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Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Non-WoT        Politix   
Jalaluddin Haqqani is dead, say Taliban sources
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Page 6: Politix
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
White House: 'Don't believe your lying eyes, PP videos are fake.'
[Daily Caller] The White House expressed its firm belief Thursday that recently-released videos attacking Planned Parenthood are "fraudulent." Their source: Planned Parenthood.

Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, was speaking with reporters when they raised the matter of the videos released by the Center for Medical Progress which appear to show Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of fetal organs for profit, a violation of federal law. He claimed the videos were released in a "fraudulent way" with "not a lot of evidence" behind them.

"There is ample reason to think that this is merely the tried and true tactic that we've seen from extremists on the right to edit this video and selectively release this edited version of the video that grossly distorts the position of the person that's actually speaking," Earnest said. (RELATED: Planned Parenthood President: Our Critics Are Extremists)

But Earnest indicated that the reason he thought the videos were fraudulent was because, well, Planned Parenthood had told him as much.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/01/2015 05:28 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Judge who blocked Planned Parenthood videos RAISED $230,000 for OBAMA [LINK]
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 08/01/2015 11:50 Comments || Top||

#2  The internet has no memory hole.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/01/2015 13:30 Comments || Top||

#3  ...yet. Though I hear servers seem to disappear or are erased when in the hands of government operatives. I believe they're working to make that a standard.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/01/2015 13:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Ref #3: If you own the Attorney General, anything is possible.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/01/2015 14:02 Comments || Top||

#5  This regime is fake and comprised of human sacrifice worshiping evil vermin. Hopefully they'll abort themselves.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 08/01/2015 14:12 Comments || Top||

#6  Prior restraint. Not supposed to happen - then again, we used to have a Constitution and were a nation of laws, not of thugs and their pet judges.
Posted by: OldSpook || 08/01/2015 23:19 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
After Mullah Omar
[DAWN] THE circumstances of Mullah Omar
... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality...
's death may be an ongoing mystery, but other events on the Afghan Taliban front are already eclipsing the rather disturbing questions raised by the contradictory news of the circumstances surrounding Omar's death.

The Taliban have a new leader and two new deputy leaders and at least for now, the new leadership is trying to project a sense of unity and continuity. But whether those efforts will produce the results that Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour and his Haqqani-affiliated deputies, Haibatullah Akhunzada and Sirajuddin Haqqani, want is far from a settled matter.

In the weeks and months ahead, the field commanders and other strands of leadership within the Taliban shura will surely be heard from -- and only then will it be clear if Mansour and his faction can maintain unity.

Already, though, there are troubling signs for the future of talks. Mansour has long been rumoured as being on relatively good terms with the Pak establishment, while the close relationship between the Haqqani network and Pakistain is an open secret.

Under Mullah Omar the Afghan Taliban had managed to maintain a sense of independence while simultaneously keeping the lines of communication with Pakistain open, a delicate balancing act that credibly allowed both sides to claim that theirs was no master-stooge relationship.

Now, with a seemingly much more Pak-aligned leadership -- at least prima facie and at the moment -- of the Afghan Taliban, how will that impact the support for talks inside the Afghan state and across the Taliban spectrum?

Afghanistan's Caped President Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
has made it clear from the beginning of his term that he believed an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned grinding of the peace processor could only materialise if Afghanistan and Pakistain improve the bilateral relationship.

But within the national unity government generally and within the Afghan security establishment in particular, there remains a great deal of mistrust and suspicion of Pakistain. Will President Ghani find himself under further pressure to reject the idea of talks and a peaceful solution?

Similarly, it is relatively clear now that there are several factions within the Afghan Taliban, even if they have long downplayed their differences to keep up the impression of a cohesive, and winning, Taliban.

If there were no factionalism, no one within the Taliban would have thought to try and hide the news of Mullah Omar's death.

Will Mullah Mansour really be able to rally all factions behind him, especially when it is not yet known to what extent external powers have manipulated their favourites into place and created new frictions?

Worryingly, the lessons of the post-Najibullah period appear to have not been learned and Afghanistan may be more on a knife edge today than it has been in over two decades.

Warlords fighting each other may pale in comparison to Afghan Taliban turning on each other.
Posted by: Fred || 08/01/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Time to think about hybrid defense

If the new threat is so complex, political, and subtle, shouldn’t the response be the same?

