Twelfth Bough

i run my own damn think tank

Archive for August, 2008

This should be a newsy week

Aug 25

Posted by Marlena in Bush/Cheney, Iran, Israel, Media, Politics | No Comments

The corporate media is going to hand off the baton from the Olympics to the Democratic Convention. Gotta keep those Americans distracted from the real news. Let’s hope they drop the damned thing and some truth breaks through.

The other day we saw the first signs of Israel squirming a little on the hot seat because of the Georgia fiasco.

Russia has condemned both Israel and the US for their role in arming the Georgian military with sophisticated weapons.

Israel claims it has not directly equipped or trained the Georgian military, and private Israeli firms - with the defense ministry’s approval- are responsible for such dealings.

How Eddie Haskel-ish.

On the same day (8/20/08), a Lebanon paper reported that Olmert warned Israelis about the ‘next war’ hitting Israeli cities.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned on Tuesday that the next war with Lebanon would involve attacks on Israel’s cities, and threatened that the Jewish state would hit back “harder than before.” In 2006 Hizbullah fired almost 4,000 rockets at northern Israel during a month long war, reaching cities as far south as Haifa and Tiberias. Olmert warned that now that Hizbullah is the “dominant” force in Lebanon, Israel will hit back “harder than before.” Olmert added that the Jewish state did not use all means to respond in 2006, but “if Lebanon becomes a Hizbullah state, then we won’t have any restrictions in this regard.” He did not elaborate.

And just a few days later, Israeli troops briefly entered Lebanon. You get the impression that they want another war with Lebanon, which Olmert predicts will cause the destruction of Israeli cities. But hey!

Eight Israeli soldiers entered the south Lebanon area of Mais al-Jabal, but pulled out after 15 minutes, a Lebanese daily reported. Lebanon’s al-Safir newspaper said on Saturday that Israeli forces came only 100 meters into Mais al-Jabal in Marjayoun province before pulling back. A Lebanese army patrol and UN peacekeeping force headed to the area to monitor their movement and the Israelis turned back after some 15 minutes. Israeli threats against Hezbollah have escalated in the past week. An Israeli prime minister spokesman threatened to hit the whole of Lebanon if Hezbollah took over control in Lebanon. Meanwhile Lebanon plans to lodge a complaint with the United Nations about Israeli threats of pursuing Hezbollah inside Lebanese territory. The Zionist regime prime minister Ehud Olmert said recently that Israel would not consider itself bound by any restrictions if Hezbollah came to power in Lebanon.

So there’s always crazy Israel to watch, because you never know what shit-storm they will kick up, all the while blaming it on someone else.

And this continued warmongering is necessary because the plan with Georgia, according to this source (also here & here), was for Israel to use Georgia as a launching point for an airstrike against Iran.

The air strike was to be aimed at Iranian government buildings with one Israeli group striking where top Iranian officials were known to be working, at housing for the top leadership, at any identified laboratory where nuclear work was being carried on and a second flight was to strike at Iranian oil wells, pipelines and Persian Gulf oil terminals. Once the dual strike was completed, the aircraft would head towards Israel and then were slated to be refueled in mid-air by an American tanker aircraft. That Putin was aware of the pending Georgian attack on South Ossetia is certain and the strong probability is that someone connected with the CIA’s Russia desk gave sensitive material on this subject to the Russians and an Israeli IDF member is positively known to have given very specific information to the Russian GRU.

Obviously, that plan is now defunct and people on the inside may be actively working against the neocons (oh please, God, may it be true). Is the ‘next war’ with Lebanon Plan B? I don’t know, but events like the Olympics and the Democratic Convention give great cover for starting brush-wars that can race out of control given the right circumstances. So that’s something to watch.

Of course, there’s one thing that would take the pressure off the neocons, and that would be assurance that the next US president will continue the current policies, thereby resetting the clock. The Voice of the White House had this tidbit:

Washington, D.C., August 21, 2008: “Such heart-warming news! High level Republican associates here are talking about the latest ploy on the part of the State of Israel to gain complete control of the United States government. Their idea is to offer the diseased McCain unlimited support from their papers and television stations in return for his putting Joe Lieberman on the ticket as vice president. As McCain is known to be seriously ill and will soon be unable to function, the plan will be for him to retire “for reasons of health” and then Joe Lieberman, loud and persistent Israeli supporter, will step into the Oval Office and America will have her first (unelected) Jewish president. And a firmly dedicated Zionist at that! Many GOP people say putting Lieberman on the ticket will ruin any chance McCain has at the White House. Why? His obvious mental confusion? No, the American public is becoming seriously anti-Semitic and anti-Israel and if McCain attempts to support a universal draft (as he is dead set on doing) and has a rabid Zionist as a running mate, his fall will be great and he will drag the shattered remnants of the Republican Party with him. Thank God!”

