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January 31, 2016
Open Thread 2016-06
Comments
Obama to visit US mosque first time as President
https://rehmat1.com/2016/01/31/obama-to-visit-us-mosque-first-time-as-president/
Posted by: james | Jan 31 2016 18:47 utc | 2
‘German Chancellor Angela Merkel says that most of the refugees entering Germany from Syria and Iraq are expected to return home once conflicts in their countries have ended.’
what kind of idiot is this lady?
Posted by: james | Jan 31 2016 18:50 utc | 3
Do you think guys that the plan is for Iran to replace Saudi Arabia ?
And what do you think About Xi Jinping and Hassan Rouhani tour both in Europe and middle east..?
One thing I am concerned about and we often forget is the battle between China and Russia over central Asia particularly with the silk road coming back into effect.The realization of the new silk road will probably connect the most populous regions in the world or the world Island as Mackinder smartly named it and shift the world power to the heartland which is mainly made of the two powerful nations of Russia and China.We all remember that it is the fear of the rise of the heartland which is responsible for the hate the US has against Russia and the fear they have of an alliance between Russia an Germany (or the Berlin Paris Moscow alliance) that would forever ( or in part )ditch them out of the world leadership and domination.However the shift of the balance of power happening now between the western world and the Us in particular and Eurasia and east Asia specifically (I can believe Orwell got all theses things right)led me to believe that China and Russia are fighting in the shadow for the control and the outcome in central asia . In that context I think Iran is central especially for China. What do you think about that guys?
PS:I hope everyone is doing well
Posted by: lebretteurfredonnant | Jan 31 2016 19:23 utc | 5
reposting because think it’s important http://news.antiwar.com/2016/01/29/us-britain-spies-on-israeli-air-force-for-18-years/
Posted by: aaaaaa | Jan 31 2016 19:36 utc | 6
Not much in the western news recently on the Mexican “economic miracle”. Hark!:
The government of Mexico just announced that it quietly injected 50 billion pesos ($2.7 billion) of public funds into the coffers of state-owned oil company Pemex. (…) Pemex is the world’s second largest non-publicly listed company, with $416 billion in assets. But things are looking decidedly grim. The company reported a record $9.9 billion loss in the third quarter of 2015 alone, and its towering debt mountain is expected to top $100 billion this year. Standard & Poor’s has just downgraded Pemex’s debt one notch deeper into junk to BB. Its reasoning: despite Pemex’s efforts to reduce costs and “reconsider” some of its investments, these measures will not be enough to offset the pressure from weaker oil prices.
Posted by: Maracatu | Jan 31 2016 19:38 utc | 7
what kind of idiot is this lady?
Posted by: james | Jan 31, 2016 1:50:28 PM | 3
Mrs Merkel may be lots of things but “idiot” isn’t one of them.
It’s at best a warning, at worst a threat, that alliances could change as quickly as, or quicker than the refugee crisis which USrael dropped onto “Old (F*ck the EU) Europe.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jan 31 2016 19:46 utc | 8
yeah sure – Merkel’s talk will stem the tide of the future millions of economic migrants from all over..
Posted by: aaaaaa | Jan 31 2016 20:08 utc | 9
5
I have only played the board game “Risk” a couple of times, but it seems to model the current situation in a lot of ways. Years ago there was another board game “Diplomacy” based on pre WW 1, that caught the imagination of my students (13 14 grade level). They thought the most interesting country to play was Turkey. Those two games might provide you with the insight you and your friends want. The role playing in Diplomacy could allow for certain players to be assigned sociopathic characteristics by lot.
Posted by: Curtis | Jan 31 2016 20:14 utc | 10
Any french people here? This critical documentary about maidan is being aired in France tommorow.
http://www.javafilms.fr/spip.php?article2029
Posted by: Mann | Jan 31 2016 20:16 utc | 11
@8 hoarsewhisperer… she is an idiot for thinking people are that stupid that they will look past here own support and assistance in both wars – iraq and syria – which has led to this.. more importantly, her support for the west in it’s ongoing agenda which is so depraved, only an idiot would support it..
Posted by: james | Jan 31 2016 20:24 utc | 12
@Mann
○ Twitter Paul Moreira @PaulMoreiraPLTV
○ Ukraine Asks French TV to Refrain From Broadcasting Movie About the Events in Odessa
bnmb@4: Great article, an excerpt:
“Bernie says he’ll break up the big banks, but that’s not enough. Because we should always have in mind that the free market is a fairy tale. This is a closed powerful system with a few leading currencies that shape the Western monetary monopoly, all connected with the most powerful of all at the top. And the banksters control the “machine” in order to print dollars, physically or digitally, as many as they want, whenever they want. And, direct them wherever they want.”
Posted by: ben | Jan 31 2016 21:14 utc | 14
@4
When analysing any geopolitical issue, it cannot be done in reality without first acknowledging that our reserve currency is backed by a private entity. Not really a sound state of affairs for the world. And so yes, as the article states there is no, nor has there been any such thing resembling a free market – that’s what the TTP/TTIP are for, to seal the fate of the electorate before the ‘awakening.’
I hope at the same time our global overlords at the Federal Reserve are audited that some time is reserved for auditing the gold said to be kept at Fort Knox. I would find that interesting.
Posted by: MadMax2 | Jan 31 2016 21:20 utc | 15
@Oui
Wow. Haha. Could you smell any more fear in that fortruss blog…? Hopefully somewhere in the documentary features the following series of words: “That would be great I think to help glue this thing and have the UN glue it and you know, fuck the EU,”
Suitably subtitled of course.
Posted by: MadMax2 | Jan 31 2016 21:48 utc | 16
We do live in interesting times. What would we do without the internet! Great site, great comments.
Posted by: shadyl | Jan 31 2016 22:21 utc | 17
“the banksters control the “machine” in order to print dollars, physically or digitally, as many as they want, whenever they want. And, direct them wherever they want.”
Bullshit. Banks can’t create anything unless borrowers take out loans. They aren’t. Credit Outstanding is still below the max reached in 2008.
Does anyone here understand what ‘printing’ means? Printing means spending. Banks in the FRBS are not allowed to spend new $ into the system. They are forbidden to do so.
Posted by: paulmeli | Jan 31 2016 22:22 utc | 18
Has anyone seen a photos of Mohammed Alloush, the new Jaish Al Islam militia chief made negotiator in Geneva? Any search on Google images give nothing. Does the man actually exists and if he does why is the media avoiding to show him?
As he is supposedly “on his way” to Geneva, he won’t be able to hide his face anymore ( He may have shaved his salafist beard..)
Posted by: virgile | Jan 31 2016 22:38 utc | 19
If You Support Hillary PLEASE READ THIS ARTICLE!
https://youtu.be/XQTHPig9fME?list=PLfrlsC1yJ2dQp4gYWxULG1opbsdeEc99k
(video where I talk about it and link to it)
Posted by: Tom Murphy | Jan 31 2016 22:43 utc | 20
“If You Support Hillary…”
Screw Hillary, If Bernie in’t the nominee I won’t vote (for President).
I do however support our right to arm bears.
Posted by: paulmeli | Jan 31 2016 23:34 utc | 21
‘Hundreds’ of masked men beat refugee children in Stockholm
Hundreds of masked men marched through Stockholm’s main train station on Friday evening, reportedly beating up refugees and anyone who didn’t appear to be ethnically Swedish.
