@1
Ohhh, what a treasure… thank you for sharing!

Posted by: crone | Oct 18 2015 18:52 utc | 3

Thanks to b for all your hard work.
To Demian in the previous open thread, you comment:
“. . . I might as well admit that I am suspicious of ethnically Russian Orthodox theologians who are based in the West instead of Russia. . .”
Could you expand upon this? For a period of years from the revolution on, Orthodoxy in Russia was persecuted severely, and after that ‘renaissance’ of thought I described pre-revolution many of the intelligensia were imprisoned or exiled. Russia itself underwent a similar mind-repression to the one we currently experience as far as the dogma of communism and anti-church propaganda. They are now starting anew, building on the past.
I wanted to recommend to you the writings of Vladimir Lossky on the Orthodox understanding of grace, but perhaps you feel he is tainted in some way? I’ll just close with another quote from Father Schmemann that I agree with:
“How understandable and needful becomes Christ’s silence about all the things that passionately interest us: government, religion, history, even morality. He always talks to me and about me – only that is of interest to him. . . Therefore, he saves me, not Russia, not the government, nothing else. . .”
I wouldn’t say Christ is completely silent about those things, but I get his point.

Posted by: juliania | Oct 18 2015 19:23 utc | 5

Demonizing pro-people policies

Posted by: nmb | Oct 18 2015 19:50 utc | 7

harry law @4
The US has intentionally bombed the power stations in Aleppo to shut off the supply of clean water, a tactic they copied from Israel, to spread disease, and encourage more refugees ti head to Europe.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CRmw2q3WEAAHuQw.png

Posted by: ALAN | Oct 18 2015 20:13 utc | 9

But the more interesting question is: Why did not the Russians confront the F-16’s on their way to Aleppo?
During the Serbian war, the Americans dropped some kind of chaff that shorted the power lines temporarily. Always contrasted that with the Israelis in Lebanon that physicaly destroyed the electric power infrastructure. I guess, further Israelization of the United States. (sigh)

Posted by: Will | Oct 18 2015 21:58 utc | 11

@ NMB, post #7
The article you link to asks: “Will Sanders manage to become the new Roosevelt, bringing another “new deal”, with the power of the American people?”
Perhaps. Sanders is indeed very much like Roosevelt: a fake socialist, cosseted, upper-class establishment figure whose voting record while in office has been shamefully big-business and pro-war, with only a handful of noteworthy deviations. (You’re a socialist, Bernie? Great. Give away most of your $200,000 income like a good socialist ought to. You earn multiple times what most Americans do, and you get taxpayer-subsidised Senatorial healthcare, and free perks, and an awesome taxpayer-subsidised Senatorial retirement plan. Sell your swankey home and rent a condo, while you’re at it, and give the different to the masses. What’s that Bernie, you don’t want to share out your money? Gasp!)
Voting records shows that Sanders votes with the Democratic Party on almost everything, about 90% of votes. The Dems are every bit as bad as the Repubs, every bit as slavish to the banksters – they’re just a different ‘flavor’ of bad and slavish, and Sanders is one of them.
Sanders defended Hilary Clinton in their debate five days ago, trying to make out that her illegal use of personal email to handle sensitive government data was a tired, old joke: “Let me say something that may not be great politics. But I think the secretary is right, and that is that the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn ­e-mails!”
Weasly. What a way to sweep under the rug a serious criminal offense.
Maybe Sanders, if elected, would repeat Rooselevt’s scam of confiscating gold from the 99%, while leaving the 1% with their bullion untouched in their bank vaults.
Maybe Sanders could go out of his way to dragging the USA into a major war, like our ‘reluctant war president’ Roosevelt. Instead of deliberately provoking war by placing a crippling oil embargo on Japan, perhaps Sanders could extend sanctions against Russia, or maybe widen the net to include China.
Bottom line is, during his ‘First Hundred Days’, Roosevelt spent almost as much time on his yacht as he did in the White House. For his entire presidency, he lived in luxury while throwing scraps to the poor, to the great mass of Americans. All the time, he centralised power in the hands of the very upper echelons of America’s elites. Based on his voting record, Sanders will be no different.

Posted by: BiffaBacon | Oct 18 2015 22:08 utc | 13

Bloomberg is in full-blown panic over impending fall of Aleppo…publishes the “gold standard of hypocrisy” editorial urging Obama to do something to prevent Russia-Iran-Syria alliance from claiming a victory.
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-10-18/how-obama-can-respond-to-putin-in-syria
After the deaths of al least 250000 and 4 million displaced Syrians, the blowhards at Bloomberg all of a sudden notice that “many lives are at stake” in this meat grinder.
Not a bad reading if you need to puke.

