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US Foreign Policy: The Wogs Begin at Calais

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Re: US Foreign Policy: The Wogs Begin at Calais

joecct said:
100 years ago today we declared war against the German Empire.
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I'm reading a great collection of 1950s essays by German historians about how Europe slipped from democracy to dictatorship in the 20s and 30s. In one of them, the author maintains that the imperial states (Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary) were already heading towards de facto mixed constitutional monarchies and had the war not occurred they would have made a smooth transition similar to what the western European powers had done in the prior two centuries. He was basically arguing that if WW1 had been a couple months ending with the Germans marching into Paris just like the Franco-Prussian War, there would have been no real realignment of territory and any short term colonial gains would have been offset by the midcentury devolution of those territories into self-governing states. Basically: if the Brits and Americans had stayed out of it, WW1, the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the Great Depression, Hitler, WW2, and the burgeoning Cold War would have all been avoided.

So anyway, maybe it was a mistake to fight Wilhelm II. Evolution, not revolution.
 
Re: US Foreign Policy: The Wogs Begin at Calais

Last night I started to write a post here about how I was pretty sure they were rotating the tires and changing the oil on some Tomahawks in the Med... but then the news broke so I skipped it. --True story.

Be interesting to know what Xi had to say over dessert last night.
 
Re: US Foreign Policy: The Wogs Begin at Calais

Spray 'n pray

Syrian warplanes were reported to have taken off from the airbase targeted by the US missiles, suggesting that the military impact of the overnight attack had been minimal. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said that government aircraft had bombed the outskirts of Khan Sheikhun, the town targeted in Tuesday’s chemical weapons attack
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Of course the bigger picture is even cloudier:

The US says it has put Bashar al-Assad on notice that it will take further military action if he uses chemical weapons again, while appearing to back away from wider military involvement in the Syrian conflict, less than 24 hours after launching Tomahawk missiles at a regime airbase.

“The United States will no longer wait for Assad to use chemical weapons without any consequences. Those days are over,” the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, told a special session of the UN security council.

“The United States took a very measured step last night, Haley added. “We are prepared to do more, but we hope that will not be necessary. ”

However, the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, refused to discuss any next steps – military or diplomatic – as the world struggled to understand Trump’s policy on the civil war.
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As always those currently in charge have no idea what they're doing while playing a never-ending game of, "Here, hold my beer".
 
Re: US Foreign Policy: The Wogs Begin at Calais

Whichever way the wind blows.

That still leaves a legal question. Trump acted alone; he did not have UN authorisation or even try to get it. Which means he might have been breaking international law in order to enforce international law. But that’s not the prime source of my discomfort. What troubles me more is that this necessary act was performed by someone who, in the words of radio host James O’Brien, you wouldn’t trust with scissors.

On Syria, Donald Trump has performed a U-turn so screeching, so dizzying, you can smell the burned rubber from here. Just 72 hours before these airstrikes, his administration was all but flashing a green light at Assad, hinting that he could do what he liked. Pull back further, and the volte-face is even more stunning. For years, Trump was adamant that he would stay out of Syria. Even when chemical weapons were used in August 2013, killing an estimated 1,300 people in Ghouta, Trump was firm: “What will we get for bombing Syria besides more debt and a possible long-term conflict?” he tweeted. It’s the abandonment of that stance that has so disappointed Trumpists such as Hopkins, Nigel Farage and the neo-Nazi leader Richard Spencer. They thought they were getting a true isolationist in the Oval Office.

Their mistake was to think Trump had a consistent foreign policy, rather than just a series of wildly contradictory impulses that can vary from day to day. Trump might well see this unpredictability as an asset. Recall how Richard Nixon encouraged Henry Kissinger to travel to foreign capitals, whispering to foreign leaders that the US president was unhinged. Nixon believed that if he were seen as a madman, capable of anything, it could only increase his leverage. He would be feared.
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But that cannot alter the fact that, even as you welcome the act, its author remains wholly untrustworthy. Trump wanted us to believe he had been moved to action by the pictures of dead children in Khan Sheikhun. But what of all the “beautiful babies” killed away from the TV cameras these last six years, by bombs of a different variety? When they were being slaughtered, Trump was happy to shrug off their deaths, sending his secretary of state and his UN ambassador out just days ago to give Assad the wink that he could carry on as before. It’s not reassuring to think that the American president does not listen to his intelligence briefings or even read the papers, but only acts when a tragedy hits primetime.

But what makes his newfound compassion ring all the more hollow is that while Trump is ready to bomb a runway for those beautiful babies who are dead, he still won’t let America open its doors to those who cling to life. Refugees from Syria remain on Trump’s banned list, including every “child of God” traumatised by Assad and his barrel bombs, raining fire from the sky.

And forgive me if I don’t accept that this volte-face is quite as complete as the White House would have us believe. How convenient that Trump, under fire for being Vladimir Putin’s poodle, now stands up to him in Syria. How neatly this blows away all those allegations of secret links and election hacking. Yes, there have been ample statements of condemnation from Moscow, but those don’t cost either side anything. The US appears to have given Russia sufficient warning to ensure their men weren’t hit, and Russia used none of its ample capacity to hit back. It all worked out very nicely.
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Re: US Foreign Policy: The Wogs Begin at Calais

http://thebea.st/2nMrtoI

Assad, Taunting Trump, Mounts New Attacks on the Town He Gassed

The action in the air and on the ground in the 24 hours after the U.S. cruise missile strike shows Syrian President Assad intends to hang tough.
 
Re: US Foreign Policy: The Wogs Begin at Calais

Michael Savage has learned what's going on. It's the Democrats. And the generals. Anybody but his fiance Trump.
 
Re: US Foreign Policy: The Wogs Begin at Calais

Suppose you and I are engaged in a contest of strategy, say, we are playing a game of chess against each other.

Would you really expect me to explain to you in advance my strategy on how I plan to beat you?
 
Re: US Foreign Policy: The Wogs Begin at Calais

FreshFish said:
Suppose you and I are engaged in a contest of strategy, say, we are playing a game of chess against each other.

Would you really expect me to explain to you in advance my strategy on how I plan to beat you?
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If you think Trump has a strategy for anything, well, I wish I had your optimism.

This guy lives in the eternal now. His mind is whatever the last guy he talked to said. If he takes a cab to his next speech, he'll become a Jihadi.
 
FreshFish said:
Suppose you and I are engaged in a contest of strategy, say, we are playing a game of chess against each other.

Would you really expect me to explain to you in advance my strategy on how I plan to beat you?
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Suppose you were actually playing a team sport. Don't you think you'd tell the rest of your team your strategy, if you actually had one?
 
Re: US Foreign Policy: The Wogs Begin at Calais

unofan said:
Suppose you were actually playing a team sport. Don't you think you'd tell the rest of your team your strategy, if you actually had one?
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Not if they were then going to debate it on television, no. I'd only want to discuss it with teammates with whom victory was more important than their own egos.
 
Re: US Foreign Policy: The Wogs Begin at Calais

joecct said:
Next will be the Eastern and Western Churches ending the Great Schism in order to combat the spread of Islam.

That's a pipe dream, just like the English monarchs becoming Catholic.
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This has nothing to do with Islam. It has everything to do with a tinpot, anti-media ruler's desire to be a dictator. Basically, Egypt since the 50s, or the 'Stans since 1991.
 
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