Update from the
Heartland
No.684
19.1.15 – 25.1.15
Blog version: http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/
To all,
An opinion
offered by a friend, colleague and contributor to this humble forum:
“In case you missed it, I wanted to repeat an article I found on
page 6 of today's Wall Street Journal.
It is very important to understand the Middle East situation. WSJ reports the
death of an Iranian general, Muhammed Ali Allahdadi, in an Israeli airstrike
with attack helicopters against a Hezbollah base inside Syria.
“This is an important event and brings to mind The Daily Show's
wonderful routine last year hilariously explaining about Syria's "Good
Opposition" and "Bad Opposition." America and a few allies (some
European and Arab countries) are trying to support a handful of more moderate
opposition groups who are caught between Syrian forces and ISIS, fighting in
both directions. There are other more radical groups fighting the Syrian
government and one of those groups morphed into ISIS last year and claimed
nation-state status. The US and most of its allies oppose those radical groups.
The Syrian government itself is supported by such groups as Hezbollah and some
countries like Russia and Iran. We heard a couple months back that the US was
OK with Iran helping its ally Iraq, but that the US would not cooperate in
Iranian action inside Iraq.
“Now, Israel enters the fray in Syria by attacking its old enemy
Hezbollah and, as collateral damage, killing an Iranian advisor. I say
"collateral damage" with some hesitation, because I suspect that the
Iranian general's presence at the Hezbollah camp may have been what raised the
attack to a high priority for the Israelis. The WSJ article says Israel has not
claimed credit for the assassination of the Iranian general, but one has to ask
what other country has US attack helicopters with blue Stars of David on the
fuselage. To add to the soap opera status of Middle East turmoil, last week
ISIS showed video of a young ISIS boy executing by pistol two
"Russian" advisors captured by ISIS in Syria. Russia has not commented
on whether the two men really were Russian operatives helping Syria.
“The whole morass in Syria and Iraq makes clear the old
catchphrase ‘the enemy of my enemy...’ no longer works in the Middle East and
the entire conflict is becoming very confusing and dangerous.”
News from the economic front:
-- Nationalbank of Denmark lowered its deposit rate to minus
0.20% from minus 0.05% and its lending rate to 0.05% from 0.20% in an attempt
to maintain its currency's peg to the euro. Then, in less than a week, Nationalbank further lowered its
deposit rate to minus 0.35% from minus 0.20%. Denmark seeks to dampen investor interest in the Danish krone
from investors selling the euro after the European Central Bank announced its
stimulus package. The Danish
people rejected the euro in a 2000 referendum.
-- The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the People’s Republic
of China (PRC) grew 7.4% in 2014, down from 7.7% growth a year earlier – the
slowest pace since 1990, when the country faced international sanctions in the
wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
-- The European Central Bank (ECB) announced an
expanded Quantitative Easing (QE) asset purchase program amounting to
€60B (US$70B) a month for at least a year. The ECB seeks to forestall economic
contraction, and to stimulate growth in the eurozone and avoid deflation. The ECB’s QE program continues to
generate considerable stress within not only the ECB governing council but also
the member governments in general.
Continuation
from Update no.682:
“The issue with your commentary is that you do not apply standards
to your writing. You are quite
capable of understanding those standards, as you demonstrated by your dissection
of that hack writer's book on the Nazis. However, you use ‘fascist’ quite as
freely as he uses ‘Nazi’ and you ignore context when it fails to fit your argument,
as you accuse him of doing. I have spent too much energy trying to point out
these issues. You have shown that you have awareness of this, but you never choose
to apply that awareness to your own work. That is unprofessional at the very least.”
My response:
Thank
you for the criticism. It is
always appreciated.
What
term would you suggest for someone who seeks to impose his dicta by
intimidation, violence, fear and coercion? Just as the IRI points to the “Great Satan” for the cause of
all evil in the world and especially in the oppression of their people, the
various other factions, e.g., AQ, AQAP, ISIL, et al, share at least one common
trait; they use intimidation, violence, fear and coercion, and their
interpretation of Islam as their authority to impose their beliefs on everyone
worldwide; that objective actually sounds far more ambitious than Hitler’s
Nazism. ISIL goes one step
farther; they actually kill anyone who does not subscribe to their distorted
view of governance. Walks like a
duck, quacks like a duck . . . probably a duck. I have no interest in the PC game and no desire to sugarcoat
reality around us. I try to call
‘em as I see ‘em, but that does NOT make me correct or even remotely relevant .
. . only a citizen willing to present my opinions for public debate.
I
endeavor to be precise with my words, but alas, I am only a flawed human being. I make mistakes.
I
appreciate that counter-checking my opinions is a time-consuming and arduous
process, and quite often frustrating.
I certainly cannot fault you for tiring of that effort. Nonetheless, I have always respected
and cherished your perspective and opinions. I trust you will eventually return to the challenge.
No comments or contributions
from Update no.683.
My very best wishes to all. Take care of yourselves and each other.
Cheers,
Cap :-)
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