How The Military Fails US Veterans

People, all over the world, will fight with their lives on the line, when there's a worthy cause to fight for. Those people who win that fight or battle or war will also be able to survive better, knowing full well that they fought for a solid purpose & achieved that worthy purpose. Besides, the biggest judge of all our actions is our own conscience, which will also be at peace, even though, there were deaths & destruction in that battle or war.

What American veterans are going through, currently, mentally & physically, is more of a matter of how their own conscience is restless & making them relive that nightmare of killing or injuring thousands upon thousands of innocent people, including senior people, women, & children. Heck, even hospitals & UN-recognized shelters were not spared from these vets' actions.

Coupled that mental anguish & physical suffering with the knowledge that all these wars & invasions were not for wiping out terrorism from the face of the Earth. These wars were pure & simple genocidal actions against innocent people of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Syria, & several other countries, & their only purpose was for military-industrial complex to keep earning its blood-soaked profits.

So, regardless of how many Presidents come & go, these veterans & their PTSD-fuelled actions, & suicides, are simply "chickens coming home to roost" for America.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fA2QSlYZ9Jk

COL. LAWRENCE WILKERSON, FMR. CHIEF OF STAFF TO COLIN POWELL: I got a book from a gentleman who started a project called [Waking Up from War]. And what he's done is assess the programs that the DA and the DOD and those two in combination, though they rarely are in sync, offer for veterans coming home primarily from Afghanistan and Iraq and the bloody wars there. And the manuscript not only describes the Coming Home Project and how successful and effective it has been, but it also describes why other programs run by the services, run by DOD in general, run by the VA are not working or are causing more problems than they're helping to solve. And in a very comprehensive sense, he comments on the backdrop of all of this, which is a nation, supposedly a democratic federal republic, interminably at war and how that exacerbates all of this.

And, of course, it's a positive manuscript, in terms of he wants to say how we get out of this, both the larger problem, interminable war, and the problem it breeds, which is a lot of Americans, millions of Americans, who were sent off to do their nation's business and who are now back seriously harmed, seriously injured psychologically and physically, sometimes both. And we're not doing a very good job of taking care of them.

JESSICA DESVARIEUX, TRNN PRODUCER: So what are some of his suggestions? How do we kind of get out of this vicious cycle of failing our veterans and our soldiers once they come home from serving?

WILKERSON: I think the first thing we have to do--and I agree with him 100% on this--is we have to take a long-term approach to it. You cannot cure these veterans by giving them the magic elixir, the antidepressant or the cocktail of drugs that the military sometimes would like to give them to get them off its books and out of its hair. What this is doing in many cases is giving them situations, depression and so forth, that leads to suicide. As you probably know, the suicide rate is off the charts in all the military services. So this is an ancillary problem connected with this, though.

The most important thing you have to do in that sustained approach is give the veteran a sense of community. You have to give them a sense of coming home to something that really cares for them, that wants to deal with their problems, that will deal with their problems, that doesn't accuse them in any way, that is not something that is a handshake in the Atlanta airport, for example, and a trite welcome home, thank you for your service, but is a serious effort to deal with their problems, physical and psychological, that will last over time and not quit until they're back being meaningful members of their community again.

And I'll give you an anecdote of my own experience that sort of demonstrates this in crushing detail. I was at Walter Reed National Medical Center recently and met a triple amputee, and older young man, about 32. He was an EOD, an ordinance disposal technician, and he'd been disposing of IEDs in both Iraq and Afghanistan when one of them went off and took off both his legs below the knees and his right arm. And this was a young man who was being visited by a congressional delegation that morning, and I was visiting with him around lunchtime after that. And he told me, he said the delegation came in--dog and pony show, he called it--and he said they thanked him for his service. And that was the first thing they said, almost in unison. And he cut them off and he said, don't thank me for my service; thank me for my sacrifice, which you can clearly see. My service I'm conflicted over.

And this takes us into the second dimension of this manuscript, which is so eloquent and so well written in terms of this, and that is a nation that is interminably at war, and arguably at war that many of these veterans don't understand the purpose of. They don't understand what their sacrifice was for. The Iraq War comes to mind immediately as an illegal war, a war we should never have participated in. Many of these veterans feel that way about it. And this makes their healing burden, if you will, all the more challenging, makes the problem, the challenge that we have to welcome them home and to deal with their problems, their challenges, all the more difficult, because they don't feel like the sacrifice that they made--in many cases catastrophic sacrifices--was for anything meaningful, for anything worthwhile. So we have to cure that problem too. And the first thing, of course, we have to do is stop this business of interminable war.

One of the quotations in the book that just grabbed me by my heart was from a Marine, active-duty Marine general, two-star general. He was speaking over the 30,000-plus graves in the San Francisco national Cemetery on the northern slope of the Presidio--beautiful place in California. And he said, ... the costs of war are so great that we just have to find a better way to resolve our problems and our disputes than killing one another.

And, now, that's a truism of the very first order. We have to start doing things through political, diplomatic, and other means, other parts of our national power, than through the military means. It simply is not a sustainable way to do things. And these veterans are testimony to that.

DESVARIEUX: And how do these veterans feel about lawmakers? Some people kind of make this criticism that they don't even have skin in the game, they don't have their kids serving, things of that nature. What's their take on that? What's been the book's perspective on that?

WILKERSON: That's a precise point, Jessica. It's a very important point. If you don't have skin in the game, if you don't have your family members under duress, in harm's way, if you don't go there yourself--one of the vets, for example, says something to this effect: when the king led his forces into battle, there was less battle. Well, just think about that for a moment. When is Lindsey Graham and John McCain going to mount their Charger and go out and get in front of the forces fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and in Syria? And you say, well, John McCain's a veteran, he's done his service, and so forth. Well, shut up, then. We don't need people mongering for war. We don't need people asking the president and others to lead this nation into yet more conflicts, for example a war with Iran ... . We need less war. And we need less veterans.

DESVARIEUX: Larry, remind our viewers: what is the name of that manuscript and the author?

WILKERSON: [Waking Up from War], and the author is Joseph Bobrow.

Refugees deserve help, but what about the EU poor?

A great opinion piece confirming my own thoughts, which I've been detailing here, on this blog. Ironically enough, the refugee crisis has not ended at all, or even getting close to an end, & the media has moved on; reporting on the refugee drownings in the back pages somewhere, if at all.