Wearing all-black balaclavas and armbands, the men “gathered with the purpose of attacking refugee children,” Stockholm police spokesperson Towe Hagg said.
“I saw maybe three people who were beaten. That was no football brawl or something similar. They targeted migrants. I was quite scared and ran away,” an eyewitness told the Aftonbladet newspaper.
After the attack, the Swedish Resistance Movement, a neo-Nazi group, released a statement claiming the attack had “cleaned up criminal immigrants from North Africa that are housed in the area around the Central Station”.
Which is worse? ‘thousands’ of refugee rapists in Germany, or ‘hundreds’ of NAZI goons in Sweden.
Posted by: jfl | Feb 1 2016 0:29 utc | 22
Posted by: jfl | Jan 31, 2016 7:29:38 PM | 22
Which is worse? ‘thousands’ of refugee rapists in Germany, or ‘hundreds’ of NAZI goons in Sweden.
No differences except put all in the same cage together with all the warmongers, liars including the Bushes, the Clintons, the apologists and Bernie.
Posted by: Jack Smith | Feb 1 2016 0:41 utc | 23
‘Cut-out’ Anti-Drone Protest Brings Arrests
On Jan. 28, 30 life-size cutouts of the late anti-war activist Jerry Berrigan – brother of Dan and Phil Berrigan – blockaded the main entrance of Hancock Air National Guard Base outside Syracuse, New York, where Jerry Berrigan lived. The cutouts of Jerry Berrigan were accompanied by 12 live nonviolent drone resisters, who were arrested after blockading for an hour and a half.
Jerry Berrigan, who died on July 26, 2015 at the age of 95, … came to the base on a bi-weekly basis whenever he was able, in his words, “to remind the base commander of our government’s pledge under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, a treaty to safeguard non-combatant’s well-being in any warzone in which U.S. forces are engaged in combat.”
The group also remembered Mary Anne Grady Flores, who is serving a six-month sentence for violating an order of protection, taken out by the colonel at Hancock Air Base. As the protesters noted, courts in rural New York apparently believe that a colonel at this highly armed base needs protection from nonviolent citizens calling attention to the drone killings.
Isn’t it unbelievable that the stooge Onondaga County Court Judge Thomas J. Miller has gone along with warcriminal Col. Earl Evans of the Hancock Air National Guard Base 174th Attack Wing and his absurd ‘order of protection’ … from a peaceloving grandmother?
Isn’t it good to know that some Americans are constantly reminding the war criminals of their crimes!
Good report on Western media and NATO’s sectarian project, i.e. it’s chaos project, for Syria:
The depiction of al-Zahra’a merely as “an Alawite” district is in line with the NATO alliance’s sectarian project, a sectarianism which the vast majority of Syrians continue to refuse.
Will we have less biased coverage of the latest ISIS terror attack on Damascus, near a very important Shi’a shrine?
Posted by: fairleft | Feb 1 2016 0:48 utc | 25
When comparing Hillary and Bernie it’s like comparing Coco-Cola and Pepsi-Cola…
Why not get the Real Thing?
Posted by: Jack Smith | Feb 1 2016 0:49 utc | 26
lebretteurfredonnant @ 5
I have wondered the same thing about the US switching dance partners from Saudi Arabia to Iran. It could well be true and it would certainly be good sense though I’m not sure how much good sense the present US government has. Saudi Arabia has oil; end of that story. Iran, on the other hand, has oil as well as a large educated population. Fifty years ago in Iran I called it the Germany of south-west Asia. It’s far more developed and educated now than it was then. Diversified international trade anyone?
In addition, it is becoming very clear that Saudi Arabia is the fount from which radical fundamentalist Islam flows. Iran, though it rants about being an Islamic state, is and has long been very sophisticated in its approach to Islam. It would be a far better partner to stop the spread of Islamic primitivism than Saudi Arabia. It is easily the antidote to Saudi Arabia.
Consider further that almost all Saudi oil is in the north-east of the country, in predominantly Shiia Islamic territory. If Saudi Arabia loses control over it’s population, the north-east of the country will surely look to Iran for protection. US strategic map makers have long foreseen a break-up of Saudi-Arabia into four or more independent countries. A friendly Shiia country in north-east Saudi Arabia would allow the US to continue getting oil from the gulf via this new country plus from Iran as well as from the then-compliant Sunni Gulf states.
It seems a no-brainer to me. Of course, US foreign policy has been functioning on a less than no-brain level since at least Bill Clinton. Oh, well!
As to a Russia/China competition, it seems that as long as the US targets both countries, they can only benefit from cooperation. Conflict or competition between them would only play into the hands of US interests. I don’t think the Russian or Chinese governments are that stupid.
Posted by: Macon Richardson | Feb 1 2016 1:03 utc | 27
@26 What is your mental block? What the hell does “getting the real thing” have to do with the nominee for the Democratic party? Why must you continue to play immature games? What I am saying cannot possibly be too hard to understand. I am talking about the Democratic PRIMARY. You want to play games, sit on your hands and allow them to nominate Hillary Clinton (some one who is clearly worse?) With domestic policy Sanders is a BIG improvement, a step in the right direction. With foreign policy, he is a less aggressive than Hillary. We can try to move him to be even better. But the bottom line is the Democrats are nominating an candidate and you want to play foolish games.
And as I said, for all your talk, have you ever actually voted for Jill Stein because I have.
You can see me voting here
Posted by: Tom Murphy | Feb 1 2016 1:11 utc | 28
Looking back the 60s and 70s, as Vietnam war expanding and raging. I remember John Kerry one of the antiwar. I was living in LA. There were many oldies I love and one of them That’s The Real Thing.
I have since stopped drinking either Coke or Pepsi, they’re bad for your health, you too should avoid Coke (Hillary) and Pepsi (Bernie).
I dun articulate well but can prove in a few simple words without a shadow of doubt Hillary and Bernie are the same.
To my peace loving Bros and Sis here refresh your memories… The New Seekers in 1972 and enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWKznrEjJK4
Posted by: Jack Smith | Feb 1 2016 1:22 utc | 29
FL@25
This attack in Damascus was a military operation aimed at Hezbollah and other militias headquartered near the shrine. The RT story even admits that at least half the casualties were militiamen. The Islamic State makes no distinction between civilian and military but then Russia also claims that all its kills are terrorists even children.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Feb 1 2016 1:29 utc | 30
Posted by: Tom Murphy | Jan 31, 2016 8:11:15 PM | 28
@26 What is your mental block? What the hell does “getting the real thing” have to do with the nominee for the Democratic party? Why must you continue to play immature games?
I’m not as stupid as your said earlier neither mental block nor immature. Given the choice on Super Tuesday primary, I’ll switch my voting preference from Independent to Dem. and vote for the Real Thing instead of Pepsi to win. This merry-go-around got to Stop NOW!.
Posted by: Jack Smith | Feb 1 2016 1:40 utc | 31
@31 What does what you said you would do have to do with “stopping the merry-go-round?” NOTHING. We are not talking about the general election. We are talking about the primary and your game only means that you are throwing a primary vote away. Why wouldn’t you try to get BETTER Democratic candidate for the Democratic nominee?
Why not vote in some independent primary for that matter? Why not vote in the Green Party? You can vote for someone else in the general election.
And you keep ignoring my question: have you ever actually voted for Jill Stein?
Posted by: Tom Murphy | Feb 1 2016 2:07 utc | 32
Tom & Jack:
It think Jack’s objection is clear. He doesn’t want to vote for the Democrats / Republican duopoly.
