Thursday, February 28, 2013

Intifada v3.0

Nakbah!!

The twin Palestines (your choice - the Strip"s Preacher Command or the PL Old school Fatah im Westerbank) have serious chiz in hand. Aside from the un hap hap happy fact Jack that both govs are illegit regimes lingering on way past their election dates, the macabre machinations of a bizzaro death cult that champions racing off to the next life "stead of focusing on, prepping for and living this one, may be like totally queering the mix and brewing up Intifada v3.0

The Westbank cat w/2 nom d"guerres - Abu Mazen M"mood Abbas hooked up with his internal security posse advocating calm with sev Fatah cats  were hot for embiggening the protests.

The untimely demise of a recently arrested rock chucker in PoPo custody has sparked foreign peace monger bizzy bods like UN"s ME Peace Envoy for Non Profit Jawflapping to demand an inquiz while the Strip"s intolerant rocketeers of Izzy Deen al K"Ssam both fired off a rocket to Little Satan and a denial  
As it is, the situation remains stuck. The Palestinian national movement remains divided, with Fatah dominating in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza. Peace negotiations with Little Satan are going nowhere, with little hope on the horizon. Everyone seems to hope that the relative quiet will persist. But while the current protests appear, for the moment, to have crested, living on a knife’s edge should not be mistaken for stability.

See,
Negotiation? Done it. Violence? Check. Spoken openly of a one-state solution? Already part of the playbook. Declared statehood?  A few times.  UN recognition?  In the bag.  In the last almost decade and a half, the Palestinians have tried almost everything to force Little Satan to be more forthcoming on the issues that divide them—settlements, refugees, Jvillesalem—all to no avail.  For a combination of political reasons and security concerns Little Satan has resisted the pressure, arguing either that the Palestinians cannot deliver or that Little Satan will not respond to threats. Indeed, Little Satan has been ruthlessly effective in demonstrating to the Palestinians that these tactics do not work through violence, settlements, and economic pressure.  The result has been a crippled Palestinian leadership and bred despair among both West Bankers and Strippers.

To really get the Oh Snap! asnapping and avoid a direct hit w/Intifada v3.0 - dissolve the Palestine Authority!
The logic of dissolving the Palestinian Authority is so clear that one wonders why Abbas has not taken this step.  After all, the PA is now little more than a vehicle to employ hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who draw their salaries and livelihoods from it and the international donors on which it depends.  The idea that they could once again be primarily responsible for the Palestinian population should be enough to scare Little Satan into negotiation.
 Despite its decrepit state, PA serves several important functions. For it's illegit leaders, that is 
Whatever shreds of power, international prestige, and riches Palestinian leaders in the West Bank still enjoy, they flow from the Palestinian Authority.  It is a classic case of politicians doing something in their parochial interest that leads to a suboptimal outcome for the people they represent.  For the rest of us, it just means that the fiction of Palestinian sovereignty and the policy distortions that come with it will continue.

Pic - "The political dynamics at work that led to Hamas, two intifadas, and the creation of al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade have not suddenly disappeared today."

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Open Letter To Congress RE: Sequestration

Dear Speaker Boehner, Senator Reid, Senator McConnell, and Representative Pelosi:

As the March 1st deadline nears for unprecedented, across-the-board cuts to our military, we write to urge you to work together to avoid this unnecessary and dangerous blow to American power and global leadership.  You have each expressed your opposition to allowing these cuts to go into effect.  They will go into effect without congressional action.  You are the leaders of Congress.  We ask that you act as leaders to stop sequestration now.

In recent days, the Defense Department leadership has developed its plans for operating under sequestration.  The details that have been released thus far are chilling:

  • The Navy has indefinitely delayed the deployment of a carrier strike group to the Persian Gulf—a decision that significantly weakens America’s ability to provide regional security and protection to allies at a time when the Iranian regime continues its work to acquire a nuclear weapons capability.
  • The Air Force plans to cut the flying hours of its pilots by 18 percent, and more broadly will have to curtail the service’s ability to conduct air-to-air refueling, support Army logistical requirements and, by September of this year, train new pilots—reductions that cumulatively will erode America’s vitally important airpower capabilities.
  • The Army will delay training for almost 80 percent of its Brigade Combat Teams, cancel critical maintenance, and stop training new aviators and military intelligence specialists—delays that, according to the service’s leaders, will result in the “rapid atrophy of unit combat skills with a failure to meet demands of the National Military Strategy by the end of the year.”
These cuts are only the tip of the iceberg.  As outgoing Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has warned, sequestration will yield the “smallest ground forces since 1940,” “a fleet of fewer than 230 ships, the smallest level since 1915,” and the “smallest tactical fighter force in the history of the Air Force.”

