JHK’s Three-Act Play
Obama Pushes Iraqis to Mend Sectarian Rifts
— Headline, The New York Times
Have they tried diversity training? I doubt it. That’s not how things are done in the Shithole Formerly Known as Iraq (SFKI). They’re headhunters now. For the moment the ISIS hasn’t had the inclination to shrink any of their trophies. Their method for preserving the memory of all that is the smart phone video of decapitation posted on the Internet. So let’s skip the part where both sides talk about their feelings.
It all happened pretty quickly last week, but in case you haven’t noticed, Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall over there. The bonehead American news media affects to be too stunned to even ask the pertinent questions, starting with: is that all it took to undo eight years and — what? — maybe two trillion dollars in US-sponsored nation-building? Oh, plus 4,000 US dead and 50,000 wounded. So, my question would be: when do the political recriminations kick in? Pretty soon, I reckon, and when they do, expect them to be fiercely perverse. The theme of who lost Iraq? may cost more than who lost Vietnam?
How perverse is the loose talk of Iran joining forces with “the Great Satan” to support the Shiite-dominated government of Nouri al-Maliki. Prediction: not going to happen. Events are moving so quickly that the ultimate nightmare scenario is at hand: the ISIS penetrates the “Green Zone” surrounding the US embassy in Baghdad. They take hostages and commence systematic decapitations of American personnel. This is not something I would like to happen, mind you. Just saying. And the thought must have loosened a few sphincters down at the US Department of State, too.
You can be sure that Obama will be blamed both for pulling out in 2011 and then not going back to war, to protect our two trillion dollar previous investment. I have to imagine that distrust for civilian control of the US military by a corps of rising officers will reach never-before-seen depths. It may not be expressed right away, but the knock-on effects of political breakdown in the Middle East could go long and far in upsetting US politics. The defeat of Eric Cantor is just the beginning of what could be the unraveling of the federal system.
The Iraq fiasco already threatens to spike oil prices way beyond the $107 level of today. That will crush whatever remains of the US economy all over again. God knows what it might do to the financialized Rube Goldberg shadow economy of counterparty booby traps that overlays an abyss of unpayable debt. You can’t squash price discovery forever, and one morning you might wake up to discover that the price of all those shenanigans was your political heritage.
Oh, one more thing: not much attention is being paid to Saudi Arabia, but note that it has been the chief sponsor of Sunni insurgency everywhere but Saudi Arabia itself, and that the genie they let out of that flask will probably come back and tear that country to shreds, especially in so far as King Abdullah at age 90 is a virtual mummy, and that many other clans besides the Saud tribe have designs on the throne (and its mighty revenue stream from oil production). Add to that inter-tribal tension the possibility of an ISIS-style insurgency in Saudi Arabia itself, with righteous Islamic puritan warriors drawn from all over the region, and you have quite the recipe for a global clusterfuck. Surely a lot of things would get broken in the event. Given all the jealousy and ill-feeling toward Saudi Arabia, it is a wonder that over the last 30 years no mischief-makers have, for instance, blown up the Ras Tenura oil terminal on the Persian Gulf. That would put the schnitz on global oil supply lines on a world war scale.
For the moment, it is hard to see how anything can be salvaged in Iraq. The ISIS may cause enough havoc there to shut down Iraqi oil production forever. They can start World War III. They can inspire insurgencies across the whole Islamic world and beyond. The caliphate they establish will then have to figure out how to support a population twenty times as great as the region truly can support with a medieval economy. Sooner or later, they’ll be selling shrunken heads in the souks.
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The U.S. has reopened one giant can of worms. A scorecard will be required to sort out the players. ISIS? Hmmm…..http://youtu.be/-pOd9pD0qFg
I’d say it’s way too early to speculate on how these new events play out. Its people are more moderate and less religious than most in that region of the world.
Ethnicity wise, ISIS represents a Sunny minority whom have been treated poorly by the Maliki government. However, I doubt that many of the Sunnis feel that ISIS represents them ideologically.
Where this is headed is anyone’s guess.
Right-wing shitheads will try to make it Obama’s fault for pulling troops out, but it was the Iraqi parliament that ordered them out. And wasn’t that what was sold to a gullible and willfully stupid U.S. public and press—Iraqi freedom? A democratically-elected government free to make its own choices, like saying “Yankee to go home?”
When you look up “clusterfuck” in a dictionary in the future (if there is one), you will see a picture of early 21st-Century Iraq.
Yup, located on the map right next there to ‘Nation Building’ Just north of the straights of ‘American way of Life’.
Syriaously
Oh ya it can’t be the messiahs fault he’s infallible
Are you referring to Obama?
The Iraq clusterfuck belongs to:
1) ALL the people who voted for Bush. Twice!
2) Bush. The worse President by far in our history.
3) All the neocons who advised him and who want us to return to their total f’ked up failed war.
4) Our POS media who then, like now, don’t ask the hard questions, but only read their scripts.
That’s who this war belongs to.
As one military analyst pointed out, we had tens of thousands of American troops engaged in combat for over 5 years. If that didn’t stamp out these groups, I don’t see what a few planes and missiles would do.
My advice:
1) Let the f’cker collapse.
2) For those who want to go back in-draft each and every one of you and send your a@@ over there.
3) Get on with the massive project of building mass transit, passenger rail and using renewables where we can
As Jim suggests, Iraq could be that big precipitating event that kicks off The Long Emergency.
You seem to have left out the enablers in congress, eg Hillary, Feinstein, Kerry, etc.
Thanks. Very true. We can’t forget the spineless Democrats in Congress at that time who voted to go to war.
Certainly is Bush’s fault for taking us there in the first place, but Obama has only exacerbated the situation, first with the bombing of Libya which not only destablized that country but unleashed Ghadafi’s arsenal of weapons on the Middle East and specifically Syria where Obama has been supporting the rebels against Assad. This is a spillover from Syria. Obama did want to keep our troops in Iraq but the Iraqis made him stick to the withdraw deadline that Bush originally set. Would that have changed anything that’s happening now? Possibly, or possibly it would be US soldiers being decapitated now. At any rate to try to blame this mess on one administration or the other is tiresome and pointless. Both have fucked this up royally and everyone in congress who supported this war are complicit. All of them should be put on trial for war crimes and for violating the Constitution.
The worst President ever is Obama, ant not a messiah, more like an Imam.
1) Fast and Furious
2) Literally going to sleep as the Benghazi doing nothing as the US consulate burns Ambassador is raped and murdered.
3) Use of IRS to go after his political enemies, and “Losing the smoking emails”
4) Not defending the US border, allowing mass illegal immigration.
5) Trading a deserter for five war criminals, but ignoring the US Marine being held by the Mexicans.
6) Losing Billions on GM, and Trillions of wasted stimulus dollars, still waiting for the Recovery Summer.
7) Golfing and fundraising while Iraq implodes and the US embassy in Iraq is being evacuated.
8)”If you like your Doctor and insurance you can keep your Doctor and insurance”
9) Each family will see a $2,500 cut in health care premiumsExcept the vast majority went up, and far more than $2,500
10) Doing nothing as Iran develops an A Bomb.
11) Drawing “Red Lines” and then letting them be crossed with impunity,
12) Doing absolutely nothing about the banksters and hedgfunders massive swindles.
14) Being the best President in US history for the enrichment of the so called 1%
15) En-debiting the country more than ALL of his predecessors combined, with virtually nothing to show for it, except for some of his campaign donors in places like Solendra
16) And much more including generally “Acting Stupidly”
And let’s not forget the new EPA guidelines on Coal fired power plants that will crush the economy, and will actually be counter productive as thousands of “folks” in the norther climates of the US start heating their homes with wood burning stoves.
You invite refutation of your ‘points’. You start with a cock-up of a the incompetent FBI & the IRS as if these were Obama’s ‘creatures’ working at his behest. You are deluded, sir.
The Benghazi clusterf*ck falls into the same category.
The border issue – sorry? was this NOT happening before? Of course it was..has been for 120 years.
Dahlberg – if he hadn’t , you are your ilk would be damning him for leaving him behind.
Billions on stimulus & GM – have you no f*cking idea how economics work?
Golfing? Is this now a sin? I recall your butt-buddy GW giving press conferences on the first tee!
Affordable Health Care Act – hmm…I wonder which states that has happened in? Oh, yes..in the main those that have resisted change
“Doing nothing” while Iran gets Nuclear (or do you use the Bush pronunciation ‘nucular’?) arms? Yet to be proven,and when a compromise was developed, the GOP in congress turned it down, even tried to pork-barrel it.
Doing nothing about banksters – so, again, what’s new? in any case, the SEC & various States’ Attorneys have almost no resources compared to those they YOU expect them to go after, because there is no political will to do so.
Indebtedness of the USA is as much down to the last 34 years of Congresses with no spine. It aint all since 2008, which if I recall was NOT on this president’s watch.
I am just so tired of plonkers like you who have nothing but criticism for Obama – it’s like a roaring fire that cannot be quenched! It doesn’t matter what he he does, he’s in the wrong. FFS!
“Warren,” #12 and #14 are legitimate criticisms (not sure where #13 is, or perhaps you’re superstitious). The rest are partisan talking points and not worth discussion.
As with most people, my personal politics don’t fit into the 140-character Twitter-friendly Procrustean bed the media like to fit us all into, the better to formulate targeted advertising. I suppose I’m a left-wing anarchist, if you need a snappy label.
I loathe Obama as a President more than most people on the Right, but for reasons of substance. Obama has merely followed Bill Clinton’s strategy of getting elected by those to the left of the organized Right, and then governing by implementing the policies of the Right. They call this “Triangulation,” meaning that they’ve cornered the Right. Nobody to the left of the organized Right will vote for the Right, and Obama and Clinton have gotten up so close to the Right that there’s no other position to be taken. At least, that’s the strategy, and it works in today’s America, where the very political vocabulary has been stripped of meaning.
But all this palaver distracts from why you, from the Right, and I, from the Left, both despise Obama’s Presidency. It’s in those similarities the truth can be found; not in the differences. The differences are how the Elites keep us divided. Looking at the similarities could lead us to real change.
Your list focuses primarily on specific instances where you don’t like the way President Obama has handled certain matters of Empire and partisan political maneuvering. I reject the entire premise and argue that when you’re doing the wrong thing, it doesn’t matter if you do it the right way or not.
And, there, we have an example of how increasingly impossible it is to have a serious conversation about anything.
JLE
PS- Just to make sure I wasn’t misunderstood because of the way the comments lay out, I meant this:
“Oh ya it can’t be the messiahs fault he’s infallible”.
This is the sort of idiotic rhetorical noise that clogs just about any serious subject.
JLE
Liberals destroyed all polite discourse in America because they are committed to always “moving on” toward Communism – and sowing discord everywhere is the way to do it. I remind you, people were praying to Obama in the beginning. He was given a Nobel Peace Prize before he was even elected – and then he began to order drone strikes.
And who put him again? You all did – even though Soros and Goldman Sachs were his money men. Strangely the same who were behind Bush. Conclusion? You have learned nothing and will vote for Hillary to continue these mad policies.
Obama is the worst President ever, the point is it does not matter Christian or Muslim, He has no religion other than that which he has to proffer up as part of his public persona.
I suppose there will always be apologizes for his incompetence, but I suspect you are a minion of Saul, so aside from your Alynskyite tactic of changing of the subject, are there any of my points about Obama can you point to are wrong, and why? Or is that not relevant.
Well we all knew (at least those of us not lulled into the American stupor of mindless willfull ignorance) a false flag event was coming somewhere in the Middle East so Israel’s puppet (that would be the US military industrial complex) could justify going in there and kick some Islamic arse. And…well gee whiz…as long as we are there may as well take over the oil fields for thier own protection. Besides, what a perfect opportunity for the drill baby drill crowd to garner support and boost profits to boot! Why it’s an American economic boom just ripe for the plucking….a ‘manufacturing renaissance’ is just waiting for us to take it. Seppin’, I don’t think that’s how this will quite happen for the Oboob Administration.
If ISIS gets into Syria, Russia will get involved and then, boys and girls, we will have a nifty little WWIII on our hands. Are we having fun yet?
The US military, whatever else it is, is not Israel’s puppet. I consider that a scurrilous statement.
I notice these sonsofbitches (ISIS) headed east not west.
They’d last about about 20 minutes in a battle with the IDF.
–BRH
Remember they aren’t the men their fathers were. They care too much about each and every death. In other words, they are too much like us now.
I remind you there were defeated by Hezbollah in Lebanon. But yes, Jerusalem is going to fall anytime soon. They will use their nukes to prevent that.
James, he was referring to the military-industrial complex, not the ‘military’. Aside from that, he is still an idiot.
Is it really a good idea to mention Ras-Tenura? I seems to have escaped attention by the dull-witted and the angry so far. Why prime them?
The “Iraq fiasco already threatens to spike oil prices way beyond the $107 level of today. That will crush whatever remains of the US economy all over again”.
I can hardly wait. I’m still having so much fun from the last crushing that I have more folds in me than an aluminium can that’s been run over by a presidential motorcade!
Ras-Tenura is wery well dayfandad you silly jihadist wabbits. Don’t even think about it!
Dog, cwacked me up.
Me too — funny dawg!
“… I’m still having so much fun from the last crushing that I have more folds in me than an aluminium can that’s been run over by a presidential motorcade!
K-Dog, that is a knee-slapper and a great visual awright! 😉
June 28, 2014 – centennial of WW I begins.
And if they had found the damn weapons of mass destruction in the first place none of this would be happening!
They needed a good dog to sniff them out.
Lol. Bush has them on his Texas ranch.
He forgot to ship them over to Baghdad.
“So, my question would be: when do the political recriminations kick in? Pretty soon, I reckon, and when they do, expect them to be fiercely perverse. The theme of who lost Iraq? may cost more than who lost Vietnam?”
We’re likely to have both at the same time the next two years, as the last Boomer who could likely win the presidency, H. R. Clinton, will probably be running. Her husband was the focus of an lot of “who lost Vietnam” sentiment, and I’m sure what’s left of it will follow her around, along with a whole lot of “who lost Iraq” from her time as Secretary of State.
But that’s normal politics. Worse things can happen. We ended up with McCarthyism in the wake of “who lost China?” Germany ended up with losing the democracy, such as it was, of the Weimar Republic and ended up with the Third Reich over the question of who lost the war. The myth of the internal enemy giving Germany the knife in the back resulting in surrender took hold as the answer. We all saw how that turned out, but people may forget the lessons of history.
As you have been saying for more than a decade and repeated just last week, Americans will elect maniacs to keep their standard of living. A lot of those maniacs will be carrying a cross and wrapped in the American flag. You aren’t the only one warning us about Fascism in our future. Greer the Archdruid did as well. I have some observations on his warnings just in time for his return to blogging this week.
http://crazyeddiethemotie.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-archdruid-on-fascism-part-2.html
Ya and up your way in Michigan they’ll be carrying the crescent moon all wrapped up in the black flag. Maybe you’ll like that better
Can’t we all just get along?
Ah, the myth of Dearborn! Actually, BRH, I have far more Christians among my Arabic-speaking students than I have Moslems. The Lebanese Catholics got here first, followed by the Catholic Chaldeans and the Orthodox Assyrians. They don’t need to suffer from other people’s xenophobia based on a mistaken assumption of who the Arabs in the U.S. are.
So you are trying to tell us that most Arabs are Christian? And then you wonder why people don’t trust the Left.
No, Impaler, I’m making a much narrower claim that most of the Arab-Americans I encounter in Michigan are Christians. In fact, Arab America’s own page on the state shows 66% of Arab Americans in Michigan are Lebanese, Syrian, or Iraqi Chaldeans, and people from these countries in the U.S. are overwhelmingly Christians, primarily Catholics.
http://www.arabamerica.com/michigan/arabamericans.php
This makes BackRowHeckler’s suggestion that Sharia Law is around the corner here in Michigan ludicrous. The Arab Christians in Michigan have had enough of that where they came from and will resist it here.
We ended up with McCarthyism in the wake of “who lost China?” Germany ended up with losing the democracy, such as it was, of the Weimar Republic and ended up with the Third Reich over the question of who lost the war. The myth of the internal enemy giving Germany the knife in the back resulting in surrender took hold as the answer. We all saw how that turned out, but people may forget the lessons of history.Here here Crazy Eddie…
Well Said…..
What’s all the fuss? They (the complex) made a load of dough in Iraq Take 1 and Take 2. Why not some more in Take 3? So we lost a few in the first two Takes. Hey, the veterans get discounts at Home Depot don’t they? What? You CFNers don’t “Support the Troops?” You a bunch of Commies? This is Capitalism, Baby! Nothing but good news coming out Iraq. I envision military spending ramping up big time. This’ll be peachy for the economy. Didn’t I see an article in the NYT the other day about how war is good for the economy and that the current downturn is the result of too few wars?
Unfortunately, AKlein, your sarcasm is spot on. And it seems the two turds McCain and his effeminate buddy L. Graham are leading the charge. I wonder who donates to their campaign war chests (no pun intended)? A little digging would probably uncover a who’s who of corporations that would profit massively from more war.
Yes – correct indeed. Pity that none of those fabulous profits find their way to the federal tax system to fund the VA.
“This’ll be peachy for the economy. Didn’t I see an article in the NYT the other day about how war is good for the economy and that the current downturn is the result of too few wars?”-AKlein.
AK., I know that you were being sarcastic, but I must admit that I’m really just *tickled* that this ‘war is good for the economy’ meme floats around [*] at times like these.
Great Britain went into WW2 with six-months cash on hand and the British Pound was the world’s reserve currency. Great Britain was still ‘The Empire’.
It didn’t matter that the war was not a matter of choice, or that it was engaged for the best of all possible reasons (self-defense). That did not matter.
When the war was over, the pound was no longer the world’s reserve currency, the US Dollar was (de facto), and the UK (notice the name-change?) was a financial hostage.
Please & by all means indulge in this fantasy, oligarchs. Do the world a favor… 😉
— — —
[*] like something that – due to it’s flocculent, gaseous consistency – refuses to flush properly…
Meanwhile, back in the US of A, we’re the last place on earth where use of Imperial measures is the standard… Perhaps this bespeaks of a kind of a particularly insidious form of deeply engrained conservatism that’s about to be shattered in a particularly violent manner?
Yes, events half a world away will most assuredly impact on what goes on in the US, but change may unfold in a manner that surprises everyone. The Boy Scouts and running dogs of the 1% are getting less effective with each passing moment. Despite the rhetoric and the likes of that later-day Enabling Act known as the Patriot Act, at some point it will become obvious that nothing can be done to shore up the status quo anywhere. It will, as they say, all go up for grabs.
“When dictatorship is a fact, revolution becomes a right.” ~ Victor Hugo
“When fascism becomes a fact, revolution becomes a duty.” ~ Amadeu de Prado
http://www.thesisa.org (Nothing new there, don’t bother)
Didn’t I see a notice that State has ordered some staff out of the Green Zone and back to the Mother Ship?
Yep. I saw that too.
I think we’re probably pulling out more personnel than we are admitting to the Iraq govt.
Great James… true and keep me laughing.. Here is one for you. Sandy
http://kulturcritic.wordpress.com/posts/isis-rising/
WELL AT LEAST THE GARDENS GROWING WELL, I JUST STOPPED IN TO SEE WHAT CONDITION MY CONDITION WAS IN! I ‘M SWEATING MY A@@ OFF AND NEEDED SOME HYDRATION. THE WORLD CAN GO TO SHEET AS FAR AS i AM CONCERNED. AS LONG AS i HAVE MY LITTLE PIECE OF PARADISE, WHICH I AM NOT ENTIRELY SURE IF I CAN HANG ON TO IN THE FUTURE.
Don’t think for a moment that I did not notice that the usual posters from the left wing of human perfection made no comments on JHK’s pointy jibe towards the Holy “Diversity” shtick.
It has been duly noted.
Hey now,
The week has hardly started and we are not yet even past thirty comments already. I for one don’t want to skip the part where we talk about feelings first. Caring is sharing, so lets not go ‘loosing our heads’ over this lack of concern for diversity thing just yet.
