Re: US strike options on TSP

[Prem]

http://linkis.com/washingtonpost.com/Je1p9
Donald Trump will win in a landslide. *The mind behind ‘Dilbert’ explains why.

And that is part of why Adams believes Donald Trump will win the presidency. In a landslide.
[‘The Simpsons’ predicted a Trump presidency 16 years ago. The writer illuminates the reasons]
Adams, in other words, believes that Trump himself has turned the campaign game around. On the stump, the real-estate mogul is not running on the knowledge of his numbers or the dissection of the data. He is running on our emotions, Adams says, and sly appeals to our own human irrationality. Since last August, in fact, when many were calling Trump’s entry a clown candidacy, the “Dilbert” cartoonist was already declaring The Donald a master in the powers of persuasion who would undoubtedly rise in the polls. And last week, Adams began blogging about how Trump can rhetorically dismantle Clinton’s candidacy next.Adams, mind you, is not endorsing Trump or supporting his politics. (“I don’t think my political views align with anybody,” he tells The Post’s Comic Riffs, “not even another human being.”) And he is not saying that Trump would be the best president. What the Bay Area-based cartoonist recognizes, he says, is the careful art behind Trump’s rhetorical techniques. And The Donald, he says, is playing his competitors like a fiddle — before beating them like a drum.

[Prem]

[ramana]

Even during 2008 elections BRF was ahead of the curve and predicted Obama being nominated and elected if any old timers recall.

[member_29294]

Trump getting the nomination seems inevitable.

But he is not polling very well right now against Hilary in a general election.

Still a long way to go, anything may happen. Trump presidency would probably be more beneficial to India than a Clinton one, however.

[Singha]

Dr. JP, Self-Helpist ‏@JPHaddadio 16h16 hours ago
Jeb Bush endorsed Ted Cruz. Reminds me of the time my brother donated dead batteries to the Salvation Army.

[habal]

a mexican american (ex-empl) speaks about donald trump.

[UlanBatori]

Da Man does come up with some gems..

After Brussels, Trump accuses UK Muslims of 'not reporting' terrorists
March 23, 2016 20:48 IST

“I would say this to the Muslims and in the United States also, when they see trouble they have to report it. They’re not reporting it, they’re absolutely not reporting it and that’s a big problem,”

“They’re protecting each other but they’re really doing very bad damage, they have to open up to society and report the bad ones,” he said.

Trump’s statement was promptly condemned by a senior British counter-terrorism police officer and also the Muslim Council of Britain.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu told BBC Radio that Trump’s comments were wrong and could spark hate crimes.

“If we demonise one section of the community, that is the worst thing we can do. We are absolutely playing into the terrorists’ hands of making people feel hate,” he said.

Basu, however, admitted that British police have to do more to encourage Muslims and other Britons to report suspicious activity to police.

[ramana]

UB, Trump has Shiv's Oil Droplet gif and is familiar with the terminology.

[member_22733]

stating it here: I am now officially a Trump supporter.

[UlanBatori]

I became a supporter when I googled "Trump Ex-Bibi".
Did you notice that some Republican anti-Trump Einstein posted a pic of his present (nth) bibi in her b'day suit - TO MORMONS?

There was a man from Hyrm
Who lived with 3 wives at a time
When asked y the 3rd
He said: "ONE's absurd.
And bigamy, Sir, is a crime!

No disrespect intended towards people from this very hard-working, Gawd-fearing, honest and very polygamous sect.

[Prem]

UB, Trump has Shiv's Oil Droplet gif and is familiar with the terminology.

Newt G is his mentor and main push toward Trump presidency . Good Folks here should do some research on Newt Ginger-ich (A Man really feeding Ginger to Ignoramus & trying to teach them the long term benefits of it).

[UlanBatori]

B4 u knock Ging-rich, remember that after the nuke tests of 1998, he alone stood up and slammed the COTUS for not supporting India, declaring that in India's neighborhood, India absolutely needed nukes. This was at a time when the worst of the elephants such as Strom Thurmond were making declarations like

Dem Injuns' Govt done shoot themselves in da foot, mebbe in da head too!

