Update no.704

Update from the Heartland

No.704

8.6.15 – 14.6.15

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

To all,

Aslan Soobzokov forwarded the following relevant article:

“What ISIS -- and the West -- gets wrong about 'jihad'”

by Abed Awad

CNN

Published: 2113 GMT (0413 HKT) May 29, 2015

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/29/opinions/isis-jihad-meaning/index.html

First, I must say, thank you, Aslan.

Second, I urge everyone to read Awad’s opinion article.

Awad effectively opens with quotes, as he notes, that are scripture and could easily be assumed to be rationale used by ISIL to justify their indiscriminate violence and destruction of anyone and everything they do not agree with in their areas of domination or influence.  The quotes are actually from The Bible’s Old Testament – Exodus, Deuteronomy and Numbers.  Awad wants us to stand back just a little, and not be quick and general in our condemnation of Islam and Muslims.  ISIL is NOT Islam.  What ISIL is doing is the antithesis of what Islam stands for in so many ways.

            I will go farther than Awad to say, ISIL is a rabid mutation of jihadist justification for what appears to be just another version of megalomania – they seek to impose their beliefs on as many people as possible and intimidate everyone else.  I would also observe that the Bible versus Qur’an comparison supports my contention that Islam is roughly 600 years behind Christianity in maturation, tolerance and perspective.  While I suspect most Christians will appreciate Awad’s message, the real audience has to be Muslims.  If Muslims are offended by the United States, or infidels, or non-believers, or crusaders, fighting bad guys in predominately Muslims countries, then they must stop bad Muslims from exporting their violence and violent ideology outside their countries.

Various elements of the Press reported on what was actually the continuing effort of Congress to pass a trade bill at the President’s urging.  The Wall Street Journal flash headline read, “House Deals Blow to Obama's Bid for Trade Deal.”  My curiosity peaked.  What did they object to and why?  The event that sparked the WSJ flash report was House Roll Call Vote 361 recorded at 13:47 [R] EDT, Friday, 12.June.2015, as 126-302-0-6(1), which supposedly rejected Title II of H.R. 1314, provisionally titled: Trade Adjustment Assistance Reauthorization Act of 2015 [FYI: Title I of H.R. 1314 provisionally titled: Trade Act of 2015].  What was not reported in the Press (at least so far) were subsequent votes in the House of Representatives later that afternoon.   After spending far too much time trying to sort out what was rejected, what was passed, and what Congress was trying to accomplish, I gave up.  As best I can determine, the negotiations in the back rooms, offices and halls of Congress are still quite fluid and uncertain to be spending this quantity of time, especially when I have other writing projects on my plate.  Forgive me!  I will need to let things settle down before attempting to understand all this.

News from the economic front:

-- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) halted bailout talks with Greece after failure to make progress in negotiations with the government of the beleaguered Mediterranean nation over their terrible debt situation.  The frustration of the international banking community involved with helping Greece out of their predicament appears to be growing to the point of intolerance.  The potential and looming failure of Greece presses heavily on the international banking and monetary system.  Greece appears to be carrying out a program of brinksmanship as they try to get the rest of the world to pay for their past unsustainable borrowing and spending.

Continuation from Update no.702:

“Sorry I did not get this out earlier, I flagged it for a response and got behind on those (my failure, sorry!).  I appreciate you replying my friend.  I always appreciate and respect your analysis and intellect on important issues Cap.

“I just downloaded the book onto my Kindle called Colder Wars (which I sent a review out on tonight).  I am wanting to explore the energy or resources wars side of all this geopolitics we see my friend.

“Your last sentence ‘Both are very dangerous in their current mindset’ is for sure a concern all of us have.  Let me ask you, do you think America and NATO has been pushing the envelopes for both Russia and China?

“I think on ISIS or ISIL, it will be interesting to ultimately discover who is really funding them.  Just like 9/11, I am not yet certain who was really behind that whether just AQ or state sponsors that funneled support/resources to them.”

My reply:

            No worries.  At least you contribute, which is more than most folks on the list do.  

