2
Hillary is the True Progressive, and the Global (Investment) Economy is in a Zikapocalyse. It’s a crI$I$!! It’s a crI$I$!!
Now vote the Law and Order candidate, HRC, increase Defense (sic) Spending 4x for Operation Levant, and gird up for QE5!!
Then get back to work! We have a lot of Debt and Spend to do!
What’re you all standing there for, with those stupid protest signs!? I said, get back to work!! You want me to call in the Maidan snipers on your ass!? We are The Makers, The Chosen!! Wait…get your hands off me! Do you know who I…arghhhlll.
[News reports from NYC and WADC NOVA this morning show the incredible devastation left behind after more violent anti-establisnment protests swept through the cities overnight.]
AP Photo Caption – Pentagon troops guard public thoroughfare as DHS contract workers cut down the bodies of government officials and finance leaders left hanging from lampposts.
BREAKING – Overseas US military bases forced to close as UN declares USA deadbeat debtor pariah state blight on humanity. Global tourism plunges as Mil.Gov lifetime pensions declared null and void. Life continue uneventfully on Main Street.
AP Photo Caption – Iowa corn farmer John Duffington plows field outside Dubuque, declares ‘Life goes on, at least we have enough food to feed the world.’
BREAKING – Wall Street shuttered until further notice as New Patriots demand full audit of the Fed during the Bush Years.

Posted by: Chipnik | Feb 6 2016 20:28 utc | 4

This is “perfect”:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-06/anti-refugee-rallies-sweep-europe-nationalists-declare-we-will-note-surrender-europe
Takes the heat off their governments for creating the “collateral damage” refugee crisis in the first place and turns it into a “our way of life is under attack”. In turn, they’ll “vote out the elites who are weakening us; vote in the elites who will defend us” (even though the “defense” chosen will be more of the “offense” that, again, created the situation in the first place). The only “change” will be to simply remove the “velvet glove” from the same “iron fist”. We’ll just flip-flop between naked aggressors like Bush/Sarkozy/Blair and quiet aggressors like Obama/Holland/Cameron. In the hysteria and the illusion of change, many issues, like foreign policy and culpability for mass murder, are completely ignored.
Usually, the ZH crowd recognizes that the “elites” work together. Here, the infoganda has gotten more of them riled up. For me, it’s disappointing to see self-professed “liber”-tarian types who distrust their governments on so many issues not distrust them now.

Posted by: dumbass | Feb 6 2016 20:42 utc | 6

Chipnik@4&5- I needed some laughs, thank you for that.
Besides, the TPP is signed, (oh frabjous day, calloo calleh!) baking US$ into the Matrix as the Western World Wehrmacht’s (W3) reserve currency until the EndTimes

Posted by: Nana2007 | Feb 6 2016 20:56 utc | 8

@9 McCain started working the Sunni Army idea ages ago.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/06/isis-saudi-arabia-iraq-syria-bandar/373181/
I guess the Saudis are still waiting for US help. Not unlike Turkey waiting for NATO.

Posted by: dh | Feb 6 2016 21:44 utc | 10

9
Answer: All signs point to Yes.
1
Sufyan Jan’s exhaustive translation, like many Arabic policy statements, in naming every insurgent flavor with short history of every insurgent succession is a precise on why the West is a Penultimate Failed State, whose ‘highly educated’ citizens have been reduced by Madison Avenue, Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue to the attention span of a goldfish, whose discernment powers have been i-lobotomized down to ‘Red’ or ‘Blue’, like airplane food, which even a chicken can be trained to do, and for a polled 70% of whose ‘highly educated’ citizens are lost in e-space, Oculusic, driving on their cells, walking on their cells, even masturbating on their cells in the moments before their world-shattering, decompressive, epistemic demise:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=Z_sAY_BHPNI
http://komonews.com/news/nation-world/police-man-who-died-in-fatal-crash-was-pantsless-distracted-watching-porn
http://komonews.com/news/local/family-video-selfie-caused-fatal-thurston-county-crash

Posted by: Chipnik | Feb 6 2016 21:51 utc | 12

@Paveway #3
The “color revolution” strategy with Iran already fizzled in 2009. IMO Iran is in a much stronger position than Iraq or Libya were, both economically and militarily. We’ll probably see a continuation of unilateral sanctions efforts in the US, but the power of the war-with-Iran party is weaker than it has been in years.
Euro-traded oil is a shrewd political move for Iran as it decouples Eurozone interests from Dollarzone interests by giving the Euro a hedge against rising oil prices when they eventually occur. Rising Euro-traded oil prices would strengthen the Euro, just as rising Dollar-traded oil prices strengthen the Dollar.

