Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)

Monday, February 07, 2022

Sonali Stupid Ass Kolhatkar

Before we go too deep into Sonali today, a question: Did she ever call out Barack Obama? I mean seriously call out?

I ask because if she did, then maybe she's just an idiot. But if she didn't, maybe she's CIA. She worked for a CIA front that was headed by Stanley Dunham's 'friend' (lover -- lesbian lover) That publication exists to distract and it's on the CIA payroll which is why other magazines fold but it continues. And it shouldn't have taken John Pilger to reveal that Stanley (Barack's mother) was CIA or that Barack worked for a CIA cut-out that was outed by THE NEW YORK TIMES.

So Sonali may not be stupid. She may be a paid operative.

Over at COUNTERPUNCH, she writes another bad article (she can't write).

As she attacks Joe Rogan, she glorifies woman beater Neil Young. Carrie Snodgress may be dead but I spent the weekend reading her letters to C.I. Neil can play hero all he wants with Carrie dead but some of us know better. By the way, Neil has promoted the CIA funded rag I mentioned above. You do the math.

These streaming services, Sonali insists, are so unfair. There are all these independent music voices who are being shut out. Uh, that's how radio always worked, Dumb Bitch. Second, I live in the Bay Area so f**k you Sonali.

You damn hypocrite. You're taking two hours of KPFA every week and we don't like you, bitch. In Los Angeles, where I guess people are less educated, Sonali airs on KPFK. That should be their problem. We shouldn't have to carry her garbage reruns on KPFA.

What a hypocrite, talking about streaming limiting voices when the bitch has used PACIFICA's money troubles to move her bad LA show over to the Bay Area and to steal two hours of prime radio real estate for herself.

Ego tripping bitch.

She's a hypocrite, she's a dumb ass and she's a liar.

In fact, she may be CIA funded.

Maybe not.

But I do know she needs to take her tired ass LA repeats of San Francisco Bay radio. We don't wnat you, we never did.

We need local voices.

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

Monday, February 7, 2022. No president in Iraq -- despite the October 10th elections, despite the Iraqi Constitution, despite everything.

One minute, Shi;ite cleric and plus-size model Moqtada al-Sadr was screaming, "You should be dancing!'' and rushing to the floor. The next, former prime minister and forever thug Nouri al-Mliki done f**ked up Moqtada's cabbage patch.

Toeday, the Parliament was supposed to elect Iraq's president. Seemed not all that difficult. Moqtada's alliance, the KDP and the alliance of Speaker of Parliament Mohamed al-Halbousi was solid and had delivered what appeared to be control over the next government in Iraq. The western press certainly thought that was the case.

So how did it fall apart?

MIDDLE EAST ONLINE notes, "Iraq's parliament failed on Monday to elect a president as it lacked the quorum to hold a voting session, lawmakers said." Sinana Mahmoud (THE NATIONAL) reports:

By late afternoon, quorum had not been reached to hold the vote with less than 60 MPs out of 329 in attendance.

The meeting in the Council of Representatives was then turned into a deliberative session where MPs discussed several issues such as agriculture and forming parliamentary committees.

The position for a new president will likely remain vacant until quorum can be made.

What passes for the government is in violation of the country's Constitution but they've been in violation for months with no one noticing. The elections were back in October. October 10th. The time to name a president is now passing but they didn't convent the Parliament on time -- not per the schedule outlined in the Constitution -- either.

MEMO notes:

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) candidate for the presidential election in Iraq said on Sunday that he "respects" the Supreme Court's decision to temporarily suspend his candidacy, Anadolu has reported. Hoshyar Zebari's campaign was suspended due to "corruption claims" against him, a day before the Iraqi parliament was due to vote on the position.

The Supreme Court said it had received a complaint from MPs that Zebari's candidacy was "unconstitutional" because of the corruption claims dating back to 2016. It added that the suspension is "temporary" while the court considers the case.

In 2016, 68-year-old Zebari was removed from his position as finance minister after financial and administrative corruption allegations. He is one of two main contenders for the presidency. The other favoured candidate is the incumbent, Barham Saleh.

"We are confident the court will insist on implementing the rules and conditions for the position of the Iraqi presidency," said Zebari on Twitter, "otherwise this will be just a case of using power."

That's what happened. How did it happen is another story.

Moqtada is not a king maker. He nows how to pick out an extra large caftan, he doesn't know how to be a political player.

The US government gave him a large sum of money (a bribe) last fall. And the thinking there was that they'd try something different. Soemthing wise? No, something different. Nothing else had worked and they'd been opposed to Moqtada this whole time so what if they tried bringing him into the fold?

What did he have to offer? The many scalps of dead US service members. He had that. Which is why some people didn't want to work with him but others in Joe Biden's administration -- egged on by Antony Blinken -- insisted that doing the same thing over and over was the defintion of insanity.

They abosrbed the AA mantra very well. Common sense? They had none.

Common sense would have required an honest evaluation of Moqtada. Such an evlatuation would have noted that he was out of step and out of touch with Iraq's young people. That's not a minor point in a country when the median age is 21-years-old. He's out of step and out of touch and represents yesterday, not today and certainly not tomorrow.

Common sense would have led them to understand that there even among Moqtada's own cult, members were unsatisfied. That tends to happen when, for example, Moqtada presents himself as a leader for nearly 20 years and yet Sadr City remains a slum. Forget fixing the country, he can't even improve the conditions in the slum where the bulk of his cult lives.

Yes, wasting money on Moqtada was different than wasting money on other officials. But different isn't always smarter and it certainly isn't sane.

The US government -- and its security state known as the corporate press -- highly miscalculated.

They all got on board with Moqtada -- a man responsible for the deaths of so many American men and women. They spat on the veterans. Now, at some point, you have to make your peace with your enemies and rivals. That's part of a war ending. But worshiping at the feet of Moqtada was never a common sense position for the US government.

It's failed and we're not seeing any reflection of that among the press (the security state) that pimped him and hailed him as a king maker.

He was never a king maker.

He's just a fat whore who leads a cult (and a militia) and who has seen his power rapidly decrease.

'He won the elction!' He really didn't. His political party did well. He built an alliance that did better. But there was no winner in the election. You could argue that the KDP was the winner in Kurdistan because they so overwhelmingly defeated their rivals (Gorran is no more and the PUK is on the ropes at present). But throughout Iraq?

The majority position of Iraqi adults was that the process does not work. That shouldn't have surprised anyone, certainly not Joe Biden. Belief in elections in Iraq have steadily decreased since 2010. Joe Biden was vice president back then. The mind is weak and frail -- and was even then -- but surely he remembers his trip to Iraq where he pushed The Erbil Agreement and insisted everyone had to sign on and ridiculously compared the whole thing to Ireland. What the hell was he talking about? No one knew. Not even the non-Iraqis present. They all thought it was a senior moment.

Emma Sky has written about it many times, including in her book The Unraveling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq.

If you're late to the party, you might try reading it. The Erbil Agreement overturned the votes of the Iraqi people who showed up at the polls to vote Nouri al-Maliki out as prime minister. The Erbil Agreement was a contract overseen by the US government which overturned the votes and was signed off on by leaders of the various Iraqi political parties. It gave Nour a second term.

Iraqis risked their lives to vote in 2010 amidst violence. Their reward was to have the US government overturn their votes.

It's no suprrise that this resulted in a lower turnout in subsequent elections.

Not a surprise at all, we warned about it in real time.

And then we came to October 10th of last year and the Iraqi people stayed home. The lowest turnout since the elections started post-2003 invasion.

Failed leader Moqtada benefitted from the lowest turnout in an Iraq election since the 2003-US-led invasion. Even with Moqtada telling his cult to vote -- ordering them to -- his candidates still got less votes -- the lowest number that they've ever gotten. A detail the soft-on-Sadr western press loved to ignore. He doesn't even have the hold on hs followers hat he once had.

REUTERS reported yesterday:

Iraq's Supreme Court on Sunday suspended a former foreign minister's presidential bid over graft allegations and many lawmakers said they would boycott a Monday vote for a new head of state, prolonging a political standoff.

The court said the candidacy of Hoshyar Zebari, a Western-friendly veteran Iraqi Kurdish statesman, could not proceed until corruption charges from a separate 2016 stint as finance minister were dealt with.

The decision was a blow to populist Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who was the biggest winner in an October election and has vowed to quickly push through a government that could exclude Iranian allies.

Sadr, the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) of which Zebari is a member and an alliance of Sunni Muslim lawmakers had supported Zebari's bid for president.

Hoshayr Zebari is, of course, Hillary Cinton's good friend. He's many other things as well but, right now, he's an example of corruption in Iraq.

Is Hoshyar himself corrupt? I have no idea. At the time the charges were made, it was said by many that these were smears being used to derail his political career. True? If not true, Iraq is incredibly corrupt in every way because they never, in six years, moved forward on the legal charges. Instead, they just sat them aside.

Now Hoshyar is attempting to run for another office and the charges are brought back up.

Either they were smears -- and this is a smear as well -- or the Iraqi government from 2016 forward has been so corrupt that they've let a guilty person go free.

Tim Borlay (TURNED NEWS) adds:

On Saturday, the first force in parliament, the current of the influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, announced that its 73 deputies would not participate.

Sunday evening, the sovereignty coalition, ie 51 deputies led by the speaker of parliament Mohamed al-Halboussi, a Sadrist ally, also revealed its absence.

Later in the evening, the third pillar of this informal alliance, the influential Democratic Party of Kurdistan (PDK, 31 deputies), in turn announced its absence, with the aim of continuing consultations and dialogue between the political blocs.

Moqtada's deal making depends upon him holding the players -- that would be the KDP and an al-Halboussi's coalition. Without them, he has no hold and Nouri al-Maliki is the one in control.

Former prime minister and forever thug Nouri? His hands are all over this. Well played, Nouri. It's highly treminiscent of how he used the electoral commission and the Justice and Accountability Commission (remember them? If you don't sit down because you have no analysis to share) and the Supreme Court throughout 2006 and 2010. He's yet again attempting to derail a candidacy by using a supposedly impartial body.

And if he succeeds, it brings him ever closer to control of Iraq.

Thursday, the Atlantic Council's Abbas Kadhim observed:

Sadr would like to increase his coalition by adding a number of his Shia competitors, but he is vehemently opposed to allying with former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, whose State of Law coalition currently has thirty-eight seats in the COR. Maliki just managed to secure a renewal of his term as chairman of the Da’wa Party on January 15, and seems to have been able to keep his large non-Sadrist alliance together (until now), despite Sadr’s multiple attempts to court some of Maliki’s allies.

Ahead of the election, we repeaedly warned Nouri was still a player. The western press ignored him. Since the election, we've repeatedly warned Nouri is a player and the western press has ignored that reality. More and more people are starting to realize that they can't cover the politial climate currently without covering Nouri.

Nouri used to be the US government's pet. Bully Boy Bush backed him in 2006 because the CIA's analysis found Nouri to be incredibly paranoid and it was felt that the US government could use thta paranoia to control him. In 2010, Barack and Joe backed Nouri -- despite it being already known that he had torture chambers and secret prisons -- because Samantha Power argued convincingly (to them anyway) that Nouri could be manipualted to keep US troops in Iraq. In 2012, the US government worked against bascially everyone not in Nouri's State of Law by derailing a no-confidence vote against Nouri supported by Amir al-Hakim, Moqtada al-Sadr, the KDP, Iraqiya . . . When Nouri wanted his third term, as Mosul and other parts of Iraq had fallent o ISIS (an organization created in opposition to Nouri), Barack Obama was telling Nouri it was over and step aside.

Nouri still wants that third term, still wants to be prime minister. And he was trained to fight dirty by the uS government and he was encouraged to fight dirty by the US government.

Why is anyone surprised to discover Nouri doing just that today?

