No More “No More Vietnams”
The civil war in Syria took an ominous turn when more than 120 Alawites were killed in Syria by persons unknown. There were suspicions that Syrian rebels were behind the attack but others called it a provocation by President Assad, himself an Alawite.
Reports of the latest massacre broke hours after the United States blacklisted Al-Nusra Front as a “terrorist organisation,” balancing its move with the announcement of fresh sanctions against pro-Assad militias.
The US State Department said that despite its efforts to portray itself as part of the legitimate Syrian opposition, Al-Nusra was a front for the al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) organisation.
“It is, in fact, an attempt by AQI to hijack the struggles of the Syrian people for its own malign purposes,” it said.
It’s all in a day’s work among those to whom killing has become a way of life, if you will pardon the pun. CNN correspondents recently spent an afternoon with a Syrian bomb-maker confecting a bombe from sugar and jagged pieces of sharp metal. As he toiled away, the bombmaker asked why America didn’t just send pre-mixed ingredients instead of forcing him to make stuff from scrach.
Aleppo, Syria (CNN) — With the precision of a master chef, Sheik Omar adjusts the intensity of the flame under his pan.
He mixes table sugar with a noxious chemical, letting it hiss and crackle.
“It’s almost ready,” he says, as the syrupy liquid darkens. …
He believes he doesn’t have a choice but to make bombs. Foreign countries aren’t helping the rebels enough to overtake the heavily armed forces that President Bashar al-Assad commands. The rebels need all the help they can get …
Sheik Omar shouts out the window to his kids playing in the yard.
Bring your father more sugar, please!
Chef — or should I say Sheik — Omar illustrates the crucial problem facing America in Syria. It’s a personnel administration issue rather than a logistical one. There are plenty of lethal people in Syria who know lots of ways to kill people. The problem for the administration choosing which set of people to back.
The Washington Post reports that the Obama administration is being forced to abandon its hands-off policy of “leading from behind”. It is “taking a calculated risk that embracing chosen leaders of Syria’s fragmented rebels will speed the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, moving this week to recognize a slate of opposition figures whose pledges of democracy Washington can do little to enforce.” But the New York Times says that while Obama is anointing some groups with oil it is cursing others with Bell, Book and Candle. “The United States has formally designated the Al Nusra Front, the militant Syrian rebel group, as a foreign terrorist organization.”
Maybe this is what’s called a ‘balanced approach’.
In practical terms, the designation makes it illegal for Americans to have financial dealings with the group. It is intended to prompt similar sanctions by other nations, and to address concerns about a group that could further destabilize Syria and harm Western interests.
The problem is that Al Nusra represents not only the cream of the rebellion, it is flush with money and weapons. “Many Syrian fighters consider the Nusra Front a key ally because of its fighters’ bravery and reliable supply of money and arms. It has never come under the banner of the Free Syrian Army, shunning the Western aid and input that other groups have sought, but it coordinates closely with many who do.”
Washington will inevitably find itself in a bidding war with al-Qaeda’s backers where the administration must provide more of everything to ensure that the Syrian rebels follow the dictates of Obama rather than someone else. In the end you will have one faction of Syrian rebels supported by the administration and another faction supported by the Other Guy. Where have we seen this before? Why during the Cold War.
If it sounds like Vietnam all over again with Obama playing the role of Lyndon Johnson sending forces ashore in strength against the Cold War Rival then it should. It is following the same pattern of escalation from advisers, to support and then to outright involvement.
The U.S. government viewed involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam as part of their wider strategy of containment. … American military advisors arrived in what was then French Indochina beginning in 1950. U.S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with troop levels tripling in 1961 and tripling again in 1962. U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965.
There’s even a new domino theory. George Will quotes John Yoo to argue that we are already in an “undefined war with a limitless battlefield.” Nowhere is this more evident in the drone war which respects no boundaries, makes no reference to uniform and seemingly has no end.
Waging war, says Yoo, is unlike administering criminal justice in one decisive particular. The criminal justice system is retrospective: It acts after a crime. A nation attacked, as America was on Sept. 11, goes to war to prevent future injuries, which inevitably involves probabilities and guesses.
Today’s war is additionally complicated by the fact that, as Yoo says, America’s enemy “resembles a network, not a nation.” Its commanders and fighters do not wear uniforms; they hide among civilian populations and are not parts of a transparent command-and-control apparatus. Drones enable the U.S. military — which, regarding drones, includes the CIA; an important distinction has been blurred — to wield a technology especially potent against al-Qaeda’s organization and tactics. All its leaders are, effectively, military, not civilian. Killing them serves the military purposes of demoralizing the enemy, preventing planning, sowing confusion and draining the reservoir of experience.
Most U.S. wars have been fought with military mass sustained by economic might. But as Yoo says, today’s war is against a diffuse enemy that has no territory to invade and no massed forces to crush. So the war cannot be won by producing more tanks, army divisions or naval forces. The United States can win only by destroying al-Qaeda’s “ability to function — by selectively killing or capturing its key members.”
Yoo may be right, but his analysis misses a crucial point. Will should have quoted himself and observed that Vietnam is ‘what war making by a liberal administration looks like’. So maybe that’s what the Middle East will look like soon. Like Lyndon Johnson in Vietnam before him Obama seems to have no clear concept of what it means to win a strategic victory. There is no indication he wants to discredit the ideology of the enemy. No sign that he wants to undermine their sources of funding or legitimacy. He just wants to coexist with them. To kick the can down the road.
