“In the past an independent Kurdish state was a reason for war [for Turkey] but no one has the right to say this now.” - Huseyin Celik, spokesman for the ruling AK party
“We need to support the Kurdish aspiration for independence. They deserve it.” - Benjamin Netanyahu
.@BarackObama is now googling “Can an Executive Order override Supreme Court?” #HobbyLobby
— Gov. Bobby Jindal (@BobbyJindal) June 30, 2014
Conspiracy theory for conspiracy theorists: Your conspiracy theories were planted by the government to distract you from real conspiracies.
— Mark Leggett (@markleggett) June 15, 2014
This is a blunder that arguably sums up every one of Obama’s weaknesses in conducting foreign policy. ...
Syria has shown us the many faces of Barack Obama.
First we had Obama the deer in the headlights, doing nothing for a year after the revolt against Bashar al-Assad broke out in April 2011 and people started dying—a period when there was a real opportunity to shift the balance of forces in the Middle East.
Then we had Obama the redliner in August 2012, promising swift action if Assad used chemical weapons against the rebels … then doing nothing when they were used.
Then came Obama the unilateralist, deciding he had to take military action so he wouldn’t look like a prevaricating poltroon. This was immediately followed by Obama the devious, leaving ultimate responsibility for the decision to Congress.
By then, of course, half a million people were dead and Al Qaeda was left to take over leadership of the rebellion against Assad.
Then came Obama, president of the Vladimir Putin fan club, gratefully taking up the Russian leader’s offer to broker the handover of Assad’s chemical weapons stash because it got Obama off the hook for military action. It also taught Putin that if he wanted to start reassembling the broken bits of the old Soviet Union, starting with Ukraine, Obama wouldn’t raise a hand to stop him.
Voluntourism is ultimately about the fulfillment of the volunteers themselves, not necessarily what they bring to the communities they visit. In fact, medical volunteerism often breaks down existing local health systems. In Ghana, I realized that local people weren’t purchasing health insurance, since they knew there would be free foreign health care and medications available every few months. This left them vulnerable in the intervening times, not to mention when the organization would leave the community.
"My question was always: 'How do we f*** the system?' ... "And the answer was, we show that non-politicians can do the job as well."Apparently Gnarr did a decent job in office. Screw the establishment, and do it with a smile! I can't resist reposting one of Gnarr and his self-proclaimed Best Party's hilarious campaign videos:
Ah, the decline of journalism: From Woodward and Bernstein cracking Watergate to Buzzfeed telling me which Disney Princess I'm most like.
— Seth MacFarlane (@SethMacFarlane) June 25, 2014
Stellar celebrations from @USSoccer fans, including a Teddy Roosevelt look-alike -> https://t.co/TdR6P0zpEm
— ESPN (@espn) June 22, 2014
Anyhow, it’s comforting to know that in the midst of a massive IRS scandal that makes Watergate look like child’s play and the disintegration of the Obama administration’s foreign policy in Iraq, our government is focusing on the issues that really matter: the names of professional sports teams.I personally don't freaking care about the name of the Washington Redskins, but I do care that government's taking sides in what is basically a boutique argument about political correctness. In any case, it's a horrible precedent.
Let's get rid of all references to Native Americans and rename them the Washington Elizabeth Warrens.
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) June 18, 2014
My vote for the new DC NFL team name. Via: https://t.co/cj4CBwbnQs pic.twitter.com/wP58YOXBH7
— John Scalzi (@scalzi) June 18, 2014
While other administrations have shown weakness or had failures in the region, “This is the first administration to see the region as inconsequential.” Believing our “real” interests lay elsewhere (e.g. Asia) has led to a lack of focus and engagement in the Middle East. We continue to appear unserious because, in essence, we are.YOU DON'T SAY!
"The problem in Iraq isn't that we tried to impose democracy by the point of the figurative bayonet, but that we stopped trying to do that too soon."I'm a historian. One major problem is that too many people trying to say/do things about Iraq don't know much (anything?) about history, let alone much (anything?) about playing the long game. I find it absolutely incredible that anybody can seriously think we can just leave after a mere decade and think it's all going to be OK. That's barely any time at all in the historical perspective. (Remember Germany? Japan?) But hey, who cares about this stuff when your main concern is political optics at home?
"I wonder what made the Turks change their minds, eh?"
"I bet they want the Kurds as a buffer zone between them and those [expletive referring to ISIS] in Iraq."
Starbucks Corp. will provide a free, online college education to thousands of its workers, without requiring that they remain with the company, through an unusual arrangement with Arizona State University, the company and the university will announce Monday.
The program is open to any of the company’s 135,000 US employees who work at least 20 hours a week and have the grades and test scores to gain admission to Arizona State. For a barista with at least two years of college credit, the company will pay full tuition; for those with fewer credits it will pay part of the cost. But even for many of them, courses will be free when government and university aid is included.I expect ed bloggers and commentators to start a firestorm in 3 ... 2... 1 ...
Ships belonging to the various players in Asia’s game of thrones have been menacing, tailing, and ramming one another in the seas around China ... Now, things have taken an even more dangerous turn: China and Japan have started to do the same with aircraft.
The possibility that a long civil war in Syria would become an incubator for terrorism and destabilize the region was predictable, and we predicted it. "Now the jihadists have descended by the thousands on Syria," we noted last May. "They are also moving men and weapons to and from Iraq, which is increasingly sinking back into Sunni-Shiite civil war. . . . If Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki feels threatened by al Qaeda and a Sunni rebellion, he will increasingly look to Iran to help him stay in power."
We don't quote ourselves to boast of prescience but to wonder why the Administration did nothing to avert the clearly looming disaster.
Yes, the Obama administration screwed up by leaving Iraq on its own. But conservatives should be in the lead to urge the government to work the problem rather than settling for blaming (rightly, I'll add) the Obama administration for getting us to this position ...But I'm also convinced that this administration doesn't have the foggiest notion what to do ... and that it's obvious to everybody else that it doesn't. It also seems completely incapable of learning from its mistakes and engaging with reality. There, I said it. (Related.)
US respnse 2 Syria,Russia,Iraq:
1)Huh?
2)We're watching this closely
3)With concern.
4)Hey, stop-
5)We won't tolerate that!
6)Mmm. Whatever.
— Rosa Brooks (@brooks_rosa) June 13, 2014
Brooks is currently a Georgetown law professor. She worked in the Department of Defense from 2009 to 2011.
Colombia: Oh hey, how'd you guys get in? DRUGS. You're not fooling anyone here, Colombia. When a rich guy moves in next door and I never see him commute or he runs a shop that appears to have no customers but he lives like a rich man anyway, I suspect drugs. And that is how you got here. We all know that FIFA chooses its host countries and tourney entrants by demanding briefcases full of bearer bonds and bondage hookers and DRUGS. So many drugs. Enough drugs to make your eyes bleed. That's how you bought your way in.
I--Four facts which must be emphasized:
(1) The enemy's complete mastery in the air.
(2) The skillful and large-scale employment of enemy parachute and airborne troops,
(3) The flexible and well-directed support of the land troops by ships' artillery of strong English naval units ranging from battleship to gunboat.
(4) The rehearsal of the enemy invasion units for their task; most precise knowledge of the coast, of its obstacles and defense establishments, swift building up of superiority in numbers and material on the bridgehead after just a few days.
