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December 9, 2011
Open Thread – Dec 9
Comments
Jon Boone asks in today’s Guardian: Does the US military want Afghanistan to get even nastier?
In Afghanistan, insurgents are growing ever more sadistic in their attacks, as the suicide bombing of pilgrims in Kabul showed. But could the US war machine actually want to provoke the Taliban?
I guess he picket that though (which I think is correct) up from a post Alex Strick van Linschoten (who lives in Kandahar) made yesterday at his blog: Entropy and insurgent radicalisation: an ISAF goal?
We saw that pattern in Iraq too: Radicalizing the insurgency to split it from the people.
That also happens to be a standard tactic of the PTB to defeat people movements like OWS.
b
yes it does b, but it is such a short term tactic that ends up with the initiator being wiped all over the floor
also to say congrat to you & our anni with her work at mondoweiss
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Dec 9 2011 21:16 utc | 2
That also happens to be a standard tactic of the PTB…
Indeed…
Letter BOMB addressed to CEO
Posted by: Uncle | Dec 9 2011 21:44 utc | 3
As another says, “Timing is utterly predictable”: Occupiers = Terror!
call in the NYPD SHIELD!
wait, or the Infragard? either way…JOBS!
Posted by: Uncle | Dec 9 2011 22:15 utc | 4
re 1
I certainly agree that the the bombing of Shiite shrines could have been intended to repeat Samarra. The latter worked once, but the second attack in 2007 evoked no response. We’ve seen that, why respond? The same in Afghanistan, why respond to an obvious provocation?
Posted by: alexno | Dec 9 2011 22:38 utc | 5
the drones, the drones …
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2011533/China-building-army-unmanned-military-drones-rival-U-S.html
comments are also very good
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2011533/China-building-army-unmanned-military-drones-rival-U-S.html#comments
Posted by: somebody | Dec 9 2011 22:48 utc | 6
Re 6
Question: what if b is right that drones are useless faced with an enemy of equivalent electronic capability?
Answer: Drones make lovely videos.
Posted by: alexno | Dec 9 2011 23:10 utc | 7
What if Merkel is fucking down Europe?
Let’s turn Euro states into banks, to profit from IV reich!
It’s the new world order!
Posted by: auskalo | Dec 10 2011 1:08 utc | 8
auskalo, Merkel is just trying to do her best while taking orders from the banks (like all political leaders nowadays) and being pressed by a frustrated and prejudiced internal public opinion
if policies don’t change it won’t matter: we Europeans will be strangled, collectively or one by one, by the Fmi who managed to creep back on the scene and is imposing its suicidal policies
Posted by: claudio | Dec 10 2011 1:52 utc | 9
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is doing her criticize thing again, picking on the Russian bear this time. Not smart, Hill. Something about the pot calling the kettle black (on election malfeasance) and cutting off your nose to spite your face (considering the probable Russian blowback on Iran and AfPak), to mix a metaphor.
Iran’s captured RQ-170: How bad is the damage?
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2011/12/defense-iran-captured-rq-170-how-bad-120911/
Loss Of Stealth Drone Undermines Case For Replacing Manned Systems
http://www.defpro.com/news/details/30536/?SID=2a50e5fcafddcb4f1da9f362f8f58c9d
Debate boils about what’s under the RQ-170’s hood
http://defensesystems.com/Articles/2011/12/09/RQ-170-UAV-drone-ISR-sensors.aspx?admgarea=DS&Page=1
Posted by: Paul | Dec 10 2011 6:40 utc | 11
I’m inspired by today’s youth.
from COP17 in Durban.
Posted by: juannie | Dec 10 2011 13:47 utc | 12
Have you heard? Theres has been a massive “dirty bomb” detonated in Japan. Its so big that the entire planet will be affected for centuries, and parts of Japan will be rendered eternally uninhabitable……
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Fukushima%22&hl=en&lr=&tbs=qdr:w&prmd=ivnsul&ei=q2njTvL_BOLj0gGXxeCJBg&start=0&sa=N
But, never mind.
