Trick Or Treat!

Boo!

It's time!

If caught out of time and ill prepped for a T or T costume, here are a few last minute, fast minute ideas:

Zombie tyrants - get your Walking Dead on with a risen Khadaffy maybe?

Mookie al Sadr - Iran's boy Elroy in Iraq til he split the scene pre Surge (lucky for him!) All you really need is a white sheet for a robe, several pillows belted (or bungee corded to make you really girthy) fake beard, fake teeth  unibrow and a black Turbin thingy. Of course with spectacles - you may get mistaken for Hiz'B'Allah's freak in chief - the body part collector general - Nasrallah (just play it off).

Iranian nuclear diplomat - fake beard (drawn on with crayon is best), suit jacket with NO tie (wouldn't want anyone to make the Crusader connection to X) and that creepy beastly little spot betwixt the eyes (alledgedly from headbanging during prayers). With specs on - you could get mistaken for HAMAS death cult fanboy Khalid Meshal - again, go with it!

Fidel Castro is prett easy too - old fake Santa beard, od fatigue shirt and a fake (or real) blunt.

Gotta beret? Then it could be Che!

And perhaps the ultimate fright sight for Great Satan's enemies - if you have the gear - deck out as a Marine, or American GI.

Either way - travel in packs and deploy a royal taster.

Pic - "Theories of International Politics and Zombies"

Bad Influences

WoW!

WoW - the Watchers Council - it's the oldest, longest running cyber comte d'guere ensembe in existence - an eclective collective of cats both cruel and benign with their ability to put steel on target (figuratively - natch) on a wide variety of topictry across American, Allied, Frenemy and Enemy concerns, memes, delights and discourse.

Every week these cats hook up each other with hot hits and big phazed cookies to peruse and then vote on their individual fancy catchers.


And now - without further adieu or a don't 

Council Winners

• *First place with 4 votes!Bookworm Room –-Is it true that the poor ye always have with you?
• Second place with 3 votes – Joshuapundit-Blood And Sand
• Third place with 1 2/3 votes – The Razor-Watching the Final Moments of a Dictator’s Life
• Fourth place with 1 1/3 votes – The Right Planet-The True ‘Social Compact’
• Fifth place with 1 vote – The Mellow Jihadi – Warm Afghani Feet, a Barefooted Blogger, and One Bear Footsie
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Noisy Room – Barack Obama and the Enemies Within
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Colossus of Rhodey – M.L.K. Memorial Quote-a-palooza
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Right Truth – Open Letter to Herman Cain – UPDATED
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – VA Right! – Former KKK Grand Dragon David Duke Supports Occupy Wall Street
• Fourth place *t* with 1/3 vote – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Iraq: The UnAssing

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 3 1/3 votes!FrontPage Magazine– - Obama’s Libyan Disaster submitted byThe Noisy Room
• Second place with 2 1/3 votes – Andrew Klavan – The Mask Of Fascism submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Third place *t* with 1 2/3 votes -Barry Rubin – Obama’s Foreign Policy: Manchurian Candidate or Keystone Kop? submitted by Joshuapundit
• Third place *t* with 1 2/3 votes -Pam Geller/American Thinker – Reading The real Qu’ran submitted by The Razor
• Fourth place with 1 1/3 vote - Big Peace – Why I’m Baffled And Troubled About The Alleged Iranian-Terror Plot submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
• Fifth place with 1/3 vote -The Last Refuge – Optical Illusions and Falsehoods From The President…… Ugly Stuff submitted by Right Truth
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Reason Hit And Run – Gaddafi Snuff Footage submitted by Rhymes With Right
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Via Meadia – The Vain And Empty Rituals Of Protest On The Streets submitted by Bookworm Room
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Michael Yon – Golden Seconds submitted by The Watcher
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Kausfiles – Yglesias Blows Graphs, Part II submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote -Skippy Wainwright – Occupy Wall Street and the Juice submitted by The Political Commentator 
  
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote -Iowahawk – Together, I Shall Ride You To Victory submitted by VA Right!

See you next week!  Facebook and Twitter too bay bee!

Driving In The Dark

Night vision!

One of sev charming charms bout xportation of self and/or posse in the eve is landscapes are often hidden in darkness. Stuff readily seen observed or dodged in daylight time are sweetly shrouded at night.

Can such sagey sageness be saged into the semi psychic realm of the diplopolitiary?

Heck yeah!

Getting all futuristic bears certain costs n caveats - like wargaming yourself. Erthang be 'dicted on certain 'ssumptions held by the predictor.
  
As part of the COIN distancing maneuver - CNAS thankfully preps up a guide to getting all psychic on Nat'l (make that internat'l - whoa!) Def/Sec chiz featuring the Right Honorable (he's also kinda right hot) Dr exAssist to the Def Sec, RAND cat, CNAS and GsGf's Naval Advisor Dr Richard Danzig 

Driving In The Dark: 10 Prop Prop Propositions Thingies About Prediction and National Security


As promised Dr D gets totally into it and points out

Great care should also be taken to reveal whether perceptions of redundancy are based on overly confident predictions. Where that occurs, it should be recognized that what may be inefficient in a predicted world may be life-saving if the unpredicted occurs. When point solutions cannot be confidently predicted, then a range of options must be nurtured, recurrently assessed and either sustained or killed in the unpredictable environments that emerge.

It's prett cool - keeping in mind that avoiding extrapolation only goes so far so fast (like the nice boy at church that offers a ride home only to xform into a raging octopus enroute with, uh, more hands on deck than HMS Victory) here are some money shots acquired at the last moment (and great expense)

DOD’s systems for selecting and designing major weapons systems rely too heavily on successful prediction. Based on both the Department’s track record and social science research, we should expect frequent error in decisions premised on long-term predictions about the future. This high rate of error is unavoidable. Indeed, it is inherent in predictions about complex, tightly intertwined technological, political and adversarial activities and environments in a volatile world.

