Day: July 1, 2016

Battle of the Somme

One more post before I start my holiday weekend……

Keeping with my tradition….a little history…..(you are welcome)

Today is the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme during World War One…..

The Battle of the Somme, also known as the Somme Offensive, was one of the largest battles of the First World War. Fought between July 1 and November 1, 1916 near the Somme River in France, it was also one of the bloodiest military battles in history. On the first day alone, the British suffered more than 57,000 casualties, and by the end of the campaign the Allies and Central Powers would lose more than 1.5 million men.

Source: Battle of the Somme – World War I – HISTORY.com

you really did not think I would forget my history lessons now did you?

Please have a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend….fun, food and frolic…love you guys….peace out.

Endangered Hawks

Looks like the war hawks in Congress are feeling the pressure……..Trump is NO hawk and since the war hawk party has picked him for their nominee how does that fare with the hawks running for re-election?

The American Conservative tackles this question……..yes Irene….the old hippie radical reads the American Conservative…..go figure…..

The 2016 presidential election has been a dispiriting one for Americans interested in a having a more restrained and responsible foreign policy. The Republican field was overflowing with hawkish candidates, and Hillary Clinton arguably has the most aggressive foreign policy of any Democratic nominee since Lyndon Johnson. The Republican nominee, Donald Trump, offers the public a jumbled, incoherent mix of nationalist bluster, support for torture, yet an apparent wariness of new wars, combined with a shaky grasp of international affairs. A Clinton win will ensure at least another four years of the failed conventional Washington consensus, and no one really knows what a Trump administration would do overseas. That’s the bad news.

The good news this year is that the election may bring a few important changes to the make-up of the Senate that could have a salutary effect on the quality and direction of our foreign-policy debates. Several high-profile hawkish members of the Senate face difficult re-election fights this fall or are not seeking re-election. Their possible replacements promise to be a significant improvement, at least when it comes to opposing new wars and supporting diplomatic engagement with rivals and troublesome states.

Source: Endangered Hawks | The American Conservative

Could there be an end to their strangle-hold on the defense budget?  The M-IC will pull out all stops to see the the war hawks keep their positions of influence…NO matter who wins this damn election……

Gotta bounce…..be back tomorrow and to dazzle you guys….have a good holiday….

What To Do For The Berniecrats

Now that the silly season has terminated and Clinton seems to be cruising to the nomination….Bernie supporters are soul searching to decide which candidate to throw their support behind.

For many it will NOT be Clinton……some are looking at the Green Party and others are considering the Libertarians….that I do not understand…..the Libertarians would be more loose with their restrictions on Wall Street…..

I then read a post about this decision process……

Disappointed Sanders supporters are searching for a candidate they can stomach. Is that candidate Gary Johnson?

Bernie Sanders has admitted he is not going to be the Democratic nominee for president, but his millions of supporters are still going through a very public and painful soul-searching as they survey the choices before them.

The vast majority are backing presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Some are clinging to the extremely unlikely hope that hundreds of Democratic delegates will switch their allegiance to Sanders over the next month. A dwindling number are pledging to vote for Donald Trump, who has been actively courting their votes. And some are looking for a third-party candidate who aligns with their values.

Source: Libertarians Can’t Count On Berniecrats This Fall | ThinkProgress

Personally, I am thinking Green Party and Dr. Jill Stein……

Millennials seem to be drawn to Bernie…and now that he may not be the nominee the question is where do they fit?

Few developments have caused as much recent consternation among advocates of free-market capitalism as various findings that millennials, compared to previous generations, are exceptionally receptive to socialism.

A recent Reason-Rupe survey found that a majority of Americans under 30 have a more favorable view of socialism than of capitalism. Gallup finds that almost 70 percent of young Americans are ready to vote for a “socialist” president. So it has come as no surprise that 70 to 80 percent of young Americans have been voting for Bernie Sanders, the self-declared democratic socialist. Some pundits have been eager to denounce such surveys as momentary aberrations, stemming from the economic crash, or due to lack of knowledge on the part of millennials about the authoritarianism they say is the inevitable result of socialism. They were too young to have been around for Stalin and Mao, they didn’t experience the Cold War, they don’t know to be grateful to capitalism for saving them from global tyranny. The critics dismiss the millennials’ political leanings by repeating Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan’s mantra, “There is no alternative” (TINA), which prompted the extreme form of capitalism we now know as neoliberalism.

