Braggadocious

That little s**t pot North Korean dictator, Kim Turd-un, is threatening to hit the USA with a "super-mighty preemptive strike," whatever that is. His threats to destroy the US are really directed towards his own people because no one else in the world believes him. Still he is truly an annoying little psychopath and hopefully the 1-2-3 combo of China, Japan and the US will remove him from being an annoyance to realizing his potential as fertilizer.

Even Mary Poppins wants to kick his Fat Asian Ass.

Super-Mighty-Suicidal-Extra-Braggadocious
Threatenings from that little shit who wants to be ferocious
The bombing that is soon to come is something quite atrocious
Super-Mighty-Suicidal-Extra-Braggadocious!

US Military Command Responsible For Deaths Of US Soldiers?

A retired Air Force Captain relates how she watched US soldiers die as she was denied permission to engage Taliban terrorists.

A decorated retired Air Force officer who witnessed one of the most deadly attacks on Navy SEALs in U.S. history is breaking her silence, saying the government covered up evidence detailing that the 2011 downing of a Chinook helicopter gunship that killed 38 fighters in Afghanistan could have been prevented had it not been for restrictions to the military's rules of engagement that were changed under the Obama administration.

The article lists some of the ROE that get American soldiers killed.

• No night or surprise searches
• Villagers warned prior to searches
• U.S. units on searches
• U.S. soldiers may not fire at the enemy unless the enemy is preparing to fire first
• Afghan National Army or Afghan National Police must accompany
• U.S. forces cannot engage the enemy if civilians are present
• Troops can fire at an insurgent if they catch them placing an IED, but not if they’re walking away from placing an IED.
• Only engage an enemy fighter if you see a weapon, and they’ve fired first

Trump simply has to make this nonsense disappear. Nothing will return these brave men and women to their loved ones; the military's leadership should be held accountable for this.

Apparently Obama has removed many good fighting generals and replaced them with ass kissers. I desperately hope I am wrong on this account as my daughter joined the National Guard's, 20th Group SF and has already been asked if she is willing to be deployed (again).

More.

Russian Show Of Force

Disabled Russian Warships - 1905

Anyone have an idea of the condition of Russia's navy? I'm wondering if Putin's navy is anything like the hollow shell that Russia threw against the Japanese Navy in 1905.

From the UK Daily Mail:

Cutting through the English Channel, the looming bulk of the Russian navy’s flagship passes the White Cliffs of Dover.

Belching black smoke, the ageing aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov sailed menacingly close to Britain yesterday in a provocative manoeuvre.

              Russian Aircraft Carrier - Admiral Kuznetsov - commissioned 1995

The Soviet-era vessel, leading a flotilla of eight naval vessels, is on its way to the eastern Mediterranean to bolster the Syrian bombing campaign.

[...]Putin's flagship was accompanied by the nuclear-powered missile cruiser Peter the Great and six other surface vessels including the world's biggest ocean going tug, the Nicolay Chiker.

The Kuznetsov never travels far from its home port in Severomorsk, outside Murmansk without the tug in case the vessel's unreliable diesel engines pack up.

The Russian flee is being shadowed by a British destroyer, the HMS Dragon. This Type 45 destroyer has it's own power plant problems:

The turbines are of a sound design but have an intercooler-recuperator that recovers heat from the exhaust and recycles it into the engine, making it more fuel-efficient and reducing the ship’s thermal signature. Unfortunately the intercooler unit has a major design flaw and causes the GTs to fail occasionally. When this happens, the electrical load on the diesel generators can become too great and they ‘trip out’, leaving the ship with no source of power or propulsion.

The Brits could have installed a more mature, reliable power plant produced by General Electric but chose Rolls Royce instead.

British Navy Type 45 Destroyer, HMS Dragon (D35) - commissioned 2008

This Russian warship may also be a sitting duck for the Type 45's modern  armaments and electronic counter measures.