The following sites updated:

Friday, February 04, 2022

Homophobe Neil Young ends his career on a low and sour note

Who’s Neil Young? 

1:50 PM · Feb 2, 2022

Neil Young, who told MELODY MAKER that fa**ots at supermarkets would give you AIDS if they touched your potatoes, has taken another stand. No, he's not trying to protect potatoes again. Now he wants to protect soft minds. Just not his own. Old age has turned his own mind to further mush.

Melissa Chen notes:

I see Neil Young has moved on to a better corporate overlord. 

Keep on rockin’ in the free world 

3:54 PM · Jan 31, 2022

Jimmy Dore notes:

Weird that Neil Young hasn't threatened to pull his music from iTunes over this or even bothered to say  anything about it, I guess we'll have to wait until Joe Rogan covers it for him to weigh in.

washingtonpost.com

Apple is lobbying against a bill aimed at stopping forced labor in China

Apple wants to water down key provisions of the bill, which would hold U.S. companies accountable for using Uighur forced labor, according to two congressional staffers.

10:38 AM · Jan 31, 2022

From YAHOO NEWS:

Comedian Jon Stewart said he thinks it's a "mistake" for musicians to pull their music from Spotify in protest of Joe Rogan, calling it an "overreaction."

Neil Young pulled his music from the platform after the streaming platform declined to remove Rogan's wildly popular podcast, accusing it of spreading misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines. Joni Mitchell and other musicians followed. Their actions came after 270 doctors, nurses, scientists, and educators wrote a letter calling on Spotify to remove Rogan's show to mitigate the spread of misinformation.

Stewart addressed the situation on an episode of his podcast, The Problem With Jon Stewart, named after his Apple TV+ show, that aired Thursday.

"There's no question that there is egregious misinformation that's purposeful and hateful, and that being moderated is a credit to the platforms that run them," Stewart said. "But this overreaction to Rogan, I think, is a mistake."

Stewart said that he did not view Rogan as an "ideologue" and that Rogan appeared to be someone that could be engaged with, calling rhetoric about the comedian-turned-podcaster "overblown."

"I think there are dishonest bad actors in the world and identifying those is so much more important to me," he said, adding: "Don't leave. Don't abandon. Don't censor. Engage."

Neil Young's an old dirty man who's become an old dirty joke. I feel sorry for his wife. I feel sorry for his fans. He's gone. He's not coming back.

Sad that Joni Mitchell and other idiots will go down with him.

Never supported book burnings myself but a bunch of soft-in-the-head 'stars' apparently can't think on their own. That's why they fear a Joe Rogan, I guess. They can't think for themselves, so they don't believe anyone else can either.

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

Thursday, February 3, 2022. Is Joe Biden bound and dtermined to go down as one of the worst presidents in history?

Tucker Carlson.

The above. Jen Psaki is not to blame for being a whore. The role of White House spokesperson is a whore position that's only ogtten more whorish with each administration.

That said, she needs to grasp that it is her not her job -- or anyone in the White House t-- to police podcasts. They need to shut the f**k up. I get it, she doesn't want to talk about real issues. If she prefers nonsense, should we discuss other topcis? Abortions paid for by married men in the administrations by women who were not their wives -- never their wives. They had wives. At the time. And then they said, for example, "I'm in Congress, if you have this baby, it's not just my marriage that's over, it's my political career."

Do we want to have those conversations, Jen?

I shrug at most of the nonsense out of Jen's mouth because it's her position. The spoikesperson isn't honest. And, especially under Jay Carney, they became attack dogs on the press. They're kown liars. I don't know the damage that does to your soul but I imagine it's intense.

But Jen's now ready to violate the First Amendment. That's too far -- even for a whore position.

Joe Rogan can say whatever he wants and anyone who wants to listen can listen. Jen Psaki needs to either move on treal issues -- and spin and lie about them -- or we can give her 'trivia' to talk about.

This is another example of the attacks on the press. At its most extreme, it finds Joe Biden persecuting Julian Assange.

As for Harry . . .

You don't know our country, you odn't know our history. We didn't beg you to come here and we don't need your ugly ass telling us what's what.

