"culled" I like that
(Army Times) A series of four airstrikes in recent weeks against Libya’s Islamic State franchise killed roughly one-third of the militant group’s personnel, giving much needed breathing room as the country’s two main factions wrangle for control in Tripoli.
The strikes killed an estimated 43 ISIS fighters, with roughly 100 still remaining, according to a senior U.S. defense official, who spoke with reporters on the condition of anonymity.
"We assess that was a pretty significant degradation of their capabilities and, again, they struggle to reconstitute because of the nature of the operatives who were killed in this strike and the fact that they have already been struggling with manpower," the official said in a telephone interview Thursday. "We certainly don’t assess that they’re expanding," the official added.
Posted by: Whavimp Grath4899 ||
10/15/2019 00:00 ||
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BERLIN (AP) ‐ Germany’s security services said Tuesday they’re seeking greater powers to fight the kind of far-right extremism behind last week’s synagogue attack, including requiring internet companies to report illegal hate speech to police.
A 27-year-old German man previously unknown to police confessed to carrying out the attack in the eastern city of Halle in which two people were killed Wednesday.
The suspected gunman, identified by prosecutors only as Stephan B. due to privacy rules, allegedly built the firearms he used with the help of online instructions, posted an anti-Semitic screed before the attack and later broadcast the shooting live on a popular gaming site.
In response to the attack and previous incidents, German officials have called for more officers to be devoted to tackling far-right extremism and a greater focus on online platforms they say are increasingly being used as a means of spreading far-right radicalism and linking up with like-minded people in a way already seen with Islamist extremism.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Europe ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... an Union on Monday condemned The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...Qatar's satrapy in Asia Minor... ’s operation in northeastern Syria as a direct threat to the security and stability of the region.
"The EU condemns Turkey’s military action which seriously undermines the stability and the security of the whole region," the bloc said in a joint statement at a meeting of foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
"Member states commit to strong national positions regarding their arms export policy to Turkey," added EU foreign ministers.
The Ottoman Turkish operation increases the suffering of Syrian civilians and hinders the delivery of aid, the statement added, saying that the offensive decreases the chance of a successful political settlement to the war in Syria.
The European Council, the grouping of the EU’s 28 governments, said in a statement that Turkey’s military action in northern Syria had "dramatic consequences" and noted that some EU countries had halted arms exports.
The organization also agreed a sanctions framework over Turkey’s drilling for oil and gas in waters off Cyprus, action it condemns.
On Monday NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg similarly criticized Turkey's military operation, saying that it risked further escalation in the region. Turkey is a NATO member.
As Ottoman Turkish forces continued their assault on positions held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeastern Syria, Syrian government forces have deployed to the towns of Ain Issa and Tabqa in northern Syria, state media and the Syrian Observatory reported on Monday.
[DAILYSABAH] EU countries have silently continued to watch the ongoing migrant tragedy at their shores a migrant rescue ship that rescued 176 migrants colonists in the Mediterranean over the weekend, appealed for help to disembark them at any EU port. However, there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... the crew of a ship said yesterday it had so far received no response from any EU countries to their requests.
Due to the lack of a common response to migration inflows from northern Africa via the Mediterranean, migrants colonists have been facing the same unwelcoming approach from EU countries. So far, every standoff about migrants colonists rescued from the Mediterranean takes weeks to resolve, revealing the limits of EU tolerance and its inherent deficiencies in promptly resolving dire situations. Instead, they get caught up in intra-EU struggles on what to do with migrants colonists saved at sea, while effectively dashing their Europe ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... an dreams.
Ocean Viking, operated by the nongovernmental organizations SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders, picked up the migrants colonists from inflatable boats in two operations off the coast of Libya. Among the rescued are 33 minors and four pregnant women, according to reports. "No site in Libya can currently be considered safe" for migrants colonists, SOS Mediterranee said in a statement.
It was the fourth time that SOS Mediterranee had asked for access to an EU port since August, shortly after relaunching rescue operations following a seven-month hiatus it blamed on obstruction by European nations. In August, a Spanish NGO vessel Proactiva Open Arms was stuck off Italian island of Lampedusa for days seeking permission to dock from the Italian government.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] US President Donald Trump ...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons...... on Monday urged his Ottoman Turkish counterpart His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important... to "stop the invasion" of Syria, Vice President Mike Pence said.
