Russian President Vladimir Putin is playing a cheating game with the West and Ukraine, not only hollowing out the Minsk armistice agreements (see EDM, January 22, 23, 27), but even shifting the agreed-upon demarcation line on the ground and on the map. Kyiv is alert to Putinâs con games, but it is forced to face a stronger Russia one-on-one, without Western assistance. Ukraineâs Western partners are slow, as usual, to notice Putinâs maneuvers, most recently at the January 21 âNormandy groupâ meeting in Berlin. There, Russiaâs Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov prevailed on his German and French counterparts to evenhandedly urge âall signatories of the Minsk agreements to meet in the coming days to implement the ceasefire and the withdrawal of heavy weapons in accordance with the Line of Contact as agreed in Minsk on September 19 [2014]â (Auswaertiges-amt.de, January 21).
But, which Line of Contact exactly? Lavrov brought Putinâs new version of the Line of Contact (demarcation line) to the Berlin meeting. The German and French ministers did not seem to object to the deceptive new version. And what does âsignatoryâ mean in Russiaâs case? Russia is a party to the conflict in every real sense, but only a party to the armistice in an official sense, rejecting its obligations as a signatory. Moscow is, instead, using its signatoryâs status to protect the Donetsk and Luhansk âpeopleâs republicsâ on the ground.
Putin first revealed his new version of the demarcation line in a January 15 letter to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The Kremlin released only bits of that document, with misleading follow-up comments on a daily basis. Citing Putinâs letter, Russia justified its proxiesâ attacks against Ukraine along the entire demarcation line. The Ukrainian government did not manage to explain the facts fully, even after a Kyiv journal did so on January 23 (see below). The Russian offensive operations persist, and Putinâs letter remains un-debunked outside the target country Ukraine.
The full text of Putinâs letter circulated inside Ukrainian government circles from January 16. The Russian president called on Ukraine and the Donetsk and Luhansk âpeopleâs republicsâ (dignified as âDPRâ and âLPR,â in the document) to withdraw their respective heavy artillery and missile systems by 15 kilometers on either side of the demarcation line, in accordance with the September 19, 2014, Minsk Memorandum (armistice document, still unimplemented). That document does stipulate this disengagement measure, referencing a then-existing demarcation line, with minor agreed-upon mutual adjustments.
Putinâs letter, however, shifts the demarcation line. He introduces the âde facto demarcation line, in existence as of January 13, 2015 [starting date of the latest Russian offensive].â This new de facto line incorporates at least 550 square kilometers of ground captured by Russiaâs proxies, westward of the Minsk demarcation line. It also incorporates a portion of the âdemilitarized zoneâ that the Minsk agreement had created on the approaches to Mariupil. Since then, however Russian and proxy forces have entered that zone (the January 13 missile strike at Volnovakha, opening shot in the latest Russian offensive, came from one part of that violated zone, as did the January 24 missile strike on Mariupil).
Maximizing the ambiguities, Putinâs letter called for the reciprocal disengagement of forces along âthe line of contact of September 19, 2014 and [sic] of January 13, 2015.â An accompanying map showed both lines, indirectly highlighting the shift in favor of the Russian side. Furthermore, âWe [Russia] together with the OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] shall organize the monitoring over the execution of these measures.â
#2
Putin lying? Putin cheating? Putin generally behaving like a tyrant?
Why do these fools act surprised? No different that Hitler, or any otyher histoprical dictator - or even an Islamist - he gives his word to buy time, and keeps his word only when he can draw advantage from it, and not a moment longer.
The sooner the west start treating him like the gangster thug that he is, the sooner he stops.
Russia, meanwhile, has also made good on its threat to make life miserable for the United States in Iran. Putin must be frustrated to encounter an American administration so eager to reach an accommodation with Iran that it doesn't appear to notice when its interests have been impaired. The Israelis notice, however.
Spoiler: It did not, but some private entities are going to court to collect more money from Argentina as Argentina refuses to negotiates. Iffin it ain't a mess, it'll do 'til the mess gets here.