Some in the UK may be impressed with you. We're not. You've done nothing with your life, Harry. You're semi-famous because of your birth. Stop thinking anyone needs your uneducated thoughts. Want to boss people around? Go back to England. Stay there. In the US, we don't need you and we know you're a spoiled brat who never lived a real life and who doesn't know anything about even the most basic events of life. So be grateful that you were born into money and call that a win.

Or, bettter yet, if you must speak publicly, tell us about your uncle the pedophile.

We're interested in your thoughts on that, Harry.

An American Revolution did not take plae so that a little princess named Harry could escape to the US and lecture us. Princess can go back home if the US makes him so uncomfortable. Can go back home and should go back home. In the meantime, you're a guest, show the manners you were supposedly raised with.

Princess Harry -- a failure in the UK and now failing in the US as well.

Back to Joe Biden, the enemy of a free press. He continues his persecution of Julian Assange. The world is watching. The whole world sees Julian being targeted for telling the truth. The whole world watches as Democratic Joe Biden persecutes. He mars not just his own image throughout the world but that of the Democratic Party's as well. This is lasting damage and it is global. Exactly what does Joe think he's accomplishing?

THEN 24 reports:

A motion supported by around 60 members of all parties in the French parliament calls for asylum to be granted to the journalist Julian Assange, who has been imprisoned in Great Britain. The National Assembly will vote on the motion on Friday.

On Friday, France’s National Assembly will debate and vote on a motion to grant asylum to journalist Julian Assange, who is being held in Britain. Launched at the end of October 2021, the motion is supported by around 60 French MEPs from all political parties. The proposal is supported by Cédric Villani (Groupe Écologie démocratie solidarité), Jean Lassalle (Groupe Libertés et territoires), François Ruffin (La France insoumise) and Jennifer de Temmerman from Macron’s La République en Marche party.

The world is watching and Joe Biden is going down in history as we speak. It won't be a historical entry of praise. He's the man who persecuted journalist Julian Assange. That will not be forgotten. Joe could order all charges dropped and save his own image -- maybe even be seen as a hero. But he appears to want to be despised for hundreds of years to come. He wants the name "Joe Biden" to be met with curses and hoots of laughter.

At Swathmore's PHOENIX, Tarang Saluja notes:

On Dec. 10, 2021 (which was ironically international human rights day), the U.K.’s high court ruled that Julian Assange may be extradited to face trial in the U.S. and on Jan. 24, Assange won the right to appeal against the extradition. Assange’s team will now appeal to the Supreme Court in early February to see if he can be saved from the talons of the US government. The case against Julian Assange began when Wikileaks published information provided by U.S. Army Intelligence Analyst and whistleblower Chelsea Manning. Documents from Manning, including the Afghanistan War Diary and Guantanamo Files, revealed embarrassing and atrocious details of misconduct and deception by US military officials. One of the most horrific leaks was the extremely disturbing Collateral Murder video which uncloaked how U.S. military pilots murdered two journalists when they opened fire without provocation and further fired at unarmed adults and children who came to help the wounded. This humiliating and shameful experience for the U.S. national security state triggered a thirst for revenge which has made the crude destruction of one man’s life an instrument for assaulting the freedom of our press. If Assange, after being systematically abused by many so-called democratic countries and misrepresented by media stenographers for national security ghouls, is prosecuted with an indictment that criminalizes typical journalist activities based on the ill-defined term “national defense information,” it will deeply chill investigative reporting on the most secretive, unaccountable institutions in the U.S. and set a precedent for the violation of press freedom.

[. . .]

A shocking report also revealed that the CIA, unable to tolerate the leak of Vault 7 in 2017, had plotted to murder Assange by abducting and then assassinating him in a London shootout. This plot complemented the 2020 revelations that the CIA had a Spanish security firm spy on Assange and his fiance, Stella Morris, extensively. They went as far as using cameras and microphones to spy on meetings Assange had with his lawyers, tracking both Morris and her mother, and trying to steal their baby’s pacifier and diaper to do a DNA test.

