[DAWN] THE chilly reception given to President B.O. on his arrival in Riyadh is a sign of the growing rift between the US and Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... The governor of Riyadh received the president while state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
showed footage of the king receiving other leaders from GCC countries on the tarmac of the airport at the same time.
At issue is a bill making its way through Congress that would allow American citizens to sue the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for losses suffered during 9/11, and growing pressure on the B.O. regime to authorise the release of 28 pages of the 9/11 commission report that have never been made public, purportedly because they contain details of possible links between the hijackers and the Saudi regime.
More dramatically, the kingdom has warned that if the bill is passed, it will consider withdrawing its investments in the United States, said to total $750 billion, with more funds parked in US treasury bills.
Global financial markets have shrugged off that threat so far, which could send a shockwave through the global economy, if carried out by the Saudis.
But the weak position of the Saudi regime’s fiscal health means it will suffer at least as much as the US economy -- that fact considerably dilutes the probability of the threat being carried out.
Likewise the legislation under consideration in the US Congress that would allow US citizens to sue the Saudi regime for the 9/11 attacks is audacious, to say the least, and could open a Pandora’s box if reciprocated by other countries.
The only reasonable step in this whole affair would be the one that calls for releasing the 28 classified pages of the 9/11 commission report. If it is true that these pages contain information that may implicate the Saudi government in the attacks, then this needs to be known by the rest of the world, which has suffered the consequences of 9/11 as well.
If not true, the matter needs to be laid to rest. The growing tensions between the two countries are unlikely to go away soon, especially since they are driven in large part by Saudi fears of a growing thaw in ties between Iran and America.
For Pakistain it would be a good idea to not wade too deep into the belligerence engulfing the Middle East, and to stay out of the rivalry evident between important players in the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
The governor of Riyadh received the president while state television showed footage of the king receiving other leaders from GCC countries on the tarmac of the airport at the same time.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] European laws that are meant to help ordinary people find refuge contain loopholes that are exploited by criminals who are wanted in their countries, and who want to kill. However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... laws will not remain as they are.
For example, La Belle France’s state of alert has resulted in it taking certain measures at a quicker pace than other countries such as Britannia. The Gay Paree attacks in Nov. 2015, and the Brussels attacks in March 2016, awakened Europe’s sense of security.
Some European organizations ridiculed Arab and Gulf countries, and alleged that our war on terrorism was actually against freedom of expression.
It later turned out that a number of bombers in mosques found their way in under the cover of campaigns with slogans such as "aid the sufferer," and under the cover of provocative Twitter hashtags.
Europe is now talking about stripping citizenship, and is implementing deportation measures. Yes, it finally realized the threat!
"We’ve expelled about 80 preachers of hate, and we’ll confront the phenomenon of French youths embracing bully boy ideology and joining the ranks of ISIS in Syria and Iraq," French President Francois Hollande ...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist... said last Thursday. About 600 French people are fighting alongside ISIS.
The free environment in Europe has been exploited by evil men. Nations will not be blamed if they want to maintain their security. Europe will say this louder with time: "There’s no place for hate here!"
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
European laws, which are based on theory of human nature that is total wishful thinking,...
A job for Rantburg's Poet Laureate or any potential usurpers. The Bat Signal is lit.
Well I'm a free-born British man, and we don't live under the blasphemy laws of such despots. So in honour of this fact I have spent the weekend writing rude limericks about Mr Erdogan. And I would hereby like to invite all readers to join me in a grand Erdogan limerick competition. That isn't to say that entries which come in the form of Iambic pentameters, or heroic couplets will be completely discounted. I think a work in the Homeric mode, for example, about the smallness of Erdogan's manhood could (if suitably disgusting) stand some chance of winning. But I recommend limericks because almost everything insulting that is worth saying can usually be included within the five lines of that beautiful and delicate form.
I would also like to stress that the aim of the competition is to be as filthy and insulting as possible about Recep Erdogan. Rhymes with some political point might be considered, but will inevitably take second-place to works which mull (for example) solely on President Erdogan's reputed fondness for goats or his notorious untrustworthiness in the vicinity of any public zoo.
#5
Jan Sobieski gives the finger from the grave
Because Merkal shit warbled as slave
"Go and arrest my peoples
and knock down the steeples
so we can pretend that Recep's not gay."
#7
A wanna-be Calife named Erdy,
Said to his camel, "Yer purdy!"
Let's go out by the tree,
It's shady and free,
And you, me and the goat can get flirty.
#8
Shit shit shit. Fantastic material lately, a clamoring public (!), and now this... as life events (ptui!) have more or less laid me low. Gut nuthin. FWIW, I've decided to actually work at this a bit as soon as I get some breathing room. That's not to say it'll get better -- I may well disappear up my own ass doing the ancestor's bio as a Pearl parody or something -- but at least it won't be forced, Frankenstein parts bucket junk like...
"My yataganscimitar gimlet,
Bright green with a scriptural inset,
Has certainly hurt you,
O goat of great virtue..."
At which the goat asked, "Is it in yet?"
[WND] Like or dislike her, there's no questioning Hillary's manly bona fides. Mrs. Clinton is as tough as she's philosophically misguided.
At the first Democratic debate, on Oct. 14, 2015, Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley and Lincoln Chafee shuffled meekly to their respective podiums. Only Jim Webb and Mrs. Clinton strode onto that stage like soldiers.
Unless her handlers coach her on acting femininely, you'll never catch Hillary blubbering about Bill and Chelsea coming first in her life. Yes, I can easily see her texting at a departed Bill Clinton eulogy.
She doesn't! They don’t (come first)! No, siree. For Hillary, it’s ambition before family.
Still, when Hillary expects it to pay political dividends, she fights like a girl, claws drawn.
Her April 19 victory in the New York primary could hardly be bettered. But it’s unlikely to soften Mrs. Clinton’s sharpshooting. She and rival Bernie Sanders have been locked in a cycle of sorts, where Sanders will try mightily to stand up to Hillary, and she’ll swat him down like a fly.
Incredibly, Sanders is too petrified to lay the ruination of Libya at Hillary’s sturdy feet. And he has only to recount the ambient horrors of Hillary’s foreign policy – the vote for “the disastrous war in Iraq,” for one – and Mrs. Clinton’s Amazon Warriors at CNN and elsewhere crow, “Is Bernie Sanders taking the low road?”\ Fast forward to closing para:
One thing seems certain: If nature is allowed to take its course, the showdown on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November 2016 will likely be between the two men in the race:
The Hildebeest and The Donald. The Hildebeest? Our readership appears to have expanded.
[TakiMag] However the Trump War resolves itself, we’ve already seen at least one casualty—conservative media cohesion. Sides are being drawn, and blood feuds have been declared. As The New York Times recently pointed out, Trump-inspired divisions and conflicts among normally allied conservative media personalities are growing at an alarming rate, and staying neutral is practically impossible. A recent Guardian piece (for which I was interviewed) about the Hollywood conservative “oasis” Friends of Abe paints a portrait of a “slow-motion civil war” in which members are at each other’s throats over Trump. Friends of Abe used to be a place where everyone could hang out and get along: the Breitbart people, the National Review people, the RedState folks, the Horowitz clan. At any given past event, you might have seen Ben Shapiro doffing his yarmulke to Ann Coulter, Roger Simon clinking glasses with S.E. Cupp, and Bill Whittle and David Horowitz passed out together in a corner after forgetting to breathe while monologuing at each other.
Such unity! What the hell went wrong? Is it just Trump? Well, yes, in that the Trump candidacy put the hot needle to the zit. But the puss had been building up for some time, and there are many reasons why.
Look at the Lewandowski/Fields affair and the ensuing Breitbart.com crack-up. Everyone involved is unlikable. There are absolutely no heroes in that debacle. Michelle Fields is a whining millennial drama queen who claimed—with a straight face—that Lewandowski’s arm tug was the worst thing that happened to her since her father’s death. This is why the “old media,” corrupt and biased as it is, still commands respect. When old-school reporters like Sam Donaldson were arm-touched, they responded by simply telling the unwanted toucher, “Get your hands off me.” They understood that the occasional arm touch was a hazard that comes with the job. They didn’t respond to unwanted contact by calling a press conference and going on an “I’ve been victimized” media junket.