Posted by: Thirdeye | Feb 6 2016 22:01 utc | 14

Someone asked me about the latest refugee influx on the Turkish border at the Aziz border crossing. I wrote some answers based on what I have seen in the last few days:
The Western press is full of hysterical stories about how the SAA is about to attack/siege/capture/destroy #Aleppo. Fact is the SAA *controls* Aleppo. At least if “Aleppo” means 1) the population 2) the Citadel 3) the railway station etc. Yes, the rebels control large parts of the ruins, but the latest pro-Syrian estimate I saw was 1.5 million vs. 40,000 on the rebel side.
The front lines in the Aleppo city have moved little in the last 3 years. Also, there are no on-going battles in the city. These people are thus not fleeing the city of Aleppo. Besides, to travel from the rebel-held part of the city to the Turkish border, they would now have to cross government-held areas.
See a map from Friday here:
https://twitter.com/EdmapsCom/status/695660560151609344
The real cause of the refugee stream is the likely collapse of the whole Aziz corridor. The whole area will soon be taken over be a) The SAA, b) Kurds, c) ISIS, or d) Turkey.
Also, there is real fighting going on in the southern part of the corridor, with the fighting and bombing likely to move north. Civilians are wise to evacuate the area. I do not think these people have *yet* made plans to flee to Europe. Most will be returning home in a week or so.
Video from Thursday. Note, that Turkey has closed the border gate, and is not letting anyone in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go_J8dCEC8w
As the people are not allowed into Turkey they are moving into Kurdish territory: Pro-rebel channel SYRIA:direct writes: “Amidst north Aleppo chaos, thousands of displaced Syrians pour into ‘relative safety’ of Kurdish-held Afrin”
http://syriadirect.org/news/amidst-north-aleppo-chaos-thousands-of-displaced-syrians-pour-into-%E2%80%98relative-safety%E2%80%99-of-kurdish-held-afrin/
Google Earth shows a refugee tent camp on the Syrian side of the border, just east of the road and border gate. This fresh video shows hew tents being set up in the same spot. Evidently the old camp and the old tents have already been disassembled and the previous refugees moved elsewhere.
https://www.facebook.com/PRESSTV/videos/1065774676797652/

Posted by: Petri Krohn | Feb 6 2016 22:11 utc | 16

Iran is trying an important diplomatic rapprochement with Europe. The Iranians could have traded in Yuan but prefered the Euro. And Europe knows that to solve the refugee’s crisis it will need the Iran more than ever. Turkey and Saudi Arabia are criminal rogue states these days.

Posted by: Nick | Feb 6 2016 22:43 utc | 18

@ Posted by: Petri Krohn | Feb 6, 2016 5:11:08 PM | 16

Civilians are wise to evacuate the area. I do not think these people have *yet* made plans to flee to Europe. Most will be returning home in a week or so.

Yes, that was my impression.. and agree the numbers are small for such a large total population …
Looks like another of Erdogan’s miscalculation — He and Turkey look spiteful, likely prejudiced, and baldly manipulative in denying these people a bit more distance … “Gotta wonder what Erdogan wants” and, of course, the optic is that the poor-benighted Kurds are doing what (how much are we paying him?) Erdogan won’t
Petri — Thanks for all links! I will read them all!!!

Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Feb 6 2016 22:56 utc | 20

@14 thirdeye.. no doubt iran is in a stronger position, but it doesn’t change the fact many astute folks are watching here anticipating the real possibility of all hell breaking lose, including @3 paveway… i lean towards @3’s position too… i hope i am wrong.. i think we are moving towards something much bigger in terms of world conflict… i’ve said this before and i really hope i am wrong..

Posted by: james | Feb 6 2016 23:23 utc | 22

US cannot become bankrupt. It prints paper money backed by the full faith and credit of the US gov. at will and gives it away to the ppl that don’t need it. Its value is enforced by the US armed forces as both Gadaffi (We came, we saw… he died) and Saddam Hussein (spider hole) have recently learned. There were many others before them who mocked the power of printed Mason paper and learnt the hard way.

Posted by: fast freddy | Feb 6 2016 23:36 utc | 24

Paveway–Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela, and Japan are all using rubles, yuan, euros, or yen for energy transactions. OPEC has oil priced by a basket of currencies. Petrodollar recycling’s days are numbered.

Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 7 2016 0:00 utc | 26

@19. My coat may be under my arm, but it is while I’m standing an educational vigil in Seattle, USA, letting people know about Palestine. We got mainly support today (cars honking support and pedestrians giving us thumbs up).
Do something for Palestine and it helps us all in the long run.

Posted by: lindaj | Feb 7 2016 0:19 utc | 28

1. Syria FM warns against any foreign ‘ground intervention’

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem has warned against any foreign ground intervention in his country after reports emerged that Saudi Arabia and Turkey are considering the dispatch of troops to Syria.
“Any ground intervention on Syrian territory without government authorization would amount to an aggression that must be resisted,” Muallem said at a news conference in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Saturday.
On Thursday, Igor Konashenkov, Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman, said Turkey is making “preparations for an armed invasion” of Syria.
Moscow “registers a growing number of signs of hidden preparation of the Turkish Armed Forces for active actions on the territory of Syria,” Konashenkov added.

2. Saudi military intervention in Syria amounts to war: Russian deputy

“Syria has to give official consent, to invite, otherwise it will be a war. The same applies to international law,” Pavel Krasheninnikov, the head of the State Duma committee, told Interfax on Friday.
Krasheninnikov said that by promising a ground operation in Syria Riyadh now “intends to send troops to the territory of a sovereign state essentially without declaring a war.”