The refugee crisis didn't start with Aylan Kurdi's drowning & didn't end with the EU's refugee settlement agreement with Turkey in 2016 or with Canada & US taking a few thousand refugees. The Western media didn't bother to cover refugee crisis when refugees were making dangerous journeys across the Mediterranean & over European lands through 2011 to 2015. Of course, if the media doesn't cover these stories, the Western public is the kind that will keep sleeping, blissfully, in their ignorance. I've never seen such ignored public like the Western public; ignorance coupled with very short-term memory (most of the public has forgotten about the refugee crisis, & has moved on).

On top of the refugee crisis, which the Western countries created in the first place by supporting Assad regime & destroying Iraq, & dithering further in coming up with solutions to resolve the violence & the consequent refugee crisis, they try to absorb as many refugees as they can. Now, as I've said before, helping refugees should definitely be done. No questions about it.

BUT, as a Western government, it also needs to help its own citizens. Forcing your own people to suffer in a very austere economic climate, while doling out millions on refugees, will only going to fan the flames of hatred, animosity, & enmity. The Donald Trumps, Nigel Farages, & Marine Le Pens of the Western political arenas did, & are still doing, exactly that; spreading the hatred of refugees & Muslims (since, refugees are mostly from Islamic countries) by courting to those kinds of groups in their countries who are disenfranchised, marginalised, & left to fend for themselves in this latest economic crisis. Ironically enough, even Islam teaches that an individual has much bigger responsibility of taking care of its family, first & foremost, before it starts to dole out its fortune on all its neighbours.

The last two paragraphs succinctly summarize the whole opinion piece. This refugee crisis is indeed a global humanitarian crisis because refugees are not only Syrians & Iraqis but also in SouthEast Asia (Rohingyas, for example) & in Central Asia (Afghans, Hazaras, Kazakhs etc.) & in South Sudan, Nigeria, Libya, Zimbabwe, Uganda etc. They are all in refugee status because their livelihoods has been taken away from them, with the help of world's powerful countries of the Global North (US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, China, Russia etc.) who are selling arms & weapons, by the ship loads to these already-impoverished countries, implementing & enforcing trade rules which help their own trade balances, & are not willing to severely curtail their environmental footprints, which in turn leads to environmental disasters in Syria, Iraq, & the African continent. Did you know that drought & climate change were factors in this Syrian uprising?

It is true that justice cannot be enforced through armed interventions. Every refugee is indeed made because a) he/she is the victim of the "might is right" foreign policies of the Western world & b) that he/she is not getting any justice, whatsoever.

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https://www.rt.com/op-edge/314665-hypocrisy-austerity-refugees-poor/ 

Aylan Kurdi has achieved more in death than he ever could in life. The image of his three-year old body lying just beyond the waves on a Turkish beach, will forever taunt the West with the lie of its claim to being synonymous with civilization & justice.

Ignorance

It says much about the ignorance that permeates Western culture when the picture of one dead child can cause so many to emote over their lattes, compel others to embark on collections & aid missions to refugees in Calais, Hungary, Greece, & Turkey, without eliciting the slightest understanding of why Aylan & countless others like him have perished; & why so many human beings are all of a sudden desperate to come to Europe, despite the huge risk such a perilous journey involves.

The mass exodus of refugees from the Middle East did not begin with the death of this three-year old Syrian boy. He is not the first child to have drowned in the attempt & nor will he be the last. This exodus has been taking place for 3 or 4 years – years in which European governments have extended themselves in doing their utmost to deepen the conflict, societal collapse, & instability that now scars a large swathe of the Middle East & North Africa (MENA).

In this they have been aided by a complicit media, which has succeeded in reducing the world to a struggle between the West - that pillar of human rights, democracy, & civilization - & everyone else, by implication those who are against human rights, democracy, & civilization. This narrative could only succeed with the acquiescence of a populace that has willingly suspended disbelief when it comes to the chaos & conflict that in recent years has been the rule rather than the exception across much of the world.
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Difficult dilemma

Across Western Europe, after the wave of pro-refugee sentiment we are witnessing inevitably dies down, wherein people previously welcomed with the fist of fury are for the first time being treated as human beings in desperate need of help, governments are going to be faced with a difficult dilemma.

Under the policy of austerity that has reigned across Europe over the past few years we have seen workers, the poor, disabled, & the most economically disadvantaged hit with cuts to their incomes, cuts to the public services upon which they depend, resulting in many cases in the imposition of poverty & despair. This has all been done in the name of tackling an economic recession brought to the world courtesy of a banking & financial system that has more in common with a casino on the Las Vegas Strip than institutions entrusted with the pensions & investments of millions of people.

The point is that austerity has been sold & implemented on the basis that there is no alternative, that the money required to fund public services, pay salaries & benefits is no longer available. Yet now, all of a sudden, people forced to suffer the worst under austerity are finding out that this is nonsense - that when it comes to absorbing thousands of refugees from the Middle East there actually is money available.

This contradiction is pregnant with danger inasmuch as the absorption of thousands of refugees from the Middle East & elsewhere, unless accompanied by immediate investment in infrastructure, services, housing, & so on, may only succeed in raising cultural & social tensions, providing ammunition for the far right & those for whom refugees, migrants, & foreigners are deserving of nothing but enmity.

Hypocrisy of mainstream politicians

As for those politicians now clambering to announce they would be willing to invite Syrian refugees into their homes, or into their second homes, how many homeless people do you think they walk or drive past in London, Berlin, or Paris on a daily basis without so much as a thought for the despair so many of their citizens are experiencing each & every day?

This is not to suggest these refugees are not deserving or worthy of help. They clearly are, especially from those countries whose hands are covered in the blood of millions across the Middle East with their role in devastating the region, leading directly to the birth of ISIS & the proliferation of terrorism & the resulting refugee crisis, one that is now biblical in scope.

But by the same token, we cannot allow hypocrisy to prosper. There is a direct & causal relationship between the West’s foreign policy & a world that has never been so polarized & divided between rich & poor, developed & undeveloped. Indeed the wealth of the northern hemisphere is predicated on the poverty & immiseration of the southern hemisphere. As such, it could be argued that those arriving in Europe in their thousands now are merely collecting a debt of obligation that has been long overdue.

Here we come to the most nauseating aspect of this crisis. For years now the West has extended itself in trying to isolate the Assad government, demonizing it as morally equivalent to ISIS & other terrorist groups that have written a new page in history when it comes to barbarity & evil. They have facilitated this evil and until we see a reorientation of Western policy towards Syria, this barbarity will go on & on.

