Day: November 27, 2019

Curb Your Mercenaries

Closing Thought–27Nov19

Speaking of Mercenaries…..

It is not secret that I do not think that the country needs to use mercenaries….my bad….security consultants…..that is why we spend so much on our military so we do not have to go elsewhere for our soldiers.

The US has its Blackwater or whatever they are calling themselves these days and other such “security firms”…they are being used in Afghanistan and Iraq and probably every other country in which we have a fight going on……

I bring this up because of something our Congress did…..they chastised Russia for using mercenaries in Libya….

My first reaction was…SAY WHAT?

Congress is preparing bipartisan sanctions on Russian mercenaries and other suspected human rights violators in Libya, Al-Monitor has learned, as the Donald Trump administration looks to use the recent entry of Moscow-linked paramilitaries into the conflict to reinvigorate a long-dormant American strategy in the war-torn country.

Foreign relations committee member Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., are set to introduce legislation codifying Treasury Department sanctions to limit Russian proxy activity. The bill would require President Trump to slap visa bans and freeze US property for arms traffickers, those illegally exploiting Libya’s vast supplies of crude oil and human rights abusers.

Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Chris Murphy. D-Conn., are also expected to sign onto the legislation, sources familiar with the bill say. The legislation also would require the United States to work with humanitarian organizations to ensure that aid be delivered in the country. “We just wanted Congress to weigh in and give a carrot-and-stick approach,” a House aide told Al-Monitor.

 
Now that is the height of hypocrisy……condemn a nation for doing what we are doing….
 
If it is wrong in Libya then it is wrong every fucking where!
 
Must prepare for the day tomorrow……lots of cooking ahead.
 
I Read, I Wrote, You Know
 
“Lego Ergo Scribo”

War–What’s It Good For?

Remember the question Edwin Starr asked back in the 60’s?

Just a short reminder…..

https://youtu.be/_d8C4AIFgUg
 
I brought this up because of the news that has been reported…not by the MSM….but by others concerned on the spending for our many many wars……

American taxpayers have spent $6.4 trillion on post-9/11 wars and military action in the Middle East and Asia, according to a new study.

That total is $2 trillion more than the entire federal government spending during the recently completed 2019 fiscal year. The U.S. government spent $4.4 trillion during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, according to the Treasury Department.

The report, from the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs at Brown University, also finds that more than 801,000 people have died as a direct result of fighting. Of those, more than 335,000 have been civilians. Another 21 million people have been displaced due to violence.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/20/us-spent-6point4-trillion-on-middle-east-wars-since-2001-study.html

$6.4 trillion….what could have been accomplished if this had been spent improving the country’s infrastructure…or the education….or health care….or….well you get my drift.

It has cost the American taxpayer $7500+ for these wars……why do Americans allow this to continue….do they care so little for the lives of our troops?

I have about had enough….I will, NEVER vote for a candidate that defends the wars and the reasons for them….that means I will NOT vote for any candidate on the stage for the last debate other than Tulsi…..the MSM is doing all they can to make her voice a silent one….they are pulling NO punches belittling and demeaning some one with principles and I have NO use for MoveOn or MSNBC and their wealth of warmongering toadies as pundits.

Just listen to them…they want a true centrist to be the candidate….that means that their owners, the corporations, will be safe and profitable.

So what is war good for?  PROFITS….period!

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

VOTE!

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Patriot Act Reauthorization

While the country was sitting around watching the TV or scratching their asses while Uncle Bob tells them what is what in the impeachment…..the Dems proved to me that they are just as big a warmonger bunch of d/bags as the GOP…..

Why?

Without much ado the Dems in the House voted to reauthorize the Patriot Act and all the authoritarian crap that goes with it……House Democrats are ignoring civil liberties and including a three month straight reauthorization of the Patriot Act (with zero reform) in the continuing resolution.

Buried in a stopgap government funding resolution unveiled by House Democrats Monday is a provision that would reauthorize the notoriously abusive Patriot Act for three months, a move privacy advocates warned would ensure President Donald Trump’s administration holds on to “terrifying authoritarian surveillance powers.”