Well, let’s see how the media shills play the Mighty Wurlitzer this week. I barely have this ridiculous presidential race on my radar, but it defies belief that McCain should have any traction whatsoever regardless of Obama’s qualifications or lack thereof. The credibility of the Republican Party is negative five billion percent thanks to GWB. But when I heard a talking head the other day describe some statistics about women supporters of Obama as ‘ominous,’ I thought that was an extremely loaded word, and I notice the persistent news about these Clinton supporters who supposedly can’t seem to accept her defeat. If you recall Bush v Gore, you may remember that the right had a field day berating the Dems for refusing to accept the (managed) outcome. Sore losers…that was the narrative as I recall. From my position of not paying attention to the details of this particular circus, I must say the whiff of this old script wafts above the news of Clinton and her supporters like elephant dung and makes it to my nostrils. Is she going to be the spoiler like Nader, who splits the Dems and hands the victory to McCain, who is as big or bigger a joke as Bush ever was? I dunno, but this week we may begin to see the endgame of all sorts of plans coming into focus.

Extrapolate

Aug 23

Posted by Marlena in Economy | No Comments

If you’re looking for a very clear description, explanation and prediction of what’s going on with the economy, try this one. I feel smarter already. This is straight economic information with no political undertones or conspiracy angles and lots of graphs. It’s very well done. Some choice bits:

The pseudo-wealth that has been created in the last seven years has begun to unwind, but will increase in speed in 2009. You only know how you’ve lived your life over the last seven years. Your neighbor who has been getting their house upgraded, sending their kids to private school, driving a BMW, and taking exotic vacations may have been living the high life on debt. As usual, Warren Buffet’s wisdom comes in handy. “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.” The tide is on its way out, and the naked swimmers are numbered in the millions. Mohamed El-Erian, the number two man at PIMCO, fears a negative feedback loop consuming the country. I believe we have begun the negative feedback loop and it is starting to accelerate.

…The elimination of $2 trillion of household debt will lead to the closing of thousands of retail stores, strip malls, restaurants, and bank branches. There should be a lot of vacant buildings available in the next few years, and a few suspicious fires.

…Consumer and business confidence is shot. Consumer confidence is at multi-decade low levels. Small business confidence is also at historic lows. Small businesses do most of the hiring in the U.S. Consumers and businesses are correct in their assessment of the situation. It is our political and corporate “leaders” that are in denial.

No shit.

You can’t accomplish anything with an unchipped heart

Aug 22

Posted by Marlena in Injustice, Psychology, Religion | No Comments

You may have noticed that the subtitle of this blog is Tracing the Arc of Justice. I have noticed that over and over again, in matters small and large, that people overlook injustice. They shrug their shoulders as if to say that injustice is to be expected. Therefore, since there’s nothing that can be done about it, one shouldn’t spend too much time worrying about those poor people over there.

Needless to say, this really bothers me a lot. The attitude I typically get from people is that I am a little wacky for caring about things like the Palestinians. They just don’t see the point. I am lacking ‘common sense,’ or something, which is a pretty funny accusation since the driving force of my philosophy is fighting for the common good. Not the good for this powerful group or that powerful group, but the good for everyone. The most frequent retort I get about people who are ‘behind’ is that it’s probably their own fault. Maybe, but maybe not. It’s just an assumption useful to people who want to justify closing a door behind them. Those who have made it ahead give themselves credit for their own hard work and seem to assume that anyone who didn’t achieve XYZ must be a slacker. I find this grimly amusing coming from boomers, the very generation that turned the world to shit for billions. Must we be reminded that wages have been flat for decades, the dollar performs an incredible shrinking act before our very eyes, and most families need two or three jobs just to stay even? I often wonder if some of those who give themselves such big pats on the back for their own success could make it under today’s rules as easily as they did back in the day. Can an honest person really get ahead today just by hard work and a little luck? Not very likely, and that’s the difference between then and now. I wrote about this a little here.

