United States Greenlights Kurdish Genocide

Started by Shiranu, October 07, 2019, 01:01:36 AM

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Baruch

#120
Quote from: Unbeliever on October 21, 2019, 01:11:23 PM
It also has traces of cocaine, so it belongs to El Chapo?

If you had any money, I am sure El Chapo's son needs some ready cash, to pay for ammunition (given the recent shootout).

Same old, same old ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2oGHM87iKo
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Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
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Don't do that.

Baruch

"Lira Jumps On Reports Of Turkish Deal With Russia Over Northern Syria "Safe Zone"" ... so basically a modus vivendi between Russia/Syria and Turkey.  Good news.  Basically 32 kilometer belt of Turkish occupation allowed into N Syria.
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Don't do that.

Baruch

A real situation report ...

https://www.statista.com/chart/19580/territory-controlled-by-faction-in-syria/

And US presence in Syria or Iraq is dynamic (Iraq didn't want US-Syrian based troops pulled back into Iraq).  So much of what President Trump claimed is simply being ignored by the military.  Soft coup?
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Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
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Don't do that.

Baruch

"Tulsi Gabbard Unleashes On Erdogan: "Radical Islamist Megalomaniac" Who Helps ISIS" ... the ME emperor has no clothes.  A turban maybe.
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EmpJohnIV

https://youtu.be/SNcJ79qPIg8

If you've never seen this from the old Gulf Wars days I recommend it. Its the story of, more or less, the fall of the Athenian Empire during the Peloponnesen war. It reminds me all too much of the current era.

Particularly relevant to the current issue is a speech by Pericles at 24:20 - 26:20. The Athenians have got themselves into a tricky bit defending their empire and colonies, Pericles here is trying to rally their spirits, arguing that whether it was right or not to get into the war, it would be more wrong to leave it now. Following his advise went, in the end, rather poorly for Athens.

I think it would be wise today for the United States to gradually pull back its extension, particularly into the middle east. Doing so will, obviously, be devastating to those who had believed in our eternal support, and most sentimentally for me the Kurds, who I respect on my personal prejudice of the goodness of all mountain folk. Most difficultly for America, like Athens before us, any move of extending or withdrawing is studdering as we are divided against ourselves in this matter as so many others. A skillful withdraw, that minimizes the calamity for those who had allied with us, and avoids making us vulnerable to catastrophic reversals in the process is difficult with an iron will, and almost beyond hope with the current state of our political mechanisms. Still, it is a better hope than to remain over extended until being forced to retreat by a reversal or defeat such as all great Empires eventually suffer.

Baruch

#125
@EmpJohnIV ... your are an optimist.  Also you are correct about Pericles.  Pericles didn't know yet (too early in history) about the "Sunk Cost Fallacy".  Pericles was the first Neo-Lib, just as the Spartans were Neo-Cons.  In their day, they were new!  Their only guide was that Herodotus had written the first Western history/anthropology.  But there was no time machine to advance 100 years, so that Thucydides could be read as a warning.

Classical history/culture is one of my favorites.  I hope it is for you also.  Athens had a good plan, except for the self-induced typhus outbreak that killed 25% of their population including Pericles.  A great "what might have been" had Pericles not been cut down so soon.  Cleon fortunately was cut down at Amphipolis.  And Alcibiades was never a good replacement for anyone.  The influence of Persian darics (archers) can't be underestimated either.  Basically Persia paid Greece to defeat itself.  This led to Macedon hegemony (leading ironically to Persian destruction) and Roman conquest.  I have a few sigloi (Persian silver coins), have only held a few darics, but never owned any!  Part of my pay for betraying Greece millennia ago ;-)

Did you see the Assassin's Creed Odyssey "A Tour of Athens" ?  I have been to Athens.  Their meticulous reconstruction thrilled me.  But ...

THIS IS SPARTA!
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Don't do that.

EmpJohnIV

Empire always goes to pot. Athens might have rolled better luck with out the typhus outbreak, but the cause of their failure was hubris, typhus only connected the dots.

With American extension into the old world it is the most likely thing that some fluke will be remembered by history as our typhus, the fatal straw. But the cause will not be that straw, it will be the hubris of a ruling class that cannot comprehend the fact that sometimes you lose, and somethings there is zip nothing you can do about it, except maybe, just maybe, not putting chips down on the table.

With or with out access to the writings Thucydides, the wages of Empire remain the same. As to old saying goes 'those the gods would destroy, they first drive mad', taken literally of figuratively the results are the same. But there is variation in how harshly an Empire falls, or how soon after a critical point.

It is technically possible to stave off a most serious crisis by withdrawing intentionally before being forced, by caution and recognition that defeat can come.

I think it is still technically possible, but would entail the American middle class, and much of the upper class effectively losing their current access to global resources. So it is very unlikely to happen, unless a better populist manages to flop into power as the central powers lose legitimacy. Right now Tulsi is the closest to that in public life, and the Dems are screeming like gut shot banshees at every antiwar (they pronounce that pro-Russian) position.

Baruch

@EmpJohnIV  I like Tulsi too!  And yes, the British Empire (given WW I and WW II) was able to gracefully decline thru 1975 (and then partly reversed by Thatcher) under the umbrella of the US Superpower.  Who will the the superpower that is friendly enough to enable our pullback?  China?