And coming up with a quip combining both lost heads, shrunken heads, as well as the words of the prophet.
Not easy!
Now lets imagine a waist that has the shrunken heads of Geroge W Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Runsfeld, Condi Rice, Colin Powell, Paul Wolfowitz, William Kristol, and William Bennet hanging from it. CAN YOU DIG IT??????
Only so far as the words of the prophet are written on the subway walls for I’ll go nowhere in the direction of United States Code Title 18, Section 871. Expressing admiration for your tzompantli belt might pass muster but I’m not absolutely sure and I wouldn’t want to start a habit.
I’ll admit to you being very clever though.
The Head can survive half a minute or so after being cut off. It can look and wink at people. It has no air to speak with but some heads have shaped word with their lips such as LIE to the accusations being said against them. So apparently the head can still hear as well.
Hey, diversity training does work. But only on those with functioning brain cells and unclogged hearts.
Have a good one.
Are Whites people too?
The dangerous sectarian game that the House of Saud agreed to play (for massive remuneration) with the Western Powers early in the 20th century. Perspective.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38805.htm
When this [consciously ignored] factor is added in, there’s plenty of fuel for social ignition… and not so much for Happy Motoring in the land of indefinite rendition:
“For the moment, it is hard to see how anything can be salvaged in Iraq. The ISIS may cause enough havoc there to shut down Iraqi oil production forever. They can start World War III. They can inspire insurgencies across the whole Islamic world and beyond. The caliphate they establish will then have to figure out how to support a population twenty times as great as the region truly can support with a medieval economy.” -JHK
(Keep in mind the revolts in the M.E. were provoked by the high price/scarcity of FOOD. We either take a lesson or suffer as exemplars.)
“The caliphate they establish will then have to figure out how to support a population twenty times as great as the region truly can support with a medieval economy.”
But, but, but?
Isn’t trying to figure out how to support a population twenty times as great as the region truly can support with a medieval economy exactly the same problem we will have when they go medieval? Seems to me if they go medieval about ten minutes later we go medieval!
But I should not be saying this too loud. I don’t want to wake up Jingo.
Shush now! It is absolutely forbidden to bring up the subject of where we get our comestibles and how they are produced and distributed in either polite OR impolite company! You go too far, Sir; breadsticks at dawn in the churchyard! Bring your second, a nutritionist and a keen appetite…
Breadsticks at dawn? But all I did was ask a question!
It’s not like I actually said if they go down that $107 oil brings us down too.
Breadsticks at dawn? Really?
I thought the only really totally verboten subjects by the USCC was talk of animatronic cyborg replicas of wildlife peeking in at you through your windows or criticism of American drone warfare in any way shape or form.
*Linguistic aside —
“That would put the schnitz on global oil supply lines on a world war scale.” -JHK
I had never heard or read the word ‘schnitz’ before (likely due to long-term cave-dwelling) but it’s nice to have another synonym for ‘kibosh’. Good one.
The word ‘schnitz’ is short for ‘schnitzel’ – a German dish made of veal pounded thin and breaded, then fried. It’s quite good when prepared properly.
Somehow it became an American slang word for ‘trouble’. – maybe as a result of WWII, I’m not sure. The more complete phrase would be “He’s had the schnitzel!”, which was eventually shortened to “He’s had it!”
Although you may have identified one possible source, I think that “schnitz” is actually a Yiddish term meaning a “cut”. Schnitzen in German (and also Yiddish I reckon) means “to cut” or “to carve”. A Schnitzel is a little carving, whence a cutlet.
That makes sense as well. In fact, the German occasionally uses the ‘el’ ending to indicate a diminutive. ‘schnitz-el’. I recall the best schnitzels as being very thin – almost crispy.
Ozone, another fine synonym for “kibosh” is “quietus”. Fine word. Just make sure you pronounce it correctly. The “e” is long and stressed, not short and unstressed (i.e not like “quiet”.)
Thanks guys; fun wit’ woids!
(AKlein, would ‘quietus’ be pronounced, kweye-EE-tus?)
This ISIS group looks like a bunch that would blow up a lot of pipe lines.
Apologies in advance for taking up too much space.
This analysis of the Caliphate might be of interest to some, and I would suspect that Professor Michel Chossudovsky is no slouch in the research department, whatever his ‘leanings’.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38812.htm
Okay, out………….
I figgered this could be the black swan event that brings down civilizations. It came out of nowhere like a summer tornado.
Maybe not. The people paid to worry about this sh-t aren’t too worried. A few minutes ago secretary Kerry gave a speech and it wasn’t about ISIS or even russian tanks today in Ukraine it was about global warming. Yes and Obamas speech other nite at CalState Irvine given about the time that Ukraine C47 was shot down and Iraqi soldiers were being beheadedit . was about you guessed it global warming. today Obama is playing golf in Palm Springs, which might tell you the situation is not all that serious despite what your lying eyes are seeing.
BRH
Maybe not, but then:
As Homer Simpson would say yeah, but what are you going to do?
Remember a bit of stage fright can cause paralysis in the most seasoned of players if the drama is high enough. This drama is enough to make anyone read copy of “The Pet Goat” a bit too long.
“Maybe not. The people paid to worry about this sh-t aren’t too worried. A few minutes ago secretary Kerry gave a speech and it wasn’t about ISIS or even russian tanks today in Ukraine it was about global warming.”-BRH.
That assumes that there’s anything effective that they can do – which they can’t.
If events are out of their control then they won’t be interested in drawing attention to that fact. They will do what politicians love to do when they don’t like the way the conversation is going:
They change the subject.
Ozone and JHK,
Thunderous applause and standing ovations, you hit the nail on the head. The supply and price of bread is the key here.
How do the ISIS types who figure they’ve got things figured out figure they can feed the teeming millions with not only a medieval economy (ie farming with a donkey and a sharp stick) but in a region with bad soil, little rain and scorching temperatures?
This will be a neat trick if they can do it. Thing is, they can’t do it.
Reality is a merciless be-yotch that will inflict at least two lessons: 1) when people get hungry they get irritable in a hurry, 2) Allah won’t fix this.
They need oil revenues to buy food from the world’s bread-baskets. But to get oil revenues they need technically competent people educated in a whole lot more than religious nuttery. Beheading apostates and chanting “death to Amrika” doesn’t feed the kids.
Before the ISIS buffoons blow in on their pick-up trucks, any literate and numerate folk like engineers and administrators will blow out because, if they don’t, they’ll be killed.
And then who’s going to pick up the pieces? Ranting mullahs? Madrassa “educated” know-nothings that know nothing except about truck bombs?
Just wait for the youtube videos with a parade of stick-thin and moribund children.
I would advise a few minutes of quiet contemplation to the chest beating ISIS types, you know, to think things through. Because, for one thing, there’s no lack of arms in them thar dry and dusty hills. ISIS aren’t the only ones with kalashnikovs.
But I’m skeptical. I’ll bet that quiet contemplation isn’t their thing. I’ll bet they have no plan, that they’re making this up as they go along, so terribly exciting is this revolution thing.
So, as sure as were sitting here, if there’s going to be heads on display in the souks, most prominent will be those of ISIS fighters.
With respect to the Iraqis, one might conclude that ‘they’ve had the schnitzel!’
Hey V they robbed all the banks in Mosul and Tikrit and got a pretty good haul about $1 billion in greenbacks.
I would say that would go a long way in buying some pretty good weapons but they captured the best uncle sam has to offer tanks stinger missiles squad automatic rifles .50 cal machine guns artillery F250 pickups humvees AR rifles billions of rounds of .223 ammo and plenty of gear. Enough to do a lot of damage when they drive those humvees and fords into the green zone.
and Jim I don’t thinkl they give a sh-t about those 20 million people. Right now they’re just thinking of wrecking stuff and killing people the more the better.
I read one report where they are nailing people to the cross like at Calvary Hill. Think about that for a moment.
–BRH
“and Jim I don’t thinkl they give a sh-t about those 20 million people. Right now they’re just thinking of wrecking stuff and killing people the more the better.”-BRH.
At this end of the game (over ten solid years of vicious warfare, societal collapse and horror) you may be right.
Screw the F-250 give me a Tacoma any day. Runs forever and it weighs almost as much as a 250..I paid 12 G’s for a 2000 and Toyota bought it back for $17,000 after 5 tears. they didn’t have to do it. It was a customer satisfaction buyback program. Fords suck! My jeeps rotted out within 5 years. Sure buy American if you want Detroit Junk. Look at the militants, they love Toyotas.
“How do the ISIS types who figure they’ve got things figured out figure they can feed the teeming millions with not only a medieval economy (ie farming with a donkey and a sharp stick) but in a region with bad soil, little rain and scorching temperatures?
This will be a neat trick if they can do it. Thing is, they can’t do it”-volodya.
I agree in principle, v. But you are assuming that they want to.
A decade (+) of vicious war-fighting re-organizes priorities.
I’m waiting for the videos of the helicopters evacuating the last of the Americans off the roof of the US embassy in Baghdad.
That’s why they sent the aircraft carrier, the oh so aptly named George HW Bush, there so that they would have an aircraft carrier to push the helicopters off deck of.
They are now being engaged by the Shiite militia and what remains of the Army. They aren’t going to take Baghdad easily. The smooth sailing is over now. Iran may well come in as well.
Why would Sunnis die for a Shiite state? So of course they threw off their uniforms. Iraq wasn’t a viable state once Hussein was gone. All this is simply what must happen. Why stop the process of nature?
This all seems strangely familiar somehow, does it not?
😉
i’ve already started my stopwatch to see how fast this new ‘big’ event that ushers in the long emergency will be pushed into the background like ukraine etc.
so oil’s at $107, that’ll serve to dampen demand for it and push the price back down again.
neat how that works.
peace peaceniks
Gee, I thought that the banking system’s collapse, the 25 percent real-world unemployment and rampant inflation of basic necessities like food were all part of a Long Emergency that started years ago. The unraveling of civilization and political stability worldwide seems like another big clue.
But then, you can still buy a Taiwanese-made Android phone at Costco – complete with a two-year contract that ensures you’ll pay your unemployment check on your Verizon bill – and live in a house you don’t deserve, drive a Nissan Pathfinder you can’t afford, and watch football on your flat-screen. All because we ladle out credit cards and debt so folks making $50K per year can pretend to be middle class. Hope you don’t fall off that treadmill into the Long Emergency.
“Gee, I thought that the banking system’s collapse, the 25 percent real-world unemployment and rampant inflation of basic necessities like food were all part of a Long Emergency that started years ago. The unraveling of civilization and political stability worldwide seems like another big clue.”-Cheesewhiz.
If you lack the life experience to judge our rate of descent (or know that we are descending) then it all seems ‘normal’ and reasonable, doesn’t it? Financial and Commercial collapse be damned.
You *might even* be tempted to believe that an entirely new model of exponential globalized growth can be grown out of a collapsing structure… The sky actually does look like the limit [*], if you’ve never actually flown.
This made me laugh. Thanks ‘whiz.
— — —
[*] meaning _breathable atmosphere_, for the literalists out there.
The simple fact of the matter is that the oil industry is in a state of liquidation; their capital expenditures are increasing exponentially while their production is declining. Down the tubes. The only way the industry can remain viable is a doubling of the price of oil. That will keep them solvent for perhaps 10 years. Then another double will be required. Price is the only mechanism that kills demand. The cause of such a massive increase in price must be exogenous. It cannot be anything else. War fits the bill perfectly. The oil companies can shrug and say, “It’s not our fault. It was the war in Iraq.” We are all in the audience of one long hideous play, where each act produces an evermore odious and disgusting revelation.
Funny, just last Saturday I traded my 19 mph Cherokee for a 50+- Prius. I’m lovin’ it already.
“Price is the only mechanism that kills demand.” -seawolf.
Demand has already been crushed by price increases. This has cosmetically been ‘offset’ by a collapse in employment. Which has resulted in the rug being pulled out from under consumer-dependent enterprise…
“The cause of such a massive increase in price must be exogenous. It cannot be anything else. War fits the bill perfectly.”-seawolf.
Okay. Good luck with that. That’s exactly the kind of thinking that flattens empires.
what if usa gas stations suddenly switch to cash only?
“Given all the jealousy and ill-feeling toward Saudi Arabia, it is a wonder that over the last 30 years no mischief-makers have, for instance, blown up the Ras Tenura oil terminal on the Persian Gulf. ”
If it is not in the interests of the Fed – it won’t get blown up, at least no until the end of the petro-dollars. No conspiracies here, mere observations. Once the new currency takes hold, then we don’t know..it is quite possible that such a thing would happen. It won’t be a pissed off Fed who would sponsor this, no-no.
The days of the currently ruling House of Saud are numbered, it seems.
joomlabliss,
Don’t assume that the US Federal Reserve is in a position to control the slide of the dollar, or that it’s the apex financial predator.
Ever heard of the BIS? The BIS doesn’t convene in NYC or Washington. The Fed reports to Basel (Switz.) to make the BIS’s meetings.
At a deeper level, even the BIS isn’t in control of events at this point. There’s been far too much ‘getting high’ on it’s own ‘supply’ for that (being figurative).
Cheers!
Really curious as to who donated all of those new Toyota and Ford (super duty) pickups to the ISIS boys…
We did, via the Iraqi “security forces” who cut and ran. I have seen a few of our former Humvees as well in their black livery.
Have they blown up any oil fields yet? Not that I’ve heard. And is there any reason to believe that these aren’t the same merry bunch (cutting off heads, burning churches, eating hearts) that Kerry and Co wanted so desperately to support?
What I believe: We are partners with these monsters. Assad was too much for them to take down alone so they now have turned to a weaker Shiite State – and are picking up weapons as they drive south. Iran is the great enemy remember. And they and the Shiites are allied with Russia. We are allied with the Saudis and all things Al Qaeda. Israel wants Iran taken down and this is a step in that direction. The Jewish Neo Cons who dominate our Foreign Policy want the same things Israel does. Coincidence I guess.
Am I the only one to see the murderous irony of ISIS, wife of OSIRIS, mother of HORUS, is the name of the army of SUNNI’s who kicked the SHIITE out of Mosul. ISIS, Queen of Heaven, Lucifer, Lady Liberty, the Whore of Babylon, the Virgin Mary, that statue of a woman in New York Harbor that famously oversaw 9/11. Oh she has so many names.
Yes sounds like a NWO Psy-Op. That’s not to say these fighters aren’t deadly serious about what they’re doing or that they are mere employees. They fully intend to use the New World Order just as the NWO seeks to use them. My bet is on them. Nothing trumps loyalty in the end as Machiavelli, Aristotle, etc made clear.
Freaky! Best get David Icke’s take on it…
No you are not alone:
ISIS
What is it JHK calls John Kerry? A haircut in search of a brain?
Today Kerry notes that the US may use…DRONE STRIKES. I am sure ISIS fighters are shivering in their flip-flops when they are not slipping and sliding in the blood of the beheaded.
I actually would *love* to see the US help Iran take on “the enemy of my enemy” in a way that would lead Iranian youth to toss out the old geezers running Iran. There’s more room for change there than in The Kingdom, where a Sunni/Shite civil war could erupt as soon as the Saud dynasty topples.
But we won’t have a Nixon-in-China moment. Obama, fumbling the end of Bush’s stupid War of Choice while dealing with the Tea Party lunatics at home, may also preside over Guns of August, 2014. This crap could all lead to a global war. We’d best get the gas-rationing coupons out of the vaults. This is going to get very very ugly.
Nixon “opened China” to big business while opening America to their cheap goods and labor. That was a win? For us? Think man.
The Mosquito gives us its saliva while it take our blood. Fair trade, eh?
“The Mosquito gives us its saliva while it take [sic] our blood.”
I like this. There’s a certain poetry to it…
Hello Smokey Joe!
There’s a few things here that I’m interested in:
“Today Kerry notes that the US may use…DRONE STRIKES. I am sure ISIS fighters are shivering in their flip-flops” -Skookum Smokum J.
This is amusing. There was a time – back in 2010 – when the tide of the Afghanistan conflict was going to be turned by drones with ‘x-ray’ [*] imaging that allowed them to see through a roof and several floors of suspect structures.
We saw what a difference that made.
Advertising the latest technological ‘wonder-weapon’ as a military panacea is a tell-tale sign of impending defeat, simply because __strategic problems are not solved by tactical solutions__.
This principle holds true in the economic arena as well.
“This crap could all lead to a global war. We’d best get the gas-rationing coupons out of the vaults. This is going to get very very ugly.”-Vaporated Joseph.
“The price of Oil continues to move higher, with new calls for it to head to $116, from its present perch at $107… – See more at: http://www.dailypfennig.com/2014/06/16/oil-price-soars/#sthash.ZXDjvrgt.dpuf”
Chuck Butler seems to think that there’s a lot of ‘room for growth’ in fuel prices, now that Iraq is in play.
Is a world war in the offing? Well, the last couple of world wars were never ‘supposed’ to happen, until they did. All the key players seemed to assume that the other players would back off, as they had time and time before. Then someone missed their cue and the ‘fit’ hit the ‘shan’.
De-escalation is a delicate business – not unlike certain sex acts, it’s all a matter of timing. One misinterpreted signal and what was so right becomes so very, *very* wrong.
So who knows? We might be sailing Lake Erie in tall ships a few decades ahead of schedule.
Cheers!
There’s a war here too.
3 shot in Hartford this weekend, 2 blacks and 1 puerto rican.
3 dead, no suspects.
All this in the land of Yankee Doodle.
–BRH
George Kennan – the ultimate moderate, a traditionalist in the modern world. From his point of view, your indifference to the survival of the White Race marks you as a dangerous fanatic.
http://www.amren.com/features/2014/06/the-george-kennan-diaries/
As of 4:22PM CDT Huffpo is leading with a story about the Obama admin taking up the fight against LGBT discrimination, I kid you not.
This leads me to believe that this Iraq situation is mostly a charade orchestrated by American “allies” to create a counter balance to the Shia and indulging in the British elite’s past time of pitting Sunni against Shia.
Of course as I type this the Baghdad airport is being shelled, of course the story is released after the NYMEX oil pit is closed for the day.
And keep this in mind, while all this ME doom is being perpetrated the Israeli mouthpieces are strangely silent, hmmmmmmm. I understand the “lets you and him fight” thing, but if this was the Earth shattering event of all time would we not be told what to think and say by people who wouldn’t let a sparrow drop in the ME without a NYT’s headline?
Read my post above. I clearly indicate the Israeli role. And the NYT is letting the “Conservatives” (Neo-Cons) scream about this. It’s a tag team and this is a conservative issue. Don’t believe this caught us by surprise and don’t believe the Democrats aren’t all for it – as witness the Benghazi incident and Kerry’s performance on the Syrian situation.
If Iraq blows up, we should start making friends with Venezuela fast!
Little late, at this point… Although I’m sure the ruling clique would love to let us try… 😉
What does Catherin Austin Fitts mean by the new “Economy 3.0”?
I assume that Economy 1.0 was manufacturing, and Economy 2.0 was “FIRE” (i.e., Finance and Real Estate), right? What is Economy 3.0? Thanks.
http://usawatchdog.com/war-greatest-risk-not-global-financial-collapse-catherin-austin-fitts/
Kudos to Ozone, K-Dog, Voldya et al., nicely done…
Still, I found myself re-reading this:
“Given all the jealousy and ill-feeling toward Saudi Arabia, it is a wonder that over the last 30 years no mischief-makers have, for instance, blown up the Ras Tenura oil terminal on the Persian Gulf. That would put the schnitz on global oil supply lines on a world war scale.”-J H K.
With this dialogue in mind:
“TYLER I wouldn’t be doing that. Unless you know which wires, in what order…
JACK If you know, I know. Jack holds his gun under one armpit, uses both hands to go through the tangle of colored wires.
TYLER Or… maybe I knew you’d know, so I spent the whole day thinking about the wrong ones. Jack chooses one wire, GREEN, holds it in his fingers.
JACK If I’m wrong, we’re both dead..
TYLER This is not about martyrdom. Jack twists the GREEN WIRE around his finger. JACK I’m pulling the green wire.
TYLER Green? Did you say green? Tyler comes a little closer, leaning to try to get a look, seems genuinely concerned.
