Nobody Wins

Collision Course With Iran. Nobody wins.

Is Us

William S. Lind: The Non-thinking Enemy is us.

Beware the Chickenhawks. Good advice.

Al-Qaeda the 'worst threat' to US. No, it's the military industrial complex (not to mention politicians), stupid.

Full of Suckers

Chuck Spinney: It Was A successful mission (Too Bad We Lost the War). The author makes a strong case against Anti-Natural beliefs with respect to war. The herd, so far removed from reality, believes war to be clean. The world is full of suckers.

No Rule Of Law

Baghdad Burning: Maliki's Reaction... The rule of law has no meaning in Iraq.

Excerpts:

As expected, Al Maliki is claiming the rape allegations are all lies. Apparently, his people simply asked the officers if they raped Sabrine Al Janabi and they said no. I'm so glad that's been cleared up.

and

This is meant to discourage other prisoners, especially women, from coming forward and making claims against Iraqi and American forces. Maliki is the stupidest man alive (well, after Bush of course…) if he believes his arrogance and callous handling of the situation will work to dismiss it from the minds of Iraqis. By doing what he is doing, he's making it more clear than ever that under his rule, under his government, vigilante justice is the only way to go. Why leave it to the security forces and police? Simply hire a militia or gang to get revenge. If he doesn't get some justice for her, her tribe will be forced to... And the Janabat (the Al Janabis) are a force to be reckoned with.
Maliki could at least pretend the rape of a young Iraqi woman is still an outrage in todays Iraq...

Under these circumstances, government will never return.

Just Plain Nuts

Britney Spears and Dick Cheney: multiple personalities? Just plain nuts.

British leave Basra to its own devices. Time to quit a bad scene. Also one less available supply line from the south for the US?

Breaking the Dam in Olympia. If only.

We Did

Fabius Maximus: Forecast: the Death of the American Constitution. Who killed it? We did.

UN envoy hits Israel 'apartheid.' Why is this news to anyone? Israeli writers like Uri Avnery having been saying it for years.

Lesson

William S. Lind: A Swedish Lesson. Correction from below is the key missing from many a ring.

Also Die

Staticide in Iraq. The concept of government can also die.

Working-Class America

Britain will start Iraq troop withdrawal. Had enough?

Case in point:

Juan Cole: Attack on US military Base Kills 2 wounds 17; Running Battles leave Capital's Streets Deserted; Pentagon Thinks Big concerning attack on Iran. Who would want to stick around more more of the same stupid crap?

Sgt. MARTIN SMITH, USMC, ret.: structured Cruelty. Here's working-class America.

Real Stupid Like

Bush’s war lacks ‘link to realities on the ground.’ Real stupid like.

Paul Craig Roberts: Economists in Denial. The stupid, dismal science.

Dazzling success

2 Car Bombs Explode in Busy Baghdad Market, Killing at Least 60 People. “...dazzling success...” The bar is low.

Russia straddles Sunni-Shi'ite divide. Real power brokers.

Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration at Army's Top Medical Facility. Thanks from Washington D.C.

Anywhere

Patrick Cockburn: In Iraq, Anyone Can Make a Bomb.  Or anywhere else for that matter.

Which One?

Distributed Ops or Dumb Ops? Which one will be chosen? The mediocre.

#17

I finally got #17 of The Baffler.

Washington's Worst Nightmare

Patrick Coskburn: Who is Muqtada al-Sadr? Washington's worst nightmare.

Putin dismisses Chechen president. Needs more of a hard ass?

The Turkish alternative. Their military, which sees its mission as partly to defend secularism, will not allow fundamentalism in government.

Nothing Good

Paul Craig Roberts: Cracks in the Pentagon.  "Is the Military the Last Hope?" If so, it says nothing good about the US.

Weep

Replacing Cheney Gives White House Opportunities. Read it and weep.

Unknown News

Unknown News:

Police Chief forges documents, steals house -- gets probation.

... and more cops you won't see on TV's Cops.

What Are They Smoking?

Putin: US Policies Create Arms Race. How long before Russia starts accepting Euros for oil?

Will They Nuke Iran?  The answer defines the depths of stupidity.

Juan Cole: Jaafari Expresses Regret over US Capture of Iranian Diplomats.  Bush is a uniter, not a divider.

Howard under fire over Obama attack. Rhymes with Osama.

As Inflation Soars, Zimbabwe Economy Plunges. State control over inflation? Wow, whatever they are smoking, I want some! From to herd or not to herd.

War on drugs is over: We lost. Bad.

Real News

Juan Cole: Putin Denounces Unilateral US Iraq War; Jaafari Calls for US Troops to Depart. Excerpt:

Jaafari was the first elected Iraqi prime minister since 1954, and all that enthusiasm in the US in January, 2005, about the purple fingers was in essence enthusiasm for the government that he formed (April 2005-March 2006). His call, in Tehran, for US troops to go, now, should be front page news and lead the cable news cycle on Sunday. It will not be.

So true. In the US, 24 hours a day, the media reports little and omits much. Never before has so much been said to say so little.  At the extreme, cable news is at best worthless.

Not Enough Enemies?

Now It's War on the Shia. Not enough enemies?

Israel and Iran – And The Bush Administration. It's getting a lot easier to "fight the power."

Anyone With A Brain

An Interview with Patrick Cockburn: Bush Surge Means More Horrors in Iraq. Anyone with a brain knows it.

American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America by Chris Hedges. Calling it for what it is.

American's complacent, obedient slaves. Calling it for what it is.

Too Well Liked By White Liberals?

Black voters wary of Obama. Too well liked by white liberals?

Robert Fisk: Iraqi insurgents offer peace in return for US concessions. Seeking legitimacy.

Pay More For Fascism?

William S. Lind: Raise the Bar or Cross It. "Solutions? What? How dare you!" Change must come from below.  Excerpt: "Faced with new ways of war demanding that it change or die, the Army will prefer to die, because it's easier."

War Tax Sought as Congress Debates Bush Budget.  Pay more for fascism and war? Once again my answer is a simple "fuck you."

Israel's current assistance agreement with the U.S. ends. What can I say?

Failures

Paul Craig Roberts: The Real Failed States. The US and Israel are failed states. For Israel the case is simple:

Israel survives on life support from the US. A state that cannot exist without outside support is a failed state.

The US is a little more complex:

What about the United States? The US is an even greater failure. Its existence is not dependent on life support from outside. The US has failed in another way. Not only has the state failed, but the society as well.

The past six years have seen the rise of dictatorial power in the executive and the collapse of the separation of powers mandated by the US Constitution. The president has declared himself to be "The Decider." The power to decide includes the meaning and intent of laws passed by Congress and whether the laws apply to the executive. President Bush has openly acknowledged that he disobeyed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and unlawfully spied on Americans without warrants. Bush and his Attorney General could not make it more clear that their position is that Bush is above the law.

And

An enfeebled and eviscerated Congress has acquiesced in the growth of executive power, even legislating unconstitutional executive powers into law. The Decider has grabbed the power to arrest people on accusation alone and to detain them indefinitely without charges or evidence. He has obtained the right to torture those whom he arrests. The Geneva Conventions do not apply to the US president, declares the Regime. Bush has obtained the right to commit people to death in military tribunals on the basis of hearsay and secret evidence alone. The Bush Regime has succeeded in moving the American state off the basis on which the Founding Fathers set it.

Although moving away from a 225+ year old standard is not necessarily in and of itself a sign of failure, the direction it has taken most certainly does mean so.

He continues:

The United States is a failed state, because in the US it is not possible for leadership to emerge. Politics is controlled by powerful interest groups, such as AIPAC, the military-industrial complex, transnational corporations, and "security" agencies that are accumulating vast amounts of unaccountable power. The American people spoke in November and it means nothing whatsoever.

The people are enfeebled because the media no longer has independence. The US media serves as propagandist for the state. It cannot be otherwise in a highly concentrated media run not by journalists but by advertising executives protecting stock values that derive from federal broadcast licenses granted by the state.

Like the three monkeys, Congress sees no evil, the media speaks no evil, and the people hear no evil. In the US "news" consists of the government's propaganda. "News" in America is exactly like the "news" in George Orwell's 1984.

The US is a failed state, because it is not true to any of the principles upon which it was established. All over the world today, America is seen as a rogue state, a hegemonic evil, and as the greatest threat to peace and stability. In its new identify, America is the total opposite of the Founding Fathers intention. There is no greater failure than that.

I would have to say I agree.  However, another reason is due to inbreeding, both physical and intellectual.  Nothing new is offered, because nothing new is possible. The current system is fatally bankrupt.

Mere Islam

Mere Islam. Here's a blog I just found.

Alternative finances. It's nice to dream.

Who Can Stop the War? Inertia.

Slime Trail

New attacks follow Baghdad atrocity. Another day, another bloodbath.

Trial shows Cheney’s fingerprints all over Plame affair. More like slime trail.

Patrick Cockburn: Iraqis on the Run. International disaster.

The Torch Of Leadership - Extinguished, Not Passed. I'm so tired of hearing about the '60s.

Bush, the divider. No friend to anyone.

Soldiers in Iraq view troop surge as a lost cause. Not living in a fantasy land, they would know.

Definition of the Day: Dead.

Pull Your Head Out

The Age of Perpetual Conflict.  Pull your head out of your ass and get real.

Egypt charges 3 Israelis, Egyptian student with spying for Israel.  Trouble a brewing?

Had Enough?

National Security Estimate. Finally had enough?

(Notice how these things come out Friday?)

Rigid Thinking

Global Guerrillas: CONTAINING IRAQ. "Anyone still thinking about counter-insurgency today is a year or more behind the power curve of the war." Rigid thinking is a recipe for disaster .

Juan Cole: 4 US Troops Announced Killed; Troops lack Basic Equipment in Iraq; Bush Admin launches anti-Iran propaganda campaign. It's a case of "everyone is at fault but me."

Dozens die in Iraq suicide blasts. Another depressing headline. The days are difficult to tell apart.

Miserable failure.