I am emotionally distraught over the Senate Impeachment "Trial" - so much so I almost could not bear to turn it on this morning. I said almost. Mike is furious, more blunt; he said, "..this is bullshit!"
So, you can watch it here:
Democracy Now!
Also here - and love the George Conway comments on sidebar:
CNN
Here's a good one:
~ From MSN - Law & Crime:
Impeachment Manager: Trump Just Confessed To Obstructing Congress
by, Jerry Lamb
Will return with the situation here, which is not good and begs the question, has the drug war become normalized at least in Baja California ? Kind of feels that way.
P.S. Blogs are appearing completely jumbled up and out of order on Google, appearing under fake sites, etc...ha ! Just like the old days.
~~~~~
I was able to pull up a few reports on the social violence here and nationwide in an attempt to make sense of the mess, but I really recommend you keep in touch with the Mexican news sources like Zeta and Proceso, Animal Politico and Riodoce. The Guardian also has fabulous coverage, as well as Justice In Mexico.
Fifteen years ago, most of us who lived here and were paying attention to the drug war developments were in a state of unrest which some have described as a social-psychosis caused by the unfolding and constant drug violence surrounding us, which then was such a shocking aberration.. We're no longer traveling in caravans to go to the Playas or Ensenada, it doesn't seem that most people are holding on to their steering wheel so tightly making deep finger impressions in the hard plastic with eyes darting around to survey conditions or even following the directives and warnings from local authorities. In these recent times, there really haven't been any warnings from local authorities such as leaving at least two car spaces in between you and the guy in front of you in case of a shoot out so that you give yourself room to escape.
I'm finding that most of the Mexican Nationals I speak with- and this is north of Ensenada; I have no idea what folks are saying down in Ensenada - simply don't talk about the violence; but this time I haven't yet decided whether that is due to the overwhelming nature of the violence, fearfulness or the fact they have grown used to it. Overall I have noticed the jitteriness which was so obvious in the earlier years is non apparent. Of course, gringos are nervous over if or not they can sell their houses and leave.
The drug war violence is old news and doesn't seem to make the headlines in the States as it did several years ago except in select hideous massacre cases involving US citizens. What impacts should we expect from non coverage ?
From Zeta, November 2019:
En 11 Meses 53 Masacres en Mexico
From Zeta , 01/16/20:
Agreden a Militares en Tamaulipus; 11 Civiles Muertos
~~~~~
Let's take a look at the local stats:
~ The month of December in Tijuana closed with 148 executions, bringing the YTD Tijuana total to 2,185 people killed. This number is actually 323 executions less than the YTD 2018 Tijuana total.
Baja California overall stands at 2,845 people executed in 2019.
From Zeta:
Suman 2 Mil 185 Homicidios en Tijuana al Cierre de 2019
~~~~~
~ In the beginning of this month, Zeta reported that there have been no positive results fighting the violence in Ensenada - 275 executions in 2019, not counting the human remains of the disappeared dozens of bodies and body parts located from Sauzal all the way down south, plus hundreds more missing; femicides on the rise, law enforcement infrastructure is weak, or even completely non-existent in the hundreds of cases of missing people, threats, extortions and kidnappings are on the rise, higher ups of Law Enforcement are pointing the finger at the Sinaloa Cartel who is fighting to retain control of the trafficking routes and the plaza - so not just the narcomenudo just like Leyzaola said. A powerful report:
From Zeta:
Sin Resultas en Combate a la Violencia en Ensenada
Por Lorena Lamas
~~~~~
2019, Ano Mas violento de la Historia Reciente: 34 Mil 582 Homicidios
Por, Carlos Alvarez
During 2019, 34 thousand 582 malicious homicides were registered, so the first year of Andrés Manuel López Obrador's government was the most violent in the recent history of Mexico, according to figures published Monday by the Executive Secretariat of the National Security System Public (SESNSP).
The previous figure represents an increase of 2.48 percent with respect to the homicides that were committed in 2018, year in which 33 thousand 743 were registered. In addition, the Executive Secretariat, under the Ministry of the Interior (Segob), reported that there were records of 1,006 femicides committed during the past year.
Also, during the past five years, murders have grown 93 percent, while femicides increased 136 percent and kidnappings rose 23 percent.
Since 2015, when the new SESNSP methodology was implemented to date, malicious homicides have increased by 93 percent.
In that year, 17,886 victims were reported. While in 2016, 22,554 were counted; for 2017, 28,871 were registered; and for 2018 there were 33,743.
On the other hand, during 2015, 426 victims of femicide were reported; for 2016 it was 642; already in 2017 765 were counted; while in 2018 912 were registered.
On the other hand, kidnappings also increased, since in 2019, 1,614 victims were counted, a figure higher than 1,559 in 2018.
In 2017, 1,390 were reported; in 2016 there were 1,381 and in 2015 there were a record 311 victims."
~~~~~
What's Happening With The Violence? I'll be back with last month's report from Riodoce via Zeta of Luis Astorga who offers his perspective on the "non-security" measures in Mexico. Most importantly tomorrow Javier Sicilia's march from Cuernavaca to Mexico City begins to support the victims of the violence and a call to end the violence. It's safe to say that Javier is on AMLO's shit list right now and has been for months.
This should hold you over.
Have to run up to states tomorrow.
Meanwhile....
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Senate Impeachment "Trial" A Disturbing And Shameful Joke - Local stats: TIJ in 2019 Total= 2,185 - Baja California in 2019 Total=2,845 - Nationwide 2019 Total Highest Ever 34,582 Homicides/Exections - January 2020 we Are Up To In TIJ 124 executions - 2019 Ensenada Over The Top - - Javier Sicilia's March Coming Up.....
Senate Impeachment "Trial" A Disturbing And Shameful Joke - Local stats: TIJ in 2019 Total= 2,185 - Baja California in 2019 Total=2,845 - Nationwide 2019 Total Highest Ever 34,582 Homicides/Exections - January 2020 we Are Up To In TIJ 124 executions - 2019 Ensenada Over The Top - - Javier Sicilia's March Coming Up.....
I am emotionally distraught over the Senate Impeachment "Trial" -
so much so I almost could not bear to turn it on this morning. I said
almost. Mike is furious, more blunt; he said, "..this is bullshit!"
So, you can watch it here:
Democracy Now!
Also here - and love the George Conway comments on sidebar:
CNN
Here's a good one:
~ From MSN - Law & Crime:
Impeachment Manager: Trump Just Confessed To Obstructing Congress
by, Jerry Lamb
Will return with the situation here, which is not good and begs the question, has the drug war become normalized at least in Baja California ? Kind of feels that way.
P.S. Blogs are appearing completely jumbled up and out of order on Google, appearing under fake sites, etc...ha ! Just like the old days.
~~~~~
I was able to pull up a few reports on the social violence here and nationwide in an attempt to make sense of the mess, but I really recommend you keep in touch with the Mexican news sources like Zeta and Proceso, Animal Politico and Riodoce. The Guardian also has fabulous coverage, as well as Justice In Mexico.
Fifteen years ago, most of us who lived here and were paying attention to the drug war developments were in a state of unrest which some have described as a social-psychosis caused by the unfolding and constant drug violence surrounding us, which then was such a shocking aberration.. We're no longer traveling in caravans to go to the Playas or Ensenada, it doesn't seem that most people are holding on to their steering wheel so tightly making deep finger impressions in the hard plastic with eyes darting around to survey conditions or even following the directives and warnings from local authorities. In these recent times, there really haven't been any warnings from local authorities such as leaving at least two car spaces in between you and the guy in front of you in case of a shoot out so that you give yourself room to escape.
I'm finding that most of the Mexican Nationals I speak with- and this is north of Ensenada; I have no idea what folks are saying down in Ensenada - simply don't talk about the violence; but this time I haven't yet decided whether that is due to the overwhelming nature of the violence, fearfulness or the fact they have grown used to it. Overall I have noticed the jitteriness which was so obvious in the earlier years is non apparent. Of course, gringos are nervous over if or not they can sell their houses and leave.
The drug war violence is old news and doesn't seem to make the headlines in the States as it did several years ago except in select hideous massacre cases involving US citizens. What impacts should we expect from non coverage ?
From Zeta, November 2019:
En 11 Meses 53 Masacres en Mexico
From Zeta , 01/16/20:
Agreden a Militares en Tamaulipus; 11 Civiles Muertos
~~~~~
Let's take a look at the local stats:
~ The month of December in Tijuana closed with 148 executions, bringing the YTD Tijuana total to 2,185 people killed. This number is actually 323 executions less than the YTD 2018 Tijuana total.
