What is Digg?165 Comments
- Cryptocracy, on 08/17/2008, -4/+88All that, and yet, we can't keep illegal aliens out of our own country....
This war is not in the US Citizens' interests. - kowcun, on 08/08/2008, -3/+63Here we go...
- paradexes, on 08/08/2008, -3/+60If even half of this is true....looks like the MSM and even outlets like huffpo are not covering it. This is looking like WWIII.
Looks like Battlestar Galactica and crew will be arriving to the nuclear wasteland after all. - inactive, on 08/08/2008, -0/+49The war is against the US citizens.
- inactive, on 08/08/2008, -3/+49FTA:
"The large and very advanced nature of the US Naval warships is not only directed at Iran. There is a great fear that Russia and China may oppose the naval and air/land blockade of Iran. If Russian and perhaps Chinese naval warships escort commercial tankers to Iran in violation of the blockade it could be the most dangerous at-sea confrontation since the Cuban Missile Crisis. The US and allied Navies, by front loading a Naval blockade force with very powerful guided missile warships and strike carriers is attempting to have a force so powerful that Russia and China will not be tempted to mess with. This is a most serious game of military brinkmanship with major nuclear armed powers that have profound objections to the neo-con grand strategy and to western control of all of the Middle East's oil supply." - Shiftgood, on 08/08/2008, -3/+48"Headlining our news today, Yes our very own Michael Phelps took home his Second! goald medal in the mens 100 free, Americans all over the country are celebrating.
.... oh and we went to war with iran.
...and china." - inactive, on 08/08/2008, -1/+40When was there a war that was in our interests? (1846, although it was unjust and immoral)
- inactive, on 08/08/2008, -1/+37When your families and friends around the country die in this nuclear exchange, remember who caused this. As we go to the brink with these bastards, remember how much they valued your life.
- Hangly, on 08/08/2008, -1/+33Stop them from importing benzene? C6H6? That comes from wood ash or charcoal.
My guess is that benzene and "petroleum products" are not the purpose of this blockade. - inactive, on 08/08/2008, -0/+28FTA: "A strategic diversion has been created for Russia. The Republic of Georgia, with US backing, is actively preparing for war on South Ossetia."
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And now war has broken out! Maybe this writer knows what he's talking about. - Hangly, on 08/08/2008, -0/+28Three, count them, THREE carrier battle groups are moving to the Persian Gulf.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the attack on Iraq only used one. - Hangly, on 08/08/2008, -2/+29Also can someone explain to me France's 180-degree reversal on attacking Iran?
- Hangly, on 08/08/2008, -1/+28More on Operation Brimstone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biCXQHexflY
http://www.news.navy.mil /search/display.asp?story_id=38478
From Commander, U.S. 2nd Fleet Public Affairs
NORFOLK (NNS) -- More than 15,000 service members from four countries will participate in Joint Task Force Exercise (JTFEX) 08-4 "Operation Brimstone", July 21-31 in North Carolina and off the eastern U.S. coast from Virginia to Florida.
JTFEX 08-4 serves as a ready-for-deployment certification event for the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group (TR CSG) and the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group (IWO ESG). The exercise will also serve as a Joint Task Force Capable Headquarters sustainment event. In addition, JTFEX 08-4 will offer preliminary accreditation for 2nd Fleet's Maritime Headquarters with Maritime Operations Center (MHQ with MOC)). MHQ with MOC is a new approach to command and control for fleet commanders.
"This exercise is a tremendous opportunity to train; not only as the Navy and Marine Corps team, but with our joint and coalition partners as well," said Commander, 2nd Fleet Vice Adm. Marty Chanik.
"JTFEX 08-4 will flex our warfighting capabilities from the operational level through expeditionary strike force and strike group operations with several of our coalition partners – France, Brazil and the United Kingdom."
The exercise also marks the first time that forces from Navy Expeditionary Combat Command are participating in an East-Coast JTFEX. NECC forces operating in the littorals and riverine environment are supporting integrated operations.
"Navy Expeditionary Combat Command provides a self-contained adaptive force package with a command element tailored to support the full spectrum of operations from major combat operations to unconventional and irregular warfare," said NECC commander Rear Adm. Mike Tillotson.
U.S. and coalition naval assets underway for the exercise include the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) with associated units including the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal (RO 7), the Brazilian Navy frigate Greenhalgh (F-46) and the French submarine FS Amethyste (S 605). BNS Greenhalgh is the first Brazilian Navy ship to operate integrated in a U.S. strike group.
French Rafale fighter aircraft assigned to the 12th Squadron, and Hawkeye early warning aircraft assigned to the 4th Squadron will conduct carrier qualifications and cyclic flight operations with U.S. Carrier Air Wing 8 during Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group's Joint Task Force Exercise. This marks the first integrated U.S. and French carrier qualifications and cyclic flight operations aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier.
The TR CSG is made up of: USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71); Commander, Carrier Strike Group 2 (CCSG-2); Carrier Air Wing 8 (CVW-8); Commander, Destroyer Squadron 22 (CDS-22); the guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey (CG 61); the guided-missile destroyers USS Mason (DDG 87), and USS Nitze (DDG 94) homeported in Norfolk; the attack submarine USS Springfield (SSN 761) homeported in Groton, Conn.; and the guided-missile destroyer USS The Sullivans (DDG 68) homeported in Mayport, Fla.
The IWO ESG consists of USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7), Commander, Amphibious Squadron Four (CPR-4) based at Little Creek, Va.; the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (26 MEU) based at Camp Lejune, N.C.; the amphibious transport dock ship San Antonio (LPD 17); guided-missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf (CG 72); and the guided-missile destroyer USS Ramage (DDG 61), homeported in Norfolk; the dock landing ship USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) homeported at Little Creek, Va.; the guided-missile destroyer USS Roosevelt (DDG 80) homeported in Mayport, Fla., and the attack submarine USS Hartford (SSN 768) homeported in Groton, Conn.
The Navy Expeditionary Combat Task Group (NECTG) is made up of: Riverine Group 1 staff augmented with personnel from throughout the NECC force, Riverine Squadron 1, Maritime Expeditionary Security Squadron Ten, based in Jacksonville, Fla.; an air detachment from Naval Construction Forces Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 11 based in Gulfport, Miss.; Navy Cargo Handling Battalion 3, based in Alameda, Calif.), and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit 6 plus EOD Support Unit based at Little Creek, Va.
In addition, the following forces are participating in the exercise simulating opposition forces: the guided-missile destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64), homeported in Mayport, Fla.; the guided missile cruisers USS San Jacinto (CG 56), USS Anzio (CG 68) and USS Normandy (CG 60), the guided-missile destroyers USS Oscar Austin (DDG 79), USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81); and the guided-missile frigate USS Carr (FFG 52), all homeported in Norfolk. - inactive, on 08/08/2008, -2/+28OEN picked it up... http://www.opednews.com/articles/World-War-III-Nea ... i wouldn't doubt this is really happening....they have been setting us up for quite a while now....if they are really putting that much hardware there, it ain't gonna be no game...we need more conformation on this one...
- Hangly, on 08/08/2008, -0/+24It's astounding to me just how rash this is. Wars tend to have unpredictable consequences, and the US is not remotely prepared for anything besides the scenario they themselves have in mind--a quick air war with Iran folding within a few weeks and no one else in the region making a fuss.
Supposing Iran doesn't cave after a month of bombing? What then? They're not prepared for a ground war; for that they should have started up the draft a year ago.
And suppose Iran makes good on its threats to attack US bases in the region? Can the forces in Iraq or Afghanistan resist a well-equipped million-man army?
Also If Russia or China put forth even the tiniest bit of effort they could push the US off the Eurasian continent entirely. Actually any kind of Chinese involvement would be absolutely disastrous. - Hangly, on 08/08/2008, -1/+25"2008 was a general date by which time everyone realized the world they thought they were living in was over." -- John Titor
- inactive, on 08/08/2008, -3/+26I have to disagree with with two out of three GonePostal77.
