Opuscula There is A difference

WHEN I WAS A KID, from six years old to teen years, I went to summer camps.

As a six year old, I learned to ride (and care for) horses and shoot a single-shot .22 rifle.

Later, as a teen member of Civil Air Patrol’s (CAP’s) Miami Composite Squadron 2, I went to camp at Eglin AFB in Florida’s panhandle.

 

AT THE “DUDE RANCH”, our weapons of choice were cap pistols and the “enemy” varied — sometimes “bad guys” (e.g., the Daltons), sometimes guys in the next tent. While “Cowboys and Indians” were popular on radio and tv, I don’t recall — 70-plus years later — that indians ever were the enemy. It would have been more likely that the “enemy” would be Germans or Japanese; this was c 1948 and World War Two was not far removed.

Gatling guns and M-1s

At Elgin AFB, we heard 10-second bursts of “Gatling” guns (currently the GAU-19/B .50 caliber Gatling – see video at https://tinyurl.com/3kaubs43) being test fired on Air Force F-104 fighters.

I vaguely recall firing an M-1 Garand rifle, but any fire arms training was limited and only in passing. We were not trained to be combat soldiers.

As a CAP cadet we wore military style uniforms, but we studied flying-related subjects: weather, navigation, search-and-rescue functions, and two-way radio operation among others. CAP in many ways is similar to Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps, or JROTC. No bayonet drills, no bomb making, but lots of close order marching.

Later, as a 17-year-old enlistee in the Air Force, I fired an M-1 Carbine that had more cosmoline than bullets — the Air Force is not famous for maintaining training rifles.

Bottom line: We were not trained to be soldiers and certainly not shahids (martyrs). We were more likely to hear Gen. Geo. Patton’s famous admonition:

No dumb bastard ever won a war by going out and dying for his country. He won it by making some other dumb bastard die for his country.” (https://tinyurl.com/55vaadxc)

than to be encouraged to go gung ho into an unknown situation.

We were not trained as children and teens to volunteer to die for flag or apple pie.

We were trained in schools, from first grade to graduation, to protect ourselves from the “Russians” who were coming. Hiding in a school basement or under a desk (a totally useless exercise in a nuclear attack) were regular drills.

Later I got to know some contemporaries from the Ukraine. We shared stories that turned out to be basically the same; the only thing that changed was the name of the attacking nation: in the U.S., “the Russians are coming”; in the Ukraine, “the Americans are coming.” It seems most “Russians” wanted to avoid war as much as most Americans.

I probably got more actual survival training in the Cub and Boy Scouts (back when the Boy Scouts were for boys).

Not being trained to die for the flag is not the same as being trained as pacifists. There never was a suggestion that we should dodge the draft (although may of my generation did, some due to conscientious beliefs, and some for other reasons).

In Israel

I have three grandchildren, ages 10 and 6 (twin boys).

None are playing soldier, alhough all know they may have to do their time with the military. Their father did his time, as do most Israelis, male and female.

Despite being forced to repeatedly run to a safe room as mortars were fired from Gaza, the children are not playing “Israelis and Gazans.” Armed with water guns, the victims are brother and sister.

When they go to summer camp, they learn thngs children need to know — how to swim being a primary lesson. Singing and dancing are a big part of camp life, be it day camp or overnight camp.

Learning to die for country is not part of the curriculum.

Golda Meyer (nee Goldie Mabovitch, later Myerson) is famously quoted saying: “Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”

Golda Meyer quote

Given what the world knows — albeit hates to admit — Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and other Iranian proxies apparently are not ready to love their own children, instead teaching them to hate Israel and Jews and preparing them to be shadids — martyrs for a senseless cause.

The PLO/PFLP has numerous times been offered — and refused — opportunities to have another “Palestinian” state. (Jordan is, according to the 1947 partition plan, the “real” Palestinian state and the majority of its population are people who claim to be Palestinians.)

The United Nations, in the form of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East a/k/a UNRWA , allows its facilities to be used to promote hate against Israel and Jews in general.

UNRWA buildings have been used as missile launch sites and UNRWA schools are used as storage areas for war materiel.

UNRWA summer camps are run by Hamas and Islamic Jihad to train children to murder Israelis. (https://tinyurl.com/fnvxsy66)

Editorial cartoon by Yaakov Kirschen (https://tinyurl.com/mczb7b2v)

This training is on-going and blatant.

It is not like summer camp in any democracy.

It IS a summer camp that trains children to sacrifice their lives (while their masters hide safely far from the conflict).

It IS a summer camp that trains children to murder others.

It assures that another generation will be raised to hate, will be prepared to die for a senseless cause, a cause that could have been resolved peacefully in 1948.

And the UN looks the other way.

 

 

 

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

 

 

 

Comment on Difference

Opuscula Who’s to blame For continuing Attacks on Iran?

 

IRAN IS SUFFERING ATTACK AFTER ATTACK on its infrastructure.

The ayatollahs stopped short of blaming either the Great Satan (the U.S.) or the Little Satan (Israel), but still make noise.

Neither the U.S. nor Israel admit to either committing the strikes or having anything to do with the strikes.

 

 

IF IT IS NOT THE U.S. OR ISRAEL, could it be that the Persians finally are fed up with the ayatollahs?

The Persians turned out one despotic ruler, the Shah, and got another, the Grand Ayatollah, in return. Having succeeded once, are they about to try again?

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (right)

 

Not everyone is happy

According to an article in Newsweek¹,

The Iranian regime has long battled multiple militant insurgencies in different parts of the country, whether separatist groups among Kurdish, Baloch, and Arab communities or extremist religious groups like those pledging allegiance to what remains of the Islamic State organization.

Almost everyone knows about the Kurds, but the Baloch are an unknown.

Wikipedia² describes the Baloch thus:

The Baloch are an Iranian people who live mainly in the Balochistan region of the southeastern-most edge of the Iranian plateau in Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. There are also diaspora communities in neighboring regions, including those in India; and having a significant diaspora in the Arabian Peninsula

Persians do not consider themselves “Arabs,” and generally look down on Arabs as lesser people.

Not mentioned in the Newsweek piece are the on-going conflict between the dominant Shi’a and a minority Sunni Muslims.

 

Foreign aid

During World War 2, the Allies provided financial and military support to “partisans” fighting the nazis.

In most cases, foreign nationals — personnel from the Allied countries — were not sent to aid the partisans. (Inserting a foreign national, particularly one native to the country fighting the nazis happened, but the most common assistance was weapons, communications gear, an intelligence, the latter a two-way street.)

Many of the occupied nations had governments in exile, safely ensconced far from the fighting; often in London.

Iran has one, perhaps two, groups claiming to be its “government in exile.”

Newsweek³

On July 13, 2019, President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudi Giuliani, addressed an Iranian opposition group called the Mujahedin e-Khalq (MEK) at the group's tightly guarded encampment in rural Albania, where some 3,400 members have been preparing for the overthrow of the clerical regime in Tehran.

