Open Thread - 19 June 2015

pl

Comments

[optimax]

The punk racist that killed nine Blacks wanted to start a race war and may have accomplished what Charlie Manson failed to do. There will be small under-reported crimes of retribution against Whites. The liberals are already portraying the killer as a symbol of institutionalized white supremacy and all American Blacks need to live in fear of the same fate happening to them as the victims in Emanuele. This is the real America they are reporting on, the mediots say. Why they stir up this shit I don't know. It's the same thinking that got us into Iraq.

John Stuart blames the South and wants to purify our country of all vestiges of the Confederacy.

[William R. Cumming]

If US Presidential candidates win on TRUST [perhaps trust they will actually implement their promises?] in my view almost all of current and about to be candidates will have to increase their efforts on the TRUST FACTOR to have a chance.

[William R. Cumming]

Is the PERSONAL WEALTH of the Presidential candidates likely to help or hurt their candidancy?

[euclidcreek]

Musician and friend of Sic Semper Tyrannis, Bill "Mr. Stress" Miller, passed away at home in Cleveland Heights, Ohio on May 18, 2015. A blues harp master and bandleader, Bill performed in the Northern Ohio area for nearly fifty years. A student of military history he thought highly of Col. Lang and the Committee of Correspondence. An old school FDR style Democrat, he admired Gen. Marshall, Gen. Smedley Butler, Gen Ridgway, and Gen. Stillwell. Among his favorite writers were Bernard Fall, Shelby Foote, Dashiell Hammett and Loren Estleman. A well attended memorial was held at The Euclid Tavern in Cleveland on June 2; New Orleans style band Dat's Holy Waters Brass Band performed Just A Closer Walk With Thee.

[Cee]

I woke up to see this

The reluctance to label domestic shootings of this kind as terrorism, he went on, led to what he called a “disparity of response between when we think people that are foreign are going to kill us and us killing ourselves”.

“If this had been what we thought was Islamic terrorism … we invaded two countries and spent trillions of dollars and thousands of American lives, and now fly unmanned death machines over, like, five or six different countries …

“Nine people. Shot in a church. What about that? Eh. What are you gonna do? Crazy is as crazy is, right?”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/19/daily-shows-jon-stewart-on-charleston-shooting-this-was-a-terrorist-attack

[Ursa Maior]

Well we got a worsening refugee satus here in Middle-Central Europe. Our PM want to have a fence to block the route, and he got some serious bashing from Brussels for it. While no serious person should question the viability of a european union, yet the way the neoliberal led EU works is no way normal.

The eurocrats are insulted when they are compared to soviet Moscow, but they are for a reason. Today I had the possibility to ask USG officials what do they think why we support certain russian initiatives if we fought them 5 times in the last 150 yrs. One of the was smart enough to answer: They are the lesser evil.

Another news is that EU has frozen Russia Times assets. So much of liberty of speech.

The world has really gone mad.

[confusedponderer]

I don't get a lot of the 'controversy' about the Stryker that raged over the past years in the US, that the vehicle is underarmoured, un-tracked and underarmed.

The Stryker did, to the best of my understanding, not replace Bradleys or Abrahams tanks, but M-113 and Humvees. That means: Had the US Army kept using those, losses would have been considerably greater as with the Stryker.

As for RPG vulnerability, no pre-existing wheeled combat vehicle ever had been safe against RPG-7, even Bradley and Abrahams had to be uparmoured, and the same goes for IED, insofar, these acusations against the Stryker are also a litle disingenuous.

I can understand, however, why the Army would like to get a bigger turret for the Stryker.

Weapons as-is are probably fine for Iraq and Afghanistan. That said, I watched videos of the French army doing counter-sniping in Afghanistan with 20mm guns from their VAB. That should be effective. A Stryker couldn't do that.

Anyway, it is more likely the prospect to go bear brawling with the Stryker that is sobering to the army, considering that on the East European battlefield about every APC or IFV routinely has a 30mm guns. In a sense, it appears to mme as if on the Strykers are being forced to become light IFV, because the Eastern European battlefield is such a lethal and intense place to fight.