The Revolutionary Ar was definitiely in the best interest of Americans. We achieved freedom and independence and embarked on lives full of promise and prosperity. The cost in lives and destruction was minimal.
The Civil War killed 650,000 Americans and destroyed the south. It took 100 years for the south to rebuild and raise its head again. The freeing of the slaves was not the reason that Lincoln declared war on his compatriots, the war was initiated to show that the Federal government could force the States to do what they had decided against. Slavery became an issue only because Lincoln wanted to keep Missouri out of the Union as it was aligned with the South. The Northern States used Lincoln to force the South to use American (northern) shipping, forced them to buy American (northern) industrial products. The war started at Ft. Sumter because the Federal Army and Navy was blockading the harbor to not let foreign flag ships carry American products.
More than a year AFTER the war started, Lincoln freed the slaves, but ONLY in the south in order to create confusion and insurrection. Complete enfranchisement of the slaves was never Lincoln's goal.
If freeing the slaves had been the goal, it would have been handled like it had been in England. Taxes were raised and the government purchased all the slaves at fair market prices and freed them. End of story.
So the Civil War was important? Was it important to kill 650,000 innocent American men and boys when slavery could have been ended peacefully? The whole point of the war was to prove the primacy of the Fedral government and we are less free thanks to that ***** war.
WWII was necessary becuase of WWI. If we had not involved ourselves in WWI and if we had not squeezed Japan into a corner by denying it access to oil and other raw materials, there would have been no WWII. Our interventionism tipped the scales creating WWII as well as all the current problems in the MidEast
Take your warmongering elsewhere buddy. - sphira, on 08/08/2008, -0/+22"They're not prepared for a ground war"
I disagree -
they are tougher than we are (in a true grit sense) -
and much much more motivated
Iran has vast mountainous regions and enclaves in the former Soviet states -
I'm sure they have been planning a fight with us since their revolution -
another real twist will be if they attack us here -
which I have no doubt the Cryptocrats want
then -
watch all debate on the Patriot act and related go right out the window - - sphira, on 08/08/2008, -0/+22If the Navy forms a blockade, Iran will likely 1st respond with
" a swarming tactic, in which small and lightly armed speedboats come at far larger warships from different directions. A classified Pentagon war game in 2002 simulated just such an attack and in it the Navy lost 16 major warships, according to a report in The New York Times last January."
Israel is within range of Iran's Shahab-3 ballistic missiles, and Hezbollah claims its rockets – enhanced and resupplied by Iran since the 2006 war to an estimated 30,000 – can now hit anywhere in the Jewish state, including its nuclear plant at Dimona.
and of course
"fighters" will be coming out of the woodwork in Iraq
On the other hand -
If the US goes way of the Powell doctrine -
Even Admiral William Fallon, who publicly opposed a US strike on Iran before he resigned in April, dismissed Iran as a military threat. "Get serious," Adm. Fallon told Esquire in March. "These guys are ants. When the time comes, you crush them."
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0620/p07s04-wome.htm ...
So the real question will remain - did you get all the nuke capability -
Not likely -
They'll be back - - Hangly, on 08/08/2008, -1/+22This is four years old, but still relevant:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ wp-dyn/articles/A55414-2004Nov16.html
Iran's New Alliance With China Could Cost U.S. Leverage
By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 17, 2004; Page A21
TEHRAN -- A major new alliance is emerging between Iran and China that threatens to undermine U.S. ability to pressure Tehran on its nuclear program, support for extremist groups and refusal to back Arab-Israeli peace efforts.
The relationship has grown out of China's soaring energy needs -- crude oil imports surged nearly 40 percent in the first eight months of this year, according to state media -- and Iran's growing appetite for consumer goods for a population that has doubled since the 1979 revolution, Iranian officials and analysts say.