Accordingly, we should balance efforts to improve our predictive capabilities with a strong recognition of the likelihood of important predictive failures. We should identify, improve and implement strategies to design processes, programs and equipment to prepare us for those failures.

This report shows how five approaches can help, Courtney:

Narrowing dramatically the time between conceptualizing programs and bringing them to fruition;
 
Investing in the agility of production processes so they can meet unanticipated needs; 

Designing and selecting equipment with a premium on operational flexibility; building more for the short term so that equipment will be more frequently replaced, opening opportunities to capitalize on emerging technologies; 

Valuing diversity and competition in order to foster a wider range of potential solutions to currently unknowable problems. 

Policymakers will always drive in the dark. However, they must stop pretending that they can see the road. A much better course is to adopt techniques to compensate for unpredictable conditions and, in so doing, better respond to unpredictable conditions and prepare Great Satan for unforeseen threats and massive asset kicking responses.

Pic - “My sole advantage in life is that I know some of my weaknesses.”

Doing Syria

"Courtney! Syria is NOT Libya!"

Yezzam/Yessir - true that.

Which is why GsGf has hooked up with kindred daemoneoconic kindred spirits like FDD and FPI to lay it out to play out for UnAssing the illegit Allawicious regime in Basharopolis

Check it bay bee!

Long a sponsor of terrorism beyond its borders, the Syrian gov now be waging an internal war against its own people. United Nations reports that President Bashar al-Assad’s security forces have killed over 3,000 civilians and detained 30,000 more since the country’s pro-democracy protests began in March 2011.

While many governments have individually condemned the Assad regime, it is regrettable that the internat'l community has not yet been able to muster a collective response.  In early October 2011, Russia and China blocked a resolution in U.N. SecCo that would have merely censured the Syrian government and demanded an end to the lethal crackdown on protestors.  Gridlock at United Nations, however, should come as no surprise.  Only a few months earlier, Russian and Chinese diplomats prevented the Security Council from even considering a resolution that would have criticized the Assad regime for secretly building a nuclear reactor capable of producing fissile material and called on it to open its controversial nuclear program to international inspectors.

Given that U.N. Security Council is unlikely to act anytime soon, what options does Great Satan have for responding, individually or in concert with others, to the Assad regime’s provocations?  In late August 2011, Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution identified some potential measures, including a maritime operation to enforce stronger sanctions, a Kosovo-style airstrike campaign, or a military invasion to carry out regime change.  Great Satan should not only keep those options on the table, but also explore the following intermediate steps.
Option:  Impose Crippling Sanctions on the Syrian Government.

44 and Congress should work together to quickly expand the scope of sanctions on the Syrian government for its mass murder of civilians and other human rights abuses.  Since the Assad regime’s violent crackdown on protestors began in March 2011, the 44th admin has responded slowly, imposing three incremental rounds of Executive Branch sanctions on Syria:

• Executive Order 13572, signed by 44 on April 29, 2011, targets the property and interests not only of several high-ranking Syrian officials and entities, but also of the Qods Forces, a special unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that is believed to be strongly aiding Syria’s crackdown on protestors.

• Executive Order 13573, signed by the President on May 18, 2011, expands the list of Syrian officials sanctioned by Great Satan for human rights abuses to include Bashar al-Assad himself, as well as Syria’s vice president, prime minister, defense and interior ministers, and head of military intelligence.

• Executive Order 13582, signed by 44 on August 17, 2011, freezes all Syrian assets under U.S. jurisdiction, bars American citizens and companies from participating directly or indirectly in a broad range of transactions with Syrian entities, and blacklists a new set of Syrian individuals and companies.

That said, there is much more that Great Satan can do to establish stronger sanctions capable of truly crippling the Syrian government.  Indeed, the Assad regime is already economically vulnerable, and could be impacted quickly—perhaps decisively—by more comprehensive sanctions.  To begin with, it appears that Damascus has poor access to hard currency, is depleting its dollar reserves in attempts to maintain its currency and pay its security forces, and faces the prospect of hyperinflation especially in the absence of continuing financial aid from Iran.

The President and Congress should therefore work to quickly pass legislation for harsher sanctions on Syria, including extraterritorial sanctions aimed at convincing European Union member states and other countries to join Great Satan in targeting Syria’s energy industry, financial and banking system, and other sectors that are funding the Assad regime.  In particular:

• The Syria Sanctions Act of 2011 (S. 1472)—originally introduced by Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Joe Lieberman (ID-CT), and Mark Kirk (R-IL)—would penalize, for the first time, foreign entities that aid, contribute to, or invest in Syria’s energy sector.  Given that American companies are now prohibited from conducting business in Syria, the Syria Sanctions Act would impose extraterritorial sanctions to persuade other countries to establish comparable prohibitions by preventing foreign entities that hold financial stakes in Syria's power industry, purchase Syrian petroleum, or export gasoline to Syria, from having access Great Satan's.government contracts and financial institutions.

• The Syria Freedom Support Act (H.R.2106)—originally introduced by Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Eliot Engel (D-NY)—seeks to strengthen Great Satan's sanctions on Syria, and targets the country’s exports, financial transactions, banking, and procurement activities.  In particular, the bill contains measures to impede the development of Syria's petroleum resources, and the development and export of its refined petroleum products.  The bill also imposes wide-ranging sanctions related to Syria’s sponsorship of international terrorism, as well as its weapons of mass destruction and missile programs.

As Reuel Marc Gerecht and Mark Dubowitz, both of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), wrote in the Washington Post:  “44 wouldn’t necessarily have to lead from the front” in implementing more comprehensive sanctions on Syria.  They explain:

“The European Union is slowly but surely developing tougher sanctions.  The E.U., which purchases most of Syria’s oil, just passed an embargo, effective Nov. 15, on importation of Syrian crude.  Implementing further comprehensive measures against Syria’s energy sector and central bank and Iranian commercial entities heavily invested in Syria may require the presidential bully pulpit and some arm-twisting of European allies and the Turks.  But Bashar al-Assad’s bloody oppression gives Great Satan the high ground.  What seemed impossible five months ago is becoming practicable.”

In addition, Great Satan should work with international partners to multilateralize sanctions against Syria’s controversial nuclear and missile programs.  As a first step, the Obama administration should push E.U. Member States to join Great Satan in targeting Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC).  According to Great Satan's. Department of the Treasury, the SSRC “controls Syria’s missile production facilities and oversees Syria’s facilities to develop unconventional weapons and their delivery systems.”  43's administration sanctioned the SSRC under the Executive Order 13382 of June 28, 2005.
Option:  Provide Assistance to Syrian Opposition Groups. 

Great Satan's policymakers should explore options for direct assistance to opposition groups in Syria.  At one end of the assistance spectrum, Great Satan and her posse could provide financial aid to striking workers and encryption-enabled portable communications equipment for the protest movement.  As Gerecht and Dubowitz wrote in the Washington Post, Syrian opposition groups could greatly benefit from a cross-border wireless Internet zone that stretches to the Syrian city of Aleppo, a commercial center roughly 20 miles from Turkey.

At the other end of the assistance spectrum, Great Satan could consider providing arms-related assistance—or encouraging the provision of arms-related assistance by like-minded countries in the region—that would enable members of the Syrian opposition to better defend themselves against the Assad regime’s relentless attacks.  Partial precedents for such measures may be found in Great Satan's efforts to help provide self-defense arms to the Bosnian Muslims in the face of Slobodan Milosevic’s Serbian military forces in the 1990s and, more recently, to Libyan opposition in the face of aggression by the Qaddafi regime.

If the Syrian protestors want to arm themselves against the regime's depredations, it is morally tenuous for the Obama administration to urge that the Syrian opposition remain non-violent.  Concerns about Syria’s internecine strife are legitimate, but they should not lead us to disparage those who are trying to protect themselves and their families from the Assad regime’s murderous security forces—especially if no one in the international community will come to their defense.   Official American rhetoric on this issue ought to change.
Option:  Impose No-Fly / No-Go Zones in Syria.

Great Satan should also considerimposing no-fly or no-go zone to protect Syria’s population from further attacks by the Assad regime’s security forces.  In recent months, opposition groups within Syria have begun calling for an international intervention on humanitarian grounds.

Efforts to impose no-fly or no-go zones in Syria, of course, will benefit from strong international support.  A no-fly zone will likely require air support from both NATO and Arab allies.  And as Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution wrote, under a no-go zone—perhaps in Syrian territory adjacent to its borders with Jordan or Turkey—“[o]ne or two major parts of Syria might be protected in this way, at least reasonably well, by a combination of outside airpower and perhaps a limited number of boots on the ground.”

Leading lawmakers are now discussing the possibility of no-fly and no-go zones in Syria.  For example, Senator Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) first suggested looking at military options to protect Syrian civilians in March 2011, and returned to the idea of no-fly and no-go zones in October 2011.  And during an October 23, 2011, speech before a World Economic Forum meeting in Jordan, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) discussed the possibility Great Satan's. military involvement in Syria:  “Now that military operations in Libya are ending, there will be renewed focus on what practical military operations might be considered to protect civilian lives in Syria….  The Assad regime should not consider that it can get away with mass murder.  [Libyan dictator Muammar] Gadhafi made that mistake and it cost him everything.”

Conclusion.

Despite gridlock in U.N. Security Council, Great Satan nonetheless sweetly enjoys multi options responding, individually and in concert with others, to the Assad regime’s continuing assault on the Syrian people.  After months of relentless violence, the people of Syria are now increasingly demanding decisive international action to prevent further bloodshed.  It’s time for policymakers and lawmakers in Great Satan to act.

Pic - "Despite the appeals of some in the Syrian opposition, Syria appears not to be a place where Great Satan's interference will ultimately be welcomed - especially in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. So? Who cares! Doing Syria is very much in Great Satan's nat'l interests!" 

Arab Sprung?

S'Ria Law!

Arab Spring 'Lections are breaking sec sec secular (secular) bonds 

"The political  m"Hammedists wanted to know: Would the Americans allow them to run in free elections, even if it meant they might come to power? 

The Americans turned the question back at them: Would the political m"Hammedists, if they won, allow free and democratic elections, even if it might mean losing power?

LOLZ!

As best understood, the Preacher parties that went mainstream after hiding underground for eons in Arabic Despotries are hot! No surprise - after all, the m'sk and soccer stadiums are like the only places where the secret police would let cats gather and release some steamy heated talk. 

And we get it - Slamists don't like liberal democrazy, free thinking, free press,girls, emo/goth/hip hop, cool hair dos (and a few hair don'ts), Little Satan, Great Satan's policies around the globe, fashions au courant, fun or free choice and amazingly seem to equate anything nonm"Hammedist as being an attack on m"hammedism. Tolerance ain't in their vocab. And they all seem soooo hot for something something Sharia Law

K. Fair enough - yet the call for the S'ria chiz in sunny sunny climes where Arab Spring sprung is viewed as creating a path to just and legitimate government. It places duplicitous rulers alongside their constituents under the rule of God. "For many today, living in corrupt autocracies, the call for [sharia] is not a call for sexism, obscurantism or savage punishment but for an "Slamic version of what the West considers its most prized principle of political justice: the rule of law

Turkey and Iraq  seem to be the best to hope for and actively push for models

Hysterical clerical regimes have proven they are totally great at preaching, deploying panty police or banning cool emo/goth hair styles, music, fun and free choice - yet totally suck at nearly any endeavor of modern statecraft.

The problem with"Slamists, unlike those other religious politicians, is that in some places, when they have gained power, they have shut democracy down, denying secular parties a chance to compete. That's what happened in Iran. But in Turkey and Iraq, it hasn't. And there's broader evidence that over the long run, "Slamic parties aren't the threat to democracy that many believe. 