3. Russia Is Preparing the Syrian Army to Repel Any Turkish Incursion

[M]ore dangerous is Moscow’s statement that it has “strong grounds to believe that Turkey is preparing for a ground incursion into Syria”. The source [close to Syrian President Bashar Assad said to Al-Rai] comments, “Russia has red lines that it will allow no one to cross, Russia is preparing a strong Syrian military unit that will serve to repel any Turkish ground incursions, Damascus has the right to defend its borders, and will not stay silent anymore to any aerial violations of Syrian sovereignty, and is preparing for any ground offensive by the Turks with aerial bombardment and ground shelling. Russia considers any plane not operating within the US-Russia coordination agreement to be a threat and will be shot down, Russia has also taken further precaution by deploying the S-400 missile system, and has brought in Su-35 that is in service for the first time, and it has further upgraded the Syrians’ MiG-29’s in case they are needed to repel any Turkish advancements. The Kremlin wanted to send to Turkey a message that says any incursion by you will be met by force not diplomacy”.

4. The US And Saudi Arabia Discussing Ground Operation In Syria

According to US State Department spokesman John Kirby, the US and Saudi Arabia are discussing the possibility of a ground operation against the group «Islamic state» in Syria.
Earlier on Thursday Saudi Arabia expressed the readiness to send its troops to Syria to participate in ground operations if the US-led coalition decided that such operation is necessary, as an advisor to the Saudi defense minister Ahmed Asseri reports.
As for US, it wants to obtain additional information from Saudi Arabia regarding possible ground operation against ISIS in Syria. « It is important for us to learn more about this proposal. Now we are discussing with the Saudis, what opportunities and aims they have», – Kirby stressed.

5. Reshaping of the Middle East Has Begun

The disintegration of Iraq was predicted for some time now, and thoroughly examined by various analysts. But it has now finally been launched into action by the US, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Characteristically, Turkish and Saudi statements came within a day after the failure of the Geneva talks. This means one thing – there’s going to be a new war in Syria soon. Everyone understands that with the close air support provided by Russia’s aircraft, the Syrian army along with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Lebanese Hezbollah will be able to cleanse Syria’s territory from terrorists by summer, taking full control of the Syrian-Turkish border and putting an end to the flow of weapons, mercenaries and trucks filled with oil. And this would be the end of the so-called “rebellion” in Syria.
That is why Ankara and Riyadh are in a hurry, even though the invasion of Syria can pose unpredictable difficulties for them, since Turkey carries on its war against the Kurds, while Saudi Arabia is still fighting the Houthis in Yemen.
But the US is putting a lot of pressure on these two states, willing to keep in danger, while applying pressure on Russia and Syria through their actions. However, this turn of events may lead to a major war, if Russian forces come under fire, Russia will have enough determination to launch retaliations strikes, starting the collapse of the regimes in both in Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

6. Threat of wider war looms as Saudi monarchy proposes Syria intervention

“The kingdom is ready to participate in any ground operations that the coalition [against ISIS] may agree to carry out in Syria,” Saudi military spokesman brigadier general Ahmed al-Asiri said on Thursday, touting the Saudi army’s “experience in Yemen,” which has consisted largely of the slaughter of Yemeni civilians in airstrikes.
For its part, the Turkish government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is determined to prevent the consolidation of an autonomous Syrian Kurdish zone on its border.
“That kind of news is very welcome,” US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said in response to the Saudi offer, adding that he intended to discuss it with his Saudi counterpart in Brussels next week.
An intervention by Turkey and Saudi Arabia, two of the principal patrons of the Islamist militias in Syria, would signal a major escalation of the crisis and a desperate bid by US imperialism itself to salvage the nearly five-year-old war for regime change in Syria.
It would dramatically increase the dangers of the Syrian conflict spiraling out of control into a full-scale regional war, pitting Saudi Arabia and Turkey against Iran. Any such intervention would be carried out in collaboration with Washington, which is Turkey’s NATO ally, posing the threat of a direct confrontation between the US and Russia, the world’s two major nuclear powers.

Number 1 makes the obvious case for invasion, aggression, as war from the Syrian side. Number 2 does the same from the Russian side. Number 3 above is from a Syrian source, not Russian, but is consistent with the facts thus far. Number 4 shows equivocation at State, a possible reassessment and backdown should a bluff not work. Number 5 rightly places responsibility for the increasingly bellicose developments on the USA. ‘Let’s you and him fight’. Interestingly, earlier on the assertion is made that Ankara has already committed the bulk of its best forces to fighting the Kurds in Turkey. Number 6 calls attention to the fact that it is US Defense and State that seem to be ‘in charge’. The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate is simply acquiescing to Yet Another US Aggression Led From Behind. Behind himself, as well.
Certainly the worst is possible. This is all monstrously stupid on the part of the neocon USA : nothing to gain and everything to lose. On the other hand it may all amount to nothing, all talk and no action, with Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the USA all just backing down. In between is Erdogan actually invading northern Syria which, coupled with an opportunistic serge by the Kurds inside Turkey in response, could be really disastrous for Turkey.
I think its all monstrously stupid : Hey, Barack Obama ! Wake up, and call your dogs home ! Earth to the spaced out Nobel Peace Prize Laureate : give peace a chance!

