tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post3098044259229312938..comments2024-03-22T20:34:13.792-05:00Comments on Indomitable | The online home of Chauncey DeVega: Friday Semi-Open Thread: Beyond the Wonks and Beltway Types. What can Political Science and 'On The Ground' Experts Teach Us About ISIL?Lady Zora, Chauncey DeVega, and Gordon Gartrellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138154899923808806noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-58857487492109140512014-09-14T15:04:26.984-05:002014-09-14T15:04:26.984-05:00On the same channel, advice columnist Ann Landers ...On the same channel, advice columnist Ann Landers had some still-timely things to say about women's issues that are still with us. And humorist Sam Levenson told how he resigned his college professor job, once the culture of celebrity started undermining his authority with his students.The Sanity Inspectorhttp://atlantarofters.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-83262203440408766362014-09-13T12:35:42.672-05:002014-09-13T12:35:42.672-05:00Yes, it is bleak, and the thought that, here we go...Yes, it is bleak, and the thought that, here we go again. How many lives this time? How many trillions of dollars this time that we never seem to have for anything that can be used productively here at home, but magically seem to have an endless supply to spend on war?<br /><br /><br />The timing of it all notwithstanding, they know they can goad America into bullheadedly charging in without thinking. They knew the beheading of the two journalists would have that effect.<br /><br /><br />Then again, the people screaming for war on the basis of the beheading has sh*t in their game as well. Their bottom line is war for the sake of it, because as Willie Sutton famously said, "that's where the money is."Gable1111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-17314375553050951762014-09-13T12:07:19.780-05:002014-09-13T12:07:19.780-05:00Well put. The farcical nature of our shiny new &qu...Well put. The farcical nature of our shiny new "War on ISIS" is even more bleak than you captured. ISIS didn't cunningly and ruthlessly behead 2 Americans in order to fulfill some James Bond master villain plan to lure the USA into war. ISIS killed the 2 Americans ONLY AFTER America decided to begin bombing and killing ISIS members in Iraq. Before that ISIS had ZERO interest in harming Americans: they were fighting a local war. Now that war-fever and propagandised panic has successfully swept Americans from left to right, US intelligence reports are finally released that state clearly that ISIS WAS NOT A THREAT TO THE UNITED STATES.<br /><br /><br />So America kills some more people; they retaliate by killing 2 Americans; America becomes outraged at this Threat! and Attack!! and launches a new trillion-dollar war to kill even more people. That is the actual bleak and farcical tragedy of this situation.balitwilightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-47611371859953761852014-09-13T11:01:21.583-05:002014-09-13T11:01:21.583-05:00The "experts" are too close to those beh...The "experts" are too close to those beholden to the power elite to be of much use from a practical perspective. <br /><br /><br />For example, one thing that is really notable about the extent to which we did not learn a lesson of 9-11: al Qaeda spent untold tens of thousands of dollars to get the US to overreact and commit resources and dollars in a quagmire in the middle east, providing al Qaeda with targets in its own backyard. Which made Bush's bluster of "fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here" truly idiotic. The end result? Trillions in resources bled and the crashing of our own economy. Bin Laden got what he wanted.<br /><br /><br />Fast forward to today and ISIS. They behead two Americans with the same intent and get the same result. First the fear mongering to get Americans on board for yet another trillion dollar boondoggle, all while the economy continues to teeter on the edge. <br /><br /><br />A "war on terror" makes no sense as a serious enterprise. You cannot defeat an ideology with a bombs away war. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that many if not most of the foot soldiers that participate in "terror" activities, do so because they have little to live for in their lives given the economic devastation wrought in the area for decades, as a result of the oil "deals" western nations made with sheikdom. The more you bomb, the more you harden their views in place that they have nothing to live for, in addition to the revenge factor.