            Resources have been a major factor in contemporary conflicts and wars of the last century.  The pressure will only increase as earthly resources dwindle and until we figure out how to tap asteroids, planets proto-planets and moons.  Eventually, we will have to leave our solar system for the same reason.

            Re: “do you think America and NATO has been pushing the envelopes for both Russia and China?”  My opinion: quite the contrary; I do not think we have pressed Russia or the PRC enough.  Both countries have gotten away with far too much already.  Japan has come the closest to drawing the line.  I would like to see a harder line on both Russia and the PRC, and less tolerance of their hegemonic efforts.

            Re: funding of ISIL.  Not an easy answer to find.  AQ, ISIL, et al, receive funding from a variety of sources.  I would bet the USG knows far more about parts of the answer than have been or probably ever will be made public.  State sponsors of terrorism are less prevalent today than prior to 9/11, but states, or at least those bad guys with access to state assets, are still involved.

Comments and contributions from Update no.703:

Comment to the Blog:

“Your description of your motorcycle trip is easily the best I have ever seen of your writing. Your trip flowed off the page exceptionally well, your pictures had true clarity, and you kept it simple enough that nothing impeded the experience. Using the sense of smell particularly improved the experience. That and the bird striking your thigh highlight the distinctions of riding a motorcycle versus enclosed vehicles. You could sell Harleys with that ride. The Great Plains get a boost from you as well. I have a mechanical quibble (not an artistry point at all) in that the phrase “how many large wind turbines” needs no commas. That, as stated, is only a mechanical issue, and it takes very little away from the description. Write more about riding; you excel at that.

“The earth moving must have startled you as much as it would (or will) me. We live in places not accustomed to that.

“I am sad for you that you must live in Kansas right now.

“The only things I have to say about Caitlyn Jenner are that I did not immediately recognize the person from that first, most known photograph of her and that few women indeed retain that skin tone to that age. Nothing other than that is anyone's business.

“The discussion of hydraulic fracking continues. We have a saline injection well in the rural county where I am living, and it bothers me. Between the potential for water pollution and the unknown effects of fracturing rock layers, I would have preferred much more study before our state government allowed this process to expand here.

“I see no way to functionally limit surveillance to its announced purpose. With secrecy as a dominant feature of spying, the public has no way to know if a credible threat even exists. The recent study of airport security suggests that weapons could have been brought into our nation almost at will. The uses of the collected information other than those proclaimed publicly are even murkier. Any suggestion that we trust either the spies themselves or the politicians and bureaucrats who are supposed to supervise them fails the test of history. J. Edgar Hoover's antics come immediately to my mind, along with the assassination attempts on Castro and the Pinochet affair. I have written elsewhere about the Iran-Contra mess and its effect on the rule of law in the United States. I have not changed my opinion.

“I have a low opinion of the United States' results in international affairs, which is not the same as a moral judgment. I do not pretend to know the content of people's spirits, and I will leave that judgment for their Higher Powers. Given that many of them are conservative Christians, that ought to be harsh enough to satisfy any critic.”

My response to the Blog:

            Thank you for your generous words.

            I have a number of bike rides sketched out, so there will be more travelogues ahead, as soon as I am able to ride . . . just too much fun.  I will most assuredly write more about my adventures as they come.

            We can argue about my use of punctuation . . . comma use is often a good topic.  I have always used the guidance . . . multiple adjective modifiers should be separated by a comma for clarity.  In this instance, I could argue the comma either way.  Thus, I will accept your constructive criticism in the spirit it was given.

            I grew up (all my school years) in the San Francisco Bay Area, so I am quite familiar with earthquakes.  I’ve been through far worse than anything we’ve experienced on the Great Plains.  Yes, it did disturb my cherished naptime, but hey, that’s life.  To me, the timing was more significant given the release of the draft fracking report.  There is little doubt in my little pea brain the earthquakes we are experiencing out here are a consequence of fracking or some other human induced action.  There are no fault lines close by.  These are comparatively small tremors and quite shallow, well within drilling range.  The 3-5 magnitude earthquakes are not likely to cause much damage, but if these induced quakes grow into 6 & above magnitude, there will be damage, and that will change the equation.

