Syria--brutal civil war continues; west bows out, Assad managing to continue mass murder with less Russian/Iranian/Hezballah aid.
Iraq--lots of bombings, lots of death
Turkey--failure of their proxy warriors in Syria and massive corruption uncovered threatens the government
Lebanon--sunni-shia violence, like lots of other parts of the Arab world
Egypt--military coup holding, economy still ruined. Street violence has subsided, with outlawing of the Muslim Bros.
Greece--still broke, still no jobs, still getting fucked by the IMF/EU/Banks of Europe, facist party gaining popularity
Spain--ditto
Italy--farmers protesting in the streets with pitchforks, police taking their helmets off and siding with protesters, high officials openly warning of revolution, fascists gaining here too
Cyprus, Ireland, Portugal, Slovenia, Latvia, all still broke and suffering high unemployment
Ukraine--millions in streets, but Putin bought off government with $15 billion bond purchase. People may or may not veto.
China--agitating militarily against its neighbors. Printing even more than the US to avert economic catastrophe at home.
Japan--really fucking broke, ramping up military spending, trade deficit for first time since the depression. Printing trillions of yen.'
North Korea--purge of elders, still have nukes and kooks
Thailand--moving toward new civil war, based on ethnic differences (probably will not get to full out war)
Pakistan--still getting droned, trying to figure what to do about Afghanistan/Taliban victory over the US
South Sudan--massacres, famine
Central African Republic--same, French military intervention not helping
Mali--French and UN forces stuck in quagmire
France--Hollande's socialism delivering their economy the coup de grace.
Yeah, there is always war and economic turmoil somewhere, scattered around the globe. There are also periods of widespread warfare and economic disaster, for intertwined reasons. We could be in the former type of historic period. Or the latter. You make the call.
I left out plenty. This was off the top of my head.
ETA: How could I forget, Fukushima, which could trump so much? Bunch of American Navy sailors get cancer from their mission there two years ago. Cleanup attempts continue, tons of radiation spewing into the Pacific ocean and into the food chain.
Turns out, we weren't alone in lacking a coherent, workable post-war plan after victories in Iraq and Afghanistan. History shows what we are seeing currently in post-revolution countries is typical, throughout the world (not just in the Arab-Muslim region).
Re: Yeah, It's Back
Posted: Fri Jan 03, 2014 9:55 am
by rass
howard wrote:North Korea--purge of elders, still have nukes and kooks
Turns out, we weren't alone in lacking a coherent, workable post-war plan after victories in Iraq and Afghanistan. History shows what we are seeing currently in post-revolution countries is typical, throughout the world (not just in the Arab-Muslim region).
That was an interesting read. I wonder how much the immediacy of the internet age affects the mood of the revolutionaries... There is no grace period to consolidate power or create any diplomatic web.
Re: Well-ell, you know; We all'd love to see the plan
Turns out, we weren't alone in lacking a coherent, workable post-war plan after victories in Iraq and Afghanistan. History shows what we are seeing currently in post-revolution countries is typical, throughout the world (not just in the Arab-Muslim region).
That was an interesting read. I wonder how much the immediacy of the internet age affects the mood of the revolutionaries... There is no grace period to consolidate power or create any diplomatic web.
Look forward to reading that. Beyond lacking a coherent plan, we have a horrible history with nation building or replacing leaders we don't like. It seems like every time the US does this, we arm our chosen leader and train them to fight, then in 10 years they turn their guns on us. Not to mention the horrible job the Western powers have done in redrawing nations, particularly after WWII. No consideration for warring tribes or ethnic hatreds, like in Yugoslavia and Nigeria. Israel, too. Nobody feels the need to educate themselves before coming in shaping a region. My guess is that locals had little to no say. You'd think at some point the lesson would be learned, but maybe they just choose unreliable and biased "experts" like that asshat Ahmed Chalibi.
Re: Ball of Confusion
Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 2:50 pm
by howard
Protesters claim independence of Lviv, city/region on the Polish frontier.
They need to bring back Yulia Tymoshenko as PM. Who is going to protest this face?
And just looked her up, apparently she is imprisoned for abuse of power as she led the Orange Revolution leading up to her election. A couple of months ago, she went on a hunger strike to protest the beatings she was receiving by prison guards. Not a good time for my former Soviet Bloc girls.
Re: Ball of Confusion
Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2014 12:48 pm
by howard
Truce did not hold (surprise--previously the govt has broken truces.) Much bloodshed and death in Kiev today. Police/army live firing on protesters, dozens if not over a hundred dead today. Video of police snipers below, referenced in White House press release (which may or may not boost credibility of the video, depending. Although the source of the video, radiosvoboda.ua is an arm of an extremist opposition group.)
This is gonna be sad and bloody, because the West, meaning the USA, Nato, the EU, are powerless to do anything but talk. Militarily, the position of all the western powers is weaker than that of the UK to defend Poland against Germany in 1939. Even sneaking a bunch of arms to the anti-government side (with deniability) is logistically challenging if not impossible. Basically, the choices are all-out war against Russia, or nothing. (Maybe, I suppose, a major, serious reworking of our relationship with Russia and Putin, but I think that is beyond the abilities of Obama and Kerry, especially with the GOP criticism that would result. True diplomatic genius could attempt something like this, but the NY-London-Brussels-Hamburg bankers would object.) Worse no-win than Syria. [/opinion]
Amazing photos. Shame they're a result of such a tragedy. And you know shit's f'd when the police are throwing molotov's.
Big Day in Kiev
Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 2:16 pm
by howard
Cops stand down, protesters seize government buildings. Parliament votes Yanukovych out, he flees to the east. Rival Julia Tymoshenko released from prison, will address crowd this evening. New elections set for May.
Watching revolutions* unfold live online is so damn cool.
A side piece that will certainly get huge play on our stupid media--Yanukovych had an opulent estate that was abandoned, and subsequently visited by protesters and curious onlookers. This guy lived fucking large. The 0.01% here can take lessons. Check it out
*How 'revolutionary' this turns out, no one knows. Representative fair elections following the Orange Revolution of 2004 were undone by Putin over a matter of a few years (Tymoshenko went from elected prime minister to prison on bs charges). A patient gradual resumption of soft control by Putin w/o massive bloodshed (again) is a possibility, perhaps the best case scenario. Or, partition, civil war, or Russian tanks and divisions rolling in. The informed analyses I've read are unanimous in the conclusion that nobody knows, and that this is a start, no where near the finish, of the story.
My uninformed analysis--Putin will absolutely not allow a free, EU-oriented western Ukraine. Too many pipelines traversing the western half of the country. The idea that he would allow the oil/gas rich eastern Ukraine or the geostrategic Crimea to be beyond his control in any fashion is ludicrous. Particularly because there is no power on earth that can or will stop his control (short of all-out war between the US and Russia).
Another Hot Spot
Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 3:10 pm
by howard
Venezuela. Weird that so much is happening there, yet US media coverage has been extremely light. And I am comparing the coverage of Ukraine before Tuesday's clash, much less Thursday's live fire images.
As usual, it's the economy. (n.b. the sparse mention of the horrible Ukraine economy and currency weakness.) The Venezuelan economy is in free fall, their currency in hyperinflation. Drastic price fixing schemes by Maduro to stem the crisis has only made it worse. Now he has roaming paramilitary gangs firing on civilians and bystanders. All that oil, yet after a decade of socialist/marxist paradise and they are fucking broke /gratuitous econ commentary.
Thailand too, but there economy is much firmer, and their battle is an ethnic minority dominating a darker skinned ethnic majority for decades now pissed off they are out of power, and pushing to get back on top.
Either yesterday or today, Russian troops were confirmed to be onshore in Sevastopol, confirmed by press release from the Russian Foreign Ministry (and Google Translate for me.) Not many, and only in limited parts of Crimea, so far.
And a word of criticism of Mr. Obama's vapid, dangerous foreign policy. There is nothing Obama and West can do to stop Putin from seizing part or all of the Ukraine. Nothing. When you spout empty rhetoric about 'red lines', consequences and costs, you degrade the power of your rhetoric to deter bad action by foreign nations when you can, and will back it up.
For example, there is some point at which Chinese aggression against Japan, Taiwan or the Philipines will be opposed. When you warn the Chinese, 'you better not, or else', they are gonna remember, 'yeah, the USA talked all that mess wrt Syria and Crimea/Ukraine, and didn't mean it, so we'll go ahead'. Then your WW3 starts.
Threaten only when you can, and will, back it up. Bluffing not only fails, but leads to failure when you aren't bluffing.
Obama is not the first leader to fuck up like this. Only the latest.
There is a ton of historic context that needs to be considered. This graphic provides a tiny amount. Putin today has reversed Nikita Kruschev's 'gift' to his home republic of the Crimea.
And Scottie, your right; those are cute mascots (I love the Russian sense of humor--darker even than mine.)
Re: Ball of Confusion
Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 6:57 pm
by Scottie
howard wrote:And Scottie, your right; those are cute mascots (I love the Russian sense of humor--darker even than mine.)
Why didn't I think of this ages ago?
THANK YOU!
That is brilliant. Not that thing you posted but the ideas to which it falls short. Gawdamn brilliant. What? This: Angular Constructivism. Angular Constructivism. Was there ever doubt? Angular Constructivism applied to post-civilized leftist American iconography. It's perfect. Fuck me, yes. Mayakovsky hard lines reborn defining American NeoCommunism.
That's fucking over the rooftops brilliant. Neo-Constructivism! How the fuck did the world miss that? Or Post-Constructivism. Oh, who fucking cares what it gets called. THAT is the image of the age. Oh fuck yes.
And in case anyone on Earth wonders what the fuck I'm wailing about, look up this and you'll see how perfect a fit it is (and will be) when I paint that in 0redwhiteandblue.
Re: Ball of Confusion
Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 7:46 pm
by howard
Yeah, when Øbama and the social democrats in the Great White North start putting bankers in jail, then that graphic style will fit. But as long as the social engineering bs is just sideshow while the big money loots, destroys and start new wars, all the leftie garbage to which we are subjected is just a distraction.
Wait. Damn, your right. Again. Make the distraction more visually arresting. Damn.
(You like that Ø ? I saw that for the first time yesterday. Lacks the subtlety of a zero. But the programmer in you should like it. Øbama!)
(I am just damn proud of myself that I recognized Mayakovsky as some type of artist. But I'm sure w/o this context, I would've wiffed on his name. Certainly on Jeopardy! I would've missed.)
Re: Ball of Confusion
Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 7:47 pm
by Johnny Carwash
I pronounce it "thbama."
Re: Ball of Confusion
Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 8:06 pm
by Scottie
howard wrote:Wait. Damn, your right. Again. Make the distraction more visually arresting. Damn.
No no no no no no no no no . . . but yes! You get it. After reflecting for a moment, you get it. It's perfect. You can see it right? Can visualize it? It's stunning. Walls, tunnels, stairways, galleries, internets. Oh it's just beautiful. Oh, my. I could not be more serious. How the fuck did I miss this? No matter. About to correct it.
Re: Ball of Confusion
Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 8:17 pm
by Scottie
howard wrote:(You like that Ø ? I saw that for the first time yesterday. Lacks the subtlety of a zero. But the programmer in you should like it. Øbama!)
Programmers tend not to use Norwegian vowels, nor is Ø inclusive in any known programming language (Java, C, C++, and so on). In fact, Ø would (Ah, now I get it! Ah! Yes!) fuck up any sort of engineering. It would return "fail". As in "failure to execute". As in "what the fuck exactly do you think you are attempting to do here?"
He'll always be 0bama to me. With an appropriate zero. But that, the Ø, is tremendous. Even more so if you consider how Swedes cut their own balls off.
I have paintings to sharp edge splatter. This merits immediate attention.
Re: Ball of Confusion
Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 1:23 pm
by Rams Fanny
Regarding this missing airliner thing, there's only one plausible explanation:
Re: Ball of Confusion
Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 1:39 pm
by brian
That's what I was telling someone the other day. Or they're on the bottom of the South China Sea. One or the other.
Re: Ball of Confusion
Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 1:49 pm
by A_B
brian wrote:That's what I was telling someone the other day. Or they're on the bottom of the South China Sea. One or the other.
You would think they would have found SOMETHING from the plane if that's the case.
Ukrainia and Crimea
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 10:42 pm
by howard
These events are fascinating and frightening. Also difficult to see through the massive lies and propaganda transmitted through western and russian media to figure it all out.
Through most of the past three weeks, I have guessed that Putin is satisfied with asserting his control over Crimea and that he will not launch any massive invasion of eastern districts of Ukrainia. I have had low confidence in this guess; each morning I check the news half expecting to see footage of armored divisions rolling along the same routes used in WW2.
