This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
US Shocked To Find Russian Machine Gun With Iranian Ammo Attached To Abrams Tank
Needless to say, what’s happening in Syria is a nightmare for those who have been forced by circumstance to bear witness to the intractable violence. The plight of the hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the country is unfathomable and the situation facing those who remain is even worse.
For military and political strategists in Washington, Syria’s civil war represents a different kind of nightmare. The Russia-Iran nexus is just about the worst possible outcome for the US, whose status as global hegemon was already fading in the face of an ascendant China.
Put simply, the partnership between Washington’s two worst geopolitical enemies represents a kind of “sum of all fears” scenario and to make matters worse, the alliance between Tehran and Moscow looks as though it will apply to Iraq as well, raising the spectre of the US being kicked out of the country it “liberated” after 9/11.
And while there’s nothing funny about the plight of the Syrian people, there’s quite a bit to laugh at when it comes to this latest (and perhaps greatest) US foreign policy blunder which is why we found the following bit from Defense News particularly amusing. Apparently, the Iran-backed (and US supported) Shiite militias battling ISIS in Iraq aren’t getting the kind of logistical support they need from Washington and so they have begun attaching Russian guns to Abrams tanks and firing Iran-stamped ammo. Here’s more:
Earlier this month, Shia militiamen in Iraq dropped off an American-supplied Abrams tank at a US-supported repair facility where workers were surprised to find an attached Russian machine gun plus Iranian ammo, Defense News has learned.
The MIA1 main battle tank — one of 146 frontline tanks the US sold to Baghdad — was transported through the Green Zone to a US-supported Iraqi service facility at al-Muthanna that was established as part of the Pentagon’s Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.
The tank was equipped with a Russian .50-caliber machine gun and Iranian-stamped 12.75-mm ammunition, according to a source at the facility.
“Once all the ammo was removed, as per procedure, by Iraqi personnel, we noticed Iranian markings on the back of the shell casings. Seems they put a Russian machine gun with Iranian ammunition on an Abrams tank.”
As Washington scrambles to adapt to the myriad, Iranian-backed Shiite militias fighting alongside its US-trained and -supplied partners in Iraq, new manifestations of shifting alliances may threaten the relevance of US end-use monitoring in that war-torn country.
The US-Russian tank hybrid could constitute twin violations of Iraq’s FMS agreements with Washington, due to unauthorized use by Shiite militias and the unsanctioned addition of the Russian gun and Iranian ammo, Pentagon officials say.
“Any time you do a foreign military sale, there’s a requirement that you do end-use monitoring, and it’s a violation if you do alterations,” Vice Adm. Joseph Rixey, director of the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) told Defense News.
Interviewed in Washington this week at the annual Association of the US Army conference, neither Rixey, the Pentagon’s FMS chief, nor Maj. Gen. Mark McDonald, chief of the US Army Security Assistance Command, had knowledge of the event recounted to Defense News. However, both men suggested that their Iraqi customers had an obligation to report such occurrences in a timely and accurate manner.
“If they brought it into the maintenance facility, then that should be reported to our US folks there, and then we can have a discussion about how, ‘This is not what we’re going to do,’” McDonald said.
McDonald was deputy commander at the time the Iraqi tank deal was concluded, and noted that the FMS contract includes a maintenance package that covers the facility in question. “We eventually got them to buy the maintenance and training package, so I do know there is an ongoing maintenance effort going on over there under our FMS contract, with a US company doing the maintenance.”
The in-country source noted that it was the first time he had encountered the hybridization of the Abrams to accommodate the Russian gun and Iranian ammo.
“It could be an isolated event or it could mark the beginning of something worrisome. It’s too early to tell … but given the strange bedfellows over there in the Amber Zone, you never know.”
Yes, “you never know”, but what appears to have happened here is that because the Iran-backed Shiite militias are more adept than the Iraqi army on the battlefield, they’re the ones driving the tanks.
As a reminder, here’s their assessment of America’s role in providing support for the ground campaign against ISIS in Iraq (via Reuters):
Allied Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias who are leading the fight against Islamic State in Iraq, say the United States lacks the decisiveness and the readiness to supply weapons needed to eliminate militancy in the region.
And so, because of this “lack of decisiveness and readiness”, the militiamen improvised and slapped a Russian machine gun on a US-supplied tank and loaded it up with Iranian ammo.
As noted above, these soldiers aren’t really supposed to be driving these things which makes the following description of what unfolded when they dropped it off for service down right hilarious:
“They brought it in through Iraqi checkpoints, back-rolled it off the trailer and then drove away.”
»
- 159646 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
What's even more shocking is how the Criminal Fraud UNITED STATES, CORP. INC., Pure Evil Psychopaths at the CIA & its Vassels are arming, funding & training the exact terror organizations the Russians / Iranians are fighting.
FUNDAMENTAL TRANSFORMATION
CHANGE YOU BETTER BELIEVE IN
Thanks Barry!
