International

Wednesday Open Thread [9.3.14]

Filed in International, National by on September 3, 2014 15 Comments
Wednesday Open Thread [9.3.14]

What concerns me more is this:

“As Ukrainian leaders warned on Monday of ‘a great war’ with Russia, NATO leaders meeting in Wales this week were expected to endorse their most concrete response yet to increased Russian military intervention in Ukraine: establishing a rapid-reaction force capable of deploying quickly to Eastern Europe[.] The new force of some 4,000 troops, capable of moving on 48 hours’ notice, will be supported with logistics and equipment pre-positioned in Eastern European countries closer to Russia, with an upgraded schedule of military exercises and deployments that are intended to make NATO’s commitment of collective defense more credible and enhance its deterrence.”

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Moderate Allies In The Middle East? An Oxymoron.

Filed in International by on August 26, 2014 41 Comments
Moderate Allies In The Middle East?  An Oxymoron.

The fruitless search for moderate allies in the middle east is absurd. I’m an optimist, but this idea is ridiculous. Moderate nations to create both a political and military front to stop and roll back the ISIL caliphate? Syria? Iran? They were “enemies” before being considered as future allies.

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Countless Enemies At Home And Abroad: Dems, Awaken !

Filed in International, National by on August 20, 2014 20 Comments
Countless Enemies At Home And Abroad: Dems, Awaken !

Do you dread opening your daily newspaper and internet news source each morning like I do? Ferguson, Wilmington, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and countless other hotbeds of conflict, hate and destruction. And America is at the center of it all.

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Better Than Mutual Annhiliation.

Filed in International by on July 29, 2014 49 Comments
Better Than Mutual Annhiliation.

Ok, here’s a framework proposal for Israel/Palestine that at least to me makes sense, though crude and not fleshed out with detail. Let the experts do that.

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Taking Sides On Israel/Palestine Is Stupid

Filed in International by on July 25, 2014 62 Comments
Taking Sides On Israel/Palestine Is Stupid

I’ve been struggling with commentary on the current Gaza apocalypse and finally discovered my truth about it. Taking sides is dumb and totally misses both history and possible solutions.

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Sy/Raq: Creepy Mission Or Mission Creep?

Filed in International by on July 1, 2014 6 Comments
Sy/Raq:  Creepy Mission Or Mission Creep?

300 more to Iraq, for a total of 800. But we’re told, no boots on the ground. Just security forces for the 500 already there, mostly in the Taj Majal U.S. Embassy, just a few in foward positions as “advisors”. Sound familiar? It does for those of us who survived the 60’s and 70’s.

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It’s Baaaack: The Domino Theory And Iraq/Syria

Filed in International by on June 25, 2014 5 Comments
It’s Baaaack: The Domino Theory And Iraq/Syria

I’ve lived long enough to see now three iterations of the old Domino Theory; it goes something like…if we allow a country to fall, it will spiral into a cascade of other nearby countries to follow suit and be taken over by nefarious forces.

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Kneejerk War Is Weakness, Not Strength

Filed in International by on June 19, 2014 10 Comments
Kneejerk War Is Weakness, Not Strength

The drumbeat for a renewed Iraq intervention from the neo-cons and neo-liberals within and outside the administration is pissing me off. The media learned nothing from Vietnam, Iraq II and Afghanistan; they are fielding all the totally discredited talking heads to tell us President Obama needs to show strength.

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Bomb Iraq? Why?

Filed in International by on June 16, 2014 37 Comments
Bomb Iraq?  Why?

Can anyone give me one rational reason why we would even consider launching a bombing/missile/drone attack on so called Iraq militants? No, I mean a really rational reason?

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Vladimir, Stop It. Just Friggin’ Stop It !

Filed in International by on April 26, 2014 15 Comments
Vladimir, Stop It.  Just Friggin’ Stop It !

Ok, Vladimir. Enough of the belligerence. Crimea was an outrage and eastern Ukraine doubly so. So was Georgia. Speaking for myself and possibly millions of my fellow Americans, we don’t want a renewal of one of our worst mutual eras, the Cold War.

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It’s The Trade, Stupid !

Filed in International by on March 25, 2014 6 Comments
It’s The Trade, Stupid !

One of my favorite investigative reporters, David Cay Johnston observes that our foreign trade deals in the last couple of decades figure in a big way in the systemic weakness of our domestic economy. Particularly hard hit by really bad trade deals are the non-college educated in the workforce.

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This Annexation Is An Outrage: Let’s Go To War

Filed in International by on March 20, 2014 7 Comments
This Annexation Is An Outrage: Let’s Go To War

Oh, wait. They’re talking about Crimea, not Texas. Nor Hawaii, or Midway, American Samoa, Wake Island and half dozen other pacific islands we annexed, from what I can see, without money changing hands. And there are a dozen other annexations the good old U.S. of A. pulled off where we actually paid the owner while we held a gun to their head. Such as Puerto Rico and Guam, not to mention the Panama Canal zone.

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Venezuela In Chaos: Why Should We Care?

Filed in International by on March 13, 2014 5 Comments
Venezuela In Chaos: Why Should We Care?

I’ve been trying to follow recent events in Venezuela. Here’s my take, informed by the work of activist Tom Hayden of Peace Exchange, Chris Gilbert, professor at Universidad de Venezuela and Rory Carroll, a reporter for the Guardian and Observer Latin America, based in Caracas for six years until recently.

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