Sic Semper Tyrannis

News Roundup 2 July 2015

So much news, so little time to work on this.  I confess to having been distracted most of the day by telephone and internet time trying, finally successfully I think, to resolve a minor issue with the VA over allotment payments for my VGLI premiums.  I got older and the premiums went up and I needed to make a small change.  The only efficient US government people on the phone are the Social Security folks.  I cannot say enough good about them.

US Military Strategy - Maybe Dempsey is trying to soft-pedal this but the references to Russia as an adversary are disturbing.  How far forward are we going to lean against Russia in the context of new hand-picked senior people in the JCS who have probably been asked by the WH and Carter if they will accept the R2P view of the world?  That is obviously Obama's view as well.  If it were not, Obama would have gotten rid of the Harpies (male and female) by now.  For god's sake, people look at how the first World War started.

Cordesman - He seems to want us to move from military alliances to civil-military alliances in which the US would "coordinate" everyone's actions.  If this is the case, then Cordesman and his crew have become imperialists in the true sense of the word. 

Boko Haram -  The Borg has been pushing the line that the Nigerian army under new management has been eliminating the scourge.  This most recent attack would indicate that BK has re-positioned itself and is still a big problem as are newly minted IS franchises in Afghanistan, and the Caucasus.  This problem is growing, not shrinking.  IMO it will be necessary to defeat the Caliphate on its home ground in Syria and Iraq, defeat it militarily and discredit it in the minds of Muslims or possible future Muslims who dream of a much greater 'Umma.

Syria SW Front - ISW reports with some detail on the "progress" the rebels are making with Israeli, Jordanian and US support.  ISW seems to want to see this coalition of the unicorn/Nusra forces take Damascus or so weaken the Syrian government that it will fall as part of the general onslaught of Islamist forces from other quarters.  ISW seems to think that would be a good thing.  Why that would be escapes me.  (irony)

Shark Alert -  North Carolina is studying the shark menace.  There have been several attacks on their coast that are reminiscent of the "Jaws" films.   My suggestion for dealing with this threat to our civil right to wade in the water would be to stay out of the water.

pl 

http://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/Publications/2015_National_Military_Strategy.pdf

http://csis.org/publication/21st-century-conflict-revolution-military-affairs-rma-revolution-civil-military-affairs-

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/boko-haram-guns-97-people-praying-mosques-nigeria-32187375

http://iswsyria.blogspot.com/2015/07/rebels-launch-new-offensive-in-southern.html?utm_source=Rebels+Launch+New+Offensive+in+Southern+Syria&utm_campaign=Rebels+Launch+New+Offensive+in+Southern+Syria&utm_medium=email

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/02/north-carolina-shark-attack-patterns-governor 

Poor Stupid Americans - CNN Is Disappointed

(Irony)  To: the Borg - Better luck next time.  Just work harder, especially you Jon Stewart!  pl 

http://www.waff.com/story/29459881/cnn-polls-shows-majority-of-people-see-confederate-flag-as-southern-pride-symbol

 

"1913 - Seeds of Conflict" NEH

"Government documents, newspaper accounts, and personal letters in five languages from the Turkish state archives provide new and fascinating insights into dramatic events that took place in Palestine just before the outbreak of World War I.

1913 Palestine is a multi-lingual, multi-cultural society. Muslims, Jews and Christians coexist in relative harmony and often gather together in the coffeehouses of Jerusalem. It is a time before Jerusalem’s Old City is segregated into separate ‘quarters’ for various groups. But after European Jewish migrants arrive, Ruhi al-Khalidi, Jerusalem’s representative to the Ottoman Parliament in

Istanbul, voices growing concerns about what he sees as their secret agenda to build a state. So does Albert Antebi, an Arab-speaking Sephardic Jew known as the Jewish “pasha,” who embraces economic and cultural Zionism, but fears the consequences of a Zionist land grab.

Meanwhile, Arthur Ruppin arrives from Germany to be the Zionist’s land agent and Khalil Sakakini returns from a trip to America filled with pride and optimism of a new Palestinian Arab identity. In 1913, growing tensions erupt into violence in the vineyard just outside Rehovot, leaving an Arab and Jew dead, and sowing the seeds for a century of conflict."  NEH

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I watched this last night and recommend it.  It makes a nice companion piece for the book "A Peace To End All Peace" by David Fromkin.  pl  

http://1913seedsofconflict.com/

Canada Day

"Canada Day (French: Fête du Canada) is the national day of Canada, a federal statutory holiday celebrating the anniversary of the July 1, 1867, enactment of the British North America Act, 1867 (today called the Constitution Act, 1867), which united three colonies into a single country called Canada within the British Empire.^[1][2][3] Originally called Dominion Day (French: Le Jour de la Confédération), the holiday was renamed in 1982, the year the Canada Act was enacted, resulting in the patriation of the Constitution of Canada. Canada Day observances take place throughout Canada, as well as among Canadians internationally."  wiki

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 We wish you a grand celebratory day north of the border.  Has the snow all melted yet?  pl  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Day

US sanctions on Cuba interfere with my drinking!? (by CP)

Every summer the rise of temperatures rings in Cocktail season, and I stock up on suitable quality spirits for my bar. I have a preferred online vendor, which has a good selection and good prices, for some of my spirits.

♦ An unexpected obstacle

Alas, this year I experienced an unexpected obstacle: My Germany based vendor's Pay Pal didn't work, because of a bug, and when I asked what was up. I was told, in several calls, a story that I initially got totally wrong. What had happened was this:

In 2011 or so my vendor, and many other German online traders, received an E-Mail, in English, that demanded they drop all their Cuban products, or else lose their PayPal services. It was outright blackmail. Those who didn't, had their Payl Pal accounts frozen. What triggered this was apparently US government pressure on Pay Pal to enforce Helms Burton in Germany, on Germans.

As it went, my vendor then obtained an injunction and Pay Pal settled out of court, agreeing that Pay Pal lifts the freeze of the vendor's account while the vendor sells products from Cuba by other ways (bypassing US entities).

Normally, about US sanctions on Cuba I couldn't care less about. If you fools choose to deprive yourself of quality Cuban rum and cigars, just because you can't get over the Bay of Pigs, or the continued existence of Communism in your neighbourhood - it's your loss, not mine, and if you insist on silly ideas like having Helms-Burton, your hassle, not mine. Or so I thought, and with some reason.