Trump pressed the Ottoman Turkish leader in a telephone call to "stop the invasion, to enact an immediate ceasefire and to begin negotiations with Kurdish forces in Syria," Pence told news hounds, adding that he would be traveling urgently to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... at the president’s request.
"He’s directed me to lead a delegation. I will be leaving as quickly as possible to travel into the region to pursue a ceasefire and negotiated settlement," Pence said.
"The United States of America did not give a green light for Turkey to invade Syria," Pence said to news hounds in front of the White House.
Pence said Trump had been firm with Erdogan on the phone.
"The United States of America simply is not going to tolerate Turkey’s invasion in Syria any further. We are calling on Turkey to stand down, end the violence and come to the negotiating table," Pence told news hounds.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who joined Pence, said the Treasury Department was taking economic action against Ottoman Turkish ministries and senior Ottoman Turkish government officials in response to the country’s military operations in Syria.
[DAILYSABAH] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...Qatar's satrapy in Asia Minor... 's Chief of Staff Yasar Guler and the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia Valery Gerasimov discussed Monday the latest developments in Syria amid the ongoing Operation Peace Spring.
Guler and Gerasimov spoke on the security situation in Syria and recent developments, a Ottoman Turkish General Staff statement said.
Ottoman Turkish Defense Minister Hukusi Akar later on Monday said he also held a phone call with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu.
The ministers had "constructive" phone talk on coordinating and developing activities in Syria.
Speaking with news hounds in the Ottoman Turkish capital Ankara, Akar said he and Sergey had exchanged information on Syria and their agenda there.
"We discussed what needs to be done [in Syria] to coordinate activities and develop them appropriately," Akar said.
Akar did not mention to the news hounds Turkey's current anti-terror operation in northern Syria, but Turkey and Russia have a long history of working together for peace in Syria through the Astana process.
Later on Monday Akar also held a phone call with his French counterpart Florence Parly.
Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring, the third in a series of cross-border anti-terror operations in northern Syria targeting snuffies affiliated with ISIS ...embracing their inner Islamic Brute... and the PKK's Syrian offshoot the People's Protection Units (YPG), on October 9 at 4 p.m.
[MSN] Mr. Trump’s error, some aides concede in off-the-record conversations, was entering the Oct. 6 call underprepared,
...and whose job is it to make sure he is prepared? It seems to me these particular off-the-record aides do not have the right attitude for their current station in life...
and then failing to spell out for Mr. Erdogan the potential consequences ‐ from economic sanctions to a dimunition of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...Qatar's satrapy in Asia Minor... ’s alliance with the United States and its standing in NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... . He has since threatened both, retroactively. But it is not clear Mr. Erdogan believes either is a real risk.The drama is nowhere near over. Out of necessity, the Kurds switched sides on Sunday, turning their backs on Washington and signing up with Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now... of Syria, a man the United States has called a war criminal for gassing his own people.
That would be President Obama, as I recall, who got us into this mess...
At the Pentagon, officials struggled with the right response if Ottoman Turkish forces ‐ NATO allies ‐ again opened fire on any of the 1,000 or so Americans now preparing to retreat from their positions inside Syria. Those troops are trapped for now, since Turkey has cut off the roads; removing them may require an airlift.
If the Turks can shoot as us, why can’t we give them a matching brushback?
And over the weekend, State and Energy Department officials were quietly reviewing plans for evacuating roughly 50 tactical nuclear weapons that the United States had long stored, under American control, at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, about 250 miles from the Syrian border, according to two American officials.
“Quietly”.
Those weapons, one bigwig said, were now essentially Erdogan’s hostages. To fly them out of Incirlik would be to mark the de facto end of the Ottoman Turkish-American alliance. To keep them there, though, is to perpetuate a nuclear vulnerability that should have been eliminated years ago.
First eliminate the vulnerability. Afterward the alliance can be renegotiated.
"I think this is a first ‐ a country with U.S. nuclear weapons stationed in it literally firing artillery at US forces," Jeffrey Lewis of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies wrote last week.