Posted by: MMARR | Oct 18 2015 23:33 utc | 15

@juliania #5:
Could you expand upon this? For a period of years from the revolution on, Orthodoxy in Russia was persecuted severely
Yes, I know that. My background is this. I come from a White Russian family, so my parents were very anti-Soviet/Communist. I don’t recall what the name of the national body that the church we went to was, but it was Russian and decided to join with the Greek church in the US to form the American Orthodox Church. But to do this, the Russian church would have to get approval from the Moscow Patriarchate, since that is what it was under. (OK, so that was the larger church body that our church belonged to.) Now, what happened is that some of the members of the congregation hated Russia so much (then the Soviet Union) that they staged a coup and took our church away from the larger body to which it belonged. There was a battle in the courts for a couple of years, and eventually the right side (ours) won.
What those Russia-hating members of the congregation did is exactly what the fascists did in Kiev. And I suspect that Schmemann sided with that side. (He probably had to take sides, since he was based in Long Island as I recall (the New York city area anyway), which is where we lived.)
The thinking in my family was that Russia under the Soviets was still Russia, but these people who used treachery instead of democratic procedure to get their way would have none of that. They were fanatics. And some of the children of these same Russians then went to loot Russia under Yeltsin.
Another thing is that our priest basically acted as if we have to believe everything he says and not ask questions. Thus, when I read those citations you give me, I have no idea of where the authority of these Orthodox clerics comes from to tell me about Christ. In Protestantism, pastors have no more authority than anyone else. One trusts a Lutheran pastor because he or she has expert knowledge and because the tradition of the church is based on reasoned argument.
I don’t mean for anything I wrote to suggest that I am critical of the Moscow church. I don’t find any fault with it, and I suspect that if I learned more about Russian Orthodoxy, I still wouldn’t. But I’m afraid I have no idea of what a Russian church could possibly be unless it is organically connected with Russia. And Moscow is not Rome: it does not want to control all of Christendom.

Posted by: Demian | Oct 19 2015 0:36 utc | 17

@16 I dont know what you mean by keys to vienna? Vienna is in Austria. Dont you mean Berlin?
I googled Merkel Vienna to see if I could find an article about what youre talking about, but I dont understand the reference to Vienna still. Is Merkel somehow compromising her neighbor Austrias security, more than she has already compromised Hungary’s? I dont understand.

Posted by: Massinissa | Oct 19 2015 1:08 utc | 19

Alan @ 9, There’s a report of another F-16 attack on another power plant which feeds into Aleppo. This one occurred today. Karlof1 posted it to the other thread. So far as I can tell the story has appeared in only two places: Sana & Syria online. It’s identical in the two places so I don’t know where it originated. http://sana.sy/en/?p=58236
—
http://www.who.int/csr/don/28-september-2015-cholera/en/ Cholera outbreak in 15 of 18 governates of Iraq. Usual cause: impure warer. As of 10/7 1200 cases, mostly in the North, but now in the S along the Euphrates.

Posted by: Penelope | Oct 19 2015 1:30 utc | 21

Thierry Meyssan was on World Crisis Radio Saturday (@28). He said Russians using that jamming radar for 3 weeks already– just 300km around Latakia, but that’s far enough to reach the Turkish border & Incirlik airfield. My memory is that w the Donald Cook incident that it jammed ALL equipment. In the current situation it’s only “communication systems including the satellite.” [Does he really mean communication, or only imaging?] He reminds us that WaPo had a story on 9/29 that quoted Gen Breedlove commenting that this was the third A2AD (anti-access, area denial) bubble he’d seen– other two being Crimea & Kaliningrad. Anyway Thierry specifically said they are Blind. He can’t mean anti-access, because they got to Aleppo. This is all he said on this topic; it’s certainly less than clear to me.

Posted by: Penelope | Oct 19 2015 1:38 utc | 23

Grover Furr on anti-Stalin BS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxYdGSIP0d0

Posted by: ruralito | Oct 19 2015 1:48 utc | 25

@ guest 77 @24:
Slottin’ himself into the VP position, perchance?

Posted by: wendy davis | Oct 19 2015 2:13 utc | 27

@juliania #22:
I replied to your comment, but my post didn’t go through. I saved what I wrote (this has happened to me before), so for the time being, I’ll wait and see if the post appears eventually.

Posted by: Demian | Oct 19 2015 2:16 utc | 29

@27 Plenue
History is written by victors, the saying goes, so it’s a pretty safe assumption that what an average westerner (or even a Russian) knows about Stalin is if not completely wrong, then surely quite distorted.
Maybe some “revisionism” – as in restoration of truth – is in order.

Posted by: MMARR | Oct 19 2015 2:32 utc | 31

@29 psuchohistorian
“With the US Dollar (USD) being the Reserve Currency, other countries are expected to keep their currencies in line with the USD”
That’s not true. Currencies are expected to fluctuate against each other, reflecting different countries’ trade performance. A country with the deteriorating trade balance is expected to see its currency depreciate, while a country with the improving trade balance is expected to see its currency appreciate. That’s how economies are supposed to adjust.

Posted by: MMARR | Oct 19 2015 2:49 utc | 33

@24 guest77
I was streaming the debate on CNN and right after the debate they interviewed Bernie and he said clearly that he wanted the email investigations to proceed and that his complaint was more about the moderator aping GOP character .
I like what Bernie is saying, the conversations he is forcing folks to have, he is a Jew who could stand up to Israel (has already) and is the only presidential candidate out there who I might/could vote for. I voted for Jill Stein (another Jew) with the Greens in the last presidential election and expect to do similar with the 2016 one…….I don’t see Bernie being allowed to continue for whatever reason they invent.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 19 2015 2:51 utc | 35

@33 Demian
Cassad is a self-proclaimed Communist, and I don’t really care for the Commies for one simple reason – while fancying themselves as Marxists, they know next to nothing about Marxism. At least if one was to judge by their deeds. The only Communists who work by the Marxist book are the Chinese. Russian Communists are simply a joke. They tried to “build socialism” without going through capitalism first, and according to Marx, that’s impossible. On top of that, according to Marx, “socialism in one country or even a group of countries” is equally impossible, as it would inevitably lead to a capital flight. No wonder that the USSR imploded.
My beef with the Stalin bashers is an obvious intellectual dishonesty, since they completely omit man’s undoubtedly great accomplishment, while being laser focused on his alleged victims (and then they can’t even agree on the numbers…I saw estimates vary from a million to 50 million, which means that the figures are mostly made up).

Posted by: MMARR | Oct 19 2015 3:11 utc | 37

@36 you call russian communists a joke.. how do we know that you’re not a joke?

Posted by: bbbbb | Oct 19 2015 3:24 utc | 39

Here is the latest analysis (explanation of earlier failed plans) of Syrian War by David Ignatius of WP
One must give him credit it’s not easy job cleaning and justifying after stuff gets in a very messy fan job.
http://www.journalnow.com/opinion/columnists/david-ignatius-still-searching-for-a-strategy-in-syria/article_f33871e9-c140-5f68-a968-2a53b85d3a47.html

Posted by: kooshy | Oct 19 2015 3:26 utc | 41

@40
David Ignatius? WaPo?
Mouthpiece for neocons…

Posted by: crone | Oct 19 2015 3:30 utc | 43

@38 bbbbb
That’s a kindergarten level of debate, since I could ask the same about you.

Posted by: MMARR | Oct 19 2015 3:34 utc | 45

@6: “Though the attack wasn’t an inside job, I believe it was allowed to happen to create a new scapegoat for the American political class to use as a way to curtail civil liberties, crack down on anti-capitalist, leftist, and environmental groups, and to justify the gargantuan military budget which had barely been cut since the end of the Cold War.”
“In conclusion, this ‘War on Terror’ is a war against Islam, Arabs, leftists, and anyone who fights against neoliberal capitalism as it expands its control of civilian lives and societies across the planet>”
Above from your link, I agree, thanks.
@7: Truth ALWAYS reads well, thanks

Posted by: ben | Oct 19 2015 3:42 utc | 47

@ 13 bbacon: Sooo, who do you favor? betcha won’t tell. Til’ a better one comes along, I’m a Sanders guy. Does he suck? Maybe, time will tell.

Posted by: ben | Oct 19 2015 3:49 utc | 49

@ 42
He is the most trusted CIA novelist screenwriter, now days his talent is mostly used and put in work to clean the shit from various fans, if all possible , most often the shit is too thick to be removed.

Posted by: kooshy | Oct 19 2015 4:07 utc | 51

@43
Western hearsay, eh? You do realize that the great turn against Stalin started with Khrushchev’s ‘secret speech’ in 1956, right? And he would have known what Stalin did in intimate detail, since he was in charge of some of Stalin’s purges. And of course Trosky’s writings dont exactly count as western hearsay. You’re speaking like someone who has in fact never read much about Stalin. The opening of the Soviet archives in the 90s provided vast amounts of material that reinforced a negative view of Stalin.
As for western reporting, I’m reminded of the fact that the New York Times featured glowing pro-Stalin reporting in the 1930s from Walter Duranty, eventually denounced as some of the worst ‘journalism’ ever featured in the paper.

Posted by: Plenue | Oct 19 2015 4:24 utc | 53

According to CCTV Egypt’s election is shaping up to be a fizzer with the vast majority of Egyptians (circa 80%) not bothering to vote.
CCTV provides daily updates on the number sorties by Russia in Syria but neither CCTV nor Russia Today have reported anything at all about Aleppo power plants being bombed by anyone, or anything. So I suspect that it’s not true, mostly because it insinuates that those soft target specialists, the US Coalition of Cowardice & Cretinism did something risky or brave. It’s probably a Russian-inspired Syrian joke.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Oct 19 2015 4:29 utc | 55

I’m tired of the Putin cheerleading on this board. I hate what the U.S. is doing in Syria: supporting Al Qaeda, letting the Gulf States prop up Islamic State; fixating on overthrowing Assad. But I won’t support Putin just because he’s opposing America. It’s sad to see the far-left on this board closing the circle with the far-right and backing a dictator in Putin. He’s a rightwing kleptocrat. He’s filling Russia with the ideological atmospherics of the neo-Eurasianists, led by Aleksandr Dugin, a fascist lunatic, a subway ranter with elite influence. How can the left take Putin’s side, ever, and still call itself left? Is the left so weak that it has to root for someone automatically, like a sports fan? Can’t it stand alone, against all enemies, on principle?

