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January 30, 2017
Open Thread 2017-04
Comments
@199 nonsense factory.. most of your posts including this one, make a lot of sense.. we’ll see how it unfolds for israel and the world over the next 5-10 years and reassess then. thanks.
Posted by: james | Feb 1 2017 7:23 utc | 201
Israel pokes at Iran nuclear deal mk bhadrakumar’s latest..
Posted by: james | Feb 1 2017 7:36 utc | 202
@190 @193 karlof
i ocr’d sputnik’s syrian constitution. it doesn’t look bad at first glance.
thanks for the link.
Posted by: jfl | Feb 1 2017 8:06 utc | 203
Well, Jackrabbit, without getting involved with the rather rantish assertions of Circe, I will now express my utter shock at the way the entire Trump circus is unfolding. 99% of the “conservative”/”libertarian” (I call them denaturalized) groupthink myrmidon commenters over at Zero Hedge (paid or whatever) absolutely insist that Trump is some sort of golden-hair prophet come to deliver them free from the vicious “snowflakes”.
And meanwhile, 99% of the the “left”/”progressive” (largely undenaturalized) yet groupthink myrmidon commenters over at the pwoggie blogs repeat “hate Trump”/”Trump Nazi”, etc., etc., etc. It’s sickening. All these victims of surreptitious recruitment, academic groupthink, etc. acting like stupid robots!
My guess, in the end Trump will look somewhat like Woodrow Wilson, finally defeated by his own hubris. Almost a typical US president. (He will hate that.)
Absolutely nothing that happens regarding the twin parties, or the Greens or whatever, can possibly break up the elite preserving duopoly. Only the simple score voting method with hand counted paper ballots can do that — Nothing else.
Posted by: blues | Feb 1 2017 8:11 utc | 204
Maybe it’s best to simply call the so-called “left”/”progressive” people “undenatured”. And the so-called “conservative”/”libertarian” people “denatured”. The minds of the latter group have simply been “denatured” by vast surreptitious recruitment campaigns waged against them by the rich and the powerful. They have been turned against their own best interests by gigantic public relations campaigns. Acting in the best interests of oneself and one’s community is, after all, the natural default. The notion of “left” and “right” is just another publicity ploy. There never needed to exist a fake “right”.
Posted by: blues | Feb 1 2017 8:44 utc | 205
@206
Syria rejects Russia’s suggestions on autonomous communities in Syria, including Kurds
The Syrian government has rejected Kurdish autonomy to be included in a new draft constitution for the country being written by Russia.
one might ask … the russians writing the syrian constitution? what the hell?! and cutting deals with the us for ‘safe zones’ on syrian territory?! with friends like these you don’t need enemies. it certainly looks as though russia views syria as ‘a property’.
Posted by: jfl | Feb 1 2017 11:06 utc | 206
Hoarsewhisperer @ 102 says:
How come all spontaneous 9/11 “experts” are incurious, eduphobic dimwits
how come the most spontaneous 9/11 “experts” of all have the most crystalline vision of all?
Posted by: john | Feb 1 2017 11:20 utc | 207
U.S. Travel Ban Puts Saudi Arabia In An Awkward Position
by Tyler Durden
Jan 31, 2017
In addition to creating mass chaos in America’s airports and general confusion around the world, Trump’s immigration ban is putting Saudi Arabia, a key ally in the middle-east, in a fairly awkward position. Per the Wall Street Journal, Trump’s immigration ban, which currently does not include Saudi Arabia, has put the country in the awkward position of having to manage a desire to pursue stronger ties with the U.S. at the risk of alienating key allies, like Yemen and Sudan, that will inevitably view such a move as abandoning Muslim neighbors.
The monarchy’s desire to cultivate a better relationship with the Trump administration than it had with the U.S. under Barack Obama is exposing Saudi Arabia to criticism that it is unwilling to stand up for its Muslim allies, particularly those caught in an executive order that restricts entry to the U.S. for citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries.
“The ban puts Saudi Arabia in an awkward position,” said Ibrahim Fraihat, a professor of conflict resolution at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. “Saudi Arabia will be expected to take a position against it because some of the countries included in the ban like Sudan and Yemen are key allies and because it projects itself as leader of the Muslim world.”