 Russian Guided Missile Destroyer - Peter the Great - commissioned 1985

British Soldiers Get A Break

Brussels - ISIS Just Called And They Want Europe Back

You seriously think that the DHS is going to protect us from this? Well, maybe if the terrorists aren't wearing Gucci shoes.

 
The Muslims just blew the crap out of Brussels. Muslims are just taking up where they left off in 1683.

Cowering under desks and running for their lives, this is the terrifying moment passengers were caught up in an ISIS suicide bomb attack at Brussels Airport today in a series of blasts that have killed at least 34 people and injured 170 across the city.

Witnesses described apocalyptic scenes with blood and 'dismembered bodies everywhere' after two blasts rocked the terminal at around 8am (7am GMT), killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens of others.

Over the centuries Muslims have occupied much of Europe. Charles Martel stopped them in 732 at the Battle of Tours (Tours is only about a 3 or 4 hour ride from the D-Day beaches at Normandy), but there were many more battles to come (846: Muslims invaded and sacked Rome; 849: Battle of Ostia- Muslim invasion of Rome; ninth and tenth centuries, Muslims pillage Sicily and Italy; Sicily would remain under Muslim control for over 250 years). Spain would not finally shake off all vestiges of the Muslim incursion until 1492.

Yeah, 1492. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 the Muslims stepped up their attacks on Christendom throughout Europe. The 16th century saw more battles, primarily in and around Italy and especially in Malta which had becomes a staging point for European forces.

Slaughter follows Muslim victories like stink follows a broccoli banquet. In Sicily they would kill half the inhabitants of some cities even after promising clemency.

Muslims continued to occupy European countries until the Ottomans were turned back in 1683 at the Battle of Vienna. This was the culmination of 300 years of war between the Ottomans and the Hapsburg dynasties.

What is happening now is just a taste of what will come unless Europe wakes up. And we'd better get serious in a big hurry 'cause ISIS hates us just as much, perhaps even more, than the Europeans.

Then 79 minutes later at 9.19am, at least 20 people were killed and scores injured, some critically, when a blast hit a Metro station just 400 metres from the EU headquarters in the city centre.

At the airport, there were reports of a firefight between police and the attackers who shouted in Arabic moments before detonating their bombs, one of which was understood to contain nails.

An unexploded suicide vest was later found in the rubble and a Kalashnikov rifle beside the body of a dead terrorist. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The blasts, which detonated near a Starbucks and several check-in desks, sent shockwaves through the terminal building, shattering windows and knocking roof tiles off the ceiling as terrified passengers ran for their lives.

The explosions, coming just four months after the Paris attacks, have left countries around the world reeling, with security services placed on high alert, flights cancelled, Eurostar services suspended and France's border with Belgium shut down.

Back From The Brink

North and South Korea have stepped back from the precipice.

 [Cue Barry MacGuire singing, "On The Eve Of Destruction"]

Civilization is now free to crumple all on its own with no assistance from the elimination of cheap, but reliable, electronics and dead uncles. From the NY Post:

South Korea says it has agreed to halt propaganda broadcasts at noon after North Korea expressed regret over a recent land mine blast that maimed two South Korean troops.

South Korean presidential security adviser Kim Kwan-jin made the announcement in a televised briefing early Tuesday, after more than 30 hours of talks with North Korea ended.

The talks were the second round of negotiations the rival Koreas began Saturday after events at their heavily guarded border pushed them to the brink of a possible military confrontation.

Instead of loudspeaker propaganda, South Korea has commenced television broadcasts of old episodes of  "Doogie Jong: Teenage Dictator."

And the beat goes on.

I'll Take Earplugs for $400 Alex

The past week's hostilities between North and South Korea was caused by these puppies:

In retaliation, the North Koreans started their own loudspeaker propaganda attacks.

The North’s broadcasts mark the restoration of inter-Korean propaganda warfare along the border after the two Koreas stopped the practice in 2004 as part of their efforts to ease animosities. Other practices, including leafleting and the operation of frontline billboards, remain suspended, according to Seoul officials.

