I'm just sayin'...

TSCA Incinerator (click here)

ETTP is home to the DOE Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Incinerator off Blair Road, the only U.S. facility permitted to burn certain radioactive and/or hazardous wastes.  The Incinerator treats both solid and liquid wastes originating from only DOE sites.

The Incinerator is located on the eastern edge of the site and has operated since 1991. The Incinerator operator develops and follows detailed procedures to ensure safety and compliance with rules and regulations issued by DOE, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the State of Tennessee. 

Periodic tests and evaluations are conducted to ensure performance meets requirements. A burn plan detailing what waste will be treated is available on the Web site

http://www.bechteljacobs.com/tsca.

June 1, 2010
By Kay Grant

In 1943, (click here) after graduating from Washington and Lee University, Bill Wilcox landed a coveted job as a government chemist and was sent to a city that didn't exist.

Oak Ridge, Tennessee, then known only as the Clinton Engineering Works, was conspicuously absent from any map. On 60,000 acres of farmland framed by the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, it was one of the United States' three secret cities—remote sites chosen by Manhattan Project director Gen. Leslie Groves, evacuated of their civilian inhabitants, and developed for the specific purpose of producing an atomic bomb. The men and women of the Clinton Engineering Works would help provide the material for the bomb. "I was told I would be working on uranium, and was sternly cautioned, 'That's the last time you will hear that word, and you must never speak it,'" Wilcox, now 87, recalled....

August 4, 2012

By Jacob Sloan

The task of keeping the government (click here) compound safe is handled by a private company–global security giant G4S, also known for a bungling job at the ongoing London Olympics.

The U.S. government’s only facility for handling, processing and storing weapons-grade uranium has been temporarily shut after anti-nuclear activists, including an 82-year-old nun, breached security fences, government officials said on Thursday.

WSI Oak Ridge, the contractor responsible for protecting the facility at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is owned by the international security firm G4S, which was at the center of a dispute over security at the London Olympic Games.

Officials said the facility was shut down on Wednesday at least until next week after three activists cut through perimeter fences to reach the outer wall of a building where highly enriched uranium, a key nuclear bomb component, is stored....

 

The region has every reason to come together to eliminate any potential for estranging the faithful.

June 24, 2014

BAGHDAD — Whether a person (click here) is a Shiite or a Sunni Muslim in Iraq can now be, quite literally, a matter of life and death.

As the militant group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, has seized vast territories in western and northern Iraq, there have been frequent accounts of fighters’ capturing groups of people and releasing the Sunnis while the Shiites are singled out for execution.

ISIS believes that the Shiites are apostates and must die in order to forge a pure form of Islam. The two main branches of Islam diverge in their beliefs over who is the true inheritor of the mantle of the Prophet Muhammad. The Shiites believe that Islam was transmitted through the household of the Prophet Muhammad. Sunnis believe that it comes down through followers of the Prophet Muhammad who, they say, are his chosen people....

The region has a problem. The group within Syria is the problem. It has perverted the faith far beyond that of the jihadist as an instrument of war as al Qaeda did. But, the actual belief system of the IS/IS/L has no basis in the Quran. If this group of radical soldiers are allowed to continue their plague on Syria and then the region the true meanings of the Quran can be lost to both branches of the Muslim faith.

Their jihadist methodology is genocidal in it's outcomes. What is most troubling is the very same method is used over 2600 miles away, inside of Nigeria by Boko Haram. Now, the question is why the similarity in methodology. I first I thought there must be a common thread such as a communication tool. But, even al Qaeda is rejecting IS/IS/L, which means they more than likely disagree with their methodology.

Let me propose this. I believe each group has studied the extreme success of the Rwandan genocide depending what one calls success. Interahamwe was the Hutu paramilitary. It is widely accepted there was propaganda that made the killing in general easier. But, the Tutsi women were viewed as sexually seductive. The Hutu women stood down while the Tutsi women were raped. When a Hutu woman dared to stand up to the rapists she also fell victim to the rapists.

