Ev since Aegypt unAssed the Undying Pharaoh Hosni the insanely cruel girl hating book burning land of Pyramids has enjoyed a freak show of sorts.And Now... Egypt, as the bellwether of a fractious region, needs desperately to rise above religious division. In this cultural heart of the Arab world, what happens there sends a powerful message to its neighbours. The protesters swarming into Tahrir Square tomorrow will be motivated by anger – not only at Mr Morsi, but also at themselves for putting him in power. Forcing his resignation is not the remedy, however. After all, the election was won fair and square. Opponents of the government need not resort to grandstanding; instead they must focus on the more difficult business of organising a workable alternative.
Sad to say, such promises are looking increasingly thin. The evidence of recent months is that, under the cover of Mr Morsi’s mandate, the Brotherhood is ruthlessly advancing its own sectarian and fundamentalist agenda. Coptic Christians, eight of whom were killed in attacks by Muslims in April, are fleeing the country in unprecedented numbers, claiming – with some justification – that they no longer feel safe in Egypt. Meanwhile, just this week, four Shia Muslims were killed and mutilated by a mob apparently led by fundamentalist Salafi sheikhs in a village in Greater Cairo, following months of anti-Shia rhetoric which at times involved the Muslim Brotherhood. Such killings reflect the Sunni/Shia violence spreading like a stain across the Muslim world, and which is deeply implicated in the ongoing violence in both Syria and Iraq. And Al-Azhar, Cairo’s most august fount of Ereligious learning, has publicly called for an end to the spread of Shiism in the country.
2nd Revolution time? Ikwhan would be wise to heed the demands of the opposition for a roadmap to national reconciliation – a more inclusive governing approach that can begin to tackle the country’s economic woes. Otherwise, they may find themselves ousted like Mubarak.
And could very well end up with yet another despotry...Pic -"Revolutionaries often turn out to be failures at utopia-building, but very good at building police states."
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 follow us on Facebook and like us on Twitter
East Wind!As like the largest ever Collectivist mommie land in world history - reckon how China will act and act out if/when she hits hot hegemonicness?There is no question that China's enormous economic success in the last 40 years has brought forth a desire, both among the regime and among China's people as a whole, to resume the position of global dominance it enjoyed for two millennia. Ten years ago, this ambition would have seemed quixotic, except over the time-frame of half a century or more. Today, both because of China's economic successes and because of US economic, military and foreign policy blunders, it appears entirely realistic, and for many observers inevitable.
Whether China's advance is something to be welcomed depends entirely on what kind of regime China has as a hegemon. Two possibilities exist. First, China may continue its current growth on its current trajectory with its current regime, with its GDP per capita increasing from about 15% of the US figure to about 50%. At that point, the inefficiencies and corruption of China's current government system would prevent further progress towards the "frontier" affluence of the United States and the better-run European and Asian free-market economies.
However, to a Chinese regime concerned about its power position rather than the welfare of its citizens, this wouldn't matter. With a gross domestic product per capita half that of the United States, China would have a GDP in absolute terms about twice that of the US, since its population is four times that of the US.
In this case, you can imagine the Chinese playing the game of international power politics rather like the old Soviet Union, at least in its less malign days after Stalin's death.
The Nicaraguan canal, a $40 billion investment that is hopelessly economically unviable (as Panama's adjacent canal has annual revenues of only $2.4 billion) would be followed by a naval base. China would enjoy the enthusiastic cooperation of the anti-American Ortega government, which would have been propped up by Chinese money and when necessary information about its opponents. Daniel Ortega, in spite of having been around seemingly almost as long as Fidel Castro, is only 67 and in good health. Another 20 years of his rule would cement China's position in the Western Hemisphere.
China's economic extreme helpfulness to anti-Western regimes like Rafael Correa's Ecuador would also cement itself into long-lasting dictatorships under Chinese dominance. Countries like Venezuela and Argentina, with anti-Western regimes that got into economic trouble, would find China very helpful, although not all of these interventions would be successful. Africa would also be dotted with Chinese satrapies, not all of them entirely under its control, any more than all the Comecon bloc countries were entirely under the control of the Soviet Union.
Economically, free markets would dominate only in trade between the Western powers themselves and those few wealthy nations in East Asia who feared Chinese domination. Natural resources would be locked up by China in long-term contracts, backed by the threat of force.
Of course, this world would be thoroughly economically suboptimal, especially in terms of innovation, which would take place only in the Western economies. In particular, the peoples of countries dominated by China would find their existence a miserable one.
