The Saufis

Our relationship with the Saudis is sinking fast. There is likely some connection between the death of a journalist and the Saudi royal family. Okay, why are we surprised.
The Saudi regime has long been considered, by Amnesty International, to be one of the most brutal and oppressive in the World. We speak of them as great allies and friends and, for that, shame on us. We sold our souls for oil. We do not need them as military allies and, at this point, we can get by just fine without their petroleum.
We must stop supporting them in their war in Yemen, which is just a proxy war with Iran. We must stop selling them arms. We must hit them with sanctions as stiff as those we have placed on Iran and N. Korea.
Will we? That is hard to say. There is fear that any sanctions will stifle our marginally growing economy. There is fear that we can throw off ant stability that exists in the Muddle East.
Gere is the question. Will we act in a moral manner or will we continue selling our souls for cheap oil and a shaky chance at getting a Mid East peace treaty, which really is for the benefit, bit of the USA, but for Israel Our best strategy would be complete withdrawal from all alliances in that idiotically warlike region, but there is about as much chance of that as I have of sprouting wings and flying away.
Nations, as well as individuals, are subject to the laws of, for want of a better word, karma. We certainly have a history of doing great and wonderful things in this land, but we also have a history of dealing, on uncomfortably friendly terms, with some of the most inhumane regimes the World has ever known. This will, one fine day, come back to haunt is.
There is an old saying my Daddy was fond of. "When you lie down with dogs don't be surprised if you get up with fleas.",

War

We humans have been fighting each other as long as we have been on this planet. By the time the early nation-states, like Sumer, rolled around, we weer fighting on a grand scale. I have no problem with self defense, but most wars are wars of acquisition. Nations want what others have, and try to take it from them.Okay, that's how it has been. Things are a bit more subtle now, but, in essence, the same. Look at the current scenarios.
No one is attacking the USA. With our nuclear arsenal, we will not be attacked. Yer, we have troops everywhere. Why?
Iraq did not attack us. Terrorists from Saudi Arabia led the 9/11 attacks. Afghanistan did harbor ben Lauder, but we found him in our ally, Pakistan's mountains He's dead, we are still in Afghanistan Iran has not attacked us. N. Korea has not attacked us. Vietnam never attacked us (the Gulf of Tonkin incident was staged' the military's own records admit this). On and on goes the list, and America's troops are still scattered all over the Earth. Men and wo,en are being killed and crippled. Why?
Thar's the easy question. Power. Control. And their stepchild, wealth. Troops are scattered simply to protect American bug business interests. To keep any country that might get a dollar richer off us, under our thumbs.
You say, what about terrorism?. Look at the facts. Most of our terrorism is home grown. Even 9/11 was done by our great allies, the Saudis.
N. Korea? They are just trying to scam is to get money and trade. They know that any attack is suicide.
The creation of nuclear arms, killed the classic idea of war. Now, we fight lottle battles for no reasons other than economic.  Or for the display of power. Poiwer is the most addictive drug their is, and its pursuit is a deep mental illness.
There will come a time, sooner rather than later, when the USA will no longer be the big dog. This has happened to every powerful, militant Nation in the history of the World and there is no reason to think we will be the exception. How will we handle that? Well. that is for those coming along now, the younger Americans. Maybe, they will finally, at long last see the lunacy of War. Or, they may choose to go out in a blaze of glory, much like Hitler did in Germany. Or they may just curl up in a little ball and whine. I have no idea. Bur, it will be their choice.
As always, have a fine and Blessed day.

What is being Hidden?

Something odd is happening. I have no idea what, but some odd thing is being hidden.
The news is weird. Nothing of import comes out. Just the same old thing, day after day, but there is an incredible tension in the air. Trump's legal woes, possible peace in Korea, the start of the mid-term elections are all issues, bit the fact that they are all that is talked about on the news is a sign that something else is afoot. The way that these issues are pushed and the entire rest of the World pushed aside means that something big is being buried.
Add to that the now steady stream of multiple shootings.  Here in N. Georgia we wake up each morning to tales of folks rinning amoj and shooting up homes, bars and the streets and I am given to understand that this is going in all over the Nation. The economy gas picked up, but still, people are working multiple jobs to get by and, face it, prices are rising.
The big news today is the we have moved our embassy is Israel to Jerusaem. Why do I care? This does not affect my life one iota. I am neither for or against it, but it is being hailed as the greatest diplomatic triumph since  the end of WW2..
Stage magicians perform their craft by misdirecting your attention. That is what is happening now.
So, what is happening? One of 2 things. The impending blow up of Kilauea is one possibility. It, now that it is more than just pretty streams of red rock flowing, is a possible alert to the fact that the Earth's crust is now very unsteady. Major earthquake and volcanic activity are not something anyone is ready to deal with and I am sure that Government agencies have some clue about  what is happening. But, they are conspicuously silent.
Another contender is the constant Mid-East problem. The populations of both Iran and Saudi Arabia are about fed up with their rulers and thise 2 significant powers are fighting proci wars in Syria and Yemen and, like idiots, the USA and Rissia gave taken sides and, of course, Israel is using all of this as an excuse to start lobbing missiles into Iran's bases in Syria. The whole region is set to blow and no one will win, Still, we hear little detail about this. Oh, we hear of minor victories and heart warming tales of heroism. but little of what is really going on
Other possibilities? Sure. We here few detailed reports about the wide spread and deplorable human trafficking problem. Fentanyl is being distributed in vast quantities and placed in a variety of goods, causing death to many who would not think if touching any drug. How about the ties of the NXIVM cult to those financing and participating in the highest level if politics and business in thus Nation. Don't hear news about any of that.
Folks, we are being played by the media and their puppet masters. Something huge is about to hit the fan. Be ready to duck.

Is Paris Burning - Part 3

9/11 changed everything, but we need to remember its roots. Step back to the days of the Carter White House when the Soviet Union did something that I still don't understand, they invaded Afghanistan. The reason I always have heard is that they wished to build and control an oil pipeline across that poor country. That would make sense except that Russia has fine ports on the Black Sea and can move all the oil it wants through there. But, whether it makes sense or not, they did it. We, of course were upset, but we had no intention of starting WW3 over this so we used an old tactic. We got another group to do our fighting.

Our CIA began financing and training the Afghani Mujahedeen, which later became known as the Taliban. However, they were woefully outmanned so we got them help. Remember earlier, I mentioned Egypt's Moslem Brotherhood. After WW2, we took over the Nazi intelligence network. This is not 'conspiracy theory,' our government acknowledges this. They hated us and we hated them, but that never stopped groups from working together, so we armed and trained them and sent them to Afghanistan. One particular recruit stood out, a Saudi named Osama ben Lauden. We did get them to change their name, since the Moslem Brotherhood was not much loved. They became al-Qaida. They did the impossible, they fought and finally ousted the Soviet troops. We were thrilled with this and offered to help modernize that backward country. They said, no thanks and told us to leave and told us that while we were at it, we should just get out of every Islamic nation. It seems that while they love some modern appliances, they want to keep their people's minds back in the 10th century. We, of course disagreed and here is where things got really weird.

Kuwait owed Sadam money and Iraq was broke, so he decided to use force to get his cash, not a surprising tactic for a thug. Bush 1, himself a CIA man, invaded, showed the world our muscle, and left. I think that was the only point, a display of power. At least he then pulled out, but the damage was done.

In the meantime, Israel was still fighting with the Palestinians, Iran began working on its nuclear program, and throughout the rest of the Islamic world, leaders still lived high and seemed to delight in brutalizing their people. Libya funded some terrorist activities, as did the Saudis and the UAE. Then, while Clinton was in office, a plot to bomb the World Trade Towers was foiled. Of course the would be bombers were Islamic and tensions just kept climbing. Then, shortly after Bush 2 took over, the planes hit the Twin Towers.

We likely will never know exactly what happened on that day, but no one in their right mind buys the official story. We know that a lot of good intelligence was ignored, or at least down played. Some suggest that there was more going than this obvious incompetence. Were there US Government officials involved in this attack? I don't think so, not in the way most think of the government, but we have long known that there are people who function in a shadow world behind the Government and they believe that the ends justify the means. They will advance their agenda at any cost and they seem to be able to stop the overt government from exposing them, probably through bribes, blackmail and just plain threats. Remember, and these are things we know, not suspicions, that certain elements in the CIA ran heroin from SE Asia to fund Cuban exiles opposing Castro and we know Ollie North and his merry band flew mountains of cocaine into Mena, Arkansas to fund the Contras in Nicaragua. We also know that, in violation of International Treaties, these same folks have sponsored coups and carried out assassination's in countries such as Guatemala, the Congo, and Chile. I am not saying that all of the CIA or all of Military Intelligence are involved in black ops, but there is a certain rogue faction.

