That was the headline when I flipped CNN on, this morning. Thankfully, the story was just ending so I missed their "inciteful analysis", but caught enough to understand they're referring to the US and Russia having some sort of stand off over the S. Ossetia thing that will lead to a situation similar to what we endured for 40 years or so after WW II ended.
My first thought was "What? Isn't 'the war on terra' working out for the MIC?" I pondered, for a moment, the possibility that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could be coming to closure and those who profit from the US spending more than the next 20 nations combined need a new Emmanuel Goldstein, a new cash cow.
This is the title of a remarkable article on Truthout today about Mccain's role within and ties to PNAC, and the future role of a McCain-led America in world affairs.
I have been troubled lately with all of the remarks about a Colombo-like Mccain as being incoherent, and reminded forcefully of the same Bush Alfred E. Newman act that led the American public to be disarmed by misunderstanding the exact and sinister nature of W's ideas.
So it was with great interest that i followed Elliott Cohen's argument that McCain would move further towards the insanity of the past seven years.
John McCain has long been a major player in a radical militaristic group driven by an ideology of global expansionism and dominance attained through perpetual, pre-emptive, unilateral, multiple wars. The credo of this group is "the end justifies the means," andthe end of establishing the United States as the world's sole superpower justifies, in its estimation, anything from military control over the information on the Internet to the use of genocidal biological weapons.
So, former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds is again proved right. For more than a year Sibel has been predictingthat Dennis Hastert will join a lobbying firm involved with Turkey, and now we learnthat Hastert is joining Dickstein Shapiro.
In the "Representative Engagements" section of Dickstein's website, we learn that they represented "the government of Turkey in connection with the development and financing by private sponsors of the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline and TransCaspian gas pipeline spanning from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean."
Dennis Hastert, who is listed in Sibel's "Rogues Gallery," was caught on FBI wiretaps accepting bribes from Turkish criminal elements associated with the Turkish government, as documented in Vanity Fairin 2005 and elsewhere.
Think about all that the Democrats have failed to do. Think about how they "marginalized" their own candidate. Then think about how they operate within the Military Industrial Complex.
It appears that plans continue, to bail out banks and mortgage lending houses. The Federal Reserve has quietly been pumping in billions, over $150B in this last quarter, and at least some of the bad paper will be absorbed through some variations of this criminal enterprise pyramid scheme, this shell game which we call 'capitalism'.
Ah .. to be born rich and a fool in today's America. America, where if you are really an idiot, and can't even make a sure thing like a baseball team into a profitable entity, you can still become President.
A couple of quotes from Galbraith come to mind.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.
In the United States, the only respectable form of socialism is socialism for the rich.
So, McCain promises there will be more wars. I don’t know whether he has anything in mind or whether he is speaking generally. If the latter, it’s a stupid thing to say if you are running to lead a nation exhausted by war since we all know, as in the most basic "Duh!" sense, there will be more wars. It’s part of the human condition. If he has something specific in mind, e.g., where we will go next, he needs to be run out of town now lest we elect someone who comes into office wanting to be the chess master where our kids and siblings and parents are the seemingly-regenerating pawns.
Then, this morning, I wake to see Murtha writing over at Huffington Post. He discusses the cost of this war and the need to spend so many billions in order to get our military back to the level of readiness at which it should be, while paying for the continued costs of this war after it is finished, and the need to expand the size of our military. Meanwhile he takes a little dig at our allies and mentions all the other fiscal problems we have as something in passing.
They paved paradise and put up a rocket launcher facility.
Alaska’s Kodiak Island is one of North America’s premiere, pristine habitats. Famous for its huge burley bears, world-class salmon fishing, and a multitude of magnificent shades of misty green that blanket the entire island in the summer time – hence its charming appellative: Alaska's Emerald Isle.
Kodiak Island’s 13,900 citizens and 3,000 bears never asked to be home to a rocket launcher facility. In fact, the people (if not the bears) organized and fought tooth and nail against the project; insisting that putting a rocket launcher facility on their lustrous island would severely impact their fishing and tourist industry and environment in general. But they eventually relented when the Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation (AADC) promised them that the brand spankin’ new Kodiak Launch Complex (KLC) would not cause any significant damage, and have little or no overall impact on the island’s habitat.
Benazir Bhutto was encouraged by both Bush and Condi Rice to offer up herself as 'change' in Pakistan, a moderating influence to counter the dictatorial rule of Pervez Musharaff. All the players, including Bhutto herself, knew the risks involved.
But there are simply too many logical disconnects. It was wrong to expect from the beginning that this half-baked plan was ever to work.
At the root is the religious extremist network that encourages political violence and hatred. It has not been attenuated at all. Bin-Laden is a just a symbol; however, it is telling that Bush has been excoriated more than once over his lack of interest in destroying this symbol.
Where is Osama Bin-Laden, Mister Bush?
The violence engendered by this Holy War [and it most certainly has been framed by both sides as a religious war] has been fostered and grown under the dictatorial rule of Musharraf in Pakistan.
Yes, that was sarcasm. First let me begin by saying this website has been a pleasure. I became a member as a result of the "Cobert Bump". Occasionally I'll throw in a post asking people to back off of Hillary, or giving Obama the "ataboy!" (he's my choice for President).