29 January 1996
by Mr. René Degni-Ségui, Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights

...The perpetration of the genocide (click here) and other crimes took on special connotations when women were the victims. The massacres took place according to the following scenario: the husbands and male children were killed first, for the most part in front of their spouses and mothers; then it was the turn of the latter, often after having been tortured and raped....

I believe both leaders of these vicious groups are well read in their ideologies and how to carry them out.

The region has to come together to end this tragedy in Syria and also to commit to never providing productive ground in any form of the Muslim faith to be this perverted to remove the meaning of the faith. The two branches of the Muslim faith have to accept the existence of the other. There does not have to be complete agreement, but, acceptance is vital. 

Remember the USA tanks and the attack on the Imam Ali Mosque? What if attacking mosques is a bad habit of USA forces in the Middle East?

What the hell was going on in Iraq? It just seems as though the USA never respected mosques while it was there. The al-Askari Mosque is in Sāmarrā about 77 miles from Baghdad.

So, let me get this right. The USA went around attacking mosques on a right regular basis and now the people of the USA are suppose to trust their military with a continued war with troops on the ground? I don't think so. 

This is pure speculation, but, with this added evidence to what was transpiring in Iraq under Bush, there appears to have been a holy war being conducted against the Shi'ites. I believe the Shi'ites were being blamed for whatever unrest existed in the region. I also believe it came from the overthrow of the Shah. The USA labeled the Shea as radicals and an enemy of the USA and simply continued to carry through that policy in Iraq.

June 30, 2014

By Jeremy Bender and Michael B. Kelley

ISIS terrorists (click here) fired mortars on one of the holiest sites in Shi'ite Islam today, nearly hitting a potential tripwire for a larger sectarian conflict in Iraq.

Terrorists from ISIS, the Sunni extremist group that's taken over much of Iraq's north and west, attacked the Samarra shrine, one of the holiest in Shi'ism. ISIS lobbed three mortar rounds at the shrine, which landed near the complex's gate and wounded nine people. 

The al-Askari Mosque contains the mausoleums of two Shia Imams, making it a key pilgrimage point and one of the most significant sites of worship for Shia worldwide.

The bombing of the mosque in 2006 set off a vicious cycle of violence that was followed by Shiites carrying out revenge attacks against Sunni mosques and religious leaders....

Two years later, the same polling agency.

February 24, 2014
Michael Winter, USA

China, not Iran, (click here) is now America's No. 1 enemy, according to a new Gallup Poll.

The Chinese hold that distinction primarily because Americans have spread their negative views across several perceived threats — Iran (16%), North Korea (16%), Russia (9%), Iraq (7%), Afghanistan (5%) and Syria (3%) — while holding relatively constant in their mistrust of China (20%) over the past few years.

The poll, reported Thursday, also found that a slight majority (52%) sees China's growing economic power as a "critical threat" to "the vital interests" of the United States in the next decade, while 46% cite such a threat from the country's military....

But, look at those percentages. The perception of threat as an enemy of the USA is really diverse. 

China ranks high not necessarily due to superior military power and/or space potential, but, because of the adversity the USA has experienced economically.

Let me state that again. China is viewed as an enemy because of the USA's experience economically. That view was dearly held in majority by independent voters, not exclusively Democrat or Republican. 

September 11, 2013
On Wednesday's "Morning on the Mall" (click here) on WMAL 105.9 FM in Washington, DC, Kentucky Republicans Sen. Rand Paul argued the best means for the United States to influence rogue nations like Iran and North Korea would be to flex it's economic muscle against those nations' trading partners, especially China and Russia.

Paul noted the United States doesn't have trade relations with either North Korea or Iran, so it would have to be done so through intermediaries like Russia and China.

