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."

Monday, May 18, 2015

Ramadi has been captured despite US-led air support and a counter-offensive by Iraqi forces to recapture the city



No airstrikes here as ISIS marches through this part of the city:




The Isis militant group is reported to have secured its biggest military victory in almost a year, capturing one of the last remaining districts of the major city of Ramadi.

Iraqi military forces retreated from the city on Sunday, despite a desperate plea broadcast on state TV from the Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, begging them not to abandon their positions.

There are fears that the fall of Ramadi, the capital of Iraq’s biggest province Anbar, will establish a new stronghold for the jihadist group, and quickly be followed by new mass executions and slaughters as the last remaining government forces are wiped out.

Earlier, al-Abadi had ordered Shia militia in surrounding provinces to prepare to go into Anbar in a last-ditch effort to save the province. That was despite concerns from those within the Sunni-dominated region that it could spark a sectarian bloodbath.

According to The Associated Press it was not immediately clear on Sunday evening whether any of the city remained in government hands.

US officials have sought to play down the importance of Ramadi since it was threatened by Isis in recent weeks. The chair of the joint chiefs of staff said in April that the city was “not symbolic in any way”.

89 comments:

  1. What a pack of fools that led this country into this disaster. Jesus H fucking Christ.

    US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham’s statement on Iraq shows that he is positioning himself to be Jeb Bush’s vice presidential nominee, a political scientist in Washington says.

    Dr. Wilmer Leon, a radio talk show host on Sirius Satellite Radio, made the made the remarks in a phone interview with Press TV on Sunday.

    Senator Graham said on Saturday that US President Barack Obama is responsible for the current situation in Iraq, not former President George W. Bush, Jeb’s brother.

    “I think Lindsey Graham’s comments that President Obama is responsible now for the problems in Iraq is the Republican attempt at revision of history,” Dr. Leon said.

    “And this falls right in line with Jeb Bush’s comments that even knowing today, if he knew then what he knows now, he would still support the invasion, again,” he added.

    “I think it is also Lindsey Graham’s attempt to position himself to be Jeb Bush’s vice presidential nominee, if Jeb Bush wins the Republican nomination,” he continued.

    In 2003, Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq under the pretext of finding weapons of mass destruction allegedly stockpiled by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. That later proved to be false.

    It was revealed that not only Saddam Hussein was not in possession of WMDs but also that US and British leaders knew about the non-existence of such weapons.

    The Iraq war came under spotlight again after potential Republican presidential contender Jeb Bush said that he would have invaded the country in 2003 if he was the US president.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lies on top of lies and the GOP Likuds Force has the temerity to blame this fiasco on Obama? Turkey, The US, Israel and the Shit Birds in Saudi Land supported this group. The Israelis offered ambulances and field hospitals to ISIS, provided them air support in Syria and killed an Iranian general directing the fight against ISIS.

    The Republicans want to go another few rounds. Insanity.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you for the video of ISIS patrolling the now mostly vacant streets of Ramadi, Deuce.

    Surely this is good enough for even Rufus.

    I saw 1(one) car, and 1 (one) stray cat.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How to explain the empty streets ?

      1) Everyone is indoors obeying the curfew orders.

      2) Many have fled

      3) A mix of 1 and 2

      #3 is the correct answer.

      Delete
    2. The stray cat is to be admired.

      Kitty doesn't care what anyone says, or does.

      Perfectly calm and collected, too.

      Delete

    3. “I think I could turn and live with the animals, they are so placid and self contained;
      I stand and look at them long and long.
      They do not sweat and whine about their condition;
      They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins;
      They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God;
      Not one is dissatisfied-not one is demented with the mania of owning things;
      Not one kneels to another, nor his kind that lived thousands of years ago;
      Not one is responsible or industrious over the whole earth.”

      ― Walt Whitman

      Delete
  4. Hmmmm.......Rufus seems to be obeying the Ramadi curfew himself, keeping a low profile.....

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hypocritical Charlie Hebdo suspends journalist who criticized Islam

    May 17, 2015 7:19 am By Robert Spencer


    These are defining days. Many, many people whom I had thought to be clear-sighted, strong and courageous have proven to be cowardly, pusillanimous and self-serving, eager to betray the supporters of free speech and free society in exchange for a few more years of their miserable slave existences. Even Charlie Hebdo, the international symbol of defiance against violent intimidation and censorship-by-murder, has folded and submitted to the jihad force.

    Well, it’s their loss. I don’t care if the whole world submits. I will die standing up. For whatever it’s worth, I will be among those who will not go quietly into the darkness. I know Pamela Geller will be with us as well. I know there are many others. But these are the days when even the most stalwart are faltering. These are the defining days.

    And particularly for those Christians out there who are sitting in their armchairs and tut-tutting at us for being so lacking in civility and respect that we would actually insult Muhammad and Islam, hear this: I didn’t co-sponsor the show to insult Islam and embarrass the Church by being uncharitable. I did the show in part for the sake of the Church and the Christians of the future — so that they wouldn’t live as slaves, so that they wouldn’t be cowed and intimidated into submission by thugs, so that they would be able to practice their faith freely without having to curb their observance of it in order to avoid offending Muslims who demand respect at gunpoint. But as it turns out, the Church, or large portions of it, is eager to submit, eager to kneel and bow to the oppressor. I do not believe that is charity. I do not believe that is a responsible thing to do, or a wise thing to do, or a good example to set for the future. I do not believe that helping ensure that our children and our children’s children will live as slaves is in the slightest accord with true Christian charity. Turning the other cheek does not mean submitting to evil and allowing it to triumph; it is, rather, an act of quiet defiance, of showing that evil will not conquer one’s soul no matter what pressure is applied. That’s exactly what we were trying to show in Garland.

    “Charlie Hebdo accused of hypocrisy as it suspends journalist after death threats over her articles attacking Islam,” by Jenny Awford, MailOnline, May 16, 2015 (thanks to Anne Crockett):

    Satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has been accused of hypocrisy after it suspended a journalist who has received death threats for her articles attacking Islamic extremism.

    Zineb El Rhazoui, 33, was called to a preliminary dismissal hearing to remind her of her ‘obligations’ towards the French weekly following ‘numerous incidents’.

    The French-Moroccan columnist accused her employers of trying to ‘punish her’ for speaking out about the direction of the magazine four months after the jihadist attack which left 12 dead.

    ‘I am shocked and appalled that a management that has received so much support after the January attacks could show so little support for one of its employees, who is under pressure like everyone in the team and has faced threats,’ she told Le Monde.

