Stop destroying Ymemen peoples and monuments!

Gas is in such short supply in Yemen that hospitals cannot rescue the wounded an dying, who lie in streets, much as in Plague Times.

Here's a Sana'a taxi ride:

Our Photo of the Day - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

 一个男孩，他的脸上布满沙子，离开农场，他的作品上，靠近萨那，也门

看世界20150610-xihuashe  

a dusty farmer outside 

san'na Yemen

Saudi Hostile Policy Toward Yemeni People Continuous + Video&Pics

America, oppose Saudi bombing and blockades in Yemen

Withdraw all support for the bombing.

Repair the broken airfields.

Use the Fifth Fleet to unsure safe, quick delivery of food and medicine from any source, including Iran.

Deliver air defense systems to Houthi.

Stop the destruction.

Now.

In the US, in Israel, in Saudi Arabia, in ghe world:

Hatred never ceases by hatred,

but by love alone is healed;

This is a great and eternal law.

Iran from the Persian Gulf dictators' points of view

The useful Wikileaks reports on communications from Saudi Arabia and the UAE on their fears of Iran.

The fears  are leading the countries into a tangle of battles that harm them and may ultimately lead to their downfall.

This an outside observer, looking at news reports found in the middle of the Pacific Ocean who is surrounded by very weapon of mass destruction Man had yet  to conceive,  all for his protection.  I readily admit I may not see risk as clearly as those on the Gulf.

About 1,600 years ago a schism arose in the Muslim faith.


Those who became Sunni placed their faith in a savior caliphate and for thousands of years they spread the Mslim faith tho folks the Uighur Empire in West of Chin to the foothills of the Pyranee in Spain an nearly to the front gates of Rome.

In the 10th Century Sunni Arabs were he most enlightened and, educated persons on earth, honoring learning an wisdom above all else.

Persians on the other hand, opted for an inward-looking relitio, worshipping a martyred Ali an wishing only to be left alone.  They became the Shia, centered now mainly in Iran.

Bushco's War of Choice in Iraq brought down Iran's greatest enemy, and saw a Shia awakening.  See Vali Nassr's The Shia Revival, an essential book for understanding Central Asia.

Although Sunni greaatly outnumber Sia

. . . the revival has made some Sunni afraid. Similarly some White Southerners are afraid of a Black takeover of America, because some Blacks asset their human rights.  Witness the recent killing in Charleston, South Carolina.

Shiite fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units walk with their weapons at the front line at the Shiite Turkmen village of Bashir, south of Kirkuk, March 14, 2015. (photo by REUTERS/Ako Rasheed)
.

Leaked cables show Gulf leery of Shiite expansion

Graham E. Fuller, an American author and political analyst who specializes in Islamic extremism, published in 1999 a book titled “The Arab Shi’a: The Forgotten Muslims,” in which he focused on the Shiite communities in the Arab world, from the Gulf states to Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen. Today, Arab Shiites are no longer ignored, as they were throughout the long history of the region, thanks to the rise of the Shiite political identity in Iraq, establishing a bridge between Iranian and Arab Shiites.

The Shiites of Iraq have close relationships with the Gulf states, mainly Kuwait and Bahrain, given the historical neighborly relations between them and their common affiliation to the most prominent Arab clans and tribes, such as the Rabiah and Khaz’al tribal groups. subcontinent to Iran and the Arab world.

This major force poses a significant challenge to the Sunni regimes in the Arab world, especially in the countries neighboring Iraq and Iran. The challenge is not only limited to religious differences, as the rise of sectarianism within competing political projects between Iran and Saudi Arabia led to the collision between these regimes and their Shiite components.

The "Saudi Cables," which were made public June 19 by WikiLeaks, revealed the concerns of the Arab regimes — including the Gulf states and particularly Saudi Arabia — of the rise of Shiite identity in the region. The leaks also revealed concerns about the connections between the Shiites of the various Arab countries and those in Iraq and Iran.

According to the leaks, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates had informed US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz on Dec. 17, 2009, that Iran is establishing Shiite emirates in various regions of the Islamic world, from southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip to the Gulf states and Yemen.