Tom: I think your strategy is clear. It makes sense – unless you are someone that see past the charade (like Jack). Some of us feel like Charlie Brown – Lucy ALWAYS pulls the football.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Feb 1 2016 2:20 utc | 33
Waaaaayoutwest
I think the attack was the terr0r!sts thumbing their nose at the peace process. They didn’t get a ceasefire, so BOOM!
Predictible step toward KSA, Turkey, USA, etc. attack on ISIS and occupation of territory (essentially a partition) – just as they said they would do if the talks failed (because … Assad, of course).
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Feb 1 2016 2:28 utc | 34
@18 paulmeli
who stated “Credit Outstanding is still below the max reached in 2008.”
If you believe any numbers anymore, I have to wonder why. The unemployment rate is meaningless anymore, as is the CPI, etc. Why should we believe any numbers relative to risk? The $10 trillion or so added to the public debt since 2008 is an example of one of those numbers that don’t seem to be fully realized in “Credit Outstanding”.
If I am a big private bank and I can borrow money for FREE (since 2008 until last December), I am going to do so and derivative the shit out of everything I own. This is so when the music stops my position at the trough is ahead of all/most else. If I am a big bank I know the music is going to stop because I am part of the band and WE (our private owners) will decide when the music stops.
Do you really believe that finance should be the jackboot of the global plutocrats instead of being a public utility? I continue to struggle with your comments portraying finance as only having a virus when it seems clear to most that private finance is the main cancer humanity faces.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 1 2016 2:39 utc | 35
@Macon Richardson
After more than 25 years, the USA has finally become aware that Iran has never tried to spread its brand of Islam (shiism) in the Arab, Asian or Western world by building centers or mosques or inciting the practice of suicide bombs, while it is clear that Saudi Arabia has spend billions to spread its violent brand of Islam (wahhabism) in these areas by building hundred of Islamic centers and sending their preachers to brainwash the youth. We see the result: 9/11, Al Qaeda and now ISIS terrorism..
Time has come for the USA to decide to stop that once for all. In my view some wise people in the USA have long decided that Saudi Arabia need shock treatments to be obliged to change its medieval and sectarian system.
As its is a long time rich friend and has many neo-cons allies in Washington, the USA cannot undermine it directly.
Therefore, using regional tensions, the USA has set up several traps where the Saudis have fallen: The Syrian crisis and Yemen. It has also taken decision to reintroduce Iran, Saudi Arabia’s worst and dreaded enemy into the international community.
The Saudis are now plunged into the Yemen quagmire from where they will come out exhausted, weakened and humiliated. The same is happening in Syria with the help of Russia (and many Western countries) who secretly share that same goal.
That are the shock treatments that Saudi Arabia needed to be obliged to change course.
It may take some time but it will happen and the world will finally get rid of the most vicious and pernicious regime in the region.
Posted by: virgile | Feb 1 2016 2:40 utc | 36
JR@34
The Islamic State is not a party involved in any peace deal or negotiations or demanding a cease fire. If there was a cease fire between the Axis forces and the rebels it wouldn’t apply to the IS or al Nusra.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Feb 1 2016 3:27 utc | 37
I don’t understand the argument of Iran replacing the Saudis as partners for the U.S. Let me put it simply–it’s completely out of the question. The Saudis are deeply allied with the Deep State and essential to its continuation. Terrorism, the martinets Gift from God, is largely a result of Saudi money and skulduggery. Having said that there is deep division within the Deep State (which is why U.S. policy is zigzagging all over the place) and the neocons and their allies may lose out to other factions.
Posted by: Banger | Feb 1 2016 3:42 utc | 38
adding@27
Matthew Simmons – Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Oil Shock
https://youtu.be/e_9dgmhIh38
Posted by: okie farmer | Feb 1 2016 3:44 utc | 39
Waaaayoutwest
Yes. But an intervention as per UNSC 2249 would be against ISIS. And Kerry and Dagvutoglu said, just days ago, that they would intervene against ISIS if the Syrian peace talks were stalled. How convenient that, now that the peace talks ARE stalled, ISIS provides further cause for such an intervention.
No peace = continuing ISIS menace = continuing refugee crisis. Something must be done!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Feb 1 2016 4:08 utc | 40
Here’s a new piece from Elijah J. Magnier, dated Feb 1, that appears translated at Fort Russ even before on his own blog: New Rules of Engagement on the Battlefield and in the Diplomatic Arena
It says the new rules of engagement flow from the Russian policy now of continuous, 24/7 overflight of the Turkish border, and that the new rules now empower Syrian pilots to “engage” (which I read as “shoot down”) intruders from Turkey in Syrian airspace without having to request permission from base.
How glorious must it feel to be Syrian now, after so many years of hard time? Maybe I read the significance of this wrong, but my heart leaps for joy.
Posted by: Grieved | Feb 1 2016 4:42 utc | 41
I like William Greider and have read him since Secrets Of The Temple (about the Fed)
Here is a Jan 29 article by him: http://www.thenation.com/article/how-obsolete-triumphalist-militarism-is-destroying-america/
The hubris of Empire is its downfall every time.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 1 2016 4:55 utc | 42
@42 myself
The last line from the Greider article:
”
Think of it this way: Imagine that a rival military power arises in the world with the influence and the authority to demand a contemporary version of the war trials that followed World War II. Would American leaders be in the dock, accused of war crimes? What would they say in their defense?
”
Would those leaders out the people that pull their strings?
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 1 2016 5:02 utc | 43
psychohistorian | Feb 1, 2016 12:02:06 AM | 43
Cue John Lennon’s “Imagine”, no?
Posted by: V. Arnold | Feb 1 2016 5:41 utc | 44
Here is a link to an interview with the Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked by Spiegel
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/israeli-justice-minister-shaked-we-will-not-commit-suicide-a-1074653.html
The next to the last quote from the interview says it all for me:
”
Shaked: I have to interrupt you here. The economy in Gaza is declining because Gaza is controlled by a terror regime.
”
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black….. Israel is a very hurt social group and that hurt, if not managed or healed will kill our species.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 1 2016 5:59 utc | 45
@ 18 paulmeli: This for your information:
http://www.mindcontagion.org/fed/createmoney.html
Posted by: ben | Feb 1 2016 6:29 utc | 46
…
more importantly, her support for the west in it’s ongoing agenda which is so depraved, only an idiot would support it..
Posted by: james | Jan 31, 2016 3:24:03 PM | 12
I’m assuming that Mrs Merkel has seen sufficient evidence to persuade herself that Germany has been completely betrayed by its so-called friends and wants her (extremely smart and resourceful) country to stop behaving like a gullible idiot.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Feb 1 2016 7:03 utc | 47
Ad #47.
I think Germany might have won WWII if Hitler had spent more time listening to his experts and less time talking. The Yankees are making the same mistake. And it’s a fatal error to let ideologues have the last word. On anything.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Feb 1 2016 7:20 utc | 48
@41 If true, this is a game changer, putting in effect a no fly zone over Syria’s airspace..