Calling the MEK Iran's "government-in-exile," Giuliani assured MEK members that the Trump administration regards the group as an acceptable replacement for the current regime. "It gives us confidence that if we make those efforts to overthrow that horrible regime, sooner rather than later, we will not only save lives but we will be able to entrust the transition of Iran to a very responsible group of people," the former New York City mayor told his cheering audience.

At the same time, there is a Wikipedia entry⁴ that

The National Council of Iran (NCI), officially the National Council of Iran for Free Elections, is a loosely based umbrella group of the exiled opposition to Iran's Islamic Republic government. It serves as Reza Pahlavi's government in exile in order to either reclaim the former throne, or as the new president of Iran, after overthrowing the current government.

The NCI is based in Paris, France.

The Newsweek piece³ notes that

The opposition groups remain deeply divided, which undermines their chances of ever taking power, Iran experts say. Over the years, several opposition groups have tried repeatedly to form a united front against Tehran, but their attempts have failed because of clashing histories, agendas and personalities.

President Trump apparently is not promoting a regime change in Iran; preferring to challenge the ayatollahs with sanctions. Yet, Giuliani was promoting regime change when he met with the MEK, ibid.

MEK has, according to Newsweek, a long history that dates back to the overthrow of the shah. It was behind the take-over of the U.S. embassy in Tehran; it “broke with Khomeini over his decision to release the American hostages.”

Lesson not learned? The U.S. supported the Taliban in Afghanistan against Russia. Once the Russians were kicked out of the country, the Taliban turned on the U.S. The MEK already has a bad history with the U.S., but the Pahlavi group, while friendly to the U.S. when the U.S. kept it in power, was over-thrown by the ayatollahs and the MEK. Is Iran worth America’s involvement?

Israel has a history with Iran that predates the ayatollahs.

Israeli communications gear found its way to Arab armies via Iran when the Persians sold Israeli military radios with a Made in Persia label.

There is a very large population of ex-pat Iranians in Israel and they are active in all segments of Israeli society.

Iran and Israel seem to be — Israel refuses to acknowledge it — in a cyber war in which, if Iranian claims are true, Israel seems to have better defenses and better offenses. Iran allegedly attempted to attack Israeli water resources (and failed) and Israel allegedly attempted to interrupt operations at an Iranian port (and succeeded).

For its part, Iran has a blatant Fifth Column in Israel’s Knesset; members who support the overthrow of the Israeli state.

On the other hand, Israel’s Mossad has been known to infiltrate agents into foreign countries.

Attacks on Iran

Foxnews.com⁵ reports that

Black smoke rose as flames engulfed the Shahid Tondgooyan petrochemical plant in the Khuzestan province of Iran late Sunday afternoon.

Hours earlier, more than 500 miles away, detonations rocked the basement of an old, nondescript home in a northern pocket of Tehran. The two-story dwelling was said to have housed at least 30 gas cylinders that were used for unclear purposes.

Both incidents came fewer than two days after a string of explosions – and power outages – were reported west of Tehran in the early hours of Friday. Local reports indicated that multiple “mortar-like sounds similar to anti-aircraft missiles” were heard.

The blasts reportedly took place at an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) missile depot.

These most recent attacks happened on the heels of multiple other mysterious explosions at sensitive sites over the course of the last three weeks – and no one is precisely sure what is going on, other than its rattling of the regime and stymieing its controversial nuclear program.

A short timeline:

June 26 at a liquid fuel production center that makes ballistic missiles in Khojir, near Parchin, southeast of the capital.

June 30, 19 people died following an explosion at a medical center in Tehran.

July 2, the Natanz uranium enrichment plant was struck by a mammoth blast

July 3, an unexplained fire erupted at a power plant in the southwest city of Shiraz, triggering a power outage in the region.

July 4 yet another explosion and inferno tore through a power plant in Ahwaz, while at the same time, a chlorine gas leak was detected at a Karoun petrochemical plant in Mahshahr, about 75 miles away.

 

Foreign or domestic?

The BBC’s Persian service reported that just after midnight on June 30, some of its journalists received an email from a group purporting to be the "Homeland Cheetahs" – comprised of anti-government, underground dissidents – claiming credit for earlier attacks. The outlet also said they were informed of the Natanz attack hours before it was documented by officials.

David Kennedy, CEO of TrustedSec and a former NSA and Marine Corps cyber-intelligence expert asks “was this a cyber-attack or physical sabotage, the answer could be 'both.' The most likely suspects are the U.S. and Israel working in tandem. Both countries have very sophisticated cyber warfare units and significant capabilities when it comes to cyber-kinetic attacks," Kennedy explained "An attack of this magnitude would require a great deal of planning and preparation, and is very complex because you are exploiting industrial control systems and air-gapped devices."

Inside, outside, neither, both. The ayatollah’s so far are avoiding the issue.

 

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Sources

1. Newsweek: https://tinyurl.com/ycn9vqlm

2. Baloch: https://tinyurl.com/yad4pvgd

3. MEK: https://tinyurl.com/yd3ujcy2

4. NCI: https://tinyurl.com/y9w4fpyq

5. Fox: https://tinyurl.com/y6wuphcm

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Attacks on Iran

Opuscula How will politicians React to Iran’s Attack on Embassy?

HEADLINE:

Rockets hit US embassy
in Baghdad, 3 wounded¹

As of mid-morning US Eastern time 27 JAN 2020,apparently no organization has claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to National Public Radio (NPR)²,

The State Department did not directly blame Tehran for the rocket strikes in the Iraqi capital, but the spokesperson's statement made reference to Iranian threats in the region and past attacks by Iranian-backed militias on US interests. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

"The security situation remains tense and Iranian-backed armed groups remain a threat. So, we remain vigilant," the spokesperson said. Since September there have been more than 14 attacks by Iran and Iranian-supported militias on US personnel in Iraq, according to the State Department.

The spokesperson said the State Department would not comment further on the security situation in Baghdad.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas's 10th congressional district), the lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs committee, said in a tweet Sunday that he is "closely monitoring reports of a rocket attack targeting the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad."

Other committee members³ apparently had not reacted publicly to the attack.

The Washington Post ⁴ claimed

A suspected militia attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad wounded one person late Sunday, officials said, underscoring the growing risks to personnel there amid calls for an end to the American military presence.

Blame Trump According to Louisa Loveluck⁵, the Post’s Baghdad bureau chief,

Late-night rocket or mortar attacks on Baghdad’s Green Zone, home to government buildings and embassies, have become commonplace as the Trump administration increases financial and political pressure on Iran, which backs a number of militias in Iraq.

Ms. Loveluck provided some background on what led up to the attack.

Sunday’s attack came almost exactly a month after a similar attack killed an American contractor on a military base in northern Iraq, sparking an intense round of brinkmanship that pushed the United States and Iran to the edge of open conflict.

In late December, after the United States launched retaliatory airstrikes on an Iranian-backed militia, Kataib Hezbollah, its supporters responded with a brief siege of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

The Times of Israel⁶ reported that (so far), None of the attacks has been claimed, but Washington has repeatedly blamed Iran-backed military factions in Iraq.

