8/31/08

Please...please...let's be reasonable

A report from a Lebanese source: (click through for original link)
The United States has informed Israel that it bans any attack on Iran to knock down its nuclear program, the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat reported Sunday. The newspaper, in a Tel Aviv-datelined report, said Washington has "clearly informed Israel… that we would not allow you to launch war on Iran."
[My first question: Why don't Americans know this? Because ABCNBCCBSFOXCNN are too busy blowing smoke up their asses about Sarah Palin.]
The reported U.S. message also includes a ban on the use of Iraqi airspace to launch raids against Iran, the report added. Some Israeli forces believe the "west has succumbed" to the idea of nuclear-armed Iran … and Israel must acknowledge this reality," according to the report. However, "the majority of Israeli political and military officials believe that Iran's nuclear program poses a direct threat to Israel's existence," the report said. Such officials believe that "they should get rid of this (Iranian) program," the report explained. Getting rid of the Iranian nuclear program can be achieved "by the collapse of the ruling regime, by an American military strike or by effective international pressure that reaches the level of a suffocating blockade," it added.
[Please note that getting rid of the (non-existant) Iranian nuclear program cannot be achieved by an Israeli strike, according to the Israeli report.]
Nevertheless, "If the (whole) world does not back one of these options, Israel would be left with no choice but to act alone" against Iran, the report added.
Estimated Israeli government response to US: WHAaaaaaa!!! IT'S NOT FAIR!!!!! (foot stomping) You HAVE to help us!!!!!!!!!!!!! Otherwise we could get HURT!!!! DON'T YOU CARE???!!!?????????

WE HATE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU. WILL. PAY. FOR. THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Right after that temper tantrum, here, Israel has suddenly become more cooperative with its neighbors. Surprise, surprise.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has worked out a "compromise" with the forces calling for striking Iran. He upgraded the budget of the military and security agencies to prepare for a strike and opened dialogue with Syria via Turkey. The report quoted Olmert as saying going to "war against Iran without peace with Syria would be a serious adventure." "The army believed that Syria would take part in such a war, Israel can defeat Syria and reach as deep as Damascus, threatening to occupy the Syrian capital. "But such an operation, even if its success is guaranteed, would cost Israel 1,000-2,000 fatalities, would lead to shelling several Israeli cities and would result in extensive damage sustained by both sides. "Above all, this war would end by going into negotiations focusing on returning the Golan to Syria." The report also quoted Olmert as saying "as long as the result would be negotiations over the Golan, but only after major losses, why don't we start negotiations on the Golan now and achieve peace that gets Syria out of the sphere of Iranian influence?" It also quoted Olmert as saying "Syrian President Bashar Assad is not an adventurer, he is a smart person …and doesn't perceive himself with Iran, strategically.
Indeed. Why not cooperate if you have to actually pony up some lives and, more importantly, territory? This is getting serious.

Let's get it straight. Israel does not want to pay the price for their hegemony over the Middle East. They want it for free, else they want Americans to pay the price. And they will make us pay for not paying, somehow, which will undoubtedly suck. But even so, at least by standing up against their threats, somebody in the US has somehow preserved one precious thread of national integrity which remains after eight years of rape by Bush/Cheney and the neocons!

Why hasn't anyone tried this sooner?

Things are rarely as they appear



Like millions of other people across America...I'm still trying to comprehend what would drive McCain to pick Palin, especially now that she is being vetted. What a disaster. I am of two minds about this. Either the powers that run things above politics picked her to be their puppet and will control the corporate media so they don't shred her like she's being shredded on the internet, or John McCain snapped under pressure and picked her all by himself out of spite.

McCain seems to have a similar sociopathic personality to Bush. He must have been under tremendous pressure to make this decision, and we can imagine the people pulling and tugging and wheedling and cajoling their arguments at his poor, addled brain. Maybe he snapped out of exasperation, told them all off, and picked her to literally mess up their plans. Spiteful? Yes. Stupid? Yes. Possible? Yes. As suggested by one wag, perhaps he wants to take a few of his favorite enemies out (the Rovian power structure) as a final but deeply satisfying disparaging gesture.

However, it could also be part of a bigger design -- a disturbingly cynical decision from exceedingly greedy people. They selected her because they can control her, and they can control her portrayal in the media, and they can control the election results. We can judge this from the narrative.

I caution anyone who thinks disposing of McCain/Palin will be simple and fun unless the media narrative adopts the same position. We have been down this road before, have we not? Did W get the job twice against all odds? Yes, and millions of people knew he was a big fat unqualified phony. It matters not what we understand in the online community if ABCCBSNBCFOXCNN decide Palin poops cupcakes, so people should refrain from getting all cocky over this. Many many people in America will consider her a breath of fresh air. Fox has begun the 'rising star' narrative. We live in a country where millions of people have no trouble blithely tossing aside pesky facts that don't meet their preferred worldview, and who spend exactly zero hours doing independent thinking or investigating.

Yes, it's ridiculous. Yes, she lacks all qualifications. As Dick Cheney says, "So?" I ask you, since when have facts mattered to these people?

If you read this article: www.rense.com/general83/gds.htm, The RNC Just Gutted the DNC Again by Karl Schwarz (and Rense.com is down for some unknown reason), you can see that Shwarz thought this pick was a really great idea. Now he is one of the people -- and a conservative -- who writes the most bitter diatribes against the Bush administration, complaining how badly they have screwed everything up and cost people lots and lots of money. Sounds like a smart guy, but he sung Palin's praises to the high heavens. How odd, I thought. Apparently, it was a signal that the right people were finally in charge again. This somewhat bizarre position, coming as it does from a highly disaffected conservative, and combined with the rumor (also from purported insiders) that McCain suffers from a deadly illness, support the conclusion that Palin was chosen deliberately by people who have plans beyond John McCain. If you buy all that, and put it in context that a Lieberman pick would have been very disruptive to the base, you can see how this route might make sense. All they have to do is get McCain/Palin close enough to squeak in with a little election theft, and then they have another puppet regime through which to control events. Additional options of the non-election variety open up when McCain becomes incapacitated. I ask you, how convenient is that?

McCain has yet to release his medical records. The latest news about his health goes back to May 2008, came from the AP (not be be trusted), and didn't say much.
He now appears cancer-free, has a strong heart and is in generally good health, according to eight years of medical records McCain's presidential campaign made available Friday as it sought to prove that, at 71, he is healthy enough _ and not too old _ to serve as president.
Appear. Lot's of things appear to be one way, but in reality they are quite another. For all those who have devotedly sought the truth about 911, etc., we know how resistant most Americans remain. They see what the corporate media wants them to see, in this as in all critical matters. What I propose here may seems like a wild theory, but unfortunately, the truth for the past eight years has proven to be beyond most people's nightmares. Therefore, I find it most productive to consider the craziest possible theories first and work my way back into conventional thinking as those theories get knocked out by facts (to the extent that we can determine the facts). For those who want an Obama win, I suggest you tread carefully or the Democrats will soon pluck another defeat from the jaws of victory. Because that seems so incredibly unlikely is exactly why you should worry.

UPDATE: The Yurica Report. The Dominionists consider this a 'brilliant' move. Don't forget that the Religious Right has been waiting so patiently, so very, very patiently, with Job-like virtue I tell ya, having been used for their votes and money so many times before by the Republicans. Now, at long last, they have the chance to get one of their own into the White House. They begin to pour money into John McCain's coffers now. She is The Church Lady.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/08/30/mccain_gets_7_million_bounce_f.html?hpid=topnews

UPDATE: The Nation reports that an 'ultra-secretive right wing group' picked Palin: The Council for National Policy. It is the Dominionist theocracy crowd after all. Yurica had it right.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters?pid=352178

8/30/08

US and NATO hop the fence



Another great Dees illustration and Lord Stirling (The Frightening) piece can be seen and read over at s o s. I just wanted to point out for my little cabal of readers a map of the Black Sea area (good for zooming).

There's only one way for US and NATO ships to get in there, and it's through the Bosporous at Istanbul, Turkey. Being a very narrow strait, it would seem easy to control. This indeed puts Turkey on the hot seat between their neighbor Russia and NATO. If they let the ships in (which they have so far under some ancient limitations they rustled up from a bottom drawer), they piss off Russia. Otherwise, they piss off NATO. Good luck with that.

