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Sid Finster • 5 years ago

Please do not misunderstand me, I respect your struggle, Colonel, even if it is futile.
Do you remember Iraq's desperate attempts to avoid war in 2003?

All those efforts, all the massive protests in the West were to no avail, because the Empire had made up its mind that it wanted war, and was perfectly willing to lie to get that war.

"Mobile WMD factories"

"Yellow cake"

"Aluminum tubes" ZOMG. Aluminum. Tubes.

In spite of crimes on a hitlerian scale, nobody in the United States or UK leadership paid any price at all, not on a personal level, not on a professional level. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Blair and the others walk the streets freely, treated as Elder Statesmen and Wise Leaders, in spite of the fact that they are directly responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths, trillions of dollars wasted, and not only that, but every doomsayer's prediction with regard to Iraq came to pass.

If the west had one tenth the respect for "the rule of law" that it professes, every last one of these Elder Statesmen and more would hang. At the same time, if Saddam Hussein truly had nuclear weapons, the west would have to think twice, just as it cannot force its will on North Korea.

The moral of this sad story? There is no reasoning with sociopaths. They can be dealt with only from a position of strength, if you have rewards to give them that they cannot otherwise take, or punishments to had out that they cannot avoid.

Reward and punishment is what sociopaths understand.

DH • 5 years ago

""Aluminum tubes" ZOMG. Aluminum. Tubes."

lol seems like a lifetime ago. A sad development is that Rumsfeld's 'you to go war...' had entered the national psyche as a saying to be paraphrased. Guilty.

Artemesia • 5 years ago

So who were the sociopaths in the room when Hitler allowed the British to depart Dunkirk; when Hitler offered numerous peace offers to Britain; when the German government offered more-than-generous terms to Poland to settle the Danzig question?
You wrote earlier, Sid Finster,
"Sociopaths care nothing for logic or morality of they stabs in the way of something they want. Like the Reichstag fire.
I don't understand why people refuse to see that we are run by sociopaths, or, at a minimum, by people indistinguishable from sociopaths."

In a recent comment the failure of comparison of Syria to the Reichstag fire was explained.
Reductio ad Hitlerum is equally intellectually suspect.

How did so many people get to be sociopaths? I suggest that one element is that almost the entire nation has been systematically misinformed about its own history, and trained like puppy-dogs to load all culpability on 'that guy,' thereby escaping accountability and also insight, characteristics of -- a sociopath.

Before we start diagnosing sociopathology and offering "reward and punishment" treatment, we might do well to do precisely what major decision makers in the current situation have failed to do: examine the situation from all sides, rationally, based on sound evidence (movies & TV don't count).

Rep. Carol Maloney and seven other congressmen are sponsoring the "Never Again Education Act" to "teach American Students about the Holocaust." https://www.algemeiner.com/... This is an extremely dangerous measure that must be struck down before it takes hold. The Holocaust is already taught in US public schools, and taught in a way that permits no critical analysis but only acquiescence. When a school district in California assigned students to study the issue and prepare a critical analysis of it, the school district was severely chastised, made to rescind and counteract the assignment, monitored for several years to ensure "Holocaust compliance." This is not an intellectually sound study of history, this is dogmatic tyranny. It produces --- sociopaths.

Sid Finster • 5 years ago

How do we get sociopaths in power? Power, that's now. Power attracts sociopaths like catnip attracts cats.

I shall not bother with your attempts to rehabilitate Hitler.

Karel Whitman • 5 years ago

I had a comparable inner response as Artemesia, SF.

I would recommend you read Dutton's book and decide after if you want to use the term as you do. You can of course also take his psychopathy test. Less time consuming.

http://www.wisdomofpsychopa...

Pat Lang • 5 years ago

I still do not know who you are. Your diction is nothing like the LeaNder of old.

Karel Whitman • 5 years ago

My visits to a hospital may have upset my babbling prose. Put me on edge one way or another. ...

Count me among the people that find the everyday usage of psycho ("The Psycho next Door)" just as useless and overuse of narcissist. Meaningless.

http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/20...

There are several professions which seem to attract more than their fair share of those high on the psychopathic scale, among them business, surgery, the law, military and… politics.

the visible combination of the latter two categories caught my in during Trump's presidential campaign add to that his foreign policy speech.

But I sure hope that reason vs emotion will prevail. Incidentally psychopath aren't very emotional.

BradleyKSherman • 5 years ago

Trump's only goal is to keep his name in the headlines. He's not playing four-dimensional chess, he's losing at tic-tac-toe. Taunting the Russians via Twitter? It's not genius, it's dementia.

Ghetto Tarzan • 5 years ago

Dems and Reps both support this nonsense. Hilary would have been doing the same thing maybe something even worse if she had been elected. Ask yourself who benefits from this and you'll know who is behind it.

Sid Finster • 5 years ago

Quite possibly (although if HRC had wished to deescalate, she would not be greeted by the MSM and her own party chorusing "Putin puppet!").

Doesn't matter now. She is not president.

BradleyKSherman • 5 years ago

Yow! You're blaming an imaginary world where Hillary Clinton is POTUS for what's happening in the real world.

Pat Lang • 5 years ago

This looks like war to me. The only question is how big and can it be confined to the ME and Mediterranean.

im cotton • 5 years ago

I am not under the illusion that the US is the cause of all the world's ills, but if our government had at least some half-sane foreign policy which involved cooperation with Russia and China--among other nations--on issues of mutual concern, the world would be a far better place. Instead it's nothing but our-way-or-the-highway confrontation.

Our exceptionalism blinds us to any consideration that there are other people, places, and nations with valid interests. Working through those interests with the goal of mutual benefit to all parties would truly make America great again, not this nonsense. The world is not always a zero sum game.

Randal • 5 years ago

Wouldn't want to be in Putin's seat right now - he's got some very tough calls to make, and none of the choices are good.

If Russia were really the US's enemy, it might be argued that Trump had done good to put him in that position. But why on earth should Russia be regarded as an enemy of the US, except when the US chooses to make it one with actions like this proposed war against its ally?

Col Lang, thanks for all you’ve done in service to the U.S and continue to do by getting this message out to the rest of the nation through your network.

james • 5 years ago

pat, i am going to go out on a limb and say i don't believe any attack will
happen soon.. if anything happens i think april 24th is close to the
time it will happen... and if that date passes, i think it is unlikely
to happen in the way it is being anticipated at present.. and - wait for it..... that is based off the astrology!

Guest • 5 years ago
Kooshy • 5 years ago

Did you had your dinner with Alan Deshowitz too ?

james • 5 years ago

based on their comments - they are essentially parroting israels hopes and wishes..

Eric Newhill • 5 years ago

I am afraid this is a fait accompli. Thank you for trying. At least your honor is clean, which is much more than can be said for too many in a position to influence. I weep for our nation.
As an aside, Trump won't be re-elected, but I don't think he cares at this point - he may not even complete his first term. PT was wrong. The coup has not failed. It marches on. Trump's lack of character has revealed itself. He should make a stand now on his principles. Engaging in war with Syria and Russia isn't going to save his presidency. They will overthrow him anyhow as an example of what will happen to anyone else that The People elect as oppose to the deep state.

Biggee Mikeee • 5 years ago

(aka mikee)

Eric:
I voted for Trump but he lost my support over a year ago.
Time to finally accept the fact that Trump has no principles.
Trump's statement last week about pulling troop's out of Syria was a half-assed attempt at cover for what came about a few days later. Mulshine's try at running interference for Trump is a comical continuation of that cover. It's a dog and pony show. Don't fall for it.

Who has the ultimate responsibility?

https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

Fred • 5 years ago

Eric,

Now everyone will have a reason to get rid of Trump, then bankrupt his family to boot. Not to worry, Bombing Bolton will win another war and we'll be greated as liberators from Damascus to Moscow. Evidence? Who cares if the evidence is even more fabricated than the Fusion GPS crap. Would anyone in the intellegence community lie? On a bright note Little Rocket Man won't have to worry about his future after Big Rocket Man proves his point.

Eric Newhill • 5 years ago

Fred,
Pour encourager les autres

John Minnerath • 5 years ago

Eric Newhill,
I fear you may be right. Trump is getting hammered from every side right now.
He may extricate himself, but the quicksand in the swamp is getting deeper.

Sid Finster • 5 years ago

The funny part is that russiagate conspiracy theorists will scream "Putin puppet!" even as the ICBMs are launched. The "Trump is fighting the Deep State" conspiracy theorists will insist that this is eleven-dimensional chess or something equally stupid, even as they go up in a mushroom cloud.

At least it would be funny, if it were not actually happening.

Artemesia • 5 years ago

His inner Hitler made him do it.

Eric Newhill • 5 years ago

John,

Then again, just when all appears lost a glimmer of hope is offered. Teresa May is hedging now. Maybe it wasn't gas. Maybe Assad didn't do it - inspectors are needed on the ground at the site: http://www.breitbart.com/lo...

JoeC • 5 years ago

Interesting develops in Russia reported by John Helmer - a potential major shift in power from oligarchs to defense interests and indications that the government to be formed by Putin will essentially be a war cabinet (and without Medvedev). All of this seems driven by the unrelating and largely imaginary criticism of Russia by the US, UK, etc. and the lack of any willingness to have honest assessments of the negative claims like the Syria "chemical attacks": http://johnhelmer.org/?p=17...

smoothieX12 . • 5 years ago

Last Russian Presidential elections were not about electing the President of Russian Federation, they were about electing a Supreme Commander. Most Russians understand that, US national security apparatus and media do not. It is simply beyond their grasp and experiences.

chris chuba • 5 years ago

This is my hometown guy. I was surprised by the number of people there (as well as other places) who are absolutely 100% convinced about the fact that there was a chemical attack and Assad must be guilty because they saw the footage of the victims foaming from their mouths on TV. Yikes.

Perhaps I should blame the networks. In all of the coverage that I saw, they simply streamed out the video as if it came from one of their foreign correspondents. If the networks had any sense of professionalism they would have put up a caption,

'This footage is unverified, it was obtained by rebel activists'

or words to that effect.

james • 5 years ago

get your white helmet videos!!!! hot off the press!!!!

Babak Makkinejad • 5 years ago

All:

I believe this episode demonstrates the soundness of my observation a few months ago that the best course of action for the United States is to cut and run from Syria as well as Afghanistan and a number of other such places.

US has demonstrated that she could be easily manipulated and her actions could lead to World War III.

Sid Finster • 5 years ago

The neocons seem to see WWIII as a feature and not a bug.

Witness the articles suggesting that we can "win" a nuclear war. I am reminded of the scene from Dr. Strangelove when General Buck Turgidson suggested "not more than ten, twenty million dead, TOPS!"

Richard Steven Hack • 5 years ago

Alexander Mercouris over at The Duran tries to damp down the expectation of escalation in Syria via a US strike. He makes many valid points, but I don't agree that Russia won't respond to a US strike. One valid point he does make is that the statement from the Russian Lebanese Ambassador that Russia will shoot down any attack and target the launch sites is probably overwrought and unauthorized.

Trump draws back on criticism of Russia
http://theduran.com/trump-d...

However, Alexander himself reported on a Russian threat to shoot down US airstrikes back in October, 2016:

CONFIRMED: Russia warns U.S., ‘attack Syria and we will shoot down your aircraft
http://theduran.com/russia-...

Although he is correct that Russia has said they will only respond if Russian assets in country are threatened, we must also note that the Russians also said that they may not have time to identify incoming missiles targets, and may be forced to respond automatically because Russian assets are scattered all over Syria.

To my mind, we must consider that Trump is clearly organizing a larger attack on Syria than the previous cruise missile attack. The latter was basically dismissed by Russia as a "symbolic attack" - although according to reports they allegedly downed over half the missiles using ECM. So Trump can't repeat that attack and apparently intends a much larger attack. If he doesn't, he will be criticized for not doing so.

The problem therefore is whether such a larger attack can be misinterpreted by Russia as a "decapitation attack" intended to seriously degrade Syrian forces and perhaps kill Assad himself. In that case, Russia will probably have to respond.

This also raises the question of whether Trump will rely on cruise missiles or will he employ US aircraft strikes as well. It will be less of an escalation if the Russians only shoot down cruise missiles as opposed to killing US pilots.

The question boils down: 1) how large of an attack will the US makes and what are its intentions, and 2) to what degree will Russia respond to mitigate or stop the attack?

I remind everyone that the sole purpose of the Syrian crisis was to give the US and NATO an excuse to do to Syria what they did in Libya. And the reason for that is the West cannot start a war with Iran until Israel is protected from retaliation by both Syria and Hizballah in Lebanon. The Syrian crisis purpose is to justify an attack on Syria that degrades its military ability to be an effective actor against Israel in an Iran war.

The entry of Russia into Syria in fall, 2015, supposedly put paid to that plan. However, the US has been steadily escalating their involvement over the last three years. And Israel has become more and more desperate to get the US involved in the war. Trump
has been surrounded by people hungry for war with Iran, the latest and most extreme being John Bolton.

I have to say that I think the US is preparing a full-scale attack on Syria. It may not be a "decapitation attack", but it may be serious enough to justify a Russian response.
While Russia has said it will not respond unless Russian assets are involved, they have also said that they will not allow the Assad government to be overthrown. A serious US attack, even if not so intended, could be misinterpreted as a decapitation attack.

Then we have this report from Sputnik, which frankly I can't comprehend at all:

Syrian Army Captures British Militants in Eastern Ghouta – Reports
https://sputniknews.com/mil...

And also this, which seems more likely:

UK Submarines Sent Within Missile Range of Syria for Strikes - Report
https://sputniknews.com/wor...

That says attacks are expected as early as Thursday night. If that is correct, it would indicate that attacks may occur over a longer period than one day, as many of the naval resources being sent to Syria won't arrive for several days. Which would indicate that a longer term campaign is in the works.

I have a really bad feeling about this.

Sid Finster • 5 years ago

For better or worse, Alex M. hasn't let go of Trump yet. He's still holding out hope that Trump will somehow come around and perform as advertised.

VietnamVet • 5 years ago

Colonel,

Thanks. You’ve kept your honor.

House Speaker Paul Ryan to retire. “Paul Ryan is abandoning the ship before it
sinks - Chicago Tribune”. No doubt to get his cut. But, I guess he never got the briefing
that if the USA goes to war with the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin has more
than enough nuclear weapons to spare one to target Janesville, WI. Will he have time to realize that it all was for nothing?

fasteddiez • 5 years ago

V.V. The Irish Undertaker, has just been blessed by the Koch brothers, no doubt with tons of $$$. He's going to run for Preznit, I believe.

james • 5 years ago

thanks for stating all that pat.. i am happy to see your word is reaching some of the msm! can you get your press secretary to run your ideas by the nyt, wapo and wsj too? that would be a switch for what they regularly offer!

Pat Lang • 5 years ago

I have been excluded from the MSM by the Ziocons. i don't know why Mulshine talks to me nor do I know why he and Tucker Carlson still are employed.

james • 5 years ago

your comment confirms the idea that alternative views are not being heard in the msm... the msm appears to be one big hall of mirrors with generally the same message being sent out - one that conforms with the ziocons..

RaisingMac • 5 years ago

I may be dating myself here, but I can still remember 25 years ago, when Col. Lang was a regular guest on the old McNeill/Lehrer News Hour on PBS. He always gave excellent, informed commentary. I was so glad a couple of years ago, when--quite by accident--I found this blog on the internet. It's been a go-to source for me ever since. It's a pity that informed experts like Col. Lang aren't often featured by our MSM anymore; but the again, that's why I now mostly avoid the MSM.

Paul Mulshine • 5 years ago

I think the real problem is not so much ideology but the fact that the current crop of journalists have little experience with dust-ups in the "developing" world and therefore have to trust inside-the-Beltway "experts" who have no expertise.

Fred • 5 years ago

Trump should fire a few generals and recall Dempsey back to duty.

DH • 5 years ago

"Kerry asks Dempsey to back him up Dempsey declines, causing Rand Paul's ally to burst out laughing." [I created this clip on C-SPAN, booya!]

https://www.c-span.org/vide...

RaisingMac • 5 years ago

Dempsey was good. So was Gen. Flynn.

Randal • 5 years ago

"Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump

Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!

11:57 AM - Apr 11, 2018"

By jingo!

Kooshy • 5 years ago

What does he mean "new" meaning new technology,and smarter? not like the ones he fired last year? So Russians should think twice if they can intercept and fold their hand. What does he think this is a poker game? what if they don't fold, does he think about that. Does anybody in DC thinks what would be the consequence if Russian retaliate and fire at the missile launchers, are we ready to fold or we will go to war with Russia? what the F*ing morons run this country.

Randal • 5 years ago

"What does he think this is a poker game? what if they don't fold, does he think about that. Does anybody in DC thinks what would be the consequence if Russian retaliate and fire at the missile launchers, are we ready to fold or we will go to war with Russia?"

Seems clear they think the Russians will fold, and if they don't they can be beaten in theatre at an acceptable cost.

Presumably they see the risks of escalation to regional war, or all out war, or even nuclear war as within acceptable bounds. Others might disagree with them (especially since the pot contains nothing worth having to justify the risk for ordinary folk), but they are the ones making the decisions.

Kooshy • 5 years ago

Yes some like Netanyahu and Alan Darshwitz think it’s a bluff worthy of risk to pay, especially since Americans like me and you are the ones who will end up paying the price of their hand. Do you think it’s a worth while bluff? Colonel Lang with more experience than any of decision makers, thinks not.

Philippe T • 5 years ago

Russians have another option : to retaliate against French Rafales or French missile-launcher frigate (since Macron has decided to be part of the agression). Will the US go at war with Russia to defend French military "honor"? I doubt.