The Times, quoting Agence France-Presse, notes that

Some 5,200 Americans are stationed in Iraq to lead the global coalition fighting the Islamic State group, but the US strike on Baghdad has rallied top Iraqi figures around a joint call to order them out.

Vehemently anti-American cleric Moqtada Sadr organised a mass rally in Baghdad on Friday, where thousands of his supporters called for American troops to leave.

Sadr had previously backed separate anti-regime protests sweeping Iraq’s capital and south, even though he controls the largest bloc in parliament and top ministerial posts.

Bolstered by his own protest on Friday, Sadr announced he was dropping support for the youth-dominated reform campaign rocking the country since October.

Fox News⁷ reports that the rocket hit the compounds mess (dining) hall.

“The security situation remains tense and Iranian-backed armed groups remain a threat.  So, we remain vigilant,” a State Department spokesperson told Fox News.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Hoshyar Zebari blamed the rocket attack on an “unruly militia.”

“The Embassy restaurant or canteen was damaged and burned. This is a very dangerous game by #PMF uncontrolled factions to galvanize the tense situation. It must stop,” he tweeted, referring to the Popular Mobilization Forces, an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq.

Sunday’s rocket attack came after Iran launched ballistic missiles on two military bases in Iraq where U.S. troops have been stationed, in retaliation for a drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s top military general. Dozens of troops were said to have been diagnosed with brain injuries, but no one was killed in the attacks.

CNN⁸ reports that

There have been numerous rocket attacks on Baghdad's Green Zone, where the embassies of the US and several other western countries are located, and the area surrounding it in recent months. However, the whole of Iraq is on a heightened state of alert as tensions between the US and Iran have dramatically increased in recent weeks after the US killing of key Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iran's retaliatory missile attack on an Iraqi base housing US troops.

The State Department did not directly blame Tehran for the rocket strikes in the Iraqi capital, but the spokesperson's statement made reference to Iranian threats in the region and past attacks by Iranian-backed militias on US interests. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Earlier this month, the US embassy was the site of mass protests in response to US airstrikes on an Iranian-backed militia group at the end of December.

Those strikes were launched in retaliation to attacks by an Iranian-backed Shia militia group known as Kataib Hezbollah, which had injured numerous American military personnel, according to US officials.

In early January, Iran fired a number of missiles at two Iraqi bases housing US troops in retaliation for the American strike that killed Soleimani in a drone strike at Baghdad International airport.

On Friday the Pentagon revealed that 34 US service members have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries following the Iranian missile attack.

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Sources

1. Rockets on embassy: https://tinyurl.com/s8vlgfn

2. NPR: https://tinyurl.com/twn87bx

3. Committee: https://tinyurl.com/ycabgu4s

4. WashPost: https://tinyurl.com/rmcejb5

5. Louisa Loveluck: https://tinyurl.com/rk4fduy

6. Times of Israel: https://tinyurl.com/vjkv84t

7. Fox News: https://tinyurl.com/vxzq5yt

8. CNN: https://tinyurl.com/sfncq42

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Rockets hit embassy

Opuscula Trump fails basic Journalism rule: Cite your sources

PRESIDENT TRUMP PUT HIS foot in his moth — once again — when he told Americans no U.S. personnel were injured by Iranian missiles falling on Iraq.

In truth, (at least) 12 Americans were injured.

Trump lied.

I SUSPECT that the president was parroting what his military advisors told him.

Problem is, Trump failed to cite his source.

That’s bad management.

Ever cub reporter knows — or at last in my time knew — that sources must be cited. “Anonymous sources” were discouraged and always suspect (except at the New York Times).

Shoe comic by Brookins & MacNelly for 18 JAN 2020

What Trump should have said was “my military commanders tell me no American was injured.”

They probably DID claim zero injuries and the injuries — allegedly non-fatal and caused by nearby explosions — initially went unreported.

That happens.

I did not, however, hear the president back track on the “no injuries” claim, nor did I hear him say where he got his (mis)information.

The president has a habit of putting his foot in his mouth or letting his Twitter finger twitch in a foolish fashion. He embarrasses the nation with his loose tongue and fast fingers.

For all that, at least he is DOING something that needs to be done and trying, despite Democrat opposition, to do almost everything he promised Americans he would do.

I had hoped VP Mike Pence would rein in Trump’s propensity to go off half-cocked, making himself look foolish even to loyal followers. Apparently that role is not in the VP’s job description. Pity.

Trump doesn’t need the Democrat-controlled House to make him look bad; his knee jerk reactions do enough damage.

Fortunately, his credibility as a president IS, if not “making America great again,” at least gaining back some of the respect lost by the last two pantywaist administrations (Bush and Obama).

Meanwhile the Democrats are in Chicken Little mode, crying “the sky is falling.”

One of Sen. Bernie Sander’s staffers, Kyle Jurek, is predicting “cities burning,” Soviet gulags, and the execution of “reactionaries” (see https://tinyurl.com/rzke65k). It’s hard to tell WHO will be burning cities, setting up Soviet gulags and executing “reactionaries” whoever they are — disgruntled Democrats perhaps, accustomed to rioting in the streets?

If Trump IS re-elected, will the Hollywood elite who promised to leave the country if he won in 2016 finally keep their word and leave? Not likely, more is the pity.

The bottom line for Trump and his advisors is to learn to CITE YOUR SOURCES. It is better then making a meal of show leather.

(Image of Charlie Chaplin from https://tinyurl.com/rs4fux6)

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Journalism 101

Opuscula Straight out of Dilbert’s world

WITH APOLOGIES TO SCOTT ADAMS, Dilbert’s Pointy Headed Boss (PHB) has been surpassed for idiocy.

QUICK QUIZ

Who said: "Sanctions are economic warfare"?

Who supports BDS sanctions against Israel?

What is the purpose of BDS?

The answer to the first two questions is the person dishonored with the title ‘Anti-Semite of the Year,” none other than Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN).

The answer to the third question is

The purpose of BDS is not to pressure Israel's government to change its policies. As the founders of the movement and its leading advocates in the United States have repeatedly made clear, its goal is to eliminate Israel.

One woman’s opinion

Brit Melanie Phillips, in an opinion piece (https://tinyurl.com/wzo7k27) writes:

Cue liberal horror and outrage. Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani was described in The New York Times after being annihilated by an American drone as “universally admired.”

(Could anything else be expected from the NYT? All the news the NYT determines fit to print.)

The actress Rose McGowan, native of Italy, tweeted imbecilically: “Dear #Iran, The USA has disrespected your country, your flag, your people. 52% of us humbly apologize. We want peace with your nation. We are being held hostage by a terrorist regime. We do not know how to escape. Please do not kill us.”

Democrats who had hailed the extra-judicial killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011 as a personal triumph for President Barack Obama now claimed absurdly that killing Soleimani was unconstitutional.

