Monday, October 10, 2016

Clinton, Pence Recommend Militarily Engaging Russia in Syria

   Lost amid the brouhaha over sensationally foul tapes about Donald Trump's sexual exploits, was the confirmation in the second debate that Secretary Clinton, if elected, plans a military engagement with Russia in Syria. 
    The topic was introduced because Vice Presidential Candidate Mike Pence had earlier stated his opinion that the US should use military force against the Syrian government and Russian forces in Syria, on behalf of the city of Aleppo.   Aleppo is one of the last remaining strongholds of ISIS. 
    The affable former secretary made it clear that she believes that bombings in Aleppo (including the famous picture of a four year old boy in a hosptial, in shock after being bombed) are the fault of Russia, and the US would under a Clinton Administration send military aid (though not ground troops) against Russia and Syria. Hence we would fight an air war in Syria.  She said that she would consider arming the Kurds, who represent the third largest faction in Syria at about 4%.  
       The Clinton view seems to deny that there is a civil war between Sunni's (ISIS) and Shiites (Syrian government) and believes instead that there is some other military power in the region that is worthy of US support.   Nobody knows who this mysterious pro-American military power is, but we are going to arm them.   Moreover, we are going to have to risk fighting Russia in a limited (we hope) air war in Syria in order to support this power, whoever they are.  
     Trump disagreed with both Clinton and his own Vice Presidential candidate, saying that we should support the Syrian government and Russia in opposing ISIS instead of supporting radical revolutionaries.  
     Perhaps what Clinton really hopes to do is to wrest leadership of the Sunnis away from ISIS, foolishly believing that vast numbers of Islamic radicals are just waiting for the right American leader to emerge to guide them.  This is remarkably similar to the view espoused by Dick Cheney in recommending the Iraq offensive to President Bush.   
     It is very foreseeable that the US quagmire in the Middle East is going to get much worse, as our military resources are going to be drained by trying to intervene in Muslim controversies that have existed since the year 632 AD.    By deciding to engage the Russian military if they choose not to obey our recommended no fly zone, we risk destabilizing world markets and even risking World War III, all on behalf of people who hate us, with no one grateful for our bombing and destruction on their behalf.
     I hope that this is all simply tough talk, and that when and if Secretary Clinton becomes President Clinton, she may not be so enamored with sorting out political factions in Syria after all.  Still it is very scary talk, though it seems that very little attention is being paid to it.  I suppose that most of the media would rather discuss sex tapes because they are easier to understand.     
        

Sunday, October 2, 2016

Does John Kerry Want to Fight Russia in Syria?

Does John Kerry want to fight World War III against the Russians in Syria? If news reports are accurate, Kerry wants to help rebels in Aleppo (supposedly not allied with ISIS, but yeah, allied with ISIS) to defeat the Syrian government forces led by President Assad, and de facto allied with Russia. I can scarcely believe Kerry would be that dumb, and thankfully for the moment has been overruled by President Obama.
Nevertheless, the prevailing view is that there are pro-American democratic forces in Syria that deserve our support. I can not name a single person in Syria that fits our description and I doubt whether you can either. I think that rebels just pretend to like us so that we will give them fantastic weaponry and close air support. In reality none of these radicalized rebel groups is pro-democracy and none is our friend. Nevertheless, this view is in the minority, and our government is ready to kill in order to support these pro-American moderate forces, whoever they are. The main controversy between Democrat and Republican is how many to kill and how fast.
We can not be seriously contemplating engaging Russia in Syria, can we? Russia wants to destroy ISIS and we want to destroy ISIS whether rightly or wrongly. Nevertheless, we see Russia's fight against ISIS as a threat, and now that ISIS is on the brink of destruction, we want to oppose Russia and the Syrian government. This is a retarded strategy that fails to recognize that whoever we install in Syria will be just as bad as Assad. Moreover, the conflicts between Sunni and Shiite groups has been ongoing since the 7th Century. We are not putting an end to violence in the Middle East, we are perpetuating it.
I fear that in the incoming Clinton Administration, Kerry's views may prevail, and he and President Clinton may not back down. If so, the world is closer to World War III than it has ever been. And for what? I can't say which leader it is in Syria that we love so much, but love him we do, and we are willing to kill for him and risk destruction for him.


America has traditionally viewed Russia as its greatest threat, and the hope has been that we would become allied with Islamic rebels to oppose Russia (left).  Instead, I believe we should recognize that the US and Russia have a common enemy in radicalized Islam, and we ought to work together.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/01/middleeast/syria-aleppo-bombing/index.html

Saturday, October 1, 2016

Elon Musk will Own Eight Planets

    This is so huge and pathetically simple that no one will believe it.  Most observers laugh at little SpaceX and its leader Elon Musk.   How can a little company like this out-do NASA and the national space programs of other high-tech countries? 

    Elon Musk and SpaceX are going to own eight planets.

Elon Musk can present a very simple business plan:  He can own 8 planets, and about 6 of them are way cooler than earth.  Now, who wants a piece of this?

    That's right.  Now that he has access to space, and is booking tourism for billionaire customers, the rest of story is clear.   He and his private investors will build bigger and faster space ships and they will colonize the rest of the solar system.  Planets like Jupiter and Saturn are way more interesting than earth (entire moons made out of rocket fuel, all free for the taking).   They will figure out how to live there, and then goodbye to the earth and its Clintons and Trumps and Bushes and other pathetic savages.  
     
     Once the investment community figures out this is real, they will throw so much money at Elon Musk and his rowdy group of billionaire friends that they will be unstoppable.  The value of eight planets (about six of which are probably better than earth) is such a huge number it is impossible to place a valuation on it.  100 trillion dollars is not out of the question. Accordingly,  if they want to, they could simply buy NASA (although truthfully the Russian Space Agency is a better bargain).  But they can make better technology by doing it their own way.  

    You may laugh, but my question is:  How can anyone stop him?  He's going to get the money, he has the know-how, and the incentive is out there.  It's going to happen.   

     I just hope SpaceX provides better government for the new civilizations compared to the old one (Earth).