Nothing disgusts me more than how the US media will harp on protecting civilians and allowing riots, mass demonstrations and dissension…but ONLY in countries we want to tear apart. So, if people riot in China, our media focuses on it and cheers it on. While we butcher wedding parties and funerals, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians and making millions into refugees. So it is in this week’s news. There are many examples of the double standard news reporting by US media owners who have an agenda: protect Israel from bad news and howling like banshees about our rivals, fighting civilians, while we are bloody doing the same, ourselves.
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The forgotten war in Sri Lanka is first: Oh, Darfur! Everyone was talking Darfur this and Darfur that. Now that the butchery if the Tamils and Palestinian civilians is over, Darfur isn’t of any major interest with our media. True, some of Hollywood’s starlets are still on message, worrying about Darfur. But they are a out of the loop. Darfur doesn’t matter anymore. It was an excuse for us to howl at Muslims so we could justify killing babies and small children across Central Asia and the Middle East.
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Tamil refugees may end up in permanent camps, say aid workers – Times Online
Sri Lankan authorities appear to be building permanent camps to house many of the 300,000 refugees from the last phase of the war with the Tamil Tiger rebels, despite promising to resettle 80 per cent of them by the end of the year.
Aid workers have told The Times that permanent buildings are being erected at the Manik Farm site where the UN says that 230,000 of the refugees are being held after the Tigers’ defeat in May.
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These pictures look like…GAZA! Wow. And the civilians don’t hear from Hollywood. After all, we are outsourcing our office work to India and we hear nothing about that in our media, too. We hear only what the media wants us to hear. So the screams of the suffering children is silenced. Who are they, anyway? No, they are nobodies. Fortunately for the victims of this ethnic cleansing, some of the world media has noticed so we get to read about it if we look real, real hard. The recent demonstrations in Iran got immense coverage. More than Darfur! It was great. Everyone was rooting for the people who were resisting the election results. But this focus was due entirely to the Jewish community and especially, Jewish editors and media owners wishing ill on Iran.
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Israeli councilor faces probe for saying all Arabs must ‘disappear’ – Haaretz – Israel News
The State Prosecution on Sunday instructed the police to investigate Upper Nazareth City Councilor Ze’ev Hartman on suspicion of incitement to racism.
The move comes after a complaint was filed in April against Hartman, who called for the city’s Arabs to “disappear,” in an Independence Day greeting to local residents…
When the camera reached Hartman, he stated his wish for “all the Arabs to disappear.” The cameraman, reportedly stunned by the statement, asked Hartman if he was being serious, to which he replied “absolutely serious.”
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It would be really nice if the NYT were to ever quote a Haaretz article. They never do this, of course. So shocking news like this story, never makes the news, here! To ‘disappear’ people is to kill them or make millions into refugees. And to never mention any of this in our media. This way, people cease to exist and of course, end up dead. The US is excellent in making some people the object of obsessive focus while utterly ignoring mass murder, for example.
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Nobel peace laureate jailed in Israel for Gaza activism – Haaretz – Israel News
Mairead Corrigan Maguire, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for her peace campaign in Northern Ireland, has been in prison in Israel since Tuesday after being removed from the ship….
This was not the first foray into Middle East politics for Maguire, who shared her Nobel Prize with Betty Williams for their efforts at conciliation between Catholics and Protestants. In the past, she has also advocated awarding the Nobel Prize to Mordechai Vanunu for his anti-nuclear activities. Vanunu was jailed by Israel for leaking details of Israel’s nuclear program to the press.
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This is another example. The peace ship was captured by the Israeli Jews who then imprisoned important people. Mairead Corrigan Maquire used to be in the NYT all the time until she said, ‘Palestine’ and then, like myself, became a non-person. Disappeared just like that Jewish elected leader wants all Palestinians. Anyone who stands up to Zionists vanish from our own news media. This is criminal. But who cares? No one can care if no one sees the disappearing people. Here is the list of news stories about this Nobel prize winner from the NYT:
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Maguire nobel peace prize winner – NYTimes.com Search
Nobelists Urge U.N. Sanctions Against Myanmar
A group of Nobel Peace Prize winners called today for Myanmar, … this week’s trip were MaireadMaguire and Betty Williams, who led a peace …
Nobelists Urge U.N. Sanctions Against Myanmar
A group of Nobel Peace Prize winners called today for Myanmar, … The other Nobel laureates on this week’s trip were Mairead Maguire and Betty Williams, …
Nobel Winners Urge Release of Burmese Dissident
Six Nobel Peace Prize winners and representatives of two Peace Prize-winning … MaireadMaguire and Betty Williams, the leaders of a Northern Ireland peace …
NOTES ON PEOPLE; Mairead Corrigan, Peace Prize Winner, Is Wed… a co-founder of Northern Ireland’s Peace People movement and a winner of the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize, was married in Rome yesterday to Jackie Maguire, …September 9, 1981
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The last time this poor woman was mentioned was 15 years ago! She has been very, very active and the NYT has been very, very careful to throw the cloak of invisibility over her. She could be murdered and they would not notice. Oh, but an Iranian woman who didn’t win the peace prize was shot and killed in Iran! She made headlines. Her picture plastered all over the place. It was a crime, murdering her. I am very happy, she made world news. But she was used cynically, by Jewish media owners, as a tool to justify aggression against Iran. This is, of course, not her intention when she went out to demonstrate.
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Former U.S. Congresswoman speaks from jail in Israel
While we were on our way to Gaza the Israelis threatened to fire on our boat, but we did not turn around. The Israelis high-jacked and arrested us because we wanted to give presents to the children of Gaza. We have been detained, and we want the people of the world to see how we have been treated just because we wanted to deliver humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza….
The Israeli authorities have tried to get us to confess that we committed a crime … I am now known as Israeli prisoner number 88794. How can I be in prison for collecting crayons to kids?
Zionism has surely run out of its last legitimacy if this is what it does to people who believe so deeply in human rights for all that they put their own lives on the line for someone else’s children. Israel is the fullest expression of Zionism, but if Israel fears for its security because Gaza’s children have crayons then not only has Israel lost its last shred of legitimacy, but Israel must be declared a failed state.
I am facing deportation from the state that brought me here at gunpoint after commandeering our boat. I was brought to Israel against my will. I am being held in this prison because I had a dream that Gaza’s children could color & paint, that Gaza’s wounded could be healed, and that Gaza’s bombed-out houses could be rebuilt.
But I’ve learned an interesting thing by being inside this prison. First of all, it’s incredibly black: populated mostly by Ethiopians who also had a dream … like my cellmates, one who is pregnant. They are all are in their twenties. They thought they were coming to the Holy Land….
All the years I have talked about Jewish racism, I get attacked on this very issue. That is, the Ethiopian Jews are used as an excuse for white racist Zionist Jews. They love to say, ‘We welcome black Africans!’ But this is window dressing. Racist is racist and a country that subjects people to a genetic test to see if they are ‘real Jews’ is a racist country.
…They made their way to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. They got their yellow paper of identification. They got their certificate for police protection. They are refugees from tragedy, and they made it to Israel only after they arrived Israel told them “there is no UN in Israel.”
The police here have license to pick them up & suck them into the black hole of a farce for a justice system. These beautiful, industrious and proud women represent the hopes of entire families. The idea of Israel tricked them and the rest of us. In a widely propagandized slick marketing campaign, Israel represented itself as a place of refuge and safety for the world’s first Jews and Christian. I too believed that marketing and failed to look deeper….
I dedicate this message to those who struggle to achieve a free Palestine, and to the women I’ve met at Ramle. This is Cynthia McKinney, July 2nd 2009, also known as Ramle prisoner number 88794.
