Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Janet Jackson

  Oct 25
Replying to 
Janet Jackson - Military precision - Intricate choreography - Keen attention to detail

1:05
6 replies407 retweets692 likes






We were watching videos this weekend for a bit and Janet ended up being the one.

I was surprised because, even though I'd seen them all, it was really something to watch them one after the other.

"Nasty" was one of my favorites early on (still love it).

I also watched "That's The Way Love Goes," "Throb," "Miss You Much," "Together Again," "Escapade," "Son of a Gun," "I Get So Lonely," etc.

I knew Janet could dance but it really comes across when you see how many different styles she can do.





Why isn't she in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.


Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


Tuesday, October 31, 2017.  The lessons in betrayal.


Yesterday, the US State Dept issued the following:



Press Statement
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
October 30, 2017



The United States commends the decision of Masoud Barzani not to seek an additional term as President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region and the vote of the Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament to distribute presidential authorities to other Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) institutions. President Barzani is a historic figure and courageous leader of his people, most recently in our common fight to destroy ISIS. This decision represents an act of statesmanship during a difficult period.
The United States now looks forward to engaging actively with the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Nechirvan Barzani, and the Deputy Prime Minister, Qubad Talabani. A strong KRG within a ‎unified and federal Iraq is essential to its long-term stability and to the enduring defeat of ISIS. We call on all Kurdish parties to support the KRG as it works to resolve pending issues over the remainder of its term and prepare for elections in 2018.
We call on the Government of Iraq and the KRG under its new leadership to work urgently to resolve pending issues under the Iraqi constitution. We have been encouraged by the security dialogue that has taken place in recent days, and call for an end to all confrontations and clashes.
We also continue to support the strong leadership of Prime Minister Abadi as he works to ensure the total, and enduring defeat, of ISIS and a stable Iraq after ISIS. We welcome the recent decision from Prime Minister Abadi to begin a new dialogue with the KRG, under the Iraqi constitution, and avoid further confrontations.
We will continue to work with all parties as they address these issues for the benefit of all Iraqis. It is time for all parties to look to the future and focus on peaceful resolution of disputes under the Iraqi constitution. 



And Brett McGurk emerges from his hole (no idea of the man or woman's name) to Tweet:


  1.   18 hours ago
The US supports a strong KRG within a unified & federal Iraq & calls on Kurdish parties to support the KRG in run-up to 2018 elections. 4/4
288 replies174 retweets447 likes



  18 hours ago
We also commend the historic decision by President Barzani and will engage actively with KRG PM Nechirvan Barzani & DPM Qubad Talabani. 3/4
72 replies112 retweets263 likes



  18 hours ago
We are encouraged by the security dialogue that has taken place in recent days and have called for an end to all confrontations. 2/4
28 replies65 retweets142 likes



  18 hours ago
The U.S. has been actively engaged over past week to open a new dialogue and resolve disputes peacefully under the Iraqi constitution. 1/4
105 replies82 retweets233 likes








The same old lies from DC.

The story of the US government and the Kurds has always been the story of betrayal.


This story was told in the Pike Report which the US Congress produced but then quickly decided not to release.  It was leaked to the press and, February 16, 1976, The Village Voice published Aaron Latham's "Introduction to the Pike Papers."  Latham explained:



In 1972, Dr. Henry Kissinger met with the Shah of Iran, who asked the U.S. to aid the Kurds in their rebellion against Iraq, an enemy of the Shah.  Kissinger later presented the proposal to President Nixon who approved what would become a $16 million program.  Then John B. Connally, the former Nixon Treasury Secretary, was dispatched to Iran to inform the Shah, one oil man to another.
The committee report charges that: "The President, Dr. Kissinger and the foreign head of state [the Shah] hoped our clients would not prevail.  They preferred instead that the insurgents simply continue a level of hostilities sufficient to sap the resources of our ally's neighboring country [Iraq].  The policy was not imparted to our clients, who were encouraged to continue fighting.  Even in the context of covert action, ours was a cynical enterprise."
During the Arab-Israeli war, when the Kurds might have been able to strike at a distracted Iraqi government, Kissinger, according to the report, "personally restrained the insurgents from an all-out offensive on the one occasion when such an attack might have been successful."
Then, when Iran resolved its border dispute with Iraq, the U.S. summarily dropped the Kurds.  And Iraq, knowing aid would be cut off, launched a search-and-destroy campaign the day after the border agreement was signed.
A high U.S. official later explained to the Pike committee staff: "Covert action should not be confused with missionary work."

That is the root and start of a relationship where the US government repeatedly used and misled the Kurdish people and repeatedly lied and broke promises.  It remains the story of the US government and the Kurds.


It's why KRG President Massoud Barzani included the US in the denouncements in his speech Sunday.  The US has been a bitter disappointment to the Kurds -- again.


This has happened repeatedly.


