists and now members of ISIS—are the key organizers guiding foreign recruits and overseeing cross-border trade.<br /><br />“One is responsible for bringing the foreigners to Akcakale; the other stays in Syria and escorts the foreigners to Raqqa.” The men are well known to Turkish authorities, locals say. The Syrian-based smuggler travels back to Turkey once a week to go to the court at the city of Adana to attest to his presence in Turkey, and then returns to Tel Abyad. He had been arrested by the Turks for smuggling and is awaiting trial. Ahmed chuckles. “But they are still able to operate,” he says. <br /><br />http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/22/where-isis-gets-its-bombs.htmlCharltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-52258416568866179482015-05-22T19:16:53.087-04:002015-05-22T19:16:53.087-04:00 Two Turks—both longtime Islamists and now members... Two Turks—both longtime Islamists and now members of ISIS—are the key organizers guiding foreign recruits and overseeing cross-border trade.<br /><br />Welcome to the border crossing nearest to the de facto capital of the Islamic State.<br /><br />One could have expected this border gate separating NATO from the world’s first self-proclaimed jihadi state to be bristling with soldiers and guns. Turkey, after all, has the second-biggest military in the Western alliance. But the scene here wouldn’t be out of place in the old Peter Sellers comedy about a blustering mini-state, The Mouse That Roared.<br /><br />Local Turkish officials claim that only Turkish-supplied humanitarian aid is going through the border gate, which is closed officially every now and then when fighting flares between Western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebel militias and ISIS. But a flare-up hasn’t happened for some time, and humanitarian aid isn’t the only thing going through the border gate.<br /><br />“Depending on the thickness of the pipes, both diameter sizes could be used for mortars, but it is more likely that the three-inch ones would be used for making IEDs and pipe bombs,” says Darren White, a British defense consultant who served a quarter of a century in the British army. “And these improvised devices have been seen around in Syria and Iraq. The bigger pipes, yes, more likely to be used for launch-tubes. And the piping can be used as casing for homemade mortar bombs.”<br /><br />Field investigators for Conflict Armament Research, a private arms-tracking organization in Britain, noted in a report on where ISIS gets its weapons that during the months-long siege of the mainly Kurdish border town of Kobani improvised devices were present. “ISIS forces used improvised munitions of different types in significant quantities… suggesting a lack of factory-produced, military-grade weapons in its arsenal. Most of the improvised munitions were based on mortar rounds of various calibers and 105 mm rockets containing aluminum based homemade explosives.”<br /><br />“They are very tough with the Kurds and the areas controlled by the Free Syrian Army, but with areas across from ISIS not so much,” he explains over a cup of tea in the sitting room of his apartment a short walk from the border. On a flat-screen TV, Turkish cartoons are playing but the sound is muted—his children banished to another room. One small girl slams the door when shooed away to join her siblings ranging in age from 6 months to 7 years.<br /><br />Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-67715361875061633742015-05-22T19:12:12.743-04:002015-05-22T19:12:12.743-04:00Fence Jumping05.22.155:25 AM ET
Where ISIS Gets It...Fence Jumping05.22.155:25 AM ET<br />Where ISIS Gets Its Bombs<br />How does the so-called Islamic State get new recruits and supplies from abroad? With amazing ease. An eyewitness report.<br /><br />AKCAKALE, Turkey — Within sight of an unoccupied watchtower, and a couple of hundred meters from the border gate at Akcakale on the Syrian-Turkish border, two small girls are skipping on stacks of piping ready for shipment to the town of Tel Abyad, now controlled by the Islamic State, or ISIS, across what the Turks claim is a locked-down frontier.<br /><br />It is the weekend and so in this slow-paced, dusty border town, decorated with multi-colored banners and pennants of Turkish political parties campaigning for next month’s parliamentary polls, no one is hurrying to transport the suspicious cargo. And so here the pipes, several meters long and three inches in diameter, remain.<br /><br />Around the corner there are more pipes—larger ones, six inches in diameter. Smugglers say the piping can sustain high pressure and will be used by jihadists in Syria to manufacture pipe bombs, improvised explosive devices and launch-tubes for mortars.<br /><br />The 35-year-old smuggler warns me not to get out of the car. The few men lounging around are watching us intently.<br /><br />A few days ago, The New York Times published an article about how large amounts of ammonium nitrate are being transported on carts across the border, into the so-called caliphate. Ammonium nitrate is used not only as a fertilizer but also as an ingredient to build powerful explosives. The town is now on edge: Local officials, who claimed at first the ammonium nitrate was just flour, are not welcoming to Western journalists. And more alarmingly, ISIS agents in the town and their smuggler-allies are said to be on the lookout for reporters. A few months ago, two freelance news photographers reported there was an attempt to abduct them—and so I content myself with filming the pipes from the safety of a car.<br /><br />We have just passed seven boys sitting on a low concrete embankment overlooking unused railway tracks running alongside the border. They are waiting for three bored-looking border guards manning an old, battered armored personnel carrier to look the other way so that they can make a quick dash to the low wire fence and clamber over easily into ISIS’s self-styled caliphate. Two of them have bikes and the fence will pose no daunting obstacle to getting those across either.<br /><br />In the distance, a black flag is waving above a building in downtown Tel Abyad. A new white Toyota pickup accelerates on a road on the Syrian side shadowing the border fence—the Turkish guards pay it no heed.<br /><br />Today the border gate is closed, but come Monday, says the smuggler, the pipes will likely be whisked across—although not before ISIS agents, clean-shaven to avoid drawing too much attention to themselves, will inspect the goods.<br /><br /> Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-38008135201864355682015-05-22T16:53:05.262-04:002015-05-22T16:53:05.262-04:00Breaking from Fox:
STUDY FINDS MEN MORE VAIN THAN...Breaking from Fox:<br /><br />STUDY FINDS MEN MORE VAIN THAN WOMEN<br /><br />Well, well, well......<br /><br />Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-70733958044297854592015-05-22T16:43:54.341-04:002015-05-22T16:43:54.341-04:00.
What is the point of having 'allies' wh....<br /><br />What is the point of having 'allies' when net/net they are more a liability than a benefit?<br /><br />Even in Jordan which is the best of the lot, unless you look at it from a humanitarian standpoint, the return is negligible. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel, when the chips are down they put their own perceived parochial nationalistic and hegemonic interests above those of the US.<br /><br />.Quirkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00272168240606512672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-7122931034444394222015-05-22T16:43:16.047-04:002015-05-22T16:43:16.047-04:00Then there is, or, was, Judge Rufus aka Hang '...Then there is, or, was, Judge Rufus aka Hang 'em High From the Roof, who has had his blacks robes taken away for him and his gavel too, as he was found by the Judicial Panel to be an immediate danger to any and all defendants.<br /><br />The final straw was when be began bypassing the Jury stage altogether and began ruling 'guilty as charged on all counts' right from the Bench.Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.com