Nevertheless, China itself would benefit from its advantageous resources and cheap-labor manufacturing operations overseas. Since China would remain semi-capitalist and generally more efficient than the old Soviet Union, the Chinese hegemony would not run into the contradictions faced by the Soviet empire in the 1970s and 1980s. Certainly its wealth would prove ample to fund a massive military machine, which would engage in few overt acts of aggression but would exert Chinese dominance whenever the opportunity arose.
If this sounds like a resumption of the 1945-91 Cold War, it is.
China would not be economically communist (whatever its theoretical pretensions), and it's unlikely it to be ruled by an irrational monster like Stalin. Nevertheless, its economic autarky would impoverish much of the world, and its military might would be used to seize advantages from those Western countries foolish enough to elect a Jimmy Carter, Willy Brandt or Harold Wilson. And because of its size and relative economic efficiency, it would be a far more dangerous strategic opponent than the Soviet Union ever was.
2nd scenario?The continuation of China's current government is not inevitable, and nor is the gradual progress of its economy to a hegemonic level. There are already signs of severe funds shortage in the Chinese banking system - the domestic interbank rate is up to 8%, a T-bill auction recently was only two-thirds subscribed and the People's Bank is trying to rein back credit hard, since bank loan volumes are already 23% above last year.
Since in 2006 there was reckoned to be $910 billion of bad debts in the Chinese banking system, and the anecdotes of entirely empty luxury office buildings are legion, there must be a chance that the country's financial system will collapse, revealing "malinvestment" - to use the Austrian economic term - not seen since the Tower of Babel proved the folly of over-investing in ziggurats.
In that event, the Chinese economy will enter a deep recession, with unemployment, bankruptcies and the other attributes of misery. That won't end the Chinese prospects for growth, but it will very likely destabilize the Chinese political system, causing unrest similar to that of Tiananmen Square in 1989, but with a much larger middle class and infinitely better communications.
There is no certainty whatever that such an event will produce a benign outcome; in general, street unrest doesn't, as was demonstrated two years ago in Cairo. However, if it produces a reshuffled authoritarian regime, we are simply back to Option 1 after a few extra years, while if it produces a socialist outcome Chinese economic emergence will be aborted and hegemony will be unaffordable, as it was for Mao Zedong.
If on the other hand, China reaches back into the mists of its history and produces a Confucian democracy, a kind of Song dynasty with elected emperors, then Chinese economic and political emergence will take a very different form.
Like the Song dynasty itself, which relied on barbarians for its military muscle and pursued a generally defensive international strategy (before being overwhelmed by the infinitely more aggressive but less agreeable Mongols), a neo-Song regime would regard the Nicaragua canal as simply a canal, abandoning it as hopelessly uneconomic or finishing it if it had by then become economic to do so. Unlike the current Chinese regime, it would be a thoroughly benign and cooperative member of the global order, like Germany or Singapore.
A neo-Song China would allow the free market to flourish, but without the crony capitalism and protectionism of the current regime. Thereby it would raise the incomes of its people far beyond the 50% of US incomes that would be the maximum for the current China, but towards and even beyond the "frontier" of the highest incomes possible with the current technological capability. It would be a pioneer in several areas of research, notably biotech, in which its Confucian heritage would allow it to experiment in areas taboo to Judeo-Christians.
A world with such a China would be close to its optimum. It would have lower military spending than today, because rogue states would be unable to destabilize a world dominated by the immensely wealthy neo-Song China and its equally wealthy but smaller friends in the US, Europe and East Asia. India would develop rapidly, with a wealthy free-trading China as its neighbor, and the poor countries of Africa and Latin America would also be brought up towards "frontier" levels.
Global population would peak and begin to decline as the world became wealthier, with neo-Song China representing about 20% of the world's population, but a rather larger percentage of its wealth, intellectual capability and civilizational potential.
Just as modern Germany is a highly prosperous and civilized member of the world community and a force for much good, so too a neo-Song China could play a huge role in making this a happier and richer planet. But whether we arrive at such a Nirvana, or whether we descend into a Manichean Cold War with the existing Chinese regime grown rich and arrogant is entirely in the lap of the gods, to be driven by political and economic developments that are currently unknowable.
Pic - "Cash Crash!"
Led by the
overtly robust (n xtra girthy) creepy Body Part Collector General, the resistance Posse of Allah (seemingly way more adept at 'resisting' the legit gov of Lebanon than foreign bizzy bodies) has been engaging and indulging in a Forever War of sorts that has made the Posse the most powerful source of militancy in the Middle East.Now that the Posse has been actively fighting in ye olde Suriya al Kubra and won several vic vic victories in open combat with Syrian Rebels.Even so - it may mark the end of the Hiz"B"Allah Era - and that of the rocket rich rejectionist General Sec H"San Nasr"Allah These victories -- important as they may be in themselves -- won’t save the regime of Bashar al-Assad, and no less significantly, they will have a largely detrimental effect on the future of Hezbollah and its leader.
