Crap! After 8 hours or more of dealing with pure bullsh*t that is found in the world today….I like to sit back and remember my youth and listen to the music that I love……..
Enjoy today’s interlude…..
Day: October 15, 2014
ISIS Coalition Situation Report (SITREP) #17
Good Day……
First topic today is those Middle East “experts” that you see and hear daily on your fave news shows……..there is NO such thing as a Middle East expert! Even people living in the region are not experts….they may be well informed on their respective region or country but as a Middle East wide expert…NOT happening. Take any white dude telling you the situation on the ground in the ME with a grain of salt………that includes me…I can give my educated opinion but since I do not live there any longer….I am NO expert.
With that….shall we begin today’s briefing?
Item 1–Just as the beginning of airstrikes the US is making the case for the use of ground troops in the conflict……and the effort by the media and the admin seems to be working…….
More Americans now say that they believe U.S. military action against ISIS should include American combat troops on the ground, according to a new NBC News/ Wall Street Journal poll.
Forty-one percent of respondents believe both troops on the ground and airstrikes are necessary for the mission against ISIS, versus 35 percent who think it should be restricted to airstrikes; another 15 percent say no military action should be taken.
That’s a reversal from the NBC/WSJ poll in September, when 40 percent wanted just airstrikes and 34 wanted both airstrikes and combat troops.
Now all that is needed is a big ‘humanitarian’ crisis or attacks on the Green Zone in Baghdad…..we will be watching!
Item 2–The White House has issued a comment on the coalition efforts to check ISIS……
As ISIS gains continue to mount both in Syria and Iraq, the White House has reiterated its belief that the war on ISIS is “succeeding,” with White House spokesman Josh Earnest citing the evacuation of Mount Sinjar as proof.
There is a problem with that example…..it seems there were virtually NO Yanzidis on the mountain cited……NO one sees this operation as a success….it is only spin doctors that are saying such an outlandish claim.
Item 3–ISIS continues to make gains in Anbar……not looking good for the region at all……
Just one day after ISIS forces seized an Iraqi military base on the outskirts of Hit, they are preparing a move against an even bigger site in the Anbar Province, one of the last significant Iraqi military presences there.
The new target seems to be the al-Assad airbase, the second largest airfields in Iraq, and one of the last bases around Haditha Dam. The base is now surrounded, according to reports.
This should give the Iraqi army something to do….that is if they are up to the challenge.
Item 4–There is a crack in Assad’s armor…..loyalists are started to re-think their allegiance……
Two high ranking Syrian security officials have been fired in what residents and a rights group say is a response to protests by government loyalists angered by the death of 41 children in a bombing in Homs city.
Official concessions to popular demands are rare in Syria. But many loyalists are starting to feel abandoned by the government for whom they have sacrificed much to defend since President Bashar al-Assad’s crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy protests in 2011 led to an armed uprising and civil war.
Maybe the CIA should take heed…this could be the opening they need to have an inside man….that is if they had prepared for the situation…my guess is they did not.
Item 5–The Middle East has always been a volatile place but in recent years the danger has gone off the charts…..and the rise of powerful militias…….
Embattled governments in Iraq and Syria have come to rely on Shiite militias as their armies have crumbled in the face of mostly Sunni insurgents and rebels. In Libya, various armed groups loosely allied with two rival governments have fought over bullet-riddled airports. Shiite rebels in Yemen have swept down from the north, capturing the capital and, on Tuesday, a key port city.
The chaos unleashed by the Arab Spring has led to the rise of powerful militias — including many Islamic extremist groups — across a Middle East where many central governments have been exposed as weak. Some of the groups are allied with the governments, while others are fighting to topple them. Some — like the Kurdish peshmerga in northern Iraq — are seen as vital allies for the West. All could prove to be major obstacles to peace or stability in the region.
I include this in my briefing because I believe that things are only going to get worse in the Middle East….the ISIS thing is only the beginning of many years of wars we cannot afford.
That concludes today’s briefing…..the information so that those concerned about the endless wars our country has been involved in and will be involved in…….hope the info is useful…….
Thanx for your time and attention.
Turn The Page!
ABC and NBC Ignore Announcement of Murder Charges for Benghazi Suspect | Media Research Center
I know we Americans are more focused on the newest fodder for conspiracy nuts…Ebola and we do not have much time for those of the past…like immigrants and of course the big one for the Right…Benghazi……
So for those who missed it….I’m pretty sure that is most of you……read on!
This illustrates just how silly all that fake outrage really is….and we Americans buy into it every time!
ABC and NBC Ignore Announcement of Murder Charges for Benghazi Suspect | Media Research Center.
Backing Up Without The Warning Sounds
I do not usually post on religious stuff because I really do not care…religion has been used to suppress more human activity than just about any other issue…..but yesterday the Pope made history and yes it was notable.
The whole world was thrilled when the Pope came out and addressed same sex marriage…there was a rush to pat him on the back….few stop to think about what he said is NOT binding in any way….
