Sic Semper Tyrannis

The limits of power

"Obama –whose rise to the presidency was built partially around his opposition to the Iraq War – is definitely cognizant of Americans’ aversion to too much intervention abroad. As recently as Tuesday, he defended his foreign policy strategy -- with a nod to the conflict that galvanized support for him as a candidate in 2007 and 2008. “For some reason, many who were proponents of what I consider to be a disastrous decision to go into Iraq haven’t really learned the lesson of the last decade, and they keep on just playing the same note over and over again,” he said, adding that “my job as Commander-in-Chief is to look at what is it that is going to advance our security interests over the long term, to keep our military in reserve for where we absolutely need it.”"  NBCnews

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Well, well. perhaps he has actually learned something about the limits of power.  If that is so he should get rid of those around him who have not learned that lesson.  pl     

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/47-say-u-s-should-reduce-role-world-affairs-n92871

Latest Washington Post poll - 29 April 2014

I am inclined to think polls such as this are suspect because people who are willing to participate are probably not representative of the accomplished.  pl 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/page/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/04/29/National-Politics/Polling/release_342.xml

The A Word... Adam L. Silverman, PhD*

Yesterday COL Lang reported on the brouhaha caused by Secretary Kerry's remarks that if a two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute failed, then it would lead to one of two potential unitary state options for the Israelis. The first would be that Israel if it preserved its democratic system would lose its Jewish majority, ceasing to be either a Jewish State or a State for Jews because of potential/projected demographic changes vis a vis the Palestinians. The other possibility was to become a unitary state that relegates the Palestinians to second class status. Secretary Kerry asserted that should Israel go this latter route it would mean that Israel would become an apartheid state. His larger point, however, was that neither of these are in Israel's interests. This seems to have been meant as a supporting argument for why a two state solution is preferable in general and as a specific push for the ongoing US led efforts. As COL Lang anticipated this set off the usual freakout from all the expected players. 

What's really interesing, however, is that this is not the first time a senior or strategic leader has made this type of remark. After the 1967 Six Day War David Ben Gurion remarked that if Israel did not rid itself of its territories and their Arab population quickly it risked becoming an apartheid state (h/t Corey Robin). Ehud Olmert issued a similar warning in 2007 and Ehud Barak reiterated this concern in 2010 (h/t for both Little Green Footballs). 

All of this is part and parcel of the warped nature of America's discussion - both popular and strategic/policy - regarding the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. Regardless of how it has happened, and that's a series of posts all their own, we have limited our ability to speak openly and honestly with each other about this issues, about what is really good for the US or in the US's interests, what is really good for Israel from a US perspective given that Israel is a statutory ally and client, and what is really good for the US's other allies, from the US's perspectives in the region. The narrow limits that we have placed on ourselves regarding these issues do not serve us and our interests well.

* Adam L. Silverman is the Cultural Advisor at the US Army War College. The views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the US Army War College and/or the US Army.

Kerry said that Israel may become an apartheid state?

"US Secretary of State John Kerry told a group of senior international officials that Israel risks becoming an "apartheid" state if it does not make peace soon, a US news website reported. Kerry made the remarks at a closed-door meeting of the influential Trilateral Commission on Friday, The Daily Beast news website reported Sunday. The Daily Beast said a source at the gathering provided them with a recording of Kerry's remarks." "A two-state solution will be clearly underscored as the only real alternative. Because a unitary state winds up either being an apartheid state with second class citizens —- or it ends up being a state that destroys the capacity of Israel to be a Jewish state," Kerry said, according to The Daily Beast." Maannews

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(Irony alert)

Well, that's it.  He has revealed himself as an anti-Semite and will have to go!  He may even be an agent of one ofthe Arab countries.  Is he registered under FARA?  Come to think of it,  I don't recall that any of the actual Bantustans had walls around them.  pl

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=693439

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/04/27/exclusive-kerry-warns-israel-could-become-an-apartheid-state.html

Related articles

John Kerry warns Israel could become 'apatheid state'

Report: Kerry Blames Israel For Impasse In Peace Talks; Warns Israel Could Become 'Apartheid State'

Open Thread - 27 April, 2014

A photograph of a Catholic school in Aleppo, Syria in Ottoman times.   This was the College of the Holy Land in Aleppo. That is St. Anthony's statue in the center. The Ottoman sultan/caliph was a financial supporter of the school. The sultan's "tughra" (stylized signature) can be seen in the foreground of the picture. The school was run by the ever present Franciscans. In the background on an escutcheon you can see the insignia of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher, another supporter of the school. pl

"Stopping Russia Starts in Syria" Anne-Marie Slaughter

"The US, together with as many countries as will cooperate, could use force to eliminate Syria’s fixed-wing aircraft as a first step toward enforcing Resolution 2139. “Aerial bombardment” would still likely continue via helicopter, but such a strike would announce immediately that the game has changed. After the strike, the US, France, and Britain should ask for the Security Council’s approval of the action taken, as they did after NATO’s intervention in Kosovo in 1999. 

Equally important, shots fired by the US in Syria will echo loudly in Russia. The great irony is that Putin is now seeking to do in Ukraine exactly what Assad has done so successfully: portray a legitimate political opposition as a gang of thugs and terrorists, while relying on provocations and lies to turn non-violent protest into violent attacks that then justify an armed response."  Anne-Marie Slaughter

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Slaughter? This woman is aptly named although I understand she experienced a name change somewhere along the way.  She took control of the "New America Foundation" last fall.  Now she is emeritus at Princeton.  You Princetonians can explain to me how a 55 year old woman can be emeritus.

Her basic idea is that the US should bomb Syria's fixed wing air force out of existence AND THEN go to the UN for approval.  She thinks that would start the ball rolling for a rebel victory in Syria and that all right thinking people should welcome that, especially I suppose the religious fanatics in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia who are funding and more or less equipping the Islamist fighters.  The fanatic supporters would do more but they have always been organizationally challenged and usually will not listen to foreign hired help.

She also believes that this ferocity on our part would frighten the Russians into accepting our dictum everywhere.  My, my,  I have seen her occasionally on Zakariah's Sunday festival of mutual admiration.  I find her obvious self love and pomposity to be quite a "turn-off."  She always has a smug little smile and seems to me to suffer from always having been one of the pretty AND smart girls in the class, school, sorority, etc.  A lot of young men and a good many older ones as well cannot resist such creatures and find themselves nodding uncontrollably while saying in Bill Cosby's words, "I loves Mozart."

Her preposterous "proposal" should be seen as satire of actual strategic thought,  I am tempted to compare this to Dean Swift's "Modest Proposal..." but that would be giving her far too much credit.

She and all the other  R2P ladies and male hangers-on continue to see the world as a school yard where the naughty must be taught to do better by whatever means prove necessay.

This frame of mind betrays an inability to see other places and people as they are rather than how they can be described in a graduate school seminar. 

The Russians are damned tough people.  They will not be cowed.  They will simply be irritated and angered.

Her arrival at "New America..." undoubtedly indicates a new phase in her progress toward the Secretary of State's office or the chair of the National Security Adviser.

God help us all.  pl

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/anne-marie-slaughter-on-how-us-intervention-in-the-syrian-civil-war-would-alter-vladimir-putin-s-calculus-in-ukraine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne-Marie_Slaughter

Related articles

'Bomb Syria...For Ukraine's Sake!'

Obama's approaching humiliation over Syria

Psycho

"Four Ways The Ukraine Crisis Could Escalate To Use Of Nuclear Weapons" Loren Thompson

"In 1983, the ABC television network broadcast a movie called The Day After about how a superpower nuclear exchange devastated the lives of typical Americans in two midwestern cities. The conflict began with a Russian troop buildup in Eastern Europe (which Moscow initially claimed to be a military exercise), and then gradually escalated to a point where both sides launched their nuclear missiles for fear of losing them in a preemptive attack. Coming as it did during a period of U.S.-Soviet tensions and controversy surrounding Reagan Administration nuclear policies, the broadcast attracted a huge audience of over 100 million viewers; it is still the highest rated made-for-television movie in U.S. history. Americans haven’t thought much about such scenarios since the Cold War ended, because the Soviet Union dissolved and the ideological rivalry between Washington and Moscow ceased. However, this year’s crisis over Ukraine is a reminder that Russia remains a nuclear superpower, and that the geopolitical sources of its security concerns have not vanished. In fact, Moscow may have greater reason for worrying today, because it has lost the buffer of allies that insulated it from Western attack during the Cold War, and now finds its capital only a few minutes from the eastern border of Ukraine by jet (less by missile). If you know the history of the region, then it is easy to see why Moscow might fear aggression."  Forbes

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There is  a lot of news today, news that stirs the loins of the MSM:

- An aged rancher in Nevada is exposed as a fool who threw away right wing support for his non-payment of grazing fees on federal lands by saying that he thought blacks might have been better off as slaves.  As a lifelong student of nineteenth century America I can assure him that they were NOT better off.   The Hillary enthralled press has, of course, seized on this and is running with the ball.  What a splendid way to "sell" their thematic material on the subject of conservative awfulness.

 

Comments

We still are "typaded."  I have just sent them a service ticket over the disabled comments feature.  pl

HARPER: RUSSIA CLAIMS IT JAMMED AEGIS

A quick note:  Russian Radio is claiming that the Russian Su-24 planes that buzzed the USS Donald Cook in the Black Sea on April 12 were able to jam the Aegis system and that this caused a quiet panic in the US Navy command.  Harper

"The Emperor has no clothes!" by FB Ali

The recent (April 17) meeting in Geneva on Ukraine was a game-changing event. Yet this significant aspect of it has not been explicitly recognized in any analysis or commentary on the situation; at least none that I've come across. It seems that the prior chest-thumping by Western politicians and their lackeys, and the drumbeat of propaganda in the media has so overawed the commentariat that they are afraid to adopt such a different view. A few have tiptoed around the issue, hinting obliquely at the real outcome, but shied away from anything definitive.

If no one else seems willing to do it, then I am going to stick my neck out and say what others hesitate to articulate: at Geneva the United States folded!

Compare the rhetoric in the period before the meeting to the actual terms of the agreement, not only what it contains but, even more importantly, what it doesn't. There is no mention of Crimea. It says nothing about the Russian troops "massed along the Ukraine border". It equates the armed men in the East with those in the West, requiring both to disarm and withdraw from the locations they have occupied. It commits the Ukraine government to a constitutional process involving negotiations with all "regions and political constituencies" (designed to achieve decentralisation and regional autonomy). It gives Russia a role in Ukraine both through the OSCE and in possible upcoming consultations on economic and financial support.

Compare the rhetoric in the West before the Geneva meeting to that afterwards − or rather its absence. There is now almost a deathly hush among politicians and the media (apart from some half-hearted efforts to spin the terms of the agreement). Where are the daily thunderings of the Kerry's, Rasmussen's, Breedlove's?

What caused the US to fold? We can only speculate, but it seems that it realised that its threat of further sanctions was proving an empty one. Most likely, powerful elements of the European industrial and financial sectors told their governments of the damage they were likely to sustain should broader sanctions be applied. It is quite possible that their US equivalents told the US government the same thing. With wider and deeper sanctions likely to inflict as much damage on the West as on Russia, and with the reluctance of European leaders to impose them, there wasn't anything left in the US's arsenal − except for the 'financial neutron bomb'.

A recent article in the London Telegraph described this 'neutron bomb' (referenced by Zanzibar recently in a comment on another thread). If the US were to use this financial weapon (the "scarlet letter") it could probably fry Russia's financial sector and bring its economy to a standstill, even though this would inflict much collateral damage on US allies, especially Germany. Arguably, this weapon is too powerful to risk using it on a peripheral issue such as Ukraine. There is also the likelihood of a riposte.

While Russia does not have anything comparable in the financial and economic sphere, it does have a marked advantage in another equally deadly sphere − cyber war. Former DNI Mike McConnell said in 2010, "If we were in a cyber war today, the US would lose". Leon Panetta talked in 2012 of a cyber-Pearl Harbour. If Putin considered the US use of the financial neutron bomb to be the equivalent of a nuclear first strike, he could well retaliate with an all-out cyber attack. Obviously the US administration was not prepared to risk this.

So, in this changed environment, what is likely to happen in Ukraine now? It appears that the present Ukraine government is too weak and too hard-pressed from the Right to engage in any meaningful mutual de-escalation and negotiations with the Eastern provinces. It is possible that the OSCE (with the backing of the US and Russia) might be able to impose such a process. In that case there may be the possibility of a loosely federal Ukraine emerging from this turmoil. Otherwise, we can anticipate a low-level civil war breaking out in the East, with increasing infiltration of Russian support to the dissidents there. This will mean that ultimately the East will break away and, perhaps after an autonomous phase, join Russia.

The US and the West will make the usual gestures, including some more token sanctions, but will do nothing that has a realistic chance of stopping Russia from achieving its goal of a neutral, decentralised Ukraine or, failing that, the breakaway of the Russian-speaking East.

 

©  FB Ali (April 2014)

"What we left behind" Filkins

"The resurgence of Iraq’s Shiites is the greatest legacy of the American invasion, which overthrew Sunni rule and replaced it with a government led by Shiites—the first since the eighteenth century. Eight years after Maliki took power, Iraqis are sorting through the consequences. The Green Zone—still known by its English name—has the same otherworldly feel that it did during the American war: a placid, manicured outpost in a jungle of trouble. Now, though, it is essentially a bastion of Shiite power, in a country shot through with angry Sunni citizens. Politicians hustle from meeting to meeting, rarely venturing past the gates. When I asked Yasin Majid, a member of parliament, to meet me for coffee, he said, “I don’t want to come out of the Green Zone.”"  Filkins

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This is what happens when one country invades and occupies another for ideological reasons with the intention of creating a social revolution.  In the case of US meddling in Iraq all that we succeeded in doing is reversal of the social order by placing the Shia on top of the "hill" of political power in a position which the Sunni Arabs do not accept.   

