Thursday, November 09, 2017

How sad but true



  1 hour ago
Incoming NJ Governor Phil Murphy won by buying off local Democratic committees using the fortune he had amassed over 20 years at Goldman Sachs and flattering donors as DNC finance chair. Amazing how that could be spun as a "progressive" triumph given recent political history.
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They lie to themselves constantly.

Apparently, as long as they think we're buying it, they don't care how worthless a candidate like that is.

And they are worthless.

Dems controlled the Senate when they voted for the Iraq War.

Dems controlled the House, Senate and White House when they passed the corporate ownership of the American people aka ObamaCare.


We buy into the lie that it matters and it doesn't.

Maybe it would matter if we voted for politicians who actually stood for something.

But we kept getting sold on the idea that we can't go too left, we must stay center, blah blah blah.

We need a better world -- as some people realize.

Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


Thursday, November 9, 2017.
"You Keep Me Hanging On" by Diana Ross & the Supremes is one of the 19 number one pop songs (BILLBOARD US singles chart) that Diana Ross has sang on.  November 19th, she'll be on the live broadcast (ABC) of The American Music Awards to perform and to receive the American Music Award for Lifetime Achievement.  Motown Classic is issuing DIAMOND DIANA: THE LEGACY COLLECTION November 17th to note this monumental achievement.

Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs has just published its accounting of U.S. overseas conflicts covering 2001 to present.
The figures include previous and new defence spending for combat operations in  Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Syria.
The actual wars are estimated to cost $4.3 trillion U.S. That overall figure also includes increased spending on veterans from those wars. In addition, the cost figure includes $783 billion in spending for the Department of Homeland Security for the prevention and response to terrorism.
The price tag for endless war.
The hubris of leaders who think they can spend the United States into the poor house and the citizens we'll love them for it.
All the things that $4.3 trillion could have bought.
All the needs that go unmet.
The world is not safer because of that spending.  It's more at risk.
Iraq's certainly no better for this.

Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR) expressed its concern for the fate of innocents besieged inside Rawa, last ISIS' stronghold in Iraq.

Military observers believe that the presence of civilians inside the city might force the security forces to change their military tactics in launching the liberation operation.

OHCHR added that “according to the detecting sources at the commission’s offices in Anbar, ISIS terrorists are still holding nearly 2500 families, equivalent to 10,000 individuals, to use them as human shields and hamper the advance of Iraqi forces”.
After all the victory laps Iraq's tiny prime minister Hayder al-Abadi's taken while claiming ISIS has been defeated in Iraq (it hasn't), turns out Rawa's still controlled by ISIS -- as has been the case since June of 2014.
Private banks have until Tuesday to close down in Kurdistan. Thank you every day you make me why I should never ever feel being "Iraqi". My kids don't know word "Iraq" nor I will ever let them do so. Are KDP & PUK corrupt yes, but normal Kurds dont deserve this.
المركزي العراقي يمهل حتى الثلاثاء المقبل البنوك الخاصة بإغلاق فروعها في إقليم أو التجنب لعقوبات
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Humiliation and persecution -- the two tools Hayder uses.  They only fuel resistance.
A true leader grasps that.
A despot doesn't care.
Hayder's creating the resistance.
In more bad news for Hayder, RUDAW reports:
The United States Congress has taken the first steps to impose "terrorist sanctions" on Iranian-proxy militias operating in Iraq.

Hezbollah al-Nujaba and As-Saib Ahl-Haq are alleged to have been "provided training, funding, and arms by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), IRGC-Quds Force, and mentored by Lebanese Hezbollah."

Rep. Ted Poe sponsored the bill on Friday which will first be referred to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The text also claims Ahl-Haq leader, Qais al-Khazali, "has pledged allegiance to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei."

Ahl-Haq “conducted numerous attacks” against US and Coalition forces since its inception in 2006, according to the bill.

Rights agencies like the UNHCR and Human Rights Watch have alleged the two groups have carried out human rights abuses in Iraq and Syria during the war against ISIS and Syria’s internal conflict. Alleged abuses include execution of civilians during the 2016 siege of Aleppo and extrajudicial killings of Sunni and Kurdish civilians in areas liberated from ISIS.