For his part, Mr. Erdogan claims nuclear ambitions of his own: Only a month ago, speaking to supporters, he said, he said he "cannot accept" rules that keep Turkey from possessing nuclear weapons of its own.
With what spare billion dollars? You go ahead with your temper tantrum while the grown ups put things to rights.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/15/2019 00:00 ||
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#1
This is really rich.
As if Zero was "well prepared" on anything in the Middle East or SW Asia or N Africa, or managed any crisis at all in those regions with anything approaching competence...
#6
From grom's link, a detailed explanation by Thomas Wictor that makes much sense and that cuts through all the noise and nonsense emitted by our pseudo-"journalists":
Thomas Wictor @ThomasWic@social.quodverum.com
So the Kurds and Assad are going to work it out.
The US can cripple the Turkish economy.
Finally the EU is on our side when it comes to Turkey.
The Turkish-backed National Front for Liberation--Islamist rebels--was totally destroyed by "al-Qaeda" in January of this year, so northwest Syria was cleared of jihadists.
This is the final battlefield of the Syrian Civil War.
Trump is ending the war without causing the same disaster that we caused in Iraq. ...
Remember: Trump is using economic leverage on all our enemies. Therefore we don't have to go to war.
Assad was a puppet of the Iranian mullahs, and now he's a figurehead. His army has not engaged in actual combat since late 2016.
Syria is full of GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] commandos posing as SAA and rebels. After the Turks are defeated, there will be kabuki that allows Assad to go to Russia in retirement.
This is the endgame for Syria. ...
Iran, the Houthis, and Hezbollah are still threats, but regime change in Iran has to begin with the Iranian people.
It can't be imposed from the outside. So Trump didn't "abandon" anyone. He simply said nobody is entitled to American lives.
So the Kurds stopped cutting bait and began fishing.
Thomas Wictor @ThomasWic@social.quodverum.com
@wziminer
There was a period in which Iranians, Hezbollah, the Afghan Fatemiyoun Brigades, Iraqi militia, the Shi'ite Foreign Legion, and Russian mercenaries were doing all the fighting.
They were slaughtered.
The Russians were the last to stop, after we wiped out an entire Mobile Detachment Combat Group of 600 men on February 7, 2018.
Assad's Syrian Arab Army was reconstituted, but they're essentially actors.
The Gulf Cooperation Council does the fighting now.
#11
It's looking more and more like Trump made a good call and did not err. Everyone else was against his call. At last we got a leader and not some DS potted plant in the WH.
#14
I think Trump made the best call he could in this. There are never any "good" calls when it comes to this area of the world. Letting them kill each other instead of us is the best for our side.
#15
Granted no one knows where Assad will end up, and neither should we particularly care.
The main goal is to end the war and restore some stability while keeping Iran down and Turkey out. We have no other discernible interest in this war of all against all.
So the only point that really matters is whether Wictor, above, is correct that this is the endgame which will result in those key goals.
If someone has better evidence than his, let him bring it forth so we can see it and evaluate it.
None of our incompetent pseudo-journalists have done so.
Our intel community, when it's not searching for duct tape and rubber bands for its latest Wyle E. Coyote / ACME Palace CoupTM attempt, has been well-nigh useless in that region.
#16
The Turkish-backed National Front for Liberation--Islamist rebels--was totally destroyed by "al-Qaeda" in January of this year, so northwest Syria was cleared of jihadists.
Al Qaeda ARE jihadists. NW Syria is where all the fighting was taking place. The NFL, SNA, FSA are all the same organization (Turkey's mercenaries, were America's money grabbing mercenaries). AQ kicked their ass, but for a destroyed force, they are grabbing a lot of territory from the Kurds.
This is the final battlefield of the Syrian Civil War.
AQ (al Nusra, TaS) and ISIS and other militias have yet to be defeated in NW Syria (Idlib, Aleppo governates). Probably around 20K+ fanatics embedding in 3 million civilians. The Syrian Army is not up to the job. So the stalemate.
Syria is full of GCC commandos posing as SAA and rebels.
The GCC wants Assad gone. They (w/ Turkey and the US under Obama) are the ones who have been arming and funding the "rebels".