North Korea’s action also came as Seoul and Washington launched annual military drills that Pyongyang calls an invasion rehearsal. South Korean and U.S. officials have said that the drills are purely defensive in nature.

While the South Korean propaganda blared pop music, news and descriptions of  Jong Un's bad haircuts, the North Koreans' brand of propaganda consisted of criticism directed at Seoul, recipes for mud soup and some symphony music composed by Leader For Life Kim Jong Un, "Ode To The People's Cabbages."

UPDATE:
Apparently North Korea has deployed  most of its submarine fleet. South Korea is getting nervous.

The mystery of 50 missing North Korean submarines deepened fears yesterday over Pyongyang’s threat to fire across the border.

South Korea yesterday said the submarines, comprising about 70 per cent of a North Korean submarine fleet, had left their home ports and were nowhere to be found.

US and South Korean reconnaissance planes and naval vessels searched yesterday off the east and west coasts of the Korean peninsula for the submarines. Military officials said deployment of the submarines was the largest in the region since the Korean War.

The question is whether the 50 submarines, 1,400-ton Romeo-class and 1,000-ton Whiskey-class vessels, have orders to target commercial or naval vessels – or are just putting on a show of force. “No one knows,” said a military spokesman. “We are mobilising all our surveillance resources.”

Today: 101 Years Ago

On August 1, 1914, four days after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, two more great European powers—Russia and Germany—declare war on each other; the same day, France orders a general mobilization. The so-called “Great War” that ensued would be one of unprecedented destruction and loss of life, resulting in the deaths of some 20 million soldiers and civilians and the physical devastation of much of the European continent.

Source

Two days later Germany declares war on France.

Ukraine Conflict Is Heating Up Again

Putin's got his teeth sunk deep into Ukraine and he's not letting go.

Over the winter, a lull in the fighting between Russian-backed rebels and the Ukrainian military was mistaken by many to be an observance of the terms of a February ceasefire agreement signed in Minsk. That agreement was never observed by either party. In fact, the days that followed that agreement were characterized by a major offensive by pro-Russian insurgents that resulted in the humiliating retreat of Ukrainian soldiers from the strategic railway hub of Debaltseve.

But not everyone was fooled by the reduced intensity of the fighting. After traveling to the front late last month, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander and Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark warned that the Russians were preparing for a new offensive in Ukraine as soon as the snows melted. He noted that this flare-up could be expected to begin anytime between the Orthodox Easter (April 12) and the 70th Anniversary of the surrender of Germany in World War II (May 8). Clark was right.

“The Ukrainian military’s ATO press center claims today that Russian-backed forces committed 30 violations of the ceasefire between 18:00 and midnight yesterday,” Interpreter Magazine reported on Thursday. Interpreter analysts determined that the fighting had returned to pre-ceasefire levels.

More here.

Events In Ukraine Continue

Just because it has calmed down somewhat in Ukraine doesn't mean that we can now ignore the chance of more mayhem. Things are still brewing. From the UK Telegraph:

Assassination:

A former Ukraine deputy was shot dead in Kiev on Wednesday, the fourth ally of ousted pro-Moscow ex-president Viktor Yanukovych to die in suspicious circumstances in the past two months.

The body of Oleg Kalashnikov was found at his home on Wednesday evening, the interior ministry said in a statement.

More fighting:

Dutch-led investigators hope to retrieve the remains of the final two victims of the Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 disaster, after the frontline finally moved away from a battlefield where part of the airliner crashed nine months ago.

The announcement comes amid the most serious upsurge of fighting in the Ukraine conflict since a shaky ceasefire came into force in February.

At least two Ukrainian servicemen were wounded and one killed in fighting in the past 24 hours, a government spokesman said on Wednesday.

Both sides have accused one another of stepping up attacks at key flash points in the past week. 

The latest violence comes after an OSCE monitoring mission and several journalists were caught up in fighting in the frontline village of Shirokino on Tuesday.

The Forecast: Even more fighting?

The US fears that Moscow and pro-Russian separatists will reignite the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine following a February ceasefire that has largely held, a US diplomat warned on Wednesday. 

"Russia can reignite the conflict at any time of its choosing," the senior State Department official told journalists.

[..]"Obviously there has been a dramatic decline in the level of violence," the diplomat said, but added that "there has not been a shift in Russia's strategic direction. Russia continues to send equipment across the border."

"We now know that the ceasefire after the first Minsk agreement (in September) was used by the Russians to run a very large 'train and equip' program," the diplomat said.

Chinese Take Out ... Taiwan?

Why China Will Lose the War It is Planning
By David Archibald
How do we know the war is coming in the first place? Because the advertising for it is out. Amongst plenty of other evidence, one Chinese front organisation conducted a poll on Australian attitudes to the ANZUS treaty and a Chinese attack on Japan. Why would they conduct such a poll unless they are going to attack Japan? Not that they were interested in the results as such. They just wanted to be able to publicize the poll in order to try to keep Australia on the sidelines of their war.

The war will have two functions for China. Firstly, it will provide legitimacy for the regime as economic growth stalls. Secondly, the Chinese will have pride in humiliating their neighbouring countries, and the United States, by defeating them in battle and creating no-go zones in the oceans which other countries won’t be able to enter without Chinese permission. The war will have nothing to do with oil and gas resources under the seabed and securing sea-lanes. The Chinese have never offered those excuses for their behavior themselves. The excuses are the creation of Western pundits for something that otherwise is stupid, destructive, and primitive.

Some have seen this war coming well in advance. In 2005, Robert Kaplan wrote an article entitled How We Would Fight China. In it he notes that China will approach the war “asymmetrically, as terrorists do. In Iraq the insurgents have shown us the low end of asymmetry, with car bombs. But the Chinese are poised to show us the high end of the art.”

The rest of the story is here.
Good luck with not buying goods manufactured in China.

Grow, Steal or Rent A Pair

Several stories by Ulsterman seem to indicate that pressure is increasing for Obama to grow a pair. Have no idea about the veracity of these stories but it makes for interesting theater. I wanna see this asshole really blow a gasket.

Ulsterman #1

White House staff are reportedly livid following a series of publicly aired disagreements between President Obama and top military officials.

Things became so bad this afternoon, a senior White House adviser is said to have yelled out during a phone conference with a group of Senate Democrats, “You remind those assh*les who they take orders from!”

Two days earlier it was the top military officer in the nation, Army General Martin Dempsey, who informed Congress ground troops were to be a viable option in the war against ISIS. For days Barack Obama had stated publicly ground troops were not an option.

Ulsterman #2

This outburst reportedly took place in the afternoon of last week just prior to the president’s departure to Camp David. It was an informal briefing on the expanded bombing campaigns to take place in both Syria and Iraq. Halfway through the already very brief briefing, President Obama stood up clearly agitated, and walked out of the room…

[...]Within seconds, Barack Obama returned again to the just concluded briefing, pointing at the still seated Pentagon staff and indicating how “inappropriate” it was to “try and paint all of Islam with the same brush.” The president repeated similar remarks, his mood going from agitation to outrage. His voice carried to several other West Wing offices.

Ulsterman #3

Something happened between that first meeting, and the one referenced in the earlier update that took place at the White House. Word from some on the Hill is a high ranking member of the Senate with an established history of personal animosity toward the president, threatened to “expose them all after November” if the White House continued dragging its feet on the ISIL situation. This threat reached the White House inner circle, which is likely exactly what the Senator intended it to do. A week later we had the White House briefing between the president and Pentagon staff taking place.

Slow Progress Is Being Made By Ukraine

The Ukrainian army pushed into a key city controlled by Russia-backed separatists on Sunday, the government said, as the two countries' foreign ministers met in Berlin for crisis talks.

Kiev also admitted the rebels had shot down one if its fighter aircraft, while accusing the separatists of bringing three missile launchers onto Ukrainian territory from Russia.

[...]Luhansk, with a peacetime population of 420,000, is the second largest stronghold being defended by the rebels in eastern Ukraine, whose main bastion is the city of Donetsk, 90 miles to the west.

Story here and here.

In related news, the Russian convoy reached Ukraine, but apparently the truck were empty. Or were they?

Urkel Bombs Erbil

AN F-18 drops guided munitions

We're back in the game?

The United States dropped laser-guided bombs on ISIS artillery in Iraq on Friday, the Pentagon said — the beginning of airstrikes threatened a day earlier by President Barack Obama.

The bombs, 500 pounds each, were dropped by two Navy F-18 fighter jets near Erbil, the strategically important city that serves as the Kurdish capital, and where the United States has a consulate. ISIS was using the artillery to shell Kurdish forces defending Erbil, the Pentagon said.

 ISIL artillery is being used to kill and conquer Iraqi territory ...
Oh, nevermind, it's our artillery, it just does that automatically.

The strikes marked a return to U.S. military engagement in Iraq, three years after Obama removed U.S. forces.

Obama, in a speech Thursday night from the White House, said that he was authorizing airstrikes to protect American interests in Iraq and drops of food and water for tens of thousands of refugees trapped by ISIS on a mountain in Iraq.

Rear Adm. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said Friday: “As the president made clear, the United States military will continue to take direct action against ISIL when they threaten our personnel and facilities.” ISIS and ISIL are acronyms to describe the same Islamic militant group.

Story here and here.

Just a thought - how did the ISIS manage to roll up the Iraqi army after years of US training?

Iraqi soldiers who fled ISIS advance accuse officers of treason
Iraqi soldiers deny abandoning their posts following ISIS advance

Erbil, Asharq Al-Awsat—Iraqi troops who fled the advance of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters into Mosul have denied that they abandoned their posts, saying that they had received orders to flee from up the chain of command.

Another thought - firing an accurate artillery barrage is not like firing a rifle. It takes training and logistics. Where did these savages learn to fire sophisticated modern artillery?  (This link is interesting)

[...]there's been an influx of skilled Saddam-era military leaders and soldiers into ISIS' ranks. "When you look at some of the reports about the leadership under [ISIS commander Abu Bakr] al-Baghdadi," Rosenblatt said, "those second-in-command guys have very strong ties to Saddam's army." Acquiring lots of weapons, money, and experience over the course of the Syrian war allowed them to translate that new training into real military effectiveness.

Just one more thought - What can slow the advance of ISIS forces? ISIS is now messing with the Kurds and the US may finally be rousing from its sleep.

[...]an unexpected military intervention by a third party. The semi-autonomous Kurdish area in northwest Iraq is adjacent to ISIS' stronghold. Their powerful military, which has already had small clashes with ISIS-aligned forces, could challenge ISIS. And who knows what effect a large-scale American air campaign against ISIS would have on the balance of power.

How Goes The Ukraine?

"In war, truth is the first casualty."

Aeschylus

From my POV, trying to understand the situation in the Ukraine is like watching a cock fight after someone tosses a smoke grenade. Here's some angles on what may be happening and the risks involved.

Ukraine Army Advancing Against Rebels
The Kyiv Post (a Ukrainian news outlet) reported yesterday that Ukraine army units were advancing against the rebels and recovering previously lost territory after heavy fighting in the Donetsk region. Donetsk is the major metropolitan area in East Ukraine with a total population of about 2 million; the city itself is about 980,000. Rebel forces are reported to be retreating.

While most eyes of the world were focused on the July 17 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 that killed 298 people, Ukraine’s government forces continued assaults that regained territory from Russian-backed separatist fighters.

