Putin in a recent speech
On the eve of World War I, “Russia did its best to persuade Europe to solve the conflict between Serbia and Austria-Hungary peacefully, without blood.
“But Russia was not listened to and it had to respond to the challenge of defending the brotherly Slavic people, defending itself and its citizens from an outside threat.”
You’d think Volodya would have mentioned Lenin and his comrades who, more that anyone else, took Russia out of WWI.
http://voiceofrussia.com/uk/news/2014_08_01/Its-time-for-humanity-to-accept-that-violence-begets-violence-Putin-1302/

Posted by: ruralito | Aug 11 2014 19:55 utc | 3

B, this is the best one liner, ever: “deal with it!” Thanks for safeguarding this valuable blog.

Posted by: MikeA | Aug 11 2014 19:57 utc | 5

UGH George Clooney’s fiance on the new Gaza probe panel.
Just, NO.

Posted by: L Bean | Aug 11 2014 20:08 utc | 7

@3: Anyone who bothers to read Christopher Clark’s The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 wouldn’t say that Russia was an innocent party in the outbreak of war in 1914. Germany and Austria-Hungary bear a heavier responsibility, but basically Russia gave Serbia a blank check, allowed itself to mobilize more or less automatically, and very possibly irresponsible Russian officials like their ambassador in Belgrade were in on the assassination plot. Tsar Nicholas had allowed extreme nationalists to gain such power in his government that, when he hesitated to go to war, they were able to force his hand.

Posted by: lysias | Aug 11 2014 20:14 utc | 9

@lysias
Yeah, Germany is very, VERY EVIL; it was responsible for all the wars, for the holohoax, er, I mean, the holocau$t and all else bad under the sun…
England, for example, was a real peace loving country that had nothing to do with provoking the great war… or WWII for that matter..
Ps: Russia did have its share of responsability for wwI and the Soviet Union even more for WWII.
Did i just write that? Forget it, it was all Germany… and maybe germanys allies, they were all evil too.

Posted by: Luca K | Aug 11 2014 20:25 utc | 11

With Duhmericans, it’s only one line you’ll be getting in, before they start forgetting how it started, like in bumper-stickers. eor (end of remark)

Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Aug 11 2014 20:27 utc | 13

@4
MH17: First crash report ‘in weeks’: Dutch investigators

“In order to analyse the information… it’s not essential to remain in Ukraine,” Van der Weegen told AFP, saying the team will now be based in The Hague.
Ukranian air crash experts, who are taking part in the international probe, had been at the crash site shortly after the crash, before the Dutch were tasked with leading the investigation, Van der Weegen said.
The deteriorating security situation prevented crash investigators under the OVV’s leadership from reaching the remote site, although Dutch, Australian and Malaysian forensic experts did reach the area to look for body parts and personal belongings.
“Since we’ve taken over the investigation, there has been no new opportunity to get to the crash site,” Van der Weegen said.

I’m afraid that all the EU governments are US stooges and that it truly is the case that access to the facts is ‘inessential’ to their analysis.

Posted by: john francis lee | Aug 11 2014 21:21 utc | 15

You have my sympathy b. You open up a nice little bar but all the drunks come in turn over the tables screaming fuck this and fuck that and you and we are all assholes … I’m amazed you’ve kept at it so long. Thanks for having done so.

Posted by: john francis lee | Aug 11 2014 21:24 utc | 17

I have a question that only remotely could be considered appro pro to a geopolitical oriented blog even on an Open Thread. Perhaps (and I probably stretch it) it could relate as a cross cultural good will gesture or (you’ll love this) an interspecies consideration. Anyway here goes:
About three months ago my wife and I (my wife really, I just go along with her agendas as a rule) acquired a rescue dog that was within 48 or so hours from going to his end. He is a ten year old German Shepard that was born in Germany and partially trained there before coming to New York city to be the companion of a New York special investigator police officer. The Officer died unexpectedly one to two years ago and the dog was bounced around and almost certainly abused in the interim until we got him. His historical information is quite sketchy and we have not been able to get much information about him.
Anyway, he came to us with a huge disposition for fear/aggression. We have patiently and lovingly worked with him ever since but he still has a long way to go. We still can’t have friends over without them calling ahead and us putting him into his enclosure. Not a good situation.
He is truly a lovely creature. His coloring is mostly dark black with a long black tail that reaches the ground. Everyone remarks on how physically beautiful he is, even strangers driving by on his walks who slow down to say so. He is now quite loving with us and is in good health, intelligent and obviously well trained but we have little clue as to how to go about using that to his and our advantage.
So my question here is: “Is there anyone out there reading this who might have good information as to what German commands he might have been trained to?” We suspect that his original language of training was German. Neither my wife or I know German so phonetic pronunciation would help.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. But otherwise thanks anyway for your forbearance.

