BULLY BOY
PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID
TABLE
PRINCESS BARRY O GREETED NEWS THAT SECRETARY OF HILDA SOLIS WAS RESIGNING WITH GLEE. "I SKIPPED, I JUMPED AND I EVEN WET MYSELF A LITTLE," HE GIGGLED TO THESE REPORTERS.
AND PLANS FOR THE FUTURE NOMINEE?
"WELL, OF COURSE, IT WILL BE A MAN," THE PRINCESS IN CHIEF DISHED. "YOU KNOW ME, I'M ALL ABOUT THE SAUSAGE. I WANT A CABINET FULL OF MEN. AT MY BECK AND CALL. I FEEL JUST LIKE CATHERINE THE GREAT! ONLY WITHOUT THE HORSEY. SERIOUSLY, I WANT TO BUILD A BETTER CABINET THIS TIME. I'M GOING TO SEE IF THAT CUTE LITTLE TY PENNINGTON CAN GIVE ME A HAND. I GOT ME A BAD CASE OF CONTRACTOR BUTT CRACK FEVER!"
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
As protests continue in Iraq, a new development emerges. Al Arabiya explains,
"The Iraqi ministry of defense has closed the country's border crossing
near Jordan on Wednesday at 6 a.m. (local time) without stated official
reasons, an Al Arabiya correspondent reported. The Teraibeel border
crossing near Jordan, an important commercial thoroughfare, is located
in the Sunni stronghold Anbar province. Thousands of protesters have
taken to the streets on a daily basis in the area against Shiite Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his government, accused of marginalizing
Sunnis." Petra notes
that the road wasn't the only thing closed, Port Trebil on the border
Jordan shares with Iraq was shut down by the Iraq Ministry of Defense
and that Anba Province's Vice Chair, Saadoun al-Shaalan, declared that
the protesters did not disrupt the port or the international highway,
that the provided services to those traveling on the road and he decries
the closing of the port. Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) quotes
protest organizer Saeed Hmaim stating, "The closure . . . serves only
on purpose, and that is to damage the image of the protesters and depict
them as troublemakers who want to make the lives of Iraqis more
difficult. We will stand firm on our demands, and we will not be shaken
by this irresponsible act." UPI continues
that thread, "Hikmat Suleiman, a Sunni council leader in Anbar
province, said the border closure was to put pressure on protesters.
Local leaders expressed similar sentiments, saying the central
government was waging an economic war on the anti-Maliki movement,
reports al-Arabiya." Emirates News Agency adds
that Jordan issued a statement which including that "Jordan is
maintaining contact with Iraq through security and diplomatic channels
to follow up on the issue." Reuters explains,
"The protests have become a major test for Maliki, a Shi'ite
nationalist whom many Sunni leaders accuse of marginalising their
minority sect, shoring up his own authority and pushing the OPEC
country closer to Shi'ite non-Arab power Iran." Alsumaria adds
that Anbar Province council officials told them they will sue the
federal government over the closing of the Port of Trebil ("without
justification") .
Iraq came up in yesterday's US State Dept press briefing with regards to protest.
QUESTION: Iraq?
MS. NULAND: Yeah.
QUESTION:
Some Iraqi officials are blaming the U.S. for supporting the
demonstrations in Iraq against the government. Do you have any reaction?
MS.
NULAND: We've talked about this a couple of times last week. We are not
taking a side in any of these internal difficulties inside Iraq. We
want to see the Iraqi stakeholders sitting down, talking, meeting,
discussing, finding constitutional solutions to the various grievances
on all of these issues. Our role has simply been to try to encourage the
various stakeholders to talk to each other.
There was no mention of Iraq today. And Nuland still hasn't called out the violence on Monday against protesters in Mosul -- at least four were injured -- today Al Mada's Mohammad Sabah reports
that 70 MPs have signed off on an investigation into how the protests
in Nineveh Province ended in violence. Considering that Nuland's the one
who raised the issue of violence -- when she falsely smeared the
protesters -- you might think that now that it's been used against the
protesters, Nuland would be right up front calling it out. But
nothing. She's got nothing to say on the topic? How telling.
Like Nuland's insanity, Nouri's crazy knows no bounds. Press TV quotes
him without question stating, "If rallies go on without permission, or
carry banners that compromise national security or private work,
security should prevent them. " The protests are not illegal, they are
not unconstitutional. The judiciary and the Parliament already rejected
those claims by Nouri. As for a baner being able to "compromise national
security," there's you clue right there that the US government better
get its act together real damn quick and stop supporting Nouri. He is
Little Saddam and every days he grows into a bigger and bigger despot.