Using everything from small arms and mortars to heavy artillery and airstrikes, they have managed to retake some key cities in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts [an oblast is a Russian term for an administrative district ~sig94], home to 15 percent of Ukraine’s population, forcing the insurgents to retreat to provincial capitals and their outskirts.

The military is closer than ever to fully encircling the rebels. But the wins have come at a steep cost. Hundreds of civilians have been killed since the government launched its anti-terrorist operation in mid-April.

[...]Despite the significant gains, Ukraine’s military have not been able to close the Russian border completely, and alleges that its positions are shelled by artillery from Russian territory. NATO continues to see evidence of weapons being moved into Ukraine from Russia since the downing of a Malaysian airliner in eastern Ukraine last week, a NATO military officer said on July 23. So long as a corridor remains open for reinforcements and munitions, the rebels will likely continue to fight.

“We have noted an increase in the amount of weapons being transferred from Russia to Ukraine in the last several weeks. We continue to see evidence of the movement of weapons into Ukraine from Russia since the downing of (Malaysia Airlines flight) MH17, which is a cause for concern,” said the officer, speaking on condition of anonymity.

And what do the Russians have to say?

This story from Pravda and this one also.

The Moscow Times says this and this.

And you can date Ukrainian women here. 

Putin's Gamble?
This Forbes Magazine (not yet the property of the Chinese) opinion piece has a different take on the political acumen of Vlad Putin and the reasons why he apparently is blowing his wad on the Ukraine.

Why would the leader of a powerful country in reasonably good standing want to risk everything by putting himself in the same league with Muammar Gaddafi?

Many say that it is all part of Putin’s master plan, that he has been scheming for years to create a greater Russia and that he has been skillfully moving his chess pieces around the board in order to attain that objective. Yet most Kremlin experts say otherwise. They insist that he is a talented tactician with little taste for broad strategic thinking.

[...]Since the crisis began, he has been taking on ever greater risk—not to mention serious damage to the Russian economy—with negative return. Before the crisis began, Ukraine was slowly moving towards Europe, now it is actively running away from Russia. European public opinion, even before MH-17, has turned decidedly against Putin. Russia’s most talented citizens are leaving in droves.

So it appears that Putin is not only a poor chess player, he is an exceeding bad poker player, constantly raising the stakes while facing a decreasing expected return. If he ever could return Ukraine to the fold—an exceedingly unlikely prospect—he would accomplish no more than a return to the status quo ante.

[...]After the election of Petro Poroshenko to Ukraine’s Presidency came more setbacks. The rebel strongholds of Slaviansk and Kramatorsk were retaken by Ukrainian anti-terrorist troops and they began moving toward Donetsk and Luhansk. So Putin escalated again, sending heavy artillery and more sophisticated weapons, including the one that shot down MH-17.

Miscalculation. Failure. Escalation. The downing of MH-17 is a logical consequence of the pattern. Putin took the actions that lead to the downing of MH-17 because he believes that he has no other choice. He’s stuck, for lack of a better term and it’s not at all clear that he sees a way out. He must either continue to escalate or betray his own ambitions.

After spending two weeks vacation in Croatia, my Army daughter is home for a visit. I asked for her opinion on the events in the Ukraine. Her response, "If they pull us out of Afghanistan completely I don't think we'll be out of a job very long."  Yeah, she's a cynic.

The Hornet's Nest

There is a movie coming out this Spring about the war in Afghanistan.
There are no actors, only soldiers.
It's the real deal.

Is It Getting Real?

Back in the 60's there was a comedic movie starring Ernie Kovacs, "Wake Me When It's Over."

I pretty much feel that way now.

From the NY Slimes:

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine — As Russian-backed armed forces effectively seized control of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula on Saturday, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia requested —and received — authorization from the Russian Senate to use military force in Ukraine.