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After lots and lots of searching, I did find the back page NYT article about the boat seizure. But the story is very thin and very short. And at the end is this curious story:
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Activists Held by Israel for Trying to Break Gaza Blockade – NYTimes.com
Also Thursday, Palestinian reports said that a girl, 17, had been killed by a shell from an Israeli tank in central Gaza and that several others had been wounded. The Israeli military said an army patrol had come under fire along the border in the evening and fired mortars in response. Military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity under army rules, said initial investigations indicated that Palestinian militants had also fired mortars during the clash and that the Palestinian casualties had probably been caused by Palestinian fire.
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I read about this poor civilian girl being killed in other media. There was no talk about Palestinians killing her. It was all about her being SHOT, not dying from a mortar attack from her own side. The IDF shoots civilians dead all the time. Even small children who are obviously playing or fleeing IDF attacks. They shoot and kill rock throwers who are small children. They torture, abuse and beat small children with impunity. Even the UN has complained about this but nothing stops the Jews since they are protected by the US Congress and President who obviously think, ethnic cleansing and brutality towards Muslim civilians is OK. Except in Iran. Or other places we plan to destroy.
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Biden: Israel ‘Entitled’ to Attack Iran — News from Antiwar.com
In an interview today on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulus,” Vice President Joe Biden said it was up to the Israeli government to decide if Iran constituted an existential threat and that the nation was “entitled” to launch a military strike against the nation if they wanted to.
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See? We want to bomb Iran. Israel wants to bomb Iran. We want a war. Everyone wants wars. See that dead woman in Iran? Multiply her by 100,000 and we get US liberation via Israeli bombs. Yup. Great stuff. Many Americans voted for Obama because they thought he would stop all this killing. Instead, as I feared, he is doubling the killing. As his hands get bloodier and bloodier, I must remind him that Libra will force him to live all the deaths he created. He can’t go past the Gates of Death unless he pays the full price for his murderous actions. He should stop while he has only a few thousand deaths to be sorted out and punished.
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Majority of vote protesters freed: Iran police chief – Yahoo! News
Iran’s chief of police said on Sunday that authorities have released most of the people detained in the post-election violence which rocked Tehran.
Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam said of the 1,032 people arrested, “two-thirds have been freed”, the official IRNA news agency reported.
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This won’t make the front pages of the NYT or the WP, of course.
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Riots as Honduras Refuses to Let Zelaya’s Jet Land — News from Antiwar.com
The jet swooped low over the airport to cheers from the crowd Zelaya had urged to gather at the airport. The new government had deployed military vehicles at the airport to prevent the landing, and the plane was finally forced to divert to El Salvador.
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Honduras? Where is that? Northern Africa? China? Afghanistan? No, Honduras is Central America. We love to kill Central American peasants. We even have a school that teaches this dark art. Anyone protesting in front of this school is arrested, abused or killed. So few people try doing this. Instead, the graduates of the School of the Americas get to murder demonstrators, peasants and intellectuals. Not a peep from our media. Note that we aren’t seeing endless reruns of some Honduran female student being beaten to death.
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BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Scores killed in China protests
Violence in China’s restive western region of Xinjiang has left at least 140 people dead and more than 800 people injured, state media say.
Several hundred people were arrested after a protest, in the city of Urumqi on Sunday, turned violent.
Beijing says Uighurs went on the rampage but one exiled Uighur leader says police fired on students.
The protest was reportedly prompted by a deadly fight between Uighurs and Han Chinese in southern China last month.
The BBC’s Chris Hogg in Shanghai says this is one of the most serious clashes between the authorities and demonstrators in China since Tiananmen Square in 1989.
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If we riot in the US, if we even TALK about rioting in the US, we get killed. I remember ducking bullets. My ex-husband was stunned when he saw a row of bullet holes suddenly appear on a car next to him before he threw himself to the ground and rolled under one of the cars on Telegraph Avenue. Yes, they shoot protestors in the US. Not that we would know this just like the endless stories of cops tasering innocent civilians just for talking back or worse, asking Democratic Senator Kerry questions about the Bilderberg gang!
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The US is redoubling the murder and butchering of Afghani civilians this week. We call this a ’surge’ and we yell, ‘We are helping the government (sic) of Afghanistan by using robot assassin missiles to kill wedding brides and children because the damn civilians are REVOLTING!!! OH MY GOD! Kill them all!
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Revolting is OK if one is revolting against the government of Russia or China. Or Iran. But NOT if one is rioting, resisting or fighting the Israeli Jews or the US Pentagon forces. Then, it is a crime to fight. How dare anyone fight US???? We are gods. We have the right to murder girls demonstrating against US! But no one better imitate us. We are gods, the Chinese, Russians and Iranians are devils. Yes, that is the story our media tells us. Feels good, doesn’t it?
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Three British Soldiers Killed in Southern Afghanistan
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Two US Soldiers Among 31 Killed in Afghanistan
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See? The civilians, barely armed, fight us like crazy. We butcher them and cheer ourselves on. More, more butchery! Hooray for the bloody red in the white and blue bunting! Dead Chinese soldiers at home: good. Dead US and UK soldiers invading distant lands: heroes and martyrs.
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Saudis give nod to Israeli raid on Iran – Times Online
The head of Mossad, Israel’s overseas intelligence service, has assured Benjamin Netanyahu, its prime minister, that Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets flying over the kingdom during any future raid on Iran’s nuclear sites.
Earlier this year Meir Dagan, Mossad’s director since 2002, held secret talks with Saudi officials to discuss the possibility.
The Israeli press has already carried unconfirmed reports that high-ranking officials, including Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister, held meetings with Saudi colleagues. The reports were denied by Saudi officials.
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The US and Israel get to be the Saudi Royal cat’s paws. Great. The US and Israel are pleased as punch. So is bin Laden. He needs to goad Muslims into hating the Saudi Royals. He loves it when they conspire with Zionists to kill Muslims and weaken the Muslim religion.
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Obama hopes his magic can thaw the frost in Moscow – World Politics, World – The Independent
Russia is the first and the most critical of three stops on Mr Obama’s latest transatlantic foray, which will include the G8 summit in Italy and an inevitably emotional visit by America’s first black leader to Africa.
While the tourist shelves of Moscow are clogged with Obama dolls, the President faces challenges in his two days there, including talks tomorrow with President Dmitry Medvedev and on Tuesday with the Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin. He will also meet the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and deliver a major policy speech.
With Mr Medvedev, progress will be measured in part by an agreement on talks over replacing Start 1, the strategic arms treaty, which expires in December…
Mr Obama indulged in a not-so-subtle dig at Mr Putin. “I think that it’s important that even as we move forward with President Medvedev that Putin understand that the old Cold War approaches to US-Russian relations is outdated,” he said. “Putin has one foot in the old ways of doing business and one foot in the new.”
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Bush did this too: when approaching China or Russia, insulting the leaders of both nations is the normal way we go about this. It is dumb, dumb, dumb. But then, stupidity seems to be the rule here. We think, if we punch these nations in the nose and then demand they give us something, this means we are heroes. We are great. We get to murder civilians, they can’t touch even rioters. No, they have to be super-nice. While we get free rein to be super-naughty.
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This system is infantile. We should try to grow up before it is too late. And trust me, right under the surface, the US is very vain about our nuclear arsenal. We hope to use it to threaten our creditors when we go bankrupt. We will threaten them with WWIII. Note that both Russia and China support disarmament. The US and Israel only want to disarm Muslims and political rivals. They do not want to disarm the US or Israel. This is why talks end up doing nothing. If Obama refuses to disarm the US nuclear arsenal while green lighting a nuclear attack on Iran, he will go down in world history as one of the worst war criminals of them all, right alongside Herr Hilter and Joe Stalin.
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That is change I can believe in.
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77 Comments
July 6, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Nice overview of the regnant hypocrisies of the USA.
I read an article today and it started me to thinking.
When Eisenhower was elected, he tweaked and fiddled a bit with the Rooseveldt/Truman prevailing economic model but he did not remove it. By his actions over 8 years, what had been a National Socialist copy of European failures became a bipartisan American model.