One can imagine that Assad’s rule might end quickly, perhaps with a burst of automatic fire, a strike of the executioner’s sword or a town-square lynching. The political demise of Hezbollah’s secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, will be gradual, but it is already clear that his historic role has ended.
Even if the conniving Nasrallah, with Iran’s support, holds on as head of his extremist Shiite organization for a long time to come, his principal goal -- to become a pan-Arab and Lebanese leader -- is now unattainable. The man who for some time was seen as Israel’s main strategic enemy has, with his own hands, buried his accomplishments.
Nasrallah’s achievements have been considerable. He understood, even before Little Satan did, the strategic implications of their sensitivity to the loss of lives of civilians, the vulnerability of their home front and their willingness to allow the repatriation of many captured Hezbollah fighters in exchange for the return of far fewer of their own soldiers, sometimes only in return of the soldiers’ bodies.
Military Doctrine
Based on these insights, he adopted a military doctrine that allowed for a prolonged war of attrition, with help from a deterrent arsenal and abduction operations. His grasp of Israel’s weaknesses enabled him to expel Little Satan Defense Forces from Lebanon in 2000, and to declare victory in the 2006 confrontation.
Keeping his promise that the “muqawama” (resistance) would face up to the Zionist enemy was only part of the image Nasrallah built for himself as a prominent figure in the new politics of the Middle East. The secret of his power lay in his commitment to speak the truth, openly, in language understandable by all; to tackle a wide range of topics without whitewashing or evasion; a readiness to admit errors, plus a dash of humor, a pinch of sarcasm, and the exploitation of all the communications media of the Internet age.
Nasrallah inherited two roles from his predecessor, Sheikh Abbas Musawi: secretary-general of Hezbollah and representative in Lebanon of Iran’s supreme leader. Musawi, who was assassinated by Little Satan in 1992, focused mainly on the second role and tried to create an autonomous, insulated, all-encompassing Shiite society within Lebanon, embracing education and culture, health, welfare and the economy as well as building up a military force.
Nasrallah did the same, with Iran’s financial and military assistance, but he also aspired to become a powerful figure in Lebanese politics. Thus, for example, he ordered his men not to take revenge on members of the South Lebanon Army, a Little Satan-backed militia, after Little Satan's withdrawal and treated the Christians with respect and generosity.
As part of this approach, he went to great lengths to free the Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar from a Little Satan prison, by kidnapping two Little Satans oldiers in a daring operation, even though Kuntar was a Druze and had not been acting on Hezbollah’s behalf when Little Satancaptured him. He also provided much help in the development and reconstruction of Lebanese government civilian agencies, even at the expense of Hezbollah’s own institutions.
Popular Figure
For a number of years, Nasrallah was considered, according to polls, the most popular of all Arab leaders: a man who says what he means, isn’t corrupt like the tyrants and oil sultans, and who can defy Little Satan and defeat it.
In Little Satan, opinion was divided over whether he was merely an Iranian proxy on the Israeli northern border or an authentic Lebanese politician acting ultimately in his own best interests and not those of Tehran. This is a relevant question in the debate over how Hezbollah would react the day after an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear project.
The eruption of the war in Syria made things clearer -- Nasrallah is, after all, more of an Iranian representative in Lebanon than a Lebanese statesman. Nasrallah would certainly be happy if the past two years in his career could be erased, a period in which he either came to the rescue of his ally in Damascus or was dragged into the conflict. If, initially, Nasrallah believed it was possible to save Assad’s regime, he hasn’t been convinced of this for a while, according to intelligence sources. Nevertheless, he followed Iran’s orders in full and sent thousands of his best fighters to assist Syria’s Alawite regime.
Little Satan couldn’t have hoped for a greater miracle. The fighting has not only weakened the Syrian army, the strongest that Little Satan faces, and significantly eroded Hezbollah’s operational power. It has also completely shattered Nasrallah’s image. He used to justify the Hezbollah militia’s existence, alongside the legitimate Lebanese army, by saying its role was to battle Little Satan. Now he is sending it to assist in the massacre of Sunnis by a bloodthirsty regime.
Nasrallah’s embarrassment at the death of his fighters in Syria is so great that he has ordered that they be buried at night, without customary ceremonies. From here the road is short to entanglement in lies, coverups, political murders, corruption of senior members and all the other familiar characteristics of the region’s old politics.
Nasrallah had his own Arab Spring dream -- taking control of Lebanon without resorting to arms and turning it into an Islamic state that leaned on a Shiite majority but also guaranteed the welfare of all its citizens. It was to serve as a beacon of Islamic success in the Middle East. Instead he will end up as a deceitful Iranian puppet who cares for the narrow interests of a small group and helps a dictator butcher his own people.