JACK Yes…
TYLER Don’t pull the green wire. Pull anything but the green wire. JACK Fuck you.” -from the script of Fight Club.
I agree with Voldya that the price of food – specifically food made from grain – is key… Or… It *would* be if we could be sure that we were dealing with very sane, rational people and not high-functioning crazy-folk. Which we no longer can.
I strongly disagree with posters who politely assert that Iraq’s decision-makers are moderate and reasonable. Maybe they were – pre-2003.
After a decade of shock-and-awe invasion, vicious internecine & sectarian warfare (environments that thin out the ranks of the sober-minded) we no longer know what we’re dealing with.
It’s helpful to remember the way Afghanistan used to be – back in the 70’s – and what it (meaning it’s people as well) turned into after a decade of continuous nigh-genocidal conflict.
Remember that when the Taliban first appeared on the scene, they were greeted as law-bringing heroes. Let that settle for a moment.
We no longer know ‘Jack’ about what the leadership culture is over there – partly b/c they don’t seem to know either.
We do know that we now have the opportunity to reap multiple whirlwinds.
And that is what war is good for…
You can’t squash price discovery forever, and one morning you might wake up to discover that the price of all those shenanigans was your political heritage.
No worries. Things like political heritage are like pearls before
White Trash.
And the head may be lost, but the tail’s still wagging.
All the talk of “saving Iraq” is quite amusing, given that there never was an Iraq before the triumphant powers of WW I carved it out of the old Ottoman Empire. For purely self-serving reasons (oil!), England, France and America carved up the middle east for their own purposes, in the process creating Iraq. The fact that it consisted of ethnic groups like Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites that hated each other was beside the point.
Now Iraq is reverting back to what it should have been. But Turkey must be shiting bricks about now, as this all energizes their Kurds, and that will be another fine mess. Unfortunately, after Shrub “broke” Iraq, unleashing all the ethnic hatred that was kept in check by Suddam (like Tito in Yugoslavia), all those scores have to be settled.
The tragedy is that America lost so much blood and treasure in the failed, naïve nation-building fantasies of frat Boy George, Dick, Donald and the rest of their neo-con war criminals buddies (please George et. al., visit Germany – they have warrants and a seat for you at The Hague). Perhaps if they had read a bit of history (I know, a stretch for My Pet Goat George), we wouldn’t be in this mess.
And what’s with all this babble talk about “losing China”, “losing Vietnam” and “losing Iraq”? When will the intelligentsia of America get it that THEY WEREN’T AMERICA’s TO LOSE? Tragically, it’s way beyond time to take care of business at home and leave the rest of the world to live as they wish.
Yeah, yeah, but who’s listening? What business at home? ‘The business of America is business!’ And minding everyone else’s business to the detriment of our own, it seems. I’m waiting for more bridges on major highways and rail lines over major rivers to fall due to rust and poor maintenance before anyone realy notices. Ho hum.
Yours for local agriculture and organic gardening, and donkey carts.
“All the talk of “saving Iraq” is quite amusing, given that there never was an Iraq before the triumphant powers of WW I carved it out of the old Ottoman Empire. For purely self-serving reasons (oil!), England, France and America carved up the middle east for their own purposes, in the process creating Iraq. The fact that it consisted of ethnic groups like Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites that hated each other was beside the point.”-800.
All true. But while we’re at it, let us consider that there was no “Germany” or “Italy” prior to the 1860’s. There was “the Germanies” [plural intended] and a menagerie of regional and hyper-local principalities squabbling on the Italian Peninsula.
There’s a reason why secessionist pressures never seemed to completely disappear, even at the apex of the globalist regime.
The whole modern ‘nation-state’ phenomenon is a figment of steam-driven presses bolted-together with repeater firearms.
Absent the cheap oil, nation-states go back to where they came from: dream-journals of central bankers.[*]
— — —
[*] the collapse of nations and empires is never absolute.
For example: The Po River Valley of northern Italy survived the fall of the roman empire and never actually succumbed to the darkness of the next 700 years.
There will be outliers and survivors, and they will tend to be places that were ‘B-list’ destinations in the pre-collapse world with sufficient resources to get by.
“Have they tried diversity training? I doubt it. That’s not how things are done in …”
I don’t think they believe in diversity and bringing it up to them probably would not be a good idea right now. They would probably cut the conversation short. I also don’t think that any new ‘Recipes of the Greater Levant’ will be featured in any American video travelogs at a time soon. We will have to make do with what we have for a while.
At the same time, Prime Minister al Maliki’s proclivity for authoritarianism–evident in his desire to marginalize Sunnis in the government—forces one to conclude that Iraq is still deeply encapsulated by anti-democratic tendencies. In fact, I would argue that the current prime minister’s failed attempts at approaching minority groups are reflective of a quasi-dictatorial regime.
I see that Hilary has a new book out entitled “Hard Choices”. I assume that the title of her book must refer to Bill Clinton? As they say, a “Hard” Man is good to find.
http://www.amazon.com/Hard-Choices-Hillary-Rodham-Clinton/dp/1476751447/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1402969108&sr=1-1&keywords=hard+choices+hillary+clinton
Hi Pucker,
“I see that Hilary has a new book out entitled “Hard Choices”…-Puckster.
Wouldn’t that be a great title for a satirical porn short-film (of 10 minutes, say).
Sorry if this seems off-topic, but I find that spicing up lighthearted chat of impending doom with a little levity is an effective coping strategy (it always worked before? why do you think that ‘gallows humor’ developed anyway?)
😉
Cheers!
Yeah but people who don’t feel lighthearted levity in the face of impending doom easily get pissed off. Then there is peril these lesser minds will take you literally and seriously. Then they’ll think you bat shit loon crazy.
On the wagon, so to *speak*…
Yes K-Dog, there’s always that…
Personally, in combat-zone or out, ‘on-the-job’ or not, I’ve always found that it keeps me in a better state of mission readiness if I can place concerns about my own fate in the background when I need to.
Call it ‘planned distraction and ignoring’ or ‘constructive compartmentalization’.
Anyway, it’s a proven technique.
OTOH, I’m not interested in offending folk, when avoidable.
After all: “Friends may come and go. But Enemies accumulate”.
“All of us face hard choices in our lives,” Hillary Rodham Clinton writes at the start of this personal chronicle of years at the center of world events. “Life is about making such choices. Our choices and how we handle them shape the people we become.”
This would make a great voice-over in the first scene f the vid’…
B T W, this thing can’t take itself seriously. It has to be done in the spirit of High Camp or not at all.
😉
http://abcnews.go.com/International/ghosts-us-troops-left-kirkuk-base-iraqi-army/story?id=24161191&from=related
Thanks Karah.
I’ve seen more than a few former military bases turn to dust in my time. Never more than the past ten years.
I am amazed that there are people who don’t see what this is.
MrDarling, to pick up an earlier thread, to what do you attribute all the happy talk about the state of the economy I hear (in the media) every day, and the ever rising Dow?
For example, yesterday, in spite of all that’s happening, I heard ‘Home builders optimistic, see best quarter since 2006″ or last week “auto sales reach pre recession levels”. Those kind of gems one hears all the time
Could it be our news organizations aren’t reporting the entire truth? Is it part of their mission to keep up spirits by putting a positive spin on everything?
Also, events in Iraq are presented as just another story behind the death of Casey Kasem and tornadoes in Nebraska, not the cataclysmic, civilization ending failure that it might be. At worst its an unfortunate incident on the other side of the world that might affect gasoline prices thus f-king up our summer vacation road trip.
–brh
F-15’s are scrambling out of Barnes right now. Headed South, They will probably be over your house in about 2 minutes. Just training I’m sure but a huge waste of money. 17 to 30 thousand dollars an hour. They fly all day around here. How are those tax dollars working out for ya ?
Barnes? Is that Westover?
I used to love the airshows up there when I was a kid.
–BRH
Howdy Marlin, Barnes is in Westfield, There cutting half the airlift capacity from Westover where the C5 is based. My brother in law is being redeployed They basically shut Otis and pulled all the Warthogs from Barnes after 9/11. Big Mistake in my opinion, but what do I know. They could scramble better from the Cape for the seaboard . Also they were over the Atlantic in seconds and the sound didn’t bpther anybody but the cod and lobsters. The warthogs were low and slow. The Eagles are freakin’ loud and drive me nuts at 6 AM.
“Could it be our news organizations aren’t reporting the entire truth? Is it part of their mission to keep up spirits by putting a positive spin on everything?”-brh.
When I came back from Afghanistan, friends and strangers would ask me bow the war was going.
The questions that they would ask were so disconnected from what was actually happening, that at one point I asked them if they were talking about some *other* war than the ones I knew about (Iraq-2.0 was still hot at that time).
The job of the US MSM at this point in time is to block, obfuscate, spin and retard the truth. The track record of the top 5 newspapers TV outlets makes that abundantly clear.
The only way you’re going to stay informed is by using intelligence analysis techniques: multiple sources cross-referenced, direct observations and reliable 2nd-person reports and data analysis (financial data tends to be harder to lie with).
To put it bluntly: the MSM must be treated as an opposing organization.
“Also, events in Iraq are presented as just another story behind the death of Casey Kasem and tornadoes in Nebraska, not the cataclysmic, civilization ending failure that it might be. At worst its an unfortunate incident on the other side of the world that might affect gasoline prices thus f-king up our summer vacation road trip.”-brh.
When they don’t like the conversation, they change the subject…
Isn’t it odd that MOST of the news is ‘subject changing’ now?
What does that tell you?
Knowing what we know now about who these people really are, is that actually a bad thing – for *us*?
EDIT: Obviously there’s an “and” that begging for relocation in there. This is what happens when you’re having fun, and you backtrack over a sentence a couple of times more than you should. Apologies.
I can’t yet tell what the US angle is in these latest events in Iraq. But it still seems to fit with my working theory that the point of US foreign policy is to create failed-state dumpster fires all around the borders of Russia and China, on top of deposits of strategic resources, and on the shipment routes such deposits need to travel to market.
Clearly the ISIS/ISIL guys don’t worry too much about artificial lines drawn on maps. Nor about much of anything else but killing, by the look of things. Should they topple the Maliki government in Baghdad, they wouldn’t be able to govern, because they have no intention to govern.
That’s why guys like this, and Boko Haram, and Pravy Sektor, and so on, are so valuable to the US. They won’t ever surrender or negotiate a truce, because they can’t. Anybody with any sense would kill them out of hand given the opportunity. As I would kill a venomous snake that got into my house, if I couldn’t prop open a door and scare it out.
All these guys can do is kill, and make it impossible for anybody to do anything constructive. So, since we seek these people out, fund and arm them and egg them on, clearly it’s our intention that nobody gets anything constructive done where these guys operate.
So, for all the official hand-wringing, naturally the US will do little or nothing in this situation. ISIS/ISIL will terrorize any non-insane Sunnis in Iraq, and will slaughter Shi’ites. That will tie up Iran, who will want to defend Shi’ites. The Maliki government, thought Shi’ite, is corrupt and brutal and won’t be mourned by anyone. Oil production will be hampered, driving the price up. This will damage western economies, but enrich the elites who drive policy. This will put further pressure on Europe, making them more dependent on US military power, and putting Europe and Russia at further cross-purposes.
If the purpose is violent, blood-soaked chaos, US policy is a good way to achieve it.
At least Iraq has taken the US
“mind” off the matters of the Ukraine
Today because of an unpaid gas bill(4,5 Billion $) to Russia the Russian have giving up on the Ukrainian failure to pay and have turned off the gas
Whoi pays to get it on again…not the Ukranians
and not the Euro nations who will look the other way
so Uncle Sam better find lots of cash right away
they say said the Russians will demand future payment in Gold
and no more non-payment
whgoi can blame them
So why did Washington intervene in the affairs of a bankrupt Ukraine,and became responsible for their debts
very clever polices Uncle Sam,
Mister Darling, My take on these firebrand “revolutionaries” is they haven’t thought things through.
Rationality? Not a stitch. Nowhere to be found, especially in the “leadership”, such as it is.
Looks to me like every closet psychopath in the Middle East joined the cause for no other reason that to indulge sadistic beheading/torture fantasies. Madness blooms like flowers in the spring, like in 20th century Europe, where even normally rational people commit dreadful acts simply because it’s the thing to do.
Feeding people? You’re right, the ISIS boys don’t give a shit. But that area is bristling with really nasty individuals. Which is why I think the prospect of ISIS heads on sticks isn’t a far-fetched one. Especially if food runs short.
“Feeding people? You’re right, the ISIS boys don’t give a shit. But that area is bristling with really nasty individuals. Which is why I think the prospect of ISIS heads on sticks isn’t a far-fetched one. Especially if food runs short.”-volodya.
We’ve seen this scenario before – in SE-Asia.
Pol Pot’s people were out of their heads, but they did have a plan: headcount reduction.
They didn’t last long, but they didn’t have to. By the time the Vietnamese Army rolled across the border on their own ‘civilizing mission’, the damage was done.
I’ve heard this process referred to as a “blurring” of the borders set by various western powers a hundred years ago.
Yeah, well, I wouldn’t exaggerate American or western influence which IMO is an exceedingly thin frosting on a multi-millennia deep, multi-layered civilizatonal “cake”. That, to me, would be just more evidence of the hubris that drew the US into Iraq in the first place.
Nobody points the finger of blame for Middle Eastern dysfunction at the Turks, yet Ottoman mis-rule is one layer in the “cake” that’s centuries deep.
The Sunni-Shia fight is another deep layer. Goes back practically to day-one of Islam 14 centuries ago. We see sectarian car bombings and murders and ask ourselves so innocently, like ten year old girls, why can’t they all just get along? I don’t know, sweetie, they just can’t.
There are people like Chaldeans and Assyrians that ran kingdoms three and four thousand years ago, that I thought were long extinct as identifiable ethnicities, yet are still existing. You find ruins out there ten thousand years old. And so I watch the ponderous ponderings of pundits on Sunday morning TV and it makes me laugh. WTF do they know?
You hear Obama talking about “political solutions” and I laugh even harder. I know some folks from that neck of the woods and what they tell me is that, out there, a suggestion of compromise is confirmation of weakness. If you want your enemies to redouble the intensity of their attacks just start sounding “reasonable”.
Forget “democracy”. Running a clean vote isn’t for real men, it’s for pussies, so is respecting election results, winners don’t reach out to losers, they try to kill them, losers don’t make magnanimous concession speeches and walk away saying un-manly things like “the people have spoken”. No, losers either go into hiding or try to kill the winners.
Bush was a knuckle-head and so were the bozos advising him. So was Tony Blair and so was the entire political and military establishment that wanted Saddam out.
So Saddam is out and so is Muammar. How do we like the results? Not so good? Yet we have a constituency that says go back in! We can go in for another thousand years and only scratch the surface.
“Bush was a knuckle-head and so were the bozos advising him. So was Tony Blair and so was the entire political and military establishment that wanted Saddam out.”-volodya.
And so are the people that replaced his administration, b/c they are also taking direction from the same set people.
First, Russia laughed off the few sanctions that the current administration threw at them. They actually logged revenue growth.
The sanctions couldn’t have been any stronger without depriving some US/UK oligarch of revenue, so the whole thing was a farce from the start.
Now fuel prices spike b/c of the situation in Iraq. Once again another windfall for Mother Russia & another black-eye for the US/UK axis.
We need a laugh-track for this 😉
Take-Away: Oligarchs really, *really* SUCK at running things.
First of all, a minor point of order. It is presumptuous to assume breadsticks shall be the weapon of choice. Traditionally, the one challenged is given the choice of weapon. “Honest Abe” chose the broadsword.
So K-Dog, what’s your pleasure? A nice baguette, hard pretzel, schnitzel, dinner roll, winter squash, or overripe tomatoes? The choices are endless.
I find the term ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) disingenuous. Of course it is catchy, on the TV news, for a functionally illiterate US population who cannot understand terms such as “al-Sham” or “the Levant”. The goal of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (at least in the short-term) is a Caliphate stretching from Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan on through Syria and into Iraq. Al-Sistani (a moderate?) has called for the reactivation of Shiite militia. Al-Sadr won’t take this sitting down. Expect the Mahdi Army to shortly make a reappearance. And then there are the wishes of the Grand Ayatollah to take into consideration
ISIL was pushed back in Baqubah by Iraqi military and Shiite militia.
And we wanna dive into this shit? Clusterfuck indeed!
I’m growing Luffa the fruit of which when young is edible but which when mature is the source of luffa sponges. We could try and throw luffa sponges at each other but they may not fly twenty paces. Perhaps taters would work better. I’m potating this year, growing Dark Red Norlands and Yukon Golds.
I’m a total gardening novice but if K-Dog doesn’t get collapse ready I would not be channelling the inner dog of shining light.
Brought Mrs. Dog up to speed on IRAQ.
Her comment to me was “Didn’t anybody in our government know this would happen?”
I recalled a conversation I had in about 2005 with a friend who was convinced we should not be in Iraq. He told me it was a powder keg because Sunnies and Shias hate each other. That they have hated each other for a thousand years and there was no way we were going to make them stop hating. I had to reply back:
“Smart people have known what has been going on over there all along but we don’t have smart people in our government.”
Leading me to speculate. Had we time, perhaps an improvement in our system of governance would be a good idea.
K.,
Couldn’t we just make our gum’mint leaderers more smarterer? That should do ‘er.
(Let me know how you make out with the taters. Soil type, mounding techniques, water, etc. I’m not having too much luck growing them in poor soil; perhaps not enough organic material to keep them happy. I was hoping maybe there would be ONE crop I could grow in this rock and sand stuff that wouldn’t take extensive amending of the soil other than removing the stones above 1/2″. Oh well.)
One recommendation: “Gardening When It Counts” by Steve Solomon…
For those keeping track, the celery that I thought was working out has officially died. Oh well. More room for ‘taters!
Cheers!
What is amazing is the consistent nature of religion in creating schisms necessary for strife. Orthodox Jews. Non-orthodox Jews. Roman Catholics. Protestants. Christian Orthodox, be it Russian or Greek. Lutherans. Methodists. Baptists. Shiite Muslims. Sunni Muslims. I for one would welcome a one world religion even if I had to worship Satan. I mean could this possibly be any worse than what we have now? All these religions are worshiping the SAME GOD, and still they fight and kill each other incessantly. Enough already. There is nothing more despicable than killing in the name of God.
Yes for 666 is the number of Man. And Communism – and Political Correctness is our homegrown form of Communism – is nothing but worship of Man as the consumer unit, animal, and/or robot. And Fraternity, Liberty, Equality? The opposite of each of them is the result of seeking them. Men cannot be made to be brothers. Just think about the idea of “making” people be brothers. Who does the making?
As for the other two, the old saying says it best: Free Man aren’t equal. Equal Men aren’t free. Because again, only a third party can make men equal in an artificial sense. And obviously there is no real freedom in such a situation.
As Bishop Sheen said, Communism puts the cart before the horse. The early Christians loved each other and thus shared their resources. But making people share their resources isn’t going to make them love each other. Typically the Commissar knows this and doesn’t care. You see he or she doesn’t really believe Communist Ideology either. And as to you input, what religion has claimed more lives than the demonic one of Communism?
ZOG is on the march…leaving a path of chaos, destruction, mayhem, carnage, death. Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine………
Who could miss this?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-06-17/another-exponential-chart-americans-who-renounce-their-citizenship
Place This Item In the ‘Going Medieval’ File.
The cheer goes: “Lets Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go… Medieval!”
Greco-Greco wrasslin’!
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-06-17/greece-goes-medieval-23rds-wages-paid-barter
welles better take a quick look, or he’ll be extremely disappointed in his ‘solid’ choices again, despite his valuable and universally desired wondrous skills.
I’ve been keenly interested in comparing events in Greece and in Iceland since 2007.
They stand in stark contrast, do they not?
As a sidebar; I must admit that I’ve never found the prospect of going medieval’ appealing in the least.
Do we have to go full ‘medieval’ (Asian or European? really? why?).
I always thought that an enlightened version of the 1930’s/40’s sans 90% of the happy-motoring would be just fine.
😉
Whaddaya say?
I agree! Though we have to be careful of entrenched hierarchies and those who pretend they’re ‘entitled’ to leech of of the labor of others. THAT shit needs the imprintation of public shame that it deserves.
Oh, and thanks for the book recommendation; most helpful, thanks.
“Though we have to be careful of entrenched hierarchies and those who pretend they’re ‘entitled’ to leech of of the labor of others.”-Oz.
Folks really were trying everything back in the 30’s. The ‘Ham & Eggers’ were just one of half-a-dozen doomed movements.
Quite a lively time.
Just for the record, I was mainly referring to the level of technological implementation. Theoretically they were far along, but at the start of the war even the Wehrmacht was still using horses, aircraft were barely used for mass-transportation, ship and rail were the backbones of long-distance transportation.
Of course all of this was contingent on global trade networking, albeit rudimentary by today’s standards. The population figures and resource profiles won’t line up.
But if you envision a ‘soft-landing’ from where we are now to a place where 1/2 the world-pop has died back, and where entire cities can be salvaged for parts materials, it looks more like the 30’s/40’s than *Simple-Folk World*.
Just a thought.
Cheers!
The Report From Iron Mountain is clear: war is necessary to maintain control. Of course the Elite knew that what they were doing wouldn’t work. But by doing it they killed or crippled able bodied White Men and made heaps of money. How is that not a win in and of itself? The Israeli report Securing the Realm makes clear that breaking up Middle Eastern States is the real goal – thus they are right on target. And that provides (I assume) the best chance of American Corporations getting their hands on the oil for the long term. In any case, we are obviously allied with the Sunni, both the official Saud regime and the radicals who hate the Sauds as the traitors to Islam. We’re in bed with both – and against the Shia who are allied with Russia.
It might backfire on us of course. After all, as Sayyid Qutb made clear in his book “Milestones”, the nation state is not Islamic. Only the Caliphate will do. Thus by undermining nations we may be helping them. Why else would they be playing along? To imagine that they are just mercenaries or simply crazy are both very dangerous delusions.
Some good background for those just tuning in. The videos are good.
ISIS info:
From theGuardian, Iraq crisis: Barack Obama sends in US troops as Isis insurgency worsens
And from the WA post, ISIS, beheadings and the success of horrifying violence
If Janet wants her petrodollar protected, then she needs add a zero to her computerized counterfeiting. She’s “the decider” if W’s Iraqi adventure continues.
Meanwhile Mike, folks with sufficient means, motive & opportunity make another sort of choice;
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-06-17/another-exponential-chart-americans-who-renounce-their-citizenship
Hope you don’t fall off that treadmill into the Long Emergency.
No, I’m doin’ fine paying cash for everything for years now, zero debt, apartment paid for, car paid for, house paying for itself…
I have more work than I can handle by myself because I have acquired skills that are in great demand, and often hire aids to assist me. Some of them are in NY, some are in China. I’m happy to help whomever I sense is a good soul & hard worker.
Treadmill must be something you know about from being on it, or something invented for the ‘Long Emergency’…I’m not familiar with it, in any case. I got a debit card and a credit card I don’t even know the number or password to.
Yeah I know people are suffering. The poor ye shall always have with ye.
I help out where I can and it’s appropriate, I’ll be helping a brain-tumor patient pay his bill soon so he can get operated on, money ain’t worth shit when you see someone needy like that.
I ain’t got no problems, brother.
kontrahend
Isaiah 13:20
Just catching up with my blog reads, so I missed this entry a few days ago.
I love Isaiah – his stuff is great. I must say, though, that his prophesies, while being generally accurate, were also fairly safe. Likewise for the prophesies attributed to Jeremiah, Daniel, Jesus, etal. These men (among others) could plainly see the inappropriateness of civilization to the tribal-communal nature of the human animal, and understood the rise-and-fall trajectory that had been the fate of preceding societies.
In fact, the entire OT might be seen as a history and commentary on humankind’s earlier experiments with this thing we call civilization.
the verse has to do with the future of the area an hour (by truck) south of bagdad.
The Swiss are the most advanced people on Earth – followed by the other Northern Europeans. They have a functional infrastructure designed to collapse in case of invasion. We have a dysfunctional infrastructure with no plans for the public safety. Any and all planning is done by and for the Elite. Meanwhile they plot our ongoing invasion from the South.
http://bldgblog.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/various-forms-of-lithic-disguise.html
I’ve been banging on for years, that the population of Saudi, pre oil, around 1900 was about 1 million. Now it’s close to 30 million. Ans the still live in a desert and depend entirely on oil input to support life on that scale.
Yet they have the same certainty that Allah will keep those oilwells filled, as do Texans in the belief that Jesus will do the same favour for them.
When Saudi breaks under the strain, as it must the oilflow will cease and the global economy crashes as everyone fights over the mirage that was oilwealth.
tinyurl.com/oa854gt
Matthew 5:45
Since the most severe of the drought has been confined to the south which is also home to the majority of fanatical evangelicals, a cult of the rain god has developed. they are under the illusion that the recent rains are the direct result of many prayers on their part and a sign of gods blessing. they are hopelessly wrong and should be preaching conservation and outing the members of their groups who make money off the hording of many natural resources, water being one, oil being two, labor coming in a close third because of nonliving wages and the so called “non profit” volunteerism promotions.
Another good Bible passage!
Existentialism in its purest form… I also like Job and Ecclesiastes for this line of thought.
“They have the same certainty that Allah will keep those oilwells filled, as do Texans in the belief that Jesus will do the same favour for them.”
Yes, and this from a book I’m reading. The original source is from ‘The History of the Turkish Empire from the Year 1623 to the Year 1677′ — Paul Rycaut. The passage is from A’ Journal of the Plague Year’ — Daniel Defoe
Then he proceeded to tell me of the mischievous conse-
quences which attend the presumption of the Turks and
Mahometans in Asia, and in other places, where he had
been (for my brother, being a merchant, was a few years
before, as I have already observed, returned from abroad,
coming last from Lisbon), and how, presuming upon their
professed predestinating notions, and of every man’s end
being predetermined, and unalterably beforehand decreed,
they would go unconcerned into infected places, and con-
verse with infected persons, by which means they died at
the rate of ten or fifteen thousand a week, whereas the
Europeans, or Christian merchants, who kept themselves
retired and reserved, generally escaped the contagion.
Emphasis mine, It seems to be a characteristic of human nature to live a deluded life that imagines special protections. That or a serious mental affliction as severe as the distemper of any plague.
Someone else observed the same thing in 1923:
“There are never any suicides in the quarter among people one knows
No successful suicides.
A Chinese boy kills himself and is dead.
(they continue to place his mail in the letter rack at the Dome)
A Norwegian boy kills himself and is dead.
(no one knows where the other Norwegian boy has gone)
They find a model dead
alone in bed and very dead.
(it made almost unbearable trouble for the concierge)
Sweet oil, the white of eggs, mustard and water, soap suds
and stomach pumps rescue the people one knows.
Every afternoon the people one knows can be found at the café.” Montparnasse — Ernest Hemingway
What’s the workaround to get to the first 146 comments? I’m sure I’m not the only one who is having this problem; I see only the most recent 6 comments, and when I hit the “Older Comments” button, I just go to the top of the list of…6 recent comments.
Oh, I get it. This latest page is:
http://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/heads-you-lose/#comments
To get to the first page of comments, you have to change the URL to:
http://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/heads-you-lose/comment-page-1/
It’s a little clunky but it works.
Here you go :
Page 1
“Hard Choices” by Hilary Clinton….
“Drawing on conversations with numerous leaders and experts, Secretary Clinton offers her views on what it will take for the United States to compete and thrive in an interdependent world. She makes a passionate case for human rights and the full participation in society of women, youth, and LGBT people. An astute eyewitness to decades of social change, she distinguishes the trendlines from the headlines and describes the progress occurring throughout the world, day after day.”
Did you want to BE Hilly… is that it?
The only thing germane about that subject is that she’s gonna be POTUS and she fucked up everything she touched as Receptionist of State. Sound like future fun in the offing? (There’s no Hillary there inside Hillary; just a hollow vessel filled with a dark and vampiric squirming Ambition.)
Hard Choices for Breakfast—-Sugar Puffs, or Fruit Loops?
“Hard Choices” by Hilary Clinton….
“Drawing on conversations with numerous leaders and experts, Secretary Clinton offers her views on what it will take for the United States to compete and thrive in an interdependent world. She makes a passionate case for human rights and the full participation in society of women, youth, and LGBT people. An astute eyewitness to decades of social change, she distinguishes the trendlines from the headlines and describes the progress occurring throughout the world, day after day.”
If your “Choice” is “Hard” for more than 4 hours, then you may need to call your doctor?
“She makes a *p-a-s-s-i-o-n-a-t-e* case for . . .” the voice-over fades out as the high-def video camera Zooms IN…
This thing works a lot better as material for and Extremely High Camp film proj’. Could be a 5-star comedy in the art-house circuit.
On the other hand, if you actually want me to take the Clinton Clan et al. seriously, I find that funnier.
[I’m pretty certain that you don’t Puckster]
Cheers!
“I have to imagine that distrust for civilian control of the US military by a corps of rising officers will reach never-before-seen depths.”- J H K.
I have to agree. The past 13 years have embroiled the US Military Establishment (et al.) in the most micro-managed campaigns in American history.
The only example of a military that was more choker-chained than ours in the modern era might’ve been Stalin’s. [*]
— — —
[*] He had political attaches embedded in the military all the way down to the platoon level, all of them ready to summon the NKVD to whack anyone at a moments notice… lovely.
He did more to soften Russian resistance against Hitler’s initial onslaught than the entire Wehrmacht’s first echelon, combined. This is what happens when politicians attempt to fit facts on the ground to ideology inside their heads.
“Hard Choices” by Hilary Clinton…..
The Obama administration (including Hilary Clinton as Secretary of State) literally spent trillions of dollars on useless bank bailouts and ruinous foreign wars, and Hilary has the audacity to approve a book written by her ghost writer entitled “Hard Choices”. Think about it….
That money could have been spent putting unemployed young people to work rebuilding the country’s infrastructure—high speed rail, repairing aged nuclear power plants just waiting to melt down, etc. ]
Hilary’s book should be called “Tragic Choices”.
“The bonehead American news media affects to be too stunned to even ask the pertinent questions, starting with: is that all it took to undo eight years and — what? — maybe two trillion dollars in US-sponsored nation-building? Oh, plus 4,000 US dead and 50,000 wounded. So, my question would be: when do the political recriminations kick in? Pretty soon, I reckon, and when they do, expect them to be fiercely perverse.” – jhk –
We could wish, JHK. I don’t see it happening. The guilt is too widespread, and includes all corporately anointed presidential contenders, including Hillary. They all signed off on this disaster.
I keep asking myself – would it have been different with Romney?
Or with Kerry? Or Gore? Or McCain?
Who knows? Definitely worse with McCain though, IMO. Although who knows, really? I’ve never agreed with Darth Vader Cheney, but he gets this one right. I’l link to it just to torque some commenters off.
“Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many. Too many times to count, Mr. Obama has told us he is “ending” the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—as though wishing made it so. His rhetoric has now come crashing into reality. Watching the black-clad ISIS jihadists take territory once secured by American blood is final proof, if any were needed, that America’s enemies are not “decimated.” They are emboldened and on the march.” http://online.wsj.com/articles/dick-cheney-and-liz-cheney-the-collapsing-obama-doctrine-1403046522
I see the link to “older comments” still does not work properly.
Can somebody explain why this comment thread needs to be broken up in pages, anyway? All of the thought and energy put into the first page of comments is now gone forever.
It’s a good metaphor for Iraq – but without the blood and suffering.
Janos – you might want to take a look at the link to “white trash” posted at the bottom of this page.
What do you find significant in this article? Why is oy at the bottom of Kunstler’s page?
As far as I understand it, the Southern White Elite looked down at poor Whites and encouraged Blacks to do so as well. Same thing in old Australia: Abos adopted the English prejudice against the Irish. When the Irish slaves tried to escape, the Abos being superb trackers would go and find them – often beating them half to death on the return trip. A bad move since the future largely belonged to the Irish and as they moved into the Outback they took revenge against the foolish Black savages.
I’m watching a PBS special on the Freedom Riders. They keep doing close up of Whites smoking. They just cut away to show a close up of a White National Guardsman’s cigarette. Bizarre but effective under today ethos – anything to slander Whites. Inspiring to see the extent of White resistance to the Communist takeover of America. You should be proud of it but I know you are not.
The Civil Rights Movement triumphed and now Whites can’t ride public transportation safely – or even walk down the street.
PBS prides itself of having no commercials, but what if you want to get a snack or go the bathroom? Capitalism has its strong points….
oy should be it
“Can somebody explain why this comment thread needs to be broken up in pages, anyway?”-progress4.
There is a way to spin this as a useful feature, not a ‘bug’;
Pagination forces us to move relentlessly forward like a line of convict soldiers, with commissar’s pistols and machine-guns at our backs.
“Ni shagu nazad!”[*]
Think of it as the ‘Stalingrad’ feature. It has pedigree.
— — —
[*] “not one step back!” – soviet-era war-cry, and in the case of ww2, they meant it, with a vengeance… ;]
BTW, lest there be any doubt: I’m not taking any of this seriously. This isn’t our house. I’m not seeing much of a percentage in bitching about it.
http://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/heads-you-lose/comment-page-1/#comment-170804
“If the purpose is violent, blood-soaked chaos, US policy is a good way to achieve it.” – swmnguy –
Interesting post, swmn. Personally, I think the US elite is so fucked-up that the sort of deliberate organization you suggest is completely impossible for them. (Cheney in the NYTimes is evidence.) Nevertheless, the effect of spreading blood-soaked chaos is the same.
oops – It was Cheney in the WSJ.
And I realize one can, with difficulty, link to comments from the previous page. I didn’t say it was a perfect metaphor for Iraq, did I?
BTW, “white trash” and the other trackbacks are only at the bottom of the first page, not this second one. Go figure.
Hill can be swift boated. Here’s how: she hates White Military and Police Men. Just get a bunch of these guys together on camera and have them tell their Hill stories. Apparently she swears like a sailor at her own security guards.
http://www.fortworthgasprices.com/Price_By_County.aspx?z=1&lat=38.890837&long=-96.591588&ft=A&tl=48
usa gas price heat map
Thanks for the map. Useful.
reported on local news that the mini gas shortage is due to stations that are limited to one supplier instead of several. what about electricity? there is only one supplier for that, AEP. so if it is not about supply then it must be about price. the pumps i took a picture of last week, have a high demand because location and amount of trucks stopping. yet, it is one of many a redundent station mainly serving locals. the stations on the sides of the hwy never go dry for long or at peak hours with a max of 10 pumps. the price is always higher on south side and lower going north. yet, the overall price is rising going into high pop zones which are situated on coasts and going north.
there is definitely a serious game being played here and i am not sure if there are any defined rules. maybe its simply: gold rules.
“The bonehead American news media affects to be too stunned to even ask the pertinent questions, starting with: is that all it took to undo eight years and — what? — maybe two trillion dollars in US-sponsored nation-building? Oh, plus 4,000 US dead and 50,000 wounded.”-J H K.
That is all it took, b/c at the end of the day – despite the flashy explosions and the piles of dead – nothing substantive was ever accomplished. Tactical strength does neutralize Strategic weakness.
Some of us knew it downrange, while it was in our faces. We also knew we better than to say a thing about it.[*]
Likewise, nothing got accomplished back on the Home-front during the ‘Recovery’ that we keep hearing about:
Wages collapse, so does the retail/commercial sector:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-06-17/myth-wage-inflation-comes-crashing-down-real-hourly-earnings-slide-lehman-bankruptcy
+
http://dsnews.com/news/06-12-2014/unemployment-stifling-housing-market
“With fewer people working, economic ramifications ripple across the economy, especially in the housing market. The U.S. currently has 92 million men and women over the age of 16 who are not working—an all-time high. This is a sizable population who won’t be purchasing a home any time soon.”-Nuiry.
Truly a “Geography of Nowhere”. It comes from naught, begetting nothing. Confusion is it’s native tongue. Hunger is it’s fruit and Despair it’s only spoor.
— — —
[*] “If you Think, don’t Talk. If you Talk, don’t Write. If you Write, don’t Publish. If you Publish, don’t Complain”.-advice for autocratic environments.
Much like the Irish Mob: Never write when you can talk. Never talk when you can whisper. Never whisper when you can nod. And never nod when you can blink.
The Italians on the other hand were big talkers. And the FBI got countless hours of them sitting around the table discoursing on every subject under the sun as they drank their wine after dinner.
A welcome addition. Thank you… ;]
“The bonehead American news media affects to be too stunned to even ask the pertinent questions, starting with: is that all it took to undo eight years and — what? — maybe two trillion dollars in US-sponsored nation-building? Oh, plus 4,000 US dead and 50,000 wounded.”-J H K.
That is all it took, b/c at the end of the day – despite the flashy explosions and the piles of dead – nothing substantive was ever accomplished. Tactical strength does neutralize Strategic weakness.
Some of us knew it downrange, while it was in our faces. We also knew we better than to say a thing about it.[*] — MD
********************
If it should behoove us to stare, horrified, into the face of “the policy that dare not outline its’ agenda”, consider me duly ‘behooved’ by reading this short analysis. The ultimate in conspiratorial hogwash, you might say? Through a properly cold-blooded lens it shows the awful truth, and a not-yet-disproven theory I’ve held since George the Lesser sauntered, cowboy-style, into the highest office in the land and threw back the curtain to expose the banality of a gargantuan evil and its’ gimlet-eyed practitioners, mumbling and swaying over their cauldrons of bubbling blood.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38844.htm
“What do [the billions who have grown up outside of our moralizing echo chamber] know that most of us do not know, or perhaps more accurately, do not care to admit?” — Thomas S. Harrington
I’m going with Mr. Harrington’s answer to that impertinent and dangerous question.
MD, what you came to know seems to be quickly and efficiently un-learned. Why is this central lesson have to be learned the very hardest way, EVERY TIME? (It makes me sick at heart and sadly misanthropic. “Homo Sapiens”? Not so much when these ‘policies’ can be hidden in plain sight, and not a peep from a population of unthinking and uncaring drones.)
(That should be: Why ‘does’ this central lesson, etc.)
As an effect of these ‘revelations’, I have to temper my interactions with most people with a heavy dose of suspicion as to their ultimate motives. Sure, I get used to it as I can’t let it get in the way of living and having a few jollies here and there, but an essential facet of life can’t be happily and freely engaged in (with exceptions of course). That would be letting trust and sharing flow and strengthen our social bonds. It perversely follows that those running this joint like it just fine that we stay locked at each others’ throats so we can’t focus on the writing on the wall. A truly diabolical design that can only end in far-flung fragmentation and isolation. (Some think this the best of all outcomes; IMHO, they are patently insane.)
Karma. You and your kind overthrew the Mainstream Culture of America and threw open the borders. Now you wonder why you feel massive alienation.
American Culture was boring, tepid, white bread? Of course it was: all large cultures are like that. The vast majority of human beings are boring, half domesticated, talking primates. That’s why Hierarchy exists: so the interesting and intelligent can have their own spaces – and of course, rule. Who else should rule? Certainly not the masses you despise so deeply as individuals?
Of course old America wasn’t perfect in this model either. You should have been taken up a few notches higher to keep you contented. The Elite was too insular – and yes, far too focused on making money and wealth as the open sesame to power. But none of this give any support to your rabid egalitarianism.
Face it: your observation and feeling of wrongness was accurate. But your diagnosis was inaccurate since it focused on Elitism as the problem instead of seeing the problem as this Elite not Elitism per se. And since your diagnosis was wrong you prescription was disastrously wrong as well.
“MD, what you came to know seems to be quickly and efficiently un-learned. Why is this central lesson have to be learned the very hardest way, EVERY TIME?”-Oz.
My answer:
Part of it is social-amnesia induced by the trauma [1] and part of it is a gloss of rationalization over stuff that a) most people have NO control over – and who wants to admit powerlessness?
and b) this empire and any other feeds on bloody conflict.
