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April 4, 2013
Open Thread 2013-06
Comments
How to escape through a small hole (video) http://www.wimp.com/octopushoudini/
Three reads on Korea.
1. War games are a violation of the 1953 Armistice Agreement. The United Nations and North Korea are still in a state of war. The 1953 Armistice Agreement was supposed to presage a peaceful settlement and the withdrawal of all foreign troops.
agreement extract:
** with the objective of establishing an armistice which will insure a complete cessation of hostilities and of all acts of armed force in Korea until a final peaceful settlement is achieved**
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=85&page=transcript
2. from the Wall Street Journal: The U.S. is putting a pause to what several officials described as a step-by-step plan the Obama administration approved earlier this year, dubbed “the playbook,” that laid out the sequence and publicity plans for U.S. shows of force during annual war games with South Korea.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324100904578400833997420280.html
3. Is the US Deliberately Thwarting Korean Reconciliation?
According to the Radio New Zealand website Dr Tim Beal, a retired lecturer in Asian studies at Victoria University, the US may be using its current military exercises in South Korea to deliberately thwart that country’s efforts to strengthen political and economic ties with North Korea.
http://dissidentvoice.org/2013/04/is-the-us-deliberately-thwarting-korean-reconciliation/
Media in west once again fool us on statements by North Korea.
http://goo.gl/vJcYf
Posted by: Anoynmous | Apr 4 2013 19:27 utc | 3
What would happen if we carpet-bombed the entire artillery set-up that threatens Seoul? Start it. Reduce the threat to nothing while really showing off? Who would complain? Iran? I am NOT worried about their long-range missiles – there’s no proff they’ve ever hit their target. Of course, I don’t think our anti-missile stuff works either – except the Patriot type that shoots at incoming in terminal stage that is pure ballistic and easy to figure – but overhead – not great.
So I think we should just shut them up. The World will actually appreciate it.
Posted by: Richard W. Crews | Apr 4 2013 21:43 utc | 7
The fifth summit of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries met in Durban, South Africa March 26 and 27, 2013, to discuss “political and economic coordination.”
As the US pivots to Asia-Pacific, the BRICS pivot to Africa.
Also these developing countries reaffirmed their commitment to:
–international law
–multilateralism
–the central role of the United Nations
–shared solidarity and cooperation
There seemed to be no recognition of the world leadership role of the United States.
Excerpt from eThekwini Declaration:
“1.. . . Our discussions took place under the overarching theme, “BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Development, Integration and Industrialisation”. The Fifth BRICS Summit concluded the first cycle of BRICS Summits and we reaffirmed our commitment to the promotion of international law, multilateralism and the central role of the United Nations (UN). Our discussions reflected our growing intra-BRICS solidarity as well as our shared goal to contribute positively to global peace, stability, development and cooperation. We also considered our role in the international system as based on an inclusive approach of shared solidarity and cooperation towards all nations and peoples.” . .
http://www.cfr.org/emerging-markets/joint-statement-fifth-brics-summit-durban-march-2013/p30341
@7 RWC
Actually, “the world” would not appreciate the U.S. bombing yet another backward country. That is behavior that has caused people to dislike the U.S. especially in the countries so affected. Naturally that is the case. So I think (and hope) that your carpet bombing idea is DOA. It’s not practical in any case — there is no such thing as an “entire artillery set-up.”
@7. I can thing of a few things that might happen. As soon as the first bomb drops NK will start hitting Seoul and US bases in SK. They may even get lucky and hit a carrier or two.
You will be disappointed to learn that the Pentagon is dialing the rhetoric down…
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/04/politics/koreas-u-s-/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Posted by: dh | Apr 4 2013 23:08 utc | 10
Hypocrisy alert.
Judging from the opinion on Korea expressed at today’s State presser, the U.S. won’t be threatening Iran with aircraft carriers and “all options on the table” any longer. That’s good news about a “wrongheaded” U.S. approach.
QUESTION: Do you believe that this rhetoric by Kim Jong-un is utilized because the only thing that North Korea has is its military threatening, I guess, is used to extort maybe some aid and some help and some action and some attention to its problems?
MS. NULAND: If, in fact, that’s what they are thinking, they are wrongheaded in that approach.
I was stunned to hear Javier Solana say that what Iran wants is to be treated like Brazil, which has its own nuclear energy program. Isn’t it treason to make Iranians sound reasonable, especially at the Brookings Institution?