A US court ruling has warped the otherwise precise meanings of three key words – “republic”, “sovereign”, and “default” – leading to absurdities like a New York district court holding the Republic of Argentina in “contempt of court”! The entire understanding of sovereign debt and its restructuring is being read through private “contract law” that cannot address the complex questions that are inherently public in nature, à la questions around restructuring Argentina’s debt. It appeared that a misreading of key words could benefit some vulture funds, but so far no one has seen as much as a penny! Maybe they never will. More at the link
#2
Marshall McLuhan (Understanding the Media) and the "Medium is the Message" became an important book for the left and those in academia in the 60s. They took it to heart. The left via such concepts has seeped into the MSM, television, Hollywood, and education. Basically, the "medium is the message" is a more effective way to spread propaganda and influence large numbers of people. Of course there is lying from our "betters" and the dumbing down of television and education at work too.
Posted by: Barbara ||
02/01/2015 17:43 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Barbara, people were calling for Sarah Palin to be put in jail after Gabby Giffords was shot. Palin's "Crime"? Putting out a political ad that showed targets on some states. So obviously, that was an order to execute Giffords, in some people's fevered minds.
So yeah - I expect that Chris Muir will be hearing from the Secret Service soon.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
02/01/2015 18:01 Comments ||
Top||
#7
See also TOPIX, WORLDNEWS > OBAMA'S FORIEGN POLICY APPROACH HAS/PUTS AMERICA IN [worldwide = global GeoPol] RETREAT.
Again, [Nationalist = 20th Century] "Peace through Strength" has now devol into [OWG Globalist = early 21st Century] "Retreat is Peace", where GUAM-WESTPAC + even the US/CONUS itself is being INTENTIONALLY DELIBERATELY PUT OR EXPOSED TO SERIOUS EXISTENTIAL RISK.
PRAY HARD + KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED THAT THE OWG GLOBIES DON'T MISCALCULATE.
#1
Two points about Bush's speech not made in the article:
Bush's remarks on Islam made objectively no sense because Bush is neither a Muslim nor was he authorized to speak for 'Islam' by whatever entity that may be qualified to issue such authorization.
The tough part concerning the Taliban was indeed no more meaningful than 'barking rabid dogs' as the Norks would put it.
The Taliban ignored the ultimatum but Powell called for Taliban participation in the Afghan government only weeks after Bush's speech.
Of course by 2015 the US all but officially endorses the Taliban's rule over Afghanistan.
Ignoring a US ultimatum concerning a matter of vital importance to the US apparently carries no big price tag if any price tag at all.
#2
in the “holy cities” of Mecca and Medina, in which case we will just let them live happily ever after, fulminating against the West and plotting its destruction. The only way to stop evil is to go to its heart, rip it out and stomp on it.
Reads like Walsh is advocating the bombing/destruction of Mecca and Medina. Usually enemies surrender unconditionally when they are totally defeated. You can't defeat your enemy if you are unwilling to upset your enemy by what you say. Maybe this would precipitate a serious effort:
#5
I'm still waiting for the first ARCLIGHT strike. It terrorized the NVA. I'm sure ISIS would have kittens -- lion kittens -- during one.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/01/2015 18:26 Comments ||
Top||
#6
"To demoralize the enemy and make him understand that he can’t win and therefore must surrender unconditionally, or die."
Sounds good but doesn't necessarily work. Germany only surrendered when it was (almost) completely occupied. Surrender only came when there REALLY was nothing left to fight for (and with).
That would hardly be the case if Mecca and Medina were destroyed. Quite the contrary.
First, go for the money and the hands that feed terror.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
02/01/2015 18:46 Comments ||
Top||
#7
^and that doesn't require thousands of boots on th ground. Wet work of financiers, middlemen, and suppliers cuts logistics, and with no logistics
you're back to rogue losers
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2015 19:12 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Exactly
Posted by: European Conservative ||
02/01/2015 19:14 Comments ||
Top||
[DAWN] Friday's massacre in a Shikarpur Imambargah ...since Pakistain is very religiously correct, Shia Moslems can't call their houses of worship 'mosques,' which are reserved for Sunnis. It's not clear if imambargahs are used for explosives storage like mosques are... has proved fears long held by many observers that behind the traditional image of Sindh as a placid land of Sufis, a much darker reality is developing.
