- It’s swell that @PeteButtigieg is smart, reads Joyce, speaks Lithuanian etc. That he frowns on Ed Snowden & is “troubled” by Obama’s commutation of Chelsea Manning means he’s a bit of a war pig with a Beltway-funhouse sense of “national security”
Pete is a war pig.
MODERN FAMILY? I did watch last week. I just thought it was the worst episode of the show thus far. And Phil's nervousness around Jay now translating to nervousness around any man, even men much younger than Phil? Ridiculous. Many more episodes like this one and no one will be watching next season.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Tuesday, March 26, 2019. The tragedy of the ferry is far from the only
problem facing northern Iraq (bridges, the dam issue, etc) and don't
whine about 'disengagement' if you can't get honest about the fact that
the US has no ambassador to Iraq currently.
Mohammed Jasim Awad. A name that should be known wider than any of the puppets the US government has put in charge of Iraq. Natash Ghoneim (AL JAZEERA) reports on him in the video below.
Last week's tragedy with the ferry found the 24-year-old Mohammed volunteering to help with the rescue efforts and managed to retrieve eight bodies. Moahmmed was one of the two volunteers who drowned.
Mohammed Jasim Awad. A name that should be known wider than any of the puppets the US government has put in charge of Iraq. Natash Ghoneim (AL JAZEERA) reports on him in the video below.
Last week's tragedy with the ferry found the 24-year-old Mohammed volunteering to help with the rescue efforts and managed to retrieve eight bodies. Moahmmed was one of the two volunteers who drowned.
What caused the Mosul ferry to capsize?
KirkukNow reveals more about the Mosul disaster. Click on this link:
kirkuknow.com/en/news/30274
Chaos and confusion as Mosul struggles to come to terms with ferry disaster ow.ly/WLOM30obZdL
"The governor and all corrupt officials must be put on trial ... We are fed up of being mistreated and marginalized," said protester Isra Mohammed. #Mosul
Mosul had the ferry disaster last week. For years, they've needed to address problems with the dam. Actual leadership might have allowed that to be addressed.
There's a new problem emerging in the north. RUDAW reports:
Flash flooding has further weakened a temporary bridge over the Little Zab River which separates federal Iraq from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region, leading to fears it could collapse at any moment.
The steel bridge was only recently built to replace the original structure destroyed in fighting between Iraqi forces and the Peshmerga in October 2017.
Damage caused by heavy freight traffic has been further exacerbated by the torrent of water passing under the bridge as flash flooding swells the Little Zab.
Heavy rains have caused serious damage to farms, homes, and infrastructure across the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.
Bridge linking Iraq to Kurdistan Region ‘may collapse at any mom rudaw.net/english/kurdis… via @RudawEnglish
That's far from the only bridge issue in Iraq these days.
@OCHAIraq continues to monitor the impacts of the heavy rains throughout #Iraq. [#Photo: Daradoien bridge between Sulaymaniah – Kalar; photo via Rast Press: rastpress.net/2019/03/%D8%A8…; #severeweather #rain #floods #flooding #planning #preparedness
• Alnasr Bridge is closed.
• Alhurriyya Bridge still closed.
• Qanatir Bridge is still closed.
• Suwais Bridge has just been closed.
• Qayyarah Bridge has just been closed.
#Kirkuk: All Kirkuk districts reported heavy rains since 23 March. No flooding/ damage have been reported so far. However, there is concern that a bridge in Hawiga may collapse any time. Civil defense forces are responding.
#Sulaymaniyah: Sulaymaniyah experienced heavy rains since 24 -25 March. No flooding or damages reported so far; #IDP camps have not been affected by the rain. #Kalar district concerned that #Diyala river could burst its bank any time. Civil defense forces are responding.
#Wasit: the Governor announced alert re expected floods induced by the recent heavy downpours. In this connection, the Governor ordered evacuation of some villages to avoid civilian casualties.
