World Politics

[Brullnux]

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner indicted in a corruption scandal. Not exactly surprising given the number of scandals that took place in her a second term, and also re Rousseff's impeachment in April. I'm trying to find some Argentine opinion polls to see if Mauricio Macri is doing badly and just wants to boost his (and ruin Kirchnerism's) reputation and standing in the polls. It usually is something along those lines in young and corrupt democracies. If anyone has any facts of use please share.

Edit: to the above post, yes voting for such a resolution is a step too far for the USA. An abstention has both the symbolic and, eventually/hopefully, the tangible impact necessary. It also keeps ties with Israel, rather than completely isolating them. This is clever for US standards. An abstention draws more attention in Israel to the settlements and how they are illegal and must stop, as well as focusing on Netanyahu's administration and inadequacy. A vote against would help Benji in stirring hatred against the west, now conspiring with the arab nations (I'm imagining his words, of course) to hurt the Jewish State. This might've created hatred in a similar way to which the Treaty of Versailles did and keep these fanatics in power.

 

[blutto]

....was rummaging thru the local national paper and found this buried in the back pages.....

Russian troops find mass graves with mutilated bodies in Aleppo

Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Monday that its troops had found mass graves in Syria’s Aleppo with bodies showing signs of torture and mutilation

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/russian-troops-find-mass-graves-mutilated-bodies-article-1.2924756

....would have thought, that given the incredible outcry over the battle for east Aleppo in recent editions of Western media outlets, this would be screamed across the front page news....but no , buried on page 16...weird..

...and funny our own beloved and blustery Busted, who has on many occasions graced this thread with his loud outrage over civilian deaths in east Aleppo ( but oddly not west Aleppo...which is more weird...or telling...or something ...) is suddenly prominent by his silence on these atrocities, read he has deserted his cat bird seat on this part of the east Aleppo story....funny that too eh...

Cheers

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner indicted in a corruption scandal. Not exactly surprising given the number of scandals that took place in her a second term, and also re Rousseff's impeachment in April. I'm trying to find some Argentine opinion polls to see if Mauricio Macri is doing badly and just wants to boost his (and ruin Kirchnerism's) reputation and standing in the polls. It usually is something along those lines in young and corrupt democracies. If anyone has any facts of use please share.

Edit: to the above post, yes voting for such a resolution is a step too far for the USA. An abstention has both the symbolic and, eventually/hopefully, the tangible impact necessary. It also keeps ties with Israel, rather than completely isolating them. This is clever for US standards. An abstention draws more attention in Israel to the settlements and how they are illegal and must stop, as well as focusing on Netanyahu's administration and inadequacy. A vote against would help Benji in stirring hatred against the west, now conspiring with the arab nations (I'm imagining his words, of course) to hurt the Jewish State. This might've created hatred in a similar way to which the Treaty of Versailles did and keep these fanatics in power.

Of course the USA would only abstain and that's the problem. The Israel/US connection is much more powerful than the push for real change in that part of the world.

 

[python]

Erdogan says U.S.-led coalition gives support to terrorist groups in Syria

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-turkey-idUSKBN14G1EU?il=0

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he has evidence that U.S.-led coalition forces give support to terrorist groups including the Islamic State

I am shockingly shocked :surprised:

shocked particularly at the reuters which is quickly becoming a fake stooge news outlet

...i have no idea what erdogans evidence is, but i recalled the 'mistaken' air support by the us airforce given to the islamic state during their offence on the syrian army near deir ezzor
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/us-coalition-knew-bombing-syrian-army-deir-ezzor/

or the american obsession with secrecy when the russians suggested to make public their deal on separating 'moderate' rebels from the jihadists in aleppo

or the miraculous quantities of american weapons with which the jihadists slaughter civilians

 

[movingtarget]

H.I.V. rate in Russia

http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=4z5Q7LhI+KVBjmEgFdYACPLKh239P3pg1/LsSf2+gaVvkMfb2HaTf7LQIyf8Jp+wPstRFxvyNUkIVNJQtvoy6UUXc7y8hNbtF1E2Q6gD6ktXm1vJFeYiB94JjypKTQKIlFSheUVpYAzxoXKmxqbd9Q==&campaign_id=129&instance_id=88763&segment_id=100431&user_id=12d98412e3bcc0522f6cfbf4c21c54e6&regi_id=42685115

 

[movingtarget]

Israel declare war !

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/28/netanyahu-told-new-zealand-backing-un-vote-would-be-declaration-of-war

Oh dear.................

 

[blutto]

Re:

Israel declare war !

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/28/netanyahu-told-new-zealand-backing-un-vote-would-be-declaration-of-war

Oh dear.................

....oh dear, indeed.....words fail me....looks like Nutty-and-Yahoo just done BDS'd himself but good ....anybody have any idea what the response is in New Zealand among the great unwashed....

....the silver lining here is Israel is proof positive that a country can survive much worse leadership than Cheetolini.....so there is that eh....

Cheers

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Could be a bumpy road for the freeloaders on the east side. Something tells me that there could be a big debate on the funding for these freeloaders.

 

[blutto]

Re:

Could be a bumpy road for the freeloaders on the east side. Something tells me that there could be a big debate on the funding for these freeloaders.

....would that include all the neocon inspired aggression ?....

Cheers

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Re: Re:

Could be a bumpy road for the freeloaders on the east side. Something tells me that there could be a big debate on the funding for these freeloaders.

....would that include all the neocon inspired aggression ?....

Cheers

I think the "right" is going to lean hard on the de-funding for UN. I don't think it will work but it could considering the current climate here in the USA.

Then you have a current Sec of State that is not very smart or not as smart as he think he is.

Secretary of State John Kerry delcared Wednesday that Israel "can either be Jewish or democratic" but "it cannot be both."

 

[blutto]

Re: Re:

Could be a bumpy road for the freeloaders on the east side. Something tells me that there could be a big debate on the funding for these freeloaders.

....would that include all the neocon inspired aggression ?....

Cheers

I think the "right" is going to lean hard on the de-funding for UN. I don't think it will work but it could considering the current climate here in the USA.

Then you have a current Sec of State that is not very smart or not as smart as he think he is.

Secretary of State John Kerry delcared Wednesday that Israel "can either be Jewish or democratic" but "it cannot be both."

....so a religious democracy is something along the lines of oxymoronistical....and did someone say that big bad awful thing we are so afeared of, sharia law, uhhh, no they didn't , so maybe we shouldn't go there eh because then things could become really complicisticated....

....so Kerry dropped a big one...

Stepping into a raging diplomatic argument, Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday staunchly defended the Obama administration's decision to allow the U.N. Security Council to declare Israeli settlements illegal and warned that Israel's very future as a democracy is at stake.

Kerry, pushing back on Israel's fury at the U.S. abstention of the United Nations vote, questioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's true commitment to Palestinian statehood, which has formed the basis for all serious peace talks for years. Though Netanyahu says he believes in the two-state solution, Kerry said, he's at the helm of the most right-wing government in Israel's history.

“If the choice is one state, Israel can either be Jewish or democratic; it cannot be both, and it won't ever really be at peace,” Kerry said.

Kerry's speech marked the latest escalation in a vicious, drama-filled row between the U.S. and Israel that has erupted in the last days of Obama's administration. The extraordinary display of discord between allies — with U.S. and Israeli officials openly disparaging each other — also has pitted President Obama against President-elect Donald Trump, who has firmly taken Netanyahu's side

http://www.latimes.com/world/

....lord thunderin' jaysus, what the fcuk is going on ....like when did we slip into a parallel universe....

Cheers

 

[Semper Fidelis]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2016/12/28/inside-the-coming-war-between-the-united-states-and-the-united-nations/?utm_term=.d4f0096e51d1

This seems to be what is about to go down from my perspective.