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/311846-1
Posted by: JohnH | Apr 5 2013 0:50 utc | 12
fuck the piss prize
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-growing-campaign-to-revoke-obamas-nobel-peace-prize/5329659/
Posted by: denk | Apr 5 2013 1:18 utc | 13
recent Nobel “Peace” Laureates–
2009: Barack Obama
*Payback to Thorbjørn Jagland, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, who awarded the Peace Prize to Obama shortly after, with US support, he was elected as the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. There is a move to rescind it – good luck on that.
2010: Liu Xiaobo
*Chinese activist, currently incarcerated as a political prisoner, was awarded the Prize to embarrass China and promote U.S. interests.
2011: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee, Tawakkol Karman
*”for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work” — a toss to SecState Hillary Clinton
2012: European Union (EU)
Together with the U.S., the principal warmongers in the world — Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Mali – the list goes on.
According to Alfred Nobel’s will, the prize should be awarded to “the person who [during the previous year] shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”
The U.S. (concocted) issue with Iran’s nuclear program is Iran’s enrichment program. What countries enrich?
World Uranium Enrichment Facilities (14)
Gaseous Diffusion Plants
–Argentina, China, France, United States
Centrifuge Plants
–Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Iran, Japan, Korea DPR, Netherlands, Pakistan, Russia, United Kingdom, USA.
#10
The scripted actions included an increased show of U.S. military force — such as the flying of B-2 bombers — during the annual U.S.-South Korea military exercise, the Foal Eagle.
“Eyebrows started to go up when it was clear Foal Eagle was going to be protected from the budget cuts of sequestration,” the official said, referring to the forced federal spending cuts that went into effect in March.
Posted by: somebody | Apr 5 2013 4:53 utc | 16
Is there a relation between US Financial Sanctions and DPRK nuclear weapons tests?
Ronda Hauben has posted on her taz.de netizenblog her analysis
“US Financial Sanctions Against the DPRK As the Godfather of Nuclear Tests on Korean Peninsula”
http://blogs.taz.de/netizenblog/2013/04/03/us-sanctions-against-dprk-as-godfather-nuclear-tests/
Posted by: jrh | Apr 5 2013 5:10 utc | 18
Russian war games a message to NATO? Let’s hope so.
http://pennyforyourthoughts2.blogspot.com/
Posted by: ben | Apr 5 2013 5:24 utc | 19
dont mess with the nobel piss laureate or else…
http://www.globalresearch.ca/video-be-nice-to-america-or-we-ll-bring-democracy-to-your-country/18698
Posted by: denk | Apr 5 2013 6:00 utc | 20
What are the real motives behind the UN Arms Trade Treaty?
The main reason the arms trade talks took place at all is that the United States, the world’s biggest arms trader, decided in 2009 to support a treaty.
M K Bhadrakumar suggests
[The Arms Trade Treaty] becomes a crowbar in the hands of the US to interfere with other countries’ arms transactions for geopolitical reasons by pitchforking alibis such as ‘human rights situations’…
The document keeps mum about arms transfers to ‘non-state actors’.
Indeed, curbing covert arms supplies to the Syrian rebels or the terrorist organizations like Mujahideen-e-Khalq and Jundullah (which operate against Iran) will not be in the interests of the US and its allies.
Surprise, surprise
Posted by: Pat Bateman | Apr 5 2013 9:26 utc | 21
Richard W. Crews (7)
What would happen if we carpet-bombed the entire artillery set-up that threatens Seoul? Start it. Reduce the threat to nothing while really showing off? Who would complain? Iran? I am NOT worried about their long-range missiles – there’s no proff they’ve ever hit their target. Of course, I don’t think our anti-missile stuff works either – except the Patriot type that shoots at incoming in terminal stage that is pure ballistic and easy to figure – but overhead – not great.
So I think we should just shut them up. The World will actually appreciate it.
Well, that depends on many factors, one of them being whether NK “somehow” got some kind of S-300 or a chinese version of it. If so, they would shot the american “air superiority” right out of the air.
Furthermore, one doesn’t carpet bomb a country and then go home. Due to NKs geography bombing wouldn’t bring strinking results (aside from Pyong Yang, maybe). Entering the country the americans would have to deal with ca. 1 Mio. quite well trained soldiers who, after having seen their families being carpet bombed, would sure enough not have the slightest reservation to massaker the american scum.
Most importantly, however – and this should have become clear to anyone with a brain (which includes a pardon for you) – this whole NK situation is a trap.
Or would anyone (americans excluded) think that NK *dared* to behave like they do without Chinese consent?
Long story short: the usa is done. Game over, tilt. Russia and China now have patiently given the usa ca 1 decade to pull back, quit the stage and half-way keep their face.