You can click on the map to enlarge the area. It's less than one mile wide and maybe 15 miles long. Before they even get there, the ships have to go up around Greece, through the Dardanelles, and then through the Sea of Marmara.

My point simply being that when people talk about this being in Russia's backyard, they might add that Russia has a six foot stockade fence around the premises. Any ships going into the Black Sea do so very deliberately. It's not like sailing around in the open ocean and haplessly floating into the Bermuda Triangle. It's more like having hostile Russian ships in Lake Ontario. You can see why it would make them angry.

Petroleum-coated Holy Hotties, Batman!

I was trying to wrap my mind around McCain's Palin pick yesterday. The pandering to women thing is obvious, but there has to be more to it than that. The brilliance of this move, if you will (and I use the term advisedly), comes in how it appeals to the very men who we might otherwise expect to protest the loudest because she's a woman. But she's their kind of woman, you see, the right kind, so that's different. She's from the tribe. Plus, she's a hottie! She is the female version of George W. Bush in 2000: young, regular (this time for real), attractive, controllable. Those who make her will presume to own her.

Do you see how this is a brilliant pick if your emotional development stunted at age 14? Do you see how this might be very useful if John McCain drops dead, and a bunch of Old White Men want a new puppet to play with? Why should the corporate masters take a risk on Obama/Biden and have to lobby and cajole a little when they can simply have their way with McCain/Palin? If he dies they get a redo. All they have to do is pick someone with lots of the 'right' kind of foreign policy experience, like...say...Joe Lieberman. Then you have the refreshed Bush/Cheney dynamic with new blood: the dope up front selling and pretending to drive, and the boss in the back seat giving directions and counting the money. If the talking heads decide she's a good pick, John McCain probably does have a deadly disease. The 'criticism' that she is one heartbeat away from the Oval Office? Indeed. I think that's the point. (wink wink) Am I totally speculating? Yes I am, but you see my reasoning.

Here's the lowdown from Alaska proper. Read the whole thing, because you need this information to inoculate yourself from the corporate media spin, and they will be spinning furiously to turn this into a good decision.
“Is this a joke?” That seemed to be the question du jour when my phone started ringing off the hook at 6:45am here in Alaska. I mean, we’re sort of excited that our humble state has gotten some kind of national ‘nod’….but seriously? Sarah Palin for Vice President? Yes, she’s a popular governor. Her all time high approval rating hovered around 90% at one point. But bear in mind that the 90% approval rating came from one of the most conservative, and reddest-of-the-red states out there. And that approval rating came before a series of events that have lead many Alaskans to question the governor’s once pristine image.
And for great background reading on Alaska politics, don't miss this piece from The Washington Post titled, "I'll sell my soul to the devil". Un-Be-Leeevable. This is the cesspool John McCain has plucked Sarah Palin from.

"Let me count first here," Allen said, shushing a former statehouse speaker as he counted out a bribe in video footage entered as evidence in the lawmaker's September trial, one of several crowding the docket of the federal court here.

On another tape, Pete Kott, the former Republican speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives, crowed as he described beating back a tax bill opposed by oil companies. "I had to cheat, steal, beg, borrow and lie," Kott said. "Exxon's happy. BP's happy. I'll sell my soul to the devil."

"Well, that will stay in this room," one lobbyist said as a midnight session wound down.

And so on, and on and on.

PS. What are Obama's weaknesses according to the right? Inexperienced, wrong race, shady religious background. What are Hillary's? Elitist woman. Palin corrects for race, religion and class. Now the GOP can steal every argument the dems have made to support Obama and Hillary against the charges of inexperience and gender and adopt them as their very own creation. They will be the biggest supporters of young women in politics you've ever seen -- holier than thou in their reverence. Any democrat who speaks against Palin will become a vile hypocrite and misogynist in their hands.

Will it work? Well, they have the corporate media shills as usual. Besides, all they have to do is get close enough to steal the rest, so it could work, disturbing as that is to contemplate.

8/29/08

Temper Tantrum

Israel is not going to stand for it.

No. NO. NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
JERUSALEM, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- Israel won't stand by and watch Iran develop its nuclear program despite the stance of the rest of the international community, a security source says.

The unidentified source said while international superpowers such as the United States are focusing their antinuclear efforts on diplomacy, Israel won't accept that Iran is capable of developing nuclear weaponry, IsraelNN.com reported Friday.

That's right. They are not going to stand for it. Much more on their little snit here.

Israel will not agree to allow Iran to achieve nuclear weapons and if the grains start running out in the proverbial egg timer, the Israeli government will not hesitate to take whatever means necessary to prevent Iran from achieving its nuclear goals, the government has recently decided in a special discussion, the Jerusalem Post reported on Friday quoting the Israeli daily Ma'ariv.

According to Ma'ariv, whether the United States and Western countries will succeed in toppling the Iranian regime diplomatically, through sanctions, or whether an American strike on Iran will eventually be decided upon, the Israeli government has put preparations for a separate, independent military strike by Israel in high gear.

So far, Israel has not received American authorization to use US-controlled Iraqi airspace, nor has the defense establishment been successful in securing the purchase of advanced US-made warplanes which could facilitate an Israeli strike.

The Americans have offered Israel permission to use a global early warning radar system, implying that the US is pushing Israel to settle for defensive measures only. The Jerusalem Post reported that because of Israel's lack of strategic depth, the Israeli government has consistently warned over the past years it will not settle for a 'wait and see' approach and retaliate in case of attack, but rather use preemption to prevent any risk of being hit in the first place.

Ephraim Sneh a veteran Labor MK which has left the party recently, has sent a document to both US presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama. The eight-point document states that "there is no government in Jerusalem that would ever reconcile itself to a nuclear Iran. When it is clear Iran is on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons, an Israeli military strike to prevent this will be seriously considered."

According to Ma'ariv, Sneh offered the two candidates the "sane, cheap and the only option that does not necessitate bloodshed." To prevent Iran's nuclear aspirations, Sneh wrote, "real" sanctions applied in concert by the US and Europe is necessary. The window of opportunity Sneh suggests is a year and a half to two years, until 2010.

Sneh also visited Switzerland and Austria last week in an attempt to lobby those two states. Both countries have announced massive long-term investments in Iranian gas and oil fields for the next decade

Hearing his hosts speak of their future investments, Sneh replied quietly "it's a shame, because Ido will light all this up." He was referring to Maj. Gen. Ido Nehushtan, the recently appointed commander of the Israeli Air Force and the man most likely to be the one to orchestrate Israel's attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, should this become the necessity, the JPost said.

"Investing in Iran in 2008," Sneh told his Austrian hosts, "is like investing in Krups Steelworks in 1938, it's a high risk investment." The Austrians, according to Sneh, turned pale.
This is just like when your 5 year old 'runs away'. Pack up a PBJ because he's going to be gone for at least 20 minutes.

Why aren't you packing the damned sandwich yet?????!!!!?????

Fine. FINE! Be that way. They're going to give us a year and a half to two years, until 2010, allright??? But that's it!! Not a minute longer.

Synthesis

You can find all these stories at the After Armageddon Newspage today.

First, the rapidly deteriorating financial situation:
What we are witnessing is the breakdown of the link between middle-class America and the global financial markets it has over-tapped across the last several decades. Fannie and Freddie were the support infrastructure connecting houses to capital market access. They have been caught with weak financials, swollen balance sheets and escalating default, just like the home owners they assist. The size of their retained mortgage portfolios is truly gigantic.
As banks fail, Americans will be forced to bail them out with our ever-diminishing resources. American Goy details how exactly this works.
Oh sure, there is money to invade and occupy Iraq, there is money to bomb Iran, there is money to train crazed jihadists/mujahedin from al Kaida in Iraq and send them into Iran, there is money to bail out criminals running banks and the criminal syndicate that is the American banking system, there is money for our "friendly" settlers in Israel to build more and more settlements, but so sorry, Mr. American Joe Schmoe - there is no money for YOU.
Meanwhile, Russia has been drawing all sorts of lines in the sand which, despite considerable bluster, the US cannot cross. Some countries actually enjoy seeing 'The West' get its comeuppance. Imagine that.
There has been much talk among western politicians in recent days about Russia isolating itself from the international community. But unless that simply means North America and Europe, nothing could be further from the truth. While the US and British media have swung into full cold-war mode over the Georgia crisis, the rest of the world has seen it in a very different light. As Kishore Mahbubani, Singapore's former UN ambassador, observed in the Financial Times a few days ago, "most of the world is bemused by western moralising on Georgia". While the western view is that the world "should support the underdog, Georgia, against Russia ... most support Russia against the bullying west. The gap between the western narrative and the rest of the world could not be clearer."
Putin has his own opinions of why this has happened, namely to help McCain. Dana Perino, offical White House lying tart, said Putin's theory sounds 'not rational.' I'd love to see her say that to his face. Anyway, the article ends like this:
The current standoff, in which ties between NATO and Russia have been frozen, has sparked media speculation that Russia could be ousted from the G8, but the joint statement from the United States, Canada, Japan, Britain, France, Germany and Italy avoided any hint of such a move. British Foreign Minister David Miliband stressed Wednesday that there were no such plans.
Now, why won't they kick Russia out of the G8 since it's been so naughty? Well, because some people don't want to freeze to death this winter.
Reports have begun to circulate in Moscow that Russian oil companies are under orders from the Kremlin to prepare for a supply cut to Germany and Poland through the Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline. It is believed that executives from lead-producer LUKoil have been put on weekend alert. ...Such action would be seen as economic warfare but Russia has been infuriated by Nato meddling in its "backyard" and threats of punitive measures by the EU. Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday accused EU diplomats of a "sick imagination". Armed with $580bn of foreign reserves (the world's third largest), Russia appears willing to risk its reputation as a reliable actor on the international stage in order to pursue geo-strategic ambitions.
Also, some people don't want to get bombed.
Russia on Thursday tested an inter-continental missile, heightening tensions with the West as France said the European Union could impose sanctions on Moscow over the Georgia conflict.
Furthermore, Russia has other friends besides 'The West.' (same link)

Russia claimed it had secured support from China and four other nations at a summit in Dushanbe, the Tajikistan capital. A statement released by the six nations at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit voiced support for Russia's "active role" in "assisting in peace and cooperation in the region" but also called for dialogue and respect for "territorial integrity." "The SCO member states express their deep concern over the recent tensions surrounding the South Ossetia question and call for the sides to peacefully resolve existing problems through dialogue," said the statement signed by Medvedev, President Hu Jintao of China and the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

You can add to those Syria, and now perhaps even Turkey.
Is Turkey going to surprise the world? And continue to refuse the Americans? Is there is a pax Russia unfolding? And Ukraine for all its vitriol to Russia, transports about 90% of the Russian gas that goes to Western Europe. So there is clearly some interdependency between these 2 Black Sea neighbours. And if Georgia ends up a Russian dependency then Turkey is beholden to Russia for the BTC pipeline.

Public sentiment in Turkey for the US is still at rock bottom because of Iraq.

The President of Iran has just visited Turkey for two days against Israels objections.

It was in Turkey that the BTC pipeline was blown up, a few days before Georgia attacked, and a few days after Kazakhstan agreed to send its oil to Russia and not through the BTC pipeline. The Kurds claimed the sabotage, the Turks officially denied it was sabotage. If western agents had a hand in this might the Turks be upset? Their intelligence service knows what happened. As do the Russians, the Iranians and Israelis.

Are the Turks saying no to the Neocons?

This would P A N I C the Israelis, in fact Syria’s president visited Turkey this month, and Syria’s Interior Minister visited Turkey yesterday while Syria’s president Assad was in Moscow.
Israelis? Panicked? You mean since their plans in Georgia fell through?

Russian newspapers say that the USA has been greatly disappointed in Mikhail Saakashvili. The Georgian president has not justified USAs hopes and his career in politics will end very soon. The Georgian president is completely incapable of acting adequately and reasonably and may thus completely ruin USA’s plans in the region.

Senator Joseph Biden became personally certain of that during his meeting with Saakashvili in Tbilisi. The fate of the Georgian leader has been determined, a source close to the US Embassy in Georgia said.

A helicopter of the US Coast Guard cutter Dallas, which is drifting near the port of Batumi, will evacuate the disgraced Georgian president to the USA [in the event of a coup].

And US ships will not be able to dock at Poti, either. (same link)

U.S. warships have scrapped a plan to deliver relief supplies to Georgia’s flashpoint port of Poti on Wednesday, a source close to the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi said. “The ships will not dock in Poti tomorrow,” the source told Reuters, referring to a planned mission by the USS McFaul and another vessel. Their presence would have been sure to enrage Russia, which has troops patrolling the port following a brief war with Georgia.

Russia is calling the shots now. Was this Georgian debacle supposed to help McCain and be a trial run for a strike on Iran?

A senior Russian military analyst said on Wednesday that the U.S. and NATO by arming Tbilisi used the conflict in Georgia as a dress rehearsal for a future military operation in Iran. Col. Gen Leonid Ivashov, president of the Academy of Geopolitical Studies, told a news conference at RIA Novosti, "We are close to a serious conflict - U.S. and NATO preparations on a strategic scale are ongoing. In the operation the West conducted on Georgian soil against Russia - South Ossetians were the victims or hostages of it - we can see a rehearsal for an attack on Iran. There is a great deal of "new features" that today are being fine tuned in the theater of military operations."

He said the likelihood of a war against Iran was growing with each passing day, "As a result, the situation in the region will become destabilized," and added "causing chaos and instability" was becoming Washington's official policy line.

Ivashov said it was difficult to predict how other countries would react to a conflict with Iran, but according to him, "old Europe" would be reluctant for events to develop and to some degree would become Russia's allies.

With regard to the Georgia-South Ossetian conflict, he said that one of the principal goals of NATO's "geopolitical operation" was to neutralize Russia as a global player.
Aha. Perhaps not everybody is on board with the plan. And why should they be? You'd have to be a sick bastard to go along with unleashing WW III.

This video has more information on the Russian perspective, via Duma Deputy Sergey Markov.


Here is a key point:

Q: Mr. Markov, just on that point about Iran, you said the United States might attack Iran. Do you think an attack on Iran would be in the next few months?

A: Yes. I think any attack against Iran would happen before the presidential elections. Washington has two goals for wanting to bomb Iran. One is to crush nuclear capacity and second to stop Barrack Obama election and allow neocons to control Washington.

To conclude, the Israelis and the US did set up Saakashvili, a man with connections to both McCain and Obama, in order to secure Georgia, probably as a launching pad for an attack on Iran. This plan has failed, allowing Russia a moment (long awaited) to turn the tables. Which they have. Now we shall see whether Russia can outmaneuver the Europeans, Israel and the US. By playing hard now, they may be able to push a few countries back from the brink. Some of the European countries might well decide it's not worth it to stick with the neocon plans and have their cities destroyed. The Europeans are a weak link in the neocon plan. I think even Israel itself may chicken out if they know the Europeans won't back the US. The one thing we can be sure about Israel: they will do anything to avoid getting stuck holding the bag. So Israel is a weak link, too, because they don't really have the courage of their convictions. They want the US to do all the killing and dying. It will come down to the stupid neocons here in the US and whether the Israelis can manipulate them into committing a monstrous murder-suicide. As this guy put it,
The Bush Administration is about as dangerous as a badger on crystal meth, and as we've repeatedly seen, they're so dumb they can screw up a soda straw.
Yeah. So it's not such a good outlook. But as of today, we're still here.

8/28/08

Wow. Just like an Arab dictatorship.

Hey, just so you know, today GWB extended the national emergency he declared on 9/14/01 for one more year.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/08/20080828-7.html

Consistent with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency I declared on September 14, 2001, in Proclamation 7463, with respect to the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, New York, New York, the Pentagon, and aboard United Airlines flight 93, and the continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on the United States.

Because the terrorist threat continues, the national emergency declared on September 14, 2001, and the powers and authorities adopted to deal with that emergency, must continue in effect beyond September 14, 2008. Therefore, I am continuing in effect for an additional year the national emergency I declared on September 14, 2001, with respect to the terrorist threat.

This notice shall be published in the Federal Register and transmitted to the Congress.

GEORGE W. BUSH

THE WHITE HOUSE,

August 28, 2008.

In Egypt, Hosni Mubarak has kept the emergency laws in effect for something like 25 years. Pretty cool, huh? That's what we call a dick-TATER-ship. Everybody there hates his guts, too.

