Chechens, Russia & the Boston Marathon Massacre

All I would add to this article excerpt from 2006 is that the same dynamic now seems to apply to the USA, where ABC television is apparently still supporting the Chechen cause...

The fear of terrorism was even stronger. My students said they were
afraid when they rode the Metro—there had been a bombing shortly before
our arrival in the Puskhin station. Still raw were memories of the September 3,
2004 Beslan school tragedy, in which 344 civilians were killed, 172 of them
children. Nor had anyone forgotten the Dubrovka (Nord-Ost) theater hostage
crisis of October 2002. Although many criticized Putin’s handling of Chechen
affairs, the phenomenon of Chechen terrorism was largely seen as part of an
international Islamist movement, rather than as a local protest against lack of
autonomy. Russians are well aware that Chechen Russians perceive that
America is supportive of the Chechen cause.

When ABC television broadcast an interview by a Radio Liberty correspondent
with the purported mastermind of Beslan, Shamil Basayev, in late July 2005,
Russia revoked ABC reporters’ credentials. Americans seem unable to quite
understand, even after 9/11, the impact of the Chechen conflict in Russia. That
conflict has turned Russians against liberal democracy, which for a variety of
reasons has become associated with defending Chechen terrorists at the
expense of security, both personal and national. While few Russians approved
of the war in Chechnya, and many would not mind if Chechnya became
independent, most had no sympathy for terrorists or their sympathizers. The
linkage of liberal democrats to the cause of Chechen terrorism and the
perceived support by Western NGOs of Chechen terrorists has been a handicap
to those wishing to further liberalize Russia.

(From Cultural Challenges to Democratization in Russia, by Laurence Jarvik, 
Orbis, Jan. 2006)

RubinReports on Boston Tzarnaev Suspects

RubinReports

Russian TV Report on Boston Marathon Massacre's Chechen Suspects

/http://rt.com/news/chechnya-suspect-boston-bombing-110/

RubinReports on Boston Marathon Massacre

RubinReports

The Party of Surrender

The Party of Surrender

Boston Marathon Massacre

3 Bostonians are dead. More wounded. Yet US government responds as Hillary Clinton did to the Benghazi massacre: "What difference does it make?"

How's that Benghazi investigation going these days? How's Maj. Hasan's Ft. Hood trial? And who carried out the 9/11 anthrax attacks?

If we knew, it might make a difference, after all...

We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People by Peter Van Buren

We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People by Peter Van Buren

Ann Coulter on Newtown & Mental Illness

Ann Coulter - Official Home Page

Brendan O'Neill on Gay Marriage

http://www.spiked-online.com/site/article/13518/

Daniel Pipes on Syria

http://www.danielpipes.org/12724/support-assad

The Obama administration is attempting an overly ambitiously and subtle policy of simultaneously helping the good rebels with clandestine lethal armsand $114 million in aid even as it prepares forpossible drone strikes on the bad rebels. Nice idea, but manipulating the rebel forces via remote control has little chance of success. Inevitably, aid will end up with the Islamists and air strikes will kill allies. Better to accept one's limitations and aspire to the feasible: propping up the side in retreat.

At the same time, Westerners must be true to their morals and help bring an end to the warfare against civilians, the millions of innocents gratuitously suffering the horrors of civil war. Western governments should find mechanisms to compel the hostile parties to abide by the rules of war, specifically those that isolate combatants from non-combatants. This could entail pressuring the rebels' suppliers (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar) and the Syrian government's supporters (Russia, China) to condition aid on their abiding by the rules of war; it could even involve Western use of force against violators on either side. That would fulfill the responsibility to protect.

On the happy day when Assad & Tehran fight the rebels & Ankara to mutual exhaustion, Western support then can go to non-Baathist and non-Islamist elements in Syria, helping them offer a moderate alternative to today's wretched choices and lead to a better future.

Latest on DC's Corcoran Museum Scandal

DECLARATION FOR CAMPAIGN OF ACTION

To the Corcoran Board of Trustees,

We, The Students for Saving the Corcoran, begin our campaign of action today at the Corcoran College of Art + Design as we have been incredibly troubled by the constant problems the Corcoran has endured due to an irresponsible administration.  This action is in response to the lack of transparency and accountability that has plagued our college and museum for the past decade and now threatens the institution’s future stability and founding mission to encourage American Genius.