Pimp my ride, maintenance bitchezz!
American, Russian, and Iranian gear all on the same tank ?
What's the problem ?
These guys are always pushing 'diversity' aren't they ?
Russia makes its own Ma-Deuce? Who knew?
Russia approves the use of this 50 :D :D
McInsane where are you !? ROFLMAO
You gotta be kidding me!
146 M1A1 Abes sold to those fuckups and then we make excuses about somebody not doing the proper end -use monitoring!
WTF?
We (America) has become so legalistic and regulated it is a total joke to most of the world, except Europe. Bureaucrats are like an infestation of cockroaches, scurrying around in the dark leaving their germs behind to cause unknown sickness and disease later.
Autopsies find Iranian bullets fired thru Russian barrel.
Good for false flag.
Maybe tank shot up Afghan hospital.
Just me ,but............
I see that you have a tank there,.. PASS
My guess..
The Russian .50 cal. is normally chambered for the Russian 12.7 x 108 mm cartridge
The US M2 .50 cal. uses a 12.7 x 99 mm cartridge
The militants probably only had Russian (made in Iran) ammo, so they put a Russian gun up there
..makes sense to me
So it this a metaphor of what this Joel Skousen is saying? The Military Industrial Complex does NOT pledge an allegiance to the USA but to the country that will be the reserve currency? Like how they destroyed Britain to then prop up USA, So Central Bankers, Ratheon, Northrop Grumman, Boening, Lockheed Martin, Coke, Dupont, Highest ranking military personal etc... (the list goes on) all pledge their allegiance to profits... who ever has the strongest/biggest money printing press.
Russia will once again rue the day that they decided to screw with Islam. The citizens won't stand still for Putin's folly. Disaster will ensue.
the day that they decided to screw with Islam
OK....Obama.
We eventually got them to buy the maintenance and training package, so I do know there is an ongoing maintenance effort going on over there under our FMS contract, with a US company doing the maintenance.
So buying a tank from the Military Industrial Complex is a bit like buying a TV at Best Buy???
Plus Russian/Iranian 108mm has more punch than the 99mm US version...
Simple
Not really. I see you know nothing about such things {I'm a re-loader}. Once you get that big, a few thousandths of an inch doesn't really make a difference. It's probably just thicker brass.
"The militants probably only had Russian (made in Iran) ammo, so they put a Russian gun up there...makes sense to me."
But, but...America is supposed to sell you the bullets! How is the MIC supposed to make a profit if you keep making "unsanctioned modifications" to do things that make SENSE!?!?
We make cents, not sense.
Sorry boss, this ain't Hewlett Packard selling you cartridges.
I carried an AK in Viet Nam, what's the big deal? (In helicopter, had a pilot (captain) who did same.
Do you think your time in Vietnam fighting for the MIC and the bankers was a good use of your one shot at consciousness in eternity.
Why do you dumb cunts do it, I am fucking stumped.
How many people did you kill?
What a fucked up question to ask someone, well maybe not a fucked up question, but fucked up circumstance that the question can even be asked.
Could all future men willing to don a US army or navy uniform please kill themselves before propogating more misery on humanity.
Just stop killing people you insane pieces of shit.
Missed your meds today, didn't ya.
We have some oil fields in Iraq that we need control of but we'll call it a war on terror so these dumb lumps of shit will think what they are doing is honourable.
The U.S. Is nazi Germany and every man and women wearing an army or navy uniform is complicit. Funny thing is, when you think you have the power you just don't give a fuck.
I don't doubt that you are "stumped". Stunted, too. All this concern for humanity from this wizard who calls himself Bring On The Asteroid.
I'm with the Asteroid.
I think you are missing something important.
The military are used by those playing global games to continue their own incarceration in the loony bin that the world has become.
Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.
H Kissinger
I don't think I am missing anything. In fact, been there, done that. Perhaps you should Google 11b40, then come back and tell me what I may have missed.
As far as "logic", Mr. Logicalman, explain the logic of someone calling himself "bring on the asteroid" being so concerned with humanity's pain & suffering.
And you can take Henry Kissinger and stick him up your ass. Given the opportunity, I would personally do the world a favor and bury him alive. He should experience a little "justice" before he dies. He is responsible for untold numbers of American, Vietnamese, and Cambodian lives.
Have a nice day.
Ahhhh, you do realise it's just a nic, don't you?
Just admit that you were fucking had. Why did you go to Vietnam? What did you accomplish?
I'll tell you what you accomplished.
You made the weapons manufactureres and the munitions manufacturers a whole lot richer and if you think you were there for any other reason, wellllllll, Kissinger was right I guess.
If you came out and said "Look, I made a grave error, I didn't realise that I had been conned", I'd say "Fair enough, you were a dumb cunt for supporting killing but at least you're man enough to admit it".
But you won't even admit it.
Human beings, men, are killers at heart. Otherwise you wouldn't get anyone to enlist in an army.
