Open Thread

16 Comments

1. 

   Oscar In Dallas on August 20, 2014 at 10:44 am

   Here is an article that should mute some of Obama’s critics from the right – it won’t, of course, but it is a fairly-accurate lens through which to view Obama’s foreign policy.

   • 

     Parallax on August 20, 2014 at 12:17 pm

     Interesting article; thanks for posting. I think Obama’s a brilliant strategist. The Don Corleone analogy goes a bridge too far because the man has compassion and does care about people. His recent efforts to halt ISIS show that. He just knows when he’s in a position to make things better and when he’s not. In Gaza, with Israel being Israel and with Israels U.S. supporters being the Israel-can-do-no-wrong segment of the American Jewish community and the hypocritical-asshole segment of the American Christian community, there wasn’t going to be the freedom that Eisenhower had when he told the Israelis (and the British and French) to get the fuck out of Egypt or else.

     • 

       Oscar In Dallas on August 20, 2014 at 12:40 pm

       Actually, both Don Corleones (Vito and Michael) cared about people – they were first and foremost about their family, but Michael was actually chastised by his brother Sonny over caring about people who weren’t family. However, this caring for others did not impede their ability to do what was necessary (from their POV) for the well-being of the family, and to that extent I think it’s an apt analogy to Obama – he cares about civilians, but if enemies of this country intermingle with noncombatants then that will not prevent Obama from targeting those enemies while trying (often unsuccessfully) to minimize civilian casualties.

   • 

     Errol on August 20, 2014 at 2:44 pm

     very interesting, thanks for posting. not differing with the analysis, but slightly different angle on it, I’d say Obama is pursuing a non-hegemonic USA leadership role in general (the ISIS situation shows this precisely) – getting Maliki out, supporting a coalition from the region. ISIS, trying to induce the USA to involve troops on the ground; but Obama is not Cheney /Bush and not McCain.

   • 

     Errol on August 20, 2014 at 2:44 pm

     btw, read this week that all the Syrian chem weapons have now been destroyed, as of last week

     • 

       n1cholas on August 20, 2014 at 8:06 pm

       Thanks Obama.

2. 

   The Voice In The Wilderness on August 20, 2014 at 1:46 pm

   http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2014/08/a-history-of-executive-orders/

   See! I will defend him when he is falsely accused.

3. 

   Oui on August 20, 2014 at 2:07 pm

   The right tone and measured, the President has chosen the right words and doesn’t need to lay out the plans of how the US military/intelligence community will act agaimst the evil called IS, Islamics State of the Levant (Iraq and Syria). His was resolute and absolutely clear.

   I want to express my sorrow with a life lost, a hero IMO, bringing the news from a brutal front of the Syrian civil war. Jim Foley was courageous and spoke on behalve of the Syrian people in opposition to dictator Assad. I reread some of his articles, he also voiced criticism of the inhumane tactics of the “rebels” in Aleppo. Very unfortunately he was caught in the maelstrom of extremists entering the battlefield in northern Syria in October 2012.

4. 

   TarheelDem on August 20, 2014 at 3:00 pm

   We [heart] Ferguson is the Nixon POW/MIA-style PR campaign for the white establishment in Ferguson.  Will the community be smart enough to culture-jam this act of division?

   • 

     Marie2 on August 21, 2014 at 12:42 am

     Why has criticism of St. Louis Police Killing Kajieme Powell been so muted (and non-existent here)?  There is no excuse or rationalization for what the cops did to this man.  To call it an execution wouldn’t be inappropriate.  A nightstick would have been an adequate weapon for the cops in this instance.

     Is it because it’s not in Ferguson?  Or the victim isn’t a teen?  Or because what happened isn’t open to many questions?  

     • 

       Oui on August 21, 2014 at 3:17 am

       On a radio broadcast in The Netherlands 10 minutes ago, a reporter mentioned the source of a cell phone video and I put up a diary:

       ○ The Other Killing “He’s Dead!”

       Seems to me the police officers in Greater St. Louis Meropolitan area know their @sses are covered by the blue tribe and AG’s predictable outcome. I suspect an organized, well knit agreement on “Rules of Engagement” that goes beyond what should be acceptable in any community where justice needs to prevail.  I call this murder by profession. The police have no verbal communication, don’t keep their distance to the person with a knife, don’t have any bond with the community they serve. An ugly, horrible scene.

       • 

         Marie2 on August 21, 2014 at 1:02 pm

         As if they went to the three week, “Shoot First & Ask Questions Later Academy” for dumb, white guys.  A minimum of six years as an unarmed foot patrol officer should be considered as part of the training program.