Source: The Millennial Generation Is a Perfect Fit for Socialism | Alternet

Now I ask….what will be the ultimate decision for these voters?  Will they fall prey to the same laziness as most other generations and vote for one of the Theft parties?

The Great Turkish Who Dunnit

By now the news media has just about spent all their “expert” cash analyzing the latest terror attack in Turkey….now they will sink into their pool of speculation of which nothing substantial ever comes.

Now the inevitable finger pointing and all those crooked (take that anyway you like) fingers are pointing at ISIS as the culprit of the attack.

The common view is that ISIS ordered the attack even if they have not taken responsibility….there is a minor opinion that it could have been the Kurds, whom the Turks have been fighting for decades.

So I will give my take on this attack……

Not the Kurds…..their attacks are more Turk-centric they seldom involve others in their fight with the Turkish government…..

Was it ISIS?  Probably,  If so why then will they not say it was their plan?

One, Turkey is the pipeline for the ISIS apparatus…if they confirm it was them then Turkey will tighten their resolve and their pipeline dries up…..no flow of new fighters and no flow of resources….

The country of Turkey and its government are involved in so many conflicts that it can be as confusing as the situation in Syria….

The attacks in Istanbul on Tuesday night came as a shock to many around the world but for a country that once prided itself as the Middle East’s pro-western, outward-looking beacon of stability, conflict and bombings are starting to become the norm.

These were Turkey’s fifth major terrorist attacks in less than a year, and came amid a series of catastrophic policy failures at both home and abroad.

Turkey’s government and its president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the head of the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP), have invested heavily in the continuing conflict in Syria, devoting considerable resources to the toppling of the Bashar al-Assad regime even when in recent years the international community has opted for a political rather than military settlement to the conflict. Once Syria’s rebellion against the Assad regime became dominated by Islamic fundamentalists, these groups became central to Turkey’s foreign policy objectives. Ankara acquiesced to jihadi groups entering Syria across its borders and enabled them to establish a presence in Turkey to arm and fund their campaign.

Source: The violence in Turkey highlights the country’s many conflicts | Ranj Alaaldin | Opinion | The Guardian

No matter the outcome of this “investigation” the result will be the same…..more airstrikes and more attacks on civilians…..

UPDATE:  After I wrote this draft to save word has been released that the 3 attackers have been identified…….One is said to be from Russia’s North Caucasus region and the others from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Turkey believes so-called Islamic State (IS) was behind the suicide gun and bomb attack that left 44 people dead and some 240 injured. (This is an assumption nit fact)

Police detained at least 13 suspects in Istanbul and more in Izmir on Thursday.

Expect New Wars in the Middle East

I know I keep harping on the fact that this election is a crucial one….especially for our foreign policy…..more and more it is looking like our involvement in the Middle East will only get worse…..no matter which of the people is elected president.

As I read the reports coming out I keep sinking deeper into the thought that it is not going to be a good 4 years beginning in 2017……

Thirteen years of wars in the Middle East, since the illegal and criminal invasion of Iraq by the United States and Britain in 2003, have killed way over a million people; destroyed Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Libya, and created millions of refugees. The terrorist attacks by Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL) in Europe, […]

Source: Expect New Wars in the Middle East if Hillary Clinton Is Elected President – Antiwar.com Original by — Antiwar.com

The election will only be a formality…..the conflicts and the war will rise until it chokes the whole world…..Mrs. Clinton’s words after the Istanbul attack says it all…..

Hillary Clinton says the bombings at Istanbul Ataturk Airport are “a reminder that the United States cannot retreat.”

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee says in a statement that the U.S. must deepen its cooperation with allies and partners in the Middle East and Europe “to take on this threat.”

She says “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and the Turkish people. … “Today’s attack in Istanbul only strengthens our resolve to defeat the forces of terrorism and radical jihadism around the world.”

Neocon-speak for more wars to come…..

And that my friends is what we have to look forward to for possibly a generation.