Evidently the americans didn’t get it. Right now the situation is more like: So, you feel superior and inconvincible and like projectig dominance, usa? Enough is enough. Either you get lost or we’ll find out the hard way.
Concerning your assumption about the worlds appreciation for american cowboy brawling and terrorism you are very much mistaken. The reality is more like “there is no country since decades that is hated more intensely than the usa. Except israel, maybe”.
Frankly, it seems to me that the usa is by far worse for this world than Hitler was.
Posted by: Mr. Pragma | Apr 5 2013 10:01 utc | 22
22) You wrote this nonsense for the last sentence? It makes you feel good?
Posted by: somebody | Apr 5 2013 10:19 utc | 23
23
Feel free to replace Hitler with Stalin or Idi Amin.
I’m by the way pretty sure that – although the usa drives merciless propaganda – the usa is hated by far more people on this planet than Hitler or Stalin (although they had the propaganda against themselves).
Otherwise, I hve to inform you tat you have not yet given me grounds to consider you as a discussion partner.
Have a nice day
Posted by: Mr. Pragma | Apr 5 2013 10:34 utc | 24
@somebody,
What I read Mr. Pragma saying was a reply to Richard W. Crews who was proposing to carpet bomb an entire country. His arguments were simple and in my opinion pretty intelligent:
Carpet bombing is not a policy by itself and serve only to satisfy the vilest characteristic of a state, somehow like drone assasination.
Russia and China are playing around with the one that consider himself being the smartest and bigest kid in the neighborhood.
Why, instead of countering these arguments, you immediately proceeded to character assassination by implying that he has a twisted mind ? Don’t you think this is a troll like behaviour ?
Posted by: ATH | Apr 5 2013 13:06 utc | 25
Sadly the USA my country isn’t making any friends. Our oppressive system while still profitable for many is becoming unprofitable for many more. The system is full of gunk, the unemployment office are bursting at the seams. Social services have been gutted and theres no money for people to eat, seek shelter and heat up during the cold months. the kids are stupid & there being further dumbed down. This is not a recipe for sucess here in the USA, our ignorance, arrogance, thick headedness and sheer stupidity are simply baffling. We cannot on the other hand while neglecting the homeland continue to destroy and covet other people’s lands. The recipe for our downfall continues to be concocted. So our are we worse than any of the past small time dictactors? I’m starting to feel that they were amateurs.
Posted by: Fernando | Apr 5 2013 13:23 utc | 26
The Zionist entity has never had a creative thought, let alone a technological breakthrough. We all know, Israel routinely steals trade secrets from the U.S. and countless other countries.
Posted by: HIlmi Hakim | Apr 5 2013 14:09 utc | 28
And Jewish scientists have never played a major role in any modern scientific breakthrough, right, Hilmi?
Posted by: ralphieboy | Apr 5 2013 14:11 utc | 29
Fernando @ 26: Sadly, I feel much the same as you. Our nation has become one of the largest purveyors of terrorism the world has ever known.
Posted by: ben | Apr 5 2013 14:33 utc | 30
As this seems somewhat hard to be understood by some (no insult intended. Being brainwashed from early schooldays on, it’s not that easy to regain a clear view):
What options does the usa *really* have? Let’s for a moment brush aside all the usa PR and see the reality:
– nuclear?
Besides the fact that this would be a secure way to become a detested pariah in the world community …
The usa would be ill advised to try that path.
Whatever the exact number of officially and really existing missiles and warheads may be, it seems reasonable to assume that all 3, in particular the usa and Russia, have more than enough nuclear capabilities to destroy this planet.
But in the end it’s delivery that counts. And that’s the part where things are looking not that bright for the usa. While Russia (and to a certain degree China) does actually have real and really working ADMs (air defense missile (systems)) with excellent hit rates the usa have hardly more than “superiority” PR. Actually their most modern systems should be assumed to have hit rates below 10%.
Furthermore, while Russia has concentrated on (and have as their major doctrine) to defend their country and their vital near abroad interests, the usa has lulled themselves into a wet dream hybris and spent its time and its resources mainly on “dominance projection” that is, on attacking – with quite limited success – militarily weak(ened) countries of hardly mediocre caliber and has in its unlimited hybris hardly anything beyond autosuggestive PR in terms of self defense capabilities. Actually americas defense for many years was hardly more than the (formertimes correct) assumption that nobody would be insane enough to attack their mainland.
– cruise missiles/air superiority?
No way. The usa have neither clearly the best in aircraft nor in other relevant capabilities. While one might argue whether an F-22 is slightly better or worse in this or that detail it can be said in general that the Russian Sukhois are roughly equally worthy (The same holds, so it seems, increasingly true for China).