Posted by: juannie | Aug 11 2014 22:02 utc | 19

Per reliable sources, a well-defended humanitarian convoy will soon be going to Donetsk. Underline, well-defended.

Posted by: Steve | Aug 11 2014 22:16 utc | 21

@21 PressTV has it: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/08/11/374948/russia-to-send-aid-convoy-to-ukraine/

Posted by: guest77 | Aug 11 2014 22:47 utc | 23

Last week there were reports of increasing resistance to junta conscription in Transcarpathia among Rusyns, Hungarians and Slovaks. Are there any updates on this?

Posted by: Cortes | Aug 11 2014 23:45 utc | 25

@ 7
George Clooney’s fiancee has turned down the United Nation’s offer to put her on a commission to examine possible war crimes in Gaza … because she says she’s simply too busy.
Amal Alamuddin — an international lawyer — says she’s got 8 cases on the front burner and can’t accept the role to become a member of the 3-member commission.
She says “I am horrified by the situation in the occupied Gaza Strip, particularly the civilian
casualties that have been caused, and strongly believe that there should be an independent investigation and accountability for crimes that have been committed.”
Interesting she says crimes “that have been committed.” Sounds like some judgments have been made here.
She also has a wedding to plan … no shame in that.
Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2014/08/11/george-clooney-amal-alamuddin-finace-turns-down-un-gaza-commission/#ixzz3A8L3lu3a
————————-
Why is she constantly referred to as “George Clooney’s fiancee? Amal Alamuddin is a person in her own right… Clooney has had so many fiancees, it’s insulting and somewhat vague to refer to Alamuddin in that manner.

Posted by: crone | Aug 12 2014 0:38 utc | 27

@26 Thanks, Steve

Posted by: Cortes | Aug 12 2014 1:07 utc | 29

Very good criteria for acceptable comments. Maybe you should just ban repeat offenders. If a newbie shows up then just remind them of your rules. If that doesn’t work then ban them. I find it hard to believe that Jsor still posts here given these criteria.

Posted by: ToivoS | Aug 12 2014 2:06 utc | 31

I can agree with the majority of your ‘categories’ and criteria, except for #1. You cannot resolve problems that our world is facing and you cannot win the information war without naming and pointing your finger openly at the real powers that are responisble for current wars, atrocities, massacres, and war crimes. From my own past experience in fighting the state and the political system, I know that people, en masse, are not able to take on a full-time, coordinated, and financed struggle; people in most countries have no access to arms, logistics or necessary supplies. There usually is a leadership and this leadership is usually connected to some powerful sponsors, often foreign. These sponsors are usually “in the shadows.”
We also know that most governments, including the US government, are not elected in grassroots elections but rather selected, approved, and sometimes appointed by ‘higher, unelected powers’ whose interest they later serve, after beinng installed in office. Only naive people can think that there is no ‘conspiracy’ at levels higher than national governments. There exists a growing body of evidence to support this possibility, but common sense and everyday observation also indicate that this is the case. I will not go through the particular ‘powers’ you listed in your category 1, but I know that every one of these powers historically did, and currently does, play a role in politics. BTW, you have missed a few of them 🙂

Posted by: Lech Biegalski | Aug 12 2014 2:21 utc | 33

@ Geoff29 @ #28 Yes , I wholeheartedly support your plea there to NOT ban J Sorrentine . . . . . & Holefield. I enjoy JS’s passion and while I think (mostly) that Holefield would be better consigned to a hole in a field, never the less, just ’cause I disagree with about 99.998% of his posts, someone has to hold a dissenting view

Posted by: Kiwicris | Aug 12 2014 2:49 utc | 35

Older video from TRNN proving Nixon and his cronies traitors.
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=2998
Thanks b, for all the years of providing an open forum.

Posted by: ben | Aug 12 2014 2:58 utc | 37

Many of the most interesting regular commenters found here at MOA are guilty of many of the crimes which b has outlined above.
This is a lively site and it would suffer, at least temporarily (until they be replaced with like-minded cranks) if some of these colorful commenters were banned.
Banning equates with censorship to a great degree. Censorship is not a good thing.
Odd that the sovereign USA maintains one “irrevocable bond” (declared by Congress) with another nation.
Makes no sense and it should not be tolerated by the citizenship of a representative democracy.