<br /><br /><br />The best thing we could do is work for peace and economic equality in the area. There is no reason that the people in the West Bank, for example, should be left to lives of poverty, scratching out a living out of sheer dirt, when there is literally trillions of dollars in oil wealth leaving the region every year. There is enough that everyone should at least be able to live decent lives. Take that away, and they have nothing to live for, nothing to lose. No wonder the youth are now growing up aspiring to strap on bombs and blow themselves to get to the after life.<br /><br /><br />ISIS has done some ugly stuff in the region, but no honest person can say that such a force is a serious threat to the most powerful military force in the face of the earth. We are going to war in the region, not because we are threatened, but because war has become what we do.Gable1111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-77391508581475628652014-09-13T10:34:34.346-05:002014-09-13T10:34:34.346-05:00I remember a while back former rep Dennis Kucinich...I remember a while back former rep Dennis Kucinich introduced a bill in Congress calling for the creation of a Department of Peace. They said he was crazy and because of such a proposal is not a "serious" man.Gable1111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-91627122047801841992014-09-13T09:49:49.030-05:002014-09-13T09:49:49.030-05:00Katrina demonstrates that news media is more polit...Katrina demonstrates that news media is more political theater than news, blacks being publicly exhibited as America's sacrificial caste. There's every reason to believe that the ISIS vs US flap is orchestrated and choreographed for the purpose of exhibiting Arabs as the world's sacrificial caste scheduled for execution, the object being to dehumanize the masses to the point of being as pathological as their indigenous oligarchs.joe manningnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-34587448713803108552014-09-13T02:11:13.295-05:002014-09-13T02:11:13.295-05:00Wow. What cool finds! Any others to share?Wow. What cool finds! Any others to share?chauncey devegahttp://wearerespectablenegroes.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-50505552751300139132014-09-13T02:10:52.299-05:002014-09-13T02:10:52.299-05:00How kind. WARN is work of course. I also learn so ...How kind. WARN is work of course. I also learn so much from all of the great and smart folks who comment here.chauncey devegahttp://wearerespectablenegroes.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-76081763360619995522014-09-13T02:10:08.990-05:002014-09-13T02:10:08.990-05:00What has gone so wrong that being a peace activist...What has gone so wrong that being a peace activist is a slur? What interesting times in which we live.chauncey devegahttp://wearerespectablenegroes.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-18318947164730227932014-09-12T14:45:56.436-05:002014-09-12T14:45:56.436-05:00Thanks, just taking advantage of the forum Chaunce...Thanks, just taking advantage of the forum Chauncey created (with what looks like amazing sustained energy and dedication) - and riffing off the interesting ideas that others like you contribute. Thanks to the Internet, maybe somehow things will change from the bottom up slowly.balitwilightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-31348460315646376152014-09-12T14:32:54.072-05:002014-09-12T14:32:54.072-05:00Great points all around. I couldn't have said...Great points all around. I couldn't have said it like that at all, thank you for illustrating exact and feasible means of what can be done to change US foreign policy.Myshkin the Idiothttps://www.facebook.com/myshkintheidiotnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-12282230428753813792014-09-12T12:56:12.395-05:002014-09-12T12:56:12.395-05:00Let's take a break from sanctioning Russia for...Let's take a break from sanctioning Russia for "interfering" in Ukraine, and count all the good reasons why America needs to bomb one more Muslim country.<br />If I were a teacher, the one story I would teach every student is "The Emperor's New Clothes". American foreign policy strategy is the emperor's clothes. Repeatedly, history lays bare the fancy weave of lies and deceit that we pull over our eyes and flatter ourselves with every 10 years to cover the naked ugliness of Empire and Militarism. Where is the "Domino Theory" now? Where is the "Counter-revolution" in Central/South America? Where are the "Weapons of Mass Destruction"? Where is the "Fight Them Over There"? <br />At the time of every one of these "strategic failures" (which are all actually deliberate lies), there were media, pundits, armchair strategists and - saddest of all - "progressives" who lined up behind the naked Emperor, cheered his shiny clothing, and limited their commentary to whether Purple or Yellow was a more suitable colour for the fabric. When the parade ends with wholesale slaughter abroad and bankruptcy and creeping facism at home, a new parade begins: "Look over there: it's ISIS!!!" <br /><br />As MLK observed (up close, as the "War on Poverty" metamorphosed into B-52 Arc Light) - every bomb we cheer on with "USA!" explodes hopes and dreams in Ferguson, Newark, Washington D.C, South-Central LA, Kansas City.<br /><br />Nothing any of us say will affect US govt. policy - so it's all rhetoric. So here is my policy program for the USA:<br /><br />1) Empower and support the United Nations instead of corrupting it. Embrace and fund conflict-resolution within the UN.<br />2) Obey International Law, without exceptions. Develop International Law even further.<br />3) Abandon the rogue club-of-3 with Sudan, Israel - and join the International Criminal Court. Use the ICC.<br />4) Renew the atrophied State Department so that more resources are given to it than to the Department of War (aka DoD) and the CIA.<br />5) Join and participate in non-military North/South East/West International treaties. Disband Nato (The Warsaw Pact is gone).<br />6) Apply a single global standard to supporting Democratic governments and NOT supporting Dictatorships.<br />7) In all USA foreign policy (trade, etc) - align USA advocacy on behalf of constitutional principles or Democratic majorities.<br />8) In any conflict or crisis turn to all the tools listed above (which the USA has left to rust in favour of shiny PROFITABLE bombs). Military action is only to be used within real (not corrupted) UN sanction, and International Law.balitwilightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-43134576699369061422014-09-12T12:24:22.044-05:002014-09-12T12:24:22.044-05:00Zbigniew Brzezinski's The Grand Chessboard and...Zbigniew Brzezinski's The Grand Chessboard and Owen Lattimore's The Situation in Asia state that rapid development in the M.E. constitutes an existential threat to western capitalism via increased competition. Bbrzezinski recommended that the US "cut them off at the knees." Accordingly, one gets the impression that the whole ISIS vs US thing is contrived to suppress secularization in the M.E., and to keep the two entities on a war footing; in the interests of social control.joe manningnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-6284116902806605912014-09-12T11:22:22.265-05:002014-09-12T11:22:22.265-05:00One, the President is in a tough spot. He should ...One, the President is in a tough spot. He should first get Congressional approval for an agreed-upon US strategy and the billions of dollars that will be spent over the next two to three years.<br /><br /><br />Two, there are two theaters of operations, one in Iraq and one in Syria. To defeat ISIL in Iraq, you need a political settlement in which the disenfranchised and abused Sunnis wholeheartedly join the government and re-deploy their own forces--the Sunni militias--to fight ISIL. Once, ISIL forces have no sanctuary and base of support in Iraq, one can concentrate on them in Syria. The USG can do this part of the strategy working closely with all factions in Iraq. However, failure in Iraq means the whole strategy will collapse. For this part of the strategy to succeed, only Iran's assistance is needed in influencing the Shia-led government, but we have cards to play.<br /><br /><br />In Syria, the best strategy is also political--get an agreement between the Assad regime and the secular opposition we would like to arm to end that portion of the civil war in some kind of agreement that both sides can live with. That said:<br /><br /><br />Three, in Syria, there is no good strategy for a variety of reasons. For one thing, all of the outside powers who provide us with intelligence and who channel weapons/men to the fighters inside Syria have their own agendas and their own duplicitous ways of operating at cross-purposes to the overall effort and to US efforts. To get Turkey, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia to join together is going to be very difficult. Without a common purpose there will be no unity of command on the ground inside Syria.<br /><br /><br />The unity on the ground inside Syria is extremely difficult because there are too many militias fighting for too many different agendas. So-called secular militias fight alongside al Qaeda affiliates. There is no over-arching political mechanism for the opposition to the Assad regime.<br /><br /><br />Helping the Assad opposition means opposing Iran's proxy forces supporting Assad, namely, Hezballah. Thus, Iran's help in Iraq with the Shiites will be linked to our behavior towards Hezballah.<br /><br /><br />Helping the opposition against ISIL may mean helping the Peoples Working Party, the PKK, which the Turks (and the USG) believe is a terrorist organization. Whether it is or not, or just a nationalist group opposed to Turkish heavy handedness is a moot point. Turkey is extremely sensitive to the Kurdish issue.<br /><br /><br />There are probably more complications.<br /><br /><br />I would urge the President to concentrate on Iraq. Get that settled. Push ISIL out of Iraq with a combined political and military effort. That will buy time to deal with the Syria.<br /><br /><br />Get the Congress to vote on the strategy and the money. Do not put US combat forces on the ground. We can assist on the ground with targeting and planning, but not combat. This is not our country and not our fight. And, air power alone has never been successful.<br /><br /><br />In Syria, a political settlement that brings the civil war to an agreed upon ending with the Assad regime and the secular opposition in a coalition or federalized government would give space and time to then tackle ISIL who would be isolated politically and militarily, with no sancturary in Iraq to which to retreat.<br /><br /><br />But, if Sunni-Shia-Kurdish forces do not want to fight on the ground in a coordinated way with a unity of purpose and a unity of command in Iraq, walk away.<br /><br /><br />What gives ISIL the space to operate is political chaos. End the political chaos, and you have the opportunity to beat them on the ground. Lose the political battle and you lose the lose ground war.James Estrada-Scaminaci IIInoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-87069167998996050682014-09-12T07:49:40.952-05:002014-09-12T07:49:40.952-05:00Iraq has plenty of "troops". They are ca...Iraq has plenty of "troops". They are called The Iraqi Army. What Iraq doesn't need - and the "troops" that should NEVER have been on Iraqi soil in the first place; and needed to be removed completely - are AMERICAN soldiers.<br /><br /><br />Nobody needs to be occupying Iraq - not the USA, nor any of the United States' favourite puppet-regimes-du-jour, whether that be Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, etc. If I were Iraqi and had foreign soldiers swaggering around my streets, I might pick up a gun too. I know that's what many Americans would if Chinese or Canadian soldiers were rolling down Main Street in Humvees. Why is it so hard for us to see that as a normal human reaction to be expected?<br /><br /><br />The analogy isn't so much Federal troops leaving the South. The correct analogy is Soviet troops leaving Yugoslavia, or German troops leaving France in 1945. In the former case, the nightmarish Bosnian war broke out. That does not mean that the original occupation by the Soviets was justified. The last people who would be justified to sit in armchairs and "advise" the former Yugoslavians about who should now occupy their country, or what "troops" they need in their country - would be the Soviets who caused the problem in the first place. Americans need to remember that and get in touch with accountability and humility.balitwilightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-78064465543937464962014-09-12T07:06:58.863-05:002014-09-12T07:06:58.863-05:00My wife, my son and I are all Libra's. My son ...My wife, my son and I are all Libra's. My son was born the day before my birthday.<br /><br /><br />I heard on NPR some of the demands by the right for how to accomplish the destruction of ISIS. Their plans involve thousands of troops occupying that area for years and years and years. I stick with the idea that those countries in the immediate area need to be responsible for that. The damn war on terror is a perpetual obligation to control global affairs.<br /><br /><br />It shouldn't come as a surprise to this country that the removal of troops from Iraq would lead to a dissolution of government power or the corruption of others in certain regions. What happened to black people in the South when federal troops were removed and the Southern elite was allowed to regain control of their state governments?<br /><br /><br />Shit, what happened in Algiers Pointe, New Orleans when Katrina obliterated local control? White vigilantes took up arms and shot "anything that didn't belong" and were praised by the NRA and others for being "responsible" citizens.Myshkin the Idiothttps://www.facebook.com/myshkintheidiotnoreply@blogger.com