Joe Biden fully endorsed a president’s unilateral authority to conduct strikes on terrorists without any public notification in a 2007 interview, a position he has disavowed in the wake of President Donald Trump’s killing of Iranian terror leader Qassem Soleimani. (https://tinyurl.com/qk75dk)

Biden told Charlie Rose on Aug. 9, 2007, that the United States would be justified in conducting a raid on Pakistani soil to kill 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, adding that Pakistan would “forfeit their sovereignty” by harboring the terrorist. He said the president should act immediately if the military is able to strike.

Ms. McGowan must be addled if, as she claims ”We do not know how to escape”, presumably from the United States.

Certainly as a “successful” actress (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000535/) Ms. McGowan should have sufficient funds to (a) acquire a U.S. passport (assuming she is a naturalized citizen) and (b) a ticket to any country that will have her — Iran might welcome her. If she lacks the funds, surely some misguided Conservative who “disrespected your country, your flag, your people” could pony up the money. How about a Go Fund Me page for those ersatz “stars” so they can go elsewhere — ANY “elsewhere.”

I am a “Born in the U.S.A.” American and I have a passport.

My Spouse is a naturalized U.S. citizen and she, too, has a U.S. passport.

I suppose — and this is just “supposition” — that all the Hollywood elite who promised to leave the U.S. if Donald Trump was elected president lack U.S. or other country’s passports thus explaining why they still are in the U.S.

Blame it on Trump (whom else?)


An interesting aside.

Barbara Streisand (right) complained that “Donald Trump is making me gain weight.

I start the day with liquids, but after the morning news, I eat pancakes smothered in maple syrup!

— Barbra Streisand (@BarbraStreisand) March 5, 2017”

I’ll wager that Elliott Gould is glad she no longer is jumping on his back as she did in “I Can Get It For You Wholesale” on Broadway c1962.


Let them eat cake! Lena Dunham on her throne (right) (Publicity still)

Meanwhile, Lena Dunham (who?), selected her “go to” place as Vancouver, said Trump has caused her to lose her appetite, and weight.

“Everyone’s been asking like, ‘What have you been doing?’ And I’m like, ‘Try soul-crushing pain and devastation and hopelessness and you, too, will lose weight.’”

Perhaps Streisand and Dunham can cry over their weighty problems at a Hollywood spa — or better yet, on a chartered plane or yacht headed away from the U.S. Reverse immigration TO Mexico?

Streisand And Dunham quotes from https://tinyurl.com/uapxfhd

The Hollywood Reporter (https://tinyurl.com/ut9lfzk) tried to follow up on 20 “stars” who promised to leave the country if Trump won. One who is a Canadian citizen still has a U.S. address. Canada’s PM is a liberal; why does the woman insist on staying in the U.S.?

The UK’s Guardian (https://tinyurl.com/ycxtd755), under a headline reading ”'I really will': the stars who didn't move to Canada when Trump won”, lists most self-important pseudo “stars” — an exception being Streisand and maybe one other — who promised, then reneged on relocation.

Was anyone preventing them for leaving for “parts unknown?”

Is California REALLY America

Perhaps the reason the Hollywood hypocrites are still in California is because of all the Several States, parts of California are totally “out of sync” with the rest of the country. (Having lived in true “Northern California,” that is north of Sacramento, I know there are parts of the state where people work hard, primarily ranching and farming.)

The question should not be “Is California part of America” but “Is (southern) California representative of America.”

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Dilbert’s World

Opuscula World has To wonder About UI jet

UPDATE: Iran admits shooting down the Ukrainian plane; claims to have arrested shooters.

THE WORLD HAS TO WONDER: Did an Iranian missile down the Ukrainian jet murdering 178 people on board?

Boeing 737-800 in Ukraine International livery

THE QUESTION IS RAISED BECAUSE, as numerous internet sources claim

1: Iran won’t release the aircraft’s black boxes to internationally respected experts, 2: Iran won’t allow, as this is keyed, Ukrainians to get close to the plane, and 3: There allegedly are missile fragments from one of the Russian Tor-M1s¹ delivered to Iran in 2007.

The Iranians deny the Ukrainian plane was downed by a missile. (That is true. The plane was downed by TWO Iranian missiles.)

So far, no one has blamed either the U.S. or Israel of causing the plane crash.

The downed aircraft was a relatively new Boeing 737-800. Given decent routine maintenance, the Boeing 737-800 has a generally good safety record. Most of the accidents involving the 737-800 were due to “pilot error.”²

The 737-800 is not a 737 MAX and has different avionics, according to Boeing.

The Question

According to the Iranians, The crew of a Ukrainian jetliner that crashed in Iran never made a radio call for help and were trying to turn back for the airport when the plane went down.³

I’m not an experienced pilot, but it is hard to comprehend IF the aircraft crew was “trying to turn back to the airport” there was no Mayday call; no request to clear a runway or have a crash crew standing by. Standard procedure when an aircraft deviates from a flight plan is to alert the nearest airport.

According to Ukraine International Airlines (UIA), there were three people on the flight deck: pilot, co-pilot/first officer, and a pilot/instructor.⁴ The least experienced pilot was the first officer who had “only” 7,600 hours on Boeing 737 type aircraft.

Why three pilots? The airline contends that “Tehran airport is anything but a simple one. Therefore, for several years UIA has been using this airport to conduct training on Boeing 737 aircraft aimed at evaluating pilots’ proficiency and ability to act in emergency cases.”

Given that, so far, the Iranians are not blaming the U.S. or Israel, and that they, so far, are denying the plane was brought down by a missile — ANYONE’S missile — what reason would anyone have for bringing down the airplane?

Accident?

The crash came immediately after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops.

The passenger list included 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials. No U.S. citizens.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said 138 of the passengers were bound for Canada. The flight also included a family of four and newlyweds, too. The manifest listed several teenagers and children, some as young as 1 or 2.³

Trudeau blames Iran's shooting down of Ukrainian passenger plane. (https://tinyurl.com/tu3s3kt) The U.S. should have informed him before taking action (so he could warn the general of impending doom which, according to Trudeau escalated tensions that led to Iran's murder of 176 people?)

People NOT “in the know”

Meanwhile, the internet is alive with “authorities” who claim that the Ukrainian flight was downed by an Iranian missile.

As this is keyed, there is no evidence pointing to any specific cause for the crash. Iran’s bellicose leadership and its apparent reluctance to allow foreign investigators, including from the Ukraine, to approach the crash site DOES raise suspicion about a missile — fired at the plane or strayed off a U.S. target — does raise suspicions.

Was the deaths of 176 passengers and crew an accident? Did a missile go astray? Did the Iranians shoot down the plane for reasons known only to the ayatollahs?

---

Sources

1. Tor M1: https://tinyurl.com/tg6p32t

2. Pilot error: https://tinyurl.com/t636knn

3. Turning back: https://tinyurl.com/v9rsyvf

4. Three pilots: https://tinyurl.com/rpg9hd3

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on UI jet crash

Opuscula In or Out? Does Trump Have a plan?

U.S. PRESIDENT TRUMP is

* Sending troops into Iraq
* Threatening to bomb Iran

Since Iraq is, effectively, an Iranian state, is the president sending U.S. troops into a danger zone when it is not necessary?