Therefore in all his choices, Obama will simply choose to send a message, get someone to mow the lawn and keep the weeds down. Not just in Syria but elsewhere. What he dreads above all is losing control. Like Johnson he has already moved to ensure that “them boys over there can’t bomb an outhouse without my permission” a policy that now goes by the name of the “kill list”. And he wants to do that while fighting the War on Poverty at home and building the Great Society.
While historical parallels can never be exact they are in this case close enough to ring alarm bells. It would be ironic if Obama found himself sucked into a widening maelstrom in the Middle East, the Caucasus and North Africa. Then he would have created his own Vietnam; reinvented the war nobody knew how to fight because nobody had ever decided to win it, nor even knew what winning meant.
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And unfortunately and unlike in Vietnam he might be able to get a practically unlimited funding for all this from domestic energy innovations (no, not wind, or solar, or whatever other low energy density idea) by selling permits to drill on federal lends and waters.
George Will quotes John Yoo to argue that we are already in an “undefined war with a limitless battlefield.”
I think that’s a description of domestic politics – Civil War II is already under way, and here am I, trapped behind enemy lines.
It would be ironic if Obama found himself sucked into a widening maelstrom in the Middle East, the Caucasus and North Africa. Then he would have created his own Vietnam, the war nobody knew how to fight because nobody had decided to win it.
Now now, Obambus hardly created this, and he deserves some credits for his use of drones, it’s almost the one thing he’s gotten largely correct in his entire time in office. That is, maybe not trying to win *is* the proper strategy for the US today given global realities. I say this with hesitation as it finds the US copying Israel and their manner of coping with dar al-Islam over the last 60 years, which strategy they always did out of desperate necessity, nor was it always IMHO the correct way to go.
Given that we are NOT going to rebuild Afghanistan in the image of Palm Springs we might as well get the hell out of there ASAP the better to prepare to nuke them from orbit, as necessary, as bin Laden assumed we would do in the first place. Go home and spend the next trillion dollars building up a fast-response conventional military capability, more capable drones, supersonic cruise missiles, etc. That builds domestic jobs, technology, and military strength.
–
ps:
http://orangeraisin.wordpress.com/2011/03/04/under-weigh-right-away/
The problem with Americans is they look at war as though it were a mathematical equation; all the elements are entered, the equation cranks out the answer and all you must do is execute the solution.
War is like one of those old electric football games; you line up all the pieces,throw the switch, and everything vibrates to hell and gone, scattering across the board in a completely random fashion.
I think the smartest thing would be to aid in the creation of the Caliphate; pick Turkey as the capital and then just sit back and watch all the sons of the prophet slaughter each other to put their brand on the throne.
@ 3 walter
‘..to put their brand on the throne’
I think it’s call the Detroit’s or Chicago’s way .. not shure !
SF
So…when will Obama start up the draft again?
One major problem. Volunteer armies are too expensive for the amount of boots he’ll need on the ground doing counterinsurgency: and this time around I don’t think eighteen year old males and assorted drop outs and misfits are going to show up for the new male draft to play with the gays and the girls in the army for equal pay for unequal dying from mines and booby traps and friendly fire. Hey, maybe he can draft all those 22 year old male college graduates? Fresh from the diploma mills with degrees in Gender Studies, Black Studies, and Queer Studies they should be more tolerant of the aberrant new army. And maybe the draft and completing a two year service commitment in a combat zone would be popular among college liberals if it canceled the new graduate’s entire college debt? A debt canceled upon completion of their tax exempt service of course. Unlike the Vietnam Era, he shouldn’t cancel the draft exemptions for graduate students and the draft protests should be manageable.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/12/paulos-alogrithm/
The kill list is dependent on intelligence on who to kill. Since we no longer interrogate the list is dependent on indirect intelligence and dodgy references. A, B, and C are possible targets. A is an effective leader but he has developed competent replacements, B is not very competent buy he has a religious following, C is incompetent and leads a pack of dangerous clowns. Who gets your attention first.
Then there is the “sanctions” fiasco. The Chinese are getting a pass to buy oil from Iran “for the children” I guess, or something about all those US bonds they hold?
“I think it’s call the Detroit’s or Chicago’s way”
OT, but related to this – check out the violence against Steve Crowder by the union thugs on youtube. The president has refused to condemn this, which means he supports it.
I hope our host can do a thread on this issue, soon.
Thanks for your indulgence.
A generally secularist terrorist sponsoring state or an Islamist terrorist sponsoring state? Can’t they both lose?
“Obama seems to have no clear concept of what it means to win a strategic victory.”
Obama said he’d “end” the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, without anyone in his circle understanding that you don’t “end” wars — you either win them or lose them.
(BTW, I don’t consider the dustups in Iraq and Afghanistan to be separate wars. They’re two campaigns within a larger war against Islamic supremacism. There will be more to follow.)
The United States can win only by destroying al-Qaeda’s “ability to function — by selectively killing or capturing its key members.”
Obama seems to have no clear concept of what it means to win a strategic victory. There is no indication he wants to discredit the ideology of the enemy. No sign that he wants to undermine their sources of funding or legitimacy.