After the Turks are defeated
You and whose Army? Certainly not the US army. Expect another standoff and proxy fighting.
Assad to go to Russia in retirement
Interesting. But that opens the Alawites to massacre. Not so brilliant a plan now.
Iran, the Houthis, and Hezbollah are still threats
Certainly not to the Syrians gov, which is what we are talking about. The regional threat has been diminished by US sanctions against Iran. They don't have the money to pay for mercenries and weapons as when the Iranians were flush with Barack's Billions. Israelis bomb when the Iranians stick their necks out.
So the Kurds stopped cutting bait and began fishing.
The Kurds are making the best of a desperate situation and submitting to the Syrians and Russians when Trump abandoned them to Turkish invasion and resettlement (ethnic cleansing). before, the Kurds could rebuff the Syrian control and negotiate for autonomy. That's gone.
There was a period in which Iranians ... They were slaughtered.
No. They won. It was the rebels who were slaughtered (often by other factions). The Syrian controlled areas have gone from less 20% to 60%. 30% was, until a few days ago, SDF controlled. Soon to be 90% Syrian gov control. What little exists under rebel control is really under Al Qaeda or Turkish proxy control. Both supplied by Turkey.
The Russians ... wiped out
The Russian contribution is air power. That never diminished. A few hundred Russian ground mercenaries didn't affect the course of the war. They were there primarily to seize economic assets for bosses to milk. They had a bad day when they tried to seize and oil field already occupied by the SDF and Americans.
Assad's Syrian Arab Army was reconstituted, but they're essentially actors.
Can agree on the fighting side. But they are now pouring into Kurd held areas. Think the Turks will take them on? I don't.
The Gulf Cooperation Council does the fighting now.
What's the author smoking? GCC Team A on Syrian side. GCC Team B on rebel side. GCC Team C on Kurd side. GCC Team D on Turk side. DOGPILE!
#17
I think Trump made the best call he could in this.
I don't. The situation a few days ago was advantageous to America. A thousand troops to keep the Turks and Syrians out and a few dollars to pay the SDF to keep the peace and hunt down ISIS remnants until a negotiated peace with the Syrians could be agreed to. That, and American credibility, is gone.
#18
You know who's word would be final for me on this whole sordid issue ? The American troops that were pulled out.
Nobody so far has given a shit for the grunt's opinion. I mean we're worried for his life, but don't care what he'd rather stake it on - Kurds or Afghans. He doesn't get a vote. Leaders and bloodthirsties can order him to and fro. He doesn't get to choose his allies or a say in the fucked-ness of a plan.
The clueless civ elected State's apathy and disregard for their soldiers' own views is the same anywhere I suppose.
That being said, I am willing to believe that Trump's economic sanctions and reducing Turkey to a desperate beggar might improve the lot of many disaffected.
#19
Someone who I've been waiting to hear weigh in is Andrew Bacevich. He has been critical of all US involvement in Iraq and the extended activities in Afghanistan.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/15/2019 12:05 Comments ||
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#20
You know who's word would be final for me on this whole sordid issue ? The American troops that were pulled out.
#21
Thanks, Whavimp.
I'm not sure I understand how the previous situation was so advantageous. This statement in particular seems an example of, to coin a phrase, "wishful thinking":
A thousand troops to keep the Turks and Syrians out and a few dollars to pay the SDF to keep the peace and hunt down ISIS remnants until a negotiated peace with the Syrians could be agreed to.
You mean like that successfully negotiated peace with the Taliban that has brought stability to Afghanistan?
I raise this because - at least according to what I can find re our strategy - the goal is to "the U.S. partnership with the SDF was a model to follow in the future, like the partnership with the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan to defeat the Taliban." (Paraphrase of statements in April 2019 by U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Michael Mulroy. More: Mulraoy "[said he] expected the U.S. to be in Syria for the long haul with a very capable partner in the Syrian Democratic Forces. ..."
I have no doubt that your/DoD's logic is sound: the Kurds are excellent fighters who merit some measure of support.
The problem I, and probably most Americans who've watched our Mideast / Afghan follies for the last several decades, have us your assertion that PEACE will result from this support.