The ban applies to citizens of Sudan, a member of the coalition of Muslim countries assembled by Saudi Arabia to combat terrorism. Also included is Yemen, where Saudi Arabia intervened militarily in 2015 against Iran-backed Houthi rebels with the aim of restoring President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to power. The ban applies to Syrians fleeing their country’s war, too, and Riyadh is a key supporter of Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad as well as his Iranian and Russian backers.
For now, at least publicly, the Kingdom has decided to support the Trump administration’s travel restrictions with the official Saudi Press Agency saying that “the view of the two leaders were identical…the president requested and the King agreed to support safe zones in Syria and Yemen, as well as supporting other ideas to help the many refugees who are displaced by the ongoing conflicts.”
“The president requested and the King agreed to support safe zones in Syria and Yemen, as well as supporting other ideas to help the many refugees who are displaced by the ongoing conflicts,” the White House said.
A statement carried on the official Saudi Press Agency said “the view of the two leaders were identical” on issues that included confronting terrorism and extremism, along with countering “those who seek to undermine security and stability in the region and interfere in the internal affairs of other state,” a reference to Iran and to the activities of its regional proxies.
The White House also said they agreed on the “importance of rigorously enforcing” the nuclear deal Iran struck with other world powers including the U.S. in 2015. Mr. Trump and Saudi officials have repeatedly criticized the agreement, which lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.
Ironically, Saudi Arabia has produced more extremists that went on to carry out attacks on U.S. soil than any of the countries directly affected by the ban. Osama bin Laden, the late head of al Qaeda, was from one of the kingdom’s most prominent business families and 15 of the 19 Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers were Saudi. Only Tunisia has contributed more for
Of course, this all comes as the ACLU is gearing up to fight the Trump administration in the Supreme Court on the basis that the new travel restrictions represent an unconstitutional ban of Muslims in direct violation of the First Amendment.
Something tells us that Saudi Arabia is wishing that the millions of dollars they funneled to the Hillary Clinton campaign would have been a little more impactful. eign fighters to the Islamic State, according to a 2015 study by the Soufan Group, a security consultancy.
Posted by: okie farmer | Feb 1 2017 12:06 utc | 208
Posted by: john | Feb 1, 2017 6:20:04 AM | 208
I don’t know what crystalline vision means but the incurious person posing the question could have phoned the 9/11 project Quantity Surveyor and got an accurate figure for the total volume of steel and concrete in WTC 1 and/or 2.
In any case, one shouldn’t need to be a genius to figure out that, in volume terms, tall office buildings are typically ~5% materials and ~95% empty space. And the towers had several (empty-ish) basement levels, before the collapse.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Feb 1 2017 13:58 utc | 209
“Has Sally Yates been sabotaging Trump’s ‘travel ban’ Executive Order all along?” @ http://theduran.com/sally-yates-sabotaging-trumps-travel-ban-executive-order/
Hoarsewhisperer
crystalline vision refers to the practically unanimous observation made by dozens if not hundreds of journalists(and others) on the ground that day questioning the whereabouts of a rubble pile that would reflect the collapse of those two massive structures.
and the emptyish basement levels still contained vast areas of emptyish space, much of which was hardly even damaged.
but it’s funny in a sad sort of way to listen to asshats like you throw around the incurious word while the most thorough forensic evidence from that crime scene is collectively ignored.
Posted by: john | Feb 1 2017 15:12 utc | 211
Trump’s travel ban on ‘moslems’ is a disguised warning to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar. ( continue)
Coincidence or immediate consequence?
Saudi Arabia has asked Kuwait to offer Iran an olive branch.
KSA is probably realizing that Moslem countries should stop their divisions and should show a united block in front of Trump’s bully policy toward Moslems.
The USA is no more a reliable partner and protector. It is now a suspicious frenemy…
As Europe is looking for a unified military the midddle east Moslem countries also are considering it.
