Tag: State Dept

Blinded By The Light

A great tune from Manfred Mann Earth Band (damn another rock reference…I’m da man!)

But in this case the light of which I speak is……… MONEY!

Saudi Arabia has lots of cash and with that they can demand lots of respect and attention…….recently a Saudi has been named the head of the UN Human Rights Organization……

Last week’s announcement that Saudi Arabia — easily one of the world’s most brutally repressive regimes — was chosen to head a U.N. Human Rights Council panel provoked indignation around the world. That reaction was triggered for obvious reasons. Not only has Saudi Arabia executed more than 100 people already this year, mostly by beheading (a rate of 1 execution every two days), and not only is it serially flogging dissidents, but it is reaching new levels of tyrannical depravity as it is about to behead and then crucify the 21-year-old son of a prominent regime critic, Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, who was convicted at the age of 17 of engaging in demonstrations against the government.

Few see a problem after all Saudi is one of America’s fine friends, right?

How can the UN put a regime like Saudi Arabia in control of human rights when they are beheading people, public caning, stoning, amputations even crucifying people……people condemn ISIS and AQ for their acts of barbarity and yet applaud Saudi for theirs…..

At what point is their actions and barbarity condemned and they are held away from the civilized world?

If this cruelty is wrong from ISIS then it is wrong for Saudi.

But let’s look a little further into the barbarity of the Saudi regime…….

Source: Ten Reasons to Oppose the Saudi Monarchy « Antiwar.com Blog

Amazing what cash can buy now…..Most of the world may be horrified at the selection of Saudi Arabia to head a key U.N. human rights panel, but the U.S. State Department most certainly is not. Quite the contrary: its officials seem quite pleased about the news.

Time for the US to get on the bandwagon and stop bowing and kissing the ass of cash!

Maybe we, the US, here should start acting like that “beacon of democracy” we claim to be…..

Enough said?

Making the World Less Safe – The Unz Review

I have been questioning our foreign policy…..instead of managing our interests overseas we seem to be making the world a lot less safe.

When I was in college my foreign policy class tught that it was the US chore to make the world a safer place and to make war less likely.

If that is still the mission then we are failing miserably,

 

Making the World Less Safe – The Unz Review.

ISIS Is Winning The Social Media War

We have all heard of the horrendous vids that ISIS posts on social media of their executions……and then there is their Twitter and Facebook attacks….it seems at times that the Us is just not capable of countering their social media barrage…..but could that soon change?

The Obama administration has a plan to fight back against ISIS propaganda, and it involves what the New York Times calls a “tiny State Department agency.” The Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications, created in 2011, has always been tasked with coordinating “countermessaging” against extremists, but now it will be expanded, thanks to ISIS. “We’re getting beaten on volume,” a department official says. But “these guys aren’t BuzzFeed; they’re not invincible in social media.” ISIS and its supporters are responsible for up to 90,000 social media messages per day, and the group has been successful in attracting people to its cause and raising money. Administration officials will outline the counterattack plan during three days of meetings starting today.

In addition to expanding the CSCC, the administration wants to coordinate all US countermessaging attempts—larger departments, including the Pentagon, Homeland Security, and intelligence agencies, also have their own efforts underway—as well as countermessaging from a variety of sources, including foreign allies, nongovernment agencies, and top Muslim academics, community leaders, and religious scholars. Currently, CSCC employs specialists fluent in Arabic and other languages to craft narratives that oppose messages and misinformation from extremists (so far mainly al-Qaeda) and post those messages on the Internet, including on websites used to recruit jihadists. For example, one post showed a picture of three American men who traveled to Somalia to become Islamist militants only to be killed, along with the message: “They came for jihad but were murdered by al-Shabab.”

I like the idea of attacking them where they recruit….I am just not sure that the US is ruthless enough to do what is necessary to counter their, ISIS, message……

What do you guys think?

Where Is The Condemnation?

Americans are quick to condemn…..we condemn those that burn the flag, that are Muslims, countries that target our people, etc……that is all but Israel.

Okay before some Israeli troll starts in  I will explain……Israeli troops killed American on the USS Liberty in the 60’s, Israeli intel had us attempt to assassinate the wrong person in Lebanon in the 80’s and Israeli intel was wrong on Qaddafi in our first attempt to kill him….and let’s not forget all the spies that have been caught spying for Israel……and lastly the American teenager that was attacked by the IDF when he was visiting relatives.