More importantly though to build up or keep air superiority will be next to impossible in a scenario where Russia, using highly mobile ADM systems, can create at will de facto denial zones of considerable size (ca. 200 km diameter (the 400 km missiles do not seem to be ready in numbers)).
– BOG (boots on the ground)?
No way. Not only are the NK/Chinese troups vastly more numerous than any troups nato could bring into the theater but to build up a half-way adequate number of nato troups would also be cost prohibitive.
But the trap is worse. The usa are *already* loosing.
(In particular after having played down NK as a bunch of fools) the usa can not afford to retreat. Any retreat or easy going towards NK would necessarily be interpreted as treason by SK and Japan which both are immensely important military partners of the usa who have invested immense trust in america, have build/changed their societies to be usa compatible, and have become very major economic and financial partners.
And exacty this dilemma experienced by the usa can be seen right now. One day they underline how serious they take the NK threats, the next day they try to downplay it along the lines of the NK leader being young and making noise to prove himself and the like.
And it’s in Chinas hands to handle this situation in any way they wish.
Some days ago a friend gave to consider that the Chinese would loose immense money if the usa really broke. Yes, that’s true. And it’s relative; “immense” es compared to what? Fact is – and the Chinese know that – that the usa will by no means be in a position to pay their debts any time soon. So the chinese would loose lots of money anyway.
More importantly though the situation should be viewed differently (and quite probably is by China):
Nothing in americas behaviour suggests that the usa is even considering to repay their debths; actually the usa rather try every dirty trick in the book to somehow keep/reestablish it’s dollar/military power in order to dictate the value (and the validity) of its debths in its favour – in no small part by weakening China.
So, spending some 100 billion dollars to destroy the usa and to then dictate the conditions to the usa might actually be a rather cheap way for China. This holds even more true if the war can be mostly contained in Korea where the Chines part would be limited to replenishment and some limited support while the usa would pay dearly for each and every soldier only to be worn out or to be killed.
Last but not least China *can* afford 100 or 200 billion for that war while the usa is already brutally overburdened by the last wars.
And: Putting it bluntly, NK pi**ses right into americas face; they provoke them daily and bluntly. And the usa tries to maneuver with an ever more tight space.
Posted by: Mr. Pragma | Apr 5 2013 14:34 utc | 31
25) Don’t you consider it a strange concept to rank the evil in the world and place a whole country comprising millions of individuals on the top of the list, comparing the country to single individuals?
Of course opinions on the US depend on where you live
Posted by: somebody | Apr 5 2013 14:39 utc | 32
Pat Bateman (27)
Funny 😉
But then who knows? Maybe the Russian have prepared their version of hide and seek …
-> Club K
—
P.S. to my above: I just happened to fall over some interesting numbers: A us soldier in Afghanistan costs ca. 800.000$/year, an afghan soldier is around 16.000$/year. While not matching exactly, the costs for a NK soldier are quite probably even lower and the costs for Russian and Chinese soldiers in roughly the same dimension albeit somewhat higher.
We should in this context not forget that a war is a means to an end and that the costs play a major role in winning or loosing.
Last but not least those relations (800.000 vs 16.000, i.e. 50:1) might also considerably relativate things when looking at usa mil. spending (700+ bln/year) vs. that of Russia or China …
Posted by: Mr. Pragma | Apr 5 2013 14:45 utc | 33
Mr Pragma,
“And: Putting it bluntly, NK pi**ses right into americas face; they provoke them daily and bluntly”
Nonsense and it was Germany that got invaded by Poland right?
Posted by: Anonymous | Apr 5 2013 14:57 utc | 34
Hey Ralphieboy: Since 1948 the Zionist entity has given us nothing but terrorists like Begin, Sharon, Shamir etc.
The Jewish scientists I assume you are referring to all came before the terrorist state was created in 1948. In fact, Einstein opposed the creation of the criminal state.
Maybe, you guys should have stayed in diaspora. It seems you were better off.
Posted by: HIlmi Hakim | Apr 5 2013 15:04 utc | 35
@32
I can’t see how your first point can help the discussion at hand, but in general, I’m into the opinion that the more propaganda and PR one uses as a political tool the more he shows himself into the business of manipulating the public opinion and the more I would consider him a lier. In the current context, mostly in the middle-east but also in the korean peninsula, I see the PR and BS guy being the one coming from far far away. What about you ?