That would displease Israel, therefore I expect the USA to rush into re-assuring KSA that the ban was not on moslems..
http://lobelog.com/can-kuwait-facilitate-a-thaw-in-saudi-iranian-relations/
Posted by: virgile | Feb 1 2017 15:47 utc | 212
The -other- “ban” that was quietly announced last week
Most of the world is in an uproar right now over the travel ban that Donald Trump hastily imposed late last week on citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries.
But there was another ban that was quietly proposed last week, and this one has far wider implications: a ban on cash.
The European Union’s primary executive authority, known as the European Commission, issued a “Road Map” last week to initiate continent-wide legislation against cash.
Posted by: MadMax2 | Feb 1 2017 16:18 utc | 213
– Kelly Vlahos:
“Is Civilian Control of the Military in Jeopardy?”
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/is-civilian-control-of-the-military-in-jeopardy/
Posted by: Willy2 | Feb 1 2017 20:20 utc | 214
– Gareth Porter: Neocon thinktanks are pushing for more US military action in Syria.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/syrian-army-only-option-us-if-it-wants-fight-terror-1775504124
Posted by: Willy2 | Feb 1 2017 20:27 utc | 215
Russian cybersecurity experts arrested in ‘US-linked’ treason case
http://presstv.com/Detail/2017/02/01/508736/Russia-cybersecurity-experts-treason
Posted by: Anonymous | Feb 1 2017 20:30 utc | 216
The other “ban” that was quietly announced last week
These policymakers and academics acknowledge that banning cash would reduce consumers’ financial privacy. And that’s true.
But they’re totally missing the point. Cash isn’t about privacy.
It’s one of the only remaining options in a financial system that has gone totally crazy.
Especially in Europe, where interest rates are negative and many banks are on the verge of collapse, cash is a protective shelter in a storm of chaos.
Think about it: every time you make a deposit at your bank, that savings no longer belongs to you. It’s now the bank’s money. It’s their asset, not yours.
You become an unsecured creditor of the bank with nothing more than a claim on their balance sheet, beholden to all the stupidity and shenanigans that they have a history of perpetrating.
that’s the bottom line. and, of course, between now and confiscation it puts a toll gate between oneself and every single transaction one makes, once every transaction is bank-intermediated the ‘operator’ skims each and every one.
there’s a german named norbert haering (häring) who’s kept his eye on the us/bjp ball in india … its a transnational financial corporate full-court press worldwide. primarily us-centered, of course.
Digital Payments 2020
A $500 bn pot of gold: How Boston Consulting and Google pushed Modi to end the era of cash
Catalyst’s Malick, unhappy with report on US influence on India’s demonetisation, hits back with false claim
More evidence of early US involvement in Indian demonetisation
A well-kept open secret: Washington is behind India’s brutal experiment of abolishing most cash
in finance and politics and energy disintermediation is not just desirable, it is essential, the sine qua non.
Posted by: jfl | Feb 1 2017 20:30 utc | 217
…
but it’s funny in a sad sort of way to listen to asshats like you throw around the incurious word while the most thorough forensic evidence from that crime scene is collectively ignored.
Posted by: john | Feb 1, 2017 10:12:55 AM | 212
“asshats” (imo) are people with no background or expertise in a formal discipline who formulate theories based on ignorance and incurious speculation, when it would be quicker (and smarter) to seek the opinion of an expert in the field. NIST explained all of these fake ‘mysteries’ to the complete satisfaction of ALL of the experts in the construction industry.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Feb 2 2017 0:03 utc | 219
The Duran reports that Syria has rejected the constitution drafted by Russia but doesn’t provide a link to said draft, which is perplexing since the reasons given for the rejection aren’t within the draft I linked to that was provided by Sputnik. I searched and Sputnik didn’t report about the rejection, for whatever that’s worth, although there are several related articles.
Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 2 2017 2:30 utc | 220
@221 karlof1.. if it was just a draft, i am not sure how critical it is.. they might have wanted the draft revised..
Posted by: james | Feb 2 2017 3:09 utc | 221
NIST explained all of these fake ‘mysteries’ to the complete satisfaction of ALL of the experts in the construction industry.
NIST was forced by “conspiracy theorists” to admit that WTC-7 spent part of its time falling at free fall speed. It did not provide an explanation for that.
I think most of us have reasonably good intuitions about Newtonian physics, maybe not at a particularly fine-grained level, but good enough to look at the destruction of the Twin Towers and know better than to call it a “structural collapse.”
But I wouldn’t trust NIST as far as I can throw them on this issue.
Do you think the videos of planes completely penetrating the South Tower without before exploding, without the plane deforming or breaking up, show something that actually happened? Why should I trust the government appointed experts when so much is so wrong about 9/11 on so many levels?
I can’t believe we are still having to fight about this in 2017.
Posted by: RudyM | Feb 2 2017 6:32 utc | 222
RudyM says:
But I wouldn’t trust NIST as far as I can throw them on this issue
yes RudyM, isn’t it remarkable how so many MOAers spend at least a good part of their day with their heads soaked in US government perfidy only to eventually turn to these same coniving liars to get their official version of the story?
remarkable!
Posted by: john | Feb 2 2017 8:38 utc | 223
https://twitter.com/walid970721
https://www.lrb.co.uk/v39/n03/patrick-cockburn/who-supplies-the-news
http://www.geopolmonitor.com/several-western-backed-groups-join-forces-al-qaeda-affiliate/
Posted by: Mina | Feb 2 2017 9:57 utc | 224
Hoarsewhisperer
Dr. Judy Wood’s expertise is unchallenged. she is eminently qualified. her book is not her speculation. it is not her opinion. it is the empirical forensic evidence that she has compiled from the crime scene in lower Manhattan.
if your curiosity gets the better of you you might just give it a gander. then, if you want to refute her evidence in some kind of meaningful way, by all means, get back to us.
Posted by: john | Feb 2 2017 12:03 utc | 225
the sign says muslim ban unamerican … the real american way of dealing with muslims is murdering them.
iraq ………… 1,000,000+
syria …………. 400,000+
afghanistan .. 100,000+
and how many others in pakistan, yemen, libya, …palestine ? the folk in the picture with the sign is as clueless as we come.
forget about the ban … stop the killing! duh.
Posted by: jfl | Feb 2 2017 12:16 utc | 226
Well, the media have done a great job focusing everybody’s attention on Trump 24/7. Is Trump bad? Is he good? Is he a Zionist? Is he not? Will he do this? Will he do that? Did you hear what Trump just said? Trump Trump Trump…
Posted by: Temporarily Sane | Feb 2 2017 13:27 utc | 227
Looking more like Iran is new entree for a ‘war’ on China.
Oil, oil, oil…. (and USD$ drop).
Will be interesting to see if some S-300’s get tested and whether/how the SCO hangs together.
This all looks and feels like mass distraction and shock therapy.
But is it, or something far darker and deeper?
Posted by: x | Feb 2 2017 13:55 utc | 228
jfl @227
Once again, it’s NOT a “Muslim ban”, because:
1. Muslims from those countries and others can still get into the US.
2. It’s temporary (as they work out what the long term policy will be).
<> <> <> <> <> <>
There’s plenty to criticize about Trump without playing into media spin that is meant to undermine Trump.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Feb 2 2017 15:02 utc | 229
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/257454/World/Region/Harsh-conditions-for-Syrians-fleeing-ISheld-Deir-E.aspx
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/257429/World/Region/Syrian-army-advances-against-IS-in-Aleppo.aspx
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/9/257452/World/International/Over-,-migrants-rescued-in-Med-as-EU-preps-summit.aspx
Posted by: Mina | Feb 2 2017 15:48 utc | 230
Once again, it’s NOT a “Muslim ban”, because:
Don’t be silly, Jacko. Of course it’s a Muslim ban, if Christians are allowed from a particular country, but Muslims are not.
Posted by: Laguerre | Feb 2 2017 17:24 utc | 231
Does this act indicate that US military and Russian military ran a cooperative friendly operation in Syria? I believe Arabia is the ultimate target.Death by a thousand cuts. Way too much oil for so few peoples. 50/50 is a very good deal.