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Dec 10 2011 14:19 utc | 13
WOW!!!!! Newt just solved the Isr/Pal thing!! And he’s not even sittin’ on the throne yet!
The Palestinians don’t exist.
Voila!!
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Dec 10 2011 14:30 utc | 14
Robert Fisk is pissed: Bankers are the dictators of the West
I didn’t need Charles Ferguson’s Inside Job on BBC2 this week – though it helped – to teach me that the ratings agencies and the US banks are interchangeable, that their personnel move seamlessly between agency, bank and US government. The ratings lads (almost always lads, of course) who AAA-rated sub-prime loans and derivatives in America are now – via their poisonous influence on the markets – clawing down the people of Europe by threatening to lower or withdraw the very same ratings from European nations which they lavished upon criminals before the financial crash in the US. I believe that understatement tends to win arguments. But, forgive me, who are these creatures whose ratings agencies now put more fear into the French than Rommel did in 1940?
Why don’t my journalist mates in Wall Street tell me? How come the BBC and CNN and – oh, dear, even al-Jazeera – treat these criminal communities as unquestionable institutions of power? Why no investigations – Inside Job started along the path – into these scandalous double-dealers? It reminds me so much of the equally craven way that so many American reporters cover the Middle East, eerily avoiding any direct criticism of Israel, abetted by an army of pro-Likud lobbyists to explain to viewers why American “peacemaking” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be trusted, why the good guys are “moderates”, the bad guys “terrorists”.
Fox news uses Athens riots footage for Russian protests
Fox News showed footage of riots in Athens rather than Moscow earlier this week showing protesters throwing Molotov cocktails, rocks and bottles.
Even though the shops pictured in the report clearly had Greek signage the American presenter said the pictures were actually taken in Moscow and showed anti-Kremlin protesters venting their anger at last weekend’s allegedly rigged parliamentary elections.
I see the Israelis just shot another peaceful protestor in the face with a tear gas cannister at close range. Damned Russians.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/09/irony-alert-u-s-calls-on-russia-to-respect-peaceful-protests/
U.S. calls on Russia to respect peaceful protests
The United States called Friday on both Russian authorities and protesters to remain peaceful as opponents of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin prepared major weekend demonstrations against his rule.
Putin has angrily accused the United States of inciting the protests after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raised concerns about the fairness of parliamentary elections that Putin’s party won but with a reduced majority.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that the United States supported the right to peaceful protest in Russia as it does “anywhere in the world.”
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Dec 10 2011 16:47 utc | 17
West Bank protester critically hurt by Israeli fire
AFP – Fri, Dec 9, 2011
A Palestinian was critically wounded Friday when he was hit in the face by a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops at a rally in the West Bank, medics and witnesses said………
http://news.yahoo.com/west-bank-protester-critically-hurt-israel-fire-135923396.html
“State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that the United States supported the right to peaceful protest in Russia as it does “anywhere in the world.”
Uhm, but uh, Israel, being besieged by the Gingrich decreed “invented” peoples, is of course exempted from this State Department admonition. Sub-human, poor, and of a demonic faith, these heathen squatters and violent Islamic throwbacks have no right to protest, peacefully, or otherwise.
Aren’t ya just kinda sick of them nipping at Jewish heels? Good thing Newt erased ’em, ’cause the world’s had enough of their chronic bitchin’ and moanin’.
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Dec 10 2011 17:00 utc | 18
Study shows lab rats would rather free a friend than eat chocolate
Maybe we could learn a think or two from these rats …
Posted by: Outraged | Dec 10 2011 17:06 utc | 19
“Study shows lab rats would rather free a friend than eat chocolate”
Ennie meany, miney moe…..chocolate, or sex…chocolate, or sex…..
Yikes!
It took a “study” to figure this out?