Regarding the Pew link, it’s listing the public opinion on the US likeability trend in some selected countries. This is not the same as saying the US foreign policy is the most hated in the word. Furthermore, liking someone is a mild feeling usually expressed without hesitation; hating is a really pronounced one and hard to survey. There will always be more “Likers” than “haters”, and this is normal and the way it should be. On the other hand “haters” will be more militant and more active, and this is the way the reality is.
Posted by: ATH | Apr 5 2013 15:16 utc | 36
I said,
This is not the same as saying the US foreign policy is the most hated in the word.
I should have said:
This is not proving that the US foreign policy is not the most hated in the word.
Posted by: ATH | Apr 5 2013 15:21 utc | 37
anonymous somebody (34)
However you happened to wildly construct that context …
Actually I do not know whether Germany invaded Poland or whether this was a false flag (as some say) or … I wasn’t there and don’t know anyone trustworthy who was there.
But this has *nothing* to do with the current NK situation. If you have a need to vomit try to find a bathroom. My best wishes for your health.
Posted by: Mr. Pragma | Apr 5 2013 15:27 utc | 38
@somebody #23
You’re right. A Godwinized conclusion is usually the result of a lazy mind, and this is no exception.
Posted by: nobodee | Apr 5 2013 15:33 utc | 39
“Don’t you consider it a strange concept to rank the evil in the world and place a whole country comprising millions of individuals on the top of the list, comparing the country to single individuals?”
Yes, it is strange. But so is the belief that the policies practised by the German state between 1933 and 1945 can be attributed to the delinquency of one man, albeit the “leader.”
The truth is that Hitler was the choice of Germany’s ruling class and they stuck with him because, while much of what their government did offended their sensibilities (and even struck them as likely to lead to disasters) it protected their property, enhanced their standing and rid them of the threat of socialism. Or sharing their wealth, to put it simply.
Since 1945 the US government has taken on the burden of killing communists, thwarting attempts to tame capitalism and protecting the wealth of the rich from the claims of the, wealth producing, workers. It is doing on a global scale what the German state did in Europe. And, if you want to make a list of casualties you will discover that it is very long indeed, much longer than that piled up by the Nazis in little more than a decade.
Does this mean that, collectively, the Presidents from Truman to Obama are more evil than Adolf Hitler? That would depend on all manner of things. Personally I have no idea how one measures such things. It might help put things into perspective by understanding that while Hitler was but one, Austrian, man who undoubtedly suffered from severe personality disorders, the Presidency represents a wide variety of American factions and families who have consistently pursued the policy of protecting the wealth of evil men from the claims of society, and, in doing so, have massacred tens of millions in so many countries (including those governed by their satraps such as Britain) that it is far easier to list the few in which the United States has not clearly used military power than the vast majority of nations in whose internal affairs the US government intervenes untrammeled by law, morality or public opinion.
Posted by: bevin | Apr 5 2013 15:37 utc | 40
The ranking evil in the world issue has been elevated to a doctrine by the usa (“axis of evil”). It even played a major role in an illegal war destroying two countries and killing a million humans. And israel seems more than happy to employ it as well.
When it’s applied with the usa and/or israel at the top, however, it’s considered bad taste and unfair by some. Funny.
Posted by: Mr. Pragma | Apr 5 2013 15:43 utc | 41
Like #10 points out the US seems to be dialing the rethoric down. China calls for all sides to do the same, Fidel Castro does, Russia seems to be out of the loop – noone is backing North Korea’s rethoric and their threat to use atomic weapons. I guess the reasons for North Korea’s brinkmanship must be South Korean what else had changed recently?
Posted by: somebody | Apr 5 2013 15:53 utc | 42
It’s all part of the mans plan to keep us poor folk down. He keeps us down by making us work long hard hours, pays us too little. There is a fine for everything now. So if you got a little bit of money, you then have to pay for a ticket, a late fee, a service fee. You can’t have kids or be married unless your a homosexual. The people don’t have the energy or the time to be political. The special agenda people have got us by the balls. We need another Jimmy Carter and fast, when I told my ex that the war in Iraq was wrong, she told me that Bush did it to protect America. When I would tell people at bars that fighting Gaddafi was oh going to affect us negatively they literally cursed me out. 2 years later I’m not getting cursed out anymore. I want America to succeed but I want us to implement the principle of fair play that was ingrained to me for years. Especially watching Hollywood movies with John Cusak in them during the 80’s. I don’t want this narcisitic, egocentric selfish society that has arisen. It’s so pathetic to watch these yuppies in their designer garbage and mopped up hair with their overpriced degrees. These people think that they are better than everyone else, above everyone else. This is the bourgeois type if society that brought about Der Fuhrer. Opposition at home and abroad stifled and silenced.
