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| Silverfiddle Rant! |
Tyler Wade was awarded the Purple Heart while serving in Afghanistan, and says he is “proud of everything” he did during his service. He also believes the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan were a mistake, as do a growing number of veterans — from retired generals to those who served across the enlisted ranks...
The Nations In America’s Backyard Are Falling Apart While The U.S. Remains Stuck In The Middle East
While we play Sisyphus in the Middle East, Mexico and Central America are wracked with violence. It cannot help but spill over into the US. In some ways, it already has. Mexican drug gangs are operating in the US, as are Central American gangs, preying on the very people who came here to escape them.
Is Mexico a Failed State?
A more important question:
What happens if the Mexican government loses control and we end up with a Somalia on our southern border?
That is when we will see a real refugee crisis. By the millions. Up-armored drug cartels routed the Mexican Army in a failed raid and forced the Mexican government to hand over El Chapo's son who they had just captured, and this week we learned of the horrific murder of Americans just south of our border.
Is it time to militarize our border? Should we consider treating violent US, Mexican and Central American gangs like the terrorists they are? Special Ops raids? Attack by drones? Targeted assassinations?
Does Western Civilization even have the brains and the balls anymore to defeat this terrorism?
Waiting for China or Russia to offer big bucks to move in......Another Venezuela in process. We know how failed States often end. Wait... we have that Monroe Doctrine thing........
ReplyDeleteAs long as there is such tremendous profit in the drug trade the cartels will prevail.
ReplyDeleteYup. And legalization will do nothing to stop it.
DeleteThat is funny. Poultry suddenly understands economics as soon as the drug
Deletetrade is discussed. Can he grasp that rapid increases in the minimum wage cause unemployment. How about grasping that his failed ideas created starvation in Venezuela.
How many years ago did I warn you about mass starvation? How is implementing failed ideas somehow turn food exporters into famine zones correlated.
In fighting the "war on terror" we are creating more terrorism. No, I am not accusing this nation of being terrorist.
ReplyDeleteBut think about it. You are walking down the street in your home town with your wife and kids. Suddenly there is a huge explosion and your wife and one of your kids are dead. You and your other two kids are badly injured. This happened in your peaceful home town, and you were on your way to watch a movie, harming no one.
Then you are recovered and you read the US bragging that the explosion was them blowing up someone they had named as a bad guy. What is your reaction? You had never thought much about the US one way or the other before that event. What do you think about them now?
Now start firing Hellfire missiles into villages in the nation next door to us. Blow up a couple of wedding parties in our next door neighbor. Yeah, that's a great plan.
DeleteYou don't need to lecture me on the "war on terror." I was in it.
DeleteDo you think criminal gang activity south of our border is a concern to the United States and threatens our national interest?
Silver Fiddle asks:
ReplyDeleteDoes Western Civilization even have the brains and the balls anymore to defeat this terrorism?
I thnk it may have been Nietszche who said something to this effect:
"Nobility by its very nature guarantees its own destruction."
Not that all members of Western Civilization past and present have been truly noble, but I think it safe to say that in general our aims and aspirations –– the CHRISTIAN ideals by which we've tried to encourage ourselves to live –– have been in the main higher, finer, wiser, kinder –– and yes NOBLER –– than those of Oriental and African peoples.
HOWEVER, our tendency to assert the ideathat FAIRNESS and DECENCY are more important than ViCTORY when engaged i a conflict MIGHT prove to be our undoing, BECAUSE in these endless wars in southeast Asia and the Middle East our adversaries do not play by the same Rules and Guidleines that restrain and hamper OUR effectivenss in battle. These advesaries have virtually NO PRINCIPLES whatsoever. Effectively they are BARBARIANS.
The conflict between our DETERMINATION to behave decently and our obvious NEED to PREVAIL against Forces of Darkness is obviously tearing us apart.
Where oh where is SOLOMON when we need him?
I don't think that is what Nietszche meant by "nobility." I believe he meant it more in the sense of "the ruling class," or a collection of "Nobles" (as in those anointed by the king).
DeleteI agree. Western Civilization has developed and refined high ideals about liberty, rights and the dignity of all human beings, all to our benefit and the advancement of mankind.
DeleteWhat we lost in the process is the ability to identify evil (threats to our classical liberal values) and mercilessly crush it by any means necessary.
Jayhawk: Maybe Nietzsche meant what I believe he meant, and maybe he didn't, but it doesn't matter in any case, because I am CERTAIN that my stated interpretation is manifestly true regardless of what Nietzsche may or may nt have meant..
DeleteI'm always more interested in Reality than in dry "Factual Data" and airy academic "theories."
Our Little Goody-Two-Shoes Posture has all but CASTRATED us. The last thing we need to defend us is an army of EUNUCHS.
SilverFiddle: Thank you for affirming my diagnosis and understanding of what has befallen us and why. the demand for limp-wristed acquiescence to woud-be tyrant is a comlete misunderstanding of the Christian Ethos.
JESUS ChRIST was certainly no WIMP.
AMEN!
ReplyDeleteIt's all and good if you want to write off everyone south of the border, but how do we keep it from spilling over into our country?
ReplyDeleteMy face is turning blue, but only because I’m still holding my breath waiting for someone to explain to me what our “national interests” are in the Middle East. I keep hearing people use that expression, but the devil must be in the details. Still waiting ... not that anyone in power cares what I think. We’ve been stumbling around in the Middle East for far too long; I suppose it’s for the oil. Why should we use ours when we can deplete theirs? Still, what the heck? We’ve also been stumbling around in our own neighborhood. Mexico and the US have never been good neighbors; I suspect we never will be. The best we can hope for is to maintain the status-quo. Anglo culture has never trusted Spaniards and they’ve returned the favor.
ReplyDeleteElections have consequences, but the problem begins when ne’er-do-well’s find their way into politics. Bad lawyers become career politicians —people who know far more than they understand. It’s a great gig if you can get it. Great salary, ever-increasing power, never any accountability —for even if a politician is voted out of office, he or she will find their way back to the land of milk and honey in another capacity. Case in point: Jaimie Gorelick—a bad dream that just won’t go away and for no other reason than patronage.
If these people can’t screw us as presidential appointees, they’ll screw us as sub-level bureaucrats questing to obtain the golden parachute. Government service is the gift that keeps on giving. What I find amazing is that the eggheads in the State Department (as but one example) never seem to be able to get it right. Never. I cannot think of a single thing the US State Department can be proud of going back 150 years. It has been one disaster after another. Indeed, the beltway is a swamp but forget about ever having it drained. We’ll just continue to hum along, sending our young off to fight stupid wars that do nothing beyond wasting our national wealth, damaging our national psyche, and causing problems for future generations.
The State Department and the CIA are responsible for why we are hated in Latin America and most of the world. Jealousy plays into it, but the CIA and State bear the vast majority of blame.
DeleteBuild a wall!
ReplyDeleteGreat post SF.
ReplyDeleteThough I'm not buying anyone's alleged opposition to endless wars yet, there's plenty of opposition within the current ranks - as well as the previous, and those who get compensated nicely to support the efforts.
We absolutely need to retract our forces to the homefront and see to our own borders. The 'wall' [what there is of it] is a joke. We need our military assets and platforms arrayed on the borders and off the coast, and our economy and Citizenry need to be a component of our collective defense.
We need to drastically retool our military posture away from COIN and humanitarian roles, and focus on the conventional, asymmetric and cyber threats ahead. Shutter forward bases for the most part, and be able to project power from a 'lilypad' expeditionary CT posture when required.
And finally, end the endless 'war' on drugs. It won't solve our southern border problems, but it will defang the Cartels where it regards our border and domestic security.
The statement "What happens if the Mexican government loses control and we end up with a Somalia on our southern border?" hits hard; AZ was my home state. Finally, someone with the long view of what few others seem to recognize.
ReplyDeleteIt’s worth remembering that since several of the Cartels are very heavily armed, with combat veterans in their ranks, and presence within the U.S.......if we went “Blackjack-ing” around Mexico, you’d be getting a front row seat to the carnage, in your front yard. The Cartels would import the fight to our Main Streets.
DeleteCI,
DeleteWhat, then, do you propose? The status quo?
Pretty sure that I offered what I proposed, above. Definitely not the status quo.
DeleteCI: You went over my head, too. What do you propose?
DeleteI admit I have no easy answers.
When or IF it cmes down to KILL or BE killed, –– which eventually it will if we remain passive ––, what does CI recommend THEN?
DeleteI guess I'd rather DIE than have to live in a world like that, and I'm sure there are many who'd never shed a tear at my demise, but wha about our CHILDREN?
As I at least alluded to above [apologies if it wasn't clear], the bulk of our Armed Forces should be pulled back from the Middle East and forward basing [Germany, Korea, etc.] and returned to the Homeland. Expeditionary elements can be staged in select locations and afloat on 'Lily pads' for immediate counter-terrorism activities.
DeleteThe vast array of our signals intelligence and surveillance platforms [ISR] could then be allocated to our [mostly] southern border, along with sufficient ground elements to provide proactive [rather than passive] security. With these assets, we can easily assist the Mexican government in analytically developing Cartel networks for exploitation or targeting, without placing our forces in harm’s way, and mostly mitigate a Cartel response within the Homeland. A response that would not be pretty, were we to invade/occupy/ liberate [insert label of your choice] northern Mexico, either with GOM invitation or without.
I am in favor of employing the US military (or of establishing posts and stations) along our southern border. First, the southern border is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government. In my mind, there would be no violation of the Posse Comitatus Act by employing US military along this strip of federally controlled land—and if there were a conflict, the Act could be modified. Second, the Department of Defense exists to security the United States from those who threaten the security of our country. The problem, however, would be in the imposition of rules of engagement. Most illegal immigrants passing through the US border are civilian men, women, and children. Some of these people are armed —or at least their coyotes are— but most are not. History tells us that border-area forts were not altogether efficient in protecting our southern border from the bandido raids (1840-1920). In the past, our military have not been a spectacular deterrent against people dressed in civilian attire, or at least in the way the press and military attorneys view such operations. Pershing’s hands were tied so tightly that his expedition was little more than a waste of time and money. And then, of course, we have the reality of an anti-Military press and private sector whose knowledge of or understanding of anything beyond smart-phone operations in the urban environment is nil. The cartels and coyotes are smart enough to use the likelihood of border-area violence to gain sympathy from the dumb-asses who call themselves Americans.
DeleteA few years back, a police officer in Portland, Oregon was forced to shoot a man who threatened him with an X-acto knife. The officer backed up away from this fellow and ordered him on several occasions to drop his knife. The man continued to approach the officer in a threatening manner. The officer had no other choice but to shoot the man. Ultimately, the incident was judged a “justified shooting” ... but not before the morons sitting on the grand jury demanded answers to such questions as why the officer didn’t just shoot the knife out of the assailant’s hand, why the officer didn’t just shoot to incapacitate the assailant, why should the officer feel threatened when he was wearing body armor, and why the officer felt threatened by such a small knife. This utterly stupid line of questions demonstrates how little most Americans know about anything.
The success of border area operations would depend on the foundation upon which such activities were planned. I’m in favor of psych-ops, such as an official pronouncement, well publicized, that the Commander-in-Chief has authorized border-area military personnel to “shoot to kill” anyone resisting apprehension or attempting to evade capture. It would send an important message to those attempting to smuggle arms, drugs, or people across the US border. I think that anything less than this would guarantee disastrous results not unlike those 1910-1936.
CI: Thanks for the expanded response. I agree.
DeleteI've said before that we could use the military along our border as part of an overall strategy to deal with illegal immigration. But the Def Dept is not a fan of that. Clearly, we'd have some issues deploying a force trained to kill, in a job that usually will not require that.
DeleteThe larger issue though is what can we do to help Mexico deal with the cartels. Look, most cops/soldiers make in the region of between $500-$1000 a month. A a grand, you can live well, at $500, not so well.
But how do you answer the question of plata o plomo?
When someone gives you a choice of 10 grand a month or a dead family, what would you choose?
Perhaps the only way to help is to help Mexico pay their forces, but who in the US will support that and how do we insure the $$ get to the guys on the beat, as opposed to the jefe sitting behind the desk?
In the end, if we really want to solve this, we've got to deal with the demand side of the drug equation and that starts here in the US. If we ain't buyin' then what happens?
Dave, to your first point, it’s less an issue than you might think. Only a small percentage falls into the category of “trained to kill”. My proposal uses a force package that only needs to augment Border Patrol, not chase cartels around Sonora.
DeleteCI... I think we could indeed seal the border with our military. But I'd ask, not having an idea for an answer but knowing what happened on Mexico's southern border...
DeleteIf a group of 100-200 folks stormed the border at once, what would we do in a lightly patrolled area? The Mex army was overwhelmed and chose not to shoot. Would we do the same? What would the public outcry be?
BTW... the irony of the AMLO surrender to the Chapo Cartel is that when he was elected one of his first acts was to authorize the reinstallation of the big guns on military patrol vehicles in the country. At PRIs request, they had been removed during the reign of EPN. Interesting and yet, the army was still outgunned and out maneuvered in the Culiacan disaster.
DeleteThe sad bottom line, imo, is that Mexico's government and powerful elite are riddled with corruption, and the rich and powerful in this country profit from it.
DeleteSilver... yep.
DeleteNot to mention those in the pay of the cartels themselves.
DeleteOFF-TOPIC, BUT SHOULD BE OF CONSIDERABLE INTEREST:
ReplyDeleteERIC CIARABELLA OUTED BY ADAM SCHITT:
Alleged whistleblower Eric Ciaramella was Biden guest at State
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com › news › alleged-whistleblower-eric...
1 day ago - Eric Ciaramella, the alleged Ukraine whistleblower, was a guest of Vice President Joe Biden at a glitzy lunch in October 2016 to honor the prime minister of Italy. Biden co-hosted the banquet with former Secretary of State John Kerry for then-Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi
.
Alleged whistleblower Eric Ciaramella was cited in key ...
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com › news › alleged-whistleblower-eric...
23 hours ago - Eric Ciaramella, alleged to be the Ukraine whistleblower, was cited in a key passage of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report in connection to the meeting between President Trump and Russian officials in the Oval Office the day after James Comey was fired as FBI director.
Eric Ciaramella: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know | Heavy.com
https://heavy.com › News
Oct 30, 2019 - Eric Ciaramella is a CIA analyst and National Security Council staffer identified as possibly being the whistleblower who reported concerns
...
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The Beltway's 'Whistleblower' Furor Obsesses Over One ...
https://www.realclearinvestigations.com › articles › 2019/10/30 › whistlebl.
..
Oct 30, 2019 - Eric Ciaramella as a class of 2004 Connecticut prep student: He later moved on to Yale and the White House. Now he could be at the center of ...
Eric Ciaramella Reelects the President? | The American ...
https://spectator.org › eric-ciaramella-reelects-the-president
Nov 1, 2019 - So there was this on October 30 from over at RealClearInvestigations, by the reporter Paul Sperry. The headline: The Beltway's 'Whistleblower'
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Schiff Outed Eric Ciaramella in Transcript Release | iHeartRadio
https://www.iheart.com › content › 2019-11-07-pn-rush-limbaugh-schiff-o...
Schiff Outed Eric Ciaramella in Transcript Release. By Premiere Networks.
November 7, 2019. RUSH: We're gonna go to Los Angeles. This is Tim. You're up ...
If Ciaramella is the Whistleblower, Democrats Have Made a ...
https://www.redstate.com › elizabeth-vaughn › 2019/10/31 › ciaramella-w...
Oct 31, 2019 - Considered one of the intelligence community's rising stars, 33-year-old Eric Ciaramella was well-integrated into the Washington establishment ...
Thread by @GregRubini: "1. Eric Ciaramella, the SECRET* Adam ...
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Eric Ciaramella, the SECRET* Adam Schiff 'whistleblower', was a CIA Analyst, expert on Ukraine and Russia. [THREADella was detailed to the National Security ...
Thread by @GregRubini: "we know WHO is the "WHISTLEBLOWER" Eric ...
https://threadreaderapp.com › thread
6. and who was "WHISTLEBLOWER" Eric Ciaramella's boss during the obama administration? a certain Charles Kupchan, who was Senior Director for ...
~ Above articles cited at WIKIPEDIA
__ Eric Ciaramella Sings __
DeleteI'm prickly as a thistle
When I start to blow my whistle
How I'd love to take a dump
All over Doald Trump'
I hate that lousy prick
His behavior makes me sick
In my daydreams I stll pump
Loads of bullets into Trump.
But instead I suck off Schiff
After hours in the skiff.
Adam gives me a great thrill
As he bends me to his will
As we craft news ways to dump
The hateful Donald Trump!
Not A wall, Joe, we must build THE Wall, and put in place a militantly zealous policy f ZERO TILERANCE for further llegal immigration.
ReplyDeleteTHE Wall must be constantly PATROLLED with armed guards given the right to KILL on CINTACT any transgressors.
Instead of "Catch and Rlease" it sould be CATCH and DISPATCH in a relentless CATAPULT-like operation.
We must also QUIT ISSUING VISAS to any foreigners whatsoever, except in very special cases pesoally approve by President Trump for a minimum of TEN YEARS.
Meanwhile, armed guards must b stationed at all airports and points of entry to APPREHEND and SCREEN anyone who LOOKS foreign.
Yes w must learn once again to DISCRIMINATE and do so with VIGOR and DEDICATION.
Don't like the sound of thatt? Well then YOU have become a passive-aggressive supporter of the DISSOLUTION, DISINTEGRATION and ultimte DISAPPEARANCE of the United States of America as founded.
I wonder how we stopped the Comanches.
ReplyDeleteIf you hope to win friends and ifluence role, you've got to be RUthLESS and BRUTAL.
DeleteThen –– after you'v baten their brains out, and turned them into gibbering idiots on their knees begging for mercy then –– and ONLY then –– could you hope to cinvert them to your way f thinkig by being "nice" to them.
CONTERATTACK
KILL
SUBJUGATE
CONVERT
Sounds an AWFUL LOT like Islamist extremism Franco.
DeleteIn all seriousness, is Mexico really a problem? How do their murder and violence rates per capita compare to Democrat controlled areas like Chicago, Detroit, and St. Louis? Are we just straining for something for our military to do?
ReplyDeleteWell it does give couch commandos something to blather about in their faux tough-guy persona.
DeletePretty sure Trump uses a recliner, not a couch. ;)
Delete