Posted by: Lozion | Feb 1 2016 7:22 utc | 49
@Macon Richardson @Banger
With the united state pivot toward the pacific which will now become the new economical center of the world and the desire of the globalists and imperialist elites in The United states to break up the middle east and Saudi Arabia, The alliance between the US and Iran makes lot of sense just like Macon said it.On the grand scheme of thing it would be the most rational thing to do. Especially when we know that the middle east is mostly composed of artificial political entities and nation without much shared history and mostly composed of small non cohesive groups aside for Iran. If the middle east ended up being broken up as planned the only country that will stand still will be Iran due to its national cohesion. Furthermore Iran has a huge amount of gaz , is very much in love with the us and as Macon pointed it out Iran is very educated. There is no better country for the US to be allied with and to secure the peace and the US dominance in the middle east beside Israel.The only problems that stand in the way is the Iranian support for the Hezbollah and perhaps more importantly its support for the current Syrian regime that prevents the building of the Qatari-Syrian pipeline necessary to oppose Russian strong influence in Europe.
About the alliance between Saudi Arabia, terrorism and the deep state or the necessity of terrorism .Iran becoming the main ally of the US doesn’t go against that.The break up of Saudi Arabia doesn’t mean the end of terrorism or the alliance between the deep state and radical Islam.We just have to look at the support The Muslim brotherhood gets from the western world without any need for Saudi Arabia or the support of a small country like Qatar to jihadists and Muslim extremists and terrorists. Saudi Arabia is not that necessary as a country anymore and this is why the royal Saudis were so much against the nuclear deal between the us and Iran.
@Macon Richardson
I agree that as long as the US will be their main enemy Russia and China won’t disagree on the main thing but I have doubt that they are not in a contest(at least a soft one)discretely in central Asia.
Posted by: lebretteurfredonnant | Feb 1 2016 8:59 utc | 51
‘German Chancellor Angela Merkel says that most of the refugees entering Germany from Syria and Iraq are expected to return home once conflicts in their countries have ended.’
what kind of idiot is this lady?
West Germany has just declared East Germany an economic “safe country” and will soon start deporting the millions of economic refugees who fled it after the collapse of 1989…
Posted by: ralphieboy | Feb 1 2016 9:09 utc | 52
@61 LF ‘There is no better country for the US to be allied with and to secure the peace and the US dominance in the middle east beside Israel.The only problems that stand in the way is the Iranian support for the Hezbollah and perhaps more importantly its support for the current Syrian regime that prevents the building of the Qatari-Syrian pipeline necessary to oppose Russian strong influence in Europe.’
Dumping Israel would solve both those problems. Iranian (and Syrian?) gas could displace south stream in Europe.
Posted by: jfl | Feb 1 2016 9:17 utc | 53
I have no idea how many people have noticed the blog Cannonfire. I discovered it here at MoA about six ago when a commentator linked to an article. I checked it out and found a fairly sensible critique of some foreign policy issue — one very reasonable and progressive prognosis.
However, it became clear to me today that this blog is a likely Hillary front. Today they endorsed Hillary for President and completely dismissed the email scandal as having absolutely no substance. I pointed out the email exchange she had with Jake Sullivan telling him to delete the top secret header on a message so he could send it to her unsecured server. This showed not only that she knew that the act was illegal but she was encouraging a subordinate to violate the law. Cannonfire would not post this comment (at least, he noted that the comment was sent but was rejected by the moderator, who is some guy named Joseph).
Anyway, consider Cannofire as just another Hillary shill, even if it might in some respects appeal to progressive folks who cannot stomach her.
Posted by: ToivoS | Feb 1 2016 9:36 utc | 54
@41 grieved
The Syrian/Russian no-fly zone won’t automatically defeat SAMs … see @17 alberto in the last thread. Speculation is Raytheon SAMs … manpads? The ‘opposition’ may well be implementing a no-fly zone of its own. The thing to do would be to capture the Turkish/Qatari/Saudi/US missles and send them to the Yemenis, where they could do some good.
Posted by: jfl | Feb 1 2016 9:53 utc | 55
“the absolute global sea level rise is believed to be 1.7-1.8 millimeters/year.” –NOAA
1 mm is the thickness of the wire in a paperclip.
2mm/yr = 8″/century
http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/globalregional.htm
Posted by: Penelope | Feb 1 2016 9:53 utc | 56
Anyone notice this http://www.un.org/sg/statements/index.asp?nid=9417 ?? I recall when Banksy Moon first got the gig it was as America’s placeman. He said as much, about the USA’s interests being the UN’s interests.
So is the above signalling a shift in US’s position on Israel ??
Penelope @56
Look at this and weep.
Also according to the same author, sea level rise in Florida is at ~2mm/year and increasing.
You may want to ignore 2mm/year, but Miami, Boston and many other coastal cities can no longer afford themselves that luxury.
Posted by: Jeff | Feb 1 2016 10:25 utc | 58
Posted by: james | Jan 31, 2016 1:50:28 PM | 3
She is correct. She quotes the example of refugees from ex yougoslavia.
As soon as the country of refugees is declared safe, there will be no work permits and people will have all kind of problems even if they manage to escape extradition.
Of course a lot of people will stay one way or the other. Germany needs them.
Posted by: somebody | Feb 1 2016 10:33 utc | 59
5
The Silk Road and other development puerile platitudes like the World’s Tallest Skyscraper or New Supersonic Airliner are just that, pump and dump ‘chocolates and roses’, obscuring the cold hard fact that BRIC is broke, …really, really broke …and the real ‘Heartland’ isn’t in Dead Empires of Russia and China, but in the resource-rich SouthCentral and SouthEast Asia and someday, perhaps, in Northern Australia.
Africa gives prognosticators a colonial view of the outcome, as Tanzania, like Nigeria, nationalizes all the land, and leases it to eager foreign arborists and agriculturalists, who seem to have forgotten the lesson of Rhodesia, Zimbabwe and the current state of the world trade economy.
Myanmar, as example, is progressively raping itself for Chinese trade, setting up (they say) a big new trade-transfer center on the northern border for pillaged blackmarket tropical hardwoods, jade and jems, while the common people screen tiny minnows from muddy monsoon-swollen paddy runoff, to eat with their white rice and pond weeds.
Once all the tropical hardwoods are gone, and the drought that follows the loss of the rainforest sets in, where will the population of millions of beggars flee to? Bangladesh? We are in the late stages of the Petrocene Epoch, and invisible to those who read MoA, millions, then billions will starve as their lands are privatized, laid waste, the mines played out, trees logged and the fisheries extirpated by foreign capital.
But somewhere in Western China, near the Hindu Kush, paid performers will still dance the ‘ancient dance of the Silk Road’ twice a day for addle-brained Mil.Gov pensioners on their round the world Besotted Tour, so they can tell their Mil.Gov clones back home how great ‘New China’ is.
That’s the vulture capital business model, global resource privatization and depletion, get the junk-bond funding, run the projects into the ZIRP with no maintenance, just enough royalties for local Mil.Gov to send their kids to US or EU or HK to college, and shoot or jail any indigent trespassers.
Next they’ll be selling you on a ‘HyperLoop Orient Express’!
“It’s just business, get over it.”
Posted by: Chipnik | Feb 1 2016 10:36 utc | 60
6
And Israel in turn, as subcontractor to AT&T, NSA and DHS, spies on every US/EU citizen 24/7/365, for over a decade. They know your boy toys and mistresses, they know your bank passwords and account balances, what stocks and bonds you hold or sold, and they’re behind hacking of every US Mil.Gov military and civilian personnel identity data, because Israel has authorized, approved access to our cell and net traffic!
Hello!?