In another document dated April 9, 2009, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed revealed that Saudi Arabia fears Asif Ali Zardari’s ascent to the Pakistani presidency, since he is a Shiite and will seek to create a Shiite triangle with those of Iran and Iraq.

The documents in general show that the Shiite political force, headed by Iran, is a major concern to Saudi Arabia and most Gulf states. Moreover, they focus on the connection between the Shiite communities in the Gulf region with their counterparts in Iran and Iraq.

Concerns rose substantially after the crisis in Yemen. It seems from these leaks that the Gulf states feel that the risk of Shiite alliances forming is knocking on their doors, especially with the Shiite Houthis fighting Saudi Arabia and its allies in Yemen. The Gulf media widely published propaganda against Shiite alliances aiming to restrict relations between the Shiites of the Gulf and the Shiites of Iraq and Iran. It seems that the purpose behind this move was to safeguard the last impregnable fortresses against Shiite extension, according to the Gulf view.

On June 11, Al Khaleej published a report indicating that when the Shiites of the Gulf make religious visits to Iraq, they find themselves pushed to join the Shiite militias of the various parts of the region. On its website, the news outlet claimed that a systematic campaign is led by the Shiite communities in Najaf to attract the Gulf Shiites to go to Iraq and participate in religious pilgrimages leading to their integration in militias managed by Iran. This campaign aims to deploy these militias in the various Arab countries to spread instability and implement Iran's regional policies. The report also confirms the control of Iranians over the various sectors in the city of Najaf and the exploitation of Shiite religious shrines and institutions for political purposes linked to Iran.

However, Al-Monitor did not find any evidence in the city of Najaf to confirm these allegations. The publication of such reports has led to more restrictions on Shiites in some Gulf countries, to discourage or prevent them from visiting Iraq. Zainab, a Bahraini university professor who preferred not reveal her full name, told Al-Monitor that Shiite visitors often face interrogation and prosecution by Bahraini officials after their return from Iraq.

The concerned Gulf states are unable to properly deal with the Shiite communities in their country because of the policy of "non-openness" toward the Shiites of Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. This restricted policy toward Shiites paved the way for Iran to interfere in Iraq and expand in the region, under the pretext of assistance and support for Shiites, and led to the loss of trust between the Shiite communities and the Gulf states.

The Gulf militancy against the moderate Shiite parties and communities in the Gulf aggravated the situation in favor of Iran’s agenda and the groups associated with it. In this context, a conviction was issued June 10 for Ali Salman, the secretary-general of the Bahraini Al Wefaq Party — known for its patriotic and moderate speech — ordering his imprisonment for four years on trumped-up political charges, according to Human Rights Watch, which demanded his immediate release.

On March 27 from his prison cell before the start of his trial, Salman urged his supporters to commit to peaceful means of protest and stressed that his party has no demands other than abiding by the constitutional regime of the kingdom.

Recent years' developments show that the Sunni regime’s ongoing marginalization policies against Shiites are useless and aggravate the situation in favor of Iran. These regimes have to conduct a comprehensive and in-depth planning for the integration of the Shiite communities in their societies and give these communities equal rights and dignity, as well as a sense of belonging to their countries.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/06/gulf-fears-shiite-expansion-wikileaks-saudi-arabia-iran.html#ixzz3eUtWSZlS

Why Turkey matters, to Turks, and therefore to us.

If you  spend some time reading the news article below you will have a tiny taste of the complexity the US is dealing with in Syria.

The importance to Turkey of  Tell Abyad isn't hard to understan.  It is as if the fighting and bloodshed were going on in Matomoros, just across the Mexican border.  We'd be interested, too.

 

John Donne, 1623, London, England

No man is an island, 

Entire of itself,

Every man is a piece of the continent, 

A part of the main. 

If a clod be washed away by the sea, 

Europe is the less. 

As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thy friend's 

Or of thine own were:

Any man's death diminishes me,

Because I am involved in mankind. . . .

                   
If you read the article, ask yourself which of the Republican candidates for president have demonstrated an intellectual rigor capable of benefiting the United Syria, in the face of the complexities Syria offers.  And then consider Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and finally Yemen, our decision to supply the Saudis with cluster bombs that kill women, children, youngmen, non-combatants, mostly.

