tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post313753552984846170..comments2024-03-06T06:34:42.881-05:00Comments on EconoSpeak: Sorry, David Ignatius, We Never Had Syria to "Hand Over to Putin"Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-80070788841471942722015-10-18T23:40:37.198-04:002015-10-18T23:40:37.198-04:00So, who defines what is "democracy"?
Wh...So, who defines what is "democracy"?<br /><br />When you chest and Mc Donald eaters learn the hard way that you have become a nation of group-thinking zombies, with very little to point to as commendable or exceptional...<br /><br />Well, that will only be learned through hurt. <br /><br />Face it, there is are multiple nations that Re tired of your state terror and tyrrany. <br /><br />You will most likely be stupid enough to try to destroy Russia. <br /><br />But your vice news addled youth are no match for Russians--and their weapons Re equal or superior. <br /><br />Your collective narcissism and the putrid preening on the world stage that you are 'exceptional' is exactly the mindset that communicates to anyone with the capacity to critically think (a trait that is punished in the US) that you are not super, and have entered a phase of senescence as far as your ability to project power is concerned. <br /><br />But you can always resort to using nukes and mirderimg hundreds of thousands instantly. <br /><br />Don't flatter yourselves little ones--billions of your fellow humans won't miss your vainglorious leadership on bit. <br /><br />The moving finger writes--and you are unartful writers. To be respected is diametrical to merely being feared. <br /><br />You freaks have not an iota of piety, and the drones (the decrepit intelligentsia and your soulless weaponry) signal that you are without wit. SwampNiggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14723681245912506066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-82025733481719850392015-10-11T02:05:52.616-04:002015-10-11T02:05:52.616-04:00Professor Rosser, I hope your optimism is prescie...Professor Rosser, I hope your optimism is prescient. I speculate that President Putin would love to have overwhelming support for his military campaigns, I also speculate that he will proceed to do anything he wants to do. Russia is no longer a democracy, if it ever was. We might have to go back to Kerensky in 1917 for that. I hope President Obama resists the pressure to blow his cool and get all up into a Missile Crisis with the Russian bear. Jim Walker, Realtorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18214661357896316373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-91269494316770603052015-10-03T15:05:56.569-04:002015-10-03T15:05:56.569-04:00Juan Cole reports that most of the forces bombed i...Juan Cole reports that most of the forces bombed in the northwest by Russia were al Qaeda affiliated, with only a few Free Syrian Army forces hit, some of whom have also allied with al Nusra, the al Qaeda force. Saudi Arabia and Turkey are supporting these folks, but why should the US do so?rosserjb@jmu.eduhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09300046915843554101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-2002162254584666122015-10-03T14:35:05.191-04:002015-10-03T14:35:05.191-04:00For all the talk of US warmongering, on this one I...For all the talk of US warmongering, on this one I must note that despite all kinds of war drum beating by many, including many Dems (including Hillary it looks like), Obama has so far kept his cool and not increased military action in Syria in response to this, apparently going out of his way to avoid getting into any sort of direct conflict with the Russians. Whether or not this turns out to be a quagmire or not for Putin and Russia, is unclear, and I agree that Putin's main concern is to defend Russia's own bases. But it should also be noted that all polls show that serious intervention in Syria is reportedly very unpopular in Russia, where memories of their sojourna in Afghanistan remain strong, even if the intervention in Ukraine is popular. This will have its definite limits.rosserjb@jmu.eduhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09300046915843554101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-78566920953325694542015-10-02T21:18:00.449-04:002015-10-02T21:18:00.449-04:00One of the benefits of being a superpower is that ...One of the benefits of being a superpower is that you don't have to think too hard about what others want, or where they might be coming from. One of the drawbacks is that this becomes a habit - a dangerous one if the situation is not amenable to the power you have, or your adversaries have found some way to negate or side-step your strengths. Also, in war you don't get to choose your allies, never mind your enemies.<br /><br />In Iraq the choice is between the majority sectarians and the rabid Islamists; in Syria the choice is between a plurality coalition of sectarians (Allawi, Druze, Christian, Shi'a, Kurds), the extreme Islamists and the rabid Islamists. Pretending there are some others, or that US power means it can ignore the local reality in favour of whatever flavour of unicorn Beltway imaginations can come up with, is just another symptom of political narcissism. At least Putin seems to have a coherent strategy, rather than a fantasy.Peter Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13289172253358199028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-33941596253709158772015-10-01T23:48:40.966-04:002015-10-01T23:48:40.966-04:00What was so striking was the uniformity across Wes...What was so striking was the uniformity across Western media, with the line that the Russians didn't attack IS. !) It's likely that the Russians associate all Islamic extremist groups/jihadis with IS; and 2) it's pretty clear that the Russians have a plan, ya know, a long-term strategy, and that the first moves were to defend their perimeter in Latakia against potential attack from nearby regions, which would be likely otherwise. One doesn't have to like Putin, let alone the Assad regime, to recognize the initial media response as itself an orchestrated propaganda campaign, covering up the sheer incoherence and hypocrisy of U.S. "policy" in the region. And whatever else you say about Putin, he's proven to be time and again an adept tactical operator, in contrast to "our" own war-mongering and moralizing.john c. halaszhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17176419625607679150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-62507211870789252712015-10-01T23:19:51.574-04:002015-10-01T23:19:51.574-04:00It has been reported that some of those bombed by ...It has been reported that some of those bombed by the Russians were not Daesh. Very unclear. Certainly Putin is propping up Assad, whom he has supported all along. Maybe we do not like that he may have bombed some of those we are currently arming/training, most of whom have not been very effective, which makes the effort to bomb them somewhat silly. The Russians claim that they are only bombing Daesh, but this looks not accurate. In any case, they are the ones who have had a major military base there for decades, and are doing this with the approval of the government, even if we do not approve of that government. <br /><br />Yes, Thornton, the talk around this on all sides is barely coherent, if that.rosserjb@jmu.eduhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09300046915843554101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-53184855017183809762015-10-01T22:25:18.011-04:002015-10-01T22:25:18.011-04:00Hope this might help:
http://turcopolier.typepad....Hope this might help:<br /><br />http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2015/10/short-and-sharp-which-groups-did-the-russians-target-in-syria-.html#morejohn c. halaszhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17176419625607679150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-85781125812753872442015-10-01T15:34:27.005-04:002015-10-01T15:34:27.005-04:00Although he never uses the words, Ignatius's c...Although he never uses the words, Ignatius's column is a towering example of what I call, "what the fuck does 'our national interest' even mean?"<br /><br />He avoids using the phrase that must not be explained by writing a column that fails as a matter of language to express a coherent thought. It has the form of coherence--subjects plus verbs--but something is wrong: all the verbs are transitive but there are no objects. Obama had good cards and lost... What? What the fuck did he lose? American lives? No. American profits? No. WTF?! And what did Putin win by stepping into this vacuum? Territory? No. Russian profits? No. WTF?<br /><br />Foreign policy hacks get away with this all the time. If you can't explain how you saved Anerican lives or expanded American profits, you fail. There is nothing else. How can they have so much to say about nothing? It's all inside baseball talk, BUT NO ONE IS PLAYING ACTUAL BASEBALL. Thornton Hallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11402495641975262697noreply@blogger.com