Well, I think George is consistently exceeding his goal in that regard.

Bill explains how the world works to stupid, selfish, liberal Dennis

(satire) Obviously. But perhaps not, so there.

Transcript of Bill O'Reilly interviewing Dennis Kucinich here.

KUCINICH: You know, first of all, the American eagle needs two wings to fly. Don’t forget that. And, secondly, what I stand for is mainstream: health care for all, jobs for all, employment security. That’s what all Americans want.

O’REILLY: Yes, they want it, but you can’t -- the only way to get all that is by implementing a socialistic system. And that’s what they don’t want, so that’s the...

If you want a secure job and health care, you're a socialist. Actually, it's probably ok to want these things for yourself, but if you start wanting it for other people, you're a socialist. We're pretty smart here in America, but socialism is the only way to give Americans secure jobs and health care. There's just no other way to solve the conundrum, so pick one. See, we can't have socialism, so we can't solve these problems. Suck it up. Now, if you were a good, cut-throat red-blooded American like Bill O'Reilly, you'd be satisfied getting your own needs filled. Why do you have to such an asshole and care about what other people need? That's your problem, you know.
KUCINICH: You know what, though? But in a country where the wealth is accelerating to the top because of our tax system, because of our health care system, because of our energy policies, I think the American people in this election are going to want to recognize we need to go in a new direction.

O’REILLY: It’s going to be -- it’s going to be interesting, because most Americans don’t like socialism and they admire achievement. And they understand that guys like me pay an enormous amount of tax, enormous. Now, I don’t mind paying it, but if you’re going to take 50 percent, 60 percent, I’ll retire. You don’t want that.
A new direction means socialism, and we can't have that. Bill already explained that. What are you, dense? Now, it's important to remember that Bill is very very very selfless and doesn't mind paying 'enormous' amounts of tax. Just enormous. But if we put any more weight on his sturdy, selfless shoulders, he. will. retire. Obviously, we don't want that to happen. That would be a national tragedy, so suck it up. Stop thinking about yourself all the time, and start thinking about the sacrifices that people like Bill O'Reilly make for this country. This is your problem, you know? You never think of the poor rich people in America.

KUCINICH: Do you know that 1 out of every 3 health care dollars goes for the activities of the for-profit system, corporate profits, stock options, executive salary, advertising, marketing?

O’REILLY: That’s the free market place. You can’t control it.

Allright?? You cannot control the free market place. You just can't do it. Does the sun rise in the east every morning? Eggsactly. And you cannot control the free market place. If you tried to exert any control over the free market place, that would be socialism, and as Bill has already explained like five times, we can't have socialism in America. Why can't you get this through your thick head?

O’REILLY: I like the fact that there should be a safety net for health care. I don’t want anybody to be out on the street.

KUCINICH: Bill, 50 million people are without health care.

O’REILLY: We can’t afford it.

We can't control the free market place, and that's why we can't afford health care for all. What's the matter with you, are you stupid? This is really straightforward. The money that would make health care affordable for another 50 million people has to go to corporate profits and CEO salaries. That's the free market place, which you cannot control without killing America. It's the price these people pay to live in a free market place kind of country. If you weren't so selfish you'd recognize this and happily sacrifice your health for the USA.

KUCINICH: The truth is we shouldn’t have gone into Iraq.

O’REILLY: OK, but Iraq’s a different thing. We won that. We won that.

KUCINICH: Where’s the soft approach?

O’REILLY: You don’t want to confront Putin militarily in Georgia; you don’t want to confront Iran militarily. You don’t want to do all of that.

KUCINICH: Bill, why have a war if you don’t need it?

See, we won in Iraq. Already won that war. If you weren't such a pussy, you'd see that we should go right over there and smash up the Russians and nuke Iran. War is good for America. People love war. It's a blast. There's nothing to worry about. We'll kick their asses.

O’REILLY: Because the reason Bush did that was because he knew down the road Putin would invade somebody, which he has.

KUCINICH: No, excuse me. Georgia invaded South Ossetia.

O’REILLY: OK. All right, you know I love you. It’s great to have you on here. All right, I’m just wondering whether Obama loves you as much as I do.

Georgia invaded South Ossetia....this guy is such a ham...OK this interview is over. Cut. CUT! Love you, baby. You liberals are soft as shit, but we love you man. Love having you on the show.

8/26/08

Awkward

I bet Israel will make some expedient decisions soon that will be very awkward for the neocons, such as cutting some deals with certain professed 'enemies' like Iran and Russia. The Europeans will do the same thing, but with history as a guide, I don't expect to see much restraint in the rush to label the French and Germans as ungrateful back-stabbers. It's when the Israelis, our special buddies, cut us loose to save their own asses that we will see some flabbergasted Americans trying to make sense of it all.

This guy nails it, in my opinion. The facts on the ground will force the Europeans and the Israelis to side with Russia. They need the oil and gas -- it's as simple as that. I'm sure they will try to finesse the snub, but given that our economy has to contract by an estimated $2 trillion, and that's going to take awhile, they can't ignore the facts on the ground in the meantime. If they are forced to be with us or against us, um, well...actually...I hate to break this to you, but...we gotta talk.

Israel, made aware of their precarious situation thanks to powerful Russian smelling salts, might suddenly become much more cooperative with their neighbors. The US, flat-footed and broke, saddled with multiple losing wars, in the middle of a presidential election and yet still dragging the Bush team around for another four and a half more months, will fail to manage the diplomatic challenges directly ahead. They would have to admit to being wrong, and that is not something that they ever admit. In fact, Condi has done nothing but dig the hole deeper, and now The Dick himself will head over to the region to crack some heads together. In contrast, the Israelis merely have to be treacherous, and a horrible ally, willing to stab us in the back in order to save themselves. I don't see that as a problem for them.

8/25/08

Unconfirmed Unicorn Sighting

An article from ynet, posted here, informs us that Moscow has been working to convene a multi-party Mideast peace conference in November. Hmm. That's funny, because without Israel, it's a worthless endeavor. But if Russia should succeed in hosting a successful Mideast peace conference, well... wouldn't that change everything? Kind of like a 9/11 in reverse. The Arab World would love to break out of the current stalemate. If Russia can get Israel to cooperate, well, Condi could forget about ever collecting her Nobel Peace Prize.

A fantasy, you say? Hold on. Brother Nathanael discusses the relationship between Russia and Israel, referencing a Haaretz piece bemoaning how this Georgian debacle played out.
Israel has a long, unfortunate history of supporting failing, problematic regimes, from Idi Amin in Uganda to Augusto Pinochet in Chile, including the generals in Argentina and the Phalanges in Lebanon. The establishment repeatedly has been enticed to believe Israel can be a regional power, and has paid a painful price every time. Now, we may be able to thank Putin for quickly showing Israel the limits of its power and influence, and letting it escape with minimal damages.
Oh dear. Is Israel about to add GWB in USA to the long list of 'failing, problematic regimes' it has tried to 'support'? Is it time to dump the poor old USA, now that it's all used up? Would it be much better to play nice with Russia, especially now that Israel has all the military toys (courtesy of US taxpayers) that it needs? Maybe they'll break up with us before we break up with them, especially since we never would and they know it, having bought and paid for every politician in the US government.

Hey, it could happen. For a great take on it, read this:
First off, if you're an English speaker, every story proffered on the Russia-Georgia conflict is 100-proof propaganda. Next, the most important story you haven't heard is that Israel is betting against US success vs. Russia. Paradoxically, and despite Israel's typically overweening, convoluted conceits, this is very heartening, since it means they think the US won't go to the mat and start launching its nuclear arsenal. Apparently, they also believe the Russians can handle US Navy, Air Force, and Army units going into Project Georgia in the names of "humanitarian aid" and "peacekeeping." Israel understandably wants the output of the BP-sponsored Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan whoever controls it, yet until now they've been neck-deep in arming and training the Georgian military. How deep? Georgia's minister of defense, for example, is a citizen of Israel.

Still, it's tough to be sanguine, or resist going into seizures or duck-n-cover positions. The Bush Administration is about as dangerous as a badger on crystal meth, and as we've repeatedly seen, they're so dumb they can screw up a soda straw.
Can you imagine the maniacal spinning and spontaneous imploding if Our Best Friend EVAH!!, Israel, dumped us for Russia after we've run our entire frikkin country plus a couple extras into the ground on their account? That sure would be something to see.