Much is made these days of the new challenge to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) from “hybrid warfare” — the kind of blended military-political-intelligence-economic operations Russia has launched in Ukraine. Whether or not this really is something new can be debated, as should whether it ought really be called something else. In any case, it certainly now shapes the Western defense agenda. But if the threat is so complex and political, maybe Western countries need to be thinking more sharply and imaginatively about counter-measures? A “hybrid defense”?

After all, given that NATO is a military alliance, it is hardly surprising that it is concentrating on military means. Thus, U.S. heavy armor is to be prepositioned in the Baltic states, and a rolling series of exercises are seeing NATO troops and special forces in particular wargaming various scenarios, including the kind of unacknowledged, unidentified Russian “little green men” who took Crimea.

This is all admirable and useful, but Moscow’s current approach is based on the guerrilla’s basic maxims: avoid doing the obvious, play to your strengths rather than your opponent’s, and never get caught in a straight fight with a stronger enemy. If Russia ever does decide to make any moves against NATO, it will be with the intention of avoiding any direct war with an alliance that can outfight, outgun, and outman it. And it will try to avoid making a move for which the West is ready.

More at the link
Posted by: badanov || 08/01/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Allen West: Admiral admits WORST possible news about US Navy
It was a couple of weeks back that I addressed the gradual and continuous decimation of our military force. We know our active duty Army will be cut down by another 40,000. Our U.S. Marine Corps is at World War I levels. We cannot even make a decision to protect our men and women here in the Continental United States (CONUS), providing them the ability to secure themselves at any military installation, active duty, reserve component, or National Guard. We've reported here that the U.S. Navy would not be able to backfill a Carrier Battle Group (CVBG) in the Persian Gulf. I had read reports that any request of that nature would go to France, and it looks like that is the case.

As reported by Fox News, "The U.S. Navy will not have an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf this fall for the first time in years, President Obama's nominee to be the Navy's top officer told Capitol Hill lawmakers Thursday. The gap in the Gulf -- expected to last two months -- would come at a time when the U.S. is not only launching sustained airstrikes against nearby Islamic State targets, but trying to keep a check on Iranian aggression in the region.
Why keep an aircraft carrier on station in the Persian Gulf when the president has made peace with Iran and has no intention whatsoever of using that carrier? Bring it home to Norfolk and let the boys and girls have some leave in Virginia Beach...
Under questioning by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., at his nomination hearing to be chief of naval operations, Adm. John Richardson acknowledged the Navy would pull the carrier and said this hurts U.S. capability in the region. "Without that carrier, there will be a decrement in our capability there," Richardson said before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

It would be the first time a U.S. aircraft carrier has not been in the Gulf since 2007. Currently, the USS Theodore Roosevelt is stationed there. Fox News is told that when she departs the area sometime this fall, the U.S. military may rely on a French aircraft carrier until they can deploy another carrier." That [carrier] gap is a reflection of earlier strains on the force [and] long-term commitments," Richardson said Thursday."
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 08/01/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Without the US of A separating Iran and Israel all kinds of thinks could happen. (^_)

Stock up on popcorn.
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 08/01/2015 3:46 Comments || Top||

#2  The U.S. Navy will not have an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf this fall for the first time in years

Good. Means IAF doesn't have to worry whether American pilots will obey the orders, which we know, been issued by your experiment in affirmative action.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/01/2015 4:19 Comments || Top||

#3  "Without that carrier, there will be a decrement in our capability there," Richardson said before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The timing is suspect. You don't suppose the redeployment was part of the Champ's recent Iranian deal ?

Posted by: Besoeker || 08/01/2015 4:27 Comments || Top||


#5  The one advantage that the Israelis have is that they will not count on USA support and may even factor in USA supporting Iran f they decide to attack Iran. That carrier not there gives them one less thing to avoid or worry about.

Posted by: Airandee || 08/01/2015 14:44 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Our Pied Piper
[DAWN] IN the legend, the Pied Piper led the children of Hamelin away to their doom by playing a tune on his magic flute.

Imran Khan
... aka Taliban Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight...
, our own version of the medieval Piper, has not only misled a large proportion of Pakistain's urban youth, but also a sizeable section of those inhabiting our media bubble. At the height of the famous dharna, or sit-in, in Islamabad, I saw a couple of well-known TV personalities positively salivating over the prospect of a military intervention.

