vote for Clinton is vote for globalization, while vote for Trump is vote for anti-globalization

Posted by: smarterthanyou | Aug 27 2016 21:25 utc | 104

I was reading articles on the Turkish attack into Syria and there is no mention of the Syrian government nor whether/when/if Turkey will engage the Syrian Army. But then I found this chart from CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/25/middleeast/syria-isis-whos-fighting-who-trnd/index.html
For one thing, they pretend ISIS has no support. We all know differently. Also, it looks like every one is fighting ISIS except ….. Free Syrian Army and Saudi Arabia and Gulf Allies.

Posted by: Curtis | Aug 27 2016 22:27 utc | 106

I have been trying to keep an archive of this nonsense:
https://4threvolutionarywar.wordpress.com/trump-putin-troll-archive/
(I am no longer even attempting to be exhaustive, because their is SO MUCH!)

Posted by: Akira | Aug 27 2016 23:54 utc | 108

The shooting down of an Israeli warplane by Syria has not been reported by Western and Israeli media sources. According to Sputnik, on August 21, “the Israeli Air Force resumed airstrikes on Western Syria, targeting a government army base at Khan Al-Sheih in Damascus province and another in the al-Quneitra province after a six-hour halt in attacks that followed their multiple air raids over the Golan Heights.”
It was struck. An SA-9 from the Iftiraas Air Defense Base and an SA-2 near the Khalkhaala AB were fired. But, the technical wizardry was most on display when an S-300 (SA-10 “Grumble) super-air-defense missile was fired from the Republican Guard base near the Mazza AB at the foot of Qaasiyoon Mountain west of Damascus. This was done so that the F-16’s electronic countermeasures would first fix on the SA-2 and SA-9 while the S-300 plowed forward to exterminate the vermin inside the Israeli aircraft. The S-300 vaporized the Israeli bomber. No evidence was seen of the pilot ejecting. Instead, eyewitness accounts described a ball of fire over the Golan and the remains scattering into the air over the Huleh Valley in Palestine.
Also, the Israelis lost 2 helicopters while flying missions over the Golan Heights in an effort to bolster the sagging morale of the Takfiri rats of Nusra/Alqaeda and Al-Ittihaad Al-Islaami li-Ajnaad Al-Shaam. The 2 helicopters went down over the area near Qunaytra City and were reportedly shot down by shoulder fired, heat-seeking missiles deployed throughout the Syrian Army.
source – http://www.globalresearch.ca/syria-shoots-down-israeli-warplane-f-16-bomber-and-helicopters/5471009

Posted by: ALberto | Aug 27 2016 23:58 utc | 110

@17 okie… yes.. as i was saying to jfl on another thread – always informative watching someone lying to get an idea of how they are framing the lies..he is actually a really bad liar, cause he doesn’t come across as convincing in any way whatsoever… in fact, he assumes the audience listening is naive or stupid which is a bad place to start out from..

Posted by: james | Aug 28 2016 2:11 utc | 112

So b. What color will the Trumpjugend uniforms be?

Posted by: ALberto | Aug 28 2016 3:06 utc | 114

Realist: someone who believes in four out of five mass illusions.
For example, Steven M. Walt is a self-proclaimed realist. But I think that he still does not get it why USA was unsuccessful in Afghanistan. True, he noted that the invasion there was not such a hot idea, but he theorized that if Bush the Lesser refrained from totally gratuitous invasion on Iraq, he would have enough resources to handle Afghanistan properly. But it does not explain how additional “resources” could help. IMHO, the problem is that US establishment cannot deliver prosperity, even (or especially) relative modest prosperity compared to a very low initial baseline, and the reason is that that would entail some “running of the economy”, and how they could run the economy in Afghanistan (or Iraq) when they have no idea how to do it at home?
With positive changes in the lives of population, there would be many more enthusiasts of the new system, the military/police would be less riddled with desertions, frauds, backstabbing and so on. Why Taliban does not need years and years of training with experts from assorted countries to operate effectively? Perhaps the lack of those experts helps?
That touches upon one unrealistic claim of b: it would be more effective the thoughtfully refute economic ideas of Trump. That is a bit hard for many reasons. One thing is that Trump, superficial as he is, actually runs some companies and on occasion, he says something “realistic”, like that without companies investing in USA rather than in China and Mexico there number of new good jobs will be consistently and pitifully small. So one would have to show that while the goal of generating well-paying industrial jobs in USA has merits, overall Trump gave no indications that he can do it. But this is not a simple point to make, and there is an entire industry devoted to prove that white is black, particularly in economy.
The cardinal principle of politics is that to convince the public to vote for you one has to use simplest arguments possible. Optionally, one can also deliver more details etc., but they are boring to 97% of the public.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Aug 28 2016 7:17 utc | 116