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Dec 10 2011 17:10 utc | 20
Aerial pictures of Moscow protests. My best guess around some 20,000 people or less. Lots of communist red flags. Moscow has a population of some 12 million.
yep, b. it is definitively a communist color revolution …
in other news tonight via twitter:
“Tripoli Council members will hold an urgent meeting at
9.30 Tonight, with representatives
of Tripoli in NTC and NTC Chief
Mustafa Abduljalil. Demanding
the closure of Tripoli International
Airport and the prevention of air
traffic and the closure of the
entire capital until the end of
armed manifestations in the city
and the withdrawal of
revolutionary battalions.”
Posted by: somebody | Dec 10 2011 20:40 utc | 22
The Tunisian border to Libya has been closed for a few days already by Tunisia because of Libyan trouble spilling over. There still is the ferry to Malta. It is probably possible to travel 1000 km to Benghazi and cross the Egyptian border. Al Jazeera left Tripoli today …
Posted by: somebody | Dec 10 2011 20:43 utc | 23
oh and there are “renegade ex-rebels” now in Tripoli …
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/renegade-ex-rebels-believed-to-be-behind-failed-assassination-attempt-on-head-of-libyan-army/2011/12/10/gIQAwNPekO_story.html
Posted by: somebody | Dec 10 2011 22:23 utc | 24
Really interesting (to me) study Outraged #19.
Cooperation seems to have been (from studies I’ve read) a more important progressive trait in evolution than competition. This tends to give lie to Social Darwinists and “free” market proponents sacred cows, red in claw and tooth and survival of the fittest. I find it fascinating that both empathy and psychopathy are part of our, and probably other species core psychology. Although not “scientific”, my wife and I have often witnessed what appears to be empathetic and cooperative behaviors in our farm animals. I think much if not most of the social problems we witness in the world today stem from the ascendency to positions of power, both corporate (social) and governmental, of those humans that exhibit a higher level of psychopathy than empathy. Studies such as this one support my world view and my hope that before it is too late humans can figure this out and reset our behaviors back to life positive ones.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Posted by: juannie | Dec 11 2011 1:07 utc | 25
b wrote (comment 21):
Aerial pictures of Moscow protests. My best guess around some 20,000 people or less. Lots of communist red flags. Moscow has a population of some 12 million.
(my emphasis)
Yeah, I find it fun in a way to see the MSM scream about those elections and subsequent street activity. They never mention the red flags, the activity (and the huge vote win – from to 12% to 19+%) of the communist party.
Yesterdays night NHK news showed footage from Vladivostok. Impossible to say how many people where out there, but the red flags were very visible. To their credit, they at least mentioned the communists, something I failed to find in the Anglo-saxon press and El Pais.
Posted by: Philippe | Dec 11 2011 2:07 utc | 26
thank you r’giap. there are no words to express how this site, and i cannot begin to name names because you know how that goes, but you are definitely part of who i hold dear in this regard, have changed my life and educated me about the ways of the world. i didn’t just get my feet wet here, i literally grew up here in terms of how i see the world.
and b, thank you. i know you know that. you must know that. still, there is so much i don’t understand and so much over my head. but i will keep on learning. from the bottom of my heart, you changed my life.
Posted by: annie | Dec 11 2011 2:27 utc | 27
video of the drone landing – no it can’t be, must be a fake .-))
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97Mw9owPsv4&feature=share
Posted by: somebody | Dec 11 2011 9:47 utc | 28
@ somebody
Fake.
Compare the original footage of a Skunkworks UAV prototype (Polecat), higher resolution … back in 2007 😉
Posted by: Outraged | Dec 11 2011 11:30 utc | 29
“… we’ve lost it!”
As if ‘the measure of a man is who we kill in the world’ – & the ‘Disappeared ?’
An excellent interview with Col. Lawrence Wilkerson the former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell
Posted by: Outraged | Dec 11 2011 12:13 utc | 30
Anyone watch the Clown Show last night?
WTF is Ron Paul doing in the mix? Damned fool, doesn’t he know integrity doesn’t buy votes? Honesty, common sense, plain talk, these are all campaign tactics of a bygone era. You need a generous coating of slime to lubricate your entry into the Oval Office.
