#1
In another Bullshit! episode, they take a meat-axe to PETA and its depraved agenda.
Among other things, I had never before seen any images of PETA's luxurious headquarters in Norfolk Va.
#5
This reminds me of something my friends and I did.
We went around asking a bunch of random women if they supported the abolishment of women's suffrage. Most of them didnt know what it meant and agreed that it should be abolished, especially when I told them my great-grandfather thought it was the source of all the world's problems.
People are really stupid sometimes.
Rank speculation from Strategy Page, but heck, that's what Sundays are for.
Sure, why not? I saw a piece a few months ago speculating that Trinidad and Tobago were on Senor Commandante's short list.
If Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez made a grab for the Dutch West Indies (specifically the islands of Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire), could the Dutch really do anything about it? The Dutch military is no slouch, having performed peacekeeping missions in the Balkans and has served alongside the U.S. military in Iraq. However, these have been relatively small contingents of land forces as opposed to a major naval-air campaign, which reclaiming those Caribbean islands would entail (see the British effort to reclaim the Falklands in 1982).
The Royal Netherlands Navy is small, but has very good ships. This force carries a lengthy tradition going back centuries, a tradition that includes beating the British at sea many times. Their new De Zeven Provincien-class destroyers are good ships armed with SM-2MR and Evolved Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missiles and Harpoon anti-ship missiles. The eight Karel Doorman-class frigates are also very good vessels as well, armed with Sea Sparrows and Harpoons. There is also a landing platform dock amphibious vessel, the Rotterdam, with a second vessel, the Johan Van Witt, being built. The Royal Netherlands Air Force is also potent, but primarily designed for a war in Europe. It consists of 108 F-16As with a mid-life upgrade, making them very capable against aerial opponents. This is the bulk of their combat power. They have 30 AH-64D Longbow Apaches being delivered, and only three KDC-10F aerial refueling aircraft (comparable to the KC-10) for their entire force. This is a force that has a lot of teeth, but very little tail.
In the event that Venezuela should seize Aruba, Curacao, and/or Bonaire, Chavez will have a lot of places in Venezuela for his Air Force to reach the Dutch islands. The nearest Dutch territory is St. Marteen, which is anywhere from 844 (to Bonaire) to 965 (to Aruba) kilometers from the combat zone. The F-16's range is 2642 kilometers, but that figure is misleading. Combat eats up fuel very rapidly (often due to the use of afterburners), and as a result, the potential combat zone, even with aerial refueling, is at the edge of the F-16's combat radius (usually a third of the aircraft's range in this case, 880 kilometers). Drop tanks could extend the range, but that means giving up some payload. This is a situation much like what the Luftwaffe faced in 1940 in the Battle of Britain, only this time, it would be an inability to provide sustained air cover for naval vessels as opposed to the inability to properly escort strike aircraft. As Admiral Sir Thomas Phillips, commander of Force Z (HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse), found out in 1941, a naval force sailing under hostile skies has an exciting and short life.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/11/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
"Could Hugo grab the Dutch West Indies?"
He could try....
(Not that I think the Dutch would be the ones doing anything about it.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/11/2007 0:08 Comments ||
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#2
Thats what England, France, and Germany are for. i.e. Dutch handle Banking-Financing, [other] Euro(s) handle the firepower. OTOH, TAIPEITIMES > CHINA INVADING THE CARIBBEAN, vv ANTI-TAIWAN-OTHER CONTRACT, BIDDING WARS/COMPETITION.
#3
LOL! It's just the sort of thing Huggie might try when the money is gone and the Mercals are out of chicken for 3 weeks. I would laugh and laugh, knowing that Hugs will f**c it up somehow.
#5
JosephMendiola, the Dutch would be in a lot of trouble if they depend on the French and Germans to project power into the Western hemisphere. They simply do not have the air lift or sea lift to get even their relatively weak forces to the West, let alone be able to stage a counterattack. For that matter it is doubtful if the Brits could deal with Faulklands again.
#6
If Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez made a grab for the Dutch West Indies (specifically the islands of Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire), could the Dutch really do anything about it?
It is common knowledge that Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire are suffering under a brutally oppressive, racist colonial Dutch regime which openly practices aparthied. If he makes a move on the islands, I suspect Hugo will do it with the full support of the UN and our donk friends in the beltway. Nothing would surprise me today's geo-political environment.