Baja California overall stands at 2,845 people executed in 2019.
From Zeta:
Suman 2 Mil 185 Homicidios en Tijuana al Cierre de 2019
~~~~~
~ In the beginning of this month, Zeta reported that there have been no positive results fighting the violence in Ensenada - 275 executions in 2019, not counting the human remains of the disappeared dozens of bodies and body parts located from Sauzal all the way down south, plus hundreds more missing; femicides on the rise, law enforcement infrastructure is weak, or even completely non-existent in the hundreds of cases of missing people, threats, extortions and kidnappings are on the rise, higher ups of Law Enforcement are pointing the finger at the Sinaloa Cartel who is fighting to retain control of the trafficking routes and the plaza - so not just the narcomenudo just like Leyzaola said. A powerful report:
From Zeta:
Sin Resultas en Combate a la Violencia en Ensenada
Por Lorena Lamas
~~~~~
2019, Ano Mas violento de la Historia Reciente: 34 Mil 582 Homicidios
Por, Carlos Alvarez
During 2019, 34 thousand 582 malicious homicides were registered, so the first year of Andrés Manuel López Obrador's government was the most violent in the recent history of Mexico, according to figures published Monday by the Executive Secretariat of the National Security System Public (SESNSP).
The previous figure represents an increase of 2.48 percent with respect to the homicides that were committed in 2018, year in which 33 thousand 743 were registered. In addition, the Executive Secretariat, under the Ministry of the Interior (Segob), reported that there were records of 1,006 femicides committed during the past year.
Also, during the past five years, murders have grown 93 percent, while femicides increased 136 percent and kidnappings rose 23 percent.
Since 2015, when the new SESNSP methodology was implemented to date, malicious homicides have increased by 93 percent.
In that year, 17,886 victims were reported. While in 2016, 22,554 were counted; for 2017, 28,871 were registered; and for 2018 there were 33,743.
On the other hand, during 2015, 426 victims of femicide were reported; for 2016 it was 642; already in 2017 765 were counted; while in 2018 912 were registered.
On the other hand, kidnappings also increased, since in 2019, 1,614 victims were counted, a figure higher than 1,559 in 2018.
In 2017, 1,390 were reported; in 2016 there were 1,381 and in 2015 there were a record 311 victims."
~~~~~
What's Happening With The Violence? I'll be back with last month's report from Riodoce via Zeta of Luis Astorga who offers his perspective on the "non-security" measures in Mexico. Most importantly tomorrow Javier Sicilia's march from Cuernavaca to Mexico City begins to support the victims of the violence and a call to end the violence. It's safe to say that Javier is on AMLO's shit list right now and has been for months.
This should hold you over.
Have to run up to states tomorrow.
Meanwhile....
So, you can watch it here:
Democracy Now!
Also here - and love the George Conway comments on sidebar:
CNN
Here's a good one:
~ From MSN - Law & Crime:
Impeachment Manager: Trump Just Confessed To Obstructing Congress
by, Jerry Lamb
Will return with the situation here, which is not good and begs the question, has the drug war become normalized at least in Baja California ? Kind of feels that way.
P.S. Blogs are appearing completely jumbled up and out of order on Google, appearing under fake sites, etc...ha ! Just like the old days.
~~~~~
I was able to pull up a few reports on the social violence here and nationwide in an attempt to make sense of the mess, but I really recommend you keep in touch with the Mexican news sources like Zeta and Proceso, Animal Politico and Riodoce. The Guardian also has fabulous coverage, as well as Justice In Mexico.
Fifteen years ago, most of us who lived here and were paying attention to the drug war developments were in a state of unrest which some have described as a social-psychosis caused by the unfolding and constant drug violence surrounding us, which then was such a shocking aberration.. We're no longer traveling in caravans to go to the Playas or Ensenada, it doesn't seem that most people are holding on to their steering wheel so tightly making deep finger impressions in the hard plastic with eyes darting around to survey conditions or even following the directives and warnings from local authorities. In these recent times, there really haven't been any warnings from local authorities such as leaving at least two car spaces in between you and the guy in front of you in case of a shoot out so that you give yourself room to escape.
I'm finding that most of the Mexican Nationals I speak with- and this is north of Ensenada; I have no idea what folks are saying down in Ensenada - simply don't talk about the violence; but this time I haven't yet decided whether that is due to the overwhelming nature of the violence, fearfulness or the fact they have grown used to it. Overall I have noticed the jitteriness which was so obvious in the earlier years is non apparent. Of course, gringos are nervous over if or not they can sell their houses and leave.
The drug war violence is old news and doesn't seem to make the headlines in the States as it did several years ago except in select hideous massacre cases involving US citizens. What impacts should we expect from non coverage ?
From Zeta, November 2019:
En 11 Meses 53 Masacres en Mexico
From Zeta , 01/16/20:
Agreden a Militares en Tamaulipus; 11 Civiles Muertos
~~~~~
Let's take a look at the local stats:
~ The month of December in Tijuana closed with 148 executions, bringing the YTD Tijuana total to 2,185 people killed. This number is actually 323 executions less than the YTD 2018 Tijuana total.
Baja California overall stands at 2,845 people executed in 2019.
From Zeta:
Suman 2 Mil 185 Homicidios en Tijuana al Cierre de 2019
~~~~~
~ In the beginning of this month, Zeta reported that there have been no positive results fighting the violence in Ensenada - 275 executions in 2019, not counting the human remains of the disappeared dozens of bodies and body parts located from Sauzal all the way down south, plus hundreds more missing; femicides on the rise, law enforcement infrastructure is weak, or even completely non-existent in the hundreds of cases of missing people, threats, extortions and kidnappings are on the rise, higher ups of Law Enforcement are pointing the finger at the Sinaloa Cartel who is fighting to retain control of the trafficking routes and the plaza - so not just the narcomenudo just like Leyzaola said. A powerful report:
From Zeta:
Sin Resultas en Combate a la Violencia en Ensenada
Por Lorena Lamas
~~~~~
2019, Ano Mas violento de la Historia Reciente: 34 Mil 582 Homicidios
Por, Carlos Alvarez
During 2019, 34 thousand 582 malicious homicides were registered, so the first year of Andrés Manuel López Obrador's government was the most violent in the recent history of Mexico, according to figures published Monday by the Executive Secretariat of the National Security System Public (SESNSP).
The previous figure represents an increase of 2.48 percent with respect to the homicides that were committed in 2018, year in which 33 thousand 743 were registered. In addition, the Executive Secretariat, under the Ministry of the Interior (Segob), reported that there were records of 1,006 femicides committed during the past year.
Also, during the past five years, murders have grown 93 percent, while femicides increased 136 percent and kidnappings rose 23 percent.
Since 2015, when the new SESNSP methodology was implemented to date, malicious homicides have increased by 93 percent.
In that year, 17,886 victims were reported. While in 2016, 22,554 were counted; for 2017, 28,871 were registered; and for 2018 there were 33,743.
On the other hand, during 2015, 426 victims of femicide were reported; for 2016 it was 642; already in 2017 765 were counted; while in 2018 912 were registered.
On the other hand, kidnappings also increased, since in 2019, 1,614 victims were counted, a figure higher than 1,559 in 2018.
In 2017, 1,390 were reported; in 2016 there were 1,381 and in 2015 there were a record 311 victims."
~~~~~
What's Happening With The Violence? I'll be back with last month's report from Riodoce via Zeta of Luis Astorga who offers his perspective on the "non-security" measures in Mexico. Most importantly tomorrow Javier Sicilia's march from Cuernavaca to Mexico City begins to support the victims of the violence and a call to end the violence. It's safe to say that Javier is on AMLO's shit list right now and has been for months.
This should hold you over.
Have to run up to states tomorrow.
Meanwhile....
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Drug War & Violence in Baja California Superseded By Iran Crisis - Ed Vulliamy's Report on Julian Leyzaola
It's not that I am not keeping tract of the drug war & violence in Tijuana and Baja California, I am and it has never stopped. We are to put it mildly, consumed with the Iran Crisis and Trump's repulsive lies one right after the other and his beyond disturbing behavior as is most of the world.