An oil exporter until 1993, China now produces only for domestic use. Its proven oil reserves could be depleted in 14 years, oil analysts say, so the country is aggressively trying to secure future suppliers. Iran is now China's second-largest source of imported oil.
The economic ties between two of Asia's oldest civilizations, which were both stops on the ancient Silk Road trade route, have broad political implications.
Holding a veto at the U.N. Security Council, China has become the key obstacle to putting international pressure on Iran. During a visit to Tehran this month, Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing signaled that China did not want the Bush administration to press the council to debate Iran's nuclear program. U.S. officials have expressed fear that China's veto power could make Iran more stubborn in the face of U.S. pressure.
The burgeoning relationship is reflected in two huge new oil and gas deals between the two countries that will deepen the relationship for at least the next 25 years, analysts here say.
Last month, the two countries signed a preliminary accord worth $70 billion to $100 billion by which China will purchase Iranian oil and gas and help develop Iran's Yadavaran oil field, near the Iraqi border. Earlier this year, China agreed to buy $20 billion in liquefied natural gas from Iran over a quarter-century.
Iran wants trade to grow even further. "Japan is our number one energy importer for historical reasons . . . but we would like to give preference to exports to China," Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said this month, according to China Business Weekly.
In turn, China has become a major exporter of manufactured goods to Iran, including computer systems, household appliances and cars. "We mutually complement each other. They have industry and we have energy resources," said Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's former representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
China's trade with Iran is weakening the impact on Iranian policy of various U.S. economic embargoes, analysts here say. "Sanctions are not effective nowadays because we have many options in secondary markets, like China," said Hossein Shariatmadari, a leading conservative theorist and editor of the Kayhan newspapers.
Accurate trade figures are difficult to get, in part because trade is increasing so rapidly and partly because China's large arms sales to Iran are not included or publicized. But at the second annual Iran-China trade fair here in May, Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng said trade had increased by 50 percent in 2003 over the previous year, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency.
Beijing has also provided Iran with advanced military technology, including missile technology, U.S. officials say. In April, the Bush administration imposed sanctions on Chinese manufacturers of equipment that can be used to develop weapons of mass destruction.
The Iran-China ties may be partly a response to the United States, analysts here say. President Bush's strategy has been to contain both China and the Islamic republic, said Siamak Namazi, a political and economic analyst, "so that's created natural allies."
The growing presence of U.S. and other Western troops in Central and South Asia and the Middle East is another joint concern. In the English-language Kayhan International, Ali Sabzevari wrote in an editorial: "Politically, the two countries share a common interest in checking the inroads being made by NATO in Asia. . . . The presence of outsiders does not bode well for peace and security."
The countries also share concerns over radical Sunni Muslims. Most Iranians follow the rival Shiite strain of Islam; China has more than 20 million Muslims, and the government has been facing Muslim unrest in some of its western cities. The dissidents receive support from Islamic groups in Afghanistan and the countries of former Soviet Central Asia -- the region that straddles both Iran and China.
Islam has historically been a link between the two civilizations. It made its way to China via Persia, the ancient state that was based in present-day Iran, Iranians note. Many Chinese Muslims pray in Persian, not Arabic. Their everyday language is Turkic, but their alphabet is Persian.
But in recent times, ties between China and Iran have not always prospered. In the midst of the unrest that led to Iran's revolution, one of the last foreign leaders to visit Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi before he was overthrown in 1979 was Chinese Communist Party chief Hua Kuo-feng. "The visit left a very strong negative feeling about China among Iranians," said Abbas Maleki, director of the Caspian Institute, a Tehran research organization.
But today, China with its one-party political system appears to feel fewer restraints than do Western nations in dealing with the world's only theocracy. "For China, issues like human rights don't affect your relations with Iran," Namazi said. - inactive, on 08/08/2008, -0/+21Here you go soapy. Rinse out those eyes brother.
http://www.gonavy.jp/CVLocation.html - kemp34, on 08/08/2008, -0/+21More illegal activity by the Bush Administration. These lunatics need to be stopped before they take everything down with them.
