World War Three may have already begun in Iraq and Syria

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The recent death of a Marine in Iraq exposed the fact the United States set up a firebase there, which in turn exposed the fact the Pentagon misrepresented the number of American personnel in Iraq by as many as 2,000. It appears a second firebase exists, set up on the grounds of one of America’s largest installations in the last Iraq war. Special operations forces range across the landscape. The Pentagon is planning for even more troops. There can be no more wordplay: America now has boots on the ground in Iraq.

The regional picture is dismal. In Syria, militias backed by the Central Intelligence Agency are fighting those backed by the Pentagon. British, Jordanian and American special forces are fighting various enemies in Libya, which, as a failed state, is little more than a nascent Iraq likely to metastasize in its neighbors.

But Iraq remains the center of what Jordanian King Abdullah now refers to as the Third World War. It is where Islamic State was birthed, and where the United States seems to be digging in for the long haul.

Though arguably the story of Islamic State, Iraq and the United States can be traced to the lazy division of the Ottoman Empire after World War One, things truly popped out of place in 2003, when the U.S. invasion of Iraq unleashed the forces now playing out across the Middle East. The garbled post-invasion strategy installed a Shi’ite-dominated, Iranian-supported government in Baghdad, with limited Sunni buy-in.

http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2016/04/07/world-war-three-may-have-already-begun-in-iraq-and-syria/

[merrily]

1. Someone shot the Archdouche of Syria?

World War III began when the SCOTUS installed Dimson.

[bemildred]

2. People do argue that WWI and WWII and what went in between were all one war.

The European colonial elites destroying themselves in a frenzy of mechanized killing and destruction.

I don't think we are quite there yet in the Middle East, but you can see it from here.

But I think that is a good analogy for what is going on, the two World Wars, the post-WWII system has been collapsing since the USSR disintegrated, this appears to be the beginnings of a new system or perhaps the final frenzy of the old one. Time will tell.

[merrily]

3. Thank you for elevating my silly remark to the level of intelligent discussion.

But, yes, I do so have trouble telling wars apart. It's all seems to me like an indiscriminate pile of bodies, limbs, profiteering, genital waving, etc. Just so incredibly sick and sad.

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4. We aren't really that much to brag about are we?

Last edited Sun Apr 10, 2016, 09:12 AM - Edit history (1)

I'm just fascinated when I think about it by the sheer waste and destruction for no other apparent purpose but the pleasure of it.

And all completely not required. Life could be easy for us, but we prefer to fight over the scraps and put each other down. I keep thinking of ants when I examine these global wars and manipulations.

It is obvious they don't have any idea what they are doing. They are all wrapped up in their little squabbles.

[KoKo]

5. I was heartened

when Jeffrey Golberg's article on Obama seemed to say he thought we should get out of the ME. That it wasn't a priority that he saw in our national interest, going forward. What has happened to that since the article was published?

I haven't spent as much time reading the foreign news these days because of the Primaries, but what snips I do see, seem to show an escalation of some kind in certain areas. That LBN article about our now baseing our Bombers in Quatar was disturbing. I didn't read the whole thing, but wondered about the connection was to our moving them out of Turkey. I guess I should go back and finish reading, but it seems too depressing. I've wondered what all is being plotted and planned in ME while our mainstream media, and so many of us, are obsessing over this election. Since our MIC never sleeps there's nothing better for furthering its plots and schemes than to have all eyes focused elsewhere.

At least two Candidates seem to see the devastating consequences of the Iraq Invasion and say they will focus on our internal U.S. needs. But, Trump may be fading and who knows what will happen with Sanders.

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6. It got a lot of attention for a short time, which is about as good as you can do these days.

Now it seems to be burbling around under the surface, I see occasional bleats of outrage and attempts at rationalization, but I'd say the reaction has been restrained, and on the other hand Obama does not seem restrained, so I'd say he has had an effect and at least for the duration will be making moves.

I'm starting to think we will see a Cruz-Sanders general race, that could be very good or very bad. It's like a perfect storm, a clear political choice for a change, and not a good time for more shenanigans.

Say, have you heard of the Panama Papers?

[KoKo]

8. "The Panama Papers"

Last edited Sun Apr 10, 2016, 09:38 AM - Edit history (1)

An interesting twist....ya think?

Are the Russians actually behind the Panama Papers?]/b]
Clifford G. Gaddy | April 7, 2016 2:55pm
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/order-from-chaos/posts/2016/04/07-panama-papers-putin-gaddy

[bemildred]

9. I don't think they know, any of them.

There will be/are lots of attempts being made to shape the story, but all very predictable for the most part.

Putin doesn't seem to be under pressure, the Russian press has been pretty open about it. Gaddy is reaching for it hard.

Edit: the guy who did the leak did it exactly right, you are nobody, unknown, never known. What you don't know about you can't do anything about, and it cant be tortured out of you and it's just not available.