    ‘My husband lost his job and had to leave Morocco because the jihadists revealed his workplace. I am under threat and having to live with friends or in a hotel and the management is thinking of firing me. Bravo Charlie.’

    The move has prompted outrage on social media with thousands calling the decision ‘absurd’ and bewildering’.

    Mrs El Rhazoui and her husband, Moroccan writer Jaouad Benaïssi, received death threats on Twitter from people claiming to be from Islamic State in February.

    Photoshopped images of the couple dressed as ISIS prisoners about to be executed emerged on social media along with a map showing the places the journalist often visited….

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/05/hypocritical-charlie-hebdo-suspends-journalist-who-attacked-islam

    ReplyDelete
  6. Aha !

    In an encouraging sign, some of the more responsible on-line print media are bginning to pick up on my meme of Obama as "Our Napoleon on the Potomac" --


    >>>But partial control of the media is not enough for Obama the Magnificent. President Obama recently hinted at forcing Fox News to stop disagreeing with him (“we're going to have to change how the media reports on these issues”). Our fearless leader is so deeply fixated that he can’t imagine being wrong. (((((Obama has a Napoleonic mindset))))), with no real precedent in American history. But (((((Napoleonic delusions))))) are common enough in one-party dictatorships.

    The president must have been told a thousand times that Iranian nukes would trigger a nuclear arms race in the Middle East -- by our military, by the Saudis, the Israelis, the French, the Russians. He never listened, and just made more and more concessions to Iran’s nukes -- while lying about it to the world.

    Today the nuclear arms race is heating up in the most unstable region in the world, and no serious person believes Obama anymore.

    In response to the Saudis going nuclear, Obama invited the Gulf Arabs to Camp David. King Salman didn’t even bother to come, while the ruler of Bahrain found attending a horse show with the Queen of England more compellingly urgent. The break may well be irrevocable.

    Salman will likely build his nuclear defenses in alliance with Egypt’s President El Sisi. Saudi Arabia is crucial to Egypt’s finances, and Egypt provides essential military manpower to the Saudis. Both are Sunni powers, and both have fairly rational policies.

    The Saudi public is being weaned off decades’ worth of anti-Israel propaganda, with Saudi Arabian cable and satellite viewers quietly gaining access to an English Language Israeli cable television network. An Israeli-Arab alliance is therefore in the works, partly secret, but publicly acknowledged with nods and winks by both sides. Egypt and Israel have observed a formal peace treaty for forty years, and both are intent on keeping it.

    Their real enemy is Iran......<<<

    May 18, 2015
    Obama the Magnificent
    By James Lewis

    http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/05/obama_the_magnificent.html



    ReplyDelete
  7. * Iraq’s largest province, which is Sunni-dominated, was occupied by US forces in 2003

    * Hostile to the US, fighting quickly broke out between US troops and the region’s Sunni insurgents

    * The worst battle came in 2004, when thousands died as US troops and coalition forces struggled to take the town of Falluja

    * Fighting continued in 2005 and 2006 during which time al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) rose to prominence

    * The US declared victory in 2007 but AQI remained, resuming attacks in 2011 when US troops withdrew

    * Islamic State and other Sunni insurgents currently control much of the province

    ReplyDelete
  8. US air strikes in support of Iraqi forces on Sunday appear to have failed to hinder the IS advance.


    Reports said Iraqi forces fled following a series of suicide car bomb attacks on Sunday.

    Four almost simultaneous explosions hit police defending the Malaab district in southern Ramadi. Later, three more suicide bombers drove explosive-laden cars into the gate of the provincial military headquarters, the Anbar Operation Command, officials said.

    Anbar province covers a vast stretch of the country west from Baghdad to the Syrian border, and contains key roads that link Iraq to both Syria and Jordan. Ramadi's loss is seen as a severe setback for the government.

    IS reportedly controls more than half of Anbar's territory.

    The 500 killed in fighting between Friday and Sunday included policemen who had run out of ammunition and civilians caught in crossfire, the deputy head of Anbar council, Faleh al-Issawi, told the BBC.

    Some 8,000 people have been displaced over the same period, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

    ReplyDelete
  9. ... and Jeb Bush, brother of Genius George, would do it all again.

    ReplyDelete
  10. ’Purged’ city?

    The police and military made a chaotic retreat from Ramadi, which has been contested for months, after days of intense fighting.

    A statement purportedly from IS said its fighters had "purged the entire city". It said IS had taken the 8th Brigade army base, along with tanks and missile launchers left behind by troops.

    A very well-placed source in the Anbar governor's office told the BBC Ramadi was now under the full control of IS, and all government troops had withdrawn.

    An army officer told the BBC that most troops had retreated to a military base in the city of Khalidiya, east of Ramadi, despite an order from Prime Minister Abadi for them to stand firm.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ca Iran save our sorry ass? Iran-backed Shia militias have been ordered to recapture the Iraqi city of Ramadi seized by Islamic State (IS) militants on Sunday, reports say.

    About 500 people are estimated to have died in several days of fighting in the city, which lies only 70 miles (112km) west of the capital, Baghdad.

    A regional government official spoke of people fleeing Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, “in great numbers".

    But the US has said it is confident the capture of Ramadi can be reversed.

    (You have to be shitting Me)

    Speaking in South Korea, Secretary of State John Kerry said: “I am convinced that as the forces are redeployed and as the days flow in the weeks ahead that's going to change."

    The Shia militias, known as the Popular Mobilisation (Hashid Shaabi), were key to the recapture from IS of another city, Tikrit, north of Baghdad, in April.

    But their use has raised concern in the US and elsewhere that it could provoke sectarian tension in Sunni areas such as Ramadi.

    The militias pulled out of Tikrit following reports of widespread violence and looting.

    Shia militia commanders were quoted as saying they had orders and plans to deploy to Ramadi but did not say when.

    In another move, the Iranian Defence Minister, Hossein Dehghan, has arrived in Baghdad on a visit arranged before the latest developments in Ramadi.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Jeb Bush and the Closet Queen of Mean as his VP will fix it all up. Bad ass mutherfuckers that they are.

    ReplyDelete
  13. 8/26/02

    "There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends…and against us." —Cheney

    ReplyDelete
  14. “Our Friends being the Saudis and Israelis of course and the Israeli-firster Neocons.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Sep 2002

    Tyler Drumheller, CIA's European operations chief, calls German Embassy in Washington seeking access to Curveball. Germans warn he's "crazy" and "probably a fabricator." [Date the public knew: 11/20/05]

    ReplyDelete
  16. 9/5/02

    Upon hearing from Tenet that no National Intelligence Estimate had been produced to assess justification for war, Sen. Graham demands one.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Shia Iraq is now a satrap of Iran.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Sep 2002

    Bombing against Iraq intensifies.

