Month: September 2014

U.S. Meddling in Yemen offered opportunity to Northern Shiite Huthi rebels, a new truce signed

SANAA (AFP) –  Yemen’s Shiite Huthi rebels, who signed a UN-brokered peace deal Sunday after seizing key institutions, only recently began extending their influence beyond their northern highland stronghold.

The rebels belong to the Zaidi sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam which makes up approximately a third of the Sunni-majority country’s population.  Zaidis are the majority in the northern provinces bordering Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia, and are widely accused of receiving support from Shiite-dominated Iran.

The north was a Zaidi imamate until a 1962 coup turned Yemen into a republic ruled by a government long considered illegitimate by the rebels.

…
As an Arab Spring-inspired uprising against then president Ali Abdullah Saleh swept through Yemen in 2011, the Huthis reached out to the opposition in Sanaa and joined protest camps there. It was their first major show of influence outside their strongholds in Saada and Amran provinces.

However, the rebels rejected a Gulf deal brokered by Saudi Arabia, which fought them between 2009 and 2010 after a border incursion. Under the deal, Saleh, himself a Zaidi who ruled Yemen since 1978, was replaced as president by Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi in 2012 and a consensus government was formed.

The rebels rejected the new government and repeatedly accused it of corruption.

Yemeni authorities have repeatedly accused Tehran of backing the Huthi rebellion, and during protests the rebels chant Iran’s famous Islamic revolutionary slogan “Death to America! Death to Israel!” Their public discourse also appears heavily influenced by Hezbollah, Lebanon’s powerful Shiite militia that is backed by Tehran.

US Drone Strikes Cause Fierce Blowback In Yemen

○ Yemen: Birthplace of Osama and Roots of Al Qaeda
○ Saleh orders stay of execution for Amina al-Abduladif by DuctapeFatwa | May 2005 |

BBC BREAKING NEWS

○ Pentagon: US launches air strikes on Syrian state against IS militants
○ Turkish News: U.S. air strikes over Syria in a coalition with Arab Gulf States

Syrian Kurds are aligned to PKK movement which Turkey wants destroyed. Syrian Kurds wanted to remain neutral in civil conflict with Bashar Assad and become independent from Damascus. The Kurds fought off the FSA and Jabhat Al Nusra last year. The Syrian Kurds did not croos the border with Turkey but had chosen the longer route to Iraq’s Kurdish border.

Turkey has not partnered with the U.S. and western forces to fight ISIS in Iraq, originally claiming it was restricted by the Turkish hostages taken by ISIS in Mosul.

Turkey reluctantly agreed to let 130,000 Syrian Kurds pass it’s border when ISIS forces attacked the villages in the region. Erdogan keeps border closed for men from Kurdish descent wanting to fight ISIS and return to their Syrian villages.

Israel gives military support to Jabhat al-Nusra on the Golan Heights in opposition to Bashar Assad. Adds weight to a renewed opening of southern front against Damascus.

Turkey is a steady source of Isil recruits | Gulf News |

Ankara: Having spent most of his youth as a drug addict in one of the poorest neighbourhoods of Turkey’s capital, Can did not think he had much to lose when he was smuggled into Syria with ten of his childhood friends to join the world’s most extreme militant group.

After 15 days at a training camp in the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto headquarters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), the 27-year-old was assigned to a fighting unit. He said he shot two men and participated in a public execution. It was only after he buried a man alive that he was told he had become a full Isil fighter.

“When you fight over there, it’s like being in a trance,” said Can, who asked to be referred to only by his middle name for fear of reprisal. “Everyone shouts ‘God is the greatest,’ which gives you divine strength to kill the enemy without being fazed by blood or splattered guts,” he said.

Hundreds of foreign fighters have joined the ranks of Isil in its self-proclaimed caliphate that sweeps over vast territories of Iraq and Syria, including some from Europe and the United States. But one of the biggest source of recruits is neighbouring Turkey, a Nato member with an undercurrent of Islamist discontent.

