Yesterday:
https://twitter.com/Hatuxka/status/786275429946691584
From Reuters, Oct. 13, today, in other words:
“The U.S. military launched cruise missile strikes on Thursday to knock out three coastal radar sites in areas of Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi forces, retaliating after failed missile attacks this week on a U.S. Navy destroyer, U.S. officials said.
The strikes, authorized by President Barack Obama, represent Washington’s first direct military action against suspected Houthi-controlled targets in Yemen’s conflict.
Still, the Pentagon appeared to stress the limited nature of the strikes, aimed at radar that enabled the launch of at least three missiles against the U.S. Navy ship USS Mason on Sunday and Wednesday.
“These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships and our freedom of navigation,” Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said.
U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said U.S. Navy destroyer USS Nitze launched the Tomahawk cruise missiles around 4 a.m. (0100 GMT).
“These radars were active during previous attacks and attempted attacks on ships in the Red Sea,” including the USS Mason, one of the officials said, adding the targeted radar sites were in remote areas where the risk of civilian casualties was low.
The official identified the areas in Yemen where the radar were located as near Ras Isa, north of Mukha and near Khoka.
Shipping sources told Reuters sites were hit in the Dhubab district of Taiz province, a remote area overlooking the Bab al-Mandab Straight known for fishing and smuggling.” (the rest is here)
Now from yesterday’s article at RT:
“The destroyer, USS Mason, which was reported by Reuters as the target of the missile attack, fired defensive salvos in response. Neither of the missiles hit the ship or caused any damage said US officials. The Pentagon said it would respond to the failed missile attack on its US Navy destroyer off the coast of Yemen “at the appropriate time and in the appropriate manner.”
A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters on Tuesday the US is still investigating the incident, including the exact location of the missile launches.
US officials believe Iranian-backed Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, launched the missiles at the USS Mason and USS Ponce. Both missed the destroyers.
The SABA news agency of Yemen, which is controlled by Houthi, denied its forces fired on the USS Mason.”
Is this what one might call ‘a clue’? or Inspector Clouseau might call ‘a klew’?
“Reports of the attack on the ship came a day after the White House announced an “immediate review” of US support for the coalition led by Saudi Arabia, which has been bombing Yemen since March 2015. The Saudis are backing the Sunni faction of the ousted President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, against the Houthi-led Shia followers of his rival Abdullah Saleh. Riyadh has accused the Houthis of being proxies for Iran, which Tehran has denied.
Well, yanno, the Saudis had recently launched an airstrike on a funeral in Sanaa that allegedly targeted high-ranking Houthi officials, killing over 150 civilians and injuring more than 500. That war crime hadn’t played well around the world, especially given that fragments of US-made bombs were discovered in the wreckage. Even HRW is calling it a war crime; wth?
“Davis declined to confirm whether the Pentagon was developing any targets for retaliatory strikes, and stopped short of blaming the Houthi rebels for the attack.
“The Houthis have said publicly before that they would target any ships in that area that were supporting the coalition against them,” Davis said, according to Reuters. “So the facts certainly seem to point to it, but we are still assessing and we will have more for you.”
Guess it didn’t take long for the Pentagon to complete its ‘investigation’, did it? Or for the White House to ‘review its support for the coalition led by Saudi Arabia’.
Now earlier today Barry Grey at wsws.org had published: ‘Washington threatens military intervention in Yemen following reported missile attacks on US warship’
“On Sunday, a Navy official was more bellicose, declaring that “anyone who fires against US Navy ships operating in international waters does so at their own peril.” Top US security officials were reportedly meeting Wednesday in Washington to decide on the American response.
“NBC Nightly News” led its evening program with a report on the missile firing, linking the incident to Iran, which it described as supporting the Houthi insurgency against the US- and Saudi-backed regime of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. Hadi was brought to power in a single-candidate election in 2012 that was boycotted by the Houthis.”
Jeezum crow; it’s up on youtube. I haven’t seen teevee news for years; note the tone of the voices.
Ahead of the US strikes, b at MOA wrote up some of the history, or the ‘how we got here’ today, in ‘Alleged “Attack” On U.S. Ships To Justify Continued War On Yemen’, and I’ll clip this brief portion:
“The U.S. supports the attacks by the Saudis and the UAE. It delivers planes and ammunition, its aerial tankers refill the Saudi jets taking part – in total over 5,500 times since the bombing began. U.S. intelligence is used by the Saudis to plan their attacks. U.S. officers consult the Saudi planning cells and U.S. special forces are on the ground. It ships help to blockade the Yemeni coast. Despite such massive support the U.S. officially did not consider itself part of the conflict and even tried to negotiated some powersharing agreement as if it were a “neutral” force. That did not deceive anyone in Yemen but the U.S. public was gullible as ever about this.
That ended as more and more atrocities by Saudi attacks on hospitals, schools, markets and important infrastructure became public. After the recent Saudi attack (vid) on a funeral hall filled with people offering condolences the U.S. ran out of stupid excuses. The attack killed over 200 and seriously wounded many more. The local hospitals are overwhelmed and the Saudis block any evacuation. Many of casualties are tribal elites and generals. The U.S. has come under pressure over this and other Saudi attacks. The State Department spokesman was hopelessly trying to explain why that attack was different from less severe attacks in Syria which the U.S. condemns. A significant number of Senators are pressing for an end to the support of the Saudi campaign. Moveon has started a petitions against the U.S. support and the Obama administration itself feared legal consequences.
An attack on U.S. assets that puts the U.S. into a justified “self defense” position against the Houthis makes all such concerns irrelevant. [snip]
“There are rumors that the U.S. attack on the radar stations is in preparation of a massive troop landing by UAE and Saudi mercenary forces currently assembling in the UAE rented and controlled port Assab in Eritrea. That is, in my view, quite possible.”