The rich rely on that fact, so can we. That's why they hate leaks. They need a lot of control to keep their positions, secrecy gives them that control.

[KoKo]

13. I'm waiting for a trail...

to the "Clinton Foundation Global Initiative" connections. There's got to be a thread of something, somewhere in those documents. But...they have admitted they are holding information back that won't be released. Which makes one wonder just how they pick and choose.

------------

Shaky Foundations
The Clintons’ so-called charitable enterprise has served as a vehicle to launder money and to enrich family friends.
By Ken Silverstein
Commentary — November 17, 2015, 6:41 pm

After endless delays and excuses, the Clinton Foundation released its 2014 tax return as well as amended returns for the previous four years and an audit of its finances. That fulfilled a pledge made last April by Clinton Foundation acting CEO, Maura Pally, who acknowledged that the foundation had previously made a few unfortunate accounting “mistakes.”

Journalists are going to be scouring through this new financial information and pumping out “balanced” stories that evade what is already evident, namely that the Clintons have used their foundation for crass profiteering and influence peddling.

If the Justice Department and law enforcement agencies do their jobs, the foundation will be closed and its current and past trustees, who include Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton, will be indicted. That’s because their so-called charitable enterprise has served as a vehicle to launder money and to enrich Clinton family friends.

It is beyond dispute that former President Clinton has been directly involved in helping foundation donors and his personal cronies get rich. Even worse, it is beyond dispute that these very same donors and the Clintons’ political allies have won the focused attention of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton when she served as Secretary of State. Democrats and Clinton apologists will write these accusations off as conspiracy mongering and right-wing propaganda, but it’s an open secret to anyone remotely familiar with accounting and regulatory requirements for charities that the financial records are deliberately misleading. And not coincidentally, those records were long filed by a Little Rock–based accounting firm called BKD, a regional auditor with little international experience.

It’s odd that a small Arkansas-headquartered firm would handle the books for a giant entity like the Clinton Foundation, and even odder given that BKD has been implicated in a variety of misconduct. For example, last year the Securities and Exchange Commission sanctioned BKD for “violating auditor independence rules when they prepared the financial statements of brokerage firms that were their audit clients.”

It brings to mind Bernie Madoff, who also used a small accounting shop when he was running his notorious Ponzi scheme. And it’s worth emphasizing here that smaller firms are typically far less likely to challenge major clients, and the Clinton Foundation was one of BKD’s major sources of revenue.

https://harpers.org/blog/2015/11/shaky-foundations/

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14. I think the whole thing will be out eventually.

McAfee said there are lots of copies.

[bemildred]

7. Bernie Sanders, Ted Cruz shock front-runners ahead of crucial NY primary

Bernie Sanders registered his stunning eighth win out of the last nine contests while Cruz swept all of Colorado's delegates.

US presidential hopefuls Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz today shocked front-runners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump as they won delegates in Wyoming and Colorado respectively ahead of the all-important New York primary.

Bernie Sanders registered his stunning eighth win out of the last nine contests - including one that counted the votes of Democrats living abroad.

"All right. News bulletin. We just won Wyoming," Sanders told supporters in New York amid cheers.

He finished 12 points ahead of the former secretary of state with 56-44 per cent of the vote in Wyoming, the smallest state in the Democratic nomination race.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/cruz-sanders-shock-frontrunners-ahead-of-crucial-ny-primary/1/638706.html

[KoKo]

10. ...!

Bernie just keeps on keeping on. Already the MSCorporate media is getting more serious about covering him. Bill's outburst about "Black Super Predators" is being played over and over on the Sunday Shows. Bill barging back into the campaign, with guns blazing, may expand the discussion in ways that will further favor Bernie. Most people seemed to have forgotten about the "Two for the Price of One" once again sharing the White House. Even Gaza and our Israel Policy have finally gotten their first coverage by CNN's Jake Tapper in separate interviews with both Bernie and Hillary this a.m., revealing sharp differences in their view on foreign policy in the ME.

And, there's even talk of a Contested Convention on the Dem side because of the role of the pledged Super Delegates distorting the voter's preference.

NY should be very interesting. And, if NYorkers vote for Ted Cruz...

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11. It's good to get an outside view of things now and then.

I think Bernie is doing all right so far. He is lucky he is so "clean", you know they are inspecting his grade school records now looking for bad grades.

[KoKo]

12. lol's...

"They" want him to reveal his "... past eight years of his tax returns like Senator Clinton has.."-- (Chuck Todd's interrogation of Bernie on NBC.) I wanted to shout: "We are still waiting for her to reveal years of the Clinton Foundation Global Initiative's tax documents!"

I gave up on the Sunday shows for years. Only reason I'm watching the trash now is to see how the Media Whores and the Campaign OPS are spinning it. And, because Foreign Policy is crucial along with what's going on here at home. It doesn't start one's day off well, though.