Syrian Kurds Near Autonomy, Adds To Erdogan’s Headache

Continued below the fold …

Syrian Kurds Near Autonomy, Adds To Erdogan’s Headache
by Oui | Aug 5th, 2012 | at 06:55 AM PDT |

Syrian Kurds Trade Armed Opposition for Autonomy

(Ekurd) – The Kurdish region in northern Syria [Western Kurdistan] remains impenetrable as it confronts both Turkey and the Free Syrian Army. Thus far, there have been 2 failed attempts to drag the Kurdish opposition into battle against Syrian Army forces and to break the Kurdish Democratic Union Party’s [PYD] control over the Kurdish areas. The Kurdish areas under PYD control extend for 848 km from Al-Malikiyah (also known as Dayrik) in northern Iraq to Efrin, which is north of Aleppo. This western Kurdistan region also coincides with the Syrian-Turkish border.

The PYD, headed by Salih Muhammad Muslim from al-Qamishli District, is considered one of the most important parties in the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change. It is also an armed group, which is worth noting given that the committee officially opposes the militarization of the conflict.

It is especially because of this favorable political environment — one that favors both the regime and the opposition — that the PYD is able to show off its armaments without actually having to use them. The first attempt failed after 1,800 Syrian Kurdish soldiers discharged from a training camp in Iraqi Kurdistan, near Erbil, in order to seek livelihood.

Developments Arab Spring Egypt’s Revolt Explained
by Oui | Aug 17th, 2013 | at 08:24 AM PDT |

Many bloggers have a difficulty to grasp the dynamics of the Arab uprising and fail to understand the role of the US. See the fp story by BooMan who attempts to find a rationale – Solving the Egyptian Puzzle.

Libya was a wealthy nation and Gaddafi was well armed with SAM-7 missiles, anti-tank grenades and vans with heavy guns mounted. These weapons have spread across the 50+ tribal groups in Libya, the Tuaregs took them into Northern Mali, spread further south to the Boko Haram in Nigeria. The Salafist fighters took the weapons into neighboring states like Tunisia, Egypt (Sinai), Niger, Sudan and to Syria via the “open” border with Erdogan’s Turkey.

CIA boosted MB in Egypt during the cold war years to break the influence of the Soviet Union. The MB were suppressed under Nasser (video) and left Egypt for Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia. Only in Qatar is the MB still welcome, the MB is outlawed in UAE and similarly in Saudi Arabia. The MB turned out to be a subversive militant organisation. Saudi Arabia, the guardian of two sanctuaries of Islamic faith, is based on the pure Islamic belief of Wahhabism. Apparently Safalism is tolerated and funded/supported to spread the Islamic faith through mosques across the globe. The foreign preachers in Saudi funded Western mosques are homophobic, anti-Israel and against western culture. It’s the source for Muslim youth traveling to Chechnya, Yemen and Pakistan for jihad.

○ Classic Agitator: Preacher Safwat Hegazy Inciting Violence In Cairo

Condi’s Fairy Tale – Neocons and A Democratic Syria
by Oui | Jul 27th, 2012 | at 05:08 AM PDT |

A clear opinion piece in FT by a former Secretary of State under the Bush Neocon reign …

US must recall it is not just any country

(FT.com) – In this young century, the 9/11 attacks, the global financial crisis and the unrest in the Arab world have struck at the heart of vital US interests. [My gut feeling tells me somehow all three events are associated with US exceptionalism and its policy in earlier decades – Oui]

The fundamental problem in the region is the absence of institutions that can bridge the Sunni-Shia divide, and protect the rights of women and minorities. Even as we make necessary immediate choices – including arming the Syrian rebels – we must insist upon inclusive politics.

As we work with reformers across the region, we should not forget that Iraq has the kind of institutions that are meant to overcome these divisions. Given its geostrategic importance, the chaos engulfing its neighbours and Iran’s destructive influence, our re-engagement with Baghdad is sorely needed. [Rewriting history? The ill advised invasion and occupation of Iraq was a profound decision which encouraged jihadists in the region – Oui]

○ Obama In 3 Years Can’t Undo WOT Failures Over Decades

Came across this fp story by Steven D … the warmongering under Bush and a war lost to Sunni insurgency while providing “democracy” in Iraq to a Shia majority under President Maliki.

Pentagon Suggests Iran behind US Troops Executed in Karbala Attack
by Steven D | Jan 31st, 2007 | at 09:02 AM PDT |

Unnamed “US officials” at the Pentagon are claiming that they have reason to believe Iran is responsible for the attack and execution style slaying of 5 US troops in Karbala on January 20th.

