Here's just one nugget of gold panned from the river of wisdom that is Ambassador Chas Freeman's article about America’s Diplomatic Crisis (The United States has forfeited its capacity to pursue American interests through negotiated solutions):
Our habit of failing to define specific political objectives for our military also means that, in our case, war is less “an extension of politics by other means” (as Clausewitz prescribed) than a brutally direct way of punishing our foes linked to no clear conception of how they might take aboard the lessons we imagine they should draw from the drubbing we give them. Our chronic inattention to the terms of war termination means that U.S. triumphs on the battlefield are seldom, if ever, translated into terms that reward military victory with a stable peace.
States normally wage war in order to achieve a superior political condition, as per Clausewitz. But undefined wars against concepts or tactics such as "terror," much less wars to rid the world of evil-doers, have no end, ever.
For more speeches and papers by Amb. Freeman, see this page at the Middle East Policy Council.
15 comments:
TSB: Excellente Commandante! gwb
TSB: JAMES: I finally got 3 soundbites from the Donald's speech today.
I LOVE IT !! We haven't had great entertainment like this since Ross Perot.
He will shred Hillary and Kerry: (A 72 yo goes for a bike ride to look cool but breaks his leg instead of negotiating anything! I won't be doing that!)
Obama and Hillary and JEB... They are all stupid! You need smart people to:
'MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN') He won't get on TV and may be ignored by the debate questioners... like when Ron Paul got 1 minute in a 2 hr debate and probably still won...BUT HE WILL BRING OUT A BIG TV AUDIENCE! HE'S THE NEW AL SHARPTON ! WADDYOUGUYS THINK?? gwb
RE: Hamilton TSB: Who's the replacement going to be? How about that ex-NAACP gal Rachel? She is currently taking offers for a reality show and her favorite song is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXW-sL5gzHQ If you get it wrong you'll get it right next time. Jerry Rafferty wrote this for her show.
GWB: Good question about the $20. It galls me to see Hamiliton, the man who created our currency, taken off our currency. But that Rachael woman is a genius idea - she could be black or white, even male or female, depending on what you want to see. A shape-shifting hologram kind of image. That might satisfy everybody.
TSB: Speaking of racism/terrorism/murderers. It is sad to see 9 men gunned down at a prayer meeting by a 21 yo white kid. (My neighbors across the street have a meeting that size every Tuesday night in their living room for the past 20 years. Of course they are my age and are part of the neighborhood ISIS/white druggies watch.)
But in SC the answer is to pray whereas when we drone wedding parties in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, the response is 'OOPS! and If we actually got it wrong we'll get it right next time! In NY the Governor is on the scene crawling through steam pipes and sewers to catch two guys who escaped/leading the manhunt while in SC Lindsey tweets sweetly striking just the 'right tone'...I see Rachel as more of a Fox News type analyst who Lindsey would be glad to grant an interview to. But right now she's a little too 'HOT' for Spokane or the northwest. They are jumping on her like my cat on a squirrel eating sunflower seeds. It is viscious up here!! Everyone jealously maintains their comfort zones.gwb PS: Saudi Arabia was trailing ISIS in the beheading competition until this past week but fueled by the big bombing campaign in Yemen the new King has jumped into the lead in beheadings. 'ONE TEAM!'
http://www.juancole.com/2015/06/white-non-terrorist.html
TSB: Now I'm really confused...the more you know the more confusing it is. So if those white escapees from NY can get to SC and get shot by a black cop/FBI they might be able to sue for damages because it would be a 'HATE CRIME' under federal law and state law?? And the white kid is a terrorist (bomb threats) but we call that kind 'gunmen'. If he was military it would have been a 'workplace incident' by a lone gunman with a personality disorder (pd) not PTSD or TBI and it would take 10 years for the victims to get any compensation if ever. Rachel for Atty General !!
gwb
Ok TSB, Thanks to the US Open starting today James called in sick and has been able to do some research. His anonymous source deep in the FED say:
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user3303/imageroot/2015/06/10%20dollar%20bill.jpg
Hillary Clinton came in a distant 2nd. (Too early in her career to have accomplished anything!) John Kerry was expected to appear for his interview before the committee but he couldn't break it ...I mean MAKE IT! gwb
TSB: I have been wondering why the 'full tilt emotionalism' after the SC church shooting from the Prez on down. I have heard the word EVIL 100 times since last night to describe the 21 yo and the church was founded in 1816. YOU don't kill people in their house of worship!! That doesn't happen in civilized countries!!
(It sure happened in E Baghdad a lot when Al Maliki decided to take out what's his name and his anti-occupation Shiite rival there and in the southern port city of Basra.