Ask yourself which candidate can be for an against the same folks at the same time and maintain a degree of civility with all.

I have my favorites among Republicans, which I'll keep to myself for now.  But remember:  the much hated Nixon opened China o the World.

 
TURKEY PULSE TÜRKİYE'NİN NABZI

ighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units remove an Islamic State sticker in Tel Abyad town, Raqqa governorate, June 16, 2015.  (photo by REUTERS/Rodi Said)

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/06/turkey-syria-kurdish-corridor-in-the-making-kobane.html#ixzz3dvCTGysZ

Kurds eye new corridor to Mediterranean

When the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) expelled the Islamic State from Tell Abyad, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, other Justice and Development Party (AKP) leaders and the pro-government media reacted hysterically. Among their frenzied scenarios: “Kurdish state in the making in northern Syria with US assistance,” “Kurdish ethnic cleansing of Arabs and Turkmens,” “Corridor opening to move Northern Iraq oil to Mediterranean.” One about the Democratic Union Party went further: “PYD more dangerous than [IS].”

Summary⎙ Print The dream of a Kurdish corridor from Jazeera to Afrin appears to be attainable, but everything depends on the complicated relationships the Kurds are working to maintain in the area's complex ethnic and ideological makeup.

We are so engrossed with demonizing the defensive operations of the Kurdish movement in Rojava that we don’t even have time to discuss what the PYD and the YPG are actually doing. Never mind the crazed scenarios of setting up a Kurdish state or opening a corridor to the Mediterranean, there are two important questions to study:

After taking control of Tell Abyad and linking the Kobani and Jazeera cantons, will the YPG now cross to the western bank of the Euphrates River to expel IS from Jarablus?

If the Kurds eliminate IS from Jarablus, will they move westward to open a corridor from Azez to Afrin canton?

The YPG, which entered Tell Abyad with the support of the US Air Force and Arab fighters such as Burkan Al Firat, now controls a contiguous 180 km (110 mile) stretch from Ras al-Ain to Jarablus. Thus from the border of south Kurdistan to Euphrates at Jarablus, the YPG now controls 400 km (250 miles). Their next potential target, the line from Afrin to Jarablus, is 110 km (68 miles) long.

The area between Afrin and Jazeera is home to several different ethnic groups. In Jazeera canton, there are Kurds, Arabs, Syriacs, Chaldeans, Armenians and Chechens. Arabs make up 30% of the population. The Kobani and Afrin cantons are predominantly Kurdish. At Tell Abyad, the Kurds constitute 40-45% of the population. In Jarablus, Arabs and Turkmens are in the majority.

There is no doubt many Kurds dream of a fully fledged, united West Kurdistan from Jazeera to Afrin. But geographic and demographic realities do not lend themselves to the creation of their Rojava. Actually, the Kurdish actors are realists and have been wisely following a road map that incorporates the geographic, ethnic and religious diversity of the region. Kurds owe their recent gains in the region to their cooperation with other ethnic elements. If they deviate from this course, their alliance, particularly with the Arabs, could easily collapse,

The basic motivation of the Kurds was to eliminate the IS threat and secure Afrin as they did Kobani. Control of Afrin had passed from the Damascus regime to the PYD-led Kurdish movement on July 11, 2012. On June 7, 2013, the Kurds took control of Kurdish villages in Afrin's vicinity from the opposition forces and opened up a corridor to Tel Rifat in the east. Afrin’s population of about 700,000 doubled with the Kurds fleeing clashes around Aleppo. Reinforcing the Kurdish defense became problematic then, because IS was deployed on both flanks of Kobani. Afrin, which is surrounded by Arab and Turkmen, is now under siege by the Islamic Front and Jabhat al-Nusra.

According to Idris Nassan, Kobani's deputy minister of foreign relations, there are four conditions that must be met for the YPG to cross to the western bank of the Euphrates: Cooperation with opposition forces in the area, the request of the local tribes, a viable threat against Afrin and the continuation of the support by the international coalition.