Posted by: jfl | Feb 7 2016 0:48 utc | 30

The New York Jews have begun to be very concerned: their neoliberal narrative that has held together for the past 35 years is beginning to die; spools of derivatives lie waiting to unwind and bring down the system; planes like the F35 with billions invested refuse to fly; Boeing has outsourced all its wing-making to Japan and everything else. America is Jew country. Don’t tell me I didn’t tell you so (J.J. Cale I think.)

Posted by: Lochearn | Feb 7 2016 1:06 utc | 32

Posted by: jfl | Feb 6, 2016 5:50:03 PM | 19
The Israeli’s – and the all the West’s – Final solution to the ‘Palestinian problem’ proceeds on schedule.
……..and if anyone still believes Bernie will do anything different beside helping Israeli to conclude Final solution is still dreaming. Like all apologists and Democratic still believe “Israel have the right to defense itself” and the only way to do it Final solution eliminate every single Palestinian in Gaza and the West Bank.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44116.htm
“…Despite America’s longstanding position considering Israeli settlements illegitimate, successive administrations ….little to stop the expansion of the settlement enterprise. Israel continues to build these settlements unabatedly, precisely because America’s position is void of any substantive action.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/01/29/hillary-bernie-and-jill/
For reasons that greatly puzzle this writer, Democrats in the United States seem to have divided into two camps. We will call the first one Camp B, for those campers who apparently believe that Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is the savior, the one the world has been waiting for. …….The differences between Mr. Sanders and Mrs. Clinton seem cosmetic at best.
In another words Duopoly within the Democrats party more or less the same. It is possible that Bernie maybe even more dangerous than Hillary or Obomo? Remember he even told voters in his constituent in a town hall meet to Shut Up

Posted by: Jack Smith | Feb 7 2016 1:19 utc | 34

Bernie Sanders, Israel, Palestine, and Me
Please read below a twisted apologists mind supporting Bernie Sanders
http://shocheradam.com/2015/10/28/bernie-sanders-israel-palestine-and-me/
This meme is both offensive and factually incorrect. It implies that Bernie Sanders is anti-Palestine. He isn’t. But he’s not anti-Israel either. It is possible to be both pro-Israel and to recognize what’s going on with the Palestinians at the same time, and that as a displaced group, they deserve a two-state solution, which Sanders supports. So let’s go down this list of reasons why I am pro-Israel (and pro-Bernie Sanders) and why I feel a two-state solution is the correct solution here…..
As I have said before, you cannot expect a nation not to defend against armed insurrection at its borders. This is especially true when said nation is in a war-torn and violent area
Palestine is not a real place. It has no historical nationhood. It is not an ethnicity. “Palestine” was a label placed on the area that is now Israel and the West Bank and Gaza
Israel fought wars for that land, won those wars, and by the standards of war recognized around the globe, that land is and has been Israel’s since 1948.

Posted by: Jack Smith | Feb 7 2016 1:29 utc | 36

@35 / Grieved
>> the US actually could not defeat Iran militarily if it tried.
I suspect the US could commit against Iran the same crimes it did to Iraq and Libya but shows restraint probably for a few reasons, especially this one: they need to manufacture consent for yet another war.
I imagine they don’t mind if a large minority of disgruntled citizens object. But, they can’t have the *whole* country object. And certainly not the whole world. Yes, many people see through the illusion. But, an attack now would make the jaws of the whole world drop.
Especially, they need to flare the tempers of the Jem’Hadar demographic that normally serves as their ground troops. (You know the people: the ones who don’t care about any of the Bill of Rights except the 2nd Amendment. That’s the magic amendment that partially transmorgified (a) the state burden of defending the newly independent aristocrats into (b) a celebrated privilege associated with personal freedom, personal identity, national pride, etc. It was great marketing!) Indeed, because they hate him so much, I question whether that demographic would even fight a new official war started by Obama. Or continue supporting one started by Obama even after a Republican president comes in.
The “WMD” retread was tried but failed in Syria. They’re trying other narratives. But, they’re not working. So, how are they going to sell us an attack on Iran to us and the world?
I think that’s why Obama supported the “deal”: Since an attack is not feasible right now, call a truce. For expansionist empires that historically violated every treaty anyway, truces are only temporary. Hostility can be re-initiated anytime later.