3. walter adams
The problem with Americans is they look at war as though it were a mathematical equation; all the elements are entered, the equation cranks out the answer and all you must do is execute the solution.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,
There is no military or political solution to the problems in the middle east. But there is a business/religious solution.
Strategic victory in the middle east simply consists of collapsing the price of oil.
Its no more complicated than that. Money.
(Oil money supports the madrases which are the mouth of the funnel for the jihadists. But the oil sheiks now require +-80@ barrel to maintain their kingdoms in the style to which they have become accustomed. Slash the price of oil to $30-$40 dollars a barrels –or less– and render the world independent from Mideast oil by means of other sources– and even the Iranians will realize a.) they can’t by means of threats jaw bone the price of oil upwards b.) foreign madrases are secondary to their own comfort and even survival.)
The strategic victory in the cold war against the soviet union was calculated by the other great business variable: time. That’s it. George Kennan’s 1948 containment policy was based on the belief that communism was a bogus economic system. That if it were kept from expanding — it would eventually collapse of its own weight. That’s what happened in 1990. (Viet Nam was a tactical loss in the context of a strategic victory.)
1. PJM has installed some Pop-Up code that defies Ghostery. Please inform Roger L. Simon that he will drive away business if that is not cleaned up. We understand that business is business but poor execution is counterproductive.
2. To business.
Somewhere in Berlin there may still be a copy of a communique from a Chargé d’affaires in Geneva suggesting that the Kaiser could do business with Lenin or that he would turn out to be a better bet to back than Kerensky. So why not let Lenin pass in a “sealed train?”
Somewhere in Whitehall there is probably a copy of a memorandum recommending that HMG tacitly endorse or at least accommodate itself to the drive by the Whahhabi backed Saudis to supplant the Hashemites in the Hejaz. It may have been misfiled with the dossier on how to solve the Sudeten problem.
Somewhere in Foggy Bottom there is a cabinet stuffed with proposals that lead (in reverse order) to the overthrow of the Shah, the assassination of Diem, the withdrawal of support from Chiang Kai-shek in favor of the Agrarian Reformer Mao, and the adoption of “Public-Private Partnerships” as shown by the pioneering work of the modernizing Progressive Benito Mussolini.
All of these may be bundled with old copies of fish wrap using the work of Herbert Matthews of the New York Times, who explained that Fidel Castro would be a better anti-communist than Fulgencio Batista.
The same gang always gets it wrong. The interesting point to me is that some people do on occasion learn from the mistakes of others and on a few occasions threats have been seen and resisted, even if that resistance proved temporary. The Byzantines did fight against the rising tide of Islam from the Yarmuk through Manzikert to Constantinople. Pope Leo did get Attila to spare Rome.
If we are in a Long War with Radical Islam, or arguably with several interlinked manifestations of Totalitarianism then how should we fight it and who should lead us? Some will argue that we can stand aside as a Fortress America and let the world smash itself. Others reject that pointing out that not only does the enemy get a vote but that given the infiltration of our polity and rejection by the vast majority of the voters, both from the Left and the Right, of Libertarian Isolationism our choices are stark. We can either engage the Enemy by gradually surrendering to it in the name of Globalism or we can engage the Enemy be rallying resistance and fighting for a victory. The current path with the Left in charge means we bleed through extended tactical engagements but do so without naming the Enemy or having any defined goal. It is a path that leads to defeat both overseas and domestically as we change to accommodate our enemies. If we are going to be in this fight, and arguably we cannot avoid it even if we wanted to, then why would anyone want to do so with the people in charge who are guaranteed to back the wrong horses and stab their own side in the back?
6. don
Presumably getting killed in the service of the WON would also cancel their debt.
Josh #2.
Definitely leave Afgh, we aren’t allowed to do anything but spend our money there. Notice please, that a big share of our money spent on ME GWOT, ended up in our enemies hands. As I think about it, we actually helped SaudiA and other pieceful nations, by giving aid to those factions therein that they normally aid. Granted the transfer of cash from USA agency to pieceful folks may sometimes be ineffecient, passing thru one or more good guys, before reaching them. However, let’s just say that 5% of it reached pieceful folks, that could still be scores of hundred billion dollars.
Here ye, here ye, I say let pieceful folks get their cash from ME nations, not from USA.
OT:
Bill Clinton: Pharmacists Should Be Part of the Health Care Solution
DECEMBER 03, 2012
Particularly troubling, he [Bill Clinton] continued, is that overall life expectancy in the United States has risen steadily for all groups except non-Hispanic whites with poor high-school graduation rates. For them, there has been a “stunning drop in life-expectancy over the past two decades,” Clinton said, much of it attributable to increased cigarette smoking, obesity and prescription drug overdoses.
“But you could say these people are dying of a broken heart,” Clinton said, “because they’re the people who were raised to believe that the American dream would be theirs if they worked hard, and their children would have a chance to do better than them, and their dreams were dashed disproportionately to the population as a whole.” The plight of this segment of the population, he added, exemplifies the “intersection of health, economics and politics” that he encounters regularly in his work with the Clinton Foundation.
…………..
“that he encounters regularly in his work with the Clinton Foundation.” Its not clear as to whether Clinton said this or the article author says this to blur the impact of Clinton’s observation.
