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Tick Tick Tick

D id Charlie Rose look like a fucking idiot last night on 60-Minutes, or what, asking Vladimir Putin how he could know for sure that the US was behind the 2014 Ukraine coup against President Viktor Yanukovych? Maybe the idiots are the 60-Minutes producers and fluffers who are supposed to prep Charlie’s questions. Putin seemed startled and amused by this one on Ukraine: how could he know for sure?

Well, gosh, because Ukraine was virtually a province of Russia in one form or another for hundreds of years, and Russia has a potent intelligence service (formerly called the KGB) that had assets and connections threaded through Ukrainian society like the rhizomorphs of the fungus Armillaria solidipes through a conifer forest. Gosh, Charlie, it’s like asking Obama whether the NSA might know what’s going on in Texas.

And so there is Vladimir Putin, a former KGB officer, having to spell it out for the American clodhopper super-journalist. “We have thousands of contacts with them. We know who and where, and when they met with someone, and who worked with those who ousted Yanukovych, how they were supported, how much they were paid, how they were trained, where, in which country, and who those instructors were. We know everything.”

The only thing Vlad left out of course was the now-world-famous panicked yelp by Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland crying, “Fuck the EU,” when events in Kiev started getting out of hand for US stage-managers. But he probably heard about that, too.

Charlie then voice-overed the following statement: “For the record, the US has denied any involvement in the removal of the Ukrainian leader.” Right. And your call is important us. And your check is in the mail. And they hate us for our freedom.

This bit on Ukraine was only a little more appalling than Charlie’s earlier segment on Syria. Was Putin trying to rescue the Assad government? Charlie asked, in the context of President Obama’s statement years ago that “Assad has to go.”

Putin answered as if he were explaining something that should have been self-evident to a not-very-bright high school freshman: “To remove the legitimate government would create a situation which you can witness in other countries of the region, for instance Libya, where all the state institutions have disintegrated. We see a similar situation in Iraq. There’s no other solution to the Syrian crisis than strengthening the government structure.”

I guess Charlie and the 60-Minutes production crew hadn’t noticed what had gone on around the Middle East the past fifteen years with America’s program of toppling dictators into the maw of anarchy. Not such great outcomes.

Charlie persisted though, following his script: Was Putin trying to rescue Assad? Vlad had to lay it out for him as if he were introducing Charlie to the game of Animal Lotto: “What do you think about those who support the terrorist organizations only to oust Assad without thinking about what happens to the country after all the state institutions have been demolished…? Look at those who are in control of 60 percent of the territory of Syria.

Meaning ISIS. Al Nusra (formerly al Qaeda in Syria), i.e., groups internationally recognized as terrorist organizations.

Charlie Rose, 60-Minutes — and perhaps by extension US government agencies with an interest in propagandizing — seem to want to put over the story that Russia has involved itself in Syria only to aggrandize its role on in world affairs.

Forgive me for being so blunt, but what sort of stupid fucking idea is this? And are there any non-lobotomized adults left in the USA who can’t see straight through it? The truth is that American policy in Syria (plus Iraq, Libya, Ukraine, Somalia, Afghanistan) is an impressive record of failure in terms of the one basic aim that most rational people might agree upon: stabilizing the region in a way that does not leave Islamic jihadi maniacs in charge.

Okay, so now the Russians will do what they can to try to stabilize Syria. They’ve had their failures, too (famously, Afghanistan). But Russian territory adjoins the Islamic lands and they clearly have stake in containing the virus of Islamic extremism near their borders. Is that not obvious?

Charlie made one other extremely dumb statement — he seems to prefer making assertions to asking straight-up questions — to the effect that Russia was misbehaving by deploying troops on its border with Ukraine.

Putin again seemed astonished by this credulous idiocy. The US had troops and nuclear weapons all over Europe, he answered. Did Charlie think that meant the US was attempting to occupy the nations of Europe now? Was it “a crime” for Russia to defend its own border with a neighboring state (formerly a province) that, he implied, the US had deliberately destabilized?

The Putin segment was followed by a sickening session with Donald Trump, a man who now — after a month or so of public exposure — proves incapable of uttering a coherent idea. I wonder what Vladimir Putin makes of this incomparable buffoon. Perhaps that America has gotten what it deserves.

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James Howard Kunstler is the author of many books including (non-fiction) The Geography of Nowhere, The City in Mind: Notes on the Urban Condition, Home from Nowhere, The Long Emergency and the four-book series of World Made By Hand novels, set in a post economic crash American future. His most recent book is Living in the Long Emergency; Global Crisis, the Failure of the Futurists, and the Early Adapters Who Are Showing Us the Way Forward. Jim lives on a homestead in Washington County, New. York, where he tends his garden and communes with his chickens.

464 Responses to “Tick Tick Tick”

  1. merf56 September 28, 2015 at 9:31 am #

    Spot on. No need to comment any further.

    • abbybwood September 28, 2015 at 6:22 pm #

      Here is the leaked phone conversation with Victoria Nuland, Hillary’s little sycophant from the U.S. State Department:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSxaa-67yGM

      Nuland saying, “Yats is the guy” is my particular favorite.

      Charlie Rose came off as a propaganda tool. I’m surprised Putin agreed to be interviewed by him.

      Hillary Clinton’s fingerprints are all over the Ukraine coup. And she calls Putin “Hitler”?!

    • mscir September 30, 2015 at 2:30 am #

      Exactly!

  2. Rodster September 28, 2015 at 9:40 am #

    Great F-in commentary JHK !!!

    It’s little wonder the USSA was voted the #1 threat to world peace. I don’t deny global warming or climate change or whatever the new term is today as it’s always changing. But I read that the MENA migrant crisis was brought about by climate change. I say BULLSH*T to that.

    People don’t want to live in neighborhoods or in a country where bombs are going off, buildings are being blown up etc. The US and it’s EU vassals are responsible for creating this mess. I’m no fan of Putin or any other leader but he gets it RIGHT.

    Lastly, Sky World News Int’l interviewed a Syrian 17 year old school girl who fled Syria with her parents for Europe and was asked why did they leave. She said it’s not safe going to school, playing outside etc.

    The US is on a hellbent mission of world domination in order to protect the Petrodollar and it’s world reserve currency by means of war, chaos, death and destruction. Sometimes people and nations just want to be left alone.

    • zaphod42 September 28, 2015 at 10:18 am #

      ” Sometimes people and nations just want to be left alone”.

      Reply It is wonder that Faux News can maintain this script – they are, after all, the main spin machine for the neo-Cons. And, of course, that it is not obvious to one and all that there is a difference between a migrant and a refugee. Migrants, after all, leave to stay and make a better life. Refugees leave to avoid the bombs and save their lives. Migrants might or might not stay, refugees will go home when the rubble stops falling and there are no bullets to dodge.

      In short, the answer to the refugee problem is to stop the incessant wars. Rather than bitching and moaning, we should be joining Russia in stabilizing Syria!

      Craig

      • Beryl of Oyl September 28, 2015 at 12:37 pm #

        I’m wondering now if the new solution to ISIS or whatever it is, is to empty the area out of everyone but them.
        It sounds crazy, but so does almost everything else going on over there.

      • Janos Skorenzy September 28, 2015 at 2:20 pm #

        And Fox News and the Neo Cons hate Trump – especially after he said Putin is Ok and we can work with him, and let him take care of Syria.

        • outsider September 28, 2015 at 3:10 pm #

          Trump is a complete idiot on domestic policy, but on foreign policy, he is the only republican running who doesn’t scare me to death. Was anyone else appalled that know-it-all, scary witch Carly Fiorina was declared the winner of the debate by the no-nothing talking heads? She said she wouldn’t even talk to Putin. Someone should have asked her what might have happened if JFK refused to talk to Khruschev.

          • Janos Skorenzy September 29, 2015 at 1:05 am #

            Why? Because he against open borders?

  3. Jeremy September 28, 2015 at 9:46 am #

    I just love Mondays with James!

    • Lisa September 28, 2015 at 11:13 am #

      For years I haven’t missed a single “Monday with JHK” And today the post I super!

      • sprawlcapital October 2, 2015 at 1:41 pm #

        Lisa–

        And today the post I super!
        ======================
        You are apparently new here, and I don’t want to discourage you, but you can do better than this. It takes maybe two seconds to proofread a one-line post.

        I agree, the JHK post this week is super. The portions of the interview Jim cited were atrocious work that Rose should be ashamed of, if he is capable of shame. Looking at the entire segment, however, Rose clears the bar of competency, but just barely.

        At that, the mainstream media set a very low bar for reporters, as we are constantly reminded.

  4. Zoltar September 28, 2015 at 9:49 am #

    Given the short-sighted recklessness of our government, the know-nothing complicity of our “journalists,” and the comprehensive ignorance of our fellow citizens, it’s a wonder that Putin would take the time to present his coherent and rational side of the story to the few Americans who are interested in understanding it.

    • K-Dog September 28, 2015 at 10:14 am #

      Yes Zoltar,

      You can bet Putin was the only one in the room who remembered Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 and how it crashed.

      Vlad must have been told ahead of time ‘Is American tradition for President to talk to uninformed. Remember Bush in elementary school with my pet goat. You talk with Charlie Rose. Uninformed watch him, is OK.’

      And so he did and now has probably totally forgotten about Charlie. Which makes him no idiot.

      No mention of Siberian Craters in the interview? Follow the link and you will be informed.

      • ZrCrypDiK September 28, 2015 at 3:17 pm #

        And yer @$$ didn’t get deleted – go figure THAT 1 out.

        • K-Dog September 28, 2015 at 4:02 pm #

          Some things are worth worrying about and some things are not. And some things can’t be to obvious anyway now can they!

          I took the chance to promote my link to the article on exploding pingos because I desire the wry amusement of watching this new exhibition of the reality of our predicament be ignored. It will soon be accepted as part of the no big deal new normal, and swept under the rug.

          • ZrCrypDiK September 28, 2015 at 11:56 pm #

            Too obvious@! I know, I *know*

            And here we are – and where R the *CLEARCUTS*?@? Ayup!

  5. Neon Vincent September 28, 2015 at 9:51 am #

    I missed both interviews. Too bad. When I’ve listened to Putin, he came off as intelligent and articulate, even if ice runs through his veins and his attitudes seem retrograde to American ears. The contrast with Trump, who is exactly the opposite of Putin except for the retrograde attitudes, must have been jarring. And Trump thinks he’ll get along with Putin and be able to cut deals with him that are good for us? Dude, don’t get high on your own supply.

    By the way, we just missed another failed Doomsday, as Sunday’s blood moon wasn’t be the end of the world, even though John Hagee prophesied that it would be. I’m extremely skeptical of supernatural demises of civilization and humanity after looking at the two failed Raptures of 2011 and the entire 2012 fiasco. We’ll do ourselves in through entirely natural means, thank you very much.

    As for leaders we’re better off avoiding, I’ll add Scott Walker to Trump. Fortunately, Walker shot his campaign in the head as soon as he realized it became a zombie. On the way out, he asked for others to join him so the survivor could become strong enough to defeat Trump. Good luck finding someone acceptable to the Koch Brothers that the GOP’s rabid base will still vote for. Right now, they’re even angrier at their own leadership than they are at the other party.

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    • Bill September 28, 2015 at 10:17 am #

      Well, you can watch 60 minutes after the fact with your cell phone, go to your app store and download the 60 minutes app. It costs about 6 dollars, then you can watch all 60 minutes shows on your phone without advertising. You should watch this interview. I was also amazed at Rose’s questions, he seemed to know nothing about the situation, It is great to wake up this morning and notice that James not only noticed it but laid it out beautifully.

    • BackRowHeckler September 28, 2015 at 10:35 am #

      Hey Neon, why compare Putin to Trump and Walker, Republican candidates? They have no power. Wouldn’t a comparison with our own distinguished president, and his Ukraine and ME policies, be more apt?

      brh

    • Janos Skorenzy September 28, 2015 at 2:22 pm #

      Your hatred is getting in the way. Trump has already broken with the Neo Cons, who are the Republican Mainstream. He’s talking about Putin as an ally and changing unfavorable trade balances with China and Mexico – the T word (tariffs). Music to the ears of all true Nationalists.

      • mastman23 September 29, 2015 at 7:24 pm #

        A good stiff tariff on imported oil from OPEC would also have a two fold benefit. The Money could go to pay down the debt. And our homeland oil companies could benefit from stable prices.

        It would also save all those high paying Oil Field jobs that are falling fast

    • ZrCrypDiK September 29, 2015 at 3:00 am #

      And there’s the clearcuts! Just liek(lulz) a miracle!!! Clearcut that sh!

      • ZrCrypDiK September 29, 2015 at 8:06 pm #

        I know, an obsession of mine (clearcuts). Where does the O2 come from, these daze?!? This is a really F*n good song – so *LISTEN* (please?)

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29j25TLg2MY

  6. djc September 28, 2015 at 9:52 am #

    This conflict with Russia, and that that matter China and Iran, is not going to end up good for the US.

    I have no confidence in our leaders being up to the task of defending our nation.

    Putin looked confident, secure and not the least concerned about offending the US.

    • seawolf77 September 28, 2015 at 10:37 am #

      America is capable of kicking the shit out of any third world country. But a fight with an equal? We have never done it. Americans actually believe we could go over to Russia and defeat them. They are utterly clueless.

      • orbit7er September 28, 2015 at 11:41 am #

        and yet while the US could devastate poor little Afghanistan it still cannot actually win a War, get out or defeat the Taliban!
        The power of destruction only goes so far…
        What a waste!
        In fact the US has not won a War since WW II and the US Empire is fraying on all fronts and losing its hegemony. The first blow was the long struggle for independence from the Northern Goliath by Latin America. Actually the US was isolated from Latin America, not Cuba, hence the need for a detente.
        Unfortunately the US trillion dollars a year endless War budget continues to fund Wars and devastation and dicatorships like the Saudi monarchy getting $60 Billion in arms all over the planet.
        And waste oil, resources and generate more greenhouse emissions than any other institution.
        If only the US had spent the trillions upon trillions wasted on endless Wars for Oil since Iraq War I on rebuilding Rail, solar energy, wind energy and exporting the same all over the world we would not be facing the twin threats of Peak Oil and Climate Change…

        • seawolf77 September 28, 2015 at 2:20 pm #

          America didn’t win World War II, the Russians did. We did a little mopping up. We defeated Japan though. The only time America shed some serious blood was fighting ourselves. Figures.

          • routersurfer September 29, 2015 at 1:28 pm #

            seawolf77 you nailed it. Had a friend in SAC that passed years ago who held Russia in very high regard. A ground war with Russia would cost us more than every war we have fought. Since he fought in three I valued his ideas. A win would be up to fate. He thought it would go nuke and fast. Looks like we are almost up for a new civil war now 🙂 We got a ton of crazies on the loose. Few know we have America Troops buried in Russia under Wilson. When you run a government and military like a business you loose both.

      • djc September 28, 2015 at 12:31 pm #

        Yes, utterly, utterly clueless. As a matter of fact the American public is almost as clueless as our political class—-but no one could be that stupid and insipid.

        No. One.

    • BackRowHeckler September 28, 2015 at 11:16 am #

      Why should he be? Putin is a trained KGB Officer, comfortable in the world of realpolitik and, if necessary, the application of brute force.

      On our side we have a Chicago street agitator and Choom Gang member who takes counsel from Jay Z and Rev Al Sharpton … hardly a fair match.

      brh

      • miasmo September 28, 2015 at 2:55 pm #

        Great blog post by Mr Kunstler today. I look forward to reading them every Monday for his humor and insights. BUT, it is a big turd in the punchbowl to regularly see all these racist remarks in the comments section every week. I am no fan of Obama, but he is an Ivy League educated lawyer, like so many other politicians. And the problem with his policies is that he is taking his advice from the Washington foreign policy establishment, not Jay Z and Al Sharpton. The racism behind your remarks is so transparent, you might as well have just called him the n word.

        • outsider September 28, 2015 at 5:02 pm #

          I agree, miasmo. But there is something appalling ignorant with Obama’s Assad obsession. How could anyone come away from that interview and still think that Obama is right and Putin is wrong? With his “Assad must go” first nonsense, our highly educated Commander-in-Chief has painted himself into a real corner. He can’t find a way out because he is too proud to admit he was wrong.

          • miasmo September 29, 2015 at 12:53 am #

            Agreed. He is just going with the beltway neo-liberal/neocon establishment script. We are ruled by stupid assholes.

          • routersurfer September 29, 2015 at 1:34 pm #

            How about President Bush’s Saddam fetish ?

        • BackRowHeckler September 28, 2015 at 11:14 pm #

          This is a hard place, CFNation, certainly not for the squeamish, and everything said here is not going to be to your liking.

          i’m aware on campus there’s a move afoot to limit what can be said, but this isn’t Vassar, and we aren’t prescious pearls with tender sensibilities who get the vapors when we read something disagreeable. This place is wide open, the Wild West, no telling what you’re gonna see here.

          brh

          • miasmo September 29, 2015 at 12:58 am #

            I have no problem stepping over the turds of racist ignorance you drop on the trail here in the “Wild West.” But I will point out how much they stink as I do.

          • Florida Power September 29, 2015 at 8:34 am #

            Miasmo — OK — you have been seen praying. Nice halo.

        • routersurfer September 29, 2015 at 1:33 pm #

          I have no problem with his race. It is a shame he is call Mr. and not Mr. President or President Obama. The LSM out racist this blog any day. I just wanted a Democrat to win the office. We got one more President Clinton republican with the wrong name tag. Who do you want in office for the crash ? Bernie or ANY of the others of any party ?

    • MisterDarling September 28, 2015 at 2:42 pm #

      “Putin looked confident, secure and not the least concerned about offending the US.”-djc.

      Exactly. Why should he be concerned?

      😉

    • abbybwood September 28, 2015 at 6:27 pm #

      I would love to be a fly on the wall listening to Putin and Obama’s little chit-chat.

  7. Lawfish September 28, 2015 at 9:53 am #

    I only caught the Donald T. Rump segment. I already hate Scott Pelley, who is the ultimate shill mouthpiece for hopium and BAUtopia. He and the Donald got to spar about things that will never happen. Donald still thinks we can have perpetual economic growth and he will fix social security by making everyone rich. It was like listening to NPR, only more nauseating.

    • MisterDarling September 28, 2015 at 2:48 pm #

      “He and the Donald got to spar about things that will never happen. Donald still thinks we can have perpetual economic growth and he will fix social security by making everyone rich.”-Lawf.

      Irrelevance is the theme of the day. I doubt even Trump believes those things at this point. . . But he does like the attention and getting to be part of the game, *mattering*.

      Cheers!

  8. Walter B September 28, 2015 at 9:56 am #

    A political system filled to overflowing with sellout faces and actors instead of brains or abilities requires a propaganda machine loaded with the same breed of criminal for the sham to keep playing out. The Russians and the Chinese certainly can never be “trusted” (of course neither can the US) but their leaders are intelligent and focused on whatever it is that their agendas include. America once again leans upon it military might to enforce it will, but twice before the lesson was rammed home with great discomfort that without the use of nuclear weapons, distant wars cannot be won by might alone. Third times the charm, eh?

  9. christiangustafson September 28, 2015 at 9:58 am #

    Donald Trump is a Hedgehog — he knows one important thing.

    And that is why we must elect him.

    • seawolf77 September 28, 2015 at 10:24 am #

      I can’t believe no one has paired him with Pink Floyd’s “The Wall.”

    • Janos Skorenzy September 28, 2015 at 2:26 pm #

      Yet it is the Hedge guys he’s going to tax. His two position papers so far on immigration and the 2nd Amendment have been masterpieces of clarity and common sense. I have no doubt that his tax plan is more of the same. Sounds like from what I’ve heard so far.

      • seawolf77 September 28, 2015 at 3:37 pm #

        He is a famous person.

  10. newworld September 28, 2015 at 10:09 am #

    The establishment is awful, left journalism is basically down to pink haired nose ringed emotionally fragile chick level and right journalism is down to appeasing the pink hairs. Witness George Will a total scam job who has sat in his chair for decades pretending left rhetoric is legit, now all of a sudden he is all rhetoric over Trump and sounds exactly like a Democratic politician instead of his professorial scam.

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    • Beryl of Oyl September 28, 2015 at 1:02 pm #

      He is sounding like he’s had a stroke or something to me.

      • Florida Power September 29, 2015 at 8:39 am #

        Maybe he and Diane Rehm can resuscitate a new Crossfire on NPR. We’ll be hanging on every word. And hanging, and hanging…

        • routersurfer September 29, 2015 at 1:36 pm #

          Thanks I needed that !!!

  11. shotho September 28, 2015 at 10:14 am #

    Isn’t it ironic that the world now relies on Russia to provide stability? Where is Mr. “Realpoitik”, Kissinger, when we need him?
    And why in the world is anyone even bothering to comment on Trump?

    • Helen Highwater September 28, 2015 at 11:20 am #

      Kissinger helped cause the current problems. A good article about him is here: http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176049/tomgram%3A_greg_grandin%2C_henry_of_arabia/#more

      • hineshammer September 28, 2015 at 2:28 pm #

        Or you can read Christopher Hitchens’ wonderful book The Trial of Henry Kissinger.

      • BackRowHeckler September 28, 2015 at 3:15 pm #

        It was Teddy Roosevelts grandsons, working for the CIA, who orchestrated that coup in Iran in 1953. (It seems most of his grandsons worked for one intel. agency or another.) But it was FDR who got the US involved in the ME in a big way. Out of the 7 billion barrels of oil it took the allies to win WW2, 6.5 billion came from the continental United States, depleting our reserves. FDR looked around the world for more oil, and he found it on the Arabian Peninsula.

        Lawrence of Arabia (TE Lawrence), Kermit Roosevelt who fought with British Forces in Iraq in 1917 and wrote a book bout it ‘War in the Garden of Eden’, the Picardus Affair in 1903, Jeffersons action against the Barbary Pirates, US involvement in the ME goes way, way back.

        brh

  12. newworld September 28, 2015 at 10:15 am #

    I have one suggestion, turn off the TV news, TV is the worst propaganda medium. Our household no TV news whatsoever, wife takes facebook feed from FOX which cuts out the talking head maroons and I catch all net sources even the clown show at Comcast which is like reading Pravda by juveniles.

    Reading you can apply critical thinking skills, watching goes straight to the emotion centers.

    • norecovery September 30, 2015 at 6:17 pm #

      Exactly! TV is the reason most adults in the US have been lobotomized. They have no inkling of the fact that the mass media are the propaganda arm of the corporate state, just as the neocon Washington policy makers are the spearhead of its diabolical directives.

  13. swmnguy September 28, 2015 at 10:16 am #

    Putin has a huge advantage over any US President, actual or potential. Putin has nothing to lose by telling the truth. Don’t get me wrong; when he has more to gain by lying, he absolutely will. Putin is a stone-cold son-of-a-bitch, I have no doubt.

    Any US leader has the disadvantage of having to cater to obsolete US cultural mythology and nostalgia for a time that never happened. That means nothing an actual or aspiring US leader can say can make any sense in the real world. Russia already went through the collapse that is coming for the US. The Russian people already recognize bullshit for what it is, and what it is not. There is lying bullshit they will put up with, and lying bullshit they will not tolerate. Putin knows exactly where this line is and he’s comfortable with it.

    Putin would love to deal with a President Trump. He would know exactly how. Let Trump bloviate, then dictate terms that allow Trump to scrape some crumbs into his own pocket and declare victory to the credulous US pro-wrestling fans who make up his core demographic. Easy-peasy for Putin.

    And, for the short term, probably better for America. Trump won’t do anything. Nothing at all. He’ll line his own pockets in ways more commonly seen in African despotisms. But he won’t fight any wars because he’ll know he can’t win a real war without the American people figuring out the whole might of our Empire is a sham. When you can’t take any casualties, you can’t fight a war. So Trump will talk tough, do nothing, and declare victory. There’s a lot of space there for Putin, not to mention Xi and Iran, to operate in.

    The real loser will be Europe. They need the US to be their Imperial Overlord, and we’re clearly not up to the task for much longer. The EU bowed to the wrong master, when they really didn’t have to bow at all to anyone.

    The only thing that would be worse for the US in the long term than a President Trump would be anyone else who is running. I’d prefer Sanders myself, but I’m not pretending he could get the toothpaste back into the tube. This thing has to collapse, and collapse it will. I would prefer that an adult take leadership as that happens, but I know better.

    • Smoky Joe September 28, 2015 at 10:46 am #

      Germany is hardly a spent power. Don’t tick off the Germans. While you are at it, don’t tick off the Turks.

      • Beryl of Oyl September 28, 2015 at 1:21 pm #

        Comedian Norm McDonald has a funny line about Germany starting a war with the world. “So you figure that it would take about five seconds for the world to win but uh… no, it was actually close.”

    • BackRowHeckler September 28, 2015 at 11:19 am #

      Trump?

      What about the guy who is in there now? What’s he doing?

    • Beryl of Oyl September 28, 2015 at 1:04 pm #

      I’m hearing from more and more younger people that they are considering Sanders. These aren’t Socialist Utopia types either, they are just tired of the politicians setting things up to work way better for themselves than the rest of us, or something like that.

      • abbybwood September 28, 2015 at 6:33 pm #

        I hope they all have the brains to check Sanders voting record before they sign on to “Feel the Bern”.

    • MisterDarling September 28, 2015 at 3:03 pm #

      @ Swmnguy:

      Spot on post, well organized, reality-based, well-written. Couple items though:

      re |”The EU bowed to the wrong master, when they really didn’t have to bow at all to anyone.”-swmn.

      That is the tragic truth. But I doubt that we have sufficient data to ‘call it’ on all of Europe just yet. One item that is vastly misunderstood and suppressed is Western European reflexive nationalization (past and present). It’s culturally hardwired. it can be incredibly misguided, but it does catalyze strategic change *very* quickly.

      re |”This thing has to collapse, and collapse it will. I would prefer that an adult take leadership as that happens, but I know better.”-swmn.

      The problem with this is that it’s predicated on the ‘belief’ (as in ‘having faith in’) a functioning, reasonably democratic political system – instead of the grotesque bacchanalia of 3rd-world BS we’ve come to know and distrust – doesn’t it? Of course we “know better”. . .

      Cheers!

    • outsider September 28, 2015 at 5:27 pm #

      swmnguy – Europe (at least most of it) has indeed “bowed to the wrong master.” But I’m not sure it’s too late yet. The Euros are very skeptical over what the Kagan/Nuland neocons have orchestrated in Ukraine, but they are afraid of their bully protector. I keep waiting for Merkel to say ‘stop the madness’ and tell Obama to quit fomenting a civil war there. If she were to do this, Washington’s insane policy would fall like a House of Cards.

      It is Germany that is now getting it from both barrels. They are not only squeezed on Ukraine, but are now in the position of having the Middle Eastern refugees (why are so many military aged men?) overrun, and remake, their country. Germany could indeed break up again thanks to Merkel.

    • swmnguy September 28, 2015 at 9:11 pm #

      Thanks for the kind words and interesting thoughts, everyone!