IN MODERN WARFARE, boots on the ground are needed only to secure territory.

Wars will — as long promised — be fought “long distance.”

People — military and civilian, but not politicians — still will die, but until land is captured, rifles can gather dust.

Today, war will be fought with armed drones and missiles fired from distant sites or from under water.

So far it seems targets have been carefully selected to reduce “collateral damage,” e.g., innocent — or not so innocent — civilians and nearby structures.

The main questions for the U.S. and its allies — if any can be trusted to help the America’s cause — are:

1: Is there an end game plan? How will the U.S. end the war?
2: In what TYPE war will the U.S. be engaged? Iran and its Muslim allies — and they number in the millions and are found around the globe — prefer ambushes, sneak attacks on civilian and well as military targets (viz. 9-11 and Fort Hood), and suicide murders where the killer joyfully goes to meet his 70 virgins.

The U.S. can, sans any doubt, send Iran back to a post Achaemenid Dynasty (434-530 CE) period.¹

Never mind that thousands of Persians, Iraqis, and Syrians — including some Kurds and Christians — will die, even with so-called targeted missile and drone attacks. If Gaza is any example, the ayatollahs will hide behind children and cry to the useless UN that America is targeting children.

At the end of World War 2 the U.S. came up with the Marshall Plan², named for the U.S. general who conceived it (proving there is more to the military than killing).

The plan put forth by Gen. Geo. C. Marshall was to rebuild Europe’s industry and economy. The plan worked so well that not only did the U.S. fund most of the reconstruction, but it saw the demise of it own steel industry (that could not compete with the up-to-date processes the U.S. provided the Germans).

Japan also recovered largely through the efforts of another U.S. general, Douglas MacArthur.³

America’s largess was mocked in the movie The Mouse That Roared”.⁴

The difference between the axis and the roaring rodent and the ayatollahs is that WW 2 was a “conventional” war, and while there was some gorilla warfare (depending on your side, either terrorism or patriotism) suicide murders were rare.

True, Japan had its kamikazes ready to die for the emperor, but on the whole, suicide murders were the exception, rather than the rule as they seem to be with the Muslims.

Before America goes to war with Iran and its proxies, it needs a way to restore what is left of these countries to assume their role in a civilized world, and in a way that will convince Islam that world domination is not in its best interest. (I am not certain this can be accomplished.)

Japan owed its allegiance to the emperor, a human considered a god. Islam owes its allegiance to Mohamed, a human considered as almost a god, with the imams as his emissaries.

The U.S. can take out the enemy’s leadership as it has proven. The LA Times offers a list of “removed” terrorists under a headline reading “The kill list: Islamic State leaders taken off the battlefield.”⁵ Unfortunately, new leaders keep filling the gap. Unlike leaders of countries, these people are mobile and their followers are almost ubiquitous; no place is free from suicide murders.

There is no doubt the U.S. could turn Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, and other places around the globe into ashes, but the cost to unwilling populations, populations forced to house these Islamic terrorists, would be a hundred Hiroshimas and Nagasakis.

Bottom Line: Were I president — fortunately for the world I am not — I would withdraw U.S. troops from the region. If the locals prefer the Islamist terrorists — they seem to be willing hosts — let them have them. No American life is worth sacrificing for people who refuse to make an effort to free themselves of their own doing.

We don’t need to have troops in Iraq. We don’t need to have troops in Syria. We don’t even need troops in Israel except for R&R or training in a desert environment.

But if U.S. troops MUST be anywhere overseas, the government must have an exit plan in place.

So far, it appears such a plan does not exist.

Think of the taxpayer dollars that could be saved by bringing ALL U.S. troops back home.

---

Sources

1. Persia: https://tinyurl.com/y6y2k96p

2. Marshall Plan: https://tinyurl.com/y7rzmj4w

3. MacArthur: https://tinyurl.com/q7v8mx8

4. Movie: https://tinyurl.com/u4bkx67

5. Leaders removed: https://tinyurl.com/su6zz55

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Exit Plan

Opuscula Trump: We’ll destroy Enemies unless Changes are forthcoming

TR would be proud

I CAN HEAR ALL MY LEFTIST acquaintances saying “Woe to us, the world is coming to an end because Trump threatened North Korea and Iran.”

PRESIDENT Trump — and like it or not, he IS POTUS — said to the UN what he’s been saying to Americans, and anyone else who cared to listen, that we will not be cowed any longer by rogue nations and nation want-to-be’s (e.g., Daesh, Taliban).

The U.S., once a leader of the “free world,” has for several presidencies fallen from that lofty position to that of, as China’s leaders once opined, a “paper tiger.”

Is President Trump doing something new, unheard of?

Hardly.

If a bully — be the bully be in a school yard or sitting in a seat at the (dis)United Nations — threatens, act to thwart the threat and to convince the bully that threats bring retribution.

The Republican Roosevelt (Theodore) sent the Great White Fleet¹ around the globe from December, 1907, to February, 1909, to impress others of America’s power. It never fired a shot in anger, but it did convince other nations that the U.S. was serious about protecting its shores. Unfortunately, it did not prevent Germany and Austria-Hungry from attacking Serbia in 1914, kicking off World War 1.². After the war, American President Woodrow Wilson managed to convince a number of nations to form the League of Nations, an unsuccessful forerunner to the (equally unsuccessful) United Nations.

No credit given

President Trump’s version of the “Great White Fleet” is a mix of sea and air power and land-based ICBMs; the president’s threat that the U.S. can “totally destroy” North Korea to the “missile man” (Kim) is well within America’s capability.

HOWEVER, at the same time, the president, in his maiden UN appearance, commended China and Russia for attempting to convince Kim to tone down his rhetoric and belligerent behavior. President Trump did NOT tell the UN assembly that the U.S. would “totally destroy” North Korea; only that it could. One letter (“w” vs. “c”) makes a major difference.

The president’s exact words, according to the Washington Post³, no particular friend of POTUS, were: ”“The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.” Trump added, “If the righteous many do not confront the wicked few, then evil will triumph.”

Hopefully, Kim will take the president seriously and, finding a way to save face (the [pick-an-ally] made me do it), rejoin the society of nations. He has, after all, proven North Korea can make bombs and that North Korea can build delivery platforms. Iran is in a similar situation and needs to consider that the U.S. could “totally destroy” it, too. Again, it’s allies — primarily Russia — can greatly influence the ayatollahs and imams to take a more civilized position.)

Nations the U.S. has saved — some several times — have been thumbing their noses at America’s do nothing presidents. Unfortunately for President Trump, he may have to make good on his word regarding North Korea (or Iran, which ever comes first). Also “unfortunately,” President Trump has said — promised — some things he has been unable to deliver, e.g., a better-than-Obamacare health plan than has support across the aisle, the stop infiltrators fence at Mexico’s northern border (ex-president Obama already paid for a wall across Mexico’s southern border — no help for the U.S. and another hit on the U.S. taxpayers’ pocket). To be fair, the decline in American prestige began long before Obama (Bush 1 and his incomplete Iraq incursion and Bush 2 with his “we have won in Iraq” foot-in-mouth fiasco quickly come to mind).

The problem, and there always is a problem, is that there is a reasonable certainty that not everyone in North Korea — or Iran — is behind their self-proclaimed glorious leaders. Destroying either country would cause the deaths of many who want regime change. Unless the U.S. has a popular leader to fill the void left by Kim’s or the ayatollah’s demise — and their sycophants who cling to their leaders’ skirts, nothing will be gained as proven in Iraq. This has been a frequent failure for American governments (the Bushs’ Iraq, Obama’s “Arab Spring” are cases in point.)

During World War 2, the Japanese considered their emperor a god; Japan’s population suffered greatly and many willingly died for him, but it wasn’t until the events at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in which thousands of civilians died or were injured, that Japan sued for peace.

The question: Will Kim and the ayatollah sacrifice their people for their personal glory?

Granted, “collateral damage” is a consequence of any war, particularly a war fought remotely (with missiles fired from ships or planes). If nuclear weapons are involved, and both Kim and the ayatollah assure the world they WILL use their nukes — the former on America and the latter on all “infidels,” starting with Israel, will the U.S. (and Israel) respond in kind?

There is no guarantee that attacking North Korea won’t cause Iran to fire its missiles at anything within range — including nearby U.S. ships.

President Trump may have been less than “politically correct” in telling Kim and the ayatollah that the U.S. will not be bullied.

A word about his “America First” statement. The full statement reveals that he said he believes in America First, and that the leaders of ALL the nations represented at the UN also should put their countries first; it’s a leader’ obligation to put his or her country’s interests above those of other nations. It does NOT mean brow-beating other nations; it does NOT mean ignoring other nation’s plights, but it DOES means that the incumbent will consider America’s needs — including freedom from fear of North Korean or Iran nukes — ahead of trying to appease megalomaniacs.

Perhaps my leftist acquaintances are uneasy with his speech, but they at least can rest easy that any threat from North Korea or Iran will be dealt with harshly so they can continue to try to undermine the elected government.

For a leftist “take” on Trump’s appearance at the UN, read The New York Times⁴ “editorial as news” article.

---

1. Great White Fleet: http://tinyurl.com/nrvgo7a

2. Start of WW1: http://tinyurl.com/q93c37x

3. Trump at UN: http://tinyurl.com/y7hydtln

4. NYTimes “newsatorital”: http://tinyurl.com/yaopkpta

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Comments on Destroy Enemy

Opuscula China, yes, Saudia, yes, Iran, yes, Cuba, no ?

 

SOME (MANY) SOUTH FLORIDA CUBANS, including lawmakers, are ranting that the U.S. should NOT reopen diplomatic relations with its neighbor a mere 90 miles to the south because the Cuban government is not democratic and restricts people's rights.

Fair enough.

BUT, the U.S. has diplomatic and trade agreements, and in some cases, military compacts, with countries far worse than Cuba when it comes to human rights violations and democracy.

Plus, for more than 50 years the U.S. embargo - that, thanks to its allies has all but crumbled - has failed to depose the Castros and Communism.

Finally, if full diplomatic and trade relations are restored, maybe some of the Cubans who always said they would go back will go back and Miami can be American once more.

It seems highly hypocritical that politicos such as presidential hopeful Mario Rubio and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen are so against normalizing relations with Cuba when it was a Republican president - Richard Nixon - who normalized relations with China, the country that gave the world the the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 and followed up with

Lead in children's toys
• Defective tires
• Poisonous wall board
• Tainted food products

and largely has managed to own much of the U.S., primarily through illegal trade.

Democrat Bill Clinton normalized relations with Vietnam after Nixon got the U.S. out of the war there.

The current resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is leading the U.S. toward normalization of relations with Iran, not only a despotic state but one where the leaders call for "Death to America."

Neither China not Vietnam are bastions of democracy and human rights.

The U.S. maintains diplomatic relations with at least five countries labeled by the Human Rights Watch as violators of human rights:

1. Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy which doesn’t even allow political parties or any kind of public dissent.
2. Zimbabwe. The US has diplomatic relations with the notoriously dictatorial government of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe and actually has given the country $400 million in humanitarian aid
3. Belarus, a small eastern European country with a population of 9.5 million, which never made the transition to democracy after the fall of the Soviet Union. We have an embassy in Minsk, though the post of ambassador is right now unfilled (there is a charge d’affaires).
4. Sultanate of Brunei: The US has warm diplomatic relations and a US embassy there, despite its disregard for basic human rights
5. Vietnam The Vietnam government systematically suppresses freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly, and persecutes those who question government policies, expose official corruption, or call for democratic alternatives to one-party rule. Police harass and intimidate activists and their family members

The U.S. maintains diplomatic relations with Russia, despite its record on human rights and its invasion of the Ukraine. It maintains diplomatic relations with Turkey despite its human rights record against is own, never mind the Kurds.

The U.S. State Department issues an annual International Religious Freedom Report . The report for 2013 listed the following nations as places where freedom of religion is denied or restricted:

Bangladesh, Belgium*, Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, France*, Germany*, Hungary*, Italy*, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Latvia, Nigeria, North Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden*, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, United Kingdom*, Uzbekistan

* = noted for increasing anti-Semitism.

The Palestinian Authority is notable by its absence despite the fact that it promises a Jewish-free country.

Given all of the above, it's hard to see why Cuba should be singled out to (try to) punish for being "un-American."

AmeriBluff Iran shreds what China Declared is a Paper Tiger

 

Obama=Chamberlain; Ayatollah=Hitler
Washington's promises just empty words

 

THE UNITED STATES had, until it abrogated it, an agreement with the Marshall Islands government to defend it as if it was US. soil, and that pledge included Marshall Islands flagged vessels on the high seas.

USA Today reports that

Iran seized a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship on Tuesday after claiming it ventured into Iranian waters in the Strait of Hormuz, defense officials said, an incident that could complicate talks about Tehran's nuclear program.


There were no Americans among the crew of the Maersk Tigris, though the United States has security responsibilities with regard to the Marshall Islands.

Meanwhile, the BBC relates that the US military 'monitoring' Iran ship seizure

A US naval destroyer has been ordered to the region to "monitor" the situation.

The ship was in an area recognized as an international shipping lane, he went on.

So much for American promises and official commitments.

The BCC also reported that

Iran's foreign minister Javad Zarif, said that the Maersk shipping company, which charters the vessel, had been ordered by an Iranian court to pay damages to a private firm.

No longer will America decisively act "from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli"; no longer are America's promises - already compromised by previous administrations - be considered of any value by the country's "allies."

A number of years ago the Chinese, before they bought America, called the nation a "paper tiger." I'm not so sure "paper" is not too solid a word for America today.

Without question most Americans are tired of war, of sending their young men and women to fight wars in foreign lands for foreign causes.

But the ayatollahs' chutzpah, especially gross given the current administration's acquiescence to every Iranian demand while, like Israel and the "Palestinians," getting nothing in return, is beyond all civilized comprehension.