A NEW VIETNAM
Yes the similars are easy
Though the opposites attract
And there is no Gulf of Tonkin
Though the time scale does protract
When the combat boots hit shoreline
There is cheering and great show
Of the patriotic spirit
And the cry “The Hue to go!”
Ho Chi Minh is dead and buried
General Giap has hung ‘em up
And we haven’t fought Achilles
Since old Hector was a pup
In the Nam we knew we’re fighting
Little guys from way up north
And at times guys in pajamas
Laid ambushes and so forth
So if we put boots in Syria
We’d have the whole bunch to fight
And the killing Yank soldiers
Gives them all such great delight
I can see Obama order
All our guys to hunker down
Way out in the wilder boodnocks
Far from villages and town
Put them in the Bekaa Valley
From the hills there’s quite a view
And he’ll re-enact the drama
Of the French at Dien BienPhu
Blast #12 – your item #1 : I agree. It has been very annoying as of late.
Dec 11, 2012 1:45pm
US Oil Production: Record Rise in 2012
According to a new report from the U.S. Department of Energy’s information service, U.S. crude oil production is expected to increase by 760,000 barrels a day in 2012, an all-time record.
“This is the largest rise in annual output since the beginning of U.S. commercial crude oil production in 1859,” EIA Administrator Adam Sieminski said in a statement.
Increased drilling in the shale formations in North Dakota, Montana and Texas are behind this boost in output.
Total U.S. crude oil production is on target to reach 6.4 million barrels per day in 2012, the highest for any year since 1997.
In today’s report the EIA has also revised its predictions for crude oil production in 2013, now forecasting that U.S. will produce more than 7 million barrels per day for the first time since 1992.
The news comes just a week after the EIA released a report saying that the U.S. will become increasingly energy independent in the next three decades as it boosts its production of oil, natural gas and renewable power such as solar and wind.
Oil industry analysts expect that an increase in U.S. crude oil production should help push gas prices lower.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2012/12/us-oil-production-record-rise-in-2012/
My previous post should read:
Presumably getting killed in the service of the WON would not cancel the debt.Only voting for Democrats for eternity or removing your name from the voter rolls would cancel the debt.
http://news.yahoo.com/obama-us-recognizes-syrias-main-rebel-group-233525976–finance.html
Obama: US recognizes Syria’s main rebel group
By By MATTHEW LEE | Associated Press – 3 hrs ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama declared Syria’s main opposition group the sole “legitimate representative” of its country’s people Tuesday, deeming the move “a big step” in the international diplomatic efforts to end Syrian President Bashar Assad’s embattled regime.
Obama said the newly formed Syrian Opposition Council “is now inclusive enough” to be granted the elevated status, which paves the way for the greater U.S. support for the organization.
“Obviously, with that recognition comes responsibilities,” Obama said in an interview Tuesday with ABC News. “To make sure that they organize themselves effectively, that they are representative of all the parties, that they commit themselves to a political transition that respects women’s rights and minority rights.”
Recognition of the council as the sole representative of Syria’s diverse population brings the U.S. in line with Britain, France and several of America’s Arab allies, which took the same step shortly after the body was created at a meeting of opposition representatives in Qatar last month.
Obama’s announcement follows his administration’s blacklisting of a militant Syrian rebel group with links to al-Qaida. That step is aimed at blunting the influence of extremists amid fears that the regime may use or lose control of its stockpile of chemical weapons.
If you look at this map of the fighting in Damascus it looks like Assad’s grip is slipping. The bombing of the Alawites suggests that the rebels will take their revenge savagely.
The administration has entered the phase of fighting for control of the successor regime. This means the civil war won’t end with the departure of Assad, but must continue between the factions supported by Obama and the al-Qaedans.
If the attack on the Alawites is for real then it amps up the possibility that chems will be used.
I wonder how long it will take for those on the right to get tired of being knocked around by the hired thugs of the left and instead of wasting money offering rewards for people who will be protected by the Obama justice department, hire some people who know what to do with a roll of dimes, a trimmed down ball handled ice pick, and a protest sigh on a tough piece of wood that has lead slugs concealed in the ends, a cap brim with safety razors, and organized into teams of blockers and take outs.
“I’d like to introduce you to my little friend, Keyser Söze.”
I’m with te bombmaker: let’s send them some pre-mixed ingredients. With very short fuses.
I composed this little effort a few days ago, and have been waiting for somewhere vaguely relevant to put it. It is relevant, because of the underlying theme of the 1400-year war. Anyway, the Muslim Children’s Song (to the tune of “Jesus wants me for a sunbeam”):
Allah wants me for a warhead,
To kill for Him one day;
In every way try to please Him,
At home, at mosque, each day.
Refrain
A warhead, a warhead,
Allah wants me for a warhead,
A warhead, a warhead,
I’ll be a warhead for Him.
Allah wants me to be violent,
And vicious to all I see;
Showing how nasty and gruesome
His little one can be.
Refrain
I will ask Allah to help me
To keep my heart in sin,
Ever reflecting His evil,
And always pray for Him.
Refrain
I’ll be a warhead for Allah;
I can if I die well;
Serving Him moment by moment,
Then live with Him in Hell.
I read FC’s poetry, realize that the humor comes from the truth of it, and I can’t help but think how prescient Frank Herbert was.