Very powerful speech. He, IMO, was the one who really started tilting the scales towards India, not Slick Willie. In Jaw-juh, some desis called him to a fundraising dinner to ingratiate themselves with the elephant-dung at the height of Gingrich's COTUS power. He sneered at them and asked them to "ass-imilate". A complete ***** no doubt, but one who could think.

[krishna_krishna]

Namaste banned from a school due to its origins to east Asian culture origins :
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ga-par ... spartanntp

[ramana]

They are going crazy.


Even handshake is pagan!

[Singha]

a shining example of US secularism - I am going to post it on fbook

[deejay]

Hillary Clinton, Gold back Dinar and Libya from Wikileaks

http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/201 ... ervention/

The New Year’s Eve release of over 3,000 new Hillary Clinton emails from the State Department has CNN abuzz over gossipy text messages, the “who gets to ride with Hillary” selection process set up by her staff, and how a “cute” Hillary photo fared on Facebook.

But historians of the 2011 NATO war in Libya will be sure to notice a few of the truly explosive confirmations contained in the new emails: admissions of rebel war crimes, special ops trainers inside Libya from nearly the start of protests, Al Qaeda embedded in the U.S. backed opposition, Western nations jockeying for access to Libyan oil, the nefarious origins of the absurd **** mass rape claim, and concern over Gaddafi’s gold and silver reserves threatening European currency.

Hillary’s Death Squads
A March 27, 2011, intelligence brief [archived here] on Libya, sent by long time close adviser to the Clintons and Hillary’s unofficial intelligence gatherer, Sidney Blumenthal, contains clear evidence of war crimes on the part of NATO-backed rebels. Citing a rebel commander source “speaking in strict confidence” Blumenthal reports to Hillary [emphasis mine]:

Under attack from allied Air and Naval forces, the Libyan Army troops have begun to desert to the rebel side in increasing numbers. The rebels are making an effort to greet these troops as fellow Libyans, in an effort to encourage additional defections.

(Source Comment: Speaking in strict confidence, one rebel commander stated that his troops continue to summarily execute all foreign mercenaries captured in the fighting…).

While the illegality of extra-judicial killings is easy to recognize (groups engaged in such are conventionally termed “death squads”), the sinister reality behind the “foreign mercenaries” reference might not be as immediately evident to most.

While over the decades Gaddafi was known to make use of European and other international security and infrastructural contractors, there is no evidence to suggest that these were targeted by the Libyan rebels.

There is, however, ample documentation by journalists, academics, and human rights groups demonstrating that black Libyan civilians and sub-Saharan contract workers, a population favored by Gaddafi in his pro-African Union policies, were targets of “racial cleansing” by rebels who saw black Libyans as tied closely with the regime.[1]

Black Libyans were commonly branded as “foreign mercenaries” by the rebel opposition for their perceived general loyalty to Gaddafi as a community and subjected to torture, executions, and their towns “liberated” by ethnic cleansing. This is demonstrated in the most well-documented example of Tawergha, an entire town of 30,000 black and “dark-skinned” Libyans which vanished by August 2011 after its takeover by NATO-backed NTC Misratan brigades.

These attacks were well-known as late as 2012 and often filmed, as this report from The Telegraph confirms:

After Muammar Gaddafi was killed, hundreds of migrant workers from neighboring states were imprisoned by fighters allied to the new interim authorities. They accuse the black Africans of having been mercenaries for the late ruler. Thousands of sub-Saharan Africans have been rounded up since Gaddafi fell in August.

It appears that Clinton was getting personally briefed on the battlefield crimes of her beloved anti-Gaddafi fighters long before some of the worst of these genocidal crimes took place.

Al-Qaeda and Western Special Forces Inside Libya
The same intelligence email from Sydney Blumenthal also confirms what has become a well-known theme of Western supported insurgencies in the Middle East: the contradiction of special forces training militias that are simultaneously suspected of links to Al Qaeda.