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/02/us-treasury-eases-some-sanctions-against-russian-intelligence-service.html
Posted by: ALberto | Feb 2 2017 19:50 utc | 232
White House warns Israel on settlements
How will Circe spin this?
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Feb 3 2017 0:12 utc | 233
C’mon Laguerre, it’s not a BAN on Muslims.
That is misleading. To most people, the word BAN, when unqualified, implies ‘FULL AND COMPLETE BAN’. Maybe it should be called a ‘partial ban’ or just “anti- terrorist” immigration policy?
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Feb 3 2017 0:26 utc | 234
@235 jr, ‘Maybe it should be called a ‘partial ban’ or just “anti-terrorist” immigration policy?’
you have a real talent for spin. have you been contacted by the tee-rump organization? “anti-terrorist” immigration policy®
Posted by: jfl | Feb 3 2017 1:51 utc | 235
Bandar’s Boy, Ahmad Jarba, Claims To Lead Arab Assault Force Upon Raqqa article here..
Posted by: james | Feb 3 2017 3:18 utc | 236
Circe always sounds sort-of gung-ho anti-zionist. But does this cover up a deeper layer of neolibcon Clintoncrat zeal? Actual Globalism perhaps? Hmm.
Posted by: blues | Feb 3 2017 8:51 utc | 237
@jfl 218
I think you posted something from Härings blog in the very recent past here iirc… a great catalogue. Am watching now thanks.
The Boston/Google piece is amusing. Seriously, these people wouldn’t know what a free market was if it crawled up their leg and bit them on the sausage. Nowhere did I see any mention of cryptocurrency, which is at least one place (the most obvious imo) rapid tech advancement of the population is going to drive Indians – given their love of gold. Not all Indians of course, but a solid percentage…probably a similar percentage or more of Indians that the demonetisation is aimed at. Just one reason out there rendering the whole operation pointless.
The ID-free blockchain is here to stay and demonetisation just woke India up.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanchester/2016/12/21/how-indias-demonetization-is-affecting-bitcoin-startups/#715533d71d08
Posted by: MadMax2 | Feb 3 2017 14:45 utc | 238
@jfl (further to 239)
I’ll correct myself. Just gave the BCG/Google a scour again, and yes, there is a mere 25 words out of a 56 page novella devoted to ‘Block Chain’… on page 31. The smallest amount of floorspace given to the selection presented under the premise: “Some payment innovations that could be relevant in the Indian context are:”
Posted by: MadMax2 | Feb 3 2017 15:14 utc | 239
jfl @256
Unfair jfl. I explained how calling it a ban was ‘spin’ and I made two suggestions.
What do you think it should be called?
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Feb 3 2017 16:19 utc | 240
Shortening what it is in any way seems to be ‘spin’. So call it what it is:
a TEMPORARY ban on muslims from CERTAIN COUNTRIES that were previously singled out by the OBAMA ADMINISTRATION.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Feb 4 2017 16:22 utc | 242
@240 mm2
i’m reading the bcg-google report now. the phrase that sticks with me is ‘payment service provider’ … like ‘internet service provider’. the idea is to insert another whole, intermediate layer between people and every monetary transaction they make. to skim it, sure, but also to build another large store of Big Data. just as google has stored every query made, and every gmail sent, and mines them, monetizes them, so too do they envision building such a Big Data store of every transaction on earth, to mine and monetize them.
and google works hand-in-glove with that other ‘interested’ party of Big Data, the nsa.
and, of course, once the financiers have literally emptied our pockets of the cash with which they have filled their own, they’ll have us at their command. won’t they.
their mention of block chain technology …
Technologies like block chain [3] could be used to create digital currency (like bitcoin) making peer-to-peer digital payments seamless and secure.
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_cipher_mode_of_operation
… is a perfunctory sop.
a sort of ‘payment service provider’ might be implemented … with the same technology behind block chain, a digest as a function of a clock’s contents – change the contents / change the digest – with no way to reverse the calculation from digest to block contents providing anonymity at the entrance to the psp – my bank account – and exit- the payee account … might be made to work. but the cosmodemonic google is working for the opposite : they want to monetize that very metadata, within the psp, indexing every transaction by payer, payee, amount, items transacted … just as they do now with every web search, the contents of every gmail, and everywhere else one touches the googleplex. google is not your friend. google is the most monstrous of our trans-national corporate enemies. google does nothing but evil and has done nothing but evil from day-one of its existence as a ‘public’ corporation when it poisoned the internet.