Josh #2:
“…he deserves some credits for his use of drones,…”
And exactly how does the Drone War differ from the one in Cambodia and Laos in the 60′s in which we were using unmarked T-28′s in non-standard camo schemes flown by people who technically were not US Military because they did not actually have their ID cards on their persons? Those were “unmanned” too, from the political standpoint. I know people who flew those missions. And because it was backed by a policy of never attacking the enemy directly and openly so as to maintain “plausible deniability,” in the end it was not effective.
“This is what war by a liberal administration looks like.” You fight with one hand tied behind your back so you can show the unused hand as proof you are not at war. And when the Left is NOT in charge they howl to the skies if the Right does not fight a war the same way.
JFK was a committed Cold Warrior. But at the Bay of Pigs he listened to the Left of his party and cut back the effort until it was ineffective.
Like JFK’s Vietnam that is only remembered as Nixon’s mass murdering of innocent civilians and the “Republicans War”, so to will Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Libya and Syria, be in 10 years from now know as Bush’s fault, 0bama will simply ether not be spoken of in the same breath or will be looked upon as the one who tried to end them. Progressives run the education system and have since the 1960’s and the winners right the history! Progressives are a less confrontational type of Nazis Fascism, which knows it must destroy Christianity to win, it (Progressive Fascism) see’s a very close cousin in Islam, Progressives as their emblem displays cover themselves with sheep’s clothing but underneath they believe in far fewer people (weather through “Planned Parenthood” schemes (Eugenics) or Healthcare euthanasia) and man as his own master.
…because nobody had ever decided to win it, nor even knew what winning meant.
It’s worse than that. The admin has deleted every reference to Islam, sharia and jihad from all security training materials and policy making documents, and has purged every security related instructor who connected sharia with acts of war against US interests by Mohammedan organizations. See this Stephen Coughlin video.
The only choices among reasonable conclusions are that the admin is either incredibly stupid or the admin is taking the other side. Either way the awful truth is that one day our children and grandchildren will have to make the choice between submission or resistance.
rwe @ 26: And exactly how does the Drone War differ from the one in Cambodia and Laos in the 60′s in which we were using unmarked T-28′s in non-standard camo schemes flown by people who technically were not US Military because they did not actually have their ID cards on their persons.
They are similar in that neither is a substitute for large-scale action in the main theater.
But so far Obambus has managed to continue to use the drones after agreeing a dozen times to stop doing so. This weapon, on this enemy, is just too appropriate. It is our assassin’s cult.
I would happily follow your implication and run almost the entire campaign with an increased number of drones using in many cases much larger warheads. Fifty guys on horseback with fifty drones and the right ROE, could probably clean up Afghanistan in a year, well make a good start anyway, a lot better than we’ve done with 100,000 guys in ten years.
From Charles quote at 20: “President Barack Obama declared Syria’s main opposition group the sole “legitimate representative” of its country’s people”
Mark Stein has been writing about how Soetero has been behaving more & more like a king. That pronouncement sounds like the sort of thing a King of Belgium might have uttered, telling all those native people in Africa who their legitimate ruler now is.
We have become used to Kabuki theater from government agents at the airport, patting down old ladies while ushering through the likely suspects. Now we have Kabuki diplomacy from the depths of Soetero’s administration. To the guys dodging bullets in Syria, do they care what words come out of the mouth of a mildly sun-tanned person in a far distant land? What matters to them is deeds. Will he help our side? Will he help the other side? If neither, then the guy with the big ears simply does not count.
As Clausewitz said” War is Politics by other means”. Our military strategy is f’d up because we have not defined our political strategy in the Middle East.
So what is Buraq’ preferred end game in the Middle East? What are our aims?, Our goals? What is the political solution, Buraq wants?
It surely does not include true liberty for those poor souls across the Middle East- because true liberty would mean a wholesale limiting and reworking, and I’m sure by Buraq’s true beliefs- desecration of Islam and Sharia. Oh Nooooo! Can’t have that! Buraq Hussein and his pals don’t even want true liberty for us here in the States.
The best we could hope for is some sort of phony democracy that shows “he really is trying” but in reality slowly ( or quickly ) devolves into a Islamofascist dictatorship. Meaning the best we could hope for is that Buraq is just a deluded Leftard who is continually engaging is preposterous Lefty fantasies.
But the evidence does not support that position. Here we have a President who just a few years ago, hung out with some pretty nasty would be Jihadi’s posing as democrats. I guess we are supposed to think of that as a youthful fortysomething discretion. Buraq’s more adult now I suppose. But if Buraq’ intentions were really good, wouldn’t he be a little more upset and actually embarrassed by what Morsi turned out be?
And I ani’t buying that Buraq wants to control the situation either. Buraq is all to willing to let Putin, Dinnerjacket or Morsi control the situation vis a vis the United States.
No, I think the evidence should lead one to conclude that Buraq ( and Hilary) are going through the motions to show they are “trying’ to promote Democracy, when in fact their goal is a potent and powerful Islamofascist Caliphate across the Middle East.
Kinauchdrach @ 30 – I’ll go you one better, Kabuki Top Kills!
http://tinyurl.com/cwdmcu4
Total Oil “Leads From Behind’ in killing the gas leak from their Elgin Platform in the North Sea.
