All-Volunteer Military May Desensitize U.S. To War, Some Fear -- McClatchy News
WASHINGTON — Before a roadside bomb in Baghdad burned and tore apart Jerry Majetich, before 62 operations put him back together, even before he volunteered for the Marines, then the Army, there were five older brothers who’d enlisted and a mother who’d served as an Army nurse in Korea.
His family background shaped former Staff Sgt. Majetich, who’s now 42 and a single father and investment firm vice president in Jacksonville, Fla. Despite the torment since the 2005 blast, that history is part of what moved his 21-year-old son to consider leaving college to pursue a military career, and his 17-year-old daughter to join her high school Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.
“I’d be thrilled if they chose to serve,” he said. “Despite everything, I believe in military service.”
Read more .... My Comment: The culture of America is certainly changing .... and yes .... we should be concerned that maybe those who do not serve and/or do not have family members in the military are becoming desensitized to war and to those who made the decision to enlist.
Then-Sen. Chuck Hagel meets with U.S. service members at Multi-National Division South East Headquarters in Basra, Iraq, in this July 2008. Hagel visited Basra with then-Sen. Barack Obama as part of a Middle East tour. Christopher Sheely/U.S. Army
From Capitol Hill To Iran, Next Defense Secretary Faces Challenges -- Matthew Schofield, McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — The trial balloon for the next secretary of defense barely lifted off before the darts started zipping at it, from the left and the right.
The notion: Chuck Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska, might be a good pick to fill the shoes of the current secretary, Leon Panetta, when he eventually leaves.
The problems: Log Cabin Republicans used a 14-year-old quote to say Hagel was anti-gay. Some Israel backers used a 2006 quote to question his support of that nation, and a few even said he was an anti-Semite. Neo-conservatives questioned whether he’d be too soft on Iran and Hamas.
My Comment: Matthew Schofield focuses on some Republican-conservative critics of Hagel, but the situation is more complicated than that .... some conservatives support him, while some Democrats do not. But considering the role and policy choices that the next US Defense Secretary will be faced with .... you have to ask yourself .... is this a job that you really want?
Prince Harry Is A 'Jackal' Killing Innocents, Says Feared Afghanistan Warlord -- The Telegraph
One of Afghanistan's most feared warlords has launched a withering attack on Prince Harry, who has spent Christmas serving in the country, labelling the prince a 'jackal' who was 'drunk' while hunting innocent Afghans.
In a rare and exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who has been designated a global terrorist by the United States, heaped insults on the British Royal and vowed to kill as many troops as possible before the UK's withdrawal in 2014.
Speaking from an undisclosed location the warlord accused Britain of dragging "herself into this unjustified, useless but cruel conflict to please the White House. The British did not gain anything instead they lost blood and treasure."
"I do not understand how the British public accept their children being sent to certain death in order to please American generals.
My Comment: Spending the past few years avoiding drones is probably taking it's toll on Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. As for his interview with the Daily Telegraph from a mountain base (reported to be close to the Afghan/Pakistan border) .... my bet is that this interview was done in Pakistan .... and nowhere near the Afghan border.
Syria’s Chaos Isn’t America’s Fault -- Aaron David Miller, Washington Post
Who lost Syria? Comments of some U.S. senators, analysts and journalists, including the editorial board of this newspaper, suggest there is no doubt: Bashar al-Assad and his thugocracy are primarily responsible for the killings, but the tragedy of Syria is also a direct result of a terrible failure of leadership on the part of the international community, and of the United States in particular.
Syria, it is charged, is Barack Obama’s Rwanda.
Don’t believe it.
The idea that Syria was anyone’s to win or lose, or that the United States could significantly shape the outcome there, is typical of the arrogant paternalism and flawed analysis that have gotten this country into heaps of trouble in the Middle East over the years.
My Comment: I concur .... the Syrian civil war was started by Syrians .... caused by an intransigent government and a Sunni population who decided to say 'enough is enough'. And while we all do want to help the Syrian people .... as we have learned in Iraq and in Afghanistan .... our involvement will not help stabilize a tribal/religious/sectarian conflict that has been ongoing for decades if not longer .... and where the international consensus on this conflict is completely absent and/or disorganized. The best that we can do is to provide humanitarian assistance and to support our allies in the region .... and to watch very closely on what happens to all of those WMDs when the conflict is finally over and Assad is out of power.