Sequestration will result in unacceptable risk for U.S. national security.  It will degrade our ability to defend our allies, deter aggression, and promote and protect American economic interests.  It will erode the credibility of our treaty commitments abroad. It will be a self-inflicted wound to American strength and leadership in the world.

History will not look kindly on this abdication of responsibility, but will hold accountable the President and the Congress who together chose such a dangerous course.
                                                   
Sincerely,


  Elliott Abrams Dr. William Kristol
  Max Boot Senator Joseph I. Lieberman
  Ambassador L. Paul Bremer GEN James J. Lindsay, USA, Ret.
  ADM James B. Busey, USN, Ret. Mary Beth Long
  Dr. Eliot A. Cohen Gen William R. Looney, USAF, Ret.
  Senator Norm Coleman ADM James Aloysius “Ace” Lyons, USN, Ret.
  Gen James T. Conway, USMC, Ret. Gen Robert Magnus, USMC, Ret.
  Seth Cropsey Dr. Thomas G. Mahnken
  Thomas Donnelly Dr. Michael Makovsky
  Mackenzie Eaglen ADM Henry H. Mauz, Jr., USN, Ret.
  Ambassador Eric S. Edelman Robert C. McFarlane
  Douglas J. Feith Dr. Joshua Muravchik
  Admiral Mark Fitzgerald, USN, Ret. Dr. John Nagl
  Gen Ronald Robert Fogleman, USAF, Ret. Gen Robert C. Oaks, USAF, Ret.
  Frank J. Gaffney Dr. Michael O’Hanlon
  Dr. Robert M. Gates Danielle Pletka
  Christopher J. Griffin Stephen G. Rademaker
  Stephen J. Hadley Randy Scheunemann
  Dr. John J. Hamre Dr. Gary J. Schmitt 
  Congresswoman Jane Harman Randall G. Schriver
  ADM Ronald J. Hays, USN, Ret. Dan Senor
  ADM Thomas B. Hayward, USN, Ret. Vance Serchuk
  Dr. William Inboden GEN Henry Hugh Shelton, USA, Ret.
  Bruce Pitcairn Jackson ADM Leighton "Snuffy" Smith, USN, Ret.
  ADM Jerry Johnson, USN, Ret. Senator James Talent 
  Ambassador Robert G. Joseph Dr. Ashley J. Tellis
  Dr. Frederick W. Kagan William H. Tobey
  Dr. Kimberly Kagan Dr. Daniel Twining
  Dr. Robert Kagan Dr. Kenneth R. Weinstein
  ADM Timothy J. Keating, USN, Ret. Ambassador Richard Williamson
  Gen P.X. Kelley, USMC, Ret. Ambassador Paul Wolfowitz
  ADM Robert J. Kelly, USN, Ret. Ambassador R. James Woolsey
  GEN Buck Kernan, USA, Ret. Gen Ronald W. Yates, USAF, Ret.
  Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad Dr. Dov S. Zakheim
  Gen William L. Kirk, USAF, Ret. Robert Zarate
  Dr. Andrew F. Krepinevich  

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Wrong Pic


Oy Vey!

L"recent LOL RE: Aegypt"s Belly Dancing drew a sharp hello from some sleepware magazine (a device printed with ink on paper, generally published on a regular schedule containing a variety of content and functions as a holding chamber for ammunition).

Yes, yes und jawohl! That NYT Friedguy presents more LOLs, compelling examples of why cause drug testing academics and journalists would be interesting, general non profit jawflapping and more far misses than HMS Good Hope on her death run.

Yet, zooming out of general goofiness - Friedguy actually nails a super subtle point that GsGf"s friend and colleague at PJ Media seems to have got the wrong pic

Check it 
If you know anything about societies like Egypt, you would understand that these societies have a lot of flexibility. People can get along with far less than in the West and be a lot more passive in the face of suffering because that’s the way they always had to live. This is a largely agricultural society. Some can go back to the villages, or be sustained by extended families, or tighten their belts. They have low expectations.
 Uh, yessir - got it. Yet why cause those belt tightening, girl hating low "spectation cats rose up and chucked the Forever Pharaoh Hosni over board? These cats already were possessed by "...a deeply embedded ideology to comfort them and drive them onward." Yet they failed to suck it up and continue to march

And who can say it wouldn't happen again?

Look - despotry is despotry. Holy, secular or Royal. 

Persia's Preacher Command suffered a near death exp for the illegit regime (and survived by doing what the Shah, Col Khaddaffy or Pharaoh Hosni - couldn't/wouldn't do - kill their own peeps in the street). 