I expect Putin is cool with 1) snatching Crimea w/o firing a shot; 2) moving men, tanks and aircraft up and down the border, primarily as a concrete, immediate reminder to Western Europe and the US what he has the resources to do whenever he deems it necessary. He has managed to control major events in Ukrainia for many years, despite Orange revolutions, despite election of western-leaning leaders, despite the hopes and dreams of the EU/NATO/USA. He has a lot of natural gas needed by Germany, Poland, and Ukrainia. If they don't buy it, I bet the Chinese will help him work out the logistics of getting it to them. Putin has the energy--Putin run Bartertown, despite Tina Turner's cool outfits. But, if he decides patience is overrated and he goes ahead and snatches all of Ukrainia east of the Dneiper river, sometime in the coming weeks, I'll be surprised but not shocked.
I am much more confident that US policy is yet again a huge failure, and they cannot and will not do a damn thing to prevent any actions by Putin in Ukrainia. Which is ultimately a good thing--the governance of Ukrainia is none of our fucking business; what will it take for the policemen of the world fantasy to die?
The failure lies in my assessment of American actions and motives. Obama and the rest of the policymakers are really pissed off at Putin. He outmaneuvered Obama and Kerry, denying them their war in Syria; he provided sanctuary to the hero Edward Snowden. I am confident the major motive of American meddling in the uprising in Kiev that resulted in regime change was to make trouble for Putin. The other motives (IMF stripping and domination of Ukrainia, the fantasy of snatching control of gas and oil reserves and pipelines from Putin's control, the fantasy of Ukrainia as a full fledged Nato member) I think are secondary to simple revenge against Putin.
Whether or not American involvement in regime change in Kiev was decisive, required, or just a minor factor is irrelevant. The actual efforts of US policy in the service of overthrowing this government, spending at least $3 billion in the effort, is the point. The point that US policy is to attempt to get rid of a government, failing to learn the lessons of all the other times in recent years we've gotten rid of governments and left tens of thousands dead in the wake (Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Venezuela--oops, that one hasn't happened yet.)
Whatever the motive, the actions are inexcusable, and are crimes against humanity. Again. Despicable actions underneath the most stupid, ignorant rhetoric imaginable (there will be costs! This is a red line!) Fail on the words, fail on the actions.
The idea that all of a sudden Germany doesn't need millions of cubic feet of Russian natural gas is one of the huge assumptions that has to be swallowed to make any sense of the recent rhetoric. The sanctions to be imposed tomorrow morning, if they serve to increase uncertainty about events, might even make money for Putin and Gasprom, if the price of oil and natural gas keep rising with the shrillness of Kerry's rants. (At least my rants don't move markets.)
I am no fan of Putin. He is proven to be a narcissistic, psychopathic mass murderer (see Syria.) But I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I really enjoy his talent at making Obama and the US State Department look like bumbling fools. A guilty pleasure, but in large part because Mr. Obama is similarly proven to be a narcissistic, psychopathic mass murderer (see Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, (giving guns literally to Al Qaada qualifies) Libya and Venezuela--oops, I did it again.) These two men control vast nuclear arsenals. This sucks, but who wants to live forever?
The Bush-Rove-Cheney-Perle-Wolfowitz crew had a very different approach. They simply told the world, and told themselves, 'we are the biggest, baddest, richest and deadliest. We will do what we want, and we will succeed because of our strength, wealth and resolve. We will create the reality we desire. And our favorite MIC corporations will profit.' A simple, straightforward flavor of hubris; the result being they were very wrong about nearly everything (except the profits), their bs resulting in massive death, destruction and suffering.
The Obama-Clinton-Jarrett-Rice-Power-Kerry crew take a very different route to the same destination. Their hubris resides in their singular belief that they have superior intelligence, insight, experience, and through their big huge brains manipulating things (rather than by blowing things up) they can create the reality they desire. Of course, with just a little bit of surgically precise, deftly managed, limited use of military might, so limited the voters don't need a big lie (Sadaam has WMD) to go along. They are so smart, they only need blow up a few things here and there. They can fund a street protest group in Kiev, run some guns into Aleppo, support an Arab Spring in Cairo to overthrow an ally who for three decades has kept the peace with Israel, run every aspect of a war in Libya except actual troops in the theater, do all these things just right. Because they are so fucking smart, so much smarter than everyone else.
I truly do not know which group I despise more. The poor ignorant American citizens who for the most part blindly accept one of these teams while decrying the evil of the other team, taken in by the different approaches while missing the point that both get to the exact same result. Financial and moral bankruptcy of the US, enrichment of their patrons, most notably the banks, massive death and destruction of entire countries and societies, in the wake of their equal hubris. I don't despise my homies, the masses of Americans. I pity them, for the price of their ignorance (willful and otherwise) is gonna be hell to pay. Only a tiny fraction of the 'costs' have hit us so far, and it already sucks for so many millions who are unemployed, underemployed, burdened with debt, burdened with rising local and property taxes, burdened with untreated and uncovered medical problems despite the 'massive overhaul' of the health care system, yadda yadda.
Yeah, I'm literally off my meds. But this excess verbiage is temporary, just a transitory effect. I promise.
Re: Ball of Confusion
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 11:11 pm
by DC47
Hey, bring it. I'm off no meds, and it makes perfect sense.
Perhaps you can help me back up my own paranoid ranting to the local folks. I think it's very likely that the US has used extensive, multiple methods to foment anti-Russian activity in the Ukraine in recent years, culminating in the coup/revolution/democratic uprising. That's the neo-con MO after all. I expect Matt Taibbi or equivalent will deliver the full details at some point. Until then, can you point me to the sanest appearing source to support my raving conspiracy theory?
Re: Ball of Confusion
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 11:56 pm
by howard
Um, the tape recording of Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland?
The ratio of legit info to propaganda and biased bs for this story is incredibly low, I can't off the top think of a source. An article here, a blogpost there. One of the best things I've read was from henry fucking kissinger, that is how weird this sitch is.
I basically check the headlines of the brit and canadian news sites, with a heavy filter. Russia Today is Putin's mouthpiece, but I get some use checking them every few days.
This website links to a few articles each day, on this story as well as the rest of the news: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
ETA: one of those links, the WaPo story, I had skipped this morning. I just read it--I am not sure if there is a single factual statement in the whole thing. Tons of assumptions as fact of items that are completely unsubstantiated or just flat wrong. The piece doesn't even have a particular bias--it is just wrong about everything it tries to say. i.e. 'Russian control of the Ukrainian pipelines is now lost'. Or 'strategic control of Crimea is a millstone around the (Russian) neck'. Just complete nonsense. It is a great example of how poorly this story is being covered, much less analyzed. As if every journalist is trying to be as unsubstantial and ignorant as Thomas Friedman. Maybe Taibbi is running another 'parody Tom Friedman' contest, and all the main news outlets are competing.
MOSCOW—Having waited until the Russian leader was lying facedown on the massage table before quietly slipping into the room behind him, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is said to have posed as a masseuse at a high-end Moscow spa Monday in order to spend a few minutes alone with Vladimir Putin.
“You seem very tense, Mr. Putin—how have things been going lately?” the United States cabinet member reportedly said while kneading Putin’s shoulders as gentle panpipe music played around them. “You sure have a lot of knots in your back. Have you been hunching over lately while drawing up plans for an imminent large-scale invasion of Ukraine, or maybe tensing up at the thought of crippling Western economic sanctions? You’d probably feel a lot more relaxed if you just invalidated yesterday’s referendum results in Crimea and acknowledged publicly that such a vote was illegal under the Ukrainian constitution.”
Sources confirmed that Putin turned around with suspicion following Kerry’s suggestion that the Russian president could ease his muscle stiffness by withdrawing troops from Ukraine, at which point the secretary of state hastily poured water onto some nearby heated sauna stones to create a veil of steam, claimed to need more massage oil, and dashed out of the room.
Re: Ball of Confusion
Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 5:04 pm
by brian
Obama should nuke Ukraine just to prove he's crazier than Putin. That's one way to call his bluff.
Vladimir Putin wrote:It’s certainly no easy task to forcefully annex an entire province against another country’s will, so I just wanted to thank you—the government of the United States, the nations of western Europe, and really the entire world population as a whole—for being super cool about all of this.
Seriously, you guys have been amazing. All of you. I really appreciate it.
Re: Ball of Confusion
Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 9:16 pm
by The Sybian
Johnny Carwash wrote:Hey Crimea--not so fast, motherfuckers:
Vladimir Putin wrote:It’s certainly no easy task to forcefully annex an entire province against another country’s will, so I just wanted to thank you—the government of the United States, the nations of western Europe, and really the entire world population as a whole—for being super cool about all of this.
Seriously, you guys have been amazing. All of you. I really appreciate it.
It's worth a chuckle, but it's not like the international community did shit when we went invading Iraq on false pretenses.
Re: Ball of Confusion
Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 3:04 pm
by Johnnie
I'm still waiting for the all-encompassing Justin Timberlake parody song Crimea River.