But why do I rehash all these events?

Staff from the US Consulate at Jerusalem attempted to investigate reports of Israeli settlers uprooting olive trees at a Palestinian village, and found themselves attacked by armed settlers en route.

The settlers didn’t fire on the consular vehicles, but threw stones at them, forcing them out of their cars. Reports are that consular security officials drew their weapons, though they didn’t fire either.

The State Department confirmed the incident, but denied the US forces drew their guns, and said they were “deeply concerned” by the attack on US consular personnel.

This was little reported by the MSM and we know why……but normally caring Americans will let this go because of some misplaced loyalty to a country that cares little but us……

I am sick of all the blind eye support for a terrorists nation…,yes, terrorists….look up the definition and then look at the acts of our “friend” and then tell me what is a terrorist and what is not.

Israel depends on the stupidity of the American people and the level of corruption of the politicians and media…..it is time to take away ALL leverage the Israelis have over this country.

They want to be a state then it is time for them to either stand or fall on their own….and time to start acting like the democracy they pretend to be..

 

America’s Disturbing Allies

Inkwell Institute

Eurasian Desk

There are times when the US needs to step back and really look at whom they give their support………..there have been too many times when we have backed the worse of the worse……of course we can always go to war to right the wrong that we have done…….Iraq pops in the mind at this point……..

America’s rush to oppose Putin at any cost……could be very costly….unrest will ensue……and then we will need to step back and rethink our choices…….the problem is right now in Ukraine we are on the cusp of a disastrous situation……I’ll bet you are asking…..why?

Oh well…just throw it out there, professor……..

In Foreign Policy, for example, Andrew Foxall and Oren Kessler write, “The uncomfortable truth is that a sizeable portion of Kiev’s current government — and the protesters who brought it to power — are, indeed, fascists.”

Ukraine is home to Svoboda, arguably Europe’s most influential far-right movement today…Party leader Oleh Tyahnybok is on record complaining that his country is controlled by a “Muscovite-Jewish mafia,” while his deputy derided the Ukrainian-born film star Mila Kunis as a “dirty Jewess.” In Svoboda’s eyes, gays are perverts and black people unfit to represent the nation at Eurovision, lest viewers come away thinking Ukraine issomewhere besides Uganda.

Svoboda began life in the mid-90s as the Social-National Party (a name deliberately redolent of the National Socialist Party, better known as Nazis), with its logo the fascistWolfsangel. In 2004, the party gave itself an unobjectionable new name (Svoboda means “Freedom”) and canned the Nazi imagery, and in the subsequent decade has seen its star swiftly rise.

Today, Svoboda holds a larger chunk of its nation’s ministries (nearly a quarter, including the prized defense portfolio) than any other far-right party on the continent. Ukraine’s deputy prime minister represents Svoboda (the smaller, even more extreme ”Right Sector” coalition fills thedeputy National Security Council chair), as does the prosecutor general and the deputy chair of parliament — where the party is the fourth-largest. And Svoboda’s fresh faces are scarcely different from the old: one of its freshmen members of parliament is the founder of the “Joseph Goebbels Political Research Centre” and has hailed the Holocaust as a “bright period” in human history.

We are backing Fascist! Is this what is best for the people of Ukraine?

Need more be said?

Thoughts please……….

Surprise! A Compromise?

We have been tortured for over a week now with the trials and tribulations of chemical weapons use by Syria against its civilians….tonite the Prez will go before the nation in prime time to make whatever case needs to be made for the use of force to make Syria pay for their transgression……but during the day on Monday an off comment by Sec. Kerry brought about a new twist in the game…..Russia has told Syria to give up its CWs…….

Newser) – Obama has weighed in on the Russian proposal to get Syria to surrender its stockpile of chemical weapons, calling it both a “potentially positive development” and a possible “breakthrough”—but only if it’s a genuine offer. The move comes after Hillary Clinton also made cautiously positive comments about the idea, as did John Kerry—though he later tried to back away from them. Like Clinton, Obama says in an interview with CNN that he doesn’t believe Russia and Syria would have made this gesture had the US not threatened to retaliate in the first place. But, he says in a separate interview with ABC News, if the plan does work, he would “absolutely” pause the military strike.

“We’re going to run this to ground,” Obama tells CNN, saying he and Kerry will work with Russia and others to “see if we can arrive at something that is enforceable and serious.” Obama acknowledges that removing every last chemical weapon from Syria won’t end the country’s civil war, “but it does solve the problem that I’m trying to focus on right now, which is making sure that you don’t have over 400 children gassed indiscriminately by these chemical weapons.”