"I think the first thing we have to do is understand that the answer to a lot of the vexing problems of the Middle East, as well as North Korea, I think do involve engagement and this means engaging with some of the people who have been the trading partners of both Iran and North Korea," Paul said. "You know, we don't have any trade with them, so it's not like we influence either nation through withholding trade. I have been in favor of sanctions, and I think they have helped to a certain degree. But I think ultimately we need to convince people like Russia and China that it is in their self-interest to trade with America, that we are a much bigger self-interest for them than either North Korea or Iran is."...

This is a survey from, 2012. Presidential election year.

American's Still Rate Iran Top US Enemy (click here)

How much is Iran actually the enemy of the USA? Even in 2012? 

It really isn't. There is nothing threatening about Iran and certainly not to the USA. 

But, what is perceived of Iran to rank it so high in concern? Nukes. The idea Iran has been able to build a nuclear reactor from plans that were originally sabotaged by the USA is what ranks it among the worst of our enemies.

Iran is 6,578 miles from Washington, DC. They haven't got the capacity to be our enemy. The USA concern regarding Iran is for Israel, it's ally. 

Do you know who Iran considers it's worst enemy?

July 25, 2014
Iranians rallied nationwide (click here) on Friday in a show of support for Palestinians as 
archfoe Israel pursued its campaign against Hamas and other groups in the Gaza Strip.

Demonstrations were held in Tehran and more than 700 towns and cities across the country on the last day of prayer and rest of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, state television reported.

In the capital, footage showed demonstrators, carrying placards proclaiming “Death to Israel” and “Death to America,” converging from nine different points on Tehran University in the city center.

Iran holds al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day) rallies in support of the Palestinians every year on the last Friday of Ramadan, but this year’s demonstrations came on the 18th day of Israel’s campaign against rocket-firing and tunnel-digging Hamas extremists in Gaza. Hamas has fired over 2,000 rockets into Israel. It has also built dozens of “attack tunnels” under the border, and attempted five attacks from the tunnels in the past two weeks, killing six Israeli soldiers; Israel killed 20 gunmen emerging from the tunnels....

To that reality and loyalty, many Americans would agree with Iran, in that Israel has gone too far in it's attacks on Palestinians.

Is it likely the USA will ever exchange nuclear capacity with Iran? 

No.

October 8, 2013

By Armando Cordoba

ERBIL, Kurdistan - Ansar al-Islam, (click here) an umbrella group for Sunni Iraqi and Arab jihadists, has called for Iranian Sunnis to unite in a jihad against their Shiite clerical government.

In a message on its official website and Facebook page, the jihadist organization said all Sunnis in Iran must “collect under a single banner that is right, and use Jihad,” to make Iran “one nation, a nation of the Quran and the sword.”

AI said that the justification for jihad against the Tehran government was the growing Shiite influence in the country.

AI’s call comes as Iran’s newly-elected President Hassan Rohani – a moderate Shiite cleric -- was inaugurated into office recently and vowed to bring more rights to Iran.

AI leaders said that Shiites in Iran were after money, power, the removal of Islam, and that they wanted to “switch religions.”  It said Shiite leaders do not represent the Islamic nation....

Iran has it's own problems and it has nothing to do with Israel. What I find interesting when I measure Iran's willingness to go to war, even in defense of itself, it is somewhat lacking. If Iran is receiving threats from errant groups in the region, it has a right to secure from that danger for it's citizens. Iran probably relied on Assad to contain groups that would cause danger to them. Today, I doubt that threat is any less and probably more than in 2013. There is every reason for all the nations of the Middle East, including Israel, to come together to find solutions in ending this danger to others within sovereign nations.

Will that happen? Will Sunni and Shi'ite nations come together to solve common threats? Most probably not, which leave Iran alone and in need of a sovereign military.

The region has a lot of issues and it is easy to blame the USA as a scapegoat to it's alliance with Israel, supposedly another common foe. Israel doesn't make it easy to alleviate the concerns of these nations either. In the case of the growth of jihadists out of Syria, The West can stake it's claim to that mess. Absolutely.