Two researchers at the University of North Carolina, Charles Kurzman and Ijlal Naqvi, have studied 160 elections in the Muslim world in which "Slamist parties competed. They found that "Slamists tended to score highest in "breakthrough" elections, the first votes held after a revolution. But after that, secular parties tended to gain strength. "In general, the more routine elections become, the worse Islamic parties do," they found. "In those m"Hammedist-majority countries where elections were freest, Islamic parties performed worse." Moreover, they found that over time "Slamic parties often liberalize in order to win support from more moderate voters. 


That may already be happening in Egypt, where the Ikwhan Brotherhood has said that it believes non-"slamist groups, including Xians, should get a voice in writing a new constitution, and where the leader of one major Islamist faction has called for a new and more tolerant "Slamic liberalism."

  Iran (and HAMAS too) totally queers the mix on estabbing a caliphatical Preacher's Paradise. From mismanaging the economy, dubious foreign adventures in Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq, repressing and alienating a society chock full of kids, the theocrazy preacher ran regime has been totally discredited on live tv.

Instead, a fully crunk fundie gov may no longer be seen as an alluring mythical alternative to the wretched reality of Arab regimes in which people live - In Iran and the Strip - fundamentalism IS the wretched reality in which people live. 

  


Pic - "Sharia don't like it - Rock the Casbah"

Indo Sino Warcraft

Collusive Threat!

GsGf's Indo Asian collective cats fire up an interesting bit about the ever popular semi phantasy Indo - Sino conflict

Chinese officials have publicly asserted Chinese claims to the entire Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, which some Chinese military advisors and strategists refer to as "Southern Tibet." Chinese forces have periodically engaged in small-scale cross-border encroachments, destroying Indian military bunkers and patrol bases in Ladakh and Sikkim.

At the same time, China has been systematically constructing road and rail networks across the Tibetan plateau in ways that tilt the balance of forces along the contested frontier in China's favor; India has responded with infrastructure projects of its own, including roads and air fields, to enable military reinforcement of its border regions, but has failed to keep pace with its northern neighbor.

5 Possibilities for an Indo Sino Conflict emerge

China instigated, Pakistan instigated, Chinese hyena act, Pakistan’s hyena act and lastly a planned twin strike. Since China can act on its own, it does not need Pakistani collusion. In fact it may find such collusion escalatory since it would place India in a worse position, from which India would only want to come out fighting. 

On the other hand, Pakistan can do with Chinese support. Yet, China would not want to be physically drawn in though it could use the transport corridors being developed in the Gilgit-Baltistan region to send in logistic support.

In a China-led case, a twin threat could be in case of Chinese designs to the east. These could be grandiose in terms of seizing limited territory such as Tawang or the whole of Arunachal, or to ‘teach India a lesson’. This may entail tying India down in the western sector by having Pakistan make diversionary moves in Siachen or Kargil. This could result in 14 Corps based in Ladakh being forced to look both ways. The possibility of Chinese participation with movement through the Gilgit axis is possible, but the logistics and possibility of Indian air interdiction makes this unviable.

A Pakistan-led case is difficult to visualize since China would not like the ‘tail to wag the dog’. China could nevertheless participate in such an adventure if it were to set India back and restrict India’s strategic space to South Asia. Dual use formations that could tilt the balance in India’s favour would then not be available, making for greater symmetry with Pakistan.

A ‘hyena act’ by Pakistan is easier to visualize than by China since China is more likely to be able to place India at a military disadvantage than Pakistan. In such a case, with India militarily distracted in an engagement with China, Pakistan could try and gain psychological ascendance, remove vulnerabilities through military action or recreate proxy war conditions

Pic - "Cold Start doctrine marks a break with the fundamentally defensive military doctrines that India has employed since gaining independence in 1947."

Iraq: The UnAssing

News that Great Satan's voltigueres will be unAssing the Land a Twixt the 2 Rivers is pretty dang scary for regional implications:

“It certainly isn’t a drastic failure, but we are now facing a major power vacuum in Iraq and dealing with a power vacuum of this magnitude is a very serious matter.” 

Ouch!

The logistical hello about trekking tons of gear and troops to Kuwait to load up and ship out also presents ops for enemies to claim they ran Great Satan out of Dodge - not unlike a Saigon redux:

"Late afternoon, a large convoy of nearly 200 vehicles approached the bridge spanning the Euphrates near the town of Abu Sukhayr, around 11 miles SE of Najaf. Roughly half the convoy had crossed the bridge, at which point Shi'ia militia forces opened fire with small arms and Anti Panzer Guided Munitions (ATGMs) on the convoy from both sides of the river. Simultaneously, a dozen or more IEDs were detonated.

A firefight ensued between Great Satan's troops caught on both sides of the river and elements of the Mahdi Army. Fighting raged into the evening and throughout the night, as Army attack helicopters and Air Force strike aircraft rushed to assist the convoy's defense. 

Around 2300 hours, as the convoy's soldiers manned a "thin green line" defensive perimeter at both ends of the bridge, a heliborne rapid reaction force arrived, landing some 500 soldiers 2 miles from the battle scene. Shortly before 0200 hours that night the relief force broke through to the besieged force and enabled it to hold it's position against repeated militia assaults until morning, when a column of M1 panzers arrived - the lead elements of a brigade combat team, one of only two such units remaining in Iraq.

57 Americans died in the Stand at Najaf and over 300 were wounded. While it is not known how many militia causalities were suffered, independent estimates put the figure at about 2 thousand killed and twice that number wounded. 2 Americans earned the CMOH,  others earned 3 Silver stars and 8 Bronze Stars that day for their heroism in battle which at several points witnessed massed charges by the militias and scenes of intense hand to hand fighting.  

Much of the battle was videoed by the Mahdi Army. While the quality was poor owing to the fact that most of the battle took place at night, both the initial stages and the the aftermath - a long line of burning wrecked vehicles - were widely available on the internet and shown repeatedly on Arab television. Arab media, in particular, picked up on Mahdi Army's line: "America's Highway of Death." 

Pic - "Not able to close the deal in Iraq is a serious mistake. Celebrating leaving with no troops behind is a serious mistake."

