Month: February 2014

Syrian UpDate

Yes, Irene there is still dying and carnage going on in Syria….I know a little hard to imagine when you are worried about the ads on the Super Bowl….but death continues whether Beebs get arrested or not……for that reason I will bring my readers up-to-date……..I read hours and hours of Middle East newspapers so you do not have to…..YOU ARE WELCOME.

First is something that sounds like a veiled copy of an Israeli policy……

Syrian military forces have been systematically using bulldozers and controlled explosions to level entire neighborhoods in Damascus and Hama, in what appears to be an attempt to punish citizens for their rebel sympathies, Human Rights Watch alleges in a new report based on satellite images and witness testimony. The imagery reveals seven areas affected between July 2012 and July 2013 that total roughly 200 soccer fields’ worth of razed neighborhoods. None of this destruction came during combat, though it sometimes came soon after it. Residents said they got little to no warning, giving them no time to collect their belongings before evacuating, according to al-Jazeera. The Syrian government says the demolitions were an urban planning move centered around demolishing buildings that were constructed illegally, the Guardian reports. But Human Rights Watch says there haven’t been any similar demolitions in areas that support the government, even though many of those homes also lack permits. “Wiping entire neighborhoods off the map is not a legitimate tactic of war,” the group’s emergency researcher said. The group has called upon the UN to hand the findings to the International Criminal Court.

Assad is using a tried and true tactic……

And then there is our policy on Syria….so far it looks like a major disaster….at least from my set………apparently I am not the only one that sees it as a failed policy……

White House spokesman Jay Carney says that the administration “absolutely” stands behind its current Syrian policy, despite talk of growing internal dissent and the plain fact that it’s been a complete disaster.

According to hawkish Senators John McCain (R – AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R – SC), Secretary of State John Kerry conceded at a closed-door session that the current Syria policy is “failing,” and called for further military intervention, including “forming a coalition against al-Qaeda.”

White House and State Department officials have downplayed the differences on policy, saying Kerry’s comments had been misconstrued and that the US remains committed to their present course.

Who said what is really only part of the story though, as US policy has been to openly back increasingly irrelevant rebel factions, keeping the civil war stalemated in the hope that they can eventually impose a negotiated settlement favorable to the West. That’s still clearly the plan, but not only does it show no signs of working, it is exacerbating a civil war in which al-Qaeda is gaining ground at an alarming pace.

But then one may ask….just what is the proper policy for Syria?  And if you have a good answer then you have answered the $64 million question….step forward and claim your prize…..

Good News From Iran?

Remember the words of little Ronnie Reagan….”trust but verify”?  With that in mind……we have heard all the chatter about the deal that the US is working on with Iran over their nukes…..some see it as a good sign for diplomacy while others think it sucks…..since I have studied International Relations especially the Middle East I see it as a good sign….well maybe not a sign but a good start to the end of a major point of contention between Iran and the western powers……

Like I have told my readers I spend hours on line reading Arabic press because there are things happening there that could impact the entire world and most people do not give a sh*t until it is too late…..since my Farsi sucks and I have a magical translate button I have found some interesting info I would like to pass along…..

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif termed the situation related to the nuclear deal an “historical crossroads,” saying his country is ready and determined to make a permanent nuclear deal.

Negotiations on a nuclear pact are expected later this month, and will take place throughout the six month interim agreement, which began just over a week ago.

US officials have repeatedly downplayed the chances of a deal, and threatened war if Iran doesn’t make the deal that they don’t expect. Zarif was more upbeat about the chances, saying his country has the diplomatic good-will to make a deal now.

An interesting statement from the Iranian FM (Foreign Minister)…..if true and real then Iran is showing some adult thinking…..as opposed of the days of that short sh*t from before…..

I am optimistic…something I have not been in many years of keeping tabs on these types of situations……

Any thoughts you would like to share?

And There Is ISIS!

How many of you have heard of ISIS?

My guess is….NOT MANY!  Why would you?  I mean there the Beebs and his childish antics or some game or another to fixate on……..

NO!  Not the wife of Osiris…the brother of Set…..the diety that invented the concept of mummification……..not her!  See you learned something today and did not have to open a book……You Are Welcome!

The ISIS I am speaking of is the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)……..

Okay since NO one cares enough to grasp this….I will help……you have read the problems that they are facing in Syria and now Iraq….I would imagine that you have heard McCain lay the blame for Iraqi violence in the lap of the prez……that is bullsh*t….we can blame a lot on Obama but this one is on Iraqi president Maliki and his actions…..and then there is Syria….we have heard about all the fighting, well at least we have heard some of the reports, and that AQ is in it up to its eyes….and this is where the two meet……An AQ sub-sect…ISIS is fighting to combine the two countries into ISIS……

And the other day a report came through that is unexpected….at best…….