Posted by: dumbass | Feb 7 2016 2:19 utc | 38

Under the heading of random bullshit — Madeline Albright has come out for Hillary — saying “there’s a special place in hell for nonsupporters” — as if an endorsement by this war mongerer was a “good thing” …
Gloria Steinem has also come out for Hillary …

Gloria Steinem: women are supporting Bernie Sanders ‘for the boys’
The feminist icon suggested female millennial voters prefer Sanders to Hillary Clinton because of his popularity among young men: ‘The boys are with Bernie’

as if this were not utterly insulting …
Amazingly tone-deaf. (both available on the Guardian front page)

Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Feb 7 2016 2:33 utc | 40

It is really dangerous to let KSA fight ISIS directly. Think of all the equipment that ISIS would get as trophies! But there are positive aspects as well. Apparently, GCC cannot fight in two wars and they pulled all air support from the war with ISIS to be able to fight Yemeni “rebels”. If they left Yemen to be sorted out between native factions for the sake of attacking ISIS, it would be a definite plus for Yemen, while ISIS would not gain much, perhaps, GCC equipment relies on expensive spare parts so it may be of limited use.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Feb 7 2016 2:43 utc | 42

Posted by: dumbass | Feb 6, 2016 9:49:46 PM | 43
Iranians are all but naive… After the experiences they had with the US they prefer to have as little dependence on the USA as possible.

Posted by: virgile | Feb 7 2016 3:22 utc | 44

Kissinger’s Vision for U.S.-Russia Relations

I am here to argue for the possibility of a dialogue that seeks to merge our futures rather than elaborate our conflicts. This requires respect by both sides of the vital values and interest of the other. These goals cannot be completed in what remains of the current administration. But neither should their pursuits be postponed for American domestic politics. It will only come with a willingness in both Washington and Moscow, in the White House and the Kremlin, to move beyond the grievances and sense of victimization to confront the larger challenges that face both of our countries in the years ahead.

Posted by: virgile | Feb 7 2016 3:53 utc | 46

MadMax2@7 – “…Does Iran see weakness in the USofA, using a fresh nuclear bond as window to dip the toe outside of the reserve currency water, so to speak…?” – I think it’s more awareness of their own strength and their relationship with China and Russia. Everyone (except the U.S.) can see which way the tide is going. Plus Iran must hate the U.S. and it’s thieving bankers. If I were them, I would do it for no other reason than to stick it to us yanks.
Thirdeye@14 – “…The “color revolution” strategy with Iran already fizzled in 2009… …but the power of the war-with-Iran party is weaker than it has been in years.” – We’re talking psychopathic neocon chickenhawks running Team Chaos here. They never give up; this is all they do. 2009 wasn’t a defeat for them, it was a trial run. They will never stop their state-sponsored terrorism until Iran ceases to exist. Yes, they’re that nuts.
jfl@21 – “…I guess bombs are one thing, but $DOLLARS! are another?…” – That pretty much sums it up. Psychopaths eternally seek more control, and that’s always been via bullion, bullets and butter. There wasn’t enough bullion to go around, so the U.S. did what everyone else did: replaced it with fake bullion – fiat, a la USD. That trick only works if the rest of the world can be conned into believing USD = gold (it doesn’t and hasn’t for a very long time). A world with a single dominant reserve currency is history – there will be several dominant ones that will share that function, and they will change over time. Money changers want their piece of the action again.
james@22 – “…no doubt iran is in a stronger position, but it doesn’t change the fact many astute folks are watching here anticipating the real possibility of all hell breaking lose…” – I loath Team Chaos, but you have to admit that they are good at what they do. Chaos = money = power accrual. Psychopaths have no use for peace. Where’s the profit in that?
fast freddy@23 – “…US cannot become bankrupt…” – I agree, but that’s not the danger to me as a U.S. citizen. TPTB needs to be able to create inflation or control deflation. They have lost control of both. The U.S. economy will now suffer world market whims that will force broad deflation (which we had previously been able to export) and selective inflation on core goods (which TPTB had previously been able to control). The U.S. Baby Boom generation will hit peak retirement in a few years and I am absolutely certain that their retirement savings and Social Security will be gone. I don’t know the mechanics of how that will be done, but dying powers always go after stored wealth. I’m still a few years from retirement, but I plan for $0 Social Security and anything in an IRA/401K/Pension will be gone or confiscated. It will not be an option – we are that screwed.
karlof1@25 – “…Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela, and Japan are all using rubles, yuan, euros, or yen for energy transactions…” – The significance of the announcement was that Iran said all contracts from now on will be exclusively in Euros. That’s were I’m reading the significance – they’re not willing to contract for USD with anybody. Euros is an odd choice by my reckoning, but makes sense given their trading partners. This has got to make the USD cabal absolutely livid. Do you know how hard it’s going to be to manipulate oil prices when you have to let the money changers in on the action? They’ll ruin everything! Solution – the old reliable: war.
Jack Smith@30 – “…Are you serious? Please cun [count?] me out you and your god….. no offense intended. :-)…” – OK. I’ll tell her, but she’s not going to like that. She tends to throw things around when she’s mad. Do you live near any fault lines?
Grieved@35 – I agree wholeheartedly. My belief is that Team Chaos will merely attempt to do something. For the reasons you mentioned, they will fail. Iran will not be bullied any longer, and there are enough nations pissed at the U.S. that they will back Iran. Unfortunately, the ‘attempt’ will mean suffering and death for hundreds of thousands of people. But the U.S. and Coalition of Evil burned through a million Iraqis without blinking, so I’m sure the psychopaths will be equally indifferent to the human toll in Iran.