Are the words of Senator Sanders more important than can be realized?

How distracting is war during political campaigns? When war is an issue for the USA who benefits politically? I think Senator Sanders has been around long enough to know the priorities of this country. I think we need a liberator to remove the stigma of our past and provide us with a vision for the future.

How correct was Russia to oppose the seven nations in favor of arming rebels in Syria?

Russia has it's own policies and priorities, as of late some are very worrisome. They are worrisome for the people of Russia and it's radical change in citizenship. Requiring ID to claim their right to be Russia. An official Russian language.

The radical change in economic strategies and cutting itself off almost longingly so, for an isolationist country. I don't see any global alliance as anything but a change in economic strategy. The Eurasian Union with it's closed markets is more or less a military alliance, perhaps, to compete with NATO.

But, in this instance in Syria, Russia was correct. It is elemental. When more munitions enter a region there will be more death. Even domestically the USA has come to realize the guns on the street lead to more citizen deaths and suicides. It is basic physics. More killing machines and guns the more death that occurs.

With the Syrian civil war now three years on and Russia having left Syria for other places such as the Black Sea; is the world seeing a white flag in surrendering to any war posture?

Russia was all to silent during Bush's Iraq War. The permissiveness of which Rumsfeld military crossed into Iraq without any opposition except that of a UN resigned to the insistence by Bush's White House there were reasons beyond that of al Qaeda's Afghanistan to go to war.

Has the political ideology of the right wing in the USA actually been defeated and it's lingering only the negligence of people to realize it.

How astoundingly stupid was this?

June 18, 2013

...The hardware for the rebels is coming in from three sources: (click here)

1. NATO stores in Europe, which have been filling up in the past year with arms evacuated from Afghanistan. These weapons have been in operational use and are not new.

2. The Libyan black market.

3. The Balkan black market, chiefly Serbia and Montenegro.

Monday, Syrian President Bashar Assad cautioned Europe it would pay the price for delivering arms to rebel forces in Syria. In an interview to in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, he said: “If the Europeans deliver weapons, the backyard of Europe will become terrorist…”

The volume of the new arms airlift to the Syrian rebels may be estimated by the number of airfreight flights from Libya to Turkey:  27 aircraft landings were counted in the last few days, according to our intelligence sources.

This major Western policy reversal on the arming of the Syrian opposition – combined with the Obama administration’s decision last week to provide the rebels with military aid - was graphically registered in the glum miens of Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin at their meeting Monday on the first day of the G8 summit in Northern Ireland. Beyond exchanging bare courtesies, neither concealed the deep rift between them on Syria – even in the presence of reporters and TV cameras.

Tuesday, the Group of Eight had its work cut out to formulate a Syrian item in its final communiqué that would be acceptable to all seven plus the Russian president. However, in Syria itself, all the signs portend the lengthening of the conflict: Russia is expected to respond to Western arms supplies to the rebels by ramping up its own military assistance to the Assad regime...

How close are we to global peace, but, the world won't admit it.

Russia is disengaging from Syria: Arms shipments stopped, warships exit Tartus (click here)

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

August 29, 2012

Russian naval vessels have unexpectedly departed the Syrian Mediterranean port of Tartus and Russian arms shipments to Syria have been suddenly discontinued. 

DEBKAfile’s military sources reveal that those and other military steps indicate that the Russians are rapidly drawing away from the Syrian arena to avoid getting caught up in the escalating hostilities expected to arise from military intervention by the US, Europe and a number of Arab states. Russian intelligence seems certain that this foreign intervention is imminent.

It's Sunday Night

The Fault In Our Stars I Charli XCX - Boom Clap I Official Video

"Boom Clap" by Charli XCX (click here)

Boom Boom Boom Clap

You're picture perfect blue
Sunbathing under moon
Stars shining as your bones illuminate
First kiss just like a drug
Under your influence
You take me over you're the magic in my veins
This must be love

Boom Clap
The sound of my heart
The beat goes on and on and on and on and
Boom Clap
You make me feel good
Come on to me come on to me now
Boom Clap
The sound of my heart
The beat goes on and on and on and on and
Boom Clap
You make me feel good
Come on to me, come on to me now

No silver or no gold
Could dress me up so good
You're the glitter in the darkness of my world
Just tell me what to do
I'll fall right into you
Going under cast a spell just say the word
I feel your love

Boom Clap
The sound of my heart
The beat goes on and on and on and on and
Boom Clap
You make me feel good
Come on to me come on to me now
Boom Clap
The sound of my heart
The beat goes on and on and on and on and
Boom Clap
You make me feel good
Come on to me come on to me now

You are the light and I will follow
You let me lose my shadow
You are the sun, the glowing halo
And you keep burning me up with all your love, uh

Boom Clap
The sound of my heart
The beat goes on and on and on and on and
Boom Clap
You make me feel good
Come on to me come on to me now
Boom Clap
The sound of my heart
The beat goes on and on and on and on and
Boom Clap
You make me feel good
Come on to me come on to me now
Boom Clap
The sound of my heart
The beat goes on and on and on and on and
Boom Clap
You make me feel good
Come on to me come on to me now
Boom Clap
The sound of my heart
The beat goes on and on and on and on and
Boom Clap
You make me feel good
Come on to me, come on to me now

Russia is no longer predictable which results in no confidence.

Economic alliances between countries are suppose to matter. When a major country turns away from economic development for simply the politics of changing borders it only proves there is no substance to any international agreement.

This is Russia's GDP. In 2009 there was a loss in GDP of 7.8 percent following the global economic collapse. 2010 rallied to 4.5 percent, but, it never got better than than. 2012 fell again to 3.4 percent and 2013 was no better experiencing only a growth of 1.3 percent.

In comparison Saudi Arabia dwarf all those years by 9.7 percent in 2009 and 2.5 percent more in 2013. Russia is an oil exporting country, but, it's performance is very low compared to others with the same product.

Not only that, but, there is absolutely no regard for human life or dignity to back rebels that kill indiscriminately and recklessly. Putin's answer to controlling the weapons that bring down jets with innocent people aboard is to expand a war rather than end it.

There is no accountability. If there is no accountability, there can be no confidence in Russia anymore.

Russia simply does not live up to any alliances be they economic or military. Russia makes up the rules for itself as time passes. There is no substance to the country when it breaks international laws and agreements. How could there be?

More and more Russia is looking like a country prepared for war rather than peace. Russia needs new leadership.

Hey, Jackass, there is already a large scale conflict with Russia in Syria, maybe Putin missed the party?

The same Mr. Strongman at the same camp who blew his image on a fry pan.

August 30, 2014
By Rich Schaprio

...Russian strongman Vladimir Putin (click here) delivered a provocative warning to his foes Friday: Don’t mess with us.

“Thank God, I think no one is thinking of unleashing a large-scale conflict with Russia,” a defiant Putin said in a fiery speech at a youth summer camp — of all places.

“I want to remind you that Russia is one of the leading nuclear powers,” he told the children, gathered on the banks of Lake Seliger near Moscow....

Maybe a war on two fronts is too much for Russia? Huh? One with Ukraine and one inside Syria which Russia's alliance has ignored for three years.

Putin is a strongman in image only. He picks on smaller countries in order to appear to be protecting the Russian homeland, but, the real battles in the Middle East is avoided. Isn't it?


August 29, 2014
By David Wroe

Pressure (click here) is mounting on Tony Abbott to push for a ban on President Vladimir Putin attending the Brisbane G20 meeting after Moscow moved troops and tanks into neighbouring Ukraine.

The Prime Minister condemned Moscow in scathing terms on Friday, branding the stream of Russian soldiers and weapons into eastern Ukraine an apparent "invasion" and calling the actions "utterly unacceptable".