[DAWN] WHILE religiously inspired terrorism continues to take a bloody toll on Pakistain, there is little evidence that the state is taking intelligent steps to root out militancy. If anything, the government tends to announce half-baked measures that, on the surface, appear to make it look serious, but in reality mean little where neutralising murderous Moslem infrastructure is concerned.
Take for example the disclosures made in the Senate by Minister of State for Interior Baleeghur Rahman on Friday. The minister told the house that "only" 23 madressahs in Pakistain were receiving foreign funding. What was particularly incomprehensible was Mr Rahman's claim that no seminary in Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[WashingtonExaminer] JERUSALEM -- "It's only Europe that gives us a hard time," an Israeli minister told me last week, genuinely puzzled. "Yesterday, I had the Canadian foreign minister sitting where you're sitting now. I had a cross-party delegation from the U.S. Senate. I had ministers from India and Japan. All of them understood that Israel was facing a terrorist threat. But the EU starts from the assumption that we're in the wrong. Why?"
#5
When Europe gave up it's right to defend itself with the formation of NATO and security basically being paid by the Americans, they became a fat lazy welfare state. Left leaning liberals colonized the welfare apparatus because that's what they do, redistribute wealth. Being fat and lazy, the EU no longer cares about anything but the next welfare check.
Having the leftists run the welfare economy has basically allowed "the inmates to run the asylum." Or JE SUIS GREECE.
#1
If you want to see the effects of inbreeding, look at the Wikipedia article on Charles II of Spain.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
02/01/2015 0:51 Comments ||
Top||
#2
For a modern example, look at Brunei. Current Sultan married his 1st cousin and voila - Crown Prince is spawned.
Rumors are that the Clown Prince is not the brightest bulb.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
02/01/2015 1:06 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Retarded or deformed, when they get 51% of the vote, your country will get sharia, and you will pay the dhimmi tax. As long as the breeding rate exceeds the defect rate, and the native birthrate, the result is the same.
Happy Sunday.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/01/2015 7:16 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Till the railroads were introduced in the West less than 200 years ago, most people usually didn't travel (or marry) outside a 20 mile radius. One of the advantages in America is that a lot of European stock that either left voluntarily or were thrown out tended to mix the gene pool up beyond that 20 mile mark as a consequence upon landing in the States. After which, they tended to go tribal again in their own but new communities.
#6
I am seeing new trends in my area. Men are not dating, all ages. Too much drama they say. Successful women want independence. They want money. They want a home. No men. More money less desire to date. Age range is 21-28. Remote possibly of a Mr. perfect. Drug use has increased also among women. I said to a 21 year old, "you are so cold" she was shaking so much. She replies, Women are "cold bitches". I said are you serious?. She replies , "yes, all women are cold bitches" with a smile of honor. To older women this is not so popular a title. The women in relationships are never happy it seems. The men never live up to their expectations. The more effort by the man the worse they become. They will turn on a woman just as easy. Heaven forbid you try to correct their child. They have full control and you will be told that. Finally the communication devises are many times props. They don't want to be approached. So they pretend they are talking to someone. I was told this by a woman security officer. So it is the survival of the fittest yet again. In my opinion men are much more difficult to program. My explanation for why women were and are so fond of Obama. They are being managed. They like big brother. Just don't get too close.
[WeeklyStandard] Is Iran's Lebanese client losing its grip?