But I primarily post in military related forums for a couple of reasons. First, it's an area of great interest to me for obvious reasons. Second, because I think a select few members of my party have a negative view of the armed forces. Unfortunately, it's those few who conservative news networks focus on. For that reason, I believe they hurt the Democratic party overall. The vast majority of Americans respect and are appreciative of our men and women who serve.
I'm a liberal democrat who happens to be actively serving in the US Army. For that reason I have to be careful about how I word things, and always remember that my opinions are mine alone.
I'm afraid I'm not very internet savvy, and I'm brand new with diaries. So forgive me if It's rather plain.
As the situation continues to deteriorate both for Iraqis inside and outside of Iraq, and for Americans inside Iraq, Americans in America are still debating on the state of the war and occupation- are they winning or losing? Is it better or worse.
Let me clear it up for any moron with lingering doubts: It’s worse. It’s over. You lost. You lost the day your tanks rolled into Baghdad to the cheers of your imported, American-trained monkeys. You lost every single family whose home your soldiers violated. You lost every sane, red-blooded Iraqi when the Abu Ghraib pictures came out and verified your atrocities behind prison walls as well as the ones we see in our streets. You lost when you brought murderers, looters, gangsters and militia heads to power and hailed them as Iraq’s first democratic government. You lost when a gruesome execution was dubbed your biggest accomplishment. You lost the respect and reputation you once had. You lost more than 3000 troops. That is what you lost America. I hope the oil, at least, made it worthwhile.--Riverbend, Baghdad Burning,Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Bush will ask for approval from Congress next week for his $20B arms deal with Mideast countries like Saudi Arabia. He's billing it as an attempt to "counter" Iran's growing influence in the region, but all it really is will be a new Cold War.
Why would we sell weapons to the people who attacked us on 911?
Did Bush Jr. learn nothing from the picture of Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Hussein?
Or is Bush really just as cynical and evil as we all think he is? Is he really this sold out to the Saudis and to corporate war profiteers? After all this time? Does he really care so little about Republican political chances in 2008, to be selling weapons to terrorists?
The Bush administration will ask Congress next week to approve an arms-sale package to Saudi Arabia and five other Persian Gulf countries that may total more than $20 billion, Rebecca Goodrich-Hinton, a Defense Department spokeswoman, said.
[Update: Added link to NPR story, thanks to Joe Bob in the comments]
$700,000,000,000.
That's what Bob Gates is requesting for next year's DoD budget according to NPR News
Gates argued that the present DoD budget as a percentage of GDP is lower than it was when he last served under Bush 41 (red herring). In order to justify this economically crippling quantity of money, he quoted Sun Tzu and George Washington.
This is political blackmail. Gates is a smooth talking panderer. This is more than he would have asked for if the Republicans still controlled the legislative branch. If you're looking for proof that the neoconservative agenda is alive and well, look no further.
(by request, this is a repost)
I've been promising an article from my interview with ex-CIA intelligence officer, Richard Barlow, for months. RawStory publishedthe first piece.
Barlow was the CIA's key expert on Pakistan's nuclear program - he engineered sting operations & arrests of key AQ Khan personnel. For his efforts, Barlow was retaliated against - he says that Cheney, Libby, Wolfowitz & Hadley "viciously tried to destroy my life, personally & professionally... in truly extraordinary ways that no one had ever seen before or since—at least not until the Wilsons (Joe, Valerie) were victims of the same people years later."
Barlow was recently featured in a BBC documentary about AQ Khan, "The Nuclear Walmart," which highlights that the US government was fully aware of the development of Pakistan's nuclear program, as well as Pakistan's proliferation to countries like North Korea & Iran - and sat by quietly and did nothing.
Barlow argues that the military-industrial-complex is so powerful that it dwarfs serious national/global security concerns such as the spread of nuclear technology to America's 'enemies': "They sold out the world for an F-16 sale."
I've been promising an article from my interview with ex-CIA intelligence officer, Richard Barlow, for months. RawStory publishedthe first piece.
Barlow was the CIA's key expert on Pakistan's nuclear program - he engineered sting operations & arrests of key AQ Khan personnel. For his efforts, Barlow was retaliated against - he says that Cheney, Libby, Wolfowitz & Hadley "viciously tried to destroy my life, personally & professionally... in truly extraordinary ways that no one had ever seen before or since—at least not until the Wilsons (Joe, Valerie) were victims of the same people years later."
Barlow was recently featured in a BBC documentary about AQ Khan, "The Nuclear Walmart," which highlights that the US government was fully aware of the development of Pakistan's nuclear program, as well as Pakistan's proliferation to countries like North Korea & Iran - and sat by quietly and did nothing.
Barlow argues that the military-industrial-complex is so powerful that it dwarfs serious national/global security concerns such as the spread of nuclear technology to America's 'enemies': "They sold out the world for an F-16 sale."
Congratulations my fellow Americans. We have officially started a civil war in Iraq.
Pat yourself on the back, buy some more stock in the MIC, and laugh all the way to the bank. Good jorb, guys!!
If we keep this up, there'll soon be a million or two less potential terrorists in the world. Sure, they'll be 20-30,000,000 more actual people with mortal grievances against US, but, hey...at least...uh...at least...well......"least" pretty much says it all.