 

[blutto]

Re:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2016/12/28/inside-the-coming-war-between-the-united-states-and-the-united-nations/?utm_term=.d4f0096e51d1

This seems to be what is about to go down from my perspective.

....from the article....

Even before Donald Trump’s inauguration as president, Congress is planning to escalate the clash over the U.N. Security Council’s anti-Israel resolution into a full-on conflict between the United States and the United Nations. If Trump embraces the strategy — and all signals indicate he will — the battle could become the Trump administration’s first confrontation with a major international organization, with consequential but largely unpredictable results.

Immediately after the Obama administration abstained Friday from a vote to condemn Israeli settlements as illegal, which passed the Security Council by a vote of 14 to zero, Republicans and Democrats alike criticized both the United Nations and the U.S. government for allowing what Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) called “a one-sided, biased resolution.” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the chairman of the Senate appropriations subcommittee for the State Department and foreign operations, pledged to lead an effort to withhold the U.S. funding that makes up 22 percent of the U.N.’s annual operating budget.

“The U.N. has made it impossible for us to continue with business as usual,” Graham told me right after the vote. “Almost every Republican will feel like this is a betrayal of Israel and the only response that we have is the power of the purse.”

.....so if I'm reading this right the Obama administration is thinking they are gonna leave a big huge smelly turd in the president's bed as they leave the White House....just gotta wonder if this move actually reflects anything close to the reality that exists outside the Merikan borders and/or is this a product of the hopelessly inbred spawn that were birthed in the echo-chamber that defines operations by the smart people in the belt-way ( you know the same folks who so specularly blew the last election.....read too smart by a half and never saw a mirror they didn't end up loving to death )....

....and btw the author of that article, Josh Rogin is a certified neocon lunatic....and will say anything and everything to keep the old gravy train moving as it has over the last few decades....and he has a wonderfully perfect bully pulpit from which to scream, The Washington Post....read he is just working hard to frame the upcoming agenda with the help of longstanding supporters within the GOP of stupid things when it comes to foreign policy....and now with the help of the Obama administration ?....

...and remember....

It is now official: the neoconservatives are united against Donald Trump. A new open letter organized by Project for the New American Century (PNAC) co-founder Eliot Cohen states the signatories oppose a Trump presidency and have committed to “working energetically” to see that he is not elected.

PNAC was, notoriously, the neoconservative group that called for increased US imperialism in the Middle East, especially Iraq. Many of those who signed PNAC’s statement of principles and various letters went on to serve in the Bush Administration.

The letter comes after Trump’s ferocious attacks on neocon policies and narratives, such as the Iraq War and the idea that President George W. Bush kept the country safe despite being in office on 9/11. Those attacks were most pronounced just prior to the South Carolina primary when former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and the Bush Administration was the focus of Trump’s fire.

Trumps’ foreign policy has long been in the neocon cross-hairs. It already appeared as though many of the neocons were against Trump; now it’s impossible to deny

....and....

While many neocons and fellow travelers may be anxious to demonstrate their power and influence, it would seem, based on Trump’s electoral performance, that the Republican Party electorate is not very interested in what they have to offer

.

https://shadowproof.com/2016/03/03/neocons-line-up-against-donald-trump/

Cheers

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Could be a bumpy road for the freeloaders on the east side. Something tells me that there could be a big debate on the funding for these freeloaders.

....would that include all the neocon inspired aggression ?....

Cheers

I think the "right" is going to lean hard on the de-funding for UN. I don't think it will work but it could considering the current climate here in the USA.

Then you have a current Sec of State that is not very smart or not as smart as he think he is.

Secretary of State John Kerry delcared Wednesday that Israel "can either be Jewish or democratic" but "it cannot be both."

....so a religious democracy is something along the lines of oxymoronistical....and did someone say that big bad awful thing we are so afeared of, sharia law, uhhh, no they didn't , so maybe we shouldn't go there eh because then things could become really complicisticated....

....so Kerry dropped a big one...