There have been so many terrific responses to Trump's self indulgent and perverted rigging of the Senate Impeachment "Trial" (what "Trial" - ain't no fuckin witnesses !) and his murderous escapade in Iran which has shaken the entire Middle East and the world - well except for Boris Johnson who is an asshole - but here's one which is notable for present and prescient USA characteristics:
~ From Truthdig:
America Could Look Like Hungary if Trump Is Re-Elected
by, Thom Hartman
"Now that we’ve entered an election year, there is a lot of speculation about what America could look like if Donald Trump gets another term, by hook or by crook. As Trump uses a crisis he created in the Middle East to distract us from impeachment, increases his chances of reelection, and boosts the fortunes of his buddies in the Military-Industrial Complex, it’s important to understand how other demagogic leaders consolidate their power.
Steve Bannon has said that Hungary’s strongman prime minister Viktor Orbán was “Trump before Trump.”
In August of 1989, my best friend Jerry Schneiderman and I spent the better part of a week sitting in outdoor cafes on the Buda side of the Danube River, eating extraordinary (and cheap!) food, staying in a grand old hotel, and generally exploring Budapest.
Two months earlier, there had been massive pro-democracy demonstrations involving hundreds of thousands of people, demanding that the Soviet Union let Hungary go. The summer we were there, over a quarter-million showed up in Heroes’ Square for the reinterment of the body of Imre Nagy, a hero of the ill-fated 1956 rebellion against the USSR. The final speaker was 26-year-old Viktor Orbán, a rising politician who would soon be a member of Parliament. To an explosion of enthusiastic cheers, Orbán defied the Soviets (the only speaker to overtly do so) and openly called for “the swift withdrawal of Russian troops.”
Nine months later, in March of 1990, Hungary held its first real elections since 1945; in 1999, it joined NATO; and in 2004, it became a member of the European Union.
For 20 years, Hungary was a functioning democracy; today, it’s a corrupt oligarchy.
In nine short years since he was elected in 2010, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, now fabulously wealthy by Hungarian standards and an oligarch himself, succeeded in transforming his nation’s government from a functioning European democracy into an autocratic and oligarchic regime of single-party rule.
Orbán took over the Fidesz Party, once a conventional “conservative” political party, with the theme of restoring “Christian” purity and making “Hungary great again.” His rallies regularly draw tens of thousands.
He campaigned on building a wall across the entirety of Hungary’s southern border, a promise he has largely kept.
He altered the nation’s Constitution to do what we’d call gerrymandering and voter suppression, ensuring that his party, Fidesz, would win more than two-thirds of the votes in pretty much every federal election well into the future.
He’s now packed the courts so thoroughly that legal challenges against him and his party go nowhere.
His party has rewritten grade school textbooks to say that refugees entering the country are a threat because “it can be problematic for different cultures to coexist.” Using this logic, he has locked up refugee children in cages.
When the Hungarian Helsinki Committee said “the indefinite detention of many vulnerable migrants, including families with small children, is cruel and inhuman,” Orbán said the influx of Syrian refugees seeking asylum “poses a security risk and endangers the continent’s Christian culture and identity.” He added, “Immigration brings increased crime, especially crimes against women, and lets in the virus of terrorism.”
Five years and one week before American Nazis rallied in Charlottesville and murdered Heather Heyer, a group of some 700 right-wing “patriots” held a torchlight parade that ended in front of the homes of Hungary’s largest minority group, chanting “We will set your homes on fire!” Orbán’s police watched without intervening. In 2013, Zsolt Bayer, one of the founders of Orbán’s party, had called the Roma “animals… unfit to live among people.” Orbán refused to condemn him or the anti-Roma violence.
Orbán has handed government contracts to his favored few, elevating an entire new class of pro-Orbán businesspeople who are in the process of cementing control of the nation’s economy, as those who opposed him have lost their businesses, been forced to sell their companies, and often fled the country.
Virtually the entire nation’s press is now in the hands of oligarchs and corporations loyal to him, with talk radio and television across the country singing his praises daily. Billboards and social media proclaim his patriotism. His media allies are now reaching out to purchase media across the rest of Europe to spread his right-wing message.
Last year he began dismantling the Hungarian Science Academy, replacing or simply firing scientists who acknowledge climate change, which he has called “left-wing trickery made up by Barack Obama.”
The world, in particular the EU, has watched this nine-year political nightmare with increasing alarm, and even the EU’s 2015 and 2018 attempts to essentially impeach Orbán have backfired, increasing his two reelection margins as his handmaids in the media proclaim him a victim of a European “deep state” and meddling foreigners, particularly George Soros (who, ironically, once paid for a young Orbán to study in Britain).
While he blasts Soros and his own country’s Jewish leaders with anti-Semitic tropes, he was feted by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who called him “a true friend of Israel.” Orbán replied, “A Hungarian patriot and a Jewish Israeli patriot will always find something in common.”
In May, the same month Rudy Giuliani said he had a former Ukrainian prosecutor willing to testify that Joe Biden was corrupt, Donald Trump invited Orbán to the White House for a state visit; Orbán has been one of Trump’s two primary sources of information about how Ukraine opposed or tried to sabotage the U.S. president.
In a rally three months before his White House meeting, Orbán said that countries that accept refugees are producing “mixed-race nations.”
Orbán is now back in Hungary, ruthlessly using his own nation’s diplomatic and criminal justice systems to aid foreign criminal oligarchs, having hired his own local versions of Bill Barr and Mike Pompeo.
Before you say, “It can’t happen here,” you may want to make a trip to Budapest."
~~~~~~
The Links:
Democracy Now!
Democracy Now|Iran
***
Informed Comment
(Note 01/15 report on million person march)
***
The Intercept
The Intercept|Targeting Iran
***
Counterpunch
***
Truthdig
***
Common Dreams
***
Truth Out
***
~ I promised this report a few blogs back and never delivered due to Holiday chaos. Personally, since I am a foreigner and live here (even though we are "permanente") I'm not allowed to comment on Ed Vulliamy's focus, Julian Leyzaola. However, one of my neighbors who is a Mexican National did comment and he said, " ...Leyzaola is a social pariah for the simple reason that he knows too much, he knows who all is involved or connected to the drug business." He was speaking about government & business models.
~ From The Guardian:
The Man Who Took Bullets Waging War On Mexico's Cartels Is Now Taking On Politics
By, Ed Vulliamy
~~~~~
Going to make some banana bread, later everyone.
Still, Julian Leyzaola has always reminded me of Paladin.
He reminds many people of Marshal Will Kane who believed that " running away does not solve the problem" and like Leyzaola, was abandoned by his close friends.
Both are strong characters who bear a steadfast sense of decency and fortitude, a rarity these days.
~~~~~ ~~~~~
Edit 01/16:
Not to bore you with even more character analogies, but late last night Mike reminded me that there are many realists who compare Leyzaola to Alonso Quixano (aka Don Quixote). But, to win either battle, to eliminate organized crime through a militarized drug war or to fight for the legalization of all drugs with the creation of rehab treatment and education facilities on both sides of the Border seems to me impossible dreams.
Sort of like the Impeachment "Trial" happening now in the US Senate...anyways, Gary Cooper was sure outasight, wow. And, maybe we should be handing this over to Saint Jude (the Patron Saint of Hopeless Causes) for help, it has been known to work.
" ...and the world will be better for this,
that one man scorned and covered with scars
still strove with his last ounce of courage,
to fight the unbeatable foe,
to reach the unreachable star."
~~~~~
end edit.
There have been so many terrific responses to Trump's self indulgent and perverted rigging of the Senate Impeachment "Trial" (what "Trial" - ain't no fuckin witnesses !) and his murderous escapade in Iran which has shaken the entire Middle East and the world - well except for Boris Johnson who is an asshole - but here's one which is notable for present and prescient USA characteristics:
~ From Truthdig:
America Could Look Like Hungary if Trump Is Re-Elected
by, Thom Hartman
"Now that we’ve entered an election year, there is a lot of speculation about what America could look like if Donald Trump gets another term, by hook or by crook. As Trump uses a crisis he created in the Middle East to distract us from impeachment, increases his chances of reelection, and boosts the fortunes of his buddies in the Military-Industrial Complex, it’s important to understand how other demagogic leaders consolidate their power.
Steve Bannon has said that Hungary’s strongman prime minister Viktor Orbán was “Trump before Trump.”
In August of 1989, my best friend Jerry Schneiderman and I spent the better part of a week sitting in outdoor cafes on the Buda side of the Danube River, eating extraordinary (and cheap!) food, staying in a grand old hotel, and generally exploring Budapest.
Two months earlier, there had been massive pro-democracy demonstrations involving hundreds of thousands of people, demanding that the Soviet Union let Hungary go. The summer we were there, over a quarter-million showed up in Heroes’ Square for the reinterment of the body of Imre Nagy, a hero of the ill-fated 1956 rebellion against the USSR. The final speaker was 26-year-old Viktor Orbán, a rising politician who would soon be a member of Parliament. To an explosion of enthusiastic cheers, Orbán defied the Soviets (the only speaker to overtly do so) and openly called for “the swift withdrawal of Russian troops.”
