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POPS Valkyrie For War Czar
that in the event of blood actually being shed, all operations should be immediately terminated and forces extricated in the most humiliating way possible, with strategy to be determined by regular polling. However, that was the 1990s, and we also know that in the post-9/11 era, Clinton briefly grew a set and strongly favored invading the heck out of belligerents who had made her husband look like an ineffective skirt-chaser. It was only the prospect of being president herself that made Hillary turn into a peacenik, but we know from the Democratic primary that Hillary does not give up. She will gouge the eyeballs out of anyone who stands in her way. News reports indicate we are being increasingly quagmirized by a bunch of 19th-century dishcloth-wearing savages in the rocky passes of the Hindu Kush, with al-Qaeda thumbing its aquiline nose from across the border in Waziristan, and the mullahs of Iran insisting on becoming a world-class nuisance, not to mention the Putinistas
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POPSBritish Commander in Afghanistan Quits Britain joined the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and still has about 8,100 troops there fighting the Taliban and training Afghan forces. Everyone's broke. Pack up and go home.
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POPSLives lost in the name of greed and BIG oil This article highlights why the wars that have cost in so many ways - it's all about greed and profit by the bloated, powerful oil barons. We have been misled totally - and the cost to the World in human tragedy has been horrendous. This needs to be exposed - BIG time>
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POPSLTTE Every Official grabs Graft. The honest ones are threatened by others. So?
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POPSRussian Military Spending: $50 Billion New York Times story adds that certain U.S. military officials are "unimpressed" by Russia's plans. One told the times that “these programs have long been in the works. They are not new plans.” As we noted here, http://www.forbes.com/beltway/2008/09/30/aerospace-defense-washington-biz-wash-cz_atg_0930beltway.html , President Bush recently signed a defense appropriations bill totaling $488 billion.
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POPSGeorgia closes air space to Russia "If Georgia doesn’t provide an air corridor, Russia will find alternative ways of supplying its military base here," Aghabekian told EurasiaNet. "After all, Russia is bound by an agreement with Armenia that commits it to keeping the base combat-ready and on high alert. Russia will resort to any method to honor that obligation."
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POPSBritish Commander: Taleban Cannot be Defeated He says the American strategy is doomed to fail. The Taleban (which denied any knowledge, role or involvement of themselves or bin Laden in 9/11) are tough, despite the image portrayed in media: the Taleban, tactically, is reasonably resilient, certainly quite dangerous and seems relatively impervious to losses. Its potency is as a force for influence.” The war in Afghanistan is not about "terrorism". (Repetition and mere allegation do not equal truth). It's about "regime change" and oil pipeline from the Caspian region (to Pakistan and the sea).
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POPSChalmers Johnson on the "Pentagon Bailout" "There has been much moaning, air-sucking, and outrage about the $700 billion that the U.S. government is thinking of throwing away on rich New York bankers who have been ripping us off for the past few years and then letting greed drive their businesses into a variety of ditches. In fact, we dole out similar amounts of money every year in the form of payoffs to the armed services, the military-industrial complex, and powerful senators and representatives allied with the Pentagon. "
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POPSRussia’s Armed Forces Advancing, Blindly Russia makes some good equipment, such as air-defence systems. The infusion of money helps it exercise its atrophied military muscles. A growing proportion of soldiers are volunteers (known as kontraktniki), who are more disciplined than much-abused conscripts. The slow move to a smaller, all-professional army in place of the million-strong, largely conscript force is made more urgent by Russia’s demographic decline. The forces that invaded Georgia were largely made up of professionals. Despite problems in keeping them supplied, they were for the most part better behaved than the South Ossetian militiamen who looted and destroyed Georgian villages. The Russian army seems to have fought better in Georgia than it did in either of the post-Soviet wars in Chechnya, the now-subdued breakaway province across the border from Georgia. Indeed, the forces sent into Georgia included the Vostok battalion, made up of pro-Kremlin Chechens. .....continued
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POPSLockheed Maneuvers for Big Cargo Business The Hill's Roxana Tiron reports on a big potential deal for Lockheed Martin. Note to investors: Lockheed's stock has been hit this week, along with everybody else, but is flat for the year. It sells for 12.6 times projected 2009 earnings, versus an equivalent aggregate multiple of 13.3 for the S&P 500.
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POPSPakistan Orders Troops to Fire Back Against US Insurgents
Pakistan finally reclaims it sovereignty and orders its troops to fire back if US forces or drones violate their border again and attack on their soil (usually killing more civilians than combatants). This is the only way to change Bush policy and now forces Bush (and even Obama who says he would do same) to reconsider the consequences of such actions. Multi-million dollar attacks using Predator drones is cowardly warfare and a clever way to hit and run while never proving who exactly was being targetted and committing gross negligence in regard to innocent civilians. This is also contrary to the principles of Just War which requires solid ID, direct confrontation where opportunity to surrender is offered, and separating civilians from combatants during any attack, instead of this "just kill them all" policy called "scorched earth". There also is no way to identify (after missiles or bombs strike) who the persons really are, or justification to attack.
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POPSPakistan orders troops to open fire if US raids This brings up two questions: Is Pakistan for or against helping the U.S. ferret out terrorists? Is Pakistan harboring terrorists and therefore should Pakistan be considered a terrorist state? The U.S. has given the Pakistanis millions of dollars for the purpose of fighting terrorism (and to keep Pakistan on our side) but it appears that this money was ill-spent. We are not getting a very good return on it.
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POPSGeorgia's war planning questioned Similarly, soldiers who fought in South Ossetia suggest that decisions about Georgian army movements were made on the fly. At worst, a proxy confrontation with Russian forces -- akin to the first South Ossetian conflict in 1991-1992 -- was considered, said Georgian National Security Council Secretary Alexander Lomaia. After the debacle of Russia’s two wars in Chechnya, no one thought that Moscow would further risk its international reputation by invading a sovereign country, said Deputy Defense Minister Batu Kutelia. "We expected that the Russians would fight with the hands of the separatists," Lomaia told EurasiaNet.
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POPSChavez Postpones Joint Military Exercise With Russia "Russia's naval fleet is welcome here," he said. Venezuela has launched joint military operations with various nations. The upcoming Venezuela-Russia operation will be the first of its kind in the Americas. The Venezuelan Navy and Air Force will work with four Russian warships with some 1,000 soldiers aboard in the exercises in the Venezuelan territorial waters, according to earlier reports citing senior officials of the Venezuelan military. Since Chavez took office, Venezuela has boosted its military cooperation with Russia.
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POPSBush Wants $1 Billion to Georgia for Attacking South Ossetia The NYT finally admits that Georgia was the aggressor: "fighting that began on the night of Aug. 7 when Georgia tried to establish control over a breakaway region, South Ossetia, only to be driven back by Russian forces". And to put that $1 billion figure in perspective the articles says: The aid would dwarf the $63 million the United States provided to Georgia last year, roughly a third of it for training its soldiers, police officers and border guards. Excluding Iraq, the infusion would make Georgia one of the largest recipients of American foreign aid after Israel and Egypt. That Dick Cheney was "sent" by Bush is indicative of the neocon agenda. Georgia did not attack without US or Israeli knowledge, but with their full support. So in essence, the US is to pay $1billion to Georgia for a defeated military invasion and attempt to capture South Ossetia--i.e. for a proxy war.
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POPSArming Iraq Front page story from the Wall Street Journal lays out both business and national security implications of the potential deal, notably underscoring the importance of Middle Eastern market for defense contractors. Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, General Electric, and United Technologies get mentions.