There is no peace in Afghanistan. That "model" -- if Mulroy is being fairly paraphrased by Wiki - is an antitype. Perhaps you know better, but based on not hope but EXPERIENCE, that more likely that our involvement in Syria will continue for many more years.
Enough. No more Afghan-style endless wars.
At some point we need to cut. There's never a good time to cut. But sooner or later, cut we must.
Anyway, that's my $0.02. I appreciate your detailed and overall sensible response.
- L
#22
Someone who I've been waiting to hear weigh in is Andrew Bacevich.
I am only reaching here, but I think he would say, we must empower forces that engender a pro-western sentiment while negating and trivializing islamist regression in the middle-east. That stable and disciplined states, even if oppressive were good for keeping the people there contained and 'out of trouble'.
Of course I'm only inferring on bases of what he's said so far.
#23
A thousand troops to keep the Turks and Syrians out and a few dollars to pay the SDF to keep the peace and hunt down ISIS remnants until a negotiated peace with the Syrians could be agreed to.
This is not in the least little bit in the interest of the American people.
And if it's not in the interest of the American people then why are we doing it?/strong>
It's nice to see some sanity restored to our out-of-control foreign policy. Someone's finally making moves that benefit us.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
10/15/2019 12:46 Comments ||
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#24
Lex, although you're essentially dealing with the same animal, no two follies are alike.
Mulroy easily equates the Afghan Ice Cream to the Syrian trouble, but they are not the same. One began with an excessive zeal to teach democracy and bureaucratic aggrandizement to a bunch of fools. The other was a closet islamist president trying to help out his salafist buddies against alawites.
The former regressed into a nation building and heroin free-for-all for spooks with no oversight, the latter into a post-ISIS tinderbox. In both, only one thing was similar. You were dealing with muslims, and Americans unfortunately have still not understood the muslim animal. The problem is islam itself, and if islamism can be sheared away from the psyche of these people under a communist regime, good.
A stable, anti-islamist Kurdistan could actually prove a good petri-dish for an experiment into the gradual de-islamization of the raghead.
But it's true, sooner or later, cut you must. The presidency has enough trouble at home. I guess that is the unseen crux of the issue. Once power is consolidated and the US morale is flying high, the balance of power shall of course need to be weighed again. Enemies of the US shall not just retire in the mean time. They will keep coming, until rendered sans steam. Regional allies alone can get that done.
#25
A stable, anti-islamist Kurdistan could actually prove a good petri-dish for an experiment into the gradual de-islamization of the raghead
But I thought we already achieved that--in northern Iraq? Why is it necessary to extend existing (Iraqi) Kurdistan to Syria?
Our Syrian adventure has brought us into the middle of a messy fight between a very different Kurdish faction-- the PKK and Turkey.-- to what end?
Isn't one successful, autonomous, stable, pro-US Kurdish enclave enough?
It's as if, having defeated German fascism we decided to send troops to intervene in the Northern Irish troubles in 1970, with nothing more than a vague notion that one side to what would be a 30 year war was "evil" and the other good.
Does this kind of endless tagging along to advance the interests of a small nation make any sense?
#26
You're right. It's this damn PKK that messes up the whole thing. Well, I hope the Russians are up to it then. I don't expect much from them though.
#27
Nothing goes boys. Ah done told you - it's the carrying capacity of the habitat. If population exceeds the carrying capacity, there will be fighting.
#28
Once power is consolidated and the US morale is flying high, the balance of power shall of course need to be weighed again. Enemies of the US shall not just retire in the mean time. They will keep coming, until rendered sans steam.
It's just so maddening how nobody questions his premises. "America must keep intervening in the Middle East and this will solve all our problems." No. No, this is entirely mistaken and is as false as stating the Sun revolves around the Earth.
We create problems by meddling. The more meddling, the more problems. We greenlighted the overthrow of the Shah that led to the Mullahs in Iran. We created the Taliban by meddling in Afghanistan. We created Al-Qaeda by occupying Saudi Arabia to defend against Iraq. We greenlighted Saddam's occupation of Kuwait. (Yes this happened.) You ever get the idea that the common factor in all these problems is US meddling?
If not, start thinking about it. It needs to become a major part of the strategic debate.