So, what's your point? I would bet that I know far more about what men are capable of than you ever will. You sound like some coddled little college kid. Go bother someone else.
You're making the assumption that he volunteered.
So if evil mother fuckers in politic tell you to do something, then you just do it?
No wonder Hitler got away with what he did for so long. Gutless men just aquiescing tio authority.
Hey, Captian Courageous, what have you done to stand up to authority. What righteous deeds have you performed that you can impress us all with? What "evil mother fuckers" have you faced down?
Yeah, I thought so.
Most of the people who went to Vietnam were drafted {forced}. They put you in jail if you didn't go. If you had a rich daddy, you could go to Canada {daddy could send you support checks}. Besides that, the only way out was to tell them you sucked cock. Men were men back then, and you'd rather die than say that to another man {especially someone you didn't know, they might ask you to prove it, then what are you going to do?} Once you got over there, you had people trying their best to kill you, so you did what you had to do to survive-you shot back. Pretty fucking simple. Some guys over there did some bad shit, and they have to live with it the rest of their life. Most guy's conscience is clean because they did nothing but try to survive in a bad situation. GROW UP, IT'S LATER THAN YOU THINK. Life isn't always what you think it is, or should be.
So being put in jail is a worse outcome than going to another country to kill other human beings and potentially be killed yourself.
"Life isn't always what you think it is"
Oh yes it is. It's a bunch of dumb sacks of shit that do what they are told by their masters. If you are going to fucking kill anyone then kill the fucking people subscripting you.
Do you realise how fucking evil this shit is, DO YOU?
So you say it is better to kill other people that go to jail.
Fine human being you are.
That anti-Viet Nam vet rant was so rude. They drafted 18 year olds back then. They were too young to know how evil and wrong the government was. Going to Nam was not optional. And setting war policy was not in the hands of the people then any more than it is now. People did hit the street and protest then. I haven't seen mobs of students protesting now. One must ask Rude sir what are you doing to end the endless wars of today?
Ak's ..And the reason for that small treason was...... It just fucking worked when your balls needed protection. (Nods & smiles)
Don't those things use a specialized fuel? I thought I read some where they use jet fuel.
They can run on JP-4 although I have seen them run on hotter JP-6. JP-4 is high grade diesel and JP-6 is jet fuel.
multiculturalized armaments.
manned by moderate multicultural rebels.
JP-4 is not diesel. Its a mixture of gasoline and kerosine.
When I was in the MC, we used JP-5 for all aircraft I was around, and even used it to make the Nape (oh sorry, I mean fire bombs using part a and b)
It's important you use US branded ammo when killing and maiming. Gotta keep THAT manufacturing domestic. The rest, not so much.
On another note, selling them quality MBT ... real smooth. Par for the couse, however.
Hope to hell those 146 A1s come supplied with Chi-Com back-doored chips that we know the way into.
There are so many arms that have come from so many sources apparenly laying around everywhere there, who can blame them for personalizing their killing machines?
Is there an app for this?
Guess no 120mm ammo to arm them... lol
Yep, the M1A1 is a modern multi million pound battle tank, it is ridiculous that it is being operated by a militia!
What's next, are the US just going to parachute weapons randomly into countries to be used by anyone with a pulse?
Oh wait...
But those chrome bogie spinners! Sah-WEEEEEET Ride for Mohammed to Heaven.
FORWARD CALIPHATE!
It's an M1A2 version. It's shit-version specifically designed for export to poor countries, but looks like the real thing.
That is correct. Not sure if they are still assembling Abrams in Egypt Since the ousting of Mubarak but the foreign version of the M1 Abrams platform simply has the looks as it lacks the armor & the pzazz of the American version.
Oh? Like an H2!
Did you need your mirrors washed?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE25Uzm3jNw
Rediculous!
Hameed ibin Camelfuckin gets a tank to pimp out with a 20,000 mile limited warranty courtesy of Uncle fuckin' Sam, yet I'm a bad guy for having a magazine that holds more than ten rounds.
What the fuck?
The government already has total dominion over you. You have nothing new to offer it. So it does not care what you want. Your obedience to the U.S. government is mandatory, not optional.
Hameed's obedience is optional. He offers to trade it, but expects to be paid for it. He offers the government political influence in the middle east, that is, a leg up on power over a millions of new subjects the government previously held no power over. That is why Hameed gets a tank with 20,000 mile warranty and you get a 10-round limit.
They aren't M1A1s; they are M1A2s like we sold to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia...basically a baseline model with shittier armore, targeting and weapons. I think they Saudis are the only ones that we even equipped with a thermal targeting package.
We never sell anything to anyone that we won't be able to easily destroy...not to make an excuse for negligence in sales/monitoring.
I don't know about now, but during Cold War they made a .51cal so they could use US .50BMG, but US could not use theirs. They did that a lot with their guns.
very interesting.
what caliber was the dshk machinegun? apparently it was a 12.7mm? basically a russian .50 cal equivalent... did they make another machinegun or are we talking the dshk?
yes, its a russian 12.7mm crew served machine gun, which is very slightly larger that the .50. As to the ammo interchangability, I think they can be made to use US made ammo, but a M2 will not shoot the Russian 12.7. Its kinda like how a rifle with a barrel chambered in 5.56 will shoot either 5.56 or .223 safely, but if its stamped .223, it can ONLY shoot .223.
And I can't speak for now, but 8 years ago, the only crew served machine guns I ever saw the Iraqis have were Russian 12.7s, I never saw them with a M2, and I never saw them with US type M-4s either, they all had russian AKs. I think the real story hear is the militia guys, rather than the Iraqi army, dropping it off for maintenance, not what kind of machine gun it had mounted on it.
"I think the real story hear is the militia guys, rather than the Iraqi army, dropping it off for maintenance, not what kind of machine gun it had mounted on it. "
This is my take on it, too.
Whether this hardware has been acquired and used by a 'local' 'militia' or ISIS/Al-CIA-duh is the real question...
watch this see the flag on the M-1
https://youtu.be/ItK0Jb88quw?t=2m57s
and this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n4p-fBQ8Jk
http://www.guns.com/2013/03/15/the-dshk-dushka-heavy-machinegun-the-russ...
Nice, thanks.
I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
Yep Hard Assests, and the longer we are in it, diverse it gets.
But important Diversity questions still remain. Did the Tank have a female operator and a "Trans-gender" bathroom? (and maybe a Rainbow flag flying from the radio antenna).
Arabs do a lot of "after-market alterations..." :>D
"We eventually got them to buy the maintenance and training package, so I do know there is an ongoing maintenance effort going on over there under our FMS contract, with a US company doing the maintenance.”
"War is a racket"-Major General Smedley Butler Marine Corps. Two-time Medal of Honor Recipient.
~Bread and Circuses~
Arrest the REAL criminals behind the veil.
And this bit is just stupid. You sell people killing machines and then bitch about the violation of a minor clause in the licensing agreement? Good thing they didn't let Oddball have any of these tanks.
The US-Russian tank hybrid could constitute twin violations of Iraq’s FMS agreements with Washington, due to unauthorized use by Shiite militias and the unsanctioned addition of the Russian gun and Iranian ammo, Pentagon officials say.
“Any time you do a foreign military sale, there’s a requirement that you do end-use monitoring, and it’s a violation if you do alterations,” Vice Adm. Joseph Rixey, director of the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) told Defense News.
Speaking of Oddball, his party music does sound just a little bit Iranian.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFGFCt-oHC0
Can we follow the paper trail on this tank? There's a good chance it one that we gave to Iraq who then 'lost' it to ISIS who the lost it back to the militia. In good Mid-East fashion they them tried to get free maintainance on their ride from the Americans.
Leasing out Tanks makes good business sense especially if they are paid for by US taxpayers and includes free maintanance. No down payment, no monthly payments , no credit checks----what a great deal !
It reduces the the log jam in the supply chain.
(GM makes them ?)
10 year, 100K mile bumper to bumper warranty. Paint Protection and floormats extra.
Click HERE to get your free* Tankfax Report!
Nice.
"Speaking of Oddball, his party music does sound just a little bit Iranian."
Hollywood Arab more likely.
I am sure that if someone in Tehran farts and their arse is facing Israel, it would be a breach of some Jewnited Stares engineered protocol
The Dealer said the FMS package could save thousands with the free oil change coupons alone!
FORWARD PATTON!
Well I was rollin' down the road in some cold blue M1A steel,
I had a Russian 50 on the back, and a Persian at the wheel.
Yes Im bad----Im nationwide ZZ-Top
Now thats good.
While reading the article I was thinking of this:
My pappy said "Son your gonna drive me to drinkin'
If you don't stop driving that hot rod Lincoln"
Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen
Wow yer old.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R7l7nDuj1o
My Father said that he wowed them with a Willies Knight.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willys-Knight
( granted 30 years past its sell by date)
Thanks.
I had forgotten who originated the 'sleeve-valve' design (I'm getting 'old', you know). Rotating cylinders housed within the intake and exhaust tracts, with slots cut in them to allow the correctly timed 'passing of the gasses' (combusted and incoming mixture), driven by chains off the crankshaft. A massive reduction in friction over the OHV or VIB designs (thus allowing for higher specific HP outputs). Hard to effectively seal, though, and hard to produce (in the early 1900's). Effective HP output is limited to designed RPM range, and the mettalurgy of the time precluded higher combustion ratios that could have possibly made far higher numbers than stated. Willys teamed up with Chrysler to make old-fashioned flathead-4s for 'Uncle Sam' during the W.W. I.I. thing... the 'General Purpose' small vehicle (G.P., or 'JEEP').