      Of course, I was generalizing and that always leaves gaps, which you were kind enough to help fill in. Indeed, Germany is certainly a potent nation. And Turkey. Most of us in America don’t think much about Turkey. My sister-in-law married a Turkish guy, and we had some very interesting conversations at holiday gatherings. He’s a real Turkish nationalist, and is of the opinion that the whole Muslim world is just waiting for Turkey to resume its leadership role. I pressed him a little on that but he’s quite sure of it. So at least the Turks are waiting for Turkey to resume its leadership role.

      The German situation is very interesting indeed. They’re caught in a squeeze, on the wrong foot right now for sure. That’s not going to last. They have to decide what they’re going to do, and an awful lot is riding on that. The more I think about that, the more I can think of that is riding on that decision. NATO, the E.U., the balance of power in Eurasia, US strength in Europe, just to name a few.

      Germany and Turkey are hardly dependent on the US. Actually, there aren’t very many nations that are truly dependent. They may be now, but that suits certain interests and could prove quite temporary and changeable. It really is an unprecedented situation where so many nations are entangled in what amounts to a voluntary Empire. Disentanglement would be painful and difficult, but it’s certainly possible. Circumstances could swing quickly, making such dissolution much to be desired. And Germany and Turkey, along with many other nations, can move quickly when they set their full attention to it.

      And it’s still difficult for me to have a clear idea of what the US’ position in the world really is. Is it a stunningly powerful Empire run by charlatans? Is it temporarily presiding over a house of cards? Is it a small leadership change away from more power than ever before? Is it cannily navigating complex and dangerous cross-currents? Maybe a little of each, depending on what we’re talking about.

      What seems clear is that US official rhetoric doesn’t match the realities we see all around us, and neither matches America’s actions. Most uncomfortable for us all, our cultural mythologies aren’t accounting for what’s going on anymore. This all combines for some painful cognitive dissonance. And some fun internet conversations (some really bad ones too, sometimes).

      • MisterDarling September 30, 2015 at 2:41 pm #

        @ SwmnGuy & Co.:

        RE Turkey: Agreed, but let’s not confuse Turkey with Europe in the cultural/geo-political sense, especially after Erdogan retracted their bid for EU membership – after 51 years of being placed on diplomatic ‘hold’…

        Besides, Turkey has a much more interesting role to play in the new Eurasian Economic Community (EEC) paradigm. It’s the foremost nation in the Turkic-language culture zone extending across the Eurasian landmass all the way back to the ur-Turkish ‘Hsiung-Nu’ culture-hearth northwest of modern China.

        Geo-politically their destiny is looking at the sunrise. They’ve made solid progress in that regard by signing bilateral currency-swap agreements with China, and establishing an observer presence at the SCO.

        RE Germany: Germany’s business elite understands perfectly well that their destiny’s on an eastbound train, where a seat will gracefully be conveyed up to the leaders table, slid back and patted welcomingly.

        Between that end-goal and where they are now, a lot of delusions must be shattered, the first of which is the idea that there’s anything left to be gained by remaining within the US/NATO framework. A horde of un-acculturate-able refugees fresh from the warzone should *poignantly* do the trick.

        RE the USA: On it’s way out. For those of us who’ve had a few decades of being the ‘tip of Freedom’s sword’ (in uniform or out)there is NO comparison between the power ‘wielded’ now and the way things were back in the 80’s and 90’s.

        In that earlier time, US foreign-policy f-wads could slam around like a bull in a teashop with it’s head stuck up it’s 4th-point-of-contact and – at the end of the day – still come out on top, somehow. Those days are *completely* gone. No question about it. Regularly getting outbid and outmaneuvered now. . . The only people who missed that memo are neocon dill-holes, apparently.

        Cheers!

    • toktomi September 29, 2015 at 12:36 am #

      Your words as laid down here make it appear that you believe that the POTUS has the ability and the power to make decisions beyond those of the living quarter redecorations in the White House, that this position is something greater than a hood ornament for the country.

      JFK tried that shit. Nixon became delusional and began to believe that he was the President.

      There is a comprehensive organization for developing and implementing U.S. national policies and decisions. The POTUS is not included in that hierarchy.

      Now, who gives two shits about a Trump or a Hillary or a Sanders or any other Kentucky fried asshole? They are one and all nothing but buckets of stupid words that need to be ignored. What person who thinks of him/herself as anything more astute than a porn addled druggie would admit to watching and listening to any of the election confetti? Most hereabouts express a disdain for the ignorance of the masses and yet are still staring at that inane campaign spectacle.

      “and that’s all I have to say about that”
      ~toktomi~

  14. seawolf77 September 28, 2015 at 10:21 am #

    The thing that is scary is our entire way of life is based on a lie. Our money is fake. It is used because we have a gun to the world’s head. Putin knows this. He is biding his time. Today there are twice as many government jobs as manufacturing jobs. That is not sustainable. It is our only growth industry. Trump is a blowhard. In the end the only concrete idea he has is made of concrete.

    • Ken Hall September 28, 2015 at 12:36 pm #

      I do not know where your idea that there are ” twice as many government jobs as manufacturing jobs” came from; however, in a about five minutes of web searching I found there are about 2.3 million federal employees, about 5.2 million State employees, about 14 million local government employees for a total of 21.5 million of which federal is far and away the least. There are about 123 million private sector employees of which about 17.6 million are manufacturing employees; therefore, there are about 7,65 times as many manufacturing jobs as federal jobs, about 3.38 times as many manufacturing jobs as State jobs, but only about 1.26 times as many manufacturing jobs as local government jobs. Total government fed, state and local comprises about 1.22 times as many jobs as manufacturing does.

      • Ken Hall September 28, 2015 at 12:38 pm #

        7,65 should be 7.65

        • seawolf77 September 28, 2015 at 2:09 pm #

          Manufacturing supports an estimated 17.6 million jobs in the United States—about one in six private-sector jobs. More than 12 million Americans (or 9 percent of the workforce) are employed directly in manufacturing.3 – See more at: http://www.nam.org/Newsroom/Facts-About-Manufacturing/#sthash.H8tQWZbV.dpuf

        • MisterDarling September 28, 2015 at 3:05 pm #

          Quite alright. We’re a transatlantic crowd here.

          Cheers!

      • seawolf77 September 28, 2015 at 2:03 pm #

        The # I saw was 12.5 million manufacturing jobs. Are you counting the military and their complex?

      • Walter B September 28, 2015 at 2:15 pm #

        What those statistics do not show it that government payroll is probably far greater than the rest of us. The last statistic I saw indicated that the average Federal employee salary was $125k compared to something like $75k to $85k in the private sector. And a glaring difference is that there are no government workers making minimum wage, $15 an hour or working 20 hours a week with no bennies. This is the unsustainable area of this ridiculous system of ours.

        • seawolf77 September 28, 2015 at 2:26 pm #

          Not to mention pensions that are obscene.

          • miasmo September 28, 2015 at 3:18 pm #

            Corporate executive salaries and pensions are obscene. Middle class government worker pensions are simply humane. They may not be sustainable, but they could have been the norm for most workers if all the wealth had not been sucked up to the top since Reagan. Of course now facing peak oil and the end of growth, the way pensions have been funded is about to collapse along with the rest of the system.

          • Walter B September 28, 2015 at 6:18 pm #

            I must be getting old, because that completely slipped my mind, and being from NJ I know better than most how really bad that part of the equation really is. We have many subgroups of our State government like the Board Of Public Utilities where Uncle Joe gets you an appointment and you spend 20 years meeting occasionally to sleep through meetings. Then at 38 you retire and wangle another slick appointment on the Corrections Panel for big bucks for the same gig for 20 years when you retire at 58 and get a REAL government job on the Board of Rutgers and finish out your “working” career on the golf course, banging home $750,000k a year with the finest benefits on the planet. Sure, THAT’s sustainable…..

        • zaphod42 September 28, 2015 at 2:44 pm #

          Gov’t jobs include military. E-2 pay is $20,602.80 – average work week is 54 hours, figure 30 days paid vacation and you get 7.99/hr. Not much more than minimum wage!

          Averages would be quite low without the concentration of high ranking folks in all government jobs. Too many chiefs…

          Also, get rid of most of the military spending (we spend as much on military as the next 7 nations combined – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures) and we can balance our budget and pay of our national debt. The reason it is not happening is that the banksters have to keep a part of their assets in government securities – our debt. FIRE would come apart!

          It would be good to break out precisely how much of our spending is on military and paranoid activity around Homeland Security, and how much on, say, education or health. And, how exactly those education and health dollars are spent.

          We are seriously screwed up.

          Craig

          • MisterDarling September 28, 2015 at 3:13 pm #

            “Gov’t jobs include military. E-2 pay is $20,602.80 – average work week is 54 hours, figure 30 days paid vacation and you get 7.99/hr. Not much more than minimum wage! “-zaph.

            Also factor in undocumented time forcibly spent in uniform, like an entire battalion locked in their motor-pool until a ‘misplaced’ sensitive item turns up.

            Thanks for pointing that out… PX’s take food-stamps, they have to. Kids gotta eat.

            😉

            Cheers!

        • outsider September 28, 2015 at 5:37 pm #

          Walter B – I’m not believing your figures. No way is the average Federal employee making anywhere near $125/k in salary. Nor is the average private sector worker making $75-85k unless you average in Trump’ s hedge fund managers.

          • Walter B September 28, 2015 at 9:59 pm #

            I was going on what I had seen a while ago on the net, but I just Googled it to check and the results are, well they back my belief that there is NO such thing as truth, only spin. I found articles that claimed it was $48k to $120K, so now all I can say is that The Is No Truth, only spin. This has happened a number of times to me and even though I am one of those bastards that will print out a hard copy of something like this I find and keep it for future reference, it doesn’t really matter when a few years down the line Wikipedia says something completely the opposite. So I guess everything is great, all is good and happy days are right around the next corner.

        • DrGonzo September 28, 2015 at 7:43 pm #

          I don’t know what the average fed govt salary is, but, sorry, it’s nowhere near $125k. They do offer unusually generous benefits, though.

          • swmnguy September 28, 2015 at 9:25 pm #

            The narrative goes that the government has to offer unusually generous benefits to attract the kind of people they’re looking to hire. Most government jobs are white-collar. They’re competing with private businesses that pay such jobs a lot more money. Managers always make more money than front-line workers, and the government hires fewer front-line workers than ever these days.

            When the overall national median income from a wage-paying job is about $35k, I’m not sure where some of these statistics are coming from. Median household income in the US is about $50k. Mean household income is about $72k; not sure what mean personal income is. Mean incomes aren’t very useful except in comparison to the median, showing the distortions caused by extremely high incomes earned by a small number of individuals.

            When you consider the President makes (officially) $400,000, I can’t imagine the mean fed gov’t salary is anywhere near $125k.

          • Walter B September 29, 2015 at 9:05 am #

            Perhaps the better question to ask is whether or not our bloated Federal government with all of its kickbacks, payoffs, and lifestyles of the rich and famous is sustainable by a taxpayer base that is in the process of being reduced in income, part-timed, no benefitted or pensioned and is being stripped of any and every asset that they have. Oh, that’s right, we are in the process of converting to the Middle Eastern national model where a very few, extremely wealthy ruling class is supported by masses of mindless minions groveling in the dirt for scraps. Of course there must be a well paid thug class to protect them from uprising, at least until an overbearing national religion can be established that keeps them in line on its own.

  15. ozone September 28, 2015 at 10:26 am #

    JHK,
    Great articulation of the deserved disgust and loathing for the slavishly willing propagandist, Charlie “The Bagman” Rose. I’ve always found him difficult to watch, what with his transparently State Dept./Neocon-flavored declarations veiled as earnest/serious questions. (…that usually come across as thinly researched stupidity settled comfortably in abject geo-political ignorance.)

    I’ll have to force myself to watch the Putin “interview” in any case, just to see what foolish and dangerous US policy is being pursued. (Charlie’s always handy for that, as he’s a true believer in the exceptionalism of the American character and just can’t help himself from playing the possessor of insider dope!)

    As to the wind-up:
    “The Putin segment was followed by an sickening session with Donald Trump, a man who now — after a month or so of public exposure — proves incapable of uttering a coherent idea. I wonder what Vladimir Putin makes of this incomparable buffoon. Perhaps that America has gotten what it deserves.” — JHK

    Oof! Now *that* is a truly incomprehensible juxtaposition! As well as wanting to know what Putin thinks of this dillweed, I want to know the motivations of the numbnuts (or *set* of numbnuts) that thought this was going to be a great idea. Did Putin and The Donald get a little face time in the Green Room? Ha!

    Putin is likely familiar with this old quote, circa 1920. (If he’s not, some wag should e-mail it to him along with its provenance.):

    “As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” — H. L. Mencken

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    • seawolf77 September 28, 2015 at 10:34 am #

      I believe that was W.

      • ozone September 28, 2015 at 10:45 am #

        W simply lowered the bar, making it easier for other venal morons to step over it… cue The Donald after two terms of an oily, skillful liar who has been shown to be woefully (and likely, deliberately) under/un-informed. 😉

        • Janos Skorenzy September 28, 2015 at 2:30 pm #

          Yet he is clear on the need for a border and almost no one else is. He’s not articulate as a speaker, but rather very emotional and always appealing to the people. You conflate that with not being intelligent – which is simply your assumption, based on nothing.

        • ozone September 28, 2015 at 6:23 pm #

          Youyouyouyouyou………etc.
          Just because vladdie is an ideologically blinkered fool does not make it a requirement that he prove it week after week after week.
          (Oh! But maybe it does, if he wants his paycheck.)

          “[vladdie’s] but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” — Willy

        • ozone September 29, 2015 at 9:20 am #

          I certainly don’t find it surprising that morons promote morons, while calling for the dumbing down of the rest of the populace in order for more morons to be accepted into the Idiocracy…
          “Thinking is *hard*; let somebody *else* do it! Please, tell us what to believe and who to hate, Unca vladdie.”

          (He’s just pissed that I’m on to what his real game is here; thus the constant misdirections and distractions.)

    • zekesdad September 28, 2015 at 10:51 am #

      James; You are so outraged by U.S. skulldugery, but are perfectly fine when Russia engages in iit? How do you think the ousted president of Ukraine became president to begin with, through free and fair elections? “Russia was a province of Russia in one form are another for hundreds of years.” So? Does that mean we should let a brute like Putin re-assemble the Russian empire? I guess you’re fine with them grabbing parts of Georgia. What was their excuse for that? Next they’ll want Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland, but according to you the U.S. should be nice and play by the rules. Sorry, but the aggressor (who is Russia as you obviously haven’t noticed) sets the rules.
      You, Obama, and the rest of the world are ignoring The Budapest accords which stated that the U.S., the U.K. and Russia (!) would guarantee Ukrainian sovereignty in exchange for them giving up their nuclear weapons. By not doing anything in response to naked Russian aggression the U.S. and the rest of the West has allowed Russia to start dismantling the borders and sovereignty in place since the fall of the Soviet Union, and the peaceful status quo in Europe since 1945.

      • Cheesewhiz September 28, 2015 at 1:26 pm #

        The Yanukovich government was ousted because it didn’t sign an economic agreement with the EU. Russia offered a better loan with fewer strings attached. Nobody made any stink about Yanukovich’s election supposedly being fixed – in fact, a power transition was due in a year, and the Ukrainian constitution provides means of removing the president through Parliamentary vote. The fighting in Ukraine now has nothing to do with Russia trying to take Ukraine back – areas that used to be part of Russia, with Russian populations, want to re-join Russia because Ukraine is a mess.

        But the U.S. certainly has a point – after all, we had to send the Vice President’s son Hunter to head up the board of Ukraine’s energy company. It must’ve been hard seeking out the right candidate, from all the possible contenders, to save Ukraine. The VEEP’s son just happened to be the right guy.

        • Frankiti September 28, 2015 at 5:43 pm #

          And Nuland’s husband is a chief neocon unilateralist…

      • elysianfield September 28, 2015 at 7:41 pm #

        “The Budapest accords which stated that the U.S., the U.K. and Russia (!) would guarantee Ukrainian sovereignty in exchange for them giving up their nuclear weapons.”

        Zeke,
        All treaties and accords are upheld only as a matter of convenience, and only until inconvenient….

    • abbybwood September 28, 2015 at 6:40 pm #

      This clip of Putin laughing at another journalist during an interview is priceless:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laxr5ZgPV68

  16. orbit7er September 28, 2015 at 10:36 am #

    Charlie Rose incessant insistence on repeating the US Deep State’s most recent propaganda points while Putin struggles to take the time to explain the facts beyond US propaganda reminds me of Noam Chomsky’s point long ago. Chomsky pointed out that in order to challenge the whole presumptions and endlessly trumpeted falsehoods of the US Corporate Media machine takes way longer than 30 second sound bites. It requires time to develop and provide the evidence for the background facts to derail the propaganda line.
    Anyone who simply repeats the meme’s of US support for democracy or Putin is evil repeated thousands of times across the US media machine has no need of evidence to refute these points. They are just accepted as “fact” (Although ironically the same “facts” may change next week as when Saddam Hussein goes from US ally to evil villain totally opposed to US interests! lol)
    Whereas to challenge the Corporate lies requires boring recitation of evidence and logic, ironically also as in Chomsky’s analyses, provided even by mainstream paragons like the NY Times.
    But in the back pages of the NY Times, Washington Post, etc.
    But the mask is coming off more and more with Wikileaks, Snowden and the sign of that is things like Jeremy Corbyn’s surprising 200 to 1 shot victory to become UK Labor Leader.
    The same thing is happening with Bernie Sanders in the US today which is way more shocking to the elites than the clown Trump…
    You can’t fool people forever when it contradicts the reality they see in the their own lives with their own jobs or family or friend’s jos first outsourced, now offshored, and the real price of bread…

    • Beryl of Oyl September 28, 2015 at 12:55 pm #

      A lot of people choose to believe whatever “side” they’ve aligned themselves with. I think that’s why we are seeing so much Dems vs. Reps propaganda in the media. Also stories about how Republicans have trouble believing Bruce Jenner is a woman, and so forth. I think the whole ‘trans’ issue is a test to see who will believe what, as long as you tell them the group they want to be seen as part of believes it.

    • MisterDarling September 28, 2015 at 3:21 pm #

      “But the mask is coming off more and more with Wikileaks, Snowden and the sign of that is things like Jeremy Corbyn’s surprising 200 to 1 shot victory to become UK Labor Leader.”-orb.

      This is true. There is nothing more dangerous to the Deep State than unfiltered presentation of the unvarnished truth. Witness their reaction to the Truth-Outbreak of 2010: full-spectrum suppression.

      Sure, the average Joe & Jill Q Citizen doesn’t look at it let alone __read__ it (“tl;dr!”) but guess who does? Non-passive information processors… People who actually DO stuff.

      Chip-Cheerio!

    • abbybwood September 28, 2015 at 6:58 pm #

      Here is Kerry and his wife dining with Assad and his wife;

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2408805/John-Kerrys-cosy-dinner-Syrias-Hitler-Secretary-State-Assad-pictured-dining-Damascus.html

      I am surprised that Rose didn’t try to piss Putin off with questions about Snowden and Malaysia 17.

  17. JoeR55 September 28, 2015 at 10:41 am #

    Why the random hyphen in the title of “60 Minutes”? How does one even get to the point where they think that title would need a hyphen? The show has only been on the air for 47 years.

  18. Smoky Joe September 28, 2015 at 10:44 am #

    “Russian territory adjoins the Islamic lands and they clearly have stake in containing the virus of Islamic extremism near their borders. Is that not obvious?”

    Not to American numbskulls who could not find Central Asia, let alone Russia, on a map. We do, however, know all about the Kardashians, even if we could not find Armenia.

    Putin is a brute but he knows the language that ISIS and such understand: force. He’s got more at his disposal than Assad, and soon it won’t just be barrel-bombs falling on them (and hapless civilians). Sukhoi jets backing Spetsnaz operative with their signature entrenching tools, for “beat and beat again” tactics.

    • Janos Skorenzy September 28, 2015 at 2:34 pm #

      Brute? As if you can’t be and be a leader in this world? You want a weakling like Bernie Sanders bowing to Blacks? Yet he is a hawk when it comes to his own people and Israel. We need a President who will guard American interests.

      • miasmo September 28, 2015 at 3:30 pm #

        You know who would really stand up for “his own people” and never bow to “Blacks”? Hitler. I guess that’s the kind of leader we need, right?

        • Janos Skorenzy September 28, 2015 at 6:16 pm #

          What the quotation marks around “his own people”? Do you really think you are the same as a Muslim Somali? Do they think the same way about you? Swedes thought like you and now Stockholm has a similar level of rape to New York City.

          Presto, Chango, Miasmo! Now all people are the same! If you really want all the people to be the same, keep bringing in Black and Muslim immigrants, males under 30. You wont have a White Race left in a few decades. Do the same to East Asia. The whole world will be just a vast Black Slum.

          • miasmo September 29, 2015 at 1:03 am #

            Believe it or not, but some people actually judge people by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. And some people really don’t give a shit about racial purity. I’m so sad to know that this would disqualify me from the Nazi Party.

          • Janos Skorenzy September 29, 2015 at 4:50 pm #

            Do you think Somali Muslims will judge you on the content of your character as opposed to your ethnic and religious identity? Why do you think the level of rape has increased so much in Sweden since the Muslims came? Do you imagine they are raping their own women at the same rate? Because if you do, you are a naïf.

  19. Greg Knepp September 28, 2015 at 10:55 am #

    America has its Monroe Doctrine, and apparently Russia has one of its own…if not formally, at least functionally.

    What’s the big deal?

    • Janos Skorenzy September 28, 2015 at 6:19 pm #

      American Exceptionalism. Only two nations can be allowed to exist: America as the puppet, bulldog, golem. And Israel as the Puppeteer.

  20. par4 September 28, 2015 at 11:02 am #

    I’m listening to Obama at the U.N. now and the man is so delusional I think he is living in a parallel universe. I don’t think a country whose politicians are so far removed from reality can last much longer.

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  21. lpat September 28, 2015 at 11:05 am #

    Well done!

  22. DurangoKid September 28, 2015 at 12:11 pm #

    Success and failure are in the eye of the beholder. According to the Washington consensus, stability is when American Empire calls the shots. It can be calling the shots over a pile of bodies and rubble, but that still counts as stable so long as no other player gets in the way of the coveted resources. Remember in Nicaragua when the Sandinistas tried to build up their country from the squalor left behind by Samosa? The US sent the Contras in to stabilize the situation. Remember when Granada tried to build an airport with the help of the Cubans? What was Ronny Raygun’s response? How about PInochet in Chile? There are dozens of examples of the US stabilizing the western hemisphere. How can people not get it that the US policy toward Syria, Iraq, Iran, Ukraine, et al, is just the same old tune?

    • MisterDarling September 28, 2015 at 3:39 pm #

      @ DurangoKid:

      “Success and failure are in the eye of the beholder.”-d.

      Not when it’s life or death. Only the eyes left functioning are beholding anything.

      “Remember in Nicaragua when the Sandinistas tried to build up their country from the squalor left behind by Samosa? The US sent the Contras in to stabilize the situation.”-d.

      Yes, I do. And the aftermath of that as well…

      😉

      • ozone September 28, 2015 at 6:37 pm #

        MD,
        We’d also do well to understand that there is no tomorrow after ‘dead’. Gawd ain’t paying anybody’s ransom or cunning pretensions to fealty by pacing through the correct motions and genuflections. Leave that to the proven fools, rubes, authoritarian lock-steppers and desperate believers.

  23. Poet September 28, 2015 at 12:11 pm #

    “The Putin segment was followed by a sickening session with Donald Trump, a man who now — after a month or so of public exposure — proves incapable of uttering a coherent idea. I wonder what Vladimir Putin makes of this incomparable buffoon. Perhaps that America has gotten what it deserves.”

    This past weekend I watched the farewell address of President Eisenhower along with the inaugural address of JFK. Then I watched the first inaugural address and farewell address of Ronald Reagan. All of these are on you tube and easily available to anyone with internet access.

    Listening to these addresses by such skillful speakers is a good way to understand how badly the US has lost its way in a hostile world in the historical eye blink of just 25 or so years. Indeed the US has sown the wind and is about to reap the whirlwind of contempt it richly deserves.

    • Janos Skorenzy September 28, 2015 at 2:37 pm #

      Yet a skilled speaker can be a liar and buffoon. Or not – look at Hitler, whom you no doubt hate. Trump has the right ideas – a good engine. You are looking at the rims and paint job.

      • Poet September 28, 2015 at 5:13 pm #

        Perhaps you could clarify your comment by elaborating on which “lies” you think were told by Ike in his farewell address or JFK in his inaugural address. Perhaps you could also explain with the benefit of 25 years of hindsight, what substance you believe was in RR’s farewell address. Otherwise, your comment is nothing more than ad hominem brawling.
        My comment was neither promoting Ike and JFK nor criticizing Reagan. They were are all mirrors that reflected the US of their times for better or worse (and over the course of the past 50-60 years it has grown worse IMO) as did Bush 2 and as does Obama.

        • Janos Skorenzy September 28, 2015 at 6:21 pm #

          You’re twisting words, wordsmith. I didn’t say anything against those two, but you did slander Mr Trump.

  24. agenti September 28, 2015 at 12:14 pm #

    The US plan is to destabilize the region until it is a complete
    clusterfuck – and then “step in to save the day” with cooperating
    European forces and make an oil grab – and stimulate the MIC in the
    bargain. In the meantime, the US must cloak this intentions in half-measures. Everybody wins except you. The fly in the ointment is
    Russia that wants eventually to make the EU its primary
    consumer of gas and oil. YAWN.

  25. Beryl of Oyl September 28, 2015 at 12:33 pm #

    I tried to watch Charlie’s own show, when he had Quincy Jones on. Charlie would once in a while ask Mr. Jones an actual question, but then he would talk over his answers. He mostly rambled on about anything that popped into his head.

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    • miasmo September 29, 2015 at 11:47 pm #

      Charlie Rose really enjoys the smell of his own farts.

  26. pequiste September 28, 2015 at 12:34 pm #

    What a zinger today JHK.

    Charlie Rose: his plain oak table,subdued lighting, assinine questions, and clearly fluffy agenda versus Vlad the Impaler. Ha.

    Anyone who has the inclination to watch – in deep alpha wave stupor – any lame stream “news,” infotainment source, is the lazy, stupid and vacuous (but i am redundant here yes?) ‘Murican we greatly fear we are.

    It seems great mass of of citizens of the U.S.S. of A. would rather spend the entire weekend enjoying the “heroic” fictional narrative of sports, particularly football, than have any engagement with reality, because our reality is one we (except for the uber-rich, and or connected) want to reject, run away from, or ignore.

    And ignore at our peril we have indeed – look at the disgusting mess we have been making worldwide since the early 1960s.

    When I need to be informed I will get my first overview from a lamestream source – MSN. NY Times websites for example and then check a variety of niche blogs and news sites.

    Then I move to the trusty shortwave radio for a leisurely listen-while-I-work review of various and sundry sources including Iran, China, BBC, India, Cuba, and Russia too. Its all about finding the truth- not that any of the above sources are full of the truth – but there IS some truth there – and I believe on can find some kernels of the rare substance in amongst the chaff.

    The truth is somewhere in the middle — and boy it hurts.

    .