The Socialist Mind Game: A Brief Manual -- Oleg Atbashian, American Thinker
We are being played; it's time we learned the game.
Conservatives have their Constitution. Progressives have their Narrative. The current battle for America is between these two concepts, and each side uses different rules to fight it.
One set of rules is consistent with an unchanging objective: limited government and individual freedoms. The other side's rules are as fickle as their goals, which are never fully disclosed beyond the equivocal references to fairness and hyphenated forms of justice. They will have to remain vague and deny their true allegiances until a time when American voters will no longer squirm at the word "socialism."
And yet spotting them isn't that hard. As a bird is known by his feathers, socialists are known by their Game.
Read more .... My Comment: I am not surprised on who wrote this commentary .... it takes someone like Oleg Atbashian .... a former Communist propagandist from the old Soviet Union to understand how this White House (and I can argue to a lesser degree other White House administrations) works when it comes to laying out their media game-plan to push their agenda and policies. While I am from Russia (grew up in the Ukraine) .... and Oleg Atbashian is from the Ukraine .... we both had the same experiences of growing up in a society where the government knew how to use "the media" to promote their causes/positions/policies to a public that were skeptical but not knowledgeable enough to appreciate that they were being lied to. Even when I reflect on it (like today) I cannot help but be impressed on how the Soviets were masters at playing 'The Game'. It was only when dissent and alternative points of views were becoming public that the communist system started to buckle. In my opinion .... the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl was the tipping point that finally destroyed the credibility of the state and their media organs .... nothing was the same in the Soviet Union after that incident .... and their 'Game' was finally dead.
When I look a the United States and I am asked for my opinion as an outsider on where do I see things going .... I tell all my American libertarian/conservative/and progressive friends that for the U.S. the tipping point will be it's fiscal/debt crisis. There will come a time when the bills can no longer be paid and that the services that everyone relies on can no longer be covered or provided. In short .... we will end up like Greece/Spain/Argentina/Ireland/etc... and the message that both Republicans and Democrats have always use in conjunction with their allies in the media to justify their uncontrollable spending and growth of government will no longer hold for the simple reason that the fallout (like Chernobyl in the old Soviet Union) can no longer be contained.
I do hope that I am wrong .... but I doubt it. I have been to places like Ireland (2007), Greece (2009), and Spain (2010) .... and what I saw happened there is happening right now in the U.S. .... and while the U.S. is a far richer country than any of these three countries .... I am also a person who lived in the Soviet Union when it was at the height of it's power .... and today it is in the dustbin of history.
In conclusion, this post by Oleg Atbashian should be bookmarked and read once in a while .... just to remind oneself on how 'The Game' is played by many in Washington ... as well as in other countries.
Clinton Injured, US Navy Seal Killed In Secret US Mission To Iran -- EU Ties
A new Foreign Military Intelligence (GRU) report circulating in the Kremlin today is saying that United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [photo 2nd right] was injured, and a top US Navy Seal Commander killed when their C-12 Huron military passenger and transport aircraft crash landed nearly 3 weeks ago in the Iranian city of Ahvaz near the Iraqi border.
Iranian intelligence agents quoted in this GRU report confirm that the C-12 Huron aircraft is still in their possession in Ahvaz, but will only admit that the plane was “forced to land because of technical problems”.
My Comment: My nationality is Russian, and I follow Russian news on a daily basis. No one in Russia is running with this story (so far). What's my take .... it must be a very slow news day in some parts of the world.
Hmmmmm .... then again .... between Russia's GRU and the U.S. State Department, who´re ya going to believe?
Analysis: U.S. Arms Sales To Asia Set To Boom On Pacific "Pivot" -- Jim Wolf, Reuters
U.S. sales of warplanes, anti-missile systems and other costly weapons to China's and North Korea's neighbors appear set for significant growth amid regional security jitters.
Strengthening treaty allies and other security partners is central to the White House's "pivot" toward a Pacific region jolted by maritime territorial disputes in China's case, and missile and nuclear programs, in North Korea's.