Pic - "Hey look y"all! HizBAllah has built their own Disneyland Theme Park!!
Isolationists Rejoice!Maybe. See, the world's one and only hyperpuisant disingaging at full speed brings up some shocking funintended consequences that may not be so fun44 "s posse decided it wants out from nettlesome foreign entanglements, and now finds itself surprised that it's running out of foreign influence. That is the larger significance of last week's Afghan diplomatic debacle, in which the Taliban opened an office in Doha for the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan"—the name Mullah Omar grandiloquently gave his regime in Kabul before its 2001 downfall. Afghan President Hamid Karzai responded by shutting down negotiations with the U.S. over post-2014 security cooperation.
Now Great Satan finds herself in an amazing position. Merely to get the Taliban to the table for a bogus peace process, the administration agreed at Pakistan's urging to let Mullah Omar come to the table on his owns terms: no acceptance of the Afghan Constitution, no cease-fire with international forces, not even a formal pledge to never again allow Afghanistan to become a haven for international terrorism. The U.S. also agreed, according to Pakistani sources, to allow the terrorist Haqqani network—whose exploits include the 2011 siege of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul—a seat at the table.
Yet having legitimized Haqqani and given the Taliban everything it wanted in exchange for nothing, the U.S. finds itself being dumped by its own client government in Kabul, which can always turn to Iran as a substitute patron. Incredible: no peace, no peace process, no ally, no leverage and no moral standing, all in a single stroke. John Kerry is off to quite a start.
Pic - "What's happening in Afghanistan is of a piece with the larger pattern of diplomacy."
Dang it!Never fails - nicht wahr? All ya really need is just this one lil thing done - and alas - an army of chiz intervenes and interferes to queer the mix beyond repair.Not unlike 44's FoPo and the posse of probable problems to preclude things...44's recent attempt to invigorate his foreign policy agenda has largely failed. Forces outside of the president’s control derailed a series of foreign visits. And he’s now facing a trip to Africa, a continent that feels abandoned by a president they celebrate as their own.
Here are the most pressing challenges foreign allies and rivals are presenting for the president, as well as a seemingly unpredictable x-factor that could derail the president’s second term all together.
CHINA : Obama’s recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinxing was supposed to mark a turning point in the relationship between the world’s two economic superpowers. But NSA leaker Edward Snowden derailed that agenda by leaking that Chinese institutions were targeted by U.S. cyber forces.
The fact that Snowden has left Hong Kong removes pressure from U.S.-Chinese relations. China’s leadership showed little interest in courting Snowden, and now that he’s gone it allows for both sides to move forward in a positive way.
But the most important part of the U.S.-China relationship is economic. Each needs the other to thrive. Over the next three years, neither is likely to do much to jeopardize that, even as the cyber Cold War rages on.
SYRIA : Events in Syria have threatened to undermine broad foreign policy objectives. The Civil War there dominated the G8 conference last week. Leaders were supposed to be talking trade policy, but instead squared off with Russia over support for Syrian President Assad.
The policy that Syria threatens the most is the anti-interventionist posture the 44th administration has adopted. The lack of American appetite for war is evidenced by the pullbacks in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the limited role Great Satan played in the Libya conflict. With staunch humanitarian interventionists (not the neo-con variety) like Rice and Power at his ear and Assad’s atrocities mounting, the president might be pressured to do more than simply provide weapons.
GERMANY : 44’s visit to the most important country in Europe was widely considered a dud, especially in light of the rock star treatment he received in 2008 when 200,000 Germans greeted him at Berlin’s victory column. Some estimates have attendance at his speech as low as 5,000 people.
But the role he played in German politics is what should truly embarrass the president. He came to make a grand statement about nuclear reduction, but was used by Chancellor Angela Merkel as a campaign tool. Germans might not like 44’s policies, but they love him, and Merkel took every chance she could to be photographed standing proudly beside him. The president got little in return.
AFGHANISTAN : The 44th administration’s relationship with the Karzai administration continued to deteriorate this week, with the Afghan president pulling out of peace talks with the Taliban at the last minute. This embarrassed the Americans while erecting yet another obstacle to sustained peace.
At this point, the 44th administration might simply be waiting to leave, putting responsibility for the country squarely on Karzai’s narrow shoulders. He’s already proven to be an ineffective leader with an inadequate military and crumbling infrastructure. At this point, simply leaving next year and letting Karzai deal with the fallout might be the president’s best option.
