Month: January 2015

ISIS Coalition SITREP #67

Good day……the war is still the furthest thing from the minds of Americans….but that does not stop the death and the destruction…..

Item 1–Is this the beginning?

Canadian Brigadier General Michael Rouleau has confirmed Canadian ground troops were involved in the first battle by members of the US-led coalition against ISIS forces.

Details on the clash are still vague, but Canadian troops were said to have been “planning” an Iraqi offensive, and went to the front lines to see the terrain first-hand. That was when they came under fire.

Item 2–A peace deal brewing in Syria?

In a dramatic change in policy that has gone largely unappreciated, the Obama Administration has recently come out in favor of both the UN effort to negotiate a ceasefire in Aleppo and the Russian effort to resume peace talks between Syria and secular rebels.

Giving support to either measure is a shift, as the US has long spurned diplomatic efforts in Syria on the grounds that only a full-scale regime change was acceptable to them. They have long pressed the pro-US rebels not to join such talks

Item 3–The flood of fighters joining ISIS appears to be unstoppable…….

The tide of foreign volunteers crossing from Turkey into Syria to fight for Isis cannot be stopped, the Turkish Prime Minister has warned, with authorities unable to close the porous 510-mile border between the two countries.

Ahmet Davutoglu, whose government has been accused of not doing enough to stop jihadi fighters from Britain and other countries crossing into Syria, told The Independent that Turkey could not put “soldiers everywhere on the border”. He added: “In any case, there isn’t any state on the other side [of the frontier].”

Time for someone to step up and do something to control this situation…..ya think?

Item 4–The battle for Mosul is about to bring….hopefully this is not an indication of the success that will be fleeting…….

Ahead of attempts to recapture Mosul, Kurdish forces launched an operation that reclaimed a large amount of territory. Airstrikes and fighting in that region reportedly left hundreds of militants dead, but there is, so far, no independent confirmation of any casualty figures. Assuming they are correct, however, that would leave 361 dead and 19 wounded across Iraq.

Kurdish forces killed more than 200 militants in a large operation near Mosul that allowed them to gain back a 300-square-mile area and liberate several villages. In the city, militants killed dozens of members of the Gahaish tribe and arrested dozens more.

Item 5–Did VP actually say we need boots on the ground?

Joe Biden inadvertently made the case for boots on the ground in Syria during an interview Wednesday.

Responding to the fact that the Islamic State is gaining ground in Syria, the vice president went where President Obama probably wishes he did not. Biden said the reason Obama’s plan is failing was because there were no troops to combat the Islamic State group.

A scary report….but one that is gaining popularity among the halls of DC….

Item 6–$6 million in tax dollars goes to Syria…….

The opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC) said on Thursday it had received $6 million from the United States in the first direct US financial support for the rebel body.

Ahmed Tohme, the chief of the SNC’s self-proclaimed interim government, said the money would be divided into two parts, with $4.4 million devoted to reconstruction and the purchase of heavy equipment include generators, water pumps and tankers.

The remaining $1.6 million will be used to strengthen local governance in rebel-controlled areas and for emergency aid response, including food baskets and assistance to bakeries.

Be honest….do you really see this cash going to reconstruction in the middle of a war?

Item 7–We have conflicting reports coming out of the Coalition on just how much damage we are actually doing to ISIS…..State Dept sez we have killed 6,000 fighters……

“We do know that thousands of ISIS fighters have been killed, and we do know that some of ISIS’s leadership have been killed,” Hagel said, saying he hadn’t seen any verification of exact numbers on either.
This kinda reminds me of the bogus body counts back during the Vietnam War……..I do not believe the count either.
Thanx for your time and attention…..that concludes this briefing….. I will return as more news is made available……
Turn The Page!