Don't the politicians in Washington "get it"?

The ayatollahs seized the embassy during the administration of Democrat Carter - the example of a bungling administration that only current the one may surpass for ineptitude - but the U.S. still held out hope for the regime.

When the USS Cole was attacked and sailors killed, Democrat Clinton was the president and commander in chief who failed to effectively act against the ayatollahs.

China was wrong - the U.S. is not a "paper tiger," it is, at best, a gossamer tiger, smoke and mirrors.

Cartainly no one wants to harm "innocent" Iranians - Persians - in an effort to eliminate the ayatollahs, but collaterial damage must be expected - along with the howls of outrage from the world's liberals.

I am reminded of the story from Germany following its capitulation to the nazis:

When they came for the Jews, I said nothing; I am not a Jew.
When they came for the Communists, I said nothing; I am not a Communist.
When they came for the Roma, I said nothing; I am not Roma.
Now they are coming for me, and there is no one left fo speak up for me.

Eventually the ayatollahs will come for the liberals, their political allies du jour, and who will cry for the liberals then?

King Solomon was right when he opined that there is a time for war and a time for peace.

It's time that the U.S. meets its commitments. It is time that the U.S. must adandon its failed diplomatic efforts vis-à-vis Iran. It's time to remove power from the aayatollahs and their army.

But, unlike the fiasco in Iraq, it's time for the U.S. to realize it will need to guide the Persians toward a peaceful Iran as it guided Japan and Germany after WW2. It cannot re-establish a shah, but it need not establish a U.S.-style democracy, either. The type government for Iran is best determined by the Iranians, bearing in mind that they always - from Cyrus on - have lived under a heavy-handed rule. In other words, the U.S. should avoid making the mistakes it made in Iraq - and Cuba, and …

 

Any reasonable person would read the two headlines above and say This can't be for real.

The president of the U.S. wants to reward a government (Iran) that calls for "the death of America." Never mind that Iran also wants the destruction of the "Little Satan" (Israel) - under the current administration Israel is of no value and, worse, is a thorn in the president's political hide.

You can read the articles by clicking on the links below.

Obama Says US Will Consider Immediate Lifting of Iran Sanctions

and

Obama Says US Will Consider Immediate Lifting of Iran Sanctions

Caveat United With Israel, which published the two articles - and more - is an Israeli-based operation with strong pro-Israel prejudices.

Caveat not withstanding, any half-way intelligent reader would be given pause by the proximity of the headlines and the content of the articles beneath them (or in the this case, linked from them).

Here is a "leader" who, with his State Department - notoriously pro-Arab and anti-Jewish … not just anti-Israel but anti-Jewish, there was no Israel when Jews were slaughtered by nazis and Muslims between 1930 and 1946 - kowtows to the Chaplinesque petty tyrants of Iran ^{See note at bottom.}

Shades of Neville Chamberlain and his "peace in our time" promise to the English after he gave away part of Czechoslovakia - without bothering to check with the Czechs. The surrender only whetted the nazi madman's appetite for more land - as Poland soon discovered.

The Appeaser In Charge apparently thinks that lifting sanctions on Iran and allowing - encouraging - Iran to develop nuclear weapons will cause the ayatollahs to reconsider their animosity - hatred - for the U.S.

The ayatollahs' mentality is different from the normative Euro-American mentality where a man's word is honored. There obviously are exceptions to that mentality as the chief nazi proved.

Given Iran's past post-saber rattling actions - the Iran-Iraq war, the attack on the USS Cole, and support of multiple terrorist organizations - a reasonable person must conclude that the ayatollahs mean what they say; they will sacrifice as many Iranians as needed to eliminate the Great Satan and the Little Satan from the face of the earth as they strive to restore Muslim hegemony around the globe.

A correspondent challenged that "What have the sanctions accomplished? Look at Cuba."

Good question.

The sanctions admittedly don't hurt either the ayatollahs or the Castros; they, unfortunately, cause the average person at least inconvenience. That over time can have one of two results: either the average citizen will see his government as the source of the country's woes or the citizen will ignore his own leadership's folly and blame whomever the leadership blames.

Are there alternatives to sanctions?

Certainly. But are they good alternatives?

The U.S. could, and Israel threatens, to bomb Iran back to the 5th Century; to level Iranian cities as the U.S. did to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There is hesitation to do this because

  * Unlike Japan, the U.S. is not engaged in a global war with Iran (primarily because Iran uses proxies to attack U.S. interests)

  * The feeling is that most of Iran's people are tools of the ayatollahs and not anti-anyone.

On the other had, the liberal world frowns upon selective assassinations, preferring - apparently - to allow a few men, women, and children to be murdered by the people who would be targeted for an early and "permanent" retirement.

All of the above applies also to North Korea.

Since taking office, the incumbent at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has destroyed all respect other nations and peoples once had for the United States.

His arrogance and abuse of executive power has made him a laughing stock to all but the most liberal loyalist, and his actions are bringing the nation closer to yet another war, one that may well result in nuclear attacks on U.S. soil and certainly on the soil of America's ONLY dependable ally in the Middle east.

The president has proven, again and again, that America's best interests are NOT the same as his personal interests.

Note: Chaplin was neither the only, or first, film maker to parody the nazi. Before Chaplin's film, the Three Stooges took a swipe at the fuhrer and and even German Fritz Lang pilloried the nazi psychopath prior to Chaplin's The Great Dictator.

Opuscula Obama's deal Is no deal with Iran

 

Congress prepared to act against POTUS fiat

 

From the The Israel Project for Wednesday, April 01, 2015

Negotiations to achieve a framework agreement on Iran’s nuclear program will be extended until tomorrow, following several days of negotiations in which the P5+1 made several key concessions to Iran, while Iran backtracked from previous compromises and hardened its positions. The U.S. had set March 31st as the deadline for the release of a framework understanding, with June 30th as the final deadline for a detailed comprehensive agreement.

Although the P5+1 had demanded that the enrichment facility at Fordow be shut down, according to reports, they will now permit Iran to maintain almost 500 centrifuges there, which could be transformed to enrich uranium. This new development means that Iran can retain nuclear infrastructure at a highly fortified underground facility that is largely immune to attack. Furthermore, rather than insist that Iran reveal the potential military dimensions (PMDs) of its nuclear program as mandated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the P5+1 will reportedly allow Iran to continue to put off full disclosure of its PMDs until later, after considerable sanctions pressure has been lifted, a concession the Washington Post editorial board has labeled “a reward for Iran’s noncompliance.” Failing to address the potential military dimensions would undermine the IAEA’s ability to verify Iran’s nuclear program and calculate its breakout time.

Iran, on the other hand, is now refusing to ship out its enriched uranium, although it had previously successfully convinced the P5+1 to allow it to maintain a higher number of centrifuges on the assumption that it would be shipping out its enriched uranium. Last week, an Iranian official insisted that Iran would not allow snap inspections, although Iran had indicated in the past that they would consider such an arrangement. Additionally, today an Iranian general called Israel’s destruction “non-negotiable.”