Blumenthal relates that “an extremely sensitive source” confirmed that British, French, and Egyptian special operations units were training Libyan militants along the Egyptian-Libyan border, as well as in Benghazi suburbs.

While analysts have long speculated as to the “when and where” of Western ground troop presence in the Libyan War, this email serves as definitive proof that special forces were on the ground only within a month of the earliest protests which broke out in the middle to end of February 2011 in Benghazi.

By March 27 of what was commonly assumed a simple “popular uprising” external special operatives were already “overseeing the transfer of weapons and supplies to the rebels” including “a seemingly endless supply of AK47 assault rifles and ammunition.”

Yet only a few paragraphs after this admission, caution is voiced about the very militias these Western special forces were training because of concern that, “radical/terrorist groups such as the Libyan Fighting Groups and Al Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) are infiltrating the NLC and its military command.”

The Threat of Libya’s Oil and Gold to French Interests
Though the French-proposed U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973 claimed the no-fly zone implemented over Libya was to protect civilians, an April 2011 email [archived here] sent to Hillary with the subject line “France’s client and Qaddafi’s gold” tells of less noble ambitions.

The email identifies French President Nicholas Sarkozy as leading the attack on Libya with five specific purposes in mind: to obtain Libyan oil, ensure French influence in the region, increase Sarkozy’s reputation domestically, assert French military power, and to prevent Gaddafi’s influence in what is considered “Francophone Africa.”

Most astounding is the lengthy section delineating the huge threat that Gaddafi’s gold and silver reserves, estimated at “143 tons of gold, and a similar amount in silver,” posed to the French franc (CFA) circulating as a prime African currency. In place of the noble sounding “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) doctrine fed to the public, there is this “confidential” explanation of what was really driving the war [emphasis mine]:

This gold was accumulated prior to the current rebellion and was intended to be used to establish a pan-African currency based on the Libyan golden Dinar. This plan was designed to provide the Francophone African Countries with an alternative to the French franc (CFA).

(Source Comment: According to knowledgeable individuals this quantity of gold and silver is valued at more than $7 billion. French intelligence officers discovered this plan shortly after the current rebellion began, and this was one of the factors that influenced President Nicolas Sarkozy’s decision to commit France to the attack on Libya.)

Though this internal email aims to summarize the motivating factors driving France’s (and by implication NATO’s) intervention in Libya, it is interesting to note that saving civilian lives is conspicuously absent from the briefing.

Instead, the great fear reported is that Libya might lead North Africa into a high degree of economic independence with a new pan-African currency.

French intelligence “discovered” a Libyan initiative to freely compete with European currency through a local alternative, and this had to be subverted through military aggression.

The Ease of Floating Crude Propaganda
Early in the Libyan conflict Secretary of State Clinton formally accused Gaddafi and his army of using mass rape as a tool of war. Though numerous international organizations, like Amnesty International, quickly debunked these claims, the charges were uncritically echoed by Western politicians and major media.

It seemed no matter how bizarre the conspiracy theory, as long as it painted Gaddafi and his supporters as monsters, and so long as it served the cause of prolonged military action in Libya, it was deemed credible by network news.

Two foremost examples are referenced in the latest batch of emails: the sensational claim that Gaddafi issued **** to his troops for mass rape, and the claim that bodies were “staged” by the Libyan government at NATO bombing sites to give the appearance of the Western coalition bombing civilians.

In a late March 2011 email, Blumenthal confesses to Hillary that,

I communicated more than a week ago on this story—Qaddafi placing bodies to create PR stunts about supposed civilian casualties as a result of Allied bombing—though underlining it was a rumor. But now, as you know, Robert gates gives credence to it. (See story below.)

Sources now say, again rumor (that is, this information comes from the rebel side and is unconfirmed independently by Western intelligence), that Qaddafi has adopted a rape policy and has even distributed **** to troops. The incident at the Tripoli press conference involving a woman claiming to be raped is likely to be part of a much larger outrage. Will seek further confirmation.

Not only did Defense Secretary Robert Gates promote his bizarre “staged bodies” theory on CBS News’ “Face The Nation,” but the even stranger **** rape fiction made international headlines as U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice made a formal charge against Libya in front of the UN Security Council.

What this new email confirms is that not only was the State Department aware of the spurious nature of what Blumenthal calls “rumors” originating solely with the rebels, but did nothing to stop false information from rising to top officials who then gave them “credence.”

It appears, furthermore, that the **** mass rape hoax likely originated with Sidney Blumenthal himself.



This article was originally published at the Levant Report and has been used here with permission.

[Prem]

Donald Trump says Japan and South Korea could have their own nuclear weapons
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/worl ... 568293.cms

Donald Trump has said he is open to the idea of both Japan and South Korea developing their own nuclear deterrents and would like to withdraw US troops from their soil.
In perhaps his most detailed explanation yet about his foreign policy plans if he were to be elected president, Mr Trump told a US newspaper that allowing the two countries to do this would reduce pressure on the US to come to their defence every time North Korea acted aggressively. He also said he would consider stopping oil purchases from Saudi Arabia unless the Saudi government provided troops to fight Isis.There'll be a point at which we're just not going to be able to do it any more. Now, does that mean nuclear? It could mean nuclear," Mr Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, told the New York Times.Mr Trump said the US "cannot be the policeman of the world" and suggested that Tokyo and Seoul would move to develop their own weapons regardless, if the US continued along what he described as a path of "weakness"."Would I rather have North Korea have [nuclear weapons] with Japan sitting there having them also? You may very well be better off if that's the case," Mr Trump said. "If Japan had that nuclear threat, I'm not sure that would be a bad thing for us."During the extensive interview, Mr Trump was asked about halting oil purchases from US allies unless they provided on-the-ground forces against Isis. "The answer is, probably yes," he said.

[ramana]

Trump is now accepting Spinster 'every country should have the bomb for world peace.'

[RajeshA]

Donald Trump says Japan and South Korea could have their own nuclear weapons
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/worl ... 568293.cms

Donald Trump has said he is open to the idea of both Japan and South Korea developing their own nuclear deterrents and would like to withdraw US troops from their soil.
In perhaps his most detailed explanation yet about his foreign policy plans if he were to be elected president, Mr Trump told a US newspaper that allowing the two countries to do this would reduce pressure on the US to come to their defence every time North Korea acted aggressively. He also said he would consider stopping oil purchases from Saudi Arabia unless the Saudi government provided troops to fight Isis.There'll be a point at which we're just not going to be able to do it any more. Now, does that mean nuclear? It could mean nuclear," Mr Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, told the New York Times.Mr Trump said the US "cannot be the policeman of the world" and suggested that Tokyo and Seoul would move to develop their own weapons regardless, if the US continued along what he described as a path of "weakness"."Would I rather have North Korea have [nuclear weapons] with Japan sitting there having them also? You may very well be better off if that's the case," Mr Trump said. "If Japan had that nuclear threat, I'm not sure that would be a bad thing for us."During the extensive interview, Mr Trump was asked about halting oil purchases from US allies unless they provided on-the-ground forces against Isis. "The answer is, probably yes," he said.

Three days ago I tweeted:

Code: Select all

Changes to expect/hope:
1) Let India deal with #Pak
2) Anti-Muslim stance => US CIRF stops barking
3) Disengagement in Pacific => Japan & SoKo go nuclear ?
4) " => Japan & ASEAN get closer to #Ind

[RajeshA]

Yesterday, Bernie Sanders thrashed Hillary Clinton in western states:

Code: Select all

                   Delegates           Bernie Sanders
Washington     101                     73%
Hawaii         25                      71%
Alaska         16                      82%

Now one of the persons who has endorsed Bernie Sanders is Tulsi Gabbard, a Hindu and a pro-Indian, if there ever was one in US Congress.



So if Bernie Sanders wins the Democratic nomination which is still up in the air, and he chooses Tulsi Gabbard to be on the ticket, which would make sense as she is a woman, a "minority" and has a military background, that too in the Democratic party, then it is a ticket which may still be of interest to Indians.