    ReplyDelete
  19. 9/7/02

    Bush claims a new UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report states Iraq is six months from developing a nuclear weapon. There is no such report.

    ReplyDelete
  20. The Israeli- firsters cheer them on:

    9/8/02

    Page 1 Times story by Judith Miller and Michael Gordon cites anonymous administration officials saying Saddam has repeatedly tried to acquire aluminum tubes "specially designed" to enrich uranium. "The first sign of a 'smoking gun,' they argue, may be a mushroom cloud."

    ReplyDelete
  21. 5 times draft dodger Cheyney chimes in:

    9/8/02

    "We do know, with absolute certainty, that he is using his procurement system to acquire the equipment he needs in order to enrich uranium to build a nuclear weapon."—Cheney on Meet the Press

    ReplyDelete
  22. Israeli intel jumps in:

    9/13/02

    Cheney tells Rush Limbaugh: "What's happening, of course, is we're getting additional information that, in fact, Hussein is reconstituting his biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons programs." There is no such new intel.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Don’t believe your lyin eyes:

    Mid-Sep 2002

    American relatives of Iraqis sent as CIA moles return from Iraq. All 30 report Saddam has abandoned WMD programs. Intel buried in the CIA bureaucracy. President Bush never briefed. [Date the public knew: 1/3/06]

    ReplyDelete
  24. 9/23/02

    Institute for Science and International Security releases report calling the aluminum- tube intelligence ambiguous and warning that "U.S. nuclear experts who dissent from the Administration's position are expected to remain silent. 'The President has said what he has said, end of story,' one knowledgeable expert said."

    ReplyDelete
  25. The History Major and Mensa Stae chimes in:

    9/25/02

    "You can't distinguish between Al Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror."—Bush

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There – it's – you know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror. ....
      GW Bush

      September 6, 2006
      http://www.cbsnews.com/news/transcript-president-bush-part-2/

      Delete
  26. NOW PONDER THIS:

    Oct 2002

    National Intelligence Estimate produced. It warns that Iraq "is reconstituting its nuclear program" and "has now established large-scale, redundant and concealed BW agent production capabilities"—an assessment based largely on Curveball's statements. But NIE also notes that the State Department has assigned "low confidence" to the notion of "whether in desperation Saddam would share chemical or biological weapons with Al Qaeda." Cites State Department experts who concluded that "the tubes are not intended for use in Iraq's nuclear weapons program." Also says "claims of Iraqi pursuit of natural uranium in Africa" are "highly dubious."

    Only six senators bother to read all 92 pages. [Date the public knew: 7/18/03]

    ReplyDelete
  27. The US prefers al Qaeda

    Oct 2002

    Administration decides not to take out Abu Musab al-Zarqawi because, though he is not yet working with Al Qaeda, any terrorist in Iraq helps case for war. "People were more obsessed with developing the coalition to overthrow Saddam than to execute the president's policy of preemption against terrorists," a former NSC member later says. [Date the public knew: 3/2/04]

    ReplyDelete
  28. 12/31/02

    New war cost estimate generated: $50-$60 billion.

    ReplyDelete
  29. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/12/leadup-iraq-war-timeline

    ReplyDelete
  30. Will Rufus make good with his $1000.00 bet?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do believe that was a time sensitive offer, Ash.

      Delete
    2. I have assigned the legally due debt over to WiO, Noble Ash.

      I am glad you brought the subject up, as I have wanted to give WiO a little legal advice (I am capable of this due to my background) on how to proceed.

      WiO, you will need to file a Small Claims Action in Small Claims Court (as we call our lowest court here) against Rufus. I can provide you his real name and the county in Mississippi in which he lives. I must ask you to not publish this info on the internet. You can easily enough find his address from this info. You could even call Doyle's and ask them for the address.

      There will be some court costs, a filing fee, and then a charge to have the Sheriff serve Rufus the papers. Keep strict account of these.

      Make certain your summary of your case does not use the word 'bet'. This was not a bet. It was an offer ("I will pay anyone $1,000 dollars that can post a picture of ISIS patrolling in Ramadi....") and an acceptance and performance by me - I have posted the requested picture via a lengthy video - the court will accept a video as a 'picture' - it is better than a single picture.

      Use the word 'contract'. A contract is an offer and an acceptance. This is what has occurred here.

      Ask the court for Judgement for the sweet $1,000 dollars, plus attorney's fees (you can do this even if you are serving as your own attorney as you will probably be doing) the filing fees, etc, the fee for service, and any associated costs you might incur. Make sure to keep and present a strict accounting of all these expenses for the court, including your travel fees (you may have to go to Mississippi and appear in court, if Rufus does the stupid, and puts of a fight over this sure loser) motel fees, gas, food etc.

      After the inevitable loss by Rufus you must attach - unless he be Noble like Ash and pays up immediately - some of his property or garnish his wages, income, Government check, etc. You can ask the Sheriff for help in doing this. Again keep track of all the fees and add them in to your costs, and include them, if you can do so at this stage.

      Rufus has the right of appeal. If he is soooooooo stupid as to do this, you will have to continue to 'play the game'.

      If he should appeal tell us here, and I will continue to advise the best I can. You can act as your own lawyer in a higher court, pro se, it is called. You might just want to hire a lawyer at this point, and have the lawyer's fees added on to the judgement.

      In our Small Claims Court here you cannot have a lawyer present for you in court.

      Good Hunting !!

      Delete

  31. A day after Islamic State (IS) militants completed their capture of Ramadi, Shia militias are assembling east of the Iraqi city ready for a possible counter-attack.


    Shia forces at Habbaniya, about 20km (12 miles) from Ramadi, were "now on standby," the head of the Anbar provincial council, Sabah Karhout, was quoted by Reuters as saying.

    In a statement, the council said about 3,000 Shia fighters had arrived in Anbar to take part in "the liberation of all Ramadi areas in which IS militants took positions".


    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32777138

    ReplyDelete
  32. This is even more interesting ...
    The country that is 132% more legitimate than ISrael, based on the "O"rdure Recognition Scale, has drawn the ire of John Kerry.