The pivot "will result in growing opportunities for our industry to help equip our friends," said Fred Downey, vice president for national security at the Aerospace Industries Association, a trade group that includes top U.S. arms makers.
My Comment: It has always been like this .... when the U.S. defense budget is cut, time to look for markets overseas. Fortunately for America's defense contractors .... China and North Korea are making it easy for them to sell their goods to South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, etc..
There were significant setbacks as soldiers in Afghanistan transitioned from fighting to mentoring. A mass murder of Afghan civilians and some cultural missteps hindered NATO’s efforts to win hearts and minds in the 11th year of America’s longest war, while incidents of Afghan police and soldiers murdering their American mentors spiked. Some nagging problems persisted more broadly in the military, as well: Navy commanders were relieved at an alarming pace while bad behavior among troops in Japan resulted in curfews and liberty restrictions. Not among the problems, however, was the acceptance of gays serving openly, which despite dire forecasts by opponents happened without major incidents. As a new year begins, the military’s toughest foe might well be dwindling budgets.
Read more .... My Comment: A great and comprehensive collection of stories, photos, and video.
Syria conflict one factor behind deadly year for media workers, with death toll up 13% on 2011 figure of 107
More than 120 journalists and media workers have been killed so far in 2012, with the conflict in Syria making it one of the bloodiest in recent years.
The International Federation of Journalists said there has been a total of 121 deaths among media personnel from targeted killings, bomb attacks and cross-fire incidents in 2012.
This is up 13% on the 107 killed in 2011 and 22% on the 94 that died in 2010. In 2009 113 media personnel were killed.
The IFJ said that Syria was the most dangerous country in the world for media personnel this year, with 35 fatalities recorded. Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin was killed in the conflict there in February.
It was followed by Somalia, which the IFJ called a "media killing field" with 18.
Photo released by the Afghan Interior Ministry on December 25, 2012 shows Afghan interior minister Mujtaba Patang (L) congratulating police officer Beyar Khan Weyaar at the interior ministry in Kabul. The Taliban believed Weyaar was the perfect candidate to prepare an insider attack on Afghan police, but instead he set a daring trap that has given a rare insight into suicide bombing tactics.
Policeman Wreaks Revenge On Taliban Bombers Who Tried To Bribe Him -- The Australian
FOR an Afghan policeman paid $240 a month, the offer might have been too good to refuse: a one-off job that promised $50,000, two new cars and a luxury house in Pakistan.
Yet it was a proposition that Beyar Khan Weyaar said he never contemplated accepting. The offer was said to be coming from the feared commander of the Haqqani network, which is linked to the Taliban, and the mission had the trademark brutality of the terrorist group.
Mr Weyaar, 40, was told that the rewards would be his if he would help to get six suicide bombers and an explosives-laden truck into the compound of the government headquarters of Paktika province. The target was the governor and the police chief, though the bomb was big enough to take out a whole block.
My Comment: I have never heard of anyone getting paid that type of money in Afghanistan for aiding an "insider attack". The Haqqani network was appealing to his greed .... and he was smart enough to not take it.
There's A Secret War In Thailand No One's Talking About -- Business Insider/The Telegraph
Dispatch: not far from Thailand's tourist beaches, Muslims and Buddhists are locked in a struggle in which thousands have died. David Eimer reports.
The young father walked slowly down the road, his face expressionless, as a light rain fell. In his arms he held the lifeless body of his 11-month-old daughter, killed just hours before when the tea shop in his village was sprayed with automatic gunfire that left six people dead.
Fellow residents of the Muslim Damabuah Village in Thailand’s Narathiwat Province walked behind in silence, while men and women from the security forces lined the road clutching rifles.
My Comment: Here is an easy prediction .... with no one interested in compromising, this sectarian/religious insurgency is going to go on for a very long time.
Photo: Jesse Holder, a 173rd Airborne trooper, was wounded in 2007 while serving in Afghanistan by shrapnel from an RPG round. Courtesy Jesse Holder
One Inch: Death In Combat Hinges On The Tiniest Margins -- NBC
Four soldiers, four battles — and, between them — four total inches separate the slim expanse between death and life.