Posted by: Anonymous | Oct 19 2015 5:10 utc | 57

@MMARR@37
The only Communists who work by the Marxist book are the Chinese.
I seriously doubt that. Marxism in China coexists with Confucianism, both are learned by heart and recited when convenient, but none is applied in Chinese life. Chinese communist cadre might dress in a Mao jacket and carry Mao’s Red Book, but their children are reading Harvard’s BS application of Sun Tzu’s “Art of War” to corporate business and international finance, in English. Marxism in China plays the same role among the communist elite than Chinese language played during dynastic China, a unification tool for the state’s ideological/political control. If the Chinese so-called communists are Marxists, and by your definition “the true Marxists,” Donald Trump is a communist and should be shot on the spot for being a mole.

Posted by: Lone Wolf | Oct 19 2015 5:17 utc | 59

@56 Demian
In the country in which I live it says In God We Trust on our money and the motto was changed to that in the mid 1950’s from E Pluribus Unum. That tells me you have had 65 years to make America decent and you have failed.
I don’t buy your paragraph,
”
You seem to be thinking in terms of what is ideal instead of what is actual. Yes, what is ideal is to have reason govern society. But if that turns out to be unfeasible, the second-best solution is to have norms grounded in religion (i.e., a decent form of Christianity) influence society, as opposed to unchecked greed, which is what we have in our postmodern, post-Christian West.
”
What governs the West are the global plutocratic families that own private finance. They continue to maintain that control with inheritance and ongoing accumulation of property which seems to apply to religious organizations as well….funny how that works and has worked that way for centuries. How does “the church” stand on private or sovereign finance?
I will keep working on reason governing society, thank you

Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 19 2015 5:45 utc | 61

in tokyo owned atimes,
http://atimes.com/2015/10/how-china-pipped-india-at-nepal-post/
i posted this reply to gaibri,
http://www.telegraphnepal.com/commentary/2010-04-02/palace-massacre:-us-india-involved-claims-former-envoy-to-india
so far no show.,
too explosive for the mod’s taste i guess, hehehe

Posted by: denk | Oct 19 2015 6:29 utc | 63

sorry b,
forgotten again, archived link doesnt work well
here,
http://tinyurl.com/nj8k45q
pse delete previous garbled post, tku

Posted by: denk | Oct 19 2015 6:37 utc | 65

The US Could End Saudi War Crimes in Yemen – It Just Doesn’t Want To

The Amnesty report points out that the United States has a legal obligation under the Arms Trade Treaty not to provide weaponry it knows will be used in the indiscriminate bombing of Yemen. Article 6 of that treaty, which entered into force in October 2014, forbids the transfer of arms and munitions to a party to an armed conflict if it has knowledge that the weaponry will be used for “attacks directed against civilian objects or civilians protected as such, or other war crimes as defined by international agreements to which it is a party.”
The Amnesty report notes that the United States is also providing logistical and intelligence support to the Saudi-led coalition. This logistical assistance is particularly important because the Saudis and their Gulf allies need the assistance of US mechanics to keep their aircraft running. That fact gives the Obama administration a major source of leverage on Saudi policy. Furthermore, last summer the Saudis began to run low on the laser-guided bombs sold to them by the United States and requested to be resupplied. As a result, the Saudi decision to continue the war is dependent on a policy decision by Washington.
Resupplying the Saudis with the same US munitions that have been used to commit war crimes in Yemen also runs up against the Leahy Law – the domestic legislation governing US military sales and other forms of security assistance. That law prohibits military sales to forces that have engaged in gross violations of human rights, which would obviously include the blatant violations of the laws of war committed in Yemen.
Nevertheless, the Obama administration has thus far given no indication that it will deny the request.

Not only the war in Yemen but the wars in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan … he could end them all with an afternoon’s work.
Obama remains a lying, murderous, criminal, neocon stooge. That doesn’t mean he’s not a Wall Street stooge.
It means he’s a stooge for all seasons. The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. That’s what they give the prize for.

