[Ann Coulter - Human Events] There had never been a case of Ebola in the U.S. until a few months ago. Since then, thousands of people have died of the disease in Africa, and millions upon millions of dollars have been spent treating Ebola patients in the U.S. who acquired it there, one of whom has died.
But the Champ administration refuses to impose a travel ban.
This summer, the U.S. government imposed a travel ban on Israel simply to pressure Prime Minister Netanyahu into accepting a ceasefire agreement. But we can't put a travel restriction on countries where a contagious disease is raging.
It's becoming increasingly clear this is just another platform for Champ to demonstrate that we are citizens of the world. The entire Ebola issue is being discussed -- by our government, not the United Nations -- as if Liberians are indistinguishable from Americans, and U.S. taxpayers should be willing to pay whatever it takes to save them.
Maybe we should give them the vote, too! If Ebola were concentrated in Finland and Norway — certainly Israel! — we'd have had a travel ban on Day One. Hundreds of years of colonial oppression have wrought this plague upon Africa. It is only fair that the west share the cost of Liberian misery. Obamian logic wills it.
[DAWN] THE Turkish government's decision to bomb the bases of Kurdish Death Eaters inside Turkey must look very odd to all those who were expecting Ankara to put its shoulder to the wheel and focus on the more important job of resisting the self-proclaimed 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.... 's relentless advance. Both the attack by the PKK on a Turkish military outpost and the government's response threaten to undermine a ceasefire that has been under way since the two sides agreed to a grinding of the peace processor two years ago. What led to the PKK attack on the military post can be guessed: Kurdish anger over the Turkish failure to join the US-led coalition against the IS. But the attack on the outpost wasn't exactly the best way to express disgust as the Kurds aren't the only ones angry over Ankara's decision to sit on the fence while Kobane's fate hangs in the balance. The Alevi minority is also seething with anger, and there have been demonstrations across the country against the government's shocking neutrality at a time when the entire Middle East is looking to Turkey and to powers beyond to help crush the IS, whose success threatens to create a new order that would undermine civilisation as we know it.
Evidently, Turkey's priority is Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... 's head. In fact, it has been criticised for allegedly allowing its soil to be used by Death Eaters as a transit route to Syria. Ankara also feels that bombing IS forces will mean indirect support to Kurdish guerrillas fighting 'caliph' al-Baghdadi's army. But the Kurdish problem has been there for decades, and it is the IS 'blitzkrieg' that has completely upset all other calculations, for Turkey must realise that if the myrmidon hordes aren't crushed in Syria, they will sooner or later enter Turkish territory to wreak havoc on the Middle East's most democratic and stable country. Given the turmoil within, it is time Ankara reordered its priorities and realised the danger which the IS poses to Turkey itself.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Turkey wants Assad gone and Syria a Sunni state. ISIS are a means to that end and screw the West.
I'm a bit surprised Erdogan hasn't directly attacked Assad.
#2
Oh, the fantasy of walling off the entire middle east, bar Israel, and letting the Turks, Arabs, Persians and Pashtun fight to the death while the rest of the world enjoys hot, buttered pop-corn.
#3
Poor strategy? Turkey has three problems here: Assad, ISIS, and the Kurds. When this all plays out, they'll have one problem. They just don't know which one it'll be, and in the meantime, their opponents can slag each other.
The biggest threat to Turkey is that the surviving opponent emerges stronger than before. That's what the 'strategy' is intended to prevent.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
10/16/2014 8:27 Comments ||
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#5
I'm a bit surprised Erdogan hasn't directly attacked Assad.
There was that Turkish Phantom which was flying about over Syria and got shot down. Turkey also shot down a Syrian Aircraft.
I remember some arm waving on the former, calls for NATO protection. The latter may have been Turkey protecting a toll booth, or just wanting to shoot down a Syrian aircraft. That is, trying to pick a fight.
And if I remember correct, the Phantom shoot-down led to calls for a buffer zone and flight restriction so supplies from Turkey could go to Syrian refugees; basically ceding a chunk of Syria to Turkey. When that stalled, we had the dubious chemical weapon use incident, then the red line affair, in an attempt to bring world power against Assad.
Turkey has been trying to get Syria Assad for what, two three years now? without using the Turkish Military in a direct action.
