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01-31-2018, 12:18 AM
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Fishy mokey
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Furrin parts
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Re: News Miscellany
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01-31-2018, 09:52 PM
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Fishy mokey
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Furrin parts
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Re: News Miscellany
And if there weren't enough wars in the Middle East:
Quote:
Several Lebanese ministers swiftly reacted Wednesday to remarks by Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman on an offshore gas block.
Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil reminded of a January 18 letter to the U.N. in which he said that “the Lebanese republic asserts its right to use all means possible to defend itself and its legitimate and documented economic interests in the event of any attack.”
Energy and Water Minister Cesar Abi Khalil also said that “Lebanon will utilize all means possible to fend off the Israeli attack declared today by Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman about Block 9.”
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Lebanese Ministers React to Lieberman's Remarks on Gas Block — Naharnet
Hezbollah vows to defend Lebanon's 'oil and gas rights'
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02-02-2018, 09:55 PM
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Fishy mokey
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Furrin parts
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Re: News Miscellany
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02-03-2018, 07:29 AM
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Shitpost Sommelier
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Re: News Miscellany
__________________
Peering from the top of Mount Stupid
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02-03-2018, 08:39 PM
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Fishy mokey
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Furrin parts
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Re: News Miscellany
Quote:
The constant demonisation of Trump carries another danger that is underappreciated and may produce a real-world disaster. The US media blames everything on him and respectfully portrays the bevy of generals who populate the upper ranks of his administration – Chief of Staff John Kelly, Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis and National Security Adviser HR McMaster – as the only adults in the room. Yet it may turn out that they and other business and political figures, such as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and the CIA chief Mike Pompeo, are more likely to bring about a war than Trump himself.
Just how poor is the judgement of the very people who are meant to be a restraining force on Trump was shown last month when Tillerson made a classic blunder that may have negative results for the US for years to come. On 17 January, he announced the US military forces would stay in Kurdish controlled north-east Syria after the defeat of Daesh, in order to weaken Iran and President Bashar al-Assad. Just three days later on 20 January, Turkey, predictably enraged at what it saw as a US territorial guarantee of a de facto Kurdish state, sent its forces across the Syrian border to invade the Kurdish enclave of Afrin.
Tillerson had unwittingly initiated a new phase in the Syrian conflict in which the US is self-isolated and Turkey, Russia, Iran and Assad had been brought closer together. The Kurds in Afrin, one of the few places in Syria not devastated by war, have to hide in caves as the direct result of the new US initiative.
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Patrick Cockburn: Hidden dangers
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02-03-2018, 09:06 PM
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Shitpost Sommelier
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Re: News Miscellany
__________________
Peering from the top of Mount Stupid
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02-04-2018, 01:27 AM
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Projecting my phallogos with long, hard diction
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Dee Cee
Gender: Male
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Re: News Miscellany
Quote:
The constant demonisation of Trump carries another danger that is underappreciated and may produce a real-world disaster. The US media blames everything on him and respectfully portrays the bevy of generals who populate the upper ranks of his administration – Chief of Staff John Kelly, Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis and National Security Adviser HR McMaster – as the only adults in the room. Yet it may turn out that they and other business and political figures, such as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and the CIA chief Mike Pompeo, are more likely to bring about a war than Trump himself.
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I'm not sure what the causal connection is between demonization of Trump and this leading to a war.
I do agree that John Kelly, Mattis, McMaster, Tillerson and Pompeo don't get enough criticism. But I'm not sure how less negative coverage of Trump and/or more negative coverage of them will result in a different outcome in Syria or elsewhere.
Trump doesn't know shit about foreign policy and doesn't really give a shit about outcomes there beyond not wanting to be seen as a loser. He doesn't care what happens to Syrians or shifts in alliances or whatever, except as it affects him. And he doesn't understand enough about it to predict what will happen. Therefore he delegates military policy to the generals.
More attention paid to the goings-on in Syria could potentially change things... except media and the American public probably wouldn't care much about the details of Turkey and the Kurds.
Is the idea that the media would criticize Kelly, Mattis, McMaster and Tillis and Trump would fire them and replace them with more dovish advisors and cabinet members? It seems to me that Trump's more likely to fire someone because he thinks they failed to deliver a win he cared about (as Tom Price did when the ACA repeal failed) or he considers them disloyal or due to maneuvering by internal factions in the White House (Priebus, Bannon). And who are these people who are capable and dovish and willing to work for Trump and capable of being confirmed by the Republican Senate?