To Al-Monitor’s query of whether the YPG will cross the Euphrates, journalist Fehim Isik replied, “The Kurds never had plans to advance on the ground to occupy territory. From the outset they have adhered to a policy of security of their area and building a democratic, free structure with the other peoples sharing their area. To have Tell Abyad in IS hands was a serious threat to the Kurds' and regional security. That is why they went after Tell Abyad. It is possible to predict that YPG will now turn toward Jarablus to eliminate the IS control there. This has nothing to do with building an oil pipeline. It is to build a free and democratic life.”

Veysel Ayhan, the chairman of Middle East Peace Research Center, offered this assessment: “It is inevitable that the Kurdish movement together with the Arabs of the area will try to free the other bank of the Euphrates. If that is not done, the eastern bank of the Euphrates will not feel secure. The YPG had earlier said that ridding Raqqa of IS will be part of their plans. This is why the Kurdish movement is not just an element of defense but a key actor of freedom for the Syrian peoples. That is why opening a safe corridor to Afrin is vital to meet the basic needs and security of the people of the region.”

Uneasy partnership with Islamists

Although it is possible to shape a partnership with opposition forces against IS, the opening of a Kurdish corridor to Afrin won’t be easy. From Jarablus to Afrin, there is first IS and then Islamic Front domination. IS controls Bab, Menbic, Rai and Jarablus from Raqqa toward Turkey in the north. To the west between Aleppo and Turkey, Azez, Tel Rifat and Marea are controlled by Islamic Front factions. There is also Jabhat al-Nusra, which relies on Turkey and had earlier tried to enter Afrin from the south but couldn’t do it.

There are ideological barriers to the YPG setting up an alliance with the Islamic Front, as it did with Burkan Al Firat forces at Kobani and Tell Abyad. Islamic Front factions reject cooperating with the PYD and YPG because of their leftist ideology and perception as Kurdish militias of the Syrian regime. Turkmen organizations in harmony with Turkish policy brand the YPG as a terrorist extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party.

But fatal blows by IS could compel the Islamist Front to cooperate with the YPG. In recent weeks, IS hit at Islamic Front positions first to capture Soran before turning toward Marea. IS hopes to recoup the loss of Tell Abyad by capturing the Selame border crossing. But the Selame crossing is vital to the Aleppo districts areas under opposition control. The Islamic Front and its allies are in fully mobilized to confront IS' plans.

Although the Islamic Front might cooperate with the YPG against IS, the last thing the group wants is to share the region with Kurds. A cooperation of necessity may offer Kurds a safe corridor to reach Afrin, but this won’t mean a Kurdish belt or an area of Kurdish control.

Tribes support Islamic organizations

The attitudes of the tribes are as important as the positions of other organizations. Although The Kurdish Front operating at Azez is counted as an YPG ally, they have strong reservations about the YPG. Jarablus is predominantly Arab and Turkmen, with a minimal Kurdish presence. The tribes of Jarablus were divided between Jabhat al-Nusra, the Free Syrian Army and IS. When IS captured the town in January 2014, 80% of the population fled to Turkey. Bab and Menbic, controlled by IS are almost totally Arab. These two deeply conservative locations facilitate the operations of Islamist organizations without offering much opportunity to secularist forces like the YPG. Turkmen tribes scattered among about 150 villages at Azez, Bab, Menbic, Jarablus and the mountains also keep their distance from the YPG, even more so than the Arabs.

Syrian Kurdish sources speaking to Al-Monitor say that at the moment, the time for cooperation with Islamic Front factions for the far bank of the Euphrates is not ripe.

The YPG may be forced to cross the Euphrates if Afrin comes under attack. But for IS to capture Afrin, it must first remove the Islamic Front from Marea and Tel Rifat. The threat to Afrin comes not only from the IS. Other Islamist organizations from time to time lay siege on Afrin when they have problems with the YPG.

For the YPG to move against Jarablus, it badly needs the continuation of US air support. The partnership with the United States that started at Kobani has reached to new levels at Tell Abyad. According to a US official who spoke to daily Hurriyet’s Tolga Tanis, the United States, beyond giving close air support to the YPG, is also assisting with the removal of booby traps and mines by a civilian contractor.