At first the Sunni Arabs fought the occupation and the destruction of the state they had known, but in the end the US succeeded in obtaining the cooperation of many Sunni Arabs against AQ in Iraq. AQ made that possible by behaving in an absolutist manner in inflicting their version of Islam on daily life in the areas they controlled.  This did not have anything to do with the COIN nonsense or the "surge." This outcome was a "gift" from AQ, a gift that was  skillfully exploited by many relatively junior soldiers who recognized the opportunity.  As in all such operations money always greases the wheels of fortune.  Petraeus deserves some credit for funding their efforts but the notion that he was the wizard of the COIN magic is just ludicrous. 

Unfortunately, the ideology of neoconism still persisted after the Sunni tribes had turned the tide against AQ and the US remained obstinately convinced that the Shia government would be able to obtain the loyalty of the Sunni Arabs as well as the Kurds.   That was not to be because in the main the Shia Arabs considered the Sunni Arabs the enemies of their blood.

The Bush Administration had invaded Iraq in a state of deliberate ignorance of the cultures and history of the place.  It was not that there was no expertise in the American government concerning Iraq, but that expertise was resolutely rejected by the Bush Administration. The Bush/Cheney/neocon clique believed that past institutions and beliefs were irrelevant in the world they believed they would create. They think mankind is evolving socially and will abandon old ways if given the chance to do so.

When given the chance by the "Sons of Iraq" to return to the fantasy of social revolution, the US project in Iraq abandoned the the "Sons Of Iraq" to the mercies of the Shia sectarian politicians who seem not to have evolved much in their hatred of the Sunni Arabs.

Have we learned anything from the sorry experiment in Iraq?

Evidently, we have not.  Victoria Nuland is Assistant Secretary of State for Europe.  pl  

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/04/28/140428fa_fact_filkins?currentPage=all

"Turkey Cooks the Books in Syria" Giraldi

"... the Obama Administration, just like the Bushies who preceded it, has been actively though clandestinely conspiring to overthrow yet another government in the Middle East. One might well conclude that the White House is like the Bourbon Kings of France in that it never forgets anything but never learns anything either."  Giraldi

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"... President Barack Obama had to back down from attacking Syria when the Anglo-American intelligence community informed him flatly and unambiguously that Damascus was not responsible for the poison gas attack that took place in Damascus on August 21, 2013 that was being exploited as a casus belli."  Giraldi

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Well, well, well... What is revealed in his administration's machinations in Syria, Libya and Ukraine is that Barack Obama IS the head Neocon and R2Per.  He is a meddler who has been pushing the boundaries of covert agression quite far.  He also does not seem to hesitate at all to spread falshoods in the media for the purpose of propagandizing the American citizenry into acceptance of his interventionist projects.

And now, with OPCW certifying that 90 % of Syria's declared chemical weapons and precursors have been surrendered, the unsupported claim is being made that the SAG has used chlorine gas as a war weapon.  This claim is evidently based on Israeli media stories.   Does it make any sense that Syria having been accused of using poison gas in the war and having come close to being bombed would now  egregiously do it again?  

IMO the Goebbelesque method of lying big and lying consistently still prevails in the USG.  pl   

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/turkey-cooks-the-books-in-syria/

Grass isn't greener--yet! Margaret Steinfels

The inevitable story appears and it isn't pretty. It's hard to change countries. So the citizens of Crimea report in the NY Times. New laws, new bureaucrats, new plans. The locals are finding that Russian officials may not be as efficient as the ones they booted out after the referendum on March 18. And many more of them seem to be applying for passports. Which direction will they be going? Perhaps the high point of schadenfreude are the methodone users who voted for union with Russia but find their heroin alternative is illegal under Russian law and in short supply. Their rations have been halved and are likely to dry up.

Has Putin bitten off more than he can chew? Billions promised. A bridge to come. Will he be forced to annex Eastern Ukraine to relieve the delivery of everything problem? Should we expect a citizen uprising? So many things to think about!  Steinfels

Reuters says the US screwed up its relations with Russia

 In September 2001, as the U.S. reeled from the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Vladimir Putin supported Washington's imminent invasion of Afghanistan in ways that would have been inconceivable during the Cold War.

He agreed that U.S. planes carrying humanitarian aid could fly through Russian air space. He said the U.S. military could use airbases in former Soviet republics in Central Asia. And he ordered his generals to brief their U.S. counterparts on their own ill-fated 1980s occupation of Afghanistan.

During Putin's visit to President George W. Bush's Texas ranch two months later, the U.S. leader, speaking at a local high school, declared his Russian counterpart "a new style of leader, a reformer…, a man who's going to make a huge difference in making the world more peaceful, by working closely with the United States."

For a moment, it seemed, the distrust and antipathy of the Cold War were fading.

Then, just weeks later, Bush announced that the United States was withdrawing from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, so that it could build a system in Eastern Europe to protect NATO allies and U.S. bases from Iranian missile attack. In a nationally televised address, Putin warned that the move would undermine arms control and nonproliferation efforts.  Reuters

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On the MSM the drumbeat for demonization of Russia continues.  Senator John McCain appeared on Morning Joe today to mock US foreign policy as weak and ineffective.  He made the interesting distinction between "defensive" and "offensive" weapons in his rant on this subject.  Perhaps in the navy there is a real difference between the two but the distinction disappears in the world of actual combat. Tanks, artillery, combat aircraft, even things like land mines are equally useful in either the defense or the offense.  McCain must know that, even he must know that.   To make such appeals for arming a foreign country at the risk of inducing civil war is remarkably irresponsible.  It is so irresponsible that the roots of the irresponsibility must be sought in temperament and obsession.  

McCain seems to have a lot of problems in these areas but he is still encouraged to spout jingoist statements for what?  Good television?  pl pl

http://news.yahoo.com/special-report-u-made-putin-problem-worse-110711843.html

Typepad

Looks like typepad is back up for a while  . I am going to find redundancies.  pl

"Guantánamo Bay detainees' release upon end of Afghanistan war 'unlikely'" Guardian

"Typically, when a war ends, so does the combatants’ authority to detain the other side’s fighters. But as the conclusion of the US war in Afghanistan approaches, the inmate population of Guantánamo Bay is likely to be an exception – and, for the Obama administration, the latest complication to its attempt to close the infamous wartime detention complex. In December, when President Barack Obama and his Nato allies formally end their combat role in Afghanistan, US officials indicate there is unlikely to be a corresponding release of detainees at Guantánamo who were captured during the country's longest conflict. The question has been the subject of recent internal debate in the Obama administration, which is wrapped up in the broader question of future detention policy."  Guardian

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The impression has grown steadily in the last few years that the judiciary in the Federal Distict Court of Washington, the Federal Appeals Court in Washington and the Departmet of Justice are cooperating to ensure that there not be any further releases from Guantanamo through the habeas corpus process.  The Obama administration may choose to make further releases of its own volition but that is a very different thing from court dictated releases.  The system, if it exists, would be simple.  If a judge rules in favor of a plaintiff, that is in the knowledge that a group of appeals court judges will overrule.  In such a system a judge who rules in favor of the plaintiff does so knowing that the ruling is pointless and that he/she will be in the administration's "black books."