Posted by: jfl | Oct 19 2015 8:40 utc | 67

@Penelope
sorry I didn’t answer your post in the previous thread, we live in different time zones! guest77 indirectly answered you in his post here #24; the way I see it, two paradigms confronted themselves since the late XIXth century, which can be defined a plutocratic one (“supply creates its own demand”, “sound money”, no public deficit, low taxation on income, inflation number one enemy, low regulations, growth through private finance, low tariffs …) and a democratic one (“demand creates the supply”, unemployment number one enemy, growth through direct public intervention, control over capital movements, etc; Keynes is the great theorist of this approach);
the plutocratic paradigm brought the 1929 crisis; Roosevelt since the beginning of his mandate strongly curbed private finance, and gradually imposed, after a long trial-and-error period and after a long confrontation with the powers that be, mainly entrenched in the Supreme Court, a democratic paradigm that after WWII inspired and legitimized the european welfare state; the years between 1945 and 1975 have seen the greatest economic growth AND redistribution of wealth ever in western societies
towards the end of the ’70, neolibs became dominant again and imposed a plutocratic paradigm over western societies and possibily any independent national system in the world
so an analysis of what really happened in the ’70s, and the catastrophic defeat of the democratic forces, is crucial for any democratic project today

Posted by: claudio | Oct 19 2015 9:06 utc | 69

Lone Wolf says:
Thanks for the link and for pointing out the new US tactic…
scorched earth is a military tactic as old as the hills themselves and the US has practiced it since the republic was formed. if there is any possible positive slant on the recent bombing(s) of the power station(s) it just might be that it preannounces the retreat of hostile forces from Aleppo.

Posted by: john | Oct 19 2015 10:24 utc | 71

@Demian #56
The liberal-individualist idea of “enlightened” (rational) self-interest as the basis for social morality has indeed led to greed and power-seeking causing social chaos. I understand the impulse to seek religious morality as a way to temper it. But we need to understand and focus on the specific aspects of religious morality that are beneficial. The essential element is community. I’m not too familiar with Orthodox, but it strikes me as having a great deal in common with Catholicism. Catholicism, on the plus side, is a community-oriented religion. What social conscience there exists among Latin American elites is largely based on the communitarian aspects of Catholicism. On the downside it is a religion with concentrated power and all of its corrupting aspects. The concentrated power within Catholicism validates concentrated social power. Protestantism, while more egalitarian, lacks a communitarian ethos. Not being a religious person myself, I seek an ideal of social rationalism tempered by a communitarian ethos.
We’ve seen one attempt to construct a post-liberal rational outlook for humanity in the Marxist left. It offered a great critique of liberal capitalism but its own product didn’t work out so hot. Maybe we’ll figure it out one of these years.

Posted by: Thirdeye | Oct 19 2015 11:16 utc | 73

claudio @69: I think I basically agree with that take …. That must be an interesting discussion you’re having. I was just thinking about when the crucial turning point was in the U.S., and go with Carter’s appointment of Paul Volcker as Chair of the Federal Reserve in August, 1979. It signaled the Democrats’ new prioritization of preserving the value of paper wealth over generating growth and employment. Been all downhill ever since.

Posted by: fairleft | Oct 19 2015 11:49 utc | 75

Demian,
I’m rusty on Hegel but I’m sure Dostoievski would have read and discussed him. There would have been Hegelian principles infused into the character of Stepan, Pyotr’s father in “The Demons”. As to Pyotr himself, his character is further developed in The Brothers Karamazov – and split really into two, Ivan and Smerdyakov. Ivan is a brother – he’s very close in concept to hero Alyosha. They are both described as ‘realists’, having the same mother. And Ivan, I would say, is more of a Hegelian (my limited understanding) than are either Stepan or Pyotr in the earlier novel. Ivan is noble. So noble that many suppose his ‘poem’ The Grand Inquisitor to be what Dostoievski really believed.
For Orthodox Christianity, Christ is both perfect man and perfect God. Dostoievski explores the possibility of ‘perfect man’ in his novel “The Idiot”. When he comes to his hero, Alyosha, in TBK, he doesn’t attempt to make him perfect in a ‘superman’ sense. Ivan, his brother, is a rational man who discovers to his horror that he has influenced Smerdyakov – maybe not unlike Wahhabi influence on young Muslims, though in that case it seems to be very deliberate. In the case of Ivan, it is not; though he holds himself responsible. (Putin’s question to Obama: do you realize what you have done?)
Like Beethoven, Dostoievski did his greatest work near the end of his life. He was always building on what had come before, and on his own life experiences. And he was always looking for that perfection in man exemplified by Christ, as well as exploring the imperfections in a realistic but loving way. The article you linked said that Pyotr was ‘anthropocentric’. I don’t think Dostoievski would say that. If anything, the anthropocentric characters in the novels are Sophia in Crime and Punishment, Father Tikhon in The Demons, and Father Zosima in TBK. And sadly, The Idiot doesn’t have one, only a painting of Christ entombed, western style, graphically depicted. Powerful stuff!

Posted by: juliania | Oct 19 2015 12:46 utc | 77

Anonymous @57
Confused much?