Months of hype, hoopla and hysteria over charges of a systematic conspiracy to rob his party of the majority in the 2013 elections, and him of the prime ministerial role he feels entitled to play, paralysed the country. But finally, Imran Khan's soaring ambitions have been dashed by the judicial commission's finding that there was no diabolical plot after all. Ouch.

But why are people surprised by this latest display of irresponsibility and immaturity from Imran Khan? For years, he defended the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain, and opposed the military operation that has now largely routed bandidos holy warriors in the tribal areas. So staunch was he in his support that he came to be dubbed Taliban Khan.

Then there was his strident opposition to the American drone attacks against 'jihadi' killers. Seeking to halt these strikes, he and his party mounted a massive campaign. In the process, coalition supplies were held up for weeks, drivers roughed up, and solemn commitments made by the government trampled underfoot. But the drones kept taking out hard boys, and continue to do so. Not a peep out of Imran Khan now, though.

In the build-up to the 2013 elections, Imran Khan opened the doors of his party to the very people he had denounced as corrupt opportunists. Understandably, the Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf
...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations....
(PTI) loyalists who had stood firm during the party's time in the wilderness were dismayed and disappointed. But clearly, Imran Khan's ambition trumped his principles. So what, many people wondered, was the difference between the Kaptan and other politicians?

When he finally got a chance to show that his party was a cut above the rest after it led the government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
, he failed the test. With virtually the entire provincial government camped in Islamabad for weeks to support its leader's dharna stunt, the Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
administration, never the model of efficiency, ground to a halt. And after the recent fiasco over the local bodies' elections with all the violence and charges of rigging, even PTI supporters were put on the defensive.

But it was the bullying nature of the Islamabad dharna that underlined Imran Khan's contempt for democracy. After all the opinion polls pointing towards a PML-N victory, and clean chits from foreign and local election monitors, for Imran Khan to claim he was cheated was clearly a bid to delegitimise Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
's government. For many, it was also an invitation for military intervention.

Partly because of the government's sensible refusal to get drawn into a violent reaction, and partly due to the army chief's reluctance to intervene, the dharna farce fizzled out, much to the nation's relief. But consider the damage that was done. At least two presidents from friendly states, China and Sri Lanka, postponed their visits; billions were lost; thousands of daily wage workers lost their income; and the people of Islamabad were put through huge inconvenience. And yet, there has been no hint of an apology from Imran Khan. He and his sidekicks continue to mutter that the commission did not complete its job, as somehow there is still evidence of rigging waiting to be uncovered. The people Imran Khan malig­ned day in and day out are still waiting for an apology.

But then, macho men like Imran Khan never say 'sorry'. Had he made similar unpro­ven allegations in, say, Britannia, he would have had to sell his Bani Gala mansion to pay libel damages and legal costs. In Pakistain, however, our judiciary has never awarded any such claims, at least to my knowledge, thus encouraging slanderous mud-slinging.

I must say that none of Imran Khan's words and actions have surprised me. Although I have admired his cricketing abilities and his philanthropic activities, he has always been a political novice. Arrogant, rigid and convinced that he's right and anybody who does not agree with him is an idiot, he is poorly equipped for the daily compromises that are at the heart of politics.

So those who saw him as a messiah who would lead Pakistain out of the wilderness are living in the same fool's paradise he is. This is a pity, given his appeal for millions of young Paks, as he had a golden opportunity to translate this support into a genuine party of reform.

As it is, he has painted himself into a corner. Personal integrity by itself isn't going to make him prime ministerial material: common sense and a little humility are desperately needed.
Posted by: Fred || 08/01/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


An eloquent image
[DAWN] IT is said 'a picture is worth a thousand words' and in this day and age of instantly available images, transmitted in near real-time, one this week said it all: the photograph of one of the most lethal sectarian terrorism figures in the country.

Hitherto most of Malik Ishaq's videos and photos showed him with a smile, almost a mocking one, playing on his lips, surrounded by supporters, many of them armed to the teeth, and with a swagger that spoke of supreme self-confidence.