“Fragmentation, hostility, and side-taking will continue until the Trump coronation or the Trump Waterloo, and there’ll be no returning to normal afterward.”
And Ben Shapiro? Oh, what a self-righteous dog-and-pony show that sawed-off unibrow performed following Fields’ “bad touch.” I was surprised the little man didn’t finalize his Breitbart departure by performing kriah, the Hebrew garment-rending that signifies “You’re dead to me” (my guess is, he’s too cheap to waste a good shirt). If Shapiro was so troubled by Lewandowski’s tug, I’m curious why he was totally fine when Breitbart’s own Milo Yiannopoulos defended and championed the beating of Jezebel editor Erin Gloria Ryan, declaring, “I can’t imagine why anyone would want to punch her in the face. Well, actually, I can,” adding that the assailant did “the job every man in America wishes he could.”
Shapiro was editor at large of Breitbart.com at the time Yiannopoulos made that statement in a piece posted on the site, and he was totally cool with it. No angry pressers, no job-quitting hissy fit. Tugging a female reporter’s arm is an unpardonable sin, but cheering the ruthless beating of a female reporter is fine. That’s some nice Old Testament ethics there, Benny. How very Deuteronomous of you.
But if Fields and Shapiro are bad actors in this freak show, what can be said of Patrick Howley, the Breitbart.com reporter who initially doubted Fields’ story? Howley, it turns out, is also a master at faking events and making himself the center of a story. Frankly, his record puts Fields’ to shame. In October 2011, Howley “infiltrated” a Washington, D.C., Occupy group in order to provoke a clash with security guards by gate-crashing the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum while pretending to be one of the Occupy protesters.
I had the honor of witnessing firsthand Howley’s unethical behavior when he contacted me in late 2014 regarding a “scoop” he thought he had about Bill Clinton and me. Howley, then at the Daily Caller, had previously misattributed a quote in an earlier piece involving a Democrat congresswoman who’d written me a fan letter (such is the surreal nature of my life that fan letters I receive become headline news). After refusing to correct the quote, he got in touch with me about the Clinton story, which (purportedly) involved me, the former president, and country-rock singer Julia Garlington, who used to open for Blake Shelton before, shall we say, “falling on hard times.”
Even in the face of my warning that the Cole/Clinton story was bogus (which it was), Howley went ahead with it anyway. To be fair, I let it happen, because these days I have zero tolerance for two things: misattributed or fake quotes, and death threats. Howley, having perpetrated the former, was solidly on my “do not resuscitate” list when I saw him hanging himself with his own rope. The result was much hilarity in the form of a public pantsing of Howley (by sites like AlterNet, TPM, and Media Matters) that I hope hastened his departure from the DC (although, amazingly, the discredited Clinton/Cole story is still up, with no update or correction).
#1
Ah yes, the death of conservatism. Only slightly out of context, but what the hell. At least the author has it right in the closing para:
“Muzzies” are primitive, ignorant goat-buggerers worthy only of being on the other side of walls, the business end of guns, and the receiving end of bombs..... You earn your neocon bones by being uncompromising in attitude and language regarding the “Muslim problem.”
One type doesn't mind the giant bloated bureaucracy, just thinks they should run it because they can do a better job than Democrats. They don't care if leviathan exists. They've made the choice that rights are trumped by the appearance of compassion and civility - said appearance run slightly better than Democrats might do so.
The other type understands that half the agencies in government need to be swept away summarily because they either do nothing of authentic worth or actually damage the ability of the private sector to produce. And that if this isn't done - very, very soon - the point of no return will be upon us. And that this must be done without regard to the financial damage it will do to the fired hacks.
And that civility, while nice, will never be reciprocated by leviathan.