When Nixon was elected president, he tweaked and twiddled a bit with the Johnson Great Society/Vietnam war model but he did not revoke it. Never even tried. Civil rights/greatsociety/vietnam became just another Bipartisan American model.
And now we have Obama, and while we are a long ways from 8 years, the outline is fairly clear. What had been the BUSH national eavesdroppers/HomelandSSecurity/Your paper’s please model is becoming just another bipartisan American model.
So of course has the pre-emptive coward’s attack become the BAM and extended to those who we currently prefer. Thus Israel is entitled to attack Iran whenever Israel desires. I suppose that Iran is also empowered by this to be allowed to attack Israel anytime Iran think’s it is existentially endangered by the lipflapping of the Israeli government.
July 6, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Sweet blind justice, another American war criminal dies peacefully in his sleep. McNamara has departed the living.
July 6, 2009 at 10:54 pm
‘If Obama refuses to disarm the US nuclear arsenal while green lighting a nuclear attack on Iran, he will go down in world history as one of the worst war criminals of them all, right alongside Herr Hilter and Joe Stalin.’
Ran out of the haloperidol last week? This is out of the bell curve even for your quivering dythirambs.
July 6, 2009 at 11:30 pm
Please list all the Presidents who ran the military during major wars.
July 7, 2009 at 12:40 am
Felix Dzerzhinsky 1917-26, Vyacheslav Menzhinsky 1926-34, Genrikh Yagoda 1934-36, Nikolai Yezhov 1936 – 1938, Lavrenty Beria 1938 – 1945, Viktor Semionovich Abakumov 1946 – 1951, Semion Denisovich Ignatiyev 1951 – 1953, Sergey Nikiforovich Kruglov 1953 – 1954, Ivan Serov 1954 – December 1958… you should know this, so what’s the purpose of the question?
July 7, 2009 at 12:46 am
Yes, they were butchers, TOO.
July 7, 2009 at 1:09 am
Thanks to the intense warmongering in the nation’s media, Americans have gone “blood simple”
Our first response to conflict is to start a war.
Little wonder the same thing now happens with road rage and the gang bangers.
July 7, 2009 at 2:21 am
Elaines article is absolutely correct. Well done.
July 7, 2009 at 2:37 am
Kunstler has hit a high note this last couple of weeks. Apparently he ascribes RR to the hippie voting record, as well.
‘When the time comes when we do look back to understand what went wrong, I think we’ll see that the Woodstock generation went off the rails in 1980, with the election of the actor, Ronald Reagan, who really established the idea that a society could benefit hugely just by lying to itself, or simply pretending. It wasn’t “morning in America,” of course. It was more like eleven-thirty at night, and the rest of the world had eaten our breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and we decided that inflating our national self-esteem was more important than paying attention to reality. That was when we became a something-for-nothing society — and, incidentally, it was also the take-off point for legalized gambling all over America (an “industry” based on the worship of unearned riches). And that was, coincidentally, the moment when we became a nation of dupes, grifters, marks, and suckers.
July 7, 2009 at 3:10 am
Why on earth are you blaming us HIPPIES???? We HATED Reagan when he was governor and hated him when he was President. The places that supported him were the same parts of the nation that supported the Vietnam war and hated hippies.
July 7, 2009 at 3:14 am
Just a warning, the USTU 50 and 200 will do a death cross tomorrow.
July 7, 2009 at 3:56 am
Elaine, it will do them little good in the long run.
These wars are the death throes of the cynical minds of evil old men. Look at Cheney’s face, contorted, twisted snarl…no goodness left, his heart giving out daily, but he is determined to leave his dark mark on the world.
Obama was the great Black hope. All citizens, democrat and republican, and others sincerely wanted him to take charge and act like a real man, a national leader and pull our nation out of the evil clutches of the old men who have there eagle’s nests at the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Rand Corporation and the Council on Foreign
Relations….those cynical, old money, users and abusers of the US populace.
But, alas, with wife Michelle as a member of the CFR and Rahm Imanuel as trusted right hand man, nothing much is going to change. Go to Muckety.com and map First Lady Michelle. You will discover the power behind the man…and it is establishment the whole way.
Michelle is with the “in” crowd at both Harvard and the University of Chicago, where our disastrous economic policies originated.
Go to, Muckety.com and map AIPIC, and you can identify the 10 lobbyists who work for Israel.
And, if Michelle is a member of CFR, she is going right along with the nations real rulers at the Trilateral Commission.
So, we can safely conclude that Obama was grilled and groomed to be the first Black president, and was put in the race by the cynical old money real rulers of the US.
Of course, Bush co, had created such a spectacular mess of failure that a retarded, three legged dog from Indonesia could have been elected (no offense to dogs or Indonesia).
War appears to be all that we have left to keep creditors loaning us money….extortion…plain and simple, or possibly some illegal dealings going on in our war zones….oil for the global corporations, and drugs for the world.
In my opinion, an Israeli attack on Iran, especially with nuclear weapons, will galvanize Islam against Israel and the US like nothing else has ever done, and I also think that such and event will create a crisis mentality among US and Israel opponents like nothing before it…maybe even like how The Allies viewed Germany and Japan during WWII.
Opposing alliances will form quickly and intensify to such an extent that the world will find itself on a razor edge, ready to go to all out war.
Israel is a spoiled nation…spoiled like a little fat cat baby by the US which as been manipulated into being its protector. I just don’t think that the world’s other nuclear powers will put up with a tiny Middle Eastern troublemaker starting WWIII without Israel being a first strike target of the other nuclear powers on earth.
Putting myself in an opponent’s place, I would conclude that if a Middle Eastern crisis with Iran comes to Nuclear blows that pull everyone into the conflict, major blows need to land on the instigator of the mess, and if the Middle East is made the killing ground, reason would conclude that a major objective of US opponents would be to put the US into the stone age as far as ever using Middle Eastern oil is concerned….and we must remember that our opponents do have oil sources that can continue providing energy while the US has to drastically cut back.
US supporting an Israeli attack on Iran is a fools game…and Israel is delusional as far as believeing that they can get away with this, but, as I said, they are spoiled beyond reason, and they are fearful and irrational, and have backed themselves into a corner that will be difficult for them to weasel their way out of.
Of course, all of this saber rattling might just be designed by the establishment that is also controllers in the oil companies in order to drive up oil prices.
We will just have to wait and see.
US foreign policy nowadays is screwy beyond belief. Someone with some sense needs to take charge.
And if Obama thinks he can bully Putin with some simple dialogue, he will come out of the deal with egg all over his face just like Bush did.
Putin is smart, and he is dead loyal to his nation, and has proven it several times. So, if I were Obama, I would try to act like a man and look him in the eye and talk straight with him.
I’ve lived 64 years. In my time, I’ve seen some great US foreign policy moves. This occurred right after WWII with the Berlin Air Lift and before the cold war took off.
Even during the cold war, our State Department acted professionally with adversaries.
Starting with Kissinger, however, we went downhill. Were it not for our vast store of weaponry and our economy, we would now be the laughing stock of the world considering some of the moves our leaders have made.
Now, we are looking like rank amateurs, and we are not even working in our own best interests in relation to Iran and Islam…and this makes us look extremely foolish on the world stage.
July 7, 2009 at 9:11 am
Noones rolling the dice for war against Honduras…
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Iran is definitely getting fielded as a target with a 1yr target of opportunity by the washington post ‘thanks guys for the news i didnt link you’… An escalation of conflict is in the works ‘hell 90% of Americans cant have a justified opinion on all kinds of failed economic policy’… but its just a roll of the dice at this stage with a strong nod to Israel that they can go and just have a swing at our 10 YEAR COMMITMENT IN THE REGION… hope its at least as successful as the stimuli in febuary
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RpbWShNlb8
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Do or Do not, there is no try. Unless theres alot of money in trying alot.