Some of the Guantanamo detainees are truly dangerous Islamist terrorists who cannot be released and who cannot be tried successfully because of contaminated evidence not admissable in American courts whether civilian or military.

Unfortunately, there are others who seem to have been swept up in the dragnet established by the US and its allies in the early days of the war and whom judges now see as permanent detainees.

These detainees increasingly seem to be  pawns in a game designed by the government to establish case law for future use, somewhere, sometime.  pl  

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/19/guantanamo-bay-detainees-release-unlikely-end-afghanistan-war

Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday is the day that Jesus lay in the tomb.  pl

"Today is Friday" - Ernest Hemingway

"He looked pretty good up there today."  pl

Today is Friday

 

"Defense official on Ukraine policy: Israeli interests needn't be identical to U.S." Haaretz

"Israeli policy is driven by its own security interests and does not need to be identical to that of the U.S., a senior defense official said Sunday in response to Haaretz's report that White House and State Department officials in Washington have built up a great deal of anger over Jerusalem's "neutrality" regarding Russia's invasion of the Crimean Peninsula. Senior figures in the Obama administration have expressed great disappointment with the lack of support from Israel for the American position on the Ukraine crisis and with the fact that the Israeli government puts its relations with the United States and with Russia on the same plane. The head of the Defense Ministry's political-security department, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Amos Gilad said in response to Haaretz's report that Israel's policy on the matter was driven by its own security interests, which should not be confused with that of the U.S."  Haaretz

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I can only say that I agree with MG Amos Gilad so long as he accepts that this truth should be reciprocal.  pl   

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.585374

http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Netanyahu-Putin-discuss-Iran-Ukraine-via-telephone-348601

Where is Putin coming from?

"There is thus a lively debate in Russia itself on the country’s orientation. The question is, where does the leadership stand in this debate? The answer is difficult, because not only has Russia become more autocratic under Putin, but the circle of real decision-makers has become ever smaller. According to some accounts, it may consist of no more than five people. But, reviewing the period since 2000, when Putin assumed power, it is plausible that it began with a continuation of a commitment to democracy and a market economy, associated with a growing resentment at lack of consideration on the part of the West to certain deep Russian concerns – NATO enlargement, treatment as a poor supplicant, disregard for what are seen as legitimate interests in the neighbourhood etc. Angela Stent cites a senior German official complaining of an “empathy deficit disorder” in Washington in dealing with Russia.The pathology that this caused became progressively more virulent in the intervening years, culminating in 2003 in the invasion of Iraq without any Security Council mandate, indeed, in open defiance of the UN".

 

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     This is the conclusion of a long article by Padraig Murphy in the Dublin Review of Books (he served as the Irish ambassador in Moscow from 1981 to 1985). In it he discusses the history of Russia's attitudes towards, and interactions with, the West. This took place within the context of the Russian elites' views on the proper orientation of the country. For the rest of this conclusion, see below.     (FB Ali).

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Syrian Roundup - 17 April 2014

 

"He doesn't need to know..." - The Jordanian armed forces have long loved their Hashemite soldier-kings.  Jordan is no longer a country attached to an army as it once was but the "Jeish Arabi"  still marches to music composed by the first Abdullah, Hussein, Peake, Glubb, Cook,  et al.  It used to be a Jordanian Army joke that if King Hussein had told them all that the only solution for the Israeli problem would be for them to convert to Judaism, then after mumbling  among themselves for a while they would have said, "well, if you think so, boss."  At the same time they have always believed that the king should be protected from the harsher realities and that it was not necessary for the throne to be infomed of everything that had to be done.  Yesterday, RJAF struck three Syrian rebel vehicles that were attempting to enter Jordan.  Two explanations are possible:  1- A mistake.  This is tempting since Jordan is allowing the training of "moderate" rebels on Jordanian soil.   "Oops!"  2 - The Jordanian military do not favor the Syrian rebellion and the training and are convinced that the "moderates" are not moderate and are a certain danger to Jordan in the future.  "Oops!" NY Time et al

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TOW - The enhanced TOW anti-tank missile is old technology, but good technology.  With a range of just over 4,000 meters it is wire guided and even I can hit a tank body with it.  We sold and/or gave a lot of these to Saudi Arabia and Turkey as well as Iran during the Iran-Contra Affair.  IMO these countries are the source of these missiles, but it is possible that they were directly transferred by the CIA under a presidential finding.  These missiles have probably been in the logistical pipeline for quite a while and their provision may not be indicative of the latest Saudi policy.  Will they be a "game changer" at this stage of the war?  I doubt it unless they are present in great numbers.  Syrian and Hizbullah infantry and artillery will have to be more active to compensate for this new rebel capability.  What else is likely to appear in rebel hands?  MANPADS?  I would bet on it.  The US has been hesitant to allow this to happen from US stocks because of the ease with which these can be transferred to jihadi groups everywhere, but there are many other sources of MANPADS in the world.  Washpost

Who Is Saker? - Margaret Steinfels

Just a brief diversion from more important matters: Who is Saker as in "The Vineyard of the Saker." As a regular reader of SST, I followed the link posted by (can't remember) to the site way back when the Crimea was still part of Ukraine. Every now and again, I look again. I found him/her/it fascinating and informative at first; now not so much. Hence, my question: Who? And What? is Saker?

--Margaret Steinfels

 

Bandar's departure from Saudi intelligence

For the past 18 months Bandar had led Saudi efforts to better co-ordinate the supply of weapons to Syrian rebels fighting Assad. But he faced criticism for backing extreme Islamist groups and thus risking a repeat of the "blowback" that brought Osama bin Laden's Saudi fighters home after the officially sanctioned jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Bandar's departure is not a complete surprise. Amid unprecedented tensions in relations between Riyadh and Washington, there had been signs he had fallen from favour and had in effect already been sidelined on Syria. "Bandar's approach was very black and white," said one well placed observer. "And he seems to have over-promised to the king in terms of confidently predicting Assad's departure."  The Guardian

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IMO Bandar bin Sultan's departure does signal a Saudi policy shift on Syria.  The anti-jihadi forces within the royal family seem to have won the king's support in the absence of any progress in removing Bashar Assad from office.

Prince Nayaf's side of the family is hostile to the idea of doing anything that favors jihadis anywhere and Nayaf is the big winner in Bandar's departure. 

It is likely that we will see an attempt by Saudi Arabia to "mend fences" with Assad.

