@2
Given we know the Outlaw Empire sponsors Daesh and its kin, and China recently absorbed quite a volley of terrorism sponsored by the usual suspect, I expect a shockingly strong response if the Outlaw Empire goes through with its planned provocation–extremely strong warnings followed by shots across the bows. Being the sponsor of Daesh automatically makes the Outlaw Empire a Terrorist (as if it wasn’t before), and the Chinese have repeatedly said their installations are there to prevent terrorist activity in the shipping lanes, so Chinese action would be in line with its stated doctrine. Then the Outlaw Empire would be faced with a genuine Gulf of Tonkin it has no way of winning.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 8 2015 18:29 utc | 4

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/08/us-afghanistan-nato-idUSKCN0S20KN20151008
BRUSSELS – The United States and its NATO allies signaled a willingness on Thursday to consider slowing their withdrawal from Afghanistan, days after the Taliban’s brief takeover of a provincial capital stoked concern about the strength of Afghan state force.

Posted by: okie farmer | Oct 8 2015 18:38 utc | 6

Oh Man – so we have CIA and SAS and mercs on our payroll in Syria while we are droning the (?) targets with the Russians trying to clean the country out of terrorists, which we are sponsoring or leading?
And then we are trying to pull out of Afghanistan and just praying the Taliban isn’t going to notice?
And then we are moving men, missiles and materials to surround Ukraine?
And getting ready to move men and materials into Turkey?
And now we ANNOUNCE we are going to trot a destroyer or carrier group within eyesight of the China’s new island forts, where they have already pounced on one of our intelligence flights, and where they likely have their carrier destroyer missiles set?
Lest we forget, we are also droning other areas like Yemen…
Makes perfect sense to Xbox warriors.
Spreading peace and stability – yup…what could go wrong?

Posted by: BOG | Oct 8 2015 19:09 utc | 8

You know, “terrorists” could totally bomb a natural gas compression station, reducing or even halting flow of natgas to NATO… asymmetrical response – a concept that is likely not resident in the brain trust of the Pentagram or Pennsylvania Avenooooooo….

Posted by: BOG | Oct 8 2015 19:27 utc | 10

http://www.rferl.org/content/fitch-declares-ukraine-default-after-missed-eurobond-payment/27292178.html
Fitch Declares Ukraine In Default After Missed Eurobond Payment
Fitch declared the partial default on $500 million in eurobond obligations on October 6 after Ukraine did not make payment following a grace period. It then downgraded the country’s main credit rating to “restricted default.”

Posted by: okie farmer | Oct 8 2015 19:40 utc | 12

glen greenwalds latest.. A Short History of U.S. Bombing of Civilian Facilities

Posted by: james | Oct 8 2015 20:09 utc | 14

Open threads at MoA are always interesting. Good questions are often asked … though rarely responded to. Still …
There has been a recent question asked in the media about the use of Toyota pick-ups by the anti-Assad groups in Syria. It makes me wonder if somebody is simply upset by the fact that money is being spent by some unnamed group for something other than Fords, Chevys/GMCs, and Dodges?

Posted by: Rg an LG | Oct 8 2015 20:11 utc | 16

@16, more likely pissed that US war money is being spent on COTS equipment, not high-margin Federal contractor gear.

Posted by: Jonathan | Oct 8 2015 20:20 utc | 18

Mutafa Barghouti say’s a Palestinian uprising has begun. I hope that is not the case, although it would be quite understandable. Because 1/ The Palestinians have no leadership,Abbas is an Israeli contractor.2/ The Israelis probably want an uprising so they can fight “terrorism” 3/and most important of all it would appear they have no military means of conducting a successful campaign. One only has to look at the cost/benefit analysis of the last Gaza massacre. 7,000 rockets fired at Israel with just 2 yes two causing any damage. Most blew up the desert.
One rocket landed approx 1 mile away from Ben Gurion airport and stopped flights from there for a short time. The cost equation was over 2,000 dead Palestinians including 500 children with destruction estimated at 7 billion dollars. Professor Norman Finkelstein in his study on the conflict found that 20,000 Palestinian homes had been destroyed with just i Israeli home damaged. If I can make an analogy, if during the second world war the UK war cabinet had sent a 7,000 aircraft bomber force to Germany and 6,998 of those bombers had offloaded their bombs into the North sea, and in response the Germans destroyed a third of the UK. You get my point? The home made rockets have a simple design and are cheap to make, and a prolonged shut down of Ben Gurion airport could wreck the Israeli economy. The Palestinians need to go back to the drawing board and forget about the futile actions of half a dozen youths throwing rocks at heavily armoured vehicles and getting killed for doing so. If they have decided on an uprising, then it needs to inflict serious economic damage on the occupier. They need to get new leaders and prepare for EFFECTIVE military resistance.That is legitimate under International law. To do anything else is playing into Israels hands.