An old boy I met once that lived up at the top of 9th Street in Hermosa Beach, CA., showed me THREE (count 'em, THREE) 'Fish' carburetors that he had, stashed in his garage. ANOTHER old boy that lived up in Altadena had a workshop full of old sound equipment (I'm talking about machines that played wax cylinders, and Victrolas, and stuff), and he played one of the ORIGINAL Edison recordings for me and my father (a 'demo' of the 'new' Edison wax cylinder method of audio recording).
Strange; I'm really NOT that old. I guess I was just lucky to be where I was, when I was there.
Which one was better? The Lincoln 472 cid, or the Lincoln 500 cid? Hands down, the 472! Imagine one of these with a 6,000 lb. car, and a 2.78 gear ratio, on the run from Fallon to Winnemuca (NV); or a duece of these in a deep-sea fishing boat with a great big flying bridge, running throttle-up at 3,000 RPM...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVL4wKnpx2U
Speaking of old, a friend of mine could remember when there were NO DAMS on the Columbia River.....
+10K on that one!
Looks like Vietnam circa spring of 1975. Obama is really good at being clueless and inept
It's the King-Makers, the Mayors de Palace, the power behind the throne.
- Our government is operating in interregnum.
- Silent Coup until we get National referendums.
- Congress gave up it's Budget Powers, Legislative Powers, and War Powers
- Supreme Court has no Right to Rule on Obama Care while the main concern is budgets exploding from Health Care Costs, therefore, the Supreme Court has been taken by a Coup as well since they are driving inflation, taxes and Debt to astronomical levels
- Private US Federal Reserve is a corporation with huge state powers and doesn't give a Damn about Main Street, another Coup
Who run barter town?
Vlad and Soleimani
"Mad Vlad: Beyond Syrian Thunderdome" movie review:
Two go in. Tens of millions leave as 'refugees'. Mel Gibson flies a plane to Sydney (but the 'refugees' have already trashed the place). Everything is run by the power of PIGSHIT. After the Israeli State intelligence Service beards are picked up out of the desert, Vlad's wife knits him a sweater using these, and he puts it on and relaxes by a roaring fire (stirring it occasionally with his iron penis). George Soros ('Blaster'), feeling the rage, anally rapes 'Master' (played by world-famous 'community organizer' and midget-mind Barry Soetoro). His anger is never slaked, because the 'Master' character wants more and more of it (the actor has become the character). Valerie Jarrett and Saul Alinsky are the executive producers.
Anthony Kennedy run Bartertown!
Not Shit!
Energy!
The naivete of what gets posted here is sometimes phenomenally American in its ignorance. I read recently on ZH that 80% of Americans don't know how many Senators are in Congress. Some of that 80% post comments right here on ZH. The rest of you pay attention, because I'm going to let you all in on a closely held secret about how the world works.
First of all, the CIA fights both sides of every war. That was told to me by an Egyptian doctor in this country almost twenty years ago, one Doctor Suiliman. We were discussing Patrice Lamumba (think the Congo). He informed me that Lumumba was CIA. Huh? -I thought. Doctor Suiliman noted my perplexed face, and this was when he described to me the typical CIA operation. His tag line was, "Look, if you fight both sides, how can you lose?" Of course, you cannot lose if you're on both sides of every war and every political contest too. The CIA is like a Kendo sword fighter, forever getting out of the way of every blow, until there is an opening in which to deliver the fatal blow.
Similarly, if you leak your old military hardware schematics, as if these were state of the art, your enemies are sure going to be surprised when you pull out the new stuff. Right?
The whole earth of understanding the American Empire and its great endurance and success opened up for me based on what Doctor Suiliman described from his perspective as an Egyptian-American, one who made his way to the U.S. in search of wealth and prosperity. You don't fight with the boss if you're at all serious about becoming a success. And Doctor Suiliman was serious about becoming a success. He studied the bosses of the world. So is Putin serious about success. And so are the Iranians.
First of all, Putin and the Russians are our natural allies. Personalities cannot change that. And Putin is certainly not going to rock the boat, unless he is asked to do so. The post Cold War Russian alliance with the American Empire has over the last twenty years, has paid unimaginably huge dividends for Russia. Twenty years ago, Russia literally faced mass starvation. Why would Putin risk that again? Exactly, he wouldn't. And the Iranians too are looking to chum up with Uncle Sam as the world's alliances get strained and the battle lines are redrawn.
The Iranians are also our natural allies, (remember the Shah?) especially now that the Iranians have begun to tow the line, so-to-speak. We're clearly not going to go to war against the Iranians or the Russians. So putting good use to each of military entity is simply a matter of asking, since really everyone wants to be the best friend of the biggest guy on the block, Uncle Sammy. Such alliances pay dividends.
And who else is on the American side this time as WWIII beckons us all? Why, the Japanese, who else!
Now do you see why WWIII looks like such a good idea? Which side do you want to be on? Exactly, so get with the program.