Posted by: Fast Freddy | Aug 12 2014 3:25 utc | 39

@Fete #40
Correcting, sorry:

…Even formal encirclement is NOT a cause to surrender the cities, because the siege can not be complete in principle, yet, it would bind a large number of troops easing up pressure in other parts of the front.

Posted by: Fete | Aug 12 2014 4:00 utc | 41

recommending:NewYorker: Steve Coll: Oil and Erbil.

And so, in Erbil, in the weeks to come, American pilots will defend from the air a capital whose growing independence and wealth has loosened Iraq’s seams, even while, in Baghdad, American diplomats will persist quixotically in an effort to stitch that same country together to confront ISIS.
Obama’s defense of Erbil is effectively the defense of an undeclared Kurdish oil state whose sources of geopolitical appeal—as a long-term, non-Russian supplier of oil and gas to Europe, for example—are best not spoken of in polite or naïve company, as Al Swearengen would well understand. Life, Swearengen once pointed out, is often made up of “one vile task after another.” So is American policy in Iraq.

(interesting POV, that Kurdistan’s autonomy and the vast “income inequality” / standard of living comparisons between Erbil/Kurdistan and the rest of Iraq are very much part of the problem for anyone even considering trying to attempt “national unity” — regardless of what people like Barack Obama may claim is “job #1” …. all that lovely oil and in such a nice neighborhood (unlike the rest of Iraq) .. It’s a problem
Oh, Guardian has noticed there’s still about 40-50,000 Yazidhi’s still stuck on the mountain (we’re not doing humanitarian drop because we have bigger fish to fry — protecting Erbil — and they even noticed that a high Iraqi court sided with Maliki’s contention that the Broader Shiite Coalition could not in fact legitimately nominate the next prime minister, even if Obama and company is making like that’s yesterday’s news and Maliki is an unreasonable paranoiac (which he may be, but whatever).

Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Aug 12 2014 5:49 utc | 43

@Jeff Kaye #44:
Yes, that bothered me, too. Putin spoke about Russia entering into war to stand up for its “brotherly Slavic people” as it were some kind of noble act, as opposed to the act of absolute recklessness and stupidity that it really was, which led to the deaths of countless Russians and to the destruction of the Russian empire itself.
But Putin is now a politician, so I guess he has to sound nationalistic chords on such nationalistic formal occasions.

Posted by: Demian | Aug 12 2014 7:20 utc | 45

@27 crone
George Clooney’s fiancee has turned down the United Nation’s offer to put her on a commission to examine possible war crimes in Gaza … because she says she’s simply too busy.
I hope I’m being overly cynical, but isn’t it possible a scenario involving political calculation is at play here. Amal Alamuddin may be refusing the offer to protect her fiance Clooney from Hollywood backlash. Not only are Clooney’s status and income possibly at stake, but he is purported to be seriously considering running for public office. Its not like the so-called liberal Jews in Hollywood have any problem with destroying anyone they see as anti-Israeli. (remember the Mel Gibson crucifixion).
from the Guardian:
Hollywood divided: passions high as actors and celebrities speak out on Gaza
Artists voicing solidarity for Palestinians trigger backlash from industry heavyweights in a town with strong Israel connections
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/04/hollywood-divided-gaza-support-israel-backlash
It is perhaps the last taboo in Hollywood … criticise Israel.
Rihanna tweeted the hashtag #Free Palestine … only to delete it eight minutes later, … saying it was an accident. .
Cruz and Bardem also partially retreated
and from the Times of Israel:
Jews DO control the media
http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/jews-do-control-the-media/
But the funny part is when any anti-Semite or anti-Israel person starts to spout stuff like, “The Jews control the media!” and “The Jews control Washington!”
Suddenly we’re up in arms. We create huge campaigns to take these people down. We do what we can to put them out of work. We publish articles. We’ve created entire organizations that exist just to tell everyone that the Jews don’t control nothin’. No, we don’t control the media, we don’t have any more sway in DC than anyone else. No, no, no, we swear: We’re just like everybody else!
Does anyone else (who’s not a bigot) see the irony of this?
Let’s be honest with ourselves, here, fellow Jews. We do control the media. We’ve got so many dudes up in the executive offices in all the big movie production companies it’s almost obscene. Just about every movie or TV show, whether it be “Tropic Thunder” or “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” is rife with actors, directors, and writers who are Jewish. Did you know that all eight major film studios are run by Jews?
But that’s not all. We also control the ads that go on those TV shows.
So Amal Alamuddin may have simply decided not to put herself in an untenable position where she is unable to carry out her mandate vis-à-vis the UN commission without jeopardizing Clooney’s political ambitions (possibly 2016). After all, let’s not forget the successful smear campaign directed at Goldstone, when he had the same type of mandate, for daring to criticize Israel in the Goldstone Report in 2009.
If this is indeed part of her calculation (given that she is a highly intelligent woman, it probably is), one can only be discouraged at the sheer power of intimidation the Zionist lobby has inculcated in the political arena.
Or she may simply be too busy.