July 7, 2009 at 9:17 am
http://nyinvestingmeetup.blogspot.com/2009/07/does-money-printing-cause-deflation-or.html
The U.S. economy is basically being run by a bunch of 5-year olds. The only difference from the last administration is that the current 5-year olds are Democrats, while the previous 5-year olds were Republicans.
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More like college educated valedictorians in their late 40s early 50s LOOOOOOOOL
July 7, 2009 at 9:23 am
If the world is about to start throwing nukes, I just might have to get out the old lawn chairs and buy the family a case of beer….so we can go sit out on the front lawn and watch the show…and shout….”put er right here.”
July 7, 2009 at 11:55 am
Oh you do need a weatherman to tell which way the wind will be blowing … nuke Iran on days when the wind is from the east and a lot of merkins in Iraq and buddy buddy turks get rad poisoning. Nuke Iran on a day the wind is blowing from the west and you give rad poisoning to your friends and bffs the pakistanis and the indians. Don’t even think of nuking iran if the wind is from the south unless you want a pissed off bear and a pissed off dragon responding simultaneously. So by windy process, the only time one can nuke iran safely is when there is either a wind from the north ( only the omanis and the sauds will be affected) or no wind at all. Did I mention that nuclear weapons explosions have been known to change the direction of the wind? just a thought for your edification.
July 7, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Way too many people think we can have a one-sided nuclear war. We nuke everyone and then rule the planet idea is stupid beyond words. Yet, there are many people who carry this dark thought in their minds.
July 7, 2009 at 2:24 pm
“So, if people riot in China, our media focuses on it and cheers it on. While we butcher wedding parties and funerals, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians and making millions into refugees.”
Our media needs to sell papers. And air time.
They’ll leave it to you, blessedly devoid of commercial interest, to point out our faults while ignoring everyone else’s. (Not that you don’t perform a valuable service, because, of course, you do!)
“The forgotten war in Sri Lanka is first: …”
Economist gave plenty of coverage to Sri Lanka. It’s unfortunate that the Tamil movement was led by someone who was prepared to fight to the last Tamil.
“These pictures look like…GAZA! ”
They’re lots worse off than the Gazans.
“If we riot in the US, if we even TALK about rioting in the US, we get killed.”
Back in the 70s, maybe. But I have difficulty recalling anyone’s actually being shot with live ammunition since Kent State/Jackson State (39 years ago this spring! Can you believe it? My, how time flies when you’re having fun!)
” We even have a school that teaches this dark art. Anyone protesting in front of this school is arrested, abused or killed. ”
As I’d previously mentioned, I searched the “SOA Watch” site pretty closely and could find no mention of protestor deaths. Perhaps the killings were so cleverly done that no one is aware of them save yourself?
“Note that both Russia and China support disarmament. ”
I note they support OUR disarmament. THEIR disarmament is a subject they find far less interesting.
ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ
ELAINE: Last time I looked, the Economist was published in ENGLAND, not the US, Smith.
July 7, 2009 at 2:30 pm
JSmith – agreed in many ways, but one reason they find their own “disarmament” (assuming we are speaking of military weaponry) far less interesting is because they wasted much less money (at least recently) on these sort of weapons of late.
The US on the other hands spends more than the rest of the world combined (or at least just about).
What a HUGE waste of funds this is and funny how the rest of the countries (excepting a few perhaps) already know this.
We are behind big time.
But in the US of A sometimes we have a way of catching up.
July 7, 2009 at 2:47 pm
“Anyone who stands up to Zionists vanish from our own news media. This is criminal. But who cares? No one can care if no one sees the disappearing people. ”
http://tinyurl.com/mftn26
“This is, of course, not her intention when she went out to demonstrate”
Who said she was there to “demonstrate” ?. I read she had gone there to watch the demontrastion ?. You see Elaine we just don`t know the truth. You have `maybe` walked into the trap the media have set up…who knows ?. Don`t you see that ?.
July 7, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Oh come on.
Elaine reports on the news and on “scale”.
She reports. I for one appreciate getting some decent information even if it took me a long time to find this place and I would never have gotten here without the help of others.
So many egos blowing in the wind….
July 7, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Thank God some of us hippies never made it out of the 60’s. A lot of people just came along for the ride as the movement was a “cool” cultural phenominon. They (the cool ones) were the same people who morphed into the “me” decaders of the late 70’s and thru the 80’s.
But it is true that Reagun was mostly elected by the “greatest generation” and was only helped along by the “cool” hippies that slipped out of their bellbottoms into 3 pc suits.
July 7, 2009 at 3:09 pm
I hope Putin gives Obama a teaching and I think he probably already has.
I respect him.
July 7, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Zionist fanatics practice warmongering.
http://tinyurl.com/lwalrz
July 7, 2009 at 3:35 pm
PLovering – one poke in the eye deserves another.
Simple.
Of course as my oh so kind brothers taught me, the response needs to be an order of magnitude greater in order to solicit the desired outcome.
This sort of thing can escalate and in the end the one who is closest to “moral behavior” prevails. Either that or everyone dies.
ps – David – your earlier post regarding the current first lady has been substantiated to me in previous communications with another poster here, and therefore, I think you are SPOT on because there are some folks here whom I trust inherently. Its a choice.
July 7, 2009 at 3:48 pm
I think the US military and its economy have kept the criticism of the US muted. But I think that underneath the surface MANY nations, friend and foe alike, have viewed the USA with derision–and for quite some time now. I think, in many circles internationally (you won’t read about this in the US media though), the US is viewed as being corrupt, arrogant and incompetent. Completely unable to learn ANY lessons through failure, which is the normal way MOST people learn. Too much inbreeding at the leadership level. It makes these guys over time get goofier and goofier. Take Dick Cheney for example, he of the four draft deferrments during Viet Nam (typical of warmongers). Cheney is obviously insane,imho, yet there he is nearly every week, usually on Fox Propaganda, proclaiming torture is what is winning the “war on terror” for the US. I think most of the world looks at the USA as students would look at the schoolyard bully. They are afraid of him, but they ALL hope to be there when the bully gets his comeuppance. And they hope it hurts.
July 7, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Paul S – I agree – 100%
Time for some comeuppance and if I was talking to Obama I’d mention something about 8/8/8, and I would make it clear what the consequences are.
That is just me.
A salt-licking talker.
July 7, 2009 at 3:59 pm
But we should already know who responded so swiftly and then more importantly who showed prudence.
Most compelling to me.
That informs my opinion of Putin as well as Medvedev. Plus many months ago I read some of the public documents they put out into the press and I was convinced by their logic and prowess. Evidence is evidence.
I want Peace and if Obama does not than I am against him 100%.
July 7, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Elaine once listed the civilian casualty rate for a number of different wars. When you see how many more innocents are dying today, you can forget “smart” bombs.
July 7, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Does anyone know if there is a way to search this blog for “civilian casualties”?
.
Thanks!
July 7, 2009 at 10:48 pm
DrKrbyLuv:
I’ve mentioned this before, and I will mention it again.
Dr. Johan Galtung of The Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research wrote a paper titled “On the Coming Decline and Fall of the US Empire.”
It is a long paper, but worth reading, and it gives some world class views on the US Empire…and might be considered as a sample of how the world views us….and I believe we had better be taking note of how the world feels about us. To ignore what Galtung writes would to do so at our own peril.
The entire paper is at:
http://www.transnational.org/SAJT/forum/meet/2004/Galtung_USempireFall.html
I will paste some interesting facts from what Galtung writes, and this will give an idea of the enormity of the problem, and how the world sees it, and us.
________________
“There is no sign of any clash of civilizations, nor any sign of [US] territorial expansion. But there is enormous missionary zeal and enormous self-righteousness. And the rhetoric changes: containment of Soviet expansion, fight against Communism, drugs, intervention for democracy and human rights, against terrorism.
Blum’s list of [US] interventions up to the year 2000 covers 67 cases since 1945 (Grossman has 56, the criteria differ somewhat):
China [during years] 45-51, France 47, Marshall Islands 46-58, Italy 47-70s, Greece 47-49, Philippines 45-53, Korea 45-53, Albania 49-53, Eastern Europe 48-56, Germany 50s, Iran 53, Guatemala 53-90s, Costa Rica 50s, 70-71, Middle East 56-58, Indonesia 57-58, Haiti 59, Western Europe 50s-60s, British Guiana 53-64, Iraq 58-63, Soviet Union 40s-60s, Vietnam 45-73, Cambodia 55-73, Laos 57-73, Thailand 65-73, Ecuador 60-63, Congo-Zaire 77-78, France-Algeria 60s, Brazil 61-63, Peru 65, Dominican Republic 63-65, Cuba 59-, Indonesia 65, Ghana 66, Uruguay 69-72, Chile 64-73, Greece 67-74, South Africa 60s-80s, Bolivia 64-75, Australia 72-75, Iraq 72-75, Portugal 74-76, East Timor 75-99, Angola 75-80s, Jamaica 76, Honduras 80s, Nicaragua 78-90s, Philippines 70s, Seychelles 79-81, South Yemen 79-84, South Korea 80, Chad 81-2, Grenada 79-83, Suriname 82-84, Libya 81-89, Fiji 87, Panama 89, Afghanistan 79-92, El Salvador 80-92, Haiti 87-94, Bulgaria 90-91, Albania 91-92, Somalia 93, Iraq 90s, Peru 90s, Mexico 90s, Colombia 90s, Yugoslavia 95-99.
There was bombing in 25 cases (for details, read the book):
China 45-46, Korea/China 50-53, Guatemala 54, Indonesia 58, Cuba 60-61, Guatemala 60, Vietnam 61-73, Congo 64, Peru 65, Laos 64-73, Cambodia 69-70, Guatemala 67-69, Grenada 83, Lebanon-Syria 83-84, Libya 86, El Salvador 80s, Nicaragua 80s, Iran 87, Panama 89, Iraq 91-, Kuwait 91, Somalia 93, Sudan 98, Afghanistan 98, Yugoslavia 99.
Assassination of foreign leaders, among them heads of state, was attempted in 35 countries, and assistance with torture in 11 countries: Greece, Iran, Germany, Vietnam, Bolivia, Uruguay, Brazil, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama.
On top of this come 23 countries where the United States has intervened in elections or has prevented elections: Italy 48-70s, Lebanon 50s, Indonesia 55, Vietnam 55, Guayana 53-64, Japan 58-70s, Nepal 59, Laos 60, Brazil 62, Dominican Republic 62, Guatemala 63, Bolivia 66, Chile 64-70, Portugal 74-5, Australia 74-5, Jamaica 76, Panama 84, 89, Nicaragua 84,90, Haiti 87-88, Bulgaria 91-92, Russia 96, Mongolia 96, Bosnia 98.
35 (attempted) assassinations + 11 countries with torture + 25 bombings + 67 interventions + 23 interferences with other people’s elections give 161 forms of aggravated political violence only since the Second World War. A world record.
Increase over time comes with shift in civilization target[s]:
Phase I – Eastern Asia, Confucian-Buddhist
Phase II – Eastern Europe, Orthodox Christian
Phase III – Latin America, Catholic Christian
Phase IV – Western Asia, Islam
The phases overlap, but this is the general picture.
In the first phase the focus was above all on people in Korea, south and north, wanting reunification of their [I've mentioned this before, that our goal is to prevent unification] nation, and on poor peasants in Viêt Nam wanting independence. In the second phase there was the Cold, not Hot, War for containment of communism. In the third phase the targets were poor people, small and indigenous populations supported by “maoist” students. And in the fourth phase, which is dominating the picture today, the focus was on Islamic countries and movements, Palestinians being an important example [which appears to be our primary goal right now].
All the time we find that the USA supports those who favor US business and growth, and works against those who give higher priority to [wealth] distribution and basic needs of the most needy. They die, 100,000 per day, underfed, underclothed, undersheltered, undercared, underschooled; jobless, hopeless and futureless.”
Galtung continues:
“In other words, the real resistance had to come in the fourth phase with a new Pearl Harbor that many see as the introduction to a long-lasting Third World War.
Of that we should not be so certain. But one thing is clear: Anybody who was the least bit surprised 11 September was ignorant, naive or both. The bottomless, limitless state terrorism of the United States got a very unsurprising answer: terrorism against the United States.
With an estimated 12-16 million [foreigners] killed, and an average of 10 bereaved for each one, with pain and sorrow, lust for revenge and revanche growing, no act of revenge [against the US] would be inconceivable. But the deeper roots lie not in the never-ending chain of “blowback” violence. They are in the numerous unresolved conflicts built into the US Empire. The way to solution for sure passes through US Empire dissolution.
The Pentagon planner’s “to those ends we will do a fair amount of killing” reflects imperial reality. The when-where- against whom has just been explored. And then what?
__________________________
Insane US elites continue to believe that business can go on as usual, and that all of the murder and grief is forgotten as soon as the wars are over. This, in my opinion, is not so. A time will come when we have face our own destiny, and there will be little sympathy if we fall…and I can almost hear the cheering in the background…and all of this saddens me because I know that it will be our children who will pay for our misdeeds…and Karma can be merciless when the days of reckoning come.
Now, is the time for things to change.
12 to 16 million human beings dead, and all of that grief…and we think it will be forgotten and we will be spared. Damned! Gimme a break!
July 7, 2009 at 10:55 pm
well if you talk to some past heads of state, 12 to 16 million ain’t much (of the population) percentage wise for the sake of “keeping in power” (ha, ha, power is passing)
The biggest issue is the utter hypocrisy from DC….and the lack of representation. DC is history. DC is a made-up theatrical city that no longer serves the Constituion. I never took an oath but some supposedly have.
The capital should of just stayed in Philly if you want my opinion, but there are other options.
Thank-you for your wisdom and courage David. I remember.
July 7, 2009 at 11:33 pm
The main fact is simple: we are going bankrupt. Period. We can’t have our empire and eat it too.
July 8, 2009 at 12:50 am
Elaine and All:
The world’s air is a little fresher today.
Robert McNamara one of the main architects of the Vietnam War and instigator of the death of 3 million Asians and 58,000 Americans has died peacefully in his bed.
McNamara was originally the President of Ford (at a time when Ford quality was very poor because I was repairing Ford cars at that time).
Mac thought that he could apply Ford manufacturing and business principles to warfare…and instituted the Vietnam body count. If we could destroy more enemy “units” than the enemy could destroy our “units,” we would soon be victorious.
Ho and Giap pulled down The Art of War by Sun Tzu, the ancient Chinese military writer… 400 BC, and the US and Vietnam had at it. And Vietnam sacrificed a million men women and children to send the US home with its tail between its legs and the echos of bullets ringing in its ears. And they won, and McNamara resigned far before the war was over, after a man burned himself to death outside of his office.
Like all chickenhawk warmongers, he had no stomach for seeing suffering and smelling burning flesh.
McNamara was a screwup. He failed the US military even before the war began in earnest. He wouldn’t allow the development of a reliable army rifle for close combat. So US troops began fighting in Vietnam with an outdated version of WWII rifles…while Vietcong and NVA fought with super reliable AK-47s. Then, the inferior, unrefined M-16 was sent into action with ammo that clogged the bullet chamber and the bolt ripped part of the spent cartridge head off, making the weapon useless, causing many deaths. Our troops carried cleaning rods stuffed down their backs and had to pull them out and ram them down the barrel like muzzle loaders to knock out the cartridges before the rifle was again able to fire…all of this in the heat of an ambush. Our troops ended up fighting with old shotguns and WWII rifles and submachine guns until the M-16 could be refined and fixed…and this took awhile.
Corporate America created the cold war to sell weapons and make money.
McNamara came from corporate America, and he hated the idea of communism with a passion….and was an ideologue…and one of the people who first created the domino theory that was the basis for Vietnam. In other words, he stupidly came to believe the propaganda he helped create.