Tyler says, "The Russia-Iran nexus is just about the worst possible outcome for the US, whose status as global hegemon was already fading in the face of an ascendant China." This is not the worst possible outcome. This is the plan. The war isn't going to be fought on U.S. soil. This war is going to be about who are going to be America's best friends come the second quarter of the New American Century. And trust me, after those damned Chinese students laughed at Timmy Giethner, it definitely ain't gonna be the Chinese.
Nobody likes a smart-ass.
El Vaquero has the correct response
"Chinese students laughed at Timmy Giethner...
Nobody likes a smart-ass. "
NOBODY likes Timmy Geithner.
"the Russians are our natural allies. "
I agree 100%.
Both Russia and the US will come to prize the alliance, the trade, and the friendship once it is properly consumated.
100% !!! Get rid of USSA Oligarchs, Russia has already dumped "communism."
Then it's win-win, business. Bucks. Devotchkas!
HEY!
I bet you didn't know that there are 57 states, did you, smartass! Barry Barack Hussein Obama Soetoro (peace be upon his name), saviour and president, SAID SO!
REAL senators are chosen by the legislatures of the Sovereign States, and the ones YOU call 'senators' are elected by popular vote, so they aren't even REAL senators (they are spare Congressmen). 17th Amendment, and all. FUCK! SO WHAT if I don't know that there are 100 of these extras? WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE? (Seguay to Hillary beating the shit out of Bill, again)
In a 50/50 split vote in the senate, WHO gets to break the tie? Fucking Joseph Biden (his wife shoots long guns off of upstairs porches to scare off burglars, but average Americans shouldn't even be allowed to LOOK at one in a gun store).
"The Iranians are also our natural allies, (remember the Shah?)...". Um, O.K., RIGHT. YUP. THAT Shah that the CIA and MI5 installed because of the issues regarding the control of and sale of OIL RESERVES? The Shah that was a ruthless dictator that slaughtered untold millions of native Iranians that opposed him, that the United States backed? WHICH Iranians are you referring to here? The DEAD ones, or the current ones in power?
Persia is a very nice place. The Anglos really fucked it up, though.
YOU are not a SMARTASS (I was incorrect). YOU are an ASS.
Nice MS.... :-)
And I can't find any .22lr here at home.
history is mearly in the process of repitiiiiiiiiiiiition;-)
r
learn history and avoid being suprised
https://enronnext101.wordpress.com/
<-- Laugh
<-- Cry
For what the U.S. once represented (I don't know how many Decades ago, but...), it is definitely sad and sobering.
If you thought we represented something more than this then you need to search Smedley Butler
You have to go back before the Monroe doctrine, anything you think you knew is a lie,
that make you a mark my friend.Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but reality is
reality.
IMO, once the statists dumped the Articles of Confederation, it was all down hill from there.
For just about any form of government, once it is started, it will be downhill from there. You could argue that when Jackson defied a supreme court ruling, it was all down hill from there, or once we had manifest destiny, it was all downhill from there, or once the 10th amendment flat out stopped being enforced it was all downhill from there, or once the Fed was created it was all downhill from there, or when.... I'm sure the Articles of Confederation would have been just as twisted when used and outright ignored as the constitution is now. The problem always boils down to how to limit power. Checks and balances was a helluva try at that, but it didn't work. Maybe it could if some teeth aimed squarely at the government's ass had been put into the constitution, but then again, psychos and control freaks love power and they don't give a fuck.
From out here in Western Pennsylvania I'd just like to say, "Whiskey Rebellion."
And you know what's funny? There is still a tax on the production of spirits. The sale is not the only place that spirits are taxed. Even with the hiatus during prohibition, this goes back all the way to the whiskey tax. If you look at the requirements for getting a license to distil today, many of them are geared towards measuring just how much ethanol was produced. This is so that it can be taxed. It is also why you can make wine and beer at home, but you aren't allowed to distil spirits, even for home consumption.
If we are going to have a federal government, it should not be allowed to levy ANY taxes on ANY people or businesses and it should have to get any revenue from the states themselves. I say that as somebody who doesn't like government, but thinks that it is inevitable.
I say that as somebody who doesn't like government, but thinks that it is inevitable.
And that belief is what gives TBTB their power over everyone.
Have you meet the average American?
Voluntary cooperation among men who are equal in rights and authority to defend themselves against hordes of idiots is fine.
Belief some men can wield a supernatural higher authority that morally allows them to initiate violence on peaceful people is not fine. If one holds the latter view, one necessarily gets the most sociopathic elements in society obtaining that authority and using it for their own advantage. AKA TBTP. You reap what you sow.
"For just about any form of government, once it is started, it will be downhill from there. "
Basically any form of unaccountable bureaucracy.
Oliver E. Williamson has produced mountainous volumes of work considering the problem from the perpective of both corporations and governments.
Eventually if not initially: bureaucratice perpetuation, expansion, protection, and enrichment of itself is always the primary concern/objective. The mechanics of means becomes the machine of ends.
