05 Civil War – Page 55 – Public Intelligence Blog

2013/05/142013/05/14

Chuck Spinney: Syria, Regional War, and Turkey — Let the Ethnic Cleansing Begin!

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 06 Genocide, 07 Other Atrocities, Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, IO Deeds of War, Military, Misinformation & Propaganda

This email builds on the information in my 8 May email entitled, The Real Scare in Syria Is Not Chemical Weapons.” Attached below is a post from Joshua Landis’s Syria Comment blog. Landis is a professor at the University of Oklahoma and a specialist on Syria — his blog often provides useful, insightful information.

Particularly important, IMO, are Landis’ comments relating the conflict in this region to its spillover effects into Turkey (for more background see also: “Will Syria’s Revolt Disrupt the Turkish Borderlands?.”

Spillover is a very serious issue, because the Turkish province just north of the map below, Hatay Province, used to be part of Syria — it was in effect ceded to Turkey by France (and the UK and the League of Nation) in the late 1939s as part of a subtle deal to elicit Turkey’s neutral if they became involved in a war with Germany (WWII) — a promise Turkey kept.

The map herewith shows where Hatay is located:

Landis' comments, among other things, highlights some of the forces sucking Turkey may further into the Syrian quagmire. Note text marked in red below are my comments. The first half of this essay is a summary of Landis’ personal views on the situation in Levantine Syria, the second half is a series of essays outlining reasons why the US should not intervene militarily.

Chuck Spinney

Do the Massacres in Bayda and Banyas Portend Ethnic Cleansing to Create an Alawite State?

by Joshua Landis, Syria Comment, May 13, 2013

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Syria, Regional War, and Turkey — Let the Ethnic Cleansing Begin!”

2013/05/132013/05/13

SchwartzReport: Plastic Guns Drive Home the Criminal Insanity of “The Western Way” of Security

05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, DHS, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Law Enforcement

It is amazing how an inexpensive technological development can render irrelevant billions of dollars of investment. In this case the security apparatus of Homeland Security. When I did the original 3-D printing story about three years ago the printers cost $50,000. Just a few weeks ago, when these printers hit the news big time the printers were $8,000. In this story the printer used was $2,600. I predict, within a year 3-D printers that can print guns will be less than $1000. Clearly dealing with terrorism requires new strategies, a different approach than asking people to surrender their civil liberties, and billions spent on building a huge intrusive security apparat. Click through to see the many pictures which will add to your understanding of what this issue involves.

How Mail On Sunday ‘Printed' First Plastic Gun in UK Using a 3D Printer, Then Took It On Eurostar
SIMON MURPHY and RUSSELL MYERS – The Mail (U.K.)

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: Plastic Guns Drive Home the Criminal Insanity of “The Western Way” of Security”

2013/05/122013/05/12

4th Media: USA/USG in 74 Admitted Wars — Meanwhile, Activists Gear Up for “Fearless Summer” of Transformative Protests

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 09 Terrorism, Crowd-Sourcing

U.S. Currently Fighting 74 Different Wars … That It Will Publicly Admit

Graphic: US Bases (44) Surrounding Iran

“Fearless Summer”: Fearlessness Grows From the Grass Roots: US Protest Movement against the Banksters

A popular resistance is developing throughout the nation; and the more the government fails to listen, the more the media fails to report it, the bigger the explosion of resistance will be.

2013/05/072013/05/07

Eagle: CIA, Militant Islam, the Chechen Connection — Proxy War on Russia, Trade-Off for Syria?

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Terrorism, Corruption, Government, Idiocy, IO Deeds of War, Law Enforcement

300 Million Talons... — 300 Million Talons…

Global Research will be publishing a series of articles and reports with a view to promoting “Boston Truth”. The underlying objective is to confront and challenge the official version of events concerning the Boston bombings as well as the twisted and convoluted interpretations of the mainstream media.

We invite our readers to endorse “Boston Truth” and spread the word on social media, independent media and blog sites.