    John Kerry Criticizes Kim Jong-un's Leadership in North Korea
    ABC News - ‎

    Secretary of State John Kerry repeatedly stressed Washington's tough stance on North Korea on Monday, warning that more sanctions were possible if Pyongyang continues to pursue nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

    ReplyDelete

  33. The building of the BRICS bank


    Last week, India named veteran banker K.V. Kamath to be the first President of the New Development Bank, popular as the BRICS bank. The focus of this bank will be to invest in infrastructure. Mr. Kamath, 67, is a veteran banker, who was credited with developing ICICI Bank into India’s second-largest lender. He headed the bank for 13 years until 2009 and is now its Non-Executive Chairman. He is also Non-Executive Chairman of India’s second-biggest software services exporter Infosys.

    ReplyDelete
  34. When will the American people hold Washington accountable for anything? Voting them out is not enough.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Criminal liability. If drunk driving is a crime, being intoxicated with power and ruling recklessly is far more consequential.

      Delete
    2. They put James Traficant in jail for resurfacing his driveway and built George Bush a palace.

      Delete
    3. .

      A worthy goal. Would love to see it.

      Unfortunately, IMO, the American people will have very little to say about. It is unlikely any new administration will prosecute any past administration for fear of a precedent being set that would allow that new administration to be prosecuted in the future.

      They are all dicks.

      .

      Delete
    4. You may not be interested in war but war is interested in you. When it comes to the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, Leon Trotsky’s line is apt. Much like the role Vietnam played in American politics long after US choppers had flown Saigon, the Iraq syndrome stalks foreign policy debate. The latest victim is Jeb Bush, who last week gave four different answers to whether he would have emulated his brother had he known then what he knows now.

      He arrived at the correct one — “no” — three responses too late. As a display of political constipation, it was awkward to watch. Nor is the question likely to go away. Unlike Vietnam, which did not pose a direct threat to the US, Iraq remains a live challenge.

      There are two important similarities with Vietnam. Iraq is a mistake that will affect US politics for a generation. George HW Bush proclaimed that America’s swift victory in the 1991 Gulf war had exorcised the Vietnam syndrome. Routing Iraq’s army in a 100-hour desert operation purged fears of US soldiers becoming bogged down in another nation’s jungle. In retrospect we know the first Gulf war gave birth to the second. The fact that Bush senior stopped short of toppling Saddam Hussein sowed the narrative for Bush junior to finish that job after 9/11. George W Bush’s invasion of Iraq ran into the quicksand of urban guerrilla warfare. The terrain may have differed but the lesson was similar to Vietnam’s. It is hard to win a war when your opponent cares more about the outcome than you.

      Second, Iraq has become a litmus test of a candidate’s world view. Vietnam also roiled both US parties. It converted the Democrats from the muscular internationalism of Harry Truman into a virtual citadel of peaceniks. For cycle after cycle Democratic candidates went through contortions to appear dovish to their rank and file without appearing soft on national security. The absurdly comical nadir arrived when Michael Dukakis, the liberal Democratic presidential candidate from Massachusetts, posed as a tank commander at a 1988 campaign photo op. But the legacy of Vietnam also affected hawkish Republicans. Even Ronald Reagan shied away from direct military engagements except in cases — notably Grenada in 1983 — where easy victory was assured.

      {...}

      Delete



    5. {...}
      In contrast to Vietnam, the political body count from Iraq is highest among Republicans. Jeb Bush is in the uniquely tough position of repudiating a war with which his brother will be eternally associated. His youthful rivals, such as Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, can answer “no” without blinking, though it is easy to imagine both endorsing it had they been senators. The blowback from Iraq has made Republicans more cautious in general. Other than Lindsey Graham, the hardline senator from South Carolina, no Republican is flirting with putting US boots on foreign ground. In the same way post-Vietnam Democrats were twisted into pretzels when answering “hypotheticals” about future wars, Republicans are bent out of shape by Iraq.
      {...}

      Delete
    6. {...}


      Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton, who did vote to authorise the Iraq invasion in 2002, has paid her dues. Her vote helped to deprive her of the Democratic presidential nomination to the benefit of Barack Obama. But in comparison to Jeb Bush, Mrs Clinton’s former evasions look like straight talk.

      What will it take to banish Iraq syndrome? This is where it becomes complicated. On many levels, Iraq today is a security concern for the US. Despite profiting from his opposition to the Iraq invasion, Mr Obama is now a victim. By withdrawing US forces from Iraq in 2011, Mr Obama inadvertently helped to consolidate Iranian influence and triggered the flight of an alienated Sunni minority to the nearest strongmen. Alas, that was the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) — al-Qaeda’s lethal offspring. Mr Obama’s mistake was to be uninterested in Iraq. But Iraq and its neighbours were interested in him.

      As a result of successive US intervention and retreat, the Middle East is more dangerously riven along sectarian lines than ever.

      Having promised to wind down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it looks probable Mr Obama will leave office with thousands of US military “advisers” in both countries. Iraq will likely take a keen interest in whoever replaces Mr Obama in 2017.

      Bush senior was wrong. It was the Soviet Union’s 1979 invasion of Afghanistan that cured America’s Vietnam syndrome. That enabled the US to return the compliment and mire Soviet forces in an unwinnable war. There is no USSR around to clarify US foreign policy today. America’s biggest rival, China, relies far more than the US on the Middle East for its energy supply nowadays. But its footprint in the region is light — and wisely so. Isis, and terrorism in general, pose far less of a threat to China than to the US. Only America can banish its Iraq syndrome.

      The instinct in both US parties is to avoid extravagant promises regarding the Middle East. There is little electoral appetite for foreign adventurism. Nobody is credibly arguing America can transform the Arab world into a garden of democracy. US voters may no longer be interested in the Middle East. But is Isis interested in them?

      If the answer is yes — and that seems probable — then Jeb Bush will have to brush up on his hypotheticals. So too will Hillary Clinton. The ghosts of Iraq are alive and well.

      Delete

  35. Did the Legionnaire post his piece about the societal 'norm' being quantifiable, or are we still waiting?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Did the Legionnaire post his piece about the societal ‘norm’ being quantifiable, or are we still waiting?

      Perhaps, you are rat. I doubt anyone else is.

      In going back and looking at yesterday’s posts, I can see where you might have been confused. My initial post talked of the similarity between the strategies of the atheists and the gay rights activists in promoting their agendas. You put up a reply post positing that both were related in some way to the growth of fundamentalist religion in this country. I rejected your position. When in a following post I indicated I ‘would return to this subject’, I was talking about the original subject , the comparison of the atheists and the gay rights strategies, not your position which I had already dismissed.

      .