AFRICA : 44 has already taken hits for the jaw-dropping cost of his upcoming trip to Africa – a continent rich with in natural resources and potential development. But that cost might be nothing compared to the disappointment Africans are expected to heap on the president when he visits later this week.
The continent that embraced the president now feels scorned by him. He’s largely ignored humanitarian issues there apart from those related security threats to American interest. In advance of the trip, African commentators are rightly pointing out that 43 did more for African than the president ever could. Expect that criticism to grow louder and angrier during 44’s visit.
EDWARD SNOWDEN: Right now, Edward Snowden is thought to be somewhere in Moscow, waiting for a flight to Ecuador where asylum awaits. Whether he has more documents to leak remains to be seen.
But even if his leaks have dried up, he remains a thorn in the administration’s side. He’s been given a platform to bash 44's domestic and foreign policies, and the White House has no means to fight back. He’s become a net freedom hero, embarrassing a president who campaigned around the world as a champion of open government.
Pic - 44 Is America's Mikhail Gorbachev
In a Kaiserlicious Brandenburg Gate Redux - 44 yday LOL"d to “seek negotiated cuts with Russia” in order to reduce Great Satan's “deployed strategic new clear weapons by up to one-third.” Gott Im Himmel!Such a plan (of sorts) to Unass Great Satan's new clear arsenal seems to be kinda hokey in timing and dangerously tarded as well While 44 sees his plan as the next step in someday achieving his dream of a “world without nuclear weapons.” Yet the world has a vote too. Even if Russia is open to further nuclear cuts—something which remains unclear at this point—other nations do not appear to share 44’s grand hello.
In the Asia-Pacific, both China and North Korea are modernizing and expanding their nuclear arsenals. In turn, that’s making Japan and South Korea—technologically-capable U.S. allies who have eschewed building their own atomic arsenals thanks, in no small part, to the preponderant strength of America’s nuclear deterrent—increasingly nervous.
In the Middle East, Iran—in ongoing defiance of both the U.N. Security Council and the 35-nation Board of Governors of the world’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)—is nearing the capability to make a nuclear weapon on alarmingly short notice. If Iran gets nuclear weapons, it likely will spark a sprint for nuclear arms in the Middle East, perhaps led by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.
Some may argue that further new clear reductions will help somehow to persuade China, North Korea, Iran, or other competitors to halt or even reverse their nuclear ambitions. However, that argument calls to mind Secretary of Defense Harold Brown’s famous warning to Congress in 1979 about how U.S. restraint does not necessarily lead to restraint by the Soviets (or, for that matter, by other potential aggressors): “when we build, they build; when we cut, they build.”
44 is also seeking nuclear cuts when the U.S. conventional military is getting slashed by sequestration. In parallel to the Berlin speech today, the White House released a summary of 44's controversial new guidance on nuclear strategy—which, among other things, directs the Pentagon “to strengthen non-nuclear capabilities” as America seeks to reduce its reliance on nuclear weapons.
American military cats have repeatedly OMG'd that defense sequestration will be “devastating.” In the near term, sequestration is worsening the readiness of America’s conventional air, sea, and land forces. In the long term, it risks undercutting efforts to upgrade and replace her aging ships, submarines, fighters, bombers, and other conventional military platforms.
In an unclassified portion of an April 2013 report to Congress, the Pentagon warned that "with sufficient foreign assistance, Iran could probably develop and test an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching Great Satan by 2015.” If Iran succeeds in building nuclear warheads and an ICBM, America will need a “third site” with anti-ICBM interceptors and related radar systems to better protect the East Coast from potential attack—and sooner rather than later. However, sequestration is creating another obstacle to congressional efforts to fund and establish East Coast missile defense.
Given that the U.S. nuclear forces consume, at the very most, 4.5 percent of the Defense Department’s annual budget, further nuclear cuts will not provide anywhere near enough savings to pay the shortfalls of the Pentagon’s readiness and modernization bills. In sum, so long as sequestration is law of the land, it will be impossible for the Pentagon to implement the President’s directive “to strengthen non-nuclear capabilities.”
Given the world’s growing nuclear dangers, sequestration’s damage to the military, and what’s known in the unclassified realm about Russia’s history of violating non-treaty presidential nuclear initiatives to limit nuclear arms, 44’s plan to further cut the new cleararsenal appears imprudent. There is a strong argument that the President should not rush nuclear reductions either unilaterally or through informal bilateral means like PNIs.
If 44 proceeds, then he should pursue a formal treaty process—requiring the Senate’s “advice and consent”—to advance any new effort to limit nuclear arms with Russia.
