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."

Thursday, October 01, 2015

The Syrian opposition are terrorists. They are attacking a legitimate government and whether we like that government or not is irrelevant to that definition. So of course Russia, Iran, Syria, Iraq, and Hezbollah are going to target them along with ISIS.






HELPLESS DAILY BEAST

10.01.159:00 PM ET

U.S. Admits: We Can’t Protect Syrian Allies From Russia’s Bombs


Putin’s warplanes are targeting the CIA’s rebel friends. And the U.S. doesn’t know yet if there’s any way to respond.





United States officials conceded Thursday that there is little the they could do in Syria to protect CIA-vetted rebels, the very people the American government trained and armed, who are now coming under fire from Russian airstrikes.
The military isn’t willing to intervene on behalf of the rebels, given the potentially disastrous consequences of an escalation with Russian forces, U.S. defense officials and top lawmakers told The Daily Beast. No one wants to accidentally touch off a showdown between superpowers.
“We are not going to shoot Russian airplanes. We are not going to hit their airfields [in Syria]. And we are not going to equip [rebels] with MANPADs,” one U.S. defense official told The Daily Beast, using the acronym for shoulder-fired, surface-to-air missiles. Previous programs to hand out those weapons have sometimes gone disastrously wrong.
But as it turns out, those rebel forces might not have been doing what their U.S. backers want the fighters to focus on now, yet another potential setback in an already problematic program.
The rebels attacked by Russian forces on Wednesday and Thursday were in western Syria, alongside al Qaeda affiliates and far from any ISIS positions. That suggests the rebels were not there to fight the self-proclaimed Islamic State, as the Obama administration had said they would do, Instead, they were battling the Assad regime.
“We don’t believe that [Russia] struck [ISIS] targets. So that is a problem,” Army Col. Steven Warren, spokesman for U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic militants, explained to reporters Thursday.
But if ISIS was not in the area, why were U.S. vetted fighters there, hundreds of miles away from ISIS strongholds and in the same garrison as al Qaeda affiliates?
“This should give us a strong impetus to clarify our strategy, if not for the rest of the world, then at least for ourselves,” said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “It’s a mess. It’s been a mess for a long time but it is becoming an increasingly risky mess.”
The CIA-trained fighters were located alongside members Jabhat al Nusra, an al Qaeda affiliate and a longstanding enemy of the U.S. (Members of a veteran al Qaeda unit called the Khorasan Group were living with al Nusra fighters last year and plotting ways to sneak explosives onto airplanes, U.S. intelligence officials have said.)

Syrian Army Closes In On Aleppo After Dawn Attack (Wochit)
Chicago Tribune
The rebels who were attacked are part of a CIA-trained group of hundreds of fighters that is different from the handful of forces that have been trained and put on the battlefield by the U.S. military.
Throughout the military’s own training effort, U.S. officials vowed to come the rescue of their fighters. Those promises were key to recruiting rebels who would then fight ISIS, knowing they could count on U.S. help.
Appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee in July, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said, “I think we have an obligation to help them when we equip them,” referring to U.S. military-trained forces, but never said how.
“The answer is not ‘Go after Russia and start World War III.’ I just don’t know what the [solution is]—that’s what we’re working on now.”
Later that month, the U.S. did just that. Roughly 20 U.S.-trained fighters came under attack while at their headquarters, killing five of the rebels. During the fighting, the U.S. military conducted airstrikes.
But Wednesday’s Russian airstrike was the first known instance in which the U.S. confronted such questions about CIA-vetted fighters. U.S. officials were largely silent on what damage the Russians had done, with some privately saying they suspected the Russians had attacked the fighters in part to embarrass the United States.
The rebels themselves, however, were outspoken, and left little doubt that they’d been deliberately targeted by Russian forces trying to keep Assad in power.