This phase of Arab Sprang is actually the most interesting. Confirming what al Jazeera has broadcast for over a decade - that preachers can preach o tay - yet they totally suck at state craft. Hiz"B"Allah totally freaks at the idea of running a nation (being an opposition militia for eons). HAMAS cannot inforce Writ of State and Aegypt"s Ikwhanese leaders are causing way more misery than Little Satan, Great Satan, Xians, Crusaders and Saudis combined.

While it's a dang shame that certain turf betwixt Nile and Indus has to hop on a crazy train of intolerance and failure for eons to get to the enlightenment phase (often by their own designs) it certainly doesn"t mean it"ll take a Collectivist Soviet Union decades long trek to unAss it

Pic - "The demands of leadership, the magnitude of Egypt's challenges and the high expectations of the populace have already begun to erode Ikwhan's popularity."

Monday, February 25, 2013

Sino Hack Attack!

Zhōngguó!

Alla hot deets and big phased cookies re: Collectivist China"s hack attack on Great Satan"s tender, sensitive portions is really just old school intell gathering (CyberInt, nicht wahr?

As GfGs"s hyperpuissance expert sweetly succinctly splains...
What we have here is industrial espionage on a grand scale – pure and simple. Yes, the PLA wants to know how to cause as much infrastructure mischief as possible in the event of a shooting war with Great Satan, but let’s not be naive about the extensive and ongoing efforts to do the same to China (much less our Rubicon-crossing cyber strikes against Iran).
That sort of spying and military espionage is nothing new. All that says is that both sides plan to go heavy on cyber warfare in the event of war. It does not prove that cyber is its own warfare domain – as in, constituting genuine war in isolation. 
As for the industrial espionage, China’s ambitions are magnificently broad. Check out the list of industries targeted, check it outers 
  • Information technology
  • Aerospace
  • Government-related agencies
  • Satellites and communications
  • Scientific research and consulting
  • Transportation
  • Energy
  • High-tech electronics
  • Constructing and manufacturing
  • Engineering
  • International organizations
  • Legal services
  • Media, advertising, entertainment
  • Navigation
  • Financial services
  • Chemicals
  • Health care
  • Food and agriculture
  • Metals and mining
  • Education.

Clearly, this is a scope far and beyond thwarting Great Satan’s AirSea Battle Concept.


In the end, all of that is really cover.


What really drives China is its own leadership’s fears. Beijing knows it has mortgaged just about everything to grow so rapidly. Besides the environment (which is enough, trust me), a good example is found in China’s unprecedented demographic aging – i.e., the vast piling up of elders. China’s entitlement burden there will dwarf our own. By mid-century, China will have more elders (400 million-plus) than we’ve got citizens (around 400 million total).  The massive trade-offs on guns-vs.-butter are coming just as China’s reliance on foreign sources of food and energy skyrocket, and America “pivots” to East Asia in a transparent “boxing in” military containment strategy.

The only thing China has in easy abundance is people and dirty coal. Neither is the asset they’re made out to be. 
Beijing is going to get more frantic and more desperate with time. We may see supreme Chinese confidence regarding its glorious future, but nobody inside China with any genuine knowledge of the costs feels the same way. 
Meanwhile, America’s resurgence (e.g., an industrial renaissance fueled by cheap natural gas) is already in the works. Our innovative, democratic society can pull these resurrections out of its hat like clockwork. It’s who we are.

But China’s doesn’t have that. 

Her growth-at-all-costs and political dictatorship model kills innovation and encourages thievery and lying and corruption on a systematic scale – to the point where virtually no one in China has any idea what the “truth” is anymore.


Pic - "Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence"


Sunday, February 24, 2013

Iwo Jima Day!

Operation Detachment!

A hunka hunka volcano rock avec 3 airfields withing easy B 29 distance of Imperial Nippon, she was tempting turf for Great Satan who was hot to visit righteous payback on both bushido lovers and anyone else within detonation range. And Iwo Jima be a sweeet staging spot for future ops to make Japan scream "GOD! PLEASE! STOP!"

Raging from  like Feb 19 alla way thru to 26 March - this month long battle saw heavily fortified Imperial Nipponese army cats under Americanphile  General Baron Kuribayashi fight to annihilation - only like 216 cats surrendered or got captured out of 22K

Teufel Hunden - led by General "Howlin' Mad" Smith - fought thru 8 square miles of volcanic ash, pummice and sand that even panzers, let alone Teufel Hunden, could not easily move across -- reeking of sulphur, brimstone, swept by bombs, bullets, shellfire, soaked in the blood of more than 26,000 dead and dang near hollowed out with humdreds of miles of tunnels, murder holes and general purpose nastiness. The only battle in Leatherneck history where Marine causalities exceeded those of their enemies. Navy lost nearly 20 ships - including 2 carriers - Saratoga and Bismarck Sea.

