Month: April 2017

The Attack Of The Boars

This would be a good title for a discussion of Trump and his supporters….nothing is more boring than those people……but in this case I am talking about pigs (yes these same people could be called that…but not in this incident)…..the four legged type of pig.

It appears that ISIS has a new foe in the battle for Iraq……

An apparent ambush of ISIS militants is making headlines, if only because those who overpowered them were reportedly wild boars. A tribal leader in northern Iraq tells the Times of London the animals killed three members of the Islamic State and injured five others on Sunday. His best guess is that the militants were preparing to launch an ambush of their own near a Kurdish checkpoint some 55 miles from Kirkuk. “The area is dense with reeds, which are good for hiding in,” he says, but he speculates the men’s movements disturbed the boars.

Refugees fleeing fighting in the area spotted the bodies, and a Kurdish intelligence official floats an alternative theory—that the militants were near the checkpoint because they intended to defect and surrender, reports the Telegraph. Either way, ISIS responded by killing as many wild boars as they could in the area, he says.

NY Post had another take on this situation……..

A herd of wild boars became the latest group to join the fight against ISIS — killing three jihadi barbarians during a stampede this week in Iraq, according to reports.

At least eight ISIS fighters were taking cover among dense reeds in the al-Rashad region about 55 miles southwest of Kirkuk, preparing for a surprise strike on local anti-ISIS tribesmen when the hero boars charged them on Sunday, Newsweek reported.

But in the three days before the boars attacked, the militants executed 25 people attempting to escape the clutches of the terror group, Assi told the Times.

“We know that a massacre took place in Hawija district through our sources,” he said. “This will not be ISIS’s last massacre against citizens.”

ISIS is believed to have recovered the bodies of their dead , and have now began to shoot at the boars in retaliation.

This is a problem with a solution….EAT PORK!

This technique is a bit cheaper than bombs….a plan to consider….for it is better than anything that we are trying these days.

What About “Net Neutrality”?

If you are a blogger then you use the internet a lot….researching your thoughts before they are written….and if you are a blogger then you have some sort of internet defense widget on your site….for we all are concerned about the loss of the internet for public consumption.

Well it looks like our President one Donald J. Trump, is siding with the internet companies in their dash to massive profits and total control……but that was before….it looks like something has changed in the Trump admin…..but unfortunately, to me, something still smells about this……

A top US regulatory official on Wednesday unveiled plans to roll back so-called “net neutrality” rules that require broadband firms to treat all online traffic equally.

The announcement by Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai, appointed by President Donald Trump, signals a new round of wrangling over internet regulatory policy by seeking to reverse rules aimed at avoiding the emergence of “fast” and “slow” lanes at the discretion of carriers.

Pai, speaking to a Washington forum, said the 2015 FCC order — which is being challenged in court by major broadband firms — did not deliver on its promise but rather added new regulatory burdens which stifled investment.

Source: Flash – US regulator vows to roll back ‘net neutrality’ rules – France 24

We must be aware of the gimmicks that these politicians will pull…..

We need to be vigilant……this too will pass into a control substance.

I trust no one when they start dicking with the neutrality thing….

How about you?

Is It The Downfall Of Western Civilization?

I have seen many TV shows and heard of movies that use the downfall of Western Civilization as their main premise…..I have talked to numerous people that also see mankind as a cancer and that civilization could be short lived…..

Situations are pointing to an end to Western civilization….at least according to some predictors…….including one Davis Brooks……

In his New York Times column Friday, David Brooks is worried about what might be the ultimate big picture: the collapse of Western civilization. He sees the signs all over, particularly in the rise of “strong men” around the world such as Vladimir Putin, Turkey’s Recep Erdogan, Kim Jong Un, and, yes, our own president. “While running for office, Donald Trump violated every norm of statesmanship built up over these many centuries, and it turned out many people didn’t notice or didn’t care,” writes Brooks. Modern governments, he adds, are beginning to resemble “premodern mafia states, run by family-based commercial clans.” He’s also worried about the rise of fringe parties, as can be seen in the presence of Marine Le Pen in France, and the “collapse of liberal values at home,” as seen in the shouting down of speakers at college campuses.