A
banner can be a threat to national security? That sounds like something
Pinochet would do. When that despot came to power, the Guardian notes there were "four hundred US CIA experts [to] assist Pinochet." Thanks to Ted Koppel's report for Rock Center with Brian Williams (NBC) in December of 2011, we do know that the CIA has maintained an office and presence in Iraq.
MR.
KOPPEL: I realize you can't go into it in any detail, but I would
assume that there is a healthy CIA mission here. I would assume that
JSOC may still be active in this country, the joint special operations.
You've got FBI here. You've got DEA here. Can, can you give me sort of
a, a menu of, of who all falls under your control?
AMB. JAMES JEFFREY: You're actually doing pretty well, were I authorized to talk about half of this stuff.
As to whether Nouri gets 400 (like Pinochet did) or more CIA agents hasn't been divulged at present.
As more and more walk away from Nouri, Salar Raza (Rudaw) offers his take on the status between the Kurds and Sunnis currently:
Their
growing opposition to Iraq's Shiite-led government has pushed the
country's Kurds and Sunni Arabs closer together, but problems between
the two still persist, MPs from both sides say.
For
the past several weeks Iraq's Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has
been besieged on two fronts, first by the autonomous Kurdistan Region's
anger over Baghdad's efforts to take over security in disputed northern
territories, and lately by Sunni-led protests over alleged
discrimination against provinces where they are the majority.
"The
Sunni Arab protests in Iraq have unified the Sunni and Kurdish
position, but the two sides have not come close enough to solving
problems between themselves," said Bakir Hama Sidiq, an MP from the
Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU).
"It is just events that have brought us and the Sunni Arabs together, nothing more," he added.
He
said that while the two sides are in agreement in their opposition to
Maliki, a signed alliance between them would have to be "based on belief
in the rights of the Kurds, not only on mutual interests." He said he
did not believe that the Sunni Arab Iraqiya coalition was ready to
accept Kurdish rights, including those over the energy-rich disputed
territories.
When
talking about the relations between the Kurds and Iraqiya, one thing to
note is that Iraq's president, who is Kurdish, is seeking medical help
out of the country. Saturday, AP noted
that the office of Iraq President Jalal Talabani has finally issued a
statement identifying the incident that led to Talabani's
hospitalization: a stroke. The incident took place late on December 17th
(see the December 18th snapshot) and resulted in Jalal being admitted to Baghdad's Medical Center Hospital. Thursday, December 20th, he was moved to Germany. He remains in Germany currently. Al Mada reports
today that Fuad Masum of the Kurdistan Alliance states he visited with
Jalal yesterday and that he is "steadily improving" that Jalal was able
to shake hands, that he listened and spoke -- and spoke to those in the
room in Kurdish, Arabic and English.
Today
Ayad Allawi, leader of Iraqiya visited Erbil in the Kurdistan Regional
Government (semi-autonomous region in nothern Iraq). While Allawi is a
Shi'ite, Iraqiya is a mixed slate with a large Sunni presence. Alsumaria reports
Allawi was in Erbil to meet with KRG President Massoud Barzani and that
the two agreed on a path to solving one of the country's current
crises. As that relationship sorts itself out, Nouri is more and more
isolated. From yesterday's snapshot:
Patrick Markey, Aseel Kami, Raheem Salman and Alistair Lyon (Reuters) report
that "Iraqi Sunni Muslim and Kurdish ministers boycotted a cabinet
sessions on Tuesday to show support for protests that threaten Shi'ite
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's fragile cross-sectarian government,
lawmakers and a government source said." Karafillis Giannoulis (New Europe) adds,
"A senior government source confirmed that the ministers had missed
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Cabinet Session because the ministers
did not see a governmental action to implement protesters' demands."
Recommended: "Iraq snapshot"
"Jalal said to be better, Nouri's government a fail..."
"Nouri said to be having an affair with prisoner"
"Doomsday and Zombie Planet"
"No real ending"
"Social Security"
"stampeding dolphins, whales breathing through hole in the ice, ..."
"Pandemic"
"Social disease"
"If it happens . . ."
"BAFTA"
"Suicide"
"Can they take your blood without your permission?"
"Tap tap?"
"THIS JUST IN! HE KEEPS TAPPING