Choose wisely.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
04/22/2016 7:51 Comments ||
Top||
#3
What is interesting is the depth of dislike or outright rejection of many on the right of democracy. Oh, they love the trappings and rituals, but actual democracy seems to either frighten them or disgusts them. In that they are no different than the authoritarians on the left. "It's all too important to leave to the 'mob'." We must have order here!
#4
Funny but it seems to me we are seeing the same thing on the dem side. Not so much in the press but more so with the voters in the party. The gop will rally around trump when he wins, however begrudgingly. Sort of like the eels and Obama. However divided the goo it, they are nothing compared to the dems. The dems are radicalized, in a near fascist state. They are inciting violence and hate over every topic. There is zero rational discourse with the people of that party. When Hillary wins the party will rally to her, the Bernie supporters-voters, will not. They will feel cheated and played by a broken system. They will not support her, some might cross over, some will take their radicalization to the next violent level. Understand the occupy socialist communist movement has legs, when suppressed the socialist movement becomes violent. This election will be interesting.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
04/22/2016 11:20 Comments ||
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#5
Damn spell check and me on this I phone do not get along. Sorry
Posted by: 49 pan ||
04/22/2016 11:21 Comments ||
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#6
Prediction: Trump defeats the Beest, urban riots.
#9
I've said it before: That word "conservative" seems to mean different things to different people. Guys like Jeb Bush calling himself conservative when he's willing to leave our borders undefended makes no sense to me.
Trump doesn't exactly fit into my concept of a true conservative, especially on the social issues, but nobody else seems to understand that American these days is in a serious state of decline.
As for Lewandowski, grabbing that girl's arm was perhaps not heroic but it was his job. What a novel concept it is for a guy to understand what his job is and then actually do it.
#10
A Republican split maybe, but no conservative supports Trump.
Posted by: Thravimp Lover of the Antelope7006 ||
04/22/2016 13:27 Comments ||
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#11
The Dems will try to paint Trump as racist against Blacks but I don't think it has really been sticking. They've got the Black Lives Matter but I'm not sure about the bulk of African Americans. A lot of blacks have been hit by the same economic issues the poor whites have been hit by. It will be an interesting campaign.
#12
The "conservative" Media are showing their true colours now. Not conservative at the core, but pandering to whatever gets them ratings. Just like the Progressives they used to hammer for being hypocritical. Coulter, Hannity, Falwell, and even Limbaugh fall into this bunch who want ratings over all else. The mask is off. And for the audiences, so are the blinders.
[DAWN] ATTACKS on anti-polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... vaccinators and the security teams that now routinely accompany them are desperately wicked crimes.
Violent and immoral, such attacks leave no part of state or society unaffected: directly, through the casualties inflicted on anti-polio vaccine teams and security personnel and, indirectly, through jeopardising the health of the next generation, especially in neighbourhoods which are already chronically under-resourced and face significant health challenges.
What needs to be done -- not just in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , but elsewhere in the country too where there is still some resistance to vaccines -- is to revisit standard operating procedure to reduce the risk of casualties when attacks do occur as well as dedicate more resources to intelligence-gathering on polio-specific threats.
From the repetitive nature of such attacks and the early evidence often pointing to a predictable set of security lapses and a familiar group of suspects, it appears that the war on polio can be waged with more precision and better security.
Yet, the sheer deadliness of the attack on Wednesday, the number of snuffies involved and the city in which it occurred raise a specific set of questions too.
Consider that the army has, via the Rangers, been leading a crackdown on militancy and crime in Karachi since September 2013.
The sheer scale of the security threats in Karachi and the vastness of the provincial metropolis ensured that quick solutions would not materialise.
But if action was necessary and inevitable, so was remaining focused on the original cause -- combating terrorism and organised crime in the city.
Instead, the Karachi operation has long drifted into other domains ie alleged political crimes and corruption.
As with all security decisions, there is an inherent trade-off involved: combating one problem leaves fewer resources to fight another. And as with all security decisions, a balance must be maintained.