This should be a newsy week

The corporate media is going to hand off the baton from the Olympics to the Democratic Convention. Gotta keep those Americans distracted from the real news. Let's hope they drop the damned thing and some truth breaks through.

The other day we saw the first signs of Israel squirming a little on the hot seat because of the Georgia fiasco.
Russia has condemned both Israel and the US for their role in arming the Georgian military with sophisticated weapons.

Israel claims it has not directly equipped or trained the Georgian military, and private Israeli firms - with the defense ministry's approval- are responsible for such dealings.
How Eddie Haskel-ish.

On the same day (8/20/08), a Lebanon paper reported that Olmert warned Israelis about the 'next war' hitting Israeli cities.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned on Tuesday that the next war with Lebanon would involve attacks on Israel's cities, and threatened that the Jewish state would hit back "harder than before." In 2006 Hizbullah fired almost 4,000 rockets at northern Israel during a month long war, reaching cities as far south as Haifa and Tiberias. Olmert warned that now that Hizbullah is the "dominant" force in Lebanon, Israel will hit back "harder than before." Olmert added that the Jewish state did not use all means to respond in 2006, but "if Lebanon becomes a Hizbullah state, then we won't have any restrictions in this regard." He did not elaborate.
And just a few days later, Israeli troops briefly entered Lebanon. You get the impression that they want another war with Lebanon, which Olmert predicts will cause the destruction of Israeli cities. But hey!
Eight Israeli soldiers entered the south Lebanon area of Mais al-Jabal, but pulled out after 15 minutes, a Lebanese daily reported. Lebanon's al-Safir newspaper said on Saturday that Israeli forces came only 100 meters into Mais al-Jabal in Marjayoun province before pulling back. A Lebanese army patrol and UN peacekeeping force headed to the area to monitor their movement and the Israelis turned back after some 15 minutes. Israeli threats against Hezbollah have escalated in the past week. An Israeli prime minister spokesman threatened to hit the whole of Lebanon if Hezbollah took over control in Lebanon. Meanwhile Lebanon plans to lodge a complaint with the United Nations about Israeli threats of pursuing Hezbollah inside Lebanese territory. The Zionist regime prime minister Ehud Olmert said recently that Israel would not consider itself bound by any restrictions if Hezbollah came to power in Lebanon.
So there's always crazy Israel to watch, because you never know what shit-storm they will kick up, all the while blaming it on someone else.

And this continued warmongering is necessary because the plan with Georgia, according to this source (also here & here), was for Israel to use Georgia as a launching point for an airstrike against Iran.
The air strike was to be aimed at Iranian government buildings with one Israeli group striking where top Iranian officials were known to be working, at housing for the top leadership, at any identified laboratory where nuclear work was being carried on and a second flight was to strike at Iranian oil wells, pipelines and Persian Gulf oil terminals. Once the dual strike was completed, the aircraft would head towards Israel and then were slated to be refueled in mid-air by an American tanker aircraft. That Putin was aware of the pending Georgian attack on South Ossetia is certain and the strong probability is that someone connected with the CIA’s Russia desk gave sensitive material on this subject to the Russians and an Israeli IDF member is positively known to have given very specific information to the Russian GRU.
Obviously, that plan is now defunct and people on the inside may be actively working against the neocons (oh please, God, may it be true). Is the 'next war' with Lebanon Plan B? I don't know, but events like the Olympics and the Democratic Convention give great cover for starting brush-wars that can race out of control given the right circumstances. So that's something to watch.

Of course, there's one thing that would take the pressure off the neocons, and that would be assurance that the next US president will continue the current policies, thereby resetting the clock. The Voice of the White House had this tidbit:
Washington, D.C., August 21, 2008: “Such heart-warming news! High level Republican associates here are talking about the latest ploy on the part of the State of Israel to gain complete control of the United States government. Their idea is to offer the diseased McCain unlimited support from their papers and television stations in return for his putting Joe Lieberman on the ticket as vice president. As McCain is known to be seriously ill and will soon be unable to function, the plan will be for him to retire “for reasons of health” and then Joe Lieberman, loud and persistent Israeli supporter, will step into the Oval Office and America will have her first (unelected) Jewish president. And a firmly dedicated Zionist at that! Many GOP people say putting Lieberman on the ticket will ruin any chance McCain has at the White House. Why? His obvious mental confusion? No, the American public is becoming seriously anti-Semitic and anti-Israel and if McCain attempts to support a universal draft (as he is dead set on doing) and has a rabid Zionist as a running mate, his fall will be great and he will drag the shattered remnants of the Republican Party with him. Thank God!”
Well, let's see how the media shills play the Mighty Wurlitzer this week. I barely have this ridiculous presidential race on my radar, but it defies belief that McCain should have any traction whatsoever regardless of Obama's qualifications or lack thereof. The credibility of the Republican Party is negative five billion percent thanks to GWB. But when I heard a talking head the other day describe some statistics about women supporters of Obama as 'ominous,' I thought that was an extremely loaded word, and I notice the persistent news about these Clinton supporters who supposedly can't seem to accept her defeat. If you recall Bush v Gore, you may remember that the right had a field day berating the Dems for refusing to accept the (managed) outcome. Sore losers...that was the narrative as I recall. From my position of not paying attention to the details of this particular circus, I must say the whiff of this old script wafts above the news of Clinton and her supporters like elephant dung and makes it to my nostrils. Is she going to be the spoiler like Nader, who splits the Dems and hands the victory to McCain, who is as big or bigger a joke as Bush ever was? I dunno, but this week we may begin to see the endgame of all sorts of plans coming into focus.

8/23/08

Extrapolate

If you're looking for a very clear description, explanation and prediction of what's going on with the economy, try this one. I feel smarter already. This is straight economic information with no political undertones or conspiracy angles and lots of graphs. It's very well done. Some choice bits:
The pseudo-wealth that has been created in the last seven years has begun to unwind, but will increase in speed in 2009. You only know how you’ve lived your life over the last seven years. Your neighbor who has been getting their house upgraded, sending their kids to private school, driving a BMW, and taking exotic vacations may have been living the high life on debt. As usual, Warren Buffet’s wisdom comes in handy. “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.” The tide is on its way out, and the naked swimmers are numbered in the millions. Mohamed El-Erian, the number two man at PIMCO, fears a negative feedback loop consuming the country. I believe we have begun the negative feedback loop and it is starting to accelerate.

...The elimination of $2 trillion of household debt will lead to the closing of thousands of retail stores, strip malls, restaurants, and bank branches. There should be a lot of vacant buildings available in the next few years, and a few suspicious fires.

...Consumer and business confidence is shot. Consumer confidence is at multi-decade low levels. Small business confidence is also at historic lows. Small businesses do most of the hiring in the U.S. Consumers and businesses are correct in their assessment of the situation. It is our political and corporate “leaders” that are in denial.
No shit.

8/22/08

You can't accomplish anything with an unchipped heart

You may have noticed that the subtitle of this blog is Tracing the Arc of Justice. I have noticed that over and over again, in matters small and large, that people overlook injustice. They shrug their shoulders as if to say that injustice is to be expected. Therefore, since there's nothing that can be done about it, one shouldn't spend too much time worrying about those poor people over there.

Needless to say, this really bothers me a lot. The attitude I typically get from people is that I am a little wacky for caring about things like the Palestinians. They just don't see the point. I am lacking 'common sense,' or something, which is a pretty funny accusation since the driving force of my philosophy is fighting for the common good. Not the good for this powerful group or that powerful group, but the good for everyone. The most frequent retort I get about people who are 'behind' is that it's probably their own fault. Maybe, but maybe not. It's just an assumption useful to people who want to justify closing a door behind them. Those who have made it ahead give themselves credit for their own hard work and seem to assume that anyone who didn't achieve XYZ must be a slacker. I find this grimly amusing coming from boomers, the very generation that turned the world to shit for billions. Must we be reminded that wages have been flat for decades, the dollar performs an incredible shrinking act before our very eyes, and most families need two or three jobs just to stay even? I often wonder if some of those who give themselves such big pats on the back for their own success could make it under today's rules as easily as they did back in the day. Can an honest person really get ahead today just by hard work and a little luck? Not very likely, and that's the difference between then and now. I wrote about this a little here.

But enough of that. It will shake out eventually, because I do believe that Dr. Martin Luther King was correct when he said, "The arc of the universe bends slowly but it always bends toward justice." Those who have shown little concern for those behind them, myopically focusing on everyone ahead, racing, striving and grasping their way forward regardless of the consequences downstream, will be turned around eventually to see what's left in their wake. Or rather who is left clinging to the detritus. This applies to us individually and as a nation.

For me this need to turn around and look behind us stems from my faith. Being duly horrified at what I see, I can't help but point it out to anyone who might listen. Oh, my God. It's urgent that we turn around. It's urgent for our own lives as much as for those who we are killing, literally, by this country's trajectory. And if one cannot care enough to turn around, perhaps one can at least see how our leaders leave us in their wake, and we ourselves cling to detritus whether we recognize this or not. The detritus of a shredded Constitution, a wrecked economy, a poisoned environment, a broken social contract.

My friend Jim Martin works for International Justice Mission. We grew up in the same town and somehow share this obsession with justice, though Jim puts me to shame with his action to secure justice for people around the world. He just had an article published which details his own trajectory moving from focusing on mercy to justice, and most importantly, he details how people can get involved doing this locally.
Maria has been going to a small Peruvian evangelical church for most of her 15 years. Until a couple of years ago, she would have seemed just another preteen ambling her way toward adulthood. But soon after puberty the first irrefutable symptom of her condition revealed itself. Her all-too-familiar swollen belly was not caused by lack of food, but by the absence of an advocate. Maria lives in a community where sexual abuse of children is not just common but rampant. Unable to protect herself, she became the victim of choice of a local cab driver, a "friend" of her family, and her repeated abuse resulted in the worst kind of unwanted pregnancy. The challenges of raising an infant with very few resources and even less experience have become the worn fabric of her daily life. Maria has borne, both literally and figuratively, the consequences of the biblical sin of oppression, the abuse of power.
Obviously, it gets depressing to pay attention to all the injustice in the world. It requires courage to look. It's humbling to realize how much work needs to be done. More than one lovely person has flat out told me they don't want to know certain things. No offense, I'm to understand. Just change the subject. This unwillingness to care, to look, to feel remorse, and to change, is the main reason why injustice prevails across the globe.

It seems easier not to know, but that is an illusion. You are already oppressed, though not as obviously as a Palestinian or a poor girl in a Peruvian village. In a matter of time, every American will come to understand the bitter truth of our national trajectory, a great nation which soared and then plummeted along the sure arc of justice. You can turn around now and let your mind soak it all in, absorb the blow, regain your equilibrium, and try to function a better way. Or, you can turn around when you're flung off the back of the boat, knocked unconscious, drowning in grief and despair, and looking for someone to care about your problems when they have their hands full of their own.

8/21/08

This Way to Russia

From a Russian perspective, George Bush has 'colossal audacity' to suggest that Russia pull back from Georgia.
Listening to you, your Vice President, Condi Rice and US and western officials complain about "regime change," "invasion," "bloodshed" and "suffering civilians" (in the light of their crimes across the world) have become nothing but laughable at best and highly infuriating and enraging at worst.

You are an idiot!

We seem to recall that when your Israeli friends were absolutely devastating the people of Lebanon, wantonly killing civilians, destroying their country’s infrastructure and destroying their environment also….the flapping jaw of your representative, Condoleezza Rice and your entire administration were saying no ceasefire, no nothing, just keep on going, keep on committing acts of state terrorism on innocent people, keep on committing your war crimes, you have them covered.

Well, Mr. Bush, this is it. Moscow better get this one right: No limited engagement nonsense. Moscow has the moral and legal right to carry out full scale military operations within Ossetia, Abkhazia and Georgia to ensure the safety of its citizens, to ensure the protection of Abkhazians and Ossetians and to finally destroy NATO plans for the Caucasus region.

No sane, informed, honest, rational person can blame Russia for reacting to a genocide against their own citizens in Georgia. But then you are NONE of those things.

The problem is not what Russia is doing, but how the US is reacting to it. If you were sane, if you were informed, if you were honest, if you were rational, if you were even marginally fair, you should be happy to see Russian forces put an end to the killing of Russian citizens by the Georgian military. But no, your government is advised by lunatics who belong in psychiatric wards instead of the Pentagon and White House. And you, Mr. Bush, belong in an international criminal court to be judged for your crimes against peace and your crimes against humanity.
Indeed. It has been noted in many places that Saakashvili is a puppet of the US/Israel, attached to both John McCain through his foreign policy adviser and Barack Obama through Brzezinski, that the attack was premeditated and initiated by Georgia against civilians, and that the US corporate media has grossly and blatantly distorted the entire situation for the main purpose of demonizing Russia. This is reality.

In reality, that very strange place which bears no resemblance whatsoever to the holographically indulgent creation of the propaganda machine, this Russian perspective noted above aligns with things called facts. These pesky fact thingys can be very challenging for some people to grasp, even when they have big important jobs like Secretary of State. Now before we go on, let's just recall the Bush Dirty Diapers piece. You must go read that if you haven't see it yet. It will help you appreciate just how incredibly obnoxious Condoleeza Rice is to those of us who live in reality.

From her remarks En Route to Brussels, Belgium: http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2008/08/108552.htm
RICE: The alliance has spoken with one voice, as has the United States and Europe, about the importance of Russia honoring its commitments, about the fact that this was a disproportionate Russian response to what happened in the zone of conflict in South Ossetia. And this is the first opportunity for the alliance to look at, really, three elements. First, to look at what we can do to support Georgia. Because. after all, we have to deny Russian strategic objectives which were clearly to undermine Georgia’s democracy, to use its military capability to damage, and in some cases, destroy Georgian infrastructure, and to try and weaken the Georgian state. Well, that is an objective that will be denied, because Georgian democracy stands and it will stand with the help of its allies around the world. Georgian infrastructure will be rebuilt. Georgia’s economy will be reinforced. And quite clearly, the efforts to intimidate the Georgian people by bombing Georgian infrastructure and attacking Georgian civilians is producing a backlash not just in Georgia, but in the region. So the first is to support Georgia so that that Russian strategic objective is denied. Secondly, we have an objective in the alliance to reaffirm the support of the alliance for those states that are now well outside of Russia’s reach; that is, those that have been fully integrated into the transatlantic structures, states like - the Baltic states like Poland, which are fully integrated members of the transatlantic community. And that just shows how far we’ve come since 1991 and the collapse of the Soviet Union, and certainly how far we’ve come since 1968 when one of the countries that will be sitting around that table was brutally attacked and its government overthrown by Soviet forces. But we are also going to send a message that we’re not going to allow Russia to draw a new line at those states that are not yet integrated into the transatlantic structures like Georgia and Ukraine. And so the alliance will need to consider what it wishes to do to clearly indicate that we’re not accepting a new line. The Bucharest Declaration, in effect, said that. And I think you will see a reaffirmation of Bucharest as you saw with Chancellor Merkel when she was in Tbilisi. Finally, we, of course, have to look at what this means for – in terms of the strategic choice that Russia seems to be making. This alliance has kept open a road for a strategic choice of Russia as friend, not adversary. That’s why we have a NATO-Russia Council. That’s why there have been so many efforts to pull Russia toward the international institutions like the WTO and the OECD and the G-8, and, as I mentioned, the NATO-Russia Council. But frankly, Russia can’t have it both ways. It can’t act in a way that it did during the Cold War when it was the Soviet Union and expect it to be treated – expect to be treated as a responsible partner as President Medvedev outlined in the speech that he made just a few weeks ago. And so we will discuss the choices that Russia seems to be making and the appropriate response to them.
Is she for real? What planet is this woman on? Some of her spinning, such as how we've supposedly bent over backwards to accommodate Russia but they just can't seem to be satisfied, bears a marked resemblance to the way the Israelis portray the Palestinians. (More on that 'negotiating' style here if you're interested.) By all means, if you have time go and read dear Condi's complete remarks. And look at a map to see the absurdity of these claims about the Poland missile defense system being in place to protect against Iran. Here's an actual map (pdf) that you can zoom in and see the utter absurdity of this claim and many others which stem from this map (below), the one Condi and George want all Americans to carry around in their heads because it makes their job so very much easier:
























But I'd also like to draw your attention to another item in her Q&A session, near the end, which she brought up herself and then quickly deflected when pressed.
RICE: Now, I think everybody recognizes that this is not the first time that we’ve seen this problem. We’ve had difficulties between Britain and Russia. We’ve had Russian Bear flights along the Norwegian coast. We’ve had Russian strategic aviation challenging in ways that they haven’t, even along borders with the United States which, I might note, is a very dangerous game, and perhaps one the Russians want to reconsider. This is not something that is just cost-free. Nobody needs strategic – Russian strategic aviation along America’s coasts. And so this effort to somehow assert Russian power or influence by military means is something that we’ve been seeing for a while. And it’s unfortunate, because everyone knows that Russia has certain military capabilities. The hope had been that Russia was going to build its foundation and its relationships with Europe and the United States on the basis of Russian economic, political, cultural, and other kinds of assets. And reminding people that Bears can fly next – near Norway or near Alaska and that you can use military force among – against a small neighbor is not a particularly appealing message or image.