The United States has not been able to achieve the level of cooperation it has secured with the Kurds with other opposition forces. Keeping in mind Turkey’s vehement protests, it is not yet clear whether the United States intends to expand its operations in the region.

The YPG's route to Afrin also depends on the fate of the Arabs and Turkmens of Tell Abyad. If a civilian and security structure that will satisfy the Arabs and Turkmens of Tell Abyad cannot be provided, the plans for Jarablus and more could be in jeopardy.

The Kurds don’t want a Kurdish-Arab or Kurdish-Turkmen confrontation on the way to Afrin. There are no indications of a Kurdish desire to take over the region against the wishes of Arabs and Turkmens. But possibilities such as ethnic cleansing could trigger a Kurdish-Arab confrontation, which in turn could motivate the Arab tribes of Jazeera to cooperate with the regime or other armed groups. This is why Kurds are not expected to take any steps that may threaten all the gains they have made with the other peoples of the area since 2012.



Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/06/turkey-syria-kurdish-corridor-in-the-making-kobane.html#ixzz3dv8p6yZo

UAE is a police state

How wonderful it is to dwell in Dubai, UAE!  No wonder Cheney decided to move his billions there! In the Emirates, it is a crime to cast so august a figure as our former President-in-Fact, but no need for any messy trial in that Paradise.

June 15, 2015

How security forces keep critics quiet in 'progressive' UAE

Through a series of overt and covert actions, the security forces of the United Arab Emirates have created an environment in which internal criticism is practically nonexistent and external critics are targeted.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/06/uae-security-rights-media-free-speech-abduction.html#ixzz3dM86tqYr

ºººººººººººººººº

Images of the 

United Arab Emerites

Rulers

Enlightened, no doubtt

ISIS will fail; what replaces it is less clear

What follows is not an optimistic from any point of view: from the West, ISIS's, and therefore the Wahhabist form of theocratic government, failure, inevitable from the start be cause most folks don't like the Wahhabist form of theocratic government, will be a long time coming; and from ISIS' point of view, eventually it will be replaced by something more liberal and atheistic.

Anbar is critical.  There isn't much between ISIS and Makkah but desert, and once ISIS gains control of Makkah its claim to legitimacy is more secure.

The root problem was knowable at the time Bushco decided to replace Saddam Hussein:  Sunni and Shia can exist in one State only if the State is controlled by a strong dictator.

Now, Iran and Syria don't want a strong Sunni dictator, and Sunni won't tolerate a strong Shia dictator. A failed state is inevitable.

Certainly Obama knows this.  His plan for dealing with it is unknowable to one situated as ordinary citizens are, and that i not unusual in any war.

A quotation from the article:

"Eventually, at some point, the caliphate will collapse because there's not enough people who want to live in that type of a religious theocracy," Harmer said. "But it's not going to collapse anytime soon. Their message is resonating with enough foreign fighters that they're getting a significant influx of foreign fighters … There's an ideological and operational coherence."

And while ISIS thrives, the US seems to lack coherence with its strategy.

"People on active duty like to say we've got an extend and pretend strategy," Harmer said. "We keep extending failed policies and pretending they are working.

 I plan to live long enough to see how it works out.


From the sober http://www.businessinsider.com/isis-is-gaining-momentum-in-the-worst-possible-way-2015-6

ISIS is gaining momentum in the worst possible way

PAMELA ENGEL 

JUN. 16, 2015, 9:14 AM 13,714 34

3 big assumptions in the anti-ISIS fight have all turned out to be false

ISIS is launching more and more car bombs

The Obama administration's ISIS strategy faces a crippling contradiction
In the year since the Islamic State militant group tore through the Middle East and took control of Iraq's second-largest city, the US has been scrambling to come up with an effective strategy to defeat the militants.

Meanwhile, the Islamic State (also known as ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh) is winning by successfully settling in as Iraq and Syria crumble.

"A year after the Islamic State seized Mosul, and 10 months after the United States and its allies launched a campaign of airstrikes against it, the jihadist group continues to dig in, stitching itself deeper into the fabric of the communities it controls," Ben Hubbard of The New York Times reports.

