And now for some fun international news.
Erdogan is trolling Putin in a really hilarious way. To Putin’s complaint that Turkey didn’t even contact him after taking down the Russian fighter jet Erdogan responded that he tried getting in touch but the connection wouldn’t go through. This reply is so similar to the crap Putin himself loves to dish out that the whole thing is beyond funny.
In a show of gratitude, Ukrainians made a video extolling the armed forces of Turkey that made Turkish people feel so touched and happy that they made a video extolling the armed forces of Ukraine. Peace, love, bubble gum.
Hollande, in the meanwhile, arrived in Russia on a visit that lost all meaning since the escalation between Russia and Turkey. The poor fellow who goes from one embarrassment to another found himself in the unenviable position of having to listen to a litany of Putin’s complaints about the evil Turkey and the even more evil Americans who caused the entire debacle.
Clarissa's Blog 
Uri’s latest column on the events (ISIS, US, France, Russia, Turkey and Israeli terror wave):
The Reign of Absurdiocy
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1448673709
I liked the expression “The Coalition of the Unwilling put together by the US”. 🙂
LikeLike
“The Coalition of the Willing to Accept Arms Shipments”
🙂
LikeLike
It is, indeed, very sad that everybody is just looking for some fool to pull roasted chestnuts out of the fire for them. I don’t want to sound too repetitive but that’s the culture of consumerism in action.
LikeLike
I was hoping that the joy of many Israeli Jews at the news of the Paris attacks was libel. But this article confirms it is true, and that’s sad. One can put oneself outside of the Western civilization but for what? Everything outside of it is much much worse.
There is a short story by Maugham, titled something like “At the Edge of the Empire.” The protagonist is an official of the British Empire who lives at some very remote colonial outpost. And even though he lives alone, he dresses for dinner and reads his London newspaper every day. Obviously, the Empire hasn’t been too good to him but this fellow is not throwing out the most important thing he has over a petty resentment. Because what purpose would that serve? The Empire wouldn’t notice but his life would not be that of a member of something big and amazing but that of a sad lonely fool somewhere in the jungle.
LikeLike
BTW, why do you think I pointed out the “menorah” in the Charlie Hebdo cover?
LikeLike
Sorry, I missed the menorah reference. Where is it, again?
LikeLike
Well, @el, despite my “Dreidel” moniker, there’s not a drop of Jewish heritage in me. I see no direct correlation between the Palestinian terrorists who want to drive Israel into the Sea by stabbing 80-year-old great-grandmothers-in the back, and the ISIS fanatics who want to slaughter everybody who doesn’t share their absurdist view of radial Islam.
But I do see a similar radical madness that can only be dealt with by military extermination. When a smaller entity (Israel) and a larger entity (the Western World at large) is threatened by a persistent hornet’s nest of mindless savagery, you don’t waste time trying to deal with such insects by “reason” or “negotiation” or “proportional response” — you simply use WHATEVER OVERWHELMING FORCE IS NECESSARY TO DESTROY THEM ALL, quickly and permanently.
Israel should have done this decades ago with its Palestinian butchers who have refused for 67 years to grow up and accept reality, and the combined western European forces (mainly NATO, led by the U.S.) should do this in a overwhelming ground war against the ISIS-held areas. (The fact that Europe and the U.S. has refused to do so to date only shows that those nations are in denial, cowardly putting off the inevitable.)
I hear liberal idiots saying today that you can’t kill ideas with military force. Remember how strong the beliefs of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan were 70 years ago. Well, you kill off enough true believers, while destroying their power base and their “illusion” of winning, and it’s amazing how their surviving “true believers” disappear into the woodork.
LikeLike
\ I see no direct correlation between the Palestinian terrorists who want to drive Israel into the Sea by stabbing 80-year-old great-grandmothers-in the back, and the ISIS fanatics
Dreidel, if you read my article, you will see it says exactly that. Do read, it’s a good one.
LikeLike
@el, I read your article thoroughly, and ad I totally agree with its premise.
What I disagree with it is its conclusion — that the ISIS threat is a mish-mash whom different nation-sides view differently, and that makes an international coalition capable of uniting against it unlikely. It’s true that Turkey sees ISIS as a positive force that restrains the Kurds and keeps Assad occupied, and that Russia sees ISIS mainly as a force fighting anti-Syrian forces. Saudi Arabia and other Sunni countries also see the potential deadly arc of a Shia Iranian-Iraqi-Syria arc as a bigger threat than ISIS per se. (The Israelis and Palestinians are viewed as a separate, minor sideshow.)
But ISIS has changed the game by attacking mainland Western Europe and directly threatening the U.S, and that entitles France (and the U.S., if directly struck), to evoke Article 5 of the NATO charter (“An attack against one NATO nation is an attack against all.) So NATO — if Obama had any courage — could declare full-scale conventional war on ISIS, and use its overwhelming military force to destroy that scourge in a matter of months.
And Israel, while the world was distracted with with destroying ISIS, could proceed to disinfect the West Bank and clean out the Hamas sewer in Gaza, and solve its terrorist infestation problem once and for all.