QUESTION: Could you just clarify what the flights (inaudible)?
RICE:I – no, no. You know that we have these problems with Blackjacks and Bears. You’ve been asking Sean about them practically daily. Yeah, Sean will tell you what you’ve been asking him. (Laughter.)
What's this all about? I did a little looking around, and here is some more information.
http://formerspook.blogspot.com/2007/08/tracking-bears.html
We're standing by that forecast, because all indicators suggest that Russian bomber crews are still preparing for such a flight. According to Sky News, a Bear H flew a mission over the North Atlantic last Friday, prompting an intercept by RAF "Typhoon" fighters. It represented the first operational intercept for the Typhoon since the new fighters assumed Britain's air defense alert mission earlier this summer. The Typhoon is replacing the RAF's aging fleet of Tornado F3's, which have performed the air defense mission for more than 20 years.

By our count, this is at least the second "Bear" mission flown against the U.K. so far this year. Russian bombers have also flown profiles against Norway, Alaska, and earlier this month, they passed within 300 miles of U.S. air and naval bases on Guam--their most aggressive mission in more than a decade. The sudden spike in bomber activity came after a decade of inactivity, when Russia's Bear, TU-22M Backfire and TU-160 Blackjacks flew infrequently, the result of cutbacks in Moscow's military budget.
Winter is on the way. Europe depends on Russia to stay warm. The Middle East is already getting excited that Russia's resurgence may mean the end to US/Israeli hegemony over their affairs. Look at the (real) map again and see how Russia is neighbors with China, the Middle East and Europe. Why on earth would any of those countries want to be lashed to the US/Israel now that Bush has pissed away every asset we've ever had, most importantly our nation's moral authority? One of these days soon there's going to be a stampede for the exits.

8/20/08

And for his next trick, George will get us all %$*& killed

Since the stupid fiasco in Georgia, the following events have transpired:

Russia has cancelled all military cooperation with NATO.
Around 10 joint military exercises were planned involving Russian and NATO members through the end of this year. They will probably all be cancelled.
Russia and Syria have renewed their former ties.
The Russian aircraft carrier “Admiral Kuznetsov” is ready to head from Murmansk towards the Mediterranean and the Syrian port of Tartus. The mission comes after Syrian President Bashar Assad said he is open for a Russian base in the area. The “Admiral Kuznetsov”, part of the Northern Fleet and Russia’s only aircraft carrier, will head a Navy mission to the area. The mission will also include the missile cruiser “Moskva” and several submarines, Newsru.com reports. President Assad in meetings in Moscow this week expressed support to Russia’s intervention in South Ossetia and Georgia. He also expressed interest in the establishment of Russian missile air defence facilities on his land.
And Israel, ever paranoid, is feeling real, actual heat from their stupidity since Russia enjoys close ties with Israel's neighbors/enemies.
"I think that everyone in Russia and in the world is now aware of Israel's role and its military consultants in the Georgian crisis," said President al-Assad, who will meet his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, on Thursday. Such deals would irk Washington and Tel Aviv, which have long asked Moscow not to sell weapons to countries that share borders with the occupied territories.

Reports, however, indicate that Russia is eager to revive its defense ties with Syria following the South Ossetian conflict, in which Georgia used Israeli-supplied equipment. An Israeli website reported that Moscow plans to deploy advanced missile systems - including the S-300 air-missile defense system as well as the nuclear-capable Iskander missiles - in Syria in the near future. A Russian official was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying that a number of deals involving anti-aircraft and anti-tank missile systems are being prepared by Russia and Syria. "Damascus is Moscow's long-standing partner in military cooperation and we are expecting to reach an agreement in principle on new weapons deals," said the source. The official added that the Syrians are interested in acquiring Russia's Pantsyr-S1 Air Defense Missile systems, BUK-M1 surface-to-air medium-range missile system, military aircraft, and other hardware.

Russia has condemned both Israel and the US for their role in arming the Georgian military with sophisticated weapons. Israel claims it has not directly equipped or trained the Georgian military, and private Israeli firms - with the defense ministry's approval- are responsible for such dealings.
So now, dear friends -- and I know this will shock you -- Israel's security will be threatened by the very idiotic actions prompted by Israel and the Israeli-controlled US government through their puppet Saakashvili. Israel, populated by the most insecure people on earth, who paradoxically consider themselves more precious than others and yet cling and grasp and lie and murder so much that the world cannot help but recoil in horror at the gaping void where a human soul would otherwise repose, will now be retro-fitted with whatever the US military has to offer at American taxpayer expense, of course.

It's as if no matter what happens, Israel will be taken care of. Should this little Georgian sortie have worked, they would have been happy. But since it didn't work, they still get to play their poor threatened victim card to extort more from Americans.

And now, wasting no time whatsoever on the next stupid idea, Olmert is talking about another war with Lebanon and warning Israelis to expect direct hits on their own cities.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned on Tuesday that the next war with Lebanon would involve attacks on Israel's cities, and threatened that the Jewish state would hit back "harder than before."

In 2006 Hizbullah fired almost 4,000 rockets at northern Israel during a monthlong war, reaching cities as far south as Haifa and Tiberias.

Olmert warned that now that Hizbullah is the "dominant" force in Lebanon, Israel will hit back "harder than before." Olmert added that the Jewish state did not use all means to respond in 2006, but "if Lebanon becomes a Hizbullah state, then we won't have any restrictions in this regard."

The next war with Lebanon. Planning ahead, are we? Well, it should be no surprise. After all, American Goy has the whole lowdown on how this premeditated Georgian clusterfuck came to be. These people -- the Bush Administration and the Israeli government -- are criminals. They belong in prison for mass murder. If they are not stopped, they will just keep killing. It's what they do for a living, and Americans and Israelis are not excepted from state-sanctioned murder no matter how 'patriotic' they are or whatever the hell imaginary quality people seem to think protects them.

Kill the Bloggers, C....I.....L.....L

I remember seeing something a while back, but unfortunately I can't put my hands on it now, and it said that many patriotic Americans worked in the NSA. These people are very, very intelligent types and they will not sit by and let the US become taken over by the goon squad currently in charge. If I recall correctly, this was part of a comment thread.

Now that may all be true, and I hope it is, but apparently there are others in the NSA who carry a different attitude.
Wayne Madsen, always spoiling for a fight with Bush and Cheney, or the chance to show off his undies to minimum wage airport TSA workers, has an executive level NSA staff person on record saying that significant sentiment exists within the NSA to kill troublesome bloggers and journalists.

The NSA executive staffer was, apparently, not the source of the sentiment, but this individual did pass along the context and the precise wording of the “junior G-man” working in the NSA. Prominent names listed in the NSA database of troublemakers?


1. Bill Gertz

2. James Bamford

3. Vernon Loeb

4. Jim Risen

5. Dr. John C. K. Daly

6. Wayne Madsen

7. Seymour Hersh

These were all the names Madsen published, but there are, of course, many others. Possibly you, gentle reader.

At moments like this I like to recall the military guy who called me a 'paranoid delusionist.' Oh geez yeah.

8/18/08

Two Suspicious Items

JTA reported on 8/17 that a Condoleeza Rice visit to the Middle East (a totally useless waste of US taxpayer money) has been called off.

http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/109953.html

Condoleezza Rice's widely expected visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority this week in unlikely to happen.