And it is past time the Kurds realized that.


We noted Jalal Talabani, among others, made a fool of himself in 2010 when he was among those believing the US government's promises regarding The Erbil Agreement -- the agreement the US ignored after swearing that they would back it.


It should now be completely clear to the Kurds that the US government will lie to them, will make promises that will never be kept and will never stand with them.


Currently, the Kurds are under attack from Baghdad.


Callum Paton (NEWSWEEK) explains:





In the wake of a series of lightning victories over Kurdish forces in recent weeks, Iraq’s leaders plan to press their advantage and effectively dismantle Kurdish regional autonomy in the north of the country, ending decades of independence for the ethnic group in Iraq.
The Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi outlined his government’s plans in an interview with The Independent Monday. He said that by taking back authority over Iraqi Kurdistan’s borders, absorbing the Kurdish security forces into the Iraqi military and reestablishing control over the regional government’s oil exports, Baghdad would take steps to curtail powers the regional government in Erbil has enjoyed for 26 years.


Ahmed Rasheed, Ercan Gurses and Raya Jalabi (REUTERS) report:


Iraqi troops deployed on Tuesday at one of the main land crossings with Turkey, gaining a foothold at the Kurdish-held frontier for the first time in decades and imposing one of Baghdad's central demands on the Kurds.
Iraq's entire land border with Turkey is located inside the Kurdish autonomous region, and has been controlled by the Kurds since before the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.






That's what passes for 'peace' to the United States.  And this is only the internal situation -- they are also facing hostility from neighbors -- including Turkey.






View all Link to headline article
Ankara still frosty toward KRG as Barzani exitsDespite the decision by the Kurdistan Regional Government's President Massoud Barzani to step down, Turkish hostility toward him and his likely political successors has not…
Profile image of authorAl-Monitor
Oct 31, 2017





  Oct 27
forces not who are supposed to respect all the Iraqi people including people and it’s flag. Now stepping on it.
12 replies61 retweets45 likes







Barzani steps down as president tomorrow November 1st.


solvemee‏ @solvemee Oct 28



  • They called on Israel and USA for help, but they turned them down. Now they call on God.
    11 replies 21 retweets 28 likes


    The entire international community looked away as the Baghdad-based government used US-supplied weapons on the Kurds.

    France's Bernard-Henri Levy puzzles over the betrayal of the Kurds.


    1.   3 hours ago
    has left , one of US's oldest allies, in hands of Iraq and Iran killers. How to explain this betrayal?
    21 replies65 retweets130 likes



      4 hours ago
    stance on and support to militias is a huge moral forfeiture, unlike any I have ever seen
    18 replies32 retweets94 likes



      5 hours ago
    Shock re: ’s shocking inconsistency: he lectures deal is the worst, yet welcomes in
    5 replies35 retweets80 likes



      5 hours ago
    The attitude of the on is a terrifying mystery & one to which insufficient attention has been paid.
    12 replies39 retweets99 likes






    There's nothing to puzzle over.

    This is how the US government has repeatedly treated the Kurds.

    Over and over.


    And Sunnis should take note because they've been lied to as well.

    Some of Barzani's statements of regret regarding the US?  Not that unlike Ayad al-Allawi's remarks about Barack Obama.

    (Ayad al-Allawi is a Shi'ite.  His remarks were regarding the US government's betrayal of Iraqiya.  al-Allawi headed Iraqiya -- which won the 2010 elections and was a non-sectarian, mixed-slate coalition.)


    The following community sites -- plus Jody Watley and BLACK AGENDA REPORT -- updated:





    Oh Boy It Never Ends
    SUBURBICAN
    2 hours ago



  • Trina's Kitchen
    Judy Collins caught lying about Joni Mitchell
    2 hours ago
  • Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)
    Judy Collins is a lousy feminist

    • SICKOFITRADLZ
    It's over
    2 hours ago



  • Ruth's Report
    THE NATION magazine endorses pedophilia
    2 hours ago
  • The Official Jody Watley Website
    Jody Watley. NEW Video on Youtube.
    12 hours ago
  • Black Agenda Report
    Let White Supremacy “Fucking Die”
    12 hours ago


    • Mikey Likes It!
    Joni Mitchell never lies
    14 hours ago



  • Like Maria Said Paz
    How do pervs like David Yaffe get hired by Syracuse?
    15 hours ago




















    • iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq Iraq

    Posted by at

    Judy Collins is a lousy feminist


    I’ve long noted what a disappointment self-proclaimed feminist Judy Collins is.

    She’s, for example, done one collection of songs written by men after another – a tribute to the Beatles, to Leonard Cohen, to Bob Dylan.

    She’s just refused to do one to a woman.

    Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul and the Queen of just about everything else, did what Judy refused to – an album saluting women.  And it sold.  Proving there is an audience for it.