McNamara, it seemed, was the same as Rumsfelt, except with an ideology. Rumsfelt, however, appeared to be even worse, and didn’t believe in anything except greed and power and domination and cruelty to those around him.
Well, McNamara is gone…and earth’s air is a little cleaner. If there is a God, maybe He will forgive McNamara, but I’ll have to pass.
And if he is in Heaven, they better watch out up there…Mac will screw that up too.
July 8, 2009 at 2:16 am
The AK-47 was made for guerilla warfare because Russia had to fight this sort of warfare when resisting the German invasion.
The guns we used in Vietnam were cheap leftovers of the Korean War because we didn’t want to RAISE TAXES to pay for the war. This is exactly how the US budget deficit began in ernest. Before this, we tried to pay off our wars as fast as possible. After Vietnam, we gave up and decided to spend spend spend.
July 8, 2009 at 2:26 am
David – thanks for the info. But I was looking for another article that Elaine did months ago.
.
She had comparative statistics from civilian deaths in at least several different wars.
.
I couldn’t find a search function on this blog and was hoping someone might remember.
.
Larry
July 8, 2009 at 4:45 am
LBJ from Texas. Notice how many defense companies from Texas profitted from Viet Nam? Such as Bell Helicopter. I just love when our ruling elites admit they made a mistake–LONG after it does anyone any good. McNamara was a precursor to ‘Neutron’ Jack Welch. The M-16 had teething problems because McNamara and his “whiz” kids figured they could save a few pennies using a cheaper metal on the M-16 bolts. And NOBODY could tell them otherwise. They were told what the problem with the M-16 was early on, but these guys thought of themselves as “The Best and The Brightest”. McNamara, with his two weeks as Ford President under his belt, KNEW how to run a war. McNamara is just the natural byproduct of what happens when you have a ruling class that NEVER has to account for its mistakes. They think the rules do not apply to them. George W. Bush is another prime example. These people are sociopaths; they don’t care how many people die or how many lives are ruined because of their arrogance and stupidity. Personally, I think McNamara is rotting in Hell right now; it’s a good place for him.
July 8, 2009 at 5:57 am
”These people are sociopaths; they don’t care how many people die or how many lives are ruined because of their arrogance and stupidity.”
Saddam said a leader must be willling to kill 10,000 men.
This is true.
July 8, 2009 at 5:59 am
David, what a great post!
July 8, 2009 at 7:47 am
Dismantling and assembling an RK62 (an ak47 variant).
I could do it in 25 sec back in the day, but this guy does it in 18.9 sec (you get a couple of extra holidays for the best time).
Golf with RK62
July 8, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Paul S:
“Personally, I think McNamara is rotting in Hell right now; it’s a good place for him.”
Well Paul S. The devil had better watch out then. Old Mac will be trying to improve efficiency and suffering there…maybe have the wretched sufferers there load brimstone onto their backs and go on patrols into the fires, and improved stuff like that. And then maybe have a plane fly over and drop a load of naphalm on them as they patrol.
Later, when Rummy shows up there, he can join Old Mac and they can unleash flying robots shooting heat seeking missles onto the sufferers also.
And then the devil might just find himself drafted too, and carrying brimstone right alongside everybody else…with old Mac or Rummy running the show…no need for more supervision than necessary…more suffering for less expense….that’s the name of the game.
And if we somehow find that Old Mac or Rummy takes over hell, in the overall scheme of things, I might then just have to try real hard to get to heaven, and, if I did, I would be forced to live alongside the fundamental Christians there with them preaching to me day and night forever…ahhhhhhhhh!!!! That would be hell. Fuck me….I’ll never smile again (thanks OH).
Please excuse me…just carrying on….lost it for a bit.
July 8, 2009 at 12:31 pm
A last thought….Rummy will have to come up with some new torture devices besides waterboarding, since water will be scarce there in hell….maybe back to drawing and quartering and pulling fingernails….stuff like that.
And, I’ve lost it….gonna shut down my computer now and go talk to myself a little…Said to myself, Self I said…..
July 8, 2009 at 12:34 pm
“Last time I looked, the Economist was published in ENGLAND, not the US, Smith.”
Correct. We can certainly agree on the piss-poor quality of the US media – I read Economist and TLS because the quality of the writing is better, also.
And you may have noticed that Economist, especially, treats its readership as adults. For example, if some public figure calls another public figure a “cocksucker”, Economist will print that as a quote, because that is what was said. If a US paper did that, the “fambly-frennly” crowd would be on them like a pack of hyenas.
“The AK-47…”
Ah, yes, the AK-47. Reliable, but inaccurate as all get out. You don’t “aim” an AK, you point it, and hope you have lots-’n'-lots of ammo. Which is of course OK for third-world guerilla armies who have far more important things to attend to than target practice and weapons maintenance.
“Golf with RK62″
And you can use it to drive tent stakes, too.
July 8, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Oh I think Mac is feeling SERIOUS pain in hell right now. Hell is where only the devil rules ; nobody is gonna come in there and take over. Today is Day Two of payback for McNamara. And McNamara’s payback will stretch from here to ETERNITY. So I guess justice IS served sooner or later.
July 8, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Smith, we spray bullets with abandon. Gads. Go look it up. Indeed, revolutionaries and irregular fighters have a far, far, far more sense of how little ammo they have so they make certain it is one shot, one kill. Ask anyone who the Vietnamese or Afghanis stalked. The survivors, that is.
July 8, 2009 at 8:47 pm
“I read Economist and TLS because the quality of the writing is better, also.”
@JSmith
The Economist is run by Lizards with a Mongol agenda.
OTOH the writers do use good grade vasoline.
July 9, 2009 at 1:39 am
Some gun stuff for gun nuts.
Since some seem to be fascinated about military gun comparisons, I will post some info I picked up over my years of reading. I still like to shoot, but have given up hunting or killing anything, but I wasn’t always this way…so I do know a little about guns.
JSmith is right to some extent about less accuracy in the AK-47.
In my younger years, I liked to read Guns and Ammo and Outdoor life. One of the writers was a superb gun writer named Jack O’Conner. O’Conner could make you want to go shooting just by reading his articles.
He wrote many articles about the military testing of the M-16 against another very capable rifle of similar design…But Colts Firearms had the money and was an old government weapons contractor from the Indian Wars days, so they won out even though the Colt version was the poorer choice at the time….now the M-16 has been refined into a fairly adequate military weapon. It was designed by a fellow named Eugene Stoner.
According to O’Conner, the M-16 cartridge was tested by shooting live goats to see if they dropped instantly or kept moving. They also wounded the goats and treated the wounds to see what effect the high velocity bullet had on tissue…it killed a large tissue area around the wound site. Vietcong called them poisoned bullets because of this effect that caused later suffering and death before they learned how to treat high velocity bullet wounds. According to O’Conner, a goat is similar to a human in its ability to keep going after being hit by gunfire….rather gruesome stuff, and PETA would not approve at all nowadays…and what any military does is rather gruesome anyway…killing people in a variety of ways.
The AK47 was designed by Sergeant Mikhail Kalashnikov of the Red Army (adopted in 1947), and later a Hero of The Soviet Union for his contribution.
Initially, it was produced by the Soviet block with a milled, solid steel receiver, and had very adequate accuracy. It has one of the best trigger pulls in the world with a smooth double sear and instant let of. It’s later weakness in the stamped steel models comes where the receiver meets the barrel. Even the Soviets didn’t build it really heavy in this area so it has some flex. I saw a video of a comparison on You Tube. In slow motion, you can actually see some flex…and this affects accuracy at long distances with a little wider spread of bullet groupings on a target. However, the AK is not a sniper rifle, and long range accuracy was never a part of its design. It was for close, deadly encounters in close places after an attack by armor, air or other means. It fulfills its mission superbly. You can drop one in a sand pile and then dip it in mud and it will still function without misfiring or a jam.
