Politics 2014

[uncool2pillow]

Exactly.  It's a tea party code word.  Like "death panel", "Kenya", etc.  Words that somehow indicate Obama's failures without really having any meat to them.  

[calvino]

I think Winston was being a bit sarcastic.

 

Anyway from today CNN Ticker. It will really ramp up again when Clinton declares.

 

 

Benghazi probe presses ahead despite new report

 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/06/politics/benghazi-select-committee/index.html

[uncool2pillow]

Hillary should have a pantsuit tailored with the text of that Republican report.  

[Mr. Heartbreak]

Surprised this thread has been dead for almost three weeks. I guess we all agree that ISIS or ISIL or whatever they're called should be taken out.

 

Meanwhile, here's another member of the well-regulated militia biting the dust. Thank God the little girl herself was not killed:

 

http://www.aol.com/article/2014/08/27/girl-9-accidentally-shoots-and-kills-gun-instructor-with-uzi/20953005/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmaing13%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D521110

[LouieB]

Brilliant   Giving an Uzi to a 9 year old. 

 

Take ISIL out....and take their old buddy and defender John McCain too, maybe not out...just let him head to oblivion.

 

LouieB

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

The situation in the Levant is absolutely fucked. If we go after ISIS, it will entail taking out targets in Syria...which would greatly benefit the Butcher Asad.

 

There are no easy answers. Would it have worked out differently if we had taken action to support the moderate opposition two years ago? Maybe. But that stinking ship has long since sailed.

[NoJ]

It is odd, me being a pacifist hippy kumbayah type....and I want America to sweep planet Earth clean of those ISIS scumbags, the sooner the better.

[Mr. Heartbreak]

It is odd, me being a pacifist hippy kumbayah type....and I want America to sweep planet Earth clean of those ISIS scumbags, the sooner the better.

I feel the exact same way. At the very least, they should be sterilized and imprisoned permanently, if not "eliminated."

[lost highway]

ISIS seems to unanimously leave a different taste in the American mouth than the Hussein regime, the Taliban, or even Al Qaeda.  Somehow they've reignited our since of shock and disgust after a decade of suicide bombers made that atrocious act somehow feel like a "normal problem" for the area.

 

I think that emotional reaction comes from a raw, humanistic desire for good, nonetheless it is still a tactical quagmire.  Even the republican hawks have grown disenchanted with the fantasy of orchestrating regime changes and "building democracies".  The airstrikes of late seem like the only thing everyone can agree makes sense, but military experts say they won't cut it.  So what do we do?  Boots on the ground?  Until Isis is weak and then take off?  Who will sweep into the vacuum next?  Can we believe in training forces from a burgeoning attempt at a local unity government anymore?

 

The after-effects of our Iraq mission seem to look longer and more horrid with each passing year.

[NoJ]

"The after effects of our Iraq mission seem to look longer and more horrid with each passing year"

 

And yet the architects of that debacle remain free. So disheartening.

[Hixter]

So what do we do?  Boots on the ground?

That's the only way to defeat them. It would be nice if the boots weren't American for a change, but we're the only military that has the means to defeat them. The president has repeatedly said that we won't put boots on the ground (despite the fact that there are already thousands of our boots on the ground) so a reversal will make him look even more wishy-washy and out of touch than ever.

 

Can we believe in training forces from a burgeoning attempt at a local unity government anymore?

Yes, but it takes decades or centuries, not months or years. Look at Japan and Germany, for example.

 

Smart people said that Iraq and Afghanistan would take 50-100 years to effect a permanent change. That's not what anyone wants to hear, but things would be much different in Iraq had we left behind 10,000 or so troops.

 

BONUS POLITICAL QUESTION: Well, it looks like Russia has invaded Ukraine. What should the U.S. response be?

[Diddle]

Prolly assassinate Putin

[LouieB]

It's all part of the 100 year war with the Arabs. What are we, into decade two or three at this point??

 

LouieB

[Hixter]

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Cold War II:

 

Moscow doesn't want or intend to wade into any "large-scale conflicts," Putin insisted at a youth forum, state-run Itar-Tass reported. A few breaths later, he made the point that Russia is "strengthening our nuclear deterrence forces and our armed forces," making them more efficient and modernized.

 

"I want to remind you that Russia is one of the most powerful nuclear nations," the President said. "This is a reality, not just words."

 

He later warned, "We must always be ready to repel any aggression against Russia and (potential enemies) should be aware ... it is better not to come against Russia as regards a possible armed conflict."

[ih8music]

Happy Labor Day to our beloved Union Thugs everywhere!

[LouieB]

Welcome to the new cold war and the 100 year war with the Arabs.  Both are well into their second decade. 

 

LouieB

[IRememberDBoon]

To me it seems the exact opposite of what it does to the FOXNews crowd. It looks to me like President Obama and the US with the international community have Russia and ISIS right exactly where we want them.
 

[Hixter]

It looks to me like President Obama and the US with the international community have Russia and ISIS right exactly where we want them.

 

Let's see:

 

ISIS: in control of much of Iraq and Syria, beheading American citizens, executing hundreds of men at a time, massacring Christians, Kurds and Yazidis, plundering American-made heavy weaponry, humiliating Iraq's military, stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from banks, seizing oil fields and oil profits, attracting thousands of British, American and European citizens eager to wage jihad at home, threatening neighboring states and generally making al Qaeda look like small potatoes.

 

Russia: invaded and annexed Crimea, invaded Ukraine, rattling the nuclear saber, sending bombers armed with nuclear weapons on simulated bombing missions near U.S. and European borders, sending ships and subs armed with nuclear weapons off our coasts, threatening to intervene in any nearby territory with an ethnic Russian population and generally kicking sand in Obama's face like the bully in a 1960s comic book bodybuilding ad.

 

Yeah, pretty much just where we want 'em. 

[uncool2pillow]

I was busily typing a reply, but Hixter said all I wanted to and much, much more.

[Hixter]

I was busily typing a reply, but Hixter said all I wanted to and much, much more.

There are plenty of valid conversations to be had about how and why we got to where we are, and what we should do to sort things out, but to claim that things are well under control is about as far from the truth as one can get.

[IRememberDBoon]

ISIS is JV and Putin is a moron dying for attention. Just work slowly with our international partners and all this will soon pass.

[Hixter]

ISIS is JV and Putin is a moron dying for attention. Just work slowly with our international partners and all this will soon pass.

You're living in a fantasy world. But I guess that's true for most of Washington.

[Tweedling]

To me it seems the exact opposite of what it does to the FOXNews crowd. It looks to me like President Obama and the US with the international community have Russia and ISIS right exactly where we want them.

 

President Obama has ISIS right exactly where they want them....

Wow

I shouldn't even be responding but that remark put me in shock

[IRememberDBoon]

yeah so in your "real world" ISIS and Russia both have The United States of America on their heels. Do you understand international politics on any level?? Do you keep up with whats going on in Foggy Bottom or at The Pentagon??

Obviously not and I do mean obviously.

[uncool2pillow]

yeah so in your "real world" ISIS and Russia both have The United States of America on their heels. Do you understand international politics on any level?? Do you keep up with whats going on in Foggy Bottom or at The Pentagon??

Obviously not and I do mean obviously.

Here's an interesting idea for you when making an argumen: Provide facts or sound reason. People might actually take you seriously.