Bandar badly overplayed his hand in the Syria game and has now paid the price.  Good.  pl  

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/16/prince-bandar-saudi-intelligence-syria

Deniers of Science By Richard Sale

 

A critic of Evolution thundered recently: “Scientific observations do not support biological evolution! What about the icons of evolution that have been presented in textbooks for almost 50 years? Don’t these icons support biological evolution? Some of these do show microevolution within species. This type of evolution, even if it permanently points in one direction, is not evolution. It is no more evolution than dog breeding.”  (What???) “However, if a dog could be bred into a cat, that would be evolution. Even icons like the peppered moths that were only examples of microevolution, used pinned dead moths on black tree trunks that were not a natural resting place for the moths. Hackle’s embryos, ape-to-man drawings, the horse series, etc.” 

The above is taken from a site urging the teaching of Creationism as an alternative to Evolution. That these words are incoherent are not the worst of their faults. Unfortunately, these remarks leave the question of evolution validity or falsehood. Not only are they erroneous, they are misconceived.  

 

Open Thread on the Ukraine Crisis

I believe the Ukraine crisis will continue indefinitely.  Diplomacy seems to lead nowhere and war between Russia and NATO (the United States) would possibly lead to the end of civilization as we know it.

We will therefore leave this thread open indefinitely.  pl

"Multi-agency filing to deport Arnon Milchan..." IRMep

"INA: ACT 212 - GENERAL CLASSES OF ALIENS INELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE VISAS AND INELIGIBLE FOR ADMISSION; WAIVERS OF INADMISSIBILLITY (3) Security and related grounds.- (A) In general.-Any alien who a consular officer or the Attorne y General knows, or has reasonable ground to believe , seeks to enter the United States to engage solely, principally, or incident ally in-(i) any activity (I) to violate any law of the United States relating to espiona ge or sabotage or (II) to viol ate or evade any law prohibiting the export from the United States of goods, technology, or sensitive information, (ii) any other unlawful activity, or (iii) any activity a purpose of which is the opposition to, or the control or overthrow of, the Government of the United States by force, vio lence, or other unlawful means, is inadmissible."  US Code

-------------------

 An interesting effort on the part of IRMep to have confessed Israeli spy Arnon Milchen deported from the US of A.  Milchen is not an American citizen.  pl       

http://www.irmep.org/cfp/milchan/04032014_milchan_deportation.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnon_Milchan

 

John Stack on Scottish Independence

A balance sheet can not be used to decide Scottish Independence. The most important things in our life have no scientific measure or monetary value. Pride, patriotism, Freedom, love, loyalty, trust, feeling, friendship, joy, peace,  If you prefer to be a pampered poodle instead of a proud crowing cock you are not fit to vote real Scots into English control.  Eyes must be raised from the trough to a National identity and destiny. Being born in Scotland does not make you a proud true Scot. It is choice of loyalty not accident of birth. Do you have a passionate desire for Scottish independence ? Are you a Scot ?. Same answer. When Scots see their National Flag fly around the world they will never give it back. What value Pride?  What price a Scottish soul. Good Proud Englishmen would die for ENGLAND.  Scots have the same love for SCOTLAND.  If England thinks they can be stronger with Scotland behind them then how much stronger will they be as free nations standing shoulder to shoulder as free people.  The media are largely anti Scottish independence. The English are experienced, manipulative, colonisers. They have been on the case for a long time, know all the tricks, and it would be amazing if they had not succeeded. They will threaten, ridicule, divide, separate, control the media, and dangerously flatter. If Scottish spirit is buried it will be buried alive. Artists, Poets, thinkers, Leaders and people like Alex Salmond and brave people will think the unthinkable with renewed vigour. Seeds must be sown and nourished. Only a few patriots are needed to keep the flame alive. Treat them well for they hold your dreams. Hopefully the Scots have not been fully, shamefully, pacified and domesticated  There are unconquered Scots with an unbreakable strength, gallant courage, unshakable purpose as belonged to Wallace and his MEN.  The seed of freedom again ripen in young mens hearts . People in Scotland are overwhelmingly against trident and the only way to get rid of it is Scottish independence. North Sea oil production is going into a period of decline but with care and new technology Scotland, with one tenth the needs of the UK, will with absolute certainty remain an oil exporter for decades to come.  Redraw the territorial line horizontally from Scotland to include the Oil/Gas in Scotland.  If England exits the EU, staying in would be a good strategy for Scotland.   The fear of Masonic, Protestant, Scottish Nationalist control could drive many minorities to feel safer in Governance with outside control.  The compromise necessary will have to be a comfortable, better, place for ¾ million Catholics and Muslims, Colonists, Immigrants, Fearful people, and to remove the racism and bigotery that is there. You totally misunderstand Scottish patriotism. It is not about hatred of England. There is very much to admire about them. Just step back and look. The more you step back the better they look. Step back 300 miles (London to Edinburgh) and roll back 300 years of assimilation and they look perfect.  John Stack

"Arcadian Knight" by Peter Nash

Hello. My name is Peter Nash and I am writing to let you know that I have recently published the first book-length biography of Moses Jacob Ezekiel. The Life and Times of Moses Jacob Ezekiel: American Sculptor, Arcadian Knight tells the remarkable story of Moses Ezekiel and his rise to international fame as an artist in late nineteenth-century Italy. Sephardic Jew, homosexual, Confederate soldier, Southern apologist, opponent of slavery, patriot, expatriate, mystic, Victorian, dandy, good Samaritan, humanist, royalist, romantic, reactionary, republican, monist, dualist, theosophist, freemason, champion of religious freedom, proto-Zionist, and proverbial Court Jew, Moses Ezekiel was a riddle of a man, a puzzle of seemingly irreconcilable parts. Knighted by three European monarchs, courted by the rich and famous, Moses Ezekiel lived the life of an aristocrat with rarely a penny to his name. Making his home in the capacious ruins of the Baths of Diocletian in Rome, he quickly distinguished himself as the consummate artist and host, winning international fame for his work and consorting with many of the lions and luminaries of the fin-de-siècle world, including Giuseppe Garibaldi, Queen Margherita, Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner, Sarah Bernhardt, Gabriele D’Annunzio, Eleonora Duse, Annie Besant, Clara Schumann, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Alphonse Daudet, Mark Twain, Émile Zola, Robert E. Lee, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and Isaac Mayer Wise. In a city besieged with eccentrics, he, a Southern Jewish homosexual sculptor, was outstanding, an enigma to those who knew him, a man at once stubbornly original and deeply emblematic of his times. According to Stanley Chyet in his introduction to Ezekiel’s memoirs, “The contemporary European struggle between liberalism and reaction, between modernity and feudalism, between the democratic and the hierarchical is rather amply refracted in Ezekiel’s account of his life in Rome.” Indeed so many of the contentious cultural, political, artistic, and scientific struggles of the age converged in the figure of this adroit and prepossessing Jew. Here's the Amazon link:  http://www.amazon.com/Life-Times-Moses-Jacob-Ezekiel/dp/1611476712/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397425658&sr=1-2&keywords=Moses+ezekiel

Thank you. Peter Nash

"Scotland likely to choose independence, foreign diplomats believe" Guardian

"Foreign diplomats believe Scotland is likely to vote for independence after a series of opinion polls have shown an increase in support for a yes vote in September's referendum. Sources in the diplomatic corps in Edinburgh, which is home to nearly 50 consulates and diplomatic missions, have told the Guardian they think the tide of opinion has shifted significantly in recent months, after a noticeable swing against David Cameron's government and the no campaign. One senior diplomat, who asked not to be named, said he had believed last year that a yes vote was unlikely, but had since changed his mind. In his view "it is now likely, but not certain" that Scotland would vote yes in September, he said."  Guardian

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Well, well, I did not expect this.  It seemed to me until recently that the Scots would not have a sufficient sense of grievance against England to take such a step.  The difficulties involved in such a separation are likely to be significant.  Amng other things there would be assumption of a portion of the debt of the United Kingdom.  There will also be a necessary settlement of the question of ownership of North Sea petroleum assets. 