EU now functions in name only

... As for the EU, it now functions in name only, with its disunity, division, & dysfunction incredible to watch. Unable to arrive at a coordinated, cohesive response to this crisis, we now have a situation that demands the involvement of the UN.

This refugee crisis is not a European crisis it is a global humanitarian crisis caused by those in position of power who view the world through a skewed lens, reducing it to one giant chessboard upon which governments can be moved around, removed, & replaced at will.

‘Might is right’ can never supplant justice as the basis of international affairs. Each & every refugee is the victim of the former & a consequence of the absence of the latter.


John Wight has written for newspapers and websites across the world, including the Independent, Morning Star, Huffington Post, Counterpunch, London Progressive Journal, and Foreign Policy Journal. He is also a regular commentator on RT and BBC Radio. John is currently working on a book exploring the role of the West in the Arab Spring. You can follow him on Twitter @JohnWight1

‘West creates refugees by destroying Islamic nations’ – Chechen leader

In some of my blog posts last year [2015], I also wrote in detail how Western countries try to create chaos in so-called developing / third-world countries, & especially so-called Islamic countries, to destroy their economies while getting cheap educated labour for themselves.

So, I wholeheartedly agree with Ramzan Kadyrov's statement about the West ruining Muslim countries, destroying their economies, provoking conflicts, & making thousands of refugees. But, I also want to add my disclaimer here that Ramzan Kadyrov is the "installed" leader of Chechen Republic by Putin & hence, he is saying what Putin thinks of the West. Regardless, Mr. Kadyrov is still correct.

To make Ramzan's point (& my point) hit home, let's take the example of current conflict going on in Yemen. American military brain is helping Saudis kill thousands of Yemenis & making thousands others refugees. British & Canadians are also supplying Saudis with weapons, arms & ammunitions, which will, & are being used, against Yemenis & to quell any internal unrest, like peaceful protests for human rights.

Then, these same countries will make a big noise for Saudi government to work towards instituting human rights in its country. Muslims, all over the world, are of course, completely brainwashed by "white idiots". Nobody is going to blame why UK, Canada, & US supplied Saudis with the same weapons that they are using to kill their fellow Muslim brethren but put the blame squarely on the shoulders of Saudi government. I am not excusing Saudi government for its actions, but you cannot ask for harsh punishment for the drug dealer to facilitate drugs for youths & then turn around & blame youths for using drugs, & absolve the drug dealer for all its heinous actions.

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https://www.rt.com/politics/314350-chechen-leader-blames-west-for/

The head of Russia’s Chechen Republic claims the current asylum seeker crisis in European countries originated in the aggressive policies of the USA & the EU. He also called upon all Muslim nations to jointly fight the root of the problem.

“If today no one rises against the inhumane policies of the Western countries, tomorrow the disaster may come to any Muslim country. I call upon you to urgently discuss this problem, to develop a unified position and to save the lives of thousands of people,” Ramzan Kadyrov wrote on his Instagram account (Kadyrov uses Instagram as a social network for public statements).

“Tens of thousands of Muslims are dying. Women, old people, children and young people as well. Under such conditions the leaders of Islamic countries has no right to remain silent, to stand aside and remain simple observers,” he added.

Kadyrov also explained in his post that in his opinion the West must be blamed for tragedies that are currently taking place in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Libya, Yemen, Algeria & other Muslim nations.

Europe & the USA are not simply refusing to act, they instigate the tragedies of millions of people by destroying the economy of Islamic countries & starting wars in Muslim regions of the world, he added.

“The problem cannot be solved by fighting its consequences, by silencing the reasons that caused it. But this is what Europe and the United States are currently doing. The USA and Europe have ruined these countries, destroyed their economies, provoked lingering internal conflicts and forced the desperate people into becoming refugees,” the Chechen leader wrote.

In February this year [2015], Kadyrov openly accused the US & other Western nations of “spawning” Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in order to incite hatred towards Muslims all over the world.

Kadyrov also suggested the West was backing IS in order to distract public attention from numerous problems in the Middle East, in the hope of destroying Islamic nations from inside.

Prior to this, Kadyrov had told reporters that he possessed information that the IS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had been recruited to work for the US personally by General David Petraeus, the former director of the CIA & former commander of coalition forces in Iraq & Afghanistan. At that time, Kadyrov claimed IS “was acting on orders from the West and Europe.”

Will Germans embrace or shun refugees?

I see quite a few people are enthusiastically sharing videos & news of Canadian PM, Justin Trudeau, welcoming Syrian refugees in Canada. They are all saying that this is what humanity is all about, & Syria's neighbouring Arab countries should learn a thing or two from Canada (please keep in mind that Syria's neighbouring Arab countries have taken in millions of refugees, while Canada is only taking in 25,000, even though, Lebanon is not militarily involved in Syria but Canada is).

If I recall correctly, social media was abuzz with similar praises, & rebukes for Arab countries, a few months ago, when Europe, & especially Germany, was welcoming refugees.

As this article shows, the world is full of either stupid people or extremely naive people. Europeans & German public was never, & still is, not so enthusiastically welcoming refugees as the media portrayed.

As the Toronto Star article from November 20th shows, a majority of general Canadian public also is not in favour of Canada welcoming refugees. Even though, Canada is only accepting 25,000 Syrian refugees who will be spread around all over the country, so their effect will be minimal on Canadian labour market, if any. Ironically enough, Canada got this idea of welcoming refugees from Germany, & Germany now has instituted border controls & German public has started to dislike Merkel ("Merkel's approval rating slipped to 54% in December - down from 71% in January.") We do have to keep in mind that Germany is smaller in land mass than Canada but then Germany has a better economy than Canada, which is suffering from a recession, which is also predicted to last long.

However, just like Germans, Canadians are torn apart between wanting to help people in their time of need, but then also looking at their own dire future. As the article states that policy makers in Germany are discussing lowering the minimum wages so employers can hire them (of course, low minimum wages will affect all & not only refugees). Although, German government is providing funds for German language classes for refugees, the funds are only available for basic classes. Of course, one cannot perform better in his/her job, if they are not fluent in the language of their adopted country. At the same time, the refugees in Germany are educated & coming with a dream to have similar jobs in Germany as they had back in their homeland, but they won't get those jobs. Germany needs, & welcoming, these refugees to get the jobs that German public doesn't want; the proverbial "low paid & dirty" work.