Nine months later, in March of 1990, Hungary held its first real elections since 1945; in 1999, it joined NATO; and in 2004, it became a member of the European Union.
For 20 years, Hungary was a functioning democracy; today, it’s a corrupt oligarchy.
In nine short years since he was elected in 2010, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, now fabulously wealthy by Hungarian standards and an oligarch himself, succeeded in transforming his nation’s government from a functioning European democracy into an autocratic and oligarchic regime of single-party rule.
Orbán took over the Fidesz Party, once a conventional “conservative” political party, with the theme of restoring “Christian” purity and making “Hungary great again.” His rallies regularly draw tens of thousands.
He campaigned on building a wall across the entirety of Hungary’s southern border, a promise he has largely kept.
He altered the nation’s Constitution to do what we’d call gerrymandering and voter suppression, ensuring that his party, Fidesz, would win more than two-thirds of the votes in pretty much every federal election well into the future.
He’s now packed the courts so thoroughly that legal challenges against him and his party go nowhere.
His party has rewritten grade school textbooks to say that refugees entering the country are a threat because “it can be problematic for different cultures to coexist.” Using this logic, he has locked up refugee children in cages.
When the Hungarian Helsinki Committee said “the indefinite detention of many vulnerable migrants, including families with small children, is cruel and inhuman,” Orbán said the influx of Syrian refugees seeking asylum “poses a security risk and endangers the continent’s Christian culture and identity.” He added, “Immigration brings increased crime, especially crimes against women, and lets in the virus of terrorism.”
Five years and one week before American Nazis rallied in Charlottesville and murdered Heather Heyer, a group of some 700 right-wing “patriots” held a torchlight parade that ended in front of the homes of Hungary’s largest minority group, chanting “We will set your homes on fire!” Orbán’s police watched without intervening. In 2013, Zsolt Bayer, one of the founders of Orbán’s party, had called the Roma “animals… unfit to live among people.” Orbán refused to condemn him or the anti-Roma violence.
Orbán has handed government contracts to his favored few, elevating an entire new class of pro-Orbán businesspeople who are in the process of cementing control of the nation’s economy, as those who opposed him have lost their businesses, been forced to sell their companies, and often fled the country.
Virtually the entire nation’s press is now in the hands of oligarchs and corporations loyal to him, with talk radio and television across the country singing his praises daily. Billboards and social media proclaim his patriotism. His media allies are now reaching out to purchase media across the rest of Europe to spread his right-wing message.
Last year he began dismantling the Hungarian Science Academy, replacing or simply firing scientists who acknowledge climate change, which he has called “left-wing trickery made up by Barack Obama.”
The world, in particular the EU, has watched this nine-year political nightmare with increasing alarm, and even the EU’s 2015 and 2018 attempts to essentially impeach Orbán have backfired, increasing his two reelection margins as his handmaids in the media proclaim him a victim of a European “deep state” and meddling foreigners, particularly George Soros (who, ironically, once paid for a young Orbán to study in Britain).
While he blasts Soros and his own country’s Jewish leaders with anti-Semitic tropes, he was feted by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who called him “a true friend of Israel.” Orbán replied, “A Hungarian patriot and a Jewish Israeli patriot will always find something in common.”
In May, the same month Rudy Giuliani said he had a former Ukrainian prosecutor willing to testify that Joe Biden was corrupt, Donald Trump invited Orbán to the White House for a state visit; Orbán has been one of Trump’s two primary sources of information about how Ukraine opposed or tried to sabotage the U.S. president.
In a rally three months before his White House meeting, Orbán said that countries that accept refugees are producing “mixed-race nations.”
Orbán is now back in Hungary, ruthlessly using his own nation’s diplomatic and criminal justice systems to aid foreign criminal oligarchs, having hired his own local versions of Bill Barr and Mike Pompeo.
Before you say, “It can’t happen here,” you may want to make a trip to Budapest."
~~~~~~
The Links:
Democracy Now!
Democracy Now|Iran
***
Informed Comment
(Note 01/15 report on million person march)
***
The Intercept
The Intercept|Targeting Iran
***
Counterpunch
***
Truthdig
***
Common Dreams
***
Truth Out
***
 |
| Courtesy The Guardian |
~ I promised this report a few blogs back and never delivered due to Holiday chaos. Personally, since I am a foreigner and live here (even though we are "permanente") I'm not allowed to comment on Ed Vulliamy's focus, Julian Leyzaola. However, one of my neighbors who is a Mexican National did comment and he said, " ...Leyzaola is a social pariah for the simple reason that he knows too much, he knows who all is involved or connected to the drug business." He was speaking about government & business models.
~ From The Guardian:
The Man Who Took Bullets Waging War On Mexico's Cartels Is Now Taking On Politics
By, Ed Vulliamy
~~~~~
Going to make some banana bread, later everyone.
Still, Julian Leyzaola has always reminded me of Paladin.
He reminds many people of Marshal Will Kane who believed that " running away does not solve the problem" and like Leyzaola, was abandoned by his close friends.
Both are strong characters who bear a steadfast sense of decency and fortitude, a rarity these days.
~~~~~ ~~~~~
Edit 01/16:
Not to bore you with even more character analogies, but late last night Mike reminded me that there are many realists who compare Leyzaola to Alonso Quixano (aka Don Quixote). But, to win either battle, to eliminate organized crime through a militarized drug war or to fight for the legalization of all drugs with the creation of rehab treatment and education facilities on both sides of the Border seems to me impossible dreams.
Sort of like the Impeachment "Trial" happening now in the US Senate...anyways, Gary Cooper was sure outasight, wow. And, maybe we should be handing this over to Saint Jude (the Patron Saint of Hopeless Causes) for help, it has been known to work.
" ...and the world will be better for this,
that one man scorned and covered with scars
still strove with his last ounce of courage,
to fight the unbeatable foe,
to reach the unreachable star."
~~~~~
end edit.
Drug War & Violence in Baja California Superseded By Iran Crisis - Ed Vulliamy's Report on Julian Leyzaola
It's not that I am not keeping tract of the drug war & violence in Tijuana and Baja California, I am and it has never stopped. We are to put it mildly, consumed with the Iran Crisis and Trump's repulsive lies one right after the other and his beyond disturbing behavior as is most of the world.
There have been so many terrific responses to Trump's self indulgent and perverted rigging of the Senate Impeachment "Trial" (what "Trial" - ain't no fuckin witnesses !) and his murderous escapade in Iran which has shaken the entire Middle East and the world - well except for Boris Johnson who is an asshole - but here's one which is notable for present and prescient USA characteristics:
~ From Truthdig:
America Could Look Like Hungary if Trump Is Re-Elected
by, Thom Hartman
"Now that we’ve entered an election year, there is a lot of speculation about what America could look like if Donald Trump gets another term, by hook or by crook. As Trump uses a crisis he created in the Middle East to distract us from impeachment, increases his chances of reelection, and boosts the fortunes of his buddies in the Military-Industrial Complex, it’s important to understand how other demagogic leaders consolidate their power.
Steve Bannon has said that Hungary’s strongman prime minister Viktor Orbán was “Trump before Trump.”
In August of 1989, my best friend Jerry Schneiderman and I spent the better part of a week sitting in outdoor cafes on the Buda side of the Danube River, eating extraordinary (and cheap!) food, staying in a grand old hotel, and generally exploring Budapest.
Two months earlier, there had been massive pro-democracy demonstrations involving hundreds of thousands of people, demanding that the Soviet Union let Hungary go. The summer we were there, over a quarter-million showed up in Heroes’ Square for the reinterment of the body of Imre Nagy, a hero of the ill-fated 1956 rebellion against the USSR. The final speaker was 26-year-old Viktor Orbán, a rising politician who would soon be a member of Parliament. To an explosion of enthusiastic cheers, Orbán defied the Soviets (the only speaker to overtly do so) and openly called for “the swift withdrawal of Russian troops.”
Nine months later, in March of 1990, Hungary held its first real elections since 1945; in 1999, it joined NATO; and in 2004, it became a member of the European Union.
For 20 years, Hungary was a functioning democracy; today, it’s a corrupt oligarchy.
In nine short years since he was elected in 2010, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, now fabulously wealthy by Hungarian standards and an oligarch himself, succeeded in transforming his nation’s government from a functioning European democracy into an autocratic and oligarchic regime of single-party rule.