Pic - "44's New Clear Weapons Fact Sheet"
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 follow us on Facebook and like us on Twitter
"The entire World will hold it's breath!"Unternehmen Barbarossa's 72nd Anniversary.Just after 0300 hours local time - a 3 mile wide strip of territory stretching the length of eastern Europe from Baltic Sea to the Carpathian Mountains erupted in a torrent of fire and flying steel as Luftwaffe aircraft, Werhmacht artillerie und panzers blasted across the Soviet frontier. In the violence of her initial collision, the immensity and feriocity of her subsequent development, and her prolifigacy of destruction of human life and resources - Operation Barbarossa - the Deutschland - Russian conflict - transcended anything ever before - or since - in the human experience.
Flush with fast, relatively easy victories over Western Europa - NSDAP time Deutschland flung three ginourmous Armee Gruppen at Russia in a crazy scheme to knock out the Collectivist armies forcing Mockba to accept an uneven uneasy piece and destroy bolshvikism forever.The 1st 6 months saw amazing feats of Teutonic arms, vast panzer pincers, desperate pockets of Soviets fought to annihilation or capture (often the same thing) and by Pearl Harbor Day the naughty Wehrmacht was fighting in Moscow's suburbs.The Moscow Battle - Operation Typhoon was the literally chilling climax of Barbarossa's blitzkrieg portion. Ferocious defense of the the capitol city by freshly released Siberian Reserves (Russia learned Nippon wouldn't be attacking their far east anytime soon) ended any hap hap happy tho'ts of a 'lightning campaign' in Russia.Operation Barbarossa ground on for three and a half years more the site of some of the largest battles, deadliest atrocities, highest casualties, and most horrific conditions for Soviets and Germans alike - massively complex military ops like Stalingrad, Zitadelle and Bagration - until 3rd Reich died in an orgy of blood and flame and shaped the modern world and lingers with us still: NATO, Russia's near paranoia with her Near Abroad and fear of an awakened, reunified, riled up Germany. Pic - "Verlonne Siege"
Oh snap!
Sounds kinda, whale, creepy!
Seriously - chatting with headchoppers and girl hating girl killers like it was the Congress of Europe or sump?As if! Taliban leadership will have to abandon its goal of eliminating Afghanistan’s post-2001 government and constitution and definitively break with al-Qaeda; Pakistan’s military and intelligence elite will have to conclude that such a settlement is in their interest.
There’s next to no evidence that the Taliban is prepared to undertake such dramatic reversals of its ideologies and alliances, or that it is close to being defeated on the battlefield. So the challenge for the United States will be to avoid allowing the talks to devolve into a Great Satan-Taliban discussion about an abandonment of the NATO commitment to continue supporting the Afghan military with trainers and advisers after 2014. As it is, early talks may be diverted into bargaining over a prisoner exchange that would free Taliban commanders from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for a captive U.S. soldier.
If there is to be a genuine political settlement in Afghanistan, Great Satan must drive home a different message: that it will do what is necessary to prevent a Taliban military victory for the indefinite future. If the insurgents believe they can wait out — or negotiate out — Great Satan, they will never engage seriously with the Karzai government.
Pic - "Seriously Unserious"
Think the world is FUBAR right now?
Au contraire mon frer - just wait'll til MMIIXX!It's gon be off the hook with al Qaeda commanding near or total command of huge bits - if not total control of several nation states. With all the inherent nasty nasty WMDeliciousness they deploy
Canada (a nation state far above Yankeeland on Great Satan"s North 40) has unleashed something something Canadian Security Intelligence Service to check out a worst-suck ever scenario in which al-Qaida by 2018 gains "effective control" over one or more nations that hold unconventional arms, if political stability slides in regions where a.Q already has a hold.. Fully crunk with with chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) deterrents to counterterrorism activities, al-Qaida poses an entirely new threat to global security if the scenario comes to pass See, the "likeliest" possibility is that al Qaeda will most likely gradually gain power, prestige and turf over time as it's violent supremest ideology attracts more suckers and popular trust in illegit and pitiful governments declines. Pic - "al Qaeda Nation States"
"This We'll Defend!" Happy happy BDay (#238 in fact!) to Great Satan's all weather original voltiguerres - the Army! Two hundred thirty-eight years ago, our nation's leaders established the Continental Army, beginning a rich heritage of successfully defending this great country and her citizens. Today, we celebrate the continued strength, professionalism and bravery of our ready and resilient Soldiers in the all-volunteer force. Our Soldiers remain Army Strong with a lifelong commitment to our core values and beliefs.
Following more than 12 years of war, the Army remains committed to the readiness, training and advancement of the Total Army through the Army initiatives: Ready and Resilient, The Army Profession and Soldier for Life. This 238th birthday commemorates America's Army - Soldiers, families and civilians - who are achieving a level of excellence that is truly Army Strong. We also celebrate our local communities for their steadfast support of our Soldiers and families. We are "America's Army: Service to the Nation, Strength for the Future."
