4th Media: Has Saudi Arabia Declared War on Russia?

04 Inter-State Conflict, 06 Russia, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Terrorism

4th media croppedVolgograd and the Conquest of Eurasia: Has House of Saud Seen Its Stalingrad?

The events in Volgograd are part of a much larger body of events and a multi-faceted struggle that has been going on for decades as part of a cold war after the Cold War—the post-Cold War cold war, if you please—that was a result of two predominately Eurocentric world wars. When George Orwell wrote his book 1984 and talked about a perpetual war between the fictional entities of Oceania and Eurasia, he may have had a general idea about the current events that are going on in mind or he may have just been thinking of the struggle between the Soviet Union and, surrounded by two great oceans, the United States of America.

So what does Volgograd have to do with the dizzying notion presented? Firstly, it is not schizophrenic to tie the events in Volgograd to either the conflict in the North Caucasus and to the fighting in Syria or to tie Syria to the decades of fighting in the post-Soviet North Caucasus. The fighting in Syria and the North Caucuses are part of a broader struggle for the mastery over Eurasia. The conflicts in the Middle East are part of this very grand narrative, which to many seems to be so far from the reality of day to day life.

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4th Media: We Do Not Make This Stuff Up!

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, Government, Military

4th media croppedSyrian Rebels Get Arms and Advice Through Secret Command Centre in Amman

EXTRACT:

“The command centre has been good for us, it has helped a lot, but we’d like more commitment from them. They don’t really share intelligence information with us, they don’t give us enough weapons to do the job,” said an FSA commander.

“We all think they want to keep Assad stronger than us, they want to keep a balance – we get enough to keep going but not to win,” he said.

. . . . . . .

“It gets very complicated, everyone lies to each other, everyone is trying to control everyone else,” said an FSA commander.

Chuck Spinney: Re-Assessing the Conflict in Syria and Egypt

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards
Chuck Spinney
Chuck Spinney

The War Continues

2013: Assessing the Conflict in Syria and Egypt

by RAMZY BAROUD

Counterpunch, DECEMBER 26, 2013

2013 has expectedly been a terrible year for several Arab nations. It has been terrible because the promise of greater freedoms and political reforms has been reversed, most violently in some instances, by taking a few countries down the path of anarchy and complete chaos. Syria and Egypt are two cases in point.

Syria has been hit the hardest. For months, the United Nations has maintained that over 100,000 people have been killed in the 33 months of conflict. More recently, the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights concluded that at least 125,835, of which more than third of them are civilians, have been killed.

The UN’s humanitarian agency (OCHA) says that millions of Syrians living in perpetual suffering are in need of aid, and this number will reach 9.3 million by the end of next year.

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NIGHTWATCH: Sub-Sahara Subversion

01 Poverty, 03 Environmental Degradation, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Terrorism, 10 Transnational Crime, IO Deeds of War
Click on Image to Enlarge
Click on Image to Enlarge

Special comment: For reasons that are not clear, many of the governments in Sub-Saharan Africa have been destabilized a year or so after the catastrophe of the Arab Spring uprisings. Countries in stress include Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Central African Republic, Nigeria, Congo Brazzaville, Congo Kinshasa, South Sudan and Somalia. These readily come to mind, but there are others, no doubt.

Sub-Saharan African has not experienced this extent of violent internal unrest since 1960.

Mini-Me: USG Yard Sale in Afghanistan — Billions of Taxpayer Dollars Down the Drain

03 Economy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), DoD, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Military
Who?  Mini-Me?
Who? Mini-Me?

Huh?

The US Is Hosting A Giant Military Yard Sale In Afghanistan

It is a January sale with a difference. The American military is auctioning off millions of pounds of tankers, accommodation blocks, tents, generators and other “white goods” in Afghanistan ahead of next year’s deadline for the end of combat operations.

In a tender document published on Friday, buyers are invited to offer a percentage of the equipment’s original value by January 10 when sealed bids will be opened.

Continue reading “Mini-Me: USG Yard Sale in Afghanistan — Billions of Taxpayer Dollars Down the Drain”

Chuck Spinney: Staying in Afghanistan Is a Recipe for More Terrorism

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Terrorism, Drones & UAVs, Government, Ineptitude, IO Deeds of War, Military
Chuck Spinney
Chuck Spinney

Staying in Afghanistan Is a Recipe for More Terrorism

Anthony W. Orlando – Huffington Post – 12/12/13

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anthony-w-orlando/staying-in-afghanistan-is_b_4437192.html

Barack Obama is daring the terrorists. He's standing in their front yard. He's calling them out.

Of course, that's not how it's reported. “U.S. ‘nowhere near' decision to pull all troops out of Afghanistan,” was the understated Reuters headline. Under negotiation is an agreement keeping 8,000 to 10,000 American troops in Afghanistan “through 2024 and beyond.” Also on the table are night raids and drone strikes that Afghan President Hamid Karzai refuses to allow.

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Staying in Afghanistan Is a Recipe for More Terrorism”

Chuck Spinney: A Reckless Disregard for Truth and Sanity – The Syrian Guns of August

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Idiocy, IO Deeds of War, Military, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence
Chuck Spinney
Chuck Spinney

A Reckless Disregard for Truth and Sanity

The Syrian Guns of August

by FRANKLIN C. SPINNEY, Counterpunch, December 1, 2013

Remember the thumping of Obama’s war drums for a US attack on Syria last August and September, including his spokesmen’s absurd invocations of Kosovo as a precedent for a limited cruise missile strike on Syria?  The trigger for hyping that war fever was a sarin gas attack in Eastern Ghouta, a Damascus suburb, on August 21.  Obama was quick to blame Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for crossing Obama’s bizarre Netanyahu-esque “red line.”

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: A Reckless Disregard for Truth and Sanity – The Syrian Guns of August”