#7
This is all idle conjecture. Even if Hugo is too damned stupid to know it, his generals know that seizing a piece of Dutch sovereign territory in the Caribbean would be the same as an attack on Rotterdam and would call the mutual defense provisions of NATO into force. He'd be looking at one or more U.S. carrier task forces steaming off his coast within 72 hours and any of his military stupid enough to attack them would be quickly dead. For him to seize Aruba or any other Dutch island is the fastest way I can think of to have him reach the Allende ending: committing "suicide" by shooting one's self 20+ times with an automatic weapon.
Posted by: Mac ||
03/11/2007 6:49 Comments ||
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#8
I'd guess the V navy's officer corps would pull the plugs on their ships, knowing that USN/AF aircraft would vaporize them and the embarked troops the moment the Vs entered international waters.
#9
Aruba has offshore banking, and lots of people with money own vacation property there. Curacao is (was?) a big transshipment point for petroleum, and I think they have refineries as well. Bonaire.... Bonaire has fantastic scuba diving, and of course there are the ruins of the old salt-production slave huts and the native thorny scrub.... Were I Mr. Chavez, I'd see the conquest Bonaire as low risk/high reward -- and really grow Venezuela's reputation as a scuba diver's heaven.
#10
However, assistance from NATO allies, especially the United States and Britain, would give the Dutch an edge, and a clear shot at regaining their Caribbean islands.
Ahh, yes. Yes, I can see how it might give the Dutch an edge. Yeeeesss...
#11
Ahh, here is some of the edge those Strategy Page folks might want to have mentioned, viz the "forward operating location" split between Beatrix International Airport and Hato International Airport. I suspect this tips the numbers somewhat in favor of the Dutch:
http://www.ciponline.org/facts/fol.htm
Aruba and Curaçao
Defense Department and Customs Service aircraft have been operating at Curaçaos Hato International Airport and Arubas Reina Beatrix International Airport since April 1999.
The Curaçao section of this Caribbean FOL is to support two large, two medium and six small aircraft, with as many as 200 to 230 temporarily deployed operations and maintenance personnel. The Curaçao site is currently hosting Air National Guard F-16s, Navy P-3 and E-2 Airborne Early Warning planes, U.S. Air Force E-3 AWACS and other U.S. aircraft. The presence in Aruba will be smaller, with two medium and three small aircraft, about fifteen permanently assigned staff and twenty to twenty-five temporarily deployed operations and maintenance personnel.4
A U.S. Air Force Site Activation Task Force identified some of the improvements that would be required for the FOLs long-term operation. These included upgrades and pavement improvements to ramps and taxiways and construction of maintenance and operations facilities.
#12
Sorry to spam your comments... According to GlobalSecurity.org those F-16s were being used for drug interdiction and were not armed. I suspect this has changed:
The two words have been taken out of their context - highlighted below. Otherwise, I wonder if he would say the same thing about Muslims today, without the "sober, industrious, law-abiding" of course.
Naw, he'd never say that. Only Jooos are ever responsible for the bad things that happen to them. Also all the bad things that happen to everyone else.
BRITAIN'S WWII prime minister Winston Churchill argued that Jewish people were "partly responsible for the antagonism from which they suffer" in an article publicised for the first time tomorrow. Churchill made the claim in an article entitled How The Jews Can Combat Persecution written in 1937, three years before he started leading the country. He outlined a new wave of anti-Semitism sweeping across Europe and the United States, which was followed by the deaths of millions of Jewish people in the Holocaust under the German Nazi regime.
"It would be easy to ascribe it to the wickedness of the persecutors, but that does not fit all the facts," the article read. "It exists even in lands, like Great Britain and the United States, where Jew and Gentile are equal in the eyes of the law and where large numbers of Jews have found not only asylum, but opportunity. These facts must be faced in any analysis of anti-Semitism. They should be pondered especially by the Jews themselves. For it may be that, unwittingly, they are inviting persecution - that they have been partly responsible for the antagonism from which they suffer." The article adds: "The central fact which dominates the relations of Jew and non-Jew is that the Jew is 'different'. "He looks different. He thinks differently. He has a different tradition and background. He refuses to be absorbed."
Elsewhere, Churchill praised Jews as "sober, industrious, law-abiding" and urged Britons to stand up for the race against persecution.
"Some of my best friends are Jooos!"
"There is no virtue in a tame acquiescence in evil. To protest against cruelty and wrong, and to strive to end them, is the mark of a man," he wrote.
The article was discovered by Cambridge University historian Richard Toye in the university's archive of Churchill's papers. At the time, Churchill's secretary advised him it would be "inadvisable" to publish it and it never saw the light of day.