Raising Old Glory on Mount Suribachi is prob the most significant and recognizable image of the war, and possibly the most reproduced pic ever of all time. 
"The raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next 500 years!"
Iwo Jima teaches that Great Satan will do anything anytime anywhere she wants.

Teufel Hunden"s Globe, Eagle and Anchor is a killer  reminder to friends, frenemies and enemies that Great Satan built the modern world.

And she knows her way around.

Pic - "Iwo Jima symbolizes the hopes and dreams of America, and the real purpose of our foreign policy. We realize that to retain freedom for ourselves,we must be concerned when people in other parts of the world may lose theirs. There is no greater challenge to statesmanship than to find a way that such sacrifices as this represents are not necessary in the future, and to build the kind of world in which people can be free, in which nations can be independent, and in which people can live together in peace and friendship."

 

Saturday, February 23, 2013

WoW!!

WoW - the Watchers Council - it's the oldest, longest running cyber comte d'guere ensembe in existence - started online in 1912 by Sirs Jacky Fisher and Winston Churchill themselves - an eclective collective of cats both cruel and benign with their ability to put steel on target (figuratively - natch) on a wide variety of topictry across American, Allied, Frenemy and Enemy concerns, memes, delights and discourse.

Every week these cats hook up each other with hot hits and big phazed cookies to peruse and then vote on their individual fancy catchers.

Thusly sans further adieu (or a don"t)

Council Winners

Non-Council Winners

 See you next week! And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us Twitter

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Aegypt"s Tummy Phobia

Ikwhan!

Girl hating Aegypt - recently time traveling back to the 7th century via Sunnilicious Preacher Command is living up to the new age adage of "No fun of anykind!"

Aegypt  just banned the Belly Dancing Channel!

Who knew?
It is evidently quite popular but apparently offensive to some of the rising Islamist forces in Egypt.
It is not clear how much the Ikwhan party had to do with the belly ban, but what is clear is that no one in Egypt is having much fun these days.

The country is more divided than ever between "Slamist and less religious and liberal parties, and the Egyptian currency has lost 8 percent of its value against the dollar in the last two months. Even more disturbing, there has been a sharp increase lately in cases of police brutality and rape directed at opposition protesters. It is all adding up to the first impression that President Mohammed Morsi and the You Know What Brotherhood are blowing their first chance at power.

Egypt is in dire economic condition. Youth unemployment is rampant, everything is in decay, tourism and foreign investment and reserves are down sharply. As a result, Egypt needs an IMF bailout. Any bailout, though, will involve economic pain — including cuts in food and fuel subsidies to shrink Egypt's steadily widening budget deficit. This will hurt.

In order to get Egyptians to sign on to that pain, a big majority needs to feel invested in the government and its success. And that is not the case today.
The Brotherhood, though, doesn't just need a new governing strategy. It needs to understand that its version of political Islam — which is resistant to women's empowerment and religious and political pluralism — might be sustainable if you are Iran or Saudi Arabia, and you have huge reserves of oil and gas to buy off all the contradictions between your ideology and economic growth.
But if you are Egypt and basically your only natural resource is your people — men and women — you need to be as open to the world and modernity as possible to unleash all of their potential for growth.

Bottom line: Either the Ikwhan changes or it fails — and the sooner it realizes that the better.


Pic - "Pres Morsi Morsi is to visit 44 soon - and he's only got like one chance to make a 2nd impression if he wants to continue to get Great Satan"s Foreign Aid from Congress. Yet the more I see of Ikwhan rule in Egypt, the more I wonder if it has any second impression to offer."


Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Heresy

Unclean!

Not unlike watching the ancients argue that those Brit mop tops (who were allegedly bigger than baby X) wiped clean and drew again the face of pop pop popular music with their "Relover" c.d. when ebberdobby knows it really was Gwenie Gwen Gwen and "Love Angel Music Baby"

LOLing 43"s Freedom Agenda is one thing, yet dissing the universal values is like wearing a thong to church. It's unthinkable, it's shocking - it's heresy!

Shooting up some professor's "Better Angels" book to high five the idea that certain cats on earth are more better designed for despotry and totally unsuited to fun and free choice is awful kinda close to racecarism.
The time has come to recognize that the principles of liberal democracy are not universal. They are embedded in unique historical and cultural conditions and cannot be pressed on other national societies that are not ready and perhaps not even interested in adopting them. Instead of embracing a futile and counterproductive mission of making the world safe for democracy, the American people and their leaders should contribute to the Enlightenment project by applying and perfecting its principles at home.
Uh, duh! 1st off - democrazy has never been imposed - it's autocrazy that is always imposed.

Cheese and Rice!