Posted by: Fernando | Apr 5 2013 16:07 utc | 43
a) whatever the reason happens to be, NK neither could nor would dare to pull this off without Chinas consent.
b) What is China supposed to do? To say “Yeah, right, it’s a trap and we intend to break the usas spine”? *Of course* they utter something about “restraint” and “being reasonable”.
c) Russia is not out of the loop but – very funnily – playing the game. Lavrov today said (concerning the NK advice to clear the embassies) “we are now trying to shed light on the situation” together with the other countries of the NK group.
This gets even more funny considering that at the same time Putin officially demanded to stop all weapon deliveries to the syrian terrori … uh … “rebells”.
What are they supposed to do? To publicly, possibly with a Darth Vader voice, declare that they are just profoundly fu**ing the usa?
Frankly, “trying to shed light on the situation” is basically the same message but in diplomatic terms. Translated it means sth. like “We watch and enjoy to see the usa in that dilemma, loosing respect, trust and political weight every day that passes. Some more popcorn, anyone?”.
Putin putting his finger in the other wound, the still not overthrown Syria, and putting the western support for the terrorist openly on the table, makes it finally clear that Russia and China are by no means seriously concerned over NK.
Posted by: Mr. Pragma | Apr 5 2013 16:12 utc | 44
Obama could put an end to this with one phone call. Just as Rodman advised.
Posted by: ruralito | Apr 5 2013 16:14 utc | 45
Obama’s phone call won’t be made because Korea is the gift that keeps on giving to the MIC, which only survives in response to fabricated, sustained pseudo-threats.
Ship bound by Egypt
What’s this a ship full of arms coming from an israeli port and it’s rumored to be from Iran…sounds like the latest smear is being rolled out. Not buying it.
Posted by: Gehenna | Apr 5 2013 17:12 utc | 48
Strong poem/rap video: What do you know about Yemen?
Written 40 years ago by Gabriel García Márquez: Why Allende had to die
Posted by: Fernando | Apr 5, 2013 12:07:29 PM | 43
“Especially watching Hollywood movies with John Cusak in them during the 80’s.”
So that’s why I’m so screwed up. Well, over to You-Tube to try and remedy the defeciency. By the end of today, I will be John Cusak, if that’s a good thing to be, and I assume it is, right? Thanks.
Posted by: Mooser | Apr 5 2013 17:46 utc | 50
Mr pragma,
Then dont sport the nonsense that NK provoke the US. Unless you say Poland provoked Germany.
Posted by: Anonymous | Apr 5 2013 18:49 utc | 51
Anonymous (51)
Yeah, right. And, of course, I shouldn’t eat bread with cheese if my neighbour doesn’t like Dvorcak.
Feel free to construct as many nonsensical and arbitrary relations and conditions as you please. But kindly respect my freedom to reflect in complete ignorance of your weirdness.
Posted by: Mr. Pragma | Apr 5 2013 19:28 utc | 52
In the question of North Korea, you have to ask why they’ve gone so far as to warn embassies to leave. It is reaching the point where it is difficult to withdraw, if it were a political ploy.
Everybody has taken what the NK are doing as political. I begin to wonder whether the NK regime is not so desperate that real war would not be the best solution. That is, war would be the best solution for uniting the country anew under the regime, but it may also be suicidal. The US may bomb the country into oblivion. If you don’t have a better option, you may do it.
Posted by: alexno | Apr 5 2013 20:27 utc | 53
Mr Pragma,
If you say that NK provoke US I can tell you as much as you represent the “weirdness”.
Posted by: Anonymous | Apr 5 2013 21:47 utc | 54
This is old, and trivia.
I was reminded of it because of the recent Socialist scandal(s) in France.
I figured out, more or less, what happened with DSK at the Sofitel NY.
Remember, ppl took sides: either with the Maid Diallo or DSK, often as victim of some Sarko plot. Nobody could understand how/why the Maid would make her story up – remember, NY forensics identified his sperm – that some sort of sexual contact took place was undeniable. Note DSK has never denied it either. Well one could argue he was never put into a position where he needed to.
Nobody could understand why DSK could be so foolish as to sexually coerce / abuse / etc. an unknown maid in a Hotel, when he was set to become Prez of F, and had plenty of legit women at his disposal, professionals or not. I sided the the Maid, saying that DSK’s past behavior was right in line with this kind of thing. But on reflection I wasn’t really happy with that.
Two points.
1) Diallo did not know who he was, beyond a client at the Sofitel.