Posted by: Chipnik | Feb 1 2016 10:44 utc | 61
58
Come on Jeff, satellite radar systems have been in place less than a decade, they’re mixing old data measuring methods with new ones, which is verboten in Science(tm), and besides, the satellite never passes over the same wave crest twice, and even today, it’s only accurate to +/- 35cm. CENTI-meters.
Only a numismatic prestidigitator can pull +1.6mm trend out of a google plex multivariant hat that’s 35cm in bandwidth!
S Florida has already SUNK six FEET from overpumping their groundwater, just as the Marshall Islands have overpumped theirs, and rely on desal during the dry season. It would cost $100M to build a seawall as the Dutch did when they reclaimed FORTY FEET of sea level for farmland. But you can’t tax dikes, or tree cutters for that matter, and there’s a Carbon Tax sucker born every minute.
Everything we enjoy besides your leather sandals, chewed woolen sweater and cotton bathrobe comes from oil and gas. Everything in your End Times depends on a fountain of gold dust that oil and gas continues to blow around the world.
But now with Mil.Gov tax-tax-tax corruption, the Banksters carbon futures ponzis and paid-media playing on you End Times Rabbinicals, they’re coming for our Public Energy Access. And you know what, they’ll get it, …they’ll get all of it.
Welcome to a world without electronics or refrigeration, no air conditioning or food transport. A radioactive treeless dustbowl void, a ‘renewable’ world, one safe for Gaia (gack).
Good luck with that!
Posted by: Chipnik | Feb 1 2016 11:12 utc | 62
40
You’re right. It only took 9 months gestation for PNAC to gyn up ‘Islamic Jihad’ to replace ‘Creeping Communism’ after the Soviet Union collapsed, putting military war profiteering back in the fast lane, and it only took 9 months for PNAC to gyn up Syria’s ‘I$I$’ after Obama ended Iraq and Afghanistan.
“It’s a crI$I$!! It’s a crI$I$!”
“It’s just business, get over it.”
“The only solution is Zionism.”
Which proves Shaytan’s Spawn has human:lizard shape-shifting form. I mean, have you really LOOKED at Michael Chertoff?!
Posted by: Chipnik | Feb 1 2016 11:24 utc | 63
54
They’re ALL fronts, paid advertising. It takes M.O.N.E.Y to run a shill blog site, look at Zeitbart or Zuffington Post.
Hillary was my high-school classmate. She lived two blocks from my house on the way to the school bus, a big ornate two story brick house amidst the bungalows. Nobody knew what her father did for a living. Then our paths crossed again after college, again with WhiteWater and S&L, and again still, much later, in Afghanistan. Through our few remaining high-school classmates, and my contacts in Afghanistan government, the whispers of her corruption and venality continue to swirl.
“We came … we saw … he died! Haww, Haww, Haww!”
Jesus, nothing in my entire life prepared me for Shaytan’s minions, alive on prime time and that hideous laugh of hers.
Yet Hillary is the presidential candidate! That’s like the daughter of Adolf Hitler running for chancellor of Germany!
Oh…wait…
Posted by: Chipnik | Feb 1 2016 11:41 utc | 64
7
Si, and Venezuela, both of which are excluded from the Happy Up, ZIRP-to-NIRP, laissez les bon temps zoulez media world. They’re just SOCIALISTS! COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS! WETBACKS!
It’s either Boycott Oscars or Bundy the Liberator or Jeb!, while retired Mil.Gov friends slurp 4PM cocktails in their Belize and Panama finca estates, oblivious and unconcerned:
‘Shall we have camarrones crudo con limon again tonight?’
‘Oh, si, con mucho Agave Azul!’
‘I love you, honey!’
Meanwhile in grocery stores, you find perfect raspberries from Mexico, flown halfway around the world, at prices that nobody can afford. Who is paying for this Zombie Apocalypse?!
Posted by: Chipnik | Feb 1 2016 11:53 utc | 65
14
I don’t know about that ‘print money’ meme everyone keeps slogging around, especially those Goldbuggerers. Russia prints more rubles, China prints more yuan and Venezuela prints more bolivars, as a percent of (faked) GDP than the US, and by ‘faked’, I mean, the US and everyone else counts financial transactions and Mil.Gov spending as ‘domestic product’, when in fact, it’s just debt chasing credit chasing profit, the snake eating its tail that the Mayans warned us about, right before the asteroid hit, lol.
I’m sure it’s a googleplex Ship of Fools, everyone thinking they are right, and like a broken clock, they regularly are.
Posted by: Chipnik | Feb 1 2016 12:04 utc | 67
The – sadly ironic – change of the Munich security conference
2016
from 2014
from “Germany doing more” in international crises including the use of the army to solving the “refugee crisis”.
Posted by: somebody | Feb 1 2016 12:45 utc | 68
French newspaper “le Monde” attacks director of a documentary on the Odessa massacre although he is threatened with censorship and pressures; defense by the filmmaker here
http://www.les-crises.fr/paul-moreira-repond-aux-critiques-sur-son-film-sur-la-revolution-ukrainienne/
Posted by: Mina | Feb 1 2016 13:24 utc | 69
Somebody: welcome back!
yep, you nailed it… how can these people rationally speak of giving 3 billions to the Turks? after all the reason they have expelled these people is precisely because they don’t have a “refugee” status and do not respect international conventions on the protection of asylum seekers, no?
Posted by: Mina | Feb 1 2016 13:26 utc | 70
@Macon Richardson @virgile @lebretteurfredonnant
There seems to be some misunderstandings of the (US-centered) Western Empire. I think it derives from not understanding that, despite reality, the empire is optimistic. Watch the scammers pumping stocks on the best financial news channels to get the basic attitude. The empire has no intention to ‘abandon’ Saudi for Iran. It wants to ADD Iran to the Western Empire. It always wants both not either, and expects to get both. Believe it like a Super Salesman! It is also optimistic that aggressive soft power will soon enough corrupt China’s elites and bring it back into the neo-colonial fold. This is what passes for thinking and strategizing at the highest levels of Wall Street and Washington.
And there is some reality to what they are saying. There _are_ many in China who wish they were on Washington’s ‘cool reformer’ list. The world is filled with Yeltsins, Judases and ‘post-nationalists’, even in Iran …
As for terrorism, in particular Saudi-sponsored Salafist terrorism, it has long been useful for destroying secular states or creating chaos anywhere there is anyone but Salafist Sunnis. When a status quo of chaos is the realistic goal, why would the U.S. want to abandon something that has been so useful at achieving that? Saudi Arabia’s terrorism is a U.S. asset in addition to being a Saudi one, and will be always be kept around.
Posted by: fairleft | Feb 1 2016 13:37 utc | 71
ToivoS | Feb 1, 2016 4:36:03 AM | @54
Anyway, consider Cannofire as just another Hillary shill, even if it might in some respects appeal to progressive folks who cannot stomach her.
I’ve been reading the guy for years, on and off — on, until he pisses me off, and then off for a while, until I check back and see something interesting.
I don’t think he’s a shill for anything — he has no ideological consistency, that I can see. He’s emotional — like a FaceBook-driven teenager. Sometimes, he’s actually outraged by something Hillary has said or done, and then three or four posts later, he’s terrified out of his mind by the EVIL STOOPID Republicans, and therefore Hillary is our only hope.
He has some interesting stuff on subjects other than US politics, but there are times when I just have to stop reading him for a while.
Posted by: PhilK | Feb 1 2016 14:42 utc | 72
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says that most of the refugees entering Germany from Syria and Iraq are expected to return home once conflicts in their countries have ended. James at 3.
