Day: August 13, 2014

The Boogey Man Cometh

I pressed an article today about how conservatives see a hostile world….and this post illustrates just how that works…….enjoy

Since 9/11 we have boogey man after boogey man…..and we can thank people like John McCain and his minor bird, Lindsey Graham……these two have tried to give the US a bogey man a month….kinda like the fruit of the month club, only we get bad guys.  I am beginning to think these two get incentive pay for dashing to the nearest camera and ranting about the newest bogey man.

Anyway……last week these two with their butt buddy King were making the rounds on the tube of the news shows and their talking points were in lock step…..

“I think of an American city in flames because of the terrorists’ ability to operate in Syria and Iraq,” Graham told Fox News host Chris Wallace. “Mr. President, you have never once spoke directly to the America people about the threat we face from being attacked from Syria, now Iraq. What is your strategy to stop these people from attacking the homeland?”

The fear mongers speak!

Okay, I will be honest….there is a chance that IS will become the next AQ and zero in on the West for their flavor of terrorism……there are a few conditions to consider before you build your bunker for the onslaught of trouble.

The media is in lock step with the idea that the West is in serious danger…….

(Newser) – In the wake of two US airstrikes against ISIS, supporters of the extremist group that’s been seizing towns in northern Iraq are calling for retaliatory strikes against America, CNN reports. “It is a clear message that the war is against Islam and the mujahideen,” wrote the administrator of an online ISIS forum. “The mujahideen must strive and seek to execute proactive operations … to discipline America and its criminal soldiers.” Other ISIS followers are deriding the US with the Twitter campaign #AmessagefromISIStoUS and posting photos of the 9/11 attacks (which isn’t really new—they used the Twitter handle #CalamityWillBefallUS after ISIS took Mosul in June). Possible ways ISIS might strike the West include:

  • A “crash” program: In this scenario, ISIS spends some of its tens of millions of dollars on arming European extremists who have joined the group (officials estimate there are up to 1,000 of them). This could reach American soil, because many Europeans can enter the US without a visa, and there’s talk of sophisticated bombing devices that can slip past airport security.
  • Returned fighters: Extremists who fought for ISIS in Syria and returned home “could take matters into their own hands,” says CNN. Case in point: Mehdi Nemmouche, the French-Algerian accused of killing four people at a Jewish museum in Belgium this spring.

The media is doing all possible to fuel the hysteria that will soon grip the West…..they are pushing a narrative that the IS may be unstoppable, not all outlets but the ones that want to drive the conversation.  The major cable news channels trotted out round after round of pro-war guests, all parroting the administration’s “genocide” narrative, hyping the humanitarian problems of the ISIS war and pushing US intervention as the end-all, be-all solution of it all.

My take is that, yes we need to worry and be vigilant, but I believe that IS will be its own worst enemy.  For now the Iraqi Sunnis are siding with IS and that is purely for convenience, they would have sided with anyone that is in opposition of the Maliki admin……there will come a time when the Anbar tribes will turn on IS and its megalomaniac al-Baghdadi….and in the end he will meet the same fate as Mussolini in 1945…killed by his own people and his body put on public display.

Most people would like to know how long it will take for the IS threat to dissipate…..and that is a good question.  Me?  Only a guess….about another year.  The one thing that may speed up the demise is the Iraqi political situation.  If and when Maliki goes and he will not go quietly, and if inclusive politics breaks out then the tribes can see a way forward for all Sunnis in Iraq then and only then will they turn on IS.  But truthfully, what are the chances?

The big question in Iraq today: Will Nouri al-Maliki go quietly? As expected, President Fouad Massoum snubbed the two-term prime minister and said he must step down to make way for someone new. Massoum picked deputy parliament speaker Haider al-Ibadi to be the next PM and gave him 30 days to form a government, reports the AP. “Now the Iraqi people are in your hands,” said Massoum. The move comes after Maliki addressed the nation at midnight and insisted that he be allowed to remain in office because his is the largest bloc in parliament, reports the New York Times. He even deployed troops in the capital as a show of force.

But those actions may have only hurt his cause further, reports the Washington Post. It quotes a Kurdish politician who says the speech triggered a “major defection” today against Maliki within his Shiite coalition. “We have passed the stage of military coups and taking power by force,” says Hoshyar Zebari. The US, which has long seen Maliki as too polarizing, has already made clear that it expects Maliki to abide by Massoum’s decision and warned against any use of force

There are many directions Iraq can take in the next year…….and only Iraqis can say what that direction will be…..personally I think the Anbar tribes are the answer and the solution to this problem that is pressing the West….however, it could open a whole new arena of problems depending on how the situation is handled.

 

Who Does Kerry Look Like?

Believe it or not….I am not always so serious and analytic…..

What is life without a little whimsey?  Have you ever had one of those nagging feelings that just will not go away?

This is mine.

Ever since John Kerry has been at the State Department I have been racking my brain….he reminds me of someone and for the life of me I cannot put my finger on it……

 

And then I was sitting there drinking my cup of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, my fave, … and like a bolt from heaven….BAM!  I now know who he reminds me of…….think Deep Space Nine!

 

 

That’s right…he looks like the space station’s security chief, ODO!

