Understatement of the year

As the Syrian Army has taken back land, or defended it, from ISIS and al-Qaeda it has been transporting the surrenderers to Idlib Province in northwest Syria. 

"According to the UN, there are currently about 10,000 members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and other al-Qaeda-linked factions in the province of Idlib. All of them as well as members of their allied militant groups are deeply concerned by the expected Syrian Army advance in the area."

https://southfront.org/syria-map-update-military-situation-in-northern-hama-southern-idlib/

Notice anything?

https://maps.southfront.org/us-carrier-strike-groups-locations-map-august-13-2018/

Zbig, Carter, or Helmer: who is most culpable?

"If ever there was a man who displayed on his face the evil on his mind, it was Zbigniew Brzezinski, (lead image, right) who died last week at a hospital near Washington.

Former President Jimmy Carter, who employed Brzezinski as his National Security Advisor between 1977 and 1981, the only high official post Brzezinski reached, said he “helped me set vital foreign policy goals, was a source of stimulation for the departments of defense and state, and everyone valued his opinion.”  Of Carter’s three claims, only the first is true; the second is ironic hyperbole; the third is completely false. If Carter cannot tell the truth now about Brzezinski, after having 36 years to reflect on it, Carter reveals the principal source of Brzezisnki’s power, when he exercised it.   For Carter was no innocent ventriloquized by the evil Svengali (lead image, left), as in the original Svengali tale. Carter was simply more mendacious than Brzezinski, and is entirely to blame for doing what Brzezinski told him to do.  

Brzezinski was an obsessive Russia-hater from the beginning to the end. That led to the monumental failures of Carter’s term in office;  the hatreds Brzezinski released had an impact which continues to be catastrophic for the rest of the world.

...But that’s getting ahead of our little tale. Wellford told Vernamonti and me he had no choice but to give us strict orders for the meeting scheduled the following week with Carter. Our case studies might, he said, be included in the tabs to the PRP briefing book we would present to the president. But the conclusions, and the recommendations for reform of the National Security Council, would be eliminated. Then Wellford added an ultimatum:  Vernamonti and I would be allowed to sit at the meeting with Carter. But we were to say nothing unless Carter spoke to us. If that happened, we were not to mention our recommendations on Brzezinski. If we did that, we would both be fired instantly.  That would have meant the end of Vernamonti’s airforce career."

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/05/john-helmer-zbigniew-brzezinski-svengali-jimmy-carters-presidency-dead-evil-lives.html

Here is what Donald Trump said in his speech today.....but be sure to ignore it and talk about the latest media bullshit...maybe about how his campaign manager got "millions from the Russki's

So for all the trolls who want to change the subject here is some of what Trump said in his foreign policy speech in Youngstown today:

"Nor can we let the hateful ideology of Radical Islam – its oppression of women, gays, children, and nonbelievers – be allowed to reside or spread within our own countries.

This also means we have to promote the exceptional virtues of our own way of life – and expecting that newcomers to our society do the same.

Pride in our institutions, our history and our values should be taught by parents and teachers, and impressed upon all who join our society.

Assimilation is not an act of hostility, but an expression of compassion. Our system of government, and our American culture, is the best in the world and will produce the best outcomes for all who adopt it.

This approach will not only make us safer, but bring us closer together as a country.

Renewing this spirit of Americanism will help heal the divisions in our country. It will do so by emphasizing what we have in common – not what pulls us apart."

This is what we were speaking about yesterday. That Americas Judeo/Christian culture is superior to the dreck that these savages bring from their third world shit holes. Did you know that a Somali woman who married her brother in an immigration fraud scheme is the Democratic nominee to the Minnesota State legislature? And that the local media is refusing to cover it? The lying media will do anything to protect Hillary and they will do anything to produce a false narrative about Muslim immigration.

Trump said that Hillary wants to be the "Angela Merkel" of America.

Is that what America wants?

Larison's damning critique of Rubio's foreign policy cred

Excerpt:

"“The fact of the matter is Jeb has no foreign policy experience,” Rubio said. “He has no foreign policy experience and was governor a long time ago. The world has changed a lot in the last 10 years. Foreign policy has changed a lot in the last five years. No one on that stage has more experience or has shown better judgment or has shown a better understanding of national security threats than I have.”

This is the story that Rubio and his admirers like to tell, but it’s quite misleading. It’s true that he has some experience being on the Foreign Relations Committee that Bush and most of the other candidates don’t have, but considering how often he has skipped out on his job in the Senate that isn’t as significant as it sounds. Besides, Kasich could plausibly claim to have more experience on these issues than Rubio from his many years in the House. This argument may work against Bush, but it nonetheless exaggerates how much experience the senator has.

