My wishes for a Merry Christmas to all my fellow citizens.
And, because it's a Friday, one Eyebrow-Raising Headline of the Week with a faintly Christmas-y, or at least a Santa-ish, theme:
"Gazprom Executives Killed by Reindeer Herdsmen" - Upstream Online
25 comments:
Great post TSB! I think some gazprom guys also got killed by striking reindeer while landing in the past.
and there is this:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/suspected-arson-at-bill-clintons-birthplace/
I sure HOPE they find out who she is! Merry Christmas to the whole TSB staff and families! gwb
TSB: Obama must hate it that Juan Cole is still around telling people what's going on in Syria.
Pentagon refuses to share intel on ISIS until Moscow’s stance on Assad changes. Dec 25
The big news is that Russia airstrikes on the secret headquarters of the Army of Islam in the Damascus hinterlands killed the leader of this major militia, Zahran Alloush, on Friday. Alloush was a Saudi religious scholar. The Army of Islam has several thousand fighters around Damascus. It is backed by Saudi Arabia’s oil billions and seeks to turn Syria into a hard line Salafi/ Wahhabi state. (JRCole dec 26) Assad also negotiated the evacuation of a big group of ISIS fighters that had been holding a Damascus suburb since the Sarin attacks. They are being bussed to Raqqa with 1 gun and a black flag each.
I'm rutin for Putin! gwb
TSB: It was the cyclonite that downed the Metrojet in Sinai. Classic Putin false flag bombing.I wonder how the investigators are coming with their work? gwb
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3374231/Did-Putin-plant-holiday-jet-bomb-killed-224-Russians-s-outrageous-theory-ex-KGB-agent-claims-dossier-proves-Kremlin-orchestrated-atrocity-justify-waging-war-Syria-decide-yourself.html
TSB: Rand Paul had it right about ISIS before anyone else which really upset the establishment:
When asked how he would deal with ISIS - "first off, I think we should stop arming them". Our alleged "ally" turkey is responsible for their training and weapons, and most of their revenue with the oil trade. All it would take to "stop" ISIS would be for NATO member turkey to stop supporting them. Im sure you could throw in the saudis with this as well. Without those safe spots to train, and without that money, they would be finished in short order. Every single presidential candidate has to know this, which means the whole time they are up there on that stage they are lying about it. They know how easy this would be, and yet allegedly serious candidates are actually talking about nuking them. I wish one of them would explain to me how starting another expensive and totally unneccessary war is constitutional, conservative, or fiscally responsible, which is what they all claim to be. He could knock Carson and Rubio with that now and move up to #3 behind Cruz. And he could say something nice about Putin like "It's really stupid to be driving the Russians toward WWIII when they want to work with us." gwb
TSB: Well, that evacuation of the 5,000 anti-Assad guys to Raqqa is off now since the Russians wiped out the Saudi cleric and 11 other key players. There go Kerry's Vienna Peace Hopes and we are back to playing checkers. But the good news is that Pepe has been fly-fishing in the Swiss Alps to shake off that close call in Paris and he's back! gwb (writing for RT now. He points out that Ukraine was the first and ONLY country to endorse Erdogan's shooting down of the russian fighter. NATO was horrified! Another brilliant Nuland move.)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-26/washingtons-empire-chaos-cold-war-20-new-normal
GWB: The 'Putin bombed that Russian plane to justify going to war for the regime in Syria' conspiracy theory doesn't work for me. Putin was already deep into war in Syria had the bombing happened. And besides, he was no need to rile up Russian public support for his actions in Syria anyway, so what would be the purpose of faking an ISIL attack on Russian passengers?
Ok TSB, it's from a former KGB guy who had to run for his life from Putin so no need to buy it yet. I've been reading a great book written in 1947 by a Ukrainian who was 8 yrs old when Stalin 'collectivized' the farmers and then starved everyone to death. (80% of the population were farmers then) He didn't finish the book til the 70's but that whole plan was totally psychopathic and brilliantly planned. Slavery is so easy to implement! Their big answer to all questions was a familiar one to us: "You're either with us or you're against us!" And the propaganda was almost 24 hrs a day. gwb
12,000 Oil Tanker Trucks Parked At Iraq-Turkey Border Aren't Carrying ISIS Crude, Kurds Swear
TSB:It's a war, 12,000 tanker trucks are caught on video at the border. Whatever they are doing it's illegal. Intel says mafia gangs are running the transfers and shifting the routes. Putin is your enemy but he is working with both the Syrian and Iraq governments.
Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to create and execute a winning strategy. What would you do? gwblol
TSB: California Politicians Could Soon Be Forced To Wear Logos Of Top Corporate Donors: The proposed law would require legislators and candidates to sport the emblems of groups that donate money to their campaigns.
As the advocacy group that launched the measure, California is Not for Sale, muses:
“Imagine this: a California Senator is speaking on the floor and proposes a bill he just drafted that will give oil companies huge tax advantages. Now imagine if on his jacket, he was wearing Chevron, Shell, and BP logos – some of his top ten contributors. Our law will bring this under-the-table-corruption to the surface and expose these politicians who take political contributions in exchange for favors for what they really are: corrupt.”