- britishnproud, on 08/08/2008, -1/+21It gets worse,
Russia and Georgia are pretty much at war with one another already.
If you do not already have storable foods I suggest you write a will because you are screwed already, dead man walking. Will take quite a period for you to stalve to death too, OMG.
You were warned time and time again and now it is too late. - inactive, on 08/08/2008, -0/+20You must realize that Iran is already in a very precarious situation. They import most of their gasoline because the refineries built in the 1970's are not able to keep up with demand. They already have gas rationing. The restriction of importing benzine hits every family which uses benzine for cooking. That is a large percentage of the population. Iran has a problem with their currency not unlike our own. They have a central bank that is not under the direct control of the mullahs whose only ability to create more money comes from printing it because charging interest is contrary to the islamic law they live under.
As the central bank issues more money to the government the money in circulation becomes worth less creating the need to issue more money and diluting the value of the currency even more.
This has led to double digit inflation and double digit unemployment.
When the wacky mullahs took over the government in 1979 they promised full employment. They have never come close to fulfilling that promise.
That there is unrest in that country is without doubt even though participants in gatherings of protesters have been beaten and jailed.
The Iranian military is straining to keep their aircraft aloft and navy afloat and army fed, equipped and paid.
The purpose of the blockade seems to be to cause more misery in Iran with the hope of causing an uprising when in fact if we do nothing an uprising is more likely to occur.
With our naval blockade the Iranian government can now blame the great satan for all of its troubles and get off the hook for creating the mess and strife. - inactive, on 08/08/2008, -1/+21http://www.ajn.com.au/news/news.asp?pgID=3162
- inactive, on 08/08/2008, -0/+19Thank you caferrell!!! It is nice to know that someone else has a clue what the civil war was really about. While the Union was fighting the Confederacy, they had children chained to sewing machines making those pretty blue Union uniforms. I am opposed to slavery anywhere, and believe that everyone should be treated equally, and judged by their individual character rather than their ethnic group, but the idea that Lincoln or the majority of the Union cared anything about the slaves here in the South is erroneous. Lincoln was quoted as saying that if he could win the war without freeing the slaves he would do so (paraphrase due to lack to time to look up actual quote). Sure there were abolitionists, but they were very much the minority.
Unfortunately this is still being used by some as a divisive issue to this day while we need unity now more than ever in history. - Waiting2awake, on 08/08/2008, -1/+19I was thinking about him the other day....Crazy ***** huh?
- inactive, on 08/08/2008, -0/+18More on Operation Brimstone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biCXQHexflY
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I searched for Operation Brimstone in Google News. There were no stories from the MSM on this, but it is real. See the video. - sphira, on 08/08/2008, -1/+19good post
caferrell
I agree 100%
The Civil War also gave birth to the Federal colossal we have strangling us today - - V3n0M, on 08/08/2008, -1/+18Chilling... I think I feel a draft...
- GlobalistShill, on 08/08/2008, -0/+16They've been targeting Iran for a long, long time. Now, under the cover of the Olympic games 8/8/08, I imagine they are hoping the American public (and the world) take little notice of this highly aggressive action. Mainstream media isn't reporting it because they suck and are effectively propaganda arms of the government.
- inactive, on 08/08/2008, -0/+15GonePostal77, in relation to the justification for war you are apparently of the school of George Dubya Bush. Dubya launched a war against Iraq justified by the certain existence of WMDs and a certain connection between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. Upon toppling the government, the people that tell Dubya what is happening informed him that no, there were no WMDs, nor was the falsified evidence indicating a connection between Saddam and Al Qaeda going to stand up to public scrutiny. "Don't matter, now the reason we're in this war is regime change, to uh uh give the Iraqi peoples their freedomsh"
So he justifies a war by its outcome and not by the reason it was entered into. You are doing the exact same thing, and saying that the war was necessary.