  27. teddyboy46 September 28, 2015 at 12:36 pm #

    I have also wondered what serious world leaders must think of Donald Trump. It is an embarrassment that he is so popular, but it says a lot about the Fantasy World the American media lives in.

    The Fantasy World that is exposed when foreign leaders are interviewed by the American media. Will the American Media eventually become irrevalent because it has lost touch with Reality and become nothing more than a propaganda outlet spewing nonsense?

    • Janos Skorenzy September 28, 2015 at 2:39 pm #

      No you’re getting it all backwards: the Media hates Trump.

      • miasmo September 28, 2015 at 3:38 pm #

        If they actually hated him, they would stop putting him on TV for free.

        • Janos Skorenzy September 28, 2015 at 6:25 pm #

          A valid objection I admit. Yet the hatred is obviously real – as you must admit. A deep Agenda may be in play. We on the far Right lose nothing by hoping on Trump and voting for him – since we’re about to lose our country to mass 3rd World Immigration. If we’re wrong, then at least no one can say we didn’t try to find a Peaceful Solution.

          • miasmo September 29, 2015 at 1:09 am #

            What makes you think Trump would govern any differently than his business career? He spent huge sums of other peoples money building giant tacky monuments to his own ego and then declaring bankruptcy while screwing workers. But if the far right thinks a corrupt blowhard is the answer to our problems, then Trump is definitely your man.

  28. volodya September 28, 2015 at 12:46 pm #

    Zekesdad,

    You’re right, Putin is a brute. No question about it.

    The thing is this: Putin is doing what politicians have always done in tough times (and, with oil at 45 bucks, it’s tough times in Russia) which is military aggression. It’s a great distraction. It seldom fails. No matter the economic straights that Russians find themselves in, Putin’s a hero in Russia, he’s the strongman that Russians want, he’s restoring Russia to its rightful place. Hurray for Putin! Right?

    Not so fast. Because, having said all that, what IS Putin doing? From where I sit, not much. What he’s doing is revealing Russia’s weakness, that is, its inability and collective unwillingness to fight.

    I wonder, how much collective will is there in Russia to sacrifice Russian lives to maintain Putin and his cronies in the lap of luxury? Talk is cheap and lauding Putin is easy when you’re not on the front lines. Especially not on the front lines facing a competent and determined army like the one that WW2 Germany fielded.

    So there’s Putin, the conquering hero, showing everyone what’s what in the Ukraine. But what is the Ukraine after all? An economically rotted carcass, cut to pieces by a generation’s worth of unfettered oligarch corruption.

    Does the Ukraine have an army? Yes, but one that’s utterly spavined, as ruined and as incapacitated as the country it’s been charged to defend.

    And how much of the Ukraine is Putin hiving off? A small crease on the world map, a place that nobody gives a shit about.

    And, for that matter, what is Russia? Nothing more than a glorified Ukraine with oil. Never mind the wealth of resources that Russians sit on, they cannot get their shit together and make something of it. Besides this basic incompetence, the Russians have got just as big a problem with predatory oligarchs as the Ukrainians.

    The only reason that Putin is there is to enable the plunder of the Russian people, to take his own cut of the proceeds, and hopefully, at some point, not get killed in the next power struggle. Because there will be one as sure as we’re sitting here.

    Putin won’t be there forever, if he doesn’t croak soon and suddenly of natural causes, someone will come up to him with a delegation of high ranking secret service, military and maybe a passel of robber barons, to tell him thanks for your service Vladimir but your time is up. But I digress.

    Now, assuming that anyone has an interest in these squalid European border disputes, who would it be? The USA that’s wallowing in its own septic tank of corruption and ruin? I don’t think so. America is a long, long ways away and It can’t matter a whit to Americans who runs that patch of dirt.

    Who then? What about Europeans, what about countries right there, front and center where the action is, those being Poland, the Baltic states, Germany, Romania, the Czechs, Slovaks. Maybe France even. And maybe Turkey.

    Why do I bring these up? The threat to these guys from the Russians, if such a threat exists, will be pretty much immediate. They live right in the neighborhood. Just tally up the populations and economies of these countries. They have the manpower, the economic capacity, the ability to rebuild their militaries. If they wanted to that is. They have this thing called the E.U. don’t they?

    And, if they lack the will to take on Russia, it’s their continent, it’s their homelands and it’s entirely their problem. Why on Earth would they need know-nothing Americans in this? Aren’t they superior to the insufferably tacky Americans, especially intellectually and socially and not only that but in the way they dress and eat? So, fuck ’em, if they’re so damn high and mighty, let them figure things out.

    Let’s be fair though, the record of failure of the US in its foreign incursions since WW2 is there for all to see. When I hear that the US backed these guys or those guys – like the Ukrainians – I laugh.

    If, as Putin says, Americans were skulking and muttering behind the curtains, IMO they were more likely wasting people’s time and getting in the way. Maybe Putin, for his own reasons, has to point the finger at those dastardly Americans. Or, maybe just as likely, he was too polite to laugh.

    Better the United States, with its bumbling State Department and incompetent CIA and its vast and useless military, stay home.

    • Janos Skorenzy September 28, 2015 at 2:44 pm #

      Yes, exactly what Trump said in his inarticulate way. You need many words, he doesn’t. He pays guys like you to write and talk for him. It’s amazing how few people can understand this. The mind is a tool. Talking is a skill in and of itself. Many great talkers can’t think. And many great thinkers can’t talk. Putin can do both. Trump only one. Yet Putin will recognize what he is, but American Liberals can’t. That’s the blindness born of hatred.

      • miasmo September 28, 2015 at 3:47 pm #

        I think it speaks volumes that the big Trump super fan here also seems to like Hitler.

        • Janos Skorenzy September 28, 2015 at 6:29 pm #

          Yes, and I’m hardly the only one. A recent poll found that 30% of Americans would support a military coup. We need the Man on the White Horse but it depends on Who of course. Maybe it will have to be Lord Kalki himself. Or Jesus will do. Last time He came as a suffering servant, this time it will be as a conquering King.

    • MisterDarling September 28, 2015 at 3:54 pm #

      Hello V,

      “If, as Putin says, Americans were skulking and muttering behind the curtains, IMO they were more likely wasting people’s time and getting in the way. Maybe Putin, for his own reasons, has to point the finger at those dastardly Americans. Or, maybe just as likely, he was too polite to laugh.”-volodya.

      Nicely put. As global power networking degenerates toward a region-based model, __Nobody__ has the upper hand, or easy choices. To a greater extent the big players become powerless to save the globalist framework.. And at this point I say a hearty “good-riddance!” to all that.

      Regarding Syria: The entrance of Russia and now **China** is just flat-out amusing to me. The US/NATO/Israeli plan to support Al-Nusra (aka Al-Qaeda in Syria) and merely ‘contain’ ISIL and thereby topple Assad’s regime is officially perma-fucked as of right now.

      Pass the popcorn, and the butter… 😉

    • MisterDarling September 28, 2015 at 4:13 pm #

      Hello Volodya & Co!

      “If, as Putin says, Americans were skulking and muttering behind the curtains, IMO they were more likely wasting people’s time and getting in the way. Maybe Putin, for his own reasons, has to point the finger at those dastardly Americans. Or, maybe just as likely, he was too polite to laugh.”-volodya.

      Nicely put. As global power networking degenerates toward a region-based model, __Nobody__ has the upper hand, or easy choices. To a greater extent the big players become powerless to save the globalist framework.. And at this point I say a hearty “good-riddance!” to all that.

      Regarding Syria: The entrance of Russia and now **China** is just flat-out amusing to me. The US/NATO/Israeli plan to support Al-Nusra (aka Al-Qaeda in Syria) and merely ‘contain’ ISIL and thereby topple Assad’s regime is officially perma-fucked as of right now.

      Might as well pass the popcorn, and the butter… 😉

      • MisterDarling September 28, 2015 at 4:14 pm #

        BTW: sorry if this post hits twice… Had to do something to get the first out of “moderation” limbo…

  29. FincaInTheMountains September 28, 2015 at 12:52 pm #

    ‘Do you realise what you’ve done?’ Putin addresses UNGA 2015 (FULL SPEECH)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q13yzl6k6w0&feature=youtu.be&t=5

  30. FincaInTheMountains September 28, 2015 at 1:30 pm #

    After the Putin and Obama summit (tonight) we will go into one of two scenarios: a tough confrontation or a return to a more or less rational delimitation of spheres of influence. In the first case, an anti-American coalition (those countries that Obama has “kicked” in his speech) would still win in the end, but it will be very painful for everyone. No need to create illusions.

    If we still get back on track of 2010 agreements (shared control of the IMF, etc), then there is a good chance to part in peace and it will be good. Then Obama (as the talking head of some elite group) can be given yet another Nobel peace prize, this time a well-deserved.

    Putin’s task – to scare the hiccups or a heart attack from that part of the American elite that believes that the whole world (not only Russia but also China and other countries), could be driven into the eternal 1993. I think Putin is up to the task.

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    • FincaInTheMountains September 28, 2015 at 1:37 pm #

      Obama in his speech appeals to the American elite. He has a difficult task: to somehow return to the agreements of 2010 (G-20, the transfer of control of the IMF, etc.) and save his own life at the same time.

      To do this, he needs to bluff a lot and pretend that everything’s fine.

      • MisterDarling September 28, 2015 at 4:08 pm #

        @ FitM:

        I generally find your posts and point of view interesting. But you seem to believe that there’s a ‘normal’ state of affairs that includes global coordinating organizations (like the G-20), and that can be returned to.

        There was nothing normal about that era. It was a brief transitional stage en route to something ‘simpler’ apparently.

        Cheers!

      • MisterDarling September 28, 2015 at 4:10 pm #

        @ FitM:

        I generally find your posts and point of view interesting, but you seem to believe in a ‘normal’ state of affairs that includes global coordinating organizations (like the G-20), and that can be returned to.

  31. Cold N. Holefield September 28, 2015 at 1:33 pm #

    I guess Charlie and the 60-Minutes production crew hadn’t noticed what had gone on around the Middle East the past fifteen years with America’s program of toppling dictators into the maw of anarchy. Not such great outcomes.

    I’m glad you agree with me that this is precisely what America has been trying to do in Syria. It has nothing to do with Peak Resources or Climate Change. Not yet. It’s been a purposeful, yet woefully inadequate, campaign to fail yet another state and then get the apparatchiks to disseminate the propaganda that Syria is falling apart because of Peak Oil and Climate Change. They have every angle covered and there are more angles than we could ever care to count.

  32. Cold N. Holefield September 28, 2015 at 1:38 pm #

    I’m seriously convinced if Putin ran for POTUS he would win the election if elections mattered. But they don’t. So he won’t — win the election for POTUS even though he’s not running. If he did run, he’d be the conservative’s choice and you can bet they’d forget about any birth certificate considerations when and if that time ever comes. And maybe it will come at this rate. Crazier shit has happened. Bring it on, I say. There is no such thing as Peak Insanity. It only gets better.

    • Janos Skorenzy September 28, 2015 at 2:47 pm #

      Yes. He’s unbelievably competent and he loves his country. Can we say the same for any of the non-entities running outside of Carson or Trump?

      East Germans are beginning to appeal to Putin to save them from Merkel and her Muslims. She’s become a Muslim Saint btw.

  33. Buck Stud September 28, 2015 at 1:54 pm #

    Trump is not going to be the GOP nominee so why belabor a scenario that will never happen? But who else will it be? Carly The Sneering Snot, or Rubio and his Pope crocodile tears?

    John Bush who is now polling at 7 percent and drawing the ire of the big money elite?

    Ted Cruz?

    Maybe it’ll be Romney again. He would project a might fine contrast to “Bernie The Socialist”. Tall, tanned, and handsome versus short, slouchy and gruff. Cary Grant versus Woody Allen.

    It might even make for a good Direct TV commercial.

    And yes, I do think the far left wing of the Democratic Party is stupid enough to nominate the second coming of George McGovern.

    • zaphod42 September 28, 2015 at 3:05 pm #

      I think it’ll be Kasich and Rubio on the GOP ticket in 2016. Probably Biden and Whocares? on the Democrat side. If that’s the ticket, Biden wins, but Whocares? The policies will be the sameoldshit, no matter which idiot is in the Whitehouse. Heads the banksters win, tails everyone else loses.

      • miasmo September 28, 2015 at 4:10 pm #

        Kasich is a moron. If Republicans actually wanted a snowball’s chance in hell of winning, they’d nominate Rubio. As a leftist, I think I’d rather see a Republican take the blame for the big collapse. As you point out, policies will probably be the same regardless. I’d rather see the same shitty center right policies blamed on unfettered capitalism than “socialism!”

        That is, assuming the collapse is held off until Obama gets out of office. By no means a sure bet. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it all unravel in 2016 similarly to 2008. This might be the only thing that could lead to a GOP win.

        Collapse seems baked into the cake. I just hope we can avoid a fascist response (although it seems that a couple commenters here would cheer that on.) In which case, wish me and my “libtard” comrades good riddance as we are rounded up into camps along with gays, Muslims, and other minorities. Then the wholesome white Christians can straighten things out and everything will be awesome.

        • BackRowHeckler September 28, 2015 at 10:57 pm #

          By that time, Miasmo, the people you speak of – gays, Muslims, BigLibs, etc. — will be in the majority. I think it will be your side that does the rounding up.

          But we aren’t cattle, remember that.

          brh

          • miasmo September 29, 2015 at 1:21 am #

            If you think “my side” would round up anyone based on race, religion, sexual orientation, or political ideology, you have seriously misunderstood which “side” I’m on.

  34. hineshammer September 28, 2015 at 2:17 pm #

    Bravo! Well done, James.

    Thanks to whomever on this site came up with the idea for a bumper sticker “Donald Trump – The President we Deserve”. Just had one made.

    “I’ll be so good at the military it will make your head spin.” – Donald Trump. How profound. What a buffoon.

    • Janos Skorenzy September 28, 2015 at 2:49 pm #

      You want Cait to be Commander and Chief? Trannies in the infantry? Face it, you just can’t stand an abashed Patriot being in the Oval Office. You’d rather America burn instead. This is what comes from taking Howard Zinn’s evil Book as your Bible.

      • Janos Skorenzy September 28, 2015 at 2:49 pm #

        unabashed

      • zaphod42 September 28, 2015 at 3:12 pm #

        I fear that the policies enunciated by the Donald would result in America, and most of the world, burning. Of course, I fear that the policies of either party would wind up in the same graveyard. We have been kicking the nuclear can down the road for a long time; before long, some nutcase will blow one up, probably “for God and Country,” whichever version of god or country happens to be blessed with their vision of the rapture, return of the hidden Imam, or the “real” messiah.

        The worst problem I see is, not that Trump might somehow survive the assault by the Kochs and find himself nominated and elected as POTUS, but rather than he will surround himself with military advisors, mostly former generals and admirals, who think with their dicks like Donald does. And that those still serving will not have the common sense that god gave clover, and push the damned “button.”

        Whee!!!!! We started the Rapture! Where is Jesus?

        • Janos Skorenzy September 28, 2015 at 3:18 pm #

          Trump isn’t religious and want peace with Russia. That’s huge. Yes, he does want to go to war with ISIS apparently – not my first choice of action of course but at least but far more rational than his predecessors. He’s not in with the “invade seven countries in five years” (or the other way around) Wesley Clark creeps. Clark’s latest endeavor was turning the Boy Scouts over to the Homos.

      • hineshammer September 28, 2015 at 4:25 pm #

        Janos, you are truly bat-shit crazy fucking delusional. Get a grip man.

  35. 99 cent nation September 28, 2015 at 3:01 pm #

    At least I know there are somewhere between 100 to 300 by the time this is read people that don’t completely have their heads up there ass and realize there is something extraordinarily stupidly wrong with the people in this country.

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    • zaphod42 September 28, 2015 at 3:14 pm #

      How could anyone view current events and not believe that “…. realize there is something extraordinarily stupidly wrong with the people in this country.”?

      • Janos Skorenzy September 28, 2015 at 3:22 pm #

        Of course, but it’s every country and all the time. People are idiots for the most part and thus Democracy is contraindicated. That’s why we were supposed to be a Republic under Laws not the whims of the mob. The Founders hated Democracy per se. Voting is only part of our System, and only for the qualified. And that means most people are excluded – especially people in prison or on the dole.

  36. nsa September 28, 2015 at 3:19 pm #

    Janos,
    You got this all wrong. Those trannies are real scary and would make fine shock troops…..along with say a division of 250 lb yank lesbos in full butch leather motorcycle gear…….and maybe a division of cross dressing panzers…er pansies…..don’t know about ISIS but I’d sure turn tail and run……

    • Janos Skorenzy September 28, 2015 at 3:32 pm #

      You make some good points. I was never so embarrassed for my country as when in the CVS in Central Square, Cambridge, a Dyke customer started getting belligerent with a Muslim check out girl. And then flirting with her as an exercise of power. All the Muslims in line were sickened but kept their peace.

      The Ancient Greeks had the right idea: such women are to be treated as men (as is their wish). Achilles killed the Queen of the Amazons. As she lay dying, their eyes met and they fell in love. Undoubtedly many of our Dyke soldiers will find their repressed heterosexuality when taken prisoner.

      • miasmo September 28, 2015 at 4:19 pm #

        You couldn’t be any more embarrassed for your country than I am when I read your creepy comments.

        • hineshammer September 28, 2015 at 4:27 pm #

          Thanks for the laugh, miasmo

          • Janos Skorenzy September 28, 2015 at 6:31 pm #

            Maybe some Dyke will ask you out for Halloween. You can finally get to be a Princess.

  37. FincaInTheMountains September 28, 2015 at 4:31 pm #

    “There was nothing normal about that era. It was a brief transitional stage en route to something ‘simpler’ apparently. “ == MisterDarling

    By simpler you mean G1?

    If the world trade to exist, there is a need in inter-government organizations capable or resolving the differences in opinions, short of kicking the shit from each other or bombing each other to stone age.

    • MisterDarling September 28, 2015 at 4:35 pm #

      Hi FitM!

      re |”If the world trade to exist, there is a need in inter-government organizations capable or resolving the differences in opinions, short of kicking the shit from each other or bombing each other to stone age.”

      Have you seen the SCFI and BDI lately? The need for “inter-government organizations” may be entirely moot.

      Cheers!

      • ozone September 28, 2015 at 7:32 pm #

        LOL, MD!
        Eggs-acktly. (As if each geographical region isn’t going to be desperately casting about to find ways to feed and clothe their own, via their own local resources!)

  38. MisterDarling September 28, 2015 at 4:31 pm #

    The JHK launch-platform is fully operational and executing 100% firing solutions this morning. Kudos.

    Mister Kunstler’s ‘have-a-nice-day-care-package’ boiled down to this simple question: “Forgive me for being so blunt, but what sort of stupid fucking idea is this?”

    The answer is as simple as it is irritating: it’s the idea of “stupid fucking” people trying to stall people they believe to be as fucking stupid as themselves, nothing more. This is the dilatory bullshitting tactics that regimes on their way out waste time with. Pretty simple.

    Ever seen the Cohen Bros. Film _Millers Crossing_? Do you recall the way the way things went when they took that shnook out to The Barrens?

    Think bigger, then apply.

    Meanwhile, this is happening:

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-27/us-ropes-china-join-russian-military-syria-while-iraq-strikes-intel-deal-moscow-tehr

    History really does not have time for nonsense.

    • ozone September 28, 2015 at 7:56 pm #

      MD,
      “History really does not have time for nonsense.”

      Yep. Sometimes the obvious really *does* need belaboring, as we’re surrounded by the lobotomized and far too many lobotomy salesmen.
      When baseball bats visit the Hall of Mirrors, all hell is going to break loose (as per usual).

  39. Roggie September 28, 2015 at 4:37 pm #

    “Are there any non-lobotomized adults left in the USA who can’t see straight through it?” This is a very understandable response on JHK’s part which has a lot in common with the exasperated outbursts of many progressive/alternative commentators that mass audiences are ignorant, credulous, celebrity obsessed or just plain dumb. I think it is about time to start a conversation about the dynamics of deception as an understanding of this might lead to insights as to why nonsense and false narratives are so much more attractive than earnest endeavors to tell the truth. Firstly, we have to accept that most humans have sufficient cognitive abilities to get through the business of life, drive cars, use computers, mend fuses and even understand tax forms etc. If so, how are they fooled by Charlie Rose et al.? The answer surely is that people are complicit in the deception and the use of false commentary simply reinforces beliefs that are already held personally or in folk memory (memes). The tent evangelist and the quack doctor would have been run out of any town solely inhabited by PhDs presumably, but the power of such people to engage is overlooked. I think Garrison Keillor gives an amusing encounter with the former in the Lake Wobegon series. Unlike Hitler who, borrowing bits from others created his own ideology, and was also a charismatic, the modern demagogue’s task is to confirm that the status quo is benign and unimprovable and that enemies are scary but not overwhelmingly so thus encouraging the belief that wars against them are always winnable and the status quo thereby be maintained and reaffirmed. Even the mildest questioning of the central narrative creates dissonance and providing psychological comfort within safe boundaries appears to work for the mainstream. How do we meet this challenge?

    • ozone September 28, 2015 at 8:04 pm #

      Roggie,
      By not letting anyone actualize their agenda of changing the subject so that their false narrative has a chance to be injected, first and foremost.

    • Lawfish September 29, 2015 at 1:28 pm #

      So PhD’s are inherently smart? Folks like Janet Yellen, Ben Bernanke? Yeah, those folks are incapable of delusional thinking and mass self-deception.

      • Roggie September 30, 2015 at 11:58 am #

        No Lawfish, I agree that PhDs are by no means invulnerable to BS. True, they are more susceptible to high-level hocus-pocus, but are quick to point out susceptibility in others to low-level hocus-pocus!

  40. Spacecase September 28, 2015 at 4:52 pm #

    Jim, you misused the word anarchy. Why do people have to use the word “anarchy” when they mean “chaos”? I’m so sick of it. Anarchy is *not* chaos, dammit, it is harmony.

    Anarchy does not mean no rules, it means no rulers. It’s absolutely *not* the pits of savagery and depravity, it’s actually the pinnacle of maturity and sophistication, built on respect and responsibility.

    Anarchy is what an enlightened civilization would look like. Maybe people in today’s world find it hard to imagine anarchy working, but that’s only because they aren’t ready for it yet. Please, stop abusing the word anarchy.

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    • elysianfield September 28, 2015 at 7:15 pm #

      “Anarchy does not mean no rules, it means no rulers. It’s absolutely *not* the pits of savagery and depravity, it’s actually the pinnacle of maturity and sophistication, built on respect and responsibility. ”

      Space,
      With all respect…bullshit.

      I’ve seen anarchy, and it isn’t pretty. It is brutal and violent. Power abhors a vacuum. You expect maturity, sophistication, respect and responsibility from the great unwashed? History provides NO examples as you describe. Oh, wait…Woodstock? Altamont? The Spahn Ranch? Please site a few examples of such a paradise as you describe.

      • Spacecase September 29, 2015 at 7:58 am #

        No, you’ve never seen anarchy, and you don’t know what it is. It’s never existed, because it’s never been tried. Stop pretending you know the first thing about Anarchy. You’re falling into the same error as JHK, assuming that it means “lawlessness” and “disorder”. People act like anarchy is an absence of organization, but that is wrong.

        Actually, I would argue that anarchy would require *more* organization to eliminate the need for hierarchy and coercion. It is largely people’s misconception of what anarchy is that prevents it from being something they can conceive of as being possible.

        If you want to get an idea of the principles that an anarchic society would be based on, maybe look at distributed computer networks (the internet), look at peer to peer networks, look at open source software design.

        These types of things will point the way to the future, because they work very well in ways that seem counter-intuitive to conventionally-minded individuals (such as yourself), and the principles they are based on could be adapted for other areas of doing things and organizing things. If it’s not elegant, sophisticated, and durable, then it’s not anarchy.

        • elysianfield September 29, 2015 at 11:02 am #

          Space,
          OK, I understand now that your definition is a metaphysical exercise. Let me opine, however, that “anarchy”, as practiced by humans, doesn’t end well…ever…human nature will never allow your elegant, sophisticated paradise.

          “If you want to get an idea of the principles that an anarchic society would be based on, maybe look at distributed computer networks (the internet), look at peer to peer networks, look at open source software design. ”

          Yes, look at malware, Trojan Horses, Worms, Viruses, Pirate’s Cove, Mark Zu******rg.

          • miasmo September 30, 2015 at 12:01 am #

            Open source software has been extremely successful and out-competes capitalist software in many cases. There have been many instances of successful anarchism. It seems to work better on a smaller scale, such as co-ops. Many “failed” anarchist examples only “failed” because they were violently crushed by capitalists and/or communists and/or fascists.

          • Spacecase September 30, 2015 at 4:22 am #

            All you can think of is reasons why it could never be. You are still thinking very much inside the box that has been prepared for you. You have been trained to think anarchy is impossible and is synonymous with chaos, disorder, lawlessness, and so forth, which is intentional distortion by the powers that be, for which anarchy is their dystopia (because they will not be ruling.)

            But maybe you’re not understanding me very well. I also do not think that anarchy is possible *right now* either, nor am I agitating for anarchistic revolution. There are many stages of social evolution that we will need to go through before we can even come near anarchy. But in the meantime, I think it would be a good idea to not be lazy and use the word anarchy in a way that doesn’t totally mislead people as to what Anarchism actually is.

    • Janos Skorenzy September 29, 2015 at 12:54 am #

      I believe it was Madison who addressed this in the Federalist Papers saying, If we were Sages, we would need no Government at all. But since we are NOT (my emphasis), let us continue.

  41. Frankiti September 28, 2015 at 5:26 pm #

    Could not agree more. Peddling incorrect information is one thing, but selling misinformation is deplorable and calls for all sorts of invectives. Putin is literally laughing at how much propaganda Rose digested and assimilated. The worst part about the Trump interview was Pelley’s, the physique in search of a brain, condescending theatrics… he wanted to make sure everyone knew he despises Trump. Yet Trump makes one clear point; agreements are broken when they are no longer fair. Bring back tariffs. He could have articulated it better. The architect need not know how to hang a truss, he only needs to know where one is needed. Trump knows what is needed, the rest of the a-holes pretend they do or are afraid to admit what is needed. Politicians and the presidency are supposed to be noble, respectable ? Sounds like something Charlie Rose believes…

    • Buck Stud September 29, 2015 at 1:10 am #

      “Yet Trump makes one clear point; agreements are broken when they are no longer fair.” –Frankiti

      And there is Trumps’s rationalization to ultimately opt out for a third party run. One thing for sure; he ain’t going out with a whimper.

      • Janos Skorenzy September 29, 2015 at 2:59 am #

        The Sabbath was made for Man not Man for the Sabbath. And Donald is Lord of the Sabbath.

        As Aquinas said, a law not in conformity with Natural Law is no Law at all, but Tyranny. The Bill of Rights does not grant us or Freedom, but merely acknowledges what is already the case. Of course, it’s up to us – with God’s help – to keep our Freedoms from those who would take them. Thus the 2nd Amendment per se doesn’t insure our Freedom – the Guns do.

