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kpete

kpete's Journal
kpete's Journal
March 22, 2015

Juan Cole has an amusing translation of Obama Speak from the Huffington interview

Juan Cole has an amusing translation of Obama (or Spock) speak from the Huffington interview
http://www.juancole.com/2015/0.....nyahu.html

The part I liked best was:

OBAMA: “I don’t think it will have a significant impact. . .
What is going to have an effect on whether we get a deal done is, number one, is Iran prepared to show, to prove to the world that it is not developing a nuclear weapon, and can we verify that in an intrusive, consistent way.

And frankly, they have not yet made the kind of concessions that are I think going to be needed for a final deal to get done. But they have moved, and so there’s the possibility.

The other thing is going to be me being able to show not just the American people or the Israeli people but the world that, in fact, we have mechanisms in place that will prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon. And that the deal that is made not only is verifiable, but it also makes it much less likely that Iran is able to break out than if we have no deal at all. And that’s an argument that we are going to have to make, if we have a deal.”

English Translation: “That little piss-ant isn’t what’s standing in the way of a deal. It’s the Iran side’s unwillingness to accept terms we can sell to the Europeans. If Iran comes through, Western European corporations are going to descend on Tehran like revelers descending on New Orleans at Mardi Gras, and there won’t be a thing Nutty-yahoo can do about the collapse of international sanctions on Iran. We’re doing the Israelis a favor here by getting Iran under regular inspections and back under an NPT regime, and if they can’t see that they can go suck on a lemon.”


http://www.juancole.com/2015/03/translating-comments-netanyahu.html
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2015/03/22/shocking-lack-of-respect/#respond
March 22, 2015

such waste.....

Instances of Use of United States Armed
Forces Abroad, 1798-2015

one of the saddest docs I have ever read:
http://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R42738.pdf

March 22, 2015

Pipelineistan

Iran is ready to crash Pipelineistan

Way beyond an Iran nuclear deal, and way beyond the end of a nasty economic siege that’s been in place for 35 years since the Islamic Revolution, the coming Western embrace means above all that Iran is now ready to crash the chessboard I call Pipelineistan.

By the mid-2000s, one of the top mantras of energy analysts in Iran and across Asia was what was known as the Asian Energy Security Grid. Translation: a pan-Asian integration via energy flows of the region’s oil and gas. Pipelineistan connected these relevant dots in the Eurasian chessboard.

Washington was always set on stopping Pipelineistan in its tracks. Case in point: the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, a Dr. Zbig “Grand Chessboard” Brzezinski brainchild that was built for almost $6 billion as an explicit geopolitical weapon to bypass Iran’s energy exports.

Another example is frantic efforts by both the Bush junior and Obama administrations to derail the former Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline, also known as “peace pipeline”, which may eventually be built and named IP – for Iran-Pakistan.

READ MORE HERE:
http://atimes.com/2015/03/iran-is-ready-to-crash-pipelineistan/
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175050/pepe_escobar_welcome_to_pipelineistan
March 22, 2015

Paris Will Dramatically Reduce Car Traffic To Fight Air Pollution Emergency

The mayor of Paris, City of Lights, announced Saturday that starting Monday morning, the number of cars permitted to drive in the city would be reduced by half in an effort to fight a “pollution emergency.”

Cars with plates ending in odd numbers, hybrid or electric vehicles, cars with more than three passengers, and public transportation — now free in the city and surrounding towns — would be the only ways to move around in Paris. Electric vehicle and bicycle sharing programs would also cost nothing while the ban stayed in place.

The pollution began to spike on Wednesday, and Paris saw its air quality become the worst in the world for a time according to Plume Labs, surpassing even China and India’s heavily-polluted cities. Plume Labs categorized Paris’ air pollution levels as near “critical” on Wednesday and again on Saturday, which means that the impacts will be rapidly felt and concerning to all.

A similar pollution emergency last March caused the French capital to make all public transportation free.


MORE:
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/03/22/3637317/paris-smog-car-ban/

March 22, 2015

‘It’s just not true’: Fox guest calls out Liz Cheney’s claim that Obama is ‘aligning’ with Iran



According to Cheney, Israelis were right not to trust the president because he “doesn’t have their interests in mind, has done everything he can to distance himself from them, and seems to be totally unaware at best of the complete and total mess his policies have created in their neighborhood.”