    But don’t hold your breath waiting for Judy to do right – more and more, she’s proven to be the do wrong woman.

    And certainly making fun of Mavis Staples in her latest book (SWEET JUDY BLUE EYES) demonstrated just how awful Judy Collins is.

    If you missed that book, consider yourself lucky.  You can read Ava and C.I.’s “Trapped in an AA Meeting with Judy Collins” and you have to read Ava and C.I.’s latest “Put The Bitch In Her Place (Ava and C.I.)” because Judy Collins is back to lying again.

    Not only does she lie but CJR has repeated her lies as truth.


    If you’re a Joni fan (I am), you know that Al Kooper heard her songs and said that Judy Collins had to hear them because Judy was looking for material for an album.  So Al calls her, puts Joni on the phone, Joni plays her songs, Judy’s blown away and says she’s going to Newport (folk festival) tomorrow and, on the way, she’ll pick up Joni.

    But she doesn’t.

    And Joni waits and waits for her.

    Once she gets to Newport, Judy hears people playing Joni’s songs in workshops and eventually she calls Joni to say she’s sorry she ditched her but she’s sending a car for her now.

    That’s the story.

    It’s been the story since it happened.

    Joni’s told it repeatedly over the years.

    But Judy talks to an ass named David Yaffe and tells him it’s a lie and he goes to CJR and tells them it’s a lie.

    It never happened.

    If you’re a Joni fan (I am), you know that Al Kooper heard her songs and said that Judy Collins had to hear them because Judy was looking for material for an album.  So Al calls her, puts Joni on the phone, Joni plays her songs, Judy’s blown away and says she’s going to Newport (folk festival) tomorrow and, on the way, she’ll pick up Joni.

    But she doesn’t.

    And Joni waits and waits for her.

    Once she gets to Newport, Judy hears people playing Joni’s songs in workshops and eventually she calls Joni to say she’s sorry she ditched her but she’s sending a car for her now.

    That’s the story.

    It’s been the story since it happened.

    Joni’s told it repeatedly over the years.

    But Judy talks to an ass named David Yaffe and tells him it’s a lie and he goes to CJR and tells them it’s a lie.

    It never happened.

    But it did happen.

    And Ava and C.I. cover that  and they also point out that there’s a third party – Al Kooper – and he confirms Joni’s memory.

    Judy has lied again.

    In the name of feminism?

    Judy’s not a feminist.

    She’s never been one.

    She’s pro-choice.

    That’s about it.

    She has not honored women, she has not celebrated them.

    She has gone out of her way to either tear down or minimize every female singer-songwriter while extolling the men.

    Mavis Staple?  She ridiculed her as a fool who wrongly thought Bob Dylan wanted to marry her.  (Bob did want to marry her – he even asked her father for his blessing.  Apparently racist Judy can’t see Bob being attracted to an African-American woman.)  She’s trashed Joan Baez.  She’s tried Mimi Farina (Joan’s sister).  She’s trashed every woman she could while minimizing the rest (Carly Simon and Janis Ian are among those minimized).

    I get that Judy wishes she weren’t such an ass that she did what she did.

    But lying about it doesn’t change what happened.


    Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


    Monday, October 30, 2017.

    Fake news?

    You mean like this:

      Oct 28
    Iraqi army won the title of the best army in the world! Alsumaria News: The British military magazine Jeans has named the the "best army in the world" of 2017, while Lieutenant General Abdul Wahab al-Saadi won the award of the best military commander.



    YES2IRAQ might need to rethink their claims.  There's no "Jeans."  Possibly they mean JANE'S DEFENCE WEEKLY?

    At any rate, no such praise has been published in the print edition of JANE'S nor has it been published online.  And if ALSUMARIA truly presented the claims, it did so in a live broadcast and not in a story it filed at its website -- which makes no sense at all.

    But if the Iraqi military had to pretend on genuine praise, they'd be waiting forever.

    Iraq can't defend itself.

    Even now, it cannot defend itself.

    A US-led coalition scrambled ISIS.  Did it defeat it?  Nope because that's not how you defeat terrorism.  But they scrambled ISIS.

    To pretend that the Iraqi military is competent let alone praiseworthy requires serious delusion.

    There's so much pretending going on.

    In last night's "Looks like a victory for Massoud Barzani despite the pack mentality of the press," we noted that the resignation of KRG President Barzani on Sunday came at the perfect time for his legacy.  He stood up to all foreign powers and honored the Kurdish people by holding a referendum -- in which over 92% of the voters declared that they did not want to be a part of Iraq.

    Barzani is now a folk hero.

    The press can't see that?  Or it refuses to admit it?

    We knew that our failure to address the disputed territories and conflicting Kurdish-Arab claims to places like Kirkuk was dangerous. When I was back working in Iraq again from 2008 to 2010, Ambassador Ryan Crocker predicted in a senior staff meeting that our leaving the Kirkuk issue unresolved “would destroy Iraq.” Distracted by each new crisis du jour, we never mounted a sustained, determined effort to bring Erbil and Baghdad together to resolve the smoldering problem of the disputed territories.

    That's Robert Ford writing at THE ATLANTIC this morning in a piece entitled "America Never Understood Iraq: As the Kurdish crisis continues to spiral, a former diplomat laments a history of missed opportunities."  Ford writes:

    But Abadi and the Baghdad government—far stronger and with Iranian and American backing—would have none of it, rejecting appeals for dialogue and threatening force. On October 19, the outnumbered Kurds unhappily relinquished Kirkuk and the oilfields without a fight. Again rejecting renewed Kurdish appeals for dialogue, Abadi demanded that Erbil cancel the referendum and turn over its airports and control of its border points. Iraqi forces and the Iran-backed Shia Islamist Popular Mobilization brigades marched into other areas in the disputed territories and the point where Turkey, Syria, and Iraq meet. The Iraqi forces and the peshmerga eventually agreed to a temporary ceasefire on October 28, but there is no resolution in sight for the disputed territories and the future of Iraq’s Kurds.
    While Abadi and others in Baghdad condemned the Kurdish vote as illegitimate, there is nothing in the Iraqi constitution that expressly forbade such a non-binding referendum. Moreover, its result merely confirmed what everyone in Iraq already knew: Iraq’s Kurds don’t want to be in Iraq. 
    This poses the question of how democratic Iraq could ever be when such a large segment of its population wants out. Oil revenues can help bind Iraq’s Arab and Kurdish communities. The communities are, however, very far apart politically and socially. If Iraq is to find stability, reaching a political solution to integrate Iraqi Kurdistan into broader Iraq seems unavoidable.


    Over the weekend, Aziz Weysi Bani weighed in at NEWSWEEK:

     Following our vote for independence, Iraqi and regional backlash escalated with closure of our airspace, an end to financial transactions and arrest warrants for our officials. Emboldened by the total lack of international response, Iraq and Iran’s aggression culminated with an invasion of our territory by the Iraqi Army and their Iranian-backed militant counterparts. These militants include terror-designated groups such as Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
    These attacks on all fronts, from Sinjar to Kirkuk to Khanaqin, took us by surprise. It was not a complete surprise to the United States, however, which knew the attack was imminent but failed to provide us with a warning or apply adequate pressure to prevent it. Our weakness was partly due to some of our political and military leaders having made a desperate deal with Iran and Iraq, and who retreated their forces without a fight. Had the West provided us with sufficient support, we would not be as susceptible to such lethal manipulation by our common enemies.
    When President Donald J. Trump was elected, Kurds were buoyed with new hope. Initially positive signals from his administration prompted babies and businesses to be named after America’s new president.
    This support began to wane with President Trump’s opposition to our independence referendum and then turned to outrage when the United States stood by as our lines collapsed under the Iraqi assault. America's policy of not having a policy is all the more confusing, as President Trump only one week ago committed to decertifying the Iran deal and listing the IRGC as a terror organization.


    Donald Trump was able to turn his back on the Kurds largely due to the American media.  It's a point Baria Alamuddin (ARAB NEWS) made Sunday as she reflected on her recent trip to the US:

    From inside the Washington media bubble it can feel as if the outside world has ceased to exist. The liberal US media appears ill-equipped to handle any news story that doesn’t involve feigning outrage at Donald Trump’s absurd tweets. I wouldn’t want to trivialize the shocking Harvey Weinstein scandal, but is it inopportune to inquire whether anything else is going on in the world?
    Americans across the political spectrum appear so consumed with their shattered and polarized national identity that they struggle to pay attention to complex international developments. The White House is obsessed with self-generated crises and own goals, dominated by a president who, if he were suddenly minded to lash out at Tehran and Pyongyang, might struggle to find them on a map.  


    Trudy Rubin may have been the only journalist at a daily paper paying attention to what was taking place -- see her October 18th column "Betraying the Kurds plays into Tehran's hands" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER).


    In other news, another journalist has been killed in Iraq.

      5 hours ago
    Replying to 
    journalist Arkan Sharif leaves behind three children, he was killed in his home in Daquq by Iraqi militiamen.
    3 replies45 retweets33 likes
     
     
     


    India's TRIBUNE reports:

    A Kurdish video journalist with a channel backing Iraqi Kurdistan's leader Massud Barzani was stabbed to death at his home overnight in disputed Kirkuk province, a security source said on Monday.
    Four armed men broke into the home of Arkan Sharif, a 54 -year-old journalist with Kurdistan TV, at 2:30 am (local time) in the Daquq area south of Kirkuk city, the source said.
    Sharif, a father of three, was stabbed five times after his family were locked up in another room, the source said.


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