#4
I think Sir Winston was giving vent to the prejudice of his class. I b'lieve (the English cousins can confirm/deny) that although most English Jews are indistinguishable from their gentile neighbors, there is a community of orthodox Jews, who wear the funny black clothes, beards and side curls, and pretty much keep to themselves. Nobody notices the many who fit quietly into the larger society, but only those few who, while industrious and law abiding, cling to a traditional appearance. It doesn't speak well of that larger society that it is willing to condemn such sober, industrious and law abiding members of society to mass extinction, merely because they have an odd hairstyle and don't send their children to public schools.
People who dress funny, isolate themselves but, rather than be sober, industrious and law abiding, live off government charity, teach their children to hate the non-believers and work to conquer them, they do deserve the antagonism they invite.
#6
Some context: In the 1930s there had been a substantial influx into Britain of East European and Balkan Jews who kept their traditions and separate communities.
English Jews, like most Jews in western Europe at the time were well integrated. My grandmother worked for Jews for most of her life. Never had a bad word to say about them.
BTW, I think the blue comments added are in poor taste.
#7
Hitler tried to get rid of the 'Jewish threat' onto an 'island' although many Jews fled the country, not many other countries would except them. The only reason we didn't except as many Jews into the UK was because the British public didn't want them, sounds bad, but nobody wanted to see half a million Jews walking into the UK.
When the war started there were talk between Sweden and Germany (Sweden provided Germany with tremendous amounts of iron ore) and that hopefully a bridge could be 'secured' for the Danish Jews. Which something like 75% of Danish jews fled to Sweden, but it took until the war started for this to happen.
Also unlucky, but many Jews who did flee Germany came to European countries, and then a few years down the line found themselves as part of a 'greater Germany'
#8
An alternative interpretation of Churchill's statement: by standing separate, they've made themselves obvious scapegoats. Not much better, but not as antisemitic as the given interpretations.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
03/11/2007 9:28 Comments ||
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#9
There were some events during the great depression that highlighted Jews and irritated the non-Jews.
First of these was that the financial institutions of Europe were Jewish dominated, which automatically irritated the population when the depression hit, it being "the bankers fault". (There was some of that in the US as well, a common sneer being against "New York Jew bankers".)
But then, anyone with friends or relatives in the United States who could get dollars sent to them in Germany, could live like a millionaire because of the collapse of the Reichsmark. This included many Jews. This was exacerbated by some of those people living ostentatiously, while literally, Germans were starving to death in the streets.
But most of all, there was just the longstanding European hatred of the Jews. For many years after the war the power of Joseph Goebbels propaganda machine was assumed to have *started* this hatred against the Jews; but that was incorrect. It just "fanned the fires" of existing hatred.
If there is any fault at all on the part of the Jews "inviting persecution", it was that their integration was not absolute. They should have shunned any ghetto or concentration at all, and fully absorbed into society many years before.
Comparatively speaking, immigrant Catholics in the US faced a similar problem at about the same time, facing serious persecution by the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s. They were accused of being disloyal and only obeying the Pope, even of fomenting rebellion in an effort to overthrow the government of the US. "Keeping guns in their basements."
However, once out of the big cities, they totally integrated with Protestants. This, along with the fortuitous collapse of the Klan in scandal, might have prevented more than just the few fistfight skirmishes that happened.
And, it should be noted that the US also used concentration camps for both the Japanese and some of the Italians living the US, both of whom were far less integrated in the respective regions where they lived.
In conclusion, it would be very wise for Muslims living in self-imposed Muslim communities around the developed world to get out of those communities and integrate as soon as possible.
#10
IMO, TW it's these who "fit into the larger society" that arouse anti-semitism because, on the average, they do better than Gentiles.
Throughout European history (starting with Egyptian Greeks) Anti-Semitism was a upper/middle class thing. You might not see it in US,yet, because of "nation of immigrants" & white/black things.
Now Churchill was one of the most clear sighted men England ever produced. And, unlike most of his class, not a dyed in the wool anti-semite.
For example: read Churchill on the expulsion of Jews from England in 11th century.
Posted by: Wesley Clark ||
03/11/2007 11:24 Comments ||
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#13
This talk that "Jews will not intermarry with other faiths", is bullshit.
Two years ago , my nephew (Catholic) married a nice Jewish Girl, they had both a priest and a Rabbi officiate, and combined the best traditions of the Jewish and Catholic ceremonies, it was a ball.