In my travels I’ve noticed that there are cultures that despite all their failings are still __fundamentally reasonable and reachable__ [2] and others where that light burned out a long while ago. And those unreasonable places have all been or are ‘imperial’.
Imperial cultures are *ssh*le cultures and Power Is Exercised for It’s Own Sake. [3]
— — —
[1] it doesn’t take a decade for people to get all nostalgic about the last round of slaughter. It’s not just the civilians, I see veterans doing it too.
[2] by ‘reasonable’ I mean that a people can be reasoned with at a human-to-human level regardless of legal or religious constraints. matters are judged with proportionality aforethought, mitigating circumstances are actually taken into account, flexibility is exercised whenever appropriate.
[3] an example of an imperial outburst: “WHY did we flatten the city!? Because we bloody-well f*cking CAN!!”… you can exchange the british linguistic gloss for a score of other imperial tongues. they’ve all made equivalent statements.
And now you understand why Mr. Cheney sneers…
Cheers!
😉
Thanks for the thoughtful response; it’s helpful and not patently insane.
“helpful and not patently insane.”-Oz.
Ozone, you set a high standard, in these ‘troubled times’… 😉
Cheers!
Philippines 1916
France 1918
Germany 1945
Japan 1945
Germany 1945
Korea 1953
Serbia 1999
Oz there have been times when we liberated people, and left places better than we found them.
–BRH
…That was then, this is now, but I do take your trenchant point.
Andy Singer’s got an unfortunate flow chart to explain the ‘now’ part:
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user3303/imageroot/2014/06/20140617_FPflow.jpg
I’d agree with you B R H, except for one of those dates: “Serbia 1999”
We ignored all of Milosevic’s attempts to negotiate. Then we rejected his list of concessions & terms.
So we bombed the Serbia for 78 days with 14000 bombs killing 2000 civilians. And the end of that we presented *him* with the same deal that he presented to *us*, almost word for word.
For what? So we could turn Kosovo over the “KLA” – an organization that was listed as a terrorist group until 1998, when it was delisted w/out explanation, and led by Kosovar mafia dons (drugs and kidnapped women were their stock-in-trade).
Better off? We have US security contractors over there ostensibly to eradicate human-trafficking, actually __trafficking__ in under-aged women and living with 14-year olds.
And Kosovo is still a dump.
But humanitarian issues weren’t the issue. That really didn’t matter. It was about the ‘principle’ of the thing, you see. . . 😉
It was yet another counterproductive imperial intervention, wrapped in a ‘humanitarian tamale-wrapper.
B T W, I’m not sure that the Filipinos would agree with you about America’s colonization of the islands, either. But that is a separate issue.
Point taken on the Philippine Insurrection, MD. Of course that morphed into the Moro War, which didn’t see its last battle until 1916.
That whole era fascinates, me. It used to be hard to find books about it but in the last decade or so more and more books have come out, including these highly literate, perceptive accounts written by soldiers and sailors who served in the war. An interesting point is that the VFW was started by Philippine war vets who were not even recognized as such by the govt, the dominant vets org. at the time being the GAR.
Another interesting thing is that early on all the COs and senior officers were Civil War and Indian War Vets, all of them. Then a few years later people like Collins, MacArthur and George Marshall begin showing up to carry on the war, WW2 commanders.
–BRH
“America’s top diplomat John Kerry says the US is “now open” to working with Iran in a bid to halt the collapse of the Baghdad government”
Or, as Churchill said after the fall of France, “Oh fuck, what are we going to do now?”
AmerOceania has always been at peace and closely allied with EastPersia……….
Thank you for the latest NewSpeak update…
When I was younger I liked to compare the American Empire to Imperial Rome, but then I became much more familiar with it and history in general.
We really are not a modern analog for the Western Roman Empire. Nope. We are much more like ‘the other guys’ or roman history; Byzantium.
So by this ‘rationale’ Iraq is our *Manzikert* and this is our Year 1071 AD moment…
Have fun at your homecoming, Emperor!
Chip-cheerio!
EDIT: “or” = “of”.
@ozone-
A Very Olde Method For Growing Taters In Shitty Areas:
Stack 2-3 used tires vertically. Fill the tires with a good mix of compost and potting soil.
Mound the soil in center of tire. Take the seed potaoes, cutting into chunks, and plant eye up. Keep well watered.
As the plants establish themselves, add additional tires and compost. The potatoes will continue to grow “up” eventually filling your growing stack of tires.
My neighbor does it this way, as did my mother-in-law. They are limited on yard space.
I made a tater box. Same idea as the tires but I had a pile of scrap lumber so my wood was free. I have a large pile of leaf mold, it is nice and black and I will be building up my soil level with it.
Very good, youse guys! Seems them taters do like their organic material to grow big and strong, first and foremost. I’ll give it another go and try this technique, thanks.
You can also plant potatoes in a hay bale. Weird but it works.
@K-dog any anyone else-
“Her comment to me was ‘Didn’t anybody in our government know this would happen?’ ”
Of course they know. I am reminded of a remark Van Jones made
“…They know, and they don’t know what to do. And they are terrified that if they do anything they’ll loose their positions. So they keep juggling chickens and chainsaws and hope it works out just like most of us everyday at work.”
My friend was a MP with the local Air Guard Base. She was deployed to Iraq in ’05. When she got back I asked her for the skinny. She said “It’s a complete circle-jerk”.
I just read “Sting of the Drone” and the theme that came through, is that although drones can’t “fix it”, it is all we have. The only arrow left in the quiver.
And of course Lester Brown claims the best indicator of political collapse is the list of failed states. So let’s see, we can add Libya, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, South Sudan, Mali, and possibly Nigeria and Ukraine to the ever growing list.
Damn.
“And of course Lester Brown claims the best indicator of political collapse is the list of failed states. So let’s see, we can add Libya, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, South Sudan, Mali, and possibly Nigeria and Ukraine to the ever growing list.”-dweebus.
These are the resource-hinterlands of this empire. The crumble starts at the crusty edges and caves in upon a hollowed-out center. Oh, you might be adding Mexico to that list as soon as it’s unavoidably obvious.
And Van Jones wants to drop the Chicken and just come after us with the Chainsaw. He’ll go back later for the Chicken.
“Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen.”
Dick Cheney does a mean Emperor Palpatine.
Meanwhile In China, ancient wisdom is being re-learned:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-06-18/fubar-ii-china-must-import-more-water-us-imports-oil
And in a c-suite on the mainland:
“Oh, wait a minute. You mean there *was* some point to not destroying the watershed? There are *other* constraints besides finance and technology? What! Why wasn’t I informed about this!”
I read that the Yellow River was once called the Great River, back before they cut down the headlands and it silted up. The dustbowl in China is now bigger that ours was in the 30s and Chinese dust can now be found deposited on cars in the Pacific NW. Large scale agriculture is omnicidal, IMO.
The guy behind that Zero Hedge Article has his own website. I found this gem.
A tiny elite has total control of the money supply. They wield intrusive spy networks and weapons of mass destruction. The can confiscate the wealth of others in their sole discretion. They can indebt unborn generations.
Curiously, these are the same people who are so incompetent they can’t put a website together.
Thanks for the link, K-Dog… Of course, this is going to be cited as ‘just one more reason’ to cut NASA funding.
;]
Ozone and K-Dog meet at the center of the dueling ground. Dweebus holds a large blue pillow on which four spuds are arranged in a square. Two Dark Red Norlands and Two Yukon golds. K-Dog takes a Yukon Gold and stands on at center line. Ozone takes his tater and stands at the center line heel to heel with K-Dog. Back to back K-Dog feels the warmth of Ozone through his shirt. Dweebus speaks:
”
This duel is herby convoked to settle a question of honor. That K-Dog has committed the dastardly deed of insinuating our societies comestibles do not come from the bottom of a long black tube in quantities of infinite plenty but instead are produced and distributed by the use of black oil the depletion of which brings an end to all comestibles.
For so offending the peace and dignity of the security state of America Ozone hereby demands justice. Let the Duel begin. One, Two, Three …….
”
K-Dog and Ozone begin pacing away from each other. Dweebus continues the count. At the count of ten K-Dog and Ozone both turn raising their throwing arm.
To be continued. I could flip a coin and see what happens next for this week Heads, You Lose but I’ll let someone else continue the story.
And if I had written and stands on the center line I’d have one less mistake.
K-dog,
Thanks! That was the funniest thing I read this week.
At least you chose not the Irish Lumper, susceptible to blight. One strong blow and your opponent wouldst be painted in a mouldy humour and surely brought low.
“I didn’t want the d—-d fellow to kill me, which I think he would have done if we had selected pistols,” -A. Lincoln
LOL! I like the continuation of my original glove-splap. (That is sound and verb uncomfortably mingled.) 😉
The dweebus addendum is priceless as well. (Hopefully someone has some leeches and bleeding lancets on hand. Sink me!)
Pedantics? Semantics! I’ll leave the syntax to Q!!!
400ppm and rising – who’d have thought, it could reach such a level – the 800,000 year (1.6 million year?) record of CO2 on this planet tells us that we are 33% higher than at any recorded time in *that* history, and EXPONENTIALLY increasing (no limit in sight). Denial IS a river, bleeding our souls bare…
If you look at any “earthly” sources for global warming, they all say the same thing, for millenia (solar irradiance[sunspots]/volcanoes/meteor strikes/cosmic rays/etc) – that the planet should be cooling. However, all the trends from all available sources show the temp is rising (last 7 of 10 years record hot).
There are imbeciles here who would claim, that we can now farm methane hydrates on the ocean floor (just keep burning it, we’ll provide moar). They simply don’t understand the chemistry. The warming/acidification of oceans means these hydrates are now freed from the soil, and outgassing methane into the atmosphere (orders of magnitude worse greenhouse gas than CO2?).
There they are again, blaming it all on cows farting. There’s always ANOTHER excuse, to give them solace in their “exponential burning away of every last living thing.” Anyone tracking the clearcutting of remaining world (old growth) forests? I thought NOT. I need not get into the fact that there are around 2% of THOSE remaining, do I?!?
When the Patriot Act isn’t quite enough to subvert the Constitution, try exploiting that ~100 year old Espionage Act – it’s a H00T!!! And pat your buddy Darth Cheney on the shoulder, for his recent attempt to re-write the decade-long neo-con history (what a fsk’n traitor/war crimes criminal [there’s gotta be a warm place in H3ll for that HEARTLESS {literal} bastard]) – die already, “you old fsk” (suck down one too many old fashioneds/manhattans/martinis – chicken-hawk WAR [on drugs?] hypocrite).
Hmm, *_* still BOLDs in my email client – does it here?!…
“They simply don’t understand the chemistry. The warming/acidification of oceans means these hydrates are now freed from the soil, and outgassing methane into the atmosphere (orders of magnitude worse greenhouse gas than CO2?).”-ZR.
The Russians persistently report astronomical rates of methane outgassing from shoals of methane clathrate deposits in their side of the Arctic Ocean (in some reports actual ‘fizzing’.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_methane_release#Clathrate_breakdown
Harvesting methane from the continental shelves seems a bit far-fetched, if it’s already phase-changing as I write this.
Since methane is 25-times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2 (although it disassociates faster, thankfully) then the rate of polar-ice melt and destruction wrought by freak-weather will FAR outstrip anything that we can do as a civilization to mitigate it.
We’d move from Stage 3 Collapse (the Union Grove scenario) down to Stage 4 (starting to see something like ‘The Road’ scenario at this stage) before ‘Jasper’ lived to see his 20th birthday.
Maybe Jasper can be a cassava farmer?
Cheers!
Long time no talk, soker. Hope The Amazon whuz all you hoped it could be (clearcut, silted, and all).
You’d be best to hop back into that adobe hut on the Tejax border – U know!!! Heh!
You’ve been such a good boy lately, I don’t know how to *flame*!!! Let’s just leave it here:
You pretend. You create multiple aliases. Each one is *DISTINCT*. (MULTITUDES)
And there you go! Adios! (mofo)
Mister D, there have been a fair number of Titanic analogies presented to the ClusterFucked audience over the years. And the Roman Empire as an analog to our situation surfaces from time to time. But yours is the first mention of Byzantium that I’ve ever heard. And the comparison is apt. Thanks!
“Like the Byzantines, Americans do not wish to fight war by attrition. The supply of young jihadis, for example, is potentially unlimited. They are too numerous and easily replaced. On our side, we have no expendable soldiers. We have much in common with the Byzantines — they were among the earliest to question war as a valid human undertaking, as we do today.” – teaser excerpt –
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/03/what_the_byzantines_can_teach.html
====================
And dweebus! Damn, man – I thought I knew some American History; but I never heard that Lincoln fought a duel. The man may have trashed the Constitution and forever destroyed the concept of the individual states as “laboratories of democracy.” But – he cut off a tree branch with a broadsword. You gotta’ have some respect for a talent like that.
http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/lincoln-hub/abraham-lincolns-duel.html
“Like the Byzantines, Americans do not wish to fight war by attrition. The supply of young jihadis, for example, is potentially unlimited. They are too numerous and easily replaced. On our side, we have no expendable soldiers.”-progress4.
We have no expendable soldiers, b/c – like the Byzantines – we can’t afford our empire, although imperial mouth continues to write checks that it can’t cash (figuratively).
By 1071 the western provinces couldn’t spare the manpower from farm-work and were using every conceivable means to avoid staffing their provincial ‘themes’ (the byzantine version of legions).
So they made up the shortfall by using mercenaries, subterfuge and ‘economy of force’ tactics.
However, the eastern provinces of ‘Asia Minor’ (heart of the Byzantine Empire) was also it’s breadbasket. In a world dependent on wind, water and muscle-power, grain was the oil-equivalent. So this was a fight over energy resources that couldn’t be finessed.
Upshot: The army that faced Alp Arslan’s highly skilled & mobile hoof-borne horde at Manzikert was merc-dependent. Like ours.
When they lost in Manzikert they were strategically *done* as an imperial power. Like… well, like a modern ‘superpower’ that we are all very familiar with… ;))
I find it interesting that historians overlook the similarities between the USA and Byzantium. Is it b/c they feel uncomfortable about it somehow? Do they like comparing us to Rome b/c that would imply that there was a second-act? Do they dislike the idea that ours may well be the _last_ act in a 400-year long run of Anglophonic imperial activity?
Well, the way the story ended for the Byzantines is encapsulated in song: “well you can’t go back to Cons-tan-tin-ople, ’cause Constantinople got the works!” [And that’s nobodies business but the Turks ;]…
Cheers!
Another classical mistake: the East had been denuded of people. As in the Western Empire, the small farmer had been ruined and had fled to the City. Thus instead of finding small, walled villages and armed yeomen, the Turks found huge estates and just rolled right through.
The Byzantines did keep the Jews in line though. They forbade them to have anything to do with money or education. Some say the Jews opened the gate to the Turks towards the end of the siege.
And speaking of talent –
At this critical moment in World History, with the mideast seemingly hanging in the balance, we find that our President Obama has talents of his own as he orchestrates this headline, “Obama Drafting Executive Order On LGBT Job Discrimination.”
From the article: “To the dismay of LGBT rights groups, Obama has resisted taking matters into his own hands.”
??? WTF! That sentence has to be a joke, right?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/16/obama-enda_n_5499377.html
Who ever knew that a Huff Post writer would have the same sense of humor as a 12 year old male?
Wuz only a couple of weeks ago we were celebrating a transsexual revolution. Now you and I know that the transexual revolution is all much ado about nothing and really and does nothing more than rearrange and leave some disgusting stains on the Titanic deck chairs but I have an idea.
Send Obama to a transsexual fortune teller and for this we can spring for the sacrificed chicken or two. That way he’ll
DO SOMETHING !
Had one too many ‘ands’:
transexual revolution is all much ado about nothing and really does nothing more than rearrange and leave some disgusting stains on the Titanic deck chairs
White House: US not ready to make decision on military action in Iraq
“Who ever knew that a Huff Post writer would have the same sense of humor as a 12 year old male?”-progress4.
Doing a double-take; isn’t that exactly where we’d expect to find that sort of thing?
😉
“What do you find significant in this article? Why is it at the bottom of Kunstler’s page?” – janos, concerning the “white trash link” –
I don’t find it particularly significant. I mentioned it to you because it corroborates an idea that I have advanced to you before. To wit, that the White European Genome, for all its good qualities – has its share of potential weaknesses, tendencies to degradation, and propensities to extreme violence.
As to why oy is at the bottom of Kunstler’s page – – well, it is authored by a guy named (from memory) Michael, who is one of Kunstler’s nemeses, and who was something of a nasty t-word around here for a while. He was responsible for one or more of the “janet” monikers, that roiled this comment thread for a while.
He now evidences a fascination for “Catcher in the Rye,” and writes under a different nom de plume than “janet.” Pretty good writer, but his analyses are about a quarter bubble off plumb, IMO – as the old carpenter said.
I read the Catcher’s stuff pretty close; I have to admit its hard for me to see what he’s driving at.
And the sock calls you a sock.
Statistically, Blacks and Mestizos are far more violent. But we hold ourselves to a higher standard. And truth be told, no race has a greater range of high and low. In other words, Jews and East Asians don’t produce nearly as many criminals and morons. So I agree with you. No race could benefit more from a eugenic overhaul. Needless to say, the Leftists who despise us would scream bloody murder if we tried to improve ourselves.
Beyond this basic condition, our culture is no longer healthy at any level. So the bad are worse with no one to look up to or keep them in line. I once was at a gigantic illegal immigrant rally in Boston. I had to admit the faces of the Mexicans and Central Americans were more wholesome looking than the average White face.
Statistically, you R a fsk’n moron (bald, pushing 65, milking SS/medicare/medicaid)… And no one here likes you, either. You’re an ancient, white inbread moron with a 132 IQ, so you keep stroking yourself and *SPAMMING* total hateful sh!t.
Unfortunately, you only impress yourself, with your centuries-old ideologies. WAKE THE *F* UP/./ No one wants to be around the likes of you – make amends. Be friendly (lulz) – quit being a *HATER*.
To be totally honest, I saw that “Vlad the Inhaler” poast, and almost thought you turned over a *NEW LEAF*. MY BAD!!!
What’s your problem, dick weed? I’m agreeing with you people that Whites have problems. Why are you so angry about fixing those problems? And that’s as I predicted. Who’s the hater now, eh boy?
*DICK W33d*!!! Haha, so much hate?!…
You have srsly deep problems – *trust* being amongst the top *1*…
I know, 142 IQ – I lowballed. So *SUE ME*. Needless to say, you’re balding and milking SS/MC/MA.
Why you’re so unfriendly, I don’t understand – but you’re out there, like *ALL THE REST*. U know it, and I know it. ;)~
Make sure your fortress can’t be penetrated (anyone see that sh!tty movie “The Purge” – heh, so predictable, but so much what we’re diving into)…
If you want to do a eugenic overhaul on yourself I won’t complain.
A stupid snarky response. Why shouldn’t dumb people be encouraged not to breed? Even Wage agreed with such voluntary negative eugenics. She probably would have had a problem with positive eugenics or encouraging the intelligent to have more children since that would go against her egalitarianism in a more blatant way.
Where is Wage? I wasn’t finished with her.
I’m not encouraging you to breed. I strongly discourage it but since it takes two we don’t have to worry.
Wage was frightened away permanently when she was approached in a mall by a ‘man in black’ named Dave. After that she lost it and thought everyone here was an agent. Her last comment described her mall encounter but that comment has long since disappeared. Yeah, strange how that happens.
I actually have a picture of my ‘man in black’ named Dave who has ‘talked’ to me twice. I’d like to show it to her some time and ask her if it is the same guy but she was so frightened I doubt she will ever be back.
Contrasting reviews of Hilary Clinton’s new book “Hard Choices”. The first review is from the “New York Times”. The following review is from some nameless ordinary bloke with a modicum of common sense.