Orbán took over the Fidesz Party, once a conventional “conservative” political party, with the theme of restoring “Christian” purity and making “Hungary great again.” His rallies regularly draw tens of thousands.
He campaigned on building a wall across the entirety of Hungary’s southern border, a promise he has largely kept.
He altered the nation’s Constitution to do what we’d call gerrymandering and voter suppression, ensuring that his party, Fidesz, would win more than two-thirds of the votes in pretty much every federal election well into the future.
He’s now packed the courts so thoroughly that legal challenges against him and his party go nowhere.
His party has rewritten grade school textbooks to say that refugees entering the country are a threat because “it can be problematic for different cultures to coexist.” Using this logic, he has locked up refugee children in cages.
When the Hungarian Helsinki Committee said “the indefinite detention of many vulnerable migrants, including families with small children, is cruel and inhuman,” Orbán said the influx of Syrian refugees seeking asylum “poses a security risk and endangers the continent’s Christian culture and identity.” He added, “Immigration brings increased crime, especially crimes against women, and lets in the virus of terrorism.”
Five years and one week before American Nazis rallied in Charlottesville and murdered Heather Heyer, a group of some 700 right-wing “patriots” held a torchlight parade that ended in front of the homes of Hungary’s largest minority group, chanting “We will set your homes on fire!” Orbán’s police watched without intervening. In 2013, Zsolt Bayer, one of the founders of Orbán’s party, had called the Roma “animals… unfit to live among people.” Orbán refused to condemn him or the anti-Roma violence.
Orbán has handed government contracts to his favored few, elevating an entire new class of pro-Orbán businesspeople who are in the process of cementing control of the nation’s economy, as those who opposed him have lost their businesses, been forced to sell their companies, and often fled the country.
Virtually the entire nation’s press is now in the hands of oligarchs and corporations loyal to him, with talk radio and television across the country singing his praises daily. Billboards and social media proclaim his patriotism. His media allies are now reaching out to purchase media across the rest of Europe to spread his right-wing message.
Last year he began dismantling the Hungarian Science Academy, replacing or simply firing scientists who acknowledge climate change, which he has called “left-wing trickery made up by Barack Obama.”
The world, in particular the EU, has watched this nine-year political nightmare with increasing alarm, and even the EU’s 2015 and 2018 attempts to essentially impeach Orbán have backfired, increasing his two reelection margins as his handmaids in the media proclaim him a victim of a European “deep state” and meddling foreigners, particularly George Soros (who, ironically, once paid for a young Orbán to study in Britain).
While he blasts Soros and his own country’s Jewish leaders with anti-Semitic tropes, he was feted by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who called him “a true friend of Israel.” Orbán replied, “A Hungarian patriot and a Jewish Israeli patriot will always find something in common.”
In May, the same month Rudy Giuliani said he had a former Ukrainian prosecutor willing to testify that Joe Biden was corrupt, Donald Trump invited Orbán to the White House for a state visit; Orbán has been one of Trump’s two primary sources of information about how Ukraine opposed or tried to sabotage the U.S. president.
In a rally three months before his White House meeting, Orbán said that countries that accept refugees are producing “mixed-race nations.”
Orbán is now back in Hungary, ruthlessly using his own nation’s diplomatic and criminal justice systems to aid foreign criminal oligarchs, having hired his own local versions of Bill Barr and Mike Pompeo.
Before you say, “It can’t happen here,” you may want to make a trip to Budapest."
~~~~~~
The Links:
Democracy Now!
Democracy Now|Iran
***
Informed Comment
(Note 01/15 report on million person march)
***
The Intercept
The Intercept|Targeting Iran
***
Counterpunch
***
Truthdig
***
Common Dreams
***
Truth Out
***
~ I promised this report a few blogs back and never delivered due to Holiday chaos. Personally, since I am a foreigner and live here (even though we are "permanente") I'm not allowed to comment on Ed Vulliamy's focus, Julian Leyzaola. However, one of my neighbors who is a Mexican National did comment and he said, " ...Leyzaola is a social pariah for the simple reason that he knows too much, he knows who all is involved or connected to the drug business." He was speaking about government & business models.
~ From The Guardian:
The Man Who Took Bullets Waging War On Mexico's Cartels Is Now Taking On Politics
By, Ed Vulliamy
~~~~~
Going to make some banana bread, later everyone.
Still, Julian Leyzaola has always reminded me of Paladin.
He reminds many people of Marshal Will Kane who believed that " running away does not solve the problem" and like Leyzaola, was abandoned by his close friends.
Both are strong characters who bear a steadfast sense of decency and fortitude, a rarity these days.
~~~~~ ~~~~~
Edit 01/16:
Not to bore you with even more character analogies, but late last night Mike reminded me that there are many realists who compare Leyzaola to Alonso Quixano (aka Don Quixote). But, to win either battle, to eliminate organized crime through a militarized drug war or to fight for the legalization of all drugs with the creation of rehab treatment and education facilities on both sides of the Border seems to me impossible dreams.
Sort of like the Impeachment "Trial" happening now in the US Senate...anyways, Gary Cooper was sure outasight, wow. And, maybe we should be handing this over to Saint Jude (the Patron Saint of Hopeless Causes) for help, it has been known to work.
" ...and the world will be better for this,
that one man scorned and covered with scars
still strove with his last ounce of courage,
to fight the unbeatable foe,
to reach the unreachable star."
~~~~~
end edit.
There have been so many terrific responses to Trump's self indulgent and perverted rigging of the Senate Impeachment "Trial" (what "Trial" - ain't no fuckin witnesses !) and his murderous escapade in Iran which has shaken the entire Middle East and the world - well except for Boris Johnson who is an asshole - but here's one which is notable for present and prescient USA characteristics:
~ From Truthdig:
America Could Look Like Hungary if Trump Is Re-Elected
by, Thom Hartman
"Now that we’ve entered an election year, there is a lot of speculation about what America could look like if Donald Trump gets another term, by hook or by crook. As Trump uses a crisis he created in the Middle East to distract us from impeachment, increases his chances of reelection, and boosts the fortunes of his buddies in the Military-Industrial Complex, it’s important to understand how other demagogic leaders consolidate their power.
Steve Bannon has said that Hungary’s strongman prime minister Viktor Orbán was “Trump before Trump.”
In August of 1989, my best friend Jerry Schneiderman and I spent the better part of a week sitting in outdoor cafes on the Buda side of the Danube River, eating extraordinary (and cheap!) food, staying in a grand old hotel, and generally exploring Budapest.
Two months earlier, there had been massive pro-democracy demonstrations involving hundreds of thousands of people, demanding that the Soviet Union let Hungary go. The summer we were there, over a quarter-million showed up in Heroes’ Square for the reinterment of the body of Imre Nagy, a hero of the ill-fated 1956 rebellion against the USSR. The final speaker was 26-year-old Viktor Orbán, a rising politician who would soon be a member of Parliament. To an explosion of enthusiastic cheers, Orbán defied the Soviets (the only speaker to overtly do so) and openly called for “the swift withdrawal of Russian troops.”
Nine months later, in March of 1990, Hungary held its first real elections since 1945; in 1999, it joined NATO; and in 2004, it became a member of the European Union.
For 20 years, Hungary was a functioning democracy; today, it’s a corrupt oligarchy.
In nine short years since he was elected in 2010, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, now fabulously wealthy by Hungarian standards and an oligarch himself, succeeded in transforming his nation’s government from a functioning European democracy into an autocratic and oligarchic regime of single-party rule.
Orbán took over the Fidesz Party, once a conventional “conservative” political party, with the theme of restoring “Christian” purity and making “Hungary great again.” His rallies regularly draw tens of thousands.
He campaigned on building a wall across the entirety of Hungary’s southern border, a promise he has largely kept.
He altered the nation’s Constitution to do what we’d call gerrymandering and voter suppression, ensuring that his party, Fidesz, would win more than two-thirds of the votes in pretty much every federal election well into the future.
He’s now packed the courts so thoroughly that legal challenges against him and his party go nowhere.
His party has rewritten grade school textbooks to say that refugees entering the country are a threat because “it can be problematic for different cultures to coexist.” Using this logic, he has locked up refugee children in cages.
When the Hungarian Helsinki Committee said “the indefinite detention of many vulnerable migrants, including families with small children, is cruel and inhuman,” Orbán said the influx of Syrian refugees seeking asylum “poses a security risk and endangers the continent’s Christian culture and identity.” He added, “Immigration brings increased crime, especially crimes against women, and lets in the virus of terrorism.”
Five years and one week before American Nazis rallied in Charlottesville and murdered Heather Heyer, a group of some 700 right-wing “patriots” held a torchlight parade that ended in front of the homes of Hungary’s largest minority group, chanting “We will set your homes on fire!” Orbán’s police watched without intervening. In 2013, Zsolt Bayer, one of the founders of Orbán’s party, had called the Roma “animals… unfit to live among people.” Orbán refused to condemn him or the anti-Roma violence.
Orbán has handed government contracts to his favored few, elevating an entire new class of pro-Orbán businesspeople who are in the process of cementing control of the nation’s economy, as those who opposed him have lost their businesses, been forced to sell their companies, and often fled the country.
Virtually the entire nation’s press is now in the hands of oligarchs and corporations loyal to him, with talk radio and television across the country singing his praises daily. Billboards and social media proclaim his patriotism. His media allies are now reaching out to purchase media across the rest of Europe to spread his right-wing message.
Last year he began dismantling the Hungarian Science Academy, replacing or simply firing scientists who acknowledge climate change, which he has called “left-wing trickery made up by Barack Obama.”
The world, in particular the EU, has watched this nine-year political nightmare with increasing alarm, and even the EU’s 2015 and 2018 attempts to essentially impeach Orbán have backfired, increasing his two reelection margins as his handmaids in the media proclaim him a victim of a European “deep state” and meddling foreigners, particularly George Soros (who, ironically, once paid for a young Orbán to study in Britain).
While he blasts Soros and his own country’s Jewish leaders with anti-Semitic tropes, he was feted by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who called him “a true friend of Israel.” Orbán replied, “A Hungarian patriot and a Jewish Israeli patriot will always find something in common.”
In May, the same month Rudy Giuliani said he had a former Ukrainian prosecutor willing to testify that Joe Biden was corrupt, Donald Trump invited Orbán to the White House for a state visit; Orbán has been one of Trump’s two primary sources of information about how Ukraine opposed or tried to sabotage the U.S. president.
In a rally three months before his White House meeting, Orbán said that countries that accept refugees are producing “mixed-race nations.”
Orbán is now back in Hungary, ruthlessly using his own nation’s diplomatic and criminal justice systems to aid foreign criminal oligarchs, having hired his own local versions of Bill Barr and Mike Pompeo.
Before you say, “It can’t happen here,” you may want to make a trip to Budapest."
~~~~~~
The Links:
Democracy Now!
Democracy Now|Iran
***
Informed Comment
(Note 01/15 report on million person march)
***
The Intercept
The Intercept|Targeting Iran
***
Counterpunch
***
Truthdig
***
Common Dreams
***
Truth Out
***
|
| Courtesy The Guardian |
~ I promised this report a few blogs back and never delivered due to Holiday chaos. Personally, since I am a foreigner and live here (even though we are "permanente") I'm not allowed to comment on Ed Vulliamy's focus, Julian Leyzaola. However, one of my neighbors who is a Mexican National did comment and he said, " ...Leyzaola is a social pariah for the simple reason that he knows too much, he knows who all is involved or connected to the drug business." He was speaking about government & business models.
~ From The Guardian:
The Man Who Took Bullets Waging War On Mexico's Cartels Is Now Taking On Politics
By, Ed Vulliamy
~~~~~
Going to make some banana bread, later everyone.
Still, Julian Leyzaola has always reminded me of Paladin.
He reminds many people of Marshal Will Kane who believed that " running away does not solve the problem" and like Leyzaola, was abandoned by his close friends.
Both are strong characters who bear a steadfast sense of decency and fortitude, a rarity these days.
~~~~~ ~~~~~
Edit 01/16:
Not to bore you with even more character analogies, but late last night Mike reminded me that there are many realists who compare Leyzaola to Alonso Quixano (aka Don Quixote). But, to win either battle, to eliminate organized crime through a militarized drug war or to fight for the legalization of all drugs with the creation of rehab treatment and education facilities on both sides of the Border seems to me impossible dreams.
Sort of like the Impeachment "Trial" happening now in the US Senate...anyways, Gary Cooper was sure outasight, wow. And, maybe we should be handing this over to Saint Jude (the Patron Saint of Hopeless Causes) for help, it has been known to work.
" ...and the world will be better for this,
that one man scorned and covered with scars
still strove with his last ounce of courage,
to fight the unbeatable foe,
to reach the unreachable star."
~~~~~
end edit.
Sunday, January 5, 2020
US - Iran UPDATES & LINKS - Don't Miss Major Danny Sjursen
 |
| Courtesy CNN, Jane on the right ! |
~ From CNN:
Pelosi says the House will introduce a resolution limiting Trump’s military actions
Late Sunday night, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a letter stating that the House of Representatives will introduce and vote on a war powers resolution to limit President Trump’s military actions regarding Iran.
The statement said:
As Members of Congress, our first responsibility is to keep the American people safe. For this reason, we are concerned that the Administration took this action without the consultation of Congress and without respect for Congress’s war powers granted to it by the Constitution.
This week, the House will introduce and vote on a War Powers Resolution to limit the President’s military actions regarding Iran. This resolution is similar to the resolution introduced by Senator Tim Kaine in the Senate. It reasserts Congress’s long-established oversight responsibilities by mandating that if no further Congressional action is taken, the Administration’s military hostilities with regard to Iran cease within 30 days."
Pelosi reiterated that the killing of Soleimani “endangered our service members, diplomats and others by risking a serious escalation of tensions with Iran.”
~~~~
BTW, just noticed at top of page, you can also hit The Impeachment Updates. Unsure of Bolton, with the Iran Crisis playing out, he might flip the other direction; remember he is a die hard hawk and wanted a US attack on Iran last June - so would he now testify against Trump? .....haven't heard anyone actually say that...but who knows:
BTW, just noticed at top of page, you can also hit The Impeachment Updates. Unsure of Bolton, with the Iran Crisis playing out, he might flip the other direction; remember he is a die hard hawk and wanted a US attack on Iran last June - so would he now testify against Trump? .....haven't heard anyone actually say that...but who knows:
~~~~~
~ From Mexico's Zeta:
"The Mexican government called on the United States, Iraq and Iran to act with restraint and avoid escalating regional tension, following threats made by US presidents Donald Trump and the Iranian, Hassan Rouhani, after the death of General Qasem Soleimani, the January 3 last.
"In compliance with the constitutional principles of foreign policy, we endorse the value of dialogue and negotiation in the resolution of international disputes," wrote the agency, headed by Marcelo Ebrard.
~~~~~
Except, it wasn't just a death, it was an assassination.
~ From Truthdig:
by, Maj Danny Sjursen
"Bio
Maj. Danny Sjursen, a Truthdig regular contributor, is a retired U.S. Army officer and former history instructor at West Point. He served tours with reconnaissance units in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has written a memoir and critical analysis of the Iraq War, "Ghost Riders of Baghdad: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Myth of the Surge." He lives in Lawrence, Kan. Follow him on Twitter at @SkepticalVet and check out his new podcast "Fortress on a Hill," co-hosted with fellow vet Chris "Henri" Henrikson."~~~~~
"Violence begets violence; revenge engenders cycles of vengeance. This is exactly why war, or acts of war, must not be taken lightly. It also explains why America’s recent adventurism in the Middle East has only increased Islamic terrorism, killed hundreds of thousands worldwide, and ultimately left the U.S. no better off than when it began its crusade after the 9/11 attacks. Instead, this cycle of violence and revenge has produced nothing but “blowback” in the form of global anti-Americanism.
Which brings me to President Donald Trump’s worst decision yet, one for which he actually should be impeached: the assassination of Iranian general, and head of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds force, Qassem Soleimani. The weapon of choice in this genuine act of war, was, fittingly, the era’s ubiquitous armed drone. Soleimani, perhaps the second or third most powerful figure in Iran, was blown away in Baghdad, where he’d long led intelligence and military proxy operations for Tehran. And more than any of America’s many provocations of late, this killing might just lead to war—a war that would, even more than the disastrous invasion of Iraq in 2003, inflame, destabilize and perhaps destroy the region for good.
With so much on the line—both for the United States and the world—the time for silence is over. Public resistance is the only tool we the people have left.
It doesn’t get any more illegal than a war with Iran or even the singular killing of Soleimani. The assassination of foreign leaders has long been prohibited under both national and international law, even if the U.S. hasn’t always followed such strictures. As has long been the case in the so-called war on terror, the President’s action was unilateral; Congress, it seems, wasn’t consulted, and it certainly didn’t provide sanction. And to be clear, while the assassination of a foreign general is an overt act of war, the U.S. is distinctly not at war with Iran, despite appearances to the contrary.
Few of the reports on the mainstream cable networks have even bothered to mention this salient fact. Why would they? U.S. troopers are engaged in combat in West Africa, Somalia and Syria, to name but a few countries. Washington is not technically at war with any of them. Congress, for its part, has shirked its constitutionally-mandated duty to declare (or at least sanction) America’s wars for nearly two decades—at a minimum. One wonders if this latest act of unvarnished militarism will alter the calculus on Capitol Hill. I remain doubtful.
Iranian pride, nationalism and basic sense of sovereignty, deeply wounded by Soleimani’s assassination, may demand an actual hot war with the U.S. But even if it doesn’t, this won’t end well for either side. Call me treasonous, but I, for one, would hardly blame Iran if it decides to further escalate. It’s not that Tehran is innocent, of course. Its domestic repression is sometimes abhorrent; the foreign militias it backs are often destabilizing, and some even killed U.S. troops during the height of the last Iraq War. Nonetheless, it bears repeating that unlike the U.S., Iran was invited into Syria, has many friends in Iraq, helped fight ISIS in both of those countries, and, as a sovereign state, is allowed to set its own domestic policy. The United States military’s interventions in the Middle East, by contract, frequently violate international law.
Doubtful a single, high-level assassination could cause an all-out conflict? Well, history disagrees. The British Empire once went to war with Spain over an alleged atrocity against a single merchant sea captain. Known as the War of Jenkins’ Ear, it was in part precipitated by the amputation of Capt. Robert Jenkins’ ear in the West Indies in 1731. A century and a half later, that same British Empire fought a decade-long war in the Sudan, after one of its former celebrity generals, Charles “Chinese” Gordon, was killed by the forces of “The Mahdi” in the city of Khartoum. Ironically, one of the anti-American Iraqi militias that Iran loosely supported back in 2007-08 was called the “Mahdi Army,” named after that 19th century millenarian Sudanese Islamist leader. What’s more, I’d be remiss should I fail to remind readers that the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Serbian nationalists in the Balkans provided the immediate catalyst for World War I—up until then humankind’s bloodiest.
Sure, that’s “ancient” history, one might retort, but imagine how the U.S. government would likely respond if one of our top generals was killed by Iran under similar circumstances. My guess is poorly. There seem to be, according to Washington, two sets of rules in international affairs: one for America and another for the rest of the world. Nevertheless, and while I doubt my advice will be followed, I’d urge restraint from Iran and the U.S. each. Both sides have powerful weapons, large, nationalistic armies, and a slew of nuclear-armed friends and backers. If one were to assess the risk versus reward of military escalation, the results would prove rather lopsided.
Then there’s the problem of evidence—specifically what, if anything, the Trump administration will present the American public to justify its act of war. The Pentagon claims, of course, that Soleimani was “actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region.” But in the interests of “secrecy” and “national security,” it has yet to furnish any tangible proof to support such a bold assertion. Once again, we are being asked to take our government’s word for it. Then we are expected to collectively malign Iran, cheer U.S. intelligence efforts and “support” the troops.
Problem is, I’ve seen this movie before—three movies, actually, and very recently. Each is based on a true and increasingly prescient story. Just yesterday, I happened to rewatch “Shock and Awe,” which follows the only group of reporters to get the Iraq War “right” prior to the 2003 invasion. They uncovered a conspiracy by the Bush administration to cherry-pick and/or manufacture evidence, then leak it to the mainstream press in order to drum up an illegal war.
One week before, I viewed “Official Secrets,” the tale of a British intel analyst’s decision to risk her career and freedom by leaking a document that proved the U.S. National Security Agency planned to spy on and blackmail foreign delegates on the U.N. Security Council just prior to the Iraq War vote. Just one publication picked up that story and, predictably, it too failed to stop the invasion.
Several weeks ago, I watched “The Report,” a staggering drama about one Senate staffer’s years-long quest to investigate and publish his findings on the incompetence, crimes and lies of the CIA’s torture program under George W. Bush.
Sure, these are just films, but they hew incredibly closely to events as they happened. And while they’re yet to be dramatized, the Afghanistan Papers have shown definitively that senior U.S. military and civilian officials lied and obfuscated about that ongoing war for at least 17 of its 18-plus years. The point I’m making is this: Americans should never again blindly trust government efforts to either start a war or justify an act thereof. The risks—to U.S. soldiers, to the republic and to global stability—are far too weighty for all that.
Finally, the details of Soleimani’s assassination have thrown into relief the rank folly of American military policies. The Iranian general was killed in Iraq—a country the U.S. ought never to have invaded and whose institutions Washington has effectively shattered. Soleimani would never have been there had the U.S. not provoked a civil war whose centrifugal force has divided Iraq’s various sects and ethnicities while empowering a chauvinist Shia government.
Furthermore, Soleimani was killed even though one of the general’s major opponents in Iraq—the Islamic State—was one he shared with the United States. That one of the Shia militias he backed was allegedly responsible for the recent death of an American contractor that set this tit-for-tat in motion shouldn’t be too surprising, either. Many Iraqi nationalists have long seen American troops as occupiers, and with good reason. A quick glance at a map of the Middle East would suggest that Iran, bordering Iraq, has a greater claim to influence in the region than the U.S., which is some 6,000 miles away.
If Trump’s provocation is at once illegal, risky and impeachable, he’s not alone in carrying the blame. Both Bush and Obama helped normalize the kind of drone strikes in the region that made this mad act possible. Yet Trump’s assassination of Soleimani is unique in its peacetime targeting of a uniformed leader from a sovereign nation. It’s possible, then, to see Trump as the perfect candidate, temperamentally, to take matters to their logical, if farcical, conclusion in America’s off-the-rails war on terror. And I fear he just has.
Now, I’m no fan of Qassem Soleimani and the Quds he led. Because although the veracity of the U.S. government’s case may be less certain than it seems, it appears the Iranians did support militias that killed perhaps 600 American troops with advanced IED technology. Two died under my command—Alex Fuller and Michael Balsley—blown to pieces on a dusty East Baghdad street by elements of the Mahdi Army on Jan. 25, 2007.
I took it personally. But personal emotion ought to carry little weight in the development of national strategy, in honest old-school journalistic analysis, and any other empirical activity."
~~~~~
US - Iran UPDATES & LINKS - Don't Miss Major Danny Sjursen
|
| Courtesy CNN, Jane on the right ! |
~ From CNN:
Pelosi says the House will introduce a resolution limiting Trump’s military actions
Late
Sunday night, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a letter stating that the
House of Representatives will introduce and vote on a war powers
resolution to limit President Trump’s military actions regarding Iran.
The statement said:
As Members of Congress, our first responsibility is to keep the American people safe. For this reason, we are concerned that the Administration took this action without the consultation of Congress and without respect for Congress’s war powers granted to it by the Constitution.
This week, the House will introduce and vote on a War Powers Resolution to limit the President’s military actions regarding Iran. This resolution is similar to the resolution introduced by Senator Tim Kaine in the Senate. It reasserts Congress’s long-established oversight responsibilities by mandating that if no further Congressional action is taken, the Administration’s military hostilities with regard to Iran cease within 30 days."
Pelosi
reiterated that the killing of Soleimani “endangered our service
members, diplomats and others by risking a serious escalation of
tensions with Iran.”
~~~~
BTW, just noticed at top of page, you can also hit The Impeachment Updates. Unsure of Bolton, with the Iran Crisis playing out, he might flip the other direction; remember he is a die hard hawk and wanted a US attack on Iran last June - so would he now testify against Trump? .....haven't heard anyone actually say that...but who knows:
BTW, just noticed at top of page, you can also hit The Impeachment Updates. Unsure of Bolton, with the Iran Crisis playing out, he might flip the other direction; remember he is a die hard hawk and wanted a US attack on Iran last June - so would he now testify against Trump? .....haven't heard anyone actually say that...but who knows:
~~~~~
~ From Mexico's Zeta:
"The Mexican government called on the United States, Iraq and Iran to act with restraint and avoid escalating regional tension, following threats made by US presidents Donald Trump and the Iranian, Hassan Rouhani, after the death of General Qasem Soleimani, the January 3 last.
"In compliance with the constitutional principles of foreign policy, we endorse the value of dialogue and negotiation in the resolution of international disputes," wrote the agency, headed by Marcelo Ebrard.
~~~~~
Except, it wasn't just a death, it was an assassination.