A taste:
Last week Hezbollah buried one of its princes, Jihad Mughniyeh, the 22-year-old son of the late Imad Mughniyeh, a legendary Hezbollah commander implicated in such infamous operations as the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut. The liquidation of the elder Mughniyeh in Damascus in 2008, typically attributed to Israel, is regarded as one of the organization's most traumatic blows. However, there's more than one way to skin a cat... some in the Shiite community here say that Israel's January 18 strike on a three-car convoy in the Golan Heights near the Syrian town of Quneitra--which killed the younger Mughniyeh and five other Hezbollah operatives, along with as many as six Iranians--is evidence of a dangerous crisis for Hezbollah.
The throngs attending the younger Mughniyeh's funeral on January 19 yelled "Death to America" only once. "I counted," says Lokman Slim, an anti-Hezbollah Shiite activist. "And they said 'Death to Israel' only a few times. Then they went to more religious slogans."
According to Slim, the scaled-down rhetoric and modest size of the funeral are evidence that Hezbollah is caught in a bind. "The [Lebanese Shiites] don't want another war with Israel," says Slim, "but they also want to know Hezbollah can protect them like it says."
#1
Hezbollah is unaccustomed to waging a long war of attrition like this, far from the Lebanese villages where it fought guerrilla wars against Israel. To be sure, its fighters are becoming a battle-hardened expeditionary force, but the nature of the war is reconfiguring Shiite society. “Boys are dropping out of school to join the fight,” says Slim. “They enjoy the benefits of manhood earlier than before, but it’s becoming a community without men, or men who are simply on leave from Syria and waiting to return. The result,” he says smiling, “is that the women will become more powerful.”
#4
Jihad Mughniyeh should have been hit again with a hellfire missile at his own funeral. And then again and again if someone tries to clean up the mess. Send the message that he and his ilk are toxic.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/01/2015 11:39 Comments ||
Top||
[WashingtonInstitute] ISIS continues to pursue its expansion model in Libya, Sinai, and other hotspots, raising new challenges that differ from those posed by al-Qaeda's past franchise approach.
The Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... announced several months ago that it was "annexing" territory in Algeria, Libya, Sinai, 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... and Yemen. It is likely that the group plans to pursue a similar approach in Afghanistan and Pakistain following its announcement of accepting pledges of allegiance from former members of the Afghan and Pakistain Taliban to also try and "annex" territory there under the framework of a new wilayah called "Wilayat Khorasan." On its face, this bold declaration of an expanding number of wilayat (provinces) resembles the announcements by al-Qaeda of creating numerous franchises in the mid-2000s.
There is one key difference between al-Qaeda and the Islamic State's model for expansion. Al-Qaeda wanted to use its new franchises in service of its main priority: attacking Western countries to force them to stop supporting "apostate" Arab regimes, which without the support of Western countries would then be ripe for the taking. This has only truly worked out with its Yemeni branch, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000... (AQAP). On the other hand, while the Islamic State does not have an issue with its supporters or grassroots activists attacking Western countries, its main priority is building out its caliphate, which is evident in its famous slogan baqiya wa tatamaddad (remaining and expanding). As a result, it has had a relatively clear agenda and model: fighting locally, instituting limited governance and conducting outreach. This differs from al-Qaeda's more muddled approach -- it hoped a local franchise would conduct external operations, but many times franchises would instead focus on local battles or attempts at governance without a clear plan, as bin Laden had warned. Moreover, the Islamic State has had a simple media strategy for telegraphing what it is doing on the ground to show its supporters, potential recruits and enemies that it is in fact doing something. This accomplishes more, even if it appears that the Islamic State is doing more than it actually is...
The debate over Islamic terrorism has shifted so far from reality that it has now become an argument between the administration, which insists that there is nothing Islamic about ISIS, and critics who contend that a minority of Islamic extremists are the ones causing all the problems.
But what makes an Islamic radical, extremist? Where is the line between ordinary Muslim practice and its extremist dark side?
...Our Countering Violent Extremism program emphasizes the centrality of Islamic legal authority as the best means of fighting Islamic terrorists. Our ideological warfare slams terrorists for not accepting the proper Islamic chain of command. Our solution to Islamic terrorism is a call for Sharia submission.