However, Washington Post columnist Bob Woodward argued that the ties between Israel and the United States would not be significantly impacted because of a frosty relationship between Obama and Netanyahu.

“Everyone has said, including President Obama in the phone conversation with Netanyahu that the military and intelligence and diplomatic alignment remains,” Woodward explained. “That’s what’s important. This is not going to change the overall.”

“Sorry, Bob, I think it clearly does change the overall relationship,” Cheney shot back. “They cannot comprehend why the president of the United States is doing more to align America policy with Iran than with Israel.”

“It just is not true that the president has aligned himself with the Iranians on this,” Woodward replied. “Come on, he said we’re going to have intrusive inspections. Is that alignment?”



MORE:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/03/its-just-not-true-fox-guest-calls-out-liz-cheneys-claim-that-obama-is-aligning-with-iran/
March 22, 2015

Cruz Birth Certificate

:large
https://twitter.com/Bipartisanism

:large


Canada Apologizes For Weak Border Security, Allowing Ted Cruz To Cross


In a press release from Canadian Parliament:

“It has come to our attention that the border security between the United States and Canada was not quite strong enough during the year 1974 when Rafael Edward Cruz, better known now as Ted Cruz entered the United States. Had we known then that he would go on to become such a heavy kink in the legislative process in the U.S.A. we would have thought twice before allowing him to enter. Although, we are grateful that the U.S. has to deal with him now and not us. His blatant acts of malfeasance including lying with no remorse, reciting children’s poetry, and shutting down government as part of a plan to get his way are not only petty, but precarious and selfish, albeit inventive.

We cannot express our condolences enough for the oversight at our border security checkpoint. As part of our due diligence to make up for it, we will be taking the steps required to acquire back Justin Bieber. It’s really the least we can do.

It is our hope that this will mend fences between the two nations.”


http://www.freewoodpost.com/2014/09/09/canada-apologizes-for-weak-border-security-allowing-ted-cruz-to-cross/
March 22, 2015

Boston Globe Urges Elizabeth Warren To Run For President: Democrats Need Warren's Voice in 2016


Globe Editorial
Her voice is needed



DEMOCRATS WOULD be making a big mistake if they let Hillary Clinton coast to the presidential nomination without real opposition, and, as a national leader, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren can make sure that doesn’t happen. While Warren has repeatedly vowed that she won’t run for president herself, she ought to reconsider. And if Warren sticks to her refusal, she should make it her responsibility to help recruit candidates to provide voters with a vigorous debate on her signature cause, reducing income inequality, over the next year.



The clock is ticking: Presidential candidates need to hire staff, raise money, and build a campaign operation. Although Clinton hasn’t officially declared her candidacy, she’s scooping up support from key party bigwigs and donors, who are working to impose a sense of inevitability about her nomination.
.............

"The Democratic Party finds itself with some serious divides that ought to be settled by the electorate. Some are clear-cut policy differences, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an enormous free-trade agreement with Pacific Rim nations that Warren opposes and Clinton backs," the editorial board wrote. "Even in areas where the candidates agree, there are bound to be different priorities: It’s hard to imagine a President Clinton defending and enforcing the Dodd-Frank legislation with as much vigor as a President Warren, for instance."

Indeed, the big-picture debate on financial regulation and income inequality is what’s most at peril if the Democratic primaries come and go without top-notch opponents for Clinton. While she has a great many strengths, Clinton seems far more likely to hew to a cautious approach on economics. Her financial backing from Wall Street, her vote in the Senate to reduce bankruptcy protections, and her past reluctance to raise capital-gains taxes are no secret. Nothing about her record suggests much gumption for financial reform or tackling the deeply entrenched economic problems that increasingly threaten the American dream.



more:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2015/03/21/democrats-need-elizabeth-warren-voice-presidential-race/TJkJtbu3UYaJYBmVHcrAcI/story.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/22/1372521/-BREAKING-Boston-Globe-Urges-Elizabeth-Warren-To-Run-For-President

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