As for having better judgment and understanding, that’s not at all obvious. More so than any Republican candidate still in the race, Rubio was on board with Obama’s foolish military intervention in Libya, which helped to destabilize Libya and its neighbors for the last five years. [my emphasis]  That not only calls his judgment into question, but it would make him uniquely ill-suited to face Clinton in the general election. He may not be alone in his supporting reckless actions in Syria that risk war with Russia, but that by itself shows that his judgment is worse than that of at least a couple of his rivals. Any Republican candidate unwilling to risk an armed confrontation with a nuclear-armed major power over Syria has already shown that his judgment is better than Rubio’s."

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/rubios-bad-foreign-policy-judgment/

RTT News: "Rick Perry and Rand Paul squared off in dueling U.S. foreign policy op-ed"

"As a veteran, and as a governor who has supported Texas National Guard deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, I can understand the emotions behind isolationism," Perry wrote.

He added, "Many people are tired of war, and the urge to pull back is a natural, human reaction. Unfortunately, we live in a world where isolationist policies would only endanger our national security even further."

Perry claimed that Paul seems "curiously blind" to the national security threat posed by the group now calling itself the Islamic State, which controls significant territory in Iraq and Syria.

"Ignoring the growth of the Islamic State and events in Syria and Iraq will only ensure that the problem will fester and grow," Perry wrote. "The United States needs to take seriously the threat this presents to our nation."

However, Paul shot back in a separate op-ed piece posted by Politico on Monday, accusing Perry of mischaracterizing his views on foreign policy.

"There are many things I like about Texas Gov. Rick Perry, including his stance on the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution," Paul wrote. "But apparently his new glasses haven't altered his perception of the world, or allowed him to see it any more clearly."

"I support continuing our assistance to the government of Iraq, which include armaments and intelligence," Paul wrote. "I support using advanced technology to prevent ISIS from becoming a threat."

"I also want to stop sending U.S. aid and arms to Islamic rebels in Syria who are allied with ISIS, something Perry doesn't even address," he added. "I would argue that if anything, my ideas for this crisis are both stronger, and not rooted simply in bluster."

A recent Quinnipiac University National Poll showed Paul with a slight lead in the race for the GOP nomination, with 11 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters saying they support the Kentucky Senator.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush were all tied for second at 10 percent, while Perry was toward the bottom of the list a 3 percent.

Name The Countries

Name the countries made safer, better or more secure by the Barack Obama/Hillary Clinton/ John Kerry foreign policy.

Go ahead, I'll wait.   *pours fresh cup of coffee*

Never mind the obscure little countries that nobody ever hears about,  just look at the medium to larger countries.

I did this last night during an hour of sleeplessness.  I sat down next to the globe (outdated because some countries keep changing their names) and looked at each continent. 

South America?  No real improvements here, and much economic decline.  Lots of al-Qaeda  movement into some areas to set up footholds.

Africa?  No good news here, either in sub-Saharan Africa, or northern Africa.  Too much violence, too many wars, too much poverty.  And al-Qaeda is making big, violent swings through some parts.  Don't forget the Chinese, who are making a very big presence in the mineral rich parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

Europe?  Germany is the only European nation that is showing some signs of improvement, but only because of the economic conservatism of Angela Merkel.  And the smaller Eastern European nations are less secure because the umbrella of American protection against Russian hegemony is beginning to fold.

Asia?  Japan is feeling threats from China and has taken steps necessary to build its own massive military.  India is being infiltrated by Muslim terrorists, as are smaller Asian countries.

North America?  Mexico is still a drug-addled mess.  Canada is benign.  The US is floundering economically and has a weakened military.

My late night list of countries made better/stronger/ more secure by the administration's policies came down to these:

China

Russia

Iran

North Korea

They told me that if I voted for Mitt Romney, the axis of evil countries would become stronger.  And they were right!

Discuss.

Larison on Santorum's foreign policy

"That brings us to Santorum and “strong foreign policy,” which means something radically different to him than it does to most of the rest of us. [George] Will doesn’t talk about Santorum’s foreign policy in the column, because there is probably nothing complimentary Will could say about it. If Romney’s foreign policy agenda last year could be fairly described as “omni-directional belligerence,” Santorum would probably say that Romney was far too timid and cautious in what he said. Santorum would probably agree with Bolton et al. that Romney agreed with Obama too often and didn’t attack him enough on these issues.

While someone could argue that Romney was just pandering to hard-liners during the campaign, Santorum truly is one of the hard-liners on foreign policy, so much so that he turned his re-election campaign into a referendum on his alarmist views and thereby guaranteed a landslide defeat. Shortly following his defeat in 2006, he restated the hard-line views that did so much to doom his campaign in this article. As Santorum saw it, even Bush and Gates were too weak-willed and feeble...

...Nothing has changed for Santorum in the years between his 2006 loss and today. If Santorum is the one defining what “strong foreign policy” means, we should very much hope that the GOP will be rid of it soon."

American Conservative

A perfect hourglass - For Trooper

Update: Sydney, in the comments, offers a suggestion for the meaning of "father,mother".