5. 

   Oui on August 20, 2014 at 3:55 pm

   In The Hague we have an excellent program to divide rubbish/glass/paper and plastics. A lucky find, someone nearby dropped off paper/magazines but left a small book on top of the container: you are welcome to this.

   It’s in the French language, so I googled it …

   ○ CHATEAUBRIAND, François-Auguste, vicomte de (1768-1848). Itinéraire de Paris à Jérusalem et de Jérusalem à Paris. Paris: Le Normant, imprimeur-libraire, 1811.

   Oops, a website run by Christie’s.

    « click for more info
   Another book with a pendrawing of a historic Aleppo, sad about all the destruction!

   It appears  Chateaubriand is a famous writer of travel. His book has been translated and can be downloaded here @ Project Gutenberg Self-publishing press:

   ○ A new authoritative translation of Chateaubriand’s Record of a Journey from Paris to Jerusalem and Back

   I will definitely read through this book to get a feel about a journey undertaken two centuries ago, fascinating.

   • 

     Oui on August 20, 2014 at 4:51 pm

     Itinéraire de Paris à Jérusalem, 1811

     Viscount François-René de Chateaubriand (Saint-Malo 1768 – Paris 1848) was a writer, politician and diplomat and one of the most important French cultural figures of the 19th century. He is considered to be the founder of French literary romanticism. After a long voyage through the Middle East he reached Jerusalem in October 1806. During his stay he visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and subsequently provided a description of it in his book “Itinéraire de Paris à Jérusalem”. The English translation (by Frederic Shoberl) has been published with two different titles: “Travels to Jerusalem and the Holy Land through Egypt” and “Travels in Greece, Palestine, Egypt, and Barbary, during the years 1806 and 1807”.

     More than an author …

     Viscount François-René de Chateaubriand 4 Sept 1768 – 4 July 1848) was a French writer, politician, diplomat and historian. He is considered the founder of Romanticism in French literature.

     …
     Chateaubriand was educated in Dol, Rennes and Dinan. For a time he could not make up his mind whether he wanted to be a naval officer or a priest, but at the age of seventeen, he decided on a military career and gained a commission as a second lieutenant in the French Army based at Navarre. Within two years, he had been promoted to the rank of captain. He visited Paris in 1788 where he made the acquaintance of Jean-François de La Harpe, André Chénier, Louis-Marcelin de Fontanes and other leading writers of the time. When the French Revolution broke out, Chateaubriand was initially sympathetic, but as events in Paris became more violent he decided to journey to North America in 1791.

     This experience provided the setting for his exotic novels Les Natchez (written between 1793 and 1799 but published only in 1826), Atala (1801) and René (1802). His vivid, captivating descriptions of nature in the sparsely settled American Deep South were written in a style that was very innovative for the time and spearheaded what later became the Romantic movement in France. Later scholarship has cast doubt on Chateaubriand’s claims that he was granted an interview with George Washington and that he actually lived for a time with the Native Americans he wrote about.

     Consulate and Empire

     Chateaubriand took advantage of the amnesty issued to émigrés to return to France in May, 1800 (under the French Consulate), Chateaubriand edited the Mercure de France. In 1802, he won fame with Génie du christianisme, an apology for the Catholic Christian faith which contributed to the post-revolutionary religious revival in France. It also won him the favour of Napoleon Bonaparte, who was eager to win over the Catholic Church at the time.

     Appointed secretary of the legation to the Holy See by Napoleon, he accompanied Cardinal Fesch to Rome. But the two men soon quarrelled and Chateaubriand was nominated as minister to Valais (in Switzerland). He resigned his post in disgust after Napoleon ordered the execution in 1804 of Louis XVI’s cousin, Louis-Antoine-Henri de Bourbon-Condé, duc d’Enghien. Chateaubriand was, after his resignation, completely dependent on his literary efforts. However, and quite unexpectedly, he received a large sum of money from the Russian Tsarina Elizabeth Alexeievna. She had seen him as a defender of Christianity and thus worthy of her royal support.

6. 

   TarheelDem on August 20, 2014 at 9:47 pm

   New wrinkle:

   DPD monitoring #blackopencarry in south Dallas pic.twitter.com/K5LULPnmJ1

   — Shaun Rabb (@shaunrabbfox4) August 20, 2014

7. 

   Beahmont on August 21, 2014 at 12:48 am

   Oh! An open thread. I’m just going to leave this lovely little bit of foreign satire about Right Wing and Religious Nut Jobs (RW&RNJ)here and walk away: