Open Thread - 2 April 2017

pl

Comments

[helenk3]

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/04/russia_no_the_pony_in_the_manure_is_the_corruption_of_our_intelligence_officials.html

while congress concerned with the Russia mess, what is getting done to help this country?

[helenk3]

http://dailycaller.com/2017/04/01/trump-signals-big-break-from-obamas-policy-with-key-arab-ally/

this should be and interesting change and should raise some eyebrows

[helenk3]

http://thehill.com/policy/international/326928-admin-completes-review-of-north-korea-policy-report

NK will have to be dealt with one way or another

[helenk3]

http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/03/30/turkey-ends-euphrates-shield/

Turkey and the Kurds

[helenk3]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/russian-government-posts-april-fools-day-prank-offering-election-interference/

this is how nonsensical the Russian interference story is making us look

[helenk3]

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/10/wikileaks-hillary-admits-saudi-arabia-qatar-fund-isis-took-money-anyway/

dirty money did not bother her

[helenk3]

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/senate-committee-targets-fbi-no.-2-in-trump-dossier-probe/article/2619120

this is getting deep.
why did the FBI get involved in politics?

[Priam's Crazy Daughter]

This one made me think of the old saying: "Too many cooks spoil the broth."

There are so many different intelligence agencies and too many people from the Obama administration still in them, and on and on...." There will never be a resolution to the quesions before us that I will trust as accurate.

I would love to hear someone in authority say this: "Russia did not hack the election. Russia had no effect on the election. The result of the election are completely valid."

And then I would like someone in authority to say this: "There is definite evidence that the Obama administration set things in motion that caused those in the intelligence communities to ILLEGALY spy on the Trump team before he was even nominated and thereafter. This was an event as bad as Wathergate. But because Obama is no longer POTUS, we can't encourage him to resign. But we can write up a definitive report so that it will go down in history books, and so it will also be available at Obama's presidential libray in Chicago."

[Priam's Crazy Daughter]

I remember well the mess the HRC team made of the Arab Spring in regard to Egypt. This is a touchy situation for sure. But I do think that it's better here to try a completely different approach in regard to Egypt.

[rr]

I was wondering what SST readers consider to be the best and worst institutions in the defense/intel world? Can things improve under Trump, or is he too hands-off and his administration too divided to fix things.

[Priam's Crazy Daughter]

I still think of N. Korea as some wort of cartoon nation in a Marvel or DC comic book story. How someone so darned ridiculous and crazy rose to have complete power is beyond my grasp. Are all the powerful people in North Korea just somehow living the high life off that little petulant and evil man?

The entire world, not just China, should come together to help give that little man a spanking and send him to a long, long time out.

I sure hope Trump can find a way to deal with this situation. I would never even begin to think Obama would.

[turcopolier]

rr

A ridiculous question. How many volumes would you like the answer in? pl

[helenk3]

I agree. maybe somethings could start being done in congress.
Also schumer and shiff would shut up, stop obstructing and apologize to the American people for their nonsense

[Priam's Crazy Daughter]

I am becoming increasingly worried about Erdogan. Call me racist, or call me anti-Islamic--I just don't trust the way this man is taking Turkey back to an earlier mindset. And there is no way I would ever consider Turkey for NATO. I can't believe he will ever do anything righ in regard to the Kurds.

[Doug Welch]

Well, if you had 90% of your cities burned to the ground by the US Air Force, you'd probably not be too friendly with the US nor be too happy about annual drills that are centered on nuking your country either.
Also while several of South Korea's political leaders from 1945-1980 (specifically Park Chung Hee) had track records as being fascist collaborators with the brutal Japanese occupiers, Kim Il sung was a fierce guerrilla leader fighting against them. Once you understand those omitted facts, North Korea seems a lot less irrational. Also many South Koreans are descendants of refugees that made it to South Korea without getting killed by the UN forces, so even among South Korean civilians, things are not as black and white as portrayed in the corporate MIC media.

[Priam's Crazy Daughter]

What do you want to bet that Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters think it's a real offer?

[rr]

My apologies. I'll gladly take book recommendations.

[Priam's Crazy Daughter]

C'mon...she is probably still struggling to make up for being so poor after she and Bill left the WH.

[Priam's Crazy Daughter]

The plot thickens.....

[Priam's Crazy Daughter]

I would like Trump to find someone with knowledge of all the various intelligence agencies and laws governing them to develop a plan to reorganize intelligence gathering completely. A total reorganization that results in clear guidelines might result in cleaning out some of the bad actors.

And, of course, I would immediately rescind Obama's late order for intelligence sharing until a total reorganization is put in place. At this point, I wouldn't want Trump to really be involved. He does have other important agenda items to work on.

There needs to be a reshuffling and a cleaning out of bad actors. People in the various agencies know who they are.

I have no recommendations as to who should be in charge of coming up with the new structure.

[Babak Makkinejad]

Very funny.

[Mark Logan]

helenk3,

I strongly doubt they wished to. The question IMO is how they got involved to the current extent they are as much as why.

A speculation: They did not want to be part of the election news cycle, but during the election The House oversight committee was preparing to conduct Benghazi-style harassment of Comey's FBI, and I view Comey as nothing if not and "agency" man, over their failure to prosecute Clinton.

Comey acted in a way which effectively checked that process by publicly announcing she was under investigation. Bullet dodged. The process used against State was involved interminable hearings and unending document requests. For an LE agency it could have been even worse to handle than it was for State. Resources, a lot of resources would have to be devoted to the task. They live in a world where how much LE they can conduct is limited to resources, and the public good would have to suffer. A moral choice could be easily rationalized, it's safe to say.

My theory is he is now making amends, as best as he can manage, anyway. A tricky business.

[ex-PFC Chuck]

PCD, It helps to have the foresight to choose the right parents.

[ex-PFC Chuck]

Headline: "Super SEALs: Elite Units Pursue Brain-Stimulating Technologies"

From the link: "In experiments, people who were watching these screens ... their ability to concentrate would fall off in about 20 minutes," Szymanski said. "But they did studies whereby a little bit of electrical stimulation was applied, and they were able to maintain the same peak performance for 20 hours."

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/04/02/super-seals-elite-units-pursue-brain-stimulating-technologies.html

[Thirdeye]

Amazing footage of a Kurdish assault on an ISIS position, with a couple of suicide belt detonations.

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/video-isis-suicide-bomber-blown-smithereens-amid-close-quarters-combat-kurdish-forces/