War gas, Mamelukes, Aetius, and none dare call it treason

View 786 Tuesday, August 23, 2013

“Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.”

President Barrack Obama, January 31, 2009

We have a number of comments on recent posts, and they seem relevant. Meanwhile the Mamelukes have released their retired Grand Master Mubarak although he remains technically under house arrest, but attended by loyal orderlies and guards. Nothing unexpected. Keeping the loyalty of the troops is important, and disrespect to the aging pharaoh is now way to insure that loyalty and respect.

There are more stories of chemical weapons used in Syria. I find them utterly unconvincing. The evidence for actual use of chemical weapons is not clear, and even if it were incontrovertible I would be more inclined to suspect false flag operations than sudden senility in Bashar Al-Assad. If the second Iraqi war taught anything it was that having weapons of mass destruction is not going to help a dictator achieve a long and tranquil life or secure retirement. War gasses aren’t as effective in the real world as they are in literature: one reason for the horror associated with The Great War war gasses is that so many survived for a long life afterwards and could tell their stories. Of course modern war gasses like VX and Soman are far more effective, so we combine the remembered horror of the survivors with the modern fatalities. Saddam Hussein used war gasses during the 1990’s after the First Gulf War, and the threat that he had them and would used them was a major factor in the US decision to intervene after 9/11. It was reasonable to suppose that Saddam had war gasses: his own generals were convinced that he had them (that was one of Saddam’s means for controlling them). MI-6 certainly purported to believe they existed.

They turned out to be non-existent, but the lesson was plain for all to see, and Bashar Assad certainly saw it. He has many good reasons to convince the world he does not have any WMD’s, and no real incentive to have or use them.

The Arab Summer continues.

Aëtius

Jerry

Regarding recent reference to Aëtius in your mail, some may find the following passage from Gregory of Tours’ History of the Franks of some interest:

And Attila king of the Huns went forth from Metz and when he had crushed many cities of the Gauls he attacked Orleans and strove to take it by the mighty hammering of battering rams. Now at that time the most blessed Annianus was bishop in the city just mentioned, a man of unequaled wisdom and praiseworthy holiness, whose miracles are faithfully remembered among us. And when the people, on being shut in, cried to their bishop, and asked what they were to do, trusting in God he advised all to prostrate themselves in prayer, and with tears to implore the ever present aid of God in their necessities. Then when they prayed as he had directed, the bishop said: "Look from the wall of the city to see whether God’s mercy yet comes to your aid." For he hoped that by God’s mercy Ætius was coming, to whom he had recourse before at Arles when he was anxious about the future. But when they looked from the wall, they saw no one. And he said: "Pray faithfully, for God will free you this day." When they had prayed he said: "Look again." And when they looked they saw no one to bring aid. He said to them a third time: "If you pray faithfully, God comes swiftly." And they besought God’s mercy with weeping and loud cries. When this prayer also was finished they looked from the wall a third time at the old man’s command, and saw afar off a cloud as it were arising from the earth. When they reported this the bishop said: "It is the aid of the Lord." Meanwhile, when the walls were now trembling from the hammering of the rams and were just about to fall, behold! Ætius came, and Theodore, king of the Goths and Thorismodus his son hastened to the city with their armies, and drove the enemy forth and defeated him. And so the city was freed by the intercession of the blessed bishop, and they put Attila to flight.

— Book II ch. 7. http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/gregorytours/gregorytours2.shtml

That’s even better than looking out and seeing Gandalf the White and the Riders of Rohan coming up in the rear of the orcish horde at the climax of The Two Towers.

Aëtius’ successor, AEgidius, in alliance with Childeric the Frank — and with the Britanni that he had invited to settle in what is now Britanny — defeated the Saxons under Odoacer, again at Orleans with the remnant of the army that had beaten Attila. His son, Syagius, was the last Roman to rule in Soissons, an island of Romanitas in a Franco-Gothic sea. (In another context, John Lukacs used to say, "On one side were Latins, and light, and wine; on the other were Germans, and darkness, and beer.") Childeric’s son was Clovis, accounted the first king of France.

MikeF

Horns, horns, horns … Rohan had come at last.

Aetius has been called “The Last Roman”.

Bradley Manning Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/08/bradley-manning-sentenced/

Bradley Manning Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison

"Manning will be eligible for parole after serving a third of his sentence, which means he could be released in about nine years at around the age of 33. "

I was in Afghanistan when this happened, and it made my job almost impossible immediately. Then it got worse as the usual knee jerk reactions to be seen doing something came into effect.

He’d best be grateful he had the worst judge I can recall since OJ Simpson. I’d have thrown the book at him. There was no judgment call, he signed his SF312 which is the standard DoD Non Disclosure Agreement so he can’t claim ignorance.

My utter lack of respect for those in charge is why I’m retiring.

I do not understand why Manning was not charged with treason. But nowadays no one is. Major Hassan is guilty of workplace violence, and his victims do not merit the Purple Heart although they would have had Hassan waited until he and his victims were overseas.

I (heart) boobies

Jerry

It seems that our local school district is now nationally famous — and via Chaos Manor, internationally famous — for its doomed attempt to enforce a modicum of dignity in what was once supposed to be an academic institution. I noticed that a couple of responses to the story gloried in the fact that their children were already jaded and sexualized, but this may or may not be true of youth in east-central Pennsylvania. What inquiring minds want to know is what will go on the rubber bracelet for prostate awareness.

MikeF

After the last Oscar presentation, I do not believe it possible to enforce any modicum of decency in a public institution. Perhaps that is the proper place to try; I’d have to know more about the reading assignments given in that school. I would agree that such decisions ought to be local.

Annals of Bureaucracy

Jerry,

Don’t ever let you C-PAP machine die. I am having to deal with the untimely death of mine at the early age of 18. I thought that dealing with insurance companies was bad but dealing with Medicare esoterica is in a class beyond transfinite numbers. My new machine is going to have a monitor chip. If I do not use it for 4 hours straight 70% of the nights they can come and repo the beast. The moron who wrote that reg never had an enlarged prostate and a shrinking bladder. I am sorely tempted to cash in one of my last chits at Langley and have the Uncle Guido Squad give him/her/it an equally hard time of it but as a law abiding dude I am going to have to go back to a chamber pot for the first time since I was four and pee with my mask on. After all the Lone Ranger did.

I bet the lawyer who wrote that reg was never able to cut it in private practice and thinks he is doing a great public service. The New Reality bites.

Val Augstkalns