Posted by: okie farmer | Oct 19 2015 12:54 utc | 79

Anonymous@57
> I’m tired of the Putin cheerleading on this board. I hate what the U.S. is doing
> in Syria: supporting Al Qaeda, letting the Gulf States prop up Islamic State; fixating
> on overthrowing Assad. But I won’t support Putin just because he’s opposing
> America.
I’ll give you my view. I’m American, 60 yrs old, lived here all my life. I’ve put a lot of time & effort (and $$) into efforts to “fix” some things… really beginning with the 2k Gore vs. Bush election: almost a “horror”, in that I was beyond shocked seeing how in the U.S., and prez election could be so thoroughly manipulated with lies. It got me off my butt and out of regular life, and… active. Been so ever since.
I don’t care to argue my “credentials” as left/liberal/progressive, as someone will always step up and dismiss or categorize/marginalize on a “quibble”… and turn something constructive into a food fight. Just look at the lack of agreement in this thread!
It would be close enough to say I’m “cheerleading” Putin’s actions in Syria. I would whole-heatedly reject my support (as you say) because he’s “opposing America”. That sounds like a “me against them” perception… always guaranteeing some type of conflict and stagnation.
I support what Putin’s done, because it is the right thing to do: his actions (well explained here and on multiple news sources, and even by him) were not haphazard or “whimsical”: their targets, preparation and actual actions make very good sense. This NEEDED to be done. If BO had the kahunas to do this, I would have applauded him.
We’ve (U.S.), literally caused devotion across the region in the last 15 years or so. Something had to be done.
> It’s sad to see the far-left on this board closing the circle with the far-right and backing a dictator in Putin.
With all due respect, I reject that characterization. There’s no such thing as a “perfect” leader/president. I’ll just say, I’ve been watching/reading about him closely for a good while (some years now): it would be easy to demonize and dismiss him with several “judgements” of things I didn’t agree with. But… overall, he’s been right and correct about far more then not. His support amongst Russian public is off the charts compared to any western leader I’m aware of, so that says something right there. And, what I like a lot… although our media doesn’t cover it, he explains himself well and his actions have lined up with his statements.
I posted a snippet from a forum he participated in just a few days ago yesterday, in which he explained some details of his Syria actions. You may want to read that. The transcript I took that from here.

Posted by: jdmckay | Oct 19 2015 13:24 utc | 81

As usual, I’m insanely late in posting to the open threads, but, to anyone still reading, there’s a post from something called the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point that is actually excellent on the reasons why many more Syrian Sunnis might support the Assad government than is commonly assumed. See, eg.,

At the same time, notable segments of Syria’s Sunni majority remain supportive of the Ba’athists for any number of reasons.[23] The nature of authoritarian regimes makes it difficult to gauge feelings of approval (or opposition). Nevertheless, it is important to consider the various gradations of support that the present regime continues to draw from this critical segment of Syrian society.[24]
Sunnis (and others) who harbor genuine misgivings toward the government may still feel more threatened by the armed opposition. These feelings are likely to have crystallized given the prevalence of radical Sunni Islamist currents within the insurgents. These sentiments are reflected in numerous segments of Syria’s Sunnis. They are most apparent, however, among urban Sunnis, including the middle- and upper-class strata and, in particular, the business and merchant classes that were cultivated by the Ba’athist regime over many years.[25] The armed opposition has singled out a number of powerful Sunni businessmen for their purported roles in helping to sustain the Ba’athists, including the organization of irregular militias; and the smuggling of hard currency, arms, and critical goods.[26]
Class-based dynamics have also shaped negative perceptions of the opposition among the many Sunnis who remain loyal to the current regime. The perception of the opposition as a rural-based movement led by religiously conservative, poor, and unsophisticated villagers has alienated wide segments of urban Sunnis, who have little in common socially with their co-religionists.[27]
The strong Sunni presence in Syria’s military and security apparatus has also been overlooked. Much of the Ba’athist military and security apparatus is commanded by Alawite officers who are bound by relations to family, kin, clan, or tribe. Many elite squads and sections are led directly by al-Assad’s relatives. Nonetheless, Sunnis and, more specifically, Sunni Arabs, continue to make up the majority of the regular army’s rank-and-file membership.
Estimates indicate that Sunnis account for between 60 and 65 percent of the regular army.[28] Despite mass defections by thousands of mostly Sunni conscripts and mid-level officers and growing reports of recruitment problems,[29] Sunnis continue to be well represented in Syria’s security institutions in various capacities, including leadership and other specialized roles. This is the case even as the reasons behind their continued service—and that of other Syrians—may vary.[30]

Whole article very much worth reading.
PS. US military quasi-NGOs can be all over the map in terms of quality, as any reader of smallwarsjournals.com will know, but what I’m reading from this one is quite good, and I actually I recognize a couple of names of people I knew to be intelligent back when I was on the margins of the COIN-academic complex.