BiBi: Whining For Support

The ICC has agreed to look into Israel’s Gaza incursion last Summer……and the fix is in…..US media has decided to show “Schindler’s List”….a sympathy ploy to gain support……and now the Boehner has invited BiBi to speak to Congress……

As the White House urged calm while it works to nail down a nuclear deal with Iran, John Boehner went a little rogue this morning: The speaker of the House issued an invite to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress next month on what Boehner calls “the threats posed by radical Islam and Iran.” Netanyahu, who is virulently against a deal with Tehran, wasted little time in accepting the invite, reports the Washington Post, and is slated to speak in Washington on Feb. 11. It’s what Politico calls “a move sure to inflame the Obama administration,” and Boehner isn’t being shy about prodding the administration, telling his caucus this morning that President Obama’s “exact message to us was, ‘Hold your fire.’ He expects us to stand idly by and do nothing while he cuts a bad deal with Iran. Two words: Hell no!”

Obama last night said new sanctions on Tehran “will all but guarantee that diplomacy fails, ensuring that Iran starts up its nuclear program again,” a statement that Boehner this morning dismissed as having “papered over” a “serious threat.” He says he did not consult with the White House, but that “I don’t believe I’m poking anyone in the eye.” It will be Netanyahu’s third address before Congress; the last was in 2011.

We will hear about how close Iran is to having a nuke…..well folks that has been said for 30 years damn near…..Iran has been anywhere from 6 months to 5 years before they have a bomb……it is a con job.  He will talk about ISIS and of course they will be functioning inside Israel (no proof)……in other words he will be lying his ass off to garner the support of the paid agents in Congress.

Even the Israeli spy agency does not agree with BiBi and his whining…….

Spy agency Mossad had already split with Netanyahu on the sanctions, and has issued a warning to the US Congress that the sanctions bill would kill diplomacy with Iran over its nuclear program.

Having Mossad warn that sanctions are a bad thing could really kill Congressional efforts to get enough votes to override a threatened Obama veto, and Netanyahu’s invite by the House Speaker, over White House objections, seems to be their last hope at getting enough votes to impose the sanctions.

Our worthless elected ones are No more interested in peace in the Middle East than they are in the plight of America’s poor……it is all about the cash…the more they get the louder they speak.

Do not get me wrong……….Israel deserves to exist….but after 60 years they need to do it without hiding behind the skirts of Congress!  Maybe then they, Israel, will have to deal with their neighbors as equals and stop being the bully on the block.

Iraq beat Iran

No this not some headline from the early 80’s….when Saddam was at war with Iran……nope it is a bit more recent than that……

There is not much good news….great news coming out of Iraq these days….all the death and destruction…..but there was a bright spot in the sports world for Iraq……

 

Iraq beat Iran on penalties to settle classic Asian Cup encounter | Football | The Guardian.

 

I would like to say CONGRATS!  Now time to celebrate and then get to work for the next round….good luck!

Death Of The Saudi King

The news yesterday was that the king of Saudi Arabia has died and ass tradition dictates he will be buried today……and there is a new king who is just as ill as the old one and old to boot…..but what can we expect from this change?

The world’s No. 1 oil exporter has a new ruler in place: King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia died at about age 90 and was immediately replaced by his brother, Crown Prince Salman. Abdullah, ill with pneumonia of late, had ruled officially as king for the last decade, though he essentially ran the country for a decade before that when his predecessor, King Fahd, suffered a stroke, reports Reuters. Some early assessments:

  • CNN: “In the context of the kingdom’s conservative circles, King Abdullah was seen as a reformer and often came up against more hard-line clerics.”
  • Wall Street Journal: “His death removes a bulwark against the democratic and Islamist movements that have roiled the rest of the Arab world since the uprisings of 2011, though his immediate successors are seen as just as conservative as he was, or more.”
  • Guardian: He “accepted limited change after 2011 in response to the events of the Arab spring. Yet Saudi women are still unable to drive, citizens are unable to vote except in municipal elections and public beheading by sword remains a standard feature of the judicial system. Political parties are banned.”
  • Washington Post: “Combining an avuncular style with a reputation for honesty and a shrewd understanding of the media, he was popular with his subjects, who found him a refreshing corrective to his corrupt and autocratic predecessor, King Fahd.”

Most stories put Salman’s age at 79. He has served as defense minister since 2012, and the Guardian says he is “widely believed” to be in ill health, too.