We have initiated this campaign because we believe you are leading the college down the wrong road.  Continuous poor decision-making by the Board of Trustees and leadership has contributed to a dire financial deficit for which no one has been held accountable.  The manner in which the Corcoran is being governed is deplorable and consequences must be faced for this blatant mismanagement.  Your actions have disrupted our creativity and environment for learning, as well as jeopardizing the futures and careers of hundreds of students.  You have left us with little choice than to bring your actions into public light.

We will continue our campaign until the following demands have been met:

1. The board of trustees must immediately implement structural changes with the goal of creating transparent and democratic decision-making process.

The administration’s gross mismanagement and cronyism warrants a new and different process than what has led the college into this crisis.  To end this pattern, we have outlined initiatives that the board must take:

- Record and document board meetings and make minutes publicly available;

- Appoint a student, a faculty member, a staff member and alumni as voting members of the Board of Trustees;

- Implement a board member removal process where board members may be removed by a majority vote from the Corcoran student body and Faculty Association.

2. Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Harry F. Hopper III and Director Fred Bollerer must resign immediately. 

- Under your tenure, the Corcoran has been set on a path to financial ruin.  Your lack of vision, accountability, credentials and integrity has shown you are no longer suitable for the positions you hold.    

3. Appoint Wayne Reynolds as Chairman of the Board of Trustees. 

- The appointment of Mr. Reynolds will allow the Corcoran to thrive once again without the aid of a partner.  It is our goal that the Corcoran remain independent until the institution is financially stable.  Mr. Reynolds’ vision will realign the institution with the original intentions of its founder, William Wilson Corcoran, as a place for creativity, world-class contemporary art and the encouragement of American genius.

RubinReports: None, A Poem

RubinReports

None (Satire)

By Barry Rubin

Ten little countries standing in a line,

Iran had a revolution, then there were nine.

Nine little entities dangled just like bait,

Hamas took over Gaza and then there were eight.

Eight little countries thinking about heaven,

Turkey elected Islamists and then there were seven.

Seven little countries, in the geopolitical mix,

Lebanon elected Hizballah and then there were six.

Six little countries trying to stay alive,

The Brotherhood took Tunisia and then there were five.

Five little countries leaning on the door,

There goes Egypt and now there are four.

Four little countries redefining what is free,

Syria had a civil war and soon there will be three.

Three little countries doing something they will rue,

Afghanistan when Americans go will probably make it two.

Who will be next? It’s not all that hard to say,

Some think Saudi Arabia already is that way.

Bahrain’s on the verge; Qatar’s on their team,

Things may be far evenworse than what they seem.

Obama, Brennan, Hagel, Kerry think this is good,

Do you really believe they should?

Why is an alleged child molester still the voice of Elmo on PBS?

http://www.clickorlando.com/entertainment/Suit-accuses-Elmo-puppeteer-of-meth-sex-party/-/1636654/19386510/-/igtwnyz/-/index.html

Megan McCardle on Horace Mann School's Pedophile Allegations

From The Daily Beast: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/26/sex-abuse-scandals-at-horace-mann-what-do-they-tell-us-about-private-school.html

When sex scandals erupted in the Catholic Church and Penn State's football programs, we heard a lot about how the sick culture and institutions of religion and football created a safe space for pedophiles. Why no similarly harsh words for private school?...

...This is troubling.  And what's troubling is that one imagines it wasn't limited to Horace Mann; pedophiles tend to go where they have access to children, and a school is one excellent place to gain that access.  The incentives to hush up such incidents are obvious, particularly in a private school, where it's easy to imagine all the parents pulling their children out, and the school actually collapsing.  

Here's what's really interesting about these two articles: we haven't heard any calls to re-examine the institution of private school in light of these revelations.  

When the Catholic Church scandals erupted, there was a lot of discussion of what factors specific to the church had allowed them to continue.  Priestly celibacy, obviously: you'll naturally attract people who can't act on their sexual desires in public.  Hierarchy and tradition clearly played a role; victims deferred to authority, and so did many of the people who tried to bring these crimes to Authority's attention.  The Catholic Church's repressed attitude towards sex was referenced, as were its retrograde views on the role of women.  Surely such a thing could not have happened anywhere except an all-male patriarchy?

Similarly, when Jerry Sandusky's crimes were exposed, the commentary focused on the flaws of Penn State as an institution--and also on the macho culture of football. Yet as the Horace Mann revelations continue, I haven't seen anyone question whether Horace Mann deserves to exist, much less suggest that private school presents an unusually ripe field for pedophiles--a field that should be sown with salt.  The authors of the two bombshell articles (both Horace Mann graduates) certainly don't make any such suggestion; they are plainly bewildered that this was allowed to continue as long as it did.