Just blow some sand or dirt into an M-16 and it quits working until you clean it. Still, it is very accurate when it works. The .223 Remington cartridge (now called the 5.56mm ball) started back in the 1960s as a cartridge for match rifles and medium range varmint shooting, and the military gradually adopted it and then screwed it up with ball powder that caused jams, but this was remedied with pellet powder that now leaves little residue…and it is very functional and very accurate now as long as you keep it squeaky clean and lightly oiled.
The Soviets now use a new version of the AK that has remedied many of the AK’s initial problems, and it is every bit as accurate as the M-16 and is probably considerably more reliable. It shoots cartridges and bullets almost the same size as the M-16, and with similar ballistics..and the Soviet Ak’s range is similar to M-16 range and accuracy.
Israel uses a beefed up version of the AK also. It is called the Galil, and they chose it over the M-16 because of the Middle Eastern operating environment. The Galil fires the same ammo as the M-16. The Chinese also use the newer versions of the AK…with beefed up parts and improved ammo for accuracy, as do other nations.
However, the export versions of the AK that the Chinese produce are usually of the older design since its ammo is plentiful in third world countries.
Chinese also export civilian semi-auto look-alike versions of the AK-47 in 7.62 x39 mm, and a 5.56 mm version for US civilian markets and these are stamped metal versions of questionable quality.
Oh, they are very safe for the wannabe Saturday afternoon warriors to take to the gravel quarry and raise hell, but in a real military combat situation, they would probably soon fail. The military quality is not there, and they do not have the full auto feature.
Early versions of the AK-47, on full auto, fire between 8 and 9 bullets per second, and by touching the trigger, a four shot burst is common.
Earlier versions of the M-16 fired 10 bullets per second and ate enormous amounts of ammo in a firefight…so much so, that soldiers quickly ran out. In Vietnam, because of this, soldiers threw out a lot of equipment except for 400 rounds of ammo and lots of water and insect repellent.
The military finally put a burst control device on the new M-16s so soldiers wouldn’t waste all of their ammo when scared to death in battle. Now, you touch the trigger and it fires 3 times and stops until you touch it again.
S Korea uses a Daewoo version of the AK also…simple and reliable…Don’t know about North…but probably the older version of the AK-47.
Germans, on the other hand, use firearms built by Heckler and Koch, they use a unique roller bearing lockup design and are extremely reliable…They are heavier than US and Soviet designed weapons, and they are often chambered for 7.62×54mm large round Nato ammo…which would be very appropriate for longer range European style warfare. H&K also makes weapons that are used by many police forces around the world.
Many US machine guns are made by Fabrique Nationale de Herstal, of Belgium. This company is the home of the US John Browning firearms designing family. (Many of the durable designs used by the militaries of the world either originated by John Browning or by Paul Mauser of Germany).
FN has plants near Columbia, SC near Ft. Benning, Ga. that produce some of these weapons. FN recently bought out the remaining rights of the old US Winchester Repeating Arms Co. and are now again producing Winchesters…One of these is an updated sniper version of the famous Winchester Model 70 bolt action hunting rifle, one of the finest, most precise firearms ever produced.
The US now uses a heavily modified version of the US made Model 700 Remington hunting rifle as the official military sniper rifle…and it is one of the most accurate rifles in the world.
The Soviets use a semi automatic 7.62×54 version of the AK, called the dragunov. It is a beefed up version of the AK with a long barrel and very good accuracy…not as accurate as the US Remingtons, but with more firepower…and Russian military doctrine puts snipers in each squad of men to take out the officers or opposing forces in battle.
Goto Youtube and search military weapons, and you will be amazed by the killing devices people have designed and are trying to sell.
In the US we love our guns…and even I like to shoot too, but now, it’s black powder in a muzzle loader.
It’s a pity we don’t put as much effort into healing our diseases as we put into designing weapons to kill each other.
July 9, 2009 at 2:26 am
As someone who has had to use very crummy equipment and guns, etc, over the years, one thing I learned is, people using these things learn how to USE things. That is, one’s concentration is much greater, the harder it is to use something. For example, I had a 55 Chevy truck. I drove it all over the US and in the mountains, a great deal.
Someone stole it one night. They drove less than 30 miles before they rolled it down a mountain. The sheriff asked me what I wanted to do. The truck was all dents but intact. I said, ‘Help me pop in the windshield and I will take it out of here.’
I then merrily drove it off. Now, the reason it crashed was due to the steering was very ‘loose’. One had to drive with a light hand, a steady touch. Like surgery. I had no difficulties. But the guys who were nearly killed by my truck (heh…) were hamfisted.
Well, I drove it for another 3 years! No problem.
I find that if we get too-good stuff, we don’t try very hard. This is why, when I ’snipe’ with a gun, I don’t worry about how great it is but instead, how well I know its characteristics. I do find, making my own ammo is a great way to improve shooting accuracy.
About rounds: NATO rounds are…ahem…I don’t like using them….heh. Yuck.
July 9, 2009 at 3:51 am
This article is nonsense. A typical liberal drivel. I hope you stay a non-person for a foreseeble future.
July 9, 2009 at 4:20 am
Spreading hate is an interesting thing since it has a tendency to boomerang.
July 9, 2009 at 7:54 am
DrKirbyLuv:
This isn’t exactly the link that elaine posted, but it’s very similar.
http://tinyurl.com/lx2evt
July 9, 2009 at 10:26 am
Igal:
On liners won’t get it. C’mon! Tell us about why liberals are so evil, and why we are so different from others like yourself…What are your thoughts Igal? Do you have any?
July 9, 2009 at 12:40 pm
“revolutionaries and irregular fighters have a far, far, far more sense of how little ammo they have so they make certain it is one shot, one kill.”
Not with an AK, they don’t.
A number of years ago I fired one at an outdoor range; it had apparently come back from Vietnam in one of the owner’s duffel bags. That one was a Chinese knockoff, and tended to fire high, and somewhat wide to the right. But I suppose if I was an irregular fighter I would eventually determine where to aim my particular weapon.
Still, I think the main reason for liking the AK-47 is because it’s the people’s rifle, the symbol of the never-ending struggle against the capitalist forces of imperialist domination. Or something.
This looks more like a symbol of capitalist oppression – but you can hang a lot more stuff on it!
July 9, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Smitty that link is superb, just the ticket for a car customizer now that cars are so damn useless and not worth customizing. The only accessory missing is the fuzzy dice.
July 9, 2009 at 2:17 pm
David: We Americans don’t dig the metric bit. Why not call the cartridges .308 Winchester and .223 Remington? Then we know what you’re talking about haha.
July 9, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Metric systems are FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY stuff! Yikes! No wonder we stick to the King’s measurements that grew up over the course of the Middle Ages.
July 9, 2009 at 3:28 pm
@David & JSmith: Bang for buck I would go for a 5.56 Galil, or the 7.62 version depending on the number of hostiles to be engaged. The rotating bolt makes it next to flawless in reliability. Accuracy better than average out to 800 meters. The HK416 (upgrade of the M4) copied the rotating bolt design. Have fired both; work well in tropical and desert conditions. Rugged. Used to own a 5.56 SAR model.
—
If money not an object, there is only one assault rifle worth all the bells and whistles, the HK G36. Price is insanely prohibitive though. Nothing better though. Good investment. Sights and optics are superb. I miss the toys!
July 9, 2009 at 5:27 pm
“No wonder we stick to the King’s measurements that grew up over the course of the Middle Ages. ”
Elaine: why of course we should stick to Standard measures. How else will one learn their fractions? Such as deciding if one needs a 1/4 inch socket, or a 9/32 socket, or maybe a 5/16? haha. Not real familiar with metric, but I DO know this: a pint’s a pound the world around!haha
July 9, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Lift a mug for that, mate!
July 10, 2009 at 11:27 am
“The only accessory missing is the fuzzy dice.”
When you have a scope, laser sight, and smoke/flare/grenade launcher… who needs fuzzy dice?