Surely, if a group of snuffies -- eight in number, according to reports -- can attack and kill seven on-duty coppers in broad daylight in two different spots and then simply melt away, the threat from militancy is not receiving the kind of sustained attention it needs to be given in Karachi.
Are the Rangers and the military-led intelligence agencies operating in the placid provincial capital too stretched for the good of the city they are trying to stabilise and secure?
Of course, the problem is compounded on the civilian side.
The deployment of under-training coppers on guard duties during anti-polio vaccination drives only underscores the desperate lack of investment in the Sindh police.
The PPP, which has been in power in the province since 2008, seems utterly indifferent to even basic responsibilities, be it on the security side or governance.
With the PPP more interested in sparring with the military over the Karachi operation and the military seemingly unable to work with the civilians, the danger is that the space for militancy in Karachi may be expanding once again.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Did they drain the pool or over chlorinate this time?
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Predictable issues have derailed ongoing negotiations over the Syrian conflict, with the opposition resuming fighting against the Syrian regime, which has repeatedly broken the cessation of hostilities agreement that was implemented in February.
In addition to the continued Assad regime bombardment of forces ostensibly included in the ceasefire agreement, the primary issue that continues to sabotage the latest efforts to bring some semblance of calm to the war-torn country and resolution to the never-ending conflict, remains unchanged: fierce disagreement over the future of Bashir al-Assad’s criminal regime.
Sincere efforts to bring the conflict to an end, or carve out a path that will lead to such a reality, will continue to fail so long as they involve negotiating with parties that demand Assad remain in power. Such a proposal dismisses the fact that the Assad regime’s failure to step down years ago remains the chief reason why Syria has spiralled into hell and allowed barbaric actors, including ISIS, to flourish.
Rooters reported that only three delegates from the opposition met UN special envoy Steffan de Mistura on 18 April, when typically 15 delegates do so. It is understandable that the opposition is considering completely pulling out of talks; the Syrian regime’s history of pretending to be interested in negotiations while stepping up their military campaign on the ground is well-documented.
There is no reason to assess the regime has moved away from that strategy at this stage. And with the Syrian military preparing a major offensive to attempt to seize all of Aleppo, a return to all out fighting appears inevitable in the near-term.
Assad’s latest signal that he has no immediate interest in stepping down was sent to Syrians and the international community when he held parliamentary elections in government-controlled areas this week. The latest election - as was the presidential vote held in 2014 ‐ was of course a total sham.
As thousands of Paleostinians face starvation in Yarmouk and the women of Daraya beg the government to lift the siege on their community, the AP reported that the government extended voting hours until midnight due to what Syrian state news indicated was "massive turnout."
Advancing military
The Syrian regime has repeatedly vowed that it will not cede an inch of land to the opposition nor relinquish a bit of political power; it is critical that negotiators start listening and planning accordingly. While the West appears to operate under the assumption Assad will ultimately prove willing to depart, his regime continues signaling the precise opposite.
Meanwhile, ...back at the dirigible, Jack stuck the cigar in his mouth, stepped onto the gantry, and asked Got a light, Mac?
Von Schtinken stopped short, lowering the dagger and trying to control his features.
If you light that thing, Herr Armschtröng, he pointed out, his voice tense, we all die!... Russia’s public and sudden announcement that its forces would withdraw from Syria has yet to be illustrated on the ground. The notion that Russia made such an announcement - in an effort to pressure the Assad regime into negotiations with the West ‐ is an assessment that appear weaker with the Syrian military’s every advance.
The US should fully back the opposition’s decision to pull away from talks with the Syrian regime until their basic demands are seriously addressed. The basis for a longer term agreement will not be built on fresh ruin and bloodshed amid attempts by the regime to award itself political legitimacy with sham elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2016 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[DAWN] THE chilly reception given to 
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] European laws that are meant to help ordinary people find refuge contain loopholes that are exploited by criminals who are wanted in their countries, and who want to kill. 
[WND] Like or dislike her, there's no questioning Hillary's manly bona fides. Mrs. Clinton is as tough as she's philosophically misguided.
