News Dump Tuesday: GWOT Update

Saudis openly bankroll Taliban

Fifteen years, half a trillion dollars and 150,000 lives since going to war, the United States is trying to extricate itself from Afghanistan. Afghans are being left to fight their own fight. A surging Taliban insurgency, meanwhile, is flush with a new inflow of money.
With their nation’s future at stake, Afghan leaders have renewed a plea to one power that may hold the key to whether their country can cling to democracy or succumbs to the Taliban. But that power is not the United States.

It is Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia is critical because of its unique position in the Afghan conflict: It is on both sides.
A longtime ally of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia has backed Islamabad’s promotion of the Taliban. Over the years, wealthy Saudi sheikhs and rich philanthropists have also stoked the war by privately financing the insurgents.

ISIS in Libya finally falls

Months after the fight over the Libyan city of Sirte was declared “almost over,” the Libyan unity government today finally managed to claim outright victory, as ISIS had held out in a handful of buildings near the coast for months, launching counter-attacks. Even then, the “victory” isn’t close to what it was initially advertised to be.
The ISIS forces finally abandoned those last buildings as US airstrikes began hitting them, and despite the unity government presenting ISIS as “trapped” in the neighborhood months ago, the ISIS fighters managed to flee to an unknown destination.

Echoes of Vietnam

The US military in Afghanistan is increasingly trying to control public information about the war, resulting in strained relations with western organisations offering different versions of events to official military accounts, the Guardian has learned.
In a recent incident, the most senior US commander in Afghanistan, Gen John W Nicholson, considered banning or restricting the UN’s access to a military base in Kabul, according to informed sources in both organisations.
The dispute followed a UN report in late September claiming that a US drone had killed 15 civilians. Washington insists it only killed members of Islamic State.

this is depressing

The poll, conducted by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), found that 46% of Americans believe it acceptable to torture enemy combatants, with just 30% opposed to the practice and another 24% unsure or unwilling to answer.
Only Nigeria and Israel record higher rates of support for torturing captured enemy fighters, with 70% and 50% endorsements, respectively...
As Donald Trump, who has endorsed torture enthusiastically, prepares to take the White House, some 33% of Americans consider torture “a part of war”, with another 13% unsure or unwilling to answer...
Only 59% oppose attacking a target with the knowledge that civilians will be killed, down from 68% in 1999, the ICRC found.

Pentagon waste

The Pentagon has buried an internal study that exposed $125 billion in administrative waste in its business operations amid fears Congress would use the findings as an excuse to slash the defense budget, according to interviews and confidential memos obtained by The Washington Post.
Pentagon leaders had requested the study to help make their enormous back-office bureaucracy more efficient and reinvest any savings in combat power. But after the project documented far more wasteful spending than expected, senior defense officials moved swiftly to kill it by discrediting and suppressing the results.
The report, issued in January 2015, identified “a clear path” for the Defense Department to save $125 billion over five years. The plan would not have required layoffs of civil servants or reductions in military personnel. Instead, it would have streamlined the bureaucracy through attrition and early retirements, curtailed high-priced contractors and made better use of information technology...
Among other options, the savings could have paid a large portion of the bill to rebuild the nation’s aging nuclear arsenal, or the operating expenses for 50 Army brigades.
But some Pentagon leaders said they fretted that by spotlighting so much waste, the study would undermine their repeated public assertions that years of budget austerity had left the armed forces starved of funds. Instead of providing more money, they said, they worried Congress and the White House might decide to cut deeper.

Battle for Aleppo is almost over

Syrian government forces and allied militias captured Aleppo's centrally located al-Shaar neighborhood from rebels on Tuesday, securing nearly three quarters of the besieged enclave less than two weeks after launching a ground offensive, according to the Syrian military.
The Syrian government and its ally Russia meanwhile rejected a cease-fire for the war-torn city, keeping up the military offensive amid rebel retreats and massive displacement.

Mosul offensive crawls

The startling progress of the first few weeks of the campaign to take Iraq’s second city, the terror group’s last urban stronghold in Iraq, has given way to a numbing reality: Isis will not surrender Mosul, and Iraq’s battered military will struggle to take it.
Since Iraqi forces entered Gogali, a light industrial neighbourhood, in mid-November, the advance has slowed. “When we started, we were talking weeks,” said Hussein. “Now, we hope it will be by early in the new year. But these guys are not cowards. They kill as easy as they breathe.”..
Iraqi troops stationed in Gogali and the roads leading to it insist they will win the war, no matter how long it takes. Some however concede that they could still be fighting in Mosul’s tunnels and alleyways as late as next summer.

another humanitarian crisis

As Iraqi security forces wage a grinding house-to-house battle to push the Islamic State out of Mosul, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is rushing to prepare for a potential mass exodus of up to 700,000 mainly Sunni civilians.
But winter is closing in, funds are short, and the head of the UNHCR mission is worried that the international community and the Iraqi government could be overwhelmed by events, possibly setting the stage for renewed sectarian tension.

India: Considering that this is all self-inflicted, this is amazing.
Nearly complete wipe-out of the poor

Small producers, lacking capital to stay afloat, are already shutting down. India’s huge number of daily wage workers can’t find employers with the cash to pay them. Local industries have suspended work for lack of money. The informal financial sector – which conducts 40% of India’s total lending, largely in rural areas – has all but collapsed.
India’s fishing industry, which depends on cash sales of freshly caught fish, is wrecked. Traders are losing perishable stocks. Farmers have been unloading produce below cost, because no one has the money to purchase it, and the winter crop could not be sown in time, because no one had cash for seeds...
But the sacrifice extends far beyond queues. Hospitals are turning away patients who have only old banknotes; families cannot buy food; and middle-class workers are unable to buy needed medicine. As many as 82 people have reportedly died in cash queues or related events. Furthermore, it seems likely that many of the short-term effects of the demonetization could persist – and intensify – in the longer term, with closed businesses unable to reopen. It could also cause lasting damage to India’s financial institutions, especially the Reserve Bank of India, whose reputation has already suffered.

some examples

He framed the policy in terms of a national spirit of sacrifice. Coming soon after Diwali, Hinduism's most important festival, the process of demonetisation was described as a new "festival of honesty".
"For a few days," Modi said, "we can all bear some inconvenience."...
Mohammed Iqbal, 30, who runs a mobile accessories shop in Bangalore's City Market, said his revenue had shrunk by as much as 80 percent.
"I used to make 4,000-4,500 [rupees] a day," he said. "Since the note ban, I'm struggling to make even 700."
As his sales sank, Iqbal found himself unable to pay wholesalers. Two weekends ago, short of supplies and dogged by a lack of customers, Iqbal shut his shop for two days, queuing for hours outside his bank and neighbourhood cash machine in an attempt to restore some liquidity to his business....
India's Supreme Court two weeks ago expressed concern and warned of riots if the situation didn't improve.
K Nataraju, 56, a fruit vendor in KR Market in Bangalore, used to make 500 rupees a day selling watermelons, oranges and sweet lime. After Modi's announcement, his sales have fallen to an average of 100 rupees ($1.45) a day. Like the overwhelming majority of poor Indians, Nataraju has no bank account.

even famine is possible

Rajesh Kushwaha, 40, and thousands of others are yet to get a day’s work in Delhi since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 8. Kushwaha, who sleeps on a footpath outside a building material shop in Paharganj’s Chuna Mandi, is worried about fast exhaustion of paltry savings that his family is holding on to in Farrukhabad district of Uttar Pradesh.
Kushwaha fears he might have to borrow from a moneylender if the condition persists for a few more days. “It has always been a hand-to-mouth situation for us. We are in a precarious position with people postponing construction and renovation activities in the absence of cash,” said Kushwaha, who could have earned at least Rs 3,500 from 10 days’ work.
“I and many others are skipping one meal a day to survive till employment returns,” said Kushwaha, for whom even buying a detergent soap to wash clothes is a luxury now.

real estate just stopped

Prateek Patel, the cousin of the developer, complained that he hasn’t sold an apartment since early November, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shocked the country by announcing an unprecedented currency overhaul.
Much of the country’s real-estate transactions, particularly land and home sales, have been conducted on a largely cash basis to avoid taxes. With many buyers now on the sidelines, sales have evaporated and huge price discounts are expected when the market gets its bearings back.
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Lookout's picture

for all the interesting stories. India seems on the edge. The Saudis playing both sides of the street is business as usual for them I guess.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

for where the west goes next. This, lads and lasses is the trial ballon. We already have repukes trying to eliminate the Benji in Both houses, financial institutions are Salivating at the prospect, and as you pointed out in another essay, gj, cyber crime is up, what? Three hundred percent in India?
Get your money in electrons folks, and we all be screwed! Good way to kill off the poor, black, white, or indifferent.
Somebody play Janet Jacksons 'Control' will ya? I'm techNOlogical.

peace

edit to clarify; monetary policy, re. smaller denominations on the way to cashless economies working(?)through electronic transactions=control of citizens. Sorry for the confusion.

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Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .

Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .

If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march

Pluto's Republic's picture

…to distribute murder and mayhem?

Or is the US planning to invade a nuclear-enabled nation because "USA!"?

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Song of the lark's picture

In America the poor are heavily armed both Urban and Rural poor.

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Citizen Of Earth's picture

Yippee. More wars. Thanks Obama.

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Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

Pluto's Republic's picture

…or boots on the ground in 34 African nations.

They didn't build that military pit of neocons, AFRICOM, for nothing. The African Continent is the site of the US Proxy War on China…. coming soon.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
sojourns's picture

A training and bullet testing exercise, if you will. Not a war at all.

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"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage

Pluto's Republic's picture

Saudis openly bankroll Taliban

The Taliban are Sunni, correct?

The Saudis (a Sunni nation) are funding the genocide of Shiites in the Eastern Hemisphere, right?

Fifteen years ago, Osama bin Laden was hanging out with the Taliban because they are all…. Sunnis. Amirite?

The 9/11 hijackers were Sunnis. Check. (Our "friends" had to get us to the Middle East somehow....)

The US fights on the side of the Sunnis in the Middle East. Check.

Israel is aligned with the Sunnis. Check.

The Palestinians are Shiites, the sect being exterminated. Check.

If only my Mac was this simple.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
dervish's picture

though there are some Christians and a few Shia among them. They have received a bit of support from Shia, and that's what you might be thinking of. Otherwise, you are absolutely correct.

One meme that the American media bobbleheads can't stop reciting is that Iran is the biggest sponsor of terrorism in the world, when in fact it's Saudi Arabia all the way.

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"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

Pluto's Republic's picture

Like magic.

I'm working on a list of the 10 biggest lies Americans are told daily.

"Iran is a state sponsor of terror"

...is right there at the top. It's one of the most deadly and costly lies that Israel propagates in the US. Terrorist attacks, especially in the US, are pretty much Sunni Specials. Yet Americans want to attack and exterminate the Shiites in Iran, so infiltrated is the US government (and media) with Neocon operatives.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

that Iran is the biggest sponsor of terrorism in the world is the premise upon which the Redirection is based, the turn from fighting Al Qaeda to fighting Iran, after invading Iraq. It goes with the defense of Saudi Arabia in the matter of the 9/11 Victims' Families lawsuit. The only reason the Saudi princes named in the suit were defended by saying they had sovereign immunity was that they were NOT listed as a State Sponsor of Terrorism by our government. The only nations so listed are Iran, Sudan, and Syria.

Why is Saudi Arabia NOT listed as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, when our Treasury Department has tracked their funding of Al Qaeda since before 9/11?

That is an unanswered question, except that the President and others challenged with it respond that if Saudi Arabia can be held responsible for war crimes, so can we. "We," may mean the United States government, or CIA officials, or Donald Rumsfeld, or whatever.

And I personally think their response to that question means that "we" too are repsonsible for 9/11.

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... One meme that the American media bobbleheads can't stop reciting is that Iran is the biggest sponsor of terrorism in the world, when in fact it's Saudi Arabia all the way.

Hey, if it's not true, then you have to repeat it an awful lot to convince people that it is.

Didn't a recent poll indicate that the great bulk of the American people had very little faith in the veracity of the corporate media? That makes it extra-hard to fool enough of the people enough of the time - so, like the police, you keep shouting lies, ignore the facts and protests, stomp the innocent intended victim and evade the consequences via corruption further up to the very tippy-top of the turd. It's worked so well so far for them that they now believe that they can get away with everything forever, including global destruction of life on the planet.

Standing Rock has to change everything now, while attention is on it and effort begins to spread among organized war veterans to carry the movement onward in defense of their country, Constitution and people - affecting the view of the military and police - or we're all fried corporate assets.

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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.

dervish's picture

the stunning victory announcement was probably just political theater calculated to get the protesters to go home.

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"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

and voices now silent will once again be raised in hollow opposition.

Such games the Oligarchy plays.

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Lily O Lady's picture

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"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"

Saleh v. Bush

http://www.globalresearch.ca/breaking-george-w-bush-on-trial-saleh-v-bus...

Breaking: George W. Bush on Trial? Saleh v. Bush in California Court on Charges of “Crimes of Aggression” Against Iraq

Ninth Circuit Confirms Judges Who Will Hear Argument on Legality of Iraq War
By Witness Iraq
Global Research, December 07, 2016

San Francisco, Calif. — Today the United States Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit confirmed that Circuit Judges Susan Graber and Andrew Hurwitz, as well as District Court Judge Richard Boulware (sitting by designation) will hear oral argument on December 12, 2016, in Saleh v. Bush.

Saleh v. Bush involves claims by an Iraqi woman, Sundus Shaker Saleh, that former President George W. Bush and other high ranking Bush-era officials broke the law when they planned and waged the Iraq War.

Saleh alleges that former Bush Administration leaders committed the crime of aggression when they planned and executed the Iraq War, a war crime that was called the “supreme international crime” at the Nuremberg Trials in 1946...

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has buried an internal study that exposed $125 billion in administrative waste in its business operations amid fears Congress would use the findings as an excuse to slash the defense budget, according to interviews and confidential memos obtained by The Washington Post.

Too funny!. Slash the defense offense budget! Hell, most of that 125B is likely in our congresscritters coffers. I'd say look for a substantial increase.

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