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten called on Mr Abbott and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to talk to other G20 member nations about banning Mr Putin from attending the leaders' meeting in November.

Now is the time to ban Putin as Russia's representative. He has nothing to offer those countries except a lot of trouble.

August 29, 2014
By Andrey Otroukh and Chiara Albanese

MOSCOW—The Russian ruble (click here) hit a low against the dollar, as conflict in eastern Ukraine intensified with claims of the participation of Russian troops.

Kiev said Russian troops entered eastern regions of Ukraine in support of pro-Russian rebels. Moscow denied the claim that Russia now has a military presence in the neighboring country.

"Against the backdrop [of military intervention] I want to stay away from those assets affected by the mounting geopolitical risks. That includes the ruble," said Benoit Anne, emerging-market strategist at Société Générale....

Russia is too busy hacking the internet to find unclaimed Russian money before the USA finds it and it is suppose to have something to offer? The only thing Russia has to offer are broken contracts for goods.

Compare that to China. China is using every tool available to it to expand it's Middle Class and instill an sense of confidence in the path of the country.

August 29, 2014
By Chris Buckley

HONG KONG — Newly disclosed investigations (click here) into senior politicians in Shanxi Province, an area in northern China rich in coal and opportunities for graft, reveal an emerging front in Communist Party leaders’ efforts to show they are serious about eradicating corruption.

On Friday, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Chinese Communist Party’s central agency for uncovering graft, announced that two senior Shanxi politicians faced investigation for “serious violations of discipline and the law,” a euphemism for corruption and related abuses of power.

One was Bai Yun, a member of the provincial party’s Standing Committee; the other was Ren Runhou, a deputy governor who was formerly a chairman of a Shanxi mining company....

In Brazil there are women with competing ideas to push growth back into the grasp of the people's government. This election is a battle of ideas and the promise of transparency alone isn't getting the attention of the voters.

Presidential candidate Marina Silva of the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) speaks during a ceremony to launch her campaign platform in Sao Paulo August 29, 2014.

CREDIT: REUTERS/PAULO WHITAKER

August 30, 2014

...Silva, a renowned environmentalist (click here) who has surged in the polls since entering the race last week, spoke to reporters after unveiling her government programme, which focuses on economic policies to restore growth after three years of lacklustre performance.

The programme calls for an end to the central bank interventions in the foreign exchange market that have strengthened the real currency, and propose a return to a free floating exchange rate that would protect Brazilian manufacturers and help exporters.

It also called for an overhaul of Brazil's complex and onerous tax system. Silva's programme does not include a wealth tax, but she said such a tax would be part of a tax reform debate....

India is leaving the old world behind and modernizing cities to bring about a prosperity.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hands with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe during a dinner at State Guest House in Kyoto on Saturday. (Source: PTI)

August 31, 2014
By Shubhafij Roy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (click here) landed in Osaka on Saturday and, within hours, oversaw the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Japanese PM Shinzo Abe to turn Varanasi into a ‘smart city’ with help from Kyoto. The pact is in line with Modi’s vision of building 100 ‘smart cities’ across India.

Under the smart heritage cities programme, Kyoto will provide cooperation in the fields of conservation and modernisation of cities, as well as art, culture and academics.

While Kyoto and Kashi share many similarities historically, there is a wide gap in where they stand today.

First, the similarities: Kyoto is called the city of ten thousand shrines, while Varanasi boasts of numerous temples and ghats. Kyoto has been the imperial capital of Japan for more than 1,000 years, while Varanasi is considered one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Both cities also have rivers flowing alongside them.

Now, the differences: Kyoto has modernised while keeping its old city, temples and monuments alive, while Varanasi has languished in its past glory. Kyoto’s streets are wide and clean, with magnificent tree-lined boulevards — something Modi witnessed on his way to the luxurious Westin hotel. Varanasi’s squalor and narrow roads have prompted the PM to resolve to clean up the city. Varanasi’s Ganga river is polluted and the ghats need repair, while Kyoto has a number of rivers, canals and other navigable waterways. While Yodo, Kamogawa and Katsura rivers flow through Kyoto, its Late Biwa canal is a major infrastructure milestone....

