World Politics

[blutto]

....from Haaretz.....I guess these guys are not as sharp as your guys in pajamas either....nor the UN for that matter....

UN Has Testimony That Syrian Rebels Used Sarin Gas

United Nations human rights investigators have gathered testimony from casualties of Syria's civil war and medical staff indicating that rebel forces have used the nerve agent sarin; no evidence yet of government use of chemical weapons.

United Nations human rights investigators have gathered testimony from casualties of Syria's civil war and medical staff indicating that rebel forces have used the nerve agent sarin, one of the lead investigators said on Sunday.

The United Nations independent commission of inquiry on Syria has not yet seen evidence of government forces having used chemical weapons, which are banned under international law, said commission member Carla Del Ponte.

"Our investigators have been in neighbouring countries interviewing victims, doctors and field hospitals and, according to their report of last week which I have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of sarin gas, from the way the victims were treated," Del Ponte said in an interview with Swiss-Italian television.

This was use on the part of the opposition, the rebels, not by the government authorities," she added, speaking in Italian.

....and....

U.S. President Barack Obama last year declared that the use or deployment of chemical weapons by Assad would cross a "red line".

....and we can assume no red line was crossed because no Merikan action was taken ( can we not ? )....

http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/un-has-testimony-that-syrian-rebels-used-sarin-gas-1.519405

....so Shillary who was in the frame supplying weapons to the lung eaters in also in bed with people who use sarin gas....very interesting....

Cheers

 

[djpbaltimore]

Or that the red-line was a bluff.... BTW, Obama did basically accuse the Assad regime of the sarin attack.

“The president was looking for a way to not have to make good on the threat that he had made,” Col. Andrew Bacevich (Ret.), author of The Limits of Power, tells FRONTLINE. “I think because the president having drawn that red line realized that he had no appetite for direct military engagement in Syria.”

Neither did the nation as a whole....

 

[blutto]

Re:

Or that the red-line was a bluff.... BTW, Obama did basically accuse the Assad regime of the sarin attack.

“The president was looking for a way to not have to make good on the threat that he had made,” Col. Andrew Bacevich (Ret.), author of The Limits of Power, tells FRONTLINE. “I think because the president having drawn that red line realized that he had no appetite for direct military engagement in Syria.”

Neither did the nation as a whole....

....and you know that was a bluff how exactly ?.....like did you read something to confirm that ?....wow I didn't realize you had that kind of clearance ?....

....and was Andrew Bacevich speaking for the president ?....reading the mind of the president?....or just talking out his a$$ ?.....gee tough call eh ?....they are all such good choices aren't they ?....

"Neither did the nation as a whole."....as a whole eh...they just screamed out in one voice, No !....gee I missed that and a quick Google search showed nothing of the sort....well I can remember more than one or two people screaming for action, and if memory serves me well they were well up the food chain ( read Obama took some serious flak for not going in guns blazing )....

Cheers

 

[djpbaltimore]

Maybe you should focus on the word 'or' used to denote that it was one of the possibilities. You get an 'F' in reading comprehension.

Gee whiz... a historian and former soldier offering his opinion on what is going on in the middle east. What a crazy world that we live in.


Before the chemical attacks

Americans also opposed military intervention in Syria in a May Gallup survey. In that poll, by 68% to 24%, Americans opposed military action "to attempt to end the conflict" if "all economic and diplomatic efforts fail to end the civil war in Syria."

Even after the attacks

Americans' support for the United States' taking military action against the Syrian government for its suspected use of chemical weapons is on track to be among the lowest for any intervention Gallup has asked about in the last 20 years. Thirty-six percent of Americans favor the U.S. taking military action in order to reduce Syria's ability to use chemical weapons. The majority -- 51% -- oppose such action, while 13% are unsure.

 

[blutto]

Re:

Maybe you should focus on the word 'or' used to denote that it was one of the possibilities. You get an 'F' in reading comprehension.

Gee whiz... a historian and former soldier offering his opinion on what is going on in the middle east. What a crazy world that we live in.

....yeah it was an opinion, full stop.....

Cheers

 

[blutto]

Re:

Maybe you should focus on the word 'or' used to denote that it was one of the possibilities. You get an 'F' in reading comprehension.