They now have a beautiful Daughter, and absolutely no bickering as to which faith she will be raised, the agreement is "When she's old enough they'll explain both faiths, and let her decide which, or neither".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/11/2007 13:36 Comments ||
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#14
So when does the genocide against the Amish start?
#15
I forgot to mention that both mom and dad are way past genius level, and I highly admire both.
My IQ is 141 (120 Is Genius Level) and both of them are much smarter than I.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/11/2007 13:40 Comments ||
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#16
In the past two generations about 50% of American Jews have married outside the religion. Historically, ie the past 1800 years or so, and worldwide, the proportion has been about 25% marrying out/converting, except when times were very bad or very good, when it went up to 50%.
Anonymoose, never have most of the bankers been Jews. Rothschild and a few others, yes, but then half of the Rotschilds are Christians of one flavour or another, a deliberate policy of the parental generation -- just as the composer Mendelsohn's father had him baptised so that he would be allowed into the world outside the ghetto.
gromgoru, antisemitism is given different rationalizations for different audiences, but the result is the same. The upper class rationalization may be differential success by the not-one-of-us interlopers, the lower class rationalization may be Christ killers, or rent collectors, or whatever. When I was growing up antisemitism was at its lowest ebb, such that in my sheltered environment I was never aware of it except as historical theory... although I've spoken to others who've lost out on jobs, contracts and opportunities because of their faith.
Redneck Jim, I had always read that a 120 IQ is one standard deviation from the mean, or "bright", that 135-145 or so (depending who you ask) is "brilliant" and 150-165+ is genius. But regardless, you are quite intelligent enough for me. ;-)
#17
As for Jews moving out of the ghettos, for centuries that wasn't permitted, and later many could not afford to. The Jews of Germany were the most highly assimilated in the world until the Nazis rooted them out. If my mother's family is any example, they were integrated socially and professionally, intermarried and converted (about half of my mother's family considered themselves either Catholic or Protestant until the Nazis informed them of their error) and were more involved in the generality of community activities than Jewish ones.
It did not make any difference once the antisemites decided to separate them out. They were hunted down just as quickly as were the ghetto-trapped Jews of Eastern Europe... many of whom had been integrated German Jews not long before.
#18
That's OK TW, I'm Still a Redneck, just a smart one.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/11/2007 17:00 Comments ||
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#19
trailing wife: "banker" was an invective, which is why I said "financial institutions". Actual Jewish involvement then was probably on a par with Jewish financial businesses in the US today, but the public perception in both cases is that "the Jews control the banks."
Remember the post 9-11 nonsense about Jews working in the WTC? Same basic idea.
For years in rural America, the invective was "New York Jew Bankers" and "New York Jew Lawyers", but said with the same feeling that Germans of the time believed. For the most part, fortunately, Americans have grown out of that.(*)
#20
trailing wife: "banker" was an invective, which is why I said "financial institutions". Actual Jewish involvement then was probably on a par with Jewish financial businesses in the US today, but the public perception in both cases is that "the Jews control the banks."
Remember the post 9-11 nonsense about Jews working in the WTC? Same basic idea.
For years in rural America, the invective was "New York Jew Bankers" and "New York Jew Lawyers", but said with the same feeling that Germans of the time believed. For the most part, fortunately, Americans have grown out of that.(*)
#22
I have to admit there's more than a whiff of anti-Semitism on English novels of the pre-WWII period. I would say that Gaudy Night is the best mystery novel of all time, except that I'm embarrassed by the undercurren.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
03/11/2007 20:58 Comments ||
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Tariq Ramadan is banned from the US and accused of plotting Islamic revolution in Europe. He may also be the one man to save us all from the Clash of Civilisations. Deborah Orr meets a twinkly eyed academic on a thankless mission.
#1
TR tells Westerners that Muslims only want their place; TR tells Muslims to build the Ummah (Islamic supremacist organization) and prepare to seize Western democracies.
One might have hoped that the 9/11 attacks would have constituted an "education by murder" for Americans, an example of radical Islam in its most lethal form; so why has the New York City Department of Education decided to open an Islamist public school whose curriculum shares the same ideology as the September 11 terrorists?
Slated to be the school's principal, Dhabah [aka "Debbie"] Almontaser was presented an award by the Council on American Islamic Relations [CAIR, the Saudi funded front group for Hamas and a co-defendant in a 9/11 terrorism lawsuit] and more importantly, the curriculum of her school has been designed by the radical American Arab Anti Discrimination Committee [ADC].