      Delete
  36. Saudi Arabia has hailed its policy of squeezing oil rivals a success, as high-cost producers such as the US shale gas industry have struggled to compete with the kingdom.

    "There is no doubt about it, the price fall of the last several months has deterred investors away from expensive oil including US shale, deep offshore and heavy oils," a Saudi official told the Financial Times.

    The frank statement offers a "rare insight" into Saudi Arabia's approach to oil strategy, the FT says. The world's largest oil exporter has previously avoided answering questions about its decision to maintain high levels of oil production – a move that many analysts suggested was intended to drive the oil price down to force rivals out of the market.

    According to Opec's latest monthly oil report, Saudi Arabia increased its oil output from 10.29 million barrels per day in March to 10.31 million barrels per day in April.

    On Wednesday, data from the International Energy Agency showed that the number of rigs running in the US has dropped by 60 per cent as companies have either sought to cut costs in response to lower oil prices or have simply gone out of business.


    Read more:
    http://www.theweek.co.uk/oil-price/60838/oil-price-fluctuates-as-china-announces-new-stimulus

    ReplyDelete
  37. AshMon May 18, 07:52:00 AM EDT

    Will Rufus make good with his $1000.00 bet?

    ****

    Idaho BobMon May 18, 11:10:00 AM EDT

    I have assigned the legally due debt over to WiO, Noble Ash. I hope when he receives the money he donates some of it to the Likud Party in Israel, but he may have other even more creative ideas so it is entirely up to WiO.

    I am glad you brought the subject up, as I have wanted to give WiO a little legal advice (I am capable of this due to my background) on how to proceed.

    WiO, you will need to file a Small Claims Action in Small Claims Court (as we call our lowest court here) against Rufus. I can provide you his real name and the county in Mississippi in which he lives. I must ask you to not publish this info on the internet. You can easily enough find his address from this info. You could even call Doyle's and ask them for the address.

    There will be some court costs, a filing fee, and then a charge to have the Sheriff serve Rufus the papers. Keep strict account of these.

    Make certain your summary of your case does not use the word 'bet'. This was not a bet. It was an offer ("I will pay anyone $1,000 dollars that can post a picture of ISIS patrolling in Ramadi....") and an acceptance and performance by me - I have posted the requested picture via a lengthy video - the court will accept a video as a 'picture' - it is better than a single picture.

    Use the word 'contract'. A contract is an offer and an acceptance. This is what has occurred here.

    Ask the court for Judgement for the sweet $1,000 dollars, plus attorney's fees (you can do this even if you are serving as your own attorney as you will probably be doing) the filing fees, etc, the fee for service, and any associated costs you might incur. Make sure to keep and present a strict accounting of all these expenses for the court, including your travel fees (you may have to go to Mississippi and appear in court, if Rufus does the stupid, and puts of a fight over this sure loser) motel fees, gas, food etc.

    After the inevitable loss by Rufus you must attach - unless he be Noble like Ash and pays up immediately - some of his property or garnish his wages, income, Government check, etc. You can ask the Sheriff for help in doing this. Again keep track of all the fees and add them in to your costs, and include them, if you can do so at this stage.

    Rufus has the right of appeal. If he is soooooooo stupid as to do this, you will have to continue to 'play the game'.

    If he should appeal tell us here, and I will continue to advise the best I can. You can act as your own lawyer in a higher court, pro se, it is called. You might just want to hire a lawyer at this point, and have the lawyer's fees added on to the judgement.

    In our Small Claims Court here you cannot have a lawyer present for you in court.

    Good Hunting !!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      That appears as a rational description of the process. It offered some hope that all was not lost. However, when we see that prescription preceded by

      I hope when he receives the money he donates some of it to the Likud Party in Israel...

      we realize that our hopes are often fleeting.

      .

      Delete
    2. I would purchase condoms for Palestinians

      Delete
    3. .

      :o)

      Finally, something sensible.

      .

      Delete
  38. Deuce ☂Mon May 18, 10:56:00 AM EDT
    They put James Traficant in jail for resurfacing his driveway and built George Bush a palace.


    He was expelled after being convicted of taking bribes, filing false tax returns, racketeering and forcing his aides to perform chores at his farm in Ohio and houseboat in Washington,


    He was a Nazi....

    Traficant championed the unpopular cause of John Demjanjuk, a Ukrainian-born autoworker from Seven Hills, who had been convicted in Israel and sentenced to hang for having been the brutal concentration camp guard Ivan the Terrible[16] For almost a decade, Traficant (along with Pat Buchanan)[17] insisted that Demjanjuk had been denied a fair trial, and been the victim of mistaken identity; in 1993 the Supreme Court of Israel overturned the conviction, on the basis of doubt. Demjanjuk was later deported to Germany on May 11, 2009, after the Supreme Court of the United States refused to overturn his deportation order. Demjanjuk was tried and convicted by a German criminal court of being an accessory to murder.

    In 2002, Traficant was indicted on federal corruption charges for taking campaign funds for personal use. Again, he opted to represent himself, insisting that the trial was part of a vendetta against him dating back to his 1983 trial. After a two-month federal trial, on April 11, 2002, he was convicted of 10 felony counts including bribery, racketeering and tax evasion.[1] Per House rules, he lost his right to vote on legislation pending an investigation by the United States House Committee on Ethics.

    Eventually, the House Ethics Committee recommended that Traficant be expelled from Congress. On July 24 the House voted to expel him by a 420–1 vote

    James A. Traficant, Jr. had the Federal Bureau of Prisons ID # 31213-060.[23] Traficant served his first 17 months in federal prison at United States Penitentiary, Allenwood and shortly after, he was put in solitary confinement for causing a riot after telling a guard, "People can't hear you. Speak up."[24] In the seven years of incarceration, he refused any visitors because he didn't want anyone to see him. He was released on September 2, 2009, at age 68, and was subject to three years of probation.[25]

    While in prison, Traficant received support from David Duke, who urged visitors to his personal website to donate to his personal fund. Duke also posted a letter written by Traficant stating that he was targeted by the United States Department of Justice for, among other things, defending John Demjanjuk. Traficant also claimed, in the letter, that he knew facts about "Waco, Ruby Ridge, Pan Am Flight 103, Jimmy Hoffa and the John F. Kennedy assassination

    LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. to clarify, John Demjanjuk was the nazi

      Delete
    2. Traficant desperately needed a new hair piece, if I am thinking of the right guy.

      As does "The Donald" Trump.

      Delete
    3. Traficant was railroaded because he stood up to The Lobby.

      Delete
    4. Heh, but of course.