Posted by: jfl | Feb 7 2017 5:15 utc | 243
@109
i think it’s been covered elsewhere, jackrabbit for instance, but …
@106 or, ‘DNI & CJCS no longer have automatic seats, period.’
that does seem to be correct.
that is NOT correct …
Presidential Memorandum:
Organization of the National Security Council
and the Homeland Security Council
A. The National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council, and Supporting Staff
The Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as statutory advisers to the NSC, shall also attend NSC meetings.
… in fact, it seems only the cia itself has been left out. isn’t that correct?
Posted by: jfl | Feb 8 2017 14:10 utc | 244
In response to the establishment media’s contrived ‘fake news’ crisis designed to marginalise independent and alternative media sources of news and analysis, 21WIRE is running its own #FakeNewsWeek campaign, where each day our editorial team at 21st Century Wire will feature media critiques and analysis of mainstream corporate media coverage of current events – exposing the government and the mainstream media as the real purveyors of ‘fake news’ throughout modern history… Follow @21WIRE
http://21stcenturywire.com/tag/fake-news/
Posted by: Anonymous | Feb 8 2017 15:22 utc | 245
220
Well, NIST, which is a phoneyed-up non-entity with a Whore for Mammon at it’s head, and compellingly omitted WT7 and Pentagon from its report, as well as DOCUMENTED evidence that Israeli ‘art students’ (who were active military back in Israel) were seen on video with technical climbing gear and fuses for detonating squibs in the WTC months before, has not convinced my business partner, a construction expert and structural engineer, who correctly points out that, unless bombed and squibbed as 100s of firefighters reported, the rigid-steel stories below the impact were still intact, and easily capable of handling the falling upper stories, which would have simply disintegrated onto that lower steel-core anvil. Instead, the lower floors collapsed and disintegrated uniformly, and at free-fall speed, and straight down(!), in violation of structural engineering theory and the very laws of physics.
But defeated tribes throughout history have shown that cognitive dissonance is a form of dissociated mental illness, stress-positioning each other, ‘It was the Muslims, right? RIGHT!? TELL ME IT WAS THE MUSLIMS!!!” Then they either get back to business, like Japan and Germany did, or they get hollowed out, destroyed and credit-debt enslaved by the perpetrators, as the USA has, celebrating the loss of their fiduciary rights by simple edict last week, without a whimper (but I don’t WANT a debit card!), then this week, the takeover of their public schools by The Byzantium, through a tie-vote charade.
-$20 trillion gone, and soon -$30 trillion credit-debt, at free-fall speed, students in debt-chains, 95,000,000 jobless or homeless, wiping out all health and human services, all SS and MC, all pensions and 401ks, like the collapsing towers of our faith in Liberty, then the ultimate betrayal, our own children, to be raised by Hebrew charter schools now, will rat us out to Big Brother in our dotage. “He’s hiding cash! I’ll show you where he keeps it! What’s in it for me?” (They learn so young, eh?)
You can’t handle the Truth.
They won, we lost. We lost big.
We lost e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.
E pluribus no hay comidas. Todos.
Posted by: Even More Outraged Ji | Feb 8 2017 18:53 utc | 246
@jfl 244
“…and google works hand-in-glove with that other ‘interested’ party of Big Data, the nsa. …”
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you…the fascist left. Barry’O overacheived in only one respect – marrying the efficiencies of the private sector with an open chequebook of the public sector.
Scary. Shit.
Posted by: MadMax2 | Feb 9 2017 16:55 utc | 247
Wikipedia censurship: Wikipedia putting a near-total ban on Daily Mail sources…more news sources will be banned.
https://www.engadget.com/2017/02/09/wikipedia-bans-daily-mail/
Posted by: test | Feb 9 2017 19:38 utc | 248