The ADC's funder [and recipient of the ADC's "Global Achievement Award"] Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal's 10 million dollar donation to the 9/11 victims charity was rejected by then NY Mayor Giuliani because of Talal's claim that American policy towards Israel was the reason for the terrorist outrage. Talal has also raised money to reward the family's of suicide bombers.
Continued on Page 49
#2
Separation of church and state alive and well. Probably too much so,but God forbid that we have any separation of muslim religion and state.
Americans and NYC taxpayers will no doubt be reassured to know that one of their new public schools will be instructing Arab and Muslim students in the nuances of jihad and under what circumstances it can be justified and practiced
When is Jihad ever justified?! OMG
Will they be reciting the pledge of alligience every morning?
I doubt it.
And hey, will christian &/or Jewish students be allowed to attend? I can see them choosing teams for sports even as I type this lol
How sad that this is accomplished before any rebuilding of the WTC 9/11.
Where are our priorities?
Posted by: Jan from work ||
03/11/2007 14:33 Comments ||
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#3
I never met an Indian I didn't like - with the possible exception of Kahlil Gibran.
#5
Yea, SM, Gibran's Prophet is as far from Mo (poop be upon him) as it goes. Another form of taqiyya, I suppose, they misuse Gibran's name as cover, to imply secular values and surface tameness.
#6
Come on guys, get with the program, but let's make sure we take pictures of the students and parents, so that the computers can keep track of them from the get go. It will make it easier to connect the dots when the conspiracy investigations begin.
Splendid piece from the NYT, as it explains how the good Dr. Khan got his start. Really.
By Jeremy Bernstein
THE six-party agreement signed with North Korea last month should certainly be applauded as a necessary first step in improving relations with the United States. While a good deal of the North Korean program is shrouded in mystery just this week the United States again urged the North Koreans to disclose any uranium-enrichment activities there are some things we do know, including the nature and status of the countrys reactors.
North Koreas one functioning reactor, at Yongbyon, uses natural uranium for fuel and graphite as its moderator (the substance that slows the neutrons and enhances the fission reaction). These are the same ingredients used in the first reactor ever designed, which was tested by Enrico Fermi at the University of Chicago in 1942. The best estimate is that Yongbyon has produced about 100 pounds of plutonium since it went into full operation in 1990. This is enough for six to eight nuclear bombs, depending on their design. (The North Koreans might have used about six kilograms in their Oct. 9 test.) The construction of the larger reactors North Korea was building was apparently already suspended, for various technical reasons, before the agreement.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/11/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
CHOSUN ILBO > US FORCES KOREA Cdr > Norkies believed to both plutonium + uranium-based programs, wid uranium prog capable = intended to produce shadow materials for nuke weapons. See also CHINA'S COLONIZATION OF NORTH KOREA, via large Chicom FDI's in NK > Presentation talking point - China wants USA to recognize NK as a de facto "tributary state" of China. before China will allow progress on Kimmies nucprogs; + PYONGYANG ENVOY SAYS CHINA USING NK FOR OWN AGENDA, vv concessions from USA. Says CHINA is true owner of Bank at center of international counterfeit controversy wid USA.
#4
In 1974, India successfully tested a nuclear device, and Pakistans president, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, put out a call to all the scientists in the Pakistani diaspora to return home and help make a bomb.
This is incorrect. Bhutto initiated the bomb program after the 1971 defeat, NOT after the 1974 Indian test. He famous "eat grass" speech was made in 1965.
As FAS notes --
Pakistan has been looking into the acquisition of nuclear weapons since the early-1960s. After Pakistan's defeat in the 1965 Indo-Pakistani war, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto vowed to retain a strategic balance with India, including the development of nuclear weapons, at any cost. `If India builds the bomb, we will eat grass or leaves, even go hungry, but we will get one of our own. We have no alternative,' he said in 1965.
However, it took the humiliating defeat of 1971, when Indian forces occupied Eastern Pakistan and transformed it into an independent Bangladesh, to truly commit Pakistan to the acquisition of nuclear weapons. In the wake of that war, Mr. Bhutto assembled Pakistan's leading scientists in a tent in Multan in January 1972 where he delivered a passionate speech about the shame of defeat and how imperative is was for Pakistan to have nuclear weapons. Bringing up what seemed a note of caution, Mr. Bhutto pointed to a higher objective when he explained that `this is a very serious political decision, which Pakistan must take
Posted by: John Frum ||
03/11/2007 12:58 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
