SailorDave

Glad it is part of the VIP package. $10 would be fair i guess for the notification. But people will miss out on the benefits of VIP!

Postponed until this afternoon - barring any schedule complication

Viet Nam and Cold War sailor 21+ years active duty SailorDave AVCM (AC) USN Retired

For all you JayHawkers IT'S SO HOT AND DRY Kansas: ...the birds have to use potholders to pull the worms out of the ground. ....the trees are whistling for the dogs. ....the best parking place is determined by shade instead of ....hot water comes from both taps. ....you can make sun tea instantly. ....you learn that a seat belt buckle makes a pretty good branding iron. ....the temperature drops below 95 F (35 C) and you feel a little chilly. ....you discover that in July it only takes two fingers to steer your car ....you discover that you can get sunburned through your car window. ....you actually burn your hand opening the car door. ....you break into a sweat the instant you step outside at 7:30 A.M. ....you realize that asphalt has a liquid stage. ....the potatoes cook underground, so all you have to do is pull one out and add butter. ....the cows are giving evaporated milk. ....farmers are feeding their chickens crushed ice to keep them from laying boiled eggs ....your biggest motorcycle wreck fear is, "What if I get knocked out and end up lying on the pavement and cook to death"? IT'S SO DRY IN Kansas that: The Baptists are starting to baptize by sprinkling, The Methodists are using wet-wipes, Presbyterians are giving rain checks, And the Catholics are praying for the wine to turn back into water!

One look at the most recent naval update maps shows that in addition to global insolvency (courtesy of the broke European dominoes and a potentially technically broke US), a UK on the verge of a parliamentary scandal courtesy of a media baron whose empire is crumbling, and not to mention yet another downward inflection point in the global economic slowdown courtesy of the end of QE2 and no replacement yet, market watchers may have to start factoring in geopolitical risk yet again. While the fact that Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia, and now Turkey, are ever more increasingly on edge is apparently something Mr. Market has managed to internalize, when it comes to geopolitics everyone stops to listen when renewed Iran-Israel rumblings reappear. Which may just be the case. As the most recently updated naval map from Stratfor demonstrates, the CVN 77 G.H.W. Bush has just entered the Persian Gulf, the first time a US aircraft carrier has passed through the Straits of Hormuz in months. What is also notable is that the LHD 5 Bataan amphibious warfare ship has just weighed anchor right next to Libya: this is odd since the coast of Tripoli had been left unattended for many weeks by US attack ships. And topping it all off is that a third aircraft carrier, the CVN 73, is sailing west from the South China seas, potentially with a target next to CVN 76 Ronald Reagan which is the second carrier in the Straits of Hormuz area. Three carriers in proximity to Iran would be extremely troubling, yet fit perfectly with the story of CIA veteran Robert Baer, the man played by George Clooney in Syriana, who as Al Jazeera reports, appeared on KPFK Los Angeles, warning that Israeli PM Netanyahu is "likely to ignite a war with Iran in the very near future." It gets worse: "Masters asked Baer why the US military is not mobilising to stop this war from happening. Baer responded that the military is opposed, as is former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who used his influence to thwart an Israeli attack during the Bush and Obama administrations. But he's gone now and "there is a warning order inside the Pentagon" to prepare for war." The punchline: "There is almost "near certainty" that Netanyahu is "planning an attack [on Iran] ... and it will probably be in September before the vote on a Palestinian state. And he's also hoping to draw the United States into the conflict", Baer explained." For the betting public out there, an September CL call may not be the dumbest trade possible... First, the naval update per Stratfor: And, courtesy of Al Jazeera and Haaretz, the full take from Robert Baer: Earlier this week, Robert Baer appeared on the provocative KPFK Los Angeles show Background Briefing, hosted by Ian Masters. It was there that he predicted that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is likely to ignite a war with Iran in the very near future. Robert Baer has had a storied career, including a stint in Iraq in the 1990s where he organised opposition to Saddam Hussein. (He was recalled after being accused of trying to organise Saddam's assassination.) Upon his retirement, he received a top decoration for meritorious service. Baer is no ordinary CIA operative. George Clooney won an Oscar for playing a character based on Baer in the film Syriana (Baer also wrote the book). He obviously won't name many of his sources in Israel, the United States, and elsewhere, but the few he has named are all Israeli security figures who have publically warned that Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are hell-bent on war. Most former Mossad chiefs wary of Netanyahu Baer was especially impressed by the unprecedented warning about Netanyahu's plans by former Mossad chief Meir Dagan. Dagan left the Israeli intelligence agency in September 2010. Two months ago, he predicted that Israel would attack and said that doing so would be "the stupidest thing" he could imagine. According to Haaretz: When asked about what would happen in the aftermath of an Israeli attack Dagan said that: "It will be followed by a war with Iran. It is the kind of thing where we know how it starts, but not how it will end." The Iranians have the capability to fire rockets at Israel for a period of months, and Hizbollah could fire tens of thousands of grad rockets and hundreds of long-range missiles, he said. According to Ben Caspit of the Israeli daily Maariv, Dagan's blasts at Israel's political leadership are significant not only because Mossad chiefs, in office or retired, traditionally have kept their lips sealed, but also because Dagan is very conservative on security matters. Caspit writes that Dagan is "one of the most rightwing militant people ever born here. ... When this man says that the leadership has no vision and is irresponsible, we should stop sleeping soundly at night". Dagan describes the current Israeli government as "dangerous and irresponsible" and views speaking out against Netanyahu as his patriotic duty. And his abhorrence of Netanyahu is not uncommon in the Israeli security establishment. According to Think Progress, citing the Forward newspaper, 12 of the 18 living ex-chiefs of Israel's two security agencies (Mossad and Shin Bet), are "either actively opposing Netanyahu's stances or have spoken out against them". Of the remaining six, two are current ministers in Netanyahu government, leaving a grand total of four out of 18 who independently support the prime minister. In short, while Congress dutifully gives Netanyahu 29 standing ovations, the Israelis who know the most about both Netanyahu and Israel's strategic situation think he is a dangerous disaster. But according to Baer, we ain't seen nothing yet. There is almost "near certainty" that Netanyahu is "planning an attack [on Iran] ... and it will probably be in September before the vote on a Palestinian state. And he's also hoping to draw the United States into the conflict", Baer explained. The Israeli air force would attack "Natanz and other nuclear facilities to degrade their capabilities. The Iranians will strike back where they can: Basra, Baghdad", he said, and even Afghanistan. Then the United States would jump into the fight with attacks on Iranian targets. "Our special forces are already looking at Iranian targets in Iraq and across the border [in Iran] which we would strike. What we're facing here is an escalation, rather than a planned out-and-out war. It's a nightmare scenario. We don't have enough troops in the Middle East to fight a war like that." Baer added, "I think we are looking into the abyss". Another US war? Masters asked Baer why the US military is not mobilising to stop this war from happening. Baer responded that the military is opposed, as is former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who used his influence to thwart an Israeli attack during the Bush and Obama administrations. But he's gone now and "there is a warning order inside the Pentagon" to prepare for war. It should be noted that the Iranian regime is quite capable of triggering a war with the United States through some combination of colossal stupidity and sheer hatred. In fact, as Baer explained, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard would welcome a war. They are "paranoid". They are "worried about ... what's happening to their country economically, in terms of the oil embargo and other sanctions". And they are worried about a population that increasingly despises the regime. They need an external enemy. Because we are leaving Iraq, it's Israel. But in order to make this threat believable, they would love an attack on their nuclear facilities, love to go to war in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and Iraq and hit us where they could. Their defense is asymmetrical. We can take out all of their armored units. It's of little difference to them, same with their surface-to-air missile sites. It would make little difference because they would use terrorism. They would do serious damage to our fleet in the Gulf. Given all that, is it possible that the United States would allow Israel to attack when the president knows we would be forced to join the war on Israel's side? "The president is up for re-election next year," Blair pointed out, and Israel is "truly out of control". What happens when you see 100 F-16's approaching Iraq and there is a call to the White House [from Netanyahu] that says "We're going in, we're at war with Iran"? What does the President of the United States do? He has little influence over Bibi Netanyahu. ... We can't stop him. And he knows it. It's a pretty frightening scenario, made infinitely more so by the fact that top Israelis (who have heard Netanyahu's thinking from Netanyahu himself) also see the future the same way. Those Israelis deserve a world of credit for sounding the warning bell loudly enough that we would hear it and do something about it - although it's impossible to know if the people who matter are paying attention. Actually, only one person matters: the US president. If Israel bombed Iran tomorrow, Congress would forget all about their partisan differences and run, not walk, to the House and Senate floors to endorse the attack and call for unstinting support for Israel. That is what Congress always does, and will always do so long as the lobby (and the donors it directs) are the key players in making our Middle East policies. And who knows what Obama would do? So far, he has not exactly distinguished himself when it comes to standing up to Netanyahu. But an Israeli attack on Iran would be different. It would endanger countless Americans (in the region and here at home, too). It would kill off any economic recovery by causing oil prices to skyrocket. It would engulf us in another Middle East war. And it would threaten the existence of the state of Israel. This is something the president needs to focus on instead of being forced to nickel and dime with the likes of Representative Eric Cantor and Senator Mitch McConnell. How incredible that these two, and their right-wing allies, have our government tied in knots in their incessant effort to elevate themselves by destroying the President of the United States. It is sickening. http://www.zerohedge...rops+to+zero%29

Sounds as if they never heard of 't i t-for-tat'? Just need to write up the bill for all expenditures by US Forces in liberating Baghdad and deposing of Sadam, as well as all military activities to date upon last US presence leaving Irtaq. Then, perhaps someone can put a dollar value on the loss of life suffered by US Forces in giving the Iraq's a chance to put a democratic government into place and present that bill to Hakeem Abdul Zahra, the city spokesman to see how the Baghdad city government wants pay that one... Wouldn't bring back the lost lives, but might give the Iraqis pause for thought and contemplaton about the price WE paid for their FREEDOM. When they pay those two bills, then we could consider paying them the 1 Billion requested in this article. JMHO

Thanks dinarcimi, Good posting on tenmillion's research on the requirements and status of Chapter 7. Thanks Dalite, Good on you for providing the links to UNSC reports. This are postings of news and solid, fact driven links we need to properly evaluate where we might be with RV. David

Morning Bumper Excellent thoughts in your post. I've never considered anything Sonny1 has shared with us to be a "date and rate" statement. I have always seen his thoughts he was sharing with us to be a window that he was opening for us to "see" events unfolding. We still seem to have too many members that would rather be heard regardless of the results than to be civil and considerate. It appears we still have a lot to work on. IMO David

JaxInJersey, I am heartened to see several civil, reasoned statements in this thread. I would only add an additional phrase to your ending sentence "Perhaps it is only those who want to stifle ANY search for the truth... that are truly fearful." I suggest those 'who stifle ANY search for the truth' are the people that should be feared the most.

It looks as if a lot of people need to step away from the keyboard, count 10, and go get a big cool drink of water. JMHO

Hi Doc Glad to hear from you again. Happy 4th of July. David

Keep our fingers crossed they abide by their agreement this time. Looks like good news if they do. Thanks for the post z.

Scooter, We'll miss you, your information and your infographics I can appreciate your reasons for leaving and can only wish you the very best. Thanks for your efforts to keep us grounded with facts, but I guess we will just have to learn to take care of ourselves in the future. Always remember that God's gift to us is a day in our lives and Our gift to Him is how we spend it. Spend time with your family and bless them as well as yourself. Life is too short to spend it at the keyboard. Bumper's point is well taken, so come on by and drop in anytime. Hope to be able to say Hi Post RV. David

Good session Adam, Thanks PVS great copy and flying fingers on a quick post. Thanks for the fast work.

Zaborniake, Excellent article. Good Catch