Phi Beta Iota: This is a good depiction of doing the wrong thing with catastrophic results. The US Government has lost its mind–it has no strategy for the future other than continuing Empire as Usual in the face of all evidence that this is both unaffordable and unsustainable as well as a crime against both the US public and humanity at large. The senior “leaders” of the Administration and Congress are gerbils (Madeline Albright's words) with senior executives of the Administration sacrificing their integrity for the hope of double-dipping after retirement (or dual citizenship from Israel) while Congress gave up its integrity long ago for a standard 2-5% kick-back on all delivered earmarks.
Phi Beta Iota: If Trump runs on a pledge of Electoral Reform, announces a Coalition Cabinet prior to 1 September, challenges all other candidates to do the same, and then holds a balanced budget bake-off, he wins as an Independent. This is the one person we have seen who is credible and not a piss-ant wrapped up in No Labels and other similarly fraudulent schemes.
Unfortunately she is not being very well served by her staff. The Taliban have executed multiple complex attacks this year, all indicating that they have moved into Phase III of an insurgency. That happens when an insurgent feels they stand a good chance of obtaining their goals.
The linkage between AQ and the Taliban have been exposed as weak at best. AQ was allowed into Afghanistan because of a request for sanctuary under Pashtunwali. The IC has not figured that out yet since they have very little understanding of Afghanistan……
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned Taliban fighters in Afghanistan that they face a stark choice between war and peace, as US military pressure on them mounts
Phi Beta Iota: This is sad. Even if she knows this is idiocy mouthed for domestic campaign contributor constituencies, it further reduces global estimates of US intelligence (zero) and US diplomacy (not). We hope President Barack Obama is giving deep thought to changing his entire Cabinet. State used to have a moderately intelligent INR that could overcome the total ignorance of the secret world, but evidently they have either lost their innate intelligence or lost their access to the Secretary.
Phi Beta Iota: It is actually much worse than that. Our estimate of the cost of US being best pals with 42 of 44 dictators is closer to 500 billion, and that is a very conservative estimate. The cost is roughly divided between US taxpayer money being given away for the wrong reasons, and the “true cost” to the world–and ultimately to the USA–of an unethical, uninformed, unstrategic foreign policy that is in no way, shape, or form focused on creating a prosperous world at peace. Not to be naive, we realize that we have a government Of, By, and For the Banks and their Corporations. That is what needs to change, non-violently, on the basis of Internet Freedom and Freedom through the Internet. In passing, we are not amused when people steal our ideas and offer to help the US Government do for $3 million what we are doing for free. Three Internet Freedom URLs with links below the line.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton vowed on Tuesday to invest $25 million for developers to build tools that will let online dissidents get around “thugs, hackers and censors.” It’s her attempt at giving teeth to the so-called “Internet Freedom Agenda” that she unveiled last year.
Very heavy interview with Turkey's Foreign minister : Beginning at 9:40, the issue of Israeli intransigence on negotiations. No “mainstream” pick-up anywhere I can find.
Turkey's line in the sand. Cannot be walked back. I believe this to be a notice to US in the face of the wikileaks palestinian docs which revealed the US duplicity, in which EVERY nation under the influence of the US vis-a-vis negotiations was made to look like stooges. None, more so than Turkey. I believe that this interview ends that subordination.
As the Middle East undergoes historic transformation and upheaval one country is quietly enjoying levels of prosperity and stability that can only be envied by its neighbours – Turkey. And, in its ninth year of rule by the AK Party, the country is perceived as having successfully combined democracy and Islam.
But under the AKP Turkey has done more than improve its system of governance. It has also reached out to the Middle East in a way that no previous Turkish government has.
But as Western governments can tell you, getting involved in the Middle East is not always easy. One man more than any other is responsible for Turkey's drive to engage: Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister.
He talks to Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught about the recent developments in the Middle East and explains why he is hopeful that change and stability will work together in Egypt and serve as a positive example for other countries in the region.
This episode of Talk to Jazeera aired from Monday, February 14, 2011.
Phi Beta Iota: Turkey and Iran are both inevitable leaders in their region and across their considerable diasphoras. There is NOTHING the US can do about it because the US is financially, morally, and practically bankrupt. It is going to take a quarter century to recover from the craven criminality that has chracterized the two-party tyranny and their Wall Street and corporate masters. The world is not stupid–they understand the inherent goodness of the American people and of America the Beautiful, but they also wonder why a public once famed for its independent intelligence can now be confused with a herd of sheep.
Counterpunch establishes that he is not a diplomat–probably a contractor, or CIA standards for non-official cover officers no longer exist. US Government party line is deceptive.
Summary: From the stack pictured here, imagine one penny being taken off. That is the nature of the proposed cuts. Watch short video.
Rule One: Mandatory entitlements and spending are PORK. Anyone with an ounce of integrity would start there, eliminating subsidies, corporate entitlements, tax fraud tolerance, and so on.
Rule Two: Discretionary spending is so heavily weighted toward defense and intelligence that it is EASY to find $250 billion for redirection. Nothing would make the Phi Beta Iota collective happier than to see all those “butts in seats” swinging a pick-axe in a road gang.
Rule Three: If the government does not start taxing the wealthy and getting OUR financial house in order, deep changes in government are likely to be demanded by the public in 2011-2012. A complete tax boycott is one reasonable option.