Guess what the day after his ground breaking statement and the Catholics have hit the reverse gear…..
(Newser) – The Vatican made waves this week with a seemingly more open stance toward gay and divorced people—but now, Catholic officials are pulling back from Monday’s statement amid a backlash from conservatives, CNN reports. The Vatican’s earlier comment that “homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community” isn’t its official stance, it emphasized in a follow-up statement yesterday; instead, it’s simply part of a “working document.” Even as it seeks a more welcoming approach to the issue, the church doesn’t want to give “the impression of a positive evaluation” of same-sex relationships.
“The same care was advised with regard to cohabitation,” the Vatican added, following comments that called for acknowledgment of the “positive” elements of unmarried couples living together. Monday’s comments reflect issues to be debated at the synod ahead of a final statement, leaders say, as per the Independent. One cardinal blasted Monday’s comments as “irredeemable,” CNN notes. “It’s not what we’re saying at all,” says South Africa’s Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier. But liberal Catholics still see a breakthrough: “Regardless of the fact that this is a working document, it is still significant in that it reveals a strong current of affirmative attitudes at high levels in the church towards lesbians and gay people,” says a leader of the New Ways Ministry.
This is what I expected when I heard the Pope’s statement……as usual with anything religious their concern was too good to be true…..
Syria: What Happened?| ThinkProgress
Everyone knows that I keep an eye on the Middle East and back in 2012 I read a piece, then printed it, to keep in my files, about the area that could help answer a question that many have asked……..
How did Syria become such an international nightmare?
Think about what is written…….then ask where else could this become the problem?
Syria: Climate Change, Drought and Social Unrest | ThinkProgress.
Ebola: Where Should We Assign Blame?
Okay all you nervous Nellies…..Ebola is here and we have to deal with that……there are a couple of things that need to be touched upon…….
First, the panic over the Ebola death and the rising number of people affected in this country have doubled….we went from one and now we have two…..the horror!
I got a Tweet today and it made an excellent point…….
There have been lots of finger pointing as to why and how this could happen……how could the ‘best’ country in the world be caught flat footed by the Ebola virus……and there is an answer…the same answer I have been pointing to since this whole thing began……you want to know the culprit?
Gaza: Only Half As Much
Inkwell Institute
Middle East Desk
Gaza….do you remember Gaza? In case you may have been otherwise distracted (that would be most of the Right wing), there was a war fought over Gaza about a month ago…..it has since been pretty quiet on the Eastern Front.
Gaza was totally destroyed, especially the infrastructure and now the world, but not Israel because they are above having to act in a civil manner, is pledging funds to help rebuild Gaza. The total most recently stated was $5.4 billion to help rebuild lives and the region.
Then I read a disturbing piece from a Middle East newspaper……..
Donors at an international conference Sunday promised $2.7 billion to rebuild the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, but all of the key participants said their efforts would be futile without a permanent peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende, who co-chaired the one-day meeting with Egypt, said pledges of $5.4 billion have been made, but that only half of that money would be “dedicated” to the reconstruction of the coastal strip.
Brende did not say what the other half of the funds would be spent on. Other delegates have spoken of budgetary support, boosting economic activity, emergency relief and other projects.
$5.4 billion and only $2.7 will be used for reconstruction……okay who is doing the skimming here? 2.7 billion would go a long way to repair what Israel destroyed and yet there is NO word as to where or who will be using this cash…..why?
Will Israel get their blood stained hands on any of this cash?
What kind of douche bag would use this devastation for personal gain? that one is easy to answer…a CAPITALIST!
But Israel after all is said will be a big beneficiary of the last war on Gaza…….
Yet Israel is the true beneficiary of this aid money. The self-declared international community has once again footed the reconstruction bill as it arms Israel with the weaponry and ensures it the impunity that only rewards its brutal onslaught on Gaza and essentially guarantees its repetition.
“This is the third time in less than six years that together with the people of Gaza, we have been forced to confront a reconstruction effort,” an exasperated US Secretary of State John Kerry stated at the conference, as though this summer’s bloodshed was something other than inevitable given all those arms Washington lavished on Israel, along with the monetary aid and diplomatic cover since the large-scale assaults in November 2012 and winter 2008-09.
Israel is doing all it can to prevent people of Gaza from rebuilding their lives…….
The Israeli authorities have delayed indefinitely the entry of 60 truckloads of building materials into the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian official said.
“We were notified by the Palestinian National Company that Israel has indefinitely delayed the entry of the 60 trucks into the Gaza Strip,” Mounir al-Ghalban of Gaza’s border authority told our media sources.
The move came despite Israeli “promises” to allow the entry of the construction supplies into the blockaded enclave on Tuesday through Kerem Shalom crossing, he added.
Personally I am sick of the US covering Israel’s ass…….time for them to pay for the destruction that they created….we help re-build Germany and Japan after WW2….why should Israel get a free ride?
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