Month: October 2016

The Obama Legacy

I have said all along that foreign policy would be the most important issue in 2016…..the problem is NO one of the candidates wants to talk about the issue seriously….instead we get platitudes, catch phrases and applause lines…..none of which really illustrates their knowledge of international situations.

Back in 2008 Obama was awarded the Nobel peace Prize because of his rhetoric…he had NOTHING as far as deeds but he talked a good game…..I said then that it was nothing but a PR stunt and that the commission would regret the awarding of the prize…..

And then everyone starting noticing that it was ignorant to award it to Obama…..

In his 2008 campaign, Barack Obama was, if not particularly ideologically committed, quickly branded as the comparatively antiwar candidate. It wasn’t a hard case to make, with Sen. John McCain (R – AZ) running an intensely pro-war campaign.

But Obama’s dubious antiwar bonafides were quickly embraced internationally, where he was heralded as a peacemaker of historical proportions and, in 2009, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize just nine months into his first term in office. He hadn’t really done anything yet, and the prize was seen as an advanced award for the things he was expected to do.

Source: Despite Nobel Peace Prize, Obama’s Presidency Defined by Constant War — News from Antiwar.com

Meanwhile back to the election of 2016……

……..presidential debate is unlikely to have much substance. It’s nothing new—throughout the presidential election season, concerns over personality and character have trumped even the pretense of a focus on actual issues. Donald Trump’s tenuous relationship with the truth makes this a particularly acute post-truth election but it isn’t the first one. Neither is it the first post-issues election.

When it comes to foreign policy, it has been decades since there’s been any kind of substantive domestic electoral debate. In the 2008 presidential election cycle, then Senator-Barack Obama got a lot of mileage out of his opposition to the Iraq War, when he was a state senator representing Hyde Park, one of the most liberal constituencies in Chicago. His primary opponent, then-Senator Hillary Clinton had not only voted for the 2002 authorization of the use of military force in Iraq but had also become one of its most vocal proponents, helping to forge a now conveniently forgotten bipartisan consensus.

Source: Trump, Clinton Foreign Policy Nonsense a Reflection of the Obama Legacy – Hit & Run : Reason.com

No matter the winner in November the legacy of Obama will dictate that our foreign policy will change little and that war will be the rule of the day for years to come.

So much for the change we all are looking for…..right?

Return Of The Ottomans?

There is no one left alive that can give much first hand knowledge about the Ottoman Empire…..unless one is a history major or buff.  It has been about 93 years since the Ottoman Empire collapsed.

The Ottoman Empire was an imperial state that was founded in 1299 after growing out of the break-down of several Turkish tribes. The empire then grew to include many areas in what is now present-day Europe to and it eventually became one of the largest, most powerful and longest-lasting empires in the history of the world. At its peak, the Ottoman Empire included the areas of Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Hungary, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and parts of the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa.

In the 1700s the Ottoman Empire began to rapidly deteriorate following the Russo-Turkish Wars and a series of treaties during that time caused the empire to lose some of its economic independence. The Crimean War, which lasted from 1853-1856, further exhausted the struggling empire. In 1856 the independence of the Ottoman Empire was recognized by the Congress of Paris but it was still losing its strength as a European power.

In the late 1800s, there were several rebellions and the Ottoman Empire continued to lose territory and political and social instability in the 1890s created international negativity toward the empire. The Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 and uprisings by Turkish nationalists further reduced the empire’s territory and increased instability. Following the end of World War One, the Ottoman Empire officially came to an end with the Treaty of Sevres.

I bring up this simplistic history about Turkey because of the situation today in the Middle East.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan called last year for the “conquest” of Europe by Islam “through emigration” into Europe and announced that the “conquest is to have the courage, tenacity, and sagacity to defy the entire world even at the hardest times.”

The speech, delivered in Istanbul on May 30, 2015, at a public meeting celebrating the 562nd anniversary of the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire’s Muslim armies, has just been translated into English for the first time.

Source: Erdogan and the Return of the Ottoman Empire – The New Observer

Turkey’s interest in northern Syria and northern Iraq is not an abstraction triggered by a group of religious fanatics calling themselves the Islamic State; it is the bypass, intersection and reinforcement of multiple geopolitical wavelengths creating an invisible force behind Ankara to re-extend Turkey’s formal and informal boundaries beyond Anatolia.

They, Turkey, has already started making in roads in the empire business…..they have ground troops in Syria and Iraq and they have little intention of leaving…..

Turkey insisted on Thursday that its troops will remain in Iraq despite Baghdad’s growing anger ahead of a planned operation to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from ISIS.

