The Red Line comment is at 1:25
Photo by @Stcrow of @nytimes of Pres Obama making remarks about Ukraine during photo op with Mexican Pres Pena Nieto. pic.twitter.com/XftQFDDiDQ
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) February 19, 2014
A journalist working for a Venezuelan news outlet captured these images during the protests in Caracas, Venezuela, on February 12. The footage shows different scenes during the protests and it reflects the confusion that surrounded the events. At one point, men in uniforms start shooting at people out of camera view while people throw stones at the men in uniform. Strong noises of shots can be heard, along with shouts from the crowd. The next scene shows bloody images of one of the three people who died during the protests, although CNN has not been able to verify that the events happened in the order in which they are edited and cannot verify who caused the death. CNN reached out to the Venezuelan government to get reaction and is waiting for an answer. Viewer discretion is advised due to the images in this video. WATCH VIDEO HERE
https://twitter.com/YourAnonNews/status/436223826284654592
When Clinton, Rice and Power launched operation R2P in Benghazi Libya they specifically helped the Libyan “Rebels” to overthrown Kaddaffi. This gave the al-Qaeda operatives, who made up the majority coalition of the “rebels”, immediate access to weapons warehouses and massive stockpiles of ManPads (Man Portable Air Defense Systems), otherwise known as surface to air missiles – the missiles were a specific manufacture coming originally from Russia. 20,000 such missiles immediately went missing.
This past weekend one of those missiles was used.
All five soldiers in the helicopter were killed, security officials said.
“This is what everyone has long assumed could happen, and it is a confirmation of those fears — that substantial and advanced weaponry came into the country in the aftermath of the Libyan war,” said Michael Wahid Hanna, an Egypt scholar at the Century Foundation in New York.
New York Times – Islamist militants shot down an Egyptian military helicopter in the Sinai Peninsula with a surface-to-air missile over the weekend, raising new alarms about the terrorist insurgency that developed there in response to the military takeover last summer.
Last week the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence issued its report on the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya. The report concluded that the attack, which resulted in the murder of four Americans, was “preventable.”
Some have been suggesting that the blame for this tragedy lies at least partly with Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was killed in the attack. This is untrue: The blame lies entirely with Washington.
The report states that retired Gen. Carter Ham, then-commander of the U.S. Africa Command (Africom) headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, twice offered to “sustain” the special forces security team in Tripoli and that Chris twice “declined.”
Since Chris cannot speak, I want to explain the reasons and timing for his responses to Gen. Ham. As the deputy chief of mission, I was kept informed by Chris or was present throughout the process. (more…)
For History Buffs – You may appreciate the following pictures of current events:
Molotov cocktail slingshot. #Kiev. Incredible. via @varlamov https://t.co/d4LjAbuYH6 pic.twitter.com/Rc6DZfIQUC
— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) January 23, 2014
…. another significant percentage would love to see the Islamists jailed, like Egypt.
Tunisia fell victim to dictatorial consequences stemming from economic strain as a result of mass migration. Like Egypt, the Tunisian Islamists (Muslim Brotherhood) promised great prosperity under Sharia. However, unlike Egypt, the Brotherhood still holds power.
TUNISIA – “Ben Ali, they fooled us! Come back soon!” is a slogan one could hear on Tuesday, January 7, in the streets of Tunis, Ariana, Mahdia, Sfax and other cities in Tunisia, as the country prepared to mark the three-year anniversary of the uprising that sent former dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali packing.
The protesters were in the street to voice their anger at tax hikes affecting public and agricultural transportation vehicles, but many expressed a nostalgia for the Ben Ali days that seems to be increasingly common.
In the capital, “Vive Ben Ali” can be seen scrawled on walls of buildings, and a Facebook page entitled “Forgive us, Mr. President” has been flooded with messages of affection and tribute. (more…)
The origin of the Arab Spring did not begin on December 17th, 2010 in Tunisia with the self-immolation Mohamed Bouazizi.
Bouazizi’s decision to douse himself with gasoline and light himself on fire was an outcome of an economic and social reality in Tunisia at a very specific moment in time – the origin for that event happened many years earlier in Europe.
Understanding the earlier origin helps to set the stage to understand Libya in 2011, the rise of al-Qaeda, and Obama’s short-sighted folly leading NATO intervention.
A basic tenet of humanity is freedom, a natural yearning to be free. To be able to move, decide, act and strive, is as natural as the flow of water through the path of least resistance.
When Europe formed a collective Union there were multiple political, social, and socio-economic factors which aligned to create an environment where the formation was constructed.
A tireless movement of Fabian Socialists with a history of long-term strategy were behind the rise of the EU as a collective union. (more…)
While assembling Part 4, to discuss the actual consequences from the short-sighted Obama/Clinton U.S. policy toward Libya in 2011, it became obvious that a key aspect is missing. The “real” cause of the Arab Spring.
Having travelled in the area, against all prior research, and with hundreds of correspondence conversations, it just hit me like a ton of bricks that perhaps most people don’t know “why” it started.
As I began to assemble the reference points, and outline, this article appeared. The substance contained inside that article further solidified the need to lay out the big picture before getting down into the micro-level consequences of Obama’s modern day Libyan folly.
The Westernized media version of what started the Arab Spring in Tunisia all revolve around some ubiquitous and vague talk of freedom, and a local market owner, Mohamed Bouazizi, setting himself on fire in protest to oppressive government. (more…)
It is remarkable how laser focused people tend to be around Libya and Hillary Clinton. The focus is almost exclusively on the Benghazi attack which killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.
The Benghazi attack which occurred on Sept 11, 2012, was a symptom of foreign policy failure; the actual cause of the policy failure happened a full year-and-a-half earlier in February 2011.
Part 1 – The Origin of the Libyan Crisis
Part 2 – The White House Tries To Catch Up
It is ironic to see press reports today “The U.S. government is trying to apprehend an al Qaeda terrorist wanted for his role in the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack that killed four Americans”. The irony is the terrorist we now seek, Muhammad Jamal, was released from Egyptian prison specifically because of the U.S. policy outlined in PART 1.
We digress.
In Part 1 we outlined the reality of President Obama remaining detached as the Libyan crisis began. In Part 2 we outlined the mistakes that were specifically a consequence of that disengagement strategy; including the failure to vet “the rebels”.
Today we’ll review the consequences of the March, April, May, June 2011 rush to catch up.
Senior foreign policy advisor Samantha Power exerted a strong influence during the response to a Libyan uprising. She was soon joined by then Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice. Together they convinced Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, to approach the Libyan rebels as “freedom fighters”.
While this was happening between the White House in D.C., and the U.N. in New York, Kaddaffi had regained his footing from an initial successful uprising and was asserting his military might toward attacking the “rebels”. He really had no fallback position once the International Criminal Court filed charges of War Crimes against him and publicly stated they fully intended to arrest him and his family.
In essence Kaddaffi had nothing to lose by fighting as no seat at a table of cease fire possibility was afforded. So Kaddaffi began to deploy his air force to attack the Benghazi rebels, as his ground troops moved in toward their positions.
If no-one intervened on behalf of the “rebels”, it was only a matter of time before Kaddaffi regained control. (more…)
Ketchup Boy thinking: ‘D’oh,.. I’m not gonna end up with this Sudan thing hung around my neck the way Hilary ended up with Libya; yeah, it makes a difference’….
(South Sudan) Nonessential U.S. Embassy personnel were evacuated Friday from South Sudan aboard two KC-130 aircraft assigned to a Marine crisis response team positioned in nearby Uganda.
The State Department said it ordered a reduction in staffing at the embassy in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, citing the deteriorating security situation there.
“We are taking this step out of an abundance of caution to ensure the safety and security of our diplomatic personnel,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement. “As a result of this drawdown, the U.S. Embassy in Juba will not be able to provide consular services to U.S. citizens in South Sudan.” (more…)