I do not understand why the Saudis have a problem with a Mosque named after a Wahabbi sect. I thought that Saudis were essentially Wahabbis. What am I missing here?
Great piece indeed.
I think Carroll left precise details of the boding future to the realistic imagination.
Indeed, he could have talked about the British Empire...or Napoleons' military adventures, or countless other failed missions. He did use the word "Crusade." Last time I looked, that was another failure.
The inevitable is terminal overstretch. The current American budget of burning about a $trillion per year in IOUs factors into the future collapse of America's empire. I believe the ascendancy of "GOD, the father" is another force for the inevitable. The more that people embrace mythical icons, the more that people reject reality, and the more that people race toward a plunge to self-destruction.
Surely the USA must be the biggest arms merchant in the world. Our weapons, materiel and war systems are deployed in all of the belligerent operations described here. Blessed are these conflagrations in the world, for USA shall reap the profits.
According to the politicians who recently dickered the US budget, the American military has been devastated and desperately needs to be replenished. From this side of the world, these wars in Iraq and elsewhere wreak havoc on the military. So hundreds of $billions are needed for the next wars. America's economic model of guns & gutters: we need our resources for guns, and others can worry about fixing the gutters.
Thankfully, there is a judge with some sanity. (Beware that Trumpian judges are rapidly populating the circuits. But that is another topic) Such a mind boggle that any government would require a law that demands allegiance to Israel. Such incredible governance! Why do the voters let congressmen "play around" with laws with a stench of corruption and/or ideological severity? Just how much can a pro-Israel law advance the welfare of people in places like Kansas? Unbelievable!
Got a big question here. This is the second time that I saw a reference to soldiers being in the yard of Ahed Tamimi...that the slap occurred there. I think that is really significant. Did the soldiers have a right to be in her yard? Since the soldiers had already injured her cousin, she had a right to be really upset with the soldiers...not to mention fearful of the soldiers and/or wanting them to go away. Did the soldiers need to be in her yard? Was she causing harm being in her own yard? Should she have left her yard, and gone somewhere else?
I STILL don't get the American lust for war. I understand SOME of the elites zeal for war: it is exciting entertainment unmatched by nothing else, and there are unrivaled opportunities for riches for those with intimate knowledge of the pulleys, levers and gears of the American war machine racing into action. But for the rest of Americans, why oh why would anyone be content with another military adventure?
We got the debacles of Iraq and Afghanistan that are actually still going for reasons no one can articulate. We got Syria, where the miasma alone may be permanent. Then we have an escalating mission to play cowboys and Indians in the pathetic country of Yemen. Hell, they don't even have oil in Yemen!
So how and why is war still mentionable in America?
Let us hope that Rump carries out some of these threats of not aiding countries who vote against the Great America. Please Rump, please carry out some of these threats, i.e., please stop America's coming to the aid of Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, et al. Please stop America's sending in bombs and troops and private contractors and trunks of cash into these countries. Please teach them a lesson by showing that America, who knows what is good for these countries, can stop its divinely inspired benevolence!
Like many of the extreme clerics of fundamentalism, Moore is a self-anointed caricature who (to use another folksy saying) is "all hat and no cattle."
I believe these people border on some kind of a psychosis that fuels grandiosity.
Trump is essentially emblematic of the erosion of America qua world leader.
Now is the time, more than ever, for a country or an international coalition to emerge to nudge America aside from its America's hubristic insistence that it knows best.
The best hope is for America to dramatically downsize its influence via gunboat and missile diplomacy. I fear that will happen only when pigs fly.
An intifada is a win-win situation for Israel and America....including President Rump...and including Bibi.
Americans will rally around Israel as it would portray an Intifada as an Islamic terrorist operation. Israel will rally around Bibi as he accentuates that he will fight for viva Israel and viva Jews.
No matter how fabulous the ability to fight by bombs from the air, it is about equal to killing ants with a sledgehammer. There is just no possible way to make these air assaults perfect, when it comes to hitting their mark...even if they like to call these "surgical strikes."
There is no logical reason under the sun to keep poking at Iran...except that it really sounds good. Most Americans view Iran as another Mideast crackpot world of sand and rocks, inhabited by people wearing bed sheets for gowns. Few people know that Iran is bigger than any country ever invaded by America since...ever? There is a chunk of America that remembers the kidnapping of Americans from the embassy that created a big political stink when America did not know how to resolve the imbroglio.
America---well certainly Congress---is Netanyahu's poodle. Bibi relentlessly wants America to stay focused on Iran, so as to keep the spotlight away from the territorial dog fighting that is going on in the West Bank, accusations of corruption involving King Bibi, etc.
"For example, the armed forces in Ramadi are 300 kilometres away from Rutba and 130 kilometres away from Qaem – a long distance, on often-single lane highways, deep into the Iraqi desert.
This allows the extremists to launch attacks on troops as they move slowly through the landscape..."
One of the great mysteries to me is how ISIS is so flexible, moving---at will---across vast stretches of territory...especially given that they are so outnumbered, and with America having spy planes, spy drones and spy satellites.
You would think that ISIS moving across the desert would be at great risk from getting attacked, instead of making everyone else at great risk of getting attacked by ISIS.