Stepping into a raging diplomatic argument, Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday staunchly defended the Obama administration's decision to allow the U.N. Security Council to declare Israeli settlements illegal and warned that Israel's very future as a democracy is at stake.

Kerry, pushing back on Israel's fury at the U.S. abstention of the United Nations vote, questioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's true commitment to Palestinian statehood, which has formed the basis for all serious peace talks for years. Though Netanyahu says he believes in the two-state solution, Kerry said, he's at the helm of the most right-wing government in Israel's history.

“If the choice is one state, Israel can either be Jewish or democratic; it cannot be both, and it won't ever really be at peace,” Kerry said.

Kerry's speech marked the latest escalation in a vicious, drama-filled row between the U.S. and Israel that has erupted in the last days of Obama's administration. The extraordinary display of discord between allies — with U.S. and Israeli officials openly disparaging each other — also has pitted President Obama against President-elect Donald Trump, who has firmly taken Netanyahu's side

http://www.latimes.com/world/

....lord thunderin' jaysus, what the fcuk is going on ....like when did we slip into a parallel universe....

Cheers

If the choice is one state, Israel can either be Jewish or democratic; it cannot be both, and it won't ever really be at peace,” Kerry said.

Kerry got the last part right and constant provocation by Israel makes it so.

 

[Starstruck]

Good thing there are moderates.
http://theantimedia.org/russia-mass-graves-civilians-aleppo/

probably fake.

 

[python]

i hear the obama lame duck just sent some 35 russian diplomats packing for home plus, and this seems strange, he specifically sanctioned their external intelligence services...for spying

little doubt, tomorrow there will be a mass expelling of the american dips.

little surprise, just days after the the us was humiliated in aleppo, today turkey, iran and russia have quickly worked out and announced a new ceasefire to come into effect tomorrow. that's speedy...i hear the regime and the main rebel factions say they will obey. again, the us was not consulted according to the turkey and russia foreign ministries.

obama will probably go down as the biggest failure in the us middle east non stop fiascos.

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

i hear the obama lame duck just sent some 35 russian diplomats packing for home plus, and this seems strange, he specifically sanctioned their external intelligence services...for spying

little doubt, tomorrow there will be a mass expelling of the american dips.

little surprise, just days after the the us was humiliated in aleppo, today turkey, iran and russia have quickly worked out and announced a new ceasefire to come into effect tomorrow. that's speedy...i hear the regime and the main rebel factions say they will obey. again, the us was not consulted according to the turkey and russia foreign ministries.

obama will probably go down as the biggest failure in the us middle east non stop fiascos.

Worse than Bush Jr.?

 

[python]

Re: Re:

i hear the obama lame duck just sent some 35 russian diplomats packing for home plus, and this seems strange, he specifically sanctioned their external intelligence services...for spying

little doubt, tomorrow there will be a mass expelling of the american dips.

little surprise, just days after the the us was humiliated in aleppo, today turkey, iran and russia have quickly worked out and announced a new ceasefire to come into effect tomorrow. that's speedy...i hear the regime and the main rebel factions say they will obey. again, the us was not consulted according to the turkey and russia foreign ministries.

obama will probably go down as the biggest failure in the us middle east non stop fiascos.

Worse than Bush Jr.?

in a way the bush jr. militarism set up a potential for the obama failures which were mostly due to his listless policies. in my eyes bush jr. is an outright war criminal while obama was simply outperformed by the lesser states diplomacy. why it happened the way it did is up to political historians.

right now it seems abundantly clear that those political defeats have showed the obama ugly side - a vindictive man that chose to lash out in the last days of his rule.

still, i dont view him as a total international failure due to his opening to iran and cuba...

 

[Robert5091]

Apart from sending in "boots on the ground" in large numbers, I don't see what Obama could do in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia etc etc.

I feel sorry for the Kurds who are going to be left hanging in the wind again.