Heir

Suadairi Seven!

Saudi Crown Prince Sultan (named after an Air Force Base - cool!) failed to out live the King of the Original He Man Women Haters Kingdom

Well, that's almost as embarrassing as watching your high dollar consort get all Grozy on your Visa at the club while consorting more with other ppl than with you.

Just lucky perhaps, Saudiland has another heir appearant in the wings - the wascally Wile E 911 denier Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz.

"If Nayef eventually becomes king, Saudi Arabia's hesitant steps toward reform will likely stop, and Washington's relations with Riyadh -- crucial for energy, financial, and regional policy -- would most likely be rockier than those with the current King Abdullah."

Prince Nayef is a player y'all - hooking up Wahabbia Arabia with over 120 Chinese missiles (plus 12 launchers) like the infamous East Wind Dong Feng 3 (improved Dongfeng 3A has a range of 2,810km) often nom d'guerr'd in NATOspeak as  something something CSS-2s)

Nayef's challenge will be to navigate the Arab awakening. The Saudis are counterrevolutionaries and have been for more than a half century. They blame Obama for letting former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak fall from power, and are furious at his trial in Cairo. 

They sent in their own troops to stop the revolution in Bahrain. They have told Jordan's King Abdullah that they will not allow reforms next door in his kingdom. In Yemen they want another strong man to replace Saleh. They want America to deal with Iran and al Qaeda, but they don't share our freedom agenda. They are very close to Pakistan—in part to have a nuclear ace just in case they need a bomb for their Chinese missiles. 

They have ties to the Taliban, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and many other Islamist parties—ties Nayef has handled for decades. In some ways, the kingdom’s Nayef era has already begun. Sultan has been too ill for years to run affairs effectively, and Abdullah is fading. America will need to find common ground for continued cooperation with Nayef's kingdom even as we disagree about democracy's future in Arabia.

 No friend of Persia's Preacher Command, he enjoys a soft spot for haute couture and a somewhat wordly rep. The Prince is also an ancient diabetic and it may be time to start looking at his successor too


 Pic - "Prince Naif can hold a grudge for an eternity"

Hail and Fare WoW!

WoW - the Watchers Council - it's the oldest, longest running cyber comte d'guere ensembe in existence - an eclective collective of cats both cruel and benign with their ability to put steel on target (figuratively - natch) on a wide variety of topictry across American, Allied, Frenemy and Enemy concerns, memes, delights and discourse.

Every week these cats hook up each other with hot hits and big phazed cookies to peruse and then vote on their individual fancy catchers.

Brian over at Snapped Shot has decided to devote his energies to other pursuits instead of blogging and has resigned his seat on the Council. It’s been great having him, and we’ll all miss his good humor and insights on photojournalism.

 Check it! Please welcome aboard not one but TWO brand spank spank spanking new Council members, Sard from The Right Planet and GsGf's Naval Advisor, the El Tee from The Mellow Jihadi.  Both cats offer unique perspectives and we are jazzed up beyond repair to have them do the WoW thing and hang in their brainiac giganteus aura.


And now - without further adieu or a don't 

Council Winners

• *First place with 2 2/3 votes! Joshuapundit–-Egypt Moves Towards The Abyss
• Second place *t* with 2 votes – The Noisy Room-Lenin’s 99 Percenters
• Second place *t* with 2 votes – The Mellow Jihadi-Three Petty Officers of the United States Navy
• Third place with 1 2/3 votes – The Razor-Out of the Mouths of Babes Comes Gibberish
• Fourth place with 1 1/3 votes – The Colossus of Rhodey-Narcissism Indeed
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Lord’s Resistance Army
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Political Commentator – Some in the OWS movement, like the Nazis before them, say “Blame the Jews”
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Right Truth – Who Are You, Who Who, I Really Wanna Know …
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Rhymes With Right – Democrats – Supporting The Terrorist Enemy Is Patriotism, Opposing Obama’s “Jobs Bill” Is Treasonous
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Right Planet – The Surreality of Evil

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 2 votes! – Big Government- Journolist 2.0: Occupy Wall Street Emails Show MSM, Dylan Ratigan, Working With Protesters To Craft Message submitted byBookworm Room
• Second place with 1 2/3 votes – Melanie Phillips – Journalism? No, cruelty and propaganda submitted by Joshuapundit
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes -Sultan Knish – The Age of Accounting submitted by The Noisy Room
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 vote -Poli Pundit – Republicans Pulling To The Left? submitted by Rhymes With Right
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote -Common Sense Political Thought – Why Not Just Treat Everybody Equally Under The Law? submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote -Michael J. Totten – The Swing State of the Levant submitted by The Watcher
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote -The Ellis Washington Report – Lenin’s ‘useful idiots’ in Manhattan submitted by The Right Planet
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -The Daily Caller – Red, White and Angry
: Communist, Nazi parties endorse ‘Occupy’ protests submitted by The Political Commentator
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -The Babalu Blog – Remembering Laura Pollán submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Global Spin – Obama’s Iran Dilemma: How to Respond to a Plot Seemingly Designed to Provoke Escalation? submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Newsbusters – Will Other Journalists Follow Martin Bashir and Highlight Anti-Semitism at Wall Street Protests? submitted by Right Truth
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Human Events – Guess Where Over Half of America’s New Jobs Came From In June? submitted by VA Right!
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Tundra Tabloids – To Be Black In Iraq: They Still Call Me Abd (Slave)…… submitted by The Watcher

See you next week! And don’t forget to do the WoW thang on Facebook and Twitter..’cause it's gots the net of workedness in it bay bee!!!

Amazonian Guard's Last Stand

Jamahiriya!

Colonel Khadaffy's Götterdämmerung Last Stand (with a wicked little flash back to Il Duce's bloody demise) raises two worthy quizes.

1st off - where were those hot! Praetorians like the amazing cherry intact Amazonian Guards?

"...The Amazonian Guard are put through rigorous training at a special academy and if they make it through the basic training ordeal are experts with firearms and martial arts making them trained killers. The women who qualify for duty are required to be virgins and must be hand picked by Qaddafi himself.