      His being a petty criminal and an ass and a fraud had nothing to do with anything.

      My wife knows a lot about this turd Traficant.

      She has a very low opinion of him.

      Delete
    5. Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson knows about crime and fraud, having 'ripped off' a bank through the identity theft of his aged auntie.

      Delete
    6. We have proved that your accusation has no basis…

      Try again Spiritual Nazi..

      Delete
    7. Deuce ☂Mon May 18, 11:23:00 AM EDT
      Traficant was railroaded because he stood up to The Lobby.

      No he was a criminal…

      pure and simple..

      Delete
  39. As to John Demjanjuk :

    In 1993 the Israeli Supreme Court sets Demjanjuk free.

    The Israeli Chief Justice, Meir Shamgar, said the decision was taken on the basis of reasonable doubt over the accusation that Mr Demjanjuk was Ivan the Terrible, a gas chamber operative at the death camp Treblinka, in Poland.



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Which goes to show you that Israel is a country of laws, not men, and the court system there works as it should.

      This is entirely different than the situation in Iran, where the courts do exactly as they are told to do by the political leadership.

      Israel is fighting for civilization.

      Delete
    2. It is why the great majority of civilized people in the USA support Israel.

      Delete
    3. In 86 Gallup polls, going back to 1967, Israel has had the support of an average of 47% of the American people ....
      ...
      Since 1998, roughly three-fourths of respondents have said the United States should take neither side in the conflict


      http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/American_attitudes_toward_Israel.html

      Delete
    4. As to John Demjanjuk,

      there was no doubt that he was a guard at a concentration camp, a nazi.

      The doubt was, was he Ivan the Terrible.

      Delete
    5. Gallup is wrong. The true figure is around 2/3rds, 67%, support for Israel.

      Go fuck off and quit following me around, Criminal.

      Delete
    6. Go tell it to the Jewish Virtual Library, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson.

      Delete
    7. Why did you not put that $7,500 on your own credit card?

      Why did you despoil your aunt's reputation, soil her honor?

      Delete
    8. AGAIN YOU REPEAT ALLEGATIONS WITHOUT PROOF.

      Your link is suspect as you are…..

      Your attempts to slander Idaho Bob are transparent and evil

      Was it not you that decried others calling you a self confessed criminal with no VALID links?

      tsk tsk..

      Delete
    9. Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson knows that it's true, that is all that matters, to me.

      The lies and false flags you post "O"rdure, are just that. lies.
      They do matter at all.

      Delete
    10. They do not matter at all.

      Got to brush up on the English proof reading, no doubt.

      Delete
  40. Sure looks like Rufus is continuing in his 'low profile' mode today.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Elite Iraqi units abandon Ramadi in biggest Islamic State win since Mosul

      By Mitchell Prothero

      McClatchy Foreign StaffMay 17, 2015


      IRBIL, Iraq — Iraqi security forces attempting to retake control of the western city of Ramadi were routed in heavy fighting Sunday, the worst defeat for Iraq’s central government since Islamic State militants stormed across the country last June.

      In a replay of last year’s military debacle, elite units abandoned their U.S.-provided equipment to Islamic State fighters and fled the area, leaving several hundred soldiers surrounded in the last government-held enclave in the city.

      Multiple security sources, none of whom agreed to be identified, speaking from both within the besieged Anbar Operations Center as well as with the units fleeing the city, described the fight for control of the capital of Iraq’s largest province as essentially over after reinforcements sent on Saturday to retake the city were crushed by Islamic State fighters.

      “Only God can save us,” said one officer speaking by phone from inside the Anbar operations center, where officers had been coordinating the operation. The officer said that several hundred policemen and soldiers were surrounded inside the command center, which was repeatedly struck by suicide bombers and heavy artillery fire as militants cut off their last routes of escape.

      Social media accounts credibly associated with the Islamic State announced hours later that the operations center had been overrun, a claim that could not be immediately confirmed. Efforts to reach sources inside the facility were unsuccessful.

      The units that had been attempting to retake Ramadi, which was attacked late Thursday evening and had fallen mostly into militant hands by Saturday, were in the process of fleeing the city and had abandoned dozens of U.S.-supplied armored vehicles, as well as artillery, heavy machine guns and other military gear as they fled mostly on foot from the fighting.

      The elite Golden Brigade, Iraq’s premier special forces unit, which had withdrawn to the “Stadium” neighborhood south of the city on Friday to await reinforcements and prepare a counterattack had also abandoned its positions and was retreating from the area under heavy attack by Islamic State forces, according to two officers within the unit reached by phone Sunday.

      “Ramadi has fallen to Daash,” one officer said. “There were many suicide bombers and many soldiers and officers are dead.”

      Ramadi Mayor Dalaf al Kubaisi confirmed the collapse of the city’s defenses in a statement in which he said at least 90 percent of the city was in the hands of the Islamic State. He said the small portions still in government control were likely to fall quickly unless help arrived in the form of government ground forces and U.S. air strikes.

      U.S. officials in Washington declined to confirm the turn of events, insisting, as they have for several days, even as it became clearer that the Islamic State was advancing aggressively in Ramadi, that nothing unexpected was taking place.

      “We're continuing to monitor reports of fighting in Ramadi and the situation remains fluid and contested. It is too early to make definitive statements about the situation on the ground,” Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steven Warren said in an email. “The loss of Ramadi would not mean the tide of the campaign has turned . . . If lost, that just means the coalition will have to support Iraqi forces to take it back later.”

      Warren said he also could not confirm that Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, the head of the U.S. Central Command, which has responsibility for the Middle East, was in Iraq, despite the appearance on Twitter of a photo of Austin meeting with President Marsoud Barzani of Iraq’ autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government.

      Delete
    2. On Friday, the White House announced that it was rushing shoulder-fired rockets to Iraq that were especially useful for destroying car bombs before they could reach their targets, and there was no doubt in Iraq of the seriousness of the developments.

      One police officer confirmed that at least 30 U.S. supplied armored Humvees, which had been sent as reinforcements on Saturday, had been abandoned in the neighborhood of Malaab alone. Those vehicles were part of three regiments of Iraqi soldiers sent to the city on Saturday to confront the surprise offensive on one of the last government held population centers in Anbar, Iraq’s largest province.

      The officer said that at least 500 soldiers and police were fleeing from that area, mostly on foot, with the main highway linking Ramadi to the capital of Baghdad, about 60 miles away, completely controlled by the Islamic State.

      Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al Abadi, responding to the unfolding crisis, went on state television Sunday evening to announce that he’d authorized the deployment of Iranian-backed Shiite militias to the area, though it remained unclear if any part of Ramadi will remain under government control by the time those troops can be deployed.

      State television said that Anbar’s government council had voted Sunday to ask for the deployment, a move both the local Sunni tribes and the central government had resisted because of sectarian tensions between the mostly Shiite central government and the predominately Sunni residents of the area.

      The Iraqi federal police claimed it would quickly mount a new operation. In a statement, Brig. Gen. Raid Shakir Joudat said he would head to Ramadi “commanding a huge force . . . to cleanse Anbar province from terrorist gangs.”

      But with government forces in a full rout, that pledge seemed likely to prove empty, and all sides appeared to agree that the deployment of the militias was a necessary last resort. “We no longer have a choice,” said one civilian fleeing Ramadi.

      How effective Shiite militiamen deployed far from their home areas in an overtly hostile environment would be remained an open question. The militia played the leading role in the government’s effort to recapture Tikrit two months ago. But the militias took heavy casualties in the predominantly Sunni area and were unable to take the city despite overwhelming numbers. Tikrit fell only after the militias withdrew, and the United States launched air strikes against the Islamic State positions to back regular Iraqi army ground forces.

      Delete
    3. Those forces, however, were the very ones that fled Ramadi on Sunday.

      The capture of Ramadi, a city whose population is given as between 500,000 and 900,000, is by far the largest Islamic State victory since the militants’ June 10 capture of Mosul, which with 2 million people is Iraq’s second biggest city. It comes after nine months of U.S. bombing in Iraq and offers a counter to American military officials’ arguments as recently as last week that those strikes have put the militants on the defensive.

      Ramadi was the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting during the U.S. occupation of Iraq – more than 1,300 American soldiers and Marines dies in Anbar. But unlike Fallujah, which was the subject of two bloody American offensives, Ramadi never fell completely into the hands of the extremists who were the predecessors of the Islamic State.

      The city has been besieged since January 2014, but had remained contested until Thursday night’s blitz of car bombs marked the beginning of the Islamic State’s push.

      The debacle unfolded despite at least seven air strikes by U.S. and coalition warplanes overnight Saturday to Sunday, with a statement from the U.S. military listing targets in and around Ramadi that had been destroyed by air strikes – including six units of Islamic State fighters and several command and control facilities used by the group – but apparently the strikes were unable to change the outcome of the battle.

      Adding to the stress was word that the town of Baghdadi to the north was itself surrounded and likely to fall in the coming days or hours without significant outside help. Although not a large town, Baghdadi had remained in government control because it is a key supply line to the government garrison at the Haditha Dam, one of Iraq’s largest infrastructure facilities that controls both agricultural water flow and produces hydro-electric power. The loss of Baghdadi would mean the garrison was surrounded and cut off.

      “We call the Iraqi government to send helps to us immediately we are surrounded from all axis by Daash,” said Hussein al Dulami from inside the town. “Send food for our families send ammunition and guns to us from the U.S.”

      Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/05/17/266937/islamic-state-routs-last-elite.html#storylink=cpy

      Delete
  41. Only 7 (seven) days left until the Iraq ISIS Free Memorial Day as predicted by our self described 'military expert', d. rat's ass.

    Got to run.

    Cheers !!

    later

    ReplyDelete
  42. .

    A couple days ago, Obumble put up a post from the WaPo quoting the Pope's comments directed to Abbas, the Palestinian president of the PA. The old gaffer appeared dismayed and was dismissive of the Pope's comments. Today, we have the Weekly Standard putting out an article indicating the comments the Post reported were the result of a mistranslation and had they checked the Vatican's own newspaper or any of the Italian papers (or for that matter used the Google translation tool) they may have caught their mistake.

    According to Italian and Spanish news outlets and according to the Vatican’s own website, Pope Francis told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that he could be an angel of peace. “May you be an angel of peace,” he urged Abbas, effectively saying that if Abbas would take the decision to accept one of the peace offers that various Israeli prime ministers have made to him, or at least make a serious counter-offer, he could be an angel of peace. The pope did not say that Abbas – infamous for ordering the Munich Olympic massacre, among many other atrocities – was “an angel of peace.”

    And yet the BBC and New York Times were among dozens of prominent news outlets that claimed he did...


    http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/media-gets-pope-s-abbas-comments-wrong_948653.html

    We can assume that the Weekly Standard clarification will relieve some part of Obumble's angst, at least, the part associated with some of the Pope's quoted comments. He may even be pleased with the rest of the WS statement above. The irony of course is that while the Standard rightly criticizes the MSM for propagating a translation error, they then proceed to commit an even more serious journalistic error in writing in their own interpretation of what the Pope 'actually meant' by his words.

    ...Pope Francis told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that he could be an angel of peace. “May you be an angel of peace,” he urged Abbas, effectively saying that if Abbas would take the decision to accept one of the peace offers that various Israeli prime ministers have made to him, or at least make a serious counter-offer, he could be an angel of peace...

    The Weekly Standardis not telling us what the Pope said (they offer no proof of their assertions) they merely offer us what they think he should have said.

    The true irony becomes clear in the authors final statements

    Former Middle East reporters such as myself (“The Case of Reuters”) and Matti Friedman (who used to work at AP’s Jerusalem bureau) have long warned about the impartiality of the major news agencies coverage of the Middle East.

    But then too often do reporters and editors at the New York Times, BBC, and elsewhere seem to be happy reporting on what they want to hear, rather than on what was actually said or done, when it comes to the Palestinians and Israel.


    They are all dick-light.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Quart must be on the Vodka again, but not too heavily, as he has been able to:

      1) overcome his usual lassitude and languor

      while

      2) writing a lengthy post of some cogency and insight

      If he were able to maintain in this 'magic zone' his all too infrequent contributions here would be universally praised.

      The stock of Pope Frances has now risen again in my imaginary stock portfolio.

      Delete
  43. For Quart, aka The Logician, the Bar's Logical Paradox, if he still be in his magical lucid zone between a few shots and the whole bottle -

    >>>Muhammad Abbass > Hominid • 9 months ago



    So when I see two dogs, I am only imagining it? Numbers are not delusions. The grand error at work here is that language is a symbol only so never exists outside the things it describes. However the thing which is described including the "number" or count of such things does exist whether or not it has a word assigned to it.



