This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Foreign Policy

  • Same Old Song and Dance, Part II

    Well, we have a new claim by our “illustrious regime” in DC.  They now claim that they know why their past attempts to support that mythical “moderate” Syrian opposition during the Syrian Civil War failed.

    They now claim that US support failed because it was sabotaged.

    Seriously.

    Specifically, the latest       attempt to grasp at straws         blatant propaganda designed to shift blame         claim is that CIA  aid to those mythical “moderate” Syrian rebels was diverted by “dirty Mideast intel”.   Allegedly, Jordanian intelligence redirected a substantial part of the aid intended for those mythical “moderate” rebels in Syria to Daesh.

    They also admit that corruption within the Syrian opposition was also partly to blame.  They had no choice but to do that; that’s already too well publicly documented.

    Why would Jordan do that, you ask?  Well, as the story goes:  because “Jordan’s biggest enemy is anything Shia” – and Daesh was opposing Iran.

    Gee.  A foreign nation looking out for its own interests.  Ya think that might happen on occasion?

    And corruption within the shadowy world of intel?  Oh, no! That implies that intel is sometimes a “dirty” endeavor!  This is big news!  Stop the presses!

    Hmm.  Ya think that maybe corruption might happen on occasion too?  Especially in the Middle East?  Or in the shadowy world of intel?

    At the risk of sounding “insensitive”:  both of those possibilities are so obvious that even Stevie Wonder can see them.

    These        inane tall tales        dubious claims by the Administration IMO show one of two things.  First, and IMO most likely:  they’re simply dissembling in an attempt to redirect blame for failure.

    And second:  if by some miracle that’s not the case and they’re telling the truth, then this fiasco shows a near-childlike level of incompetence and naïvety.  I mean really:  given how “steadfastly” we’ve supported our allies recently, did they really not expect Jordan to “look out for number one”?  Were they so foolish that they disregarded the possibility of corruption in pretty much ANY organization in the Middle East?

    And to add insult to injury:  either way,  they’re also throwing a valuable ally “under the bus” in the process.  We seem to have gotten quite good at that lately, too.

    GMAFB.  If they didn’t take measures to detect/correct diversion of support to support an ally’s agenda and limit corruption, then IMO they are literally incompetent fools.  But given what I’ve seen in the past from this Administration, I can easily believe that could well be the case.

    Hell, given this        ridiculously naïve and grossly incompetent clown krewe running the show        Administration I personally believe both deliberate mendacity and abysmally naïve incompetence played a part in creating this latest fairy tale.  No, I don’t have proof that’s the case.  But it simply fits.

    Once again, I think my leg’s wet.  And it hasn’t started raining yet.

  • More “Words of Wisdom” About Syria from the State Department

    Well, our “esteemed” Department of State is at it again.  And as usual, they are being “farsighted, and protective of US national interests”.

    Yeah, if you couldn’t tell – that last was sarcasm.

    Apparently a largish number of State Department officials – 51, to be precise – have signed something called a “dissent channel cable”.  This document, apparently intended for the POTUS and his senior advisors, calls for the current        gang of fools in charge      Administration to direct “targeted military action” against the Assad regime in Syria.

    Yeah, that’s the ticket.  More pinprick strikes and/or drone operations.

    I hate to break it to our “esteemed” DoS officials, but that train left the station years ago.

    Back in 2012-2013, we stood by and did nothing at the beginning of the Syrian civil war.  We then gave lip-service and a totally ineffective pittance of support to the then-existent moderate Syrian opposition (and wasted literally hundreds of millions doing so).  As a result, al Qaeda and Daesh co-opted the Syrian opposition; they now own virtually all of it.  There are effectively no freaking Syrian opposition moderates left.

    Moreover, in the last year or two Russia has moved in to Syria big time.  Yeah, that’s right – this Administration’s hesitant, bumbling inaction has allowed Russia to move back into the Middle East directly for pretty much the first time since Egypt kicked them out in the 1970s.  Now, any “targeted military action” against the Syrian government is virtually a lock to involve striking forces belonging to their Russian allies as well.  That wouldn’t have been the case if we hadn’t sat on our hands and scolded at the beginning.

    In short, we’ve fornicated Fido well and thoroughly here.  There are no good solutions left that promote US national interests.

    Don’t believe me on that last?  Well, consider:

    • If we stand by and do nothing, Assad continues to kill off his own people while fighting al Qaeda/Daesh forces – with firm Russian and Iranian support.  Russia will demand compensation for helping, probably in the form of a long-term presence in bases in Syria.  Iran may well do the same.  That’s bad, but it’s also IMO probably the best option we’ve got now.

    • If we intervene with “targeted strikes”, we hit Russian and Iranian forces along with Syrian forces.  The Iranians may well not be able to react.  But does anyone here think the Russians won’t shoot back?  Then, we either go in with both feet or back down.  If we go in with both feet, how does the possibility of “simultaneous war with Russia and Iran” sound?  Is Syria worth that?

    • Even if by some miracle the Russians and Iranians leave, we’re still screwed.  Let’s say we help the Syrian opposition take out the Assad regime, and the Syrian opposition takes over.  That opposition now appears thoroughly dominated by al Qaeda and Daesh.  If you think they’ll willingly let a “moderate regime” friendly to the West take power, you’re naïve as hell.  So backing the Syrian opposition and winning now probably sets up an al Qaeda or Daesh Caliphate in Syria, either immediately or within a couple of years.  (Remember – after the Iranian Revolution, Khomeini didn’t immediately take power.  It took several months for Khomeini to throw out the remaining Iranian moderates under Bakhtiar and Bazargan – who initially held power – and establish his dictatorial theocracy.)

    Anyway:  initially, we had options.  Now, we really have no good options.  So jumping in militarily with both feet – unless we’re willing to conquer and occupy, possibly after fighting a war against both Russia and Iran – makes absolutely no sense at all.

    . . .

    Yeah, the Syrian Civil War is nasty.  Lots of innocents are dying.  But there aren’t any “good guys” left to support that have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning.  We get involved, it’s a lock that all we’ll do is p!ss away more US lives and dollars to no good end.

    We had our chance about 4 years ago to make a difference in Syria.  We screwed up by-the-numbers then, and the chance is no longer there.

    But here, we picked the worst possible course of action. We took actions that destabilized Syria (see “Spring, Arab”) – then failed to follow through, leaving those we encouraged twisting in the wind and leading indirectly to the rise of Daesh. Hell, letting Assad continue to rule Syria with an iron hand would have cost fewer innocents their lives, kept Russia “on the outside looking in”, and likely marginalized Daesh or prevented their formation entirely.

    I’ve maintained all along that we had no “dog in this fight”; that was true IMO from day one. Assad is a true bastard, but many if not all foreseeable potential alternatives and outcomes of his overthrow then were no better for the US. Now, barring a literal miracle all of those alternatives are IMO far worse than his continued rule.

    Sometimes, “Better the Devil ye know . . . . “ is damn good advice.

  • “Follow the Money.”

    We’ve all heard rumors of Clintoon’s . . . interesting financial dealings.  And we’ve heard rumors that her campaign has received money from overseas donors who aren’t US expatriates – which would in general be against US election laws.

    Well, how much are we talking about?  Glad you asked.

    According to Zero Hedge, maybe 20% of her campaign funds – from that liberal democracy called “Saudi Arabia” alone, according to the Saudi Crown Prince.   And that doesn’t include possible other foreign “donations”.

    Well, what about while she was SECSTATE?  Did the Clintoon Foundation receive any foreign donations then that might be questionable during that time frame?

    Glad you asked about that, too.  It seems that the Clintoon Foundation has recently revised its Federal income tax filings for the period 2010 to 2013 three times – with two of those revisions occurring within the past 8 months.

    The last revision was in January of this year.  And it included a curious addition:  a new line of text stating that “All other government grants came from foreign governments.”

    The text appears on each of the 4 years Federal tax returns.  The amount apparently referenced by that line?  Oh, a mere pittance – “only” $17.7M per year.

    Interestingly, while the Clintoon Foundation’s tax filings were updated in January to show the above foreign donations, the Clintoon Foundation website still doesn’t reflect that fact.  Go figure.

    Yeah, nothing to see here, folks.  Just more      apparently corrupt wheeling and dealing        business as usual for the Clintoons.

    Now, maybe I’m just unduly suspicious.  But to me, it certainly sounds like either “pay for play” or “payment for services rendered”.  And I’d love to hear the Clintoon’s explanation regarding the Saudi Crown Prince’s claims.

    Still:  the money is good.  Nice work if you can stomach it I guess.

  • So, How’s the Fight Against Daesh Going?

    Remember those little conflicts with Daesh that have been ongoing in Iraq and Syria for a while?  (I say “conflicts” because from my perspective they are indeed multiple separate, apparently uncoordinated efforts.) You know, the ones the POTUS pledged to “accelerate”?  The ones that the POTUS said would require no US “combat troops” or “boots on the ground”?

    Well, we have some recent updates from the Pentagon and the IC regarding the “big picture” status of operations against Daesh.  And it turns out things are apparently going . . . a bit slowly.

    Yes, we’ve supposedly beaten up their financial infrastructure somewhat via air strikes.  But on the ground things don’t exactly seem to be going well.

    Per Pentagon sources, since December US allies have retaken a 5% of the territory Daesh held in Iraq at maximum extent.  That’s an average of a whopping 1% per month.

    At that rate, it will only take 55 more months (40% had been recovered prior to December) – or until December 2021 – to eradicate the Daesh regime in Iraq.  Behold the Swift Success, doubters!

    Oh, and regarding retaking Mosul:  don’t hold your breath.  Last week the US Director of National Intelligence said that it’s “unlikely (Daesh) would be pushed out of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, during the Obama administration”.  Gee, that’s . . . wonderful.  Just freaking wonderful.

    Even so, things seem to be going substantially better for US allies opposing Daesh in Iraq than in Syria.  Per Pentagon officials Daesh controls about the same amount of territory in Syria today that it did in January.

    Oh, and did I mention that it appears we now have a “small number” of us troops on the ground in Libya opposing Daesh elements there as well?  I guess US involvement in two simultaneous and       poorly thought-out and unsuccessfully executed interventions based on fatally flawed strategy       less than perfectly successful interventions against radical Islamic forces just isn’t enough for the current Administration.

    Fox News has an article giving more details about the above.  IMO it’s worth a read.

    National Security and Foreign Policy competence:  that’s not what this Administration “serves for dinner”.

  • More News About the Clintoons

    Well,time for a recap of recent info about Clintoon and her email issues.  And we have some other recemt news about that “fine upstanding individual” and others around her, too.

    (Yeah, that part in quotes in the preceding para is satire – as is some of the commentary about Wasserman Schultz below.  That should be obvious as hell.  However, at least one of our frequent commenters often appears unable to recognize satire unless it’s explicitly flagged as such.  I thus elected to do so.)

    First:  Ms. Clintoon recently claimed that the FBI was merely conducting a “security inquiry” into that unauthorized and marginally-if-at-all secured “private e-mail server” that she used after flatly refusing to use official government email systems for official business.  (Yes, that’s the same e-mail server that has been confirmed to have contained over 2,000 classified items, some of which were classified Top Secret and were either compartmented or SAP material.)  Well, unfortunately for her, she didn’t coordinate that      baldfaced lie       account with FBI Director James Comey before publicly telling it.  Comey flatly contradicted Clintoon’s assertion, stating outright that the FBI is indeed conducting an investigation relating to the matter – not some type of “security inquiry”.

    However:  fear not, Clintoon fans!  That paragon of truth and sincerity, the DNC Chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, is positive . . . that Clintoon is NOT a target of that FBI investigation.  She recently said exactly that in an interview.

    Sure, Debbie.  And I’m the Emperor of China, too.

    Geez.   Why in the hell do you think the FBI is interviewing all her closest aides before interviewing her, Debbie?  It’s called “building a case”, you ditz!

    It now appears that refusing to use government email systems – then having classified information sent to her on a private server not authorized for receipt of same – aren’t the only security corners that Clintoon cut while SECSTATE.  Seems she also on occasion refused to use secure voice communications systems as well, directing subordinates to call her on a private device in order to have a sensitive conversation.

    It also appears that the “hits” aren’t limited to Ms. Clintoon, either.  Remember a couple of years ago, when Clintoon’s husband – cigar-and-intern-lover “Slick Willie” himself – was reported to have flown “a few times” with a reputed wealthy perv and pedophile to various locations (some OCONUS) on said individual’s private jet?  Well, it turns out that aircraft logs show he in fact did that on far many more occasions than initially reported – on over 22 occasions, to be precise, vice the 11 that were originally reported by the press.  (And yeah – that last linked article does describe stuff that seems pretty damn sordid to me.)  On at least 5 of the trips, Willie apparently also managed to ditch his security detail while traveling with that “fine fellow”.

    Nice people.  Maybe they should go into public service.

    After all:  they’re apparently quite experienced at “servicing” the American public.

  • More “Private E-mail Server” News

    Remember the Clintoon “private” e-mail server brouhaha?  You know, the one where the serving (at the time) SECSTATE refused to use government email, had her minions set up a “private” email server – which later was professionally wiped, but which has been confirmed to have contained over 2,000 classified items, including 22 items classified Top Secret as well as more than one SAP and/or TS/compartmented item?

    Well, we have some recent news concerning that little “shortcut” taken by Clintoon.  And from Clintoon’s perspective, the news isn’t that good.

    First:  the Romanian hacker “Guccifer” was extradited to the US a few weeks ago.  That apparently was not coincidental.  You see, it appears “Guccifer” – who is currently in Federal custody – may well now be cooperating with the FBI in their investigation of related to the Clintoon “private” e-mail server.  (The administrator of that “private” e-mail server, Bryan Pagliano, is also believed to be cooperating with the FBI.)

    It also appears that Guccifer penetrated the Clintoon “private e-mail server” – easily.  He claims to have done exactly that.  While the claim cannot be independently verified now (due largely to destruction of the original server), longtime cybersecurity experts who have knowledge of his claims say that the method Guccifer claims to have used to penetrate what little security did exist on Clintoon’s “private” e-mail server is eminently plausible.

    The “so what”?  Well, “Guccifer” may well be quite good at breaking computer security – and security on Clintoon’s “private e-mail server” was reportedly rudimentary at best.  But I’m betting the foreign intelligence services of Russia, China, and maybe a few other adversaries are likely even better than Guccifer, and have access to even better methods and tools.  And if Guccifer relatively easily penetrated that private server and thus obtained access to the classified information illegally stored there, well, . . . .

    Second:  it also appears that Clintoon may be forced to give a deposition regarding the case.  So far, she’s been spared the “horror” of telling her story under conditions requiring a truthful answer – like a LE interview, or a deposition given under oath.  Looks like the latter may be upcoming, presumably in the relatively near-term future.

    Third:  while Clintoon herself hasn’t yet been deposed, apparently the same is not true of her “close aide” Huma Abedin.  Abedin was reportedly interviewed by the FBI recently.  And while the FBI hasn’t commented on the interview, I’m guessing it wasn’t a social call to discus the weather, or to ask her opinion on the latest fashions. (smile)

    And, finally:  a curious expense on the part of the Clintoon campaign has been uncovered and made public.  In Feb and March, apparently the Clintoon campaign made payments to a Nevada company – a firm that provides IT security services.  What services do they provide?  Well, it seems that the company – American Document Destruction, Inc. –  apparently specializes in document and hard disk drive destruction.  The payments could have paid for the destruction of up to 14 hard drives.  Hmm.

    Yeah, I think I’ll keep following this story.  This could easily get really interesting.

     

    (Author’s note:  yes, I know that “Clintoon” isn’t the way the individuals I reference when using that spelling spell their last name.  The variant spelling here is intentional.  IMO, the individuals I’m referencing when using that variant spelling are little more than poor cartoonish caricatures of individuals worthy of holding high national office.  The spelling “Clintoon” is intended to highlight that fact.)

  • Two Terrorist Bastards Bite the Big One

    Some time back, an American married couple apparently decided to turn traitor.  Well, either that or they were just a couple of evil bastards who like oppressing or killing innocents.

    Why do I say that?  Because they traveled to the Middle East – and joined Da’esh.  There, they were known as “Abu Issa Al-Amriki” and “Umm Issa Al-Amrikiah”.  They even went to Syria to get “down with the cause” – or whatever.

    Well, it turns out they may have gotten just a bit more than they bargained for.  According to social media accounts linked to Da’esh, late last month both were taken out by a US RPA strike.  The Da’esh-linked accounts did not make public the couple’s previous names.

    Gee.  That’s . . . just . . . too . . . damn . . . bad.  (smile)

    And please, libidiot SJW crowd:  spare me the naive, “But that’s illegal – they were killed without a fair trial!” bullsh!t.  These a-holes had gone overseas to fight alongside sworn enemies of the USA.  Taking up arms against the US and/or our allies and fighting alongside our enemies means you’ve just made yourself a bona fide target for friendly combat operations.

    May these two evil bastards enjoy Shay’tan’s “tender mercies” – and his personal attention – for all eternity.

  • Russia’s Military Gets “Frisky”, Part 4

    Well, it looks like Russia’s military is flexing it’s muscles again. Or maybe Vladimir Putin just decided he wanted to flip off the POTUS again.

    Damn. I should know better than to write something like the previous paragraph.  It’s redundant as hell, isn’t it? (smile)

    Anyway: it appears that for the second time in about 2 weeks, a Russian SU-27 has “barrel-rolled” a US recon aircraft operating in international airspace.

    This time, though, the Russian jet “only” came within 100′ of the US aircraft. During the last barrel-roll incident, the Russian aircraft’s closest approach to ours was approximately 50′.

    OK, Mr. President. Vlad has given you the finger with both hands yet again, then immediately afterwards mooned you. But he’s apparently “branching out” a bit now. One of his aides must have suggested he insult you in German. This time I’m pretty sure he yelled “Deine Mutter arbeitet auf Vierzig Deutsche Mark-Straße, Arschloch!” as he was mooning you.

    Oh, and did I mention that it appears increasingly probable that Syrian-Russian operations to recapture the city of Aleppo – currently held by Syrian rebels – now appear imminent? That is, if they haven’t already begun?

    Your move, Mr. President. Time to get your “he-man war hero” SECSTATE working on another “strongly-worded diplomatic statement” or two.

    Or maybe you could simply ask him if you could borrow Terresa’s cojones .  Maybe if you did that you could start acting, well, Presidential.