Gee whiz... a historian and former soldier offering his opinion on what is going on in the middle east. What a crazy world that we live in.


Before the chemical attacks

Americans also opposed military intervention in Syria in a May Gallup survey. In that poll, by 68% to 24%, Americans opposed military action "to attempt to end the conflict" if "all economic and diplomatic efforts fail to end the civil war in Syria."

Even after the attacks

Americans' support for the United States' taking military action against the Syrian government for its suspected use of chemical weapons is on track to be among the lowest for any intervention Gallup has asked about in the last 20 years. Thirty-six percent of Americans favor the U.S. taking military action in order to reduce Syria's ability to use chemical weapons. The majority -- 51% -- oppose such action, while 13% are unsure.

....gee, never realized that 51% represented a whole...but then I was never that good with numbers eh ?....

Cheers

 

[djpbaltimore]

If the nation as a whole had wanted to go to war in Syria, the US would've done so IMO.....

 

[blutto]

Re:

If the nation as a whole had wanted to go to war in Syria, the US would've done so IMO.....

....so given what you have said, IYO if 51% of the nation had wanted war the US would have gone to war....hmmm, interesting....

Cheers

 

[djpbaltimore]

Yes, there would probably have been some military action. The red line was crossed and Obama was facing pressure to make his actions equal his words. However negatively you think of Americans, most of the people here have become immensely war weary due to Afghanistan and Iraq. Even with innocents being gassed with Sarin, barely over a third wanted anything to do with it. A collective NMP.....

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Re:

If the nation as a whole had wanted to go to war in Syria, the US would've done so IMO.....

IF a REpulican would have said the same thing as President Obama then YOU and your pals would have been screaming like a bunch of ???????? or ????? ?

Oh yeah and as a former "marine" I find your take on things very interesting. Maybe I should write a incoherent drunk book? attention grabber and such.

 

[djpbaltimore]

I never scream Glenn. It is like you don't even know who I am any more....

 

[blutto]

Re:

I never scream Glenn. It is like you don't even know who I am any more....

...well, it is becoming more of a mystery with each passing post, errr, day....

Cheers

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Re:

I never scream Glenn. It is like you don't even know who I am any more....

Well you and others quote the former military members you want without any respect to those who dissent.
Your game not mine.

 

[python]

short time ago:
Pentagon says Chinese vessels harassed U.S. ship
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/09/us.navy.china/index.html?iref=24hours

a few days ago:
Iran escalates high seas harassment of US Navy
http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/06/politics/iran-us-navy-confrontation/

hours ago...
russia harassed the us spy plane
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-07/russian-jet-flies-within-10-feet-us-spy-plane

i want to ask all good people 3 questions:

1. what's common btwn those incidents besides the word 'harassed' used to describe an 'unprofessional' warmongers towards a peace-loving, friendly sailing uncle ?
a hint: sovereign waters and airspace

2. what would happen to those war mongers if they threatened the coastal space of the world's most peace-loving uncle ?
a hint: a bunch of gorgeous flowers would be sent by the uncle.

3. and now seriously, are there enough sober-minded, reflective americans that can't understand how arrogant and duplicitous is to whine about being 'harassed' when you spy in and harass other nations vital security space ?
one answer i already seem to have reading the latest posts... a certain djp aint have to worry

 

[blutto]

Re:

short time ago:
Pentagon says Chinese vessels harassed U.S. ship
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/09/us.navy.china/index.html?iref=24hours

a few days ago:
Iran escalates high seas harassment of US Navy
http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/06/politics/iran-us-navy-confrontation/

hours ago...
russia harassed the us spy plane
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-07/russian-jet-flies-within-10-feet-us-spy-plane

i want to ask all good people 3 questions:

1. what's common btwn those incidents besides the word 'harassed' used to describe an 'unprofessional' warmongers towards a peace-loving, friendly sailing uncle ?
a hint: sovereign waters and airspace

2. what would happen to those war mongers if they threatened the coastal space of the world's most peace-loving uncle ?
a hint: a bunch of gorgeous flowers would be sent by the uncle.

3. and now seriously, are there enough sober-minded, reflective americans that can't understand how arrogant and duplicitous is to whine about being 'harassed' when you spy in and harass other nations vital security space ?
one answer i already seem to have reading the latest posts... a certain djp aint have to worry

....this is the beauty of being the exceptional city on the hill, your central narrative is written by god himself, and those others, who don't have god covering their back, simply do not count....