There are about five million Scots north of the border.  There are twenty million people of Scottish descent in the US.  There are many more in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.  These are fairly small numbers compared to other ancestral groups such as the Scotch-Irish but nevertheless they are substantial.  Scotland's future matters to a lot of us. 

IMO, the future of the UK is not a major security concern for the United States.  The British armed forces are in the process of a build down to levels of force structure that will make them largely irrelevant in anything but politically symbolic action.  Scottish nationalists seem to intend to remain in the NATO alliance but that continuance would likely be insignificant from a strategic point of view.  The nuclear submarine base in Scotland was important in the context of the Cold War but that was then and this is now.

I understand from discussion with Englishmen that many of them would be quite willing to see the end of the union.  They believe that the Scots get more out of the present arrangment than is justified.  At the same time there are persistant rumors that the actual number of Scots who will vote for independence is greater than the percentages displayed in polling.

My Scots ancestors left for Ireland at the end of the seventeenth contury in the hope of escaping English rule.  Some things apparently do not change.  pl  

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/apr/10/scotland-likely-choose-independence-foreign-diplomats

Open Thread - 12 April 2014

Open thread  pl

B-52s and MOPs for Israel? - by Confused Ponderer

For a couple days now, Lt. Gen. David Deptula, USAF (ret.) is making the rounds with JINSA's Makovski. Both are pomoting the idea of the transfer of MOPs and B-52s to Israel.

Punchline from JINSA's OpEd in The Wall Street Journal - April 8, 2014: "The Obama administration has cut a deeply flawed interim deal, forgone new sanctions, and effectively taken the military option off the table. It's time to increase the pressure on Tehran by boosting Israel's military capacity to cripple Iran's nuclear program."

This refers to a nuclear program that isn't proven to be a nuclear weapons program.  US intelligence can't find evidence for that believing that Iran's nuclear program may or may not become a weapons program, but that there are no current indications of that change. The conflation of a nuclear program with a nuclear weapons program is not just sloppy language. It is a deliberate deception. Iran's ability to master enrichment is NOT tantamount to a nuclear weapons threat. A theoretical ability in the absence of intent is not a threat. Period. To say otherwise is to engage in deception.

Let's put this in clear language: The advocates of such equipment transfers want that the US should put Israel in a position in which it can flout US policy preferences by making them independent strategically by giving Israel a conventional stategic strike option.The desire to do this demonstrates Israel's current inability to successfully hit Iran.

This is the same idea promoted in 'A Clean Break', which notably stressed the idea that Israel ought to transform its relations with the United States, by making Israel self-reliant, i.e. independent from the US. Now that's an ally!  These people want the US to make Israel independent, so that the Israelis can ignore whatever the US wants them to do and and at the same time they want the US taxpayer to foot the bill!

The tail is indeed wagging the dog. And re: 'A Clean Break' - the other major idea in that paper is that Israel, rather than pursuing a "comprehensive peace" with the entire Arab world, Israel should work jointly with Jordan (though nowadays it looks they are rather more allied with the Saudis) and Turkey to "contain, destabilize, and roll-back" those entities that are threats to all three. Which goes a long way to explain the current enthusiasm and persistent scheming to have the US to bomb Syria to smithereens already. And then Lebanon. And then Iran. Is there a cure for this lunacy? - Confused Ponderer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-52_Stratofortress

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_Ordnance_Penetrator

 

 

"Israel offers deal to rescue peace talks" The Telegraph

"Israel has proposed a deal to rescue the peace talks, offering to release 26 prisoners if the Palestinian leadership “cancels” its bid for greater international recognition. Yuval Steinitz, the Israeli intelligence and strategic affairs minister, told The Daily Telegraph that this exchange could be a way of continuing the negotiations brokered by John Kerry, the US secretary of state. His words suggest there is a possible opening to prevent the imminent collapse of the peace process, which had appeared to be in tatters last month when Israel failed to release 26 prisoners, prompting the Palestinians to sign up to 15 United Nations conventions. Under the US-mediated agreement last year, Israel promised to free 104 prisoners in four groups of 26. The Palestinians had agreed not to use their upgraded membership of the UN to sign any international conventions."  Telegraph

------------------------

And BTW, part of the deal has to be that we release Pollard. 

This is all very interesting,. The Lilliputian state of Israel, armed to the teeth and dependent on the United States seeks to dictate terms to the US for a renewal of "negotiations" over a possible peace between said Lilliput and the Palestinian community.  The US is not really an interested party.  The US is seeking to broker someone else's deal.  So, why are we willing to bargain with Israel over this? 

We deserve to be treated this way.  Our situation is somewhat analogous to that of parents who are dominated and bullied by children who have learned that they have nothing to fear from such parents.  pl 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/10755559/Israel-offers-deal-to-rescue-peace-talks.html

"Town by town, Assad regime retakes southwestern Syria " CSM

"Hezbollah and the Syrian Army's five-month campaign to clear rebels from the strategic Qalamoun region is approaching its final stand. The allies have seized one village and town after the other, gradually moving southward through the corridor between Damascus and Homs which links the Syrian capital to the Mediterranean coast."  CSM

--------------------------

As SST foresaw the Syrian Army/Hizbullah alliance forces are proceeding to grind their way across rebel controlled parts of Syria husbanding their supplies of manpower and materiel while systematically inflicting casualties on their opponents.

IMO, once this method clears the Qalamoun area along the Lebanese border the action will move to the Alawite homeland north of Lebanon.  The rebels have been moving into this region for the last several weeks.  The need to protect the Alawite population will require a major concentration of government forces.  pl  

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2014/0408/Town-by-town-Assad-regime-retakes-southwestern-Syria-video

US State and DoD Clash on Approach to Syria by Dr. Christopher Bolan

According to the Wall Street Journal Online today:  “Frustrated by the stalemate in Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry has been pushing for the U.S. military to be more aggressive in supporting the country's rebel forces. Opposition has come from the institution that would spearhead any such effort: the Pentagon. 