    • cbeard September 29, 2015 at 8:46 am #

      “The architect need not know how to hang a truss, he only needs to know where one is needed”. Another perfect example of whats wrong with economics, politics, and the construction, engineering trades today. An architect does need to know how to hang a truss or else his designs will be weak, flawed, and sure to fail.

      • Frankiti September 29, 2015 at 5:45 pm #

        Clearly belaboring the analogy… anyway, the fact that the entire established orthodoxy is against him, that CBS, a self regarded veritable font of journalistic fairness and respectability is coming to the defense of the bimbo factory of Faux News is not proof of the interconnectivity of the power establishment I am not sure what is. The power structure abhors Trump, lifelong partisan voters abhor Trump, pseudo intellectuals that think a man worth billions is lucky or born into it hate him. Emasculated effeminated men hate his swagger, the knife in the back politicians hate his knife at their throats. Yes, we deserve him… the slap across the face to bring you down a few inches is needed.

  42. AlexNy September 28, 2015 at 5:58 pm #

    I almost always concur with JHK on issues. I agree with him (and Putin) on Syria: the Assads may be Stalinists, yet even they have given out less bloodshed and chaos than the Wahhabists threaten to deliver.

    Yet I disagree repeatedly with his Ukraine assessment. Yes, Ukraine has been within the Russian orbit for centuries. A woman may have been married to a drunken, abusive husband for many years; does she have no right to leave and get a restraining order on him because she has been with him for a long time? Does she “deserve it” because of her long status as a wife? The USSR attempted genocide against the Ukrainians in the 1932-33 terror-famine, killing a base minimum of 2.5 million people. When people were reduced to eating dogs and cats, the Soviets went around killing pets so that the Ua. people wouldn’t get them. How do you expect people in Ukraine or anywhere else so treated to just forget that? Would you expect the Jews or Armenians to forget the times people tried to wipe them out? I assure you they don’t.

    I am sure that the US government aided the Ukrainian revolutionaries in overthrowing Yanukovich. It’s beyond doubt that Frenchmen like Beaumarchais, Lafayette, de Grasse and Rochambeau, as well as thousands of French soldiers and sailors, gave crucial aid to win the US its independence from Britain. But whose idea was it to revolt? And if Washington and thousands or Americans had not stood up, of what avail would have been French help? Were the protesters and fighters in the Maidan and now in the Donbass Americans or Ukrainians? It looks like the revolutionaries of 2014 on are far more proportionately home-grown than in 1775-1783.

    One lesson of our recent misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan is that people deserve self-government, even if we don’t like the idea of their own self-rule, and especially if we try to foist a corrupt puppet regime on them worse than the “terrorists”. If ISIS wasn’t expansionistic, we would be well rid of the current intervention. But Russia’s military power, and Putin’s first use history in Chechnya (complete with preliminary false-flag apartment bombings of their own people in Russia in 1999), Georgia and Ukraine make Russia a far more formidable military threat than ISIS.

    • miasmo September 30, 2015 at 12:10 am #

      You don’t seem to be bothered by the fact that the U.S. supported a coup of an elected government by neo-nazis.

  43. Janos Skorenzy September 28, 2015 at 6:35 pm #

    http://www.dailystormer.com/a-letter-from-soros-at-least-a-million-asylum-seekers-a-year-in-europe-goyim/

    Sweden is already beginning to insist people open up their homes. Germans are freaked out: one Social Services Worker Insect (neutered females) who had helped refugees many times was kicked out of her public housing to make way. As Cotton Mather said, the wheels of Divine justice grind exceeding slow but exceedingly fine. Karma, bitches.

    • BackRowHeckler September 28, 2015 at 10:52 pm #

      Monsters have descended upon Europe, and they are hungry.

      brh

  44. nina September 28, 2015 at 6:40 pm #

    @merf66

    A-A-A-Agreeeeeee

  45. el-g-el September 28, 2015 at 8:05 pm #

    Spot-on, Mr. Kunstler! Toppling dictators only has sown chaos in the Mideast. Our handiwork appears to be the work of a drunk 14-year old half-wit riding roughshod in someone else’s neighborhood on a monster truck. Anyone in our policy-making crew ever heard of the Monroe Doctrine? Start there. (Or did we?)

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  46. Peter September 28, 2015 at 8:23 pm #

    I Hate to admit that Vlad might have a point about Syria, but I’m still interested to see what happens to his guys when Achmed Jihadi gets ahold of them. Don’t forget that a lot of ISIS people spent some time in Afghanistan.

  47. BackRowHeckler September 28, 2015 at 11:51 pm #

    to pick up an earlier thread …

    anarchists usually end up being dominated by Communists, who are always more numerous and better organized. That’s what happened in Russia in 1918 and in Spain in 1937. And the Anarchists who don’t get with the program are hunted down and killed; Orwell describes just that in the second half of his elegiac Spanish Civil war book, ‘Homage to Catalonia’.

    brh

  48. BackRowHeckler September 29, 2015 at 12:25 am #

    As reported in today’s Telegraph out of London …

    Mixed amongst these migrants entering Germany there are some Christians, not many but a few. It seems they are being singled out in the camps and getting shit beat out of them, and the women raped, by Muslims, Germany’s distinguished guests, soon to be their masters. Police have had to forcibly enter these camps and rescue these Pilgrims; now they are being separated out by German authorities for their own protection.

    No doubt this will make some of you anti Christians here happy “serves ’em right”, that sort of thing, but this is just the beginning. Folks, this will become the norm. Got a problem with that? Well if you do don’t state it, people are listening, and penalties for violating hate crime laws in Germany carry long sentences.

    brh

  49. Buck Stud September 29, 2015 at 1:19 am #

    I was a bit startled to see a side by side of Obama and Putin. I didn’t realize how physically diminutive Vlad is. From the image, it appears that Obama is actually trying not to tower over Putin but he looks uncomfortable doing so. Gosh, President Obama must gave a good seven or eight inches on Vlad so there is just no way to conceal the obvious or assuage a banty rooster complex. Now if it was a locker room setting President Obama could wear a towel and not swing so low but when it’s a world wide media event what’s a nice guy like Obama to do when standing next to a shrimp?

    Diplomacy is a rough biz at times.

    • Janos Skorenzy September 29, 2015 at 1:26 am #

      C’mon Buck. Vlad has tremendous physical presence. He was smiling his masterful smile while Barack was clearly uptight. Bested again no doubt.

    • Q. Shtik September 29, 2015 at 6:52 am #

      https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=how+tall+is+obama

  50. Janos Skorenzy September 29, 2015 at 1:23 am #

    The Trump Tax Plan: merciful to the poor and working class, just towards the rich, and severe towards the artful dodgers. Corporations will be lured back by the new 15% business rate. And small business will get the same great rate – no more discrimination against them.

    Sounds good, but will it provide enough income? Don’t know, I’m not an expert in this area. He also seemed to move towards universal health insurance for those who need it during the 60 Minutes interview. He’s sounding more like a Fascist every day. And that means less like a “Conservative” much less a Republican.

    https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/tax-reform

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  51. wpa--ccc September 29, 2015 at 1:38 am #

    “Trump is sounding more like a Fascist every day.” –Janos

    Think maybe he can get Amtrak to run on time or set up some death squads to eliminate persons of color and immoral lumpen? I hear fascists are good at that sort of thing.

    • Janos Skorenzy September 29, 2015 at 2:54 am #

      Yes, in a way it’s the Ultimate Secret: there is a Socialism that isn’t Marxist, that doesn’t hate Men, Western Culture, America, the White Race, or Life itself.

      In order to hide this Truth, the Capitalists and Communists united in War. And they’ll do so again if need be. Kyoo will march with Ozone, and You with BRH – anything, no matter how distasteful, will be done to prevent America from prospering under the Third Way.

  52. Vlad the Inhaler September 29, 2015 at 3:15 am #

    I didn’t see the programme and my attempt to watch it on Information Clearing House was frustrated by the fact that “…this video has been removed by the user.”, whoever ‘the user’ is.

    Nevertheless, having seen the like before, I can guess the scenario: an intelligent man tries to tell the truth in opposition to the trained and scripted mendacity of a paid-for fool. The really worrying thing is that many – perhaps the majority – of viewers take Rose and his ilk seriously. We can make that assumption since if they didn’t, the people peddling this drivel would have to up their game and at least try to make it look good. Clearly they feel that they don’t need to and it is obvious that a large number of the populace still think Russia is the “aggressor” in Kiev and Donbas etc.

    You don’t need the contacts of the K.G.B. to know roughly what happened; it was one of the most blatant coups in history and we watched it unfold on our television screens. The best thing you can say about passing out food to an anti-government crowd in a capital city of a foreign country is that it is exceedingly bad manners. And we had the disgusting spectacle of the “unarmed and peaceful demonstrators” somehow managing to murder 15 or 20 police officers most of whom were not armed and were less aggressive than the New York police are to a bunch of Occupy protesters in Manhattan.

    However, from the comments on the I.C.H. I gather that an unedited version of the interview is available on the Kremlin website. (Why,, when I hear “the Kremlin” doesn’t it send a shudder up my spine anymore?). I will watch it when I get the chance and others here might like to do the same. It seems that one of the things edited out was Putin’s assertion, based on testimony to the U.S. government by a serving officer, that of all the people trained and armed by the U.S. to fight I.S., only 4 or 5 joined the fight. The rest cleared off with their American arms to join Islamic State. You couldn’t make it up! I’d be rolling on the floor holding my sides if the consequences weren’t so destructive and homicidal.

  53. FincaInTheMountains September 29, 2015 at 5:04 am #

    Mexican Standoff in New York

    Rivera had no goat. He, who was more delicately coordinated, more finely nerved and strung than any of them, had no nerves of this sort. The atmosphere of foredoomed defeat in his own corner had no effect on him. His handlers were Gringos and strangers. Also they were scrubs–the dirty driftage of the fight game, without honor, without efficiency. And they were chilled, as well, with certitude that theirs was the losing corner.

    Danny … fought as foully as a successful fighter knows how. Every trick and device he employed, butting in the clinches with the seeming of accident, pinioning Rivera’s glove between arm and body, heeling his glove on Rivera’s mouth to clog his breathing. Often, in the clinches, through his cut and smiling lips he snarled insults unspeakable and vile in Rivera’s ear. Everybody, from the referee to the house, was with Danny and was helping Danny. And they knew what he had in mind.

    Jack London. “The Mexican”

  54. FincaInTheMountains September 29, 2015 at 6:27 am #

    While United States hopes to draw Russia into Syria under the scenario “Afghan-2”, Russia is preparing operation “Vietnam-2” with the active participation of other countries and carrying out innovative solutions

    1. Russia, Iran, Iraq and Syria in Baghdad created anti-ISIS intelligence sharing center, notifying United States, European Union, Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Israel

    2. The Russian base in Tartus and Latakia are being renovated, expanded and equipped for a more active use; actual number of fighters and personnel are unknown at this time.

    3. Another confirmation was received that the Chinese are sailing to Syria; news Lebanese publication Al-Masdar Al-Arabi and the Israeli website DEBKAfile.
    4. Putin said that at the moment Russia does not plan to “engage in any combat operations on the territory of Syria or in other countries”. Donbass 2.0?

    5. The Syrians say they are already using the newest Russian weapons against the Islamic State, there are early successes

    6. There are unconfirmed reports that from September 30 to October 7, the Russian ships in the framework of maneuvers in international waters near Syria will close the Syrian airspace, all countries were warned

    This, of course, is not much, but enough to understand – something big and outside of the box is being prepared.

    http://russkiy-malchik.livejournal.com/663051.html

  55. Cold N. Holefield September 29, 2015 at 6:52 am #

    Sacred Emily comes to mind when I read this post. Perhaps a better title would have been as follows:

    Rose is a Rose is a Rose is a Rose

    Gertrude is always so timeless and prescient even though I’ve never read her and know nothing other than that about her. Still, it’s appropriate — that line. Thank you and good morning.

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  56. Cold N. Holefield September 29, 2015 at 6:57 am #

    Buck Stud: I didn’t realize how physically diminutive Vlad is.

    It’s a known fact that a steady diet of cottage cheese will stunt your growth. Vlad’s diminutive stature is the consequence of bad habit. Allegedly, he has a cock down to his knees to make up for what he lacks in height. He keeps it on his night stand when he sleeps for safekeeping throughout the night.

    • BackRowHeckler September 29, 2015 at 10:18 am #

      Putin is an enigma; I don’t know what to make of him.

      Every once in awhile a high ranking Russian general, or Putin himself, drops a hint and reminds us of their 5000 strong nuclear arsenal, which ought to make everybody here slightly nervous.

      brh

    • Buck Stud September 29, 2015 at 10:18 am #

      Lol, apparently so, based upon all the Putin lionization that occurs here on CFN.

      But I’m with you on this issue. Putin/Russia are playing with fire via their excursion into Syria and they will get burned. Not if, but when.

      Of course Finc will vehemently disagree and go all DEBKA bonkers to prove otherwise, but at the end of the day Finc is just another jingoist and hardly in possession of objective observation.

      • BackRowHeckler September 29, 2015 at 10:49 am #

        We’ll see pretty soon what the Russian capabilities are, Buck.

        Russian Marines should be mixing it up with ISIS militia by Christmas at least. IS has yet to be challenged by a modern, professional Army; they have to be going into this with a degree of trepidation, too.

        brh

  57. cbeard September 29, 2015 at 9:12 am #

    “It is supposed to be true that those who do not know history are condemned to repeat it. I don’t believe knowing can save us. What is constant in history is greed and foolishness and a love of blood and this is a thing that even God—who knows all that can be known— seems powerless to change. Cormac McCarthy “All the pretty horses”

  58. FincaInTheMountains September 29, 2015 at 9:54 am #

    “Putin is doing what politicians have always done in tough times (and, with oil at 45 bucks, it’s tough times in Russia) which is military aggression.” == volodya

    Putin with one stroke is eliminating the Islamic State threat to Russian southern borders and eliminating the supply of cheap stolen Iraqi oil that depresses the world oil prices entering the market at the disguise of American Shale oil.

    • nsa September 29, 2015 at 10:44 am #

      At least he is white, unlike the moslem warmongering mutt running the executive branch here……..

  59. FincaInTheMountains September 29, 2015 at 11:03 am #

    “Lol, apparently so, based upon all the Putin lionization that occurs here on CFN.” — Buck

    At least you have to give it to Putin: he’s one of rare world leaders that cut right through all that political correctness bull crap.

    “Putin/Russia are playing with fire via their excursion into Syria and they will get burned. Not if, but when.”

    History will be judge of that.

  60. FincaInTheMountains September 29, 2015 at 11:13 am #

    At least Putin is very consistent. His UN speech is a continuation of the ideas expressed by him in his Munich speech in 2007:

    Vladimir Putin’s legendary speech at Munich Security Conference:

    English text:
    http://wakeupfromyourslumber.com/full-text-putins-speech-munich/

    Video with English subtitles:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlY5aZfOgPA

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  61. volodya September 29, 2015 at 11:31 am #

    Mr. Darling,

    Flat out amusing, yes, and more proof yet that people don’t bloody learn.

    Didn’t the Russkis learn from their own Afghanistan debacle?

    Nope, I guess not. Too bad. Bobo’s goin’ shmuckin’. Again.

    As far as your perma-fucked scenario goes, I would agree with that too especially if the Russians get into the mix in any substantial way. In any case, hard to foresee outcomes in that place with multiple bowling balls rolling down the lane.

    I cannot get my head around the idea that the United States and its various suited, self-important, sunglass-wearing State Dept functionaries, are seen to be “behind” this event or that event by people that you would think would know better.

    “Behind”, yes, maybe in the sense of way, way, waaaaaay “behind”. “Behind” as in one-hour-behind-the-lead-pack.

    But “behind” as in taking the lead and pulling-the-strings”? Or “behind” as in giving a foreign quisling orders which are actually followed? Surely not.

    The world doesn’t work that way. It doesn’t even work that way in the USA. Which American President said that he says do this and do that and nothing gets done? Remember General Stormin’ Norman and his long suffering Chief of Staff?

    Norman would rage that he doesn’t WANT to be a sonofabitch but he gives orders and nothing happens. His Chief sighed and said yes, the General shows the full range of human emotion. Remember General Holland M. – aka “Howlin’ Mad” – Smith?

    The point is that making any organization, even of the smallest size, conform to the boss’s orders and will is a real battle. Even with the best of intentions people will mis-interpret and mis-read and fuck things up. Keeping the train on the tracks requires constant exertion of direction and control. It’s upsetting and frustrating. Hence the emotional distress shown by the Generals.

    So, to think that a country full of foreigners who have their own interests and priorities would just obediently bend over and take orders from people like Victoria Nuland or Paul Bremer is just way too funny. Cannot imagine why Americans, who have so much experience in dealing with non-Americans, wouldn’t know better by now.

    The comment by AlexNy lays things out really well.

    Take it easy with the butter and salt. They say it’s no good for the circulation.

    • Buck Stud September 29, 2015 at 1:01 pm #

      “Even with the best of intentions people will mis-interpret and mis-read and fuck things up. Keeping the train on the tracks requires constant exertion of direction and control. It’s upsetting and frustrating.”

      Throw into the mix some vodka and traditional Slavic bombast and yes indeed…

      How do you say ” this will not end well” in Russian?

    • MisterDarling September 29, 2015 at 3:50 pm #

      @ Volodya:

      First, let’s be very clear about what position I’m taking; that the US supported Al-Nusra/Qaeda-in-Syria and Islamic ‘moderates’ (whatever that descriptor could possibly mean in the context of middle-eastern jumble-fuckery) is not equivocal. It’s well documented and admitted to, and that the US persistently dithered about coordinating with other groups attacking ISIL (ie. Kurdistani forces, et al., Hezbollah, Iran, Christian Forces, etc.) is also not equivocal.

      The neocon idea was to ‘contain’ ISIL just enough that it didn’t get anywhere farther west and also didn’t stop fighting the Syrian military. I never said that the US was “behind” any of this. Support is a long way from shot-calling. It’s basically handing a bum a blank check and hoping he goes off and does good things with it… We’ve seen all too often how that turns out geo-politically.

      Secondly, the Russian military is not the same as the pre-collapse USSR conscript-dependent military that fought in ‘WhereTheFuckistan’ all those years ago. Overhauled in equipment, overhauled in personnel, adequately controlled and coordinated, cohesively executing on the battle-field, experienced in fighting and winning against fanatical foes (the Chechens)… As an organization it’s just not the same animal anymore. The best feature of a joint Russian/Chinese combined-force blanket-party for ISIL is that neither is controlled by defense contractors trying to milk the conflict for all it’s worth, and both have demonstrated that they know when to cut their losses.

      We might actually be seeing the start of some beautiful annihilation being visited upon the ISIL in the short-term. Personally, I find that prospect a little upbeat.

      Cheers!

      • miasmo September 30, 2015 at 12:41 am #

        Yes, it appears that the U.S. clearly sees some use in not wiping out ISIL. The US armed them. NATO member Turkey trained them. US ally Saudi Arabia funded them. I’m assuming the stupid assholes running US foreign policy prefer to keep ISIL around to fight Assad, and also to function as the boogeyman du jour to scare Americans into accepting the insane military budget and ever increasing domestic police state.

        Having a nation with a modern military like Russia that actually unambiguously wants to crush ISIL taking a crack at them would indeed be a completely different ballgame from the foolish and malevolent horseshit that has gone on so far.

    • elysianfield September 29, 2015 at 8:26 pm #

      “Cannot imagine why Americans, who have so much experience in dealing with non-Americans, wouldn’t know better by now.”

      Volodya,
      It is nothing more than the human condition. Experienced people will get old, retire and eventually die. Younger, inexperienced people take their jobs and, on the average, have to learn the hard way. This concept is easily demonstrated by perusing the internet…look for “user video” of “Hey, watch this!”… rarely is a mature adult subject of the clip.

      Closer to home, the equivalent of the Russian “General Staff’s elimination at the hands of Stalin allowed the Red Army to come up short in 1939-1942…sadly, learning and competence is rarely institutional.

  62. Cold N. Holefield September 29, 2015 at 12:11 pm #

    BackRowHeckler said: Putin is an enigma

    He definitely is — in the best kind of way. 😉

    Yeah, I know. I’m not stupid. Dumb, yes. Sometimes. But not stupid. Let me know when you find something and have fun wasting your time trying to find that which can’t be found.

  63. FincaInTheMountains September 29, 2015 at 12:54 pm #

    Let’s get straight couple of things here, which are absolutely necessary for an understanding of what happened in New York. The Kremlin, and this is absolutely clear, is going to put an end to Islamic State. This will solve several problems for Russia and give Russia some tangible bonuses:

    1. Russia will eliminate the terrorist threat on the distant approaches to its borders. Each ISIS militant killed in Syria – is ISIS militant who will not come to fight in Russia

    2. Retaining control of Syria, Russia will close the projected gas pipeline Qatar – EU, which is a dream of the United States. Russian gas noose around the neck of Europe will remain in place, and this is very important

    3. Liquidation of ISIS in Syria and Iraq, we will block supplies to the world markets with smuggled oil, which is sold at dumping prices. This action alone will pay for any military operation against the ISIS in several months, if not weeks

    4. Russia, leaving its gas noose over EU neck, relieves other noose over EU – US stranglehold in the form of an influx of refugees allegedly fleeing from Islamic State. American NGOs that organize mass “exodus of the Arabs to the EU” will have to curtail the work, because after the defeat of the ISIS, EU citizens will not be convinced to take millions of refugees, even if they are shown hundreds of staged photographs with the children corpses.

    5. Russia will fix itself as the main “provider of security” in the Middle East. This position is extremely important, as in the Middle East intersects the main trade routes of the planet and there are main sources of hydrocarbons.

    The part of American elite that sponsored and nurtured ISIS, and which relied on the ISIS as the main geopolitical weapon of the US in a “new American century” demanded that Obama has taken a confrontational position with Putin.

    From the perspective of that very influential part of the American elite, the unbelievable happens: Putin intends to destroy their priceless asset (expensive and necessary asset!), as the American president is smiling at the camera, and talks about how important it is for “girls to go to school,” and admits that the US alone cannot solve the world’s problems, and allows for the possibility of constructive cooperation on Syria with Tehran and Moscow!

    Just imagine: you bought an expensive sports car. Someone by the name Vlad approaches it with the bat and the clear intention to break the windows, puncture tires and turn it into scrap. Summoned to the place of the act of geopolitical vandalism black policeman Barry instead of shooting starts drinking champagne with Vladimir and discusses “constructive cooperation”.

    http://politrussia.com/world/putin-v-oon-540/

    • Buck Stud September 29, 2015 at 1:09 pm #

      ” Liquidation of ISIS in Syria and Iraq”…

      You’ve gone off the deep end Finca. Didn’t you–Russia– learn anything from the futile efforts of the U.S. in the region?

      But somehow–because it’s Putin and Mother Russia!–the ISIS/terrorist threat will be “liquidated” in both Iraq and Syria.

      Yeah right. Look at a map; Iraq is not a small country. And as that wise man once quipped about beating terrorism, ‘how do you beat a birthrate?’

      The moment Russia looks to be getting the upper hand the enemy will vanish. Notice I did not write vanquished. Because they will return, again and again, just like the wind.

      • FincaInTheMountains September 29, 2015 at 1:39 pm #

        Just look what happened in Chechnya. From bitter Russian enemies they’re now closest friends and protectors of Russian southern borders.

        Russia has centuries of experience of living in peace with other nations and religions.

        Of course, someone in former ISIS chain of command will be given some fat, juicy bones to chew on, as long as they abandon terrorist approach an take their griefs into a political plane.

        • Buck Stud September 29, 2015 at 3:20 pm #

          “Russia has centuries of experience of living in peace with other nations and religions.” is a long way from the “Liquidation” of your adversaries.

          You’ve moved the goal posts; maybe you’re learning the one debate trick that Janos does best.

      • Janos Skorenzy September 29, 2015 at 5:29 pm #

        True enough – on Sunni land. Guerilla warfare depends on operating on friendly territory. Part of Syria is Shiite and with Russian help, it will remain so. Ditto Iraq with Iran’s help. Tragically enough, the Sunnis and Shiites are mixed up all over the this area, including Saudi Arabia. Major blood baths may be in the offing if Iran unites with Shia Iraq. This may precipitate a desire to get rid of minority Shia wherever they are in Sunni territory.

        The Zionist goal was to weaken all Middle Eastern Muslim States, breaking them down into smaller entities. I can’t see how they could be pleased with Iran and Shia Iraq merging to recreate the Shia crescent. Maybe the plan depended on US forces staying in Iraq to prevent this?

        Get a racial map of the South. Black and White areas are mixed up with each other. In much of the Nation, Blacks are isolated in urban areas which are vulnerable. But in the South it will be a free for all.

        • Florida Power September 30, 2015 at 9:30 am #

          I’d like to see that racial map. Has the tolerant, multi-culti North in fact done a better job at de facto segregation?

          In my isolated redoubt in the intellectual and moral barrens of Alabama there is indeed a jumble but the blacks all appear to be preppers — growing their own food, repairing their own cars, gathering their wood for winter heating. And in this rural jumble the natives, black and white, all seem to know and to express genuine regard for one another in their public, social interactions — observed by me as if a visitor from another planet.

          Not sure about a free-for-all when TSHTF. If anything there might be mutual cooperation to keep the yankees out.

      • elysianfield September 29, 2015 at 8:29 pm #

        Buck,
        don’t underestimate the Russian Military…their “rules of engagement” look nothing like that which our military is saddled with.

  64. routersurfer September 29, 2015 at 1:10 pm #

    Jim, you watch Charlie Rose ? Talk about taking one for the team !!! Mr. Rose does well on some things–he is NOT in President Putin’s league. The sad part is since our GovMint went Full Out Biz School I am not sure we have anyone in Putin’s league. The price we pay for a country full of M.B.A. thugs raised on Ayn Rand and Greenspam & Eggs I Am. We got screwed in every hole by Russia, China, ISIS and our Dear Comrades on Wall Street so enjoy the ride. Relax as Frankie said. All and all we be done. Put a fork in it. Keep up the great writing ! Blocked out time for a four book orgie once it hits my door. Peace.

  65. FincaInTheMountains September 29, 2015 at 2:18 pm #

    For crying out loud, Americans can’t see Russian SU-34 fighter planes

    While all are wondering about what Putin has agreed on with Obama, the panic in the United States begins to gain momentum. It’s one thing when ordinary radio journalists spread panic rumors, but quite another thing when “Aviationist” begins to mix up their reports from day to day and tell about the path Russian fighter-bombers had taken to Syria with an accuracy of +/- 600 miles.

    Why the NATO radars in Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria did not see them?

    http://theaviationist.com/2015/09/29/su-34-have-arrived-in-syria/

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  66. Q. Shtik September 29, 2015 at 4:16 pm #

    Philadelphia, 9/27/15:

    Before Departure Pope Visits Q. Shtik’s Alma Mater

  67. FincaInTheMountains September 29, 2015 at 4:53 pm #

    In his UN speech, Putin harshly criticized the TTIP agreement, through which the United States hoped to “devour” the European economy, by analogy with the EU agreements of “association” against weaker countries.

    Russian President outlined the request to block this fundamental for the United States agreement; which US for a few years were trying to push behind closed doors despite the resistance of European business, which is very reluctant to die.

    Putin strongly hinted at the need for US to chill and to Europe offers a Sino-Russian economic integration model in a common space of trade and security. This is a very serious bid with very far-reaching consequences. Basically, “we need Berlin“.

    Another application with far-reaching consequences was voiced by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who outlined the need for the creation of a supranational reserve currency, basically offering to send dollar to retirement. Kazakh President continues the political Asian tradition: radical proposals voiced by Nazarbayev, and then they suddenly find support in Beijing and Moscow.

    Conclusions of the meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations:

    1. A unipolar world is dead, not subject for resurrection

    2. Team of unipolar world gravediggers is formed and started to work

    3. ISIS has all chances to find peace near the unipolar world resting place

    4. The battle for the EU is entering a new stage, and the Russian-Chinese team has a good chance to win it

    5. Russia at the spur of the moment becomes one of the leaders of the Muslim world because of its role as coordinator of the anti-ISIS coalition

    http://politrussia.com/world/putin-v-oon-540/

  68. Frankiti September 29, 2015 at 5:51 pm #

    Cameron called out Soetoro for his PC BS… brilliant

    • wpa--ccc September 29, 2015 at 6:55 pm #

      “I thought David Cameron’s point [on radicalization] was excellent, that we are focused on violent extremism, but violent extremism is emerging out of an extremist world view that has to be counteracted,” Mr. Obama said.

      ==========

      Obama is right. Cameron should use the label “violent extremism” not “Islamist extremism” because the issue is violent extremism, like that of Anders Behring Breivik, the White Christian Islamophobe who killed 77 people in Europe in one day and was then praised on CFN by Janos.

      The issue is violence, not Islam. Islam is a religion of peace.

      • Frankiti September 29, 2015 at 8:19 pm #

        All middle eastern religions are f******g crazy. Crazy.
        Humanity is overpopulated particularly by people addicted to and brainwashed by an invasive belief orthodoxy. Dogmatic zombies. Could use a few more million trampled.

        • wpa--ccc September 29, 2015 at 8:49 pm #

          “…people addicted to and brainwashed by an invasive belief orthodoxy. Dogmatic zombies….” –Frankiti

          You are exhibiting a fundamental misunderstanding… there is no “invasive belief orthodoxy” shared by everyone … Actually, if there was a shared monolithic belief system, there might be less bloodshed. Instead, over little differences conflict develops: Sunni-Shia, Protestant-Catholic, etc.

          It is wrong to lump all dogma followers together as if they share a “belief orthodoxy” … there are many beliefs.

          Scientism is dogmatic belief in the universal applicability of the scientific method and approach. The problem is not following a dogma. Dogma is a word from Greek that means “that which seems to one, opinion or belief”

          I think one thing is true. You think another thing is true. We can each believe different things… that is not a problem… there is no need to kill each other.

          The Qur’an states: “There is no coercion in religions” (Qur’an 2:256) Anyone practising coercion is not a Muslim. Islam is a religion of peace. Anyone using dogma-induced violence is not a Muslim.

          • basil September 30, 2015 at 7:44 am #

            mr. wpa: the final line in this post “the qur’an states….” should be broadcast around the world day and night. the major religions profess peace, but find rationalization to carry out horrific violence against people and institutions who are at variance with their beliefs. the writings of the major religions clearly contradict themselves internally, but the verse you post and others like them should be given more exposure to people around the world. thanks.

  69. wpa--ccc September 29, 2015 at 7:53 pm #

    “This action alone will pay for any military operation against the ISIS in several months, if not weeks” –Finca

    Right! Russians will be greeted as liberators. The operation will pay for itself and will not negatively affect the Russian economy… It will be a cakewalk. Democracy will bloom throughout the region and the WMD will be preserved. Assad will be kept alive to use the WMD. We only need step back and observe this miracle… as it is carried out by Russian, a minor regional power, like other regional powers… like Saudi Arabia.

    ——————————-

    SANA, Yemen — Warplanes with the Saudi Arabia-led military coalition bombed a wedding party on Yemen’s Red Sea coast on Monday, killing at least 70 civilians, according to two local officials and a relative of one of the victims.

    ……..

  70. fodase September 29, 2015 at 9:16 pm #

    The Qur’an states: “There is no coercion in religions” (Qur’an 2:256)

    please can we get past this islam is a religion of peace farce.

    virtually everywhere islam rules, you have horrific oppression of women and children, barbaric atrocities are everday fare.

    even the muslims themselves want to come to the West, problem is you can take the boy out of the ghetto, but….you know the rejoinder.

    I’ve worked with some (probably) moderate muslims (who married their first cousins), and personally known many who hold women in zero regard.

    the newest honor killing in germany….jeezus, the attempt to dress up islam as something peaceful – look at virtually all their countries, they’re a mess – is sickening.

    islam is fundamentally irreconcilable with enlightened Western traditions of freedom, tolerance, equal rights, liberty, democracy, not to mention has nothing to offer in the way of scientific advances.

    the truth is that the christian bible is pretty much just as bad as the quran, it’s just that christians have rightly left the horrid parts behind and evolved.

    the other team hasn’t, and is in for a rude awakening if they think they’re going to subjugate the West.

    They have the numbers, but we have the guns, so to speak.

    fodase

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  71. fodase September 29, 2015 at 9:29 pm #

    …not that i think demokratos is anything to brag about.

    republicanism, i agree with janos, is the ticket.

    you wouldn’t allow yourself to be treated by a physician who hadn’t gone to med school and passed the boards….yet you’ll allow an illegal alien lawbreaker who can’t/won’t understand the US system of representative gov’t and who can’t/won’t learn English vote.

    ergo, only those who can qualify to vote should vote.

    we’re all tired of unqualified individuals exercising civic power.

    • basil September 30, 2015 at 7:55 am #

      do you mean only people like you should be able to vote and hold office? i don’t think race, gender, religion, or political belief qualifies or disqualifies anyone from participating in political discourse. if you think so, you are basically equating yourself with the very muslims you seem to dislike so much.

      • Janos Skorenzy September 30, 2015 at 3:18 pm #

        So non-Muslims should get to vote in a Muslim State? How does that make any sense? Likewise, they shouldn’t get to vote here – which is just another way of saying they shouldn’t be here.

        Your Universal Ideals are just the Elite’s plan to destabilize every particular nation. By definition, a Nation has to be something for particular someones. In cannot, by definition, be universal.

        The West has been duped by very clever people. The didn’t get to be the Elite by being dummies after all.

  72. PeteAtomic September 29, 2015 at 9:38 pm #

    One of the major things I see, is that as the US draws down across the globe with deployments & bases– that other powers will fill the void left by US influence. Russia is certainly one of those powers. The other development I think that will happen, is a focus by all powers which are able to secure and control what is are the leftovers of oil/natural gas/rare mineral deposits in the world.

  73. wpa--ccc September 29, 2015 at 9:50 pm #

    “ergo, only those who can qualify to vote should vote” –fodase

    Like how the USA started out. Only whites vote. Only property owners vote. Only men vote. Only protestants vote. Only adults vote. etc. etc.

    Who decides who is “qualified” to vote? With what authority? You want to restrict the vote.

    Instead, we should expand the vote. Lower the voting age to 12 years old (the age of accountability). Allow felons to vote. Allow undocumented immigrants to vote (anyone who resides here pays taxes and should be allowed to vote). No religious or gender restrictions either.

  74. fodase September 29, 2015 at 10:04 pm #

    i was waiting for you to trot out that old saw about whites only etc.

    haha.

    i’m sure you’re intelligent enuf to work out a voting qualification system that’s equitable.

    just think in terms of what you need to get a driver’s license.

    how about this for starters:

    1. you can understand english
    2. you know the rudiments of the composition of federal and state gov’t, e.g. the branches/legislatures and what they actually do.
    3. you understand how the president/congress/state reps are elected.
    4. you understand how they represent you

    these are surely the very minimum requirements – and not at all difficult.

    your suggestions to let illegals and 12 year olds vote is sheer lunacy. it’s akin to handing someone a gun who hasn’t a clue as to how it works, and entrusting your safety to them.

    becoming a US citizen requires that you pass an english or civics test (certain exemptions apply):

    To become a naturalized U.S. citizen, you must pass the naturalization test. At your naturalization interview, you will be required to answer questions about your application and background. You will also take an English and civics test unless you qualify for an exemption or waiver.

    fodase

    • nsa September 29, 2015 at 10:50 pm #

      Your four rules would disqualify most of the US population from voting. Hell, half the population can’t even find the USA on an unmarked globe…in the ghettos it’s probably closer to 100%.

    • Janos Skorenzy September 30, 2015 at 4:55 am #

      Let that suffice for local elections. For State elections, more should be required. And Federal, more again. A graduated citizenship.

      More? What more? A record of service to the Nation for one, military would be the regular but there are other possibilities. Financial solvency of course. No felonies. A capacity for critical thinking as expressed in essay questions. And of course, extensive knowledge of History, Economics, Politics, etc for the highest level. Most people shouldn’t be able to attain this – making for a true Voting Elite. And since that makes it worthwhile, people will work towards attaining it.

      • basil September 30, 2015 at 8:07 am #

        and of course this would disqualify most working people from voting. i know lots of smart, hard-working people who would not pass such a test without much review of the topics. they don’t have time for that. who is going to pay for tens of millions of people taking the required tests? who is to say someone’s voting choices are better because they have memorized a bunch of names and statistics?

        • Janos Skorenzy September 30, 2015 at 2:32 pm #

          Exactly. You have said it, “They don’t have time for that.” They don’t have time to learn about the issues. So they vote for whoever has the bucks to make the most noise. Or they vote selfishly for some little crap that benefits them, either rightly or wrongly – and even if rightly, usually with negative consequences.

          Think about it – all of this may be new to you since it’s been POINTEDLY ignored for generations. As I said, ordinary folks could vote in local elections if they were just on the ball a little bit (or do you want welfare people voting themselves more welfare?). Yeah but if they want to go higher, they may have to wait until after they retire. So what? What is worked for and waited for is appreciated. As Aristotle said, one of the prerequisites for voting is leisure – only such men can know the issues.

          And sure, lots of people will be out, but at least they can go about their lives knowing that only the qualified are voting. And I might be among them. Fine with me. I’ve never felt empowered about voting since my vote is canceled out by countless idiots. I’d much rather not vote but feel comfortable about the people who are.

          Memorizing a few facts would only be enough for the lowest level of voting, the local. Above that more would be required. Who would pay for it? Who pays for anything worthwhile – or do you think having qualified voters isn’t worthwhile? And for the highest level, maybe some people would hire tutors. So what? There are always a number of ways to become educated. It certainly would indicate that they were serious about their duties as citizens.

  75. Q. Shtik September 29, 2015 at 11:14 pm #

    It is pretty obvious Joe Nocera is not too keen on Donald Trump.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/29/opinion/joe-nocera-is-donald-trump-serious.html?_r=0

    In his last two sentences he makes a prediction that will be very easy to follow up on, to wit: “He’ll be out before Iowa. You read it here first.”

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    • Janos Skorenzy September 30, 2015 at 4:33 am #

      What do you think of Trump’s tax plan? Will it lure the Corporations back? Will it provide enough revenue?

      • Q. Shtik September 30, 2015 at 7:54 am #

        I haven’t the foggiest.

        • Janos Skorenzy September 30, 2015 at 2:38 pm #

          What a strange attitude. You’ve been talking (negatively) about Trump but don’t even bother to read his paper? Or have you read it, and just have no idea if it’s any good? Also strange since you have strong opinions of these issues. It’s written for laymen.

          I asked you because this is out of my competency but in yours. Or so I thought. I hold what I consider to be valid economic principles, but how to get from here to there is much more involved question.

  76. FincaInTheMountains September 30, 2015 at 4:32 am #

    Russian parliament unanimously approves use of troops in Syria

    The upper chamber of the Russian parliament has unanimously given a formal consent to President Putin to use the nation’s military in Syria to fight terrorism at a request from the Syrian President Bashar Assad.
    Consent was necessary for deployment of troops for foreign combat missions under the Russian constitution.

    http://www.rt.com/news/317013-parliament-authorization-troops-abroad/

    • Janos Skorenzy September 30, 2015 at 4:48 am #

      And after Syria, whither then? They wouldn’t give Patton the gas to keep going into Russia. Will they let Putin keep going into Saudi Arabia? Imagine Mecca being occupied by Russian troops. And after Mecca, the sky’s the limit. Perhaps even Israel itself as predicted in the Bible. Zog and Magog.

      • FincaInTheMountains September 30, 2015 at 6:04 am #

        Janos, don’t get too apocalyptical. I’m sure Putin has nothing like that in the plans. He’s sticking to the letter to the UN Charter – you could go to war either under the Security Counsel resolution or under the request of current legitimate government of the country.

  77. FincaInTheMountains September 30, 2015 at 5:57 am #

    The head of Chechnya Kadyrov: to defeat ISIS we need coordination between the West and Russia and one regiment of the Chechen Special Forces – they’ll show ISIS what a true jihad looks like

    In Syria, in addition to Russian modern aircraft, tanks and other badly needed weapons, you must send one regiment of the Chechen Special Forces.

    Yes, one regiment of Muslim patriots of Russia.

    Because the Chechens, many of whom relatively recently been bitter enemies of Russia, now are ardent patriots of it!

    http://cont.ws/post/127595

    • MisterDarling September 30, 2015 at 1:11 pm #

      FitM,

      “The head of Chechnya Kadyrov: to defeat ISIS we need coordination between the West and Russia and one regiment of the Chechen Special Forces – they’ll show ISIS what a true jihad looks like.”-F.

      This made me laugh 😉

      I like the idea of Chechen Spetsnaz throwing a party for ISIL’s pack of half-trained wannabes. I’ll be looking for that on YouTube.

      Cheers!

  78. Cold N. Holefield September 30, 2015 at 7:11 am #

    I’d appreciate Donald Trump’s opinion on the controversial State of Georgia execution of Kelly Gissendaner last night. No holding back either. I want it as blunt and brash as is his wont.

    Here was her last meal. Who wouldn’t kill for a fine meal like this? The buttermilk on the side was a nice touch. It reminds me of Deputy Sheriff Enos Strate from Dukes of Hazard.

    According to the Georgia Department of Corrections, Gissendaner has asked for cornbread, buttermilk, two Whoppers with cheese and all the trimmings, two large orders of French fries, cherry vanilla ice cream, popcorn and lemonade. She also wants a salad with boiled eggs, tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, carrots and cheese to be topped with Paul Newman buttermilk dressing.

    Update: That was her request back in February of 2015 before her execution was stayed due to a last minute appeal. Since then, she changed her request to Texas Fajitas and cheese dip and chips with a frosted lemonade. The woman had great taste in food, you have to admit. And isn’t it merciful of The State to allow this pleasant and amusing little ritual for their sacrifices to Moloch? It’s so sweet.

  79. FincaInTheMountains September 30, 2015 at 7:26 am #

    “don’t underestimate the Russian Military…their “rules of engagement” look nothing like that which our military is saddled with.” == elysianfield

    The American problem is that they categorically cannot fight on the ground. Only from the air. Only from afar. Only without fire contact. You can’t win wars that way … Iraq and Afghanistan – the best illustration.

    • Q. Shtik September 30, 2015 at 8:10 am #

      From his animal feed processing plant somewhere in the western hemisphere, armchair General Finca has spoken.

      • FincaInTheMountains September 30, 2015 at 9:09 am #

        Mr.Q, what do you have against animal feed processing plant?

        I am sort of proud that I am adding something to overall food supplies of the planet, since I am employing the technology (granted, primitive, but nevertheless inventive) by utilizing Royal Palm nuts, that otherwise would go to waste.

        Anyway, what specialty or occupation do you have to post your opinions?

      • FincaInTheMountains September 30, 2015 at 9:21 am #

        You should come and see my pyrolisis oven that I use for drying the nuts – that is something amazing. Using scrap wood as fuel it generates temperature as high as 2200 Fahrenheit. It burns everything to small amount of white ash, even the smoke that is coming out of the chimney is totally transparent.

        • Janos Skorenzy September 30, 2015 at 2:44 pm #

          Sounds like the Holocaust. Which as you know didn’t happen since there are no mountains of ash laying around. Nor would have there been time to do it given how long it takes to burn even one body. Nor are the supposed facilities up to the task. Russia built a “gas chamber” for tourists at one site. Very accommodating, eh? As you know, all physical investigation of sites have been forbidden. The Truth is tough, but Lies are fragile after all.

          • FincaInTheMountains October 1, 2015 at 2:15 am #

            You’re nuts (not the Royal Palm variety). I hope you realize that.

  80. FincaInTheMountains September 30, 2015 at 8:08 am #

    BREAKING: Senior US official tells @JenGriffinFNC Russian officials demand US warplanes exit Syria immediately

    https://twitter.com/foxnews

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  81. nsa September 30, 2015 at 9:21 am #

    Want a prosperous civilized society and common sense in governance? Pass the Voting Rights Act of 2015: the franchise is held only by white males between the age of 40 and 65 owning more than one million dollar’s worth of real property free and clear of any debt or encumbrances………

    • FincaInTheMountains September 30, 2015 at 9:46 am #

      Here we go. Take away Mr.Q voting rights for not being nice.

      • nsa September 30, 2015 at 9:57 am #

        Males under the age of 40 are too stupid and irresponsible and suffer from ESB disease (excessive sperm buildup )…..males over the age of 65 are too senile and fearful and suffer from ISB disease (inadequate sperm buildup)…….with few exceptions.

        • FincaInTheMountains September 30, 2015 at 10:06 am #

          Did you hear that, Mr.Q? I didn’t say it…

          • Q. Shtik September 30, 2015 at 11:23 am #

            The over-65 age limit restriction would not bother me at all since I have given up voting anyway.

    • Florida Power September 30, 2015 at 10:24 am #

      All real estate is enjoyed at the Crown’s pleasure. In other words, “real” property has an encumbrance. Refuse to pay your property tax and you will quickly discover the Crown’s displeasure. Other intangibles such as precious metals are subject to the whims of markets.

      Nevertheless I get your point.

  82. FincaInTheMountains September 30, 2015 at 10:03 am #

    The Federation’s Aircraft has begun pinpoint strikes on the positions of IS in Syria

    The strikes target military equipment, communication centers, vehicles, depots of arms, ammunition, fuel and lubricants, belonging to terrorists of Islamic State.

    http://tass.ru/politika/2304698

    • FincaInTheMountains September 30, 2015 at 10:15 am #

      I like using word Federation: somehow it associates with A. Asimov’s Foundation. Old dying Empire, new energetic Foundation

    • wpa--ccc September 30, 2015 at 10:54 am #

      “The Federation’s Aircraft has begunpinpoint strikes…” –Finca

      LOL !!!

      So, the Russians have forward observers on the ground? Does Russia have JFAC’s (joint firepower aircraft controllers) or J-TAC’s (joint terminal attack controllers) on the ground? Or do the Russians have friendlies on the ground with radios who speak Russian and can talk the Russian pilots through it? I doubt any of those is the case.

      “Pinpoint strikes” is military propaganda, even with the availability of accurate coordinates. “Pinpoint strikes” is one of the bigger military lies.

      You are very gullible, Finca. (though I realize you are just passing on Russian propaganda… which is being gobbled up by CFN)

      • FincaInTheMountains September 30, 2015 at 11:38 am #

        You come from military background?

        My military experience is limited to skipping the town back in 81 when they wanted draft me for Afghanistan.

  83. wpa--ccc September 30, 2015 at 10:40 am #

    “Financial solvency of course. No felonies. A capacity for critical thinking as expressed in essay questions. And of course, extensive knowledge of …” — Janos

    There you go again, restricting liberty. You are anti-freedom. You would need a huge government bureaucracy just to administer all the tests and vet voters. More big government, more cost to taxpayers.

    My solution is much simpler: anyone who wants to vote, is registered to vote (automatic voter registration linked to driver’s license or school enrollment), and shows up the voting booth, should be allowed to vote. Here is how the qualification process would work:

    POLL WORKER: “Do you want to vote?”

    VOTER: “Yes”

    See how quick that is? No means test, no investigation of bank accounts or property holdings, military service, criminal record, etc. No invasion of your privacy, and no essay tests to be graded (graded by whom?) No bureaucracy.

    No gotcha’s to eliminate voters. No restrictions on the exercise of citizenship. MORE FREEDOM. MORE LIBERTY. MORE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. LESS GOVERNMENT.

    And why shouldn’t twelve year olds, or children of any age who show up and answer “yes, I want to vote”, be able to vote on the representatives whose policies affect their education and their school funding and their future?

    • nsa September 30, 2015 at 10:53 am #

      You are very sick,perverted, and suicidal……..and deserve that which you yearn for…….

      • wpa--ccc September 30, 2015 at 10:57 am #

        Freedom

        • Janos Skorenzy September 30, 2015 at 2:48 pm #

          is just another word for nothing left to lose – having lost everything through cupidity and stupidity.

          • elysianfield September 30, 2015 at 3:38 pm #

            ” having lost everything through cupidity and stupidity.”

            Janos,
            forget not serendipity….

          • Janos Skorenzy September 30, 2015 at 5:06 pm #

            Indeed. And what is serendipity but the Goddess Fortune? And what is she but a personification of Karma?

    • basil September 30, 2015 at 11:04 am #

      i don’t normally stoop to personal observations, but when i read the tattered, faux-superior comments of js, i can’t help but think of “dark helmet” from ” spaceballs”.

      • Janos Skorenzy September 30, 2015 at 3:39 pm #

        I don’t watch cartoons so I don’t know about that. A few years ago someone compared me to Cartman from South Park. Apparently, that’s not totally bad since he’s very intelligent often wins arguments.

    • Janos Skorenzy September 30, 2015 at 2:53 pm #

      12? Why not 10? Nay, why not 5? Stop being so exclusionary, bigot.

  84. Q. Shtik September 30, 2015 at 11:04 am #

    Mr.Q, what do you have against animal feed processing plant? – Finca

    ================

    Absolutely nothing, in fact I think it’s admirable. It’s your other vocation I’m mocking. The endless geo-political/military stances of the world’s powers and Russia in particular.

    Anyway, what specialty or occupation do you have to post your opinions? – Finca

    ================

    Bean counter, amateur wood butcher (carpenter), pyramid builder, speaker and writer of mostly correct American English.

    BTW, you never responded to my question (which I asked in all seriousness) about Putin as an orator. When you listen to Putin do you feel he is unquestionably brilliant? Is his voice impressive or does he have some regional accent that elite Russians would scoff at in the privacy of their own cocktail parties? Does he come across like, say, Dubya Bush, as something of a hick? Does he sound to your ear like David Cameron or a Cockney fish vendor? And what about dynamism? When you watch film of Hitler (whether you understand the language or not) he is obviously a dynamic speaker.

    • FincaInTheMountains September 30, 2015 at 11:17 am #

      He comes across as a regular Federation’s bureaucrat. Much better than late Brezhnev, of course, but far stretch from either Hitler or Mussolini.

      But as one New York’s gangster (involved in illegal gasoline sales) used to tell me: it is not important how you say, it’s important what you say.

      • FincaInTheMountains September 30, 2015 at 11:28 am #

        Russians over their history invented the bulkiest bureaucracy the world has ever known. American bureaucracy is much better.

        Just try getting a driver’s license in Russia – it’s a fucking nightmare.

        In States, for $10 bucks and written test designed for imbeciles, if you don’t kill anybody during the driving test, it’s yours.

        • Janos Skorenzy September 30, 2015 at 2:51 pm #

          I hear trannies are forbidden from driving in Russia – a true higher Civilization.

          Even the cumbersome, lazy Hindu Bureaucracy become energized and efficient when Western Hippies overstay their visas. Real nations take illegal immigrants very seriously.

  85. Q. Shtik September 30, 2015 at 11:38 am #

    And why shouldn’t twelve year olds, or children of any age who show up – wpa

    ==================

    Let children vote for what’s-for-dinner and it’ll be M&Ms and French fries every night…with a banana split for dessert.

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    • stelmosfire September 30, 2015 at 2:49 pm #

      Hey Q, I’ll take a Banana Split any day! Do you remember the Banana Splits on TV back in the 60’s? I ‘ve got a six wheel drive Scrambler they used for the intro for the show. Goes in the water and the woods. Talk about a blast from the past. What’s wrong with M&M’s, you ol” fart?

  86. nsa September 30, 2015 at 12:09 pm #

    WPA,
    Your idea of “freedom” is that of a parasite……the freedom from having to work for a living and support yourself….so keep cashing those disability checks and collecting the food stamps…….

    • wpa--ccc September 30, 2015 at 12:22 pm #

      nsa, you don’t know anything about me. I am not a parasite.

      I don’t receive food stamps or disability checks. I don’t get any “free stuff” because I work and support myself.

      I believe in expanding democratic participation, legalizing those without papers, lowering the voting age, and eliminating ALL barriers to voting.

  87. wpa--ccc September 30, 2015 at 12:19 pm #

    “Let children vote for what’s-for-dinner and it’ll be M&Ms and French fries every night…with a banana split for dessert.” –Q

    ——————–

    On a ballot voters are electing representatives. I have never seen an electoral ballot on “what’s-for-dinner” …

    But your put down of children rings hollow given the rate of adult diabetes. Adults eat fast food, pizza, ice cream, and french fries, too. Dairy Queen stays in business because adults eat banana splits. I am tired of adults believing they are more mature, or better than, children.

    This country should open up voting to children of any age who express an interest. It should be a democracy of the children, by the children, for the children.

    • wpa--ccc September 30, 2015 at 12:35 pm #

      Funny how CFN folk who are in the habit of saying “It doesn’t matter who is elected” and “voting is a waste of time” suddenly seem to care about (disapprove) the idea of voting rights for children. Hypocrites.

    • elysianfield September 30, 2015 at 3:44 pm #

      It should be a democracy of the children, by the children, for the children.”

      Wpac,
      I have to thank you for the above post. It has tested my forbearance from posting a belittling, dismissive, mostly obscene and, without question, ad hominem reply. Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better….

      • wpa--ccc September 30, 2015 at 4:24 pm #

        I guess it depends on whether you feel yourself a child at heart. 🙂

        Jesus said we are all children of God.

        Good on ya for resisting the ad hominem temptation.

        Children’s lives are affected by the decisions politicians make. Children should be allowed to vote for those representatives.

  88. MisterDarling September 30, 2015 at 2:45 pm #

    @ SwmnGuy & Co.:

    RE Turkey: Agreed, but let’s not confuse Turkey with Europe in the cultural/geo-political sense, especially after Erdogan retracted their bid for EU membership – after 51 years of being placed on diplomatic ‘hold’…

    Besides, Turkey has a much more interesting role to play in the new Eurasian Economic Community (EEC) paradigm. It’s the foremost nation in the Turkic-language culture zone extending across the Eurasian landmass all the way back to the ur-Turkish ‘Hsiung-Nu’ culture-hearth northwest of modern China.

    Geo-politically their destiny is looking at the sunrise. They’ve made solid progress in that regard by signing bilateral currency-swap agreements with China, and establishing an observer presence at the SCO.

    RE Germany: Germany’s business elite understands perfectly well that their destiny’s on an eastbound train, where a seat will gracefully be conveyed up to the leaders table, slid back and patted welcomingly.