Hard to hold out much hope for the Palestinians when you see some sack of shit bigot like Newt recieve loud applause when he calls the Palestinians “terrorists”, and lies his ass off about “daily rocket attacks” and Israeli “casualties”. Make matters worse, the media treats Newt’s bullshit about Isr/Pal as if its just blunt honesty, and his only crime is not being PC enough.
WTF is Newt shooting for, a one state solution? Surely, as President, there isn’t a preacher’s chance in hell that he would support ANY fair mediation by the US. After all, if he thinks all Palestinians are “terrorists”, and just an “invented” people, you think he’s gonna work for them to have a state of their own?
Some “historian”, that Gingrich, eh? If I tell you 2+2=5, does that make me a mathematician???
Fact is, the bigotry and hatred that Newt has for Muslims dripped off him last night like the drool of a feverish and sickly rabid dog. With Newt as Pres, and with Bolton slithering back out from underneath his cow pie, what will our policies in the Middle East look like? The entire global community is threatened by this Republican line up.
These clowns are batshit crazy, one and all. This spineless worm Obama, with his malfeasance, political cowardice, and misguided and naive capitulations, has paved a path for one of these RW scumbags to ooze through a crack in the White House door. The REAL “invention” here isn’t the Palestinians, its Barack Obama. Had he of been what he claimed to be, these ghouls wouldn’t be knocking on the White House door.
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Dec 11 2011 16:10 utc | 31
outraged, so this video was on youtube since 2007?
was supposed top secret, you know, this stealth drone, brother of the RQ-170 Sentinel :-))
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_P-175 (German wikipedia als English wikipedia is less complete)
Posted by: somebody | Dec 11 2011 16:37 utc | 32
The REAL “invention” here isn’t the Palestinians, its Barack Obama
!
Posted by: claudio | Dec 11 2011 16:47 utc | 33
#outraged,
so maybe the issue now is why the
“automatic fail-safe flight termination mode” was not activated?
http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2007/03/what-killed-the-polecat.html
are Iranians telling US engineers they are stupid?
:-))
Posted by: somebody | Dec 11 2011 16:50 utc | 34
Williams Rivers Pitt hits one out of the ballpark…..
Short Tales From Bizarro World: The GOP Primaries Edition
Sunday 11 December 2011
by: William Rivers Pitt, Truthout | Op-Ed
An excerpt…
“Speaking of Rock & Roll Mitt, Derpy Rick, Hopeless Herman and Manic Michele, let us all bow our heads in a moment of thanks to the Republican brain trust, who surveyed the field of dimwits, lunatics, ego-trippers and plain fools vying to carry the banner for their party, and said, “You know what’d be great? Let’s have these people participate in 43,212 nationally-televised debates! What could possibly go wrong?”
“Thank you. From my heart, thank you”
http://www.truth-out.org/short-tales-bizarro-world-gop-primaries-edition/1323290003
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Dec 12 2011 0:01 utc | 35
“the bigotry and hatred that Newt has for Muslims dripped off him last night like the drool of a feverish and sickly rabid dog.”
I’ve copied #31 to my hard drive, POA.
Ya gotta stop this. You’re embarrassing me. You have me wanting to start a fan club or a Facebook page for ya – ME!!! – the dictionary picture of a self-centred type “A” personality!
Geez!!!
Posted by: arthurdecco | Dec 12 2011 1:34 utc | 36
Another author hits a home run describing these ignorant jackasses being paraded before the global community as “presidential material”…..
http://www.redress.cc/americas/ldavidson20111212
An excerpt….
“…it is possible, if not probable, that a crazy right-wing president (one even more shallow, ignorant, hypocritical and mendacious then George W. Bush) could in fact be elected. If that happened it could mean ruin for the nation and disaster for the world.”
Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Dec 12 2011 3:32 utc | 37
It’s the economy boys, Jobs you say, We got jobs right here…
Internment / Resettlement Specialist
Internment/Resettlement (I/R) Specialists in the Army are primarily responsible for day-to-day operations in a military confinement/correctional facility or detention/internment facility. I/R Specialists provide rehabilitative, health, welfare, and security to U.S. military prisoners within a confinement or correctional facility; conduct inspections; prepare written reports; and coordinate activities of prisoners/internees and staff personnel.
Some of your duties as an Internment/Resettlement Specialist may include:
Assist with the supervision and management of confinement and detention operations
Provide external security to confinement/corrections facilities or detention/internment facilities
Provide counseling and guidance to individual prisoners within a rehabilitative program
Prepare or review reports and records of prisoners/internees and programs
Detainment Camps Going Live: FEMA Seeking Subcontractors to Provide “Temporary Camp Services” In All 50 States
In the News: Militarized Academia, Human Terrain System
Posted by: Uncle | Dec 12 2011 8:32 utc | 38
Clinton Warns of Bio-Weapons Threat, Terrorism
Paranoid? Well, fuck yeah…
Posted by: Uncle | Dec 12 2011 8:59 utc | 39
Police employ Predator drone spy planes on home front
Unmanned aircraft from an Air Force base in North Dakota help local police with surveillance, raising questions that trouble privacy advocates.
By Brian Bennett, Washington Bureau
December 10, 2011, 6:12 p.m.
Reporting from Washington—
Armed with a search warrant, Nelson County Sheriff Kelly Janke went looking for six missing cows on the Brossart family farm in the early evening of June 23. Three men brandishing rifles chased him off, he said.
Janke knew the gunmen could be anywhere on the 3,000-acre spread in eastern North Dakota. Fearful of an armed standoff, he called in reinforcements from the state Highway Patrol, a regional SWAT team, a bomb squad, ambulances and deputy sheriffs from three other counties.
He also called in a Predator B drone.
As the unmanned aircraft circled 2 miles overhead the next morning, sophisticated sensors under the nose helped pinpoint the three suspects and showed they were unarmed. Police rushed in and made the first known arrests of U.S. citizens with help from a Predator, the spy drone that has helped revolutionize modern warfare.
But that was just the start. Local police say they have used two unarmed Predators based at Grand Forks Air Force Base to fly at least two dozen surveillance flights since June. The FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration have used Predators for other domestic investigations, officials said.
“We don’t use [drones] on every call out,” said Bill Macki, head of the police SWAT team in Grand Forks. “If we have something in town like an apartment complex, we don’t call them.”
The drones belong to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which operates eight Predators on the country’s northern and southwestern borders to search for illegal immigrants and smugglers. The previously unreported use of its drones to assist local, state and federal law enforcement has occurred without any public acknowledgment or debate.
more…
Posted by: Uncle | Dec 12 2011 9:36 utc | 40
From Blackwater to Xe to…academi… changing names like notches on a ‘death squad’ list…
Posted by: Uncle | Dec 13 2011 1:43 utc | 41
Apparently Carrier IQ is FBI surveillance, yet again…
Mass spying on the people… YAWN…
Posted by: Uncle | Dec 13 2011 7:31 utc | 42
Whoa. Are you even allowed to use the “T” word in this context…? I guess nobody’s getting a nationality-based exemption if they slow down the war machine these days.
Posted by: Monolycus | Dec 13 2011 13:08 utc | 43
The Pretext for a North American Homeland Security Perimeter
There’s to much to highlight just go read it…
Anyone else feel like we’ve been Slippin’ Into Darkness? And pretty soon we’re gonna pay…
Posted by: Uncle | Dec 14 2011 9:10 utc | 44
Bill would permit robo-calls to your cell phone
If you like getting those automated messages on your home phone, then you’re just going to love a proposal in Congress. The bill (H.R. 3035) would allow these “robo-calls” to your cell phone — even if you didn’t give a company permission to contact you at that number
.
You are the product.
or uh, prisoners…
Posted by: Uncle | Dec 14 2011 9:18 utc | 45
Mohammed el Gorani, the youngest prisoner held at Guantánamo, has written a memoir of his time there, the lead up to his imprisonment, and subsequent release years later.
This is gut wrenching, and makes me beyond angry, I can believe my country can do this, I’m just at loss to explain the the complete disconnect from humanity by those whom are from the same dehumanization. I don’t know what I’m saying, I’m just so disappointed in this farce….
Posted by: Uncle | Dec 15 2011 3:51 utc | 46
Tomorrow Today marks the official end of the Iraq war. The Obama administration describes it as a ‘promise kept’.
At the same time…
House Passes Defense Authorization Bill, White House Drops Veto Threat
The House voted 283-136 to pass the 2012 defense authorization bill on Wednesday that contains controversial provisions requiring military detention for some terrorism suspects American Citizens without due process. The Obama administration, which had threatened to veto the massive $662 billion defense bill over the detainee provisions, announced it would support the bill. The bill is expected to pass the Senate and head to President Obama’s desk this week.
Also,
The US House Judiciary Committee is meeting on Today on SOPA & PIPA Say goodbye to the internet as you know it..
Posted by: Uncle | Dec 15 2011 10:43 utc | 47
DoD Training Manual: Protests are “Low-Level Terrorism”
Oh, on the SOPA, SOPA has NOT been postponed to 2012 AS HAS BEEN ERRONEOUSLY reported. The Committee members who support SOPA quietly changed the hearing date to the 21st, trying to trick the American people into thinking it was over for the year. This is dirty politics and should be illegal.
UPDATE SOPA
SOPA Congressional Staffers Get New Jobs in Entertainment
It’s reassuring to know things in Washington never change and it’s business as usual up on the Hill. Two of the senior aides who helped craft the SOPA legislation have now switched jobs to the private sector with the same companies that will profit from the passage of the legislation. Well, it can’t be called double-dipping I suppose, more like pre-dipping.
Posted by: Uncle | Dec 17 2011 17:00 utc | 48
Banks Financing Mexico Gangs Admitted in Wells Fargo Deal
Anon closes Wells Fargo account.
Posted by: Uncle | Dec 17 2011 17:58 utc | 49
It seem the US and Arabia Saudi have just started the counter-revolution operation in Iraq.
Al-Iraqiya suspends its attendance of Parliament sessions
Will this mark the re-activation of the wahabist ‘insurgence’ to force a ‘democratic change’ in Iraq? After the US forces departure Iraq is basically aligned with Syria, Iran and Lebanon against the wahabist monarchies and the US.
Posted by: ThePaper | Dec 17 2011 19:54 utc | 50
Video of a female Egyptian protester who was stripped from her black abaya and abused by army men has met with angry tweets criticizing the country’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces..
Story here …
Posted by: Uncle | Dec 18 2011 10:04 utc | 51
Before anyone asks me, presuming anyone intended to ask me, the chatter on the ground here is restricted exclusively to concern about how Myeong-bak and the “foreigners” will respond to the news. Nobody has expressed much opinion about Jong-eun yet one way or another.
Posted by: Monolycus | Dec 19 2011 9:21 utc | 52
@Monolycus – thanks
so this dude is no longer looking at things
but the younger dude now started looking at things.
Yet it seems unclear if he will be the new leader. His aunt and her husband who is currently no. 2 could take over. Whatever, policies seem unlikely to change in the immediate turn.
It appears that Asia Times Online has been hacked. I just went there, and got the Firefox “Reported Attack Page!” warning. If you don’t have Firefox or another browser with ‘safe surfing’ features, you might want to steer clear of them until they clean things up a bit, particularly if you are using a Windows machine.
Posted by: Dr. Wellington Yueh | Dec 23 2011 3:49 utc | 54
re – comment 54
Asia Time is back up now.
The ‘outage’ was probably caused by some rogue advertiser.
Posted by: Philippe | Dec 23 2011 12:19 utc | 55