Two interesting tickets would be

1. Donald Trump and Condoleezza Rice (?)
2. Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard (?)

Hillary and Ted Cruz are simply disasters which one can do without.

[UlanBatori]

IIRC, Gabbard is an Iraq veteran. Knows a thing or two about the realities of war, learned from the ground, not from conference rooms.

Gabbard on the ticket would make me go out and campaign in Ulan Bator. Well, on the web at least. But neither Gabbard nor Sanders belong in DupleeCity, they are way too sensible and honest.

[VinodTK]

From Fox News: Muslim Dairy Queen owner installs signs comparing Hindus to monkeys

The Hindu community is calling on a Muslim Dairy Queen franchise owner to take down signs from his Houston-area business that compare Hindus to monkeys.

Mohammad Dar, a 65-year-old Muslim and U.S. citizen from Pakistan, claims he is not prejudiced for installing the signs -- instead saying Hindus are the "racists," mySA.com reported.

Dar told the website that he decided to post the displays at his business after "researching" Hinduism -- the third-largest religion in the world -- for 14 years. He said the signs at his Kemah, Texas, Dairy Queen seek to showcase the wrongs of certain religions, specifically Hinduism, acccording to the website.

One sign reportedly compared Hinduism to “monkeyism (sic).”
https://twitter.com/firstwefeast/status ... 880/photo/

The Hindu community is calling on a Muslim Dairy Queen franchise owner to take down signs from his Houston-area business that compare Hindus to monkeys.

Mohammad Dar, a 65-year-old Muslim and U.S. citizen from Pakistan, claims he is not prejudiced for installing the signs -- instead saying Hindus are the "racists," mySA.com reported.

Dar told the website that he decided to post the displays at his business after "researching" Hinduism -- the third-largest religion in the world -- for 14 years. He said the signs at his Kemah, Texas, Dairy Queen seek to showcase the wrongs of certain religions, specifically Hinduism, acccording to the website.

One sign reportedly compared Hinduism to “monkeyism (sic).”

"Hindus don’t follow any limit or law, they follow desires like an animal – that is the foundation of Hinduism," Dar told mySA.com. "Monkeys don’t plan anything, they just do what they desire, but humans follow the limit and law.”

“It’s nothing personal, it’s educational,” he reportedly added. “I’m really making people mad, but what I’m doing is communicating and inviting them to communicate […] they think I am attacking their religion, but I am not.”

In a statement to mySA.com, Dairy Queen's corporate office called the installment of the signs an "unfortunate action" and said they are "not representative of our iconic family brand."

"We do not condone this behavior," company officials told the website."

Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, is calling for International Dairy Queen Inc. to issue an apology on the matter.

"Posters reportedly displayed at its Kemah store in Texas were highly inappropriate and trivialized the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents and a highly philosophical thought," Zed said in the release.

He said the company "should have shown some responsibility and already taken action regarding these signs posted at the Kemah location reportedly for many months."

[svenkat]

[ramana]

Deepak Chopra on Fox News says Trump brings out the dark side. He further says Republican party will be finished.

[RajeshA]

For those following US Primaries, something of interest.

At the Republican National Convention, during the first vote, when delegates usually are pledged and as such have to vote as per the results in their states, there is a quirk. Only those candidates would be considered who have at least won eight states, i.e. who had the most votes in eight states at least.

John Kasich, Governor of Ohio, won just one state - Ohio. Marco Rubio won two states.

So only Donald Trump and Ted Cruz would be the two candidates standing, including at the first vote. The delegates of all others - Kasich, Rubio, Carsen, Jeb Bush, etc. are all free, non-pledged, and can vote as they like.

So in the first vote itself, we will indeed have a winner. If Donald Trump gets 1237 before the Convention, then he is candidate, otherwise it is all up to how influential Ted Cruz and Donald Trump were during the selection of the delegates in the states as well as how well the candidates can "bribe" or "wine and dine" the arriving delegates. As per what I've read, Ted Cruz is a well-oiled machinery in states trying to influence the choice of delegates, but Donald Trump is the better "winer and diner"!