But enough of that. It will shake out eventually, because I do believe that Dr. Martin Luther King was correct when he said, “The arc of the universe bends slowly but it always bends toward justice.” Those who have shown little concern for those behind them, myopically focusing on everyone ahead, racing, striving and grasping their way forward regardless of the consequences downstream, will be turned around eventually to see what’s left in their wake. Or rather who is left clinging to the detritus. This applies to us individually and as a nation.

For me this need to turn around and look behind us stems from my faith. Being duly horrified at what I see, I can’t help but point it out to anyone who might listen. Oh, my God. It’s urgent that we turn around. It’s urgent for our own lives as much as for those who we are killing, literally, by this country’s trajectory. And if one cannot care enough to turn around, perhaps one can at least see how our leaders leave us in their wake, and we ourselves cling to detritus whether we recognize this or not. The detritus of a shredded Constitution, a wrecked economy, a poisoned environment, a broken social contract.

My friend Jim Martin works for International Justice Mission. We grew up in the same town and somehow share this obsession with justice, though Jim puts me to shame with his action to secure justice for people around the world. He just had an article published which details his own trajectory moving from focusing on mercy to justice, and most importantly, he details how people can get involved doing this locally.

Maria has been going to a small Peruvian evangelical church for most of her 15 years. Until a couple of years ago, she would have seemed just another preteen ambling her way toward adulthood. But soon after puberty the first irrefutable symptom of her condition revealed itself. Her all-too-familiar swollen belly was not caused by lack of food, but by the absence of an advocate. Maria lives in a community where sexual abuse of children is not just common but rampant. Unable to protect herself, she became the victim of choice of a local cab driver, a “friend” of her family, and her repeated abuse resulted in the worst kind of unwanted pregnancy. The challenges of raising an infant with very few resources and even less experience have become the worn fabric of her daily life. Maria has borne, both literally and figuratively, the consequences of the biblical sin of oppression, the abuse of power.

Obviously, it gets depressing to pay attention to all the injustice in the world. It requires courage to look. It’s humbling to realize how much work needs to be done. More than one lovely person has flat out told me they don’t want to know certain things. No offense, I’m to understand. Just change the subject. This unwillingness to care, to look, to feel remorse, and to change, is the main reason why injustice prevails across the globe.

It seems easier not to know, but that is an illusion. You are already oppressed, though not as obviously as a Palestinian or a poor girl in a Peruvian village. In a matter of time, every American will come to understand the bitter truth of our national trajectory, a great nation which soared and then plummeted along the sure arc of justice. You can turn around now and let your mind soak it all in, absorb the blow, regain your equilibrium, and try to function a better way. Or, you can turn around when you’re flung off the back of the boat, knocked unconscious, drowning in grief and despair, and looking for someone to care about your problems when they have their hands full of their own.

This Way to Russia

Aug 21

Posted by Marlena in Bush/Cheney, Russia | No Comments

From a Russian perspective, George Bush has ‘colossal audacity’ to suggest that Russia pull back from Georgia.

Listening to you, your Vice President, Condi Rice and US and western officials complain about “regime change,” “invasion,” “bloodshed” and “suffering civilians” (in the light of their crimes across the world) have become nothing but laughable at best and highly infuriating and enraging at worst.

You are an idiot!

We seem to recall that when your Israeli friends were absolutely devastating the people of Lebanon, wantonly killing civilians, destroying their country’s infrastructure and destroying their environment also….the flapping jaw of your representative, Condoleezza Rice and your entire administration were saying no ceasefire, no nothing, just keep on going, keep on committing acts of state terrorism on innocent people, keep on committing your war crimes, you have them covered.

Well, Mr. Bush, this is it. Moscow better get this one right: No limited engagement nonsense. Moscow has the moral and legal right to carry out full scale military operations within Ossetia, Abkhazia and Georgia to ensure the safety of its citizens, to ensure the protection of Abkhazians and Ossetians and to finally destroy NATO plans for the Caucasus region.

No sane, informed, honest, rational person can blame Russia for reacting to a genocide against their own citizens in Georgia. But then you are NONE of those things.

