Day: October 27, 2016

The Battle For Mosul

There is a wealth of news these days but most of it is about the election in a few days……but we should be focusing on the war raging in Iraq…..why?

This could be a situation for the ages and not just a push to destroy an enemy…..

After the battle there will be a wealth of problems that could reignite into another shooting conflict……

The battle for Mosul is as much a political endeavor as its post-conflict status will be. The entire venture pivots on the trust between the allied factions: the Kurds, the Christians, the Yazidis, and the Iraqi army which has its own Shia-Sunni divisions—not to mention the Turks hovering on the horizon threatening to join the hunt. For the ground war to work the factions need to believe that they share a common goal for the long-term future of Mosul. That’s a tall order because the major players have divergent, even opposing, agendas.

Source: The Politics of the Battle for Mosul | World Affairs Journal

Let’s look forward in time….and predict that ISIS in Mosul will be defeated….what then?

The steady erosion of ISIL’s hold on its core territories in Iraq and Syria appears to herald the final success of the US-led coalition’s effort to overthrow the self-proclaimed caliphate.

As the attack onMosul intensifies and Syrian regime forces and Kurdish fighters close in on Raqqa, ISIL is mounting a desperate defence of the shrinking area over which it still holds sway. However, it is probably far too early to write off a regional threat that can still call on clandestine, international networks of followers to sustain its fanatical and uncompromising struggle against western countries and their regional allies.

Source: What lies ahead when ISIL is finally defeated? | The National

As the battle for Mosul lingers on…the allies are at the same time preparing for a push on the capital of ISIS….Raqaa, Syria…..

Before Iraqi forces and their US backers have set foot in Mosul, the US and its allies have begun preparations to imminently wrest the Syrian city of Raqqa from the Islamic State, a momentous decision aimed at destroying what is left of Isis’s self-declared caliphate.

The US defense chief, Ashton Carter, meeting in Paris with his counterparts in the anti-Isis coalition, vowed that Iraqi forces, Syrian Arab and Kurdish allies and US special operations troops and airpower could take away Isis’s Iraqi and Syrian capitals practically simultaneously.

“We’ve planned for that, and we have the resources for both,” Carter told NBC News early Wednesday, saying an attack on Raqqa would commence “in the next few weeks”.

Source: US and allies prepare to take Raqqa from Isis as battle for Mosul continues | US news | The Guardian

Looks like the plan is to try and catch ISIS off guard with their pants down fighting for survival in Mosul….but I question that decision……

Maybe a better idea would be to fight one battle front at a time….but still keep pressure on Raqaa…but concentrate on the elimination of Mosul first.

But let’s say we are successful and defeat ISIS in Mosul and then move on and do the same in Raqaa….will we then declare the official death of ISIS?

There may be a reason to not get too jubilant about these possible defeats.

Why so, Professor?

The US military warned today that the Islamic State continues to plot attacks against the West from its headquarters in Raqqa, Syria.

“We know this plot and planning is emanating from Raqqa,” Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend said, according to the Associated Press.

Townsend didn’t provide any specifics, but the Islamic State has orchestrated multiple attacks from its safe havens in the past. American and European officials are constantly working to disrupt the group’s logistical support networks and uncover cells.

“We aren’t sure how pressing it is. We know they are up to something,” Townsend said, according to FoxNews.com. Townsend added that “we’ve got to get to Raqqa pretty soon” because of this anti-Western plotting.

Source: Islamic State continues to plot against the West, US military warns | The Long War Journal

As a reminder I turn your attention to an op-ed I wrote for Ace News Room…..

Source: Generation Jihad – In Saner Thought

Fore warned is fore armed!

The “Hawks” Are Circling

The GOP use to be the bastion of the Neocons or the “war hawks” if you like that title better……but this election has seen a shift in their allegiances….these despicable toads are saddling up to the “progressive” Clinton (I hate using the “P” word in association with Hillary….she is NO progressive!)

I have written many times that if she is elected then our lot will be cast for more and more conflicts in an expanding policy……she is the worse possible candidate to have with all the wars we are fighting……but that aside the “hawks” are drooling all over themselves with the hint that she will win……

Though the hawkish stance of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has been too often ignored this election season, new reporting on Thursday highlights how her presumed win in November will likely usher in a more aggressive, bipartisan foreign policy in the Middle East and beyond.

“The Republicans and Democrats who make up the foreign policy elite are laying the groundwork for a more assertive American foreign policy via a flurry of reports shaped by officials who are likely to play senior roles in a potential Clinton White House,” the Washington Post‘s White House correspondent Greg Jaffe reports.

Source: As Election Day Nears, Military Hawks Circle to Promote New Wave of War | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

(Thanx to my Twitter friend John Osalvo)

“Making America Great Again”

Ah!  Nothing like one of those campaign slogans that gets everyone’s juices flowing and gives one a slight orgasmic tingle, right?

Every election there is one that sticks out as the number one slogan of the season…..this one is right up there….the problem is that it is not that original at all….

The original was more along the lines of “American First” and it was one associated with Woodrow Wilson back in the early years of the 20th century…..and since I am known for my historical perspectives I thought I would share this bit of history with my readers….and thanx to the American Conservative did the work for me…..and I thank them…….

I long ago passed into and perhaps beyond the Elvis Costello “I used to be disgusted and now I try to be amused” attitude toward politics, but I suppose I’ll be in love with political Americana till the day I die.

My office is festooned with posters and pinbacks, including those bearing my two favorite slogans in American political history: “Come Home, America,” the plaintive motto of the patriotic prairie liberal George McGovern in 1972, and “America First,” which rings an oval photograph of that doughty foe of U.S. intervention in the world war … Woodrow Wilson. 

WTF? as the young ’uns say.

Source: The Meaning of ‘America First’ | The American Conservative

There is little that is new in this election……how sad is that?

Warning:  I will be taking on the old “American Exceptionalism” next….stay tuned for the fun….chuq

A New Social Contract Is In Order

A recent op-ed for Ace News Room……

In the last couple of years the rise of Far Right politicians and on-line entities have not overlooked the Middle East…… The rise of hardcore Right wing pursuits has made the world an i…

Source: A New Social Contract Is In Order

In the age of nationalistic feelings all over the globe which way will the Middle East go after the troubles are solved?  Will the Middle East return to the days of the hard line leaders like Nasser, Saddam, Assad or Qaddafi?

Media and Politics in the Age of Trump

A loyal friend of IST, the Ripening Wanderer, recently posted on what he thought about the media in the age of Trump…….

Source: The Media Covers Donald Trump In A Special Way | THE RIPENING WANDERER

After reading his post I thought about another post that I had read a couple of days ago and thought that it might fit with his thoughts on the media and politics…..

How profit undermines public service in the news media….

Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign will likely preoccupy future historians for years to come. While a number of factors contributed to his rise—including the growing power of social media, a latent racism and nativism within sections of the American public, and economic malaise resulting from Republican and Democratic administrations’ trade policies—the media deserve special scrutiny for their role in accelerating Trump’s candidacy, most obviously because they set agendas and frame political debates each election cycle.

News media’s constant coverage has boosted Trump’s visibility and helped popularize him, even in aggressive confrontations with the candidate. The benefit, however, is mutual.

As Trump attacks the press—mocking and feuding with journalists, threatening to change libel laws, holding campaign events where reporters are corralled and roughed up—he still serves the media well. That’s because the news organizations covering Trump, particularly television news, are reaping incredible amounts of money from their election coverage. Cable news organizations are expected to make a record-breaking $2.5 billion this election season.

Source: Media and Politics in the Age of Trump | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

The MSM is the leading actor in the dash to control the thought and the actions of the population….