Gas Bandit's Political Thread V: The Vampire Likes Bats
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GasBandit
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It was a horrible trade (FIVE high ranking terrorists for one enlisted defector?), made against the law - which says it has to go through congress. I know President "I have a phone and a pen" Obama doesn't care much about the separation of powers, but it exists for a reason.
Well, that was a terrible trade, to be fair.
On ISIS: the USA doesn't really seem to learn. You armed the Taliban against Russia, and had to fight them yourselves after. You armed the Syrian rebels and we're fighting them. You're now arming the Kurds - who were supposedly terrorists until "whoops there's worse out there". Want to bet who you'll be fighting in 15 years' time?
I've always been sympathetic to the Kurds - their lands were split between Iraq ,Turkey and Iran, they were marginalized or oppressed in all three, and labelled terrorists when fighting Saddam even though he was gassing them. They're slowly but surely getting enough support to have far-reaching self-government in modern Iraq, they've been recognized as a minority in Iran, Turkey's mostly content to let them stew these days... Now we're busily re-arming the PKK? They're going to use those weapons against Turkey. Turkey will respond with a smack-down, especially considering the way Turkish politics are moving right now. It'll be another guerilla war on our doorstep. Ugh.
On ISIS: the USA doesn't really seem to learn. You armed the Taliban against Russia, and had to fight them yourselves after. You armed the Syrian rebels and we're fighting them. You're now arming the Kurds - who were supposedly terrorists until "whoops there's worse out there". Want to bet who you'll be fighting in 15 years' time?
I've always been sympathetic to the Kurds - their lands were split between Iraq ,Turkey and Iran, they were marginalized or oppressed in all three, and labelled terrorists when fighting Saddam even though he was gassing them. They're slowly but surely getting enough support to have far-reaching self-government in modern Iraq, they've been recognized as a minority in Iran, Turkey's mostly content to let them stew these days... Now we're busily re-arming the PKK? They're going to use those weapons against Turkey. Turkey will respond with a smack-down, especially considering the way Turkish politics are moving right now. It'll be another guerilla war on our doorstep. Ugh.
GasBandit
Staff member
Huh. Alrighty then. This is the first time I've actually ever heard of that organization.
It's tough, because "the Kurds" is a lot more than just the PKK, it's also the KDP and PUK.
In theory, we would not be supporting the PKK, we'd be supporting the KRG's Peshmerga forces, who are loyal to the KDP, who are relatively moderate and in favor of measured rapprochement with other countries in the ME and have been at least nominally our allies since the mid-90s.
However, the KDP shares Kurdish power in Iraq with the PUK (whereas KDP controls Iraqi Kurdistan, PUK controls the presidency of Iraq as a checks and balances measure to avoid conflict between Sunnis and Shiites), and while PUK are also somewhat considered allies at this point, they're much less inclined to support rapprochement with other countries and have gotten politically friendlier with the PKK as of a year ago. If the PUK manages to gain overall political control over Iraqi Kurds, it's not out of the question that arms, money, etc. that we send to the KRG might end up in the hands of the PKK.
In theory, we would not be supporting the PKK, we'd be supporting the KRG's Peshmerga forces, who are loyal to the KDP, who are relatively moderate and in favor of measured rapprochement with other countries in the ME and have been at least nominally our allies since the mid-90s.
However, the KDP shares Kurdish power in Iraq with the PUK (whereas KDP controls Iraqi Kurdistan, PUK controls the presidency of Iraq as a checks and balances measure to avoid conflict between Sunnis and Shiites), and while PUK are also somewhat considered allies at this point, they're much less inclined to support rapprochement with other countries and have gotten politically friendlier with the PKK as of a year ago. If the PUK manages to gain overall political control over Iraqi Kurds, it's not out of the question that arms, money, etc. that we send to the KRG might end up in the hands of the PKK.
Isn't trading bad guys for good guys how these things usually work? I'm not disagreeing it may have been a poor trade but I doubt it's the first time POWS have been traded for POWS.
GasBandit
Staff member
The issue is, people decided to make the trade without authorization when it wasn't their call to do so, and then present it as a fait accompli.
And yes, it was a terrible trade.
And I'm not completely convinced we got a "good guy" in return.
GasBandit
Staff member
Ollie North and Scooter Libby might seem to disagree. Which is what led to my comment 12 posts ago.
GasBandit
Staff member
North was a joke in the 80s and 90s. Then he got a fox news gig and it REALLY kicked into gear.