Nine thousand heavily armed police including SWAT teams were deployed in a manhunt to capture a 19 year old student at U-Mass, after his brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the alleged Boston Marathon terror mastermind was shot dead by police allegedly after a car chase and shoot out with police.

Continue reading “Eagle: CIA, Militant Islam, the Chechen Connection — Proxy War on Russia, Trade-Off for Syria?”

2013/05/062013/05/06

NIGHTWATCH: Afghanistan Army Imploding – South Viet-Nam Redux

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 08 Wild Cards

Afghanistan: Late last week, The US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan published a quarterly report which included a section on manning in the Afghan National Army. The British newspaper Independent also published UK findings on manning as well, but with a slightly different focus.

The US report indicates the Afghan National Army has gotten smaller in the past year. Strength in March 2012 was But strength in February 2013 was 175,441.

The British reports that attrition in the Afghan National Army is about 30%, or three in every ten soldiers are killed, captured or dismissed for cause. The report also states that 5,000 recruits a month just quit, or annually a third of the current strength of the Afghan National Army.

The Special Inspector General stipulated that accurate and reliable accounting of government forces strength is necessary to help ensure US funds are spent for legitimate and eligible costs. It quoted a US command that there exists no “viable method of validating personnel numbers.”

Comment: The two reports read like Vietnam redux. The US report makes clear that without outside money, almost no Afghan security forces loyal to the government would exist.

NIGHTWATCH KGS Home

Graphic Source

2013/05/042013/05/04

NIGHTWATCH & Et Al: Syria Round-Up

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, Government, IO Deeds of War, Military, Peace Intelligence

January - July Wind Direction - Click on Image to Enlarge — January – July Wind Direction – Click on Image to Enlarge

NIGHTWATCH

Israel-Syria-Hezbollah: US news media citing unidentified US officials reported that the Israeli Air Force executed a ground attack at a weapons warehouse in Syria. Israeli officials declined to comment but Lebanese press reported low flying Israeli combat aircraft flew over Nabatiye Governate in south Lebanon on Friday morning.

Comment: The description of the attack resembles the Israeli air operation in January which prevented Syria from providing advanced weapons to Hezbollah. The timing, days after Hezbollah announced it was fighting in support of the Syrian government, suggests the action was related to that announcement.

What was missing from the Hezbollah announcement this week is what price Hezbollah required from Syria for its overt support. Supplies of modern weapons or delivery systems from Syria might have been an incentive for an open statement of support.

What is certain is that Israel would act promptly to try to prevent any strengthening of Hezbollah by Syria, but has shown no interest in siding with the belligerents in Syria.

Others

Israel Launches Airstrike Into Syria, U.S. Officials Say

United States believes Israel conducted airstrike in Syria, CNN reports

Israel bombs missile shipment in Syria – reports

2013/04/242013/04/25

Berto Jongman: YouTube (1:52) Jeremy Scahill on Significance of Wikileaks as Source on US Dirty Wars and Department of State Being Over-Ruled

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Terrorism, Corruption, Ethics, Government, Military, Peace Intelligence, YouTube

Published on Apr 24, 2013

Watch the full interview with Jeremy Scahill on Democracy Now! at http://owl.li/knEmh. Jeremy Scahill, author of the new book, Dirty Wars: The World Is A Battlefield, has spent years covering secret U.S. warfare through drone strikes, targeted killings, and enlisting foreign militias in countries from Somalia to Pakistan. Speaking to Democracy Now!, Scahill says U.S. diplomatic cables released WikiLeaks were instrumental in researching the book. “In terms of understanding how the covert apparatus works, WikiLeaks was indispensable,” he says. “We're going to look back decades from now and realize that because of the release of those documents, there was a huge shift in how we understand some of the more hidden aspects of U.S. policy.”

Watch the 50-minute Part 1 of our interview with Jeremy Scahill at http://owl.li/klnWN.

Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs weekdays on 1,100+ TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Check out our vast news archive and stream live 8-9am ET at http://www.democracynow.org.