Remember the meme CHU LIED, DOLPHIINS DIED! ?
Watch as Total Oil mimics BP’s well control operations on the Macondo 252 well in the Gulf of Mexico.
Note the “multi-port “diverter” (AKA the “BP capping stack”).
Note the emphasis on relief wells that never play a part in stopping the flow of hydrocarbons.
Note the reliance on Wild Well Control as the well control contractor.
I’ll give the guys from WWC this, they know that the lawyers are watching so you have to give ‘em
The Old Razzle Dazzle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW3MIixEps
P.S. They could have killed the well by reversing the flow of kill fluid from what is shown in the Total video. Given that the pressure at the surface was only 5 bar, they could have used sea water at 7 bar through a small hole drilled in the wall of the “D” annulus just above the mud line. Of course that would have hastened the kill and reduced WWC’s revenues based on being paid a daily rate. I guess WWC is still pissed that I helped cap 750 wild wells in Kuwait in only 9 months instead of five years with my venturi tube
And we all know where Crony capitalism is practiced as high art,
Chicago http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoDS1lWdpjw
Off topic:
Normally I do not read Libertarian articles (I believe Libertarians are almost as wrong as Marxists). However the following link really does a nice job of describing how hopelessly screwed up things are:
http://reason.com/archives/2012/12/10/dejection-2012
The article was doing just fine in a rather pessimistic sort of way until the end where they claimed the only positive recent political developments were homosexual marriage and marijuana legalization.
Libertarians….
Funny that the Libertarians are so correct about basic economic issues and utterly wrong about everything else.
MachiasPrivateer@32,
Your above YouTube link is dead. I watched and enjoyed your earlier YouTube video about Kuwati oil well fires. That venturi tube was a nice piece of engineering. I remember seeing this funny video of someone driving around in a tank chassis with an old fighter jet turbine attached on top (all ex-Iraqi hardware). He used the jet turbine to blow out burning oil wells like they were birthday candles. It seemed like a super clever concept. Any comment about that technique?
Don Rodrigo@34 said,
“So far Obama’s “energy” policies and his party’s platform policies have condemned these poor whites to a miserable economic and social purgatory.”
I suspect we have all been condemned to a miserable economic and social purgatory .
Let’s face it: The Republicans have completely blown it and the moonbats are fully in charge.
Good news: The socialists will fully “own it” after the Titanic sinks below the ocean waves.
Bad news: We’ll still be on-board after the Titanic hits the ocean floor.
15. Charles:
Those people which Clinton speaks of should be part of the GOP coalition, but aren’t. They probably didn’t even vote, and were deliberately (it is supposedly documented if the NYT was correct in an article last year) written out of the Democratic party.
These are also the people for whom a revived energy sector could be a salvation. So far Obama’s “energy” policies and his party’s platform policies have condemned these poor whites to a miserable economic and social purgatory.
“Great” news: The Federal Reserve agrees to print more money, buy more treasury bonds and keep interest rates low. The federal government can continue to spend more than it takes in as taxes. The economy is still dead and decaying.
Naturally, the stock market spiked in an orgasm of joy (no doubt fueled with freshly printed money courtesy of the PPT).
We are so doomed it’s hilarious. The whole political system is stuck-on-stupid.
Nothing will change until after we have hit the ground while going at Mach 3.
Eggplant @ 33 – Try this http://www.elgin.total.com/elgin/pressrelease.aspx?&t=1s
My favorite technique (other than my own) was the howitzer shell into the coke pile. It was like watching Popeye spit on the well to put it out. I can’t find the full Bechtel video (29 minutes) on YouTube, just a 9:11 segment of “Bringing Back the Sun” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOkWEN6kfy4 I think the howitzer is in the full 29 minute video available on Amazon http://tinyurl.com/bzgrlt3 .
Re 21. Wretchard
“This means the civil war won’t end with the departure of Assad, but must continue between the factions supported by Obama and the al-Qaedans.”
Unless it turns out that the groups the administration have been supporting were al-qaeda or muslim brotherhood franchises all along. Then the civil war will be between radical and more radical islamists, both of whom we armed.
After one tribe finally wins, we will paint them as the “legitimate representative of the people” and turn on the foreign aid spigot. Then it will be safe to send in an ambassador to round up the dangerous weapons we gave them, and ship them to other moderate freedom loving groups trying to depose a despotic dictator. Wash, rinse, repeat.
“If the attack on the Alawites is for real then it amps up the possibility that chems will be used.”
Agreed, but anyone’s guess which side will deploy.
If western politicians keep calling CW use a “red line” and implying it will bring direct military action, the rebels have a juicy incentive to make it look like Assad crossed that line. Islamists have no problem with lining up their own civilians and butchering them with cameras rolling, if it will be blamed on the enemy and bring them victory.
If the rebels are going after Alawite civilians then Assad (or perhaps some of his people acting on their own initiate) have reason to deploy. Even if the tactical situation doesn’t call for CW, they may be driven by honor and shame to avenge their tribe.
e @ 35: The economy is still dead and decaying. Naturally, the stock market spiked in an orgasm of joy (no doubt fueled with freshly printed money courtesy of the PPT). We are so doomed it’s hilarious. The whole political system is stuck-on-stupid. Nothing will change until after we have hit the ground while going at Mach 3.