[Dave Speck]

Euclid Creek - Where are you located? I live in Euclid as well.

[Johnny Reims]

Col. Lang et al.

I am very sorry that General Dempsey has gone the way of the The Borg, at least by latest appearances.

Looks like right now the Borg won. Maybe historians will call it “The Borg Putsch”.

General Dempsey possibly selling out, admittedly, brings on sense of sadness in a week of heartbreak over the Charleston SC tragedy.

In times like this, you have to look for what gives one hope – true hope, the kind that overcomes grief. It’s out there – it really is – but it is unlikely the Borg will want anyone to see it.

[ex-PFC Chuck]

Per Ursa Major: "While no serious person should question the viability of a european union, yet the way the neoliberal led EU works is no way normal."

There's at least one serious and articulate European who questions the viability of the Union, and asserts that just this week those neoliberal leaders you mention have crossed the red line on the path to disintegration from which it will be impossible to return. From Raul Ilargi Meijer at The Automatic Earth:
"The troika of Greek creditors has gone into full-frontal morals-be-damned attack mode, handpicking arms from a weapons arsenal we haven’t seen used before, and that we never should have seen in an environment that insists – and prides – on presenting itself as a union, both in name and in spirit. Now that they are being used, there no longer is such a union other than in name, in empty words.
. . .
"When spokespeople at the troika side of the table stated on Thursday that they don’t know if Greek banks will be open on Monday, they crossed a line that should never even have been contemplated. This is so far beyond the pale, it should by all accounts, if everyone involved manages to keep a somewhat clear head, blow up the union once and for all. If a party to a negotiation that can’t get its way stoops to these kinds of tactics, there is very little room left for talk."
http://www.theautomaticearth.com/2015/06/inciting-bank-runs-as-a-negotiating-tactic/

[Tyler]

Optimax,

Crimes against whites by blacks are already underreported.

[JerseyJeffersonian]

Ursa Maior and all,

Yes, that self-aggrandizing bunch of unelected technocrats called the EU is progressively revealing their true nature. They collaborate with the US and our so-called allies like the Gulfies in ill-advised adventures and unleash a flood of refugees, and then they cry foul on nations such as Hungary when they legitimately question why the burden should fall upon them to clean up the mess caused by the idiotic actions of the Western elites and their malicious pals.

Claim back your national sovereignty while you still can. Over here, our elites and their lapdogs in the political class are giving away our national sovereignty with both hands (think "Trade" Promotion Authority), regardless of the effects that this will have on the lives of the citizens (cum peons/serfs/muppets) of the US.

Further background on the Yukos-linked asset seizures (or should we say elite-guided financial violence):

http://tass.ru/en/russia/801991

You know, I'd kinda like it if "our own" (no longer too sure about that, hence the scare quotes) US government would go after tax-evading US corporations, but with people like Holder or Lynch helming the Justice (heh) Department, good luck with that.

http://rt.com/op-edge/268141-belgium-france-russian-assets-yukos/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

A short analysis of the timing and significance of the asset seizures from Alex Mercouris.

(I have this creeping bad feeling about the prospects for the Exxon/Mobil stock that my wife and I have just inherited from my father upon his passing given the major oilfield development projects in which that corporation is jointly involved with Russian counterparts. And all of this to advance the interests of a corporate criminal, Khodorkovsky, and his partners in crime? Thanks loads, Obama. Thanks heaps, EU poodles.)

This raises the larger issue of the unilateral dumbing down of US diplomacy, and its functional displacement by the one-size-fits-all policy of military/financial/cultural violence resorted to as the first, and indeed, only policy option. A recent address by Ambassador Charles Freeman on this point:

http://chasfreeman.net/too-quick-on-the-draw-militarism-and-the-malpractice-of-diplomacy-in-america/

Thank you NeoCons, R2Pers, and MIC for your unhelpful contributions to the advancement of US interests!

And meanwhile, back at the ranch, the Essential Nation is in danger of being squeezed out of the action:

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176007/tomgram%3A_alfred_mccoy%2C_washington%27s_great_game_and_why_it%27s_failing_/#more

I don't take everything that McCoy advances in his analysis as Gospel, but hey, at least the Chinese appear to have a plan. Our Misleaders? Well, judge for yourselves.

And to that point, in recognition that it is Friday, and time for a wee bit of fun, here are the assembled leaders of the Western world singing "We Are the World" (and in their addled brains they probably believe to all intents and purposes that this is true) at the conclusion of a NATO summit:

http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2015/05/be-afraid-be-very-afraid.html

What more need I say?

To all, good day, and good luck.

JJ

[Tyler]

Cee,

Man bites dog versus a continued pattern of aggression by an ideology that has continued to lash us since the days of Barbary.

If Mr. Leibowitz is wringing his hands about firearms, let him start by disarming his security detail.

[Tyler]

Ursa,

Yeah, when Moscow became the defender of Western Civ against the decadent secular hedonism that is the state religion of the West, I wondered what world I was living in.

Good for Hungary for defending their borders. Look at the poor dears handwring because people start might thinking they're a country instead of a bazaar with a flag, open to the highest bidder.

[Tyler]

CP,

I am thankful for the Stryker. I had some gnarly calls in it while I was deployed to Iraq and each time managed to make it out with a concussion and some bruises.

Compare this to the LAV the marines were fielding, where it wouldn't stop 7.62 from an RPK and you'd hear stories about them hosing out the squad from inside the thing.

Problem was, as far as I could tell, the Stryker was pitched as the end all be all to the Army's needs. Fight tanks? CHECK! Urban ops? CHECK! Indirect support? CHECK! However it turned out to be a really good light infantry vehicle in the end.

Compare this with how the F-35 was marketed, and you'll see similarities. You've got what is likely an excellent air to air superiority fighter trying to be all things to all people. Not going to happen.

[Babak Makkinejad]

Ironic: "when Moscow became the defender of Western Civ..." as Russia is not a Western country or part of Western Civ.

[William R. Cumming]

My condolences to family and friends. Sounds like he had a full life!

[Patrick Bahzad]

We already did effective counter sniping with VAB mounted 20 mm guns in Bosnia in 1993-1995.

Regarding Stryker, I would never consider it fit as IFV in Middle/Eastern European ToO or in engagement against heavily armour. RPG resistance (or lack there of) is one thing, but you got to be having real faith in the user's manual if you believe it's gonna stop 14.5 rounds coming at you from every angle ! Overall, it's too light (17-19 tons), ie lacking armour, for armoured combat as IFV.

The French equivalent to Stryker weighs in at 29 tons and its upgrade version will have 40 mm gun (instead of 25 currently) as well as double ATM-launchers. That is more of an all round vehicle APC/IFV.

And I'm not even talking about Israeli Namer APC at 60 tons !

[Valissa]

DIA Director Calls ISIS War ‘Quagmire,’ But Removed Term From Congress Testimony http://news.antiwar.com/2015/06/18/dia-director-calls-isis-war-quagmire-but-removed-term-from-congress-testimony/
DIA Director Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart reportedly used the word “quagmire” repeatedly in discussing the ISIS war, particularly as it relates to Iraq, and had included the term in his planned testimony to Congress, before other Pentagon aides convinced him he had to remove the term for being “too political.”

[Fred]

Cee,

Right on! can't wait for ole Ron Emauael to put an end to those Chicago terrorists who keep shooting black men and women. You know, the ones we never read about in the Guardian, because those dead men are Not the Black Lives that Matter.

[Valissa]

The latest Bacevich piece on Iraq...

Washington in Wonderland: Down the Iraqi Rabbit Hole (Again) http://aep.typepad.com/american_empire_project/2015/06/washington-in-wonderland.html

[Tyler]

Babak,

I know, right?!

[Abu Sinan]

The talks between the parties concerning Yemen are over and the only significant thing that happened is someone threw a sandal at the Representative of the Houthis and a general melee broke out.

[Ursa Maior]

What are they then? No, Sir. Shameful as it is our only hope of the judeo-christian civ lays with the russians.

[Ursa Maior]

Thank you sir! We are on our way to keep our freedom, and we have never shunned from a good fight to defend it.