“A subtle, finely calibrated work….Hard Choices is a statesmanlike document…with succinct and often shrewd appraisals of the complex web of political, economic and historical forces in play around the world, and the difficulties American leaders face in balancing strategic concerns with ‘core values.’ The tone is calm and measured, with occasional humorous asides, like describing an offer by Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian leader, to take Bill Clinton along on a polar-bear tagging expedition. (Michiko Kakutani The New York Times)”
“My science teacher once assigned me to write a 500-word report on the contents inside a ping-pong ball. I was NOT allowed to use the word, “nothing.” It turned out to be a very creative exercise. I learned a lot about gas; particularly nitrogen and oxygen. The ghost writer of “Hard Choices” faced a similar task… Write a 650-page book on the accomplishments of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. (And do NOT use the word, “Benghazi.”) By all means, read this book! — It’s very creative, and you’ll learn a lot about gas.”
“The following review is from some nameless ordinary bloke with a modicum of common sense.”-Puck.
I’m putting more stock in “nameless ordinary” blokes these days.
They’re more reliable than journalists who aim to deliberately mislead their readers, and in some cases __blame their readers__ for crimes committed by their pay-masters.
Cheers!
That part about the science teacher and the 500 word report was priceless.
Looks like we still need this.
Page 1
NSA ‘third party’ partners tap the Internet backbone in global surveillance program
»I am telling you that without getting out of my chair, I could have read the private communications of any member of this committee, as well as any ordinary citizen«.
Metadata, we don’t need no stinking metadata. We’ve got your data.
KDog do you ever sleep?
If a comment says four or five in the morning it is only 2 am on the west coast.
And I was up late having been in an out of bed all day. I got some kind of nasty virus which has my temperature up as high as the price of oil making me ache all over. Well perhaps not quite as high as the price of oil since I’m still typing; but close.
The Oil Price was 105.97 for WTI crude when I wrote this. Brent crude was $114.26.
Not only are gas and oil pipelines being blown up in Iraq they’re being blown up in Ukraine too.
It seems like oil and gas infrastructure is particularly vulnerable to anyone who wants to wreck it, as opposed, say, to manufacturing plants in germany in WW2 that were able to operate and remain productive even after massive aerial bombing.
Right now the US Navy is carrying large scale maneuvers in the Black Sea, which seems to this trenchant observer to be a little bit provocative. What could possibly go wrong?
–BRH
The Black Sea could be considered somewhat of a racist term, could it not? As far as the taters in the tire stack goes I’ve done it and it is best if you cut the sidewalls off the tires first, it’s a bitch getting the soil into a complete tire. Then when you knock the stack over it is a bitch getting the potatoes out Use a really good blade or a sawzall and try not to lose any digits in the process.
Having way too much sawsall experience, I’ll go with that methodology and retain digits! 😉
Sawsall, Duct Tape and a claw hammer is pretty much all you need, or will ever need!
Bond-O, too, was an important commodity back in the old neighborhood.
BRH
“Not only are gas and oil pipelines being blown up in Iraq they’re being blown up in Ukraine too.”-BRH.
Pipeline-istan is the Achilles heel of this C-F Nation.
Sure you can quote amounts of oil in the ground all day long, but can you pump it out? Get it anywhere? Refine it? Anybody to buy it at the other end?
From the Grand Guignol Theatre (world stage):
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-06-19/us-slams-its-former-iraq-puppet-maliki-government-candidly-has-got-go
Maliki has carelessly made some ‘candid’ remarks about the House of Saud (likely painful truths), and will shortly be receiving pronouncements from the Receptionist of State (US incarnation) about what he ‘must’ do.
For clarification refer again to the handy flow-chart:
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user3303/imageroot/2014/06/20140617_FPflow.jpg
(Please be advised that the “success” tag on the lower left of the chart tends to be of a more temporary nature than the “failed state” on the lower right. “Provoke civil war” – and assure its’ maintenance and continuation – can be substituted for “success” in most instances as it keeps folks busy and their focus strictly internal, allowing The Market to work its’ beneficent magic for the betterment of All.)
Like that flowchart. Most amusing!
Terms and Conditions May Apply. It’s on Netflix Streaming. Watch it.
ZOG on very impressive march….awesome full spectrum dominance and total information awareness. Libya, check. Egypt, check. Syria, check. Ukraine, check. Iraq, double check. Resistance is futile…….
Other historical Odds and Ends:
Byzantium: Basil II the Bulgar Slayer.
“It was then that he blinded the whole Bulgarian army, leaving one eye to each 100th man, so that the soldiers might be led back to their tsar (who died of shock shortly after seeing this terrible spectacle).”
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/55048/Basil-II
War is won by destroying the will of the opponent to continue the fight. War Crimes, in other-words. The Indian Wars were won not by defeating the Indigenous on the field of battle. (Red Cloud soundly defeated the US Army in the Powder River country, and won a surrender on his terms- the 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaty) They were won by the wholesale elimination of their food-base, the slaughter of the buffalo and the razing of Navajo orchards by Kit Carson would be two examples.
The firebombing of Tokyo and Hiroshima and Nagasaki would be another. Post WWII, and particularly post-Vietnam, we do not have the stomach for total war, and rightfully so.
You wanna break the back of ISIL?: make every suspected enemy combatant captured into a eunuch. Scalp their war dead. Break their will, and face judgement in the Hague and then in the 9th layer of Hell.
The honorable alternative- admit that Empire is a failed paradigm, and accept a re-localized, inward looking USA.
Lincoln:
The Emancipator ordered the mass execution of 38 Sioux terrorists in 1865 at Ft. Snelling. It remains the largest mass execution on American soil to this day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakota_War_of_1862
The Dept. of Homeland Security- Fighting Terrorism since 1492.
Methane-
Z, dude, you are right. But all a guy can do is laugh at this point. If the hydrate gun has been triggered, it is moot. If not, well it becomes a question of whether Industrial Civ falls whilst there is enough biodiversity left to maintain the carbon cycle, IMO.
As if Indians didn’t torture White prisoners and rape White Women. Or do the same to each other. If you are sad about the conquest of North America then you should leave. Otherwise you are being existentially inauthentic since there would be no America without the conquest. You whole life and lifestyle are the fruits of the conquest, the glorious conquest. The revolution against England was secondary. America would still have been a great place without that.
I made no comment about the Byzantines yesterday but I knew it to be no loss when they fell. They were cruel and had a very bad habit of blinding people. Old movies which show red hot blinding pokers has a source in Byzantium not in the older western Roman empire. But historical accuracy is often muddled in movies.
I recall Edward Gibbon in one of his later volumes of ‘The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’ explained that the original Romans in Italy would have considered blinding of enemies to be highly dishonourable.
An ironic twist in the hydrate gun scenario. If it is all going to fizz up that makes mining of them carbon neutral if the EROEI is kept low enough. But if it all fizzes the consideration is moot as you say.
“I recall Edward Gibbon in one of his later volumes of ‘The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’ explained that the original Romans in Italy would have considered blinding of enemies to be highly dishonourable.”-K Dog.
There was a lot about the Byzantine ruling class what was strange and craven, even in comparison to their contemporaries.
Constantinople had few friends at the end.There’s a reason for that.
“They were won by the wholesale elimination of their food-base, the slaughter of the buffalo and the razing of Navajo orchards by Kit Carson would be two examples.”-dweebus.
“Amateurs talk tactics, Professionals discuss logistics”-Gen. Eisenhower (among others attributed).
The ‘taming’ of the American west is an interesting case of east-coast FIRE-sector people subjugating an entire landscape.
Consider: Before the Civil War there were an estimate “87 million” head of wild cattle (ie., buffalo) roaming the western states. They were free for the taking of anyone.
Add to that the un-estimated millions of wild Spanish-Barb descended horses that roamed free in the old west… Also free for the taming of whoever had the stones to try.
Free food and transportation for anyone just running wild, supporting a society of rugged egalitarians.
In the eyes of the east-coast establishment, this was a huge problem.
One hundred years later the buffalo had been replaced by less than 50 million tame cattle grazing fenced ranges. They were only available at whatever heavily-marked-up price was being foisted on the American public.
And the horses? They say there were still dirt-ranchers riding onto Indian land to shoot them for sport in the 1950’s.
Economic warfare at it’s finest. . . That’s ‘progress’ for ya!
Hey MD we were just out in Carson City they indeed have wild horses running around, even thru town.
BRH
I like to hear that. . . Can’t keep a good horse down, I guess.
Thankfully, it’s not just horses, but way out in the desert there are wild herds of donkeys as well.
I was camping in the canyon above Darwin Falls, CA (It’s BLM land overlooking Death Valley) and the pitter-patter of little hooves, snorting and grunting kept me up half of the first night.
Finally they got up the nerve to charge past my camp in the quarter-moonlight. It was hilarious.
Maybe it’s true that “Life finds a way”. . . I hope so.
Cheers!
tired out
“When water collects in tyres
Last autumn, during a Self building an Earthship course, we poured out water that had been collecting in a tyre and compared it to unfiltered rainwater from our tanks. The accompanying photo shows that the tyre water doesn’t look so pleasant, being dark, with suspended solids in it, whilst the rainwater is clear.
http://www.brightonpermaculture.org.uk/news/11-news/363-growing-food-in-tyres.html
Obviously this is a cursory visual inspection and the next step would be to find a biochemist to undertake some analyses to find out what chemicals are in the tyre juice and whether these would be transferred to a plant growing in it. It maybe harmless. But the question remains: which would you rather grow your food in – tyre-steeped water or just plain rainwater?…
Due to commercial secrecy, it’s difficult to find out the exact ingredients of a tyre and there are lots of different types. The list below is from a ‘typical tyre’:
* Natural rubber
* Synthetic rubber compounds, including Butadiene – known carcinogen
* Solvents: Benzene – known carcinogen, Styrene – anticipated to be carcinogenic, Toluene – has negative health effects, Xylene – irritant, & Petroleum naphtha
* Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: Phenols – some are endocrine-disruptive, Benzo(a)pyrene – linked to cancer
* Heavy metals: zinc, chromium, nickel, lead, copper & cadmium
* Carbon black – possibly carcinogenic
* Vulcanising agents: Sulphur & Zinc oxide
* Polychlorinated biphenyls – known carcinogen
* Other synthetic chemicals”
the reason tires are so durable is obvious and a major reason for wanting to use them as containers. most people are not concerned about the long range effects of things they need or use right now. organic farmers are not into saving the world just saving money and making more.
Makes me think of the Tire Fire in the Simpsons which has been burning since 1971.
“Long time no talk, soker. Hope The Amazon whuz all you hoped it could be (clearcut, silted, and all).
You’d be best to hop back into that adobe hut on the Tejax border – U know!!! Heh!
You’ve been such a good boy lately, I don’t know how to *flame*!!! Let’s just leave it here:
You pretend. You create multiple aliases. Each one is *DISTINCT*. (MULTITUDES)
And there you go! Adios! (mofo)”-ZRCrypDik.
L O L!
Can someone tell me w-t-f this is about?
🙂
He considers you to be a sock puppet who has posted here before under other names. Sock puppets are our term for ‘agents‘ who have been put here by the Department Of Homeland Security to keep dissent under control. Keeping the blog in a state of tension via racist comments tends to drive people away for instance and that from the department of Homeland Securities point of view is a good thing.
Kunstler denies their existence which may be the right way to deal with them as they are not going to go away. Too many pay-checks are involved. I’m just sayin.
My own adjustment is to no longer care if they are here or not but to concentrate on what people write about and respond to that. Hope that those they assign are at least able to keep up an intelligent conversation even if they won’t tend to be as well read as the rest of us.
The specific category that brings this blog to the attention of our government is that it is ‘An End of the World Blog‘.
Post-Snowden things have gotten a lot better for us but before then those who ‘stumbled’ on the secret were harassed in real life.
And if I’m left alone now I’ll say no more about it.
Know what? I tried to reply and internet explorer mysteriously stopped working. I’ll try again.
This site had a troll that posted here for years and years. Went under different handles. Asoka was one. Hence the “soker” reference. Also appeared as janet, adequatio and other names. Claimed to be variously a black retiree, muslim, a vietnam war resister, abobe hut builder, resident of south America, world traveller etc. All lies.
Posted highly inflammatory and distractionary commentary ie viva la reconquista, that is, of the US south west by hispanics. All kinds of stuff.
Then one day our friend K dog outed asoka. This site had a link to user stats and IP addresses. One day asoka posted a comment while K dog was watching. K dog matched asoka’s ime stamp to user activity and this is what he found. I’ll paste it so you can shit yourself at leisure:
k-dogJanuary 28, 2013 at 10:50 am#
24 Jan 15:33:33 Firefox 14.0
Win7
1440×900 United States Flag
Alexandria,
Virginia,
United States
Us Department Of Defense Network
That’s Agent Asoka for those of you who only stop by on Monday.
The hole has been plugged.
end of k-dog’s post
Here’s asoka’s reply to k dog:
asoka:January 28, 2013 at 11:55 am#
All right K-dog, point taken.
So for the several hundred or so souls out there let me offer up the most sincere apology for the last seven years. I am deeply ashamed. Please take note of the following corrections:
1. I don’t live in a mud hut; there is no mud hut.
2. I have a nice townhouse in Washington D.C. (Is this a great country or what?)
3. I’m not black. I’m a white guy in his mid thirties.
4. I’ve never been to Ecuador, or New Mexico for that matter.
5. There is no Mrs. Asoka.
6. I make a lot more than $12,000 a year; I don’t make $33 every day just for getting out of bed.
7. I’m here on the US government tab; your tax dollars at work for a better United States of America.
8. My Spanish speaking ability is poor at best.
9. I’ve been a shameless liar here for the last seven years.
Agent Asoka
So apparently asoka was a paid govt flack.This might raise some issues in your mind. I know it did in mine. If this is true, never mind govt surveillance, do we have govt interference in public discussions under false pretences? Is this what tax money is pissed away on? Judge for yourself.
Anyway, most recently we had a poster named ajmuste that started again with this “viva la reconquista” stuff. More Asoka? Don’t know but he disappeared. Banned maybe? We now also have a poster of the “shut up and eat yer beans” variety that ends his posts with taunts. What’s that all about? I don’t know. Interesting to speculate isn’t it? We live in the era of Big Brother. I wonder what good old Orwell would say to us if he could come back from the great beyond. This internet is oh so exciting isn’t it?
Interesting stuff volodya. Thanks for the update.
Just to be very clear: I’m not here to post or interact in any way with this community under false pretenses.
I am aware of government contractors working f/t at maintaining surveillance & control of any and all online groups, communities, etc. that might be ‘of interest’ in some way. It would not come as a surprise that there were one or more lurking, and/or commenting in CFN on a daily or weekly basis.
I’m here on my own, if there are G-men and women monitoring they can work for their own answers.
Finally (and as a rule) I don’t volunteer personal information about people. What’s shared in private stays private.
Why? “‘Cause F*CK ‘EM! That’s why!” 🙂 !
Cheers!
Why? “‘Cause F*CK ‘EM! That’s why!” 🙂 !
My sentiments exactly.
I really should say more why I agree. No information you give G-men and G-women will be used to enhance anyone’s life. It will be used to destroy the innocent as well as the guilty. You would not be accomplishing any civic duty but would be feeding a parasite.
Thank you very much. The mental damage that Washington has inflicted on this community is beyond simple description. At times they have made everyone here suspicious of everyone else as they spread their sick miasmic air about the blog.
I fear for ZRCrypDik’s health, for it is an incredibly hard truth to adjust to and undoubtedly they have driven people mad. When you find yourself in their cross-hairs it is daunting; their intent is to incapacitate you mentally. All they have to do is park the unmarked car at the end of your block a couple of times and you start to think they are everywhere. Then for them as Dubbyah would have said, ‘Mission Accomplished‘. Of course there is much more to it.
Don’t sweat it K-Dog – 65/125, and a 75 pulse rate (I just walked a mile – 50 years old).
Best to question my *MENTAL* health, and back it up with *something*… Liek, killing all remaining living things on the planet, or *SOME SUCH*!!!
He’s still here – Mr Darling – *Guaranteed*. Kinder and gentler, but no less the *TROLL*.
This internet is oh so exciting isn’t it?
You sure seem to like it. There’s a whole world out there just waiting for you, and instead you’re in here beating off. Get some fresh air and quit being distracted and distracting.
Now Was That, Then Is This
How can you be so sure K-Dog isn’t an agent? I thought the person who smelt it first dealt it, or that rule doesn’t apply any longer like so many other rule of thumbs no longer apply? Maybe there are no thumbs. Maybe there never were. There was only Tom and rules are for fools.
… and instead you’re in here beating off … Hole
Smelt it first dealt it… rules of thumb… no thumbs… no idea what he fuck you’re burbling on about nor do I give a shit.
If I’m an agent then ‘Mission Accomplished’ for me! For then you KNOW there are agents.
No one knows the names of the members of the Society of the Nine Unknown Men, not even the nine unknown men. Yet these Nine keep the world on track and stave off its much deserved destruction. You may be one of the Nine without knowing but I suspect that you think that you really are. But I doubt it.
Yeah, and screw you.
sock
Carol,
All that humbuggery and crapola you’re dishing out has a very familiar ring. Your ‘style’ will always tell. (Best defense is to be offensive.) Remember that flaming pile of yours about a plethora of screen names giving wondrous freedumbs of expression and 1st amendment exercise? You don’t give people enough credit in the memory dept.
nasty little sock.
The most obvious moron (sock) of them all. (Karah/Carol/Soker).. Spammin’ liek there’s no *TOMORROW*. (hint/clue)
You all got baited, *PLENTY-o-times* – feeding the troll, how *DROLL*…
“Pagination forces us to move relentlessly forward like a line of convict soldiers, with commissar’s pistols and machine-guns at our backs.”
– md –
That’s some funny stuff, MD! I’m liking your understanding of military history, btw.
And as far as bitching about pagination issues in JHK’s house, I understand your point, so let me explain myself. And I’m not really bitching, I’m trying to build a consensus. hah!
Anyway; I did mention the pagination to JHK in a private email on another subject several months ago, now. He snapped at me that he didn’t have time to “fuck around” with the comment section. Well, alrighty-then-OK, dude. I was just trying to help. Won’t make that mistake again. hah!
But – every week that someone mentions that the comments don’t work properly, I will take it upon myself to suggest that someone (not me!) write to JHK to suggest that pagination could be dropped, probably with ease. It’s not much of a windmill, but I’m no Don Quixote.
My personal opinion will always be that this comment page, like the internet at large, could have been a force for amazing understanding that could have had some real benefit. Kunstler seems to disagree. To create a metaphor – I think JHK considers this comment thread to be more like a swampy area behind the house – filled with fertile growth, but home to sinister slithering things as well.
And every Monday morning, JHK takes a chainsaw and a bushhog to the place and clearcuts the damn thing. And by Monday afternoon, it’s all grown back up.
Sisyphus never had a blog, did he?
Just my convoluted and metaphorical $0.02.
If Sisyphus had a blog the Department of Homeland Security would be on the other side of the rock pushing it down.
“And as far as bitching about pagination issues in JHK’s house, I understand your point, so let me explain myself. And I’m not really bitching, I’m trying to build a consensus. hah!”-progress4.
Yes. Let us structure a *dialog* on the topic… /s
;]
“It’s not much of a windmill, but I’m no Don Quixote.”-progress4.
And I’m no Sancho Panza…
Seriously though, it’s probably more trouble to paginate than not, and probably as simple as deselecting one of the options from the admin’ side…
oh well,
and it’s still _not_our_house_.
Cheers!
“Statistically, you R a fsk’n moron (bald, pushing 65, milking SS/medicare/medicaid)… And no one here likes you, either. You’re an ancient, white inbread moron with a 132 IQ, so you keep stroking yourself and *SPAMMING* total hateful sh!t.” – z crip, to janos –
Just to be clear – I don’t consider Janos to be one of the sinister slithering things. He has his hateful branches that I’ve suggested over and over he should prune away – BUT part of his message deserves consideration, especially on a blog that is supposed to consider energy descent and the collapse of society into “A World Made by Hand.”
The amount of vitriolic hate that Janos attracts is amazing.
And it says something about the hopes and dee[ fears some commenters hold – as they express something toward Janos like a VERY politically correct version of “whistling past the graveyard.”
Very interesting.
Oops –
“dee[ ” should be “deep”
One thing to keep in focus of is that all bile thrown at us over the years is not the work of a single deranged asshole who decided to make his life work fucking with commenters at Clusterfuck Nation one day.