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Commentators note that, for all his bellicose rhetoric, he has yet to start any wars – unlike all his Republican predecessors going back to President Ford.
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We're only a year in, so that's giving him a bit much credit when compared to a full 4 or 8 years. A more relevant point is that he has escalated the conflicts we're already in, dropped more bombs and has relaxed efforts to reduce civilian casualties.
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What Trump and Obama were really dodging was repeating the post-9/11 US mistake in pursuing open-ended military ventures against multiple enemies in fragmented countries like Afghanistan and Iraq where it could not win. In the case of Obama, this sense of caution and ability to see what might go wrong was carefully calculated; in the case of Trump, the caution is instinctive and not always operative, but the end result was often the same.
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But either way, I'll note that this person seems to talk about Kelly, Mattis, McMaster, Tillis and Pompeo as if they are independent of Trump.
Trump picked them. He chose to defer policy to them. Whatever his instincts are, they include empowering generals. He is commander in chief and he is ultimately responsible for what his subordinates are doing. If you want to say he's being led astray by his military advisors, this can't be in contrast to "demonization" of Trump. You're saying he's an ignorant idiot who's easily impressed by military credentials and led by the nose by war hawks. Whatever his non-interventionist instincts are, they're worthless when they don't actually lead him to reject military actions pushed by his subordinates!
Beyond that, I'll say the idea that Trump has "non-interventionist instincts" in the first place is overblown bullshit based off a misreading of his criticism of previous military actions. For one, he supported invading Iraq and intervening in Libya. He recognized that the Iraq War was unpopular with the American public, therefore he claimed to have opposed it. He did not. (I will concede he didn't seem to have strong feelings about it.) He recognized that Republicans used Libya and Benghazi as a tool to attack Democrats (even though Republicans had pushed for intervention themselves). So he claimed to oppose it. That was not a principled opposition to war, that was just pandering lies based off public opinion or established GOP narratives.
He supported invading Afghanistan. He supported "the surge" in Iraq. He argued that we should "take" Iraq's oil to pay for our military costs. He also supported taking Libya's oil. He opposed setting a timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan. He's been consistent in opposing the Iran deal, which at a minimum would lead to more tensions and potentially military action (while supporting the deal would reduce the chance of military conflict). He said he wanted to bomb the shit out of ISIS and murder the families of terrorists (presumably that would involve killing people in foreign countries). He has mused about why we have nukes if we're not going to use them. And his rhetoric on North Korea is predictably based around machismo and dickwaving. North Korea is not going to just capitulate in the face of Trump saying macho bullshit. Trump's desire to "win" the confrontation with North Korea is probably the reason why "his generals" - the people he chose to empower - might have success in convincing him that giving North Korea a "bloody nose" is a good idea. It seems he recently dropped his nominee for ambassador to South Korea since he opposed the idea of a "bloody nose" strike. Which is worrying, given that Victor Cha was considered relatively hawkish on North Korea and previously worked in the Bush administration - if he wasn't hawkish enough for him, it suggests they are considering the idea quite seriously.
If you can get anything consistent out of Trump's incoherency, you could say that he is opposed to neoconservatism since he's not into "nation building". "Taking the oil" is more accurately described as nation looting. But that hardly makes him a non-interventionist.
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02-05-2018, 09:50 AM
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Shitpost Sommelier
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Re: News Miscellany
Wat.
__________________
Peering from the top of Mount Stupid
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02-05-2018, 11:34 AM
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Solipsist
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Kolmannessa kerroksessa
Gender: Male
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Re: News Miscellany
Is this the guy who regrets supporting "Trump" because he's too cosy with Jews?
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02-05-2018, 11:35 AM
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Solipsist
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Kolmannessa kerroksessa
Gender: Male
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Re: News Miscellany
Aha, yes, right at the end of linked article:
Quote:
Jones said in his Pikeville address, according to a video on YouTube, he was sorry he voted for President Donald Trump, who has “surrounded himself with hordes of Jews” including his Jewish son-in-law Jared Kushner.
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02-07-2018, 09:19 PM
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Solipsist
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Kolmannessa kerroksessa
Gender: Male
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Re: News Miscellany
Stowaway Australian parrot travels 2,300km on New Zealand cruise liner | World news | The Guardian
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A galah, a variety of cockatoo originally from Brisbane in Queensland, was confined to a luxury cabin after it was discovered
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“The only way for the ship to enter New Zealand was to have the bird euthanised or secured and bonded to the vessel,” said Andrew Spelman, an MPI Border Clearance Services Manager.