The two Iraqi Shiite militias are part of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), which is officially under Iraqi government control.
The Iraqi government must find a balance, dealing with the increasingly important Shiite Muslim militias, who express their allegiance to Iran, and the US. They must convince a large mainly Shiite Muslim political bloc to accept the ongoing presence of US troops in Iraq and appease and restrain some of the more extreme elements within the Shiite Muslim militias.
Over the past fortnight some of those tensions have been expressed by commentators at the highest political levels.
US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, earned both applause and opprobrium when he called for Iranian-backed militias and Iranian advisers, who helped to defeat the extremist Islamic State, or IS, group, to “go back home”. US diplomats also caused an uproar when they described Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, one of the most senior commanders in the Shiite Muslim militias, with close contacts to Hezbollah in Iraq, as a “terrorist”; al-Mohandes had previously been designated a terrorist in 2009 but has played an integral part in the fight against the IS group. 
Qais al-Khazali, who heads the League of the Righteous militia, one of the most extremist fighting groups in Iraq, was quick to respond. He wrote on Twitter, using his personal account, to tell Tillerson that, now defeat loomed for the extremists, the US forces in Iraq had no excuse to be there any longer and that they should get out.
Most of the Shiite Muslim political parties also condemned the US’ statements and al-Mohandes was defended on all sides, even though he has close ties to Iran (which some politicians disagree with).
Caught in between the diplomats, the fighters and the rhetoric is the Iraqi government.
The militias are supposed to be disbanded.
They are never to be made part of the Iraqi military -- per the Constitution.  But Hayder ignored the Constitution.  Where's the Baghdad-based court ruling on that?
Iraq's Vice President Osama al-Nujaifi has been in the US.  In DC, he's been calling for the US to arm the Sunnis.  Yara Bayoumy (REUTERS) reports, "Iraq's top Sunni Muslim politician said on Wednesday he would back Shi'ite Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi for a new term as long as conditions such as bringing Shi'ite militias under state control and balancing relations with other countries are fulfilled."
It's a rare bit of good news for Hayder.  Of course, Osama does tell REUTERS that there would be conditions for such support and that Hayder would have to start ruling for all of Iraq and not just for the sub-section of Shi'ites in the Dawa party.
And RUDAW quoted from a speech Osama gave this week:


“Disputed areas should be under the security of a confederated entity. This doesn't mean the Peshmerga and Iraqi armies should be deployed on the ground,” said the Sunni leader Nujaifi at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) in Washington, D.C. “It should originate from the local populaces – in the hands of the people there.”
That's not an idea unique to Osama.
The US government has often argued that.
But they've never done much more than give lip service to it -- they haven't set conditions on aid or training, they've just said, "Take these trillions and do whatever you want!"
The following community sites -- plus Jody Watley and LATINO USA -- updated:
  
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Wednesday, November 08, 2017

The chivalrous douche

Did you see this?

  54 minutes ago
FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME: I continue to defend not because I think she is beyond criticism, but because I reject the daily vicious, unjust vilification of an admired and accomplished public servant. When they stop attacking, I'll stop defending.
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He does think she's beyond criticism.

He's responded with bitchy attacks to every criticism of Hillary Clinton.

You get the impression that the real Mrs. Daou sleeps in a separate bed because there's not room enough for her in bed with her husband and her husband's obsession with Hillary Clinton.

He's lied for her forever.

I also remember in 2008 when he was considered racist.

But he'll keep pimping for Hillary -- what else does he have in his poor pathetic life?

Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


Wednesday, November 8, 2017.





"You Can't Hurry Love" by Diana Ross & the Supremes (Lynda Laurence and Sherrie Payne performing it with Diana on Oprah Winfrey's syndicated talk show) is one of the 19 number one pop songs (BILLBOARD US singles chart) that Diana Ross has sang on.  November 19th, she'll be on the live broadcast (ABC) of The American Music Awards to perform and to receive the American Music Award for Lifetime Achievement.  Motown Classic is issuing DIAMOND DIANA: THE LEGACY COLLECTION November 17th to note this monumental achievement.




  2 hours ago
Former Iraqi Kurdish president Masoud Barzani says the US knew Iraqi forces planned Kirkuk takeover
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In Iraq, the Baghdad-based government is currently waging war on the Kurds.  Adla Massoud (NEWSWEEK) spoke with the former president of the KRG Massoud Barzani:

Many worry that tensions between Baghdad and Irbil could escalate into a new war. What do you think?
We hope the fighting and bloodshed will cease. Our policy is to seek dialogue, to seek peaceful ways for conflict resolution and conflict prevention with Iraq. If the international community and the coalition...genuinely want to prevent another armed conflict, they can. But if a battle erupts, it means they gave it the green light.

 Your opponents accuse you of holding the referendum for your own political gain. What do you say to them?
The decision to hold the referendum was made in 2014 by the election commission, by parliament. The decision was not a personal one, and at that time, it was a collective decision of all the political parties and all the institutions in Kurdistan. But because of ISIS, we postponed the date to hold the referendum. Later, when we did set the date, it was also a collective decision by all the political parties in Kurdistan.

Is Kurdish independence still possible?
What’s going on in [Kurdish territories]...is just temporary because nobody can change the identity of those areas. We are not going to recognize any forced demographic change. The identities of these areas are still Kurdish. We withdrew from many of the areas so as to prevent any kind of conflict and bloodshed. We wanted to prevent any kind of military confrontation to pave the way for dialogue.