Canada is welcoming refugees who are family members, & no single men. Family / married men are usually educated & since they need to earn enough money to support their families, they will be looking for similar jobs they had back in their homeland. Problem is that Canada cannot provide those kinds of jobs, since its economy is in shambles, & even Canadian educated grads are having an extremely hard time in securing those kinds of proverbially "high paid & good" jobs. So, in a few months, these refugees will be forgotten, since the media will move on to the next sensational story, & the refugees will be left to fend for themselves in the labour market.

One more point comes out of this article is what is democracy, then? As I blogged earlier, the general public loves "democracy" as long as the government's decisions benefits it. Do you think that is it democratic that the majority of Canadians dislike Trudeau's plan of welcoming & settling refugees but he went ahead with it, anyway? Do you think that is it democratic that Merkel's welcoming refugees doesn't coincide with what the German public really wants? Do you think is it democratic that US, & Republican party's leadership front runner, Donald Trump, is being embraced by millions of Americans, even after his extremely xenophobic comments against refugees & Muslims?
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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35062438

In a crowded market square in Gera, poets & performers take to the stage. Above them is a banner that has become a familiar sight at train stations across Germany. "Refugees Welcome," it reads in big letters.

Die Linke, a left-wing German political party, has set up a stall to welcome the newcomers, alongside a local charity.
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Nearby, supporters of AfD - Alternative for Germany - a right-wing group which is cynical about the entry of so many refugees, have gathered.

It's Saturday afternoon in late October & Dirk Heinze has come with his wife Daniella Bruhnke & their 3 children, Sophia, six, Turina, two, & 10-month-old Pierre to hear what both groups have to say.

Dirk, 40, works in care for the elderly & has lived his whole life in Gera. I'm following them as well as some of the refugees to see how they & the city adapt to the changes brought about by the influx of asylum seekers.

Gera was once part of the former German Democratic Republic. It is small, with a population of 95,000, &, until recently, only had 2,000 foreign residents.

Dirk views the groups with scepticism, saying that they are both trying to capitalise on the refugee crisis.

Dirk & Daniella explain that they are frustrated at being excluded from decisions that have affected their town. Many residents feel the same, according to Daniella, because the decision to admit so many refugees was made by politicians, without consultation.

The couple haven't been involved in any protests, although they understand why others have. "So many other people are coming. They [the protesters] fear for their jobs. They fear, well, yes for their lives," says Daniella.

In August Angela Merkel said all Syrians could apply for asylum, & wouldn't be sent back to the first safe country they landed in. Germany was already taking a substantial number of refugees.

This week it was reported that the influx of asylum-seekers in Germany has reached the one million mark - four times the total for 2014. About a half of the new refugees are from Syria.

Refugees are being bussed across the country. ...

Gera is receiving fewer refugees than other cities. Many of them are currently living in the former hospital, converted in mid-October into a refugee centre for up to 2,000 new arrivals.

Someone tried to flood the centre before it opened, so security is very tight. There was also an attack on a refugee by two German men with five dogs in tow. Injuries were minor but news quickly spread around the centre that it may not be safe to go out at night.

The recent influx has caused a mini-political earthquake in Germany. Merkel's approval rating slipped to 54% in December - down from 71% in January.

There have been high-profile & large Pegida (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West) demonstrations against the arrival of Muslim refugees. These have mostly been held in Dresden - about an hour from Gera.

In Gera itself there have been smaller protests known as "Thugida" demonstrations (the name combines Pegida with Thuringia, which is the state in which Gera sits).

It's far from one-sided, though. Germans have been filling train stations to welcome refugees - handing out sweets to children & clothes to their parents.

Dirk & Daniella's concerns are always couched with sympathy for those truly in need. "Regardless of which country they come, what religion they are - if someone needs help, they have to receive help," says Daniella.

But she maintains that people shouldn't be allowed to come "just because they want a better life, and because it is better here in Germany".

Dirk is sceptical of Merkel's "Wir schaffen das" ["We will make it"] pronouncements. ...
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The recent attacks in Paris are on everyone's mind - particularly since at least two of the attackers entered Europe posing as refugees. New arrivals in Germany tell me they worry that Germans will come to fear all refugees & that everyone will end up too scared even to communicate, resulting in a segregated city.

"I do believe that the opinion of many people has now changed, because many are afraid now that terrorists will mix themselves among the refugees," says Daniella. "Who knows who is a terrorist and who is a refugee? They don't have it written on their forehead."

They tell me of other concerns, too. There has been debate for months about lowering the minimum wage in Germany for refugees. It is a controversial idea that, as Dirk puts it, "will keep the big bosses happy", but he fears may lower wages for Germans.

Jobs are on everyone's minds here. I spend some time at a German language school. Classes are growing every day because of the arrival of refugees. I meet a language teacher who, though enthusiastic about the potential of the refugees, is not hopeful about their chances.

Sandy Mazur tells me that German is being taught, funded by the government, to a basic level - but after that the money stops.

"These refugees who come from Syria are very ambitious," she says. "They want work - and here in Germany we have so many free work places because we don't have so many young people."

But she says the German provided is not enough to get a job, & certainly not a job in anywhere near in the same professions the refugees worked in back home. Some are teachers, IT professionals & engineers.

As I leave in early December refugees are more visible on the streets of Gera.

Residents are undoubtedly nervous, but many of their foreign neighbours hope they can bring new life to this quiet city.

How the US fuelled the rise of ISIS in Syria & Iraq

Loved this opinion piece.

How can ISIS or any other terror group or terrorism can be wiped out by the same forces who helped flourish it in the first place? The Western countries have a habit of supporting a set of proxy fighters as long as those fighters help achieve the Western countries its objectives. As soon as those objectives are achieved, those proxy fighters or mercenaries are labelled "terrorists" & the West wants them to be eliminated asap. That may looks easy & good in Hollywood movies, but doesn't work in real life. As the author very nicely says that "terrorism is now squarely in the eye of the beholder. And nowhere is that more so than in the Middle East, where today’s terrorists are tomorrow’s fighters against tyranny – & allies are enemies – often at the bewildering whim of a western policymaker’s conference call."

For instance, militant arm of the Kurdish party in Turkey, PKK, was labelled a terrorist group, for years, by US, UK, & their allies. Well, now, they are all supporting PKK because they are using them against ISIS.

Even the West wanted ISIS in Iraq & Syria. They wanted a Sunni group, which they can control, & which will keep Shiite Bashar Assad & its Shiite allies, Hezbollah & Iran, in check. But, when ISIS start slitting throats of westerners, they become a "terrorist" group, which needs to be bombed out of existence now.