Expect that Kunstler has been fed some bogus I.P. addresses to make it look like one asswipe is behind everything. Truth is no stat-counter can now be trusted here. Once I found their security leak expect they plugged it good and turned it into a source of misinformation. They hold all the cards and can modify the comment and any other database at will; as I have watched them do in front of my eyes.
Why was I so lucky. They wanted to scare me shitless and for a while they did.
“Just to be clear – I don’t consider Janos to be one of the sinister slithering things. He has his hateful branches that I’ve suggested over and over he should prune away – BUT part of his message deserves consideration, especially on a blog that is supposed to consider energy descent and the collapse of society into “A World Made by Hand.””-progress4.
I’m on board with this.
*Non sono un cazzo fascista* but at least the man’s posts are 95% cogent and occasionally even useful. What the hell, even the devil has lessons to teach.
LOL!
Cheers!
There’s really no “dee[” fears in what that @44hole spams week after week – it’s just pure, vile hate. Need I go diatribe, and re-poast every piece of sh!t he’s said for the past month, to convince you – *sockie*?!?
Joo, my friend, have been tagged “sockie”! Your IP (hide my @$$) has been logged… Good day, my 6-fig-salaried-govt-stalka (NICE JOB!).
local paper clipping
The withdrawal of the Iraqi army to friendly Shiite areas, the inability of the ISIS forces to move in their long convoys of pickup trucks along open roads for fear of airstrikes and the military self-sufficiency of what is effectively an independent Kurdistan means that Iraq has reached a state of de facto partition.
The U.S. embassy, the largest in the world from which the Bush administration planned to administer the democratization and Westernization of the Islamic Mideast, is being abandoned piecemeal under the watchful eye of a corporal’s guard of 270 troops.
And so it goes: the three Ottoman vilayet resurrect…
I’ll put my money on the Kurds coming out of this smelling like a rose.
‘Bout time, IMO. They’ve earned it.
They just <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/6/12/iraq-kirkuk-isil.html"<took Kirkuk
As a way to introduce a great article check this out.
”
I literally could not stand to stay with the interview for more than about two minutes, either to listen to the sheer bullshit spewing from her, or even to look at her. The latter point is not as petty as it might seem. Just looking at her was repulsive, and it was not a case of thinking of her as unattractive, in the most obvious sense, but a matter of the ugly coming straight from the soul. One thing that immediate struck me was a facial item, as she sat there staring into the camera, and for the entire length of time I watched, her right eyebrow was arched up, raised, completely asymmetrical with the other side of her face. It was raised/arched up so far that, after about 30 seconds of noticing and watching this to see if her face would change, I not only thought that it was weird that it stayed that way, as if a permanent feature, but started to wonder how she could keep holding it in that position, it was so unnatural and awkward looking.
”
He wouldn’t do Victoria Nuland with a dozen bags over her head.
took Kirkuk
Forgot the second link:
He wouldn’t do Victoria Nuland with a dozen bags over her head.
we have entered a time where, historically speaking, we have tons of personal reactions published immediately for public consumption about what is happening, what has happened and what may happen. its not the same as real life where people get their cues from a group as how to react therefore we are getting pure data? yet, he argues that most people do not know how to filter the world much less the internet, so most of the logs are trash. we come to the consensus that most people in the world are either stupid or willfully ignorant and he is right.
I generally get a clean warm feeling after I read Egan.
I know what you mean, K-Dog.
It’s not as simple as ‘confirmation bias’, it’s a deep notion that JL really “gets it” in a holistic frame.
“He wouldn’t do Victoria Nuland with a dozen bags over her head.”-K-Dog.
Check it;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Nuland
Come’s complete with “Project for the New American Century” connection intact.
— — —
Small ‘Anthology of Interest’:
Another piece ‘o’ work with a lot to say about the region and all matters ‘neo-con-ian’:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Applebaum
Anne’s married to the neo-con Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Radislaw Sikorski:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rados%C5%82aw_Sikorski
:who vociferously denied Mr. Snowden’s asylum request and eagerly accedes to all NATO demands.
‘Rad’ (as he is sometimes referred to by nearest and dearest, how cute) is the ex-bf of Olivia Williams (yes, that dark legend of the cougar-folk that we’ve come to know and appreciate so well, in movies like ‘Ghost Writer’).
It’s understandable that he’s an ‘ex’, no?
;]
This string of connections forms an interesting daisy-chain, if you follow it.
the iraq ambassador dude, whom i could almost understand, says iraq solidarity ain’t dead…ya….because they are all running for safety right now….the ones he says ain’t extremist. before that he blamed usa failure to hire genuine soldiers, not just guys who want a regular paycheck. so, he just insulted the people who he says are the unifying factor for iraq. the average guy who wants to feed his family and not die.
then the easterners suggest that part of the problem is worldwide recruitment of suicide bombers, the most successful of whom are usa or british citizens. wow, really. so that gives them reason to close the borders to anyone who is from a foreign country! unless they are there as REAL PROFESSIONAL FIGHTERS SENT WITH OBAMAS SEAL.
sh/thole does not even begin to describe that region of the world.
now i know why the leaders do not hesitate to use wmds and why iran has developed nuclear “energy”. they are bent on making themselves and everyone else miserable.
I think it would be instructive if you would try and understand a bit of background to dispel some of the manufactured fog concerning “the region”.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38877.htm
It’s most instructive to remember (as you have tacitly pointed out before) that the collapse of Iraqi society (see, Orlov, D.) was singularly deliberate and nearly instantaneous result of military adventurism on the part of THIS COUNTRY’S LEADERSHIP. IMHO, that is ignored at ones’ peril, and signals that we may place too much trust in institutions that most certainly haven’t got our best interests in mind…
Beware, as past is prologue. Do not become complacent and think it can’t happen here. (Even the Bureau of Land Management is armin’ up.)
‘Energy Crisis’ incoming apparently, and for none of the usual reasons:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-06-19/energy-markets-are-brink-crisis
The reason that I keep an eye these items is that we are at a very brittle (ie., non-resilient) juncture. Such times are ripe for ‘black swans’… and this one is already looking a bit gray.
Modern wars, rather, are fought in order to affect psychological change within a particular country or population. Wars today are fought to cover up corrupt deals and create desperation.
is this true across the board? pakistan just killed 200 militants because they bombed an airport.
and what is a “militant”? a guy with a gun aimed at a govt and its unarmed citizens.
modern wars are caused by militants. militants want to disrupt business as usual. govts help create situations that create targets for militant activity. govt decide to drill in these places where things are already unstable. they build bases an deploy troups. why create targets? why doesnt the world pull out of that region all together?
ben barber purposes a solution to war by erasing national borders and making cities the rulers. the un is trying to end war in their national way but have they called the mayors of baghdad and mosul and dubai and new york? should dubai be recognized at all?
“why create targets? why doesn’t the world pull out of that region all together?”-Karah.
It’s not that hard to envision a durable empire: it’s just one that does not fall prey to oligarchic forces with a vested monetary interest in wasteful government expenditure, especially on warfare. This is easier envisioned than done, o/c. So far, none have made it that far.
Take the shining example of democratic imperial brilliance: the Athenian. Ancient Athens had defense lobbyists.The rich manufacturer of leather (armor) Cleon was one of the fiercest voices in The Assembly for pushing the Athenian Navy to war. . .
Then came The Sicilian Campaign (it was a disaster, it was their Vietnam) and the rest was a downhill train back to oligarchy and ‘b-list’ status for the next 2 millennia…
“The U.S. embassy, the largest in the world from which the Bush administration planned to administer the democratization and Westernization of the Islamic Mideast, is being abandoned piecemeal under the watchful eye of a corporal’s guard of 270 troops.”
– karah’s editorial link –
That’s so sad, when one says it that way. It’s enough to make one suggest that Bush the Lesser ,might benefit from some intense art therapy, which could help him learn to deal with his sad feelings.
Or, it’s enough to make one wish that W had chosen in advance to be a great artist like Van Gogh for example, instead of being a President of the United States.
BTW, do you live near San Angelo, karah?
http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2014/jun/19/our-opinion-iraq-has-effectively-become/
“The U.S. embassy, the largest in the world from which the Bush administration planned to administer the democratization and Westernization of the Islamic Mideast, is being abandoned piecemeal”-progress4 re: karah.
The Bush Administration, on a ‘democratization mission’… that’s rich.
They overspent building it, then it couldn’t be accepted at closing b/c no one had installed the _FIRE PROTECTION_ system specifically written into the contract, now it’s being abandoned.
Some kind of metaphor for our whole late-stage MO, methinks.
And since we’ve touched on the surveillance issue:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/06/house-votes-293-123-to-cut-funding-for-nsa-spying-on-americans-building-backdoors/
Priorities! Gotta have ’em.
OR, do we really need to pay for people to harass us?
Hmmm, yeah I dunno. Lemme think about that…. /s
Happy Friday!
Say I have a bad attitude if you wish but my opinion is that any drive to cut funding for domestic spying is a ruse. The power is simply too great to resist and if Homeland Security can’t spy on you because on a given day they are feeling moral qualms about spying on americans(ha ha) GCHQ can. And after they do Homeland Security can compare notes with them. They have a zillion ways to skin a cat. (sorry there, your avitar). One sad realization about all this is that the common idiot point of view that I’m not doing anything so I don’t have to worry about it is the common attitude and people really think spying is nothing to worry about.
Fools abound. And the agents are fools too. By exposing themselves to me thinking I’d be scared into submission like everyone else didn’t work for me. I’m a bit of an outlier in several ways. Instead they exposed me to their methods and capabilities. Their experiment failed and they should have paid attention to my strong technical background and backed off. Kunstler says he is not a ‘techie’; I am. I’ve had a private amusement with all those conversations with ‘contrahend’ in which he accuses me of being anti-technical.
Really, a guy with a masters degree in engineering (me) is anti-technology. I don’t think so, but as I’m not awe struck by magic and understand the physical principles behind technology at a deep level I can only advocate for the appropriate use of technology. Not just any use.
Some of the work done in here over the years has been shared by GCHQ. Remember how we used to have a lot more Australians and Brits in here than we do now? Oh yeah.
“Say I have a bad attitude if you wish but my opinion is that any drive to cut funding for domestic spying is a ruse.”-K Dog.
That’s not ‘bad attitude’ that’s just being savvy and I agree with it. The vote is a way for politicians to have it both ways: they can make it look like they are addressing the issue, knowing full-well that nothing will be don about the issue. . .
Problem solved, *not*. Collect paycheck. Time to go home. Another day inside the Beltway concludes.
“but as I’m not awe struck by magic and understand the physical principles behind technology at a deep level I can only advocate for the appropriate use of technology. Not just any use.”-K Dog.
Hear! HEAR! I concur.
” They have a zillion ways to skin a cat. (sorry there, your avitar).”-K Dog.
My avatar was our team cat in Afghanistan (she’s resting against a Hesco barrier). She was a great cat and this is way of memorializing her. She is missed.
As for skinning her – you’d have to catch her first. I was the only one that could do that (I didn’t have to, that was the secret).
Cheers!
I had to look it up. http://www.hescobarriers.com/categories.asp?CatID=17“>Hesco Barrier.
Been making mistakes. I’ll get away for a while.
Hesco Barrier
You have a bad attitude about Eugenics. Why shouldn’t the White Race try and improve itself as long as it voluntary? Admit to yourself the hatred you feel for the White Race – and the desire to feel and be perceived as being morally superior to the vast majority of your people.
You can feel superior if you must but we want to BE superior – a very different thing.
WoWzerz, ever moar hate and vitriol masked as *hidden selfish desire*…
You R the only 1 here who desires it. How many have you killed?!? Just curious – I’d guess serial killer counts in the multiple dozens… They haven’t caught you yet, huh (142 IQ!)…
What about Lois Lerner’s emails? The IRS says her hard drive crashed and they are gone. But if my hard drive crashed my emails would be fine since they aren’t stores on my hard drive. Of course perhaps Agents do store their emails this way. But in any case, it seems too gosh darn convenient.
How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations
Iraq , it can also be said, has always been a place w/ regular people living in it. Of course,mayhem doesn’t nearly tell the whole story. In the service of a closer look, here’s a quick yarn about self-sufficiency & practical ingenuity that surely meets the Amish mark, at least.
Once , I was apprenticed to an expert electrician in Detroit whose childhood in his native Iraq was largely spent tagging along after his dad who was a busy plumber in a rural part of that country. At the age of ten or eleven he was usually up soon after daylight to load the old truck for the varied jobs ahead, always at the ready to fetch & carry tools , run required errands and very importantly , keep his father supplied w/ piping hot tea in between service calls.
Much later on, this same guy used to be very particular about how I would run extension cords and deploy temporary lighting in order to illuminate some of the tight spots we would find ourselves in while performing industrial electrical work in latter – day Detroit . He was regularly irritated as I could never seem to get the ‘trouble light’, or flashlight aimed exactly to his best advantage, or worse… I would end up casting a shadow just as he was getting ready to perform a crux move. This would invariably result in a stream of invective directed my way just as I was flailing around w/ my free hand trying to grab a certain size of socket wrench as per request and so on… my beginner’s fumbling soon escalating to all out farce while my erstwhile teacher’s frustration grew until his face broke out in a broad grin despite it all . We could and would start over, again .
One day after again noting my ongoing lack of success at getting the knack of properly lighting up the work area, he mercifully called a halt and told me a story.
Banging around in the back of the old battered plumbing truck his dad and he used to work out of, there was an equally beat up collection of fairly large ,shiny pieces of sheet metal mounted on adjustable stands & rigged to tilt & swivel, each polished to a mirror -like, if scratchy finish. These homemade mirrors were used to direct sunlight into the darkened places the plumber & his son were likely to encounter on their daily round. Homes and small businesses with no electrical service.
While pops was crouching under a drain line, sizing up the situation, my then small friend was scrambling around dragging ‘mirrors’ into position, one after another … aligning them in sequence , and angling them for best effect in order to convey reflected daylight from the outside … into the building , and around the corner(s) etc. until his father could see well enough to perform plumbing repairs .
The worst , he said , was getting this serially reflected light path to go down a set of rickety stairs into the occasional basement. That could mean using up the entire complement of ‘mirrors’… and every damn one of ’em had to be adjusted & re-trimmed perfectly to get a usable glimmer of light onto the ‘subject’… as his dad used to say. Needless to say, the young plumber’s assistant was subjected to a loud & withering critique from the impatient ‘old man’ as he struggled to get all the mirrors unloaded and lined up just so , not to mention defending them from the inadvertent touch of an interested neighbor, or the wagging tail of a curious household pooch etc… one’ bump’ and it was lights out in the work zone. But when it was set up right , it truly was a sight to behold.
So, years later, w/ the convenience of ubiquitous electrical power & handy, high-intensity portable lamps at my service… the way my journeyman electrician saw it… I didn’t have much of an excuse for not being able to instantly aim a flood of light at his beck & call. I certainly didn’t need any particular ‘skill’ to do so , either…in a fancy , developed country like this(here). Lucky for me .
Great story! Well written too. Thanks for sharing it!
The infrastructure of Iraq whuz destroyed ((by the US of A) in ’91/03. SRSLY? He had that much of an impact on U?!? Shiny mirrorz…
Meanwhile, In Iceland;
http://icelandreview.com/news/2014/06/20/iceland-tops-global-peace-index-2014
… financial crisis rectified [*], crime not a threatening issue, war not happening.
‘Cool’ in every baseline way, essentially.
Once again, it came down to priorities.
😉
FOOTNOTE:
[*] Insofar as it was possible for them to fix their situation when the rest of the world is under the sway of a ‘financial sauron’.
cheers!
Yes small Nordic countries are the best because the IQ is high, literacy almost 100% – and they are small enough to be responsive to the needs and desires of their people. And since the people are smart, well read, and in community – those desires tend to be reasonable.
Yet even they haven’t overcome the Ethos of Destruction completely. They are still bringing in aliens who will ultimately utterly change the people and the culture.
All the Greenland glaciers have completely melted, and there’s a race for gold/rubies.
Gold at $1,300 (finally?) – 10 year bonds at 2.6% (wtf?). Talk about a rigged economy – totally out of touch (millisecond high volume shorted/leveraged [thin air]!!!)
Even the CPI, which used to hover around 0.3%, has now skyrocketed to 1.3%+++ per year! FSK your ground round and pink slime!!! Snails(slugs) and earthworms are the new *T-BONE*…
“Heads I win, tails you lose.” Smells rigged, like the economic/industrial/military/banking system/./ Just spread it *THIN* (48 states of 50 with mil-ind complex corpz)… Cry me a *RIVER*?!?
You will *ALL* cry me a river, in about 9 months. That’s about *IT*! Time’s gone (no need to pretend traveling at the speed of light NE-moarz[mind-experiments {lulz to pretend}?!…])…
The infrastructure of Iraq whuz destroyed ((by the US of A) in ’91/03. SRSLY? He had that much of an impact on U?!? Shiny mirrorz…
There used to be dozens of comments per week from a lot of great commenters a lot of whom disappeared – eleuthero, AMR, Patrizia, Alexandra, MyrtleMay, Jackieblue2U.
But the trolls, – the prolific asoka’s, Carol Newquists, the commenters on eastern mysticism – encrapped the comments section such that it was abandoned by a lot of people. Which was the point of the trolls in the first place. Mission accomplished for the govt.
To his credit JHK cleaned out the trolls. But the damage was done. Too bad.
This was meant as a reply to K Dog and his link to the article “How Covert Agents …”
And don’t forget the blocks of Chinese text of translated news articles run together in gibberish. Pages and pages of them and the more thoughtful a comment the more likely it was to be text droned by Chinese text. Before they stopped and the stat-counter was taken away I believe I had located the source to be Honolulu. Snowden’s Honolulu.
At the start of the night shift.
I was a preferred target and it began to be almost a complement to be droned because then you knew you had written something of substance.
Interesting article that dismisses the fears, hopes, and aspirations of Trans-Humanism. They will come to nothing before the Conqueror Worm – Peak Oil.
He also quotes an authority who doesn’t think Artificial Intelligence is really possible. And he establishes this not on spiritual grounds, but simply pointing out that the brain doesn’t really work like a computer or vice versa.
http://www.counter-currents.com/2014/05/posthuman-prospects/#more-47131
“encrapped the comments section such that it was abandoned by a lot of people. Which was the point of the trolls in the first place. Mission accomplished for the govt.”-volodya.
I like this word “encrapped”. It strikes the right tone. I might start using it.
Yes, what you describe sounds like classic group ‘disruption’ tactics – applied to cyberspace instead of a meeting-space.
And why? B/c people are having a discussion that might mitigate some suffering? It might even enhance public-safety.
At times like this I remember _Macbeth_ Act 5… Failing regimes thrash the most at the end. In some circles it’s known as an “extinction burst”.
Yes the Left specializes in this tactic. That’s not to say the cyber agents are Leftist. They are Hive – neither right nor left, but both and neither.
You should try a little sinistrality yourself. It would do you good.
You dextralitist.
Failing regimes thrash the most at the end. In some circles it’s known as an “extinction burst”.
Maybe so but that’s no excuse. The victims are real.
K.,
Hubris names those victims, “collateral damage”; Nemesis names them, “martyrs”.
V.,
I’m also liking “encrapped”. Its’ derivitives are also most ear-perking: encrapification and encrapified. (The study of how things go to shit via becoming clogged with shit will be known as “encrapology”.)
Excellent descriptor!
And so it begins…
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/06/20/united_nations_refugees_statement_more_than_51_million_displaced.html
The ‘guest worker’ phenom’ (pro & con) is part of that. Here is Singapore’s version;
http://phys.org/news/2014-06-google-singapore-blog-filipinos.html
I’m really amused by these ‘Baghdad bob’ types exhorting the workers (what remains of them) to keep polishing that brass…
When you’ve matched the evidence with the visceral reality, you can stop losing time to that rubbish.