He had every reason to be chuffed and feel he was invincible. In newspaper interviews, the firebrand
...firebrands are noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments...
leader of a faction of the murderous sectarian outfit, the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ...
(LJ), had owned up to the murders of over a hundred Shias, also having been charged with some 70 such killings at different times, but was never once convicted.

Endless stories spoke of witness intimidation, and where it didn't work, of elimination; of prosecutors being reminded of the fate of their colleagues who didn't oblige in the past and of judges browbeaten into ordering acquittals.

Where the trial was ordered in prison for safety concerns, a judge is said to have refused to preside over the proceedings after apparently receiving a phone call. In another reported incident a judge buried his face in his hands when Malik Ishaq got up and started to rattle off his children's names.

It can be said with certainty, there was state collusion in keeping this man free to carry on directing his murderous organization whether from inside prison, and he spent a decade and a half running his bloody network from behind bars, or after securing his freedom from the superior courts a few years back.

Published accounts, never contradicted by the military, have said he was flown from prison in southern Punjab
1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....

to the GHQ in 2009 when the military's citadel in Rawalpindi was attacked by Death Eaters and a building was taken over by them along with some hostages. He was asked to convince the leader of the holy warriors to surrender to the authorities.

He didn't succeed. The siege ended when Special Service Group commandos stormed the building, killing all of the attackers and capturing their leader alive. Usman was an army medical corps paramedic deserter and was recently executed.

Another reported incident, again not contradicted by the army, suggested Malik Ishaq was asked by former army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani
... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI...
to stop his sectarian murder campaign to which he is said to have responded: General Sahib, hum aapke bachche hein, lekin humein aisa karne ko naa kahein, jo hum nahin kar sakte. (Sir, we are like your children but please don't ask for the impossible.)

Why wouldn't such a man have huge self-confidence and an air of invincibility about him? He could literally get away with murder a hundred times over. Therefore, when he was picked up by Punjab police about a week ago for the investigation of some sectarian murders, everybody ignored the report, thinking it was one of those non-stories and he'd be freed in a few days.

Then Pakistain woke up to the startling news of his death, in what police said was a shootout with his comrades who attacked a police convoy carrying him and other LJ prisoners to free them near Muzaffargarh, sometime in the small hours of Wednesday. But till images started to circulate on the social media, many like me were finding it hard to believe the man who directly ordered or inspired hundreds of murders with impunity across the country was no more.

The most dramatic photo showed his blood-soaked corpse with bullet wounds on the tiled floor of the mortuary. His eye, frozen open in death, stared into the distance as if in disbelief at what had happened to him. His apparent disbelief was equal to what many experienced across Pakistain. The photo was clearly more eloquent than a thousand words. The reality started to sink in.

As it did, a spate of questions started to storm though many minds. Was this incident exactly as t
Posted by: Fred || 08/01/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Jhangvi


No plan of action
[DAWN] THE wanton terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
on Dec 16, 2014, with its chilling images of a bloodbath perpetrated against innocent, defenceless children, left the nation devastated. Regrettably, the provincial government, instead of accepting responsibility for the breach of security, blamed the army for the lapse, while the federal government merely condemned the act and vowed to bring the Death Eaters to justice.

Even for a country that has suffered relentless terror attacks over the years, this time it was different. As the nation cried out for a fitting response, the government convened a multi-party conference that resulted in a comprehensive road map in the shape of a National Action Plan (NAP) to eliminate militancy. Its 20 points are essentially a statement of objectives and comprise a range of operational and administrative measures. The first can be further divided into those led by the army and those by the civilian police forces.

The army responded promptly to the Dec 16 outrage by intensifying the ongoing Zarb-e-Azb
..the Pak offensive against Qaeda in Pakistain and the Pak Taliban in North Wazoo. The name refers to the sword of the Prophet (PTUI!)...
operation according to a well-thought-out strategic plan. Upon completion of one year of the operation, the army has achieved remarkable outcomes. It targeted the areas that housed the terrorists' command structures that undertook planning and provided logistical support for acts of terrorism across the length and breadth of the country. The army operations were concentrated in the tribal belt adjacent to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
, which immediately improved the security situation in that province as well as in others to an extent. The army also provided support to the provincial governments by sharing intelligence and even real-time actionable information in selected cases. Through the apex committees it continues to prod the reluctant governments into some action.