Posted by: pantaraxia | Aug 12 2014 10:43 utc | 47

pantaraxia
Bingo!
The clooney clown apparently cant let his fiancee expose israeli warcrimes!

Posted by: Anonymous | Aug 12 2014 11:28 utc | 49

AIM-9 Sidewinder Short Range Air-to-Air Missile
The AIM-9 Sidewinder is a supersonic, heat-seeking, air-to-air missile. It has a high-explosive warhead and a passive infrared guidance system. It is used by a variety of Western fixed-wing combat aircraft and helicopters, and has been adopted for surface-to-air use as the Chaparral missile.

Technical Specs Warhead R-60 Missile
Air-to-air missile Vympel R-60 NATO code AA-8 Aphid
Guidance: Infra-red (heat-seeking)
Warhead: 9.4 kg (20.8lb) annular blast-fragmentation (ABF)
Name: Sidewinder AIM-9L (‘Lima’)
Spec sheet courtesy: Kancho’s Paper Wings.
I’m certain from the fragmentation pattern evidenced in the parts of the fusilage on the wreckage, a conclusion can be drawn which type of warhead caused the Boeing-777 flight MH-17 crash. The Buk missile with proximity fuze is quite different from an air-to-air heat-seeking R-60 warhead. The Sidewinder targets an engine, destroys it causing immediate DANGER alarms in the cockpit. An engine lost and decompression of the cabine and cockpit may still not be fatal. The Buk missile was used against Antonov transport planes [AN-12 turboprop] and Su fighter jets of the Ukrainian Air Force. At a much lower altitude 21,300 feet (pressurized Antonov), eight men managed to jump to safety by parachute, two died in crash.

Posted by: Oui | Aug 12 2014 12:10 utc | 51

Re meta issues…
“Solely depending on my mood and personal judgement I may ban folks for other reasons. It is my time and money that keeps this blog up and the blocking privilege is part of the gratification. Deal with it.”
I agree 110%.
FWIW, I ran several offline blog templates (content only) in my first few years on the www and compared the result with blogs I like. And none measured up as competitive or ‘interesting’ enough to stand out. It’s quite an achievement to maintain a blog which attracts intelligent comments and has sufficient original, thoughtful, analysis to occasionally attract very wide interest.
You are right to protect your achievements as you see fit, b.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Aug 12 2014 13:23 utc | 53

test test

Posted by: bevin | Aug 12 2014 13:48 utc | 55

b;As an American mushroom,kept in the purposeful dark about reality of our world,I don’t think you have a grasp of the dire situation in America when it comes to Zionism.They have destroyed our nation,made it into a divided third world hellhole of unequal and slave labor,have turned our foreign policy into Israels muscle,are stealing our wealth through corporate thievery,turned our jobs from manufacturing and supplying the world with the plowshares of democracy into Krupps military hardware expo,and our healthcare system of non profit caring into another wealth stealing scheme of evil,among many other scams and propaganda.
Someone is out of touch with reality here,and some might believe its me,but obviously they haven’t been to attentive to that reality,and are stuck in a cul de sac of unequal malevolence,as I am for peace love and understanding for all,and when all are secure,all will be secure,something these monsters don’t reciprocate one iota.

Posted by: dahoit | Aug 12 2014 13:57 utc | 57

BTW;The free mansions worry me not one iota.Neither do the royals, masons the Pope or Islam.And Judaism,not really either.Freedom isn’t tidy,and I believe in it totally.
Personal demons;Possibly my addictions to drugs,as I love to get a buzz.