Posted by: PavewayIV | Feb 7 2016 4:28 utc | 48

Massive Pegida marches through Europe today Dresden, Prague, Calais, Dublin, Birmingham (UK), Amsterdam
YAHOO: Thousands march across Europe in anti-Islam Pegida rallies.
RT: Dozens arrested as Pegida anti-migrant marches sweep across Europe (PHOTOS, VIDEOS).

Tens of thousands of people marched across 14 European countries in protest against the influx of Muslim migrants into the continent. In several migrant flashpoints, clashes broke out between demonstrators and police.
In Dresden, Germany, where the movement was born in October 2014, around 8,000 people gathered on the banks of the Elbe, waving the German tricolors and anti-Nazi resistance flags.

(For perspective, record Pegida turnout January 2015, a year ago, 25,000 … Post-Cologne NYE march 3000… )

Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Feb 7 2016 5:26 utc | 50

eta: My error not “massive” marches, but impressive mobilization and ambition …
however, considering the amount of hype turnout relatively small.
“Official” Calais march was banned but 150 turned out
Twitter estimate of 4000 in Prague
No numbers for other cities.

Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Feb 7 2016 5:31 utc | 52

Everyone is all pissed off about Korea’s new rocket … and front page Guardian worrying about “siege” and “starvation” in Aleppo … I’m exhausted by all this …

Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Feb 7 2016 5:43 utc | 54

@Susan Sunflower. I don’t trust the official numbers of demonstrators for anything. In any country. Too easy to dismiss protests because of low official numbers, which can easily be manipulated.

Posted by: Mischi | Feb 7 2016 6:34 utc | 56

@48 PavewayIV
All we need is the social will.
Many aspects of our society are not gone, just threatened. I am on and need Social Security as the INSURANCE program it was initiated as. Go read the Angry Bear web site and the archives about Social Security is good…..something like an 80 cent/week increase now could fix it out for another big chunk of time.
and on a lighter note a link about skipping stones science: http://www.gizmag.com/engineers-usu-skipping-spheres/41685/
and on a more serious note (China’s reaction to Obama’s speech about TPP signing:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-02/04/c_135075402.htm

Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 7 2016 7:41 utc | 58

@39 Jack, I posted a comment over at that blog post “Bernie Sanders, Israel, Palestine, and Me”
see it here: https://sites.google.com/site/representativepress/illegal-to-acquire-territory-by-force
( I am waiting to see if it will get approved)

Posted by: Tom Murphy | Feb 7 2016 10:49 utc | 60

What’s with Putin meeting Kissinger?

Posted by: x | Feb 7 2016 14:52 utc | 62

So, the establishment candidate is a robot. Haha
Rubio bot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdY-t4MRqxw
Posted by: Nick | Feb 7, 2016 2:32:05 AM | 58
High quality bots, say fresh from CMU robotics laboratory, could actually improve upon the average of the candidates for our top office. But Rubio is bringing us back to the time of single short pre-recorded messages, a technology from before WWI. The only progress from the last 100 years is the sound quality.
And what a message it was! Barak Obama wants America to be like “the rest of the world”, say, giving access to healthcare to all. Not that he achieved that, but what a sinister goal! Not just that, he NEGOTIATED for the only reason that the rest of the world did. And Obama does not want USA to be “the greatest state that ever was”. Nice message, but repeated three times, opens itself to mocking, unlike Kasich, who cannot repeat himself because the others interrupt too much, or Christie who knows how to made things done and how to quell rebellious cities not by inhumane sieges, a la Bashir Assad, but by skillful closures of the highway lanes. Would Tehran grow to cheeky, Christie would bring the city to a standstill in a nick of time with strategically placed traffic cones (a black flag operation?)

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Feb 7 2016 16:11 utc | 64

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Matt House • a day ago
It seems sanity has overwhelmed Kerry unexpectedly. The risk of a far nastier outcome should sober up many war-mongers, unless that outcome and their intentions are one and the same.
I can’t imagine why the idea of having Assad as a candidate in any fair election is such a none starter. Why shouldn’t Syrians be the ultimate ones to decide. There is something perverse when the rhetoric insists the answer is for the Syrians to decide, as long as it is NOT Assad??!! Who gets to say that?
That was a good comment in the link given by PavewayIV on
“Kerry ‘blames opposition’ for continued Syria bombing
…“‘What do you want me to do? Go to war with Russia? Is that what you want?’” the aid worker said Kerry told her…”
Posted by: PavewayIV | Feb 7, 2016 12:37:49 AM | 53
From a trusted source, a worker responsible for medicating Secretary of State was relocated to Ulaan Baator, where she has to spend at least one year (winters on the windswept Mongolian Plateau make for the worst climate among all diplomatic posting, and the night life is swilling fermented milk in some tents).

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Feb 7 2016 16:26 utc | 66

i think the part about ‘declaring war’ that is missed by a lot of folks is the financial sanctions all attempts at isolating others… that is tantamount to declaring war as i see it.. we don’t need an official declaration.. we get it when the financial sanctions hit.. i suppose one could say all bets are off when they remove the financial sanctions, but as with russia one can note this isn’t happening…. doesn’t look like it will happen any time soon either..

Posted by: james | Feb 7 2016 18:01 utc | 68

@58 hopefully the referees will call a good game. Some of the calls this season have been absolutely atrocious. NFL seems to be corrupt
@67 USA wants to lure Iran into a trap (Saudi Arabia, Pakistan) like it lured Iraq into Kuwait. Either that or it will try another rent-a-rioter coup
@64 A legendary but morally tarnished realpolitik statesmen is consulting with a legendary but tarnished realpolitik advisor
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/18933-in-an-age-of-realists-and-vigilantes-there-is-cause-for-optimism

Posted by: aaaaaa | Feb 7 2016 18:18 utc | 70

Oops, that was for the next story, forget it

Posted by: Tom O. | Feb 7 2016 18:31 utc | 72

Jack@69-I’ve forwarded you all my move on, Bernie, and Trump spam-thanks!

Posted by: Nana2007 | Feb 7 2016 19:39 utc | 74

@77 da ‘the EMU (NATO) is inseparable from (if not a de facto supercolony of) Oceania’
Maybe Iran would like to see them seperated, and is doing its bit to bring that about?

Posted by: jfl | Feb 7 2016 21:49 utc | 76

@73 to
but Gibbon looked on the decline and fall as a ‘bad’ thing, didn’t he?

Posted by: jfl | Feb 7 2016 21:53 utc | 78

interesting quote in the daily sabah – turkey propaganda channel “”In some parts of Aleppo the Assad regime has cut the north- south corridor … Turkey is under threat,” Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan told reporters on his plane back from a visit to Latin America.” not sure how cutting the n-s corridor makes it a threat to turkey, but maybe other parts of the conversation are missing!

Posted by: james | Feb 7 2016 22:52 utc | 80

more interesting quotes – President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, speaking over the weekend to journalists on the return flight from his Latin America trip that took him to Chile, Peru and Ecuador, said the U.S. should decide who its regional partner is, Turkey or the terrorists in Syria.

Posted by: james | Feb 7 2016 22:56 utc | 82

@85 erdogan is in a rough way… he is caught in a vice press between many within his country ( who wonder when his craziness will stop) and his bigger ambitions… i wonder if he can be counted on to do more stupid stuff? he seems like a useful fool for a number of special interest agendas..

Posted by: james | Feb 8 2016 1:14 utc | 84

@87 guest
I’m delighted to have so much to see at archive.org. Here’s one for you, my MoD.
Actually, I’ve just finished Bobby Seale’s history of the Black Panthers, Seize the Time and Huey P. Newton’s doctoral dissertation War against the Panthers: a study of repression in America if you or anyone else is interested. If anyone can help me out with the footnotes to Part II of the latter, I’d appreciate it very much. They’re incomplete at archive.org, where I found the dissertation, and I can’t just make them up myself.

Posted by: jfl | Feb 8 2016 1:56 utc | 86

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc-20VK9TbA
Youtube vid of Billionaire Bill Gates discussing his plan to reduce the population using vaccines to cause sterilisation

Posted by: Bil Gates | Feb 8 2016 3:16 utc | 88

Is China Being Wooed by Fantasies of Western ‘Acceptance’? Good question …

On December 4, at an annual China-South Korea Banking Development Forum in Shanghai, Chen Huan, head of the AIIB’s Multilateral Interim Secretariat, announced that when it begins raising capital on international bond markets beginning January, 2016, the new bank will concentrate on energy, transportation, rural development, urban development and logistics. So far, so good. He added that in the first year of operation AIIB will move cautiously, issuing between $100 million and $500 million of non-rated infrastructure bonds, which is pretty timid to say the least. Jin Liqun, the president-designate of the AIIB, has stated that the AIIB plans to lend $10 billion to $15 billion a year for the first five or six years, a modest contribution to an $8 trillion infrastructure deficit.
On December 18, after exactly five years stall, the US Congress approved a 2010 IMF reform of the Fund’s quotas and governance. Now the IMF will double its available resources to $660 billion. Some 6% of quota shares will shift to “dynamic emerging market and developing countries” and also from over-represented to under-represented members. Four emerging market countries–Brazil, China, India, and Russia– will for the first time since 1944 be among the ten largest members of the IMF. Other top 10 members include the United States, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, and the UK.
Is this long-awaited and little-expected change of heart from Washington a major concession to China and the BRICS countries? It would seem not on careful reading of the fine print of the IMF Reform agreement. Since it drafted the IMF bylaws in Bretton Woods New Hampshire at the international monetary talks, Washington and Wall Street banks made certain the IMF would be a US institution controlled by the US Treasury and no “democratic” body. For a major policy change in the IMF operations, a majority not of 50.1% is required but of 85%. That insures that the USA, with a voting share of 17.4% can still block anything it doesn’t like. The US voting share under the new reforms remains precisely 17.4%, a blocking vote as before.
Under the new IMF “reform,” little changes. Yes China is in the “top ten” for voting share, but going from 3% before to 8% today, for the world’s second largest economy. That and a dime will buy nothing today.