Watch out for Wisconsin Republican Primary on April 5th. If Trump wins, it is quite possible he would have the 1237 delegates before the convention. Otherwise the delegates can look forward to having their backsides kissed and rekissed.

[Falijee]

For those following US Primaries, something of interest.


Watch out for Wisconsin Republican Primary on April 5th. If Trump wins, it is quite possible he would have the 1237 delegates before the convention. Otherwise the delegates can look forward to having their backsides kissed and rekissed.

Agree, 100% with you on this one !

[ramana]

He will lose Wisconsin as the polls are saying. However we still gets his 30% in Wisconsin and Kasich will get 20%.
So delegates will be proportional.

Trump will win New York as he is over 50% there.

[Singha]

Trumpji has rightly said soko and Japan need to stop being euro style pussy freeloaders despite giant economies and either go.nukular to protect their own backsides or pay more for USA protection.

This line of thought cuts the freeloading euro kabila down to size also. Think tanks and state Sept is very upset with these comments

[Singha]

Time for pussy cats to drop shorts and man up or get out

[Prem]

We shall see Japan, SOKO going Nuclear in next 5 years and Vietnam 2 years after them. By 2025, most of China's neighborhood will be wiedling Nuke weapons. May be India plus all weather friend Vietnam extend Nuclear Umbrella to whole ASEAN.

[TSJones]

japan is having a conniption fit.

everybody is already blaming trump for giving noko justification for having da bomb......

[johneeG]

Trump is simply saying, " lets take care of our country and forget about ruling the world".

[ramana]

Trump is stuck at 30%. He needs to pull in more supporters. The abortion remarks were for them. Time wil tell.

[Yagnasri]

A lot of Trump saying about NATO, Japan and SoKo make sense. West Europian nations spend huge amounts on "welfare" measures because they hardly spend anything on armed forces. Even now we do not see any major effort from them to increase their preparation levels in spite of serious "risk" from an "aggressive Russia" and "Eeevil" Putin.

[habal]

Trump is pure marketing genius. His presidency will not be any different from his predecessors. Maybe the semantics and traditionally pre-gulf wars, republicans paid scant attention to mid-east so that may continue. You can see him do it, he tailors his message depending on the audience. In AIPAC he was all about how to protect Israel, & that cooled things a bit in his extreme right wing support base.

He will be like Modi, in the end. All lovey dovey after elections onlee. But americans can expect incremental gains like better control over military, organs of the state, and over state dept. An Obama, a black american of Kenyan origin will never have that kind of leverage on meat and potatoes americans like firefighters, police forces, judiciary, & red neck crowd out in southern hinterlands who act as police, law enforcement, uncivil society, service sector etc as a donald trump can hope to have. His message will go far.

[svenkat]

thats a very good post by habal saar.

[Singha]

Obama lacked credibility even with blacks as he never had a ghetto brotha hardship upbringing

More of a coconut...white middle class by upbringing and values

To his credit he did not entertain adventurers like Rove wolfowitz Cheney and rumsfeld these 8 yrs

[UlanBatori]

Abortion comments probably won the T-Party vote away from Cruz, and may swing the vote in Wisconsin where Cruz had high hopes. All he said is the logical outcome of the T-Party's Hitler-Jugend position on abortion: someone violates the ban, they go to jail. How hard is that to figure out? You can argue all you want about the sense of the law (that the T-Party HJ want) itself, but if such laws are passed, this is the logical outcome. Jails will be full of teenage wimmens and doctors.

So maybe Trump shot 2 turkeys with one shotgun blast: (a) Cruz, by swinging the T-Party HJ vote (b) Get even the said TPHJ to maybe approach the general vicinity of "thinking", by implying that their Finishing-School-ejjikated daughters will be in jail too - along with all dem undesirables.

[RajeshA]

I think, the abortion comments of Trump were his biggest gaffe yet, though he is trying hard to back-peddle here.

[UlanBatori]

Rajeshji, that's your own "fault": you THINK. Have some human sensibilities. That does not describe most of the T-Party.