Baghdad has accused Ankara of risking a regional war by keeping its forces inside Iraq, with the dispute complicating plans for the ambitious American-backed Mosul operation.

“No matter what the Iraqi government in Baghdad says, a Turkish presence will remain there to fight against Daesh (ISIS), and to avoid any forceful change of the demographic composition in the region,” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in televised comments.

Turkey has an estimated 2,000 troops in Iraq — around 500 of them in the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq training Iraqi fighters who hope to participate in the battle to recapture Mosul, according to Turkish media.

The Turkish parliament on Saturday extended a government mandate by one year, allowing its troops to remain on both Iraqi and Syrian soil.

The Iraqi parliament labelled the Turkish troops an “occupying force” while Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi raised fears that Turkey’s move could lead to “regional war”.

Turkey is fighting the Kurds in Syria and some factions that it does not like…..ground troops are there to stay also…..

Since the supposed coup, Erdogan has been consolidating his power base….the Ottomans are making a slow return…….a new sultan in the making.

Just a thought……

 

What Is FGM?

Have you had enough gossipy shit yet?

Sunday and I am working in the orchard bringing in the Satsumas…….the tangerines will be ready next month…….yesterday my better half and I had breakfast at that place with the “arches”….2 bacon, egg and cheese biscuits, 1 sausage and egg biscuit, 2 hash browns and 2 small OJs…..price $17.49….later I picked up  my pain meds from a local druggist cost….$17.54….what does that tell you?

I was at a local coffee shop with my granddaughter….she was doing some ‘net surfing and I was enjoying a fine cup of Blue Mountain…..

In the table next to us were 3 older ladies…..60’s maybe 70’s….they were talking and laughing but then one brought up a subject that made me stop and look at the door (as not to let on that I was eavesdropping)……

This one lady said that her daughter asked her if she had heard of “female gentle mutilation”?  Apparently my granddaughter heard the comment also for she gave me her WTF? face……..I was about to smile when I realize that even though she had misspoke…how many people in this country are aware of what this procedure is all about?

FGM, or cutting, as it is also sometimes known, is the removal of the external female genitalia. The procedure has no health benefits, but can cause great harm and serious health complications for those who undergo the procedure. Besides causing severe pain, the practice has immediate and long-term consequences for the health of women and girls, including complications during childbirth, which could endanger the lives of both mother and child.

Source: Senegal: Breaking the cycle of FGM | Al Jazeera English

This is a horrible thing to do to a young woman…..while the older ladies term was a bit humorous….there is NOTHING humorous about this procedure……I hope this well give my reader a little knowledge about this despicable practice.

It is exhausting trying to be informative…..tee hee….

I hope everyone has a good Sunday and I will be back to form tomorrow….that is the internet provider is up to it…..

The Petticoat Revolution of 1916

It is a Saturday and the election is closing in on our sanity…..I like to read reports when people take it upon themselves to change things….especially when it comes to politics and elections……

My regulars know I am a bit of a nut on giving some sort of historic perspective…..this election needs all the perspective it can get…..we have two candidates that are about as popular as a gorilla in heat……

I also like to give women all the credit they deserve……with that in mind I found a great perspective to offer up……

The incumbent all-male government in the tiny town of Umatilla, Oregon—population just 198—was confident going into the 1916 election. Mayor E.E. Starcher didn’t even worry about campaigning to keep his seat. After all, most citizens of the town didn’t bother to vote anymore, and since no one had announced that they were challenging him, ballots hadn’t even been ordered.

But it was exactly this sort of complacency and particulars—a disengaged voting population and elections in which writes-ins were acceptable—that allowed the “Petticoat Revolution” to topple the old boys’ club, replacing the majority of elected officials with women (who had gained suffrage in Oregon in 1912) and ousting E.E. Starcher for none other than his own wife, Laura Stockton Starcher.

Source: Laura Starcher and the Petticoat Revolution of 1916 | Mental Floss

That is what this country needs….another revolution (you may take that any damn way you like) our reps are lazy, complacent and corrupt……time for a change and since we cannot do it through the election process….what choice do we have?

This will be my only post today unless news warrants my attention……

Start you weekend with a little fun…..

Hillary Has a Plan For Poverty

I have had my fill of gossip in this election…..this is a reoccurring phenom in every election since Jefferson….it is getting sickening.

Instead of mentioning her plan for poverty on the campaign trail she issued an op-ed in NYTimes…….

Hillary Clinton penned an op-ed in today’s New York Times outlining her anti-poverty plan. She often talks about issues related to poverty, but this may be the first time in the general election that she has put forth a plan to address it. (she has been running for a year or more and it is important now…why?)

Clinton writes:

The best way to help families lift themselves out of poverty is to make it easier to find good-paying jobs. As president, one of my top priorities will be increasing economic growth that’s strong, fair and lasting. I will work with Democrats and Republicans to make a historic investment in good-paying jobs — jobs in infrastructure and manufacturing, technology and innovation, small businesses and clean energy. And we need to make sure that hard work is rewarded by raising the minimum wage and finally guaranteeing equal pay for women. (what part of this is a plan?  Sounds like the same platitudes we always hear)

Source: Clinton’s anti-poverty plan – AEI | Poverty Studies Blog » AEIdeas

The American Enterprise Institute…..whose main concern is the maximizing of corporate profits…..

These are the same promises we always hear at election time…..where is the plan to actually get this done?

But to be fair…here is a link to the original report……

Source: Full-Report.pdf

It is a lengthy report and if you read it then tell me where the promise can be fulfilled.

All this is just a re-hash of the bullshit from the DLC in the 1990’s……her plan will benefit no one but corporate interests…..

Please DO NOT be fooled by the bullshit passed off as a “plan”.

But speaking of a job…..let’s say Clinton wins the election and you would like a job in the White House….what must you do?

If you’re wondering how to get a job in a Hillary Clinton White House, start by reading campaign chairman John Podesta’s hacked emails.

From a billionaire plugging a federal official for a cabinet appointment to Podesta himself plugging the daughter of a friend for an internship, the trove of Podesta’s correspondence posted by WikiLeaks is a portrait of Washington insiderism, showing powerful people turning into supplicants using connections and flattery.

In other words…DREAM ON!
I am out….gone to start my weekend…..hope all have a wonderful weekend….

Game Of Drones

The antics of candidates have driven the War on Terror from the front pages…..maybe that is a mistake……

There has been lots about the US use of drones for targeted killings….those unmanned vehicles that are being used for just about everything from intel gathering to assassinations……the justification is that they saved soldiers lives….which is true…..but it is also true that they are cheaper than a soldier………..

In case you would like more info on this program there is a list of articles that you could use to further your knowledge…..

Source: Drone Program

But now the Pentagon is dealing with a “secret” weapon of the terrorists…….drones…go figure……

In a development that some security experts say the Pentagon should have seen coming, ISIS is now using drones to kill people on the battlefield. The Guardian reports that according to French media, two Kurdish peshmerga fighters were killed and two French special forces soldiers were badly injured in Iraq last week when a small drone rigged with explosives blew up after it was intercepted and brought down. ISIS has been known to use drones of the kind easily bought online for surveillance, but this is thought to be among the first times the group has successfully used them to attack its enemies.

“We should have been ready for this, and we weren’t,” a robotic weaponry expert at the New America think tank tells the New York Times. With the battle for Mosul looming, US military experts fear that ISIS plans to deploy more explosive-laden drones against coalition troops, though the US has launched at least eight airstrikes in Iraq and Syria over the last 18 months to try to wipe out the group’s drones. The Pentagon is working on ways to combat attacks from small drones and has developed devices to disarm them, though these are not generally available to Iraqi or Kurdish fighters on the front lines.

ISIS is showing an adaptability that the Pentagon has been reluctant to acknowledge……

If Only They Had The Info

I have stated several times that I think this election is all about foreign policy and the direction of this country for the next 10 years……and as important as it is there is very little talk on the campaign trail about it……and the talk we get is not very accurate at all……

If only the candidates would have a document that would help them with this issue……

They do!  But no one would take the time to garner a bit of information to help the voter……granted it does have a distinctly neo-liberal lean….but at least it would give the people something to think about and a better understanding of world situations…..

Get the full Election Guide here.

Or browse by topic:

  1. China

  2. Cuba

  3. Iran

  4. North Korea

  5. NATO and Russia

  6. ISIS

  7. National Security

  8. Trade

  9. Immigration

  10. Energy and the Environment

It is just that simple….it takes no time……then formulate a plan or a campaign….but that would assume that you really want a plan for dealing with situations beyond the platitudes we get all the time….(as I wrote that I could not stop laughing)

This proves that it is seldom about the issues or policies but rather who is the most popular…..and that has always been a shitty way to pick a leader…..but after all….it is the American Way.

Greed & War

I am always going on about the Military-Industrial Complex (M-IC)….how it is this sector of American industry that controls our foreign policy especially when an armed conflict is called for…..

Wars are fought with profits as the bottom line….not ideology……”an used weapon is a useless weapon” sort of thing……

President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his most powerful speech as he left office in 1961. He warned the American people about an emerging military-industrial complex, a complex that was already beginning to erode democratic rule in America. Originally, Ike had Congress as a collaborator with and enabler of that Complex, but he deleted the reference in the final version, apparently deciding that by alienating Members of Congress, he’d only push them further into the Complex’s corner.

The military-industrial complex, the Complex for short, has only grown in power over the last half-century. Today, more than half of Federal discretionary funding goes to it. With the post-9/11 addition of Homeland Security and more and more intelligence agencies (seventeen of them at last count), the Complex continues to grow like Topsy. It consumes roughly $750 billion each and every year, a sum likely to grow whether Trump or Clinton wins the presidency. (Trump has promised to rebuild an allegedly shattered military; Clinton, meanwhile, is a steadfast supporter of the military as well as neo-con principles of aggressive foreign interventionism.)

Source: Greed-War: The Power and Danger of the Military-Industrial Complex – Antiwar.com Original by — Antiwar.com

We were warned about the effects of the M-IC on our country and the world….we chose to ignore it and now we have war and death as a daily reminder of our ignorance.

Where The Hell Is Kyrgyzstan?

Inkwell Institute

First, that is a rhetorical question.

Most Americans cannot find Central Asia on a map…..

I recently was commissioned by a man to do an assessment of this Central Asian country…..he was very secretive……I had to do all my research on his computer and sign a non-disclosure agreement.

Apparently this person was about to enter into a business agreement that would put him and his company in the country and he needed to know the facts about the situation on the ground.

As part of this report I gave him a copy of an op-ed I did for a website called “Legationes”

Source: Inside Kyrgyzstan – In Saner Thought

My op-ed gave the general information about the country that anyone interested in visiting would need to know.

He also wanted more information about the society and the trends that are prevalent…..

I found a report that would help this person out….I also made sure to tell him that it is a site that many “think tanks” that do research on the possibilities of crisis……

Kyrgyzstan models itself as Central Asia’s only parliamentary democracy, but multiple challenges threaten its stability. Divided ethnically between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks and geographically north and south, the state is deeply corrupt and fails to deliver basic services, in particular justice and law enforcement. Its political institutions are under stress: the October 2015 parliamentary elections had a veneer of respectability but were undermined by systematic graft at the party and administrative level, and presidential elections will test state cohesion in 2017. The 30 August suicide car bomb attack on the Chinese embassy in Bishkek underscored Kyrgyzstan’s security vulnerabilities. There is need to prevent and counter the threat of growing radicalisation by bolstering the credibility of its institutions and adopting a more tolerant attitude toward non-violent Islamists.

In the absence of political pluralism, a reliable state and economic opportunities, growing numbers of citizens are taking recourse in religion. Islam has become a central factor in public life since the end of the Soviet era.

Source: Kyrgyzstan: State Fragility and Radicalisation | International Crisis Group

I also included an op-ed I did for Legationes on the country……

Source: Inside Kyrgyzstan – In Saner Thought

After a couple more weeks of presented my findings and report to the man and he was happy and dismissed me….I told him that he might want to follow-up for the situation in Central Asia changes almost daily……

His last words were….”I will be in touch”……

I cashed the check and had a beer……we both were happy.

Dear Congress: You Guys Suck!

How many times during this election or for that matter any election have you heard the candidate tell you what they will do to improve our daily lives….let me see….they will fund education or they will do all they can with health care or…..well you get the point….they promise the world and usually do not deliver.

There is a reason that most of the promises go unfulfilled….the Congress.

In case you are not aware of the way it works…..the prez proposes and the Congress delivers…..and since these guys work less than 6 months a year they deliver nothing……in essence they work part-time for full time pay…..did you know that roaches have a better approval rating than Congress?

Just weeks before Election Day, less than 1 in 5 Americans approve of the job Congress is doing, according to a new Gallup poll released Wednesday.

Congress has an 18 percent approval rating, the survey found.

The approval rating for Congress has remained below 25 percent since 2009, the year President Obama took office.

Democrats are slightly more approving of Congress, the poll found. Twenty-two percent of Democrats approved of Congress, while just 14 percent of Republicans did. The GOP controls both the House and Senate.

The poll was conducted from Oct. 5 to 9, and surveyed 1,017 adults. It has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

What does this mean?  Not a goddamn thing!  Why?  The stupidity of the American people keeps these lazy bastards in Congress for as long as they want….and we fall for their crap every election….even though we piss and moan about Washington we do not want to change a thing……we even fall for the same lies during a general election and then we revert to the pouting and bitching…..only to wait for the next election and the next batch of lies that we will believe…..a vicious cycle.

“Stupidity is the Deliberate Cultivation of Ignorance”……..