 

[May0maniac]

Re: Re:

i hear the obama lame duck just sent some 35 russian diplomats packing for home plus, and this seems strange, he specifically sanctioned their external intelligence services...for spying

little doubt, tomorrow there will be a mass expelling of the american dips.

little surprise, just days after the the us was humiliated in aleppo, today turkey, iran and russia have quickly worked out and announced a new ceasefire to come into effect tomorrow. that's speedy...i hear the regime and the main rebel factions say they will obey. again, the us was not consulted according to the turkey and russia foreign ministries.

obama will probably go down as the biggest failure in the us middle east non stop fiascos.

Worse than Bush Jr.?

in a way the bush jr. militarism set up a potential for the obama failures which were mostly due to his listless policies. in my eyes bush jr. is an outright war criminal while obama was simply outperformed by the lesser states diplomacy. why it happened the way it did is up to political historians.

right now it seems abundantly clear that those political defeats have showed the obama ugly side - a vindictive man that chose to lash out in the last days of his rule.

still, i dont view him as a total international failure due to his opening to iran and cuba...

I have to agree on the fact that Iran and Cuba are pretty much the only things that somehow save him from being a total international failure, but I can't view him as worse than Bush Jr.
All in all I have to agree with your assessment.

 

[blutto]

....failure may not be the right word to describe the Obummer period, disappointment or some variation thereof may be more apt....and as a disappointment he certainly was world class....from starting with a huge pile of gravitas on the world stage he just bumbled his way from one ***-up to another ( and bringing in weaponized incompetents like Emanuel, Kerry and Clinton weren't brilliant moves that helped produce those ***-ups....)...

Cheers

 

[python]

little doubt, tomorrow there will be a mass expelling of the american dips.

sure enough, lavrov just announced his 'request' to vlad to expell 35 american dips...the proposed response appears a mirror image with one american consulate and a summer house closure.

by replying symmetrically, i think vlad is not acting with his usual astuteness. imo, he is swallowing a hook dangled by a fisherman who will never get to use his catches...

i think he should have either taken the punch by a symbolic response or, conversely, closing the us embassy entirely thus leaving obama to ponder if he's ready in the remaining 3 weeks for more escalation thus leaving trump with more crap to fix.

in the symbolic move, vlad would show trump and the world that he's waiting for a constructive change past obama while still keeping the option of more expulsions at a time of his choice.

if closing the us embassy completely, he would present obama with a choice of speedily dealing with his own heavy hand and thus escalating tensions with the nuclear superpower...as a new year present to his nation

 

[python]

Re:

little doubt, tomorrow there will be a mass expelling of the american dips.

sure enough, lavrov just announced his 'request' to vlad to expell 35 american dips...the proposed response appears a mirror image with one american consulate and a summer house closure.

by replying symmetrically, i think vlad is not acting with his usual astuteness. imo, he is swallowing a hook dangled by a fisherman who will never get to use his catches...

i think he should have either taken the punch by a symbolic response or, conversely, closing the us embassy entirely thus leaving obama to ponder if he's ready in the remaining 3 weeks for more escalation thus leaving trump with more crap to fix.

in the symbolic move, vlad would show trump and the world that he's waiting for a constructive change past obama while still keeping the option of more expulsions at a time of his choice.

if closing the us embassy completely, he would present obama with a choice of speedily dealing with his own heavy hand and thus escalating tensions with the nuclear superpower...as a new year present to his nation

according to intefax 5 min ago, vlad took my advice and rejected the foreign minister's request for a mirror image expulsions. not even one. to troll obama, who closed a vacation house where the children of russian diplomats would meet normally the new year, he invited both the american dips and their children to the kremlin festivities...

why not to meet uncle vlad :razz:

 

[Brullnux]

Brilliant, russia taking the moral highground. Obama has been schooled by Putin. Again.

 

[blutto]

Re:

Brilliant, russia taking the moral highground. Obama has been schooled by Putin. Again.

...brilliant indeed....laughing out loud brilliant....

Cheers