What explains the difference?  The obvious candidate is the demographics of columnists and academics who write about these things.  Few of them are football players.  Few of them are practicing Catholics (or social conservatives).  But a fair number of them went to private school, or send their children there.  Even if they are prone to question the institution as an institution, doing so would be awfully uncomfortable.  And it might not do much for little Emily's chances at Brearley.  

More US State Department "Smart Diplomacy" News from Peter Van Buren...

http://wemeantwell.com/blog/2013/03/28/deedy-done-it-different/

America’s favorite Diplomatic Security “special” agent Chris Deedy is engaged in what promises to be one of Hawaii’s longest trial processes.

For those just joining us, recap here. For those too multi-tasked to click on the link, the real short now version is that in November 2011 while in Hawaii protecting then-SecState Hillary Clinton from the APEC conference, Deedy shot and killed an unarmed man in a Waikiki McDonalds. Deedy was arrested by the Honolulu Police Department and charged with Murder in the Second Degree and Use of a Firearm in the Commission of a Separate Felony, punishable by a term of life in prison. Despite the whole thing being on both a surveillance videotape and on someone’s iPhone video, along with multiple eye witnesses, the case has not yet come to full trial. Deedy maintained that he acted legally in his capacity as a law enforcement official.

Until now.

On March 11 Deedy changed his story, with his lawyer withdrawing the request to dismiss the case on the basis that he was acting as a federal agent at the time of the incident. The new rationale for the killing is self-defense. Withdrawing the motion relieves Deedy of having to testify during a pretrial hearing. It also cancels his desire to have the case transferred to federal court. The change also, finally, clears the way for the actual trial to begin on/about April 2 in Honolulu unless some new delay is introduced.

There has been no clear explanation/reason as to why the case has taken so long to (almost) reach trial. Deedy has been out on bail since the shooting, working a desk job at the State Department on full salary.

Deedy also now has a “support” group on the web raising money for him (they’re up to $12k), as well as to providehis side of the story.

According to the local Honolulu newspaper, in pretrial documents, city prosecutors say Deedy appeared “intoxicated” after a night of drinking and bar hopping and became the aggressor who started an altercation. According to prosecutors, Deedy kicked the deceased Elderts and repeatedly told him he was going to shoot him “in the face.”

The defense’s position outlined in court documents contends it was Elderts who was the aggressor. Hart’s filings said an intoxicated Elderts called Deedy a “fucking haole” and challenged him to a fight. Hart said Deedy identified himself as a law enforcement officer, but Elderts attacked Deedy, who felt compelled to fire in self-defense.

Deedy’s self-defense argument will need to convince a local jury that as a trained law enforcement officer from the State Department temporarily in Hawaii for wholly unrelated reasons, after a night on the town with friends, he was required to fire multiple shots at near point-blank range into an unarmed inebriated local man inside a crowded McDonalds at 2:30 am.

The History of The Onion by Eliyho Matz

THUS ONION

(DAS ONION)

Dedicated to Eric Montalvo and the Workers at La Tasa de Oro Restaurant in Manhattan, Who Prepare for me Daily an Onion Sandwich So I Can Start My Daily Search on the Internet for Information on the Mighty Onion

            Ancient civilizations’ rise and fall have been the focus of research from Herodotus to modern historians whose names are not yet known.  During the last few months, I have been researching the mysteries of ancient civilizations.  In the past few years, I have focused my attention on the historical role of potatoes over the last 350 years, and I published an article on the Internet that encapsulates my thoughts on potatoes.  Now I am busy researching the role of onions in the history of civilizations.

            The onion played a wide role in ancient Egyptian civilization.  The pyramid-builders were paid for their labor in onions and radishes.  The onion’s origin is believed to be from the Far East, close to China.  The ancient Chinese have used onions for food and for medicine.  How the onion arrived in Egypt we do not know.  We can assume it came via ancient traders through Mesopotamia and its civilizations.  The ancient Greeks adopted onions for all sorts of ritualistic festivities, including those relating to wars.  The Romans brought the onion from the East and introduced it into their diet, as well as into their cultural activities.  The Russians adopted the onion as a church symbol.  In the United States, the “Onion” has become a symbol (representation/emblem) of humor and sometimes comic reporting. 

            In one way or another, people all over the world have succumbed to the belief that onions have in them real benefits, including properties that contribute to the well functioning of the brain, and cancer-preventing agents.  Thus, when Jews celebrate the coming holiday of Passover, we have to recall the Biblical story of the Hebrews leaving Egypt and wandering into the desert, or course missing the onions they had been used to eating in Pharoanic Egypt.  Nutritionally and otherwise, onions were ubiquitous in Egypt to support the Hebrews’ physical and mental strength.