In a manner like unto Dubya's you are certain that the Civil War was just and the right thing to do because you like the outcome, although the war started absolutely because of States Rights with no connection whatsoever with slavery. Firing on Fort Sumter had nothing to do with slaves, on either side. It was about States Rights. South Carolina insisted that they had the right to ship cotton in any vessel that they cared to, and the Union Navy, under orders from Mr. Lincoln closed the Port. An embargo is an act of war and South Carolina responded militarily. Lincoln insisted that the southern states had no right to secede, although he had no legal basis to say so. Upon his order war was entered between Americans and 2% of the population of the country died in the ensuing battles. Only in order to confound the southern enemy did Lincoln produce the Emancipation Declaration. The Declaration created a shock at the end of the war that no-one was prepared for. It did not provide a smooth transition to freedom for black people. You think it was a good war.
Therefore you are saying that a war can be just and good if it is started for erroneous reasons and discovers its real motive after the bullets start to fly. That is the justification for the war in Iraq.
If we can accept that a war becomes worthwhile after it begins by finding a new purpose, then we have given the politicians carte blanche to start wars anywhere for any reason.
The slaves would have been freed anyway. There were movements within the South and pressure from abroad that threatened to boycott American products, in particular cotton that would have made it untenable to continue the institution of slavery for much longer. A gradual freeing of the slaves would have created a more healthy environment for all involved.
And by the way, why don't you read some history that isn't revisionist? Read what was written in the 1860s and 1870s. Read the newspapers and the opinions. Nobody thought that the war was about slavery, it wasn't Lincoln's intent to eliminate slavery and the war killed Americans by the train load. Charleston and Atlanta were destroyed.
And you think it was worthwhile. If you think war is worthwhile, why don't you volunteer to go scramble up and down the mountains of Afghanistan with a target on your back? - inactive, on 08/08/2008, -0/+15OK, the only other one I have is that you're really stupid.
- Hangly, on 08/08/2008, -2/+17*sigh*
- GRANDPAMUNSTER, on 06/11/2009, -1/+15Lets see how much US msm coverage this gets. I'm guessing none, because the news has been cancelled to bring you the Obama/Mcain show.
- inactive, on 08/08/2008, -1/+15Since when does our government ever do anything in our interest?
- Hangly, on 08/08/2008, -1/+15"Operation Brimstone" turns up a ton of confirmation from US military sources.
I've been combing the Chinese web for something that might indicate how Beijing plans to respond, but so far have found nothing,
Isn't that just like the Chinese to NOT announce who they plan to attack seven years or more in advance. - Waiting2awake, on 08/08/2008, -2/+15Why are you so frightened?
- inactive, on 08/08/2008, -1/+14sportsstar67/pajeff2 your one line responses show the depth of your intellect.
- Hangly, on 08/08/2008, -1/+14Just ***** off, will you?
- inactive, on 08/08/2008, -0/+12Oh sweet merciful God, the ***** has hit the fan.
- eldudereno, on 08/08/2008, -1/+13I hope this is wrong but i fear not. with all the good people standing up against an administration like that of george bushs i thought they might do something like this.
All bad governments have started wars to protect themselves and further their illeagal ambitions, i just hope most americans see through this and dont get all patriotic in the face of a bad war - maxtangent, on 08/08/2008, -1/+13Interesting timing, don't you think? The Olympics make a nice distraction.
"WWIII? Who cares? We just won gold in Water Polo!" - inactive, on 08/08/2008, -1/+13I thought you people were terrible at sports.
- blueridgewv, on 08/08/2008, -0/+11All under the cover and distraction of the Olympics in China.
- roosevans, on 08/09/2008, -0/+10This discussion on the Civil War is very enlightening and informative to me! Thanks Caferrell and GonePostal77!
- Hangly, on 08/08/2008, -0/+11Here for absolutely no reason at all is a youtube video of hot Iranian women:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1OAB07dl6o - ginge51, on 08/09/2008, -0/+10Somebody resubmitt this.
Proves even this place is censored to death :( -
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