The problem is not what Russia is doing, but how the US is reacting to it. If you were sane, if you were informed, if you were honest, if you were rational, if you were even marginally fair, you should be happy to see Russian forces put an end to the killing of Russian citizens by the Georgian military. But no, your government is advised by lunatics who belong in psychiatric wards instead of the Pentagon and White House. And you, Mr. Bush, belong in an international criminal court to be judged for your crimes against peace and your crimes against humanity.

Indeed. It has been noted in many places that Saakashvili is a puppet of the US/Israel, attached to both John McCain through his foreign policy adviser and Barack Obama through Brzezinski, that the attack was premeditated and initiated by Georgia against civilians, and that the US corporate media has grossly and blatantly distorted the entire situation for the main purpose of demonizing Russia. This is reality.

In reality, that very strange place which bears no resemblance whatsoever to the holographically indulgent creation of the propaganda machine, this Russian perspective noted above aligns with things called facts. These pesky fact thingys can be very challenging for some people to grasp, even when they have big important jobs like Secretary of State. Now before we go on, let’s just recall the Bush Dirty Diapers piece. You must go read that if you haven’t see it yet. It will help you appreciate just how incredibly obnoxious Condoleeza Rice is to those of us who live in reality.

From her remarks En Route to Brussels, Belgium: http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2008/08/108552.htm

RICE: The alliance has spoken with one voice, as has the United States and Europe, about the importance of Russia honoring its commitments, about the fact that this was a disproportionate Russian response to what happened in the zone of conflict in South Ossetia. And this is the first opportunity for the alliance to look at, really, three elements. First, to look at what we can do to support Georgia. Because. after all, we have to deny Russian strategic objectives which were clearly to undermine Georgia’s democracy, to use its military capability to damage, and in some cases, destroy Georgian infrastructure, and to try and weaken the Georgian state. Well, that is an objective that will be denied, because Georgian democracy stands and it will stand with the help of its allies around the world. Georgian infrastructure will be rebuilt. Georgia’s economy will be reinforced. And quite clearly, the efforts to intimidate the Georgian people by bombing Georgian infrastructure and attacking Georgian civilians is producing a backlash not just in Georgia, but in the region. So the first is to support Georgia so that that Russian strategic objective is denied. Secondly, we have an objective in the alliance to reaffirm the support of the alliance for those states that are now well outside of Russia’s reach; that is, those that have been fully integrated into the transatlantic structures, states like - the Baltic states like Poland, which are fully integrated members of the transatlantic community. And that just shows how far we’ve come since 1991 and the collapse of the Soviet Union, and certainly how far we’ve come since 1968 when one of the countries that will be sitting around that table was brutally attacked and its government overthrown by Soviet forces. But we are also going to send a message that we’re not going to allow Russia to draw a new line at those states that are not yet integrated into the transatlantic structures like Georgia and Ukraine. And so the alliance will need to consider what it wishes to do to clearly indicate that we’re not accepting a new line. The Bucharest Declaration, in effect, said that. And I think you will see a reaffirmation of Bucharest as you saw with Chancellor Merkel when she was in Tbilisi. Finally, we, of course, have to look at what this means for – in terms of the strategic choice that Russia seems to be making. This alliance has kept open a road for a strategic choice of Russia as friend, not adversary. That’s why we have a NATO-Russia Council. That’s why there have been so many efforts to pull Russia toward the international institutions like the WTO and the OECD and the G-8, and, as I mentioned, the NATO-Russia Council. But frankly, Russia can’t have it both ways. It can’t act in a way that it did during the Cold War when it was the Soviet Union and expect it to be treated – expect to be treated as a responsible partner as President Medvedev outlined in the speech that he made just a few weeks ago. And so we will discuss the choices that Russia seems to be making and the appropriate response to them.

Is she for real? What planet is this woman on? Some of her spinning, such as how we’ve supposedly bent over backwards to accommodate Russia but they just can’t seem to be satisfied, bears a marked resemblance to the way the Israelis portray the Palestinians. (More on that ‘negotiating’ style here if you’re interested.) By all means, if you have time go and read dear Condi’s complete remarks. And look at a map to see the absurdity of these claims about the Poland missile defense system being in place to protect against Iran. Here’s an actual map (pdf) that you can zoom in and see the utter absurdity of this claim and many others which stem from this map, the one Condi and George want all Americans to carry around in their heads because it makes their job so very much easier:

But I’d also like to draw your attention to another item in her Q&A session, near the end, which she brought up herself and then quickly deflected when pressed.