Now I can get some sleep!  LOL

Out Of Africa

Nope not some Meryl Streep movie that the world will fall in love…..
Recently our president held a summit of the major leaders of Africa…..it is about investment and trade….but Obama has asked for an extra $550 million for Africa….but for what you may ask……

But first let’s look at our attempt to “help” Africa with security and crisis management…..it is called AFRICOM……..I’ll bet that most Americans are sitting there reading this and going….HUH?

The US saw a need for a presence of the US in Africa and went about forming a military command to deal with any situation that appeared on the continent…..Africa has been the way it is for centuries but now we need to be there ….why is that?

Glad you asked!

Is it really for a response to say a crisis or is it there to protect corporate interests?

I bring this all up for one reason…..an announcement during the summit of African leaders…..

President Obama has unveiled a five-year $550 million “rapid response force” plan for Africa today, during the third day of a summit with African heads of state in Washington.

The program is to begin this year with an initial $65 million in military subsidies to African Union member nations Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Tunisia.

The plan will eventually expand to include other AU member nations and will cost $110 million annually, with hopes of increasing their military capacity for launching AU and UN “peacekeeping” missions.

It appears that the new plan is to scrap AFRICOM and go with throwing money at countries to handle their own situations.  So in 2006 the formation of AFRICOM was announced and then activated as a functioning entity in 2008….their mission statement was thus……

The United States Africa Command, in concert with other U.S. government agencies and international partners, conducts sustained security engagement through military-to-military programs, military-sponsored activities, and other military operations as directed to promote a stable and secure African environment in support of U.S. foreign policy.

U.S. Africa Command supports American national security interests by conducting a wide range of programs and activities that help African states—at their request—meet their goals of building capable and professional militaries that are subordinate to civilian authority, respect human rights, and adhere to the rule of law.

I give you this limited look at the newest military command because….first you need to know and second that after less than six years it is to be scrapped!  It seems the Obama foreign policy machine has a better idea……silly right?

I understand that our country is at a crash point….we need to cut spending and try and get a grip on the debt…..but is this a good idea to help that attempt?

We spent millions to establish this commend and now we will scrap the whole program and just give money to saiud countries to help in their “rapid responses” to dire situations.

I would say that about half the countries in Africa have corrupt politicians and we are about to hand them the keys to the bank.  I ask is this really a good idea?  And just how will this save the country money?  We are still throwing money at a problem….money that will not be spent on any situation but rather find its way into a secr4et bank account somewhere in the Caymans…….

We really need to find NEW thinking in our foreign policy!

 

 

Never Ask What Else Could Go Wrong!

Iraq had Saddam to deal with…..then along came Gulf War 1…….and Iraq had to deal with war and then more od Saddam……and then came Iraqi Freedom (which is the most preposterous title ever!)……then there was the occupation and the violence……along came Obama and the troops went home…..enter more violence and a political system that was so screwed up that it was nothing more than a bunch of dudes making money off the US…..and the violence returned……and one morning Iraqis woke up with ISIS breathing down their necks……and the army went on the lame and ISIS started committing crimes against Iraqis unchallenged…..now the Kurds ride in to become the savior of the country from the monsters in ISIS……now the airstrikes return and the fighting is a reminder of days gone by…..and all the time there has been a steady flow of refugees going in one direction or the other…….and someone some where just had to ask the question…..what else could go wrong?

And the answer is………

Newser) – Tense times in Baghdad: Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki deployed troops at strategic locations in the Iraqi capital amid a power struggle with newly elected President Fouad Massoum. Maliki accuses Massoum of carrying out “a coup against the constitution and the political process” by failing to nominate him for a third term, despite having the largest bloc in parliament. The New York Times says Massoum will most likely appoint someone from Maliki’s bloc, but not Maliki himself. (Update: He did just that.) “The risk is, if he clings to power, he will control the country by force,” says an unnamed Iraqi politician of Maliki. “This would be a military coup.” More:

  • Maliki is facing many calls to step down, but “it’s not in his DNA to go without a fight,” a CNN analyst says. “This is a man who’s really feeling besieged at the moment. He’s cornered on all sides, if you like. He’s got ISIS on his doorstep, in a military sense. He even had the Grand Ayatollah the other day saying politicians should not cling to their posts. But this is a guy who seizes onto power. He holds it.”
  • John Kerry says the US stands with Massoum and urges the people of Iraq to stay calm amid the political crisis. “We believe that the government formation process is critical in terms of sustaining the stability and calm in Iraq,” he said in a statement. “And our hope is that Mr. Maliki will not stir those waters.”
  • In the north of the country, meanwhile, some 20,000 of the Yazidis trapped on a mountain by fighting have managed to escape as the effects of American airstrikes on ISIS militants became apparent. Kurdish fighters supported by American drones and fighter jets went on the offensive against the militants and managed to recapture two towns, the New York Times reports.
  • Beyond air power, the US has also started directly supplying Kurdish forces with weapons instead of merely aiding deliveries from the Iraqi government, officials tell the AP. It’s not clear which US agency is supplying the weapons.

More agony for the Iraqi people…..something they do not deserve.

Will Maliki go or will Maliki stay?  If he fights this political swing….things will get messy.

My thought is he can be bought…..and that is what the US does best…..buy politicians.

The moral of this post is…..never ask what else could possibly go wrong?