Friday, September 8, 2017

Did you fall for the myth of Aung San Suu Kyi?

I never did.

 I was glad when Elaine called her out in April.

Even gladder now.


  1.   3 hours ago
    Aung San Suu Kyi was creation of Western liberals. She was always a neo-colonial elite more comfortable with elites in West than the people
    1 reply42 retweets96 likes
     
     
     
  2.   3 hours ago
    I always said that Aung San Suu Kyi was not a human rights defender and her non-actions to protect the Rohingya in Myanmar confirms it.
    6 replies59 retweets127 likes
     
     
     
Exactly.

She was a tool for imperialists.

Hillary was very fond of her.

That about says it all.


This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


Friday, September 8, 2017.  The war drags on as many profit.






Ask people in Iraq, Syria, Gaza, Honduras, Haiti, Libya, eventually you'll find an answer Secretary Clinton



Hillary Clinton: "What makes me such a lightning rod for fury? I'm really asking. I'm at a loss."

8:52 AM - 6 Sep 2017

43 replies556 retweets1,210 likes





Starting with Hillary Clinton who is apparently on a mission to become this century's John and Martha Mitchell combined.  Sloppy drunk?  It's in there.  It's all in the book.  It's dishy and trashy and someone thought she was presidential?

If she had a better ghost writer, she might be able to set herself up as the next Jaqueline Susann.

It's dishy and trashy and she's yet again managed to set a bad example to all.

The good news for the country?

It's unlikely she'll try for president next go round.

We know she won't accept the results -- even if she pledges to do so.

Her book is another ghost written embarrassment intended to make money.  She's shameless in sporting her greed which includes outrageous prices for tickets to see her.

And she wonders why the working class felt she was out of touch with their issues?

Two questions that need to be answered.

First, why are US taxpayers paying for Secret Service protection?

She's getting millions for this book so why does the American people have to pay for her protection at her book promotion efforts?

Shouldn't Hillary pick up that tab?

Second, she voted for the Iraq War.

How much of the book's proceeds will she be donating to veterans?

Her greed must be her chief motivator.





When is enough for Hillary?

When does she give back?

She said her vote for the war was a mistake.

Okay, atone for your mistake, don't just line your own pockets.


She voted for the war.

The war that still drags on.


At THE NATION, Iraq War veteran Danny Sjursen wonders why that is and explains:

 In Syria and Iraq, the US military is fighting a loathsome adversary in ISIS, but even so, the situation is far more complicated than usually imagined here. As a start, the US air offensive to support allied Syrian and Kurdish rebels fighting to take ISIS’s “capital,” Raqqa—grimly titled Operation Wrath of the Euphrates—killed more civilians this past May and June than the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad. In addition, America’s brutal air campaign appears unhinged from any coherent long-term strategy. No one in charge seems to have the faintest clue what exactly will follow ISIS’s rule in eastern Syria. A Kurdish mini-state? A three-way civil war between Kurds, Sunni tribes, and Assad’s forces (with Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s increasingly autocratic Turkey as the wild card in the situation)? Which begs the question: Are American bombs actually helping?
Similarly, in Iraq it’s not clear that the future rule of Shia-dominated militia groups and others in the rubble left by the last years of grim battle in areas ISIS previously controlled will actually prove measurably superior to the nightmare that preceded them. The present Shia-dominated government might even slip back into the sectarian chauvinism that helped empower ISIS in the first place. That way, the United States can fight its fourth war in Iraq since 1991! 
And keep in mind that the war for the Greater Middle East—and I fought in it myself both in Iraq and Afghanistan—is just the latest venture in the depressing annals of Washington’s geo-strategic thinking since President Ronald Reagan’s administration, along with the Saudis and Pakistanis, armed, funded, and supported extreme fundamentalist Afghan mujahedeen rebels in a Cold War struggle with the Soviet Union that eventually led to the 9/11 attacks. His administration also threw money, guns, and training—sometimes illegally—at the brutal Nicaraguan Contras in another Cold War covert conflict in which about 100,000 civilians died.
In those years, the United States also stood by apartheid South Africa—long after the rest of the world shunned that racist state—not even removing Nelson Mandela’s name from its terrorist watch list until 2008! And don’t forget Washington’s support for Jonas Savimbi’s National Movement for the Total Independence of Angola that would contribute to the death of some 500,000 Angolans. And that’s just to begin a list that would roll on and on.
That, of course, is the relatively distant past, but the history of US military action in the 21st century suggests that Washington seems destined to repeat the process of choosing the wrong, or one of the wrong, sides into the foreseeable future. Today’s Middle East is but a single exhibit in a prolonged tour of hypocrisy. 



We should all be asking why the war continues.

We should all be questioning so-called 'humanitarian' motives for continuing the war.