We droned plenty of muslims who were meeting to pray. Of course they were EVIL or collateral damage.
And we have ignored plenty of EVIL isis convoys like the recent one near Ramadi celebrating their victory there in a huge convoy of US vehicles in broad daylight.
THIS KILLING IS NOTHING BUT FT. HOOD REDUX.... AND THE POLICE STATE Hastens to tell us that NSA was fooled by his FB posts showing lots of black friends! What about DAD? Is he heartbroken like Gov Hailey? or EVIL?? Or just a typical dad of a 21 yr old in a RACIST NEIGHBORHOOD? I say number 3 and we will be seeing this movie a lot more. Mall shooters are old fashioned. Now we are developing millenials who don't like the war or the NSA or the police state or the way the country is headed.
Whenever you tune in watch everyone talk with their hands vs when that prison break happened in NY. gwb (conspiracy theorist since 9/11...RELEASE THE 28 PAGES!!)LOL
TSB: Re: We can't kill our way to victory.
Marie Harpf had to keep up with Ron Paul gritting her teeth, but she stole that from his "We can't borrow our way to prosperity." ... which, until now has been met with a round of booze, I mean Boo!s.
Not to mention that that is still the only strategy we have. Remember all those schools we built? PS: My eye doctor says I'm going blind trying to read those captcha pictures. I told him I was born almost blind and abused as a child cause nobody figured it out til I was 7. Thank God my dad married my kindergarten teacher or I might have ended up a blind white musician in a racist town who didn't discover he was black til age 40. Hey! That's not a bad idea. Wonder if it's too late? gwb
http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/18/politics/confederate-flag-license-plate-scotus-supreme-court-case/index.html
TSB: Well, that didn't take long! SC says vanity plates are government speech, not private speech. And Alito emerges as a champion of 1st amendment rights. I can hardly wait to hear what Alito thinks about the new Texas gold depository.
As for me, I remember driving to El Paso in my brand new 2007 Corolla and singing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX_9Go0Z8e4 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk7uXaNuWNE (That's before I discovered Texas gals aren't allowed to leave 'the whole other country') gwb
TSB: Medicare fraud is one thing that is wrong with health care:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/government-arrests-243-in-largest-ever-crackdown-on-health-care-fraud/2015/06/18/43a6f1be-15e1-11e5-89f3-61410da94eb1_story.html?hpid=z5
But as everyone knows, mental health care has largely been replaced by the greybar hotel. I thought we needed to improve access to psychologists and psychiatrists until I discovered (from a local psychologist in Vancouver,WA) that 90% of the psychologists there are captured by one real estate guy who leases them a cubicle and takes 40% of their fees. They can go independent but they would go broke trying to advertise to the poor people they serve. Oregon has an even worse system. gwb
PS: James: I finally got a peek at that golf course in Tacoma. Is that some western desert I never heard of before?? or was that just one hole they decided to plant tumbleweeds on?? gwb
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/man-forced-to-take-an-uber-to-the-hospital-after-his-broken-leg-was-deemed-not-serious-enough-for-an-ambulance-10332223.html
Darnit TSB: I'm probably going to have to get a smartphone to take on my bike rides. I can't afford an ambulance ride. I need to get famous fast. If only my wife could get a government job we'd be covered. Wait! She's part native American. Sweetie!! gwb
TSB: I like this headline:
Technology lets people change TV channel with their mind...
I don't have one of those yet but my TV's change my mind without
me even having to think. gwb
TSB: This is good!
Roof’s act was racist, yes, but his racism was built upon colonialism and sexism. Our hierarchies interconnect, interweaving, providing each other with support.
“We are none of us free,“ wrote the poet Emma Lazarus, “if we are not all free.”
I am a white woman. I am not yours to protect. No more murder in my name.
http://www.juancole.com/2015/06/terrorism-justify-lynching.html
It's called 'benevolent sexism' "You are raping OUR women"
THE DONALD USED IT TOO! MEXICANS ARE COMING HERE TO RAPE OUR WOMEN!
http://www.juancole.com/2015/06/terrorism-justify-lynching.html
AND THE FT. HOOD SHOOTER HAD IT TOO. HE WANTED A WOMAN, BUT PROTECTING THE BROTHERHOOD OF ALLAH WAS MORE PRESSING! gwb
TSB: I told you even the KFC chicken wasn't that good anymore. I tried some last week just to recheck, 6 thighs for $10 bucks, 6 breasts would have been $20. Those thighs were NTG (scientific for not that good). They say rats taste like chicken when done by KFC but I've had enough of the 'caged critters'. gwb
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/17/kfc-fried-rat_n_7604498.html
PS: KFC can say it's Jesus for all I care but I ain't buying it.
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