Day: September 1, 2014

West Bank: Spoils Of War?

Now that we have the closest thing to a ceasefire in Gaza…..the Israelis have turned their eyes to the West Bank…….the best guess for the reconstruction of Gaza is about 20 years, so Israel did what it needed to do…totally destroy the infrastructure of the Palestinians….and then BiBi has a problem with his Right Wing, they wanted to totally destroy Gaza and make the Palestinians pay for their audacity to be free thoughts…….BiBi had to cpome up with a way to keep the Right in tow so that his government can continue to govern….but what would placate the ‘haters’ on the Israeli Right?

They will do what they always do…STEAL LAND from the Palestinians on the West Bank…….

In a move the US calls “counterproductive,” Israel has made a huge land seizure in the West Bank and is expected to use it to expand Jewish settlements. The Israeli anti-settlement group Americans for Peace Now says the 990-acre seizure in an area called the Etzion bloc—one of the parts of the West Bank that Israel wants to keep under any future deal with the Palestinians—is the biggest appropriation of its kind since the 1980s, the Los Angeles Times reports. A spokesman for the group calls the move a “stab in the back” to Palestinian moderates.

The appropriation is being seen as revenge for the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the area in June, which sparked the recent fighting in Gaza, Voice of America notes. Israel says the area has been declared “state land” not owned by Palestinians, the New York Times reports, but the local mayor says the area is planted with olive trees and belongs to Palestinian families. A spokesman for the Palestinian Authority says the move will “further deteriorate the situation,” and officials will seek to have the decision reversed.

Basically it is revenge against the Palestinians because they, Israel, could not break their resolve…….if Israel can keep postponing the ‘peace deal’ then it gives them more time to take more land thus diminishing the size of any Palestinian state if and when it becomes a reality…..and as a side benefit….it keeps the Right smiling and on BiBi’s side…..for now.

Israel is just doing what it does best…..destruction and thievery……they are stealing Palestinian land…that makes them NO better than any other authoritarian prick from history.

“If It Walks Like A Duck And………”

Opinion from the desk of the Editor:

 

Yes, I admit it….I am a news geek!  I watch even press conferences to see if there may be something to post about in the future……and the one that the prez had yesterday did not disappoint…  until the rest of the social media I will not write about the color of his suit…to me that is just petty and shallow….

The prez covered a wide array of international subjects…of course there was the inevitable Ukraine statement….Russia be bad….yada yada….after that condemnation he turned to the 800 lb gorilla in the room….Iraq.

On another major foreign-policy front, Obama played down the prospect of imminent US military action in Syria, saying “we don’t have a strategy yet” for degrading the violent militant group seeking to establish a caliphate in the Middle East. He said he has asked the Pentagon to develop a “range of options.” And in blunt terms, the president said it was time for Middle Eastern nations to “stop being ambivalent” about the aims of extremist groups like the Islamic State. “They have no ideology beyond violence and chaos and the slaughter of innocent people.” You can read a full transcript here.

After the presser the press sec was out in forced explaining what the prez had said…..especially the “we don’t have a strategy yet” comment……he made most of the major outlets to explain……and then he was on All In With Chris Hayes on MSNBC and finally someone asked the question that needs to be asked…..Hayes asked point blank…”Is the US at war with ISIL”?

And the press sec said “No”…..and then went about giving all the day’s talking points……the usual crap.

This is where I want to interject my feelings here……if one would ask a member of ISIL he would give you a definite YES!

You see if you have rockets and bombs flying up your nose it is kinda impossible to see it any other way…..he would sharply disagree with the press sec………

In case you might be interested………..U.S. military operations in Iraq, including airstrikes and surveillance flights, have cost about $560 million since mid-June, the Pentagon said Friday.

Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said the average daily cost has been $7.5 million. He said it began at a much lower rate in June and has escalated as the airstrikes in northern Iraq intensified this month.

A Helluva price tag for something that is NOT a war!

If it walks like a duck and sounds like a duck…it probably is a duck……so yes we are at war with ISIL and any other answer to that question is so disingenuous that it is almost unbelievable….

 

 

ISIS: Guess Who’s Talking?

Can you guess who is doing the jaw flapping?  Let me help…..after Obama siad at a press conference…”we don’t have a strategy yet”…..I expected the media and the GOP to jump all over the statement…..and I did not have to wait long…….the usual loud mouth suspects were there right on time….yep, the idiots of foreign policy…..McCain and Graham………

Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham say they’re appalled that President Obama’s response to threat posed by the Islamic State is to say, “We don’t have have a strategy yet.” He needs to get one fast, they write in the New York Times. Putting a dent in ISIS’s finances would be great, and political progress in Iraq and Syria would surely help, “but ultimately, ISIS is a military force, and it must be confronted militarily,” they write. For starters, we must get more arms and intelligence to groups such as the Kurds who are fighting ISIS. Let them and other allies be our “boots on the ground.”

But the US should also embed “special forces and advisers with our partners on the ground—not to engage in combat, but to help our partners fight ISIS and direct airstrikes against it,” they write. This isn’t about nation-building, they insist. The White House should look to the model of “Afghanistan in 2001, where limited numbers of advisers helped local forces, with airstrikes and military aid, to rout an extremist army.” It’s time for Obama to adopt a strategy and make his case to Congress and the American people, say the senators. “If he does, he deserves bipartisan support. If he does not, ISIS will continue to grow into an even graver danger to our allies and to us.” Click for their full column.

This just what I would expect from a former jet jockey……you might want to know why I seem to not care for pilots too much and it is a fair question……..jet jockeys get to fly around drop their load then return to base for a shower and a hot meal…….whereas the grunt is there all the time and without a good shower or a hot meal……lmy point is that McCain is so quick to send troops to do our bidding is because he has never had to look the enemy in the eye to dispatch them….he gets to do it from 10,000 feet……makes a world of difference in your attitude when you have to live with the horrors every day…..okay, someone is going to jump down my throat about him being s POW…..he survived and probably has some residual scars….but that does not give him the mortal fiber to order troops to their deaths.

Their piece, their op-ed, was NOTHING but the GOP talking as much advantage as they can from Obama’s statement.  I would not trust either of them to watch my pet snake…….they are opportunists not statesmen.

Have a great Labor Day everyone!