Practically all the German (and other) communications on the ‘migrant crisis’ have been so nonsensical and empty of content as to be incomprehensible – why exactly the public is not informed at least a tad can be interpreted in different ways, which I won’t go into now.
Merkel is referring to a particular refugee status (not ‘migrant’ – not ‘asylum seeker’ – not ‘humanitarian cases’) which allow for temporary admittance (and the usual support) to people from countries at war (but not only at war, it could be some other condition) where the situation is considered so dire that anyone there is ‘at risk.’
They are admitted, given a ‘permit’ (or what not), and the situation in the country of origin is periodically reviewed, usually once a year, and if the situation is deemed ‘safe’ their permit is withdrawn, and they are supposed to ‘go home.’ Merkel, apparently, is considering switching Syrian and Iraqi ‘asylum seekers’ (which it appeared she treated these ppl as) into that other category. (Not that any of them were categorized to being with!) It is all completely crazy.
(This status btw is manipluated by the UN and countries: X place is safe, Y place is not, etc.)
Addition. One crucial aspect of the migrant crisis is left obscured. Seen under one angle (not the only one ..), we are dealing with a business model. What took place is that:
human traffickers realised that the humans trafficked were willing to pay for their own trafficking
and would humbly obey and let themselves be fleeced to the max. Previous, the ‘trips’ were a cottage industry with humanitarian pretensions, rather small or medium-scale, and run on a ‘secret’ buddy-buddy network, with prices, while high, not murderously gouging, and some ‘sympathy’ and ‘advice’ for the ppl moving about.
This model changed in nature, based on the realisation above, and then through growing contacts (global vs. local), internet ads and tweets (direct marketing vs. word of mouth), infiltration by mafia-types (the easy profits became evident, get with it, e.g. derivatives..), and competition arose.
The competition lead to a lowering of prices and thus a larger client-base (e.g. Easy Jet), better worked-out business schemes with, as usual, more ‘little ppl’ entering (scouts on small %), and lucrative spin-offs. (Producing fake life jackets stuffed with water-absorbent material has to be the worst spin-off I have ever seen. In Turkey. link.) As all the activity was illegal but was never controlled – boom times!
https://www.rt.com/news/328149-turkey-fake-life-jacket-workshop/
Posted by: Noirette | Feb 1 2016 15:13 utc | 73
@noirette
Contrary to Germany that received just anybody, Canada has made a clear distinction and has selected refugees that were families, mostly christians and educated… They won’t send them back.
Merkel will keep the law-abiding, educated and promising ‘refugees’ and dump the others back to where they came from…
Posted by: virgile | Feb 1 2016 15:37 utc | 74
@74 I wonder about the dumping process. How exactly will the refugees be returned? The Swedes have about 80,000 apparently to get rid of. Denmark and Finland have a lot too. They are talking about charter planes. Presumably they will sit quietly on the planes and watch movies.
Posted by: dh | Feb 1 2016 15:55 utc | 75
No, Sweden and the 80,000 number are being widely repeated … it was an estimate of the high-limit of deportations. They have had iirc 160,000+ refugees admitted, the suggestion was that as many as half will not qualify for ASYLUM.
It was anticipated Greece and Southern Italy is would be the site of internment camps … those disqualified for asylum might return there, or to Turkey.
Merkel’s statement was not some reversal — the idea that those granted asylum (not citizenship) “should” return to their country of citizenship when it’s safe. Yes, it flies in the face of the “manufactured crisis to screw German workers” theory … but no mechanism has been described and probably won’t until it’s “safe”.
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Feb 1 2016 16:33 utc | 76
Oh, that number was then admitted to be an (irresponsible) estimate …
Of the approximately 58,800 asylum cases processed in Sweden last year, 55% were accepted.
Of those facing expulsion, Mr Ygeman was quoted in Swedish media as saying: “We are talking about 60,000 people but the number could climb to 80,000.”
But he later tweeted to say he had not taken a position on how many migrants had grounds for asylum, it being a matter for the authorities and the courts.
snip
Mikael Ribbenvik, head of operations at the Swedish Migration Agency, told the BBC that assessing all the asylum applications would be “an enormous feat to accomplish” and would require more resources from the government.
“A lot of people leave voluntarily and a lot of people abscond. And then we have a few people that are staying on that are impossible to remove because of identification purposes,” he said.
don’t hold your breath … the anti-immigrant violence will probably mean they will be done “discretely” to avoid giving those factions a “victory”
bbc.
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Feb 1 2016 16:39 utc | 77
12;I’m with you,I see nothing from her(Merkel) but stolid and Western whore thinking.
Tom Murphy;what sane human would ever vote for such a leaky vessel as HRC?
The Valkerie of the apocalypse.
Posted by: dahoit | Feb 1 2016 16:46 utc | 78
Western Media Ignores Putin’s Progress in Syria
by Mike Whitney
The UN-sponsored Syrian peace talks, which began on Friday in Geneva, will be boycotted by the main Syrian opposition group which has insisted that Russia stop bombing its positions while negotiations are conducted. To appreciate how ridiculous these demands are, one would have to imagine a similar scenario taking place in the United States. Let’s say, for example, that Ammon Bundy, the crackpot leader of the armed militia that seized the federal wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon, demanded that the FBI and all other federal agents vamoose while the UN convened negotiations between his representatives and the Obama administration for the establishment of a transitional government that would remove Obama from power after 18 months while rewriting the constitution so it better reflected the far-right political and religious convictions of Bundy and his gaggle of ne’er-do-well followers.
Does that seem like a reasonable proposition to you?
This is the context in which the current “talks” are being held. Is it any wonder why Moscow doesn’t take this charade seriously? It’s a joke.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/01/29/western-media-ignores-putins-progress-in-syria/
Posted by: okie farmer | Feb 1 2016 16:51 utc | 79
@77, 78 60,000, 80,000…..10,000…I’m still curious about the mechanics of deportation.
Posted by: dh | Feb 1 2016 17:03 utc | 80
… the only silver lining to Geneva is how unequivocably the imminent “failure” has to be laid at the feet of the opposition .. they’s also demanding the Syrian government release of prisoners … and an end to various “government sieges”
In 2013, (I think that’s the year, prior to Geneva II January 2014), Assad’s government did offer safe passage for rebels who agreed to lay down their arms and leave the country. This was, of course, when there were still non-Jihadi Syrian nationalist rebels.
Telegraph: 07/23/2013: Disillusioned-rebels-drift-back-to-take-Assad-amnesty
Hundreds of men who took up arms against President Bashar al-Assad are defecting back to the government side, The Telegraph has learnt.
snip
At the same time, the families of retreating fighters have begun quietly moving back to government-controlled territory, seen as a safer place to live as the regime continues its intense military push against rebel-held areas.
The move is a sign of the growing confidence of the regime, which has established a so-called “ministry of reconciliation” with the task of easing the way for former opponents to return to the government side
presenting an alternative to fight-to-the-death for a lost cause may appeal to some …
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Feb 1 2016 17:13 utc | 81
There are many still believe Bernie Sanders is different from Hillary and a progressive-social-liberal.
http://newpol.org/content/presidential-candidate-bernie-sanders-sheepdogging-hillary-and-democrats-2016
Don’t believe us? Then believe Bernie himself interviewed by George Stephanopoulos on ABC News “This Week” May 3. 2015.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So if you lose in this nomination fight, will you support the Democratic nominee?