....geez, now this may in some circles be considered blasphemous and warrant death by god sanctioned Hellfire from the sky, but ain't the above sorta kinda like the Islamo-monsteristical terrorisms guys that we is fighting in the War on that Terror Idea....

...colour me confused but I was sure we had the moral high ground on this one.....

Cheers

 

[djpbaltimore]

Re: Re:

I never scream Glenn. It is like you don't even know who I am any more....

Well you and others quote the former military members you want without any respect to those who dissent.
Your game not mine.

Please provide an example of me doing so. And try to manage a response without including a gay slur. Thx

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Re: Re:

I never scream Glenn. It is like you don't even know who I am any more....

Well you and others quote the former military members you want without any respect to those who dissent.
Your game not mine.

Please provide an example of me doing so. And try to manage a response without including a gay slur. Thx

I did not direct any slur towards you but never did see you say anything to velo for his race baiting to me. Crystal clear how you operate.

My point is that you quote the military when it benefits your point of view. Otherwise you never mention other facts including the majority of the military were pro copperhead for example.

You are interested in this Syria stuff. To bad the President of the United States is not.

 

[blutto]

Re:

Yes, there would probably have been some military action. The red line was crossed and Obama was facing pressure to make his actions equal his words. However negatively you think of Americans, most of the people here have become immensely war weary due to Afghanistan and Iraq. Even with innocents being gassed with Sarin, barely over a third wanted anything to do with it. A collective NMP.....

....here is how the redline scenario played out in the NYT.....

Lesser known moments of the Times serving as a disinformation conduit include a discredited assertion about the 2013 sarin attack in Syria, in which the Times purported to show how the flight paths of two missiles traced back to a Syrian military base, only later to grudgingly acknowledge that aeronautical experts judged that the one missile found to be carrying sarin had a maximum range of about one-fourth the required distance

.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/new-york-times-and-the-new-mccarthyism/5544514

.....thankfully there was no one with your, uhhh, powers of analysis anywhere near the levers of power...if that had happened the Syrian fiasco would have morphed into something gargantuanly catastrophic....read, it was not that Obama lost his nerve it was because in the final sober analysis the originally sarin story was flipped 180 degrees out of phase from the original bs-based reports ( think Judith Miller )......

Cheers

 

[Starstruck]

The Sick Ocean
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/09/08/the-sick-ocean/

A major new scientific report, “Explaining Ocean Warming” was released on September 5th. It is grim. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress in Hawaii, the findings are based upon peer-reviewed research compiled by 80 scientists from 12 countries. It is the most comprehensive study ever undertaken on the subject of warming of the ocean.

Significantly, the ocean has absorbed more than 90% of “enhanced heating from climate change since the 1970s.” In other words, the ocean has been “shielding us” from the extensive affects of global warming. And, the consequences for the ocean are “absolutely massive.”

The “seasons in the ocean” are actually changing as a result.

“The scale of ocean warming is truly staggering with the numbers so large that it is difficult for most people to comprehend,” D. Laffoley, et al, ed. Explaining Ocean Warming, IUCN Global Marine and Polar Programme, Sept. 2016.

“A useful analysis undertaken by the Grantham Institute in 2015 concluded that if the same amount of heat that has gone into the top 2000m of the ocean between 1955-2010 had gone into the lower 10km of the atmosphere, then the Earth would have seen a warming of 36°C.”

In other words, humanity would be toast.

Here come the young: the next world population boom
The population of people under the age of 30 in fragile and unstable countries is going to skyrocket. And the world is not ready for them
http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2016/09/04/Here-come-the-young-the-next-world-population-boom/stories/201608210045

No McMansions, flat screen TV's, cellphones and hummers for you kiddies. What you need is the Chthulucene! :lol:

Tentacular Thinking: Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Chthulucene
http://www.e-flux.com/journal/tentacular-thinking-anthropocene-capitalocene-chthulucene/

What a delicious academic word salad that says nothing much new at all. Screwed (oops, was that negative?)

 

[Starstruck]

I've been checking out the goings on in Venezuela, v i v a la rebellion? Sad.

