This and that on - 10 June 2014

Afghan loss of income - Yes the poor Afghans are terrified that their completely artificial and unsustainable level of US aid induced prosperity and development will be lost.  And, then there is the grotesquely over-developed size and equipage of the Afghan armed forces.  The expense of keeping them up greatly exceeds the GDP of the country.  Since we do not seem to want these forces as imperial mercenaries, their future existence is unlikely.  pl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/afghans-worry-as-us-spending-boom-comes-to-an-end/2014/06/08/ec9645a0-e995-11e3-9f5c-9075d5508f0a_story.html?wprss=rss_world

Mosul - Yes, the Sunni rebels have seized control of Mosul.  This sounds like the crack of doom for Maliki.  The country is going to break up.  pl

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27778112

Liigation coming - Sterling has cancelled the sale.  Good.  This should be entertaining.  pl

http://www.today.com/news/donald-sterling-attorney-nba-band-hypocrites-out-sell-clippers-2D79782083

Likud propaganda - David Albright moved several years ago toward the Likud/USG position on Iranian nuclear weapons intentions.  Somebody ought to take a serious look at the funding of his foundation.  pl

http://truth-out.org/news/item/24169-leading-alarmist-on-iran-ignored-what-he-knew-was-true

The B-1 strike - People die from friendly fire.  They always have and always will.  I was always very concerned about being bombed by friendlies whose help I had requested.  The electronic gadgetry now in use does not really alleviate that.  Widgets malfunction and tiny errors result in things like this.  pl

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/06/10/nato-troops-killed-afghanistan/10269175/

Oligarchic poverty - Alas, poor Hillary.  Sidwell friends and Stanford were a stretch for the Clintons.  They had been living in free government housing in Arkansas and Washington for a long time.  These residences came with free food, utilities, transportation, servants, guards, communications, etc.  The pay was negligeable.  Look it up.  when Hillary's crie de coeur was voiced on Morning Joe, Mika B spoke up to speak movingly of her family's poverty when her father was National Security Adviser to Carter.  Yes, it must have been hard to work her way through Williams College.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jun/9/hillary-clinton-dead-broke-poverty-drove-bill-and-/

 

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Comments

[Fred]

How quickly #BringBackOurGirls fades from the memory of the press.

I feel Hillary's pain. I once had free food, housing, utilities, guards, etc.; at least for two tours of duty. Maybe Mika B should have enlisted and saved to pay for college all by herself?

[The beaver]

"Oligarchic poverty - Alas, poor Hillary. Sidwell friends and Stanford were a stretch for the Clintons."

Col.

You forgot Oxford for 2 yrs :2001-2003

[mike]

B-1s???? Since when do strategic bombers do CAS?

Cancelled the sale? Bummer! I was looking forward to Balmer moving them to Seattle.

[Old Gun Pilot]

My thoughts exactly! what in the Hell is a B-1 doing CAS. Yes, friendly fire accidents occur as Lee discovered when Jackson shot at Chancellorsville but some things shouldn't have to be relearned. Losing General McNair as well as the many lower ranks at Normandy when the strategic bombers dropped their bombs short should have taught us a lesson: leave CAS to the folks who know what they are doing.
The risk of hitting friendlies will always exist even with the most experienced pilots but, with over 30 plus years in the CAS business I can say with some degree of authority, the only way to effectively deliver CAS is with "eyes on".
I suspect that the reason the B-1 was tasked is because someone wanted to get his Air Medal.

[Fred]

The beaver,

yes, they certainly couldn't send thier daughter to my former school, she might meet the children of the hoi poloi.
http://www.fcps.edu/WoodlawnES/

[kao_hsien_chih]

Well, Mika's family did lose their big castle with all those Ukrainian peasants in Galicia after World War 2... I suppose that might seem like poverty to them....

[jonst]

How will the Kurds (and Turks) react to what is happening Mosul Col? Anyone? How will they both react if it appears the Iraqi govt will not be able to do anything meaningful to reverse what happened yesterday?

This seems like the start of something new and deadly. New phase, that is.

[Medicine Man]

And yet the US air force is trying their damnedest to phase out their only dedicated CAS air wing.

[Seamus Padraig]

"Yes, the Sunni rebels have seized control of Mosul."

Pat, what do you know about ISIL? Are they truly independent? Or are they a stalking horse for the Saudis? Or somebody else?

[DC]

I had forgotten how tiresome the Clintons are. There simply must be a way to funnel Jim Webb a gigantic amount of campaign money -- he would only have to capitulate to the moneyed interests a little in order to do so; and he would still possess miles more honor and integrity than the Clintons ever will.

[FND]

Also, for really close fire support, while there is still danger of friendly fire accidents, lower and slower helicopter gunships are safer.

[Tyler]

But we need to retire the A10 because its not effective.

[Tyler]

Alas Mosul. It was obvious when I was there that it was only a matter time that things were going to fall apart (Memory:rolling between dueling mobs of Kurd soldiers and Sunni police during votingseason so they'd stop shooting at each other ).

[VietnamVet]

Colonel,

Today is one of those days when the chickens come home to roost. Iraq is now partitioned. The 2003 invasion was all for nothing.

This is the natural outcome of the profound changes to America this century. The neo-liberal globalists’ rule with neo-conservative aid have proliferated the wars for resources across the world. Democracy is dead. News is propaganda.

By pushing religious and ethnic hatred Israel will never see peace and conflict now circles it. After 13 years of forever war decimated the volunteer army, America hired mercenaries, Jihadists in Syria and Neo-nazis in Ukraine, to continue the fighting and the blow back has commenced. The Syrian and Iraqi Jihadists have birthed a new Sunni Caliphate in Mosul. Nazis continue their rampage through Ukraine. Russia will have to invade to stop the butchering of fellow Russians and a shooting war with NATO will start which will end in WWIII.

[JohnH]

Hilary's poverty should really resonate with voters (irony alert.) $375/yr (Bill's retirement $200K plus Hilary's salary $175K as senator) and Hilary is flat broke! Hardly enough to pay to pay the mortgage on their $1.7 million home in Chappaquaa, which would have amounted to $120K!

It's obvious that the Clintons, after years of hobnobbing with banksters, are totally out of touch with reality. They should turn to Pope Francis for a little counseling.

This should sink Hilary's presidential aspirations. Someone will undoubtedly play the clip over and over, with the tearful ending: "Vote for Hilary. She and Bill only made a few hundred thousand per year. They understand what it's like to be poor."

[oofda]

Purportedly because no other assests were available. Have heard of other reports of B-1 bombers doing CAS.

[turcopolier]

All

Like Vietnamvet I do not think that Maliki's government will be able to retake Mosul and the parts of Nineweh and Kirkuk provinces that have been lost to ISIS. ISIS is not an cats paw for SA. They are dangerous to the family run cleptocracy of that name. IMO ISIS and the Nusra Front will continue to fight each other while ISIS seeks to consolidate a Wahhabi emirate in eastern Syria and west/central Iraq north of Baghdad. the tuks will do nothing. Erdogan would face a lot of opposition if he chose to intervene in northern Iraq. the Kurds will fortify their border and seek both Turkish and Iranian support. pl

[JerseyJeffersonian]

Well, it must be a conflicted situation for Zbigniew, what with the neo-Bandarites running the show in Kiev considering all of the Poles that their grandfathers slaughtered back in the day. Zbig gets to hate on the Russians, but at the cost of seeing Stepan Bandara rehabilitated. Ironic, it seems.

Say, not to be too snarky (heh), but maybe Robert Kagan and Vicky Nuland are of Khazar descent, and stirring the pot in Ukraine is a backhanded way of exacting some revenge for the passing of the glory days of the Khazar Empire, the folks who used to run rampant over the Rus, rounding up slaves to sell on to the Turks. Maybe if they work some contacts, they can make some bank on the forthcoming white slave trade in Ukraine when the IMF and EU austerity programs get ramped up...

People who help instigate and sustain major humanitarian and geopolitical disasters get no slack from me. I don't recall Jesus saying that warmongers and racists are blessed.

That Hillary countenanced Vicky Nuland and Anne-Marie Slaughter? Tells me all that I need to know about her. Oh, and this, too:

http://www.voltairenet.org/article182303.html

(Small world, huh? Tony Bliar, Kindasleezy Rice, Mario Monti, José Manuel Barroso, and the whole gang in one bi-partisan, multinational, NeoLiberal, NeoConservative gang bang.)

http://www.voltairenet.org/article184082.html

Geez, don't know how to thank you, Hillary.

[Mike C]

OGP-

The "Bones" have been doing CAS for some time. They've mounted the Sniper pod in combat since August of 2008 according to wiki. Since they're prohibited from carrying nukes by treaty and can be stuffed full of small smart munitions, this is thought to be a good use for the plane. This also reflects USAF thinking about CAS, namely anything that carries smart weapons and a targeting pod is capable of the job, so they don't need any specialized aircraft anymore. They can eat their multi-role cake and have it too, or so they hope.

[Charlie Wilson]

Colonel

Don't know if this is life imitating art or vice versa but this guy's name (Police Chief Gen. Ghulam Sakhi Rooghlawanay) from the friendly fire incident you linked to translates (from Pashto) to 'healed/real lunatic'.

Time to pay up and get out, I say. I need some of that money to pay for my new Beamer.

Sir Charles.

[Tpcelt]

Well, to be fair, the examples of income you cite occur after the B. Clinton presidency. As I understand it, H. Clinton referred to their finances when they left the presidency, a time when papers at the time (as I recall) stated that they were deeply in debt because of legal representation during the Whitewater, Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky, and impeachment situations. Press reports at the time of their leaving the White House noted, again as I recall, that McAuliffe assisted them in the purchase of their NY post-president home. (Who knows what scholarships may have been awarded?)

So, like 'em or not, they may well have been in a tough financial situation when they left the White House (albeit with excellent prospects ahead for earning $$.)

[The beaver]

OT and Breaking News

Looks like Eric Cantor has lost his GOP Primary race.

Guess more time to work on behalf of Israel and Bibi

[Medicine Man]

Col.: Do you have any thoughts on Eric Cantor's loss to David Brat?

[FB Ali]

There is a good piece by Patrick Cockburn on ISIS and their latest depredations at:

http://tinyurl.com/k8nv8tr

As Col Lang has said, ISIS is well on its way to establishing a Wahhabi emirate in the adjoining areas of Syria and Iraq. With every success it achieves it attracts more jihadis to join it, often from competing/warring outfits. It may well defeat the other jihadis in Syria currently trying to fight it; then only Assad and his forces will stand between ISIS and its conquest of Syria.

And the US continues to try and weaken Assad. Sometimes one wonders if there's a problem in Washington's water supply - has it been spiked?

[Tyler]

For the VN Vets here:

Did you feel this way when you saw the scene at the embassy in Saigon?