|@ 102 Addendum
Effective voting this election will, because of the choice presented, be profoundly important and dependent upon rational assessments rather than emotional beliefs. The electorate has only one viable option – to purge from their minds as much of the propaganda, disinformation and political marketing as they are able; put themselves into a political sensory deprivation chamber, cut off from the political roaring around themselves and try to find out just what their interests are, which effective candidate most likely meets those interests or is likely not to meet those interests, deciding which effective vote matters to themselves. Each voter will have to judge the information they encounter: is the information directly known? does the information arrive from a trustworthy source? is the information distorted in any way, by commission or omission? is the information believable when held to one’s knowledge of human behaviour? of deviant behaviour? is the information either hearsay or conjecture? backed by other sources or not? … and so forth. Occam’s razor can be quite useful as well in weeding political noise from appreciation of personal interests. One thing must be noted: morality is misleading, the present political processes depend on such devious calculations.
This election would be as good as any to start taking back control of the political process. At this point there is little one can effect as far as presidential position is concerned, only one candidate or the other, or refrain from voting altogether; those are the only options, although a voter may use their effective vote to upset the calculations of the political technicians by overwhelming or depriving those calculations of numbers expected – a beauty of being undecided until the ver end. Probably most important for those who decide to vote is below the vote for president, those being elected to national and state positions. Never allow a single party to hold both executive and legislative bodies, those days are gone never to return unless under extremely unusual circumstance. Also break up the legislative branch so no party controls both houses of Congress. To make this effective one other factor must be addressed: the re-election of incumbents must be severely curtailed. Incumbents get quickly accustomed to privilege and power of their positions which displaces all obligation towards those whose votes have placed them there. Do not, under any circumstance return an incumBENT to office without firm and convincing evidence that that candidate actually fulfils the public trust, so few of them do after their first term in office. The electorate needs pull the plug on this behaviour. Doing so will likely provide some surprising results in the public’s favour. Always consider the incumBENT candidate as deformed and undesirable, you have nothing to lose by doing so and much if you are not certain of the candidate’s fidelity to the public welfare.
Much of the above also pertains to state level politicians, always break up any political platform’s access to wealth or power, making sure any acts are derived from agreement between differing perspectives; you are certain to be displeased with the results should you not always observe this condition. Never become committed to just one political tribe, become aware and play one off against the other, the present method of political control will not survive such an environment, the voter has a chance to become master again in the Republic, but only if the voter becomes master of themselves. Never sell the family cow for a handful of magic beans, no matter how persuasive you are told to believe. Trust instead in what you actually know, it is a much firmer footpath through the political swamps and may get you to your destination without mishap.

Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Aug 28 2016 8:57 utc | 118

116
PB. I hate to pop your fabulist bubble, but the only difference between the Taliban and the Karzai Mob is how long their beards are. I was a FOTW for the Karzai’s when they went around Kandahar, collecting their rents and extortions from all the ghamdzhan shopkeepers in a fat roll of US $100s. Where did those come from? Panetta’s Hearts and Minds Fund?
Nothing the US did, not even when Hillary paid Karzai $5 BILLION directly into his Bank of Kabul in 2009, then flew in with another $3.5 BILLION to cover Karzai’s looting of that huge grift, gave Afghans more than about 55 pfennings per person per year in ‘aid’. That single grift payment to Karzai was more than all aid paid by all NGOs worldwide.
The rest of those BILLIONS went, as our Special Ambassador to AF-PK Richard Holbrooke, pointed out (before he was bled out at Walter Reed and replaced with a Chosen), “85% of the aid money to Afghanistan is round-tripped right back to WADC-NOVA.” Others in the field who stepped forward to state the number was more like 95%, have been disappeared.
Nothing the US could have done can offset the fact that now $6,300,000,000,000 is MIA at the Pentagon, bleeding out at $100,000,000 a day at http://www.defense.gov/news/contracts
This isn’t even news. It’s been stated, then ignored, for the 15 years it took the Chosen to completely bankrupt America, as well as Afghanistan. Now they installed CIA Abdullah Abdullah and WB Ghani in Kabul. Afghanistan has no future. It is owned, like America.
“You have taken my home, taken my land, taken my family, and taken my pride. Please tell me what it is that you want!” Famous Afghan elder comment to the OEF-AF Storm Troopers
That will be the same bleeting interjection of 100,000,000s of Americans after November, when the Trump-Clinton Fourth Reich of One Thousand Years settles into power.