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is “not a branch of al-Qaeda,” Ayman al-Zawahiri declared in a statement posted online yesterday. “Al-Qaeda is not responsible for ISIS’ actions,” and has “no connection” to it, al-Qaeda General Command said, according to the BBC. It added that al-Qaeda “was not pleased” with the group’s creation. It also decried the increasingly intense infighting between Islamist factions in Syria and the “shedding of protected blood.” But this weekend ISIS fighters assassinated two rival rebel leaders in a series of bomb attacks, al-Jazeera reports, in an apparent shift in tactics. A double suicide bombing took out the leader of Liwa al-Tawhid on Saturday in Aleppo, while another attack in Hama killed the leader of the powerful Suqour al-Sham. Al-Qaeda was opposed to the group that became ISIS ever entering the Syrian conflict, with Zawahiri ordering it to return to Iraq in May, Aryn Baker at Time points out. But ISIS’ leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, defied him, saying, “I have to choose between the rule of God and the rule of Zawahiri, and I choose the rule of God.”

There you have the amazing news of the day….is it for real?  Is it just a way for AQ to distance itself from the carnage in Syria and Iraq?

My readers are some of the best informed on the blogosphere on the Middle East….would they like to weigh in on this news?

Is The 1st Under Attack?

Of course it is!~  Well depends on who you talk to……everyone has a different view of the attacks….there are those that claim it is under religious attack….others see speech as under the gun…..even others see that the freedom of press is being assaulted……no matter what or which section you are concerned about there is situation brewing in the UK that could have wide ranging consequences…..

AS reported in the UK’s Guardian newspaper……..

The seizure of journalists’ notebooks, photographs and digital files could be conducted in secret hearings, owing to a little-publicised clause in a government bill aimed at cutting red tape, media organisations have warned.

Requests for notebooks, computer disks, photographs or videos must currently be made in open court and representatives of news groups can be present.

But the clause – in the deregulation bill, which comes before the Commons on Monday – significantly alters the way courts consider so-called “production orders”, stripping out current safeguards.

The underlying rules governing whether police can have access to material will remain the same but without media groups being present it is feared that judges will be more easily persuaded to authorise police seizures of journalistic material.

You know if this succeeds then it will be looked at closely here….I mean as we lose more and more of our rights to privacy….this would be just the next logical step…….

Thoughts?

Have Vets Been Screwed Enough?

Apparently the answer is a resounding NO!  I mean it is bad enough to take young men and send them off to war….and even worse sin is to bring the wounded home and then have to deal with a country that cares little for their care…..to the point that charities have to pop up to get the severely wounded the help they need…..the country is way too busy to think seriously about the vets….sorry…they are important enough to be trotted out during campaigns as some sort of prop and then lied to their faces….I hope this country is PROUD of the way it treats veterans.

Like I said they have NOT been screwed enough……Politico is reporting……

Congress and the Pentagon agree that it’s time to tighten the defense belt, including tackling spiraling personnel costs. The question is how and when to do it.

The recent small cuts in pension cost-of-living increases for working-age military retirees have laid bare the divisions on how to appropriately rein in the military’s personnel costs.

Pentagon officials, however, emphasized that reforming the military’s compensation system is unavoidable.

“Secretary [Chuck] Hagel, the Joint Chiefs and the service secretaries agree that we cannot afford to sustain the rate of growth in military compensation that we’ve experienced over the last decade,” said acting Deputy Defense Secretary Christine Fox.

And Vice Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Sandy Winnefeld told the committee the Pentagon “can and probably should gradually place compensation on a more sustainable trajectory.”

Under the recent two-year budget agreement, military retirees under the age of 62 would see their pensions increase at a slower pace, with their cost-of-living adjustments pegged to the rate of inflation minus 1 percentage point. Once they turned 62, they would go back to receiving adjustments pegged to the full rate of inflation.

The pension cuts, set to take effect Dec. 1, 2015, initially extended to all working-age military retirees. But the $1.1 trillion spending bill that cleared Congress earlier this month gave a pass to disabled veterans and surviving families, a move the Pentagon supports.

Pentagon officials, to her knowledge, were not consulted on the details of the budget agreement brokered by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Fox said. But the department “fully supported” the provision in the omnibus spending bill that restored the cuts for disabled veterans.

Another slap to the face of vets……if the Congress wants to cut anything let these self-righteous morons start with their pay and their benefits….at least the vets did what was asked of them….the Congress is ordered by money not the people…..

The treatment of vets is shameful and as a vet …..DISGUSTING!