Besides, peoples ae not born with innate knowledge of centureis of freedom or despotism - they live it and learn it. Revolutions just in the last 100 years proves cats are hot to decide for themselves how to live

As Uncle Tony so hotly put it - 
There is a myth that though we love freedom, others don't; that our attachment to freedom is a product of our culture; that freedom, democracy, human rights, the rule of law are American values or Western values; that Afghan women were content under the lash of the Taliban; that Saddam was somehow beloved by his people; that Milosevic was Serbia's savior. Members of Congress, ours are not Western values. They are the universal values of the human spirit, and anywhere --  -- anywhere, any time ordinary people are given the chance to choose, the choice is the same: freedom, not tyranny; democracy, not dictatorship; the rule of law, not the rule of the secret police.  

Pic - "Under unfree leadership and instruction, millions have gone to their deaths, a great many more have been forced to become refugees across the planet, and nations have been driven into poverty, famine, and despair."

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Vive l"France!!

Oui Oui M"suer!!


And it is one that has forced a sharp reappraisal of France’s international position, especially in America. No more the vacillating “cheese-eating surrender monkey” of Iraq. France is now the go-to country in the evolving battle against "Slamic groups in Africa, her paratroopers and pilots the advance troops in this fight. It not only smacks of Beau Geste and the Foreign Legion fending off the masked Tuaregs at Fort Zinderneuf, it is a very real and vital new role, a reassertion of French power independent of an ailing Europe and a NATO alliance weakening with every cut to defense budgets. 

With his dramatic interventions in the Ivory Coast and Libya, “Sarko” had demonstrated that, for all the political misery in Europe and the gloomy talk of decline so popular in Paris, France remains a vital political, military, and moral power—if it chooses to be. Mali offered Hollande the chance to show that he was more than marking time in the Élysée. That he too was capable of projecting French power overseas.

The final judgment on France’s interventions in Libya and Mali will take time. Its diplomatic activity on Syria has yet to stop the fighting there.
What cannot be doubted is that France has shown herelf willing to act at moments when her global peers have not. Her planes, helicopters, and paratroopers have become the steel tip in the emerging battle for democracy and stability in Africa

Pic - "Next up - Cameroon!!"


Monday, February 18, 2013

AFPAK Last Call

As Great Satan scales down in AFPAK under 44's trip
It is still possible, therefore, that coalition and Afghan troops may be able to hold onto gains already made and even expand them over the course of this fighting season. That hope justifies continued support for an important mission, as well as continued pressure on the White House to reduce the enormous risks it is assuming in Afghanistan in pursuit of extremely small rhetorical, political, and economic benefits.

The cost of keeping 14,000 troops in Afghanistan until next February rather than bringing them out by November is budget dust in the context of overall defense spending, let alone the national debt, the deficit, or any major social program. Even the cost of keeping all 34,000 troops now scheduled to come out over the next year in Afghanistan for another six or eight months would hardly register compared with other budget items. Administration officials accurately and honestly insisted that withdrawing those forces increases the risk of failure in Afghanistan. Accepting that increased risk—on top of the enormous risks the administration has already accepted by previous premature troops withdrawals—is difficult to justify.

44"s decision on Afghanistan was not as bad as it might have been—indeed, it was not as bad as it seemed certain to be at the start of this year. It leaves a glimmer of hope for success, which our commanders, troops, and diplomats in the field will exert all their powers to keep alive. But it was still a mistake that puts our nation’s security in greater jeopardy. We hope that the president will continue to reevaluate his own willingness to accept risk in light of the rapidly diminishing economic and political returns he will receive from lowering force levels.

The war in Afghanistan is not yet lost. We are not yet losing, in fact, and success remains possible. But it is absolutely vital that the White House give General Dunford some flexibility to adjust the withdrawal timelines, and even to ask for temporary reinforcements, as the situation on the ground evolves.

Pic - "Six thousand troops would allow Great Satan to keep one base, but it would be a self-licking ice cream cone—unable to do anything but exist"

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Mookie Redux

Before spliting Iraq pre Surge, perhaps the most intractable enemy Great Satan repeatedly enjoyed visiting death and destrcuction in urban combat and counter terrorist operations, was the infamous Mahdi Army.  

Led by Mookie, who proved really adept at killing other preachers, tormenting girls, cussing Great Satan and gathering his minions in one place just in time for Great Satan to sweep in and annihilate them, it could be interpreted that Mookie was actually an agent of Great Satan.  

Mookie was a big fat epic fail on estabbing a caliphate, preacher's 7th century paradise. 