SANDERS: Yes. I have in the past.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Not going to run as an independent?
SANDERS: No, absolutely not. I’ve been very clear about that.
In another word’s Sanders is a diehard Democrat, will support endless wars, more killing in Palestinians and elsewhere. Sanders believe Israel has the right to defense itself including shooting with live bullets at teenagers throwing stones and bulldoze stones’ throwers homes to rubbles.
Still remember Rachel Aliene Corrie (April 10, 1979 – March 16, 2003) Israeli bulldozer driver murders an American peace activist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBPf29ZOWkg
Please also watch Rachel’s parent speak of their daughter.
http://www.canadianprogressiveworld.com/2013/03/16/rachel-corries-parents-speak-on-10th-anniversary-of-her-death-video/
If you still believe if Bernie win the Democratic nomination, he will pick Jill Stein as VP. You really got to have your head examines by snake-oil salesman (Tom Murphy). If Bernie loose, most likely be Hillary’s VP and the endless shows continue… Another “CHANGE” change you can believe in?
When will we learn and not influences by political shows manipulated by the 1%.
Finally, Democrats and Republicans are no different, PERIOD!
Posted by: Jack Smith | Feb 1 2016 17:13 utc | 82
REPOST original missing.
There are many still believe Bernie Sanders is different from Hillary and a progressive-social-liberal.
http://newpol.org/content/presidential-candidate-bernie-sanders-sheepdogging-hillary-and-democrats-2016
Don’t believe us? Then believe Bernie himself interviewed by George Stephanopoulos on ABC News “This Week” May 3. 2015.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So if you lose in this nomination fight, will you support the Democratic nominee?
SANDERS: Yes. I have in the past.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Not going to run as an independent?
SANDERS: No, absolutely not. I’ve been very clear about that.
In another word’s Sanders is a diehard Democrat, will support endless wars, more killing in Palestinians and elsewhere. Sanders believe Israel has the right to defense itself including shooting with live bullets at teenagers throwing stones and bulldoze stones’ throwers homes to rubbles.
Still remember Rachel Aliene Corrie (April 10, 1979 – March 16, 2003) Israeli bulldozer driver murders an American peace activist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBPf29ZOWkg
Please also watch Rachel’s parent speak of their daughter.
http://www.canadianprogressiveworld.com/2013/03/16/rachel-corries-parents-speak-on-10th-anniversary-of-her-death-video/
If you still believe if Bernie win the Democratic nomination, he will pick Jill Stein as VP. You really got to have your head examines by snake-oil salesman (Tom Murphy). If Bernie loose, most likely be Hillary’s VP and the endless shows continue… Another “CHANGE” change you can believe in?
When will we learn and not influences by political shows manipulated by the 1%.
Finally, Democrats and Republicans are no different, PERIOD!
Posted by: Jack Smith | Feb 1 2016 17:18 utc | 83
@11 Javafilm: “The answer might be that the Ukrainian revolution…” Ughh, It was not a revolution; it was a putsch. Mislabeling leads to confusion and plays into the hands of the Reptilian Order.
Posted by: ruralito | Feb 1 2016 17:20 utc | 84
I’m surprised there’s been no analysis as to the role of the influential 2008 “anyone-but-hillary” DNC Faction in the rise of Sanders .. I assume they didn’t all die off (except Ted Kennedy) after getting the nomination for Obama …
I’m pretty cynical wrt Sanders’ role in presenting an “alternative” or “hope” without a chance in perpetuating the fiction of our democracy. I think the positives of Sanders’ run outweight the negatives … rather than squashing any interest in “politics” in the newbies in the Obama Army. Hopefully this has been educational.
I will try to go to my caucus to vote for Sanders … it will be interesting to learn how my rabidly pro-Obama 2008 local democrats have evolved. Obama bumperstickers (from both 2008 and 2008) are still proudly displayed on many many cars in Boulder. Amazing.
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Feb 1 2016 17:27 utc | 85
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-idUSKCN0VA2OT
~~~
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces were gaining ground in the area, and had captured most of the village of Duweir al-Zeitun near Bashkoy. It reported dozens of air strikes on Monday morning and Syrian state television said government forces were advancing.
NEGOTIATION “UNDER ESCALATION”
The opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) has indicated it will leave Geneva unless steps set out in a Dec. 18 Security Council resolution, endorsing peace moves including a lifting of sieges of blockaded areas, are implemented.
Bashar al-Jaafari, head of the government delegation, said on Sunday Damascus was considering options such as ceasefires, humanitarian corridors and prisoner releases. But he suggested they might come about as a result of the talks, not before them.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/damascus-rejects-opposition-conditions-syria-peace-talks-946116363
Opposition delegate Farrah Atassi said government forces were escalating their military campaign, making it hard to justify the opposition’s presence in Geneva. Another opposition official highlighted heavy Russian bombardment of the northern Homs area on Sunday as one sign that nothing had changed.
“Today, we are going to Mr De Mistura to demand again and again, for a thousand times, that the Syrian opposition is keen to end the suffering of the Syrian people,” Atassi said. “However, we cannot ask the Syrian opposition to engage in any negotiation with the regime under this escalation.”
Posted by: okie farmer | Feb 1 2016 17:27 utc | 86
it’s like watching a tennis match in pantomime … as done so well in “Blow-Up”
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Feb 1 2016 17:29 utc | 87
Totally agree with ben, MadMax2 and psychohistorian
@18 paulmeli, then how you explain the following?
“On December 1, the Fed was forced to release details of 21,000 funding transactions it made during the financial crisis, naming names and dollar amounts. Disclosure was due to a provision sparked by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. The voluminous data dump from the notoriously secret Fed shows just how deeply the Federal Reserve stepped into the shoes of Wall Street and, as the crisis grew and the normal channels of lending froze, the Fed effectively replaced Wall Street and money centers banks in terms of financing. The Fed has thus far reported, without even disclosing specifics of its lending from its discount window, which it continues to draw a dark curtain around, that it supplied, in total, more than $9 trillion to Wall Street firms, commercial banks, foreign banks, corporations and some highly questionable off balance sheet entities. (Much smaller amounts were outstanding at any one time.)”
http://www.counterpunch.org/2010/12/20/the-tax-payers-tab-a-cool-9-trillion-and-then-some/
The German nation needs the refugees?I bet the German people have a different idea.But who cares what the people of respective nations want,the globalist Zionists care not one bit,and love the divide and conquer apparatus.
Posted by: dahoit | Feb 1 2016 17:35 utc | 89
Maybe, many don’t give a damn of endless wars and the Palestinians’ issue, but how about healthcare? The Real News Network Paul Jay and Green Party presidential hopeful Dr. Jill Stein and Dr. Margaret Flowers senate candidate for Maryland. – Green Party on Sanders’ Health Care Plan.
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=15547
Please watch it’s about your life and your love ones. Dun regrets later, Bernie another Trojan horse like Obomo.
Thank you kindly for reading. 🙂
Posted by: Jack Smith | Feb 1 2016 18:36 utc | 90
Here is a link to the Israeli Defense Minister saying that Turkey has bought IS oil
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35415956
The takeaway quote:
“It’s up to Turkey, the Turkish government, the Turkish leadership, to decide whether they want to be part of any kind of cooperation to fight terrorism,” Mr Yaalon told reporters after a meeting with his Greek counterpart.
