Open Thread - 11 April 2016

pl

Comments

[William R. Cumming]

Does the "vision thing" exist in U.S. leadership circles or anywhere else?

[Fred]

Col.,

Any thoughts on the 60 minutes profile of the 28 redacted pages from the 9-11 commission report?

[Stonevendor]

Brrrrr. Those cardinals better snuggle up, they look cold. While the contents are not a surprise on this website, here is a critique of the sloppy foreign policy reporting of the neocon leaning MSM. https://consortiumnews.com/2016/04/07/a-media-unmoored-from-facts/

[turcopolier]

WRC

Yes, on SST. pl

[YT]

http://katehon.com/472-rich-men-in-london-still-deciding-africas-future.html ...

http://katehon.com/article/panama-papers-soros-against-rothschilds ?

http://katehon.com/article/british-crown-pushing-war-and-genocide-2016 ?!

[Tony]

Another few $billion lawsuit against Iran...because we don't like them.

[The Twisted Genius]

Fred,

I don't think the 60 Minutes profile will get any further unless the Presidential candidates take it up as an issue, at least Trump and Sanders. Barring that, the sheeple will forget about it. As far as I'm concerned, the Saudi royals are in this up to their necks.

[John Minnerath]

World might be going to hell in a hand basket, but I do like the photos you choose for "Open Thread".
Cardinal's are a beautiful bird, one we don't have in the mountains of western Wyoming.

[turcopolier]

JM

I have whole clans of them who come to my garden. pl

[walter]

Anyone have any experience with Dexter miniature cows? Im thinking about getting one or two to 1) lawnmow my grass 2) meat 3) maybe milk if I can make the time

[Jack]

More grist for the mill. Michelle Obama edition.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3534294/How-Michelle-Obama-refused-invite-Hillary-Bill-Clinton-dinner-wanted-Joe-Biden-run-t-wait-leave-White-House-make-money-book-deals-speaking-fees.html

[Dubhaltach]

All:

I'm currently reading "Russia Against Napoleon: The True Story of the Campaigns of War and Peace - Dominic Lieven"

I've always wondered why what happened after 1812 got so little coverage. I was also very interested in the logistics of the 1812-1814 war from the Russian side. How did they equip, feed, and move hundreds and thousand of men and horses from Russia all the way to Paris. Come to that where did they get the horses?

Lieven went digging through the Russian archives and answered my questions about logistics. He also covers in a fair amount of detail not only the 1812 campaign but the campaigns of 1813, and 1814. There's a fair amount on the diplomatic history and the geopolitics of the era. All of it (I'm almost at the end) well and interestingly written.

If you're interested in Russian history and or Napoleonic era history this book fills lot of gaps.

Link to Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Russia-Against-Napoleon-Story-Campaigns/dp/0143118862

[divadab]

I have one for you all,

What kind of person runs for President - what are the deep emotional underpinnings of their supreme ambition? This is an unknowable even on an intimate personal level - but we can at least know something from public behavior - what can we conclude about the motives of the candidates from their finances? We know that Sanders is not in it for the money - that is clear from financial records. And Mrs. Clinton surely is - and she works very hard at it, and with great success. Is this a moral issue? Is there a moral superiority to someone who is not motivated by the pecuniary? That is my question.

[Haralambos]

I found this very interesting on the centenary of the Easter Rising. A friend from the North sent it. His father is Catholic and his mother Protestant. My wife's family is Catholic from the Republic. She was born and raised in the US, studied for her MA in Ireland and now holds both US and Irish passports. This piece from the BBC is about 45 min: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0736pkc

There is much food for thought regarding this bit of history and much further afield for those who follow here.

[rjj]

if book pile is too big and/or the budget too strained, here are a couple of quickies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzElqomAATI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_Pdkv16BFo

[crf]

I doubt, that people who run for U.S. president are motivated by money to any great degree. Power is what draws them. And Sanders may desire power just as much as Clinton. He simply has more self-control compared to Clinton.

Having a lot of money is, of course, a form of power, and in places which are less developed than the US with respect to the rule of law, politics is about collecting money, which is used to cement power (for example, Ukraine, South Africa, Malaysia).

A more interesting question is whether there are politicians who are not motivated by power? The answer is probably a big NO. Politics is one of the alternatives to money for wielding power.

[The Twisted Genius]

walter,

I'm pretty sure Tyler raised a Dexter or two. He'll chime in if he did.

[Allen Thomson]

OK, since the thread is open, I was browsing around on Google Earth yesterday and noticed that the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) digs in Yasenevo on the south side of Moscow (55.5841 N, 37.5181 E) has been under major biggification for several years. (The SVR is, of course, the present manifestation of the KGB's First Main/Chief Directorate.)

Researching this a bit, https://cryptome.org/2015-info/svr-yasenevo/svr-yasenevo.htm came up, which has better shots than GE has.

Maybe this is just Putin being nostalgic for the old outfit and channeling them some rubles.

[gordon reed]

Told us nothing we did not know and acted like the two hijackers that were in San Diego were a revelation when they were actually being monitored by the FBI.

[rjj]

what a splendid idea. add a couple of ducks for eggs and what more would anyone need! I would do that too, but am temperamentally better suited to camellids of some sort and African guinea fowl.

sorry, no experience.

[Harry]

For what little its worth, I don't think Hitler was in it for the money. But David Cameron, and Jeremy Heywood, both pretty sure they are in it for the money. Funny considering officially there is no money in those jobs.

[YT]

RE: "World might be going to hell"

The Chinks take a stoic view:

「天塌下來當被蓋。」

"Even if the sky were to fall, one makes a blanket out of it."

[kooshy]

According to news reports, president Obama has said (today) his worst mistake was “adequately” ( according to Russian FM Lavrov: he means he should have followed up with a ground invasion) planning for Libyan war he and his allies started without a mandate for war from UNSC or any other national or international legal organization except his own NSC’ R2P-ers.

[BraveNewWorld]

As a person interested in the 1812 war you have probably seen Minards incredible graph of the March on Moscow. But for any one that hasn't.

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

I don't remember where but I recently read some thing that said "Sentence one of the first paragraph, of the first chapter of the Book of War is never march on Moscow."

[Tyler]

Walter,

I breed dexters. What do you need to know?