Hopes are fading amid the rescue and recovery workers in the aftermath of the horrific earthquake that hit southern Turkey and northern Syria.  Reuters is providing an update on the devastation in the region.  The scale of the impact is widespread and devastating as even more recovery workers continue arriving.

ANTAKYA, Turkey/JANDARIS, Syria, Feb 9, (Reuters) – Cold, hunger and despair gripped hundreds of thousands of people left homeless after the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria three days ago as the death toll passed 20,000 on Thursday.

The rescue of a 2-year-old boy after 79 hours trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building in Hatay, Turkey, and several other people raised spirits among weary search crews. But hopes were fading that many more would be found alive in the ruins of towns and cities.

[…] Hundreds of thousands of people in both countries have been left homeless in the middle of winter. Many have camped out in makeshift shelters in supermarket car parks, mosques, roadsides or amid the ruins, often desperate for food, water and heat.

[…] Authorities say some 6,500 buildings in Turkey collapsed and countless more were damaged.

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I did not have internet access for most of today, another long-term recovery issue.  However, now that I am seeing the footage of the earthquake in Southern Turkey and Northern Syria, my prayers are for all of those in the region.  The devastation is just incredible.

According to the Associated Press, 5,600 buildings have collapsed and several of them came down today during aftershocks amid search and rescue operations.  The current recorded death toll is over 4,300 people, with the World Health Organization (WHO) predicting the total loss of life could exceed 20,000.  This is just horrific.

The estimated 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit over an area of several major population centers. The Guardian reports, “the population of the ten provinces in southern Turkey affected by the earthquakes are home to 13.5 million people. So far, according to the Andalou agency, more than 5,600 buildings have collapsed.

It is just after 6am in Turkey, and we’re seeing stories of people rescued after a very long day and night, which means they survived not only the rubble’s collapse but the cold. There are many, many more who have not yet been found, with the WHO predicting the death toll could reach 20,000 in the coming days. For now, here are videos of a three-year-old toddler and a woman who were freed from collapsed buildings by rescuers.” (link)

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According to the White House, 50 special forces operators attacked the leadership compound of Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, the ISIS replacement head for Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who was killed in 2019.  According to the White House occupant, after a lengthy engagement with U.S. forces, al-Qurayshi killed himself the same way al-Baghdadi did, by exploding a bomb.  There were no U.S. casualties.

(Via ABC) First responders reported that 13 people had been killed, including six children and four women. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said U.S. officials believe al-Qurayshi’s explosive killed himself, his wife, and three children. She added that U.S. officials were conducting an assessment to determine whether American action resulted in any civilian deaths. (more)

The White House background briefing on the strike IS HERE.  The remarks by Joe Biden ARE HERE.

Sending 50 special operators for one building engagement is a little heavy; however, obviously the White House was petrified that something would go wrong, and the last thing Ron Klain wants would be another boondoggle to add to the pile of disasters this administration has created.

That said, rather than debate the mission, I would draw attention to the location and bigger picture.  Northern Syria is part of the Muslim Brotherhood territory under the influence of Turkish President Recep Erdogan.  ISIS, al-Qaeda, al-Nusra, and all extremist Islamic factions therein are all just various shades of authentic Islam as promoted by The Muslim Brotherhood.

Turkey is a member of NATO.  Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi and all of the various offshoots of ISIS could not operate in Northern Syria without the assistance of Turkey.  But we are not allowed to talk about that.  Notice how none of the media ask the White House or Pentagon if we discussed the attack with Turkey in advance?

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To be fair he’s always been an idiot, and now the severe dementia doesn’t help.

The installed occupant of the White House had a horrible, terrible day with reporters at the G7.  Biden was confused, disconnected, incoherent at times and struggled to read the words on his notes.  Other than that, adding the creepy whisper voice to the end was apropos.

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More awkward soundbites the media is forced to ignore or justify below:

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Former U.S. Ambassador to Germany and Acting Director of National Intelligence, Richard ‘Ric’ Grenell, discusses the ideological flaws within the JoeBama foreign policy as it is being rolled out and our adversaries are laughing.   The interview begins with a discussion of the embarrassing U.S-China summit in Alaska, where Chinese officials dressed-down U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken.

As Grenell notes the policies of many ideologically aligned leftist nations (ie. Germany, South Korea) are in conflict with their ‘western’ values as expressed.  This has been evident for decades.

The example of Germany contracting with Russia for natural gas (Nordstream II pipeline), while not fulfilling their NATO funding commitments, is just one aspect.  South Korea presents a similar ideological hypocrisy regarding China/DPRK.  Angela Merkel and Moon Jae-In are not coincidentally aligned with Obama’s leftist world-view.

https://youtu.be/IkZVV6IPEWs

ANALYSIS – The Obama foreign policy doctrine was fraught with ideological hypocrisy as a feature not a flaw.  Claim a desire for mid-east peace, set the middle-east on fire with the Arab Spring (Obama Cairo speech).  Claim a desire for middle-class workers, yet facilitate corporate offshoring.  Claim a desire for Israeli security yet attack Egyptian President Fattah al-Sisi for creating Israeli security.  Accept a Nobel Peace Prize, set Libya on fire and kill thousands.  Accept a Nobel Peace Prize, then attack Syria.  Hypocrisy, hypocrisy, hypocrisy.

