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Obama Weighs "Syria Retreat" As White House Ends Training Of Moderate Rebels
This past weekend we called Obama's latest failed attempt to replace Syria's president (after a comparable attempt in 2013 also ended in failure) for what it is: "Make no mistake, this is shaping up to be the most spectacular US foreign policy debacle since Vietnam - and we don't think that's an exaggeration."
Some of our high level observations:
The US, in conjunction with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, attempted to train and support Sunni extremists to overthrow the Assad regime. Some of those Sunni extremists ended up going crazy and declaring a Medeival caliphate putting the Pentagon and Langley in the hilarious position of being forced to classify al-Qaeda as "moderate." The situation spun out of control leading to hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths and when Washington finally decided to try and find real "moderates" to help contain the Frankenstein monster the CIA had created in ISIS (there were of course numerous other CIA efforts to arm and train anti-Assad fighters, see below for the fate of the most "successful" of those groups), the effort ended up being a complete embarrassment that culminated with the admission that only "four or five" remained and just days after that admission, those "four or five" were car jacked by al-Qaeda in what was perhaps the most under-reported piece of foreign policy comedy in history.
Meanwhile, Iran sensed an epic opportunity to capitalize on Washington's incompetence. Tehran then sent its most powerful general to Russia where a pitch was made to upend the Mid-East balance of power. The Kremlin loved the idea because after all, Moscow is stinging from Western economic sanctions and Vladimir Putin is keen on showing the West that, in the wake of the controversy surrounding the annexation of Crimea and the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Russia isn't set to back down. Thanks to the fact that the US chose extremists as its weapon of choice in Syria, Russia gets to frame its involvement as a "war on terror" and thanks to Russia's involvement, Iran gets to safely broadcast its military support for Assad just weeks after the nuclear deal was struck. Now, Russian airstrikes have debilitated the only group of CIA-backed fighters that had actually proven to be somewhat effective and Iran and Hezbollah are preparing a massive ground invasion under cover of Russian air support. Worse still, the entire on-the-ground effort is being coordinated by the Iranian general who is public enemy number one in Western intelligence circles and he's effectively operating at the behest of Putin, the man that Western media paints as the most dangerous person on the planet.
Today, less than a week later, we have confirmation that this assessment was accurate, following two major developments in the Syria global proxy war.
First, Bloomberg reports that a week into Russia's military intervention in Syria, some top White House advisers and National Security Council staffers are trying to persuade President Barack Obama to scale back U.S. engagement there, to focus on lessening the violence and, for now, to give up on toppling the Syrian regime.
It adds that "the administration came to this conclusion late. Despite warnings from U.S. intelligence agencies that Putin's military buildup was intended to keep Assad in power, the White House nonetheless decided to explore cooperating with Russia on the ground. Throughout the summer and into the fall, top Russian officials -- including Putin himself in a meeting last month with Obama at the U.N. -- said they were not committed to keeping Assad in power for the long term, and would only target Islamic State fighters in their military offensive, according to U.S. officials."
So U.S. intelligence is shocked that following a multi-year campaign which was launched in 2011, which escalated in 2013 to a near-naval war, and which culminated in 2014 with the "mysterious" emergence of ISIS whose stated purpose according to leaked CIA documents was a simple one: to depose Assad, that Obama's biggest antagonist on the global superpower stage, Russian president Putin would do everything in his power to prop up his own key pawn in the middle east.
Putin's intervention has had the U.S. flummoxed from day one. As the Russian military moved into Syria, U.S. intelligence officials tell us, the intelligence community was skeptical that it intended to focus its military campaign on the Islamic State. Even so, as the New York Times reported, the U.S. was surprised by the speed with which Russia built and then announced its new coalition with the governments of Syria, Iran and Iraq to support its military campaign.
Did we say "U.S. intelligence"? Scratch that.
In any event, after confirming virtually every word of our conclusion from past weekend, now that the administration realizes it is trapped without a credible way out absent de-escalation, it has no choice but to do just that:
Obama has ruled out engaging in a proxy war with Putin's military, leaving few good options. One path, however, would mean finding ways to tamp down the fighting by negotiating small, local ceasefires with the Assad regime. “The White House somehow thinks we can de-escalate the conflict while keeping Assad in power,” one senior administration official told us.
“The current policy of the United States and its partners, to increase pressure on Assad so that he ‘comes to the table’ and negotiates his own departure, must be rethought,” Malley’s predecessor at the National Security Council, Philip Gordon, wrote at Politico as Russia was amassing its forces in Syria.
The planted Bloomberg story, meant solely to lessen the blow from the latest foreign policy humiliation adds that "that view, being pushed by top White House National Security staffers, including senior coordinator for the Middle East Rob Malley, is not new. But it has received fresh emphasis given Russian intervention."
To be sure, there are neo-con war hawks, led by John Kerry and Samantha Power, who as a reminder was the puppet-masted behind the Ukraine coup, who want to escalate to the bitter end, even if it literally ends in a mushroom cloud: "The NSC view is opposed by top officials in other parts of the government, especially Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power. They are trying to persuade Obama that the only way to solve Syria is to increase the pressure on Assad in the hopes he will enter negotiations."
However, just like in the 2013 Syria campaign, when Kerry huffed and puffed and ultimately folded, so two years later the man who married into the Heinz family fortune will have no choice but to fold again:
Yet Kerry and Power now find themselves without any hope that Putin might bring the Syrian regime to the table. Kerry, though always skeptical of Russia, has been the point man on engaging the Russian government through several conversations with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. But it’s now clear the Russians were leading the Obama administration down the primrose path.
Others in Congress have already understood the endgame: Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker said that by not doing more to confront Putin’s escalation, "the administration is tacitly admitting it will no longer be able to secure Assad’s ouster."
The implications are profound:
"If Assad is staying and there’s no political process in sight, this argument goes, the U.S. might as well focus on alleviating the suffering of the Syrian people and mitigate the growing refugee crisis.