And so it begins…
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/06/20/united_nations_refugees_statement_more_than_51_million_displaced.html
The ‘guest worker’ phenom’ (pro & con) is part of that. Here is Singapore’s version;
http://phys.org/news/2014-06-google-singapore-blog-filipinos.html
I’m really amused by these ‘Baghdad bob’ types exhorting the workers (what remains of them) to keep polishing that brass…
When you’ve matched the evidence with the visceral reality, you can stop losing time to that rubbish…
— — —
RELOADED from previous page as a ‘work-around’…
Cheers!
NOTE: this pagination thing is interesting… It doesn’t actually ‘paginate’…
“Coincidence? Or something *more*?”– Johnny Depp/Ichabod Crane.
😉
Meanwhile, we probably shouldn’t forget about this other situation:
http://ecowatch.com/2014/06/14/fukushima-children-dying/
[as predicted, and predictably denied]
A ‘wall of ice’ what? did anyone really think that was going to happen?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-06-18/japans-plan-freeze-fukushima-ice-wall-melting-down
So, who has a vested interest in suppressing news about this besides TEPCO and their partners in government? Well, it amuses me to think of what this’ll do to West Coast property values. . .
volodya,
Chinese characters. A desert between words of meaning. Distraction and diversion beamed into the website like light reflected down a stairway by a relay of plumbers helpers.
So one day I’m checking out at the avitars of commenters at Club Orlov. One of them has some kind of alien critter for his avitar and affects to be ‘Russian’. Name starts with an S. I notice this one has a personal website with about five hundred pages of diary entries.
I do a search over all the entries for the following search term.
ASOKA
I get a hit. The ‘Russian’ was at a barbecue in DC with several coworkers at a townhouse. One of them is ‘ASOKA’ who is described as being:
“One crazy motherfucker.”
The next day I decide to download the website. I go back and find the single page which mentioned ASOKA is gone.
Would it be too ‘paranoid’ to think that the watchers were watching me watch the watchers?
LOL
As comments at Club Orlov require approval of Dmitri the reason for this avitars Russian affectations is obvious.
It’s been about nine months since I did this and I’m recalling now that ASOKA hosted the barbecue.
Damn errors:
checking out the avatars
he reason for this avatar’s Russian affectation
the reason for this avatar’s Russian affectation
aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
” Distraction and diversion beamed into the website like light reflected down a stairway by a relay of plumbers helpers.”-K Dog.
Are you hinting at something recent, K-Dog… 🙂 ?
“Would it be too ‘paranoid’ to think that the watchers were watching me watch the watchers?”-K Dog.
Or… Maybe you’re having a ‘Shutter Island’ moment?
Nah! That couldn’t be it!
😉
.
.
.
All I’m saying is that stuff can be overthought. Sometimes we just have to ‘drive-on’.
Kdog, please leave Asoka alone. If Asoka starts making 180 posts a day on CFN, I am holding you responsible. Or are you Asoka.
What you say makes no sense. He is no longer here and who made you the boss of me. We all face individual responsibility to the actions we each commit and I can no way be held responsible for the actions of that madman.
For everyone else the game being played here is to confuse. And the consequences for the intimidation is to inform all of you that the second part of the Russians name begins with a ‘D’.
Back off, Keith, or I will go all Qshtik on you… Besides, you and Volodya are spreading lies about Asoka being gone. Asoka always said he was large and contained multitudes. I suspect at least seven current CFN posters are Asoka fighting with himself to divert and distract from the real issues. We don’t need you resurrecting even more Asoka.
anyone who mentions Asoka by name in a comment from henceforth should be banned in my opinion.
now back to making the middle east un inhabitable for the next 50 yrs…
Then I suggest you insensitive bastards leave me 100 % alone. Lets be clear. To protect your secret you boys intimidate, examine taxes, cancel credit cards terrorize people with phone tricks, damage property and otherwise make an innocent and thoughtful American’s life a living hell.
I’m not backing off. You hurt me so here it is; and could somebody please get Glenn Greenwald interested in this. Obviously my means of communication are somewhat compromised.
The name is:
Keith Hayes
Newcastle, WA
I for one don’t want a bunch of spoiled beltway brat morons deciding the political course of the nation.
So don’t tell me to back off again. Or perhaps please please do, and make a fool of yourself once again.
Okay K-Dog,
I’m new to this community but it seems like this stuff has been brewing for awhile… whatever it is.
I am officially not part of whatever was going on before, during or after whatever happened that has you feeling so strongly about it.
Just an FYI…
Everybody is not part of some shadowy alliance to piss you off. I’m one-hundred percent certain of that, ’cause I’m not.
Pound a brew. Think good thoughts. We CAN get through this!
🙂
Cheers!
not much attention is being paid to Saudi Arabia, but note that it has been the chief sponsor of Sunni insurgency everywhere but Saudi Arabia itself, and that the genie they let out of that flask will probably come back and tear that country to shreds,
this was discussed on cnn tv news today with a particular millionaire being targeted. dogs do not bite the hands of their masters.
Interesting observation.
So if the House of Sa’ud isn’t the primary bankroller, then we should look around the region to see who gains the greatest benefit from turning Syria and Iraq into failed states.
Hmmm, who would that *be*?
😉
Isn’t it obvious?
Anyway, at the end of the day you can be sure it won’t be US-civilians, no matter what they’re told.
https://federalregister.gov/a/2014-10139
had to post this because of a thread on page one. the commenters on the website cited posted a link to our registry. was not aware of this until today! notice how many arabic names are on it…
The risk of nuclear proliferation created by the accumulation of a large volume of weapons-usable fissile material in the territory of the Russian Federation continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. For this reason, the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13617 of June 25, 2012, and the measures adopted on that date to deal with that emergency, must continue in effect beyond June 25, 2014. Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency declared with respect to the disposition of Russian highly enriched uranium declared in Executive Order 13617.
this is interesting.
Not more than 50
percent of the funds appropriated to the Department of State for fiscal
year 1999 for “Acquisition and Maintenance of Buildings Abroad” may be
obligated until the Secretary of State determines and reports to
Congress that the United States Embassy in Jerusalem has officially opened.
interesting…
oh…then theres this…
I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, find that the threat of attachment or other judicial process against the Development Fund for Iraq, Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products, and interests therein, and proceeds, obligations, or any financial instruments of any nature whatsoever arising from or related to the sale or marketing thereof, and interests therein, obstructs the orderly reconstruction of Iraq, the restoration and maintenance of peace and security in the country, and the development of political, administrative, and economic institutions in Iraq. This situation constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States and I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat.
The term “Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products” means any petroleum, petroleum products, or natural gas originating in Iraq, including any Iraqi-origin oil inventories, wherever located; and
cont.
I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, hereby expand the scope of the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13303 of May 22, 2003, to address the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States posed by obstacles to the orderly reconstruction of Iraq, the restoration and maintenance of peace and security in that country, and the development of political, administrative, and economic institutions in Iraq. I find that the removal of Iraqi property from that country by certain senior officials of the former Iraqi regime and their immediate family members constitutes one of these obstacles. I further determine that the United States is engaged in armed hostilities and that it is in the interest of the United States to confiscate certain additional property of the former Iraqi regime, certain senior officials of the former regime, immediate family members of those officials, and controlled entities. I intend that such property, after all right, title, and interest in it has vested in the Department of the Treasury, shall be transferred to the Development Fund for Iraq. Such property shall be used to meet the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people, for the economic reconstruction and repair of Iraq’s infrastructure, for the continued disarmament of Iraq, for the costs of Iraqi civilian administration, and for other purposes benefiting the Iraqi people.
OMFG! LULZ, did U just respond to yourself 5 times in a row, *sockie*?!?
K-Dog whuz right – it’s all hidden now, on the 2nd page!
K.,
In reference to:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-06-17/another-exponential-chart-americans-who-renounce-their-citizenship
That is rather interesting.. Getting while the getting’s good? Or something else?
And I’m the one that has to do this why? Let us all ponder that for a moment.
Page Two
Where the interesting stuff is this week after which everything else is a distraction.
Janos-
Against my better judgement…
“If you are sad about the conquest of North America then you should leave.”
Not likely, resistance, after all, IS fertile. Anyways, I betcha my folks have been here longer than yours. 😉
“You whole life and lifestyle are the fruits of the conquest, the glorious conquest.”
Nope- they are the fruits of several millions years of concentrated, fossilized sunlight, as are yours.
“As if Indians didn’t torture White prisoners and rape White Women.”
Whites…blah, blah, blah…Blacks…blah, blah, blah…East Asians…blah, blah, blah…Mestizos…blah, blah, blah. That failed to get a rise….OH GOD…rape…White Women…blah, blah, blah.
*yawns* Boring much? Going to bed.
-dweebus
Why do you suddenly yawn and get all bored? You never get bored when talking about White atrocities. But when it comes to equal time for the atrocities of others you can’t even keep awake. Your invincible ignorance is really on display here. Against your better judgment indeed.
Regarding oil, for me the kind of sleepwalkingness of our time is a lot due to below “myth” or false common image :
“first oil shock (73) = Yom Kippur/Arab embargo= geopolitical story= nothing to do with geologic constraints”
When the real story was :
– end 1970 : US production peak, the energy crisis starts from there, with some heating fuel shortages for instance (some articles can be found on NYT archive on that), or :
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/US_Oil_Production_and_Imports_1920_to_2005.png
– Nixon name James Akins to go check what is going on.
– Akins goes around all US producers, saying this won’t be communicated to the media, but needs to be known, national security question
– The results are bad : no additional capacity at all, production will only go down, the results are also presented to the OECD
– The reserves of Alaska, North Sea, Gulf of Mexico, are known at that time, but to be developed the barrel price needs to be higher
– In parallel this is also the period of “rebalance” between oil majors and countries on each barrel revenues (Ghadaffi being the first to push 55/50 for instance), and creation of national oil companies.
– there is also the dropping of B Woods in 71 and associated $ devaluation, also putting a “bullish” pressure on oil price.
– So to be able to start Alaska, GOM, North Sea, and have some “outside OPEC” market share, the barrel price needs to go up (always good for oil majors anyway) and this is also US diplomacy strategy
– For instance Akins, then US ambassador in Saudi Arabia, is the one talking about $4 or $5 a barrel in an OAPEC meeting in Algiers in 1972
– Yom Kippur starts during an OPEC meeting in Vienna, which was about barrel revenus percentages, and barrel price rise.
– The declaration of the embargo pushes the barrel up on the spots markets (that just have been set up)
– But the embargo remains quite limited (not from Iran, not from Iraq, only towards a few countries)
– It remains fictive from Saudi Arabia towards the US : tankers kept on going from KSA, through Bahrain to make it more discrete, towards the US Army in Vietnam in particular.
– Akins is very clear about that in below documentary interviews (which unfortunately only exists in French and German to my knowledge, and interviews are voiced over) :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fQJ-0jAr3LQ
For instance after 24:10, where he says that two senators were starting having rather “strong voices” about “doing something”, he asked the permission to tell them what was going on, got it, told them, they shat up and there was never any leak. The first oil shock “episode” starts at 18:00
The “embargo story” was in fact very “practical”, both for the US to “cover up” US peak towards US public opinion or western one in general, but also for major Arab producers to show “the Arab street” that they were doing something for the Palestinians.
In the end, clearly a wake up call that has been missed.
Note : About Akins, see for instance :
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/26/AR201007…
And his famous foreign affair article :
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~twod/oil-ns/articles/for_aff_aikins_oil_c…
His report to Nixon in 71 or 72 is still classified to my knowledge though, would be interesting to know if it can be declassified now.
Mornin’ Marlin, You’d be proud of me today. I picked up an old Jack Daniels charcoal fired oak barrel which was falling apart. The wife wanted a coupla’ planters. I cut it in half through the bung hole but all the bilges were loose. I had to drive ’em tight with an old steel punch and my Grandpas ancient “Collins” Axe. Now I am a professional Cooper! NOT! Those guys are experts at their trade. I’m just a hack.
Sorry I guess you call them hoops, Therefore I am not a cooper!!!
You can’t go wrong with a well made wooden barrel. A skill which will be needed in a “World Made by Hand”. Stock up on the spokeshaves! I already have a few. But there will be people that still have some skill. I recently bought an MC from a guy with tons(literally tons) of blacksmith tools. I tried to buy some but he just laughed at me! The old stuff is out there still, because it was made to last.
Hey Rip few Sundays from now a program starts at the Stanley Whitman House (1720), each week craftsmen demonstrating traditional skills, barrel making being one of them. Its right off 10, probably only about 30 min from where you are. Also its free.
Pretty good article in March 2014 edition of ‘Trains’ Magazine about how fracked oil in ND and Texas have rejuvenated American railroads, which are moving about 1 million bpd right now. Very long article, states moving oil by rail only a little more costly than pipelines and much more flexible. Many maps and charts, showing how complex mining, moving and refining petroleum is.
–BRH
More CFN strangeness:
1. I got in late last night and glanced at the count of posts here. At that time there were 330 posts. Now there are 368 posts. Doing a search of “22,” to find new posts made on 6/22 after midnght -through all THREE pages of posts only yields about 8 or so new posts.
WHERE ARE THE “MISSING?” POSTS?
AND WHY are posts spread over three pages, when only one page of posts would be so much easier to manage – for everybody, including JHK’s tech guy?
2. The post yesterday by “pkrugman” made me shudder. In fact, any mention of “asoka”* makes me shudder. What a wasteland that poster created of JHK’s comment thread.
*And JHK threatened once, to ban any poster who mentioned that name*. I would ask that he include anyone who ever defends * or has the same simpering style of repetitive argument as *.
And apologies to JHK and the thread for using the *-word.
3. Mr. Darling – I’m pretty sure K-dog was directing his ire @ pkrugman(*?) and not at you. There is history and hard feelings here @ CFN that will hopefully slowly vanish. Until then, try to cut a little slack as some of us vent in seemingly (to newer posters) inexplicable ways.
4. St. Elmo – what the heck is a MC?
Moran Chicken?
Master Cooper?
Motor Cycle? (I’m going with that, for now!) 🙂
“3. Mr. Darling – I’m pretty sure K-dog was directing his ire @ pkrugman(*?) and not at you. There is history and hard feelings here @ CFN that will hopefully slowly vanish. Until then, try to cut a little slack as some of us vent in seemingly (to newer posters) inexplicable ways.”-progress4.
It’s all good. It’s understood that communities have history and conflicts and that they are going to *resolve* (one way or another).
Anyway, there’s stuff on page 3…
Staging-up and Moving to the next Phase Line now.
Cheers!
Hey Prog, sorry for the misunderstanding, I shorted Motorcycle to MC. It was a 1978 Yamaha XS 650. Im gonna try to turn it into a street rat something like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djme4qRtBOU
Sorry for the link I thought it would only show as a link and not an actual video.
Hi St. Elmo,
I didn’t know if there were any gearheads here. I have a question for you:
How likely would it be that *all* motorcycle engines (including the 50 million nigh-indestructible Honda 50 cc’s) would get ‘collected’ or just disappear in just 25 years?
Does that make sense to you?
Just looking for an informed opinion here.
If your still here MD I have some Honda Cl 100 singles, Cl ? 175 doubles, all sorts of , parts and complete machines. lots of Mopeds, puch, honda, etc. all were running , I am sure I could get them all to run if I spent a coupla’ Hrs. on them. I know this is not the place for this conversation so please excuse me JHK. Scramblers, 6 wheelers, BMW’s , You name it. It’s all gotta go. I also have a pretty big guitar collection. I am not getting any younger and the kids only want smart phones and electronics.My wife says I’m a hoarder but I have been in hoarders houses in my past life and they save crap! My stuff in the barn are treasures lost to the ages! Check yyoutube and see what they do in Asia with those 50CC. They beat us in Vietnam by pushing bicycles on the HCM trail
Meanwhile… Back in Iraq;
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-06-22/judge-who-sentenced-saddam-hussein-death-has-been-executed-isis-local-media-reports
:this has to b some kind of milestone.
/s
Events have evolved.
Not only are the ‘cracks showing’ but other players are publicly stating that they can no longer afford to act as if they aren’t.
In Poland Anne’s [*] hubby ‘Rad’ realizes something;
http://news.yahoo.com/report-polish-minister-says-us-ties-worthless-102515845.html
And in the world of US-based hi-tech, so does Microsoft;
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/19/microsoft_nsa_fallout/
The petrified BS-boulder is catching up!
— — —
[*] Radislaw Sikorski is the Polish Foreign Minister, he’s classifiably neo-conservative/pro-‘privatization’ at all costs, etc.
He is married to a __Slate__ contrib. by the name of Anne Applebaum who published frequently about foreign policy…
Anne went on record (in Slate) back in 2011 asserting that the Iraq Debacle really was some sort of “success” – and all the usual rubbish that usually went with a statement like that.
‘Rad’ himself as some interesting connections – not least of which was being an ex-boyfriend of Olivia Williams (a dark legend among the cougar-folk, check her filmography).
It’s interesting to see things take a turn.
Applebaum….that’s Scottish isn’t it? Must be a Scotland Firster and seeker of independence from the UK Pommie Poofters…..
“Applebaum….that’s Scottish isn’t it?”-nsa.
Not in her case. Wiki her bio.
She had a lot to say about Iraq, now her target de-jeur is bigger.
Hey MD Anne Applebaum is a pretty important author and something of an expert when it comes to the Soviet Union, Stalin and the Gulag.
–BRH
Yes, I am well aware of her reputation – and her track record.
The Long Emergency continues to bear ‘fruit’:
“‘Double-digit declines in people’s trust in American tech companies’ is bad for business” = the headline.
Check the link:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/19/microsoft_nsa_fallout/
Collaborating with the NSA was not a good decision, was it MSFT?
When people learn that Microsoft products ARE malware, expect some ‘market softening’ from that… 😉
From a strategic perspective, this is the kind of ‘benefit’ that unwise surveillance programs yield. The over-reach was idiotic. The blowback will be spectacular.
Oh, and the beauty part? They brought it on themselves (as late-stagers typically do) and it __Does Not__ require any sort of response or input from a politically impotent American ‘electorate’.
And since the NSA has (in the words of Schneier) “commandeered the internet”, they can watch their own demise in real-time, with triply-redundant backup…
Have fun with that.
Cheers!
Long Emergency entry #2 for the day:
And in ‘Merry Olde England’…
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jun/21/protest-march-austerity-london-russell-brand-peoples-assembly?CMP=fb_gu
50,000 folks yelling for “REVOLUTION!”…
Okay, so it’s just a big rally and that’s just a buncha words, etc. blahblahblah… Well, that’s how it happens.
Just like a marriage on the rocks, it gets to a point where neither side actually *cares* what the issue(s) were, they just know that *it’s not working a-n-y-m-o-r-e* and they want out “by whatever means necessary”.
Volodya? Are you there? Comments?
😉
Cheers!
A lot of hopeful speeches at the many HS graduations around here the last few days.
–BRH
I hope that their reasons for Hope multiply 😉
BRH,
Are you aware that Anne’s hubby Radislav is on record saying these things:
“The Wprost news magazine said the recording was of a private conversation between Sikorski and Jacek Rostowski (finance minister) with such headlines as “you know that the Polish-US alliance isn’t worth anything;” also describing Warsaw’s attitude towards the United States using the Polish word “murzynskosc” – roughly translated as a negro slave – “It is downright harmful, because it creates a false sense of security … Complete bullshit. We’ll get in conflict with the Germans, Russians and we’ll think that everything is super, because we gave the Americans a blow job. Losers. Complete losers.”
Here’s that link:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-06-22/despite-giving-americans-blow-job-polish-foreign-minster-says-us-alliance-worthless
There are other links as well. It’s kind of a big deal b/c Anne has spent her life building a career out of being a neo-con cheerleader and oppo-researcher and here’s her husband figuring out what he and Poland stand to gain from all of it: BUPKIS.
Actually less than that. He’s basically got several tiger’s by the tail, and they know it and are getting pissed. Meanwhile, Uncle Sam’s quietly closing the cage door…
[being figurative o/c]
Fascinating ideas, Mr. Darling, keep ’em coming!
And it’s going to be a hell of a shame about the loss of all the carburator supplied, non-computer-controlled engines of all sizes if we head into a “world maintained by hand.”
Nice bike, St. Elmo, good luck with it!