Russian forces launched at least eight airstrikes Wednesday and another 30 on Thursday, largely in the western Syrian province of Homs.
The Russian Air Force has struck al-Lataminah in northern Hama three times, targeting the Free Syrian Army’s Tajammu al-Aaza, a rebel group backed by the CIA and a rare recipient of U.S.-provided TOW anti-tank missiles.
“The attack [Wednesday] targeted the main headquarters of Tajammu al-Aaza,” Major Jamil al-Saleh, once a defector from the Syrian Arab Army and now the commander of the rebel brigade, told The Daily Beast on Thursday.
“There were two airstrikes yesterday, then two more last night, and two morning this morning. So far, we have 14 wounded fighters but no fatalities,” al-Saleh said. He said four Russian aircraft flew in formation and conducted five circular sweeps over northern Hama before striking.
“We thought these were drones at first, because drones have been hovering over the area for a week now,” he said. “There was actually one drone ahead of the jets, which we knew were Russian because they were white and flying at higher altitudes than the regime’s planes.”
“We have been fighting for four years in north Hama,” al-Saleh said, “and there is nothing called Daesh or ISIS in this area. The closest ISIS position from us is 100 kilometers.”
Also struck Wednesday was a Free Syrian Army-aligned group, the Homs Liberation Movement. The outfit’s commander, Captain Iyad al-Dik—like al-Saleh, a defector from Assad’s military and a rebel since 2012—was killed. According to the Institute for the Study of War, the Homs Liberation Movement, “like a lot of the battle hardened opposition remaining in Homs, is an Islamist brigade that is a military ally of Syrian al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al Nusra.”
Many civilians were reportedly killed in Homs. Meduza, a Russian news portal affiliated with the anti-Putin opposition, interviewed a local resident named Firas al Said, a native of the Talbiseh town struck yesterday.
“They released eight rockets,” he said. “These strikes were made on civilian quarters of the city. As a result of the strikes, 16 civilians were killed. Three of them were children, two were women.”
The Russians may have also targeted the Damascus suburb of Daraya, according to the Southern Front, a 30,000-strong anti-Assad umbrella group backed by Jordan’s General Intelligence Directorate and the CIA.
Isam el Rayyes, the Amman-based spokesman for the Southern Front, yesterday said the rebels were fighting Assad’s military in the southwest governorate of Quneitra, trying to establish a corridor into the Western Ghouta district of Damascus. Then the jets came.
“These strikes were different from before,” el Rayyes told The Daily Beast. “There were special rockets used and the explosions were huge. Syrian aircraft can’t target anything with 100 percent accuracy, but this hit was very accurate. Clearly there were professionals flying those planes, although we can’t say for sure if it was the Russians.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry has denied that its jets bombed Homs and has called U.S. confirmation of those attacks “part of the information war” against Moscow. Yesterday, as The Daily Beast reported, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria estimated that as many as 36 people were killed in the province from Russian sorties.
In response, there may not be much that the U.S. military can do.
To even threaten to take action against Russian forces now would be perilous as the U.S. has opened talks with Russia about “deconfliction,” referring to crafting military methods to protect each country’s pilots and forces on the ground from being struck. On Thursday, Pentagon officials held an hour-long video conference call with their Russian counterparts in what Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook called “initial steps.”
Cook repeatedly refused to answer whether the U.S. would come to the aid of either CIA-vetted or U.S. military-trained Syrian rebels, calling the prospects of Russian airstrikes “hypothetical,” even after other government officials had confirmed such attacks a day earlier and reports from rebels made clear what was happening.
And if Russia eliminates the rebel groups fighting Assad, that potentially leaves Syria with only two outcomes: a country dominated by ISIS or by Assad.
On Capitol Hill lawmakers were dumbfounded about how to proceed under the current circumstances. Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-in-command among Senate Democrats, has long favored the creation of a U.S.-backed “safe zone” in Syria. But with Russia now conducting airstrikes in the region, there was little appetite for confrontation.
“We’ve got to continue this conversation with the Russians in terms of deconflicting,” Durbin told The Daily Beast. “I don’t want to escalate the situation… until we have more information and a report back from the administration from that effort.”
While there was plenty of criticism from the Republican side, there were no ideas on how the U.S. could proceed—Republicans said that the Obama administration had missed opportunities to help bring the long Syrian civil war to a close.
“I don’t even know what to say,” said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker. “We are getting to place where there are very little, if any, options left. This administration has frittered away most opportunities—to the point that I know that they’re not going to be in direct conflict with Russia, and Russia knows that.”
Added Sen. Jim Inhofe, previously the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, “The answer is not ‘Go after Russia and start World War III.’ I just don’t know what the [solution is]—that’s what we’re working on now.”
with additional reporting by Shane Harris

50 comments:

  1. While there was plenty of criticism from the Republican side, there were no ideas on how the U.S. could proceed—Republicans said that the Obama administration had missed opportunities to help bring the long Syrian civil war to a close.

    “I don’t even know what to say,” said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker. “We are getting to place where there are very little, if any, options left. This administration has frittered away most opportunities—to the point that I know that they’re not going to be in direct conflict with Russia, and Russia knows that.”

    Added Sen. Jim Inhofe, previously the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, “The answer is not ‘Go after Russia and start World War III.’ I just don’t know what the [solution is]—that’s what we’re working on now.”


    These Republicans sound quite sane and have it right....it's all the fault of Obama and folks like Quirk....but it's way late in the game.

    John McCain however is being....John McCain.....I heard today he wanted to send over some Super Stinger missiles and shoot Russian airplanes out of the sky......a course of action not to be recommended.

    All this shit started with Obama taking the troops out of Iraq too soon......

    If you won't believe me, take it from Gary Kasparov -

    One of the major reasons for the rise of ISIS is the poorly thought out American withdrawal from Iraq after the Obama administration took over. With the withdrawal came the abandonment of the Sunni minority there that had been key to the Anbar Awakening that had helped make the surge a success and stabilize Iraq. ISIS was a direct result of that abandonment. One of the key questions asked by Sunni leaders to American commanders before they committed to the Awakening was, “are you going to stay”. Obama’s policy put the “lie” to their promises. Now, after failing to act when ISIS first rose and trying to blame others for the rise, the administration wants a part in the defeat of ISIS (which, by the way, will have to be much more of an effort that an occasional air strike, if it is to succeed).
    Gary Kasparov

    The difference between Obama and Putin?
    posted at 1:21 pm on September 30, 2015 by Bruce McQuain

    http://hotair.com/archives/2015/09/30/the-difference-between-obama-and-putin/


    Good Night

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is this little piece of heartening news -



      World Asia

      Afghan Forces Recapture Central Kunduz From Taliban
      Heavy fighting continues in other parts of provincial capital
      Despite Afghan claims that Kunduz is back in government hands, residents inside the city said Thursday they can still hear explosions and shooting in the streets. Mark Kelly reports. Image: AFP
      By Margherita Stancati in Kabul and
      Habib Khan Totakhil in Kunduz, Afghanistan
      Updated Oct. 1, 2015 4:02 p.m. ET
      27 COMMENTS

      Afghan troops swept through buildings in central Kunduz searching for insurgents and explosives after recapturing much of the provincial capital from the Taliban early Thursday. But by nightfall, the battle for a city that has come to symbolize the difficulties ahead for the government was far from over.