The Times, citing interviews with residents, notes that ISIS "is offering reliable, if harsh, security; providing jobs in decimated economies; and projecting a rare sense of order in a region overwhelmed by conflict."

And by doing so, the group is increasingly winning over reluctant civilians.

"It is not our life, all the violence and fighting and death," a laborer from Raqqa told The Times. "But they got rid of the tyranny of the Arab rulers."

As ISIS further entrenches itself in the areas it controls, it is becoming clear that the US isn't anywhere close to eliminating the group.

'They've clearly got the best battle plan'

After a US general insisted in December that ISIS was on the defensive, the militants seized Ramadi, the provincial capital of the Sunni-dominated Anbar province, successfully crippling Iraqi security forces that significantly outnumbered ISIS fighters. The group then went on to take Palmyra, a strategically and historically significant town in Syria, from the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad.

"People inside D.C. are hanging on to the myth that ISIS isn't that good, but they're missing that what ISIS has done shows an extraordinary capability to conduct integrated military operations," Christopher Harmer, a senior naval analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, told Business Insider.

Harmer noted that ISIS has proved it can coordinate military activity across multiple fronts, moving fighters within and between Syria and Iraq, transporting vehicles across borders, sharing expertise in how to build improvised explosive devices, and coordinating even small battles from the top down.

"They've clearly got the best battle plan, and nobody that's fighting against them has a logical plan on how to defeat them," Harmer said. "It is beyond obvious to any observer of what's happening that ISIS' strategy is clearly more effective than the American strategy to defeat it."

The Soufan Group said in a note this week that three key assumptions the Obama administration had modeled its anti-ISIS strategy around had not held up very well over the past year.

The Iraqi army is still incapable of beating back ISIS and retaking Mosul, the Shia-dominated government in Baghdad has been reluctant to arm and train Sunni fighters in Iraq out of fear they will later rise up against Baghdad, and the US hasn't been able to effectively counter ISIS' online propaganda that lures thousands of foreign fighters into the group's ranks.

'Baghdad and Iran are opposed to us training Sunnis'

President Barack Obama recently announced an expansion of the US strategy in the Middle East, pledging to send 450 more troops to Iraq in a push to train the country's battered security forces to retake Ramadi.

But Michael Pregent, a terrorism analyst and former US Army intelligence officer in Iraq, told Business Insider earlier this week why this strategy was most likely doomed to fail.

He recently wrote that while the Obama administration is correct to think that arming and training Sunnis to defend their own territory is the only viable way to beat back advances by ISIS, a Sunni extremist group, the political situation in Baghdad (not to mention Syria) is obstructing the plan.

The Shia-led government in Baghdad is vetting the recruits who want to join the Iraqi security forces, and it has been looking for any connections to Sunni political leaders and Baathists who formerly supported dictator Saddam Hussein. Iran, which is contributing Shiite militias to the ground fight against ISIS while engaging in negotiations with the US over a nuclear deal, also opposes the arming of Iraqi Sunnis.

iraqREUTERS/StringerDisplaced Sunnis crossing a bridge on the outskirts of Baghdad on May 24.

"You can send more American advisers, but until they're training Sunnis, they're not going to make a difference in the fight against ISIS," Pregent told Business Insider. "Baghdad and Iran are opposed to us training Sunnis, and the president cares about the nuke deal."

Obama acknowledged earlier this week that the US did not have a "complete strategy" to beat ISIS.

This is especially clear when looking at Syria. Assad's regime is staunchly backed by Iran and largely ignored by the Obama administration while Obama pursues a "once in a lifetime opportunity" to finalize a nuclear deal with Iran.

The US-led anti-ISIS coalition has been carrying out airstrikes in Iraq and Syria and training Iraqi security forces, but this hasn't been enough to win the ground fight against the militants.

So Shia militias backed by Iran have stepped up, and they have actually proved to be a more effective fighting force than the Iraqi army. But the Shia militias have been accused of committing atrocities against Sunni civilians, which turns public opinion toward ISIS.

