When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do? -- John Maynard Keynes
Showing posts with label Syria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Syria. Show all posts

Monday, January 11, 2016

ISIS Survives on Oil, Farmland, Kidnapping, Theft

Infographic: How Does ISIS Fund Itself?  | Statista
Source: Statista

The extensive oil infrastructure across Syria and Iraq has made ISIL, the so-called Islamic State, one of the richest terrorist organisations in history, providing the group with an estimated $500 million every year, according to a recent Bloomberg report. Kidnap and ransom bring in an estimated $45 million each year while foreign donations are worth approximately $5 million. One of the so-called Islamic State's most important resources is seldom mentioned and that's farmland. Fertile agricultural territory controlled by the group across Syria and Iraq could potentially generate over $200 million every year, according to a Thomson Reuters report (pdf).

Monday, January 4, 2016

US and Coalition Air Strikes in Iraq and Syria Against ISIL

Infographic: How many air strikes have been carried out on Isis? | Statista
source: Statista

"$6.2 billion has been allocated for military operations against the ISIL, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. Most of that, $5.4 billion, was allocated for fiscal year 2015 with the campaign costing an estimated $11 million each day. Even though the conflict in the Afghanistan is winding down, it still cost the U.S. over $35 billion in 2015 while another $30 billion was allocated to a Pentagon "slush fund" not directly related to conflict but used to evade legislated budget caps. Since 2001, a grand total of $715 billion has been spent on the war in Afghanistan while Iraq cost somewhere in the region of $1.64 trillion."


Friday, September 12, 2014

Obama's Losing Strategy in Syria and Iraq (video)

This one is on Obama--

Tim Arango, Baghdad Bureau Chief for The New York Times."I will tell you that after 2011 the [Obama] administration basically ignored the country. and when officials spoke about what was happening there they were often ignorant of the reality. They did not want to see what was really happening because it conflicted with their narrative that they left Iraq in reasonably good shape."

Rebel Rivals of ISIS Fear U.S. Airstrikes Could Help Assad - NYTimes.com"There is a broad consensus among diplomats, and even among some moderate supporters of the Syrian government, that the only way to legitimize the fight against ISIS is through a new approach in which the West agrees that Mr. Assad stays but must cede some powers to a Sunni-inclusive national unity government."

Obama Islamic State Speech Highlights in Under Two Minutes: Video -
(Allow video to load after clicking play or go to link above) 
Highlights from President Barack Obama's speech about the U.S. leading a "broad coalition" against the Islamic State militant group. (Source: Bloomberg Sept. 10)

This is what happens when you have people like Susan Rice and Samantha Power and Barack Obama running foreign policy--way over their heads I'm afraid--and it is a losing strategy out-of-the gate.

They were wrong a year ago, and nothing has changed. But they can't admit it, nor learn from it. “Pride precedeth a fall.”

This is going to get real ugly folks, and real expensive.



Monday, November 18, 2013

Best Case, Worst Case, Scenarios For US In Syria

Obama’s Uncertain Path Amid Syria Bloodshed - NYTimes.com: "But as Mr. Kerry held meetings in London with representatives of Syrian opposition groups . . . in the hopes of reviving a proposed peace conference, the prospects for a diplomatic breakthrough appeared dim. Mr. Assad’s position is stronger, and the rebellion has grown weaker, more fragmented and more dominated by Islamic radical factions."

Worst Case Scenario For The US In Syria - Business Insider: ".... Yochi Dreazen of Foreign Policy reports a diplomatic push for peace talks, led by Secretary of State John Kerry, "is about all Washington is willing to provide" — even though several senior State Department officials consider that to be more bad policy. “The only person who wants the Geneva conference to happen is the secretary,” a senior U.S. official told FP. “Who’s going to show up? Will they actually represent anyone? If not, why take the risk?” All in all, the U.S. strategy in Syria has gone as badly as Assad and his allies would hope. . . ."

Best case scenario, now that the Syrian conflict is essentially between pro-Assad Syrian government forces (supported by Russia, Iran and Hezbollah) and radical Islamists (Al-Qaeda, supported by Saudi Arabia?), is to have John Kerry negotiate (with and through Putin) a peace between Assad and the remaining "good rebels"--giving them a "place at the table" in Damascus, and then the US supporting eradication of the Al-Qaeda vermin within Syria.  Any stable, secular government in Damascus is better than any radical Islamist government ever would be -- better for Syria and its people, better for the region, better for Israel, and better for US interests. And if the Saudis can't get that, too bad.