One died because his armor plating wasn’t one inch higher. Three survived by that same tiny fraction, left to mull the unanswerable: "Why am I still here?"
In the final days of 2012, the somber tally of American service members wounded in action in Afghanistan surpassed 18,000 while the number of U.S. military men and women killed there eclipsed 2,040, according to the Department of Defense.
Excess-Profits Tax On Defense Contractors During Wartime Is Long Overdue -- Washington Post
No one can safely predict what will happen in 2013, but here are a few things I would like to see occur when it comes to national security.
My most radical idea — and it should have been done 10 years ago — is for an excess-profits tax on defense contractors while we have troops fighting overseas. As I have often noted, Afghanistan and Iraq are the first U.S. wars in which taxes were not raised to pay for the fighting. Instead, the cost has been put on a credit card.
In World Wars I and II and the Korean War, Congress approved new taxes, including one directed at defense contractors. In introducing his request in 1940 for a “steeply graduated excess-profits tax,” President Franklin D. Roosevelt said the government should make sure that “a few do not gain from the sacrifices of many.”
Read more .... My Comment: I have always believed that America's defense industries are in sore need of some competition .... but because of the 'boom and bust' nature of the industry .... I must concede that my hopes for competition are (probably) a fantasy in view of the simple fact that only the majors can survive in such a business environment. Bottom line .... if the U.S. wants to remain a superpower it will need to pay the bill. Putting an excess-profits tax on defense contractors will only insure more companies bailing out of the defense industry and creating even lesser competition .... hence more costs and (what is worse) being limited to only one or two sources for your supplies and equipment.
Fearing Fighting, Residents Flee Capital of Central African Republic -- New York Times
JOHANNESBURG — As efforts to broker a deal to stop a rebel advance failed, residents of the capital of the Central African Republic were packing up their belongings and fleeing into the country’s vast hinterlands, fearing a major battle between government troops and guerrilla fighters.
The “Fiscal Cliff” Deal And Defense -- Max Boot, Commentary
The budget details of the Senate’s early-morning deal basically kick the can down the road–not very far down the road–for about two months. For those of us who focus on defense policy, the good news is that the Senate at least agreed to address the looming sequester, something that looked unlikely as recently as a few days ago.
According to this report in the Washington Post, “The last last piece of the puzzle to fall into place was the sequester, which would be delayed until early March under an agreement to raise $12 billion in new tax revenue and $12 billion in fresh savings from the Pentagon and domestic programs.”
I'm a first time user of the macbook pro (retina). Is there a simple way of transferring my Windows PC: Microsoft Office database (Access)files onto my macbook? Perhaps someone here knows of a website that can explain the procedure. Thanks Mike
With Cantor Opposed, House Vote On Fiscal Cliff Compromise Remains In Doubt -- NBC
Resistance from House Republicans, including Majority Leader Eric Cantor, threw into doubt whether a last-minute compromise measure to pull the U.S. back from the so-called fiscal cliff could come to a vote Tuesday.
With just two days to spare, House Republicans were in a series of meetings to figure out how to respond to the Senate's 89-8 vote in the middle of the night to stave off a series of tax increases and steep spending cuts automatically taking effect in the new year.
UN Slaps Sanctions On DR Congo Rebels -- Al Jazeera
Security Council blacklists two rebel groups -M23 and FDLR - responsible for war crimes in conflict-ravaged eastern DRC.
The United Nations Security Council has slapped an arms embargo on M23 rebels and their alleged Rwandan allies, the FDLR, amid a flare-up of violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern region.
The council committee tasked with monitoring sanctions on the Congo also imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on two key M23 figures: the group's civilian leader Jean-Marie Runiga Lugerero and Lieutenant Colonel Eric Badege, a commander suspected of being responsible for the deaths of women and children.
The decision came just hours before Rwanda was set to join the council as a non-permanent member on Tuesday.
Syria Begins 2013 With Shelling And Clashes -- Al Jazeera
Many Syrians woken on New Year's Day to sound of aerial bombardment as officials confirm Aleppo airport has been closed.
Many Syrians woke up on New Year's Day to the sound of countrywide aerial bombardment by government forces, as officials said that the international airport in the country’s second city had been temporarily closed due to repeated attacks by rebel fighters.