The author very nicely ends the piece with "endless western military interventions in the Middle East have brought only destruction & division. It’s the people of the region who can cure this disease – not those who incubated the virus."
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http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/03/us-isis-syria-iraq

The war on terror, that campaign without end launched 14 years ago by George Bush, is tying itself up in ever more grotesque contortions. ... the trial in London of a Swedish man, Bherlin Gildo, accused of terrorism in Syria, collapsed after it became clear British intelligence had been arming the same rebel groups the defendant was charged with supporting.

The prosecution abandoned the case, apparently to avoid embarrassing the intelligence services. The defence argued that going ahead with the trial would have been an “affront to justice” when there was plenty of evidence the British state was itself providing “extensive support” to the armed Syrian opposition.

That didn’t only include the “non-lethal assistance” boasted of by the government (including body armour & military vehicles), but training, logistical support & the secret supply of “arms on a massive scale”. Reports were cited that MI6 had cooperated with the CIA on a “rat line” of arms transfers from Libyan stockpiles to the Syrian rebels in 2012 after the fall of the Gaddafi regime.

Clearly, the absurdity of sending someone to prison for doing what ministers & their security officials were up to themselves became too much. But it’s only the latest of a string of such cases. Less fortunate was a London cab driver Anis Sardar, who was given a life sentence ... for taking part in 2007 in resistance to the occupation of Iraq by US & British forces. Armed opposition to illegal invasion & occupation clearly doesn’t constitute terrorism or murder on most definitions, including the Geneva convention.

But terrorism is now squarely in the eye of the beholder. And nowhere is that more so than in the Middle East, where today’s terrorists are tomorrow’s fighters against tyranny – & allies are enemies – often at the bewildering whim of a western policymaker’s conference call.

For the past year, US, British & other western forces have been back in Iraq, supposedly in the cause of destroying the hyper-sectarian terror group Islamic State (formerly known as al-Qaida in Iraq). This was after Isis overran huge chunks of Iraqi & Syrian territory & proclaimed a self-styled Islamic caliphate.
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Some Iraqis complain that the US sat on its hands while all this was going on. The Americans insist they are trying to avoid civilian casualties, & claim significant successes. Privately, officials say they don’t want to be seen hammering Sunni strongholds in a sectarian war & risk upsetting their Sunni allies in the Gulf.

A revealing light on how we got here has now been shone by a recently declassified secret US intelligence report, written in August 2012, which uncannily predicts – & effectively welcomes – the prospect of a “Salafist principality” in eastern Syria & an al-Qaida-controlled Islamic state in Syria & Iraq. In stark contrast to western claims at the time, the Defense Intelligence Agency document identifies al-Qaida in Iraq (which became Isis) & fellow Salafists as the “major forces driving the insurgency in Syria” – & states that “western countries, the Gulf states & Turkey” were supporting the opposition’s efforts to take control of eastern Syria.

Raising the “possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist principality”, the Pentagon report goes on, “this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime, which is considered the strategic depth of the Shia expansion (Iraq & Iran)”.

Which is pretty well exactly what happened 2 years later. The report isn’t a policy document. It’s heavily redacted & there are ambiguities in the language. But the implications are clear enough. A year into the Syrian rebellion, the US & its allies weren’t only supporting & arming an opposition they knew to be dominated by extreme sectarian groups; they were prepared to countenance the creation of some sort of “Islamic state” – despite the “grave danger” to Iraq’s unity – as a Sunni buffer to weaken Syria.

That doesn’t mean the US created Isis, of course, though some of its Gulf allies certainly played a role in it – as the US vice-president, Joe Biden, acknowledged last year. But there was no al-Qaida in Iraq until the US & Britain invaded. And the US has certainly exploited the existence of Isis against other forces in the region as part of a wider drive to maintain western control.

The calculus changed when Isis started beheading westerners & posting atrocities online, & the Gulf states are now backing other groups in the Syrian war, such as the Nusra Front. But this US & western habit of playing with jihadi groups, which then come back to bite them, goes back at least to the 1980s war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, which fostered the original al-Qaida under CIA tutelage.

It was recalibrated during the occupation of Iraq, when US forces led by General Petraeus sponsored an El Salvador-style dirty war of sectarian death squads to weaken the Iraqi resistance. And it was reprised in 2011 in the NATO-orchestrated war in Libya, where Isis last week took control of Gaddafi’s home town of Sirte.

In reality, US & western policy in the conflagration that is now the Middle East is in the classic mould of imperial divide-and-rule. American forces bomb one set of rebels while backing another in Syria, & mount what are effectively joint military operations with Iran against Isis in Iraq while supporting Saudi Arabia’s military campaign against Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen. However confused US policy may often be, a weak, partitioned Iraq & Syria fit such an approach perfectly.

What’s clear is that Isis & its monstrosities won’t be defeated by the same powers that brought it to Iraq & Syria in the first place, or whose open & covert war-making has fostered it in the years since. Endless western military interventions in the Middle East have brought only destruction & division. It’s the people of the region who can cure this disease – not those who incubated the virus.

Obama poster artist says president is a disappointment

Damn, I should've started this blog in 2008, right before Obama got elected for the first time. At that time, I used to be amused at people around me, in office & in my friend circle, that how everyone blindly bought into whatever Obama was selling at the time. Bunch of ignorant morons !!!

At that time, back in 2008, I was saying that Obama will disappoint you. He is not who he made you think he is. I saw this "hope dashed" 8 years ago.

So how did I predict that Obama will dash hope? Simple. There are very, very few organizations in the world that like radical & different ideas, & thus, promote those people within them, which question the established culture of the organization. Most organizations don't want anyone "disturbing" their culture. US government, & any other government in this world, is like that.

Obama, regardless of his upbringing & his personal values, he was required to toe the line of the government, if he ever wanted to become the President of US. He was required to abandon his own views, ethics, & morals to become President of US. If you want to become the President, you need to jockey up to groups whose ideals & objectives may very well clash with your own.

It doesn't matter how great Barack Obama is on the personal level. That doesn't affect anyone but him & his family alone. What does affect the whole world are his decisions, which were, for the past 7 years, similar to, if not as bad as, his predecessor, Mr. George Bush. I am still amazed how the Nobel committee awarded Obama the Peace prize. He hadn't, & still hasn't, done much in the name of peace. Guantanamo prison is still open. Destruction of Libya & the rise of ISIS in Syria & Iraq are the testament of how much of a failure Obama has been on delivering the mandate of world peace.