As Pepe said today before the airstrikes, mind you: “Neocons and mainstream Republicans blame lame duck Team Obama for the “unholy reliance” on Russia and Iran, while neoliberalcons blame Russia outright. And high in the altar of righteousness, hysteria rules, with the neocon president of the NED calling for the US government to “summon the will” to pull a Putin regime change*.
Ready to go nuclear? Hillary Clinton continues to insist the US is not at war with Islam. The US is de facto at war in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan’s tribal areas; involved in covert war in Iran; and has totally destroyed Libya. It’s not hard to do the math.”
“See Robert Parry, ‘Key Neocon Calls on US to Oust Putin’ October 7, 2016; the neocon being:
“The neoconservative president of the U.S.-taxpayer-funded National Endowment for Democracy [NED] has called for the U.S. government to “summon the will” to engineer the overthrow of Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that the 10-year-old murder case of a Russian journalist should be the inspiration.
Carl Gershman, who has headed NED since its founding in 1983, doesn’t cite any evidence that Putin was responsible for the death of Anna Politkovskaya but uses a full column in The Washington Post on Friday to create that impression, calling her death “a window to Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin autocrat whom Americans are looking at for the first time.”
Perry ably demonstrates how, when, and why NED became the step-child of the CIA, and seems gob-smacked that their efforts in this matter are no longer covert.
Scribes for the Imperium, the Guardian offer this fearless and unbiased reporting: ‘US enters Yemen war, bombing Houthis who launched missiles at navy ship’ Pentagon says radar sites were attacked after the destroyer USS Mason came under attack and notes ‘we will respond to any further threat’
Tens of thousands gathered in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa on Sunday to protest the Saudi-led airstrikes on a funeral ceremony that left over 150 people dead and hundreds injured on Saturday. The angry protesters, some of whom were armed, gathered outside the UN office in Sanaa demanding an investigation.
RT reports: “Some of the protesters chanted “Allahu Akbar! America is the Great Satan!” while reportedly also shouting death threats directed at Saudi Arabia’s rulers, according to AFP. The demonstration came a day after an airstrike reportedly targeted a funeral service in the Yemeni capital, killing more than 150 civilians and injuring over 525. In a statement cited by Saudi Press Agency, the Saudi-led coalition denied any role in the incident and vowed to carry out an internal investigation.”
As they say around these parts: Good Gawd All-Friday.
café babylon 
just in an hour ago, and sadly, not satire:
The interesting part:
Dampening expectations.
For the US, the main event is taking out Daesh/ISIS/ISIL in Raqaa and Mosul. Current state of action is in the towns leading up to these cities.
Again, the hang-up is the end-game negotiations that could bring the rebels back into a political struggle with Assad instead of an armed struggle. And agreements among the various rebel groups about what a satisfactory governmental arrangement would be.
Kerry and Lavrov can in fact deal with each other fairly when other parts of their governments, especially on Kerry’s side, are not acting with contradictory actions. It is interesting that the “moderate rebels” are pissed that Obama allowed Syria to dismantle its chemical weapons instead of bombing them as his response to his “red line in the sand”. That certainly exposed who was doing homebrew chemical weapons and who wasn’t.
It is also a smart move to have all of the interested parties talking. It is not just the US and Russia operating at cross-purposes. We focus so much on the policy of our government that we forget that. And we forget that national leaders often like to be proxies to strong militaries that can protect them. That imperialism often starts out with a quid pro quo for proxy heads of state, such as keeping them in power.
in regard to your final paragraph, where would you put turkey in the mix, not to mention israel, always one of the elephants in the room, yes?
ha; i hadn’t known that ‘the rebels’ were pissed, but yes, that’s pretty telling, so thanks.
wsws had mentioned the absent saleh as allied w/ the houthis, but never said where he is, so thanks for that history as well. the u.s. strikes in yemen shook me to the core, frankly, not just cuz it’s election season, but it looked as though the u.s. manufactured casus belli, which is a very bad sign to me. internal tensions, well, yes, but i don’t see kerry as much the honest broker as you may, given his public bellicosity against russia recently. but as with the queen, he may hold both private and public personaes/policies. ;-)
on edit hours later: fascinating, if so, and one wonders if the impetus were a change in ideology, or baksheesh.
(reuters) Exclusive: ‘Islamic State crushes rebellion plot in Mosul as army closes in’
zounds; it’s all so egregious that this op ed?:
https://twitter.com/ReutersOpinion/status/786619000625127424
f*ck the Imperium.
The key figure to watch in Yemen is Ali Abdullah Saleh. He was head of state in 2011 when the Arab Spring demonstrations originating in the university sought to bring him down. Tribes not allied with his government attempted to assassinate him in late 2011. He resigned, sought medical care in the US, and returned, only recently aligning with the Shia Houthi. Best I can find out is Iran’s involvement is assumed because the Houthi are Shia and opposed to the Saudi-Gulf States intervention.
Some wags are saying that Obama is trying to get as much settled in the Middle East as possible before Clinton takes office so that the Clinton foreign policy team is not tempted toward rash action. I find that curious. I also find curious all of this action during election season. The final sieges to evict Daesh/ISIL/ISIS is the only part that actually makes sense.
I read some serious internal conflicts of policy within the US national security apparatus in an administration that plays off multiple approaches to dealing with issues. And the likelihood that Hillary Clinton is likely to do less delegating of foreign policy and national security actions than Obama did.
Outside of denying Saleh’s return to power, I’m not sure what to make of US actions in Yemen yet.
I’m exremely skeptical of these alleged attacks by the Houtis against the U.S. Destroyer. The U.S. hegemon has been prone to false flg attacks to have reason to strike. It has likewise shown itself to not be an honest broker in the M.E..
nice to have you here, v arnold; welcome. yeppers to that, which is why i tried to have a bit of fun about the timing of the ‘day after the WH announced a review’, yada, yada, as well as the near-miraculous speed of the two ‘investigations’ as to where the purported missiles had originated. yanno, almost as though the origins had been pre-determined! i did see ‘gulf of tonkin’ mentioned here and there in the twittersphere last night.
b has a nyt link up this a.m. about houthis seeing a ‘hidden hand’ behind this; he actually was so sardonic about it that he made me chuckle. but srsly, this is ‘wtf?’ stuff to me.
Thanks Wendy, glad to be here.
…I share your healthy sense of skepticism V.A. regarding the motives and methods that have long informed, inspired and motivated USian Empire reaching far back into the 19th century. Post 1860’s Civil War USian Empire motives and methods became ever more cemented in self proclaimed and claimed ” Exceptionalism ” by the orcs who were attracted to and infested WashDC.
…WarMonger/Death Merchant USian Empire SoS Madeline Albright fully framed this wantonly malevolent USian Empire trait with her 1990’s comment about 500,000 dead Iraqi children being ” worth it “. Oh thats right — Maddy was a D — not a R …imagine that .
…A general overview of what WashDC was willing to let happen or condoned being done to the Native Americans during the 19th century surely is the same template that led to Spain being set up for attack and conquest by1898. Or what then ensued across the Pacific into East Asia with USian Empire hands on and fingerprints evidential touches and tiltings aplenty across the 20th century and now into this 21st century as well. See TPP. See Pivot to Asia.
…A well written and usefully informative point of view of USian Empire 19th, 20th and 21st century methods and practices can be found in a book titled ” The Imperial Cruise ” (2009 Little Brown ) which was authored by James Bradley. The roots and seeds of what was or has/did come about betwixt USian Empire and Korea, Japan, Vietnam and Philippines are succinctly revealed and explained in ” The Imperial Cruise ” I think. Nothing new about who is behind ISiS or is it ISIL or os it Daesh and what USian Empire always was and still is. Who will stop this? Those who can and will. Sadly it will not likely be we USians. I am thinking it will be the Russians or Chinese.
…As it is here in late 2016 it should be plainly evident we USians are being badly misled and lied to and having large amounts of misdirection and propaganda spread over and around us.
… Who created ISIS? Who is actually behind ISIS/ISIL/Daesh and is trying to topple Assad and turn Syria into what Libya now is? Who?
…Seems to me WarMonger/WarCriminal/Big Liar Barack Obama and Obama WH led and run CIA/Pentagon and other murky USian Empire allies and willing accomplices are Who #1 with a deeper cast of murky malificent interests always nearby in the shadows.
… Of course the IOKIYAAD BS is running deep these days with Obama doing what Cheney was doing but getting a IOKIYAAD Pass while doing so. Of course should HRC follow BO into the Oval Office one can confidently conclude many dumb shit D’s will willingly afford her IOKIYAAD status as well. Needless to say the Uniparty R vs. D junk politics will be continuing unabated whether it is President Trump or President Clinton on Jan.21, 2017.
…An old friend of mine had a uncle who on occasion would comment that there had to be another planet to go to which I found to be usefully humorous levity in a sad, dark way. Still do.
hallo, arrow; nice to see you again. it’s not my comment to answer, but: ‘US Escalates Involvement in Yemen; The missile attacks on a US navy ship might serve the role the Gulf of Tonkin incident did in providing justification for US war in Vietnam, says Souciant.com‘s associate editor Zenab Ahmed at TRNN his/their site is noteworthy, by the way.
October 6, 2016 ‘Reaping the Whirlwind: Kerry, al-Nusra, Russia and Syria’, by Gary Leupp (and queen h, libya, isis, etc.)
…Hi wd .
…Whatever has been / is going on in Yemen likely has been / is much more about and has to do with USian Empire old ongoing post WW2 imperial/militarism desires and intents or more recently conjured USian Empire MIC $$$/PNAC ME whims.
..It is a long and knowable history of USian Empire
Misdirection And Perfidious Theatre with highlights such as —
…the Maine
…the Lusitania
… Pearl Harbor
…Korea
…1953 and 1979 Iran
… Mobuto/Congo
…Marcos/Philppines
….Suharto/Indonesia
…Tonkin Gulf
…1980’s Iraq/Iran war
… Al Queda/Taliban/Afghanistan
…Saddam and Kuwait
…9/11 and what 9/11 was used to do to Afghanistan + Iraq
…Above listing just for chapter openers with much more still having to do with South and Central America, Gladio in Europe, Israel/Palestine, what befell Libya and now threatens Syria, Iran, Russia and China.
…Yemen is not a real world military threat to USian Empire in any way or form however Yemen is located on some prime ME ocean – seaside property that USian Empire likely covets for possible military advantages and as strategic choke point. Much like what USian Empire is in Iraq and Afghanistan for or sought to be in Crimea for or seeks to be in Syria for with Iran next in crosshairs of USian Empire.
…Interesting to learn about the Marvel linked Syrian ” comic book ” story below. Always quite revealing as to how or why USian Empire picks and chooses it’s pantheons of Good Guys and Bad Guys.
..H.Assad is not nearly the monster USian Empire now wants to portray him to be — what is truly stunning is how USian Empire has gotten away so far with turning Iraq and Libya into absolute hell holes #1. Now is being given legitimacy by EU / NATO vassals to blow Syria up and apart so the likes of ISIS/Daesh or possibly worse can be seated in Damascus while Syria becomes another USian Empire ME hellhole creation #2.
…Barack Obama should be indicted for being the war monger and war criminal BO plainly has been/is since 2009 and perp walked out ot the WH in hand cuffs. Bill and Hillary and the Clinton Payola Crime Foundation can ride with BO in the same paddy wagon to the jail house. As should a good many other warmongering and war criminal WashingtonDC orcs and malefactors. Doubtful we shall see that happening.
…Less doubtful here in late 2016 is how Russia, Iran and China may / will respond and with what should USian Empire perfidiously and stupidly cross too many red lines while seeking to subjugate and dominate them.
…Always very easy to enter and pass thru The Gates of Deep Hell Worlds — passing back out thru those same gateways becomes the truly hellish part.
…take care wd…best wishes always …;-) sta
…thank you wd for creating + doing cafe-b… ;-)
mornin’, arrow. your list is formidable, but the one that sticks out to me is the CIA and british counterparts’ overthrow of mossadegh for: oil. can’t let the oil industries be nationalized, yanno. (see: chavismo, bolivarism) funny how in the ME the empire seems to prefer overthrowing secular leaders. libya news this a.m.: a coup attempt on the UN (western) backed GNA; gawds, what a mess. what a surprise so many don’t support ‘our’ puppets there. but please keep yer hands off ‘our oil’, haftar!
same thing with the leftist nations in ‘our backyard’ even now, but i guess in many of those situations it’s ‘war by other means’, via fear-mongering, cia-driven street protests, economic sanctions, and coups.
thd just provided us w/ a hella lot of yemen and geostrategy below that i didn’t know at all, esp. the bombing of the uss cole. my stars. the headlines on syria at the guardian were damned near identical to what’s in the ‘teacher guides’ in that abc/marvel rubbish.
sharmine narawni has done a good and thorough job of combing thru the podesta emails, and has this up at RT: ‘WikiLeaks: The two faces of Hillary Clinton on Syria’. she’d also done some great digging into the ‘white helmets’ in syria, as did vanessa beeley. but this is great, including her reminder of the declassified DNI report obtained by ‘judicial watch’. she also has a great sense of humor. her logical fallacy is brilliant.
and you’re entirely welcome, my friend; it’s purdy here, ennit?
from the reuters piece w.d. linked to above:
“The former Saudi King Abdullah, who died in January 2015 after two decades in power, presided over a proxy war with the kingdom’s regional rival, Iran – a series of battles in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain and Lebanon…” useful to remember that whenever “Iranian meddling” comes up. thanks to US/Zion arms deals, etc., to S.A., might they be fit for a proxy war w/Iran? an all out war?
In any case, it’s difficult to believe there are countries in the Middle East that are poorer than Iraq, but Yemen is it. As the S.A. is proxy for the US, once again the US finds a way to bomb one of the poorest countries in the world (Afghanistan having been the poorest for a long time.)
one wonders what in yemen is even left to bomb, no? yes, so many proxies against iran and hezbollah. but my stars, this is right in your wheelhouse, jason. i got caught up in, had about twelve tabs open, shut them down to toast to settle my queasy stomach, and can’t find how i’d navigated to them now. but holy Imperial propaganda! and blink.blink.
@ShoebridgeC 16h16 hours ago
Marvel comics and @ABC join forces to teach US schoolchildren ‘evils of the Assad regime’ (with notes for teachers)
background on the project, easier to read and view, even a ‘the making of’ video, iirc.
“Journalists from around the world have sought visas from Damascus, trying to report from the town since the siege began in July 2015. But Syria’s government has consistently denied the media entry.
So Rym Momtaz, a producer for ABC News, tried a different tactic. She was able to connect with a Madaya mother of five, with whom she began an extended text conversation in Arabic.
then marvel comics made an offer. (i’d been trying to discover who’s funding this.) how reminiscent of ‘kill all those scalpin’ redskins, including the children. nits make lice, yanno!
well, who owns abc & marvel? per the dudes at spyculture, the oss/cia are deep in the big Disney muddy, and Walt himself was an unofficial FBI agent, not just an informer, b/c he was authorized to run his own agents w/o supervision. i didn’t click on either link, but let me guess at some words not in those articles: oil, pipelines, israel, wahhabis, islamist assets, etc.
abc and marvel are both disney, inc.? well, no, those words weren’t featured either in the descriptions, captions, nor the teacher study guide. these were:
Madaya is under siege by Syrian government forces and their allies in Lebanon’s Shiite Islamist Hezbollah. starving, eating grass and pets, school kids blown up. madaya mom is a hero like spiderman; she was blown away the folks at marvel knew who she is! but at least not ‘white helmet saviors’, at least i’ve seen. study guide: is sherman’s scorched earth strategy what’s up in syria? Should leaders and officers who use this tactic be tried as war criminals?
on edit, more missing words, from wsws:
“Let’s consider the words and phrases that—astonishingly—do not appear once in Between the World and Me: “capitalism” (or “capitalist”), “working class,” “unemployment,” “oppression,” “repression,” “demonstration,” “trade unions,” “factory,” “economy,” “socialism,” “inequality,” “polarization,” “elite” [in the sense of ruling elite], “ruling,” “bourgeois,” “masses,” “left-wing,” “right-wing,” “imperialism,” “colonialism,” “globalization,” “transnational,” “multinational,” “oligarchy,” “plutocracy,” “aristocracy,” “cutback,” “welfare reform,” “affirmative action.”
how did i miss the wsws review of today’s “James Baldwin”?
Disney also bought out the Star Wars franchise. so they now own two of the biggest, if not the biggest, movie franchises and will be recycling that shit forever, along w/all the associated reams & reams of plastic & product garbage.
ouch on the joint review. but as you didn’t say yes, disney owns abc as far as i could tell, i went to the wiki; talk about ouch!
“The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network that is owned by the Disney–ABC Television Group, a subsidiary of the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company.” how could anyone not see the reason we speak of: the military/industrial/congressional/infotainment complex? anyway, thanks for the heads-up.
nbc is jointly owned by comcast and GE. geeee. no wonder i never watch teevee news. that nbc piece blew the clogs right offa my feet.
The US is running out of little countries to demolish – nah, that doesn’t look right. I just hate what is happening in Yemen, and that MoA bit courtesy of the nyt with the dispiriting information that we’ve been supplying refueling
tankers all along reminds me of the Russian revelation that the terr’ists were happily convoying oil to Turkey from their Syrian enclaves. Poppies in Afghanistan? The rot is so, so deep.
Those of us who still remember how it used to be when the Taliban kept a clamp down on evil whilst indeed straightjacketing their people – women’s rights? Maybe they had some rights then they don’t have now. Just sayin’.
There’s more to freedom than what we preach, sometimes.
librul reason #5 to stay in afghanistan: “but the women…and schools for the chirren!” that’s when bill moyers lost me as a viewer. now: 15 fooking years. and it’s the poppies and the other profits of War.
p.s. if b hasn’t seen the abc/marvel comics anti-assad propaganda project in the tweet above yet, i’ll bet he’d like to know about it.
Can Trump be as reviled as a commie? Of course not, but you can still have a cold war with him. Just because Republicans played David to the Liberal Goliath doesn’t mean they won’t be crushed. The hegemonsters can distract a lot of people with that spectacle.
It helps to have clear-written apologists when the official government sources cannot or will not offer a fuller explanation of their own thinking. Juan Cole, for example on Yemen:
You see the geostrategic reason as the flip side of the paranoia that Pepe Escobar has been describing as the US reaction to China’s New Silk Road initiative to bypass the ocean route through the Malaccas and the Red Sea for supply chain shipments from the Far East to Europe. The US Navy sees itself as the guarantor of this sea route as part of its “policeman of the world” contribution to protecting the global commons. It confirmed its role as the “indispensable nation” when Somali pirates were raiding shipping through the international waters between Somalia and Yemen.
The nice things about geostrategic reasons is that they are both cause and effect of the need for military presence because it is the military itself whose needs drive what is geostrategic and what isn’t.
Take the resource drive for oil. The military is the largest consumer of oil. The availability of oil is a necessity for war, especially for air war.
So for shipping lanes. If there are no open international shipping lanes and territorial waters are so large that nations contend for ocean surface, imperial navies would have no freedom of movement except as they suppressed opposition and destroyed local navies.
The US has (or had) a base in Aden. The USS Cole was attacked there. It is former President Hadi’s hometown; notice who the US wants to restore to power. This is the geostrategic point; it is also one of the stronger areas of AQAP.
And the US base is (or was) on the corner of Yemen where all shipping in and out of the Red Sea made a turn from or to the Indian Ocean and entered or left the narrow confines of the Red Sea.
A global navy ceases to be global if an important link between oceans and seas is removed.
And was it Saleh who was in power when the USS Cole was attacked. And who was the US Ambassador when that happened? Bill Clinton appointee Barbara Bodine. And what help did she give to security personnel were warning about al Quaeda being behind the USS Cole bombing?
Such was the FBI and CIA not working together that created the excuse for the PATRIOT Act.
No doubt, the US sees a prospective Hadi regime as an infant democracy cut short by the Houthi coup.
And the second geostrategic reason is Saudi Arabia’s, not Yemen’s oil. The great Yemen adventure is in support of Saudi Arabia’s defense of wahabism in Yemen. And we wouldn’t want to offend the holder of the largest oil reserves in the world would we, given our antagonism to the holder of the second largest oil reserves in the world.
zounds and whooosh, thd; thank you for all that very relevant history. er…doesn’t juan cole have it tospy-turvey? and didn’t the houthis boycott the vote in any event? as a side note. apparently the twittersphere’s been havin’ some fun over juan’s revisionist history: ‘no, i did NOT support r2p libya!’ pants on fire-worthy.
and israel and KSA are allied on that support of wahabi/salafist? sunnis in yemen and syria as well. you may be right about the military being the largest user of oil, but iirc, factory agriculture is a close second, isn’t it? makes all the “let’s all have the G sell us cheap electric cars” stuff sound pretty silly as a major solution to climate change.
a comment under juan’s essay:
““In 2012 Hadi was “elected” to a 2-year term via a UN-imposed process in which no other candidates were allowed. He extended his own term an additional year in 2014 and it was scheduled to end February of 2015. This never happened, however, because Hadi resigned in January 2015, and the Saudis launched their war to reinstall him in March of that year.
Unbelievably, the international community not only considers this fair, they deem it worth the lives of thousands of innocent civilians.”
wiki says that the ‘houthi coup’ was due to IMF-driven austerity resets in the form of ending fuel subsidies. that so, even in part?
Do you imply that this “infant democracy” is a facade for an Al Quaedan Islamic State?
“On Friday US President Barack Obama informed Congress about authorizing the strikes “in response to anti-ship cruise missile launches perpetrated by Houthi insurgents.” In the “War Powers Resolution” letter, Obama stated that US armed forces targeted radar facilities which the US believes had been involved in “the October 9 launches and other recent attacks.”
“These limited and proportionate strikes were conducted to protect our personnel and our ships and will preserve our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway,” Obama explained.
At the same time, Obama stressed that any other attempts to interfere with the US interests in the area would not be tolerated, warning that counter actions would follow if an attack on US personnel in the region is made.
“The United States stands ready to take action in self-defense, as necessary and appropriate, to address further threats,” Obama wrote.
The American leader’s statement somewhat contradicts the Pentagon’s assessment presented a day earlier.”
and of course iran has sent navy warships to the gulf of aden off the yemeni coast….gee, how dare iran claim it has rights on the open seas, anyway?
the guardian: ‘Saudi-led coalition admits to bombing Yemen funeral; ‘Incorrect information’ meant hall in Sana’a was mistaken for military target, leading to 140 deaths, says US-backed mission’
whew; but at least they will pay the families of the victims (the dead) blood money. who provided the intel? what does ‘US logistical support’ amount to, anyhoo?
Gulf of Tonkin redux
Well, that didn’t take long.
holy weasel journalism, batman: “There are initial unconfirmed reports of missiles possibly being fired from positions both ashore on Yemen and by small spotter boats operated by Houthi rebels.”
but at least it was briefer than this; this one’s so loaded for bear it’s almost funny. i’m not getting the timing, i guess.
okay, it’s been updated to reflect: “This post and headline have been updated with additional information from the Department of Defense. While Mason fired counter-measures to protect itself, it is yet unconfirmed if the suspected threats are cruise missiles or originated in Yemen.
A U.S. guided missile destroyer may have been attacked on Saturday off the coast of Yemen by anti-ship cruise missiles for the third time this week, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson told reporters on Saturday.”
i swear nbc gave us film footage of the ship’s anti-missile defense system ‘shooting one of the houthi missiles’ out of the air.
Ain’t file footage wonderful, if overused?
NYT reporting today on the covert war in (ding ding ding!) Somalia. no I didn’t read it, but it’s clear the NYT thinks the main thing is to avoid another “Black Hawk Down Syndrome.” Optics, people. Focus on the main thing, the PR.
ga ga ga ga ding! *expanding* the covert war in somalia. bet teh prisoner interrogations are…not much fun, eh? this reminds me exactly of early afghanistan: rat out yer clan enemy so they can have an all-expenses-paid trip to the gitmo hotel! yea check in, but ya don’t check out. okay, exceptions, but they prove the point.
“The strikes have had a mixed record. In March, an American airstrike killed more than 150 Shabab fighters at what military officials called a “graduation ceremony,” one of the single deadliest American airstrikes in any country in recent years. But an airstrike last month killed more than a dozen Somali government soldiers, who were American allies against the Shabab.
Outraged Somali officials said the Americans had been duped by clan rivals and fed bad intelligence, laying bare the complexities of waging a shadow war in Somalia. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said the Pentagon was investigating the strike.”
took three peeps to write it, but at least they did come up w/ this:
“In its public announcements, the Pentagon sometimes characterizes the operations as “self-defense strikes,” though some analysts have said this rationale has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It is only because American forces are now being deployed on the front lines in Somalia that they face imminent threats from the Shabab.”
but that’s africom’s mission: rescuing nations from the instability that they create. neat li’l package tied up in string…
dunno if y’all will find this as an hilarious example of unintentional self-parody as i do, but this link at africom on twitter goes to ‘ooops; page not found!’
@USAfricaCommand Sep 29
UPDATE: U.S. self-defense strikes in Somalia – http://go.usa.gov/xKtHS
pretty fun as well is that their banner photo is all black people, yanno their partners in peace. but their actual ops photos are purdy durned white-faced.
meanwhile: syria:
‘A Peace Plan for Syria II; Options for Future Governance’ by James Dobbins, Philip Gordon, Jeffrey Martini of Rand
they claim that decentralization is part of the syrian constitution, in any event. i mainly scanned to find a date: only 2016. but rand and the parties who were in lausanne may not have the final say, yes?
Given the concerns of minority sects, including Alewites, Jews, and Christians about the intentions of the Moslem Brotherhood and Wahabist rebels and the concerns of ethnic minorities such as the Kurds, the political settlement will be quite complicated if central power (authoritarianism) is limited. Assad has strength among minorities because he did protect them by running a mostly secular state. And there’s the rub for the religious nationalists.
Rand and the external parties in Lausanne very well will not have the final say if there is a workable agreement. And that includes the US and its allies, who might not be on the same page themselves. All a meeting like Lausanne can do if it is successful is arrive at an agreement for the external parties to stop meddling. It is possible and has happened long enough other places. But national interests being what they are, the US, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey are going to be highly tempted to screw up any agreement. I would like for this one to work for the sake of the Syrian people, but it’s a tough nut in a US election year.
The table on page 9 of the RAND report PDF fairly outlines at least four of the options for the internal players for negotiation. We already know that the US and the internal factions aligned with it do not like Option 1. The report states that none of the Arab (i.e. non-Kurd) actors like Option 4. Something between Option 2 and Option 3 might be possible as a negotiated settlement, if there is one. And all a successful negotiated settlement will do is move out or the “other” means of war back into the using the means of ordinary politics. Not one of these options is likely to be a final end state after which Syria becomes a unified and prosperous country overnight or even within 5 years or so. Option 1 is essentially the argument that the factions are so intractable that it will require a ruthless authoritarian government to keep social life from becoming a war of all against all. That there needs to be a strong centralized state. As much as the US does not like it or wants to choose the authoritarian, that might very well be the case, and Assad might be the least oppressive that can be found to rule Syria; that certainly is the current Russian position on Assad.
i’d said it wrong about rand having final sway; i’d imagined among the west, perhaps germany and the US. bless your heart for reading the options in the pdf, my friend. but for now, RL has taken precedence over the site again for the time being. more as i’m able. were there more maps than the northern syria one?
the most key truths i take away are these: “All a meeting like Lausanne can do if it is successful is arrive at an agreement for the external parties to stop meddling” and “…Assad might be the least oppressive that can be found to rule Syria”.
an author at wsws wrote up what he could discover (and interpret) about the weekend meetings in london, lausanne, ahead of more talks in luxembourg today. it’s all extremely depressing. a few outtakes, and yes, i’d forgotten boris johnson’s extreme bombasticity resulting in an alliance with hollande to create a no-fly zone for the entire country, but this, along with ‘nothing’s off the table’ rhetoric:
“Kerry pledged the US would continue to oppose Assad and Russia, even in the event of Aleppo falling to government forces, resulting in its control over the second largest city and the capital, Damascus. “The Russians should understand, and Assad needs to understand, that that does not end the war,” he said.
Kerry’s bellicose comments underscore the White House’s strategy of demonising Russia, in an attempt to create a climate in which it can justify a confrontation with Moscow. Speaking to “Meet the Press” Sunday, US Vice President Joe Biden said the US could retaliate against Russia, which he accused of a series of cyberattacks targeting the Democratic National Committee and other political institutions.
On Friday, NBC reported that the US is preparing a CIA-led cyberattack on Russia. Biden said, “We’re sending a message. We have the capacity to do it… It will be at the time of our choosing—and under the circumstances that have the greatest impact.”
i believe it was assange who’d quipped, ‘er…you don’t announce a cyber attack ahead of time’. or was it putin? meanwhile, this perplexing news:
@wikileaks 7h7 hours ago ‘Julian Assange’s internet link has been intentionally severed by a state party. We have activated the appropriate contingency plans.’
the guardian (srsly) is live-blogging the assault on mosul’ leading to jonathan cook‘s being blown away this a.m. by the guardian’s 1984 front page coverage (yanno, the “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength” framing.
“Report one: The Guardian provides supportive coverage of the beginning of a full-throttle assault by Iraqi forces, backed the US and UK, on Mosul to win it back from the jihadists of ISIS – an assault that will inevitably lead to massive casualties and humanitarian suffering among the civilian population.
Report two: The Guardian provides supportive coverage of the US and UK for considering increased sanctions against Syria and Russia. On what grounds? Because Syrian forces, backed by Russia, have been waging a full-throttle assault on Aleppo to win it back from the jihadists of ISIS and Al-Qaeda – an assault that has led to massive casualties and humanitarian suffering among the civilian population.”
you know how viciously stupid these people are? how about releasing an unknown agent into a country’s nuclear program, called Stuxnet?
mind-blowing bellicosity added to hypocrisy. but yanno what they say: “all is fair in love and war against iran and putin!” and yes, it’s down to putin, not ‘russia’, isn’t it. the guardian today op-ed: “Aleppo, Ukraine, cyber attacks, Baltic threats: what should we do about Putin?” w/o putin, we’d be in the clover!
given that the ‘syrian insurgency’ is totally a proxy war, why would any of the outsiders truly want peace? any notion of which ‘state party’ severed assange’s internet connection? or how? rumors are rampant about his death, but others have explained the contingency plans alphanumeric codes, not that i understand any of it. by the by, biden’s loose cannon of a mouth kinda reminds me of mild tourette’s as well..
…What J. Assange and WikiLeaks have done / are doing represents an informational / knowledge existential threat to Anglo-Zionists regime(s) multiple MO’s in WashDC, London and TelAviv.
..Surprising it is the Ecuadoran Embassy in London was not / has not been already bulldozed/stormed with J. Assange taken dead or alive or USian Empire/UK vassal spec ops attacked or been made a cruise missile target courtesy of CIA/MI6/USAF/RAF and assorted mercenary minions. Only a matter of time before J. Assange is rendered mute one way or another. WikiLeaks surely is going to be fiercely demonized and face being ruthlessly ostracized more and more as being a ” terrorist oriented organization ” or lumped together with the likes of RT as being a Russian/Kremlin puppet. As it is dark and murky forces in UK are showing intent to do acts of malice.
…Truths Being Told and Facts Being Shown have been longtime principle enemies of what USian Empire /Anglo-Zionist cabal is/does/seeks to be and do unopposed since 2000 or 1970 or 1945 or 1912 or 1895.
…Odd indeed how Bush and Cheney were endlessly being bashed and trashed by the dumb shit D’s from 2001 to 2008 but once D’s were back in the WH in Jan. 2009 B.Obama, J. Biden and the likes of Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder were doing what Bush, Cheney, Rice and Gonzales had been doing but did so with the dumb shit D’s putting It’s OK If You Are A Democrat Approval Stickers on it.
… It should be underlined in red ink that B.Obama is worse than R.B.Cheney being B.Obama aka ” Nobel Peace Prize winner ” has been cloaked with falsely orchestrated and applied veneers of being politically/ethically/morally ” better ” than R.B.Cheney which is pure Big Lie BS. B.Obama is a Big Liar, a WarMonger, a WarCriminal and Wanton Serial Killer of Innocent Civilians / Children. Truth. Fact.
…Odd indeed how B.Obama condemned what Bradley/Chelsea Manning did or what Edward Snowden did while evidently condoning and letting SoS Hillary Clinton violate long and well established USG / DoS communications / security protocols and openly participating with her doing so. Worse still is what B. Obama and Obama WH now doing to shield/cloak this entire legal/ethics lapse failure via putting in fixes at Obama WH run DOJ / FBI. Imagine how the stupid shit D zealots would have been screeching and screaming had this been done by Bush and Cheney WH to shield/protect Condi Rice and then subvert / thwart DOJ/FBI to help install Condolezza Rice as a R POTUS back in 2008. The stupid shit D’s would have been having convulsions from having gone politically apoplectic. Obama and Clinton Debacle here in 2016.? D zealots not to be seen or heard. D zealot Political Credibility? Zero. D zealot Political Integrity? Zero.
…Woodrow Wilson (D) and Barack Obama (D) undoubtedly are two USian Empire WH Oval Office holders who should be grouped together for the shared ease they both had / have for practices of serially done political/moral/ethical perfidy and telling of Big Lies.
….sorry wd… another sta cafe-b comments thread tirade…sheesh
…take care wd …sta ;->
we encourage tirades here, arrow. ;-) yep: anti war fizzled a bit when O came in, and of course HRC. assange: yes, she and her flying monkeys said way back: “assange should be droned”, but…’it was just a joke if I said it’. he’d reported an intruder outside his digs a few weeks ago, and said it had taken the bobbies an ungodly amount of time to show up. news from RT this a.m. that the UK has blocked their bank accounts, fie on them.
meanwhile, chelsea manning got a month in solitary for trying to end her own life; what horror, and it just keeps on, doesn’t it? meanwhile, one good thing from CCR this a.m.:
“The Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to decide whether high-ranking George W. Bush administration officials… may be held liable for policies adopted after the Sept. 11 attacks,” the New York Times reported last week. It was big news — also covered in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and NBC News — about a case that CCR first filed in 2002 and that we have been doggedly pursuing ever since.
The policies in question are the round-up, detention, and abuse of hundreds of Muslim, Arab, and South Asian men after 9/11. The officials include Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and INS Commissioner James Ziglar.” (Turkmen v. Ashcroft)
sorry if i seem distracted: i am, lol. but i’m so glad you’re contributing here.
on edit: i fixed it, but crikey, i hate to think how many of my own typos i never fix. distraction: i’ve been trying to write up a black lives story for about a week, finally had a bit of time today, but my mind ain’t with it, and so many other distractions in RL. but O worse than cheney? that i’d have to think about since he’s the director of the top secret ‘energy task force’ and all that implies for the Imperiums FP debacles and military misdadventures for control of resources and…the globe, no?
…thanx wd for implanting the tardy typo correction — I do know how to spell that word — deeper ” problem ” likely has more to do with faulty ” wiring ” betwixt my digits and the cpu that is showing it’s age uptop…;-) …as for Obama being worse than Cheney that being a matter of political opinion I will yield to that being so…Obama seemingly ran during 2007 – 2008 as being the ” I am not Dick Cheney ” candidate but it soon became painfully apparent post Jan.20, 2009 that Obama was going to shield Bush and Cheney in all ways possible and in fact doubled down or did worse with his Big Lies on most Bush/Cheney agenda items…so much for the Nobel Peace Prize Obama was oddly/mysteriously prematurely given…Cheney did not hide what he was …Obama has been doing duplicity non stop…
welcome amigo, and no, it’s not possible to compare war criminals really; there are so many. but no, at least cheney didn’t receive the nobel peace prize on spec (it needs to be retired permanently, imo).
i stuck up another war (and peace?) diary a few hours ago, and although a placeholder, it can act as an open thread. i think, anyhoo. what.a.world.
on edit: i’d meant to say thank you for using the word ‘tirade’; another of the many words i’d forgotten in my dotage.
…was strolling by cafe b again and was happily surprised to see you had cleaned up the typos in my last comment wd….thank you ever so much … I was working in the kitchen preparing my master piece signature ” Seafood Soup ” for companion and had momentarily detoured to cafe b comments … so far so good …but companion returned home earlier than expected and I had to put my apron back on being ” times a’wastin best get go’in with fix’in vittles ” ( read as said by Irene Ryan as ” Granny ” in The Beverly Hillbillies ;-) ) for dinner …hence rushed with posting that last comment that began with thanking you wd for the assist with the typo …when I was able to look at the comment again I saw all my typos …yikes!! …needless to say there were several typos in that comment due to my haste and not being able to proof read before posting…there were more typo wipe outs in that short comment than the classic 1957 Appalachia boot legging movie “Thunder Road” with Robert Mitchum had car wipe outs I think …yikes!!
anyhoo thanx wd for fixing my typos …very appreciated ..;-)…It seems this Steve Jobs IPad I am on with it’s touch screen keyboard is not intended for these old farmer hands I got going …golly — imagine that 🤗….. take care wd…until again..sta ;-)
welcome, and dayum: i want some ‘o that zooop! dark roux?
la luna bella just rose here! and she is full! aaaaaawooooooo!
Hey, hey, hey, Obama the JooDa’ss done nipped HeyZeus’ empire in its bloom?
Pilate “find[s] no guilt in [HeyZeus]” but JooDass finds it in himself!
Whereas, Obama:
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA.
“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our [S]tars, but in ourselves.”
HA HA HA HA HA HA.
Yet hell hath no fury no more for murderers and neither enuff do we.
alt: ‘hey hey we’re the monkees, people pay us to travel around…’ or somethin’ like that. shoot; i used to have a francois hardy cover of that piaf song (embarrassingly enuff, i’d won it in a dance contest, ho har) , no idea of its origin.
not to be a pendant, but hadn’t our war criminal in chief expressed to doris goodwin (godwin?) in their mutual blowjob interview that ‘libya is one thing i regret. we hadn’t
killed enuff of the jihadist oppositionhadn’t stuck around long enuff…to make sure we got their oil and desert projects waterto stabilize our new democracy™?HA HA HA HA.
In this case means, “good comprador”.
her name is doris kearns goodwin, guess you found the
interviewblowjob, and got the right quote. but according to the etymology, the difference of one or two ‘O’s is a distinction w/o a difference. oh, yes, she is a good friend to presidents, you betcha. historian? well…of a sort, i reckon. pbs loves her!via the guardian’s “fearless journalism” ‘please contribute
‘: ‘Closure of Russia Today bank accounts nothing to do with us – Treasury’; British government denies role in NatWest closing bank accounts of Moscow’s main propaganda tool in English-speaking world
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/17/russia-todays-uk-bank-accounts-frozen-says-editor
@wikileaks 6m6 minutes ago
We can confirm Ecuador cut off Assange’s internet access Saturday, 5pm GMT, shortly after publication of Clinton’s Goldman Sachs speechs. (sic and wtf pressure?)
“[A] murky British plot” from Albion?
No! That would be the most ruthless cynicism!!!
blimey and lol; i’d had to bingle ‘albion’. cripes it’s all getting only too predictable and rather scary biscuits. great graphic.