Tag Archives: War

Hearts and Minds

31 Tuesday Dec 2019

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Local Iraqis show their full appreciation for the nearly 30-year assault on and occupation of their nation by the very, very good, decent, and exceptional US Empire.

Donald Trump vows to hold Iran ‘fully responsible’ for attack on US embassy in Baghdad: Under-siege American soldiers wound 20 of pro-Tehran mob that stormed complex in retaliation for US airstrikes on Hezbollah

  • American soldiers inside the embassy have fired tear gas, stun grenades and warning shots at hundreds of fighters who broke down the compound gate and set fires within the complex on Tuesday
  • The ambassador was on leave at the time of the attack and embassy staff had already been evacuated before the US Marine guard became besieged at the compound

Iraq. Iran. I-sore. It’s working. Vote harder!

Officials Failed to Tell the Truth

09 Monday Dec 2019

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Imagine that. Washington was a little less than honest about the war in Afghanistan.

A confidential trove of government documents obtained by The Washington Post reveals that senior U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable.

The documents were generated by a federal project examining the root failures of the longest armed conflict in U.S. history. They include more than 2,000 pages of previously unpublished notes of interviews with people who played a direct role in the war, from generals and diplomats to aid workers and Afghan officials.

The U.S. government tried to shield the identities of the vast majority of those interviewed for the project and conceal nearly all of their remarks. The Post won release of the documents under the Freedom of Information Act after a three-year legal battle.

And, about everything else too. Vote harder!

The New Briton is SO Exciting!

24 Sunday Nov 2019

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Expect more headlines like the following, only worse, in the future:

MASS BRAWL Five teens arrested after ‘100-strong machete-wielding gang storm Vue cinema sparking huge brawl’

Two machetes and a knife were recovered after armed police swooped just after 5.30pm.

And disturbing images have emerged of a baby-faced teenager wearing a Camo jacket and holding what appears to be a large machete.

Footage also shows terrified crowds evacuated as cops arrested at least five people including a 13-year-old girl on suspicion of assaulting police.

Another girl and boy aged just 14 and a 19-year-old were also arrested, while a 14-year-old male was held on suspicion of obstructing police.

It is understood the violence broke out before or during a screening of the gang warfare film Blue Story and spilled out into areas where children were queuing to see Frozen 2.

Since the brawl, Vue has pulled the gang film, which follows two young friends who become enemies in a postcode war, from all its cinemas,

In a pre-recorded message to its viewers, the cinema service line said: “We regret that we will no longer be screening the film Blue Story at any of our venues.

Birmingham, ENG looks A LOT like Birmingham, AL. And also a bit like Mogadishu. Virant! Strong!

And, what a relief that the heritage residents gave up their guns and are now giving up their knives. I suppose that “teens” are still allowed some blades for cinema riot purposes. The only problem left (aside from eliminating the remains of that heritage poseperity) is the fact of violent movies like Frozen. Duh.

Why is “raise taxes” always the go-to?

06 Wednesday Nov 2019

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Another Boomer reads from the worn, old script.

Dalio, who founded the hedge fund in 1975, told CNBC from the Greenwich Economic Forum that the national debt, pension liabilities and health-care liabilities will ultimately have to result in higher taxes since defaulting isn’t an option.

“We’re dealing with almost a currency issue, longer term, in terms of what is the value of currency when those liabilities – not only the debt liabilities, but the pension liabilities and the health-care liabilities, which are like debt. They are promises that have to be paid – they will either be paid by higher taxes or they’ll be not paid and defaulted on,” he said.

“I don’t think they will be defaulted on,” he added. “I think by and large they’re going to be paid, but if they raise taxes too much, then it changes the nature of that economics.”

Category error. It’s not “almost a currency issue.” It’s not economics. It’s sorcery. Including everything that could be a liability, there isn’t enough wealth left to tax. Default is a given. The choice is to do it peaceably and gracefully or to suffer collapse and war. And, war is the default condition.

Great News from the SandBox

27 Sunday Oct 2019

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Mission accomplished. Time to withdraw in triumph. Al-Baghdadi (not a rapper) is dead:

The United States military has conducted a special operations raid targeting one of its most high-value targets, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS), Newsweek has learned. President Donald Trump approved the mission nearly a week before it took place.

Amid reports Saturday of U.S. military helicopters over the Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, a senior Pentagon official familiar with the operation and Army official briefed on the matter told Newsweek that Baghdadi was the target of the top-secret operation in the last bastion of the country’s Islamist-dominated opposition, a faction that has clashed with ISIS in recent years.

Trump Details Death of ISIS Leader al-Baghdadi in Northern SyriaREAD MORE
A U.S. Army official briefed on the results of the operation told Newsweek that Baghdadi was killed in the raid, and the Defense Department told the White House they have “high confidence” that the high-value target killed was Baghdadi, but further verification is pending DNA and biometric testing. The senior Pentagon official said there was a brief firefight when U.S. forces entered the compound in Idlib’s Barisha village and that Baghdadi then killed himself by detonating a suicide vest.

One hopes they rapidly conducted one of those traditional Islamic sea-burials that nobody has ever heard of. Otherwise, the “leader” of the leaderless ISIS might rise again, only to die ten years from now from renal failure.

The great news! If any of this actually happened, then these same tactics can be used on real terrorists and enemy combatants in DC and NY. The sooner the better.

An Argument for WW3

26 Saturday Oct 2019

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If contained in space, it might be the first beneficial war in history.

World War 3 in SPACE would destroy ‘GPS, banking systems and even TV’, astro-physicists warn…

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Any observers on the surface would be unlikely to directly see any effects from space warfare, unless a kinetic kill actually breaks a spacecraft up – with debris lighting up as it re-enters the atmosphere.

That said, attacks could still affect our lives on Earth, disturbing GPS, television services and even cash withdrawals.

Banking systems and teevee destroyed? What are we waiting on?

War on the Horizon

25 Friday Oct 2019

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Amazingly, a majority of Amerikans, of whom a majority are also idiots, get this one right. Two-thirds foresee a civil war. And, soon.

Partisan political division and the resulting incivility has reached a low in America, with 67% believing that the nation is nearing civil war, according to a new national survey.

“The majority of Americans believe that we are two-thirds of the way to being on the edge of civil war. That to me is a very pessimistic place,” said Mo Elleithee, the executive director of Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Public Service.

And worse, he said in announcing the results of the institute’s Battleground Poll, the political division is likely to make the upcoming 2020 presidential race the nastiest in modern history.

I think they have the percentage wrong. It’s more likely that we’re around 98% there, now. All that’s needed are a few sparks. On that front, the Fed and the neocons are doing all they can to help. 2033 may indeed be an overly optimistic estimate.

Turkish Delight

15 Tuesday Oct 2019

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The GOP, the MSM, the Neocons, and seemingly everyone else can’t get over Trump deciding to get us the hell out of Syria – where the US should have never been in the first place. The hysteria is hilarious:

The drama is nowhere near over. Out of necessity, the Kurds switched sides on Sunday, turning their backs on Washington and signing up with President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, a man the United States has called a war criminal for gassing his own people. At the Pentagon, officials struggled with the right response if Turkish forces — NATO allies — again opened fire on any of the 1,000 or so Americans now preparing to retreat from their positions inside Syria. Those troops are trapped for now, since Turkey has cut off the roads; removing them may require an airlift.

And over the weekend, State and Energy Department officials were quietly reviewing plans for evacuating roughly 50 tactical nuclear weapons that the United States had long stored, under American control, at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, about 250 miles from the Syrian border, according to two American officials.

Those weapons, one senior official said, were now essentially Erdogan’s hostages. To fly them out of Incirlik would be to mark the de facto end of the Turkish-American alliance. To keep them there, though, is to perpetuate a nuclear vulnerability that should have been eliminated years ago.

No, dipshits. It’s a vulnerability that should have never been period. Something about avoiding foreign entanglements… Why do we have any military bases (nukes or not) in any other country? The Empire has its price. Maybe this is it. Time to go home, Yankees.

Foreign and Domestic

07 Monday Oct 2019

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Pat Robertson lends his voice to the cries of the neocons, all upset that Trump isn’t waging all-out war in the Middle East.

“To say he’s an ally of America is nonsense. He’s in for himself,” said the 700 Club host. “The President, who allowed [Jamal] Khashoggi to be cut in pieces without any repercussions whatsoever, is now allowing the Christians and the Kurds to be massacred by the Turks.”

Robertson concluded by saying “The President of the United States is in danger of losing the mandate of Heaven if he permits this to happen.”

Maybe these types should look a little closer to home, where the actual interests of America are. It could be that Trump is preparing a military action, just not one the neocon nuts want or expect. It could be. Who knows?

The Fading Empire Fades

30 Monday Sep 2019

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As it has for some time. A great article on the subject, the first of two.

Insurgents have repeatedly battled US forces to a standoff or worse. Two major powers have weapons that can stymie or destroy significant parts of America’s conventional offensive capabilities, that can be used offensively with devastating effect, and for which the US has no defensive countermeasures.

This set of facts is plainly incompatible with the control the US establishment believes it can and should exercise around the world. Russia and China appear to have no such hegemonic aspirations, concentrating their efforts in their own backyards and letting the US waste its blood and treasure on imperialistic adventures. The US’s unipolar moment began fading in 1949 when the Soviet Union detonated its own atomic bomb, but repeated encounters with reality have done little to shake the illusion of control. Economic, financial, and political developments at home render the illusion delusional.

This week’s TPC column will cover some of these issues, from the perspective of my special interview guest. He says that the US shouldn’t be so keen even on relying on that nuclear threat – which it so happens is also fading. Coming soon!