Responsibility for carrying out the other portion of NAP was that of the civilian government, with the Ministry of Interior taking the lead in addressing the full spectrum of terrorism. It was expected that a comprehensive strategic plan by the federal government would have an inbuilt monitoring mechanism, but that apparently is not the case. However,
there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened...
only disjointed actions -- generally reactive in nature -- have followed, characterised by a lack of inter-agency coordination and poor planning marked only by futile meetings. The terrorist threat remains very real despite the destruction of their logistical support and command structures, even though the incidence of terrorism has come down on the whole. Innocent citizens are still targeted and the response is routine condemnatory platitudes, compensation for victims' families, registration of cases and sadly comical warnings to the perpetrators of these atrocities. There is no visible, organised effort on the part of the governments to eliminate the terrorist groups or their affiliates on a long-term basis.

Apathy characterises the approach to this important challenge. This is reflected in the non-release of funds to the National Counter Terrorism Authority that was meant to be the key agency to collate intelligence for coordinated action by all the forces. Moreover, instead of a professional, a retired civil servant has been posted as its head. No dedicated counterterrorism force has been established as envisaged in NAP. The provincial police -- essentially on their own initiative -- have taken action, producing sometimes commendable results. It is indeed a miracle that amidst this confusion, in the absence of political will or ownership by the civilian government, the police forces continue to confront and fight the Death Eaters against heavy odds, amidst relentless casualties and lack of resources.

The fight against terrorism seems to be low on the government's list of priorities. Along with the provinces and the Islamabad Capital Territory, it has for all intents and purposes decided to leave the counteroffensive to the army, while plugging in the gaps, wherever possible, by inducting the Rangers. The latter are practically an extension of the army with nominal control by the civilian government. Intermittently, the provinces create small, fancy 'specialised' units. These are showcased as an answer to terrorism of a magnitude that poses an existential threat to the state. Even these units, however, end up providing protection to VIPs or function outside the regular command structure, remaining directly responsible to a few powerful political personalities.

It must be said most emphatically that only administrative measures and reforms can permanently disable the terror structures. Half-hearted, scattered actions are not enough. No effective action has been taken to control hate literature, and proscribed organizations are circumventing the bans on them by rebranding themselves and operating openly. Some are functioning as humanitarian NGOs, while a few are active as political parties. Even the decision to lift the moratorium on the death penalty has scarcely impacted those convicted of acts of terrorism. There is neither any dedicated agency nor programme for de-radicalisation or, for that matter, any move towards madressah reforms, which constitute NAP's most important long-term objectives.

It must also be pointed out that the police, the agency on the front line of the anti-terrorism fight, do not even figure in NAP's 20 points. Presumably, they are included in the section on the reform of the criminal justice system, but then, there is no sign that this issue is being addressed either. The police are required to fight terrorism without adequate resour­ces. To make matters worse, without any exception, there is continuous political interference in policing within every province. All of this results in a generally ill-equipped police force, confronted by a collapsing infrastructure and led by a weakened leadership.

NAP should have been implemented on all counts with greater commitment and led by a team of professionals directly under the country's chief executive. The Ministry of Interior officers are neither trained nor experienced enough to plan and execute such a strategy. Comprehensively restoring order and dismantling the infrastructure of terror will constitute the closing chapter in a long and vicious battle that will now take place on the streets of Pak cities, a fight that will be spearheaded by the civilian police. The conclusion of Zarb-e-Azb will bring new challenges, but further delays in implementation cannot be afforded. Without serious steps, a peaceful Pakistain will remain an elusive dream
Posted by: Fred || 08/01/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Iraq
The Champ does not want to defeat Isil - yet
[The Telegraph] For American foreign policy, winning the war against Isil quickly would be pointless and potentially disastrous.

America and its allies have not won the war against Isil, and are not even, at the moment, winning. According to the view of the world taken by President Obama, however, this does not represent failure.

The truth is - and this is no cheap smear - Mr Obama does not want to win the war against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - yet. He thinks winning quickly would be pointless and potentially disastrous.

In Iraq, his professorial mind sees Isil as being one part of a multilateral equation, involving Iraqis who are Sunni Muslim, like Isil, but also the Kurds, the Shia majority, the Iranians, and the sweep of American involvement since 2003.

