US Celebrates Unprecedented Expansion of Global War on Terror
The US announced a new target country in the War on Terror, as airstrikes rained down on Sirte, Libya. The target was ISIS and heavy casualties were reported in the initial aftermath, though it’s not clear whether any were civilians.
It’s not the US’s first rebound with Libya after the 2011 US-led NATO intervention dramatically destabilized the country. It also won’t be the last, as Libya remains in abject chaos and ISIS has had a foothold for some time.
The problem of Libya has not been a major theme of the 2016 political cycle so far. Donald Trump has seemed reluctant to focus on it, perhaps for fear of appearing too “soft” on foreign policy. And given that Hillary Clinton was a major proponent of this clearly disastrous war, she would like to keep the conversation on just about anything else. The (limited) good news is that Hillary’s vulnerability on the issue may make President Obama exercise some restraint in Libya prior to the election, if only to avoid drawing any extra attention to the debacle.
For more on this story, check out this analysis from The Intercept.
US Prepares to Give Largest Aid Package in History to Country That Clearly Doesn’t Need It
It’s been reported that the US is about to seal the deal on $4.1 billion dollar annual aid package to the country of Israel, which would be the largest ever.
Whatever your thoughts on foreign aid generally, it ought to seem strange that the US would give so much money to a developed country that’s more prosperous than the US itself, by some measures. It also seems odd to give money to a country whose sitting prime minister won reelection by playing on racist sentiments towards Arabs in Israel and openly declaring that a two-state solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict – the US’s preferred solution, for better or worse – would never occur on his watch. Indeed, it would be difficult for Prime Minister Netanyahu to express his contempt for President Obama and the US government more clearly than that, and he has certainly tried his best.
No matter, all of that appears to be water under the bridge, however, and it’s back to business as usual on foreign aid. And for Israel, business as usual means being the largest recipient of US aid money, even though they have long been self-sufficient.
For more on this, check out this article, also from The Intercept.
Trump/Khizr Khan Controversy Continues
Trump’s rude remarks about Khizr Khan continued to dominate the news cycle yesterday. Khan’s son was a Muslim US soldier who died in the Iraq War, and his father gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention to condemn Donald Trump.
The story is focusing overwhelmingly on Trump’s offensive rhetorical retaliation against the family, and many high-ranking politicians, including President Obama, have spoken out against him. However, the story ought to reflect poorly on Hillary Clinton as well, given that she supported the war and thereby helped get Khan’s son killed.
For more on this story, check out our own article on the latest developments.
Eric Schuler is the author of The Daily Face Palm blog, which focuses mostly on foreign policy and bad economics.
Damn this a nauseating moment for the Duopoly. Trump is on the run from the comment he made in 2011 on how he would use the sexually charged fraudulent real estate deal he made and broke with Gadafi as how he would “handle” Egypt and others. His wealth shielded him then, as defrauding your tenants is a felony in Nuevo Jork. Not that they’re really enforcing it against any other slumlords either.
saying he “screwed” Gadafi indicates he has a sexual preference for fraud. Then he was given a chance to retract that 2011 crap in November. And reaffirmed it. My God this dude can’t keep his mouth shut. Which, as my well-known opinion states, is the only advantage Hill has over Trump. She usually doesn’t boast about her own screwups and/or crimes. She’s a lawyer and they do teach that at law school.
That neither has come out and said the 2014 hijack of the Morning Glory (oil tanker) by the United States Navy was in fact PIRACY but they keep harping about how wonderful it was when the same Navy Pirates “screwed” Somali pirates.,, Indicates that neither of them considers that as criminal. They can’t keep from stealing. And murder of course. Got to have some way to enforce your robberies.
Killing is a really clear cut way of doing that. It works a lot better than standing in the bank lobby waving guns they obviously ain’t going to use.
People who do less robberies and murders for far less money get a lot more time in the penitentiary. There’s another thread on ProPublica about discrimination BY COMPUTER ALGORITHM between Black defendants versus White. But that, blatant as it is, doesn’t hold any kind of light especially a candle to the disparity in sentencing or even prosecution of these criminals who are vying to rule the American Empire. The difference is really stark. Hundreds of years of stacked federal sentences as opposed to exactly No Time spent in custody.
It’s the Mafiocracy.
A war on terrorism was launched to distract people’s attention from real problems. That is just an excuse for governments to rule masses
I was at the Social Security office until about two hours ago. There was a line waiting to be admitted in. Security. Looked like the visiting room waiting area at a prison. One of my fellow sheeple, identified herself as being from Arizona, said that if Trump comes to power he’ll end Terrorism by locking down the borders. And deporting all the Muslims. Who are, in her narrative, here and in Europe only to get Welfare, and that somehow they get special privileges just for being Muslim. A litany of Hate. So, if Mr Trump wins and can’t do any of those things, then what? It makes really no difference what Mr Trumps level of racism and hatred actually is. Because his Disciples think he’s going to avenge the White Christian American Race. And what happens, I asked before, when he can’t deliver? I’m going to invest some of my SSI money in printing tee-shirts saying “No, you can’t take America back… It was never yours in the first place”
It doesn’t help much that so many Americans are so willing to be led by whatever Socially Retarded Animated Sphincters are propped up as our Leaders. My first semester long long ago of JROTC was called “Introduction to Leadership Development” and it was really (aside from teaching us to walk in unison) teaching us to speak convincingly on any given talking point whether right wrong or imaginary and get people to believe it. In the military academies, the directly Taxpayer Funded ones, it’s called bugling. Fortunately I don’t speak worth three quarters of a damn and didn’t know how to type yet, otherwise I could have become, well, Morell or Clinton or whoever writes Trump’s stuff.
Kinda dodged a bullet there
Hey, the spell checker recognized “kinda” as a real word.