“These days, the whole idea of Western civ is assumed to be reactionary and oppressive,” he concludes. “All I can say is, if you think that was reactionary and oppressive, wait until you get a load of the world that comes after it.” At the BBC, Rachel Nuwer paints a similarly dark picture after interviewing scientists and historians about the long-term prospects for Western societies. The two main themes are growing economic and ecological stresses, but she does end with a hint of hope, summing up the view of one of her interviewees: “Western civilization is not a lost cause, however. Using reason and science to guide decisions, paired with extraordinary leadership and exceptional goodwill, human society can progress to higher and higher levels of well-being and development.” Click for Brooks’ column, and for Nuwer’s.

Disclaimer:  I do not use NYT much as a source ut I read this piece and thought it would make good fodder for conversation…….

A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.

Ariel Durant

Yes a very heavy subject…..and please let the rest of us in on what you think about the prediction of the downfall of Western civilization.

Where Is The “Political Will”?

Every politician that has to stand up and make a political speech has in one way of the other promised to end the wars in the Middle East in one fashion or another.  But is there a political will to end these conflicts?

As long as the M-IC is in control there will be NO end to these conflicts……the pursuit of profit overrides all else…….

As US sanctions on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime have failed to end the war in Syria, the international community must exercise the political will to do so—and, in the meantime, establish safe zones that would put civilians out of harm’s way, according to two members of the Syrian Civil Defense (SCD), also known as the White Helmets.

“The sanctions are not having the intended effect of stopping the war,” said Jehad Mahameed, a liaison officer for the SCD. Manal Abazeed, a volunteer with the White Helmets, called for world leaders, particularly US President Donald Trump, to exercise “the political will to stop this conflict.”

Source: “Political Will” Needed to End War in Syria | RealClearDefense

But let us look at Trump’s Middle East……..

The Trump administration has performed a variety of policy somersaults in the Middle East. One day it opposed intervention in Syria. Then it intervened. When it came to Israel, candidate Trump pledged a neutral policy. Then, as president, he embraced Israel for a few weeks before returning to a more detached approach. Where will it all head?

Today the Center for the National Interest hosted two eminent Middle East experts to discuss the new administration’s options and outlook in the region. Philip Gordon, now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, was Barack Obama’s White House coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf Region. Before that, he served as assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs. Michael Singh, now the managing director and Lane-Swig Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, was senior director for Middle East Affairs in George W. Bush’s National Security Council. Before that, he served as special assistant to Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell. Geoffrey Kemp, the Center’s senior director for regional security as well as a former special assistant to Ronald Reagan and NSC senior director for Near East and South Asian Affairs, moderated the event.

Source: Trump’s Middle East | The National Interest

There will be NO end to these conflicts….for Trump has entered the world of the war hawk and once entered there is NO turning back.

To be fair we cannot blame Trump for these situations….NO it is a bi-partisan effort to continue war at any cost…….

After all the musings that Donald J. Trump fails the “presidential” test, he joined the tradition that confirms leadership stature: CNN’s most “serious and reasonable” foreign policy pundit, Fareed Zakaria soberly intoned that, after bombing Syria, Trump “became president of the United States”.

Trump’s 59 Tomahawk missiles, killed seven (including four children), injured nine, was accompanied by a near-universal repetition of an “atrocity” cover-story, No investigation was required before all corporate media (major newspapers, CNN, MSNBC and Fox) sang in unison. Endless “outrage” over dozens of Syrian deaths due to some sort of poisoning that may (or may not) be sarin gas and seems far more likely to have been either an accidental destruction of a warehouse or done by the terrorists groups Assad that recently beat back—ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Al-Nusrun (who are supposed to be U.S. enemies, too).