Movement leader and Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr plans to continue his protests against corruption and to stage them before Iraq holds elections -- supposedly next year, but, again, they were supposed to take place this year and didn't.  In addition, XINHUA notes:



Iraq's firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Thursday announced that he will dissolve his military wing after full defeat of the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq.
A statement issued by Sadr urged the militants loyal to the Shiite cleric known as Saraya al-Salam, or Peace Companies militia, to join the government security forces and the government-run paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units.


Should Moqtada indeed disband his militia, there will still be many others active in the country.



Iran militia to attack Americans after ISIS defeat in IraqThe U.S. military is keeping a wary eye on Iran's most violent proxy militia in Iraq, which has vowed to start killing Americans again once the Islamic State is expelled.

Profile image of authorThe Washington Times
Sep 08, 2017



Rowan Scarborough reports:

The U.S. military is keeping a wary eye on Iran’s most violent proxy militia in Iraq, which has vowed to start killing Americans again once the Islamic State is expelled.
With the Islamic State’s defeat in Iraq coming closer — the U.S. estimates that the once 25,000-strong terrorist group is down to a few thousand followers at most holding only pockets of resistance — the danger from the Hezbollah Brigades is fast approaching.
A commander in the Shiiite battalion, also known as Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH) and the largest and most ruthless Iranian-trained militia fighting in Iraq and Syria, warned Americans on Sunday that they must leave Iraq or face a new war, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported.
Said the Fars headline, “Iraqi Popular Forces Warn to Target US Forces after Defeating ISIL Terrorists.”
Spokesman Jafar al-Hosseini issued a similar threat in March. His scripted messages on Beirut’s al-Mayadeen Arab-language TV station suggest the militia is not bluffing and is preparing for that day.

















The following community sites -- plus PACIFICA EVENING NEWS, Cindy Sheehan and Jody Watley -- updated:





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    • iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq Iraq




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    Thursday, September 7, 2017

    They're mighty White over at The Young Turks

    Which is among the reasons that I have no use for them.

    Here's another reason.


      Aug 28
    Only if you listen to the Clintonestas, Emma.I SERIOUSLY DOUBT a significant number of  Jill Stein or Bernie Sanders supporters voted Trump.
    The inability to discern between what is faulty (), & what is nuts, horrific, and embarrassing (Trump), has hurt progressives
    1 reply1 like
     
     
     

    Emma Vigeland is one of the tokens at The Young Turks.  A woman, there, is always an after thought.

    And notice, faulty is Hillary.

    If you're an Iraqi child whose parents are dead, is Hillary merely "faulty"?

    Or is she "horrific"?

    Hillary is not anyone that 'progressives' need to rally around.

    She's a War Hawk and much worse -- racist, yes, with super-predator and using prisoners for free labor, she's racist.

    She's disgusting.

    That The Young Turks think this is acceptable goes a long way towards explaining why fewer and fewer are bothering with TYT anymore.

    This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


    Thursday, September 9, 2017.  Yet another death in the never-ending Iraq War, Christians remain targeted but so does pretty much everyone else in Iraq, Klan Hillary continues to use veterans as a prop, and much more.


    Noor Faleh Rassan al-Khazali of Iraq is dead.  He died Tuesday in Arizona.


    Posts
    بمزيد من الحزن والاسى تنعى قيادة القوة الجوية العراقية إستشهاد الرائد الطيار نور فالح حزام رسن الخزعلي آثر تحطم طائرته من نوع F16 اثناء طلعة تدريبية في الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية ولاية أريزونا فجر هذا اليوم بتوقيت العراق ، و نعبر عن حزننا الشديد لفقدان هذا البطل والذي كان من خيرة طياري طائرات ال F16 والذي آكمل كل مراحل التدريب بتفوق عالي وكان خير من مثل العراق من حيث الإلتزام والخلق الرفيع والضبط ، ندعوا الله ان يتغمده فسيح جناته ولأهله وذويه الصبر والسلوان . انا لله وانا اليه راجعون
    With more sorrow and sadness, the Iraqi air force command mourns the martyrdom of major pilot light the belt impact impact during during For the loss of this hero, who was one of the finest pilots pilots, who completed all stages of training with high superiority and was better than Iraq in terms of commitment and high-quality and restraint, we pray to God that he will be able to rest in peace and in peace and patience. . I belong to God and to him we return
    LikeShow more reactions
    Comment


    Chad Garland (STARS AND STRIPES) notes:

     Khazali was conducting a routine training mission, 1st Lt. Lacey Roberts said. The U.S. Air Force has assembled a safety board to investigate the crash, which is the second involving an F-16 from the 162nd Wing and the third F-16 crash in Arizona since mid-2015. An Iraqi brigadier general was killed when his F-16 crashed during night training near Douglas, Ariz., in July 2015.


    AP repurposes  THE STARS AND STRIPES article here.


