A yawn and a stretch……time to put all this tedious crap away for the day…..
Today’s interlude is a group that holds a fond spot to anyone that was in Viet Nam……..and for any of my fellow vets out there….how many times did you ask that question while in country?
Good day and thanx for stopping by……
Today’s briefing will be a short one….the coalition is focused on Kobane and not much else seems to matter to the media…….
Item 1–Kurds en route to Kobane via Turkey…….
Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has sent 150 Peshmerga paramilitary fighters into Turkey, to be taken across the country’s southern border into the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani (Ayn al-Arab in Arabic).
There are considerable doubts over whether or not 150 additional troops, even armed with artillery as they reportedly are, will really be a game-changer, with estimates of thousands of fighters on either side of the battle.
Item 2–Turkey sets demands for the war in Syria……..
Turkey has named its price for co-operation in the West’s fight to end the Islamic State’s stranglehold on the Syrian border town of Kobane, saying the fight must be led by the Free Syrian Army rather than Kurdish “terrorists”
The country’s prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said that any military operation to free Kobane must involve arming regular Syrian rebel groups rather than the Kurdish militants who have so far defended the town. Turkey has refused to help the Kurdish fighters so far, claiming that many of them belong to the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a separatist insurgency against the Turkish state.
“Equip and train the Free Syrian Army so that if the Islamic State leaves, PKK terrorists should not come,” Mr Davutoglu said, aiming his comments at the US.
Eventually the Us will stop being dictated to about the direction of the coalition….
Item 3–The economy of Syria is badly damaged by airstrikes…….
The US war on ISIS in Syria, when it hasn’t centered on the offensive near Kobani, has mostly been a war on oil. Airstrikes have pounded oil wells and refineries across ISIS territory, which is also the primary oil-producing part of Syria.
It’s being couched as an effort to cut off ISIS funding, but the oil wells and other infrastructure being targeted are actually privately owned, and the attacks are badly damaging the civilian economy across Syria.
After at least 3 years of a civil war…how much civilian economy could be left to destroy?
That concludes today’s briefing….the briefings may be shorter for now…..as the drudgery of the air war continues there may not be much to report.
Thanx for your time and attention.
Turn The Page!
ISIS gets lots of PR from the MSM……I have said that the media is doing more harm than informing……..this is an op-ed that makes excellent points…..
Care is required to sort the truth from the extremist propaganda | The National.
I have been asked if I would like to write some posts for a news service…..Ace News Room….this is my first piece in my series……I will be writing, as always, on many different aspects of the news.
Hope you guys will visit his site and check it out.
The US is taking a moment for a deserved long breath.
Now that the fear of Ebola is lessening with each cured person there is the possibility that there could be another form of fear that will take hold. The fear of people! Especially if they are from West Africa or are thought to be from that region.
Think back to the days and weeks after the horrendous attacks on 9/11……..there were many attacks on people of the Muslim religion and even some that were attacked because they may have appeared to be Arabic or Middle Eastern. There were beatings and even a death of two because of the person’s appearance.
Yep, a form of racial profiling.
Now that the US has moved to limit the areas where people can enter the US to 5 airports, most on the east coast and the central states…….and the Right wing wanting all flights from Africa prevented from landing in the US…..this could set up a scenario of panic and distrust..
God forbid that another outbreak (that is a media term) should show its ugly face….an even uglier face will be that of the people in this society. The radical Right will immediately start looking for a scapegoat and that will be anyone that appears to be from Africa…. not necessarily West Africa….just anyone that appears to be one of the people that brought the disease to our shores.
Since the death of Mr. Duncan there has already been a minor backlash rumblings against Africans, especially in the Dallas, Texas area.
Then in Rome the fear strikes……..
A woman from Guinea has reportedly been attacked by angry bus passengers who told her she was infected by Ebola and had to get off, according to media reports.
The 26-year-old was allegedly beaten by a group of teenagers after they accused her of having the deadly virus.
“They told me that I had Ebola and that I had to get off the bus,” said Fataomata Sompare, who has been living in Italy for four years.
We Americans have to seem to always blame others for the problems the country endues….we blame the Chinese back in the 1800’s…..we blamed the Irish in the early 1900’s………we blame the Japanese-Americans for Pearl Harbor, we blamed, as I have pointed out, Arab-Americans for 9/11, thanks to Al-Qaeda Americans are suspicious of every Mosque and now with the Ebola on a tear it is only a matter of time before we blame African-Americans, especially first generation, for the problems the disease is causing..
With Americans propensity for hate how long will not be before we go in search of a scapegoat? An Ebola scapegoat.
Yep! More disgusting waste of the American taxpayer dollar……most Americans have their programs that they want to see cut for whatever misguided reason….but most never think about the waste of money through our so called foreign aid…..
The US and its allies are winding down their mission in Afghanistan and there will be a continuation (of course there will be) of massive foreign aid to help the country come to grips with situations on its own…….
In a piece written by Jason Ditz for Antiwar.com…………
A new Senate Foreign Relations Committee report lays out their “roadmap” for continuing to pour billions of dollars in aid into Afghanistan annually
The plan, which Senate Dems say was timed for release after President Karzai’s term in office ended and the troop deal extended, and will keep the $5-$8 billion average outflow of US “aid” into Afghanistan more or less intact.
With the vast majority of that aid being flat out squandered on things Afghans didn’t need or want, the committee’s plan seeks to make the future aid “condition-based” with some vague sustainability requirements.
Details of all the conditions are not yet clear, but indications are that they will mostly been centered on the administration signing off on the Afghan government dubious human rights record, something they’ve been only too willing to do in the past, and will undoubtedly do in the future to keep the gravy train flowing.
I understand the “need” to help Afghanistan….but my bigger question is how many American defense contractors will be feeding at the teat?
I mean we gave the country a TV station for live sports coverage without an audience……we are scrapping equipment worth billions for 60 cents a ton……just who will benefit the most from the foreign aid….Afghanistan or the Military-Industrial Complex?
If you have the answers then by all means…share with the rest of us.