2) Cyrus Vance Jr. dropped the case, reportedly because as a witness she was not ‘credible.’ (I am setting aside the idea he did so because of pressure from any quarter: Simply, he figured out it was not winnable.) Much has been made of her lowly status and the fact that she lied on other occasions, had relatives / friends who were in jail, illegal, involved in shady scenes: all that was used in the media to discredit her, and that was, reportedly, the reason the case was dropped. (see e.g. link 1.) Those on her side argued that her past did not discredit her word in the DSK-Sofitel case, and that the media / etc. were smearing the victim in the usual blame the woman fashion.
No links, it is all too complicated, but if one looks at the few timelines (somewhat solid as based on the use of key-cards and cameras) out there that describe the movements in time, there are inconsistencies and holes that contradict her story. There are serious time gaps, mysterious movements back and forth. Stories of going to clean elsewhere, etc. Vance and them figured this out. A court case would not fly. Defense would bring up all the inconsistencies, oddities. Her reliance on drama, tears, embracing victim role etc. would not be believed in the cold light of a courtroom day with keen Defense attorneys lining up the time-line facts. (Plus using her past, painting her as a liar, etc. though that is tricky to handle.) So they gave it up, probably grasping what really went down.
What happened: She was asked for a sexual favor, and complied. Maybe it didn’t go too well, was partly coerced, maybe as ‘play’ not accepted, who knows about that. But DSK did not pay her, not on the spot, and not by leaving money behind, as expected. Maybe he didn’t think it was needed (!? – impunity-) or just forgot in the scramble of lunch date with his daughter and catching a plane. This breach of implicit contract sent her – understandably – furious and she went overboard in an immediate accusatory mode.
The one mystery left is DSK’s phone that went missing.
Fast forward, so Francois Hollande became Prez of France. Not that DSK could ever imho have been elected but this sex scandal knocked DSK – part of the Finance Powers and a sorta Socialist Star in the Big Players Scene – out and forced the Socialists to put forward the most low-level respectable banal ‘clean’ candidate available.
So goes History.
DSK could have left 500 dollars under the soap dish, or given hand to hand. Heh.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/nyregion/charges-against-strauss-kahn-dismissed.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
ABC TV has a telling interview of Diallo but the link does not work. (Google.)
Posted by: Noirette | Apr 6 2013 17:31 utc | 57
so china is raining craps again….
2003 korea iraq sars
2013 korea syria h7n9 [sic]
does this ring a bell ?
*In the days preceding the emergence of the first SARS cases, American raced to the Pacific Rim to impact escalating aggressions on the Korean peninsula. Communist China-a “most favored” trading partner with America, is politically allied with several American enemies, including those said to possess weapons of mass destruction, including Iraq. Coincidental? Not likely when viewing the larger political picture involving the Ango-American oligarchy’s RMA and instigated “conflicts short of war.*
http://rense.com/general36/scam.htm
Posted by: denk | Apr 7 2013 3:53 utc | 58
In the interview, titled “Are the Jews themselves guilty?” Jasiewicz shared views that sound like they were taken from a Nazi propaganda bulletin. Krzysztof Jasiewicz, a professor at the Polish Academy of Sciences and a well known expert on Polish-Jewish relations said:
This nonsense about Jews being killed mostly by Poles was created to hide the biggest Jewish secret. The scale of the German crime was only possible because the Jews themselves participated in the murder of their own people. For many generations, the Jews, not the Catholic Church, worked to bring the Holocaust about. It looks like the Jews haven’t learned their lesson and haven’t come to any conclusions yet. The Jews have a problem because they are convinced they are the chosen people. They feel that they are entitled to interpret everything, including Catholic doctrine. They will always criticize whatever we did or will do. It will never be enough, it will always be wrong and not generous enough. I am convinced that there is no point in a dialogue with the Jews, because it leads nowhere. I am completely convinced that the crime at Jadwabne and other pogroms were not committed in order to seize Jewish property or as revenge for the many terrible things that Jews did to the Poles in the past. The pogroms were mostly motivated by great fear of the Jews. These desperate murderers may have told themselves that they were doing terrible things, but that their grandchildren would be grateful to them. I think that such an interpretation is possible, though it does not absolve the crime. Jews are blinded by their hate and desire for revenge. They cooperated with communist groups before the war and joined the communist secret police after the war. I believe that anyone with some education and intelligence will understand that the Jewish version is not always true and not always better than others.
How long will he last!
Posted by: hans | Apr 7 2013 7:05 utc | 59
Thanks for the link to Gabriel García Márquez b.