Thatâs not an American position. Itâs an Islamic position and it puts us in the strange position of arguing Islamic legalism with Islamic terrorists. Our politicians, generals and cops insist that the Islamic terrorists weâre dealing with know nothing about Islam because that is what their Saudi liaisons told them to say.
#1
This boils the situation down to its essentials:
"Our problem is not the Islamic radical, but the inherent radicalism of Islam. Islam is a radical religion. It radicalizes those who follow it. Every atrocity we associate with Islamic radicals is already in Islam. The Koran is not the solution to Islamic radicalism, it is the cause."
We are at war with Islam, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not; and the reason we are at war with Islam is that Islam is at war with us and has been, for 1400 years.
My only quibble with the article is that I don't consider Islam a religion: it's a murder cult, a social system for breeding psychopaths and justifying psychopathic behavior. That, and nothing more.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
02/01/2015 10:24 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Well said, Dave. One thing nobody seems to publicly contemplate is that the common denominator in Islamic terror acts is that they they are merely following directions. It is a system of social control in much the same way that est Indian Voodoo is, the supernatural element is there to enforce particular behavior and tolerate no exceptions. Unlike Voodoo it is Imperialistic to an almost cancerous level.
#4
I may be wrong but Islam seems to be the only "religion" that promises pleasures of the flesh after death that are not allowed in life. It's not a spiritual experience but rather one that bribes it's male followers with sexual rewards. The only absolute sure way to get to heaven is to die in jihad. You can be a terrible person all your life but if you die while killing non-believers you're in. Sick, really.
When I was very young I used to think that stories where everyone died, or stories where pointless but sad things happened were about the best thing ever. They were profound and so different from every other story I'd read till that time which were all boys-adventures or fairy tales that ended well and with a moral.
If You Were A Dinosaur my Love's win bothered me at a level I can't begin to explain, and it still bothers me, like an aching tooth to which the tongue keeps returning. It's not just that could have been written by me at 12 and would have got, from my middle school teacher, exactly the sort of praise it got from science fiction professionals.
It's the ideas packed into the story that are truly disturbing.
A story that reveals a total lack of knowledge of an entire class of people (manual laborers) and instead others them as sort of scary all purpose evil that will beat to death anyone who doesn't look/act like them won an award voted on by -- supposedly -- adult professionals. Not only that, but adult professionals who keep claiming their tolerance and love of the 'other.' What's more, adult professionals who would almost certainly embrace 'Marxism' as a good or at least correct idea. When did Marxists start loathing and fearing the working class? And admitting it?
#1
When did Marxists start loathing and fearing the working class? And admitting it?
When all their self righteous ego boosting plans fell apart trying to 'elevate' the masses. Can't admit their world was structured by a fundamental fallacy, that the 'poor' are simply victims of oppression. Human free will, which is an anathema to the dialectic, means people make choices that sometimes are self limiting and self destructive. In other words, the poor are often co-conspirators to their own fate. They are the ones who control and influence their 'rise' from the caste more than the self appointed saviors. Thus the Marxists simply became another set of Plantation owners with the same self justifying rationales why they are needed to run the place.
#3
Go read the comments. These are solid people on that blog -- authors! They even do a riff on Unicorns working for the EPA in a timber company that uses werewolves as the night crew and a Vampire (what else!) as the night crew foreman.
#4
And sometimes a parody is better than the original. Wright decided he could write a better story in one sitting.
Posted by: James ||
02/01/2015 13:19 Comments ||
Top||
#5
"choices that sometimes are self limiting and self destructive" I started noticing kids I knew doing this in late grade school. Realizing how common this was came as a great shock to my childish worldview.
#6
Shirley Jackson's fantasy "The Lottery" originated as a riff on intra faculty politics and backbiting, IIRC at Bennington College in the 1940s, but turned into satire on human nature.
Academics still are uncomfortable with the Milgram experiments. The only test subject who behaved as a real mensch (again, IIRC) turned out to be a Holocaust survivor.
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.