Local ceasefires have been struck sporadically throughout the war, mostly in areas under siege by the Assad regime. The United Nations special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has been pushing this idea for over a year.
This means that the dramatic migrant exodus heading into Europe, which is now spun as positive for the economy, and would have been the catalyst form more deficit-funding QE as a result of debt-funded spending spree required by Germany to pay for the millions in refugees, may be coming to an end, with substantial implications for monetary policy.
Bloomberg's own conclusion shows a glimmer of hope that the end is not in sight just yet:
Caught between two camps in his administration, Obama may not end up shifting the U.S. approach to Syria at all, although the de-escalation side has the momentum. Either way, as Russia, Iran and the Syrian regime change facts on the ground, the relative position of America and the Syrians it has supported becomes graver by the day.
And then moments ago, the NYT confirmed that the de-escalation process has begun, when it reported that "the Obama administration has ended the Pentagon’s $500 million program to train and equip Syrian rebels, administration officials said on Friday, in an acknowledgment that the beleaguered program had failed to produce any kind of ground combat forces capable of taking on the Islamic State in Syria."
Pentagon officials were expected to officially announce the end of the program on Friday, as Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter leaves London after meetings with his British counterpart, Michael Fallon, about the continuing wars in Syria and Iraq.
A senior Defense Department official, who was not authorized to speak publicly and who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that there would no longer be any more recruiting of so-called moderate Syrian rebels to go through training programs in Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates. Instead, a much smaller training center would be set up in Turkey, where a small group of “enablers” — mostly leaders of opposition groups — would be taught operational maneuvers like how to call in airstrikes.
To be sure, the admin tried to soften the blow: moments ago Reuters added that "The U.S. military program to train and equip Syrian rebels is not "ending" but is instead being refocused, a senior U.S. defense official said on Friday, ahead of an announcement on overhauling the troubled U.S. effort." No matter how one diplomatically phrases it though, at this point the wheels are in motion.
Which brings us to our own conclusion from last week:
If Russia ends up bolstering Iran's position in Syria (by expanding Hezbollah's influence and capabilities) and if the Russian air force effectively takes control of Iraq thus allowing Iran to exert a greater influence over the government in Baghdad, the fragile balance of power that has existed in the region will be turned on its head and in the event this plays out, one should not expect Washington, Riyadh, Jerusalem, and London to simply go gentle into that good night.
It is precisely this scenario that U.S. "intelligence" just realized, and why Obama is now sounding the retreat. The only question is whether Putin, who is now on the offensive across the mid-east region, agrees to take Obama's olive branch, or whether he continues the "campaign to end ISIS", in the process creating the biggest shift in the mid-east balance of power with a Russia-Syria-Iran-Iraq axis, and with China waiting patiently in the wings.

Finally, this may be just the catalyst that ends the torrid surge in oil higher over the past week now that the biggest geopolitical factor pushing black gold above $50 is in the rear view mirror.
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Obama needs the money to sustain what remains of ISIS
ISIS: The jihadist movement stamped “Made in America”https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/07/30/isis-j30.html
Not to hijack the thread, but THIS is the result of Putin’s play in Syria.
According to DWN (Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten), the EU President Jean-Claude Juncker is openly dissing the US
Large roll backwards: EU wants normal relations with Russia
The EU is apparently very impressed with Vladimir Putin's actions in Syria: EU President Jean-Claude Juncker says suddenly that EU should not be dictated by the United States their relationship with Russia. He called for a normalization of relations - and thus indirectly an end to the sanctions.
Holy freaking baby-Santa on a Pogo Stick!!! ;-)
Looney
http://deutsche-wirtschafts-nachrichten.de/2015/10/08/grosse-rolle-rueck...
BOOM
Checkmate, Bitch
-Vlad
Good start. Let's see the whole policy go up in flames. Then maybe the US can focus on it's own borders again.
Agreed, this is a good start. Even better, lets burn out rats nest of neocon's and neoliberal humanitarian bombers infesting America.....then send the remains back to that sterling democracy in the south east Mediterranean. The Neocons/Neoliberals have ruined America's finances through endless failed wars while turning us into international terrorists, pariahs of the civilized world.
Something tells me that there is something else brewing. About time this decision was made though; blowback is a bitch.
What’s brewing is another Hillary flip flop.
This is a good move on Obama's part. It's always good to know your limitations. It would have been seen as enightened wisdom if it had been our policy all along. I'm just afraid some nasty, sneaky shit is in the works from the zio-con criminals. There is a God. They will be judged.
well, nothing's "official" unless/until one of these socipathic scumbags like o-fuck-tard or Samantha Powers Tweets it. THEN it's official. Putin will be defenseless against the power of the U.S. gov-scum Tweet message. ;-)
The game isn't over until the last war criminal / sponsor of terrorism has been brought to trial.
Here is one for starters.
http://i0.wp.com/www.intifada-palestine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/1...
Obama is definitely one of the worst US presidents in my opinion: Economic policy, Obamacare, surveillance state etc.
However, in foreign policy he is less bad than many of his real and potential alternatives: World war 3 could be even closer with people like George W. Bush, John McCain or Carly Fiorina etc. in charge.
We should not forget, the MIC is incredibly powerful and it's not easy to be a moderate with so many powerful warmongers in the US.
Obama had pulled back from bombing Syria, despite that the alleged use of chemical weapons red line had been crossed.
Obama is not just a slave of Israel in relations to Iran, he reached an agreement to deescalate a tense situation.
Obama decreased the US involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"the MIC is incredibly powerful"
As Dwight, John and Bobby discovered.
They work for the Banksters, that is why they are powerful.
However, Obama is a slave to Israel...letting them murder hundreds of thousands, and he dragged out Afgahnistan to maintain AlQueda training (to act as mercenaries) and the herion poppy crops for black ops cash.
He is no saint, but yes, probably not at bad as McCain.
