Obama's "impenetrable narrative," and the Paris presser.

Our colleague David Habakkuk remarked here that LTG Flynn and the DIA encountered in Obama's Borgist administration an "impenetrable narrative."  This narrative and the smug self-assurance behind the narrative were on display at Obama's pre-departure press conference at Paris on 1 December, 2015.

Things he said and what he looked like:

Syria.  Paraphrasing - "I have been convinced for the LAST FIVE YEARS that Assad must go, must be removed from office."  Well, pilgrims, five years ago was BEFORE the Syrian Civil War.  Did he simply misspeak?  Did he mean four years?  Or, was this a Freudian slip in which he really admitted that he had decided to get rid of Assad BEFORE the civil war began?  If he really did mean five years then the accusation that the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel promoted the revolt in the context of "The Arab Spring" gains weight in the debate over the origins of the civil war.

Jihadi groups in the Syrian National Congress (SNC).  Paraphrasing - "Some of these groups are not people we have much in common with and we know that the transition post-Assad will be 'messy' but these groups are important to some other countries in our coalition..."  Can there be any doubt that he was referring to Sultan Tayyip's Turkey, Wahhabi Saudi Arabia and Wahhabi Qatar?  Do he and his Borgist crew not understand that these Islamist forces seek a Syria in which their varied visions of a Sunni Islamic future are triumphant and in which religious minorities are reduced to dhimmitude.  Is this what the emperor of us all thinks is a desirable outcome in Syria?

Russia.  Paraphrasing - "They will 'come around' to our view about Syria and accept that what we want must be."  Once again, pilgrims, I see nothing in anything the Russians are doing that indicates they are going to "come around."

The War.  Paraphrasing - "Nothing the Russians have done since they began their operations in Syria has changed the situation.  They will eventually understand that a military solution in Syria is not possible."  SWMBO listened to that and remarked that this man knows nothing of war.  I agree.

 US Politics. Paraphrasing - "I rely on the wisdom of the American people to insure the election of a Democrat as my successor."  Remarkable.  In 75 years I have not seen an American president inject party into discourse on foreign soil and at an international meeting.  Remarkable.

Turkey. Paraphrasing.  "I am assured that Turkey will seal its border against movement of IS oil, people and supplies."  Sultan Tayyip must believe that he has already died and gone to heaven.

His attitude.  His imperial majesty displayed the now familiar petulant disdain for all who dared question him.  The atmosphere was the kind of thing one sees in meetings in which a teacher tries to contain his patronizing of students.  His reference to the UK as "the Brits" was painful to hear.  pl

Comments

[different clue]

DC,

Unfortunately we go to elections with the candidates we have, not the candidates we wish we had or would have preferred to have had at some later time.

[walrus]

Pathological narcism. I have a feeling that Obama intensely dislikes White male authority figures of any sort that do not kowtow to him. There is nothing "liberal" about his hatred, immorality and tendency to the use of force.

The American strategy pursued in Syria by the Obama Administration as admitted by President Obama, is vicious and immoral. It's exposed as "National chemotherapy" - poisoning the Syrian body in the hope that your desired target cells will die first and that there is something left alive afterwards to recover. That is the true meaning of "we know that the transition post-Assad will be 'messy' but these groups….". The full weight of the guilt for all civilian casualties is now sheeted home to the Obama Administration.

Furthermore elsewhere in the press it is reported that a new American Special Forces unit is to go to Iraq and that one of its missions is "unilateral operations in Syria". Based on Obamas disclosure, this is an ominous development. I fail to see how the details of "unilateral operations" are going to make it to a deconfliction centre and especially how such data can be shared with Turkey and Russia.

After this speech, I now believe Obama is stupid and vain enough to sanction anti Assad operations despite the risk.

If ANY of the operations of this or any other American force were discovered to be targeting the Assad regime, and not "ISIS leaders" as we are being led to believe, then the stage is set for a very nasty showdown with Russia.

Were I an ISIS leader, needless to say, I would relish the opportunity these special forces provide to set up a "blue on blue" situation.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-02/us-to-deploy-special-force-expand-fight-against-islamic-state/6992618

[turcopolier]

walrus

The new SOF men are probably mainly JSOC commandos. These guys have no talent for working with foreigners. They will try kill their way to mental health against IS leadership as they did in Iraq against AQI. At the same time the GB types will keep on working with the Kurds. pl

[Christopher Dale Rogers]

As a Brit myself, and someone who has involved himself on The Guardian boards in relation to the UK joining the bombing campaign in Syria, I can first tell you that both the largest two UK political groupings are split on the subject matter, further, the enemies of the new leader of the Labour Party within its Parliamentary ranks, and Prime minister Cameron are making political hay, not so much with Syria, but with a Labour Party led by an anti-establishment figure who opposes was, austerity and essentially being the USA's lapdog. Regrettably, this political charade will have serious consequences in the UK, which has a large muslim population and many a misbegotten and radicalised youth, so i'd expect more London bombings if the UK joins the Syria bombing party, and that's before the ludicrous claims of 70,000 'moderate' fighters pulled out of thin air.

Many in the Uk are opposed to the UK doing another Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya - all military disasters. Further, under the Conservative led administrations of Cameron our armed forces have been cut to the bone, to the extent they are not fit for purpose - so difficult for the UK to ever mount a boots on the ground campaign.

The sad fact is the UK media and much of the UK establishment are happy to kill innocent men, women and children in the Middle East, but will not take on or stop the actual perpetrators of these horrors, most of these nations being UK allies and important destinations for arms sales.

I'm also glad you referred to the UK's Guardian Newspaper, which once was a bastion of liberalism, truth and unbiased reporting on national and international matters. Alas it too has vanished as its owner seek mammon courtesy of the USA and Australia, which means it's now a trumpet for the very neoliberal and neoconservative forces detested on these Boards.

It really does come to something when an actual European left-winger like myself, someone who's happy to refer to himself as a Socialist, finds solace, comfort and honesty in an actual conservative Blog, which actually tells it as it is, rather than propagandises on behalf of a monied elite.

I trust I am welcome here, enjoy the dialogue greatly and like many lament the loss of principles once held dear, be they the US Constitution of UK Parliamentary democrat, both sullied by forces hell bent on destroying our world, with the majority of these forces being cowards, fools and out and out liars.

Ah well, at least we have the Colonel to keep us informed, which is the first duty of any citizen.

[SteveG]

He sounds like a more refined version
of the current crop of #BlackLivesMatter
antagonist bullhorn railers. All he hears
is the reverberation of his voice ricocheting
off the inner walls of his ineptitude.

[Audrey]

Hillary. Don't underestimate her.

[Bill Herschel]

The Borg needs Demons to control the American people.

Today, it has two Demons: ISIS and Putin. Seeing that the Borg "created" Saddam Hussein, it's easy to speculate on the extent to which they have created Putin and ISIS. But in the terms of President Nuland-Kagan's speech, that is unnecessary.

Why? Because one of the Demons has started fighting the other Demon and stands a very, very good chance of permanently crippling or destroying the other Demon. Putin has an extremely strong track-record against ISIS-like opponents.

That is absolutely no good for the Borg. One Demon fighting the other? A disaster wrapped in a catastrophe.

So you get President Nuland-Kagan's speech. Putin cannot possibly defeat ISIS: "Nothing the Russians have done since they began their operations in Syria has changed the situation. They will eventually understand that a military solution in Syria is not possible." The American public absolutely must believe that Russia is powerless against ISIS.

Does Putin know all this? Well, I think he knows where bears relieve themselves.

[optimax]

confusedponderer

I go with Obama being a child. He smoked massive amounts of weed when he was young, an age that inhibits the emotional growth of the smoker. Obama is emotionally retarded.

[turcopolier]

optimax

"Obama is emotionally retarded." I think you are right. I have known quite a few of these and so has walrus. pl

[The Beaver]

Colonel,

I may been reading too much in this email from former SoS Hilary Clinton private emails :

https://foia.state.gov/searchapp/DOCUMENTS/HRCEmail_August_Web/IPS-0064/DOC_0C05769839/C05769839.pdf

but a year afterwards, Pharaoh Mubarrack was gone and troubles started in Dara'a with 13 year old boys writing on the wall that "Assad should go"

[Babak Makkinejad]

You wrote:

"Today, it (Borg) has two Demons: ISIS and Putin."

I personally feel slighted; what happened to the Islamic Republic of Iran?

[Jack]

All

IMHO, as a layman, I believe what Obama signaled is that he intends to prevent Putin from achieving a battlefield victory over the jihadists. He's gonna connive with the Sultan and the Emirs and the Europeans much to the delight of Brennan and the harpies to make the Russian involvement in Syria very expensive in terms of blood and treasure. WW III be damned. No one can disobey the Imperator.

[rjj]

do you mean "First do no harm" ?

[rjj]

He isn't the f**king Imperator, he is the f**king plutocrats' Herald.

[rjj]

patience. getting sidelined in this round of "simplify, repeat, repeat, repeat" does not mean that IRI is a second string demon.

[J]

Colonel, TTG,

Downed SU24's Pilot LTC Oleg Peskov's widow was presented with her late husband's awarding of Hero of the Russian Federation by Russian Air Force Chief of Staff Colonel General Viktor Bondarev. The award ceremony was held at the Lipetsk aviation center airfield where LTC Peskov was stationed.

[no one]

Walrus, "Were I an ISIS leader, needless to say, I would relish the opportunity these special forces provide to set up a "blue on blue" situation."

Maybe Obama would relish a Russian bomb falling on the special forces when they are with some rebel group.

[Bill Herschel]

The Iranian Demon elected Ronald Reagan. No more will be asked of them. President Nuland-Kagan has made that clear.

[J]

Where Turkey will start feeling the pain for their downing of the Russian SU24, will include prohibited Turkish imports. Effective January 1, the ban of Turkish imports into the Russian Federation will include: all fruits and vegtables (big imports include grapes, tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers), chickens, salt.

Today all Russian charter flights to Turkey are now banned. Exception will be flights for Russian citizens returning to their homeland.

The Visa-free program with Turkey ends January 1, no more employment of Turkish nationals that have not already signed labor contracts.

Trade in services and investments are also now frozen.

[Chris Chuba]

Audrey, "Hillary. Don't underestimate her."

Hillary is 0/3
1. She voted for the Iraq war.
2. She was an ardent supporter for the killing of Ghadafi and now ISIS controls the center of that country.
3. She has been an ardent supporter for the overthrow of Assad in Syria.

[different clue]

Jack,

That is how I heard it too. Hopefully the R + 6 is keeping fully informed on all the details of Obama's pathotoxic narcissism as well as all machinations among the Axis of Jihad . . . and can begin to peel some EUropean governments away from it and towards a middle position between the Axis of Jihad and the R + 6's Coalition of Lawful Authority.

Hopefully Russia (and others) can "make the Turkish economy scream" so hard and so fast that Turkey becomes unable to save the Axis of Jihad before the R + 6 can exterminate it on the ground in Syria.

[Chris Chuba]

I don't mean to be a Pollyanna but buried in Obama's statements ... "With respect to Turkey ... theres about 98 kilometers that are still used as a transit point for foreign fighters, ISIL shipping out fuel for sale that helps finance their terrorist activities."

I believe that this is the first time I have heard this publicly acknowledged by anyone in the Administration. Just a few weeks ago, Kerry snarled that Assad was the primary buyer of ISIS oil just before the G20 summit and therefore a tacit ally of ISIS. Whether by accident or design, Obama's statement would legitimize Russian backed, SAA forces taking ISIS held territory to sever them from Turkey. If the Turks can't stop this flow of fighters and oil shipping (and even the dimmest bulb would infer arms trafficking) then the Syrian army must.

I mean how hard can it be to control a 60 mile border, that's ridiculous on its face.

[Chris Chuba]

Babak, since you mentioned that you are an Iranian I'd like to ask you a question. I have been told that 'Death to America' is a Farsi idiom that is more accurately translated 'Down with America'. Of course the neocons in the U.S. prefer the literal phrase to indicate that Iranians want to kill everyone in the U.S. I do not make that assumption.
I read in one place that this saying originated with someone in the Revolutionary Guard post 1979 but if it is a Farsi idiom chances are it predated that time by a lot.

Since you are a native speaker, I'd appreciate your commentary. Is it an idiom and approximately how old is it (recent or kind of old?).

For example, in the U.S. we might say, 'he gave it the whole nine yards' which means 'he gave it his best effort'. The origin of that idiom is from WW2 where the machine gun belt in a B17 was nine yards long (I could be wrong, idioms are like that).

[William Fitzgerald]

Pat Lang,

Do you see a possibility that our Jihadis in Syria will double cross these SOF troops and sell them down the river to less moderate Jihadis?

WPFIII

[William Fitzgerald]

Pat Lang,

I listened to the "presser" and came away with impression. I also heard him state that support for anti government forces would continue.

WPFIII