      21 hours ago

    Our thoughts are with our Iraqi Air Force partners, and our hearts go out to the pilot’s friends and family. 
    5 replies83 retweets246 likes
     
     
     



    In Iraq, the war continues as does the persecution.

    Peter Feaver and Will Inboden (FOREIGN POLICY) argue:

     Do we want to be the generation that stood by as Christians disappeared almost entirely from the ancient homelands they have occupied since the days of the New Testament?

    Will the Trump administration and this Congress let this historic and preventable tragedy happen on their watch?
    We are on the precipice of catastrophe, and unless we act soon, within weeks, the tiny remnants of Christian communities in Iraq may be mostly eradicated by the genocide being committed against Christians in Iraq and Syria.
    Other global crises such as North Korea's nuclear adventurism may be dominating the headlines, but this tragedy has been unfolding in agonizing slow motion over the past decade, an unintended consequence of the turmoil and sectarian strife unleashed by the Iraq war of 2003. Saddam Hussein was hardly a protector of Christians, but the power vacuum that came after his fall made the plight of Christians in Iraq dramatically worse. The George W. Bush administration tried to help persecuted Christians and other religious minorities, but had its hands full avoiding defeat in the larger civil war. Whatever respite Bush's surge decision bought soon gave way under the Obama administration to an even more terrible extermination campaign launched by the Islamic State, leading to a charnel house of death and displacement for Christians. In turn, the Obama administration found itself making its own painful tradeoffs as it tried to fight the Islamic State while relying on local militias that had designs on Christian lands. The result was an accelerated Christian exodus and extermination of those who stayed behind.
    Bureaucrats in the Obama administration compounded the problem by blocking efforts to direct some funding to help local church groups and other religious organizations that were providing almost all of the humanitarian assistance to the suffering Christian communities. Their rationale stemmed from a benighted misinterpretation of humanitarian principles and a desire to avoid the appearance of favoritism when there were so many suffering groups. Such head-scratching punctiliousness prevailed despite the Obama administration's own public recognition that the Christian and other religious minorities like Yazidis were the victims of genocide and faced extinction unless they were helped.

    Wassim Bassem (AL-MONITOR) also notes a bleak future, "Christian leaders say Iraq's monasteries and churches could soon become mere relics unless something is done to curb the violence against Christians. During an Aug. 26 press conference, Syriac Catholic Patriarch of Antioch Mar Ignatius Joseph III Younan described Christians as 'the most targeted and most vulnerable' minority in the region — and not just because of the Islamic State (IS)."

     
    This is an ongoing issue -- the targeting of Christians -- that's been a key of every year of the war.  Bahman Hassan (RUDAW) reported earlier this week:



    "We as Iraqi Christians call for an independent state, even if it is a small one like Kuwait or Vatican. The UN and UN Security Council should then protect our state," Robert Jameel, a member of Etihad Church in Baghdad, told Rudaw correspondent Bahman Hassan.

    Iraq was home to over 1.5 million Christians before the country plunged into bloody sectarian conflict in 2003.

    "We call for a state because we have suffered a lot. We have no support and have lost faith in everything. That is why we call for a state for the Christians," added Jameel.

    Non-governmental organizations in the Kurdistan Region have told Rudaw English that prior to the rise of ISIS in 2014, they estimate 400,000 Christians lived in all of Iraq.

    Since that time half of Christians have emigrated from Iraq, leaving less than 200,000 Christians mostly in the Kurdistan Region.

    And it's not just the Christian population in Iraq being persecuted. Hadani Ditmars (CBC) offers a look at Iraq:

    After all, the threat of ISIS has not disappeared. If anything, with human rights abuses carrying on against Mosul's beleaguered citizens – 40,000 of whom perished in the U.S. backed campaign to "liberate" the city and family members of alleged ISIS fighters being sent to byzantine "re-education" camps – the sectarian divisions exploited by the Islamic State will likely endure. 
    According to a recent Human Rights Watch report, the U.S.-trained Iraqi 16th division has been linked to war crimes in Mosul. 
    "Human Rights Watch has documented Iraqi forces detaining and holding at least 1,200 men and boys in inhumane conditions without charge, and in some cases torturing and executing them under the guise of screening them for ISIS-affiliation," the report reads.
    It also details the discovery of a mass execution site, gruesome accounts of decapitation of women ISIS fighters, and children as young as 14 with alleged ISIS ties being summarily executed and left to rot in the sun. Lawyers are now being arrested for representing ISIS suspects and tried for their supposed crimes in kangaroo courts.

    The head of the Iraqi government's Shia Endowment, Alaa al-Mousawi, has called for non-Muslims to convert to Islam or be killed. And while the UN, Amnesty International and other international agencies have urged action for several months on the horrors unfolding in Mosul, so far, Prime Minister Abadi has offered little more than lip service.



