Century Old Terrorists Still Creating Wars From Iraq To Ukraine
Doug Bandow
The conflict in Iraq started a century ago. So did the civil war in Syria. And so did Russia’s dismemberment of Ukraine.
All of those conflicts, and much more, grew out of World War I.
At the turn of the 20th century, Europe was prospering. But on June 28, 1914, 19-year-old Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinated Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his wife Sophie.
The following weeks were filled with ultimatums, plans, and pleas. But governments soon found that “control has been lost and the stone has begun to roll,” as German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg pu...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 2, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Doug Bandow Source Type: blogs
Obama Administration Should Keep U.S. Out Of Iraq’s Revived Killfest
Doug Bandow
The uber-hawks and neocons who led America into the disastrous invasion of Iraq are campaigning for a repeat. If only the U.S. will go to war along the Euphrates a second time, they promise, everything will turn out well.
As I point out on Forbes online: “Americans should ignore these Sirens of Death. Attempting to forcibly transform Iraq never was Washington’s responsibility. Having botched the job once, U.S. policymakers should not try again.”
There was much to despise about Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, but he helped constrain Iran and enforced an ugly stability at home, suppr...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 23, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Doug Bandow Source Type: blogs
Don't Overestimate ISIS Gains in Iraq
Jennifer Keister
ISIS’s territorial gains in Syria and Iraq are impressive. However, the group has its work cut out for it.
First, ISIS may face internal tensions. The nature of the relationship between the group and Iraqi Baathists has been variously reported. While the two have an obvious operational incentive to collaborate, if the former Baathist elements retain their original ideological platform, it is likely incompatible with ISIS’s radical preferences. Should ISIS determine it is content with its territorial holdings, any partnership could face tensions in the absence of a common enemy in Maliki’s sectarian ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 20, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Jennifer Keister Source Type: blogs
America Should Stay Out of Iraq and Stop Trying to Fix the World
Doug Bandow
KILIS, TURKEY—Syria’s civil war has washed over Turkey’s border, flooding the latter with hundreds of thousands of refugees. Washington’s efforts to solve the crisis so far have yielded few positive results. George W. Bush’s grandest foreign policy “success,” the ouster of Saddam Hussein, is turning into an even more dramatic debacle.
The region is aflame and U.S. policy bears much of the blame. Washington’s relentless attempt to reorder and reshape complex peoples, distant places, and volatile disputes has backfired spectacularly.
The blame is not limited to Barack Obama. However ineffec...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 18, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Doug Bandow Source Type: blogs
Iraq: The Cost of Building a Failed State
Steve H. Hanke
“Governments constantly choose between telling lies and fighting wars, with the end result always being the same. One will always lead to the other.”
- Thomas Jefferson
Nobel Laureate George Akerlof uses this edifying quote from Thomas Jefferson to good effect in his foreword of Hossein Askari’s excellent read, Conflicts and Wars: Their Fallout and Prevention (Palgrave MacMillan, New York, 2012). Indeed, Prof. Akerlof has this to say about Askari’s work:
“Professor Askari begins by surveying the burden of military expenditures and of conflicts and wars. Their dollar expenditures, which are close t...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 17, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Steve H. Hanke Source Type: blogs
(Not News) Obama Opposed to Sending U.S. Troops Back into Iraq
Christopher A. Preble
It is good to know that President Obama is opposed to sending U.S. troops into Iraq, though hardly surprising. (I was shocked to hear a reporter ask the president after his remarks if he was reluctant to do so. How could he not be?)
As Chuck Todd noted today on MSNBC, and here, 59 percent of Americans believe that the war in Iraq was not worth it. Does anyone seriously believe that a well-crafted Obama sales pitch could convince a majority of Americans to change their minds? I don’t.
Among the many maddening aspects of this story—and there are many—I’m most frustrated by the claim tha...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 13, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Christopher A. Preble Source Type: blogs
Understanding Iraq
The corporate media, and for that matter U.S. politicians of all stripes, are fundamentally misunderstanding what is happening in Iraq. The collapse of the Iraqi army in Mosul and cities to the south along the Tigris is not essentially about the rise of ISIS (aka ISIL) as a powerful extremist force; it is fundamentally about the sectarian misrule of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his allies in political Shiism. Former U.S. diplomat Wayne White (oddly appearing here in an Iranian web magazine), has a sharp analysis. ISIS is successful because the largely Sunni population of Anbar and Nineveh provinces hates the gov...
Source: Stayin' Alive - June 12, 2014 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Autumn of the Intellectual in Iraq
In one of his articles, Khalid Al-Qishtainy writes about his problem in translating the Arabic word (Muthaq'qaf مثقف) to English. He writes that he lived for years as a translator, and was able to buy his house and car from his work, yet he is unable to translate the word. Thus I am not trying here to translate that same word which confused Al-Qishtainy, and Margaret Thatcher too, but the book I am reading these days is worth noting:The title contains that confusing word (Al-Muthaq'qaf) which I will translate here as "Intellectual". Hence the title will be "The Autumn of the Intellectual in Iraq" by Mohammed Ghazi Al-A...