I think Ed sums it up in a nice paragraph. Keep in mind Turkey has a say in Hellespont/Black Sea activities, as well as Cyprus/Israel activities.
[DAWN] AT times a revolution, at others a movement, and yet others a political party for radical reforms, the PTI has now comprehensively lost the plot. Even the pledge to not leave the premises until the prime minister resigns is no longer repeated. The talks around examining the four electoral districts where serious wrongdoing is alleged, have been forgotten.
What we have now is petulant and indignant oratory delivered to an assembled multitude, about the general deplorability of the status quo. No real path forward, and no path back either. By now everyone can see that the PTI has a lot of stamina to bellow its message night after night -- but there is no real message as such.
Consider the diatribes against the power tariff hikes and the IMF as an example. There was a time when the IMF was written about in the Pak press as the seat of all evil, the wicked hand of imperialism that rams inflation-inducing policies down the throat of a reluctant government. Subsidies and price controls were good. Markets and businessmen were bad.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] IT doesn't necessarily take devastating, large-scale attacks to underscore how extremism is tightening its grip over the country. While catastrophic terrorist strikes can unite a nation, such as after last year's attack on Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. 's All Saints Church or the bombings against the Hazara in Quetta, it is also true that the steady drip, drip of assassinations and vigilante 'justice' can be more dangerous. That is because over time they inure people to the discord and violence insidiously seeping into the warp and weft of society. In this context, the statement issued by the HRCP this week was much needed. Taking into account the many ways in which citizens' rights are violated here, it has shone a comprehensive light on the big picture, one that is exceedingly disturbing. For, while the attention of the nation, and its media, has been distracted by the sound and fury of the sit-ins that had been taking place and the series of mass rallies being staged in the country, the abuse of human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... has not only thrived, it has in fact gained in intensity.
The scourge of religious extremism, for one, has begun to manifest itself across a wider canvas, claiming ever more vulnerable victims. Among them is the small community of Zikris in southern Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... and the even tinier one of Sikhs in Peshawar. The beleaguered Shia Hazaras try to barricade themselves within self-contained ghettoes in Quetta for their safety (and even that tactic doesn't always work as the recent suicide kaboom against them illustrated). Pity the Ahmadis, for their murder does not even elicit a murmur of condemnation from officialdom. Meanwhile, ...back at the wreckage, Captain Poindexter wished he had a cup of coffee. Even instant would do... sectarian killings in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... continue with barely a pause, claiming lives of ordinary people who have no choice but to go out into the streets for their daily bread. At the same time, raising a voice for victims of intolerance and bigotry has become increasingly challenging in a hostile environment. Blasphemy accused often cannot find lawyers to defend them, and the media, particularly in Balochistan, is menaced by threats from various quarters, including religious holy warriors. Despite the state's realisation, at least in part, of the folly of using religious proxies to further political ends, it appears unwilling, or unable, to take the bull by the horns. It is a mark of shame that those who fuel the flames of intolerance and carry out their blood-soaked agenda do so largely with impunity in Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] THE anti-government protests on Constitution Avenue may not be over, but they do appear to have morphed from sit-ins to a travelling roadshow of sorts, with Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems... and Tahirul Qadri ...Pak politician, and would-be dictator, founder and head of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran and Pakistain Awami Tehrik. He usually resides in Canada, but returns to Pakistain periodically to foam at the mouth and lead demonstrations. Depending on which way the wind's blowing, Qadri claims to be the author of Pak's blasphemy law. Other times he says it wasn't him... both drawing large crowds in various cities of the country.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2014 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Wary of a "full-blown" military intervention, the United States and its allies are arming and training "terrorist proxies" to topple the government of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Scourge of Qusayr... , a policy that is bound to fail, says an analyst.
"It's been Obama and the United States' stated policy to attempt in whatever fashion possible to topple the 'Assad regime' using whatever means necessary," Eric Draitser, founder of Stop Imperialism, told Press TV on Wednesday.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
So, right on track, then?
Posted by: ed in texas ||
10/16/2014 8:28 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.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[DAWN] AT times a revolution, at others a movement, and yet others a political party for radical reforms, the PTI has now comprehensively lost the plot. Even the pledge to not leave the premises until the prime minister resigns is no longer repeated. The talks around examining the four electoral districts where serious wrongdoing is alleged, have been forgotten.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
