Battlefield: Syria

As we all know, tensions within the middle east have historically been pretty high. In an area that was once the cradle of civilization, a large amount of middle eastern countries have descended into chaos following The Arab Spring. The country that has been hit hardest by armed conflict is undoubtedly, Syria.

Battlefield: Syria

Since the Syrian Civil War began almost 3 years ago, over 100,000 people have been killed in the conflict. Although it is officially a war between a government and its unruly citizens that refused to be tyrannized, it is clear that there are external forces contributing to the bloodshed in Syria. In some videos of the conflict, one can clearly see the arsenal of american made weapons that found their way into the hands of rebel groups, and the Russian made tanks and helicopters in use by the Syrian Government.

It was only until the discovery of chemical weapon usage that the international community ceased to stand by and took a vested interest in Syrian affairs. Obama declared his "red line" that the Syrian Government had apparently crossed, along with "irrefutable proof" of their violation that has yet to be provided to the rest of the world. Without a doubt, the powers that be within our own government will use chemical weapons as an excuse to escalate the conflict by joining the fight and giving the middle east another toxic dose of American Intervention. I see nothing wrong about helping those who ask for it, but only when they ASK. The proverbial track record of the United States's involvement in middle eastern affairs has been less than glamorous, and any further involvement is likely to create more unnecessary enemies, and unnecessary deaths.
With a country that is amidst an ongoing war and alarming debt, you'd think that our leaders would take a greater interest in our own internal affairs, instead of those of others. After all, who's gonna come to our rescue if things go bad?

G.I. Jihad

As if underwear bombs, homemade AK47s, and filming speeches in caves weren't enough, Al Qaeda has found a new innovative way to express their beliefs and expand their influence... Cartoons. The CIA had done some digging on our Middle Eastern misfits and found a number of animated videos depicting young men in fatigues and headscarves, brandishing assault rifles and RPGs while fighting off "evil invaders" (presumably the USA). Supporters of Al Qaeda say that it glorifies the exploits of Al Qaeda, such as heroic actions of the Mujaheddin, raids, armed clashes, and of course, executions.

Now US officials state this as a "despicable method in an effort to brainwash children"... But then i ask, isn't making all children at school stand up and pledge their lives to a flag the same thing? Now in no way am i a supporter of Al Qaeda, but I do prefer their approach of using cartoons to spread their influence, rather than invading cities and having mass executions.
Now as some of my followers may know, im not a huge fan of the "War on Terror" because of the ridiculous spending and never ending goal, but in the end, the USA did accomplish something media worthy: Our very own spot as Cobra Command in a distorted middle eastern version of G.I. Joe.
Good Job Mr. Bush.
 *starts applauding*

Greed, Debt, and other things American.

Well in the nation's capitol, there has been an ongoing debate on how to manage the prolific amount of debt that has accumulated since the beginning of the war on terror. Now republicans who formerly supported(11 times!) the raising of the debt ceiling under the Bush administration until it reached trillions of dollars, now stand firmly and relentlessly against raising it further because they feel that we should manage and pay off the debt we already have... but with proper consequences that would follow suit. The reason being is that republicans plan on paying off the programs that have the most debt such as medicare, social security, etc. by appropriating funds from other federal programs such as the dept. of education, Federal highway admin., and anything that has to do with paying or giving aid to veterans and active duty soldiers.
     Now under that plan, we might be able to pay a few bills(at the expense of education, infrastructure, and veterans) but if we refuse to raise the debt ceiling any further, it could create a major catastrophe in our economy and choke off access to other credit markets. In other words, it could cause another great depression. Now the republican party has been repeatedly warned about the consequences by every economist in America, but they have resorted to just covering their ears and hiding under the covers hoping that the 13 trillion dollar monster that THEY created will just disappear into thin air. It seems that there is no good solution to this, because the plans of the democrats are to just keep on raising it while crossing their fingers hoping that the global market will pan out in their favor by having an increase in consumer spending. But now we must sit and watch helplessly as our "leaders" who caused all our problems destroy themselves trying to solve them.

The moral of the story? Prolonged war is never a good thing, and the billions of dollars a month we spent fighting this decade long "War on Terror" is finally catching up to us. So choose your battles wisely, kids, because you might end up dying at the end.