Even though these shameful details reveal the danger U.S. officials pose to Assange, the U.S. has continued the extradition process, providing a flimsy assurance that they would not apply Special Administrative Measures or place Assange in a supermax prison unless Assange gives them a reason to decide otherwise. This is a condition that can be easily abused. However, the high court responded by ruling that Assange may be extradited, paving the path for his prosecution in the U.S. Eastern District Court of Virginia. As the Eastern District Court is near the Pentagon and CIA, the jury pool is far more sympathetic towards intelligence agents, and therefore it is unlikely that Assange will be acquitted if he is extradited to the U.S. Shortly after the ruling, it was revealed Assange had a stroke on Oct. 27, which was the first day of the high court appeal hearing, and Morris attributes this to his poor treatment and stressful experience during the extradition battle. Even if the CIA couldn’t personally kill Assange, he has been systematically abused to the point where there are legitimate fears he could die by illness or suicide. (It is noted on the Useful Idiots (42:30 – 43:30) podcast that Assange himself has clearly expressed he will not come back to the US alive because of what he expects to face here.) Recently, he has been given permission to appeal the decision that he can be extradited, and his legal team is currently working on that.

The astonishing part of this twisted political saga is the behavior of many mainstream media outlets. As Assange is being indicted on uncorroborated charges for the very activities which investigative journalists engage with all the time, this trial has massive implications for the freedom of the press. However, mainstream media has mainly focused on contributing to the smear campaign against Assange. When Assange’s asylum was revoked, plenty of mainstream outlets, with an almost sick glee, reported extensively on allegations of “dirty,” unhygienic behavior. These same outlets never bothered to examine the change in Ecuadorian political leadership and the political motivations of Ecuadorian officials making these claims. Furthermore, they parrotted alarmist claims from national security officials about how Assange’s actions were irresponsible and dangerous, despite the fact that the government cannot prove that any harm was done to its sources and that their favored whistleblower of the Pentagon Papers, Daniel Ellsburg, also argued that Assange’s actions are in the public interest.

Joe Biden is speeding on his way to being considered one of the worst presidents ever. He could have stayed 'retired.' Most people would have ignored Hunter Biden if that had happened. They would have ignored how 'working class Joe' became a millionaire on the taxpayer's dime. He would have been the drunk uncle that you wanted to believe was basically a good guy at heart.

Instead, he's now someone who threatnes journalists, who can't handle the economy, who can't respond to COVID . . .

In fact, maybe Jen and Joe need to use that anger and malice they keep aiming at Joe Rogan and focus it instead on actually addressing COVID. That would mean firing Fauci, of course, something Joe was told to do the first week after he was sworn in. Wasn't smart enough to do it that week. Hasn't been smart enough since.

The dottering old fool.

I have no idea if Donald Trump plans to run for president again or, if he does plan to run, whether he could get a nomination (from the GOP or any other party). But Joe's certainly worked hard to build a case for Donald. Where are the stimulus checks, Joe? What the hell have you done for the American people? Gifted them with inflation?

He's an abject failure. Ray McGovern (ANTIWAR.COM) notes:

The leaked text (to Spain’s El Pais) of Washington’s response to Russia’s December security proposals augurs well for an eventual peaceful denouement on Ukraine. The U.S. response may still seem to be only half a loaf, but includes an appetizing sweetener – verification.

Washington’s "non-paper" response directly addresses Putin’s chief concern. (Spoiler for any new readers of antiwar.com: It is not what you are probably thinking; it is not Putin’s reportedly insatiable lust to get NATO to sign a piece of paper banning membership for Ukraine; that’s the other half-loaf, and it has become rather stale – as well as moot.)

Rather, Putin’s primary worry has long been that missile launchers now deployed in Romania and soon, if not already, in Poland (ostensibly for anti-missile defense) can accommodate Tomahawk cruise missiles with ranges that put Russia’s strategic forces in jeopardy. Putin has voiced that concern loudly for years.