      “It’s easy to start a fight but it takes awhile to end it,” said army Gen. Murad Ali Murad, who is commanding Afghan troops in Kunduz. “The clearing operation will take awhile.”

      The Taliban’s takeover early this week of Kunduz, a strategically located city of some 300,000 people, was its biggest military victory in 14 years of war, no matter how fleeting.
      ENLARGE

      It revealed the weakness of Afghan troops, despite billions of dollars the U.S. and its coalition partners have spent to train and equip them over the years. And it signaled that Afghan troops may remain more dependent on U.S. air and elite-combat support than both sides have anticipated.

      An Afghan army officer who escaped after the Taliban captured the hilltop fortress of Bala Hisar on Wednesday said that many of his comrades, instead of carrying on fighting, removed their uniforms and surrendered. “The main reason for the fall of Bala Hisar to the Taliban was the lack of confidence among our own forces,” he said.

      The counteroffensive began around 10 p.m. Wednesday, Afghan officials said...............

      http://www.wsj.com/articles/afghan-forces-recapture-kunduz-from-the-taliban-1443678671

      Delete
  2. Makes you want to weep.

    Consider: When Obama became president, the surge in Iraq had succeeded and the United States had emerged as the dominant regional actor, able to project power throughout the region. Last Sunday, Iraq announced the establishment of a joint intelligence-gathering center with Iran, Syria and Russia, symbolizing the new “Shiite-crescent” alliance stretching from Iran across the northern Middle East to the Mediterranean, under the umbrella of Russia, the rising regional hegemon.


    Opinions
    Obama’s Syria debacle


    By Charles Krauthammer Opinion writer October 1 at 8:37 PM

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamas-world-falls-apart/2015/10/01/50c2a7d6-686f-11e5-8325-a42b5a459b1e_story.html

    We desperately need a new Commander-in-Chief.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Time to Deport the PLO from Israel
    The terrorists must go.
    October 2, 2015
    Daniel Greenfield


    Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam.

    On September 13, 1993, Arafat and Rabin shook hands over the Oslo Accord in the Rose Garden. At the end of this September, the PLO’s Abbas finally officially disavowed the Oslo Accords.

    The only reason the 80-year-old dictator of the PLO has a new $13 million palace, even while claiming to be short of funds, a $100 million bank account and a 1,000 member presidential guard is because of the same agreement with Israel that he just disavowed.

    The PLO repeatedly violated that agreement by waging war against Israel. Its leaders, Arafat and Abbas, made a mockery of the negotiations. They sabotaged every opportunity to reach an agreement making it clear that they did not want a settlement and they did not want to negotiate.

    Now Abbas has made it official.

    There’s only one thing left for Israel to do. It’s time to deport the dictator, who barely controls half the population that he claims to represent, his 1,000 member presidential guard, his 57,000 member Presidential Security Force and the rest of his 150,000 employees who get paid retirement at fifty and many of whom have not reported to work since 2007.

    It’s time to deport them all.

    America, Europe and Japan have spent billions of dollars paying the salaries of terrorists who don’t even bother pretending to work. Last year their salaries amounted to around $2 billion. Those who do work spend time processing the $130 million a year that the PLO pays to convicted terrorists in Israel.

    The PLO’s Palestinian Authority has a Central Elections Commission even though it has no elections. American taxpayers have invested $4.5 billion in promoting democracy in the PA in the last twenty years and there is now less democracy than there was when we first started throwing money at terrorists.

    Abbas doesn’t bother running for office. He doesn’t bother negotiating with Israel. He doesn’t bother complying with the Oslo Accords. All he does is throw tantrums at the UN. And if he wants to do that on a full time basis while enjoying the best Manhattan restaurants, the terrorist dictator can buy himself a nice condo in the Turtle Bay Towers overlooking the United Nations and homeless bums shooting up heroin in Dag Hammarskjold Park Plaza. Then he can denounce Israel weekly at the UN.

    Or, better yet, give back his $100 million to the people he stole it from and give him a nice sleeping bag and a bench in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza. The drug dealing terrorists on his payroll can supply the heroin.

    Deport the Fatah members who have used billions in foreign aid to build themselves a corrupt terrorist empire with fake jobs and foreign aid. Deport the government Imams who screech on its television shows for war with the Jewish “descendants of apes and pigs.” Deport the Palestinian Authority’s terrorist media corps that celebrates every brutal act of Muslim terror and casually calls for genocide.

    Deport them all.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. The only justification for maintaining this corrupt monstrosity, these tens of thousands of terrorists and the constant calls for mass murder, was the Oslo Accords. Israel had signed an agreement. The PLO violated that agreement every time its terrorists murdered Israelis, every time it called for war with Israel and every time it attacked Israel internationally. But now it has finally disavowed it.

      If the PLO is no longer bound by them, Israel isn’t either.

      The PLO’s millionaire dictator has given up any legal claims he has to remaining in power and remaining in Israel. He doesn’t hold elections so he isn’t the democratic representative of anyone or anything. He claims a state that encompasses Gaza, but the 1.8 million people living there don’t recognize his rule.

      The only reason he was able to have his palace and his billion dollar budgets was that a handful of big countries insisted on pretending that this trainwreck was going somewhere. Now, even as his flag flies over the UN, Abbas has made it clear that it’s going nowhere. He doesn’t want to negotiate with Israel.

      He wants the UN to unilaterally impose his demands on Israel. These demands aren’t backed by democratic elections or legal agreements anymore. The dictator just expects to dictate to Israel.