Yup.
Bernanke is just playing for time.
Obambus of course is clueless but everything he does is destructive, and thus so much for Bernanke’s hopes. Remember, Obambus continues to stand foresquare against fracking, some idiotic Matt Damon movie is about to come out, “Promised Land”? OMG. Hey Matt, how about a movie with people freezing in the dark?
It’s the mark of our times, this stuck on stupid. Time to set sail for the New World.
US Special Forces Deployed in Iraq, Again
September 26, 2012 ·
Source: Tom Hayden.com
Special Forces in Iraq
By Tom Hayden:
Despite the official US military withdrawal last December, American special forces “recently” returned to Iraq on a counter-terrorism mission, according to an American general in charge of weapons sales there. The mission was reported by the New York Times, in the fifteenth paragraph of a story about deepening sectarian divides.
The irony is that the US is protecting a pro-Iran Shiite regime in Baghdad against a Sunni-based insurgency while at the same time supporting a Sunni-led movement against the Iran-backed dictatorship in Syria. The Sunni rebellions are occurring in the vast Sunni region between northwestern Iraq and southern Syria where borders are porous.
During the Iraq War, many Iraqi insurgents from Anbar and Diyala provinces took sanctuary in Sunni areas of Syria. Now they are turning their weapons on two targets, the al-Malaki government in Baghdad and the Assad regime in Damascus.
The US is caught in the contradictions of proxy wars, favoring Iran’s ally in Iraq while trying to displace Iran’s proxy in Syria.
http://www.nytexaminer.com/2012/09/us-special-forces-deployed-in-iraq-again/
DOD denies deployments of US forces back to Iraq
By Carlo Muñoz – 12/10/12 04:27 PM ET
The Pentagon is disputing recent reports that 3,000 American troops are back on Iraqi soil, with an estimated 17,000 more en route to the Gulf nation, as part of the Pentagon and White House’s contingency plan regarding Syria’s possible use of chemical weapons.
The American forces reportedly arrived in Iraq this month, deploying mostly near military facilities in the northern Iraqi city of Balad, the Iranian state-run news outlet Press TV reported on Monday.
The Pentagon also reportedly stationed a number of U.S. military units at the Al Asad Air Base in Anbar province in the western part of the country.
The U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq are allegedly part of a 20,000-man force being positioned in the country in response to concerns from Washington over concerns of a chemical weapons attack against Syrian rebels by embattled President Bashar Assad.
But DOD spokesman Lt. Col. Wesley Miller told The Hill on Monday he was unaware of any information indicating that additional American forces have been sent to Iraq for any reason.
“Our [troop] numbers have been fairly stable at about 200 military personnel since December 2011,” Miller said, noting those 200 troops have been assigned to Office of Security Cooperation-Iraq (OSC-I) since 2011.
All U.S. combat forces were withdrawn from Iraq last December.
http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/operations/272049-dod-denies-deployments-of-us-forces-back-to-iraq-
Eggplant @ 33 – Maybe we can get someone with contacts in the Army to look for the video of the M728 Combat Engineer Vehicle in action http://tinyurl.com/ajvmb5r
And if we can get video of the Emir of Kuwait extinguishing the “last” fire, you will see him flip two switches. They had re-lit a fire contained in a venturi tube. The first switch sent inert gas into the tube to extinguish the fire, the second closed a blowout preventer to shut off the flow of oil.
The Emir made a great sock puppet for the engineers who actually did the work. I guess he wouldn’t want the peeps to know who actually did the thinking. Maybe if they found out, then Obama’s outreach to the Arabs through NASA’s Charles Bolden wouldn’t be so effective. Of course back in 1991 POTUS was a legitimate war hero who said things like “This will not stand” and meant them.
The Syrians have begun shooting Scuds at their insurgents, refer to:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/13/world/middleeast/syria-war-developments-assad.html?_r=0
This makes zero sense if the Scud warhead is merely a high explosive (weapon costs more than the target). However supposedly the Syrians have also begun mixing their Sarin precursors. Scuds were designed by the Soviets for nukes and chemical warfare.
Looks like the Syrians are getting ready to “rock and roll”. Allah akbar!
Eggplant…
It’s double insanity.
If you’re going to employ nerve gas — then the preferred method is by jet aircraft.
It’s not as if Assad has to fight through the IDF to deliver his poisons.
To compound the folly, the CEP of a Scud is really sloppy.
Who’s calling the shots?
Blert@43,
If Assad is shooting Sarin armed Scuds at his own people willy-nilly then CEP is irrelevant.
Assad is almost in the situation of Hitler in the Führerbunker after being informed about General Steiner. Pretty soon, Assad will know he is days away from his own suicide. After he connects those dots, he won’t care about CEP or collateral damage.
Very interesting development with the stock market. The Fed announced they were going to print more money and as usual the PPT goosed the market.
But it didn’t last!
The markets went red at the end of the day. This is the first time that the markets went red after a new QE announcement. Today, the PPT pumped billions into the markets but someone else pulled even more money out. Is the Fed now officially out of bullets?
We are approaching a historical branch point:
1) Moonbats in control of the federal government with no clue what to do.
2) Islamic fascists in the Middle East just about to use WMDs against each other.
3) Central bank market pumping with worthless fiat just about to end in failure.