    Let's wrap up with this.


      Sep 5

    Please watch this. Many & immigrants were part of our 1st Armored Division team in N. Iraq. They sacrificed, gave their lives.
    1:50

    Thousands of patriotic who served our nation in uniform are at risk of deportation due to 's cruel decision.
    223 replies4,899 retweets7,759 likes
     
     
     




    They sacrificed, gave their lives.

    Well apologize to them for sending them into an illegal war.

    As for the always laughable VoteVets -- a front organization for the Democratic Party.  We made that call years ago.  Got nasty e-mails from a few VoteVets for doing so.  Thing is, everyone who e-mailed back then later e-mailed to say that, yes, turns out it was a front group.

    Of course it was.

    So mean old Donald Trump is going to deport some vets?

    In my best Bette Davis: So what?

    I'm getting really tired (a) of vets being used as props and (b) of them being treated like children.

    What's this?


    Click photo for screen-resolution image
    Servicemembers recite the oath of citizenship at Al Faw Palace at Camp Victory, Iraq, July 4. Seventy-six soldiers, Marines, airmen and sailors from 29 different countries became American citizens during the ceremony. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Kristin Kemplin      
    (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.



    Why, goodness me, it looks like an induction ceremony at Camp Victory taking place July 4, 2006.


    And now August 4, 2004:

    Click photo for screen-resolution image
    Jamaica native Marine Cpl. Everton Bryon, 22, Headquarters Company Marine Barracks 8th and I, Washington, D.C., and Dominican Republic native Army Spc. Johanna Abreu, Southern European Task Force, Vicenza, Italy, recite the pledge of allegiance during citizenship ceremonies at the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Office in Arlington, Va., Aug. 3. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Doug Sample      
    (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution imageavailable.



    From the DoD article accompanying the above photo:

     In recent years, becoming a U.S. citizen has become much easier and faster for thousands of noncitizen servicemembers. In July 2002, President Bush expedited the naturalization process for servicemembers through an executive order that states legal permanent residents serving in the U.S. military are immediately eligible to apply for naturalization.
    The order also states that legal permanent residents who were on active duty on Sept. 11, 2001, or after, but have since been honorably discharged from the military are also eligible for expedited naturalization.
    According to USCIS, more than 16,000 service members have requested expedited citizenship, and more that 8,000 have been sworn in as new U.S. citizens. Twenty-two servicemembers have been naturalized posthumously after being killed in Iraq.
    The Immigration and Nationality Act requires aliens to reside in the United States for at least five years after being lawfully admitted before applying for citizenship. That wait is three years for service members who are legal residents.
    However, President Bush waived the time limits for service members serving during periods of military hostilities, such as the war on terrorism.
    According to the USCIS, the general requirements for servicemembers to become U.S. citizens are that they demonstrate good moral character, have a knowledge of the English language, U.S. governments and history, and take an oath of allegiance to the U.S. constitution. Servicemembers also must prove U.S. residency.

     Additional benefits for servicemembers that recently went into effect include no-fee filing for naturalization, Aguirre said. And, he added, soon the naturalization process will be available to servicemembers at overseas locations, such as embassies, consulates and military installations.


    If you were a service member meeting the above, you had an easier road to citizenship than any non-military Dreamer.

    So let's stop the nonsense.

    I'm someone who believes we should have a blanket amnesty.  I can make the case for that and some would agree and some would not agree with me.  But if we had that and then two years later someone was whining -- and I use that term intentionally -- 'Oh, I'm about to be deported!'  The first question would have to be: Why didn't you use the amnesty period?

    I can't hold your hand and walk you through life.

    Some veterans faced with deportation currently may have a very good reason for not utilizing the tools available.  Some.  But these tools were available and service members had access to them.


    Failure to utilize the tools available?

    Maybe you were afraid, maybe you weren't sure you wanted citizenship.

    But let's stop the nonsense of 'poor, weak veterans.'

    They aren't weak, they survived the military -- and in some cases war as well.

    They also had an easier path to citizenship than most other immigrants in the US currently.

    Most of all, stop hiding behind veterans.

    I'm so sick of Klan Hillary that can't make a political argument (sound-byte) without trying to hide behind veterans.

    Homeless veterans, before Barack failed them and broke his promise, got attention.

    The homeless in general?

    Not at all.

    This country should be ashamed that anyone in it is homeless.  The US Congress should be forced to give up their vacations each year until significant decreases in the number of homeless takes place.

    But that's not the case.  We've gone from George H.W. Bush stepping over them as he walks with a reporter interviewing them, to basically the entire country stepping over them and acting like they're invisible.

    Klan Hillary's fine with that.

    The rest of us shouldn't be.



    The following community sites -- plus Jody Watley, PACIFICA EVENING NEWS and GORILLA RADIO -- updated:



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