For example, after the US-orchestrated coup in Kiev in Feb. 2014, Putin explained publicly that US/NATO plans to deploy ABM systems around Russia’s western periphery were an "even more important factor" in Moscow’s decision to annex Crimea than the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO. (For one particularly telling example, readers are invited to view a short clip showing Putin’s frustration six years ago at his inability to impress upon Western reporters the urgency of the "ABM" missile emplacements.)

At Tuesday’s press conference, Putin began with a reminder that Russia had been "conned" when the West promised in 1990 not to move NATO one inch eastward. Putin then pointed out that, after the US withdrew from the AMB Treaty:

"Now anti-ballistic missiles are deployed in Romania and are being set up in Poland. … These are MK-41 launchers that can launch Tomahawks. In other words, they are no longer just counter-missiles, and these assault weapons can cover thousands of kilometers of our territory. Isn’t that a threat to us?"

What about similar deployment to Ukraine? The U.S. has already agreed not to do that. Western media largely missed this, but Russia’s readout of the Dec. 30 telephone conversation between Biden and Putin included this:

“… Joseph Biden emphasized that Russia and the US shared a special responsibility for ensuring stability in Europe and the whole world and that Washington had no intention of deploying offensive strike weapons in Ukraine.” [Emphasis added.]

Smoke That Peace Pipe Bury Those Tomahawks

The US "non-paper" revealed yesterday by El Pais, was labeled "confidential", and small wonder. Clearly, the Biden administration did not want its concession on inspection, for example, to leak. It will come as a shock for those predicting (some of them actually hoping for) the worst. Washington’s non-paper expresses willingness to discuss "a transparency mechanism to confirm the absences of Tomahawk cruise missiles at … sites in Romania and Poland." In other words, verification; which has worked well in the past – with the INF Treaty, for example, which saw the entire class of intermediate- and short-range missiles destroyed.

Nor is it surprising that the US asked the Russians (and everyone else) to keep its "non-paper" secret. The Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence-Media-Academia-Think-Tank (MICIMATT) complex will be up in arms, so to speak. Not to mention Raytheon, which makes and sells the Tomahawks (at $2 million each). See, for example: Top Weapons Companies Boast Ukraine-Russia Tensions Are a Boon for Business.

In Iraq, no political news. Still no government. October 10th was election day. If you really wanted to stop ISIS, you wouldn't drag your feet about foriming a government.

We'll wind down with this from Senator Bill Cassidy's office:

WASHINGTON – Today, the United States Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee (SVAC) unanimously passed legislation to offer Post-9/11 combat veterans, including those suffering from conditions caused by toxic exposures, such as burn pits, access to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care.

U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Jerry Moran (R-KS), and Jon Tester (D-MT) led the committee in introducing the Health Care for Burn Pit Veterans Act yesterday.

“Veterans should not be denied health care because of federal bureaucracy. We made a commitment to these men and women,” said Dr. Cassidy. “Our bipartisan bill honors veterans’ service and expands VA health care for those exposed to toxic substance. Today is a step forward in fulfilling that commitment.”

“Post-9/11 veterans are the newest generation of American heroes to suffer from toxic exposures encountered during military service,” said Senator Moran. “The Health Care for Burn Pit Veterans Act is an important first step to make certain our veterans receive the care they need as a result of their service. I’m urging my colleagues to read our bill, to grow their understanding of this complex challenge, and to join our committee—every single member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee—in passing this bill to get one step closer to providing care and relief on one of the most pressing challenges facing veterans today.”

“Today, we took a critical step toward fulfilling our obligations to toxic-exposed veterans with our bipartisan Health Care for Burn Pit Veterans Act,” said Senator Tester. “This bill will connect more Post-9/11 veterans with the VA care they’ve earned to treat seen and unseen wounds of war, while moving the ball forward on addressing toxic exposure in the comprehensive way our veterans deserve. This is a necessary step in doing right by our nation’s veterans, and I urge my Senate colleagues from both sides of the aisle to join us in passing this critical legislation that’ll help us deliver on that promise.”

This bill will now go to the full Senate for consideration.

###