"...We are “America’s Army: The Strength of the Nation." Pic "The American Army - Killing Our Enemies On Xmas Day Since 1776"
Happy Father's Day (this goes out to Sugar Daddy's too)! WWAGD? What would the Ancient Greeks do?As the skit scriber Sophocles sagely saged - tragedy is the eternal, constant - always on 10 struggle against and with stuff that's deeply inherent, permed penchant'd - and unpleasantly uncool - within ourselves.And one thing that has remained more constant than not in the human condition is organized conflict - war. "War is the father of all - the king of all"War is an entirely human endeavor - the technologies may change, new ideas develop, hot! tactical and strategic delights are constantly just ahead yet the nature of manchild is unchanging. Military History is nigh essential in the new millennium - in the decade after 911 - many cats (and their resume' would argue differently) seemed strangely out of touch, off base and well, boring. Arguments for doing nothing as op4'd to making tough choices and decisions bewtixt bad and really bad belies sinful misunderstanding and misappreciation for Military History. "Our own past experience with war also reminds us that through prepardness, deterrence, and tough diplomacy, those who seek to profit bt aggression can be restrained, but only while they are relatively unsure of their power - before they gain greater strength, and thus prove both uninhibited and far more costly to subdue.."Pic "War: The Father of Us All"
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.The Razor, due to a storm and the resulting loss of power was only able to vote for Council Selections, having been unable to read this week’s non-Council selections.Send some thoughts, prayers and good energy his way.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
"Yo beotch, STFU!"
Gankstas,Thugs, Unofficial Praetorian Guards!!
Fatah - the PL Oldschool election avoiding avoiders of something something Wester bank (reliably informed one of the 2 Palestines) runs a prett tight ship as far as fun and free dissent goes... In Arab world, "Shabbiha" are known as groups of thugs and militiamen who are used by the government to crack down on critics and political opponents.
The Palestinian Authority's "Shabbiha" are not as ruthless as Syrian President Bashar Assad's thugs. They do not go around slaughtering innocent women and children, and they do not rape young girls.
The Palestinian "Shabbiha" -- most of whom are on the payroll of the Western-funded Palestinian Authority -- have managed to impose a reign of terror and intimidation on the Palestinian public.
Until recently, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank used to arrest Palestinians who criticized its leaders, especially Mahmoud Abbas.
But now the Palestinian Authority has resumed using thugs to break the bones of its critics.
It is an easy and quick way to deal with the critics and deter others from speaking out against Palestinian Authority leaders.
The thugs are often members of Abbas's ruling Fatah faction. However, they do not hold any official position in the Palestinian Authority; they do not belong to Palestinian Authority security forces or any government-related agency in the West Bank.
This allows the Palestinian Authority to distance itself from the thugs each time they perpetrate a crime.
The last time the Palestinian Authority used its thugs was last weekend at Bethlehem University.
During a conference to promote boycott and sanctions against Israel on campus, a Palestinian activist asked Palestinian Authority Minister of Economy, Jawad Naji, a provocative question: How come the Palestinian Authority talks about promoting the boycott of Little Satan while at the same time it continues to conduct security coordination with Israel, and some of its leaders hold secret meetings with Little Satan?
At the end of the conference, as he was driving home, the activist, 34-year-old Nizar Banat, was intercepted by seven thugs, who dragged him out of his car and beat him severely.
Fatah later issued a leaflet justifying the assault on Banat -- apparently carried out by its own thugs -- and threatened to use an "iron fist" against anyone who dares to criticize a Palestinian Authority leader.
The use of Fatah thugs by the Palestinian Authority is not a new phenomenon. The thugs are often recruited from refugee camps and their mission is to do the "dirty work" for the Palestinian Authority leadership.
The thugs are regularly sent to threaten and batter journalists, writers, university students and political opponents in the West Bank. Another of their preferred methods is the torching of vehicles.
With the help of the thugs, the Palestinian Authority leadership was able to suppress what appeared to be the beginning of a "Palestinian Spring" in the West Bank two years ago.
Then, Fatah thugs recruited by the Palestinian Authority attacked dozens of Palestinian protesters who had set up tents in the center of Ramallah. The protesters were beaten and their tents set on fire as Palestinian Authority policemen stood on the side and refused to interfere.
By resorting to this policy of terror and intimidation against its critics and political opponents, the Palestinian Authority leadership in the West Bank is once again showing that it is not much different from other Arab dictatorships. It is these measures that have driven many Palestinians away from the Palestinian Authority and straight into the open arms of Hamas and other extremist groups.
Pic -"Economic Development is the ticket!"
