The Official Paracast Political Thread! — Part Four

[mike]

Doomsday clock 2017

Half a minute till midnight:Rise of nationalism, United States President Donald Trump's comments over nuclear weapons, the threat of a renewed arms race between the U.S. and Russia, and the expressed disbelief in the scientific consensus over climate change by the Trump Administration.[6][21][22][23][24] This is the first use of a fraction in the time, and the Clock's closest approach to midnight since 1953.

 

[marduk]

Not my monkeys not my circus.

That sentiment is why American foreign policy is almost universally criticized.

For a pacifist, you sure turn a blind eye to violence.

 

[ALPHA ROMEO UNIFORM]

To get the economy out of trouble start a war and make sure it last a very long time (bankers love wars).

 

[pixelsmith]

That sentiment is why American foreign policy is almost universally criticized.

For a pacifist, you sure turn a blind eye to violence.

No, I don't. I voted for peace.

 

[Bob Watson]

No, I don't. I voted for peace.

Pixel..non intervention is not peace. Withdrawal is not peace.
The USA withdrawal from south Korea and japan will allow north Korea to overun the south japan would be in danger. No we can't afford that ..

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Tapatalk

 

[mike]

I've died 4 times already. I'm not scared.

The temptation to add zombie jokes to this aside, i think your definition of Death and mine are different.
I'm using the traditional, permanent cessation of biological function with decomposition following soon after, Capital D Death here.

Like losing one's virginity its a once in a lifetimes event.

Your comment speaks to me more on your views about life than Death.

 

[mike]

Pixel..non intervention is not peace. Withdrawal is not peace.
The USA withdrawal from south Korea and japan will allow north Korea to overun the south japan would be in danger. No we can't afford that ..

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Tapatalk

Its true, the currency, the only coin with which we purchase peace, is the military and our willingness to use it. Its another inconvenient truth, But history records it thus.

 

[pixelsmith]

The temptation to add zombie jokes to this aside, i think your definition of Death and mine are different.
I'm using the traditional, permanent cessation of biological function with decomposition following soon after, Capital D Death here.

Like losing one's virginity its a once in a lifetimes event.

Your comment speaks to me more on your views about life than Death.

I have not decomposed yet.

 

[pixelsmith]

Pixel..non intervention is not peace. Withdrawal is not peace.
The USA withdrawal from south Korea and japan will allow north Korea to overun the south japan would be in danger. No we can't afford that ..

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Tapatalk

Sure we can.

 

[Bob Watson]

Sure we can.

Soo lets get it straight. .we can afford the loss of south Korea. And Japan?

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[pixelsmith]

Soo lets get it straight. .we can afford the loss of south Korea. And Japan?

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Tapatalk

We are not the police of the world.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

They said the until Trump saw those photos and did a pinprick attack.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

And this may be why Trump seems to struggle with a teleprompter:

Taran Killam Confirms Trump 'Struggled To Read' At 'SNL' | The Huffington Post

So if he sounds coherent, it may be that he has to practice over and over again just to get through it.

 

[marduk]

We are not the police of the world.

On that, we agree.

However, spending the past six decades flouncing around the globe pretending you were the world's police leaves quite the vacuum when you decides it no longer suits you.

Peacekeeping is the word I would use instead.

 

[pixelsmith]

On that, we agree.

However, spending the past six decades flouncing around the globe pretending you were the world's police leaves quite the vacuum when you decides it no longer suits you.

Peacekeeping is the word I would use instead.

Nope. Killing people for money is what it is called.

 

[mike]

Right or wrong aside we are on the brink.
The US administration has said if gas is used again, we will strike again.
The Russians and Iranians have said bomb me once shame on you bomb me twice, and we will start blowing up your stuff.

Who's going to blink first ?

Whats worse is this isn't a black and white situation. Russia is saying it was the rebels gas.

Rebels' own arsenal caused gassing: Russia
Trump's Syria strike celebrated by 'terrorists', Iran says - BBC News

If this is true, someone with a vested interest in this other than the US/Russia/Syria could conceivably provide the catalyst to escalate the situation.

I can't see what Assad has to gain from using chemical weapons.

The view from the presidential palace in Damascus is the brightest it has been since the war in Syria started.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision at the end of 2015 to increase enormously the support he was giving to President Bashar al-Assad has transformed the war in the regime's favour.

The fall of the eastern side of Aleppo in 2016 was a hammer blow to the armed rebels who once had hopes of toppling the regime.

President Assad has not won the war. But it is hard to see now how he can lose it, without an equally decisive intervention against him by an outside power.

The disturbing reports of homemade mustard gas being used by so-called Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria and Iraq, while shocking, should come as no surprise.

There is a history of modern jihadists experimenting with and sometimes using chemical weapons, dating back to al-Qaeda's training camps in Afghanistan in the 1990s.

There is also a clear link between those experiments at the time and the IS leadership's strategy against its enemies today.

"The thing that surprised me is that they haven't used it (mustard gas) earlier," says Aimen Deen, a former al-Qaeda operative who witnessed chemical experiments first-hand.
I asked him what he thought was behind IS's recent use of mustard gas against opponents in the Middle East.