And it's not what we want, but it's probably what will happen. Either we'll get some underling taking the fall, of whom we have never before heard, or nothing will happen but bluster and fist shaking.
I don't think we'll ever actually have another watergate. The bar's been lowered too far for it.
I'll repeat what I said two weeks ago. It wasn't even fucking necessary! The Democrats were an absolute shambles in '72. The convention was an exercise in foot-shooting, One VP nominee had to drop out when news of electroshock therapy broke. Was there ever really any doubt that McGovern was going to get absolutely curbstomped in November?
Pastis hits the nail on the head on bribery campaign contributions today: http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2014/08/24
And considering he used to be a practising lawyer, he can actually understand SCOTUS rulings.
And considering he used to be a practising lawyer, he can actually understand SCOTUS rulings.
Necronic
Staff member
GasBandit
Staff member
Necronic
Staff member
I don't agree with the SCOTUS take on this subject, but its worth mentioning that the first panel is (iirc) patently illegal. Massive donations have to go through SuperPACs, and there has to be a firewall between SuperPACs and the politicians they represent. This is, of course, unlikely, but it is an integral part of the rules.
Necronic
Staff member
I promise I'm not picking on libertarians exclusively. Technically this time I'm picking on objectivists, but I guess the line is blurry.
So apparently that Galts Gulch project down in Child is not doing to well. No one took the time to understand that even though Chile is in South America try DO still have laws. And the GGC community royally fucked up pretty much every step of their real estate transactions. Here's a rosy view of the situation from one of the insiders:
http://dollarvigilante.com/blog/2014/8/26/the-fate-of-galts-gulch-chile.html
So apparently that Galts Gulch project down in Child is not doing to well. No one took the time to understand that even though Chile is in South America try DO still have laws. And the GGC community royally fucked up pretty much every step of their real estate transactions. Here's a rosy view of the situation from one of the insiders:
http://dollarvigilante.com/blog/2014/8/26/the-fate-of-galts-gulch-chile.html
Necronic
Staff member
Ok. Maybe I am picking on libertarians today. Gary Johnson just did an AMA over on Reddit.
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2eoi74/i_am_gov_gary_johnson_honorary_chairman_of_the/
Interesting read. Sort of. I find it interesting that he started this AMA at like 10PM.
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2eoi74/i_am_gov_gary_johnson_honorary_chairman_of_the/
Interesting read. Sort of. I find it interesting that he started this AMA at like 10PM.
GasBandit
Staff member
I hate AMAs, makes it impossible to actually find meaningful questions and answers after the fact, in most situations. But the few I ferreted out of there before I got a headache seemed standard to me.
Necronic
Staff member
Yeah none really surprised me. It sounded pretty standard Libertarian stuff. I wish there was a bit more back and forth in those but there never is[DOUBLEPOST=1409159298,1409159125][/DOUBLEPOST]Actually one thing I did see in there that was surprising is that Gary, like Ron Paul, used MASSIVE amounts of federal dollars while governor. There were some comments that this was due to reservation dollars. I would be curious to hear the truth.
Girl, 9, kills gun instructor with Uzi http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/26/us/arizona-girl-fatal-shooting-accident/index.html
This sounds like an irresponsible instructor to me. Well, and parents, because hello, a 9 year old is probably not physically capable of handling an Uzi.
This sounds like an irresponsible instructor to me. Well, and parents, because hello, a 9 year old is probably not physically capable of handling an Uzi.
GasBandit
Staff member
Yeah, you don't teach a little kid to shoot on an SMG, or even a pistol, really. At that stage, a .22 bolt action rifle is where you should be.[DOUBLEPOST=1409175961,1409175747][/DOUBLEPOST]
Reading the article, doesn't seem so strange. No powder residue on the accused shooter, no murder weapon found, prosecutor's own witnesses saying that more gunfire was heard well after the murder victim was shot, no witnesses able to identify the accused at the scene... sounds pretty much like not enough evidence to convict, to me.
At that stage, your training weapon should be something that's too heavy for the kid to suddenly point it in an unexpected direction.
--Patrick
ISIS has succeeded in eliminating Christians from at least one town, either through eviction or other means. Some of them left their fingers behind.
GasBandit
Staff member
"Contrary to my website's motto, the internet doesn't make you stupid. The internet merely makes your stupidity more accessible to others." - Rich "Lowtax" Kyanka
GasBandit
Staff member
They don't think they're crazy.