Sometimes the only winning move is not to play.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
10/15/2019 14:14 Comments ||
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#29
I'm sick of our piecemeal, both hands tied to our feet interventions anyway. If the US needs to fix Syria, then let's fix it. Go in, destroy the place down the ground so that if we decide to rebuild it, nobody there will dare even think of fighting the US. If we're not going to do that, it's not worth blood and treasure. Syria's been our enemy, we should have just leveled the place and left.
#30
Sometimes the only winning move is not to play.
Hardly the advice you carry to a knife fight with a pashtun, but anyway.
The specifics of how you got here are not relevant to the ones who shall continue to undermine your interests from without and within. As pan-islamism exceeds the considerable leeway given it by European states and the UN, you will see the very real enemy closing in. I am willing to hope in Trump's approach of financially crippling the enemy, making them anathema to trade or deal with in the world until they each element of theirs is rendered powerless, disenfranchised and rots in his own hell. But what was meddling in those times you speak of, has now become necessary aegis in many regions.
I believe a State has failed when it fails to protect its citizens from attacks perpetrated by outside influences. The infrastructure, the economic interests and the sense of justice of elevate thinkers is all for nought when a man arrives from Syria or Iraq, to build a bomb in NY or DC, killing even one citizen.
Is the profligate exceptionalism of past US administrations to blame for said sasquatch and his intentions, his training, his mission ? Verily so. I'm not denying that the hegemony-madness from Truman on down has resulted in mostly snafus that are still wasting taxpayer money. But it's like the African slaves, you meddled. That won't change. No need to be apologetic for it now, but you must control the aftermath that is visited on your current and future generations. I agree about the meddling.
You played with fire when you armed the jihadi bioweapon against the commies. You can kick the graves of the sods who did it, but the march of jihad won't be stopped by 'Uhh we realize it was just such a loss, sorry we won't play anymore'.
It's not chess. It's riding the tiger. Sooner or later you're going to have to get off and shoot it. And if the condition today is a gestalt of clusterfucks involving middle eastern power whores, it's only because the endeavour has been handled with kid gloves so far. Also, besides the US, no country has invested so deeply I won't mention Israel to you anymore, and it's also true that the WOT is a fight for their national security in a way. in the WOT, which is shameful and stupid of us all I know.
#31
Hardly the advice you carry to a knife fight with a pashtun, but anyway.
More blinkered thinking. It's Zen, this new way. The secret is to not have a knife fight with a pashtun at all.
The infrastructure, the economic interests and the sense of justice of elevate thinkers is all for nought when a man arrives from Syria or Iraq, to build a bomb in NY or DC, killing even one citizen.
Lacking any grievance, he would not do so.
You've really got to think outside the box here. It's obvious a whole ton of people cannot think anything other than "we must militarily defeat them" when that's not only the wrong answer, it's answering the wrong question. You've really got to go back to the beginning and completely rethink things.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
10/15/2019 15:58 Comments ||
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#32
Perhaps a parable would help:
Master Foo once said to a visiting programmer: “There is more Unix-nature in one line of shell script than there is in ten thousand lines of C.”
The programmer, who was very proud of his mastery of C, said: “How can this be? C is the language in which the very kernel of Unix is implemented!”
Master Foo replied: “That is so. Nevertheless, there is more Unix-nature in one line of shell script than there is in ten thousand lines of C.”
The programmer grew distressed. “But through the C language we experience the enlightenment of the Patriarch Ritchie! We become as one with the operating system and the machine, reaping matchless performance!”
Master Foo replied: “All that you say is true. But there is still more Unix-nature in one line of shell script than there is in ten thousand lines of C.”
The programmer scoffed at Master Foo and rose to depart. But Master Foo nodded to his student Nubi, who wrote a line of shell script on a nearby whiteboard, and said: “Master programmer, consider this pipeline. Implemented in pure C, would it not span ten thousand lines?”
The programmer muttered through his beard, contemplating what Nubi had written. Finally he agreed that it was so.
“And how many hours would you require to implement and debug that C program?” asked Nubi.
“Many,” admitted the visiting programmer. “But only a fool would spend the time to do that when so many more worthy tasks await him.”