Posted by: Claud | Oct 19 2015 13:52 utc | 83

The false dichotomy of sunnis vs shia confessional divide in Syria is coming apart as it is pure Western propaganda. More than 70% of Alawite Assad’s SAA are sunnis. Sunnis enjoyed living in a secular multiconfessional tolerant society just like Iraqis enjoyed living in a secular Iraq with Saddam. The Sharia law imported into Syria by the takfiris salafis from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf monarchies is not popular among mostly sufi Syrian sunnis. Thus, the need to import fighters from Chechnya, Uyghurs, Afghans, etc. into Syria to cause mayhem.
What is of interest to understand the Arab spring is:
1) Neocon stranglehold of foreign policy in USA
2) THE 1982 ODED YINON PLAN A Strategy for Israel WZO. The Greater Israel myth endorsed by neocons in PNAC
3) Plan for Seven MENA countries to be invaded and dismembered after 911 (Relayed publicly by retired General Wesley Clark and confessed to him by Paul Wolfowitz the neocon architect of Iraq invasion and resource plunder)
The Seven countries didn’t have Central Banks owned by Rothschilds and associated with the IMF, didn’t practice usury and were promoting a gold dinar bypassing the US dollar and the BIS (Bank for International Settlements)
4) Discovery of important Natural Gas reserves off the coast of Gaza resulted in the naval blockade of Gaza and the appointing of Iraq War Criminal, Tony Blair, as representative of the UN Quartet to Palestine while being a sitting board member of British Petroleum
5) Discovery of important Natural Gas reserves off the coast of Lebanon resulted in the Israeli invasion of Southern Lebanon. Although this invasion failed due to stiff resistance by Hezbollah, the Israeli plan hasn’t been abandoned because there are abundant water resources in the Litani river and enormous Natural Gas reserves off the coast of Southern Lebanon. The presence of Russia in Syria has thrown a monkey wrench in these plans.
6) Discovery of Oil Reserves in the Syrian Golan Heights resulted in the illegal, according to the UN. squatting of Syrian territory by Israel
7) Rival pipelines projects from both Qatar and Iran from same reservoir have caused the Western clamor to depose Assad and replace him with a more pliable government or a plan to dismember Syria like Iraq, into Kurdish, Sunni and Alawite enclaves.
8 ) Turkey’s building of dams on the Euphrates have reduced downstream river flow to 20% of what it once was causing a reduction of arable land, famine and migration.
9) The western plan is to cause widespread migration of people to Europe to depopulate and favor the Greater Israel Myth and to run a pipeline through Syria to Europe to wean it from Natural Gas supply and influence from Russia.
10) Turkey will not allow a greater Kurdistan as it feels threatened by it.
11) Russia will not allow the dismemberment of Syria or any Natural Gas pipeline that isn’t Iranian or Russian controlled
12) Egypt and Jordan have already broken off with the Western coalition as they want no part with ISIS in their neighborhood.
13) Iraq has sided with Iran and Russia
14) Saudi Arabia is in trouble economically and with military overstretch in Yemen and Syria.
15) Bahrein is vulnerable to a Shia uprising.

Posted by: Sun Tzu | Oct 19 2015 14:49 utc | 85

@85
Bravo! excellent summary analysis

Posted by: crone | Oct 19 2015 15:15 utc | 87

Thanks for that overview Sun Tzu. The ‘Arc of Resistance’ seems to be unstoppable, whatever may be said of the Sunni Dictators who have the backing of the US, the alliance of Iran,Iraq,Syria,Hezbollah backed up now by Russia have far more democratic credentials than those supporting the US. It is possible and I hope it is the case that the US may be losing the middle east, Saudi Arabia is being surrounded and hopefully the Kings and Emirs will soon be hanging from lamp posts. Israel too, will not be able to expand and may be forced to give up some of its stolen territory. By the way, enjoyed your writings in ‘The art of war’, not every blog has a distinguished Chinese General contributing to it.

Posted by: harry law | Oct 19 2015 15:22 utc | 89

Anonymous @57:
Would you like some cheese with that whine? Do you know or care what’s right and what’s wrong? Or has liberal retardation made everything relative to you? It’s understandable if this is the case. Doing the right thing takes guts and transcends the phony left-right control matrix. It might rustle your jimmies that an unapologetic, popular, straight male has acted decisively – no one else has dared step up to the USSA juggernaut as it has destroyed one state after another without a care for what they have left behind.
I voted for Obama in 2008 and am disgusted at what a weak suck he is- little more than the Lefts’ version of George W. Bush. Take a weak horse and a strong one, put them side by side and most people will go with the strong one. If Russians like Putin and he has earned respect around the world for his actions, his internal policies should be of no concern to you. Stop trying to be the white knight for people who don’t need it and haven’t asked for it. Take a refugee or 5 into your home, that’ll make you feel better.