Mookie admitted Iraqis were more hotter to prep for this life instead of racing off to the next and hauled assets out of Dodge to escape a murder warrant and any chance encounter with especial Opresso d'Libre cats while asymmetrically hooking up his stay at home cats with a murderous mentorship via Hiz'B'Allah
 

Mookie chickened out and hit the books at Qom for the Persian version of getting fully crunk as a jumped up Ayatollah. And pretty much stayed undercover except for a few day trips to Turkey and hitting on his old roomie from back in the day - Hiz'B'Allah's equally overtly robust, bespectacled spectacle Body Part Collector General Nasr'Allah

Now - 
Iraq’s nascent democracy faces a new dilemma: whether or not to embrace the political comeback of a former militia leader. Muqtada al-Sadr, the firebrand Shia cleric, has launched a public relations campaign, rebranding himself as a voice of sectarian harmony. Should Iraqis welcome Sadr with open arms, or be wary of his new persona?
From the perspective of Maliki’s rivals, Sadr’s new persona presents a conundrum. If they embrace the new Sadr, they risk empowering a former enemy with blood on his hands. But if they reject him, it is possible that he will return to his old, violent ways. Iraqis would be wise to assess the sincerity of Sadr’s inclusive tone. There are a number of conceivable litmus tests. For starters, Iraqis should urge Sadr to broaden his movement into a cross-sectarian party that welcomes non-Shia members. Actively including Kurds, Sunnis, and other groups would signal to all ethnic minorities and sects that Sadr views them as equals, not inferior heretics.

On Sadr’s part, he could mollify his skeptics by demonstrating his commitment to the Iraqi constitution and the rule of law. One way of doing so would be to help Sunni Arabs and Kurds pass legislation on the functioning of Iraq’s Supreme Federal Court (comparable to the U.S. Supreme Court), which has been held hostage by fundamentalists’ demands to allow sharia scholars to possess veto power over legislation. Supporting such legislation would help demonstrate that Sadr believes in Iraq’s constitution and its emphasis on power sharing among factions.

Furthermore, Sadr could try to win Sunni Arabs’ trust by approaching the question of de-Baathification (the process of purging members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party from political positions) in an impartial fashion. Previously, Sadr demanded amnesty for, and secured the release of, hundreds of detained Shia militiamen as part of his bargain to support Maliki for another term. But Sadr continues to voice strong opposition to the reintegration of former Baath officials into Iraqi society. By punishing Sunnis for past abuses more than Shia, Sadr has undermined political reconciliation in Iraq.

Finally, to win the Kurds’ trust, Sadr could offer support for their causes, namely, a more robust role for regions and provinces in the development of oil and gas resources, a more equitable distribution of energy profits, and control over disputed territories. In this vein, Sadr could join the Kurdish parties in parliament to push through new hydrocarbon-investment and revenue-sharing laws that could resolve the chronic and destabilizing disputes between Erbil and Baghdad over energy contracts and budget allocations. The Iraqiya bloc, the Kurds, and the Sadrists previously succeeded in defeating Maliki in parliament when he attempted to dissolve the country’s independent High Election Commission in 2011, so it is conceivable that the three blocs could jointly muster enough votes to pass other laws, too.

Will Sadr continue his surprising transformation from a violent, sectarian demagogue to an advocate for inclusive dialogue? His past record of killing civilians, military confrontation against the Iraqi government, and attacking U.S. personnel necessarily brings into question the credibility of this fresh persona. Nevertheless, his revised tone could also reflect an honest change in ideology and objectives that bodes well for Iraq’s democratic transition. Iraqis would be wise to welcome Sadr’s new message with caution, and they should press him to prove his sincerity through concrete actions, not just words.

Pic - "Mahdi Army!"

Saturday, February 16, 2013

WoW!!

WoW - the Watchers Council - it's the oldest, longest running cyber comte d'guere ensembe in existence - started online in 1912 by Sirs Jacky Fisher and Winston Churchill themselves - an eclective collective of cats both cruel and benign with their ability to put steel on target (figuratively - natch) on a wide variety of topictry across American, Allied, Frenemy and Enemy concerns, memes, delights and discourse.

Every week these cats hook up each other with hot hits and big phazed cookies to peruse and then vote on their individual fancy catchers.

Thusly sans further adieu (or a don"t)

Council Winners

Non-Council Winners

 See you next week! And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us Twitter

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Axis Of Evil


If the slave driven underground rocket factory with a nation/state (of sorts) attached nom d'guerr'd DPRK has weaponized new clear naughtiness - does that reckon Iran does too? Whale, for all prac porpoises, yessir. 

The NoKo/Persia hook up goes back for eons. See, these charter members of the Axis of Evil includes tech sales like the BM-25, a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and reaching all of Europa; Iran’s Shahab 3 missile is a copy of sorts blinged via NoKo’s Nodong-1 and hit Little Satan. Plus, Preacher Command has based cadre of Persian weapons engineers and military cats in NoKo. At the same incredible instant -   NoKo Sci Guys vacation to Iran. Both despotries inked their sigs on a something something memorandum of understanding about all kinda brainiac chiz and tech talk.