“And who better understands the Unix-nature?” Master Foo asked. “Is it he who writes the ten thousand lines, or he who, perceiving the emptiness of the task, gains merit by not coding?”
Upon hearing this, the programmer was enlightened.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
10/15/2019 16:00 Comments ||
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#33
They ARE right - anyone can be provoked enough to murder.
This vale of tears in which humans struggle for power is not an OS or other highly engineered closed system capable of being directed with lines of code. It's messy and interrelated in a thousand ways, with every action or inaction having multiple unintended consequences - always.
I'm with you about the need for restraint in Syria but your grand theory of international relations - stay out, everywhere - doesn't offer a good alternative. There has never been a foreign policy golden age. Every leader f---s up, sooner or later, in ways big and small.
The right attitude is to admit our ignorance, recognize there's no simple loan that will tell ya what to do, and set ourselves the goal of learning and evolving and adapting.
(Not directed at you personally, but it also helps not to cast aspersions on people's motives. We're on the same side here and want more or less the same thing: security for our nation.)
#37
I'm generally on the side of staying out in Syria. There is nobody there (including the Kurds, who are moderates only the sub-standard standards of the region) worth fighting to protect. Israel would be, should they actually need it, but they don't need anybody's protection (except maybe help from us managing idiots in the EU and the theocracy in Iran on a larger scale). The idea that a stable, developed nation will ever emerge in the region looks increasingly like a foolish notion. Turkey came closer than anybody else ever has in the Islamic world, and they've essentially blown it now.
[CharlotteObserver] The premise almost sounds like something out of a fictional thriller: FBI agents suspect that a terrorist cell is nestled in the suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina, and wind up racing against the clock to unravel a web of criminal activity.
Except it feels like something even stranger than fiction. Who would believe that bully boyz would pick a genteel Southern city to set up an American base of operations for carrying out sinister plots on behalf of one of the largest terrorist organizations in the world?
In fact, when this really happened in Charlotte two decades ago, Robert Clifford faced the same skepticism.
Continued on Page 49
Lex’s submission goes straight to a tweet that links to the video in question (Knob Creek Machine Gun Night Shoot)— click on the headline above, then enjoy the article with videos — both a side by side comparison and the full ABC news report. Then enjoy the below on the subject, courtesy of Herb McCoy, which adds editorializing:
I'm so happy the internet exists so this type of shit gets called out. Just imagine how many news stories were fake and nobody knew before we were able to speak back.
And listen to the reporter's tone. He's really trying to portray it as Trump committing an unthinkable act of evil that should outrage all of us.
ABC News apologized after the network aired a video that it claimed to be Turkey's military bombing Kurdish civilians in Syria. The video is reportedly from Knob Creek Gun Range in West Point, Kentucky, and according to Fox News, is identical to a video entitled “Knob Creek night shoot 2017.”
The clip aired during Sunday's “ABC World News Tonight,” hosted by Tom Llamas.
"CORRECTION: We’ve taken down video that aired on “World News Tonight" Sunday and “Good Morning America” this morning that appeared to be from the Syrian border immediately after questions were raised about its accuracy. ABC News regrets the error," ABC World News and Good Morning America tweeted on Monday.
#1
We don't have journalists any more.
They're ideologically-minded purveyors of memes.
Children playing a game of Telephone that combines elements of Smear the Queer and Pin the Tail on (anyone but the) Donkey
#4
You'd think the large audience might be a clue.
Speaking of clue(lessness), these 27 year olds who know nothing are so inculcated by Hollywood fakery that they can't tell the difference between gasoline explosions and the real thing.
[DAWN] The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government here on Sunday warned JUI-F of taking action against its baton-wielding workers parading in uniform.
Addressing a presser, Provincial Minister for Information Shaukat Yousafzai took exception to JUIF’s gathering in bucolic provincial capital where volunteers of Ansarul Islam, the security wing of party, were doing rehearsal for Islamabad sit-in.
He said that such parades were in violation of National Action Plan, which had been signed by all the political parties.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
10/15/2019 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Ulema Islami
[Jpost] The first TROPHY active defense systems to shield American Army Abrams tanks from a variety of anti-armor threats has been delivered on time, announced Israeli defense giant RAFAEL Advanced Defense Systems.