Of course, they also say that this serious investigation isn’t based on any hard evidence:

Both officials stressed the Iranian-involvement theory is a preliminary view, and there is no final conclusion. They agreed this possibility is being looked at because of the sophistication of the attack and the level of coordination. “This was beyond what we have seen militias or foreign fighters do,” the second official said.

A preliminary view. How convenient. How long before it becomes the official US position. To refresh your recollection, here are some news accounts regarding what happened at Karbala on January 20th …  

That massive climate march yesterday in New York City? Never happened.

At least you wouldn’t have heard about it on the Sunday morning shows devoted to politics and current events where ne’er a word was heard. From Media Matters:

Sunday news shows on NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN and Fox failed to cover the People’s Climate March, a massive protest against climate change being held September 21 in New York City in conjunction with events in more than 150 countries worldwide.

Meet the Press, Face the Nation, State of the Union, and Fox News Sunday ignored the event, which is being touted by participants as “the largest mobilization against climate change in the history of the planet.” The Nation editor and publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel briefly mentioned the march on ABC’s This Week while arguing that national security concerns surrounding climate change are not receiving adequate attention. […]

This momentous event, however, was of little interest to Sunday news shows, which devoted zero segments to the march. The event was mentioned just once on ABC’s This Week …

Well how significant was the fact that a few hundred thousand people walked in Manhattan yesterday demanding action to save the planet? Not very much to our media elites, apparently. How convenient for them.

The evening news coverage wasn’t much to speak of, either:

“NBC Nightly News” was the only evening news show to do any segment on it. (ABC devoted about 23 seconds to the topic in its evening show, and CBS spent exactly zero seconds on it.) Cable news, with the exception of Al Jazeera America, mostly looked the other way, save for a couple of segments on CNN and MSNBC.

Maybe Brian Williams at NBC will mention it tonight. Maybe.

First things first.

Thanks to everyone who has been contacting me and offering ideas or their own material to post. Your response is much appreciated. If I haven’t gotten back to you in a timely fashion, my apologies.

For those of you who don’t know much about me, a quick review.

Personal information: I’m about to turn 58 years old and I suffer from a rare chronic autoimmune disorder (Google TRAPS disease if you have any interest). My energy level is much lower than it used to be as my illness has worsened as I’ve aged.

I started posting here in 2005. Martin has had other people to whom he offered front page privileges, but for some reason I have been the person who stuck around the longest, though, in a greatly diminished capacity the last two years.

Martin/Booman and I usually focus our attention on different areas of the political blogospheric spectrum. I’m a just person with opinions and interests regarding a mixed bag of topics, on none of which I have any great expertise: climate change, war, healthcare, police brutality, foreign affairs and general outrage at the views and insanity of the right wing.

He’s someone with a great deal of hands on experience in the political arena, and a remarkably hardworking, intelligent analyst of the current political scene. Booman covers a variety of issues, of course, as any blogger does, but in my opinion, his experience as an activist and organizer (among others) adds a level of insight I simply do not possess. Roughly speaking, I’m more id, and he’s more ego if you want to go all Freudian on it. However, it is his voice that defines Booman Tribune, the one that readers primarily associate with this place.

Until he returns, the front page will be presenting a different voice, or to be precise, many different voices, and they will differ in tone and writing style even if the basic subject – matters relating to politics and current events – remain the same. I’d ask that everyone here remember the primary rule of this place: don’t be a dick. It generally works well.

Ok, please treat this as a morning open thread. I’m heading out for coffee.

Ps. Apparently, in the alternate reality known as our broadcast Sunday political news shows, the massive climate march in NYC yesterday, the largest in history, wasn’t worth talking about. How convenient for them.

Back in the day I supported Gary Hart. Promoted by Steven D.

Matt Bai has written a book.  But you can save yourself some money and get the gist of it from the article.

Bai argues – somewhat persuasively – that Gary Hart’s famous implosion in 1987 represents a sea change in American political reporting and therefore of American politics as a whole.  He traces the impulse to catch Hart in his infidelity back to Watergate.  It was Watergate, he argues, that made the personal morality of politicians a legitimate target of investigative reporting.

Journalists – wanting the fame and money of Woodward and Bernstein – became obsessed with sniffing out ANYTHING that might be scandalous.  Interestingly, Bai disproves the narrative that Hart challenged reporters to dig up dirt and that’s why the Rice scandal broke.  The Miami Herald had the story before the “follow me” quote appeared.