            Yes, well, our state governor and legislature are an embarrassment to many of us, but Kansas is still a nice, peaceful, place to live.

            Re: limiting surveillance.  This will remain an important topic of discussion for all of us, for quite some time.  Again, the language in the USA FREEDOM Act is loose enough to allow a wide range of actions, so interpretation will be a critical element.  The law prohibits the USG (all its agencies) from bulk metadata collection as had been carried out by interpretation of §215 USA PATRIOT Act.  The best I could determine from the text, the USG can access such data, if someone else held the data (i.e., the telephone companies).  There are also a number of hurdles the USG must negotiate in order to search such files.  I understand and appreciate your distrust of the government with surveillance data.  J. Edgar Hoover is a perfect, prime example of what can happen; he was about as close to a dictator we have approached since the founding of this Grand Republic; he collected intelligence illegally and used it to influence politicians and bend them to his will.

            I cannot agree with blaming ‘conservative Christians’ for foreign policy failures.  I think political and religious leanings cover the spectrum in that arena.  Further, as noted previously, I suspect my list of foreign policy failures by the United States is smaller than yours.  Some of those ‘failures’ were well intentioned, but poorly executed.

 . . . follow-up comment:

“My generous words fit the case. You wrote exceptionally well about your ride, perhaps because you were fully engaged in your riding. In any case, you wrote an engaging item.

“Grammarian alert: the sentence I mentioned does not include a series, hence no series commas. "I have no idea how many, large, wind turbines occupied that farm," was the clause that bothered me. "How many" modifies "large," not "wind turbines"; therefore, no series and no comma. I test that issue in my own writing by rearranging the modifiers. "No idea how large, many wind turbines . . ." does not follow. "Large" modifies the phrase "wind turbines." "Wind" modifies "turbines."

“I agree with your analysis of fracking and tremors. We experience similar events (fracking activities and new seismic phenomena) here in Ohio and in Pennsylvania, among other places. I share your fear of stronger seismic phenomena. In addition, many of us fear water contamination via the chemicals used in fracking, the nature of which is a "trade secret," unknown to water consumers or regulators.

“Again, I'm not indulging in moral judgment of conservative Christians or anyone else in regard to foreign policy, but merely pointing out results. Intentions, whether professed or inferred, are a difficult factor in any enterprise. A well-intended failure fails just the same, and that describes many foreign policy results. Beyond that, anyone's perceptions of others' intentions are sketchy at best. Human beings lack access to minds other than their own, and even one's own is often difficult to read in its depths. That is why blame games have no winner. I do not attach such blame to conservative Christians (in foreign policy or elsewhere) due to their religion, but if we believe "their God will judge them," the results of that judgment would be more harsh for them than for those with a more loving Higher Power or with none. Thus my statement.”

 . . . my follow-up comment:

            Nonetheless, thank you very much.  I shall endeavor to improve.

            Re. comma.  I will concede the point.  You are correct.

            Re: fracking.  The concern is real and appropriate.  My reason for illuminating the draft EPA report on potential water contamination does not support a systemic problem . . . yet.  Vigilance is warranted.

            Re: Christians & foreign policy.  Thank you for your explanation.  ‘Nuf said.

Another contribution:

“Be careful on the motorcycle!!  A friend of mine, a fellow Marine judge advocate who went on to work at the Agency, was seriously hurt a month ago- he hit a deer (or vice versa).  Broke bones in his leg and knee.  Says he will likely need a knee replacement to walk again.  And he was lucky to survive.”

My reply:

            I ride like I fly . . . head on a swivel and always cautious.  Deer are a problem in this neck of the woods.  The state tries to keep the margins clear, but when not, I slow down . . . just in case.

            Hope your friend heals quickly and the accident doesn’t turn him off from riding.

My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                 :-)