“The deliveries are the culmination of a multi-year qualification process,” read a statement released by the company on Tuesday, adding that a “joint team of government and industry from both the U.S. and Israel worked together to adapt and integrate Trophy for both Army and Marine Corps Abrams variants.”
Last year the US Army awarded a contract worth close to $200 million for Israel’s TROPHY active defense system to shield its Abrams tanks “in support of immediate operational requirements.”
The delivery marks the first of several that will outfit four brigades of tanks.
RAFAEL CEO and President, Maj.-Gen. (Ret.) Yoav Har-Even said the delivery of the system “marks a major milestone in U.S.-Israel cooperation. There is no greater pride and satisfaction than the knowledge that the technology developed by RAFAEL and ELTA over many years of investment, trials, and combat performance, will play an instrumental part in safeguarding American lives, just like it has saved Israeli lives and revolutionized the way our armored forces perform their missions. RAFAEL and Leonardo DRS are proud to deliver the first Trophy systems to US warfighters on time. We were tasked to meet challenging production timelines, an integration process and the most challenging test scenarios.”
Designed to detect and neutralize incoming projectiles, the Trophy system has four radar antennas and fire-control radars to track incoming threats such as anti-tank-guided-missiles (ATGMs), and rocket propelled grenades. Once a projectile is detected the Trophy system fires a shotgun-type blast to neutralize the threat.
Under the terms of the contract the systems, countermeasures and maintenance kits will be supplied by the American defense contractor Leonardo DRS, Inc., which partnered with Rafael to manufacture them.
The systems will be manufactured both in the United States and Israel.
The Trophy Active Protection System (APS), developed by Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems is the only fully operational and combat-proven APS in the world and according to Rafael the company has provided some 1,000 systems to all major Israeli ground combat platforms.
According to a 2016 US Army training handbook on foreign weapon systems “the anti-tank guided missile is the singular greatest threat to tanks today” with a variety of platforms to launch them continuing to increase.
The Trophy has been installed on Israel’s Merkava tanks since 2009, it has also been installed on the IDF’s Namer heavy infantry fighting vehicle and the IDF’s new armoured personnel carrier, the Eitan.
The Trophy System received its “baptism by fire” on March 1rst 2011 when it neutralized an RPG antitank rocket which had been fired from a short range toward an IDF Merkava Mark-IV tank close to the border with the Gaza Strip.
The system has since proved its efficacy in several operations, especially during Operation Protective Edge where IDF tanks were able to operate in the Gaza Strip without suffering any losses.
For those who don't know, TSO (Turkish Supported Opposition) is the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army. They are the ones that have been beheading prisoners and killing civilians (including a female Kurdish politicians) across northeast Syria since the Turkish invasion.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/15/2019 00:00 ||
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[7 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#1
Yeah, scorched earth tactics, blame the foreigner for it all. Typical Middle East behavior. SO glad we're getting out of there. Can't wait to see Russia stuck in the quagmire instead.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
10/15/2019 5:06 Comments ||
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#2
The flaw in your logic, Herb is pigs love and do well in the muck.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Monday that The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... ’s military operation in northern Syria was "not exactly" compatible with Syria’s territorial integrity.
Ushakov, speaking in Riyadh during an official visit to Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... by President Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... , was commenting on Turkey’s military operation which it launched last week.
Asked by news hounds if what was happening was consistent with Syria’s territorial integrity, something that Russia has repeatedly said it wants respected, Ushakov said: "Not exactly."
He added that Russia planned to "do something" without specifying what that might be.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth ordered the space pirate fleet to attack Zemblonia... a US official said on Monday that all US troops in northern Syria have been ordered to leave the country in the face of Turkey’s attacks on Kurds in the region.
LIVE — President Erdoğan: It looks like Turkey's operation won't have any problems in Syria's Ayn al-Arab (Kobani) as Russia also showed a positive approachhttps://t.co/jj69UNBCL3pic.twitter.com/bHgP5I4x3o
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.
...Qatar's satrapy in Asia Minor...
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
...embracing their inner Islamic Brute...
...Qatar's satrapy in Asia Minor...
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