The only good legacy he might be remembered for years to come, is American affordable healthcare act or "Obamacare". That made life easier for many poor Americans. Other than that, financial mess he inherited from previous American leadership is still a mess, without any substantive controls, whatsoever. Personal privacy for Americans, & essentially, for the people around the world, became a joke under him. Weapons & arms deals with the corrupt leaders & despots continue on unabated. Violence in America itself has escalated multiple folds due to the rise in gun ownership, which he didn't, or perhaps, couldn't, do anything about. Working conditions & middle class in the American socio-economic strata are set to become worse, due to his relentless push for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

You may point out the fact that I am not mentioning Iran nuclear deal or opening up the American embassy in Cuba. These deals are actually not in the name of peace. These deals are in the name of business elites. Consumer markets for American international businesses are running out. American businesses are everywhere around the world, except, only in those places where they are not allowed to operate by law. Other than North Korea, Cuba & Iran were the only countries left where American businesses couldn't sell their wares. American businesses right away pushed in Cuba, as soon as, the borders open, & they are already ready to enter Iran.

Now, I am not saying all this, because I prefer Republicans or I think Republicans would've done a better job of running the country. Heck no. Republicans might have been the same, if not worse. Reason being that US government, as an institution, has a set culture & only people who rise through it are the ones who follow that culture by the book. You think differently & your chances of ever becoming an influential person in that organization are slim to none. Both political parties in America will only promote those people within them, who think alike. Therefore, regardless of which political party comes to power in 2016 or in 2020 or in 2024, foreign policies coming out of the White House won't change a bit.
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http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/28/hope-dashed-artist-behind-obama-poster-disappointed

The man on the poster is still president. But the artist behind the poster has moved on.

Shepard Fairey, whose stencil portrait of Barack Obama with the caption “Hope” became the defining image of the 2008 presidential campaign, told Esquire magazine in an interview ... that the politician had not lived up to the propaganda.

“Not even close,” Fairey said.

“Obama has had a really tough time, but there have been a lot of things that he’s compromised on that I never would have expected. I mean, drones & domestic spying are the last things I would have thought [he’d support].”
...

Fairey is not a wholesale detractor of Obama, however.

“I’ve met Obama a few times, & I think Obama’s a quality human being, but I think that he finds himself in a position where your actions are largely dictated by things out of your control,” Fairey told Esquire. “I’m not giving him a pass for not being more courageous, but I do think the entire system needs an overhaul & taking money out of politics would be a really good first step.”

As for whom he is supporting in 2016, Fairey said: “I mean nothing against Hillary [Clinton]. I agree with Hillary on most issues, but campaign finance structure makes me very angry.”

In 2014, Fairey released a poster that was evocative of the Obama image, but which featured a different, anonymous politician holding a fistful of cash.

The image was captioned: “Sold”.

My rant on Refugee crisis (second one)

Few points were mulling around in my head after continuously reading comments & social media posts that Muslims & Arab countries are not doing enough to ease the refugee crisis from Iraq & Syria:

1. Muslim countries have taken millions of refugees:
Although, Muslim countries can certainly do more, they are/have done a lot already. Syrians are taking refuge in Turkey (1.9 million refugees), Jordan (650K), & Lebanon (1.3 million) for the past 3 years. That totals up to 4 Million refugees in 3 Muslim countries alone. Source: UNHCR

From a Sept 4th article on Bloomberg, "Nabil Othman, acting regional representative to the Gulf region at the United Nations' refugee agency, UNHCR, told Bloomberg there were 500,000 Syrians in that country [Saudi Arabia]. Saudi Arabia, like all of the Gulf states, is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention, so these displaced people are not officially designated as refugees." Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait & UAE have not taken refugees themselves, but UAE, Kuwait & Qatar, for example, are providing financial help to refugees through UNHCR. These countries have donated millions of $$$. These countries are smaller in size & cannot cope with a large influx of refugees. Those refugees will overwhelm their local economies & labour markets.

2. Quite a few of the refugees entering in Europe are actually just getting there to search for a better economic life. They are taking this issue as a perfect opportunity to enter Western developed countries without all the hassles of immigration process. They are not running away from Syria to save their lives. For example, the instigator of this issue, Abdullah Kurdi's family (Aylan Kurdi's family), was already safe in Turkey since 2012.

After all, why are Afghanis & even Pakistanis & Bangladeshis are in these refugee crowds who are trying to enter into Europe. Afghanis have claimed asylum in Pakistan & in Iran for decades, now. It's easier for Afghanis to enter into Pakistan & Iran as refugees than go all the way to Europe. Same question can be asked for Pakistani & Bangladeshi "refugees". These are not refugees. They are "economic opportunists." That's why, European government leaders are now trying to distinguish between the words, "migrants" & "refugees". Angela Merkel even said that all those "refugees" from Balkans will be sent back (which emphasizes my point that people into Germany & Austria are not all "refugees"). David Cameron emphasized that UK will only take "refugees," & not migrants looking for a better life.

3. Pope's call is similar to all those Christian missionary teams which used to go to Africa, South America, South East Asia. It was famous that these missionaries were brutal in their faith conversion tactics; accept Christianity & we will give you food & shelter or don't accept Christianity & you won't get anything. Of course, Pope's call is not that radical, but there are already stories coming out that some Iranians & Afghanis are converting to Christianity. (Source: Daily Mail) Their thinking is that as Christians, they can easily claim asylum in Europe by claiming that they fear persecution in Middle East.

4. Germany is taking almost 800K refugees because it has a hidden agenda: Germany is running a huge shortfall of labourers & it needs low-tech workers for its workforce. Every refugee wants to eventually work, & unlike, Arab countries, where the majority of population is young & educated, European countries are aging & need younger workforce. Although, Jordan, Lebanon, & Turkey are housing these refugees, these refugees are not allowed to work there. Most of the Western countries, depending on their own labour markets & economies, will either permanently resettle some refugees or send these refugees back to their countries of origins after a certain amount of time has passed.

Some points on why Arab countries are silent on issue of refugee crisis

Although, this opinion piece in Reuters is discussing an issue unrelated to the migrant crisis & Gulf Arab's deafening silence on this issue of the day, it does point out some problems / threats that Saudi Arabia, the richest Gulf Arab country, is suffering from. I think these are some of the threats which are also causing leaders of the Gulf Arab states to remain silent. Of course, it is oversimplification of the complex issues.

