Open Thread - 26 August 2010

I am out of town today.  pl 

Comments

[Fred]

Is the Miller Center conference still on for 9/10?

[William R. Cumming]

Question? Did any on the list see the Academy Award Best Picture of the Year "The Hurt Locker" which I am about to see for the first time and wondering if they think it has any merit or is somehow inaccurate?

[The beaver]

http://nationalinterest.org/article/israel-attacks-3907?page=show

Anyone seen that article ( got the link from Richard Silverstein Blog http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/):
He is proposing:
1. the United States to bolster Israel’s capabilities and guarantee its nuclear umbrella.
2.getting Israel into NATO
3. Assist Israel into developing its second strike capabilities.

I guess it's like asking to build up a Frankenstein in the ME to achieve the goals of the likes of Likud cum Perle and Wolfy.

[Norbert N, Salamon]

Please peruse and prepare your children/grandchildren for the future:

Thermodynamic analysis of the economy:

Propably valid but extreme depressing.

[Norbert N, Salamon]

correction:
Sorry left out the link:

http://europe.theoildrum.com/node/6887

Thermodynamic analysis of the economy

[Jake]

Talk about maritime terrorism and the repo man. Read the book Seized, (http://www.maxhardberger.com/) by Max Hardberger...

Also vist this VessEx site at http://www.vesselextractions.com/index.html

[Grimgrin]

The beaver: Putting Israel in NATO may be the most amusing suggestion I've heard from the pro-Israel right.

"Article 1

The Parties undertake, as set forth in the Charter of the United Nations, to settle any international dispute in which they may be involved by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security and justice are not endangered, and to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations."

If I thought for a second the people suggesting it would actually want to hold Israel to it's obligations under the NATO treaty, I'd say it's the best idea for forging middle east peace in quite some time.

It's also odd that pretty much everything the right wants to do with the UN (Put Georgia in, take Turkey out, put Israel in and shake it all about) would result in the disintegration of NATO in fairly short order. I rather thought NATO was the international organization they liked.

[Larry Mc.]

William R Cumming, there was an extended discussion of "Hurt Locker" in the EOD Community of which I am a former member both UMSC and Federal Government. The consensus was don't see it you will only get angry.(EOD techs that is) Parts were accurate, but EOD is a team effort with no place for "cowboy" heroes going it alone. There was much criticism of several stories which the Air Force Media published early on in Iraq about young Air Force EOD techs and their exploits.That type of self glamorization doesn't sit well. If your interested, a fellow tech who had served as an Observer in South Lebanon, e-mailed me pictures of bunkers stacked wall to wall with ordnance from the first three days of action and the same bunkers nearly empty only days later. I was stunned by the amount of ordnance we captured and left unguarded. The caption read "Larry this is going to be South Lebanon all over again". Truer words were never spoken.IEDs drove Israel out of South Lebanon and they will stalemate Afghanistan, drones or no drones.

[Charles I]

Well, William R, I just watched The Hurt Locker and its an ok movie, but its Hollywood, when a guy should be concentrating or shitting his pants, he's taking off his helmet and cracking wise.

It was a good movie, not high drama or art if you ask me, as to accuracy I'm ignorant. Way better tha The Green Zone, which sucked, but it was a different kind of film.