      And there’s been enough of that already. Over 1,000 Israelis have been murdered by terrorists. Abbas trained and funded many of the terrorists who killed Israelis. Many of them were part of his presidential guard. Now he demands that the UN force Israel to free his terrorists so that they can kill Jews again.

      There’s a better answer. Get rid of them all.

      Deport the terrorists, deport their leaders, deport their flunkies, deport their economic advisers who figure out new ways of funneling foreign aid into Swiss bank accounts, deport the police who double as terrorists and deport the paid stone throwers. Deport the entire PLO and Hamas terrorist infrastructure to any country that is stupid enough to take them.

      Maybe Cyprus or Tunisia will take them back. Or maybe Japan, which has spent hundreds of millions on funding the PLO, wants them. If not, how about Norway, which made this mess? We know the Saudis and Kuwait doesn’t want them, no matter how much noise they make about their “suffering”.

      That just leaves the United Nations. The UN headquarters in New York City is considered international territory. With three buildings full of useless and corrupt bureaucrats, itinerant dictators and their stooges, surely there’s enough room to house the Palestinian Authority government-in-exile.

      And the overflow of the Presidential Guard can be dumped in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, though some resistance from the homeless heroin addict population to these new settlers is to be expected.

      And if Bill de Blasio’s New York can’t handle all the new homeless terrorists, there’s always Syria.

      Delete
    2. The PLO and Hamas have spent the past few decades shrieking that they love death and want nothing more than to fight to the death. And then every time Israel takes a whack, they run screaming to hide behind CNN’s skirt. In Syria, they will finally have the opportunity to fight and die like men.

      Between ISIS, Iran, Assad, the Russians, US bombing raids and all the different Islamic militias, there will be enough conflicts to chew up and spit out Abbas’ presidential guard, Hamas’ suicide bombers and all the terrorist bureaucrats who haven’t shown up to work since 2007.

      Deport them to Syria and let Allah sort out who gets the virgins.

      The one thing that Israel should not and cannot do is keep the circus going. Netanyahu has been hoping that at some point the PLO would so thoroughly discredit itself that no one could pretend any longer that a negotiated peace was possible.

      But that day will never come.

      Abbas disavowed negotiations at the UN and in return, the UN flew his terrorist flag. He refuses to run for office, but the rest of the world pretends that he represents some democratic consensus. His own people accuse him of stealing enough money to keep Arafat’s widow in expensive Parisian handbags for the rest of her life and the international auditors just shrug.

      Muslim terrorists can never discredit themselves in the eyes of their Western admirers and supporters. Nothing Abbas does, including his repeated attempts at a unity government with Hamas, will ever convince UN terrorist sympathizers that the failure to achieve peace is the fault of the terrorists.

      All Israel can do is wash its hands of the entire business, deport the terrorists and turn them into Syria’s problem. Israel will never convince the UN that it’s right, but it can take the initiative and end the wrong.

      The PLO regime has no further legal basis for maintaining its presence inside ’67 Israel. It must go.

      http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/260316/time-deport-plo-israel-daniel-greenfield

      Delete
    3. Vandals on the road to Jonesboro to tackle Arkansas State Saturday, Vandal fans.

      Keep the faith.

      And to all a Good Night.

      Go Vandals !

      Delete
  4. IN THE “YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS” DEPARTMENT


    Saudi Arabia has demanded Russia ends its air strikes on Syria because a “number of innocent victims have been killed”.

    Speaking at the UN in New York, the Saudi ambassador Abdallah al-Mouallimi said: "The delegation of my country expresses its profound concern regarding the military operations which Russian forces have carried out in Homs and Hama - places where Isis forces are not present.

    "These attacks led to a number of innocent victims. We demand it stop immediately and not recur.”

    WHAT DID HE JUST SAAY?

    Saudi Arabia has backed several Sunni rebels against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad during the three-year conflict.

    The move is likely to further strain relations between the two nations, which were said to be improving after Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman went to Moscow in June to sign military and energy agreements.

    Riyadh is said to still be angry about a Russian veto on a 2012 UN Security Resolution calling for Mr Assad to step down, drafted by the Saudis and backed by Western powers.

    Russia admitted it was not just targeting Isis as it began the second day of airstrikes against rebel groups in the country.

    But the Kremlin has continued to deny that the first strikes on Wednesday had hit non-Islamist rebels despite reports that three children were among 33 civilians killed.

    US and Russian forces have agreed to meet “as soon as possible” to make sure their pilots do not come into conflict in Syrian airspace.

    GET READY FOR A BELLY LAUGH

    The US secretary of state John Kerry said he was prepared to welcome Russian airstrikes as long as they remained focused on Isis.

    Initial reports suggest Russian targets on Thursday included Jabhat al-Nusra, a stronghold of an Islamist coalition believed to be supported by the Saudis.

    Dmitry Peskov, the official spokesman for Vladimir Putin, said "well known" militant groups were in its sights but refused to confirm who they were.

    Mr Peskov said: "These organisations are well-known and the targets are chosen in coordination with the armed forces of Syria."

    Mr Putin has been accused of intervening in the region to shore up the position of Mr Assad rather than to defeat Isis.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BACK TO THE SAUDI STATEMENT:

      ...the Saudi ambassador Abdallah al-Mouallimi said: “The delegation of my country expresses its profound concern regarding the military operations which Russian forces have carried out in Homs and Hama - places where Isis forces are not present.

      "These attacks led to a number of innocent victims. We demand it stop immediately and not recur.”


      HE REALLY DID SAY THAT WHILE THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON

      A tragic incident this week in Yemen is intensifying scrutiny of a Saudi-led military campaign there, as well as the U.S. role in backing that Saudi offensive.