The actions signaled publicly for the first time the Kremlin’s readiness to intervene militarily in Ukraine, and it served as a blunt response to President Obama, who just hours earlier pointedly warned Russia to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty.

Within hours after receiving Mr. Putin’s request, Russia’s upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, voted to approve it, after a debate that warned of the apocalyptic consequences of failing to stop a fascist threat from spreading to Russia’s borders. The lawmakers direct considerable fury at President Obama and others in the West they accused of fomenting the upheaval in Ukraine.

And to stir the pot even more, the Rooskies want to recall their ambassador to the US.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's upper house of parliament will ask President Vladimir Putin to recall Moscow's ambassador from the United States, the chamber's speaker said on Saturday.

Valentina Matviyenko, the head of the Federation Council, asked the Council's Committee on Foreign Affairs to draw up a proposal setting out the demands to Putin.

I think every country should have a community organizer as their leader and a drunken lesbian as Secretary of State.

Yeah I'm referring to Kerry.

Infamy

As the people of a prosperous, powerful nation, it is easy to think that the tomorrow will be as today - that we may eat, sleep and be merrily watching our large screen flat panel displays.   

As the people of a prosperous, powerful and immoral nation it is easy to think that God will not use a lesser nation to humiliate and humble us.

The events of September 9th and December 7th should be forever scarred into our national DNA. Instead, we allow vain, self-seeking politicians and their obedient media minions to lull us into a sense of false security.

God is not mocked.
God is not finished with us.

Muslim Abortions

X-ray of a baby still in mother's womb

This is truly sickening.
Of course it isn't making the news here in the US; not a whisper from the NY or LA Times, WashPo or the netjerks. I waded through a week's worth of World News in the LA Times and there were over a half dozen stories about the violence in Syria, but not a one about the following.

From the UK Daily Mail:

The unborn children of Syrian women are the targets of a sickening war game where a shooter who murders a foetus in its mother’s womb is awarded with cigarettes, a British surgeon has revealed.

Dr David Nott witnessed evidence of fighters using civilians as target practice and on several occasions shooting pregnant women in the stomach, killing their unborn babies.

[...]‘One day it would be shots to the groin. The next, it would only be the left chest. The day after, we would see no chest wounds; they were all neck [wounds].’

Dr Nott told the newspaper that in his 20 years volunteering in war zones, this is the first time he had witnessed pregnant women being targeted.

He described the day two consecutive patients arrived at his clinic, heavily pregnant with their babies shot to death in their stomachs.

‘The women were all shot through the uterus, so that must have been where they were aiming for. I can’t even begin to tell you how awful it was.

'Usually, civilians are caught in the crossfire. This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this. This was deliberate. It was hell beyond hell.’

The White House has issued several statements protesting the use of cigarettes as a reward for aborting unwanted, dangerous fetuses.

First, President Obama insists that Syrian rebels impose hunter gun safety courses and a mandatory thirty day waiting period before being issued a sniper rifle.

Second, the First Lady would much rather see fresh vegetables or subscriptions to a health club used as incentives for snipers. Cigarettes, of course, are extremely hazardous to the snipers' health.

Intimations Of War

ALERTS TO THREATS
IN 2013 EUROPE
From JOHN CLEESE
The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent events in Syria and have therefore raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from "Tiresome" to "A Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada.

The Scots have raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's get the Bastards." They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide." The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France 's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country's military capability.

Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout Loudly and Excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."

The Germans have increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbour" and "Lose."

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels ..

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Australia, meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to "She'll be right, Mate." Two more escalation levels remain: "Crikey! I think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend!" and "The barbie is cancelled." So far no situation has ever warranted use of the last final escalation level.

Regards,
John Cleese ,
British writer, actor and tall person

And as a final thought - Greece is collapsing, the Iranians are getting aggressive, and Rome is in disarray. Welcome back to 430 BC.

Life is too short...

This has been around for years, not sure who actually wrote it (not Cleese), but it's still funny and perhaps even more relevant today...