Sic Semper Tyrannis

Representative Elijah Cummings Stands Tall for the USS Liberty Vets

By Sidney O. Smith III

 

First an admission.  “Elijah” has always ranked very, very high on my list of favorite names.  Unlike Freud and according to tradition, Elijah reconciles father with son and mother with daughter.  And as some unique Americans, the Satmar Rabbis, will tell you, the appearance of Elijah portends very good things to come, much like watching the sun breaking through and then rising above the ocean on a beautiful early morning.  

 

So Elijah comes across as the anti-Freud and let’s face it, at least a few of the intelligentsia, among others, tend to view as a guru Sigmund and his (perhaps misunderstood) mantra of you too can think like an angry 4 year-old all your life. And while I am not graced with either theological virtues or insights, much less the life that such would entail, I am inclined to prefer Elijah and his approach to that of Freud. 

 

Matt Taibbi on Goldman

I know I said the 2nd,but this is too good to miss.  pl

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/28816321/the_great_american_bubble_machine

Crippling Obama’s Counterinsurgency Strategy - Richard Sale

A critical component of Obama’s Afghan strategy – separating local Afghans from Taliban insurgents and then building social and economic programs that create local loyalty to the central government – is being nullified because of inadequate numbers of Afghan police who are illiterate, untrained and deserting in droves, congressional and other experts say.

Speaking of the current Marine assault into the southern province of Helmand, an administration official said: “Material support and strong and continuous aid are essential to our progress.” Adding, “The Taliban are counting on the United States and its allies to be unable to sustain a costly and interminable war.”

SST will be open for business on 2 August

There are just too many things to talk about to stay shut down longer.  pl

Analysis: Iran – Crowds and Power - Richard Sale

By Richard Sale, Middle East Times Intelligence Correspondent

What dictators like Serbia’s Slobodan Milosevic and Ayatollah Khomeini had in common was their grasp of the blunt truth that whoever controls the streets controls the government and the country. As students of mob dynamics the late Mr. Milosevic and the Ayatollah Khomeini had few equals.

    Khomeini knew the power of crowds from the 1979 revolution. As French sociologist Gustav LeBon noted, a member of a crowd descends to a very low degree of civilization. Like Milosevic, Khomeini was aware that crowds were inflammable, mindless, imbued with violent feeling but incapable of thought, acting with the elation and excitement of “blind men who are blindest when they suddenly think they can see,” as Adam LeBor, a Milosevic biographer so neatly said.

Hasta Luego

I have had enough for now.  There will be nothing more from me until after Labor Day.  I will think about it then.  If you wsh to comment or post I will moderate or post your material if I like it. pl

Iraq and the Neocon Delusion

 "... how to talk about Iraq. Aspirations of a "quick political fix" and a speedy U.S. departure should be superseded by more realistic ambitions for a plodding but upward trajectory, buttressed by American political assistance and an expanding bilateral nonmilitary relationship. In private talks, the Obama administration should support the emergence of issues-based politics and electoral alliances -- and the public message should not relegate Iraqis and their challenges to simple sectarian or ethnic actors."  O'Sullivan

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The essence of the neocon delusion in the ME has always been the political science driven drivel that pronounces the old culture of the region to be dead or dying and the peoples of the Islamic World to be eagerly awaiting a "brave new world" in which Islamicate civilization and their age old national rivalries are a distant memory.  The local politicians have been skilled in convincing the neocons that, they too, share this vision and ambition for themselves.

It was always hokum.  It remains hokum.  Having waited us out, the factional religious and ethnic politicans of Iraq are now taking advantage of our coming departure to figuratively go down to the Tigris to wash off the dye that has obscured the leopard's spots for a time. 

The Iraqi Shia are not grateful for our having transfered power to them from the Sunni Arabs.  Why should they be?  We were eager to do it, and none more so than Meghan O'Sullivan, now ensconced at Harvard and awaiting a return to the West Wing.  pl

National Journal Blog - 20 July 2009

http://security.nationaljournal.com/2009/07/should-the-cia-assassinate-ter.php#1343274

Agitprop in our time

An interesting item sent by a friend of SST.  pl

http://www.spinwatch.org/-articles-by-category-mainmenu-8/72-iran/5305-web-20-warfare-from-gaza-to-iran

"Taliban strategy could threaten Pakistan’s nukes" Richard Sale

Administration officials see a sinister new shift in Taliban strategy in the latest attacks on Pakistani nuclear scientists and engineers, key players in developing Islamabad’s strategic weaponry.

One of Pakistan’s most dangerous terrorist groups, the Tehrik-e-Taliban, has claimed responsibility for a July 2 assault when Pakistani engineers and scientists in a bus traveling on the Rawalpindi-Peshawar Road were rammed by a lone suicide bomber on a motor bike, killing six and wounding 36 others, according to press accounts confirmed by U.S. officials.

Former U.S. intelligence officials believe the Tehrik-e-Taliban were also responsible for a May 27 attack on a Lahore police station and the local office of Pakistan’s ISI intelligence service, killing 15 police officers, one ISI lt. colonel and 10 other persons.

Other Tehrik-e-Taliban targets include the Kahuta Research Laboratories which built Pakistan’s nuclear bombs, weapons grade uranium and long-range missiles, along with the Army-run Mechanical Complex at Taxila, both built with Chinese assistance.

“The terrorists are sending a clear message: they can strike where they want, what they want, and when they want,” said an administration official.