But you’re right… whoever came up with the Pickatinny Rail system was probably a frustrated car customizer.
July 10, 2009 at 11:31 am
When everybody has scope, lazersight, and rpg launcher addons, You need the fuzzy dice just to tell which of the lookalikes is your own. Or a smooth as glass candy apple camo paint job with chromeplated gas ports.
July 10, 2009 at 12:24 pm
CK understands gun fights. This is why CK always brings along a couple of knives, a few grenades, an anvil, a garotte, ninja gloves, shuiken, C-4, B-12 and GTFOOH boots. Thus prepared, CK skulks in the undergrowth until the guy with the gun step on the punji stick and gets infected toe jam. Then I unleash my Power Sword +6 and lop off his ear. Swiftly using my USArmy sewing kit I thread the ear onto my gold chain ear holder and depart silently as the dew.
This is how CK do the dew. Oh you say what gun did you carry CK, was it the Sammy Glick 9.6 mill? The Grim and Barrett .60 caliber sniper, The famous Amos Uzi?
And CK says. “With all the other crap I was loaded out with who had space for a loud, stinky, cantankerous gun.”
For it is in the dark, in the stillness, that you most enjoy the feeling of your ceramic blade crossing your opponents carotid, feeling the gush of warm liquid as if flows over your hand…that coppery smell of a job well and silently done.
You feel the life leave, the finality, then the loss of bodily control, the muscles go slack and what was a human is just deadweight slumping to the ground, the sphincter relaxes, the bladder relaxes and that’s it. Up close, personal, wet and stinky. Good times, good times.
July 10, 2009 at 12:51 pm
@CK: gunfights are what happens when you allow yourself to be put in a defensive situation, you are reacting. Lots of firepower always is preferred in that situation. Personal is another matter, you bring it. This gives you a lot of options; time, place and methodology. Nicotine cocktails are just as effective without the stink and the sticky.
July 10, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Bomb attacks are blossoming all over Iraq and Afghanistan. Seems that the civilians we are fighting are learning fast, how to fight us more effectively.
July 10, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Yes, bombing is very effective if you have no qualms regarding collateral damage. Algiers, Morocco, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq… the list is long.
July 10, 2009 at 3:41 pm
“Bomb attacks are blossoming all over Iraq and Afghanistan. Seems that the civilians we are fighting are learning fast, how to fight us more effectively.”
Dearest Elaine… I hate to break this to you, but we’re leaving Iraq. They are learning how to fight… each other.
“Bang for buck I would go for a 5.56 Galil, or the 7.62 version depending on the number of hostiles to be engaged. ”
“About rounds: NATO rounds are…ahem…I don’t like using them….heh. Yuck.”
Yeah… pretty much.
The big problem with military rifles – any military rifle – is military ammunition, being limited by the Geneva Convention to FMJ bullets. That ties in with military doctrine as well, which holds that a dead enemy is one down, but a badly wounded enemy is one down, plus as many as three more to get that one to safety and provide medical attention.
Those of us who are civilians and thus not bound by the Geneva Convention can use bullets that are actually designed to kill: Cor-Bon JHPs in the handgun, for example, or theBarnes TSX in the M-16/AR-15/M4.
July 10, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Did you notice that US soldiers are dying even today, in Iraq? Um….
July 10, 2009 at 4:33 pm
DrKrbyLuv wrote:
`Does anyone know if there is a way to search this blog for “civilian casualties”?’
You can always search google for “civilian casualties” site:emsnews.wordpress.com Maybe this URL will do it: http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=%22civilian+casualties%22+site%3Aemsnews.wordpress.com&btnG=Search&meta=
July 10, 2009 at 7:46 pm
I dunno. This is just my own 2 cents, but if the .223 is your chosen caliber, I don’t see anything wrong with the Mini-14 by Ruger. It’s cheaper–in price than some of the others mentioned here, but imho it’s a pretty solid, reliable firearm. You can get the Mini-30 in the 7.62X39 if you want bigger. How rugged does a weapon have to be? If you need more sturdiness than these two Rugers, you’re prolly screwed anyways. Another choice? The M-1 carbine, .30 caliber. It’s neither a pistol OR a rifle cartridge, but the M-1 has a proven track record up to and including the Viet Nam war. Some things never go out of style.
July 10, 2009 at 7:50 pm
“Did you notice that US soldiers are dying even today, in Iraq? Um….”
Did y0u read where I said “leaving”, not “left”?
“Um…”, yourself.
July 10, 2009 at 9:57 pm
I recently read an article in a gun magazine while waiting in Krogers for my wife. It was an interview of prisoners who had engaged in gunfights with police officers or other criminals and the topic was their method of training or practice to use their weapon, and then that was compared to police training and methods.
Well, the criminals all said the same thing. I will paraphrase from memory: “We ain’t doin’ no sharpshootin or nothin. It don’t matter if I put it to your head or your leg. Once you down on the ground, I can then decide whether to execute you or whatever.”
The main point of the article was that in rapid fire close-quarter gunfights, what matters is the number of shots you get off, how quickly, and how many hits you make and NOT how well you aim your pistol. It is basic “point and shoot” and requires no training.
I suspect that an AK-47 would do well in a close-quarter combat situation that required rapid fire, no misfires, relative accuracy (a hit knocks the other person to the ground in close quarters) and good mobility. (JSmith’s “bazooka rifle” might not work well inside a house or mud hut, and could actually bring the whole structure down on top of himself).
Sniper rifles are fine as long as you do not have to get too close to the enemy. I would not want to be holding a sniper rifle if my position were overrun by a group carrying AK-47’s.
I am a muzzleloader myself, and it does help your concentration level greatly. I do not find much enjoyment in firing modern rifles.
July 10, 2009 at 10:19 pm
@CC
Nicotine cocktails are hard to give to non-drinkers. And now that I among the sainted and no longer befoul the universe with my beloved cigarette smoke, I have to cadge buts to set fill the extraction pans.
I am honestly not much of a gun enthusiast. I have enjoyed shooting a Rem 700 a few times and for years enjoyed the savage 30-30 as a meat gun. WWII Nazi pistols always have a market. Telling a glock from a browning is about like telling a dodge minivan from a chrysler minivan but most folks can recognize a Luger. Eventually, folks who rely on guns, rely on a very long production tail. Someone has to do the brass, make the powder, create the caps, make the tools to make the tools. Fine today, although the shortage of ammo in most US outlets has a few folks outraged. Depending on how you see the shit hitting the fan and for how long will define how much ammo you can preposition at your redout in the woods. Depending on how much warning you actually get will determine if you reach that ammo stash.
And once its gone, now you have to mine the sulfur, make the potassium nitrate, make the charcoal, make the ball mill to grind them together…fantasy intrudes quickly.
Sharp pointy things … don’t have such a long production tail. ( True the ceramic blades have difficult requirements for the home brewer of knives to meet.) My fave is music wire. Music wire and a couple pieces of wood. Cheap, easy, unbreakable, and not all the nasty looking.
But then I suspect that when the shit hits the fan it will look not at all like what I expect nor what most others expect. I also expect the shit to hit the fan two maybe three days after I croak. That way it’s all good. Apres Moi, le delugé.
July 11, 2009 at 6:47 pm
“It is basic “point and shoot” and requires no training.”
Well… it may require SOME training.
See this link for techniques used by real untrained third-world fighters.
July 11, 2009 at 7:43 pm
I recognize Lugers! This is the gun that can go off if you touch it.
30-30 can kill deer. Pretty well. Kill other critters who are annoying, too. Even two legged guys who are threatening to kill me.
Call it ‘the starter pistol’. Ready, set, run.
July 11, 2009 at 8:47 pm
@EMS
Ah yes, just as with women, most guns will go off if you just touch them correctly.
July 11, 2009 at 9:46 pm
What, pissing off women is dangerous?
July 11, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Causing controlled explosions is not the same as pissing someone off… unless they are into that specific variation on the theme.