And then Mrs. Clinton when getting some medal of some sort had to weigh in on the unfolding story……

(Newser) – Hillary Clinton at last broke her silence on Syria today, offering a cautiously positive US response to Russia’s proposal that Syria turn over its chemical weapons stockpiles, Talking Points Memo reports. Clinton, who said she’d just spoken with President Obama about the day’s events, said that:

  • If the regime immediately surrendered its stockpiles to international control … that would be an important step. But this cannot be another excuse for delay or obstruction. And Russia has to support the international community’s efforts sincerely or be held to account.

Kerry had initially appeared to forward the same idea, but the State Department then walked it back as merely a rhetorical statement. Clinton added that these negotiations “only could take place in the context of a credible military threat by the United States.” Clinton also reiterated Obama’s position that the Assad regime’s “inhuman use of weapons of mass destruction against innocent men, women, and children” demanded “a strong response.” But she said the US was ultimately best served by a political solution along the lines negotiated last year in Geneva, CNN reports.

And then the foreign minister of Syria had his say on the issue at hand……

Newser) – Syria is on board with Russia’s proposal to put its chemical weapons under international control, Foreign Minister Walid Moallem told reporters in Moscow today. Moallem earlier met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov today, and says he “welcomes” Lavrov’s suggestion, CNN reports. John Kerry appeared to suggest something similar today, and so did UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who said he might urge the Security Council to demand Syria turn over its stockpiles for destruction. Ban said that, had chemical weapons been used, it would be a “terrible crime.”

But the statement doesn’t necessarily mean Syria will avoid a US strike. The State Department is now walking back Kerry’s comments, with a spokeswoman saying he “was making a rhetorical argument about the impossibility and unlikelihood of Assad turning over chemical weapons he has denied he used.” And writing for the AP, Vladimir Isachenkov observes that Moallem made no mention of timeline or specifics and notes that it remains to be seen whether his comments are truly “a genuine goodwill gesture by Syria or simply an attempt to buy time.”

While I was in the middle of compiling this post breaking news came over the wire…….

Though plenty remain skeptical that Syria will in fact hand over its chemical weapons, today began with more forward movement: Syria’s foreign minister says his government has “agreed to the Russian initiative” to hand over its chemical weapons for subsequent dismantling in order to “uproot US aggression.” The AP calls this apparent acceptance even “more definitive” than yesterday’s. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today said that Russia is consulting Ban Ki-moon and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons as it drafts the plan.

  • France, for its part, intends to put that plan to the test: It will tonight present a draft resolution to the UN Security Council so that the world can “judge the credibility of the intentions that were expressed yesterday,” per its foreign minister, the Guardian and New York Times report. (As Reuters puts it, France is “turning a Russian idea into a full-blown diplomatic proposal.”)
  • Among the “nonnegotiable” elements of France’s resolution, per the Guardian: All chemical weapons would have to promptly be turned over for destruction, and those behind the Aug. 21 attack must be brought before the International Criminal Court. The resolution would notably invoke Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which makes it binding and militarily enforceable. The Wall Street Journal notes, however, that Russia previously refused to get on board with a similar, secret Syria proposal because it was also made under Chapter 7. Russia and China have also previously pushed back against ICC involvement.
  • Syria’s main opposition group is not on board with Russia’s plan. The Guardian reports that the Syrian National Coalition today called the proposal “a political strategy that aims to stall for more time, which will allow the regime to cause more death and destruction.” But the plan did gain another supporter today, reports Reuters: China.
  • Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch today released a 22-page report that places the blame for the Aug. 21 chemical attack at the regime’s feet. It notes “Human Rights Watch and arms experts … have not documented Syrian opposition forces to be in the possession of the 140mm and 330mm rockets used in the attack or their associated launchers.”

Okay that is the story as it has unfolded at the time of this post…….Assad would not admit to having CWs in an interview recently and now they are willing to give up something they do not have…..sound fishy to you?  Yeah, me too.

Personally, this sounds like s delaying tactic, maybe trying to head off any strikes by the US….this could backfire on them but it should slow down the raging beast of intervention.

This needs to be watched closely for breaks in this whole wall that Syria is trying to build……but sadly Americans are more interested in Miley Cyrus twerking some old guy or her “restless tongue syndrome”…….just another sand pile in which to stick our heads until it is too late and then we can bitch and call each names…..kinda pathetic IMO…..

The Real Culprits Of Benghazi

I tried to let this stuff go….but I cannot…there is so much crap about this situation that it is drawing flies…….

Some things are growing more quiet now……we have had a couple weeks of an IRS scandal……..the AP scandal…….a massive killer tornado in Texas….and thanx to those situations the yelling about Benghazi has become more subdues….either the BS talking points are drying up or the Right is getting over their fascination with the attack on the consulate…..(please notice that it was a consulate and not an embassy….they are not the same thing)……….

Let see…the emails have been released and the only time they were inappropriate is when they were doctored…….emails have surfaced where the ambassador refused extra security on two occasions……..so if there is to be a culprit to all this faux drama….who shall it be?

I know!  I know!

(Newser) – So far, most of the public anger about the Benghazi scandal has focused on the State Department. But the Washington Post has an in-depth piece today suggesting that the real blame for the infamous talking points may lie with everyone’s favorite philandering ex-spy chief, David Petraeus. “It was from his initial input that all else flowed,” the paper argues. Here’s how the Post says things went down:

  • It all began when the House intelligence committee asked Petraeus for some minimal guidelines to ensure members didn’t reveal anything classified while talking to the press.
  • Instead, Petraeus produced a much broader document that included the classified information that Ansar al-Sharia was suspected in the attack and mentioned that the CIA had sent “numerous” warnings. It also said the attack was “spontaneously inspired.”
  • The draft generated some blowback even within the CIA. The CIA’s general counsel noted that it conflicted “with express instructions” from the FBI, National Security Council, and Justice Department, who didn’t want to name any suspected perpetrators.
  • Petraeus circulated them anyway. The State Department complained, as did the NSC, mostly objecting to naming Ansar and mentioning the CIA warnings. The White House was basically the only entity with no objections.
  • The talking points were paired down to three bullets. Petraeus was not a fan, but not because he objected to the spontaneously inspired bit. “No mention of the cable to Cairo, either?” he complained. “Frankly, I’d just as soon not use this then.” But he said it was the NSC’s call.

I suspect that if there is any comment from the Right it will something as lame as WaPo is a liberal point of view……as opposed the facts doled out by FUX or Drudge, right?  Plus I want to see if there is any other right group that will talk about the real culprits in this whole affair or just keep fanning the flames of stupid!

Ambassador Stevens twice said no to military offers of more security, U.S. officials say | McClatchy

Since no one on the Right will let this go…..I have shared this with a few of my readers and now want all my followers, both Left and Right, can see what the lack of security was all about in Benghazi……like I have said many times…there was more to this story than people want to admit….

 

Ambassador Stevens twice said no to military offers of more security, U.S. officials say | McClatchy.

Hikers Released!

The world is all a twitter (the feeling, not the website) because Iran has released those two remaining American hikers, but not before they paid for the privileged of coming home and I have purposefully waited a week or so before commenting on the situation….well that time has passed and now I want to comment…..

They have returned to the US and have made their statement in a press conference…..watch and watch it again….there are few questions I want to pose…..http://bit.ly/rbsd6b     First there is some background and then move on to the press conference one……

Before I ask myself questions I want to comment on the situation from the start……what we had were three Americans working in Iraq, for a contractor or whoever, that decide to go for a leisurely strolling, in a country at war, along an unmarked border with Iran where they accidentally crossed the border and were captured by the Iranians and imprisoned, about 3 years ago…..

Now if that story is the truth…I feel about them the way I feel about mountain climbers that go unprepared and get snowbound and need rescuing….they are STUPID!  You mean they went for a walk along a hostile border without knowing where they were at all times….if so let they rot…the gene pool does not need them!

Before I get the usual amount of hate mail…..I am NOT defending Iran….I do NOT think Iran is a good guy….so save the hate for someone else.   Yes, I am glad they are home….but stupid is as stupid does….period!

Now my questions.  Who wrote their statements at the press conference?  those were not statements that people make that are happy to be free.  They said they were beaten……where?  I have been beaten and you do not look like you came from a gym afterwards.  Why would they make overtly political statements at their welcome party?

My conclusions…..the CIA or State Department wrote their comments.  At least one of them more than likely worked for one of our cracker jack intel services.  Watch the video again and you tell me.

It is good they are home and we may NEVER know the real story of this saga.