 

[python]

this development as i type could be the beginning of the syria clusterfork solution...

as i type, mr kerry and mr lavrov are are giving a press conference following their 15 hour (15 hours !!) talks in geneva, which according to the news outlets have finally resulted in a common position.

right now i cant sort out the main points of agreement, but may supplement the post later with the details...

things are looking interesting...

 

[blutto]

Re:

this development as i type could be the beginning of the syria clusterfork solution...

as i type, mr kerry and mr lavrov are are giving a press conference following their 15 hour (15 hours !!) talks in geneva, which according to the news outlets have finally resulted in a common position.

right now i cant sort out the main points of agreement, but may supplement the post later with the details...

things are looking interesting...

...yep, gonna be interesting if the Merikan allies retain enough of strip to get a pipeline thru....which is basically what sparked this war....

Cheers

 

[Brullnux]

Re:

this development as i type could be the beginning of the syria clusterfork solution...

as i type, mr kerry and mr lavrov are are giving a press conference following their 15 hour (15 hours !!) talks in geneva, which according to the news outlets have finally resulted in a common position.

right now i cant sort out the main points of agreement, but may supplement the post later with the details...

things are looking interesting...

That's a start. At least the fact that Kerry and Lavrov are working together is good, even if it is just superficial.

I imagine the Kurds the the short straw like usual?

 

[blutto]

.....so how is this going to play out in helping keep the EU/US alliance against evil mother Russia alive and well....

Apple’s multi-billion-dollar tax scams were possible because of support from the US Treasury, Commerce and Trade Departments. Indeed, Treasury Secretary, Jack Lew, launched a tirade against the European Commission, threatening retaliation, claiming that these US tax swindles were vital to the security of world trade. Wall Street flunky, Senator Charles Schumer called the EU penalty ‘a cheap money grab’ and threatened to start a trade war with Europe if the Democrats regain power in the upcoming Senatorial and Congressional elections.

The entire US imperial edifice operates through corrupt multi-national corporate tax swindlers who control and direct their politician stooges who, in turn, intimidate, submissive European regimes (like Ireland). The system is now being challenged by rival European economic powers intent on reducing the US tax advantages to increase their competitiveness. The growing competition over profits, markets and tax receipts has important political implications as the US dominance of Europe depends on the supremacy of its multi-nationals.

.....and of course...

US taxpayers subsidize the US multi-nationals even when they relocate jobs abroad to cheap labor markets and move their corporate head offices to low-tax countries. The result is that the US government has to increase the tax burden on wage-salaried workers and small businesspeople to finance social programs and critical infrastructure because the US multinationals have moved their ‘addresses’ to tax havens.

....and "duh" ...

In demanding an end to negotiations with the US over the trans-Atlantic trade deal, the French minister for foreign trade summed up his country’s position: “There is no political support from France for those negotiations. . . the Americans give nothing or just crumbs”. Throughout Europe politicians of the Left and Right have pointed out that closer ties with the US undermine their business deals with Russia and China, dilute environmental protection and abolish workers’ rights.

Parallel developments are taking place in Asia with regard to the trans-Pacific trade deal: The US has failed to convince Asian countries to sign bilateral and multilateral trade pacts designed to exclude China.

http://www.unz.com/jpetras/rebellion-in-the-suites-tax-collectors-and-businesspeople/

Cheers

 

[python]

@blutto
that was a great article. a must-read twice... being a tech head, i have a special opinion on the apple products (no, not the performance, their pricing, services, arrogance etc) , but that's besides the point...

@brullnux
agree. a good beginning but unfortunately very little concrete info was let out to say more. lavrov said they signed 5 confidential documents. that's it. kerry keeps mouthing about only the assad obligations as if anyone not too stupid not realizing that it take 2 to tango...still, i am encouraged by the obama willingness to talk, even if out his lack of a better game in this case. not mentioned, but surely in the background -- and consulted -- were iran, turkey and the saudis. all 3 in addition to the us and russia influence if not directly control their own multiple rebel groups.

it would be reasonable to assume that the recent warmup btwn turkey and vlad on the 1 hand, and the saudi-russia oil deal otoh at the 20 summit in china, had showed to obama that to remain a power broker he HAS to play faily with vlad. the old american arrogance is melting as we speak...that blutto article is another case in point.