 Few weeks back, Young General LOL"d that Great Satan was target number one and just days ago Iran"s Supreme Leader rather impolitely gave a "talk to the hand" hello to any tho't of new clear jaw flapping w/Great Satan.

What about co opting on new clear tests?

Kinda hard to prove?

After all, consider the goofy yet deadly secretive paranoia both illegit regimes deploy by design

Unless or until Noko or Iran gives up hot deets, gon be dang hard to do the proofing that NoKo would sell blueprints to Persia. 
Speculation about nuclear weapons cooperation, however, far exceeds the bounds of what can be deduced through proven facts. Moreover, it would be risky for both countries to cooperate in nuclear technology, such as test results that could not be justified on grounds of peaceful nuclear energy. Nuclear weapons cooperation would cross a redline and could be the trigger for military action against Iran.

Taking up the second assumption, Iran pays close attention to North Korea's programme and to how the major powers react to developments. There is a kind of kinship in being the two surviving members of 43's "axis of evil". But Iran's interest in the North Korean case goes beyond a curiosity in how a friend is faring.

Iran noticed that North Korea was able to violate the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty without serious penalty. When Saddam Hussein and Muammar Qaddafi were overthrown, Iranian leaders presumed that the Kim family wasn't attacked because, unlike the deposed dictators, they have nuclear weapons.

The supposed lesson is wrong, however. Despite many provocations over the years, North Korea has not been subject to a military attack by Great Satan since the Korean War ended in 1953. Washington did not want to spark another war that would have left Seoul in flames.

No such probs w/Iran. Sure, she could set the Hijaz ablaze - which would only make frakking a household name as well as inviting a regime change for Preacher Command - the Iraq War way - with American troops parading panzers through downtown Tehran 

Pic - "The parallels between Tehran and Pyongyang are obvious – two rogue states that covet nuclear weaponry, defy the rest of the world, are fired by extremist and expansionist ideologies, conduct spurious negotiations and appear inured to international sanctions."

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

L'Etat C'est Moi


"L'Etat C'est Moi" - an ancient Canadian phrase roughly meaning "hey ya'll - look - I AM the state" is a very nice way for absolute rulers to say that whatever they say goes.

Louis XIV, der Fuhrer, Dear Leader, Saudi King, Supreme Leader, even Vlad, have all espoused despotic designer ala prose and made it perfectly clear who is large and in charge. 

Sometimes this a momentary mindset in personal relations too.

Yet not on St. Valentines Day! It's all about reaching out - dialogue, negotiations, alliances and relationships.

Is there anything that Internat'l Relations and theories can add to the mix?

Heck yeah!

"To begin with, any romantic partnership is essentially an alliance, and alliances are a core concept on international relations. Alliances bring many benefits to the members (or else why would we form them?) but as we also know, they sometimes reflect irrational passions and inevitably limit each member's autonomy. Many IR theorists believe that institutionalizing an alliance makes it more effective and enduring, but that’s also why making a relationship more formal is a significant step that needs to be carefully considered.

And then the two of you might also decide to mobilize combined resources and grow a collectivist co op and alliance network. Like sweet precious little babies.

When that happens - the opportunities to learn another set of IR theories and concepts like sanctions, coercive diplomacy, deterrence, pre emption, preventive war and regime change are totally unbound!

Yet that is a whole 'nother essay from a whole 'nother source!

Any wrought - know what all happens after Valentine's Day?


That's right - Valentine's Night!

Over 360K hits in one year from all my sweethearts -

Happy St Valentine's Day Y'all!

MwAh!

Pic - "Would you hold it against me?"

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Reaping The Whirlwind

One of sev memes preachers, "rents and Me Maw/Paw Paws enjoy endlessly looping on is the semi sorta true tale 'bout reaping what ya sow.

And if ya sow the wind - whale - look out bay bee!

May such chiz designed to scare grrls away from behaving unlike ladies in a world of hoochies, hotties and hoes be applied like "kini wax to history l'guerre? 

Oui oui m'suer!!

Warsaw, Rotterdam, London. 3rd Reich's flying artillery - nom d'voyage"d Luftwaffe brought devastation, destruction and misery on a new scale into warfare.

 "They sowed the wind and now they are going to reap the whirlwind."

Royal Air Force's Lord Bomber Harris made good on that blood chilling promise. Taking Lord Cherwell's fact finding thingy about carpet bombing centers of German industry to impose Allied will   - not so much the factories  - but to hit the workers in their homes to make them scream "God! Please! Stop!"