"The political solution is to have a unified, stable, neutral Iraqi central government that represents the interests of the people," the Institute for the Study of War's Harmer said. "If we have a Shia militia inside Iraq that is loyal to Tehran, that is not helping achieve the political outcome. From a military perspective, the Shia militias are a good thing. From a political perspective, it's destabilizing."

iraq shia militia

'Extend and pretend strategy'

The US may be out of good options now, and the Iraqi government doesn't seem willing to push the Shia militias out of the country. And since Iran is so closely aligned with Syria, the Assad regime isn't pushing out any Iranian-trained Shia fighters there either.

Yaroslav Trofimov wrote in The Wall Street Journal last month that the US had three options in the fight against ISIS: carry on with what it is already doing, escalate the fight, or give up. None of those options are appealing.

Harmer said the situation in Iraq and Syria would get worse before it gets better.

ISIS is successfully marketing its self-declared caliphate, an Islamic empire that aims to unite the world's Muslims under a single religious and political entity, as a utopia to thousands of foreigners who travel to ISIS territory to contribute to the group's cause.

"Enemies, like government soldiers, the police, and those who do not fit in, such as minorities or elites, flee or are killed," The Times notes. "What remains are mostly Sunni Arabs who try to continue their lives with little disruption."

isis raqqa

The plan is not likely to be sustainable in the long term, but it's working right now.

"Eventually, at some point, the caliphate will collapse because there's not enough people who want to live in that type of a religious theocracy," Harmer said. "But it's not going to collapse anytime soon. Their message is resonating with enough foreign fighters that they're getting a significant influx of foreign fighters … There's an ideological and operational coherence."

And while ISIS thrives, the US seems to lack coherence with its strategy.

"People on active duty like to say we've got an extend and pretend strategy," Harmer said. "We keep extending failed policies and pretending they are working."

Michael B. Kelley contributed to this report.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/isis-is-gaining-momentum-in-the-worst-possible-way-2015-6#ixzz3dGYR6Iti

2015 Herndon Monument Climb

2015 Herndon Monument Climb, Class of 2018

Images from many sources, cropped and enlarged to show individual effort to show individual effort.

The Monument Climb is an annual event a the US Naval Academy.  The freshman class retrieves a cap perched atop the monument, and the monument has been especially greased to make the climb more eventful.  The class objective is to retrieve the cap faster than previous classes.

The US Naval Academy admits some of the brightest, most fit youngmen and women in the United States, without regard for superficial differences such as national origin and sexual orientation.

At the Academy, the youngmen and women learn to operate gigantic floating killing machines.  Having an armada of such machines stationed all over the world is in the National Interest,especially if they never need to be used.

The Academy trains for many functions.  For example, Underwater Demolition Teams:

Location of major flees;

_______________

Class of 2018

 +

More on a later post . . . .

Saud sits uneasy on a tottering gilden throne

A widely-distributed Official Propaganda Image of the new Saud dictators:  King Salman in the center, flanked by 

••  the king's nephew Crown Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz bin Saud, who is the deputy prime minister and interior minister and head of the political and security council, a coordinating body; 

•• and the King's young son, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, on the king's left, who in his early 30s,is deputy deputy crown prince and defense -- meaning war --  minister. 

A satellite image of Arabia, including mountains in Ira to the north, is on the right of the Saudi flag.  On the left is what seems, to Western eyes, as a Romanesque cathedral with a wedding cake addition where the bell tower would be.

Total victory in Yemen is required for the new monarch and his son and nephew to sit securely on his throne, According to Pakistan Defense, a publication of the Pakistan Defense University.

If you don't like this:

sign is petition by:

Saudi Arabia: Free Fouad Now

Avaaz is ok in my book, a good bunch doing as much good in he world as emails can do. 

Saudi bombing of defenseless Yemen continues apace

The Web reports these effects of Saudi bombing on Yemen, in the past 24 hours:

And football fans the whole world over will be heartened by this the valor of the Yemeni football team, reported by  al Jazeera:

The Yemen national football team has been unable to play at home for three years.

They are currently in Doha for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers against North Korea and Philippines. 

However, with the airport shut and travelling by road too dangerous, the team endured an 18-hour journey by sea to Djibouti from where they boarded a plane for Doha.

Web images from the last week:

against this background: