IS Caliphate in Iraq has fallen
First, the good news.
Iraqi troops have seized the ruins of Mosul’s grand mosque from Isis, the military said in an announcement, declaring the extremists’ reign in the country to be over.
"Their fictitious state has fallen," military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Rasool told state TV on Thursday - three years to the day since Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the establishment of the so-called caliphate from the same spot.
The Battle of Mosul, which has gone on longer than the Battle of Stalingrad, is not over, but it's almost over.
While there are approximately 300 militants still fighting to the death in the Old City district, the Iraqi authorities expect the eight-month-long battle to end within the next few days. Isis now holds an area of the west side of the Tigris River less than one kilometre (0.5 miles) square.
#BREAKING: Entire Mosul city expected to be declared liberated from ISIS control in the coming hours — Iraqi military commander tells Rudaw. pic.twitter.com/JG4u9XF4Vi
— Rudaw English (@RudawEnglish) June 29, 2017
More good news is that the Syrian Kurds continue to advance in Raqqa. The IS Caliphate is nearly over.
US-backed forces have completely surrounded the Isis-held city of Raqqa in Syria after cutting off militants’ last remaining escape route monitors have said.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had succeeded in “completely encircling” the group’s largest stronghold.
That's the good news.
Now for the bad news.
The victory has come at a cost: the fierce fighting and US-led bombing campaign have killed thousands of civilians and driven 850,000 in total from their homes. Huge swathes of the city have been reduced to rubble, and in the searing summer heat the stench of dead bodies is overpowering, soldiers on the front line say.
Mosul and Raqqa are being devastated, much like Fallujah and Ramadi before them, not to mention countless villages intentionally burned to the ground. Besides the cost in lives, besides the physical destruction, there has also been a political power shift.
The dangers are clear, analysts and Iraqis say. Sunnis are at risk of becoming a dispossessed and resentful underclass in lands they once ruled, creating fertile conditions for a repeat of the cycle of marginalization and radicalization that gave rise to the Islamic State in the first place.
The fall of the caliphate in no way ends the war. In many ways it makes it more dangerous.
The fall of both cities will mark the end of Isis as a land-holding force, although analysts expect the group to morph into a full-blown insurgency across the two countries, and for Isis to step up terror attacks around the world in future.
"It's important to differentiate between Isis as a global ideology and its physical quasi-state project," Dr Andreas Krieg of King's College London's Department of Defence Studies told The Independent.
"Isis is not the root cause of Iraq's problems, it's a symptom of it. And all the local grievances that allowed Isis to flourish in the first place - physical insecurity, disenfranchisement - are not going to go away. There are many in northern Iraq who are not going to cheer and support the Baghdad government now they've been liberated from one form of oppression. They are already bracing for the next one."
Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis hinted today about how this works: “The closer we get, the more complex it gets.”
To give you an idea, with the Battle of Raqqa reaching it's peak, our forces were racing in the other direction.
According to Kurdish activists in northern Syria, U.S. special operations forces were recently dispatched to the Kurdish-controlled city of Tal Abyad, near the Syria-Turkey border, as tensions flare in the fight against ISIS.
Tal Abyad is nowhere near ISIS. But it is near Turkey.
The arrival of U.S. special operations forces to the Kurdish-controlled city is reminiscent of “observe and report” missions that were carried out by U.S. Army Rangers along the border region in northern Syria last April. Those were after Turkish warplanes attacked YPG and Iraqi Peshmerga positions in northern Syrian and Iraq, killing several U.S. partnered forces.
As U.S. forces arrived in the city to visit checkpoints, the Kurdish fighters can be heard in the video saying, "Turkey forces want to enter the area."
The city of Tal Abyad is strategic to Turkey and the Kurds, one YPG volunteer told Military Times.
“It’s a waypoint between the major cities of Kobanê and Qamishli,” he said. Turkey may be interested in severing that link.
Meanwhile, Trump appears to want to FUBAR the entire region.
Late Monday night, the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, issued a terse statement—sent to reporters via e-mail—warning Syria that U.S. intelligence had detected preparations for the use of chemical weapons, which “would likely result in mass murder of civilians, including innocent children.” If President Bashar al-Assad follows through, the statement threatened, the United States would insure that “he and his military will pay a heavy price.” Nikki Haley, the Ambassador to the United Nations, tweeted an even wider warning. “Any further attacks done to the people of Syria will be blamed on Assad, but also on Russia & Iran who support him killing his own people,” she wrote.
Putting three rival governments on notice of potential confrontation in an e-mail from a press secretary and a tweet was unconventional and, in diplomatic circles, borderline bizarre.
Comments
You don't win a war by creating chaos
Good thing it isn't a war.
I mean. We never actually declared it and while our soldiers seem to be the ones fighting and dying, that's all a figment of our imagination. And even if they were, the body count of the enemy is waaaaay higher, so it would totally count as a win.
Next step, givon weapons to totally trustworthy militias who pinky promise not to set up a caliphate... this week.
/snark
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Their plan isn't to win the war
but to keep it going forever.
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
Next rotating bad guy pool?
first al quaeda, the saddam, then libya, then isis...
I'm going to lay money on Qatar or the kurds.
Any takers?winner buys at the next meetup.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
@detroitmechworks Qatar. They're
Qatar. They're clearly being set up.
What did they do to get kicked out of the party? Were they insufficiently Wahabbist, or did they disagree with the Saudis publicly about something?
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Qatar is staunchly Muslim Brotherhood not Wahhabist
The two have been at each other's throats for decades.
Here's a three part series that explains the history and philosophy behind the Muslim Brotherhood and it's relationship to the Wahhabists.
The Muslim Brotherhood and IS are not the same thing
The Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist Jihad (ISIS): different ideologies, different methodologies
@CB Awesome--thank
Awesome--thank you so much. I'll have a look at it.
That makes me wonder how they ever became allies at all!
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Money, oil, money, arms sales and last but not least - money
in their
dealingsmachinations with the US and UK.@CB Oh. We
Oh. We brought them together. Spiffing.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
playing Qatar
They're non-Wahabbist. They recognize the Shi'a as Muslims. (Saudis would recognize Christians as Muslims first.) And they disagree with the Saudi-Sunni-Wahabbist position about a lot of things, which they employ their Al-Jazeera network to keep in the eyes of the global public. The most important of those things, of course, is that Qatar's policies should and shall be set in Doha, not Riyadh.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
@thanatokephaloides Oh, they're anti
Oh, they're anti-Saudi imperialism.
Off with their heads.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@thanatokephaloides hey, um...might
hey, um...might this mean that they will ally with Russia and its allies in the ME instead?
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I read somewhere (I think here at c99p)
That the Qatari's cardinal sin was to question inherited rules as opposed to elected rules and they did this by not hating on the Muslim Brotherhood enough and by al Jazeera broadcasting alternate points of view.
I don't know if that's the actual case or not, but the publicly claimed grievances are bullshit to be sure.
Compensated Spokes Model for Big Poor.
@GreatLakeSailor CB and Than said
CB and Than said above that the Muslim Brotherhood and the Wahabbists are rival religious groups and have been for some time.
Good references in CB's comment above.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
We will never run out of 'bad guys' to keep the war machine
going. Eternal war is very very good for corporate America's bottom line
I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks
Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa
What is the sense of holding a depopulated area?
Everyone leaves a mess for survivors. And bad memories. And home destruction. Poor people.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Yes and no.
There is no good news nor bad news.
Despite your excellent analysis, this ain't done.
Mad Dog. “The closer we get, the more complex it gets.” Really? You're hosing me.
We are not capable of figuring this out. Neither is any entrenched Western Civilization
Then this:
The Kurds. In Iraq and Syria and Turkey. They fight for the overturning of Sykes–Picot. Guess what? So has ISIS.
Sykes-Picot: The map that spawned a century of resentment
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36300224
You remember? That's how the Brits and French screwed the Arabs and Lawrence.
If any people need our support it is the Kurds. Let them have their land. They have proven their worth and their mettle. F Turkey. F Bagdhad. F Damascus.
They have earned the right to self determination.
Let them have it.
Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!
Firesign Theater
Stop the War!
All brownfaced whites.
I saw that movie, first run. Got only a bit of it.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
@EdMass Would Assad be willing to
Would Assad be willing to cut a deal with them? I'm guessing not. Maybe if it were limited only to the Kurds currently in Syria, who are basically fighting for Syria for all they're worth and succeeding against unbelievable odds?
Not sure whether Assad is the kind of man who would make decisions based on ethics rather than realpolitik, but seriously, the Syrian Kurds have proven their worth as neighbors. Is it so terrible to let them have an autonomous zone within his country, as long as there was an agreement that Russian-backed Syria would go to war with them if they expanded further, and that the agreement was limited to Kurds currently living in (and fighting in) Syria? Surely an agreement could be worked out.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal It's not just Syria.
It's not just Syria. It's Turkey and Iraq.
Iraq Kurds are/have voted for autonomy from Baghdad.
Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!
Firesign Theater
Stop the War!
There will be voting this coming September
for Iraqi Kurds.
If you are thinking of an independent Kurdish nation, that would be out of the question short of all-out WWIII in the ME with the destruction of the four states that the Kurds live in. Keep in mind that the first thing that would happen in such a Kudish state would be all-out civil war among the Kurds themselves. There are currently considerable differences between the Syrian and Iraqi Kurds that have resulted in many deaths, even this year in the Kurdish regions connecting the countries.
@CB So you're telling
So you're telling me it's the turtle crossing the Jordan with a Spider on it's back?
Why am I not surprised.
Leave.
Leave now.
Let them figure it out themselves.
Stop The War
Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!
Firesign Theater
Stop the War!
@CB But there's no
But there's no reason these different groups of Kurds need to all live in one Kurdish nation. An autonomous zone, as in Northern Syria right now, would make far more sense. Each group could (conceivably) make a deal with the sovereign nation it resides within. That's hard on the Turkish Kurds, who will never get even basic fair treatment, much less a good deal, from their government, but at least it should be tried in the places where it could happen.
Not a new nation. Not an independent nation inside another nation. Of course, this was tried in this country and worked very badly (reservations) but then again, we were actually treating them as conquered subjugated people (while pretending we weren't). The situation is different here, and could work differently. Worth a try!
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
That's what the Russians are pushing Assad to do
Putin wants to set up a Kurdish republic similar to Chechnya.
@CB Excellent
Excellent thought!
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@EdMass Yeah, but I have no
Yeah, but I have no hope for Turkey.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Assad has already given the Kurds in Syria considerable
autonomy. They run their own courts, policing, jails, schools, language. Russia has written an outline for a new Syrian constitution which will give the Kurds permanent autonomy much like the ethnic rebublics in Russia.
@CB Excellent!
Excellent!
It's actually a little weird that I came up with the same idea that the Russian government came up with. I'm not really a foreign policy person. I know just enough to avoid stepping in my own establishment's lies, most of the time. Well, and a bit about foreign affairs in relation to oil, because energy and the environment were where I focused my activism.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@CB However, of course
However, of course care should be taken to avoid outright balkanization, since that is basically the PNAC plan, and nobody who isn't already in support of that plan (Saudis, Israel, US) should go in that direction. The PNAC direction is almost always a bad one. Actually, I've never seen it lead to anything BUT horrors.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Viva Kurdistan!
Indeed.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
There is one overiding fact everyone needs to understand
The war on terror is not meant to be won. It will continue to metastasize.
Edit: I hadn't realized in Tarpley's video also used the 1984 clip. Will look for one that I wanted.
I think I won.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
Whereby Gahan Wilson ripped off Ron Cobb a little there.
I immediately am reminded of alternative press cartoonist Ron Cobb’s 1966 cartoon with the guy looking for a place to plug in his portable TV set. Middle of the top row here:
http://roncobb.net/cartoons.html
brilliant and dark at same time!
thx for cobb cartoon.
Late Monday night, the White
Late Monday night, the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, issued a terse statement—sent to reporters via e-mail—warning Syria that U.S. intelligence had detected preparations for the use of chemical weapons, which “would likely result in mass murder of civilians, including innocent children.”
This shit again?
Nikki Haley, the Ambassador to the United Nations, tweeted an even wider warning. “Any further attacks done to the people of Syria will be blamed on Assad, but also on Russia & Iran who support him killing his own people,” she wrote.
Putting three rival governments on notice of potential confrontation in an e-mail from a press secretary and a tweet was unconventional and, in diplomatic circles, borderline bizarre.
Borderline bizarre? Try totally irresponsible.
At what point did the United States government become the fucking authority with power to decide who's to blame for attacks that occur within the boundaries of other sovereign states?
At what point did anyone get the fucking authority to decide pre-emptively, by fiat, who would be to blame for attacks that haven't happened yet?
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
The chances that our "intelligence" in this case
is reliable and actionable, is somewhere between slim and none.
It's more likely that this has been invented whole cloth.
But the threat of military retaliation worked just as planned
Assad didn't gas any babies in their incubators since that warning. /s
Are the people surrounding the Trumpster in Washington idiots or just plain fucking crazy? The world's largest and most powerful military, which has been raining death and destruction upon untold millions of innocent men, women and children since WWII, is run by a bunch of fucked-in-the-head ass-hats (one who has his/her head stuffed up their ass).
I think they're trying to develop this into a
comedy routine. This was probably just a test run, see how the audience reacts. I think it's pretty funny but I wouldn't pay to see it.
@Big Al I'm with you, but I
I'm with you, but I think we are paying to see it.
I'm not sure how NOT to pay to see it without going to jail.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@Big Al
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@Big Al
The Isis Caliphate - a US asset - is going down in Iraq; what ya wanna bet that they want an excuse to stomp out the forces fighting the terrorists before they successfully clear out the US PTB's cherished 'destabilizing' forces and ruin the military budget and global take-over plans of Those Who Matter?
Edit: it seems superfluous to actually mention the possibility that it would have been rather frantically pointed out that they were being too obvious with this 'exceptionally' clumsy, pre-advertised False Flag event on top of those previous and that the optics of killing people, including innocent children, as an excuse for false accusations against three countries, leading to global nuclear annihilation, might adversely affect already-low poll numbers.
Re-edited because of writing Syria rather than Iraq... Two more days of soaking in home reno chemicals and we move! Thereby doing away with one of my best excuses for making stupid errors without even noticing, lol.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
You and I are paying for it whether we like it or not.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
Well ya, I was speaking in a rhetorical sense,
but of course, we the serfs and peasants always pay for it one way or another.
Everything is a lie, when they can get away with something like this it makes me wonder whether we can stop them at all. I don't think enough people really understand the situation.
@Lily O Lady Yeah. I'm about to
Yeah. I'm about to pay my first quarter's taxes. Every year, I feel shittier when I do it. Every year, I decide I don't want my life (and my family's lives) ruined.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
It's getting harder for me to stomach every year,
paying national taxes. And I worked for the fed for thirty years.
The answer is yes to your question:
"Are the people surrounding the Trumpster in Washington idiots or just plain fucking crazy? "
For some, the answer is "both".
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
exhibit A
minor spelling corrections applied
I submit as Exhibit A: one Steve Bannon.....
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
And Nikki Haley
what an absolute dip-shit. Just what the world needs, some under educated and non curious individual spouting off lame sounding tweets, just like her new hero and boss. Irresponsibility defined.
I'm sorry, but she does not do much for people who want more women up in high positions of authority, does she? If that's the best we can do that speaks volumes to the rest of the world.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
@lizzyh7 Well, we started
Well, we started off with Maggie, so it's never been all that good, has it?
Eleanor Roosevelt is worth fifty of any of the more recent ones (1980-)
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Don't forget Michele Bachmann and Christine O'Donnell!
Don't forget Michele Bachmann and Christine O'Donnell, who also resemble that remark!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Nikki Haley is just channeling Golda Meir. n/t
Yes, thank you, corrected now
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
@CB Oh, no. No. You're
Oh, no. No. You're fucking kidding me.
This is a moment when I wish I believed in the doctrine of Trump exceptionalism (that evil and horrible things done by the Trump administration have never been done by anyone else and arise solely from the exceptional evil that is Donald Trump).
I wish I couldn't imagine any members of Bushco or The Clinton Group saying this shit, but I totally can.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal
They fail to realize that they've just proven that they've planned just such an attack and plan to attack 3 countries on the basis of bearing (more) slanderous false witness, committing (more) wide-spread civilian murder, including of innocent children, to support (more) further planned war crimes making Hitler look like a piker.
Psychopaths... go figure...
Edited twice for letter typo and to fix what I did 'correcting' it while at a slow boil. Also taking off two extra names at top from the edits.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
@Ellen North I know, right?!? Jesus
I know, right?!? Jesus Christ!
I never thought I'd miss the Cold War. I think maybe it was better then.
And don't tell me those days are coming back, because what Hillary et al are driving us toward is, unfortunately, more a hot war than a cold one.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
And either will do quite nicely
for the PTB's purposes. Cold just prolongs the agony and the kleptocracy, which I am sure they'd really prefer. Hot culls the herd, so they believe. Psychopaths.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal
Dammit, I forgot to note who posted this fascinating link in a thread I was reading earlier... A few bits, although they should, of course, be read in full at source, if at all possible.
http://thesaker.is/a-multi-level-analysis-of-the-us-cruise-missile-attac...