Posted by: dahoit | Aug 12 2014 14:11 utc | 59

Malaysian Investigators Submitted Report to Dutch Authorities on July 26 [!]
I have spend some time digging into the Malaysian writings about the plane crash as the nation is severely effected, just as The Netherlands and Australia. I was quite happy, not really surprised, to find this interesting article. The three Malaysian experts are NOT low key persons!
MH17: Reports submitted to Dutch, IGP heads to Netherlands on July 25, 2014 in Malaysia
KIEV – The Malaysian team investigating the crash of the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH17 aircraft at a site in Torez, eastern Ukraine has submitted its reports to the Dutch authorities heading the investigation. MAS director of engineering and maintenance Azhari Mohd Dahlan, 53, who is one of three Malaysians conducting investigations into the crash in the Donetsk region, told Bernama: “We are relieved.”
…
He, however, did not want to comment further on the four-day investigation carried out by him and the other two Malaysian investigators comprising Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) Senior Assistant Director Captain Philip Joseph Selvaraju, 42, a former pilot, and DCA Senior Assistant Director Mohd Naemy Fahmy Mustapa, 38.
Azhari Mohd Dahlan and the 133 Malaysian special team members [!], led by Khairil Hilmi Mokhtar, who is also National Security Council (MKN) Cross Border Management Division principal assistant secretary, were scheduled to depart for Kuala Lumpur Friday noon (local time) July 25, 2014.
Read complete article with expanded links and information here.

Posted by: Oui | Aug 12 2014 14:26 utc | 61

Marine Le Pen, President of Front Mationale (Fr) gave a stunningly frank interview to RT a couple of days ago. Among other things she gave the concept of the Eurozone (EU govts (docile) subordination to an unelected policy elite with US fingerprints all over it) a very thorough bagging – along with US’s aggressively mindless and destructive policies towards most of the world. She more or less hinted that if the US can’t come to terms with Russia, France may lean to ward Russia – and French independence (from USA’s suffocating and entirely negative influence on everything it touches including the US’s self-interested and warped version of ‘Free Trade).

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Aug 12 2014 14:33 utc | 63

The MH17 investigation will of course not say the regime did it, of course we must be prepared to hear the rebels did it.

Posted by: Anonymous | Aug 12 2014 14:51 utc | 65

@62: Le Pen’s Front National did so well in the recent European and municipal elections in France that I wonder if the Gaullist party will now feel obliged to abandon the pro-U.S., pro-Israel, pro-Empire policies it adopted under Sarkozy and return to the more genuinely independent Gaullist policies that it used to have. In that case, the combined force of the FN and the Gaullists could force a change in the policies of the French government.

Posted by: lysias | Aug 12 2014 14:54 utc | 67

My money is on Putin
“…Russian politician and economist, Sergei Glazyev, summarized Moscow’s approach to the US-Russia conflagration in an essay titled “US is militarizing Ukraine to invade Russia.” Here’s an excerpt.
“To stop the war, you need to terminate its driving forces. At this stage, the war unfolds mainly in the planes of economic, public relations and politics. All the power of US economic superiority is based on the financial pyramid of debt, and this has gone long beyond sustainability. Its major lenders are collapsing enough to deprive the US market of accumulated US dollars and Treasury bonds. Of course, the collapse of the US financial system will cause serious losses to all holders of US currency and securities.
But first, these losses for Russia, Europe and China will be less than the losses caused by American geopolitics unleashing another world war. Secondly, the sooner the exit from the financial obligations of this American pyramid, the less will be the losses. Third, the collapse of the dollar Ponzi scheme gives an opportunity, finally, to reform the global financial system on the basis of equity and mutual benefit.”
Washington thinks “modern warfare” involves covert support for proxy armies comprised of Neo Nazis and Islamic extremists. Moscow thinks modern warfare means undermining the enemy’s ability to wage war through sustained attacks on it’s currency, its institutions, its bond market, and its ability to convince its allies that it is a responsible steward of the global economic system.
I’ll put my money on Russia.”
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/08/12/my-moneys-on-putin/
This is what is needed and I will continue to bank on Germany and Russia finding common ground and sense to solve the political quagmire created by the US AND UK. The entire Ukraine conflict is to destroy the economic relationship between Russia and the EU. The US and UK are terrorfied of that economic relationship and are foaming at the mouth to start a war with Russia. What I posted was the end of the article, but the entire piece has a great deal of insight which ties together the middle east and Ukraine conflict regarding US strategy.

