Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Syria: Subjective Desires Fed by Ambiguous Intel Never Turns Out Well
Via Daily Timewaster
On Syria, here are 14 points that need to be pondered a lot more than they are. I think in may ways we Westerners are misreading what is going on in Syria - something I reviewed in the free-swim portion of Midrats Sunday.
1. Bashar is the second son whose oldest brother was to be next in line until died in a car accident in '94. Bashar was a mild-mannered ophthalmologist and had less than 7-yrs to transition from a London eye doctor to head of a government.
2. Bashar is the leader of a family who has seen two of his brothers die prematurely in accidents and a brother in law killed in a civil war. His only surviving brother is the head of the Republican Guard and a survivor of a previous assassination attempt.
3. He is a member of a small Shi'ite sect who are not even seen as Muslims by Sunni fundamentalists. They are hated by most Syrians for the preferential treatment they have received for over 40 years. He knows if he does not hold power, Alawites will be slaughtered wholesale. His tribe does not have the best reputation either.
4. He has no options for him, his family, his tribe and his co-religionists other than victory.
5. He is of no serious threat to his neighbors and is focused on one thing; survival.
On Syria, here are 14 points that need to be pondered a lot more than they are. I think in may ways we Westerners are misreading what is going on in Syria - something I reviewed in the free-swim portion of Midrats Sunday.
1. Bashar is the second son whose oldest brother was to be next in line until died in a car accident in '94. Bashar was a mild-mannered ophthalmologist and had less than 7-yrs to transition from a London eye doctor to head of a government.
2. Bashar is the leader of a family who has seen two of his brothers die prematurely in accidents and a brother in law killed in a civil war. His only surviving brother is the head of the Republican Guard and a survivor of a previous assassination attempt.
3. He is a member of a small Shi'ite sect who are not even seen as Muslims by Sunni fundamentalists. They are hated by most Syrians for the preferential treatment they have received for over 40 years. He knows if he does not hold power, Alawites will be slaughtered wholesale. His tribe does not have the best reputation either.
4. He has no options for him, his family, his tribe and his co-religionists other than victory.
5. He is of no serious threat to his neighbors and is focused on one thing; survival.
More @ CDR Salamander
Consider: Lives, Fortunes and Sacred Honor
If the people in our government consider us to be 'terrorists' (standing shoulder to shoulder with such 'terrorists' as Franklin, Jefferson, Sam Adams, Patrick Henry, et al), and knowing how the people in our government deal with 'terrorists', what obligation remains for you and me to abide their diktats, to seek discourse based on reason?
Knowing these people hunt and kill 'terrorists' all over the world, and now put you and me on the same moral level as murderous, child-raping, innocent-bombing genetic waste, what moral restraint remains upon us to not hunt every single one of them in their daily lives and visit upon them the same remedy they have planned for you and me - before they get to us.
More @ III Percent Patriots
When Rationality Breaks Down, So Does the Economy
Via WRSA
Rational Choice Theory tells us that people want good things, and they want them at the lowest price possible. Therefore, economic man is a rational actor. He measures costs against benefits. Of course, men are also irrational actors and capable of willfully misunderstanding their economic interests. And today, like no other time, irrationality is becoming a power in and of itself, dictating to the economy, subverting the very grounds of rational choice by taking choice away from the individual and giving it to government bureaucrats.
Many years ago the Austrian economist, Ludwig von Mises, pointed out that nations were more or less prosperous depending on the degree to which they “put obstacles in the way of the spirit of free enterprise and private initiative.” We look around today, in both Europe and America, and find that the great economic crisis of our time has not been met with sane solutions drawn from careful study, but by an anti-capitalist prejudice that holds grimly onto ideas and methods that have long since been discredited.
In 1956 Mises wrote, “The people of the United States are more prosperous than the inhabitants of all other countries because their government embarked later than the governments in other parts of the world upon the policy of obstructing business. Nonetheless many people, and especially intellectuals, passionately loathe capitalism.” And now we are living more than half a century later, bearing witness to the triumph of that loathing. America is no longer the prosperous country it once was.
Businesses are being obstructed in ways that would have been unimaginable in the 1950s. (See the Free Market America video on The Big Green’s True Colors, or peruse the EPA’s blog on Cap and Trade, or read regultions.gov from the perspective of a farmer, rancher or fisherman.)
Whatever happened at the end of the Cold War, it was not the defeat of socialism; for a new anti-capitalist formation predicated on environmentalism was already taking shape.
Rational Choice Theory tells us that people want good things, and they want them at the lowest price possible. Therefore, economic man is a rational actor. He measures costs against benefits. Of course, men are also irrational actors and capable of willfully misunderstanding their economic interests. And today, like no other time, irrationality is becoming a power in and of itself, dictating to the economy, subverting the very grounds of rational choice by taking choice away from the individual and giving it to government bureaucrats.