~ From Truthdig:
by, Maj Danny Sjursen
"Bio
Maj. Danny Sjursen, a Truthdig regular contributor, is a retired U.S. Army officer and former history instructor at West Point. He served tours with reconnaissance units in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has written a memoir and critical analysis of the Iraq War, "Ghost Riders of Baghdad: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Myth of the Surge." He lives in Lawrence, Kan. Follow him on Twitter at @SkepticalVet and check out his new podcast "Fortress on a Hill," co-hosted with fellow vet Chris "Henri" Henrikson."~~~~~
"Violence begets violence; revenge engenders cycles of vengeance. This is
exactly why war, or acts of war, must not be taken lightly. It also
explains why America’s recent adventurism in the Middle East has only
increased Islamic terrorism, killed
hundreds of thousands worldwide, and ultimately left the U.S. no better
off than when it began its crusade after the 9/11 attacks. Instead,
this cycle of violence and revenge has produced nothing but “blowback”
in the form of global anti-Americanism.
Which brings me to President Donald Trump’s worst decision yet, one for which he actually should be impeached: the assassination
of Iranian general, and head of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds force,
Qassem Soleimani. The weapon of choice in this genuine act of war, was,
fittingly, the era’s ubiquitous armed drone. Soleimani, perhaps the
second or third most powerful figure in Iran, was blown away in Baghdad,
where he’d long led intelligence and military proxy operations for
Tehran. And more than any of America’s many provocations of late, this
killing might just lead to war—a war that would, even more than the
disastrous invasion of Iraq in 2003, inflame, destabilize and perhaps destroy the region for good.
With so much on the line—both for the United States and the world—the
time for silence is over. Public resistance is the only tool we the
people have left.
It doesn’t get any more illegal
than a war with Iran or even the singular killing of Soleimani. The
assassination of foreign leaders has long been prohibited under both national and international
law, even if the U.S. hasn’t always followed such strictures. As has
long been the case in the so-called war on terror, the President’s
action was unilateral; Congress, it seems, wasn’t consulted, and it
certainly didn’t provide sanction. And to be clear, while the
assassination of a foreign general is an overt act of war, the U.S. is
distinctly not at war with Iran, despite appearances to the contrary.
Few of the reports on the mainstream cable networks have even bothered
to mention this salient fact. Why would they? U.S. troopers are engaged
in combat in West Africa, Somalia and Syria, to name but a few
countries. Washington is not technically at war with any of them.
Congress, for its part, has shirked its constitutionally-mandated duty
to declare (or at least sanction) America’s wars for nearly two
decades—at a minimum. One wonders if this latest act of unvarnished
militarism will alter the calculus on Capitol Hill. I remain doubtful.
Iranian pride, nationalism and basic sense of sovereignty, deeply
wounded by Soleimani’s assassination, may demand an actual hot war with
the U.S. But even if it doesn’t, this won’t end well
for either side. Call me treasonous, but I, for one, would hardly blame
Iran if it decides to further escalate. It’s not that Tehran is
innocent, of course. Its domestic repression is sometimes abhorrent; the
foreign militias it backs are often destabilizing, and some even killed U.S. troops during the height of the last Iraq War. Nonetheless, it bears repeating that unlike the U.S., Iran was invited into
Syria, has many friends in Iraq, helped fight ISIS in both of those
countries, and, as a sovereign state, is allowed to set its own domestic
policy. The United States military’s interventions in the Middle East,
by contract, frequently violate international law.
Doubtful a single, high-level assassination could cause an all-out
conflict? Well, history disagrees. The British Empire once went to war
with Spain over an alleged atrocity against a single merchant sea
captain. Known as the War of Jenkins’ Ear,
it was in part precipitated by the amputation of Capt. Robert Jenkins’
ear in the West Indies in 1731. A century and a half later, that same
British Empire fought a decade-long war in the Sudan, after one of its
former celebrity generals, Charles “Chinese” Gordon,
was killed by the forces of “The Mahdi” in the city of Khartoum.
Ironically, one of the anti-American Iraqi militias that Iran loosely
supported back in 2007-08 was called the “Mahdi Army,” named after that
19th century millenarian Sudanese Islamist leader. What’s more, I’d be
remiss should I fail to remind readers that the assassination of
Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Serbian nationalists in the Balkans
provided the immediate catalyst for World War I—up until then humankind’s bloodiest.
Sure, that’s “ancient” history, one might retort, but imagine how the
U.S. government would likely respond if one of our top generals was
killed by Iran under similar circumstances. My guess is poorly. There
seem to be, according to Washington, two sets of rules in international
affairs: one for America and another for the rest of the world.
Nevertheless, and while I doubt my advice will be followed, I’d urge
restraint from Iran and the U.S. each. Both sides have powerful weapons,
large, nationalistic armies, and a slew of nuclear-armed friends and
backers. If one were to assess the risk versus reward of military
escalation, the results would prove rather lopsided.
Then there’s the problem of evidence—specifically what, if anything, the
Trump administration will present the American public to justify its
act of war. The Pentagon claims,
of course, that Soleimani was “actively developing plans to attack
American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the
region.” But in the interests of “secrecy” and “national security,” it
has yet to furnish any tangible proof to support such a bold assertion.
Once again, we are being asked to take our government’s word for it.
Then we are expected to collectively malign Iran, cheer U.S.
intelligence efforts and “support” the troops.
Problem is, I’ve seen this movie before—three movies, actually, and very recently. Each is based on a true and increasingly prescient story. Just yesterday, I happened to rewatch “Shock and Awe,”
which follows the only group of reporters to get the Iraq War “right”
prior to the 2003 invasion. They uncovered a conspiracy by the Bush
administration to cherry-pick and/or manufacture evidence, then leak it
to the mainstream press in order to drum up an illegal war.
One week before, I viewed “Official Secrets,”
the tale of a British intel analyst’s decision to risk her career and
freedom by leaking a document that proved the U.S. National Security
Agency planned to spy on and blackmail foreign delegates on the U.N.
Security Council just prior to the Iraq War vote. Just one publication
picked up that story and, predictably, it too failed to stop the
invasion.
Several weeks ago, I watched “The Report,”
a staggering drama about one Senate staffer’s years-long quest to
investigate and publish his findings on the incompetence, crimes and
lies of the CIA’s torture program under George W. Bush.
Sure, these are just films, but they hew incredibly closely to events as they happened. And while they’re yet to be dramatized, the Afghanistan Papers have shown definitively that senior U.S. military and civilian officials lied and obfuscated about that ongoing war for at least 17 of its 18-plus years. The point I’m making is this: Americans should never again blindly trust government efforts to either start a war or justify an act thereof. The risks—to U.S. soldiers, to the republic and to global stability—are far too weighty for all that.
Finally, the details of Soleimani’s assassination have thrown into relief the rank folly of American military policies. The Iranian general was killed in Iraq—a country the U.S. ought never to have invaded and whose institutions Washington has effectively shattered. Soleimani would never have been there had the U.S. not provoked a civil war whose centrifugal force has divided Iraq’s various sects and ethnicities while empowering a chauvinist Shia government.
Furthermore, Soleimani was killed even though one of the general’s major opponents in Iraq—the Islamic State—was one he shared with the United States. That one of the Shia militias he backed was allegedly responsible for the recent death of an American contractor that set this tit-for-tat in motion shouldn’t be too surprising, either. Many Iraqi nationalists have long seen American troops as occupiers, and with good reason. A quick glance at a map of the Middle East would suggest that Iran, bordering Iraq, has a greater claim to influence in the region than the U.S., which is some 6,000 miles away.
If Trump’s provocation is at once illegal, risky and impeachable, he’s not alone in carrying the blame. Both Bush and Obama helped normalize the kind of drone strikes in the region that made this mad act possible. Yet Trump’s assassination of Soleimani is unique in its peacetime targeting of a uniformed leader from a sovereign nation. It’s possible, then, to see Trump as the perfect candidate, temperamentally, to take matters to their logical, if farcical, conclusion in America’s off-the-rails war on terror. And I fear he just has.
Now, I’m no fan of Qassem Soleimani and the Quds he led. Because although the veracity of the U.S. government’s case may be less certain than it seems, it appears the Iranians did support militias that killed perhaps 600 American troops with advanced IED technology. Two died under my command—Alex Fuller and Michael Balsley—blown to pieces on a dusty East Baghdad street by elements of the Mahdi Army on Jan. 25, 2007.
I took it personally. But personal emotion ought to carry little weight in the development of national strategy, in honest old-school journalistic analysis, and any other empirical activity."
~~~~~
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