An aide to Mahmoud Abbas said earlier this month that the U.S. secretary of state, having hosted Israeli and Palestinian Authority negotiators in Washington, would make a routine trip to the region on August 20 to oversee peace efforts.

But U.S. diplomatic sources said Sunday that Rice -- who never formally gave a date for her next visit -- will not be flying out to the Middle East in the near future given the Bush administration's over-riding concern with the Georgian crisis.

How convenient. Meanwhile, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Saudi King Abdullah told Iran not to get roped into a pretext for a military attack.

Following a meeting this weekend between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Saudi King Abdullah, Iran was told not to allow the U.S. and Israel to create a pretext for a military attack, a warning interpreted by Tehran that an impending attack is on the horizon.

“Iran should not present on a silver platter the justifications and the pretexts for those who want to drag the region down a dangerous slope,” Egypt’s presidential spokesman Suleiman Awwad said on Saturday.

A cynical person might think that something might be afoot and dear Condi might not want to be trapped in the Middle East like all those American service people should some kind of trouble possibly break out. A cynical person might also notice that JTA and the Debka File, two of the sources cited for these news items, are both Israeli sources.

Hissy Fits

The US under George Bush has absolutely wasted an unforgivable number of lives, money and opportunities over the last eight years. Russia and China are the world's new superpowers. But since this is very, very difficult for some people to admit, we are instead treated to various hissy fits of self-righteous indignation from the losers.

Here's one with that shrew Condoleeza Rice and the spastic Saakashvili.

At a joint appearance with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Tiblisi after signing the accord, Saakashvili lashed out again at Russia and the West. We will "never, ever surrender" he said about the conflict with Russia. He then accused the West of triggering Russian aggression by denying his country membership in NATO. Rice defended the new cease-fire document, saying it requires that the Soviets leave Georgia immediately adding that the time has come "to begin a discussion of the consequences of what Russia has done."

Saakashvili used the opportunity to again criticize the West. He says he warned the world about a Russian military buildup for months. He says that Russia mobilized 1,200 tanks within hours to invade Georgian territory. "This whole thing could have been prevented," Saakashvili said. "We are today looking evil directly in the eye," a visibly emotional Saakashvili told reporters. He said Georgia would never reconcile itself to any occupation of its territory by Russia.

Earlier President Bush also lashed out at Moscow saying that "bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century." "Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected. Moscow must honor its commitment to withdraw its invading forces from all Georgian territory," Bush said before leaving for a vacation in Texas.

That's very rich coming from a man who has presided over the destruction of two sovereign countries while bankrupting our own.

There was the incident on Fox, which has really made its way around the block.

And perhaps most interesting, hundreds of retired IDF soldiers who had gone to Georgia to train the Georgian army hear that their trainees have been killed.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/
0%2C7340%2CL-3583278%2C00.html

Returning soldiers reported that top-secret IDF materials were left lying around for anyone to see because the Israeli training company wanted to finish quickly and make more money on other projects. In addition, they also had to finish quickly because they knew these Georgian soldiers would be facing real combat soon. Somehow they just knew the Russians were coming.

Actually, the Georgian officers told their soldiers they would be going to help NATO forces in Iraq, but the knew the real objective was Ossetia and Abkhazia.

According to Tomer, Gal Hirsch came to visit the trainers now and then, but was mostly absent. And when the training was officially over, Tomer did not feel that his soldiers were ready for war. "By Israeli standards, the soldiers had almost zero capability and the officers were mediocre," he said. "It was clear that taking that army to war was illogical." By keeping in touch with one of his soldiers, Tomer discovered that most of the men he had trained had indeed been killed in the war. "Some of them became good friends of mine and invited me into their homes. It's hard to digest that these people have suddenly vanished from the face of the earth," he lamented. Defense Shield stated in response that "all of the company's actions were approved by the Defense Ministry, including the materials transferred to the training companies. The information security standards were set, emphasized, and maintained by experienced security officers, and we have no knowledge of these claims."
Hmm. IDF soldiers never struck me as being such softies. Certainly they have no trouble killing Palestinians, but the Georgians are their peeps.

So this whole exercise has been a complete disaster for the credibility of Team USA/Israel. And I did not know this, but the 2014 Winter Olympics are slated for Sochi, Russia. Allright?!?! That calls for another hissy fit. Something Must Be Done, Dammit.

http://www.theseminal.com/2008/08/14/
move-the-2014-winter-olympics-%20away-from-sochi-russia/




From Karl Schwartz:
The 'territorial dispute' matter was just an excuse. South Ossetia and Abkhazia have not desired to be a part of Georgia since the USSR disbanded in 1991. The real reason is that most NATO members want peace with Russia, and want no more Bush lunacy stirring up problems. To the 'letter of the law' Russia withdrew 80 armored divisions, legions of missile and artillery systems and ended the Cold War. Most of NATO knows that Bush and his lunacy are bungling into what could be a very hot war. Many NATO members are not happy about this fake 'Bush Missile Shield' that is an offensive weapon system aimed at Russia. Russia has made it clear Poland is now designated as a nuclear weapons target. EU and NATO saw that coming and they are not pleased at this constant, never ending, underhanded provocation of Russia by Junior and his Zionist Buddies.
The world now gets to choose between Russia and Team USA/Israel. Let's think about this choice for a second. Bush has been a disaster. Obama is counseled by a man who hates Russia, and McCain is a crazy warmonger. They are both managed by people running the rapidly imploding and completely corrupt financial system. Team USA/Israel is broke and despised throughout the world. Meanwhile, Russia has oil, gas, money, pipelines, and smart leaders. Not to mention that Russia is right next door to Europe.

If you were one of these smaller countries, who would you align with? Obviously, the gig is up. Thus, the hissy fits.

8/15/08

How Utterly Predictable

Do you remember this atrocity?

Footage of Fadel Shana, 23, being killed by a tank shell in the Gaza Strip has been released by the news agency, which said that the cameraman was hit despite clear markings that showed him to be a journalist.

After medical examinations of Shana's body, Reuters said that Israel had used a controversial type of tank shell which scatters metal darts, or flechettes, around the surrounding area after exploding, risking civilian casualties. Israel refused to comment on the report, but stated that the weapons were not illegal.

I wrote about it here.
Not that I’m surprised, but it still bears pointing out because I’m sick and tired of people shrugging off all sorts of barbaric behavior. Where’s the outrage? Where’s the accountability? This has been going on for a long time, so what good is a measured demand for a ’swift, honest and impartial investigation’? Has anything like that ever been forthcoming in all these years? No. The IDF will blow this off just like they surely blow off any complaints about people getting killed in the occupied territories. They don’t care. These soldiers have been given carte blanche to do whatever they want. Maybe the guy in the tank woke up on the wrong side of bed, so he decided to kill some people yesterday. He knows there will be no negative consequences for him, so what’s to stop him? Apparently nothing.
Sure enough, Israel cleared the troops involved.

LONDON (Reuters) - An Israeli tank crew who killed a Reuters cameraman and eight young bystanders in the Gaza Strip four months ago acted properly and will not face legal action, Israel's senior military lawyer has concluded.

The military advocate-general told the international news agency in a letter sent on Tuesday that troops could not see whether Fadel Shana was operating a camera or a weapon but were nonetheless justified in firing a shell packed with darts that killed him and eight other Palestinians aged between 12 and 20.

...Reuters wrote to Mendelblit on Wednesday with a number of questions, including asking precisely why the soldiers ruled out the possibility that Shana was a cameraman, why the fact he stood in full view of the tanks for some minutes did not suggest he had no hostile intent and why the tank crew, if concerned but unsure, did not simply reverse a few meters out of sight.

The Foreign Press Association in Israel said the army had a "long line of cases clearing its soldiers of deadly negligence".

It added: "The army is obligated to clearly identify its targets before firing, especially in areas where civilians and journalists are present. The mere suspicion of possible hostilities should not be enough to justify overwhelming deadly force.

"We hope that the army's conclusion does not appear to give soldiers free license to fire without being sure of the target, greatly hindering the media's ability to cover the conflict."

Obviously, the IDF soldiers know full well that they have free license to kill whoever they please, for whatever reason they choose or no reason at all, and with complete impunity. That is the only conclusion one can draw. What is the point of diplomatic niceties under these circumstances, aside from enabling more atrocities?

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