September 25th, the KRG held a non-binding referendum to determine the will of the Kurdish people and over 92% of the voters voted for independence.


  19 hours ago
There is no reason to believe that the Iraqi government will not betray its indigenous citizens.
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Sworesho is correct.

And that's the lesson here though the press ignores it just as they ignored Nouri al-Maliki's attacks when he was prime minister -- the same attacks that led to the rise of ISIS.

What Hayder al-Abadi (Nouri's replacement as prime minister) is getting away with is stunning.

He has used US weapons against the Kurds.

The law does not allow that.  US law does not allow that.  Per US law, all US troops should be out of Iraq and there should be no assistance military or financially.

It is against US law -- per treaties and the Leahy Amendment -- for the US to support a regime who attacks their own people.

It would appear that thugs like Hayder and Nouri can't be happy unless they are attacking others.


  20 hours ago
Iraq stops KRG medical supply, causing shortage for locals, IDPs
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Under Nouri, the attacks were on the peaceful protesters at first.  Then journalists were attacked if they dared cover the protests.  Soon, he was deploying tanks to rival politicians homes.

It was a process and, as it unfolded, the press remained largely silent.

In fact, THE NEW YORK TIMES even defended the kidnapping of journalists from a public cafe and their subsequent torture by Iraqi forces.

So it wasn't just silence, it was also press applause.

Today, Hayder gets the applause non-stop from Patrick Cockburn of the so-called INDEPENDENT.

But what's taking place now sets the stage for what happens later.

Don't kid and don't come whining to me a year from now about how could you have known?

I think there were almost 40 e-mails from various US 'thinkers' and 'reporters' when Barack Obama finally turned on Nouri al-Maliki (summer 2014) with garbage about how they hadn't seen it.

It was there.

We charted it in real time.

By 2012, if you were still defending Nouri, you didn't know what the hell you were talking about.

Scotty Horton at ANTIWAR RADIO got it all twisted because he was under the impression Patrick Cockburn was an 'independent' voice.  He wasn't, he's not.  His hatred for the Kurds is only matched by his hatred -- his very well known hatred -- for Arabs.

A real news outlet would have pulled Cockburn off of Iraq a long time ago.  His reporting has always been biased and slanted.

But that doesn't make him very different from the bulk of his peers, does it?


Iraq is in serious trouble but you get b.s. 'reports' about how great the future is.

ISIS was not a root cause.  ISIS grew out of a root cause.

That's never been addressed so, no, the future for Iraq is not 'sunny' currently.


Stephen Braun (AP) reports:

Iraq’s highest-ranking Sunni leader said Tuesday the growing influence of Iranian-backed Shiite militias looms as the nation’s most pressing future security threat and called for bolstering U.S. military aid to Sunni forces.
In Washington for talks this week with Trump administration officials and congressional leaders, Iraqi Vice President Osama al-Nujaifi is hoping the administration will deliver on pledges to counter Iran’s growing influence inside Iraq and across the Middle East. 

Here for more on the call for US military aid.

Greg Walters (VICE) notes:

“As long as the militias’ interests align with Abadi’s, everything is fine,” Belkis Wille, senior Iraq researcher for Human Rights Watch, told VICE News. “But where they diverge, that’s when we might see significant instability — and situations where civilians are more likely to be targeted with impunity.”
The U.S. is hoping Abadi is the man to unite a deeply fractured Iraq, but questions remain about his ability to control the militias, a senior U.S. official told VICE News.
The group known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), or Hashed al-Shaabi, is cause for serious concern, the senior U.S. official said. Formed in 2014 out of some 40, primarily Shia, militia groups, the PMF played a pivotal role in the fight against ISIS. But the formidable military force is also commonly linked to Iran, and doesn’t necessarily share the same long-term interests as Abadi or the U.S.
“The big concern that we have with regard to the Hashed al-Shaabi are those parts of the Hashed that may not be fully responsive to the orders of the prime minister,” the senior U.S. official said, on condition of anonymity in order to speak more freely.
Not having control of the militias could prove disastrous, particularly if rival military forces start fighting each other to stake claims in a country still shaking off ISIS.



It's worth noting that the Iraqi constitution forbids what's taking place.  The militias are outlawed.

Hayder can't control them.  He invited them in and now he can't do anything about them.

Sunny?

Stormy.

The fight against ISIS brought some temporary cohesion.

Temporary.

And now it's gone.

The real problems have not been addressed.

And now that the cohesion is gone, it's too late to start addressing them.


June 19, 2014, Barack said military alone would not solve the problems.  We agreed.  We applauded that.

But the US never got around to a diplomatic surge.


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The following community sites -- plus PACIFICA EVENING NEWS and LATINO USA  -- updated:

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