One of America’s stanchest allies?  Huh?

Keep in mind that Saudi is a hard-line Islamic fundamentalism and has exported these beliefs…. (keep in mind AQ and ISIS)…….a number of the 9/11 attackers were Saudis……they have oil and that makes them important even to the point of lying about their importance…..they have funded extremists groups in the past….will that change?

So the new king……we will see if he is the reformer that US wants us to believe…..or if there will be a palace coup……if new king moves too fast then his days may be numbered…….or he does little to nothing to change things.

UpDate:  I listened to the new king’s speech and I heard nothing that would indicate change……he said that they would continue on the path that has been chosen……so women are still screwed, beheadings will continue and the extreme fundamentalism will continue…in short….same old same old……

GOP: Is The Game Afoot?

Holy crap!  Did I somehow step through “the Looking Glass”?   Is the GOP trying to re-define itself ahead of the 2016 election?

First we have news that there is a push back on the opposition to immigration reform….then the ladies pull their support for an anti-abortion bill in essence killing the bill (for now)……and then I got word that there was another vote that shocked me…….

I got this piece of news from Ace news group for whom I write op-eds from time to time……..

#AceWorldNews – WASHINGTON:Jan.22: Sometimes snippets of news just have to be published and this snippet is just one of those and is just as The Hill reported.

The Senate on Wednesday voted that “climate change is real and is not a hoax” as Democrats used the Keystone XL pipeline debate to force votes on the politically charged issue ahead of the 2016 elections.

The Senate on Wednesday voted 98-1 in favor of a an amendment stating that “climate change is real and is not a hoax.”

The provision offered by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) to put Republicans on record about climate change ahead of the 2016 election passed with near unanimous support, with only Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the chairman of the campaign committee for Senate Republicans, voting no.

First, Wicker is my Senator and I would expect nothing different from this big business crony……

Okay, what the Hell is going on with the GOP?

I thought is that they are playing a game to make them look like a real party and not some group of bumbling morons……all this is to look good to the groups that they have lost in the past….women, environmentalists, immigrants……it is all a game, in my mind, a well thought out game…..but a game none the less.

The GOP is moving at record speed in this redefining operation…..but will it last?

Even the d/bags in the Tea Party seem to be playing along with this dice roll……it is all about 2016……nothing to do with the reality of things….just to win an election and have TOTAL power…..this may not last long…..until the gamers get tired of playing.

So whatcha think?  Is A Game Afoot?

The Citizens United Decision Turns 5 This Month. Here’s Why You Should Care

Sen. Bernie Sanders has proposed a bill that will gut Citizen’s United……in a GOP controlled Congress it will be short lived…..and the money will win out again…..as usual.

But the American people need to worry about the effect that cash has on elections……read and become informed….

 

The Citizens United Decision Turns 5 This Month. Here’s Why You Should Care.

FLASH! We Have A GOP Revolt!

As I was fiddling about last night I heard something on the news that made me stop and take notice.

It seems that some GOP women have had a change of heart and pulled their names from an abortion bill and in essence killing the bill for now……

House Republicans have abruptly dropped plans to debate a bill banning virtually all late-term abortions after objections from GOP women and other lawmakers left them short of votes. The decision was embarrassing for Republican leaders eager to display a united, GOP-led Congress, who had planned to push the legislation through the House today. But after meeting repeatedly with female lawmakers and others who were unhappy with the measure, they decided last night to postpone the debate indefinitely. The vote was timed to coincide with the annual March for Life, when anti-abortion protesters stream to Washington to mark the anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. Instead, the House will debate legislation banning taxpayer funding for abortion—a prohibition that is already largely in effect.

What The Hell?

Good news for the pro-choice movement…..but…….my question is why now?

Is this sincere or is it more political games from the GOP?

I regret that I am a cynic….it is just too convenient with the anniversary of Rowe v Wade when activists descend on the halls of Congress with petitions and such…….is this an attempt to change the complexion of the GOP a bit?  After all a new election is not that far away.

Any thoughts?