Obama not being McCain is his only redeeming quality so far. I cannot believe McCain was even considered a potential candidate. Holy shit.
No one ever gave McCain a chance in hell of winning, especially with Palin as a running mate... He was cannon fodder to assure an Obama ascendency... If McCain HAD been elected, the world would be a smoldering relic by now...
Thank God finally for some common sense. Recent calls by senior US Officials to shoot down Russian aircraft in Syria because they were attacking "US Assets" were absolutely nonesensical. This presumably referred to CIA funded and trained "Moderate" rebels who have no legal presence in Syria. Conversely, having been invited into Syria, a soveriegn State, Russia is acting entirely in compliance with International law.
Now, I know that "The exceptional country" does not see any need to recognise International law, including the Geneva Conventions, but in the face of total humiliation and a Russian Check-Mate, it is at least better that The US has chosen retreat over the start of WWIII.
How do I get in on that action of spending $500 million to train a handful of soldiers?
Sounds pork juicy!
related to your comment, the Benghazi hearing. I found this recent letter definitely worth reading. Hitlary was behind a private military force / firm to sweep into Libya after removal of Quadafi.
https://benghazi.house.gov/sites/republicans.benghazi.house.gov/files/TG%20letter%20to%20EEC%2010.7.15.pdf
Finally Obama does something smart. Why train them if Putin is just going to kill them?
Some hillarity to end the article:
".. Finally, this may be just the catalyst that ends the torrid surge in oil higher over the past week now that the biggest geopolitical factor pushing black gold above $50 is in the rear view mirror. ..."
Has the new payment system also been withdrawn?
http://www.silverdoctors.com/new-cross-border-interbank-payment-system-a-milestone-in-yuan-internationalization/
Opie should call Assad and say he's sorry and ask if they can still be friends
Obama will not finish his second term! Current Events Linked to Ancient Biblical Prophecy!
http://motivationdose.com/is-america-babylon/
What makes you think he was training anybody? Because the media says so? Whatever the media says is a lie. That's guaranteed. From there you can only speculate on WHAT the $500 million was spent on, but at the very least, it is also guaranteed that the US taxpayers got fucked in the bargain.
Because it's no fun pwning noobs all day.
> Finally Obama does something smart. Why train them if Putin is just going to kill them?
Putin will just use some kind of "moderate" ammo against the "moderate" terrorists
Do not count on it. Changing methods is not deescalation. It is not retreating. Do not count on "legal" meaning anything.
You could just as easily see ISIS somehow "capture" some modern anti air missile systems and then see it escalate beyond what it was before.
The people of he EU do seem to want their govt to seperate from the US requested sanctions. But their govt heads have to respond to the strings that have been attached to them as well. It seems what is happening is that the EU officials are trying to negotiate some changes in order to pacify their citizens.
They claim they are going to start testing China by sailing ships into the 12 mile buffer. That is more of a sign that they will look for ways to probe and test for resolve vs weakness. Russia, as I am sure they are, needs to expect something to occur. If they step back then they will keep Russia moving back.
With just a surface look, it appears this is the time for Russia to get Iraq's consent to take control of parts of Iraq and to establish a land connection from Syria to Iran. And to establish Russia along the Lebanon southern borders with anti air systems to take control of the air space and start to bond Lebanon and Syria further and more directly.
A change has occured but it is no where near a major retreat nor has anything been conceeded just yet. If Russia supplied Syria and IRAN with the S-400 systems that would be a real game changer. Iran seems to have a pair and might be move to help where Russia is too cautious.
There has been a change - a change in your rhetoric.
Funny how it exactly mirrors the official aquiescent explainations now coming out of Washington, just like it copied the beligerent arrogance before.
Sooo, watcha sayin', huh....? :o
Obama will not finish his second term!
http://motivationdose.com/is-america-babylon/
How much do you want to bet?
Obama needs to take his dick out Ben Finkenbinder's rectum, get on national TV and explain to the American people why WE need to attack Syria, so QATAR can build a NAT GAS pipeline to Europe.
yep....and if the entire population of Syria moves to Germany, then Germany will need even more natural gas, and Syria will be empty and therefore easy to put a pipeline through.
it sort of has the makings of a great Obama Legacy Movie. "A Pipeline Runs Through It"
A natural gas pipeline may have been part of the reason for beginning this shitfest over there, but it is not the reason for continuing it. As soon as Syria was destabilized, they guaranteed that there wouldn't be a pipeline through there for a long time. The CIA created a monster that it cannot control, and it might get some bright ideas to blow up any pipeline that is built. Something else is going on, and the only idea that I've read thus far that makes sense is from Winston Churchill saying it is about water. I don't know that it is about water, but it's a desert with a lot of people over there, so it is plausable.
Water is the reason Israel stole the Golan Heights... So yeah, of course they would be willing to do whatever it takes, to retain, or expand their water access.
I'm the one who down-voted you on those statements. I'm sure everyone else will know why even if you don't.
That's almost expected here lately, SA1st. Knee-jerk reaction for the Obama-haters to any suggestion that he isn't the cartoonish villain they want him to be. I agree whole-hartedly with Dutti - for all Obama's faults, he is at least some counterpoint to the psychopathic clans of competing neocon Israeli-firsters that control much of the U.S. government from behind the scenes. Traitors and chicken-hawks that would otherwise have had us nuking Iran for Israel and starting WWIII with Russia over our Middle-East clownfuckery. I wouldn't vote for him as president, but I can reach beyond the CNN/Kardashian mindset of a one-dimensional 'Obama SUCKS' Tourettes to see that certain things he ends up doing are good for the country (by mistake or intent) despite the disproportionate number of bad things he has done.
I don't think knee-jerk Obama-haters represent any kind of broad consensus here (although he's certainly not popular on ZH), it's just that the die-hard Obama-haters are more eager to down-vote anything positive said about him. Which I think is fucking pathetic - this is the exact same mentality the U.S. used to fire up American knuckle-draggers and mouth-breathers to demonize Gaddafi, Hussein and now Assad. I guess some cartoonish depictions and demonizations are allowed and some not. Too bad, because a country like the U.S. demands citizens with far more critical thinking ability and intellect than that. People that focus all their attention on knee-jerk Obama-hating are often from the same crowd that imagines if we can only get candidate X from party Y elected instead, everything will be better. The idea is so insulting to my intelligence that I don't even bother voting.
Which is exactly why I reject the notion that people simply need to 'wake the fuck up' in order to regain control of the U.S. - people who like cartoon-like clarity and simplicity in a complex democracy ARE wide awake RIGHT NOW. Psychopathic leaders love them as easy fodder. Government policy is reduced to a long game of psychopathic politicians lining up for their own bizarre version of American Idol or Dancing with the Stars. You watch the performances for a while, and then you get to decide the winner!
But fuck the down votes - this is fight club (or at least was). Everyone should get punched in the face just for showing up.
The only positive about Obama was that when he first took office he did not blow Israel.
Now he blows them part time because someone pulls on his ears.
Oh my God... +1000
that's hands-down the most succinct summary I have ever heard of his Israeli policy history. Best not to use it with kids around though.
The mistake I see you making is in thinking that the Iran deal would go through without Israel's approval. Yeah yeah, Bibi objected - in public.
I think this situation is actually, behind the scenes, like Bill Hicks talking about Jack Palance in 'Shane' - pick up the gun. Iran gets to have a nuke program, which Israel will use, in a few years, as an excuse to go in and wipe out the Iranian government. "They were making nukes!!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cdf8UvkjUbc
So no, I think Obama is a 100% fuckwit, just like Bush, McCain, etc.
No, I didn't make that mistake. Life would have been easier if Israel could have scuttled the deal up front. But they'll just scheme away if it does get approved and use it as a pretense to start a way. Everybody already knew that.
The dual-citizen Israeli-firster bastards in the U.S. Congress owe me at least the courtesy of trying to hide their outright treasonous behavior from me. I don't think that's too much to ask. 'Demanding' that they don't commit treason and insisting that they follow the law is absolutely infantile - they'll always be traitors and criminals. The laws and constitution don't apply to them, and I have no say over that.
Oh give me a friggin break "Oh oh Obama isn't so bad, at least he's better than X". Sorry friend, he's worse than bad, when we had "bad" (Bush/Cheney etc) and they were bombing and spying and bailing out bank gamblers and putting in nonsensical health care giveaways there was AT LEAST a path to oppose that stuff. Now that the Obama crowd has been doing all that same stuff for 7 years PLUS acting totally fucking incompetent on the strategic issues. They have normalized the rampant corporo-fascism so there's no path left to oppose it all, a giant fucking Trojan Horse that has careened the debate so far to the right that anyone proposing simple obvious stuff (bring the troops home, stop destroying the middle class, put some bankers in jail) is called a wacko leftie.
WORST_PRESIDENT_EVER and yes I'm counting Millard Fillmore and Andrew Johnson
i still blame bush, ha...
Well, he did get the ball rolling.
He was the ball.
Best case scenario: Obama is/was so pathetically unprepared/unable to deal with other countries via a cohesive foreign policy, he let the neo-cons run rough-shod over him. So he played golf.
His actions in Syria are the most pathetic thing I have witnessed. There was a wholesale revolt across the entire globe against his foaming-at-the-mouth attempt to bomb the shit out of the Assad regime on immediately proven false pretenses. Dubya probably wakes up every morning and high fives an Obama manequin before trying to figure out how to boil an egg for breakfast.
he wanted to stay alive.
Every president's actions are more pathetic than the previous, and so on and so forth.
why is that? ever since george washington.
Sorry that this is off topic but, its relavent to the site.
I don't know if any of you all have had this happen but, this site is having some issues you all need to be aware of if you're not yet.
In the last two weeks, I've had two popups telling me my computer was infected that were launched from this site. It was saying that my computer had hard drive corruption.
I guess it's more of an irritation than anything. I wasn't going to call the 800 number on the screen.... lol.... the popup was launched from javascript etc....
JUST FYI...
The one yesteday had my computer beeping etc..... I'm working from a virus protected computer that has never surfed any company blocked sites etc. so, it's not with my computer etc..... also, I write web apps for a living etc. so, I'm not just spouting BS.
R u usin' W$os? Then you deserve it ...
It's even worse than that.... I'm runnin wOS and IE11... LOL.... I keep my proxy turned off on my firefox browser so my apps run faster over vpn for testing and I browse out using IE11 when I'm logged in at work.
It's a work puter so, I don't have much of a choice.... I run Linux everywhere else and, I log in and develop on Linux at work.
Anyway, don't know if anyone else here has seen these popups with bogus info asking you to call them because your hard drive is corrupt. The message is attempting to seem like a system message but, it's popping up from your browser.
Anyway, I just thought I'd report it.... do what you will with the info.
@whirling tword
check out this, translation shouldnt be a problem or look for the term
http://www.heise.de/security/meldung/Exploit-Kit-Angler-macht-Millionen-...
Quit writing shit you do not understand?
I understand a good bit.... I understand that my browser was attempting to make it appear that a system message was telling me to dial out an 800 number.....
And what perls of wisdom would you contribute? I develop software for a living... do you?
I am currently working on an API engine for integrating apps for the use of REST interfaces for web portal software... I must be little qualified to speak on a rogue website popping up bogus messages.
You write web-apps, but don't know how to use AdBlock?
Fishy.
Running Firefox with AdBlock, and have noticed the same / similar.
So, obviously "something" that has developed a work-around where AdBlock is concerned. Interesting, but not unexpected.
I currently don't spend most of my time doing the front end browser thing... although I know bootstrap css and do javascript/ajax... and honestly am doing it with the current app I'm writing... my focus is the presenting a REST API that is being presented to the application.
I don't develop static web pages.... I work in the datacenter orchestrating end points within the cloud... and, in some cases... making old apps speak over new interfaces so they can be orchestrated via new interfaces.
I write web portals that live in the DC that speak over secure sockets.... so, the majority of my work has very little to do with adBlock.
My stuff doesn't face the internet.... lol... but, it could.
So, to sum it up... I'm writing a web portal and, in addition to the front/backend I'm writing, I'm supplying other applications with APIs for their needs with working within legacy software where I've put in new APIs for the new apps to call. This stuff calls out to almost everything in the datacenter... storage equipment, network equipment... gathers performance data, configures equipment... and reports and graphs things.... it's not what most people think of when they link to a web page. So, the portal I'm working on interfaces with the API engine I'm writing and, the API engine ( backend ) also exists for other apps to use as well....
The big tech job to have now is automating the datacenter... sadly, it comes down to automating the old guard out of a job.... You can't sleep in the tech world. I don't make the rules but, you can't be an old crusty system admin anymore.... the developer is the new systems person... they get their very own virtual machine now and produce an application API ( and maybe even a front end that talks to it )... maybe produce an API for your smartphone to talk to and show you your stock graphs.... etc.
Meh... whatever....
Can you tell I'm an OCD programmer?
Awesome. Those opposition group leaders can continue to call in air strikes, on say, hospitals. WINNING!
No, on Assad's bedroom.
Um...
However, in foreign policy he is less bad than many of his real and potential alternatives...
He's obeyed his Israeli and Saudi masters every step of the way. As long as they can keep conflicts to shooting up unarmed civilians or undersupplied militaries, they're on plan. General war spills over borders, and somebody gets the idea of attacking the center.
We should not forget, the MIC is incredibly powerful...
If the law enforcement resources now aimed at college professors, rural gun hobbyists, and Muslim students were directed at the corrupt corporate war machine, they'd be on the retreat in seconds.
Obama had pulled back from bombing Syria...
When the US Military mutinied.
Obama is not just a slave of Israel in relations to Iran...
He swallowed defeat for Shrub's cold war against Iran. He's good about crawling.
Obama decreased the US involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The plan was always to leave behind puppet governments 'advised' by Americans. Not working out so well, it seems.
"He's obeyed his Israeli and Saudi masters every step of the way."
So does that mean he cut the treaty with Iran at the urging of Israel and SA?
Scraping_by--you foreign policy wonk you.
Keeping the conflict low-intensity. The Saud's Syrian adventure may be gone, but there's less chance of open warfare.
Yes he is a nightmare installed with fake elections to destroy America. The rest of the govt is also totally corrupt and owned.
I am not sure who pulled back from bombing Syria. I think corrupt MIC and Deep State did. The Joint Cheifs head went to see Obama on a Saturday morning to tell him no.
Why? Well 5 or 6 Russian naval ships that probably had supersonic anti-ship missiles might be one reason.
My guess is they were worried about the worst possible results.
WW3? - No they would love that.
Innocent Syrians being murdered (even more)? No they love that shit too.
The Russian military through back channels said bad idea? Maybe
The Russians would have shot down or jammed the Tomahawks and maybe sunk a few US Navy ships with suspersonic Sunburn anti-ship missiles?
Yes. MIC, Deep State and the Pentagram were probably terrified that the Russians stuff might be so good that it made US weapons look bad. This would be the worst result.
Imagine if the USS Donald Cook story is true. The US Navy shot their Tomahawks - they get shot down or shut off with jamming. Then the US Navy ships get shut of by the Russians supposed jamming EMP weapon used on the USS Donald Cook. Allies weapons orders would be cancelled faster than you could say "Vlad's your daddy."
Hey Pentagon, you listening? I have a plan. A damn good one. Everybody knows Obama is our weakness, but what is Russia's {And China's}? Iran, China, Russia all have this weakness, and it is strategic. ALL ARE HEAVILY DEPENDENT ON FOOD IMPORTS TO SURVIVE. What is even better is that one can't help the other. Slap a food embargo on the Russians {Canada and western Europe would go along with it} and about this time next year, their stocks of foodstuffs should be empty. HUNGER AND STARVATION ARE THE ULTIMATE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION. Just ask the Ukrainians. LET THAT BLACK HORSE RIDE!!
Are you fucking serious with this shit? Better yet why don't we flood their stores with franken food and poison them to death slowly?
Oops..that failed too
http://www.mintpressnews.com/worlds-largest-country-russia-bans-gmo-food...
Look at the food eaten in the west compared to what eastern Europeans and Chinese eat and ask yourself why western cancer rates are higher.
I'm not referring to GMOs, or who's food is healthier, or any other of the points you make {which are valid}. What I am referring to is something completely different. Are you not aware, that the US has in large part been feeding Russia SINCE 1932? Time we tighten the screws.
My point is doing that won't help out the poor fucks in the west eating poison. Doing what you suggest "they" die, "we" die.
But, you do realize the EU and US import more food per capita than Russia according to the WTO
http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-bans-food-imports-from-eu-us-2014-8
If Russia can't feed itself without the west why would they ban food imports from the west? What your suggesting doesn't add up.
Well, if Russia is ever being starved, here's a tip for them. Take over Zimbabwe, and restore it to its food growing potential. Used to be called the breadbasket of Africa, and not for no reason, either.
Of course, you may have some upset locals, but I suspect there would be MANY Zimbabweans who would welcome Russian 'intervention' in their land.
South Africans, for e.g., are starting to figure out they HAD IT BETTER DURING APARTHEID.
They tried that in the 1980s. Didn't work.
It didn't work in the 1980s because Ukraine was still part of the USSR.
TheObsoleteMan
Your moniker is so true. It is hardly that Russia doesn't have any of its own food.
Long before you starve a country like Russia- after all they survived Hitler- you would have a hot missile up your brown betty.
Better still, get America the fuck out of wars that have nothing, zero, zip, to do with the security of the country.
K
My moniker is true because I still think for myself. That is obsolete today.
Ahem - why do you think the US chose the Ukraine, Russia's breadbasket, to start a civil war?
Lesson : what's done to you is a function of the weaponry you command to prevent it.
That's always been true at the geo-political level, and it's true at a personal level.
Those who never left the toddler mentality, don't get that.
'Diplomacy' and all their other PR baloney words mean nothing. Just a nice story for the sheep, (who go off and kill & die for whatever 'justifications' they're given.)
@dutti
Hillary and Obirdbrain destroyed Libya, Syria, Yemen, Ukraine and bomb the F___ out of a lot more. How many countries has Obirdbrain bombed? Rivers of blood flow from the actions of bloody progressive murderers infesting the US FEDGOV. So that is not warmongering? Fuckin get real please.
Make no mistake, George W. Bush, John McCain and Carly Fiorina are progressive criminals also, they damn sure arent constitutional conservatives, are they? Carly Fiorina is a real leftist snake in the grass, a super progressive. Check her past. Nothing conservative about her at all.
Progressives been in charge for a long time now. A bloodier bunch you will not find.
Embrace the progressive suck dude.
Grimaldus
You can add Ben Carson to that list. The guy is reading off the MIC script (Russia is a threat, we have to confront). He's outed himself as not a serious candidate.
McStain can plead mental incapacity, with merit.
its not a disqua;ification to be senator, but probably a requirement.
It's sad when an old war horse like him is not taken out back and put out of his misery. Not too many marbles left upstairs.
If not that, then put him out of our misery.
It is easy to see stuff that’s not working right and it usually doesn’t take this long. The hard part is having a vision/plan that works, anybody can stop something that is an obvious failure. The public understood this before he did? Yes, I too am glad it is stopped.
nobel peace prize goes to________.
o again, hands down, ha...
he stopped the war, ha again.
Did we say "U.S. intelligence"? Scratch that.
Classic! :-)
You're right, something else is brewing, lots of look over here things in the media, here's 1
Turning point? EU Commission head says relations with Russia ‘must be improved,’ US ‘can’t dictate’
https://www.rt.com/news/318074-eu-russia-relations-improve-juncker/
Here's what I think. Russia makes Syria safe for the millions of refugees to go back to, by killing ISIS and starting to rebuild infrastructure there, and Europe ends all sanctions against Russia.
Russia wants a better relationship with Europe, and Europe wants all those refugees to go away. A win-win!
US has declared war on Germany as they shot at DB and VW to destroy the german industrie.
That was too much.
Guaranteed. The Necon/Neoliberals will double down on their bad bets. I wonder what the next false flag against Iran and Russia will look like...
Necon/Neoliberals
Why not just put on your big-boy pants and call them Jew Warmongers?
Haha, on Youtube they have to call them "the Archons". LOL, its pretty hilarious, really, once you know what the weasel words refer to.
If they had viable military options, they would have would used them. - You have to wonder if saner heads in the military said that the notion of 'winning' a nuke war is insanity. (And thats where this could all lead if the U.S. rulers escalated further.)
Of course, this is all about pipelines and the petro-dollar. Those running the U.S. have killed more than a million in these most recent ME wars. They don't give a damned about 'humanitarian' issues. That's P.R. for the sheep.
The US doesn't fight fair and never has. It will use the military to kick the shit out of countries with no airforce or army to speak of, to terrorize the people, to spread poisons that will cause birth defects, cancers, horrible rare diseases for the next five generations. But with Russia and China it will be something different. They will kill a bunch of people in these countries, just not with bombs and bullets or depleted uranium. It will be a "natural" virus, an "accidental" nuclear disaster, a fucking tidal wave.
The U.S. leaders appear to be dumb fucks (just look at McCain holy shit!). I mean, how could they possibly throw away the entire future of the U.S. for ridiculously inefficient military occupations and encircling the globe with military bases when it is obvious no single country can control the world, ever, without the substantial cooperation of the populations it seeks to control. It will literally never happen. They could have just made deals with everyone: use our money for international trade, give some of our companies special treatment, give us a large part of your resources so we can build shit, and you will never run out of money, never fear invasion from anyone, get a bunch of shit we made at a large discount, etc.
The short answer is that our ostensible leaders are generally dumb fucks. But the people behind the curtain, the people who own or control everything, are not stupid (although they can fairly be characterized as completely fucking insane). Most important study of the last generation in my opinion - confirms the centralization of ownership interests in multinational corps. http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1107/1107.5728v2.pdf
So what is the point of all that the U.S. is doing everywhere aside from the superficial explanation of profits for special interests etc? It could be as mundane as trying to foment conflicts and chaos everywhere so the NWO can emerge. It may be crazy alien shit and this game is bigger than any of us would imagine. Whatever it is, the families and cabals that plotted to control the world through the financial system and corruption of every government that exists, over the course of a few hundred years or more, are not stupid. And they won't stop.
*#@! please don't feed the dolphins !@#*
Obama is the biggest Pussy Bully of all time. What a disgrace to humanity
So he arms the rebels. He is wrong. He walks away, he is wrong. WTF ?
Looks like opinions are coming out of two assholes.
"Change You Can Believe In". Thanks, progressives! Is there anything you can't/won't infiltrate, destroy, putrefy?
Obama's sloganeering was just that--sloganeering. Why do you think his campaign won an advertising award? Companies that sell woefully mislabeled products are hardly progressive.
And if you imagine a Wall Street sock puppet is a progressive, you've been tea bagged.
Why not take your homosexual pillow talk to a phag chatoom?
Thanks
Whats hilarious is that Canadian politicians are actually trying to take some of Obama's rub (to use a pro wrestling term). Two campaigns at the moment focus on the word "Change!" and "Real Change"
LOL! Won't get me to vote in their election PERIOD, with that kind of transparent BS.
Yeah sure, Corzine, Lew, Yellen, Bernanke and Timmah are constitutional conservatives.
/sarc
Embrace your progressive suck dude and remember, the progressive stupid, it burns.
Grimaldus
Encouraging State action is prog, preferred pill color is irrelevant.
progressive/socialist/communist Ds or fascist Rs - - who to 'vote' for ? (using the electronic machines that can't be audited)
Oh yeah, they hate us for our freedom
Obama only acts like a progressive. He is a corporatist neocon. Look at his actions, not the shit that spews out of his mouth.
Two wrongs don’t make a right, but two Wright's can make an airplane.
I once saw a Seal who could fly a plane. He barked too much in the Bushes, and they quieted him.
Reminds me of an old airline slogan. (and understood, tks)
"So he arms the rebels."
What fucking "rebels"? Another false flag "color revolution" and you call it legitimate?
WTF?
You should get those two assholes of yours looked at.
Obomber has blazed a trail of destruction across the world culminating in a flood of refugees swamping Europe. There is nothing WTF about stopping the destruction. Walking away from the 'guns for terrorists programs' is the only sane thing to do.
If you want diversity then let other cultures find their own way. What kinda works for the USA does not work for other countries.
During the Viet Nam war we were told how awful defeat would be. Actually nothing much happened except the great relief of peace. Now we are told Viet Nam is our good friend. 50000 dead Americans killed maybe a million Vietnamese who haven't changed much but are now our buds. Now that is WTF.
Yes he was wrong to arm the "rebels" (mercenaries). To think that Obama had any input into actually designing, constructing and implementing the arming of the rebels is ludicrous. Obama is the puppet, the spokesman, like the reader of the nightly news but instead he's the reader of foreign policy. Obama didn't arm the rebels the US taxpayers did at the behest of the corporatocracy that run (ruins) this country. Obama's part as the token negro is to read the news, play golf and dingle his dick in Reggie's ass.
He walks away? Again "he" does nothing. The lunatics that have to keep the US public manipulated with fear that at any moment (name the war) Vietnamese are going to storm out of the jungle, cross the ocean in their junks then storm American beaches in their sandals bringing communism, death and destruction to every hamlet in the US to Persians storming out of the desert, cross the ocean (they don't even have junks) and storm the beaches beheading every American and bringing submission to Islam in every hamlet in the US? Without the fear mongering dispensed 24/7 in MSM to news releases from any of the 535 paid shills to the folks back home, without the fear mongering public support wanes and the peoples get closer to looking behind the curtain of oz.
Amazingly, the bulk of the public is so easily distracted by Bruce Jenner trading in his ball sac for fake tits that they think nothing of their sons and daughters dying for this greatest sham on earth or the milliions who have died in their own homelands (colateral damage) due to the oligarchs (bankers, MIC, International Corps) and their passion for greed, control and the joy of death/destruction/misery these sick bastards bring to the world.
Who's in charge? I don't have names and addresses but there are a few thousand in the world who make this shit happen. Who's going to stop them? I don't think anybody. If they can't have their way they will burn the entire ship of state as it completely sinks.
As long as the US oligarchs pay for mercenaries in the world or find and pay US soldiers (mercenaries, same thing) the shit will go on forever until it doesn't. In that process to the extent that it plays out the only hope for anyone who is not at the top of the food chain is to be on the side of the presently winning oligarch.
Who's in charge? Certainly not the U.S. government. What execrable country is the only one that can remove weapons from the U.S. armory w/o the same government's authorization?
http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-sway-over-israel-on-gaza-at-a-low-140797...
You just dont get it...the $500m is already in the right pockets...THAT was the policy. The policy was a success...
"$500m is already in the right pockets"
Yes, you're right. 25 pallettes of Calvin Klein bronzer (for the white CIA mercinaries).
And, let's not forget the snappy white Nike hightops....
only 500b? like fucking pocket change while our bridges crumble.
oh, wait, we need to send Z a few hun billion, just to meet a balance of payments to = balance of power. fucked up beyond fucking unimagineable fucked up fubfufu
I still have not heard an explanation of Obumnuts remark to Medvedev "tell Vlad I'll have more flexibility after the election". Antbody have a clue?
Barry is many things, including a communist/soviet mole. If you search you will find a report by an American engineer who was in Moscow in the early nineties. He was invited to dinner at the house of an influential couple. The wife was high up in the communist party. She could not stop yammering about "a young black man being groomed in your Ivy League schools to become your president". If memory serves, she even knew his name.
early nineties?
Okay folks, here ya go! Never doubt TeamDepends. If you don't believe that Obongo is a card-carrying commie, you need to try harder.http://www.rense.com/general84/brck.htm
Putin was a card-carrying commie, I sense a vast conspiracy!
When it comes to global nuclear armageddon Obama may indeed be a pussy. But in that case he is MY PUSSY.
Sheesh, there sure seem to be an awful lot of truly conflicted rah-rah faux patriots on this site anymore. One minute 'hang all zio-banksters' and 'f--k Israel and the MIC", and the next minute 'Obama's just a shameless coward". Look, he may well be the worst president in U.S. history. He may be a vapid puppet doing his master's bidding. He may be a prevaricator or a dunce. But if he manages to tip-toe through the manifold miasma of competing psychopathic neocon bullshit just enough to avoid a global conflagaration with Russia and/or China, then that's one pussy I'll embrace.
None of us really know what is exactly going on behind the curtain. Only time will tell.
a fair point only if you believe that his actions are indicative of "tip-toe[ing] through the manifold miasma of competing psychopathic neocon bullshit just enough to avoid a global conflagaration with Russia and/or China"
it seems more like he is a schizophrenic playing football against himself in a minefield. That he has not gotten us into a nuclear conflagration is just dumb luck.
https://youtu.be/F7g-K0bvmOs?t=74The rest of the US Govt including the Pentagram, CON-Grezz, SCROTUS and all of it is just as bad and they go along with him 100%.
Obama should send AIPAC the bill for the money that was spent or just deduct it from the annual Israel foreign aid appropriation.
Europe has turned on the USA because they realized why they were invaded by Migrats from the Middle East. The USA created conditions there for mass migration. The USA allied with Turkey sent the wave of Migrants north to the EU, as part of a USA plan to weaken Europe by underhanded means. When even the idiot Junker saw what the USA was doing to Europe, and what Putin was NOT doing to Europe, they finally snapped into gear their brains and realized the USA was not only USING Europe as part of the USA's anti Russia policy, but also keeping the EU in line by weakening the EU through mass migration.
The USA played a dirty underhanded game on Europe. Putin has done nothing at all to hurt Europe. Now finally reality is kicking in.
Well said, sir.
I was wondering when they were going to take notice that so many poor "refugees" were mostly young dudes in tracksuits, CK jeans, with expensive cellphones looking for a meal, a bed and some pussy on the taxpayer dime.
It didn't take as long as I initially thought. The Eastern Euro countries have the right idea
EU leaders are dumb, but I seriously doubt they're that dumb to have gotten the message just now. I am sure they know all abou it for a long time. Question is do you go public with that or not and that is a matter of internal discussion between the European elites. I guess the mood is changing a little but it could also just be a way to calm those Europeans that have figured out who is to blame. (remember on average Europeans care for geopolitics a lot more than average Americans)
"remember on average Europeans care for geopolitics"
its true, but they can care as much as they want, the eu is ruled by cia and all major paries and oligarch are playing along with usa's self-destruction agenda
"turning us into international terrorists, pariahs of the civilized world"
Obumner talking about gun control is a Fu**ing Joke. He must control his own gun (drones, military and CIADA) before talking about any others!
I thought along similiar lines yesterday. I pictured all the naval vessels in US ports - as tourist attractions. All the ground forces stationed on the Mexican and Canadian borders. The military replaces TSA. Think of all the money saved.
Wow, Saudi ARAMCO must be pissed! Putin cockblocked the Quatar pipeline. I guess Europe will be buying Natural Gas from Russia for a loooonnnngggg time. US is going to gunfight with plasticware
I never noticed the Russian Federation flag is red, white and blue until the above Putin and Obama photo. I'm no Vlad boot licker, but if you look at Russia's tax/business structure and the rugged social strength of the Russian people, they do seem to be more "American" than America. Say what you will about Vlad but his foreign and trade policy isn't built on offensive wars of aggression and fundamentally transforming other nations through force.
It would seem Russia is Red, White and Blue 2.0...
every empire becomes tolatarian and then they shrink. policy decisions or getting out played doens't matter as long as we stop spilling American blood and treasury to maintain an evil empire of occupation and oppression throughout the world.
Speaking of totalitarianism...
I enjoyed Vald's speech where he spoke of a strong nation having people who are physically fit and of high moral character. He didn't say how individuals should get there, but that these are the traits of a strong people and nation. Compare and contrast that to our nation where Michelle Obama is forcing kids to eat this or that to achieve some uniform semblance of mediocre health and Mike Huckabee and Ben Carson tell you if you're not a Christian you're a lost cause (more a less...).
Russians for freedom and results. Americans for authority and mediocrity, What a role reversal.
The Russians are getting the idea that freedom leads to prosperity, and they have been phasing it in.
well, if you know Russia from close, you will know that it is and will be a different culture (and civilization), however, they have certain similarities with the (former) West. Somehow, the more European places of Russia remind me of the West in 1950s. You can judge by yourself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJUW1m0YaBg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd2v-YJZCcM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUdeBv0rtg4
Nice videos, thank you.
Russia freed itself from the Tribe, while the US is the Tribe's latest parasite. It's not complicated.
Schedule secret meetings between the Vice President and the Big Oil Executives, call it The Energy Task Force, for a plan of attack, just like 2001, leading to 9-11 and 7 countries in 5 years.
They are rabid, frothing at the mouth, this ain't the end of it.
The USSR was a reliable energy supplier even during the worst of the real Cold War. The 'unreliability' comes solely from the actions of the corrupt, greedy, sociapathic, Zionist oligarchs in Ukraine.
Edit: 3 redundant adjectives left in for extra emphasis.
I'm afraid they'll just turn their attention inward on their own citizens.
Just did on gun control.Obozo to go around congrees.
Exactly what i was thinking! Picture a dog owner having a really bad day at work coming home and kicking the dog around.
except that the US isn't Burma where a junta can oppress a non-mobile unarmed populace. well, some of it is.
But .gov = owner. We - Dog.
I like it
non sheep i know would confirm your thoughts...
3 percent defeated the brits, the rest hide under the bed...
Let's hope this is the start of a long trend and not one of these "well, we were pulling out but then XXX happened so we had to go in and blow the place up" for the sake of freedom lovers everywhere, mind you.
Borders? Ancap flag, and you are talking about borders?
Be careful you don't get what you ask for.
"Then maybe the US can focus on it's own borders again."
I doubt the MIC/security state will be downsized, it never has been before, and it'll need a job to do....within its own borders. That means us.
The Pentagon wastes taxpayers money. They deliver no benefits except to the banks.
The Pentagon wastes taxpayers money. They deliver no benefits except to the banks.
I recommend reading Thierry Meyssan's take on the Obama-Putin secret collaboration on Syria to counteract neocons (Clinton, Allen, Wolfowitz, Netanyahu, etc.). For example:
http://www.voltairenet.org/article188939.html
He was talking about the Russian intervention in Syria very early on, way before it became an acknowledged fact. His articles are always very well documented.
Pretty hard to fake the body language when these two meet.
I doubt Obozo has any knowledge ofs such a thing.Thats not to say someone lower down the chain, may not
be actively cooperating in such a scheme..You know, a true patriot.Ther could be one or two
left in DC.
regard body language of Obama/Putin meetings:
take a look at these photos
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/09/26/putin-and-o...
Take a look at that photo in Mexico, priceless
Thanks for link Jefferson. I wish the Q&A would of been included.