Posted by: really | Aug 12 2014 15:12 utc | 69

IMF Lending at a Glance: http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/map/lending/

Posted by: guest77 | Aug 12 2014 15:53 utc | 71

It’s no mystery that the ongoing instability and further destruction of Iraq can be traced fairly directly to Bremer’s two disastrous directives — disbanding the army (rather than dealing with selective removal of those who would not/could not safely be retained) and wholesale de-Baathification (with the added damage of appoint Chalabbi as overseer of same). The “new” army was very slow to take shape (collaboration with the occupation was life-threatening so most who enlisted were desperate for any employment/income) and extremely “green.” Having been excluded (when not boycotting) the political process, the Sunni population over years and years lost hope of change, improvement, easement of their second-class citizen status. And then there were the government death squads and scores of murders of Sunni men with a generation of Sunni widows and orphans straining even the strongest family ties. And then of course there was Fallujah I, II, and most recently III, the ethnic cleansing of Baghdad, etc.
The United States aided and abetted and officially signed off on all this — and the ensuing unrest, we blamed on the very population that was being marginalized and ethnically cleansed. “Islam” had little to do with it, except as de-baathification drew clear lines along political/religious/socioeconomic lines established under Saddam, as we were told, the Sunnis had run Iraq for 1000 years and suddenly Shiia pay-back was the order of the day, on our watch with our approval.

Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Aug 12 2014 16:33 utc | 73

I never post but read articles and ALL comments daily. JSorrentine is of great interest as are the other commenters and I look forward to his perspective. I hope he will not be banned. The blog will suffer for it.

Posted by: Linda Amick | Aug 12 2014 16:35 utc | 75

Heeding the call of WINEP and Washington:
France Urges Europe to Arm Kurds to Battle Islamic State:

Momentum grew for an emergency meeting of European Union foreign ministers to discuss arming Kurdish soldiers as France and the U.K. backed deliveries of weapons to stem the advance of Islamist militants.
“There is an evident imbalance between this horrible group which has sophisticated weapons and the Kurdish Peshmergas, who are courageous but don’t have these weapons,” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on France Info radio today. “It’s very nice that we in western countries are in a summer vacation period, but people are dying and we have to come back from vacation.”

Oh, the humanity, Fabius!!!! I mean, it’s not like France and the rest of the EU whores haven’t sponsored EVERY SINGLE murderous war crime spree that the US has been on over the last, what, 20 years?
I wonder what it’s like to be such a pathetic lackey for the United States?
Coalition of the Whoring? Sycophant Circus? Co-opted Cooperative?

Posted by: JSorrentine | Aug 12 2014 16:45 utc | 77

France’s involvement with the Kurds goes back (at least, but most obviously) to Sykes-Picot and Syria as “French” … see also Iran … I found some cool maps VOX: 27 maps that explain the crisis in Iraq
I’m unfamiliar with the biases of the site** but the maps are largely remarkably up-to-date and from varied sources …
** they seem to dispute some of the damage done by the pre-GWII sanctions for instance.

Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Aug 12 2014 17:10 utc | 79

Posted by: lysias | Aug 12, 2014 10:54:15 AM | 67
That figures. She spoke with great conviction and supreme confidence…

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Aug 12 2014 17:16 utc | 81

@80
I love your sarcasm. And you are trying to get Jsorre riled up…I hope you succeed in doing so. Can’t wait for his answer to your question. 🙂

Posted by: really | Aug 12 2014 17:26 utc | 83

@79 Chart 13 shows the sanctions for what they were – a war on the women and children of Iraq. All “worth it” in the words of that fiend Albright.

Posted by: guest77 | Aug 12 2014 17:41 utc | 85

@79 And Chart 27 shows the region, I believe, as the US, Israel, and KSA would like to see it. But it is a fantasy. The Syrian government controls a much larger area (and has the support of a much larger part of the population) that is shown in that sliver of an “Alawite State”. After all, the Syrian war was about the maintenance of Syria as a multi-ethnic state. The Syrian Army will no more allow ISIS to exist than Iran and the so-called “Shia State”. Oil fields can be bombed, and I doubt there is much “Jihadi Denmark” can do about it.

Posted by: guest77 | Aug 12 2014 17:48 utc | 87

@88 Who are the buyers? The same firms smuggling oil out of Libya, no doubt.
….
Beautiful image of the Middle East at night: http://cdn1.vox-cdn.com/assets/4238583/middle_east_night_sky.jpg via Susan Sunflower

Posted by: guest77 | Aug 12 2014 17:57 utc | 89

@bevin (84) very interesting, thanks. I think Russia would do well to begin buying from the more depressed EU states (if that is possible, god knows what rules apply – I guess we must assume the Southern Europeans must pay an ever further price for having the privilege of the Euro, and have been dragged into the sanctions as well) especially from the Greeks, if that is possible. There is a lot of goodwill for Russia in that country, according to those polls I always post. And it certainly could be a great boon to the Greek people.

Posted by: guest77 | Aug 12 2014 18:08 utc | 91

from yesterday’s NYT Profile link.

Although the group’s capture of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, appeared to catch the American intelligence community and the Iraqi government by surprise, Mr. Baghdadi’s mafia-like operations in the city had long been crucial to his strategy of establishing the Islamic caliphate.
His group earned an estimated $12 million a month, according to American officials, from extortion schemes in Mosul, which it used to finance operations in Syria. Before June, ISIS controlled neighborhoods of the city by night, collecting money and slipping in to the countryside by day.
Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story
The United Nations Security Council is considering new measures aimed at crippling the group’s finances, according to Reuters, by threatening sanctions on supporters. Such action is likely to have little effect because, by now, the group is almost entirely self-financing, through its seizing oil fields, extortion and tax collection in the territories it controls. As it gains territory in Iraq, it has found new ways to generate revenue. For instance, recently in Hawija, a village near Kirkuk, the group demanded that all former soldiers or police officers pay an $850 “repentance fine.”
Though he has captured territory through brutal means, Mr. Baghdadi has also taken practical steps at state-building, and even shown a lighter side. In Mosul, ISIS has held a “fun day” for kids, distributed gifts and food during Eid al-Fitr, held Quran recitation competitions, started bus services and opened schools.

Seems to me that tankers of oil are relatively “small potatoes”. They can commander a refinery because they are fairly self contained and can be secured and they’re full of workers who don’t want to die. Tanker loads can be sold as unit, limited by # of buyers (probably enough) and open roads, etc. I believe gasoline for cars and paraffin for stoves and heat is in very short supply in Syria, so enterprising “entrepreneurs” have probably spung up — along with any number of other smuggled necessities, like food, cooking fuel.
Note: This al-Baghdadi is not the al-Baghdadi who was likely mythic — this one is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi … the phantom is/was named Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. link: 2009: Terrorist or Mythic Symbol: A Tale of Iraqi Politics. Might have noticed this yesterday, but I didn’t.

Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Aug 12 2014 18:17 utc | 93

@77
Yes, while an American living during that time could hardly forget the retarded “freedom fries” campaign and other anti-French nonsense Chirac – the pro-EU, neoliberal whore that he was/is – really at the time was just trying to whore himself out to Germany’s Schroeder who was really the one ostensibly leading the anti-war charge – sucks to not have a UNSC vote, huh, Gerry? Oh well. Chirac’s anti-war position was merely part and parcel of the “leftish” masque that Clinton, Blair, Obama etc etc have all worn in attempt to soothe the “uppity” youth and woo the fake left into believing that they actually have representation/a voice in political affairs. I read this article a while ago that speaks to Chirac in regards to this, fwiw.
In addition, the constant and continued shameful whoring since then from all EU members does have a amnesiac effect on the minds of people, I believe, as it gets harder every day to imagine that EU leaders at one point were not such shameless suck-off whores to the US.

Posted by: JSorrentine | Aug 12 2014 18:21 utc | 95

The news that Russia imports $300 million of poultry annually from the US is mind blowing. Given the enormous resources Russia has it should be a massive food exporter. But years of oligarchical rule and neglect of the countryside and its people-vast tracts of land have been gobbled up by speculators using private armies to clear away the poor cultivators, just as in Latin America- have reduced the country into dependence on US agribusiness (and Polish apples).
Socialists have been saying for some time that Russia needs sanctions in order to wean itself from the cheap and dangerous option of importing rubbish from abroad and paying for it with non-renewable hyrdocarbon earnings.

This is a contradiction. Do you think a country being picked clean by Oligarchs, and the “countryside” is no different than Moscow or St. Petersburg in this regard, is going to say “you know, I’ve been greedy long enough — I think it’s time to change my ways and empower the Small People by incentivizing home-grown creativity and production”?
The Igor Sanction