            In East Europe’s poor Jewish communities, onions have been consumed for more than 1000 years.  These Jews were poor, but they ate onions with every dish, and their minds evolved.  Thus we cannot take lightly the onion concept they came up with: “You should grow like an onion, with your head in the ground and with your feet up.”  This philosophy represented sort of an early exercise for tranquility and body health. 

Dear Reader, if you have any thoughts to share on the role onions have played in civilization over the past 5000 years, please write back and let me know.  I would be grateful and pleased to acknowledge your input in my upcoming article.

Thank you,

Eliyho Matz

eliyho_matz@yahoo.com

Bernie Sanders on "Too Big to Jail"

From the Huffington Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-bernie-sanders/too-big-to-jail_b_2973641.html?utm_source=Alert-blogger&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Email%2BNotifications

The attorney general's view seems to be that if you are just a regular person and you commit a crime, you go to jail. But if you are the head of a Wall Street company, your power is so great that a prosecution could have destabilizing consequences with national or even worldwide implications.

In other words, we have a situation now where Wall Street banks are not only too big to fail, they are too big to jail. That view is unacceptable.

The attorney general's troubling acknowledgement has revived interest in an idea that is drawing more and more support. It is time to break up too big to fail financial institutions.

The 10 largest banks in the United States are bigger today than they were before a taxpayer bailout following the 2008 financial crisis.

U.S. banks have become so big that the six largest financial institutions in this country (J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley) today have assets of nearly $9.6 trillion, a figure equal to about two-thirds of the nation's gross domestic product. These six financial institutions issue more than two-thirds of all credit cards, over half of all mortgages, control 95 percent of all derivatives held in financial institutions and hold more than 40 percent of all bank deposits in the United States.

I will soon introduce legislation that would give the Treasury secretary 90 days to compile a list of commercial banks, investment banks, hedge funds and insurance companies that the Treasury Department determines are too big to fail. The affected financial institutions would include "any entity that has grown so large that its failure would have a catastrophic effect on the stability of either the financial system or the United States economy without substantial government assistance." Within one year after the legislation becomes law, the Treasury Department would be required to break up those banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions identified by the secretary.

RubinReports on Obama in Israel

RubinReports

Also, Obama now faces the situation of previous American presidents, a dilemma that he has long ridiculed. The Saudis and Jordanians, along with some other countries, don't care but the Iranian, Turkish, and a number of Arab regimes (including the Palestinian Authority) are going to be outraged by what Obama did and said. The Islamists will see this as a declaration of war, though of course they already viewed themselves as in a state of war with America. The Cairo speech will be spit upon; all the efforts to distance himself from Israel and create a new orientation for U.S. policy have failed.

Obama is now--on matters directly regarding Israel--a typical American president. The idea that Obama made policy out of raw hatred against Israel should be put to rest.

Nevertheless, the incompetence and the deluded strategy toward Islamists still remain, as does the dangerous situation for U.S. interests that Obama has helped create. Fireworks will no doubt take place during Obama's second term.

PS:  Palestinian anti-Obama demonstrations showed the "gratitude" amassed for Obama's previous support by branding him as a Zionist, imperialist running dog. But one detail drew my close attention. The demonstrators sang a song called "America is the head of the snake." That's the song that then PLO leader Yasir Arafat led in singing at the Palestine National Council meeting almost 45 years ago. In other words, after 45 years of effort and especially the last 23 years in which America tried to help create a Palestinian Arab state, it has made zero progress toward winning Palestinian support or recognition of America's aid and efforts. The same story, of course, will be reproduced regarding Obama's efforts to show his respect for Islam and his empathy for Islamism.

Rafael Medoff on Obama, FDR & Israel

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Obama-FDR-and-Zionism-306870

British officials claimed any wartime expression of support for Zionism by the Allies would drive the Arab world into the arms of the Nazis. Rabbi Wise countered that the Arabs already supported the Nazis anyway.

“The [pro-Nazi] rebellion in Iraq, the presence of the Mufti in Berlin and Rome, [and] the failure of Egypt to live up to her treaty of alliance [with England]” show that “the sacrifice of friends in the interest of appeasing the unfriendly has repeatedly been proven to be in vain,” Wise argued. Nonetheless, FDR sided with the British view, as another newly discovered document makes plain.

The second document, from October 1941, records Nahum Goldmann, co-chairman of the World Jewish Congress, briefing American Zionist leaders on worrisome rumors that the British were holding secret negotiations with the Arabs over the future of Palestine.