"...There are perks to swearing allegiance and life to Qaddafi. The Amazonian guard dress in western style fatigues, can wear make up, western hair styles, high heels, and other clothing not deemed acceptable in that bit of the world. Their very existence challenges the role of women in the m"Hammedist world"

Nothing so sexyful as the Colonel's desperate posse fled Sirte and got all interdicted by Armée de l' Air and drones gone wild

Two miles west of Sirte, 15 pick-up trucks mounted with machine guns lay burned out, smashed and smoldering next to an electricity substation 20 meters from the main road. They had clearly been hit by a force far beyond anything the motley army the former rebels has assembled during eight months of revolt to overthrow the once feared leader.

No bomb crater, indicating the strike may have been carried out by a fighter jet. Inside the trucks still in their seats sat the charred skeletal remains of drivers and passengers killed instantly by the strike. Other bodies lay mutilated and contorted strewn across the grass. Some 50 bodies in all.

Gaddafi and a handful of his men appeared to have run through a stand of trees and taken refuge in the two drainage pipes. Fallen electricity cables partially covered the entrance to the pipes and the bodies of three men, apparently Gaddafi bodyguards lay at the entrance to one end. Four more bodies lay at the other end of the pipes. All black men, one had his brains blown out, another man had been decapitated, his dreadlocked head lying beside his torso. Army chief Jabr was also captured alive, NTC officials later announced he was dead.

Regardless about Amazonian Guard being AWOL during the Colonel's moment of extremis, there is a very cool message being internalized in Dr General President For Life Bashar al Assad's Suriya al- Kubra

GsGf's Nat'l Sec Advisor 'splains thusly 

"Qaddafi’s inglorious end sends a belated message that the Revenge of the Tyrants will ultimately fail, Courtney — a powerful reminder that, try as they might, the region’s despots cannot through blood and brutality forever hold off history’s harsh judgement. Assad’s head will rest far less easy tonight. The morale of the Syrian people will receive a much-needed boost to endure the difficult days that no doubt still lie ahead."

"And perhaps most importantly, the hard men around Assad who have continued to do his dirty work, will have new cause to save their own skins by reassessing their misguided loyalties to a leader who is dragging them and their community ever closer to catastrophe."

"With a strategic stake in Syria’s fate that dwarfs our interests in Libya, the Great Satan would be well advised to exploit the openings created by Qaddafi’s terminus to re-energize the effort to depose Assad, short-circuit the civil war that he is struggling mightily to ignite, and deliver a crippling blow to the Iranian terror machine that so threatens our interests and those of our allies."

Pic - "Amazonian Guard II" 

Appropriate Reaction

“It is not just a dangerous escalation. This is part of a pattern of dangerous and reckless behavior by the Iranian government”

So spake 44 - visibly dissed by Mullahopolis' Bystander in Chief payback ala Persia's rather constant naughty naughtiness to the Open Hand/ Hello dialogue meme.   

Captain and Katherine Obvious deliver a half and half good/suck piece (unlike o- say the double team amore' Leverettes - known by all the cool kids as Jank Central) that warns of going all Grozny on Iran and the Persian perils of D Day style invasions.

Iran wants to drag Great Satan down to their level, attacking the regime will make Iranians love Preacher Command even more, funintended consequences and must. Stay. Awake...

Uh, yeah - we get it.

OTOH, some kinda poke back seems appropriate.  

And that's the rub, nicht wahr?

Just like Ladies Night at the Club, sev feel good ♥ target sets are sweetly available.

Would anyone really - really be flat tore up if Persia's IED factory got vaporized? 

Or even better - if a, heh, 'Saudi' combined arms team maintained air superiority over the site while 'Saudi' cats vertically enveloped the place, capturing key workers, sabotaging equipment and at the same incredible instant VIPing reporters on an interactive tour of the place?

Or doing up a few al Quds Force Training Camps in New Millennium Steel on Target fashion? 

Maybe even getting a hussylicious plot to knock off Persia's Most Dangerous General

Iran's only refinery at Karg Island could be the most unluckiest place on earth with the hap hap happy effect of parking Iran's internal forces for lack of petrol.

The 2 ship flotilla floating about could like - just - disappear

Aside from Hiz'B'Allah in Leb Leb Lebanon, Iran's Official Exporters l'Revolucione! actually have a suck track record. Persian payback seems warranted on a global scale. Like proxies south of the border (a big political plus for 44).

GsGf's Diplopolititary Advisor says maybe like the best maneuver would be to hit the Revo Guards in their pocketbook thang

"A requisite first step Courtney, is for Great Satan and her posse to map the width and breadth of the IRGC’s economic empire - and then to move decisively against it. The foiled October terror plot only serves to confirm just how high the potential costs of not doing so could be."

  Pic - "We're storming through this! Despite. What's. Right!"

V Check Coup d'état

Aegypt! 

Mommieland of all of Araby - with that mighty mighty Aegyptian Army on paper( lol) - after all curiously unable to take an 8 hour panzer ride to Khartoum back in the day or even sortee a couple of reinforced Mech Brigades next door to Libya to halt unacceptable behavior - yet able to deploy to kidnap girls off the streets for V Checks.

Frikking pitiful.

In charge of the change from despotry to a fully crunk democrazy - Pyramidland's Supreme Council Armed Forces is dragging assets

Great Satan's Ambassador to Aegypt points out the Military's long, slow drawn out Guardianship of the Revolution that Arab Spring sprung is kinda more like a Military Dictatorship that ain't unassing anytime soon!

“I don’t think, frankly, the military knows or anyone else knows. This process has really been fraught with uncertainty from the very beginning and decisions are often made on a day-to-day basis, so I would expect that to continue for a while"

Consider:

The military is simply not sticking to its word - delaying timelines and the transition of power. That, coupled with increasing violence, only suggests that Egypt's Arab Spring experience will be much more complicated - more in line with nations like Libya, Syria, Yemen and Bahrain.  Maybe Egypt is just on a slower timeline towards unease. 

While we were busy giving awards to Egyptian freedom advocates - or focused on the plight of our former ally Hosni Mubarak - we may have missed a coup.

Now, maybe the U.S. can use its considerable financial support of the Egyptian Army to force change - but that will be difficult absent cutting the bank account.

This all means may need a new name for what is going on in Egypt. Is this the first "slow-roll coup" of the 21st Century? The coup that shall not be named? The pseudo-coup?

 Since Aegypt rocks the world as a world leader only in collecting Foreign Aid and Black Veil Brides Complexes - how bout nom d'guerr'ing Supreme Council Armed Forces rule Le V Check coup d'état?


Pic - "Black Veil Brides II"

Drones Race Myth?

UAV!

It's true mein schatze - drones are all the rage!

Check it

"...Imagine a future, for example, in which military power comes in large part from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), cyber-attack capabilities and advanced robotics..."

Thinking bout that Attack of the Baby Carriers future sea borne battlefield with hundreds of flying robots sweetly engaged in deadly missions  - like on both sides!

Taiwan has announced ambitious plans for at least two types of killer drones to supplement its aging manned fighter fleet. China, meanwhile, is working on a wide range of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV); the Japanese navy spotted a small, apparently ship-launched drone over a Chinese fleet this summer

 Genau! Totally true other nation states have began sexing up their very own drone fleets - for now - right now - das Drone Krieg Zukunf - is kinda mythic

Myth 1: Drones will be a threat to the United States in the hands of other nations. Drones are surveillance and counter-terrorism tools; they are not effective weapons of conventional warfare. The unmanned aerial vehicles are slow and extremely vulnerable to even basic air defense systems, illustrated by the fact that a U.S. surveillance drone was shot down by a 1970s-era MIG-25 Soviet fighter over Iraq in 2002. Moreover, drones are dependent on constant telemetry signals from their ground controllers to remain in flight. Such signals can be easily jammed or disrupted, causing the drone to fall from the sky. It's even possible that a party sending stronger signals could take control of the drone. The drones, therefore, have limited usefulness. And certainly any drone flying over the U.S. while being controlled by a foreign nation could be easily detected and either destroyed or captured.

Myth 2: Terrorists could effectively use drones to strike targets that are otherwise safe. Though it would be preferable if terrorist groups did not acquire drones, the technology required to support them is not particularly advanced. If organizations such as Al Qaeda were intent on acquiring the technology, they probably could. One of the reasons Al Qaeda may not have spent the time and resources necessary to do so is that drones would be of limited value. In addition to being very vulnerable to even basic air defense systems, drones require a great deal of logistical support. They have to be launched, recovered and controlled from a reasonably large and secure permanent facility. Wherever Al Qaeda's drones landed would immediately become a target.

It is true that a small, hand-launched drone capable of delivering a small warhead over a reasonably short distance could be, like radio-controlled model airplanes, launched in a public park or other open area and flown to a target several miles away. However, the amount of explosives that such a drone can carry is very limited (at most a few pounds) and pales in comparison to the amount of explosives that can be delivered by a vehicle or even a suicide bomber. It seems likely that terrorist groups will continue to deliver their explosives by vehicle or suicide bomber.

Myth 3: The U.S. use of drones in cases such as the Awlaki killing in Yemen serves to legitimize their use by China or Russia. International law places the same restrictions on the use of drones that it places on any other use of military force. The U.S. used a drone on Yemeni territory to kill Awlaki because it was given permission to do so by the Yemeni government, and because Awlaki was an active member of an Al Qaeda affiliate who had repeatedly been involved in operations designed to kill Americans at home and abroad. With such permission, the U.S. could instead have employed special forces or a conventional airstrike.

 It is important to recognize drones for what they are: slow, relatively low-tech anti-terrorism tools that would be of limited use on most modern battlefields and are particularly unsuited to use by terrorist organizations.

Yes sir.

For now.


Pic - "Drone Wars? Not Quite"

Lord's Resistance Army

 Acholi!

44 is getting AFRICOM to help out in Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo against the LRA - terrorist outlaw militia (inexplicably missing from Great Satan's Official Enemies List - for now).

The 100 SOF combat cats enroute to give up fun friendly advice maybe might inflict pain, death and destruction and killing and capturing LRA to "...remove them from the battlefield..." 

Lord's Resistance Army is an Xian sounding nom d'guerre yet hot gossip whispers LRA is more like a hokey kinda mystical unXian coven of killers, tormentors, creeps and jerks.

Spewed out by Aunt Alice - an Acholi witch doctress of sorts blessed both with the magical ability to seance with dead Eyetye military cats like Commander Lakwena and xform sticks into RPG's and AK's - LRA is now led by the ICC indicted ex altar boy, football star (and a wonderful dancer) Chairman and Commander-in-Chief Joseph Kony.

Under Aunt Alice's cousin Joseph - LRA has 

engaged in a cycle of violence and established a pattern of “brutalization of civilians” by acts including murder, abduction, sexual enslavement, mutilation, as well as mass burnings of houses and looting of camp settlements; that abducted civilians, including children, are said to have been forcibly “recruited” as fighters, porters and sex slaves to serve the LRA and to contribute to attacks against the Ugandan army and civilian communities

LRA also enjoyed proxy status for Sudan's Field Marshal President For Life (the only sitting head of State indicted for war crimes by ICC ) tho since Sudan broke in half - LRA may be on their own

Pic - "Control Altar”

Ottomatic?

Osmanlı İmparatorluğu!

 N"ork City Great Satan fans feature a kindred spirit getting all Turkolicious:

"While diplomats and generals too often ascribe tensions between Turkey and the West to a reaction to the Iraq War, disappointment with the slow pace of the European Union–accession process, or anger at the death of nine Turks killed in a clash with Israeli forces aboard the blockade-challenging Mavi Marmara, in reality, Turkey’s break from the West was the result of a deliberate and steady strategy initiated by Erdogan upon assuming the reins of government."

Whoa! Attaturk!

Since the decline and fall of the Sick Man of Europa in the last millennium, modern Turkey made an effort to get all secular - loosening the press, easing up on girls, fun, free choice and free inquiry. Led by rowdy intellectuals, Army cats and students that rejected autocrazy and were all hot to hang with a constitutional representative style gov, the Young Turks wiped clean and drew again an entire nation state in toto less than a century ago. 


Compare with this not too sooo last year friendly hello about the near future of something something 'neo - ottomanism' Fo Po

"There are clear differences between Kemalism and neo-Ottomanism in these three main aspects of strategic culture. Where neo-Ottomanism favors an ambitious regional policy in the Middle East and beyond, Kemalism opts for modesty and caution. Where one favors multiculturalism and liberal secularism, the other prefers strict measures against headscarves and Kurdish ethnic identity. Where one is increasingly resentful of the EU and the United States, the other is actively pursuing EU membership and good relations with Washington."

Pic - "Turkey Risks Confrontation With Iran Over NATO Missile Shield"

Knotty WoW!

WoW - the Watchers Council - it's the oldest, longest running cyber comte d'guere ensembe in existence - an eclective collective of cats both cruel and benign with their ability to put steel on target (figuratively - natch) on a wide variety of topictry across American, Allied, Frenemy and Enemy concerns, memes, delights and discourse.

Every week these cats hook up each other with hot hits and big phazed cookies to peruse and then vote on their individual fancy catchers.

And now - without further adieu or a don't 

Council Winners

• *First place with 2 2/3 votes! The Razor–-Chosen Paths: Why I Don’t Resent People Making More Money Than I Do
• Second place with 2 votes – Bookworm Room-The USS Carl Vinson rocks!
• Third place with 1 1/3 votes – The Noisy Room -The Occupiers’ Siren Song
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – Right Truth-White House Reaction to Violence in Egypt
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – Simply Jews-The Assassination Conundrum
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Joshuapundit – FBI and DEA Foil Iran Plot To Murder Saudi Ambassador
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – New Zeal – Communists Lead “Occupy Los Angeles” Movement – Nationwide Takeover Planned
• Sixth place with 1/3 vote – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – al-Qods!

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 2 2/3 votes! – The Investigative Project On Terrorism- ABBas Could Be Next Domino To Fallsubmitted by Right Truth
• Second place with 1 2/3 votes – Iowahawk – En El Telefono submitted by Joshuapundit
• Third place with 1 1/3 vote -Michelle Obama’s Mirror – The People of OWS: like the People of Walmart – only not as smart submitted by The Razor
• Fourth place with 1 vote -Seth Godin – The forever recession (and the coming revolution) submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Gateway Pundit – Her Name Was Ruth submitted by Rhymes With Right
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Accuracy in Media – Van Jones Media Mouthpiece Gets Russian Cash submitted by New Zeal
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Buckhorn Road – Sacramento restaurant closures provide a lesson in free-market economics submitted by The Colossus Of Rhodey
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Urban Infidel – Occupy Wall Street Revisited – Zucotti Square: Bio-Hazard Colony Emits Weapons Grade Odor submitted by Bookworm Room
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Raymond Ibrahim – Egypt: Destroying Churches, One at a Time submitted by The Watcher
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Small Wars Journal – Drone Wars? Not Quite submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Labor Union Report – Occupy Wall St’s Neo-Communist System of “Collaboratism” Revealed submitted by VA Right!
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Ben Stein – Go Occupy Yourselves, My Darlings submitted by The Political Commentator

See you next week! And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter..’cause ya gotta net net network it bay bee!

Responsibility Regimen

Praetorians!

 Political solders at the regimes disposal intended to be special purpose troops for such duties as putting down counterrevolutions and strikes, conduct purges, and quell riots.

Persia's army within an army - the Revo Guards al Quds Force has an especial charge

 "The Iranian regime uses the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) to clandestinely exert military, political, and economic power to advance Iranian national interests abroad. IRGC-QF global activities include: gathering tactical intelligence; conducting covert diplomacy; providing training, arms and financial support to surrogate groups and terrorist organizations; and facilitating some of Iran's provision of humanitarian and economic support to Islamic causes."

GsGf's Pasdaran Expert shares that

To doubt the Iranian regime's responsibility in the thwarted attack is to misunderstand its nature, or to somehow fall prey to the delusion that when an Iranian connection appears behind a terror plot, its perpetrators have gone rogue or are acting on behalf of some dark faction to undermine a nonexistent "moderate" camp within the regime. Of course, the Qods Force is rogue, but no more so than the regime that directs its actions. Moreover, all members of the Iranian government are fundamentalists. The differences between them are tactical, and the only question about the thwarted plot in Washington is why the regime chose to escalate matters now—not whether the regime was behind it.

Though details of the plot are still scarce, parallels with previous regime-sanctioned murders are emerging. As in the past, Tehran appears to have drafted Iranians living in the destination country, using as leverage their family connections or friendships forged during the Iran-Iraq war, the early years of the Islamic Revolution or service in the Pasdaran. The Qods Force supplies help, training, logistics and financing. And the orders come from the center of the regime itself.

Iranian agents couldn't have carried out such an operation unless core members of Iran's leadership, likely including Khamenei himself, had given them their blessing. Every member of the Pasdaran is bound by oath to the Supreme Leader. That oath is not limited to personal loyalty. Rather, it is a solemn commitment to uphold the foundational religious doctrine of the Islamic Republic, according to which the Supreme Leader is God's shadow on earth and the final interpreter of Islamic justice. When the Qods Force carries out operations like the U.S. government reported this week, it is to fulfill its duties under that oath, not to violate it.

We will learn more of this story in the days and weeks ahead. But one thing should be clear already: Responsibility lies at the doorsteps of Iran's regime and its leaders. They should be made to pay a heavy price for their murderous intent.

Pic - "Sepah-e Pasdaran-e Enqelab-e Eslami"