Many years ago the Austrian economist, Ludwig von Mises, pointed out that nations were more or less prosperous depending on the degree to which they “put obstacles in the way of the spirit of free enterprise and private initiative.” We look around today, in both Europe and America, and find that the great economic crisis of our time has not been met with sane solutions drawn from careful study, but by an anti-capitalist prejudice that holds grimly onto ideas and methods that have long since been discredited.
In 1956 Mises wrote, “The people of the United States are more prosperous than the inhabitants of all other countries because their government embarked later than the governments in other parts of the world upon the policy of obstructing business. Nonetheless many people, and especially intellectuals, passionately loathe capitalism.” And now we are living more than half a century later, bearing witness to the triumph of that loathing. America is no longer the prosperous country it once was.
Businesses are being obstructed in ways that would have been unimaginable in the 1950s. (See the Free Market America video on The Big Green’s True Colors, or peruse the EPA’s blog on Cap and Trade, or read regultions.gov from the perspective of a farmer, rancher or fisherman.)
Whatever happened at the end of the Cold War, it was not the defeat of socialism; for a new anti-capitalist formation predicated on environmentalism was already taking shape.
More @ Financial Sense
“No War With Syria” Rallies Happening This Saturday August 31 Worldwide
Via From The Trenches
The following notice has been posted all over the internet, please help to pass the word along.
Here’s the plan of action to Oppose the illegal and unconstitutional war with Syria:
We are launching a global rally on Saturday August 31st in every city and town in the world.
Here’s how you get involved:
Go to the FB search bar and search for ‘No War With Syria Rally (your city)’ example: No War With Syria Rally San Diego
Join the event, invite ALL of your friends to join it as well, then get involved with the locals that are already in the event page to help them any way you can.
The following notice has been posted all over the internet, please help to pass the word along.
Here’s the plan of action to Oppose the illegal and unconstitutional war with Syria:
We are launching a global rally on Saturday August 31st in every city and town in the world.
Here’s how you get involved:
Go to the FB search bar and search for ‘No War With Syria Rally (your city)’ example: No War With Syria Rally San Diego
Join the event, invite ALL of your friends to join it as well, then get involved with the locals that are already in the event page to help them any way you can.
More @ Intelli Hub
Assad: Syria will never become a western puppet state
President Bashar al-Assad stressed that Syria is a sovereign country that will fight terrorism and will freely build relationships with countries in a way that best serves the interests of the Syrian people.
In an interview
with the Russian newspaper of Izvestia, President al-Assad stressed that
“the majority of those we are fighting are Takfiris, who adopt the
al-Qaeda doctrine, in addition to a small number of outlaws.”
On the alleged
use of chemical weapons, President al-Assad said that the statements by
the US administration, the West and other countries were made with
disdain and blatant disrespect of their own public opinion, adding that
“there isn’t a body in the world, let alone a superpower, that makes an
accusation and then goes about collecting evidence to prove its point.”
His Excellency
stressed that these accusations are completely politicized and come on
the back of the advances made by the Syrian Army against the terrorists.
Here is the full content of the interview:
More @ Global Research
Jury sentences Hasan to death for '09 Fort Hood massacre
*Kham
Xiong's children visit their father's grave at Fort Snelling National
Cemetery in Minnesota. Xiong was one of the 13 people killed in the Fort
Hood shootings in 2009.
Prosecutors had sought the death penalty, saying Hasan's murderous rampage at the sprawling military base here left tragic and devastating loss for victims and loved ones.
Hasan, 42, was convicted last week on 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 charges of attempted premeditated murder. He appeared expressionless upon hearing the verdict, which came less than two hours of deliberations.
The death sentence required a unanimous verdict by the jury of 13 military officers. At minimum, Hasan faced life imprisonment. Still, while Hasan could be the first serviceman executed by the military since 1961, the appellate process could take years.
More @ USA Today
************************
* Shoua Her takes great pride in the history of military service in
her husband's family. His father, grandfather and two great uncles
fought the Viet Cong alongside the CIA in what's known as the "Secret
War" in Laos.
Her husband, Kham See
Xiong, arrived in the United States as a young refugee with his family.
In 2008, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and readied for a combat tour in
Afghanistan.
More @ CNN
UN Official, Syrian Rebels Used Sarin Nerve Gas, Not Assad’s Army
Via Billy
Testimony from victims now strongly suggests it was the rebels, not
the Syrian government, that used Sarin Nerve Gas during a recent
incident in the revolution-wracked nation, a senior UN diplomat said
Monday.
Carla del Ponte, a member of the UN Independent International
Commission of Inquiry on Syria, told Swiss TV there were “strong,
concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof,” that rebels
seeking to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had used the nerve
agent.
But she said her panel had not yet seen any evidence of Syrian
government forces using chemical weapons (CW), according to the BBC, she
added that more investigation was needed.
More @ Live Trading News
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