      The Saudis are fighting rebels called Houthis who ousted the government. And while all sides are accused of abuses, increasing blame is turning toward the Saudis and their allies.

      At a time when civilian casualties in general are on the rise, the deadliest single attack in Yemen since the conflict began in March occurred Monday near the western port city of Mokha. At least 130 civilians were killed, mostly women and children, says Hassan Boucenine, Yemen country director for Doctors Without Borders.


      Boucenine says the airstrike made no sense. "It's obviously not a military target," he says. "It was a wedding, simply. And civilians."

      There is growing criticism over the soaring number of civilian casualties in Yemen. Rupert Colville, spokesman for the U.N.'s High Commissioner for Human Rights, says 2,300 civilians have been killed so far. He says both sides in the conflict share blame, but the Saudi-led air campaign has been responsible for most of the deaths.

      "Two-thirds of the reported civilian deaths during the conflict since March were caused by airstrikes," he says. "When you're getting this very high toll of civilians, it suggests something may be going badly wrong or perhaps not enough care is being taken."

      Delete
    2. REPEAT

      ”Two-thirds of the reported civilian deaths during the conflict since March were caused by airstrikes,” he says. “When you’re getting this very high toll of civilians, it suggests something may be going badly wrong or perhaps not enough care is being taken.”

      Delete

  5. In this first episode of a two-part series for his TeleSUR show “Days of Revolt,” Chris Hedges and Sabah Alnasseri, Associate Professor of Middle East Politics at York University, trace the roots of Islamic State to their origins and explore comparisons to the 20th-century genesis of Israel.

    Hedges begins by pointing out how the Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916, responsible for “carving up the Middle East and turning countries into protectorates,” has only been changed twice—once with the Israeli independence and now with Islamic State.

    As Hedges put it, the tactics used to redraw the map in the Middle East are both effective and familiar, including the “use of foreign money, use of foreign fighters, tactics of ethnic cleansing and terrorism and this mythical vision—in the case of Israel, the recreation of Judea and Sumeria from the Bible, and in the case of ISIS, the recreation of the seventh-century caliphate.”

    Alnasseri agrees, opening his response with the observation that, “to understand the pheonomenon of ISIS we need to contextualize it within the setbacks and counterrevolution against the Arab revolutions.“



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/days_of_revolt_with_chris_hedges_isis_the_new_israel_20151001

      Delete
  6. While the US Government is so very deeply concerned about protecting us all from foreign terrorists, using mercenary armies in over 86 countries, surely they are protecting us from terrorists actually murdering Americans in US schools.

    The US is reeling from another school shooting, the 45th this year, after a 26-year-old gunman murdered as many as nine people and wounded seven more at a community college in Oregon before he was killed.

    The 45th this year.

    Just about every US civil right has been trampled by the US Security State at a cost that is now in the trillions. No problem, we must have our rights stripped from us as a result of the Saudi assault on our US cities in 911 and our obsession and support for the cultists in Israel. That is a worthy cause and cost.

    But, the right for American students to attend safe schools while not being murdered by US terrorists is inferior to the sacrosanct 2nd amendment.

    By the way, did you catch the George Carlin piece on US bullshit?

    ReplyDelete
  7. While thousand of Americans were being strip searched by US agents at airports, tens of thousands of deadly weapons such as shaving cream, water bottles, tooth paste and nail clippers were being seized by US security agents. At the same time the NSA in the tens of thousands, at the costs of billions, was spying on every US phone call and text message, here is what was happening:

    The police were also looking at reports that hours before the attack he posted messages on an internet chat site warning people to stay away from school. Investigators said they were attempting to trace people on the site who discouraged him while others urged him on. It does not appear anyone reported the messages to the authorities before the shooting.

    CNN reported that four guns were recovered at the scene of the killings. Initial reports said 20 people were wounded alongside those who died although this number was later revised downwards.

    The police were also looking at reports that hours before the attack he posted messages on an internet chat site warning people to stay away from school. Investigators said they were attempting to trace people on the site who discouraged him while others urged him on. It does not appear anyone reported the messages to the authorities before the shooting.


    CNN reported that four guns were recovered at the scene of the killings.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. The US government now has 70,000 paid contract killers, euphemistically branded as Special Forces, scattered across the planet, looking for a threat , mostly caused by US policies and military actions and the one real threat to actual US citizens goes unanswered.

      The US government has created a trillion dollar Global War On Terror that has killed and wounded millions, destroyed the lives of tens of millions and an actual real world weekly terror threat to US citizens, mostly children is a problem the mighty rulers and masters on the Potomac are helpless to do anything about.

      Delete
  8. "Authorities on Thursday identified the shooter as 26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer. A social media profile by the same name shows a so-called “northwestern heritage” supporter whose social circle consists of some white supremacists and pro-Confederate activists. The stories posted on the user’s newsfeed indicate a preoccupation with government takeover conspiracies, including the recent “Jade Helm” military exercise in Texas, which became a lightning rod for anti-government activists."


    Gee b00bie, that is your idea of a Muslim is it?



    Idiot!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. :)

      Ashlikins, I'm not right all the time, but yes, muslims like to kill Christians.

      That's what got me wrong.....dang it.

      I notice in passing the "pro-Confederate" angle.....hmmmm......?

      :)

      Delete
    2. On second thought, maybe I'm being too hard on the Confederates. Even I admit Robert E. Lee was an honorable guy, in his own way.

      The Southerners just read the Bible in a way that suited their circumstances.......and I've always said many of these conflicts in the world today are literary disputes.....arguments over old literature and its proper understanding.

      Delete
  9. Where is the GOP Likuds Force on the security of US Students? We know where they stand on the rights of Israeli students in squatter settlements in Israeli illegal occupied territories. Last year 3 Israeli students were killed by terrorists in Israel by terrorists. The US supported the Israeli mass killing of over 2200 in retaliation?

    Care to guess how many more than 3 US students have been killed in US schools by terrorists? What have we heard from the GOP Likuds Force, Tom Cotton, John McCain or Ted Cruz?

    What do you suppose will happen now?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When you stop the violence in and around the schools in Philly, Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore - all democratic strongholds for decades - I will take your last comment seriously.

      Delete
    2. The Israeli opposition are terrorists. They are attacking a legitimate government and whether we like that government or not is irrelevant to that definition.

      Delete
  10. That pleases me no end. I wish I could return the favor, but there is nothing you can do that would convince me to take you seriously.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Well, that was a truly crappy jobs report. So much for the Oct. rate hike fantasy. The pubbies are crying out in rage, and pain. fuck the bastards.

    It is as I feared; we are just a couple of rate hikes away from a recession. The pubs know that, and were praying for the Fed to deliver the election to them. The fed could see through the fog, and Yellen delivered up a big F.U. Couldn't happen to a better bunch of assholes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The one bright spot of the report has gone completely overlooked; "Part-time for Economic Reasons" Declined by 400,000

      bls survey

      Delete
    2. Job participation lowest since 1977

      LOL

      Delete
  12. Israel is a nation. The world gives it's stamp of approval years ago.

    Land disputes are all over the globe.

    From Puerto Rico to the Falklands, from conflicts with China and Japan to Russia and Ukraine.

    The disputed lands of the west bank are small in scope compared to the almost all of the land disputes.

    What is not a matter of dispute is that there is a nation called Israel and there is no real nation called palestine.

    LOL

    ReplyDelete
  13. Another interesting number in this report is the "Unemployed" integer. It actually Declined by 114,000. See above link.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Paul Krugman: Voodoo Never Dies

    Why do Republican politicians support tax cuts for the wealthy despite their unpopularity (as documented in a part I left out), and their failure to spur economic growth?:

    Voodoo Never Dies, by Paul Krugman, Commentary, NY Times: So Donald Trump has unveiled his tax plan. It would, it turns out, lavish huge cuts on the wealthy while blowing up the deficit.

    This is in contrast to Jeb Bush’s plan, which would lavish huge cuts on the wealthy while blowing up the deficit,

    and Marco Rubio’s plan, which would lavish huge cuts on the wealthy while blowing up the deficit.

    For what it’s worth, it looks as if Trump’s plan would make an even bigger hole in the budget than Jeb’s. Jeb justifies his plan by claiming that it would double America’s rate of growth; The Donald, ahem, trumps this by claiming that he would triple the rate of growth. But really, why sweat the details? It’s all voodoo. The interesting question is why every Republican candidate feels compelled to go down this path.

    You might think that there was a defensible economic case for the obsession with cutting taxes on the rich. That is, you might think that if you’d spent the past 20 years in a cave (or a conservative think tank). ...

    True, you can find self-proclaimed economic experts claiming to find overall evidence that low tax rates spur economic growth, but such experts invariably turn out to be on the payroll of right-wing pressure groups (and have an interesting habit of getting their numbers wrong)...

    There is no serious economic case for the tax-cut obsession.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Still,... every Republican who would be president is committed to a policy that is both demonstrably bad economics and deeply unpopular. What’s going on?

      Well,..., it’s straightforward and quite stark: Republicans support big tax cuts for the wealthy because that’s what wealthy donors want. No doubt most of those donors have managed to convince themselves that what’s good for them is good for America. But at root it’s about rich people supporting politicians who will make them richer. Everything else is just rationalization.

      Of course, once the Republicans settle on a nominee, an army of hired guns will be mobilized to obscure this stark truth. We’ll see claims that it’s really a middle-class tax cut, that it will too do great things for economic growth, and look over there — emails! And given the conventions of he-said-she-said journalism, this campaign of obfuscation may work.

      But never forget that what it’s really about is top-down class warfare. That may sound simplistic, but it’s the way the world works.

      Economists View

      Delete
    2. .

      :o)

      Krugman finally is correct in condemning 'voodoo', supply-side, trickle-down economics as applied to tax-cuts for the rich.

      What is not surprising is that he doesn't apply the same criticism to the 'voodoo', supply-side, trickle down economics practiced by the FED.

      .

      Delete
  15. Seattle raises Minimum Wage (a bunch.) "Oh, Noes!" cry the publicans. "It's a disaster," we tells ya!

    boom

    Seattle jobless rate hits 8-year low in August!!!

    3.6%


    Seattle Times

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Spin it...

      from the same article

      Seattle economist Dick Conway said the shrinking pool of unemployed people in Washington state and the Seattle area may make it harder for employers to hire, but he also said more people look for a job during the holidays.

      “There are a lot of people who are sitting on the sidelines who are not counted as unemployed people,” he said. “People jump in and take jobs at the holiday … to supplement their income.”

      Delete
    2. .

      I guess we should all move to Seattle.

      .

      Delete
  16. This "economy" is fucked, for one reason, and one reason, only.

    There Ain't No Fuckin' Money Out There.

    You can't buy a fucking house if you have a shitty income, and no money in the bank.

    And, the poor, white, racist peckerwoods just keep on voting for the Party of the Big Bank. We might be well, and truly, fucked for good, this time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Blame the 'FED' and their supply-side, trickle down economics. I do.