Champion women’s’ causes on stage, yet embrace Turkey and the Muslim Brotherhood who devalue women.  Claim to support democratic elections, then undermine the majority election outcome of the British vote in Brexit.  Everything, every – single – thing, about the Obama foreign policy was an exercise in hypocrisy.  There were ZERO foreign policy successes, NONE.  What we are seeing now is the same thing with Biden, because it is an extension of Obama’s third term.  Hence, JoeBama.

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As of approximately 8 hours after the bombing of Syria, there is no statement from the White House on their official website [SEE HERE] or from the JoeBama spokespeople.

The cognitively disconnected pretend president is being cited for authorizing the bombing.

However, there’s just as much reason to believe he thought he was ordering more jello pudding before nap-time.

The preferred narrative term “Iran-backed” is also so disengenous it is quite silly.

WASHINGTON – The US on Thursday launched an airstrike in Syria that targeted facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups — the first military action taken by the Biden administration, officials said.

The Pentagon said the strike was in retaliation for a Feb. 15 rocket attack against a US military base at Erbil International Airport in Northern Iraq that killed a US-led coalition contractor and left others wounded, including an American service member.

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If you have read CTH you know Adam Kinzinger is a House member of the DeceptiCon caucus. A McCain minded, war-mongering, lover of all things deep state.  He rides the uniparty like a bird of prey, and is one of the more visible CNN republicans because he loves to crap on anyone who would fight back against his insufferable duplicity.

Kinzinger sees himself as better than all those who prefer to focus on America First priorities. He is an elitist-minded politician who views the MAGA community of Trump supporters with utmost contempt.

We need a “Big Ugly” battle against these creatures who reside comfortably in the cocktail party circuit purchased by Wall Street.

(Via The Hill) Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) plans to target lawmakers including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) with his new political action committee, which aims to aid GOP candidates that don’t embrace Trumpism.

The Illinois lawmaker — who has been a vocal Trump critic and was one of the 10 GOP House members to in favor of impeaching the former president for inciting a riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6 — told The Washington Post he has a “huge list” of members he would like to see challenged for perpetuating conspiracy theories and the unsubstantiated claim that the 2020 election was stolen.

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There is general agreement that George W Bush sent troops into Iraq as an outcome of the industrial war machine policy to advance U.S. interventionism; thereby completing the job his father President HW Bush was prudently not willing to escalate after the liberation of Kuwait.

President Donald Trump attempted to draw-down U.S. military all around the globe, specifically Europe and the middle-east.  However, as history often repeats, now it appears we are see the JoeBama administration sending troops back into Syria; perhaps to attempt the same regime change objective they failed in 2013 and 2014.  The mid-east war machine is oiled with American blood.

SYRIA – A convoy of 40 trucks and armor vehicles said to have entered Syria from Iraq

Despite the majority of American’s being happy about the U.S. energy independence created by President Trump, it is adverse to the interests of Wall Street and Big Government to lose justification for U.S. troops in the middle-east.

Remember, the vast majority of money into the bank accounts of politicians, their families and bureaucrats within the Deep State, comes from foreign governments.

From their DC perspective: all systems/processes that increase U.S. global influence are good; any policies/processes that reduce U.S. global influence are bad.

Rasmussen – “On his first day in the White House, President Joe Biden signed an executive order blocking further construction on the Keystone XL Pipeline project. Most voters disagree with Biden’s decision.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that only 36% of Likely U.S. Voters think it is a good idea to cancel the Keystone XL Pipeline that would transport oil from Canada to the U.S. Fifty-one percent (51%) of voters say canceling the pipeline is a bad idea, and 13% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)”  [source]

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In case you might have missed the latest faux-controversy assigned by political operatives to the media narrative engineers, the issue surrounds leaked sketchy intelligence reports, to the New York Times, claiming Russians were willing to pay Taliban members to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.  The evidence provided by the Times includes:

(New York Times Graphic Source)

From this tenuous evidence footnoted with “according to multiple officials familiar with the intelligence”, democrat operatives in media desperately clutch their pearls and stake out another batch of apoplexy claiming President Trump is not doing anything about it.

Setting aside for the moment that nothing claimed by media or the DNC political operatives in/around capitol hill has any substantive intelligence to prove the claim, let’s first look at the underlying premise: ‘Russians are paying the Taliban to kill American soldiers.’

First, obviously these same voices need to ignore that in 2010 Iran was paying insurgent fighters in multiple fields of combat including Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, to kill Americans. Those well-documented examples must be overlooked because despite the overwhelming evidence the Obama administration paid Iran over $170 billion in cash and entered a nuclear deal with them.  Once again, in order to retain their left-wing political position the media must pretend not to know things.

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