Arkady's Thoughts

At last, the war in Iraq is coming to an end .  While troops will remain in Iraq until December 2011, they will no longer be serving a combat function.  Instead focus will now shift to training the Iraqi forces so that domestic forces can handle their own affairs.  History will be the ultimate judge of whether it was in America's best interest to sacrifice 4,400 of our bravest along with tens of thousands more wounded, hundreds of billions of dollars of money we do not actually have and scores of Iraqis caught in collateral damage.   Unfortunately it will prove to just as difficult to gauge the success of the war as it was to understand the original goal behind our presence.  Wars have additional costs beyond the lost lives, wounded families and financial burdens - they create a mental and emotional investment that is impossible to walk away from. For every single soldier killed, every innocent Iraqi lost and every dollar spent it becomes impossible ...

Outrageous?  Afraid not, according to Stratfor two leaks to two very reputable papers have established a disturbing piece of information;  Russian scientists are assisting the Iranians with nuclear weapon creation.  If these leaks are credible and they appear to be so, the situation with Iran has dramatically worsened.  While Iran was a mere nuisance in the Middle East, they have now catapulted themselves as a credible threat and a threat that must be dealt with.  There are several explanations and outcomes in the next year that could give us clues as to what might transpire. First, Russians were always wary of American presence in the region and understand that American bases tend to be built and seldom dismantled.  They also understand that Iraq was fought to gain dominance in the region and put pressure on rogue states to deal with their radical elements, arguably this is proving to be very effective and the Russians are worried.  What better way...

General McChrystal : The US commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan has asked for 40,000 more troops, according to reports in Washington. Assuming this number includes everything from engineering to support infrastructure, why does the top general require so many additional people?  Assume the general knows and understands the situation much better than us lowly peons, are we not missing the entire point of Afghanistan?  Isn't America over extending it's reach and adding a severe burden upon our country both morally and financially?  Let us be honest, the war in Afghanistan has outlived it's purpose and what we are doing there now is incomprehensible. We first invaded Afghanistan for one simple reason and with one simple goal.  To destabilize the Taliban/Al-Qaeda and hopefully capture Osama .  We never ever intended to occupy the land, because everyone with the capacity to think understood it was impossible to do.  Not only because every na...

Unknowing De Facto leader of the 9/11 Truther movement has spoken and again greeted as Nostradamus with impeccable ratings on his newest YouTube video. Ron Paul speaks in platitudes commonly interweaving his opinions and facts in such a manner that distinguishing the two becomes a chore. His followers seldom question the man as doing so would border sacrilege and continue rabidly distributing Paul's speeches so the rest of us can see the light. Sure, Paul has plenty of great ideas and he is probably the only prolific small government politician with a modicum of media exposure, but his legion of followers are youthful for a reason. Paul appeals to their Utopian and rebellious nature in similar fashion Obama captured the other idealistic liberal youth vote, albeit for entirely different reasons. One must always question and be aware of Paul's approach, his absolutist and often simplistic angles both inspire and dull the senses. If he can stand in front of Congress and state wit...

Scott over at PatriotRoom found a great page of a Sgt. Welsh from Iraq declaring war on Hollywood and our current administration. His major point is that the portrayal of Iraq is not only that of failure, but also fabricated fantasy. Because he actually served, I am inclined to believe his story a little more than directors trying to shove their idealistic view points down America's throat. Anyway, not much to say, just go over there and check it out . Leave him a good comment or two, the guy deserves it.