These threats, as the opinion piece points out, are:

1. a high number of youths in its population: "more than half of the country’s population of 29 million is under the age of 25. Two-thirds of the population is under 30. The estimated unemployment rate for Saudis aged 15 to 24 is about 30%."

That stats is pretty much same all across the Gulf Arab states; UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, & even Egypt. Universities are opening up in these countries & youths are getting education, but their unemployment rate is still quite high. This was one of the primary reasons why Egyptian youths started protesting against Egypt's Mubarak's regime & ultimately took it down.

These Arab states are fearful that if they let in thousands upon thousands of Syrian, Afghani, Somalian, Sudanese, & Iraqi refugees in their countries, the country's youths may rise up against the regime when they are still unemployed & may see refugees working. By the way, Syrian & Iraqi refugees are not allowed to work in Jordan & Turkey.

Some may say that refugees only want a safe place to live. Not exactly. Refugees also want to work. Unless, a country can cope with letting thousands of refugees in the labour force, most countries will stop the refugees from working, & that will be the next thing refugees will want to do; to work.

2. high dependence on oil revenues for government coffers: when 90% of government coffers are dependent on oil revenues & oil prices being so low for the foreseeable future, these governments will not want more people in their country, esp. when such people will need help; the help which will cost a whole lot of moolah. Having said that, Arab monarchs are full of money, which Western leaders are not.

Western countries, on the other hand, have diversified economies. Their economies are not dependent on only one industry. So, to help out millions of refugees (& yes, there are millions of refugees), Arab leaders have to dip into their own personal pockets, which they most likely don't want to do & won't do it.

3. No tax policies in Gulf Arab states: these Arab countries don't have any tax policies, so they can't exactly raise taxes on the public & businesses to absorb the costs of housing refugees.

However, the Western countries can, & will, raise taxes on the public to absorb the costs of housing refugees. Of course, that's assuming, that Western countries accept millions of refugees. A few thousands neither would cost Western countries & nor would affect any of the GCC countries' government coffers.

At the end of the day, housing refugees is not a permanent solution. It's a Band-Aid solution. It's a temporary solution. A permanent solution is to work towards ending the conflict altogether. That's where, the Arab countries have the most influence & can do the most. Up to now, these countries are also the ones who were supplying weapons to Iraq & Syria; essentially, igniting the flames further. They need to do the opposite, but will they? I don't think so because those actions will clash with their vision of controlling the region & turning its politics in their own favour. End result: many more refugees will keep producing in middle east.

My rant on Refugee crisis (first one)

Public, nowadays, has ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder).

This week's topic is Refugee crisis. Everyone is talking about it. Everyone is feeling "so sad." Why?

Where was this sadness when Israel killed children in Gaza last year?
 
Where was this sadness a few months back when Rohingya Muslims were dying in boats near the East Asian countries' seashores? (btw, is that issue resolved ... does anyone care anymore?)

Where was this sadness when US & its allies were bombing "children" in Iraq?

Where was this sadness when Afghanistan was getting bombed by NATO forces (which include all these Western countries) & small children were being killed there?

Why is Canada selling 15-billion Cdn $$$ of armoured trucks to Saudi Arabia, which will most likely be used against innocent Yemenis & its own public, esp. when Canada is supposed to be such a "kind" & "compassionate" country?

Weren't UK, France, Italy, & American forces were bombing indiscriminately Libyans a couple years back? Do you really think no kids must've died in those bombings?

(FYI, these refugees are not only from Syria, but from several war-torn countries; Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, & even Palestine).

Don’t blame migrants – the West helped to create their plight

A great opinion piece by Yasmin Alibhai Brown.

A lot of it what she said I have been saying all along in my blog posts (June & July 2015), especially the ones about how the West is busy selling arms & weapons to the developing countries in Asia, Middle East, & Africa.

First, the Western countries looted current-developing countries through invasions, occupations, & wars. Then, they concede those territories to the locals but they still keep meddling in the internal politics of the regions of Asia, Africa, & South America. For them, it's a game of political chess to keep their superiority intact.

In the piece, the author, although, does concede that all the blame cannot be put on the shoulders of first world leaders, since a lot of the developing countries are ruled dictatorially by corrupt leaders. But whoever has read my previous blog posts may recall that I put the blame of those corrupt leadership on the first world leaders, too.

Those corrupt leaders of the developing world are propped up by the staunch support of the same first world leaders, who, so proudly, extoll the virtues of democracy, human rights, & free speech.

Saddam Hussein was a good friend of the American leadership. So was Bashar Al-Assad. So is current Saudi ruling family. And they are such good friends that American governments still censors the documents & reasons why Saudi royals were quickly shipped out of US, right after the 9/11 incident. UK government flies their flags at half mast at the death of Saudi King. Canada obliges to keep the sale of billions of $$$ of armoured vehicles secret, at the request of Saudi ruling family.

The main reasons the developed countries keep such despots in power in developing countries are:
1. developing countries keep transferring their financial wealth to these developed countries through arms purchases.
2. conditions in developing countries keep & stays horrible, so the intellectual brain drain starts to happen.
3. That intellectual brain becomes a "legal" slave in the West, working in jobs for which he/she is way overqualified but he/she works there because he/she needs money.
4. developing countries also lose their mineral & agricultural wealth (as mentioned in the piece, too)

All in all, this truth has to be spoken. Problem is that the majority of the population of the West either doesn't know or doesn't want to know how their governments have destroyed, & are still destroying, the developing countries. But ignorance is not the answer when comeuppance comes along.
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http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/dont-blame-migrants--the-west-helped-to-create-their-plight-10273545.html

... . After years of ferocious migrant-bashing, the national psyche has been successfully reprogrammed: millions of our citizens truly believe that humans from the old Soviet Union, Africa, Asia & the Middle East are flocking to get at those gorgeous council flats & big, fat, state handouts.

So easy isn’t it? Just blame those who can’t answer back. Don’t think too deeply about why there is this movement of peoples & how they feel before, during & after they leave their homelands.

...

Most migrants carry that sense of loss, even those who went off voluntarily to seek better fortune. Those who have never felt the need or pressure to emigrate can’t empathise with them, for that would be a chink in their fortress mentality. Fear is a terrible thing. It depletes compassion.