Posted by: john francis lee | Apr 7 2013 14:44 utc | 60
Confessions of an oligarch: Shortly before his mysterious death, Boris Berezovsky revealed how he amassed a £2bn fortune in the ruthless pillage of post-Soviet Russia
The interesting admission is that the oligarchs manipulated the 1996 election in Russia to keep Yeltzin and to not let the communists win.
—
Authoritarian regime to criticize and punish two citizens for their private vacation choice.
—
In the mountain district of Surkh-e-Parsa, the U.S. financed a two-story, 24-room schoolhouse even though the surrounding villages didn’t have anywhere near enough children to fill it.
“If you collected the whole area around it, they wouldn’t even fill the first floor,” Mohammed Azizyar, the lead engineer for the provincial education department, said one recent morning at his office in Charikar. Meanwhile, at a decades-old facility in a different district, 12 grade levels were crammed into five classrooms.
U.S. reconstruction effort in Afghan provinces is unfinished work
obama , running the pnac manifesto on stanozolo
[hint]. stanozolo is stronger than steriod
taking stock…..
*spotlights China for ‘regime change’ saying ‘it is time to increase the
presence of American forces in southeast Asia’*
check
*creation of ‘US Space Forces’, to dominate space, *
check
*the total control of cyberspace to prevent ‘enemies’ using the
internet against the US*
check
*pinpoints North Korea, Libya, Syria and Iran as dangerous regimes
and says their existence justifies the creation of a ‘world-wide
command-and-control system’*
check
‘New methods of attack — electronic, ‘non-lethal’, biological — will be
more widely available … combat likely will take place in new
dimensions, in space, cyberspace, and perhaps the world of microbes
… advanced forms of biological warfare that can ‘target’ specific
genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of
terror to a politically useful tool’*
check
the missing link, the only unrealised pnac objective ???
more ref
http://www.4thmedia.org/2012/08/29/obamas-geopolitical-china-pivot-the-pentagon-targets-china-to-destroy-even-through-environmental-warfare/
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/world/asia/12cyberchina.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&hp&partner=TOPIXNEWS
http://www.4thmedia.org/2011/10/13/washington-targeting-chinas-achilles-heel/
http://www.4thmedia.org/2012/12/25/the-rape-of-syria%ef%bc%9afor-whom-the-syrian-bell-tolls/
http://www.4thmedia.org/2012/02/16/another-pretext-to-wage-war-the-fingerprints-of-false-flags-against-iran-the-thailand-india-georgia-terrorist-bomb-blasts/
Posted by: denk | Apr 7 2013 17:11 utc | 62
Topic: Egypt.
Egypt has some very serious economic problems.
http://soberlook.com/2013/04/egypts-descent-into-chaos.html
Not good news for the imperialists in Washington D.C. Or is this a deliberate (destructive) economic policy of the US ?
Posted by: Willem | Apr 7 2013 17:17 utc | 63
Looks like the Anti-Syria nations have been summoned to the Imperial Court (Washington) to discuss how to get rid of Assad once and for all.
Turkeys PM Erdogan, Jordans “King” Abdullah, Qatars Emir, and the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates are all travelling to meet Obama over the next month.
President Barack Obama plans some intense Mideast diplomacy this month and next, welcoming leaders of Turkey, Jordan and two Gulf states for Oval Office talks on Syria and broader developments in the Mideast. The White House said President Obama will welcome Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for talks on May 16. King Abdullah of Jordan, who hosted President Obama in Amman last month, will come to the White House April 26. Obama will also meet this month with the Emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates.
Asked if the visits are part of efforts to coordinate assistance to Syrian opposition forces, White House press secretary Jay Carney avoided an answer, keeping to the general description provided of the purpose of the visits. “There are obviously a number of issues for these leaders and the president to discuss, including Syria, including his recent visit to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories, including the broader developments in the Arab Spring so he looks forward to these visits and they reflect his commitment and interest in the region and in our policies toward the region,” Carney said.
Source: Voice of America
Posted by: Colm O’ Toole | Apr 7 2013 20:42 utc | 64
I Iraq today:
لص حُكم عليه بالاعدام يدير الدائرة القانونية بهيئة الاجتثاث!
http://www.kitabat.com/ar/page/07/04/2013/10791/لص-حُكم-عليه-بالاعدام-يدير-الدائرة-القانونية-بهيئة-الاجتثاث.html
Posted by: jhoover | Apr 8 2013 7:51 utc | 65
about time too
..u cant take it lying down for ever
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/04/09/chinese-army-colonel-says-avian-flu-is-an-american-plot-against-china/
Posted by: denk | Apr 14 2013 12:55 utc | 67