So, the Hart story reaffirms two flaws that we tend to associate with the political journalism class.  First, their sense of their own moral importance and second, their reliance on post hoc narratives.  Bill Clinton committed a crime.  Al Gore sighed.  At one point, Bai points out a significant error on the lead reporter’s own online biography, and it takes the guy a year to change it.  But, yeah, they are trustworthy and politicians are all dogs.

I had been a Hart fan in the ’80s.  To me, he seemed a fresh voice in a party that was lost in the Reagan wilderness. Smart, gifted with foresight and ruggedly charismatic, Hart seemed a bracing change from the Hollywood Regency of the Reagan years.  Today, we’d likely decry him as a DLC DINO, but for that moment in time, what the Democratic Party needed was a response to Reagan.  When Hart went down in flames, we would have to wait another four years before we found that response.

Hart’s fall happened at the same time as Iran Contra, and yet the difference in coverage is profound.  Hart’s story was salacious, and the press could hold aloft Hart’s scalp.  In Iran Contra, we had actual law breaking that we know could have been traced to the Vice President and the President.

But the complexity of Iran Contra proved impenetrable to both reporters and public alike.  Arguably, Iran Contra was a more serious constitutional breach than Watergate.  And yet the press became obsessed with biography and “scandal” at the expense of covering policy.  While they certainly covered Iran Contra, in the end, they allowed the Tower Commission’s white-wash to stand as a definitive account.  In many ways, they gave the lame duck Reagan exactly the same break that they denied Clinton a decade later.

When Gary Hart went down in flames, we lost more than preventing the first Bush Administration – and Clarence Thomas – we lost the thread of political journalism.

The article ends with the poignancy of Hart reflecting that if he had beaten the elder Bush in 1988, there would have also been no second Bush Administration either.  No Iraq, no Abu Ghraib, no Michael Brown.

Perhaps, with the advent of the internet and the debacle of the Bush years, we are beginning to return to realizing that what a politician does is more important than who they fuck.  I doubt it, but change is often hard to observe when you’re in the middle of it.

Our ideas are better.  But if we allow personality to become the metric on which people decide who their leaders are, we are disadvantaged by the ability of bullshit to trump meaning.

Try, try again:

Former prime minister Tony Blair on Sunday said it was possible the fight against Islamic State (Isis) fighters in northern Iraq and Syria could “evolve over time” and therefore involve the use of “combat force”. […]

He added: “You certainly need to fight groups like Isis on the ground, it’s certainly possible that those people there locally can carry on the offensive against them. This will evolve over time I’m sure.”

Dear Tony Blair, why on God’s green earth would anyone listen to you about sending combat troops to fight again in Iraq and (bonus country) Syria? Because that worked out so well for you last time? And why in the heck would any news organization continue to treat Blair, Cheney and other former Neocons as very serious people whose views on war in the Middle East should be reported as if their experience and expertise uniquely qualifies them to be consulted or have their remarks covered?

Yes, those were rhetorical questions.

Despite the utter failure of these warmongers and international criminals for atrocities, torture and other violations of International Law, which they ordered, permitted or covered up during the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq (and lied about to garner political and public support), the traditional corporate media in the United States and apparently the UK still covers these people as if they know what they are talking about, despite the utter failure of their war policy. One of those consequences of that failure is ISIS itself, a group to which our own ‘ally’ in the region, Saudi Arabia provided arms and financial support.

The problems of the Middle East cannot be solved through military intervention by American and European forces. Mr. Blair, you and President Bush, and your respective governments, already proved that point once before. Your war cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, and damaged the lives of millions of others, both in the Iraq and among the troops who served in Iraq, and the families of those who died or now live with the damages done to the bodies and minds of their loved ones. It cost us hundreds of billions of dollars (some say over a Trillion dollars) and all we got was more chaos, death and destruction, and less national security.

So to Tony Blair, pardon my vulgarity, but just STFU. And that goes for Dick Cheney, John McCain, and any of the other politicians, pundits and neocon idiots who never stop their cries for more war in the Middle East regardless of the human, political and financial cost.

I just lost a draft of the post I was going to put up here tonight, so I’ll cut to the chase. I do not know the details of Booman’s medical condition. Nor do I know how long he will need to recover enough of his strength to resume posting on a full time basis. That information is private and not something I’m going to ask of his family. If they want us to know more about how he’s doing, I’m sure someone will tell us.