LikeLike
“Russia sees ISIS mainly as a force fighting anti-Syrian forces”
“if Obama had any courage — could declare full-scale conventional war on ISIS, and use its overwhelming military force to destroy that scourge in a matter of months.”
LikeLike
Three killed, nine injured in attack on Colorado abortion clinic
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/28/us-colorado-shooter-idUSKBN0TG27D20151128
LikeLike
And what has the action of a lone American madman got to do with the global threat of ISIS, or the 67-year-old on-going history of Palestinian butchery in Israel?
Individual madmen are dealt with by local police forces. Rapid dogs like ISIS and the savagery of Palestinian rodents are exterminated by appropriate military force.
LikeLike
“Hey Vlad, if you’d have given us the seven billion instead of Iran, we’d have at least given you that call before shooting down your bomber …”
Best (Bought) Friends Forever 🙂
LikeLike
Interesting:
Учебник ошибок Путина
Сирия и Запад глазами специалиста по теории заговоров, низкий культурный капитал, месть Маркса и возвращение в XIX век
http://www.svoboda.org/content/article/27390706.html
Do you agree that Путин не понимает, как устроен современный мир?
LikeLike
Putin is achieving his goals. What he’s doing does seem stupid from the outside but the guy is adored by his voters, is fabulously rich, and can do anything he wants without any punishment. So whatever it is he’s doing, it’s working for him.
LikeLike
Exactly.
But why do you think Erdogan is trolling Putin? The way I imagine Putin – it is completely in his style not to respond to those who offended him. This is his idea of self-respect. “I will not talk to them until they are asking for forgiveness, on their knees.” (I am assuming that Erdogan is not lying and actually tried to call Putin, if only to express HIS indignation… In some ways these two are very much alike…)
As for the videos… frankly, I am getting tired of perfectly intelligent people succumbing to the simplistic “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” mentality. (I am a bit free-association here, if you want to, I can explain more in a private message.) If you look a bit deeper, Turkey is doing the same things in Northern Syria as Russians are doing in Ukraine – supporting anti-government forces. Including supplying them with weapons. TOW systems (never in the arsenals of the Syrian army) are equivalent to whatever exclusively Russian weapons were spotted in Ukraine. Etc.
(And I am not even mentioning all those mutual accusations of buying oil from ISIS… I guess they are … ALL true…)
I do not support Russia. I just believe the world would be a better place if it had some more advanced guiding principles than “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. Suppose one side, however we define it, “wins”. Why is it good, if both (or I guess all 20) sides are equally immoral? The “winning” should be achieved by practicing actual moral superiority, not by having better gadgets (often mistaken for being more civilized) or stronger allies, or not being caught at doing something immoral while actually doing it, or having better PR, or whatever other superficial things come to mind.
LikeLike
“As for the videos… frankly, I am getting tired of perfectly intelligent people succumbing to the simplistic “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” mentality.”
“The “winning” should be achieved by practicing actual moral superiority”
Let’s take WWII, for example. The only people who were not complete dicks in that war were Jews. And they are the ones who lost by every measure. I wish their morality had won them something but that’s not how things worked out.
LikeLike
Well, @el,
This comment couldn’t have been addressed to me, since about the only Russian word I know (and only in the Roman alphabet) is Nikita Khrushchev’s famous U.N. veto, “Nyet.”
LikeLike
Dreidel advocating genocide.
Dude, did you have a bad thanksgiving?
LikeLike
Hamas and ISIS are organizations, not ethnic groups.
Today is the Day of the Holodomor Remembrance, and really not a good time to use the word genocide lightly.
LikeLike
“savagery of Palestinian rodents are exterminated by appropriate military force.”
I was responding to this but I’ll stop.
LikeLike
When I say, “I hope somebody blows these Russian insects to the skies”, I hope it’s clear that I don’t refer to all the 140 million people of the Russian Federation but only to the criminals who are fighting on the territory of Ukraine.
LikeLike
Well, to put it mildly, there’s a difference between you and him.
He’s called palestinians sewer rats needing to be exterminated before (in fact it seems to be his favorite description of them), and you’ve seen how wretchedly racist he can be. I mean, you had to give a final warning to a grown man posting on a blog.
I believe I’m correct in thinking what he said and meant, but you’re right, it’s not something to discuss today.
LikeLike
Putin orders sanctions against Turkey
Decree bans Turkish goods and clamps down on labor contracts for Turks and tourism; Erdogan expresses regret for downing of Russian plane, but falls short of apologizing.
…
Russia has since also restricted tourist travel to Turkey, left Turkish trucks stranded at the border, confiscated large quantities of Turkish food imports and started preparing a raft of broader economic sanctions.
On Saturday Turkey issued a travel warning urging its nationals to delay non-urgent and unnecessary travel to Russia, saying Turkish travelers were facing “problems” in the country. It said Turks should delay travel plans until “the situation becomes clear.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4732096,00.html
LikeLike
Typically Russian: punish the citizens of Russia for somebody else’s transgressions. Makes total sense.
LikeLike