RICE: Now, I think everybody recognizes that this is not the first time that we’ve seen this problem. We’ve had difficulties between Britain and Russia. We’ve had Russian Bear flights along the Norwegian coast. We’ve had Russian strategic aviation challenging in ways that they haven’t, even along borders with the United States which, I might note, is a very dangerous game, and perhaps one the Russians want to reconsider. This is not something that is just cost-free. Nobody needs strategic – Russian strategic aviation along America’s coasts. And so this effort to somehow assert Russian power or influence by military means is something that we’ve been seeing for a while. And it’s unfortunate, because everyone knows that Russia has certain military capabilities. The hope had been that Russia was going to build its foundation and its relationships with Europe and the United States on the basis of Russian economic, political, cultural, and other kinds of assets. And reminding people that Bears can fly next – near Norway or near Alaska and that you can use military force among – against a small neighbor is not a particularly appealing message or image.

QUESTION: Could you just clarify what the flights (inaudible)?
RICE:I – no, no. You know that we have these problems with Blackjacks and Bears. You’ve been asking Sean about them practically daily. Yeah, Sean will tell you what you’ve been asking him. (Laughter.)

What’s this all about? I did a little looking around, and here is some more information.
http://formerspook.blogspot.com/2007/08/tracking-bears.html

We’re standing by that forecast, because all indicators suggest that Russian bomber crews are still preparing for such a flight. According to Sky News, a Bear H flew a mission over the North Atlantic last Friday, prompting an intercept by RAF “Typhoon” fighters. It represented the first operational intercept for the Typhoon since the new fighters assumed Britain’s air defense alert mission earlier this summer. The Typhoon is replacing the RAF’s aging fleet of Tornado F3’s, which have performed the air defense mission for more than 20 years.

By our count, this is at least the second “Bear” mission flown against the U.K. so far this year. Russian bombers have also flown profiles against Norway, Alaska, and earlier this month, they passed within 300 miles of U.S. air and naval bases on Guam–their most aggressive mission in more than a decade. The sudden spike in bomber activity came after a decade of inactivity, when Russia’s Bear, TU-22M Backfire and TU-160 Blackjacks flew infrequently, the result of cutbacks in Moscow’s military budget.

Winter is on the way. Europe depends on Russia to stay warm. The Middle East is already getting excited that Russia’s resurgence may mean the end to US/Israeli hegemony over their affairs. Look at the (real) map again and see how Russia is neighbors with China, the Middle East and Europe. Why on earth would any of those countries want to be lashed to the US/Israel now that Bush has pissed away every asset we’ve ever had, most importantly our nation’s moral authority? One of these days soon there’s going to be a stampede for the exits.

And for his next trick, George will get us all %$*& killed

Aug 20

Posted by Marlena in Bush/Cheney, Israel, Lebanon, Russia, Stupidity | No Comments

Since the stupid fiasco in Georgia, the following events have transpired:

Russia has cancelled all military cooperation with NATO.

Around 10 joint military exercises were planned involving Russian and NATO members through the end of this year. They will probably all be cancelled.

Russia and Syria have renewed their former ties.

The Russian aircraft carrier “Admiral Kuznetsov” is ready to head from Murmansk towards the Mediterranean and the Syrian port of Tartus. The mission comes after Syrian President Bashar Assad said he is open for a Russian base in the area. The “Admiral Kuznetsov”, part of the Northern Fleet and Russia’s only aircraft carrier, will head a Navy mission to the area. The mission will also include the missile cruiser “Moskva” and several submarines, Newsru.com reports. President Assad in meetings in Moscow this week expressed support to Russia’s intervention in South Ossetia and Georgia. He also expressed interest in the establishment of Russian missile air defence facilities on his land.

And Israel, ever paranoid, is feeling real, actual heat from their stupidity since Russia enjoys close ties with Israel’s neighbors/enemies.

“I think that everyone in Russia and in the world is now aware of Israel’s role and its military consultants in the Georgian crisis,” said President al-Assad, who will meet his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, on Thursday. Such deals would irk Washington and Tel Aviv, which have long asked Moscow not to sell weapons to countries that share borders with the occupied territories.