Mr. Kerry and United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power have advocated options that range from an American military intervention to weaken the regime of President Bashar al-Assad to using U.S. special operations forces to train and equip a large number of rebel fighters. Such moves would go far beyond the U.S.'s current engagement.

In recent White House meetings, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel have pushed back against military intervention, said senior officials….

 

Interview in re Rubin, Turkey and Syria

19 Minutes and 20 seconds in.  pl

http://www.johnbatchelorshow.com/podcasts/2014/04/07/fourth-hour

"Washington's Spies" and "Turn" - TTG

Just want to give everyone a heads up on a TV series that started on AMC yesterday. It's called "Turn" and chronicles the evolution and exploits of the Culper spy ring that served George Washington on Long Island. The TV series is based on "Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring" by Alexander Rose. The book came out in 2006, but I haven't read it yet. I just watched the first episode of the series on the internet. (I'm too cheap to spring for cable, still relying on an a big antenna in the attic to get digital broadcast.) I enjoyed it very much and plan on watching the series religiously along with "Vikings." on the History Channel. I'm definitely going to read the book, as well.

If you liked Colonel Lang's trilogy, you will probably like this series and book. BTW, when is the "Strike the Tent" trilogy going to be made into a series or, better yet, a movie trilogy? 

http://www.amazon.com/Washingtons-Spies-Story-Americas-First/dp/0553383299/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

http://www.amctv.com/shows/turn

TTG

Michael Rubin's false and mendacious statements about me.

Contrary to Michael Rubin's suggestion in "Commentary" I was not among Sy Hersh's sources for his excellent LRB story on Syria and gas.  I am, however, pleased to know that the Ziocons still care about me.  pl

Download CompleteCV

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2014/04/07/seymour-hershs-latest-conspiracy-theory/

19 Minutes and 20 seconds into this podcast.

http://www.johnbatchelorshow.com/podcasts/2014/04/07/fourth-hour

pl

Hersh exposes Obama lies on Syria and CW

"Last August, after the sarin attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, he (Obama) was ready to launch an allied air strike, this time to punish the Syrian government for allegedly crossing the ‘red line’ he had set in 2012 on the use of chemical weapons.​ Then, with less than two days to go before the planned strike, he announced that he would seek congressional approval for the intervention. The strike was postponed as Congress prepared for hearings, and subsequently cancelled when Obama accepted Assad’s offer to relinquish his chemical arsenal in a deal brokered by Russia. Why did Obama delay and then relent on Syria when he was not shy about rushing into Libya? The answer lies in a clash between those in the administration who were committed to enforcing the red line, and military leaders who thought that going to war was both unjustified and potentially disastrous. Obama’s change of mind had its origins at Porton Down, the defence laboratory in Wiltshire. British intelligence had obtained a sample of the sarin used in the 21 August attack and analysis demonstrated that the gas used didn’t match the batches known to exist in the Syrian army’s chemical weapons arsenal. The message that the case against Syria wouldn’t hold up was quickly relayed to the US joint chiefs of staff. The British report heightened doubts inside the Pentagon; the joint chiefs were already preparing to warn Obama that his plans for a far-reaching bomb and missile attack on Syria’s infrastructure could lead to a wider war in the Middle East. As a consequence the American officers delivered a last-minute caution to the president, which, in their view, eventually led to his cancelling the attack."  Hersh

-----------------------

 As we have written all along on SST, the Obama Administration tried to lie us into war in Syria just as the Bush Administration lied us into Iraq.  Obama is a  man completely seduced by power.  pl

http://www.lrb.co.uk/2014/04/06/seymour-m-hersh/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line

http://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00d8341c72e153ef00d83451d3f569e2/post/6a00d8341c72e153ef0192acc3e22f970d/edit

"Samantha Power: learning to play the diplomat’s game" Washpost

"During a 2012 White House debate, James Thurman — the four-star general who commanded U.S. troops in South Korea — sternly rebuffed her, saying he needed the mines because “I wake up every morning with 1 million North Korean troops right across the border.” Power argued for high-tech alternatives, but the general dismissed those options as impractical and too expensive, Thurman recalled in an interview. “We gotta tell them what the costs are. What you’re getting into,” Thurman said. “A lot of these folks don’t realize that. They hadn’t thought about it. ... There’s lots of great ideals, but the world is not a nice place.” Here was the education of Samantha Power, one step in an ongoing process of tough lessons. She’d made a persuasive argument about the substance of the land mine issue. But to change policy, the timing and the sequence of the arguments had to be perfect. And this wasn’t the right moment, her adversaries insisted, to do anything that could alter the delicate balance on the Korean peninsula."  Washpost

--------------------------

Power, Kerry, Rice (both), H. Clinton, the list is long of people meddling in the real world in ways that reflect their other worldliness in a universe filled with hard facts, facts that annoyingly continue to exist however much they are rejected.  What Thurman was trying to tell Power was that he could not hold the line of the DMZ in Korea if the million mines now implanted were removed and the North Koreans attacked in force.  That meant nothing to her because she knows nothing of actual warfare.  For her, as for so many others in the Washington/NY City thinkopoly concerned with foreign affairs, all of life consists in reading and publishing boring group think laden papers to others of like mind  in an atmosphere in which cleverness is much more important than actual knowledge and experience.

Self-referential moment: This reminds of the occasion in which I testified before the HPSCI along with the NIO for the ME and the equivalent State INR official.  The NIO of the day had zero military experience.  I do not remember the subject of the hearing.  When it ended the NIO (a woman with no prior government or intelligence experience at all) rebuked me for referencing my on the ground experience in war and in the particular war situation under discussion.  She said that I should not do that because it was not "fair" since no one else had that kind of experience.  I asked if she saw this kind of thing as a game played for "points" and assured her that there would be many other unfair occasions.  She now is head of a major think tankum in DC.

Power is sleep walking through a dream world in which the rest of us are forced to share her dream.  Obama shares her dream willingly.  pl      

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/samantha-power-learning-to-play-the-diplomats-game/2014/04/03/1ea34bae-99ac-11e3-b88d-f36c07223d88_story.html

Pollard and Treason By Richard Sale

In the summer of 1988, I wrote the following exclusive for UPI.

“WASHINGTON – Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, has been penetrated by “highly placed” Soviet moles and a full-scale internal counterintelligence investigation is under way, U.S. intelligence sources said.

“The sources described the Soviet infiltration as the most serious blow to Israeli intelligence since the 1970s, and said U.S. intelligence also was breached as a result.

“A Justice Department source said that U.S. counterintelligence agents became aware of the Israel-Soviet espionage pipeline when data stolen by Jonathan Jay Pollard, a U.S. Navy analyst convicted of spying for Israel “was traced to the Eastern bloc.”

“Intelligence sources said that the data came to the Soviet Union via the old rat lines, and included advanced weapons technology strategic plans for Turkey and moderate Arab countries. Israel also gave to the Russians sensitive communications gear stolen by Pollard ‘that proved to be extremely compromising,’ one said.

