The Tower Of Babel Comes To Paris: The Folly Of Obama’s “War” On ISIS | David Stockman's Contra Corner →

This is spot-on. Who knew David Stockman was such a badass peacenik and foreign policy analyst?

Call the Anti-Police – Will Grigg →

““Law enforcement attracts a certain personality type that is prone to narcissism and aggression,” Brown asserts, speaking from decades of experience. “People like that get weeded out from our program very early. We protect innocent people from predators, and we can’t carry out that mission by hiring people who are predatory themselves.”

A Powder Keg Waiting to Blow

On CNN this morning, former NATO Supreme Commander Wesley Clark said that the U.S. notified the Syrian government that "we're coming," and that this was smart, so as to avoid any complications between the USAF and Syria's air force. He said that if the two were to tangle, that the Syrians "would lose," and that it's good that it doesn't happen, because he knows there might be Russian officers involved with the Syrian forces who could get caught up in the fight.

Combine this with the fact that Saudi Arabia and our client Gulf states, which hate and want to overthrow Assad, are participating in the air strikes on Syrian soil, and you have a powder keg waiting to blow.

Oh, and already one of the U.S. airstrikes in Syria has killed 8 civilians, including 3 children, and created for Americans who-knows-how-many more implacable enemies among those who loved the victims.

Where a guerrilla force enjoys support from the people...

"Where a guerrilla force enjoys support from the people, whether willing or forced, It can never be defeated by military means, however much it is harassed and attacked, shelled, mortared, and bombed by superior forces of infantry and artillery, air and sea power.” - Sir Robert Thompson, British expert on counter-guerrilla warfare in Malaya

Too bad about Scotland, but...

Too bad about Scotland, but the Dan Sanchez secession vote went well yesterday: 100% yes. I bet many others did too. Now if only our right to self-determination would be recognized.

A Void in the History of September 11th - Lawrence Wright - The New Yorker

"The theory behind the lawsuit against the Saudis goes back to the 1991 Gulf War. The presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia was a shattering event in the country’s history, calling into question the ancient bargain between the royal family and the Wahhabi clerics, whose blessing allows the Saud family to rule. In 1992, a group of the country’s most prominent religious leaders issued the Memorandum of Advice, which implicitly threatened a clerical coup. The royal family, shaken by the threat to its rule, accommodated most of the clerics’ demands, giving them more control over Saudi society. One of their directives called for the creation of a Ministry of Islamic Affairs, which would be given offices in Saudi embassies and consulates. As the journalist Philip Shenon writes, citing John Lehman, the former Secretary of the Navy and a 9/11 commissioner, “it was well-known in intelligence circles that the Islamic affairs office functioned as the Saudis’ ‘fifth column’ in support of Muslim extremists.”"