There are only three countries now to fulfill the expectations of burgeoning markets and developing countries, Russia has resigned to ancient methods of international relationships and isolationist draconian economics.

Given the FACT the USA military is out of control as is the spending, it makes one realize why the Republicans prefer to talk about bizarre priorities, like children coming across the southern border needing the National Guard, or budget shut downs, rather than FACE FACTS.

The never ending broken back of the USA treasury.

Every hour, taxpayers in the United States are paying $10.17 million for Cost of war in Afghanistan.

The fiscal cost of the Afghanistan war is currently estimated to be $4 Trillion.

...The fact remains, (click here) however, that if the CRS (Congressional Research Service) and OMB (Office of Management and Budget) figures for FY2001-FY2013 that follow are totaled for all direct spending on the war, they reach $641.7 billion, of which $198.2 billion – or over 30% – will be spent in FY2012 and FY2013. This is an incredible amount of money to have spent with so few controls, so few plans, so little auditing, and almost no credible measures of effectiveness....

Why worry about effectiveness when all that has to be planned is advancing the loss of income ahead of the end of the war. And what House of the Congress is handling the budget?

June 29, 2011
By Daniel Trotta

...The White House (click here) says the total amount appropriated for war-related activities of the Department of Defense, intelligence and State Department since 2001 is about $1.3 trillion, and that would rise to nearly $1.4 trillion in 2012....

Enough!

One question though.

All of a sudden there is this massive regional movement toward cooperation and defense in the Middle East; what the hell was Bush doing for eight years?

The USA Congress needs to get their heads screwed on straight.

Total expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools in the United States amounted to $638 billion in 2009-10, or about $12,743 per student.
           

The cost of war is usually just measured in dollars. I think the $1.7 trillion is about 10% of the current national debit.

Lesleigh Coyer, 25, of Saginaw, Michigan, lies down in front of the grave of her brother, Ryan Coyer, who served with the U.S. Army in both Iraq and Afghanistan, at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia in this March 11, 2013, file photo. Coyer died of complications from an injury sustained in Afghanistan.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/Files UNREST OBITUARY)

But the losses from wars like Iraq and Vietnam run much deeper into the soul of the country. Broken lives, shattered dreams, widows with fatherless children and indebtedness no war monger cares to count.

It is estimated the cost of the Iraq war alone will result in veteran benefits in excess of $6 trillion over the next four decades. We have enough of the USA Congress volunteering our military for duty in places that don't even raise a finger to end any tensions or conflict. 

The problems in Syria are contained and at the height of unrest and IS/IS/L fears the borders of allies were secure and undisturbed. The Republican right wing can take their mercenary habits elsewhere.

(Reuters) - The U.S. war in Iraq has cost $1.7 trillion (click here) with an additional $490 billion in benefits owed to war veterans, expenses that could grow to more than $6 trillion over the next four decades counting interest, a study released on Thursday said.

The war has killed at least 134,000 Iraqi civilians and may have contributed to the deaths of as many as four times that number, according to the Costs of War Project by the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University.

When security forces, insurgents, journalists and humanitarian workers were included, the war's death toll rose to an estimated 176,000 to 189,000, the study said.

The report, the work of about 30 academics and experts, was published in advance of the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq on March 19, 2003.

The editor. That was the editor of "Al Arabiya" stated the ONLY thing missing in the Middle East is American leadership.

August 29, 2014
By John McCain and Lindsey Graham

...The president (click here) clearly wants to move deliberately and consult with allies and Congress as he considers what to do about ISIS. No one disputes that goal. But the threat ISIS poses only grows over time. It cannot be contained. It must be confronted. This requires a comprehensive strategy, presidential leadership and a far greater sense of urgency. If Mr. Obama changes course and adopts a strategic approach to defeat ISIS, he deserves support....