    

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Obama wants the US to help Al Qaeda slaughter Syrian Christians

UPDATE below* 

Obama's Syrian Insanity continues --

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: U.S. Going to Kill Syrians to Show Syria that Killing Syrians is Wrong: "Quote of the day goes to Abby Martin who says "We're killing Syrians to Show Syria that Killing Syrians is Wrong. I just cannot wrap my head around that". George Galloway (member of the UK Parliament) responded . . . "The next time you see President Obama happy clapping in a Christian church, tell him that Al Qaeda slaughtered the Christian people of Syria literally, their necks and throats cut, heads sawed off, the Christian churches on fire at the hands of Al Qaeda, paid for and armed by the United States of America."" (read more and watch video at links above)

and more Obama insanity . . .

U.S. Desperately Tries to Justify Syrian War … After Everyone Agrees to a Peaceful Solution | Washington's Blog

Syria Intelligence Being Manipulated EVEN MORE than in Iraq War | Washington's BlogWhite House – Not U.S. Intelligence Agencies – Prepared Report about Syrian Chemical Weapons

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: "If Americans Could Read Classified Documents They'd Be Even More Against Syrian War" (quoting a US Congressman who has read the classified documents)

Tonight watch Charlie Rose interview Syria's President Bashar al-Assad on the Charlie Rose show (Bloomberg TV, Tuesday 8 pm ET and 10 pm ET)

*OK here's the UPDATE -- as of 7:51 am (EDT US) Sept 10, 2013 --
John Kerry makes an offhand “rhetorical” remark yesterday that the US would not bomb Syria if it gave up its chemical weapons, Russia runs with the offer, Syria accepts, France is writing the UN resolution, Obama gives in -- "Kerry touched off the discussion with an off-hand remark that Syria could only avert military action if it turned over its weapons within a week. Kerry and his aides afterward claimed the secretary was merely making a "rhetorical" point. But Russia's foreign minister formally proposed the idea to Syria, and the Assad government said it welcomed the plan. As the United Nations secretary-general and several U.S. allies gravitated toward the proposal, the Obama administration conceded that it would seriously consider it. Obama went further in his interview with Fox News. "I welcome the possibility of the development," he said. "We should explore and exhaust all avenues of diplomatic resolution to this."" Read more at Report: Syria accepts Russian chemical arms proposal and Obama backs off red line 

    

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Syria, Obama's Humiliating Defeat

Somewhere along the line, the Obama White House's incompetence, and lack of good judgment, got the better of the situation, and rather than stop and reassess (as most rational, responsible, sober-minded and competent adults would do), the Obama administration kept plunging ahead--losing friends, making enemies--and looking like a worse warmonger than even the Bush-Cheney regime. Heck, even the Pope has tried to put the brakes on this runaway train. If you are a friend of Barack Obama, I would suggest you contact him and tell him to withdraw his request to Congress for authorization to bomb Syria, and ask him to gracefully accept the wisdom of the American people that this is the wrong time, wrong place, and wrong way to use "American power." That would be a defeat but a respectful way past his missteps on Syria. Otherwise, he is headed for the most humiliating defeat of his Presidency, one which will not only permanently damage his Presidency, but the office he holds and the nation he serves, for years to come.

Obama Seeks Congressional Approval For Strikes While Insisting That He May Attack Regardless Of Lack Of Approval | JONATHAN TURLEY: "I have spoken to people at the Pentagon who have complained privately that there appears to be no adult supervision at the White House and that there is major opposition to this course in the military. The feeling is that Obama aides are drifting again into a war with wider implications and uncertain ends. What is left is utter confusion. You have a President who claims unchecked powers who wants to attack another nation." (read more at link above)

And I thought Valerie Jarrett was the adult supervision at the White House -- what happened?

    

Monday, September 2, 2013

Obama, Syria, Nevermind

Obama has obviously done a 180, much to the chagrin of his mainstream media shills who had been beating war drums all last week, but his effort to "save face" and have Congress back Syria action may be nothing more than an act (the proposal Obama sent to Congress is DOA -- dead on arrival -- see below). Assuming no one in Assad's forces is stupid enough to use poison gas between now and then, Syria will be forgotten in less than three weeks -- of course there will be some momentary gnashing of teeth and finger-pointing, but the bottom line is: 1) Americans do not want the US government going around the world trying to "right every wrong;" 2) every time the US government jumps into a situation in the Middle East, it makes a bad situation worse (Iraq, etc.); 3) no patriotic American wants to help Al-Qaeda which forms part of the opposition to Syria's government (the enemy of my enemy is my friend -- Josef Stalin murdered millions of Russians but Churchill and Roosevelt supported Stalin in World War II); 4) there is credible evidence that both sides in Syria have used gas; 5) Lobbing a few missiles into Syria will not make things "better" but in fact probably make things worse, setting off attacks on Israel, etc.

CURL: Obama's 2014 calculation: Let's have a war - Washington Times: "Consider this: Mr. Obama made his dramatic Rose Garden statement Saturday — then headed to the golf course. Congress has no plans to cut short its 30-day vacation, and the president did not call lawmakers back. So much for urgency. The conventional wisdom is, as usual, wrong. Losing the congressional vote won’t be an embarrassment for the president, as all the talking heads are still parroting. A loss would be a double win. First, because a “No” vote would allow the foreign policy neophyte to walk away from his blundering “red line” declaration on chemical weapons (“I wanted to go in, but Congress said no”)..."

Syria resolution will be ‘a very tough sell’ in Congress, lawmakers say - The Washington Post"Leading lawmakers dealt bipartisan rejection Sunday to President Obama’s request to strike Syrian military targets, saying the best hope for congressional approval would be to narrow the scope of the resolution. From the Democratic dean of the Senate to tea party Republicans in their second terms, lawmakers said the White House’s initial request to use force against Syria will be rewritten in the coming days to try to shore up support in a skeptical Congress. But some veteran lawmakers expressed doubt that even the new use-of-force resolution would win approval, particularly in the House."

    

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Obama Unraveling Over Syria

"Far more damaging have been a series of disclosures that more subtly undermine Obama's claim that the Syria action will be quick and clean, punitive and tailored. Earlier this week the New York Times reported on doubts that the main weapon likely employed against Syrian President Bashar Assad, the Tomahawk cruise missile, would have a meaningful impact on the regime's chemical weapons facilities . . . " (source infra)

Putin sits and watches, quietly smirking.
Cameron is on the sidelines after being chained like a naughty dog by Parliament.
France, bankrupt but willing, offers little in the way of real military force.

Obama goes it alone, but is learning a lesson the hard way: the limits of power. Oh to be in the reality distortion field and bubble known as the Presidency, surrounded by hordes of aides, Secret Service personnel, and multitudes of government types telling you what they think you want to hear. So will Obama continue in his warmongering ways or revert to another Benghazi stand-down (hey, maybe now's the time to fly off to a political fund-raiser)?  Either way, he has already lost -- credibility, respect -- at home and abroad. And he and his administration look like fumbling, bumbling fools.

White House peeved at Pentagon leaks - POLITICO.com: "One top leader who has been publicly skeptical of the costs and dangers of getting involved in the Syrian civil war is Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey who offered a cost estimate of $1 billion per month for a no-fly zone and buffer-zone ground force during congressional testimony earlier this summer." (read more at link above)

    

Syria, Obama and his mainstream media shills, New York Times coverage condemned by one of its own

The (New York) Times seems to take the government’s position at face value. It’s a tiny example, of course, but in the aggregate it’s the kind of thing the readers I’ve quoted here are frustrated about. --New York Times Public Editor Margaret Sullivan (see link below)

In News Coverage and Editorials on Syria, How Much Skepticism in The Times? - NYTimes.com: "I’ve been observing The Times’s Syria coverage and its editorials for many weeks, with an eye to this question. While The Times has offered deep and rich coverage from both Washington and the Syrian region, the tone cannot be described as consistently skeptical. I have noticed in recent weeks the ways that other major newspapers have signaled to their readers that they mean to question the government’s assertions. For example, although it may seem superficial, The Washington Post has sent a strong message when it has repeatedly used the word “alleged” in its main headlines to describe the chemical weapons attacks. I have also found that The Times sometimes writes about the administration’s point of view in The Times’s own voice rather than providing distance through clear attribution." -- source: Margaret Sullivan, Public Editor, New York Times

     

The Big Picture

Financial Crisis - The Telegraph

JohnTheCrowd.com | The Sailing Website

Craig Newmark - craigconnects