Evan Greer, deputy director of digital rights group Fight for the Future, highlighted the provision on Twitter shortly after House Democrats released the continuing resolution (pdf), which would temporarily avert a looming government shutdown by providing funding for federal agencies through December 20. A House vote on the measure is expected as early as Tuesday.

“The continuing resolution would reauthorize a mass surveillance authority that has never been proven useful and that has consistently broken the laws and rules governing surveillance,” tweeted Demand Progress. “Democrats must not hand this president these dangerous Patriot Act authorities.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/11/19/handing-trump-terrifying-authoritarian-surveillance-powers-house-democrats-include

The Dems are proving that they are bigger Neocon toadies than their GOP counterparts…..https://www.truthdig.com/articles/democrats-are-becoming-the-party-of-permanent-war/

I do this stuff so that you do not have and maybe miss an episode of “Naked And Afraid”…you are welcome.

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

The Middle East And The Future

I have been remiss in my postings on the Middle East…the theater in DC has been just too much to ignore…at least for me…..I need to get back to my first interest and start keeping my readers abreast of the situations that could involve them at any turn.

The Middle East since the US invaded Iraq has been in the process of a re-alignment…..the war of words between Iran and Saudi Arabia has been getting warmer and warmer….to the point of a scared KSA to form an alliance with Israel…..

After years of bitter rivalry, the Saudis and the Iranians are considering how they can dial down their mutual animosity. The formerly powerful Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) of Persian Gulf monarchs is atomizing because Saudi Arabia is losing its grip. And Washington’s former domination of the region appears to be in decline.

Some of these developments are long-standing, pre-dating the cruise missile and drone assault that knocked out 50 percent of Saudi Arabia’s oil production. But the double shock—Turkey’s lunge into Syria and the September missile attack—is accelerating these changes.

Middle East: a Complex Re-alignment

And this realignment will come with a cost thanks to the foreign policy of Trump and his family of thugs……our ability will be greatly diminished…..

This is an analysis from a defense think tank so it will be a bit skewed…..

The twin crises in Syria and Iraq are altering the region’s battlefields and geopolitical dynamics. Russia, Turkey, Iran, the Assad regime, and ISIS are sweeping in as U.S. troops withdraw from northeastern Syria. In neighboring Iraq, widespread popular protests are creating military and political opportunities for Iran and its proxies. Here are some of the grim implications for U.S. national security:

https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2019/10/10-ways-americas-situation-middle-east-will-get-worse/160752/

As an educated Middle East wonk I have asked just what the Hell Trump is doing in Syria….he removed troops….then sent them back to take Syrian oil….and a wordy back and forth……but the simple question is what the Hell is Trump doing?

Conflicting statements from the Trump insiders makes it more difficult to understand…..

To Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley and the rest of the military brass, the U.S. objective is the same as it ever was: “the enduring defeat of ISIS.” Speaking on ABC’s This Week, Milley placed the number of U.S. troops in Syria somewhere between 500 to 600, but most certainly less than 1,000. President Trump’s decision to park hundreds of troops next to Syria’s eastern oil fields is presumably just an extension of the original mission. Nothing to see here folks: we are pressing on.

Ask Defense Secretary Mark Esper the same question, however, and you will get a different answer. In Esper’s telling, preventing the Islamic State from retaking the oil fields is only one goal on a longer list, to include ensuring the Syrian Kurds receive all of the profits and blocking the Assad regime and the Russians from accessing the area. About 250 miles to the south, a couple of hundred U.S. soldiers stationed at al-Tanf along the Iraq-Syria border are executing what is an altogether different mission entirely: disrupting Iran’s attempt to establish an uninterrupted supply route from Iraq through Syria to Lebanon.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/skeptics/take-oil-pull-troops-what-donald-trump-doing-syria-95561

To quote my grandmother….”that makes everything as clear as mud”……

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