    Between that end-goal and where they are now, a lot of delusions must be shattered, the first of which is the idea that there’s anything left to be gained by remaining within the US/NATO framework. A horde of un-acculturate-able refugees fresh from the warzone should *poignantly* do the trick.

    RE the USA: On it’s way out. For those of us who’ve had a few decades of being the ‘tip of Freedom’s sword’ (in uniform or out)there is NO comparison between the power ‘wielded’ now and the way things were back in the 80’s and 90’s.

    In that earlier time, US foreign-policy f-wads could slam around like a bull in a teashop with it’s head stuck up it’s 4th-point-of-contact and – at the end of the day – still come out on top, somehow. Those days are *completely* gone. No question about it. Regularly getting outbid and outmaneuvered now. . . The only people who missed that memo are neocon dill-holes, apparently.

    Cheers!

  89. Janos Skorenzy September 30, 2015 at 3:13 pm #

    From the Syrian constitution:

    1) The comprehensive Arab revolution is an existing and continuing necessity to achieve the Arab nation’s aspirations for unity, freedom, and socialism. The revolution in the Syrian Arab region is part of the comprehensive Arab revolution. Its policy in all areas stems from the general strategy of the Arab revolution.

    2) Under the reality of division, all the achievements by any Arab country will fail to fully achieve their scope and will remain subject to distortion and setback unless these achievements are buttressed and preserved by Arab unity. Likewise, any danger to which any Arab country may be exposed on the part of imperialism and Zionism is at the same time a danger threatening the whole Arab nation.

    3) The march toward the establishment of a socialist order besides being a necessity stemming from the Arab society’s needs, is also a fundamental necessity for mobilizing the potentialities of the Arab masses in their battle with Zionism and imperialism.

    4) Freedom is a sacred right and popular democracy is the ideal formulation which insures for the citizen the exercise of his freedom which makes him a dignified human being capable of giving and building, defending the homeland in which he lives, and making sacrifices for the sake of the nation to which he belongs. The homeland’s freedom can only be preserved by its free citizens. The citizen’s freedom can be completed only by his economic and social liberation.

    5) The Arab revolution movement is a fundamental part of the world liberation movement. Our Arab people’s struggle forms a part of the struggle of the peoples for their freedom, independence, and progress.

    This is the exact thing the Jews do not want.

    What they want is a bunch of towelheads running around like ADHD monkeys killing each other for no clear reason.

  90. FincaInTheMountains September 30, 2015 at 3:45 pm #

    Russia began an Air Force operation in Syria on Sept. 30 – exactly on the day that was scheduled to begin pre-announced Russian fleet maneuvers off the coast of Syria. Given that the end of these maneuvers is scheduled for October 7, it can be assumed that the active phase of the operation will end in just a week.

    After that, the results will be analyzed and decision will be made on how to proceed.

    8 days – it is a very short period of time, and therefore strong and accurate strikes are planned. Ideally, such that completely destroy the entire infrastructure of ISIS, as well as greatly reduce their numbers (especially commanding officers). And when Putin says that Russia is not going to be bogged down in Syria, he means just that – short-termism, high performance and innovative solutions in air tactics.

    Clearly, this is the ideal, but life will certainly put its corrections.
    If Russia will hold a special operation in Syria, with the same efficiency as it did for the protection of the Crimea, the world will see a new miracle of Russian arms. The task, of course, is much harder and bigger. But it is important that it is planned. And the Supreme Commander put his stakes on skill rather than strength and size.

    http://russkiy-malchik.livejournal.com/664755.html

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  91. MisterDarling September 30, 2015 at 3:53 pm #

    CFN,

    I guess we all remember the heady proclamations of a “Shale-Oil Revolution” don’t we? And we saw how that fine ship-o-fools slid beneath the waves…

    Fast Forward to Now:

    http://news.nationalgeographic.com/energy/2015/09/150928-3-reasons-shell-halted-drilling-in-the-arctic/

    Shell’s $7B ‘Master Plan’ for Arctic Energy Dominance goes bust-o…

  92. MisterDarling September 30, 2015 at 3:58 pm #

    Part [2]

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-29/shells-failure-us-arctic-drilling-dead

    Yep, real-world economic fundamentals like Demand are a bitch, aren’t they?

    I especially like seeing phrases like “for the foreseeable future” in an oil-co. shutdown notice… Good riddance.

  93. MisterDarling September 30, 2015 at 4:02 pm #

    Not to pick on Oil and Gas, because there’s demand destruction right across the asset-class… COAL for example is looking none-too-hot:

    coal-man down! man down!

    http://www.chinainfo.org/biznews/209960/Longmay_to_cut_100_000_coal_jobs.htm

    😉

  94. MisterDarling September 30, 2015 at 4:03 pm #

    Part [2]:

    http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2015-09/26/content_21987750.htm

    If China has no use for the stuff, what does that say about the ‘global economy’?

    • wpa--ccc September 30, 2015 at 4:41 pm #

      “If China has no use for the stuff, what does that say about the ‘global economy’?” –MD

      Ever breathed the air in China? “The stuff” needs to stay in the ground and alternatives to “the stuff” need to be developed. A lifestyle which uses less energy needs to be prioritized. Then maybe the air will become breathable again. If we continue to use oil, coal, etc. … if we continue to burn it and pollute the air and bring on more radical climate change, we destroy ourselves in the process.

  95. MisterDarling September 30, 2015 at 4:06 pm #

    Meanwhile In Germany, one hard-working German nurse is just “shocked” at this new turn of events:

    http://www.rt.com/news/316568-germany-nurse-eviction-refugees/

    Shocked I tell you!

    😉

    Who could have seen that coming?

    /S

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  96. MisterDarling September 30, 2015 at 4:10 pm #

    Regarding The Frackers again:

    “Today is the last day of the rest of the frackers’ lives. That’s because it is the last day of the third quarter of the year, the day after which banks audit their loans, assessing anew the value of the assets held as collateral.”-TL.

    Tom does them nicely:

    http://www.dailyimpact.net/2015/09/30/fortune-frackers-face-mass-extinction/#more-3073

  97. wpa--ccc September 30, 2015 at 4:52 pm #

    “frackers face mass extinction” –MD

    LOL! The frackers are just getting started.

    “Exxon Mobil has yet to seriously enter the shale arena. Even after acquiring XTO Energy in 2010, it operates only 45 wells in major shale regions. The company’s strategy, described by CEO Rex Tillerson, always has been long-term. Rather than jump in immediately, Exxon looked to improve its shale drilling technology, and, according to the company, has succeeded in cutting those costs by around 25%. Exxon is now poised to grow its shale resources, perhaps significantly. Acquiring Whiting Petroleum or EOG Resources at this juncture might be the perfect way to do so. Or Exxon might find a better deal as oil prices continue their slump and more fracking companies struggle.

    Large companies like Exxon Mobil, BP, Chevron, Statoil and Saudi Arabian oil company Aramco are positioned to purchase these assets. Exxon Mobil recently raised $8 billion in bond sales, Saudi Aramco reached an agreement on a $10 billion loan, and Statoil is freeing up cash by delaying development on an expensive and complicated Arctic Circle asset. Saudi Aramco has gone so far as to advertise job openings to American petroleum engineers with shale oil experience.” –Ellen Wald

  98. beantownbill. September 30, 2015 at 8:48 pm #

    It is amusing, all this talk of pissing contests. The US is very powerful and can’t be defeated. No, Russia is more powerful and has a quality leadership. No, watch out for the Chinese, they are the future. Etc, etc.

    Who gives a shit? I can list reasons why any country will fail.

    China? Most Chinese are poverty-stricken, their air and waterways are filthy and polluted. Their political leadership is always one misstep away from overthrow. Their future is bleak. The only example of the complete lifespan of communist rule in a country is Russia, about 70 years. China went communist about 66 years ago. Cuba went communist about 56 years ago and the Castro’s rule is about over. Cuba will have another form of government soon.

    Russia? You have to look at its history and national character. They’ve never been well organized. Their population is too diverse and land area too big, and Russians’ personality too dark and pessimistic.

    • Janos Skorenzy September 30, 2015 at 10:59 pm #

      Too diverse? But in America it’s fine, right? Ever meet yourself crossing the street?

      • malthuss October 2, 2015 at 1:23 pm #

        Almost 30 years ago, News predictions were that USSR would crumble. Why?

        Abortion by Whites and large families for ‘minority’….hmmm.

  99. beantownbill. September 30, 2015 at 8:59 pm #

    Geopolitics are always changing. I don’t worry who’s now the big boy on the street because wait a few years and everything will be different. Remember when the Saudi’s were buying everything in sight in America? Then, remember when the Japanese were on top of the world because of their culture and business model, and they were buying up America, and everyone wished we could emulate them?
    So now the Chinese are buying up America and are #1 in the economic world because their workers are slave laborers and they manufacture really shoddy products on the cheap.

    In a few years the Lower Slobbovians will be buying up America.

  100. beantownbill. September 30, 2015 at 9:12 pm #

    America is now learning the true costs in transitioning from a manufacturing economy to a service economy. When you aren’t a producer, you become dependent on foreign producers and lose a lot of your power and independence. Being a service economy will work out in our favor in the relatively near future as technological advances in robotics will allow us to produce more for less money.

    In this sense, America was wise to evolve into the 21st century. What American economists and politicians did wrong was not informing the populace about the consequences of such an action and not preparing for it.

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  101. wpa--ccc September 30, 2015 at 10:12 pm #

    “It is amusing, all this talk of pissing contests.” –Beantown

    Has it always been amusing to you, or just recently you are amused?

    Were you amusedly detached during the 1967 Six Day War when Israel took on four of its neighbors with overwhelming force? You say now that you don’t worry who’s now the big boy on the street because wait a few years everything will be different.

    In the spring of 1967, the Soviet Union misinformed the Syrian government that Israeli forces were massing in northern Israel to attack Syria. There was no such Israeli mobilization. But clashes between Israel and Syria had been escalating for about a year, and Israeli leaders had publicly declared that it might be necessary to bring down the Syrian regime if it failed to end Palestinian commando attacks against Israel from Syrian territory.

    But I assume you are hoping Israel will always maintain an absolutely superior military power backed up by the armed forces of the USA and the security situation of Israel does not amuse you.

    • beantownbill. September 30, 2015 at 11:40 pm #

      I’ve been amused since coming onto CFN. Although I’ve always known the American public was misinformed and ignorant of the gravity of the important issues that face us, it was brought home to me when I began reading this comment section – comments from supposedly intelligent people who seem to miss the salient points,and instead focus on issues – like politics, race and economics – which, although important, are meant to distract us from dealing with the really critical issues.

      If you read my comment above, I never said I was amusedly detached, just that I was amused. I’ve always been extremely concerned with Israel’s long-term viability for obvious reasons, but believe it or not, that’s not the ultimate problem.

      • elysianfield October 1, 2015 at 11:29 am #

        ” like politics, race and economics ”

        Bill,
        What could be more important than issues of the world/national economy? I must be missing the salient points of which you allude.

        • malthuss October 2, 2015 at 1:25 pm #

          Resources, Population, the limits to growth.

  102. sprawlcapital September 30, 2015 at 11:41 pm #

    I received my copy of A History of the Future today;it’s the first Kunstler novel I’ve purchased. I borrowed the other two World Made by Hand books from the library. Of JHK’s five nonfiction volumes, I have purchased and read all but one; that one being The City in Mind.

    The book is autographed by the author. JHK’s signature is in cursive script and is legible. I remember, back in the 1950s and 60s, only physicians and top business executives had scrawled, illegible signatures, apparently to show the world that they were always in a hurry. Now many of the college-age people I work with, unable to write anything in cursive, sign with a scrawl. These youngsters are barely able to produce readable print lettering or even numerals.

    I showed my wife the cover of the book. She asked about the house that’s pictured: is that a turn of the century house? I told her the book is about a future time after industrial collapse, when there is almost no electricity, except for small dams with generators here and there,

    It’s the only hope, I said. Everything’s so horrible now. Think of the hog factories and the chemicals. We have to go back to growing our own food, like I do. (I have 0.014 acre of our back yard in an amazingly productive garden.)

    Then I read to her the book’s opening lines:

    In the not-distant future . . .
    The electricity has flickered out. The automobile age is over. The computers are down for good. . . .

    “No,” she cried. “I want computers! You’re so Amish. I’m going to write a book: I married an Amish husband.”

    So it goes here in Des Moines, Iowa, where suburban development is more than just dysfunctional and ugly–it paves over the best land on Earth. Making Des Moines the sprawl capital of the US, if not the world. Collapse is indeed the only hope for stopping this sick way of ‘growing” the economy.

    • Buck Stud October 1, 2015 at 1:33 am #

      Funny post Sprawl lol. It sort of reminds me of that time (maybe I mentioned it previously) when I told a female acquaintance just imagine if we could step into one of those Star Trek ‘beam-me-up-Scotty tubes and magical eradicate all of our aches, pains and maladies. She sort of thought about it for a moment and then asked: “And get rid of wrinkles too?”

      Mars and Venus without a doubt. Maybe Janos, our resident expert on the female psyche, can explain it to us.

  103. Buck Stud October 1, 2015 at 1:21 am #

    “Russia began an Air Force operation in Syria on Sept. 30 – exactly on the day that was scheduled to begin pre-announced Russian fleet maneuvers off the coast of Syria. Given that the end of these maneuvers is scheduled for October 7, it can be assumed that the active phase of the operation will end in just a week.”–Finca

    What, is this a page out of the U.S. Military/George ‘Do We Have Em Surrounded Now’ Custer playbook–announce/telegraph your plans in advance!?

    And gee, do you think those asymmetrical warfare terrorists might just take a hike until, oh,say, “the active phase of the operation” ends?

    Maybe I grew up watching too many cowboy and injun movies where the pre-dawn sneak attack was the smart thing to do if the intent was serious.

    Pull back the curtain Finca–you’re being played.

    • FincaInTheMountains October 1, 2015 at 1:50 am #

      It is all a “fog of war” and I am just a guy shooting his mouth off on the Internet. “Demon, I am bored…”

  104. FincaInTheMountains October 1, 2015 at 1:25 am #

    Alexander Brodsky: Back to 1943

    I think that now everyone has noticed that Russia and the United States if not yet allies in the fight against ISIS, in any case, the prospect of it is being discussed seriously by both Russian and American media. And it is perhaps even more important than the formal announcement of the alliance.

    Current events are bringing us back to the days of not even Yalta-1945, but Tehran-1943, when Stalin’s USSR and Roosevelt’s United States were more closely allied than the US and the UK, to the point that President Roosevelt, who sincerely hated the Nazis, in Tehran stayed on the territory of the Soviet Embassy.

    The world is back to the 1943 when the US president could only in a nightmare imagine that immediately after the devastating Second World War (and some believe that even without waiting for its completion) will start a new world war in which the United States with the Germans will fight against historical Russia.

    And now the United States are once again an ally of Russia in the struggle against world evil, burning people alive on the camera in order to intimidate the rest of humanity, and US will have to repent a victory in the Cold War, but victory is always more difficult to repent than defeat.

    Let me remind you that almost a year and a half ago erupted a huge scandal when Obama at the end of May 2014 took the helm of US foreign policy, explaining his new course as built on the principle of “do not do stupid shit policy”. And his former secretary of state took it personally, arguing that “shitty stupidity” that she has repeatedly voiced demands to arm anti-Assad rebels in Syria with most advanced American weapons, which Obama has consistently rejected.

    And a week after Obama announced the basic principle of his foreign policy, unknown, but extremely vicious gang, came from Syria, practically without a fight took Iraqi Mosul, where someone as if specially prepared for them a mountain of weapons, including more than 2 thousand Humvees armored vehicles and other heavy weapons, ISIS instantly turned into a regional power of the awesome proportions.

    This power using these armored cars quickly gained a reputation of invincibility and after it with the help of Turkey start dumping oil on the markets of West Qurna at a price of less than half of the market, it established itself as the power of geopolitical magnitude, threatening not only Russia, but also United States.

    Indeed the sale of “non-market” oil by Clintonites-controlled oil companies provoked a collapse in oil prices and a catastrophic drop in the Dow Jones index, at the same time burying the “shale oil revolution”.

    It is a mistake to think that cheap oil is only a tool of economic war against Russia or that it is beneficial to the United States in the current situation in the global economy. Cheap oil threatens US oil companies and high-tech business related to energy-saving technologies, but above all it threatens deflation and another Great Depression throughout the global financial system as a whole.

    Another thing is that in the US there are financial and industrial groups, for whom cheap oil is really a favorite policy tool and a necessary condition of existence. In this connection, naturally come to mind Clintons who in the 90s with the help of cheap oil balanced the madness of the printing press, the production of which they distributed among the “close friends” with the help of Information Superhighway project, also known as dot-com business.

    And here in America broke another huge scandal in connection with the fact that, having spent several hundred million dollars, the American advisers were able to prepare as many as five soldiers to fight Islamic State, but other advisers with great pleasure gave American weapons to the Clinton’s favorite Islamists despite the unwillingness of Obama to become the last President of the United States.

    So Hillary and Barack did not come to an agreement. But Obama and Putin did.

  105. Vlad the Inhaler October 1, 2015 at 3:41 am #

    For those interested in a balanced analysis of the Syrian situation as compared with the line the government pushes on us (those reading it may disagree),

    http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/

    “Some Immediate Thoughts on the New Crisis in Syria “

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    • FincaInTheMountains October 1, 2015 at 5:49 am #

      “The USA is no longer run (as Russia still is) by disillusioned cynics seeking the least worst outcome. It is in the hands of Utopian idealists and there is no limit to the horrors they can unleash upon the earth in the names of freedom and democracy.”

      In the hands of Utopian idealists???? After reading that laughable statement, I lost all confidence in the author.

      • MisterDarling October 1, 2015 at 2:53 pm #

        FitM;

        “In the hands of Utopian idealists???? After reading that laughable statement, I lost all confidence in the author.”-f.

        You have heard of *Sarcasm* right?

        C’mon Estanciero, you are better than that.

        😐

        • Sean Coleman October 1, 2015 at 5:51 pm #

          No, Hitchens is serious about the utopianism. The great Irish thinker Desmond Fennell (The Postwestern Condition) saw the following as attempts at attaining Utopia on earth: American Revolution, French Revolution, Russian Revolution, German (Nazi) Revolution and the Second American Revolution with its roots in the New Deal. They all tried, or try, to create societies where Man could be brought to perfection. (I think he included the first American one.) Of course, they all (or at least from the French one onwards) led to disaster. Don’t forget that the US is the cradle of our new crazy half-baked contradictory civilization, political correctness, which is replacing the Christian one which has existed since Constantine.

          • Sean Coleman October 2, 2015 at 7:14 am #

            An example of liberal utopianism is wpa-ccc’s (?) daft proposal to give the vote to three year-olds. You’d need a psychologist to work it out. And it’s just a question of when it will happen.

            I suppose other variations on the utopian theme are muslim fundamentalism and what could be called ‘scientism’ (everything is knowable by people in white coats).

    • FincaInTheMountains October 1, 2015 at 5:55 am #

      Japanese P.M. Shinzo Abe runs to greet Sempai Putin

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLfbDtho_xY

    • Sean Coleman October 1, 2015 at 5:40 pm #

      Hitchens is an excellent analyst, the best I know of. It is interesting to compare his views with JHK’s.

      This is what the Irish economist David McWilliams thinks:

      http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2015/10/01/putin-knows-that-isil-will-be-strangled-without-more-oil-as-price-falls-further

      He thinks Russia has pulled off a coup. Hitchens thinks it was a very bad move for everyone.

  106. Cold N. Holefield October 1, 2015 at 7:09 am #

    Pull back the curtain Finca–you’re being played.

    Finca is playing us, Buck. He’s no more a Russian than the man on the moon. I tracked him to California at one point. He probably is working the next cube over from wpa, or he’s an Indian guy providing outsourced sock services from Mumbai. I see him and wpa every Saturday and Sunday when I watch football. They’re what most teams play on — Astroturf.

    The irony is, Putin is doing exactly what America is doing in Syria — indiscriminate bombing under the guise of discriminate bombing because we all know, in this day and age, not only despite technology but most likely because of it, there is no such thing as discriminate bombing. It’s all indiscriminate these days and civilians are the de facto targets since it’s a known fact civilians suffer the largest casualties and yet bombing proceeds unhindered by such damning statistics. Collateral damage is the purpose and terror is the effect.

    One thing’s for sure — Assad, if he wasn’t already, is now Putin’s bitch in perpetuity. One misstep, or any lip or infidelity or show of ingratitude, and Bashar will be Nemtsoved faster than he can say Borscht.

    • FincaInTheMountains October 1, 2015 at 7:54 am #

      “I tracked him to California at one point.” == Cold

      Cold, are you delusional? Last time I’ve been to Cali was like 20 years ago.

      Anyway, whatever is happening around Syria right now, is a staged theater: everything was decided in May-June of this year.

      Obama and Putin are working in unison, at least on that direction.
      Islamic State is as good as dead, and “moderate” Syrian opposition along with it. Soon time will come for denacification of Ukraine.

      By by Ukrainian Nazikies, Kiev’s gallows are waiting..

      Hail to the chief!!

    • sprawlcapital October 2, 2015 at 2:52 pm #

      Collateral damage is the purpose and terror is the effect.–Cold
      ===========================================
      Exactly right.

      Every car in America should carry the following bumper sticker: I’m a child, not collateral damage. (That’s a reference to the famous “I’m a child, not a choice,” anti-abortion one. As most of you know.)

      I’m not naive, but does our security really depend on committing “collateral damage”? Am I safer in my warm home because we drop bombs on Syria or Iraq? As CNH so accurately points out, all bombing of inhabited areas is indiscriminate. How can you bomb a city without killing civilians?

      We claim in the US that we are exceptional; our bombings are heroic; theirs are cowardly terrorism.

      • sprawlcapital October 3, 2015 at 11:23 am #

        We claim in the US that we are exceptional; our bombings are heroic; theirs are cowardly terrorism.

        Improved punctuation:

        We claim in the US that we are exceptional: our bombings are heroic–theirs are cowardly terrorism.

  107. Cold N. Holefield October 1, 2015 at 8:16 am #

    Finca sais: It is a mistake to think that cheap oil is only a tool of economic war against Russia or that it is beneficial to the United States in the current situation in the global economy.

    Nonsense. They took my advice and its working. Putin, or I should say his replacement that doesn’t even resemble the former Putin, is getting desperate. First, he knocks off Nemtsov to send a message that any opposition will be dealt with severely and now he invades and occupies Syria after his debacle in Ukraine. These moves were calculated by those who dropped the price of oil. They anticipated The Kremlin’s response and lured Russia into these bold and desperate moves. Russia’s being spread thin — what’s left of it. The breaking point is just around the corner of this circle.

  108. FincaInTheMountains October 1, 2015 at 8:53 am #

    ” Putin …. is getting desperate.” == Cold

    Doesn’t look too desperate to me, having gotten under his governance the entire Middle East. Does someone need to spell it for you, Cold?

    US is done in ME, finished. You’ve had your chance. Now the struggle is for Europe – We Want Berlin!

  109. ozone October 1, 2015 at 9:13 am #

    Yes, I’d say Charlie “The Bagman” Rose certainly *did* look like a “fucking idiot” conducting that crap-tastic interview with Putin. …Although Rose looking that way is anything but unusual.

    To continue the what-the-fuck-is-going-on-here-? theme of media manipulation and perception control, here’s an article by Tony Cartalucci about an actual journalist whose name isn’t Charlie Rose.

    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article43000.htm

    Why would the Western Media be dying? Could it possibly be a well-justified LACK OF TRUST? Hmmmmmmmm, maybe.

    While not being a big fan of Gallup (what with their miniscule sampling sizes), trust in news outlets is low (and proceeding lower) in a very important demographic: them pesky youngsters who don’t have any employment ‘opportunities’, and won’t stay off of your lawns. There be trouble a-brewin’. Better start handing out the soma, and take away the ‘roid stashes of the police; we don’t want no trouble here, hear?

    http://www.gallup.com/poll/185927/americans-trust-media-remains-historical-low.aspx?

    Don’t think Toto will rip the curtain away at some point? Well then, you must also believe that the Information Highway resembles a one-way street and trust is not important in maintaining a cohesive society. Might be a good time to give these factors another think.

  110. Therian October 1, 2015 at 11:21 am #

    Thanks God for you, James Howard Kunstler. I was wondering who’d have the gall to make fun of Charlie Rose’s incredibly STUPID temerity re the Ukraine question to Putin. The analogy you made was hilarious and spot on: “It’s like asking Obama if the NSA knows what’s going on in Texas.”

    American hubris is often matched ONLY by its stupidity and never more than this case.

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  111. volodya October 1, 2015 at 12:27 pm #

    Mr. Darling, fair enough, my amusement, if it can be called that, is with people who think that the U.S. is something it isn’t, for example, who think that it has power in the world to direct events to conform to the American will, that it can compel foreigners do things in the U.S. interest whether by means of bribes or by force.

    Or, to paraphrase the Archdruid, that foreigners are puppets that can be made to pose.

    Your comment about giving a bum a blank check is a realistic appraisal of matters, for instance, financial “support” of the Egyptian regime for the sake of – ahem – regional stability. Given the size and range of rackets the Egyptian military is involved in I can’t imagine why the U.S. is pissing money into that particular rat-hole.

    Now, we might ask about Israel, another American “backed” country. Do they look like they need money? If they really do have a stockpile of 200 nukes, do they need American security guarantees? The Israelis are big boys, they can take care of themselves. So are the Egyptians.

    • MisterDarling October 1, 2015 at 3:07 pm #

      V;

      “Do they look like they need money?”

      Of course they do Volodya. Where will they get the discretionary income to impose Sheldon’s dream of a ‘Greater Israel’ otherwise? The American taxpayer *must* be made to pay for that, dontcha’ know!

      /S

      [after all, if we can pipeline the Taliban cash through Dyncorp and Al-Qaeda everything under the sun including “Fagot Missiles” through the CIA and all their d.b.a.’s then __surely__ we can find a few crumbs for Israel, no?]

      REFERENCE:
      http://www.novinite.com/articles/171002/US+%27Bought+610+Anti-Tank+Missiles+from+Bulgaria%27

      Cheers!

  112. volodya October 1, 2015 at 1:02 pm #

    Therian,

    a great example of “hubris”, of the trigger-happy kind, in Carly Fiorina’s comments about putting missiles in Poland and troops in Germany and conducting military exercises in the Baltics and all that.

    If you want to know about the Three Stooges mayhem of U.S. foreign policy, there it is, all laid out.

    Where do we start unpacking this buffoonery?

    I mean, American imperial over-stretch anyone? Again? Doesn’t anybody bloody learn?

    Sure, just proclaim that the Fiorina administration will send troops and missiles as if it’s a foregone conclusion that’ll be OK with the locals or that the U.S. doesn’t even need to say pretty-please.

    Carly is talking as if all those countries are mere territories of the U.S., where the U.S. government and military can do what they want.

    Or never mind that the locals are more than capable of sorting out matters with Putin without American – cough – “help”. I guess the possibility never occurred to Carly.

    OK, Carly can find those places on a map, which is great. Better than what’s her name. But, holy smokes, this isn’t the office of county clerk that we’re talking about.

    Yeah, I know, election campaigns are all in short-form. No matter, there’s history in the form of Carly looking to repeat itself. OTOH, what do we expect from a former CEO?

    • MisterDarling October 1, 2015 at 3:16 pm #

      @ Volodya @ Co.;

      At this point I favor whichever candidate will steepen US overseas expenditures the most. The more money flushed down the geopolitical toilet faster, the better.

      There are a 1000+ US deployments large and small out there. The more resources & time get squandered the greater the likelihood that a bunch of them will get stranded when the hammer drops.

      At that point in time, some ‘learning’ can take place. . . So there might finally be an upside to this daisy-chain of debacles after all.

  113. MisterDarling October 1, 2015 at 2:38 pm #

    @ Janos:

    “Oh and not Bibi and a few million others?”-j.

    That’s what I like about this “Janos” persona: it wears it’s crazy on it’s sleeve, like a ‘frackulated’ badge of nut-bar.

    ‘Janos’, you might find this article interesting:

    http://www.dw.com/en/a-fresh-light-on-the-nazis-wartime-drug-addiction/a-18703678

    “Der Totale Rausch”

    😉

    Cheers!

  114. beantownbill. October 1, 2015 at 3:04 pm #

    @ Elysianfield:

    The primary issues with which we must concern ourselves have to do with human survival: Overpopulation, including the effects of increased lifespans due to medical advances, declining amount and quality of farmland, increasing desertification, destruction of ocean ecologies and the increasing acidification of oceans, the inevitability of artificial intelligence, nuclear weapon and nuclear waste proliferation, and I could go on and on.

    These issues must be confronted head-on and immediately. The good news is that we can effectively deal with them. The bad news is that we’re more interested in putting our mental and emotional energy into considering distractions that people like to discuss. Which political party wins the election is meaningless if there is no country. What solutions we can employ to straighten out our economy are meaningless if we are living in a radioactive wasteland.

    Sure, we can talk about politics, the economy, whetherJews are trying to take over the world, and whether or not Blacks are more dumb than whites. Why can’t people see these are just emotional distractions? We ought to be focusing on existential issues, those that determine whether we, as a species, can survive.

    In any case, thank you for commenting on my recent posts, you are the only one who asked the right question.

    • MisterDarling October 1, 2015 at 3:18 pm #

      “Why can’t people see these are just emotional distractions? We ought to be focusing on existential issues, those that determine whether we, as a species, can survive.”-beantownbill.

      Spoken like someone from the Land of Rhyme & Reason… Thank you.

  115. wpa--ccc October 1, 2015 at 3:06 pm #

    “12? Why not 10?” –Janos

    =========

    Janos, you did not read what I said later: “This country should open up voting to children of any age who express an interest.”

    My initial suggestion of 12 years old is because that is “the age of accountability” … that is when “formal operational thinking” (Piaget) begins… practically lowering the voting age to 12 is more practical.

    But you are right, I have no philosophical problem with 10 or 6 or 3 year olds who have an interest, can read the ballot, and are able to show up at the voting booth. Their futures are on the line… they should have a say in who is making decisions for them. No exclusionary bigotry here. That would be your department… the department of WASP-elitism.

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  116. MisterDarling October 1, 2015 at 3:23 pm #

    Now, wasn’t that so utterly worth it?

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/01/world/asia/us-base-seen-as-monument-to-futility-as-afghans-watch-kunduz-fall.html?_r=0

    14.5 years later…

  117. wpa--ccc October 1, 2015 at 3:26 pm #

    “We ought to be focusing on existential issues, those that determine whether we, as a species, can survive.” — Beantown

    Those issues are so huge, the result of billions of individual choices, that no one person can affect them. Besides, who is suggesting that because of overpopulation, reproduction should be suspended completely for a few years? Each individual family wants to have a child, parents want to become grandparents, etc. and the problem continues. Likewise with nuclear waste from commercial or military applications: who can change the half-life of nuclear material? Some things are beyond our control.

    Although it is technically correct to say humans create the problems and humans can solve them, it is not true to say that. The problems are created by the collective action of billions of individual choices, and no one can change that.

    ……..

    • beantownbill. October 1, 2015 at 6:33 pm #

      So, by your logic, if something is correct, it is not true?

      When you get down to the nub of it, the most important issues are existential. If we do not exist, then what good are considerations about anything?

      Did I say that reproduction should be halted? Don’t think so.

      I doubt that nuclear waste is the result of billions of decisions.

      I don’t know about you, but I don’t shrug off problems by saying they’re out of my control. Especially problems that are a matter of life or death.

    • elysianfield October 1, 2015 at 7:38 pm #

      “Although it is technically correct to say humans create the problems and humans can solve them, it is not true to say that.”

      Wpac,
      I think that your statement would be better put to suggest that it is correct to say that humans solving their existential problems is but a very remote possibility.

      Bill is correct in that the problems that threaten our existence should be our major concern. But, sadly, I do not actively concern myself with something I cannot change, and I avoid small gestures of the “feel-good” genre (Paper or plastic?). Intellectually, I understand the issues Bill describes and I closely follow the debates…but I have enough faith in human nature to expect (without fear of disappointment) the usual failure and futile half-measures. To be “fair and balanced” It should be remembered that I have a bad attitude…I see the glass not only half empty, but I think someone may have pissed in it, also. I still vote…my one “contribution” to saving humanity.

  118. MisterDarling October 1, 2015 at 3:31 pm #

    Angela must be loving this:

    http://www.dw.com/en/merkels-popularity-sinks-in-recent-polls/a-18743242

    … Merkel drop

  119. MisterDarling October 1, 2015 at 3:33 pm #

    How are those refugees settling in over in Germany?

    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/609241/RIOTING-migrants-force-police-separate-warring-religious-ethnic-groups

    Take-Away Quote:

    “Giessen is seen as the most shocking of those, where there have been reports of child sex assaults and rapes at a refugee centre. . . Women’s rights groups believe a significant number of sex assaults there are going unreported.”

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    • malthuss October 1, 2015 at 5:48 pm #

      Germany has 80? million people.
      40 million women.
      Now there will be more competition for the women.
      Letting in 500k young men skews the population statistics.

  120. MisterDarling October 1, 2015 at 3:37 pm #

    Fagots! Fagots for sale!

    http://www.novinite.com/articles/171002/US+%27Bought+610+Anti-Tank+Missiles+from+Bulgaria%27

    I’m referring to the late-model anti-tank missile naturally… Check in with your local CIA representative for price and availability.

  121. FincaInTheMountains October 1, 2015 at 3:57 pm #

    The Federation will assess the political and military expediency of military air operations against the Islamic State in Iraq if appropriate request will come from Baghdad, said the director of the Department of new challenges and threats of the Foreign Ministry Ilya Rogachev.

    http://ria.ru/world/20151001/1294658803.html

  122. wpa--ccc October 1, 2015 at 4:24 pm #

    Another massacre, the 45th this year, and like most of them probably committed by an anti-government young white man… someone who does not believe in voting for change.

    We need gun control. Gun control works in Australia. Makes it harder to get guns. For example, the Bushmaster AR-15 used in the Sandy Hook shooting to kill 26 people, mostly children, costs a little over $900 in the US and can be purchased at places like Wallmart. In Austrailia, where this type of weapon is banned, you can still get one and commit crimes, that’s true. But it will cost you roughly $45,000 on the black market.

    So do gun laws stop crime? No, but they sure do make it a lot harder. If you look at a the 45 school shootings which have occured in the states this year, I bet you’d find very few of those shooters had the means or motivation to buy a $45,000 gun on the black market. Common sense gun solutions aren’t to be dimissed mearly because they wont make things perfect. Utopian arguments are straw men. Get real.

    ….

    • beantownbill. October 1, 2015 at 6:42 pm #

      I wonder how many students would have been dead at Sandy Hook if all the teachers carried guns? I don’t know about Australia, but if everyone were allowed to carry a gun, then after enough bad actors got shot, the bad guys would think twice before becoming violent. I want the option of protecting myself and my loved ones immediately if anyone tries to harm me and them.

    • elysianfield October 1, 2015 at 7:53 pm #

      Wpac,
      The latest shooting occurred 20 miles from my location. As an interesting aside, the first mass-shooting in a school occurred at an elementary school in Stockton, California…a school which I attended in 1956)

      Gun control might work? It would be every bit as effective as the war on drugs and prohibition of alcohol. What makes you think that a prohibition on guns will turn out any different? Predators, criminals, boogeymen actually do exist…and they, as a class, care not one shit regarding the laws of man or god. The genie is out of the bottle, and whether it be nuclear weapons, designer narcotics, guns or mustard gas, you will never be able to return them to the bottle and ram home the stopper. You have already opined that you are “intellectually not opposed” to total gun confiscation…so please, not the “reasonable restrictions” argument.

    • Sean Coleman October 2, 2015 at 3:48 pm #

      Peter Hitchens was mentioned above so I thought of this article which should be of interest:

      http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2015/06/what-are-you-afraid-of-.html

      He argues that the gun laws are not central to such events and that there is often, even usually, a connection with mind-bending drugs, legal or illegal.

      I know absolutely nothing about this outrage except that it was in southern Oregon and ten were killed.

      It will be interesting to learn if the perpetrator had been taking drugs. Someone might let me know if they find this out.

  123. wpa--ccc October 1, 2015 at 5:39 pm #

    ^Walmart^
    ^merely^
    ^Australia^

  124. nsa October 1, 2015 at 5:44 pm #

    WPA,
    Foetuses should have the right to vote for Ds and lots of free stuff also….so pregnant women should get two votes. Good idea, huh?

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  125. beantownbill. October 1, 2015 at 6:17 pm #

    Why not go take it to the logical end point? Sperm and eggs are future people, so they each should get a vote.

  126. wpa--ccc October 1, 2015 at 6:41 pm #

    Atoms, molecules, sperms, eggs, and fetuses cannot answer “Yes” to the poll worker question: “Do you want to vote?”

  127. wpa--ccc October 1, 2015 at 6:45 pm #

    “Foetuses should have the right to vote for Ds and lots of free stuff also” –nsa

    They might vote Republican if they believe all those promises of freedom from regulations, freedom to own guns, freedom from taxation. They might even believe the Republican schtick that the rich are “job creators” and their wealth will trickle down to the poor … like urine.

  128. Q. Shtik October 1, 2015 at 9:30 pm #

    I want the option of protecting myself and my loved ones – Bean

    ==============

    I want the option of shooting anyone who ticks me off. – Q.

  129. Q. Shtik October 1, 2015 at 9:35 pm #

    I see the glass not only half empty, but I think someone may have pissed in it – Elysian

    ============

    ^^^In the running for best line of the day.

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    • MisterDarling October 2, 2015 at 12:00 am #

      I second this recommendation… Verrrr-rry clever! 😉 Cheers!

  130. wpa--ccc October 1, 2015 at 9:58 pm #

    “if everyone were allowed to carry a gun, then after enough bad actors got shot, the bad guys would think twice before becoming violent.” — Beantown

    “Think twice”? Such naivete. This idea presupposes that bad guys fear dying. Most of these young white men go in spraying 700 rounds a minute because they want to die. It’s suicide they are engaging in. No amount of guns held by the “good guys” are going to stop the deaths. See Iraq/Afghanistan: 4,000 highly trained heavily armed “good guys” are dead because you cannot prevent somebody wearing a vest from blowing you up, no matter how heavily armed you are. The United States Marines, with the most powerful weaponry and intensive training in their use, could not stop those willing to die for their cause. Guns cannot protect you. Keeping guns out of suicidal hands can.

  131. wpa--ccc October 1, 2015 at 10:30 pm #

    ” I don’t know about Australia, but if everyone were allowed to carry a gun…” –Beantown

    But we do know about Japan, where guns are kept out of people’s hands. In 2013, the overall crime rate in Japan fell for the 11th straight year and the number of murders and attempted murders also fell to a postwar low. Legal deterrents work. Gun control works. In Japan
    ownership of handguns is forbidden to the public, hunting rifles and ceremonial swords are registered with the police, and the manufacture and sale of firearms are regulated. The production and sale of live and blank ammunition are also controlled, as are the transportation and importation of all weapons.

    ..

    • elysianfield October 2, 2015 at 10:33 am #

      “But we do know about Japan, where guns are kept out of people’s hands. In 2013, the overall crime rate in Japan fell for the 11th straight year and the number of murders and attempted murders also fell to a postwar low. Legal deterrents work. Gun control works. In Japan”

      Wpac,
      I would opine that the Japanese Crime rate responds to their level of civilization. They are a hard-working, responsible, educated and homogeneous society. As the demographic in Japan ages, the crime rate will decline…criminals are most active/violent in their youth and middle age.

  132. beantownbill. October 1, 2015 at 10:56 pm #

    Maybe it’s just me, but i

  133. FincaInTheMountains October 2, 2015 at 6:32 am #

    Iraq: Russian help ‘beneficial’
    The Iraqi Prime Minister welcomed Russia’s involvement in the fight against ISIS.

    “Well, of course it is beneficial,” Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in an interview with PBS. “Don’t forget, Iraq was attacked from across the Syrian border into Iraq by Da’esh, by ISIL. And that cost us a lot of human costs in terms of people killed, people being kidnapped, people being enslaved, women, children.”

    http://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/01/middleeast/russia-syria/

  134. FincaInTheMountains October 2, 2015 at 9:39 am #

    Gibberish and utter nonsense

    The global control center is divided into three groups of Priests by 11 subjects each.

    Each group has its specific tasks within a single process of management of development of human civilization. For each group of priests there are supra-world forces that are interacting in a single galactic process. At any time, two groups of priests responsible for the direct management of the world and its movement within the dominant ideology, but actually energy-paradigm defined by the external background charge, ruling in the toroid, inside of which the solar system currently takes the path.

    These two groups are apparently opposed to each other, providing the necessary tension in the society and energy potential, giving impetus to the development of mankind. The third group almost never intervenes in the management of the world. Its mission is quite different. Save the peace. Preventing these kinds of activities or the struggle between the first two groups, which are capable of bringing the world to the brink of total destruction. At the same time the world is always in complete balance. That is, the total strength of 11 priests, the keepers are always equal to the aggregate power of 22 priests, the rulers.

    Alternative True – Lie replaced by alternative Lie 1 – Lie 2 and truth moves into the shadow so that it becomes invisible to the vast majority. If we translate this to the above example, the alternative Lie 1 – Lie 2 is a reflection of interaction and struggle between the two groups of ruler priests, and the truth is hidden in the shadow of a group of the guardian priests.

    With the transition of the sun across the line of the galactic ecliptic, the picture changes. Changes are carrying energy-background and a change of priestly “guard.” Ruler Priests change their status to custodian priests, and guardians are moving to the status of rulers. Accordingly, the number of first is reduced to 11, and the latter increases to 22. This process takes 72 years to complete. 36 years until crossing of the ecliptic and the same after.

    According to astronomical calculations the last crossing of the galactic ecliptic solar system made December 21, 2012. That is, three years ago, went to the opposite energy-bearing background on and around Earth. And all that we see today and will see in the near future is determined by these changes.

    In this regard, it is no coincidence that in 2012 the world so actively expected End of the World. Another thing is that we have lost not only knowledge, but also an intuitive sense of reality, linked this time to the possible loss of our biological lives. And so happy that once again End of the World did not take place. It took place, but it was the end of an era of domination of energy-bearing background.

    We often hear that the part of the Global Control Center is moving to Russia. It is not so, or even not at all. 11 remaining priests do not move to Russia. Russia has always been for the past thousands of years the territory of the keeper-priests, who are now changing their status to the ruler-priests and increase their number to 22. 11 will remain in Russia; presumably the other 11 will be based in China.

    The next century will be marked by cooperation and competition between Russia and China. But competition based on completely different principles than the one that we used to see before. In terms of the existing ideological norms hostile aggressive competition forces of Darkness gives way to a friendly and creative competitive forces of Light, acting in the general civilizational way.

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    • elysianfield October 2, 2015 at 10:39 am #

      Wpac,
      Would you please translate this?

      • FincaInTheMountains October 2, 2015 at 11:12 am #

        The Second Foundation

      • wpa--ccc October 2, 2015 at 2:56 pm #

        Sure, Elysian. Basically it is saying that CFN is fucked by TPTB. Capische?

  135. FincaInTheMountains October 2, 2015 at 1:06 pm #

    Clinton Would Push for No-Fly Zone

    Clinton says she would push for no-fly zone in Syria to stop ‘carnage on the ground.’

    http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2015/10/02/clinton-backs-potential-no-fly-zone-in-syria

    And the Americans have understood that call correctly as “Clinton calls for war with Russia over Syria”:

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/02/1426970/-Clinton-calls-for-war-with-Russia-over-Syria#

    And those who didn’t call their articles in the same way, are also thinking on this subject, since her proposed measures will lead to a war with Russia, as well as many other official and not so official who call not to let Russia consider as Islamic State terrorists that were armed and prepared by the CIA.

    The most interesting thing is that the largest television channel MSNBC, published the news one of the first, and began their article with a statement that US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton offers to run to the Middle East as a blow to her worst enemy – Barack Obama and NOT AT ALL to Russia.

    Meanwhile Ed Snowden in response to the news said that hacking the Hillary Clinton’s server for specialist like him, is as easy as peeing on two fingers. He hints that her emails had long ago been given to FSB and that explains the hysteria that broke out in the United States, when he fled to Putin.

  136. FincaInTheMountains October 2, 2015 at 2:05 pm #

    From the look on the photo, could you tell who is the sucker here?

    http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/crimsonalter/13842643/87703/87703_original.jpg

    As the saying goes, if you sit at the poker table and don’t know who the sucker is, than it’s you

  137. wpa--ccc October 2, 2015 at 5:17 pm #

    For those who couldn’t get it together by April 15, your taxes are now due Oct. 15. Pay your taxes with pride to support our government and be thankful you live in a multi-cultural mult-racial America where you are free to post to CFN without fear of retaliation and free to believe or not believe whatever you like as you receive your Social Security checks on time every month.

    • nsa October 2, 2015 at 8:54 pm #

      And don’t forget your section 8 rental allowance, your food stamps, your free medicinal pot under medicaid. What a country…..unlimited free stuff for freeloaders. Have another bite of your food stamp sushi……

  138. Q. Shtik October 2, 2015 at 8:53 pm #

    For those who couldn’t get it together by April 15, your taxes are now due Oct. 15. – wpa

    ===============

    Just a minor clarification: If you filed for an extension by Apr 15 you get an additional 6 months to finish the tax form (return) but the money you owed, if any, still needed to be paid by Apr 15.

    My brother-in-law has NEVER completed his tax return by Apr 15. Administrative detail is not his shtick. He enjoys his misbelief that by doing so (filing in Oct) he is somehow sticking it to the man. As a result he has, several times, under-paid his taxes on Apr 15 and wound up paying a penalty. He has also been audited and fined a couple of times.

    Conversely, I have never failed to file by Apr 15 or earlier. Nevertheless, I think the entire process is absurdly complex because it is based on a calculation of INCOME which turns 99% of those who itemize and 100% of people paid in cash into liars. Show me one person who has not overestimated the value of items donated to charities like Goodwill. Show me the Mexican day laborer from New Brunswick who declares as income every hundred dollars he’s paid in cash doing landscaping. What about tip income?

    Two days ago I heard David Stockman being interviewed on CNBC and he mentioned that he favored a consumption tax. Kasich (Gov of Ohio) does too. And so do I, not that it will ever happen.

  139. nsa October 2, 2015 at 11:46 pm #

    Q,
    You missed WPA’s not so subtle point…you should be happy to pay lots of taxes to support her in the style she has become accustomed to on your nickel. Get it? She’s sampling a delightful well aged imported french brie with her food stamps….while you are gagging on a disgusting chemical velveeta.

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    • Q. Shtik October 3, 2015 at 6:23 am #

      You missed WPA’s not so subtle point… – nsa

      ===============

      His point is always the same: a relentless plug for BIG – He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother – Government

    • elysianfield October 3, 2015 at 11:27 am #

      NSA,
      I really doubt that Wpac is on the dole. Considering her views on gun control, blacks, Immigrants, the criminal justice system, et al, I would opine that she does not live in an area that subjects her to “social contact” with the lumpen. No doubt she lives in an upscale middle class community, or better. Wpac’s views are not those of one who has been serially victimized, or who has grown up in poverty….

      Regarding Velveeta…I understand that flies will not land on a slice lying in the hot sun. The name Velveeta, however, would be a great one for one’s female child…right up there with Chlorine.

      • Q. Shtik October 3, 2015 at 12:06 pm #

        The name Velveeta, – Elysian

        ==============

        That’s good, and not at all inconceivable, female twins from the ‘hood: Velveeta and Chlorine.

  140. Buck Stud October 3, 2015 at 12:59 am #

    “Think twice”? Such naivete. This idea presupposes that bad guys fear dying. Most of these young white men go in spraying 700 rounds a minute because they want to die. It’s suicide they are engaging in. No amount of guns held by the “good guys” are going to stop the deaths. See Iraq/Afghanistan: 4,000 highly trained heavily armed “good guys” are dead because you cannot prevent somebody wearing a vest from blowing you up, no matter how heavily armed you are. The United States Marines, with the most powerful weaponry and intensive training in their use, could not stop those willing to die for their cause. Guns cannot protect you. Keeping guns out of suicidal hands can.”—WPA

    Game, set, match–checkmate! You’re absolutely correct on this count, Rugman.

  141. MisterDarling October 3, 2015 at 1:08 am #

    First, there’s this item that may be mildly interesting to Mister Kunstler: The DoJ announced a “Strong Cities” initiative …

    http://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-loretta-e-lynch-announces-launch-strong-cities-network-united-nations

  142. MisterDarling October 3, 2015 at 1:28 am #

    In related news; it’s been interesting to observe the Russian-led ISIS Eradication Program take shape in Syria.

    They’re cleansing the CIA’s pet terr’s and snitches out of the Area of Operations (AO) as a preliminary, while conducting shaping and probing attacks – steps necessary to safeguard future operations.

    I certainly do not expect the Russian/Syrian/Iranian/Hezbollah combined-arms effort to be gentle, but at least they’re are moving in the direction of tangible results. Provisional ‘kudos’ to them for this weeks work. It was worth it to see the CIA and their ‘presstitutes’ get all worked up about the Russians killing *their* extremists before getting around ISIL’s. It’s amazing what’s possible when you fight wars to *win* (not profit from) them.

    The “barflies” over at Moon of Alabama posted a rather canny summary of the week’s constructive carnage… Feel free to check it out:

    http://www.moonofalabama.org/2015/10/russias-campaign-to-snuff-off-cias-al-qaeda-forces.html#comments

  143. MisterDarling October 3, 2015 at 1:39 am #

    @ CFN et al;

    Many of us remember that there was going to be a ‘Peace Dividend when the Cold War ended. Of course things didn’t work out that way. In fact that was precisely when decisions were made to steer us down the track we’re on right now.

    However at this time I’d like to introduce the concept of a ‘Collapse Dividend’: the idea that there are some tangible ‘silver linings’ to collapsing out of the utter bullshit that has structured much of our lives… Like this:

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-01/half-of-the-world-s-coal-output-is-uneconomical-moody-s-says

    Quote: “over half the worlds coal is not worth digging out of the ground” – just think of all the damage that won’t be done because of that! It’s encouraging.

    I recall that there was a mining industries SME who posted on CFN about the scarcity of high-quality coal (anthracite) and the diminishing return of mining low-quality lignite – “almost like burning dirt” he said (or words to that effect). Clever guy. Be nice to hear a little more from him.

  144. MisterDarling October 3, 2015 at 1:51 am #

    Lastly, there’s the situation metastasizing in among the refugees trying to settle in Germany:

    http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/violence-getting-out-of-hand-at-german-refugee-centres-1.2376111

    It looked and sounded great to ‘magnanimously’ open the gates to the hardship-ridden refugees, but as Winter gently clears her throat and the cameras switch off, Germans will find themselves face-to-face with hard choices. They don’t know what they let themselves in for – now they’re finding out.

    Here’s hoping that things get stabilized in Syria in a timely manner, so those refugees can get back to where they belong.

    Cheers!

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  145. FincaInTheMountains October 3, 2015 at 5:05 am #

    Russian-Muslim Brotherhood

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrq3vXFvXFY

    Hot dances from the Caucuses. Female judge can’t help herself, but to join in…

  146. wpa--ccc October 3, 2015 at 5:41 am #

    “She’s sampling a delightful well aged imported french brie with her food stamps” –nsa

    That’s not right, nsa. I do not eat imported French brie. I used disability checks to have cosmetic surgery done and buy fancy dresses. Then with food stamps I booked a cruise ship to Paris, to eat the brie there. Of course, there was gourmet food on the cruise ship as well. As a side trip I visited Switzerland to check on my bank accounts which are plump thanks to all the free stuff taxpayers like you make possible. Thank you.

  147. nsa October 3, 2015 at 10:35 am #

    You are very welcome…..we would rather you thoroughly enjoy the largesse than it go to the Boeing scum…..

  148. MisterDarling October 3, 2015 at 6:06 pm #

    Regarding the ISIS Eradication Program underway:

    “Do you think they realize that Washington’s Middle East policy just collapsed and that the funding of jihadis and dreams of regime change just ended for good?”-Mike Whitney.

    http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/02/putins-lightning-war-in-syria/

    Whatever the outcome, this thing has become a major plot-point. It’s high on my list of Collapse Dividends.

  149. MisterDarling October 3, 2015 at 6:10 pm #

    More fun-n-games with ‘fugees:

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/03/us-europe-migrants-eurotunnel-idUSKCN0RX06K20151003

    ‘Migrants’ clogging up the Chunnel… If they keep this up eventually someone’s going to really get p-o’d.

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  150. MisterDarling October 3, 2015 at 6:20 pm #

    It sounds like Angela Merkel is changing her tune. Refugees are “testing Europe’s mettle…” she said:

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/03/us-europe-migrants-germany-merkel-idUSKCN0RX0A020151003

    “…And for Europe, this means we of course need to, above all, protect our external borders across Europe – and protect them together – so that immigration to Europe is orderly”.

    A far cry from the ‘come one and all!’ stance she had a few short weeks ago. I’m glad it didn’t take that long for Germany (et al.) to come to its (olfactory) senses.

  151. wpa--ccc October 3, 2015 at 7:09 pm #

    “so that immigration to Europe is orderly”. A far cry from the ‘come one and all!’ stance…” –Mister Darling

    This is a distortion of Merkel’s position, which has always from the beginning been rational and measured and has not changed.

    Sept. 9: “We need a binding agreement between all [EU] member states over a binding relocation of refugees according to fair criteria,” Ms Merkel told the lower house of parliament.

    I believe this was her position in July, in August, and is still her position in October.

  152. FincaInTheMountains October 3, 2015 at 8:49 pm #

    Russian General Staff: Panic and desertion started in the ranks of the Syrian militants

    MOSCOW, October 3 – RIA Novosti. Intelligence finds that militants in Syria leave areas under their control, about 600 mercenaries left the positions and are trying to get to Europe, told reporters on Saturday the chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Colonel-General Andrei Kartapolov.