What I do know is that I cannot replace him. I don’t have the energy or the ability to post the quality of the material Marty produces here on a regular basis for however long it takes for Marty to return. However, all of us – you and I – who are members of the Frog Pond, as a community, do. There are any number of great writers and political analysts and just good old-timey, bring-the-house-down preachers here to fill the void Martin’s enforced absence has created until he can recover and kick us off his lawn.

In short, I’m asking for your help.

I’m asking that any member here who is willing to write diaries or send me good material to my email address (stevendbt at yahoo dot com) to do so, and I’ll post the best I read to the front page. And if you think I overlooked someone’s diary that deserves greater recognition and exposure, just let me know. I’m more than willing to make up for any oversight (i.e, mistakes) on my part.

I hope that, like me, all of you consider this blog relevant and worth keeping in good working condition until Booman can get back in the driver’s seat. Thank you all. Have a great rest of the weekend. I look forward to reading your stuff.

Ps. Yeah, I stole the title, but it was from some old dead white guy so I don’t think he’ll mind.

Yes, yes there is, and it’s in New York City starting September 23rd. However our traditional media doesn’t expect much out will come of it. Here’s ABC News'(really the Associated Press) take on what’s likely to happen.

More than 120 world leaders convene Tuesday for a U.N. summit aimed at galvanizing political will for a new global climate treaty by the end of 2015.

Environmentalists will take to the streets Sunday in what is being billed as the largest march ever on global warming. Celebrities, CEOs and climatologists will appear at a string of events as part of New York’s annual climate week. “Titanic” star Leonardo DiCaprio will talk about what causes rising seas.

Yay! Leo, the Wolf of Wall Street DiCaprio will be leading the environmental hordes to victory over the Koch Brothers, BP, Exxon and those meanie utilities that burn nasty old coal instead of solar or wind power to generate electricity! Its sure to be a grand show on Sunday, if nothing else.

Unfortunately, the U.N. sponsored summit (not affiliated with Leo’s march to victory) is for one whole entire day, and only one day, and no serious negotiations are expected to take place. The Chinese official has already said it’s just a “political event” by which I assume he means a photo op to make it look like governmental leaders are doing something about climate change instead of virtually nothing, which the current status quo. But hey, at least the Obama administration is taking it seriously. You have John Podesta’s word on it.

“We are taking this summit seriously, both to show the world that the United States is committed to leading the fight about climate change and to call on the other leaders to step up to the plate and to raise their level of ambition to take on climate change,” John Podesta, the White House’s climate adviser, said in a conference call with reporters.

Good old John Podesta, another recycled Clinton official (he was Bill’s last Deputy Chief of Staff among other things). Oh and he once tried to get the US government to declassify all its files on UFO’s so there’s that, too. So hey, be happy people who want to save the planet, John Podesta has your back.

Boran has been doing these diaries since – forever and I’m a fan. You should be as well. Promoted by Steven D

Hello again painting fans.

This week I will be continuing with the painting of the Cape May bungalow.  The photo that I am using is seen directly below.   I will be using my usual acrylics on a tiny 6 inch by 6 inch gallery-wrapped canvas.

When last seen, the painting appeared as it does in the photo directly below.

I started by painting some the lines of the main elements.  The house and tree lines were done in a dark blue.  I’ve applied the same color to the street.  The two cars each received a layer of paint without any outlines.  Note that these colors are just what were handy at the time and do not reflect what will appear in the final version.

The current state of the painting is seen in the photo directly below.

I’ll have a more progress to show you next week.  See you then.

Earlier paintings in this series can be seen here.

Update [2014-9-20 8:19:36 by Steven D]: I don’t really have any more news about Booman, but wanted to put this up at the top of the blog this morning for those who didn’t see it late last night when I first published it. – Steve

Booman is unable to blog for the time being. I don’t have many details, but please keep him in your thoughts and send him your well wishes. Hopefully, he will be back posting here soon.

For the time being consider this an open thread. Tomorrow I’ll try to put up some new material. Obviously, it won’t be as well written or thought out as Martin would produce, so don’t get your hopes up for the usual stellar and scintillating political analysis you normally expect to find here. In the meantime, if anyone would like to recommend any of the current diaries that are posted by members of our little pond, shoot me an email at stevendbt at yahoo dot com and I’ll consider posting it to the front page.

Thanks to all of you who make this blog one of your online destinations.

Steven D