Posted by: harry law | Oct 8 2015 20:35 utc | 20

@20
I have much sympathy for the Palestinians, but I agree that now isn’t the right time for the reasons you cite and others. Preaching patience to them is very difficult, but patient they must be as the political climate is just beginning to change along with the regional balance of forces thanks to Russia’s entry.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 8 2015 20:58 utc | 22

The most recent Gaza war may have done little physical damage to Israel, but it did substantial damage to its moral standing.

Posted by: lysias | Oct 8 2015 21:22 utc | 24

Sorry, the top weblink 404…
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/audio/The-World-Today—The-tragedy-of-Palestine-20151008-0002.html

Posted by: Jack Smith | Oct 8 2015 21:32 utc | 26

Erdogan makes escape plans for himself and family?
http://www.todayszaman.com/national_twitter-faces-block-in-turkey-over-fuat-avnis-tweets-about-bilal-erdogan_400961.html

Posted by: bassalt | Oct 8 2015 22:25 utc | 28

Thanks Jack, I always learn something new and unexpected from Tariq Ali.

Posted by: okie farmer | Oct 8 2015 22:37 utc | 30

@14 james
Note that Schwarz stops his recount deep inside the Bush XLIII timezone. He always seems to be a day late and a dollar short. Soft on Obama, soft on Israel … The only guy I can take seriously at the Intercept – outside of Greenwald himself – is Lee Fang. I may be wrong.

Posted by: jfl | Oct 8 2015 22:44 utc | 32

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/08/us-usa-china-southchinasea-idUSKCN0S21D220151008
U.S. mulls sailing near disputed South China Sea islands: Pentagon official
The United States is considering sailing warships close to China’s artificial islands in the South China Sea to signal it does not recognize Chinese territorial claims over the area, a U.S. defense official said on Thursday.
The Financial Times newspaper cited a senior U.S. official as saying U.S. ships would sail within 12-nautical-mile zones that China claims as territory around islands it has built in the Spratly chain, within the next two weeks.
The Navy Times quoted U.S. officials as saying the action could take place “within days,” but awaited final approval from the Obama administration.

Posted by: okie farmer | Oct 8 2015 23:29 utc | 34

@31 p
I think that is yet another instance of the US neocon/military taking over US foreign policy directly. The NPPL is no longer in demand even as a figurehead. Unless, of course, he stood up to them. Fat chance. He’s got 470 days ’til payday, and he’s counting them. Running down the clock in the 4th quarter.

Posted by: jfl | Oct 8 2015 23:37 utc | 36

@ jfl #35
Me too have hell of a time searching for Empire File in Telesurtv hosted by Arby Martin until I bookmarks it in my Opera browser. I go there everyday. About Tariq Ali, he is really good!

Posted by: Jack Smith | Oct 8 2015 23:59 utc | 38

“Moscow will soon start paying the price for its escalating military intervention in Syria in the form of reprisal attacks and casualties, the US defence secretary has warned, amid signs that Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies are preparing to counter the Russian move.”
There were no plans to deploy the force to Turkey, though the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, suggested its existence alone should discourage future Russian or Syrian incursions into Turkish territory.
“We don’t have to deploy the Nato response force or the spearhead force to deliver deterrence,” Stoltenberg said. “The important thing is that any adversary of Nato will know that we are able to deploy.”
Saudi Arabia, a leading supporter of Syrian rebels fighting to overthrow Bashar al-Assad, was said by diplomats to be preparing to step up its support, having despaired of the US. Ministers from Qatar and Turkey, the Saudis’ partners in the fight against Assad, are holding talks on their next moves.
Riyadh’s anger over Vladimir Putin’s intervention was reflected in a statement by 55 leading clerics, including prominent Islamists, urging “true Muslims” to “give all moral, material, political and military” support to the fight against Assad’s army as well as Iranian and Russian forces.”
““Russia has created a Frankenstein in the region which it will not be able to control,” warned a senior Qatari source. “With the call to jihad things will change. Everyone will go to fight. Even Muslims who sit in bars. There are 1.5 billion Muslims. Imagine what will happen if 1% of them join.”
Seems that the AshHat is givin’ Riyadh the green light to me.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/08/russia-pay-price-syrian-airstrikes-ashton-carter-us-defence-secretary

Posted by: wendy davis | Oct 9 2015 0:12 utc | 40

Great Satan is reeling both abroad as well as at home where in the cesspit that is Washington, D.C. the GOP cannot even elect its own leadership in the House of Representatives. Meanwhile, Hillary is trying to dupe the plebs by repackaging herself as the second coming of Eugene V. Debs (against the TPP and Keystone XL, for paid family leave, etc.) and Trump continues to rule the Republican roost. End times for U.S. global hegemony are here.

Posted by: Mike Maloney | Oct 9 2015 0:20 utc | 42

There’s a point made in this link,
http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2015/09/american-allies-in-syria-their-shameful.html
that I wonder whether other commenters might have an opinion about.
The reasons one most often hears about why US training fails –I make this statement in full awareness that I’m unaware what the full nominator and denominator would be for other countries’ training efforts– are (a) corrupt horrendous illegitimate local government/proxies, and (b) mismatch at the ~operational level, i.e. training South Vietnamese to fight with plentiful artillery, armor and air-support.
Now, this cluborlov guy proposes an additional one, which I find unfamiliar enough for it to be “provocative,” namely that even at the enlisted/NCO level, American practices are highly unsuited for the kind of fluid infantry-with-rpgs-supported-now-and-again-by-heavier-weapons kind of warfare current “small wars” seem to consist of. And unsuitability occurs in part *because*, rather than in spite of, very recent and protracted American combat experience at the enlisted/NCO level.
I’ve mucked up the summary enough, so let me cede the floor to the guy:

This might all sound like a farce, but it reflects the essence of training that’s used in the US Army and which is being transferred to its allies. The emphasis is on physical capabilities, suppression of individual initiative, drilling in specific techniques and, of course, “teamwork.” As a result, when a fighter finds himself in a nonstandard situation, he becomes confused and cannot apply the skills in which he has been trained to the specific problem. He has been “honed” to react to situations that are consistent, homogeneous and artificially constructed.(…) The Iraqi experience, of which the Pentagon is so proud, trained them to patrol, to accompany convoys, and to man garrisons in the middle of the desert. Three decades of random abuse directed at weak opponents have accustomed the American army to rely on technological superiority, and it has largely lost the skills of close-range combat. Now even at Yarov the Ukrainian military and national guard are refusing to obey instructors, whom they see as complete and utter newbies.

Guy then goes on to describe an engagement in the 2008 Georgia war between the American-trained Georgian military and South Ossetian militias that is worth reading in full.
Would be grateful for any informed thoughts or opinions on this. (Or at least anything past, “well, look at his website man! Of course he thinks russkies great and we suck”).

Posted by: Claud | Oct 9 2015 0:29 utc | 44

“The Navy is preparing to send a surface ship inside the 12-nautical-mile territorial limit China claims for its man-made island chain, an action that could take place within days but awaits final approval from the Obama administration, according to military officials who spoke to Navy Times.
“Plans to send a warship through the contested space have been rumored since May, but three Pentagon officials who spoke to Navy Times on background to discuss future operations say Navy officials believe approval of the mission is imminent.”
Okay, so the Chinese blow up the U.S. ship. Then what? You planning to go shopping at Walmart? Better do it soon!

Posted by: blues | Oct 9 2015 0:40 utc | 46

From the link in 12:
Fitch said the “distressed debt exchange” for $18 billion in eurobonds is designed to avoid default and will harm creditors.
Rival ratings agency Standard & Poor’s similarly declared Ukraine in selective default last month, saying Kyiv’s offer to creditors would include a 20 percent “haircut” in the money they are owed.
Fitch said it expects the debt exchange to be successful and it will upgrade Ukraine’s credit rating shortly afterward.
——————-
In my town, male haircuts seem to range from 10 to 30 dollars, but renowned artists in NYC, LA etc. can charge 20 times more. But if you crave an insanely expensive haircut, queue for bonds sold by the government of Ukraine. Ukraine ditched about 10% of expenses and 25% of revenue, by not paying pensions and other benefits in Crimea and rebel territories, by loosing taxes there, plus subsidies from Russia in return for the use of Crimea, and collapse of industries dependent on Russian markets or Russian parts. Those are back-of-the-envelope estimates. War is expensive, Ukrainians do it on a cheap, but they also have little money, and effects were, well, proportional.
Americans are notoriously stingy, happy to advise Europeans to help neighbors etc. EU eastern members hate Russia (except Hungary and Greece), but they hate spending on strangers much more. In the case of Poland, Ukrainians are not exactly strangers, but the familiarity does not breed friendly feeling on the level of furnishing aid (refugees and illegal workers would be tolerated much better) The western countries will give something, but overall, the mood is against throwing money into black holes abroad, of which there are many (to the dismay of American columnists). So Ukraine will remain broke or almost broke, and in few years, even with opposition outlawed the current rulers may be in trouble during the next elections. If oil will rebound somewhat, the bosom of Mother Russia may be even atractive https://www.pinterest.com/pin/294634000592861012/ .

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Oct 9 2015 1:08 utc | 48

@32 jfl.. thanks.. i think i am on the same page as you on that.. glenn is top notch, but the other writers don’t cut it near as well..

Posted by: james | Oct 9 2015 1:24 utc | 50