Former Director General of the IAEA Olli Heinonen has challenged the Obama administration’s goal of extending Iran’s breakout time to one year. Heinonen has argued that not only would one year not be enough time to detect and respond to an Iranian attempt to break out, but given the amount of centrifuges the P5+1 have reportedly allowed Iran to keep, Iran’s breakout time would actually be closer to 7-8 months.

Bipartisan leaders in the Senate have indicated that if no framework understanding is agreed upon by the time they return from recess, they will introduce the Kirk-Menendez bill, which would increase economic pressure on Iran if there is no deal by July 6. If a framework understanding is produced, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will introduce the Corker-Menendez bill, which calls for congressional review of any nuclear agreement with Iran. Congress has been increasingly critical of the concessions the P5+1 has made to Iran. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) wrote that he fears that “we are no longer guided by the principle that ‘no deal is better than a bad deal,’ but instead we are negotiating ‘any deal for a deal’s sake.’”

IF THE U.S. has no prestige. why is Obama seemingly leading the P5+1 as it caves to the ayatollahs? If not Obama, who?

There will be "Peace for Our Time" (British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in his speech concerning the Munich Agreement and the Anglo-German Declaration)

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" (Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás)

Some people (read Obama) either (a) don't know history, (b) ignore history, or (c) simply want the ayatollahs of Iran to prevail, disregarding his oath of office.

Each time Obama and friends cave to Iran, the ayatollahs redraw the "line in the sand," moving it always to their advantage, knowing Obama will acquiesce.

Like Abu Mazen, they take what they are offered and refuse to honor their promises. THIS it their idea of "negotiations," and Obama accepts their strategy.

Obama behaves as if he is an emperor rather than a lame duck politician, (Granted when congress was controlled by his Democrats, no challenge to his high handedness was successful; now the congress is in Republican hands and the political pendulum has swung to the other extreme - Obama's true legacy: extremism in Washington politics.)

If the world is fortunate, Obama will go down as one of America's most inept presidents. If the world is NOT fortunate, Obama will go down in an abbreviated history as the fool who let crazies have a bomb that destroyed much of the world.

They laughed, derided, and dismissed Sarah Palin for her lack of foreign experience, preferring instead a political novice with only city ward experience. Maybe the American liberals have learned their (political) lesson - but probably not.

IMO U.S. should quit Role as world cop

An entry in The Israel Project's Daily Tip reports that:

State Department officials found themselves on the defensive Monday, after an expose published by Reuters revealed that Iraq has signed a $195 million arms deal with Iran for the delivery of weapons to Iraq. Baghdad sources told the outlet that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had been moved to seek arms from the Islamic Republic - in violation of a broad range of international measures up to and including an explicit United Nations ban on arms sales by Iran - after he became 'fed up with delays in U.S. arms deliveries.' State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki defended the administration, insisting both that Washington was keeping Iraq adequately armed and that it "would raise serious concerns" if the Reuters report turned out to be correct. The Reuters report cited multiple officials and included an account of documents seen by the outlet's journalists describing the deal. If confirmed the development is likely to deepen criticism, heard both domestically and from Washington's Gulf allies, that the Obama administration is withdrawing from the Middle East and allowing Iran to fill in. A recent Politico article, headlined "Who Lost Iraq?" and authored by former Council of Foreign Relations (CFR) fellow Ned Parker, opened with an Iraqi official blaming the U.S. for creating a security vacuum in the country. A New York Times article published around the same time by Michael Doran and Max Boot - respectively a Brookings Institute fellow and a CFR fellow - blasted the administration for not sufficiently "countering Iranian machinations" in among other countries Iraq.

Meanwhile, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-FL, is calling for the U.S. to punish Venezuela by withholding funds from the oil-rich country. The U.S> gives Venezuela about $400 million annually. (Oil rich and US monetary gift - how does THAT compute?)

And, of course, we have John Kerry burning jet fuel for what probably will be fruitless trips between Washington and Jerusalem and between Washington and Ramallah, with an occasional trip to Amman.

Of the three, only Venezuela is in America's "sphere of influence" (and I'm not sure that's accurate anymore; does the U.S. have any influence in Latin America?).

Here at home, SecDef (Secretary of Defense) "Chuck" Hegel is talking about reductions in ground troops and navy vessels as the world moves into a "different kind of war."

Iran and Iraq. Why should the U.S. care about Iran and Iraq? Granted, Iran is threatening the world that once it has n-weapons and a delivery method it will destroy both the Great and the Little satans (U.S. and Israel, in case your name is Rip Van Winkle). Since Iran is a sovereign nation, does the U.S. have a right to act against it? If it does, then would a pre-emptive strike be appropriate?

What about Iran's neighbors. Saudia invites non-Muslims to fight and die for it, but otherwise non-Muslims stay out. Saudia claims to fear Iran, but it does nothing to stop Iran's progress to nuclear warfare capability. Likewise the other Islamic states,

Meanwhile, Mr. Kim and Company in North Korea apparently has both "the bomb" and the means to deliver it - if not to a U.S. target, certainly to South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan/Formosa. The U.S. does nothing about that except, as in the cases of Iran, talk, talk, talk. But then neither does Japan.

The decline of U.S. "influence" did not start with Obungler, but the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania has hastened the slide.

ON THE OTHER HAND, does the U.S. need to be the world's policeman? Why should we care is Iran has "the bomb"? True, Israel is our ally - but almost everyone knows how American treats its allies - we promise them anything and don't even give them cheap perfume*.

I'm not suggesting that the U.S. should become isolationist, but I AM suggesting that the U.S. should "butt out" of the role of policeman to the world. The U.S. also should "butt out" of trying to force every country to be a pseudo-democracy in the U.S. mold. (The U.S. is, strictly speaking, a republican form of government, not a "democracy." The government type has nothing to do with the party in power.)

The days when Theo. Roosevelt could send The Great White Fleet around the world to show off America's prowess - and intimidate others - is over. The day when nations dealt with other nations largely is over - now we must confront hoodlems hiding behind old women and babies.

The U.S. is, in some respects, on the right path when it targets its enemies wherever they are hiding; national borders not withstanding. If Nation A offers sanctuary to a person or organization threatening America, then that nation sacrifices its sovereignty and protection from U.S. attacks on those threatening the U.S. and its citizens, wherever they might be; pre-emptive or retaliatory strike is immaterial. "Collateral damage" - death or injury to "civilian shields" and facilities - will be on the head of those in control of the country hosting the terrorists.

That "right of self-defense" must also apply to other nations as well, as example Israel. Whether or not the U.S. should come to Israel's aid - if asked as it was by England in WW1 and WW2 - needs to be considered before the need. (This obviously applies to other nations as well.) Still, I would not encourage any country to depend on a timely U.S. response - remember the '50s.

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* "Promise her anything, but give her Arpege," 1927-coined commercial for a Lavin's fragrance. The polar opposite is more in line with what the U.S. did for (to) Hungary and Czechoslovakia in the 50s: "Promise Them the Mine – But Give Them the Shaft."