The cruise ship officers opted to save the galah’s life and secured it in an empty cabin on board the ship, allowing the cruise liner to continue its journey.
“We needed photographic evidence of its containment and the name of an officer responsible for looking after the bird,” said Spelman, who said the galah was subject to strict conditions on board.
“There was also a requirement for MPI officers to check on the bird and its containment facilities at every new port visit in New Zealand.”
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02-09-2018, 12:36 AM
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Shitpost Sommelier
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Re: News Miscellany
Jobs, I guess?
__________________
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02-09-2018, 02:31 AM
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This is the title that appears beneath your name on your posts.
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Gender: Male
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Re: News Miscellany
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02-09-2018, 07:52 AM
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Solipsist
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Kolmannessa kerroksessa
Gender: Male
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Re: News Miscellany
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02-09-2018, 07:52 AM
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Solipsist
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Kolmannessa kerroksessa
Gender: Male
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Re: News Miscellany
Actually, I'm going to use that to attend events as myself.
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02-09-2018, 09:28 AM
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Shitpost Sommelier
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Re: News Miscellany
__________________
Peering from the top of Mount Stupid
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02-11-2018, 09:01 PM
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Shitpost Sommelier
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Re: News Miscellany
__________________
Peering from the top of Mount Stupid
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02-12-2018, 11:51 AM
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Fishy mokey
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Furrin parts
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Re: News Miscellany
Quote:
A Commander of the allied forces in Syria revealed to me that allied forces led by the Syrian Army Command agreed to ambush the Israeli Air Force, putting the Syrian air defence on high alert, ready to fire. Then, a drone was sent to the Syrian-Israeli borders, violating Israeli air space to attract an Israeli response. As expected, Israel sent its F-16 to down the drone and was hit on the border. According to the source, it is impossible for an F-16 to be hit over the Sukhna (the Israeli version) – clearly a lie according to the source – and was in fact downed near Kiryat Ata, east of Haifa, over 150 km away from al-Sukhna. This debunks the Israeli story as fake, an attempt to camouflage the fact that the Israeli jet was hit in Israeli air space, a direct challenge to Israel’s authority and a clear message to say: “we can shoot you down over your own air space if you violate ours”, said the source.
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Syria Does Not Fear War With Israel: The Rules Of Engagement Have Changed – Elijah J. Magnier
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02-12-2018, 05:05 PM
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Shitpost Sommelier
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Re: News Miscellany
__________________
Peering from the top of Mount Stupid
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02-14-2018, 11:28 PM
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mesospheric bore
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: New Zealand
Gender: Male
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Re: News Miscellany
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02-15-2018, 03:05 PM
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Fishy mokey
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Furrin parts
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Re: News Miscellany
Quote:
Secretary of Defense James Mattis stated on or about February 2nd, 2018 that the United States has “no evidence” that the Syrian government used the banned nerve agent Sarin against its own people in attacks in 2013 and 2017.
The most recent accusation provoked a massive Tomahawk strike ordered by President Trump that was quite provocative in the eyes of the Russian Federation and of course the Syrian government.
As TheDuran’s Seraphim Hanish details, Secretary Mattis’ assertion is in direct contradiction to the White House Memorandum which was rapidly written and declassified to justify the Americans’ strike.
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US Finally Admits "No Evidence" Assad Used Sarin Gas
But never mind, we'll still haul the accusation out next month or whenever we feel like bombing some Syrians.
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02-15-2018, 10:02 PM
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Fishy mokey
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Furrin parts
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Re: News Miscellany
And yet:
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We currently see several reports which in their combination look like preparations for of another fake 'chemical weapon' incident.
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MoA - Syria - New 'Chemical Weapons' Fake Planned - Chlorine Though Will Not Do
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The White Helmets are a mostly British funded propaganda organization embedded with Hayat Tahreer Al-Sham, the current incarnation of al-Qaeda in Syria which rules Idleb governorate. The head of al-Qaeda in Syria, Abu Jaber Al-Sheikh, lauded (video, alternative) the White Helmets as the "hidden soldiers of our revolution".
CNN is currently embedded with al-Qaeda and is producing White Helmets propaganda in Idleb governorate:
CNN Today @cnntoday - 12:23 AM - 14 Feb 2018
EXCLUSIVE report from @arwaCNN in #Idlib Syria and @holmescnn has #TheBreakdown on more fighting in #Ghouta #Afrin #DeirEzzor
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02-15-2018, 11:56 PM
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Shitpost Sommelier
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Re: News Miscellany
__________________
Peering from the top of Mount Stupid
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