And one of the other things I came across on that site was this:
http://thesaker.is/%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%8F-%D0%BD%D0%B5-%D0...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngD1LxdvXds
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Ten thumbs up. Thank you.
@CB
I think that was you who posted the link I quoted from? You and others here post so many great ones, I try to make a note of who posted what and too often get sidetracked and forget...
But I find it reassuring that some of those Who Actually Know Of What They Speak are noting and warning of some of the more general aspects which scare me most, especially regarding the lack of reality recognition and basic survival aptitude among the power-hungry Greeds
runningruining 'the show' on which all life depends.Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
@Ellen North That guy is very
That guy is very smart. But I think he overestimates the average bear's ability to stand up to the CIA. I don't see Trump's acceptance of Flynn's resignation as a backstab. It's pretty clear that the powers represented by the CIA (and also by the Bushes and the Clintons) pretty much terrify everybody they attempt to intimidate. There are very few exceptions (Ed Snowden was one).
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal
And Ed Snowden had to flee the country to seek refuge elsewhere, which seems rather telling...
Drives me nuts when people criticize Bernie for only challenging the monster so far (edit: and thereby publicly revealed its true nature to those who must fight it in order to live) and from there concentrating on surviving and maintaining, by any means possible, a normally inaccessible public access through corporate media for raising awareness among the propagandized American people, sensibly focusing on that which most universally and imperatively affects their daily lives at home on order to keep the concepts of democracy alive and validated in the minds of the general American public who, as Bernie's always said, must drive any change that can be made. This is basic resistance in an occupied country and almost nobody seems to recognize it...
And another edit to add that much of the power of the disgustingly venal Clintons, et al, is essentially borrowed from those who've stolen the power of the people to whom the country belongs through such purchased politicians and public agencies - the various factions of the puppet-masters at the root of the Two-Faced Corporate Party evil who must be entirely removed from politics and public policy, as well as their more-visible lackeys so blatantly betraying the oath and purpose of their public service.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
@Ellen North My problem with
My problem with Bernie is not so much that he only went so far. My problem with Bernie is, well, twofold: first, that he didn't consider that, if he was successful, he would obviously end up in a mortal conflict with that machine--so he really should have planned for that, shouldn't he? and more importantly, that subsequent to abandoning the fight, he took a job working for the very people he had been criticizing--the same ones who fucked us, and him, over with fraud.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal
I see your point, but take it in a different context, that of a single man of great caring, courage and integrity seeking some most desperate way of achieving the greatest chance of some degree of good for a people who do not know how to deal with the ongoing global take-over of fascists having a strangle-hold on their government and all branches, including the Supreme Court and multiple corporate/government spy agencies recording their every movement and conversation, even in their most private moments.
The people who worked within the occupying enemy's ranks the last time this attempt was made were generally considered to be collaborators as well, although some succeeded in saving a number of endangered people, here and there, through using their positions, or in obtaining information helpful to various resistance efforts/the Allied Forces now, alas, typically actively working for the wrong side. And some of the ones who were convincing enough to stay in a useful position for long enough to do good were killed, as the collaborators which they'd pretended to be, by outraged citizens over-eager for revenge and unwilling to accept the facts of their heroism.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm going by history and by Bernie's character, known skills and record, as I do with the evils involved.
The War Against The World does include the American people, and this must be emotionally, as well as intellectually, understood or the reactions will continue to return to a false-frame of 'corrupt politics-as-usual' rather than the realization of being dispossessed Expendables jut like any other non-billionaire.
And this has been sitting here forever, but I'll post it anyway...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Well, I do have that "musical ear"
the Saker speaks of, and I do agree with him 100%. You don't need to speak Russian to clearly understand the deep meaning embodied in that song. It is well worth listening to in its entirety.
Furthermore, the Saker concisely articulates the essential nature of any military standoff between Russia and the USA in these two lines:
I think he is also correct in asserting that America's military planners are no longer acting at all rationally or sanely. The US public is being led by them, or guided, or herded perhaps, directly toward a nuclear catastrophe... with hardly a word of complaint. Like sheep to the slaughter.
Thanks for this post, Ellen North. It's an important one.
native
Intelligence is saying an arsonist is headed for the Reichstag
There are also very reliable indications that in a matter of years Poland will attack, compelling a firm response from us, to commence at 5:45 a.m. sharp.
@lotlizard
ROFLMAOW(hile)W(eeping)F(reely)
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.