      .

      Delete
  17. Deuce LOVES to complain that Israel and Jews are squatting on illegal settlements on the "west bank"...

    Fair enough...

    Answer this.

    Does America have a right to it's lands?

    Does Russia? China? Japan?

    England? France?

    So do the Spanish?

    How about the Arabs? they came to the levant in 640 ce, did they not squat and make settlements?

    is your issue how long ago it was?

    or is it about europeans? Or Just Jews?

    America has Alaska, California, Guam, PR and more, you live on land that William Penn got from the Crown for God's sake...

    What makes israel ILLEGAL and all others legal?

    hmmmm

    And if you site the 1948 UN? remember the League of Nations, which laws and treaties still apply held that the lands from the river to the sea should be given BACK to the Jews.

    Should Jordan be ruled by a KING that heralds from Arabia?

    The disputed lands in the arab - israeli conflict is but a rounding error of lands.

    the arabs control ( in a shitty murderous way) 899/900th of the lands. israel controls 1/900th.

    Why should israel make any more concessions of lands to the arabs for a non-existent peace?

    maybe the arabs should carve out another state, call it palestine and make peace?

    Unless it's not about peace but and all or nothing solution.

    It really sucks that the arabs, mostly moslems, cannot make peace with the JEWS....

    after all that's what it's about aint it....

    jew hatred.

    How dare the Jews have a Jewish State, really pisses the shit out of you, doesn't it?

    Maybe those arabs of Gaza or Judaea and Samaria should accept what has been offered and make a nation?

    Regardless that they don't "get it all"....

    Losing sucks, and the Jews have lost for 2000 years and FINALLY have won a little back. Greater Israel is not going to happen. The Jews have gotten over it.

    But the real telling headline is that 1.2 MILLION arabs are Israeli citizens, full citizens. And none are fleeing.

    If fact they are well educated, successful and own businesses and even are Supreme Court Justices.

    Maybe the arab world should look to Israel as an example of how to structure a society?

    Meanwhile the butchery, real butchery, is still going on INSIDE by the arabs, to the arabs...

    ReplyDelete
  18. Deuce ☂Fri Oct 02, 05:57:00 AM EDT
    Where is the GOP Likuds Force on the security of US Students? We know where they stand on the rights of Israeli students in squatter settlements in Israeli illegal occupied territories. Last year 3 Israeli students were killed by terrorists in Israel by terrorists. The US supported the Israeli mass killing of over 2200 in retaliation?

    Is this your idea of honesty?

    The stated aim of the Israeli operation was to stop rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, which increased after an Israeli crackdown on Hamas in the West Bank was launched following the 12 June kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers by two Hamas members.

    So israel cracked down on Hamas in the WEST BANK and Hamas in Gaza started firing rockets at Israel civilians.

    Sounds like a war crime to me!!!!

    Hamas, a terrorist group that is part of the UNITY government of the Palestinians went to WAR because it didn't like Israel cracking down after it kidnapped and murdered 3 teenagers...

    Sounds Hamas and ISIS are the same...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But to continue

      Hamas are fully responsible for firing thousands of rockets into Israel and also building, supplying and using terror tunnels into Israel.

      Reap what you sow baby...

      It sucks in Gaza no doubt, maybe the folks of Gaza should get rid of Hamas?

      Lots of luck

      Delete
    2. .

      The stated aim of the Israeli operation was to stop rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, which increased after an Israeli crackdown on Hamas in the West Bank was launched following the 12 June kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers by two Hamas members.

      So israel cracked down on Hamas in the WEST BANK and Hamas in Gaza started firing rockets at Israel civilians.

      Sounds like a war crime to me!!!!


      You know why and how the 2014 Gaza war started. It has been explained to you on a number of occasions. It was spelled out clearly in the posted article Deuce put up recently. It was spelled out before that in articles I have posted, not in right-wing propaganda rags like Debka or Jihad Watch but in respected publications like Forward.

      When your errors are pointed out, you ignore it and keep repeating what might previously have been misunderstandings but through repetition become what can only be called lies.

      .

      Delete
  19. Household Income Trends: August 2015

    Median Household Income Increases in August 2015, Reaching Post
    Recession High


    Summary of Key Findings

    According to new data derived from the monthly Current Population Survey (CPS),
    median annual household income in August 2015 was $55,794, 1.1 percent (or $615)
    higher than the July 2015 median of $55,179.


    The median in August was at its highest
    level since the official end of the great recession in June 2009. The Sentier Household
    Income Index for August 2015 was 97.3 (January 2000 = 100).
    These findings come from a report issued today by Sentier Research, titled “Household
    Income Trends: August 2015,” which presents monthly trends in household income from
    January 2000 to August 2015.

    This most recent increase in median annual household income continues the generally
    upward trend in income that has been evident since the low point in our household
    income series that occurred in August 2011.

    Median income in August 2015 ($55,794)
    was 5.0 percent higher than in August 2014 ($53,157),
    and 7.6 percent higher than in
    August 2011 ($51,835).

    The period since August 2011 has been marked by an uneven,
    but generally upward trend in the level of real median annual household income. Many of
    the month-to-month changes in median income during this period have not been
    statistically significant. However, the cumulative effect of the various month-to-month
    changes since August 2011 resulted in the income improvement noted above. (See Figure
    1 at the back of this report.)

    according to Gordon Green of Sentier Research, “The 1.1 percent increase in median
    household income between July and August 2015 is one of the largest month-to-month
    increases in income during the post-recessionary period. We have now recaptured all of
    the income losses that have occurred since June 2009, when the Great Recession ended.
    However, median household income is still 1.5 percent lower than December 2007, when
    the Great Recession began and 2.7 percent below the level in January 2000.”