“This is not the case so far. As you know, Daesh [Islamic State] enjoyed Turkish money for oil for a very, very long period of time. I hope that it will be ended.”
An interesting source of corroboration for Putin’s assertion. What turn will this take now?
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 1 2016 23:46 utc | 91
Gareth Porter:
– The US military didn’t support the efforts of one Mrs. Clinton & John Kerry to get “Regime change” in both Libya & Syria.
– The US knew that overthrowing Khadaffi would unleash A LOT OF “instability”.
Source:
http://scotthorton.org/interviews/2016/01/04/1416-gareth-porter/
One also shouldn’t forget that French president Sarkozy wanted to have grip on the oil fields in Libya.
Posted by: Willy2 | Feb 1 2016 23:56 utc | 92
Extra info for post #93:
the website “Scott Horton” is not Always accessible/available (Cyber attacks ??? by the NSA ???).
Posted by: Willy2 | Feb 1 2016 23:58 utc | 93
Russia Suspects Involvement of Grey Wolves in Sinai Crash
The version of the accident pertaining to terrorism was made in the middle of November last year, when the Director of the FSB, Alexander Bortnikov, reported to President Vladimir Putin that the experts found “traces of explosives of foreign production” on the personal belongings of passengers, luggage and the wreckage of the plane that crashed in Egypt. Later, according to “Kommersant”, it was determined that the epicenter of the explosion was on the starboard side at the end of the cabin where the tail frame starts. The bomb was allegedly placed under the passenger seat by the window. The explosion led to the destruction of the frame and depressurization of the cabin, which had an explosive character.
The plane, which first separated at the tail, broke up in the air (its wreckage was found near the length of 13 km and a width of about 5 km), and the people who were onboard, were killed almost instantly from the sudden pressure drop.
Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the banned in Russia “Islamic State”, who published a photo of a homemade bomb: Aluminum in the can of Schweppes 0.33l with 250-300 grams of plastic explosives. According to sources, most likely, it was C-4 (C-4), developed in the US in the mid 60’s of the last century, and is now produced in many countries of the world.
It is assumed that the bomb in the plane was carried by someone of the staff of airport Sharm El-Sheikh and activated by an electronic timer. This person could be, for example, the cleaner or one of the workers carrying food onboard. This week, various media outlets, including foreign ones, reported the identification of participants in the attack and even the detention of one of them. It was alleged that a bomb in the airliner could have been planted by a technician from Egyptian EgyptAir, who immediately after the attack disappeared. However, later the Egyptian authorities and representatives of the company dismissed this information.
Meanwhile, in late December 2015, Mr Bortnikov [Alexander Bortnikov, Director of the FSB] said that his agency had an idea of what terrorist groups were behind the plane explosion, but he did not name them. In turn, a Kommersant’s source said: the FSB believes that the explosion of the Russian airliner can be linked to the members of the Turkish radical nationalist organization “Grey wolves”, who are associated with the “Islamic state” and acting in many other Arab countries, including Egypt.
Russia seems to be painting Turkey as The Problem, not without justification. Erdogan is shelling Syria from inside Turkey, another Russian plane has been shot down, by a missle fired from the ground, by Turkmen?, close to the Turkish border. People keep saying that it’s ‘unlikely’ that Turkey will invade Syria … but the facts point more and more in that direction. Maybe there will be an ‘accidental’ invasion following another real/imaginary Russian incursion on Turkish airspace?
I think that people stress the irrationality of such an act, hoping their analysis will somehoiw make Erdogan rational. Erdogan seems to be lining up his forces for a Bay of Pigs, Turkish style. Once he crosses the border, the US/NATO will ‘have to’ support him?
Let’s hope it works as well as it did last time, if it recurs.
Posted by: jfl | Feb 2 2016 0:32 utc | 94
@92 psycho
Could that be an exortation from the Israelis to the Turks to enter the Bay of Pigs? Could it be piggybacked on top of an attempt to obscure the fact that the Da’esh => Turkey truckline => Israel by boat? Nothing but double and triple entendre from the Israelis.
Posted by: jfl | Feb 2 2016 0:38 utc | 95
Another example of how awful Wikipedia is – which country do you think is missing from this list:
List of coups d’état and coup attempts since 2010
You might think the Ukraine belongs on that list, but that’s because you’re not a CIA agent, or Ukrainian ultra-nationalist (or both).
Probably because users as obviously unbiased as this one keep removing it from the list.
That Greider article is excellent:
“That’s why modern US wars are so prone to failure: Our violence is tailored diplomacy.”
Its a great point, exactly what we see happening in Syria today. “Ditch Russia, Hezbollah, and Iran, or we’ll unleash hell in your country” but when they resist fully and with the help of their allies, we have no way to win except to unleash more hell – by getting into bed with worse and worse devils.
Whatever is exceptional about the US is to be found far, far away from our ability to make poor, small nations bleed and burn.
jfl @95
Those musing about an intervention always seem to think that the purpose would be to topple Assad.
IMO any intervention in Syria or Iraq would ostensibly be to attack ISIS and occupy ISIS-controlled territory as per UNSC 2249. Such an intervention would be:
1) legal (via UNSC 2249);
2) justified/prompted by continuing ISIS terr0r!sm;
3) demanded by Western governments that want to return refugees;
4) necessary, because Russian support is propping up Assad who, the anti-Assad Coalition claims, is the reason for the war, terr0r!sm, and refugees.
AFAICT, the “battlefield negotiations” are a foregone conclusion. The rebels/extremists can’t withstand the onslaught of professional, modern fighting force. This means, I think, that the only way to salvage any gain from this farcical disaster is to occupy ISIS land, creating a de-facto partition.
One could well wonder if the timing of such an operation might be influenced by the US election. Hillary is expected to win big on Super Tuesday (March 1). A war might threaten that, or allow for her to show off her foreign policy chops.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Feb 2 2016 1:45 utc | 98
sobs now wanna put its missile “defence” batteries in sk,
+this is like pointing a dagger at the dragon’s heart,
+turn another beijing’s friend sk into foe,
typical murkkan m.o.
very soon now,
asston carton is gonna gloat on how
china is isolating itself by its action in scs
*HAAD’s detection radius goes beyond North Korea into China and Russia,” said Lu Chao, a researcher at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences. “China and South Korea may be good friends, but how smooth can a relationship be when one party [South Korea] is holding a machine gun under the table? The US may be behind the THAAD issue, but South Korea gets to decide whether or not to deploy it* [1]
does sk has a choice ?
no doubt it hasnt been lost on prez mdm park that her father park chung he, even tho a faithful murkkan puppet, was bumped off by kcia the moment he stepped out of line.
[1]
http://space4peace.blogspot.sg/2016/02/jeju-island-now-it-gets-real.html
Posted by: denk | Feb 2 2016 4:12 utc | 99
Astonishing news from American Prairie: Jim Gilmore got 11 votes in Republican caucuses, with chances for more as the vote count is incomplete. I never heard about him, but apparently, some people in Iowa did!
After some digging, Gilmore got 200,000 in political donations for that feat. Money well spent, compared with 500,000 that Ronald Perelman gave to support the candidacy of Bobby Jindal (or was it Lindsey Graham? both dropped out, surprising no one).
Back to war: Rebels and ISIS are fairly professional, as they are doing it for a number of years, and they have heavy weapons. It is true that the “loyalists” are gaining an edge, but so far it is premature to talk about “foregone conclusion”.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Feb 2 2016 4:27 utc | 100