America supports the Kurds against Isil - but not so far as to encourage them to seek independence. That would involve breaking up Iraq, which America promised not to do after the 2003 invasion - and some American promises have to be kept.

America also supports the Shia majority - inside and outside the formal army - who with enough US involvement could defeat Isil. They are already doing so, in some places outside Isil's heartland Anbar province.

However, the Shia's more significant backers are the Iranians, so a swift result would be to make Iraq's Sunni population captive to Tehran.

More importantly, a combined Shia, American and Iranian victory over Isil would confirm the very narrative of Sunni victimhood that has fueled its rise. Mr Obama believes that this would only be a temporary victory, like his predecessor President George W Bush's two conquests of Sunnis in Iraq - over Saddam Hussein, and over the subsequent rebellion by the earlier version of Islamic State of Iraq, before the American pull-out.
Interesting theory, but I doubt the Champ owns the strategy. He couldn't capture the neuronal image if graphically outlined on sheets of butcher paper.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/01/2015 05:49 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Obama was handed a stable Iraq (at least much more stable than the last 4 years). So this guy is saying that Obama contributed to the mess, has not cleaned it up but do not worry that is the best strategy.
Posted by: Airandee || 08/01/2015 8:04 Comments || Top||

#2  My take is that the realpolitik element is waiting for Islamic State to actually become a "state." on the grounds that it'll be more productive to negotiate and eventually hobble them with the trappings of international relations.
Posted by: Pappy || 08/01/2015 15:23 Comments || Top||

#3  I agree, a sort of Iranian regional hegemony counter-balance. Think of the military sales business development opportunities.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/01/2015 15:28 Comments || Top||

#4  ISIL is too busy killing Sunnis and Kurds on behalf of Iran and Turkey to worry Champ too much.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 08/01/2015 21:31 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
The age of communism lives

It was twenty-five years ago, but it feels like yesterday. When seeing the images of the fall of the Berlin Wall, I cried with joy, took out my best bottle of French wine, left the television on, and listened to Beethoven’s Ninth over and over and over. If you didn’t live through it, know that there was nothing like it. What we need to be reminded of, however, are the stakes and what didn’t happen in the wake of the fall.

In addition to the tyranny, the torture, and the assault upon the human spirit, the slaughtered victims of communism were not the thousands of the Inquisition, not the thousands of Americans lynched, not even the six million dead from Nazi extermination. The best scholarship yields numbers that the soul must try to comprehend: scores and scores and scores of millions of individual human bodies, which is what makes the work of Lee Edwards in keeping alive in our minds the victims of communism so morally essential, so morally vital.

Alexander Yakovlev, Gorbachev’s right hand man, who examined the archives for the last Soviet leader and who came away a deeply changed and heroic man, let us know that 60 million were slain in the Soviet Union alone. The Chinese author Jung Chang, who had access to scores of Mao Zedong’s collaborators and to the detailed Russian and local archives, reached the figure of 70 million Chinese lives snuffed out by Mao’s deliberate choices. If we count those dead of starvation from the communist ability and desire to experiment with human interaction in agriculture—20 million to 40 million in three years—we may add scores of millions more.
Posted by: badanov || 08/01/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Neh, Communism is dead. However, it's been replaced with something that, potentially---just give them time, is even worse.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/01/2015 4:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Yes, very much alive. We continue to receive promising reports from the regime's urban incubators in Chicago, Detroit, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Houston, and Los Angeles.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/01/2015 4:43 Comments || Top||

#3  The Ministry of Truth MSM and Ministry of Education NEA will continue to indoctrinate your children into true believers in communism socialism progressivism. Just watch all the followers of the Magic Money Tree - Free stuff!
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/01/2015 5:26 Comments || Top||

#4  Sadly P2K has it captured perfectly!
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 08/01/2015 13:07 Comments || Top||

#5  Could Orwell even dream of what's going on today?
Posted by: AlanC || 08/01/2015 17:26 Comments || Top||

#6  Communism may be dead. Marxist thought is very much alive and kicking esp. on Univ.campuses & in the current admin. The death of Soviet Communism was a boon to Marxism - it allowed the latter to detach itself from the wretched corruption of the former.
Posted by: borgboy || 08/01/2015 20:27 Comments || Top||



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