    Sentier Research

    ReplyDelete
  20. Obama Economy keeps ticking along -



    Record 94,610,000 Americans Not in Labor Force...
    Participation Rate Lowest Since 1977...
    Record 56,647,000 Women Not Working...
    Jobs Up ONLY For IMMIGRANTS; Down 262,000 For 'Native-Borns'...
    'Payrolls Disaster'...
    'Fed never going to raise rates'...
    IT'S UGLY!
    FLASHBACK: IT'S GOING TO BE GREAT...
    Bank Stocks Tumble...
    Markets at 'panic levels'...
    Drudge

    ******************

    "The Syrian opposition are terrorists. They are attacking a legitimate government and whether we like that government or not is irrelevant to that definition."
    Blog Headline


    :)

    heh

    Let's see, Assad is said to have won 88.7% in the last 'election'.

    If you actually believe this you have joined Quirk living out in space......


    Bwabwahahahaha

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wasn't it Papa Assad who gassed an entire city, back in the day ?

      Delete
    2. This indiscriminate barrel bombing is an activity that is a 'war crime'.

      The issue of possible Israeli 'war crimes' is often brought up on these pages.

      How is it that the Assad Regime is 'legitimate' when it was obviously 'elected' through fraud and commits war crimes on a daily basis ?

      Delete
  21. .

    Saudi Arabia

    A tragic incident this week in Yemen is intensifying scrutiny of a Saudi-led military campaign there, as well as the U.S. role in backing that Saudi offensive.

    Print those 28 redacted pages related to Saudi Arabia that were in the 9/11 report.

    Yesterday, I put up a post on a court case that ruled that American citizens could not sue SA over 9/11 due to their 'sovereign immunity'. The same article mentioned that the same principle was not applied when it came to Afghanistan.

    In a separate post, I put up an article where to this point it also does not apply to Iran. In the Iran case, when a lower court tried to apply the principle, the plaintiffs asked Congress to pass a law that would allow their case to proceed, Congress did in spades, the courts then ruled in their favor. Iran appealed to SCOTUS but the DOJ asked that they not accept the case.

    So when the US wants to punish a country, you have the full weight of the administration supporting it DOJ, Congress, the courts. When it comes to Saudi Arabia? Not so much.

    How many presidential libraries does Saudi Arabia have to contribute to in order to get a pass?

    Free the 28 pages.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  22. 88.7% of the vote isn't up to North Korean standards, but it ain't chump change neither.

    ReplyDelete
  23. .

    One of Hillary Clinton's e-mails to one of her aides asked the question, "What does FUBAR mean...?"

    The answer of course is best understood through an illustration and a word, Libya. By this time, having been running for president for a few months, she must certainly realize what a FUBAR she helped create in there.

    The following article gives the current status of fun and games there.

    Is Libya Headed for Another Qaddafi?

    The United States has wisely abstained from inserting itself into this multisided conflict, maintaining instead that the best way to help Libya fight the Islamic State is through a unified government that can coordinate disparate fighters. Any military aid right now would only add fuel to the civil war.

    But time is running out. The delegates from both the eastern and western factions are meeting at the United Nations General Assembly in New York for talks on Thursday and Friday to decide on a new government. If there is no government produced by these talks, Libya will be torn between two equally disastrous currents: fragmentation and jihadism, or a drift to authoritarianism.

    American officials have suggested privately that the United States may then shift to a policy of containment and carefully targeted counterterrorism operations. While that may slow the Islamic State’s expansion in Libya in the short-term, it will do little to build the sustainable future that Benghazi’s beleaguered residents and their fellow Libyans deserve.


    Typical US. Attack a country under false pretenses, destroy it through military and political incompetence, leave a failed state behind, and then declare victory. The history is clear. The trend continues. But do we learn anything? Not a chance.

    There are still dolts running around calling for more intervention in the greater ME.

    Einstein's definition of insanity comes to mind.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  24. We didn't attack Afghanistan under false pretenses.

    Nor did Bush I push the Iraqis out of Kuwait under false pretenses.

    Bush II is more debatable, but Hillary and Kerry voted for it, so it must have been good.

    The trouble started when Obozo willy nilly took the troops out way too soon.....

    If you don't believe me, believe Gary Kasparov.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Everyone from Hillary to Carly is now jumping on Bobbo's no fly zone idea. Bobbo, however, no longer supports the idea, what with the Russkie now in the air. A good idea at one point in time is not a good idea later when conditions have changed radically. Having been dipped in molten lead by Q & A for being a "warmonger", I certainly don't want to be accused of starting World War Three.

    So at this point I stick with Kurdish independence, always support Israel, make nice with Sisi, who is, by the way, trying to reform Egypt's educational system and let it go at that.

    I have to admit, I 'kinda' hope the Russkies get bloodied up some......they are using 'dumb' bombs, not our type of 'smart' bombs, the technological equivalent of barrel bombs, and the civilian casualties are going to be horrendous.

    Chechnya was a good textbook example of the Russian style of war.

    The whole entire fiasco is all Obama's fault.

    ReplyDelete
  26. There is currently much speculation in the higher reaches of the Internet, and among the most intelligent political commentators, here and abroad, as to whether or not Obozo has pulled all this fiasco off intentionally, or through abject stupidity, the basic idea being no one could be so dumb.

    While opinion is somewhat divided, a slight majority seems to favor the intentional thesis at this point.

    ReplyDelete