However, because we just don't know enough, let's pretend to believe the official story of 9/11.  Responsibility was claimed by al-Qaida. After a brief period of negotiation with the Taliban, who turned down our request for them to turn over ben Lauden, we invaded, and have been there ever since. We are still fighting against a determined group of Afghanis, forgetting how much these folks love to fight. So far, we have gained only one thing, cheap heroin.

When the Taliban threw out the Soviets, they destroyed the poppy fields, wanting nothing to do with the heroin trade. When we invaded, they replanted, understandable since they had to fund the fight somehow. At the same time, drug manufacturers in this country began pushing a new pain killer, OxyContin, saying that is was nor only effective, it had almost no risk of addiction. They knew that was nonsense since, in fact, it was an old drug, invented by the Germans in the 30s. It was then called Eukodol and it was known to be horribly addictive. Oddly enough, when the cheap heroin started hitting American streets, doctors suddenly realized that Oxy was awful and cut way back on prescriptions, leaving a lot of strung out citizens hunting relief. Well, there it was cheap, easily available heroin and it is a seldom mentioned, but extremely serious problem. Junkies are no longer ghetto dwellers and old hippies, Grandma and Grandpa and suburban parents are often strung out and, again, this nightmare is pretty much ignored by our news media.

At about the same time, we blamed Sadam for the attacks. This must have surprised him, since he hated ben Lauden. We also swore that he had the infamous weapons-of-mass-destruction. Setting aside the fact that we gave him those weapons, we knew that he had used up his supply in the attacks on the Iranians and the Kurds. He allowed UN inspectors in, they said that there were no such weapons present. Bush 2 said that he just didn't believe that and in we went. We seemed to have won until a strange thing happened. Our old buddies al-Qaida set up shop in Iraq and started a seemingly endless string of bombings. We finally were asked by the Iraqi government to leave and we did, sort of, and it seemed that maybe things would die down.

Across the Islamic world, things were not calm. In Africa, Boko Haram reared its head. However, this area has seen so much horrific tribal conflict, that their activities probably seemed like business as usual, and, to be blunt, Americans are not much concerned with Africa. Arab countries, oddly, all seemed to, at the same time, rose up and threw out old dictators. I am sure al-Qaida had a large hand in this, and the people were successful. However, they had not thought past revolution and these countries are all now chaotic messes. The Saudis and the UAE have held on by continuing to brutalize their population and Iran, while beset with internal conflict, has kept a lid on their simmering citizens. In Syria, however, Assad has hung tough. And then, up popped the Devil.

While al-Qaida still was effective in pulling off small actions, it was fading a bit. Since their glory days of 9/11, the Madrid train bombings and the London attacks, they had done nothing spectacular. The came ISIL, a fresh, young and, to give the Devil his due, very effective group of brutal psychopaths. They know how to use social media to recruit, how to rapidly train and deploy those recruits and they can really make videos that appeal to budding, murderous creeps. They have taken large chunks of Iraq, even larger chunks of Syria and have extended their reach into Europe. This brings us up to the current attack on Paris.

There are those who say that we control al-Qaida and ISIL, that this is all a set up by US intelligence to justify military action and foment terror in the land. I don't believe this. For sure, we created al-Qaida, just as Victor Frankenstein created his monster. Like the doctor, we have lost control of our monster, don't know how to kill it, and it wants to kill its creator. There may be, in fact it is likely that, there are a few deep black ops people who have a hand in this, but I don't think you can lay this madness at the feet of the CIA or Military Intelligence. You can however deplore their lack of any ability to get a grip on this nightmare.

We are learning that ISIL has operatives in much of the Middle East, Europe, and SW Asia. They are responsible for bringing down a Russian airliner, and there is no doubt that they are recruiting in the lands south of Russia, countries like Chechnya, where there is long standing animosity toward the Russians. There is also no doubt that they are in America and that they are coming after us.

In the next part, we will look at the deep reasons why all of this mess has gone on so long and why it keeps getting worse, but I have to make one comment first. If you look around the Internet, you will see the term 'false flag' tossed around. This means that the event in question was phony, that it was just a sham to scare people, or that the accusing party actually did the deed and is framing the other group. Do not fall for that. These attacks are real, people were slaughtered. Are there phony events? Occasionally, sure, but rarely, because if they are ever exposed, the parties responsible lose the power to shock and remember, this is all about power. Besides, it is easier to let a bunch of psychos carry out a real attack than it is to stage a fake, especially when you have no qualms about letting a bunch of folks get killed. Plus, there are plenty of murderous lunatics ready to kill.