Middle East Clusterfuck

One of Obama’s damage control frontiers this week is the “cover up” after the tragic and deadly attack on the Benghazi consulate last September.

It is being roundly pooh-poohed as not scandal-label-worthy by Obama Team Dems. The one MSNBC anchor I am willing to watch, Chris Hayes, tonight led the pooh-poohers much to my frustration. He called it a “nothingburger”! Read below the fold...

Of course Washington decries the corruption in Afghanistan and calls it out as a major obstacle to its mission there. That is certainly rich points out Dilip Hiro in “The Great Afghan Corruption Scam: How Operation Enduring Freedom Mutated into Operation Enduring Corruption” since the United States, due to grotesque incompetence, amorality and graft itself, has been an enabler and participant in the colossal corruption in Afghanistan. Read below the fold...

“Braying for war against Syria” by Bill Van Auken:

Van Auken accuses the Washington political establishment of seriously escalating a campaign of propaganda about the alleged use of chemical weapons. This has been prompted, contends Van Auken, from Syrian government forces having military successes in recent weeks. Read below the fold...

I think there is a big difference of the view of Israel for those of us born before 1967 and those born after. If you grew up in the 50's and 60's, you saw Israel as this brave little country established in the aftermath of the Holocaust, surrounded by hostile countries. Israel was governed by Labor governments who understood how to present themselves to an American audience compared to Arab leaders who went in for bluster (with the exception of King Hussein of Jordan). Read below the fold...

Nile Bowie writes:

“There is no surer sign of a pathological mind than when one credits others with the blood on their own hands.”

Read below the fold...

So tell me, as the years have gone by and more and more has become known about the colossal mendacity used to justify and trigger the Iraq War, which some of us knew from the get-go, how come the shock, awe and gratuitous killings, overt and covert, have steamrolled onward within and without Iraq these ten bloody years? Read below the fold...

If you don’t think this is worrisome, you are not thinking!

Ali Gharib in “Senators Press Resolution to Green-Light Israeli Attack on Iran”:

A joint resolution set to be introduced by Sens. Lindsey Graham (SC) and Robert Menendez (NJ), a Republican and Democrat, respectively, declares U.S. support for an Israeli military strike against Iran's nuclear program.

Read below the fold...

US drones are destroying many “collateral damage” civilians in Yemen and thus inspiring more and more Yemenis to bitterly and momentously side with Al-Qaeda against the US. Declares Glenn Greenwald, the droning is not only amoral but strategically STUPID. Read below the fold...

Retiring Congressman Ron Paul, former candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, comes done on the same side as many progressives on the Israeli occupation of Palestine. A recent post on his website, reiterates comments he made when was president about Gaza being nothing but a vast concentration camp.

It has never mattered to Paul which party was in power. His greatest appeal, especially among young supporters, is his ability to tell the unvarnished truth. He puts the blame for Gazan atrocities squarely where it belongs: with the US government, which is the main supplier of planes and bombs Israel uses to attack Palestinians. Read below the fold...

This doesn't sound good at all. From here Read below the fold...

Morsy Issues Constitutional Decree - Declares Himself Pharaoh Read below the fold...

I read an interesting article by Jean Shaoul at wsws entitled “US and Egypt announce ceasefire in Israeli assault on Gaza”.

Shaoul asks within the article why the Israel/Gazan ceasefire co-sponsored by the United States (along with Egypt and Turkey) happened.

Say what?

But she persisted.

Why did it happen, especially since Obama himself had given a rather robust “green-light” to Israel as Obama exclusively focused on Israel’s “anti-rocket” self-defense rationalization, ignoring so many short-run and long-run pre-emptive and sadistic provocations from Israel. Read below the fold...

as usual, The Onion is just brilliant.

Calm Sense Of Impending Violence Returns To Middle East As Ceasefire Brokered

Israel Calls For Increase In U.S. Taxes To Fund Attacks On Gaza

Fighting Continues Over World's Holiest Bombing Sites Read below the fold...

If I understand Moon of Alabama correctly, Hammas is in a much stronger position than I imagined.

Gaza: Ceasefire Conditions And Interests

Netanyahoo, as well his allies in Washington and London, fears a ground war in Gaza. His troops would likely get bogged down in urban guerrilla fighting and would take losses from the new arms Hamas acquired from Libya and elsewhere. Public opinion in Israel would turn against Netanyahoo should any invasion of Gaza end up with high casualty rates on the Israeli side.

Read below the fold...

It is tempting to focus on the bizarre and titillating details of what Pepe Escobar calls a “bedroom farce” or Arthur Silber calls a “cheap slut scenario” given as the explanation for CIA Director General Petraeus’ resignation last week.

I am sure I am not the only citizen who feels “played” once again by a craven administration and corporate media. The sirens of cognitive dissonance are blaring, not only with the timing of the resignation, so close after the election and a week before Petraeus was to give testimony in Congress over the details of the Benghazi attack in Libya. Read below the fold...