I do not understand why the Saudis have a problem with a Mosque named after a Wahabbi sect. I thought that Saudis were essentially Wahabbis. What am I missing here?
Facebook is doing what virtually all of American media is doing: a veritable blackout of all things not of a chauvinist Israeli point-of-view.
Great piece indeed.
I think Carroll left precise details of the boding future to the realistic imagination.
Indeed, he could have talked about the British Empire...or Napoleons' military adventures, or countless other failed missions. He did use the word "Crusade." Last time I looked, that was another failure.
The inevitable is terminal overstretch. The current American budget of burning about a $trillion per year in IOUs factors into the future collapse of America's empire. I believe the ascendancy of "GOD, the father" is another force for the inevitable. The more that people embrace mythical icons, the more that people reject reality, and the more that people race toward a plunge to self-destruction.
Surely the USA must be the biggest arms merchant in the world. Our weapons, materiel and war systems are deployed in all of the belligerent operations described here. Blessed are these conflagrations in the world, for USA shall reap the profits.
According to the politicians who recently dickered the US budget, the American military has been devastated and desperately needs to be replenished. From this side of the world, these wars in Iraq and elsewhere wreak havoc on the military. So hundreds of $billions are needed for the next wars. America's economic model of guns & gutters: we need our resources for guns, and others can worry about fixing the gutters.
Thankfully, there is a judge with some sanity. (Beware that Trumpian judges are rapidly populating the circuits. But that is another topic) Such a mind boggle that any government would require a law that demands allegiance to Israel. Such incredible governance! Why do the voters let congressmen "play around" with laws with a stench of corruption and/or ideological severity? Just how much can a pro-Israel law advance the welfare of people in places like Kansas? Unbelievable!
Got a big question here. This is the second time that I saw a reference to soldiers being in the yard of Ahed Tamimi...that the slap occurred there. I think that is really significant. Did the soldiers have a right to be in her yard? Since the soldiers had already injured her cousin, she had a right to be really upset with the soldiers...not to mention fearful of the soldiers and/or wanting them to go away. Did the soldiers need to be in her yard? Was she causing harm being in her own yard? Should she have left her yard, and gone somewhere else?
I STILL don't get the American lust for war. I understand SOME of the elites zeal for war: it is exciting entertainment unmatched by nothing else, and there are unrivaled opportunities for riches for those with intimate knowledge of the pulleys, levers and gears of the American war machine racing into action. But for the rest of Americans, why oh why would anyone be content with another military adventure?
We got the debacles of Iraq and Afghanistan that are actually still going for reasons no one can articulate. We got Syria, where the miasma alone may be permanent. Then we have an escalating mission to play cowboys and Indians in the pathetic country of Yemen. Hell, they don't even have oil in Yemen!
So how and why is war still mentionable in America?
Let us hope that Rump carries out some of these threats of not aiding countries who vote against the Great America. Please Rump, please carry out some of these threats, i.e., please stop America's coming to the aid of Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, et al. Please stop America's sending in bombs and troops and private contractors and trunks of cash into these countries. Please teach them a lesson by showing that America, who knows what is good for these countries, can stop its divinely inspired benevolence!
Like many of the extreme clerics of fundamentalism, Moore is a self-anointed caricature who (to use another folksy saying) is "all hat and no cattle."
I believe these people border on some kind of a psychosis that fuels grandiosity.
Trump is essentially emblematic of the erosion of America qua world leader.
Now is the time, more than ever, for a country or an international coalition to emerge to nudge America aside from its America's hubristic insistence that it knows best.
The best hope is for America to dramatically downsize its influence via gunboat and missile diplomacy. I fear that will happen only when pigs fly.
An intifada is a win-win situation for Israel and America....including President Rump...and including Bibi.
Americans will rally around Israel as it would portray an Intifada as an Islamic terrorist operation. Israel will rally around Bibi as he accentuates that he will fight for viva Israel and viva Jews.
No matter how fabulous the ability to fight by bombs from the air, it is about equal to killing ants with a sledgehammer. There is just no possible way to make these air assaults perfect, when it comes to hitting their mark...even if they like to call these "surgical strikes."
There is no logical reason under the sun to keep poking at Iran...except that it really sounds good. Most Americans view Iran as another Mideast crackpot world of sand and rocks, inhabited by people wearing bed sheets for gowns. Few people know that Iran is bigger than any country ever invaded by America since...ever? There is a chunk of America that remembers the kidnapping of Americans from the embassy that created a big political stink when America did not know how to resolve the imbroglio.
America---well certainly Congress---is Netanyahu's poodle. Bibi relentlessly wants America to stay focused on Iran, so as to keep the spotlight away from the territorial dog fighting that is going on in the West Bank, accusations of corruption involving King Bibi, etc.
"For example, the armed forces in Ramadi are 300 kilometres away from Rutba and 130 kilometres away from Qaem – a long distance, on often-single lane highways, deep into the Iraqi desert.
This allows the extremists to launch attacks on troops as they move slowly through the landscape..."
One of the great mysteries to me is how ISIS is so flexible, moving---at will---across vast stretches of territory...especially given that they are so outnumbered, and with America having spy planes, spy drones and spy satellites.
You would think that ISIS moving across the desert would be at great risk from getting attacked, instead of making everyone else at great risk of getting attacked by ISIS.