It would seem as though the Republican right wing would agree. So while the USA Republican right wing works the American public over as being war weary and calling out it's best Psy-Ops to achieve it, "Al Arabiya" is promising every USA ally will suffer from delusion and the citizens being charmed by IS/IS/L will rise up and defeat civilization.

What?

There is no chance any populous movement in the Middle East is seeking to join a radicalized government. I don't know where that comes from, perhaps fear, but one might look to Egypt to realize how much the citizens of that country have withdraw the promise of free lancing freedom to a return of a dictator. So much for brainwashing from within.

In Jordan, people are encouraged to keep their travel plans safe and it's leaders state it is going to take 20 years to rebuild Gaza.

August 30, 2014

AMMAN — The Foreign Ministry on Friday advised Jordanians not to travel to Yemen due to the current security situation there.

The ministry urged Jordanians in Yemen to exercise caution and contact the Jordanian embassy in Sanaa for any help on 009671413277, 009671413276 or 00967736412412.

It called on those who do not have to stay in the country to leave immediately.

In case of an emergency, Jordanian expatriates in Yemen can also call the Foreign Ministry on 0096265735150 or its operation centre on 0096265735166.

And for those that knew this Saudi photographer:

August 30, 2014

Prominent Saudi photographer (click here) Mohammed Ali Shingiti died in Madinah on Thursday following a heatstroke. He was in his late 40s.
Shingiti worked for more than 25 years as the head of the photography team at the Saudi Research and Publishing Company (SRPC) in Jeddah. He covered a number of high-profile events, including the annual Haj pilgrimage, for Arab News, Asharq Al-Awsat and Al-Eqtisadiah....

The Gulf Cooperation Council is promising closer cooperation and solidarity and Saudi Arabia has donated $100 million to combat terrorism.

August 30, 2014

Irish troops (click here) in the Golan Heights have been involved in a tense operation last night and today as UN troops came under attack from Syrian rebels.

Travelling in armed personnel carriers Irish soldiers extricated 35 Filipino troops from a position surrounded by rebels in the early hours of this morning under cover of darkness.

A firefight also took place between rebels and other Filipino troops on the Golan Heights today....

It would seem as though the United Nations has more information than "Al Arabiya." Quite frankly it is about time the Arab World began to be concerned about itself in a way that end the hatred among it's people of each other.

The desperate editor of "Al Arabiya" stated this Sunni-Shea hate is brand new. Never before a problem. If that is the case than why did Saddam Hussein leave behind mass graves and a dried up wetlands? 

The USA is not going to war for the sake of being the world's police. A police who is easily alarmed and woken with the least little panic by the public no matter where it occurs. War isn't about social media and the unrest it can bring, it is about preventing the unrest in the first place though benevolent governments with a military capable of defending borders. It is not about having over powering strength that can be turned on the government when a traitor or militia takes over hardware it never earned.

War is about allies and how the mass of their joint holdings can defeat any challenge. It is not about one single country having the capability to destroy any aspect of civilization of another in the blink of an eye.

The latest exploitation of the imagination is the fear of a flying IS/IS/L due to their invasion of an airport. I suppose there are some that will achieve that goal, but, that is a threat to the Syrian government. There are reports the air force hasn't fared well during the civil war. The last human rights issue were barrel bombs being dropped.

The Syrian Air Force recently disclosed their development and completion of a new type of bomb; improving upon the design of what has now been commonly referred to as the 'barrel bomb'. This domestically-produced variation has greater accuracy and higher explosive yeild than prior versions.

This footage is from Hama Governorate, dated August 26, 2014. (click here)

This is not the USA's war. It is the regions problem and they have to solve it. Providing containment has proven effective. The problem is in Syria. If Arabs are so scared of the 3 year civil war ask Putin what he is doing about it?