Reports, however, indicate that Russia is eager to revive its defense ties with Syria following the South Ossetian conflict, in which Georgia used Israeli-supplied equipment. An Israeli website reported that Moscow plans to deploy advanced missile systems - including the S-300 air-missile defense system as well as the nuclear-capable Iskander missiles - in Syria in the near future. A Russian official was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying that a number of deals involving anti-aircraft and anti-tank missile systems are being prepared by Russia and Syria. “Damascus is Moscow’s long-standing partner in military cooperation and we are expecting to reach an agreement in principle on new weapons deals,” said the source. The official added that the Syrians are interested in acquiring Russia’s Pantsyr-S1 Air Defense Missile systems, BUK-M1 surface-to-air medium-range missile system, military aircraft, and other hardware.

Russia has condemned both Israel and the US for their role in arming the Georgian military with sophisticated weapons. Israel claims it has not directly equipped or trained the Georgian military, and private Israeli firms - with the defense ministry’s approval- are responsible for such dealings.

So now, dear friends — and I know this will shock you — Israel’s security will be threatened by the very idiotic actions prompted by Israel and the Israeli-controlled US government through their puppet Saakashvili. Israel, populated by the most insecure people on earth, who paradoxically consider themselves more precious than others and yet cling and grasp and lie and murder so much that the world cannot help but recoil in horror at the gaping void where a human soul would otherwise repose, will now be retro-fitted with whatever the US military has to offer at American taxpayer expense, of course.

It’s as if no matter what happens, Israel will be taken care of. Should this little Georgian sortie have worked, they would have been happy. But since it didn’t work, they still get to play their poor threatened victim card to extort more from Americans.

And now, wasting no time whatsoever on the next stupid idea, Olmert is talking about another war with Lebanon and warning Israelis to expect direct hits on their own cities.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned on Tuesday that the next war with Lebanon would involve attacks on Israel’s cities, and threatened that the Jewish state would hit back “harder than before.”

In 2006 Hizbullah fired almost 4,000 rockets at northern Israel during a monthlong war, reaching cities as far south as Haifa and Tiberias.

Olmert warned that now that Hizbullah is the “dominant” force in Lebanon, Israel will hit back “harder than before.” Olmert added that the Jewish state did not use all means to respond in 2006, but “if Lebanon becomes a Hizbullah state, then we won’t have any restrictions in this regard.”

 

The next war with Lebanon. Planning ahead, are we? Well, it should be no surprise. After all, American Goy has the whole lowdown on how this premeditated Georgian clusterfuck came to be. These people — the Bush Administration and the Israeli government — are criminals. They belong in prison for mass murder. If they are not stopped, they will just keep killing. It’s what they do for a living, and Americans and Israelis are not excepted from state-sanctioned murder no matter how ‘patriotic’ they are or whatever the hell imaginary quality people seem to think protects them.

Kill the Bloggers, C….I….L…..L

Aug 20

Posted by Marlena in Civil Rights, Surveillance | No Comments

I remember seeing something a while back, but unfortunately I can’t put my hands on it now, and it said that many patriotic Americans worked in the NSA. These people are very, very intelligent types and they will not sit by and let the US become taken over by the goon squad currently in charge. If I recall correctly, this was part of a comment thread.

Now that may all be true, and I hope it is, but apparently there are others in the NSA who carry a different attitude.

Wayne Madsen, always spoiling for a fight with Bush and Cheney, or the chance to show off his undies to minimum wage airport TSA workers, has an executive level NSA staff person on record saying that significant sentiment exists within the NSA to kill troublesome bloggers and journalists.
The NSA executive staffer was, apparently, not the source of the sentiment, but this individual did pass along the context and the precise wording of the “junior G-man” working in the NSA. Prominent names listed in the NSA database of troublemakers?
1. Bill Gertz

2. James Bamford

3. Vernon Loeb

4. Jim Risen

5. Dr. John C. K. Daly

6. Wayne Madsen

7. Seymour Hersh

These were all the names Madsen published, but there are, of course, many others. Possibly you, gentle reader.

At moments like this I like to recall the military guy who called me a ‘paranoid delusionist.’ Oh geez yeah.

Two Suspicious Items

Aug 18

Posted by Marlena in Bush/Cheney, Iran, Israel | No Comments

JTA reported on 8/17 that a Condoleeza Rice visit to the Middle East (a totally useless waste of US taxpayer money) has been called off.

http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/109953.html

Condoleezza Rice’s widely expected visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority this week in unlikely to happen.