Posted by: Ellito Abrahms | Aug 28 2016 13:08 utc | 120

Also break up the legislative branch so no party controls both houses of Congress. Formerly T-Bear, @118
I disagree. On cardinal issues like (a) run-away medical cost locking people out of decent healthcare and transferring funds to plutocrats, (b) police brutality and “prison-police corrupt prosecution complex” (c) campaign finance, there is a need for action, not a stalemate.
I understand that Democrats do not guarantee action either. But they need a popular movement that is more inform and benevolent than Tea Party, and at long last, this movement emerged. Realistically, the current polls give hope for the best outcome within current possibilities: (a) Democratic majority is the Senate, (b) Democratic president, crappy but predicable, responsive to pressure, and wounded by the record level of third party vote, (c) Republican majority in the House, hopefully decreased.
Indeed, Democrats are perhaps not ready yet for control. Quite a few times already they got it, and f…d-up, in part because of plutocratic/think tanky influence (basically, every time in the last 40 years they f..d up as soon as they got the power). But there is a strong wind of change, and a new generation is ready for opposing imperialism and plutocracy. Too few people understand the nature of the decayed American imperialism and our “foreign opponents” to care, but the reign of plutocracy at home is much more clear.
I think that Clinton with her baggage and deficient charisma will make it. Trumpistas are too much like T. Rex: the brawn is there, but the brain, not so much. They can be dispatched with hard work using their petty transgressions as a fodder for vilification. But there has to be a strong signal that cobbling a status quo package with winks and nods to several groups or problem is a dead end, and this is third party vote, and more specifically, Jill Stein vote.
On the bright side, the first test for being a “serious American politician”, the fervent, undying love and adoration for Israel, somehow got dented, if not totally eliminated. One third of the youngest voting generation prefers “socialist” to other labels, not that they read Marx or anything similar, but just because of decades of GOP vilifying anyone who differs as a “socialist” and “communist” (including HRC, of course).
Slightly dangerously, most of the 3rd party vote is currently registered for libertarians. I guess that is because (a) big proportion of that being from Republicans and right-end Democrats, (b) deference to more “serious politicians”, a ticket made of two former governors with a decent record.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Aug 28 2016 13:54 utc | 122

@113 jackrabbit.. i doubt it is from obama, but i am sure it is a collective gov’t conclusion that requires ongoing support for raytheon, lockheed martins and etc the usa supports fully.. no war, no sales.. ongoing lies required..

Posted by: james | Aug 28 2016 15:21 utc | 124

@dahoit 120
Trump shouldn’t be able to lose with that hand, though he could well snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
The Don is feeling the super-concentrated power of two decisions of yesteryear, #1 the disarming of media anti-monopoly laws, along with the legalising of mortgage backed debt gambling, gambling both on and against the people – both decisions made on Bill’s watch – The Don just gotta focus and snap out of the attention deficit mindset.
Much easier to put 5 outlets and their subsidiaries in the pocket, than 5. Ill-health…? Can’t tour…? Blood clot…? No worries, full court press on the MSM – a complete shut out, conjure some evil unicorns, deliver an October surprise every second day to turn defence into attack, rinse, repeat, sit tight till game day. So much easier to do with much less counter discussion in the mixer.
Not that Trump will do better of course. But that’s your choice. Over 20 years of obvious abuse of state privilege vs potentially the same monster yet with no track record at state level. The Enemy of The State or the would-be.
…can you lose with that hand…?
But maybe Trump does get it. He hauled exbanker Nigel Farage up on stage a few days back to deliver pretty much the same anti-establishment, nationalist, inward facing message that he’s been polishing for years now. Though I am not sure if that, or the fact that The Don tweeted a link to Bill Stills’ vlog to distribute it, is more significant. But it’s that message he needs to nail over and again.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/gSBDTfTfmJ8

Posted by: MadMax2 | Aug 28 2016 16:36 utc | 126

@ 127 Addendum
I should have included: But D. Trump will not be the first president to have gained office without a record if he does. How did that other president without a record turn out for ya? All peace-y and creamy?

Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Aug 28 2016 19:15 utc | 128

@ 129
Yep, you pays your dime to get into the show and takes your chances – like most things in life, should this be any different? About the only difference in this case is the difference in analysing known facts and analysing beliefs and fears, one gets different answers, it’s just discovering the difference while the circus parade is passing, what are you going to pay attention to?

Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Aug 29 2016 2:20 utc | 130

@130,131
Yes, on the fear and Dems. For how dark and grim Trumps’ vision of today’s USA was reported during the RNC, the Dem defence/attack formula has to paint it even darker – maybe even dark and psychedelic – creating the illusionary realm of Trump as Russian agent. I would say it is time to reassesses Hilary’s dosage.
Trump’s dark picture, I would say holds at least a fraction more truth than what the dems are offering. Trump can say how it is and what chaos and destruction the democrats have achieved, whereas as Hilary can only offer an imaginary world with hordes of boogeymen the likes of which nobody can know. 3 months out and its already a oneway, neo-mccarthy shitshow…thats pretty low quality game…but with the MSM in the pocket, and even though i dont own a TV, I can just feel the fear.

Posted by: MadMax2 | Aug 29 2016 11:28 utc | 132

Hoarsewhisperer@71,
Putin, despite all his sins, is indeed a nationalist.  He is, more or less, the kind of person much of Western Europe needs at the moment. 

Posted by: Cynthia | Aug 29 2016 14:15 utc | 134