To many Britons, the current crisis is disconnected from history, & from global geopolitics. Again, it is so much easier to think of “them” & “us”, & disregard Western culpabilities, past & present.

In 2011, David Cameron, on a visit to Pakistan, accepted that Britain was responsible for many of the world’s intractable problems. It was the first & only time I recall a British leader accepting that colonialism left fractures & stains which have led to discord & failed states. (Margaret Thatcher, as well as Tony Blair & Gordon Brown, extolled the Empire & the subjugation of millions.) Mr. Cameron was savaged by the right-wing press & Labour’s Tristram Hunt. Maybe that is why he never again spoke candidly about that history. Silence is the path of least resistance.

No, you can’t just blame white people for post-colonial chaos & failures. Since independence, leaders have almost all been incompetent, corrupt & callous. Dictatorships & one-party rule, profligacy & greed, have despoiled potentially productive nations, turning them into hopeless, dependent, unsustainable entities. But the case against old European imperialists is strong & indubitable.

Last week, one Drusilla Long had a letter in a newspaper about desperate & desperately unwanted migrants. She was raised in Ghana during British rule. “I believe [we should] return some of the immense wealth we all stole from these countries, such as gold, diamonds, etc, which we have long used to build up our own wealthy ‘fortress’ Europe,” she wrote.

Brave woman, saying the unsayable.

Then there is the continuing support this country gives to oppressive regimes, the arms we sell, & the wars we have launched in the past 20 years. Iraqis never chose to become resented refugees, nor did Afghans.

Libya is now the export depot for hungry, frightened, distressed people. The allies who bombed the place have gone & feel no obligation for the mess they left. Many ISIS insurgents are from Saddam Hussein’s old Baathist army. True, we did not intervene in Syria, but for decades Bashar al-Assad was propped up by us, as was his equally heinous father. Many of the migrants trying to get into Europe come from these places. They are hated perhaps because they remind us of our bad policies & actions. Are these then our noble British values?

When bigots tell me to go back to where I came from, I remind them I am here because the British government supported Idi Amin’s bid for power. A million or more black Ugandans fled or were killed. Some fled to the UK. Has Britain ever admitted this was a big mistake? ...

Among the flotsam & jetsam of wandering humans are “economic migrants” who are seen as the biggest threat of all. They, too, are victims of Western games & unending austerity measures. We know how that affects the vulnerable & should understand why people die trying to escape poverty.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) & World Bank have driven down spending on health & education across Africa & elsewhere. Developing world debt is used by the West to cut the cost of raw materials & steal resources. Privatisation is the condition for borrowing money. It stinks.

Anup Shah is the editor of the excellent www.globalissues.org. He writes about the unjust trading system. The West protects its interests & pushes poorer countries to supply materials, labour & goods at the lowest costs. To be a dumping ground, too.

The EU, IMF & World Bank must transform the system; our leaders need to tell more truths about the dispossessed. Xenophobia, withdrawal of welfare & gunboats won’t stop the tide of humanity coming to our shores. They come because they have no choice. But the West does.

Better the dictator you condemn than the insurgents you can't control

A good piece. Take an action after thinking it through. Otherwise, you create a mess for yourself & others. But, who will heed this warning? No one. For elections purposes, military actions will always be taken way before anyone will ever even think of starting a dialogue among opposing parties to resolve the situation.

On top of not thinking before acting (which is the lesson we adults teach to our children & then not follow them ourselves) & creating a mess for everyone else & ourselves in the Western countries, the military actions also killed & destroyed the lives of thousands of people in those lands & displaced millions. Who is going to be held accountable for that?

In corporate world, from CEO down to a lowly clerk, anyone who takes one wrong step with dire consequences (even though, that mistake might not of such a huge consequence as killing thousands or displacing millions) is severely reprimanded right away, either in the form of a demotion or being fired. But, in the politics of the West, nothing happens. Elections are won as usual & billions more are spent, as usual, on military hardware.

After all, who cares if a few Libyans, Iraqis, Yemenis, Afghanis, Syrians, Egyptians etc. are being killed or losing their families, homes, & livelihoods. It's not happening to me. Right?
(Just in case, if you didn't get it, it was sarcasm & a rhetoric question).
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/01/idUS50046168420150501

President Obama, already musing on failures during his second term, has said he regrets that the U.S. joined a coalition to intervene in Libya in 2011, ousting President Muammar Gaddafi, without an adequate plan for the post-Gaddafi society. “I think we [and] our European partners underestimated the need to come in full force if you’re going to do this.”

It’s curious that Obama & his allies had not ordered a plan for the new Libya: They had the example of the Iraq invasion in 2003. The war was won quickly but the post-war haunts us still, in part because the war effort was not paralleled with a vigorous peace effort.
 
President George W. Bush’s speech on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in May 2003 – “the United States & its allies have prevailed” – was echoed by then-Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s chuckle to a reporter when hearing of Gaddafi’s death, “We came, we saw, he died.” Both thought the loosening of Western military force on dictators had settled the matter: Both lived to know otherwise.
 
... The vacuum created by the fall of the tyrant yielded not democrats (or not enough), but old feuds, hatreds, divisions -- &, above all, the militants of jihadism resurgent, al Qaeda, Islamic State & others.
 
As in Iraq, Libya has known no stability since the toppling of its tyrant, Gaddafi. The first elected prime minister, Mustafa Abu Shagour, was out in a month: In 4 years, the country has had 7 prime ministers. Armed Islamist groups are allowed to flourish -- there is no reliable army to keep them down -- & now control slices of the state. A jihadist government chased the elected administration out of the capital, Tripoli, & rules there: The internationally recognized government huddles in the eastern port city of Tobruk -- which older Europeans remember as the site of one of the great battles of World War Two, the first sign that the fortunes of war might turn against the Nazis.
 
An estimated 10,000 are reckoned, conservatively, to have died in the chaos of Gaddafi’s fall. One of these was the US Ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens, killed in an attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi in September 2012.
 
The message has hit home: Better the dictator you can condemn than the insurgents you cannot control (& may hate you more).
 
Shorn of any military option, the only hope is to bring the opposing parties to some kind of talks. ... Yet so full of hate & bitterness against each other are the warring groups, so convinced of their own virtue & the others’ vices, that any agreement would seem elusive -- &, if reached, fragile.
 
An Arab capital is now under jihadist control; it is also in the country closest to the borders of the EU. For two decades, we have been warned that “failed states” are a large threat to Western security: It is vividly clear that the warning was right.