An aide to Mahmoud Abbas said earlier this month that the U.S. secretary of state, having hosted Israeli and Palestinian Authority negotiators in Washington, would make a routine trip to the region on August 20 to oversee peace efforts.

But U.S. diplomatic sources said Sunday that Rice — who never formally gave a date for her next visit — will not be flying out to the Middle East in the near future given the Bush administration’s over-riding concern with the Georgian crisis.

How convenient. Meanwhile, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Saudi King Abdullah told Iran not to get roped into a pretext for a military attack.

Following a meeting this weekend between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Saudi King Abdullah, Iran was told not to allow the U.S. and Israel to create a pretext for a military attack, a warning interpreted by Tehran that an impending attack is on the horizon.

“Iran should not present on a silver platter the justifications and the pretexts for those who want to drag the region down a dangerous slope,” Egypt’s presidential spokesman Suleiman Awwad said on Saturday.

A cynical person might think that something might be afoot and dear Condi might not want to be trapped in the Middle East like all those American service people should some kind of trouble possibly break out. A cynical person might also notice that JTA and the Debka File, two of the sources cited for these news items, are both Israeli sources.

Hissy Fits

Aug 18

Posted by Marlena in Bush/Cheney, Israel, Media, NATO, Russia | No Comments

The US under George Bush has absolutely wasted an unforgivable number of lives, money and opportunities over the last eight years. Russia and China are the world’s new superpowers. But since this is very, very difficult for some people to admit, we are instead treated to various hissy fits of self-righteous indignation from the losers.

Here’s one with that shrew Condoleeza Rice and the spastic Saakashvili.

At a joint appearance with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Tiblisi after signing the accord, Saakashvili lashed out again at Russia and the West. We will “never, ever surrender” he said about the conflict with Russia. He then accused the West of triggering Russian aggression by denying his country membership in NATO. Rice defended the new cease-fire document, saying it requires that the Soviets leave Georgia immediately adding that the time has come “to begin a discussion of the consequences of what Russia has done.”

Saakashvili used the opportunity to again criticize the West. He says he warned the world about a Russian military buildup for months. He says that Russia mobilized 1,200 tanks within hours to invade Georgian territory. “This whole thing could have been prevented,” Saakashvili said. “We are today looking evil directly in the eye,” a visibly emotional Saakashvili told reporters. He said Georgia would never reconcile itself to any occupation of its territory by Russia.

Earlier President Bush also lashed out at Moscow saying that “bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century.” “Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected. Moscow must honor its commitment to withdraw its invading forces from all Georgian territory,” Bush said before leaving for a vacation in Texas.

That’s very rich coming from a man who has presided over the destruction of two sovereign countries while bankrupting our own.

There was the incident on Fox, which has really made its way around the block.

And perhaps most interesting, hundreds of retired IDF soldiers who had gone to Georgia to train the Georgian army hear that their trainees have been killed.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0%2C7340%2CL-3583278%2C00.html

Returning soldiers reported that top-secret IDF materials were left lying around for anyone to see because the Israeli training company wanted to finish quickly and make more money on other projects. In addition, they also had to finish quickly because they knew these Georgian soldiers would be facing real combat soon. Somehow they just knew the Russians were coming.

Actually, the Georgian officers told their soldiers they would be going to help NATO forces in Iraq, but the knew the real objective was Ossetia and Abkhazia.

According to Tomer, Gal Hirsch came to visit the trainers now and then, but was mostly absent. And when the training was officially over, Tomer did not feel that his soldiers were ready for war. “By Israeli standards, the soldiers had almost zero capability and the officers were mediocre,” he said. “It was clear that taking that army to war was illogical.” By keeping in touch with one of his soldiers, Tomer discovered that most of the men he had trained had indeed been killed in the war. “Some of them became good friends of mine and invited me into their homes. It’s hard to digest that these people have suddenly vanished from the face of the earth,” he lamented. Defense Shield stated in response that “all of the company’s actions were approved by the Defense Ministry, including the materials transferred to the training companies. The information security standards were set, emphasized, and maintained by experienced security officers, and we have no knowledge of these claims.”

Hmm. IDF soldiers never struck me as being such softies. Certainly they have no trouble killing Palestinians, but the Georgians are their peeps.