Source: psychiatry for all - January 12, 2014 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
The Iraq Quagmire Beckons Again
Ted Galen Carpenter
While media attention has focused on such matters as the Obama Care roll-out fiasco and the civil war in Syria, developments in Iraq are becoming increasingly ominous. Sectarian violence there has reached levels not seen since the chaotic days of 2006-2007. Some 7,000 people have perished so far in 2013, and the total for October alone was just shy of 1,000. Since Iraq’s population is a mere 25 million, a comparable death toll in the United States would be nearly 13,000 for October and nearly 90,000 for the current calendar year. As I note in a recent article in Gulan, Iraq is now in the throes of a ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - November 4, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Ted Galen Carpenter Source Type: blogs
Reading Iraqi Newspaper (22 Oct 2013)
Well, I got to admit that now that I am writing this I still don’t know who is Charles Theron, and I don’t know if Hogu Chavez had died or not and if so, when that did happen. The article by Nazzar Abdul-Sattar entitled “Are You Okay?” in today’s issue of Al-Sabah talks about a couple, a female lying watching T.V. and a man who when brought her a glass of orange juice found her contemplating Charles Theron’s face appearing on the screen. They talked about Oscar prices. She told himthat acting is difficult and he told her that asking questions is difficult too. She told him that Hugo Chafez had died just before ...
Source: psychiatry for all - October 22, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
Reading an Iraqi Newspaper (14th October 2013)
Reading an issue of an Iraqi newspaper is good reflection on what is happening in Iraq these days. I do not care much about the political news but on the columns written by Iraqi individuals about their lives. Here is a reading in today’s issue of Azzaman Arabic Daily Newspaper.Hadi Abbas Hussein from Baghdad wrote a short story entitled “Tiring Delusions” about an Iraqi father who lives in a rented apartment with his two married sons. The father always had dreams about leaving Iraq. Recently he decided to go to Georgia. He told two of his friends about the idea and they asked him to do them a favor in going to Georg...
Source: psychiatry for all - October 14, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
The HearStrong Foundation: Inspiring Our World to Hear Better, One Champion at a Time
By Caitlin E. VeriCommunications Coordinator, EarQ
One of Colleen Van Rooy’s earliest memories is touching her family’s television/stereo cabinet to feel the sound moving through it. As a child born with hearing loss, that was the only way the Appleton, WI, native could experience sound.
But things soon changed when Colleen received her first pair of hearing devices at the age of 4. From that moment on, Colleen was unstoppable. From academics to community service, Colleen has never missed a step. Today, as she raises three children who also have hearing loss, Colleen continues to exemplify determination as s...
Source: R&D Blog - August 28, 2013 Category: ENT & OMF Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Reading Iraqi Newspapers
An article published last Thursday named Plastic Palms in an Iraqi newspaper named Al-Aalem Al-Jadeed (= The New World) talks about those ugly plastic palms that the government had bought from outside of Iraq to decorate Iraqi streets. What breaks the heart is that those palms are not only ugly but their price is triple the price of real palms that the Iraqi farmer are ready to provide.Another article in the same newspaper published last Sunday named Twereej Tobacco talks about an old story from the city of Twereej, the city of origin of the current Iraqi prime minster. The story says that on each side of the river that pa...
Source: psychiatry for all - August 26, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
Life Coaching Lessons From The War In Iraq
Before we get to today’s guest post from Akshay Nanavati a quick heads up.
The final Coach The Life Coach trial starts this Sunday 11th August at 12 noon EST.
I have had one attendee transfer to working one-on-one with me and as such have an open slot.
If you are a Life Coach or want to become a Life Coach then you have the opportunity to grab the last place for half of what the course will cost when it rolls out in October.
Check out Coach the Life Coach for more details and then e-mail me if you’re interested.
Now over to Akshay.
Life Coaching Lessons From The War In Iraq
Have you ever stopped to consider what is y...
Source: Life Coach Blog: The Discomfort Zone : - August 8, 2013 Category: Life Coaches Authors: Tim Brownson Tags: Guest Posts Source Type: blogs
Global Diabetes: A Teen's View from Baghdad, Iraq
We continue traveling the globe to bring you accounts of living with diabetes in various countries for our Global Diabetes series. This month, we're happy to introduce a teenager who's living with type 1 diabetes over in Baghdad, Iraq.Danya Almash... (Source: Diabetes Mine)
Source: Diabetes Mine - July 12, 2013 Category: Endocrinology Authors: Amy Tenderich Source Type: blogs