"In Syria," he says, "where their opponents are other jihadists who are as suicidal and as stubborn as they are, the best way to dislodge them is to use chemical weapons.
IS, al-Qaeda, and how jihad uses chemical weapons - BBC News
Iraq says al Qaeda chemical gas plot uncovered | News | DW.COM | 02.06.2013
Isis used mustard gas on US troops in Iraq, says Pentagon

 

[SRL+]

To get the economy out of trouble start a war and make sure it last a very long time (bankers love wars).

This time around, Raytheon, South-Arkansas, (which enjoys being Trump’s red state counties), & Donald himself are the winners of the likely dog and pony show. If anyone noticed, Raytheon’s stock value increased when it was clear that Trump was to become president.

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/don...-raytheons-stock-jump-after-his-syria-attack/

South Arkansas-made Tomahawks slam into Syrian air base

 

[SRL+]

Right or wrong aside we are on the brink.
The US administration has said if gas is used again, we will strike again.
The Russians and Iranians have said bomb me once shame on you bomb me twice, and we will start blowing up your stuff.

Who's going to blink first ?

Whats worse is this isn't a black and white situation. Russia is saying it was the rebels gas.

Rebels' own arsenal caused gassing: Russia
Trump's Syria strike celebrated by 'terrorists', Iran says - BBC News

If this is true, someone with a vested interest in this other than the US/Russia/Syria could conceivably provide the catalyst to escalate the situation.

I can't see what Assad has to gain from using chemical weapons.



The disturbing reports of homemade mustard gas being used by so-called Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria and Iraq, while shocking, should come as no surprise.

There is a history of modern jihadists experimenting with and sometimes using chemical weapons, dating back to al-Qaeda's training camps in Afghanistan in the 1990s.

There is also a clear link between those experiments at the time and the IS leadership's strategy against its enemies today.

"The thing that surprised me is that they haven't used it (mustard gas) earlier," says Aimen Deen, a former al-Qaeda operative who witnessed chemical experiments first-hand.
I asked him what he thought was behind IS's recent use of mustard gas against opponents in the Middle East.

"In Syria," he says, "where their opponents are other jihadists who are as suicidal and as stubborn as they are, the best way to dislodge them is to use chemical weapons.
IS, al-Qaeda, and how jihad uses chemical weapons - BBC News
Iraq says al Qaeda chemical gas plot uncovered | News | DW.COM | 02.06.2013
Isis used mustard gas on US troops in Iraq, says Pentagon

Since Russia’s economy is in the toilet, and ‘more than 30% of all Russian deaths in 2012 were attributable to alcohol’, I cannot foresee Putin savoring a major conflict between Russia & the U.S.

Russia is quite literally drinking itself to death

Then again, Vladimir possesses a certain knack for screwing stuff up all over the globe, while profiteering at his country’s expense. Again, what is Putin to do will his billions after possibly irradiating the entire planet? I suppose he could attempt to wait out some type of nuclear winter deep beneath the sea in his super-duper nuclear powered sub loaded with booze & bimbos. Who the hell knows..., perhaps Donald himself would join in, as having vast experience in the latter.

Russia threatened to shut down the "deconfliction" hotline. Here's why that's terrifying.

It will be interesting and somewhat disturbing all at the same time to view the interaction between the narcissistic, (Putin), & the egotist, (Trump), as they both ‘double down’.

 

[mike]

Russia’s economy is in the toilet

Which is precisely why they must support Assad, If the Qatari's put a LNG pipeline through Syria they will lose massive amounts of revenue.

Russia does not want the proposed Quatar gas pipeline to Europe, where they export most of their gas. So they have supported the Assad military dictatorship, their client and puppet, who has blocked it on their behalf

Syria’s Gas Pipeline War: “Operation Gas Pains”

Whats scary is that IS want Armageddon.

DABIQ: It’s Islamic State’s Armageddon — the place where the final battle between jihadists and infidels begins. With a string of recent defeats, that fight may soon be upon them.
Strategically, it’s utterly unimportant.
But the remote Syrian village of Dabiq is at the very heart of Islamic State’s death cult.
It represents the fulfilment of prophecy.
It’s supposed to be the trigger of the final frenzied confrontation the jihadists yearn for.
It’s a vision of an apocalyptic fight against the anti-prophet — “Rome” — on the fields outside Dabiq.

It’s a prophecy they say they’re determined to make real.

The Islamic State’s final battle

Its going to be very sad if using some cheap chemicals and blaming it on Syria they can trick Trump into starting WW3.

The Russian version of this story, that they hit a legitimate rebel weapons dump and then people downwind started choking on gas makes more sense than Assad using them when he's on the verge of winning this war.
Who stands to gain the most by drawing the US into this ?. Not Syria. Not Russia.

The rebels on the other hand are very happy with the result.

The man who is now in office in America claimed that he wanted to fight terrorism. But today, all the terrorists in Syria are celebrating this US attack.

"Why did you help terrorist groups and support them in your first move?"

Iran has used the term "terrorist groups" to refer to rebels

Trump's Syria strike celebrated by 'terrorists', Iran says - BBC News

I'm going to be royally pissed if it turns out IS was able to start WW3 with some cheap and easy to make chemical weapons.

 

[marduk]

Putin has wanted out from Syria for some time.

His pipeline is secure. He has no reason to be there any more. Now he will declare that Syria is Trumps problem and do what economic oligarchs do best: manipulate markets and politics.