Source: Bipartisan Wars R’ US – LA Progressive

The US seems to never learn from its mistakes in war…..NEVER……

Wars begin with political motives and end with political arrangements. Following the wisdom of Carl von Clausewitz, Nadia Schadlow begins War and the Art of Governance by observing that “Success in war depends on the consolidation of political order, which requires control over territory and the hard work of building local governmental institutions.” Countering the contemporary view, Schadlow tells us that this has not been principally an interagency effort but an important mission for the United States Army. In her accounting, in war after war, the United States Army and its partners have been faced not only with stability operations but also the hard task of governance “to shape the political outcome of the war.”

Source: Lessons Unlearned: War, Occupation, and Governance | World Affairs Journal

(Insert Einstein quote here)

Misadventures In Paradise

Since the discovery of oil and its importance to nations there has been many adventures into the Middle East and in all that time none have actually considered the outcome of any meddling…..that is what happens when you chase profits.

Yep, America has been sticking its nose into the region for many decades and in all that time no one has ever understood the region therefore all of our intervention has been nothing more that one misadventure after another….

The American Conservative takes a look at the region and our interventions…..

“From now on,” President Donald Trump declared in his inaugural address, “it’s going to be only America first, America first!” If so, no region stands to be more affected than West Asia and North Africa—what Americans call “the Middle East.” America’s interests there are now entirely derivative rather than direct. They are a function of the self-appointed roles of the United States as the warden of world order, the guarantor of other nations’ security, the shepherd of the world economy, and the custodian of the global commons. If America is now to look out only for itself, it has little obvious reason to be much involved in the Middle East.

The United States is a secular democracy. It has no intrinsic interest in which theology rules hearts or dominates territory in the Middle East. It is not itself now dependent on energy imports from the Persian Gulf or the Maghreb. For most of the two-and-a-half centuries since their country was born, Americans kept a healthy distance from the region and were unharmed by events there. They extended their protection to specific nations in the Middle East as part of a global struggle against Soviet communism that is long past. What happens in the region no longer determines the global balance of power.

Source: America’s Misadventures in the Middle East | The American Conservative

Many wish that we could claim a victory in our adventurism….sadly we cannot….most of today’s problems can be seen through the eyes of Lebanon in the 1980’s……

We should take a step back and re-think of war in the Middle East…..for the scorecard today is not good……

Make no mistake: after 15 years of losing wars, spreading terror movements, and multiplying failed states across the Greater Middle East, America will fight the next versions of our ongoing wars. Not that we ever really stopped.

Sure, Washington traded in George W. Bush’s expansive, almost messianic attitude toward his Global War on Terror for Barack Obama’s more precise, deliberate, even cautious approach to an unnamed version of the same war for hegemony in the Greater Middle East.

Sure, in the process kitted-up 19 year-olds from Iowa became less ubiquitous features on Baghdad’s and Kabul’s busy boulevards, even if that distinction was lost on the real-life targets of America’s wars—and the bystanders (call them “collateral damage”) scurrying across digital drone display screens.

Source: How to Lose the Next War in the Middle East | War Is Boring

This is not the first time that I have called for a fresh approach to the Middle East…..old school solutions have done nothing but waste lives, equipment and money for decades.

Every question that can be answered must be answered or at least engaged. Illogical thought processes must be challenged when they arise.Wrong answers must be corrected.Correct answers must be affirmed. —From the Erudite faction manifesto

Closing Thought–26Apr17

“Benghazi Calling!”

I remember the days when the GOP was jerking off on their desks because of the attack in Benghazi that killed the US ambassador to Libya.  All the investigations that found nothing…all the politicians face time on talk TV…..and all the conspiracy crap from the bowels of the likes of Alex Jones, WND and a wealth of morons from the Right.

Then in 2016 we had candidate Trump that mentioned it whenever it was advantageous…..and he was concerned how lax Clinton was with the security of our diplomats……

As usual the Trump person was full of piss and vinegar….why?

Although President Donald Trump repeatedly railed against Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over the attacks on the Benghazi consulate, he still has yet to nominate anyone to oversee American embassy security.

As Politico reported, Congressional Democrats are calling the omission hypocritical while Republicans are encouraging Trump to work faster to fill this and other important posts at the State Department.

“The State Department has security professionals who are up to the job, but we do need all hands on deck given the many evolving threats we face,” said Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA). “I hope a nominee for assistant secretary will be put forward soon.”

Source: Trump railed against Benghazi — but he still hasn’t nominated anyone to oversee embassy security

It is okay with those tiny brains of the Trump supporters….that Pres. Trump is nothing like candidate Trump.

But what can you expect from a candidate from the hypocritical party…..but if the unthinkable happens will Trump be held up to the same scrutiny as Clinton….my guess is NOT a chance.

But if you prefer music to bullsh*t then maybe this selection will be a better end of the day………

That closes down the notebook for the day….be well, be safe….tomorrow is another day….chuq

Guernica Remembered

In 1936 the Spanish landscape erupted in a bloody civil war that lasted until 1939…..I know about this war because I lived in Spain and when I was there some of the scars from family against family still lingered……and my grandfather was fighting there as part of the International Brigades….(read more history)….

The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) broke out when the Spanish army in Morocco when a few of the most influent generals of the Spanish Army, led by General Francisco Franco, rose up against the democratically elected Republican government, presided over by Manuel Azaña. Allegiances were not always clear-cut during this conflict. Essentially, the ranks of the Left (also known as Loyalist and Republican) comprised workers, peasants and trade unions, but also the Spanish government, Socialists, Communists and Anarchists. The Right (also known as Nationalist), was supported by rebellious factions of the army, industry, landowners, the middle classes and the Catholic Church. For various and somewhat contradictory reasons, the Loyalists received the support of the Soviet Union and European democracies, while the Nationalists were armed and equipped by the Fascist governments of Germany and Italy.

The Spanish Civil War would prove to be both fierce and bloody. Although the resources of the two sides were not that unequal, the Nationalists were better organized and received extensive material aid from Germany. The Loyalists received very little assistance from the Soviet Union and, moreover, were divided by internal conflicts between Communist, Socialist and Anarchist factions.

While European and North American volunteers fought for the Republic in the framework of the International Brigades, and a number of foreign artists and intellectuals supported the Loyalist cause, including Ernest Hemingway (who was working as a reporter and photographer) and George Orwell (who fought on the Republican side only to be prosecuted later on and thus becoming profoundly disillusioned by the rivalry in the ranks of the Left), the Nationalists were finally triumphant.

General Franco’s victory marked the beginning of a forty-year dictatorship in Spain (1939-1975). In the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, Hitler sought Franco’s support for his own military campaign, but Spain was in no position to provide either financial or human aid. Although the Spanish Civil War had been a training field for the battles to be waged in the Second World War, Spain would play no part in the latter but agreed to sponsor a small army of volunteers known as La División Azul.

One of the worse airstrikes by the Nazi Condor Legion was in the attack on the  Basque town of Guernica……

The German bombers appeared in the skies over Guernica in the late afternoon of April 26, 1937 and immediately transformed the sleepy Spanish market town into an everlasting symbol of the atrocity of war. Unbeknownst to the residents of Guernica, they had been slated by their attackers to become guinea pigs in an experiment designed to determine just what it would take to bomb a city into oblivion.

Spain was embroiled in a convulsive civil war that had begun in July 1936 when the right-wing Nationalists led by General Francisco Franco sought to overthrow Spain’s left-wing Republican government. It did not take long before this bloody internal Spanish quarrel attracted the participation of forces beyond its borders – creating a lineup of opponents that foreshadowed the partnerships that would battle each other in World War II. Fascist Germany and Italy supported Franco while the Soviet Union backed the Republicans. A number of volunteers made their way to Spain to fight and die under the Republican banner including the Abraham Lincoln Brigade from the United States.

Source: The Bombing of Guernica, 1937

Today is the 80th anniversary of the attack……and a prelude to the death and destruction that would become World War Two…..and the only memory the world has of this attack is a painting by Picasso entitled “Guernica”……sad.

Showdown At Foggy Bottom

I know that sounds like a spaghetti western from the 70’s….all we need is some cheesy music and we would have a hit.

This time I am talking about the shutdown of the government…..yes we are about to play that game yet again.

The Congress says one thing the president another….and the chest thumping has begun……

Once or twice a year recently, the federal government threatens to shut down. But the Washington Post reports this year’s version of the crisis—the deadline to pass a spending bill is midnight April 28—has a brand-new wrinkle: President Trump. According to the New Yorker, things had been going pretty well to avoid a government shutdown, with Republicans and Democrats negotiating toward a compromise bill. Then on Friday, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said either the bill includes Trump’s border wall and defense spending increase or it must defund a major part of the Affordable Care Act. (Interestingly, Mulvaney was also involved in the last government shutdown in October 2013, which also hinged on defunding the ACA.)

The problem now is that even if Democrats and Republicans in Congress reach a compromise that allows them to pass a spending bill, there’s no guarantee Trump will sign it. For example, Democrats don’t want the border wall built, and conservative Republicans aren’t too keen on paying for it either. Adding to the uncertainty, the deadline to avoid the shutdown falls on Trump’s 100th day in office, and he could be desperate for a big win by the deadline. The New Yorker reports one top White House official actually “sounded excited” by the prospect of a shutdown. For his part, Trump says he thinks “we’re in good shape” to avoid a shutdown, according to Forbes. And here’s the kicker: Even if a spending bill somehow gets passed, it only funds the government through September.

Personally I think most of it is all bluff……his scores are so low that if he goes through with is threats it will dip even further…..and on the international scene opponents will try to take advantage of the situation…..something the US cannot allow….no matter the cost.

Will there be a showdown or a just a couple of kids in a staring contest?

(I would like to thank Trump and his opposition for making anything in and around DC totally irrelevant….that will give me time to concentrate on real problems and solutions)

What Will Korean War Part 2 Look Like?

All the mash up with North Korea has got the country talking.  Even my class had to put in their 2 cents worth….we talked about the first one and how it started and ended…afterwards they asked…what will the next Korean War look like?

A good question and thankfully I had read an article that asked that very question….I told the class to read it and we would discuss it at next session (I reminded them UNZ has a Libertarian lean to it)……

“If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will.”

So thundered President Donald Trump last week. Unfortunately, neither China nor North Korea appeared intimidated by this presidential bombast or Trump’s Tweets.

What would ‘we will’ actually entail? This clear threat makes us think seriously about what a second Korean War would be like. Memory of the bloody, indecisive first Koran War, 1950-53, which killed close to 3 million people, has faded. Few Americans have any idea how ferocious a conventional second Korean War could be. They are used to seeing Uncle Sam beat up small, nearly defenseless nations like Iraq, Libya or Syria that dare defy the Pax Americana.

Source: What Would Korean War II Look Like? – The Unz Review

I would like for my readers to also join the conversation……so let your thoughts be heard.

Did Wilson Beget Trump?

The old professor does enjoy helping his readers understand history and its results…..so from time to time a history lesson is called for…….at least here on IST.

You know there are many incidents where one thing leads to another and politics is no different….a kinda political theorem…..

For instance….there are some that say that Trump has racist tendencies and that he is making moves that can be seen as unconstitutional….and his persecution of the press (media)…….but you know that he is not the first president to be said to have such thoughts….

Yes, really…..I am serious!

Woodrow Wilson it is said that he was a racist (claims that he was even a member of the KKK) and that some of his policies were unconstitutional…..

The Washington Times has published a piece where a hard look was taken at the presidency of Wilson.  (take into consideration that the WT is a conservative media and will attack so-called “progressive” policies)

Wilson, the first college president to occupy the White House, banned blacks from government restrooms, was the first president to openly attack the U.S. Constitution and eagerly support laws to prosecute and imprison those who disagreed with his policies. His hostility to black Americans was matched only by his antipathy toward Italian, German and Irish Americans and his desire to rid the nation of those he referred to dismissively as “hyphenated Americans” and against who he railed incessantly.

Source: Woodrow Wilson legacy tainted by racism, attacks on Constitution – Washington Times

Amazing that all the policies of Wilson that are so “progressive” are very similar to those of our new president, Donald J. Trump.