“Another major blow to U.S. security was Pollard’s gift to the Soviets was that of the firing locations, sequences and coordinates of the U.S. war plan against the Russians. Another was giving the Soviets information about the techniques used by the U.S. Navy to track Soviet subs around the world.

 

White House Signals Indefinite Pause in Mideast Talks

"The White House signaled an indefinite pause in Middle East peace talks Friday, and President Barack Obama is reconsidering how much political capital he will continue to spend on the issue, given that the U.S. faces "a range of challenges" elsewhere, spokesman Josh Earnest said. Mr. Obama will discuss next steps in the process when Secretary of State John Kerry returns to Washington from a trip abroad during which he was forced to cancel a stop in the Middle East. "There's no doubt that we have reached a point where the Palestinian leaders and the Israeli leaders need to spend some time thinking about making some very difficult decisions," Mr. Earnest said."  WSJ

----------------------

It has been obvious from the beginning of his effort in brokering peace in the Holy Land, that Kerry would fail.  He likes to deliver hortatory pep talks to his staff encouraging them to ignore the lack of potential in the course he has followed in the "process."  Now, he will reap a whirlwind of scorn for his naivete. 

He could not reach a compromise between the two paties because neither wants a compromise.  In spite of their prevarication and deceptiveness both sides see the Palestine/Israel dispute as a zero sum game in which there can be no win-win outcome.

One can only hope that Obama now sees the foolishness in allowing advocates for the "process" and the two sides to determine his policy.  pl  

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303532704579480992215443548?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303532704579480992215443548.html

Anecdotal stories of female soldiers

pl

Anecdotal stories of male soldiers

pl

Army Truck Driver goes mad at Ft. Hood

"Spec. Ivan Lopez, 34, was a military truck driver who served four months in Iraq in 2011. He had arrived at the post in February from another military base in Texas. He was married and had family living in the Fort Hood area, Milley said. The man was living in a rundown apartment complex in northwest Killeen where neighbors said he and his wife kept to themselves. “He was the kind of person that even if you tried to talk to him wouldn’t open up,” Jessie Brown, a neighbor who often passed him on morning walks, told the Post. About 4 p.m. Wednesday, the soldier assigned to the 13th Sustainment Command fired shots inside a building housing the 1st Medical Brigade and in a facility belonging to the 49th Transportation Battalion. He was soon confronted by a female military police officer who has not yet been identified, Milley said. Milley said the man put his hands up but then pulled out a gun from under his jacket. He shot himself in the head with a .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol that was purchased recently but not authorized on base."  Washpost

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Soldiers are grouped by Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) into three broad categories:

 - Combat Arms (Infantry, Armor, Artillery, Aviation, Special Forces and Combat Engineers (these people are the fighters)

- Combat Support Arms (Other Engineers, MI, Military Police Corps, Signal Corps, non combat aviation)(These people are those who directly support the fighting and in many instances are involved in some fighting themselves)

 - Combat Service Support (Acquisition Corps, Chaplains Corps, Finance Corps, Judge Advocate Generals Corps, Medical Corps, Ordnance Corps, Quartermaster Corps and Transportation Corps)  (These people may be involved in fighting but in the normal course of events are not)

Former major Nidal Hassan and Specialist Ivan Lopez both were in the Combat Service Support category.  All soldiers are inherently fighters with the exception of medical personnel and chaplains, but most do not have the direct function of fighting. If they fight, this usually occurs as self defense.

This man was 34 years old.  His rank was Specialist (E-4).  This is a low rank in the enlisted force of the US Army.  How long had he served?  Nine years in the Puerto Rico National Guard and then in recent years in the Regular Army.  He certainly was not prospering in the Army.   His MOS made him not a non-combatant but certainly not someone whose basic business was fighting.

He served in Iraq for four months as a truck driver in a Transportation Corps unit.  This was in 2011.  The withdrawal was in full progress and there was then something approaching a cease fire observed by various enemies of the US.  It was clear that their intention was to allow US forces to withdraw.  There is no indication that he ever heard "a shot fired in anger." He drove trucks, big trucks hauling equipment to Kuwait.   The degree of stress involved in this has been much exagerated in the present atmosphere.  There is little in such duty that would drive a man mad.  There is no indication that he was wounded or seriously injured in Iraq.

 Lopez had a wife and a child.  His pay and allowances would not have been enough for them to live comfortably.  They were probably eligible for food stamps and are reported to have lived in a shabby apartment complex off post in Killeen, Texas just outside the post gate.  IMO it is a fair question whether or not a soldier of so low a grade should be allowed to be married with family.  The money is just not there.  It used to be the rule that soldiers of that rank were required to have the permission of their commanding officer to marry.  Perhaps that was a good idea.  The stresses set up by poverty are great. 

Lopez bought his weapon in a civilian gun store in Killeen.  He had not yet been officially diagnosed as mentally ill although the process was underway and he was medicated for depression and anxiety.  A conclusion had not been reached with regard to PTSD and presumably for that reason no input had been made into the national firearms background check  system that presumably would have kept Lopez from buying his pistol.

It should be remembered that the US Army cannot be in the business of generating veterans' disability benefits for anyone who wants them unless it is established objectively that these benefits are deserved.  The troops have learned that a diagnosis of PTSD or TBI brings with it a substantial benefit from the VA in the form of lifetime: treatment at no expense, tax benefits and disability payments.  These are particularly helpful for people who separate from the military before serving long enough to achieve retired status.

There will, of course be, an outcry from the anti-gun people.  pl 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/04/03/fort-hood-shooting-live-updates/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ft_Hood

 

PM vows to raise Pollard case during Obama visit - JPost

(Republished from March, 2013)

“The time has long since come for Jonathan to go free,” Netanyahu said at the outset of the meeting. “This issue will come up during President Obama’s visit. It has already been raised countless times by myself and others, and the time has come for him to go free,” he said. Esther Pollard echoed Netanyahu’s words, saying “Jonathan can’t anymore. This is a golden opportunity now that the president of the United States is coming. If not now, when?” Pollard’s wife was joined in her meeting with Netanyahu by Lawrence Korb, who was US deputy secretary of defense during the Reagan administration in 1985 when Pollard was arrested, and is currently a senior fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress think tank, which is considered close to the Obama administration. Also attending was Effie Lahav, who heads the Committee to Free Jonathan Pollard."  JPost

---------------------------

OK.  How about this deal?

1-  The US frees Pollard and in the announcement reiterates the simple fact that he is a traitor to the United States who spied for Israel.

2 -At the same time Israel publicly admits that it betrayed its friendship with the United States in the Pollard affair.

3- POTUS orders the Secretary of the Navy to convene a full scale investigation with regard to the attack on the USS Liberty by the IDF in 1967.  The previous naval investigation of the incident conducted by Admiral Kidd in 1967 was a farce and completely inadequate.  Jim Webb should be asked to conduct the investigation.  pl 

http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/what-about-the-defamation-of-pollard/2013/03/18/?src=ataglance

http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=305271