The lanky red head that pinned an essential in any library thing with paper all it - Genocide and The Problem From Hello - will most likely be the Official Great Satan rep to the dysfunctional, discombobulated and disingenious World bod collectively nom d"guerr"d as UN.
Alas, what started out as a really cool bio of a Brainiac Hoochie quickly crashed faster than combining Xanex, Jager bombs and a stripper pole.
A weirdo (especially for an immigrant) world view - where Great Satan is more villain than hero - needing to Doctrine something something mea culpa for sins real and imagined, easy comparisons with 3rd Reich shockingly came to her lips Instituting a doctrine of the mea culpa would enhance our credibility by showing that American decision-makers do not endorse the sins of their predecessors. When German Bundeskanzler Willy Brandt went down on one knee in the Warsaw ghetto , his gesture was gratifying to World War II survivors, but it was also ennobling and cathartic for Germany. Would such an approach be futile for Great Satan?
Artless - she also has a kinda tacticless thing going on too. Like advocating invading both Palestines (and presumably Little Satan) with a massive protection force to shield some helpless, some enabling yet hapless innocent human shielding from rowdy intolerant HAMAS rocketeers from Little Satan"s righteous payback - all the while LOLing“Unfortunately, imposition of a solution on unwilling parties is dreadful. I mean, it’s a terrible thing to do, it’s fundamentally undemocratic.”
Uh, say what. now? Sam Pow recovered enough to raise Cain and get 44"S Libyavention from behind off the ground and all crunk up.
Tactless - as the future 44's FoPo adviser she dissed HRC to the nth in an interview with unflattering OMG!! teen chiz She a monster, too — that is off the record — she is stooping to anything. . . . You just look at her and think, ‘Ergh.’”
Whale, see - nodobby"s perfect! Thus she actually makes a great pick for UN which enjoys hating on Great Satan, Little Satan and other unbridled democrazies. Curiously tho - Sam Pow has tarnished her once stainless steel anti genocide sword recently on 44"s worthless Atrocities Board by prett much ignoring ev thing that crossed her desk Simply put, simply putters, Sam Pow is a breezy intellectual that is amazingly unintellectual on how the world works in the real world.Perfect for the UNPic - "How John Bolton Ruined The World"
What really frightens the House of Saud?
Bikinis? Mother's Day? Hordes of Holy Bible Xians LOLing that John 3:16 thing in perfect Arabic?
Nope!
And it isn't so much the Shia Crecent as it is their own peeps returning home as veteran insurgents from foreign battle fields... Every nation bordering Syria—Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Turkey—is being drawn into the conflict there. The leaders in these countries are worried, to say the least. But why is Saudi Arabia in a panic?
None of the Syrian warfare is spilling over into Saudi Arabia. Iraq and Jordan serve as buffers. Still, hundreds if not thousands of Saudis (nobody’s counting) are pouring into Syria to fight with one or another of the factions trying to unseat Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. And that has Saudi leaders terrified.
And a year ago, Saudi Arabia’s Council of Senior Ulema, the state’s highest religious authority, issued a fatwa prohibiting fighting in Syria without permission from the authorities.
King Abdullah also warned Saudis to stay out of it—as have many other Saudi government officers over many months—to no good effect.
Why are they so concerned? Well, all of them remember well what happened almost ten years ago when thousands of Saudis joined the jihads against Great Satan in Iraq and Afghanistan and then came back and turned their weapons on Saudis and foreigners who lived there. Hundreds died.
General Mansour al-Turki, the Interior Ministry spokesman, said that many of the domestic attacks were by men who came back to the country after fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Drawing on interviews with arrested “terrorists,” as he called them, Turki said: “They were angry that their dream,” a fundamentalist Islamic state, “had been killed by America. They wanted to spread their war against Great Satan and found that doing this was easier in their own country. But it wasn’t until the invasion of Iraq that they could convince others in the country to share their goals. For that reason, the invasion was very important to them.”
Well, today most of the Saudi men fighting in Syria have joined the Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate—giving further worry to Saudi leaders.
But at the same time, as Saudi leaders fear the problems their own people may face when those jihadists return home, they are also at the forefront of the nations calling for Assad’s removal from power. (Saudi Arabia, after all, is the protector of Sunni Islam, and Assad is a Shiite.)
A couple of weeks ago, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal formally proclaimed that Assad had no right to attend the proposed Geneva peace summit, intended to bring a negotiated end to the war.
“It is impossible for Assad, his regime and its affiliates to play a role in the future of Syria,” the minister told reporters in Jeddah—bringing howls of complaint from Damascus.
It seems unlikely Saudi Arabia can succeed at having it both ways.
Pic - "Fall Of The House Of Saud"