Chechens, per an article by The Guardian, are complaining their wages have been cut recently to “raise funds for Eastern Ukraine.”
All that immense oil sales profit, and the cheap-ass, slimy, cowardly Putin has to steal from Chechens — yet again, rather than funding his Ukrainian proxy war out of his and his friend’s deep and full-to-overflowing pockets.
Exploitation is bad enough, but to doubly and triply exploit a mark is sadistic. There should be no mercy for this tyrant. If ever a death penalty is warranted, it is warranted for soulless shits like Putin and his fellow Oligarch gangsters.
It’s nothing new, though. Welcome to the Russian Federation. An IMF wet dream. This is how Putin runs his budding empire — like a gangster seeking out and exploiting front companies he can load up with debt and demand tribute from in the form of tax revenue payments for nothing in return. Except in this case the front companies are the various Russian provinces/regions ( a total of 83 and counting if Putin gets his way) referred to as oblasts, republics, krais, federal cities and autonomous okrugs.
Russian propagandists have done an excellent job of presenting Putin’s Russia as a fiscally responsible entity with little to no debt and actually a budget surplus with almost half a trillion in reserves in the bank. But that’s only a tenth of the truth. That statistic only applies to The Russian Federal government, or The Kremlin so to speak, but not to the Russian Federation proper if its entire balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flows is taken into account. Putin’s Russia and his propagandists hide the other nine tenths of the truth about the Russian Federation’s financial status in the regions/provinces out of sight but never out of mind because those various oblasts, republics, krais, federal cities and autonomous okrugs are Putin’s rocks from which blood is drawn daily as is witnessed by the Chechnya example above.
This Across the Curve blog article does an excellent job of describing how the Russian Federation operates financially and reveals how Putin plays smoke and mirrors when presenting the Russian government as fiscally responsible.
Russian Debt Redux ?

That excellent article paints the picture of what Putin has in store for Ukraine, and perhaps all of the former Soviet bloc states as well as the rest of Europe. All under the auspices of Federalism no doubt since his propagandists like to tout that as such a positive thing. Tell me, how’s what Putin has planned for Ukraine any different than the goals and aspirations of the IMF for Ukraine? It’s not very different, and perhaps this is why Putin is so fond of the IMF.
Putin favors BRICS’ more active part in IMF, World Bank decisions
Source: Russia Beyond the Headlines
Essentially Putin’s saying the only thing wrong with the IMF is that America has too much say and influence, otherwise he likes the cut of its jib. What say all the IMF/World Bank critics about that? Your boy likes the way the IMF operates with one exceptional tweak. And well he should since he operates very much the same way. Putin’s not the answer to the IMF, he is the IMF in bear’s clothing.

Posted by: Cold N. Holefield | Aug 12 2014 18:29 utc | 97

@93
My bringing up the ASININE stories about how ISIS is supposedly funding itself through the capture of oil and smuggling it to unknown buyers was not meant to spur a discussion on how ISIS is REALLY supporting themselves through bake-sales and car-washes – topless? how about headless, infidel? – but rather to emphasize the point that the entire creation/roll-out of the “self-sufficient” “crazy jihadist” group narrative is meant to deflect attention AWAY from the OBVIOUS continued support that it receives from the Zionist West while aiding in creating the more formidable movie sequel-type enemy:
Why, let’s compare the two evil dastardly groups from the last two iterations of the GWOT, shall we?
Al-CIAda: Mostly based in Afghanistan
ISIS: now everywhere including under you bed but especially in those countries that may just need to be “remodeled”.
Al-CIAda: financed by the Saudis – nudge wink
ISIS: entrepreneurial geniuses who support themselves. Ask them for a prospectus.
Al-CIAda: behead Zionist intel assets, use shoes and underwear to carry bombs, have magical terrorist abilities that can roll back the laws of physics
ISIS: let their children play with people’s heads, proficiently use every type of “found/abandoned” weaponry that they come across, have the magical terrorist abilities to go undetected while traveling across the desert
Al-CIAda: evil
ISIS: super double evil
I mean, think of all of the effing retarded and glaringly obvious plot-holes in the narrative of GWOT 1.0 concerning Al-CIAda and how many of those plot-holes TPTB have attempted to fill in GWOT 2.0. Note: GWOT 2.0 starts with the Arab Spring really and includes Libya and Syria as well, thus, the liver-eaters, the children gassers, etc.
Instead of smattering – what was it 50? 100? – of Al-CIAda members worldwide who were directly dependent upon – nudge, wink – Saudi money or something now we have a sophisticated well-trained, well-armed militia of tens of thousands of jihadists running lose and they’re AFTER YOU RIGHT NOW!!!!!11!!
Eff the drones, man!! We need to turn the Peshmerga into the Delta Force! STAT!!!
What will GWOT 3.0 bring?
Robotic effing Ph.D. jihadist mercenaries who sh!t gold nuggets and eat human brains. Naturally.

Posted by: JSorrentine | Aug 12 2014 19:02 utc | 99