Without meaningful checks and balances and restraints either form eventually accrues and sequesteres control and wealth until it ultimately ceases to perform whatever duties or tasks it was founded to and abandons it's intentions to pursuit of managerial and silo initiatives and interests..
"Maybe it could if some teeth aimed squarely at the government's ass had been put into the constitution".
They were. That's the 2nd amendment. Unfortunately, it takes more than keeping and bearing arms, it takes the resolve to use them, and that has long since disappeared. What's trending in on facebook tonight?
Guns don't kill tyranny, people do.
"...Sir, I agree to this Constitution with all its faults...and believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other."
-Benjamin Franklin, Monday, September 17, 1787
HardAss:
Articles of Confederation were fubar and ineffectual from the beginning. One can agree that after say 100 years and all of the confusion about slavery and hard currency got more or less sorted out, then the Progressive movement of the earlier 1900s could take a bite (Coolidge was a Progressive, until he wasn't).
I say that the normal people did a wonderful job, under what is now the First Amendment, of reading all of the "free speech" (illegal today) and sorting out the mess.
- Ned
That freedom is ineffectual is the perennial justification used by those claiming the authority to wield power over others.
Centuries ago.
Never really, but at its least bad under the Articles of Confederation.
Don't know.
"If they brought it into the maintenance facility, then that should be reported to our US folks there, and then we can have a discussion about how, ‘This is not what we’re going to do,’” McDonald said.
We shelled some folks
So when is the "auto executive of the year" and grand poobah of Gooberment Motors going to announce the policy that if you put aftermarket rims on your Neo-Lada you violate the warranty and now must pay for your own repairs? ... the day that GM actually makes an honest profit. Throwing a soup Nazi temper tantrum for not using an authorized member of the Tow Truck Mafia and daring to transport your own vehicle to the service station is funny.
To TPTB at the MIC: that elusive ??? that your Underpants Gnome advisers won't disclose to you is actually pretty simple: reinstate US foreign and military aid to your frenemies in the current regime in Tehran... then (with US tax serf subsidies) they too can afford your non-price/perfromance-competitive brand of car air freshener (and NATO brand EPA-complaint 12.7x99mm refills).
Manical laughter +1
Real tears +10000
War trophies are nothing new, but that's a hell of a war trophy.
Nothing wrong with mounting a .50 on your tank, maybe ammo for the Russian weapon was more plentiful.
“We eventually got them to buy the maintenance and training package, so I do know there is an ongoing maintenance effort going on over there under our FMS contract, with a US company doing the maintenance.”
"We got our cut of profit form this war, but we're pissed they're buying ammo form someone else."
this is the main source of "the humor" in this article...
the Orcs of the MIC are downright hilarious
Honor™ bitchez
Still, they are Honor Bound to Defend Freedom.
So there's that.
The maintenance and ammunition supply contract embedded in the Iraqi 'purchase' of the Abrams tank paid for with US Taxpayer money is a distinct part of the perpetual War Profiteering that the invasion and subsequent chaos unleashed in Iraq is supposed to generate.
The very un-humorous point that is not being made is that it is just as likely that this report too is a lie or a perverted and/or purposefully inaccurate report...
It is just as likely that ISIS drove the tank in for retooling. How would anyone know if the guys who delivered the tank are actually Iraqui security or even if they are if they are or are not actually moonlighting for ISIS or a religious or private militia or whatever...
It is just as likely that the Russian Machinegun and Iranian stamped ammo:
A. were purposefully planted on the Abrams to discredit the Iraquis.
B. purposefully used specifically to allow US/Coalition forces and/or private/corporate mercenaries/Academi/etc. and/or the Iraquis and/or ISIS to use non-US marked casings to fire on US/Coalition soldiers, NATO/Turkish forces in Kurdistan, and/or commit atrocities against Iraqui civilians while claiming another force such as Russian Troops or the Iranian Guard is responsible.
-Who fired on who? -Markings? -Casings?
-Uniforms? Beards/no beards/fake beards? ...Right, meaning what, exactly?
C. It looks cool as shit up there and gets the job done -so fuck you. Now change the goddmaned spark plugs on this bitch, greasemonkey...
D. ALL of the above
IF Russian and Iranian arms are now freely being mixed and matched by forces in the field, which would not be anything new or surprising IMHO, then it is not at all clear how anyone can be accurately identified as responsible for military activity and or casualties.
Insistances and/or determinations as to exactly WHO may have fired from a roof-top, or shelled a hospital, or droned a wedding party, or shot down a plane, etc. -in ANY of the theaters of activity in question- must be considered a matter of here-say and/or propaganda until stringent evidence and witnesses beyond possible reproach are produced.
Its amusing that big things are happening there,yet the government drones only focus on trying to get their paperwork right.
Well, the NAZIs kept meticulous records of all their camp victims. Looks like Borman would have told Eichman to burn all the papers while the Russians were closing in, but no, that's heretical to a boo-ro-crat!
"Now change the goddmaned spark plugs on this bitch, greasemonkey..."
Kinda hard to do on a gas turbine engine...LOL.
Gas turbine actualy have spark plugs, on average 2 of the flame cans have a igniter (spark plug).
How do you think the flame gets started in a turbine?
It's sorta all coming apart at the seams rather quickly, isn't it...?
We're the laughing stock of the world now.
'We're' means you buy into the notion that your personal identity is linked to what (often insane) strangers do.
Well, of course it does. By choosing to live according to the rules of your rulers, you automatically buy into the status quo.
If by "We" you mean the dot guv, I agree. I don't support any of this shit, except for the True Allies whacking the tennis shoe gang.
And the zios are planning an event. Bank on it.
The shocking thing is when you have a group that claims to be the biggest victim of human persecution, TFJ's, out there committing the largest mass murders in human history.
iqe, there's the merest possibility that you might be close, but really?
Really? You know, anal-cranial inversion lasting more than four hours is cause for you to seek immediate health care. At which point, under Obama's plan, you are screwed.
Ya got any numbers for your claim of "largest"? I didn't think so.
- Ned
Ok Ned. Since you were probably public schooled, I'll help ya out:
1. Since 9/11, 6 million in middle east.
2. Under the zio backed Mao: 50-100 million
3. Under the zio bolsheviks: 50-100 million
4. God only knows how many under the zio-controlled British empire. 1 billion?
5. Throw in another 50 million for other wars of zio conquest.
Who's out done ya? Noboby.
I'm sorry I have only one up-vote to give you.
iqe: I get your numbaz--all of the communists, of all flavours, all of the NAZI, Mao thangs, gotta' include the Khymer-rouge at like 2MM, all are attributible to the Z faction?
WOW!
the fucking lightbulb just exploded in my head!!!!
NOT
- Ned
Never forget that Washington's model for governance of it's population requires a strong dose of fear and enemies. I maintain that the USA has MADE Russia and Iran geopolitical enemies by it's actions over the last 30+ years. Russia has no reason to hate or confront the USA, they do so because of the NATO drive east, the US support of Islamic Jihad in central asia, and the coup in Kiev. Iran? Well, the USA took their freedom away and gave the Shah. They negated a free, fair and open elction and handed Iranians Shah at the point of a gun. Come on! Who is making enemies for no good reason. Russia prefers peace with the EU and USA, just stop sending NATO east, stop holding coups in border states. In Iran, just treat them like they have a right to vote. Read your history!
Washington wants enemies, our whole system feeds off of fear and military spending. Here is a question. "Take away the fear and the threats of wars" "Who then would American elect to political offices IF no real threats existed"? How many private corporations feed on the trillion dollars a year in military and spy spending? Much of America's 1% rich elties are rich due to connections to the trillion dollar spending orgy!
Wake UP!
Come now Jack, if we didn't have Russia as an enemy, we'd have to fake an alien invasion. It's the only way to keep the country strong! (And that idea was around before Krugtron spewed it out, the plagiarizing sack of potatoes he is.)
An old friend of mine said on several occasions "One rule of warfare is that you shouldn't make enemies faster than you can kill them." It seems like we're breaking that rule. Unless you want to talk about a war that is over in 24 hours. I hope we collapse soon, because it looks like that 24 hour war is a viable alternative.
I'm sure the Pure Evil Psychopaths at the Pentagram, CIA, The Rand Corp. & any other Megalomanic Think Tanks have thought through a host of scenarios / options. Including The Sampson Option.
Nyet, if the Pure Evil Psychopaths had thought anything through we would not be in this situation. They thought that they had everything sewn up until March 10th @ 11:00am 2008 Bear Stearns time New York shitty. Since that time the entire apparatus of the USA/Israel superstructure has been flying by the seat of their pants, and are going nowhere fast. Everything America does now is a pure bluff head fake shell game. The neoCONS are running scared because they know the jig is up on their collective confidence game. All citizens of the world know that the neocons are finished too.
I really, really, hope you're right - but I don't think you are. My opinion is influenced by the gazillions of dollars that have been made by the PEPs since 2008. Not least on the stock exchange.
"if we didn't have Russia as an enemy, we'd have to fake an alien invasion. "
The moment the War Profiteers think that it is more valuable to turn on ETs in our midst or claim some sub-genus of mankind are in fact ETs in our midst that is exactly what will happen.
I wouldn't put it past them to already have Alien/Predator/Annunuki/Kazim WARS planning drafts in the cabinets and the PPT decks...
"Come now Jack, if we didn't have Russia as an enemy, we'd have to fake an alien invasion. It's the only way to keep the country strong!"
Not strong, Vaquero. "Conforming" is the word you want.
A profoundly divided society like the USA's can only be more or less kept in one piece if it has a common enemy, a scapegoat.
Take away the scapegoat and soon enough, the country would devolve into riots, if not downright civil war.
The country is devolving into that anyway. Too many people were promised a lot of things that they're never going to get. And there was some pretty strong sarcasm in my first statement in the post above.