… Is the USA dangling G2 status before the Chinese oligarachs and are they falling for it? With Henry K’s overture – such as it is – to Russia is the US triangulating, trying to play off Russia and China against one another other as ‘real-partner’ of the US?
I have a hard time imagining that working with Putin’s Russia, but China does seem to be on the hook. And if China’s on the hook, will Russia feel it has to bite? Oligarchs of any stripe are a timid lot, they always prefer to get with the mob than go it alone. Look’s like that’s what’s happening.
Needless to say the US will stab either/both China or/and Russia in the back/ribs first chance it sees a chance to inflict what it hopes will be lethal damage.
All the time, effort, and capital invested by either in bogus raprochemant with the US will be wasted in any case.
The Russians and Chinese ought to huddle with Iran on this one. The Iranians seem not taken in one bit by the Great Satan.
Triangulating with an up and comer like Iran, one with real assets, resources and opportunities, has got to beat clinging to a down and outer like the US, and tying its funny-money, financial-capitalist albatross/anchor around your neck.

Posted by: jfl | Feb 8 2016 10:49 utc | 90

The pollution problem really is a slo-mo global catastrophe. Doing nothing to stop it — which has long been the current and foreseeable plan — for longer will lead to the need to institute policies that are even more dramatic.

Posted by: dumbass | Feb 8 2016 11:37 utc | 92

thanks to many for interesting links, not that i have managed to read them all for now.
for those interested in France – or the EU as France is supposedly no 2 -, and its extraordinarily weird, dated, copy-paste of Bush 2 policies (and events!), combined with its turn to Israel (might be discussed at length…), this article about Manuel Valls, PM of France, is informative and to the point. It is a book review (see link.)
from the occidental observer, Feb. 2016, several pages.
http://bit.ly/1TO2TjS

Posted by: Noirette | Feb 8 2016 14:30 utc | 94

hahahahaha
One can apparently BUY the Zika virus (aka: ATCC® VR-84™) online

Classification: Flaviviridae, Flavivirus / Product Format: freeze-dried
Name of Depositor J. Casals,Rockefeller Foundation
Source Blood from experimental forest sentinel rhesus monkey, Uganda, 1947
Year of Origin 1947
References
Dick GW. Trans. R. Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg. 46: 509, 1952.

From ATCC Product Page, Zika Virus (ATCC® VR-84™): ATCC Press Release:

ATCC, the premier global biological materials resource and standards organization, is poised to assist the medical and life science researchers that are working to address the evolving concerns around Zika Virus infection.
Zika virus is a single-stranded RNA virus of the Flaviviridae family, genus Flavivirus, which also includes the West Nile, Dengue and Chikungunya Viruses. Zika virus is transmitted to humans primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito. For more information on the disease, please refer to the CDC website.
The virus was first deposited into ATCC by Dr. Jordi Casals of the Rockefeller Foundation Virus Laboratory in 1953. Since that time ATCC has made the Zika virus (ATCC® VR-84™) strain MR766 available for research purposes to qualified scientists and laboratories, on a global basis, through a highly vetted process that requires them to demonstrate they have appropriate facilities and safety programs in place (in accordance with Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL) guidelines).
ATCC is now working to respond to the greatly increased demand for the Zika virus in an effort to support a better understanding of its biology and to foster development of accurate and dependable diagnostic tests.< In addition to ATCC, three stains of the Zika virus are available through BEI Resources, a NIAID Biorepository established to support basic research and develop improved diagnostic tests, vaccines, and therapies. Registration and approval is required by NIAID to obtain these viruses. http://www.beiresources.org

nothin to see here, volks, move along, move along
under the heading Biosafety Level it says

Biosafety classification is based on U.S. Public Health Service Guidelines, it is the responsibility of the customer to ensure that their facilities comply with biosafety regulations for their own country.

but remember folks: Storage Conditions -70°C or colder – just in case anyone is thinking of putting an order in . . .

Posted by: Another hoax | Feb 8 2016 16:02 utc | 96

PS – you can then send Bill Gates a “Thank YOU” note for the privilege

Posted by: Another hoax | Feb 8 2016 16:05 utc | 98

Steinem has reportedly apologized (I saw a headline) but Albright stands by her “special place in hell” statement. Stupid is as stupid does. And Clinton has the temerity to say she’s not “establishment” Clinton is outdoing Al Gore in the “making it impossible for Nader/Sander’s voters to vote for her in the general election” department and we’ve months to go. Personal animosity makes voting LOTE difficult. Also missed coverage “former NAACP head endorses Sanders.” (Ben Jealous).
Related, I’m more than slightly appalled that Beyonce’s new song and Superbowl “tribute to the Black Panthers” is being fulsomely embraced by millenials as “significant” and moving … Superficial optics of marketing — attitude and “inclusion.” She and Jay-Z are donating a million dollars to BLM “and other groups” … which is all well and good, but I’m guessing they and BLM will come out for Clinton eventually … These are bizarre times indeed … so many likely sockpuppets crowding the internets like it was their day job.

Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Feb 8 2016 16:53 utc | 100