The closure of the aviation hub in Aleppo came as President Bashar al-Assad's forces bombarded rebel-held areas and clashed with opposition fighters in several towns.
The Growing Toll Of Syria's Civil War: 46,068 Deaths And Counting -- CNN
(CNN) -- The New Year brought Syrians the same intense carnage they'd been living through for the last 21 months -- and a reminder just how bloody the past year was.
Of all people killed in the civil war, 85% of them -- 39,520 -- died in 2012, the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Tuesday.
In 2011, 6,548 lost their lives, representing 14% of the total 46,068 deaths.
And 2013 could bode worse, said U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on Sunday.
New calculations from WND columnist Diana West suggest the most dangerous murder rate in the world exists not in war-torn Africa or drug-ravaged Columbia, but among U.S.-allied troops being killed by Afghan “friendly” forces.
More than 60 cases of Afghan “allies” murdering members of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, were reported in 2012, a rise from 35 so-called “green-on-blue” killings in 2011.
Thus far, the White House has dismissed the killings as few and unrelated, despite rising numbers and repeated claims from the Taliban that the murders are part of an organized campaign to infiltrate the Afghan-Western alliance.
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Pfc. Markie T. Sims, 20, of Citra, Fla., died Dec. 29 in Panjwal, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 38th Engineer Company, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, under control of the 7th Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
Pakistan Frees Former Taliban Officials to Promote Afghan Peace -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Pakistan released eight more members of Afghanistan’s Taliban movement, including former regional governors and ministers, as it bids to help create conditions for substantial negotiations with insurgents.
Those freed from detention included Abdul Bari, former governor of southern Helmand province, ex-justice minister Nooruddin Turabi, and Mullah Daud Jan, former governor of Kabul, the foreign office said in a statement last night. U.S. forces ousted the Taliban government led by Mullah Mohammad Omar in 2001. Omar is believed is based in Pakistan. Former deputy leader and top military commander Abdul Ghani Baradar, detained in 2010 in Karachi, was not among those released.
Syria Starts 2013 With Aerial Strikes And Clashes -- Reuters
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrians woke on New Year's Day to countrywide aerial bombardment, while President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebels fighting to topple him clashed on the outskirts of the capital.
Residents of Damascus entered the new year to the sound of artillery hitting southern and eastern districts that form a rebel-held crescent on the outskirts of the capital, the center of which is still firmly under government control.
China's Newest And Deadly Warship Has Entered The South China Sea -- Business Insider
As five other countries claim ownership of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, and its supposed billions in oil and gas deposits, China's backing its claim by sending the newest warship it has to the region.
The Taiwan-owned China Times reports the Liuzhou Type 054A warship entered the South China Sea Fleet of China's PLA Navy, making it the sixth 054 warship in the area.
Abdul Qayoom, left, Farah City prison commander, points out the prison's sewer area to U.S. Army Sgt. William Russell, center, security force team member for Provincial Reconstruction Team Farah, and U.S. Army Lt. Col. Mark Martin, right, during a meeting with key leaders at the prison in Farah City, Afghanistan, Dec. 29, 2012. The team's mission is to train, advise and assist Afghan government leaders at the municipal, district and provincial levels in the province. U.S. Navy photo by Chief Hospital Corpsman Josh Ives
Top Afghan Negotiator Optimistic Over Peace Prospects -- Reuters
(Reuters) - A top Afghan peace negotiator said he was cautiously optimistic about prospects for reconciliation with the Taliban and that all sides now realized a military solution to the war was not possible.
Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai also told Reuters that the Kabul government hoped to transform the Afghan Taliban, who have proved resilient after more than a decade of war against U.S.-led NATO and Afghan troops, into a political movement.
He predicted the highly lethal Haqqani militant network, the most experienced at guerrilla warfare, would join the peace process if the Afghan Taliban started formal talks.
My Comment: I do sense that a tipping point has been reached .... that the Taliban simply do not have the resources to come back to power. But .... like Iraq .... even if a peace agreement is reached, I do see sectarian violence becoming a daily occurrence in Afghanistan .... specifically in the Pashtun areas.