Posted by: farflungstar | Oct 19 2015 15:41 utc | 91

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.fr/2015/10/stephen-kinzer-brothers-rise-of.html (Video)
Stephen Kinzer: The Brothers – Rise of Exceptionalism and Aspirations of Empire
“Exceptionalism”—the view that the United States has a right to impose its will because it knows more, sees farther, and lives on a higher moral plane than other nations—was to them not a platitude, but the organizing principle of daily life and global politics…
With a glance, a nod, and a few words, without consulting anyone other than the President, the brothers could mobilize the full power of the United States anywhere in the world.”
Stephen Kinzer, The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War

Posted by: okie farmer | Oct 19 2015 16:01 utc | 93

psychohistorian @ 30
Sorry your post requires a much longer answer than I like to include in a single post. Long posts cause people’s eyes to glaze over. Be that as it may…
You aren’t helping your case by quoting conventional wisdom on the Quantity Theory of Money, which I’ve read…I’m quite familiar with conventional wisdom…and rejected as a useless mathematical exercise. You should too.
The equation for the Quantity Theory of Money contains (4) dependent variables…the value of each variable is a function of one or more of the remaining variables…it is virtually impossible to solve without holding at least (2) of the variables as constants…which renders any result meaningless in terms of anything that happens in the real world. May as well read tea leaves. You certainly won’t be able to use it to prove that the quantity of money causes inflation.
This is one of the many reasons why conventional economic theory is bollocks.
The quantity of money is a stock, increase in the quantity is a flow. A lake does not flow.
Economics is based on the flow of funds…is defined by it. Every item in the budget is a flow. Your bank balance (a stock) only gets bigger when you have Income (a flow).
The stock of money…Savings…the money we have…QoM…is where money goes to die. Almost none of it ever gets spent again (other than I, business investment…a small fraction), the balance just keeps getting bigger (and why we should heavily tax excess liquidity, which is all it is).
‘Circulation’ is a myth. What we perceive as ’circulation’ is growth…money being ‘forced’ through the economy by the fiscal agent (mainly), something which economists would never be able to admit or even think or they would be run out of town. Personally, I don’t see how anyone can call themselves an economist without at least some training in physics or engineering science, since that is about the only place one will learn about systems analysis. It is readily apparent economics as practiced does not qualify as a science. It is akin to a religion or belief system.
As an engineer, I’ve never observed any kind of real-world system grow without a net transfer from another system…and no one else has either. Aquinas knew this as far back as the 13th Century…”an effect can never be greater than it’s cause”…perpetual motion is impossible (2nd law of thermodynamics these days). This applies to monetary systems as well… To believe that an economic system drives itself is to believe in the impossible. Economic systems are driven by the fiscal agent, an external system, meaning the currency units creating flow do not originate within the economy itself, they originate ‘from nothing’ at the direction of the fiscal agent.
Compound interest requires compound spending (and deficits). You can’t acquire money (income either earned or as interest) that doesn’t exist or is inaccessible (savings). If a system is to grow the money supply has to grow.
One way to look at circulation is to imagine a multi-tiered fountain, where water flows out of the top to each successive level and eventually reaches the pool at the bottom where there is a circulating pump to the top. Each level receives ‘income’. Now imagine people coming to the fountain with buckets and catching the water between the levels…saving…eventually all of the water will be gone, and circulation ceases. The number of people collecting water from the fountain will always be greater than those putting it back, because…
…It is only possible to dis-save (draw down your savings) if you spend more than your income (from the definition of savings which is income not spent) so the only people that can spend their savings are those that spend more than their income.
How large is that group? I’m guessing not very, probably small compared to others saving at a faster rate.
The Quantity of Money is more or less irrelevant other than a means to fund interest growth.

Posted by: paulmeli | Oct 19 2015 16:12 utc | 95

@okie farmer #93:
How America’s modern shadow government can be traced back to one single psychopath – Allen Dulles
@john #94:
“Scorched earth” typically refers to damaging territory you can’t hold on to and have to withdraw from (burning fields, making wells unusable). The US in contrast seems to like bombing for its own sake. The US and Britain were totally into destroying German and Japanese infrastructure, even though the US all along intended to occupy both countries once the war was over. That is not scorched earth: that is the American way of war.
That is not to say that the US did not apparently pick up this habit during its Civil War.

Posted by: Demian | Oct 19 2015 16:22 utc | 97

The idea being floated of forming 5 statelets in Syria & Iraq is a non starter if these are not viable from a security, economic and political point of view.
For example: Greater Kurdistan will be both a threat and threatened by: Turkey, Iran and Syria although it has Oil to survive economically. Does it have water resources? Hardly because the Tigris and the Euphrates are being choked with dams in Turkey.
Same with an Alawite or a Sunni enclave. Will it have the Golan Heights Oil & Gas resources to survive economically? Will it control and Iranian pipeline through Syria? Not according to the: Oded Yinon/ PNAC and Qatari plans!
Thus, the Western plan requires depopulation & forced mass migration into Europe. The public decapitations and the infrastructure bombing (e.g. bombing: powerplants & hospitals) are the tools of Western hybrid warfare. However, public opinion in Europe is not agreeing to this quid pro quo.

Posted by: Sun Tzu | Oct 19 2015 16:55 utc | 99