    Avatar

    Hominid > Muhammad Abbass • 9 months ago


    If one dog is a rottweiler and one a chihuahua with a missing leg, are there two dogs? How dumb are you? Your post is a powerful argument for my point! It's the UNITS that matter and how their defined (described) - without that, maths are just mental masturbation.<<<




    Angst and the Empty Set

    We can experience nothingness, but does it actually exist?
    d

    By Leon Horsten

    Illustration by Linda Zacks
    August 28, 2014


    Suppose you open your handbag one day expecting to find your wallet there, but don’t. Do you literally see the absence of your wallet in your handbag? If you do, it means something important: Absences have a positive presence in your perception that you can grasp, independently from all ordinary things.

    Anna Farennikova, a philosopher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has argued exactly this position. The phenomenology of the experience of seeing something missing, she says, has “immediate, perceptual qualities” that encourage us to see absences as being as fundamental as presences. Even though our visual experiences of absences are triggered by frustrated expectations, it feels like we are literally seeing absences, rather than deducing them.

    Another, much older school of philosophy also holds the more radical view that we are acquainted, not just with the absence of things, but with nothingness per se, through our experience of existential anxiety or angst. Called existential phenomenology, this school defines angst as an emotional state that, unlike fear, does not have a clear object. The philosopher Martin Heidegger maintained that when in angst, one is in contact with nothingness. In Heidegger’s view, we can experience not just the absence of things, but we can experience nothingness itself.

    Science, too, seems to suggest that there exist many “nothings” that have a positive existence: the vacuum, the number zero, and the empty set all seem to be objects with positive qualities, which can be pointed to, isolated, and manipulated.




    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But some of these arguments may not be as convincing as they appear. For example, under closer scrutiny, all of the “nothings” considered by science are actually something. Let us take the vacuum first. A vacuum is a region of space devoid of matter. But according to quantum mechanics, a vacuum contains quantum fluctuations and has non-zero energy. And in any case, if a vacuum is a region of space, it contains space. One might seek to reduce space to relations between concrete particulars, but that is a difficult project. So the vacuum is not nothing.

      Concerning the number zero, is it really identical to nothing? It is tempting to reason as follows. Take any number x, and add nothing to it. Then you get the number x back. Now take x, and add the number zero to it. The result is the same. Therefore, the number zero is nothing. But this reasoning is fallacious. One could argue in a similar way that the number one is nothing: Take any number x, and do not multiply it by any number. Then you get the number x back. Now take x, and multiply it by one. The result is the same (x). Therefore one is nothing. No one would agree with the conclusion of that argument!

      In set theory, the empty set, which is the set that contains no elements, is taken to be a fundamental building block of the mathematical universe. Even though it looks like nothing at first sight, this, too, is on closer inspection seen to be not nothing. The empty set is like an empty shopping bag. But unlike a shopping bag, the empty set is abstract. And just like an empty plastic shopping bag is not nothing, an abstract empty shopping bag is not nothing, either.

      Science, then, does not in any straightforward way tell us that there are nothingnesses. According to the scientific picture of the world, absences do not seem to be fundamental building blocks of either the concrete (physical) world or of the abstract (mathematical) realm.

      NOTHINGf_BREAKER

      There is also a philosophical view about absence that is in agreement with this scientific worldview. It holds that absences can be reduced to presences, and that a fortiori there is no such thing as nothingness. This view was worked out in detail in mathematical logic in the early 20th century and defended forcefully by Bertrand Russell.

      Today, this alternative view that absences of things can be reduced to presences of things is still the dominant view among philosophers. The chief reason for this is that as far as we can tell, the scientific worldview can do without absences of things as positive entities. Moreover, science certainly sees no need to attribute an irreducible existence or presence to nothingness.

      Delete
    2. But hold on. The term “nothing” can be correctly used in assertions, as in “I said nothing.” So expressions such as “nothing” are certainly meaningful. If “nothing” refers (to nothingness perhaps, or to an absence of an utterance…), then its meaning is clear. But how can the view that seeks to reduce absences to presences explain the meaningfulness of the term “nothing?”

      Russell has a good reply to this challenge. According to Russell, the meaning of the term “nothing” is not mysterious at all. It can be spelled out using logical vocabulary only, with just the logical operators “for all,” “not,” and “equality”: A situation in which there is nothing is a situation in which the statement “for all objects x, x is not identical to x” is true.

      If to give the meaning of an expression is to give the conditions under which it is satisfied, then it seems that we have hereby given the meaning of the term “nothing.” But the meaning of “nothing” has now been given purely by quantifying over things that do exist. So in some sense, the meaning of “nothing” is not self-standing but parasitic on quantification over objects and on negation.




      All of this still leaves us with our original question: Are absences fundamental in perception? After all, there is a distinction between the hypothesis that absences are fundamental in nature and the idea that the seeing of absences is fundamental in the theory of perception. On this question, the jury is still out. Whatever the case may be, it is clear that reaching for your missing wallet involves more than meets the eye.




      Leon Horsten is a philosopher of mathematics and a philosophical logician at the University of Bristol.

      http://nautil.us/issue/16/nothingness/angst-and-the-empty-set

      Delete
    3. Kindly comment on all this, Quart.

      And try to be of some practical use to Deuce, and us all, in doing so.

      Delete
    4. You being a pick pocket by avocation, Quart, I thought you might have some insights into 'the missing wallet' conundrum.

      Delete
    5. ..

      If we set the value of 'nothing' at zero

      'nothing' = 0

      then the value of the question itself is a given and can be expressed as

      Bob's question = 0

      .

      Delete
    6. As well as Quart's answer

      Quart's answer = 0

      Delete
    7. .

      Given the formulation above, if we actually want to bring the 'wallet' into our equation the number of terms grow and the calculation becomes more complicated.

      As noted

      'nothing' = 0

      Based on our experience through the centuries, it has been established as a given that the value of a single philosopher (P) can be expressed as

      P : <=> 0

      Likewise, given a more recent formulation, we can assume the value of an English major (E) can expressed as

      E : <=> 0

      Now, the value of the 'wallet' (W) is indefinite but can be capsulized using the following 2 formulas

      W ---------------> 0
      (100 - 1)

      and

      W ------------------> oo (infinity)
      (100 - 99)

      where the subsets in parenthesis represent percentages of the population, then we can state that the value of the wallet remains indeterminate but is dependent up which subset of the population applies. However, the following values are easily calculated and can be expressed as

      P :<=> 0,

      E :<=> 0,

      and since

      Anna Farennikova = P and

      Obumble = E

      The answer to the question is definitely not.

      .

      Delete
    8. .

      As for the practical application we can derive from the above post,

      Don't waste your time with the musings of either philosophers or English majors.

      .

      Delete