4) Federal government just about to fall over the fiscal cliff.
very interesting…..
http://www.rightwingnews.com/column-2/when-terrorists-killed-in-drone-strikes-arent-really-dead/
Then, there’s this. I wonder what others here may think of this report.
# 31,
“I think the evidence should lead one to conclude that Buraq ( and Hilary) are going through the motions to show they are “trying’ to promote Democracy, when in fact their goal is a potent and powerful Islamofascist Caliphate across the Middle East.”
Obama & Hillary haven’t a clue of how to steer the ME in the direction they wish because they’re laboring under the delusion that ‘somehow’ the ME can be steered away from jihadism. As Obama’s secretary of state, that is absolutely Hillary’s delusional goal. Obama is more complex because he’s an ideologue made up of various parts; Marxist, transnationalist, closet Muslim and anti-colonialist. Of those factors, I suspect that his anti-colonialism is the strongest. Ties in with his Dreams of his Father.
The emerging but dimly perceived as of yet nuclear armed Caliphate is not his goal, it is the result of historical dynamics and Obama’s ‘Chamberlain’ response to this epoch’s dynamics.
#37,
“Unless it turns out that the groups the administration have been supporting were al-qaeda or muslim brotherhood franchises all along. Then the civil war will be between radical and more radical islamists, both of whom we armed. “
That is exactly what is happening. Some weapons are no doubt getting to the few moderates and Kurds but they are significantly lesser players, who once Assad falls, will quickly diminish in active involvement. As always, the Kurds will just try to survive.
Speaking of unholy alliances and ‘hijacking the revolutions’ the Tweepthug @ReginaldQuill (Cointelpro camp follower) has decided that Occupy Tahrir must be funded by the Russians and therefore he’s now cool with Mohammed Morsi. Perhaps ReggieQuill has seen my Belmont Club posts joking about his criticisms of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood while he roots for their Syrian Muslim Brothers to conquer Damascus, and decided to become consistent in his apologetics for Islamofascism. Whatever. Further proof that certain syncophants who love power and perhaps even the spiffy uniforms worn by the lads know when to stick their finger in the wind (or is it get a good yank from their globalist puppet masters?) and turn, turn, turn.
https://twitter.com/ReginaldQuill/status/278704746909556736
ReggieQuill admiring Superman in his tights
Reggie Quill apologizing for Morsi thugs and Egyptian police cracking heads and dropping the tear gas at Tahrir:
@ReginaldQuill
@catfitz I was concerned about F-16′s headed to Egypt and IMF loan given the chaos but seeing Israel nor US is concerned made me look deeper
10:16 AM – 11 Dec 12 · Details
@ReginaldQuill
@catfitz Mubarak was very close to Russia. In 2008, Russia committed to build a nuclear plant there. Morsi opposition using OWS tactics.
@ReginaldQuill
@catfitz An Egyptian Communist Party twitter acct, RT_com and Che tshirt-wearing protestors are getting behind the anti-Morsi effort.
This is the same clown who deleted a tweet defending DHS’ massive and notorious purchases of bullets on the grounds that maybe the Russians were funding the Occupy Movement and BossNapolitano’s boys should be ready to lock and load. So my Belmont Club friends…are you convinced yet that globalists, one worlders and fanatical Russophobes love them some jihad yet?
http://www.homelandsecurityus.com/archives/7235
Doug Hagmann’s ‘intel insider’ on the globalist love of all things jihadi/MBO
More Muslim Brother love they-have-nothing-to-do-with Al Qaeda.
Again this hate Russia jump and get Washington entirely on the jihadi bandwagon phenomenon is real and is very, very dangerous.
patrickbaz @Patrick_Baz
Muslim Brothers waving Qaeda affiliates flags and #Morsi posters march on site where they killed Sadat in 1981 #Cairo. What a symbol #Egypt
11 Dec ReginaldQuill @ReginaldQuill
@Patrick_Baz I’ve never seen an intel authority connect the existing #MB with AQ. I’ve asked. I know the historical conxtions. Anything new?
11 Dec patrickbaz @Patrick_Baz
@ReginaldQuill Sympathy nothing more I guess
11 Dec ReginaldQuill @ReginaldQuill
@Patrick_Baz #Morsi’s “police state” like actions are reactions to opposition tactics which look like OccupyWallSt which Russia cheered.
This my Belmont Club friends is why the D.C.-based lawyer James George Jatras was right to call the professional Democratist crowd the ‘Demintern’. They are Bolshevik and power-mad at heart. And they don’t seem to have a problem with human rights abuses and torture so long as its committed by ‘their people’. Even terrorism and public orgies can be excused — see Hugo Chavez opponent Thor Halvorssen palling around with Chechen jihad funder Ahmed Zakayev at the Oslo Freedom Forum or P—y Riot husband and public porn video maker Pyotr Verzilov. But of course they have to pretend now and then that maybe it’s a darn shame what’s happening in Syria — too bad Obama didn’t have the stones to intervene earlier, and is an anti-interventionist at heart (ha ha, like massive gun running via Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey isn’t intervening):
http://streetwiseprofessor.com/?p=6838
EOT for me.
Makes sense, the current Scuds being fired are ranging shots. Once the target area is bracketed then the range will become known and registered.
After that it will just be a matter of time.