So this whole exercise has been a complete disaster for the credibility of Team USA/Israel. And I did not know this, but the 2014 Winter Olympics are slated for Sochi, Russia. Allright?!?! That calls for another hissy fit. Something Must Be Done, Dammit.

http://www.theseminal.com/2008/08/14/
move-the-2014-winter-olympics-%20away-from-sochi-russia/

From Karl Schwartz:

The ‘territorial dispute’ matter was just an excuse. South Ossetia and Abkhazia have not desired to be a part of Georgia since the USSR disbanded in 1991. The real reason is that most NATO members want peace with Russia, and want no more Bush lunacy stirring up problems. To the ‘letter of the law’ Russia withdrew 80 armored divisions, legions of missile and artillery systems and ended the Cold War. Most of NATO knows that Bush and his lunacy are bungling into what could be a very hot war. Many NATO members are not happy about this fake ‘Bush Missile Shield’ that is an offensive weapon system aimed at Russia. Russia has made it clear Poland is now designated as a nuclear weapons target. EU and NATO saw that coming and they are not pleased at this constant, never ending, underhanded provocation of Russia by Junior and his Zionist Buddies.

The world now gets to choose between Russia and Team USA/Israel. Let’s think about this choice for a second. Bush has been a disaster. Obama is counseled by a man who hates Russia, and McCain is a crazy warmonger. They are both managed by people running the rapidly imploding and completely corrupt financial system. Team USA/Israel is broke and despised throughout the world. Meanwhile, Russia has oil, gas, money, pipelines, and smart leaders. Not to mention that Russia is right next door to Europe.

If you were one of these smaller countries, who would you align with? Obviously, the gig is up. Thus, the hissy fits.

Truth, al dente

Aug 17

Posted by Marlena in Citizenship, Media, NATO, Russia | No Comments


Via this outstanding piece by Mike Whitney.

How Utterly Predictable

Aug 15

Posted by Marlena in Israel, Media | No Comments

Do you remember this atrocity?

Footage of Fadel Shana, 23, being killed by a tank shell in the Gaza Strip has been released by the news agency, which said that the cameraman was hit despite clear markings that showed him to be a journalist.

After medical examinations of Shana’s body, Reuters said that Israel had used a controversial type of tank shell which scatters metal darts, or flechettes, around the surrounding area after exploding, risking civilian casualties. Israel refused to comment on the report, but stated that the weapons were not illegal.

I wrote about it here.

Not that I’m surprised, but it still bears pointing out because I’m sick and tired of people shrugging off all sorts of barbaric behavior. Where’s the outrage? Where’s the accountability? This has been going on for a long time, so what good is a measured demand for a ’swift, honest and impartial investigation’? Has anything like that ever been forthcoming in all these years? No. The IDF will blow this off just like they surely blow off any complaints about people getting killed in the occupied territories. They don’t care. These soldiers have been given carte blanche to do whatever they want. Maybe the guy in the tank woke up on the wrong side of bed, so he decided to kill some people yesterday. He knows there will be no negative consequences for him, so what’s to stop him? Apparently nothing.

Sure enough, Israel cleared the troops involved.

LONDON (Reuters) - An Israeli tank crew who killed a Reuters cameraman and eight young bystanders in the Gaza Strip four months ago acted properly and will not face legal action, Israel’s senior military lawyer has concluded.

The military advocate-general told the international news agency in a letter sent on Tuesday that troops could not see whether Fadel Shana was operating a camera or a weapon but were nonetheless justified in firing a shell packed with darts that killed him and eight other Palestinians aged between 12 and 20.

…Reuters wrote to Mendelblit on Wednesday with a number of questions, including asking precisely why the soldiers ruled out the possibility that Shana was a cameraman, why the fact he stood in full view of the tanks for some minutes did not suggest he had no hostile intent and why the tank crew, if concerned but unsure, did not simply reverse a few meters out of sight.

The Foreign Press Association in Israel said the army had a “long line of cases clearing its soldiers of deadly negligence”.

It added: “The army is obligated to clearly identify its targets before firing, especially in areas where civilians and journalists are present. The mere suspicion of possible hostilities should not be enough to justify overwhelming deadly force.

“We hope that the army’s conclusion does not appear to give soldiers free license to fire without being sure of the target, greatly hindering the media’s ability to cover the conflict.”

Obviously, the IDF soldiers know full well that they have free license to kill whoever they please, for whatever reason they choose or no reason at all, and with complete impunity. That is the only conclusion one can draw. What is the point of diplomatic niceties under these circumstances, aside from enabling more atrocities?