The aim of the Combined Bomber Offensive...should be unambiguously stated [as] the destruction of German cities, the killing of German workers, and the disruption of civilised life throughout Germany.
The destruction of houses, public utilities, transport and lives, the creation of a refugee problem on an unprecedented scale, and the breakdown of morale both at home and at the battle fronts by fear of extended and intensified bombing, are accepted and intended aims of our bombing policy. They are not by-products of attempts to hit factories.
By February 1945 - 3rd Reich had less than a 100 days to live. Kicking and screaming, she was  crashing down in an orgy of pulverized, burning cities and a river of blood — civilian and military, German and non-German. Massive Allied Armies were fixing to strike on the Fatherland's turf on multiple fronts and sides. Unconditional Surrender was the safe word.  Military history knows no year quite like 1944 -45 and if lucky, will never see another.

On February 13th - Lord Bomber Harris dispatched a massive raid with one aim - destroy Dresden. The ancient postcard pretty city fully crunk with wooden houses, loaded to the gunwhales with refugees from Red Army's juggernauting nastiness and lucky enough to make the target profile  
Dresden, the seventh largest city in the Reich and not much smaller than Manchester is also the largest unbombed builtup area the enemy has got. In the midst of winter with refugees pouring westward and troops to be rested, roofs are at a premium, not only to give shelter to workers, refugees, and troops alike, but to house the administrative services displaced from other areas. At one time well known for its china, Dresden has developed into an industrial city of first-class importance.... 
The intentions of the attack are to hit the enemy where he will feel it most, behind an already partially collapsed front... and incidentally to show the Russians when they arrive what Bomber Command can do 
Over a thousand American and British bombers hit Dresden on February 13th...
"The horror and terror on the ground was indescribable, destruction was extensive, and the loss of life was frightful. That beautiful little city, its population swollen be an influx of refugees from thew east fleeing before the Russians bent upon revenge, pillage and rape, and its predominantly wooden buildings, ideal for incendiaries, all but vanished in a whirl wind of incineration" 

Pic - "We saw terrible things. Fire everywhere, everywhere fire, and all the time the hot wind of the firestorm drew people back into the burning houses they were trying to escape from." 

Monday, February 11, 2013

Persian Primer

Oh! It's true!!

Gay Free Persia's intolerant Preacher Command celebrates an amazing 34 years of survival!!

See, now a regional power, thanks to three decades of social, economic, diplomatic, and military advancements. LOL - not all of these successes are clear-cut. Many of Iran’s achievements actually created new challenges or even led to political and diplomatic failures.

Foreign Relations:

Great Satan and her Western allies have isolated Iran economically and diplomatically. But this isolation has encouraged Tehran to pursue a pragmatic diplomatic strategy that has somewhat mitigated the impact of international sanctions.
 
 Iran has built economic, trade and business relationships with non-Western powers such as China and Russia. Tehran has also sought ties with regional powers such as Brazil and Nigeria, and authoritarian states including North Korea, Syria and Venezuela. Iran has forged trade and financial links with Iraq, India, Malaysia, and even Thailand, to advance what it calls an “Eastern Policy.” The "Slamic Republic now considers itself a leading non-Western power. In 2012, Tehran hosted the Non-Aligned Movement Summit, viewing it as an indicator of successful foreign policy.
 
Military Chiz:
Iran has emerged as a formidable military power in the Gulf. Even some key Arab Gulf states prefer to accommodate Tehran rather than support policies that could risk a military confrontation. The Islamic Republic’s regular military and non-conventional forces cannot match U.S. capabilities. But Iran has some deterrents, including a large stock of missiles and the ability to launch asymmetric attacks.  
 
            Iran’s military strength is partly rooted in the development of its nuclear program, which could be used for military purposes. Preacher Command"s success in the new clear field is not only due to enriching uranium to 20 percent, but also to burying her nuclear facility at Fordo.
 
            “Digging down” offers effective deterrence against an Little or Great Satan airstrike, from the vantage point of Iran’s leaders. Little Satan probably lacks the necessary munitions to inflict lasting damage on sites such as Fordo. Great Satan would probably need to bomb Iran’s nuclear sites for weeks, which would likely drag her into an all out war. Persia could then use her conventional and unconventional military assets, and proxy organizations like Hezbollah, to inflict damage on interests and allies. The regime almost certainly perceives Great Satan"s preference for a diplomatic solution as evidence of Iran’s military strength and deterrence capabilities.
 
            The "Slamic Repub has also succeeded in creating efficient security forces to clamp down on domestic unrest. In 2005, the "Slamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) was restructured into 31 separate commands – one for each province and one for Persia. The Basij militia was integrated into the IRGC in July 2008. The intell services, police, and Basij now seem to be acting more coordinated under the direction of the IRGC.
 
Iran"s Great Satan Hating At All Costs has cost the regime dearly in Foreign Relations, her economy, New Clear programme and internal politics as well.