#Basra: reportedly 20 families have been evacuated from Al-Hwaidi in Qurna District due to floods. Other areas in Basra affected by the floods include Al-Seeba and Al-Faw Districts, south of Basra. JCMC and Basra crisis cell are meeting today to evaluate the situation
#ShatAlArab: reportedly, the reopening of tributaries / feeders from Iran towards Shat al-Arab river have damaged soil dams in areas north of Basra close to Shat Al-Arab river, leading to inundation of vast agricultural area.
These issues go unaddressed because Iraq has a government led by thieves more concerned with how much money they can steal than how to help the Iraqi people. The corruption is bred into the puppet system.
Over at THE GUARDIAN, selling the Iraq War continues. Yes, boys and girls, the bible of New Labour sold the Iraq War. B-b-b-but the Downing Street Memoes! They were never covered by THE GUARDIAN, to this day, they were never covered. In England, New Labour supported the Iraq War and the Conservative Party did not which is why Rupert Murdoch's TIMES OF LONDON published The Downing Street Memo and not THE GUARDIAN.
Alia Barhimi is a self-styled 'expert' and, at THE GUARDIAN, she offers what she thinks passes for 'expertise' today:
It is unlikely Iraq will turn the page on its recent history of toxic sectarianism, as the leaders of notorious Shia security forces such as Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq and the Badr Organisation are now embedded in the parliamentary system. Baghdad is also pushed further towards the embrace of Iran by Trump’s disengagement from the region, as symbolised by President Rouhani’s tour of Iraq this month.
Oh, look, another half-wit managed to insult Donald Trump. She has no actual knowledge -- fools usually don't.
Is Donald Trump disengaging from the region? We're talking Iraq.
Donald Trump nominated a US ambassador to Iraq back in November of last year (Matthew Tueller). At the start of this month, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee finally held a hearing. They have still not voted on the nomination. The US has no ambassador in Iraq currently.
B-b-but Douglas Silliman!
He left. Long ago.
My thoughts as I depart Baghdad.
It's about to be April and there's still no US Ambassador to Iraq.
Is that not clear enough for Alia? That's not Donald Trump dragging feet or 'disengaging.' That's the US Senate. And this has been going on for months.
Human filth like Alia Barhimi know they can whine about Trump to the equally uninformed. She doesn't have to write anything original or of value or even factual. And this is passed off as 'insight.' She argues for continued war, that is all she ever argues for. Human filth.
There's far more honesty, insight and facts in Tim Black's column for SPIKED:
So while Iraq was freed of its portion of the caliphate over a year ago, it remains under the control of a dysfunctional, corrupt
state, its quasi-legitimacy derived as much from the extensive network
of Shia patronage and ‘jobs for boys’ it provides, as from the painfully
inconclusive elections it holds – elections, it is worth noting, in
which few Iraqis now vote.
It means the Iraqi state, hand in hand with its Iranian backers,
benefits a section of Iraq’s Shia majority while disenfranchising the
Sunni minority. So a state-linked, often state-employed, section of
Iraqi society, with assorted militias protecting its interests, enjoys
the benefits of Iraq’s still substantial oil revenues, while vast
swathes of largely Sunni Iraq subsist amid a failing infrastructure.
Even now, over 15 years since the US-led invasion devastated the nation, water and electricity supplies,
especially in southern Iraq, can be intermittent. ISIS didn’t come from
nowhere; it came from here, from a fractured post-Baathist, post-2003
Iraq. And there is every reason to think that the substantial,
ethnically inflected grievances that gave it a foothold in local
populations, can do so again.
New content at THIRD:
- Truest statement of the week
- Truest statement of the week II
- A note to our readers
- Editorial: Another tragedy in Iraq
- TV: The spoiled children cry and lie
- The Russia nonsense
- They're all guilty and should rot in hell
- Glenn Greenwald asks an important question
- Question of the week?
- Julian's mother
- This edition's playlist
- PA Greens call for divestment from the war machine...
- Leader McCarthy’s Statement on Special Counsel Mue...
- Highlights
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