    According to him, “the intelligence shows that militants leave the areas under their control.”

    “In their ranks began to panic and desertion. About 600 mercenaries left their positions and trying to get to Europe,” – said the general.

    http://oko-planet.su/politik/newsday/295015-genshtab-rf-boeviki-ig-pokidayut-pozicii-i-pytayutsya-popast-v-evropu.html

  153. wpa--ccc October 3, 2015 at 9:10 pm #

    Meanwhile the ugly truth is being brought to light about injustice towards Mexicans in the USA:

    “Gov. Jerry Brown has signed legislation encouraging that future history textbooks for public schools in California include a section on the 1930s deportation of more than 1 million U.S. citizens of Mexican descent.

    “With our state being the home to so many successful Mexican Americans, our children and all Californians should be aware of the injustices that took place so long ago,” said Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens), author of the measure.

  154. wpa--ccc October 3, 2015 at 10:23 pm #

    On a level playing field, equal pay for equal work, white Americans cannot compete with undocumented Mexican workers. UFW proved this with their Take Our Jobs campaign. There are two issues facing our nation–high unemployment and undocumented people in the workforce–that many Americans believe are related.

    Missing from the debate on both issues is an honest recognition that the food we all eat – at home, in restaurants and workplace cafeterias (including those in the Capitol) – comes to us from the labor of undocumented farm workers.

    Agriculture in the United States is dependent on an immigrant workforce. Three-quarters of all crop workers working in American agriculture were born outside the United States. According to government statistics, since the late 1990s, at least 50% of the crop workers have not been authorized to work legally in the United States.

    We are a nation in denial about our food supply. As a result the UFW has initiated the “Take Our Jobs” campaign.

    Farm workers are ready to welcome citizens and legal residents who wish to replace them in the field. We will use our knowledge and staff to help connect the unemployed with farm employers. Just fill out the form to the right and continue on to the request for job application.

    http://www.ufw.org/toj_play/TOJNEW_12_JAL.html

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  155. FincaInTheMountains October 3, 2015 at 10:47 pm #

    Leonid Krutakov: We need to exit false global agenda

    This conflict does not develop between the jihadists and al-Assad, is not between Sunnis and Shiites. This conflict is located in a different plane and it is developing between Global Markets and Nation States. In this conflict national, religious or ideological affiliation of people do not matter. The conflict is on the systemic level.

    This is what Putin said at the UN. And that’s why Obama’s speech was empty and banal. The game goes beyond the horizon of the key players in the negotiations. US offer the world a false global agenda (imitating it), for example, as the struggle for democracy, and trying to position themselves as a mega-regulator in this fight.

    In fact, they do not break the tyrannical regimes – they break up National Institutions. This is evident in the Middle East. The region turned into a mixture of peoples and tribes, the crystal lattice of the state Institutions were melted down, creating in its place a boiling pot. The steam from the cover of the boiler breaks in all directions, creating numerous threats in the form of terrorism and refugee flows.

    If you look at recent developments in this logic, the policy of democratization is only a continuation of the more stringent policy of globalization. Globalization was an attempt to establish common rules for the whole world through the economy and the American dollar. However, it became clear that by replacing national currencies with dollars through Currency Boards does not change the internal rules and laws. Globalization started to fail, and the Nation States suddenly started talking about national interests and participation in the development of the most common rules.

    Democratization – is the spreading of the economy into the political space. Democratization breaks Nation States as the basis of resistance to the general rules and the general order. Terrorism, in contrast to a vertically integrated State Structures, functions on the network principle.

    If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would have called this fact the main cause of global terrorism and its success on the world stage.

    Imagining that some terrorist group can exist in the modern world and conduct a successful war against the state regular army without arms supplies from outside, means to be even greater conspiracy theorist.

    No one changes other people’s “sons of bitches” on its own. Just destroy the administration structure of the territory and move on. And it does not matter if it is managed or unmanaged chaos. The important thing that it is spreading. The more chaos, the stronger is demand for restoring order.

    The Global Order

  156. FincaInTheMountains October 4, 2015 at 5:38 am #

    How to fight a war economically or little Russian dirty war secrets

    The majority of Russian “precision-munitions” being dropped on our jihadist throat-cutting “friends” cost just thousands of dollars as compared to American one that comes with a hefty price tag in the millions.

    The secret is simple: instead of placing costly “smart-bomb” targeting system in each device, the bomber planes are equipped with sophisticating targeting system – the combination of computer and release mechanism that is connected to satellite navigational system.

    The on-board computer, given target and plane positions, speed of wind, altitude and so on using sophisticated algorithms calculates the exact moment of releasing the bomb so it would follow its normal physical ballistic path to hit the target with the same pin-point accuracy as if was a “smart bomb”.

    This way you could use any munitions, even from WWII stockpile, as a “precision” one. So the most costly part of smart munitions – the targeting system – is not being destroyed with each bomb drop.

    The additional advantage of such plane-based, multiple use targeting system is higher reliability: you can’t really test the “smart-bomb” without destroying it, but you can fine-tune your plane-based targeting system with extreme high percentage of reliability using mock bombs.

    One of the advantages of running not-for-profit Military Industrial Complex.

    • elysianfield October 4, 2015 at 11:27 am #

      Finc,
      Your “efficient targeting system” has been used by the US Air Force since the late 70’s…much earlier if you discount the GPS. I’m actually embarrassed that you would be impressed with such old technology…I thought the Russians had better.

      • FincaInTheMountains October 4, 2015 at 11:42 am #

        Elysian, it gets the job done. I am impressed not with devices, but with the cost-efficiency of the Federation’s Air Force and the fact that their management did not bought into the most expensive possible solution the way American generals so often do, probably expecting plush “consulting” jobs after their retirement from the Army.

      • FincaInTheMountains October 4, 2015 at 11:51 am #

        Yes, and they do have the normal smart munition – the expensive variety.

        The thing that many of you probably do not realize yet, is that Islamic State Armed units are not as formidable fighting force as Western propaganda made them to look like.

        The majority of their beheading movies were shot in Hollywood studious, and the modern Arabs do not really have a reputation of fierce soldiers.

        It is just amazing to see how the United States cornered themselves into a propaganda trap they so thoroughly build over the last year.

        Putin has just taken the advantage of that.

  157. FincaInTheMountains October 4, 2015 at 8:06 am #

    Coincidences

    As soon as the US Secretary of State hinted that the Russian planes in Syria could be shot down, American air-freighter in Afghanistan went down. As soon as informational attacks appeared in the Western Press that Russian Air Force in Syria bombs civilian’s objects, the US disgraced itself in Afghanistan by striking the hospital of “doctors without borders”.

    Maybe better to keep silent?

    • Cold N. Holefield October 4, 2015 at 9:47 am #

      You’re suspecting what I’ve always believed is fact. Russia not only has intelligence plants ubiquitously placed in & adjacent to Ukraine governance, but so too it has strategic plants in & near American governance. The bombing of that hospital was based on purposely bad intelligence. Who provided it? Will they be alive in a month or a year?

      America’s occupation of Afghanistan has been successful in one way besides making it a failed state in perpetuity and bombing it back to the stone age. Opium production. At this point, it doesn’t even matter if that was one of the intended goals. It is a de facto goal based on its huge success. And what is that heroin derived from those poppies being used for this time around? Janos will love this — to further demoralize and destroy European White culture in America by turning increasingly hopeless, abandoned, dumbed-down and dispossessed White kids into permanent addicts and making a ton of money for Black Ops abroad, and at home, in the process. And all of that at the Middle Class (many of whom are White) taxpayers expense (over 50 cents of every FIT dollar collected goes to funding the military and the Middle Class pays the majority of FIT dollars).

      Yet so many fail to the see the game. To see the play. And instead Don’t Stop Believin’. At their peril.

      • FincaInTheMountains October 4, 2015 at 10:48 am #

        Greetings, Cold, I am glad I am not alone here!

        • Cold N. Holefield October 4, 2015 at 11:31 am #

          Rest assured, Finca. You are never alone. I’m your Guardian Angel — I’m your special friend.

  158. Cold N. Holefield October 4, 2015 at 10:46 am #

    NSA said: What a country…..unlimited free stuff for freeloaders.

    You’re speaking of the American military, right? They are a bunch of freeloaders sponging off the Middle Class taxpayers to the tune of over 50 cents of every FIT dollar by force of “law.” And what do the taxpayers have to show for this government-sanctioned and enforced scam? Certainly not global or national safety and security as was promised. Quite the opposite, actually, and the answer they provide when you mention they’re not performing is always that “they need more money.” Nothing on the planet compares to this massive freeloading. In fact, I would prefer just paying the military and having them sit on the couch getting high and watching Tom & Jerry reruns, or better yet, Cheech & Chong’s Up In Smoke, as opposed to actually fucking things up even further than they already have. At least if they’re stoned on the couch, they can do no more harm.

    • elysianfield October 4, 2015 at 11:15 am #

      Cold,
      Yessss…
      Those E-2 “eleven Bravos” are certainly raking it in…in fact, their families, while receiving food stamps, almost don’t need the help, unless they want to eat meat….
      Bitch about the system, not the individuals in the ranks. You can no more slander everyone in uniform than you can slander all blacks…”they all wear loose shoes, you know, and consort with white women….”

      • Cold N. Holefield October 4, 2015 at 11:25 am #

        Ummm….the military is a System every bit as much as the Ghetto is a System and a necessary part of The System. I wasn’t talking about the grunts specifically, although they’re about the equivalent of Ghetto dwellers socio-economically. I’m talking about the weapons manufacturers and the apparatus of the military in its entirety including The Top Brass. Surely you know that. It’s a much larger freeloading animal than anything NSA is scapegoating.

        • elysianfield October 4, 2015 at 11:31 am #

          “I’m talking about the weapons manufacturers and the apparatus of the military in its entirety including The Top Brass”

          Cold,
          I cannot argue with that….

  159. elysianfield October 4, 2015 at 11:21 am #

    An article it today’s BBC online, asking whether or not Nigerians can be kept from acting “unruly”.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34422258

    I read the article, and the “unruly” actions described would be hardly noticed in any US ghetto, or anywhere else, as being egregious.

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    • Cold N. Holefield October 4, 2015 at 11:30 am #

      Of course — The Ghetto is supposed to be unruly. It’s a form of containment. It’s a necessary component of our society. The Ghetto is the stick, and Trump and Icahn and those if their ilk are the carrot. The carrot is an illusive hologram for those who don’t have it yet the stick is very real and easily attainable with one minor slip up. The Ghetto is also useful in another way. It keeps the devil down in the hole. Thanks to The Wire for that tidy little phrase.

  160. nsa October 4, 2015 at 11:40 am #

    Cornhole,
    Yup…you got ole nsasty on this one…..all government is a variation of a protection racket run by criminal gangs (Ds and Rs). Using threats and coercion, take from those that earn it and give to freeloaders…..Boeing, guv “workers”,ghetto rats, white trailer trash, disabled, retired, miltards, border jumpers, etc etc….probably 75% of the population.
    And yes, the epitome of waste and jops-for-morons is the US Military. Was warned to never volunteer for anything. One nice sunny day, as we were about to march out of camp with full pack and gear, a sergeant major came by our platoon asking who would like to “learn about tanks”. Two of my fellow geniuses took the bait to get out of the forced nature walk. As we headed on out, spotted the two volunteers swabbing the muddy tanks down with those long handled brushes which the taxpayer so generously provided…….they were still at it when we returned at the end of a still bright sunny day………

  161. FincaInTheMountains October 4, 2015 at 12:19 pm #

    Federation’s Air Force makes only 20 – 25 sorties a day, while American-lead anti-ISIS coalition made over 5000 sorties in one month without stopping the Islamic State from spreading to new territories.

    I know that brh probably expects some Hollywood-Rambo-style fights between Russian spetsnaz and ISIS fighters – ain’t gonna happen.

    They’ll just methodically eradicate their military infrastructure from 5000 meters above and then let Syrians and Iranians to mop them up.

  162. Buck Stud October 4, 2015 at 12:20 pm #

    “You’re suspecting what I’ve always believed is fact. Russia not only has intelligence plants ubiquitously placed in & adjacent to Ukraine governance, but so too it has strategic plants in & near American governance.”–Cold

    Cold, did you happen to see this article on Russian internet trolls?

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/magazine/the-agency.html

    Of course, I’m not trying to suggest that Finca is a Russial troll; after all, I now know that he is just a California Dreamin 🙂

    • Buck Stud October 4, 2015 at 12:26 pm #

      From the article above:

      ” “It was a very strong corporate feeling,” Savchuk says. Her schedule gave her two 12-hour days in a row, followed by two days off. Over those two shifts she had to meet a quota of five political posts, 10 nonpolitical posts and 150 to 200 comments on other workers’ posts.”

      Shoot, some of our CFN posters would fill that quota long before lunch arrived…

      • Buck Stud October 4, 2015 at 12:53 pm #

        Furthermore:

        Spread Your Wings posted photos of American flags and memes about how great it was to be an American, but the patriotism rang hollow once you tried to parse the frequent criticisms of Obama, an incoherent mishmash of liberal and conservative attacks that no actual American would espouse.

        Now, “the incoherent mishmash of liberal and conservative attacks that no actual American would espouse.” really does have the strange ring of the Finca I have been reading the last year or so. And I have called him/her out on these incredibly incoherent posts on U.S. politics it on multiple occasions.

        Far more interesting to me personally, is the Paul Craig Roberts and to far more limited degree. JHK himself and their minimal skepticism of Putin himself and the correspondingly proportionate doubt of the U.S. (and not to imply that the U.S. is completely free from diabolical activity regarding the Ukraine/Russia).

        The PCR crowd incessantly, and unquestionably parrots the sentiments below::

        Then there were the pictures from the Ukrainian revolution, which focused almost exclusively on the Right Sector, a small group of violent, right-wing, anti-Russian protesters with a fondness for black balaclavas. Russian authorities have seized upon Right Sector to paint the entire revolution, backed by a huge swath of Ukrainian society, as orchestrated by neo-fascist thugs.

        The real truth of the matter? I have no idea but ‘things’ do indeed look and read strange to me personally.

  163. wpa--ccc October 4, 2015 at 12:37 pm #

    “Bitch about the system, not the individuals in the ranks” –Elysian

    This makes no sense. Of course individual grunts are fair game. They volunteered. They are being paid by taxpayers. Without the grunts the whole system collapses, so they bear the responsibility.

    An E-2 in the Army makes $20,602.80 and does not qualify for welfare. If you include all the other freebies grunts receive (health care, e.g.) E-2s are not suffering. They are mercenaries.

    ..

    • elysianfield October 4, 2015 at 7:55 pm #

      Wpac,
      You are totally dismissive of the sense of patriotism, honor, or duty in the ranks of the US military. Mercenaries are paid much better…those with combat experience can leave the military and take a job, in dangerous surroundings, for $5K a month and upwards.

      E-2s are not suffering? E-2s with families to support receive welfare benefits, as does every working stiff under the poverty line.

  164. Cold N. Holefield October 4, 2015 at 12:41 pm #

    Buck said: Shoot, some of our CFN posters would fill that quota long before lunch arrived…

    Too funny! I nearly peed my pants on that one. A keeper. Maybe even best comment of the year — certainly best of the month and quarter.

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  165. Cold N. Holefield October 4, 2015 at 12:45 pm #

    Buck said: Of course, I’m not trying to suggest that Finca is a Russial troll; after all, I now know that he is just a California Dreamin 🙂

    Finca is, honestly even though It’s All Lies, the only Russian I like. That says it all. Sure, he can be annoying at times (like when he tries to claim cottage cheese is not cottage cheese) — but annoying in the best possible way.

  166. Cold N. Holefield October 4, 2015 at 1:12 pm #

    Buck Said: And I have called him/her out on these incredibly incoherent posts on U.S. politics it on multiple occasions.

    Picture the CFN comment section as a circus. Finca is a clown at this circus holding a bunch of balloons and periodically, like every second or so, releasing a balloon from the bundle and watching where it eventually goes. Some call them trial balloons, others call them incoherent nonsense. I think they’re both and more.

  167. FincaInTheMountains October 4, 2015 at 2:07 pm #

    “And I have called him/her out on these incredibly incoherent posts on U.S. politics it on multiple occasions.” == Buck

    The U.S. Politics these days is being incoherent to such a degree, that it is difficult at times to write coherently about it. If you are convinced that I am a troll, so be it, at least you have to admit that I am trying to be nicest troll possible and not spread any malignant rumors. I think the worst rumor I tried to spread was a romantic theory of Obama being JFK’s grandson.

    “Finca is a clown at this circus holding a bunch of balloons and periodically, like every second or so, releasing a balloon from the bundle and watching where it eventually goes. Some call them trial balloons, others call them incoherent nonsense. I think they’re both and more.” == Cold

    I think some of the balloons are hitting the target. Could you guess what a target could be?

  168. Cold N. Holefield October 4, 2015 at 2:15 pm #

    Finca said: Could you guess what a target could be?

    Trump’s base?

    • FincaInTheMountains October 4, 2015 at 2:17 pm #

      A completely unexpected reply…

  169. FincaInTheMountains October 4, 2015 at 2:54 pm #

    Germany Now Faced With Thousands Of Aging Wind Farms

    The problem now is that a large number of the 25,000 odd turbines have become too old. Close to 7,000 of those turbines will complete more than 15 years of operation by next year. Although these turbines can continue running, with some minor repairs and modifications, the question is whether it makes any economic sense to maintain them?

    Beyond a period of 20 years, the guaranteed tariffs that are set for wind power are terminated, thereby making them unprofitable.

    However, it is not very easy to dismantle an existing turbine and, while there are companies like PSM that specialize in dismantling of wind turbines, the costs of decommissioning can run upwards of $33,500 per turbine.

    http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Wind-Power/Germany-Now-Faced-With-Thousands-Of-Aging-Wind-Farms.html

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  170. FincaInTheMountains October 4, 2015 at 3:26 pm #

    Syrian Air Force helicopters dropped leaflets proposing to terrorists to lay down their arms, and to civilians – to leave the settlements, where in the near future to begin a large-scale military operation of Syrian troops. Propaganda texts were dropped on the south of the province of Hama on settlements of Rastan and Talbisi

    There were distributed two types of flyers. Some contain detailed instructions on how to behave when approaching the checkpoint of the Syrian army, and also call for civilians to leave their homes due to the upcoming military operation.

    On Thursday it became known that the Syrian army is preparing for a large-scale anti-terrorist operation in the southern province of Hama, including the settlements Rastan and Talbisi, which today are controlled by militants of terrorist groups “Dzhebhat al-Nusra” and “Islamic state”, the total number terrorists is more than 5 thousand people.

    http://ria.ru/arab_sy/20151004/1296749349.html

  171. FincaInTheMountains October 4, 2015 at 3:31 pm #

    Reuters: Assad allies, including Iranians, prepare ground attack in Syria

    Hundreds of Iranian troops have arrived in Syria in the last 10 days and will soon join government forces and their Lebanese Hezbollah allies in a major ground offensive backed by Russian air strikes, two Lebanese sources told Reuters.

    “The (Russian) air strikes will in the near future be accompanied by ground advances by the Syrian army and its allies,” said one of the sources familiar with political and military developments in the conflict.

    “It is possible that the coming land operations will be focused in the Idlib and Hama countryside,” the source added.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/01/us-mideast-crisis-syria-iranians-exclusi-idUSKCN0RV4DN20151001

  172. barbisbest October 4, 2015 at 4:45 pm #

    ‘Perhaps that America has gotten what it deserves.’ And certain Streets in America deserve “it” more than others. I am (perhaps we all are) a creature in a world and a system I didn’t create. Pope Francis was more eloquent last week when he said beauty and truth are the way.
    Another great voice speaks.

  173. MisterDarling October 4, 2015 at 5:36 pm #

    @ Elysian & Cognitively Capable:

    re | “Those E-2 “eleven Bravos” are certainly raking it in…in fact, their families, while receiving food stamps, almost don’t need the help, unless they want to eat meat….
    Bitch about the system, not the individuals in the ranks. You can no more slander everyone in uniform than you can slander all blacks…”-e.

    Well said, E. . . There are a number of couch-dwelling trolls cluttering up CFN with ridiculous comments, & it’s generally counterproductive to ‘feed’ them with response. You might consider ignoring them most of the time.

    For instance: all, what is the point of blaming a Private in the Army for strategic-level problems? Those Privates are in no position to decide what they do and where they’ll do it… They’re not decision-makers! It’s absurd.

    And in any case they’re far more worthy of SNAP assistance than any number of people in the country illegally. Furthermore, the amount that any of these people receive is literally insignificant in comparison to the amount of assistance that Wall Street Firms (et al) have received in response to the financial collapse they caused… We’re talking absurdity pile atop absurdity at this point.

    There are jus so many opportunities on CFN to simply *not* respond… Another example: why would I bother to respond to someone who claimed that ADP job statistics are an *alternative* to the BLS’s numbers a few weeks ago – and *continues* to seek my attention? It’s a waste of my time. I have a job and a family who need that time more than a troll needs an education donated to them by me…

    😉

    Cheers!

  174. FincaInTheMountains October 4, 2015 at 5:52 pm #

    Did Bastinda call to the rescue a squadron of flying monkeys?

    Hawaii Air Guard F-22s Deploy To the Middle East As Tensions with Russia Build

    A gaggle of F-22A Raptors belonging to the 199th Fighter Squadron, which is part of the 154th Wing of the Hawaiian Air National Guard, deployed to the Middle East yesterday. This comes as tensions are hot between the U.S. and Russia over Syria and as the F-22 seems to be in demand around the globe.

    http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/hawaii-air-guard-f-22s-deploy-to-the-middle-east-as-ten-1734129903?ref=yfp

    This is all happening on the backdrop of the refusal of President Obama to send the F-22 to the Middle East and the lack of official information about this on the website of the Ministry of Defense of the US CENTCOM.

    Moreover the Deputy Minister of Defense of the United States said that it would be technically impossible, as the American fighters, that tried to get closer to the Syrian border, had been “taken aim at” by unknown type of radar illumination, the American fighters were unable to locate the source of radiation. This means that the whole concept of the air war, the Americans euphemistically called the “no-fly zone” that they perfected over the last 25 years in Yugoslavia, Libya and Iraq, no longer works and they do not understand what to expect from the Russians.

    In addition, Obama has officially announced that he will not send 199 Raptor’s squadron from Hawaii to the Middle East just to let Russians use those Raptors for testing of their new radar systems.

    Ding, Dong! The Witch is not dead yet!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5ayK694PZI

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  175. wpa--ccc October 4, 2015 at 9:07 pm #

    MD: what is the point of blaming a Private in the Army for strategic-level problems?

    Bernanke: execs should have been nailed. You can’t jail a financial firm.

    WPA-CCC: E-2s should be nailed. A “strategy” cannot be jailed. People need to take personal responsibility for their actions instead of justifying that they are just “following orders” to carry out someone else’s strategy.

  176. FincaInTheMountains October 5, 2015 at 3:24 am #

    “The Russian forces now in place make it very, very obvious that any kind of no-fly zone on the Libyan model imposed by the US and allies is now impossible, unless the coalition is actually willing to shoot down Russian aircraft,” says Justin Bronk, research analyst at the Royal United Services Institute.

    “The Russians are not playing ball at deconfliction — they are just saying, ‘keep out of our way’. The coalition’s operations in Syria will be vastly more complex from a risk assessment point of view and from a mission-planning point of view.”

    Even surveillance missions above Syria by US and coalition aircraft will be complicated. One Nato air force officer said the organisation expected to start seeing the kind of “cold war tactics” and brinkmanship Russia has recently been using in the Baltics. Pilots will be briefed to expect powerful Russian radar systems “lighting up” their aircraft in shows of strength, he said.

    http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/cee6fcba-69bf-11e5-8171-ba1968cf791a.html#axzz3nfwAmBM3

  177. FincaInTheMountains October 5, 2015 at 5:24 am #

    Will the Chinese intervene in Syria?

    I believe in what I see. And I do not see any Chinese aircraft carrier or Chinese nuclear submarine (by the way, they have big problems with that in general), nor the legions of “Chinese soldiers”. All this is a big “geopolitical” empty chatter. If they’ll come – we’ll talk.

    In my opinion – they won’t. China is too dependent on the United States to face huge risks in non-priority region, especially after the Americans playfully – believe me, playfully – dropped the Chinese stock market. China did not dare to get involved in a situation around Yemen, although it had every opportunity and the island of Socotra attracted with its geopolitical value.

    China is likely, hiding behind Russian activity, will continue to creep into Africa, benefiting from the fact that American’s resources to actively oppose them, I suspect, are much smaller.

    But in general…. That is, just think that each of us could easily give several quotes from Chinese military philosophy. Connoisseurs will immediately tell dozens of quotations from Sun Tzu.

    And now – the right question: What was the last war won by Chinese armed with all that intimate knowledge and millennia of military traditions?

    https://www.facebook.com/dmitry.evstafyev.9/posts/889517061130485

  178. FincaInTheMountains October 5, 2015 at 6:38 am #

    Putin’s offer to shield & develop Israel’s gas fields predated Russia’s military buildup in Syria

    More than a fortnight ago, Russian President Vladimir put a proposition to Israel for Moscow to undertake responsibility for guarding Israel’s Mediterranean gas fields, along with the offer of a Russian investment of $7-10 billion for developing Leviathan, the largest well, and building a pipeline to Turkey for exporting the gas to Europe.

    A multibillion Russian investment in the field would make it a Russian project which neither Syria nor Hizballah would dare attack, even though it belongs to Israel.

    http://www.debka.com/article/24885/Putin%E2%80%99s-offer-to-shield-develop-Israel%E2%80%99s-gas-fields-predated-Russia%E2%80%99s-military-buildup-in-Syri

  179. Cold N. Holefield October 5, 2015 at 6:40 am #

    and they do not understand what to expect from the Russians.

    I think they fully expected Russia to make this move and I think they know if Russia wants to keep Syria cobbled together as a Nation-State after somehow miraculously putting the pieces of humpty dumpty back together again, that Russia will have to build forward Russian bases in Syria and establish a permanent presence. If Russia wants Syria as its vassal, the only relationship Russia knows with its “neighbors” & “Friends,” then it must be eternally vigilant with the shifting sands of The Middle Eastern desert.

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  180. FincaInTheMountains October 5, 2015 at 7:08 am #

    Last days of Pompeii

    Brilliant Kremlin’s idea to dilute the Germany’s 6 million Arabs with 3 million young Ukrainian girls they obviously did not like, although this idea is fine in all respects. If Islam allows polygamy, I think Europe should respond to this by legalizing polyandry. The European response to Chamberlain Khilafat. Fight fire with fire.

    Geopolitical awards seek their heroes. There were beautiful times for Europe when they bombed Libya and Syria together and started an “association” with Ukraine. Life then was beautiful and intoxicating as vodka mixed with cocaine.

    Nobody was listening to Kremlin’s tedious lectures – to whom it was then necessary? The Chinese wall clock was ticking the last warning.

    Freshly printed Euros were gently coming down from the conveyor under the languid sighs and crunch of French bread. The women then were taller and slimmer; nobody was expecting pseudo-refugees from Syria.

    European Intellectual virginity has not been taken away yet by the Empire of Good.

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