Yes, the final crisis is always invisible until too late.  And even then hubris plays a part.  Alcibiades warned the Athenians, that they were playing with Russian Roulette at Aegospotami.  But he was the ultimate "cry wolf" character.

Yes, infection takes advantage of prior systemic mistakes.  See Napoleon retreating from Moscow.  At least Napoleon had better military doctors than Pericles (who still had to rely as much on Asclepius as on Hippocrates).

It all comes down to sustained situational awareness.  This is very hard even for a Spartan oligarchy.  Like Argus guarding Zeus' paramour Io, after she was turned into a cow, Argus who had eyes all over his body so he never completely went to sleep, even he was distracted enough to lose track of his charge from Hera.  But himself being animorphed, he gave us the peacock!
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Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
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What are you doing?
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Don't do that.

EmpJohnIV

Focusing my gaze closer to our present time the thing that really is so cussed about our situation is that a pretty big chunk of the American population, despite the messages they get from their handlers, are pretty well sick of the foreign war thing, but the war pigs got things so rigged that there is very little can be done about it, short of a proper crisis of legitimacy. Which, let's face it, would be a rough time for all involved.

The British Empire, and also 15th century China managed to pull a good reversal. As for getting cozy to a future super power, I don't see it, but pulling back the the near abroad and accepting a life style without access to middle east resources could be defensible. Maybe the best bet for an alliance would be to try to assemble a rag tag group of ol' Commonwealth countries into a block? That or offer to help Russia play counter weight to China. Frankly, China doesn't look appealing to cuddle up with in my eyes, very much the contrary.

Tulsi is about the only voice going that sounds sincere to me about a managed withdraw from our over extension. While her chances in 2020 resemble my chances in a HR department, she seems to be positioning herself to fill the power vacuum when the current blue team finishes its death spiral. What is really interesting about her is as a useful touchstone to see whose owned by the war pigs, by budget or by propaganda.

Baruch

#129
Quote from: EmpJohnIV on December 05, 2019, 11:25:11 AM
Focusing my gaze closer to our present time the thing that really is so cussed about our situation is that a pretty big chunk of the American population, despite the messages they get from their handlers, are pretty well sick of the foreign war thing, but the war pigs got things so rigged that there is very little can be done about it, short of a proper crisis of legitimacy. Which, let's face it, would be a rough time for all involved.

The British Empire, and also 15th century China managed to pull a good reversal. As for getting cozy to a future super power, I don't see it, but pulling back the the near abroad and accepting a life style without access to middle east resources could be defensible. Maybe the best bet for an alliance would be to try to assemble a rag tag group of ol' Commonwealth countries into a block? That or offer to help Russia play counter weight to China. Frankly, China doesn't look appealing to cuddle up with in my eyes, very much the contrary.

Tulsi is about the only voice going that sounds sincere to me about a managed withdraw from our over extension. While her chances in 2020 resemble my chances in a HR department, she seems to be positioning herself to fill the power vacuum when the current blue team finishes its death spiral. What is really interesting about her is as a useful touchstone to see whose owned by the war pigs, by budget or by propaganda.

War pigs?  Without WW II and the Cold War, then the War On Terror ... the US economy would be at 25% unemployment, just like 1938.  If we were all butter and no guns economically, we would drown in the margarine.  Part of the failing of the late Roman Empire was their failure, by lack of will or lack of strategy, to continue to fund their economy thru war slaves.  Even with the right strategy, you still have to execute well (particularly potential competing Emperors).

Yes, Tulsi, if she wants, will be interesting in 2024 vs say ... VP Pence.  Like the old song, you have to know when to "hold them" and when to "fold them".  If you have to fold a hand, there is always the next hand.

Russia is no fool, their alliance with China is opportunistic.  China under the Ming eunuchs isn't a good example of pull back, Japan under the Tokugawas is a much better example.  An Anglo fighting group won't work today.  NZ and Canada are completely demented.  GB is almost lost after 30 years of tacking away from Thatcherism.  Australia is interesting ... they are more like America in their FU attitude, but they are being Borged by the Chinese.  Can they avoid assimilation?
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Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
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Don't do that.

EmpJohnIV

Yeah the managment classes in the Anglosphere are nuts, but lower down the pyrimid they still got some wits. Also you are ignoring the big tiger in the room, India.

The reason American folk let the masters of puppets yank them around is that the war machine brings in wealth. It's true, it is an addiction, and unless one has the gumption to go through the withdrawl it is terminal. My economic position, as a self employed producer of necessities, would be greatly improved if I didn't have to compete with slave labor over seas, and more generally if the dollar were weaker. But the managment class that wags the dog, and alot of inessential services would be in soup lines. Most likely the game will keep going until a couple carrier groups follow the Spanish Armada, and America becomes a total mess. But, the other choice is sitting there, untaken.

Baruch

#131
The other choice?  Becoming S Canada?  Good!  Then Black Face will be OK again ;-)

India?  The long term ally of Russia?  But China has succeeded where India has failed, in wooing Mother Russia.  India is phobic of any British derived country.  They would still prefer the Mughal Raj over the British one.  They forget they are rarely a unified or self governing country, except under foreign hegemony.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.