Goldmann said his request to the State Department for information about the talks had been ignored because State “is very much influenced by the British Colonial Office.”

To make matters worse (Goldmann continued), “There are reasons also to believe that even in higher quarters” – a reference to the Roosevelt White House – “there are certain prejudices that have to be overcome in order to get effective support from the administration for a Jewish Palestine.” (In a similar vein, Rabbi Wise wrote to a colleague that FDR was “hopelessly and completely under the domination of the English Foreign Office [and] the Colonial Office.”) By 1942, FDR was so averse to being seen as pro- Zionist that he rejected even a request to permit the Palestine (Jewish) Symphony Orchestra to name one of its theaters the “Roosevelt Amphitheatre.”

Jarvik v CIA cited in ACLU CIA FOIA Case Decision

Interestingly,the court said the decision in my case was unusual, yet it was a precedent for denial on appeal of an ACLU FOIA request for information on drone strikes by DC Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Merrick B. Garland. Stay tuned...

Story here:
http://www.lawfareblog.com/2013/03/d-c-circuit-rejects-glomar-response-in-aclucia-drone-foia-suit/

Ruling here: http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/6471FF102FC611A685257B2F004DEA2A/$file/11-5320-1425559.pdf

In the New York litigation, the CIA said that it did not want to file a Vaughn index at all, but instead submit what it called a “no number, no list” response -- acknowledging that it had responsive documents, but declining to “further describe or even enumerate on the public record the number, types, dates, or other descriptive information about these responsive records.” Bennett Decl. ¶ 28. Although the CIA’s New York filings speak as if the notion of a “no number, no list” response is well- established, it has not previously been considered by this court. Indeed, at the time of those filings, there were only two previously reported instances of such a response: it was briefly mentioned in one district court case in this circuit, Jarvik v. CIA,741 F. Supp. 2d 106, 123 (D.D.C. 2010), and was litigated once before the Seventh Circuit, Bassiouni v. CIA, 392 F.3d 244, 246-47 (7th Cir. 2004). There are now two more reported instances: another brief mention by a district court in this circuit, Nat’l Sec. Counselors v. CIA, No. 11-443, 2012 WL 4903377, at *38(D.D.C. Oct. 17, 2012), and the district court’s recent grant of summary judgment in favor of the CIA in the New York litigation, New York Times Co. v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, No. 11-cv-9336, 2013 WL 50209 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 3, 2013). [Editor's note: This last ruling declares the importance of my case to FOIA law: "Neither Bassiouni nor Jarvik, the two cases upon which the Government principally relies..."]

Citing the Seventh Circuit’s view that a “no number, no list” response is “legally identical” to a Glomar response, Bassiouni, 392 F.3d at 247, the plaintiffs argue that, if the CIA is not entitled to make a Glomar response in this case, it is also not entitled to make a “no number, no list” response. Pls.- Appellants’ Opp’n to Remand Mot. 4-5. At least in a case like this, however, there is a material difference between a “no number, no list” response and a Glomar response. A Glomar response requires the agency to argue, and the court to accept, that the very fact of the existence or nonexistence of responsive records is protected from disclosure. That is conceptually different from conceding (or being compelled by the court to concede) that the agency has some documents, but nonetheless arguing that any description of those documents would effectively disclose validly exempt information. There may be cases where the agency cannot plausibly make the former (Glomar) argument with a straight face, but where it can legitimately make the latter. 

Indeed, a “no number, no list” response might be viewed as a kind of Vaughn index, albeit a radically minimalist one. Such a response would only be justified in unusual circumstances, and only by a particularly persuasive affidavit. Nor is there any reason to regard this approach as subject to an on/off switch. As we have just noted, once an agency acknowledges that it has some responsive documents, there are a variety of forms that subsequent filings in the district court may take. A pure “no number, no list” response is at one end of that continuum; a traditional Vaughn index is at the other. Not quite as minimalist as a pure “no number, no list” response might be a “no number, no list” response (or even a Glomar response) with respect to a limited category of documents, coupled with a Vaughn index for the remainder.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves. None of these issues has been litigated in this case, either in this court or in the district court, because summary judgment was granted in the face of an unqualified, across-the-board Glomar response.13 No government affidavit has yet been filed in this case that even attempts to justify a “no number, no list” response. And neither a traditional Vaughn index nor affidavits justifying an alternative submission have been filed. Accordingly, all such issues remain open for the district court’s determination upon remand.

V
For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the judgment of the district court and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
So ordered.