TSB: Since by definition Facism= Corporations + Government + Military led by a popularly elected 'puppet' and with a impotent legislative body that has no real power this could become a big issue in 2016 with Presidential candidates forced to wear donor's logos too. (at least in the campaign ads of their opponents.) I think Trump ads will be first to popularize this by maybe starting with all the women who claim to have been sexually assaulted by Bill Cosby-Clinton. gwb
TSB: I notice Jeb's new ad campaign has dropped the !... This is a major change in strategy.. maybe a 'game changer'! gwb
PS: Juan Cole has a great piece today on how silly all this stuff is and how gullible I am to fall for it.
http://www.juancole.com/2015/12/in-retrospect-a-year-of-sharpening-contradictions.html
exerpt:
Part of the backlash to the two big Paris strikes, by AQAP and Daesh, in 2015 was the rise of the Donald Trump presidential campaign, which demonizes Muslims in general, speaking of excluding them from the United States and closing mosques. Trump and his followers are falling for the trick of “sharpening contradictions,” a key technique of insurgencies, as I explained after Charlie Hebdo:
TSB: When I hear my washer go Whrrrrr! I know the final spin cycle is almost done. Yesterday Oregon announced that as of Jan 1st your recreational weed will come with a 10% tax; avg 2 bedroom apartment in Portland over $1600/month; and avg health insurance costs also up 10% from last year. And then all those valient DC stalwarts against the corporate giants who feast on the taxpayers 2015 seemed like the final time to fly away before all the bubbles burst and the next President is told all the big banks have to be bailed again by the taxpayers or the Saudi's will cut off our oil! gwb (BTW, they need to analyze the weed that woman was high on who mowed down 35 in Vegas. This new stuff does wild things to people and the metabolite tests are useless in detecting it.) HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2579336
TSB: Looks like 95% chance MH-17 was brought down by an air to air missile, not ground to air. Isreali Python fits the best of 5 possibilities and the US put those on some SU-25 fighters. gwb
Israeli-made air-to-air missile may have downed MH17 - report
https://www.rt.com/news/310039-mh17-israeli-missile-version/
GWB: Good thought about the Las Vegas incident. That new weed (what do they call it - Bubbly? Killer Kush Koncentrate?) is really bad stuff.
On the Jeb Bush campaign, he kicked it into high gear today by revealing his Secret Guacamole Recipe. Who needs exclamation points after that?
Holy Guacamole TSB & James!! Happy New Year!
Best wishes to you too from the whole southern half of family gathered in Ciudad de Mexico. They say tell TSB to keep sending guns and $$ and we will keep trucking those drugs north. gwb
TSB, GWB: Happy New Year, you scamps!
TSB: Juan Cole has 7 FP suggestions for 2016 today.
http://www.juancole.com/2016/01/top-7-middle-east-foreign-policy-challenges-in-2016.html
The most pressing to him is the prospect for a huge war between the Palestinias and the Isrealis that will set the whole region on fire. He has a simple solution: Go neutral in the UN security council and let them sanction Isreal and force Isreal to the table. I like that one because he could do it with a phone call to Samantha Powers.
Another one is the retaking of Mosul by the Iraqi's. That will not be possible without substantial military support from outside forces. Iraq needs a new constitution that throws out the old parliamentary setup. That will take diplomatic leadership which would probably have to start with a lot of boots on the ground (like allied Sunni boots) and dealing with Putin on Syria and Erdogan as well as the Saudis. Bombing the hell out of Mosul isn't going to work.
Then there is Yemen where 'bombing the hell out of them' is taking a lot longer than expected. I like his suggestion for translating and disseminating US foreign policy by:
Why aren’t contracts let for public diplomacy to our academic National Resource Centers, where US expertise about foreign languages and cultures is concentrated, instead of cutting their already meager budgets? I’m not saying they should be enlisted in propaganda, just in level-headed presentation of the realities (AJ+ is not notably ideological). You would think this is already being done. It to my knowledge is not. I pointed out when I was running the Global Americana Institute that most key texts in US political thought can’t even be found in Arabic, and that is still largely the case. It is bizarre to me that few others even seem to care. (Of course, a casual reading of a few of Hillary's emails would show that has never been on the table.) gwb
GWB:
"will set the whole region on fire" Well we can't have that, not in a region noted for it's peace and prosperity.
TSB, James: Beautiful summer weather here today sunny, blue skies and 23 degrees. They stopped the big ISIS attack in NY by that panhandler which gave me an idea. Why don't we provide street people with 'nanotagged' old $ bills ..ones 5's and 10's. Then when they hit the banks seize the money and ID the big depositers. Pretty soon people would get tired of not getting paid for their drugs and the whole thing would stop. The street people could earn 'affordable housing' credits and we would be able to hire lots of new bank tellers to scan the loot. gwb
The most admired, I mean Hillarious, woman in the world! gwb
https://www.flickr.com/photos/expd/17104201096/in/album-72157651903978601/
Oh, the Hitler comparisons go way too far. Plus, they ignore all sorts of facts about Hitler, such as that he was a vegetarian, and a non-drinker, and he was a decorated WWI veteran who would never have married a draft dodger.
Sure TSB, but you liked the sunglasses didn't you? I think Trump should hand those out for free at his rallies and sell the t-shirts with all the arrows for a profit and send the proceeds to the DNC to 'HELP HILLARY DRAW BIGGER CROWDS'. gwb
TSB:
And he loved animals.
Loved animals, yes. And, he created the world's first No Smoking zone - in his headquarters - which ought to get him some respect from our modern anti-smoking Nazis.
The sunglasses she wore while flying to Tripoli and using her personal BlackBerry? That *would* be a great political prop.
TSB,
"Smoking zone - in his headquarters - which ought to get him some respect from our modern anti-smoking Nazis."
True, but the Russians in their visit to Berlin in the late 40's seemed to have to disregarded the "No smoking" edict.
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